Case Study of Woothemes by co-founder Adii Rockstar
Posted on 02 April, 2009 at 17:32 PM
There are already 16 Comments
About the Show
Woothemes co-founder, Adii Rockstar gives University students a case study of his premium Wordpress theme site, Woothemes.
He talks about sales growth, business strategy, twitter and the community.
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User Comments
Antonio Thonis 02 Apr, 2009 18:27:20 PM
Thanks for filming this! I really like the slides. Good case example for me to explain the power of social media to others.
Marcus Neto 02 Apr, 2009 18:44:45 PM
Great insight into a great site. They have definitely raised the bar when it comes to theme-ing CMSs. Also very nice to hear another individual that believes in personal branding as more important than branding of the company. People definitely feel a better connection with an individual than with a corporation.
liam 02 Apr, 2009 19:48:43 PM
Excellent, really interesting stuff for sure. Adii looks really comfortable speaking too, and kept a good level of interest throughout. Would love to see more videos like this posted on from-the-couch for sure.
Adii Rockstar 02 Apr, 2009 21:32:49 PM
Thanks to David for coming out to film the whole thing! :)
And thanks to the other guys for the kind words! Seems I didn't look like a complete tool...
Rafie 03 Apr, 2009 01:26:22 AM
This is what I've been waiting for - video of the presentation. Good job Adii!
David Perel 03 Apr, 2009 10:03:02 AM
@frujo - I am surprised you say that (RE brands), I believe that personal brands can be mmuch more powerful than a freebie once that brand is developed. That reputation will last much longer than just another freebie in my opinion.
@Antonio - Pleasure
@Marcus - Totally agree as I mentioned to frujo
@Liam - I wish we could do more of these! Lets see what happens. Maybe next time I can film the whole event and then put on one lecture a day.
@Adii - It's a pity we couldn't get the whole thing online. The file size would have been massssive. I hope we didn't miss anything out which you may have wanted us to show?
FruJo 03 Apr, 2009 13:15:41 PM
@David Perel well, let's choose Obox Design as an example. Are you "Rockstars" in any sence? Nope. Would you be more well known if you were "Rockstars"? I don't think so.
Then, what is really important? I think it is from-the-couch.com with useful videos and interesting topics, you interaction with people in Twitter and sharing useful things like Hash One. I try to say that name or as we say now "brand" is not that important, while people attracted with something useful for them (knowledge, inspiration, tools, etc). While I like your style I don't care are you "from the couch", or are you "from the porch".
David Perel 03 Apr, 2009 13:39:04 PM
@frujo - I think we are now 'well known' because of our effort to brand ourselves as designers/developers and we have used From the Couch as a platform. Often people refer to us as the Obox brothers and that without even trying. So imagine from the very beginning we called ourselves the Obox Brothers? I think it would have stuck in a biiiig way.
So to me, the rockstar theory can definitely work. At the end of the day the Virgin brand is big but Richard Branson as an individual is massive. Same goes for Steve Jobs and even better - Bill Gates... or lets try Obama. Those are all rockstar brands and clearly work quite well.
Adii Rockstar 03 Apr, 2009 14:04:13 PM
@frujo - I have to agree with David here. They have carved a nice niche for themselves and a reputation / brand based on that.
And I believe that I'm living proof of allowing yourself to be branded and then building more success based on that brand. I don't think having a personal brand means you'll be successful, but it will definitely contribute to your business activities, as from a marketing perspective you will be much more accessible to those people who you hope will support you.
FruJo 03 Apr, 2009 14:49:43 PM
@David Prel and @Adii Rockstar - you see, "Rockstar"-thingy is working and you are example-in-person to prove it. And I agree that personal branding allows to be more accessible. I simply tried to underline the fact that success comes from product you offer and its importance (in case of Obama from the idea) and not from the name itself. Matt Mullenberg would be unlucky not only in cards without building Wordpress and other useful things. Same as Bill Gates and other respected persons mentioned by David above.
You see, I think it would be important for Adii to mention in his lecture to students that a solid influence on current economical crisis was made by huge amount of people working, but producing nothing in fact (marketers, bankers, etc). They all are branded but that doesn't help economy around and them to survive. So, people have to realize that a key to success is a product. It may be shaped in some certain brand sooner or later (like advertising of WP-themes development, that gives a life to "Rockstar". "Rockstar" without it is a boast and will lead to nothing).
FruJo 03 Apr, 2009 14:53:34 PM
Excuse me for typos (first of all you, David). This topic is pretty interesting for me, so I'm a bit more excited than should be for typing properly :)
iaan 03 Apr, 2009 23:20:35 PM
I think it's important to remember that a "name" and a "brand" are very different things!
A rose by any other name will still smell as sweet, but remove the name Apple iPod from the mp3 player, and i guarantee a drop in sales.
That is because Apple is a powerful brand, not just an interesting name.
A brand is a promise to deliver an experience to a group of people in a certain way. Success will be determined by weather you can deliver on the promise or not... Now only enters the product and the value created for your clients.
Interesting presentation! Thanks for making it available ;-)
Nishan Sothilingam 05 Apr, 2009 07:59:11 AM
Awesome to see how the icons affected it. Good job man, keep it rocking.
Bogdan Pop 05 Apr, 2009 18:35:17 PM
Awful sound, low quality image. Stopped watching after 2 minutes...
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FruJo 02 Apr, 2009 18:21:06 PM
Well, first of all thanks for this nice lecture being posted (it is cool, except sound which has been a bit low-fi, so it caused problems for me as for a person who's not speaking English all the time).
I'd like to say that this "Rockstar" thing never worked on me. Somehow I'm not sticking to brands. And so do many people aside me. But! But at the very same time I do like freebies. So this thing works.
What I am trying to say is that brand is just a small part of success, which is mostly based on giving people around something useful for them.