Media Mix – Shaken not Stirred at SIME Stockholm

They say its the end of media companies as we know it. RIP Good Times – too cliche for the one’s following the industry, but its quite stark. Despite the death of old media, chaos, confusion and lot of dust, consumerism is at its best yet, internet is becoming more ubiquitous, and trends are clear. This could be possibly the best time for a media company to even be in the market. The Big Dinosaurs that are still crawling their way up are easy to beat by the new age suave disruptors that come in all forms, shapes and geographies. And it doesn’t necessarily have to be the new start up beating the old guys to the market, but even big companies that encourage their teams to work as entrepreneurs, cultivate a soil and culture of innovation and intrapreneurship.

And the new kind of media companies:

• add new verticals that they can sell their unsold ad inventory to
• thrive on compelling content
• rely on personalization and relevancy
• listen to the social media stream to connect
• live on new channels ranging from the iPad to java phones
• focus on user experience rather than features.

We have all learnt and read about the above I am sure – for all these are ideas from age old – but how you bring them together and package it is what makes a compelling strategy. And Schibsted who you can meet at SIME Stockholm has a wonderful packaging culture. Ranging from owning the largest P2P E-Commerce platform in Sweden to news, gossip, entertainment, weight clubs and what not – and they seem to have a good marketing mix of print, classifieds and online.
And they had the best quarter in business so far.

Welcome to understand the successful media mix strategy to grow your business. Welcome to SIME Stockholm November 17, 18

Uncovering the Digital Potential 2011: September 28 at Nalen, Stockholm

SIME together with Cybercom present to you a day of enriched keynotes, debates and meaningful conversations from authorities in the digital arena. A one day event to be held on September 28 at Nalen in Stockholm free of charge but with limited seating capacity only. Some of the titles for the seminar are.

• Kings Club -making the impossible digital
• Reveailing the truth in Nordic banks website performance
• The new media mix -shaken not stirred
• Agile -the new black
• 3 fresh business ideas for the digital arena -interested?

And the speaker roster includes Ulf Ekberg, Ace of Base, Mats Lindberg, CEO Kairos Future and Jon Månsson, Scania who will share their experiences of how they use the digital lanscape in their everyday work.

Please use your personal event code digi7sme when registrering.

Date: Tuesday September 28th
Time: 08.30-17.00 and following evening mingle
Venue: Nalen, Stockholm
Registration: Last day of registration is September 20th

Agenda ,  Registration Page

Amazing Augmented Reality + Facebook / Social Media Music Video! (French)

You have got to love this. This is such a cool extrapolation of the social media and the touch concept.

[Thanks for the tip @Matthew Szymczyk from Zugara]

SIME Talks Season 2 Episode 7: The Mobile Edition – Location Based Services

Mobile is the future, no one really is contesting that. The value chain is getting very interesting with handset manufacturers / OEM’s and software providers getting a strong hold of the value chain which was once the uncontested territory of the operators. Traditionally operators have always held the billing relationship with the consumers, and hence were the gatekeepers to the money. However, the concept of app store seems to be have caught them napping. Google, Apple and RIM / Blackberry have caught the pulse of the market from the likes of Nokia, Motorola, Samsung and Palm (do you even remember them?).

In this SIME Talks edition, we do a quick introduction of the mobile value chain, from the operators point of view, and go into 1 concept that is making the right noise in the mobile arena.

The Mobile Value Chain

i. Handset Manufacturers – folks who produce the hardware, the intelligent chip for the phone to work with operators.

ii. Software Providers - software for the mobile phone to talk to the hardware. With handset manufacturers controlling their own proprietary operating systems (OS), pure software plays like Microsoft Windows mobile are left in the hunt without any takers from handset manufacturers who want to control and own their OS. Nokia’s OS Symbian, Apple’s proprietary OS, Google’s Android are some examples. Interesting, Microsoft does not want to be left out of the race which they were coming in second (after Symbian) once upon a time are going upstream by manufacturing their handsets soon. Google works with HTC (Hardware manufacturer) to ship their Android OS, although they are coming with their own GPhone too.

iii. Operators – the front end of consumers. The folks who speak to the consumers, shape the experience of the phone and hence control the billing relationship.

Now, the landscape has changed thanks to 2 key developments that have turned the market upside down.

i. With a big surge of smart phones in the market, the concept of customization of the phone through the App store seems to have caught the operators by storm, with a big slice of the revenue pie taken off their control. Apps that can bypass the walled gardens of the operators have left them in a pickle.

ii. The surge in data usage to use the apps from handset manufacturers (and the open market) leaves the operators to invest heavily in their infrastructure to support their consumers without actually able to charge them for more due to reduction in pricing plans of data usage.

This concept of operators being left with no control is called a “dumb-pipe” phenomenon, just supplying the bits pipe for users to use their apps.

The Bottom of the Pyramid is a different story

Developing markets have a completely different story. Dominated by voice, calls and SMS’s are given for cents and pence, and lack of good data infrastructure leaves the ARPU (Ave. Revenue Per User – the most important metric for the operator) quite low. That said, there are 3B people who still do not have a phone and their first internet experience will be through the mobile in the next 5 years leaving operators some hope of investments in new markets.

The story is dismal, but one operator who seems to be bent upon beating the race and trying new things is Vodafone. From shopping on internet concepts, coming up with their own App store and integrating a host of services, Vodafone is innovating at the speed of life to retain their market. Vodafone 360 is such a concept that wants to provide an integrated experience for all its consumers irrespective of the hardware / software running on the phone to give you a social and utility experience based on your location.

In this SIME Talks edition, we feature one such service Vodafone has put its money on – Location Based Services (LBS). LBS basically is an umbrella term for all services (social, utility) that works based on where you are / where you want to be. Through GPS enabled phones (in the hardware) or through native Maps application on phones (think Google Maps on your phone), software developers add a layer of intelligence on the maps. From tracking where your facebook friends have “checked-in” to finding the nearest Italian ristorante near you, location based services is your ‘glocal’ friend.

Wayfinder AB is a Swedish company that offers navigation help on your phone and was acquired by Vodafone recently. Tommy Ahlers (who founded Zyb, a Danish mobile social networking company acquired by Vodafone as well) talks here about location based services, Vodafone 360 and some personal stuff that we think is interesting for you to watch.

Tommy Ahlers about location based services at SIME Stockholm 2009 from 23tv.de on Vimeo.

More to be featured in the mobile edition in the upcoming SIME Talks edition.

SIME Talks Season 2, Episode 3: What's the next entrepreneurial hub / hot spot in the world?

Last year at SIME, a series of people were asked to name 1 city / place they thought would be the next hot spot / hub (in the next 2 – 3 years) for the digital scene in the world. Answers ranged from “Silicon Valhalla” (Scandinavian tradition), Berlin, Amsterdam, Shanghai, Beijing, Barcelona to a multiple other cities. And most entrepreneurs chose their own home / region they operate from as the next hub, either because they really like the place or they have not explored other options. I am guessing knowing the DNA of the crowd at SIME who are typically go global entrepreneurs, they would want to marry opportunity with capital and network. European cities being closer than other cities in Asia or South America for instance have a spill over effect probably helping smart entrepreneurs gravitate to the city.  Of course there were insights such as “I like all places since it helps me meet new kind of entrepreneurs”, and the bottom of the pyramid segment makes a lot of sense, but if we quantify it with hard numbers the usual suspects are revealed again.

What do you think? We are developing an in-house matrix of parameters that we can use to understand the vibrancy and buzz of the city – lets call it the “SIME Vibrancy Index” and we plan to present it soon. In the meantime go ahead, voice your views, do not let facts stop you from talking your gut out.

SIME participants are wondering about the next Hotspot in the world from 23tv.de on Vimeo.

SIME Stockholm: 4 Dimensions of Digital Opportunities

SIME is all about digital opportunities. And at this year’s SIME Stockholm, we present to you the 4 dimensions of digital opportunities:

1: Inspiration

Inspiration comes from every single atom of SIME. But of course the main drivers are the various speakers and thought leaders, panels and the quality of the conference itself.

Find some of the inspiration ambassadors who are going to be SIME this year here.

2. Business

Business through Networking Bazaars where we are dedicated to making you meet all the people that you are interested in meeting of the over 1 000 thought leaders, entrepreneurs, communications experts, developers, venture capitalists, marketers and of course the SIME speakers and guests from all over the world.

The Experience Manager ensures you meet the people you want to; meet the speakers corner is a natural hang out place for the speakers after their show on stage, truly in the spirit of SIME always ready to mingle and have a discussion with you; demo zone for you to play and see some funky stuff; nominees plaza, a place for you to catch the digital stars – emerging and the current biggies and finally, a welcome to Stockholm counter for you to understand and get all the local expertise for you to expand your business into Sweden.

A detailed idea of the different facets of the networking bazaar here

(more…)

SIME Talks 8 – Nostalgia Edition: Jimmy Wales, Founder of Wikipedia, "Human Optimism is the DNA of Change"

Change is cool, at least that’s what the Obama campaign made it look like. For it was the magic word that was uttered from that teenager, to her grandmother in the dining room, all of course with varying degrees of definition, and whatever it might have meant for different people, it was quite significantly the sole driver of inspiration during the tough moments last year.

SIME 08 was all about defining the DNA of change. Succinctly put to the crowd and the panel of thought leaders was the question, are you a change maker? And the answers were to varying degrees, from “What the bleep” to “Yes, I am, hell”. And recently we were going through the digital knowledge from the last year’s show, we found a dusty tape that had something very interesting, and on digitized (though the shaky camera movements and the background noise was quite much to completely eliminate), we found some 60 seconds of raw sheer optimism.

Chairman of SIME, Ola Ahlvarsson had a quick chat with founder of Wikipedia, Jimmy Wales, and Matt Bross, CTO of British Telecom, asking them what the DNA of change was.And to them it was about people / human optimism, about innovation at the speed of life inspired by people and not at the speed of technology.

Clearly, its about us, its about people and the optimism, and that is something that will only take different connotations. Change was one such connotation. SIME is proud to have been part of the global movement.

SIME Talks 8 – Nostalgia Edition: Jimmy Wales, Founder of Wikipedia, “Human Optimism is the DNA of Change” from SIME on Vimeo.

More about SIME INNOVATION DAY!

PRESS: ( In Swedish)

Ett företag måste stå på egna stadiga ben
Metro, 1 dag sedan
…Stubbe, affärscoach på Stockholm Innovation & Growth, Sting. Han menar att den växande trenden av uppköp beror på olika saker. Det finns flera…Norden och Storbritannien besökte Sime Innovation Day där Anil Hansjee pratade om vad…

`Vi har aldrig haft bättre förutsättningar att bygga bra bolag`
Internetworld, 2008-02-08
Internetworld var på plats när storföretagen öppnade dörrarna för nya innovationer. På SIME Innovation Day på torsdagen samlades 100 entreprenörsföretag och Ericsson, Telenor och Google för att nätverka.

Vi har aldrig haft bättre förutsättningar att bygga bra bolag
IDG, 2008-02-08
` Internetworld var på plats när storföretagen öppnade dörrarna för nya innovationer. På SIME Innovation Day på torsdagen samlades 100 entreprenörsföretag och Ericsson, Telenor och Google för att nätverka.

Googlechef jagar bolag i Sverige
Dina Pengar, 2008-02-08
…användarmönster som vi ser i dag, säger Anil Hansjee, i en paus på branschträffen Sime Innovation Day, till di.se. Ett hundratal nya företag hade på torsdagen chansen att…

Googlechef på bolagsjakt i Sverige
Dagens Industri, 2008-02-07
…användarmönster som vi ser i dag`, säger Anil Hansjee, i en paus på branschträffen Sime Innovation Day, till di.se. Ett hundratal nya företag hade på torsdagen chansen att…

Riskkapitalisternas bästa råd
Dagens Industri, 2008-02-07
…entreprenörer och nya it-bolag på Sime innovation Day i Stockholm på torsdagen var det dags för…arrangörerna Ericsson, Google, Telenor och Sime: Zyb Technoligies, Tommy…

Kvinnorna väljer bort it
Realtid, 2008-02-07
Sime Innovation Day i Stockholm den 7 februari 2008. De som känner…vara hög. Efter att ha deltagit i SIME Innovation Day måste jag erkänna att jag känner mig…

Skycash, Wichro, Wuzzon…
Realtid, 2008-02-07
Sju mobila tjänster i ropet. Christian Rudolf och Peter Sandberg bloggar från it-seminariet Sime Innovation Day i Stockholm den 7 februari 2008. Sju nya företag intar scenen. Stor spridning i deras verksamheter men…

Väldigt intresserad av nya tjänster
Realtid, 2008-02-07
Sime Innovation Day i Stockholm den 7 februari 2008. När media, telecom och internet konvergerar – blir mobilen en viktig kanal. Mediaupplevelser…

Växa med Google
Realtid, 2008-02-07
Innovation Day i Stockholm den 7 februari 2008. Inte bara jag med tanke på hur länge de får lov – att prata. Ola är fascistisk med tiden…

Empty
Realtid, 2008-02-07
…startups. Christian Rudolf och Peter Sandberg bloggar från it-seminariet Sime Innovation Day i Stockholm den 7 februari 2008. Medan jag sitter här och lyssnar på pitcharna…

BLOGS ABOUT SIME INNOVATION DAY

SIME INNOVATION DAY – Hur man växer med ERICSSON
http://disruptive.nu/2008/02/07/sime-innovation-hur-man-vaxer-med-ericsson/

SIME INNOVATION DAY – Hur man växer med TELENOR
http://disruptive.nu/2008/02/07/sime-innovation-hur-man-kan-vaxa-med-telenor/

SIME INNOVATION DAY – Hur man växer med GOOGLE
http://disruptive.nu/2008/02/07/hur-man-vaxer-med-google/

SIME INNOVATION DAY – Fler företagspresentationer
http://disruptive.nu/2008/02/07/sime-innovation-fler-foretagspresentationer/

MORE….

Knuff: http://knuff.se/q/SIME+Innovation+Day

Disruptive: http://disruptive.nu/index.php?s=Sime+innovation+Day

Some pictures on FLICKR

http://www.flickr.com/photos/23634003@N04/sets/72157603885752585/

YOUTUBE – also search for SIME07 to see the Highlights!

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=SIME+INNovaion+day&search_type=

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HHmo9vbJM8

SIME innovation Day – Nominate your favorite entrepreneurs!

We’re kick-starting the New Year with SIME Innovation Day, and as we promised on the SIME07 Conference you have the opportunity to nominate one company to the event.

More about SIME Innovation Day:
SIME Innovation Day is a by invitation only, free event for distinguished entrepreneurs. The objective is to create a meeting place for entrepreneurial companies and to open the doors to partnerships, investments and co-operations with our Co-Hosts (Ericsson, Google, Telenor). The entrepreneurs will be able to present their cases to relevant executives from Google, Telenor and Ericsson at the venue. Either in pre-arranged speed meetings, or live on stage.
The following criteria need to be met for all companies invited to participate:

* High level of innovation
* Clear end user focus
* Large market potential
* International growth potential
* Skilled management
* We prefer companies/products that are already established to those that soon will be
* We prefer companies that either want to become convergent or already have convergent solutions

If you are such a company or if there is a company you know that meet the criteria, send an email to innovationday@sime.nu and we’ll invite the company suggested, provided that there still is a spot open.
WHERE? Polstjärnan, Sveavägen 77, Stockholm, Sweden
WHEN?February 7th, 09.00-17.00 CET
QUESTIONS? Don’t hesitate to email us at innovationday@sime.nu if you have any questions about the event!