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Can Large Corporations Buy "Cool?"
Posted by
kdawson
on Tue Mar 27, 2007 02:20 PM
from the schmiral dept.
from the schmiral dept.
TobyToadstool writes "With the recent news that NBC and News Corp. will launch a YouTube rival, CNet asks: Can big corporations buy the zeitgeist or will they inevitably screw up? CNet calls the new wannabe 'Me Too Tube.' The article looks at companies trying to buy their way into user-generated content. Quoting: 'There is something incredibly boring and sad about giant companies who constantly chase the fleeing tailcoats of the latest Internet trends. Like the kid who [leaned] over and copied you in art class, News Corp./NBC are the archetypal corporation — lumbering and so very uncool.'"
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NBC, News Corp Join to Create YouTube Clone 126 comments
Brett writes "It's official: NBC Universal and News Corp have announced their plans to
create a video sharing site of their own. The
joint venture will features both TV and movie shows in full length, including episodes of '24,' 'My Name is Earl,' and movies like 'Borat.' The plan is to also syndicate content on
other portals like MSN, MySpace, and Yahoo! It's unclear how YouTube's previous deal with NBC relates to this, but it's clear that the major players are now shunning YouTube."
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This may be "uncool"... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:This may be "uncool"... (Score:5, Insightful)
No they didn't, and that's the point. MySpace was already cool, they bought it and didn't really change it. They didn't MAKE it cool. And more importantly, they didn't compete against MySpace to do it. NBC is looking to try to make their clone cool, when YouTube already exists and gained much of it's early popularity though content they won't allow.
Let's not forget that Google tried to take on YouTube (in a way), and failed. They ended up buying YouTube.
NBC wants to make another YouTube, they have to compete against the original. And with the kind of restrictions that will likely be placed on it, I don't think they'll succeed at all.
They aren't starting something new in a new market. They aren't taking an existing small market and trying to expand it. They are trying to kill a very poplar and nice Goliath.
Re:This may be "uncool"... (Score:5, Funny)
Answer: Yes, they bought MySpace.
That's it.
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Re:This may be "uncool"... (Score:5, Insightful)
Look at all the great applications, that just blew up out of nowhere. They're all started by people who are so amazingly fucking stoked about this idea! It's the coolest thing ever! It's going to change the world! I used to work with a guy who had that vibe, and it's like fricking crack, those people are just so into it, and amazed by it, and they want to use it, they want it to be like their dreams, and they think about it constantly.
Contrast that with a group of people whose sole goal is to try to take apart this successful thing, and pick out its success, and put that into their own thing so it'll be successful. It's like taking a famous piece of art and trying to pull the art out of it...They're looking for an ephemeral thing. They don't know why it's cool. They don't know what it is about it that makes it great.
The thing is, YouTube is hardly unique. The idea is a simple idea. There are a lot of other sites out there that allow you to host your videos for other people to see. But it has that thing...That ephemeral thing...Hell in this case, it could just be that it built a great user base out of daily show clips, and now those people are putting great stuff on YouTube, so it has great content...And it's by no means certain that another venture, no matter how well funded, will be able to tap that secret sauce. They may though. Never underestimate the power of a sufficiently large integer with a "$" in front of it.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
You can buy cool. A giant company can even create cool. However, a press release that says big companies are going to create a competitor to something cool is not the way to do it. That's a decidedly staid way of doing business.
Imagine some
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So what you're saying is that if you're rich and uncool, you can buy cool and own cool, but you can't make it.
Re:Rich and uncool (Score:4, Funny)
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Re:This may be "uncool"... (Score:4, Insightful)
That said, Youtube is not a small time site. It never was. You could say that the original creators did buy cool. One of the two guys is from an affluent family and I believe his wife's father (who is some big CEO somewhere or something like that) helped invest heavily in getting youtube off the ground. It frustrates me when people talk about Youtube like it is some phenom that started from the underground by some kid in his bedroom. It was started by a couple of older guys who had a lot of money and connections and the means to make something big. It's the difference between a Subway and a McDonald's . . . neither of them is your local mom and pop sandwich shop.
Of course, we can argue all day long as to whether MySpace is cool. I think most of us can agree that it certainly is not. Same for Youtube. Both are just places for teenage self-indulgent attention whores to whine about how hard life is, shake their asses and lipsynch on video as if the rest of the world cares.
It appears to me that all NBC is doing is creating a site where you can go to get their content. Of course, you know it's going to be restricted like crazy. But having a place to go and watch NBC content (other than Heroes, what the hell is there to watch?!) doesn't make it a youtube site. Youtube is Youtube because it has tens of millions of videos by tens of millions of wannabe stars who live for attention.
Newscorp didn't go out and create their own myspace. They bought myspace. NBC isn't going out there and buying youtube. They're trying to create their own. And it's not going to work. As bad as youtube sucks ass, the NBC version will be even worse.
NBC creating their own "youtube" will be like a poor kid who has to wear clothes that his mom made for him out of scraps, while all his friends and classmates go to school in brandname. It'll be the K-Mart and Value Village of video sites.
The cool is in the brand (Score:2)
The same goes for any brand or buying a small development company or whatever.
Re:This may be "uncool"... (Score:4, Interesting)
Also, look at Wal-Mart. They've already tried to make a "MySpace" and... well, have you heard of it? No? That's because it's not 'Cool'. Sure, 14 year old girls could go there and add Wal-Mart clothes to their avatar and show off their styles and 'where' (see Wal-Mart) they could buy those cool clothes.
Heck, I think they might have even paid employee's kids to use it to get it kick-started.
MySpace and Facebook 'grew' into cool. Trying to break into it with a big promotion and throwing money at it, rarely works. It goes out with a bang. Sure, you hear and see it at first, but after the dust settles, it will be gone.
If something is 'cool' and you buy it, yes, you bought cool. Of course, it could become 'un-cool' but you still bought 'cool' at that time.
Cheers,
Fozzy
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Cool? (Score:5, Insightful)
The NBC/News Corp. site will be a convenient place to watch NBC and FOX television shows. Who cares if it is "cool"?
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Not necessarily true. I post my videos on youtube because it's the only place to post them.
If NBC creates a site that's free and easy to use, so I can upload my videos easily, with
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Me too tube? (Score:5, Funny)
Yeah that never works. (Score:2)
Can slashdot decide what "cool" is? (Score:5, Funny)
You probably think it's uncool because it isn't compatible with firefox for unga bunga linux or dragonfire BSD.
NBC and NewsCorp have tons of content people want access too. They will be successful, whether you like it or not, or whether it gets the tag of "cool" from a bunch of geeks.
YouTube cool? Whats so cool about some fat kids video diary?
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It's called Ubuntu, racist.
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Wake up to a little bit reality here pal (Score:5, Insightful)
you are probably thinking that who are hanging out in slashdot are a bunch of long haired geeks in their mom's basement and half lit university labs. along with a couple of linux, ms and nasa junkies
reality is that
not to mention countless hordes of developers & programmers, whose collective mind decides the fate of programming languages, numerous software and hardware products, and even ideas, for the future.
ever wondered why there are so many anonymous posts in slashdot ? only for trolling better ? afraid of persecution ?
think again.
Re:Can slashdot decide what "cool" is? (Score:4, Funny)
My keyboard is now covered in soda, thanks.
Of course they can, corporation != uncool (Score:2, Insightful)
They have an uncanny ability to enter an established market with a "cool" product and trample over the competition.
Re:Of course they can, corporation != uncool (Score:4, Informative)
Any company that tries to be cool isn't cool (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Any company that tries to be cool isn't cool (Score:4, Insightful)
When a corporation that doesn't know what the fuck it is doing tries to be cool, it ends up making a disaster of a product. And it's not because they tried to be cool. It's because they tried and didn't know what the fuck they were doing.
Again, Apple and Google succeed at being cool because they are operated by people who know how to create that image. On the other hand, Microsoft, Exxon-Mobile, Walmart, et al. fail miserably, because they apparently have MBAs running their creative departments. They don't do shabbily, obviously, but their market appeal is more based on a utilitarian need rather than an aesthetic want.
Now, one can make the argument that a corporation, as an entity, is intrinsically uncool, but that's all a matter of ideological persuasion. I'm merely talking empirically about what the broad appeal of these corporations seems to be.
Unchilled all the way to the bank (Score:2)
The Secret to Being Cool (Score:5, Funny)
Learning is fun! "I to learn, it's my style. I'm quiet in class and I always smile." *boom shika boom*
Re:The Secret to Being Cool (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:The Secret to Being Cool (Score:4, Funny)
Of course not (Score:2)
It's best to shrug this kinda thing off (Score:4, Insightful)
Once again we're going to see a catfight over technology being brought down to the same level as fashion.
My advice for real geeks: shrug it off. Or do you want to be part of what is slightly above a Montel Williams show?
Can they? (Score:2)
With deep regrets... (Score:5, Funny)
Sorry, I'm not for sale.
They must become cool. (Score:4, Insightful)
Those that do not will die.
This is very difficult for companies that are used to filtering your culture and promoting only a small subset, which they consider exemplary. That kind of cynicism can be seen back as far as the Beatles "Hard Day's Night" where a company follows the advice of their "resident teenager". In a world where original content can and does come from everywhere, big companies are going to have to get used to being one of many equal players. Those that do will be cool by definition. Those that don't will increasingly become keepers of legacy and irrelevant entertainment, kind of like museums.
Cool is like stupid. Stupid is what stupid does. Both become apparent in time.
It's not that it's "cool"... (Score:2)
Sure they can! (Score:5, Funny)
Can Large Corporations Buy "Cool?"
Of course they can! A good example is the entertainment industry's Captain Copyright! [medialoper.com]
Why, if that doesn't make little Timmy stop downloading his Metallica MP3s, then by golly nothing will! Captain Copyright is totally fresh!
Cnet really isn't cool either... (Score:2)
No, see... The cool kid didn't care enough to notice somebody leaning over and copying. They just went on making cool stuff.
TMZ.com owned by AOL (Score:2)
The answers are yes, and yes (Score:2)
The summary asks two questions. Can corporations buy cool, and will they inevitably mess it up. The answer to both questions is yes.
Of COURSE they can buy cool. All that requires is that you identify a cool idea, and then pay for it.
The problem is that t
Of course! (Score:2)
Nothing can buy cool. (Score:5, Insightful)
The coolness has to come from within.
Rhetorical? (Score:2)
If their attempts at viral marketing are anything. (Score:3, Insightful)
Brand equity (Score:4, Insightful)
Take the acquisition of Rolling Rock Beer by Anheuser-Busch as an example. RR had a brand that capitalized on its niche quality: We're smaller, but better, and we cater to the more discriminating lager drinker. (Whether or not that's true is debatable, I know, but that's the idea.) Add a little mystery like the "33" on the bottle, and some word of mouth (the branding equivalent of gold bullion), and you have a successful product over time. Rolling Rock is then perceived as "cool".
So, A-B buys Rolling Rock. What do they do? They immediately try to sell it like Bud. Quirky but uninspired ads, flashy web site, increasing the scale of operations, closing the original brewery (now that hurts!), and so on. They figure hey, beer is beer, and we know how to sell it, right?
Wrong.
Most Rolling Rock drinkers by the stuff because IT ISN'T BUD, for starters. And the brand equity -- what marketing types christen that "cool" factor -- is being slowly but surely eroded.
So it's not clear how Anheuser will enhance the brand, to try to regain lost ground. Or maybe they're just out to eliminate a competitor, and shaft the consumer in the process by wiping out one more choice. But maintaining (let alone growing) brand equity is a marketing black art, and one that most larger companies stumble over once they acquire another operation.
Yes... it just takes time (Score:5, Interesting)
At first, they failed miserably. But with each attempt, they learned a little bit more about how the subculture worked.
Now they probably sell more "skateboarding shoes" than any other company.
Of course, all they've done is buy the mind-share of young people through some adept marketing... but is there any difference between that and "buying cool?"
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