“When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.” -Hunter S. Thompson
Steve Rubel thinks Om Malik’s on to something with his new paid subscriber service, Giga Om Pro.
The unit will rely on all-star, free-agent analysts and cover clean tech, infrastructure, “the Connected Consumer” and mobile. A subscription includes ton of original weekly content as well as reports.
When I asked Om Malik about his new venture last night and he made it clear that he is not trying to take on Forrester Research or financial analysts. Rather, he is trying to carve out his own niche. He feels (and I agree) that he can assemble a team of experts from within his network and the commons that creates a compelling value proposition for the technology industry.
Om says:
Even back in 2006, it was fairly obvious that you couldn’t build a next-generation media entity by relying on advertising as your sole revenue source. But unlike some of the larger media companies, we didn’t want to charge for our existing offerings, aka our blogs. That just doesn’t make sense. Instead, we wanted to do what we do best: provide analysis and context, and offer you more content — content that is worth paying for.
Very interesting. Naturally, I’m wondering what “AdPulp Pro” would look like. I tend to think of our “pro” version as our existing backend (and offline) freelance creative offering, but I like the upgraded content offering model, as well.
Maybe there’s a meet the middle solution for AdPulp. One half-baked idea I’ve considered is offering a stripped down agency search service.
Looking for an agency? Ask AdPulp!
Based on a pre-determined set of questions that brand managers or business owners answer (and follow up phone calls to assess the client’s needs more carefully), I’m confident we could come up with some great suggestions and also make the necessary introductions. And I know we’d do it for WAY WAY LESS than the typical search consultant charges.
