PAN Blog

How many times have you been faced with the challenge of your client saying, "no one does what we do," or, “we don’t fit into that category..or any other.” Sure, sometimes this is just not the case...but, what do you do when you know the client is right? When the client has a new technology, new value and doesn’t really “fit” with any market, a whole new series of challenges are presented....which can be fun and brain-intensive stuff! Do we create a category? Do we try to make fit within something else? How effective will we be in setting ourselves apart in either case?

I’ve been faced with this challenge several times in my career...more often recently than any other time and I find in most cases it’s best to position within a category then work to set the company apart in proof points later and by building up analyst buy-in. New markets/categories/coverage areas don't get created overnight, and to create a category there MUST be competitors. I’d be interested in hearing other views on the topic and if they've seen an increase in creating new market categories...or not.

Last week's Syndicate Conference had some great keynote speakers. Among them was Rocketboom's Amanda Congdon. Here I play paparazzi while Brian Oberkirch interviews Amanda after her talk. Dave Parmet directs the scene using his "Saving Private Ryan" -influenced camerawork.

Amanda took a little heat for being a not-so-great public speaker in some of the blogs I read after her talk. BUT--she did start her presentation with a disclaimer which said she wouldn't be the best public speaker and, really, who cares. Rocketboom isn't filmed in front of a live audience so she shouldn't be held to any kind of public speaking standard.

What I thought was great about her talk was a) her passion for what she does, and b) how she views video in the online world. One point she noted which resonated well: people have a tendency to try and equate online videos with television style commercials or broadcasts. That's wrong. The Web is a totally different medium which shouldn't be equated to any form of media before it. This is a greenfield and ought to be given the props television got as a brand new medium when it went mainstream.