2010 January | Liri Andersson

Archive for January, 2010

The risk that comes with reducing the possibility for serendipity…

The Observer published an excellent article today called ‘Democratic, but dangerous too: how the web changed our world’.

It crystalised something that has been bothering me about the Internet, or to be more precise about the way it’s often used in marketing, and therefore the effect it’s having on how we are seen as people.

The article says it so much better than I would, so here it is.

‘The surveillance implications for this [the internet] are clear, but there are wider cultural implications when the money people behind the scenes get their rewards for feeding us exactly what we want. Amazon’s recommendation engine, Last.fm’s social music service, even news sites such as the Huffington Post, reduce the possibility for serendipity by serving up what they think we want, channelling us into a loop of confirmation.’

It seems that in the early years of the Internet it gave people the chance to break away from being able to be put in predefined boxes… and then through our own behaviour, some tracking, some ad and information serving… there we are again, back to being categorized and put into bland boxes.

The author Douglas Rushkoff put this brilliantly when he said: “The more like one of my kind of person I become, the less me I am, and the more I am a demographic type.”

I guess this sounds like a marketer’s dream, a world where we break people down into categories so we can do our job. To me it sounds like we are missing something important.

It feels like marketers are missing the opportunity to really understand me. This has the unfortunate outcome of me having to live in a world where people continuously make assumptions about me. I bought a book about birds, I must be a bird watcher (not so much!). Ignoring the individual means that marketers live in a world where they continuously miss the point of, and the opportunity brought by the Internet.

It also feels like marketers are missing out on the opportunity that comes with randomness….the more people cross fertilise between topics, the more they have their views and opinions challenged, the more they stumble upon different things, the better the quality of their ideas. And in a world of co-creation this is not just relevant to employees, but also to customers. Ignoring this means that marketers live in a world where there is a risk of marketing myopia, not just on a corporate level, but on a social and cultural level, a myopia that could lead to a decrease in the quality of ideas, and therefore also of the products, services and solutions organisations offer.

It also seems that by fixating on what people are doing (and on putting them in boxes), marketers are not paying attention to what they’re NOT doing. In a world that only pays attention to the do’s, all we will achieve as marketers is incremental innovation; rather than radical innovation. Nothing wrong with incremental innovation, but not exactly the key competitive advantage companies should strive for!

I’m not saying the Internet is not a wealth of information and inspiration. It most definitely is! I’m simply stating that the social and cultural risk that come with reinforcing similar behaviour (mainly driven by a wish to control), could mean that rather than capitalising on the paradigm shift caused by the Interenet and going forward, we will start going backward.

A good marketer allows his curiosity to go everywhere (and therefore also the people he interacts with), a good marketer does not just follow people’s behaviour (or competition’s) and act accordingly, they lead the way, often without information or data, a good marketer gives people not only what they want, but also what we need, and what they never knew they wanted…

…but most importantly, a good marketer celebrates individuals and individualism (not boxes)!

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2010: 01/24
CATEGORY: Advertising/Media
Competitive Advantage
Innovation
Marketing
Marketing Myopia
Strategy
4 comments

Who owns the customer, who owns people?

Anyone who has worked with a Telco company, or any other organisation in a data driven industry, will recognise the following comments…

…“I will accept cooperation as long as we own the customer”…

…”If we choose this direction, won’t we loose control of the customer?”…

Also, anyone who has been part of a restructuring, or a cost cutting exercise, will have heard management refer to employees as resources. Business’ feel so strongly about this they even named a department after it – Human Resources.

The best thing that could happen to marketing in 2010 is if everyone working in this industry could accept that people, customers, consumers and employees are not a cog in the marketing machinery!

Note: the picture is of Charles Chaplin in the brilliant movie; Modern times from 1936

This however would require a fundamental mind-shift, it would mean that when we go to work we should all remember that…

People can’t be owned People have always had a free mind, and a free will, but now more so than ever. They have the freedom, and the platforms to create, to express, to share, to support and to exclude, but most of all they have the freedom to choose. Simply owning some data and a database does not mean you know the person whose data you manage, it does not mean you own something real, and it definitely does not mean you own that customer!

People can’t be controlled And more importantly why would you want to? What has ever come out of controlling anything, apart from narrow mindedness and marketing myopia? As a matter of fact I would give up the notion of owning anything in today’s marketing world (customers, consumers, brand, IP, employees, ideas….). Not only because you will find it very hard to survive in this business world if you don’t, but because you will miss out on one of the great phenomena of this decade – true collaboration, and this across nations, industries, companies, departments, and disciplines!

People are not resources Human they are, resources not! They are all different, unique, interesting, and if you let them, if you give them the right support, if you create the right environment…they are your best chance of a sustainable competitive advantage! How? Through their ideas, their innovation, their ability to think in a non-linear way, their commitment – it is through all this they will affect NPD, operations, distribution, customer service, marketing and sales. That’s what makes them individuals, that’s what makes them humans and not resources!

So in this world where we focus so much on data, and on resources…let’s remember that what backs it up is people, employees, consumers, customers. Get to know them, for real, respect them, work with them, work for them, allow them to make a difference…and often, very often celebrate them!!!

But whatever you do don’t try to control them, don’t try to own them, and don’t ever think that you do!

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2010: 01/10
CATEGORY: Competitive Advantage
Marketing
Marketing Myopia
Strategy
THE EDGE
Thoughts
1 comment

Allow yourself to be inspired!!!

I love the 1st of January. It’s one of the most inspiring days of the year – a fresh start, the beginning of something new!

I spent most of the day traveling with no one to distract me – one wonderful day to myself to think about the year ahead, and everything I want to achieve.

Leaning back in my airplane seat, looking at the alps and the white snow, I thought of Zinedine Zidane (a retired French World Cup-winning footballer) who this year climbed Mont-Blanc for charity, I thought of Susan Boyle leaving Blackburn (Scotland) to give her dream of being a singer a chance, I thought of Sam Walton (founder of Wal-mart) who in 1991, when asked about the recession, said, ‘I’ve thought about it, but I have chosen not to participate.”, I thought about my local homeless man, who despite everything, has the most wonderful attitude and outlook on life…I thought of many people and things that have inspired me…

… I also thought of two ads that inspired me, and keep doing so!

Apple’s Think different

If you were alive in 1997 I doubt that you will have forgotten the black and white add with old footage of icons such as Bob Dylan, Martin Luther King, Gandhi and Picasso….the list goes on. Take a look it’s worth it.

If you don’t have time here is the text. “Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do”.

Adidas’ Impossible is nothing Muhammad Ali Vs. Laila Ali

“Impossible isn’t a fact. It’s an opinion. Like when they said it would be impossible to beat Sonny Liston. He’s too powerful, too experienced. Or when they said don’t take the fight in Zaire. He’s too young, too strong, he’s gonna destroy Ali. So when my father looks impossible in the eye. And defeats it, again and again. what do you think I’m gonna do when I hear people say a woman shouldn’t box…yeah that’s right. Rumble young girl, rumble!” Impossible is nothing.

I know 2009 was a tough business year for many, a year where ‘thinking differently’ and believing that ‘impossible is nothing’ may have had to take as back seat to surviving.

But I’m thinking in addition to drinking less, losing weight, going to the gym…maybe this year we can all add ‘thinking differently’ and believing that ‘impossible is nothing’ to our new year resolutions list.

Lets do it in the name of making a difference, lets do it to pay homage to some of the greatest icons in the world, lets do it for progress, (and yes even lets do it for quality TV advertising), lets do it because we can …

…and lets do it in 2010!!!

Happy New Year!!!

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