Spotify is about to release an API. That means Spotify is about to explode through the web, gaming, and PCs. But is it more than just “a magical version of iTunes in which you’ve already bought every song in the world“? And if so, is it brand friendly?

Yes. And yes.

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The economist have released this presentation about managing a client’s temptation to slash their marketing and advertising budgets in times of recession. This sort of response is not unusual for these unsettling times and as an argument it makes a lot of sense. But I’ve been thinking, not necessaily how we can persuade clients to maintain budget levels, but why clients feel they can make the cuts in the first place. They know the arguments better than anyone, they probably agree with the thinking, but yet they still cut them. Why?

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There’s a few very good digital tech blogs out there including Cybernetnews, Mashable and ReadWriteWeb, each of them regularly post about the latest apps on the block; here’s one from ReadWriteWeb about a bunch of apps that have stood the test of time and another from Mashable about top sites for web savvy families. The developer community churn out thousands of apps a week, each one claiming to revolutionise our lives for the better, unfortunately the majority of these apps are likely to fail. Having said that a good deal of them will emerge from the market-place victorious, with a few healthy rounds of funding and a few million users to boot.

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Not content with providing the world with one truly genius observation Chris Anderson’s new crusade is shining a light on the notion of ‘free’. In a recent post over at one of his blogs Chris identifies 4 models of free that are being used (and have been used for many years) in business and commerce, one of which I believe to be hugely significant to the future of branding.

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Apple’s iPhone App Store has been up and running for a few weeks now and has “over 500 applications”. But where are the brands?

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Why are brands so strict with their logos? The logo Larry and Sergey are holding is not the constant unchanging logo most brands know. Sometimes it changes on a day by day basis. But it is still recognised. And still manages to keep its single identity. Whilst most brands would be happy to slap an “extra 20% free” flash all over their packaging, they would never dare breach the sacred brand guidelines in order to touch the logo. Rightly or wrongly, does digital let us play differently?

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