Wolf Tracking

Last week, I found myself prodding along with a myriad of other proud parents in an attempt to get good shots of my son singing in his school Valentine’s Day play. Slightly frustrated, I paced back and forth, circling the stage to catch the right frame. And guess what? I never got a good shot.

At that moment, I realized that my bright idea to buy a relatively inexpensive digital camera was a pretty dumb one. In fact, I began envisioning all of the other school functions to come – plays, recitals, soccer games, karate tournaments. Becoming even more frustrated by the thought of it, I then turned to my husband and said, “This camera is a piece of crap, it doesn’t work for me, the zoom function is limited and the picture isn’t clear, I need a better camera.”

Needless to say, I’m now on the prowl for a quality camera – one that will enable me to bypass other cute kids and get good shots of mine, whether it’s video or photos. So I’m doing what any other chief memory officer (MOM) would do. I’m spending time perusing product reviews sites to determine which camera will best suit our family’s needs.

According to a stat I found from the Consumer Electronics Association, sales of digital cameras, especially the higher-end SLRs, have skyrocketed and high-resolution cameras with more than six mega-pixels are the fastest-growing segment of the camera industry.

But in all honesty, I’m just looking forward to finding a camera that works for me.

Earth…Fire..Wind…Water…Captain Planet? With our powers combined we can de-throne…Google? Keep dreaming Yahoo. Last week, Microsoft, a mega-brand itself, put out an offer to buy Yahoo for $44.6 billion.

In a move to try and de-throne Google, Microsoft made the enormous bid hoping Yahoo chief Jerry Yang would come to his senses and help move the deal along. Months ago, Microsoft bought a small stake in the infamous social networking site, Facebook for $240 million. But Google has remained unharmed and is still sitting pretty atop the internet throne. People in the industry know that something has to change in order to compete. One of those people is Jon Miller, former CEO of AOL Time Warner. He said, “No one can compete with Google on its own any more. There has to be consolidation among the major players. It has been a long time coming, and now it is here.” But Google has been able to successfully engage the consumer. Advertisers are going to go after the most affluent consumer and Google allows them to do that. Right now, Google is valued at 25 times their respective earnings, while Microsoft is only 14.

I remain quite skeptical. It all leads back to the brand. Larry Paige and Sergey Brin have been able to take their company and become the premier search engine of the internet. Nobody will argue with that. Dictionaries are even talking about them. Do you Google? I Google everyday. Do you Yahoo? I only Yahoo if I’m cheering for the New York Giants.

Now, think back some years….circa Kleenex. When I sneeze, I know I don’t say “tissue.” When I need a copy of something, I don’t say go to the copy machine. I say “Xerox Machine.” These are two perfect examples of what Google as become: A Mega Brand: an ability to successfully engage the consumer to use one’s product, increase loyalty for it and have it become immersed in one’s culture and language. These brands don’t need buzz. They’ve got plenty of queen bees that are here to stay.

Despite what Microsoft and Yahoo do, or what AOL does, they’ll face significant hurdles because of Google’s rise to power, its establishment as a Mega Brand and its inability to not be forgotten by the most important people on earth…you…the consumer.