Andrew proves his point with the story of Overstock.
The O.co rebrand lasted less than a year because 30-40% of their traffic was getting lost.
He says because people tried going to O.com.
If you are anything except your exact brand match .com, you cannot or should not refer to yourself as your “raw brand.”
I’m not sure I totally agree with this. But I also know I don’t disagree.
The fun of contradictory thinking!
He does add that any other domain endings need to be part of the brand. For example, this project, which uses Club as part of the name and as a .club TLD (top-level domain).
Regardless, one of the first things you should do when dreaming up a new brand is check your domain registry of choice.
The thing that people don’t think about enough is the audience. The audience is the most important part.
From Future Party:
A new app called Whatever gives users all the tools to plan and ideate dates
As message-based social networking takes off, platforms that are able to inspire the most IRL interaction may be the ones that stand out from the crowd.
uses an in-app discovery feed that aggregates potential date locations across platforms like TikTok, Instagram, Yelp, and Eventbrite.
The major platforms have become foundation layers for others to build on, especially as the 10 Blue Links era of search slowly dies.
Messaging + narrow focus + niche use case + enabling experiences = a winner?
The Streaming Wars are a case study in the impact of interest rates.
Pre-COVInflation, money was free so it was all about subscriber growth (the VC/SV playbook).
Free money train ends & it’s about becoming financially sustainable.
When the dust settles, the profitable will remain.
2 theories on why the Great Rebundling is coming:
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Netflix was the default, everything else (except Disney) felt like an experimental subscription for users
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TV ads are purchased by legacy advertisers and agencies. Streaming doesn’t match their status quo. Digital ads are purchased by the new school. Non-self-serve platforms doesn’t match their status quo.
Ad-supported streaming offshoots got caught in the ad revenue valley between digital and legacy advertising powerhouses while linear TV became less enticing for ad buys. Double whammy.
FT: ‘Shakeout has begun’ after $5bn streaming loss for Netflix rivals
The Great Rebundling is coming.
Disney, Warner Bros Discovery, Comcast & Paramount
face a reckoning in 2024 after losing more than $5bn in the past year from the streaming services they built
&
pressure to shrink or sell legacy businesses, scale back production and slash costs following billions in losses
&
a weak advertising market, declining television revenues and higher production costs
Netflix turned a profit and keeps chugging. Sometimes patience is the best strategy. (1st mover advantage never hurts)
Jon Loomer: Are Blogs Making a Comeback?
Social devalues links in favor of videos. Search engines are devolving into AI-powered answer engines. Email open rates are falling.
Channels are composting. While blogs may not be the traffic machines they used to be, they are still a home base you own and can distribute/syndicate your content from.
“The story of Ender’s Game is not this book, though it has that title emblazoned on it. The story is the one that you and I will construct together in your memory. If the story means anything to you at all, then when you remember it afterward, think of it, not as something I created, but rather as something that we made together.” | Orson Scott Card
Stories are made together indeed.