Seth's Blog THE LAB MarketingVox - Practical news for interactive marketing practitioners. SEO, SEM, social, mobile, analytics and other online tactics, tools and strategies. s May/June 2010 Trend Briefing covering "STATUSPHERE" First published May 2010 | Whatever industry you’re in, in the end, everything is about status. And since what constitutes status in consumer societies is fragmenting rapidly, here’s a (modest) framework to help you start exploring new status symbols and stories with your customers. Like it or not, the need for recognition and status is at the heart of every consumer trend*. Status is the ultimate (hidden) motive, a subconscious but ever-present force. Now, in a traditional consumer society, where consumption is one of the leading (if not the leading) indicators of success, those who consume the most (and especially those who consume the rarest and most expensive), will typically also attain the highest status. This is why brands have, for decades, gladly provided people with goods, services and experiences that help them (boldly or subtly) impress their peers and help alleviate their anxieties about how they're perceived by others. *The other constant need is of course (romantic) love…
16 free online business classes that are actually worth your time Platform: Coursera Length/start date: Runs ten weeks, and started September 15 Time commitment/prerequisites: Six to eight hours a week, and no background in the area required. Why you should take it: Learning the basics of accounting and how to read a balance sheet, income statement, and cash flow is incredibly useful for just about anybody. The course is also designed for students with no background in the subject, and the only math requirement is knowing how to add and subtract. As the professor puts it, accounting is “the language of business.” The course is also offered by one of the most prestigious business schools in the country, and taught by one of Wharton’s senior and most highly regarded faculty members, Brian Bushee, a 13-year veteran of Wharton and former Harvard Business School professor.
TrendsActions > Following the reported acquisitions made by Google, Microsoft and Yahoo The Danger of Financial Jargon - The New Yorker The most important mystery of ancient Egypt concerned the annual inundation of the Nile floodplain. The calendar was divided into three seasons linked to the river and the agricultural cycle it determined: akhet, or the inundation; peret, the growing season; and shemu, the harvest. The size of the harvest depended on the size of the flood: too little water, and there would be famine; too much, and there would be catastrophe; just the right amount, and the whole country would bloom and prosper. But the priests were cheating, because they had something else, too: Nilometers. The world is full of priesthoods. It’s the same when you hear money people talk about the effect of QE2 on M3, or the supply-side impact of some policy or other, or the effects of bond-yield retardation or of a scandal involving forward-settling E.T.F.s, or M.B.S.s, or subprime loans and REITs and C.D.O.s and C.D.S.s. Sometimes the language of finance really is obscure, and does hide the truth.
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