Every marketer says that they do. Companies swear that they know their customers. But, as a fantastic article from Fast Company shows, most organisations are just fooling themselves. Its a long read, but well worth it - from Fast Company, Issue 34, April 2000. Read it here (or below).
Key messages:
- Where You Listen Is as Important as How You Listen
- Whom You Listen to Is as Important as Where You Listen
- To Listen Smarter, Give Customers Something to Talk About
This is one of the cornerstones of the connection economy. This is worth taking seriously!
Continue reading ‘Listen to your customers’
I have travelled quite a bit since the terrorist plot to blow up planes was uncovered two weeks ago in England. In fact, I actually landed at Heathrow on the Thursday morning it all went down, and was kept waiting on Heathrow’s runway for 2 hours before being allowed to park and disembark (if you watched BBC or Sky News that morning, you would have seen us sitting on the runway, as the SAA Boeing we were in was in the TV’s crew background). This was NOT fun, as I had my wife, mother-in-law and three daughters (all under 8 years old) with me.
There has, of course, been the usual panic and reactions from everyone. Firstly, the British Security chaps banned ALL hand luggage - yes, everything. You couldn’t even take a magazine on board with you. Now, they are allowing everyone to take one piece of baggage on board, but it is smaller than what was previously allowed, by a few centimetres (see photo). Since the terrorists are believed to have been creating bombs in soda (fizzy drink) cans, I wonder how this will help. It makes no sense.
I really do believe that this is an irrational bit of policing. What difference could it possibly make? None. But they have to be SEEN to be doing something, so they reduce the size of hand luggage by 20%, and now I am supposed to fell safe? What are they thinking, and why do we all just accept it? (It is, however, another instance of how so far out of touch the airline industry is from its customers…).
IBM CEO Samuel Palmisano has announced what he calls an Innovation Jam - an attempt to come up with new business and product ideas by leveraging the collective intelligence of IBM’s 100,000-strong ‘crowd‘.
According to Yahoo! Business, IBM has “used these online brainstorming sessions to mine for new business opportunities in 2001, to exchange ideas about good management in 2002, and to discuss IBM values in 2003″ - this is not a new idea, but is unique in that IBM is looking for ideas from clients, suppliers, consultants, resellers, employee family members, etc. They are going open source with innovation - 2 x 72 hour sessions in which stakeholders pump ideas into the system - “IBM won’t own any of the nuggets that emerge” - but are willing to put up to $100 million behind the strongest concepts.
Continue reading ‘IBM Puts Dollars Behind the Crowd’
When we speak about a sense of significance, this could be an implied point anyway, that significance needs not be found in the workplace only. Reading an article this morning on companies that promote and belief in social awareness, I realized that today’s talent will also be find significance in projects outside work.
It is very difficult to be passionate and fulfilled whilst doing an audit, yet if you were making enough money to support a project and something that spoke to one’s purpose, today’s talent may give loyalty in exchange for that. Kind of work-purpose integration.
Co-incidentally I’m meeting more people who are starting companies in order to fuel or support something they feel passionate about. My question really after all this is,” is Today’s talent use their work as something that funds their economic engine, in order that they may do something more purposefull with their lives in other forums?”
Continue reading ‘Significance in the Connection Economy’
Motorola, (in South Africa at least) has reportedly been experimenting with a shift to more work-life balance in their working hours and office inhabitation requirements.
Apparently, non-traditional working hours are the norm, driven by a vision of seamless mobility where what you do is more important than where you’re at. They also have a “Mobile Zone”, which brings the workplace closer to home via seamlessly connected workstations, thus making the daily commute an option rather than a “must do”.
I’d be interested in finding out more, if anyone knows. Typical of pretty much every company I know, Motorola do not develop their “employer brand” on their website (they know how to market their products, but not themselves as an employer of choice). They have a fairly imposing webpage, entitled “Ethics and Code of Business Conduct“, but this is a dry and imposing document, and not attractive at all. So, their website is no help in learning about their employment approach to work-life balance.
Ah well, I suppose I shouldn’t complain. Helping companies build their employer brands is part of how I make a living, so it should probably be exciting that I have such a huge market of companies who just don’t get it. But, to be honest - it sometimes depresses me…
Last night, Dr Graeme Codrington was on Carte Blanche (a South African investigative TV show), talking about Great Companies to Work For. A lot of the information came from TomorrowToday’s presentations on Talent, especially “Bright Young Things“.
It was also great to have some of our top clients profiled, including SA Breweries, Net#work BBDO, Avovision and Citadel.
A transcript appears below.
Continue reading ‘Best Business (Graeme Codrington on Carte Blanche)’
At least some of their developers do….
An absolute classic. I was trying to download Microsoft Media Player 10 (to reinstall it, because ONCE AGAIN, MS Windows and MS Media Management and MS PowerPoint are not all talking to each other when it comes to multimedia!!), and on the instructions page to get Windows Authentication, I saw an interesting thing… an image of the Firefox download manager.
OK, so follow me here. In order to download MS Media Player, I must authenticate that I am using genuine Microsoft software. In order to do that, I must download a plug-in. The guy who designed and tested this at Microsoft does not use Internet Explorer, however, he uses Firefox, and took a screenshot of his own download for the official Microsoft help page. Check it out here (if you can get in).
As Nuf Sed would say, “Beeooootifull”
Se screenshot below.
Continue reading ‘Microsoft Uses Firefox’
Now that the hoopla of the World Cup is over, I can express something I know a lot of people have felt (see here for example).
This World Cup set a record for cautions with 345 yellow cards, a 27 per cent jump from 2002, and an astounding 28 red cards. And the lasting image will be of Zidane (three times world footballer of the year, and bizarrely named the 2006 World Cup Golden Boot) head butting Materazzi in the 110th minute, and ending his career with a red card.
But what struck me was how all the “FIFA Fair play” stuff made no impact on the field of the play. Some games (especially, it must be said, the Italians) looked more like theatre classes than sports fields, with guys collapsing and writhing in “agony” when in reality they were hardly touched. Its just sad to see some of the highest paid athletes in the world rolling around on the ground clutching their shins in pain. And then running after the ball 2 minutes later.
And let’s not even talk about how referees and officials are treated by these spoilt brats. They should make a rule about that - and require yellow cards for talking back. Actually, it would need to be for shouting and cursing back, because no-one “talks” to the ref in football.
And my final beef with the “beautiful game” is the lack of technology. Some of the fouls could be easily checked out - especially if inside the area for penalties.
But, hey, maybe I’m just bitter that the country with biggest football scandal gets to win the cup. And you should probably ignore my views on sport anyway - I’m one of the crazy ones that can sit through five days of Test cricket, and enjoy the fact that it ends in a draw 
I don’t have a clever point to make here. I just think soccer needs help.
Co-opetition: This was a word invented by Edward de Bono, that described co-operation between competitors. This is a feature of the Connected World.
A small story caught my eye this past week. Recently, two employees of Coca-Cola (at head office in the USA) were busted trying to sneak out secrets, especially the recipe for a new Coke flavour. They got caught because the person they were trying to sell the secrets to contacted Coca-Cola and tipped them off.
Who was this honest person? It was Pepsi Cola Company. Whether or not Pepsi actually saw the recipe before telling Coca-Cola is a moot point. The bottom line is that in pretty much every industry in the world, the competitors are watching each other so closely that the competition is NOT based on WHAT they sell, but rather on WHO they are. That’s why this kind of action is so important. It goes to who you are.
Well done Pepsi!
Business 2.0 recently released its list of 50 People Who Matter NOW, and 10 People Who Don’t just to compliment it.
No huge surprises on the Top 50 Who Matter list, if you understand that the role of the consumer has changed dramatically in the last few years.
You see, Business 2.0 reckons the most important business person on the planet right now is…
… wait for it …
YOU!
Closely followed by sires Brin and Page. How nifty is that?
Continue reading ‘Business 2.0 Gets It’
A few years ago, the super clever leaders of Dubai realised that oil was not going to last forever. Maybe only 20 years (some scaremongers think this is so), maybe 100 years, or maybe even more than that. But whatever the number, it wasn’t forever. So, what does a country that has nothing but sand and oil (and a coastline) do in this situation? The answer: reinvent itself. Not when the crisis is all over you like a rash, but rather, long before the pain hits you, and long before it smacks of desparation.
So, they set out to create the world’s greatest tourism destination. A bit like Disneyland on steriods. It started with a world class airport that become a massive international hub. It extended to hotels and shopping malls. And now, they have everything… I mean, EVERYTHING. The have the world in a series of man made islands, visible from space. They have a ski slope, a few world class rated golf courses… everything.
But they’re even better than that! In May, they hosted a massive international humanitarian trade fair, attracting thousands of NGOs and suppliers. They are also offering aid now as well. And by 2008, they promise to have built a “humanitarian city” - probably an “upmarket” Dubai-style refugee center. With all of this, Dubai is winning the hearts of the world - especially the third world. They understand connections (like the Americans don’t!). It should stand them in good stead - because these days its not just WHAT you sell, its also WHO you are that counts!
Continue reading ‘Dubai in the Connection Economy’
We’ve all heard of viral marketing, product placements in movies and TV, and know the power of word of mouth. But now Proctor & Gamble (P&G) have taken this a step further. They’ve started paying hundreds of thousands of moms (literally!) to drop their products into conversations and subtly promote P&G’s brand in their everyday interactions.
“By crafting product messages mothers will want to share, along with giving them samples, coupons, and a chance to share their own opinions with P&G, [they're] using personal endorsements to cut through advertising clutter. ‘We know that the most powerful form of marketing is an advocacy message from a trusted friend,’ says Steve Knox. The program is a state-of-the-art method for reaching the most influential group of shoppers in America: moms.” Read the full story from BusinessWeek here.
Like network marketing, this might work with Boomers, but I wonder how Gen Xers are feeling about it? I wonder what I would think of a product that was recommended to me, and I later discovered the person was rewarded for recommending it? And, most importantly, I wonder what I would think of the person who made the recommendation - originally supposedly just out of friendship, but now I discover for some personal gain?
I’m interested to know what others think of this venture.
Last week, the USA Supreme Court ruled on the matter of Burlington Northern v. White, a sexual discrimination case. Basically, the woman involved had been verbally harassed by a male supervisor in front of her all male colleagues. When she ultimately complained, he was discplined, but she was essentally demoted, and trumped up disciplinary charges brought against her (she was off work for 37 days without pay). For details of the case, read the summary here.
The reason this had made it to the Supreme Court was so that a decision could be made about what constitutes unfair labour practice and discrimination. “The court accepted the case to resolve what is called a ’split’ among the lower courts: different appeals courts had adopted differing standards for determining the level of harm necessary for an action to constitute retaliation under Title VII. Some courts required an ‘ultimate employment action’ (firing, demotion or decisions with ‘tangible economic consequences’). Others required only that the action be ‘materially adverse,’ and still others required that the action be ‘likely to deter’ complaints of discrimination.” The Supreme Court had to decide where to draw the line in issues of workplace discrimination. The outcome has huge implications for women and all minorities in America.
The Court ruled last week.
Continue reading ‘Complaining about discrimination’
I could back this up if I needed to, but my gut and all the evidence points to the fact that the “next Google” (the next big company that takes the world by storm) will come from one of the following industries:
- Health and wellness - providing for the ageing Baby Boomers
- Green - see a BusinessWeek interview here
- Space tourism
- Convergence (VOIP, TV cellphones, etc)
- Home office and small business support (it probably already is, but its got a long way to grow) — includes virtual offices, rented office space and secretarial services, technology, office furniture, etc
- and finally, something none of us expect… (yes, something unexpected)
There’s a company in the US called ‘American Apparel‘. They’re well known for being a ‘non-sweat’ shop business that gives everyone who works for them a better deal than possibly other T-Shirt Manufacturers. Google them to connect to links that describe some of who they are. From their web site…
“We offer the following benefits to all of our employees, sewers and administrators alike, as a matter of policy: paid time off, affordable healthcare for them and their families, company-subsidized lunches, bus passes, free ESL classes, on-site masseurs, free parking, proper lighting and ventilation, and the most up-to-date equipment (be it the latest cutting machine or software). We are continually striving to improve the work environment.”
But when it goes wrong in a connected world it aparently can go very wrong indeed. The blogosphere has attached itself to them and resulted in the following stories breaking on The Consumerist Blog…
* The story that American Apparel may be selling rubber flip flops built in a Thai sweat shop (check out CherryFlava for all the links)
* The resignation letter of one of their employees (check out CherryFlava for all the links)
I can’t tell how true any of this is? American Apparel’s web site doesn’t mention anything. But the point of this post is how things can go wrong, all over the place, in a connected world. If your dirty washing gets out there, and someone thinks it’s blog-worthy, then there’s no telling where it can go. And in that world, what kind of PR do you use to protect yourself?
A few months ago, we commented that phone companies wanting to connect with Boomers should stop innovating, and start listening to their customers. Read that post here. Thanks to Pete Schumacher, my mate at Net#work BBDO, here is a company that was listening…
While most cell phones tout an abundance of bells and whistles, two companies are focusing on the substantial market for simpler phones. Founded by Arlene Harris, a telecoms veteran, and her husband Martin Cooper, who helped develop the first portable cell phone for Motorola in 1973, GreatCall is a new wireless company that will target baby boomers and their parents. While the network isn’t yet operational, GreatCall’s Jitterbug, a combination of handset and service provider, will soon start shipping phones. Manufactured by Samsung, the phones have big buttons, a bright screen, easy to read text, and loud and clear sound. One version (Jitterbug OneTouch) is simplified even further, its number keys replaced by three emergency buttons: one for 911, a second for Jitterbug’s operator, and a third for a personalized direct dial number.
Continue reading ‘Phones for Boomers’
The “No Name” brand is instantly recognisable by any South African. Its a brain child of Pick n Pay (SA’s equivalent of Tesco’s, Safeways, etc). The concept was to provide quality products, from a trusted source, without having to pay the costs of a brand name.
As I was driving into Durban this morning, I saw a big billboard with the standard phrase: “Why should you pay extra for a brand name?”, promoting No Name cooking oil. But, I noticed for the first time (maybe just because it was so big), that “No Name” is trademarked. It is No NameTM. How ironic!!
Did the advertisers not see this irony? Did Pick n Pay not see it? Its “No Name” BRAND!
Not a deep thought, I know. But its my thought of the day.
There’s a well used analogy around the buggy-whip and the introduction of the motor-car. It didn’t matter how good your whip was. Didn’t matter how cheap. Didn’t matter how well you could make them. No market = no sales.
There was an interview in my Sunday Times (newspaper) with Dr Ismail Jakoet (SA Rugby’s Medical Officer) this weekend around school rugby and injuries. One of the questions asked revealed that the headgear worn by Rugby players,
has proven to be useless in preventing certain injuries, but is still being worn.
When the reporter asked why they were still being worn, because that was the primary reason for wearing them, Dr Jakoet responded with,
No, no, no. If you look at your professional players, it’s the revenue they can derive from wearing those things. High-powered players have told me they know it doesn’t wor but they get payed for wearing them.
So rugby headgear has learnt at least something from the buggy-whip… when you’re looking down the barrel of a gun, market your way right outta there.
Two or three weeks ago I told Telkom Internet that they could kindly take their service and…. well, take it somewhere else. This after one of the most incredulous customer service experiences I’ve ever had.
It all started a few months ago when Telkom hard-capped me because I used 16gb of data in a month. Hard-capping refers to them basically suspending your account. Investigating this uncovered at least one piece of interesting info.. while the call-centre rep didn’t say it is as directly, he did hint that Telkom may be having some problems with usernames and passwords being leaked out, and that someone could easily be stealing my share of the 3gb I purchase each month. I monitored it, and it stopped as mysteriously as it started.
But then last month while away in Durban for a weekend (away from my DSL connection) my account clocked up over 11gb in 4 days. Telkom call-centre suggest I send an e-mail to abuse@telkom.co.za. I did this and the results were as suspected… someone else was logging into my account from a different location. But here’s the kicker… on the day I sent the mail, Telkom Internet once again hard-capped me. when I phoned they told me I had to buy more bandwidth, and when I pointed out an investigation was happening by Telkom through e-mail (the only channel available) and therefore would not be able to resolve it, the call-centre rep offered to e-mail abuse@telkom.co.za for me. This after I’d just waited the normal 30 minutes on the phone for her to answer. I politely told them, ‘no thanks’, and went to NewsCafe to get access to get the results of the missing data.
Continue reading ‘M-Web should rule ADSL’
This is a photo of the ’smoking section’ in the Keg, Johannesburg International Airport. I think it’s a stroke of genius. In most restaurants, tucked away in some corner, smoking sections often resemble neglected herpetological exhibits. I’m not a smoker, but I often feel sorry for our oxygenically-challenged brethren.
The Keg has turned this perception on it’s head by enclosing the busiest area of the restaurant off and calling it a Cigar Lounge instead of a smoking section. Ironically enough, it was the busiest section of the pub when I visited this evening, and my guesstimation was that less than 50% of the people inside where smoking anything at all. It appears that it is quite cool to sit in the Cigar Lounge and leaf through the morning’s paper, regardless of whether you smoke or not.
Sometimes the difference between brilliance and a missed opportunity is just a little thought. Another great example is an ancient old lady that works a till at our local Pick ‘n Pay. She always greets me when I arrive at her station by looking me in the eyes and smiling. She scans my groceries as though they are ming vases. If I pay by credit card, she glances at my name and says, “thanks for your business, Mr. Stopforth. Enjoy the rest of your day”. Mr. Stopforth. I’m one-eighth her age, for crying out loud.
Small acts of brilliance, huge impacts.
It is not breaking news that business paradigms are shifting significantly. The difference, in historical terms, is that the shift is taking place on a global scale never seen before. Thomas L. Friedman, in his seminal book The World is Flat, describes how our world is being flattened by historical events and forces that in the last 15 years have resulted in the globalised, connected, speed-orientated world we live in.
Many factors contribute to these changes - the advancement of the internet, outsourcing, production techniques, and many more. Although the global economy is a product of the cumulative efforts of local economies, many countries are finding themselves in precarious positions where some are forerunners and some are being left behind. Emerging economies are challenging the way we operate significantly. It is a defining time in history that no country is exempt from.
Continue reading ‘The community employer – a new employment contract’
My brother phoned me the other day. I was on leave with my family but what he had to say just couldn’t wait. In a rushed and high-pitched tone he told me he just ‘did’ his first blog. I’ve not seen that kind of excitement around a blog since… well ever. And the reason it’d been such a moment for him, wasn’t because of great writting, or interesting citizen-media. It was because he’d been phoned that afternoon to let him know he’d won a truck load of money. All he had to do, was drive 30 minutes out of town to go and pick up his prize. Clearly the common-sense part of his mind was completely over-ridden by his need to win a truck-load of cash, because he almost went.
What stopped him was Google.
Continue reading ‘My blog is my sword’
Regular readers of this blog will know we try and track uses of the term, “Connection Economy”. For us, its a key term that describes the emerging reality of the 21st century. Its a world in which WHAT you sell is becoming less and less important (since its the same stuff as that which your competitors sell, anyway), and WHO you are and HOW you sell are increasingly becoming your only means of sustaining a competitve advantage.
I recently stumbled onto a blog site, by Ray Podder, looking at branding and advertising, in which some of the implications of being technologically interconnected are fleshed out. You may want to amble over there and check it out: GROWblog.
A quote from the latest post:
Along with all the instant communication the connection economy affords us, it has also divorced us from sharing a common context. To compensate we join social networks but still feel disconnected. We communicate more than ever but feel less and less understood as we slice our shared meanings thinner and thinner across an wider audience. Is it any wonder advertisers feel the same way? If we don’t feel like we’re connecting to anyone in a meaningful way, how will companies who’ve only engaged us in a relationship of convenience? Yes, if you think a relationship with a brand is anything more than that, you’re kidding yourself!
Continue reading ‘The Connection Economy and the Death of Advertising’
FastCompany has an article in their March issue, ‘Fealress Predicitons (and what to do about them)’. These are their 4 predicitons about the future of work:
1) No Benefits, Better Jobs
2) Blue Collar Gets Sexy
3) Everything Global is Local
4) One-Stop Shopping Will Come to Job Hunting
The 4th prediction got my attention. Some great advancements on their way in the ‘job-matching and placement’ industry. Sites like SimplyHired.com who help prospective workers find out, through networking sites like Linked-In, who in your network is already working in the company. What about maps from Google that help you see at a glance what long the drive will be from home to the company? Annual weather forcasts, etc, etc. Now we’re really wrapping around the worker.
In 2004, Vertis, a provider of targeted advertising, media and marketing services, announced the results of a survey they had completed. It concluded that today’s young people (Gen X: born 1970s and early 80s; and Gen Y, born 1980s to 2000s) would prefer not to use agents or intermediaries when purchasing various forms of insurance. (see summary of report in the Insurance Journal).
This confirms a warning we wrote a few years ago about agents in most industries - see Death of an Agent.
See a summary of key findings below.
Continue reading ‘Agents are at serious risk from gen X & Gen Y’
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