Andrew Lark

New Pew Internet Study Out

Pew's latest research is out. Always worth a read.

Sixty-eight percent of American adults, or about 137 million people, use the internet, up from 63% one year ago. Thirty-two percent of American adults, or about 65 million people, do not go online, and it is not always by choice. Those who are currently offline have had varying levels of exposure to the online world. One in five American adults say they have never used the internet or email and do not live in an internet-connected household. At the other end of the spectrum, 53% of home internet users have high-speed access, creating a new divide among internet users.

Having trouble sleeping? Get the full study here!

This Summarizes The Change Taking Place In the Valley

"Ten years ago, everyone thought they were the next Bill Gates," said Harley Shaiken, a University of California-Berkeley professor specializing in labor issues. "Now you may realize you just have a lot of hours and no social life, so you want some compensation up front. ... Increasingly, innovation is going to have to be balanced against reasonable working conditions.'' [from Good Morning Silicon Valley]

CMO Tenure

This is a bit worrying given my new gig. I wonder if I can outlast the elephant? The understory here is interesting - how can companies create long-term shareholder value with these kinds of tenure periods?

Look out! If current trends continue, the tenure of a typical CMO may soon outlast the gestation period for an elephant. According to new research by executive search firm Spencer Stuart, the average CMO tenure at business-to-consumer companies has gone up by nearly a full month—from 22.9 months a year ago to a whopping 23.7 months. (For the record, elephant moms carry their kids for two years before giving birth.) . - CMO Magazine

Blink...

Read John's post over at Brandshift... good read...

"Companies spend billions on market research to divine the needs and wants of consumers and businesses. Yet the new-product failure rate remains high. And we’re not coming up with better product concepts by listening to the voice of the customer. Why? Maybe the customer isn’t worth listening to."

I worked for John Roth at Nortel - he said the same thing differently... listen to the leading-edge customers. The ones right at the bleading edge. In other words, don't listen to the ordinary. Innovation doesn't come from the ordinary - it comes from the edge.

John W says it right - focus on participating with customers. Inevitably a vast amount of businesses don't sell to the end consumer. We participate in a value stream. We need to participate to truly understand the value our products create. And then we need to innovate around that value.

FD: I write for Brandshift

Hard to Argue with This...

New Zealand is the best place on earth. I agree.

Readers of London's Daily Telegraph newspaper have voted New Zealand as their favourite place on earth, for the second year in a row.

More than 25,000 readers were polled in Britain's biggest survey of travel habits and the results were announced at the eighth Telegraph Travel Awards reception at the Royal Opera House in London.