Tuesday, May 15, 2007
The Futurist
Over lunch today, I finished reading a novel called "The Futurist" by James P. Othmer. I very much enjoyed the cynicism Othmer used to portray his main character Yates - no first name, just Yates. Yates is a futurist, one of those trendy trendspotters who are all the rage right now. A cheerleader for the corporate world, showing businesses how to get people to spend money by tapping into our deepest desires. Only the cynicism and the crassness of this work finally gets to Yates and he muddles through a crisis that becomes a mystery. Othmer does an excellent job of keeping to his theme - right down to the final words of the book. His theme is the future, and specifically, telling the future. Nostradamus plays a part. According to Othmer's bio on his website, he used to work at an advertising agency. This, of course, begs the questions, "Did he turn into Yates while working there? Is "The Futurist" somewhat autobiographical?" In a larger sense, the book has me wondering whether we put too much stock in futurists in general, in their findings about trends, in their boxing us up and labeling us with catchy names. It's certainly going to make me look askance at what futurists do in the future.
Labels: advertising, books, future, futurist, james othmer, nostradamus, reading, trends
Friday, December 15, 2006
Of points & cows & tails
Have you noticed that trend-watching has become a trend in and of itself?
I'm not sure where this started (maybe Faith Popcorn was the culprit), but marketers who watch trends love to name those trends. So do business people. There's Chris Anderson's Long Tail, Malcolm Gladwell's Tipping Point, and Seth Godin's Purple Cow. What would happen if we mixed up a few of these trendy-trends? How would they interact with each other?
The thought comes . . . .
What is the tipping point of the purple cow with the long tail?
Whether this makes sense is anyone's guess.
I'm not sure where this started (maybe Faith Popcorn was the culprit), but marketers who watch trends love to name those trends. So do business people. There's Chris Anderson's Long Tail, Malcolm Gladwell's Tipping Point, and Seth Godin's Purple Cow. What would happen if we mixed up a few of these trendy-trends? How would they interact with each other?
The thought comes . . . .
What is the tipping point of the purple cow with the long tail?
Whether this makes sense is anyone's guess.
Labels: chris anderson, faith popcorn, malcolm gladwell, purple cow, seth godin, the long tail, the tipping point, trends
Thursday, October 12, 2006
The Long Tail of Consumers
I've finished reading Chris Anderson's book, The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More. The book explains how the shift in retail sales from physical stores to the internet has caused consumption to move away from cultural hits to cultural niches. The hits cause a spike on one end of the retail sales chart. The niche sales cause a long tail along the rest of the sales chart, hence the title. With the internet driving niche sales, it turns out that the combined sales along the tail are greater than sales occurring on the hill of hits. Chris posits that retailers better get their act together and start paying more attention to the customers purchasing on the long tail.
Whenever I read a book that puts forth a new theory, I inevitably end up with questions. So it goes with this book. Marketers have broken customers up into groups based on age. You've heard of these groups, I'm sure. There's the Greatest Generation (those who lived through the Depression & World War II), the Baby Boomers (a.k.a. Boomers), the Gen Xers (a.k.a. Slackers), and the Millenials (a.k.a. Gen Y). The coveted demographic for marketers is the group comprised of 18-34 year-old males. (See pages 166 & 194 of The Long Tail) Even though this group is at forefront of using digital technology (the internet et. al.), and presumably driving the demand for niche culture, could this same group also be considered the "cultural hit" of demographics? Could it be that all the rest of us are considered the long tail and thus are niche consumers? The long tail isn't just about the products; it's also about the customers. Are you paying attention, marketers?
Whenever I read a book that puts forth a new theory, I inevitably end up with questions. So it goes with this book. Marketers have broken customers up into groups based on age. You've heard of these groups, I'm sure. There's the Greatest Generation (those who lived through the Depression & World War II), the Baby Boomers (a.k.a. Boomers), the Gen Xers (a.k.a. Slackers), and the Millenials (a.k.a. Gen Y). The coveted demographic for marketers is the group comprised of 18-34 year-old males. (See pages 166 & 194 of The Long Tail) Even though this group is at forefront of using digital technology (the internet et. al.), and presumably driving the demand for niche culture, could this same group also be considered the "cultural hit" of demographics? Could it be that all the rest of us are considered the long tail and thus are niche consumers? The long tail isn't just about the products; it's also about the customers. Are you paying attention, marketers?
Labels: chris anderson, culture, demographics, the long tail, trends
