Ideas worth talking about.

develop your brain

"The true nature of mankind is that of a super-social ape. We are programmed to be together; sociability is our species' key evolutionary strategy; we feel happier with others; our brains develop through interaction with others and when our brains don't develop normally this often robs us of key human skills. When they develop properly we have the most amazing capabilities to live together and create things together." from  Mark Earls' book Herd.

Join me for conversation, coffee and brain development. The next coffee morning will be Friday, May 25, 10 a.m., Midtown Marketplace 1591 Willamette St. (in the back section near the fireplace). See you there.

the blog advantage

Mark Twain said, "The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them." I think the same is true of blogs.

beautiful data

Data doesn't have to be boring. Above is a collection of images from Visual Complexity with links to 460 projects. Also, Mashable has a nice review of 16 data visualization tools (some of which I hadn't see before). You may have seen Hans Roslings speech at the TED conference where he enthusiastically demonstrated Gapminder’s Trendalyzer software. Google recently bought Trendalyzer and has a live test site here (it's fun to play with). Of course Swivel is cool too.

survey says...

Heather LeFevre released the results of her 2007 planner survey. Download the pdf here.

• Topics included salary, experience, satisfaction, and aspects of supervisors
• 466 completed surveys (compared to 192 last year) from March 16 - April 8
• 58% Men/42% Women
• 38% from outside USA

perception vs. reality

How many black dots do you see? Ask one hundred people and what do you think the average number would be? Would that research make the answer more accurate?

Well, this Scintillating grid is an illusion; there are no black dots. The difference between perception and reality can be drastic sometimes.

Sure, I’m using this as an analogy for consumer research, but how often do you hear a firm ask straightforward questions and expect straightforward answers? Problems often result when they try to make important business decisions based on the research without taking into account the perceptions of the consumer.

Henry Ford said, “If I’d asked my customers what they wanted, they’d have said a faster horse.”  The key, I suppose, is to learn how to interpret what the consumer is saying.

what would you do?

For some reason I can’t stop thinking about this article I saw in the newspaper three days ago. Here are the key points:

• EWEB is planning a "brand development" campaign to learn whether customers' perceptions of EWEB matches employees' perceptions and the utility's communications to the public, spokesman Marty Douglass said.
• “The utility plans to spend about $75,000 on initial survey and research work, and then will consider spending another $75,000 on brand development. The work is being done in conjunction with Cappelli Miles [spring], a Eugene-based marketing and communications firm.”
• A new "brand" could conceivably include a new slogan or logo.
• "We don't feel we can make that decision right now in the absence of research."

Here are my concerns: What business problem will the utility solve by conducting this research? Is there truly a logo or tagline problem that needs solving?

Let’s remember that a brand is a living concept found in people’s minds. The visual identity of a firm or its products is only but a small part of a brand. The greater the gap between what a firm says versus what is does, the less authentic it will appear. When the two are aligned a firm will be perceived as authentic.  I have a feeling that this is what the utility is after: a sense of authenticity and connection with its customers.

I believe what a firm does, however, is more important that what it says it does. In writing the rule of thumb says, show don’t tell. It’s true with brands too.  A brand encompasses everything a customer comes in contact with (every touch point, each employee, the architecture of the office, how customers are treated, ect.)

I’m curious, how would you spend $75,000 to improve the utility’s brand?

the friendship model

Richard Ward drew this on the chalkboard yesterday while talking about the evolution of the advertising communication model. How appropriate.

Today, Ward, Steve O'Leary, Tamera Geddes and Sheila Vineyard talked to students about breaking into the ad industry. I noticed that the advice they gave to land that first job — such as, start a conversation, don’t be annoying, make friends, don’t lie, be gracious — are the same things a brand should do to have a long-term relationship with a customer. It’s also the same thing an agency should do to win and keep a client. My observation is that the strategy to sell yourself to an agency is really no different than the concept Ward describes as friendship.

Ward says: Prove to me that you’re engaged. Have a point of view. For a pitch or an interview: write down the 50 hardest questions, then come up with the answers. Show evidence of your success. Sell what you did. What is your future value to the agency, your book helps show that. Show me things that you love and admire, tell me why. Then, tell me how that could apply to a brand.

Joe Leary recorded some of the ideas shared today too.

visualizing the blogosphere

 
This is an interesting look at the blogosphere by Matthew Hurst. The white dots represent individual blogs, sized according to number of links. See original post here.

1. DailyKos (the big white dot with nearly half a millions hits a day).
2. Boingboing.
3. LiveJournal bloggers.
4. Political discourse (the blue cluster).
5. Porn bloggers.
6. Sports enthusiasts.

blogging & ideas

I had five minutes to talk about blogging and ideas today at the UO School of Journalism and Communication. Not a lot of time for such a broad topic. My talk was one of eight for a small group of students, professors and special guest, Richard Ward.

It was a pleasure to meet Richard Ward, President and CEO of WestWayne. Ward founded the executive in residence program, which brought Russell Davies to the school earlier this year.

Here’s what I had to say:

The single most important thing you can do while is school is start a blog. Fill it with content you’re curious and passionate about. Then write it in a way that’s engaging for people to read.

Even if you’re not in school, let’s say you’re a professor or CEO, starting a blog is the single most important thing you can do this month, that is, if you don't already have one.

When Russell Davies visited in October something clicked for me. He said he wouldn’t hire anyone who doesn’t have a blog. Maybe that helped motivate me. Or maybe it was how he described a blog as a living resume. Whatever the reason I started my blog that day. And this is what I’ve learned.

A blog can make you better at what you do. It can help make you become a better writer. It can help distill your ideas, test them and get feedback. You can exchange ideas with people from around the world. Start conversations with people who are interested in the same things you are. You can record observations and insights you would have otherwise forgotten and can easily retrieve them with a Google search. That’s pretty cool.

I started interviewing people who I think are interesting and posting those interviews on my blog. Just think about how many fascinating people visit this campus. Imagine interviewing some of those people. I wish I started doing this sooner.

Most importantly, a blog can help build community. I think that’s what people truly seek: a sense of connection. These virtual communities are spilling into coffee shops. Groups like likemind and events like coffee mornings, inspired by Russell Davies, are sprouting up around the world. Including the one here in Eugene that I started and the one in Portland Stephen Landau started.

My newest project, coworkingeugene.com, will take this sense of community one step further.

I posted this idea on my blog last week. Russell Davies noticed it and posted it on his blog. Within a day I had 500 page views from more than 300 unique visitors from around the world.

Blogs are a great way to store, organize and share ideas. When you get your blog up and running send me your link. I would like to see what you're up to.