Sunday Brunch Reads with Social Media ReInvention: Week of 09/28/14 to 10/05/14

Share-worthy links Social Media ReInvention Community Members can enjoy during Sunday brunch:

 

1) YouTube: Enhance Your Lighting – GE Commercial. Jeff Goldblum provides a brilliant and hysterical performance in the GE advertising campaign for #EnhanceYourLighting. Views continue exploding (1,394,000+ when I wrote this post). GE takes mundane advertising and transforms it into funny, memorable, and campy content.

Hat Tip — Fast Company: JEFF GOLDBLUM GETS TOPLESS FOR GE, NYC GETS A NEW HEART: THE TOP 5 ADS OF THE WEEK.

 

2) YouTube: Introducing the Post-it® Plus App. No, I won't shut up about this app because I'm a Post-it® geek. Welcome to The Collaboration Age. Enjoy this video and wear your Post-it® geekiness as a badge of honor.

 

 
3) Forbes: Gone From Microsoft, Ballmer Begins A Surprising Second Act. George Anders wrote this great profile about Steve Ballmer (former Microsoft CEO, now owner of the Los Angeles Clippers NBA franchise). Anders' article about how Ballmer is approaching this phase of his professional life is a great example of personal branding and reinvention:

  • Ballmer analytically approaches problem solving or new challenges by researching as much as he can through self-study or interviewing experts. The guy is 58, worth $22.5 billion, and wants to stay in the game.
  • Ballmer continues taking calculated risks. Anders references this quote from an August 2014 ESPN interview ESPN conducted with Ballmer“It’s not a cheap price, but when you’re used to looking at tech companies with huge risk, no earnings and huge multiples, this doesn’t look like the craziest thing I’ve ever acquired.”

4) Forbes: Finding Alibaba — How Jerry Yang Made The Most Lucrative Bet In Silicon Valley History. Parmy Olson reveals Jerry Yang's second act reinvention after leaving Yahoo in 2012. He's now a venture capitalist, Founding Partner of AME Cloud Ventures, and power broker.

Olson's article proves trust and familiarity are the heart and soul of business relationships (versus Excel spreadsheets forecasting ROI). Jack Ma (Chairman and CEO of Alibaba) and Yang's friendship started in 1997 (and may save Yahoo).

Not convinced? The Forbes article cites 36 billion reasons.

5) The New York Times: New York Times Plans to Eliminate 100 Jobs in the Newsroom. Arthur Sulzberger, Jr. (Publisher) and Mark Thompson (Chief Executive) announced the cuts October 1st. Here are some direct quotes:  

  • "The job losses are necessary to control our costs and to allow us to continue to invest in the digital future of The New York Times, but we know that they will be painful both for the individuals affected and for their colleagues."
  • (Referencing the discontinued NYT Opinion app and ongoing NYT Cooking app) "They are all experiments, which we are determined to treat as such: to learn, pivot and, where necessary, make prompt decisions about them."

I admire and respect how a revered publishing institution like The New York Times attempts to adapt a Lean Startup mindset and culture. Yes, they're conducting experiments, validating learning, pivoting, etc.  

But, it takes more than carefully sprinkled buzzwords in another announcement explaining job cuts. Organizations like The Times (and others) must wake up to the painful realization that lean startups do not require 1990's staffing levels and infrastructure.

Why doesn't the New York Times "just get on with it." They will thrive as a digital publisher. If it wants to go fully digital, why not commit now and:

  • Quantify the required subscriptions to build and sustain a digital business.
  • Determine and make the REAL job cuts needed.
  • Retain the required staff and physical assets for optimizing a digital MVP (minimal viable product).

But, it won't.

So, the bloodshed continues …

 

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Tony Faustino is a marketing and corporate strategist.  He thinks and writes about how The Internet reinvents marketing strategy in his personal blog, Social Media ReInvention. Follow his tweets @tonyfaustino or circle him on Google+.

Sunday Brunch Reads with Social Media ReInvention: Week of 09/22/14

 

Share-worthy links Social Media ReInvention Community Members can enjoy during Sunday brunch:

1) MarketingLand: Up Close: Ello, The New Social Network That Is So Hot Right Now. I read / curated many articles on Silicon Valley's latest social networking sweetheart. Martin Beck's comprehensive review is a must-read:

  • Martin highlights important, missing features in the launch release (e.g., like/favorite/+1 type button, search ability to locate friends, etc.).
  • I'm working on securing an invite so I can test-drive Ello. Will keep you posted.

2) Fast Company: LOVE POST-IT NOTES? YOU'LL LOVE THIS NEW PRODUCTIVITY APP THAT DIGITIZES THEM. 3-M developed this brilliant iPhone app, Post-it(R) Plus

I'm a visual person. Post-It(R) Notes are my storyboarding savior (colleagues say I have an illness and should seek professional help). 

  • The app allows users to digitize their Post-It(R) Notes from brainstorming and storyboarding sessions. There's a 50 note limit for the image capture.
  • You can share, rearrange, categorize, and build additional storyboards with the app. Users can export the digital session into other tools (e.g., Evernote, PowerPoint, Excel, etc.).
  • This first version doesn't allow changing the names on the Post-its(R) once they're digitized (but future iterations will probably include this improvement).
  • The app requires updating to iOS 8. Yes, I endured a 2+ hour update session for my iPhone 5c so I could use Post-it(R) Plus tomorrow at work (which is why I require professional help).

3) TechCrunch: Closing The Gaps In Mobile Health. Dan Pelino's piece describes the IBM-Apple value proposition and long term implications of the Apple econsystem in a real-world example. Look out healthcare this strategic alliance wants to disrupt your industry. Their solutions will focus on physicians and patients.

  • (direct article quote) Many doctors already have smartphones with 68 percent using iPhones and 59 percent using iPads.

 And, speaking of IBM …

4) Fortune: IBM CEO Ginni Rometty Gets Past the Big Blues. IBM's first female CEO shares her thoughts on the Apple alliance and her strategic vision for Big Blue's latest transformation:

  • Focus on Three (3) Core Areas: Big Data, Cloud Computing, and Engagement (mobile and social technologies
  • Stick to Ginni's Rules: Don't Protect The Past. Never Be Defined by Your Product. Always Transform Yourself.
  • Continue Reinventing IBM: See bullet points (1) and (2).

 

5) Budweiser: Global Be(er) Responsible Day | “Friends Are Waiting” Campaign. The #FriendsAreWaiting spot to discourage drunk driving is storytelling brilliance in 60 seconds or less (almost). This video hits all the right notes: emotional, memorable, conflict, and resolution. Somewhere, Pixar creatives are smiling.

 

 

Did You Enjoy This Post?

If yes, please share it with your friends and subscribe to my blog. Many Thanks!

 

Tony Faustino is a marketing and corporate strategist.  He thinks and writes about how The Internet reinvents marketing strategy in his personal blog, Social Media ReInventionFollow his tweets @tonyfaustino or circle him on Google+.