The Future of TV…

In response to this…

Every brand will one day have their own TV channel. It will not just be media networks anymore. Networks are faceless and appeal to far too broad an audience. Brands are moving towards lifestyles, like Adidas, Patagonia, Harley Davidson, Nike, etc. It is these brands that are positioned in such a way that their demographic lives and breathes their brand. TV is just another way for them to connect on the same level with their peers.

This is the future…

Think of social network enabler…NING and how they let you create your own network.  Next step……social TV networks brought to you by……

Real Change Agents…An Army of One!

This morning on the way to work as the wind curled under my motorcycle helmut awakening my every sense, it occurred to me how the very experience enlivened my creativity.  Inspiration for creative questions that floated in my head sparked as if a lightening rod had been planted in my head.  I went from one solution to the next.  It was almost as if I had held an ideation comprised of twenty thinkers building out ideas with myself moderating the thought.  It was effortless creativity.

This wasn’t the first time that a fervor of inspiration had struck me, but I was especially cognizant of the experience having just read a new colleague of mine’s collegiate thesis. His thesis described a method of innovation that coalesces the truth of science and the creativity of art.  He drew upon examples of the great Leonardo DaVinci, one of the preeminent innovators in all of history.

DaVinci wasn’t formally educated as many others before him.  Consequently, his creativity in science and in art was not bounded by rule but rather by new experiences his inquisitive mind sought to discover.  In fact, DaVinci erred on the side of being aloof so that he could maintain an unbiased approach to his experiences (scientific research) which he extrapolated into his innovations, science, art or otherwise.

What we can learn from DaVinci is how our very own experiences can be drawn upon to add fresh perspective to the innovation we seek to discover.   While we don’t have to lose social touch like DaVinci may have done, we should embrace our individuality and those around us for their own perspectives.

As I pulled into my parking spot at work another motorcyclist cruised by me giving me the peace sign of motorcycle brotherhood and waving him by I noticed the back of his shirt that said “An Army of One” and I thought to myself, how if we lead through our individuality, our creativity, we become an army of one-real change agents.

DaVinci would be so proud!

Against the grain isn’t as bad as it seems…

Recently, I attended a workshop where I worked with a local improv guru to develop my creativity instincts.  We drew upon the parallels between the immensely creative improv world and the creative innovation world we work in.

The bottom line implication was how often we as marketers censor our ideas in an effort to ride the bandwagon when in reality it is the uncensored idea that creates the practical change the market seeks or at least has the potential to be the impetus for something that will.  It’s like the infamous salmon run where salmon leave their natural river habitat to find the path of least resistance, the air to get back to their spawning pools efficiently before they are too exhausted to …. well you know.  Sometimes it’s about going against the grain and even further to create an unconventional path to the ultimate goal.

Certainly, this begs the question of how strategic one can be with such a tact and the simple explaination is defined in the Competitive Advantage and Differentiating Benefit that marketers seek.

I realize I’m speaking about a couple different things here, but they go hand in hand.  Being proactive and creating a benchmark for the market (better yet, a market leader) is a better position to be in than a reactive laggard even it means you have to pave a new path.

Probes

- What must be done do stay on strategy with this quick fire creative instinct approach?

- Why is or isn’t it better to be a market leader?

- What experiences have you had using this tact that validate or would help to optimize this tact?  What disproves it’s worth?

Comcast, I mean really?!

Generally, I’m not one to be easily irritated by Comcast irked me the other day. I’m sure I’m not the first they have annoyed either and I that is the point of this rant.

It seems like every fourth month I’m surprisingly reminded how Comcast is the MAN and I don’t mean that in a good way.  To explain, I walk over to my mailbox and flip through the typical bills, open up Comcast’s and see how my monthly bill skyrockets from $120/month to $150.  Sure I’ve got a premium package so it’s expensive to begin with but shouldn’t that extra little cash I put into Comcast’s pocket warrant a package price reduction in the internet I shell out for too?  You’d think so not even as a price conscious consumer but on principle when there are always “specials” going on like four months of internet for half the price.

I digress in my venting ramble… 

Why does Comcast waste so much effort in their customer service department on a program that only creates ill-favored respones?  Why does Comcast require you o renegotiate package pricing quarterly?  Why not just give everybody an everyday low no-haggle pricing John Elway Honda style?

Sure they get few extra bucks every now and then between when their customers forget, like I did that their promo rate has expired, but the ill-affect it leaves in my mouth is almost enough to say “Peace, I’m going to Direct TV.”

Fortunately for Comcast, they live in a near monopolistic world.  Gosh I hate the MAN, but wish I could be him at the same time!

PROBES:

- Is the opportunity cost really worth it? If another competitor on a level playing field came into town, what would prevent them from switching cable/internet/phone providers?

- At what lengths does one need to go to provide the best customer experience? Would a penny or two on the dollar be worth it to you?

- Does loyalty mean anything to your company or can you be sure that you’ve got the goods that removes loyalty from the equation? Can loyalty ever be removed from the equation?

- Considering Seth Godin and the premise of his book “Free Prize Inside” (read it if you haven’t already), is the everyday low pricing in itself a solution? Would it be overlooked as the standard down the road? Could you make it sustainably newsworthy?

- Do you know anyone at Comcast? Will you do me a favor and tell them $60 for internet is just ridiculous in this day and age?!

Critical Mass Marketing

It’s amazing to live in a world where a single brand can create so much buzz that consumers flock to stores to buy out everything with that beautifully crafted logo you worked so hard to create!  The imagery that such a statement must envoke is damn near shrangri-la for any marketers ear. 

We all have one brand that holds a special place in our heart.  For some it’s that iconic crossed LV, for other it’s a German airplane prop, but in any case it symbolizes loyalty.  Unbridled loyalty that appoints anything bearing that mark entitlement into your wallet.  It’s beautiful really.

Take Apple for example.  Just hearing that fruit ring in your head and off your tongue beckons a biblical Adam-like temptation. Even more, that shiny siloutte marks a lighthouse of trust that guarantees consumers like us that hteir product is premium!  Price isn’t even a factor, it’s monetary value and i to some and a premium value to others.  Regardlesss of semantics that mark also symobolies  a line of people out the doors waiting in desperation that they’ll have thier new phone.  Rejoice.

 

Utterly amazing. 

 

In a few short paragraphs that is Critical Mass Marketing.  It’s perpetual bliss for this man.

 

Probes:

- Do companies like this ever stop momentum?

- If innovation keeps these companies alive what would apple plan to innovate?

- What are some brands you thik are capable of achieving that?

Empathy Empowers

Not to get political, but recently when I heard Obama at the Democratic National Convention, one word really stuck out to me that truly set him apart from McCain–”Empathy.”  Speaking to how empathetic he was to the various ailing Americans, it was easy to see that he would work for each individual.

We as marketers, could learn a lot from Obama and his use of empathy! 

When our jobs are boiled down, we have the option to force feed a marketing idea and hope that consumers are too naive to know the difference, don’t disagree completely or in actuality agree with the force message or we can almost assuredly succeed with a message made of the consumers’ voice.  That is why we hold countless focus groups and spend hours behind the glass attentively listening for the nugget of information that validates our intuition   Ha, in an ideal world.  Fortunately though, that idealism isn’t so unattainable. It’s as simple as doing the Obama and being truly empathetic with the consumer, even if that means you must pretend you are a minimum wage making, single mother of three whose diet consists of frozen dinners!

Probes:

- How much does your company really practice empathy? How do you rid yourself of the limiting factors to truly empathic research?

- Do you really know your consumer? When was the last time you spent a day with one to see how they live their lives?

- Do you think you can truly be empathic behind the glass in a focus group or do you need to shake the hands of a few of your consumers?

Raising a Champion

Seth Godin has written many incredible books that I’ve enjoyed thoroughly.  In one of his books he spoke about championing ideas and having witnessed some of the best idea champions in the business sell their ideas in ideations, meetings, or otherwise.  While what Seth had to say was empowering to those aspirational junior level folks in the business, a Spiderman like “with great powers, come great responsibilities” sort of guardrail must be applied.

Consider how ideas always seem better in your head than when you verbalize them.  I’m not saying bottle them up or hold back in the least; what I posit is - what happens when a champion is really only a facade for stategic-less fluff?  Who wins then?  Not the brands that would support those ideas or the consumers that might buy the products or services.

Sure, it’s a buyer beware market where the consumer must discern for him/herself what they want and need but the art of raising a champion is more than just building one’s voice but the articulation of reason behind that voice.

Probes:

- Does your company support those individuals that may not have learned to use their voice?  How would you raise a champion from these voice-less individuals?  What would your process need to change to allow thinking at all levels?

- On the flip-side, how does your company handle overpowering voices?  Do you think anyone at your company has the unwavering voice to say “hey, I think your idea is great, but what if we did it this way…”?  How might your company create an environment that would allow this to happen without fear of negative sanction?

- Is your company lead by one champion or the power of many champions?

The chicken or the egg…

…which came first?

Similarly, which came first… brand positioning or new product development? Does one identify a new and differentiated product technology and back into a positioning or does positioning infer appropriate product innovations? Is there a right answer to that question?

Pay It Forward

Well first off, thank you for reading the first ever BrandRipple post!  As the first post, I thought it would be nice to unfold a bit of purpose beyond what I’ve mentioned in the BrandRipple About page.

As a marketing blog/forum, BrandRipple was founded upon a “Pay It Forward” premise; in that, BrandRipple Grazer* generated content is simply an intellectual gift to the marketing community.  Intellectual gifts that are unwrapped through conversational probes and supportive tenants that fellow Grazers will contribute through commenting, which in theory/hope will infer insightful strategies and/or tactics for the bewildered Grazers reading along.

To replay, BrandRipple is a sounding board to share your learning experiences and foresight as a marketer and consumer so together we can “be the change we see in the world” (*see Gandhi).

So why should you contribute?

In a word–Reciprocity!  The positive builds (build don’t bomb as my friends say) you layer through commenting are the viral positives sent to others that in reciprocity will reward you down the road (we need not venture into the world of good karma [juju or what have you]), but know the favor will be returned. 

Finally, “Pay It Forward” is about social responsibility.  No not, changing your light bulbs to CFLs or driving a Prius; it’s the proactive and voluntary (as opposed to reactive) responsibility to eliminate the issues and to promote the practical innovations that speckle the marketing world.

That and isn’t it FUN to challenge your thinking and to converse with like minded individuals who want to see positive change in the marketplace?!

Departing Probes:

- So what do you think about the premise for BrandRipple?

- What’s a challenge to this mission and what are some solutions?

- Is BrandRipple something you’d subscribe to?  Something you’d pass along to friends?

- Will we hear from you again?

 

*grazers, used to mean a BrandRipple feed subscriber…get it?!  Morever, the content is something to chew on, digest, and pass along.