Archive for May, 2005
May 8, 2005
14 Comments
One of my business collaborators, Sig thinks traditional marketing departments are irrelevant:
A business organisation exist to fulfil a specific need of an individual, the customer.
But where is the customer on the organisational chart? Why does he not matter in the process of fulfilling his need? A perpetual state of hit and run?
Of course, hierarchies are command-and-control structures. No place there for a customer, unless he is willing to be bullied around.
A dilemma solved by an structural appendix: The marketing department.
An appendix using every trick in the book to push, entice, lure and seduce individuals to become customers. Hit and run.
His answer? Make the customer integral to the process, make the customer the central player in “The Flow”.
Make your customers the marketing department.
What’s interesting is not that Sig thinks thinks traditional corporate hierarchies (including the marketing department) are inefficient and should be replaced with something better. We all think that, to greater or lesser degrees.
What’s interesting is that he’s building software that actually allows companies to replace hierarchies with “something better”.
How well does this software work? I don’t know yet, I’m still new to it. But if it can survive the scrutiny of the blogosphere (i.e. “taking a bat to it”), then we’re in business.
[NOTE TO SELF:] Stick to cartooning. This is so out of your league.
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From The New York Times: Gawker Media’s Nick Denton dismisses the “Blogging Revolution”:
“The hype comes from unemployed or partially employed marketing professionals and people who never made it as journalists wanting to believe,” he said. “They want to believe there’s going to be this new revolution and their lives are going to be changed.”
“Unemployed or partially employed marketing professionals”. Sounds a bit like me. Heh.
Gawker Media’s blog format notwithstanding, Nick is basically in a traditional, Old Media, advertising-funded biz model. The last thing his business needs is clients discovering blogging for themselves, or believing they can spend less money on advertising.
I like both Nick and Gawker Media, so if they’re making a profit, all power to them. That being said, I really don’t see what the big deal about nanopublishing is. With the advent of blogs, it’s simply too easy for a writer to create their own brand/body of work without a publisher, without the controlled and compromising input of a third party. This is true with both small and large publishers, online and off. So why the Big Media fascination with Gawker?
I suspect the real reason is that it allows them to write about the blogosphere without having to mention the real, and for them, painful and depressing story, as summed up so eloquently by Clay Shirky last year:
“So forget about blogs and bloggers and blogging and focus on this — the cost and difficulty of publishing absolutely anything, by anyone, into a global medium, just got a whole lot lower. And the effects of that increased pool of potential producers is going to be vast.”
There’s nothing wrong with Big Media per se, they just have the same problem as Madison Avenue. Their product is extremely expensive to make, and they have no earthly clue how to realistically make it cheaper. Long-term that situation is untenable.
[Nick Denton’s homepage is here.]
May 7, 2005
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From Ben Hammersley, who’s in the Top Five list of “Smartest People I Know”:
RSS and Atom aren
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Two bits of news on the English Cut front:
1. Thomas’ next visit to New York has been confirmed: Thursday to Sunday, the 9 – 12 of June. Details here.
2. Right now we have three bases of operation: Savile Row (London), New York and Paris.
We’re adding a fourth: San Francisco.
Here’s the deal. We need to sell between one and three suits to pay for the trip (depending how long Tom is out there). So we don’t like to spend money before we have a handful of people already fairly commited to trying us out. Right now we have two or three people interested. I’d like to get that number above six before Tom splashes out for a plane ticket and a hotel suite.
So if anyone has any West Coast friends with a sartorial fetish, please spread the word. Thanks.
All in all, a semi-monthly trip to New York or Paris is more profitable than servicing the Savile Row clients on a weekly basis. My goal as marketing ninja is to get Thomas to spend less time in London, and more time on a plane, visiting his other ports of call.
I know the Savile Row connection is essential for the brand and the credibility, but there’s only so much soap-grabbing I’m willing to do in order to maintain it. We’re in the suit business, not the real estate business.
What matters is making the best clothes in the world for people who can afford them. Whether the sales bit happens in a hotel suite in Paris or a Dickensian shop in London is frankly secondary to me.
[BONUS LINK:] “Why use English Cut”. If this were body copy it’d probably win an advertising award.
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[NOTE TO SELF:]
The market is for “Flow” is larger than the market for “Hierarchy”.
Rock on.
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I said this earlier about the advertising buisness:
The fact is, ad agencies hate blogs. They utterly despise them, even if they tell you otherwise. They hate them because if done well, they’re cheap and they’re easy. Frankly, they’re in the business of selling you stuff that is neither.
The more I think about this line, the more I think it applies to A LOT MORE industries than just advertising.
A lot of us make good livings selling expensive, specialised stuff that in future will become easier and easier to replace. And the way Society has educated and socialised us will make us and our children completely unable to respond effectively.
There’s a good chunk of the middle class that, although certainly nice people, hard working, reliable and whatnot, are not particularly bright, creative, or too fond of original thought, nor taking risks.
This class I see being bled white over the next few decades, as their niches dry up like summer puddles.
I’d love to hear Hamish’s opinion on this.
[NB:] This was originally posted yesterday.
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Euan Semple, all-round capital fellow and big-time blogger at the BBC, got his gapingvoid t-shirt. Thanks, Euan!
[Most of the blogging systems he builds at the Beeb are internal, which explains why you may not have heard much about him. But his work is pretty huge.]
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A happy recipient blogs his new gapingvoid t-shirt. Thanks, Thom!
[TAGS:] The official tag (Flickr, Technorati etc) for the shirts is “gapingshirts”. Just so you know.
The Flickr gapingshirts tag page is here. Please feel free to add to it.
[AAAARGHH:] Thanks to my basic ineptness, yesterday’s blog entries ended up getting wiped. Long story. I managed to save the cached versions; I might repost them later if I get around to it etc.
May 5, 2005
18 Comments
Sig asks the pertinent question: What level of transparency can a company live with?
Fact #1:
Trust is what makes a company exist. Without trust no customer, no investors, no suppliers, no place in society.
Fact #2:
Transparency equals trust. That simple.
Transparency’s a tricky one. Transparency relies on human beings, and human beings are generally a frickin’ nightmare.
Secondly, “Transparency” is currently one of those terms greatly in danger of becoming an annoying buzzword, if it hasn’t already.
But forget the hardcore mechanics of running a company for a minute. Let me ask you another question instead:
At the company you work for, how afraid is the average person of making a mistake? Of not being right? Of backing the wrong horse and being found out later?
And then there’s your answer. The less afraid he or she is, the more transparent your company can be, with itself and with the outside world. The more afraid he or she is, the more opaque you’ll have to remain.
I don’t think it’s rocket science.
May 4, 2005
3 Comments
Microsoft’s Robert Scoble is meeting with Target (the big US department store) tomorrow. He wrote some blogging advice for them. Good stuff.
What to do now? Well, now I would link to them and react to the points. To the people who were disappointed in Target, I’d see if there is anything I could do to get them back into the store and fix their experience. To the people who were already thrilled, I’d just link to them and say “thanks.” Or, something fun to let them know that Target saw their compliment and appreciated it.
The other thing I’d say is– make sure the guy you choose to write your blog can actually write. I mean REALLY write.
And I’d tell the writer, make sure you can get a job somewhere else easily if Target fires you. Like Robert’s old boss once told him, to paraphrase, “if what you’re doing isn’t almost getting you fired, it’s probably not that interesting.“
Not that the writer should be worried about Target suddenly turning evil. But nothing kills good writing faster than office politics; the paralytic fear of “not being right”.
Good blogs require taking risks. Get over it.
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OK, I’m going to lay down the law here…
From now on, anybody who wants to join in the “Culture vs Technology” discussion on gapingvoid has to first read “A Group Is Its Own Worst Enemy” by Clay Shirky. Otherwise you’re just wasting everybody’s time.
Oh, and while you’re at it, go read “Social Software And The Politics Of Groups” and then you’ll even waste even less of everybody’s time.
You’ll thank me later.
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(each comes with the gapingvoid label in the collar yak yak yak…)
My personal t-shirts (i.e. the ones I’ve earmarked to wear myself) arrived in the morning and they utterly rock. I was so pleased to see them.
I think what I liked the most was the labels. Hard to read in the pic above, but what you have there is the little Angel/Icarus guy (he’s got wings but is still pissed off, sorta kinda explains the human condition etc), with “©gapingvoid.com” over there on the right in my handwriting, then printed on the bottom left in caps is “LIMITED EDITION OF 200″.
[NOTE TO SELF: More photos. We need more photos]
I actually think “LIMITED EDITION OF 200″ makes a good headline/branding meme. Nice little hook to hang the “brand promise” on over time. We’ll see what happens with it.
I think once people start wearing them around and start blogging about them, they’ll sell quite well. When you think about it, I’ve sold a ton of shirts already (well over 120) with the product ‘sight unseen’, just my rep to go on. To me, it seems like a lot.
On a similar vein– a few people told me this story: There was this big geek dinner in New York 2 nights ago. About 50 people turned up, including Robert Scoble and Dave Winer. I am told nearly half of the people there were handing out gapingvoid blogcards. Nice to see a meme working etc.
Anyway, it’s all very exciting, and I’m very happy. Thanks to everyone who’s bought a shirt so far, it’s very kind of you. Has anybody in the UK received theirs yet? They should have arrived this morning in the mail (touch wood).
[SIZE ISSUE:] Some people ordered shirts before we had built the size option (S,M, L, XL etc) on the website. We sent everybody who did an e-mail asking them for size qualification… we’re not just going to send you a random size etc. If you didn’t receive yours yet, you should have. Best check your spam filter or e-mail us back at: gapingvoid AT indigoshirts DOT com. Thanks.
22 Comments
When I first said “Branding Is Dead”, it caused a minor (very minor) ruckus.
“Branding” is just a metaphor. “The Brand” is just a metaphor. Something to do with cattle and red hot irons. Whatever. If it works for you, great. But I find that metaphor a very dry hole these days.
One advantage of thinking it as “dead”, is that you don’t waste any more time worrying about if it’s still alive or not, or if it’s it’s dying or not. You just assume its passing as a given and move on to more interesting, less overused ideas.
In the seartch for new metaphors, Cluetrain came along and suddenly everything was about “The Conversation”. That’s fine, I like “Conversation” as a marketing metaphor, but after a while I started getting a wee bit tired of hearing the word “Conversation” every second sentence in marketing meetings. We all know you can’t really hold a real conversation with twenty million people (although the tireless Robert Scoble would like to try). As much as I love the Cluetrain, “Conversation” as an all-purpose marketing metaphor started to grate on my nerves surprisingly quickly.
Metaphors– brands, conversations etc– are like paintings. They either work for for you or they don’t. If they don’t, there’s no amount of arguing another person can do to change your mind. So when people say “You’re wrong, Hugh– branding is alive and well”, all I can say is “Maybe to you, it is.“
Not to mention, good luck selling the idea to other people, in what is already a fatigued and over-supplied market.
I’m partial to the “Story” metaphor these days. But that’s just me.
“The Story” is a narrative. Narratives have movement. They are fluid. “The Brand” is a static term. I think fluid metaphors, ones that accept “Flow” as part of their nature, simply work better.
Besides, nobody is currently offering to pay me the big bucks to help keep the ever-drearier Brand Metaphor alive on their behalf. And I don’t do necrophilia for free.
May 3, 2005
16 Comments
(your basic t-shirt design– approx 10″ across)
(each comes with the gapingvoid label in the collar)
[ORDER HERE:] The t-shirts are back from the printers and ready to go.
I’ll be adding more photos etc in the next day or two, but the pics above give you the basic idea.
Only one little snag– we had a bit of trouble with the CFA design. The printer thought because of its potty-mouth language there’d be some legal issues etc. So we had to do some wrangling. A minor issue that soon resolved itself, but as a result there was a production delay of 24 hours. So the CFA shirts won’t be shipped till tomorrow. But for those of you who have pre-ordered, the other 3 designs are already in the mail.
Like I said before, each design is a limited edition of 200. Once they’re gone, they’re gone. These t-shirts are not print-on-demand. They are high-quality printed shirts that already exist, with their own gapingvoid label.
Once we’ve got your order, they’re basically in the mail within 48 hours. No messing around.
I hope you like them.
26 Comments
1. One of my clients is in the wine business.
He hired me, soon after discovering The Hughtrain PDF on ChangeThis, a site founded by marketing grandmaster Seth Godin.
2. Around the same time, I was asked by Seth to read and review a copy of his latest book, “All Marketers Are Liars”, which I really, really liked.
3. These two events ended up turning into a coincidence, of sorts.
4. Early on in the wine gig I was asked to go to the local supermarket check out the wine aisle, and report my first impressions.
5. I came back and reported my findings: “When you look at them on the shelves, most of them aren’t telling a story.“
6. The key theme in Seth’s book is the importance of storytelling as a marketing tool.
7. Sure, there’s been discussions about building a blog to sell wine, but the more I thought about it, the more convinced I became that the bottle on the shelf has to tell the story, in 3 seconds or less. The blog could come after, but not till the story on the shelf was working.
8. Most of the people reading this are pretty aspirational. We like to occasionally picture ourselves as educated and sophisticated. Like we actually know the difference between Merlot and Muscudet. That we actually know why vintage matters, and why it doesn’t (it doesn’t, nine times out of ten, by the way).
9. So how do you tell a story to this kind of person?
10. Next time you’re in the supermarket, see which labels/bottles/brands are telegraphing their story. The ones that do this well, in 3 seconds or less, you notce are given preferential shelf space to the the ones that are “just there”.
11. It happens that way for a reason– doesn’t matter if we’re talking supermarket shelves or inside the minds of human beings. Better story equals better placement.
12. What’s your story?
May 2, 2005
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Sig and I have been going back n’ forth on our blogs about hierarchies in the workplace, in nature, in software etc etc.
In this post he offers an alternative for hierarchies:
Now if we want to replace the hierarchies, then the following has to be fulfilled:
–Order
–Security
–Identity
How to handle these in alternative ways:
Order: As earlier mentioned, tags can replace tree structures. Hierarchies are tree-structures, tags not. Hierarchies organises in two dimensions, tags have no limits. Hierarchies loose.
Security: Routines, duties and responsibilities. Go with the flow, structured flows. Flows are the natural way and can be delivered by IT structures. No need for an iffy tree structure using command and control then. Flows win, command looses.
Identity: Rating, visibility — we know how it works in a networked and open world, small or large. Identity ensues from real results, personality and visibility. No “status” on false premises is the good part (Not for all, but if in doubt just distribute “free high-status business cards” and amazing titles. Cheap and easy, no hierarchies needed for that either).
Has Sig been smoking the rock? Probably.
He’s into software, I’m into finding ways of decreasing unwanted cultural disruption within an organisation. Or something. Watch this space etc.
[SEMI-RELATED BONUS LINK:] Doc Searls, in his usual, very lucid and very passionate way, writes in Linux Journal about Tom Friedman’s bestseller, “The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century”. Just go and read it. Seriously.
May 1, 2005
11 Comments
I’ve been asked to speak at Reboot 7.0 in Copenhagen in June. Does that totally rock or what? Thanks Thomas for inviting me.
Doc Searls is coming, so is Robert Scoble, Loic Lemeur and Ben Hammersley. Very exciting. The full attendants list is here.
[UPDATE: GEEK DINNER LONDON:] Robert Scoble and I are organising a geek dinner in Central London at 8pm, on the 7th of June. Anybody interested in coming? I’ll have the final details posted this week.
[GEEK DINNER WIKI:] Lloyd Davis has kindly set us up a Perfect Path wiki for the event, which I’ll add on to later. Go check it out.
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I have a question:
1. Assume you work for a very large company. Thousands of employees.
2. Assume your company has no hierachies. None. Zilch. Nada.
3. How different would your company’s main software have to be, compared to typical software used by most large companies these days?
Just curious.
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A nice wee post from Thomas on visiting a tailors’ den, five minutes walk from Savile Row.
Speaking of trousers, when I was in London this week I stopped by my trouser maker for a “skiffle” (tailor’s term for a rush job), who works out of this den in Kingley Street. Though Soho is now mostly known for its trendy cafes, media companies and ad agencies, as you can see Old London is thankfully still with us.
The vast majority of sewing tailors are self-employed, with their dens scattered around within walking distance of Savile Row. All the coats you see being made here will come from all the famous tailors’ shops– A&S, Huntsman, Poole’s etc. And that’s the way it’s been for as long as anyone can remember.
I’ve been to a few of these dens in the last few weeks. They’re all interesting places– charmingly Dickensian sweatshops in the basements of the most expensive real estate in London.
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Just got done reading “The Six Laws of Software”, by Dror Eyal. Not a bad read at all. Here’s the blurb:
You’re too late! Most home consumers have all the software they will ever need, and most companies out there already have all the basic technologies they need to successfully compete.
What’s a software developer to do? Read the Six Laws of the New Software to find out.
Right now I’m interested in any kind of software that can reduce a company’s internal cultural friction. That’s the story I’m going after. That’s the story that gets my attention.
Yes, I already know, there are other equally worthy stories out there.
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Jason Kottke is pining for the good ol’ days. You know, back when blogging was new and fun and interesting and innocent and true etc etc.
If you’re buying low and selling high, the time to buy optimism was two to four years ago, not now. That was when a small group of friends looked at a horrible economy and saw an opportunity to educate their clients and the rest of us about the value of user-centered design. When a husband and wife decided to build their own blog tool in their spare time because they wanted to use it. When an entreprenuer gambled that you could make money publishing weblogs. When a few folks decided that people needed a place to share their photos with friends. When a loose collective of designers showed us the possibilities of semantically correct standards-based web design. There’s still lots of opportunity these days, but it’s more expensive with less return.
He then kvetches about Six Apart, the company who invented Movable Type, the software this website runs on.
Consider Six Apart as an example of what I’m talking about. 6A is like a black hole for creative people. Folks who, a year or two ago, were among the leading voices in the discussion of how weblogs were changing our culture, were coding all sorts of useful plug-ins for Movable Type, or were pushing the edges of web design are now focused on making software that generates revenue and aren’t saying a whole lot about it. (Sort of ironic that working for 6A kills the weblogs of their employees, isn’t it?) That’s great for them, for Six Apart, their customers, and their partners, but it kinda sucks for the community as a whole.
Mena Trott, Six Apart’s co-founder, responds here:
I don’t buy the idea that most companies are creatively stifling their employees. While it may be true for some companies, I think it’s far more likely that, as you say, people with jobs are really, really busy. Frankly, I know that when my heaviest periods of blogging came when I was unemployed or not feeling fulfilled at work.
I think anyone who tries to make money DIRECTLY through blogging is statistically JUST BEGGING to have his ass kicked by the market. A few bright sparks may get away with it ocasionally, just like a pretty waitress in Los Angeles occasionally gets discovered in a restaurant and is starring in a movie a year later. Nice when it happens, certainly, but I wouldn’t place a bet on horse with those odds.
“Indirectly”, however, is another story…
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Kathy Sierra (my future wife) writes about the importance of good design in terms of it actually saving your job. She compares Japanese and American man-hole covers to illustrate her point.
NB: She’s not really my future wife (*Sigh*).
