Pope Denounces Consumerism- Maybe he recently saw Fight Club or read Naomi Klein's No Logo, but the Pope's recent scolding of Christians and advertisers about the commercialisation of Christmas is perhaps 30 years too late. It's such a two-edged sword for the Pope. Advertisers on the one hand were the drivers of the post WWII global economy; in turn they may have over-stepped their bounds by monetizing the holiday for economic reasons as a priority over spirituality. The Pope said recently, in the Age, that the real happiness of the festive period [Christmas] was "certainly very different from the illusions spun out in advertisements". Marketing Advice for the Catholic Church on the Advertising Industry: To save the image of the Church, do realize the world has turned ever more toward global capitalism over the past 30 years (thankfully) with the Christmas season generating a good chunck of total annual sales for many sectors. To scold advertisers and people for displaying and wanting to share their hard-earned salaries with others during Christmas may be too harsh. Yet, realize that for the non-religious, Christmas is mainly an economic holiday, staged on the "foundings" of the Christian Church. Continue to re-focus your followers on the Christian message and continually position the Church as a "Center of Good Deeds", rather than the impetus of an annual global economic exchange. Per Capita Pop Culture Consumption - According to the Census data, America's per capita pop culture consumption is expected to increase from 3,333 hours a year in 2000 to 3,518 hours in 2007. Marketing Advice to the Pop Culture Industry: The effectiveness of your industry and its marketing tools is starting to scare many people and there may soon be a backlash. But for now consumers think they are "in control" via consumer generated media. You could continue to focus the current economy and the media on your messaging on (the MeEconomy thing) with success. This way, even though you conduct heavy mass media campaigns for people to feel accepted into the mainstream (only by owning the latest Apple iPod), consumers will still think they are in control because of the songs they control and choose to put on their iPod (rather than being "out of control" by listening to mainstream media radio, etc.). It's a "win-win" solution for the Pop Culture Industry, just like the wive's tail that one should "make him think it's his idea." But careful, though, once Apple's iTV comes out, the consumer will actually be "in control" - and this time of the most powerful mass medium, TV.
The Year of the Avatar - As network news programs continue to struggle, the Wall Street Journal reports that the creators of news show are trying a new strategy -- moving online by replacing the producer, the editor and even the news anchor with a computer (the Avatar). Marketing Advice to the Avatar Industry: As most bloggers start to adopt talking avatars online into their blogs, I'm still at a loss as to why companies like SitePal (which I use and love) hasn't developed a cost-effective personalized Avatar generation service (e.g. turning a personal photo into an Avatar so people can now 'live' online too). Avatar Industry: alieve the fear of online identity theft, develop, price and market this service. Big cash cow and we're all waiting!
Monetizing Social Media - Howard Davies, a director of media strategy at Deloitte explains why it's tough to make money from social media. "There's something about the social user community that is absolutely not professional and so the community doesn't want it to be commercialised," he said about advertising around Web sites dedicated to the content." Monetizing Advice for Social Media Properties: sacrificing profits for users and hoping that Google acquires your company before you run out of cash may not be an effective strategy. If the buyout doesn't come, force yourself to start monetizing your content in order to survive, which may alienate users - but not if you properly educate them that if the service is to continue to exist that advertising must be incorporated into their user experience. Don't be afraid to educate your users. With any luck, your users will Brand Hijack your service and Google will come calling.
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