Still Analog

Yesterday Steve Jobs unveiled the new iPods. The most expected announcement was was revolving the video cameras: the new Nano has it, the Touch doesn't. Get over it. To my delight another announcement was made regarding the NANO: the model now incorporates FM Radio. This will be the first radio ever on an iPod.

One mystery remains. Why would Apple put an FM tuner into an iPod, something it has refused for almost 10 years? The answer comes with iTunes-Tagging. In addition to live pausing of the radio stream (and rewinding up to 15 minutes through the buffer) you can tag tracks by hitting the center button. If a radio station supports it, the song info is saved and later you can see a list in iTunes alongside, you guessed it, the option to buy the song. Of course, the fact that the new Zune HD has an HD radio inside may also have influenced Apple’s decision. - WIRED

Economic and competitive reasons aside here is another example of consumers clinging on to tradition, and marketers combining digital with analog.

power to the people

It still amazes how the source of power has radically shifted from corporations to consumers. More and more companies are becoming increasingly consumer centric. Again this does not seem to have been possible without the Internet. Starbucks recently launched the microsite"My Starbucks Idea", where people submit their ideas for the chain and vote for other people's ideas. Some of the most interesting ones include:

1. Free Coffee on your Birthday
2. Free Wireless Internet
3. Bite size pastries
4. Coffee ice cubes
5. Shelves in the restrooms
etc. etc. etc.

Starbucks is sure to meet customer satisfaction, product development and PR efforts (along with the adoption of the new-old logo to improve their image) in a terribly simple way.

This comes to show that Advertising must embrace this consumer oriented tendency, just as corporations have done, moving past a "push strategy" to a "pull strategy", sparking people's interest, and only then offering enterntainment and information for those who are truly interested.