Research vs Planning

Image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/darkumber/
Preamble
I’ve learned a lot from reading and interacting with various blogs. But something has been bothering me for a while now.
What if it is all complete rubbish?
That’s blatantly trolling and patently not true – I read a lot of fascinating and thought-provoking posts. But the extent to which I should implicitly trust their [...]

The cost of giving it away

I am one of a declining number that likes to read a Sunday newspaper.
Recession notwithstanding, I am also one of those people that tends to struggle more in terms of time than money.
Therefore, I generally only have time to read one newspaper a week. The choice of newspaper is effectively zero-sum. I choose one newspaper; [...]

Links – 22nd February 2009

Some of the things I’ve read over the past week and would recommend:

There have been some interesting events occurring in London over the past week: John Griffiths went to the NESTA workshop, and Anjali Ramachandran and Eaon Pritchard both went to see Seth Godin speak

A thought-provoking article in the Atlantic on the future of TV. [...]

Green button advertising approaching launch

Channel 4 have announced that they are going to be marketing upcoming shows through the green button service on Sky. Sky’s own forays into green button – originally planned to launch last summer – are imminent.
The green button service is an interactive feature whereby viewers can bookmark content as they view (in real time or [...]

Is TV advertising responsible for Apple’s success?

I was in a meeting a few days ago where Apple was described as a company that had retreated from large-scale TV advertising, despite TV advertising being responsible for its success.
I disagreed at the time, and remain pretty sure that this is a fallacy. Am I right?
Buttressed by Wikipedia and recent “25 year of Mac” [...]

Crowdsourced consumption and product development

We are all consumers. We choose what to consume. But we also choose how we consume it.
This may be completely different to how the inventor anticipated, or expected, usage. It is the law of unintended consequences.
Contrary actions may prevent a product or service succeeding. But equally, an innovative use that builds on the original concept [...]

Links – 15th February 2009

Things I have read in the last week that I would recommend:
Henry Jenkins has begun serialising his white paper on spreadable media – If it Doesn’t Spread It’s Dead. Part 1 – on media viruses and memes – and Part 2 – on sticky and spreadable – are both fascinating
Andrew Scott argues that Google Latitude [...]

Classic blog posts #4: Randall Rothenberg’s manifeso on digital advertising creativity

Unlike previous classic blog posts – transparent attempts to compensate for a lack of attention to this blog by shamelessly republishing old bookmarks (which, nevertheless, are still brilliant) – this edition is to highlight a post made a couple of days ago.
Because it is brilliant. And everyone should both read it and engage with it:
Randall [...]

Online video working with TV

Far from being a replacement to the traditional broadcast model, online video acts as a strong complement. Online video can be used to increase both reach and frequency, and the highly immersive environment offers multiple benefits.
2008 was a watershed year for online video. Ever faster and more reliable broadband connections are improving the online experience, [...]

Links – 8th February 2009

I know it’s overkill, but the snow excitement is yet to abate. I didn’t create this snowman, but he is so exceptional that he deserves all the publicity going.
Picture by me
Anyway, things I would recommend reading include:

Live | Work have an absolutely brilliant post on Service Thinking – a must-read

Umair Haque’s Smart Growth Manifesto proposes [...]