Andrew Roskin, a noted authority from the DealBook fame of NYTimes recently released a book on how the interconnected businesses between banks make them too big to fail. AIG has become the defacto case study for this phenomenon, since the Government was compelled to save the insurance mammoth in lieu of spending the money on creating more jobs or offering them back to the common man.
Of course, too big to fail can also be used in other industry areas too, and notably Google has been often compared to being too big to fail, primarily since the internet is largely indexed by Google, the path to your online experience taps on Google one too many times every day across the internet-o-sphere.
[Google - too big to fail? or actually I think its too evil to fail - its become a necessary devil]
Now, Facebook seems to be slowly becoming a ‘too big to fail’ case study in their niche of connecting people and getting people into the social realm of things. May be, people can live without Facebook once the fad settles in, but still its slowly inching to becoming a great engagement channel for business and marketers alike, not to mention the number of hours spent on Facebook by the millions every day. Some stats from the Facebook universe: » Continue reading ‘SIME Talks Season 2 Episode 5: Facebook - too big to fail?’
Private shopping clubs have become extremely popular of late. Inspired by the likes of Vente Privee , Guilt Groupe and BuyVIP, it is a closed community where end-of-sale branded goods and unsold inventory are sold at 30-70% discount to the members of the community.
E-Commerce with a twist
Called E-commerce with a twist, private shopping has caught on like a wild fire, bringing scores of consumers to sign up with their details to receive alerts when a particular sale of a branded good happens. Typically the sale lasts for around 72 hours by which the consumer should make up his / her mind and then make a purchase of the item. Else, of course he / she misses the sale.
What makes it different from plain old vanilla e-commerce?
- For a start, it is exclusively branded goods only at 70% retail. May be not the branded goods in vogue at the moment, but still a Gucci is a Gucci.
- It is exclusive, meaning, only community members can invite community members - like how Gmail was when it started out for instance.
- More brand loyalty since consumers more or less like a platform and wait for branded sales to happen
It has inspired new niches such as exclusive house designer private shopping club such as One King’s Lane and a lot of clones across different countries, with each country in for instance Europe having their version of the Vente Privee. Of course the barrier to entry is tremendously low since its the location and the accessibility that counts as much Read Tech Crunch’s coverage on One Kings Lane
Private Shopping clubs
Although most private shopping clubs are actually private (yeah wtf), some communities have decided to strike the private part off, and stick to branded shopping clubs alone. For instance, Brands4Friends, backed by Mangrove Capital Partners is an open community that allows people to find and track branded sales and be part of the group to exercise their purchasing power. May be a bit of a brand conflict when it comes to keeping branded items accessible to everyone at 70% the rates, yet it is still interesting as the concept reaches critical mass faster and comes to a saturation where the best deals are given at better rates - consumerism at its best
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.
There is no secret recipe to reach the top, but listening to this might atleast give you inspiration, help you correct your mistakes faster, understand what makes things work, the value of partnerships and business alliances, risk taking approach, the importance of finding the right team to work with, learning quick from failures and ultimately putting in those long hours day and night. May be the usual run of the mill if you read the text, but listening to these experts and entrepreneurs talk might atleast rekindle that lost memory, the hidden thought and hopefully supply some fuel to excel in these cold long days. The first advise I got from my mentor couple of years back was “Having a great idea is a liability without the right execution”, and these are such very valuable insights that reshapes the way you think about your business. This is a great resource, thanks to 23business for interviewing the folks at SIME 2009, editing and putting all the thoughts cohesively.
SIME Talks, inspired by a similar version from TED features interviews, expert opinions around things digital from friends of the SIME house. We started the weekly routine of featuring an expert and focusing on a take home message revolving around different topics since last July, and the concept has quite much caught on.
We love the whole routine of putting up the show since it gives us the chance to revisit old interviews caught amongst dusty tapes (not that they belong there, but because they didn’t connect with the right medium as yet) and realize the messages conveyed by various thought leaders who have been to SIME. Particularly interesting is if you look at predictions made, from how Tom Crampton and Michael Oreskes connect media content, freemium and quality back in 2007 to the cloud computing movement by SUN, it is fascinating to actually realize these guys figured out the solution before people could understand the problem.
Last year, we featured 15 talk shows and 1 digest edition putting together them all under the banner of ‘all things digital’. And true to our nature of spreading digital knowledge, being inspired by the latest revolutions and innovations and hence inspiring our readers, we feature an introductory talk to kick off this season’s episode. Ola Ahlvarsson, the soul of SIME, moderator and catalyst for the whole brand talks about SIME to the folks from 23 Business (who have a great set of interviews btw at their vimeo channel) about SIME, the various editions of SIME in different cities and plans for 2010.
For those who are new to SIME, this is a great start for you to get a tweet-vator pitch (not quite, but almost). Welcome to SIME and the family!
SIME Talks has got great traction. Modeled loosely on the TED Talks, we made it a habit at SIME to dig up interesting SIME content and post it every week as SIME Talks. And the whole exercise surprised us every single time. We found the SIME 2008 and 2007 content to still be completely relevant. Call it the death of the cruise gear in the digital landscape, or just may be SIME was doing good predicting the future, it is quite just surprising. With so many changes in the landscape, its hard to believe that the gears have fallen back and the wheels are coming to a halt. So quite surely, the speakers at SIME are visionaries, thought leaders who envision the crystal ball and are quite accurate in reading through it.
This post is a digest of all the SIME Talks till date. Of course, you can also watch all the SIME Talks using the tag “sime-talks”. That is http://sime.nu/tag/sime-talks.
In any case, listed below is quick summary of all the interviews along with individual links to the respective SIME Talk. Enjoy the collection!
The future of content is quality. Quality will win, since the fundamental scare resource is the attention span of the audience. People do not have the time to absorb random information on the internet, and what they need is the professional skill and craft of journalism to make the data accessible and for journalists to do the work for the audience so that they can absorb it.
Words from veteran journalist Michael Oreskes who believes there are a myriad of ways to execute journalism and, the internet is all about finding the right mix at the right location.
Michael Oreskes - 28 years of solid journalism, and yes, he believes in new media.
Mike has served as executive editor of the International Herald Tribune since 2005. Previously, he was deputy managing editor of The New York Times, supervising television and Internet content. During this period, he won three Emmy awards and a DuPont award for documentary television. Currently he is working with the AP as Managing Editor for U.S. News. He is the co author of The Genius of America, How the Constitution Saved Our Country and Why It Can Again.
Thomas Crampton who worked as a correspondent under the supervision of Michael Oreskes in International Herald Tribune and New York Times is out there changing the media industry. He is currently involved as the Asia-Pacific director of 360 Digital Influence for Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide. Tom heads a team stretching across 23 cities in 15 Asian territories that helps companies conceive, develop and execute strategies in Social Media.
The deadly duo of Mike and Tom were simply scintillating on stage. The final session of SIME 2007 was all theirs to fight out about the changing media industry and, the number of ideas that were thrown in during the session to save the media industry was simply a “Eureka” moment to all of us.
Old vs New Media, the battle has escalated into a war or are we seeing peace signs?
While the proponents of old media were still not convinced about the future of content online, the visionaries saw it coming, and on stage were two such minds talking about how things would be shaped 5 years from now. Unlike any “future will happen in 5 years” prediction where typically the number of years is understated, the media industry has quite much evolved into their vision 2 years ahead in time of their prediction.
Media companies are on a rampage, (look at the chart of Schibsted) on a wild hunt to find interesting niches and verticals to monetize their unsold inventory and cross- sell their existing journalistic services on top of new vertical; and a revenue model that connects them all, the holy grail of new age journalism if one might call it that.
Thanks Mike and Tom for all the energy you guys exhumed then. I can safely say, its still very much breathing!
Back in 2006, when we were still trying to understand the online space a little bit better, there were very few big media companies or “dinosaurs” that really could come to terms with the fact that their core business model probably is going to have to change, and that the change will sweep them right from beneath the feet. They could either jump in or sink, and Schibsted with a CEO who boasted of a fantastic sense of vision rightfully decided to jump in, take the mantle and steer the ship to safety
Schibsted has grown to become one of Scandinavia’s largest media houses with diverse footprints in the landscape, operating in 22 countries, and having some of the leading sites in Scandinavia like Aftonbladet.se (the most read online newspaper), blocket.se amongst other very interesting and successful verticals.
Kjell Aamodt, who has led Schibsted for 20 years decided to step down mid this year. Rolv Erik Ryssdal is the new sergeant at the helm. You can catch Rolv Erik Ryssdal at SIME Stockholm this year, he is one of the speakers at the conference.
Below, is a video dug out from 2006, which I think is still relevant, as many media companies are still questioning the viability of the online model and holding the traditional channels too near and dear to their heart. Probably, the alarm bells are not loud enough, or may be, a Lehman brother kind of shock is needed for people to realize where the money is being spent. At the end of the day, its a simple mantra of “Follow your customers”, and when the customers are going online, what’s stopping them, they only know
She talks, we listen - No more, no less, golden words by the Queen of the US Internet, none other than Esther Dyson. Take about 120 seconds of your time and realize how true these words are for your business.
Annie Wegelius is impressive. She is not the kind of corporate personnel who would bend over when you talk digital jargon with her about why the new media would swallow up traditional media. Instead, she stands up, embraces the change in consumption pattern and executes innovation within the “huge dinosaur”. She was quite vociferous in her views about how the traditional media should fight the fire with the digital media on stage at SIME last year and cited SVT as a classic case study. When going through some digital tapes, I managed to find this short talk and decided to feature her as the protagonist for this week’s SIME Talks. The talk can be found below (about 1.40 mins)
SVT (Sveriges Television), for our international audience is the is the Swedish public service television company with the widest range of programming of all TV companies in Sweden. Following a completely non commercial route (no advertisements), Swedes wherever they might be are happy to pay a licensing fee to tune into the most trusted Swedish media.
Before joining SVT in May 2007, Annie has been an entrepreneurial part of the TV and media industry for the past 25 years. She was part of the founding team of the first Scandinavian commercial broadcaster TV 3 acting as the channels first programming director. She then founded and headed her own production company Wegelius TV that grew to become one of the leading independent production companies in the region in the 90s.
The SVTplay.se which features shows and content straight from SVT’s stable is more than impressive for a public services company and no doubt is Annie Wegelius walking her talk. It won’t do any harm for Rupert Murdoch and co to take a leaf straight off SVT and Annie’s books.