╠ Critical Delay! ╣

Hey everyone. You may have noticed a large amount of not much going on around here. The reasoning for this is that I have devoted my time to setting up my own business. This business is first of all a learning tool to not only test my marketing skills but management as well, but also a god ay to try and embrace something I care about in that of Video games. Critical Hit as it is called is a video game and anime merchandise e-commerce retail operation.

Using this will allow me to actually apply my ideas to a real business, hopefully with success. So expect to see more real life examples with actual outcomes. I'm excited and I hope you are too.

To see the site in action head over to www.criticalhit.com.au

╠ Boy is dead around here! ╣

Apologies for my inactivity around here. Every year I have periods of heavy activity and unfortunately some things fall by the wayside. One thing I have found is that marketing is definitely something you have to stay active in. The longer you go without using it or thinking about it you forget.

I fear for the marketing grads who have to wait 6 months to get their first job and don't do anything active like blogging.

Anyway I was walking to work the other day and I noticed this truck drive past. I thought it was one of the most clever thigns I've seen in a while. It attracts attention wherever it goes but also has positive connotations. The material they used is commonly associated with fresh or health which is a good thing for water. On top of this what I think is really good is that it probably wasn't that expensive so it's certainly a win-win situation. So kudos Another Bloody Water

╠ My Bank isn't a bank! ╣

One thing that has left me pondering over the last year or so is the shift in banks. Some of the advertisements are almost literally trying to say that they aren't actually a bank. Commonwealth advertising their 'unbank like conversations' or others advertising that their workers have the best work-life balance...

I'm not sure about the rest of you but when I go to a bank I go there because they have special attributes and benefits suited to a banklike profession and to have banklke conversations.

It's amusing that the bank as a type of institution is such a damaged reputation that those under it have to pretend they aren't to get ahead.

However on top of this another interesting fact is that they're all doing it together. Each bank is trying not to be a bank in its own oddly similar way.

This change is sort of evidence to one of the biggest things I've learned from my years of studying marketing. Innovation does not guarantee success...instead what you have to do is find a way to be the same different.

If you can make sense of that maybe you should be telling the banks how to be unbanklike next.

╠ Is making no money really the better option? ╣

I'm sure a lot of you have started to hear about the SarcMark. A punctuation mark that can be added to any text to infer sarcasm. In theory its a good idea, and there is demand for it. However the issue that seems to be stirring people to rebel against it is that it costs $1.99 to download.

Now the reason this is so bad is that people don't like to pay for software over the internet normally. Those who aren't scared of internet transactions are usually savvy enough to find ways around paying for things, even if illegally.

So now you're left with a problem. You've got this little mark that noone understands because only fractions of people have downloaded it. This means that instead of having peer pressure to downlad it because everyone else has it, instead there is ridicule for being silly enough to pay.

But the question stands as to what was the alternative? Not charging? Where would the profit be in such an activity?

Well my recommendation would be first off that if you're going to get a lot of people getting this advertising on your website can do wonders. Further more once everyone is stating to get one you can release premium ones for sale so that people can use sarcasm in style. At the moment there is just the basic one...but imagine how cool you'd be if you had a hollow one...or during christmas time one wit a santa hat. Now these aren't million dollar ideas...but overall they would probably make the business more than just initially charging.

╠ Experimenting outside your field ╣

This picture is of the soon to be opened Ludia's bar in Japan. What relevance is this?

Well this bar actually originally featured in a video game series called Dragon Quest. The bar itself will also serve themed meals and beverages.

Now this brings up an interesting point of whether such endeavours will be successful. Now it's hard to know just what the Japanese market is like, however thinking of it in a more local context I cannot see it succeeding unfortunately.

Gamers are those who usually spend their time inside...valued bar patrons spend the majority of their time outside. Thus wherein lies an issue.

However I hope that this type of thing does succeed as I would love to have the potential to build some video game locales :P

╠ Mistakes make money ╣

I came across an interesting ad the other day(left). This ad mentions the existance of a PSP-4000. A console that does not exist and therefore was taken up by gaming sites as news of a possible leak towards the future.

One simple ad has generated huge press simply because it stated support for a non-existant console. This is only doubled when the blogs post again saying 'It was a mistake'.

The amusing thing is that the ad will have no backlash...just a lot more valuable targeted impressions. All because this item supports a non existent console.

It makes you question whether this mistake was in fact on purpose or could lead to future accidentally on purpose mistakes.

╠ Competition drives ambition ╣

One thing that I have discovered in life is that one of the easiest way to drive an individuals ambition is competition. Challenges that must be met or overcome in order to feel pride.

The greatest source of this is other individuals with like minded ideals. Two people competing for the same goal will cause greater outcomes than an individual.

Even for the loser, even though they lost they still would have competed harder, so in cases where there is not limited results, where everyone can benefit from harder work. For example high school where everyone trying harder pushes everyone else along. MHS and Macrob in Melbourne are examples of this.

So overall competition is good...But that leaves one thing. What happens in a blue ocean market space, where there is no competition, limitless opportunities and no one to challenge you to do your best?

Do you continue the momentum? Or does you ambition fade? Or are there other ways to drive it?