Marketing Bentley

 This week, the New York Times covered the naming of a new business - Justin and Ben Smith pick a name for their media start-up, March 22, 2022 . Justin Smith is a former chief executive for Bloomberg Media and Ben Smith is  former media columnist for the New York Times, and together they've created a new media startup that will cover general interest news in an "experimental" storytelling format as well as provide talent booking services, literary agent services, and representation of journalists. They are setting their sights high and aspire to global relevance. With that in mind, they have named their startup Semafor, a trademarkable derivative of the word semaphore. Semaphore in English is generally nautical in nature, and refers specifically to a system of sending messages by holding the arms or two flags or poles in certain positions according to an alphabetic code both as a noun and as a verb. The word started its etymological life as two Greek words, sēma 's...

 Branding is the cornerstone of any company: good branding creates a relationship with the customer and memorable touchstones, bad branding is forgettable at best. It makes sense that corporations would want to protect their branding as much as possible. Apple in particular is notable for being on the offensive when it comes to possible infringements on their visual territory. However, in an article from the New York Times on March 11 - Apps and Oranges: Behind Apple's "Bullying" on Trademarks - describes how Apple has filed 215 suits against brands using the word "apple," the image of an apple, or other stemmed fruits "between 2019 and last year [...] according to the Tech Transparency Project, a nonprofit watchdog. That’s more than the estimated 136 trademark oppositions that Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook and Google collectively filed in the same period, the group said." In an ideal world, the system in place rewards strong branding and prohibits bad ...

In the US as a whole, we've ditched cable television for many reasons: it was expensive and micro-charged, had specific hardware that was time-consuming to maintain, and a frankly overwhelming number of channels. Streaming seemed like the optimal solution, providing easy access to a central hub of media that didn't require additional set up past a username, password and credit card number, and the ability to play media at will reduced the need to trawl through hundreds of channels.  The number of US Americans who don't use cable or satellite TV has plummeted to 56% according to a Pew Research report from March 2021 . While we are eager to ditch the outdated TV services, streaming companies seem all too eager to remake them, as streaming services proliferate at a mind-boggling rate. While the big names still hold some sway, most of them are becoming increasingly niche: Netflix, for example, is moving from being an archive of sorts and focusing on new "Netflix Originals....

Nostalgia is a powerful tool. Seniors miss their youth, youths miss the golden glow of childhood, the painful slow existence of the now melting into the warm embrace of memory. A couple of weeks ago, one of my colleagues wrote about Swiffer bringing back an old star from their commercials . Recently, the New York Times released a short piece on Super Bowl Ads featuring "Comeback Kids" like Lindsay Lohan and Jim Carrey. Most of these are from the early 2000s, widely regarded as the peak of media - but how much of that is influenced by the memories of the thrill of a new millenium? How much is influenced by the way American culture shrinkwrapped itself to nationalism post-9/11, itself an exploration of nostalgia for a supposed time of peace?  As the ardent nationalism of the 2000's fades into the more overt fascism of the 2020's, people are beginning to be more cognizant and critical of institutions, and brands begin to face new identities foisted upon them as faceless...

On February 19th, the New York Times published an interview with Barry McCarthy , who was recently appointed CEO of Peloton. Peloton, known for it's massive boom in sales in the early days of the pandemic, has seen a drop in sales so severe that it's share price has, at times, dipped below it's initial public offering (I.P.O.) price. McCarthy was brought out of retirement after a successful career as CFO for Netflix (1999-2010) and Spotify (2015-2022), where he had developed Netflix's streaming model and taken it public, and had developed Spotify's advertising strategy and helped push it into podcasts. Getting a glimpse into the mind of a high-profile, high-impact marketer is fascinating, especially as he's not stepping in a the captain of a calm cruise: Peloton is in crisis mode. It comes as no surprise, given his work history, that McCarthy is planning a subscription model for Peloton. High entry points made it profitable upfront, but now that everyone who cou...

Slate has been tenacious in the world of online publishing for over 20 years, a staple of online reporting. In the New York Times this Friday, the article " Slate, the Pioneering Web Magazine, Struggles to Find Identity and Profit " discusses the roadblocks facing Slate as their top editor stepped down and were told that the publication was not profitable. Most recently, Slate has had to begin asking the question of who their core identity is, especially after being sold to the Washington Post, which may have contributed to the decline of their distinction in the online space of housing intellectual debate and contrarian takes. Long term staff members seem to be leaving en masse because of the restrictions being placed on them in order to drive up profitability. This is an issue facing the internet at large: news and media are becoming increasingly sanitized in order to appeal to advertisers, but the advertising revenue just isn't cutting it anymore. Without a distinction...