January 4, 2010

25) Hulu

hulu_logo_spiced_up_2

危 wēi  danger

Hulu is a website that offers commercial-supported streaming of TV shows and movies with content from NBC, Fox, ABC and many other networks and studios.  The service can only be accessed from the US but the rate of adoption since its public launch in March 2008 has been impressive.  However, in January 2009 with absolutely no warning Hulu removed 3 seasons of a series it had previously made available – there was an outcry from some consumers.

机 jī opportunity

Jason Kilar, Hulu’s CEO chose to react by posting a very frank apology, not just to the consumers that had complained but to the public as a whole.  The apology can still be found on his blog – its openness and honesty didn’t just appease many of the disgruntled consumers, it actually pleased them.  Here’s an excerpt:

“The team at Hulu is doing our best to make lemonade out of lemons on this one, but it’s not easy given how poorly we executed here. Please know that we will do our best to learn from this mistake such that the Hulu user experience benefits in other ways down the road.

Sincerely,

Jason Kilar (jason@hulu.com)

CEO, Hulu”

Read the rest here

How About:

  • Apologizing openly when your company makes a mistake?
  • Never committing to not make mistakes, that would be unrealistic but instead committing to not make the same mistakes twice?

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December 17, 2009

23) Flat World Knowledge

FlatWorldK logo

危 wēi  danger

Academic textbook publishing is essentially a monopoly controlled by a handful of huge companies.  Such is those companies’ dominance that they often charge in excess of $100 per title in the US market, pay their academic authors a tiny proportion of sales, vary their pricing globally based on students’ ability to pay and needlessly release new editions to drive sales.  Burgeoning second-hand and grey import markets and the sharing of these overpriced books have begun to dent their profits but on the face of it, the barrier to entry to the industry remains daunting.

机 jī opportunity

Not for Flat World Knowledge, a startup formed in 2007 by industry veterans who saw the potential for disruption.  Their model is to compile the textbooks in the usual manner (using respected academic authors) but the company applies a creative commons license and publishes its books online for free.  The open source publication allows tutors to adapt the content as they require (they can mix and match chapters from different textbooks and amend text) and offers students an online platform on which they can ask one another questions and suggest improvements to the texts.  For revenues, the company offers the books over various audio and printed formats for a fee (always disruptively low versus the incumbents’) and sells study aids.  And although the texts can be read for free online the model seems to be working – current growth rates indicate that the company will be serving more than 200,000 students within a year and critically 65% of students are selecting at least one paid-for product.

how about…

  • Disrupting the incumbents in your industry by offering competing products or services for free and then selling additional services?
  • Identifying markets in which consumers are already finding workarounds to reduce their expenditure – often they are those ripe for disruption?

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December 4, 2009

21) OfficeMax

OfficeMaxLogo

危 wēi  danger

At the end of 2007 OfficeMax had reduced its advertising budgets but its need to drive footfall into its stores and to its website was ever present.  Its lower budget made it unlikely that traditional marketing channels would meet its frugal needs.   Viral marketing held great appeal but Office Max had no competence in the area.

机 jī opportunity

These lean times forced Bob Thacker, SVP of Advertising and Marketing, to be creative.  He approached his digital agency and asked them to develop a series of viral marketing campaign options.  They built twenty and when confronted with the tough decision of which to launch Thacker launched them all.  One of the twenty, ‘Elf-Yourself’ (click here) was a run-away success and will run this Christmas for the 3rd year running.  There are even rumors that OfficeMax will start selling Elfs as of next month!

how about…

  • Harnessing the low costs of digital campaign launch by launching multiple campaigns?
  • Launching those campaigns earlier to allow the market to decide?

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