The
big players of TV are a little worried and it’s all because of a small company
named Aereo, an upstart which wants to change the way we view television. No
wonder all the big firms from NBC, ABC, CBS to Fox have all sued it but its CEO
Chet Kanojia (/who incidentally is a native of Bhopal/) is not worried at all
for he is absolutely sure of what he is doing. Aereo TV, simply put is an
‘online TV service’. The modus operandi of the company is simple. Kanojia has
made very small antennas. Each user is assigned one antenna which grabs the
broadcast-TV signals from the air and with the help of a software those signals
are aired to the user. Not just this, the signal can be aired to any device
which the user opts for – his mobile, his PC, or even his TV set. What this
translates for the user is: a) he does not need to pay the hefty cable fees,
and b) he can now watch his favourite TV programme anywhere. He could be stuck
in traffic and watch it on his mobile, or in office on his PC. Kanojia saw a
loophole in the copyright act and made the most of it, which is why in spite of
his company being sued twice he seems undeterred and has in fact won both
times. Not just that, today he is sitting on a funding of $38 million with the
help of which he would spread his network, which is currently available only in
New York, to 20 more cities.
Kanojia
saw a gap in the system and filled it up with his service. According to him,
everything will soon migrate to the Internet including TV. The youth today is
more loyal to a TV programme and not a TV channel. He wanted the freedom to
watch it whenever and wherever he pleased. Add to that the fact that he did not
want to pay for the channels he did not watch, but under the current system he
had to pay for a package. Aereo, on the other hand, gave him just what he
wanted.
Whether
Aereo really makes it big and becomes the next best thing is debatable and only
time will tell. However, it has an important lesson for all to learn and that
is ‘never fear to challenge the big players or the best ideas’. You may turn
out to be a game changer.
THE
GAME CHANGERS
The
way students learn is going to change in times to come. Some predict that with
the advent of the Internet online classrooms, one-on-one interactive sessions
may become the norm and shake up the classic lecture theatre model. Scientists
from Stanford have already created a platform where universities can offer
their courses and students have the freedom to choose different courses from
different universities. 12 leading universities have already joined this
portal, giving students greater access to the best courses across the globe.
Higher
education in the future will see a dramatic change. One person who has been a
pioneer in this is Gene Wade, the Founder of ‘UniversityNow’ which provides
university courses online at a nominal fee. The students can pace out their
courses at very nominal fees. Gene Wade’s vision is to make higher education
‘debt-free’ so that students do not carry the burden of heavy loans. He wants
to provide high quality and affordable education to as many students as
possible. He is a man a lot of people are sitting up and noticing as he had
made university as cheap as your phone and cable bills and has already got
4,000 students! Not just universities but even banks are watching his moves
carefully. He is going to change a few rules in education. Just the same way as
Mark Shuttleworth changed the way people buy software. If Windows (/Microsoft/)
charged a premium for its software then Shuttleworth decided to give it for
free. He named it “Ubuntu”, an African word that means ‘humanity to others’,
and dared to challenge the biggest player in the market. If Ubuntu can catch
and retain the attention of the consumer then it has the potential to shake up
this industry too.
THE
GAME SPOILERS
The
smart entrepreneur needs to constantly look out for changes in the business
environment and change too or else be prepared to be left behind. When people
asked Michael Dell last year whether it was the end of the PC era he rubbished
the idea. Even when, in 2011, the sales of the PC (/personal computer/)
declined by 1% no one thought much about it. However, the next year sales were
down by 14% and then again 14%. What took Dell and Microsoft time to realize
was the fact that the consumer had moved on. He had moved on to the ‘tablet’ or
the ‘smartphone’ as a replacement for his PC. What that meant was that in the
past while 95% of all desktops and laptops were controlled by Microsoft now
hardly 50% of the users were using that device and hence Windows. People today
would prefer an interesting app like Box, or Huddle, or even a free platform
like Ubuntu than pays for Windows. The company failed to move with the times.
It had such a good grip over the market yet it lost out to the fast changing
times.
However,
one company has been keeping up with the changing times perfectly and that is
Samsung. Apple used to be the one who changed the game for many businesses. Be
it portable music players or notebooks or phones, its iPods, iPads, and iPhones
changed the rules for all these categories. Samsung, on the other hand, did the
same for the ‘lower-price category’ in all these segments. Today, it has
launched so many products of such good quality and of such affordable price
that it is giving Apple a tough time to cope with it. If Apple boasted of the
world’s best designers in-house then Samsung went and hired the best designers
from the best places and today its products are as beautiful. It has gone on a
rampage by launching numerous new products, spending $38 billion in
acquisitions and keeping its employees constantly on their toes to keep
innovating and creating. Apple, the original game changer, might get replaced
soon if it does not keep up with the changing times. Apple has it all. It is
the original king, but it needs to get real aggressive to safeguard its
kingdom, before it’s conquered by someone faster!
Even
though its product had faced the maximum criticism in the world yet this
company in 2012 ranked No.7 in the list of ‘Most Valuable Brands in the World’
. The brand is Marlboro and its brand value was $73.6 billion, just a little
lesser than Coca-Cola, which at No.6 had a brand value of $74.3 billion. The
reason being as times changed so did the company and its marketing strategies.
Launched as a cigarette for women it quickly changed its theme to ‘The Marlboro
Cowboy’ when it saw that just marketing to women did not work. It became the
most ‘masculine’ cigarette. Then, when reports started coming in of how
cigarettes cause lung cancer, it added a filter, and market share increased
once again. To keep the interest in the brand alive it slowly shifted from the
‘cowboy’ theme to that of ‘Marlboro Country’. Then, when government and social
regulations prohibited the company from advertising, it switched to a different
strategy. Glossy advertisements were changed to in-store advertisements, mail
coupon promotions etc. Marlboro packets were placed near check out counters for
greater visibility. The company announced annual sweepstakes through mail.
You
could win a few dollars off on a carton of Marlboro or even a holiday to the
‘Marlboro Ranch’. Some lucky ones even won land in Montana! The company has
been on its toes all the time, very agile, very swift, and is still such a
valuable brand. Ethical or not, well, we don’t debate on that but as marketers
this should serve as a lesson in innovation and the rewards of innovation and
of changing strategies along with the changing times. This year American TV
once again saw an advertisement of cigarettes. The last one was seen in 1971,
on January 1, when Virginia Slims ran its final commercial one minute before
the midnight deadline of the ban. This year the cigarette used was a little
different. It’s an ‘e-cigarette’, a smokeless cigarette made by a company named
NJOY King.
They
were invented in 2003 but are becoming popular with every passing day, with
sales doubling every passing year. If the trend continues NJOY may just turn
out to be the ‘game changer’ and steal all the market share from right under
the nose of the big tobacco manufacturers. The victory will be well deserved
for the last time someone innovated a cigarette was when the ‘filter’ was
introduced in 1952 or the flip-box in 1954. NJOY might make traditional
cigarettes history very soon.
Times are changing at
breakneck speed and if you don’t think different you could be left behind. If
you don’t question and challenge the big guys you may lose out. If you don’t
believe in being a game changer you could become the biggest loser. So, stop
doing what you have always been doing. Be a game changer, think different and
dare to change the rules of the game. It’s the best strategy of survival.