Comments on: authentic voice hell

By: Crossroads Dispatches

Crossroads Dispatches — Fri, 11 Mar 2005 06:14:05 +0000

Ambassadors versus Brand Evangelists

I went back and forth between Cuba and the United States a lot at the end of the ‘80s, when very few people were doing so, and I always felt that one good thing I could take to Cuba was

By: peter

peter — Wed, 09 Mar 2005 00:32:43 +0000

Jon : “The Passion for Money buries the Passion for Making Great Stuff.“
Hugh: “Greed Yay!“
A less pejorative way of expressing the idea: “The need to make money limits the attention we can devote to creativity/spirituality/meaning”.
But there is a greater conflict here. The notion that conversations and authenticity sell more effectively than hype and slick slogans is clearly a threat to a lot of people. Does Lexus need Kevin Roberts? For how long will Thomas continue to need Hugh? What is the thematic difference between the two relationships? Couldn’t both clients just “download the pdf”?

By: Crossroads Dispatches

Crossroads Dispatches — Tue, 08 Mar 2005 11:08:09 +0000

We Are All Zen Students, We Are All Businesspeople

That’s also the title of the first chapter of Z.B.A.: Zen of Business Administration, by Marc Lesser (haven’t perused it…yet). Zen is the Japanese word for meditation — being mindful, being wholehearted. There was a time — January 2001 -

By: Vy Blog

Vy Blog — Mon, 07 Mar 2005 23:09:08 +0000

Authentic Voices

I don’t have the same personal dissatisfaction with Nike or its product, but Hugh makes a good case about how brands actually

By: Hamish

Hamish — Mon, 07 Mar 2005 21:21:10 +0000

Chase the regulators, then it’s like one big 1999 Y2K .com fest the whole time. Right now Banking and Pharms are the ones getting it badly, but there must be others. Incomprehensible badly drafted legislation that no-one knows how to enact. Tidying up after big government and their incontinent law-making, it’s the wave of the future…
And in new Expanded Europe we have ten countries facing a Euro conversion. Sigh. It’s like being a dog that got dropped into the three legged cat home.

By: hugh macleod

hugh macleod — Mon, 07 Mar 2005 09:23:38 +0000

Yay! 1999 rates!

By: Evelyn Rodriguez

Evelyn Rodriguez — Mon, 07 Mar 2005 07:10:02 +0000

Geez, I forgot to mention I’m significantly cheaper than $2000 a day — those sound like 1999 rates
My background is skewed toward product management and development rather than product marketing/communications and branding. Hence, I think the most important time for marketing is the earliest front end — at the market selection, listening to market and product conception stage. (I do agree with Bedbury that both product and market communications need to evolve in tandem.)

By: Evelyn Rodriguez

Evelyn Rodriguez — Mon, 07 Mar 2005 06:52:50 +0000

I’ve only just begun the “so what happened to Nike” conversation. First by looking at what “heyday” was really like.
On the Evelyn wannabe: I’ve already warned people against copying tactics unless they’ve adopted the whole underlying mindset too. Or it just plain explodes. In a recent post I said: “Whatever your underlying mindset and approach to life will surely will be reflected in your marketing — no matter whom you try to outwardly imitate and emulate.“
Coke, Pepsi and Anheuser-Busch entered the energy drink market with limited results though they attempted to mimic Red Bull

By: Jon

Jon — Mon, 07 Mar 2005 05:04:25 +0000

Of course the product slipped — like (almost) every large company in the world, the passion that first stirs the company (or more often, the LEADER of the company) to greatness sinks under the weight of shareholder demand, marketing dipshits, and half-a-ton of MBA’s running the show.
The Passion for Money buries the Passion for Making Great Stuff.
I personally think it’s the result of decades of teaching in our schools, and in our markets.
The most dangerous idea arising from that is that *GASP* maybe what’s good for the market ISN’T always what’s good for the society.
Gee, ya think?

By: hugh macleod

hugh macleod — Mon, 07 Mar 2005 02:53:05 +0000

Name names? Nah.
It hasn’t happened yet, to my knowledge. But my fertile imagination has been busy today, imagining Dilbert-like scenario’s.
I just love Ev’s stuff to pieces. Would hate to see it diluted in the hands of lesser beings

By: Johnnie Moore

Johnnie Moore — Mon, 07 Mar 2005 02:26:06 +0000

Hmmm. I dunno Hugh, you’ve said this kind of thing before and I think it’s a bit sweeping.
I wonder if you’re thinking of anyone in particular who you see as faking Evelyndom, and if so, will you name names?

By: pm

pm — Mon, 07 Mar 2005 02:02:30 +0000

The whole thing is ripe for parody. Imagine an Authentic Voice machine ala the translator engines that turn any webpage into Snoop Dogg speak or Pirate Speak. Take a corporate press release and run it through the Authentic Voice translation engine and it turns the dry press release into an Authentic Voice blog entry.
Maybe a bit of proactive parody can head off the virus before it gets epidemic.