ChaosScenario

100 books for 100 stories

If you've read this blog, you'll know that we love the book "Made to Stick". The concepts are so pertinent to what we do in marketing and really, what we do in every day life.

The authors are running a contest for teachers. They're giving away 100 books for 100 stories that teachers told in the classroom that "stuck".

Here are the rules from their blog:

1) It’s got to be the story of a specific lesson, recounted in enough detail that a general reader, who of course wasn’t there the day it was taught, can understand the power of it.

(2) You’re giving us permission to publish the story, along with your name.

(3) You’ve got to be a teacher – we’ll need a school address to send the book to.

If you know a teacher, pass it on.

I can't wait until to read what comes out of this. Teachers have to understand so much about how to reach their students with messages that are relevant, exciting and presented in ways that stick!

- Paul Herring

Reconsidering Squidoo

Last November I took a critical look at Squidoo, and I admitted that I didn't understand how this could be considered valuable to most users. Today I have the bittersweet responsibility to admit my error. Squidoo has proved to me its value.

What changed my mind?

On Monday I will have to give a staff presentation to the agency for which I work, Click Here. I've never been nervous speaking in front of people, but I also am under no illusions that I am a "great" speaker (In fact, my execution normally rises to the level of "barely adequate"). However, knowing how changing that can impact my career, I endeavored to improve.

But where to start?

Curiously, I started at Squidoo, the platform I previously questioned. I figured I could use the expertise of someone who aggregated and intelligently organized a lot of information about public speaking. At the top of my search, I came across a very useful lens by speaking coach Lisa Braithwaite. So impressed was I by this lens, I subscribed to her blog.

With renewed appreciation for Seth Godin's "post-bust brainchild," I decided I would build a lens for Chip and Dan Heath's book, Made to Stick (blog), based on my previous review. I was a bit sad when I found out that the URL I wanted to create the review was already taken by John W. McKenna (blog), but that he hadn't done anything with the lens yet. Not certain why this was so, I pointed him to the analysis (PDF) I created for the book, and he graciously linked to it from his lens while he finishes his own analysis.

But something interesting happened when he changed his lens. He also linked to reviews he's done on other business books (he has lenses for each one), and I discovered his work to be very thoughtful and concise. I will certainly consider reading the books he recommends (and, like Lisa, he'll be added to our blogroll).

Squidoo's tools make it easy for John to link to all of his reviews, and all one must do is have interest in one of them to have an entire world of new books opened to him.

If you happen to read this, Seth, I humbly apologize for my earlier error. I have seen the light.

For everyone else, if you're interested in using Squidoo as a teaching tool, please consider visiting "How to Mentor through Lenses," which was created by my brother, Gannon. If you've previously discounted Squidoo, I would encourage you to once again push the limits of your comfort zone and give it another try. - 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

Chasing Cool pt. 3 - Borrowing equity

I think that that Borrowing Equity was my favorite chapter so far.

Marketing people try to use celebrities or attach their product to a culture without really thinking if that celebrity fits or if there is any reason that a culture would want their product. The authors effectively use examples of where advertisers have tried to borrow the 'sound', 'street cred' or 'personality' to attach to their product to make it seem cool and boost sales. These schemes end up in boosting sales but only for a short time. If you're racking your brain  trying to think of an example of this type of advertising, look no further than ads on MTV or BET where every product in the world is trying to become 'urban'.

There are other times when a 'culture' or 'personality' finds or attaches itself to a product. Most of the times these are outside of where marketer's targets. How marketers react to this attention is key. Many marketers will turn their attention to the new audience without any research or investigation.

Consider Hilfiger. When the clothing line was first introduced, it was targeted to a young, upscale audience. It was embraced by urban youth, probably because it didn't represent who they were as much as who they wanted to be. It was also an expression of who Tommy Hilfiger was as a clothing designer:

"I knew exactly what I wanted to do: I wanted to build a brand of clothing around my own attitude and my own lifestyle." -Tommy Hilfiger

Unfortunately when Hilfiger saw the urban trend they re-focused their campaign on this audience, in other words, they tried to make their product more 'cool'. When they made this shift, maybe because they really didn't understand this audience and the reasons they were using the product, sales fell and the product was no longer cool. They've since reversed course.

There are other products who haven't lost their focus. An example from my own experience is Patrón. There are a lot of rappers and famous celebrities who mention the tequila in their songs and in appearances. However, the company hasn't attempted to leverage these relationships at all, allowing them to exist organically. Maybe that's why the popularity of the brand has increased dramatically over the last year, as well as sales.

Stay tuned, I'll be finishing up the book this week. - Paul Herring

Book Club Discussion with Dan and Chip Heath

On Tuesday, the discussions for Made to Stick were opened at the Marketing Profs Book Club. Please brush up and come on over. If you haven't read the book, don't let that stop you. Come by anyway and see what questions we're wrestling with.

The authors are there, participating in the conversation. This is an important book. Take advantage of the opportunity while you can. - Cam Beck

Chasing Cool pt. 2: Buzz in a Bottle vs. Aesthetic Values

It's been a long time since I've posted <...insert obligatory blogger posting frequency apology here...>

The third chapter of Chasing Cool delivers. I can't decide if I like it because it so eloquently expresses issues that I face everyday. Anyways, the book takes head on the idea that really the aesthetic of the product and its relation to the audience is much more effective in the long run that 'buzz in a bottle' techniques like viral marketing, celebrity endorsements, events, etc.

"Buzz in a bottle" events, at best, get a lot of attention. What does it do for the brand? In most cases, they don't communicate anything about the brand or even begin to try to make a connection between a product or brand and their audience. I especially like the mention of Subservient Chicken. I've been in more than one client meeting where clients have asked for their Subservient Chicken. Not only does the request lack of originality, it also ignores the fact that the promotion didn't tie back to the brand or even help increase sales. There are a lot of people out there who will say it ties back to the 'get it your way' brand promise. I agree with the authors when they call that stretching.

The most important area to focus on is aesthetic. If you know your audience and you design your product around their current, or better yet future needs, you'll be better off in the long run.

"Long-term brand loyalty comes from real creative vision and a genuine connection to what's going on."

To me one of the best example was to the Motorola Razr. Such a simple phone design that was aesthetic pleasing made people take notice. In my mind, it was the first time that people started noticing phone manufacturers over carriers. However, cell phone releases happen fast. The true test will be if Motorola can keep up.

If I had one compliant about this chapter, it's that they don't follow their own advice. The chapter is too long. In writing, keeping things concise and too the point is the aesthetic. You don't have to beat me over the head with it a few times. Once was enough. - Paul Herring