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May 31, 2004

Studs Terkel's Writing Still Works

Funny you should mention Studs Terkel, Alan. Just today in the New York Times, Adam Cohen considers the meaning of Terkel's work 30 years after Working was first published.

When America begins to pay attention to its unhappy work force — and eventually, it must — "Working" will still provide important insights, with its path-breaking exploration of what Mr. Terkel described as "the extraordinary dreams of ordinary people."

Posted by Heath Row at 7:04 PM | Add Comment

Introduction

Hello FC Now readers,

Dean and I have been looking forward to guest-hosting FC Now for several weeks now. We have a lot of things to share, and hope to spark some interesting and informative discussions.

Our book Ideas Are Free is about how important it is for managers to encourage, capture and use ideas from their front-line people. We each got interested in the topic in different ways.

Continue reading "Introduction"

Posted by Alan Robinson at 5:54 PM | 5 Comments

May 28, 2004

Champions of Change

Bill Taylor and Alan Webber, Fast Company's founding editors, were recently recognized by the American Society for Training and Development as champions of workplace learning and performance. In the award book for the 2003 ASTD Awards, their impact was described thusly:

Through FC's innovative approach to business reporting and influence through its Company of Friends clubs worldwide, Webber And Taylor exemplify and champion core values of the learning and development profession: networking, creativity, leadership at every level, attention to human capital, and connecting with the larger community outside of the business entity.

Congratulations!

Posted by Heath Row at 4:44 PM | 3 Comments

Office Politics, Tock, Don't Stop

Need help navigating the maze of office politics? Want to make sure you're using them to your benefit while avoiding the pitfalls of others' maneuverings?

Recommended by Toronto Company of Friends member Dave Crisp, Office-Politics might be a good place to start. Hosted by John Burton, an ethics professor at the Schulich School of Business at York University in Toronto, and other contributors, the site offers a weekly poll, photographs of readers' cubicles and offices, and interactive exchanges in which people pose challenges and the contributors weight in with advice and insights.

While the animated polls are somewhat irritating, the advice may be useful, and the cubicle photos -- while limited -- are interesting. A deeper archive of images and advice would be welcome.

Posted by Heath Row at 10:53 AM | Add Comment

May 27, 2004

Conference Commandments

In a relatively substantial entry in her blog Managing Product Development, Johanna Rothman explores the value of attending conferences and trade shows. Basically positing that conferences can provide inexpensive alternatives to the traditional training opportunities offered in organizations, Rothman makes the following recommendations:

• Take away three things from each tutorial you can apply next week.
• Meet 3 new people each day. Take away 3 ideas each day.
• Meet experts in your field, learn what you can from them, and continue to contact them throughout the year for quick feedback.

While the list is short, the point is clear: Seek relevance and actionable ideas, and tap into the experience and knowledge of the others around you.

In 1999, Fast Company contributor Scott Kirsner tackled the same topic from a slightly different angle. Together, the two might help you make more productive use of your next conference experience.

Posted by Heath Row at 6:15 PM | 1 Comment

Take Your Show on the Road

Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba's most recent MarketingProfs article, "Market Like a Rock Star," considers the opportunities and possibilities offered by taking your show on the road -- hitting the pavement to meet with clients, customers, and partners.

The two make the following recommendations:

• Think loyalty, not acquisition.
• Give plenty of notice, at least two months' worth.
• Document your tour.
• Be generous with SWAG (souvenirs, wearables and gifts).
• Leave the suits at home.
• If you’re small, a tour may be simply visiting customers in their homes or businesses.

Between 1999 and 2002, I went on four such tours for Fast Company, the Company of Friends Roadshow, visiting readers and leaders in the southern U.S., central and western Europe, Canada, Mexico, and the west and east coasts of the U.S. It's definitely an idea worth considering.

Posted by Heath Row at 5:53 PM | 1 Comment

Video-A-Go-Go II

Remember that viral video marketing campaign I mentioned recently? The Ottawa Business Journal takes a look at the campaign from Corel.

According to Richard Carriere, Corel's director of office productivity, the idea came from a saying Corel had heard time and time again: "Nobody gets fired from buying Microsoft".

"But we said, 'Hold on a second. There are viable alternatives out there. And if a CIO or IT manager does not at least consider the other types of software, they probably wouldn't deserve to keep their job or get a promotion'."

Y'know, I heard the phrase, "Nobody gets fired for..." just yesterday. But I'll bet you dollars to donuts that some day, someone will get fired for spending too much time at work watching videos like this.

Posted by Heath Row at 5:46 PM | 3 Comments

Guest Hosts: Ideas Are Free

Next week, Alan Robinson and Dean Schroeder will join contributors to FC Now as guest hosts. The authors of Ideas Are Free: How the Idea Revolution Is Liberating People and Transforming Organizations, Robinson and Schroeder wrote the Readers' Choice selection for June.

Robinson teaches at the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and Schroeder is a management professor at Valparaiso University. Together, the two will offer ideas and insights on how leaders can leverage solutions developed by business people on the front lines. So doing, they'll present an outline for establishing an idea-generation program in virtually any workplace.

Posted by Heath Row at 5:13 PM | 10 Comments

May 26, 2004

On Compartments

In her blog What's Your Brand Mantra?, Jennifer Rice comments on the Ad:Tech presentation given by Samsung Electronics' Peter Weedvald. She criticizes the company's approach to targeting its customers based on where they are -- home, work, mobile -- versus who they are.

Samsung can't forget that John is still John, regardless of where he may be. John doesn't become an unfeeling robot when he walks through the door of his office every morning and make decisions on facts alone. Think about who your customers are, regardless of what product they use during what hours of the day. Get out of the weeds of features/benefits and talk to them like the real people they are. Earn their trust. Be likable. If you sell 'business-world' and 'home-world' products or services, stop compartmentalizing: it's quite likely that the very same customers purchase both.

Rice's entry reminds me of Margaret Heffernan's recent Online Insights column, which addresses the same issue from a slightly different angle.

Of all the issues I've discussed with managers and employees around the world, the most painful and persistent is the acute conflict they sense between who they feel themselves to be on the inside and who they present on the outside. Steve does what many people do: compartmentalizes his life. He has a work self and what he thinks of as his true self, carefully locked away from each other.

They three pieces make interesting parallel reads. How can companies best target potential customers regardless of where they are? Do you bring your true self to work? Do you make work decisions differently than you do home decisions -- regardless of whether they're purchase decisions? How compartmentalized is your approach to business -- with yourself, as well as with others?

Posted by Heath Row at 1:43 PM | 3 Comments

Wish Upon a Star(Bucks)

I had a Starbucks moment this morning. It was 5 a.m. I'd just gotten off a red eye from San Francisco, where I'd been attending Ad:Tech. And I had an hour stopover in Atlanta before continuing home.

To my surprise, despite the early hour, several of the newsstands and food shops were open -- including a plate glass-walled, well-lit Starbucks complete with comfortable easy chairs. I got a grande latte and a bagel with cream cheese, plopped myself down in an easy chair, and just soaked it up. The latte. The chair. The lighting. The openness afforded by the glass -- not your usual dark, cluttered airport restaurant. The music.

I've been to Starbucks before. But this is the first time that what they're trying to do really hit me. That chair, music, coffee, lighting, and openness was so what I needed just then. And it was amazing how I felt just sitting there. If Starbucks can figure out how to deliver that feeling consistently -- even when I'm not 5 a.m. red-eye Atlanta stopover tired and needing a safe haven -- they'll be golden.

Posted by Heath Row at 1:19 PM | 10 Comments

Cartridge Family

Speaking of Michele Miller, she recently caught a TV spot on LaserMonks, a monastery-based 2004 Fast 50 winner that specializes in printing and imaging supplies. Miller expands on the group of monks' approach to business development and customer service. Good to know that their visibility continues to increase!

Posted by Heath Row at 12:52 PM | Add Comment

Home (Run) Movies II

Dave Young of Branding Blog follows in the footsteps of Michele Miller, whose Brand Called You-style video really struck a chord with me. How so? Why, with his own self-branding video produced to promote his audio book Why We Blog. Miller herself even makes a cameo appearance.

Now, come on, people! Wizard Academy Press seems to have the lock on this fun approach to promoting not just books and projects -- but the people behind them. This is effective, personal, positive stuff. I received a copy of Dave's audio book ages ago. Now, having seen the video and gotten a better sense of who he is and what he does than I've been able to from his text-based blog, I'm much more apt to pop it in the ol' PowerBook and take it for a spin.

If FC Now readers can offer examples of similar work video, I'd love to see more.

Posted by Heath Row at 12:41 PM | Add Comment

Jobs We Want

This is an honest to gosh job opening:

The advertisement for a GS-11/12/13 historian in the NASA History Office, NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C., has now been posted. Please note this position closes on 6/01/04, and that all applications need to be submitted through the NASA STARS automated resume system (available through the Resume Builder section of the NASA jobs Web site).

Oh, to be NASA's historian!

If you come across any other dream jobs, let us know.

Posted by Heath Row at 10:26 AM | 116 Comments

May 25, 2004

On a Mission: The New Internet Mom

Joanne Erickson works as research director for Disney Online. As a proxy for Ken Goldstein, EVP and managing director of Disney Online, she walked through the company's research on how mothers use the Internet within the context of their family lives. What follows is a partial transcript of her Ad:Tech session:

Continue reading "On a Mission: The New Internet Mom"

Posted by Heath Row at 10:49 PM | 1 Comment

Digital Darwinism

Peter Weedfald is senior vice president of strategic marketing and new media for Samsung Electronics America Inc. In his keynote speech at Ad:Tech, he gave a high-level, high-minded look at Samsung's online strategy. What follows is a partial transcript of his Ad:Tech presentation:

Continue reading "Digital Darwinism"

Posted by Heath Row at 1:49 PM | 3 Comments

May 24, 2004

Marketing Word-of-Mouth Marketing

At Ad:Tech today, a new professional association for word-of-mouth marketers was announced: The yawningly but appropriately named Word of Mouth Marketing Association. What's the buzz? WOMMA'll tell you what's a-happening.

Posted by Heath Row at 11:23 PM | 1 Comment

Historical Holidays II

Today in 1844, Samuel Morse sent the first telegraph message.

Posted by Heath Row at 11:03 PM | Add Comment

Advertising's Horizon

John Battelle is a visiting professor at UC-Berkeley. Michael Tchong founded Trendscape. Lenny Baker works as a CFA for Saloman Smith Barney/Citigroup. And Martin Niesenholtz serves as CEO for New York Times Digital. Their sparsely attended closing panel discussion set out to explore the future of advertising five years out but largely ended up touching on topics already addressed elsewhere. What follows is a partial transcript of their Ad:Tech discussion:

Continue reading "Advertising's Horizon"

Posted by Heath Row at 8:48 PM | 1 Comment

Activate Your Influentials

Ed Keller is CEO of NOP World Consumer and co-author of The Influentials. His after-lunch session, delivered to an almost-packed room, explored the demographics and psychographics of influential Americans, as well as what marketers can do to better reach -- and work with -- these decision makers and agenda setters. What follows is a partial transcript of his talk at Ad:Tech:

Continue reading "Activate Your Influentials"

Posted by Heath Row at 8:44 PM | 1 Comment

Marketing Radical Innovation

Lee Cooper is a professor and director of the Venture Development Project at the UCLA Anderson School of Management. His session touched on how to recognize the kernel of an innovation from a business perspective, how to identify the correct market to enter first, and how to assess and enter that market. What follows is a partial transcript of his Ad:Tech talk:

Continue reading "Marketing Radical Innovation"

Posted by Heath Row at 3:43 PM | Add Comment

FutureThink: How Tech Will Impact Brand

Cliff Kurtzman is CEO -- and Chief Soothsayer -- for Adastro Inc. Tim Smith is an independent investor and entrepreneur. Their session, the first in the FutureThink track, was a quick run through some of the trends and developments that will affect online advertising in the future. What follows is a partial transcript of their Ad:Tech presentations:

Continue reading "FutureThink: How Tech Will Impact Brand"

Posted by Heath Row at 2:21 PM | Add Comment

Where Is the Love?

Allison Johnson is senior vice president of global brand and communications for Hewlett-Packard Co. Her Ad:Tech keynote addressed how to foster customer loyalty, the importance of the user experience, and HP's Brand Love process. What follows is a partial transcript of her remarks:

Continue reading "Where Is the Love?"

Posted by Heath Row at 1:11 PM | 1 Comment

May 23, 2004

Historical Holidays

It's been a good week-plus for innovation-oriented anniversaries.

• On May 15, 1930, the first stewardesses went on duty.
• On May 17, 1792, the New York Stock Exchange formed.
• On May 20, 1927, Charles Lindbergh embarked on the first transatlantic flight.
• On May 21, 1881, Clara Barton founded the American Red Cross.
• On May 22, 1761, the first life insurance policy was issued in the US.

Posted by Heath Row at 7:13 PM | Add Comment

May 21, 2004

Re:Conference VII

Early next week, I'll be in San Francisco, participating in Ad:Tech 2004, a conference that explores new developments, practices, and technologies for interactive marketing. I'll be sitting in on a panel discussion about the "social Web" -- think "It's a Blog World After All" meets "A Little Help from Your Friends."

I'll also be posting frequent updates from the conference here in FC Now, as well as contributing to Ad:TechBlog, which will also include brief reports on sessions I don't report on. You can also access my reports from last year's conference.

Posted by Heath Row at 5:13 PM | 1 Comment

TV... or Not TV? That Is the Question.

Holy cow. Looks like David Lidsky, Alison Overholt, and Michael Prospero have their next journalism jobs in the works -- TV critics. While I've been enjoying their entries on various networks, the dubious lineage of spinoffs and brand extensions, and time slot competition, I wonder whether there are deeper questions -- and business challenges -- afoot.

How can large entertainment companies ostensibly staffed by very bright people make such stupid decisions with programming? Is it a back-end problem -- how the networks work? Or a front-end problem -- what TV viewers will watch? What's going on? If it's a back-end problem, additional questions arise. Are these shows the result of a failure in leadership? Creativity? Management by committee? Solely playing to the research?

I'm curious what my coworkers -- and FC Now readers -- think. How could networks improve their creative process?

Posted by Heath Row at 12:45 PM | 4 Comments

May 20, 2004

UPN: Unbelievably Paltry Newness

UPN, which I like to think of America's Sixth Favorite Network, announced its new fall schedule today, introducing three new series.

Were any humans harmed in the production of these shows? None, I suspect, but the test audiences. I am not sure if UPN even used any humans when coming up with these shows. Their new lineup is a multi-cliche pileup; it looks as if they took every sitcom and drama script from the last 50 years and fed them into the Bat computer, had the shows spit out on punch cards, and then typed them up.

In Kevin Hill (Wednesdays at 9), Taye Diggs plays a young turk entertainment lawyer, a playa, whose "life is turned upside down" when he has to take care of a six-month old baby girl when his cousin, the baby's parent, passes away. The swinging bachelor who has to learn responsibility when a baby comes into his life? Yeah, that's not a writer's construct. In Veronica Mars (Tuesdays at 9), Veronica, a "typical teenager" by day, helps her father, a struggling private eye, solve crimes at night. I am sure one of the programming execs asked, "Is that it? It's a little too Encyclopedia Brown. Could she be avenging something too?"

Continue reading "UPN: Unbelievably Paltry Newness"

Posted by David Lidsky at 5:31 PM | 1 Comment

David, How Could You...

I've been enjoying my colleague David Lidsky's hilarious rants about this week's "Upfront" presentations by the beleaguered television networks, but this bit just kills me:

The hardy band of souls who aren't sick of Carey and his rat pack of improv sycophants annoying us on ABC for the last decade will tune in to see Carey and crew. And I guess those eight people are enough to get a better rating in that time slot than whatever WB had in there before.

That's what David wrote about the WB's new Drew Carey vehicle that will run on Wednesday nights at 9:30, right after what looks to be a terrible Jeff Foxworthy show at 9 pm.

Say what you will about Foxworthy and Carey, David, but I beg you not to slander the WB's Wednesday 9 pm timeslot! I'm still in mourning over the demise of Angel, which aired its last episode last night in that very slot. And don't forget: before Angel -- a series I'll miss dearly next year -- and before it was tragically shunted over to UPN for its final seasons, Wednesday at 9 pm was home to Buffy the Vampire Slayer -- perhaps the smartest, most hilarious, best-written television show ever. Yes, that's right: Ever.

Posted by Alison Overholt at 1:10 PM | 1 Comment

May 19, 2004

Target: Audience

Conflicted about the recent controversy surrounding Gmail advertising? Look no further than the past. More specifically, the annals of radio broadcasting.

Turns out, advertising had a difficult birth in radio. When major networks started making noise about selling "toll broadcasting" in the 1920s, there was a public uproar. Herbert Hoover, then the Commerce Secretary, even held a national conference on the subject. His take: "It is inconceivable that we should allow so great a possibility for service to be drowned in advertising chatter." The report issued following the conference dictated that toll broadcasting should be kept under "close observation," with limited ranges for stations and only "indirect" commercial messages. Ha! Of course, these edicts never came to pass and the world welcomed radio advertising - and later television and Internet advertising - with open arms. Can mainstream acceptance of email advertising be too far behind? Don't think too hard; the answer is already history.

Continue reading "Target: Audience"

Posted by Lucas Conley at 11:05 PM | 1 Comment

CBS: CSI Balloons -- Sheesh!

So my colleague, Michael Prospero, seems to have gotten in on the act here with my fall TV preview obsession. That's fine. Hell has already been paid here at FC Now headquarters in, yes, New York, crime show capital of the world. Let's see if Mike has anything cogent to say about the rest of CBS' new fall lineup! Let's see if I do.

My friend Josh won't forgive me if I don't start with Listen Up, Mondays at 8:30. Based on the life and times of Tony Kornheiser, the Washington Post sports columnist and unlikely ESPN personality, Jason Alexander of George Constanza fame plays a popular sports columnist who doesn't get any respect from his family. So has Tony Kornheiser based his life on Everybody Loves Raymond? Or did Ray Romano base his sitcom on Tony Kornheiser's life?

Continue reading "CBS: CSI Balloons -- Sheesh!"

Posted by David Lidsky at 6:14 PM | Add Comment

Murder Capital of TV World?

It used to be that Cabot Cove, home of Jessica Fletcher and Murder She Wrote used to be the most violent place to live in TV land--after all there was a murder committed there each week. Now, it seems, despite the record-low crime rate, the honor has been passed to New York. Looking at the networks' fall lineups, I've noticed that one thing stands out: By 2005, there will be at least seven cop shows based in New York. NBC leads the pack with five: Law & Order, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Law & Order: SVU, Third Watch, and in January, Law & Order: Trial by Jury.

(If you ever go to a Broadway show, here's a little game you can play. Look in the Playbill, and see how many cast members were at one time on Law & Order. I guarantee there will be at least one.)

Going up against that is CBS's new series CSI: New York, which itself is a spinoff of CSI and CSI: Miami. Then of course, is ABC's venerable NYPD Blue, which may make next season its last.

Is it just me, or does it seem like there are more people playing cops on TV than there are in the streets?

Posted by Michael Prospero at 3:42 PM | 1 Comment

It's a "Plog" World After All?

Jena McGregor suggests that businesses can successfully use blogs as knowledge management and marketing tools -- ways to organize information within the company, as well as to reach out to partners, clients, and customers.

In the May 15 edition of CIO, Michael Schrage offers another use, a variation of knowledge management that coins an unfortunate term. Project blogs, or, sigh, "plogs," are blogs that can be used to manage projects. Seems easy enough.

While some of the more snarky commentators responding to Schrage's column default to holding up k-logs (KM blogs) and, sigh, Usenet or email itself, as precursors to any form of group information sharing, Schrage makes a good case for using blogs -- OK, plogs -- in business.

Posted by Heath Row at 11:56 AM | Add Comment

What's the Buzz?

Word-of-mouth marketing and "buzz" are all the rage these days, but how do you effectively foster idea viruses and viral marketing?

More importantly, how do you measure and track its impact? Boston-based BzzAgent has some solid ideas, and services such as the Viral Charts rank the top 10 viral advertising campaigns.

I wonder how soon "See Who Got Fired" will appear in the listing.

Posted by Heath Row at 11:43 AM | 1 Comment

The WB: What Bunk

I will turn 35 years old this fall, which means that by the time these new shows on the WB air, I will officially be too old for the WB, which is, you know, one of those youth-obsessed networks, to be interested in whether I watch or not. But I am still 34, so I can sneak in under the wire and critique these new fall shows.

The most buzzed-about new show is Jack and Bobby, airing Sundays at 9 p.m. Now let's stop right there. Take one moment and think about what you think a show called Jack and Bobby might be about. Are you fixed on it? Good. Now what if I told you that it was about two brothers. You're on it, right? Now what if I told you that one of the brothers is destined to become President of the U.S. Uncanny how good your first instincts were.

Well, according to the WB, you're wrong. This show has nothing, I repeat, nothing to do with the Kennedys. It's always inspiring when a network respects its audience's intelligence.

Continue reading "The WB: What Bunk"

Posted by David Lidsky at 6:49 AM | 1 Comment

May 18, 2004

ABC: Another Bevy of Crap

Remember when people you knew watched ABC? Yeah, me neither. If there's any doubt as to why the network is in trouble, has dragged down Disney for much of the last seven years and emperiled Michael Eisner's job, just take a look at its new lineup of shows for this fall.

Monday nights at 8 p.m. this fall brings us The Benefactor, perhaps the most craven ripoff of a hit show in recent memory. Let me know when this starts to sound familiar: A billionaire businessman will give away $1 million to one of 16 competing contestants. Any similarities between The Benefactor and The Apprentice are purely intentional. Hey, come on, it's a totally different show! The Benefactor gives away the money; you don't have to work for it. And The Benefactor has Mark Cuban as its attention-starved billionaire jerk. He made his fortune. Well, he got lucky and sold a pretty thin premise of a web site, Broadcast.com, to Yahoo for billions and then cashed out at the right time, but it's still better than getting a leg up in the New York real estate market from your dad.

Continue reading "ABC: Another Bevy of Crap"

Posted by David Lidsky at 7:35 PM | 1 Comment

The In(Centive) Crowd

A friend IM'd me this morning to tell me that a friend's boss surprised her team this morning with iPod Minis and $20 in iTunes credit as thanks for "pushing through some tough deadlines."

That's a nice surprise, no? Now, while the days of extreme perks and foosball are largely gone, it's still possible to perk up your workplace with a well-timed expression of appreciation.

When was the last time you bought a colleague a thank-you present? Recognized your team in a way that wasn't fake or frivolous?

Posted by Heath Row at 6:33 PM | 5 Comments

Breakfast of Tiffany's

Norma's restaurant in Le Parker Meridian Hotel in New York recently added a $1,000 frittata to their menu. Featuring six eggs, a lobster tail, and 10 ounces of Sevruga Caviar (which retails for about $64 dollars an ounce at Williams-Sonoma), the good folks at Norma's "Dares you to expense" their Zillion Dollar Frittata. I'd dare you not to get a coronary bypass after eating it.

Left your traveler's checks in your hotel room? Try their $100 version, with just 1 ounce of roe.

Posted by Michael Prospero at 12:38 PM | 2 Comments

Antisocial Capitalists

Last week, I read John McCabe's 1999 novel, Paper, a black comedy-turned-mystery about the social dynamics in a scientific research setting. Throughout the book, McCabe describes several lab staff archetypes, and it struck me that many of the antisocial behaviors McCabe details are common in the business world, as well. Consider, for one, the Tea Break Terminator:

Predominately male, dull or irrelevant or both, bordering on the autistic in their approach to human relationships, and always, always interested in computers, TBTs waltz into coffee rooms the world over and empty them of people. Darren glanced up, and this was his mistake. The Tea Break Terminator pounced. There was a set protocol here, and Darren had ignored it at his own peril. One. Appear busy or preoccupied or deep in conversation. Two. Avoid eye contact. Three. Wait until some other poor sod has been latched on to. Four. Sit back and enjoy their misery.

McCabe also expands on another example, which might be even more common -- and less stereotypical in its approach to technology:

Continue reading "Antisocial Capitalists"

Posted by Heath Row at 11:12 AM | 2 Comments