A Taste of its own Chinese Medicine

China, long known as one of the biggest sources of counterfeit merchandise and piracy of intellectual property is suddenly getting a taste of its own medicine. Chinese authorities have had to scramble to try to rein in a burgeoning cottage industry of fake 2008 Olympics merchandise. According to the Beijing Youth Daily, Chinese authorities have investigated at least 80 websites selling fake Olympics gear.

There are two things about this report that made me stop and think:

1. This may be the first time that China has had a brand strong enough to attract the attention of its own counterfeiters and
2. I'm wondering if this taste of its own medicine will signal an era of stronger protection for international intellectual property.

Thoughts and comments are welcome. Xie Xie in advance.

Ripe, Juicy Apples: Quarterly Mac Sales Top 2 Million

Things are looking pretty good in the orchards of Cupertino, CA. Apple just announced its quarterly results, demolishing analyst estimates. The best part about this is that one of the main drivers of this performance was Mac sales, which topped 2 million units in the quarter.

This is the first time Mac sales have ever reached this level and it really validates Apple's strategy, which I will hereby dub "brand resonance". The strategy was to use the iPod and the iPhone to expose a wider range of consumers to the whole Apple "experience". This is the elegant melding of form, function and user experience that is at the core of Apple's brand. The theory (now proven) was that this little taste of Apple would leave consumers hungry for more, and drive some portion of them to abandon their Windows and jump into a Mac. Of course, that will make them more likely to stick with Apple's other media devices, and so the consumer's attachment to the brand will resonate and become stronger and stronger.

As a longtime Mac fan, and someone who loudly protested more than a decade of prophesies of Apple's demise, I guess I'd just say.... I TOLD YOU SO!

Has CAPTCHA been captured?

CNet is reporting that spammers have hijacked YouTube's email-a-friend feature to send out phishing emails. The thing I found most notable in the article is the reference to software that automatically decodes and defeats CAPTCHA. This is a new, and troubling development for anyone who uses viral marketing or web forms.

CAPTCHA is a system that requires a web visitor to retype a set of letters into a form field in order to submit the form. Those letters are presented in a somewhat distorted or garbled image. The idea is to prevent automated scripts from being able to hijack the form. From an online branding perspective, the email-a-friend forms, blog comment forms and contact forms that CAPTCHA protects are critical to developing an effective online brand conversation. If these systems cannot be adequately protected, we may lose some of our most effective tools for online branding and marketing.

If CAPTCHA is indeed in danger, my question to ponder is: "what will take its place?" What type of system can simultaneously be easy to use for website visitors, while being difficult or (improbably) impossible for the hackers and spammers to get around?

Leave a comment. I think this is an important discussion to have now, before our online forms become as compromised as our junk mail folders already are!

King on the Road: Burger King Goes Mobile

Here's a tasty piece of news. Marketwatch is reporting that Burger King has signed a deal for the development of a set of branded games for mobile phones. This follows last year's offering of three Xbox 360 console games featuring "The King" ("Pocketbike Racer," "Big Bumpin'", and "Sneak King") which sold over 2 million copies!

The games will be produced by Mobliss, a company which has publishing agreements with Sprint, AT&T, Alltel, Verizon and T-Mobile, which means the games will have significant consumer availability.

This isn't the first time Burger King has willingly embraced new marketing techniques and reaped benefits. From its successful viral marketing campaign with "Subservient Chicken" to its user-generated content site at PetMoustache.com, BK continues to show itself as an industry leader.

This lastest effort is an equally smart move. "The King" character has rejuvenated Burger King's mind-share and BK's willingness to embrace branded games has really upped the fun level of a brand that has to compete with the world's most famous clown.