John's Music Blog

About 10 years ago, I did several video segments with Caspar Weinberger on the show World Business Review (WBR).  I was one of the “industry experts,” whose job it was to keep the conversation on topic, and not let the episode go too far afield or become too much of an infomercial. 

Cap (he wanted to be called “Cap”), who was eventually replaced by Al Haig, passed away in 2006, but he was amazingly active well into his 80s, when he was hosting this show.  He used to record between 4 and 6 episodes a day. At the time, distribution for the episodes included broadcast on the business channel on United’s overseas flights to Japan.  I only know this because I spent so much time flying to Japan in those days and saw myself on the overhead screen from time to time.  WBR also licensed the content to schools, which I always found interesting.

Every startup is looking for cost-efficient and effective ways to get the word out on their products and services.  StorMagic decided to leverage wsRadio with this webcast.  It’s well produced. I don’t know the cost, and I need to hear from wsRadio regarding how many listeners they get and how the content they produce is distributed.  I’d also like to hear from anyone who has used wsRadio or similar services to get the word out.  Was it effective in raising visibility?  Did it increase end-user or partner leads? Did it help close sales?

I like an occasional beer.  I don’t drink a lot, but when I have a beer, my taste tends towards darker microbrews such as HE’BREW, the chosen beer, or a good stout, such as Guinness, properly poured.  I realize that by saying that, I’m not making any fans in St. Louis, home of Anheuser-Busch, brewer of beers that are quite a bit cheaper than HE’BREW, other microbrews, or Guinness.  

Recently the Carlsberg Group  introduced a $400 beer.  That’s $400 for 375 ml, which is about 30 times more than I pay for even the best micro-brewed six pack.  In 2006, Carlsberg, which sells beer in over 150 countries, generated 41 billion Danish Krones in revenue from sales of 102 million hectolitres of beer and 19 million hectolitres of soft drinks.  For the record, one hectolitre is equivalent to about 176 British pints.  So they are definitely not a microbrewer. (more…)

I posted the following question on LinkedIn about five days ago:

What’s the best strategy for creating end-user awareness of an innovative product through social networking?

Here’s the dig.  At least I think it was a dig:

Try and be a bit more simple and straightforward in your communications than you are in your questions. (more…)

Mike Worhach, President and CEO of Sepaton, walked into the Starbuck’s where I was meeting  Paul Gillin this morning, and said, “Every time I see you, you’re taking notes.” Confirming once again that it’s important to surround yourself with people smarter than yourself, I was having a follow-on to my meeting with Paul last week.  Paul has been amazingly generous with his time, given that he has started writing another book.  I’m eight chapters into his book from last year (2007, for those of you who are keeping track), The New Influencers, and I wanted to pick his brain on how he might be able to help one of our clients.  But I also got an added bonus, which was getting a few quick tips that could make a big difference for anyone.  Here’s one. (more…)

Paul Gillin was kind enough to meet me for coffee on Friday morning.   Paul and I go back a long way.  He played a key role in the success of TechTarget, and I spoke at one of his first conferences, the highly influential Storage Decisions conference.  When we met for coffee this week, Paul  brought with him an autographed copy of his latest book,  The New Influencers , which I am reading, while on a 3-day holiday in Syracuse, New York.   Who wouldn’t want to be in Syracuse, the land of lake-effect snow, in the middle of winter?  But it’s a great place to go to catch up on reading.

 As part of my New Year’s resolution, I’m determined to become more engaged in the “new social media.”  There are a couple of reasons.  The first is that, while I have an enormous network of contacts, I need a more effective way to maintain communication.  The second is that, I have several clients that need a more effective way to reach potential customers and influencers than traditional marketing approaches provide.  (more…)

Back-of-the-napkin analysis isn’t good enough for some people, as one friend illustrated, when after my last post he sent me this link to an available research report on Ice Cream in the USA to 2011.  This report, which provides volume, value, share and per-capita consumption analysis across four categories of ice cream, confirms once again what my brother, Ken, has said, “If you focus narrowly enough, and study intensely enough for a few weeks, you can become the world’s leading expert on a topic.”  If the availability of this 120-page, 530 Euro report isn’t enough to prove Ken’s claim, note on the weblink the assertion that “Customers who bought this report also bought Ice Cream in Pakistan to 2011 and Ice Cream in Argentina to 2011.   Having been to Argentina and observed the beauty of the country, I had been hoping to become the world’s leading expert on ice cream consumption in the country. Alas, the job has been taken.  I guess I will need to focus more narrowly.  Perhaps I’ll focus on the per-capita consumption of 18 oz. Porterhouse steaks.  You wouldn’t believe how much meat they eat in Argentina. In the meantime, I’m wondering, if I can get a discount on a three-country ice cream report bundle. (more…)

I ran into one of my acquaintances at Storage Networking World, and as we talked about the marketing needs of one of my clients, he suggested a book called “The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing.”  He promised it was a quick read, so, on his recommendation, I ordered it from the local Barnes and Noble.  It’s got a 4-stars reader ranking on Amazon, but in keeping with the theme of “you can’t please all people,” the 100+ comments range from, “If an entrepreneur or sales person reads only one book on marketing, this would be it.” to “…there are a few small pearls to be gathered, but digging through the muck to find them makes them difficult to spot.”  The book was published in 1994, so some of the examples are a bit dated, but it is interesting to see how the authors’ predictions played out.  My favorite was the decline of Sears, which in a bit of irony merged with Kmart.

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