Advertising within java/flash games

No, not product placement, that would be a huge waste of time. Nobody needs to see the Bloons monkey drinking a Coca Cola, or the tilty motorcycle actually be a Harley Davidson. I mean companies actually producing java games with their stuff in them.

I know a while back that Nabisco did a whole lot of childrens' style games with very little going on in any of them, and a large amount of product placement. This is a really unexplored thing, I believe. We're so concerned with viral videos, and getting our customer service departments on Twitter, that something like this is being left behind, for the most part.

With the one possible exception of Comedy Central, I suppose. Take a look at their website sometime. If you're at all familiar with any of their programming beyond the standup comedy specials, you will recognize a ton of stuff if you wander into their game section of their website.

Small companies...find a game developer that can do a java/flash game for you....even something as simple as a choose your own adventure or a madlib, if done well will bring you lots of traffic, and people will have fun, and remember you.

Thanks for reading...

Do What Nobody Else Is Doing

The other day I wrote about not doing something just because you have the opportunity, just so you can get your name out there, just so you can have the experience.

Today, I'm very nearly going to contradict myself, but I promise it will make sense.

If you can take a look at what you want to be doing, and everyone within that field is doing it the same way, the time is ripe for someone to come in and be different. Take a look at how everyone else is going from point A to point B...there's probably another way to do it. Maybe it's been thought of, maybe its been tried, maybe it blew. But sometimes the best way from point A to point B is actually backwards, by going from point B to point A. Be the one doing it differently.

Yeah, I realize those of you familar with Seth Godin will recognize that idea, its pretty much what he's built his career on. Doing it differently. Doing it how nobody else is doing it. He's right, though. Why be just another person when you can be the only yourself? If everyone is wearing blue, why aren't you wearing red?

There are plenty of companies and individuals out there who have taken advice from Seth Godin and ran with it...and there are plenty who have not. But that doesn't matter...the way most companies flourish these days is because they're different. Zappos started selling SHOES on the internet. Who would have thought that would work? Now look at them.

This is no new phenomenon either. Since the massive commercialization of the United States, and a large portion of the world, really...very few companies or people have made money by being the same. It happens, of course, but it's not likely. Be different. Be you.

What are your favorite companies or individuals that were successful by being themselves or by doing something different from everyone else?

Thanks for reading...

Purple Cows and Outliers

Are all these authors and bloggers that write about being innovative, and the how and why of certain people becoming sucessful all writing about the same thing? Do they all have the same ideas, but explain them in different ways?

Yes. But that's not a bad thing, and let me tell you why.

Not all people learn the same way. Some people are visual, some are aural, and some learn by doing...I could go on. In the same vein, not all people respond to advertising or marketing the same way. That's why there are so many companies that need to find more than one way to say what they mean - to attract as many people as possible.

The obvious example of people coming at the same idea from two completely different directions are ones that I referenced in the title of this entry. Seth Godin's Purple Cows, and Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers. Seth uses the term purple cow to describe that one thing about an entity that makes it special. It can be almost anything, tangible or intangible. Malcolm uses the mathematical term outlier to put more of an analytic spin on the same idea, but by being a bit more specific. Seth relies on thought and creativity and using the mind to think for himself. Malcolm relies on mathematical calulation and statistical analysis from many different angles.

Yet, they're both coming to the same conclusion. What makes you stand out is not what makes you the same as everyone or everything else, it's what makes you different. That seems pretty obvious, but in reality finding what makes you different is very difficult, no matter which angle you come at it from. Why would you want to be the same as something else? Why not? If that something is successful, why not try to be as much like it as possible? That's now things work these days...find a similarity, use it, but exploit your differences, provided they're positive. If your differences aren't positive, find the similarity and fix it.

Seth Godin and Malcolm Gladwell set out to put to words the way that they do things. Did they intend to provide the same message in entirely different ways? Probably not, but as we all know, eventually, the quickest way between points is a straight line. There is no one way to accomplish something, but to be done correctly and successfully, there must be a legitimate base, and both gentlemen had the idea to write about their thoughts on what goes into making something unique. Both men have written on many topics, but intentional or not, they both wrote great explanations of the same topic, by coming at it from completely different directions.

Thanks for reading...