Monthly Archives: March 2005

Back from the Dead

For the past four weeks I’ve been burning the candle at both ends–with a blow torch. I’ve been working in support of the wide launch of Entrisphere, the most promising new play of the telecom recovery; I’ve been providing product launch support for Gaffey & Associates, an enterprise software company in the healthcare space; and when the workday is done, I’ve been picking up a second shift to reposition and relaunch Cymbic’s own product offering–which we pushed live last night at 1am. I’m ready for a long bike ride and a nap.

Remember that old saw: The Cobbler’s Children Have No Shoes? I don’t think there’s anything more difficult–or dangerous–than a marketing agency doing it’s own marketing. Working for clients is cake. You have the clarity of distance that lends a sharp perspective to discussions on strategy and execution. When you become your own client, you’re too close to the challenges to get a clear perspective, but since you know that perspective exists, you chase yourself in circles trying to gain it. Everything looks brilliant before it suddenly looks ridiculous. Someone should write a dark comedy in the mold of Glengarry Glen Ross, sitting in on the conversation of professional marketers trying to position themselves.

Take a look at our refreshed site and let me know what you think. I’ll be back into the swing of posting after I get a good dose of sunshine. 

A Communist Internet?

I’m no knee-jerk captalist, but China’s appeal to the U.N. to internationalize control over the Internet is a strange and fascinating view into the baseline assumptions of a communist system.

"Chinese Ambassador Sha Zukang
told a UN conference that controls should be multilateral, transparent
and democratic, with the full involvement of governments, the private
sector, civil society and international organizations."

"It is of crucial importance to
conduct research on establishing a multilateral governance mechanism
that is more rational and just and more conducive to the Internet
development in a direction of stable, secure and responsible
functioning and more conducive to the continuous technological
innovation," he said.

If we applied the same thinking on a national scale, any large company could argue that the government should take over Microsoft to ensure more rational governance conducive to stable, secure and responsible functioning, and more conducive to continuous innovation. Wait a minute, that sounds promising. Unless, of course, you envision congress trying to make decisions about what is rational…