It may look like magic but in fact it’s just a briliant combination of high tech used by skilfull characters. The show was performed at MIPIM in Cannes by Charlie Caper and Erik Rosales. Enjoy!
Category Archives: Marketing
New media impact: marketers change their thinking and spending allocations
Image by the tartanpodcast via Flickr
Too many companies view marketing plans as little more than an exercise in where and when to buy media placement. Yet as the number of digital interactions increases, marketers must recognize the power that lies beyond traditional paid media.
The changing role of older media and the emergence of newer ones extend the marketer’s role well beyond the allocation of budgets and channels. Marketers today require a deep understanding of how consumers engage with different types of media at each stage of the journey toward a purchase decision. McKinsey’s study “Beyond paid media: Marketing’s new vocabulary” splits the media in 5 categories: paid, owned, earned, sold, and hijacked and makes an analysis of how media are evolving nowadays.
What’s there to think about?
1. Media are becoming more integrated. New ways to connect with customers, for example, are transforming traditional relationship management by requiring marketers to interact with consumers through multiple forms of media in increasingly personalized ways. JetBlue has promoted its Twitter offering through many channels, for instance, and now has about 1.6 million followers seeking a regular feed of special deals for tickets. This approach has given JetBlue the ability to deliver timely coupons at a minimal variable cost, reducing its reliance on expensive paid media while fostering closer relationships with consumers.
2. New publishing models are emerging because the increasing complexity of consumer needs. Computer maker Dell and automobile manufacturer Nissan, for example, worked with the Sundance Channel to create a television talk show hosted by Elvis Costello to attract their target demographic. With ads that seamlessly blended into the show’s content, Dell and Nissan not only gained exposure to a highly engaged audience but also shifted the perception of their brands to connect with Generation X.
3. Applications on wireless devices are spawning tools that provide useful information. For example, eBay’s Red Laser generates a list of prices for any product whose bar code has been scanned by a mobile phone. Beverage companies show where their products are available by overlaying icons onto maps on the screens of mobile phones. In Japan, food manufacturers can increase sales across entire product categories through marketing collaborations with platforms such as Cookpad, the country’s leading online recipe site, with 9 million members, more than 40 percent of whom are women in their 30s.
4. Marketing experiences are becoming more personally relevant. McDonald’s in Japan, for example, has developed expertise in the use of Twitter and other blogging platforms to promote new products and promotions by leveraging its huge fan base to talk about how much they love the company’s food. While this fan promotion is sometimes spontaneous, it’s often facilitated and encouraged by providing these fans with free meals. In this way, paid- and owned-media efforts (such as blog and Twitter campaigns) make consumers so enamored of McDonald’s products that the company generates a significant amount of earned media.
5. The evolution of new kinds of media means that consumers are engaging more often in real-time conversations, particularly on social networks and other digital platforms. One consumer electronics company, for example, has recognized the significance of every review or rating posted about its products. It now responds to all comments within 24 hours: positive feedback gets a thank you, an invitation to become a Facebook friend, and special offers; negative reviews get explanations of how to fix issues, instructions on how to navigate an interface more easily, or follow-up questions to learn more about what the consumer didn’t like. Some hotel chains, recognizing the importance of travel sites (such as the popular TripAdvisor), likewise encourage satisfied guests to post comments online, while employing staff to follow and answer negative comments.
For more details please see McKinsey’s study.
Why confronting corruption makes sense
Image via Wikipedia
Management and staff become distracted and demoralised as they investigate what went wrong and respond to legal, regulatory and enforcement actions. In some recent cases, costs have soared into the billions, significantly affecting earnings.
In addition to the external fallout, as customers and partners distance themselves from a troubled company, there are daunting internal costs. Failing to actively prevent corruption allows employees and third parties to rationalize stealing from the company. Companies with anti-corruption programmes that enable bribe payments are also highly susceptible to theft and financial statement manipulation.
Companies that do not take steps to assess and manage corruption risk stand a greater chance of being caught in the anti-corruption net. With the passing of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) in 1977, the US took the early initiative in enforcement. Under the act, any company listed on a US exchange or with significant operations in the US is subject to the rules and regulations of the US Department of Justice, regardless of where corruption occurs geographically. More recently, enforcement has become a more global affair, with the US working closely with authorities in other countries. In the last years, at least 20 of the 37 government signatories to the 1997 OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials began one or more investigations into corruption, up from 12 in 2006.
Looked at logically, bribes do not make good business sense. They may not alter the situation in any way and there is no contract to enforce if the services paid for are not rendered. Having paid once, a company also opens the door to future and perhaps larger demands and becomes susceptible to blackmail. “If you pay someone $1,000 for a service, do you think the next time they will only ask for $1,000?” says Albert Wong, head of policy and external relations at Shell International. He tells his staff to avoid this slippery slope by refusing the first demand.
While companies cannot control how governments and competitors behave, there are tools available to help level the playing field. One example is the so-called “integrity pact,” where all parties sign an enforceable agreement not to engage in corruption. Our survey highlights the importance of getting everyone to play by the same rules. Almost 45% of respondents say they currently avoid certain markets or opportunities because of corruption risks and almost 40% say they have lost bids because of corrupt officials.
A global PwC report shows that:
• Almost 80% of respondents say their company has some form of programme in place to prevent and detect corruption, but only 22% are very confident that it identifies and mitigates the risk of corruption.
• Slightly less than half say their programme is clearly communicated and enforced, while 28% say there are problems with either the communication or the enforcement of their anti-corruption programme.
• Rigorous risk assessment, a crucial step in programme design, is overlooked by more than half of those surveyed, and only 25% perform proactive risk assessments or monitoring.
• Only 40% of respondents believe their current controls are effective at identifying high-risk business partners or suspect disbursements.
The potential of corruption may always be present; however, companies can learn from others and set up a robust and proactive anti-corruption programme to mitigate their risk.
You may find more about confronting corruption here.
Restructuring checklist #2
Managing your employment brand
• Have you thought about how best to minimise the negative impact of restructuring on your employment brand values?
• Do you need to reinvigorate your employment brand initiatives for future talent acquisition?
• Do managers know what you are expecting of them when it comes to maintaining the equity of your employment brand?
Communication
• Do all your stakeholders (shareholders, employees, suppliers, community) know what your vision is for the organisation going forward?
• Is the message clear and supportive to your business plans?
• Have you considered the customer perception of your restructuring actions?
Consultation steps
• Have you considered what your employee relations strategy needs to be during a restructuring phase?
• Have you built in the time necessary for consultation in all the markets in which your business operates?
• Do you need the approval of any employment inspectorates before you implement your restructuring proposals?
Hiring freezes
• Are you prepared to stop external hiring to ensure that future employment opportunities are available to your existing employees first?
• Are you required to stop hiring in some markets where you are implementing compulsory redundancies?
• Are you going to police the consistent application of any hiring freeze you announce?
You may also want to read:
- 10 guiding questions to help restructuring initiatives
- Restructuring checklist #1
- Restructuring checklist #3
Restructuring checklist #1
Business drivers
• Which parts of the business are growing? Which are shrinking? How do you respond to both?
• Does your business evolution require new capabilities? If so, do you have a strategy for putting these capabilities in place?
• What is the acceptable pay-back time for any restructuring programme in your business?
Organisational redesign
• What should your future organisation look like in its customer-facing activities?
• Should you explore alternative channels of distribution to optimise customer reach?
• Is there scope to rethink your support structures? Are they providing you with the mix of cost efficiency, speed and customer orientation that your business requires? Have you benchmarked these features against your competitors?
• Is there an opportunity to rethink your operating principles to reduce costs through virtual teamwork, outsourcing and/or centres of excellence?
Cross-jurisdictional consistency
• Is your business operating in multiple jurisdictions? If so, have you thought through the differing legal requirements which restructuring activities prompt in these locations?
• Do you have an overarching commitment to consistent treatment of employees?
• Have you consulted appropriately at international level as well as at local levels?
Maintaining engagement
• How do you plan to maintain engagement levels in your business? Have you considered the retention challenges that may be prompted by restructuring?
• Are the challenges and associated time-frames you are setting out for your business attainable?
Do you have clear measures in place to ensure that you can respond swiftly to downturns in engagement levels within your business?
You may also want to read:
- 10 guiding questions to help restructuring initiatives
- Restructuring checklist #2
- Restructuring checklist #3
Ten tech-enabled business trends to watch
Image by inju via Flickr
Two-and-a-half years ago, McKinsey described eight technology-enabled business trends that were profoundly reshaping strategy across a wide swath of industries. Since then, the technology landscape has continued to evolve rapidly. The dizzying pace of change has affected those original eight trends, which have continued to spread (though often at a more rapid pace than anticipated), morph in unexpected ways, and grew in number to ten:
1. Distributed cocreation moves into the mainstream
By McKinsey’s estimates, when customer communities handle an issue, the per-contact cost can be as low as 10 percent of the cost to resolve the issue through traditional call centers. Other companies are extending their reach by using the Web for word-of-mouth marketing. However, since cocreation is a two-way process, companies must also provide feedback to stimulate continuing participation and commitment.
2. Making the network the organization
The recession underscored the value of such flexibility in managing volatility. McKinsey believes that the more porous, networked organizations of the future will need to organize work around critical tasks rather than molding it to constraints imposed by corporate structures.
3. Collaboration at scale
Across many economies, the number of people who undertake knowledge work has grown much more quickly than the number of production or transactions workers. While the body of knowledge around the best use of such technologies is still developing, a number of companies have conducted experiments, as one may see in the rapid growth rates of video and Web conferencing, expected to top 20 percent annually during the next few years.
4. The growing ‘Internet of Things’
Assets themselves became elements of an information system, with the ability to capture, compute, communicate, and collaborate around information – something that has come to be known as the “Internet of Things.” Embedded with sensors, actuators, and communications capabilities, such objects will soon be able to absorb and transmit information on a massive scale and, in some cases, to adapt and react to changes in the environment automatically. These “smart” assets can make processes more efficient, give products new capabilities, and spark novel business models.
5. Experimentation and big data
McKinsey affirms that some companies haven’t even mastered the technologies needed to capture and analyze the valuable information they can access. More commonly, they don’t have the right talent and processes to design experiments and extract business value from big data, which require changes in the way many executives now make decisions: trusting instincts and experience over experimentation and rigorous analysis. To get managers at all echelons to accept the value of experimentation, senior leaders must buy into a “test and learn” mind-set and then serve as role models for their teams.
6. Wiring for a sustainable world
Companies are now taking the first steps to reduce the environmental impact of their IT. Information technology is both a significant source of environmental emissions and a key enabler of many strategies to mitigate environmental damage.
7. Imagining anything as a service
In the IT industry, the growth of “cloud computing” (accessing computer resources provided through networks rather than running software or storing data on a local computer) exemplifies this shift. Consumer acceptance of Web-based cloud services for everything from e-mail to video is of course becoming universal, and companies are following suit.
8. The age of the multisided business model
Thr advertising-supported model has proliferated on the Internet, underwriting Web content sites, as well as services such as search and e-mail. It is now spreading to new markets, such as enterprise software: Spiceworks offers IT-management applications to 950,000 users at no cost, while it collects advertising from B2B companies that want access to IT professionals.
9. Innovating from the bottom of the pyramid
Hundreds of companies are now appearing on the global scene from emerging markets. For most global incumbents, these represent a new type of competitor: they are not only challenging the dominant players’ growth plans in developing markets but also exporting their extreme models to developed ones. To respond, global players must plug into the local networks of entrepreneurs, fast-growing businesses, suppliers, investors, and influencers spawning such disruptions.
10. Producing public good on the grid
Technology can also improve the delivery and effectiveness of many public services. At the UK Web site FixMyStreet.com, for example, citizens report, view, and discuss local problems, such as graffiti and the illegal dumping of waste, and interact with local officials who provide updates on actions to solve them.
For detailed analysis see McKisey Quarterly
Entertainment and media forecasted to grow by 5% annually until 2014
Image via Wikipedia
Following a year of decline in 2009, the global E&M market, as a whole, is forecasted to grow by 5% compounded annually for the entire period to 2014 reaching US$1.7 trillion, up from US$1.3 trillion in 2009. Fastest growing region throughout the forecast period is Latin America growing at 8.8% compound annual rate (CAR) during the next 5 years to US$77 billion in 2014. Asia Pacific is next at 6.4% CAR through to 2014 to US$475 billion. Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) follows at 4.6% to US$581 billion in 2014. The largest, but slowest growing market is North America growing at 3.9% CAR taking it from US$460 billion in 2009 to US$558 billion in 2014.
Consumers seam to embrace new media experiences with staggering speed. The advancing digital transformation is driving audience fragmentation to a level not previously seen. However, the current wave of change is of a different magnitude from previous ones both in its speed and its simultaneous impact across all segments.
Although there is consistency in the inevitable migration to digital, the ways in which this presents itself and the pace of change continues to vary by market. Regional and country variations in current market size and future growth reflect local factors around infrastructure, access availability and consumer behaviour. For example the mobile internet explosion has already happened in Japan, accounting for some 53% of global spending on mobile Internet access in 2009 while other markets are still at the bottom of their growth curve.
Advertising on the rebound
Advertising revenues have been particularly hit by the turbulent markets and while there are signs of a rebound, this is still fragile in nature. Spend is unlikely to return to former levels. By 2014, the US advertising spend is expected to still be 9% below its level in 2006. Overall, global advertising will increase at a 4.2% CAR from US$406 billion in 2009 to US$498 billion in 2014. Internet advertising will join television in 2014 as the only media with spending in excess of US$100 billion.
The projections reflect the fragmentation of the market and behavioural changes of consumers. The advertising industry is responding to consumers’ shifting attention and has embarked upon a long-term journey towards total marketing or total brand communication. Brands are changing their focus from advertising on a medium, to marketing through, and with, content.
Conversing with consumers
Consumer feedback and usage provides the only reliable guide to the commercial viability of products and services, and the global consumer base is being used as a test-bed for new offerings and consumption modes. However, as responses are still evolving it is up to the industry to anticipate and identify where they are heading and pre-empt the needs and wants of consumers. PwC believes that three themes will emerge from changing consumer behaviour:
The rising power of mobility and devices: Advances in technology and products will see increasingly converged, multi-functional and interoperable mobile devices come of age as a consumption platform by the end of 2011. Consumers are increasingly demanding “ubiquity”, with content flowing across different devices to support ever-greater interactivity and convenience. They are using mobile in new ways, and downloading ever-increasing numbers of mobile applications (“apps”) to support their lifestyles. The ability to consume and interact with content anywhere, anytime—and to share and discuss that content experience with other people via social networks—will become an increasingly integral part of people’s lives.
The growing dominance of the Internet experience over all content consumption: Using the Internet is now one of the great unifying experiences of the current era for consumers everywhere—and their expectation of Internet-style interactivity and access to content will continue to expand across media consumption in every segment. This trend is initially at its clearest in television. Equally, people are already consuming magazines and newspapers on Internet-enabled tablets, and streaming personalised music services such as Pandora in preference to buying physical CDs or even digital downloads.
Increasing engagement and readiness to pay for content—driven by improved consumption experiences and convenience: Ongoing fragmentation means that media offerings will need greater consumer engagement and quality to get themselves heard – and paid. Consumers are more willing to pay for content when accompanied by convenience and flexibility in usage, personalisation , and/or a differentiated experience that cannot be created elsewhere. Local relevance will also become important once again as an aspect of convenience and relevance.
Revolutionising the business
Digital migration and the changes in consumer behaviour have put extreme pressure on existing business models. It has caused the industry to radically rethink its approach to monetising content as it strives to capture new sources of revenue, be it from transactions or from participation with others operating in the evolving digital value chain.
Inevitably this results in individual companies searching for where to position themselves in the new digital world. Partnering with other organisations is becoming imperative in order to create viable commercial content offerings while sharing the costs and risks. Increasingly potential partners are being found from a diverse set of industries.
Whatever the partnership or collaboration PwC identifies seven critical factors for operating succesfully in the new value chain:
• Strategic flexibility
• Delivery of engagement and reationship with the customer through the consumption experience
• Economics of scale and scope
• Speed of decision-making and execution, with the appetite to experiment and fail
• Agility in talent management
• Ability to monetise brand/rights across platforms
• Strong capabilities in partnership structuring and M&A targeting and integration
2010 – 2014 Media Outlook in numbers
• There were 12 countries in 2009 with E&M spending above US$20 billion, led by the United States at US$428 billion and Japan at US$164 billion. Of the leading countries, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) will be by far the fastest growing with a projected 12% compound annual increase, fuelled by a vibrant economy and large increases in broadband penetration that in turn propel other segments. Japan will be the slowest growing of the leading countries at 2.8% compounded annually.
• Internet access is a key driver of spending in most segments. Increased broadband penetration will boost wired access while growing smartphone penetration and wireless network upgrades will drive mobile access. Spending on wired and mobile Internet access will rise from US$228 billion in 2009 to US$351 billion in 2014.
• PwC expects a relatively flat market in aggregate global advertising and consumer/end-user spending in 2010, improved growth in 2011 and a return to mid-single-digit gains during 2014. Overall global advertising will increase at a 4.2% CAR from US$406 billion in 2009 to US$498 billion in 2014. Overall consumer/end-user spending will rise from US$688 billion in 2009 to US$842 billion in 2014, a 4.1% compound annual increase.
• Globally, the video game market will grow from US$52.5 billion in 2009 to US$86.8 billion in 2014, growing at a compound growth rate of 10.6%. This will make it the second fastest-growing segment of E&M behind internet advertising wired and mobile, but will be the fastest-growing consumer/end user segment ahead of TV subscriptions and license fees.
• The global television subscription and license fee market will increase from $185.9 billion in 2009 to US$258.1 billion in 2014, a CAGR of 6.8%. This will outpace TV advertising, which will grow at a CAGR of 5.7%. The biggest component of this market is subscription spending and this will increase at 7.5% CAR to US$210.8 billion in 2014. Asia Pacific will be the fastest-growing region with a 10% compund annual increase rising to US$47.1 billion in 2014 from US$29.2 billion in 2009.
• Total global spending on consumer magazines fell by 10.6 percent in 2009. PwC projects an additional 2.7% decrease in 2010, a flat market in 2011, and modest growth during 2012–14. As a result, spending will total $74 billion in 2014, up 0.7 percent compounded annually from $71.5 billion in 2009.
• Electronic educational books will grow at a CAGR of 36.5% globally throughout the forecast period yet will still only account for less than 6% of global spend on educational books in 2014.
Details on PwC’s study: www.pwc.com
60% of executives say R&D will be top priority this year
Image by Nestlé via Flickr
Research and development has risen sharply on the corporate agenda in the wake of the global economic crisis, a McKinsey survey finds. Four in ten respondents report that both R&D budgets and activity levels are up this year relative to 2009. What’s more, executives are remarkably optimistic that the R&D moves their companies made during the downturn will serve them well in the coming three to five years.
Moreover, nearly 60% of executives say R&D will be either the top priority or among the top three priorities this year – significantly higher than the 47% of executives who said the same last year. Despite the increased levels of spending and activity, companies are taking a wait-and-see approach to R&D hiring. Relatively few respondents say their companies are hiring or firing; the most common approach is a focus on retention.
Executives recognize that delaying, reducing, and eliminating R&D projects can limit long term competitiveness. Still, 42% of respondents say their organizations cut R&D costs in 2009, perhaps reflecting the lengths to which some companies needed to go in order to survive the recent economic turmoil. Further, when compared to the moves companies had made in spring 2009 (when McKinsey’s first R&D survey was conducted) with the moves they made by year’s end, it becomes clear that for many R&D organizations, conditions worsened steadily. Far more companies eliminated projects, delayed spending, and instituted hiring freezes as the year progressed.
These actions may well haunt some companies for years to come. A significant share of executives whose companies cut costs expect that these moves will have adverse effects in the coming three to five years. The problems respondents are most likely to expect include reduced market share, a loss of technological ground to competitors, a weaker R&D talent pool, a loss of institutional knowledge, and damage to morale.
Meanwhile, a significant number of companies appear to have used the downturn as an opportunity to add a measure of discipline to their R&D organizations, infrastructure, or processes. Among the most frequent changes in 2009 were increased accountability for performance and spending, increased collaboration with outside R&D groups, increased use of global R&D resources, and the streamlining of core R&D processes. All these moves should help companies innovate more effectively over the long term.
Moreover, high performers in the survey appear more attuned to the “softer” aspects of R&D than other companies are. Executives at high-performing companies, for instance, are significantly more likely to say their organizations are focusing on retention of key employees (40% versus 29%). And while the majority of high-performing companies didn’t cut R&D costs in 2009 — 63% of high performers didn’t, versus 56% of the others — those that did are far more likely than other companies to fear weaker R&D talent pools, a loss of institutional knowledge, and damage to company morale. Finally, high-performing companies appear to be markedly more proactive than the others in two operational areas that represent significant long-term investments: the streamlining of core R&D processes and the expansion of R&D infrastructure.
You may find more details at:
https://www.mckinseyquarterly.com
Global Entertainment & Media Forecast for 2009-2013
Over the next five years, digital technologies will become increasingly widespread across all segments of entertainment & media (E&M) as the digital migration continues to expand according to the PricewaterhouseCoopers Global Entertainment & Media Outlook 2009-2013.
The study shows that this recession will last longer than previous ones due to a steeper downturn and that the impact on consumer spending will be much steeper than in the past. E&M is not immune to that trend – consumer spending in E&M will fall by a projected 1.2% in 2009, remaining weak in 2010 and seeing only relatively low growth at 3.2% in 2011.
Responses to the recession will vary from country to country and region to region with some territories showing little ill effects while others experience steep declines. Latin America and Asia Pacific remain the fastest growing regions increasing at an annual compound rate of 5.1% and 4.5% through to 2013 reaching $73 billion and $413 billion respectively. Excluding Japan, the dominant country in the Asia Pacific region which accounted for 45% of total spending in 2008, E&M spending in Asia Pacific will increase at a projected 7.1% compound annual rate over the period of the Forecast.
According to PwC’s analysis, this ongoing migration to digital will occur and manifest itself across three parallel and interrelated dimensions:
Economic
The overall, effect of the current global economic downturn will be to accelerate and intensify the migration to digital technologies among both providers and consumers of E&M content and services.
Consumer behaviour
The accelerating digital transformation will in turn reinforce and proliferate new consumption habits and “digital behaviours”, as consumers seek (1) more control over where, when, and how they consume content, and (2) higher value from their entertainment and media choices.
Advertising
As digital behaviours become more widespread and embedded, a new generation of advertising-funded revenue models will emerge, aiming to reflect and capitalize on the evolving consumption habits by delivering advertising that is ever more targeted and relevant to the specific audience.
By 2013, the combination of these three change dimensions will give rise to a much more fragmented E&M landscape than today’s, characterized by a wide divergence of revenue models aimed at exploiting the digital opportunity. Traditional, long-established revenue models in segments such as TV and magazines will be replaced by more targeted and tailored models that will differ widely within and across segments and geographies.
E&M companies will have to commit themselves to participating actively in this industry-wide shift, or risk suffering lower growth than their competitors and ultimately possible extinction. As we said at the beginning of this article, they will have no place to hide from the remorseless digital advance.
More information about PwC’s study: www.pwc.com/outlook
Economic Conditions Snapshot, April 2009: international interests and government actions
McKinsey recently published its periodical survey results. They show that strong majorities support international coordination of responses to the crisis and say protectionism would harm their nations’ economies.
Respondents see value in international trade, even in the face of a crisis. Strong majorities of executives in all regions believe regulations to restrict imports and exports would damage their countries’ economies; the global average is 73%. Far fewer, only 37%, see harm to their companies’ financial positions from such regulations, while only 4% say they think trade restrictions would improve their companies’ financial positions.
Executives at manufacturers and high-tech and telecom companies are the likeliest to see harm to their companies from protectionist regulation, at 51% and 44%, respectively.
Further, executives see value in maintaining international ties in response to the crisis: 70% say that governments should coordinate it with their trading partners or other relevant countries.
Executives’ enthusiasm for governments bolstering industries through the crisis is cooling. Though most respondents still think governments should support at least some industries through the crisis, a fifth now say no industries should receive government support — a significant increase from the 14% who said the same in January in response to a similar question.
For more details see:
http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com
