Friday comix - the Happiness Home (tm)

Some key features:

• Large parlor and kitchen, for entertaining friends*
• Celebration center to keep trophies, photos and keepsakes to "cherish the moment a little longer"*
• Home office to cut out that nasty commute*
• And, to make things simple, this floor plan comes in one configuration only--no stressing over choices!*

* key elements of a happy life as described in this Wall Street Journal article.

psychology, happiness, cartoons, business, Friday Comix

Read More

Fortune 500 Corporate Blog Review: Interpublic Group (#348)

Interpublic Group (NYSE: IPG) is the third-largest advertising/marketing holding company in the world. So they know something about blogs. The closest thing to a "corporate" blog they have is from their Emerging Media Lab, so that's what we'll talk about.

Name: "The Future of Media"

History: regular posts since June 2006.

Frequency of posts: About eight per month.

Nature of posts: Unsurprisingly, the blog deals with the future of media. Post subjects include Second Life, mobile advertising, video games, etc.. They present good analyses of fake user-created content here and here. As befits a research lab, there's no overt selling in the blog. Just talking about what's happening in new media, and why.

Design/functionality: A nice, clean design, with good use of graphics (as one would expect). The text is well organized and formatted. The left column includes categories, recent comments, frequently used tags, a blogroll and a reading list. In short, a very professional-looking blog. Offers an RSS feed. They allow comments (unmoderated, but requiring email verification) and trackbacks. The administrator is not identified. There are a handful of different posters, but Jeff Berg is responsible for more than half the posts.

Links etc.: The blog is unclaimed in Technorati and is ranked #223,757. Technorati's information is more than six weeks out of date. There are a few links from other blogs, mostly small ones.

A good blog on a timely topic. I will add "The Future of Media" to my reading list. Thanks, guys.

blogs, corporate blogs, marketing, Interpublic Group

Read More

Low-price companies change consumer behavior permanently

There's a very interesting article in this month's Harvard Business Review entitled "Strategies to Fight Low-Cost Rivals" by London Business School professor Nirmalya Kumar. It's got lots to say about how traditional companies can compete with low-price insurgents.

Within the article, however, are several passages that will send chills up the back of any marketer. Customers will pay more for more value, correct? Prof. Kumar says yes, to a point. But he also says this:

My research suggests that if a business gets a customer to buy its products or services on the basis of price, it will lose the customer only if a rival offers a lower price.

So once a customer defects to a low-price rival, she ain't coming back.

Well, how about the marketer's favorite tool, feature differentiation? That can help, can't it? Says Prof. Kumar:

Many companies find it tough to persuade consumers to pay for additional benefits. A small premium for greater services or benefits is a powerful defense, as Target and Walgreens have shown.

With the emphasis on small. The marketer's toolbag certainly has shrunk. Thanks Wal-Mart, Dell, Southwest, Huawei!

marketing, strategy, pricing, competition, business

Read More

More stories--this time, listening

After my post last week about storytelling in business, I received a nice comment from Shawn Callahan of the Anecdote blog about using stories in business another way--about collecting and making sense of stories to understand deeply what's happening in a company. Shawn's ideas are summarized here.

Imagine that your company has recently reorganized. Deep in the organization many disruptions ensue. But what exactly is happening, and how do people really feel about it? Without this basic information it's impossible to assess the impact of the change, and how to mitigate the negative effects of the change.

Stories can help. Getting employees to describe in detail what is happening to them, without imposing limitations such as predetermined hypotheses, closed-ended questions, numerical ratings, etc.--yields much deeper insights (here's a neat white paper from Anecdote describing how this works). And from those insights, a company can design effective responses to improve the work environment and help an important change take root.

Thanks, Shawn, for pointing this out.

(Picture: the listening ear from sailortownbelfast.org)

innovation, narrative, business

Read More

A very brief history of wheeled luggage

At the session on Sustainable Innovation at last week's Fortune Innovation Forum, William McDonough, the green architect and designer, said the following:

"Mankind isn't so smart. It took us 5,000 years to put wheels on luggage."

Which got me to thinking about the history of wheeled luggage, so here is the best history you can get on the subject based on a brief survey of the (internet-hosted) literature:

circa 1851: In "Moby-Dick," Queequeg talls the story of strapping his seachest to a wheelbarrow but then, not knowing how to maneuver the barrow, gathers the whole assembly and carries it.

very early 1900's: steamer trunks with two wheels are advertised.

1970's: wheels appear on traditional suitcases; travelers pulling them by leashes and poorly balanced suitcases toppling over ensue.

1989: Northwest Airlines pilot Bob Plath develops the roll-aboard suitcase for flight crews.

Today: wheels on everything. Soon we will be porting luggage at our front, back and sides, cocooned in storage, like Manhattanites walking their dogs.

(Picture: the TravelPro Crew5 series, via London Luggage)


innovation, history, Fortune Innovation Forum, business, luggage

Read More

Is Microsoft innovative?

In case you missed it, there's a nice article in yesterday's Wall Street Journal featuring a dialogue between Robert Scoble and Dave Winer over whether Microsoft is an innovative company. Given the many shots leveled at Microsoft at the Fortune Innovation Forum this week, it's a timely read.

innovation, strategy, Fortune Innovation Forum, business

Read More

Friday comix-a day in the life of a cubicle-dweller

innovation, strategy, Fortune Innovation Forum, business,
Gary Hamel, Friday Comix

Read More