The Apple computer ads are great ads.
They feature the big, overweight business PC guy challenged by the smarter, hip, young and agile entrepreneur.
Besides the fact that I am an Apple addict, I personally identify with the ads.
Congrats go out to the Chiat/TBWA LA Team that is doing some cool stuff that propels the Apple brand.
Maybe it’s the Baby Boomer MBA mindset that fostered it, but somewhere the American business community got into glorifying being the BIG corporate star.
Here in Atlanta where BrandVenture is based, the good-old boy Atlanta Chamber of Commerce along with the Atlanta Business Chronicle (our only local business rag) seem to be top addicts of the BIG business glory ride.
Both organizations worship their brand icons like BellSouth, Georgia Pacific, Coca-Cola, UPS, Home Depot and Delta Airlines.
The corporation’s big time CEOs take center stage and the corporate names seem to litter each picture of an Atlanta chamber meeting and each weekly front page of the chronicle.
But as they have said in the past…a funny thing is happening today on the way to the bank!
A few of the news stories of the past couple of weeks paint the picture:
• Home Depot reports another horrible quarterly sales loss while Ace Hardware reports sales growth
• GE earnings are so bad that the corporation is selling off the appliance division and NBC might be on the block next (it is posting some of the worst ratings in the last 20 years)
• USAir announced that they would no longer serve any drinks or peanuts free to passengers and joined the ranks of the rest of the airlines in raising ticket prices and charging for baggage check-ins
• The operator of the Disney Stores filed for bankruptcy… Linens ‘n Things and Sharper Image are closing their doors as well
About an hour before writing this, I drank down a Red Bull. That brand is one super energizer…especially for someone like me that is ADHD.
By the way, Red Bull is not owned by Pepsi nor Coke.
A couple of years ago, BrandVenture spoke at a national marketing conference about “below the surface, counter-conventional brands”… brands that were being powered successfully by avoiding the conventional channels along with the thinking that bigger is better.
Facing economic instability, energy challenges and global economic shifts, businesses today have to be able to change…adapt…re-direct and re-energize FAST.
Just like in the Apple television ads… many of the BIG, bulky corporations in America are unable to take on the challenge.
And that hurdle goes all the way up to the office of top management that in many cases marches to the beat of the band.
What got me motivated to write this Blog was a cocktail meeting I had last night.
Back in the mid-1980s, I had an idea of a cool marketing tool for the healthcare industry that did not exist. In a nutshell, it involved the creation of a service like MRI and Simmons that tracked healthcare usage behaviors and was then further energized with an alignment with lifestyle, geodemographic profile information.
The new venture was a sweet success. It sold for $28 million in less than five years. Course, that was back in the 1980s and certainly cannot compete with the geek-entrepreneurs launching the hot sites that are being acquired today!
The company that bought the healthcare system we built was bought out and then that buyer was bought out again.
Today, the service is delivered as part of a BIG set of services and analytics offered, developed and marketed by a BIG “database” corporation.
About a year and a half ago, I met with the BIG “database” corporation to discuss why BrandVenture’s healthcare clients were becoming very dissatisfied with their product offering and found it too complex and difficult to use.
Needless to say, they really did not place much value on the dialogue.
Last year, I found out that the fifth hire of the original new venture group had started up a competitive service offering to the BIG “database” corporation. The name of the competitive service offering is Health Forecasts and the founder’s name is Tim Garton.
Through Tim’s contacts, resources and ingenuities, he has created a richer service offering that is less complex and best of all, costs about a third of the price of the BIG “database” corporation’s product offering.
Because that’s cool…and because BrandVenture is able to bring to the table a link into the same segmentation model used by the BIG “database” corporation also for about a third of the cost...Health Forecast and BrandVenture developed a joint product offering.
It turned out last night that the folks I met for drinks, really wanted to get the dirt on what was going on with Health Forecasts and my company. They spent much of the time at the bar telling me how questionable any other offering to their product would be.
When I told them that the competitive offering was flexible in application, more advanced in technology and cheaper in price, they literally went into a long discourse about how anything different could never be better.
Turns out that our product has just replaced the BIG “database” corporation’s product as the preferred service offering by one of the coveted statewide hospital associations in Pennsylvania.
Isn’t it interesting how innovation, flexibility and value seem to cause the corporations to hyperventilate?
Not all BIG corporations are bad.
P&G continues to do well because they believe in building individual and independent brands that capitalize on niche opportunities.
Emerson Electric Corporation is one of the top stock purchase offerings because the company re-engineered around energy and also is organized around a portfolio of independent companies.
Maybe its because I really am driven by my passion, conviction and entrepreneurial spirit that believes you must challenge conventions to build brand success.
But right now the writing is in BIG, bold, day-glow type.
The Conventional Model Of Corporate America Ain’t Working And Change Is Imminent!
If this keeps you up late at night… call me… 404.245.9378!
When you are small, flexible and innovative…it gets the mind churning 24/7…course being ADHD helps too!
Come…Let’s Journey!
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Family Vacation Week...Over and OUT!
This blog posting may be up for more than a week before I am able to post the next one.
I head out this upcoming Tuesday for a family vacation trip.
Taking a vacation is not an easy thing when you run a small consultancy business. It’s hard for the work-a-holic/entrepreneur/ADHD to let go of the workplace in today’s virtual office 24/7 world.
But then again, we all need the time to simply “let go” and re-charge.
I leave on Wednesday for Seabrook Island, South Carolina. It’s an island that once was owned by the Episcopal Church. About a third of the island was sold and now contains cottages and single-family homes.
The other two-thirds of the island is protected as an “environmental preserve.”
Back about 25 years ago, my family purchased a small cluster cottage on Seabrook.
It was a place where my family would come together and hang.
We had a lot of great times on the island and I must admit, that some of my best ideas gelled there while walking on the beach in which it was just the tide and I.
I wish that more of my co-horts and clients took time to do things like walking the beach and letting ideas get in rhythm with the tide.
A couple of years ago, my parents sold it, but we are able to lease another place right around the corner from our old cottage.
Family time together is also important…especially when it is cross-generational.
All of my immediate family is gathering down there this week.
Events like this certainly reinforce the whole idea of family values.
The group gathering will include my father who turns 80 years old this year, my mother who is in her mid-70s, my sister, her partner, my 2 year old niece, my adopted uncle, his adopted son and me.
This past week, the California Supreme Court overturned the vote on banning Gay marriage.
Whatever your thoughts of marriage and gay rights might be, it was interesting watching those who celebrated and those who vowed to reverse the ruling with a state constitutional amendment.
Those seeking the state constitutional amendment are passionate about preserving their definition that marriage and family values center on a conventional husband, wife and kids.
Kind of like the “Leave it to Beaver” family portrait fifty years ago!
There is no debate that the family structure is a cultural icon that shapes how individuals relate with one another and the world around them.
Since my sister and her partner adopted my niece Thea, I have watched my parents celebrate their time together.
Thea, who just turned 2 years old, is pretty cool and spending time with her actually makes the right side of my brain tick.
Kids are cool because they have no real barriers that contain their great viewpoint of the world and the issues it presents.
Uncle Norm is pretty cool too. He never got married, but raised three adopted sons.
He adopted my “cousin” Chai while he was stationed in Vietnam. He raised Chai in Panama post-war.
I share all of this because the stereotypes and target audience labels so often used in marketing strategy, are not only generic, but archaic.
I hope that when Thea grows up, I am still around.
She will have seen a perspective of life that will be unique.
Even though she is only two years old, I can already tell that she is one smart cookie.
Thea is going to be successful. She is smart, she has been raised on the truest form of “family-values” and she already understands that thinking outside the box is not only okay, but the really cool thing to do!
Hopefully as you read this, she, my parents, her moms, my uncle, my cousin and me will be building some very cool sand castles on the beach!
I head out this upcoming Tuesday for a family vacation trip.
Taking a vacation is not an easy thing when you run a small consultancy business. It’s hard for the work-a-holic/entrepreneur/ADHD to let go of the workplace in today’s virtual office 24/7 world.
But then again, we all need the time to simply “let go” and re-charge.
I leave on Wednesday for Seabrook Island, South Carolina. It’s an island that once was owned by the Episcopal Church. About a third of the island was sold and now contains cottages and single-family homes.
The other two-thirds of the island is protected as an “environmental preserve.”
Back about 25 years ago, my family purchased a small cluster cottage on Seabrook.
It was a place where my family would come together and hang.
We had a lot of great times on the island and I must admit, that some of my best ideas gelled there while walking on the beach in which it was just the tide and I.
I wish that more of my co-horts and clients took time to do things like walking the beach and letting ideas get in rhythm with the tide.
A couple of years ago, my parents sold it, but we are able to lease another place right around the corner from our old cottage.
Family time together is also important…especially when it is cross-generational.
All of my immediate family is gathering down there this week.
Events like this certainly reinforce the whole idea of family values.
The group gathering will include my father who turns 80 years old this year, my mother who is in her mid-70s, my sister, her partner, my 2 year old niece, my adopted uncle, his adopted son and me.
This past week, the California Supreme Court overturned the vote on banning Gay marriage.
Whatever your thoughts of marriage and gay rights might be, it was interesting watching those who celebrated and those who vowed to reverse the ruling with a state constitutional amendment.
Those seeking the state constitutional amendment are passionate about preserving their definition that marriage and family values center on a conventional husband, wife and kids.
Kind of like the “Leave it to Beaver” family portrait fifty years ago!
There is no debate that the family structure is a cultural icon that shapes how individuals relate with one another and the world around them.
Since my sister and her partner adopted my niece Thea, I have watched my parents celebrate their time together.
Thea, who just turned 2 years old, is pretty cool and spending time with her actually makes the right side of my brain tick.
Kids are cool because they have no real barriers that contain their great viewpoint of the world and the issues it presents.
Uncle Norm is pretty cool too. He never got married, but raised three adopted sons.
He adopted my “cousin” Chai while he was stationed in Vietnam. He raised Chai in Panama post-war.
I share all of this because the stereotypes and target audience labels so often used in marketing strategy, are not only generic, but archaic.
I hope that when Thea grows up, I am still around.
She will have seen a perspective of life that will be unique.
Even though she is only two years old, I can already tell that she is one smart cookie.
Thea is going to be successful. She is smart, she has been raised on the truest form of “family-values” and she already understands that thinking outside the box is not only okay, but the really cool thing to do!
Hopefully as you read this, she, my parents, her moms, my uncle, my cousin and me will be building some very cool sand castles on the beach!
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Summer’s Here! Take An American Field Trip!
The pollsters are shifting into high gear this year.
It’s an election year. And in today’s electronic age, what more can we expect?
The press seems to have a hay day with it. Not that I have regularly tracked all the editorials, newscasts and prime time commentaries, but from what I have been exposed to, I think the press actually believes more of what they talk about than the true reality of the race.
The cover of this past week’s edition of Newsweek ran with the title, “Exclusive Excerpt: The Post-American World.”
The article is titled: “The Rise of the Rest.” The author of the article is Fareed Zakaria.
Ok.
The article starts off noting, “a new poll revealed that 81% of the American people believe that the country is on the wrong track.” – note “wrong tracks” is in quotes.
It then goes on to say…”In the 25 years that the pollsters have asked this question, last month’s response was by far the most negative.”
Interesting use of the phrase “by far the most negative.”
The article highlights the great marvels taking place in the rest of the world while the US sits back doing little to contribute.
“The world’s tallest building is in Taipei, and will soon be in Dubai. The largest publicly traded company is in Beijing. The largest refinery is in India. The largest passenger airplane is built in Europe. The largest investment fund is in Abu Dhabi. The biggest movie industry is Bollywood, not Hollywood.”
The article continues with a whole other set of the biggest, largest and tallest features found elsewhere around the world.
Isn’t it interesting how the press seems to be hell-bent on painting its picture of the American landscape?
Today is Sunday.
Starting last Thursday, I got into my car and drove off of the Interstates on some of the back-roads. And I was taken back by a couple of things I saw.
On Thursday, I stopped off at a small gas station to get gas and it turned out to be full-service.
An older man came out and walked around to the driver’s side window of my car and asked what type of gas I wanted and how much.
I told him to fill it up and away he went. He washed the windows and asked me if my oil was okay.
Wow!
When I went in to pay the bill, I ran into the owner of the gas station. It was a woman that was probably in her early 30s.
I asked her what the drive was behind the station and this is what she said…
“People today need more personal service. I made a decision to find older folks who remember what service is all about. Older folks that could also use a few more dollars in their wallets. Especially now with the cost of gasoline, we have to generate a value-add to the gas we sell.”
Pretty cool.
On Friday morning, after driving for about an hour, I decided I had to get a cup of coffee at a McDonald’s that was in near an outlet mall.
As I drove up to the front of the store, I realized that the parking lot was jam-packed full. Cars, trucks and SUVs filling the lot and parking on the lawn.
Upon entering the store, I saw people both sitting around all the tables as well as standing up together talking. And there in the middle of it all was a five-person bluegrass band complete with banjo, guitars, mandolin and bass.
A live bluegrass band at a McDonald’s!
I met the store manager. He was in his late-20s.
The store manager went on to say that they had a band perform about a year ago and it was a hit. Last summer, the band came in once a month. Then, at the urging of its customers, the band increased its sessions to twice a month in the fall.
Since February, the band plays for about an hour every Friday morning and the same people keep coming back and bringing in more and more of their friends.
Pretty cool grassroots event marketing!
A lot of colleges are holding graduations this week.
The individuals graduating are the very peak of the Millenniums or Generation Y – a group of 71 million teens and 20-somethings that are driving a political showdown with their Boomer adversaries as I write this!
This morning, I ran into just-graduated college Millenniums at the local grocery store. They were in buying a punch of Red Bull to celebrate.
Besides their graduation, what else were they celebrating?
They went on to share how they each were planning to start up new companies…one that was around computer gaming, another one in the website design business, another in eco-friendly landscaping and another in organic plastics.
Wow.
In my Generational Marketing presentation, I lead into the Millenniums section with a quote from American Demographics...
“Weaned on computers, consumer electronics and the high-octane programming of MTV, the Millenniums have shorter attention spans, stimulation overload, chronic boredom and even attention deficit disorder.”
Probably right.
Newsweek Magazine and CNN have great reach among the Boomers, but really bad reach among the Millenniums.
And that’s probably good.
Fareed Zakaria, the author of the Newsweek article is a graduate of both Harvard and Yale. According to his bio, he has traveled the world and lives with his wife and kids in New York.
Isn’t that nice.
The Generation Xers and the Baby Boomers really cannot grapple with just what is happening as the Millenniums emerge.
My perspective?
Tell your boss you have to take a field trip and won’t be coming in to work for the day. Then get in your car and go for a drive. Get out from the artificial urban cityscapes and go mingle among the people.
The MBAs call it “grass-roots marketing”… I like the phrase “tokin’ on the grass-roots.”
There are a lot of cool things happening that we need to embrace!
Just remember this…
• College degrees from the fancy schools make nice wall hangings.
• Bollywood might be nice, but with over 55,000 new videos posted every day on YouTube and more than 100 million plays a day, I don’t think that it or Hollywood is where the action is.
• The last I heard, the Malls are has-beens.
• Biggest, largest and tallest are similar word terms used in the Viagra Email blasts I get.
Fareed…loosen up!
Go put on a pair of those Adidas, text message your sweetheart on that iPhone, grab lunch at an In-and-Out Burger, go shop at Target and then grab a Ben & Jerry’s to snack on while you and your Avatar connect with other Millenniums to chat about the next Bluegrass group to download as the hottest of the ring-tones!
It’s an election year. And in today’s electronic age, what more can we expect?
The press seems to have a hay day with it. Not that I have regularly tracked all the editorials, newscasts and prime time commentaries, but from what I have been exposed to, I think the press actually believes more of what they talk about than the true reality of the race.
The cover of this past week’s edition of Newsweek ran with the title, “Exclusive Excerpt: The Post-American World.”
The article is titled: “The Rise of the Rest.” The author of the article is Fareed Zakaria.
Ok.
The article starts off noting, “a new poll revealed that 81% of the American people believe that the country is on the wrong track.” – note “wrong tracks” is in quotes.
It then goes on to say…”In the 25 years that the pollsters have asked this question, last month’s response was by far the most negative.”
Interesting use of the phrase “by far the most negative.”
The article highlights the great marvels taking place in the rest of the world while the US sits back doing little to contribute.
“The world’s tallest building is in Taipei, and will soon be in Dubai. The largest publicly traded company is in Beijing. The largest refinery is in India. The largest passenger airplane is built in Europe. The largest investment fund is in Abu Dhabi. The biggest movie industry is Bollywood, not Hollywood.”
The article continues with a whole other set of the biggest, largest and tallest features found elsewhere around the world.
Isn’t it interesting how the press seems to be hell-bent on painting its picture of the American landscape?
Today is Sunday.
Starting last Thursday, I got into my car and drove off of the Interstates on some of the back-roads. And I was taken back by a couple of things I saw.
On Thursday, I stopped off at a small gas station to get gas and it turned out to be full-service.
An older man came out and walked around to the driver’s side window of my car and asked what type of gas I wanted and how much.
I told him to fill it up and away he went. He washed the windows and asked me if my oil was okay.
Wow!
When I went in to pay the bill, I ran into the owner of the gas station. It was a woman that was probably in her early 30s.
I asked her what the drive was behind the station and this is what she said…
“People today need more personal service. I made a decision to find older folks who remember what service is all about. Older folks that could also use a few more dollars in their wallets. Especially now with the cost of gasoline, we have to generate a value-add to the gas we sell.”
Pretty cool.
On Friday morning, after driving for about an hour, I decided I had to get a cup of coffee at a McDonald’s that was in near an outlet mall.
As I drove up to the front of the store, I realized that the parking lot was jam-packed full. Cars, trucks and SUVs filling the lot and parking on the lawn.
Upon entering the store, I saw people both sitting around all the tables as well as standing up together talking. And there in the middle of it all was a five-person bluegrass band complete with banjo, guitars, mandolin and bass.
A live bluegrass band at a McDonald’s!
I met the store manager. He was in his late-20s.
The store manager went on to say that they had a band perform about a year ago and it was a hit. Last summer, the band came in once a month. Then, at the urging of its customers, the band increased its sessions to twice a month in the fall.
Since February, the band plays for about an hour every Friday morning and the same people keep coming back and bringing in more and more of their friends.
Pretty cool grassroots event marketing!
A lot of colleges are holding graduations this week.
The individuals graduating are the very peak of the Millenniums or Generation Y – a group of 71 million teens and 20-somethings that are driving a political showdown with their Boomer adversaries as I write this!
This morning, I ran into just-graduated college Millenniums at the local grocery store. They were in buying a punch of Red Bull to celebrate.
Besides their graduation, what else were they celebrating?
They went on to share how they each were planning to start up new companies…one that was around computer gaming, another one in the website design business, another in eco-friendly landscaping and another in organic plastics.
Wow.
In my Generational Marketing presentation, I lead into the Millenniums section with a quote from American Demographics...
“Weaned on computers, consumer electronics and the high-octane programming of MTV, the Millenniums have shorter attention spans, stimulation overload, chronic boredom and even attention deficit disorder.”
Probably right.
Newsweek Magazine and CNN have great reach among the Boomers, but really bad reach among the Millenniums.
And that’s probably good.
Fareed Zakaria, the author of the Newsweek article is a graduate of both Harvard and Yale. According to his bio, he has traveled the world and lives with his wife and kids in New York.
Isn’t that nice.
The Generation Xers and the Baby Boomers really cannot grapple with just what is happening as the Millenniums emerge.
My perspective?
Tell your boss you have to take a field trip and won’t be coming in to work for the day. Then get in your car and go for a drive. Get out from the artificial urban cityscapes and go mingle among the people.
The MBAs call it “grass-roots marketing”… I like the phrase “tokin’ on the grass-roots.”
There are a lot of cool things happening that we need to embrace!
Just remember this…
• College degrees from the fancy schools make nice wall hangings.
• Bollywood might be nice, but with over 55,000 new videos posted every day on YouTube and more than 100 million plays a day, I don’t think that it or Hollywood is where the action is.
• The last I heard, the Malls are has-beens.
• Biggest, largest and tallest are similar word terms used in the Viagra Email blasts I get.
Fareed…loosen up!
Go put on a pair of those Adidas, text message your sweetheart on that iPhone, grab lunch at an In-and-Out Burger, go shop at Target and then grab a Ben & Jerry’s to snack on while you and your Avatar connect with other Millenniums to chat about the next Bluegrass group to download as the hottest of the ring-tones!
Monday, May 5, 2008
The 2008 Emergence of The Magic Dragon
I was born and raised part of my youth in an immigrant neighborhood in Cleveland, Ohio.
Both sets of my grandparents immigrated to America from Europe in the 1920s.
By the time I was born in 1959, my relatives had deep suspicions about Japan, China and Korea. We were also right in the midst of the Cold War and many thought the Soviets were plotting with China to take over the US.
I remember my father telling me that if our dog kept digging holes in the yard that she would wide up digging her way to China.
One of the trends in the 2008 BrandVenture Trendcast is titled “The Chinese Revolution.” It talks about how the Chinese economy is driving global change.
Depending upon your cultural roots, the 2008 Summer Olympics are like China’s Debutante Ball, Bar Mitzvah, First Communion and Coming Out Party all wrapped in one.
Get a load of these stats:
• 1,350,000,000 people in China vs. 301,0000 in US
• China contributed more to global growth than the US…First time another country has done so since the 1930s
• China passed US as the world’s largest consumer in four of the five basic food, energy and industrial commodities
• China now ranks third globally in ad spending behind US and Japan
• 450 Starbucks in China…coffee now equal to tea!
Even if you do not subscribe to it, the current issue of National Geographic is a must read.
The issue is titled “China. Inside The Dragon.”
As we tell our clients constantly, while the economics of the market are important, cultural dynamics are really what drives business.
Here is some of what is reported in the National Geographic issue:
• China has the world’s largest number of Internet users – 220 million surpassing Web surfers in the US
• Authorities have added 171 new pop culture phrases to China’s national language registry
• 31% of Chinese 16 or older say they are religious, four times the official estimate a decade ago
• Cell phones in China have grown from 87 million in 2000 to 432 million today
• 32% of Chinese say the Internet broadens their sex life compared with 11% in the US
When I turned 12 years old, my father was transferred to Georgia to take over the management of a manufacturing plant.
Coming to Georgia from Cleveland was like moving into another country.
One of the things I remember my father telling me about on my first visit down to house hunt was this thing called Kudzu… this vine that was brought over to the US from China.
He told me that it grew faster than any plant in the US and it was taking over the Southern landscape. Most of all, no one had really figured out how to even kill it.
China is radically transforming.
For three decades of peace, the Chinese economy has grown at an average annual rate of nearly 10% and more people have been lifted out of poverty than in any other country, at any other time in human history.
The Kudzu that is driving the radical transformation is called Individuality.
Two of the cultural changes we cite in the BrandVenture Trendcast presentation illustrate just how much individuality is fueling the change.
One involves “Flash Competition” in which kids, teens and 20-somethings are taking popular music videos and adding new voice and music and then using their mobile phones to launch them on YouTube and similar sites.
The second involves both Mobile Phones and Ring Tones. Mobile Numbers are hot and communicate a lot about a person…many pay money to get rid of the unlikely “13s” and instead, get phone numbers that include the magic “8’s”. And over 40% of the Chinese change their ring-tones to be different and distinctive every week.
The US right now is going through an interesting presidential campaign.
Regardless of whether you listen to Hillary, Obama or McCain, the US seems to be hung up on defining “common ground” and “shared responsibility.”
Maybe we can learn some lessons just by observing how the hard-earned grass-roots entrepreneurial Chinese Dollar (Yuan) is radically changing the economic and cultural landscape of 1.3 billion people…and the entire world around them.
Both sets of my grandparents immigrated to America from Europe in the 1920s.
By the time I was born in 1959, my relatives had deep suspicions about Japan, China and Korea. We were also right in the midst of the Cold War and many thought the Soviets were plotting with China to take over the US.
I remember my father telling me that if our dog kept digging holes in the yard that she would wide up digging her way to China.
One of the trends in the 2008 BrandVenture Trendcast is titled “The Chinese Revolution.” It talks about how the Chinese economy is driving global change.
Depending upon your cultural roots, the 2008 Summer Olympics are like China’s Debutante Ball, Bar Mitzvah, First Communion and Coming Out Party all wrapped in one.
Get a load of these stats:
• 1,350,000,000 people in China vs. 301,0000 in US
• China contributed more to global growth than the US…First time another country has done so since the 1930s
• China passed US as the world’s largest consumer in four of the five basic food, energy and industrial commodities
• China now ranks third globally in ad spending behind US and Japan
• 450 Starbucks in China…coffee now equal to tea!
Even if you do not subscribe to it, the current issue of National Geographic is a must read.
The issue is titled “China. Inside The Dragon.”
As we tell our clients constantly, while the economics of the market are important, cultural dynamics are really what drives business.
Here is some of what is reported in the National Geographic issue:
• China has the world’s largest number of Internet users – 220 million surpassing Web surfers in the US
• Authorities have added 171 new pop culture phrases to China’s national language registry
• 31% of Chinese 16 or older say they are religious, four times the official estimate a decade ago
• Cell phones in China have grown from 87 million in 2000 to 432 million today
• 32% of Chinese say the Internet broadens their sex life compared with 11% in the US
When I turned 12 years old, my father was transferred to Georgia to take over the management of a manufacturing plant.
Coming to Georgia from Cleveland was like moving into another country.
One of the things I remember my father telling me about on my first visit down to house hunt was this thing called Kudzu… this vine that was brought over to the US from China.
He told me that it grew faster than any plant in the US and it was taking over the Southern landscape. Most of all, no one had really figured out how to even kill it.
China is radically transforming.
For three decades of peace, the Chinese economy has grown at an average annual rate of nearly 10% and more people have been lifted out of poverty than in any other country, at any other time in human history.
The Kudzu that is driving the radical transformation is called Individuality.
Two of the cultural changes we cite in the BrandVenture Trendcast presentation illustrate just how much individuality is fueling the change.
One involves “Flash Competition” in which kids, teens and 20-somethings are taking popular music videos and adding new voice and music and then using their mobile phones to launch them on YouTube and similar sites.
The second involves both Mobile Phones and Ring Tones. Mobile Numbers are hot and communicate a lot about a person…many pay money to get rid of the unlikely “13s” and instead, get phone numbers that include the magic “8’s”. And over 40% of the Chinese change their ring-tones to be different and distinctive every week.
The US right now is going through an interesting presidential campaign.
Regardless of whether you listen to Hillary, Obama or McCain, the US seems to be hung up on defining “common ground” and “shared responsibility.”
Maybe we can learn some lessons just by observing how the hard-earned grass-roots entrepreneurial Chinese Dollar (Yuan) is radically changing the economic and cultural landscape of 1.3 billion people…and the entire world around them.
Sunday, April 27, 2008
The Global Warming Of Healthcare
Back in 1999, when I was working for Time-Warner, I did a global study of kids, their aspirations, their heroes and where they saw themselves heading 10 years out.
We interviewed kids in their homes in Bangkok, London, Sal Paulo, Berlin, Beijing, Mexico City, Los Angeles, Paris, Santiago, St. Petersburg, Taipei, Manila, Moscow, New York and Sydney among other cool cities.
The big discovery?
Cell phone technology and the Internet were advancing faster in countries outside of the US…especially countries where conventional wired phone service never really came to be!
Walla… No constraints, no behemoth barriers, no stoppage points that curtailed the technology!
It was like jumping from the first quarter to the third quarter at a UGA football game with the refs sitting there blindfolded!
Now step into the year 2008…
The current May issue of Fast Company Magazine has a featured article in it titled “Medical Leave.”
Here is the lead-in to the article…
“It doesn’t look like a hospital… it feels more like a hotel or an upscale mall. The hospital’s outpatient clinic is more stylish than a bar at my five-star hotel. Instead of waitresses, some two dozen nurses tend to a polyglot mix of patients.”
These hospitals aren’t in the US.
They are in places like Mumbai, Istanbul, Xinjiang, Dubai, Mexico City and Thailand.
It’s the beginning of what is being termed: “Globalization Medicine.”
“Millions of fully-insured patients here in the United States will be connected to hospitals globally. The patients will belong to Blue Cross Blue Shield, UnitedHealth Group and other well-known insurance plans.”
And get this… the services and treatments will be less costly than treatment in the US…and that includes the airline tickets to get them there and back.
Ori Karev, CEO of UnitedHealth International says, “I think you’ll find most of us exploring this. We are a business at the end of the day.”
And the globalization of healthcare delivery is providing a forum of free-thinking…the kind of free-thinking that some folks believe is heresy!
Ruben Toral, the chief marketing director of the a global hospital in Thailand, approaches healthcare as not necessarily a social compact or a universal right, but a quality product to be packaged and sold at a sensible price.
Some compare what is taking place to the same supply-chain advantage that Toyota tapped into with its just-in-time manufacturing model.
“Hospitals are not going to spend any more money or any more time in the movement of that patient through the system than is necessary. They’re going to get the patient in, get them on that global platform, and get them back.”
Are there really better healthcare offerings globally?
Is healthcare advancing elsewhere while we get caught up in the dated system we generated during a time when global healthcare was not as advanced as ours?
Are the cell phones in India and China doing things better and cooler than the cell phones in the US?
Yes. Yes. And YES!
Aetna, with its 37 million members, last year acquired Goodhealth Worldwide, an overseas private insurer.
Atena’s CEO Ronald Williams told investors that the acquisition took place because offshore medicine will be “an important emerging trend.”
Since then Aetna has already set up a pilot project for one customer to begin sending its employers abroad for knee and hip procedures.
BrandVenture works with some super clients in healthcare that do some very cool things like Vanderbilt in its conversion of a mall into a regional healthcare resource center... like DeKalb Medical in its development of a dozen physician practices custom tailored to each local neighborhood... like Walton Regional Medical Center and its construction of a new hospital engineered around the convenience needs of an expanding suburbia... and University of Alabama Birmingham and its conversion of a smaller hospital into one tailored exclusively for Baby Boomers.
The entrepreneurial spirit combined with innovation not only drives change…it redefines the market paradigm.
Sometimes to the point of deciding that the current paradigm simply no longer exists and building the new one from scratch!
We interviewed kids in their homes in Bangkok, London, Sal Paulo, Berlin, Beijing, Mexico City, Los Angeles, Paris, Santiago, St. Petersburg, Taipei, Manila, Moscow, New York and Sydney among other cool cities.
The big discovery?
Cell phone technology and the Internet were advancing faster in countries outside of the US…especially countries where conventional wired phone service never really came to be!
Walla… No constraints, no behemoth barriers, no stoppage points that curtailed the technology!
It was like jumping from the first quarter to the third quarter at a UGA football game with the refs sitting there blindfolded!
Now step into the year 2008…
The current May issue of Fast Company Magazine has a featured article in it titled “Medical Leave.”
Here is the lead-in to the article…
“It doesn’t look like a hospital… it feels more like a hotel or an upscale mall. The hospital’s outpatient clinic is more stylish than a bar at my five-star hotel. Instead of waitresses, some two dozen nurses tend to a polyglot mix of patients.”
These hospitals aren’t in the US.
They are in places like Mumbai, Istanbul, Xinjiang, Dubai, Mexico City and Thailand.
It’s the beginning of what is being termed: “Globalization Medicine.”
“Millions of fully-insured patients here in the United States will be connected to hospitals globally. The patients will belong to Blue Cross Blue Shield, UnitedHealth Group and other well-known insurance plans.”
And get this… the services and treatments will be less costly than treatment in the US…and that includes the airline tickets to get them there and back.
Ori Karev, CEO of UnitedHealth International says, “I think you’ll find most of us exploring this. We are a business at the end of the day.”
And the globalization of healthcare delivery is providing a forum of free-thinking…the kind of free-thinking that some folks believe is heresy!
Ruben Toral, the chief marketing director of the a global hospital in Thailand, approaches healthcare as not necessarily a social compact or a universal right, but a quality product to be packaged and sold at a sensible price.
Some compare what is taking place to the same supply-chain advantage that Toyota tapped into with its just-in-time manufacturing model.
“Hospitals are not going to spend any more money or any more time in the movement of that patient through the system than is necessary. They’re going to get the patient in, get them on that global platform, and get them back.”
Are there really better healthcare offerings globally?
Is healthcare advancing elsewhere while we get caught up in the dated system we generated during a time when global healthcare was not as advanced as ours?
Are the cell phones in India and China doing things better and cooler than the cell phones in the US?
Yes. Yes. And YES!
Aetna, with its 37 million members, last year acquired Goodhealth Worldwide, an overseas private insurer.
Atena’s CEO Ronald Williams told investors that the acquisition took place because offshore medicine will be “an important emerging trend.”
Since then Aetna has already set up a pilot project for one customer to begin sending its employers abroad for knee and hip procedures.
BrandVenture works with some super clients in healthcare that do some very cool things like Vanderbilt in its conversion of a mall into a regional healthcare resource center... like DeKalb Medical in its development of a dozen physician practices custom tailored to each local neighborhood... like Walton Regional Medical Center and its construction of a new hospital engineered around the convenience needs of an expanding suburbia... and University of Alabama Birmingham and its conversion of a smaller hospital into one tailored exclusively for Baby Boomers.
The entrepreneurial spirit combined with innovation not only drives change…it redefines the market paradigm.
Sometimes to the point of deciding that the current paradigm simply no longer exists and building the new one from scratch!
Monday, April 21, 2008
How $5 Can Kill A $100 Million Ad Campaign!
The new $5 bill is pretty cool…its got some great graphics and color too.
For so long the US treasury printed its currency in monochromatic versions of green. Sometimes people see things in monochromatic hues.
The $5 dollar bill is quickly replacing our $1 bill.
Think about it.
A Starbucks Venti Cappuccino costs about $5.
A McDonald’s Big Mac combo meal costs about $5.
Dry cleaning a sports blazer costs about $5.
And before summer’s end, a gallon of gas may eat up most of $5.
This past week, BrandVenture experienced an interesting conflict over $5… and it wasn’t with a client, or the media, or a database fielding company.
No… the conflict was with our bank.
You see our bank is one of the BIG BANK BRANDS out there that spends a lot of money on its brand message.
Our bank is Wachoiva. You might have heard or seen their commercials…they claim to be the top bank when it comes to customer service.
Mullen/LHC is their ad agency. They have produced some nice ads with nice music, nice pictures, nice voice-over and nice copy.
The conflict?
Terry Sagedy, a partner with BrandVenture went to cash a check for compensation for focus group participants. And because Terry doesn’t have a personal account with Wachovia, the teller charged $5 to cash the check.
Our company has been with Wachovia now for about three years. We have a very healthy balance in our checking account and also use Wachovia for our corporate charge accounts. We have a credit line with the bank and also some short-term CDs.
Terry has a corporate charge card from Wachovia…but because he doesn’t have a personal account, Wachovia uses it as an excuse to increase its revenue flow from BrandVenture.
I called Wachovia’s customer service for small business 1-800-Number and was informed that “the charge is just part of the bank’s company policy.”
When I asked for justification of the charge, the Wachovia customer service person referred me back to the branch office.
When I called to speak to the brand manager, I was informed that he was in a staff meeting and that he would call back as soon as it was over. I called to speak with him at 10:30am on Wednesday morning. He called me back at 5:00pm while I was moderating one of the groups.
Must have been one heck of a staff meeting.
In his message, he told me that he wanted to “discuss the situation.” No mention made of refunding the $5.
I called him back and left a message on Thursday morning. Still haven’t received any return call.
It’s Sunday night. Figured that if my staff meeting took that long, I might need a couple days of rest as well.
Interesting comparative.
Tonight, I went out to dinner with a couple of my friends. We went to a restaurant where we could sit out on a patio.
Because it was one of those “San Diego days” here in Atlanta, there were lot’s of people sitting out in the sun and enjoying good drinks and good food. Unfortunately, the number of folks there got both the wait staff and the kitchen rather goofed up.
Our dinners were delayed and when they arrived they were cold.
When we voiced our complaint to the waiter, the manager immediately came to the table and gave us our entire meal – drinks and all – compliments of the house.
The meal and drinks probably totaled around $50.
If we went to that restaurant once a week, 52 weeks a year, the total amount would represent a single digit percentage of what we represent as a customer to Wachovia.
Making nice ads that look good and sound good is something that drives ad agency revenue.
It’s too bad that not many ad agencies demand that clients deliver what they claim.
It's too bad that the Wachovia brand office can't simply call back and say, "You are right and your company is a very valuable customer of our bank. We should not have charged $5 for cashing that check. We have returned the $5 back into your account. Here is my name, please call me if you have any questions or concerns in the future."
Notice that I did not include the phrase, "I'm Sorry."
I not only respect the manager of that restaurant, but in doing what he did, he earned my commitment to come back.
As far as Wachovia is concerned, I think we may be shopping for another bank…and I promise that it will not be another BIG BANK BRAND spending a lot of money with its ad agency!
For so long the US treasury printed its currency in monochromatic versions of green. Sometimes people see things in monochromatic hues.
The $5 dollar bill is quickly replacing our $1 bill.
Think about it.
A Starbucks Venti Cappuccino costs about $5.
A McDonald’s Big Mac combo meal costs about $5.
Dry cleaning a sports blazer costs about $5.
And before summer’s end, a gallon of gas may eat up most of $5.
This past week, BrandVenture experienced an interesting conflict over $5… and it wasn’t with a client, or the media, or a database fielding company.
No… the conflict was with our bank.
You see our bank is one of the BIG BANK BRANDS out there that spends a lot of money on its brand message.
Our bank is Wachoiva. You might have heard or seen their commercials…they claim to be the top bank when it comes to customer service.
Mullen/LHC is their ad agency. They have produced some nice ads with nice music, nice pictures, nice voice-over and nice copy.
The conflict?
Terry Sagedy, a partner with BrandVenture went to cash a check for compensation for focus group participants. And because Terry doesn’t have a personal account with Wachovia, the teller charged $5 to cash the check.
Our company has been with Wachovia now for about three years. We have a very healthy balance in our checking account and also use Wachovia for our corporate charge accounts. We have a credit line with the bank and also some short-term CDs.
Terry has a corporate charge card from Wachovia…but because he doesn’t have a personal account, Wachovia uses it as an excuse to increase its revenue flow from BrandVenture.
I called Wachovia’s customer service for small business 1-800-Number and was informed that “the charge is just part of the bank’s company policy.”
When I asked for justification of the charge, the Wachovia customer service person referred me back to the branch office.
When I called to speak to the brand manager, I was informed that he was in a staff meeting and that he would call back as soon as it was over. I called to speak with him at 10:30am on Wednesday morning. He called me back at 5:00pm while I was moderating one of the groups.
Must have been one heck of a staff meeting.
In his message, he told me that he wanted to “discuss the situation.” No mention made of refunding the $5.
I called him back and left a message on Thursday morning. Still haven’t received any return call.
It’s Sunday night. Figured that if my staff meeting took that long, I might need a couple days of rest as well.
Interesting comparative.
Tonight, I went out to dinner with a couple of my friends. We went to a restaurant where we could sit out on a patio.
Because it was one of those “San Diego days” here in Atlanta, there were lot’s of people sitting out in the sun and enjoying good drinks and good food. Unfortunately, the number of folks there got both the wait staff and the kitchen rather goofed up.
Our dinners were delayed and when they arrived they were cold.
When we voiced our complaint to the waiter, the manager immediately came to the table and gave us our entire meal – drinks and all – compliments of the house.
The meal and drinks probably totaled around $50.
If we went to that restaurant once a week, 52 weeks a year, the total amount would represent a single digit percentage of what we represent as a customer to Wachovia.
Making nice ads that look good and sound good is something that drives ad agency revenue.
It’s too bad that not many ad agencies demand that clients deliver what they claim.
It's too bad that the Wachovia brand office can't simply call back and say, "You are right and your company is a very valuable customer of our bank. We should not have charged $5 for cashing that check. We have returned the $5 back into your account. Here is my name, please call me if you have any questions or concerns in the future."
Notice that I did not include the phrase, "I'm Sorry."
I not only respect the manager of that restaurant, but in doing what he did, he earned my commitment to come back.
As far as Wachovia is concerned, I think we may be shopping for another bank…and I promise that it will not be another BIG BANK BRAND spending a lot of money with its ad agency!
Sunday, April 13, 2008
It Ain't The Economy, Stupid!
And the psychologist then says: “So tell me what do you see in this ink blot?”
Here’s what the press sees…
“The headwinds of a slowing economy have hit a once-vibrant Atlanta radio market, which saw revenues slip 3% in 2007 over 2006.”
The press sees a lot of things through their red toned eyeglasses.
Here is what I see…
The mass media is getting shoved off the stage in favor of alternative, more personal choice driven avenues.
Rodney Ho is the author of the article. Rodney’s employer, the Atlanta Journal Constitution (AJC) is also seeing revenues slip.
One of the Top 10 Trends in the 2008 BrandVenture Trendcast is titled “The Funeral Mass of the Mass Media.” The AJC is an example of the trend at work! Business Week reported a 9.1% drop in the circulation of the AJC in 2007 over 2006…one of the highest drops among US newspapers.
Much of the Mass Media and their Ad Agency co-dependents refuse to accept that fact that change is eminent. Some cling to their past; others channel blame elsewhere.
Rodney makes an attempt to justify his observation with the statement: “There is a general correlation between revenues and ratings.”
How did he arrive at this conclusion?
“R&B/Hip Hop V-103, the area’s top rated station pulled in the most revenue, $42.3 million according to BIA estimates…and News/Talk WSB-AM wasn’t far behind at $40 million.”
Interesting.
V-103 delivers strongest among younger, urban African-Americans…a niche within a niche in a city that has a significant younger, urban African-American population.
V-103 is doing to radio what Adult Swim is doing to cable television.
And talk radio like WSB-AM delivers an alternative news perspective…albeit, sometimes from a very niche perspective (Michael Savage and The Allen Hunt Show).
“Top 40 station Star 94 was the third highest grossing station at $24.4 million, but that was down from $28.7 million in 2005.”
A Top 40 station today is the equivalent to Life magazine in print.
Our company works rather extensively with the academic community. Maybe we can find a professor that will do a paper post-election based on the hypothesis that many of the economic factors of 2007-2008 are rooted in consumer perceptions largely influenced by the press.
Bet there aren’t any takers from the Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communications (that is still their real name!) at my alma mater the University of Georgia!
The best part of the article that offers a glimpse of what is really taking place is part of Rodney’s last paragraph: “Most general managers, averse to discussing station financials didn’t return calls or declined to comment.”
Maybe its because they see what’s really happening and wondering if its time to jump ship.
Here’s what the press sees…
“The headwinds of a slowing economy have hit a once-vibrant Atlanta radio market, which saw revenues slip 3% in 2007 over 2006.”
The press sees a lot of things through their red toned eyeglasses.
Here is what I see…
The mass media is getting shoved off the stage in favor of alternative, more personal choice driven avenues.
Rodney Ho is the author of the article. Rodney’s employer, the Atlanta Journal Constitution (AJC) is also seeing revenues slip.
One of the Top 10 Trends in the 2008 BrandVenture Trendcast is titled “The Funeral Mass of the Mass Media.” The AJC is an example of the trend at work! Business Week reported a 9.1% drop in the circulation of the AJC in 2007 over 2006…one of the highest drops among US newspapers.
Much of the Mass Media and their Ad Agency co-dependents refuse to accept that fact that change is eminent. Some cling to their past; others channel blame elsewhere.
Rodney makes an attempt to justify his observation with the statement: “There is a general correlation between revenues and ratings.”
How did he arrive at this conclusion?
“R&B/Hip Hop V-103, the area’s top rated station pulled in the most revenue, $42.3 million according to BIA estimates…and News/Talk WSB-AM wasn’t far behind at $40 million.”
Interesting.
V-103 delivers strongest among younger, urban African-Americans…a niche within a niche in a city that has a significant younger, urban African-American population.
V-103 is doing to radio what Adult Swim is doing to cable television.
And talk radio like WSB-AM delivers an alternative news perspective…albeit, sometimes from a very niche perspective (Michael Savage and The Allen Hunt Show).
“Top 40 station Star 94 was the third highest grossing station at $24.4 million, but that was down from $28.7 million in 2005.”
A Top 40 station today is the equivalent to Life magazine in print.
Our company works rather extensively with the academic community. Maybe we can find a professor that will do a paper post-election based on the hypothesis that many of the economic factors of 2007-2008 are rooted in consumer perceptions largely influenced by the press.
Bet there aren’t any takers from the Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communications (that is still their real name!) at my alma mater the University of Georgia!
The best part of the article that offers a glimpse of what is really taking place is part of Rodney’s last paragraph: “Most general managers, averse to discussing station financials didn’t return calls or declined to comment.”
Maybe its because they see what’s really happening and wondering if its time to jump ship.
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