Experience Manifesto

Amazon.com: Living Brands: Collaboration + Innovation = Customer Fascination

Just picked up my copy of Raymond Nadeau's new book and I'm zoomin' through it! Of course, I did do some writing for it, so I think it's a great book, but I'm pretty confident you'll enjoy it too! In addition to our piece on emerging technologies, he has assembled a number of guest writers who help build a compelling argument for creating living brands. I’ll be posting more as I read it!

If you want to build and strengthen your brand in the twenty-first century, you need more than clever grassroots promotions and hip guerrilla marketing. You need Living Brands, Raymond Nadeau's dynamic, groundbreaking approach to branding that shows you, in six simple steps, how to become an integral part of your consumers' lives.

Living Brands is based on a passion for understanding consumers' lives and their existing needs. It uses the latest strategies of consumer collaboration to create a more culturally evolved, emotionally engaged, holistic connection to consumers. As one of the marketing industry's global pioneers, Raymond Nadeau has seen how the marketing world has changed. He provides examples of what works and what doesn't in today's consumer-savvy market. Packed with interviews from today's finest creative and cultural minds, he reveals six secrets to creating brands that truly fascinate and fulfill consumers' needs. You'll learn about

Five Top Global Trend Agencies, which come together for the first time to provide insight into customer collaboration

Culture Casting, a new model of consumer segmentation

Consumer as Creator, a new concept of brand-building based on actual lifestyles, as well as creating what Nadeau calls brand biospheres

Megatrends, the four must-have ingredients for living brands

The Focus Group Hoax, the difference between what consumers say and what they really mean

Living Brands gives you all the tools you need to adapt your brand to an ever-changing world of consumers, options, and interests. It's the intelligent way to respond to consumers' realities-and the only true way to build stellar brands that will stand the test of time.

Link: Amazon.com: Living Brands: Collaboration + Innovation = Customer Fascination.

Mavericks at Work Blog

I attended the launch party for Mavericks at Work and met both Bill & Polly. Loved what they did for the event! In addition to doing a presentation about how the book came about, they had many of the Maverick's in attendance! I had a great conversation with Vernon Hill from Commerce Bank and even met Elliott Spitzer! I'll be posting more from the book shortly!

"We desperately need concrete, compelling, uplifting examples of new varieties of Excellence to guide us forward. You'll find them by the bushel in Mavericks at Work. Bill Taylor and Polly LaBarre are brilliant raconteurs and analysts who more than fulfill their promise to let us be 'eyewitnesses to the future.' I didn't read this book, I devoured it." —Tom Peters, author of In Search of Excellence

Link: Mavericks at Work Blog.

Link: USNews.com: Mavericks at work .

Link: 800 CEO Read.com - Mavericks at Work By William Taylor, Polly LaBarre.

Link: Leading Questions: Lessons from the Rule Breakers - Mavericks at Work in US News.

Link: Mavericks at Work -- Financial Times review

Amazon.com: Mavericks at Work: Why the Most Original Minds in Business Win: Books: William C. Taylor,Polly G. LaBarre

I received an advance copy of Mavericks at Work, which will be available in October, and I've been enjoying read. But I came across a quote today that I just had to post:

"One of our core philosophies is that we spend money that other people would spend on marketing to create a store experience that exceeds people's expectations. We don't spend money on messages -- we invest in execution." Glen Senk, Anthropologie

Now that's putting your money where your mouth is! It's not about telling people what you do. It's about doing what you do.

So, if we were in the Wal-Mart pitch, we'd be saying "Don't spend $500 million on advertising. Put $500 million into creating the most authentic, relevant and compelling retail experience you can create. Then let that new experience speak for you! We think that will deliver a message that will really impact your bottom line."

Are you ready to put your money where your mouth is? Sure, it's easy to spend money on messaging, but you create a much better value when you spend money to execute well. Take look at a piece that Dan Pink wrote for Yahoo Finance:

Today, utility is abundant. We have more products and services than we can handle, and most function just fine. To stand out in a crowded marketplace, sellers must make a dramatic leap in utility -- or stand out in some other way. They can try to compete on price, but that usually ends in a downward death spiral.

So the alternative is to compete not on left-brain attributes like price and functionality, but on right-brain qualities such as emotion, meaning, and look and feel. Case in point: Target sells toilet brushes and vegetable scrubbers designed by superstar architect Michael Graves. Even the most mundane, utilitarian objects in our lives have been turned into objects of desire.

I've identified an initial group of five publicly-held companies that differentiate based on design: Apple (AAPL), Target (TGT), Starbucks (SBUX), Motorola (MOT), and Procter & Gamble (PG). (Surprised by that last one? Don't be. P&G CEO A.G. Lafley has said many times his company "is in the design business" and that design is how the company avoids descending into commodity hell.) Turns out that these five design-centered companies have easily outperformed the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ over the last five years. (Emphasis mine)

So let's build this index together. It's your DADI, too! Send your nominations to me at [email protected]. I'll put the list together and report back to you in a later column.

So, putting your money where your mouth is might actually make you money! Are you listening Wal-Mart?

Link: Amazon.com: Mavericks at Work: Why the Most Original Minds in Business Win: Books: William C. Taylor,Polly G. LaBarre.

Link: Good Investing by Design: The Trend Desk - Yahoo! Finance.

Amazon.com: CIRQUE DU SOLEIL, THE SPARK

Just finished reading this new book (it takes about 90 minutes!) and I loved it! Easy to read but very inspiring! Below are some of the quick things that I highlighted as I read through the book. I’ll be posting more, but wanted to get this up to get things started!

There are no individual stars listed in the program

The trick is, not trying to solve the problem before you figured out what it is

The better we get along, the more free we are to let loose and express our ideas and emotions. It’s hard to be creative in isolation. True creativity requires collaboration…and yes, even conflict and confrontation

The constant sharing of ideas. Their first idea was never their last. The importance of deadlines. The danger of red tape.

If you don’t understand the role you’re playing, how can you be excited about what you’re doing?

We are in a life-and-death business. We can not simply say it was some other department’s responsibility.

The more we nourish our artists and support staff -- in every way -- the more they’ll give back to us in return. Our goal is to make the artists comfortable in just about every way possible so we can make them uncomfortable in their thinking -- challenge them, destabilize them. The more we do that, the more they’ll throw themselves into their roles.

If you’re attitude is “I’m doing my job,” then you’re not really doing my job. The audience is paying for more then that. The want to feel the inspiration.

Here's the description from Publisher's Weekly:

For anyone who has ever marveled at the creativity, athleticism and magic of Cirque du Soleil, this book is a jewel that explores the showmanship, challenges and philosophies that have made Cirque an international sensation. Using a fictional narrative, Heward (former president and COO of Cirque's creative content division) and journalist Bacon follow a sports agent named Frank as he seeks the drive and enthusiasm that have faded from his career. Through a chance encounter while in Las Vegas, Frank sees a Cirque du Soleil performance and is enchanted. Before long Frank takes a leave of absence from his job and starts training with Cirque athletes in Montreal while giving the reader a behind-the-scenes look at how the Cirque sensation is created and the underlying philosophy. He gleans lessons on the value of working for a common goal, creating a meaningful experience for customers, using failure as a learning tool and how to reinvent oneself to find life's true path. While the scenarios that Frank encounters often seem too convenient, the book is captivating and offers important lessons that can be applied to many aspects of modern life. (Apr.)

Link: Amazon.com: CIRQUE DU SOLEIL, THE SPARK : Igniting the Creative Fire That Lives Within Us All: Books: John U. Bacon,Lyn Heward.

Douglas Rushkoff - Speaking ::

Wanted to let you know that Doug Rushkoff will be doing two speaking engagements about his latest book, Get Back in the Box. Doug does an excellent presentation and this is a very valuable topic for everyone today. Learn which companies are getting back in the box and which ones don't event know there is a box!

January 17. Barnes and Noble, Chelsea. 7pm. 675 6th Avenue, New York.

January 24. Community Books. Park Slope, Brooklyn

Link: :: Douglas Rushkoff - Speaking ::.

Link: Get Back in the Box.

Amazon.com: Brave New World: Books: Aldous Huxley

Just starting reading Brave New World for the first time. Decided I needed to do some non-work reading for a change and this seemed like a good choice. Was there ever a movie of this book?

Link: Amazon.com: Brave New World: Books: Aldous Huxley.

Amazon.com: Experience the Message : How Experiential Marketing is Changing the Brand World: Books

Max Lenderman, formerly with GearWerx and now with GMR Marketing, has written a new book about the world of experiential marketing and the challenges facing marketers today and I got a copy to review. Some full disclosure -- Max has written some great things about the Brand Experience Lab and the work we're doing in the book, but I was actually surprised to find out we were included. We had been trying to get together to do an interview for the book and since our schedules never got us together, I just figured I lost the chance! Max & I are also on the board of the IXMA: International Experiential Marketing Association, so I've had the chance to read many of his thoughts on the value of experience marketing in the past.

That out of the way, I'm really enjoying the book a great deal! The good thing is that it's an easy ready and I mean that as a compliment. He really gets at the heart of many of the problems that the industry is facing today and the book is well laid out to make his case. Which, of course, wasn't a tough sell on us!

With all of the changes occurring in the advertising/marketing world today, we need some new guides and Max is one of them! I would give Max one challenge -- tie the book to your blog more! Given the lead time necessary to get a book published today, there's probably more data about his examples available and I would love to get the current thinking. Plus, it would create the pre-show - show - post-show concept that we talk about so much here at BEL.

I'll post more of his book in the coming week or so, but I wanted to give you all the heads-up! It's certainly a book you should have in your library if you're serious about navigating the new marketing world.

Experience the Message is an exciting guide to today's revolution in marketing that challenges long-held beliefs about how products are introduced and sustained on the consumer's highly cluttered radar screen. This book reveals how today's companies can use credible voices and sensory experiences to bring the brand—its essence and its benefits—to life, how a company stimulates interaction between the brand and consumers in meaningful locations, creating a positive and memorable association in places and at times where the consumer is most receptive to learning or interacting with a product or brand.

Link: Amazon.com: Experience the Message : How Experiential Marketing is Changing the Brand World: Books.

Guardian Unlimited Books | News | Authors auction chance to name characters

Fancy having your name on a gravestone in Neil Gaiman's next novel? Or meeting your end at the hands of a zombie in Stephen King's latest? Or being immortalised as one of Sunny Baudelaire's "utterances"? Here's your chance. As part of a charity venture, 16 authors, from John Grisham to Dave Eggers, are offering readers the opportunity to have their name appear in their forthcoming books.

Fans will be able to bid on eBay in an auction designed to raise funds for the American charity The First Amendment Project, with the highest bidder for each author buying the guarantee of seeing their name immortalised in print.

Each author has stated on eBay precisely what it is he or she is offering, and the information and provisos stipulated by the writers provide one of the most intriguing aspects of the scheme.Stephen King warns that his new novel, Cell, is "like cheap whiskey - very nasty and extremely satisfying". Potential bidders are told that the character to be given their name "can be male or female, but a buyer who wants to die must in this case be female".

With other authors, there is no guarantee that your name will be bestowed on a character with whom you would be happy to be associated. Peter Straub suggests that potential bidders "should be advised that the fictional person who winds up bearing his or her name may be of dubious moral character"; Rick Moody, on the other hand, points out that "since I don't know who the characters are yet, I can't promise that it's a 'good character' or a 'bad character,' but since I generally have no 'bad characters,' it will probably be someone reasonably sympathetic."

Link: AuctionCause eBay Store About My Store.

Link: Guardian Unlimited Books | News | Authors auction chance to name characters.

Fast Company | So Call Us Hijackers

Highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a great read! As soon as we get settled with all of our moving, I'll be posting a great deal more about this book and the whole Brand Hijack idea.

Alex Wipperfuerth won't talk to me. Not on the record, at least. Which is strange, since most first-time business-book authors practically require a restraining order. As it turns out, Wipperfuerth is simply practicing what he preaches.

Wipperfuerth's new book, Brand Hijack: Marketing Without Marketing (Portfolio, February 2005), is a smart, if somewhat scattered, argument for letting customers define a brand. Wipperfuerth, a partner with the firm Plan B who once managed brands for Procter & Gamble, describes how marketing phenomena such as The Blair Witch Project are made to seem like "serendipitous accidents." Wipperfuerth recounts how Artisan Entertainment created and "preseeded" an urban legend, targeted the right (not necessarily cool) early subgroups, and then limited distribution of the film. "Who would admit that the film wasn't all that," he observes, "after having wasted hours trying to get tickets?"

It's a savvy analysis -- so why wouldn't Wipperfuerth want to get it some ink? Somewhere between his playing coy at our first meeting at a New York Starbucks and the two hours I spent gathering "background" at his San Francisco offices, it hit me: He wants to get his own brand hijacked.

"Your instinct is right that we're attempting to apply Alex's ideas to the publication of the book," admits Will Weisser, Portfolio's associate publisher. One of Wipperfuerth's original plans, says Amy Hertz, who edited the book and has since left Portfolio, was to send out galleys to middle managers, hoping to "seed" an authentic subgroup. Why? "That's where real change and innovation comes from," says Hertz. He also wanted to have critical reviews from readers -- which he wouldn't get to see -- published in the book. He wanted the back cover completely blank: no bio, no blurbs, no hyped-up copy. And, says Hertz, he didn't want it sent to the business press at all.

Wipperfuerth mostly got the book design he wanted. There are no promotional quotes on the back cover -- only a brief definition of the term "brand hijack" -- and a lone file-folder image gives the book an authentic manifesto feel. But his plan hasn't entirely come off. Portfolio gave him only 500 galleys, many times more than it usually gives authors but fewer than the 2,000 he wanted. Publishing constraints kept Portfolio from including readers' comments in the first edition. And staying out of business magazines? Try to stop us. Or maybe we were just part of the plan all along.

Link: Fast Company | So Call Us Hijackers.

Link: Experience Manifesto: Barnes & Noble.com - Brand Hijack: Marketing Without Marketing.

Viral Marketing Discussion

Recently, Asa Baily posted this question on the Adrants board:

Do consumers now define brands, not marketers - with the arrival of the consumer created ad and the blog and the failing efectivness of trad ads, is the future of a brand in the hands of the consumer and if so how do we guide it when people are more and more switched off to trad advertising- I say guide as I think control is impossible given that media has fallen into the hands of the consumer - I think the brand that will flourish in the next 10 years will be the one that can guide consumer opinion to uphold and promote a positive brand image over and above the opposite negative one.

And, yes, hypergarrulous as I am, here was my response:

I think that the challenge with viral advertising is that it's frequently seen as the end product. Something that can be created on purpose and directed by the brand. The problem is, that's not what viral and/or word of mouth are really all about. Sure, you can create something that people will pass along, but that's not necessarily creating a conversation about your product. It's creating a conversation about the ad. There's a big difference between the two.

The brand that will flourish in the next 10 years is one that creates a meaningful brand experience across ALL of its touch points. It shouldn't be about guiding consumer opinion and promoting a positive brand image. It should be about creating an actual product, service or experience that the consumer really wants and desires. Not throwing something together to catch a fad or ride a short wave. And, yes, advertising still works. A few weeks back, I needed a new car battery. Of course I bought a Die Hard, is there another battery? But, I eat Ragu because that's the spaghetti sauce I grew up with. Advertising and experience both play huge roles in our decision-making process.

But, they only work when they are authentic, relevant, and compelling. Authentic to who the brand is; relevant to the audience and, well, you all know what compelling is!

You can certainly use all of the advertising tools that exist today to create great buzz. Hell, just look at how much attention the Volkswagen brand got because of the Lee and Dan ad? That was an excellent viral program, even without Volkswagen being involved. But, do we really believe it drove people to the dealership (yes, pun intended)?

What companies really need to do is completely align their brand experience so that it tells one consistent story and, most importantly, delivers it well. Forget trying to harness the power of the latest fad (be it, viral marketing, branded entertainment, advergaming, etc.) and create a great story WITH the product, not around the product. That's how you create a sustainable brand and a sustainable business.

Here's something from a new book I've been reading called Brand Hijack:

Buzz is authentic opinion from consumers. According to David Lewis, 'It is the infectious chatter that spreads from consumer to consumer about something of genuine interest to them.' Because it is genuine, buzz is trusted.

'Companies will become story owners rather than product owners.' Rolf Jensen, The Dream Society.

We agree, it all comes down to great storytelling. As we say, there are three components of a great story:
* People want to hear it.
* People want to tell it.
* People want to participate in it.

Tell a great story (and, of course, back it up by actually delivering with the product/service) and you'll have a great brand.

Companies looking to be around for the long run should be looking to tell great stories all the time, not create a fake story just for the buzz! Hopefully, more companies will learn that lesson!

Link: Adrants Viral Marketing Thread.