AUTHOR ARCHIVES :

Where do you find inspiration?

Inspiration can come from just about anywhere provided your eyes, ears and mind are open to it. Where do you go, what do you do to get inspiration for your work? The internet is certainly a great place to go looking for inspiration. Whether it is a blog post, a graphic treatment, a video or an entire web site experience, the internet is a massive potpourri of creativity waiting to be discovered and be inspired by. However, it’s also easy to get lost in the abyss of the virtual world, and the physical world can get ignored or pushed to the periphery. Going for a walk (urban or nature), listening, touching and smelling our environment can often provide the impetus for a new creative path or a creative solution to a business problem.

The advertising industry whose lifeblood depends on the constant flow of creative ideas can occasionally be a great reservoir for inspiration. Here is an old (in web time) favourite video from 2004-05’ish. It’s a video done by the founder and producer of the creative agency – Belief. One of the best points made in this video is when they say that ‘design is an artform, not a job – it’s really a lifestyle’. The same can be said for being an entrepreneur – it’s not just a job (how many entrepreneurs work 9 to 5?) it’s most definitely a lifestyle where your passion, creativity, risk tolerance and acumen are tested daily and like the video mentions, you need to immerse yourself in your work, constantly be living with it and everywhere you go, everything you see, be influenced by it.

Test your beliefs, what is important to you, what do you believe so firmly in that you can’t wait to make it happen. Again, while this video is about advertising, many of the broad points they make can apply to just about any industry or profession. The video is called ‘Pollinate – Chain Reaction’ and it’s all about creativity, inspiration and how to find it.

Country-code domain map

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For domainers, marketing execs or teachers – there is this cool map of the world that you can buy which displays 245 country-code domain extensions on a colour-coded global map. The sizing of the domain on the map is reflective of a country’s population, not the number of registrations. A neat map nonetheless. I now have one hanging in my office. Here is a list of country-codes that are currently a member of the ‘Million+ Domains Registered’ club:Argentina (.ar)Australia (.au)Brazil (.br)Canada (.ca)China (.cn)France (.fr)Germany (.de)Italy (.it)Japan (.jp)Netherlands (.nl)Russia (.ru)Switzerland (.ch)United Kingdom (.uk)United States (.us)

Will hardware save Blockbuster’s business?

In a follow-up to my previous post that touched on the major transformation from ‘store to web’ for big-box retailer Circuit City and their sagging offline sales, comes news today of a $1 Billion offer for Circuit City by Blockbuster. Much in the same way that Microsoft missed the boat on search which opened the door for Google, Blockbuster has similarly missed the boat on online video rentals and they’ve been chasing Netflix ever since.

Blockbuster
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Netflix
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Will merging with Circuit City save Blockbuster’s business / brand? Blockbuster appears to be moving toward a ‘hardware-based’ strategy that would likely see them launch a set-top content delivery box ie, think Apple TV. This strategy would explain the interest in merging with an electronics retailer.

“The combination of Blockbuster and Circuit City will result in an $18 billion retail enterprise uniquely positioned for the convergence of media content and electronic devices,” wrote Blockbuster’s Keyes this morning. “We would seek to differentiate products in both Blockbuster and Circuit City stores by offering exclusive content and content-enabled devices. Both companies would benefit from complementary products, marketing, management strengths, technology and distribution and the resulting synergies would significantly improve consolidated financial performance.”

In Canada, the online video rental business is suffering from a lack of competition and choice for consumers. It’s not a mature business yet by any means and over time that will change as new players, partnerships and brands enter the Canadian online video rental market.

via betanews

Huh?

I swear I’m not making this stuff up. The .CA ‘did’ hit the one million mark (for the first time) around 11:15PM on Sunday, April 13. However, barely one hour later at the stroke of midnight, 600 domains met at rather untimely expiration?

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Dot-ca Hits One Million Domains Registered Milestone

Congratulations to;John Demco – The grandfather of the .CA registry who founded it back in 1987. It was his ground-work while operating out of the University of British Columbia which led to the creation of the .CA domain.CIRA – The current organization that manages the .CA registry. CIRA took the .CA domain fully public in 2000.Canada – Is it patriotism or availability (in comparison to .com) or a healthy combination of these and other factors? The increased usage and visibility of our .CA country-code domain has been an evolving and growing trend. Hitting this milestone says something about Canadians in both a communications and marketing context.If the Federated States of Micronesia can parlay their country-code into a radio-branded .FM domain extension, if the Tuvalu Islands can do the equivalent with .TV – might an unused, undiscovered or neglected .CA have ended up as .CAlifornia? Canadians chose to register one million .CAs and in so doing have given life and relevance to something that is uniquely, Canadian.

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Internet No Longer Just For The Price-Conscious Shopper

It’s been a long held view that ecommerce dollars were mainly driven by price-conscious shoppers leveraging the Internet’s scale and resource to save a buck. Luxury buyers and pure convenience-driven shoppers were still sourcing bricks and mortar for the bulk of their shopping. Not so anymore.

“What’s spearheading online retail sales growth is a tale of two shoppers that visit the web for very different reasons,” said Sucharita Mulpuru, Forrester Research principal analyst and lead author of the report. “The casual shopper goes online to look for the best price, leveraging the transparency of the Internet to save money. However, more affluent customers appreciate the convenience of shopping online and are not necessarily looking for the best deal. Retailers would be wise to recognize there are significant opportunities within both audiences and should market to them accordingly.”

There has been concern that a sluggish economy would take the bite out of online retail sales growth. Current data indicates online retail sales will grow 17% this year – not bad for a down year. Perhaps the real story here is simply about ‘growth’. The Internet continues to be a primary growth medium for many an industry. For many offline retailers large and small the web is the ‘only’ growth medium.For example, a large retailer like Gap had zero offline sales growth from 2006-07, yet online sales grew 24%. The contrast is even more stark for U.S. big-box retailer Circuit City. Their 1400 stores are currently experiencing a 5-10% decline in sales, while their online sales growth this year will be 40%.

Circuit City is experiencing a “massive shift,” in CEO Philip Schoonover’s words, from the store to the web.

via internet retailervia crm today