It Doesn't Matter If It's Food, Fashion, Music, Cars or? Branding is a Science

I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody - Bill Cosby

I had a meeting with a nice gentleman the other day who is working on the branding of his company. I was a bit alarmed at what he said. It was obvious that this person wasn't exactly clear as to what Branding means.

He is in the restaurant industry and said to me,

"We can't be sure the age of our customers or who they are so we can't decide on what kind of food we will serve, we just have to make sure that the food we serve always tastes great."

Well, yes and no. He can't decide what kind of customers he's going to get or their age. That's true... But if he thinks he is making things to please everyone, he certainly can't do that either. He's wrong there. Also, if he's thinking is that his only competition are other restaurants, then he is dead wrong on that issue too. 

I'll explain why in a moment. 

Just like the old adage that Bill Cosby made into his own above, this kind of thinking is a time proven key to failure. It astounds me that to this day, with all the many example around us on why this sort of thinking doesn't work anymore (please think: Apple, Google, famous fashion makers, etc.) When you try to please everyone, you please no one. This is obvious and has been repeated over and over again throughout history since the Industrial Revolution. The serve-all method is a sure-fire way to fail.

Here's why...

The success of corporations like Coca-Cola, Apple, Google and Mercedes Benz, just to name a few; proves that specialization is the key to success in this day and age.

The sushi-ya is good at what they do. "But they can't be sure of the customers or their age!" Should the sushi-ya now add Chinese Food, Hamburgers, Indian Curry, etc. to the menu? Of course not!

There are lessons around us everywhere. Let's look at the restaurant industry for an easy example. Quick name one highly successful and profitable family restaurant? Denny's? Nope. They are rumored to be on the verge of bankruptcy. How about in Japan? What others are there? There's Gusto and Jonathans and Skylark to name a few. All rumored to be nearing bankruptcy. Skylark did go belly up.

How about Royal Host and Sizzler? Well, the Royal Host chain isn't doing well, but is better off financially than Gusto and Jonathans... Why? They own Sizzler in Japan.

Sizzler?! Well, yes, folks, Sizzler is doing well in Japan, thank you. Why? They specialize. They realized years ago that they needed to set themselves apart from the others in their market space. Sizzler is a steak house and its steak meals start at over ¥3,190 a plate! (about $35.77). Sizzler may be considered a family restaurant but they are doing all they can to destroy that image and change to a higher end steak restaurant.

That's Branding. That's smart. That niche marketing.

Branding is doing thorough market research and then focusing on one part of the market.

The example above I gave where the boss said, "We can't be sure the age of our customers so we can't decide on what kind of food we will serve, we just have to make sure that the food we serve always tastes great." He is so completely wrong on that point that it makes me wonder if he has ever bothered to read any books on Branding and Marketing? Or, does he even understand the concept? I don't think so, that sort of thinking is like something out of the 1950s.

Let me get back to that point and prove to you why the other restaurants are not his only competition in this day and age and why trying to please everyone will fail with a simple example.

Imagine: It is your free time, say lunch time. You have one hour. There are so many things for you to do and to choose from on how you spend your one hour. You could go shopping or you could go to the gym, or for a walk, or to a coffee shop. You could go to a book store or meet friends, you could listen to music on your iPod or iPhone or Android or at a record store nearby. You could eat your own homemade lunch or, you could go to a restaurant. The choices are endless.

But, since it is lunch time, and you didn't bring your own lunch, you are hungry. 

In your immediate area there are 5 family restaurants. There's the Denny's, the Skylark, Gusto, Jonathan's or Royal Host... Those restaurants have everything, but I'm sure you'll agree that even though they do have everything, everything is not particularly delicious.

Besides the above, there's also a plethora of choices. There's a McDonalds (Definitely a niche restaurant), a standing soba shop, a delicious sushi restaurant, Chinese food, Indian food, Korean Barbeque, Japanese lunch of baked fish and miso soup, Wendy's, Pizza, etc...

Now, it's not rocket science but most people would go to the specialty shops. 

"How to triple your users and sales by doing just one thing..."

This movement of the market and people's tastes have dictated why this science of Branding is so very important.

Once again, take Apple Store for example. What if they thought that, "...there's all sorts of people who come here of all different ages. We need to please them!" Do you think Apple store would then start carrying Epson printers and ink cartridges? How about printer paper and office supplies? Should Apple start carrying Android phone or old-fashioned cell phones to please the older crowd? See? If one were to stop and think about this for just one second, they'd realize the absurdity of not specializing towards a niche market...

And, I'm sorry, food, music, fashions, etc. are all very broad topics. Anyone who thinks they can't be treated in a scientific fashion for Branding purposes simply just hasn't been paying attention.

For more on the Scientific Method and how Branding is a science, may I recommend: Brands and Brand Management - Contemporary Research Perspectives  

From the publisher review: "Very few books exist that meaningfully integrate the rich and vast body of scientific research and theories that have accumulated in the field, relating to both traditional and contemporary topics in branding. This book accomplishes that task, with contributions from leading experts in the science of branding, national and international. The book should appeal to all students, faculty, and marketing professionals with an interest in research findings about brands, and an interest in deepening their understanding of how consumers view brands."

Thanks to Kevin Riley for the TED link.

Computer Problems, Writer's Block and Blogging

I haven't been blogging as much recently. My apologies.

There's been two problems recently that I have to explain (and I must add that I hate excuses...) but the first was killing my computer.

I went to a drinking establishment with a potential business partner and, after several drinks, I just couldn't resist the urge to show him my new business. Big mistake! As I opened up my MacBook Pro and booted it up to show him the wonderful business idea I had, he said,

"Just a second, Mike. I gotta go to the restroom."

When he stood up, he knocked over his glass full of alcohol right on top of my keyboard. I just watched in total shock. It was like watching the Titanic!

The keyboard was completely underwater for a few seconds. I felt like I couldn't move. I knew it was done for.... And it was. It clicked off. Lifeless. Dead to the world.

Luckily for me the Genius people at Apple looked at my computer and they were able to recover all the information off the hard drive... I guess that's why they call the service counter at Apple Stores, "Genius Bar"... Those folks really are the best...

I'll never even look at a Windows computer ever again.... But, even though I backed up my data, most of my programs no longer ran because they weren't on my main drive....So I didn't have any word-processing software until I installed it just yesterday....

But, anyway, soon after the "Titanic sinking" happened, I was to find out that another company was thinking the same thing as me and they came out with a service that is a carbon copy of what I was doing...

Once again, a Start-up (mine, this time) has serious problems due to under-funding... That caused me much distress.

I haven't given up yet, but the mountain I have to climb to do something positive about the situation has risen considerably.

This has weighed quite heavily on my mind....

And that's why, I suppose, I am having a bout of Writer's Block...

It's not the first time for Writer's Block. I go through times when I can write volumes in a few hours... Then times, like these last few weeks, when I have a problem even getting the engine started.

I do know, though, to beat Writer's Block, one must force themselves to write. Hence, this boring blog post....

I hope to go back to blogging everyday and writing some fun and interesting things like this "My Life is Like a "B" Horror Movie" from today....

Why Korea Beats Japan

I was at my son's school the other day and got into a conversation with a friend who is a very high ranking executive at Samsung corporation. His son and my son are in the same class again this year and so it was very nice to see him again. He is chief of their Japan operations and we had a interesting talk. During that talk, we came to the subject of how Samsung is dominating the market in flat screen TVs and moving that direction in hand held computers and cellphones.

In August of this year, the Wall Street Journal ran this article entitled, "How Japan Lost its Electronics Crown"

Sony, Sharp and Panasonic combined to lose about $20 billion in the past fiscal year. That is a contrast with the glory days of the late 1970s and early 1980s, when Japan started to dominate the world of consumer electronics. As the Japanese economy surged, the electronics conglomerates ruled the market for memory chips, color TVs, and videocassette recorders, while their research labs gave birth to gadgets that would define an era: the Walkman, CD and DVD players.

Now, Japan's device makers are an afterthought to Apple Inc., Google Inc. and South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co. 

Or how about this interesting tidbit from Marmot Hole a blog about Korea:

Samsung Now Bigger Than Nine of Japan’s Major Electronics Companies

And you thought Samsung was big enough already since it accounted for more than a fifth of Korea’s GDP.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Samsung Electronics’ operating profit, at $3.14 billion, is more than two times larger than the combined operating profit of nine of Japan’s largest consumer electronic companies.  Samsung now has a $7.4 billion war chest to spend on growth and R&D where many of the Japanese companies are at an operating loss (Sony) or in huge debt (Hitachi).

These articles touch on some very important points, like value of yen and style issues, but both my Samsung friend and I agree that the biggest problem for Japanese companies versus Korean companies in manufacturing may not be simply issues with design and ease of use, but it has a lot to do with corporate culture in Japan.

Frankly speaking, from what I've seen, Korean companies will continue to beat Japanese companies for the long foreseeable future. There's no way out. Why? Because inside a Korean company, there are no factions fighting for position like what goes on at a Japanese company. Also, Japan doesn't have the leadership it once had; there are no more good leaders, definitely in politics and there is a terrible shortage in business in Japan too.

My Samsung friend put it this way, 

"At a Korean company everyone is on the same bus and we are all going the same way. At a Japanese company, the leaders have a very difficult time getting everyone pointed in the same direction."

He's absolutely right. 

At a Japanese company groups are struggling within, and against each other, to gain power. At Korean companies, I think they feel it is "Korea versus the world!"

When I worked as an executive at a major Japanese TV station subsidiary, I saw a consistent in-fighting between three or four factions for power. When faction "A" would come to power, the other factions seemed to not put in their best effort. In fact, I saw times when the other factions would actually drag their feet and become a hindrance to the efforts of the group in power.

It was infuriating to me as a foreigner who wasn't inside of any group to see people protecting their friends and their position as the number one work priority rather than the success of the company business or the project. 

It seems to me that the success of the project would automatically protect one's position. But no! These folks wanted success for sure, but only if their group was the one in power when that success occurred.

I saw this same problem at a Sony subsidiary, another TV network I worked at in the mid 80s ~ early 90s; and you can readily see this same problem in Japanese politics anytime anywhere.

I was, and am still to this day, astounded at the immaturity of some of these people. 

As an aside, at my son's school festival, the Korean families always run their "Korea booth" featuring delicacies from their home. It's a wonderful time for all. I was chairman of the PTA committee one year and was able to witness first hand how the Korean team worked. It surprised me that the ladies worked in the exact same pecking order as their husbands had at work; the wife of the highest ranking executive was the boss of the Korean booth; wives of second tier executives were second in-charge, and so on. There seemed to be no friction; just total teamwork. Everyone was certainly facing the same way and the boss of the Korea Booth proudly told me, "We are striving to sell the most food and give the biggest donation of any country to the school and charity!" She was dead serious about it too.

There goes that "Korea against the world!" again.

Several weeks ago, well before it had "only" 100 million views, I posted the video about Korean sensation PSY on a video countdown well before it exploded on the consciousness of Americans and the Japanese. At that time the video had about three times more views than the entire population of South Korea! I was astounded!

Nevertheless, after posting the video, some small minded people came out and made silly comments like, "Oh, he's just copying the Japanese." Or, a week ago or so, after the song because popular in the USA, I saw an article on Yahoo (America) that said, "Will PSY be a one-hit wonder?"

 

Yeah, I wish I could be even a 1/100th of a one-hit hit wonder. 

My video would then still have over 3 million views!

What the heck! The guy sings in Korean! Probably he will be a one-hit wonder in the USA. But so what? The guy's video, "Gangnam Style" has, as of this moment, 319,052,309 views! That's the most viewed video in history! That more than twice the views of Justin Beiber's "Boyfriend." PSY might possibly be one of the biggest stars in Korea, possibly Asia, in all of history.

Not bad for a guy who "copies" stuff or is a "one hit wonder," eh?

Why are people so jealous of these Korean success stories? I am happy and pleased to see guys like PSY and companies like Samsung doing so well. Competition is healthy and competition makes us all up the quality of our game. Those who chatter and grouse only show their immaturity and lack of self-reflection and professionalism.... We need to learn from them because, well, as they say, "the best revenge is success" and it seems the Koreans are doing quite nicely thank you.

I really hate to say this because I am half-Japanese, but, sometimes I think MacArthur was right when he said, "Japan is a nation of twelve-year-olds."

If the Japanese don't snap out of it and get with the program and start all dedicating their efforts to the success of the project, rather than protection of their position, they're going to become a nation of very poor twelve-year-olds.   

Related post: Korean Artists Really Are Getting Popular in Japan and It's a Good Thing!

Be Professional! Working at a Japanese Company - Any Company - Filled With Low Quality, Dysfunctional People and Management - Don't Do That to Yourself!

In one of my jobs, I give advice to major corporations on marketing and promotions. I work with some great folks. Usually, these big companies ask me for advice (or how to get tickets to sold-out concerts - yep. I can even do that!) Sometimes, in order to create new business, I put on my sales hat and approach companies that are in serious need of help. Today's post is about that kind of company; I mean a company in serious need of help. There's lots of companies like that. Here's an example.

The following is a true story. In the last two days, I've had some experiences that are just hilarious and just go to show how dysfunctional the people are who are in the employ of this one particular well known to be hereinafter called, "the Inertia Company" in Tokyo.  Everyone in Japan knows this company but it is not very respected. It used to be. But not today. It once was rich and profitable but, over these last 15 years, due to the Internet and not being able to adapt to the times (think Bronotosaurus), this company has fallen into serious financial troubles and disrepair. After hearing this story as just one microcosm of the whole problem, you'll see why.


It is all I can do to keep from laughing out loud at just how incompetent the employees as well as the upper management are at Inertia. This story would make a funny TV comedy show but, it is so ridiculous that, well, it might be too hard to believe. Here is what happened:


Over the past few months, I have met with the new director of Inertia. The guy before this new director didn't last 3 years. The guy before that one was gone after one year. When companies lose millions of dollars, that tends to create a high turnover rate in manglement... Er, I spelled that wrong, I mean, "management." In spite of the high turnover, like a good trooper, I've been trying to help them all with sales. And why not? Even if I think they are not good management people, if I can help them sell and make money, then I make money. Everyone's happy, right? 


But, with corporations like today's example of Inertia, I think God makes me do this sort of thing as a kind of "purgatory on earth" or, perhaps, to make me a better person and teach me patience. 


The Inertia Company has been losing more than one million dollars a year for the last 3 years. The new director and I met to discuss new ways to create new business revenue streams. In our last meeting, he told me that he, "Totally and completely agreed with my ideas..." and he added that he wanted me to give him "a few months to reorganize the company so that we could move forward with this new way." He also told me to contact him after that time.

Artist's rendition of Inertia Company Tokyo

As an aside, I go to that company sometimes and know that nothing has been reorganized by him since our meeting three months ago. Nevertheless I have been contacting him and trying to arrange a follow up meeting to discuss organization and operational implementation of this new plan.


By the way, I have already sold this new plan that I shared with the new director of Inertia to a few of Japan's most successful and profitable companies. In June of last year I presented it to one of Japan's most respected and profitable corporations and by August 1st, they had fully adopted the plan and now use it to boost sales - which they have done quite successfully - thank you!


Anyhow, over these past few weeks, I have been contacting this gentleman as he asked me to do. I repeatedly sent him very polite and professional business letters discussing items like CRM "Customer Relations Management," and very cost effective digital systems on how to use this new plan to obtain customers. With these notes, I have been asking for follow up meetings.


Finally, I offered him a lunch meeting whereby I could bring one of my top salesmen. This salesman is responsible for bringing this new CRM system to some of Japan's top sports teams whereby they use the system. Actually, using the system to give clients what they want is a no-brainer. I expected the director of this company to set a firm date soon.


That is, until yesterday. Yesterday he sent me a mail that just shocked me. I'd expect a mail like the one he sent me from a junior staff or a newbie or a junior high school student, but from a 50+ year old man who is a director at a company?! Extraordinary!


Here's a flow of the mails so you can get a feeling for the conversation. My mails (a total of four in four weeks) said something like this:


Dear Mr. Director,


How are you today, sir?


As you know, some of the biggest and most influential companies in Japan have just started using the CRM tool I mentioned to you at our first meeting. I'd like to continue that conversation. I know you are terribly busy so perhaps I could meet you over lunch to discuss implementation on how you can use a CRM marketing tool (at no cost) in order to provide your potential clients with the data they need on their users and thereby gain a mutually beneficial business relationship with those potential clients? Won't you please arrange a suitable time so that we can discuss over lunch? I will arrange my schedule to fit yours at any time. Please advise.


Mike Rogers


The director of Inertia dropped my jaw yesterday with his mail. He answered me something along these lines:


Mr. Rojers (sic)


We like you but cannot work with your company. 


We cannot work with you as there is a person at your company who used to work together with us at our parent company. When he worked here, he hurt the feelings of people at that parent company in the past. As you know, people are animals and their feelings do not heal so quickly. Therefore, even though your idea is good, we have no intention of working with your company because of him.


Mr. Director


I was flabbergasted. Here I am writing professional business correspondence, talking about increasing sales for a company that is losing over a million dollars a year, and this guy writes back to me talking about his internal family problems and squabbles! (No big deal, but he even spelled my name wrong!) I mean I talk about money and he starts telling me about his squabbles with brothers who were fighting.


I have no problem with them not working with us. But I'd expect some sort of reply like, "We have decided on another avenue to increase our sales. Thank you for time. Let's stay in touch and perhaps we can work together in the very near future." You know? This is what I'd expect from a professional.... But I am not dealing with professionals. This is like dealing with a room full of kids!


I have never worked at that company and have no idea what he is talking about. I don't really care. The above example is in English, but his original letter was in Japanese. At first I thought I was misreading it. To double check, I showed it to my Japanese wife and she was so surprised too. I mean, really, this is a business letter from the director (president) of a company!? My wife said, "I've never seen anything like that before. Do you think he wrote this letter when he was drunk? He sounds drunk."


I checked the time stamp on the email. I suppose it's possible that he was drunk. I mean, perhaps he was drinking at 11:30 in the morning on a Tuesday. Hell, I could see it. If I were running a company that was losing a million dollars a year, I'd be drinking all the time too!


Like I said, I was so surprised to see this letter. No. "Surprised" is not the word. "Totally and completely dumbfounded and floored" is more like it. I have never seen anything like that before. I'm the kind of guy who doesn't need to like people to work with them. All we need is professionalism and that's fine with me. We don't need to be bosom buddies to make money with them. Isn't that a part of professionalism?


I wrote back and decided that I should ignore his comments about hurt feelings and events that happened years ago. I wrote:


Dear Mr. Director,


Thank you so very much for your honest feelings.


Anyway, in order to implement a CRM system that can help boost your sales (as your competitors are doing and your former sales partners are now doing also) then let me introduce another company that has a similar system to mine. It is not as advanced, but can still do the job better than nothing. This system too, can allow your sales department to sell what the customers need and gain clients.


I am quite sure that there is no one at your company who understands this sort of new system so I can, at anytime, and for absolutely no charge, come down to your company and help tutor your sales folks on how to use this system effectively. Please let me know.


Mike Rogers


And that was that. He didn't answer my mail. I'd imagine that if I had written such a silly letter and then received back a professional "adult" attitude letter, I might be ashamed or embarrassed. But shaming or embarrassing this guy is not my intention at all. My entire intention was to help his company increase sales. I am not interested in his "family affairs" and they are none of my business! I can't believe he'd tell me about them!


Does anyone wonder why the Inertia Company is losing so much money? What a mess! Their president basically said to me, "I don't like you so I don't want to make money with you!" Laughable. How did this guy get to be president? 


Well, maybe I don't like someone like Bill Gates either but I don't have any problem using his stuff to make money for me! (Actually, I am a Apple guy, but you get my point).


And now, after that incredible story, what's the point of all this? How does something like this apply to you? Folks, life is short. If you are in a company like this, get out. After that experience and this absurd correspondence from a company director with the emotional baggage of a 12-year-old I don't want to help them. I hope they don't ask me ever again (they have asked many times!) But fear that they will.

There's lots of companies run by nincompoops like this example above. Companies that are struggling along, barely making ends meet; the yearly sales targets are never met and the mood of the company and the employees goes down. The quality of management sinks and an ever lower standard, and dare I say, IQ? comes in and begins taking the ship to even lower depths. Of course it does. Why? Because the good, talented people see the writing on the wall and get out of these sorts of companies while they can and take better jobs somewhere else. The people who are left over? They are the low quality ones who have no where to go. They have nowhere to go because they are left without gumption, drive, motivation and, sadly, without a clue. They can't go anywhere even if hey wanted to!


When a company is left with low quality people like that where is there to go but down?


People look at a companies like Apple Computer, Softbank or Google and think, "Oh! But they had a good idea and a good product or service!" Sure, that's true. But even more than that, they have good people. They know what it takes to make a good company. After all, what is a good company but a gathering of good people?


A company like Apple is filled with such good high-quality people that even if they didn't sell killer products, even if they sold chopsticks, they could make a profit and a good company. Apple people are like that. Apple could even make ice seem cool! Apple could rebrand ice and sell it to Eskimos!


A bad company like the one above I mentioned? A bad company could take great products like Apple has and they'd soon find some way to turn them into a loser and quickly be bordering on bankruptcy. That's what a bad company is.


Like I said, I work at several different places during the week. I get to see up close and inside of some of the finest companies in Japan and in the world. I've been to Apple Japan, Google Japan, All Nippon Airways, Softbank, Air New Zealand and Recruit, just to name a few, more times than I can count. I've worked with them and organized many promotions with them. I am doing so now.


I've also worked at some of the most dysfunctional and incompetent companies in all of Japan too; like the Inertia Company. I won't bother to mention their real names. Why? It pains me to do so. Why name them? Bashing these poor people is like kicking a mangy disease ridden one legged dog; it's not necessary or desirable at all. I don't even want to touch or get close to them.


That's what this blog post is about; not touching or getting too close to sick companies. Like a diseased animal, you need to stay away from them or you will become like them. For people who are young; for people who want to have a future; for people who want to give their children the best that they can; for people who want to escape and live their life to the fullest, this blog post is for you (and me). Don't take a job with a bad company. If you find that you are with a bad company, then get out as fast as you can.

As a multi-millionaire friend once told me, "Sometimes the jobs you reject are just as important as the jobs you accept."


Of course a job and food on the table is important. But, while you work at that poorly run company, you must make the effort to learn all you can and use your connections to get out and get a better job.


Remember birds of a feather flock together. If you are always working with poor quality and incompetent people you will probably become that way or, at least, be perceived by others as being that way.


So, if you work at a place like the one I described above; get out as quickly as you can. A life is too short having to work in a place where you cannot dream and be your best. Don't do that to yourself.


Find a good company with good people. Have a dream aspire to be the best you can be...


And above all be professional.

TV Really Going Down the Drain in Japan

I've written extensively on the fall of television in Japan. In July of 2011, all terrestrial television stations in Japan stopped analogue broadcasting and switched to digital. That cost all the stations 20% of their viewership. Japanese major TV stations were losing money before the switch to digital, how shall they make money when they spent a cumulative $5 billion dollars on the switchover and then lost 20% of their audience?

I can't figure that out no matter the size of my abacus.


While on vacation to Guam the other day, I saw a sign along the road that made me chuckle. In Guam, there are a very many people who are quite a bit overweight... No! Make that quite obese. The sign along the road said,


"You need more fiber in your diet and less cable TV"

Yep. Sitting around and watching TV while munching on chips and junk has seriously fallen out of favor with the active and young crowd.


Another sign that TV viewership is collapsing in Japan is the fact that, after initial fanfare and many years of positive spin on poor sales, Sony has decided to get out of flat TV manufacturing. The sales projections do not make up for poor sales ( and high manufacturing costs) which have lead to wide price dumping across the board. 


Bloomberg reports:

Sony Corp. sold its stake in the venture with Samsung Electronics Co. to make liquid-crystal displays to the South Korean company after predicting an eighth consecutive year of losses from TVs amid sluggish demand.

Samsung will pay 1.08 trillion won ($935 million) in cash for Sony’s stake in S-LCD Corp., a venture formed in 2004, the Suwon, South Korea-based company said in a statement today. Sony, which invested 1.65 trillion won in the venture, will take a charge of about 66 billion yen ($846 million) in the quarter ending Dec. 31 after the deal, Japan’s biggest consumer- electronics exporter said in its statement.

The stake sale enables Sony Chief Executive Officer Howard Stringer, 69, to shed the responsibility of panel manufacturing amid losses in the TV business, where Samsung is the world’s biggest. To turn around Sony, which has forecast a fourth consecutive annual loss this year, Stringer has teamed up with partners to announce acquisitions worth a combined $8.4 billion in 2011. The purchases are designed to bolster the profitable phones and music divisions and introduced tablet computers to challenge Apple Inc.’s iPad.

Catch that? It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what Sony has figured out: There's no future in TV sales; they're best off investing in the future of hand-held devices... Hand-held devices and tablet computers are generally not used to watch TV.

Tissue Time was a famous Japanese TV show in the mid-80's... No more.

How much clearer could the writing on the wall be? 

Godzilla Lawyers? Meet Middle-Finger Zilla

The lawyers for Godzilla seem to claim that any sort of dinosaur image usage or use of the word "Zilla" is an infringement upon their rights for the Godzilla character. I think I can show you today where they are wrong.


Just recently, they got into it with Apple lawyers over Finger-zilla.


A while back they threatened a mom and pop barbecue restaurant.


Well, I am now convinced that these Godzilla lawyers couldn't really win in court. Why? Well dinosaur characters can't be copy-written unless they are totally unique and a T-Rex is not totally unique. And the next part: Zilla is the name of an ancient plant species that grows in the Saharan desert.


Since it is ancient, I'd guess it came before a 1950's B-Grade horror flick.


Now, to blow them thar lawyers out of the water, here's Gigantis! (Not to be confused with Godzilla...)


Wait a minute! Gigantis looks like Godzilla's anemic little sister! How could those lawyers claim that Godzilla is unique?


The name isn't and the character certainly isn't!


If Godzilla lawyers send anyone a cease and desist order, show them this. Those Godzilla lawyers are bluffing!

Too Many People, Too Many Parties

There's way too many parties in town. Be those real parties or virtual parties. When it comes to virtual parties, I am seriously thinking about dropping out of Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter. I have a blog, if really someone wants to find me, they can go there. It's my blog so it's my party. I'm thinking that I haven't the time for the other parties.


At big parties, there's too many people. I can't find those to have good, really interesting conversations with so easily. 


I can have intimate conversations with the few people I care about at small parties. At massive parties? Nope. At a huge party, few can have meaningful conversations at all. Besides that, the virtual parties have all sorts of problems...


Facebook has a poor record of invading our privacy.


Twitter sends junk mail and Spam all the time.


I still haven't really figured out what Linkedin is for so I use it to make silly remarks. 

My Linkedin. "Tosser" is British slang for "someone who masturbates"

It is a slag off off people who try to impress others with their Linkedin 

profiles. Like I said, Linked in is for people looking for jobs... Not to brag like a high school kid about how hot you are because of your current job position... Lame! 

I am not looking for a job (and if you ever read my Linkedin profile, you wouldn't offer me one! Chuckle!) I haven't figured out why gainfully employed people would put their profile on Linkedin. I mean, if they have a good job, then why put a profile on Linkedin? Unless, of course, it's kind of like the masturbation you see at high school class reunions where the people who haven't matured past 17 are still trying to impress each other.


What for?


These are my peeves about the virtual parties. Real parties (actually the ones that really matter) are a different story, but can often offer the same problems as the virtual parties: Too many people and no way to have an intimate and meaningful conversation.


Let me give you and example. Last night, my dear friend Paul, who is Buzz Marketing Director for Apple Asia and I attended a party in Harajuku. There we saw about 200 people who were attending the event to witness a new device.


After the demonstration was over, I introduced Paul to the Marketing Director and the Sports director of this major international company. There the four of us had a very good, in depth, meaningful conversation for about 20 minutes. We exchanged business cards and agreed to meet again and discuss ways that we can use our synergies to make our businesses better, have more organic, promotions and more powerful marketing.


After that conversation, and even though the event after party was just starting I said to Paul, "Let's go!" As we walked out, the pretty receptionist said to me;


"Are you leaving so soon? The party is just begun."


I replied, "Yes. We saw your product and talked to a few people. It was quite nice, thank you."


"But now is your chance to meet lots of people and pass around many business cards! Don't go now! You're missing a good chance."


I thanked her so much and Paul and I walked out.


I said to Paul, "I hope you don't mind" (he didn't at all). I continued, "There are so many people at that party, and parties like this, that I have come to realize that I could go around and meet 40 or 50 people (or more) and pass out tons of business cards, but what good would that do me? I think we met the two most powerful people there and we had a meaningful conversation with them..."


"I think that, going to parties like this, and having an in-depth, honest and sincere discussion with a few select people is much more useful and beneficial than going around and having a short, superficial conversation with many people..."


Paul interjected, "Yeah and then getting all these business cards from people who you can't remember even the next morning."


I was glad Paul saw things as I did.


Remember, whether it is a real party or a virtual party on Social Media, meeting and getting to know one or two people is much better than a surface conversation with dozens. By having a long conversation with just two people, I was able to do several very important things:


1) I can definitely remember their name, both first and last
2) I can definitely know their faces and I have a good idea of "who" they are
3) I know their personality better
4) I arranged a business meeting with them next week to discuss concrete details on how we can all work together to better our business for our mutual benefit.


How can you do that if you are at a party with 200 people and you pass out 60 cards in one and one-half hours? You can't.


Remember: at a party, there's only so much time available. Use that time wisely and focus it. Shallow, surface conversations will result in shallow results.


Deep, caring, sincere conversations will result in outcomes that better your life and your business.


It's a simple choice. nine times out of ten, the simples choices are correct.

Moral Support to Earthquake Blogger! Yeah!

I got a great email from my friend "Peter" about my blog. Peter is a very cool dude and knows his stuff. "Peter" is a Japanese.

"Peter" writes:


Mike,

Hope you, your family, everyone you care are fine! FULL RESPECT to your blog !!

I'm getting sick and tired of fear-mongering TV news, blogs, and rumors surrounding us. WHILE  the victims of tsunami and earthquake are suffering.  Lucky that we have home and shelter.  And this is what we need, as long as our loved ones are fine. Getting really pissed (off) to see people exaggerating the facts, and simply amplifying the rumors.  

What we can do is, (as you are fully doing it), be calm, relaxed, and show respect by being "normal".  

Mike, I had to mail you and thank you for the blog entries...

Full respect to you!

Peter

Thanks Petey,

I am so pleased to get your mail. So pleased, in fact, that I thought I'd have my wife take my picture with my 'baby' for posterities sake. Here's a picture of me and 'my blogging partner.' 

I used to have a regular PC but my wife - who is much smarter than me about these sorts of things - said to me, "For business in Japan, you need to have a computer that says, 'I am an expert' so she demanded that I trade in my dinosaur Windows clunker for a 'Ferrari' Macbook Pro." I resisted at first, but you know what? She was right.

With my old computer no one ever said, "Wow! How is it?" But with this baby, I've been asked that many times. 

When you pull out a computer like this it says, "I am a computer expert; I am serious; I am a pro; I know what I am talking about; you need me and I deserve to be paid well!" 

Now, if I could just get this thing to toast bread and make coffee in the mornings, I wouldn't need her! ... Er, of course I merely jest.....

To Comment or Not To Comment? That is the Question

Just a short article today about my thoughts on allowing comments to your blog.


There are several news and information sites about Japan that have a comments section that is full of, well, what I consider foolish and often rude comments from frustrated readers. I think these sites do a great service for us English speakers and I wish they would quit being so amateurish and "up" their game and get to world class.


Compare say, News On Japan (what I consider to be the best English news site for Japan) to, say, what I think is Singapore's best English news site, the Straits Times. 


There is no comparison to style and flair. There is also no comparison to the quality level of sponsors. 


All three of the "big" English news for Japan sites are this way. I know most Japanese do not understand the importance of image and branding, but you'd think the foreigners would...


There was a time a few years ago when the guy who owned one of these sites asked me if I would run it for him. He also asked, if I ran his site, how I would reform it in order to get more and better paying sponsors?

Insults are OK in a public forum if they funny and are not 

personal nor directed at a certain individual

I had lots of ideas, but the first was that I told him to reform or get rid of the comments section.


He wouldn't even consider it. He said that he needed the comments section in order to get readers to come to his site. Well, it's his site, he can do as he wishes, but I think he is completely wrong and short sighted. Here's why:


Think about a blog or a news site as an experience for visitors. Do you think people enjoy going to Internet sites and see/reading negative or insulting remarks? (A blog can be different as it should appeal to a focused group). 


I think it is a special group of people who do enjoy getting frustrated and writing vitriol to blow off their stress. They have earned the special moniker of "troll." I think people who are busy, enjoy life, and have discretionary income generally do not hand out invective at the readers comments sections; they do not earn the title of troll. The people who do take the time to add value are appreciated, the ones who hurl invective - the trolls - are probably very frustrated people.


But this is conjecture on my part.


I especially don't think potential sponsors want to be associated with anything that could be construed as insulting to people and/or a bad or negative experience. I believe that reputable companies who understand branding will not spend their money in places where negativity is promoted.


I sometimes visit sites like Japan Today. I used to visit everyday. But not anymore. The readers comments are quite unsatisfying and sometimes painful. I don't like that part at all.


I do not write this to insult anyone. I write this because I can see where they can better their business. I think the management of sites like that (while being hard-working and good people) are missing the boat if they think great sponsors are going to pay good money to sponsor their site when amateurs and rookies make ill conceived and rude remarks towards Japan and each other. Here's why:


It lessens and cheapens the experience. Great sponsors want to sponsor things other great sponsors support. Who wants to be associated with cat-fights and arguments? 


Think about it.


I do not write this to insult publications like the one I mentioned above, but to help them see their potential.


Let me give you a good example of a company that understands completely what I'm talking about: Have you ever been to an Apple Store? That is usually a good experience for me. It is a good experience for most people, I imagine. The staff are polite, knowledgeable, and friendly. The place is clean and has a good "groove" and atmosphere. Those first three words are important words in building what is a good experience. Let me repeat those words for you again:


Polite
Knowledgeable
Friendly


How do those three words stack up against a reader comment sections whereby some rude people are making nasty remarks and insulting each other in a very disagreeable manner? Granted not everyone is doing this, but does this make for a good and feel-good experience? I do not think so.


I, myself, do get irritated at some people's foolish remarks (I have an article at Lew Rockwell out about that read it here). and I find myself getting irritated, but I try to refrain from writing back some insulting diatribe. Though I do need to be much more diligent in my self-control.


But I do wonder why some people have to write personal invective towards others and use profanity? Gee, hate to sound like a kid, but I don't think that's fun.


Do not get me wrong. I am not saying to eliminate reader's comments. Mish Shedlock allows them. Mish gets over 1.8 million unique users a month. He has a comments section, but his, like this blog's comment section, has to be clicked to be accessed. 


It does not sit open at the end of a news article. The comments are separated. 


Comments can be useful. But make people click through to see them and moderate your comments section. 


I think this is important: A news article is just that; news. Comment's by amateurs is just that; amateur commentary. They should not be one on top of the other...


Like I said, the amateur comments directly below the "real" article cheapens the experience for me. I'll bet it does for most people, it's just that most people haven't thought deeply about why they find the experience distasteful. Here I am putting it into words. 


Anyway, I cannot control what goes on at other Internet sites, but I can control what goes on here at this blog. In my very possibly confused thinking, I'd like for this blog to be a fun and pleasant experience for everyone, so I ask that readers not stop commenting, but please refrain from the personal insults.


If you want to insult others for dumb remarks they make, there's other places that allow you to do so; or, heck, start your own blog.


But this is my blog and, as such, I just want everyone to know that I reserve the right to refuse service to customers as this is a privately owned blog.


I may delete insulting and rude readers comments. I may also delete remarks made by people who write nonsense.


I deleted one the other day when someone took me to task and wrote, "...Japan has one of the most repressive and dictatorial regimes in the world..." Uh, I think this guy was confusing us with North Korea... If his comments were funny, I would have kept them. But they were insulting, so they were deleted.  


Pardon me for being possibly anal retentive but I don't appreciate people - especially people I don't know (named "anonymous") - insulting my guests at my party.


So, I announce that I will probably, from now on delete all insulting and uncivil commentary from this blog's reader's comments. I think that, if you run a blog too, depending on what you are trying to accomplish, you might want to consider doing the same.


No, this blog is never even close to the cool experience of visiting an Apple store, I do not imply that, but I do not want people who do visit the be insulted.


Call me an oldie and/or a prude. I hope you are here to have fun. I am. I will not allow you to be insulted. I've often read, "Do not feed the trolls." OK, I will do my best. To not only not feed the, but to block their admittance.


I think if you run a blog or a news site, you'd be wise to consider this as part of strategic policy.


UPDATE:


This just in from viral marketing guru Seth Godin,


Strategy is worth thinking about if it causes you to make difficult or non-intuitive decisions. And so you have to test your commitment. "Are you saying that we have to cancel this product line?" is the sort of reaction your strategy statements ought to generate.
If you can't put an example on the table, a concrete manifestation of the action being 
discussed, then you're just prattling on, you're not actually serious about strategy.


UPDATE 2:


Tom Boushel adds: "Drink deep, or touch not at all; a little bit of knowledge is a very dangerous thing"