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CHALLENGE WHAT YOU KNOW
DEBATE
INQUIRE
ASK
TESTTHINK
WHO
WHERE
WHYWHICH
WHEN HEARD
READ
SAW
FELT
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October issue 2
SHIFT PERSPECTIVESFUTURELAB
T
hese are exciting times. Sure, we have a recession, and there is the looming threat o ination, unemployment and urther value destruc-
tion. But all these clouds are also lined with opportunity. The opportunity to change the way we work. Toset things right.
Aer all, people only change when they have to. And rom a business perspective, this is the case. In many companies, doing more o the
same is not an option any more. While this possesses challenges, it also allows shedding the bad practices that have accumulated over
the past two decades. The mindlessshout and sellcommunication eorts. The customer-toxic practices. The oen uninspiring types o innovation
which shun breakthrough risk to the beneft oplay-it-sae-incrementalism.
So or me, and or Futurelab, these are great time s. Aer all, beyond helping our clients, we are on a mission to change the nature o marketing itsel.
We want to bring the proession back to its roots by ocusing on the customer, the bottom line and breakthrough innovations that truly dierentiate
a company. We want to make marketing an all-company sport. Get fnance, logistics, sales, production, HR and yes even the marketing department
to do what is right or the business and or the customer, rather than what their silos dictate.
But we cannot do this alone. In act, no one can. For marketing to regain its position as a truly meaningul proession, it needs to step away rom the
centralist knowledge paradigm. Here, a number o smart people hold all knowledge and disseminate this to those less literate. They oen call them-selves proessors, thought leaders, strategists or even gurus.
Yet i there is one thing weve learned rom this recession, is that no one holds all the wisdom. The world as we know it has become unpredictable,
and anyone claiming to have all the answers is simply not being truthul.
That is why we have started to look or initiatives rom people thatget it. Individuals whose thinking and actions we can help ampliy by means we
have available. You are currently looking at one o them.
Launched by Bogdan Meica & Stean Moghina, Shif Perspectives is a digital publication that transers on to 30 pages what we attempt to do on the
Futurelab blog. Bring together the thinking o some o the sharpest minds in marketing, strategy and innovation into one thought-provoking piece.
I have to say, they did it quite well. From Seth Godin to Tom Anderson they brought together global thinkers who understand that a project by two
young people in Romania can have the same value as the journal o a prestigious business school.
To ensure it also has the same reach, I am proud that they asked Futurelab to endorse their initiative and help launch it to world.
This we gladly do. Because it is people like Bogdan and Stean that are the real change agents o t he marketing revolution.
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October issue 3
SHIFT PERSPECTIVES
SETH GODIN
CHALLENGING THE STATUS QUO IS WHAT I DO FOR A LIVING
ARE WE SOLVING THE SAME PROBLEM?
NOT SO GOOD AT MATH
GERALD NANNINGA
IT MUST BE BETTERLIVING IN FEAR
JONATHAN SALEM BASKIN
TRANSFORMATION INTERRUPTED
SCARCITY AS A BENEFIT
MITCH JOEL
MAYBE ITS TIME FOR MARKETING TO MOVE AWAY FROM THE BIG IDEA
TRUST IS NON-TRANSFERABLE
THE LESSER OF TWO EVILS WHEN IT COMES TO DIGITAL MARKETING
IDRIS MOOTE
WHATS YOUR STRATEGY FOR STRATEGIC INNOVATION?
WHATS THE LAST INNOVATION YOUVE SEEN COMING FROM THE INSURANCE INDUSTRY?
CHRIS LAWER
LESS CAN BE MORE: PREPARING FOR THE RECOVERY IN UNCERTAIN TIMES
DAVID ARMANO
5 CHALLENGES SOCIAL BUSINESS WILL FACE
JOHN CADDELL
TO MOTIVATE FRONT-LINE EMPLOYEES: DONT jUST THANK THEM, USE THEIR INSIGHTS
TOM H. C. ANDERSON
SHOULD FORTUNE 1000 COMPANIES BE ACTIVE ON SOCIAL NETWORKS?
INTERVIEWING SETH GODIN
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October issue 4
SHIFT PERSPECTIVES
But i you choose to do that, its essential
that you know more about it than everyone else,
not less. Certainly not zero. Be skeptical, but be in-
ormed (about everything important, not just this
issue, o course). Screaming ignorance gets atten-tion, but it distracts us rom the work at hand.
Its easy to t in by yelling out, and ar more
dicult to actually read and consider the acts.
Anytime you hear, I dont have the time to un-
derstand this issue, Im too busy being upset, you
know that something is wrong.
Brands ace this as much or more than politicians
do. I witnessed a knock-down ght between two
teenagers over which operating system was best.
There are generations o arguments between Fordand Chevy owners. Motorcycle gangs are ofen
parochial in their choice o bike. And in each case,
the less people know, the more they yell.
I you want to change what your boss be-
lieves, or the strategy your company is ollowing,
the rst step is to gure out how to be the best in-
ormed person in the room.
Willfully ignorant vs. aggressively skeptical
C
hallenging the status quo is what I do
or a living. Either that or encourage
other people to do it. But there are two
ways to do it, and one o them is ine-
ective, short-sighted and threatens the abrico the tribe. The other seems to work. I heard
someone screaming about death panels and
how the government was not only going to
kill his grandmother, but would take out Ste-
phen Hawking himsel i it had the chance. The
screaming is a key part, because screaming is
ofen a tool used to balance out the lazy igno-
rance o someone parroting opposition to an
idea that they dont understand. (I you want to
write to me about this post, please write to meabout the screaming part, not about whether
or not you agree with the acts or the science.
Thats what the post is about, the screaming.)
I you want to challenge the conventional wis-
dom o health care reorm, please do! Itll make
the nal outcome better.
SETH GODIN is a bestselling author, en-
trepreneur and agent of change. Godin
is author of ten books that have been
bestsellers around the world. Seth is a re-
nowned speaker as well. He was recently
chosen as one of 21 Speakers for the NextCentury by Successful Meetings and is
consistently rated among the very best
speakers by the audiences he addresses.
Seth was founder and CEO of Yoyodyne,
the industrys leading interactive direct
marketing company, which Yahoo! ac-
quired in late 1998. He holds an MBA
from Stanford, and was called the Ulti-
mate Entrepreneur for the Information
Age by Business Week.
http://sethgodin.typepad.com
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October issue 5
SHIFT PERSPECTIVES
S
imple quiz or smart marketers: Lets say your goal is to reduce gasoline consumption.
And lets say there are only two kinds o cars in the world. Hal o them are Suburbans
that get 10 miles to the gallon and hal are Priuses that get 50. I we assume that all the
cars drive the same number o miles, which would be a better investment: Get new tires
or all the Suburbans and increase their mileage a bit to 13 miles per gallon. Replace all the Pri-uses and rewire them to get 100 miles per gallon (doubling their average!)
Trick question aside, the answer is the rst one. (In act, its more than twice as good a move).
Were not wired or arithmetic. It conuses us, stresses us out and more oen than not, is used to
deceive.
This is the biggest disconnect I know o. It happens all the time in B2B sales, in service mar-
keting, in getting along with your boss and even in hiring someone. One side thinks they
have gured out a solution. They spend a long time talking about the solution, architect-
ing it, rening it, pricing it, pitching it, delivering it. The other side ends up not liking what
they get. The disconnect: the rst side says, this solution is exactly as we described it! the other
side says, it doesnt work right.
The disconnect is caused because people ocus on the solution instead o the problem youwere given to solve. Its a lot easier to talk about eatures and hours spent and someones resume and
a lot more dicult to dig into the problem itsel. This is where the obligating question becomes so
critical. I we can deliver a dam that stops the water ow, will you be delighted? I I can hire some-
one who can answer ten calls an hour and keep customers coming back, will that work? I this
book cover receives an award or best design, will that be a win? The dicult conversation about
the problem is ar more useul than the endless efort on solutions. The reason is that people dont
tell themselves (or you) about the problem theyre actually solving. Sure, theyd like an employee
that does x, y or z, but you know what, theyd also like that person to be really good looking and will-
ing to do our bidding, waiting on us hand and oot. Sure, wed like a personal computer with a lot o
computing power, but wed also like it to be light and sexy and covetable...The more clarity you canget about what a successul solution looks like, the more likely you will be to have a delighted cus-
tomer when youre done.
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October issue 6
SHIFT PERSPECTIVES
Many years ago, there was a comedian who
specialized in doing impersonations. Now,
it used to be that a lot o comedians did im-
personations. This comedian, however, put a unique
spin on the genre. He specialized in doing imper-
sonations o people who died
long beore the invention o re-
corded sound.
For example, he would
do impersonations o people like
Abraham Lincoln or Aristotle. It
was interesting to watch, but was it
accurate? I have no idea what Aristo-
tle sounded like or what his manner-
isms were. For all I know, this comedian
could have it all wrong and not even be close. But in
the end, I guess it doesnt matter. Since nobody elseknows what Aristotle sounded like or acted like, no-
body could challenge the accuracy o the imperson-
ations. As long as the comedian was unny, the audi-
ence would accept his impersonations. It was those
other comedians, who did impressions o people we
knew, who were more sharply critiqued (Hey thats
not what John Wayne sounds like).
THE STORY THE ANALOGY
I have nearly 30 years o ex
perience in business, having worked
with a number o leading retailers,
including Best Buy, DSW, Supervalu,
Shopko, Filenes Basement, Tweeter Home Entertainment, SaveA-Lot,
and Value City, among others. Most
o my work has been in the area o
Strategic Planning, but I have also
done work in marketing, fnance
and consumer research. I am bilin
gual (speak both marketing and f
nance) which helps me take a more
complete and balanced approach
to business problems/issues.
http://planninga-from-nanninga.
blogspot.com/
When nobody knows what truth is
(and nobody is able to discern the truth), then
nobody can eectively challenge your posi-
tion. This was the situation the comedian was
in. Nobody knew what those ancient people
sounded like or acted like, so the
audience could not challenge the
comedians impression o these
old people. They just sat back and
enjoyed the show. However, i
someone is doing an impression
or imitation o something you are
very amiliar with, then the criti-
cisms come fying. You know what
truth is because you have experi-
enced the real thing. Any variation
rom the real thing will be noticed as a faw ordeect. Rather than just sitting back to enjoy the
show, you compare the imitation/impression to
the reality (as you remember it) and get upset
i the imitation does not live up to your expec-
tations o what truth is. Youll shout something
like, I know what John Wayne sounds like and
acts like, and that was not it!
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October issue 7
SHIFT PERSPECTIVES
This situation is similar to what happens in business. In product devel-
opment, you have one o two strategic choices: either create something totally
new, unlike anything else in the market OR create a me, too product that is a
variation o something which already exists.
The rst choice would be like our comedian, who did impressions that
were totally new to you (you had never heard the voice o these people be-
oreyou have no reerence point). Similarly, totally new products have no re-
erence pointwhat you invent denes the category. It is accepted as authentic
and people enjoy it or what it is.
The second choice (oering a me too product) is like comedians who
do impressions o people we are very amiliar with (you have a reerence
point). You are more critical, because you have a benchmark to compare it to.
Any variance rom the original reerence point makes your product less au-
thentic.
The principle here is that the less the amiliarity, the greater the accep-
tance. Thereore, i you blaze new trails in product development towards areas
unamiliar to your customers, your development eorts have greater potential
or acceptance.
We could see this principle at work in the comedian story. We are more
orgiving o the comedian going where wed never been than ones covering a-
miliar impressions with a slight imperection. I also experienced this principlerecently in a restaurant. This was no ordinary restaurant. It was an exotic restau-
rant specializing in exotic oods which I had never eaten beore. Heck, I couldnt
even pronounce the words on the menu, let alone understand it.
When the ood came out, I had no preconceived notion as to how it was
supposed to taste. I had never eaten anything like this beore. Some o it tasted
ne. Some o it tasted very odd to me. But since this was a nice restaurant with a
THE PRINCIPLE
good image, I assumed they were all supposed to taste like that. It
never occurred to me that the dishes might be prepared wrong.
They supposedly had excellent ches, so I just took it or
granted that these concoctions were supposed to taste that way
even i I didnt like it.
But what i I was wrong and the ood really was prepared
poorly? What i this really was bad tasting ood? I wouldnt know.
So I was satised, whether it was right or wrong, because I didnt
have a pre-conceived notion o what good would taste like. I just
sat back and enjoyed the d inner.
Now i this ancy restaurant had served me a hamburger, I
would have had a reerence point. I could have complained i their
gourmet burger drifed too ar away rom my concept o what a
hamburger is supposed to look like and taste like. But they d id not
oer a me too burger. They oered me a taste o the unknown. A
taste o the unknown is always yummier than an o-beat versiono the amiliar.
You can also do this at the low end o the restaurant spec-
trum. Quiznos has had great success with their $4 Torpedo. The
beauty o the Torpedo is that it is so unlike anything else out there
that there is no reerence point to tell i it is a good torpedo or a bad
oneso you accept that it is a good one, and worth the $4.
I had nevereaten anythinglike this before.
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October issue 8
SHIFT PERSPECTIVES
Quiznos knew that having a $4 item on their menu would be a key to
success in this recession. They could have lowered the price o their amiliar
regular sub sandwich to $4, but that would have caused problems. First, once
you lower the sub to $4, there is an expectation that $4 is now the right price
or that sub. It would be dicult to raise the price back up later without ruining
the new perceived value. Second, the regular sub is not designed to work in the
business model at $4. Either you have to cheapen the sub (which would be no-ticed, since people were amiliar with it) or you have to lose money on the deal.
By contrast, the Torpedo was designed to work in the business model
at $4. It wasnt a cheapened anything, since it was brand new. Sure, it had less
meat than a regular sub, but the Torpedo never was a regular sub and was not
expected to be one. It was a Torpedo, and this i s how Torpedos are supposed to
be. They had never been anything else. A strategic piece o genius!
So what does this mean for your strategy?
1
It is almost always better to create something brand new,
where you can dene the parameters o success, than to
copy someone else, who has already dened success (as
being them). When you control how a product is dened,
then you can dene the perect product as the one you are
oering. Apple has been very good at this.
When Toyota invented the Prius, they made a brand
new car which dened what a hybrid is supposed to be. Afer
that, anyone else who tried to make a hybrid brand had to be
compared to the denition o the perect hybridthe Prius.
And o course the Prius is the superior Prius, so it wins. Worse
yet were automakers who tried to make a hybrid version o a
non-hybrid car people were already amiliar with. That didnt
work, because their amiliarity with t he gas hog version biasedthem against the hybrid version (amiliarity made them more
critical).2When positioning your product, dont spend too much ti me com-paring it to the status quo product.
I you make too big a deal out o the status quo, you are acknowledg-
ing its leadership, which makes you an also-ran. People will say, I you are
so good, then why does t he status quo have higher sales? Instead, position
yoursel as an entirely new way to solve an old problem. Theres just some-
thing about saying that my revolutionary new way is better which sounds
more believable than saying Im making basically the same thing as what
is already out there and successul, but Im better.
3Sometimes you can get around cost pressures by replacing the
amiliar with a cheaper unknown which is positioned as a wholly
new product.
Cheese was getting very expensive, which is a problem or
companies like Taco Bell, who use a lot o cheese and want to keep
their prices low. But Taco Bell has never been araid o inventing
new menu items nobody has ever heard o. So the new items sub-
stituted cheaper cheese sauce or cheese. However, since these
were brand new items that never had real cheese in them, it didntlook like a cheap substitution. It was just how the new item was sup-
posed to be. This is ar more successul than i they had taken amil-
iar items and did the substitution. Then, Taco Bell took this cheap
sauce and put hot spices in it and invented Hot Lava Sauce. So
now the cheaper substitute was a unique, premium item in brand
new menu items.
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October issue 9
SHIFT PERSPECTIVES
Winning strate-
gies tend to blaze new
trails rather than re-
work the amiliar. The
revolutionaries get to
dene the category in
their avor and tend to
receive less criticism.
Because they dene
the category, they must
be right.
SUMMARY
Even i your
product is not all that
revolutionary, that
doesnt mean that you
cannot package it in a
revolutionary manner.
Chrysler was makingairly ordinary trucks,
but they were pack-
aged as revolutionary
because they had the
magic Hemi engine.
FINAL THOUGHTS
THE STORY
I
knew a woman who was very
curious. She liked to read all the
time. One o her avorite topics
to read about was the dangers
and threats which could beset theworld. She became an expert in un-
derstanding all the potential dan-
gerseverything rom the dangers
which could beset a women walk-
ing alone in a parking garage to the
dangers to the entire planet rom
the thinning o the ozone layer.
The more she read about
potential dangers, the more ear-ul she became. She eventually be-
came araid that all o the potential
dangers had a high likelihood o
happeningto her. She became in-
creasing araid to leave the house.
Her ear or the entire health o the
planet (and her inability to stop ev-
ery threat) became so intense that
she was prescribed medicine in or-
der to cope.
Over time, the ear so gripped
her that she could no longer unc-
tion in the outside world. She was a
true suferer o agoraphobiaand it
was so sad to see.
THE ANALOGY
Although it is not a bad idea to become inormed about
potential risks, too much ear about those risks can be very det-
rimental. As we saw in the story, excessive ear over potential
threats can be paralyzing. Too much ear leads to an inability to
act and move ahead. The ear can trap us in our homes.Business is all about taking risks. As they say, No Risk, no
Reward. O course that doesnt mean we should ignore all warn-
ing signs o risk and dive into a situation blindly. That almost
always leads to disaster. The recent economic collapse, or ex-
ample, was due to not properly understanding the risks o the
complex nancial products which were introduced. Financial
institutions dove too deep into these risky venturesblind to the
extent o the riskand it almost collapsed the entire economy.
One o the key roles o strategic planning is to provide
knowledge and insight so that the risks are minimized. Better,
less risky moves can be made based on the discipline o strate-
gic analysisa solid understanding o the environment. Strategic
planning makes you smarter so that you can act smarter.
However, even with the use o strategic planning, the risks
do not go entirely away. I you wait until all the acts are in, it will
be too late to take the lead. The market dynamics will already be
set in concrete and not have room or your late entry. Thereore,
there will always be an element o the unknown in every goodstrategy.
The key is to not become paralyzed with ear. Instead, the
goal is to make risk your riend.
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October issue 10
SHIFT PERSPECTIVES
The principle here is that risk
is not to be avoided, but rather to be
exploited. Dont be like my riend who
was so ear stricken that she was araid
to leave the house. To win, you have totake your business out into the market-
place and aggressively ght or success.
Even in tough economic times, one can-
not just hunker down in the bunker in
ear and wait it out. Market share chang-
es hands all the timeespecially when
times get tough. Customers are more
willing to reconsider their habitual buy-
ing patterns when their economic con-
dition worsens. Thereore, tough times
are not times to hide in your house, be-
cause your share is more vulnerable
than ever. O course, the share o your
competitor is also vulnerable, so you
have an opportunity to gain i you go
out and act smartly.
Taking calculated risks into uncharted
territory can be one o your best riends,
because:
a. It allows you to get a head start in anarea which is relatively uncontested
(like the Blue Ocean Strategy).
b. It allows you to write the rules in your
avor.
c. It increases your chance o being the
leader and reaping most o the rewards.
THE PRINCIPLE
Of course, not all ventures into new space are successful. So how can we improve
our chances of success within this uncertainty? Here are four suggestions.
1Plan the Entire Chain
Successul ventures are based on successul business models. In todays increasingly sophisticatedmarketplace, it is not enough just to create a cool product. To make money, one needs to plan and
control the entire value chain around it. Your business model strategy must include a way to get the
rest o the value chain to work in your avor. Otherwise it can work against you. Compare, or example,
Sony versus Apply. Sony has concentrated on making cool devices. Apple has concentrated on making
cool business systemsdevices, apps, stores and so on.
Apple realized that a cool device can quickly become a commoditya piece o hardware that gets
the prot margin kicked out o it i you do not control the selling process downstream. Thereore, Apple
has tightly controlled its retail distribution. Second, Apple knew that i the cool applications shi to an-
other device, nobody will want the Apple device, because what customers really want is the ability to
get to the cool apps. As a result, Apple did its best to become THE place or the cool apps programmers to
programming or.
Finally, devices get purchased inrequently, whereas the apps get purchased all the time. Apple
knew i it was not getting a cut o the apps business, it was losing out on where most o the ongoing value
in the business model was being made. Thereore, Apple made sure it was THE place or purchasing the
apps, so that it could get a cut o the sales. By planning the entire value chain, Apple was able to ensure
that the value chain continued to ow through Apple and did not get diverted somewhere else. This this
thoroughness and control signicantly increased Apples ability at being a success in risky new ventures
like the ipod and the iphone.
By contrast, Sonys recent ventures aimed at cool devices only have not been as successul. They have
recently sufered a large loss. Sonys cool devices are not cool enough on their own to create a secure busi-
ness model. By not controlling distribution downstream or applications upstream, Sony is more vulner-able to being bypassed in the value chain. By not having the compelling stickiness o a tight value chain,
Sony has to cut prices in order to create preerence, which hurts margins. Sir Howard Stringer, head o
Sony, has seen the error o this narrow ocus and is in the process o transorming Sony to think more ho-
listically about the entire value chain. So, success in new ventures goes up i you plan out the entire value
chainto build a system which is biased in your direction and makes all the players better of i they play
by your rules.
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Even though new ventures pose ri sks, that is not a reason
to hide and resist venturing into new areas. The idea is to use a
strategic planning process which minimizes the likelihood that
the risks will hurt you. This includes ideas such as planning the
entire value chain, planning for superior solutions, narrowing
the funnel quickly, and experimentation/adapting.
If you do the types of activities mentioned in this blog,
risk moves from being an enemy to being a friend, because it
gives you an edge over the competitors who do not follow this
advice.
October issue 11
SHIFT PERSPECTIVES
2Look for Superior Solutions
A lot o businesses get excited by a new venture when it uses the
latest and greatest technology. The mindset tends to be that i it
uses the latest technology, it has to be better, so the business model
should succeed. The problem is that most people dont care about how
up-to-date the technology is. What they really want is a superior solution
to a problem. Sometimes, the latest technology does not improve the abil-ity to solve a problem. Sometimes it even makes it worse.
Take internet grocery shopping, or example. Nearly every venture
into this space has been a miserable ailure. Is it because they did not use
the latest technology? No, its because internet grocery shopping is an ine-
rior way to shop.
They claimed that internet grocery shopping would be more con-
venient. However, how convenient is it really when you consider that:
a) You have to sit at home or a 4 hour delivery window (which is a longer
time than it takes to shop).b) I they are out o stock on an item you want, either they may make a sub-
stitution you dont like or they will not supply the item, leaving you with
only hal the ingredients needed or a meal. Is that convenient?
c) The ordering process on line is less enjoyable than shopping, and un-
less you like eating the same ood every week, it is still time consuming.
On top o that, a lot o the things a customer does or ree when
shopping the store (picking out the items, checking them out, taking them
home) now are done by labor that must be paid i you buy o the internet.
This makes the internet process a lot less ecient and the groceries a lot
more expensive. As it turns out, the minor bit o convenience is not seen as
enough to justiy the higher prices the new internet grocery model needs
to earn a prot. So the business model ails. The moral? Just because a
model uses newer technology does not automatically make it better. Only
go aer ventures which truly have a signicant advantage over the status
quo in solving the customers real problem.
3Narrow the funnel quickly
Although there are risks to putting all your eggs in one basket,
there are also risks to trying to venture into too many dierent
directions at the same time. The solution? Dont be araid o look-
ing at a lot o potential new ventures early in the process. This increas-
es your chance o nding a real winner. However, quickly determine
which ones have the best shot o success and stop the unding on therest. One o the biggest drains occurs when one delays halting support
or the losers. The longer you wait, the worse it gets.
4Experiment and Adapt
Ultimate successes rarely end up looking like the original vi-
sion. They tend to morph along the way as you learn. Thereore,
rather than working in the lab alone until the original vision is
perected, do some early experimentation. Let beta models out into the
marketplace. Get input along the way rom your customers. Be willing
to fex and adapt. This increases the likelihood that the nal product iswhat the market really wants.
SUMMARY
FINAL THOUGHTS
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Im Jonathan Salem Baskin, and Ive
worked for 27 years translating branding
strategy into something more than images
and words, leading marketing communica-
tions for world-leading brands and advis-
ing others. For almost a decade, I partnered
with experts in 6 major markets worldwide
to serve clients in Europe, Asia, and NorthAmerica, leading a number of business initia-
tives to deliver the behaviors that substantiate
brand by crossing departments, functions,
and both digital and offline communications
domains. My experience taught me one,
overwhelming truth: The best way to discov-
er better answers consistently is to ask better
questions relentlessly.
I have dedicated my work and writing
to this purpose, in the hopes of improving thedelivery and experience of brand marketing
for businesses and their consumers.
http://www.baskinbrand.com/
According to market research rm Hartman
Group, consumer loyalty is shiing -- rom
products and brands, to the experiences
ofered by retailers -- in a radical transor-
mation that started beore the recession.
I think the change is much bigger than that.
Hartman is onto something because it specializes in
enthnographic market research (among other tools),
which is an attempt to understand consumers in the
context o their lives, both in terms o their knowl-
edge and belies, and through their behaviors.
I believe the rm is saying that capturing con-
sumers attention with creative and/or compelling
marketing communications no longer carries the
water in our busy, conused, noisy lives; experienc-
es are what stick, bring diferences into sharp ocus,
and compel purchases. The problem is that retailers
cant own experiences or, more broadly, experience
is a synonym or the context o reality.The more people know, or think they know,
the less they believe (broadly), and more tenacious-
ly hold onto what little they do (specically). This is
the intriguing dichotomy o our Internet Age; as con-
sumers gain the capacity to explore and share, they
lose the ability to trust and commit.
Institutions are no longer credible,
and historic truths arent reliable; acts and
ction are endlessly available, and oen
impossible to tell apart; every subject is up
or discussion and debate, which occurs in
real-time, all the time. No wonder people
arent willing to buy based on the intan-
gibles on which brands have relied or al-
most a Century. Reality is the new imagina-
tion, providing the context in which actions
can assert truth (i not simply immediacy,
and thus clarity) to consumers. This idea
isnt limited to retailers; the challenge is or
any business to make what it does, not just
what it says, believable and compelling.
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Actions, and the myriad o experi-
ences they enable -- rom in-store environ-
ments, online glimpses o manuacturing,
policy decisions, to the behavior o every
employee and vendor, whether at work or
not -- are what eed awareness, conversation,
and thus brands.Brands exist in this reality o experience. Communications can describe it, but mar-
keting can no longer serve as a substitute or dictation or it. Its a great opportunity, and its bigger than,
say, a social media strategy, or something thats experiential and in-store. These are tactics. The radical
transormation underway in the marketplace started beore the meltdown, and its inevitably chang-
ing the very substance o what marketers do or a living. The recession was a brie interruption.
The challenge is to see past it.
Think how many marketers ail
to see this somewhat simple truism, and
waste time and money trying to edu-
cate consumers about what they should
know about stu.
The whole concept o dieren-
tiation relies on a series o attributes that
are oen lost on olks; consumers are
supposed to discern the bold position-
ing o one product rom the reliablequalities o another one (thats other-
wise all but identical). This is especially
evident in new product launches, which
struggle to break through the cluttered
mediaspace to get seen.
But who cares i a laundry de-
tergent has 5% more stalagmites than
another, or that one bottle o hooch is
aged 9 years vs. 8? These can be very
meaningul and relevant attributes, but
Knob Creek bourbon has announced that it
may run out o stock yet this summer, and
that thirsty customers will have to wait un-
til the next batch arrives on store shelves
in November. I think this is brilliant, old-school mar-
keting. One o the most important brand attributes
o successul products and services is success; con-
sumers want to know that other consumers want
stu, and sales is a qualier that goes ar beyond
conversation as proo o that interest.
Thats why movies strive or big opening
weekends, and why a sellout o anything invariably
leads to reservation lists. While sofware mechanics
strive to make supply meet demand in an idealized
state o ongoing one-to-one perection, a little extra
demand goes a long way.
Which brings me back to Knob Creek.
It announced that it is letting its current sup-
ply run out, which may lead to shortages..so
it pretty much told its customers to go out and
horde the stu. I love it. It could have also ap-
plied some new media strategies to the ploy:
Letcustomersregisterforupdates/ac-
cess to the next batch (even pre-order, though
I bet theres some law against doing that on-
line) Howabouta socialmediacampaign
letting drinkers post their last Knob Creek ex-
perience and enter some contest or game or
a payo via the next batch?
Why not create a campaign that let
would-be customers witness the production
process? I its the true dierentiator, theyve
got the nanosecond part communicated, so
why not get olks involved in the education
part. I could see an Aging-cam that let peoplestare at an oak cask.
Nothing would happen.
Get it?
Campaigns like this renew my aith in the
marketing business.
Scarcity is a brand beneft. I hope its a
successul strategy or Knob Creek.
the communications challenge is to make such things apparent in a nanosecond. Perhaps long-
tail growth plans look smart on a spreadsheet, but I suspect that loads o people have lost their jobs
beore reality ever lived up to the aspirations o the ar right-hand column. Thats why social media
chatter isnt synonymous with sales, and why so many o the latest product campaigns have ailed
to deliver. Talk is cheap, i not outright worthless somet imes, and I think the defnition o success
in this business context requires the tangible, unequivocal truth o paid transactions. Anything else
canbeanenablerand/orsustainer,butnotasubstitute.
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Marketing Magazine
dubbed him the Rock Star o
Digital Marketing and in 2006
he was named one o the most
inuential authorities on Blog
Marketing in the world. Mitch
Joel is President o Twist Im-
age an award-winning Digital Marketing and Communica-
tions agency. In 2008, Mitch
was named Canadas Most In-
uential Male in Social Media
and one o the top 100 online
marketers in the world. His rst
book, Six Pixels o Separation,
named afer his successul Blog
and Podcast will be published
in the Fall 2009 on Grand Cen-tral Publishing Hachette Book
Group (ormerly Time Warner
Books).
www.twistimage.com/blog
Everything we do in Marketing, Adver
tising and Communications comes
out o The Big Idea. Its what drives
the marketing strategy, its what drives
the brand and agency to get excited about the
campaign, and its what drives consumers to
put their hands in their pockets and hand over
their hardearned dollars. Maybe it is time orMarketing to move away rom The Big Idea.
Whether we like it or not, times have changed.
Prior to the Internet and the social media plat
orms it has given us, we never could really
hear what consumers wanted, we never could
listen in on the types o conversations they had
between them, and we never could really un
derstand what made them buy, click and share.
In a world o Twitter, Facebook status updates,
Google Proles and FriendFeed, we know more than
we ever thought we would know and the truth is were
barely scratching the surace o what we can do with all
this inormation, data and insight. On top o that, we are
getting this inormation in realtime (or close to it).
To couple that concept with advertising, in theMad Men days o wooing the big clients and winning
them over with one pitch and one big idea, it was es
sentially a strategy where a brand was putting all o its
eggs into one basket (all o them rom the same chicken).
That big idea had better work, or heads would roll. We
all know the proessional liespan o the Chie Market
ing Ofcer (its anywhere between 1-2 years) and there
are very ew brands that still maintain a single agency o
record or a signicant amount o time. In act, ad agen
cies and brands are as ragmented as the media outletsthey serve.
So, in a world o media ragmentation, multiple
media outlets, new media platorms and brands har
nessing multiple agencies to meet their needs, perhaps
the time has come to ditch the concept o the big idea
and move more towards a world o many ideas.
In a world of Twitter, Facebook
status updates, Google Profiles
and FriendFeed, we know more
than we ever thought we would.
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Thats not to say that the many
ideas should not all tie into the overall
strategy, consumer insights or be stun-
ningly perect (in terms o creative and
execution), but that it is to say that in
this day and age, winning the market-
ing game is going to be about doing alot o little things, over one big thing that
brands will then cram into multiple out-
lets. Doing many things also doesnt
mean to think small.
In act, its probably a much
more dicult strategy to organize and
execute. In this era o Digital Marketing
its also a signicant amount o work
because as the campaigns evolve, so
should the creative and strategy. I
some o the many ideas dont oat, we
kill them and move on. I some o the
many ideas take of, we nurture, opti-
mize and push on. Our overall market-
ing strategy and execution becomes a
lot more ocused on the types o people
were connecting to, where theyre con-
nected, and how brands can add value
while building trust and community. It
sure does sound like it will take more
than a big idea to get that done.Maybe, the big idea in Market-
ing today is all about how were all go-
ing to move towards a many ideas
platorm?
Are the days of the big idea over?
What do you think?
The idea o being paid to post is a as-
cinating and recurring topic (shall I
trot out the dead horse now?), and
one that needs to be removed rom
these specic incidents and looked at with a
more macro perspective. The reality is that
there are many great Bloggers out there who
are seen as leaders. People want to connect
to them and, more importantly, some compa-
nies see them as an opportunity to connect
their brand to that community, or to build
credibility and create awareness or their
brands, products and services. Also, because
there are no clear advertising and sponsor-
ship models in many o these newer social
channels (beyond buying banners), wereseeing a ton o experiments to gure out
what works. Its very interesting and some-
what conusing - but thats the amazing part
o being in the Marketing, Advertising and
Communications business right now.
Some Bloggers were recently taken to task when they published a sponsored Blog
posting about a shopping spree they took with a major retailer. It is an amazing view intowhat marketing and advertising is in this new media channel (especially one where ev-
eryone can be a pundit and critic).
Real interactions between real human beings.
Advertising works when its the right brand in
the right environment with the right audience. The
general comments on these Blogs are all ocusing on
the levels o transparency and whether or not the
Bloggers are entitled to take money in exchange or
a Blog posting. I think this is the wrong conversation
to have (all o these Bloggers were very transparent).
Marketing and advertising works when there is trust
between the content provider and the audience.
Its not just about that relationship o trust, it is
extended towards two very diferent sides o publish-
ing - the content and the economy behind it. On the
one hand, the audience trusts that that the content
creator will stay true by providing valuable content,and on the economic side, the audience continues to
play along knowing ull well that all o this great con-
tent comes at a cost - advertising, sponsorships, con-
sulting gigs, book deals, speaking opportunities, and
everything else.
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No matter what, both sides have
to live up to the audiences expectations,
meaning the content must be strong and the
advertising must be relevant. Thats how all
successul publishers across all o the media
channels have won to date.
You cant buy trust.
The best advice a Digital Marketer
can give a client who is asking them i they
would accept money to post about them,
etc... would be to help them understand that
a brand cant buy trust, but they can - overtime - build community and earn reputation.
And, by going through with a program o this
nature, its also not very social media at all -
its just advertising (whether a Blogger yaps
about it or they run a banner ad on their site).
Someone is being paid to write about some-
thing.
The advertorial has been around or-
ever (well, at least, since the 1960s).
Theres nothing all that experimen-
tal with this ormat. But theres a problem i
it doesnt work: the bigger brands can chalk
it up to experimentation and simply move
on, while the Bloggers now have to rebuild
something that is incredibly rail and impos-
sible to buy rom their audience: trust.
Many Bloggers react with an, I dont ask my
readers or money, I give readers all o this great
content or ree, so whats wrong with a little money
rom someone else along the way to cover somecosts and put shoes on my babies eet? statement.
Theres nothing wrong with that, i its the under-
standing o the community rom the get-go. There
might be something weird about it i it just sudden-
ly appears out o nowhere.
Trust in non-transferable.
We expect Bloggers who post - and are
paid to do so - to be transparent. Transparency
is table stakes. We expect people to disclose
what is an advertisement, what is sponsorshipand what - i any - aliations are had with other
things that are mentioned within these social
environments. But, there is something more pro-
ound going on here.
When a company pays someone to
post, they are hoping that the trust people have
or that Blogger will be transerred to them. No
chance. Trust is non-transerable. We have com-
panies who have little-to-no social community
credibility riding the coat-tails o Bloggers who
have spent a long while building up their com-
munity and, i there was no prize at the end o
the rainbow (meaning the community also gets
a chance to win something - not just the Blog-
ger), it would probably leave everybody eeling
a little icky.
The only way or that not happen is when
the company that is paying to post has equal or
more trust within the community.
Ultimately, everyone has to fgure out whatworks best on their own spaces - be it a Blog, Pod-
cast, Twitter or Facebook. The real challenge is
in knowing your community well enough to de-
cide i its a good ft and, i its not, is it worth the
advertising dollars over the community trust
and engagement?
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In a recent keynote address I gave, a discussioncame up surrounding Facebook, privacy, and the general
publics best interests.
Its a story that has been covered in the news in re-
cent months, but the truth is that this story has little to do
with Facebook and much more to do with the Internet as a
new media platorm and communications channel.
Somehow, we as people have this amazingly powerul (and
weird) tendency to orget events o the past. It wasnt too long
ago (about 2000) that we were all concerned about cookies.
According to the website How Stu Works, an Internet cook-
ie is a piece o text that a web server can store on a users hard-disk.
Cookies allow a website to store inormation on a users machine
and later retrieve it. Without getting too technical, its a little digital
imprint that websites use to better understand users behaviour and
preerences (like when you select your country and language pre-
erence the rst time you visit a new website, and on all subsequent
visits, that website remembers your choices).
Aer cookies, we became more concerned with what Google
was doing poking around our e-mail. Googles ree e-mail service,
Gmail, provides targeted ads embedded in your messages based onthe content o the e-mail itsel. Lets say you were writing to a riend
about an upcoming trip to New York City - you would see ads or ho-
tels in New York, or cheap ights to that city.
Googles computers are scanning your Gmail account and
sending you targeted messages (also known as behavioural target-
ing) in hopes o putting the right message in ront o the right person.
Back to my keynote presentation: One person questioned whether or not it is a good
thing that all o these online social networks and websites have so much inormation (much
o it quite personal) about so many individuals. It can be scary when you look at it rom that
very valid perspective. What real choices do we have? The terms o service or many o the
more popular online social networks (Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, or Twitter) are nearly
impossible to read with all o their legalese. And even i you can keep your eyes open long
enough to work through the details, only a ew people would understand the real implica-
tions. So, lets put all that aside and agree that many o the terms-o-service waivers are com-plex, or even incomprehensible. Bottom line, heres what they basically say:
Listen, were going to give you all o this new and cool stuf or ree. So, yes, its ree or you to
use, but how we - the people who are giving this to you - get paid is by selling the data (not you as an
individual) were gathering to marketers. Now listen, I know what youre thinking. You think that rom
now on youre not going to be able to do anything here without getting some kind o annoying mes-
sage about how we can increase your sexual stamina or help you to lose weight. We dont want to run
those types o ads, but i someone doesnt buy some advertising space with messages that are more
relevant to you, we probably will have to. Sorry, but thats what you have to endure or having the abil-
ity to upload your photos and videos or ree and share them with your amily, riends and colleagues.
At any point in that dialogue you - as a consumer - can opt out.
But, be orewarned, i you agree to move orward, the gi o being able to poke your riends,
tweet about your dog, or post a book review, is brought to you courtesy o the advertising
and marketing messages that surrounds your online experience. Some say, Its the price o
admission - especially when that admission cost is ree. Others see it as an invasion o their
privacy.Both sides have valid points.
From an economic perspective, its important to understand the business model or many
o these online channels. Many o the new digital and online platorms have not gured out
the ideal revenue streams. Until they do, they are using advertising and marketing products
and services to monetize their trafc. As an individual, always be aware that the more de-
tailed inormation you provide, the more they know about you. (They being the serviceyou signed up or and all o the marketing partners they are currently working with - or may
work with in the uture.)
The bigger question becomes: Would you preer the random and annoy-
ing weight loss ads, or highly targeted messages based on what you have dis-
closed on an online social network? To the average consumer, it all still eels like a
lesser o two evils.
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Idris Mootee is a highly acclaimed
strategy and innovation expert and keynote
speaker who has a long history o working as
a strategy adviser serving C-level executives
and start-ups. Idris leads retreats, acilitates
executive strategy meetings, speaks at pres-
tige conerences on the topic o strategy, busi-ness model design and innovation, and con-
ducts executive level workshops around the
world.
He is the author o our business
books (some are published in mulit-languag-
es). Quoted in publications including the WSJ
and NY Times. He holds advanced degrees in
business and management.
Idris presentations range rom 40
minutes to 90 minutes. Each presentation
is researched and customized specifcally to
company and its industry.
http://www.mootee.typepad.com/
As the pace o innovation accelerates
and beyond the speed limit, execu-
tives are experiencing two other kinds
o hot water, declining bottom line re-
sults caused by the credit crisis and declining
consumer attention as they are becoming im-
mune to marketing. Everyone is thereore look-
ing or ways to improve their innovation capabil-ity and process; both within the organization as
well as with outside help through consultants
and even consumers that can help them detect
early trends.
Their mission is to nd ways to both dras-
tically widen (and deepen) the unnel o ide-
ation and then more efectively manage the pro-
cess rom concept to pilot and roll-out. Some are
seeking to update their obsolescent innovation
process and many dont even have one. Theyjust struggle to get started and many are simply
borrowing rom product development process
which isnt design or innovation. Everything
company has diferent needs and once a deci-
sion is made that your company must innovate
to remain or to become competitive, you should
start planning a logical yet adaptable process
to guide the team during the entire course o
action.
Where to start? First pick a type o inno-
vation process that works or your company.
Declare your intent and objective. Are you re-
sponding to a disruption or simply want to nd
want to grow your business? The result o thisprocess could include a new product, a new
service, a new business model? Look at what
tools you have and what are your ingredients
that you have to work with. How many cycles
o innovation is needed on a 12 month basis?
Second: Once you have decided on
your strategic intent, you should look at your
organization to see where and how this pro-
cess should be initiated. How much collabo-
ration is required both inside and outside theorganization? Do we have the right support
rom outside consultants? Does your orga-
nizational structure support the innovation
process you have selected? Will the culture
within the company support the innovation
development procedures?
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The important point here
is that the level o acceptance o
transormative ideas as well as
the level o risk tolerance must be
compatible with the overall man-
agement philosophy o the com-
pany, or the dissonance could
doom the project.
Third: What is the time
scale or such innovation pro-
cess? This will depend on a cou-
ple o actors. Among these are
the drivers o the project and the
size and complexity o the proj-
ect. I the development project is
an extension or minor modica-
tion o an existing product or ser-vice, the time scale could well be
a ew months versus a disruptive
move that takes up to a ew years.
Fourth: Decide on how
you want to nance it? Do you
have an innovation budget? Or
i you plan to nance it though
your marketing, product develop-
ment, research or other budget?
Or you need to create the busi-ness case beore you get started?
Or it is a corporate mandate and
you have access to some corpo-
rate strategy dollars which the
CEO put away or special use.
Even Google has nally
realized they just cant let contin-
ue using a laissez aire approach
to innovation and product de-
velopment. In a recent interview
with a WSJ they admitted that
Google can no longer aord to
let promising ideas all by the
wayside.
The Internet search gi-
ants once-torrid growth has
slowed. At the same time, it aces
resh competition rom Micro-
sofs new search engine, Bing,
and start-ups such as Twitter
Inc., which was ounded by ex-
Googlers.The response? Google
has recently started doing inter-
nal innovation reviews, they
are ormal meetings where ex-
ecutives present product ideas
bubbling up through their divi-
sions to Schmidt, Google ound-
ers Page and Brin, and other
senior olks. The processes are
designed to orce managementto ocus on promising ideas
at an early stage, according to
Schmidt. Even innovation needs
a process.
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With the average age o agents
rising steadily; sales is stagnant and mar-
gins getting thinner, insurance company
needs to rethink marketing and distri-
bution. Steady o inux o new invest-
ment products rom banks that are also
competing or insurance dollars. The big-
gest disruption will most likely remain
on the distribution side. The importance
o asset accumulation products is par-
ticularly noteworthy because this is the
market where insurers ace the most in-
tense competition rom all the banks, mu-
tual und cos, and investment advisory
rms. Because these non-
traditional competitors have much lower
distribution costs than insurers, insurersace intense pressure to operate more e-
ciently. Distribution costs are one o the
largest expense items associated with lie
and annuity policies.
Industry consolidation in insur-
ance is diferent rom banking. Weve
seen small banks going away but there
are not many changes among insurance
players, because it has less restriction
and many are successul in operating innationally. But the restructuring o the
lie insurance industry primarily tends to
involve such strategic objectives as an in-
creased emphasis on core competencies
or the expansion into new markets rather
than the consolidation o geographically
concentrated rms as in banking. Expect competitive
intensity to remain the same.
Back to the question posted to me. I think
there are two ways the insurance industry can take
advantage o social technologies. First is to empower-
ing agents to take advantage o social media as their
CRM systems. It is the best way to reach people with
common interests, while the other is connecting with
people engaged in a similar occupation. Provide them
with tools to make content a lot more engaging and
tons o training. It is as important as knowing how to
use a phone.
Second is the extreme widgetization o the
products an services. Innovative thinking needs to be
built in the existing products around their socialabi-
ity and connectivity.
Lie insurance is a high involve-
ment product, it helps us to prepare or two
risksdying too young or living too long. I
think living too long is more o a problem.
A recent study done by The Boston College
Center or Retirement Research ound that
43% o American households are at risk o
being unable to maintain their pre-retire-
ment income.
And i you take away some optimis-
tic assumptions such as using a reverse
mortgage, over 60% are not prepared.
You can put a lot o innovative thinking
into making the product (and experiences)
more engaging. Here are a ew o the ideas I
have rom the back pocket and each one o
them can be big: Asocially-enabledannuityproduct
designed to be marketed through online
word-o-mouth?
Amassproduced,multi-component
prepackaged one-click solutions there is a
gap in the market place or this?
A hyper-ecient direct distribu-
tion model a super low cost solution that
makes ING looks expensive?
Adirectsellingmid-marketlifetimeincome solution income is now the most
practical consideration?
Plan conversion exchange allow
people to convert dened contribution as-
sets into income or lie through annuitiza-
tion?
Life insurance is a high
involvement product,
it helps us to prepare
for two risksdying tooyoung or living too long.
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I am MD o Strategyn UK. We create product and service
strategies or client companies using our patented innovation
methodology. We work with a companys executive manage-
ment to invigorate growth and drive shareholder value through
creating an internal engine or innovation. Our structured
innovation process takes approximately 4 months to complete
and the result is a precise view o where in the market there are
opportunities or our client companies to create value. This
process has created billions o dollars or value in market cap or
client companies. Our list o clients includes Microso, Unilever,
Colgate, MetLie, StateFarm, Motorola, J&J, Medtronic and AIG
to name a ew.
Specialties:
Innovation, New Product Development, Breakthrough product
creation, Outcome-Driven Innovation and Research
I also lead The OMC Group - a UK-based network o cus-
tomer strategy consultants. Collectively, we have several years
senior, international management and consultancy experience
in consumer and business-to-business companies and thepublic sector as well as strong academic research pedigrees. We
work in the felds o strategy, innovation management, organi-
sational learning, marketing and brand management, customer
insight and customer-ocused capabilities development.
http://chrislawer.blogs.com
Faced with tough decisions that can make or break their companys
uture, it is little wonder that innovation managers are seriously retting
over their product portolios, go-kill decisions, new projects, resource
allocations and go-to-market timescales. Latest orecasts indicate it
may be the end o 2010 beore the recession bottoms-out and growth starts to
return.
So ar, many companies have responded to the unprecedented trading
conditions by slashing costs, cutting employee numbers, conserving cash andreducing investment in all new initiatives as though their survival depended
upon it. This may be necessary or now but in the longer-term, companies may
already have gone too ar by postponing or cancelling key innovation projects
that had the potential to plant green shoots and drive long-term business suc-
cess. Whilst riding out the perect storm may be the watchword or some, scal-
ing back too heavily could bring serious consequences or the longer-term.
I recognise that making such critical decisions in times o high economic
uncertainty is not easy. Crucially, it hinges on knowing - with a high degree o
confdence which pipeline projects or platorms should get the axe and which
should receive any remaining investment to secure market growth once recov-
ery arrives. But exactly how can these decisions be made? Well I suggest the an-
swer can be ound in developing one critical capability that many companies
still lack - that o acquiring, assimilating and commercially applying a ar deep-
er understanding o unmet customer needs with which to review an existing
pipeline o innovation projects and make critical growth planning decisions.
Let me explain.
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The problem with what
still passes or innovation in many
companies today is that it is not
innovation at all, but rather in-
vention. Companies that invent
rather than innovate tend to mea-
sure the success o their eorts by
the number as well as the quality
o new ideas they generate, their
ability to develop and market ex-periment these ideas quickly and
then speed them to market with a
anare. Summed up by the man-
tra - i were going to ail then at
least lets ail ast this accepted
culture o risk-taking and mistake-
toleration cannot be sustained in
a downturn when cash is king and
certainty is in short supply.
Acquiring, assimilating andcommercially applying afar deeper understandingof unmet customer needs
Lets look at some evidence that
compares the perormance o invention
with innovation. Goldenberg et al (2001)
tracked the perormance o 197 new prod-
uct introductions.
They then categorised them accord-
ing to how the products were originated,
whether through ideas, need spotting, mar-
ket research or in response to events. They
identifed that the least successul new
products were most likely to have been
born rom internally-generated ideas or
what they term, mental inventions. Such
inventions had only a 25% success rate. By
contrast, the most successul new products
originated rom capturing and understand-
ing unmet customer needs or events then
responding to them with appropriate solu-tions. This approach succeeded in between
50% and 90% o the new products originat-
ed in this way.
I you can identiy and cut out those
projects destined or ailure those that
dont meet customers important unmet
needs you can easily trim the wasteul
parts o your innovation budget. Put simply,
understanding unmet customers needs is
undamental to innovation success.
if were going to fail thenat least lets fail fast.
Here are some questions any
innovation manager should
ask of their current project
portfolio:
1Do you know exactly who will be the likely target cus-
tomer or target segment o your concept / product?
2Do you know the market size o the target buyer /
segment?
3
How will this market size change at the time o
launch?
4Will the concept / project address known, quanti-
fed important unmet customer needs?
5Do you know what these unmet needs are without
ambiguity?
6
What improvement in satisaction in needs will the
project / concept achieve?
7Do you have the optimum number o eatures andunctions on the platorm matched to unmet needs?
8Have you defned a clear value proposition or the
concept based on unmet needs?
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Using the jobs-to-be-done
and outcomes approach de-
vised by Strategyn, here are
some specifc activities thoseresponsible or innovation can
perorm to address the ollow-
ing questions:
Getting started - today
2Reassess how customers buy your prod-
ucts and the channels they use. Make it
easier or them to buy and discover a
new point o market dierentiation.
3
Determine i you are truly messaging to
your product strengths. Reassess current
value propositions, inormed by a solid
understanding o customer needs.
104
Focus your innovation eorts on your
most proftable customers. Protect them
by adding related jobs to existing plat-
orms or by satisying their outcomes
better. Innovate along their new priorities.
5Reocus your concept gen-
eration eorts by adding dis-
cipline to the inputs used.
Go outside the frm in a
more systematic way.
6Bring in top customers and
lead users at the concept
generation stage once op-
portunities are known, not
beore.
7
Pull previously cancelled
concepts back rom the
pipeline bin and reassess
them again using unmet
customer need inputs.
8Add adjacent jobs to cur-
rent platorms to quickly
and cheaply extend market
oerings.
9Undertake a competitive disruptive assessment against core jobs and top out-
comes addressed by existing platorms in the market or new concepts. De-
termine the ability o new entrants to address core jobs and outcomes aster,
cheaper, more conveniently or at a non-central location.
10Understand how current jobs-to-be-done served by existing products will
evolve post-recession. Start preparing future scenarios and inform them
with expert opinion and new customer inputs.
1Reassess customer needs to discover
changing priorities (e.g., cost versus conve-
nience, simplicity versus complexity). Ad-
just pricing and positioning according to
new customer priorities.
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I am currently building a practice around social
business design with Dachis Corp. I have 14 years expe-
rience in the creative eld with the majority o my time
spent in digital marketing and experience design. An ac-
tive participant in the industry, I write Logic + Emotion
which is ranked in the top 10 media + marketing blogs ac-
cording to Advertising Age. My writing and visual think-
ing has been cited by Forrester, The Boston Globe and
has landed me in BusinessWeek on several occasions
including their Best o 2006.
Prior to Dachis, I spent time as a creative/strategic lead at
notable rms such as Critical Mass, Digitas and Agency.
computting in a combined tenure o 8 years in the large
digital agency environment. I led multiple initiatives or
clients such as HP, Allstate, Fifh Third Bank, Miller Brew-
ing, Grainger, and Bally Total Fitness. Previously, I earned
my interactive stripes working with The Chicago Tri-
bune on their site initiatives.
Today, I blend strategy with design and look or new op-
portunities around the evolving Web (otherwise known
as Web 2.0) to enhance the customer experience and
bring brands and people closer together.
http://darmano.typepad.com/
Arecent survey conducted by Proopoint ound that 8% o companies had ter-
minated employees due to social media usage (common causes including
sharing sensitive inormation on a network).
And while the statistic seems signicant, it only underscores one o several
upcoming challenges nearly every organization will ace as changes in people, process
and technology ueled by the collective movement we call social media begin to trans-
orm business. Here are a ew challenges that every organization should be planning or
right now. I you arent you will be.
1. Integration
Becoming a social business can impact nearly every unction o a business. Mar-
keting, PR, communicationseven supply chain and any unction that deals with em-
ployees. So where does it live? Is it a department? Do organizations hire a Chie Social
Ofcer much like they would a Chie Technology Ofcer? All organizations will eventu-
ally grapple with integrating social somehow into their entire ecosystem adopting either
centralized, distributed or hybrid approaches.
8%of companies had terminatedemployees due to social mediausage
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2. Governance
Many organizations now understand that anything that can and will
be said about them on the internet will be. The good, the bad, the ugly.
And this includes content produced not only rom the general
public, but also rom internal constituents such as employ-
ees. Organizations will not only need to begin activelylistening so that they are in the know, but they will
need rules o engagement or how they deal with
multiple types o scenarios rom responding to
a compliment to dealing with a detractor to ol-
lowing up with an employee who just posted
something inappropriate or sensitive.
5. Measurement & ROI
Every organization will continue to struggle with
how results get measured and how ROI is report-
ed. Philosophically, this question can be answered
with another question: whats the ROI o e-mail? But
its a question that wont go away. New social constructs
will be needed to measure social initiatives such as attention
(the size or number o participants actively engaged) or authority
(the amount o inuence a participant has in the ecosystem). Because so-
cial business is enabled by technology, it is by defnition measurable. How-
ever, tying it to revenue made or saved becomes more o a challenge.
3. Culture
All organizations all somewhere on a spectrum o being open or closed
meaning that they are either more transparent with how they operate and
collaborative or they hoard knowledge internally. Consider that its
probable that the Zappos purchase by Amazon had a good
deal to do with their notoriously open culture. Likewise,even Apple which can be notoriously secretive is ben-
efting by leveraging a strategy that opened up their
iPhone application ecosystem. Sure Apple has a
great deal o control over it, but or the frst time in
historythey have legions o people developing
applications which run on their hardware. Orga-
nizations have the potential to beneft rom em-
bracing customers, employees etc. but will have
to manage it intelligently and with purpose.4. Human Resources
In order to transorm rom a business to a so-
cial business, (meaning true participation asopposed to leveraging social media as a new
orm o marketing), businesses are going to
have to upgrade their HR protocols, as well as le-
gal. And its likely to be a never-ending process as
new technologies continually hit the scene. Beore
there was Twitter, companies scrambled to publish
blogging guidelines or employees, now the wrong tweet
or Facebook status can get you fred. Organizations will not only
need to update guidelines but actually train their people who may
be leveraging social technologies or work. Customer service in par-
ticular comes to mind.
Theres more, but I think these represent some big ones.What are your thoughts?
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John Caddell has nally realized that his le
and right brains are the property o the same person.
For more than twenty years, he worked or
companies in the telecom industry, developing,
marketing and implementing IT solutions, including
end-user and interconnect billing, CRM, and media-
tion. He has worked both or telecom operators and
their suppliers.John has specialized in wireless telecom-
munications since 1992, working with companies
such as EDS and LHS Group to provide solutions to
some o the global mobile industrys pioneers, such
as AirTouch Communications, Hong Kong Telecom
and Sprint Cellular, and upstarts such as KDDI Mo-
bile (USA) and Working Assets Wireless.
Prior to starting his own consulting practice,
he spent six years as a corporate ofcer, ullling
executive roles in sales, P&L management, accountmanagement, product development and strategic
marketing.
http://www.caddellinsightgroup.com/
Sylvia Ann Hewlett blogged at Harvard Business Review that leaders need to inspire
lower-level employees. She writes:
No one succeeds alone, which is why all leaders must fnd a way to pollinate the
workorce with their values, ideas and enthusiasm. This is what keeps businesses humming,
especially during a downturn.
Some leaders inspire the masses via the grand motivational speech. Others via one-
on-one conversations. At Time Warner, CEO Jerey L. Bewkes held a series o skip-level
lunches with ten to twelve high perormers that typically had little or no access to him. He
spent two unscripted hours talking about his vision and answering their questions. Employ-
ees who attended Bewkes lunches reported eeling more confident in the company and
developed a new afnity or their chie.
Whatever vehicle leaders choose to use to reach out and inspire employees at local
levels, their talk must have teeth. Dont spout hyperbole Great job or we can do it! Instead,
serve up concrete, achievable goals. Listen to peoples problems and oer real solutions.
Mentor by sharing your own lessons learned, celebrate teams eorts and reward tangible
achievements. Even a simple thanks goes a long way when delivered rom on high.
Dont spout hyperbole Great jobor we can do it! Instead, serve up
concrete, achievable goals
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Each week at urniture designer
Knoll, president and COO Lynn Utter emails
our senior managers and asks them or the
name o one person on their team who has
been exemplary. Utter then calls each per-
son to thank and congratulate him or her or
a specic accomplishment. Utter is as time-constrained as the rest o us but says that i
she cannot make our phone calls a week to
acknowledge peoples good work, then she is
not doing her job.
Hewlett is rightinspiring the troops
is an important leadership task, especially in
tough times. But my reaction on reading this
prescription was, Ugh, more top-down think-
ing. In other words, everythings up to the
leaderthat anity or the chie and thank-
ing employees makes a company better.
How about this idea instead? Lets
orget about CEO Bewkes or a moment, and
ocus on making the work more un and re-
warding or the 87,000 people who work or
Time Warner.
Gary Hamel discussed this idea in his
recent book The Future o Management. In it
he pointed out how Toyota is able to leverage
the creative thinking o all its 300,000 em-
ployees through means like theToyota Pro-
duction System. This benets the company
by ensuring a constant stream o innovation,
and the employees by making the workplace
a more rewarding place to spend time.
I am ocused on one particular group
o employeesthose who interact directly
with customers. This includes customer-service reps, retail clerks, bank tellers and ac-
count support staf. It is a group with tremen-
dous insight, and a group thats held in low
esteem in companies Im amiliar with.
To borrow a phrase rom my riend
Matthew Achak, Nobody listens to the reps.
They sometimes are not even allowed inter-
net access.
This is just wrong. These groups oc-
cupy a unique position in the company. They
hear the unvarnished truth rom custom-
ers. Their stories, rather than being ignored,
should be nurtured and collected. Everyone
else in the company should read them and
absorb the lessons (especially the leader-
ship). They should be primary inputs to strat-
egy, marketing and product development.
The best stories and best storytellers should
be acknowledged and promoted.
Companies should focus on something like
this, instead of sending their CEOs around on moti-
vational tours or making four calls per week to ex-
emplary employees. Increasing employees sense of
meaning and personal value in their work.
Now thats leadership.
Lets forgetabout
CEO Bewkes
for a moment,and focus on
making the workmore fun
and rewarding
for the87,000 peoplewho work
forTime Warner
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Tom H. C. Anderson
provides handson personal
ized consultation, highlevel
advanced statistical and quali
tative analysis, and actionable
advice to Anderson Analyt
ics clients. Mr. Anderson has
over a decade o experience
at the largest global marketing
research companies such as
TNS, NFO Worldwide, and AC
Nielsen BASES. He has worked
on product and market devel
opment projects across several
countries and industries in
cluding fnancial services, tele
communications, packaged
goods, and travel & entertainment. Prior to ounding Ander
son Analytics, Tom managed
the Starwood Hotels & Resorts
Worldwide account or TNS,
where he managed market
research studies in over 80
countries and consulted to executive
and brand management o Westin, W
Hotels, Sheraton, Four Points, St Regis,
Luxury Collection, and Starwood Va
cation Ownership.
Beore TNS-NFO, Tom helped
ound IQuestics.com, a GenI consum
er insights consultancy or Snowball.
com, now IGN.com. While at IQuestics
he perected the online quantitative
and qualitative skills required to under
stand and market to the technological
ly savvy 13-30 year old GenX & GenY
demographic.
Tom has unusually deep and
wide knowledge in all aspects o mar
ket research including advanced mul
tivariate statistical analysis, data andtext mining. Through his career he has
consulted to dozens o ortune 500
companies and major marketing re
search suppliers and ad agencies.
www.tomhcanderson.com
Should your company have an app for that?
Iwas asked to comment on MasterCards new iPhone application
Priceless in this weeks Adage. Since publishing o the article Ive
received some questions on whether or not certain companies
should be involved in social networks, specifcally do they have
any business building apps?
Based on our recent research as well as our personal experience
in building SNS Apps is that, yes in many cases apps can be a good toolor companies in providing something o value to their customers on
social networks. However, companies do need to be careul in deciding
what kind o applications to build and how they execute these.
Why should companies be active on social networks?
In a recent survey on social networks Anderson Analytics asked
whether or not social network users would like to see the brands/com-
panies they normally purchase products rom become more involved
in communicating with them on social networks. As expected when
asking about advertising, which at some level commercial involvement
entails, a third o SNS users were negative (35%).
However the real story is that most were neutral (45%), and there
were nearly as many that were or it as against it (20% wanted more in-
volvement). Put in other words, the majority (65%) are open to greater
commercial communication on social networks!
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