Digital  @SPEED    How  to  think,  lead,  and  succeed  as  a  digital  marketer  in  a  time-­‐starved  world.      

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All  them  Grand  Masters  and  them  Europeans...  

With  they  government  subsidies  and  whatnot  to  sit  on  they  asses  and  play  all  day...                                                      They  ain't  livin'  in  the  world!                                                      Put  the  clock  on  'em,  put  the  heat  on  they  backs,  they  break  down.                                                      Put  'em  in  the  park  fishin'  for  dollars,  and  they  break.    That's  Bobby  Fisher,                                                      Some  say  he's  the  greatest  player  to  ever  play  the  game,                                                        I  never  played  him.                                                      All  them  patzers  sittin'  around  the  park...                                                    Waitin'  for  him  to  go  back  there  like  Jesus.                                                      Me,  I  don't  give  a  shit.                                                      Put  the  clock  on  that  motherfucker...    I'll  chew  his  ass  up  just  like  the  rest  of  'em.                                                      Chew  it  right  up.    –  Samuel  Jackson,  speed  chess  master  in  the  film  Fresh,  by  Boaz  Yakin  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Table  of  Contents:    

Starters    

A  note  on  how  to  use  this  book.    

Quick  note  on  the  use  of  the  singular  pronoun.    

“Congratulations,  you’re  hired.”    

Why  does  everything  take  so  much  longer  than  I  think  it’s  going  to  take?    

Talk  about  it.  Do  it.  Don’t  look  back.    

It’s  coming!    

If  I  don’t  see  it,  it  doesn’t  exist.    

Market  Categories  are  bullshit.    

The  last  slide-­‐rule  manufacturer.    

“The  Best  Place  I  Ever  Worked.”    

The  best  place.    

Love  what  you’re  selling.    

Becoming  a  Digital  leader    

Timewasters    

Quick  Reality  Check    

1) You  get  canted.  2) You  get  decked.    3) You  get  tailed.    

4) You  get  siloed.    5) You  hesitate  and  get  lost.    6) You  get  stoned  to  death  with  popcorn.    7) You  buy  into  the  perfect  process  myth.    8) You  lead  from  dissatisfaction.    9) You  scare  the  hell  out  of  your  team.  10) You  suffer  from  a  bad  case  of  old  think.    11)  You  wait  for  all  the  facts.    12)  You’re  not  ready  to  do  a  lot,  so  you  don’t  do  a  little.    13)  You  wonder  if  your  target  audience  is  really  online  or  on  social  media.    

14)  You  think  your  CEO  doesn’t  understand  digital  media.    15)  You  don’t  think  you  have  to.    16)  You  settle  for  9’s.    

 

Systematic      

It’s  Not  A  Straight  Line.    

What’s  a  Resume?    

Remember  Names.    

Don’t  have  status  meetings,  have  progress  meetings.    

Two  Tracks,  Simultaneously.    

Getting  people  going  who  don’t  work  for  you.    

Shine  A  Light  On  What  You  Value.    

  The  Hawthorne  effect    

Expect  Success.    

  The  observer-­‐expectancy  effect    

Give  your  people  high  expectations  to  live  up  to.    

Change  it  up.    

Beware  of  experienced  managers.    

How  to  get  your  agencies  to  play  nicely  together,  (it’s  called  accountability.)    

Cut  your  spend,  not  your  throat.    

Don’t  replace,  repair.    

Think  “Brand  Direct”    

Save  By  Going  Social.    

Learn  From  challenger  brands.    

1) The  top  dog  is  involved.  Intimately.    2) The  advertising  conversation  and  the  business  conversation  are  the  same  conversation.    

3) The  work  is  seen  as  the  ultimate  weapon  for  conquering  the  competition.    

4) The  brand  is  seen  as  a  precious  asset  and  the  ultimate  defensive  fortification  against  copycats  and  commoditisers.  

5) The  VISION  of  the  top  dog  drives  the  advertising.    6) The  vision  of  the  agency  and  the  vision  of  the  client  are  complimentary  and  synergistic.    

7) Decisions  get  made  in  meetings,  not  just  in  between.    

Ambition  is  your  friend.  Mostly.    

And  so  it  goes…    

Hunting  with  a  fishing  pole?    

The  power  of  negative  thinking.    

1) The  key  frustrations  Process.    2) Worry  Sessions.  3) Objection  Sessions    4) Self-­‐Firing    5) How  a  boss  gets  honest  feedback.      

See  like  an  optimizer.    

A  Guide  to  Business  Cursing.    

Cursing  is  a  shortcut.  No,  seriously,  I  swear.    

Fuck  With  Something.    

Fuck  it.    

Write  Shit.    

Name  the  enemy.    

Get  your  people  drunk  with  power.    

Begin  with  the  end  in  mind.    

Have  fewer  people  to  please.    

We  are  digital  pioneers.    

Kill  Overthink  Dead.  Fast    

Fail  to  Succeed.    

Deal  with  Interruption.  Manage  Distraction.  Choose!    

Craft  your  questions.    

Excavate  your  people  theory.    

Keep  a  tight  eye  on  rewards  and  punishments.    

Celebrate  the  Messenger.    

“Real  Artists  Ship.”  –Steve  Jobs    

Don’t  be  better.  Be  different.    

Make  clutter  your  friend.    

Bias  Toward  Action.    

It’s  a  mobile  future.    

Think  in  tribes.    

Tribes  You’ll  Meet  In  A  Digital  World.    

Ideas  That  Speed  Things  Up.    

Positioning.  

The  Blue  Ocean.  

My  Blue  Ocean  Strategy    

Brand  Direct  (or  Brand  Response)  Marketing    

The  Enemy    

The  Competition    

The  Only    

Influential      

Steve  Jobs,  and  the  one  that  got  away.    

What  comes  first,  belief  or  behavior?  

Learn  from  Television  Preachers.    

Learn  from  Squidoo.    

Learn  from  Wikipedia.    

Think  Brand  Response.    

Focus  on  Results.    

Computers  and  Cowspots.    

The  Direct  Model    

The  Judy  Wrap.    

Retail  Model.    

Sales  Model.    

Engagement  Model.    

Engagement  is  your  business.  

Take  the  word  “brief”  seriously.    

The  Best  Way  to  Improve  a  Solution  Is  To  Improve  the  Problem.    

Lines  are  for  crossing.    

Good  Work  is  sophisticated.  Great  work  is  simple.    

The  One  Perspective  That  Drives  Everything.    

The  Charming  Party  Crashers.    

Sins  of  Omission.    

The  Optimizers.  

The  Incrementalists  vs.  The  Optimizers    

A  psychological  imagination.    

Testophobia?    

How  to  be  an  Optimizer.    

Use  Your  Strength.    

Know  What  Not  To  Do.    

Don’t  Fix  The  Sauna:  The  Crunch  Fitness  Story.    

Don’t  follow  marketing  best  practices.  Invest  them.    

7  Habits  of  Highly  Affected  People.    

“The  Simplest  Brief”    

“How  do  you  do  what  you  do?”    

Bonfire  of  the  Cliché’s.    

How  do  I  get  my  management  to  support  change?    

My  Banners  Don’t  Work.    

1) Remember,  they’re  not  ads,  they’re  lures.    2) First,  attract  the  eye.    3) Let  them  know  where  they’re  going.    4) Create  custom  landing  pages.      

Ride  A  Powerful  Phrase.    

Now  That’s  A  Big  Idea!    

Big  Ideas  Are  Powerwashers.    

Market  To  A  Mindset,  Not  A  Demographic.    

Buzz  was  the  center  of  the  advertising  strategy.    

The  Introvert’s  Guide  to  Success  in  a  Social  World.    

1) Most  marketing  people  are  extroverts.    2) What’s  so  intimidating?    3) B.S.  Its  just  a  fad!    4) But,  it’s  all  about  “What  I  ate  for  breakfast  this  morning”  and  “friends  I  don’t  even  know”  along  with  some  friends  I  wish  I  could  avoid!    

5) But,  I  can’t  take  on  one  more  thing!    6) It’s  all  about  a  networking  personality  that  I  can’t  stand  or  at  least  I  don’t  have.    

7) It’s  about  ideas.    8) It’s  about  prioritization.    9) In  short,  PR  comes  first.    10) Its  about  all  the  stakeholders  in  your  company,  not  just  the  marketing  department.    

11) Get  a  baseline.    12) Locate  the  influencers.    13) Enhance  your  outfrastructure.    14) Visit  your  brand  neighborhood.    15) It’s  OK  just  to  watch.    16) Keep  it  alive/  relevant.  17) Remember,  that  adjusting  to  the  social  world  isn’t  just  about  or  even  primarily  about  social  “media.”  

18) It’s  about  engagement    

Can  you  love  to  listen?  

Growing  Oak  Trees  From  Tomato  Seeds.  

Hire  Born  Communications  Strategists  

Match  Words  and  Pictures.  

Game  Changing  Isn’t  Game  Winning.  

Ask.    

Win  the  War  of  the  Inbox.  

Understanding  WhatdaF#@K  People  Are  Saying  @  Speed.  

The  No  Asshole  Rule.  

Am  I  digital  yet?    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A  note  on  how  to  use  this  book.  

This  is  a  book  on  how  to  think,  lead,  and  act  like  a  successful  digital  marketer.  

It’s  not  a  book  of  digital  tips  or  best  practices.    

On  principle,  we’re  not  going  to  tell  you  a  bunch  of  stuff  that  you  could  learn  better  from  a  Google  search.  

You  wouldn’t  respect  us  for  it,  and  we  wouldn’t  serve  you  well  by  feeding  you  the  results  of  a  bunch  of  searches  that  are,  by  definition,  already  outdated.  

Our  job  is  to  help  you  know  what  to  search,  but  your  job  is  to  seek  out  what’s  current.  And  that  changes  every  day  in  a  digital  world.  

We’ll  do  our  best  to  teach  you  to  be  a  Master  Googlist.  It’s  a  skill  that  will  stand  you  in  good  stead.  

And  we’ll  feed  you  a  tasty  meal,  while  we  teach  you  to  fish.  

 

A  quick  note  on  the  use  of  the  singular  pronoun.  

This  book  was  written  down  by  me,  Mark  DiMassimo.  My  co-­‐author,  Eric  Yaverbaum’s  impact  has  been  felt  on  every  page.  He  has  shared  in  many  of  the  stories  of  my  career  and  has  influenced  every  word  here.  He’s  been  a  key  collaborator  for  over  15  years.  Our  partner,  Lee  Goldstein,  has  taught  and  informed  us  both  and  we  can’t  even  be  us  without  him  anymore.  But  I  am  the  guy  whose  job  it  has  been  to  write  it  all  down.  In  fact,  I’m  the  guy  who  couldn’t  not  write  it  down.  So  when  I  screw  up  herein,  I  am  the  I.  When  I  get  it  right,  we  did  good.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Congratulations,  you’re  hired.“  

“You’re  going  to  help  this  place  go  digital  because  we’re  good  at  a  lot  of  things,  but  we  don’t  have  a  clue.  You’re  the  first  digital  expert  we’ve  had  around  here.  So,  don’t  worry  too  much  over  the  people  who  come  by  just  to  get  a  look  at  you.    You’re  exotic.    

By  the  way,  Big  Jimmy  is  under  pressure  from  the  board  on  this  stuff.  Between  you  and  me,  he  hates  it.  Thinks  this  digital  stuff  is  a  bunch  of  A-­‐student  crap,  to  be  honest.  But  he’s  got  to  show  the  board  he  tried.  So  I  give  you  six  months  at  the  outside.  

My  advice  to  you:  He  likes  results  and  he  likes  money.  You’d  better  find  a  way  to  show  him  the  money  from  this  digital  stuff  -­‐-­‐  and  sooner  rather  than  later.  

Good  luck!”  

God,  how  I  wish  it  could  start  that  way  every  time!  I  mean,  with  honesty.  The  whole  awful  situation  laid  out  plainly  so  that  you  can  see  it  as  it  is,  right  from  the  beginning.  Instead  of  the  typical  situation.  Wherein  all  the  same  truths  apply.  But  no  one  bothers  to  tell  you  until  your  exit  interview.  With  the  ink  still  drying  on  your  employment  papers.  Your  file  fresh  and  neat.  Lacking  nothing  but  that  one  more  sheet  –  the  pink  one  –  to  close  the  book  on  this  whole  misguided  situation.  

These  are  the  fast  truths.  Almost  no  one  feels  like  a  digital  expert.  I’ve  been  working  on  this  stuff  –  intensely,  obsessively  –  since  before  it  became  a  big  thing.  I  worked  on  interactive  Kiosks  for  Ford  before  there  was  a  commercial  Internet.  I’ve  led  blue  chip  and  successful  challenger  and  brilliant  start-­‐up  businesses  to  successfully  compete  in  the  digital  world.  I’ve  helped  blue  chip  giants  like  Comcast  and  Citi  go  digital.  And  there  are  many  days  and  moments  when  I  don’t  feel  like  an  expert.  

You  get  a  room  full  of  digital  experts  together,  and  if  they’re  in  a  confessional  mood,  they’ll  all  tell  you  they  don’t  feel  like  experts.  If  you  give  them  a  few  drinks,  they’ll  tell  you  they  often  feel  like  frauds.  

So,  welcome  to  the  Confederacy  of  Frauds!    

And  then  there  are  the  companies.  They  are  mostly  too  polite,  or  too  distracted,  or  too  invested  in  letting  you  hang  yourself  with  your  own  power  cord  to  tell  you  how  it  really  is.  Instead,  they’ll  tell  you  how  excited  and  committed  and  ready  everyone  is.  It’s  the  thing  to  say.  And  it  might  tempt  you  to  think  you’re  moving  in  for  the  long  run.  You  think  that  cubical  is  bought  and  paid  for.  Actually,  it’s  rented  by  someone  else  and  you’re  just  squatting.  Security  could  come  by  any  time  to  chuck  your  ass  out.  That’s  the  truth.  

Feels  good  to  tell  the  truth,  doesn’t  it?  

So,  what  if  you  are  the  boss?  What  if  the  retrograde  organization  that  you  work  for  is  your  own  small  business?  And  what  if  the  Neanderthal  of  a  boss  you  work  for  is  you?  

Well  then,  honesty  is  going  to  be  even  more  important.  So  tell  yourself  the  truth.  Tell  yourself  the  truth  about  how  much  you  really  want  to  do  this,  or  not?  Admit  your  feelings  of  inadequacy.  Try  not  to  judge  yourself  too  harshly.  Don’t  fire  yourself  before  you  even  begin.  After  all,  you  started  your  own  business  so  you  wouldn’t  have  to  work  for  assholes  like  you.    

Still,  you  have  places  to  go  and  people  to  see.  You  want,  you  need,  you  deserve  better  results.  That  is,  after  all,  the  promise  of  going  digital.  And  you’re  going  to  have  those  results  @speed.  

So,  let’s  go!  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Why  does  everything  take  so  much  longer  than  I  think  it’s  going  to  take?  

We  need  GO  lessons.  All  of  us.  We  are  taught  what  it  should  be,  but  we’re  not  taught  what  to  do  about  it.  This  book  corrects  that  gap  in  education.  While  this  book  is  written  with  digitalization  and  digital  marketing  in  mind  –  given  the  experience  and  focus  of  the  authors  -­‐-­‐  the  principles  are  universal  and  can  be  employed  in  un-­‐sticking  and  better  managing  almost  anything  at  speed.  

Jason  Fried,  founder  of  37  Signals,  the  little  firm  behind  revolutionary  products  like  Ruby  on  Rails  open  source  programming  language  and  BaseCamp,  writes  in  his  wonderful  book  REWORK,  “Start  making  something.”    

He  quotes  director  Stanley  Kubrick’s  advice  to  aspiring  filmmakers:  

“Get  hold  of  a  camera  and  some  film  and  make  a  movie  of  any  kind  at  all.”    

Kubrick  knew  that  when  you’re  new  at  something  you  need  to  start  creating.  The  most  important  thing  is  to  begin.  So  get  a  camera,  hit  Record,  and  start  shooting.  

 

Talk  about  it.  Do  it.  Don’t  look  back.  

When  I  started  my  agency,  I  reached  out  to  someone  I  had  been  working  with  to  gage  his  interest  in  being  my  partner.  At  the  time,  he  said  he  was  intrigued,  but  was  just  not  ready  to  make  the  leap.  I  would  have  liked  to  start  my  business  with  a  partner,  to  share  the  weight  and  to  make  the  growing  easier.  But,  I  knew  that  partnership  was  like  marriage,  challenging  even  with  the  best  match,  so  I  decided  to  make  a  start  as  a  

sole  proprietor.  The  first  year  felt  like  a  decade  –  an  exhilarating  decade,  and  exciting  decade,  but  also  a  stressful,  challenging,  dread-­‐inducing  decade  during  which  I  was  either  earning  or  losing  roughly  $70,000  per  month  with  zero  cushion  for  error.  After  all  of  this,  my  friend  declared  himself  ready  and  admitted,  “I  didn’t  think  you  would  really  do  it.  I  had  always  thought  that  people  who  talk  about  things  don’t  do  them  and  people  who  do  things  don’t  talk  about  them.  Obviously,  I  was  wrong.”  He  proposed  he’d  join  the  business  now  with  something  like  half  of  the  equity.  

The  idea  that  people  who  talk  about  things  don’t  do  them  struck  me  as  absurd.  If  I  had  to  choose  a  cliché’,  I  would  have  chosen  the  one  about  snoozing  and  losing.  I  told  my  friend  that  the  year  I  had  invested  and  the  risk  I  had  taken  to  establish  the  agency  had  great  value  and  that  there  was  no  way  I  could  pretend  otherwise  and  treat  the  situation  as  I  might  have  a  year  earlier.  

We  decided  to  remain  friends  and  I  continued  on  my  own.  

 

It’s  coming!  

There  are  so  many  excuses.  So  many  shades  of  red  and  yellow  light.  You  need  to  see  these  for  what  they  are.  Or  you’re  going  to  take  “Wait”  for  an  answer.  

Let’s  face  it,  we  never  get  all  the  facts.  Speed  chess  masters.  Champion  poker  players.  Genius  stock  traders.  And  anyone  who  runs  a  business,  a  marketing  campaign  or  a  brand  –  they  all  have  one  thing  in  common.    They  make  better  decisions  with  nothing  like  all  the  facts.  

In  other  words  they  need  to  gaze  into  the  same  cloudy  ambiguity  that  everyone  else  sees,  and  they  need  to  choose  a  better  path.  And  they  do!  

You  will  too.  In  order  to  do  this  well,  you’ll  need  to  understand  a  bit  about  the  irrational  biases  and  the  distortions  and  limitations  that  the  human  mind    -­‐-­‐  yes,  even  yours  –  brings  to  the  table.  You  need  to  be  able  to  see  these  things  so  that  you  can  plan  against  them  in  yourself,  and  so  that  you  can  address,  correct  or  exploit  them  in  others.  

 

 

If  I  don’t  see  it,  it  doesn’t  exist.  

Intel  founder,  tech  genius  and  billionaire  Andy  Grove  titled  his  book,  Only  the  Paranoid  Survive.  

Since  we  can’t  see  everything,  the  truth  is  that  we  make  decisions  based  on  our  biases.  Most  of  us  don’t  question  our  biases,  they  are  just  “the  way  we  are.”  

Grove  developed  a  set  of  biases  that  propelled  him  to  the  top  of  the  digital  world.  Where  did  he  get  them?  Nazi  Germany.  

To  my  mind,  the  reason  Grove’s  paranoia  worked  so  well  is  that  most  people  have  the  opposite  bias.  Blessed  with  good  enough  childhoods  and  with  normally  limited  imaginations  that  protect  them  from  the  anxiety  of  seeing  all  the  possibilities,  most  people  deal  with  what  they  think  they  know.    

Pearl  Harbor.  Nine-­‐eleven.  Sputnik.  AIDS.  Black  Friday.  Our  tendency  is  to  deal  with  things  when  we  have  to,  rather  than  at  the  optimal  time.  Our  tendency  is  to  be  surprised.  

It’s  good  to  know  what  you  can  about  what  competitors  are  doing.  Like  Starbucks  looked  at  high-­‐end  coffee  shops…  and  then  McDonald’s  came  along…    

The  competition  is  always  coming,  but  you  just  don’t  know  where  it’s  coming  from.  That’s  the  kind  of  paranoia  that  drives  you  to  innovate,  to  stay  ahead.  

 

Market  Categories  are  bullshit.  

We  can’t  see  the  world  as  static.  Conceptual  boxes  can  be  helpful  as  long  as  we  realize  we  have  invented  them  ourselves  to  help  us  understand  things.  The  moment  we  forget  that  we  can  uninvent  them,  we’re  stuck.  

There  is  a  tendency  to  view  market  categories  as  a  given.  We  think  we’re  in  the  “server  hardware”  category.  Or  the  fitness  club  category.  Or  the  E-­‐commerce  category.  Like  Blackberry  (Research  In  Motion)  was  in  the  smartphone  category  and  Apple  was  in  the  personal  computer  category.  Oops.  

Or  Starbucks  was  in  the  coffee  shop  category  and  McDonald’s  was  in  the  QSR  Quick  Service  Restaurant  or  Fast  Food  category.  If  categories  tell  us  which  competitors  to  ignore  and  which  competitors  to  track,  than  category  thinking  is  dangerous.  You  won’t  see  them  coming!  

If  category  thinking  limits  your  imagination  about  how  to  expand  and  grow  your  brand  and  business,  then  category  thinking  can  be  deadly.  

David  Gardner  of  the  The  Motley  Fool  talks  about  “top  dogs”  and  “first  movers.”  A  first  mover  is  a  company  with  a  new  technology  or  system  that  completely  changes  an  industry,  disrupts  the  existing  categories  and  creates  a  new  one.  Ebay  in  digital  auctions.  Amazon  in  online  retailing.  NetFlix  in  digital  streaming  of  movies  and  TV  shows.  Better  to  be  one  of  these,  or  follow  one  of  these,  then  be  the  disturbee.  For  more  inspiration,  read  about  an  industry  that  ruled  the  world:  

When  I  was  growing  up,  my  Dad  was  an  electrical  engineer,  working  on  his  PhD  and  developing  silicon  chip  technology.  I  fondly  remember  his  slide  rules  and  his  easy  comfort  with  calculating  based  on  these  pre-­‐digital  computers.  The  slide  rule  category  was  once  a  thriving  global  category  and  the  1960’s  represented  this  two  hundred  year  old  industry’s  peek.  Curiously,  even  as  digital  computing  was  coming  up,  slide  rule  makers  were  enjoying  a  robust  market.  But  all  of  that  ended  abruptly  in  1974  when  HP  introduced  the  first  inexpensive  scientific  calculator.  Today  only  one  Japanese  company  continues  to  manufacture  slide  rules.  

 

The  last  slide-­‐rule  manufacturer.  

Keuffel  &  Esser  Corporation,  a  company  founded  in  1867  in  Manhattan  is  a  good  example.  In  1962,  the  company  introduced  it’s  DECILON  slide  rule  into  the  booming  marketing  and  on  the  strength  of  this  line  was  able  to  go  public  on  NASDAQ  in  1965.  But  by  1982,  the  firm  was  forced  

to  declare  chapter  11  bankruptcy.  This  same  year,  AZON  corp  buys  ownership  of  K&E  Trademarks  and  K&E  is  no  more.1  

ARISTO  had  over  a  century  of  slide  rule  production,  but  was  forced  to  close  in  1978.2  

Sphere  Research  Corporation  of  British  Columbia,  Canada,  runs  a  web  page  devoted  to  fans  and  collectors  of  slide  rules.  

“In  these  company  archives,  you  can  find  very  detailed  info  about  the  rules  and  models  they  made,  the  company  and  its  history.  Some  rule  makers  were  in  business  almost  100  years,  and  their  histories  and  products  are  fascinating.  Some  major  makers  still  survive  today,  but  without  any  help  from  slide  rules,  as  their  businesses  are  now  quite  different.  In  the  1960's,  the  industry  was  at  its  most  sophisticated,  and  there  were  large  slide  rule  manufacturers  all  over  the  world,  each  with  their  unique  styles  and  features.  This  industry  and  technology  survives  today  mainly  in  the  form  of  slide  charts,  and  the  hearts  of  collectors.”  

 

“The  Best  Place  I  Ever  Worked.”  

My  earliest  memories  involve  shops.  My  grandparent’s  beauty  salon.  My  paternal  grandfather’s  clothes  factory.  My  father’s  laboratory.  Thomas  Edison’s  workshop,  just  a  short  walk  from  that  beauty  salon  in  Menlo  Park,  then  and  now  part  of  Edison,  New  Jersey.  

I  remember  the  statuettes  lined  up  –  all  the  awards  my  Grandfather  had  won  for  his  hairdressing  –  so  that  they  could  be  noted  or  admired  by  patrons  on  the  way  down  into  the  salon  proper.  My  grandfather  was  the  old  master  by  then.  The  awards  seemed  dusty  and  old  to  me.  Something  about  the  salon  seemed  forlorn.  Old  ladies  flying  down  from  Canada  to  have  their  hair  done  by  the  one  man  in  the  world  who  they  trusted  to  do  it  right.  

It  was  a  proud  show,  but  past  it’s  prime.  Grampa  hadn’t  raised  prices  in  twenty  years.  He  ran  a  shop,  not  a  business.  But  where  he  shone,  where  he  was  a  true  master  was  in  the  area  of  client  service.  He  was  famous  for                                                                                                                  1  All  valid!  http://www.antiquesurveying.com/K&E%20History.htm    2  Valid…  http://www.sphere.bc.ca/test/aristo.html      

his  soft  touch,  and  while  this  technically  referred  to  the  gentle  way  his  fingers  controlled  the  hair  and  the  scissors,  never  pulling  or  pinching,  this  appellation  applied  equally  to  his  mastery  of  the  entire  relationship  with  his  customers.  It  was  beautiful  to  behold,  and  I  had  a  front  row  seat.  Sitting  on  a  couple  of  phone  books,  my  head  under  a  hairdryer,  I  watched,  and  when  I  tired  of  the  hot,  dry,  tornado,  I  listened  too.  

The  beauty  shop  was  perhaps  the  original  social  network.  A  wonderful  place  to  learn  about  people.  A  place  where  things  made  sense,  where  you  could  care  for  people,  touch  people,  and  make  them  feel…  better.  

From  the  beginning,  I  loved  the  shop,  the  laboratory,  the  workplace.  I  envied  people  like  my  grandparents,  couples  or  families  who  worked  together  for  long  hours  and  basically  lived  the  better  part  of  their  lives  together  in  the  shop.  To  have  a  role  to  play,  to  feel  useful,  to  feel  part  of  something,  to  make  one’s  way  in  the  world  as  part  of  something  good  or  great  or  important…  what  could  be  better  than  this?  

In  truth,  I  always  felt  a  bit  awkward  without  work  to  do,  without  a  useful  role  to  play.  At  parties,  I  was  in  the  band.  I  visited  restaurants  and  bars  much  more  often  to  work  than  as  a  patron.  Work  was  an  escape  from  the  awkwardness  of  small  talk.  Work  was  tourism  for  me  as  well.  I  planted  trees  for  billionaires.  I  worked  the  phones  in  a  boiler  room  telemarketing  set-­‐up.    I  learned  an  immense  amount  as  the  sole  Caucasian  working  in  a  Chinese  restaurant.    

A  workplace  provides  all  of  this  and  more.  A  social  purpose  and  a  social  life.  Money  and  meaning.  Colleagues  and  allies.  Learning  and  tests.  Challenges  and  overcoming.  Accomplishments  and  recognition.  Great  games  to  play  and  perhaps  master.  

For  as  long  as  I  can  remember,  I  have  been  asking  people  a  single  question,  “What  was  the  best  place  you  ever  worked?”  Typically,  I  follow  this  up  with,  “What  made  it  the  best?”  “What  did  you  learn  from  being  there?”  “Why  do  you  think  more  places  aren’t  great?”  “What  could  be  done  about  that?”  

 

 

The  best  place.  

What  makes  a  place  great?  It  is  chiefly  about  ideas  and  culture.  Ideas  about  what  matters.  Ideas  about  who  we  are  and  what  we  should  be.  Ideas  about  contribution  and  even  heroism.  And  then  it  is  the  game  of  making  those  ideas  real  through  action.  Very  young,  I  came  to  see  the  whole  world  as  a  competition,  collaboration  and  evolution  of  ideas.    

Catholicism  is  a  religion  of  ideas.  Centuries  of  incorporating  cultures  into  the  Catholic  community,  of  resolving  doctrinal  disputes,  of  philosophizing  around  thorny  issues  of  theology,  epistemology  and  ethics,  of  resolving  seeming  conflicts  with  the  discoveries  of  science,  have  created  a  complex  and  beautiful  mosaic  of  thought.  Schooled  on  all  this,  some  have  become  subtle  dogmatists  –  my  mother  taught  catechism  –  by  about  fourteen  years  old,  I  was  ready  to  admit  to  myself  that  I  was  no  longer  buying  it.  

I  began  the  search  for  a  belief  system  that  I  could  believe  in.    

As  a  young  teen,  I  invited  missionaries  from  several  major  and  minor  religions  to  present  their  pitches  to  me  in  our  family  living  room.  I  loved  to  see  how  they  sold  their  beliefs,  through  brochures,  and  slide  shows,  and  question  and  answer  sessions.  I  loved  to  think  about  how  their  differing  answers  led  to  different  values.  Clearly,  these  missionaries  had  found  games  worth  playing.  To  be  frank,  some  seemed  happier  than  others.  Those  who  were  preaching  the  imminent  end  of  the  world  seemed  to  operate  out  of  grim  duty.  Those  who  were  selling  eternal  life  with  one’s  perfected  family  seemed  to  feel  they  had  a  jewel  to  share,  and  beamed  with  enthusiasm.  

I  compared  and  contrasted  the  pitches.  I  thought  about  their  advantages  and  disadvantages.  I  thought  about  the  way  the  religions  had  sprung  up  with  answers  to  the  questions  left  open  by  older  religions,  or  with  other  competitive  advantages.  I  began  to  see  the  process  of  historical  development  of  religions  as  an  evolutionary  one,  based  on  a  competition  of  benefits.  To  me,  religions  were  brands!  

In  college,  I  extended  my  exploration  of  competing  belief  systems  to  include  philosophical,  psychological  and  political  systems.  

At  the  heart  of  all  of  this  turbulence  was  a  relatively  unchanging  human  

being,  but  all  the  attempts  to  capture  and  codify  all  human  aspirations  and  values  seemed  ultimately  to  fail,  at  least  in  the  sense  that  they  left  open  significant  whitespace  for  competition  to  emerge.  

I  must  admit  that  through  all  of  this,  business  seemed  particularly  uninteresting  to  me.  I  was  in  love  with  ideas,  with  stories,  with  figuring  out  society  and  perhaps  the  universe,  and  I  frankly  thought  of  business  majors  as  dutiful,  and  slightly  brain-­‐dead  drones.  Who  could  study  accounting  when  the  entire  world  of  learning  had  just  been  opened  up  like  a  fresh  oyster?  

Today,  some  of  my  favorite  people  are  accountants,  and  business  geniuses  are  endlessly  fascinating  to  me.    

 

Love  what  you’re  selling.  

If  you’re  selling  something,  you  should  love  everything  about  it.  You  should  suck  the  juice  out  of  the  parts  that  others  just  throw  away.  You  should  devour  the  rind  and  make  tea  from  the  seeds.    

Your  job  is  not  to  seem  the  most  sane,  balanced  and  detached  individual  in  the  world.  You  should  be  on  fire  with  this  thing  whatever  it  is.  Hear  Steve  Jobs  talk  about  Apple  technology.  Read  what  Howard  Schultz  has  to  say  about  coffee.  You  must  be  entrancing,  and  the  only  way  to  do  this  is  to  be  yourself  entranced.  

You  can  bring  all  the  experience  you  have  to  the  party,  but  leave  your  cynicism  at  the  door.  Cynicism  is  a  failed  attempt  to  prevent  disappointment.  It  only  prevents  surprise.  You  need  to  see,  project,  inspire  and  confidently  expect  greatness.  

I  was  in  love  with  ideas,  and  that  was  my  window  in  to  brands.  All  my  searching,  comparing  and  contrasting  –  without  any  plan  at  all  –  led  to  the  day  I  started  my  advertising  career,  and  from  the  first  I  was  full  of  opinions,  convictions,  relevant  knowledge  and  confidence.  

I  was  far  from  finished.  I  could  write,  but  I  couldn’t  spell.  I  knew  greatness,  but  I  didn’t  know  if  I  could  produce  it.  On  my  first  day,  the  client  ignored  my  boss  and  quizzed  me  for  a  half  hour  on  what  his  strategy  should  be.  He  seemed  quite  comfortable  with  my  answers.  

Until  my  boss  took  advantage  of  a  pause  in  the  conversation  to  say,  “And  then  you’ll  route  this  mechanical,  right  Mark?”  

“Mechanical  what?”  I  asked,  ignorantly.  

A  mechanical  was  the  physical  layout  of  the  type  and  image  for  an  add  or  other  piece  to  be  printed.  These  have  since  been  replaced  by  computer-­‐based  layouts.  But  back  in  the  day,  a  mechanical  was  the  most  ubiquitous  thing  in  an  agency.  And  I  had  never  heard  of  one,  and  I  was  naïve  or  confident  or  foolish  enough  not  to  even  hide  the  fact  from  my  new  boss  or  client.  

My  boss  only  lasted  until  the  end  of  the  month,  and  the  job  fell  to  me  to  try  to  take  care  of  a  client  made  more  difficult  by  the  precariousness  of  his  company  and  the  near  certainty  of  impending  bankruptcy.  

My  ignorance  of  the  old  ways  was  only  matched  by  my  impatience  with  time-­‐honored  formalities  and  inefficiencies.  Once,  during  a  full  day  meeting  at  the  agency  with  our  clients,  a  small  correction  was  requested  on  a  mechanical.  

I  ran  out  of  the  room  with  the  board  to  an  idling  paste-­‐up  artist.  “Will  you  cut  and  move  this  “s”  for  me?”  I  asked.  

“Sure  kid.”  

I  was  back  in  the  room  with  the  corrected  mechanical  in  under  five  minutes.  Proud  of  cutting  through  to  results,  I  laid  the  correct  mechanical  on  the  table.  

The  client’s  eyes  widened.    

He  looked  from  me  to  the  President  of  the  agency.  

“This  is  what  you  charge  me  eight  hours  and  $600  for?!?!”  

Back  then,  type  needed  to  be  sent  out  over  night  to  a  typesetter.  But  often  corrections  could  be  made  by  cutting  and  pasting.  Even  so,  every  change  was  billed  as  if  it  had  had  to  be  sent  out.  A  neat  little  racket  for  the  agency.  A  racket  off  of  which  I  had  just  inadvertently  blown  the  lid.    

What’s  the  lesson  I  learned  from  this?  Not  the  one  my  colleagues  hoped  I  would.  I  learned  that  new  technology  creates  new  efficiencies.  I  learned  that  the  near  term  limit  on  this  increased  productivity  is  human  

rather  than  technological.  I  learned  that  if  change  was  to  come,  I  preferred  that  it  come  through  me.  

I  would  bring  the  change.  

 

Becoming  a  digital  leader.  

If  you  would  become  a  digital  leader  @SPEED,  then  you  too  must  commit  to  bring  the  change.  Like  me,  you  will  not  always  be  cheered  for  your  technology-­‐enabled  disruptions,  but  you  will  learn  how  to  make  it  work  for  you.  

You  can  read  this  book  front  to  back,  or  you  can  search  it  and  dip  in  to  all  the  places  that  interest  you  and  ignore  the  rest.  You  have  the  technology!  Now,  let’s  go!  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Timewasters    

 

Quick  Reality  Check:  Let’s  face  it,  you’re  more  likely  to  run  out  of  time  trying  to  get  the  right  things  done  than  fail  for  doing  the  wrong  things.  The  average  CMO  now  lasts  about  eighteen  months.  Eighteen  months!  Most  ad  agency’s  will  tell  you  that  isn’t  enough  time  to  achieve  anything  much,  certainly  not  turn  a  ship  and  show  proof  on  the  charts.  The  average  CEO  doesn’t  last  much  longer.  Marketing  director.  Brand  leader.  Business  head.  COO.  President.  Founder…  it’s  no  different.    

This  rush  to  judgment  has  been  widely  decried  as  a  lack  of  wisdom,  foresight,  cojones,  leadership,  as  a  problem  of  clueless  boards,  distracted  chief  executives,  a  generation  of  narcissistic  and  small-­‐minded  non-­‐leaders.  This  is  also  first  class,  primo  BS.  And,  as  you  know,  we  don’t  have  time  for  BS.  

The  fact  is  that  all  of  this  reflects  competitive  realities.  If  the  system  evolves  faster,  then  the  component  organizations  must  evolve  faster,  or  suffer  and  die.  That’s  why  no  one,  not  even  the  founder  and  sole  shareholder  of  the  only  company  on  an  island  nation,  where  the  CEO  is  also  the  Emperor,  is  immune.    

The  idea  that  great  things  can’t  happen  faster  needs  to  be  seen  right  from  the  beginning  for  what  it  is:  BS  and  a  waste  of  precious  time.  It’s  old-­‐think.  It’s  what  dinosaurs  tell  each  other  at  dinosaur  long-­‐term  care  facilities.    

Here’s  Mark  &  Eric’s  list  of  all  the  ways  there  are  to  get  Stopped.  

1)  You  get  canted.  

If  the  first  answer  isn’t,  “It  can’t  be  done,”  then  you  haven’t  asked  the  right  question  yet.  If  you’re  pushing  for  the  right  balance  of  risk  and  speed,  then  you’re  going  to  get  pushback.  People  are  going  to  say  that  word,  “Can’t.”  

But  can’t  is  a  contraction,  not  a  contract.  It’s  a  starting  point,  not  an  ending.  Treat  it  like  a  spot  sign  and  totally  pause,  but  not  for  long.  

You  don’t  want  to  ignore  a  “can’t”  anymore  than  you  want  to  ignore  a  

stop  sign.  Because  it  to  carries  important  information,  that  you  ignore  at  your  own  risk.  And  while  stop  signs  mean  stop,  “can’t”  typically  means  something  else  entirely.  

Perhaps  it  means  “don’t  want  to.”  Or  “don’t  know  how.”  Or,  “I  did  that  before  and  it  didn’t  work  out.”  Or,  “I  could  but  I  have  another  problem  I  need  to  solve  instead.”    

In  any  case,  you  need  to  know.  You  need  to  interrogate  the  “Can’t”  until  you  know  what  it  really  means.  Often  you  can  help  the  person  help  you.  You  can  solve  his  or  her  problem  and  get  your  problem  solved  to.  

If  you  don’t  allow  yourself  to  get  “can’ted,”  you  will  find  a  solution.  Which  can  keep  the  project  moving  forward,  until…  

2)  You  get  decked.    

You  spend  six  to  nine  months  working  on  The  Emperor’s  New  Powerpoint.  

Oh,  it’s  a  thing  of  beauty  and  the  consultants  have  made  sure  you’ve  paid  good  money  for  the  privilege  of  playing  Medici  to  their  work  of  art.  

It’s  full  of  the  sort  of  ideas  that  make  the  little  hairs  stand  up  all  over  your  body,  of  the  sort  of  charts  that  remind  you  of  an  HBS  case  study,  and  of  the  sort  of  statistics  that  only  someone  with  a  paid  subscription  to  the  McKinsey  Quarterly  can  access.  

You’re  impressed.  Maybe  your  boss  is  impressed  too.  

Then  that  deck  sits  on  your  desk.  You  try  to  get  the  ideas  implemented,  but  they  seem  to  resist.  Soon,  you  grow  tired  of  that  thing  in  your  face,  a  dusty  reproach.  Who  needs  the  pressure?  You  put  it  up  on  a  shelf  with  the  handsome  spine  facing  you.  The  dust  accumulation  process  continues.  

You’ve  gotten  decked.  

Well,  you’re  in  good  company.  Most  execs  have  gotten  themselves  decked,  and  many  are  serial  victims.  It  happens  for  good  reason.  You  need  strategy,  after  all.  You  need  expertise.  You  need  to  know  what  to  do.  So  you  hire  experts  and  they  put  it  together  for  you,  making  the  most  

of  PowerPoint,  Keynote  or  whatever.  And  you  get  decked.  

The  way  around  this  is  pretty  simple.  You  want  to  do  your  own  thinking,  and  you  want  to  buy  your  thinking  from  as  close  to  the  action  as  possible.  So,  you  want  your  PR  strategy  from  the  person  who  promotes  you.  The  people  on  the  front  lines.  When  that  isn’t  enough,  you  don’t  need  to  go  out  and  sponsor  a  study.  You  meet  some  people,  you  read  some  books,  you  check  out  some  of  the  great  resources  on  the  web.  You  talk  to  some  folks.  You  think.  You  make  your  plan.  

But  you  don’t  allow  yourself  to  get  decked.  

Another  approach  is  to  integrate  your  thinkers  with  your  doers.  Your  doers  can  be  on  staff.  Thinkers  –  those  who  can  only  thing  -­‐-­‐  are  on  borrowed  time.  They  are  here  to  solve  a  defined  problem  for  a  defined  sum.  They  they’re  gone.  

So,  you  get  what  you  need  and  you  don’t  get  decked.  

3)  You  get  tailed.  

You  put  strategy  first.    

Businesses  need  strategies  -­‐  don’t  get  me  wrong.  But  go  back  –  not  for  nine  months,  but  for  a  couple  of  seconds  –  and  reread  the  previous  sentence.  Do  you  see  the  order  of  the  words?  Businesses.  Need.  Strategies.  In  that  order.  See,  business  comes  first.  

People  will  tell  you  that  brands  build  businesses.  People  will  tell  you  that  months  of  strategizing  must  precede  any  productive  work  and  that  you  just  have  to  suck  up  the  costs  and  the  time.  This  is  more  BS.  

It’s  BS  that  comes  out  of  the  structure  of  storytelling,  especially  of  the  sort  that  builds  heroes.  So,  if  you  read  business  biographies,  case  studies,  award  show  submissions,  etc…  you  are  going  to  imbibe  a  great  deal  of  distortion.  The  story  always  seems  to  go  like  this:    

A.  Opportunity  or  Problem.    

B.  Brilliant  strategy.    

C.  Execution  of  brilliant  strategy.  

D.  Success,  fame,  glory.    

E.  Book.    

This  is  why  we  must  be  iconoclasts.  We  can’t  believe  these  prettied-­‐up  stories.  We  can  enjoy  them  the  way  we  enjoy  a  sausage,  not  particularly  interested  in  the  process  that  led  to  the  meal.  But  when  we’re  on  the  other  side  of  the  equation  –  when  we’re  making  the  sausages,  we  need  to  face  facts.  The  typical  successful  process  is  messy.  It  doesn’t  proceed  in  the  logical  order  of  that  pretty  story.  More  breakthroughs  have  come  out  of  a  B-­‐C-­‐A-­‐C  process  than  and  A-­‐B-­‐C  process.    

But  huge  amounts  of  energy,  time  and  confidence  are  routinely  wasted  trying  to  make  the  sausage  factory  live  up  to  the  fairy  tail.    

Do  you  have  time  for  that?  I’ve  met  quite  a  few  people  who  thought  they  did,  people  who  thought  that  the  things  were  different  in  their  company  or  their  industry.  I  respectfully  disagreed.  Some  of  these  people  are  still  my  good  friends.  Some  are  clients,  albeit  in  other  companies  and  industries.  A  few  are  even  in  my  employ.  The  idea  that  you  have  time  to  make  the  process  conform  to  some  pretty  illusion  is  itself  an  illusion,  and  the  results  will  not  be  pretty.  You  need  to  hack  the  process  to  get  there  faster.  

4)  You  get  siloed.  

You  think  you  can  separate  belief  from  action.    

If  you  think  of  branding  and  selling  as  two  different  and  separate  functions  of  the  business,  you  will  create  fissures  in  the  customer  experience  that  will  be  costly.  And  you’ll  create  organizational  barriers  to  closing  those  gaps  that  will  eat  time  and  morale  and  alienate  the  cheetahs  you  want  to  recruit  and  keep.  

Start  with  the  user  experience  and  integrate  all  you  can  right  from  the  beginning.  

5)  You  hesitate  and  get  lost.  

Don’t  die  on  the  field  with  bullets  in  your  belt.  Let  your  voice  be  heard  and  your  force  be  felt!  It  is  easier  to  get  forgiveness  than  permission.  It  is  easier  to  head  off  a  problem  than  to  correct  one  after  the  fact.  It  is  

better  to  preempt  the  complaint.  To  deliver  what  the  boss  is  about  to  think  about  asking  for.  Too  many  people  think  that  doing  the  right  thing  is  the  important  thing  and  that  a  few  days  or  weeks  or  months  makes  little  difference  in  the  long  run.  They  have  the  consolation  of  being  right…  in  their  own  minds.  But  the  way  things  work  in  the  world  is  that  you  need  to  be  there  in  time  or  don’t  bother  showing  up.  Timing  truly  is  everything.  

6)  You  get  stoned  to  death  with  popcorn.  

We  start  the  week,  the  month,  the  quarter,  the  year  with  only  the  best  intentions.  We’ve  got  our  feet  planted  firmly  on  the  ground  and  our  heads  in  high  ideals.  We  have  big,  important  things  we’re  working  on  and  a  spring  in  our  step.  

And  then  the  interruptions  begin.  And  the  emergencies.  Phones  ringing.  People  stopping  in.  Emails.  Text  messages.  Facebook  updates,  requests,  pokes.  Tweets.  Complaints.  Problems  with  a  pitch  or  a  sale.  Unhappy  clients.  Disgruntled  employees.  

None  of  these  things  is  a  cannon  ball.  They’re  just  popcorn.  But  when  they’re  coming  down  on  you  like  sleet,  they  can  still  bury  you.  

The  problem  gets  worse  when  you  don’t  know  you’re  buried.  

The  digital  world  accomplished  one  paradoxical  thing.  It  took  an  over-­‐communicated,  overwhelming  world  and  added  many  thousands  more  messages  for  us  to  try  to  ignore,  sort,  digest  and  deal  with  every  single  day.  Just  one  part  of  this  flow,  an  estimated  294  billion  emails  were  sent  every  day  in  2010,  totaling  over  90  trillion  emails  sent  all  year  year,  or  2.8  million  emails  sent  every  second.  In  addition,  currently  about  4.1  billion  text  messages  are  sent  each  day.  135.2  billion  text  messages  are  sent  each  month  and  1.36  trillion  text  messages  sent  each  year.  

7)  You  buy  into  the  perfect  process  myth.  

You  put  process  before  content.  Teach  someone  the  difference  between  a  process  conversation  and  a  content  conversation  and  have  that  person  keep  a  tab  of  time  spent  in  your  next  few  meetings.  You  may  find  that  you  are  spending  much  more  time  on  process  than  on  content.  This  is  a  huge  timewaster.  

8)  You  lead  from  dissatisfaction.  

You  can’t  effectively  lead  toward  something  that  you  believe  is  impossible.  In  other  words,  cynical  leadership  can  make  the  possible  impossible.    

Here’s  just  one  way:  your  team  believes  you  have  no  faith  that  the  thing  you’re  asking  them  to  do  is  possible  for  them.    So,  they  don’t  try.  

9)  You  scare  the  hell  out  of  your  team.  

Fear  is  a  powerful  motivator,  and  there  is  no  doubt  that  some  organizations  have  been  driven  by  fear-­‐based  leadership.  I  won’t  waste  your  time  with  moral  arguments.  If  you’re  the  type  that  would  respond  to  them,  you  don’t  need  convincing.  This  is  an  interesting  world  and  all  kinds  of  cultures  can  work,  at  least  for  a  time.  If  people  want  to  be  exploited  in  the  worst  way,  they  typically  won’t  have  any  trouble  finding  a  place  that  will  do  exactly  that.  People  who  are  motivated  by  fear  can  find  cultures  to  gravitate  to.  But,  if  you’re  thinking  about  getting  things  moving  or  done  this  way,  first  look  around  and  make  sure  you’re  in  that  kind  of  place.  Because,  if  you’re  not,  the  fear  approach  could  backfire  big  time.  And  you  might  motivate  some  of  the  key  members  of  your  team  to  head  for  the  exits.  Plus,  beyond  a  brief  jolt,  fear  tends  to  interrupt  creativity.  If  getting  to  your  objective  requires  creative  thinking  from  your  team,  then  you  are  going  to  have  to  make  very  limited  use  of  fear  as  a  strategy.  

Personally,  I  hate  the,  “We’ve  got  to  win  this  or  else”  pep  talk  some  agency  heads  like  to  give  at  the  beginning  of  pitches.  First  off,  it’s  typically  not  true.  Secondly,  it  makes  people  act  crazy.  Maybe  some  clients  want  to  hire  crazy,  but  if  you’re  not  crazy  you  don’t  want  those  clients!  

Our  approach  is,  let’s  be  ourselves,  let’s  do  what  we  do,  and  then  we’ll  win  the  business  we’re  supposed  to  win.  That  lets  us  be  cool,  like  Fonzie.  Maybe  some  of  our  personalities  start  to  show,  and  our  natural  chemistry.  Which  works  well  enough  for  us.  

10)  You  suffer  from  a  bad  case  of  old  think.  

Some  of  what  used  to  serve  as  wisdom  just  doesn’t  work  anymore.  That’s  why  you  need  to  review  your  beliefs  from  time  to  time,  and  

discard  the  detritus.  Here’s  an  example:  

Good.  Fast.  Cheap.  It’s  a  start.  

There  is  an  old  saying,  beloved  by  the  complacent  and  the  entitled,  which  goes  like  this,  “Good.  Fast.  Cheap.  Choose  any  two!”  

The  idea  is  that  you  can’t  have  good,  fast  and  cheap…  that’s  impossible.  If  it  is  fast  and  cheap,  then  it  is  by  definition  not  good.  If  it  is  good  and  fast,  you’re  going  to  pay  a  premium  for  it.  This  is  frankly  bullshit  and  a  giant  waste  of  time.  McDonald’s  doesn’t  have  time  for  this  wisdom.  Target  doesn’t.  Walmart  won’t.  NetFlix  isn’t  slowed  down  by  this  crap.  Apple’s  development  cycles  don’t  respect  this  kind  of  non-­‐thinking.  And  you  won’t  either.  You  don’t  have  time  for  it.  You  are  building  something  great,  fast  and  economical!  Because  that’s  what  it  takes  to  compete  today.  So  this  is  a  book  about  how  to  speed  up  everything  AND  make  it  great  in  the  process.  

11)  You  wait  for  all  the  facts.  

Stop  that!  

12)  You’re  not  ready  to  do  a  lot,  so  you  don’t  do  a  little.  

“We  know  we  should  get  into  social  media,  but  we’re  not  ready  to  take  all  that  on  right  now.”  

Are  you  insane?  

Who’s  talking  about  ALL  THAT?  Frankly,  even  Google  isn’t  ready  to  take  on  ALL  THAT  right  now.  

But,  does  your  business  rely  to  some  extent  on  being  found?  Then  you  can’t  put  off  social  media.  Social  media  is  the  tailwind  of  SEO,  which  is  Search  Engine  Optimization.  In  short,  being  found.  You’ve  got  to  get  started.  

If  you  recruit,  then  a  sensible  LinkedIn  presence  is  a  start.  You  should  be  there.  Your  company  should  be  there.  Your  presence  there  should  be  updated.  You  should  have  people  at  your  company  who  are  active  there.  

You  should  be  on  Facebook.  If  you  produce  content  of  any  kind,  there’s  a  

good  chance  you  should  be  on  Twitter.  

The  important  thing  is  to  start.  Set  a  modest,  near  in  goal.  And  get  there.  

You  can  build  from  there.  

13)  You  wonder  if  your  target  audience  is  really  online  or  on  social  media.  

We  sincerely  doubt  they  aren’t.  The  median  age  on  Facebook  has  been  rising  fast  for  years,  and  it  was  never  very  low,  for  example.  

But,  even  if  they  aren’t,  do  they  Google?  (Which  today  is  like  asking  if  they  are  sentient  beings.)  

If  they  do  use  Google  for  search,  your  participation  in  social  media  increases  the  odds  that  they  will  find  you.  That’s  why  we  say  that  social  media  is  the  fuel  for  SEO  –  Search  Engine  Optimization.  

14)  You  think  your  CEO  doesn’t  understand  digital  media.  

Are  you  sure?  

Last  we  looked,  CEOs  were  more  likely  to  have  iPads  and  iPhones.  

They  search  Google.  They  have  their  LinkedIn  updated.  Check  out  this  unusually  informative  footnote  for  useful  digital  CEO  facts:3  

If  your  CEO  happens  to  be  one  of  the  rare  birds  that  has  so  far  been  left  out  of  the  digital  revolution,  use  the  facts  above  to  shock  him  or  her  out  of  analogue  complacency.  In  fact,  feel  free  to  drop  us  a  line  to  mark@digobrands.com  and  we’ll  share  a  presentation  that  we’ve  

                                                                                                               3  CEO  engages  with  social  media-­‐  the  average  professional  belongs  to  3-­‐5  online  networks  for  business  use,  linkedin,  facebook,  and  twitter  are  among  the  top  used.  Harvard  study-­‐  30  key  findings  on  the  CEO  engages  with  social  media:  http://www.jeffbullas.com/2009/12/13/new-­‐harvard-­‐study-­‐30-­‐key-­‐findings-­‐on-­‐how-­‐the-­‐ceo-­‐engages-­‐with-­‐social-­‐media/      With  the  growth  of  social  media  CEOs  want  to  be  in  the  game  to  get  advantages:  http://www.jeffbullas.com/2011/09/02/20-­‐stunning-­‐social-­‐media-­‐statistics/    Study-­‐  Inc.  500  CEOs  aggressively  use  social  media  for  business.  91%  of  companies  report  they  use  at  least  one  social  media  tool.  http://www.inc.com/news/articles/2009/11/inc500-­‐social-­‐media-­‐usage.html    

created  to  help  orient  the  CEO  to  the  digital  revolution.  

15)  You  don’t  think  you  have  to.  

Look  around.  Nearly  all  of  the  emergencies  we’re  dealing  with  didn’t  have  to  be  emergencies.  People  saw  them  coming.  Many,  many  other  people  could  have  seen  them  coming  if  they  had  only  looked.  

Look.  

Things  aren’t  standing  still  out  there.  If  your  company  is  in  a  comfortable  position,  well  that  is  a  rare  and  wonderful  thing.  It  is  also  very  likely  an  illusion.  

If  you  have  the  opportunity,  seize  it.  That’s  the  only  way  to  have  a  hope  of  maintaining  it.  Strengths  aren’t  foundations  that  have  set  and  are  unchanging.  They  are  foundations  that  can  only  be  hardened  by  being  built  upon.    

So,  get  building!  

16)  You  settle  for  9s.  

Eric  and  I  have  a  saying,  “We  only  do  11s.”  

This  is  not  arrogance.  It  doesn’t  mean  we  love  every  single  idea  we  come  up  with.  In  fact,  in  practice  it  means  that  we  reject  a  very  high  percentage  of  our  own  ideas.  

Because  we  don’t  think  “good  enough”  if  worth  doing.  Good  enough  isn’t,  as  Jay  Chiat  used  to  say.  

So,  we  tell  our  clients  and  each  other  and  anyone  who  will  listen  that  we  only  do  11s.  An  11  on  a  scale  of  1-­‐10.  This  is  an  idea  that  we  don’t  just  think  is  a  winner,  we  know  it  in  our  bones.  

When  you  think  about  all  the  work,  time,  money,  energy  and  opportunity  cost  that  goes  into  developing  an  idea  and  running  an  integrated  campaign,  it  becomes  hard  to  understand  how  anyone  can  settle  for  less  than  11s.  

But  the  truth  is,  they  often  do.  

After  all,  it’s  hard  enough  to  find  an  idea  that  the  agency  and  client  can  agree  on.  Clients  are  often  hesitant  to  push  back  for  fear  that  the  agency  won’t  be  able  to  come  up  with  anything  better.  

Agencies  are  hesitant  to  tell  the  client  “it’s  not  good  enough  yet”  for  fear  that  their  own  creativity  or  the  client’s  patience  won’t  last.  

None  of  that  can  survive  bad  results.  The  most  powerful  position  in  the  world  is  to  have  higher  standards  for  ourselves  than  anyone  else  could  have  for  us.  But,  of  course,  this  only  works  if  you  are  able  to  live  up  to  them.  

So,  don’t  allow  yourself  to  be  can’ted,  decked  or  tailed.  Don’t  put  off  small  things  today  because  you  can’t  do  bigger  things.  Don’t  be  stopped  by  where  your  market  category  or  your  target  audience  is  or  isn’t  today.  These  things  are  changing.  

And  so  are  you!  Now,  let’s  make  those  changes  systematic…  

Need  more  convincing?  Check  out  these  stories  and  amazing  video  link:  

• Over  45  million  status  updates  per  day.  http://mashable.com/2009/10/21/facebook-­‐sheryl-­‐discussion/    

• 200  million  tweets  a  day.  http://techcrunch.com/2011/06/30/twitter-­‐3200-­‐million-­‐tweets/    

http://www.digitalbuzzblog.com/video-infographic-the-world-of-social-media-2011-video/

• facebook  have  passed  google  as  most  visit  website  on  the  internet    • 11%  of  the  world  population  has  a  facebook  account    • there  are  more  FB  users  (800,000,000)  then  motor  vehicles  (750,000,000)    

• 50  %  log  onto  facebook  everyday    • average  user  spends  700  minutes  per  month  on  facebook    • Every  60  seconds  on  Facebook  there  are  510,000  posted  comments,  293,000  status  updates,  136,000  uploaded  photos    

• 30  billion  pieces  of  content  are  shared  each  month    • twitter  has  225,000,000  users    • 150,000,000  tweets  a  day  (that’s  1736  per  second)    

• twitter  personal  record  is  8900  tweets  per  second.    • Linkedin  has  135000000  users  that’s  15x  the  population  of  NYC    • YouTube  has  490,000,000  unique  visitors  that  generates  92,000,000,000  page  views  each  month    

• 3500  photos  are  uploaded  each  second  on  flickr    

Systematic    

How  you  do  things  can  end  up  determining  what  you  do.  Because  only  systems  can  overcome  the  inertia  that  causes  all  things  to  tend  toward  mediocrity.  On  the  other  hand,  the  systems  that  you  have  can  overcome  the  systems  that  you  ought  to  have  and  you  can  end  up  where  you’re  going  instead  of  where  you  want  to  be.  

 “But  we  don’t  even  have  systems,  do  we?”  “I  don’t  even  know  the  systems  –  I  just  started  here.”  “I  don’t  have  systems!”  

Yes,  you  do.  Consider  this.  If  you  do  what  you’re  about  to  do,  an  alien  watching  you  from  space  would  perceive  your  actions  as  systematic.  In  fact,  they  would  look  like  the  playing  out  of  a  system  perfectly  designed  to  get  the  results  you  get.  So,  if  you’re  not  100%  happy  with  your  results  –  and  who  is?  –  then  it  will  pay  to  take  a  look  at  your  system.  

How  do  you  do  what  you  do?  What’s  the  intention  behind  your  actions.  What  about  the  people  you  manage?  How  do  they  start  their  day?  How  do  they  know  what’s  important?  How  do  they  keep  track  of  what  they  do?    

A  system  is  content,  process,  order,  and  documentation.  It’s  all  there  or  it  isn’t.  Where  it  isn’t  ,  you  need  to  fill  it  in.  

But  a  system  is  also  music.  If  work  were  a  movie,  think  of  systems  as  the  score.    Sometimes  you  don’t  even  notice  it,  but  it  drives  the  action  forward,  sets  the  rhythm  and  has  a  huge  impact  on  the  success  of  the  whole  experience.  

Systems  are  systems  of  influence.  

Remember,  we’re  all  much  more  open  to  influence  than  we  think  we  are.  Let  me  tell  you  as  an  adman,  a  salesman  and  a  direct  marketer  that  

this  fact  took  my  family  on  a  three-­‐week  cruise  in  the  Mediterranean  this  year,  that  it’s  bought  them  a  nice  house  in  an  upscale  suburb  of  New  York  City  and  it  has  prepaid  for  three  college  educations.  

You  can  bank  on  it!  

So,  what  kind  of  systems  do  you  need  for  a  digital  world?  Great  question  –  I’m  glad  we  asked.  Here  are  our  greatest  hits:  

 

It’s  Not  A  Straight  Line.  

The  shortest  distance  between  two  points  is  no  longer  a  straight  line.  It’s  Google.  

Practice  Googling.  Have  Google  contests  with  your  friends  or  your  kids.  “I  can  find  that  answer  in  3-­‐2-­‐1  searches!”  Soon  you  will  have  this  experience  often:  You  will  ask  for  something.  It  could  be  a  piece  of  information,  a  recommendation,  a  resource  or  just  an  answer.  You  will  be  told  it  can’t  be  found.  Or  that  it  will  take  a  week.  And  then  you  will  open  your  web  browser  and  do  a  Google  search  or  two  and  you’ll  have  it,  in  .000232  seconds.    

If  you  are  like  me,  you  will  make  a  dramatic  point  of  this.  You  don’t  want  Google  to  be  your  own  secret  superpower.  You  want  to  spread  it  in  your  network  so  that  the  power  of  the  hive  grows.  Because  Google  is  a  superpower  as  surely  as  any  sufficiently  advance  technology  is.  Google  adds  to  the  human  anatomy  billions  of  intelligent  tentacles.  Use  your  tentacles!  

 

What’s  a  Resume?  

Resume’s  still  exist,  but  why?  The  information  lives  on  LinkedIn,  which  is  a  much  richer  habitat  for  our  career-­‐related  data.    

If  you  seek  employment  or  employees.  If  you  recruit  or  hire  or  use  freelancers  or  consultants.  If  you  want  to  know  and  be  known  by  people  in  business.  If  you  are  to  any  degree  responsible  for  business  development  or  sales.  LinkedIn  can  still  be  your  secret  weapon.  

Become  a  power  user.  Study  and  practice  it  like  the  violin.  Play  it  like  a  fine  fiddle.  You  will  work  with  and  for  better  people.  And  you’ll  dine  at  better  restaurants  too.  

 

Remember  Names.  

I  used  to  have  a  lot  of  trouble  with  this  one.  Brilliant  at  faces,  I’d  somehow  left  the  brain  cells  responsible  for  connecting  them  with  names  back  there  in  the  70’s.  They  weren’t  coming  back.  

And  then,  suddenly,  there  was  Facebook.  Now  I  can  put  names  with  faces,  and  soon  enough  my  mobile  phone  will  allow  me  to  search  faces  and  find  names.  

So,  while  I’m  no  Bill  Clinton,  I  can  now  have  an  aid  in  the  form  of  technology  whispering  in  my  ear  as  I  shake  hand  after  hand.  What’s  more,  I  can  shake  hands  digitally.    

I  like  people.  I  like  connecting  with  them  and  knowing  how  they’re  doing.  I  also  like  connecting  with  them  in  a  way  that  allows  me  to  connect  with  more  people  and  to  do  it  in  less  time.  

Efficiency  doesn’t  rule  all  my  personal  relationships.  I’m  not  @speed  every  second  of  my  day.  My  Mom’s  reaction  to  this  project  was  to  say,  “It’s  hard  for  me  to  imagine  you  doing  anything  @speed.”  She  clearly  knows  a  different  Mark,  the  one  who  knows  how  to  take  a  break  and  be  with  people.  The  right  brained  creative  guy  who  happily  loses  track  of  time.  She’s  never  attended  a  Standing  Meeting.  She  sees  the  180  pages  three  months  later,  but  not  the  blur  of  the  fingers.  She’s  never  been  to  a  15-­‐minute  Mark  &  Eric  Genius  Session!    

But,  before  and  after  that  session,  she  and  I  might  pass  messages  or  pictures  back  and  forth  on  Facebook  for  a  minute  or  two.  She  might  connect  me  to  another  old  family  friend.  And  I’m  grateful.  

 

Don’t  have  Status  Meetings,  Have  Progress  meetings.  

God,  I  hate  the  word  “status.”  It  reminds  me  of  “status  quo”  and  your  job  

and  mine  is  to  disturb  the  status  quo.  Things  don’t  sit.  Things  don’t  stand.  Events,  projects,  and  competitors  are  constantly  in  motion  and  if  we’re  not  taking  that  into  account,  we’re  losing  momentum.  

 

Two  Tracks,  Simultaneously.  

You’ll  find  this  works  in  most  situations.  Typically,  there  is  an  ideal.  It  may  even  be  attainable.  People  may  not  be  clear  about  how  long  it  will  take  to  get  there,  but  they  are  enamored  of  it.  Most  teams,  left  to  their  own  devices,  will  ruminate  on  this  project  of  getting  to  the  ideal  for  weeks,  months,  even  years.  

On  the  other  hand,  there  is  the  attainable.  The  immediate  opportunity.  The  low-­‐hanging  fruit.  This  is  not  a  bitter  fruit  at  all,  but  typically  a  quite  tasty  variety  at  the  peak  of  ripeness,  and  within  easy  reach.  Yet  people  will  sit  under  that  tree  and  plan  for  next  years  harvest  and  let  those  cherries  rot  on  the  vine.  

Perhaps  that’s  what  Newton  was  doing  when  the  apple  fell  on  his  head.    

Take  a  quick,  hard  look  at  your  situation.  It  is  possible  that  these  “short-­‐term  wins”  will  be  a  distraction  that  further  delays  the  other  much  more  important  achievement?  On  the  other  hand,  it’s  also  possible  that  the  business  can  grow  fat  and  strong  and  successful  on  meal  after  meal  of  low  hanging  fruit,  picked  off  daily?  

This  is  one  situation  in  which,  when  faced  with  a  choice  between  two  compelling  options,  the  right  answer  is  often  “Both!”  But  here’s  the  thing,  you  must  manage  to  move  them  both  forward  simultaneously.  For  the  low  hanging  fruit,  you  need  one  kind  of  planning.  For  next  years  harvest,  you  need  another.  The  first  should  be  driven  by  a  ruthless  calculation  of  time  efficiency.  You  need  to  create  a  something  that  is  better  than  a  nothing.  And  you  need  to  do  it  in  the  shortest  time  and  with  the  least  effort  possible.  You  can  always  improve  on  it  after  that.    

No  go!  

When  it  comes  to  planning  those  future  harvests,  your  team  must  shift  to  the  other  side  of  the  brain.  How  good  can  this  be?  When  you  get  into  the  stage  of  planning  for  implementation,  you  can  go  back  to  the  other  

style  of  planning.  But,  in  the  conception  phase,  make  sure  the  team  takes  the  time  to  get  it  right.  Just  make  sure  that  that  time  is  not  obstructing  progress  toward  harvesting  the  low  hanging  fruit.  

Find  ways  to  bring  this  concept  of  Two  Track  Planning  dramatically  to  the  foreground  for  your  teams.  Run  the  schedules  side  by  side  on  the  same  page.  Do  the  same  with  the  plans.  Celebrate  two-­‐track  planning.  When  you  see  a  plan  for  just  one  thing,  ask  about  the  other  track.  

This  is  a  simple  trick  learned  from  successful  entrepreneurs.  For  the  entrepreneur,  money  never  just  appears  from  nowhere  to  finance  the  pursuit  of  your  dreams.  You  must  earn  it,  raise  it  or  pick  it  yourself.  So  you  get  good  at  paying  for  tomorrow’s  possibilities  with  today’s  opportunities.  

Whenever  people  tell  me  –  and  they  do  quite  often  –  that  they  have  no  time  to  think  strategically  because  they  are  too  busy  getting  things  done,  I  have  some  trouble  feeling  much  sympathy.  Strategic  is  the  way  you  approach  your  job  and  your  opportunities  in  action  every  day.  Strategic  is  what  you  do  with  that  pile  of  work  in  front  of  you.    

The  pressure  of  living  in  the  real  world  means  you’re  living  in  the  real  world.  Since  you  are  working  on  solutions  for  people  in  the  real  world,  this  ought  to  be  a  strategic  advantage.  Two  Track  Planning  is  one  great  way  to  be  more  successful  today  and  more  strategic  about  your  future  in  a  time-­‐starved  world.  

 

Learn  the  rules  of  bully  dynamics.    

Some  people  are  not  into  peace.  These  same  people  will  tend  to  view  reasonableness  and  accommodation  as  signs  of  weakness.  Don’t  be  the  guy  who  gives  his  tater  tots  away  on  the  first  day  at  prison  and  ends  up  having  to  give  his  tots,  milk  and  virtue  away  thereafter.  Be  the  guy  who  eats  his  own  tots  the  first  day,  and  washes  them  down  with  a  tonic  of  self-­‐respect.  

 

Getting  people  going  who  don’t  work  for  you.  

Some  people  might  say,  “Mark,  you’re  a  CEO,  you’ve  got  all  the  power  –  no  wonder  you  find  it  easy  to  get  people  going.”  

Well,  first  of  all.  I’m  the  CEO  of  DIGO,  but  I’m  just  “the  agency”  at  the  client  organizations  whose  success  my  own  success  depends  on.  If  you’ve  seen  MadMen,  you  have  an  idea  of  where  the  agency  stands  –  always  one  persuasive  presentation  away  from  being  fired  or  influential,  a  vendor  or  a  savior,  God  or  goat.  

Is  it  really  that  dramatic?  Often  it  is.  

But  a  lot  has  changed  since  the  MadMen  era.  The  client  and  agency  both  are  much  less  powerful.  Modern  marketing  and  technology  have  empowered  the  audience.  The  tribe  is  in  charge  now,  and  they  don’t  report  to  you!  

To  highlight  this  change,  my  title  today  isn’t  Chief  Executive  Officer,  it’s  merely  Chief.  

My  job  as  agent  for  brand-­‐driven  growth  is  to  stand  with  my  client  at  the  intersection  of  the  company  and  the  audience.  This  includes  customers,  internal  stakeholders,  prospects,  influencers,  critics,  media,  everyone  who  can  affect  the  success  of  the  brand.  Most  of  these  people  don’t  report  to  the  client.  Most  of  them  have  jobs  to  do  and  bosses  to  please.  

Seth  Godin  tells  this  story  in  Tribes,  his  little,  seminal  book  on  leadership:  

“In  1984,  at  the  age  of  twenty-­‐four,  I  joined  a  tiny  software  company  called  Spinnaker.  Based  in  Cambridge,  Massachusetts,  we  were  crazy  enough  to  embrace  the  audacious  goal  of  inventing  the  first  generation  of  educational  computer  games.  I  was  the  thirtieth  employee.  

After  my  summer  internship,  Spinnaker  offered  me  a  job  starting  a  new  brand.  They  wanted  me  to  acquire  science  fiction  stories  and  turn  them  into  literary  adventure  games.  Byron  Priess  had  already  sold  us  the  rights  to  Fahrenheit  451  and  other  novels,  and  I  had  to  acquire  others  and  turn  them  into  products  ready  for  stores  nationwide.  The  problem    was  that  no  one  worked  for  me.  No  secretary,  no  staff,  no  programmers.    

Spinnaker  was  busy  building  dozens  of  products,  and  about  forty  programmers  in  the  Engineering  Department  were  allocated  on  a  rotating  basis  to  various  projects.  I  was  lent  precisely  three  programmers.  I  needed  more,  a  lot  more,  if  I  was  going  to  make  my  Christmas  ship  date.  

So  I  started  a  newsletter.  The  newsletter  highlighted  the  work  of  every  person  who  worked  on  one  of  my  products.  It  highlighted  their  breakthroughs  and  talked  about  the  new  ground  we  were  breaking  (music!  In  a  game!).  I  made  photocopies  and  distributed  the  newsletter  to  the  interoffice  mailbox  of  every  person  in  the  company  –  by  then  about  a  hundred  people.  

Twice  a  week  the  newsletter  went  out.  Twice  a  week,  I  talked  about  our  quest.  Twice  a  week,  I  chronicled  the  amazing  work  of  our  tiny  tribe.  The  newsletter  connected  the  tribe  members.  It  turned  a  disparate  group  of  career  engineers  into  a  working  community.  

Within  a  month,  six  engineers  had  defected  to  the  tribe,  working  with  me  in  their  spare  time.  Then  it  was  twenty.  Soon,  every  person  in  the  entire  department  was  either  assigned  to  my  project  or  moonlighting  on  it.  We  shipped  five  products  in  time  for  Christmas,  and  every  one  went  Gold,  selling  millions  of  dollars’  worth  of  copies  and  saving  the  company.  

Did  engineers  switch  because  of  the  newsletter?  Of  course  not.  They  switched  because  of  the  journey.  They  wanted  to  be  part  of  something  that  mattered.  Twenty  years  later,  people  on  that  team  still  talk  about  what  we  built.  And  I,  the  twenty-­‐four-­‐year-­‐old  with  no  experience  and  no  staff,  got  to  go  on  the  ride  of  a  lifetime.  

Is  that  all  I  did?  Launch  a  newsletter.  Of  course  not.  I  did  difficult  things,  pushed  obstacles  out  of  the  way,  lived  and  breathed  the  project,  and  injected  it  with  a  soul.  Thirty  of  us  slept  in  the  office  every  night  for  a  month  to  make  the  ship  date.  Tweny-­‐nine  highly  skilled  technical  people  and  me.  Everyone  had  a  job  to  do  that  month  and  mine  was  to  help  everyone  else  communicate.  

Everything  I  did  was  for  us,  not  for  me.  I  didn’t  manage;  I  led.”  

(Tribes  page  28-­‐30)4  

 

Shine  a  Light  On  What  You  Value.  

You  have  heard  of  the  placebo  effect  (sometimes  called  the  sugar  pill  effect)  in  which  simply  believing  one  has  taken  effective  medicine  will  create  a  real,  statistically  significant  improvement  in  a  wide  range  of  conditions.  But  you  may  not  have  heard  of  the  Hawthorne  Effect.  

The  Hawthorne  effect  is  another  effect  proven  through  experiments  in  which  subjects  improve  or  modify  a  behavior  that  is  being  measured  simply  because  they  are  being  studied.  In  short,  letting  people  know  they  are  being  studied  tends  to  change,  often  improve,  their  performance.    Henry  A.  Landsberger    first  described  the  Hawthorne  Effect  in  1950.5  He  had  reviewed  older  research  conducted  at  the  Hawthorne  Works,  a  Western  Electric  factory  near  Chicago,  in  the  20s  and  30s.  Hawthorne  Works  wanted  to  know  whether  its  workers  would  be  more  productive  in  higher  or  lower  levels  of  light.    When  lighting  was  lowered,  productivity  improved.  When  light  was  increased,  productivity  improved  again.  The  only  conclusion  left  was  that  the  special  interest  and  attention  being  paid  to  the  workers  had  increased  their  productivity.  This  effect  was  confirmed  in  subsequent  experiments  in  which  other  variables,  such  as  office  cleanliness  and  work  hours  were  altered,  with  the  effect  confirmed.      Expect  success.    People  write  books  telling  us  that  if  we  believe  it,  it  will  happen.  They  believe  these  books  will  be  bestsellers,  and  we  make  it  happen  for  them.    But,  we’ve  all  met  people  who  fervently  believed  they  were  headed  for  a  certain  kind  of  success  –  modeling,  performing,  acting,  financial,  or  

                                                                                                               4  This  is  just  a  footnote.    5http://www.generalsurgerynews.com/ViewArticle.aspx?d=Editorial+Page&d_id=66&i=May+2011&i_id=730&a_id=17146    

whatever  –  and  we  kind  of  knew  they  weren’t.  Belief  alone  can’t  guarantee  a  certain  outcome.  As  John  Lennon  said,  “Life  is  what  happens  while  you’re  making  other  plans.”    But,  our  beliefs  are  more  influential  than  we  may  consciously  realize.    This  too  has  been  proven  in  experiments.  The  observer-­‐expectancy  effect  is  another  distortion  in  which  the  experimenter  or  observer’s  bias  influences  the  participants  in  an  experiment.    In  short,  people  tend  to  do  what  the  experimenter  expects,  even  when  the  experimenter  wants  to  be  completely  objective.  This  is  the  origin  of  the  “double-­‐blind”  technique  in  which  neither  the  experimenter  nor  the  subjects  know  which  test  cell  they  are  in.  What  you  can  learn  from  this  is  that  your  unconscious  expectations  -­‐  what  you  truly  believe  is  going  to  be  the  result  of  your  leadership  -­‐  can  have  a  real  impact  on  your  team  and  your  project.  If  you  believe  things  won’t  go  well,  you’re  increasing  the  chances  that  things  won’t  go  well.    So,  what  can  you  do  about  that?  Be  real  with  yourself.  Get  at  your  true  feelings  about  the  project  one  way  or  another.  Some  people  write  in  a  journal.  Some  talk  to  friends,  spouses,  partners,  coworkers,  therapists,  or  coaches.  Others  paint  pictures,  go  on  long  runs,  have  epiphanies  in  the  shower.  The  reason  you  want  to  know  how  you  feel  is  that  then  you  can  DO  something  to  change  your  feelings.  Maybe  you  need  to  shake  up  the  team.  Maybe  you  just  need  to  shake  up  yourself  and  see  the  possibilities  afresh.  If  you  can  get  yourself  in  a  position  of  true  positive  expectation,  it  can  make  all  the  difference.    For  getting  in  touch  with  your  true  feelings  about…  well,  everything…  I  recommend  Focusing  by  Eugene  T.  Gendling6        Give  your  people  high  expectations  to  live  up  to.  

And  don’t  allow  false  (or  genuine)  humility  to  keep  you  from  letting  your  reputation  for  success  be  as  high  as  it  possibly  can  be  with  your  people.                                                                                                                  6  link  to  book:  http://www.amazon.com/Focusing-­‐Eugene-­‐T-­‐Gendlin/dp/0553278339    

This  is  also  more  than  just  a  management  cliché’.  It’s  proven  social  science.  

The  Pygmalian  Effect  is  the  finding  that  the  more  you  expect  from  people,  the  better  they  perform.  Feldman  &  Prohaska  (1979)  initiated  an  experiment  to  study  the  effect  of  student  expectations  of  teachers.7  One  group  was  told  their  teacher  was  "quite  effective,"  and  another  group  was  told  their  teacher  was  "incompetent."  The  effect  of  these  positive  and  negative  expectations  were  measured  in  terms  of  student  attitudes  toward  the  teacher,  scores  on  tests,  and  "nonverbal  behavior"  of  the  students  toward  the  teachers.  The  teacher  was  experimentally  blind  to  what  the  students  thought  about  him/her.  There  were  clear  differences  in  all  three  measures  based  on  a  positive  or  negative  expectation.  Students  with  a  negative  expectation  "rated  the  lesson  as  being  more  difficult,  less  interesting,  and  less  effective."  Students  with  a  positive  expectation  scored  65.8%  on  the  test,  and  those  with  a  negative  expectation  scored  lower,  at  52.2%.  In  terms  of  nonverbal  behavior,  subjects  leaned  "forward  more  to  good  teachers  than  poor  teachers."  There  was  some  evidence  that  students  with  a  positive  expectation  had  better  eye  contact  with  the  teacher.  

 

Change  it  up.  

The  Novelty  Effect,  in  the  context  of  human  performance,  is  the  tendency  for  performance  to  initially  improve  when  new  technology  is  instituted,  not  because  of  any  actual  improvement  in  learning  or  achievement,  but  in  response  to  increased  interest  in  the  new  technology.    

New  “technology”  need  not  refer  specifically  to  what  we  typically  think  of  as  technology.  It  could  be  a  new  process,  a  new  organizational  structure,  a  new  system,  product  or  service  offering.    

                                                                                                               7  http://books.google.com/books?id=hPCB-­‐LqiINwC&pg=PA109&lpg=PA109&dq=feldman+%26+prohaska+1979+study+the+effect+of+student+expectaions+of+teachers&source=bl&ots=CFI0TTIJ5H&sig=GP3fRlqQtPDx0HT_CYvKEZazo4s&hl=en&ei=hJPWTpP8NYnPrQe3hKyhDg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CCwQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false    

In  my  own  industry  of  advertising  agencies,  when  the  old  “Research  Department”  was  replaced  by  new-­‐thinking  “Planning  Departments”  In  the  early  90’s,  about  a  decade  of  positive  revolution  followed.  After  that,  the  impact  of  the  novelty  began  to  peter  out.  I  was  left  to  conclude  that  it  was  the  cache’  that  accompanied  the  novelty  of  “planning”  that  had  made  that  decade  of  change  possible.  When  the  novelty  wore  of,  the  magic  of  planning  waned  as  well.    

Does  that  mean  it  wasn’t  real?  To  me  what  it  means  is  that  novelty  was  key  element,  but  not  necessarily  the  totality,  of  the  mystique  of  planning.  Mystique  was  a  key  to  its  effect.  Due  to  planning’s  mystique,  planning  recommendations  were  less  likely  to  be  subjected  to  the  typical  vetting  process  which  had  too  often  led  to  uninspiring  results  from  research.  Typically  inflexible  corporate  processes  were  altered  and  exceptions  created  in  response  to  the  charisma  of  planning.  Of  course,  changed  processes  led  to  different  results,  and  in  advertising  a  novelty  can  also  be  the  sole  cause  of  uncommon  success.  Yet,  the  novelty  and  therefore  the  mystique  of  planning  began  to  wear  thin,  clients  and  colleagues  began  to  challenge  planners  in  the  same  ways  they  had  challenged  researchers.  Over  time,  their  results  began  to  revert  to  the  mean.  

What  this  says  is  that  there  is  an  inherent  boost  that  you  can  get  from  just  changing  things  up,  whether  those  changes  create  long-­‐term  process  improvements  and  efficiency  or  not.  It  also  suggests  that  there  is  an  optimal  level  of  change  that  leads  to  the  best  performance  of  a  group.  Too  little  change  and  the  group  performance  slips.  Too  much  change  and  the  stressed-­‐out  group  also  under-­‐performs.  The  optimal  amount  of  change  keeps  the  group  humming  at  a  higher  level.    

How  do  you  know  whether  you’re  humming  along  at  the  optimal  level  of  change?  Not  by  the  noise  in  the  machine,  but  by  its  output.  But  there’s  good  reason  to  believe  that  when  a  team  is  at  the  peak  of  performance,  creativity  and  attainment  may  be  exactly  the  time  to  institute  some  significant  change.  Today’s  results  are  generally  the  fruits  of  last  year’s  plantings.  So  the  art  of  leadership  is  to  so  time  innovations  as  to  disturb  the  complacent  and  to  comfort  the  disturbed.  

Change  itself  is  a  powerful  change  agent,  reverberating  through  the  system.  When  change  gets  difficult,  change  something  and  see  what  happens.  

 

Beware  of  experienced  managers.  

When  you  hire  experienced  managers,  you  hire  their  experience  too.  They  work  for  you,  but  they  bring  everyone  and  every  place  they’ve  ever  worked  with  them.  And  retraining  can  be  a  lot  more  difficult  than  training.  

This  is  not  because  they  are  old  dogs  and  can’t  learn  new  tricks.  It’s  more  likely  to  be  because  they  already  think  they  know.  How  it’s  supposed  to  work.  What  it’s  supposed  to  look  like  when  it’s  done.  What  good  is  and  isn’t.  In  other  words,  they  are  likely  to  think  they’re  professionals,  and  that  their  professional  standards  matter  more  than  your  company  standards.  

Which,  of  course,  they  don’t.  Not  that  you  can’t  learn  anything  from  pros.  That’s  what  consultants  are  for.  

But  if  you  must  hire  an  experienced  manager,  make  sure  you’re  hiring  a  refugee  who  sees  your  place  as  the  promised  land.  For  real.  You  want  someone  who  wants  to  do  it  your  way.  Who  wants  most  of  all  to  earn  a  place  in  the  tribe.  Who  relishes  the  opportunity.  

Otherwise,  do  all  you  can  to  mint  your  own  managers.  Bring  them  up  in  your  system.  Make  them  partners  in  creating  and  evolving  “the  way  it’s  done  here.”  Help  them  feel  they  own  it  and  don’t  completely  discourage  them  from  defending  it  from  pretenders  and  neophytes.    

Depending  on  how  fast  you  grow  and  how  you  grow  –  whether  organically  or  through  M&A  as  well  –  you  will  need  to  integrate  experienced  managers  into  your  team.  When  you  do,  absolute  clarity,  especially  around  measures  of  performance  success  will  be  crucial.  

The  way  we  do  it  here  must  rule.  

 

How  to  get  your  agencies  to  play  nicely  together.    (It’s  called  accountability.)  

Not  long  ago,  the  agency  was  the  expert  on  integration  –  today  more  than  ever  that  falls  on  the  client.  Whichever  side  of  the  client/agency  

fence  you  sit  on,  your  ability  to  help  integration  work  will  be  a  major  accelerator.  

But  what  do  you  do?    The  “general”  agency  wants  to  have  all  the  ideas.    The  direct  agency  has  its  own  direction,  thank  you.    And  the  PR  firm  wants  to  talk  to  you  about  “marketing.”  Sometime,  later  in  the  week…you’re  going  to  have  to  work  out  this  “interactive”  thing...  here  is  a  quick-­‐start  list:  

1) Seek  out  the  one  or  two  people  on  your  team  (title  and  agency  affiliation  don’t  matter)  who  are  truly,  thoroughly  cross-­‐trained.      

2) Agree  a  process  for  seeking  the  best  ideas  from  ALL  sources.        

3) Define  the  accountabilities  of  each  agency  (include  “enthusiastically  building  on  the  chosen  idea”  as  well  as  results  metrics)  and      

4) Agree  your  commitments  in  return    (for  example,  one  large  client  insisted  that  the  top  creative  director  of  their  agency  be  their  COPYWRITER!    In  exchange,  they  promised  the  agency  would  never  have  more  than  three  client  contacts).      

5) Use  the  Hawthorne  Effect  by  making  a  contest  or  experiment  out  of  it.  The  more  you  make  the  process  seem  special,  the  more  you  arrange  for  key  people  to  pay  special  attention,  the  better  people  will  perform.    

6) Set  high  expectations  and  dramatize  them.  Put  the  Pygmalian  Effect  to  work  for  you.  I  formative  experience  of  my  career  was  as  a  young  creative  director  in  an  agency  of  20-­‐somethings.  This  was  at  a  time  when  most  agencies  were  run  by  people  in  their  40s,  50s  and  60s.  The  culture  of  the  place  was  this:  If  you’re  here,  you  are  GREAT.  We  chewed  up  Madison  Avenue  and  became  a  hot  shop.    

 

7) Schedule  and  keep  regular  check-­‐ins.  Attention  pays  dividends  by  keeping  people  motivated  and  moving  forward.  

 

8) Let  everyone  know  in  advance  that  once  a  decision  is  made,  you  expect  all  the  agencies  to  enthusiastically  execute.    

 

9) Review  the  arrangements  at  least  every  six  months  and  make  sure  you  have  the  right  agencies  doing  the  right  things.    

 10) Set  rules  for  the  way  credit  will  be  shared  from  the  beginning.  Agency  people  care  about  such  things  as  award  shows  and  you’ll  have  to  deal  with  that  up  front  if  you  want  to  maximize  motivation,  which  you  do!  

   

 Cut  your  spend,  not  your  throat.  

Recessions  are  good.    

They  drive  out  complacency,  doldrums  and  waste.  They  force  marketers  to  look  at  every  element  of  their  spend  and  ask  the  ultimate  question,  "Is  this  even  worth  doing,  and  if  so,  is  it  worth  doing  at  this  price?"  

The  nipping  and  tucking  eventually  leads  the  brave  marketer  to  a  higher  set  of  expectations  and  a  shorter  fuse.    You  reach  the  limits  of  efficiencies  and  the  borderlands  of  hope,  and  you  go  back  to  the  fundamentals:  a  better  insight  into  the  audience,  a  bigger  idea,  more  wired  selling.      

It  isn't  easy.    Sometimes  it's  downright  painful.    But  it  can  be  extremely  satisfying,  and  rewarding  too.  And  remember,  you're  never  more  valuable  than  you  are  when  times  are  tough.  Because  until  somebody  sells  something  to  someone,  there  is  no  economy.      

Even  so,  the  marketing  budget  Reaper  is  enjoying  a  busy  season.      

So  even  if  you’re  one  of  the  few  not  being  asked  to  do  more  with  less  this  year,  you’ll  benefit  from  these  secrets  of  the  super  efficient:  

 

Don’t  replace,  repair.    Let’s  face  it  -­‐  it  costs  less  to  get  new  ideas  than  it  does  to  launch  a  whole  new  campaign.    Often  legacy  creative  –  even  if  it’s  failing  miserably  in  the  marketplace  -­‐-­‐  can  be  tweaked  and  transformed  into  control-­‐beating  direct  response  creative.  

 

Think  “Brand  Direct”  –  the  model  of  pure  brand  advertising  supporting  pure  direct  marketing  breaks  down  at  lower  budget  levels  and  isn’t  the  efficient  marketer’s  approach  at  any  budget  level.  Instead,  insist  that  every  media  dollar  drives  response  while  building  the  brand.    Or  else.  

 

Save  By  Going  Social  –  Launch  a  whole  new  channel  when  my  budget  is  going  down!?!    Absolutely.  Done  right,  building  out  your  world  on  the  social  web  could  be  the  most  profitable  shift  you  make  this  year.    

Don’t  prioritize  buying  impressions  in  social  media.  Use  social  for  listening  first,  then  to  expand  and  target  the  reach  of  your  news.  Pretty  soon,  you’re  in  a  conversation.  Make  is  a  great  one!  

 

Learn  from  challenger  brands.  

Apple.    Virgin.  Southwest.    JetBlue.  Crunch.    Snapple.  Groupon.  BlueFly.  Zappos.  The  Motley  Fool.  What  do  these  brands  have  in  common?    They’re  challengers,  and  successful  ones  at  that.  

They’ve  mastered  the  art  of  zagging  where  others  have  tended  to  zig.    They’ve  taken  on  the  goliaths  of  their  industries  and  come  out  on  top.    The  truth  is,  it’s  a  challenging  world  out  there,  and  every  marketer  these  days  needs  to  be  a  successful  challenger  or  go  down.  

Market  leadership  doesn’t  create  an  exception.    Look  at  Citibank  and  IBM,  for  example.    By  becoming  their  own  best  competition,  they’ve  looked  like  ready  challengers,  reinvented  their  businesses  and  continued  to  grow.  

Here’s  what  challengers  do  differently:  

 

1)  The  top  dog  is  INVOLVED.  Intimately.    

Some  folks  think  the  reason  they  got  degrees  and  big  titles  was  so  that  they  could  independently  run  their  own  empire.  Some  of  these  people  are  actually  pretty  smart.  But  nine  times  out  of  ten,  this  attitude  will  do  them  in.  

A  boss  is  not  a  meddler  to  be  avoided.  If  you  were  playing  chess,  you  wouldn’t  leave  your  Queen  in  the  background  and  try  to  fight  it  out  endlessly  with  your  lesser  pieces.  Or  would  you?    

Forget  the  org  chart.  Every  player  on  the  board  is  on  your  team.  Use  them!  

If  you  want  to  make  things  happen  @speed,  you  want  the  least  distance  between  you  and  your  boss.  And  you  want  to  access  the  power  you’re  your  boss  has  to  smooth  situations  and  to  make  good  tactical  decisions  into  great  strategic  initiatives.  Plus,  you  want  the  power  to  change  things  that  you’re  not  personally  responsible  for,  because  changing  those  things  will  make  all  the  difference  in  your  ability  to  create  success.  So,  you  bring  your  boss  in  as  a  collaborator  and  ally.    As  much  as  possible,  you  lead  hand  in  hand.  It’s  the  challenger’s  way  to  use  every  last  person.    

2)  The  advertising  conversation  and  the  business  conversation  are  THE  SAME  CONVERSATION.    

Don’t  separate  what  you’re  doing  from  why  you’re  doing  it,  even  for  a  moment.  You  never  want  to  be  the  one  saying,  “But  we  failed  with  work  that  was  on  the  strategy  we  were  given!”  That  is  a  level  of  responsibility,  but  it’s  the  wrong  level.    

You  want  to  be  responsible  for  the  success  of  the  enterprise.  You  want  the  brand  and  business  to  reach  it’s  full  potential.  You  want  to  use  not  just  your  authority  but  your  influence.  Because  nothing  beats  being  part  of  something  great  and  you  don’t  want  to  leave  that  to  chance.  

In  this  context,  great  advertising  is  advertising  that  works  for  the  business  and  brand.  It  brings  the  business  strategy  to  life.  It  creates  the  connection  that  reflects  the  intentions  of  the  business  while  both  suggesting  and  fulfilling  its  promise.  

This  is  where  experience  meets  selling  meets  branding.  

3)  The  work  is  seen  as  the  ultimate  weapon  for  conquering  the  competition.    

Where  is  the  unfair  advantage  to  be  found?  You  are  not  in  a  position  to  outspend.  You’re  not  going  to  break  the  law.  Or  trying  to  change  it  to  favor  you.  But  you  can  pack  more  power  into  the  product,  the  packaging,  the  service,  the  story,  the  propaganda.  You  can  be  smarter  about  the  technology,  the  testing  strategy,  more  ingenious  and  industrious  about  the  optimizations.  

You  can  win  it  in  the  marketplace  of  ideas.  So,  do  that.  

4)  The  brand  is  seen  as  a  precious  asset  and  the  ultimate  defensive  fortification  against  copycats  and  commoditisers.    

Challengers  build  unique  brands  and  they  value  them  above  all  else.  Customers  are  intensely  loved,  but  they  come  and  go.  Employees  are  highly  valued,  but  the  sort  who  are  attracted  to  a  challenger  business  can  only  be  held  by  a  great  brand.  A  unique  culture  and  point  of  view  is  often  the  only  thing  to  hold  onto  in  the  perfect  storm  of  growth.  

A  brand  is  armor  and  a  full  tank  of  gas.  A  brand  is  everything.  And  you  only  need  a  business  to  build  one!  

5)  The  VISION  of  the  top  dog  drives  the  advertising.    

Steve  Jobs  met  every  other  week  for  intensive  sessions  with  Lee  Clow,  the  creative  chairman  of  his  advertising  agency.  In  the  most  successful  challenger  businesses,  the  vision  for  the  brand  and  advertising  comes  from  the  top.  No  question  about  it.    

That  kind  of  courage  and  purity  of  vision  can’t  be  bought.  It  can’t  be  outsourced.  No  committee  could  sustain  it.  For  a  business  that  has  its  founder  to  get  the  full  advantage  of  that  fact,  the  vision  must  be  owned  and  driven  from  the  top.    

6)  The  vision  of  the  agency  and  the  vision  of  the  client  are  complimentary  and  synergistic.    

The  mutual  inspiration  society  should  include  client  and  agency,  vigorous  discussions,  sharing  inspiration,  lots  of  choices,  and  plenty  of  

going  back  to  the  well.  

The  most  sophisticated  team  wins.  

7)  Decisions  get  made  in  meetings,  not  just  in  between.  

In  big,  bloated  bureaucracies,  meetings  only  ratify  decisions  that  are  made  elsewhere.  Which  is  why  most  people  in  those  places  feel  that  there  time  is  wasted  in  meetings.  Because  it  is.  

But  you  don’t  have  time  to  waste.  So  you’re  not  going  to  protect  your  own  ego  or  anyone  else’s  by  pretending  for  a  second  to  agree  with  what  you  don’t.  You’re  going  to  have  real  conversations.  In  front  of  whoever  is  there.    And  when  some  people  complain  about  that  and  they  try  to  negotiate  with  you  to  stop  the  open,  inclusive,  challenging,  passionate  dialogue,  you  are  going  to  say,  “I  understand  how  you  feel.  And,  no.  Absolutely  not.  Because  that  would  be  replacing  occasional  discomfort  with  the  endless  pain  of  mediocrity  and  failure.  Which  you  wouldn’t  tolerate  for  long…  you’d  be  gone.  So,  no!  Let’s  just  agree  to  be  respectful  to  each  other,  to  put  the  good  of  the  work  first,  and  to  say  exactly  what  is  on  our  minds.”  

 

Ambition  is  your  friend.  Mostly.  

If  you  want  to  get  things  done,  ambition  is  your  friend.  Mostly.  Find  out  what  gives  people  satisfaction.  Learn  what  ambitions  drive  them.  And  then  give  them  the  gift  of  using  that  knowledge  to  drive  themselves  to  unanticipated  heights.  

Then  ambition  will  be  your  friend.  

On  the  other  hand,  if  you  don’t  understand  what  ambitions  drive  your  key  people,  if  they  each  drive  in  their  own  direction  and  you  don’t  have  the  key  to  understand  why  they  don’t  see  eye-­‐to-­‐eye,  when  their  own  inner  compass  points  to  a  different  North  than  your  business  strategy…  well,  that’s  when  ambition  is  definitely  not  your  friend.    

You  need  to  do  something  about  that.  Now.  

 

And  so  it  goes…  

So  it  goes.  That’s  what  Kurt  Vonnegut  used  to  write  whenever  one  person  or  a  hundred  thousand  persons  died.  So  it  goes.  That  what  I  think  whenever  an  idea  dies.  So  it  goes.  

Most  of  the  great  art  in  the  world  has  been  about  things  going  wrong.  My  beloved  psychoanalyst  told  me  that.  I  checked,  and  in  fact  it’s  true.    

True  of  literature.  True  of  cinema.  

Should  a  philosopher  marry?  “By  all  means  marry!”  said  Socrates.  “If  you  get  a  good  wife,  you’ll  be  happy.  If  you  get  a  bad  one,  you’ll  be  a  philosopher.”  So  it  goes.  

Things  go  wrong.  Ideas  die.  So  it  goes.  War  keeps  coming,  and  recessions.  Clients  go  bankrupt.  Credit  lines  are  canceled.  Employees  have  panic  attacks,  or  lose  their  grandmothers.    

We  launched  a  wonderful  green  electricity  company  and  named  it  JUICE.  One  of  the  best  names  ever.  A  beautiful  identity,  and  a  successful  launch.  Selling  electricity  to  business  is  a  capital-­‐intensive  undertaking.  Success  required  a  large  credit  line,  and  Lehman  Brothers  supplied  just  the  line  that  was  needed.  The  campaign  launched  and  immediately  worked  like  gangbusters.  The  accounts  were  rolling  in.  The  future  looked  bright.  Then  one  day  Lehman  called  and  told  Juice  they  had  two  days  to  close  the  line.  Lehman  and  Juice  went  out  of  business  on  the  same  day.  So  it  goes.  

Once,  when  I  worked  at  another  agency,  the  head  of  new  business  left  32  boxes  of  pitch  materials  on  the  sidewalk.  We  all  got  on  the  bus  and  headed  to  the  airport.  The  next  day,  in  San  Francisco,  when  she  realized  she’d  left  the  work  behind,  the  boxes  were  gone.  Likely,  they  had  been  picked  up  by  a  trash  truck.  Who  knows?  They  were  never  seen  again.  So  it  goes.  

At  great  cost,  the  agency  reprinted  and  shipped  all  the  materials  in  time  for  the  pitch.  We  came  in  second.  There  is  nothing  worse  than  coming  in  second.  Coming  in  second  costs  as  much  as  winning,  but  you  get  as  little  out  of  it  as  coming  in  last.  It’s  better  to  not  be  invited…  at  least  in  the  short  run.    

So,  the  agency  paid  for  the  materials  twice,  and  still  didn’t  win  the  business.  So  it  goes.  

 

Hunting  with  a  fishing  pole?  

Too  many  people  are  failing  for  hunting  with  a  fishing  pole.  

Let’s  say  you’ve  gotten  this  far  in  life  on  your  fishing  skills.  But  the  waters  are  all  fished  out  and  the  hunters  are  bringing  home  the  big  dinners  now.    Do  you  get  advice,  read  all  you  can  about  hunting,  find  a  guide  or  partner  to  lead  you?  Or  do  you  just  head  off  into  the  woods  with  your  fishing  pole  and  tackle?  

Of  course  not.  If  you  are  with  me  to  this  point,  you  of  course  recognize  this  as  absurd.  And  yet  we  all  do  this  in  some  part  of  our  lives,  very  likely  in  more  than  one.  The  fact  is  it’s  so  hard  to  keep  track  of  the  things  we  know  that  it’s  impossible  to  even  learn  the  names  and  categories  of  all  the  things  we  don’t  know.  

And  knowing  is  just  the  first  step.  Accepting  is  another  thing  entirely.  Knowing  what  to  do  about  it  is  a  third.  If  the  thing  you  don’t  know  is  a  fatal  flaw  such  as  not  knowing  how  to  judge  character  and  quality  in  people,  then  that’s  going  to  dog  you  no  matter  what  you  do.  You  are  going  to  need  to  address  that  directly,  as  quickly  and  as  energetically  as  you  can.  You’re  going  to  need  to  get  the  best  help  you  can  with  that,  because  it  will  be  like  driving  with  the  emergency  break  on  –  it  not  only  slows  you  down,  it  also  stinks.  

Work  as  hard  as  you  can  on  getting  to  know  what  you  don’t  know.  If  you  don’t  know  marketing,  find  someone  to  trust.  Of  course  you  need  to  learn  and  check  with  other  advisors,  but  you  want  to  try  to  develop  trust  and  a  good  relationship  with  a  key  advisor.  Look  for  proof,  for  measures  of  success  that  make  sense,  but  delegate  real  responsibility  and  authority.  Create  a  real  partnership  and  let  it  flower.  

 

 

The  Power  of  Negative  Thinking.  

Positive  thinking  has  many  promoters,  but  negative  thinking  is  just  as  important.  Here  are  some  great  negative  thinking  tools  to  speed  up  your  success:  

 

The  Key  Frustrations  Process.  

When  can  frustration  be  good?  When  it  spurs  you  to  intelligent  action.  

E-­‐Myth  Worldwide  teaches  something  they  call  the  “Key  Frustrations  Process.”  

It’s  a  great  way  to  speed  up  organizational  improvement.  

You  can  do  it  alone,  or  in  groups.  But  either  way,  be  prepared  to  feel  some  frustration.    

Here’s  what  you  do:  

1) Write  a  list  of  things  that  are  frustrating  you  in  the  business.  If  you’re  doing  this  as  a  group  exercise,  you  can  call  them  out  and  have  someone  write  them  down.  One  rule:  don’t  make  it  personal.  

2) Pick  one  of  the  frustrations  to  work  on.  Notice  that  we  often  see  frustrations  as  people  problems.  We  either  have  the  wrong  person,  we  think,  or  we  don’t  have  the  right  person.    But  this  time  we’re  going  to  practice  approaching  problems  differently.  

3) Ask,  “What  is  the  system  that  is  leading  to  this  frustration?”  You’re  going  to  practice  seeing  frustrations  as  systematic.  If  your  system  is  creating  frustration,  how  is  it  doing  that?  For  example,  if  the  website  visuals  are  wrong,  what  is  the  system  that  is  producing  the  output  of  “wrong  visuals.”  Get  it  down.  

4) Now,  innovate.  Come  up  with  ideas  for  changing  the  system  to  achieve  a  better  outcome.    

5) Give  the  new  system  a  try,  and  tweak  to  perfection.    

Worry  Sessions.  

Dale  Carnegie  suggested  setting  aside  time  each  day  or  week  for  a  focused  worry  session.  Use  the  time  to  pour  out  your  worries,  anxieties  and  concerns.  Get  it  all  out.  Let  your  worst  imagination  have  its  way  with  you.  Dig  deeper  if  you  like.  Ask,  “What  worries  me  about  that?  And  what  worries  me  about  that?”  And  so  on.    

By  setting  time  aside  for  focused  worrying,  you  achieve  at  least  two  things.  First,  you  may  actually  unearth  some  problems  you  might  

address  or  consequences  you  might  avoid  with  some  well-­‐conceived  actions.  Second,  you  will  have  an  easier  time  to  convince  yourself  to  worry  less  when  you  ought  to  be  focused  on  other  things.  

 

Objection  Sessions  

When  you’re  preparing  to  sell  an  idea  or  a  complex  package  of  services,  it’s  natural  to  think  of  all  the  reasons  the  buyer  should  say,  “Yes.”  But  don’t  forget  to  think  long  and  hard  about  all  the  reasons  the  decision  maker  might  say,  “No.”    

Great  sales  trainers  know  that  preparing  to  deal  with  objections  is  one  of  the  most  important  keys  to  successful  selling.    

The  process  is  simple.  Put  yourself  in  the  buyer’s  shoes.  And  brainstorm  objections.  Then  work  up  ways  of  answering  or  solving  these  problems.  

Now  your  ready  to  sell.  

 

Self-­‐Firing  

It’s  easy  to  lose  your  way  in  a  responsible  job.  Inertia  can  take  over.  You  can  end  up  doing  the  best  you  can  instead  of  the  right  things.  

Consider  this:  Fire  yourself  for  a  day.  

Then  write  up  the  requirements  for  the  job.  And  then  interview  yourself  for  it.  See  if  you’ve  got  what  it  takes.  See  if  you  have  the  passion  and  commitment.  See  if  you’re  ready  to  take  the  difficult  steps  that  may  be  required.  

If  you  do,  and  only  if  you  do,  then  hire  yourself  back.  And  start  the  next  day  as  a  new  person  with  a  new  mission.  

 

How  a  boss  gets  honest  feedback.  

Fire  sycophants.  That  is,  if  ridiculing  them  doesn’t  work.  

Promote  critics.  Encourage  people  who  give  you  bad  news.  Pay  attention  to  the  truth  tellers.  Get  bored  with  the  people  who  only  tell  you  good  news.  Especially  if  it  is  about  yourself.  

Probe  for  the  other  side.  If  everyone  seems  to  be  in  agreement,  let  people  know  you  are  disgusted.  Insist  that  someone  in  the  room  argue  the  case  for  the  other  side.  Value  the  complete  picture,  the  nuanced  view.  

Insist.  

 

See  like  an  optimizer.  

Optimizers  have  a  way  of  seeing.  If  I  can’t  get  this  across  to  you,  then  nothing  else  in  this  book  will  get  you  all  the  way  there.  You  have  to  be  able  to  project  things  forward  in  your  mind.  Like  a  chess  master,  to  think  through  the  next  few  moves.  You  have  to  develop  a  feel  for  how  things  might  go.  The  truth  is,  we  all  have  this  radar.  It’s  just  human  instinct.  But  some  of  us  have  better  access  to  it  than  others.  

This  has  been  scientifically  proven.  If  a  threat  –  say  a  rat  or  a  coyote  –  enters  your  peripheral  vision,  your  little  hairs  will  stand  on  end  before  you  even  consciously  know  what’s  going  on.  Something  in  you  knew,  and  reacted.  

We  know.  Even  when  we  think  we  don’t.  Even  when  we’re  so  invested  in  the  idea  that  we  don’t  that  we’d  swear  to  it  ten  ways  to  Sunday.  We  know.  

We  need  a  way  of  getting  it  out.  I  write  a  journal.  I  meditate.  I  play  devil’s  advocate  with  my  partners  and  ask  them  to  do  the  same  with  me.  I  indulge  in  focused  worry  sessions,  to  make  sure  I’m  not  missing  anything.  

Project  forward,  and  optimize.  

 

A  Guide  to  Business  Cursing.  

 

Cursing  is  a  short  cut.  No,  seriously,  I  swear.  

Cursing  is  where  the  rubber  of  human  psychology  meets  the  road  of  life.    Not  the  habitual  and  lazy  swearing  of  the  amateur.  But  the  surgical  swearing  of  the  pro.  We  are  animals.  Physical  creatures  who  eat  and  fuck  and  shit  and  piss.  Somehow  using  words  with  Latin  roots  makes  us  feel  better  about  imbibing,  copulating,  defecating  and  urinating.  But  that’s  just  because  somewhere  along  the  way,  we  bought  into  the  BS  that  Latin  words  are  somehow  more  correct.    No,  they’re  just  longer.  

We  are  bodies.  Our  psyches  are  tied  up  in  our  bodies,  and  the  metaphors  of  the  body  suffuse  our  thinking.  This  is  a  good  thing,  because  it  keeps  us  real.  If  men  didn’t  have  penises,  for  example,  they  would  more  easily  convince  themselves  that  they  have  the  power  to  control  everything.  The  penis  says,  “Remember  that  you  are  mortal,  and  just  a  man  who  can  not  even  decide  when  your  own  penis  will  be  hard  with  absolute  certainty.”  It’s  humbling,  and  that’s  good.  

 

Fuck  With  Something.  

We  try  so  hard  to  get  things  right.  We  work  so  hard  to  bring  order.  Well,  fuck  order.  Dan  Wieden,  one  of  the  great  creative  leaders  of  our  industry,  founder  of  Wieden  &  Kennedy,  one  of  the  world’s  largest  independent  ad  agencies,  has  it  right.    

Chaos  does  this  amazing  thing  that  order  can’t:  it  engages  you.  It  gets  right  in  your  face  and  with  freakish  breath  issues  a  challenge.  It  asks  stuff  of  you  order  never  will.  And  it  shows  you  stuff,  all  the  weird  shit,  that  order  tries  to  hide.  Chaos  is  the  only  thing  that  honestly  wants  you  to  grow.  The  only  friend  who  really  helps  you  be  creative.  Demands  that  you  be  creative.  –  Dan  Wieden  

Stay  foolish.  Stay  hungry.  That’s  what  Steve  Jobs  often  repeated,  quoting  the  philosophy  of  the  Whole  Earth  Catalog.  

If  it  weren’t  for  long-­‐time  client  Nike,  would  there  be  a  Wieden  &  Kennedy?  Here  is  an  agency  with  one  dominant  client  for  decades,  putting  work  before  client  relationships.  Is  that  a  factor  in  why  the  relationship  survived?  In  my  mind,  absolutely!  How  else  is  respect  maintained  across  decades  and  generations  of  managers?  

 

Fuck  it.  

I  want  to  get  down  into  the  center  of  “Fuck  it,”  because  I  really  want  to  understand  what  “Fuck  it”  means.  

I  have  a  sense  that  “Fuck  it”  means  turn  off  your  brain  for  while  and  go  with  your  instincts.  That  it  means  let  go  of  control  and  just  let  it  happen.  All  of  this  sounds  like  a  fucking  cliché’,  I  know…  

…  see,  “Fuck  It”  is  freedom.  Fuck  it  is  sunshine  and  lemonade.  Fuck  it  is  cicadas  on  a  late  summer  night.  

Sometimes  you  turn  your  brain  up  as  far  as  it  will  go  and  you  think  and  work  and  fight  your  way  to  the  solution  you  just  know  is  the  right  one.  

And  then  sometimes  you  just  do  what  you  do  and  you  say,  “Fuck  it.”  

And  the  wonderful  thing  is  that  both  ways  work!  

I’d  love  to  explain  why,  but  instead  I’m  just  going  to  say,  “Fuck  it.”  

 

Write  Shit.  

I  developed  my  “two-­‐word  cure  for  writer’s  block”  in  my  early  twenties,  when  I  was  first  starting  out  as  a  copywriter  in  advertising  and  direct  marketing  agencies.  I  knew  that  it  was  an  incredibly  competitive  industry  –  in  fact,  I  had  a  file  full  of  form  rejection  letters.  Back  then,  they  typically  concluded  with  a  phrase  such  as,  “We’ll  keep  your  resume  on  file  and,  should  a  suitable  position  become  available,  we’ll  be  sure  to  reach  out  to  you.”    

A  quarter  of  a  century  later,  a  suitable  position  still  has  not  opened  up!  That’s  how  competitive  this  business  is.  

 

I  didn’t  have  a  portfolio,  because  I  hadn’t  planned  to  go  into  advertising.  I  hadn’t  studied  advertising  or  marketing.  I  was  a  political  science  major,  a  touring  musician  and  a  sometimes  telemarketer.  I  had  no  connections  to  recommend  me.    

The  Career  Development  Office  at  my  college,  the  very  artsy,  non-­‐conformist  Purchase  College,  had  taken  me  through  a  series  of  exercises  not  unlike  the  ones  you’ll  find  in  What  Color  Is  My  Parachute  to  this  day.  

I  liked  to  hang  out  with  the  artists  and  organize  them.  I  liked  the  scientists,  thinkers  and  innovators,  and  I  wanted  to  connect  with  them.  I  loved  to  write  short,  persuasive  essays.  I  had  organized,  promoted  and  taken  bands  on  the  road,  performed  from  the  stage,  written  music  and  lyrics,  bits  and  stories,  and  sold  advertising  specialties  over  the  phone.  I  was  fascinated  by  psychologies,  ideologies,  philosophies,  and  propaganda.  

At  the  end  of  the  analysis,  they  said,  “If  you  follow  your  values,  you  will  be  a  political  or  social  communicator.    Or,  perhaps,  if  you  become  interested  in  business,  you  might  enjoy  advertising.”  

I  was  able  to  connect  with  a  few  political  professionals  working  in  New  York  City  at  the  time,  which  was  the  middle  of  the  Reagan  revolution  of  the  80s.  These  Democrats  immediately  struck  me  as  a  miserable  lot.  In  drawing  them  out  a  little,  over  the  phone,  I  quickly  drew  the  conclusion  that  they  were  hopelessly  conflicted  about  money.  They  were  angry  that  that  didn’t  have  it.  But  it  was  a  point  of  pride  with  them  not  to  pursue  it.  

Now,  you  might  say,  “How  can  you  get  all  that  from  a  phone  call.”  All  I  can  say  in  response  is  that  for  the  last  two  years  of  college  and  several  months  after,  I  had  been  working  as  a  telephone  salesman,  calling  on  a  book  of  small  business  accounts,  selling  imprinted  pens  and  other  “advertising  specialties.”  

One  either  doesn’t  last  long  in  the  job,  or  one  quickly  acquires  some  survival  instincts,  the  most  important  of  which  is  to  correctly  infer  a  great  deal  about  a  prospect  from  a  very  short  time  on  the  phone.  Otherwise,  click!    

So,  I  figured  I’d  take  a  shot  at  this  advertising.  Not  exactly  my  tribe,  I  thought,  but  at  least  I  would  be  with  cheerful  people.  This  naïve  thought  turned  out  to  be  true,  more  or  less.  

I  finally  started  as  a  $19,000  per  year  Assistant  Account  Executive  at  BBDO  Direct  in  1986.  

The  head  of  the  LA  office  came  back  to  New  York  for  a  few  months  to  relieve  my  first  boss,  who  had  been  fired,  and  to  mentor  me.  Lloyd  Kieran  taught  me  the  principles  of  account  management  and  client  service.  Having  left  his  beloved  wife  back  in  California,  he  would  meet  me  on  Saturdays  to  show  me  the  ropes,  and  even  take  me  out  to  lunch.  In  a  sea  of  insanity,  this  man  brought  standards  and  a  sturdy  manliness.  

When  our  clients  rejected  everything  our  creative  department  produced  one  too  many  times,  I  started  writing  ads  myself.  I  brought  the  first  five  ads  I  ever  wrote  to  Lloyd  and  said  something  like,  “Look  what  I  did.”  

“You  wrote  these?”  He  asked.  

“I  just  started  thinking  about  the  problem,  and  then,  yeah…  I  did.”  

“Leave  them  with  me.”  Lloyd  said,  “I’ll  give  them  a  read.”  

I  didn’t  hear  anything  about  them  for  twenty-­‐four  hours,  and  work  went  on  as  it  had  before.  Then  Lloyd  called  me  into  his  office.  He  had  a  few  things  on  his  mind,  routine  things  that  needed  to  be  followed  up  on.  He  wanted  me  to  make  sure  I  was  tough  on  a  particular  production  person  who  tended  to  slack  a  bit  on  his  follow-­‐through.    

“Don’t  let  him  off  the  hook!”  Lloyd  said  though  the  clenched  jaw  of  an  old  Marine.  

I  assured  him  I  would  do  not  such  thing.  Then  he  told  me  something  generous  and  surprising.  

“I  showed  those  ads  you  wrote  to  [the  creative  director].”  He  paused  for  just  long  enough  to  let  me  squirm  a  little.  “…  And,  anyway,  she  said  they  weren’t  bad  at  all  for  a  first  effort.  Which  is  what  I  thought.”  And  he  smiled.  

So,  I  don’t  know  if  you’re  interested  in  being  a  copywriter,  but  she  said  she’d  talk  to  her  creative  supervisors  to  see  if  they  would  be  open  to  the  idea  of  having  you.  

I  thanked  him,  and  said  I  wasn’t  sure  what  I  wanted.  I  enjoyed  being  an  account  guy.  I  had  thought  I’d  write  my  short  stories  at  night,  but  had  to  admit  I  hadn’t  written  a  word  after  work  since  I’d  started.  Maybe  I  should  take  advantage  of  this  opportunity.  

The  creative  supervisors  knew  me  as  an  avid  young  account  guy  with  an  unusual  enthusiasm  for  good  work,  and  a  bit  of  a  groupie  of  the  creative  people  who  could  produce  it.  They  also  saw  me  as  a  guy  whose  job  it  was  to  tell  them  what  to  do.  

“If  you  want  to  be  a  junior  copywriter,  you  can  be.”  Said  Eileen  Carlson,  my  first  creative  supervisor.  “But  you  can’t  tell  us  what  to  do  anymore.”  

We  both  laughed.  

 

Name  the  enemy.    

Business  books  suck.  I  wouldn’t  get  out  of  bed  to  write  a  business  book.  Business  books  are  dry,  dull,  shallow  puddles.  They  generally  take  one  idea  that  you  could  absorb  in  three  minutes  or  less  and  they  puff  it  up  with  Hamburger  Helper  until  it  reaches  the  requisite  number  of  pages  to  magically  transform  someone  from  a  typist  of  e-­‐mails  into  an  Author.    

The  things  I’ve  said  are  true.  At  least,  I  believe  they  are.  But  does  this  mean  that,  objectively,  all  business  books  suck?  Of  course  not!  Some  transcend  the  general  mediocrity.  Some  stand  out.    

But  here’s  the  thing.  Saying  they  suck  is  an  incredibly  useful  shortcut.  Not  necessarily  saying  it  publicly,  as  I’m  doing  here.  Because,  frankly,  that  is  more  likely  to  come  off  as  presumptuous  than  anything.  Who  am  I  to  announce  that  business  books  suck?  Where  is  my  great  business  book?!  No,  you  need  to  say  it  in  your  own  head,  and  in  your  internal  meetings  with  your  team.  

If  you’re  going  to  write  a  business  book,  don’t  write  a  business  book!  Because  business  books  suck!  Start  by  getting  clear  on  why  business  books  suck.  Make  a  list  of  the  mistaken  assumptions  that  most  business  book  publishers  make  and  determine  to  improve  on  them  dramatically.  

If  you’re  starting  a  restaurant,  start  out  with  this:  Most  restaurants  suck.  Ideally  get  more  specific.  Start  with  your  target  audience.  Let’s  say  it’s  families.  Then  it’s  Family  Restaurants  Suck.  Why  do  they  suck?  Do  they  have  the  wrong  idea  about  families?  They  think  they  are  all  focused  on  the  kids,  when  in  fact  it’s  the  parents  that  most  need  a  break?  They  think  that  it’s  all  about  pleasing  the  kids,  when  more  parents  want  to  manage  

the  kids  better  and  get  healthy  food  in  them?  Or  is  it  that  they  are  confused,  so  that  the  bar  is  still  filled  with  decidedly  un-­‐family-­‐like  types.  Perhaps  they  just  think  they  can  say,  “We’re  a  family  restaurant.  We  have  large  tables  and  we  have  plenty  of  food.  Come  on  by.”  There’s  no  difference  there.  They  think  all  people  want  from  a  restaurant  is  food  and  good  times.  They  don’t  realize  that  people  want  more.  They  want  a  dream,  a  club  to  belong  to,  a  reason  to  feel  smart,  a  community…    

Apple  didn’t  want  to  make  “PCs”  because  PCs  were  dense,  unimaginative  boxes.  PCs  sucked.  Apple  was  better  than  that.  The  iPhone  wasn’t  an  MP3  players.  Because  MP3  players  sucked.  There  were  search  engines  when  Google  launched,  but  they  sucked.  You  get  the  idea.  

Is  this  just  semantics  and  rhetoric,  sound  and  fury,  signifying  nothing?  

On  the  contrary,  this  is  one  of  the  most  important  things  I’ve  learned  from  the  world-­‐changing  visionary  entrepreneurs  and  leaders  I’ve  known.  This  is  what  they  do.  This  is  the  clarity  that  they  get  about  what  they’re  doing  and  what  they’re  up  against.  

If  you’re  Ben  &  Jerry,  ice  cream  companies  suck.  They  suck  because  they  lack  imagination,  creativity  and  fun.  They  suck  because  they  are  soulless  and  commercial.  And  who  wants  to  suck  on  something  soulless  and  commercial.  

If  you’re  Crunch,  gyms  suck.  Crunch  isn’t  a  gym  but  and  entertainment  destination.    

So,  here’s  your  shortcut:  

1) Name  the  enemy?  2) Determine  they  suck.  Say  it  often  and  with  conviction.  3) Get  clear  on  what  it  is  about  them  that  sucks.  4) Determine  to  do  anything  but  imitate  their  suckiness.  Don’t  just  try  to  be  better,  determine  to  be  another  thing  entirely.  

5) Rinse  and  repeat.  

One  reason  that  this  works  so  well  is  that  your  competition  will  fall  into  two  segments.  The  first  will  be  the  establishment.  The  second  will  be  all  the  other  upstarts  and  also  rans  who  are  working  as  hard  as  they  can  to  out-­‐establishment  the  establishment.  But  only  dead  fish  swim  with  the  stream.  And  sometimes  they  just  don’t  know  they  are  dead.  

As  John  Maynard  Keynes,  put  it,  “A  sound  banker,  alas!  is  not  one  who  foresees  danger  and  avoids  it,  but  one  who,  when  he  is  ruined,  is  ruined  in  a  conventional  and  orthodox  way  along  with  his  fellows,  so  that  no  one  can  really  blame  him.”  

 

Get  your  people  drunk  with  power.  

There’s  a  simple  way  to  get  your  people  drunk  with  power.  Lead  by  asking  questions.  

What  do  you  need  from  me?  What  can  I  do  to  help  you  succeed?  What  do  you  think  should  be  done  about  that?  What  do  you  need  to  succeed?  How  would  you  approach  this  if  you  have  less  money?  You  can  even  save  time  by  switching  your  questions  to  requests  for  requests.  

Just  tell  me  what  you  want  me  to  do?  What  else?  Terrific!  Now  go  and  make  it  happen.  Anything  else?  Great!  Ciao!  

Of  course,  the  ability  to  nurture  extraordinary  client-­‐agency  relationships  is  the  lifeblood  of  our  agency.  If  healthy  plants  are  the  essential  of  the  garden,  then  sunshine  must  come  first,  and  nutrient-­‐rich  soil  second.  Only  then  can  you  have  the  plant  that  bears  fruit.  

 

Begin  with  the  end  in  mind.    

We  plan  to  lose  our  clients.  Client-­‐agency  relationships  will  change  and  ultimately  end.  We  can’t  change  that.  But  we  can  have  a  huge  impact  on  the  way  they  end.  

Ted  Waitt  build  the  company  he  founded,  Gateway  computers,  with  a  little  help  from  us,  to  an  $8  billion  market  cap,  before  exiting.    

Doug  Levine  grew  Crunch  from  an  idea  to  the  number  one  urban  gym  in  America  and  a  multi-­‐media  company  in  just  12  years  (we  worked  together  for  6  of  them),  until  he  sold  for  about  $100  million.  

Tom  Civitano  worked  with  us  for  eight  years  to  make  The  Plaza  Hotel  number  one  in  the  world  in  its  class,  before  the  hotel  was  sold  for  $675  million  and  transformed  (for  the  most  part)  into  high-­‐end  condos.  

Ed  Nicoll  and  Matt  Andreson  founded  Island  ECN  and  sold  it  to  Reuters  five  years  later  for  $508  million.  Together,  with  Ed  and  CMO  Andrew  Goldman,  we  were  able  to  catch  up  to  and  pass  the  category  leader,  Instinet,  in  spite  of  their  30-­‐year  head  start,  and  become  the  new  category  leader.  

After  the  sale,  Ed  became  the  chairman  and  CEO  of  Instinet,  and  we  worked  together  to  build  value,  speed  up  the  obsolescence  of  floor  trading  at  the  New  York  Stock  Exchange,  and  ultimately  sold  for  $1.878  billion  to  NASDAQ.    

Lee  Barba  grew  Investools  from  a  seven  million  dollar  software  company  to  the  top  investor  education  and  technology-­‐driven  broker  over  eight  years,  and  sold  it  to  TD  Ameritrade  for  $660  million.  

Tom  Sosnoff  founded  thinkorswim,  built  the  fastest  growing  tech-­‐driven  broker,  merged  with  Investools  and  ultimately  sold  to  TD  Ameritrade,  becoming  one  of  the  largest  shareholders  of  the  acquiring  company.  

Even  during  these  tough  times,  DIGO  with  Ericho  Inside  continues  to  grow  and  thrive  due  to  the  network  of  relationships  we’ve  build  with  dynamic  growth  leaders  and  the  marketers  that  make  these  companies  grow.  

Have  all  of  our  relationships  ended  this  way?  Of  course  not.  One  accounting  firm  had  the  best  two  years  of  growth  when  we  worked  together,  but  then  the  partners  decided  to  cut  marketing  in  favor  of  other  priorities.  So  it  goes.  Others,  Comcast  and  Progressive  insurance,  for  example,  ultimately  became  huge  companies.  It’s  good  to  have  rich  friends.  

One  great  client,  Joseph  Park,  founder  of  Kozmo.com,  took  us  on  one  of  the  most  amazing  rides.  We  designed  one  of  the  most  famous  identities  of  the  dot  com  boom  –  it  even  became  a  fashion  badge.  We  launched  all  over  the  country.  Our  work  was  famous  and  effective.  And  then  the  financial  structure  of  the  company  crushed  the  healthy  marketing  engine  we  had  built  together  under  its  massive  weight.    

Joe  went  on  to  graduate  from  the  Harvard  Business  School,  work  for  Microsoft,  launch  a  company  and  sell  it  to  Amazon  for  $60  million,  and  launch  a  couple  of  other  companies  for  Jeff  Bezos.  Today,  he’s  our  client  again  at  BlueFly  and  Belle  &  Clive.  

Happy  beginnings  are  a  given.  But  happy  endings  must  be  earned.  

 

Have  fewer  people  to  please.    

We  don’t  look  down  on  our  brothers  and  sisters  in  large  agencies  and  giant  multinational  corporations.  We  feel  for  them.  

They  have  so  many  people  to  please,  so  many  to  manage,  so  many  to  avoid,  mollify,  satisfy,  convince  and  appease  in  order  to  get  (whatever  it  is)  to  market.  

And  we  try  to  help  the  best  of  them  out  by  building  an  island  they  can  dream  about  in  their  cubicles  or  corner  offices.  

Some  of  them  might  even  make  it  here,  but  in  our  experience,  that’s  a  very  small  percentage.  Something  seems  to  happen  to  people  in  big  places.  It’s  not  just  that  they  must  focus  the  majority  of  their  time  and  energy  on  the  wrong  people.  It’s  that  they  seem  to  forget  who  the  right  people  are.  

They  spend  so  much  time  selling  in  and  selling  up,  that  they  lose  their  feel  for  the  people  who  we  ultimately  must  sell  to  if  we  are  to  succeed.  I  mean…  people.  The  target  audience.  The  consumer.  The  User.  You  know,  the  market  in  marketing.  

If  you’re  our  kind  of  client  –  or  our  kind  of  person  -­‐-­‐  that’s  not  you.  You  want  to  have  your  finger  on  the  pulse.  You  want  us  to  be  focused  on  getting  your  finger  on  that  pulse.  You  want  us  to  make  it  the  smartest,  most  directionally  brilliant  finger  around.  

Are  you  on  such  an  island?  If  you’re  not  on  it  or  building,  then  get  moving  quickly,  before  the  piece  of  rock  you’re  on  starts  sinking.    

 

Be  a  digital  pioneer=.    

Don’t  just  do  digital.  Seize  the  opportunities  of  the  digital  age.  Test  and  measure  because  it  costs  less  to  test  than  to  fail  to  test.  Use  direct  response  results  to  inform  not  just  direct  tactics  but  the  brand.  Know  the  user  experience  –  of  the  product,  the  service,  the  website,  the  app,  the  call,  the  ad,  the  online  video,  the  social  promotion,  or  whatever  –  is  

the  most  important  thing.  Call  it  UX  or  user  experience  design  or  interacting  design  or  experience,  but  be  all  over  it.  Because  there  are  two  kinds  of  media,  those  that  are  currently  digital  and  those  that  are  about  to  be  digital.  Integrate  them  all.  Test  and  improve  the  mix.  Work  to  report  on  them  all  in  one  paid,  owned,  earned  dashboard.  Push  the  edge  of  digitalization.  Try  to  humanize  and  civilize  the  frontier  as  well.  Approach  social  from  the  advertiser’s  perspective,  from  the  public  relations  professional’s  perspective,  from  the  digital  and  direct  marketer’s  perspective  and  from  the  social  promoter’s  perspective,  without  ever  forgetting  the  members  of  the  social  communities  we  inhabit.    Be  a  pioneer.  Attract  the  next  innovation  and  then  next.  Stay  foolish,  and  hungry.  You’ll  find  it  a  lot  more  interesting  on  the  edge.  

 

Kill  Overthink  Dead.  Fast.  

Overthink  kills  momentum.  Stupid  momentum  kills  even  faster.  You  can  see  why  leaders  get  blocked.  Stop  that!  

The  answer  is  beating  in  your  chest  and  rumbling  in  your  gut  right  now.  Heck,  I  don’t  know  if  all  this  stuff  about  listening  to  your  heart  or  feeling  it  in  your  gut  is  literal  or  a  metaphor.  Much  has  been  written  by  scientists,  spiritualists,  philosophers  and  physiologists  on  this  subject.  But  no  one  has  written  the  final  word.  So,  here’s  the  @speed  word:    

We  started  a  new  project  with  Tom  Sosnoff,  the  founder  of  phenomenally  successful  electronic  broker  thinkorswim.  We  have  a  great  kick-­‐off  meeting  with  his  whole  team  of  brilliant  geeks,  genius  traders  and  some  of  the  funniest  people  in  Chicago.  Afterward,  he  writes  me  this  note:  

Ok, cool. My only words of wisdom - don't over-think this project, don't fuck it up!

Thanks!!

Now,  get  to  work.  

 

Fail  to  Succeed.  

As  I  write  this,  my  hero  Steve  Jobs  has  just  died.  I  never  met  him,  but  my  life  would  not  have  been  my  life  without  him.    

Steve  would  settle  for  nothing  less  than  trying  to  do  insanely  great  things.  Early  on,  let’s  face  it,  his  ratio  of  great-­‐to-­‐insane  things  was  quite  a  bit  lower  than  it  has  been  over  the  past  decade.  

Why  is  this?  Because  while  timing  isn’t  the  only  thing,  it  is  an  absolute  essential,  and  learning  to  predict  the  right  time  to  attempt  an  innovation  is  not  an  art  one  learns  quickly  or  easily,  if  at  all.  

So,  why  not  just  have  experienced  managers  and  leaders,  so  we  can  cut  down  on  the  mistakes  and  failures?  Because  we’d  be  cutting  down  on  our  successes  as  well.  Only  through  a  trial  by  fire  does  a  Steve  Jobs  happen.  The  failures  fuel  the  successes.    

Napoleon  said,  in  French  of  course,  “Audacity!  Audacity!  Always  Audacity!”  

In  my  own  advertising  industry,  agency  founder  Leo  Burnett  said,  “If  we  reach  for  the  stars,  at  least  we  won’t  come  up  with  a  handful  of  dirt.  

 

Deal  with  Interruption.  Manage  Distraction.  Choose!  

I  know  you  think  you  do.  

But,  if  you’re  like  almost  everyone,  most  of  your  choices  are  choiceless.  You  do  what  you  do,  which  is  not  anything  like  100%  of  what  you  think  you  do.  

I’m  not  just  talking  about  average  Joe’s  and  Jane’s.  I’m  talking  about  managers  and  leaders,  artists  and  inventors  and  CEOS  too.  It’s  the  human  condition.  Some  have  called  it  the  theory-­‐in-­‐action.  And  it’s  habitual  and  unconscious.    

Since  our  results  are  largely  the  outcomes  of  our  choices,  your  job  is  to  become  more  aware,  and  more  in  control  of  your  choices.  

Here  are  the  best  tools  I  know  of  for  making  better  use  of  your  ability  to  chose  @  speed.  

 

Craft  your  questions.  

It’s  not  hard  to  find  the  smartest  person  in  the  room.  Just  listen  for  the  best  questions.  

Take  time  and  care  to  develop  your  questions.  Think  about  what’s  most  important.  You’ll  get  better  answers.  And  more  importantly,  you’ll  get  answers  you  can  use.  

And  think  about  using  questions  to  create  engagement  in  social  and  digital  media.  Questions  are  a  great  way  to  engage,  and  the  answers  can  be  surprising  and  valuable  as  well.  

 

Excavate  your  people  theory.  

What  do  you  believe  about  people?  What  do  you  think  they  work  for?  What  motivates  them?    

You  have  a  people  theory  whether  you  know  it  or  not.  No  one  could  long  survive  in  society  without  some  operating  theory  of  what  will  work  in  interactions  with  other  people.  

When  I  was  in  college,  I  interned  at  a  psychiatric  hospital  on  the  acute  care  ward.  People  came  in  at  their  absolute  craziest.  Sometimes  they  were  truly  stark  raving  mad.  But  for  the  most  part,  these  people  were  successful  more  than  half  of  the  time  in  navigating  interactions  with  other  people.    

On  the  other  hand,  even  the  most  successful  people  don’t  have  perfect  social  records.  They  misjudge  people  or  themselves.  They  make  mistakes.  

They  too  have  people  theories  in  action.  

A  leader  should  be  as  conscious  of  his  or  her  people  theory  as  possible.  Look  for  your  patterns.  Write  stuff  down.  Question  your  assumptions.  It’s  not  easy,  but  it’s  less  painful  than  expensive  mistakes.  

 

Keep  a  tight  eye  on  rewards  and  punishments.  

It’s  rare  for  a  company  to  control  all  the  incentives  and  disincentives  for  employees.  In  advertising  agencies,  you  have  titles,  choice  assignments,  feared  projects,  recognition,  salary,  bonus,  equity  and  other  levers  you  can  pull.    

But  industry  awards,  write-­‐ups  in  the  trades,  friends  thinking  your  ad  is  cool,  big  offers  from  other  agencies…  all  of  these  are  part  of  the  employees  reward  system  as  well,  and  over  these,  you  can  exercise  little  or  no  control.  

Knowing  this  is  the  beginning  of  a  strategy.  Because  if  you  understand  what  your  employees  are  working  for,  then  you  can  understand  the  limits  of  your  own  influence.  And  act  accordingly,  saving  money,  risk  and  frustration.  

 

Celebrate  the  Messenger.  

I  don’t  shoot  the  messenger.  Ever.  

When  someone  brings  up  bad  news,  raises  a  controversial  subject,  or  just  tells  the  ugly  truth  in  a  meeting,  I  go  out  of  my  way  to  praise  the  messenger  right  there  and  then.  

I  want  to  make  an  example  of  them  for  everyone  else.  THIS  is  what  I’m  looking  for.  Honesty.  Openness.  Realness.  Challenge.  

If  you  don’t  do  this,  you  will  hear  less  and  less  of  the  truth.  And  then  where  will  you  be?  

 

“Real  Artists  Ship.”  –  Steve  Jobs  

I  would  say  something  clever  here,  but  I’m  on  deadline  with  this  book,  so  I’ll  just  let  the  master’s  words  stand,  and  move  on.  

 

Don’t  be  better.  Be  different.  

We  try  to  be  good  children.  We  have  a  report  card  of  As  and  Bs  and  one  C,  and  we  focus  on  how  to  turn  that  C  into  a  higher  grade.    

What’s  wrong  with  us?  Well,  perhaps  it  starts  with  that  question,  What’s  wrong  with  us.  A  better  question  is  what’s  different  about  us?  And  who  can  that  matter  to  and  how?  

The  stone  cold  marketing  fact  is  that  it  works  much  better  to  be  different  than  to  be  better.  

Would  you  rather  be  The  Ground  Round  or  Hooters,  assuming  business  success  were  you  key  criteria.  Let’s  face  it,  there  are  a  lot  of  restaurants  offering  greasy  fries,  dark  décor  and  lots  of  undercooked  beef.  

But  how  many  mammary-­‐themed  family  restaurant  chains  are  there?  

Different  is  memorable.  Different  is  less  expensive.  Different  is  much  more  effective.  

The  Ground  Round  went  into  bankruptcy  in  2006,  and  the  surviving  franchisee’s  took  over  from  the  dead  center.  But  they  didn’t  try  to  do  it  different,  they  just  tried  to  do  it  better.  A  2006  trade  journal  article  lauds  their  initial  success  in  building  locations  from  60  to  over  80.  Today,  they  stand  at  about  30  locations.  Their  commercials  promise  good  tasting  food  and  point  out  that  the  atmosphere  is  “never  boring.”  But  the  boring  commercials  undermine  that  claim.  

Meanwhile  Hooters  is  fast  becoming  a  global  legend  with  nearly  a  thousand  locations.  Are  they  better?  Prosperity  has  allowed  them  to  execute  better,  yes.  But,  they  only  gained  that  prosperity  by  being  different.  And  of  course,  not  merely  different,  but  different  in  a  way  that  uniquely  appeals  to  a  target  audience  worth  winning.  

The  money  we  waste  in  noble  and  foolhardy  attempts  to  be  better  is  appalling.  First  offer  a  definably  different  experience.  Then  get  better  at  being  different.  

That’s  what  people  want.  And  that’s  what  pays.  

JetBlue  has  kept  me  sitting  on  the  tarmac  for  a  total  of  12  hours  over  just  two  flights.  Yet,  they  still  get  a  fair  percentage  of  my  business.  I  like  the  different  attitude  –  which  has  admittedly  acquired  a  bit  of  a  dark  side  –  I  like  the  different  (leather)  seats,  the  direct  TV,  and  the  egalitarian  atmosphere  of  one  class  of  passenger  from  the  front  to  the  back  of  the  plane.  

JetBlue  isn’t  better  at  everything.  But  they  are  still  wonderfully  different.  

But  how  long  will  that  last?  Recently,  I  upgraded  within  a  JetBlue  flight  to  seats  with  a  bit  more  legroom.  The  seats  around  me  were  empty,  but  when  people  from  the  cheaper  seats  tried  to  move  up,  the  crew  hectored  them  to  go  back  to  their  seats.  I  got  to  enjoy  listening  to  them  talk  about  idiots  like  me  who  would  pay  for  such  a  thing.  

I  fear  JetBlue  is  bleeding  away  at  their  difference  with  a  thousand  small  cuts.  Turn  back  JetBlue,  before  it’s  too  late.  This  is  a  message  of  love  from  a  true  brand  advocate.  

 

Make  clutter  your  friend.  

It’s  mind-­‐numbing,  isn’t  it?  All  these  messages.  All  these  screens  flashing  us.  All  these  friends  and  followers.    

Consider  using  the  following  tools  to  make  clutter  your  friend:  

 

Bias  Toward  Action.  

Capture,  delegate  and  execute  action  steps.  I’m  told  that  Harvey  Weinstein  has  two  assistants  that  follow  him  everywhere  and  capture  every  single  action  step  from  every  meeting  and  conversation.    

Then  they  go  down  those  lists  and  check  of  actions  until  they  are  all  completed.  Every  day.  

Harvey  has  achieved  some  miraculous  things.  A  lot  of  miraculous  things.  In  fact  the  list  of  things  he’s  produced  on  the  Internet  Movie  Database  includes  239  titles!  And  there’s  a  lot  of  very  good  stuff  here.  In  fact,  you’ve  got  to  see  it…  so  here  goes:  

Kill Bill: Vol. 3 (producer) (announced)

2012 Django Unchained (executive producer, producer) (pre-production)

2012 Halloween III (executive producer) (pre-production)

2012 The Amityville Horror: The Lost Tapes (executive producer) (pre-production)

2011 Project Accessory (TV series) (executive producer) (pre-production)

2012 uwantme2killhim? (executive producer) (filming)

2004-2011 Project Runway (TV series) (executive producer - 101 episodes)

– Tim Gunn: Behind the Seams of Season 9 (2011) (executive producer)

– Finale Part Two (2011) (executive producer)

– Finale Part One (2011) (executive producer)

– The Finale Challenge (2011) (executive producer)

– This Is for the Birds (2011) (executive producer)

See all 101 episodes »

2011 After the Runway (TV series) (executive producer - 4 episodes)

– Tying Up the Loose Ends (2011) (executive producer)

– Designers in Stitches (2011) (executive producer)

– Let's Hear it for the Girls (2011) (executive producer)

– Project Drama (2011) (executive producer)

2011 My Week with Marilyn (producer)

2011 I Don't Know How She Does It (executive producer)

2011 Spy Kids: All the Time in the World in 4D (executive producer)

2011 Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil (executive producer)

2011 Scream 4 (executive producer)

2011 Mob Wives (TV series) (executive producer)

2010 The Fighter (executive producer)

2010 All Good Things (executive producer)

2010 The King's Speech (executive producer)

2010 Piranha (executive producer)

2010 Shanghai (executive producer)

2010 Hey Watch This (video documentary) (executive producer)

2009-2010 Models of the Runway (TV series) (executive producer - 25 episodes)

– Second Chances (2010) (executive producer)

– Should I Stay or Should I Go (2010) (executive producer)

– To Pick Me or Not to Pick Me (2010) (executive producer)

– It's a Hairy Situation (2010) (executive producer)

– Hard to Wear (2010) (executive producer)

See all 25 episodes »

2009/I Hurricane Season (executive producer)

2009 Nine (producer)

2009 Nowhere Boy (co-executive producer)

2009 The Janky Promoters (executive producer)

2009 Youth in Revolt (executive producer)

2009 Capitalism: A Love Story (documentary) (executive producer)

2009 Halloween II (executive producer)

2009 Inglourious Basterds (executive producer)

2008-2009 The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (TV series) (executive producer - 2 episodes)

– The Big Bonanza (2009) (executive producer)

– The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (2008) (executive producer)

2009 Crossing Over (executive producer)

2009 Feast III: The Happy Finish (video) (executive producer)

2008 The Reader (executive producer)

2008 The Nutty Professor (video) (producer)

2008 Pulse 3 (video) (executive producer)

2008 Killshot (executive producer)

2008 Soul Men (executive producer)

2008 The Meerkats (documentary) (executive producer)

2008 Pulse 2: Afterlife (video) (executive producer)

2008 Feast II: Sloppy Seconds (video) (executive producer)

2008 Zack and Miri Make a Porno (executive producer)

2008 The Longshots (executive producer)

2008 Unstable Fables: 3 Pigs & a Baby (executive producer)

2008 Superhero Movie (executive producer)

2008 The Promotion (executive producer)

2008 Rambo (executive producer)

2008 Hell Ride (executive producer)

2008 Fanboys (executive producer)

2007 The Great Debaters (executive producer)

2007 Awake (executive producer)

2007/I The Mist (executive producer)

2007 Rogue (executive producer)

2007 Halloween (executive producer)

2007 The Nanny Diaries (executive producer)

2007 Who's Your Caddy? (executive producer)

2007 Planet Terror (executive producer)

2007 1408 (executive producer)

2007 Death Proof (executive producer)

2007 Sicko (documentary) (executive producer)

2007 The Last Legion (executive producer)

2007 Grindhouse (executive producer)

2006 Factory Girl (executive producer)

2006 Miss Potter (executive producer)

2006 School for Scoundrels (executive producer)

2006 Breaking and Entering (executive producer)

2006/I Pulse (executive producer)

2006 Clerks II (executive producer)

2006 Scary Movie 4 (executive producer)

2006 Project Jay (TV documentary) (executive producer)

2006 Project Catwalk (TV series documentary) (executive producer)

2005/I Derailed (executive producer)

2005 Curandero (executive producer)

2005 Feast (executive producer)

2005 Venom (executive producer)

2005 The Prophecy: Forsaken (video) (executive producer)

2005 Proof (executive producer)

2005 Underclassman (executive producer)

2005 The Brothers Grimm (executive producer)

2005 An Unfinished Life (executive producer)

2005 The Great Raid (executive producer)

2005 Dracula III: Legacy (video) (executive producer)

2005 The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl 3-D (executive producer)

2005 Sin City (executive producer)

2005 Cursed (executive producer)

2004 The Aviator (executive producer)

2004 Chestnut: Hero of Central Park (executive producer)

2004 Shall We Dance (executive producer)

2004 Finding Neverland (executive producer)

2004 Fahrenheit 9/11 (documentary) (executive producer)

2004 Paper Clips (documentary) (executive producer)

2004 Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (executive producer)

2004 Ella Enchanted (executive producer)

2004 Jersey Girl (executive producer)

2004 The I Inside (executive producer)

2004 Mindhunters (co-executive producer)

2003 Cold Mountain (executive producer)

2003 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (executive producer)

2003 Bad Santa (co-executive producer)

2003 Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (co-producer - uncredited)

2003 Scary Movie 3 (executive producer)

2003 Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (executive producer)

2003 Duplex (executive producer)

2003 The Human Stain (executive producer)

2003 My Boss's Daughter (executive producer)

2003 Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over (executive producer)

2003 Ice Bound (TV movie) (executive producer)

2003 Project Greenlight 2 (TV series) (executive producer)

2002 Chicago (executive producer)

2002 Gangs of New York (producer)

2002 Equilibrium (executive producer)

2002 The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (executive producer)

2002 Waking Up in Reno (executive producer)

2002 Below (executive producer)

2002 Darkness (executive producer)

2002 Tokyo Pig (TV series) (executive producer)

2002 Spy Kids 2: Island of Lost Dreams (executive producer)

2002 Full Frontal (executive producer)

2002 Halloween: Resurrection (co-executive producer)

2002 Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (executive producer)

2002 Glory Days (TV series) (executive producer - 9 episodes)

– Clowning Glory (2002) (executive producer)

– No Guts, No Glory (2002) (executive producer)

– There Goes the Neighborhood (2002) (executive producer)

– Everybody Loves Rudy (2002) (executive producer)

– The Lost Girls (2002) (executive producer)

See all 9 episodes »

2001-2002 Project Greenlight (TV series) (executive producer - 12 episodes)

– Episode #1.12 (2002) (executive producer)

– Tragic Hour (2002) (executive producer)

– Getting the Footage You Need (2002) (executive producer)

– The Juggling Act of a Director (2002) (executive producer)

– No Guarantees (2002) (executive producer)

See all 12 episodes »

2002/I Heaven (executive producer)

2002 Only the Strong Survive (documentary) (executive producer)

2001 Kate & Leopold (executive producer)

2001 The Shipping News (executive producer)

2001/I Iris (executive producer)

2001 The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (executive producer)

2001 Impostor (co-executive producer)

2001 Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (executive producer)

2001 Zu Warriors (executive producer)

2001 The Others (executive producer)

2001 Mimic 2 (video) (executive producer)

2001 Scary Movie 2 (executive producer)

2001 Daddy and Them (executive producer)

2001 Texas Rangers (executive producer)

2001 Spy Kids (executive producer)

2000-2001 Clerks (TV series) (executive producer - 6 episodes)

– Dante and Randal and Jay and Silent Bob and a Bunch of New Characters and Lando Take Part in a Whole Bunch of Movie Parodies... (2001) (executive producer)

– Leonardo Is Caught in the Grip of an Outbreak of Randal's Imagination and Patrick Swayze Either Does or Doesn't Work in the New Pet Store (2001) (executive producer)

– Leonardo Leonardo Returns and Dante Has an Important Decision to Make (2001) (executive producer)

– The Last Episode Ever (2001) (executive producer)

– The Clipshow Wherein Dante and Randal Are Locked in the Freezer and Remember Some of the Great Moments in Their Lives (2000) (executive producer)

See all 6 episodes »

2000 Dracula 2000 (executive producer)

2000 Chocolat (executive producer)

2000 Bounce (executive producer)

2000 Malèna (producer)

2000 Backstage (documentary) (executive producer)

2000 Highlander: Endgame (executive producer)

2000 Scary Movie (executive producer)

2000 Boys and Girls (executive producer)

2000 Takedown (executive producer)

2000 The Prophecy 3: The Ascent (video) (executive producer)

2000 Reindeer Games (executive producer)

2000 Love's Labour's Lost (executive producer)

2000 Scream 3 (executive producer)

2000 About Adam (executive producer)

2000 The Crow: Salvation (executive producer)

2000 Committed (executive producer)

2000 Down to You (executive producer)

1999 The Yards (executive producer)

1999 Wasteland (TV series) (executive producer)

1999 The Cider House Rules (executive producer)

1999 Music of the Heart (executive producer)

1999 Holy Smoke (executive producer)

1999 Mansfield Park (executive producer)

1999 In Too Deep (executive producer)

1999 Outside Providence (executive producer)

1999 Teaching Mrs. Tingle (executive producer)

1999 My Life So Far (executive producer)

1999 She's All That (executive producer)

1999 Guinevere (executive producer)

1999 Allied Forces (executive producer)

1998 Playing by Heart (executive producer)

1998 Shakespeare in Love (producer)

1998 The Faculty (executive producer)

1998 B. Monkey (co-executive producer)

1998 Talk of Angels (executive producer)

1998 Little Voice (co-executive producer)

1998 Rounders (executive producer)

1998 Heaven (executive producer)

1998 54 (executive producer)

1998 Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (co-executive producer)

1998 The Mighty (executive producer)

1998 Velvet Goldmine (executive producer)

1998 Since You've Been Gone (TV movie) (executive producer)

1998 Ride (executive producer)

1998 Wide Awake (executive producer)

1998 Senseless (executive producer)

1998 Phantoms (executive producer)

1998 A Price Above Rubies (executive producer)

1998 The Prophecy II (video) (executive producer)

1997 Jackie Brown (executive producer)

1997 Scream 2 (executive producer)

1997 Good Will Hunting (executive producer)

1997 The Wings of the Dove (executive producer)

1997 Mimic (co-executive producer)

1997 Cop Land (executive producer)

1997 Air Bud (executive producer)

1997 Robinson Crusoe (executive producer)

1997 Addicted to Love (executive producer)

1997 She's So Lovely (co-executive producer)

1997 Nightwatch (executive producer)

1996/I Scream (executive producer)

1996 I'm Crazy About Iris Blond (executive producer)

1996 Victory (co-executive producer)

1996 Wishful Thinking (executive producer)

1996 The Last of the High Kings (co-executive producer)

1996 The English Patient (executive producer)

1996 The Crow: City of Angels (executive producer)

1996 I Love You, I Love You Not (executive producer)

1996 Emma (executive producer)

1996 The Pallbearer (executive producer)

1996 Flirting with Disaster (executive producer)

1996 Beautiful Girls (executive producer)

1996 Jane Eyre (co-executive producer)

1995 Restoration (co-producer)

1995 The Journey of August King (executive producer)

1995 A Month by the Lake (executive producer)

1995 The Crossing Guard (executive producer)

1995 Smoke (executive producer)

1995 Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead (executive producer)

1995 The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain (executive producer)

1995 Blue in the Face (executive producer)

1994 Prêt-à-Porter (executive producer)

1994 Pulp Fiction (co-executive producer)

1994 The Road Killers (executive producer)

1994 Mother's Boys (executive producer)

1993 The Advocate (executive producer)

1993 True Romance (executive producer)

1993 The Night We Never Met (executive producer)

1993 Map of the Human Heart (executive producer)

1993 Benefit of the Doubt (executive producer)

1992 Into the West (co-executive producer)

1992 Dust Devil (co-executive producer)

1991 The Pope Must Diet (executive producer)

1990 Crossing the Line (co-executive producer)

1990 Hardware (executive producer)

1990 Strike It Rich (executive producer)

1989 The Lemon Sisters (co-executive producer)

1989 Scandal (co-executive producer)

1986 Playing for Keeps (producer)

1985 Deep End (documentary) (producer)

1982 The Secret Policeman's Other Ball (documentary) (producer)

1981 The Burning (producer)

And  these  are  just  the  movies  and  television  shows  he’s  produced.  Not  the  companies  and  deals,  just  the  product.  

This  guy  is  a  Producer  with  a  capital  P.  If  you  want  to  have  impact,  then  take  a  page  from  Harvey  and  seek  out  action  steps  like  a  shark.  Write  them  down,  and  then  kill  every  last  one  of  them  like  Uma  Thurman  in  Kill  Bill.  

 

It’s  a  mobile  future.  

The  Mobile-­‐Centered  world  is  coming.  So  start  now.  The  growth  of  mobile  usage  will  knock  you  out  of  your  chair.  Just  think  of  it.  Every  stream  of  communication,  commerce,  payments,  incentives  –  all  of  it  –  converging  on  one  device  that  is  everywhere  the  user  is!  

We’ve  already  started  to  experience  the  ways  that  a  mobile-­‐centered  world  can  upend  successful  business  models  and  create  entirely  new  industries  with  new  winners.  

Read  all  you  can  about  this.  Register  at  digital@speed.com,  and  well  send  you  mobile@speed  as  soon  as  it’s  ready.    

 

Think  in  tribes.  

If  you  need  to  understand  and  connect  with  people  quickly,  think  tribally.    

Everyone  comes  from  somewhere,  and  often  from  multiple  somewheres.  Those  places  –  schools,  industries,  departments,  companies,  clubs,  states,  countries  –  have  cultures  and  languages  all  their  own.  So  knowing  the  tribe  can  be  the  key  to  truly  understanding  the  individual.  

When  a  Playboy  person  says  “sexy”  that’s  quite  a  different  thing  indeed  than  when  a  Victoria’s  Secret  person  says  “sexy”  and  it  different  still  than  when  a  Whole  Foods  person  says  “sexy.”    

Also  realize  that  other  people  think  in  tribes.  “Oh,  he’s  HBS  (Harvard  Business  School).”  Or,  “She’s  Wharton.”  “Classic  P&G  marketer.”  Know  that  you  will  be  judged  by  your  presumed  tribe  and  make  it  work  for  you.    

 

Tribes  You’ll  Meet  In  A  Digital  World.  

Direct  Marketers,  Web  1.0s,  Web  2.0s  and  Born  Mobiles.  

If  you  want  to  get  Digital@speed,  this  quick  essential  guide  to  the  tribes  you’ll  meet  can  serve  as  you  crib  sheet.  

Before  Web  1.0  –  the  Dot  Com  Boom  of  the  late  90s  –  direct  marketing  was  a  booming  industry.  Each  era  of  technology  development  was  accompanied  by  a  marketing  boom.  

Pre:  70s:  Mass  media  era  –  mass  marketing  boom.  

70s:  Mainframe  and  mini-­‐computers  –  direct  mail  and  early  database  marketing  

80s:  Personal  Computing,  800  numbers  –  direct  response  marketing  boom  

90s:  Networked  Computing  –  web  1.0  dot  come  boom  

2000s:  Mobile  Computing…  

The  Direct  Marketer  tribe  was  booming  before  Web  1.0.  Data  geeks,  left  brain  thinkers,  behaviorists  and  pre-­‐Freakonomics  behavioral  economists,  direct  marketers  viewed  the  unmeasured,  imprecise,  cool  club  of  “general  advertising”  as  the  enemy.  The  big  advertising  agencies  had  all  the  cache’  while  the  direct  agencies  were  increasingly  paying  for  it  all.  

Direct  marketing  was  about  selling,  offering,  testing,  measuring  and  declaring  controls  (winners)  based  on  hard  numbers.  

Then  came  the  Internet  and  some  direct  marketers  saw  that  their  time  had  come.  But…  not  so  soon.  Web  1.0  was  driven  by  a  new  generation  with  no  experience  and  little  interest  in  the  tools  of  direct  marketing.  Tech  geeks  and  young  entrepreneurs  who  saw  a  new  world  in  which  experience  was  a  misleading  negative  and  old  dogs  would  be  slow  to  learn  new  tricks  brought  a  surfing  and  browsing  mentality  to  ecommerce.    

Keep  the  friction  low  and  let  them  go,  do  and  see  what  they  want  to  do.  If  they  want  to  buy,  they’ll  buy.  If  they  want  to  register,  they’ll  register.    

Selling  was  a  dirty  word,  but  “awareness”  building  was  huge.  These  early  dot  coms  frustrated  direct  marketers  by  doing  very  little  to  make  the  most  of  their  customer  relationships,  but  they  delighted  ad  agencies  by  spending  the  better  part  of  the  hundreds  of  millions  they  were  able  to  raise  on  awareness  building  advertising  campaigns.  

Of  course,  some  of  the  most  successful  firms  of  that  era  –  the  rare  few  –  bridged  the  gap  between  the  Direct  Marketing  Tribe  and  the  Web  1.O  tribe.  AOL,  which  bridged  the  gap,  started  as  a  direct  marketing  membership  organization  and  became  a  Web  1.0  success.  

Seth  Godin,  a  direct  marketer  who  became  and  early  digital  marketer  as…XXX  at  AOL…  authored  a  prescient  book  on  direct  marketing  in  a  digital  world  in  1999  called  Permission  Marketing.  The  current  craze  for  flash  sale  sites,  for  example,  is  a  perfect  example  of  permission  marketing  at  its  intrepid  best.  

Permission  marketing  is  the  privilege  (not  the  right)  of  delivering  anticipated,  personal  and  relevant  messages  to  people  who  actually  want  to  get  them.  It  recognizes  the  new  power  of  the  best  consumers  to  ignore  marketing.  It  realizes  that  treating  people  with  respect  is  the  best  

way  to  earn  their  attention.  Pay  attention  is  a  key  phrase  here,  because  permission  marketers  understand  that.    

 

Ideas  That  Speed  Things  Up.  

Nothing  is  more  powerful  than  the  right  idea  at  the  right  time.  Here  are  some  of  the  most  useful  ideas  for  moving  things  forward.  

 

•  Positioning.  

Popularized  by  Jack  Trout  and  Al  Ries  in  the  70s,  the  concept  of  Positioning  revolutionized  the  brand  building  and  advertising  businesses.  It  has  also  been  broadly  misunderstood  and  the  challenges  of  its  application  have  still  not  been  adequately  worked  out.  

The  “position”  is  the  place  in  the  mind  that  the  brand  “owns.”  This  is  highly  abstract  thinking,  delivered  in  a  hardened-­‐reality  sort  of  tone.  Who’s  mind?  The  mind  of  the  audience.  But  they  are  many  minds,  no?  Not  for  our  purposes.  For  our  purposes,  we  must  generalize.  There  is  a  mind,  and  you  want  to  get  into  it  first.  Being  the  first  dancing  tree  isn’t  enough.  You  need  to  be  the  first  dancing  tree  in  the  mind  of  the  consumer.  If  another  brand  is  already  the  first,  well  then  you  can’t  be.  You  need  to  be  different,  or  your  just  noise.    

So,  you  can  be  the  tango  tree.  Or  the  ballet  tree.  Maybe  you’re  the  dancing  evergreen.  

It  all  works  very  well  in  a  backward-­‐looking  explanatory  way.  And  it  can  be  a  bit  tautological.  By  definition,  the  category  leader  is  the  one  that  got  into  the  mind  first.  Of  course,  companies  have  had  the  tendency  to  define  themselves  by  categories  that  they  can  be  first  in.  Trout  &  Ries  would  encourage  that,  while  many  others  would  not.  If  Apple  was  the  first  in  the  desktop  computer  category,  then  IBM  became  the  leader  in  the  PC  category.  Then  Dell  and  Gateway  rose  to  prominence  through  the  direct  channel.  Trout  &  Ries  might  say  that  these  two  companies  fought  for  ownership  of  the  Direct  PC  position  and  that  Gateway  erred  when  they  opened  Gateway  stores  and  diluted  their  positioning,  then  Dell  won.  

I’m  not  so  sure.  Positioning  is  at  its  most  useful  in  the  supermarket,  where  all  the  products  are  in  categories  on  the  shelves  and  must  compete  on  this  somewhat  even  playing  field.    

What  Gateway  and  Dell  showed  in  PCs  and  what  Enterprise  proved  in  rental  cars  is  that  changing  the  game  can  create  a  strategic  advantage  that  builds  business  to  the  point  where  the  brand  can  afford  to  be  positioned.  

The  Blue  Ocean  is  a  concept  that  can  help  make  that  happen.  

 

•  The  Blue  Ocean.  

Blue  Ocean  Strategy  is  the  title  of  a  business  book  by  W.  Chan  Kim  and  Renée  Mauborgne.  The  book  explains  how  and  why  business  leaders  should  seek  new  customers  in  fresh  and  uncontested  markets  rather  than  compete  in  old,  defined  and  contested  markets.  

The  definition  of  the  world  “markets”  is  a  rather  nuanced  one  here.    Let’s  take  our  example  of  Hooters  again.  Let’s  say  you  run  a  hamburger  chain.  You’re  not  McDonalds,  so  you’re  not  the  first  and  your  likely  not  the  leader  either.    You’re  not  Burger  King  (more  flexible  and  accommodating)  or  Wendy’s  (more  substantial).    

Burger  Chains  deliver  on  a  known  desire  for  fast,  tasty,  high  calorie  to  dollar  ratio  foods  in  family-­‐friendly  environments.  

So,  if  you’re  running  one  of  those  too,  then  you’re  in  a  Red  Ocean.  It’s  red  from  the  blood  from  all  the  competing  sharks  tearing  each  other  apart,  I  suppose.  

To  swim  out  to  a  blue  ocean  is  not  to  open  a  deli,  with  good  prices,  a  wonderfully  comprehensive  menu  and  cheap  and  cheerful  service.  You  would  be  smack  dab  in  the  middle  of  another  blue  ocean  if  you  did  that.    

So  what  if  you  kept  the  burgers,  fries  and  fast,  but  shifted  the  family  atmosphere  to  mean  not  parents  and  young  kids  but  teens,  college  students  and  adults,  and  what  if  you  added  something  else  –  cheap  and  cheerful  sexy  waitresses  with  underperforming  upper  wear?  

Well,  what  you  would  have  there  is  a  Blue  Ocean  Strategy.  

Here  we  have  another  theory  that  has  been  criticized  descriptive  rather  than  prescriptive  in  its  value,  though  at  least  one  company,  Nintendo,  has  claimed  to  achieve  successful  product  innovations  using  this  model.  

I  personally  find  the  Blue  Ocean  Strategy  process  and  great  shortcut  to  the  thinking  that  can  come  to  underlay  a  successful  positioning  strategy.  

By  charting  out  the  givens  of  the  value  propositions  within  a  known  category  –  the  Red  Ocean  –  you  have  the  basis  for  innovation.  You  have  your  Not  This.    

Now,  where  do  you  go  to  know  what  to  change?  I  say  go  to  customers,  not  to  ask  them  what  they  want  but  to  stalk  and  study  them  and  feed  the  creative  engine.  Got  to  technology  to  see  what’s  possible  now  that  just  wasn’t  before.  Go  to  creativity  and  absurdity  and  consider  what  most  people  won’t.  

 

My  Blue  Ocean  Strategy.  

Here’s  why  is  this  whole  descriptive  vs.  prescriptive  issue  is  worth  our  time  here.  Because  often  the  Blue  Oceans  are  blue  for  a  reason.  It’s  just  possible  that  nothing  much  can  live  there.  

There  are  many  successful  fast-­‐food  places,  but  the  food  all  tastes  more  or  less  the  same.  What  about  a  Shit-­‐Themed  Fast  Food  Restaurant?!  Who  is  serving  people  who  want  to  eat  food  that  tastes  like  shit,  but  who  have  limited  time  and  money?  Now  that’s  a  Blue  Ocean  Strategy  too.  But  I’m  going  to  guess  it’s  going  to  fail.    

Just  like  most  innovations  that  seemed  a  lot  more  likely  to  succeed  at  the  time.  

One  thing  seems  clear  when  you  take  a  broad  view  of  market  success.  There  is  a  great  deal  of  innovation.  And  most  of  it  ultimately  fails.    

When  something  succeeds  wildly,  it  is  copied.  Which  is  how  you  get  to  be  the  leader  of  a  category,  the  first  into  the  mind.  

That  level  of  success  looks  like  the  implementation  of  a  Blue  Ocean  Strategy  as  well.  

Many  rental  car  companies  have  failed.  Let’s  try  cheaper.  Let’s  try  nicer  cars.  Let’s  try  simpler  terms.  

Enterprise  said,  “Let’s  try  town  not  airport.  We’ll  pick  you  up  and  drop  you  off.”  This  worked  really  well.  Enterprise  is  a  Blue  Ocean  and  Positioning  success.      

A  difference  that  worked.  

Ultimately,  you  need  to  assume  a  degree  of  failure  and  test  your  way  into  a  difference  that  works.  Then  buy  an  island  in  a  blue  ocean  and  enjoy.  

That’s  my  blue  ocean  strategy.  

 

•  Brand  Direct  (or  Brand  Response)  Marketing  

Challenging  traditional  retail  industries  with  the  direct  model  has  been  a  royal  road  to  riches  at  least  since  Sears  wrote  his  first  catalogue  over  a  century  ago.  

Of  course,  every  category  has  its  problems  to  solve.    

For  Sears  it  was,  “How  do  we  get  it  there?”  The  answer  was  the  U.S.  Mail  service,  and  the  problem  was  solved  so  well  that  the  Sears  Catalogue  sold  deliverable  houses!    

For  computers,  it  was,  “But  there  are  so  many  choices.”  The  answer  was  great  telemarketers  and  great  phone  support.  Dell  and  Gateway  thrived.  Later,  the  Internet  made  things  a  bit  easier.  

In  insurance,  the  challenge  was  trusting  someone  whose  hand  you  couldn’t  shake.  Branding,  advertising  and  savings  was  the  answer.  Geico  and  Progressive  cashed  in.  

In  eyewear,  it  was,  “How  can  you  know  how  you’ll  look  in  them?”  Technology  solved  that  problem  with  virtual  try-­‐ons.  Check  out  EyeFly.  

Shoes  were  the  limit.  You  needed  to  try  on  shoes.  You  needed  to  walk  around  in  them  and  see  how  they  feel.  How  are  you  going  to  buy  that  direct?  Well,  Zappos  worked  that  out.  Free  shipping  both  ways  took  the  cost  out  of  trying  on  the  shoes.  Advances  in  fitting  took  some  of  the  cost  

out  of  free  shipping  both  ways.  And  outstanding  customer  service  promoted  trust  in  this  novel  system.  

We’ve  learned  a  lot  working  for  direct  model  businesses.  We’ve  learned,  for  example,  that  unless  your  budget  tends  toward  infinite,  you  don’t  want  to  divide  your  advertising  into  categories  of  “brand”  and  “direct.”  

Instead  you  want  brand  direct  (or  brand  response)  advertising  that  builds  the  brand  while  it  sells.  If  a  Starbucks  store  can  build  the  Starbucks  brand  while  it  sells  Starbucks  coffee,  then  your  advertising  in  whatever  medium  can  do  the  same.  

From  a  branding  point  of  view,  this  kind  of  advertising  is  about  understanding  the  experience  you  want  the  user  to  have  of  the  brand,  and  then  delivering  it.  From  a  direct  point  of  view,  it’s  about  developing,  vetting  and  testing  theories  of  response.  In  short,  why  will  people  respond  to  this  more  than  they  might  to  something  else.    What  causes  people  to  engage?  Curiosity,  doubt,  lust,  fear,  greed,  hunger,  to  prove  something  to  themselves,  to  complete  something  that  left  unresolved,  to  master  something  that  responds…  there  are  so  many.  

Which  will  work  best  for  this  target  audience  in  this  medium  at  this  time?  That’s  the  art  of  direct  response  creativity.  

 

•  The  Enemy  

We  are  nice  and  we  don’t  like  the  concept  of  enemies.  We  love  our  competition.  We  hope  they  learn  a  lot  from  our  success.  

But  the  concept  of  the  Enemy  is  an  incredibly  useful  shortcut  in  building  a  team,  a  brand  and  a  business.  

Not  just  who  or  what  are  we  for,  but  who  or  what  are  we  against.  

JetBlue  was  against  the  idea  that  everyone  on  a  plane  can’t  experience  a  little  luxury.  Crunch  was  against  the  idea  that  the  gyms  were  grim  places  for  certain  kinds  of  people  and  not  for  others.  Snapple  was  the  alternative  to  soft  drinks  from  big  corporations.    

We  think  midsized  growth  companies  hiring  big,  bloated  agencies  is  a  travesty.  If  they  are  formal,  slow,  expensive,  pitch  with  the  A-­‐Team  and  deliver  the  B-­‐Team,  then  we’re  determined  to  remain  the  opposite.  

 

•  The  Competition  

The  competition  is  not  necessarily  the  enemy,  and  it’s  not  necessarily  the  category  either.  With  Doug  Levine,  we  decided  that  Crunch  Fitness  was  more  an  entertainment  choice  than  a  gym.  The  competition  was  bars  and  TV.  Because  they  didn’t  see  it  that  way,  we  were  able  to  advertise  cheaply  and  effectively  on  the  competition.  It  worked!  

Southwest  competition  was  driving  there!  Smart.  Their  enemy  was  a  lack  of  freedom  to  travel.  

Define  your  competition  the  way  everyone  else  in  the  category  does  and  you’re  in  the  category,  which  is  the  same  is  being  in  the  soup.  Lost.  

Define  your  competition  around  the  choices  that  your  customer  or  prospect  is  really  making,  and  you’ve  got  the  basis  of  a  winning  strategy.  

 

•  The  Only:  

In  his  wonderful  book,  ZAG!  The  Number  One  Strategy  of  High-­‐Performance  Brands,  Marty  Neumeier  suggests  that  every  brand  define  its  “only”  by  answering  What?  How?  Who?  Why?  And  When?      

Here’s  an  example  of  how  this  works  for  Digital@SPEED.  

WHAT  MAKES  US  THE  ONLY?  

WHAT:  The  ONLY  book  and  digital  resource  

HOW:  with  zero  patience  for  anything  but  successful  adaptations  to  the  digital  world  

WHO:  for  ambitious  people  in  a  hurry  

WHERE:  around  the  world  

WHY:  who  want  no-­‐nonsense  short  cuts  to  success  

WHEN:  in  an  era  of  full-­‐on  digital  revolution.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Influential    

 

Steve  Jobs,  and  the  one  that  got  away.  

Marty  Staff,  our  client  at  Joseph  Abboud,  told  us  about  a  call  he’d  received  from  Steven  Jobs,  the  CEO  of  Apple.  Marty’s  company  had  their  flagship  store  in  a  prime  location  in  New  York  City,  and  Steve  was  looking  for  the  perfect  spot  for  the  first  New  York  City  Apple  Store.  And  

here’s  the  first  interesting  thing:  Jobs  didn’t  want  Joseph  Abboud’s  store,  he  wanted  the  store  next  door.  But  his  design  scheme  envisioned  using  half  of  Joseph  Abboud’s  storefront  for  his  super-­‐amazing  Apple  Store  sign.  Jobs  decided  that  this  was  something  that  he  must  have  for  Apple.  If  he  couldn’t  get  it,  then  the  whole  plan  wouldn’t  work  for  him.  It  was  all  or  nothing.  

So  the  CEO  himself  gets  on  the  phone  to  “talk”  to  CEO  Staff.  What  ensued  was  a  two-­‐hour  sellathon  during  which  Jobs  tried  everything  in  his  bag  of  tricks  to  get  Marty  to  give  up  the  storefront  to  Apple.  He  spent  a  good  part  of  the  time  on  how  perfect  the  new  sign  would  look!  At  the  end  of  the  call,  Marty  wouldn’t  and  couldn’t  give  up  half  his  valuable  storefront,  but  he  came  away  impressed  by  Job’s  salesmanship  and  commitment.  The  man  would  not  give  up.  He  wanted  the  best  for  Apple  and  he  would  do  what  he  needed  to  do  to  get  it.  

Successful  salespeople  fail  more.  This  is  precisely  because  they  pitch  more.  They  push  themselves  into  situations  only  a  great  salesperson  can  close.  That’s  why  real  sales  professionals  scoff  at  “order  takers.”  Anyone  can  take  an  order.  Selling  a  difficult  prospect  is  something  to  take  pride  in.  

 

There  are,  of  course,  other  ways  to  think  about  it.  High  Probability  Selling  takes  the  opposite  attitude.  The  world  is  full  of  prospects.  So  you  make  sure  you’re  only  spending  time  and  breath  on  people  who  are  definitely  in  the  market  for  the  solution  you’re  selling.  

Selling  at  speed  –  which  is  a  core  competency  you  need  if  you’re  growing  a  mid-­‐sized  business  -­‐-­‐  means  deciding  which  approach  to  take  in  real  time.  When,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Apple/Joseph  Abboud  Store,  there  is  only  one  in  the  world,  you’ve  got  to  go  for  it.  Turning  a  low  probability  sale  into  a  sale  is  what  it’s  all  about.  You  don’t  need  too  many  of  those  to  be  a  legend.  

For  the  rest,  remember  that  marketing  is  there  to  reduce  the  need  for  selling.  Reduce,  not  eliminate.  Selling  will  always  be  essential.  But  when  you  have  the  right  people,  the  right  product,  and  the  right  offer  at  the  right  time,  sales  pros  can  focus.  And  order  takers  can  do  their  thing  too.  

 

What  comes  first,  belief  or  behavior?  

A  lot  of  marketers  (and  a  lot  of  people)  think  it’s  perfectly  obvious:  belief  comes  first.  I  voted  for  Soandso  because  I  believe  in  her  policies.  Or  I  buy  this  because  I  believe  it’s  better.  

Well,  there’s  reason  to  turn  this  whole  paradigm  on  its  head.  People  believe  what  they  do.  People  are,  in  fact,  more  influenced  by  what  they  themselves  do  than  they  are  by  what  others  do,  say,  show  or  play.  

We  just  don’t  like  to  think  so.  We  like  to  think  that  we  gain  information  and  then  make  rational  decisions  in  our  heads,  then  delegate  the  follow  up  to  our  bodies.  

In  fact,  what  our  eyes  see  our  hands  doing  has  a  great  effect.  And  this  effect  has  been  experimentally  proven.  

 

Learn  from  Television  Preachers.  

“Word  of  Christ!  Send  money.”  I  have  actually  heard  a  huckster  by  the  name  of  Robert  Tilton  say  that  many  times.  God  I  love  to  watch  him.  I’m  endlessly  entertained  by  his  tacky  sets,  his  Texas  twang,  his  biblical  lessons  interrupted  by  alien-­‐invasion-­‐like  attacks  of  speaking  in  tongues  followed  by  the  inevitable  translation  of  God’s  will  into  a  call  for  more  money.  

“It  doesn’t  matter  if  you  don’t  have  it!  God  will  bless  you  all  the  more!”  

“I  heard  from  a  man  who  was  sleeping  in  his  car  in  the  church  parking  lot!  This  dear  man  could  not  afford  a  better  place  to  live!  He  sent  in  his  last  $150  dollars!  And  GOD  BLESSED  HIM  tenfold  with  a  $1500  inheritance!!!  He  had  faith!  Send  money!!”  

I  watch  the  golden  voiced  preachers  fill  churches  that  grow  to  the  size  of  stadium  arenas.  I  once  traveled  to  Lynchburg,  Virginia  just  to  see  Jerry  Falwell,  who  had  the  demeanor  and  attire  of  a  chairman  of  the  board,  preach  at  his  own  church  there.  

Was  I  appalled  by  some  of  what  I  heard  there  that  day?  Absolutely!  I  counted  on  it.  

But  I  am  in  love  with  the  power  of  storytelling,  and  I  heard  some  unforgettable  stories,  albeit  with  questionable  morals,  told  that  day.  

There  was,  for  example,  the  story  of  a  family  during  the  Great  Depression  that  had  fallen  on  very  hard  times.  Faithful,  churchgoing  people.  But  they  were  starving.  Literally  starving.  Things  got  so  bad  that  the  father  called  his  family  together  and  said  in  a  weak  but  firm  voice,  “If  I  die,  do  not  tell  a  soul  that  I  starved  to  death.  You  say  that  I  fell  ill.  We  can’t  allow  people  to  believe  that  God  would  allow  a  Christian  to  starve.”  

Yes,  Falwell  really  told  this  story.  And  he  followed  up  to  make  sure  the  moral  was  clear  –  if  you’re  loyal  to  God,  you  lie  for  him.  Non-­‐Christians  don’t  need  to  know  the  truth  about  the  way  God  looks  after  his  flock.  

I  wasn’t  buying,  but  I  was  surrounded  by  5000  people  and  a  TV  audience  that  were.  The  Chairman  was  a  masterful  storyteller.  

He  was  a  controversial  one  as  well.  The  church  itself  was  a  state-­‐of-­‐the-­‐art  television  studio.  I  coveted  the  Bosendorfer  piano  on  the  alter.  The  lead-­‐lined  pulpit  had  a  bullet  hole  in  it.  I  was  able  to  put  my  fingers  into  the  wound.  Heavily  armed  guards  acted  as  ushers  at  the  entrance.  This  was  the  center  of  a  battle.  Emotions  ran  high  on  both  sides  of  the  barracades.  Such  is  the  power  of  stories.  

 

Learn  from  Squidoo.  

Marketing  genius  Seth  Godin  founded  Squidoo.  This  in  itself  is  not  a  guarantee  of  success.  Godin  has  founded  many  things,  and  quite  a  few  of  them  didn’t  work  out,  as  he  freely  admits  in  his  own  bio.    

I’d  bet  on  Squidoo.  It  has  more  than  the  spark  that  Godin  brings  to  everything  he  does.  It  operates  as  the  intersection  of  several  trends  that  put  together  a  compelling  engagement  model  that  is  also  a  likely  business  model.  This  is  rare.  

On  Squidoo,  people  put  up  their  own  “lenses.”  A  lens  is  basically  a  web  page  or  site,  that  is  the  owner’s  view  of  a  situation.  

You  could  do  a  lens  about  your  love  of  a  certain  breed  of  dog.  Or  you  could  do  one  about  a  kind  of  chili  you  live.  A  recent  “Lens  of  the  week”  winner  was  about  a  man’s  childhood  memories  from  the  1940.    

Anyone  can  put  up  and  maintain  as  many  lenses  as  they  want.  In  this  sense,  Squidoo  is  not  unlike  Wordpress,  Flickr  and  other  similar  sites.  But,  there’s  an  added  incentive  and  focus  for  Squidoo  lenses  –  money.  

When  there’s  interaction  and  advertising  revenue  from  your  Squidoo  lenses,  Squidoo  splits  that  revenue  between  Squidoo,  charity  and  you.    

People  who  play  the  game  well  can  make  some  real  money.  

All  of  us  can  learn  from  the  thinking  that  went  into  Squidoo.  

 

Learn  from  Wikipedia.  

People  will  work  hard  even  when  there’s  no  money  and  little  credit  involved,  if  the  challenge  and  subject  matter  moves  them.    

Thousands  of  volunteers  around  the  world  can  keep  an  encyclopedia  up  to  date  and  accurate  enough  to  be  incredibly  useful  without  a  great  deal  of  hierarchy.  

All  of  this  can  be  led  with  a  relatively  small  team  paid  for  by  donations,  not  advertising  or  commerce.  

The  resulting  content  can  lead  search  results  in  many  categories  and  become  a  cornerstone  of  the  web.  

 

Think  Brand  Response.  

"Brand  Response"  was  coined  by  Steve  Harrison,  the  former  European  Creative  Director  of  OgilvyOne  Worldwide.    Brand  response  combines  branding  and  direct  response.    Here's  Steve's  thoughts:    "All  marketing  activity  should  proceed  from  a  brand  idea,  and  that  every  communication  should  reinforce  the  brand  idea,  while  simultaneously  driving  response."    

You  can  find  out  more  in  his  book  "How  to  Do  Better  Creative  Work."  

 

Focus  on  Results.  

This  isn’t  a  book  about  making  things  happen  faster.  This  is  a  book  optimizing  the  path  to  results.  

You  don’t  want  faster  fishing,  you  want  more,  bigger,  better  fish  sooner.  

You  don’t  want  to  see  action,  you  want  to  enjoy  results.  

You  don’t  want  busier  farmers,  you  want  a  better  yield.  

Nothing  lasts  forever.  Windows  of  opportunity  close.    

I  love  working  with  entrepreneurs,  change  agents  and  smart,  aggressive  senior  management  to  grow  world-­‐changing  organizations.  A  fact  of  life  is  that  these  same  brilliant  brands  are  too  often  sold  to  people  who  promptly  screw  them  up  or  at  least  diminish  them  significantly.  I  love  the  brands  I  work  on,  so  I  typically  walk  out  the  door  with  the  entrepreneur  –  I’ll  stay  if  there’s  someone  with  passion  and  vision  to  work  with.  But,  often,  I  just  can’t  stand  to  hang  around  and  watch  a  good  thing  go  bad.  

Snapple.  Crunch.  Gateway.  Just  a  few  from  a  much  longer  list.  I  wouldn’t  trade  these  rides,  working  hand  in  hand  with  some  of  the  greatest  entrepreneurs  of  our  time,  for  anything.  It  is  from  them  that  I  learned  much  of  what  I’m  able  to  share  in  this  book.  

 

Computers  and  Cowspots.  

Many  people  made  small  fortunes  in  the  direct-­‐to-­‐consumer  computer  boom  of  the  nineties  and  early  21’s  century.  Unfortunately  for  many  of  those  people,  the  small  fortunes  were  made  out  of  much  larger  fortunes.  

When  we  began  working  with  Ted  Waitt,  founder  of  Gateway,  his  company  and  Michael  Dell’s,  founded  in  the  same  year,  were  just  two  of  7,500  PC  direct  marketers  in  a  gold  rush  mentality.  

But  Ted  wasn’t  just  a  savvy  direct  marketer,  he  was  also  a  brilliant  brand  builder.  He  knew  the  shakeout  was  coming  long  before  others  realized  it.  While  most  people  would  just  count  their  millions  and  feel  brilliant,  Ted  had  a  small  City  to  keep  employed,  so  he  had  to  peek  around  corners  and  try  to  see  what  was  coming.  

Luckily  for  North  Sioux  City,  South  Dakota,  Ted  saw  keenly  and  knew  what  to  do.  He’s  the  guy  who  said,  “We  have  to  stand  out  in  a  way  that  anybody  can  see.  Let’s  put  cow  spots  on  the  boxes.”  

What  a  brilliant,  entrepreneurial,  brand-­‐driven  growth  move.  Frugal,  because  Gateway  already  owned  the  boxes.  They  were  what  we  call  at  DIGO,  “owned  media.”    We  counsel,  beg  and  hector  our  clients  not  to  miss  the  media  right  in  front  of  them…  the  touch-­‐points  they  own.  We  used  creative  hangtags  and  sewn  in  labels  for  Joseph  Abboud.  We  put  men  running  in  human-­‐sized  hamster  wheels  in  the  window  of  Crunch  gyms.  In  the  seatbacks  of  JetBlue  planes,  we  placed  Airplane  Yoga  and  Flying  Pilates  cards.  In  the  airport  terminals,  we  hung  punching  bags  labeled,  “Middle  Seat”  and  “Missed  Your  Flight?”  Snapple  got  messages  under  their  caps,  and  Vitamin  Water  used  the  labels  of  the  bottles  to  tell  a  unique  and  charming  story  every  time.  

What  Ted  did  was  transcend  the  limitations  of  the  direct  marketing  tribe.  He  had  a  bigger  vision.  

It’s  been  my  observation  that  what’s  great  about  human  nature  is  that  we  can  transcend  our  limitations.  What’s  perhaps  not  so  great  is  that  most  people  and  companies  don’t.  Marx  saw  history  as  proceeding  from  material  conditions  in  a  sort  of  a  “follow  the  money”  analysis.  It’s  true  that  business  model  seems  to  determine  the  strengths  and  the  limits  of  most  businesses.  But  every  day,  I  see  history  being  made  by  precisely  those  leaders  who  are  able  to  transcend  those  limitations.  

Of  all  the  limiting  factors,  the  greatest  of  all  is  probably  YOU.  

Limitations.  We  all  have  them.  And  one  of  the  greatest  sucks  on  potential  is  that  we  don’t  know  what  they  are.  You  want  to  hack  into  your  own  system,  and  see  it  for  what  it  is.  After  that,  writing  yourself  some  new  code  gets  a  lot  easier.  So  here’s  a  tool  for  looking  at  the  tribe  that  is  your  business  and  your  industry.  This,  by  the  way,  is  what  

leaders  do.  “Innovation  is  what  defines  leaders  and  sets  them  apart  from  followers.”  So  said  Steve  Jobs.  Right  again,  Steve.    

Leaders  look  at  their  own  prejudices  and  unconscious  systems,  and  they  drill  in  with  better  questions.  Once  they  have  freed  their  own  minds,  they  use  their  new  knowledge  of  the  problem  to  open  the  minds  of  others.  

So,  the  world  of  followers  is  a  Marxian  world.  People  do  as  their  business  models  dictate.  They  follow  the  money.  They  follow  the  system  that  makes  the  money  flow.  Unless  and  until  the  money  stops  flowing,  they  have  predictable  strengths  and  weakness.  They  are  limited  by  their  special  relationship  to  the  means  of  production.  

Leaders  make  all  of  that  mechanistic  thinking  a  lie.  Leaders  challenge  the  complacency  of  those  who  might  ride  the  conveyor  belt  of  life  as  predictable  extensions  of  the  machine.  And  by  doing  this,  innovative  mid-­‐market  growth  companies  are  the  primary  scrubbing  bubbles  of  capitalism.    

To  help  you  quickly  diagnose  the  situation  you  find  yourself  in,  there’s  a  list  and  descriptions  of  the  common  business  models,  all  with  their  own  ossified  cultures…  or  to  an  innovator  like  you,  opportunities:  

 

The  Direct  Model  

In  a  direct  model  company,  the  advertising  returns  the  majority  of  the  operating  revenues  to  the  company.  The  company  sells  directly  through  its  ads,  or  perhaps  drives  leads  in  this  way  to  a  sales  force  that  closes  inbound  leads.  

Direct  model  managers  often  act  is  if  they  cannot  accept  a  dollar  of  revenue  if  they  can’t  track  its  source.  Take  the  dollar!  

We  are  currently  in  the  midst  of  a  direct  model  revolution,  which  I  have  called  Direct  Model  Boom  3.O.,  but  you  can  call  it  the  second  digital  direct  boom.  The  first  direct  model  revolution  consisted  of  the  credit  and  charge  cards,  banks,  phone  services,  insurance,  cable  television,  education,  entertainment  such  as  Columbia  House  (and  before  that  the  Columbia  Record  Club),  Health  &  Beauty  Aids  and  Clubs  such  as  the  

Erno  Laszlo  collection  which  I  helped  to  build  back  at  BBDO  Direct  in  the  late  ‘80s.  Driven  by  toll-­‐free  800  numbers,  the  first  powerful  corporate  databases,  and  thinkers  such  as  Lester  Wunderman,  who  coined  the  phrase  “Direct  Marketing”  and  iconic  adman  David  Ogilvy  who  said,  “Direct  Marketing  was  always  my  secret  weapon  and  my  first  love,”  and  by  direct  marketers  that  were  so  successful  at  building  businesses  they  were  able  to  build  brands  and  service  businesses  so  large  they  could  not  afford  not  to  take  advantage  of  the  opportunities  direct  marketing  afforded.  American  Express,  Columbia  House,  The  National  Rifle  Association,  AT&T,  local  telephone.  

The  Toll-­‐Free  800  number  had  been  invented  and  available  to  business  for  decades,  but  in  the  ‘80s  advertisers  finally  figured  out  what  they  were  for.  While  there  were  many,  many  fly-­‐by-­‐night  propositions,  and  there  always  will  be  transient  blips  of  companies  that  take  advantage  of  fads  or  momentary  luck  without  ever  building  a  brand,  the  first  Direct  Model  revolution  spawned  some  great  brands,  such  as  American  Express,  Comcast  and  AT&T.  I  had  the  good  fortune  to  work  on  all  three.  

Giant  direct  marketing  agencies  grew  up  around  these  successes.  Led  by  visionaries  with  scrappy,  bright,  capable  leutenants,  and  armies  of  drone-­‐like  followers,  direct  agencies  got  no  respect  in  the  advertising  community.  They  were  simply  full  of  the  people  who  for  reasons  of  ethnicity,  public  education,  lack  of  connections,  average  looks  or  low  rent  accents  were  not  welcomed  at  the  cool  club  that  was  “general”  advertising  at  the  time.  

Direct  agencies  and  direct  marketing  revenue  powerfully  outgrew  traditional  advertising  revenue  throughout  the  80’s  (and  beyond),  so  many  of  the  people  who  were  kept  out  of  the  big  game  got  a  lot  richer  in  the  new  game.    

Direct  Mail  was  the  workhorse  in  this  boom,  and  direct  mail  further  turned  off  people  who  valued  30-­‐second  television  spots  as  the  pinnacle  of  an  advertising  creative  career.  Ultimately,  these  factories  turned  out  forests  full  of  “white  mail.”  An  agency  might  send  out  a  million  white  “number  10”  standard  envelopes  a  month.  

Print  ads,  sometimes  run  in  A/B  split  tests  where  the  publisher  would  alternate  two  or  more  ads  within  the  same  print  run  of  a  publication,  

were  a  secondary  tactic,  and  some  of  these  ads  carried  reply  coupons  as  well  as  800  numbers.    

Direct  response  television  (DRTV)  was  a  growing  field  as  well.  I  was  fortunate  to  be  a  young  creative  leader  in  the  Y&R  empire  when  Lester  Wunderman  was  still  the  active  leader  of  he  eponious  direct  marketing  agency,  at  the  time  Wunderman,  Cato,  Johnson,  a  Y  and  R  agency.  Wunderman  was  an  intense,  ingenious  and  driven  competitor.  

 

The  Judy  Wrap.  

I  was  able  to  meet  and  have  lunch  with  another  advertising  legend,  Tom  Messner,  co-­‐founder  and  chief  of  the  juggernaut  Messner,  Vetere,  Berger,  McNamee  Schmetterer  who  told  me  an  interesting  story.  

Lester  Wunderman  and  his  agency  had  pioneered  DRTV  and  built  subscriptions  for  Sports  Illustrated  with  hardworking  direct  response  television.  After  a  few  years  of  success,  the  client  was  more  than  happy  with  the  results,  but  was  hungry  to  test  a  “more  creative”  approach.  Messner  was  able  to  convince  the  client  to  let  MSVMs  develop  one  cell  of  a  three-­‐cell  test.  This  was  just  the  opening  Messner  dreamed  of  for  his  relatively  new  agency.  He  and  his  team  developed  a  classic  of  creative  direct  storytelling,  involving  a  St.  Bernard.  Messner’s  spot  delivered  the  most  subscriptions  and  won  the  test.  

The  next  year,  Messner  got  two  cells  and  Wunderman  got  one.  Lester  sprung  into  action,  went  into  his  office  and  came  out  an  innovation  in  direct  marketing,  The  Judy  Wrap.  

Like  the  Bolcheviks  who  waited  for  the  revolution  to  be  affected,  then  seized  government  with  a  relatively  small  force,  Wunderman  cut  Messners  winning  spot  from  sixty  seconds  down  to  about  45,  then  he  shot  a  five  second  opening  and  ten  second  closing  for  his  spot  –  The  Judy  Wrap.  

The  spot  now  opened  with  a  pleasant  looking  woman,  wearing  a  telephone  headset  and  addressing  the  camera,  “Hi,  I’m  Judy,”  she  said,  “You’re  about  to  see  an  important  message.  After  this  message,  I’ll  be  back  with  a  special  offer.”  

Then  the  cut  down  Messner  spot  played,  and  Judy  came  back  to  close  the  sale.  When  the  test  was  deployed  in  market,  Wunderman’s  Judy  Wrap  spot  won  handily.  A  cynical  person  might  view  it  as  a  Messner  spot  with  a  Wunderman  coating.  The  typical  advertising  creative  person  wouldn’t  have  a  thing  to  do  with  it…  how  unoriginal,  “You  mean  he  just  took  the  other  agency’s  spot  and  put  a  beginning  and  ending  on  it  that  was  just  a  talking  head?”  

But  what  it  was,  was  a  stroke  of  genius,  an  innovation  in  direct  response  television  that  prefigured  the  Home  Shopping  Network  (HSN)  and  QVC.    

And  in  this  situation,  it  was  Checkmate.  Messner  Vetere  never  again  did  work  for  Sports  Illustrated.  

 

Retail  Model  

Retail  model  companies  derive  the  bulk,  of  their  revenue  from  purchases  at  stores.    

In  the  retail  model,  the  emphasis  is  on  next  day  retail  sales.  The  stores  represent  a  very  large  investment  and  often  a  large  inventory  of  owned  media.  For  example,  Starbucks  sees  the  experience  the  customers  have  in  their  stores  as  their  primary  advertising  medium.  Starbucks  avoided  virtually  all  advertising  for  years  and  today  only  used  advertising  in  non-­‐traditional  ways  that  look  more  like  public  relations  than  traditional  advertising.  

It’s  difficult  to  get  a  retailer  to  look  beyond  ideas  that  drive  short-­‐term  sales  spikes.  The  data  flow  in  every  single  day  and  the  nervous  system  of  management  is  tied  to  the  sales  figures.  If  you  want  to  sell  a  retailer  anything,  you  need  to  first  figure  out  how  what  you’re  selling  ties  to  increasing  next  day  sales.  (Public  retailers  and  comps).  

An  entrepreneur,  Jordan  Zimmerman,  has  built  one  of  the  country’s  largest  ad  agencies  by  promising  what  he  calls  “Brandtailing.”  Zimmerman  defines  Brandtailing  as  the  science  of  driving  next  day  sales  without  undermining  the  brand.  Zimmerman  clearly  knows  this  category  and  is  putting  his  knowledge  to  work.  

 

Sales  Model  

Sales  model  companies  derive  the  bulk  of  their  revenue  from  a  sales  force.  This  could  be  an  employed  or  freelance,  in  person,  telephone  or  internet,  commissioned  or  salaried,  highly  technical  or  not.  

In  such  a  company,  most  of  the  marketing  budget  will  go  toward  incentivizing  the  sales  force.    

A  goal  of  advertising  will  be  to  please  the  sales  force,  for  example.  Generating  leads  may  be  valued,  but  closing  them  in  direct  marketing  fashion  may  be  frowned  upon,  or  worse.  

Many  companies  are  sales  model  companies  when  small.  This  can  lead  to  a  significant  crisis  as  these  companies  grow.  To  get  to  the  next  level,  the  company  should  be  advertising,  differentiating  and  building  the  brand,  but  this  is  often  threatening  to  the  sales  culture  of  the  company.    

Sales  is  also  an  extremely  creative  yet  straightforward  business.  You  can’t  motivate  strategic  or  innovation  teams  the  way  you  motivate  salespeople.  So,  the  managers  of  sales  model  companies  often  have  difficulty  transitioning  to  new  roles  managing  more  diverse  teams.  

I  had  a  client  once  who  was  charming  and  handsome  and  reasonably  bright.  It  took  me  a  while  to  realize  that  he  walked  into  every  meeting  with  our  agency  with  exactly  the  same  agenda,  which  was  to  sell  us  whatever  it  was  he  wanted  to  sell  us  that  day.  

Of  course,  we  had  things  we  needed  to  sell  him  too.  In  order  to  achieve  the  things  we  were  charged  with  achieving  for  this  head  of  sales  and  marketing,  we  needed  him  to  buy  a  strategy,  buy  a  brand  identity,  buy  some  creative  work,  buy  a  media  plan…  and  at  some  points  we  thought  we  were  doing  pretty  well.  Sometimes  he  came  into  the  meeting  and  what  he  wanted  to  sell  us  was  the  idea  that  he  was  buying  what  we  were  selling.  But,  the  next  meeting,  his  agenda  might  be  to  sell  us  on  starting  over.  Always  Be  Closing.  We  thought  we  were  in  a  conversation!  It  was  a  confusing,  difficult  situation.  Over  time,  it  began  to  dawn  on  me  that  his  measure  of  a  good  meeting  was  one  in  which  he  made  his  sale,  100%,  no  compromise.  

I  reached  out  to  some  other  folks  who  had  dealt  with  him  –  why  didn’t  I  do  that  at  the  beginning  of  the  relationship?  –  and  what  I  heard  confirmed  my  impression.  

The  only  thing  left  to  do  was  to  confront  him  with  the  disconnect  between  his  management  style  and  the  goals  that  he  had  set  for  the  team.  Based  on  our  experience,  I  wasn’t  very  optimistic  that  he  would  abandon  his  sell  or  die  approach.  

I  didn’t  want  to  embarrass  him,  so  I  asked  to  meet  him  alone  in  his  office.  When  the  time  came  to  meet,  he  insisted  that  another  member  of  his  team  be  in  the  room  for  the  conversation.  Of  course,  no  matter  what  I  tried,  he  could  not  be  sold  on  doing  the  meeting  one  to  one.  

I  had  a  stern  talk  with  myself  before  the  meeting.  I  gave  myself  one  rule:  do  not  allow  yourself  to  be  sold  anything  but  a  real  solution.  If  I  was  right  and  he  was  operating  under  an  inflexible  rule  to  sell  or  else,  we  would  be  two  trains  heading  toward  each  other  on  the  same  track.  There  would  be  a  collision,  but  at  least  the  situation  would  be  clear.    

I  made  my  pitch  for  a  different  way  of  working  together.  For  a  moment,  he  appeared  to  listen,  charming  as  always.  But  then  he  launched  into  his  pitch,  which  today  involved  selling  me  on  giving  him  back  a  relatively  small  amount  of  money  which  his  marketing  director  had  approved  for  research  and  which  had  already  been  spent.  Of  course  he  refused  to  even  engage  on  the  subject  that  he  had  agreed  the  meeting  would  be  about  and  only  wanted  to  focus  on  making  this  sale  and  gaining  my  agreement  to  return  this  money.  

“You’ve  agreed  to  the  research  in  writing  and  signed  the  contract.  You  have  approved  the  expenditure  and  mailed  the  check.  You’ve  driven  the  direction  all  over  the  map  such  that  the  research  vendor  has  spent  every  dime  and  more  in  trying  to  please  you.  I  will  always  be  fair.  But  I  am  done  with  being  more  than  fair  here.  I  have  nothing  more  to  sell  you.”  

The  six  foot-­‐four  former  Big  Ten  quarterback  exploded  out  of  his  chair,  and  paced  around  the  tight  space  of  his  small  office,  seemingly  in  a  rage.  

“That  is  outrageous.  That  is  outrageous!  Highway  robbery  is  what  it  is.”  

He  went  on  like  this,  leaning  in  from  time  to  time  in  an  intimidating  manner,  then  resuming  his  pacing  and  fuming,  he  threatened  legal  

action.  The  time  this  took  from  a  few  senior  guys  was  more  valuable  than  the  small  amount  of  money  at  issue.  

I  saw  this  finally  for  what  it  was,  one  last  attempt  to  save  the  sale  through  a  temper  tantrum.  There  is  no  doubt  this  guy  was  an  off  the  charts  successful  salesman,  but  he  was  an  impossibly  bad  manager.    

My  job  is  to  help  my  clients  succeed.  If  I  could  give  this  client  no  other  advantage,  I  would  give  him  one  final  lesson.  

This  was  one  sale  he  would  have  to  remember  failing  to  close.  

I  can’t  say  I  didn’t  enjoy  it.  

One  of  my  favorite  clients  ever  was  a  former  investment  banker.  When  we  began  working  together,  he  had  been  a  CEO  for  almost  a  decade,  and  had  been  an  “operator”  for  much  longer  than  that.  We  achieved  amazing  things  in  our  partnership  and  made  a  lot  of  people  rich  in  the  process.  The  best  piece  of  advice  this  great  client  ever  gave  me  was  to  avoid  working  with  former  investment  bankers  in  their  first  CEO  positions.  I  have  subsequently  relearned  this  lesson  through  experience.  

 

Engagement  Model  

Media  companies.  Today  they  are  in  the  business  of  creating  engagement.  Typically  they  will  then  sell  that  engagement  to  advertisers  or  sponsors.  They  tend  to  be  very  small  buyers  of  advertising  because  their  own  media  footprint  is  so  much  larger  than  anything  they  can  buy.  

The  Economist  is  a  notable  example  with  a  consistent  and  ambitious  advertising  campaign.  The  Economist  has  also  become  a  very  powerful  global  media  brand  that  is  able  to  charge  a  premium  for  content  in  a  market  where  others  have  not  been  able  to  do  the  same.  

Coincidence?  More  like  a  confluence  of  high-­‐value  target  audience,  high-­‐quality  content,  and  very  smart  leadership.  

Engagement  is  your  business.  

Study  engagement  model  businesses.  If  you  know  media  people,  get  to  know  them  better.  When  you  read  your  favorite  blog  or  site  or  paper,  read  between  the  lines  for  what  they’re  doing  to  engage  you.  

Start  today.  Start  right  now.  

Ask  yourself  what  keeps  you  reading.  Should  you  even  be  doing  this  right  now?  

If  you’ve  been  bad,  so  much  the  better!  Maybe  your  plan  was  to  work  or  exercise  or  sleep,  but  instead  you’re  doing  this.  No  doubt  at  some  point  earlier  in  the  day  you’ve  allowed  some  irresistible  gossip  with  no  redeeming  values  to  divert  you  from  the  virtuous  path  you’d  laid  for  yourself.  Terrific!  

How  did  they  do  that?  What  makes  those  headlines  so  addictive?  Start  right  there.  Right  here.  What  pulls  you  in?  What  draws  you  deeper,  holds  you  longer,    keeps  you  coming  back  for  more?  

Study,  analyze  and  learn.  Because  we’re  all  in  the  engagement  business  now.  We  can  build  webs  to  catch  our  prospects.  We  can  grow  flowers  to  attract  them.  We  can  make  sounds  that  seduce  them.  Today,  the  advertiser  is  a  publisher  as  well,  but  that’s  just  the  beginning  of  it.  We  are  engaged  in  conversations,  many  of  them  in  public.  This  is  not  an  option,  as  anyone  can  start  the  conversation  and  they  don’t  need  to  ask  our  permission  to  do  it.  

You  will  pay  your  way  into  other  people’s  content.  But  you  will  also  build  your  own.  The  later  will  be  essential  to  the  effectiveness  of  the  former.    There  isn’t  an  answer  for  how  to  do  this.  There  are  options.  And  there  is  what  has  not  yet  been  created.  

The  important  thing  is  to  engage.  Yourself.  

If  you  don’t  have  a  blog,  start  one.  Write  a  little  each  day,  and  post.  Get  a  feel  for  getting  out  there  with  your  content.  When  you  do,  each  day  you’ll  learn  a  little  something.  You’d  discover  a  new  tool.  You’ll  receive  feedback.  It  will  either  encourage  or  inform  you.  Either  way,  you’d  be  richer  for  it.  

 

Take  the  word  “brief”  seriously.    

Ernest  Hemingway  is  said  to  have  created  the  shortest  short  story  ever.  Over  lunch  at  the  legendary  Algonquin  Round  Table  in  New  York  City,  Hemingway  bet  his  writer  friends  he  could  write  a  compelling  tale  in  

only  six  words.  His  lunch  mates  happily  bet  $10  each  that  he  couldn’t  do  it.  Hemingway  scribbled  six  words  on  a  napkin,  then  passed  it  around.  Each  writer  read  the  napkin  and  immediately  conceded  Hemingway  had  won.  The  six  words:  “For  sale.  Baby  shoes.  Never  worn.”  

At  DIGO  we  could  say,  “We’ll  get  you  to  a  better  place  and  we’ll  get  you  there  quicker.”  But  we  say,  “Higher  standards.  Shorter  runways.”  

So  let’s  not  ever  make  each  other  guess  which  part  of  a  brief  is  the  important  part.  Let’s  just  include  the  important  part.  Let’s  make  sure  our  briefs  are  simple,  compelling  and  crystal  clear.  Nothing  in  an  agency  is  more  sacred.  –  From  The  DIGO  Standard.  

I  like  to  think  that  it’s  called  a  brief  for  a  reason.  This  is  not  about  “minimalism”  or  some  fetish  for  curtness.  Before  a  brief  can  be  a  tool  for  getting  the  right  creative  work  or  media  thinking  out  of  a  team,  a  brief  is  a  tool  for  getting  thoughts  focused.  Focused  thinking  is  elegant.  An  elegant  solution  is  everything  that  is  necessary  to  solve  a  problem,  and  not  one  thing  more.  Looking  at  it  from  the  other  directions,  you  want  it  as  simple  as  possible,  but  no  simpler.  

Think  problem/solution.  Question/answer.  Stimulus/response.    Just  as  listening  well  is  essential  to  communicating  effectively,  defining  the  problem  is  essential  to  creating  a  solution.  In  fact,  

 

The  Best  Way  to  Improve  a  Solution  Is  To  Improve  the  Problem.  

When  I  think  back  to  my  greatest  successes,  such  as  launching  the  AT&T  Universal  Card  to  such  success  that  AT&T’s  vaunted  telephone  operator  system  was  crashed  by  the  demand,  it’s  clear  that  my  process  starts  and  ends  with  a  powerful  imaginative  empathy.  I  see  and  feel  from  the  prospect’s  point  of  view  at  every  step  of  the  process.  But  then  I  drill  into  it  again  and  again  with  new  questions.  What  if  I  think  of  it  this  way?  What  if  I  think  about  it  that  way?  

As  a  direct  marketer  trained  under  the  disciplines  of  the  old  mail  order  and  A/B  split  greats  how  one  word  changed  can  create  an  impact  on  response  of  hundreds  of  percentage  points.  This  gives  you  a  powerful  sense  of  humility  while  it  simultaneously  shows  you  your  potential  power.  

On  the  marriage  of  AT&T,  at  the  time  the  nation’s  long  distance  phone  company,  and  a  credit  card,  naturally  everyone  was  focused  on  the  way  this  card  brought  together  two  separate  worlds  –  phoning  and  purchasing  –  for  the  first  time.  The  general  advertising  was  tagged,  “One  World.  One  Card.”  

My  team  and  I  had  played  extensively  with  this  theme  and  it  was  well  represented  in  some  of  our  work,  but  I  still  felt  there  was  room  for  something  more  powerful.  

This  was  an  era  of  annual  fees  in  credit  cards,  and  stiffer  competition  had  led  to  mailboxes  full  of  credit  card  offers,  many  of  them  with  fees  waved  for  a  year  or  more.  

The  AT&T  Universal  Card  would  be  launched  with  no  annual  fee.  I  pressed  to  see  if  AT&T  would  commit  to  an  unprecedented  “no  annual  fee  for  life”  promise  –  and  they  did!  

The  team  set  off  working  on  this  and  the  following  headline  came  across  my  desk  “First  Things  First.  It’s  Free.”  Good,  but  not  good  enough,  I  thought,  remembering  the  power  that  a  word  or  two,  more  or  less,  could  have.  I  added  two  words  and  an  unbeatable  control  package  was  born,    

“First  Things  First.  It’s  Free  for  Life.”  

So  many  people  wanted  the  first  free  for  life  credit  card  that  The  AT&  T  Universal  Card  very  quickly  became  one  of  the  most  widely  held  cards  in  the  United  States.  And  AT&T  Universal  Card  Services  went  on  to  win  a  Malcolm  Baldridge  Award  for  Quality,  the  only  national  business  award  given  by  the  President  of  the  United  States.  

I  will  always  treasure  my  front  page  of  the  Wall  Street  Journal  that  reads,  “Success  Overwhelms  AT&T!”  

thinkorswim  came  out  of  nowhere  to  become  the  cool  club  of  retail  stock  trading.  Appealing  to  options  traders,  thinkorswim  had  relatively  few  accounts  when  we  met  them  just  a  few  years  ago,  but  they  definitely  had  a  brand.  Found  Tom  Sosnoff,  a  lover  of  design  and  a  natural  promoter,  saw  to  that.  Tom  liked  to  make  money,  and  he  realized  he  needed  “marketing”  to  grow  his  business.  Not  only  that,  he’d  sold  to  Investools,  LLC,  the  phenomenally  successful  trader  education  company,  and  was  now  the  largest  stockholder  of  thinkorswim  Group,  LLC.  While  

Tom  remained  the  CEO  of  the  broker,  our  client  Lee  Barba  was  the  CEO  of  thinkorswim  Group  and  of  Investools.  The  merger  had  been  predicated  on  the  marketing  potential  of  the  combined  entity.  But  Tom  was  skeptical  of  “marketing”  and  had  blown  the  previous  agency,  the  venerable  Ogilvy,  out  after  a  few  bad  meetings.  He  wanted  successful  response  advertising  that  continued  to  build  the  quirky  and  clubby  thinkorswim  brand.  After  meeting  us,  he  said,  “I  don’t  know  if  I’ll  like  anything  you  do,  but  at  least  you’re  a  “real”  agency,  so  let  me  tell  you  about  thinkorswim.”    

Briefed,  the  first  thing  we  went  to  work  on  was  a  banner  campaign.  Thinkorswim  needed  their  first  display  ads  more  or  less  immediately  or  they  would  fail  to  seize  the  huge  opportunity  created  by  their  higher  post-­‐merger  profile.  

We  don’t  believe  in  Idea  Monogamy.  In  fact,  we  think  it’s  dangerous  to  fall  in  love  with  just  one  idea.  The  consumer  is  always  in  a  position  to  compare.  That  was  abundantly  true  even  before  the  Internet.  Today,  the  situation  is  just  sped  up  and  beefed  up  on  search  steroids.  

So,  we  plan  to  test.  We  expect  to  see  a  lot  of  ideas  internally.  We’d  rather  see  more  ideas,  real  ideas,  in  very  rough  shape  –  cocktail  napkins  will  do  –  as  early  as  possible,  then  a  few  really  finished  looking  comps.  We  say,  “We’ll  flush  a  polished  turd  just  as  fast.”  

 

Lines  are  for  crossing.  

I  have  a  two-­‐word  cure  for  writer’s  block:  Write  Shit.  

Perhaps  you  are  thinking  that  this  explains  a  lot…  well,  thanks!  

If  you’re  going  to  write  the  right  stuff,  you  must  first  get  writing.  Intentionally  writing  horrible,  awful,  inappropriate  stuff  frees  you  up  faster  than  anything.    

I  believe  in  getting  it  wrong  in  the  conference  room  so  we  can  get  it  right  in  the  marketplace.  

I  believe  in  crossing  the  lines  in  our  creative  development  and  testing  so  that  we  can  find  out  where  the  lines  really  are  in  our  results.  

Because,  you  know  what?  If  there’s  one  thing  you  can  predict  in  direct  response  testing,  it’s  that  no  one  can  predict  what  will  happen.  

I  have  succeeded  by  doing  everything  that  can  be  done  to  increase  the  odds  not  just  of  success  but  of  outsized,  phenomenal,  build  a  fortune  success.  

Higher  heights.  Shorter  runways!  

So,  we  cross  lines.  

For  thinkorswim,  one  of  the  lines  was  the  one  that  separates  attractive,  seductive,  likeable  advertising  from  blunt,  challenging,  in-­‐your-­‐face  taunting.  This  was  a  challenging  brand.  This  was  a  brand  that  made  you  feel  like  you  might  not  be  able  to  make  it  in  here.  That  you  might  not  be  smart  or  cool  enough.  I  wanted  to  test  capturing  that  in  a  banner,  and  I  wanted  to  push  it  over  the  edge,  to  see  how  far  we  could  go  before  it  would  break  down.  

So,  in  our  first  banner  test,  we  sprinkled  a  few  really,  really  challenging  banners.  One  even  impugned  the  prospect’s  “Cajones.”    

The  fact  is  that  this  banner  remains  an  unbeatable  control  over  three  years  later,  despite  month  after  month  of  new  challengers  being  deployed  by  new  owners  TD  Ameritrade,  and  through  radically  differing  marketing  conditions,  and  even  fairly  dramatic  shifts  in  the  way  the  brand  was  presented.  

If  the  target  is  a  bull,  try  waving  a  red  flag  in  his  face.  That’s  the  kind  of  thinking  that  can  be  worth  a  fortune.  

Thinkorswim  grew  to  over  70,000  accounts  while  we  worked  together,  and  they  were  the  most  valuable  customers  in  the  brokerage  industry.  Thinkorswim  ultimately  sold  to  TD  Ameritrade  for  over  $660  million  dollars.    

E-­‐Myth  Worldwide  is  the  preeminent  coach  and  trainer  to  small  business,  and  a  very  nice  company.  Founded  by  Michael  Gerber,  whose  International  bestseller,  “The  E-­‐Myth  Revisited”  has  become  a  classic,    cited  by  every  generation  of  business  gurus  since  the  late  70s,  right  up  to  The  Four  Hour  Workweek’s  Timothy  Ferris  as  one  of  the  greats.  E-­‐

Myth  lacked  a  marketing  engine  beyond  the  phenomenally  successful  book  and  one  of  the  best  consultative  sales  operations  around.  

With  the  author  aging,  and  showing  some  signs  of  competing  with  his  own  company,  it  became  essential  to  launch  a  direct  channel  for  lead  generation  STAT.  

It  was  clear  to  us  rather  quickly  that  E-­‐Myth  would  own  the  positioning  of  The  Owner’s  Coach.  Since  E-­‐Myth  Worldwide  and  perhaps  a  handful  of  others  had  launched  the  coaching  industry  in  the  early  eighties,  the  field  had  mushroomed  until  there  were  hundreds,  perhaps  thousands  of  competitors.  But  E-­‐Myth  remained  uniquely  focused  on  small  business  and  consistent  in  seeing  the  owner  as  the  key  to  both  the  trouble  with  and  the  potential  of  these  enterprises.    

My  business  partner  Lee  Goldstein  and  I  are  long-­‐term  E-­‐Myth  clients,  and  we’ve  learned  so  much  about  business  through  this  incredible,  real  world,  business  education.  E-­‐Myth  views  large  businesses  as  small  businesses  that  worked.  That  perspective  is  usually  a  very  productive  one.  

In  our  talks  with  the  E-­‐Myth’s  leaders,  it  became  clear  that  a  successful  E-­‐Myth  client  is  one  who  is  able  to  ultimately  take  responsibility  for  creating  both  the  problems  and  the  solutions  of  the  business.  An  owner  who  can’t  see  his  or  her  consistently  miserable  results  as  the  outcome  of  a  consistently  miserable  system  of  the  owner’s  creation  will  rarely  be  able  to  change  it.  

Typically,  this  doesn’t  come  up  in  the  invitation,  but  we  decided  to  test  that  line  in  advertising  by  crossing  it.  

Among  a  wide  range  of  home  page  “heroes”  we  tested  a  chiseled  plaque  that  read,  “You  Are  The  Problem.”  

Of  all  the  heroes  we  tested,  this  one  led  a  close  race  for  click-­‐through,  but  outperformed  the  next  best  by  more  than  doubling  conversions.  What  our  client  had  noticed  in  the  business  –  that  the  best  prospects  were  the  ones  who  were  willing  to  take  responsibility  –  turned  out  to  be  true  in  direct  marketing.  

E-­‐Myth  has  a  new  lead  generation  channel!  

What  kind  of  brief  leads  to  such  solutions?  Well,  a  dynamic  brief  to  be  sure.  It  needs  to  be  an  ongoing  conversation,  not  just  a  piece  of  paper.  An  evolving  brief  that  continues  to  change  even  after  it’s  approved.  Every  time  there’s  a  good  reason  to  do  so.  This  will  force  you  to  keep  the  client  engaged  in  the  conversation.  Ultimately,  better  work  comes  out  of  better  conversations.    

Don’t  believe  in  the  magic  creative  director  that  will  singlehandedly    transform  the  creative  output  of  your  shop  or  account.  This  person  doesn’t  exist.  Typically,  the  result  of  this  kind  of  thinking  is  a  kind  of  brilliance  that  can’t  be  bought.  It  will  tend  to  whither  and  die  on  the  vine.  If  the  geniuses  are  truly  geniuses,  they  will  notice  that  they  are  surrounded  by  frogs,  and  look  for  the  next  opportunity  to  make  a  hasty  exit.  Meanwhile,  you’ve  lost  time,  credibility  and  money.  Probably  worst  of  all,  you’ve  lost  momentum.  

No,  fortune-­‐changing  creativity  is  not  the  product  of  a  single  mind,  any  more  than  it  is  the  product  of  a  committee.  It’s  the  result  of  a  community  of  minds,  a  culture.  The  culture  includes  everyone.  If  the  accounting  department  uses  the  wrong  word  for  everything,  speaks  or  writes  in  bloated  sentences  with  unnecessarily  long  words,  the  work  will  suffer.  

Perhaps  you  think  I’ve  gone  over  the  edge.  You’re  thinking  that’s  not  necessarily  so.  No,  I  stand  by  it.  If  the  agency’s  invoices  are  not  clear,  crisp  and  well  designed,  if  the  receptionist  tends  to  blather  on,  if  the  literature  in  the  restroom  is  not  vigorous…  the  agency’s  work  will  suffer.  

Advertising  works.  We  think  it  doesn’t,  at  least  not  on  ourselves.  We  discount  it.  We  dismiss  it.  Like  the  invincible  doctor,  we  think  we  are  always  the  physician  and  never  the  patient.  We  fool  ourselves.  We  believe  our  own  advertising!  

Well,  we’re  wrong.  The  first  step  out  of  mediocrity  (or  through  it  if  you’re  not  quite  there  yet)  is  to  realize  that  YOU,  that  we,  that  all  of  us,  are  almost  infinitely  suggestible.  If  we  play  on  a  better  team,  we  will  be  better.  If  we  write  on  a  better-­‐designed  machine,  we’ll  have  better-­‐designed  thoughts.  If  our  briefs  are  full  of  the  sort  of  language  that  would  never  appear  in  a  self-­‐respecting  ad,  then  the  ad  is  going  to  suffer.  If  our  briefs  look  like  the  products  of  a  vast  government  bureaucracy,  then  our  work  will  look  like  the  worst  class  of  propaganda  poster,  one  

that  serves  one  purpose  and  one  purpose  only  –  to  get  bought  by  someone  who  had  the  power  to  say  “Yes.”    

 

Good  work  is  sophisticated.  Great  work  is  simple.  

So,  we  begin  boring  in  with  our  simple  questions.  Why  are  we  doing  this?  Why  are  we  advertising?  What  is  the  problem?  What  is  the  opportunity?  Who  are  we  talking  to?  What  do  we  know  about  them  that  will  help?  What  single  thought  might  change  everything  for  us?  What  supports  this  thought?  Can  you  show  me  with  a  “bad  ad?”  What  are  some  “ways  in”  or  other  ideas  we  might  consider?  

We  get  down  to  a  single  thought.  We  build  our  ad  around  that  simple,  single  thought.  I’ve  judged  a  few  award  shows.  You  see  a  lot  of  work.  You  realize  what  an  accomplishment  a  campaign  is.  You  have  to  get  a  lot  of  things  right.  Yet,  the  best  campaigns  got  there  by  leaving  things  out.  A  wonderful  discipline,  and  so  very  rare.  

 

The  One  Perspective  That  Drives  Everything.  

There  are  a  lot  of  decisions  to  make  in  building  a  brand  or  a  business.  And  there  are  even  more  opinions  about  each  of  these  decisions.  It’s  easy  to  feel  lost  and  to  let  that  sense  of  indecision  confound  and  delay  you.    

There  are  fads,  and  trends  and  even  moral  arguments  that  seem  absolutely  imperative,  at  least  in  their  time.  Things  change,  people  get  bored*,  and  you  can  start  to  think  that  there  are  no  eternal  verities,  that  changing  fashion  is  all  there  is  and  all  there  ever  will  be  to  advertising.  

Add  to  this  the  fact  that  different  forces  drive  categories  and  industries  at  the  various  stages  of  their  development.  Clearly,  there  is  no  one  answer,  no  single  set  of  values,  no  approach  that  works  best  in  every  situation.  

Except  this.  

We  must  do  our  best  in  all  things  to  see  it  from  the  user’s  point  of  view.    

Communication,  experience,  expectation,  satisfaction,  engagement,  response,  loyalty…  all  the  things  you  care  about  as  a  marketer  and  brand  builder…  are  things  that  happen  inside  of  the  prospect  or  customer.  We  must  do  our  best  in  all  things  to  see  it  from  the  user’s  point  of  view.    

The  single  quality  that  distinguishes  the  most  successful  writers,  art  directors,  creative  directors,  designers,  brand  response  problem  solvers  is  an  uncanny  imaginative  empathy  for  the  prospect’s  point  of  view.  

 

The  Charming  Party  Crashers.  

Bill  Jayme,  perhaps  the  greatest  junk  mail  copywriter  of  all  time.  Jayme  himself  didn’t  like  the  term  “direct  mail”  as  he  saw  his  mailings  as  uninvited  guests.  If  you’re  an  uninvited  guest,  the  first  thing  you  say  better  be  riveting.  

“DO  YOU  CLOSE  THE  BATHROOM  DOOR  EVEN  WHEN  YOU’RE  THE  ONLY  ONE  HOME?”  

This  was  his  classic  outer  envelope  that  launched  the  magazine  Psychology  Today.  

“THE  BO$$’$  DAUGHTER…  How  To  Keep  From  Having  To  Marry  Her.”  

In  this  classic  package,  Jayme  argues  that  only  two  routes  to  business  success  remain,  either  learn  how  to  use  a  computer  or  marry  the  bosses  daughter.  

“Celebrities…  COME  SEE  THEM  BARE  ALL.  FREE.”  

In  People  Magazine,  celebrities  really  would  bare  all…  the  details  about  their  lives.  

"Your  outer  envelope  is  the  come-­‐on,"  said  Jayme,  "the  dust  jacket  on  the  book,  the  display  window  outside  the  store,  the  hot  pants  on  the  hooker."  

"When  something  is  free,  say  it  six  ways  to  Sunday,"  advised  Jayme.  "For  example:  'Free  gift  comes  to  you  with  our  compliments  gratis—on  the  house.  It's  yours  to  keep  as  an  outright  present  without  cost  or  charge—not  a  penny!'"  

Don’t  just  tell  people.  Reassure  them.  Leave  them  with  not  a  shred  of  doubt.  Have  that  kind  of  empathy  for  people.  Care  that  much  about  your  audience.  When  you’re  talking  to  someone,  and  you  want  to  get  your  message  across,  if  you  are  even  a  normally  good  communicator,  you  will  use  a  lot  of  repetition.  But  writers  tend  to  think  that  because  they’ve  written  it,  it’s  been  communicated.  

Repeat,  reinforce,  explicate…  let  there  be  no  doubt.  

This  is  not  about  doubting  your  audience’s  intelligence.  Smart  audiences  are  skeptical  audiences.  Marketers  who  say  FREE  often  mean  anything  but  and  smart  people  know  that.  We’ve  all  been  trained  to  look  for  the  gotcha!  If  there  is  no  gotcha,  you’re  going  to  have  to  get  that  across,  as  Jayme  says,  six  ways  to  Sunday.  

There  are  moments  on  the  road  to  success  when  party  crashing  is  the  only  way  you’re  going  to  get  to  your  objective  

I  have  made  a  study  of  party  crashers,  since  I  was  a  child.  Perhaps  because  I  wasn’t  born  into  any  particularly  prosperous  party.  My  parents  were  and  are  bright,  educated,  professional  types.  But  they  were  very  young  when  I  was  born  and  we  lived  in  working  class  towns.  There  were  always  people  around  who  were  stupid  to  the  point  of  being  dangerous,  or  unstable  or  just  plain  enraged.  Having  the  courage  to  launch  out  into  that  world  every  day  was  a  point  of  pride  with  me,  before  I  even  remember  thinking  about  it.  I  guess  that’s  what  they  call  street  smarts.  You  learn  it  of  necessity.  

In  fact,  as  a  kid  I  used  to  talk  my  way  in  and  out  of  trouble,  just  to  see  if  I  could  do  it.  There  was  no  plan,  no  grand  strategy.  It  was  more  on  the  order  of  a  compulsion,  like  a  mouse  playing  with  a  cat.  I  would  take  one  or  two  or  three  volatile  toughs,  wind  them  up  to  the  point  of  violence,  then  wind  them  back  down.  Dumb.  But  good  practice    

Perhaps,  as  a  result  of  this  childhood  milieu  and  of  my  love  of  words  and  pitches  and  the  powerful  music  of  the  human  voice,  I’ve  made  a  study  my  whole  life  of  a  class  of  people  I  call  The  Party  Crashers.  

Junk  Mail  Writers.  Telemarketers.  Door-­‐to-­‐door  salesmen.  Missionaries.  Peddlers.  Beggars.  

People  who  start  off  with  a  deficit,  yet  quickly  work  their  way  up  to  even  and  ultimately  win  the  advantage…  at  least  enough  of  the  time.  

This  is  a  class  of  people  that  many  folks  have  mixed  or  negative  feelings  about.  They  are  hard  to  rebuff,  so  hard  in  fact  that  they  seem  to  have  powers  that  are  beyond  human.  People  fear  being  bewitched  by  them,  perhaps.  

But  there’s  so  much  we  can  learn  from  them,  because  these  people,  uninvited,  with  no  particular  prestige,  barge  into  situations  and  emerge  victorious.    

How  long  does  the  telemarketer  have  to  stave  off  the  click  and  dial  tone?    

How  did  the  best  door-­‐to-­‐door  salesman  get  his  foot  in  the  door?  Who  was  the  most  effective  Mormon  Missionary  ever?  What  were  his  tricks  of  the  trade?  What  about  those  tent  preachers  and  their  TV  brethren?  The  boardwalk  hawkers,  and  direct  TV  gizmo  pitchmen?  What  can  we  learn  from  them?  

 

Sins  of  Omission.    

Some  people  see  our  work  as  “edgy.”  It  blows  their  minds  when  we  show  them  how  the  work  we’re  known  for  is  the  output  of  a  scientific  method.  It  is,  in  fact,  a  ruthless  process  that  mimics  the  natural  selection  that  fuels  evolution.  

In  the  recent  past,  communicating  was  expensive.  You  had  to  pay  a  salesman,  pay  for  paper,  postage,  printing,  produce  a  TV  spot,  buy  time  or  space,  and  every  step  of  the  process  of  developing  the  material  was  labor  intensive  and  costly.  

Direct  marketers  had  to  argue  for  the  efficacy  of  A/B  splits.  And  A/B  split  is  when  you  test  two  versions  of  an  ad  or  mail  package  or  whatever  against  each  other.  Half  of  a  mailing  list  might  receive  one  package,  and  the  other  half  would  receive  the  other  package.  If  you’re  on  this  list,  which  package  you  receive  will  be  determined  by  a  random  process,  so  no  bias  can  be  introduced.  Responses  will  be  counted.  If  there  is  a  mail  in  coupon,  the  coupons  will  be  coded  to  track  which  package  was  received.  If  a  phone  number,  either  different  numbers  will  be  used  for  

each  package,  or  different  extensions.  This  continues  today  in  digital  marketing.  In  any  one  day,  half  of  the  visitors  to  a  homepage  might  see  one  message.  The  other  half  will  see  another.  Stats  will  be  tallied  on  the  behavior  of  each  and  the  results  analyzed.  

But  there’s  a  huge  difference  between  the  testing  of  today  and  the  testing  of  yesteryear.    

Adding  a  “cell”  to  a  test  in  the  old  direct  marketing  era  was  costly.  Most  marketers  tended  to  favor  an  incrementalist  approach  of  isolating  variables  to  improve  successful  pieces.  In  direct  mail  the  “control”  –  the  mail  package  that  is  the  champion  in  delivering  response  –  will  be  run  as  is  and  also  with  a  live  stamp  to  see  whether  the  “lift”  in  response  from  the  live  stamp  will  more  than  pay  for  the  added  cost.  

Cost  was  a  significant  impediment  to  testing  counterintuitive  or  “edgy”  hypotheses  about  what  might  work  better.  

Many  marketers  still  behave  as  if  testing  an  additional  cell  is  an  incredibly  costly  and  time-­‐consuming  decision.  Yet,  exactly  the  opposite  is  the  truth.  

In  digital  and  database  marketing,  in  which  search  ads,  display  banners  and  email  are  the  primary  channels,  the  incremental  cost  of  an  additional  cell  is  next  to  zero.  

This  completely  changes  the  game!  

Before,  marketers  were  careful  to  stay  within  the  bounds  of  their  best  judgment  about  what  might  work.  They  were  incredibly  risk-­‐averse.  To  test  something  that  failed  to  beat  the  control  could  be  a  disaster.  Many  influential  marketers  believed  in  pitting  agencies  against  each  other,  giving  one  cell  to  each.  The  agency  was  thought  to  be  valuable  to  the  extent  to  which  they  could  use  their  expertise  and  creativity  to  produce,  with  one  shot,  a  control-­‐busting  package.  

My  track  record  in  these  shootouts  drove  my  early  career  in  the  pre-­‐internet  era.  I  did  it  with  comparatively  bold  strokes  for  the  time,  but  it  was  a  very  different  game.  

For  example,  when  I  helped  create  the  most  successful  credit  card  launch  of  all  time  by  changing,  “First  things  first.  It’s  free.”  to  “First  things  first.  It’s  free  for  life.”  

This  made  a  huge  difference  in  response,  but  it  could  still  be  within  the  comfort  zone  of  an  incrementalist.  

It  is  as  if  you  can  see  the  lines  that  represent  the  boundaries  of  common  sense,  and  in  the  old  times  you  wanted  to  make  sure  that  you  didn’t  cross  those  lines.  

Today,  you  can  afford  to  admit  –  let  me  restate  that,  you  can’t  afford  not  to  admit  –  that  you  don’t  really  know  where  those  lines  are  and  neither  does  anyone  else.  You  need  to  find  those  lines…  by  crossing  them!  

So  if  you  think  the  brand  is  a  challenging  brand,  try  to  be  too  challenging  and  see  how  that  goes.  There’s  little  cost  and  a  lot  of  upside.  

You  need  a  hypothesis  to  test.  For  me  it  always  starts  in  psychology.  Some  people  think  in  terms  of  problem/solution,  but  I  find  it  works  well  for  me  to  think  of  desires.    

How  does  the  person  desire  to  see  himself?  Desire  to  feel?  What  are  his  aspirations?  What’s  he  afraid  of?  

Winning  hypotheses.  Options  Trading  is  a  challenging  form  of  trading,  and  thinkorswim  was  a  challenging  trader’s  cool  club  that  intimidated  even  some  of  its  members.  We  hypothesized  that  their  best  prospects  would  respond  best  not  to  a  seduction  or  to  a  rational  argument  about  what’s  better  about  thinkorswim,  but  to  a  tough  challenge.  We  suggested  that  the  audience  might  not  have  the  cojones  to  trade  on  thinkorswim  and  that  they  might  prefer  to  hide  their  money  under  their  mattress.  We  constructed  digital  banner  ads  that  said  just  that.  And  they  outperformed  everything  else  we  tried.  In  fact,  they  have  outperformed  everything  else  anyone  has  tried  for  over  three  years.  On  the  strength  of  this  discovery,  thinkorswim  grew  rapidly  and  chewed  up  marketshare.  Ultimately  the  company  was  sold  to  TD  Ameritrade  for  over  $600  million  dollars,  making  our  clients  very,  very  rich.  

There’s  a  formula  for  this.  It’s  like  our  own  e=mc  squared.  It’s  how  a  direct  agency  gets  to  stay  a  great  agency.    

 

THE  OPTIMIZERS  

 

The  Incrementalists  vs.  The  Optimizers  

There  are  two  approaches  to  business.  The  first  makes  people  feel  as  if  things  are  under  control.  The  second  is  the  closest  to  actually  being  in  control  you  can  ever  be  in  business.    

The  Incrementalists  are  satisfied  to  do  a  little  better.  The  Optimizers  are  constantly  seeking  the  optimal  level  of  improvement.  

Incrementalists  worry  about  cannibalizing  their  core  businesses.  

Optimizers  make  sure  that  if  someone  cannibalizes  their  core  business  it  is  them.  Steve  Jobs  is  a  prime  example.  iPhone  cannibalized  iPod.  iPad  challenges  MacBook.  Steve  Jobs  is  an  optimizer.    

As  I  write  this  today,  iPhone  represents  53.7%  of  the  value  of  Apple  (AAPL),  according  to  Trefis.  Macintosh  is  the  second  most  valuable  division  at  12.2%,  which  is  almost  matched  by  iPad  at  11.8%.    

iPod  today  represents  only  1.7%  of  Apple’s  value.8  

An  incrementalist  sitting  at  the  helm  of  Apple  just  five  years  ago  would  have  made  better  computers.  Steve  Jobs  saw  computers  as  consumer  products.  He  was  an  optimizer.  

I  can  tell  you  that  managers  sitting  at  other  PC  companies  who  worked  on  incremental  improvements  probably  were  more  comfortable,  at  least  for  a  time.  But,  then  the  end  came.    

Someone  else  cannibalized  their  business.  The  end.  

In  the  direct  marketing  business,  there  have  always  been  two  schools  of  thought.  Ed  Nash  was  the  CEO  of  BBDO  Direct,  the  agency  that  gave  me  my  first  job  and  first  opportunity  in  the  business.  Ed  is  the  author  of  many  editions  of  Direct  Marketing  –  Strategy-­‐Planning-­‐Execution.  Ed  talks  about  the  two  schools  of  thought  among  successful  direct  

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marketers,  which  he  names  The  Incrementalists  and  The  Fundamentalists.  He  gives  a  fair  hearing  to  both,  but  says  that  most  of  his  clients  are  incrementalists  who  would  rather  isolate  variables  and  get  small  incremental  gains.  Ed  opines  that  the  incrementalists  are  probably  right.  

There’s  a  sense  in  which  incrementalism  can  play  a  role  in  an  optimizer’s  world.  For  example,  we  sometimes  use  multivariate  testing  technology  to  test  a  wide  variety  of  creative,  messaging,  offer  and  other  variables  at  once  in  a  digital  unit,  such  as  a  banner  or  home  page  hero.  This  replicates  about  five  years  of  old  school  incremental  testing  in  about  a  week’s  time.  This  makes  sense.  Once  you  know  what  kind  of  vehicle  will  work  best  for  you,  then  you  can  tinker  with  the  styling,  the  appointments,  and  the  options.  But  under  no  circumstances  does  this  mean  that  you  should  stop  developing  and  testing  alternative  vehicles  to  challenge  your  winning  ride.  

Marketing  Evolution  has  sped  up.  The  Internet  is  the  high  radiation  event  of  direct  marketing,  making  it  cheap,  easy,  fast  and  therefore  necessary  to  test,  optimize  and  iterate  at  speed.    

But  the  context  has  changed  and,  as  a  result  of  the  low  cost  of  iterating.  

 

A  psychological  imagination.  

Relatively  costless  testing  has  freed  the  psychological  imagination.  If  you  can  imagine  it,  you  can  test  it.  Your  insight  into  the  secret  desires,  wishes,  insecurities  and  pleasures  of  your  target  audience  can  lead  to  riches.    

So,  we  don’t  just  write  to  a  brief.  We  don’t  just  create  to  a  campaign.  We  don’t  just  design  to  please  the  eye,  or  worse,  to  please  the  designer.    

We  think.  We  imagine.  We  inquire.  Ultimately,  we  develop  hypotheses.  

Here’s  the  hypotheses  behind  the  most  successful  credit  card  launch  in  history.  People  are  getting  a  lot  of  credit  card  offers.  Credit  card  companies  are  waiving  annual  fees,  for  six  months  or  a  year,  and  this  is  increasing  response.  If  we  offer  the  first  Free  for  Life  credit  card,  people  

will  feel  that  this  is  an  opportunity  that  can’t  last  and  that  they’d  better  take  advantage  of  it.  Which  is  a  big  carrot.  Plus,  there’s  no  cost.  

 

Testophobia?  

Why  do  people  fail  to  jump  for  joy  at  the  thought  of  testing?  I  know  this  feeling,  because  I  dimly  remember  feeling  that  way  myself.  I  didn’t  trust  people.  I  felt  that  no  true  art  could  be  dependent  on  the  responses  of  real  people.  That  testing  would  only  lead  to  a  lowest  common  denominator  pabulum.  And  I,  as  the  writer  and  creator,  would  be  not  the  visionary  but  the  tool.  Not  an  artist,  but  a  hack.  Not  a  writer,  but  a  secretary  taking  dictation  from  the  masses.  

Well,  it  turns  out  it’s  not  like  that  at  all.  First  off,  you  learn.  You  get  to  test  your  theories  about  what  moves  people  and  then  you  get  to  see  if  it  really  did  move  people.  Like  a  stand  up  comic  at  the  mic  night  after  night,  getting  the  feel  for  the  crowd,  your  instincts  and  timing,  your  entire  performance  is  educated  by  feedback.  And  unlike  the  feedback  of  peers,  of  authorities,  of  awards  show  judges,  this  feedback  is  one  hundred  percent  relevant.  

Like  the  Beatles  in  front  of  that  Hamburg  brothel,  playing  thirteen  hours  a  day,  their  drink  and  dinner  money  dependent  on  how  many  people  they  could  lure  into  the  club,  singing  for  your  supper  becomes  an  amazing  training  experience.  A  powerful  finishing  school.    

And  at  the  end  of  all  your  hypothesizing,  creating,  testing  and  learning,  you  begin  to  feel  perhaps  some  of  what  the  Beatles  felt,  or  what  Steve  Martin  felt.  Both  went  from  dismal  acts  to  ultimately  facing  the  problem  of  not  being  able  to  hear  themselves  over  the  roar  of  the  crowds.    

Power.  That’s  what  it  is.  The  power  that  comes  with  competence,  competence  growing  into  extraordinary  competence.  Malcolm  Gladwell  tells  us  about  the  10,000  hours,  about  research  that  shows  that  hours  of  practice  alone  determines  the  difference  in  virtuosity  among  concert  pianists,  and  that  this  same  principle  applies  to  other  endeavors  that  can  be  mastered.  

Be  a  master.  And  let  the  scientific  method,  let  testing,  let  audience  feedback  be  your  guide.  

Resist  the  siren  song  of  incrementalism.  Do  not  go  gently  into  a  sensible  hell.  The  future  is  coming.  Bring  it  or  be  brought  low  by  it.  

Incrementalists  work  on  current  products.  Optimizers  always  seek  the  best  mix  of  existing  and  new  products.  

Incrementalists  decide  what  to  spend  by  looking  at  current  resources.  Optimizers  decide  what  to  spend  by  judging  the  opportunities  and  threats  and  availability  of  capital.  

Incrementalists  want  to  make  a  good  thing  better.  Optimizers  see  a  good  thing  as  a  burning  bridge,  and  want  to  find  the  larger  opportunity.  

Incrementalists  want  to  test  one  thing  at  a  time.  Optimizers  want  to  learn  as  much  as  possible  as  quickly  as  possible.  

Incrementalists  want  to  test  independent  variables.  Optimizers  want  to  test  big  ideas  –  testable  hypotheses  –  and  generate  large  gains.  

Incrementalists  don’t  want  a  dollar  of  revenue  if  they  can’t  trace  its  origins.  Optimizers  want  every  profitable  dollar  of  revenue.  

The  incrementalist  thinks  she  knows.  The  category,  the  market,  the  competitive  set  is  a  given,  knowable,  seemingly  static  set  of  facts.  And  she  thinks  that  what  she  knows  is  more  important  than  what  she  can  imagine.  That  is,  if  she  really  thinks  about  it  at  all.  More  often  than  not,  the  incrementalist  just  dismisses  the  products  of  imagination  as  “speculative”  and  “not  real.”  “Do  you  have  any  data  to  back  that  up?”  is  a  common  question.  And  don’t  get  me  wrong  -­‐  it’s  not  a  bad  question.  But,  intuition  can  work  wonders.  Intuition  can  free  energy  to  get  ahead  of  problems  and  opportunities.  

Bill  Bowerman  didn’t  have  to  study  “the  market”  to  decide  whether  it  was  worth  his  time  to  develop  lighter  running  shoes.  He  was  a  track  coach  and  he  knew  he  wanted  them  for  his  team.  It  was  simply  a  small  imaginative  leap  that  led  him  to  think  that,  hey,  maybe  other  track  coaches  will  want  these  for  their  runners  too.  Maybe  more  runners  will  want  them.  Maybe  one  day  people  who  aren’t  even  runners  will  want  these  because  they’re  light  and  cool.  

But  that’s  the  kind  of  company  Nike  was.  When  Phil  Knight  saw  the  “Bo  Knows”  campaign,  he  decided  to  pull  all  advertising  and  marketing  

support  from  all  his  existing  product  lines  in  order  to  support  what  he  imagined  would  be  his  new  big  winner.  Gutsy.  Risky.  Totally  intuitive.  But  Phil  Knight  was  an  optimizer.  Phil  Knight  wanted  the  future  of  Nike  to  always  be  bigger  than  the  past.    

When  he  and  Bowerman  entered  the  sleepy  sneaker  market  at  tiny  bootstrappers  –  heck  Bowerman  was  pouring  the  rubber  into  molds  in  his  own  basement!  –  there  were  already  giants.  Adidas  was  one  of  them.  

What  a  change  Nike  has  brought  to  this  category!  Did  Adidas  anticipate  it?  Did  Reebok  respect  the  competitive  threat  from  a  small  unknown.  Or  did  they  pronounce  Nike  like  bike  and  chuckle  a  little  at  the  temerity  of  the  little  upstart.  

Today,  the  Adidas  corporate  headquarters  is  right  across  the  street  from  Nike’s  headquarters  in  Beaverton,  Oregon.  More  than  a  decade  ago,  Adidas  finally  threw  in  the  towel  and  began  to  take  Nike  more  than  seriously.  They  decided  that  the  quickest  way  to  get  back  into  competition  in  the  category  was  to  get  into  Nike’s  draft.  To  learn  from  what  they  do.  To  recruit  their  people.  To  model  themselves  on  the  upstart  giant.  And,  or  course,  to  look  for  opportunities  that  Nike  is  now,  perhaps,  too  big  to  seize.  

The  optimizer  is  imagination  turned  up  to  eleven.  Imagining  the  possibilities.  Extrapolating  a  little  knowledge  of  the  present  into  possible  scenarios  for  the  future.  The  optimizer  doesn’t  have  to  see  it  coming  to  prepare  against  it.    

 

Use  Your  Strength.  

My  last  “boss,”  Richard  Kirshenbaum,  is  one  of  my  heroes.  While  I  am  often  thoughtful  and  unfocused  as  if  existing  in  a  dimension  without  time,  Richard  is  Mr.  Next!    

“Just  show  me  what  you  want  me  to  see.”  

“I  know  what  you  want.  Let  me  tell  you.”  

“You  don’t  need  to  set  it  up,  just  show  it  to  me.”  

“What  do  you  want  me  to  do?”  “O.K.,  I’ll  do  that  then.”  

Even  when  the  issue  was  grave,  Richard  seemed  under  self-­‐imposed  pressure  to  solve  it  very  quickly,  and  when  solutions  didn’t  come  quickly,  he  would  become  quite  frustrated.  I  was,  and  still  am,  blown  away  by  his  ability  to  delegate,  and  to  allow  himself  to  be  delegated  to  –  really  by  his  trust  in  his  people.  

Those  of  us  who  worked  for  Richard,  directly  for  Richard,  felt  enormous  power.  Only  those  who  expected  total  autonomy  were  not  inspired  by  the  enormous  responsibility  and  authority  Richard  could  delegate.  The  thing  is  that  he  didn’t  seem  to  fear  confrontation.  So  if  things  went  off  the  rails,  he  had  no  trouble  getting  right  in  there  and  negotiating  his  way  out  of  whatever  the  trouble  was.  

We  had  a  particular  client.  A  broker.  We  did  some  terrific  work  for  this  broker,  and  then  the  client  started  to  micromanage  the  creative  work  and  suddenly  it  wasn’t  so  terrific  any  more.    

“Just  do  your  best  with  it,”  Richard  told  me.  “My  father  taught  me,”  He  quoted  his  father,  a  successful  businessman,  quite  a  lot,  “that  there  are  times  when  you  are  in  a  weak  position  in  business  and  there  are  times  when  you  are  in  a  strong  position.  Right  now,  we’re  weak.  When  we’re  in  a  stronger  position,  we’ll  deal  with  this.”  

A  couple  of  months  later,  we  won  a  large  account.  Richard  called  the  difficult  client  into  his  office.    

“We  done  some  good  work  together  in  the  past,  but  now  we  don’t  like  the  work  we’re  producing  together.  My  name  is  on  it  too,  so  I  have  to  feel  good  about  it.  Why  don’t  we  just  part  friends?”  

That  was  it.  Problem  solved.  God,  I  loved  that  man  that  day.  I  had  never  seen  anything  like  that  ever  in  my  life.  The  man  had  standards.  What’s  more,  the  man  had  balls  of  steel.  

 

Know  What  Not  To  Do.  

Educated  managers  love  “best  practices.”  If  you  were  to  grill  them  with  questions  until  all  that  was  left  was  their  essence,  you  would  easily  see  that  their  formula  for  success  is  to  do  what  other  companies  do,  but  to  just  do  all  of  it  better.  

This  is  slow  suicide.  

Do  they  think  that  this  is  what  they  believe?  Probably  not.  Do  they  have  ideas  for  doing  things  differently?  Many  of  them  do.                

But  in  practice,  the  many-­‐tentacled  monster  of  “excellence”  strangles  the  good  things  they  try  to  do.  It’s  a  voracious  beast  that  can  never  be  sated.  Because,  no  matter  the  size  or  wealth  of  your  business,  you  will  never  have  the  resources  to  be  better  than  the  competition  at  everything.  Not  even  close!          

So,  don’t  try.  In  fact,  see  how  far  you  can  push  your  culture  and  your  decisions  in  the  other  direction.  See  how  focused  you  can  be  about  make  your  points  of  different  as  different  as  possible,  while  either  discontinuing  or  under-­‐attending  to  everything  else.  

Crunch  competed  as  entertainment.  They  needed  models  on  the  floor.  They  didn’t  necessarily  need  a  working  sauna.  

 

Don’t  Fix  The  Sauna:  The  Crunch  Fitness  Story  

Have  a  strategy.    Otherwise  you’ll  waste  time  fixing  problems  that  shouldn’t  be  fixed,  and  the  fixes  could  break  your  business.  

Client  Doug  Levine,  founder  of  Crunch  brilliantly  exemplified  this  principle.  Levine  realized  that  the  great  threat  to  the  Crunch  franchise  was  the  short  lifecycle  of  a  "hot"  gym.    Typically,  a  new  gym  that  plays  its  cards  right  will  get  hot  by  attracting  a  young,  sexy,  looks-­‐good-­‐in-­‐the-­‐locker-­‐room  clientele.  Crunch  did  this  better  than  anyone.  

So  far  so  good.  Next,  of  course,  the  now  hot  gym  will  work  hard  to  retain  

those  members.  This  is  all  too  easy.  Within  a  decade  or  so,  the  locker  room  becomes  a  landscape  of  horrors.  Young,  hip,  sexy  types  defect  to  a  new  gym  brand  and  anoint  it  as  the  cool  place  to  be.    The  once  hot  gym  ends  up  playing  a  losing  game,  catering  to  its  aging,  sagging  and  shrinking  target  audience.  

Levine  determined  that  Crunch  would  never  be  a  comfortable  place  to  age.  As  soon  as  a  member  started  to  care  as  much  about  whether  the  sauna  actually  worked  as  he  or  she  did  about  how  many  models  were  on  

the  treadmills,  his  or  her  interest  in  Crunch  would  begin  to  wane.    After  thirty-­‐five,  only  the  hardcore  had  yet  to  move  on.  

To  most  marketers,  this  would  have  looked  like  a  problem  to  be  solved.  To  the  genius  with  a  strategy  behind  the  phenomenal  success  of  Crunch  Fitness,  it  was  just  perfect.  

 

Don’t  follow  marketing  best  practices.  Invest  them.    

If  you  want  to  run  a  first  class  marketing  organization,  benchmark  against  the  category  leader.  Right?    

Wrong.    

Look  at  your  category  and  you’re  likely  to  see  this  common  landscape:  A  market-­‐  share  leader  whose  marketing  is  effective  and  probably  conservative;  a  host  of  other  players  who  more  or  less  imitate  the  marketing  tactics  of  the  market  leader;  and  then,  maybe,  one  “challenger”  who  is  the  “idea  leader”  in  the  category.    

Time  and  the  market  have  proven  that  these  idea  leaders  frequently  become  share  leaders.  Look  at  Charles  Schwab  in  the  brokerage  category.  Or  Southwest  and  JetBlue  among  airlines.    

The  idea  leader  road  is  not  for  the  faint  of  heart,  but  it’s  more  like  to  succeed  than  shadow  marketing  the  share  leader.  Besides,  it’s  a  lot  more  fun.    

 

7  Habits  of  Highly  Affected  People.  

Great  brands  are  like  great  individuals.    Authentic.    Idiosyncratic.  Unique.      

But  most  brands,  like  most  people,  fall  into  bad  habits.  And  the  bad  habits  cost  them  dearly.  To  help  you  avoid  them,  here  are  the  Seven  Habits  of  Highly  Affected  People.  

 

1) Trying  to  be  cool.    The  coolest  clients  never  brief  in  “cool.”    They  focus  on  relevance.  

2) Falling  into  The  Aspiration  Trap.      Usually,  you’re  not  the  target  audience.  Neither  is  your  Hamptons-­‐  dwelling  agency  head.  Remember:  It’s  about  the  target’s  aspirations,  not  yours.    

3) Briefing  from  the  Trend  Report.    Great  brands  create  trends.  4) Management  Fads.      Quality  is  not  job  one!    Professional  management  has  buckets  of  specialized  concepts.    They  don’t  belong  in  great  advertising,  even  to  professional  managers.  

5) Believing:  “You  don’t  get  it  because  you’re  not  the  target.”    Your  job  is  to  get  it  or  you  shouldn’t  be  signing  off.    Period.  

6) Wishful  Thinking.      Advertising  can  be  a  tool  for  leadership.  More  often  it  is  a  reflection  of  corporate  denial.  Advertise  the  target’s  wish,  not  the  company’s.  

7) Mistake  execution  for  ideas.    It’s  easy  to  fall  in  love  with  something  beautiful,  novel,  funny,  poetic,  witty  or  profound.    Do  fall  in  love.    But  first  make  sure  there’s  a  powerful,  convincing  idea  in  the  middle  of  all  that  artistry.    If  you’re  in  the  right  sort  of  place,  your  job  depends  on  it.    

Most  brands  have  fallen  into  one  or  more  of  these  habits.    That’s  why  great  brand  change  agents  will  always  be  busy.    

 

 “The  Simplest  Brief”  

We  had  a  new  client  in  here  recently,  who  asked  us  a  brilliant  question.  

“How  do  you  do  what  you  do?”  

He  elaborated,  “I  see  all  of  these  bright,  strategically  sharp  solutions.  My  question  is  –  what  is  the  process  you  go  through  to  get  to  them?    How  do  you  do  it?    What  WORKS?”  

Isn’t  this  the  question  we  should  all  be  asking  a  lot  more  than  we  do?      

I  told  him  about  the  work  I  had  done  on  briefs  and  briefing  early  in  my  career.    I  had  started  by  choosing  the  clearest  and  most  effective  

campaigns,  then  found  ways  to  get  my  hands  on  the  original  creative  briefs  behind  them.  I  summarized  my  findings:  

 

  “The  simplest  brief.”  

 “I  found  that  the  briefs  behind  the  best  work  were  always  the  simplest.  Short  words.    Short  sentences.”  

“Good.”  He  said,  and  shot  out  the  simplest,  clearest  brief  we’ve  ever  heard,  just  two  simple  sentences.  

Then  he  disappeared  for  five  weeks,  came  back  with  his  team,  and  they  bought  everything.    That’s  the  power  of  a  simple  brief  and  a  brilliant  question.  

 

Bonfire  of  the  Cliché’s.  

Clichés.  Hoary  old  ideas  that  won’t  die.    Every  category  has  them,  along  with  marketers  to  whom  they  are  sweet  music  and  the  be  all  and  end  all  of  “what  works.”    But  what  happens  when  all  the  old  ideas  stop  working  so  well?    Or  when  your  great  idea  has  been  so  widely  copied  that  it’s  not  YOUR  idea  any  more?    Or  what  if  you  are  just  one  of  those  daring  marketers  who  aims  for  something  more  than  cliché  results?    How  do  you  get  people  to  go  along?  

Try  a  Ritual  Burning  of  The  Clichés.    Call  your  team  together,  including  your  agency  partner  or  partners.    Ask  everyone  to  bring  their  best  examples  of  category  creative.    Together,  brainstorm  an  extensive  list  of  cliché’s.    From  “free  toaster”  to  skinny  model,  every  category  has  them.  

Once  you  have  the  list,  your  team  may  find  it  very  satisfying  to  actually  burn  something.    It  could  be  the  whole  pile  of  clichés  or  just  the  worst  of  the  bunch.    Keep  a  fire  extinguisher  handy.  But  nothing  shows  the  group’s  commitment  to  inventing  a  better  way  like  a  little  fire!  

 

How  do  I  get  my  management  to  support  change?  

Look  at  other  people’s  advertising.    Look  at  other  people’s  cases.    Resistance  evaporates  when  you  stop  talking  about  your  own  category  and  brand.  

Be  a  Firestarter.  

Creating  marketing  success  is  a  lot  like  starting  a  fire.  A  generous  budget  can  feel  like  an  endless  supply  of  lighter  fluid.    As  long  as  you  can  keep  pouring,  the  fire  is  going  to  stay  lit.  

But  what  happens  when  your  supply  gets  cut?    Well,  then  it  pays  to  learn  a  few  lessons  from  the  folks  who  start  fires  from  the  marketing  equivalent  of  rubbing  two  sticks  together.  The  direct  marketers.  

The  most  successful  of  these  run  sophisticated  tests  in  miniature,  optimizing  message,  medium  and  offer  with  the  least  possible  budget  outlay.  

Once  the  winning  formula  is  established,  they  pour  on  the  fuel,  spending  as  much  as  they  can  while  still  making  their  “allowable.”  

 

My  Banners  Don't  Work.  

Not  least  among  the  challenges  of  being  a  professional  marketer  is  that  everyone  seems  to  think  they  are  one!  

Everyone  has  an  opinion  and  somehow  those  opinions  seem  to  morph  into  certainties.    

One  we  hear  a  lot  is,  "Banners  don't  work."  

"Whose  banners?"    We  ask.    Certainly  not  our  client's  banners.    We  see  the  data  every  week,  and  the  data  doesn't  lie.    It  says  they're  working  just  fine,  often  driving  customers  to  worlds  more  efficiently  than  any  other  medium  save  search.    Here  are  a  few  simple  guidelines  for  making  your  banners  work  better  too:  

1)  Remember,  they're  not  ads,  they're  lures.  It's  not  about  what  you  want  to  say,  it's  about  what  you  want  to  seduce  people  to  do.  

2)  First,  attract  the  eye.  There's  a  reason  that  stop  signs,  red  lights,  eyes,  faces  and  dancing  monkeys  work.  They  naturally  attract  the  eye.  

 We  are  genetically  programmed  to  turn  to  eyes  that  are  looking  at  us,  for  example.  This  instinct  saved  our  great  great  great  great  great  grandfathers  from  clubbing  death,  and  you  can  make  it  work  for  you  today.  It  takes  creativity  to  build  a  successful  lure  that  also  reflects  your  brand.  

3)  Let  them  know  where  they're  going.  People  resist  a  mystery  click.  They  want  a  pretty  clear  idea  of  where  the  click  will  take  them.    Make  sure  your  call  to  action  is  clear  and  as  easy  to  click  on  as  you  can  make  it.  

4)  Create  custom  landing  pages.    Make  sure  they  deliver  on  the  expectation  the  banner  created.  In  look,  feel  and  content.  Make  sure  the  next  step  is  just  as  well  thought  out.    

We've  learned  so  much  from  repeated  testing.    In  fact  we've  performed  over  ten  thousand  test  over  the  years.  We’ve  learned  a  lot,  and  one  thing  we’ve  absolutely  proved  is  that  banners  can  work  very  well  indeed!  

 

Ride  A  Powerful  Phrase.  

All  brands  have  trouble.  And  the  truth  is,  once  the  trouble  takes  hold  the  vast  majority  never  fully  emerge.  

We  have  a  name  we  developed  to  define  the  kind  of  marketers  that  tend  to  emerge  victorious.  We  call  them  BRAVE.  It’s  an  acronym.  It  means  they  manage  to  Be  Real  And  Visionary  Everywhere.  In  short  they  use  every  tactical  necessity  to  build  the  vision.  You  could  say  they  get  the  ultimate  return  on  trouble.  

In  the  middle  of  the  19th  Century,  Brand  USA  had  trouble.  Abe  Lincoln,  a  gaunt,  ill-­‐dressed,  relatively  uncultured,  obscure,  one-­‐term  congressman,  failed  senatorial  candidate  of  a  new  party  from  the  Midwest,  defined  it  beautifully  with  his  paraphrase  from  the  Bible,  “A  house  divided  against  itself  cannot  stand.”    Friends  testified  that  he’d  spent  many  long  hours  searching  for  a  phrase  that  would  be  familiar  to  all  of  the  people,  to  get  across  his  view  of  the  problem.    He’d  found  one.    One  that  became  the  center  of  a  campaign  that  propelled  a  most  unlikely  candidate  to  the  Presidency  of  the  United  States.  He  managed  to  turn  all  

his  obstacles  into  building  blocks  of  his  vision  for  an  America  that  would  complete  the  process  of  being  born.  That’s  all  he  wanted  to  do,  to  finish  the  work  he  believed  the  founders  had  expected  would  be  completed  after  their  time.  

By  the  end,  he  had  even  used  the  horrific  reality  of  the  Civil  War  to  redefine  the  core  of  Brand  America.  Though  the  Constitution  spoke  of  “forming  a  more  perfect  union”  –  Lincoln’s  primary  object  through  most  of  his  presidency  –  he  ultimately  reached  back  to  the  Declaration  of  Independence  to  affirm  that  the  nation  was  conceived  in  Liberty,  and  dedicated  to  the  proposition  that  all  men  are  created  equal.  

With  that  phrase,  he  transformed  US  from  The  American  Experiment  to  The  American  Dream.    

 

Now  That’s  A  Big  Idea!  

BIG  ideas  are  different.  They  don’t  so  much  defy  logic,  as  go  beyond  it.  They  challenge  the  illusion  of  costless  compromise.  If  you  are  competing  with,  or  trying  to  reinvigorate  a  large  organization,  you  need  to  be  able  to  green  light  the  big  idea.  Because  nothing  speeds  things  up  by  solving  multiple  problems  at  once  like  a  BIG  idea.      So,  what  is  a  big  idea?  What  does  it  look  like  before  it  becomes  a  big  idea?  How  can  you  recognize  an  opportunity  to  turn  a  pragmatic  necessity  into  a  big  idea?  What  does  it  feel  like  to  face  a  decision  on  whether  or  not  to  green-­‐light  one?  And  how  do  you  know  your  decision  was  the  right  one?      Here  are  some  general  principles  to  help  you  on  your  journey  to  answer  these  questions  in  action:      Howard  Schultz  certainly  made  his  share  of  Big  Idea  decisions  while  building  Starbucks  from  a  tiny  company  into  one  of  the  worlds  largest  retailers.  Called  back  to  the  CEO  role  after  an  eight  year  working  hiatus  as  Chairman,  Schulz  turned  to  the  Big  Idea  again  to  help  affect  a  massive  transformation  of  the  coffee  giant.  Schultz  begins  his  book  on  the  turnaround,  Onward,  with  this  story  of  green-­‐lighting  a  Big  Idea.  

   “One  Tuesday  afternoon  in  February  2008,  Starbucks  closed  all  of  its  US  stores.  A  note  posted  on  7,100  locked  doors  explained  the  reason:  “We’re  taking  time  to  perfect  our  espresso.  Great  espresso  requires  practice.  That’s  why  we’re  dedicating  ourselves  to  honing  our  craft.”      Schultz  tells  the  story  of  how  he  came  to  this  costly,  risky  and  unprecedented  decision  to  close  all  of  Starbucks  stores  simultaneously  for  training.      A  decision  that  started  with  a  problem-­‐  how  do  we  retrain  our  baristas  fast?  –  launched  the  dramatic  repositioning  of  the  Starbucks  brand  in  a  single  day.  Here  are  the  lessons  to  take  from  Schultz’s  story:        

1)      The  Big  Idea  comes  out  of  a  very  real  problem  and  a  pragmatic  need.  In  this  case  it  was  ill-­‐trained  baristas  and  the  need  to  re-­‐train  them  quickly  that  led  to  the  big  idea,  which  I’ll  tell  you  more  about  shortly.  But  for  now,  remember  this  -­‐-­‐  the  big  idea  rises  out  of  the  core  realities  of  the  business.  

2)      There  is  a  core  product,  and  it’s  quality  matters.  In  fact,  the  delivery  of  this  product  is  an  art.  Being  the  authority  on  this  is  core  to  Starbucks  reason  to  exist,  and  Schultz  knows  it.  

3)      Starbucks  has  a  mission,  which  informs  its  decisions  –  to  inspire  the  human  spirit.  In  Schultz’s  deeply  held  belief  system,  a  well-­‐poured  cup  of  coffee  can  do  that,  but  a  carelessly  poured  cup  cannot.  

4)      Schultz  understands  as  few  leaders  do  that  what  great  merchants  –  read  brand  builders  –  can  do  is  raise  the  mundane  to  the  level  of  the  sublime.  Or  as  Schultz  says,  “…we  take  the  ordinary…and  give  it  new  life…”  

5)      The  big  idea  often  comes  out  of  something  that  at  first  seems  a  necessary  evil,  especially  from  situations  in  which  the  veil  of  corporate  propriety  must  be  lifted  and  uncomfortable  truths  exposed.  

6)      Though  he  had  asked  for  a  training  solution,  he  immediate  

evaluated  the  proposal  as  a  branding  statement,  a  leadership  and  public  relations  event.  

7)      He  literally  says,  “That’s  a  BIG  Idea.”  In  the  same  breath,  he  acknowledges  the  outsized  risk.  This  is  not  a  coincidence.  The  very  thing  that  makes  this  feels  like  a  great  risk  –  an  unprecedented  degree  of  openness  about  a  core  failing/commitment  –  is  what  makes  this  a  big  idea.  

8)      Only  a  leader  can  green  light  a  big  idea.  This  is  the  reason  they  are  so  rare  and  so  effective.  Often,  this  happens  in  lonely  moments  when  a  leader  is  overcome  by  a  cocktail  of  love  and  commitment  to  the  brand.  And  it’s  a  beautiful  thing.  I’ll  give  Howard  Schultz  the  last  word  here  –  he’s  earned  it!  

“There  are  moments  in  our  lives  when  we  summon  the  courage  to  make  choices  that  go  against  reason,  against  common  sense  and  the  wise  counsel  of  people  we  trust.  But  we  lean  forward  nonetheless  because,  despite  all  risks  and  rational  argument,  we  believe  that  the  path  we  are  choosing  is  the  right  and  best  thing  to  do.  We  refuse  to  be  bystanders,  even  if  we  do  not  know  exactly  where  our  actions  will  lead.  Ultimately,  closing  our  stores  was  most  powerful  in  it’s  symbolism.  It  was  a  galvanizing  even  to  Starbucks’  partners  –  the  term  we  use  for  our  employees  –  a  stake  in  the  ground  that  helped  reestablish  some  of  the  emotional  attachment  and  trust  we  had  squandered  during  our  years  of  focusing  on  hyper-­‐growth.  A  bold  move  that  I  stand  by  today,  it  sent  a  message  that  decisiveness  was  back  at  Starbucks.”      One  thing  I’ve  noticed  is  that  leaders  of  growing  organizations  tend  to  green  light  more  BIG  ideas.  And  they  tend  to  do  so  for  the  very  reason  that  the  ideas  are  BIG.  In  fact,  a  big  idea  orientation  appears  to  be  an  essential  of  those  leaders  who  would  outgrow  the  competition.  

What  can  your  brand  be  radically  truthful  about?  What  would  you  honestly  and  openly  confront  in  spite  of  all  costs?    

 

Big  Ideas  Are  Powerwashers.  

They  make  big  jobs  seem  simple.  They  make  the  impossible  suddenly  possible.  

You  may  know  the  story  of  the  Gordian  Knot.    

Columbus  was  dining  with  many  Spanish  nobles  when  one  of  them  said:  'Sir  Christopher,  even  if  your  lordship  had  not  discovered  the  Indies,  there  would  have  been,  here  in  Spain  which  is  a  country  abundant  with  great  men  knowledgeable  in  cosmography  and  literature,  one  who  would  have  started  a  similar  adventure  with  the  same  result.'  Columbus  did  not  respond  to  these  words  but  asked  for  a  whole  egg  to  be  brought  to  him.  He  placed  it  on  the  table  and  said:  'My  lords,  I  will  lay  a  wager  with  any  of  you  that  you  are  unable  to  make  this  egg  stand  on  its  end  like  I  will  do  without  any  kind  of  help  or  aid.'  They  all  tried  without  success  and  when  the  egg  returned  to  Columbus,  he  tapped  it  gently  on  the  table  breaking  it  slightly  and,  with  this,  the  egg  stood  on  its  end.  All  those  present  were  confounded  and  understood  what  he  meant:  that  once  the  feat  has  been  done,  anyone  knows  how  to  do  it.  

 

Market  To  A  Mindset,  Not  A  Demographic.  

DIGO’s  work  for  longtime  client  Crunch  Fitness  yields  many  powerful  examples  of  marketing  to  a  mindset  rather  than  a  traditional  demographic.  

Crunch  Fitness  was  founded  by  investment  banker  turned  stand-­‐up  comic  turned  aerobics  studio  entrepreneur  Doug  Levine  in  1989.  

At  first,  it  was  just  one  location  on  St.  Mark’s  Place  in  Manhattan’s  East  Village,  a  tiny  basement  studio  with  faulty  air  conditioning  and  no  locker  room.  But,  from  the  beginning,  Crunch  found  ways  to  attract  a  different  sort  of  crowd  from  the  earnest  drones  who  view  exercise  as  a  repetitive  grind  and  live  out  “no  pain,  no  gain”  existences.    In  fact,  part  of  Crunch’s  success  lay  in  alienating  just  the  sort  of  people  who  would  value  the  comfort  of  reliable  air  conditioning  and  a  nice  locker  room  over  an  utterly  entertaining  adventure.      

Years  later,  if  a  sauna  was  broken,  Levine  and  his  managers  might  delay  fixing  it  for  a  while.  This  would  encourage  the  sort  of  people  who  weren’t  exactly  “Crunch”  to  move  on  to  other  gyms.  Like  weeding  a  garden  or  pruning  a  shrub,  this  only  encouraged  the  phenomenal  growth  of  Crunch  from  that  tiny  aerobics  studio  to  32  state-­‐of-­‐the-­‐art  

gyms  in  New  York,  Los  Angeles,  San  Francisco,  Miami,  Chicago,  Washington  D.C.  and  Atlanta  and  a  host  of  popular  Crunch  products.  

Crunch  knew  its  customer.    Yes,  there  were  certain  demographic  realities  that  must  be  heeded.  Levine  had  seen  too  many  “hot  spot”  gyms  head  south  with  the  midsections  of  their  aging  membership,  kept  happy  and  paying  year  after  year  with  increasingly  expensive  services  and  amenities.    Ultimately  these  gyms  lost  their  cool,  their  profitability  and  their  appeal  to  the  psycho-­‐demographic  group  that  makes  up  most  prospective  gym  members.    Levine  knew  that,  to  win,  he’d  have  to  reduce  the  lifetime  value  of  a  member  by  shortening  that  membership  lifetime  to  roughly  the  prime  gym  floor  and  locker  room  viewing  years,  and  then  gently  outsourcing  the  member  to  home  exercise  or  a  less  interesting  gym.  

In  attracting  Crunch’s  true  audience,  if  Levine  and  DIGO  could  simultaneously  alienate  the  not-­‐Crunch  audience,  the  perfect  formula  would  have  been  invented.  

So,  who  was  Crunch’s  true  audience?  He  or  she  has  moved  to  an  urban  area  for  a  more  exciting  life,  full  of  adventure  and  possibility.    After  a  long  day  of  work,  the  Cruncher  views  the  gym  as  an  entertainment  choice.    “Do  I  go  to  a  club,  go  to  the  gym  or  go  home  and  watch  TV  and  go  online?”  

So,  the  competition  for  Crunch  was  never  seen  as  other  gyms.    The  competition  was  other  entertainments.    And  the  Cruncher  wanted  entertainment  that  was  active,  adventurous,  sexy,  and  exotic,  with  a  bit  of  an  unpredictable  anything-­‐can-­‐happen  tint  to  it.  

Crunch  was  in  the  entertainment  business,  so  the  gym  was  a  set,  the  employees  AND  members  were  the  cast  and  the  exercise  classes,  options  and  events  were  programming.  

Crunch  took  the  trouble  to  cast  the  best  performers  in  the  fitness  business.  Programming  included  everything  from  “Hip  Hop  Aerobics”  with  a  live  rapper,  to  Co-­‐Ed  Action  Wrestling,  to  “Strip  Tease  Aerobics”  led  by  an  experience  professional.  Fitness  instructors  included  drag  queens,  rappers,  dancers,  more  exotic  dancers,  actors  and  professional  athletes.    Juice  discovered  Billy  Blanks  before  he  became  a  TV  phenom.  

Crunch  became  the  MTV  of  gyms,  a  network  that  knew  what  it’s  audience  would  love  and  that  went  all  out  to  invent,  recruit,  produce  and  promote  it.  

 

Buzz  was  the  center  of  the  advertising  strategy.    This  led  to  several  distinctions.    Crunch  competed  in  the  entertainment  category.    Simple  statement.  Huge  advantage.  So,  if  you  went  home  to  watch  TV,  we  were  there.  If  you  went  out  to  a  nightclub,  you’ll  likely  find  us  on  the  bar  napkins  or  in  the  restroom.  Later,  we  branched  out  to  places  our  target  audience  would  most  appreciate  entertainment,  which  included  airports  and  airplanes  too.  

The  creative  measure  was  always  –  Is  it  entertaining,  is  it  buzzy,  is  it  No  Judgements,  is  it  Crunch?  

Doug  Levine,  one  of  the  world’s  great  frugal  visionaries,  was  the  perfect  creative  client.  “I’ll  only  let  you  produce  your  best  work,  Mark.”  He  once  told  me.    “Just  make  my  drink  fly  out  of  my  nose.”  

The  work  produced  was  in  demand  for  free  and  valuable  product  placement  in  the  hottest  shows  and  movies  of  the  era.    Crunch  posters  appeared  in  several  episodes  of  the  Sopranos,  in  Meadow  Soprano’s  Columbia  University  dorm  room.    Will  &  Grace  built  several  episodes  around  a  Crunch  Gym.    Crunch  was  part  of  Seinfeld’s  New  York  as  well.  

Crunch  and  DIGO  would  go  a  long  way  for  out-­‐sized  buzz.  Naked  silhouette  showers  in  San  Francisco.    Exercisers  on  human-­‐sized  hamster  wheels  in  the  front  window  of  the  gyms.    Full-­‐sized  kick  boxing  arenas  in  the  middle  of  the  exercise  floor.    A  partnership  with  Jet  Blue  put  punching  bags  in  JFK  with  slogans  such  as  “Middle  Seat?”  and  “Missed  your  flight?”,  inviting  hassled  passengers  to  work  out  their  aggressions  right  there  and  then.    In  the  seatback  on  all  JetBlue  flights  were  cards  presenting  “Airplane  Yoga”  and  “Flying  Pilates.”    The  first  of  these  was  such  a  success  that  several  arm  rests  were  broken  by  overzealous  passengers.    A  revision  in  the  first  reprinting  saved  the  planes  from  further  damage.    

Crunch  was  famous  for  it’s  huge  buzz  events.    Reality  TV  inspired  one  of  the  greatest.    Rick  Rockwell  had  been  the  prize  on  the  first  season  of  FOX’s  seminal  and  excreble  “Who  Wants  To  Marry  A  Millionnaire?”    The  

spectacle  of  a  stage  packed  with  women  in  the  eight,  nine  and  ten  range  on  the  physical  attractiveness  scale  and  in  the  fractions  on  self  esteem  prompted  on  Crunch  member  to  say,  “Someone  ought  to  kick  that  guy’s  ass.”  

Eureka!    We  proposed  a  “Who  Wants  To  Kick  a  Millionnaire’s  Ass  Contest.”    This  would  be  a  huge  event,  ostensibly  to  promote  Crunch’s  new  and  wildly  popular  Kick  Boxing  Aerobics  classes,  but  it  would  also  because  a  three-­‐ring  circus  of  a  buzz  event  and  launch  Crunch’s  website  as  well.    An  good  example  of  PR  and  Advertising  integrated  with  a  branded  entertainment  strategy,  DIGO  and  Crunch  asked  members  to  nominate  the  “millionaire  most  deserving  of  an  ass-­‐kicking.”    Donald  Trump  and  Bill  Gates  topped  the  list.    This  led  to  broad  and  repeated  media  speculation  about  who  Crunch’s  Millionaire  would  be.    I  was  interviewed  on  Fox  News,  CNN  and  broadly  in  the  print  media,  all  of  which  had  a  substantial  echo  online.    The  agency  cast  a  millionaire  and  created  a  print  campaign  and  TV  spot  that  were  widely  praised  and  viewed  online.      

Twenty-­‐two  year  old  actress  Marni  Rosenberg  won  the  contest  and  the  right  to  kick-­‐box  the  millionaire.    Rick  Rockwell  agreed  to  be  the  millionaire  in  exchange  for  a  $25,000  donation  to  his  favorite  charity  and  a  five  minute  extension  on  his  fifteen  minutes  of  fame.  

Before  they  met  in  battle  in  front  of  a  packed  house  at  the  huge  Lafayette  Street  Crunch,  Marni  and  Rick  were  interviewed  on  the  Howard  Stern  Show.    The  event  was  simulcast  on  E!  Television  and  online  as  well.    The  buzz  generated  millions  of  visits  to  the  website  and  many  millions  of  dollars  in  free  media.    Forbes  named  the  campaign  one  of  the  best  of  the  year.    DIGO  and  Crunch  followed  up  with  “Smack  Your  Boss  Up”  and  “Who  wants  to  be  an  exercise  star?”  among  others,  all  of  which  involved  the  Crunch  membership  and  added  to  the  circus  atmosphere  around  the  Crunch  brand.  

DIGO  worked  with  Crunch  to  develop  products  too.    Umbrella’s  carried  snarky  warnings  such  as  “Warning:  Not  to  be  used  as  a  rectal  thermometer.”    Crunch  launched  a  successful  music  compilation,  “Sweating  with  the  Stars.”    In  DIGOs  commercial,  a  man  sweats  so  much  while  grooving  to  the  tunes  that  he  is  electrocuted  to  death.    

The  advertising  was  always  aimed  at  building  buzz.  Coasters  at  bars  slyly  promised,  “War  and  Peace  on  a  Beer  Coaster:  number  1,165,432  in  a  series  of  3,432,156.”    In  one  series  of  commercials,  upside  down  chins,  one  a  cyclops,  extol  the  virtues  of  a  “no  judgements”  environment.    In  another  series,  a  triangle  and  square  and  other  geometric  shapes  tell  their  tales  of  struggle  before  finding  acceptance  and  self-­‐esteem  at  Crunch.  

In  2003,  fourteen  years  after  opening  that  humble  but  fascinating  aerobics  studio,  Doug  Levine  sold  what  had  become  the  number  one  fitness  brand  in  fourteen  top  urban  markets  for  over  $150  million  dollars  to  Bally  Total  Fitness.  It  proved  to  be  the  end  of  an  era  –  but  what  an  era  it  was!    

 

The  Introvert’s  Guide  to  Success  in  a  Social  World  

1) Most  marketing  people  are  extroverts.  They  love  being  part  of  something.  They  love  making  connections  and  using  those  connections  to  get  things  done  in  the  world.  

So,  why  an  Introverts  Guide?  In  short,  because  we’ve  found  that  the  words  “Social  Media”  “Social  Marketing”  and  “Social  World”  seem  to  intimidate  many  of  these  hearty  socializers  right  back  into  their  shells.  

We  aim  to  rob  those  concepts  of  their  power  to  intimidate.  We  aim  to  set  some  marketers  free.  

2)  What’s  so  intimidating?  

Back  in  the  early  70’s,  Alvin  Toffler  introduced  us  to  the  concept  of  Future  Shock.  

This  meant  that  change  was  coming  so  fast  people  were  beginning  to  react  to  it  as  if  facing  the  stages  of  death.  They  were  getting  stuck  in  denial,  anger,  and  bargaining.  In  short,  they  were  in  shock.  This  was  back  in  the  age  of  TV,  which  took  thirteen  years  to  amass  an  audience  of  fifty  million  viewers,  before  the  internet,  which  took  four  years  to  do  the  same,  before  iPod  which  did  it  in  three  years,  and  Facebook  which  grew  to  100  million  users  in  just  seven  months.  

The  upshot  is  that  it’s  not  about  future  shock  anymore  it  is  about  past  shock.  If  we  wake  up,  we  will  have  to  realize  that  the  world  has  changed  virtually  overnight.    

3)  B.S.  Its  just  a  fad!    

Actually,  the  connectivity  of  the  Internet,  and  the  increasing  complexity  of  integrated  technology  universe  are  facts.  That  people  are  increasingly  using  them  is  a  fact.  That  they  are  transforming  industries  and  institutions  from  mating  to  elections  to  decisions  about  which  broker  to  choose  are  facts.  Ignore  them  at  your  own  peril  but  don’t  lose  heart!  Denial  is  a  higher  level  of  awareness.  

4)  But,  it’s  all  about  “What  I  ate  for  breakfast  this  morning”  and  “friends  I  don’t  even  know”  along  with  some  friends  I  wish  I  could  avoid!.    

This  is  what  people  say  who  only  know  it  from  the  outside.  In  fact,  the  social  media  world  including  online  social  media  and  the  world  of  social  connections  that  are  “analog”  are  increasingly  arranged  and  facilitated  online,  is  a  deep,  rich,  variegated,  busy  place  where  lots  of  crucial  things  are  getting  done.    

5)  But,  I  can’t  take  on  one  more  thing!  

Email,  done  right,  solved  problems,  and  made  time.  The  next  generation  has  dropped  email.  They  get  more  done  faster  and  better  in  social  media  and  you  can  too.  

6)  It’s  all  about  a  networking  personality  that  I  can’t  stand  or  at  least  I  don’t  have.  

In  fact,  it’s  not  –  not  when  leveraged  by  the  best.  In  fact  it’s  about  a  bunch  of  things  that  introverts  can  love.  

7)  It’s  about  ideas.    

The  sort  of  ideas  that  pros  will  write  about  and  amateurs  (a  word  that  means  “lovers”)  will  passionately  pass  on.  Social  media  has  surpassed  porn  and  email  as  the  top  uses  of  the  internet.  This  means  users  are  generating  an  enormous  amount  of  content.  Where  do  you  think  they  will  get  these  ideas  from?  Much  of  the  buzz  comes  from  professional  

content  creators,  offline  and  online  news  media,  bloggers-­‐  from  the  pros.  So…  

8)  It’s  about  prioritization.    

Unless  your  ads  are  so  unusually  good  that  they  are  spontaneously  shared  and  viewed  in  an  ever-­‐increasing  plume  of  online  activity,  you  will  need  to  reprioritize.  The  chance  that  they  are  is  about  1  in  100,000  according  to  our  somewhat  unscientific  finger  to  the  wind  survey.  In  fact,  we  have  generally  found  that  in  general  these  cases  utilize  a    vigorous  PR  campaign  in  support  of  a  viral  effort.  Since  doing  so  increases  the  cost  of  the  overall  campaign  only  marginally  while  increasing  the  chances  for  effectiveness  greatly,  it’s  really  a  no  brainer.  

9)  In  short,  PR  comes  first.  

PR  thinking  at  least.  And  PR  standards.  Measure  ideas  first  in  the  context  of  a  press  release,  for  example  make  sure  PR  integration  is  a  truth  rather  than  a  facade  at  your  agency.  We  tend  to  remember  the  great  ideas  of  the  past,  the  ones  that  did  make  great  press  as  well  as  great  advertising.  But,  if  we  we’re  honest  with  ourselves,  we  can  admit  that  many  brands  were  built  without  the  luxury  of  an  advertising  world,  in  which  mass  market  could  be  bought  and  repeatedly  “messaged.”  That  world  is  over  for  most  advertisers.  What  was  exceptional  is  now  simply  necessary.  

10  )  Its  about  all  the  stakeholders  in  your  company,  not  just  the  marketing  department  

Make  sure  everyone  gets  involved,  because  everyone  benefits  

(show  the  chart  with  all  the  stakeholders)  

11)  Get  a  baseline.    

At  DIGO  we  conduct  a  Social  Marketing  Audit  as  the  first  step  in  listening  to  the  social  volume  around  your  brand.  (show  charts  from  social  audit  deck)  This  audit  can  include  listening  to  your  competition,  too.    

12)  Locate  the  Influencers.    

Which  blogs  and  forums  influence  your  customers  and  prospects?    Get  them  on  your  side.    (show  a  share  of  voice  chart  from  Social  Audit)  

13)  Enhance  your  outfrastructure.    

IBM  could  not  conduct  business  without  the  social  web.    In  addition  to  blogging  guidelines  for  all  employees  worldwide,  their  DeveloperWorks  social  platform  is  an  integral  part  of  the  IBM  “outfrastructure”  (Show  web  page)  https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/community  

14)  Visit  your  brand  neighborhood.    

Don’t  learn  primarily  from  competitors.    Learn  from  exceptional  marketers  in  adjacent  industries  and  in  totally  different  industries.  

15  It’s  OK  just  to  watch.      

And  learn.  

16)  Keep  it  alive  /  relevant.    

That  means  making  sure  someone  in  your  organization  is  in  charge  of  your  brand  in  the  social  world.  That  social  “workers”  are  seamlessly  integrated  into  your  agency  teams  and  working  to  get  you  the  leverage  that  only  social  media  can  delver  today.  

17)  Remember,  that  adjusting  to  the  social  world  isn’t  just  about  or  even  primarily  about  social  “media.”  Often,  the  reason  to  love  Twitter  isn’t  because  your  propects  and  customers  do,  but  rather  because  Google’s  algorithm  loves  Twitter.    And  your  prospects  and  customers  Google.    In  fact,  they’re  Googlemaniacs.  But  that’s  the  subject  for  a  guide  to  come…  

18)  It’s  about  engagement.  How  much  precious  time  will  users  give  you?  This  depends  on  how  compelling  your  content  is.  Do  you  have  ideas  that  will  help  them?  Time  is  not  a  fixed  thing,  like  a  concrete  sidewalk.  It’s  a  ribbon  that  can  be  folded  and  bent.  It’s  a  loop  that  can  be  warped.  Einstein  showed  how  gravity  does  just  that.  In  business,  nothing  has  more  gravity  than  ideas.  

 

Can  you  love  to  listen?  

Most  people  don’t  have  the  patience  to  listen  efficiently.  They  feel  it’s  a  waste  of  time.  To  me,  getting  to  the  nub  of  what  someone  knows,  wishes,  cares  about,  or  is  trying  to  say  is  as  compelling  as  the  best  video  game.  

It’s  just  like  a  great  game,  in  fact.  I  don’t  need  a  reason  to  play.  No  incentive,  or  external  motivation.  Listening  well  is  deeply  satisfying  in  and  of  itself.  

Helping  a  person  get  heard  is  one  of  the  most  valuable  skills  there  is.  In  part,  because  it’s  so  rare.  All  the  books  that  have  ever  been  written  about  negotiation  are  about  great  listening.  The  most  important  skills  of  the  sales  pro  are  listening  skills.    

Great  communication  always  starts  with  great  listening.  You  can’t  hit  the  targets  in  a  person  or  an  audience’s  mind  if  you  don’t  know  precisely  where  they  are.  If  you’re  talking  to  an  individual  or  a  small  group,  you  can  hone  in  with  questions.  If  you’re  talking  to  a  large  audience,  you  can  do  the  same.  I  have  many  times.  

You  can  sense  the  excitement  when  people  in  an  audience  realize  that  they  may  have  the  chance  to  be  heard  from.  That  they  might  get  a  hold  of  the  microphone.  

A  great  stand-­‐up  comic  can  play  the  rhythm  of  the  crowd.  He  can  hear  it  and  feel  it,  and  get  it  rolling.  Like  driving  a  car  over  bumps  at  just  the  right  speed  to  get  it  hopping  higher  and  higher.  

Feeding  back  what  the  person  is  saying  is  essential.  Don’t  just  repeat.  Show  them  that  you’re  trying  to  understand.  Use  your  own  words.  People  hunger  for  appreciation.  Appreciation  means  true  and  complete  understanding.  We  all  want  to  be  seen,  to  be  heard,  to  be  known.  The  Bad  News  Bears  were  right.  Don’t  assume.  When  you  assume,  you  make  and  ass  of  u  and  me.    When  others  are  present,  don’t  assume  that  they  heard  what  you  think  you  heard.  Make  sure,  by  saying  what  you  think  you  heard  and  getting  the  person  to  agree  or  clarify  for  everyone.  

Listening  in  this  way  is  it’s  own  reward.  And  rewarding  as  it  is  for  you  and  your  team,  it  is  even  more  rewarding  to  be  listened  to  in  this  way.  

Nothing  clears  the  path  to  results  faster  than  trust.  When  you  listen  in  this  way,  you  create  a  bond  with  your  client,  your  prospect,  your  audience,  that  results  in  trust.  

 

Growing  Oak  Trees  From  Tomato  Seeds.  

You  can’t.  

Too  much  time  is  wasted  in  trying  to  get  supposedly  talented  but  unambitous  employees  motivated.    As  if  you  can  teach  or  create  motivation  inside  of  another  human  being.    You  really  can’t.  You  can  access  it.  You  can  stimulate  it.  You  can  build  an  encouraging,  stimulating  environment  around  it.  But  that’s  about  it.  

It  doesn’t  matter  how  convincing  you  are  –  you  can’t  get  a  tomato  seed  to  grow  into  an  oak  tree.  

And  that’s  the  thing.  Ambition  isn’t  a  choice,  because  ambition  comes  from  potential.  If  you  have  the  potential  to  be  President  of  the  United  States,  then  you’re  more  likely  to  have  that  ambition.  Because  potential  wants  to  be  actualized,  or  rather  it  tends  in  that  direction.  

If  you  have  the  ability  to  start  a  business,  write  if  you’re  built  for  it,  then  very  likely  you’re  going  to.  Because  talent  wants  to  be  expressed.  Potential  wants  to  be  achieved.  Is  this  a  genetic  principle?  A  physical  or  chemical  principle?  A  spiritual  principle?  Another  kind  of  book  would  pretend  to  have  an  answer  for  you.  But  this  isn’t  that  kind  of  book.  And  I’m  not  that  kind  of  author.  I’ll  tell  you  what  I  know  and  I’ll  tell  you  what  I  think.  This  I  believe  to  be  a  fact.  

 

Hire  Born  Communications  Strategists  

Some  people  were  born  in  log  cabins.  Others  were  born  in  hospitals.  I  was  born  in  an  argument.  I’m  lucky.  

My  very  young,  very  smart  parents  –  still  together  and  very  much  in  love  all  these  years  later  –  were  fighting  over  just  about  everything.  Their  marriage  was  a  culture  crash,  and  each  felt  that  the  expectations  they’d  been  raised  with  were  the  correct  ones.  My  neighborhood  was  

full  of  people  who’d  been  traumatized.  Some  were  still  recovering  from  WWII  –  our  neighbor  had  been  a  Nazi  Youth,  after  capture  disassembled  unexploded  bombs  for  the  British,  bucking  the  odds  to  survive  and  emigrate  to  the  U.S.A,  where  he  was  drafted  and  sent  to  Korea  -­‐  his  mood  reflected  his  luck.  Others  were  just  angry  at  their  station  in  life.  Working  class.  Treated  like  shit.  Going  nowhere.  Many,  frankly,  were  just  not  very  bright.  A  few  were  dangerously  stupid.  Vietnam  was  the  lead  of  the  nightly  news.  War  protest  and  draft  dodging  were  the  burning  issues  of  the  day.  Long  before  I  ever  thought  about  what  I  wanted  to  be  when  I  grew  up,  I  agonized  about  whether  I’d  grow  up.  I  thought  as  hard  as  I  could  about  whether  it  was  right  and  even  possible  for  me  to  go  to  Canada,  or  whether  I  should  go  to  Vietnam  and  probably  die.  This  was  a  very  scary  prospect  for  me  as  a  seven  year  old.  I  didn’t  even  like  class  trips.  

I  can’t  remember  not  being  aware  that  what  I  say  and  what  other  people  take  from  what  I  say  are  different.  In  other  words,  stimulus  and  response  in  communication  are  different.  And,  which  matters?  Of  course,  response.  Response  is  the  thing  you’ve  communicated.  It’s  the  thing  they’ve  taken  away.  While  the  only  thing  we  can  hope  to  control  is  the  stimulus.  That’s  what  we  say,  show  or  do.  

Before  I  began  storing  memories,  I  was  already  storing  up  strategies  for  creating  understanding.  And,  I  was  building  up  the  scars  of  my  failures.  It  was  a  communications  college  of  hard  knocks,  Edison,  NJ,  was.  But  I  don’t  remember  ever  having  that  easy  feeling  that  everyone  understood  me  and  each  other.  The  feeling  many  folks  in  many  small  towns  in  the  middle  of  America  grow  up  with.  No  way.  

I’m  so  grateful  for  that  chaos,  because  it  made  me  a  communicator.  When  I  hire,  I  look  for  people  who  had  to  live  across  cultures  from  a  very  young  age.  One  woman  in  my  employ  is  the  daughter  of  a  forbidden  marriage  between  a  Muslim  and  a  Hindu  in  India.  Another  travelled  the  world  with  his  Architect  parents.  Army  brats.  Diplomats  kids.  Mixed  race  children.  Young  immigrants.  They  all  have  an  advantage  in  an  interview  with  me.  In  fact,  through  the  years,  I’ve  hired  several  from  each  category.    

They  had  their  communications  awakening  very  young,  and  have  had  thousands  and  thousands  of  hours  of  working  out  how  to  create  affinity  

and  understanding  when  it’s  difficult.  People  who  realize  this  in  their  twenties  can’t  compete.  Not  in  real  time.  

 

Match  Words  and  Pictures.  

Talking  things  out  can  be  a  time  waster.  Especially  when  we  imagine  that  once  we  agree  on  the  words  that  all  is  solved,  never  suspecting  that  the  pictures  in  our  heads  are  not  the  pictures  in  other  people’s  heads.  One  of  the  most  useful  things  we  do  with  clients  is  simply  to  match  words  and  pictures.    

This  simple  process  is  so  rare  and  such  an  effective  shortcut  to  better  communication  that  I  would  seriously  recommend  it  to  relationship  counselors  for  serious  consideration!  

Once  we  had  a  husband  and  wife  client  team.  Both  were  brilliant,  driven,  great-­‐looking  and  nice.  He  was  a  celebrity  doctor,  she  was  a  brilliant  retailer.  He  had  a  gift  for  inventing  better  products  and  she  had  an  eye  for  great  design.  Both  were  terrific  in  front  of  the  camera  and  in  the  conference  room.  Both  agreed  on  most  things  and  the  one  thing  they  agreed  on  most  strongly  was  that  they  wanted  their  advertising  to  be  “sexy  and  classy.”  

We  knew  them,  and  they  knew  us,  so  we  knew  we  saw  eye  to  eye.  We  wanted  the  work  to  be  sexy  and  classy  too.  We  were  diligent,  so  the  words  “sexy  and  class”  were  in  our  brief.  We  did  some  work  that  we  felt  was  a  ten  on  the  scale  of  “sexy  and  classy”  and  they  bought  that  work  and  ran  it  and  it  was  successful…  

But  they  didn’t  really  love  it.  They  both  felt  that  it  wasn’t  really  sexy  and  classy  enough.    

So,  we  brought  them  in  for  a  key  words  and  pictures  session.  And  the  results  were  mind-­‐blowing!  

First  we  brainstorm  words  that  are  important  to  the  brand.  Everyone  gets  to  write  their  list  of  the  most  important  words.  Then,  each  in  turn  shares  their  list.  

All  the  words  get  written  on  its  own  piece  of  paper  and  put  up  on  the  wall.  Then  we  talk  about  the  words,  we  ask  about  them,  we  vote  on  

them.  We  pull  down  the  redundant  ones.  We  end  up  with  the  most  important  words  for  the  brand.  Could  be  three.  Could  be  five.  There’s  no  hard  and  fast  rule.  

Of  course,  “sexy”  and  “classy”  were  two  of  the  key  words  for  this  brand  coming  out  of  this  exercise.  So  far,  so  good.  

We  took  a  five  minute  break,  during  which  our  brilliant  interns  spread  style,  fashion,  health  and  lifestyle  magazines  all  over  our  tables.  When  folks  returned  from  the  five  minute  break  about  ten  minutes  later,  I  told  them  that  the  were  to  go  through  the  magazines  and  cut  out  pictures  that  fit  the  key  words  that  meant  to  the  most  to  them  individually.  This  is  fun  stuff,  and  people  are  generally  very  happy  to  do  it.  It’s  like  the  most  creative  things  we  all  did  in  elementary  school.  

Then,  we  go  around  the  room,  and  people  share  their  work-­‐picture  combinations.    

And  here’s  the  thing.  Both  of  our  married  clients  had  “classy”  and  “sexy”  pictures,  but  their  pictures  were  very  different.  An  animated  discussion  between  these  two  formidable  partners  erupted.  The  rest  of  us  respectfully  left  the  room  so  that  they  could  work  out  their  differences  on  these  essential  concepts.  

When  we  returned  to  the  room,  they  were  able  to  speak  with  one  voice  –  and  more  importantly  to  agree  on  one  picture  –  of  “sexy”  and  “classy.”  

I  can’t  overstate  how  much  easier  things  got  after  that.  We  had  built  windows  into  each  other’s  brains.    

Now,  the  folks  on  our  team  who  did  sexy  and  classy  pictures  had  something  else  in  mind  as  well,  but  this  was  less  of  a  surprise,  and  now  we  could  finally  see  the  disagreement  that  we  had  previously  just  suffered  with.  On  to  the  next  challenge!  

 

Game  Changing  Isn’t  Game  Winning.  

I  love  game  changers.  They  drive  the  world  forward.  They  are  the  natural  force  in  national  selection.  They  are  the  good  guys  of  business.  And  I  want  them  to  win.  I  want  them  to  end  up  on  top.  

But,  often  they  don’t.  Because  game  changing  and  game  winning  don’t  automatically  go  together.    

Think  about  it  this  way:  Innovation  creates  a  window  of  opportunity.  The  window  opens  with  the  introduction  of  the  change.  It  closes  when  the  new  way  is  copied,  tweaked,  improved  and  deployed  by  the  competition.    

What  the  game  changer  does  between  the  opening  and  the  closing  of  that  window  is  everything.  If  you  move  quickly  to  own  the  change,  to  own  it  in  the  marketplace,  to  own  it  in  the  minds  of  your  target  audience,  then  you  make  it  much  more  difficult  for  your  much  larger  and  richer  competitors  to  co-­‐opt  that  innovation.  

Between  the  opening  and  the  closing  of  the  window,  there  is  DIGO.  

 

Ask.  

Often  the  difference  between  survival  and  success  is  simply  asking.  

I  met  with  a  creative  team.  Just  a  breakfast.  I  hadn’t  seen  these  people  in  fifteen  years,  and  we  had  a  nice  chat  to  catch  up.  We  talked  generally  about  work  we  might  do  together.  And  then,  as  the  check  arrived  and  they  picked  it  up,  one  of  them  said,  “So  what  do  you  have  going  on  that  we  can  work  together  on  right  now?”  

It’s  a  simple  thing,  asking  or  not  asking.  But  it’s  not  an  easy  thing.  Many  people  think  they  asked  when  they  did  really.  Other  feel  that  it’s  better  to  wait  to  be  asked.  Some  might  say,  “Selling  is  asking.  Marketing  is  positioning  ones  self  to  be  asked.”  I  can’t  agree.  Marketing  plus  selling  is  quicker  and  much  more  productive.  

So  ask!  Teach  your  people  to  ask.  And  more  than  that.  Set  asking  goals.  Define  the  what  and  who  and  when  and  how  many  times  of  asking.  Track  these  statistics.  Track  your  conversion  rates.  

I  meet  a  lot  of  creative  teams.  But  this  one  has  a  retainer  from  me  each  and  every  month.  The  ask  was  the  beginning  of  that.  Get  asking!  

 

Win  the  War  of  the  Inbox.  

“I  continue  to  be  obsessed  about  email  –  it’s  by  far  the  most  significant  communications  channel  I  use.  And  –  it’s  accelerating,  not  decelerating,  especially  as  it  proliferates  across  devices  as  well  as  other  comm  channels.”  –Brad  Feld,  Investor,  feld.com  

The  first  “killer  app”  of  the  Internet  is  fast  becoming  the  most  important.  Lowly  E-­‐mail!  

It’s  amazing  to  me  to  see  the  Internet  generation  finally  discover  direct  marketing  –  of  course  they  had  to  have  it  beaten  into  them.  Here’s  just  one  story  of  the  way  it  happened.  

E-­‐commerce  marketers  with  their  frictionless  webs  were  doing  just  fine,  thank  you.  And  then,  a  French  company  by  the  name  of  Vente-­‐Privee  invented  a  little  virus  that  began  to  replicate  and  threatened  to  take  them  down.  It’s  spawned  the  whole  “flash  sale  site”  category,  and  the  numbers  behind  this  revolution  are  impossible  to  ignore.  

In  the  traditional  e-­‐commerce  model,  two  percent  of  visitors  to  a  site  might  become  customers.  Only  customers  register  and  provide  an  email  address.  So,  you  convert  about  2  percent  of  your  unique  visitors  to  your  database.  

Flash  sale  marketers  threw  up  a  wall.  If  you  want  to  see  the  great  product  and  values  behind  this  wall,  they  said,  you  need  to  sign  up  as  a  member  by  giving  us  your  name  and  email  address.  About  two  thirds  of  the  visitors  say,  “No  way!”  and  leave  the  site.  But  the  other  third  give  up  their  information.  One  percent  of  the  visitors  still  buy  on  the  first  visit.  But  many  more  will  buy  after  receiving  daily  email  throughout  the  year.  

Back  in  1999,  when  Seth  Godin  wrote  the  groundbreaking  book,  Permission  Marketing,  he  predicted  that  an  increasing  percentage  of  marketing  messages  would  be,  “anticipated,  personal  and  relevant.”  

It  was  a  radical  idea  at  the  time.  But  today,  the  battle  is  on  for  the  inbox.  It’s  a  battle  for  a  special  relationship  with  consumers  that  can  be  incredibly  valuable.  Ultimately,  it’s  an  ideal  that  is  going  to  be  rare.  Rare,  because  the  attention  for  the  inbox  is  finite.  It  can  be  grown,  but  there  are  limits.  Interruption,  suggestion  and  epiphany  will  continue  to  be  important  to  marketers  and  consumers  alike.  But  Inbox  Appointment  Marketing  is  the  holy  grail  for  those  few  marketers  that  can  craft  compelling  offers  and  keep  them  coming  day  after  day.  

 

Understanding  WhatdaF#@K  People  Are  Saying  @  Speed.  

I’d  love  to  say,  “Forget  the  bullshit.  Ignore  the  acronyms.  Speak  like  a  human  being,  and  you’ll  get  where  you’re  going  a  lot  faster.”  

And  there,  I  did.  

But,  as  much  as  I  believe  that  you  should  do  your  best  to  speak  in  plain,  short  words,  with  evocative  detail,  and  avoid  the  businessisms  that  make  people  seem  like  poseurs,  I  know  I  can’t  stop  there.  Because,  that  only  takes  care  of  half  the  equation,  the  half  where  other  people  understand  what  the  hell  it  is  that  you  are  saying.  

Now  we  need  to  deal  with  the  half  where  you  understand  what  the  hell  other  people  are  saying.  And  that  half  is  more  difficult.  More  tedious.  But  also  potentially  more  perversely  enjoyable.  

Space.  Blue  oceans.  Scalability.  Angel  round.  A  round.  B  round.  IPO.    

 

The  No  Asshole  Rule.  

There  is  a  business  book  with  the  clever  title  of,  “The  No  Asshole  Rule.”  

This  is  a  rule  suggesting  that  businesses  not  allow  assholes  in.  I  think  this  is  just  as  dangerous  metaphorically  as  it  is  physically.  The  asshole  serves  an  essential  function.  

My  No  Asshole  Rule  states  that,    

“Any  organization  without  an  asshole  will  tend  to  bloat.”  

Bloating  is  not  growing.  It  is  an  unsightly,  and  ultimately  dangerous  condition  of  carrying  too  much  dead  weight.  A  well-­‐placed  asshole  can  prevent  that.    

No  psychopaths.  No  serial  killers.  No  dangerously  dysfunctional  people.  Just  effective,  well-­‐functioning  assholes.  To  clear  the  waste  out  of  the  system.  

Not  a  company  of  assholes,  unless  that’s  your  thing.  But  a  healthy  diversity.  Different  organs  doing  the  job  they  were  meant  to  do.    

Some  people  love  peace.  Others  enjoy  conflict.  Some  look  for  similarities,  while  still  others  are  vigilant  in  their  search  for  differences.  The  world  needs  all  kinds.  

Nice  people  are  nice.  But  an  organization  of  sheep  needs  a  dog,  or  it  is  surely  headed  for  a  hostile  takeover  by  a  wolf.  

 

Am  I  digital  yet?  

If  you’ve  gotten  this  far,  you’ve  not  only  read  an  e-­‐book  –  a  decidedly  un-­‐analog  accomplishment  –  but  you’ve  also  imbibed  many  of  the  attitudes  you’ll  need  to  succeed  in  a  digital  world.  If  you  find  yourself  a  little  more  inquisitive,  a  lot  more  searching,  and  at  least  three  beats  more  impatient  then  we’ve  done  our  job.    

Check  out  digitalATspeed.com  for  resources  and  updates.  This  e-­‐book  is  a  living  document,  with  arms,  legs,  root  and  leaves  spreading  out  into  the  social  world.  Would  you  expect  any  less?  

Finally,  if  you’re  working  on  growing  something.  A  mid-­‐market  business  or  a  small  shop.  A  career.  A  reputation.  A  cause.  Or  a  work  of  art.  In  short,  if  you’re  building  a  brand  and  a  community  around  that  brand,  then  we  are  here  for  you.  Feel  free  to  reach  out.  

 

Mark  DiMassimo                       Eric  Yaverbaum  

mark@digitalatspeed.com             eric@digitalatspeed.com  

 

 

 

 

 

Mark  DiMassimo    

One  part  social  scientist,  two  parts  creative  marketer,  DiMassimo  is  a  writer,  creative  director,  entrepreneur,  experimenter-­‐in-­‐chief,  CEO  and  founder  of  DIGO.  

After  studying  social  sciences  at  Cornell  and  Purchase  College,  telemarketing  advertising  specialties,  taking  a  band  on  the  road,  founding  two  successful  companies  and  making  tongues  wag  for  more  than  a  decade  with  his  work  for  a  who’s  who  list  of  top  direct  and  integrated  Madison  Avenue  agencies,  DiMassimo  ate  some  bad  pizza  and  had  an  epiphany:  “I’d  rather  sweep  the  floors  in  a  great  place  than  rule  a  mediocre  company!”  

The  same  day,  he  bought  a  broom  and  presented  himself  for  work  at  a  promising  agency  he’d  read  about  in  the  press.  Within  a  year,  he  rose  to  creative  director  of  Kirshenbaum  &  Bond,  building  an  integrated  creative  marketing  group  that,  within  three  years,  constituted  more  than  half  the  agency  and  had  become  a  multiple  Effie  Award  winner,  while  helping  the  agency  nearly  triple  in  size.  The  trust  and  success  he’d  built  with  Citibank  AAdvantage  Card  client  Leslie  Doty  while  at  Kirshenbaum  &  Bond  really  paid  off  later.  Leslie  took  a  new  position  with  SunTrust  Bank  and  chose  DIGO  –  then  DiMassimo  Brand  Advertising  -­‐-­‐    in  its  first  year,  to  oversee  the  SunTrust  bankcards  advertising.  

Mark’s  personal  mantra  is,  “Keep  using  your  powers  for  good.”  He  believes  that  the  power  to  influence  people  through  media  comes  with  a  responsibility  to  limit  harm  and  to  actively  promote  good.  DiMassimo  makes  passion  for  an  organization’s  mission  a  key  criterion  for  selecting  clients.  DIGO  also  does  extensive  pro  bono  work,  including  award-­‐winning  campaigns,  identities  and  innovations  for  the  Partnership  for  a  Drug-­‐Free  America,  The  American  Red  Cross,  the  National  Mental  Health  Association,  and  Dr.  Mehmet  Oz’s  HealthCorps,  among  others.  

DiMassimo  is  also  co-­‐founder  of  Tappening,  which  promotes  healthy  and  economical  tap  water  and  which  has  been  credited  with  reversing  a  two-­‐decades-­‐long  upward  trend  in  bottled  water  sales.  He  serves  on  the  board  of  Rare  Conservation,  and  on  both  the  Advisory  Board  and  Creative  Review  Committee  of  the  Partnership  for  a  Drug-­‐Free  America.  DiMassimo  is  featured  in  the  best-­‐selling  Leadership  Secrets  of  the  World’s  Most  Successful  CEOs,  by  Eric  Yaverbaum.  He  is  co-­‐author  of  Inside  the  Minds:  INNOVATION  and  Branding  as  an  Advertising  Strategy  and  is  featured  in  the  newly  released  Passion  Brands,  by  Kate  Newlin,  for  which  he  also  wrote  the  foreword.  A  familiar  face  on  CNBC,  CNN,  Bloomberg,  and  Fox,  DiMassimo  is  often  quoted  in  the  media.  

Mark  lives  in  Rye,  New  York  and  is  the  happy  husband  of  Jill  and  the  devoted  father  of  three  boys.  

Eric  Yaverbaum  

Eric  Yaverbaum    co-­‐founded  Jericho  Communications  in  1985,  the  11th  ranked  PR  firm  in  the  country  to  work  for  and  served  as  its  president  for  21  years  before  their  highly  touted  and  successful  merger  in  2005.  Yaverbaum  now  runs  New  York  City  agency  hot  shop  Ericho  Communications  (www.erichopr.com).  He  brings  31  years  of  experience  to  the  practice  of  public  relations  and  has  earned  a  reputation  for  his  unique  expertise  in  strategic  media  relations,  crisis  communications,  and  media  training.    Eric  has  amassed  extensive   experience   in   counseling   a   wide   range   of   clients   in   corporate,   consumer,  retail,  technology  and  professional  services  markets  and  building  brands  such  as  Sony,  Progressive  Insurance,TCBY,  Mrs.  Fields,  Subway  Sandwiches,  IKEA  Home  Furnishings,  Domino’s  Pizza,  H&M  and  American  Express,  among  many  others.  

He  also  is  a  frequent  talk  show  guest  on  national  and  regional  television  and  radio  programs,  including  CBS  This  Morning,  The  Today  Show,  CNN,  and  Fox  News,  where  he  has  appeared  weekly  since  October  of  2008.  Yaverbaum  wrote  the  best-­‐selling  book  I’ll  Get  Back  to  You  (McGraw  Hill  1998).    He  is  also  the  author  of  the  first  and  second  editions  of  Public  Relations  For  Dummies  (Wiley  Books)  which  is  required  reading  in  marketing  classes  at  57  universities  in  the  United  States.  His  third  book,  Leadership  Secrets  of  the  World’s  Most  Successful  CEOs  (Dearborn)  sold  over  one  million  copies  and  has  been  translated  into  13  languages.  His  fifth  book  Everything  Leadership  (Adams)    came  out  in  May  2008  and  he  co-­‐authored  his  sixth  book  with  his  daughter  Cole,    LIFE’S  LITTLE  COLLEGE  ADMISSIONS  INSIGHTS:  Top  Tips  From  The  Most  Acclaimed  Guidance  Counselors,  (Morgan  James  2009).  His  last  book  60  Second  Solutions  Management  came  out  this  past  December  (D&C  2011).  

Yaverbaum  currently  serves  as  associate  publisher  of  the  four  highest  circulated  business  publications  in  the  country,  LI&Business  (http://liandbusiness.com/magazine/october-­‐2011),  fb  and  Business  (http://fbandbusiness.com/magazine/october-­‐2011),  Tweeting&Business  (http://tweetingandbusiness.com/magazine/october-­‐2011)  and  The  Big  G&Business  (http://thebiggandbusiness.com/magazine/october-­‐2011)  with  a  combined  circulation  of  just  under  14  million  readers.  

Eric  was  an  active  member  of  the  highly  selective  Young  President’s  Organization  for  over  a  decade,  where  he  was  the  Chapter  Chairman  in  NYC.  His  widely  acclaimed  “Walk  A  Mile  in  My  Shoes”  campaign  helped  push  increased  spending  on  stem  cell  research  through  the  house  and  led  to  his  being  named  one  of  the  heroes  of  public  relations  industry  by  industry  bible,  PR  Week  in  2005.  His  current  agency  partnered  with  long  time  business  partner  DIGO    to  create  a  “brand”  for  tap  water  called  Tappening  (www.tappening.com).  The  company  was  launched  to  provide  education  to  the  general  public  about  the    consumption  of  bottled  water  and  the  detrimental  causes  it  brings  to  our  environment.    Good  Morning  America  proclaimed  their  water  bottles  one  of  the  hottest  products  for  2008.