I read Free: The Future of a Radical Price by Chris Anderson. After attending Chris’s lecture on the topic of free I understood that it is a sensitive topic to talk about. It seems that money is the religion of capitalism. Or as Chris points it out in his book: “Free is not quite as simple–or as destructive–as it sounds.”
Here are some of my favorite points from the Free book:
• …with trust comes traffic.
• When you have no money, $0.00 is a very good price.
• Free may be the best price, but it can’t be the only one.
• Bits want to be free.
• Free is just a matter of when, not if.
• Sooner or later you will compete with free.
Chris is a big thinker and he refers to others such as Abraham Maslow and Adam Smith which makes Chris’s perspective richer and deeper (free sources for his book).
In the book Chris points out the value of attention and reputation – he has a lot of both because of his track-record of work (more to come).
The Saabs United Award is one of the best SAAB-news I have heard for a long time. It sounds like the top management now are start to recognize their true costumer tribe leader chief Steven Wade.
It is an good start but I don’t think it is enough – they need to change their DNA as a corporation (let fans drive the SAAB brand and not only buy solutions that they not are involved in). Why not invite Steven Wade to be a part of the top management team?
The Saabs United Trophy consists of a model of Saab’s first car, Ursaab, mounted on a plinth together with an unlikely partner – a boomerang. This was presented to Jonsson by Wade when protracted discussions for the sale of Saab were successfully concluded. “It is people like Steven and many thousands of Saab fans around the world who really deserve such an award,” said Jonsson. “In a way, you could say I am returning it, which seems quite appropriate.
Saabsunited.com
Apple founder Steve Jobs have been busy defending the iPhone 4, which has been mired in problems since before its launch. The latest scandal to crop up, dubbed ‘antennagate’, is so-named because the phone’s antenna gets poor reception if the phone is held the wrong way. Watch Jobs try and convince the world it’s not a big deal in this animation. iclarified.com
I watched Inception. It could have been a master movie but its clear that Hollywood really need some new talent. For some while ago I got an request to be sort of “marketing advisor” in a big movie production – it could have been a fun to do consulting for more than a year – here they should have done the movie (secret witch movie it was). But after watching Inception I understand that the problem is not to ad ore spice up an boring movie with some marketing creative ideas. It is better to ad good talented people from the beginning, next time I will recommend them to hire Malcolm Gladwell he is extremely good in telling a story so you want to spread it – it sticks in the audience mind and like his book it is so genius smart put together that you have to tell your friends.
Watch the trailer, Hollywood’s talent today is only enough to produce trailers (I am not the only wane to criticize their lack of creativity – here is Swedish Fredrik Strage article).
I read Brand it Like Beckham by Andy Milligan. Beckham did kick the boll and bent it around the defense. I think that could be an great way of score goal with branding, so I did read Andy Milligan’s latest book.
Some of my favorite point in this book is:
The world loves Beckham not merely for what he does, but for who he is.
Beckham is a legend, and legends sell.
I have to ad that David Beckham looks better than most super models and that probably could have something to do with his success. But without his personal charm that could be an disadvantage for him. David’s big heart for football is pure love and love is easy to buy into.
Author information about the book:
There is no one quite like David Beckham: brilliant footballer, dedicated athlete, fashion model, global icon and all-round celebrity. But Beckham the brand? Well, yes. This book shows David Beckham in a new light: as a man who has harnessed his skills and his growing fame to market himself in the same professional and disciplined way that a successful company markets its brand.
Andy Milligan
Being a big brands is the same as having fans and guaranty to have an % anti fans. For Facebook this is means new challenges. When more and more people are start dressing up in anti-T-shirts with the message: Die Facebook die (see picture). They have to add new values into their brand, like adding new user groups. A good way of doing so could be to produce a movie about their history. In this way people will start to think about history more than the future (do ore die). As they say in the movie promotion: “You don’t get to 500 million friends without making a few enemies…”
The new trailer includes many of the same terse quotes we’ve been hearing in the teaser trailers — ”Is there anything that you need to tell me? — but with the footage to accompany them. As would be expected, the trailer is loaded with scenes of Jesse Eisenberg’s Zuckerberg (I especially like the last clip of him), Justin Timberlake’s Sean Parker, with appearances from the Winklevoss twins, Dustin Moskovitz, and more. The movie is slated for release October 1 2010. Techcrunch.com
I read Buyology by Martin Lindstom. In his book Martin digs deep into the question if sex is really selling or not. The short answer is no, not in any level near what most people think. Sex has been the shortcut to attention in advertising since the beginning. What Martin discovers in his massive brain research is that sex gets strong attention but it takes over the attention from both the product and the brand. In other words the sex-shortcut is crowded and does not get brands where they like to end in consumers’ brains.
Emotions are one of the most powerful forces in driving what we buy. Martin Lindstom, Buyology
For brands it changes the approach a lot. It is like the old saying or singing:
I won’t have sex with you but I would like to make love with you!
Back to the question: Does love sell more than sex? Love attracts more sophisticated attention which does not take over – instead it leads to something (no not sex, but selling products/services and establish brands). My interpretation of Buyology is that love could sell more if the people working with branding discover the power of amore. I will send this blog post to Martin Lindstrom and hope that he will answer the question: Does love sell more than sex?
Have to point out that the book Buyology is not about sex (did it take your attention?). It is more about why we buy. Martin Lindstrom is one of most hard working persons in the branding industry. His books, lectures and consulting challenge how things are done – and ads new insights. This time he digs into Neuromarketing and uses science to discover how our brain is working (or not). Which I suggest it could be renamed as “brainding.”
I read Free: The Future of a Radical Price by Chris Anderson. After attending Chris’s lecture on the topic of free I understood that it is a sensitive topic to talk about. It seems that money is the religion of capitalism. Or as Chris points it out in his book: “Free is not quite as simple–or as destructive–as it sounds.”
I read 
I read Buyology by Martin Lindstom. In his book Martin digs deep into the question if sex is really selling or not. The short answer is no, not in any level near what most people think. Sex has been the shortcut to attention in advertising since the beginning. What Martin discovers in his massive 
Back to the question: Does love sell more than sex? Love attracts more sophisticated attention which does not take over – instead it leads to something (no not sex, but selling products/services and establish brands). My interpretation of Buyology is that love could sell more if the people working with branding discover the power of amore. I will send this blog post to Martin Lindstrom and hope that he will answer the question: Does love sell more than sex?
