The world in January

To be good in anything, one must genuinely love whatever one does, whether it is raising chickens or building space shuttles. Being a marketer is a not a nine-to-five job. It is rather a hobby one does for living. As a part of my hobby, I read various magazines and follow a bunch of blogs. I try to tweet links to the most interesting pieces to the general public. However, considering the pace of life and the number of communication channels one has to monitor these days, I decided to start publishing a monthly digest picking best of the best; in my humble subjective opinion it is. So, without further ado, here are the things you should have read in the first month of 2011.

Serious read

“The world has changed. I feel it in the water. I feel it in the earth. I smell it in the air. Much that once was is lost.” The opening lines to one of the most famous pictures of our age pretty much sum up the very interesting insight into contemporary branding design put together by Thomson Dawson for the Branding Strategy Insider. A riveting (and brief) journey into the sad reality of modern logotype design written by someone who remembers times when creative genius was valued more than crowd sourcing.
Branding Debate: Does Logo Design Really Matter?

BusinessWeek is a great source of solid business information. This article substitutes the emotional appeal of the previous post with hard cold data and is full of it. “In the next three years, the number of Google Apps users may rise to 10,000”, “the annual global market for cloud computing will surge to $95 billion within the next five years” and so on and so forth. Proudly bearing the banner of the cloud business, I found it interesting to learn that my kin is destined to rule the world.
How Cloud Computing Is Changing the World

A very interesting review of enterprise IT history, followed by an analysis of industry’s current state of affairs.  Has IT in the enterprise been declining for some 15 years, accelerating over time? The article is especially interesting in view of the report mentioned above. In the world of internet, open source code and endless start-ups- does Enterprise IT stand a chance? Last but not least, should it fall into the Lethe, what can we learn from industry’s demise? We, the proud pioneers of today, the fossils of tomorrow.
Declining IT Innovation in the Enterprise

Train read

Full of facts, well-researched details, and unique insights wrapped in very decent prose. McKinsey Quarterly requires (free) registration that is worth every second spent on it. Making the most of the CEO’s last 100 days is a great analysis of several real life scenarios that have changed companies’ lives forever. Departing CEOs are everything but lame ducks- their last decisions can make or break businesses.

We take so much for granted. Be grateful for the sun; be grateful for the moon; be grateful for the €100 billion worth of Web services you will never pay for. The new McKinsey research analyses how much the Web is worth and where this roller coaster of fun is heading.
The Web’s €100 billion surplus

Easy read

Valuable as they are, the following three pieces are fun and easy to read. First of all, an interesting announcement from Cadbury’s, whose Diary Milk online video ads delivered a whopping £2+ of short-term sales for every £1 spent. A comparison to TV’s £0.60/£1 provides a good reason to shake up advertising budgets.
Online video key to ROI in Cadbury’s campaign

Carol Phillips of Brand Amplitude has put together an entertainingly written case study on the fall of Blockbuster. Briefly analysing the strategic brand decisions, he looks into what have gone wrong, what could have been saved and what lesson we should all draw from it all.
Reconsidering The Brand Strategy Toolkit

Last but not least, this short post written by one of our tribe discredits the five most popular myths about Marketers. Are we really just a bunch of useless alcoholics, unable to do math or any other job?
5 Misconceptions About Marketers

Monumental read

January 2011 has so far been extraordinary rich on ground-breaking news. If Steve Jobs’ ‘vacation’ is understandable if not expected, the departure of Eric Schmidt on the peak of Google’s financial success and the latest evaluation of Facebook have made many eyebrows arch.

So, first things first- Facebook is worth more than some European countries make a year. A very interesting trend covered by all major media- popular Social Media platforms are growing at abnormal speed- 740% in two years for Twitter, 6,666% in under five years for Facebook. Is it the tribute to our changing society or the new dot-com boom?
Tweeting from the grave: the power of the new dot-com boom

The main newsmakers of the month are, without a shadow of doubt, old friends and recent competitors- Apple and Google. For those of us, who weren’t following the drama, Intelligent Life provides a great overview of celebrity couple’s complicated relationship. Once in love, currently in fierce competition, it is a story worthy of Californian screenwriters- very Mr and Mrs Smith.
APPLE V GOOGLE

Jobs’ indefinite leave has cost Apple a lot of money. Clearly, despite Tim Cook’s managerial talents, the future of the company is rather associated with its charismatic leader. BusinessWeek offers a few words on the subject.
Apple’s Cook Is Left Fighting Off Challenge by Google

Great leaders reverse history, build cities and establish cults. In the last half a decade, Steve Jobs has grown Apple beyond anyone’s expectations. Sadly, the figure of company’s charismatic leader is also Apple’s Achilles’ heel. Many doubt that the company would remain as bold without its bold CEO. On the other hand, the departure of Eric Schmidt, the only mature member of Google’s triumvirate, went almost unnoticed. Apparently, it is not always beneficial for a brand to have strong emotional appeal. Advertising Age has put together a brief note on the future of world’s most powerful brand.
What Larry Page Will Be Up Against at Google