Apple facts.

% of American Homes with 1 or more Apple products.

 

 

 

Current % of American homes with one or more Apple products.

% of homes with Apple products by income.

Concentration of Apple ownership across the the USA.

 

 

 

 

 

Apple ownership by Household income.

 

 

 

 

 

Current concentration of Apple ownership across the USA.

 

% of households with children that own Apple devices.

 

 

 

 

 

% of households with children that own Apple devices.

2012
04/09
CATEGORY
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The distressing dilemma of The Hunger Games.

When is a movie a reflection of real life? What have our children had to consume over the last ten years that has made a story like The Hunger Games entertaining? It’s much to digest. The world of Harry Potter gave kids a hero whose parents were no longer around and where using your wits empowered them against evil. The Hunger Games have taken a step--a big step--farther, where the lone youth must battle for survive requiring the killing of other kids. No matter how much righteousness and validation this can be framed in, the fact is--the movie is about kids killing kids. What was the tipping point of this? I believe it started with the events of September 11th. Painful, apocalyptic scenes that saturated the TV screen and seared into the minds of all of us. Then came Columbine. The duck and cover drills of the past seem mild compared the the regular lockdowns that have been part of our kids school life for the last 20 years. The craft and moviemaking of The Hunger Games is first class. The production values are amazing as this futuristic world is created and we journey through it with the young Katniss Everdeen. They did it right. Establishing her hunting talent as basic to survival justify her skills. The bleak condition her family endures and their hopeless plight validate her intent. But a disturbing leap occurs when a story of film is based on youth battling one another to the death. Yes, it’s fantasy. Yes, it's science fiction. The fact remains that the requirements of the story are that kids must kill kids to win leaves you with a really disturbing feeling. The question really is--do we draw a line? Is there a line? Does making subject matter like this into entertainment neutralize negative effects or amplify them? Ask kids and they will tell you the books illustrate the deep regret and futility of the acts. They will tell you the genetically-altered computerized dogs are the really frightening thing in the movie. Maybe Read more [...]
2012
03/27
CATEGORY
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SXSW 2012. Success by the numbers.

The sheer critical mass of tech hotshots at SXSW is proven in the demographics. The numbers are staggering. In just one week, according to the Huffington Post, SXSW attendees bring $167 Million to the Capitol City. The venture/start up math may validate the investment. By all accounts, the attendees represent the cutting-edge technology geeks of their respective companies. In one conversation, I spoke with a key designer for Disney interactive, a New York Ad creative and a Montreal Music reviewer--all with networks of savvy tech hungry friends and affiliates. Where else can a prospective web enterprise put themselves in the thick of the Blogisphere...in the executive suite, and smack in the faces of Silicon Valley and Manhattan’s venture capital elite. Last year, the start up Foursquare picked up more than 500,000 users after their SXSW debut. By this year, they had floated a possible $100 Million sale to Facebook (and, at the very least $20 Million in new funding which the two founders took home $2+ Million each.) Not bad for a couple years work and a few weeks of tequila and tacos in Austin. What do we learn from all of this? That impressions are a valuable commodity. Impressions among social media influencers are perhaps even greater. If the average Facebook user has 120 friends, 184 Linkedin contacts and 27 twitter followers, anecdotally, its probably safe to imagine that that the tech-forward have easily 10x that many. These same influencers tweeted over 500,000 times during the event (source: Simply measured). That’s a lot of influence--potentially. Ironically, one of of those tweets was mine--commenting that the life of that message was about 1/200th of a second as the flow of comments, complaints and critiques were broadcast nonstop. Which might explain the proliferation of handbills, strolling promoters and other old school analog messaging. There’s something comforting about physically seeing a message and the comfort of seeing Read more [...]
2012
03/21
CATEGORY
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SXSW 2012-What a difference a year makes.

SXSW Lobby crowd 2012

Whether it was the the economy or logic, a year of tough business has taken its toll at South By Southwest (SXSW).

Last year, the streets were overflowing with promotions for everything from Fox’s Sons of Tucson TV show (failed) to just about any word you could attach .com, .org or .net. This year was decidedly more reserved. It seems that marketers have determined that accountability pays the bills.

Instead of random awareness, nearly every event required a check-in, Facebook sign-in , email invite or some other tangible data capture.

The rewards were worthwhile- open bars, live music and promo swag- but more importantly, qualified leads and business synergy. As CNBC puts it “For most attendees, the sit-downs, dinners and parties are more important than the event’s programming because of the business relationships they foster.”

The most dynamic places were still the lobby bars at the Four Seasons, the Driskell and the W. Interviews, deals and celebrity-encounters happening from dawn to..well, dawn.

2012
03/21
CATEGORY
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