Punctuated Equilibrium for Media & the High-Street

From the FT Friday June 17th

FROM BRAND LEADER TO STRUGGLER IN 8 YEARS.
The FT reports about how the internet has cannibalised the car rental firm Avis revenues and profitability.
The Ft quotes an analyst that says

Avis Europe were arrogant in maintaining their premium pricing faced with the internet onslaught. The company has serious cost-base inflation as the business was set up to support a premium product. But these issues were not dealt with soon enough. They have since had a profit crunch and now they are working towards a working capital crunch

I think about Alan Mitchell author of Right Side Up and The New Bottom Line, and Soshana Zuboff in her book the Support Economy that has been influential in our thinking in how marketing budgets could be used to support and enable customers rather than drive them to the point of purchase. As spotlights in ways in which a company like Avis could rethink its value proposition. was it not Avis that famously said "we try harder"?

RETAIL SALES GROWTH AT SLOWEST RATE SINCE 1947

Also from the FT Friday June 17
Phew the lowest since 1947. yes we know that there are cycles of growth and decline in consumer spending sometimes managed as a means to manage inflation. But I think there is something more structural going on here as bricks and mortar retailers need to rethink why people should come to their stores.
John Butler economist at HSBC says:

The dilemma for the UK is the retail sector is no longer a key engine of growth

This requires some more serious thought than tinkering with key products at shelf height.

MUSIC LOVERS PREFER TO DOWNLOAD FROM COMPUTERS -
Again a report from the FT 20 June
The article says 21% of of 4,000 music consumers surveyed said they would download music to their mobile phones, whilst 63% said they would be unlikely to do so.
Mobile is going through some interesting times at the moment, Over payment for 3G licences means less money to invest in content, though that does not mean extraordinary effort is going on the try to change peoples behaviour around the mobile device.
Nokia and Motorola have brought out devices recently that have a music download capability. And you can even shoot 1 hour VHS quality video on a Nokia phone, edit it and send to a friend.
Will we ever move on from the massive success of SMS. 

HOLLYWOOD SEES POWER SHIFT FROM FILM SET TO DESKTOP
The falling costline of technology will unleash the creativity of the many people.
FT June 2oth
As costs fall, and Moores Law (not mine) sadly again proves true, we shall see the unleashing of bedroom Speilbergs delivering killer stories through film. Maybe to niche audiences at a fraction of the cost of making a Hollywood Blockbuster. Think iPTV and VOD.
Hollywood is in trouble and this type of news will not bring them much cheer.
Again it reminds me about what we see at the moment in a macro sense is who has the rights to access, creation and distribution? The game is changing vested interests challenged in every industry.
The FT says

The great equaliser of the new technology is that it puts the power to make a movie into the hands of anyone

So, once where content was controlled whether it be film or music or knowledge accessible in books the nature of consumption is changing. Forever.
That means business models are under threat. Its the gigantic step of migration from mass media to social media.
I might make a film for my friends, or a community of interest. I dont need ?120m to do it. just a decent camera, some perseverence, and some top notch editing and effects software. BTW does anyone know Cate Blanchett?
I might even do a deal with Unilever to stick in some subtle product placement. Or, I might not. That all depends on who my community is.

C4 LOOKS BEYOND TV
Said The Guardian as the company realises that it needs to radically alter its business model to identify and capitalise on revenue streams outside of that staple of TV spot advertising. Of course we know C4 has been working on this for some time and has tried hard to expand its offering to its audience.
The Guardian says that the company is looking at investment in mobile entertainment, music and radio. C4 last year took a 51% stake in a digital speech radio station.
BT are changing their spots too.
Ben Verwaayen CEO of BT was quoted as saying

We are on a journey to become a service company that does interesting things. That is already a massive change, and we will become an innovation company because the speed of new services will go up and up and up for one simple reason - that new services will not be one size fits all. It will not be us deciding what you want but we will give you the toolset to create your own services.

Its now or never I believe as the Economist and Business week recently testified that the power now lies in the hands of the consumer.
Whilst OfCom threaten to break up BT over access to BT's fixed line copper network. The Guardian 17 June

BOOST FOR DIGITAL TV AS FREESERVE PLATFORM REACHES 5M HOUSEHOULDS. Financial Times 11.12 June
Freview as grown to reach 5m housholds.
The FT says

The multi-channel platform has become oone of the most successful new technologies in British television history… the free-to-air platform has proved an important growth engine for traditional broadcasters such as ITV and the BBC, which has seen audiences for channels such as ITV2 and ITV3 or BBC news 24 and CBBC offset volatile ratings at their flagship stations.

Again a battle is on the the shelves of Britains homes - BskyB or Freeview? Or both? And an opportunity for advertisers or another nail in the coffin of TV spot advertising? Sky I believe are working hard to find a solution for mare targetted advertising.

iPODS POPULARITY FIRES APPLE BACK INTO FT500 RANKS
Reported the Financial Times June 11/12 June
Apple was last in the top 500 in in 2000, so don't write off the company or the demise of the ipod just yet.

FIVE CARD STUD ANYONE?
And poker will be coming to a TV screen near you soon. In fact next week Five will start broadcasting 90-minute highlights of tournaments from the European poker tour.
Whilst the company that created the genre, will float to the tune of $10bn or $5bn. Soddom and Gommorah? well its the market and obviously people want to play.
I am sure there is a whole community around gambling to the tune of some $5bn.