ChaosScenario

When Does an Idea Become Property?

A few years ago my brother Gannon made a pitch to a nonprofit organization in an effort to convince them to hire his company to redesign their catalog. In an outburst of honesty that is at once both refreshing and disturbing, the representative said, "We can't afford to hire you, but we'll be glad to steal your ideas." Rarely are efforts to steal someone else's hard work so explicitly stated, but it happens more often than we'd like to admit.

Gannon wisely bowed out of that compelling invitation and sold his services to another nonprofit organization.

According to NPR, agency Leo Burnett is claiming credit for pitching Fox on the idea to change several 7-11s to look like "Kwik-E-Marts" from The Simpson's TV show. NPR said a spokesperson for 7-11 claimed, "Anyone could have come up with the idea," because the creative inspiration for Kwik-E-Marts was actually 7-11.

That may or may not be true, but in this case, that "anyone" was actually "someone," and instead of hiring the "someone," they gave the business to "someone else," while moving forward with "someone's" idea.

At least, that is Leo Burnett's story at this time. I don't claim to know for a fact that their story is true.

What do you think? If it is true, does Leo Burnett have a legal claim in this? If so, who should pay? Fox, 7-11, or both? Should pitches include clauses that protect the ideas of the pitching agencies? - Cam Beck

Hat tip to John Keehler for the news and NPR link.

Image courtesy of AnGeL.

Update: Lauren McGehee from The Richards Group, who attended this morning's Likemind, just sent me this AdWeek article about the issue. In case you were wondering, collaboration and conversation are wonderful things.

The greatest team you've never heard of

They've won 20 straight games.

They play the best teams from all over the world.

They don't have big contracts or endorsement deals.

Despite representing the United States in the most popular sport in the world, they're lucky to get more than 5,000 people to attend their home games.

Some of them are moms and all of them have devoted years of their lives for the love of the game.

Meet the US Women's National Soccer team.  I'm inspired by their dedication despite being women and playing in a less than popular sport in the United States.

Why is this a big deal? It's a big deal because today's girls don't have heros that are worth a damn. All they have are spoiled rich girls who love the paparzi and are in and out of rehab.

Today's girls need inspiration. I know because I have a daughter and I coach a soccer team with fourteen eight year old girls. For my daughter and for my team, I want them to want more than a spot in High School the Musical Part XI. I want them to understand that, you can work hard and be more than just a peice of glitzy meat.

Support the US Women's team as they take on the world in the FIFA Women's World Cup.

- Paul Herring

What's Your Tagline?

Let's have a little fun, shall we?

Today I'm starting a new meme. Here's how it works. Pick 5 of your favorite bloggers (they don't have to be *the* 5 favorites) and give each of them a tagline. You can pick more, if you wish, but each tagline should be unique, and it shouldn't mimic the tagline that exists on the individual's blog.

Participation is optional, so don't feel like you are obligated to tag anyone else unless you just think it would be fun.

Roger von Oech - King of the Whacks

Lewis Green - [Heart] On

Tim Jackson - Ride

Paul McEnany - Shut Up and Listen

Mack Collier - Community is Power

- Cam Beck

P.S. I have now been tagged by Lewis and Ryan Karpeles in the "8 Random Things About Me" meme, but since I'm taking the meme literally, I've got to create a list large enough that the answers will be different each time I randomly select eight. Stay tuned.

The 10 Somewhat-Flexible Laws of Blogging about Companies

We are in love with ourselves.

Not just bloggers, but everyone. Corporations are not excluded from this. They want (and need) to know what others are saying about them. Since the Internet has a long memory, if you're in the business of representing or dealing with other businesses, authenticity and openness risk scaring off potential clients.

Paul at Hee-Haw Marketing, for instance, recently ripped Kohl's a new one for a crummy in-store experience. Now, if you're a CMO for Kohl's considering hiring the company Paul works for, if you come across any of his posts on the subject, do you refuse to work with them as long as Paul works there?

Well, only if you're stupid.

Paul is very bright, and ruling out those who are like him for telling the truth as they see it would be like scuba diving in muddy water without a diving mask and oxygen tank.

I'd argue to anyone that leaders of a company NEED someone who will tell the unfiltered truth. If the truth is unpleasant, it is incumbent on the leader to fix the problem, not blame the messenger.

Greg Verdino recently asked a thought-provoking question that got me thinking about my own practice of refraining from naming companies I analyze here. I do make exceptions, and I thought it useful to publicly examine the rules to which I strive to abide and open them up for scrutiny. Please note: I'm not suggesting anyone else but me abide by them, but to me they seemed logical to adopt.

1. Never talk ill of a client or potential client.
2. Almost everyone is a potential client.
3. If you must violate rule #1, don't mention the company name.
4. If you must violate rule #3, make sure it's a well-known problem.
5. Be constructive.
6. If you mention the company name of a client, disclose that they are a client.
7. When you praise a client's competition, don't mention the company name.
8. If you must violate rule #7, try not to gush.
9. Gushing is otherwise acceptable if you do not mention the company name.
10. Draw the lessons from the company's example, whoever they are.

What do you think? - Cam Beck

Talk Amongst Yourselves

I'm pleased to announce the availability of the collaborative book, The Age of Conversation, which was edited by Drew McLellan and Gavin Heaton and written by over 100 authors.

Most of the authors have blogs, but since there are over 100 of them, it can be intimidating to sort through. Mario has what I consider the most visually appealing treatment of the list, and if you're looking for one, I commend this post to you.

But maybe this will save you a little trouble.

I have been to all of these blogs, and they are, every one of them, worth reading. If you would like to read these authors on a continuing basis, please download this XML file (right-click and "save as" file to download), and import it into your RSS reader. It contains the websites of all of the authors who contributed to the book, except four.

Three of the four not in that list include Steve Bannister, Pete Deutschman, and John La Grou, whose names on the list I have linked out to other websites, but not anything that has an RSS feed available.

The fourth on the list was AJ James, and I have to pay him a special mention here, since he had neither a blog link nor a website to point us to. I love his take on the topic, as his chapter is, not coincidentally, "The Art of Non-Conversation."

When you get to my chapter in the book, you might notice that I have a great respect for people who usefully challenge conventional wisdom. AJ's entry certainly fits that bill. - Cam Beck

BREAKING NEWS - INTERNET CRASH!!!

Breaking News: All Online Data Lost After Internet Crash

Oh no!

"Suddenly my life seems so boring, I feel like ctrl+alt+deleting myself".

"Nigeria's economy implodes".

- Paul Herring

Get Smart

Possibly the best movie trailer I've seen in hours, if not minutes. I was obligated to put it here for its reference to "chaos." :)

Happy Friday! - Cam Beck

Don't Sprint, Just Walk

By now most of you have probably read about how Sprint fired about 1,000 of its customers for complaining too much about their bill. I first read about it on Drew's blog, then Marianne's, Seth's (twice), David's, and finally Doug's. My first impression was that Sprint was flipping off its ENTIRE customer base by firing these few customers, sort of like Aqua Teen Hunger Force did to Boston earlier this year. Reflecting on Paul's analysis of AT&T's policy of cooperating with the RIAA to prosecute customers for copyright violations, it struck me that Sprint's attitude towards it customers is not at all uncommon.

A few points were made in the conversations about Sprint's decision (and execution) that all service providers can and should listen to and learn from.

1. When a customer calls to complain, take the call seriously.
2. Don't assume your customers are the problem. In fact, if half your customers are unsatisfied with you, the problem probably isn't primarily with them.
3. Make sure that customer hangs up satisfied that his or her problem has been solved satisfactorily.
4. Do it quickly. Don't keep them on hold for 30 minutes.
5. Do it right the first time, and they won't have to call back again and again.

To paraphrase from a great post by Bob Glaza at One Reader at a Time, your customers won't remember who they spoke to when they called to resolve their problems. They'll only remember how you made them feel. Making customers feel bad about their experience with you is NEVER a good thing, whether you ultimately have to "fire" them or not. Consider providing a good experience "subliminal advertising."

Keeping them on hold for half an hour won't make them feel good about you.

Refusing to help them won't make them feel good about you.

Saying that you will help them, and then not doing it, won't make them feel good about you.

Firing them in such an ungraceful way for "pestering" you makes you appear snobbish, and sorry Sprint, but if the reports are right, your service is far too spotty for you to act snobbish. Take a look up for a second... There are lots of carriers who can do a better job than you're doing. Ask yourself this question, if you got rid of the coercive cancellation fee, how many of your customers would drop you tomorrow?

If the number is higher than you'd like, far better to get on your knees and beg forgiveness, not only to the 1,000 customers you fired for excessive complaining (though probably some of them actually deserved to be) and the 200 soldiers you fired for "excessive roaming," but also to your loyal customers whom you just put on notice.

I'm not sure what kind of legs this has in the mainstream media, but if it gets them, look for Sprint to hemorrhage customers over the next few months. As it is, I will not be likely to recommend Sprint in the future, and I will discourage friends from using them.

To be fair, though, if they take action to rectify the situation, I'll gladly post that as well. - Cam Beck

Chasing Cool - Taking risks

"The Greatest Risk is Not Taking One"  As you get older, you seem to take fewer risks. I first noticed this a long time ago when I taught skiing. It was a lot easier to teach children to ski than adults, probably because they don't fear the consequences. We learn lessons that help us avoid circumstances and situations that can get us into trouble. What's unfortunate is that these lessons also give us an unreasonable fear of risk and failure.

This carries into our lives as marketers. Trying something new, taking a risk without guaranteed success is certainly not encouraged in agencies or corporate marketing departments. Everyone wants a sure thing. Unfortunately, the sure things usually involve short-term, relatively minor results. The book brings up the case of Barney's, an upscale retailer who one of the authors worked for and guided to it's current success. Gene Pressman gives examples of how he guided the company into an expansion that, although seemed like a good idea at the time, ultimately resulted in the closing down several stores and damaging the brand. It's not too common to see the authors of these types of books admit mistakes. If Gene had not taken these kind of risks, however, Barney's wouldn't be where it is today.

Take risks, live. - Paul Herring

I'm Stuck on Google, 'Cuz Google's Stuck on Me

In today's environment of ever-accessible information, it's more important than ever to realize that we cannot stop the leaking of information about ourselves. The best we can do is hope to influence it. And we need to influence it, too, since people whose opinion matters to us will use search engines such as Google to find everything knowable about us before they will hire us, before they will do business with us, and from the wider perspective spanning across our entire lives, before they will let their sons or daughters go out with us.

(I say that for the future benefit of those who will seek to court my daughter, Faith, in twenty-or-so years. I'm watching you, punks...)

Over the last year, since I started blogging here, I've come to realize just how easy it is, unless your name is identical to someone famous, to really have an impact on how information about us gets indexed. As of this moment, I "own" the top-ten Google results for my name.

Well... that's for the name I go by, anyway. My posterity, if they're interested, will have to know to search for information about me through a shortened version of my middle name, not my first name or my full middle name. However, for business purposes, since I introduce myself as Cam Beck, this works out well for me in my lifetime.

What's great about it is that it really didn't take a concerted effort. It just took being somewhat involved in this space in a couple different areas -- blogging, participating on message boards, etc. -- and of course using my real name.

I know there are many people out there who will resist and detest the accessibility of information about themselves, and I completely understand -- especially considering the proliferation of identity theft. However, since one way or the other, if you've been around for awhile, information about you will be published, at least start participating now and allow it to be on your terms, not the terms of those who are less likely to put a favorable spin on you. - Cam Beck