FC Experts Blogs
innovation
February 15, 2008
The 29% Who Are Onto Something Big
The Economist magazine recently released a report entitled “Doing Good - - Business and the Sustainability Challenge.” They analyzed responses about corporate social responsibility - - put more succinctly, sustainability - - from 1200 execs and concluded that the picture is grim.
The opening of this interesting report states...”Being a good corporate citizen has never been so challenging. Companies have long been under public scrutiny for practices ranging from recruitment to workplace safety, from attitudes to overseas investment to environmental pollution. The emergence of climate change as a mainstream political issue, however, has served to drive home the breadth of ethical issues with which firms must now grapple. The business—and societal—implications of how companies address these are so far reaching that a new area of management practice has come into being to manage them, known by many as “corporate sustainability”.
Posted by Terry Tamminen at 12:58 PM
February 11, 2008
Customer Centric Organizations – Hype or Innovation?
Many companies talk about being customer focused and selling on value, but where’s the evidence? Too often customer value is expressed, as in value propositions, but lost in execution they become value cliches that don’t set us apart, don't connect us to the customer and don't compel the customer to act. Today, and for the foreseeable future, the driving force of customer relevancy is value, and many companies will see themselves drawing the short end of the stick if they don’t figure out that what is actually required of a company to be truly customer centric is creating value and delivering on the value promise.
Take proposals, for example. I was just with a new client in Europe. This innovative and technically superior corporation had a challenge on their hands. They were driving a value strategy and customer centric messaging throughout their organization but not seeing bottom line results. When we were given sales and marketing collateral such as proposals, white papers, case studies, and a website to review, and conducted multiple interviews, the question we were asking ourselves was, “Where is their customer in this picture?” All this stuff was about the seller…their great achievements and super powerful products and services. We found that 90-plus percent of the content was about them and their solutions. There was a clear disconnect between the customer centric initiative and the organization’s ability to execute a great idea. We see this scenario repeat itself over and over again.
Where's the innovation? We tend to articualte customer-centric and value-added in generic and ultimately meaningless terms. As a self-check, compare your collateral, your proposals, your web sites with two of your best competitors. Shuffle them up and re-assign them. Is there a difference?
Ask yourself, in a customer centric organization, what percentage of the proposal should be about the solution, the solution provider and the future value benefits, and what percentage should be about the potential customer of that solution, their business, objectives, obstacles they face, and the critical issues that need to be resolved?
How does this play out in your company?
The bottom line is: innovation is driven by creating value and if you’ve placed the value strategy in play, why aren’t customers responding? Simply said, if you cannot create and clarify value and connect it to your customer’s world, they will not take action, they will not buy, and your customer centric organization is just smoke and mirrors.
Posted by Jeff Thull at 9:31 PM
February 8, 2008
“Dear Lee”
It’s been almost two years since Exxon CEO Lee Raymond was paid about $400 million upon retiring. I’ve been wondering how he’s been spending his “golden” years and thought I’d drop him a line...
Dear Lee,
Boy did you jump ship at the right time! The legal noose is tightening around the fossil fuel industry as the evidence of damages to planet earth from global warming stack up higher than an Oklahoma gusher. California sued automakers to recover costs to the state from greenhouse gases and other air pollution (much like tobacco companies that paid billions for health care costs because of their toxic air pollution). Those cars burn the products you sold for so long, so I’m guessing your old pals are next.
Continue reading "“Dear Lee”"Posted by Terry Tamminen at 12:56 PM
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1 Comment
February 6, 2008
Innovation: If You Lose Your Cool, You Won’t Get it Back
Building a business around being cool is really hard. Keeping it there is even harder. But the toughest of all is getting your cool edge back if you ever lose it. The good news for innovators is that refocusing on being credible can be just as profitable as being cool, without as much inherent risk.
Apple is a great example of a company that has been coming out with cool products ever since Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak started making and selling circuit boards and computers in the late 1970s. Apple’s latest computers and iGoodies are widely perceived as must-have products with people routinely lining up to buy them as they are launched. At $1800, the MacBook Air launched last month is the latest on Apple’s hit parade.
So what will happen if Apple loses its edge? Not a problem if it takes the same approach that Kodak did years ago when its traditional business of photographic films and papers turned to ashes. Kodak is a big company with a long history of introducing cool products that date all the way back to about 1900 when it introduced the very popular “brownie” camera. Kodak saw big problems coming when digital camera sales started going through the roof. Although the company was in the digital camera game from early on, it knew it would face very tough competition from Japanese consumer electronics giants. Kodak simply wasn’t going to remain cool as the competition heated up.
Kodak was able to refocus on B2B offerings using the tremendous credibility it had established over the previous century. The company’s investor information page claims “Kodak is the world’s foremost imaging innovator. With sales of $10.7 billion in 2006, the company is committed to a digitally oriented growth strategy focused on helping people better use meaningful images and information in their life and work. Consumers use Kodak’s system of digital and traditional products and services to take, print and share their pictures anytime, anywhere; Businesses effectively communicate with customers worldwide using Kodak solutions for prepress, conventional and digital printing and document imaging; and Creative Professionals rely on Kodak technology to uniquely tell their story through moving or still images.” These are not consumer product offerings that will have people lining up in droves. Apple brags about its iPhone and having sold over 110 million iPods and over three billion songs from its iTunes online store but it has no major current B2B offerings.
A great advantage of a company that has leveraged and built up credibility to shift from leading edge consumer product offerings towards B2B offerings, is that the business becomes more predictable. This also applies to its R&D returns. Watch and see if Apple remains cool and if it shifts toward increasing its B2B offerings over the next few years. That would decrease the likelihood of the company falling flat on its face if it loses its cool.
Atomica Creative > Strategic Product Marketing • Vancouver, Canada • tnakagawa@atomicacreative.com
Posted by Tatsuya Nakagawa and Peter Roosen at 8:48 AM
February 5, 2008
Growing Up In a Cotton Wool World
Do we need a commonsense revolution in education and elsewhere in society? I think we do and it needs to start now.
Posted by Richard Watson at 6:05 PM
February 4, 2008
Create, Rip, Mix and Burn: A New Model For Corporate Learning
The phrase "create, rip, mix and burn," popularized by Apple, summarizes how fans are personalizing and sharing their music experience. They are empowered with the ability to "create new music," "rip or copy music," "mix" this music to generate new musical creations and lastly "burn" this into a final new product to enjoy.
Richard Baraniuk is a professor at Rice University and founder of Connexions, a free, open-source, global clearinghouse of course materials. He has translated this concept of "create, rip, mix and burn" to textbooks and given people in almost 200 countries around the world the ability to create and share new textbooks on everything from engineering to ornithology to music, while adapting the content as they see fit. The potential is enormous. Catherine Schmidt-Jones, a mom in Illinois with a degree in music, creates music curriculum for children using the Connexions process which has been downloaded over 600,000 times from her site, many by traditional K-12 teachers.
Now fast forward - think about how this can be used in corporate learning. Rather than spending millions of dollars on designing expensive customized learning programs, everyone in the organization can be empowered to create new content using a Web 2.0 toolkit of blogs, wiki’s and RSS feeds. The advantages can be enormous including:
- Faster response time to changing, new knowledge
- Customizable to local needs that require a different presentation of material
- Lower cost
- Wider base of contributors and potentially richer content
- Faster translation to languages by members of the community
"Create, Rip, Mix and Burn" will continue to emerge as the new model for corporate learning in your organization.
Corporate Learning Consultant• New York City, NY • New Learning Playbook
Posted by Jeanne Meister at 10:34 AM
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February 1, 2008
Game Changers - Part Two
Last week I mentioned that a perfect storm is about to change the game on our energy future and, therefore, our environment and economy (the elements in this case being climate change; fossil fuel shortages; and epic world-wide competition for energy). I listed three technologies that will allow us to weather this storm, game-changers, and promised two more this week.
Continue reading "Game Changers - Part Two"Posted by Terry Tamminen at 11:51 AM
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January 31, 2008
Innovation: What Your Customer Communication Style SAYS About You
As there are may types of customers, there are as many ways companies and businesses choose to communicate with them. How and when you talk with your customers depends on your disposition towards them and shows up in your bottom line results.
When you’re well disposed and in listening mode, your customers will respond to your stance accordingly. If your focus is to provide value to them at every touch point, when you choose customers over what is convenient to you, then you will probably hear some positive comments and some suggestions to do better. You will hear them because your are listening. And that content will fuel your marketing intelligence for future action.
Continue reading "Innovation: What Your Customer Communication Style SAYS About You"Posted by Valeria Maltoni at 6:45 AM
January 29, 2008
Innovation: Old Often Becomes New
Originality is overrated. Engineers are often told in engineering schools that a good design typically consists of 45% duplication, 45% slight modification and 10% originality. Those who follow this principle benefit from the experience of their predecessors. Their designs tend to work. That is the way it should be.
We think the 10% originality might be a little too high. Engineering tends to be expensive and slow. For many manufacturers, the engineering efforts involved in bringing something to market often become the bottleneck in the process. This is the case whether in designing the product or the process to produce it cost-effectively. Sales people often go out and pick up orders for something, having to later tell the customer that the engineers haven’t yet worked everything out.
Let’s take the example of the compressed air car. In the highly competitive car industry, it is being touted by many as the next big thing in car manufacturing. India’s largest carmaker, Tata Motors Ltd., is preparing to roll out a line of compressed air cars in 2008. These cars are expected to go about 100 km on a charge of air that costs about 1 euro or $1.50 and takes 2 to 3 minutes to fill up. You’d have a hard time buying a hot dog or a cup of coffee at that price.
Posted by Tatsuya Nakagawa and Peter Roosen at 4:03 PM
January 26, 2008
Game Changers
A perfect storm is about to change the game on our energy future and, therefore, our environment and economy. The unprecedented confluence of elements in this case? Climate change; fossil fuel shortages; and epic world-wide competition for energy. So what technologies will allow us to weather this storm, indeed to bring home the big catch from tempest-tossed seas? Here are my top 3 (I’ll give you two more next week):
LED lights. Using less energy and lasting longer than most of us alive today, LEDs will revolutionize the way we light our homes, businesses, streets, and game consoles (to name a few). LED lighting is not only more efficient and durable than anything on the market today, it can be programmed in a breathtaking variety of ways to deliver every color of the rainbow from each “bulb”, finally putting the “image” into “imagination” big time. Look at LED Effects, the designer of the ball that dropped on Times Square this past New Years Eve. It’s not just the LED “bulb” itself - - it’s how you program it to deliver light and images that will change the world of lighting as we know it.
Continue reading "Game Changers"Posted by Terry Tamminen at 2:10 PM
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January 25, 2008
The Sudden Return of the Rational Consumer
It had to happen. For years now, we’ve been blathering about Starbucks, the $3 cup of coffee, and the mass-marketing of upscale luxury in small, accessible sips.
I’ve been in dozens of meeting where the Seattle caffeine pusher has been held up as the Holy Grail of an experiential brand that understands how to get consumers to pay a whopping premium for perceived value.
Here’s how the meta-argument goes, whether it applies to Starbucks or Apple or Target:
Posted by Adam Hanft at 1:54 PM
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January 24, 2008
Innovation: Customers Speak the Language of ADVERTISING. Do You?
Advertising is our culture. In Twenty Ads that Shook The World, James Twitchell states that consumers today are more familiar with the language of advertising than that of history. You don’t believe me? Take the test. Here are a few words you ought to know about from your school curriculum. See if you recognize them and know their reference:
vector
biochemical pathways
complex sentence
Herman Melville
federalism
ampersand
Hoover Dam
Neville Chamberlain
Reign of Terror
paradox
installment buying
Ferdinand Magellan
Posted by Valeria Maltoni at 7:05 AM
| 4 Comments
January 23, 2008
Adjust Your Rear View Mirror Before Launching a Product
When engineering, product development and marketing & sales people get together and do a great job in successfully pushing a new product into the market to rave reviews, things can still fall apart. There can still be important blind spots in the system to watch out for. Big companies are not immune to this problem.
We discovered a hole in Fujitsu’s warranty programs after we went out and bought their latest Scansnap S510 office scanner a few weeks ago. We learned about the product from others, mainly online, who were successfully using these to help convert their offices to paperless environments. We bought one.
Continue reading "Adjust Your Rear View Mirror Before Launching a Product"Posted by Tatsuya Nakagawa and Peter Roosen at 11:14 AM
January 18, 2008
But What If We HAVE To Do It?
Record heat waves, melting glaciers, epic droughts - - the climate is changing faster than we once thought possible, which means our response will have to be much more creative and comprehensive than we may have imagined. Just a few years ago, it would have been unthinkable to suggest slashing greenhouse gases in half by 2020, but what if we have to do it? Does the technology exist? Is there enough money and political will power on earth to commercialize those technologies fast enough?
I’ll let you in on two secrets that could be very profitable for smart entrepreneurs and investors. We could end our fossil fuel addiction within 20 years - - and make a lot of money in the process - - with two basic strategies.
Continue reading "But What If We HAVE To Do It?"Posted by Terry Tamminen at 1:00 PM
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January 17, 2008
Innovation: Customers Have Conversations with Brands that Have Good REPUTATIONS
Fast answer -- which one are you more likely to cut some slack Apple or Microsoft? When you pick up the phone to call the customer care number, what is your state of mind if you know that someone from Apple is on the other end of the phone? Now try Microsoft. Try any wireless operator. That’s what I thought.
Here’s the thing, we do business with people we like. Period. Liking leads to trusting, it’s not the other way around. Jeffrey Gitomer has a nice sound bite on that. You may build credibility and show expertise, be believable, but in the end you don’t marry someone who is credible, you marry someone you like. The same happens when you deal with companies.
Continue reading "Innovation: Customers Have Conversations with Brands that Have Good REPUTATIONS"Posted by Valeria Maltoni at 10:10 AM
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January 14, 2008
Technology: Can Caps Cut Delays?
Now that the federal government is taking action to deal with the chronic delays that characterize the New York City area's air traffic — which accounts for one-third of America's commercial flights — the big question is, will it actually help?
Continue reading "Technology: Can Caps Cut Delays?"Posted by Robert Buckman at 7:43 AM
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January 11, 2008
Postcards from the Year 2030
Like our ancestors a century ago, who were debating massive transitions - - from horse to horseless, from blocks of ice to Fridgidaires, from carrier pigeons to telephones - - we too are faced with similar monumental choices today. Imagine our children grown to adults, sending us postcards from the year 2030. What world will their images and words convey?
I foresee two likely possibilities based on the world we have created so far. One postcard depicts 2030 in Dickensian terms. World oil supply disrupted by rebellions and social unrest, as people who benefit little from their nation’s resources attack oil pipelines to demand their share, while oil tankers and refineries have become frequent terrorist targets. Unrestrained demand in the U.S., China, and India has created shortages at gas stations as fuel prices double every twenty-four months.
Ford and GM reorganized under bankruptcy protection after decades of producing gas-guzzling vehicles that no one wanted, reduced to selling products made by Chinese companies and adorned with their once-proud American nameplates.
Continue reading "Postcards from the Year 2030"Posted by Terry Tamminen at 1:00 PM
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January 9, 2008
Innovation: LEARN from Starbucks - Too Much of a Good Thing?
When it comes to customer experience, reliable rarely means exceptional. This is especially true at a Starbucks store. With all due respect to the dedicated evangelists of the ubiquitous company, having a cup of coffee can either be a utilitarian situation -- I’ve got to get coffee in me to wake up -- or extraordinary -- I want to go to that one store because the coffee is so good and the ambiance so different that I love spending time there.
Anywhere in between there is trouble on the horizon. The coffee is priced at several dollars above other chains, which could give the store an air of exclusivity with ample space to sit down with a friend. Yet the place is often packed with people ordering and the space to sit down is usually taken so the coffee is more often than not “to go”. This mix makes it an average experience, even though the brew is quite consistent in taste.
How many times do you go in, stand in line waiting after long and elaborate orders and fight other patrons for a seat at those prices before you start giving up some of the taste for convenience? How long before you meet in a less crowded, more exclusive place?
Continue reading "Innovation: LEARN from Starbucks - Too Much of a Good Thing?"Posted by Valeria Maltoni at 9:30 PM
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January 5, 2008
Born-Again Virgin
I recently had a great conversation with Dee Mc Laughlin, the marketing chief for Virgin Megastores. It was a great conversation because Virgin Megastores is growing rapidly (sales up 14 percent in 2007) in the music category, where industry-wide sales for the year were down by a similar percentage.
Not only that, but Virgin is zooming just as one of its main competitors -- Tower Records -- succumbed to the music industry's depression and closed its doors.
How is this possible? Why is Virgin Megastores sailing where others are sinking? According to Dee, the answer is pretty simple: "It's about coming up with easier ways to give our customers what they want."
And how do you do that? Well, here's what Dee has to say about it:
"We observe and then we innovate. For example, HD and Blu-ray are hot right now. We observed that our customers were saying, "what is the difference between the two?" You can tell them what the difference is, but unless they're actually seeing what the difference is, it's not going to help sales.
"So, we've put an HD and Blu-ray wall into all our stores. It's really spectacular looking. Where before we had consumer confusion, which was potentially stifling sales of both systems, now our customers actually can see what the difference is and choose for themselves which format to buy."
So, the key words for today are: "observe" and "innovate." The result, says Dee, was not only a more entertaining and engaging shopping experience, but most important, an increase in sales. If you'd like to read the rest of my conversation with Dee Mc Laughlin, you can find it at http://hubmagazine.com
Posted by Tim Manners at 11:56 AM
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January 4, 2008
Of Comets and Carbon
By Terry Tamminen
What do the horseless carriage, the iPod, and global warming have in common? Once thought fads or fantasy, it turns out that all three are here to stay.
It also turns out that each is more connected to the other than is apparent at first glance, especially when viewed through the lens of 21st century business. In the coming weeks, this blog will take readers on a journey of connecting the dots, from emerging technologies to evolving environmental ethics. I’ll share some insights as I travel the world - - working with inventors, investors, and political visionaries - - offering provocative and profitable ways to shape the future of our planet and our economies.
Corporate social responsibility (“CSR”), especially when it comes to the environment, offers that rare intersection of doing well and doing good at the same time. But environmental CSR (call it “e-CSR”) will be defined in new ways, even with a new language. Growing concern (and regulation) of greenhouse gases, for example, will result in a trillion dollar carbon market within a decade, creating a new global currency that anyone can trade for a profit.
Posted by Terry Tamminen at 1:00 AM
January 3, 2008
Innovation: If Experts Were CUSTOMER CHAMPIONS
“I don’t want to talk to a sales rep, I’m not ready to buy,” he said. This is what happens as a result of compensation tied exclusively to a sale made and not a long-term account or customer relationship. There are experts in an organization we are willing to talk with because we know they will put forth an informed opinion and advice without trying to sell us something we don’t want right now. Ironically, we may end up buying as a result.
Many of these skilled voices are consultants, but many more are technical people who are quite passionate about their field and have the experience to know it inside out. What would happen if those same people answered the customer service phone lines? Not on the tenth ring, not after going around voice activate menus until you get lost -- immediately, as if they were looking forward to speaking with you.
Continue reading "Innovation: If Experts Were CUSTOMER CHAMPIONS"Posted by Valeria Maltoni at 10:52 AM
January 2, 2008
Is there a HIERARCHY OF NEEDS in home development?
I became a born-again Maslow nut during the post-dot-com, post-9/11 period that we Bay Area hoteliers like to refer to as the “five-year hangover” starting in January 2001. After five years of phenomenal times for Bay Area hotels, we experienced a bubble burst heard round the world. Suddenly assets became liabilities. Someone once told me that all businesses have a start-up phase, a throw-up phase, and a grow-up phase. My goal in 2001 was to graduate to the grow-up phase as quickly as possible.
Burning the midnight oil reading Maslow and his iconic Hierarchy of Needs gave me the confidence to take a contrarian path in the hotel industry wreckage that was 2001-2005. Rather than purely living in trench warfare for half a decade, we decided to focus on the higher needs of our employees, customers, and investors. Creating peak experiences for these three constituencies helped us to create peak performance for my company. And, almost exactly seven years later, our annual revenues are triple what they were back then.
OK, how does this relate to residential real estate? I was scooping sun-dried tomatoes on my spinach salad at the new Whole Foods Market that moved into my ‘hood (thank you John Mackey!) when a business colleague came up and slapped my back. Given that I don’t have too many back-slapping friends, I immediately recognized the fraternizing embrace as a real estate developer I’ve known for years. He told me he hasn’t been sleeping well for months because all of his residential real estate developments were going “sideways.” Wasn’t that a movie a few years ago about drinking a lot of wine? Now I understand the reference. But, and this is the honest to God truth, he said he’s been reading my book PEAK and he’s now sleeping so much better. I wasn’t sure how to take this. I have a few books bedside that are my trusted version of Sominex. Fortunately, that wasn’t what he meant. He said, “Now I understand the pain and suffering you were going through a few years ago and why the Hierarchy of Needs was your savior. I’m applying your Maslow theory to my little debacle and it’s amazing how relevant it is and how easy it is to teach everyone in my company about this.”
Suddenly, I realized that what we’d experienced in hotels seven years ago was being repeated for home developers, investors, brokers, and, certainly, home owners. The bubble bites, doesn’t it!? But, my conversation with this developer was truly enlightening as it’s one more piece of evidence to suggest that this PEAK theory is relevant to all kinds of industries. Let’s first examine the problem.
The problem is the bubble has burst, which means that home buyers have moved from the fright of not buying quickly enough (for the last few years, waiting six months could cost you 10% in a price increase) to the fright of whether buying a home in this marketplace is a prudent investment. So, based upon the idea that people need their base survival needs addressed first, smart home developers are first and foremost figuring out ways to communicate the safety and intelligence of making the investment. One clever developer I know created a forty year line graph showing the ebbs and flows of Los Angeles residential real estate values and then the specifics around their neighborhood. What this graph demonstrated was the idea that values do go up and down – this isn’t the first time there’s been a marketplace devaluation. But, the neighborhood graph of values showed that this particular area had held its values historically better than the overall metro market. So, in essence, this developer was trying to allay the survival fears of the home buyer to say, “I know you have worries about home values, but this is a safer bet given that this neighborhood has performed better over time.”
But, just addressing a buyer’s survival needs isn’t enough. As my developer friend told me, “We have become much better listeners. The second level of your Customer Pyramid suggests that customers make a commitment when they have both their expectations AND their desires met. Rather than dropping our prices like all of our competition is, we’ve chosen to add value or provide upgrades to the homes that specifically address the desires of the customer. A year ago, we might have charged them an extra $10,000 for hardwood floors. Now, we provide it for free. We try to have our salespeople come up with three desires per customer that we can translate into value. We show these prospective buyers just how much they’re saving on these upgrades, but it also means we aren’t cheapening the values in the neighborhood. In fact, we’re improving the values because we’re creating better homes.”
So, I asked my colleague, “I understand how you address the two lowest levels of the Customer Pyramid – expectations and desires – but how do you address the “Unrecognized Needs” of the customer to create the self-actualized experience that is found at the peak of the pyramid?” He said he was still trying to figure that one out. Since then, I’ve given it some thought. Why not make a special offer to the prospective buyer: as icing on the cake, we will offer you $5,000 to be used in one of the three following ways: (a) we throw you the most over-the-top housewarming party, anniversary, or birthday party for you and all your friends in your home, (b) we give you a $5,000 credit at Best Buy for you to buy whatever kind of home entertainment system or technology you want, or (c) we donate $5,000 to the charity of your choice in your name. While other developers will drop prices at the drop of a hat, you can create a memory or something of real value by “investing” your $5,000 in a manner that truly makes a difference for the buyer.
If you’re in the residential real estate field or just own your home or condo, just remember Winston Churchill’s line (although Winston wasn’t particularly Maslovian): “When you’re going through hell, just keep going.” As I learned with the hotel biz, “this too shall pass.” Rather than fighting in the trenches every day and just dropping prices as your solution to get sales traction, consider how you can appeal to the higher needs of your prospective customers. I promise it will differentiate you in the marketplace. In a time when everything has become commoditized, differentiating yourself and your product is the sign of a peak performer.
Posted by Chip Conley at 9:25 PM
January 1, 2008
First Thought Of The Year: Media Rules!
In 2008, organizations will have to do better. They will have to change the way they approach communications if they want to succeed.
When it comes to communicating with an ever-evolving audience, today’s organizations have more than enough tools to get the job done -- television, radio, newspapers, blogs, podcasts, social networks, search, advertising, and much more. But something is missing. Something is not working. The combination of rapid technological innovation and continuous social shifts have left many organizations -- from the largest corporation to the smallest nonprofit -- struggling to stay focused and execute their ideas.
I believe the key is little 'm' media - the information, the experiences, and the stuff that we consume and share every day.
If organizations operate and communicate adopt a little 'm' media-centric strategy, putting information, experiences, or stuff -- not technology -- at the center of their activites they will not only survive, but thrive. If they look for new ways of operating, new models to better serve their audience and live up to the full potential that technology provides as a vehicle for delivering media, they will distinguish themselves and the audience will follow.
Happy 2008. Let's get started.
Brian is the author of Media Rules!: Mastering Today's Technology to Connect With and Keep Your Audience. • brian@themediarules.com • www.themediarules.com
Posted by Brian Reich at 9:34 AM
| 1 Comment
2008 Trends
Here is my list of top 10 trends for 2008. The list is neither exhaustive nor 100% serious. It is merely a list of a few emerging trends that could impact on our lives in 2008 and beyond. They are conversation starters - especially if you are involved in innovation and want your idea to make sense in the world in which it is finished rather than the world in which it was started (with thanks to Ray Kurzweil for that last thought).
Continue reading "2008 Trends"Posted by Richard Watson at 12:02 AM
| 4 Comments
December 13, 2007
Innovation Lessons From 'The Big Apple'
Ten years or so ago Apple Computer was almost bankrupt. Fast forward and Apple (the company no longer uses the word computer) is now regularly cited as the most innovative company in the world. So what can we learn from the comeback kid?
Rule #1
Orchestrate and integrate. Ideas can come from anywhere, including outside the company. For example, the iPod was originally dreamt up by a consultant and most of its parts were off the shelf.
Rule #2
Build products around the needs of users. This may sound obvious but too many products are still designed by engineers or marketers for engineers or marketers.
Thus Apple places the emphasis on simplicity (such as design) rather than complexity. For example, the iPod wasn’t the first digital music player into the market but it was probably the first that was easy to use.
Rule #3
Trust your instinct. Don’t allow the customer to dictate what you do. This may seem contradictory to Rule #2 but customers can only tell you about what already exists.
As Akito Morita (the founder of Sony) once said: "The public doesn’t know what is possible but we do.” Also don’t forget that as well as measuring public opinion or tracking the latest trends you can create both.
Rule #4
There’s no success like failure. Fail often, fail fast and fail well. In other words, don’t be afraid to make a mistake but always learn from your mistakes – in Apple’s case products like the Apple Lisa and Newton.
Rule #5
Safe is risky. Develop products that define new categories and markets rather than products that compete in existing markets.
Posted by Richard Watson at 10:09 PM
| 1 Comment
From 8 million pieces of paper to one
I am an amazing organized person except for when I travel. For some reason, I carry 20 different sheets. Flight info, hotel info, googled directions, etc…. Even worse with the 10 emails shared with my wife and assistant with all my info to the point they have no idea where and when I will be anywhere.
Then I found Tripit.com . All my info from all sources in one place and shareable! Trip it allows you to book from any source, email your confirmations to Trip it and it builds an Trip Plan for you.
What is a Trip Plan? A TripPlan is a single web page with all your trip details. Organized by day, it's a step-by-step guide to the things you've planned, plus notes you want on hand during the trip.
A TripPlan is like an itinerary, but better. In addition to organizing your flights, hotels, rental cars, and other typical travel components. Share this with friends or fellow travelers, and even give others the ability to add comments or their own items to the TripPlan. TripIt also gives you helpful options for printing your itinerary so all your information is at your fingertips while you're on the road, in a concise and easy-to-read format.
In addition, TripIt will automatically add:
Local map info from Google maps
NOAA weather
SeatGuru seating advice
Wikipedia city info
Eventful current events
Flickr city photos
Open Table dining reservations.
Sounds too good to be true? I thought so as well. I created the account and sent my Hyatt flight info from my Outlook inbox and my Orbitz trip confirmation to plans@tripit.com. (When you register, it registers your email address so it knows it’s you. You can even add multiple email addresses.)
I logged into Tripit and was amazed. It scrapped all the data from the email from Hyatt. Everything was convereted there including my frequent traveler info and my early check in.
I then choose to share but not allow edit rights to my wife and assistant. They were granted access to all my info and will be sent updates as things change.
One piece of paper now. My life is good.
Stephen is Sr. Partner and Network Architect with Odyssey Consulting Group
Posted by Stephen L Rose at 3:06 PM
| 1 Comment
Innovation: Best Buy Apologizes for Cease and Desist to Laughing Squid
Scott Beale was having a regular day on Tuesday December 11. His blog, Laughing Squid, was being profiled in a San Francisco publication. Life was good. Then he announced on his Twitter stream that he had just received an early holiday gift from Best Buy. Except for this was not really a welcome one -- a “cease and desist” letter.
Apparently the Best Buy legal department took notice of some coverage Scott was running on another blog at Laughing Squid. Improv Everywhere selling Best Buy blue polo shirts as inspired by a stunt the group ran at a Best Buy store. After talking with his lawyer, Scott decided to publish the cease and desist letter on his blog.
Continue reading "Innovation: Best Buy Apologizes for Cease and Desist to Laughing Squid"Posted by Valeria Maltoni at 11:15 AM
December 6, 2007
Innovation: 5 Things Customer Service Can Learn from SANTA CLAUS
You’ve read me write that before -- customer relationships are conversations, and customer service is the new marketing. One very important part of conversation is the spirit in which we approach it. In many ways, children got it right -- they approach every wish as possible. What do you want to be when you grow up? An astronaut!
The other important part of conversation is listening. What would you like Santa to bring you this year? Is the often unspoken question children begin to think about right about now when it gets chilly outside (well, in my part of the world) and signs of the holidays are starting to be everywhere you turn. Children look clearly into your eyes and tell you they are making their list for Santa.
Continue reading "Innovation: 5 Things Customer Service Can Learn from SANTA CLAUS"Posted by Valeria Maltoni at 6:46 AM
| 4 Comments
December 5, 2007
Design and Innovation: What's the Problem?
Innovation requires an environment that is open to new ideas. That's all well and good, but innovation is more than blue sky. In order to encourage new and novel solutions, you have to ask the right questions.
Many brainstorming sessions are centered around questions that boil down to “What should we do in response to our competitor’s product or service?” Now the reason you are having the meeting in the first place may be because your competitor has just taken a big chunk of your market share, so that seems like a legitimate question.
Posted by David Oliver at 11:20 AM
| 2 Comments
December 3, 2007
Innovation: Feds Focus on Flight Fixes
New York City's airports have seen the worst of the worst when it comes to the flight delays that have characterized this past summer. And as we come into the busy holiday season, it appears that there will be more of the same.
Continue reading "Innovation: Feds Focus on Flight Fixes"Posted by Robert Buckman at 7:09 AM
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December 2, 2007
Six Sigma and innovation culture
There was an interesting story in Business Week a little while ago about 3M hiring a CEO called James McNerney, who imported the ‘Six Sigma’ process from his old employer, General Electric. Nothing remarkable about that you might think, after all, 82 out of the top 100 companies in the US use Six Sigma. However, 3M is known as something of an invention factory and Six Sigma is an efficiency and quality process designed to identify problems and remove errors.
Six Sigma is about consistency, sameness and control whereas innovation is about mutation, serendipity, difference, failure and disorder. One is a left-brain activity, the other is right-brain. So guess what? Morale at 3M dropped and the company sank from No 1 on the most innovative companies list in 2004 to No 7 in 2007. Much the same thing happened at Home Depot, where the retailer dropped from first to worst on customer satisfaction surveys following the use of Six Sigma.
So is Six Sigma a dead dead? No. The point here, I think, is that Six Sigma is great for process improvements, quality and general management. Research by management Professor Tom Davenport also suggests that the process might be good for incremental innovation. But when it comes to more radical blue-sky thinking Six Sigma does look like a very very bad idea indeed. This is clearly a problem because once companies have passed through the quality phase they tend to look for growth, and apart from M&A (which, according to one source, doesn't work in 70% of cases) one of the best ways of delivering rapid growth is radical innovation. I hope we hear more about this next year and I will certainly be following stories on this subject with great interest.
Posted by Richard Watson at 6:40 PM
| 3 Comments
November 29, 2007
Innovation: Starwood Hotels- Lobby vs. Lobby, Does the Customers’ WIN?
The other day I was researching hotels for an upcoming trip to Europe and came across a review on a Starwood property in Venice; it was beautifully written, very balanced, and complete with photographs. A customer wrote it.
It turns out that two avid Starwood fans created a whole site where customers can find unbiased reviews of the chain’s properties uploaded by other customers -- the users themselves. The site was created at the end of 2005 by John H. and John P.
Continue reading "Innovation: Starwood Hotels- Lobby vs. Lobby, Does the Customers’ WIN?"Posted by Valeria Maltoni at 10:15 AM
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Design: Are you a consultant or a vendor?
Put another way, do you give your clients what they ask for, or, do you offer your best judgment even when it’s not what they want to hear?
Now before you dismiss this as a question meant for someone else, let me say this: No number of design awards, glowing articles, or Fortune 100 clients grants you exemption from this question.
Design consultancies lead a precarious life. They rely on the good graces of their clients. Of course, a big part of doing business is nurturing relationships, but just because you have a relationship with a client doesn’t mean it’s a healthy one. An upset middle managers at one Client Company or another can ruin a quarter for a design firm - big or small.
Continue reading "Design: Are you a consultant or a vendor?"Posted by David Oliver at 10:05 AM
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November 26, 2007
Maslow-Minded Merchandising
OK, it's that time of year when we all become transactional. We overstuff our bellies on Thanksgiving Thursday and then overextend our credit on Black Friday when America's malls remind us that capitalism is alive and kickin' in the good old US of A. But, what if a retailer were to take a more transformational approach to their customers during this busy time of year? Or, what if you or I were to purchase experiences rather than possessions as a way of gifting our relatives and friends?
Abraham Maslow suggested that we all aspire to self-actualization in the course of our lifetime after we've had our base needs met. In my book PEAK, I suggested that peak-performing companies move beyond the transactional nature of most customer relationships at the bottom of the pyramid so they can address their customer's higher needs (which are often unrecognized or unspoken by the customer). A great company creates peak experiences for their customers in a way that almost transforms them into a self-actualized customer.
I was reading the SF Chronicle today where I saw a Business page cover story on how Apple is remaking their already-successful retail stores. The first line of the article is "Not a cash register in sight." Ron Johnson, who runs Apple's retail stores worldwide (and is quoted in my book), tells the reporter, "We try to pattern the feeling to a five-star hotel. It's not about selling. It's about creating a place where you belong." Apple's "Genius Bars" (friendly technical support, especially for those self-actualized Apple customers who pay $99 annually as part of the Procare program which allows them one hour a week of extra training and attention) have been expanded. It's almost like a hotel that came to realize they were making big bucks on their lobby bar so they decided to extend the bar. Well, at Apple, they're dispensing wisdom, not cocktails, but they're finding this relationship-driven approach to selling computers to be highly profitable. It's a far cry from Radio Shack.
In fact, Apple has now banished the cash registers so that their "concierges" who help customers find their products can just whip out a portable scanner on the spot in order to facilitate the payment for the goods. Notice that the transaction is the last step of the process and is completely understated. Has this worked? You bet it has. Conventional wisdom in 2001 (when Apple opened their first stores), suggested computer retailing was passe as Dell's "Direct" approach was going to take over the world and Gateway was going out of business. Yet, Apple became the fastest retailer of any kind to ever make it to $1 billion in sales. Now, they're up to $4.2 billion annually just in retail sales.
So, how can you apply Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs to your shopping habits this holiday season? First of all, just remember that most of us have way more stuff than we need and we have precious little storage space to "stuff" all this additional stuff we're going to receive these next few weeks. Take a lesson from MasterCard - who frankly would appreciate it if we all bought billions of dollars of useless crap for each other - which reminded us that what's most important in life is what's "Priceless." What's priceless in our lives isn't the material possessions, it's the experiences and memories we create with our loved ones. The big gift I give the 11 members of my extended family each Christmas is an annual family vacation. Last year, it was an art-themed weekend in LA. This year, we're going (along with an additional 3 family members) to the Ahwahnee Lodge in Yosemite where we'll have a traditional white Christmas and experience the legendary Bracebridge 17th century English yuletide ceremony (which has been celebrated annually for 80 years at the Ahwahnee and has to be booked a year in advance).
If you want to create a transformational holiday experience - as opposed to the typical transactional approach - consider the following three questions: (a) what kind of unique experience can you create that your family or friends will remember for years? (b) what kind of gift can you give that will self-actualize your gift recipient (for example, how about donating $100 to a teenager's favorite cause?)? or (c) what's an educational experience you can gift someone that will boost their sense of esteem and will benefit them for years to come? In sum, as the feverish shopping season kicks into gear, consider a new approach to creating a more meaningful season of giving.
Posted by Chip Conley at 10:45 AM
November 22, 2007
Innovation: 5 Ways to THANK Your Customers
Forget shiny objects, including prospects, for a moment. Forget social media, networks and online opportunities. You have plenty of material to work with as it is -- your customers are already doing business with you. How about showing them some appreciation? Here are 5 things you can do to show them how grateful you are for their business:
Posted by Valeria Maltoni at 8:20 AM
| 2 Comments
November 21, 2007
The New Rules of Innovation
Rule # 1 - None of us are as smart as all of us.
The image of a lone genius slaving away in a dimly lit basement or garage is the traditional image of the inventor. However, according to Andrew Hargadon (Assistant Professor of Technology Management at the University of California) this is largely a myth. Moreover, when it comes to innovation, a collective effort is more usually the norm. Andrew Hargadon's book (How Breakthroughs Happen) says that innovation is largely a result of networks. These are formal and informal collections of people and projects ranging from employees and suppliers to customers and even competitors. These networks are highly social in nature, which means that cultivating relationships is important. Another key observation is the thought that ideas are rarely new. New ideas are usually a recombination of old ideas and thus diversity in terms of people, ideas and experience is key for innovation. Having said all this, the best way to kill a good idea is to involve a committee, so ensure that there’s someone in charge to bang heads together and, if necessary, dislodge the gridlock.
Posted by Richard Watson at 4:58 PM
| 1 Comment
November 20, 2007
Innovation: Does My Stomach Believe My Eyes?
The worst institutional food short of Sloppy Joes at a junior high school cafeteria has long been found flying through the air. Inflight fare hasn't been the butt of jokes for no reason — food service has become a casualty of hard economic times that airlines have faced over the recent years.
And today, in fact, the real airline innovators don't feed you at all.
Continue reading "Innovation: Does My Stomach Believe My Eyes?"Posted by Robert Buckman at 10:27 PM
November 15, 2007
Innovation: Customers Miss REVOLUTIONARY Credit Card News
Is it because we do not like to be anonymous? A new kind of credit card launches in September and it’s not all over the news. Founded by AOL’s Steve Case and an impressive team of experienced veterans of the credit card and banking business, Revolution Money has all the hallmarks for success. Where are the success stories?
This may be the greatest customer-friendly product you never heard about. According to an article in inside A.R.M.
Continue reading "Innovation: Customers Miss REVOLUTIONARY Credit Card News"Posted by Valeria Maltoni at 6:55 AM
November 13, 2007
Innovation: Rock, Paper, Scissors
Everybody knows the game of rock, paper, scissors.
Airbus seems to know the game, too. The aircraft consortium has been playing it with the choice of materials for its A350. Originally, Airbus was planning to build a conventional metal model. Then the news of Boeing's planned 787 Dreamliner caused Airbus to change course with a skeleton of aluminum married to a skin of composites.
Continue reading "Innovation: Rock, Paper, Scissors"Posted by Robert Buckman at 8:29 AM
November 7, 2007
Innovation: Customer Relationships ARE Conversations
In the past couple of days, Steve Yastrow has been collecting definitions about “what is a customer relationships?” at Tom Peters’ blog. The working definition they’ve come up with is:
A relationship is an ongoing conversation with a customer, in which the customer never thinks of you without thinking of the two of you.
Customer relationships are conversation only and if there is an unwavering commitment on the part of the company to make it so. Let’s not forget that in exchange for providing a product or service, the company gets compensation.
True, if the organization is market-driven and knows what products and services customers want and need, there will be a profit and a value that it will put back into the marketplace in the form of higher stock valuations in the case of a public company and more jobs and benefits for the local economy in the case of a private company. Both things that end up putting value back into circulation for this wonderful mechanism we call economy.
Continue reading "Innovation: Customer Relationships ARE Conversations"Posted by Valeria Maltoni at 10:13 PM
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October 31, 2007
Innovation: A Few Things Your Customers Have Learned with the Help of Social Media
Your brands may have shifted radically from top of mind to bottom of the pile in your customers' lives – all thanks to social media. From premier to ordinary just in a few clicks thanks to the dozens forum reviews, blog posts, Twitter bursts, even text messages. These tools and your customers' increasing comfort level with using them are word of mouth on steroids.
The average consumer uses the Internet as an essential product research tool. We may purchase off line, but we surely enjoy the wealth of information we find online, especially any insights from other people who've gone through the same process. And here's where social media comes in.
It may not be enough anymore to have a company web site that is easy to use, displays clearly what you want to highlight with compelling content, and points people in the right direction. Although that is still seen as a priority for many companies, the rest of the organic search results that pop up when people enter key words that describe your business may very well be blog posts or forum boards. People will go visit those sites.
Continue reading "Innovation: A Few Things Your Customers Have Learned with the Help of Social Media"Posted by Valeria Maltoni at 9:25 PM
October 28, 2007
Innovation: Antique Air
America's air-traffic control system lags behind systems already rolled out in other parts of the world. This summer's flight delays have demonstrated all too clearly that our system is too slow to handle today's volume.
That's the storyline of a September 28 article in The Wall Street Journal, which also observes that what's limiting the on-time reliability of America's airlines isn't so much lack of runways as it is lack of airspace.
Continue reading "Innovation: Antique Air"Posted by Robert Buckman at 6:05 PM
October 25, 2007
Innovation: Google’s Math PUZZLES Customers
Your site just did the Google Dance — and your partner seems to have stepped on your foot. Today the giant information engine company downgraded several blogs with high PageRanks (PR) – the jury is out on why those sites were demoted. Among them ProBlogger, who has upward of 34,000 RSS subscribers, Copyblogger who has upward of 26,000 RSS subscribers – two among my favorite sources of good content written intelligently.
As Andy Beard wrote in his post on Digg favorites slapped by Google, this might be related to blog network interlinking. A civil discussion ensued in the comments of all those posts, dozens and dozens of them. Or does this mean that Google no longer values blogs as highly as it once did and is scaling back its authority accordingly?
Continue reading "Innovation: Google’s Math PUZZLES Customers"Posted by Valeria Maltoni at 6:50 AM
October 23, 2007
Innovation: This Post is All About You
Isn't that what we all want? In this overloaded world of information and advertising, don't we just want it to be all about us for a change?
Throughout my career in corporate America and consulting, I've seen it more times tha