I am experimenting a bit more with widgets as I learn the blogging “ropes”–check out the Amazon widget below (books I am currently reading). I will also soon be releasing a new site design (hopefully as soon as early next week) that looks more professional. Heading off to see a movie tonight. Have a great weekend.
As the weekend approaches I am making sure the iPod is warmed up. The Top 6 songs on my iPod right now are: Mr. Ambulance Driver–The Flaming Lips; Missed the Boat–Modest Mouse; Hey Ya!–OutKast Jigsaw Falling Into Place–Radiohead; Learn To Fly–Foo Fighters; Party Crashin’–Evangelicals
Yanik Silver, author of Moonlighting on the Internet and the always interesting internetlifestyle.com blog threw up a good “reminder” post on persuasion recently. Yanik is a very transparent blogger who has inspired many people to start their own online businesses. The crux of his post is that transparency sells. Just by using the word BECAUSE in advertising text you can sell much more. In the post, Yanik quotes Maxwell Sackheim, originator of the book of the-month concept, who says this: “Whenever you make a claim or special offer in your advertising, come up with an honest reason why, and then state it sincerely. You’ll sell many more products this way.” My company, P&G, has long been a master at the “reason to believe” approach. It sounds simple, but many large/small companies forget the power of this approach. However, as consumers start purchasing with their conscious, more & more they are looking behind the simple functional benefits that companies have used so successfully in the past.
Next week is Earth Day and I will try to get myself (and others) to participate in a biking to work contest sponsored by P&G. I hope to get some encouragement from you guys & gals (my online community) to do this.
Change before you have to –Jack Welch
Why do people often only change from a position of weakness? I much prefer to look back on times in my life when I changed from a position of strength vs having it forced upon me…but all too often comfort and lack of strategic clarity block change. Great companies & people change before it is too late. Incremental change is not enough. We have to constantly experiment, learn & get up out of the comfort zone.
I saw a really interesting new ad network called adroll. These guys are trying to tap deeper into the long tail and help advertisers reach niche communities across small & medium sized websites. They allow advertisers to “connect” through a social network-style matching system thus allowing ad space to be “rolled” into highly targeted packages that advertisers can buy across…it will be interesting to see what companies will be able to capitalize on the ever expanding world of niche.
Music side note: I have been listening to Radiohead lately…there is one song that keeps playing in my head Jigsaw falling into Place. Simply cannot get it out of my head!
Just before XMAS, last year, I was looking for a good place to make online purchases linked up with any type of cause for good. After a bit of searching, I stumbled upon EarthMoment–an online site where I could get quality products and offset carbon emissions all in one go. I was pretty happy to find such such a site and mentioned it within an earlier blog post. So, before Earth Day (Apr 22) I thought I would do a follow-up on EarthMoment…as I went through the site, my wife was sitting next to me and I thought it would be great to get her some flowers as she has been putting up with a lot of blogging lately. So, I quickly typed in tulips (one of her favorites) into the search bar and proceeded through the process. Additional side note: We just attended a nice tulip festivalin Morges, Switzerland–just outside of Geneva last week.
Anyway, I found a multi-color flower arrangement and proceeded through the process. Just before buying, I was prompted to sign up as a member on the site…after entering my data, I was entered into the EarthMoment “club.” This was pretty cool part…after signing up, EarthMoment provides a tool that helps you start tracking your carbon offsetting progress.
All in all the site worked well and provided a pretty seemless experience. However, I did not get those tulips for my wife as I am in Switzerland 
and the affiliate on the site did not have an international partner that they could pass the order on to…anyway, probably not the best product to test on the site from my side. Guess it is likely that many of the partners are only shipping within the US, so I may have to wait a bit until EarthMoment becomes more international.
Just read an engaging post by Mark Ritson over at brandmarketingstrategy.com called New Marketing Defined. In the post, Mark challenges marketing folks to quit falling back on “dilapidated 20th century channels”…this sounds like a story we have been hearing for a couple of years now.
Mark, the times are changing fast. Even the brand management folks like myself (e.g. the guys who focus on driving ROI & ensuring the business side runs) are aware of the emerging reach of new mediums…I understand the frustration voiced at the end of your post. But, many of us out here are listening and adapting as we go. As I highlighted in voice comments to two excellent new marketing evangelists Joseph Jaffe (in a yet to be aired comment on his Jaffe Juice Podcast) and Mitch Joel (in an already aired comment on his Six Pixels of Separation Podcast) change is coming as brand guys are finally waking up out there.
Mitch & Joe do a great job of providing solutions within the rapidly changing webscape. I particularly like Mitch Joel’s Six Pixels of Separation blog/podcast format. Mitch provides useful and practical tips at the end of his podcast, while peppering it with excellent interviews that are relevant to his listeners. He provides a big dose of web 2.0 encouragement to listeners of his podcast, helping to encourage the trial of new marketing tools without sounding too high minded. Mitch’s attitude is an example…we should all consider adopting this type of mindset when pioneering and pitching new mediums within our organizations and across peer groups.
If you have been following my personal blog, you know that I live in Geneva, Switzerland. As some of you science fiction & physics fans out there may know, Geneva is home to CERN. CERN is pretty famous for producing some world changing things…(e.g. the WWW was developed at CERN by Tim Berners Lee). CERN is also home to a gigantic underground supercollider that will be turned on in June (here is the link). Some theorists believe this thing could create mini black holes!
All this talk about black holes in my backyard got me thinking about avoiding black holes in presentations. I recently sat in on some good tips in this area during a training: I also saw a great post on presentations over on Tim’s blog. To add to Tim’s comprehensive tip list, I have provided my personal top 3 presentation tips: Here they are…
1. Key message: Every presentation has one, but some presenters fail to find it…or deliver it…make sure you presentations start and end with this (at a min.). How many times have I walked out of presentation thinking…what was this guy (or gal) trying to tell me exactly?
2. Engagement + energy/movement: I love watching a presenter with a lot of energy and passion for a topic. Someone with energy and real passion could explain the inner workings of the large hadron supercollider and actually get me to listen.
3. Personal touch/personal stories that help me remember: In a great book about getting ideas to stick (called Made to Stick) Chip and Dan Heath talk about the power of stories to help people remember. If you can link a personal story to your key message, I will likely remember your presentation.
Photo from Pingnews
Hope you are having a great weekend. Here in Geneva it has been rainy and dreary!
The Harvard Business Review recently posted a controversial conversation starter by Rakesh Khurana and Nitin Nohria called “Should Managers Have a Green Hippocratic Oath?” Khurana and Nohria posit that business management should become more like the professions of medicine and law by adopting a professional code. Such a code would help them better consider the consequences of their actions. The authors also call for changes within management education as currently MBAs are more or less taught that they should be “the hired hands” of shareholders.
I definitely agree that there should be more focus within management education on sustainability. MBA programs should a require students to take at least 1 course in this area (many already do). Regarding a code, I think the idea could be very useful and more debate on this should be fostered to work out how best to implement.
At the end of the day, sustainability is incredibly interlinked. Beyond just focusing on business leaders, wouldn’t it be great to get politicians and other key policymakers to take some type of oath? Business plays within the rules made by our leaders…additionally, consumers (who are often shareholders at the same time) have a big role to play here. The emergence of a more socially and environmentally conscious consumer/shareholder would be the easiest way to get many big businesses to change (especially FMCG companies).
This is a great conversation starter…suggest you take a look. I also highly recommend you read the comments section.
Below I have also posted what the World Economic Forum (WEF is headquarterd here in Geneva) advocated in 2003 as a possible code:
As a manager of a corporation, an adviser or an entrepreneur, I pledge to fulfill, to the best of my ability and judgment, the following covenant:
- I will safeguard the interests of the enterprise’s financial claimants and will strive to create endurable shareholder value.
- I will utilize natural resources in an efficient, sustainable way, thus ensuring the rights of future generations to enjoy a clean and resourceful planet.
- I will respect the rights and dignity of the individuals working for the enterprise, as well as the people that may be affected by its activities.
- In meeting my commitments with my clients, suppliers and allies, I will engage in honest and transparent transactions, respecting their rights and standing up to my promises.
- I will remember that I remain a member of society, and that, as a manager, an adviser or an entrepreneur, my actions may have great impact on the well-being of others. I will ensure that the operation of the enterprise contributes to the creation of wealth and progress for society at large. I will assume the responsibility for my acts in the execution of my duties and will respond to society for them.
If I do not violate this oath, may I enjoy life and art and personal success. May I be respected while I live and remembered with affection thereafter. May I always act so as to preserve the finest traditions of business and may I long experience the joy of helping improve the lives of my fellow human beings. This pledge I make freely and upon my honor.
Photo credit: Air Pollution ! Viva Kyoto ! ! by Paul Falardeau (pfala)
Steve Rubel of micropersuasion fame is calling on all marketers to stop polluting the web before Earth Day. Naturally, as all things GOOD are in focus at m-cause, I would have to agree with any call for non-pollution.
Steve is basically saying that marketers are:
“spewing millions of meaningless messages across thousands of sites…that don’t add value to your experience or help you meet your goals in a very meaningful way”
Steve is mainly talking about static banner ads & email marketing (+spam) that pollute the web. He is advocating that we leverage engaging collaborative platforms vs. the “spew” approach. In general, I fully agree that ultra-engaging value adding collaborative online platforms are the future (and the now). But what if your objective is quick awareness about a new product or service for the masses? Even if your site is incredibly enticing and simple to use, some people simply don’t have the time or cannot be bothered with engaging for long(er) periods of time online. So, how do you reach these people with quick communication about your new product? Probably the answer lies with understanding Who you are trying to reach online…is it the creators that spend 2 hours to figure out a great idea at American Express (m-cause note: This is a fantastic site that deserves its own post!) Or, are you trying to reach out to mom who does about 2 things on the web i) check out her favorite health care portal and ii) email her kids…
Anyway, I loved Steve’s post…got me thinking about web pollution.
…chances are, not very long. In an interesting blog post a week ago, brandingstrategyinsider highlighted that on average the CMO survives just over 2 years. In the post, Jack Trout points out that CMOs have about as much job security as NFL Football coaches. Below is the data from the post:
Average number of months at a position.
CEO………….44
CFO………….39
CIO…………..36
CMO………….26
With so much rotation, it almost seems as if the position is quickly becoming irrelevant. Why is there so much pressue on the CMO? What is he really supposed to deliver? It feels like CMOs are more and more becoming scapegoats for poor overall business results. But aren’t operational business owners supposed to be accountable for business results…why blame the CMOs all the time?
Maybe CMOs are really losing their feeling for brand. Perhaps they become technocrats when they hit the top and forget that their brands are about meeting needs. Needs that are physical, emotional, and (more and more today) spiritual. People today are asking why….why should I buy your brand with 30 other flavors to pick from on the shelf?
I am sure most of you have heard about Tim Ferriss, but if not, you need to pick up his best selling semi-autobiographical lifestyle design book the 4-Hour Work Week. You might find the title a bit cheesy, but Tim is the real deal. He wrote the book to provide people with interesting alternatives to the classic model of postponing life for 20-30 years in order to achieve a “retirement” objective. Indeed, by standing up against the outdated deferred life plan model, where you go to university, get a job, work like a maniac for 30+ years & then put on white tennis shoes to go on a cruise & buy overpriced souvenirs, Tim becomes the unofficial spokesman for the 25-40 year olds out there who want to see change. Tim’s tips on the mobile lifestyle and outsourcing easily connect to the young professional audience. He smartly talks to this group by combining informal and extremely transparent “blog style” language with a very deep and mature level of thinking on the modern pursuit of happiness and meaning. He also has a blog (on my blogroll) called Tim Ferriss, Experiments in Lifestyle design which is also amazingly transparent. I wonder if Tim took a page from Gandhi’s book when he created the title of his blog…Gandhi’s autobiography is called The Story of my Experiments with Truth. Don’t worry guys, I am not comparing Tim’s accomplishments to those of Gandhi, I am just wondering if Gandhi provided inspiration for Tim…Gandhi frequently challenged himself with experiments. Tim also reports about his experiments in unusual detail and transparency. The main difference being that Gandhi’s experiments were religious in nature, while Tim’s experiments revolve around his lifestyle design pursuit philosophy. Indeed, Tim does not discuss religion very much in the book. Perhaps he will undertake an experiment of this nature at a later date…one of his friends (A.J. Jacobs from Esquire) has already taken the plunge in his book called the Year of Living Biblically. I will pick this book up soon.
Tim is also a big advocate of pursuing causes (m-cause applauds). Recently Tim released an amazing blog post on low cost, high reward mini-retirements involving volunteer work. Note: Post was written by Darius Monsef IV. Below I have attached some recommended organizations for this type of activity directly from Tim’s blog.
Following the 2005 Burning Man event, several participants headed south into the Hurricane Katrina disaster area to help people rebuild their devastated communities. After several months of working along the Gulf Coast, BWB has set up a project in Pisco, Peru to assist with earthquake relief work.
Nearly 50 years ago, Project HOPE was founded on the willingness of doctors, nurses and other medical volunteers to travel the globe on a floating hospital ship, the SS HOPE, to provide medical care, health education and humanitarian assistance to people in need. While we now operate land-based programs in more than 35 countries, Project HOPE has again returned to sending medical volunteers on board ships around the world to provide medical assistance, long reaching health education programs, vaccinations and humanitarian assistance.
International Relief Teams mobilizes volunteers and distributes medical supplies to support the organization’s four missions: 1) domestic and international disaster relief, 2) medical education and training, 3) surgical and clinical outreach, and 4) public health. Since 1988, IRT has provided more than $5.6 million in volunteer services, and more than $112 million in medicines and supplies to families in desperate need in 42 countries worldwide.
Relief International is a humanitarian non-profit agency that provides emergency relief, rehabilitation, development assistance, and program services to vulnerable communities worldwide. RI is solely dedicated to reducing human suffering and is non-political and non-sectarian in its mission.
Ryan Jones is interested in marketing and good causes. He currently works in Global Brand Management at Procter & Gamble and resides in Geneva, Switzerland. 
