The Blog of Rob Farrow

Social Media, Story Telling and Building Brand Equity for the Athlete

2011-06-13T09:49:00.002-07:00

First of all, let me qualify this post by saying I am a huge believer in the "story"...the story behind the man, the brand, the reason, the cause, the action...the story is what connects the individual to the cause, the athlete, the event...One of the hardest parts of creating a successful marketing campaign is building an authentic story and finding organic ways of sharing/distributing it. It is one of the most critical elements in branding and building equity in a brand regardless of whether the brand is a product, service or person.It is also the one thing that is taken for granted or miss understood.

Done right, using social media to get the story out is a very powerful and useful tool. Done wrong can be a disastrous, just ask Congressman Wiener, for him, it just keeps getting worse. The viral nature of social media and the ease in which links and content can be shared gives it the ability to dwarf conventional media with the number of impressions it can receive in a short period of time. It can be the most powerful tool in taking a brand from accepted to iconic and beyond.

Being a fan of professional surfing, auto racing as well as other sports, I often find myself in conversations about the not so pretty side of things...Like what happens to the athlete after the last event, when a pro is done being a pro and is now just a guy. The challenge of creating social relevance for the athlete brand once you are on the "outside" of the game. Many athletes are fortunate to have invested in their future and leveraging their personal brand beyond sport is not an issue. Whether its family, businesses, job, coaching or other they find that flow to segue into the next phase of life unaffected by the change of identity. For others the "outside" is often is seen as a death sentence and they fear of the unknown leads to stupid decisions and in some cases catastrophic consequences. The increase in deaths of top tier athletes who a are on the backside of their careers is further evidence to this stress and fear.

Brands, whether personal or product oriented are living entities and need to be cultivated and cared for. Form an athletes perspective, its never to early to begin investing in, maintaining and cultivating your personal brand. This is one investment that will help to extend the length of your relevancy in the "game" and key in building value after the "game" ends for you. With the advancements and acceptance of soical media you now have one of the most powerful tool for brand building and value generation for personal brands at your finger tips. Use it well and look at ways to connect the world around you to build a foundation for the future.

I found this article the other day and was very impressed with the way the author summarized the value proposition of good social media in telling the story of an athlete and building lasting brand with it. Hopefully it is useful and beneficial to you...

5 Reasons an Athlete Should Leverage Social Media

By Anthony Caponiti

http://activ8social.com/2010/05/03/5-reasons-pro-athletes-should-leverage-social-media/

Let’s get one thing straight upfront—social media is not as easy as “if you build it, they will come” for any athlete, team, league, or sponsor looking to establish or enhance brand equity. Social media marketing is no different than traditional off-line marketing in that it requires a well thought out strategy, devoted resources, and a budget targeted at a reaching a measurable goal for the individual or organization.

With that said, social media’s major advantages—the cost-to-creativity ratio and the ability to expand reach via an engaged audience (key word here is “engaged” but I’ll explain more)—make this form of marketing so powerful that most athletes looking to enhance their salaries with fat endorsement checks should be asking their agency, management team, or friends and family why social media isn’t a part of their overall marketing strategy.

How can you not look at Kevin Garnett and wonder why Dwight Howard is arguably more popular with fans and boasts more sponsors yet earns 25% as much salary as his older counterpart plus lacks an NBA championship ring.

One reason is that Howard is literally an authentic presence everywhere on the web in addition to print and TV. You better believe his sponsors and media partners love the added exposure (unique visits and status update impressions) his 525,000 fan Facebook Page offers. Notice his latest Men’s Health magazine appearance occupies both his Facebook and his 1.5 million follower Twitter profile pic.

So with the above example in mind, here are 5 reasons that professional athletes should leverage social media sooner than later:

1. Personal brand equity

Professional athletes are more frequently choosing to separate their representation for contract negotiations and marketing because of the complex multi-million dollar athlete endorsement arena. Traditionally, athlete reputation, fan popularity, and access to a major metropolitan market has determined who earns national endorsement deals.

Social media can play a critical role in the expedited development of an athlete’s personal brand by showcasing personality to fans and the media. If an athlete is well spoken and naturally gifted in front of the camera, platforms like YouTube and Ustream provide invaluable opportunities to demonstrate that a client can be an effective pitch person.

On the flip-side, if an athlete is thought to be soft-spoken or non-personable, platforms like Facebook and Twitter offer the chance to build an audience who might be willing to listen to what the client has to say and hopefully over time become ambassadors for the athlete’s personal brand. Contests and random giveaways related to both the athlete and the team enhance the likelihood that fans will engage. This can be done in repetition with little coordination.

The bottom line here is that a professional athlete can let the media, team, and league decide their personal brand or if the athlete is proactive, he or she can evaluate their strengths and weaknesses in personality and play up those strengths to the fans who can then in turn form their own opinion of the athlete rather than let the mainstream media paint a different picture. This can prove critical during a PR crisis.

2. Insights and analytics

What did sports marketers do before social media when determining what athletes would best represent their brand? Seriously … if there is one reason to leverage social media, it’s to reach critical mass on a Facebook Page. Unlike any other platform on the web, Facebook is the backbone of personal identity meaning that demographics such as age and race on a Facebook Page are highly accurate indicators of an athlete’s overall fan base.

Here’s where that key word “engagement” plays a critical role. If an athlete can build a Facebook Page with a sizable audience (say 100,000 fans) that hangs on every word, photo, and video posted, a smart sports marketing team can shop their athlete around and proactively seek one-off endorsement deals.

Imagine discovering a male athlete has a fan base this is predominantly female and now imagine how many brands would be interested in reaching the women of the household that drive the purchases of household goods, for example, male grooming products. It should also be noted that YouTube offers strong analytics and extremely effective Google advertising once a large enough audience is reached while Facebook’s analytics will be a key audience predictor leading into a YouTube viral campaign.

3. Sponsorship activation

The first two reasons lead to number reason number three which is the ability to leverage a social media network to effectively activate brand sponsors. It so simple to use social media to create authentic touch points between the athlete, brand, and consumer and arguably more effectively than a TV or print advertisement because social media affords the opportunity to connect the athlete’s lifestyle to the brand.

Don’t you think Mercedes-Benz would love for an athlete to broadcast himself or herself live on Ustream driving their new CL while Rolex could hardly argue with that same athlete wearing one of their watches in full view of the steering wheel? It’s real world and it’s the type of marketing that separates innovative and sustainable brands from their competitors.

Even less complicated are branded images and videos on Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, and YouTube. Not typically thought of as a social media platform for athletes, Flickr can offer tens of thousands of authentic views for the sponsor especially since it is integrated with Yahoo! image search. And because images are so highly searched, a well tagged and described Flickr photo gallery can continue to provide sponsor activation long after a campaign ends.

4. Charity and community

Although not every professional athlete is intimately involved with a charitable foundation or community effort, there are some who are truly connected to a cause. For these athletes, they should be using social media to increase awareness as well as for fundraising. Social media also humanizes the athlete which is critical in this day and age of TMZ Sports and off-the-field problems for many athletes.

Twitter and Facebook are extremely effective mediums for promoting a charitable event or that special story fans need to hear about. Social media platforms also present creative opportunities for fundraising like raffle giveaways with special prizes for fans that donate. Another example use would be the athlete giving away money when a specific fan or follower milestone is reached (e.g. Drew Carey donating $1 million dollars when gaining his 1 millionth Twitter follower).

5. Retirement

We all know that there is a limited shelf life on a professional sports career. For all the athletes that have their eye on a media or coaching career, social media helps to shape an on-screen personality and establish an expertise. Platforms like Ustream and YouTube can be used to increase comfort levels in front the camera and sharpen on-screen presence.

Especially for an aging athlete and perhaps arguably most important, social media affords an opportunity to keep an athlete relevant to a younger generation. Possessing a strong digital brand, can open the door to cameos or guest appearances on TV shows as well as prove that a older or retired athlete is still connected to pop culture. This should matter to TV networks searching for talent as well as colleges looking to boost recruiting.

Do you agree with us … what’s your sixth reason?

How Analog Rituals Can Amp Your Productivity

2010-09-30T08:47:00.001-07:00

How Analog Rituals Can Amp Your Productivity:

This is a re-post of an article written by Scott Belsky from the Behance Team...Very cool and worth the share: RF

As a society, we are engaged in a constant pursuit to be more productive. For the most part, this is a good thing. We want to work smarter. We crave efficiency. Time is our most precious commodity, and productivity tools help us spend it more wisely.

Over the past few years, I have observed all sorts of methods for productivity. One consistent surprise is the role of monotonous rituals and what could be described as "analog drudgery" among the especially productive. For such accomplished people, I am shocked by the apparent lack of efficiency in their daily routines.

At one point during my research for Making Ideas Happen, I interviewed Bob Greenberg, the legendary CEO of the digital agency R/GA. With high-flying clients like Nike and other household names, Greenberg is overseeing a tremendous number of heavyweight projects at any point in time. He's a busy guy and he's been leading his industry for decades.

One consistent surprise is the role of monotonous rituals and what could be described as 'analog drudgery' among the especially productive.

Despite his digital interests, Greenberg's productivity tools are entirely analog. He uses a paper agenda with a series of lists written at the top that he writes every single day. In the morning, Greenberg will manually bump uncompleted tasks from the previous day to the current day. He also re-writes the names of key clients and other areas of focus; often transcribing the same names again and again, daily, for weeks if not months or years.

When I hear about such monotonous and repetitive work, my instinct is to make it more efficient. If Greenberg used a digital system — even a spreadsheet — he could save a significant amount of time. Even better, he could use an online project management tool that automatically bumped everything to the following day for him. Scratch that; he's a CEO! Why doesn't he have an assistant that does this all for him?!

For Greenberg, it's all about feeling the granularity of prioritization. By manually bumping a certain task every day, he feels that it is incomplete. He is faced with the reality and forced to either complete the task, delegate it, or bump it again.

And it's not just Greenberg who operates like this. Many admired (and extremely effective) leaders use an analog approach to productivity as a way to stay accountable and feel connected to their decisions around how they spend their energy.

It's all about feeling the granularity of prioritization.

Yes, monotony and routine can be truly wearisome. They transform our colorful, over-stimulated existence into black and white. But a task left undone SHOULD be a burden. If you make your system for productivity too productive, you will become anesthetized to your responsibilities.

We are left with an important lesson: The manual labor involved with productivity is valuable. Repetitive rituals will make you pause. You will feel burdened, but you will also catch a glimpse of just how busy you are and what you should prioritize.

This post was written by Behance Founder & CEO Scott Belsky,

2010-09-30T08:47:00.000-07:00

What Madison Avenue And Silicon Valley Can Learn From Each Other

2010-09-24T07:55:00.000-07:00

What Madison Avenue And Silicon Valley Can Learn From Each Other

2010-09-24T07:49:00.000-07:00

What Madison Avenue And Silicon Valley Can Learn From Each Other

12 Secret Tips to create hit Global Brand Virals!

2010-05-27T12:24:00.001-07:00

12 Secret Tips to create hit Global Brand Virals!

I occasionally come across a post on a site, group or blog that hits me just so that I feel it needs to be shared. This one comes from thewww.CraftofInnovationClub.com via a Linked In group I am a part of...It is not that it is so overwhelmingly insightful or full of new and cutting edge content...it is more that it strikes to the core of every marketeers soul when they are stuck in purgatory between company and their AOR on a creative initiative.

I encourage you to click on the links as they add context to the content of the post.

Again thanks to Richard Watkinson, Club Captain for making this available to share.

12 Secret Tips to create hit Global Brand Virals!

1. Interaction/personalization is key. Any technology used must be easy to use - duh! http://en.tackfilm.se/

2. Simple straightforward storyline which should run for no longer than 2 minutes. Some creatives get excited at writing such a long script and produce overcomplicated trite/shit. www.mymagnum.com

3. Don’t just add a logo or tagline to a really cool film idea if it makes little sense! VW and fun? www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lXh2n0aPyw

4. Tonality of film should fit tonality of brand. Hello?

5. Leave the temptation usually from the client side to put their logo and product throughout the majority of the viral - including brand colours! Nobody wants to see a cheesy ad. www.mymagnum.com

6. Any personalization or interaction must be shown in the right light - as a hero - friend - star- Not rocket science here, think Ben Hur.

7. Production values must look good! Give me a personalized 3D Avatar viral with a bag of chips please.

8. Let me repeat this because so many clients think a viral is an application they can download for the same price as an “APP”. Production values mean filming, editing and special effects. These must be of the highest quality if you want your viral to spread. Otherwise don’t bother!

9. Any money goes into the production! Not the media to support it. Bite the bullet if you have the balls.

10. Make a viral that has a point of interest - this must fit with the brand focus - otherwise send your money to a good charity.

11. Support the viral - what do you want to achieve. If you just say brand awareness you are missing the boat.

12. Build a community supporting the focus with sites - think it through properly so it fits with the brand and you have the time to develop it.

Finally. Less is more - deal with key decision makers, the best work comes from small stealth teams not layers of management.

"Expertyteace" pronounced: (expert-tight-ass) noun: A common ailment for common businesses.

2010-03-09T21:59:00.000-08:00

It seems companies can never have enough “expert” opinions and input. They hire consultants, agencies, advisors and specialists all in the name of productivity and performance. The funny thing is more often than not these experts do more harm than good to the companies they are brought in to help.

I am one of those experts.

I have recently wrapped up a contract with a client who was not only falling victim to "expertyteace (expert-tight-ass)" they were beginning to drown in it. The upper level management would not listen to their staff, clients, retailers, brokers or anyone other than hand picked "experts" who were referred to them by other "experts". They would not invest, support or engage any opportunity with out the approval of the “experts” making the company a bit of a “tight ass” when it came to investing in its community and basically bringing things to a stand still. Ironically the experts were brought in to formulate strategies to engage their communities and grow the brands awareness in the market place on a grass roots level.

Of course every one of us experts has awesome credentials, how could we not, we were referred by other experts who were referred by experts and hired by the real experts.... management. More amusing is how each new “expert” is more qualified than the others or the last one and as such everything must follow the new experts direction. Each new expert will throw the old expert under the preverbal bus, debunking their shortcomings, blowing out their efforts and will be very quick to take credit for anything that comes their way. It’s a kind of predatorily corporate cannibalism. New eats old until new gets eaten by newer.

In theory how could anything be wrong with this cycle?

The reality is companies should be hiring experts. It is a great way to vet a theory, challenge a strategy, support directional shift and engage new markets. It is a great way to get an educated and informed opinion needed in decision-making process and most importantly get an outsiders opinion. Unfortunately the process gets skewed and all to often the ones who should be the decision makers “punt” and leave the process of deciding to the experts, who more often than not are not qualified to make decisions on behalf of the company. Welcome to CYA executive style: If the experts decision is a “winner” for the company it’s a victory for management, if it is a failure, it is the expert gets canned.

This system is fundamentally flawed and creates a win-win for all who are in charge of hiring experts, but exposes the company, its investors and employees to huge risk. In addition, there are some pretty nasty and often destructive side effects to the process.

The most notable side effect of over reliance on experts is the creation of toxicity with in the company. It can become so bad that can destroy a perfectly good team. This infectious wave sweeps through the company creating distrust, low moral, in fighting and ultimately it undermines the entire company and brand. Leaders need to be acutely aware of how moral is being affected, be transparent, inclusive and take charge of the decision making process at all times. If not they risk loosing not only the respect of their team members, but also control of their company.

The irony here is the real experts on your business are more often than not your clients, your staff and your community. The folks in the trenches tend to have real organic dialog with your customers and can tell you more about trends, risks and opportunities than any expert. They just need to be empowered to listen and share.

The best companies I have worked for have spent considerable time and effort to create channels of communication and tools that engage team members on every level of the organization. They hire experts to flush out ideas and look at best practices to engage team members in its implementation and execution. They are not afraid of the outcome or the possibility that someone may be better suited to run the show than they are…they revel in the possibility of finding that someone and empowering them to take the reigns.

For me, I keep doing what I do and have found that the tread marks from the bus tires seem to heal much faster now than they used….

2010-03-08T10:43:00.000-08:00

Having been blessed or cursed with the entrepreneurial gene I constantly find myself vetting startup ideas, being challenged by brands that have long lived their usefulness or brands trying to make a change in their identity. My insight is more often than not challenged and then dismissed, mainly because it goes against the logic of conventional marketing wisdom. I ma a believer in the emotion and image of the brand and how those to elements contribute to the authenticity and character of a brand. It sounds personal. It is....

I have an affinity for branding and its place in the totally misunderstood science of marketing. I love how we continue to try and create tangible metrics for the the intangible and want so bad to understand that invisible element of "cool" that gets brands connecting with consumers. Cool comes from being naked...not literally, but metaphorically. A brand is a sum of all parts. It is one part staff, one part ingredients, one part mission, one part associates...all the parts equal the whole picture that consumers see. They see with a set of lenses that is so clear that they capture details those of us closest to our brands often over look. They see past the fancy wrappers, messaging, packaging, ads, spokesmodels and even green movements and see a "naked" product and the people behind it...Social Media has only heightened the consumers ability to see through the layers and get to the nakedness. This ability has created an opportunity. An opportunity for smart and dynamic brands to engage their consumers through acknowledging the conversations and responding with change or action.

Social media and its ability to leverage regional organic conversations into the mainstream media is amazing. It does not surprise me that brands are now realizing it takes more than a mere presence to succeed on SM platforms. It takes genuine engagement and a dialog of relevance to connect to their consumers and their communities. Again, here in lies the challenge...so many of todays marketing professionals are complete devoid of the values the brands they represent posses, therefore making it impossible for them to speak the language of their consumer or their community. If they plan to or hope to engage SM they need to dive back into their brands and become so intimate with them that they are the living embodiment of their products. This ability to morph into the brand should be one of the most valuable skill sets an employee can possess and one employers work to cultivate.

I hope this marks the beginning of a shift in the corporate perception of the role of a marketing team with in their respective companies and brands. It should no longer be the home of focus groups, trade show booths, advertisements, collateral design and company parties. Marketing is the new front line and needs to be supported, staffed and followed as it leads the messaging of the company into the world.

Interesting follow up article in Forbes regarding the "Rush" to Social Media sites by larger companies as a way of creating direct messaging...

Brands Hype Social Network Presence
Steve Rubel, 03.07.10, 11:04 PM ET

Today many marketers are tripping over one another to invade social networks in force. There is a social media land grab underway as businesses rush to set up hubs on the "big three:" Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

All at once, businesses large and small recognize that they need to go where the people congregate. And with 100 million Facebook users in the U.S., this movement is understandable. When your local pizzeria is promoting their Facebook page at the register, as mine does, then you know that marketing has changed.

However, with this land grab, a controversial shift is underway. The trusty dot-com URL--or at least its role in marketing--may be dying.

Some companies are de-emphasizing Web spaces they own, such as their corporate Web sites, in all of their ads. Instead, they're pushing people towards spaces they occupy on social-media hubs. Case in point: UniBall. During the Winter Olympic games I was surprised to see the pen manufacturer use its TV ads to direct people to its Facebook page. There, UniBall is giving away 10,000 pens. Nowhere in its ads does Uniball promote its own Web site. It's all about Facebook. Clever.

Much the same, I noticed outdoor ads for the New York Knicks basketball team had only three calls for action--an SMS code, Twitter and Facebook. Again, no URL. A branded dot-com destination wasn't mentioned.

Finally, during a recent Mashable event in New York, Columbia Journalism professor Sree Sreenivasan pointed out that this is becoming the norm in the motion-picture business. Perhaps this is a function of living in a world where people hardly use bookmarks any more and just use Google.

If this all sounds familiar, it should. It is reminiscent of the mid-1990s when URLs started popping up in TV ads and billboards. Or worse, when AOL keywords first appeared in the early 1990s.

However, this time it's different.

For starters, when marketers promote their social network hubs over their URLs they risk that savvy consumers will see right through it--or won't even register it. Consumers are likely to perceive corporate real estate on Facebook as a lame attempt to appear cool and hip. Consumers are already skeptical of advertising and this just contributes to it.

Second, the use of "heavy artillery"--e.g. advertising--to round up more fans and followers is equally controversial. This would be fine if it lead to true person-to-person engagement. However, many brands are just using their Twitter and Facebook presences to spew out updates, without any thought to how consumers will benefit by essentially opting in. UniBall is providing value, but others don't go to such lengths.

Finally, much the same, very few businesses treat social networks as personal, conversational spaces. Hardly any feature real employees. And a scant few aim to advance shared interests.

So while it's welcome that marketers are beginning to promote the hubs they occupy in all of the relevant communities, few are really optimizing them into true relationship builders. Most are devoid of humans, e.g. employees, and many look like faceless companies that are trying to check off boxes or slap shiny logos on their site.

In some ways, it makes sense to me that marketers are emphasizing their spaces where people are spending time and where they can be easily found. However, at the same time, with so few understanding what it takes--people--to really build credible communities and relationships, I wonder how long this trend will last. Is a backlash inevitable?

If I were a dot-com URL, I wouldn't write my will just yet.

Steve Rubel is SVP, Director of Insights for Edelman Digital, a division of Edelman, the world's largest independent PR firm. He is charged with helping clients identify emerging technologies and trends that can be applied in marketing communications programs. He also explores these topics on his lifestream site.

10 Things Every "Change Agent" Must Answer

2009-06-19T07:20:00.000-07:00

Rarely does something I read or see compel me to send a link out or copy an entire article and post it to my blog. This is a good exception as I really like the way Bill Taylor summarizes the questions all of us should be asking our selves as we create, advise or decide the fate of many of our efforts in the business community.

So enjoy the following guest post:

Written by Bill Taylor courtesy of the Harvard Business Review

As leaders, we have no control over how fast markets grow or how wisely banks lend. But we do control our own mindsets and "animal spirits"--the phrase coined by John Maynard Keynes in the depth of the Great Depression. If all you've got is a spreadsheet filled with red ink and dire forecasts, it's easy to be paralyzed by fear and resistant to change. But if you can summon some leadership nerve, then hard times can be a great time to separate yourself from the pack and build advantages for years to come.

Indeed, when it comes to creating the future, the only thing more worrisome than the prospect of too much change may be too little change--especially in an economy where there are too many competitors chasing too few customers with products and services that look too much alike. Now is the time to rethink long-held strategic assumptions inside your company, to challenge decades of conventional wisdom in your industry, and to push yourself to learn, grow, and innovate. As Albert Einstein famously said, "Problems cannot be solved at the same level of awareness that created them." Or, in the spirit of some unknown Texas genius: "If all you ever do is all you've ever done, then all you'll ever get is all you ever got."

It's time to do--and get--something different. Here, then, are ten questions that leaders must ask of themselves and their organizations--questions that speak to the challenges of change at a moment when change is the name of the game. The leaders with the best answers win.

1. Do you see opportunities the competition doesn't see?
IDEO's Tom Kelly likes to quote French novelist Marcel Proust, who famously said, "The real act of discovery consists not in finding new lands but in seeing with new eyes." The most successful companies don't just out-compete their rivals. They redefine the terms of competition by embracing one-of-a-kind ideas in a world of me-too thinking.

2. Do you have new ideas about where to look for new ideas?
One way to look at problems as if you're seeing them for the first time is to look at a wide array of fields for ideas that have been working for a long time. Ideas that are routine in one industry can be revolutionary when they migrate to another industry, especially when they challenge the prevailing assumptions that have come to define so many industries.

3. Are you the most of anything?
You can't be "pretty good" at everything anymore. You have to be the most of something: the most affordable, the most accessible, the most elegant, the most colorful, the most transparent. Companies used to be comfortable in the middle of the road--that's where all the customers were. Today, the middle of the road is the road to ruin. What are you the most of?

4. If your company went out of business tomorrow, who would miss you and why?
I first heard this question from advertising legend Roy Spence, who says he got it from Jim Collins of Good to Great fame. Whatever the original source, the question is as profound as it is simple--and worth taking seriously as a guide to what really matters.

5. Have you figured out how your organization's history can help to shape its future? Psychologist Jerome Bruner has a pithy way to describe what happens when the best of the old informs the search for the new. The essence of creativity, he argues, is "figuring out how to use what you already know in order to go beyond what you already think." The most creative leaders I've met don't disavow the past. They rediscover and reinterpret what's come before as a way to develop a line of sight into what comes next.

6. Can your customers live without you?
If they can, they probably will. The researchers at Gallup have identified a hierarchy of connections between companies and their customers--from confidence to integrity to pride to passion. To test for passion, Gallup asks a simple question: "Can you imagine a world without this product?" One of the make-or-break challenges for change is to become irreplaceable in the eyes of your customers.

7. Do you treat different customers differently?
If your goal is to become indispensable to your customers, then almost by definition you won't appeal to all customers. In a fickle and fast-changing world, one test of how committed a company is to its most important customers is how fearless it is about ignoring customers who aren't central to its mission. Not all customers are created equal.

8. Are you getting the best contributions from the most people?
It may be lonely at the top, but change is not a game best played by loners. These days, the most powerful contributions come from the most unexpected places--the "hidden genius" inside your company, the "collective genius" of customers, suppliers, and other smart people who surround your company. Tapping this genius requires a new leadership mindset--enough ambition to address tough problems, enough humility to know you don't have all the answers.

9. Are you consistent in your commitment to change?
Pundits love to excoriate companies because they don't have the guts to change. In fact, the problem with many organizations is that all they do is change. They lurch from one consulting firm to the next, from the most recent management fad to the newest. If, as a leader, you want to make deep-seated change, then your priorities and practices have to stay consistent in good times and bad.

10. Are you learning as fast as the world is changing?
I first heard this question from strategy guru Gary Hamel, and it may be the most urgent question facing leaders in every field. In a world that never stops changing, great leaders can never stop learning. How do you push yourself as an individual to keep growing and evolving--so that your company can do the same?

The $127.93 Latte

2009-05-28T11:09:00.000-07:00

One of the strange trends that has begun surface in our society is this false sense of entitlement. We have become conditioned to believe that because of “x” we are entitled to “y” even though the two are mutually exclusive of each other. We have lost sight of the free market capitalistic social system that has existed for centuries and replaced with an artificial hierarchy based on wealth, social status, geography, ethnicity, religious affiliation, political affiliation or material possessions. (Don't let me get started on my soap box here)

I remember when I was younger Burger King had an ad campaign and tag line of “have it your way” and had the whole song to go with it “hold the pickles, hold the lettuce…etc”. This type of customer controlled customization was, at least I am beginning to believe, responsible this consumer behavior trend we are dealing with today. I am all for customization, I love the concept of the boutique business model, but i think we as a society failed in understanding its benefits, what it means and have taken it out of context in a way that is becoming self defeating.

I notice it most on a consumer level when I enter my local coffee shop and watch the types of orders that are placed and the behavior accompanies them. The epitome of this has to be Starbucks, where the simple act of getting coffee has turned into a dramatic expression of entitlement and bad behavior. Not only have the orders become absurd, the attitude in which the orders are placed has become down right obnoxious. In the case of Starbucks, I partially blame the evolution of this anomaly on the brand image combined with their abundance of accessibility, but that is a whole other post. Specifically in their case they created a type of customer expectation that then encouraged the subsequent behavioral pattern of their customers. What is freaky to me is how this behavior has segued into society and is gaining momentum.

This type of consumer behavioral pattern has infected our business culture and become a type of accepted negotiation tactic. It seems that committing to pay $X for Y services is just the beginning of the business arrangement as opposed to the totality of it. It has created a trend towards customized deliverables, enhanced services, changes orders and new features at no additional cost to the customer and all for the original contracted price.

Small businesses (as opposed to large corporations) seem to have become the targets here. More often than not they are made to feel obligated to bend, give or concede on things because they are small. Being small does not equate to being desperate or weak. More often than not the small companies are the specialists, the catalysts, connectors and agents of change. We are not small by force but small by choice. Think about this in terms of the auto industry, who would you rather be right now, Ferrari or Chrysler, Tesla or GM. This concept of specialization often gets lost on folks who confuse size for strength.

As a consultant I get contacted very often to help a company, event or organization develop a strategy or branding exercise. This issue of entitlement hits home for me with the occasional client who makes the assumption that “add ins” to our original agreement are part of the agreement. I have become accustom to it and have devised a very easy and clear solution to handling it. I listen, provide a verbal understanding of the request, outline the resources and time and then add: “sounds great we can do that for you as well, how do you want us to bill you for that, should we create an addendum to the agreement we have or should we do a separate hourly billing?”. It is usually followed by a long awkward pause form the client and a “let me get back to you on that”. Sometimes you (as the service provider) have to bite the bullet and give a little in the interest of good business and customer relations. But other times it is OK to just say “No” and let them know they cannot “always have it there way” but be prepared to explain why. More often than not this type of exchange will lead to a stronger relationship, a higher valuation of your contributions if handled correctly.

Back to Starbucks for a minute, I really feel for the front line at folks, those men and women do a great job dealing with some of the biggest A-Holes I have ever seen in our society. They are forced to deal with the customer who wants more from their coffee experience than a beverage. They want to customize their latte into a grande, double decaf, vanilla, chai, non fat soy with extra foam, in large cup, double pump of vanilla, one on the bottom and one on the top, extra hot creation. They want this for no more additional compensation to the person making it or increased earnings for the company supplying it other than that of price of the regular latte. I am always so impressed that the team members in there do it with a smile and efficiency that is inspiring. I am disappointed that they do not charge the customer for the customized deliverables, enhanced services, changes orders and new features…I cannot wait for the day when I hear the gal behind the counter say “no problem, that will be $127.93 ”.

Me VS Me

2009-05-26T16:56:00.000-07:00

After a 5 year hiatus, a baby, a wife, new house, job, dogs and just about everything everyone else in the word is going through I decided the time was right to do something stupid. Okay maybe not stupid but definitely not the most rational thing one could do at 41 years old, I decided to return to competitive surfing for half a season and try my skills at gaining a spot on the world tour (http://www.aspworldtour.com/2009/).

For those of you who know me, you know I have ridden this wave before. I was lucky enough to have competed on the ASP (Association of Surfing Professionals ) world tour in the past where I traveled the world for a few years pursuing an elusive world championship. On my journey’s I met some fantastic people, saw unbelievable places, had many amazing experience and gained a skills that help to define the person I am today. Along the way I had my share of successes and more than my share of failures, but all in all, I had some of the best times of my life surfing on the tour and to be honest I miss it. This time around it is a little different for me. I have no sponsors, no deadlines, no travel plans and I have no one to answer to but myself. I am not doing this to become famous, prove anything or try to make a name. I have all the fame I need, I have proven what I needed to and I like the name I have earned for myself. Why am I doing this???

I am doing it for me, to become better at all things this time it is me verses me.

Sport at any level forces us to commit. Commitment is a hard thing to wrap your head around until you distill it down its core elements and sports are a great way to do that. In competitive sports there is only one thing that matters, winning. Now winning in it self can be sort of ambiguous since it means different things to each of us. Winning can be achieving a goal of competing or even just participating, winning can be hitting a time or a high score…or winning can be taking it all and being the best. For me it is about winning and nothing else. I want to win and I enjoy winning.

I know I am not the best, but I also know I am not the worst knowing this gives me an advantage. The best thing about surfing is that the day defines the champion. Being prepared for whatever the ocean, Mother Nature or the environment throws at you, makes you a contender. It is a subjective sport and it is an emotional sport with history, personalities and challenges. Much like life. Our family life, professional lives and social lives are all so littered with variables its amazing we survive. Life is rarely objective and seems to be always subjective. We are driven by our emotions, guided by our history, persuaded by personalities and confront the challenges that never seem to end.

So at 41 I’m going for it. This is my competitive environment, the place where I get to come face to face with myself and engage the commitment, the honesty and reality of competition. This is where I go for my mental tune up, a refresher on life and get my head back in the game.

This time it is me verses me and may the best man win.

My thoughts on identity

2009-03-04T12:25:00.000-08:00

I have been working for a while now in the world of social identity management and working with a fantastic team developing a platform that allows people the ability to consolidate social services, create and host content, contacts and images. We talk a lot about “owning your identity” and managing your identity in the work we do. There is a lot of debate on what identity means and how we can claim what we do with out really engaging what identity has come to mean in our society.

For me personally identity is not my Social Security Number, Drivers License Number, Checking Account Number or other number. They are important but, mean nothing to me and represent what I an only classify as a necessary evil in modern society.

Identity to me can be summarized into 5 descriptive categories:

1. Personal Image: How you choose to personally represent yourself. Some of us have issues (just being real) and choose to hide (yes hide) behind avatars, clip art or images that are definitely not the actual user. There are in fact others of us who choose to be ourselves and embrace the openness and connectivity the web make available to us and the opportunities that come from being approachable. You personal image is the single strongest facet of personal branding one can make. Your image is the package that you (the product) is wrapped in and displayed as.

2. Personal Description: How you choose to describe yourself contextually is the next form of identity. Think of all the online forms that ask you describe yourself. The audience you are engaging will determine the message you present. Professional = Professional, Social=Social and so on. How you describe yourself can be considered the ingredients, the integrity behind the packaging and the brand. Describing oneself is probably one of the hardest things to do and one of the most critical to building integrity behind the image.

3. Images Association: The images you choose to adorn your life space with (your office, your home, your bedroom, your car, your site) speak volumes towards your identity. They add dimension to your personal identity, associate you to groups, lifestyles, likes, dislikes and so on…Think of the all the sites out there where we (as individuals) have customized the images of the background to give depth to our identity. Can be surf, cars, bling, girls, liquor, landscapes, code, celebrities, events, friends, political, space and so on…all of these tell the next chapter in identity and give others an insight into what elements you consider part of your being.

4. Contextual Association: The verbiage used as a description beyond the brand image and the ingredients (Personal Image and Personal Description). When products “stick” to you and you are inspired to act (purchase) it is usually through contextual association. It is your personal tag line. Think about the iPod, Apple did a fantastic job of engaging their target audience by using music that was a big part of their target demographics world. Coldplay, U2 and The Verve. The lyrics more than anything drove the message of “cool” that Apple needed to engage their audience. The text we associate with our identity is a key facet to sharing/building our identity. We use quotes from books, recent events and iconic personalities to express our views or attitudes and hopefully use it to attract other like-minded individuals and build our brand.

5. Personal Associations: otherwise known as your “contacts”. This where we get to celebrate our successes and show off our social wealth through our social capital. How many followers on twitter, how many friends on Facebook, connections on Linked In…it all relates to relevance and social wealth. If I have a large number of “friends” I must be an authority on my identity therefore I am the alpha and you want to know me…follow me…friend me…connect to me…thus perpetuating the cycle. In consumer branding speak it the products you are grouped with speak to your value and relevance. In personal speak, who you show as your “friend” or contact will add yet another facet to your identity and your relevance in your chosen social sphere.

Online identity has been a very widely debated topic as of recent with many different approaches to control, sharing, managing, creating, editing and deleting. The fact of the matter is that the web is an open and wide canvas and the is NO way to control what can or will be posted, shared or created about you. What is out there now, is out there forever, embrace it, learn from it and enjoy it.

Fortunately for us there are many new initiatives that are introduced by both established companies and "startups" that seek to help us do this better. Their efforts are making it possible for individual’s personal brands and to become established in a way that makes the web a powerful personal tool. I am encouraged and excited by the discussions I have been apart of and or followed about this movement underfoot by so many in the tech community and feel the future is looking good.

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The $127.93 Latte

Me VS Me

My thoughts on identity