Since Microsoft's release of Bing last month, there has been much discussion from marketing, business, and technology news sources (or opinion sources) about how Bing performs. In particular, how Bing performs in comparison to #1 search engine Google.
At the risk of merely adding to the hullabaloo, I would like to recognize another newly debuted - and not yet as well-known - search engine, Spezify.
Spezify.com, released on June 15, takes a different approach to presenting information. Rather than showing search results as a list of text links, Spezify displays a non-linear collection of images, video, blogs, news feeds, tweets, and articles from all over the Web. The effect is a smorgasbord of content, arranged rather like a bulletin board. Spezify also generates a list of related search terms for probing further.
According to Spezify founders Felix af Ekenstam and Per Persson (both of Sweden), Spezify is about "Inspired Search." It certainly seems that Spezify is great for exploration - for learning and discovering information in various media from a plethora of sources.
Do I think that Spezify take over the likes of Google, Yahoo, Ask, Dogpile, and Bing? No; I think Spezify is suited for a different purpose. Spezify is perfect for gathering information and discovering interesting content from a variety of sources. However, since Spezify assigns no order of importance, relevance, or credibility to its search results (a task that arguably is responsible for Google's dominance among search engines), Spezify is not the place to search for, say, the website of your favorite musician, or directions for your road trip, or places to purchase a new laptop.
Perhaps this differentiation of purpose is the exact feature that will enable Spezify to thrive alongside, rather than compete with, Google.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Monday, June 29, 2009
Lame Excuses for Being Boring - #3
Excuse #3:
"We're just a little local shop. We/Our clients can't afford any expensive 'new media' or outdoor stunts."
Actually, it's less expensive - and more effective - to do something outstanding and creative that gets people interested in your brand, than it is to keep cranking out boring, unremembered print ads, billboards, and tv spots.
When people see something new and different and crazy and remarkable, they pay attention. They tell their friends. With the near-ubiquity of cell phones, your story can be spread around the globe - literally - within minutes. For free. If it's worth talking about.
CiCi's Pizza recently launched their Penny Picker Upper campaign, in which they dropped 1 million pennies ($10,000) outside of 650 of their stores. Those who picked up a penny might find a ticket for a free drink or kids meal or buffet. They accompanied this campaign with a website, beapennypickerupper.com in which visitors can create a virtual bobblehead of themselves on a penny. Think this got attention?
Other companies have dropped wallets containing business cards and coupons around city streets. Some have anchored vehicles to the sides of skyscrapers, or "accidently" blown up the "wrong" restaurant. Think they got attention?
How much did ideas like this cost, in comparison to the exorbitant costs of television commercials, or newspaper and magazine ads, or billboards? And which produces more impressions, more responses, and more brand awareness?
Yes, you can create really amazing traditional ads that capture attention (think Super Bowl commercials). But why not save those hundreds of thousands of dollars it costs to simply get the ad running, and use that same creativity to do something that gets you free marketing from viewers and the press?
(For more words of wisdom on how to get people talking, visit www.ideavirus.com to download and read the free e-book, Unleashing the Idea Virus by Seth Godin.)
"We're just a little local shop. We/Our clients can't afford any expensive 'new media' or outdoor stunts."
Actually, it's less expensive - and more effective - to do something outstanding and creative that gets people interested in your brand, than it is to keep cranking out boring, unremembered print ads, billboards, and tv spots.
When people see something new and different and crazy and remarkable, they pay attention. They tell their friends. With the near-ubiquity of cell phones, your story can be spread around the globe - literally - within minutes. For free. If it's worth talking about.
CiCi's Pizza recently launched their Penny Picker Upper campaign, in which they dropped 1 million pennies ($10,000) outside of 650 of their stores. Those who picked up a penny might find a ticket for a free drink or kids meal or buffet. They accompanied this campaign with a website, beapennypickerupper.com in which visitors can create a virtual bobblehead of themselves on a penny. Think this got attention?
Other companies have dropped wallets containing business cards and coupons around city streets. Some have anchored vehicles to the sides of skyscrapers, or "accidently" blown up the "wrong" restaurant. Think they got attention?
How much did ideas like this cost, in comparison to the exorbitant costs of television commercials, or newspaper and magazine ads, or billboards? And which produces more impressions, more responses, and more brand awareness?
Yes, you can create really amazing traditional ads that capture attention (think Super Bowl commercials). But why not save those hundreds of thousands of dollars it costs to simply get the ad running, and use that same creativity to do something that gets you free marketing from viewers and the press?
(For more words of wisdom on how to get people talking, visit www.ideavirus.com to download and read the free e-book, Unleashing the Idea Virus by Seth Godin.)
Friday, June 26, 2009
Lame Excuses for Being Boring - #2
Excuse #2:
"We've always been this way. This is who we are."
Being creative in your work does not mean departing from your identity as a company or as a brand. Being creative does not mean that you must become Apple, or 3M, or Southwest Airlines, or Starbucks, or Procter & Gamble. In fact, imitating other "innovative" companies is not "innovative" at all.
Being creative means proactively looking for ways that your brand can be even better at who your brand is supposed to be. Becoming even more aligned with your corporate identity, by creating greater value for your customers within that context. Be creative within the boundaries of who your brand is.
So who is your brand? What is your brand promise? Is your brand about luxury and status? Then find ways to pamper your guests in even better, more serving, more extravagant ways than before. Is your brand about family fun? Then spur on your imagination - and create amazingly fun products and environments that encourage kids (and their parents) to use theirs, too. Is your brand about bare-bones, no-frills, low-cost? Then be innovative about how you can cut non-necessities to help your customers save money. Is your brand about customer service? Then bend over backwards for your customers. Is your brand about drawing people together? Then probe for ways in which your products and locations invite people to share life.
Let your brand be itself. But make it the absolute best self it can be.
"We've always been this way. This is who we are."
Being creative in your work does not mean departing from your identity as a company or as a brand. Being creative does not mean that you must become Apple, or 3M, or Southwest Airlines, or Starbucks, or Procter & Gamble. In fact, imitating other "innovative" companies is not "innovative" at all.
Being creative means proactively looking for ways that your brand can be even better at who your brand is supposed to be. Becoming even more aligned with your corporate identity, by creating greater value for your customers within that context. Be creative within the boundaries of who your brand is.
So who is your brand? What is your brand promise? Is your brand about luxury and status? Then find ways to pamper your guests in even better, more serving, more extravagant ways than before. Is your brand about family fun? Then spur on your imagination - and create amazingly fun products and environments that encourage kids (and their parents) to use theirs, too. Is your brand about bare-bones, no-frills, low-cost? Then be innovative about how you can cut non-necessities to help your customers save money. Is your brand about customer service? Then bend over backwards for your customers. Is your brand about drawing people together? Then probe for ways in which your products and locations invite people to share life.
Let your brand be itself. But make it the absolute best self it can be.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Lame Excuses for Being Boring - #1
I'm starting to collect a series of lame excuses for why a company doesn't have creative products, services, marketing, or marketing communications.
Here's the first:
"We can't afford to hire the top creative minds."
Then cultivate creativity among the team you already have. Research shows that for persons with enough intelligence to have attended college (an IQ of about 115 or higher), success is less a product of innate talent than of preparation, practice, and opportunity. (Read Malcolm Gladwell's book Outliers for more information on this.)
Your marketing department, or product design team, or logistics personnel, or supply chain managers, have the capacity to think of creative ways to better serve your customers. To communicate better, to design better products, to reach them better, to provide better value (greater quality or less expense). You need to inspire them.
How do you inspire their creativity? Give them an afternoon at the movies - watching YouTube videos of excellent tv commercials and human zaniness. Send them to a park, or museum, or art gallery for the morning. Take them to lunch at a themed restaurant. Hold your next brainstorming session in a lime green room full of bean bag chairs, playdough, and whiteboards. Confiscate all pens - write with crayons instead. Have everyone name the most creative thing they've seen this week, then free associate to think of creative things that could work for your brand. Make your team act out a story using puppets (a story they make up as they go along, not one they know already).
Inspire creativity. Expect creativity.
Here's the first:
"We can't afford to hire the top creative minds."
Then cultivate creativity among the team you already have. Research shows that for persons with enough intelligence to have attended college (an IQ of about 115 or higher), success is less a product of innate talent than of preparation, practice, and opportunity. (Read Malcolm Gladwell's book Outliers for more information on this.)
Your marketing department, or product design team, or logistics personnel, or supply chain managers, have the capacity to think of creative ways to better serve your customers. To communicate better, to design better products, to reach them better, to provide better value (greater quality or less expense). You need to inspire them.
How do you inspire their creativity? Give them an afternoon at the movies - watching YouTube videos of excellent tv commercials and human zaniness. Send them to a park, or museum, or art gallery for the morning. Take them to lunch at a themed restaurant. Hold your next brainstorming session in a lime green room full of bean bag chairs, playdough, and whiteboards. Confiscate all pens - write with crayons instead. Have everyone name the most creative thing they've seen this week, then free associate to think of creative things that could work for your brand. Make your team act out a story using puppets (a story they make up as they go along, not one they know already).
Inspire creativity. Expect creativity.
A Burst of Creativity
Customers are tired of boring. They are tired of mediocre, status quo products, services, and marketing. Successful brands are those that are remarkable, creative, and exceptionally good at something. Because people are attracted to great work. And consumers want to identify themselves with something outstanding.
So, is your brand exceptionally good at something? Does your design team (or supply chain management, or finance department, or HR) exhibit superb innovation? Are your marketing communications creative, reaching customers in a fun way?
Or does it seem that your creativity has dried up?
Perhaps your company is like many - it's a good company. But not exceptionally good. Not great at anything. Not noted for creativity or innovation or the pursuit of excellence.
Do you need a boost to get those creative juices flowing again?
While it may be difficult to teach someone how to be creative, it seems to me that one of the best ways to stir up creativity is to immerse oneself in the creativity of others. Surround yourself with creative people and creative work.
Visit websites that showcase creative advertising, design, and marketing - try creativity-online.com, www.luerzersarchive.us, www.oneclub.org, and adsoftheworld.com for starters. Check out what innovative companies are doing - and not just in your own industry. Look at artwork - on Flickr, at artists' studios, in art museums. Search YouTube for old Super Bowl ads, funny videos, and top-rated tv commercials. Ask your friends to tell you the funniest thing they've seen, heard, or experienced recently. Read the comics. Tour a cathedral or historic mansion. Sit at a park and watch children playing. Lie on the grass and look at cloud shapes.
Surround yourself with creativity and excellence. Be inspired. Pursue greatness.
So, is your brand exceptionally good at something? Does your design team (or supply chain management, or finance department, or HR) exhibit superb innovation? Are your marketing communications creative, reaching customers in a fun way?
Or does it seem that your creativity has dried up?
Perhaps your company is like many - it's a good company. But not exceptionally good. Not great at anything. Not noted for creativity or innovation or the pursuit of excellence.
Do you need a boost to get those creative juices flowing again?
While it may be difficult to teach someone how to be creative, it seems to me that one of the best ways to stir up creativity is to immerse oneself in the creativity of others. Surround yourself with creative people and creative work.
Visit websites that showcase creative advertising, design, and marketing - try creativity-online.com, www.luerzersarchive.us, www.oneclub.org, and adsoftheworld.com for starters. Check out what innovative companies are doing - and not just in your own industry. Look at artwork - on Flickr, at artists' studios, in art museums. Search YouTube for old Super Bowl ads, funny videos, and top-rated tv commercials. Ask your friends to tell you the funniest thing they've seen, heard, or experienced recently. Read the comics. Tour a cathedral or historic mansion. Sit at a park and watch children playing. Lie on the grass and look at cloud shapes.
Surround yourself with creativity and excellence. Be inspired. Pursue greatness.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Radical honesty is in your best interest
Do you remember the Miracle on 34th Street customer service phenomenon?
In the 1947 movie, Santa Claus comes to work for Macy's department store, and promptly starts sending Macy's customers to other stores when Macy's prices are higher than those of competitors.
The result? Rather than hurting Macy's sales, this practice draws more and more customers to shop at Macy's, effectively boosting sales and causing competitors to follow suit in sending customers to other stores for cheaper prices.
Why? Why did sending customers to competitors cause Macy's to gain more customers and more sales?
Because customers like honesty. We like people we can trust. When a person (or company) openly admits his weaknesses (like Macy's charging higher prices than a competitor), his listeners believe that he is acting out of their best interests, not his own. The company who practices this becomes known as (to quote Mr. Macy) "the helpful store, the friendly store, the store with a heart." And people like to do business with that kind of company.
Noah J. Goldstein, Steve J. Martin, and Robert Cialdini cite real-life examples of this principle in their book Yes!: 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive. They quote the U.S. debut of the original Volkswagen Beetle ("Ugly is only skin deep"); Avis rental cars ("Avis. We're #2, but we try harder. When you're not #1, you have to."); and Listerine mouth wash ("Listerine: the taste you hate three times a day." Progressive car insurance proudly advertises its comparisons with competitors - even when competitors' insurance rates are cheaper than Progressives'. Since Progressive began comparing rates, it has continued to grow an average of 17% per year.
What other industries could use this technique to improve customer service? Automakers? Electronics? Universities?
Are you using this principle to better serve your customers? Do your customers know they can trust you?
In the 1947 movie, Santa Claus comes to work for Macy's department store, and promptly starts sending Macy's customers to other stores when Macy's prices are higher than those of competitors.
The result? Rather than hurting Macy's sales, this practice draws more and more customers to shop at Macy's, effectively boosting sales and causing competitors to follow suit in sending customers to other stores for cheaper prices.
Why? Why did sending customers to competitors cause Macy's to gain more customers and more sales?
Because customers like honesty. We like people we can trust. When a person (or company) openly admits his weaknesses (like Macy's charging higher prices than a competitor), his listeners believe that he is acting out of their best interests, not his own. The company who practices this becomes known as (to quote Mr. Macy) "the helpful store, the friendly store, the store with a heart." And people like to do business with that kind of company.
Noah J. Goldstein, Steve J. Martin, and Robert Cialdini cite real-life examples of this principle in their book Yes!: 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive. They quote the U.S. debut of the original Volkswagen Beetle ("Ugly is only skin deep"); Avis rental cars ("Avis. We're #2, but we try harder. When you're not #1, you have to."); and Listerine mouth wash ("Listerine: the taste you hate three times a day." Progressive car insurance proudly advertises its comparisons with competitors - even when competitors' insurance rates are cheaper than Progressives'. Since Progressive began comparing rates, it has continued to grow an average of 17% per year.
What other industries could use this technique to improve customer service? Automakers? Electronics? Universities?
Are you using this principle to better serve your customers? Do your customers know they can trust you?
Monday, June 22, 2009
A Thank-You to Fathers
In remembrance of Fathers' Day yesterday, I spent some time thinking about how important fathers are and how much they mean to us. Obviously, without fathers, none of us would be here. But really and truly, fathers contribute so much to who we are and who we become.
I was blessed to have grown up with a great dad who loved my siblings and me, who loved my mom, who was invested in our lives, who spoke encouragement into our lives, who disciplined us, and who cultivated the best in us. I couldn't be with my dad yesterday, since we live 1,500 miles apart (although I did get to spend time with some other "dads" in my life). But in honor of my dad, in honor of the other men who have been "fathers" to me, and in honor of all of the fathers around the world, I would like to say this:
Thank you for loving your kids.
Thank you for loving their moms, even when things are tough.
Thank you for showing your kids that "family" means that you are committed, that you stick it through, that you work things out.
Thank you for envisioning the best for your kids, and expecting the best of your kids, and empowering them to achieve their best.
Thank you for modeling honesty, and integrity, and hard work, and commitment.
Thank you for showing your kids that family matters more than a job does.
Thank you for showing your kids what it means to do hard things.
Thank you for saying "no" sometimes.
Thank you for talking with your kids, and for explaining why you say "no".
Thank you for being patient and long-suffering and always loving, even when your kids don't seem to like you or care about you or think anything of you.
Thank you for forgiving your kids, and for showing them grace when they come back around.
Thank you for teaching your kids how to be self-disciplined.
Thank you for teaching your kids the consequences of disobedience, and sin, and poor choices.
Thank you for teaching your kids to respect God, and country, and authority.
Thank you for teaching your kids the dignity of human life.
Thank you for showing your kids how to be giving and generous to all.
Thank you for giving your kids the freedom to fail, and to come to you for encouragement, and to pick themselves up, and to try again.
Thank you for showing your kids that your love for them is not contingent on what they do, or how well they perform, or whether they are successful at everything, or whether they always make good choices, but that you love them just because, forever.
Thank you for teaching your kids to be good stewards of the resources they have been given.
Thank you for teaching your kids to enjoy the simple things in life.
Thank you for teaching your kids to give thanks in all things, and to appreciate people.
Thank you for empowering your kids to soar.
Thank you for being a dad.
I was blessed to have grown up with a great dad who loved my siblings and me, who loved my mom, who was invested in our lives, who spoke encouragement into our lives, who disciplined us, and who cultivated the best in us. I couldn't be with my dad yesterday, since we live 1,500 miles apart (although I did get to spend time with some other "dads" in my life). But in honor of my dad, in honor of the other men who have been "fathers" to me, and in honor of all of the fathers around the world, I would like to say this:
Thank you for loving your kids.
Thank you for loving their moms, even when things are tough.
Thank you for showing your kids that "family" means that you are committed, that you stick it through, that you work things out.
Thank you for envisioning the best for your kids, and expecting the best of your kids, and empowering them to achieve their best.
Thank you for modeling honesty, and integrity, and hard work, and commitment.
Thank you for showing your kids that family matters more than a job does.
Thank you for showing your kids what it means to do hard things.
Thank you for saying "no" sometimes.
Thank you for talking with your kids, and for explaining why you say "no".
Thank you for being patient and long-suffering and always loving, even when your kids don't seem to like you or care about you or think anything of you.
Thank you for forgiving your kids, and for showing them grace when they come back around.
Thank you for teaching your kids how to be self-disciplined.
Thank you for teaching your kids the consequences of disobedience, and sin, and poor choices.
Thank you for teaching your kids to respect God, and country, and authority.
Thank you for teaching your kids the dignity of human life.
Thank you for showing your kids how to be giving and generous to all.
Thank you for giving your kids the freedom to fail, and to come to you for encouragement, and to pick themselves up, and to try again.
Thank you for showing your kids that your love for them is not contingent on what they do, or how well they perform, or whether they are successful at everything, or whether they always make good choices, but that you love them just because, forever.
Thank you for teaching your kids to be good stewards of the resources they have been given.
Thank you for teaching your kids to enjoy the simple things in life.
Thank you for teaching your kids to give thanks in all things, and to appreciate people.
Thank you for empowering your kids to soar.
Thank you for being a dad.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
