Mirror Mirror on the wall, who's the biggest ad spender of them all?

The biggest ad spender for Q1 of 2008 goes to the Healthcare sector and with good reason! As the world gets more polluted, more and more people are putting a premium to health and insurance with Nielsen Global Consumer Concerns report, May 2008 noting health as the global consumer's biggest concern. This makes a lot of sense. There are so many kinds of diseases going around, people are so busy now making sure they're insured for their family or that they stay healthy enough to go on working.

Basically the growth in advertising spend per sector looks like this

• Healthcare - 10%
  
• FCMG or Fast moving consumer goods - 6.7%
  
• Clothing and accessories - 5.5%

With regards to advertising medium, television has seen much growth too in the last quarter, followed by radio and newspaper

Will Starbucks Say Goodbye Soon?

Starbucks has been going on a downward spiral with an initial job cut and then a lawsuit over "free" wifi. Starbucks is finally closing the doors of 600 outlets! That's a lot I tell you. That's approximately 10% of their total store chain since they have 6,800 US stores. And 600 stores have the equivalent of 12,000 employees losing their jobs. That's really sad.

So what happened you ask? Let's take our answer from Boston.com's Alex Beam - he has laid down in the best and simplest possible terms the answer

What went wrong at Starbucks? To invoke the venerable business cliche, they didn't stick to their knitting. Their core business was overcharging consumers for coffee, and a very lucrative business it was. Then they started selling dreamy CDs, and the company even helped produce a movie, "Akilah and the Bee," that bombed at the box office. Schultz bought a basketball team and started hanging out with Mick Jagger and Paul McCartney, the usual recipe for business disaster.

Google Getting Sued Again! This Time By Viacom Bec Of Piracy Issues On Youtube

There have been just articles upon articles on privacy issues for online use. And I agree that is imperative that people be able to retain online privacy at some point. Companies like Google though make a living out of collecting personal information from users. This allows them to profile clients, enhance advertising and improve the user experience online.

But in cases like this when Viacom sues them, that information also becomes a threat. After illegally posted clips of "The Colbert Report' was posted on Youtube, Viacom cried foul and demanded to know who was doing this.

This then started the avalanche of online piracy and online privacy nightmares for everyone concerned. The judge just ruled that Google would have to turn over user information for Youtube, and although I don't think it's really a big deal as long as they find the culprit and put the case to rest just so we can all go on with our lives, it's still sensitive that this amount of powerful data can fall indeed be transferred and can indeed fall into the wrong hands.

At this point though, Google and Viacom have come out publicly to say that they will do everything they can to retain people's anonymity. Yeah right!

Guess Chocolates Can Also Be Used In Business, Not Just In Courtship - IBM Tries To Win Over Africa With Chocolate

I absolutely LOVE chocolate. I don't know how people can survive without it. Well actually I do know, I just enjoy chocolate so much I think it should be part of the daily diet. Chocolate tastes good, makes you feel good and is not that expensive. It also doesn't take that long - unlike other things that are also considered satisfying.

Anyway moving on, IBM is attempting to endear itself to Africa. It's weapon of choice - you guessed it - chocolate! And why chocolate? Apparently it is Africa's primary crop and source of economic stability. And so understanding cocoa and in turn chocolate will help the region improve over all - the people and the economy.

With IBM's recent million dollar investments in Africa, it would make sense for them to give some back for a change and help the region flourish. So how are they doing this? IBM is having their new supercomputer Blue Gene to understand the genetic makeup of the cocoa genome that could make it more resistant to droughts and pests, which could lead to a steady crop and contribute to Africa's economies.

A noble feat - but also with criticism, apparently there may be some ulterior motive aligned with business and financial returns for the company. Makes sense, IBM after all is a corporation and not a charity foundation. I agree with their business strategy as long as it helps people instead of cause harm then I guess no foul.

If Africa is to gain with IBM's supercomputer profits - then I guess all is well with the world.

The Separation Of Bill Gates And Microsoft

After 30 years, it looks like the end has come for Bill Gates and Microsoft. The end not being a termination of course of either but instead a change in relationship. Bill Gates is finally stepping down and is now just going to work part-time. Taking it easy I guess. Must be the stress.

Everybody thinks Gates is some genius. The college drop-out who was once the richest man in the world with one of the most innovative companies around.

I do agree that Bill Gates is sort of a legend now. It's good I guess that he's stepping down. Sort of sounds like the end of an era so to speak for the tech world. It would be a shame if he were to go down in flames, beaten bad by Google. So this is the smart approach to bow down in grace while still retaining the image that you're still at the top of your game.

Bill Gates was interviewed by CNet on what might it be like for him After Microsoft and what his thoughts were on the future of technology and Microsoft as a company. He also talks about the failed Yahoo buy-out. Apparently Microsoft already has a stand-alone strategy of its own. Probably as a Plan B, should the acquisition fail - which it did. But anyway, their goal is probably just the same as all the other companies. How do we grow? How do we scale?

Read the complete CNet interview here.

Yahoo's Re-organization - Damage Control?

Yahoo has been in a bit of trouble. It might have declined the Microsoft buy-out offer in a futile attempt to stay afloat. Yahoo, the company and as the brand is suffering extreme criticism from all sides. Executives are leaving for greener pastures, which only goes to show that something may be amiss within those hallowed walls.

That's not to say that not many have left Google and Microsoft. I'm sure many talents there have also left in search for the better opportunity. And may have found them through other smaller companies that are still able to provide them the leeway and freedom that most probably the big guns have now refused to shell out.

But as for Yahoo, the company is indeed on shaky ground. With one executive after another publicly exiting. There must be a very think atmosphere of frustration and anxiety there. I do hope the restructuring does help them figure out what happens.

Analysts seem to think that Yahoo is the result of death by product management. Perhaps it's true, but how come the multiple product perspective didn't impact Google? There must be something wrong with the business strategy or management that's affecting how the company operates from inside out.

It would be shame though to lose Yahoo. I do think they are still one of the best in the online business world and I do hope they figure this out. I've seen Yahoo grow throughout the years and they are still quite admirable although they aren't number 1. Number 2 still isn't a bad place to be.

Yahoo Dumped Microsoft Buy-out For Google Non-Exclusive Partnership. Has the Courtship Ended? Or is it just beginning?

Yahoo has finally made their call. They have finally said "NO" to Microsoft. Yes Microsoft got dumped. Yahoo didn't want a buy-out or maybe they did, but they just didn't think Microsoft's offer was good enough.

What they have done instead is partnered with Google. They have ceded their search capacity to Google. So right now, the ads that will come out on Yahoo are essentially Google ads. That's what it means.

The business strategy here being that revenues could potentially increase for Yahoo search. However the flip-side is that this gives Google even more power in the market. It's now closing into monopoly if I may say so myself as Google supplies other smaller search engines like Ask.com

CNet reports that Yahoo expects the revenue to help the company invest in its dual-pronged advertising strategy that's designed to offer advertisers an easy ability to buy text ads on search results and to buy graphical "display" ads elsewhere on Yahoo's considerable Internet properties.

"This agreement provides a source of funds to both deliver financial value to stockholders from search monetization and to invest in our broader strategy to transform display advertising and advance our starting-point objectives with users," Yahoo President Sue Decker said in a statement. "It enhances competition by promoting our ability to compete in the marketplace where we are especially well-positioned: in the convergence of search and display."

Under the deal, Yahoo will select the search terms for which Google will supply ads, the companies said. The ads will be displayed in the United States and Canada, and Decker took pains to say how Yahoo controls which Google results are displayed and when.

Yahoo's search ad engine, Panama, is competitive with Google's for many popular queries, but Yahoo plans to use Google with less common searches, Decker said. "Yahoo monetizes very competitively with Google for query ads but is not as competitive in the tail," she said, referring to the long statistical tail consisting of a large number of infrequent searches.