Be the first, be the best, be different is a catchy line that floated around a few years ago as a motivator for business success. When you think of some real world examples of this line Sony and Apple do a pretty good job. The Walkman, the iPod, the iPad have all ticked the boxes of being the first, the best and different.

By being at the forefront of innovation, Sony and Apple’s brands sit nicely with the desires and demands of people who consider themselves innovators and early adopters. These people are also at the heart of social media and popular trends so it’s no surprise that when Apple and Sony release their new products it creates such a remarkable buzz.

Problem is, there are only a small number of innovators and early adopters in the world and most of them get bored really quickly.

This is where we see ‘copycat’ manufacturers like Google and Dell waltz in, take the innovators ideas that society has liked, alter them slightly and mop up the remainder of the market with similar products sold at a considerably reduced price. That’s where the real money is made.

And this is what’s going to happen with Google’s Android. The iPhone 4 is having some speed wobbles and I just can’t help feeling that Google’s gradually building some momentum underneath the glamour and will be able to use all its arsenal of services to systematically swallow Apple’s profits.

If Google do this Apple will, of course, kick into the next big thing. I do wonder though if they’d make a better profit if they repackaged some of their products to compete with copycat brands after the buzz has settled.

Perhaps be second, learn from the best, be similar might be a better line for those that don’t mind missing out on the glamour, but in doing so minimise the risks and still make a very successful business. Just ask Trade me.

Great to hear Taika Waititi’s second feature film Boy has completely nailed the local competition to go straight to number 1 in NZ’s box office. I think it will also do well internationally. Here’s why:

1. “Academy Award Nominee” has a nice lead in to any promotion. (That it was for a short film a few years back is irrelevant.)
2. It’s getting great reviews. Product sells. Period.
3. He’s just like Flight of the Conchords. For international audiences this is gold. In fact, his history with both Jermaine and Bret is solid. No bollocks. That authenticity works with reviewers.
4. He’s bided his time. No ‘one hit wonder’. He’s grown through it.
5. It’s authentic. Taika grew up on the East Coast and this story is set in a place he knows.
6. Pass the dutchie. After hearing it in the trailer I watched it on YouTube. Priceless capture of musical history.  Been humming it all night.
7. Levering Michael Jackson from 1984 is failsafe.
8. The world loves New Zealand films. Peter Jackson gave us the digital brilliance but a story with Maori characters with thick East Coast accents is fresh for picking after Niki Caro’s Whale Rider opened the door.
9. They’ve taken time to create a unique online presence beyond the movie website with a dedicated site for the Crazy Horse Gang. With priceless wee vignettes hosted on YouTube this is a superb set of assets that can mix it up across social mediums. There’s a lot of mileage to unfold here.
10. He’s got a terrific one liner - calling someone an “egg”. Innocuous and strangely delightful with a thick NZ accent.

Let’s see how it pans out.

Basically every Tweet I’m following at the moment is about the announcement of Pacific Fibre. This new venture “aims to connect Australia and New Zealand to the USA with a high capacity low latency fibre cable.” And what a Twitter friendly story we’ve got here.

It’s being backed by Kiwi heavyweights Sir Stephen Tindall, Sam Morgan, Lance Wiggs, Mark Rushworth and Rod Drury and it appears they’ve timed their announcement just right to go gangbusters across a particularly useful crowd of thought leaders.

Bernard Hickey from Interest.co.nz tweeted an hour ago and it’s just exploded. He just told me that his initial tweet has been retweeted over a dozen times in the last hour. Looking at Datascope I can see his name’s all over things. Chris Keall from NBR is doing nicely too.

The story has just been picked up as the lead on NZ Herald and Stuff too.

And this news is welcomed. Pacific Fibre could be something spectacular for New Zealand. As far back as I remember New Zealand’s Archilles heel with Internet business has always been our limited pipes. The opportunity is massive. It’s going to put the crawlers up Telecom – something I’m sure appeals to Sam Morgan!

I’m a little surprised that Peter Jackson and Richard Taylor aren’t in this uber-consortium too. I’d imagine large bandwidth for their large hard drives would be a real boost for their businesses.

Interesting news. And go Twitter for sharing the love so quickly.

Good luck to all involved.

I bought a pair of uggs the other day after my crappy old slippers died. I love them. They’re warm, comfortable and ugly as. Every night I slip them on and they bring instant comfort. It could be that it’s particularly freezing in Wellington at the moment but overall I think they’re superb.

These uggs have got me thinking about other things that make a difference to everyday life and how important new innovation and ideas are.

Just think of the progress in the financial services sector in recent times. If we go back to credit cards, then Eftpos, then phone and online banking, now services like Wesabe or Xero – these are all tools and services that have created or are creating a real benefit to users’ everyday lives. Transactions are simpler. The benefits to the user are absolutely obvious.

The successful business or product formula in today’s world is:

How does this benefit everyone, everyday?

A friend just sent me a link to The Great NZ Songbook online. He mentioned “I imagine you won’t like the page load up!”.

He’s right, I didn’t, but I like this idea so I managed to survive it. I’ve already read two PR pieces on this books so I appear to be in its target audience!

The resulting site is very Salted Herring. It possesses buckets of a ‘typical NZ’ personality which aligns with this brand. Feels very Black Seeds to me??

I like the volume controls on the car radio for changing the songs. Ironically it was the first thing I looked for when the music blew out at me.

Even at home I want to have control of my computer.

Jeremy Well’s fronting of Meridian’s latest advertising flight is another example of a celebrity taking a risky punt with their personal brand. When Hanover Finance melted last year I commented on Richard Long’s associated brand credibility falling too. As their front man, he couldn’t escape the connection.

For Meridian, Well’s is obviously bringing his recognised charm and wit to make light of a serious change to the Makara and Maniototo landscapes with the impending “windfarms”.

My issue is what’s it going to do for Wells?

I’m not convinced he’s got it right. The educated followers of his humour are also likely to be the well read folk who’re fully aware of the issues with power generation in NZ.

North and South have recently profiled the Mahinerangi windfarm protest following constructive pressure from the Save Central Otago lobby group. This group are also helped by respected celebrities Grahame Sydney, Brian Turner and former All Black Anton Oliver all propping up their scrum.

Having celebrity endorsement in these sort of debates is critical. It’s their involvement that creates instant human interest.

I’m currently doing a series of speaking engagements with Trade me’s “Revolution Tour” and one of my fellow speakers is TaxRefund.co.nz’s CEO, Geoff Matthews. Geoff’s company has arrived on the scene in a matter of months and its growth has been nothing short of phenomenal.

One point Geoff notes in his presentation is the influence celebrity endorsement added to his brand. Having active endorsement from Matt McCarten (General Secretary Unite Union) and Alasdair Thompson (CEO of Employers and Manufacturing Union) in his TVCs has been a huge call for support from two enormously influential people.

The key is, like the Save Central Otago group’s work, the Union leaders’ support is unpaid endorsement. Jeremy Wells, on the other hand, is being paid to bolster Meridian. That lacks credibility.

Over August data gurus Terralink are opening up their valuation resources so people can register their email address and get up to three free valuation reports. A little bit of giving for a nice big prize. This is good viral marketing.

And they even have a risk model for this offer following QV’s free report offer back in 2006.

3 rules for a successful viral advertising campaign:

1.  Create a product that offers real value at little or no cost to the user.

2. The offer shouldn’t appear to be contrived and the product or service needs to be so good and so useful that people are willing to divulge their contact details to receive it.

3. For a person to pass on a website link (generally by email) to friends, family and colleagues the tools or services offered have to be something the sender will be proud of.

I think Terralink meet these points with this offer. I just hope the softening property market’s ready for their conservative valuations.

This week’s freeze on Hanover Finance funds has indicated two things to me, New Zealanders don’t understand financial risk, and we put way too much faith in celebrity brands.

Members of my family along with thousands of other investors have found themselves caught out by the massive volatility of New Zealand’s financial services sector. Whether they get their money back down the line is entirely unknown and the feeling of helplessness is difficult for many to deal with.

With our 20/20 hindsight we’re now reflecting on how this could be happening. Despite the Retirement Commission’s tireless work in raising New Zealander’s financial literacy, it appears evident that many people don’t understand the financial risks they’re taking when they get guaranteed 9.95% annual returns.

What “Mum and Dad” investors also missed was the risk behind the face of the company. Richard Long was a newsreader on TV One for decades. After his early retirement he was bought back to the screen as the front man for Hanover Finance. For the last few years he’s leveraged his trusted, worldly, fatherly image to position the Hanover brand with New Zealanders.

It’s probably a moot point, but can you imagine what this situation with Hanover’s done to Richard Long’s personal brand? You’d have to be mad to have your brand associated with him now.

I wonder if Richard understood the risk he was taking there.

I have to take my hat off to Michael Hill for his brilliant coup of hosting the NZ Golf Open in his backyard at the weekend.

As a ‘marketeer’ businessman Michael Hill liberated the owner-operated TV commercial mantle from Alan Martin (LV Martin and Sons - your Fisher and Paykel dealer) with his high frequency byline…Michael Hill…Jeweller.

Now, as the senior exec of a multinational midrange jewelry store, he’s managed to hijack four days of near exclusive television coverage for “Michael Hill Watches” during a European Tour qualified golf championship.

These days we talk a lot about online innovation in marketing and communications but sometimes it’s just great to see some quality marketing from a more traditional form.