Flipped – A Review

I just finished Flipped by John Winsor and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The book centers around the idea that co-creation should be, and is quickly becoming the way to create and maintain a dominant company. The book makes the case that in today’s ever changing and quickly changing business world, the old, static, top down creation system is too lethargic to keep up. To be relevant and stay relevant a company needs to engage in a bottom up, co-creation form of innovation.

The meat of the book is set up in a step by step trail; following the inverted pyramid that is setup during the first few chapters of the book. Each section explains the material in an easy to understand yet intriguing style, allowing the information to pop off the page. The section I took the most away from was the final chapter on Storytelling.

This chapter aligned most with my interests in the advertising world. It takes all of the information and knowledge accumulated in the earlier steps and condenses it into something an internal team or the external customer base can understand, relate to and incorporate into their lives. Each step along the way in integral, but if you step up to the plate and strike out on the storytelling, it’s all been for not.

Possibly the best aspect of the book is the author not only preaches co-creation, he follows it as well. This book was given to the masses, as an exercise in co-creation. John placed the manuscript of the book on a wiki and invited anyone who was interested (I was one of the many) to be an editor of the book. As someone involved in the process of this book, my interest was understandably peaked. I followed this book through its creation process much more closely than I have any other book in my life. The experience of being allowed to have a hands on experience with the book in its beginning stages gave me a sense of ownership that encouraged me to keep up with the book before it was even released. I have no doubts such an experience can be and should be brought to companies and brands.

In the end, I especially enjoyed this book because it is different from most I read. Generally, the books I read apply mostly to marketing and advertising. The thoughts and techniques in this book could be applied to any number of functions within a business, which I think makes it immensely more valuable.

Have any of you read the book yet? If so, what did you think? If not, did my little tangent make you want to read it?

-Dennis

Full Disclosure – I have no affiliation with the author of this book or the publisher. The book was given to me by the publisher to review but the comments and thoughts are purely my own.

How “Free” Affects Me

I recently read Free by Chris Anderson and since the book has been out for a while, I’m not going to write a review. I am going to write about a section of this book I found interesting and how it affects my life.

The section of this book dealing with freemium had the biggest impact on my day to day life. I use freemium products everyday and I never pay for them. It’s not that I don’t want to pay for them or think they are worth my money, I just can’t. Many of them make my life infinitely easier and would be worth a monthly subscription. At this point in my life, I just can’t afford to pay.

I guess that is the magic of freemium. Those who are able and willing to pay, pay and in turn support those who can’t. I’d like to think that at some point down the line I’ll be in a place where I can return the cosmic favor and pay for a freemium product so someone else can enjoy the benefits. I wonder though, after all that time of getting incredibly useful products for free, will I get cold feet when it’s time to cough up my own dough? Will I still see the benefit of supporting a quality product, while at the same time allowing someone else to receive its benefits for free?

I’m not doubting the freemium system at all, it’s obviously a very effective system. I’m just wondering if I will become spoiled from years of free use of effective services and then feel like I’m being ripped off when I go to pay for them.

Anyway, it’s a great book and you should check it out.

Have any of you read the book yet? If so, what did you think? If not, did my little tangent make you want to read it?

-Dennis

Full Disclosure – I have no affiliation with the author of this book or the publisher.

How far does brand loyalty extend?

I’ve been thinking a lot about brand loyalty recently. The incident that got me thinking was my foray into the world of the stock market. About a month ago I decided to put a little play money into the market. And when I say play money, I mean an amount of money that would seem insignificant to most people, but is ever so large to me. As one of my first stock purchases I bought Nike. I liked Nike as a stock at the time and it has done well since, which makes me like it even more. The interesting thing is that I am a diehard Under Armour supporter.

I am, if only in my own mind, a brand ambassador for Under Armour. I preach the greatness of their apparel. I follow all of their new products and sponsored athletes. I will only wear Under Armour for work out clothes. I even have an Under Armour sticker on my external hard drive for God’s sake. But when it came time to invest in an athletic apparel company I chose Nike.

It would seem only natural that I would invest in Under Armour, but the business side of my mind said no. The numbers just didn’t add up. While I would go out of my way, spend more money or give up my first born son for an Under Armour shirt, I wasn’t willing to bet money on them.

The idea I’ve been struggling with is whether or not this is an indictment on the Under Armour brand. I love their advertising, their product functionality, their product design, but all of that doesn’t make them a better company than Nike. Isn’t the point of all of the above-mentioned aspects to make Under Armour the best athletic apparel company there is? And if they aren’t the best athletic apparel company out there, why am I so drawn to their brand?

One of the emotional aspects that’s draws me to Under Armour is their advertising. The spot below aligns perfectly with the way I felt and acted as an athlete in my younger days. I still try to bring that attitude to my running, but it’s just not the same.

Is this the eternal struggle of any brand or am I just a weird cat? Would most people switch loyalties to align with their portfolio? Am I making a strange distinction between the feel and comfort that Under Armour brings during my workouts and the feel and comfort Nike brings to my portfolio?

-Dennis

P.S. I in no way wrote this post to encourage anyone to invest in Nike or any other stock. This is just the rambling of a strange mind.

Netflix Taking A Business Move Over Customer Satisfaction

The Deal

Netflix has cut a deal with Warner Bros. that as both a customer of Netflix and as a businessperson, I’m conflicted over. The deal will limit when Netflix is allowed to release new Warner Bros. movies. They will now have to wait 28 days before they can release new Warner Bros. titles to their customers. On the other hand, this deal will open up more Warner Bros. title to Netflix’s instant download feature.

The Payoff

Warner Bros. is betting that by making Netflix users wait 28 days, they will go out and buy the DVD instead of waiting. I don’t see this happening. Using myself as an example, I currently have 142 DVDs in my queue. That means there are at least 142 movies that I already want to see. Those movies will conveniently fill the 28-day waiting period; therefore there is no need for me to go out and by a DVD. Will this deal end up hurting Warner Bros., probably not. But I don’t see it having the effect they think it will.

Netflix on the other hand gets two payoffs from this deal. They not only get more titles for their instant download feature they also get DVDs at a cheaper price. This is where the confliction comes in for me. As a Netflix customer, I’m upset that I will have to wait 28 days to get new releases. The sting of having to wait is lessened by an increased choice of instant downloadable movies, but it doesn’t totally make up for having to wait an extra month. On the other hand as a businessperson I can see that this is a great deal from Netflix’s perspective. It will be interesting to see how current Netflix users react.

What do you think about this move by Netflix and Warner Bros.? Will it pay off in the long run?

-Dennis

A Nice Built In Surprise

I was a content user of Wachovia Bank. When Wells Fargo purchased Wachovia, I wondered how the transition would go. Recently, my local branch has undergone the transition. Down went the Wachovia signs and up went the Wells Fargo signs. As I pulled in for my first transaction at my new bank I didn’t expect a change in my user experience. I was presently surprised when I found what in the big picture is a small detail, but to me shows an attention to detail that greatly improved my user experience.

When I pulled up to the new ATM, it had all the features I had seen before. I went through the normal motions, but as I reached to get the cash, it wasn’t there. Instead of giving me the cash in normal sequence, the machine gave my card back before my cash. Like I said, in the grand scheme, it’s not a huge deal, but if it keeps me from forgetting my card when I’m in a rush, it’s a huge help to me.

Now you might be thinking, what does this have to do with advertising? Specifically it has nothing to do with advertising, but it does show a company that is innovative and pays attention to details. When you have a company that has a quality product it allows advertising to tell a story and accent the product instead of having to carry it, which leads to a better message.

What other companies do you know that have quality details built into their products? Does it help their advertising?

-Dennis

The Switch

If you are a regular reader of this blog (all two of you), you probably noticed I made the switch over to WordPress. I’ve heard many great things about WordPress and I needed a change so I went for it. Nothing against Blogger, but I wanted something different. So far I’m very happy with the transition and I’m looking forward to expanding this blog in the coming year.

I’ve already done my New Years resolutions, so I won’t go through that again but I haven’t done a very good job of keeping up with it. Hopefully this transition will help with that.

I’m excited to dig in and figure out everything WordPress has to offer. If anyone has any tips or tricks to getting the most out of Word Press please let me know

-Dennis

P.S. Incase you are interested, I’ve got another blog, going. This one is about my quest to get and stay fit.

The Problem With Business Today

I watched Food Inc. Friday night and found it very interesting and insightful. What I found so interesting though, wasn’t necessarily the point of the documentary. The point was to expose the food we eat and how it may not be the healthiest because of the way its grown/raised and brought to market. While that was eye opening, I believe this is only a symptom of a larger problem. That problem being the way those businesses are run and to a larger point the way business is run in general.

In an effort to cut costs and raise profits, our food has become a mass produced commodity. To a large degree most of the American economy has become the same thing. Gone are the days of creating the best product you can possibly create and if you are the best, making a nice profit. The end goal has become profit, which has sent a shock wave down the supply line. It doesn’t matter if you make the best product anymore. If you create a decent product at a cheap price, people will buy it, you will make big profits and the cycle continues.

This has slowly eroded the point of business in my eyes. The point of business shouldn’t be to make money. The point of business should be to create the best product/service possible. In doing that, your product/service will be the category leader and thus, profit will be created. Not only does this build trust with the consumer, it builds trust within the company and only makes a company stronger.

From an advertising perspective I think a change in the way businesses are run would improve advertising. When companies start cutting costs, one of the first places they go is advertising. But if the goal isn’t to be the cheapest, but to create the best product, you can invest in advertising, make it part of the product and in the end have a better product.

I understand the need to control costs and I know it sounds like I’m pushing advertising, but I’m not. A holistic change of business, shifting the almighty goal from profits to product greatness would alleviate the need for cut throat pricing, by giving the consumer a choice of greatness, not a choice of price.

Maybe this will happen naturally through the “open market”. The organic foods market is one market showing signs of people choosing the great product over the lower price. If more segments followed in their footsteps, I think business, as a whole would be improved.

What do you think about profits being the end goal for a business? Am I just being naive in thinking about the greater good?

-Dennis

December Resolution. Why not?

While looking at the progress I’ve made with my 2009 resolutions I started thinking about what my New Years resolutions would be for 2010. I ran through the normal list, exercise more often, lose weight, blog more, etc. Then I thought for a minute. Why do I have to wait until January first to start? I don’t have to wait, so I’m not going to. I always get stuck in that nasty cycle of “I’ll start that tomorrow”, but not this time. My 2010 resolutions are starting December First 2009.

So my first, and most important December First resolution is to focus on improving my self as an account person. I know the title of my blog is The Ultimate Account Guy. I hope to one day become that, but for right now I’m focused on improving my skill set everyday.

Since today is day one, I want to know from all of my creative friends out there, what is the number one thing, in your mind, that makes an effective account person? It could be a positive attribute that I should follow or a negative attribute that I should avoid. Either way, I just want to know what is essential to being an effective account person in the minds of a creative team.

-Dennis

Reading Adventure

I try to read a lot and on a wide variety of subjects. I just finished The Long Tail and since this book has been out for a number of years now I won’t give you a review. I did however find it amazingly interesting to see how the elements Chris Anderson spoke about are coming true today. Also, I am very interested to see how advertising will reach people as they become more and more niche-centric. If you haven’t already read this book, I highly suggest you check it out.

The main reason for this post though, is to talk about my newest reading adventure. I’ve decided I need to read some classics. I’ve chosen The Republic and Moby Dick as my first two. Both books come recommended by people I highly respect and from what I hear, they are both massive reads.

I’m very excited by both of these books, which is very different from how I used to think about these types of books. I used to approach books of this type with dread. In the past (read – during school), I would be faced with having to read a book like this and just shut down. I wouldn’t even try to read it. Now, I’m taking this on under my own accord. I’m taking this as a sign of intellectual maturity, or at least the desire for intellectual maturity.

First up, I’m going to attack The Republic which was recommended to me by Jim Mitchem . I’m going to take my time. Read it, digest it and hopefully understand enough to learn from it. And even if I don’t, I’m going to be happy in the effort of doing something I’ve never done before.

So my question to you is, what is the best way to approach a book like this? Have you read The Republic, any advice on my adventure?

– Dennis

Full Disclosure – I have no affiliation with the authors of these books or the publishers.

A New Agency, With A New Model

Crowdsourcing has been a hot topic recently. Whether you are for or against crowdsourcing, you can’t deny the impact it is having on the advertising world. That impact has led to the first crowdsource driven agency, Victors & Spoils.

At the core of this agency is the “goal to provide businesses with a better way to solve their marketing, advertising and product-design problems by engaging the world’s most talented creatives.” The agency will consist of in house talent (the overseers) as well as the collaborative talent that will be providing the crowdsourced ideas. You can check out the details on their website and follow them on twitter @victorsnspoils.

Personally, I like the idea of crowdsourcing. I think there are limitations built into it, but at the same time the benefits could outweigh those limitations. I especially like this group’s (Evan Fry, John Winsor and Claudia Batten) adventurous attitude in taking a controversial idea and building an agency around it.

Advertising is an organic being of sorts. It is always changing, learning and growing. Crowdsourcing is a direction that advertising is, if not moving toward, at least showing some interest in. Taking the chance and exploring this direction will undoubtedly lead to some great work. Whether or not it is sustainable is still to be determined. Ultimately only time will tell how this experiment pans out. But I for one can’t wait to see the work that develops and where this idea goes.

What do you think about crowdsourcing? Is this the future of advertising or just a passing fad?

-Dennis

P.S. Where is the account guy crowdsourcing? How come we don’t get any love?