Excerpts from Remarks of Philip C. Wolf, President and CEO, PhoCusWright Inc “ Braving the Long Tail” Conference, Orlando, Florida 11/15/07

• In the Long Tail, embracing niches wins because they cumulatively outnumber or outweigh higher frequency plays. Big companies are successfully harvesting lots of little things while “Davids” are beating “Goliaths” because the size of a reputation matters more than the size of a marketing budget.

Wired magazine editor-in-chief Chris Anderson, coiner of the term "the Long Tail," reset the stage when he said, “The Long Tail is about selling less of more.” 

______________________________

•  Travel 2.0 - the travel industry's collective application of Web 2.0 - embodies how companies can differentiate themselves in a vast, dynamic travel distribution marketplace . Travelers are now taking control and finding/creating the perfect trip…
• Customers communicating with other customers has triggered an unprecedented social networking phenomenon and a resurgence in the Long Tail economy. The Long Tail debunks the old 80/20 rule or Pareto principle. Defending an 80/20 strategy is getting risky. So is automatically dismissing the value of low volume products, under-the-radar channels, small customer groups and obscure key words.

LONG TAIL KEY TENETS
a.k.a. (Finally) Realizing the Power of the Internet

• The little guy’s (product, channel, site, business) influence is significant
• The sum of the niches is embraced
• The 80/20 rule is debunked (“law of the vital few”)
• The size of your reputation matters more than the size of your marketing budget
• Distressed, “out of print” or discontinued product now has value