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June 30, 2006

Ten Million Bottles of Beer on the Wall

The New York Times reported today that Wal-Mart’s British business, Asda, avoided a work stoppage on what promises to be one of its busiest shopping weekends by bowing to the union. What prompted the world’s biggest retailer to cave to its workers? Anticipation that the England/Portugal World Cup soccer match was going to bring out gaggles of beer drinkers.

According to the article, Asda expects to sell 10 million bottles of beer Friday afternoon. The British Beer and Pub Association (www.beerandpub.com) says beer is Britain’s “most popular drink” with 28 million pints consumed every day. The British Retail Consortium estimates an extra £1.24 million spent (about $2.25 million) in food and drink each week that England plays in the tournament, most of it beer. Those are numbers that Asda (and Wal-Mart) couldn’t ignore.

Cheers!

Posted by Tonya Garcia at 2:00 PM | 23 Comments

June 29, 2006

Score Two for Marketers

Soccer legend Pelé and boxer/cultural icon Muhammad Ali are seeking to become champions in a new arena: worldwide business.

They’ve rented out their likenesses to companies that think a household name will help move products. Pelé the man signed a 40-year deal with Prime Licensing, a company devoted solely to Pelé the brand. Before long, his name could show up on everything from real estate to cell phones. Prime estimates that the Pelé business will earn $30 million worldwide in 2007 and up to $100 million in 2008, boosted by long-term endorsement deals with MasterCard and Pepsi.

Continue reading "Score Two for Marketers"

Posted by Josie Swindler at 4:53 PM | 2 Comments

Kudos for Mion

Today, the winners of the 2006 Industrial Design Excellence Awards were announced. The awards, created by the Industrial Designers Society of America, are among the most prestigious in the design world, and their winners garner a huge amount of attention. So we were happy to see the folks at Mion, a joint project of Timberland and Keen Design Studios that we wrote about last November, take home a bronze in the ecodesign category. Mion shoes are designed with as few parts as possible and carry a label that explains how much energy it took to make them and how much waste has been created in the process. It's a great idea, and one that--hopefully--will inspire a lot of imitators.

Posted by Jennifer Reingold at 3:41 PM | Add Comment

Proposal: Cult of Personality

The Washington Post's Leslie Walker contends that society would be better served if people were better versed in what people developed specific technological inventions and innovations. It's a point worth making.

If it's true, per the July/August issue, that "designers are the new rock stars," what of other innovators? Might not promoting and celebrating innovation -- and innovators -- lead to more innovation?

Posted by Heath Row at 3:06 PM | 2 Comments

June 28, 2006

Adidas Claims World Cup Victory

With eight teams still in contention for the World Cup, adidas has claimed sponsorship supremacy via a June 28th press release. Sponsor of quarterfinalists Argentina, France and Germany, adidas announced record sales of more than 1.2 billion euros worth of soccer merchandise. The highlights: 15 million "Teamgeist" soccer balls, and 1.5 million German national team jerseys. (There's nothing better than sponsoring the host country's team!)

Nike sponsors two quarterfinalists, Portugal, and perennial favorite Brazil. However, Marketwatch reports investor pessimism over Nike's huge World Cup marketing outlay. Three smaller firms also still have a shot at the cup:

Puma (Italy)
Umbro (England)
Lotto (Ukraine)

Posted by Greg Spotts at 11:24 PM | 1 Comment

Why We Hate HR--Counterpoint

At the risk of reopening old wounds, allow me to present the findings of Jacquelyn Thorp Kinworthy, a professor at Cal State-Fullerton and CEO/founder of HR-Coach Products and Services. In an effort to counter my story from last August, "Why We Hate HR," Jacquelyn polled HR execs at small and mid-sized firms about their work, their careers, and their companies.

Here's what she found...

Continue reading "Why We Hate HR--Counterpoint"

Posted by Keith Hammonds at 5:49 PM | 10 Comments

A Monument to Work?

There's an interesting debate brewing in New York City over the design of the World Trade Center memorial.

The original plan calls for the names of the 2,979 victims of the trade center terrorist acts in 1993 and 2001 to be listed at on eight parapets at plaza level--in a random order that architect Michael Arad says reflects the "haphazard brutality of the attacks."

But the victims' families aren't content with that. According to The New York Times, they're insisting that victims' names be arranged by the building in which they worked, by their employer or other affiliation, and by floor. Says Edith Lutnick, executive director of the Cantor Fitzgerald Relief Fund. "You're addressing what everyone asks: 'Where did they work? How old were they? What tower were they in?"

I'm not going to try to assess the emotion or the politics driving this argument (though it certainly does sound like the victims' organizations are throwing their weight around).

But I find it very telling that our instinct is to associate people so closely with their employers and places of work. Not with their communities, not with their families. And not as individuals, as Arad's design stipulates. No: The firefighters' union wants its guys identified foremost as firefighters. Thomas S. Johnson, chairman of the executive committee of the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation, says it's "nonnegotiable" that his son be listed as an employee of the brokerage firm of Keefe, Bruyette & Woods.

It's been observed before that the Trade Center disaster was distinctive as a tragedy set in the workplace. But should that define how we remember its victims? Do our jobs so define us? Do our associations with organizations supercede who we are as individuals?

Posted by Keith Hammonds at 11:02 AM | 7 Comments

June 27, 2006

On the Same Page

Thanks to the fine folks at Consumating for turning me onto what might very well be the most useful Post-It-like notepads ever.

Fred Flare's Punctuation Pagemarks will help you annotate the newest book on your reading list without marking it up for the next person on the routing list.

Coming complete with five iconic punctuation marks -- and 50 to a pad -- the notepads sport such traditional margin markers as question marks, exclamation marks, asterisks, and question marks. You can stick them to a page while you read actively -- and then remove them while you digest your ideas and references... and before passing the text onto your colleague or partner in crime.

(Rest assured, FC Now readers: This is not a paid advertisement or promotional post. It's merely a tool I learned about this afternoon -- and which I just ordered for my own use, cash card in hand. You might find it useful, too!)

Posted by Heath Row at 8:20 PM | 1 Comment

GM's Employee Buyout Offer

After the markets closed yesterday, General Motors announced that approximately 35,000 hourly workers have accepted buyouts to leave the company. The huge number was a surprise to both management and the union, indicating that the parties did an excellent job "pricing" the incentive earlier this year.

Three-way negotiations between GM, Delphi and the United Auto Workers last spring were contentious and intense, with each party threatening mutually assured destruction. Already in bankruptcy, Delphi said they might ask a judge to void the UAW contracts. In turn, the UAW threatened a strike against Delphi, which could effectively shut down General Motors by denying them the Delphi parts necessary to make Chevys and Buicks.

Behind all the rhetoric and posturing was what economists would identify as a shared interest: to "price" the buyout incentive high enough to shrink GM and Delphi without breaking the bank in the process. Somehow the buyout incentive would need to be attractive enough to get factory workers to give up a good-paying job, and the public noise about a GM bankruptcy would have to be loud enough to add some risk to the option of sticking with that job.

Industry watchers have suggested a variety of theories to explain the steady decline of GM. Some blame the labor contracts conceived in the 50's and 60's, while others blame a recent over-reliance on gas-guzzling SUV's. In my view, undesirable cars and trucks are the reason behind GM's dwindling market share; a steady stream of hit products could have sustained GM as a profitable company in spite of its large retiree health and pension costs.

Regardless, GM, Delphi and the UAW can share credit for a significant success today, collaborating in the design of an incentive that worked exactly as planned.

Posted by Greg Spotts at 12:17 AM | 5 Comments

June 26, 2006

The Half Life of Ideas

Today's Wall Street Journal includes an excellent essay by Phred Dvorak (love that name!) about why management trends quickly fade away. (You might need an online sub.) Drawing on the expertise of management consultants and thinkers such as Thomas Davenport, the piece suggests that the biggest culprits may include:

• Consultants offer services in which they lack expertise
• New ideas come and go faster and faster
• People try to apply the same idea to too many dissimilar problems
• New practices and processes don't work for every organization

Which do you think is the real reason? Take the Fast Company poll.

Posted by Heath Row at 2:36 PM | 4 Comments

Developing Diversity

Usually when people working for companies talk about diversity, they do so in terms of hiring and marketing. Cellphone company Helio LLC has an intriguing new approach: developing new products and services for mainstream customers by working with a minority client base.

Even though Korean Americans make up less than 1% of the U.S. population, they tend to be more advanced when it comes to cell phone usage -- and expectations. In fact, when many relocate to America, they find the current state of cell phone tech and service to be a step back from what they're used to.

Helio doesn't just market its products and services to a Korean American customer base (the traditional marketing play), it mobilizes them to develop new products and services that can then be marketed to a more mainstream American clientele. And its making more traditional service providers like T-Mobile worry.

How might you and your organization leverage this approach?

Posted by Heath Row at 2:23 PM | 1 Comment

June 23, 2006

Get Your Funny On

Today we launched the new Office Humor section here at Fastcompany.com. We are looking for people to share some of their favorite office jokes. Why don't you go read the jokes there and submit your own? At the very least, you can enjoy the video of Office Jokeman. Let us know what you think!

Posted by Kevin Ohannessian at 1:49 PM | 2 Comments

Fast Company... on the Air!

On Sunday, June 25, Fast Company contributor Anya Kamenetz will appear on Business Talk Radio’s “Business of Success” program.

Between 12-2 p.m., Kamenetz will discuss The Network Unbound, a feaqture in the June issue that explores the business potential of social network services.

Tune in if you're able!

Posted by Heath Row at 12:37 PM | Add Comment

June 22, 2006

More Trouble for MySpace

A 14-year-old Texas girl is suing MySpace for $30 million, alleging that a man who misrepresented himself on the site sexually assaulted her. Within days of receiving an online message from the 19-year-old, who claimed to be a high school senior and football player, the girl says she gave him her cellphone number and agreed to have him pick her up from school for dinner and a movie. After the movie, however, he drove her to a parking lot and allegedly assaulted her.

Continue reading "More Trouble for MySpace"

Posted by Josie Swindler at 7:21 PM | 21 Comments

Secrets of Successful Blog Ads

I spent part of today at the Promax/BDA conference, a flashy confab for marketing and promotions folks in the TV and electronic media business. There were, of course, the celebrity guests (Chris Matthews chairing a panel, Max Weinberg playing drums, Maya Angelou on whatever she felt like), but the biggest a-ha on my end came from Henry Copeland, President of Blogads.com, when he said "It's okay to be in a blog ad that drives viewers to the competition." His point is that it is more important to reach more people in an organic fashion than it is to try to restrict your message. OK then, but does that mean it's a good idea for a Target ad exec to link its ads with Sears? Or NBC with ABC? Thoughts?

Posted by Jennifer Reingold at 3:09 PM | 4 Comments

Replacing the IT Guy: A How-To Guide

Can a small business fire the IT Guy and dump Microsoft by deploying new, subscription-based online services? I asked this question in Tuesday’s post and it generated a wide range of comments.

Some said, "hell yeah, fire him," while others said, "you just need a better IT guy." Some love Microsoft Outlook, others hate it, and a few commenters were stricken with fear at the thought of abandoning Microsoft Word in favor of a web-based product like Writely.

I’ve published a detailed case study on my personal blog, written in the voice of the CEO of a thirty-person market research company. Those of you who are passionate about the topic might want to read the complete case study and then return here to comment and discuss.

Below is a quick summary of my personal recommendations for an a-la-carte menu of hosted services to replace IT Guy and the in-house Microsoft Exchange Server. For sake of argument, let’s assume IT Guy costs the company at least $100K, including salary, benefits, office space, and his server, software licenses, and training costs. My replacement plan cuts the annual cost in half, and that includes a nice budget for outside HTML jockeys to help the website survive the transition.

One caveat: I’m leaving Microsoft Office in place. I've already paid for it, everyone knows how to use it, and when someone needs help with Bullets and Numbering, they ask a coworker, not IT Guy.

Continue reading "Replacing the IT Guy: A How-To Guide"

Posted by Greg Spotts at 3:02 PM | 8 Comments

The Heady Aroma of Coffee

Today's New York Times has an excellent article about Chicago-based Intelligentsia Coffee, a high-end coffee roaster with a new approach to bean counting.

Not only does Intelligentsia's buyers seek out the best coffee beans from around the world, they strive to develop strong, personal relationships with the growers. They also pay about 25% above the usual fair-trade price for their beans so they're sure to get the best of the best.

Mr. Watts and the founder and chief executive of Intelligentsia, Doug Zell, do not ascribe to the "buy low, sell high" business model. They buy high and sell high. In the coming years, both say they expect to pay 50 percent, 100 percent, even 200 percent above Fair Trade rates for beans so good that customers will pay $20 and more a pound retail. ... Mr. Zell has turned Intelligentsia into a profit-making venture, with 2005 sales of $9.4 million and a 2006 growth rate of 21 percent, according to company figures.

In the work that you do, what's worth paying a premium for?

(Learn about more innovative approaches to food and hospitality in the May issue of Fast Company.)

Posted by Heath Row at 2:49 PM | Add Comment

June 21, 2006

Gaffes of the Day

Inexplicably, Virgin head Richard Branson has teamed up with low-rent celebrity spouse Kevin Federline to call for protected status for the humble penny. Of course, the call to action accompanies a special SMS rate plan rollout from Virgin Mobile, but as Branson's full-page ad in today's New York Times says, pennies make us "feel American." Huh?

One, without being jingoistic, what does a Brit know about feeling American? Maybe we should bring back the ha'penny. Secondly, teaming up with Federline seems to be a branding misstep for Branson. What does Federline bring Branson in terms of popular opinion or credibility? Not a lot.

Oddly, the media event happened in close conjunction with another possible branding misstep. Target has licensed its name to develop a line of consumer goods under the umbrella of Target -- add one l'accent aigu -- Couture. Among the offerings, $140 jeans and $3,200 jewelry. But here's the rub: The goods won't actually be sold in Target stores.

Distancing, anyone?

Posted by Heath Row at 3:10 PM | Add Comment

On Being Overly Efficient

In Salon today, Andrew Leonard suggests that companies can become too lean and mean -- businesses can optimize processes and practices so they are too effective. What do you think: Possible? Impossible?

Take the Fast Company poll.

Posted by Heath Row at 2:54 PM | 3 Comments

June 20, 2006

Is Now the Time to Dump Microsoft and Fire Your IT Manager?

A few weeks ago I was doing a research project for a nonprofit organization with thirty employees. I struck up a conversation with the full-time IT person while she set me up with an Outlook account, a tedious process that took almost an hour. She didn’t think it would be possible for me to check email from home on my iMac, because Microsoft Outlook Web Access was probably not compatible.

As we talked, she complained about the high cost of real estate in Southern California; I suggested that she buy a home in Priest Lake, Idaho and manage the organization’s desktops, network and website remotely. I said she should ask her employer for a raise, since telecommuting would save the organization a lot of money.

Later that day, I started wondering how a thirty-person, grant-funded nonprofit can justify employing a full-time IT person. Shouldn’t this valuable salary slot be recaptured and used for a person who serves the organization’s actual mission?

Continue reading "Is Now the Time to Dump Microsoft and Fire Your IT Manager?"

Posted by Greg Spotts at 6:22 PM | 25 Comments

The Devil Wears Brooks Brothers

Inspired by the new movie The Devil Wears Prada, based on the book by the same name, Gini Graham Scott, author of A Survival Guide for Working with Bad Bosses offers some tips for working with a boss from hell.

• Use visualization and mental imagery techniques to think of better ways to carry out assigned tasks.
• If you have a boss who is prone to require long days, plan ahead. Bring along bags of healthy snacks so you’re ready for a day without a lunch break.
• If other employees are in a similar situation,form a mutual support group that gets together off the job.

Bring snacks? For the most part, these tactics don't seem very useful -- they may help make being in a bad situation slightly better, but you're still stuck in the unproductive rut. Martha Stout's advice is more helpful. At least it's more proactive and less passive.

Posted by Heath Row at 4:36 PM | Add Comment

CEO... See Ya!

Liberum Research has been tracking C-level leadership changes since late 2004. And even though May claims the highest number of C-level changes -- including boards of directors and CFO's -- the overall turnover trend seems to be slowing, according to their most recent report.

So far in June, the top three industries experiencing top-level turnover are banking, drugs and biotech, and business services. And the reasons people leave?

• 46% or 672 were new hires from outside the firm
• 21% or 312 were promoted within the firm
• 20% or 291 were internal moves
• 12% or 175 resigned or retired from the firm
• 1% or 20 left firms without clear explanation
• 0% or 1 was terminated

I feel sorry for the one person who didn't have the savvy to say see ya before the firm found its footing and fired them.

Posted by Heath Row at 3:30 PM | 2 Comments

June 19, 2006

Many Unhappy Returns

I heard a startling stat on the radio yesterday: Half of the consumer-electronics products returned to stores function properly, according to a recent study, but customers simply can't figure out to operate them. Yes, half.

As part of her doctoral thesis, researcher Elke den Ouden of the Technical University of Eindhoven in the Netherlands also found that consumers in the United States will try to get a gadget working for 20 minutes before giving up.

Then again, maybe those numbers aren't all that surprising, given the feature bloat and poor design so common today. But it speaks volumes about the need for simplicity in product design. Unfortunately, den Ouden (who also works at Philips Electronics) found that companies generally dismiss product complaints and returns as “nuisance calls.” That's a reminder that it isn't just better design that's needed, but better customer service as well.

Have you returned a product you just couldn't figure out? Is 20 minutes too much or too little time to spend setting up a new device?

Posted by Yuval Rosenberg at 3:15 PM | 9 Comments

June 16, 2006

"It's the End of an Era"

That's how one former Microsoft exec described Bill Gates' plans to leave his full-time job at the company in two years. True, he hasn't been CEO for several years, but it's a significant move nonetheless. With the company facing ever more competition from Google and others these days, Gates will be focused elsewhere -- on his nonprofit foundation. It's up to CEO Steve Ballmer and chief technical officer Ray Ozzie, who replaces Gates as chief software architect, to adapt to a world where so much software is available for free on the Web.

I'll be just as curious to see what this move means for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. After his father opened his eyes to the startling inequities within global health, Gates began using his vast wealth to tackle these and other problems. "Of the $70 billion spent globally on health every year, only 10% is devoted to research on diseases that make up 90% of the total disease burden," he told the UN a few years ago. The $29 billion foundation is helping accelerate vaccine development to combat malaria, which threatens a third of the world's population.

By taking a more active roll in the wealthiest foundation on the planet, Gates, who's just 50, could have a far bigger impact in global health than in business, which is remarkable to consider. Here's to the beginning of that era.

Posted by Chuck Salter at 6:16 PM | 2 Comments

June 15, 2006

iSweatshop?

An article in England's Mail on Sunday last weekend claimed that workers in some Chinese iPod factories are essentially treated like slaves: prohibited from having visitors to their dormitories, forced to work 15-hour shifts, and paid just under $50 a month. Apple is now investigating the sweatshop allegations and says it won't tolerate violations of its supplier code of conduct.

Continue reading "iSweatshop?"

Posted by Josie Swindler at 10:51 AM | 2 Comments

Art/Basel: Fine Art & Fat Cat Feeding Frenzy

Imagine going into a fine modern art museum, where the usual suspects -- Matisse, Picasso, Warhol, Leger, Klee, Kandinsky, etc. -- are arrayed on the walls. Now imagine that each one has a price tag next to it, so if you have the bucks, you can take it home.

That's what Art/Basel is like. Of course, at this fair, your VISA better have a seven-figure credit limit.

There is an especially fine selection of Picassos available at this summer's fair, ranging from modest little sketches for a few hundred thousand to serious works like the beautiful Femme en Blanc (Woman in White) which has never been sold publicly. The price tag? A cool $25M.

Lots of these works have been smoked out by dealers after Picasso's Dora Maar au Chat sold for $95.2M -- the second highest price ever paid for a work of art -- at Sotheby's last month in New York. Collectors holding other Picasso works are looking to cash out in what they see as a market flush with ready cash. After all, the anonymous Russian collector who bought Dora reportedly beat out Las Vegas's Steve Wynn, the Limited's Leslie Wexner, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, and Israeli shipping magnate Sammy Ofer for the honor of taking it home. Presumably, those guys still have money burning a hole in their pockets, and are holding space over the sofa for a new Picasso of their own.

But they better move fast. This market is ruthlessly competitive. Overheard, for example, in the Nahmad booth, a British dealer on his cell phone to a client: "I've spoken to my guy in New York. He can't make it here 'til Saturday, so it's off reserve. Asking pirce: 12M euro."

At the Vernissage, the preview party where high rollers get a first look at the merch, it was instantly clear that in this crowd, prices like that are no problem. Hearing that the price of a particularly appealing Debuffet was $3M, one gentleman was delighted. "That's good news!" he said, whipping out his checkbook. "I have one at home that's just the same size."

Upstairs, there were parties for the true fat cats, hosted by the private jet leasing company Netjets. They reported that 100 of its planes will land at the Basel airport, a 25% increase over last year.

The crowd milling about was a mix of uptight European burghers, dark-suited Jeremy Piven-like Hollywood moguls, and open-shirted dudes who looked like they had escaped from Silicon Valley office parks. The Art Newspaper, put out by show sponsor UBS, reported that Michael Ovitz, Don and Mira Rubell from Miami, Los Angeles film agent Beth Swofford, real estate mogul Aby Rosen, Guggenheim president Jennifer Stockman, and financier Henry Kravis were in the crowd.

A large acrylic by Japanese artist Takashi Murakam, priced at $1.5M, was one of the show's first sales. "All the big fish came by as soon as the fair opened and we sold it to a North American collector in the first hour," gallerist Tim Blum told the paper. Why not? That's sofa change for this crowd.

Posted by Linda Tischler at 9:24 AM | 1 Comment

June 14, 2006

(Un)Real Estate

The news that Bell Labs is going to be torn down makes me sad. The storied site of many technological inventions, Bell Labs was a throwback to when large corporations actually invested R&D dollars with the farflung future -- not the next quarter -- in mind.

Now the closest thing we have is Xerox PARC. Where might we find the next organized hotbeds of innovation? Microsoft Research? Perhaps not.

Posted by Heath Row at 5:22 PM | 2 Comments

The Ugly Underside of Success

Note to Sam Keller, director of Art Basel: If you want to continue growing your very successful art fair, you should move it to a city that can better handle its visitors, or consider pitching tents on the Messeplatz to accommodate the hordes even more desperate for a bed than a Picasso to call their own.

With an estimated 56,000 people converging on this small city, Basel is ill-equipped to handle the crowds. The city's hotels are crammed to the rafters, with riverboats docked in the Rhine to handle the overflow. Zurich, an hour away by train, is also sold out, and bed-less art lovers are spilling into Zurich's suburbs in a frantic search for rooms. Hotels, meanwhile, are gleefully goosing their rates to fleece the victims, with even sleazy, unairconditioned fleabags in the city's red light district charging $250 for their rooms. (not to mention charging $5.60 for a bottle of Sprite.)

Continue reading "The Ugly Underside of Success"

Posted by Linda Tischler at 10:59 AM | 2 Comments

Investment Tip du Jour: Real Estate: Out. Chairs: In.

Art collectors who already have a Gerhard Richter for over the sofa are finding a whole new way to empty their wallets in Basel this summer. A short tram ride away from the main show at the big art fair, Art Basel, is Design Miami Basel, an event designed to showcase the joys of buying high-end furniture for collectors who want to move on from fine art.

Design Miami Basel premiered last December when Art Basel was in Miami, with a show dubbed Design Miami .05. In its first iteration, with 15 galleries showing, it did an impressive $7 million worth of business in four days. This is the show's first appearance in Basel, and early signs are promising. Alashdair Willis, CEO of Established & Sons, the British firm that this year won the event's Designer of the Future award, said he had already sold four of the $20,000 Zaha Hadid tables he was featuring by the second day of the show.

Curated by Ambra Medda, a 25-year-old Sardinian, the show is featuring work by such American galleries as New York's Barry Friedman, who had three Ron Arad chairs on display, including a fabulous cherry red acrylic one that one of the gallery's assistants swore was as comfortable as a dentist's chair -- without the drill.

One piece worth watching: a table by super-hot Aussie designer Marc Newson, on display at Gallery Italienne. One of Newson's earlier works, a lounge chair that was less than 10 years old, sold two weeks ago for $520,000 at an auction at Philips de Pury in New York. As for the price of the table, the gallery's owner just smiled. "I'll see what I'm offered," she said.

Posted by Linda Tischler at 10:42 AM | 1 Comment

Racism By Non-Marketing

At Black Enterprise's "40 Best Companies for Diversity" conference on Monday, the magazine's President and CEO Earl "Butch" Graves Jr. declared to a crowd of some 100 HR and diversity execs that the advertising industry is "licensed to practice racism" (according to AdAge). While an unsettling statement, it's certainly not shocking, given the miniscule number of senior-level black execs represented in agencies across the land. In fact, just last week, 16 top execs from New York ad agencies were subpeonaed to testify for the city's Commission on Human Rights specifically regarding the ad industry's pathetic track record when it comes to placing blacks in senior positions.

Good point Butch, and thanks for making a HR folks nervous in their seats for a few minutes.

But his other main gripe--and the one I found curious--was his complaint about the measly number of marketing dollars spent on marketing to blacks. Sure, he does happen to run a magazine that's lifeline is dependent on advertising aimed at black consumers. But that aside, he's generally ticked that brands aren't spending money to advertise to blacks. For example, he cites Chrysler's 300C: while some 20% of the car's customers are black, less than 20% of its ad budget is being applied to black marketing.

What struck me as strange is: since when is someone flattered that they are being marketed TO? Personally, when I see an ad on TV that's geared to a late-twentysomething urban female (that would be, ahem, me) I usually tend to roll my eyes, feeling like a sucker for being seduced, even for a moment, by that tampon, dating service, or, you know--fill in the blank. It's not like that marketer holds a special place in their heart for me; all they want is my dollar--any dollar that is--whether it be a dollar from a white chick, gay guy, or black father in the burbs.

I understand your frustration, Mr. Graves, for blacks not being represented in the workplace and your personal frustration for ad dollars. But my question to you is: since when do we, as a race, an ethnic, or religious group, look to marketers of all people to validate us? When marketers pick up on fiscally fertile groups like "evangelicals," "soccer moms," or "metrosexuals," should we, as the individuals behind those blanket terms be FLATTERED or INSULTED that we're now being recognized?

Posted by Danielle Sacks at 9:43 AM | 6 Comments

June 13, 2006

The World Cup of Art

Ah, June in Basel. When the sun sparkles off the Rathaus, the Rhine flows sweetly under the Wettsteinbrucke, and 56,000 rabid art hounds descend on this little Swiss city to snatch up the latest works by the art world's most sought-after players -- Neo Rauch, Damien Hirst, Lucien Freud and their kin.

This year, Art Basel celebrates its 37th anniversary as the world's pre-eminent art fair. (Those who can't trek to Switzerland in June get a second crack when the show arrives in Miami, its winter home, on Dec. 7.)

While the rest of Europe is consumed with non-stop, sun-up-to-sun-down World Cup spectating, the action around Basel's Messeplatz is more engaged with who sold what to whom. Make no mistake: There's serious money here, and the competition to get at the good stuff can be as fierce as a footballer with his eyes on the goal. (Handily, there is a constantly running TV set up in the courtyard for folks who take their soccer as seriously as their art.)

Continue reading "The World Cup of Art"

Posted by Linda Tischler at 8:58 AM | Add Comment

June 11, 2006

GE's Immelt May Have “ecomagination,” but He Needs Project Managers for Jumbo-Sized Ideas

In a wide-ranging interview in Harvard Business Review (June 06), General Electric CEO Jeffrey R. Immelt talks about the hybrid locomotive and other "imagination breakthrough" projects that will take the company into a new era of emissions reduction and energy efficiency.

Projects like the upcoming diesel-electric locomotive require a huge capital investment in R&D, and managing these projects is stretching GE's legendary management team.

From the interview: "Looking at the evolution of the hybrid locomotive, we're talking about tens of millions of dollars. For the program manager, it's huge, the most massive thing he's ever managed...we don't have enough sophisticated product managers and great systems engineers to put in charge of high visibility programs...If there's a $100 million investment project, we might, out of the 310,000 people in the company, have 30 who really know how to spend that amount of money effectively. That's probably not enough. It has presented an organizational weakness."

As the world's biggest companies give sustainable business a look, there will be challenges at every turn. Immelt has the ideas, the technology, the cash and the commitment to turn green ideas into big profits. The next hurdle: a talent shortage, on a team with arguably the deepest bench in American business.

Implementation hitches aside, Immelt’s moving forward rapidly with the ecomagination rollout. One of his early success stories is the all-new GEnx jet engine, a hit product that will enable the new Boeing 787 and Airbus A350 jetliners to use 20% less fuel than the planes they will replace. GE's milking ecomagination for all it's worth, via a major PR campaign courtesy of New York consultants GreenOrder.

(For a look at the small entrepreneurial company that's beating GE to market with a diesel-electric hybrid locomotive, check out the website for RailPower Hybrid Technologies Corp, maker of the Green Goat.)

Posted by Greg Spotts at 9:44 PM | 2 Comments

June 10, 2006

Closing Remarks: The Changing Face of Marketing

From closing remarks by Columbia's Berndt Schmitt at the 2006 Corante Innovative Marketing Conference:

Here's what *hasn't* changed about marketing: We still need to develop products, we stll need strategy, we still need branding

What *has* changed is the way we implement marketing -- the 4 P's -- and the way we run our marketing organizations.

There's been both revolutionary and evolutionary change....technology has created a revolution and allowed the consumer to have more control over your brand....but after that revolution, the change [that marketers take to adjust to the new landscape] is evolutionary.

Interaction and conversations have not been represented in traditional marketing. But the question for marketing remains -- what value does the consumer ultimately get out of those interactions and conversations?

I don't recall him saying this, but the reason that's important is that a company can only recognize value for itself if it's able to create value for its customers.

Posted by Renee Hopkins Callahan at 9:25 AM | 28 Comments

Many Channels, Many Messages, Many Problems for PR

From the panel on The Changing Face of PR at the 2006 Corante Innovative Marketing Conference:

The session started with a discussion of whether or not press releases are dead. The conclusion: Press releases are not the be-all and the end-all; they are simply channels through which information is conveyed and conversations started (though they are not really good at starting conversations, because they generally do not include a way for the recipient of the message to respond). The day press releases begain to be published on the web for all to see was the day they began to be a different kind of channel, potentially opening a conversation with a different audience.

The problem is when PR people see their jobs as simply putting out the press releases their clients want them to, and when senior management sees the function of PR as putting out press releases, which to panelist Lois Kelly is "low value," when "in today's world, the role of public relations is to be the people who create understanding. You take complex things and you make people understand."

Shel Holtz agreed: "The main problem with PR is that the] PR profession is focused on tactics, when press relations is managing relationships with various publics...any public that can present obstacles to your being in business....all of these publics are now able to talk to each other."

So it all seems to come down to the explosive increase in the channels available to distribute information and the fact that PR can't control all of the channels, much less the messages. What can PR do about that?

Be more honest and open, was the consensus. "The message that things didn't go as well as planned is a shocking statement for a company to say, but it's an honest statement...[companies should] show some humbleness but have confidence that the purity of that [humbleness] message should resonate," said panelist John Moore.

And that too would seem to depend on the channel: "You're not going to see a company say "I'm sorry" in a press release, but you can on a blog." -- Shel Holtz

The bottom line is that there's a danger that the changing face of communications is pushing PR toward irrelevancy, cautioned panelist Neville Hobson. What PR doesn't seem to get is that they can no long completely control all of the messages nor all of the channels through which the messages are communicated.

But at the same time PR people are not exerting control where they can -- over themselves and the *way* they do things. Said Shel, "The public side of public relations is changing for sure, because the public is changing...but in a lot of the organizations where the CEO is blogging in most cases it's not the public relations department that's driving that, it's the desire of the CEO, or the new media department."

So, what would a truly innovative PR department in a foward-thinking company look like?

Posted by Renee Hopkins Callahan at 9:15 AM | 10 Comments

Compensation for Spreading Word of Mouth Marketing?

At yesterday's 2006 Corante Innovative Marketing Conference, Larry Weber had this to say about word of marketing: "Compensation is a big red flag for word of mouth marketing.....true word of mouth is transparent recommendations."

This was said at a conference at which at least a few in the audience were engaged in that very thing -- coming up with appropriate ways in which to reward people who spread the word about their products and brands. No one questioned him on it at the time, but I had a couple of conversations afterward with a few attendees about it.

For me, the only truly authentic ways for a company to be involved in word of mouth is to come up with truly great things (products, services, promotions, etc.) for people to spread the word about. And make it easier for them to spread the word by making the word available (putting information on the web where it can be linked to, making company reps and spokespeople available for comment to people besides the mainstream media). And then use all available technological means to track what's being said and try to measure the effect.

It seems that when a company tries to do more than this to manipulate word of mouth, the potential downside is just too great.

Posted by Renee Hopkins Callahan at 8:40 AM | 4 Comments

June 9, 2006

Larry Weber Interview: Getting PR's Act Together

From the Marketers Forum at the 2006 Innovative Marketing Conference in New York, produced by Corante and Columbia Business School's Center on Global Brand Leadership.

Larry Weber, Chairman of W2 Group, talks about influencing people through content, the signficance of mobile, changing channels, the rise of social media, opportunities PR musn't miss, co-creating attractive content, shaping the next generation of the social web, more control in web 3.0, the new prime time, communication transparency.

Download the podcast (MP3, 7Mb, 16:20)

Posted by Neville Hobson at 6:47 PM | Add Comment

Max Lenderman Interview: Delivering Brand Promise and Consumer Empowerment

From the Marketers Forum at the 2006 Innovative Marketing Conference in New York, produced by Corante and Columbia Business School's Center on Global Brand Leadership.

Max Lenderman, Creative Director at GMR Marketing LLC, talks about experiential marketing and delivering brand promise, building the buzz, search marketing, mobile marketing, consumer-generated advertising, empowerment and the future.

Download the podcast (MP3, 6.8Mb, 15:50)

Posted by Neville Hobson at 6:28 PM | Add Comment

Craig Newmark Interview: The Role of the Marketer is Changing

From the Marketers Forum at the 2006 Innovative Marketing Conference in New York, produced by Corante and Columbia Business School's Center on Global Brand Leadership.

Craig Newmark, Founder of craigslist.org, talks about trust, Craigslist expansion, consumer-generated content, unconventional marketing, enabling communities, online advertising, Congresspedia, the changing role of marketing.

Download the podcast (MP3, 5.4Mb, 12:30)

Posted by Neville Hobson at 5:55 PM | Add Comment

Innovation in Advertising

During the panel discussion on the “the changing face of advertising” there’s been plenty of discussion about the extent (or not) to which the advertising agencies are adapting to the changing marketplace. One panelist claims that this lack of change is because “there is no line item for R&D in advertising agencies”. What do you think it takes to innovate in advertising?

Posted by Paul Gladen at 3:04 PM | 3 Comments

Focus on the IMC

From the Marketers Forum at the 2006 Innovative Marketing Conference in New York, produced by Corante and Columbia Business School's Center on Global Brand Leadership. So far today, I've made the following lenses on the different sessions:

• A New Marketing Foundation
• Models for Innovation
• The New Toolbox
• Consumer-Generated Content
• What's Working?
• The Changing Face of Marketing
• The Changing Face of Advertising

I'm here with a team of six lensmasters -- and I'll be sure to share additional lenses as they're completed.

Update: I've also added a lens on The Changing Face of PR

Posted by Heath Row at 3:01 PM | Add Comment

Yet More from Larry Weber - Contributing to Communities

Lots of great tidbits already online about Larry Weber's talk at the Innovative Marketing Conference today. Clearly Larry struck a nerve with his rap about out with the old, in with the new.

To me, one of the most important bits was about the growing role of online communities in everyday life -- and therefore their growing importance for marketing. If people do indeed now trust "people like me" more than any other authorities (per this year's Edelman Trust Barometer, much discussed yesterday at the conference), than one of marketing's top jobs is to build and contribute to those rich online communities where people gather for business, education, entertainment, etc. It's all about content that contributes to the conversation -- and it's critical, as others have pointed out, to be transparent and totally above board along the way.

Some folks in the audience suggested that there is a difference between producing content for customers and potential customers, on the one hand, and participating in conversations and communities, on the other. The implication was that if you're merely producing content, you're stuck in the old broadcast mode and failing to see the new reality that conversation is king. But unless customers are purely interested in idel chit-chat, though (which I suppose some might be), don't the two go hand in hand? Most customers are interested in deliberative conversation; they're trying to get something done. For the most part, then, you better have something substantial to contribute to the conversation.

Posted by Rob Leavitt at 2:48 PM | Add Comment

Dianne Hessan Interview: The Power of Communities

From the Marketers Forum at the 2006 Innovative Marketing Conference in New York, produced by Corante and Columbia Business School's Center on Global Brand Leadership.

Dianne Hessan, President and CEO of Communispace Corporation, talks about tapping into networks of customers to address business issues.

Download the podcast (MP3, 8Mb, 18:30)

Posted by Neville Hobson at