Seinfeld on Marketing

All this time we thought Seinfeld was a show about “nothing”. Little did we know that peppered in its nine seasons were hidden, real-world marketing lessons taught from the masters themselves.

So, how do you market something that's "nothing" and make it arguably one of the best shows to date? Take a closer look.

Marketing Lessons:
1. Company Policies and Signs
2. Brands and Expectations
3. Using Comparisons
4. Exclusivity
5. Naming Your Product
6. Loyalty Programs
7. Competition Myopia

Information: seinfeldonmarketing[pdf]
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-wilson

Rising Oil Prices and the Falling Dollar...

Oil prices recently hit an all time high of over $92 per barrel. [1 barrel = 44 gallons] In January of 1999, oil was merely $11/barrel. Worries about oil stockpile inventories, the unrest in the Middle East, the increased demand (especially in China and India), and the weakening of the U.S. dollar all contributed to this steep rise in oil prices. Many analysts even think that it's just a matter of time before oil hits $100.

Reports by the Energy Department, the International Energy Agency and OPEC (the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) in recent weeks have shown that oil supplies are falling as demand is growing. Turmoil in the Middle East also has many worried that the price of oil could spike up. Turkey is currently threatening to send troops into northern Iraq unless the Kurdish rebels retreat. Traders worry that this will disrupt the flow of Iraq's oil exports, driving up the price of oil.

However, the key reason for high oil prices in the United States can be attributed to the deflation of our currency. In early 2001, a barrel of oil cost ~$30 USD. In Europe, the cost was $32 Euros. The devaluation of the dollar is noteworthy because the exchange rate used to be $0.93 USD to buy a Euro. Today, the exchange rate sits at $1.44 for one Euro. This is why we are paying over $90 USD while people in Europe only paying $63 Euros per barrel. In the six years, the price of oil has tripled for Americans whereas it has barely doubled for Europeans. The falling dollar justifies the higher prices because OPEC sells oil in US dollars but they often buy goods in Euros.

The same concept goes for other commodities such as gold, silver, copper, natural gas, etc. The weak dollar means that our purchasing power is decreased relative to the rest of the world. The impact of the devaluation of the dollar is very significant if you look at it from a global-macroeconomics perspective.

just something to think about..

-ben

Microsoft Office Live Workspace

Microsoft unveiled another piece of its Office web strategy, and what is perhaps most interesting about it is what it isn't: entirely web-based. Rather, Microsoft's move hopes to leverage the success of their Office client software to drive users to a new online collaboration site dubbed Office Live Workspace.

Office Live Workspace is not an online office suite. The aim of OLW is simple: give web-connected users a no-cost place to store, share, and collaborate on Office documents. To that end, the company will give registered users 250 MB of storage space, which can be used to store documents "in the cloud" or even "host" them for comments by other users equipped with just a web browser (you will be able to manage the access rights of other users). However, and this is important: you cannot create new Office documents with this feature nor can you edit documents beyond adding comments without having a copy of Microsoft Office installed locally.

As you can see, this is not a "Google Docs killer" or even an "answer" to Google Docs. This is not an online office suite, it's "software plus service." Microsoft's move here protects the company's traditional Office business, in that it's really positioned as a value-add to Office, rather than an Office alternative. Microsoft has seen success with its business-oriented SharePoint offering, and Microsoft is taking a kind of "SharePoint Lite" approach with OLW.

Microsoft says that OLW will integrate back into the client software, which means that users will be able to manage OLW documents from within Office itself. You can save directly from Word, Excel or PowerPoint to the online storage. OLW will also allow users to store files from other office suites, although integration will not be complete.

At first blush, the 250 MB of storage space will be more than enough for casual users, but hardcore Office junkies will be quickly looking for more storage space. Indeed, the idea of "anywhere access" that Microsoft is pushing here is really only complete once users can store and search all of their documents online. Of course, in the Microsoft ecosystem, there are other tools that let you access files that are stored on a remote Windows PC, but complete integration would be better.

OLW will officially support Office 2003 and 2007 when it opens later this year. Currently users can pre-register for the beta here. We experienced problems with the pre-reg site earlier this morning, but eventually got through.

Microsoft's announcement called Windows Live Workspace "among the first entries in the new wave of online services." Microsoft has plenty more up its sleeve, and for those of you looking for clues, continue to think about software plus service approaches to integration. Will we ever see a full-blown online office suite from Microsoft? Not any time soon, I'm afraid, as Microsoft's "software plus service" vision is just picking up steam. We'll see quite a bit more from Microsoft in this area over the coming year.

AKPsi tries blogging

Alpha Kappa Psi Nu Xi's official Business Blog:
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