My industry experience includes apparel, hospitality, technology, life sciences, consumer package goods, logistics, recreation and education. I’m happy to share relevant examples and case studies.
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« November 2005 | Main | January 2006 »
Del.licio.us has had some hiccups and hasn't been auto-posting my links. Here's one that shouldn't be missed: A recent Pew Internet & American Life Project Report that compares and contrasts men's and women's use of the Internet.
Google launched Blogger Web Comments, a Firefox browser plug-in that allows you to read blogger comments about a specific Web site while viewing that site. Far from a gee-whiz toy, this is a handy app that should be relevant to marketers who want to monitor the blogosphere's comments about their sites, those of competitors and within their industries.
Unfortunately it only works for Blogger comments, and not those created in Typepad, Moveable Type, WordPress or other blogging apps.
(News via Evhead.)
Business Week's Best Ideas of 2005 includes high praise for Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard:
"Chouinard firmly believes that smart, capable employees know how to get their work done and can judge the rhythms of their day without constant monitoring. This conviction has less to do with work-life balance than with the acknowledgment that work flow and passions are unique to each person. He’s also acutely attuned to preserving the planet’s resources, even inserting notes in Patagonia catalogs asking customers to buy only what they need. It’s a philosophy that resonates in an age of global networks, round-the-clock communications, and growing evidence that the earth is straining under the excesses of human behavior."
I recently read Chouinard's long-awaited memoir, Let My People Go Surfing, after picking it up expecting to be underwhelmed. I'm not sure why my expectations were so low. Chouinard's story is pretty compelling - from climbing bum to blacksmith/climbing hardware manufacturer to rag merchant. I've followed Patagonia's progress for years, and seen it go through radical changes and significant downturns while always seeming to emerge a stronger company. Clearly, interesting things have been happening behind the scenes. And yet, I didn't expect much.
Perhaps this was because the myth of Chouinard is such a looming presence in the outdoor biz, a place I spent some time. He's known for environmental activism, his preference to manage by absence, a strong disdain for business, and his adventures as a funhog. Maybe I expected a retelling of the myth.
I was pleasantly surprised to find that it wasn't. Instead, Let My People Go Surfing was a thoughtful illustration of Patagonia's values, how they evolved, and how they play out in the operations of the company. Chouinard might be a reluctant businessman, but he's also a thoughtful one who continues to look for ways to integrate his values into Patagonia, motivates people to do well and do good, and innovates as a business leader - long after he could have sold the company and pocketed a substantial sum.
Maybe "beginning of the end's" too melodramatic, but for a company founded on the primacy of customer experience, this can't be good news (NY Times, reg. req.).
I'm a winner. Again. First, InBubbleWrap.com picked my name completely at random and sent me The Ape in the Corner Office. Now, they have once again plucked my name from their vast database of winners in waiting, and gifted me a copy of Lost and Found.
If they keep this up, they're going to become my favorite site.
The irony is that I have little time to read these days. A very busy December is about to lead into an even busier January.
Take five minutes to read Brian Millar's treatise on how Bill Bernbach ruined advertising (PDF download). It's written for prospective creatives, and intends to teach them a thing or two that they didn't learn in college. But even if you're not part of that crowd you'll find it worthwhile. I promise.
An excerpt:
"Want to see some great creative? Look
at the Romans. They understood persuasion
better than anybody. It wasn’t a craft to
them: it was the highest art, the key to
power and fortune. Check out Quintilian’s
Training of an Orator. It’s a manual for
persuading anybody to do anything.
There’s a particularly excellent chapter
explaining How to Talk an Angry Crowd
out of Tearing You Limb from Limb. You
don’t get that in Ogilvy on Advertising."
Millar gets at an essential truth. We spend a lot of time talking about headlines. About how a home page looks. About whether a logo should be blue, or dark blue. But we spend much less time talking about ways to change human behavior. That's understandable - clients (or in-house marketers) often lack the perspective to see this and change it (I'm guilty - I've been there). And agencies often don't push this approach, because they're not aware of it, or believe in the power of more and better creative, or simply prefer to take the path of least resistance.
Jack Covert lists his six best business titles of 2005. The World is Flat? Expected. The Travels of a T-Shirt in a Global Economy? Unexpected. A nice cross section of biz lit.
Also, for those of you looking for my review of the Minox 35, it's here.
