momorantings

"A disaster happens to many, many of our best scientists. They become administrators. And the day thay do that, they're lost to science. So you never want to become an administrator. You have to guard against that. Be a dynamic incompetent. Do at least three outrageous acts a year. Then noone will want you to be an administrator." Hans Suess 1957

Regardless of whether this is a spoof or not, it emphasises that the oft-stated maxim of "meeting a customer need that they didn't know they had" is only part of the story. You also have to do it in a way that is obviously practical, hard to improve upon and about which the users will be openly and convincingly passionate. Obtaining that traction is difficult and that's why so many product launches fail.

Shameless is a successful TV series featuring what is colloquially termed an underclass family. So it was interesting to hear its writer Paul Abbott talk about poverty recently. He asserted that it was increasingly not just a matter of lack of material possessions and it's well accepted that people can be materially better off, but still suffer the stigma of poverty in terms of aspiration and opportunity. But his most thought-provoking idea was that the first thing they do when they have any money is to buy clothes and accoutrements (he cited Burberry) in an attempt to appear not to be in poverty. The irony of this, in his words, is that this has the reverse effect. The glib lesson is that people see through the superficial, but I think there is something much more significant here. As yet, however, I'm not sure what it is. Photo courtesy of www.mrpaparazzi.com

Jane McGonigal made a great comment on my T-mobile post suggesting the increasing need for an advertising strategy to have clearly better design for actual participation and less spectacle. it's only good to provoke awe and wonder if you then give people the means to produce it themselves. So here's one I found earlier that's clearly easy for people to imitate and recreate. I wonder if any agency will utilise it. Tonight perhaps?

The arrival of every new social media tool, be it Facebook, Twitter, FriendFeed or whatever, is inevitably followed by conversations about the best way to use it for marketing purposes. Ideas are floated, advice is offered and someone creates a best practice guide. And there's nothing wrong with that. Except that it's putting the cart before the horse. It's fine, indeed imperative, to know what the new tools do. But before you use any of them, you have to be certain of the context in which you're marketing and the goals which you're seeking to achieve. Only then should you look at the tools available so as to decide which of them, if any, are best suited to meeting those goals. Tactics follow strategy - not the other way round.

Premium is the price for continuous performance. For both you and your customers, it's worth it.

Last April when this rickrolling flashmob took place in London, there were rumours of commercial sponsorship and friends told me there were as many spectators as participants. The words jumping shark came to mind. So, last week when I read some press coverage about how the ad below had been shot guerilla-style the day before and was to debut on Friday night, my immediate reaction was one of shrugging disenchantment. The usual suspects of plagiarism, bandwagons and unimaginative creatives raised their heads. But maybe that's unfair. While I don't know if it's a good ad or contrived nonsense, it's reminded me that we all have to be very careful not to assume that our experience/worldview is that of the majority. Most people probably don't know the term flashmob, the YouTube views are not high, and real life does not revolve around online memes. If everybody knew what you knew, then you wouldn't have much to talk about would you?

The most interesting answers are those responding to questions you hadn't thought of asking. So, you can go to the usual conferences and hear the usual debates or you go to something like Bookcamp / Papercamp and be made simultaneously to feel dumb and truly inspired. Your choice.

1) Insights That Aren’t. (The Not) Also known as statements of the obvious, the untrue or the uninteresting. Example A fast food company discovers they are selling a lot of milkshakes in the morning. Not really interesting. 2) Insights That Reveal Unknown Behaviour (The What) Example A fast food company discovers they are selling a lot of milkshakes in the morning to commuting adults. Interesting as far as it goes. But, as Richard Huntington outlines here , an insight is not worth either that name or your time if it is not an astonishing disclosure. 3) Insights That Identify A new Market (The Why) Example A fast food company discovers they are selling a lot of milkshakes to commuting adults who like that they can enjoy them for the duration of their car journey. This awareness led to adaptations of the packaging and the utensils provided with it directly focused upon the needs of the commuting milkshake drinker. The best insights are those that lead to new product development rather t...

When the big three automotive CEOs flew separate private jets to Washington, DC to plead for public funds, I remember thinking to myself that I was thankful that I was a publicist and marketing director for a non-profit arts organization. The type of arrogance it takes to fly corporate jets to ask for billions of dollars in public aid surely could only be found in the private sector. However, recently there has been a dust up about executive compensation in the non-profit arts sector, particularly because as the economy tightens, more and more arts organizations are pleading their case with stakeholders, some going as far as Mr. Kaiser in asking for a government bailout of the arts . Although I have tremendous respect for Mr. Kaiser, I am convinced that perhaps he isn't the best emissary for the non-profit arts--how does it look for a non-profit arts administrator who makes more than $1 million a year in salary to be the champion of the suffering arts scene? Two separate stories h...

When Mark Earls invited me to join his admirable campaign to make January "b-word"-free, I had to turn him down – not because I don’t believe in resolutions, but because I try never to use that word. It refers to nothing more and nothing less than reputation, reputation you earn by your behaviour or, more realistically, reputation which other people (customers or not) confer on you because of that. It’s not something you impose on others. If you ask people about those reputations, I’m convinced that largely you’ll get a media-literate response (one you increasingly see in focus groups) that reflects their impression of what the advertising has sought to portray. But that is not necessarily a reflection of what the b***** truly is, unless of course you’re asking about a business that doesn’t advertise. And isn't it interesting how often it is those b***** that are lauded by the experts? If your differentiation is your advertising (rather than your advertising reflecting y...

In the past couple months, Arena Stage has planned and executed several exciting marketing opportunities as a result of the great working relationship between the artistic development staff and the communications staff. This relationship has existed for as long as I have been with Arena Stage, and most likely well before that. However, too many times the artistic department and communications department view each other as adversaries in other companies, and sometimes are in direct conflict with each other. For example, it might serve the communications staff better if a reporter sits in on rehearsal, but the artistic staff might be concerned about the reporter interrupting the rehearsal process. The current economic crisis has opened new opportunities for dialogue between artistic and marketing personnel because it is becoming more and more obvious that companies which successfully navigate this crisis will be those that pull together and find new inventive ways of doing business. ...

I don't really like contrived business acronyms. But the suggestion that successful businesses need to display the LATTE factor by being Local, Authentic, Traceable, Trusted and Ethical seems reasonable. Especially when compared to the outlandish claim that, after attempting suicide, the quality of a Rolex watch helped Owen (Wilson) realize and appreciate the quality of his own life. More warped causality here .

CDs were promoted in terms of sound quality and digital compression. They were also smaller. But marketing expert, Phil Collins made the interesting point that it's also the first time music was one-sided. While this means that you don't have to turn it over, it also means that you don't need to be encouraged to turn it over. Prior to this, albums were created so that the first and last track on each side were particularly strong. They focussed on keeping the listener excited/empassioned and wanting to turn over. On CDs, it's alleged that the first three or four tracks are the strong ones and the rest are filler because the assumption is that people will relisten to those and not go too deep into the album. Whether or not that's true, it's clear how people would react. They would realise what was going on and, once the technology arrived, they would opt to download only those tracks they wanted and completely undermine an industry. That's what happens if yo...

With Sainsbury's offering anodised saucepans that are Twice As Stronger As Stainless Steel , it's clear that 2009 has started well.