The top ten collection...

I came across the top ten list of Viral Campaigns as posted by the Time (UK).

The top ten viral ad campaigns

Adverts so good people choose to watch them? Send them to their friends, even? Times Online reports on what makes viral ads infectious

Marketing Myopia

I just read an article on Green Marketing Myopia, reminded me of an old article that was also referenced in the article - Marketing Myopia by Theodore Levitt (Harvard Business Review, Sep/Oct75, Vol. 53 Issue 5, p26-183, 16p; (AN 3867290))

The classics of innovation discussed by Ted Levitt are timeless. The article elaborates the strategies marketers have applied to avoid marketing myopia - "The Three Cs" -

• Consumer value positioning

• Calibration of consumer knowledge

• Credibility of product claims.

The following nuggets are from the article.

Consumer Value Positioning

• Design environmental products to perform as well as (or better than) alternatives.
• Promote and deliver the consumer-desired value of environmental products and target relevant consumer market segments (e.g., target money savings benefits to cost-conscious consumers).
• Broaden mainstream appeal by bundling (or adding) consumer-desired value into environmental products (such as fixed pricing for subscribers of renewable energy).

Calibrate Consumer Knowledge

• Educate consumers with marketing messages that connect environmental product attributes with desired consumer value (for example, "pesticide-free produce is healthier"; energy-efficiency saves money" or "solar-power is convenient".)
• Frame environmental product attributes as "solutions" for consumer needs, for example, "rechargeable batteries offer longer performance." With indoor air quality a growing concern and fumes from paints, carpets, and furniture now linked to headaches, eye, nose, and throat irritation, dizziness, and fatigue, Sherwin Williams offers "Harmony," a line of interior paints that is low-odor, zero-VOC (Volatile Organic Compound) and silica-free.
• Create engaging and educational Internet sites about environmental products' desired value, e.g., Tide Coldwater's interactive website allows visitors to calculate their likely annual money savings based on their laundry habits, utility source (gas or electricity) and zip code location.

Credibility of Product Claims

• Make sure that environmental product and consumer claims are specific, meaningful, and qualified. Liken to comparable alternatives or likely usage scenarios. Recognizing the ambiguity of the term green, Toyota dismissed a slogan for Prius, "Drive Green, breathe Blue" in favor of "Less gas in. Less gasses out."
• Underscore credibility with product endorsements or eco-certifications from trustworthy third parties, and educate consumers about the meaning behind those endorsements and eco-certifications. More than 40 product categories now bear the Energy Star seal.
• Encourage positive word of mouth via consumers' social and Internet communication networks with compelling, interesting, and/or entertaining information about environmental products. Increasingly, consumers have grown skeptical of commercial messages, and they're turning to friends and peers for advice. The Internet, through e-mail and its vast, accessible repository of information, websites, search engines, blogs, product ratings sites, podcasts, and other digital platforms, has opened significant opportunities for tapping consumers' social and communication networks to diffuse credible "word-of-mouse" (buzz facilitated by the Internet) about green products. The website for Tide's Coldwater Challenge includes a map of the United States so visitors can track and watch their personal influence spread when their friends request a free sample.

GREEN - A sustainable competitive advantage advantage

Wal-Mart is not the first and most obvious brand that comes to ones mind when one thinks of sustainability or green, BUT over the recent past the buzz around Wal-Mart's efforts have been phenomenal. Clearly the PR agency of choice has done wonders and the coverage has put Wal-Mart above the effort of retailers like Whole Foods.

WMT's efforts on developing and maintaining a sustainable supply chain network is truly noteworthy and a great lesson for the up and coming partners, suppliers and competitors - The Greening of Wal-Mart's Supply Chain.

Some nuggets for the readers.

Implementing New Supply Chain Strategies
1. Identifying Goals, Metrics, and New Technologies
2. Certifying Environmentally Sustainable Products
3. Providing Network Partner Assistance to Suppliers
4. Committing to Larger Volumes of Environmentally Sustainable Products
5. Cutting out the Middleman
6. Consolidating Direct Suppliers
7. Restructuring the Buyer Role
8. Licensing Environmental Innovations

Three Traps to Avoid
1. ncreased costs
2. a sub-optimal product assortment
3. criticism of factory labor conditionsIdentifying Goals, Metrics, and New Technologies

Me & my love machine

I came across an article in the Times this morning - Me and my love machine obviously I was intrigued... we men and our cars! The article segmented the populous into a few rudimentary buckets... interesting reading.

INSTRUMENTALISTS

Often have names for their cars.

Tolerate failings or idiosyncracies in cars.

Subconsciously believe that cars respond in an emotional rather than a rational way.

Are affectionate about a car’s failings, but can be frightened that they are not in control of the technology.

Tend to prefer cars that cater for different needs at the same time; for example, sporty saloons.

EXPRESSIVES

See cars as a tool to explore their competence.

Drive at high speed when the opportunity presents.

Regard journeys as a test of man and machine.

Prize being able to corner with precision.

Only want the controls that are necessary – but like to customise.

Prefer one type of car for one job: a sports car or a saloon.

Men, women and beautiful wheels Are you having a deep relationship with your car? No? Well, have you named it? And how do you feel about other people touching it?

GENDER DIFFERENCES

Researchers have found that men are less comfortable discussing feelings about people than women, but when it comes to describing feelings about cars, men are more comfortable than women. Psychologists believe this is because men are less conscious of their own bodies than women, which makes their sense of “self” more easily disengaged from their bodies, and projected on to objects. This identification with objects may explain why men often describe their car as an extension of themselves, and why they get angry when others touch their cars. It may also explain why women (who see cars as separate entities) are more likely to give cars names.

WHAT OUR HANDS REVEAL

About 60 per cent of drivers drive with one hand on the wheel. For most men, the other hand was resting on the gear stick. For women, it was more often held in the lap. According to the driving researcher Professor Andrew Blake, driving with one hand is an indication of mastery of the car, that you see it as an extension of yourself.

SEATING ARRANGEMENTS

The researchers found that generally men assume they will sit in the driving seat, unless things are arranged otherwise. Family members always tend to take the same seats. Families spoke of a sense of “strangeness” if a parent sat in the back.

“I think the fact that Mum and Dad always have their backs to the kids gives the children a psychological advantage: more potential for unseen misbehaviour,” said one dad.

does it suck?

I surfed into an interesting site this afternoon... Ran a couple searches.

Here is what Sucks and what Rocks?

Companies are from MARS, Customers are from VENUS

Innovation: Companies are from MARS, Customers are from VENUS - Interesting article from FastCompany Now.

A few nuggets from the post:

• Companies continue to spend so much money on signing up new customers and pay little to no attention to acquired customers?
• Existing customers want long term relationships and attention, yet companies insist on focusing their efforts in finding new customers.
• The approach, if you look at it this way, is quite different. A company seeks to be linear and left-brained, even when it talks about relationships. Think about customer relationship management (CRM). When was the last time you tried to manage your relationships at home that way? Did it work?
• A customer wants to feel appreciated and loved. Not so much as in “we appreciate your business”, or “how may I help you?” -- both of which sound quite empty when not followed up by relevant action. We want to feel the service.

What Is It Worth to Understand Culture?

Yesterday's Tom Peters! Times had a very interesting article by Darci Riesenhuber the Transformation Architect - What Is It Worth to Understand Culture?

A couple nuggets from the article:

• What is culture? Simply, it is the culmination of shared values, assumptions, and beliefs tacitly and/or explicitly expressed within an organization.
• Why is it important to understand? Because, it determines how people behave and how work gets done. Let's consider how values and beliefs drive behavior using a consumer analogy: I need milk. The convenience store is closer than the grocery store (I value my time), but it is more expensive (I'm frugal). The grocery store offers more options (I value choice). I decide choice and price are more important than convenience, so I drive to the grocery store. While there, I evaluate my options: Whole milk is tasty, but I am weight conscious so I eliminate that option. While I am frugal, I am also health conscious. Although soy milk is more expensive it has additional perceived health benefits, so I choose soy. While, at some point, these decisions were conscious, as long as all factors remain the same and the reward for my behavior is greater than the cost, I continue to behave consistently and, eventually, subconsciously. What happens when my grocery store discontinues soy milk, the price goes up, or traffic becomes unbearable? Suddenly, I am forced to re-evaluate my behaviors to stay consistent with my values in order to achieve the outcome I find desirable.
• How does it relate to strategy and affect business outcomes? Recognize that the same values driving individuals' buying behaviors also drive their behaviors at work. We should ask ourselves, then, "Why don't we spend as much time analyzing the values of our talent pool to predict on-the-job performance and satisfaction as marketers do the values and emotional drivers of their target market to determine buying behaviors and loyalty?" Employees will behave in accordance with their values, regardless of your business strategy.
• high growth business strategy creates an unstable environment that requires individuals to take risks, an individual valuing stability, security and consistency will feel anxious and begin to seek ways to remedy their discomfort.
  
• In some cases, they are able to adapt and learn the behaviors necessary to succeed. In others, the personal transformation is simply not possible and they fail. The best way to avoid this is to determine "fit" during the selection process.
  
• Strategy changes throughout the life of your business, so must your culture. Changing your culture is not impossible, as many would believe. You just have to carefully evaluate and adjust the factors that influence culture, such as your systems (reward, IT), structure (reporting, physical), policies, HR practices (selection, training), communication, leadership-style, etc.
  

Another dimension to interactive marketing...

Marketing is all about consumer education, communication the value proposition when she is most receptive and differentiating within the competitive landscape. Study Places Value On Marketing At Consumer Research Stage - MediaPost article.

Couple nuggets...

• CONSUMERS SPEND 10% MORE FOR televisions and digital cameras they buy in stores when they research these purchases online first using a search engine.
• the brand experience begins well before the shopper walks into the store
• The Internet was the top resource for researching digital cameras and televisions, with 75% of those who researched a purchase beforehand going online to do so. The leading online resources were retail Web sites (73%), manufacturer Web sites (68%), and search engines (49%); 55% of the people walk into the stores with specific brands in mind; 80% of these consumers who do product research before hitting the store end up buying one of the brands they were originally considering; remaining 20% said in-store salespeople were highly influential; 75% didn't know the model they wanted when they got to the store
• Purchasers who used search engines spent on average $31 more on digital cameras and $139 more on TVs. This group used twice as many research sources (5.7 sources) as non-searchers (2.5 sources)
  

Leadership Nuggets...

Interesting article - Careers: Lead Like Fonzie: FastCompany Now, a few thoughts from the article.

Communicate. Share as much as you can about the situation at hand. People don’t like to be left in the dark when it comes to important issues. Make sure you maintain clear channels of communication.

Reassure. Don’t assume your team doesn’t need to hear that everything is going to be okay. They might not have access to the same information as you do and they might cling to assumptions and rumors without your reassurance.

Remain calm. Remember, all eyes are on you. What you say is important, but how you react can have even greater impact. Take a few seconds to take the emotion out of the situation and gather your thoughts before you respond verbally or nonverbally. Then maintain your calm throughout. It’s amazing how comforting this behavior will be on your team.

No brand loyalty?

Bad News For Brands: Supermarket Shoppers Don't Care an interesting post in this morning's MediaPost. Not sure I agree with the contents of the article but I felt I needed to air my thoughts...

Of the 18 categories analyzed, snack crackers, shredded cheese and potato chips are most vulnerable to brand switching, with 78%, 77% and 74% of consumers saying they'd switch brands.

Even some products that seem more easily branded are at risk: 74% of consumers would switch lipsticks, for example, and 73% would switch cereals.

Packaged coffee, 58%, pain relievers, 54%, laundry detergent, 53% and carbonated beverages, 52%, are at lesser risk. They were the only categories to come in with an I'd-gladly-dump-my-brand-for-another score below 60%.

The stats are very revealing but I am a contrarin, I say 'give the consumers a reason to believe!' and they will come asking for more. Competing on price is a sign of weakness not a position of strength.

The Baby-Name Business

When I read the title of the article I was interested to know more, as I got through the blurb about the article I was surprised! But the content and idea just made me mad...

The Baby-Name Business - from AOL Coaches. The article made one thing obvious some people have too much money and too little gray matter. So it is up to smart business people, the marketers and entrepreneurs to offer them a proposition that helps them in both those areas.

If I were to guess more than 5% of the people don't even like the names their parents chose for them, then all this fuss? Remember the artist Prince. A unique name is good but I suggest they go back to reading Romeo & Juliet by Shakespear...

From Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet:

JULIET:
'Tis but thy name that is my enemy;
Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.
What's Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,
Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part
Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!
What's in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes
Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name,
And for that name which is no part of thee
Take all myself.

"Forever young" - Boomers' mantra

We are witnessing the largest ever transfer of funds from one generation to the other - The baby boomers with a purchasing capacity of trillions. AGE WAVE founded by Ken Dychtwald has published extensive research and has a even books that address the opportunity with the segment.

An article this morning in brandchannel.com - Don't Ignore the Boomer Consumer; addresses the opportunity. Some of the nuggets follow:

• Boomers are 71 percent as likely as their younger counterparts to be willing to try new products and services, and 55 percent are just as persuaded by "effective advertising."
• "I think that it's a challenge to reach Boomers today because their lifestyles are very busy,"
• Boomers are a generation that loves to buy stuff but hates being sold to. A lot of brands think that their brands from the past are going to carry them through with Boomers to the present and to the future, and that's not the case. You have to earn your stripes every day."
• Boomers form a generation that makes buying decisions based on the latest sales
• Price-point sensitivity and brand fickleness can be attributed to the financial demands and strains of children, paying for college tuition, caring more and more for aging parents, and uncertain job outlooks—while still thinking about their own retirement.
  
• Boomers may view the necessities more as interchangeable commodities than branded musts, they certainly appear to like their share of indulgent luxuries and are not afraid of technology.
• "Boomers spend more money on computer hardware, software and cellphone service, and a whole host of electronics than any other generation,"
• What we see is a group that is very technology adaptive…and has the disposable income to pay for it
• "old age" and retirement are quite different from their parents' and grandparents'. The "golden years" of later life are turning out to be the "power years," with many refusing to accept the aging process as previous generations have.
• Boomers are less likely to associate retirement with "the beginning of the end" and are increasingly regarding retirement as a continuation of or a new chapter in life—be it new interests, new careers, or even new relationships.
• "They get to do [life] over. So you say to yourself, what is it they want to redo? Education, relationships, their physical appearance, their overall well-being—and they're spending money like crazy because they have it."

My previous posts on Baby boomers include:

• Echo boom...
• Invaluable consumer research data
• Oh My God!
  

Experience of fundamental core values

This week's LOHAS newsletter captured a new movement or a new fad - 'guilt-free and eco-friendly' in an article from NMI - Consumers Are Seeking a Deeper Values Experience.

Insights from the article:

• Consumers are aspiring to achieve the double pay-off of exclusive experiences while supporting guilt-free and eco-friendly goods and services
• From luxury hybrid cars to couture dresses made from organic and sustainable fabrics, it is not enough to have it all, consumers also want to feel better about what they have
• Shopping at natural food supermarkets is up 20% from 2001.
  
• The influence of the "USDA Certified Organic" seal on foods has increased 22% since 2004 and is now at least slightly influential to more than four out of ten consumers.
  
• The percentage of primary grocery shoppers who agree that organic foods/beverages are worth paying an extra 20% for increased from 17% in 2002 to 26% in 2006.
  
• With this increase in values-driven experiental shopping, NMI projects that sales of organic products could reach $24 billion in 2011
  

NMI Publishes Marketing Research:

• The 2007 Health and Wellness Trends Report
• The 2005 Organic Consumer Trends Report
• Understanding The LOHAS Market Report™ Series
  

Free Agent: Getting Our Sexy Back

From this morning's MediaPost - Free Agent: Getting Our Sexy Back

The supply crunch for talent seems to have the potential to rejuvenated the free agent movement.

Anything wrong with incremental INNOVATION?

A comment on my post Commoditize your customer's behavior got me to think about an important question... whats wrong with innovation being incremental? As a marketer my life's mission is to delight the consumer through experiences, I endeavor to improve life, engage each and every one of the consumers, shoppers in everyday acts of joy.

If that excitement and difference comes through small incremental changes in the way they live life itself how does it matter?

To me, the essence of innovation is in developing a value proposition that creates the impetus for change through new brands and new touch points.

Not every innovation needs to be disruptive! Innovation just needs to create new experiences.

Consumers... Engagement.... Network...

The internet has changed everything! The price of entry into celebritydom is negligible. All it takes today is a camera phone/webcam? Sometimes not even that... just a friend with a camera phone/webcam.

I have always believed the one and only thing that most humans are scared of is being irrelevant, being nobody, being forgotten.

Together these make a potent combination.... Be a celebrity, be a "Jackass" or be nobody?

Marketers have tapped this potent combination to engage consumers in any and every which way.

An interesting article in this morning's bandchannel.com post - The Fanatic: A Brand's Best Friend? & a paper that supports the argument with a consciousness that comes from the consumers trust and faith in your brand - Social Brand Capital.

Searching for a value prop in Second Life? Ask IBM

To date I have been trying to figure out what is the business value for an online life? Second Life? Clicking around was okay, flying may be even fun but after a few minutes, new destinations and I was bored. Until this morning when I read IBM's Management Games on BusinessWeek online.

Build some agents, create the necessary stimulus, even preordained environmental responses to the stimulus and wallah you've now got a virtual world that mimics the real world. Sign up players (I mean real people) assign them tasks, set some performance measures for their success and let the games begin... you've got INNOV8!

An inversion of Second Life with real value and a business model. Thats innovation!

Right questions vs. Right answers

All thorough our formative years of learning we are measured for the right answers. All our corporate summative measurements are associated with the final answer, I am not implying that the results are not important enough or as important as the process BUT it is paramount to get behind "WHY?" do these answer needs to be known! How can the answer help us influence our choices and shape the future.

It is a positive step to embrace accountability and measurement, but it may be a huge waste of capability and talent to become slaves to numbers and the analytic models that drive them. As marketers and strategist we need to make judicious choices, based on our knowledge of the past and develop robust processes to shape the future of consumer experiences through brands. As such the fundamental task of how to measure success is upon the strategist. Thus the important element of planning is what to measure? why to measure? and how to measure?
This morning's article in MediaPost - Marketing Accountability: The Long And Short Of It, on our sudden fascination with measures and accountability in Marketing and the long versus short term implications of on Equity & Brand health addresses some for the pitfalls. Some nuggets from the article are listed.

So how are we supposed to use ROI effectively?

• Balance short-term ROI with long term brand equity. And by short-term, we mean within a year and by long-term we mean three years out. A marketing plan requires striking a healthy balance between tactics that yield a high short-term ROI, and those that are essential to driving sales in the long term.
• No long-term gains without short-term. If your advertising doesn't work in the short-term it won't have a long-term impact. Bad advertising fails at the starting gate. But good advertising carries over into the future.
• Understand your audience. Don't put the cart before the horse. Researching how you spend your dollars is effective only after you know whom you should be talking to and what you should be communicating.

Engaging,,, Nike Father's Day Spot!

MOOC (Dated 2000)

The Cool Hunt (Malcolm Gladwell) - New Yorker Magazine
Douglas Rushkoff

Web 2.0 Believe it or not...?

Supermarket 2.0

Commoditize your customer's behavior

Don't get me wrong I am not implying we stop valuing our customers but develop a model for INNOVATION.

I remember the most valuable advice I ever received from an old manager was to make my work obsolete, SERIOUSLY! The logic was to develop talent along the way identify opportunities to outsource any work that lacks the need for creative thinking and sensitivity. Over time I would be left with nothing to do but move up the chain of command or rather the corporate value chain. He suggested I set myself a 15% target for each year, the worst case scenario would be a promotion in no more than 5-6 years.

What if as marketers we did the same thing with our customers? Developed solutions for our customers everyday needs and behaviors, we could potentially harness their everyday needs as we integrate forward and uncover new opportunities to innovate. Every new solution could in itself lead to the next innovation creating a spirally of opportunities a value prop waiting to be presented with commercial viability.

after all what is INNOVATION?

The spectrum of answers is very broad! A significant number of organization out there don't know what innovation really means and or how best to answer the question.

• Is a personalized MM the answer to the question?
• Is Cirque du Soleil's value prop against the traditional circus the answer to the question?
• Is portfolio diversification the answer to the question?
• Is 'being different' the answer to the question?
• Is 'meeting an unmet need' the answer to the question?
  

I can go on and on! I do believe it is any and all of the above and more.

The essence of the answer is in understanding the customers, marrying them with the competence of the organization, creating the processes to deliver the solution and fostering a culture within organizations to repeat the success over and over and over!

I am usually asked is there an innovation model that can be applied, OF COURSE! during my surfing in the wast world of the internet I have found a couple interesting links.

Business of Innovation

Execution Excellence!

This morning I read an article and shortly after stumble upon a a quote by Philip Kotler the father of modern branding.

"The theory of marketing is solid but the practice of marketing leaves much to be desired."

- Philip Kotler

Philly's Global Marketing Is Paying Off - No one ever said marketing did not pay off? But the true realization of value is in execution with excellence!

Leadership: Ego-Ambition as drivers

Leadership: Ambition--Vice or Virtue? This evening in FastCompany Now.

Leadership needs Ego and Leadership needs Ambition! Channeled in a constructive manner and guided by values, character and virtue can ENLARGE the leader and leadership itself.

Ambition, however, can be force for the good. Here are some ways:

Use ambition to capitalize on opportunity. Sometimes opportunity is staring us in the face but we may not recognize it. Ambitious people look at the status quo and see ways to do things differently. It may be to develop a new product, a new process, or a new service. Looking to do things differently can be a force for the good. Entrepreneurs are folks who channel their ambition into looking for new opportunities.

Use ambition as a tool for change. Ambition may be the driver that challenges assumptions. Part of a leader’s responsibility is to identify the need for positive change and to usher in that change. It may provoke us to say why are we doing things this way? Asking the questions may stimulate debate and ultimately action that will cause new ideas.

Use ambition as tool for personal growth. Ambition is wanting to move to the next step. Fulfilling that dream may require more schooling, more training, and more experience. Ambition can be the spark that pushes you to achieve your dream, often when hard work is involved.

Personal Branding

Leadership and Personal Branding from this morning's FastComany Now.

Personal branding has been in vogue since the late 80's when Tom Peter's first introduced the concept of "Brand YOU!"

The idea evolved into the concept of a Free Agent (book) that grabbed the corporate world in the late 90's but the movement fizzled.

More recently the idea of social networking combined with technological advances and support from career advisory services has offered support for the idea of differentiating and rebuilding awareness for Brand YOU! and the Free Agent - Kirsten Dixson and William Arruda have a recently publication Career Distinction - following are nuggets from their article Don't Seek. Be Sought -After; Marketing Ladders newsletter.

Be Visible

1. Know who needs to know you.

You must identify all the people who need to know you. This way you're sure that they will be able to find you immediately when they need the skills you can offer. It would exhaust your resources to become visible to everyone. So you must figure out exactly who your target audience is. Make a list of job titles of people who will be instrumental in helping you reach your career goals. This should include hiring managers, executive recruiters and people who influence them.

2. Get in their face.

Once you've decided who needs to know about you, you must make yourself known to them. You need to be a household name among this target group of people. You can live in total obscurity as far as the rest of the world is concerned, but among this critical constituency, you want to become a mega-star. I call it being selectively famous.

3. Don't go into hiding.

Once you are known, you must be ever visible. Just as celebrities seek out appearances on talk shows and articles in magazines to stay in the purview of their fans, you too must keep the visibility constant. This strategy takes planning and a commitment to stay connected.

Be Valuable

Hiring managers, executive recruiters, and potential business partners need to know that what you have to offer is both relevant and compelling. And it needs to be available from you and only you. So it's your job to demonstrate the value you contribute. Visibility alone will not make you sought-after.

Be Unique

When you can find something just about anywhere, people rarely seek it out. It's when something is rare that it becomes sought after: supply and demand. So you need to know what makes you unique. And among those items that put you in a class by yourself, you must determine which will be the most compelling to your target audience. Are you the most ethical CFO? The creative ad guy who believes that all ad campaigns need stringent revenue metrics? The IT executive who is the world's best business communicator?

Be Courageous

Sometimes, you must be willing to take a stand and risk offending some people. All strong brands are eager to share their point of view. Being courageous ensures that your message gets heard above the noise. If you are singing the same tune as everyone else, your voice will be lost in the choir. Sing your own song, and sing it loudly. Be heard!

Be Consistent

People need to know what you stand for. Avoid the temptation to repeat the message of the day. Unless you're Madonna (who has built an empire around reinvention) you need to stick to your guns. As advertisers know, it's repetition that ensures the message is heard and understood.

Tips to Becoming Sought-After

• Build a large and relevant social network, adding people regularly.
• Maintain your network by regularly giving to the members. A network has no value to you if you let it go cold. Build network strengthening activities into your daily "to-do" list.
• Increase your virtual visibility. Buy your domain name, build your online presence through a website or blog, and interact with like-minded professionals through social networks and relevant web portals. Make sure you show up in Google when people search on the keywords for which you want to be known.
• Increase your physical visibility. Take every opportunity to speak publicly. Publish articles. Consider writing a book. Constant communication is critical.
• Take leadership roles in appropriate professional associations. And if the right organization doesn't exist, create your own.

Uni-Marketing

I have occasionally started an essay and left it incomplete... I guess I loose the chain of thoughts? Until it either the thought comes back or the next interesting thought captures my imagination the essay sits waiting for my attention. This essay is one of those...

Marketing has its origins in differentiation, the early Egyptians marked their cattle to ensure they could be located and identified. The concept developed into communicating uniqueness and then so. Modern marketing was about relevance, differentiation, excitement and more. It was a mass message we sent as marketers to INFLUENCE the consumer in choosing our brands over the competitive landscape. Gone are the days of Mass Marketing, today we are in the world of Segmented Marketing. Connecting, communicating, presenting, solving and listening to the consumers for what they liked how they used, why they chose what they chose and how can we enhance their experience.

The touch points have increased and so has communication (listening and conveying), the value propositions and the difference. Over the past 30 years marketers have feared private label yet they rarely have a robust understanding of what a disappearing ghost private label can be. No one has ever beaten back an enemy in a Guerrilla war especially since you don't even know who the real enemy is? As a strategist I have often thought of the challenge and the only truly sustainable solution is Segmenting the consumer to a Segment of ONE! UNI-MARKETING!

Niche products that do one and only one thing!! Do it better than any Private label! Change the rules of the game and create a new landscape for the brand wars.

This morning's -Today's Niche Marketing Is All About Narrow, Not Small from Advertising Age stoked my imagination to complete this essay.

Niching now

To harness the power of niche marketing to achieve your business objectives in the new economy, follow these principles:

1. Position your brand as narrowly as is economically possible.
2. Become the specialist that anticipates the needs of your target.
3. Rapidly work with the target niche to co-innovate.
4. Set as your goal such consumer centricity that the target niche will want to co-brand their identity with yours.
5. Live by a higher standard of ethics.
6. Embrace a business model and metrics that grow the most valuable assets of the new niched economy.
7. Reap first-mover advantage by learning how to identify a niche of opportunity.
8. Re-imagine your role as that of entrepreneurial founder of a special interest group.
9. Forget push marketing; excel at pull marketing.
10. Realize your brand is now "media" competing against all other media.

The Corporate Athlete

Avoid the Pedigree Pitfall - Talent is talent is talent, lack of related experience is the last thing to stop natural winners.

Interesting article from FastCompany Now:

During the interview process, it’s critically important that you make sure candidates are
1) who they said they were on paper
2) a great fit with your organization

It’s easy to overlook red flags during the interview process when you’ve already sold yourself on the candidate based on his or her background.

WOM

Give 'em Something to Talk About - Only from FastCompany By Chip and Dan Heath of Made to Stick

Fostering the conversation you want customers to have about your products should be an explicit part of product development.

1. The Doughnut
   Voodoo Doughnut in Portland, Oregon, has a cult following because its customers want to tell their friends about goodies such as glazed doughnuts rolled in Crunch Berries cereal.
   
   
2. The Smoothie
   How many people talk about their smoothie purchases? If the smoothie is wearing a wool cap knitted by a grandmother, they will.
   
   
3. The Policy
   Zipcar's policies create a conversation-worthy experience: Renters pay by the hour, gas and insurance are included, and the company doesn't charge for such amenities as satellite radio.
   

Avoidable Marketing Mistakes When Taking Your Brand Global

Interesting insights from brandchannel.com - Five Avoidable Marketing Mistakes When Taking Your Brand Global by Susanne Evens

Nuggets from the article:

1. Understand Your Brand Name
Your company or product name could mean something undesirable in another language. Do the research necessary to ensure you do not sell a car that means "no go" or a computer product that means "frumpy woman." Even something as innocent as a person's name can trip you up. "Gary" sounds like the Japanese word for "diarrhea."

2. Understand the Cultural Significance of Colors
Colors can play a significant role in the aesthetics of your website or other marketing materials, but they also communicate a message. Unfortunately, the message and significance of a color may not be consistent from culture to culture.

In North America, for example, red is often used in operating instructions to signify danger, while other cultures often use green or black for the same purpose. In Asia, white is the color of funerals, while in Western cultures, white is the color of weddings. Without realizing the difference, a wedding company could be sending a disturbing message to its Asian audience.

3. Use Humor Carefully
What's funny in one culture may not even make sense in another. For example, when a preacher visited a missionary, his message on "The Four Ships of Christianity" (fellowship, discipleship, membership, and worship) was a disaster because it was based in a pun that was completely lost in translation.

4. Don't Alienate with Analogies
Similarly, analogies can trip you up. Common analogies in the US may make no sense elsewhere. Even worse, the analogy may be insulting. Neither scenario will help you reach your goal of gaining and maintaining customers.

5. Go Native Online
For years, many people assumed that being on the web meant that you were instantly global. But being available online internationally is a far cry from being able to act global and meet the needs of local international markets.

Linguistics & Marketing Research

Linguistics has a lot to do with marketing, more than just advertising & communication... it is the link between the consumers and the marketers.


Unraveling the mysteries of consumer spending

The one that feeds an understanding the unmet needs and desires.

Also chk - Zipf's Law

Leaders Pushing Limits

Leaders Pushing Limits: Grace Andrews dabbles with Risk and Leadership in her post on FastCompany Now. Some nuggets from her post:

How do I keep the edge without jumping off the edge?

Continue moving…inaction leads to stagnation.

Read…anything.

Talk to people…constantly.

Ask for feedback and be open to what you hear.

Try something that seems counterintuitive.

Don't let others in your organization do all the dirty work.

Go work "on the line or in the trenches".

Do a 360 on yourself.

Try This

Make a list of all the things that inspire you about other leaders. Compare them to your skill sets. What are you missing that they have? This is a great place to start understanding what you need to do to go to the next level. Then start learning those skills and practicing them. Start now, even if it's scary. You don't have to jump out of a plane to get your heart pumping; sometimes it is as simple as looking in the mirror and telling yourself the truth about something you should be doing and then taking the steps to do it.

One last thought

I think finding and pushing your freak-out point occasionally is a good thing. If you're the adventurous type, then go for the gusto and climb, jump, surf. If you are not, don't let that stop you. There are ways to keep your edge, but lying down is not one of them.

All very relevant and interesting thoughts.

Echo boom...

I bet someone heard the word sonic boom and crafted the word echo boom... For a marketer the Echo Boomers (born between 1979-1989) are a $2.45 Trillion opportunity. An article in this morning's MediaPost talks about the attitudes, behaviors and personalities.

Some nuggets from the article: Visa Tells Marketers: Turn Your Attention To Echo Boomers

• Echos are more practical and mature in their spending habits and more generous to others
• Echos are are concerned about saving for retirement
• Echos see having money as a way to give back to others, especially family members and charities
• Nearly half of Echo Boomers (48%) describe themselves as savers
• When it comes to shopping, Echo Boomers are focused on getting more value for their money: 69% consider themselves wait-and-see shoppers, and 83% say they are bargain shoppers
• 80% of Echo Boomers stick to a strict budget when making purchases, and 81% describe themselves as trying to cut back on what they spend
• Even at their young age, more than 70% of Echo Boomers are concerned about having enough money for retirement, a degree of concern similar to the about-to-retire Baby Boomers (78%)
• 65% of Echo Boomers believe their generation is falling behind economically
• 81% do not believe their generation is spending more responsibly
• 88% of Echo Boomers like to buy things for others more often than buying things just for themselves
• If they had extra or discretionary money to spend, 63% of Echo Boomers would most likely spend that money on something for others
• Approximately 81% of Echo Boomers say they are giving what they can to charities
• Only 25% of Baby Boomers describe the Echo Boomers as an admirable generation compared to 68% of Echo Boomers who admire Baby Boomers
• Approximately 68% of Baby Boomers believe Echo Boomers are too self-centered and focused upon themselves
• While Baby Boomers have a desire for youth, only 7% would prefer to be a member of the Echo Boomer generation

Additional highlights from "How America Spends" include:

• According to the Yankelovich Monitor, being seen as "financially successful" is important to 49% of Echo Boomers, a 13% increase since 2002
• Echo Boomers (77%) more often feel the need to manage their spending better than Baby Boomers (66%)
• Echo Boomers believe they have more stress and anxieties compared to other generations (71%)
• Nearly half of Echo Boomers (49%) think that they do not have a better life compared to other generations

...disarm with a HELLO!

An article in this morning's New York Times on how advertising are embracing the hello again!

Madison Avenue Says Hello to ‘Hello,’ Again

From the Apple Macintosh in 1984 to the Applie iPhone 2007 and a lot many long the way - Avon, Level Vodka, even a twist from Colgate-Palmolive. The images are as interesting as the skits, gags & commercials.

What is your carbon footprint?

It is hard to ignore the topic of sustainability with the media coverage on the issue of global warming & climate change. An article in the MarketingNPV journal addresses the issues of Metrics associated with a brand and organizations environmental friendliness.

How Green Are Your Metrics?: At the dashboard level, there are four key areas companies should be making improvements in and measuring when trying to affect a positive change in greenhouse gas emissions:

• reducing your carbon footprint;
• reducing energy/fuel consumption;
• utilizing more renewable and sustainable resources; and
• recycling or reducing waste.

Some links:

• Redefining Progress
• My Footprint
  
• Hybrid Center
• Natural Step
• Global Footprint Network
• Turn the Tide
• Gaiam
  

Let's be Clear…..

Let's be Clear….. - I have been a long time fan of Marcus Buckingham. This morning I came across a post on FastCompany Now by Grace Andrews. Here are some nuggets...

What does clarity mean and how do you know if you have it?

The official definition is "free from obscurity and easy to understand; the comprehensibility of clear expression." There is nothing more likely to create chaos in an organization than confusion and unclear communication. So, how does one establish clarity? Mr. Marcus Buckingham suggests you focus on four powerful and defining questions: (1) Who do we serve?, (2) What is our core strength?, (3) What is our core score? and, finally, (4) What actions can we take today?

Question 1: Who do we serve? When answering this question, you must tell your team clearly and vividly, who their main audience is. Tell them who they should empathize with most closely. Tell them who will be judging their success. When you do this with clarity, you give your people confidence - confidence in their judgment and confidence in their decisions. It frees them to better serve those you have identified are the one audience whom they serve. Please do not give them many masters - it only adds confusion; pick one and focus on it. This clear strategy makes it easy to follow you.

Question 2: What is our core strength?Thirty years ago, Peter Drucker wrote, "the most effective organizations get their strengths together and make their weaknesses irrelevant". No statement could be truer today. Focusing on weaknesses brings down your team. Look at your core strength and go after the business and situations that play to this strength. Understanding and clearly communicating your core strength allows people to follow the vision you create.

Question 3: What is our core score?Simply put, this means finding a way to measure success. This is the most important contribution you can give your organization or team. Once defined, your people know when they are achieving their objectives, when to work harder or faster, and when they are winning! Defining that measure is hard, but essential. If you want people to follow you and take initiative, tell them what the core score is, so they know what to use to measure their progress. This also gives an additional benefit of people being able to manage their progress, so you don't have to be the one that always does it!

Question 4: What actions can we take today?Action is unambiguous. Actions are clear and they speak volumes. Actions let people know exactly what to do. As a leader, there are many actions that you can take each day. The question to ask is "what actions can I take today that will have the most meaningful impact on my people and those we serve, and will move us closer to achieving our goals?" Remember, choose your actions carefully, and choose just a few. Guided by the
clarity of your actions, your team can move into the future easily and without the fear of the unknown. This will not only instill confidence in you, but also raise the confidence of your people.

What can you do?

I strongly suggest you begin by answering the four questions above. If you think they already exist in your organization, go out and test that assumption with a group of people from all levels. Do their answers match your own? Do they match each other's? This is one way to know if you are bringing clarity to your organization as a leader.

One last thought:

In the military, the general leading the charge must be clear or his people die. In sports, the coach, quarterback or captain must be clear or the team loses. The same can be said in your businesses. If, as a leader, you are not clear, then the company runs the risk of losing – losing clients, market share or potentially dying and closing your doors. I encourage you (not by hollering at you) to look at all the messages you are sending - verbally, by e-mail, and in meetings - are they clear? Because as leaders, it's okay to be wrong, but it isn't okay to be unclear; the risks are too high – what you must be is clear.

The Beauty ENTROPY!

This morning I came across a very fascinating quote...

Joan Collins - "The problem with beauty is that it's like being born rich and getting poorer."

Reminded me of a concept I had studied many many years ago - ENTROPY. I feel strange even making a link to the definition/description on Wikipedia given the weight of the concept.

Just to get the weight off my chest one of my favorite print campaigns, to levitate the situation

A-to-S, par excellence!

I always wondered what "Engineered like no other car in the world" compares with "The ultimate driving machine"? It took a little thinking to realize that Engineering is about Comfort not necessarily or limited to driving. Guess what that means to me is you 'drive' one while you enjoy the comfort of a ride in the other? Anyway... that was not the point of my post, the philosophical discussion seems to have beleaguered the point I intended to make.

I was fascinated by the Engineering excellence in the interactive marketing site for Mercedes Benz.

Pendulum Swing

I love reading the business classics, the ones by Henderson, Drucker, Reeves, Bower, Aaker, Kottler and even Marx & Adam Smith. I am intrigued by the swing of the pendulum and of vertical business integration followed by a strategic divestiture only to identify and create new and ever different offerings to integrate again.

What particularly fascinates me is an understanding of the inflection points that stimulate the actions. A study of the industry closest to my heart is telling.

Consumer product manufacturers started the strategic outsourcing of services like selling through retailers, advertising and even manufacturing in many cases. Some of these key suppliers soon embarked on their own strategies of vertical integration to enhance the value addition to the clients and personal growth to evolve into competitors to these same clients (most retailers today are customers and competitors to consumer products companies).

The recent acquisition of Doubleclick by Google and Microsoft's acquisition of aQuantive is along those same lines a vertical integration into the advertising and measurement.

Learning Curve is by far the most interesting and exciting literature on the topic of business evolution and inflection points. Some of the early writing by Bruce Henderson are quite fascinating.

>> Update: What Causes Industry Agglomeration? Evidence from Coagglomeration Patterns (Harvard Working Knowledge)

BRAND Love & Socio-Economics

A couple years ago I watched a movie about love and affects of socio-economic conditions, yesterday I happened to see it again. While I sat through the early part of the movie the episodes and dialogs sprouted thoughts and ideas. As soon as I had a moment to myself I decided to do some of my own hokey research and pen down my thoughts about BRAND love & socio-economics.

My obvious first destination was Lovemarks© (Saatchi & Saatchi), then InterBrand® (& Businessweek), followed by BrandZ© (MillwardBrown & FT) the order was just a coincidence. I ran up and down the various lists on these sites only to notice a strikingly polar insight around predominance of Brands in developed countries and regions of the world. Thats not to say that the developing countries/regions of the world don't respond to brands (having lived in one for many years I have experienced DEFAULT brands myself-Singer Sewing Machine, Mercedes Benz, Colgate Toothpaste, etc.) & not to argue that the metrics that assess equities are biased any more in favor of developed countries/regions. One of the most powerful weighted element PPP of the consumers in BRIC countries certainly stands to skew results in favor of the developing world.

Then why are brands linked to a countries of origin and its organizations HQ location? In a world where we have global brands is it fair to think of brands with a country of origin? Over a 100 yrs ago Singer Sewing Machines had one of the most global brands! Although Singer closed shop during the 80's, Singer is now assimilated and acculturated in most countries to an extent that it would be tough to argue Singer is a US Brand having started since the late 19th century.

Love has no boundaries that true as much for people as Brands and it is obviously independent of socio-economics! Socio-economics is a sales fundamental (for a shopper) that very marketers needs to remember and rise above and beyond to connect and communicate with the consumer.

What Media Builds Brands?

What Media Builds Brands?: The ANA fielded a survey as part of the Brand Innovation Forum in April'07, "What Media Builds Brands?". The result of input from 300 client side marketers is published in a blog on the Marketing Maestros Blog with the same name today...

No surprise - and panelists from Wells Fargo and Pepsi agreed - TV is considered the most effective.

Surprise - Banner ads are considered the third most effective medium.

Most surprising - Pop Up Ads. I would think these contribute to brand deterioration not equity.

Other channels were mentioned but didn't make the Top Ten - they include webcasts, direct mail and database marketing, sponsorships, SEO, public relations and blogs.

Trust – Risk

There are two or sometimes more sides to everything! I am not playing on words when I said ‘or more’. I am serious… We live in a multidimensional world so many opportunities, so many challenges and so many touch points into people and their lives. As many sides as the number of touch points!

Each time I see, hear or read the word “Trust” in a leadership tryst or an organization’s manifesto, I cringe. I have written a couple essays on the topic in this blog. Trust is intangible! So I thought it help me to think about “Trust” in order to substantiate my concern or elevate my argument to a philosophical level.

There is no denying ‘Risk’ is the flip side of Trust. When we talk of trust we imply that some or all of the relevant risks will be addressed. Given the scope of trust is undefined the scope of risk is too. To some the risk may be entrusting his or her potential and being evaluated objectively to get promoted in an organization while some one else may be entrusting the value of their work to be measured, tested for the right level of compensation; Some one may be entrusting their career and time to be aptly compensated at retirement, while others may be entrusting their health when consuming a branded product hoping for the positive?

Trust can thus be a two edged sword, where one offers a commitment to fairness the other promises judgment, failure in one can be failure in the other. Wouldn’t it be more sensible and easier to accept imperfections while working towards ‘Building Credibility’?

Give me a poor metric and I will give you a reason to fail!

I have always believed ‘Experience is a tough teacher’, as long as one invests time and effort in performing a postmortem of every situation & reflecting on the positives and the negatives. A biased penchant for one can lead to unhealthy results. I recently ran into some one (organization) that had the best of interests but an unnatural bias. It seemed like as if they had their blinkers (British term for blinders) on. So gruesome was the situation that I had to revise my quote above, ‘Success can sometimes be a poor teacher’.

Individuals and organizations always learnt what works and reapplied it over and over and often times independent of the situation, the challenge or the opportunity to its own peril. Strategy is not a formula, nor is success a recipe! The only ideals that can be reapplied are frameworks and principles.

Don’t look for a manager when you need a leader and don’t look for a marketer when you need a salesman! Each one in his/her different and unique way defines and measures success, instant gratification works for one while the other is out to build, one strives to create direction while the other chooses to be focused.

Poor metrics are a sure short recipe for failure! It is unfortunate that organizations can make their success the very reason to fail.

Faithful Follower, but No Leader

Faithful Follower, but No Leader - John Baldoni touches on a raw nerve in his blog on FastCompany Now

...plenty of other corporate managers are performing as ineptly. These inept managers, hitched their stars to a patron who looked out for them. Many times, they performed admirably as assistants; they were trustworthy, reliable and accountable. But they lacked independence and so when they were put into positions of authority, they were ill-prepared to shoulder the responsibility of administering systems and leading people.

Rather than blame individual managers, it is often more appropriate to blame the system and the senior people who put them in positions where they would fail. Asking some hard questions might help you decide about whom to promote and who should remain as is.

Can she think for herself? People who have served as competent employees do so because they defer to their bosses. However, when you are a manager, you must learn to think for yourself. Assistants who have demonstrated initiative and responsibility are ones that should be considered for the next rung on the ladder. Those who cannot should be left holding that ladder.

Is he accountable? When you back up your boss, you stand in his shadow. You are not wholly responsible for his actions. But when it comes time to run your own show, everything you do is up for scrutiny. People watch their managers to see what they do, not simply what they say. Senior managers must hold their direct reporting managers accountable for agreed upon results.

Can she lead? Leadership is a privilege; it is earned by gaining the trust of others, not simple one superior. Faithful employees have earned trust from above, but if they must manage others, they need to demonstrate that they have a vision consistent with the mission. What’s more, they need to demonstrate that they

Candidates for management positions who can demonstrate by words and more importantly actions that they are thinkers and doers -- as well as accountable leaders -- are people destined for moving up. Those who are more comfortable in the background are better off staying there. Otherwise they may, find themselves at a big table all alone and facing some very hostile questioners.

Research - Be Careful What You Ask Your Customers

Be Careful What You Ask Your Customers - Stanford:

Simonson and Utpal Dholakia of Rice University have also discovered pitfalls in asking customers to compare two or more brands. “Telling consumers to make comparisons, which is a practice that marketers use a lot, can be very uncertain because it can change the behavior of consumers in very fundamental ways,” said Simonson.

Consumers who decided on their own to compare products behaved as you might expect, looking for the best buy. But consumers who were told to compare became unusually cautious. “The mere fact that we had asked them to make a comparison caused them to fear that they were being tricked in some way,” said Simonson.

A seemingly unbiased method of studying consumer preference can nevertheless change behavior. And that calls into question the accuracy—and usefulness—of the opinion survey ...

... Once again, those who voiced expectations in advance were significantly more negative and even rated the same store features such as cleanliness or the professionalism of employees more negatively than the control group.

World's Most Ethical Companies

Ethisphere™ Magazine - 2007 World's Most Ethical Companies

Teams are Teams!! In a sports arena or the Ivory tower.

May be we ought to invite the Michael Jordan's, Mia Hamm's of the world to come and coach corporate leaders. After all the rules of the game are fairly similar... As for difference in performance measures, you can always train a parrot to speak.

In traditional FastCompany Style... Superstar: Deliver or Else!

Be clear in expectations. Make it known what you expect from people in terms of performance and behavior. Be explicit in terms what they can earn and how they can be promoted. Also make it clear that superstars must achieve, but also set the right example. That is, they are expected to participate in team activities.

Be open about exceptions. When superstars get special treatment, be open about it. Talk about why they are stars, that is, how they achieved their status. Where managers get into trouble is by trying to hide things, or worse by covering up for non-performing superstars. Being transparent is essential.

Be frank about what it takes to succeed. Make it clear that every employee has the opportunity to improve. Not everyone can outperform the normal. Discuss ways the employee can improve his or her performance and find ways to help that employee achieve.

Blue Ocean Strategy...

It has been so long since I read the book (BOS) that I wasn't even planning on writing about it. But when I came across a post by Wendy on FastCompany Now this morning I felt compelled!

Google and You: "Joann Seddon, global CEO of Millard Brown Optimor, the firm’s finance and ROI arm, said of the brand study, “Success stories from this year's BRANDZ™ Top 100 demonstrate that winning brands leverage major market trends effectively to create business value. Strong brands are capable of extending into areas of opportunity to access new revenue streams and to help businesses respond to market changes.'"

I am inclined to believe Joann would significantly benefit from reading the concept of consumer value innovation presented in BOS. Although value innovation are not just short transient fads they can be sustainable long term growth opportunity like the one discussed by Clayton M. Christensen in The Innovator's Dilemma.

A follow-up on Authenticity...

Ever noticed how when you start looking or thinking of something it seems like what you were searching or looking for was all around and over you all this time? For some reason you were just oblivious to it or may be did not relate to it?

Thats what I felt this morning... AUTHENTICITY. Just the other day I referenced a post on authenticity in brands and leadership and this morning I saw it again... though the article this morning is focused on examples & tactics the other day it was the concept & the framework. These articles are worth a read...

Will the Real Juan Valdez Please Stand Up?

An Authenticity Timeline

Does Their Corporate Culture Pass Your Sniff Test?

Cultural Fit can be the final word on success in a role or with a company! Even Lou Gerstner was deeply influenced IBM while turning things around - Who Says Elephants Can't Dance?; Jim Collins reinforces the idea of indoctrination into the corporations culture in both his books - Good to Great and Built to Last.

Contrary to common belief cultures are NOT STOIC, a great company will influence an individual/leader and will be influenced while rising to ever higher levels of greatness, cultures evolve, the only thing that must remain constant are VALUES!

This mornings post on the FastCompany Now blog is interesting to all those at a critical juncture in making a choice.

Does Their Corporate Culture Pass Your Sniff Test?: "If you have the advantage of working with a recruiter here's what to check out:

* Before the recruiter talks to you, the recruiting firm should spend time with its corporate client and conduct a thorough assessment of the company's culture. What is it like to work there and which types of employees are most likely to fit in and succeed?
* The culture of the company should be embedded into the job description, says Kris. If it's not mentioned that could mean that the recruiter doesn't know.
* Once there appears to be a good match and a job offer seems imminent, arrange to talk to your prospective boss's direct reports. 'Ask what it's like to work here and what this guy is like to work for?' suggests Kris. You need answers 'before you make a life-changing decision.'"

The appeal--and risks--of authenticity

Last year I read Bill George's first book - Authentic Leadership, a true reflection of what leaders ought to be, a true reflection of Bill George! The book was holistic from style to values to overcoming hurdles and setbacks a true leader needs to be able to handle.

I was reminded of the book this morning when I came across an article on FastCompany - Who Do You Love? Brand-Authenticity (the title of this essay is excerpt from the article).

The article is focused on brands and products but is just as extensible into authentic leadership as relayed by Bill in this classic. Following are some nuggets from the article.

What does it take to be authentic?

Authenticity constantly requires reinforcement, and it can come from a number of sources: craftsmanship, timeliness, relevance. But it is a brand's values--the emotional connection it makes--that truly define its realism. And there are four primary strands that draw out that connection.

• A sense of place. "Authenticity comes from a place we can connect with,"
  
• A strong point of view. Authenticity also emerges from "people with a deep passion for what they are doing,"
  
• Serving a larger purpose. Consumers quite rightly believe, until they're shown otherwise, that every brand is governed by an ulterior motive: to sell something. But if a brand can convincingly argue that its profit-making is only a by-product of a larger purpose, authenticity sets in. "Just as there are purpose-driven lives,"
  
• Integrity. Authenticity comes to a brand that is what it says it is. In other words, "the story that the brand tells through its actions aligns with the story it tells through its communications,"
  

How do you stay authentic even as you get big?

• Ubiquity might not be toxic to authenticity, but it certainly dilutes it. When a brand spreads far beyond its home turf, its branches almost invariably (though not inevitably) weaken
  
• growth and authenticity are not wholly incompatible

Can you be authentic when you're trying to be authentic?

• Authenticity is necessary, but it cannot be compelled
• And therein lies an authentic paradox: A brand doesn't feel real when it overtly tries to make itself real. To the hypertargeted consumer, baldly billboarding a brand's message smacks of insincerity

Can you be cool and still be authentic?

• To maintain its integrity, a brand must remain true to its values. And yet, to be relevant--or cool--a brand must be as dynamic as change itself. An authentic brand reconciles those two conflicting impulses, finding ways to be original within the context of its history

Ogilvy - The Basic 25 Styles of Blogging

The "What if" articles...

I am usually attracted to articles that start on the "What if..?" note. No clue why? But I certainly hope to see/hear/experience a new perspective. Valeria Maltoni has a post in FastCompany Now blog this morning with the "What if...?" title. Interesting and engaging enough to initiate a hear a new perspective with the Conversation Agent. The idea is not new or revolutionary but worthy of a 'ear' as in 'give all thy ear but few thy voice' (WS, Hamlet) though the quote barely makes sense in in the world of blogs, but you get the point.

What if Customers WERE the Service?

innovation is mostly about looking at the same things and seeing something different. What if Best Buy were to provide space to encourage those conversations? What if instead of just having a counter where, by necessity – being short on staff, long on help needed – they placed a nice set of armchairs and small tables nearby.

Customers could sit down. Some coffee company could provide coffee and snacks. People dropping by after work might enjoy a little something while waiting. Most importantly, what if they helped customers talk with each other by putting the space there for them to do so? Jim solved my Palm problem and I walked away having made a new friend and feeling good about Best Buy.

Instead of feeling let down, I now have a warm and fuzzy feeling about the store where I had such a good experience. Never mind that it wasn’t the staff to provide it. I had it anyway, and it’s associated with the store. Let’s take the idea a little further and think about what would happen if Brian, another customer, stopped in for a repair and during the wait learned that Jane, also waiting, knows everything about digital cameras. He has been thinking about buying one, but he feels skittish about asking the store staff. He doesn’t want to be sold to just yet; he wants to buy after taking his time exploring options.

They strike a conversation, and now Bill writes down a list of features he wants in a camera. Jane just asked him how he was thinking of using it adding stories of her purchases and what she learned from them. We all love to learn, we all hate to study and many of us dislike researching, especially when we feel harried in the store.

The business gets to keep its costs down by maintaining a fixed number of geeks on hand to help. The customers get the help they need by receiving assistance also from other customers. And the store now has the potential to sell more, all wrapped up nicely in good will. But wait, you say, what if I’m the only one there on a given night?

Word of mouth travels faster than information on fiber optic cable, you could:
- Wait until someone else arrives in for help – I was there probably short of two hours and the flow of people was constant
- Self select as the “go to” person for certain types of devices and volunteer help while you’re there

People love being helpful and there isn’t always time to meet new people by going to networking events. The businesses that can help lower the barriers to entry to make conversations among customers happen, win. Now, how about a good cup of coffee at, you guessed it, Best Buy? I was thinking about purchasing a digital camera…

Generated Wisdom

Its my lucky day!! I love to start the day reading interesting articles, quotes or even ideas that invigorate me. This morning I read three such articles...

I grew in a world where we discussed transition from DATA to INFORMATION to KNOWLEDGE. We have now evolved into transitioning KNOWLEDGE to WISDOM. The new continuum is:

DATA to INFORMATION to KNOWLEDGE to WISDOM

From FastCompany Now - Generated Wisdom by Donna Karlin

• In many organizations wisdom is generated but not captured.
• wisdom isn’t captured or catalogued for subsequent teams and future use.
• Once the consultants leave, the knowledge leaves with them.
• Think of how much time and money is wasted when you have to start from scratch time and time again.
• Every retreat, strategy session, project and program should be captured, documented and archived for future use
• Coach them now and they’ll be ready to hit the floor running if you bring them on board.

Recognition Makes Dollars and Sense

Nuggets from FastComany Now - Recognition Makes Dollars and Sense by John Baldoni

Find positives in other people’s work. At your next staff meeting, before you criticize, say something nice. Thank people for doing the research and doing the grunt work. Show some appreciation of effort.

Talk up the work of your team to the higher-ups. When you interact with senior executives, talk up the contributions of your team. Make specific mention of key contributions and contributors.

Compliment your boss on a task well-done. Find an opportunity to give your boss a pat on the back. Pick out something that she’s done well, such as overcome an obstacle, shown restraint in a crisis, or developed a key insight that benefits the entire time. Do this in private.

Be honest. Do not compliment for the sake of being nice, do it with meaning and conviction. When you criticize, be constructive. Being tough does not imply meanness. Sincerity counts because it adds depth to what you say when you are critiquing as well as when you are stroking.

Ramotions

I don’t aspire to contribute a new word into the Oxford English Dictionary but would be delighted to introduce one into my fellow marketer’s vocabulary. Ramotion is my effort in their direction… It is a synthesis of peopl's actions based on their rationale and emotions.

With an argumentative personality and passion for reading I combine some fairly potent skills. Together they lead me to flesh new ideas, extend my thought process and point of view into new and often uncharted areas.

The best part of my passion is it helps me understand peopl's reasoning and rationalization, their hot buttons and soothers. Both as a marketer and as a leader I can present opportunities, challenges and propositions in light of “The individual” not a cookie cutter.

As reasonable as it sounds, I have come to realize Rationale is not truly RATIONAL. It is logic with a twist… We rationalize based on where we came, what we saw, our family background and sometimes even the side of the bed we wake up that morning. So why and how is it any different from emotion? I wonder? The only LOGICAL explanation I could frame up was that emotion is a short lived feeling while the long term effect of emotion filtered through a structured process is rationale. I hope I have presented my argument why Ramotion should have its due place in our vocabulary. I am hoping this is also a foundation for another argument in TARGETING at the right place and right time.

David Armano’s Logic+Emotion, has been a long time favorite blog of mine for all those things other than the specific discussion on the social element of Logic+Emotion.

The engagement measurement conundrum

Over the past year ENGAGEMENT has been the big buzz on Madison Avenue and the overall marketing world. Every marketer has faced the question of ROI on spending but was just a financial measure, ENGAGEMENT is an eMOTIONal one... How do we get to it?

To date interactive marketing spend in the CPG world has yet to exceed the 7-10% threshold, clearly driven by the fact that conversion cannot be measured just from a "visit" to a iMarketing website. Although AMAZON.com, some niche-niche products, custom cosmeticeutical, adult use products have bridged the gap, there is a long way to go for the household use products, foods, automobiles, clothes, etc.

Much like I told the COO of one of the major media metrics companies, I believe until we get to a point where we can measure true conversion from visit to a brands iMarketing website or at least find a common sense way to translate the visit into purchase ENGAGEMENT, may be an uphill battle.

MediaPost had an article yesterday on the question of Measuring User Engagement In A New Metrics World there were some interesting points made:

• Many have dropped the page view altogether as an audience metric.
• To fill the void, vendors are coming up with their own interpretations of engagement.
• This "visits" metric, defined as the number of times a unique person accesses content (with breaks between accesses of at least 30 minutes) is a key component of user engagement, explained comScore.
• an alternative for measuring user engagement that tells us how frequently visitors are actually returning to the site to view more content.
• The challenge and opportunity therefore, for vertical content publishers, is to combine engagement metrics with strong compelling content to those users who are engaged with the site.
• offer content to users anytime and anyplace, through the Web and on their mobile device, for instance.
• content is what drives loyalty and engagement.