Category: Development Strategies

3,14 or 50 Kinds of ‘Free’

Thanks to Hannah Rudman for sending me a link to an article on Chris Anderson’s ‘Long Tail’ website about ’14 Free Business Models’, which is based on a paper entitled ‘Copying and Copyright’ by Google’s economist, Hal Varian. The 14 business models which involve giving things away free include: ‘Sell Physical Complements’, ‘Advertise Yourself’, ‘Sell …

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Passion in business

“Do you have to abandon your creative passion to become more businesslike?” is a question I am sometimes asked when I’m talking with creative people in business. My answer is that passion is essential in a creative business. We need to harness it, not deny it. And we must stay true to our values as …

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Chase one rabbit (Chinese proverb)

Here’s some ancient wisdom from a Chinese proverb: “If you chase two rabbits, both will escape.” A useful thought for all creative entrepreneurs. It can be applied to: deciding which creative speciality to choose, from all the creative things you can do. deciding which particular market segment to focus on, rather than trying to appeal …

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Get out more!

At the launch party for Creative Times Online, which was full of ‘creative industries’ people clustering together, I met a civil engineer. Civil/structural engineers don’t normally attend these gatherings of ‘creatives’ (fashion designers, musicians, writers, film-makers, advertisers, artists, website designers, broadcasters and publishers, graphic designers, performers, computer games programmers, designer-makers, etc.) So I was intrigued. …

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Rolls and Royce: a shared vision

Successful creative businesses need a combination of creativity and business strategy – what I call ‘T-Shirts’ and ‘Suits’. Sometimes, one individual has both of these elements in good measure, but more often than not, the harmony of creativity and business is formed by two people, or a larger team. Frederick Henry Royce met Charles Stewart …

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Cate Blanchett ‘Sparkles’

Congratulations to one of my client creative businesses, Sparkle Media on their successful projects in Australia ! The visual effects and animation company has recently worked in Australia with Oscar-winning actress Cate Blanchett and Joseph Fiennes, producing video footage for the multimedia theatrical performance Minutes of a Separation. Sparkle Media also worked for Reebok whilst …

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Carnaby Street W1

Westminster Council bought the copyright in the design of its iconic street signs (pictured). This means that it can now generate income fom licensing this intellectual property to businesses. The designs were created by Misha Black in 1967 and the copyright remained with the designer until his death, when it passed to his estate. Black’s …

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Don’t Co-operate

In contrast to the business strategies of collaboraton or Co-opetition, there is another strategy to consider: ‘Don’t Co-operate’. This is one of the characteristics of the success of Apple Inc., according to Wired Magazine in an article called ‘How Apple Got Everything Right By Doing Everything Wrong’. The article shows how Apple breaks several of …

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Freemium: Give it away free!

Creative entrepreneurs often ask me how they can make money from their music or computer games when MP3 files and software is so easy to copy. One answer is to use the fact that people copy your stuff to change a threat into an opportunity. Banda Calypso’s music is copied onto CDs and sold on …

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