Author Archives: Matt Collins
Avoiding The Career Obsolescence Trap
Four years ago, I had a conversation about career obsolescence I’ll never forget. I was catching up with a friend and former colleague who had left her job at an advertising agency around 2008 to be a stay-at-home mom. This woman is the best account director I’ve ever known. She is tough, comfortable defending her […]
This Headline Badly Distorted An Important Message To Marketers
“Facebook, Twitter and Instagram massively over-rated by marketers, says Prof Mark Ritson.” So wrote The Syndey Morning Herald last week. Aside from the fact that source material for this “news” is in fact over four months old, the headline writer managed to distill a nuanced and critical message all marketers need to hear into a […]
Why Effective Mobile Marketing Requires An ROI Orientation
After last week’s post on mobile strategy 101, I was asked, “But what about mobile marketing? Facebook is dominant on mobile, but it’s so expensive.” I understand why many marketers have that question. If you’re a brand marketer and have a good feel for TV, traditional display, radio, and print prices, Facebook may seem high, […]
iOS Or Android? App Or Mobile Website? A Primer To Build Your First Mobile Strategy
Sports journalists love to hypothesize about the best athlete around which a new franchise could be built to win. Let’s indulge a version of this exercise in business: if you were starting a company and needed a winning mobile strategy, what would it look like? Would you prioritize building an app or a mobile website […]
Cured Ham And No Sleep: How I Survived Mobile World Congress
Originally posted on Matt Collins' Blog:
Sebastian Junger used the term “The Perfect Storm” in his eponymous book to describe the confluence of several really powerful meteorological forces that produced the mother of all storms. Having just returned from Mobile World Congress, or MWC, I can attest to how apropos the expression is in describing the mobile industry’s…
The Battle Between Apple And The FBI Is A Microcosm Of The Great American Political Divide
Apple, led by its CEO, Tim Cook, has defied a court order to unlock an iPhone used by one of the two alleged terrorist attackers in San Bernardino. For the writer in me, I cannot imagine a more fascinating story. I’ve been itching to write this column all week even though I’ve known how hard it […]
The Super Bowl Reminds Us That Mobile Is – And Is Not – A Threat To Live Sports
The Super Bowl spawns no shortage of media coverage, but I guarantee this is the only place that will manage to weave the big game, mobile disruption, and folk music legend Joni Mitchell together into a single thesis. The top seven most-watched TV shows in America all are Super Bowls. This year’s lackluster finale should […]
Amazon’s Incredible Beta Business Model
Quarterback Tom Brady’s biggest weakness was exposed in the New England Patriots’ 20-18 loss to the Denver Broncos two weeks ago. While Brady is known for his clutch performance, he plays poorly when he gets hit frequently. It forces him to get rid of the ball more hastily and limits his ability to see the whole field. You’ll […]
Facebook vs. Google After 14 Quarters: Facebook’s Giant Leap
When I first joined Ampush, an official Facebook Marketing Partner, I found it convenient to compare mobile-first, in-feed advertising platforms like the kind Facebook dominates to the world of mobile ecosystems I had just left behind at Microsoft. I made the comparison this way: “Facebook is to iOS as no one is to Android.” That’s […]
Small Data Points Signal Huge Changes Ahead
For over seven years, I worked in marketing for a video game publisher. There was no part of the job I looked forward to doing more than producing TV commercials. There was one aspect of this work that tied my stomach up in knots, though: pitching the idea for the commercial to my company’s CEO. Not […]
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