Comments on: mark earls and the “purpose-idea”

By: Phil Gomes

Phil Gomes — Tue, 20 May 2008 14:40:54 +0000

This pic is going up on my wall. Immediately.

By: James Piecowye

James Piecowye — Sat, 17 May 2008 05:20:35 +0000

I am a professor in the Middle East where I teach my local/national/indigenous students to think of the story and how it will effect people.
This post and the drawing with it are nothing short of exactly what my students just cannot wrap their heads around.
Funny so simple but so difficult to grasp.
Maybe we try too hard?

By: Madrugada Jones

Madrugada Jones — Fri, 16 May 2008 20:27:45 +0000

To Vruz, I see what you’re saying. Hugh’s posts are often about humanizing the marketing process, about putting a human face on numbers, which I like a lot. This one’s no different, which is a good thing. I’m glad you asked me to reread the post.

By: boston rose

boston rose — Fri, 16 May 2008 17:40:36 +0000

welcome to my CUBE OF DESTINY?!!!!!!!!?!!!!!!!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAA
oh gosh my stomach hurts.

By: vruz

vruz — Fri, 16 May 2008 17:36:57 +0000

@Michelle
There’s a reigning view for some, that companies have no morals.
Their only legal obligation is to their owners/shareholders.
It’s the individuals, from inside and outside of the organisation who need morals and getting their voices heard.
Individuals can have a protestant “work ethic”, secular ethics, or plain catholic guilt.
But whatever it is, customers and employees want their voices heard.
Because it’s a market, and there’s value in what these customers and employees do.
Sticking to the minimum required by law is not enough.
It’s only in the best interest of the company –and the market as a whole– to serve them well.

By: Michelle Greer

Michelle Greer — Fri, 16 May 2008 17:13:46 +0000

Microsoft may have passion, but they lack focus to channel it.
Microsoft’s products affect us everyday. Sequel server runs our databases. Windows runs our desktops. Websites are written in ASP.NET. Many people use office every single day. These are everyday parts of our lives. They fuel our economy and progress our society.
Why then, do I see Microsoft jumping into every single market possible? Why does Silverlight exist? Why are they trying to squash Google? Why can’t they just take the products that they have a virtual monopoly on and actually make them flawless? Why must we suffer through duds like classic ASP, Windows Millennium, and now Vista?
If you are truly passionate about your product, you see it as a moral imperative to make your products as relevant to your customers as possible. There may be passionate individuals at Microsoft, but their lack of interest in releasing solid products concerns me.

By: vruz

vruz — Fri, 16 May 2008 14:28:53 +0000

@Madrugada
precisely, we’re not talking about taglines here.
that’s what Hugh is saying: taglines don’t mean a thing.
P.Is are an entirely different animal.
ignore the comments and over-intellectualisation in the comments area.
the article itself is worth a re-read
on Microsoft : I agree Microsoft have an awful lot of work to do, both technologically fixing the ‘flagship product’ and internally, reshaping the organisation itself.
but they can’t close doors and go on vacation to find themselves in a distant beach, and magically return renewed and afresh after a couple of weeks. the machine has to keep cranking all the while they make these changes.

By: vruz

vruz — Fri, 16 May 2008 14:15:46 +0000

@all
adding to the terminology…
Marty Neumeier in ZAG (http://www.zagbook.com) uses *YET ANOTHER TERM* to describe roughly the same thing as P.I. and mantra. (I think)
He calls it the ‘trueline’.
(as opposed to the ‘tagline’)
@michael
what makes you hang out with recovering catholic cluetards ? that’s so out of fashion !!
(even worse, among dangerous people, with perilous artistic tendences, aren’t you afraid it’s catchy ?)
because you’re worth it !
now I like you, you’re funny
love,
vruz

By: Manager Mom

Manager Mom — Thu, 15 May 2008 13:00:34 +0000

Ooo, I’m gonna like this blog. as a marketing person, I’ve sometimes gotten strange looks when I say in meetings that consumers don’t give a crap about what WE think the brand is. It’s about what THEY think the brand means to them…and you have to build on that, not stick your head in the sand and try to change it.
Or you wind up with a steaming pile like “Not Your Father’s Oldsmobil.”

By: michael n

michael n — Wed, 14 May 2008 17:37:05 +0000

“core substance”–wait, let me “deconstruct”: recovering catholic, artscene hanger-on, becomes web 2.0 cluetard? everybody now…
seriously, give us a mantra for something. what you were trying to say, through a post-liberation theology idiom, is that you want to invest a thing with an idea bigger than itself; this is religious thinking, simply put. this is a marketing strategy? tweettweet: hallmark’s calling.

By: Madrugada Jones

Madrugada Jones — Wed, 14 May 2008 16:02:44 +0000

I should start by saying that I don't work in marketing. Are taglines not just baloney on some level? Not to sound totally cynical here, but is everyone not massively over-thinking this? My goodness, including a link to Derrida? Does it actually matter what Microsoft uses as their tag line? Most products I trust, I have no idea what their tagline is. I love Wheat Thins. Do they have a tagline? Who gives a crap? Most consumers of most products, like Microsoft's, are not super advanced life forms. They're my mom Shirley. Or my cousin David. I can't ever figure out what the heck they're thinking, much less figure out what tens of millions of Shirley's and David's are thinking. Maybe marketers should stop all the intellectualizing and just drop taglines altogether. Maybe have a nice picture on the box, a mocked-up picture of a family enjoying themselves using the product, and then concentrate every other last dime on making the product great. In other words, spend less time creating fun taglines and more time figuring out how to make Vista suck less. If the product is good, espeicially in this internet age, and if it has a simple marketing message, I believe it'll sell itself.

By: vruz

vruz — Wed, 14 May 2008 03:37:34 +0000

@peter good pointer, thanks !

By: vruz

vruz — Wed, 14 May 2008 03:20:13 +0000

@michael
who let the Derrida lecturers out of the mental institution ?
no, seriously, if I were to deconstruct you, Michael, there wouldn’t be much core substance left to analyse.
so why bother ?
now be a good boy and take your pill.
sleep well.
goodnight.

By: peter Cervieri

peter Cervieri — Wed, 14 May 2008 01:59:10 +0000

here's a great video interview with mark: http://www.scribemedia.org/2008/05/08/following-the-herd/

By: Michael

Michael — Tue, 13 May 2008 22:20:53 +0000

I’d differentiate a “tag line” — (the latest Microsoft one being a fairly typical and by no means the worst bland ho-hum advertising creation) with a rallying call that connects and builds a sense of purpose within the company (“a computer on every desktop” would fit that, imj). Tag lines for the most part seem to be a solution in search of a question … I’m not sure why they’re even needed much these days.
I actually wrote the tagline for GlaxoSmithKline when it became GSK some years back. It’s still there (a minor miracle in itself) — but I do wonder just whose behaviour/perception it actually influences.