I've had several BusinessWeek articles sitting in my browser this past week that I wanted to share. Figured I should just consolidate them into one post, headlined by their recently released report on the 100 Top Brands of 2006. Several things that jumped out at me was the large gap between the sector leaders and the other companies occupying the same space. For those that watch Cramer (though he's lost some luster recently), he calls these companies "Best of Breed".My opinions are all based on what I see from my little bubble in America so it doesn't factor in what else is going on in the world unless it's in my face in the forums I frequent. In the last few years Pepsi has made some inroads agains Coca-Cola and currently analyst opinions of Pepsi are much more favorable than Coca-Cola. Yet 21 spots still separates the two.
I love IBM, but I don't know how they are still up there, and am projecting that they will fall next year. I'm surprised they've managed to hold on to the top three position this year. Selling their ThinkPad line to Lenovo was brilliant, but that's one less physical object that can reinforce the brand in the consumer's mind. Their consulting services still seems to be finding their way and unless they can settle on a path, they will continue their wandering. Not so good for keeping customers or reinforcing / building a brand.
Onto Nokia and Motorola. An amazing 63 spots separates the two, yet in American I see far more Motorola phones in the hands of my friends and acquaintances than Nokia. The last few phones that caught like wild fire has been Motorola models.
Fourty spots separates Nike and adidas. Surprised adidas hasn't moved this year given its overwhelming support of the World Cup. I guess the Reebok brand will continue, but if adidas were to somehow absorb Reebok's brand in addition to its business, I'm pretty sure adidas will move up many spots. Especially in the minds of all football fans (the American version).
74 spots separates Samsung and LG. I hear LG is big in places like India and while I have no Samsung appliances, I do have an LG. Both companies are really putting it to the Japanese brands. Sony is far ahead of Panasonic, but whereas I see Sony's brand going down (especially if they are really relying on the PS3), Panasonic's products are fantastic, they just don't sell themselves well enough. Plenty of room to grow for Panasonic and LG. And as for Samsung, I expect them to stay up top for a while more.
HSBC at 28, what a great flexible logo and terrific campaigns can do for you. It only moved up one spot, but it got the gears turning.
Surprised that tobacco products and alcohol are still highly ranked given the increased regulation in America. I guess the global and emerging markets are doing their part in bolstering these brands.
Your thoughts? And before I go, two interesting articles from BusinessWeek here, one on Ikea (are American's taste so conservative) and the other on Mattel.
1. Darren,
How are you? I'm Frank Ruscica. I'm writing because:
* I have developed a business plan that details how AOL can dramatically increase its ad revenue by establishing a popular online market for customized education and career services (CECS) (Previous versions of the plan were praised effusively by executives at Microsoft and Amazon.com.)
* I have just applied for Senior Manager positions at AOL that are a good fit for someone with a plan and background like mine
* AOL's job site suggests that an employee referral improves an applicant's chances (Identifiers for the positions are below)
An adaptation of my business plan is online at http://landof.opportunitv.com. The site also contains information about my background.
Here's an overview of the plan:
Information is the lifeblood of any market.
The more popular an online market gets, then, the more opportunities there are to profit from online media (including media that is generated by software, and media that is created by market participants at a website owned by the market-maker).
Advertisers love media that appeals to the young and upwardly mobile.
The online markets that will create the most lucrative media opportunities, then, are markets that help the young to be upwardly mobile.
The biggest such market will be the market for CECS.
The best way to establish a popular CECS market is to first establish and popularize a transparent online market for the advertisement spaces on single-creator media (e.g., blogs, podcasts). (A transparent market is one wherein all prices are publicly known.)
The latter market will also help the young to be upwardly mobile.
Both markets, then, will give rise to a lot of media that is very attractive to advertisers.
Better still, the markets will also generate revenue from transactions.
Three keys to popularizing the aforesaid ad-space market are:
* opening the market to all media producers
* augmenting the market's website with features that facilitate the production and distribution of media
* using the site to create branded media that:
* increases awareness of the markets
* showcases participants in the markets
* generates profits
This media can generate significant profits, not least because:
* the nucleus accumbens -- the part of the brain that gives rise to psychological addiction -- is fired by increased prospects of financial gain
* America is ideally suited to gain many good jobs from the growth of the CECS industry
These profits will become increasingly important as sites like Revver.com collapse the margins from ad sales that will be available to media hosting sites.
Maximizing these profits on a risk-adjusted basis requires:
* managing a portfolio of media properties and making phased investments in production value
* aligning incentives with a broadcast TV network, so shows that prove popular online and/or through video-on-demand can expeditiously gain the broadest distribution
Time-Warner owns a broadcast TV network, of course.
So AOL is well positioned to establish a popular CECS market.
AOL's first steps toward this end should be to recruit the right lead architects for the most scarce and valuable parts of a '1.0' maker of the aforesaid ad-space market, which should be hosted at OpportuniTV.com.
The most valuable parts are:
* the sitcom -- Land of OpportuniTV -- that is the optimal centerpiece of the markets-maker's '1.0' media portfolio
* the best software tools for rapidly developing software applications for searching online social/professional networks (e.g., blog networks)
I have developed the premise for Land of OpportuniTV, and the treatment (i.e., detailed outline) of the pilot episode, and both designs are as provably optimal as such designs can be. (My submission to the New York TV Festival's "one-minute pitch" competition is online at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMkKa_U14sY. Details about the pitch competition are online at http://www.newyorktelevisionfestival.com/)
My colleague David Warren is an ACM Fellow computer scientist who has spent over fifteen years developing the software engine that is the ideal foundation for the aforesaid search tools.
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So if AOL hires me, I will recruit David, and we will be off to the races :-)
As a first step, I applied for three positions:
* Senior Program Manager (Requisition# 59414BR)
* Senior Program Manager (Requisition# 62831BR)
* Senior Business Planning Manager (Requisition# 59317BR)
I don't know how you can recommend me for one or more of these positions, but please let me know if I can help you to do so.
Thanks kindly for any consideration you can extend. Of course, feel free to contact me with any questions, comments, etc.
Best regards,
Frank Ruscica
Posted at 9:39PM on Aug 1st 2006 by Frank Ruscica