The (still) Dutch bank ABN AMRO recently took the news with a strategic report on the media in The Netherlands. In this report the bank sketches a lot of scenarios that might become reality in the (near) future. A lot of remarks were made why a bank as ABN AMRO would bother creating such a report. ABN AMRO themselves replied that a lot of clients of the bank are active in the media and they consider it their duty to investigate the sector. Sharing of this knowledge seems naturally. The criticism from the communication industry was on the content of the report: a lot of clichés, no real insights, common knowledge. In fact the publication is no scoop. Competitor Rabobank used to send out sector reports often.
My first thought however was: how come that the Bank’s analysts do not share their knowledge with the people responsible for spending the communication budget? Recently ABN AMRO bragged about their participation in Second Life (the world’s quietest bank office probably). But then again: this initiative generated a lot of free publicity in itself. In that perspective the effect of the virtual venture itself is quite irrelevant…
In his fun-to-read article (with a very serious message) Michael Arrington (TechCrunch) is hoping for the return of the better times in Silicon Valley. He compares the current situation there with the events that took place just before the bubble broke back in late nineties. “Times are good, money is flowing, and Silicon Valley sucks”, he states with a sense of cynical humor.
I left Silicon Valley at the peak of the insanity last time around, and I was pleasantly surprised when I returned in 2005 to see so much goodwill and community surrounding innovation. Now, it’s just like the old days again, and Silicon Valley is no longer any fun. In fact, it’s turned downright nasty. It may be time for some of use to leave for a while and watch the craziness from the outside again. In a few years, things will be beautiful again. The big money will be slumbering away, and the marketing departments will be a distant memory. We can focus, once again, on the technology. And the burgers and beer.
The need to actually dodge for VC’s must be a strange experience. Remembers me of the column by Edo van Santen on Sprout (in Dutch). He signals the same situation here in The Netherlands. Guess we have a bubble in the making…
It looks like the world is busy trying to get to a next evolutionary phase. It might also just be something that is related to the time of the year: spring. In The Netherlands (don’t know if this is the same elsewhere) spring is the time of year when you clean house. It comes to me that this now is going on in a much more diverse way: everything is 2.0 nowadays. Companies are re-defining themselves and call that “Companyname 2.0″. Trends die before to really become a trend and relive again as Trend 2.0. Advertising is dead! But now there is Advertising 2.0. Even PR is not what it was. Be ready for PR 2.0 (in Dutch, article on Marketingfacts)!
In fact 2.0 always stands for the “new” and “upcoming”. And always opposite 1.0: the way things are done today. Somehow I feel a bubble coming up (again…)
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