Marketing & Strategy Innovation Blog

Marketing to Boomers - Financial Services Forum presentation

ath — Sun, 19 May 2013 11:47:51 +0000

This is a podcast of a presentation that I gave last week to the Financial Services Forum during a conference about marketing to Baby Boomers.

Marketing to Boomers - Financial Services Forum presentation

ath — Sun, 19 May 2013 11:42:50 +0000

Social Media Marketing Advice, According To Doctor Who

ath — Fri, 17 May 2013 16:25:20 +0000

Fans who ordered DVDs of this season’s BBC series Doctor Who have started receiving them, only there’s a catch: The disc contains the season’s final episode, which has yet to air on TV! The show’s producers have made a big deal about that finale, including promises of plot twists and revelations that will be huge for Whovians.

The Power of Brands to Change the World

ath — Fri, 17 May 2013 16:18:31 +0000

While many of us live out our sheltered lives, the rest of our country and world remains trapped in destructive cycles: poverty, climate change, poor health, declining education, habitat destruction, toxic waste… the list goes on. Companies play a huge role in both the problems and the solutions; they’ve been making progress in CSR and sustainability, but it’s been largely through behind-the-scenes efforts to mitigate risk or reduce costs.

Customer Experience Lessons from Mom

ath — Sat, 11 May 2013 07:38:47 +0000

In honor of Mother's Day this weekend, I thought this was a fitting time to share some customer experience lessons from Mom.
It's been a while since I've done a "Customer Experience Lessons from..." post. I enjoy writing them, so I'll be doing more of them real soon.

As I'm writing my blog, I often weave in stories about my kids - lessons I've taught them or conversations we've had that seem to apply equally to this world of customer experience. Time to put them all together in one place. So here goes...

Amazon Earns Customer Loyalty With Integrity, Not Rewards

ath — Sat, 11 May 2013 07:33:37 +0000

I got an email a few days ago from Amazon, telling me the price of the book I’d ordered had dropped, so it was passing the savings on to me. I think it was all of $.16. But that small sum is why I’m a loyal customer.

Liked Iron Man? You'll Love Super-Sensory Augmentation

ath — Sat, 11 May 2013 07:27:36 +0000

The world of Iron Man may be closer to being a reality than we originally thought. A group of design students at the Royal College of Art in London recently created two different "Iron Man masks" that give their wearers sensory superpowers. One mask is worn over the ears, mouth and nose, giving users the ability to hear things that were never before possible by using a multi-directional microphone. The other mask is worn over the eyes and enables users to see different types of movement patterns around them.

How would you define work in a networked world?

ath — Mon, 06 May 2013 14:31:24 +0000

I’ve been scratching my head trying to think about how to understand the different facets of labor that are shaping contemporary life. I don’t have good answers; I only have some provocations and a few questions, but I would love to hear your thoughts.

Hold the Cone

ath — Mon, 06 May 2013 14:26:29 +0000

Hold the cone! No, I don’t mean “hold the phone.” I’m saying “hold the cone” because that’s what ice cream shop workers should do.

Allow me to explain:

Brands Who Used The Force on Star Wars Day #Maythe4thbewithyou

ath — Mon, 06 May 2013 14:22:27 +0000

Brands that insert themselves into relevant cultural events is now becoming a norm in marketing. Did you know that May 4th is considered Star Wars Day? These brands did, and they inserted themselves in the conversation by producing content which reflected it.

Jeff Bezos Gets Customer Experience - But What About Employee Experience?

ath — Sat, 04 May 2013 08:21:15 +0000

Two weeks ago, I wrote a post about Jeff Bezos' latest shareholder letter and his commitment to, or obsession with, his customers. One of the responses I got to that post was from Micah Solomon, who suggested that it would be equally valuable to review how Amazon treats its employees.

Planning for Patterns

ath — Sat, 04 May 2013 08:10:26 +0000

One of the interesting aspects emerging around multiplatform approaches to content is the dissemblance in device consumption patterns. Differences occur in not just how people use different devices to access content but when.

Why Pinterest Needs to Become the 4th Logo on Your Website – 18 Pinnable Facts

ath — Sat, 04 May 2013 08:03:37 +0000

Sure, in the early days of social you may have added Facebook as a link button, then you might have dabbled with video and extended out to Youtube, of course you realized early that Twitter brought something new to the table and now, what’s out there that is important enough to be called out?

On The Future Of Feature Writing

ath — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 08:54:52 +0000

Multi-chapter, multimedia, highly immersive digital features from publishers seem to be becoming quite the thing. The latest is the rather lovely ESPN Grantland story of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, which follows on from their similar feature on The Long, Strange Trip of Dock Ellis.

Hidden Factories and Open Kitchens: Why Transparency Underpins Corporate Reputatio

ath — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 14:40:14 +0000

A fertilizer plant blows up, killing at least 14 people who were unaware, along with regulators, that the facility stored vast quantities of explosive material. A fast-food chicken chain invites everyone to take impromptu walkthrough tours of any of its outlet kitchens. These two recent events illustrate the extremes of corporate transparency (both companies are privately-held), and why it needs to be central to our conception of corporate reputation.

The Shakespeare of the Future Will Be a Bot

ath — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 14:25:14 +0000

This is becoming the central paradox of the Information Age: the easier it is for humans to create content and information on their digital devices, the more likely it is that robots and online bots will eventually take over the job of creating content and information for those digital devices. In other words, the more we democratize the process of creating content, the more we are planting the seeds for our own future literary demise.

Don’t tell me i am beautiful

ath — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 14:20:26 +0000

For a campaign that was intended to inspire people, Dove’s Beauty Sketches has received quite a bit of criticism.

Among the complaints lodged have been:

The Only CEO Who Matters

ath — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 14:15:59 +0000

Sam Walton once said, "There is one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else."

Earth Day and the polling of America, 2013

ath — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 18:59:15 +0000

Here’s the most noteworthy finding among the spring 2013 crop of surveys and polls on Americans’ environmental attitudes: “Millennials Pretend to Care About the Environment,” a headline from DDB’s most recent Life Style Study that concluded, “When it comes to being environmentally friendly, Millennials are talking the talk, but not walking the walk.”

So much for the incoming class of citizens and consumers.