eROI NYC Interactive Agency

I noticed something the other day about advertising in the Smart Phone Web 2.0 era.  Have you ever noticed how many Smart Phone commercials drop other companies names in their ads to make them seem more relevant and thus giving them free exposure? You got those Sprint commercials where I feel like they mention twitter every five seconds even though they only mention it once. Or the Blackberry commercials that flash the Facebook logo like they invented it. I wonder if they struck deals with them? I mean they had to get approval to mention them I am sure. Even if they paid them these remind me of symbiotic relationships in nature.

For instance, there is a special Sycamore tree in Africa that has an odd partner in a very tiny wasp. The tree provides the wasp with a nest and the wasp pollinates its flowers. We have all seen the iconic image of the Plover bird inside the Alligator’s mouth. The Alligator never snaps his jaw as the Plover cleans his teeth. We got the classic Clown Fish/Anemone of Nemo fame. And of course there are the thousands of orchid species that are so specialized that they only can be pollinated by a certain species of insect.  I know that the comparisons are convenient but I think there is something to be learned from this. In a sense the Twitters, the Flckrs, and the Facebooks of the world all have a symbiotic relationship with the tech industry. I mean in the current climate they need computers and smart phones as much as computers need them. So I racked my brain trying to think of other examples of Business Symbiosis.  There is the old tires and automobile symbiosis. There are a ton of food examples….Hot dog and Mustard. Cereal and Milk. But there seems to be something different with the tech examples.  I can’t quite put my finger on it.  There has to be more business relationships that are symbiotic. Please comment if you think of one.