Outliers

I hope that everyone is recovering nicely from Thanksgiving. It was a relaxing and fun day for us in Minneapolis. We did not travel as we are preparing HQ for another junior agent.

I finished Gladwell’s Outliers last night. It was a great read. Using the term Outlier in it’s scientific and statistical sense, Gladwell describes stories of successful individuals, but moves beyond the Algers-esque stories of a strong individual. He looks at the socio-economic, cultural, and historic elements that also contribute to working for or against one’s success. Here's Gladwell talking about why he wrote the book:

In the case of Outliers, the book grew out a frustration I found myself having with the way we explain the careers of really successful people. You know how you hear someone say of Bill Gates or some rock star or some other outlier—"they're really smart," or "they're really ambitious?' Well, I know lots of people who are really smart and really ambitious, and they aren't worth 60 billion dollars. It struck me that our understanding of success was really crude—and there was an opportunity to dig down and come up with a better set of explanations.

I was surprised Gladwell did not explicitly acknowledge or reference Anthony Giddens’ theory of sturcturation. In a similar vein, I was surprised that Tipping Point did not acknowledge Rogers’ work on Diffusions of Innovation…while I’m at it, why Bourdieu’s work was not surfaced in the cultural discussions. Those nits aside, I really enjoyed the book and thought it is a great way to help us think more critically about the socio-symbolic construction of reality.

Some of the more interesting stories for me were those of Bill Gates early high school opportunities; Bill Joy’s college experience (some similar elements to that of Gates’ high school experience – both had, at the time, rare opportunities to program on time share clients); the Beatles early days in Hamburg, and the socio-cultural elements of Columbian and Korean co- pilots that make it difficult for them to raise questions or provide a change of course in times of emergency. Yet the most interesting for me may have been the discussion of the KIPP (knowledge is power program) in the New York City school system.

I recommend the book.

Takeaways: Culture and history continue to provide “here-and-now” phenomena that shape our symbolic reality; and the boot straps story is really kind of hogwash (sorry Ayn Rand).

iPhone Continues to Change the Game

Some cool new updates with iPhone 2.2 and apps continue to push ways in which technology can improve our lives...or sometimes can just do cool things.

• iPhone's Google app now has voice recognition for search. Don't type, just talk.
• Maps now has walking and bus route directions.
• Shazam music tagging and identification tool is awesome
• Urban Spoon is continuting to show how the web is becoming hyper-local.

So now, I can use either Urban Spoon or the Google app to find a restaurant in my neighborhood. I can use Maps to give me driving, walking, or bus directions to get there. When I'm there, if I hear a cool new song, Shazam can tell me what it is and where I can find out more about the artist or the song. Then, in our post-modern modes of communication my wife and I can tweet about the experience.

Have a great Thanksgiving.

Election Follow Up

So, long time no posts. The election was nuts for a political communication junkie. On top of that, I took a new job, as an online channel manger for Best Buy. It’s been a fascinating ride so far. Now here’s my quick recap of the election from a brand and symbolic identity perspective. My analysis is not meant to explain all facets of the election or the psyche of the electorate, or talk about spending, I just want to highlight some things that interested me and helps explain why Obama won.

Obama had a better use of technology and connected more with young and first-time voters. C’mon he even had an iPhone app that could provide localized news. Obama seemed more presidential, as he remained calm. While his election is historic and he ran a great campaign (even the conservative CNN talking heads agreed – the only big mistake was the “clinging to guns and religion” statement). However, I feel that McCain’s team did a lot to beat themselves by not grounding their symbolic vision. As I outline these items, they are not on my ethics, but rather based on where brand promises are broken.

*McCain’s “maverick” status would have worked to separate himself if he didn’t vote with Bush 90% of the time.

*McCain’s choice of Palin was a high-risk choice. At the end of the day, may have hurt him more than helped (which is out of the norm for a VP choice).

*Joe The Plumber – was not really a plumber, was not trying to buy a business, and could not afford a shopping spree the likes of the Palins.

*The key issue moved from Iraq to the economy in late summer. McCain looked erratic and indecisive (yet wanted to be the one with experience to lead). He wasn’t sure if he would be at the first debate, if he would be on Letterman, etc. At the end of the day, he votes for the bailout (like Obama). So there was no unique differentiator on the vote, and how he got there did not instill confidence as a leader or a maverick. I had a conversation with conservative friend of mine who felt that McCain could have won if he made only two different choices: Pawlenty for VP and voted against the $700B bailout.

*Economy part II: Warren Buffet endorsed Obama. Among most voters, Buffet has recognition of being a smart investor. The Obama endorsement is hard to overcome for McCain. Obama’s weakness on foreign policy and experience led to the choice of Biden. McCain’s admission of not being strong on economics led him to the choice of Palin. It’s hard to say that the nearly “socialized” economy of AK would translate to a strength on the National or International level.

The takeaways: Don’t break brand promises. When trying to ground a brand identity, make sure that are reality links to can make the symbolic tangible. You can’t be all things to all people. The here-and-now changes the landscape. If the economy wasn’t the chief here-and-now issue, McCain’s weakness on economic issues may not have mattered.

Politics brings out incongruity and some of it is laughable, but too much of it and a vision can not be grounded or reach critical mass.

The Politics of Incongruity

With the DNC starting, we are clearly in the thick of campaign season, and with it an assault on our symbolic reality. Campaign managers will serve as symbolic pyromaniacs for the next ten weeks -- throwing their matches of ideas to see what catches and spreads like wildfire among the populous. With these efforts, we're going to see a lot of political and symbolic incongruity. A broad example is Biden's about face from the primary season to now partnering with Obama; or McCain running against Bush's agenda and now trying to legitimize himself among conservatives by supporting the Bush agenda. As a bit of a cynic, I'm used to these, but do find them funny.

What's harder for me to take is when an individual chooses to sum up their beliefs in bumper stickers (arguably the symbolic cue of the fantasy themes and dramas that comprise that person's symbolic reality). In the case of one of my neighbors, s/he has two bumper stickers on their car. The first says "Got Experience?" -- that was the pro-Hillary, anti-Obama drama. Fair enough. But then the next bumper sticker is Al Franken for Senate. For those not familiar with the MN Senate race, satarist Al Franken has no experience as an elected official. It's hard to take your bumper stickers seriously when they demonstrate a lack of political consistency or the good sense to remove one when that drama has died.

The problem with airlines? The customers.

Listen to the story from NPR about airfares and other hidden costs associated with a failing business model. Listen to the jackass about 3:00 into the audio portion. It's you. Yes you and your travel sites that are destroying the airlines. You and your pragmatic searches for a low cost. You're letting the terrorists win, but showing what a free market can do to the poor widdle airlines.

Don't violate the here-and-now...or don't scare people with bombs

Interesting article from Brandweek about a Dark Knight promo that bombed.

Here's the basics of the article:

A Dark Knight promotion, featuring a chocolate cake wired to look like an explosive device, prompted a local San Antonio, Texas, news station to call in the bomb squad earlier this week.
Echoing the Aqua Teen Hunger Force bomb scare in Boston in Feb. 2007, the low-budget guerilla campaign delivered some unintended results for the Santikos Theater chain.

A couple of things:
- Yes, you need to be symbolically unique, but you shouldn't be reckless (unless that's part of your brand).
- No, you shouldn't violate most general norms of your audience. The cake (as far as I know has no real safe signifier to folks to say "hey it's a joke."


There are a few of you out there that are saying "Hey, look, buzz..."if you still believe that hack version marketing, I have nothing for you. I just ask that you get out of you polyester used-car salesman suit and move on. In the case of the Dark Knight, I'm guessing that the record-setting weekend attendance wasn't from your guerrilla/dunce marketing team. It was from more traditional channels, supported by a sad story about a co-star, and an interesting use of trailers at Imax theaters last winter -- that were then propagated through YouTube.

I think the Aqua Teen Hunger Force (ATHF) version was a bit different, because its stunt, the people charged with the crime, and the "bomb" were all fairly well aligned with Adult Swim/ATHF guerilla promotion. So, it got some points for being grounded with its audience. Still a bit risky, but that's inline with the overall brand. The Dark Knight promotion seemed lazy and stupid...unlike the depth and thought provoking nature of the actual Batman text as interpreted by Director Christopher Nolan.

New Field Link: eMarketer Daily

Greetings. I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday weekend.

I wanted to call out a new Field Link. It's the HTML version of eMarketer's daily email. I've received the email update for quite some time and find it an invaluable and thought provoking resource.

A new TV and the power of the interwebz

I just recently bought a new TV and the experience has highlighted the power (and promise) of the Internet in delivering a holistic customer experience that’s consistent online and offline -- as much as it’s an experience with a company (or brand) rather than this is my offline experience and that’s my online experience. After 14 years of great service, it was time to retire my old ProScan CRT. After much research, I decided to go with a new Sony Bravia XBR. I purchased the TV at Best Buy, in part because I was going to switch to DirecTV (because they have the contract rights to the NFL Sunday Ticket) from Comcast and Best Buy would take $30/month off my DirecTV bill for 12 months; and in part, because I could see the product up-close before I bought it. The interaction with both companies provided great examples of delivering a wonderful customer experience.

Through Best Buy, I also bought a new TV stand. However, I bought it online and used the in-store pickup. No need to drive around and see if they have it or not. Go online and see which store has it. The process was great – see which stores have the product in stock, buy from that store, get a confirmation email that the store is ready for you, drive to the store, do curbside pick up, and have a delightful “blue shirt” bring out the merchandise. Total time spent in the parking lot of the store, six minutes. How awesome is that?! Anyone that has been through a major technology deployment that has hooks in to backend systems, such as inventory, commerce, or supply chaing, should be impressed. In short, they don’t make their technology or processes the customer’s problem. It was a nearly seamless integration of online and offline technology and process to deliver a unified experience. In the future, I’m thinking they shouldn’t need a confirmation email to tell you they’re ready, but now I’m picking nits.

With DirecTV, I was impressed with the personalized web portal and associated account information. The personalization includes TV listings. From that TV listings page, I can set my DVR to record. Tivo-esque, I know, but this is another unified experience from my programming provider. So, I could be away from home and reading an email or an article about a cool new show, or a news special that’s on before I get home. Surf over to my DirecTV page, log in, and bammo, set my DVR to record.

The take away, think about your customer’s experience in total, not as a collection of online and offline silos. It’s just plain, old commerce, it’s not e-commerce.