Timoni West is a web designer in San Francisco.
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Posts about marketing
May 24th, 2011

Today I was driven insane by an article implying that Netflix could serve as a model for the music industry. I could go paragraph by paragraph and pick apart the argument, but that would be needlessly pedantic. I’ll quote one to exemplify what is wrong.

“With Netflix consumers have proven they will rent content – even re-run content – and stream it from the cloud. They will pay for digital content they could get for free through illegal means. They will pay if the service allows streaming through multiple devices – including mobile.”

With Netflix customers have not proven they will rent content. They have proven they will rent visual content. Visual content is a subset of the macro concept of content, and consumer behaviors in relation to such has no intrinsic corollary to aural, printed or other forms of content such as games. To put it another way, in the hierarchy of content, what applies to a sub-type does not necessarily apply to its siblings. This article uses this fallacy as a way to call for emulation of Netflix by music services.

Wrong Assumptions and Netflix - blackrimglasses.com

assumptions design philosophy marketing media business plans
November 5th, 2009

Bob Iger: We recently decided to revamp our Disney stores, and his contribution, very early in the process, was to ask that we create a statement — in other words, ask ourselves, “What do you want the stores to say to people when they walk in?”

He didn’t tell us what it would be, but he told us it was necessary that we have one.

8 stars speak out on Steve Jobs - Bob Iger, from FORTUNE, via superamit

I could not agree more. Products need to speak to consumers. This is why Best Made Company blew me away so much yesterday; it’s clear they know exactly what their product message is, and everything they say and do on their website is designed to support that message.

marketing product design
November 4th, 2009
Some patches & axes from BEST MADE CO. After visiting this website, good lord, I’ve never wanted an axe so much in my life. This website isn’t selling axes, it’s selling a lifestyle. A well-tailored, simple but elegant, understatedly clever, quirky and high-quality lifestyle that somehow involves me having a really cool axe, as well as several major virtues like compassion and fortitude. I think this is the sort of tone that Field Notes has been trying, unsuccessfully, to hit. Marketing slow clap.

Some patches & axes from BEST MADE CO.

After visiting this website, good lord, I’ve never wanted an axe so much in my life. This website isn’t selling axes, it’s selling a lifestyle. A well-tailored, simple but elegant, understatedly clever, quirky and high-quality lifestyle that somehow involves me having a really cool axe, as well as several major virtues like compassion and fortitude. I think this is the sort of tone that Field Notes has been trying, unsuccessfully, to hit.

Marketing slow clap.

axes marketing
September 28th, 2009
H.L. Mencken once said that nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public. That is not true. I have come to believe that it pays to make all your layouts project a feeling of good taste, provided that you do it unobtrusively. An ugly layout suggests an ugly product. There are very few products which do not benefit from being given a first-class ticket through life.

The Footnotes of Mad Men: Suburban Rococo , via The Awl

marketing copywriting mad men
September 27th, 2009
Admittedly, I opened a bunch of tabs first, but when I finally checked Justin Timberlake’s website, the first thing I saw was another performer, which immediately struck me as really, really cool: world-famous guy is so confident that he (or his marketing team) is comfortable putting another performer in the main banner on his site. Sweet.

Admittedly, I opened a bunch of tabs first, but when I finally checked Justin Timberlake’s website, the first thing I saw was another performer, which immediately struck me as really, really cool: world-famous guy is so confident that he (or his marketing team) is comfortable putting another performer in the main banner on his site. Sweet.

music marketing justintimberlake
May 15th, 2009
benw: From the front page of Amazon.com: Wireless Reading Just Got Bigger Hmm. … Really? What were they think… oh! The wireless Amazon Kindle for ‘wireless reading’! Now carry books wherever you go! “Wireless” was a poor word choice on Amazon’s part. The awesome thing about the Kindle is not so much the wires or lack of them (you still have to plug it in to charge it, anyway), but that you can download the book you want, anytime.  There’s no wait, and you don’t have to go to a bookstore or pay for shipping, either! Finish one book and you can download the next at three in the morning! On a bus! In China! Without internet! That’s the concept Amazon is trying to push with the repeated use of the word “wireless,” because “wireless” can mean either “something without wires” or “something transmitted through the air with energy”. The latter is the less obvious meaning, but the only one that makes sense in Amazon’s marketing here.  Unfortunately for them, it’s easy to misinterpret—and, clearly, easy to mock.

benw:

From the front page of Amazon.com:

Wireless Reading Just Got Bigger

Hmm.

…

Really? What were they think… oh!

  • The wireless Amazon Kindle for ‘wireless reading’! Now carry books wherever you go!

“Wireless” was a poor word choice on Amazon’s part. The awesome thing about the Kindle is not so much the wires or lack of them (you still have to plug it in to charge it, anyway), but that you can download the book you want, anytime.  There’s no wait, and you don’t have to go to a bookstore or pay for shipping, either! Finish one book and you can download the next at three in the morning! On a bus! In China! Without internet!

That’s the concept Amazon is trying to push with the repeated use of the word “wireless,” because “wireless” can mean either “something without wires” or “something transmitted through the air with energy”. The latter is the less obvious meaning, but the only one that makes sense in Amazon’s marketing here.  Unfortunately for them, it’s easy to misinterpret—and, clearly, easy to mock.

technology marketing gadgets
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