Free games

At TomorrowToday, we are great fans of games, and especially of the learnings we can get from games. We are also keen observers of the gaming industry, which often picks up on shifting values and economic models before other industries do (compare them, for example, to the music industry – especially on the issue of pricing I’m about to talk about!).

Here is a small feature from the latest Economist magazine on a new financial model for games. Give them away for free!

FOR millions of East Asians, online gaming is not so much a hobby as a way of life. “Massively multiplayer” online games such as “Legend of Mir 3” and “MapleStory” have legions of devoted fans who spend an alarming proportion of their waking hours sitting in front of their PCs, at home or in internet cafés, doing battle with elves, wizards and mythological beasts. Some players take their parallel gaming lives very seriously: one man murdered a friend in a dispute over a stolen virtual sword (GC: this happened a few years ago, and is the only known extreme incident – but it is still much quoted).

Many of these games rely on a business model that is different from the way the video-games industry works in the West. Rather than selling games as shrink-wrapped retail products which can then be played on a PC or games console, the Asian industry often gives away the software as a free download and lets users play for nothing. Revenue comes instead from small payments made by more avid players to buy extras for their in-game characters, from weapons to haircuts. In this way, a minority of paying customers subsidise the game for everyone else.

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How to get young talent to notice your company

There is a lot of talk about targeting the next generation of new talented, graduates called Gen Y or Millennials. And for good reason, they are supremely confident, well educated, know exactly what they want and how to get it. This is presenting some unique challenges for today’s businesses.

This past Friday we were asked to shed some light on the issue and presented at the annual Bright Futures conference, an excellent organisation that helps students and companies connect. A number of top employee brands were present including HP, KPMG, L’Oreal etc. Dr Graeme Codrington presented to both corporate companies and students on Being Talented and Winning the Talent Wars.

One of the key challenges that the companies were raising at the conference was how to attract young talent and alert them to job opportunities. One of our clients a Big 4 accountancy and consulting firm is doing innovative work in this area. They are promoting their employee brand by going to the spaces where young people are congregating such as FaceBook, MySpace and YouTube. Deloitte is interviewing and videotaping employees about how great it is to work at their company in a fun light hearted way and using the clips to promote job opportunities and attracting Millennial talent. Have a look at what Deloitte is doing on YouTube.

Cement Usage

Here’s a link worth following. It contains a few images of cement usage around the world by the big users. China’s usage for the past 4 years is staggering.

We all know this, but seeing it in this particular format leaves you with your mouth hanging wide open. It certainly did for me.

I’ve not been to China. I can’t imagine what must be going on to be using this kind of volume?

Because you are worth it – Good example of Gen X and Baby Boomer campaigns

L’Oreal have launched a recent TV ad campaign targeting Baby Boomers for their Men Expert Range. (see the advert here) It is a pretty good one…for Baby Boomers that is. L’Oreal have long identified the pulling power of celebrity endorsement and use Pierce Brosnan as the face of this campaign. Pierce tells us how he likes to “fight for the causes he believes in” and “find time for himself” – all good noble Boomer causes. Pierce is a great role model for Baby Boomers and he exudes the youth and vitality which are major core value for this cohort.

Contrast this with another “viewer created” advert which I found on YouTube for L’Oreal’s same product range. This spoof advert would appeal to Gen X (see the advert here) and uses humour and paradox to connect with Gen Xers.

For now L’Oreal have it right, using celbrity endorsements is the correct way to go with Baby Boomers, as their core target market, are entering their post middle age years and their obsession with staying young and looking good makes them the perfect target market for L’Oreal. However, as Gen Xers enter the mainstream I hope they pick up on the changing values and attitudes of this younger generation and ditch the celebrity endorsement angle, it just doesn’t work for Gen X.

L’Oreal give the guy who created the spoof advert a job in your marketing department he is obviously worth it!

TomorrowToday.biz Building Capacity in London and Europe

A JOURNEY TO A NEW WOLRD

Graeme Codrington moves to our UK branch in August this year. While not a permanent relocation, it’s expected that Graeme and his family will remain abroad for three to five-years. Already an internationally recognised expert on talent and the future of work, Graeme will continue to help organisations to understand global societal changes, and how these changes affect their staff, leaders and customers. While abroad, Graeme will periodically return to South Africa to honour requests from clients who wish to engage with him directly.

… Continue Reading

Talent – I dislike that word!

Barrie Bramley looks at the preoccupation many companies have with ‘talent’and the confusion it’s causing; as those who are grappling with it struggle to work out what to do with it? Barrie looks at the problem of scarce skills in the market place and the fact that when there’s a shortage of people with skills, you want to ensure that you ‘acquire’ the best people available. … Continue Reading

Introducing the Generations

- First published in the April 2008, Mortgage Solutions magazine

The era in which you were born has an extraordinary effect on your value system, your expectations of the workplace and how you approach life. In this article, Dr Graeme Codrington, one of the world’s leading experts on generational theory, gives an introduction to the concept of the generation gap.
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Building Network Alliances – The future for profitability and success in turbulent times.

Business world is facing the dawning of a new alliance age / revolution that will bring about a new business model more symbiotic and substantially different from the business model of today. The competitive and changing economic landscape demands a new business model…one removed from the shareholder value model to one where value for all stakeholders is created. A model where symbiosis is common place, a model where an entirely new set of rules, governances and structural design/architecture is created; a model that requires the mobilisation of every ounce of intelligence from the managers managing the relationships. In this article our UK & European Director, Dean van Leeuwen, shares with us the results from interviewing over 30 senior executive managers and undertaking a broader global research study of leading companies. The results are illuminating.

… Continue Reading

So, it is your first day in the corner office…

I received an email the other day inviting me to contribute a ‘thought’ or message to a leader newly appointed to the role of CEO. I was one of several people invited to do so and I thought it was a nice touch. Unfortunately, the mail arrived at a time when I was in Thailand on holiday (someone has to do it) and deliberately computerless. By the time I read the invitation, the deadline and opportunity to make a contribution had passed. Ah well, maybe next time.

But I got to think what it is I would have written and decided that this is the message that I would want a new CEO to hear…

… Continue Reading

Accenture’s Multi-Polar World

Accenture released an excellent report last year entitled “The Multi-Polar World”. In it, they argue that right now we live in a world going through major transitions, caught between different “poles” of focus, interest and power. I think they are spot on the money.

You can read the full report online for free. Just go here.

I have reproduced their summary below if you don’t have the time for a 2Mb PDF download and 36 pages of reading.

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Dwindling global electricity supply

I live and work between Johannesburg and London. For the past few months, South Africa has been plagued by the short supply of electricity. This is due to lack of planning for the sustained economic boom we have experienced over the past decade. As early as 1998, forecasters were warning that South Africa would run out of electricity in about 2007. Well, to be clear – that we would reach the point where demand and supply were so closely aligned that any blip in the system would result in blackouts. That is precisely what happened.

The problem should soon be resolved by the opening of new power stations (they take some time to build!) and the recommissioning of old power stations that had been mothballed. In this respect, South Africa is not unlike other countries that have experienced electricity shortages due to economic growth and bad planning. Recent examples include Brazil, Russia, Indonesia and California.

I am planning to spend the next 3-4 years in my London base, but it seems I will not escape the power problem. According to The Economist, England faces the same dark future. The expected date of blackouts – 2012. Just in time for the Olympics in London.

Read the article here (subscription may be required), or an excerpt below.

Green and black
A looming supply crunch causes problems for a government with green ambitions

Apr 3rd 2008
From The Economist print edition

RHETORIC is a sad fact of political life, and most voters are smart enough to know that grand promises made in the heat of a parliamentary debate or an election battle should be taken with a pinch of salt. But on energy policy the gap between claim and reality is now wide enough to be embarrassing. Grandiose pronouncements about climate change (“our greatest obligation to future generations”, according to Alistair Darling, the chancellor of the exchequer) stand incongruously next to Britain’s anaemic record on cutting its greenhouse-gas emissions, which have stayed stubbornly unchanged for years.

That has led to much rancour, with greens accusing the government of “betrayal”. And in the midst of all this acrimony another problem looms: Britain is beginning to run short of electricity. Reversing this trend seems likely to turn up the heat even more.

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The Age of the Millennials – a CBS video

CBS have released a really excellent video of a special insert they did on the Millennial generation. I cannot find a way to extract the video from their website – so you have to go there to see it. It is really worth doing so. Find it here.

Activists and companies can co-operate

The Economist recently ran a fascinating little piece on how activists and companies need to work towards a common outcome and goal. Read it here (subscription may be required) – or an extract below. It may be idealistic, but it is a wonderful goal to have, and certainly is a requirement if we are really going to change the world.

Strange bedfellows

Companies as activists
May 22nd 2008

LAST month Tom Katzenmeyer, vice-president of investor relations at Limited Brands, met representatives of the government of the Canadian province of Alberta. Limited Brands is an American apparel firm with sales of $10.1 billion last year; its best-known division is Victoria’s Secret, which sells lingerie. And what was the topic of discussion? The firm’s worries over threatened caribou habitats.

… Continue Reading

Good with Money

Our global research has long been indicating that companies who concentrate more on who they are and less on what they sell will gain the competitive edge over their competitors.

The “who you are” is defined by the values a company lives by and how effectively the company’s values connect with the talent staff that work for them and the valuable customers that continue to shop with them.

One of the values that companies need to be demonstrating today is that of being ethically conscious. And this means more than just changing to efficient green light bulbs! It means living by the value…making business decisions, both strategic and operational, against the value even if it hurts the bottom line.

I came across a company that is doing great stuff in this sphere. Have a look at their marketing campaign The Co-Operative Bank is really promoting who they are and what they stand for, and most importantly their claims are back by some substantial meaningful and significant claims. They have turned down over £700m in revenue based on ethical decisions… now that is putting your money where your mouth is and living by the values they subscribe to. Impressive!!!

I’ll be reviewing this campaign and the company’s operations over the next few weeks and trying to find out more about their results, but I’ll stick my neck out here and make a prediction that their values based campaign is having a fantastic response from the Millennial, Gen X and Boomer generations, a unique achievement.

June 2008 eZine

Available online at: http://www.tmtd.biz/articles This month at a glance… more details below :: So, it is your first day in the corner office… (by Keith Coats) :: Building Network Alliances – The future for profitability and success in turbulant times. (by Dean van Leeuwen) :: Introducing the Generations (by Graeme Codrington) :: Talent – I dislike that word (by Barrie Bramley) :: TomorrowToday.biz Building Capacity in London and Europe :: Featured Articles in June KeithCoats – So, it is your first day in the corner office I received an email the other day inviting me to contribute a ‘thought’ or message to a leader newly appointed to the role of CEO. I was one of several people invited to do so and I thought it was a nice touch. Unfortunately, the mail arrived at a time when I was in Thailand on holiday (someone has to do it) and deliberately computerless. By the time I read the invitation, the deadline and opportunity to make a contribution had passed. Ah well, maybe next time. But I got to think what it is I would have written and decided that this is the message that I would want a new CEO to hear… Click here to read the rest of this article DeanvanLeeuwen – Building Network Alliances – The future for profitability and success in turbulant times. Business world is facing the dawning of a new alliance age / revolution that will bring about a new business model more symbiotic and substantially different from the business model of today. The competitive and changing economic landscape demands a new business model…one removed from the shareholder value model to one where value for all stakeholders is created. A model where symbiosis is common place, a model where an entirely new set of rules, governances and structural design/architecture is created; a model that requires the mobilisation of every ounce of intelligence from the managers managing the relationships. In this article our UK & European Director, Dean van Leeuwen, shares with us the results from interviewing over 30 senior executive managers and undertaking a broader global research study of leading companies. The results are illuminating. Click here to read the rest of this article GraemeCodrington – Introducing the Generations The era in which you were born has an extraordinary effect on your value system, your expectations of the workplace and how you approach life. In this article, Dr Graeme Codrington, one of the world’s leading experts on generational theory, gives an introduction to the concept of the generation gap. Click here to read the rest of this article BarrieBramley – Talent – I dislike that word! Barrie Bramley looks at the preoccupation many companies have with ‘talent’and the confusion it’s causing; as those who are grappling with it struggle to work out what to do with it? Barrie looks at the problem of scarce skills in the market place and the fact that when there’s a shortage of people with skills, you want to ensure that you ‘acquire’ the best people available. Click here to read the rest of this article GraemeCodrington – TomorrowToday.biz Building Capacity in London and Europe Graeme Codrington moves to our UK branch in August this year. While not a permanent relocation, it’s expected that Graeme and his family will remain abroad for three to five-years. Already an internationally recognised expert on talent and the future of work, Graeme will continue to help organisations to understand global societal changes, and how these changes affect their staff, leaders and customers. While abroad, Graeme will periodically return to South Africa to honour requests from clients who wish to engage with him directly. Click here to read the rest of this article