September 30, 2004

lucky's juice joint

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There are a lot of great marketing books and blogs out there. That being said, I still think the best marketing stories come from personal, first-hand experience.

Here's a favorite one of mine:

Back when I lived in New York there was this fabulous, crazy-ass juice bar on West Houston called Lucky's Juice Joint. I think it's no longer there. I hear it's moved.

It was the most out-of-place business south of 14th Street. Hard to descibe, except as a "hardcore hippie haven". Just had this weird, crazy, psychedelic-rainforest vibe.

But damn, it had the best juice in town. It was amazing stuff. Tasted like the fruits and vegetables were picked that morning. Fresher than anything else I found in New York. And yes, I had searched high and low for even better alternatives, but never found one. In New York, this was really it.

The boss was this crazy looking tie-dye wearing guy who looked and talked like he had done too many drugs back in the 'sixties. A big ol' middle aged, acid-head teddy bear.

One day we struck up a brief conversation. I complimented the hell out of his product.

"Wow," I quietly gushed, "Your stuff is the best. It really is..."

"Sure it is," said the guy. "That's because we make it with reverence."

You don't have to get a job with a famous company or hot-shot industry in order to have a spectacular career. You just have to do what you do with reverence.

[UPDATE:] Tom from True Talk Blog makes a TERRIFIC point: "Authenticity and reverence are two sides of the same coin."

Yes! Exactly!

Posted by hugh macleod at 1:40 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack

hughtrain ramble

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THE HUGHTRAIN: "THE MARKET FOR SOMETHING TO BELIEVE IN IS INFINITE."

We are here to find meaning. We are here to help other people do the same. Everything else is secondary.

We humans want to believe in our own species. And we want people, companies and products in our lives that make it easier to do so. That is human nature...

Had some more thoughts, mostly disorganised ones:

: Bloggers are a fairly idealisitic bunch. When you talk about spirituality within a brand context they often get a bit twitchy. I guess some kind of self-imposed purity law is being messed with.

: Jack, a young Communications student from Australia wrote me today:

I'd like to see the future of advertising in blogs. I can see how they're part of it. But to be honest, I don't think I see the bigger picture.
So I write back:
Very few people can see the big picture, including those at the top of the industry.

The Communications industry can't see the big picture because it doesn't yet have a mechanism to handle Chaos Theory.

Worse than that, it doesn't have any business models that allow them to do what they do cheaply. They only have expensive models. All those mouths to feed, all those executive golf club memberships to pay for etc etc.

You know that celeb on that TV show you watch? You know, the one with the fancy-schmancy lifestyle your long-sufferring wife spends all her time enviously reading about in the tabloids?

Where does the celeb gets the means to buy all that cool stuff?

That's right. From your paycheck. Her money comes from you. Because the money that pays for her TV appearances comes from advertisers, who get their money from you when you go to Wal-Mart and buy their products that you saw advertised on your celeb pal's TV show the night before.

Nice to see all that hard-earned money you take home from the job at the paper mill going to help such worthy causes, like a new beach house in Malibu etc.

Big Media Celebrity Worship is corporate feudalism at its finest. The little people paying for the big people. I think it's cute.

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September 28, 2004

not drunk

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Posted by hugh macleod at 11:18 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

nothing to say

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Posted by hugh macleod at 10:45 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

how dare you have ideas

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mark love

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"Mark Love™. Basically a Love Mark in reverse."

A "Love Mark" is a newish, faddish term for a brand that commands a disproportionatley high amount of love and respect from the people who use it. You could say Apple and Harley Davidson were two classic examples.

OK, so...

A Mark Love™ is basically a term for a product that was made with a disproportionately high amount of love and respect for the end user.

Unlike the Love Mark, it's not about what the consumer thinks of the product. It's about what you think of the consumer, and how your product acts as a conduit to express that. It's 180 degrees from the Love Mark.The energy travels from the product (i.e. you) to the end user, not the other way around.

It's about Values. Purpose. Belief. Integrity. Compassion. All that good stuff.

You'll notice a lot of Love Marks started life out as Mark Loves first.

Ergo:

( Step 1) Create the Mark Love and (Step 2) the Love Mark will soon follow.

You want the lady in the shopping mall to love your product? Easy. Love her first.

The trouble arises when companies want to get to Step 2 before they've gotten to Step 1.

It's so frickin' obvious.

PS: This is a rewrite of the "Love Byte" post which was SO APPALLING I deleted it. However, some of you might be already picking it up on your RSS feeds. Sorry. Please ignore it. Thanks.

Posted by hugh macleod at 2:26 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack

bob the cab driver

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About once a week, I have to catch the late train home. Bob the cab driver always meets me the station and drives me to my house.

Bob’s got what Seth Godin calls “The Free Prize”. He's got what Tom Peters calls “The Wow! Factor”. He's got something I like that no other cab driver has. It might be his jovial manner, it might be I like the fact his car is colored red. It might be the fact that he's very reliable. The reason doesn't matter so much. Regardless, Bob gets my business 100% of the time. When he can't make it I let his brother pick me up instead, but that doesn't happen too often. I call no other cab service but Bob's. There are a lot of cab companies where I live. Cab driving is a pretty commodified buisness. But I call Bob. Every time. I like Bob.

The minute he pisses me off for whatever reason I’ll find another cab driver I like just as much.

Posted by hugh macleod at 11:48 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

September 27, 2004

pickup truck

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Just found this old one, floating around the net somewhere. Heh.

Posted by hugh macleod at 2:36 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

non-commodified

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Back in the 60s and 70s, Received Wisdom would say that a computer company should make both main bits of the machine- the hardware and software. IBM, Digital etc all followed this model.

But 25 or so years ago Microsoft asked themselves one of the best questions ever in the history of business:

“If hardware was free, how would Microsoft make a living?”

They had seen the writing on the wall. They saw hardware (i.e. the white boxes and circuit boards that make up PCs) eventually becoming a commodity. They looked into the future, and saw the price do nothing but go down.

And this was years before hardware became commodified. They decided software was where the action was; they’d let companies like Dell or Toshiba worry about the ever-commodifying molecules. They would just focus exclusively on the bit that would retain its value over time i.e. the software.

Apple didn’t spot this. Apple held on to hardware.

Apple nearly went under.

Microsoft became one of the biggest companies in the world.

Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.

So here’s my question to my fellow advertising folk, in the same vein:

“If they made advertising illegal overnight, how would your company make a living?”

Seriously. Any fool company can come up with a decent campaign brief. Any fool company can produce an award-winning TV commercial.

That’s no longer where the value is. Like computer hardware, that part of the business has become commodified. The real long-term, non-commodified value is elsewhere.

So where’s the non-commodified part? Seriously.

I have an idea. It's very exciting.

Posted by hugh macleod at 1:11 PM | Comments (8) | TrackBack

love is viral

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You ask folk to name some brands that really resonate with them, what Saatchi & Saatchi's would call a “Lovemark”.

So they rattle off a list: Reebok, Bluetooth, Mercedes, Apple, Captain Benny’s Seafood Restaurant, Typepad, whatever…

Usually, they list around a dozen. Then they lose interest and the coversation tails off.

The average person with a decent job (i.e. with money to spend on your product) interacts with around 40 thousand brands, and even that’s a conservative estimate.

12 out of 40,000. So even if the person buys your product, you brand has about a 0.0003% chance of being a Love Mark with them.

Anyone who enters a market thinking to beat those odds is a fool.

Advice to marketeers: Stop worrying about whether people you don’t know love your brand or not. Stop worrying about if your brand conforms to some vague ideal in a business/marketing book written by a clever guy you’ve never met. Worry instead about how much you and the people you know, love and respect love it. I mean REALLY love it. Be brutally honest.

If you and yours don’t love it, nobody else will. If you and yours do love it, others will.

Love is viral, indifference isn’t. It’s that simple.

Posted by hugh macleod at 11:42 AM | Comments (13) | TrackBack

September 26, 2004

faq

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1. Do you mind me posting your work on my website?
Not at all. Just as long as it's properly credited, unaltered (yes, you can alter the size to fit your site, no worries) and links back to gapingvoid. Check my Creative Commons License for more info. Also, I'd rather you make a copy of the images and host them on your own server rather than "stealing" my bandwidth. But if you can't do that for whatever reason, then go ahead and "hotlink". I'm not too fussy about it, to be honest. If you want your stuff to be read, then you have to make allowances etc.

2. I really want a certain image on a blogcard. Could you make it for me?
Sorry, no. Blogcards don't make enough money for individual commissions. In fact, I make no money from them. Everything is ploughed right back into paying for bandwidth. I just publish them mostly for the fun of it. That being said, I plan to be adding new designs to the stable, so if you have a favorite one, feel free to drop me an e-mail.

3. Are all your drawings drawn on the back of business cards?
Yes and no. I draw some of them on other people's printed cards, but mostly I draw on blank pieces of high quality bristol board, cut to business card size. This goes back to the early days when instead of handing out my company's business cards, I would just make a wee doodle on a blank card with my contact details on the back. People remebered it more, somehow. So blank cards have always been "business cards" to me. Depends how you want to define it.

4. Are you a full time cartoonist?
No. It's just a hobby.

5. Are you married?
No. Very single at the moment. Never been married. No kids to my knowledge, either.

6. What's your day job?
I'm a "blogvertising" consultant.

7. I'm new to gapingvoid. What should I check out first?
This is what I generally point people to:

The About Page: History of the cartoon-bizcard format, plus a list of my dozen or so sentimental favorite cartoons, with the story of how each one came into being.

The Hughtrain: "The market for something to believe in is infinite." A rant about the new realities of marketing.

How To Be Creative: Tips that have worked for me over the years. The book proposal is here.

The Sex & Cash Theory: "The creative person basically has two kinds of jobs: One is the sexy, creative kind. Second is the kind that pays the bills. Sometimes the task in hand covers both bases, but not often. This tense duality will always play center stage. It will never be transcended."

Old Site: Before I got into this whole blogging thing, I posted about 400 drawings on an old-fashioned website. Worth checking out.

7. What do you look like?
Some wonderfully unflattering pics of me are here.

Posted by hugh macleod at 3:26 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

September 25, 2004

you think TV is tedious?

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It's official:

"The consumers who make the biggest difference (the busy ones, the ones who earn a lot, spend a lot, vote, talk a lot and change things) are the ones most likely to be online and least likely to watch TV."
You think TV is tedious? You should see the people who work in it.

As a cartoonist, I prefer blogging to publishing in old media. I like the total control. I like the one-on-one.

Careerwise, I meet far more interesting people via blogging than I ever did working in TV or Madison Avenue.

ALLEGORY: The difference between blogging and mass-media cartooning is like the difference between a glass of whisky in front of a fire with an old friend, and talking to a hundred random people in a nightclub.

Posted by hugh macleod at 9:36 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

dream job

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Somebody recently asked me what my dream job would be.

Being a professional cartoonist is not it. I absolutely loathe the bunker-dwelling lifestyle. I absolutely despise the market most cartoonists have to schlep in.

Being a conventional advertising copywriter is also not it. Most copywriters are uninspired hacks with only a small bag of smartass tricks separating themselves and oblivion. Very few of them bring any seriously original thinking to their client’s problems. And very few clients ask copywriters for serious thinking as a result. They ask other people instead.

My dream job would be to somehow combine the two.

My dream job would be to license my drawing style to a company. I would draw them cartoons related to their business. On a deeper level I would apply The Hughtrain to their branding and their business.

My contribution would be to give them a very unique voice with which to express their brand essence, which would also be informed by my rather ahead-of-the-curve brand and marketing theories.

It would have to be the right company, though. A company with a great product, great people, a great corporate culture, and deep enough pockets to pay my salary.

If you know anybody, please forward this page to them. Thanks.

Joi Ito and others tell me the tech market is coming back. I'm thinking if I move again, it'll be to San Francisco, where people who have the same crazy kind of ideas as me seem to congregate.

Watch this space.

Email: hugh at gapingvoid etc.

Posted by hugh macleod at 11:42 AM | Comments (6) | TrackBack

September 23, 2004

book outline

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I'm turning "How To Be Creative" into a book. Here is the rough outline for the publishing folk etc.

(NB: The Book Proposal is here)

"The Sex & Cash Theory: How To Be Creative In A Non-Creative World"

"Sex & Cash" is a book about how to deal with the creative bug properly without it ruining your life.

The book will have about 15-30 thousand words. It will be small and thick; I'm thinking 5 x 8 inches. Mixed in with the main text will be hundreds of my cartoons, which will compliment the writing.

The Pitch: "Seth Godin meets Edward Gorey". You either get it or you don't.

Introduction: "The best way to get approval is not to need it." This is the central message of the book. A lot of people daydream about living the creative life, about being a writer, artist, whatever, even if they don't really have anything to say or really want to do the actual work. This book is not for them. This book is for people who already have a few ideas of their own, who may already be well on their way, but maybe could use a wee push. It's not an instruction manual. It just shows where some of the land mines are buried, and gives direct and unapologetic advice on how to avoid stepping on them.

It will be very different from the usual touchy-feely "Personal Creativity" fare. It'll have a bit more bite to it. It will not try to romantisize the creative life, nor try to convert people to living it. The aim is not to make the reader feel comforted, validated or make it all seem easier than it actually is. The main thesis of the book is just to get on with it; that only when one has dropped all those clichéd romantic daydreams about being creative, does the world actually start paying attention, do things actually start moving forward.

The book introduction will have similar to the preceding two paragraphs.

The book has four main sections:

Section 1. The Sex & Cash Theory: 500 words. "The creative person basically has two kinds of jobs: One is the sexy, creative kind. Second is the kind that pays the bills. Sometimes the task in hand covers both bases, but not often. This tense duality will always play center stage. It will never be transcended." (full text here...)

Section 2. Cartoons drawn on the back of business cards. 3,000 words. An introduction to my work, and the story behind how the cartoon format came into being. It'll also show a few of my sentimental favorite cartoons, and the stories of how they came into being.

"All I had when I first got to Manhattan were 2 suitcases, a couple of cardboard boxes full of stuff, a reservation at the YMCA, and a 10-day freelance copywriting gig at a Midtown advertising agency.

My life for the next couple of weeks was going to work, walking around the city, and staggering back to the YMCA once the bars closed. Lots of alcohol and coffee shops. Lot of weird people. Being hit five times a day by this strange desire to laugh, sing and cry simultaneously. At times like these, there's a lot to be said for an art form that fits easily inside your coat pocket..." (more here...)

Section 3. The Master List. 25-50 short chapters about absolutely everything I know on the subject of handling the creative process and the creative life. A few hundred words per chapter. Approx 10,000 words in total. (first draft here)
1. Ignore everybody.

2. The idea doesn't have to be big. It just has to change the world.

3. Put the hours in.

4. If your biz plan depends on you suddenly being "discovered" by some big shot, your plan will probably fail.

5. You are responsible for your own experience.

6. Everyone is born creative; everyone is given a box of crayons in kindergarten.

7. Keep your day job.

8. Companies that squelch creativity can no longer compete with companies that champion creativity.

9. Everybody has their own private Mount Everest they were put on this earth to climb.

10. The more talented somebody is, the less they need the props.

11. Don't try to stand out from the crowd; avoid crowds altogether.

etc. etc.

Section 4. Epilogue: Now quit futzing around and go do it. 500-1000 words.

"The pain of making the necessary sacrifices always hurts more than you think it's going to. I know. It sucks. That being said, doing something seriously creative is one of the most amazing experiences one can have, in this or any other lifetime. If you can pull it off, it's worth it. Even if you don't end up pulling it off, you'll learn many incredible, magical, valuable things. It's NOT doing it when you know you full well you HAD the opportunity- that hurts FAR more than any failure..."
Well, it's a start. I'll keep you posted etc.

Posted by hugh macleod at 11:32 PM | Comments (25) | TrackBack

greedcandy

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:Yes, another spike shoved my bandwidth above its quota late last night and caused my site to be down for 8 hours. I've sorted it out with my webmaster. It shouldn't happen again, he said, reaching for his checkbook.

: Another diamond from Seth Godin:

In a world where things are viral, you're more likely to succeed with passive networking (strangers recommending you) than the old school active kind. In other words, make great stuff, do your homework, build your audience and when you've got something worth talking about, people will talk about it.
I love this guy. "Passive Networking". What a stunningly great term from a stunningly great paragraph.

: Tom Peters' new blog is ferociously good. There's a reason why he gets the big bucks. My pet name for fun, motivational writings about business is "Greedcandy". It's a bit cynical, but hey, it was coined by me, so go figure...

Anyway, Tom and Seth are my two favorite Greedcandy folk at the moment. [UPDATE:] Though I'm thinking Evelyn Rodriguez is getting damn close to stealing their crowns. Her stuff already goes beyond them both in a lot of ways.

Hear that, Tom? You've got serious competition for a change ;-)

Posted by hugh macleod at 11:48 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack

September 22, 2004

young adam DVD

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"The best Scottish movie ever. An utter masterpiece of seething, beat-novel-film-noir sexuality." - Hugh MacLeod

Ewan McGregor, Tilda Swinton, Peter Mullan, Emily Mortimer etc.

Opened in USA April 16th, 2004

Buy the R-Rated DVD from Amazon.com

Buy the artisically superior, far racier but more expensive NC-17 version from Amazon.co.uk.

Been a while since I pimped Young Adam.

The DVDs are out, so if you haven't seen it yet, well, your loss.

Frankly, I'd recommend the NC-17/X-rated British version. Scenes were cut in the American version to make it fit the R-Rating.

Disclaimer: one of my best friends, Dave MacKenzie directed it. So of course I'm biased.

Posted by hugh macleod at 11:00 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

fun new biz model

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The corporate business model of the (very near) future is childishly simple to understand. Nike, Dell and Coca Cola already use it, and most big companies are gearing up to implement it ASAP.

THE FUN NEW BIZ MODEL:

The company is divided into two parts, Part A and Part B.

Part A is much, much smaller than part B. Part B is huge.

Part A is called "Creative".

Part B is called "Outsourced."

So, are you creative or are you outsourced?

Posted by hugh macleod at 11:00 AM | Comments (10) | TrackBack

September 21, 2004

upstreaming

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I’m very interested in what is called “upstreaming”; one of those pesky buzzwords currently en vogue.

“Upstreaming” basically means moving up the value chain.

As a cartoonist, a good definition would be “upstreaming” from selling $25 cartoons to newspapers, to selling million-dollar movie ideas based on your cartoon character. Or in my case, “upstreaming” from showing free cartoons on the net, to selling my advertising services to one of my readers who has a business needing sold to a large audience.

The whole frickin’ advertising businesses is currently going through a turbulent upstreaming phase at the moment.

A lot of the things ad agencies are used to selling to their clients are not nearly as rare or valuable as they once were. And the people in the cubes doing the work are finding themselves less and less valued.

An art director I know was laid off from Ogilvy's in New York about 2 years ago. He’s had a very hard time. His current situation is a total disaster. He’s 40 years old. Before the layoff his career had been less than spectacular.

Forget to upstream and you end up like him: middle aged and crashing on a friend’s couch in The Bronx.

Posted by hugh macleod at 2:21 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

history of chess pieces

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Chess pieces move the way they do for a reason:

A drunk Scottish guy in a pub told me this story. Fisk away.

Chess pieces are wee representations of ancient warfare.

1. Pawns. Foot soldiers. They were ordered to advance, fight to the death, and never retreat. Manoeuvring a phalanx of them in any direction other than forwards was pretty much impossible until the advent of the highly trained, highly drilled professional soldier, which didn't appear until much later with the Romans.

2. Knights. In ancient times, Calvary never advanced head on, but flanked i.e. they went around the back and attacked at the side.

3. Rooks. The original chess rooks were not castles, but war elephants. Elephants are fairly unstoppable once they get going, but not very manoeuvrable. Hence they can go in straight lines- forward, backward, left, right- but little else. In ancient times war elephants carried little “castles” on their backs, from which archers would fire down (think Lord of the Rings). Europe has no elephants, but does have castles. So the latter caught on.

4. Bishops. Chess predates Christianity in Europe. The original bishop pieces were actually sailing ships. Sailing ships never go straight, but tack to the left or right i.e. diagonal. The sail of the ship resembles the bishop’s crown. The bishops's crown was stylistically adopted in Europe during the Dark Ages, as Chistianity spread and naval warfare went into decline after the fall of the Roman Empire.

5. The Queen. The Queen’s entourage was always looked after by a small, elite, highly trained bodyguard. The imperative to protect the women and children was very strong. If trouble was afoot it needed to get the hell out of Dodge very quickly. Ergo the bodyguard was very mobile and very deadly. It needed to be.

6. The King, though powerful and free to choose any direction he wanted, was heavily laden with the apparatus of state. The King could not just drop everything and flee; he had the court, the treasury and the ministers weighing him down. So his movements were fairly limited.

Posted by hugh macleod at 1:13 PM | Comments (13) | TrackBack

there is no silver bullet

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More thoughts on "How To Be Creative":

26. Write from the heart.

There is no silver bullet. There is only the love God gave you.

As a professional writer, I am interested in how conversation scales.

How communication scales, x to the power of n etc etc.

Ideally, if you’re in the communication business, you want to say the same thing, the same way to an audience of millions that you would to an audience of one. Imagine the power you’d have if you could pull it off.

But sadly, it doesn’t work that way.

You can’t love a crowd the same way you can love a person.

And a crowd can’t love you the way a single person can love you.

Intimacy doesn’t scale. Not really. Intimacy is a one-on-one phenomenon.

It's not a big deal. Whether you’re writing to an audience of one, five, a thousand, a million, ten million, there’s really only one way to really connect. One way that actually works:

Write from the heart.

There is no silver bullet. There is only the love God gave you.

Posted by hugh macleod at 11:14 AM | Comments (6) | TrackBack

September 20, 2004

they are no longer customers, they are now consumers

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A startup I know just got big and sexy. Now the people doing the actual work are pissed off because suddenly the management are starting to believe their own publicity. Suddenly the fancy-talk consultants are moving in. Suddenly for the first time the CEO is closing the door to his office so his underlings can’t hear him talking with the recently-hired marketing guys.

Suddenly all transparency went out the window. This is amusing because the actual product is all about making their corporate clients more transparent.

Suddenly plain speaking went out the window. This is amusing because the actual product is all about making their corporate clients more plain speaking.

Suddenly the workers no longer feel they’re part of something, except perhaps making their bosses rich.

The early adapters who first used the product with relish and spread the word during the company's infancy are no longer appreciated, nor is their feedback actively sought any more. They were useful once, but now they have served their purpose. They're now told to go back and get in line with the rest of the plebes. They are no longer customers, they are consumers.

We both already know how this story is going to end.

Part of my current job is helping prevent companies from falling into this trap.

Feel free to write me if you wish to know more:

hugh at gapingvoid etc.

Posted by hugh macleod at 11:35 AM | Comments (7) | TrackBack

some things get harder, some things get easier

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A few years ago, the ad agency I worked for in New York was sold to Euro RSCG, the international advertising conglomerate.

The week of the paper being signed, the entire agency was crowded into this big room, and the then CEO of Euro RSCG, Bob Schmetterer, our new boss, gave us this big pep talk. We were part of this big global future that was happening or whatever.

Fair enough. I kinda saw the vision. It made sense, sorta, at least from a senior management position. We grunts were less sure, but since when are grunts sure about anything senior management gets up to?

So Bob opened the floor to questions. Nobody really had any, which I thought was odd. So to break the awkward silence I raised my hand.

“In time of great change,” I asked, “some things get harder, some things get easier, and the harder bit is usually where the money is. What's the hardest part of your job now?”

“Getting people on board,” said Bob. “Not everybody gets it.”

In times of great change, some things get harder, some things get easier. Concentrate on the former, because that’s where the money is. I still use that thought with my clients today.

I guess what interests me about any business is the hard parts. The easy parts are always overcrowded, underpaid and quietly dying.

Posted by hugh macleod at 1:18 AM | TrackBack

September 19, 2004

power is never given. power is taken.

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Artists, both famous and unknown, spend a lot of time waiting around for "The Big Yes Moment" to arrive. The moment where they get the greenlight. The moment where the publisher, producer, whatever finally calls him/her up and goes "Yes!"

Yes! You are no longer pond scum. Welcome to the happy, shiny, Holy Order of Non-Failure. Yes! Yes!

Yes! We're going to make your movie! Yes! We're going to publish your novel! Yes! We're going to give you a show!

Yes! Yes! Yes!

Go to any art opening, film screening or book launch in New York, Paris, London, Tokyo etc. The place is full of these people- artists killing time, drinking the free wine, working the room, trying to hide their fear and doubt, trying not to look desperate, trying to look like players, trying to feign relevance, trying to be as interesting and confident and amusing and networked as possible, all waiting around till their Big Yes Moment hopefully one day lands on their lap from an unknown direction. It doesn't matter if they're a 20-year-old art student or a 50-year-old Oscar Nominee. Their palpable unease carries the same vibe.

Some lame-ass myth exists that if you're talented, hard working, savvy and networked enough, then one day power will be given to you.

It doesn't happen like that. Power is never given. Power is taken.

Power comes from sovereignty.

So now you know.

Posted by hugh macleod at 12:11 PM | Comments (7) | TrackBack

September 18, 2004

trogging

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Coined a new term. Heh.

TROGGING: Trust + Blogging i.e. "Using Blogs to build trust and transparency."

It occurs to me that my opinion of Microsoft has risen considerably in the last year.

Not that I ever belonged to the "Bill Gates is Satan" crowd. I never was into computers enough to really care whether a guy in Redmond wrote the code, or some guy in Toledo. The same way I don't really care who made my telphone or my microwave, so long as it works. It's not an area where I project a lot of myself in to.

Still, there is something quite monolithic about Microsoft, and one always keeps an eyebrow raised when something gets that big, quite rightly.

So what happened? A new product? Nope. I still use the same Windows 98 and creaky, old Dell as always. Great new advertising campaign? Nope. Not watching much TV these days. Bill Gates gave all his money to cancer research? Nope. Not seen that much mention of him in the media recently.

What happened in there's this guy called Robert Scoble who has a blog that I've been reading a lot this last 6-9 months. Robert works for Microsoft. Mark seems like a smart, honest, regular guy who holds down a job, same as the rest of us. He just happens to work for Microsoft. Robert writes about his job and his company the same way I would if I worked for them and liked my job. Informal, informed, friendly, it gives real insight about his company where possible- he tries to be as open and insightful as he can without disclosing trade secrets.

It other words, he seems sane, reasonable, trustworthy, human and somebody who knows what he's talking about. Which to me helps make Microsoft seem likewise.

One guy and his blog, doing more real good for his company than any multimillion dollar ad agency campaign could ever hope to achieve.

As somebody in the ad business, I find the implications staggering.

Long live Robert Scoble, King of the Troggers!

UPDATE: Rick Bruner shows what happens when a company (in this case, Kryptonite Bicycle Locks) doesn't "trog":

This is simply going to devistate Kryptonite. Too bad, I've always been a fan. Of course, this isn't principally a communication problem; it's a product problem. The only thing I could think that might save their business at this point would be a massive recall/refund for every customer with a U-lock. But this is also a communication problem. As a customer (I have four of their locks), I would really like to know whether this problem affect their other products, or whether it is limited to that Evolution 2000. But their communication on this sucks. The story broke online, yet there is nothing about it on their web site. They could really, really use a blog to try to contain the damage ASAP. But looking at their actions so far, I am not optimistic.
Can you imagine how much money Kryptonite would have saved if they only had the foresight to let one of their smarter writers keep a company blog?

Companies that "trog" will remain. Companies that don't will die. You heard it here first. Fire your ad agency. Hire a blogger who knows what he's doing.

NB: Yes, I know, "trogging" is a silly word. I'm not expecting it to catch on, frankly.

UPDATE: Rober Scoble spotted this post and gave it a wee mention. Thanks, Robert!

Posted by hugh macleod at 11:18 PM | Comments (8) | TrackBack

my 10 best ideas

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I work in the advertising and branding business, coming up with ideas. These are my sentimental favorites.

1. The Hughtrain: "The market for something to believe in is infinite."

2. Movie Blogvertising. I was the first ever to use blogs as form of advertising for a commericaly-released film, as far as I know. Maybe somebody beat me to it, but my radar hasn't caught it so far. [Update: Radar just caught it: This was the first. Heh. But at the time I didn't know of it.]

3. Seally Commerical: Killer Whale.

4. My Diet Coke Ad.

5. McDonald's. "Stay Hungry."

6. "Smarter Conversations". Kinda says it all.

7. "Blogcards".

8. "Aaaaagh! It's Mr Hell!"

9. The Kinetic Quality. "A brand is a place, not a thing."

10. "Quality is not job one." Life is suffering.

NOTES:

1. The Hughtrain: "The market for something to believe in is infinite."

"We are here to find meaning. We are here to help other people do the same. Everything else is secondary.

We humans want to believe in our own species. And we want people, companies and products in our lives that make it easier to do so. That is human nature..."

This seems ridiculously self-evident.

Marketing is mostly simple stuff. People just like to make it complicated in order to hide their fear.

2. Movie Blogvertising. I was the first ever to use blogs as form of advertising for a commericaly-released film, as far as I know. Maybe somebody beat me to it, but my radar hasn't caught it so far.

Blogged Previously:

Taking on board what I've learned from blogging Young Adam, this is how I'd design a commercial blog for a big-budget movie.

1. I would keep the blog entries as short and sweet as possible. Movie goers have short attention spans.

2. I would post links to do with all the people invloved. If John Travolta was the star I would blog all the interesting stuff on him I could find. His love of flying airplanes or whatever. The blog would become as much an A-Grade source for Travolta information as it would for the film.

I would do likewise for all the other actors, and the director, and even the producer. The point of publicity is to make the recipient feel like he/she is getting real, juicy, insider info. A feeling not unlike the college student gets when the bouncer finally lets him in to the club.

"Make them feel like they're getting behind the velvet rope" etc.

3. I would keep on hammering away on why I think it's a good movie. I would never let them forget I think it's a good movie. Ever.

4. If the movie was getting any "buzz", I'd report on that too.

5. I would make sure the blog had an authentic voice. Of course, if it's a great movie my job is easier. If the movie is a total dud, I would dig deeper in order to find whatever merit I could.

The way to do that, obviously, is not to compare it with Citizen Kane. Better to realize that even a mediocre movie has a good story behind it- the combined results of millions of dollars and roomfulls of smart, driven people. Try to find the brightest people on the project and try to bring their energy in to the equation. Even if it's the worst movie ever, there might be some amazingly wonderful person working in the costume department or whatever. Try to tap into that side of things.

6. Talk about the actual business. Perhaps explain to people the compelxities of a distribution deal or whatever. Try to make them see where the movie fits within a billion dollar industry. Cultivate intrigue. Again, people want to be 'insiders', it's hard-wired into our systems to want to belong to the Alpha Group. Get them beind the velvet rope, any way you can.

7. Start early. To build awareness of the movie properly needs at least least a year, preferably two. It's not about telling millions of people at once. You talk to a few thousand at a time. Let the word spread gradually. Give it time to seep into the Zeitgeist, like absinthe on a sugar cube.

8. Buy media. Word-of-mouth is good, but not always reliable. Buy the means to drive the necessary eyeballs to your site, and charge it to your client at an honest profit to yourself.

9. Allow comments. Let your readers contribute, the more the better- it builds interactivity, word-of-mouth, and most importantly, credibiltiy. That being said, have no qualms about deleteing rude ones and banning ISP addresses. "Trolls" are never helpful. Be prepared to police your blog vigilantly.

10. All this is in vain without some kernel of intellectual honesty informing your every action.

3. Seally Commerical: Killer Whale.
Documentary footage: A seal is napping on an ice flow. Suddenly a killer whale pops up from beneath the water, violently grabs the seal in his jaws and disappears under the waves with his hapless prey.

VOICE OVER: “The world is not a place for the half-awake” etc.

Repositioning a mattress as a competitive Darwinian tool. Exactly.

4. My Diet Coke Ad.
No messing around.
5. McDonald's. "Stay Hungry."
I sadly never sold this idea. I had the thought that if McDonlad's wanted to get serious about turning their fortunes around, they should tap into more of that entrepreneurial energy of their founder, Ray Kroc. It was a good tagline, though. The commercials I wrote weren't bad, either.
6. "Smarter Conversations". Kinda says it all.
7. "Blogcards".

Blogcards are fun. They allow people to hand out their details without having to be too formal about it. They also spread the word about my work in a fairly undemanding manner. Molecular viral marketing, as it were.

I don't make money on them. All profits get ploughed back into paying for this website. But they seem to make people happy. That's more than enough.

8. "Aaaaagh! It's Mr Hell!" A half hour BBC cartoon show based on one of my cartoon characters. Ran on the BBC, Showtime in the US, ran in Canada, Australia etc etc.
OK, yeah, this isn't really an "advertising" thing. But the producer of the show was an old advertising buddy of mine, who quit Madison Avenue to try his luck in the TV business.

Payment for TV folk being as pathetic as it is, we never expected to make much money from it. We hope maybe down the road there could be a merchandising thing, which is worth a lot more. So the TV program's main benefit to its creators is as an advertisement for a Mr Hell T-shirt or whatever. So it really is about advertising after all. Ha!

It didn't quite work out that way. TV is a nightmare. You have been warned.

9. The Kinetic Quality. "A brand is a place, not a thing."

You have to be careful about Brand Theory. Once it starts creeping out of your mouth you start turning into this very scary person. You have been warned.

10. "Quality is not job one." Life is suffering.
Posted by hugh macleod at 2:20 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

rebundling content

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Tim Oren has some wonderful thoughts on the bundling and rebundling of content:

These bundling strategies are not stable of themselves, they exist only within the context of technology, distribution and transaction costs surrounding them. When these change, bundles may collapse. The CD is the obvious example. With individual digitized songs now easier to duplicate and distribute than the physical bundle, the albums raison d'etre has disappeared. As the simple playlist replaces the album's remaining value of simplifying choice, CDs commence a slow glide to oblivion, moderated only by the installed base of equipment and consumer habit.
Jeff Jarvis has some nice thoughts to add:

If the network or the newspaper or the magazine or the cable system was the old bundle, the internet itself is the new bundle: In this medium of extreme control, we each put together whatever bundle we want...

This accelerates the commoditization of content. It also provides opportunities for those who can add value (and convenience and perspective and even fun)... In this new distributed, unbundled, post-marketplace, molecular, commoditized media world, value can be added in many ways. It's about relationships. It's about relevancy. It's about service. It's about uniqueness. It's about perspective.

My two cents: A friend of mine just got laid off from his high-paying editorial job at FHM. He's 37. His bosses figured they could get a 26 year old to do the job a lot cheaper. They were right, of course.

Every non-executive media, publishing and advertising person I know is hurting. But I don't expect the pain levels to ever decrease, for reasons Tim and Jeff talked about.

Even worse, a lot of these folk live in "media center" cities like New York or London that, unlike the prices they command for their services, never get cheaper.

i.e. their jobs are worth less and less every day, the towns they live in get more and more expensive to live in every day. It's unsustainable.

We media/advertising/content folk are supposed to be "creative". Yet we're very uncreative when it comes to thinking about our business models differently. We still expect management to take care of that aspect for us, in exchange for allowing our "creativity" to be squeezed like lemons. Management knows we're screwed, knows we're stuck, knows we're desperate, so they squeeze harder. I would do the same. So would you.

Like I said in "How To Be Creative", all existing business models are wrong. Find a new one.

Posted by hugh macleod at 10:30 AM | Comments (6) | TrackBack

untitled

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Posted by hugh macleod at 12:22 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

new york is for lovers

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Posted by hugh macleod at 12:19 AM | TrackBack

September 17, 2004

start-agains

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Just added the following blurb to The Hughtrain:

There’s only one thing harder than starting a new business: Re-inventing an old one.

Start-ups are fine and dandy, most people reading this will know all about them.

But what about Start-agains? Are they an exercise in futility or a tremendous opportunity?

THOUGHT: the future of advertising is clients increasingly asking their agencies to help re-invent not just their brands, but their actual companies. The future is agencies being increasingly unable to deliver on this.

Out of this wreckage a new industry will emerge...

Posted by hugh macleod at 2:38 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack

September 16, 2004

tom peter's rant

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A wonderful rant from Tom Peters, courtesy of the ever life-affirming Halley Suitt.

Tom's latest book, "Re-imagine!" is wonderful. I cannot recommend it highly enough. Same goes for Halley's website.


tomAto, TOMaTO by Tom Peters

New Delhi. Thirteen September 2004. I awoke, jetlagged and sweaty, at 3A.M. I’d had a nightmare. Stark realism. I was, as usual, accused of overstatement and a few (or more) too many exclamation marks (!!!!!). Only this time I’d acceded to “They.” The “They” who believe in The Plan and Built to Last and Continuous Improvement and Quiet, Humble Leaders. No! No! I had failed, in my dream, to live up to my Fervent Beliefs! This must not pass! In a sweat, fearful that the time would not come ‘round again, I turned on the light, picked up a pad of paper, and began to scribble frantically. Herewith the result.

Tom’s Re-imagine Manifesto:

They say … my (Tom) language is extreme.
I say … the times are extreme.

They say I’m extreme.
I say I’m a realist.

They say I demand too much.
I say they accept mediocrity & continuous improvement too readily.

They say “We can’t handle this much change.”
I say “Your job and career are in jeopardy; what other options do you have?”

They say Brand You is not for everyone.
I say the alternative is unemployment.

They say “What’s wrong with a ‘good product’?”
I say Wal*Mart or China or both are about to eat your lunch. Why can’t you provide
instead a Fabulous Experience?

They say “Take a deep breath. Be calm.”
I say “Tell it to Wal*Mart. Tell it to China. Tell it to India. Tell it to Dell. Tell it to
Microsoft.”

They say the Web is a “useful tool.”
I say the Web changes everything. Now.

They say “We need an Initiative.” I say “We need a Dream. And Dreamers.”

They say Great Design is “nice.”
I say Great Design is “necessary.”

They say I “overplay” the “women’s thing.”
I say the share of Women in Senior Leadership Positions is a Waste and a Disgrace and a
Strategic Marketing Error.

They say the Women’s Market Opportunity I harp on is “doubtless important.”
I say 9 out of 10, make that 99 out of 100, companies aren’t within striking distance of
accurately estimating the potential of the Women’s Market … let alone exploiting it.

They say the boomer-geezer market is also “doubtless important.”
I say the boomer-geezer market amounts to a Redefining Moment.

They say we need a “project” to exploit the women-boomer-geezer market.
I say we need Total Strategic Realignment to exploit the Women-Boomer-Geezer
Opportunity.

They say “Wow” is “typical Tom.”
I say “WOW” is a Minimum Survival Requirement.

They say “effective governance” is important.
I say bold-brash Boards that are representative of the market served—more than a
token woman or two and an empty seat for the “forthcoming Hispanic”—are an
Imperative. Now.

They say “Plan it.”
I say “DO IT.”

They say “We need more steady, loyal employees.”
I say “WE NEED MORE FREAKS WHO ROUTINELY TELL THOSE ‘IN CHARGE’
TO TAKE A FLYING LEAP … BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE.”

They say “We need Good People.”
I say “We need Quirky Talent.”

They say “We like people who, with steely determination, say, “I can make it better.’”
I say “I love people who, with a certain maniacal gleam in their eye, perhaps even a
giggle, say, “I can turn the world upside down. Watch me!”

They say “We must speed things up.”
I say “We must Radically change the Corporate Metabolism until Insane Urgency
becomes a Sacrament.”

They say, “Sure, we need ‘Change.’”
I say we need “REVOLUTION NOW.”

They say (acknowledge), “Okay, we need revolution.”
I say, “REVOLUTION.”

They say “fast follower.”
I say “battered and bruised leader.”

They say “Conglomerate & Imitate!”
I say “Create & Innovate!”

They say “Market share.”
I say “Market CREATION.”

They say “Improve & Maintain.”
I say “DESTROY & RE-IMAGINE.”

They say “We like words such as ‘calm’ … ‘certainty’ … ‘is.’”
I say “I like words/phrases such as ‘turbulent’ ‘opportunity’ … ‘might be’.”

They vote for Republicans and Democrats.
I vote for Independents and Libertarians.

They say “Normal.”
I say “Weird.”

They say “Happy balance.”
I say “Creative Tension.”

They say they favor a “team” that works & lives in “harmony.”
I say “give me a raucous brawl among the most creative people imaginable.”

They say “Peace, brother.”
I say “Bruise my feelings. Flatten my ego. SAVE MY JOB.”

They say “Vanilla.”
I say “Cherry Garcia.”

They say “Basic Black.”
I say “TECHNICOLOR RULES!”

They say “Branding is for the likes of Nike.”
I say “Branding is for Everyone & Anyone with the passion & tenacity to foist their
Wonderful & Weird Point of View on the world … and the world’s (read: Web’s)
power allows-encourages such “silly” (until recently) visions-of-ubiquity to become
reality, perhaps overnight.”

They say we need “happy customers.”
I say “Give me pushy, needy, nasty, provocative customers.”

They say they want to partner with “best of breed.”
I say “give me Coolest of Breed.”

They say we need “supply chain harmony.”
I say we need “supply chain Innovation.”

They say “We seek Harvard MBAs.”
I say I seek Certificate-free “PhDs” from the School of Hard Knocks.

They say they want recruits with a “spotless records.”
I say “the Spots are what matter most.”

They say “Integrity is important.”
I say “Tell the Unvarnished Truth, All the Time … or take a Long Hike.”

They read Jim Collins and grok on “quiet, humble leaders.”
I say “Give me the Bold, the Brash, the Brassy, the Egocentric Dreamers who, like Steve
Jobs, ‘Dent the Universe.’”

They say they need a “vision” born of McKinsey.
I say we need a “Grandiose Dream” born of a Passionate & Intemperate Belief that the
world can be a different, better place.

They say healthcare, our biggest industry, is “a mess.”
I say our hospitals, which kill over 100,000 patients a year, are part of a system that is “a
disgrace.”

They say “obesity is a problem” … “lose some weight.”
I say Re-imagine the entire healthcare system … NOW … to focus on Prevention &
Wellness.

They say “no child left behind.”
I say “education” is leaving ALL our children behind, as it is totally mis-aligned to deal
with tomorrow’s (this afternoon’s) uncertain, ambiguous, creativity-driven economy.

They say we need to “bring effectiveness to the supply chain.”
I say we need an IS/IT/Best Sourcing revolution based on nothing less than an Entirely
Original Vision of what organizations are and how they interact.

They say “Globalization is a bumpy road.”
I say India and China and Asia in general are within two decades of running the show:
Get ready or get trounced.

They say “defense” and “consolidation” are musts for a global game.
I say encourage Offense, nurture a Generation (or 10) of Entrepreneurs, cherish
Creativity & Risk-taking from primary school onwards … and don’t expect to be saved
by a bunch of bulky, retro behemoths commanded by a phalanx of Old White Guys
who think 30 minutes a day on the corporate treadmill is a fit defense against
Revolution.

They say “men.”
I say “WOMEN.”

They say Diversity is a “good thing.”
I say Diversity is a Fresh Breath of Creative Air … Absolutely Necessary for Economic
Salvation in perilous times.

They say “Wait your turn, honor those who have marched these corridors before you.”
I say Get Off Your Butt & Go for the Gold … TODAY … or sign the transfer papers
willing your job in perpetuity to a Chinese or Indian who Gives a Shit and Gets Up
(VERY) Early and works Saturdays & Sundays.

They say “offshoring” is a “blight.”
I say the Earth proved not to be the center of the Solar System … and the USA is not the
epicenter-in-perpetuity of the Earth … and that we had best learn … NOW … to
prosper and take pleasure in a dynamic, exciting, creative, multi-polar economic
environment. (Damn it.)

They say “It’s a fright.”
I say “It’s a Helluva Ride.”

They say it’s “daunting.”
I say it’s “a hoot.”

They say “Life is a marathon; husband your strength.”
I say “Life is a sprint. Begin planning your World-beating Me Inc. start-up … TODAY.”

They say lifetime employment was a boon.
I say lifetime employment was Indentured Servitude, modern-day Slavery.


They say “safety net.”
I say “I am my safety net; give me the ‘Ownership Society.’” (And I’m a lifelong Democrat.)

They say “zero defects.”
I say “A day without a screwup or two is a day pissed away.”

They say “Think about it.”
I say “Try it.”

They say “Plan it.”
I say “Test it.”

They say “continuous improvement.”
I say “Bold Leaps.”

They say “Keep on Improvin’.”
I say “Keep on Leapin’.”

They say “Built to last.”
I say “Built to Soar. We’re all dead in the long run … live your Insane Fantasy. Devil
take the hindmost.”

They (Jim Collins) say “Walgreens is Cool.”
I say “I love Larry Ellison.” (Oracle rules … at least for the next ten minutes.)

They say “Play the odds.”
I say “Reward excellent failures. Punish mediocre successes.” (Thanks, Phil Daniels.)

They say “Eighty-hour weeks will kill you.”
I say “Work 35-hour weeks, and the Chinese will kill you.”

They say “Install cost controls with teeth.”
I say “Ha. Ha. Ha. Blow Up the existing enterprise and start with a Clean Sheet of
Paper.”

They say “Install cost controls with teeth.”
I say “Grow the Top Line.”

They say “Radical change takes a decade.”
I say “Radical change takes a Minute.” (See AA.)

They say “Times are changing.”
I say “Everything has already changed. Tomorrow is the First Day of Your Revolution …
or you’re Toast.”

They say “We can’t all be Anita Roddick or Maxine Clark or Stan Shih or Les Wexner or
Jerry Yang.”
I say “Why not?”

They say “We can’t all be Revolutionaries.”
I say “Why not?”

They say “We can’t all be a Brand.”
I say “Why not?”

They say “Beware the Hype.”
I say “Been to China lately? Visited Infosys in Bangalore lately?”

They say this is just a Rant.
I say this is just Reality.

They say “The man is not nice.”
I say “The times are not forgiving.”

The issue isn't whether Tom's ideas are right. They are. The issue is whether the place you work will allow you to take them on board.

Posted by hugh macleod at 11:35 PM | Comments (9) | TrackBack

double the conversations

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I really, really like Seth Godin's basic take on marketing. To him, there are only two questions worth asking:

1. Who’s talking about your product?
2. What are they saying?
Two very simple questions. Both are hard as hell to answer honestly. Any kind of honesty is hard as hell. We’re hardwired to be deluded.

Another gem from him:

"It’s all marketing now. The organizations that win will be the ones that realize that all they do is create things worth talking about."

Again, it's really simple stuff. But simple stuff often scares us.

80% of one of my former client's business is word-of-mouth. I once argued the case that if we could double the amount of conversations people were having about the product, sales will go up by 60% (80% doubled equals 160%, i.e. a 60% increase etc).

So my team came up with some ideas that made it MUCH easier for customers to have random conversations about the product with other people. It wasn't rocket science, I assure you.

She didn't buy the idea. She was shopping for rocket science that day, not plain speaking. Whatever.

Frankly, I think the idea of people actually talking about her product without her marketing team there to intervene like rabid pit bulls kinda terrified her.

We live in interesting times...

Posted by hugh macleod at 10:31 AM | Comments (10) | TrackBack

September 15, 2004

advertise on gapingvoid

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I've been a keen advocate of Blogads for a while, now they're on gapingvoid as well.

If you have something worth sharing with my readers, feel free to click the link at the bottom of the "blogvertising" adstrip, or go here.

My stats: I'm currently getting around 5000 visits a day, often more. A lot of my audience are people interested in advertising and marketing. I also get a lot of random hipster traffic because of the cartoons. I get a lot of creative folk because of my "How to be Creative" schpiel. I'm read by a lot of journalists, for some reason. I also get a lot of "A-Listers" coming to visit, which often triples my traffic (Thanks, Guys!).

My Google Page Rank is a "7", which makes my site's "link universe" comparable to other large blogs like adrants, joi.ito.com, buzzmachine.com etc.

Since gapingvoid got pretty well known my bandwidth costs have gone through the roof. The blogads are a way to hopefully pay for them. I didn't use blogads before because I didn't think my traffic was high enough to warrant using them. Now I do.

Hmmmm.... anything else I'm leaving out?

Posted by hugh macleod at 10:46 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

September 14, 2004

mid-level

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Posted by hugh macleod at 5:52 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

god's love

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Posted by hugh macleod at 5:50 AM | TrackBack

September 12, 2004

fragmentation of fashion

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Britton Monasco writes about "The Fragmentation of Fashion" over at Corante. It's a good read.

My two cents: It's not just consumers have too much choice; it's that they've gotten too smart.

They know that $100 t-shirt cost $2 to make in The Phillipines. They know the supermodel is just as screwy, tedious and flawed as the rest of us.

They know there's a short, bald guy behind the curtain.

Dazzling them with your brand isn't as easy as it used to be. The bullshit detectors are a lot more powerful than when you were back getting your MBA.

And they're getting more powerful every day. You know that, I know that, to pretend otherwise is just stupid and wrong.

You no longer control the conversation, they do. All you can do is make products that enhance the conversation. That make the conversation interesting and wonderful.

It's what I said in The Hughtrain: "It's not just the product. People have to love the process as well."

i.e. It's not what you do, it's the way that you do it.

Markets are now faster and smarter than you are. Without belief and purpose, you have nothing.

Posted by hugh macleod at 2:28 PM | Comments (8) | TrackBack

ad agencies: "their business models suck and they're expensive for what you get."

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My life has been completely governed by an e-mail exchange I had earlier in the year with Bob.

Bob is the Japanese brand director for a very large international brand. A famous one. You've heard of it. Bob is a very smart and talented guy.

At the time I was starting to really get into the whole Cluetrain thing. I was looking at the advertising industry as a whole, and not liking what I was seeing, frankly.

So I exchange a few e-mails on the subject with Bob over in Tokyo. I remember Bob writing back something in particular about ad agencies- I don't even have to look it up, I can easily recite it from memory:

"Their business models suck and they're expensive for what you get."
There's the rub. Their business models do suck and they are indeed expensive for what you get. Bob is no fool.

So, my advertising friends, here's the new deal:

It's not about strategy.
It's not about media.
It's not about creative.

It's about having a business model that (a) doesn't suck and (b) isn't expensive for what you get.

I have a plan. Do you?

Posted by hugh macleod at 12:17 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

September 11, 2004

cut to the chase

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One thing about using the business card as a primary medium is the small size forces you to to think about what you're saying. You don't have the space to waffle or ramble. You cut to the chase. The drawing above is a pretty good example, I guess. It tells a lot of story in few words.

I can't tell you how useful this has proved to me professionally. In mass-market advertising, both space and airtime are very expensive. So every sentence you cut out saves thousands of dollars of your client's money.

In a world of permanently fragmenting media, the market for "shorter" increases. The market for "longer" decreases. Artistically one could easily find that objectionable, but that doesn't change the actual market.

Posted by hugh macleod at 10:52 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

September 10, 2004

"how to be creative" is done

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"How To Be Creative" is done, finally.

25 entries, 10,000 words, 26 drawings. One very large thread.

Thanks to Everybody for reading it. Especially thanks for all the feedback you left in the comment section. It really helped.

Yeah, I'll tweak it and whatnot. But it's done.

Thanks again =)

PS: Yes, I have had some publishing conversations. Yes, I have an agent. Expect a book at some point. Nothing is set in stone yet. If you're a publisher, please feel free to get in touch with me. If you know anyone in publishing who might be interested, please e-mail them a link to this page. Thanks.

As well as books, there are other possibilites- postcards, stationery, t-shirts, posters etc etc.

Anyhow, yeah, so I'm looking for allies to turn gapingvoid into something bigger than just a website. Angel investors, VC money, publishing deals, I'm open to anything. Again, feel free to drop me a line if you have any ideas:

email: hugh at gapingvoid etc.

Thanks again. Rock on.

Posted by hugh macleod at 10:51 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

you have to find your own schtick

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More thoughts on "How To Be Creative":

25. You have to find your own schtick.

A Picasso always looks like Piccasso painted it. Hemingway always sounds like Hemingway. A Beethoven Symphony always sounds like a Beethoven's Symphony. Part of being a Master is learning how to sing in nobody else's voice but your own.
Every artist is looking for their big, definitive "Ah-Ha!" moment, whether they're a Master or not.

That moment where they finally find their true voice, once and for all.

For me, it was when I discovered drawing on the back of business cards.

Other, more famous and notable examples would be Jackson Pollack discovering splatter paint. Or Robert Ryman discovering all-white canvases. Andy Warhol discovering silkscreen. Hunter S Thompsonn discovering Gonzo Journalism. Duchamp discovering the Found Object. Jasper Johns discovering the American Flag. Hemingway discovering brevity. James Joyce discovering stream-of-conciousness prose.

Was it luck? Perhaps a little bit.

But it wasn't the format that made the art great. It was the fact that somehow while playing around with something new, suddenly they found themselves able to put their entire selves into it.

Only then did it become their 'schtick', their true voice etc.

That's what people responded to. The humanity, not the form. The voice, not the form.

Put your whole self into it, and you will find your true voice. Hold back and you won't. It's that simple.

Posted by hugh macleod at 1:08 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

September 8, 2004

note to self: synapses

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NOTE TO SELF:

Your job is no longer about selling. Your job is about firing off as many synapses in your client’s brain as possible.

The more synapses that are fired off, the more dopamines are released. Dopamines are seriously addictive. The more dopamines you release, the more the client will come back for more. Your client thinks he is coming back to you for sane, rational, value-driven reasons. He is wrong. He is coming back to feed.

“We are here to find meaning. Everything else is secondary.”

Posted by hugh macleod at 3:29 PM | Comments (10) | TrackBack

September 6, 2004

under-employed

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Posted by hugh macleod at 9:24 PM | TrackBack

cool-sounding

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Posted by hugh macleod at 9:22 PM | TrackBack

lot of money

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Posted by hugh macleod at 9:20 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack

don’t worry about finding inspiration

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More thoughts on "How To Be Creative":

24. Don’t worry about finding inspiration. It comes eventually.

Inspiration precedes the desire to create, not the other way around.
One of the reasons I got into drawing cartoons on the back of business cards was I could carry them around with me. Living downtown, you spend a lot of time walking around the place. I wanted an art form that was perfect for that.

So if I was walking down the street and I suddenly got hit with the itch to draw something, I could just nip over to the nearest park bench or coffee shop, pull out a blank card from my bag and get busy doing my thing. Seamless. Effortless. No fuss. I like it.

Before, when I was doing larger works, every time I got an idea while walking down the street I’d have to quit what I was doing and schlep back to my studio while the inspiration was still buzzing around in my head. Nine times out of ten the inspired moment would have past by the time I got back, rendering the whole exercise futile. Sure, I’d get drawing anyway, but it always seemed I was drawing a memory, not something happening at that very moment.

If you’re arranging your life in such a way that you need to make a lot of fuss between feeling the itch and getting to work, you’re putting the cart before the horse. You’re probably creating a lot of counterproductive “Me, The Artist, I must create, I must leave something to posterity” melodrama. Not interesting for you or for anyone else.

You have to find a way of working that makes it dead easy to take full advantage of your inspired moments. They never hit at a convenient time, nor do they last long.

Conversely, neither should you fret too much about “writer’s block”, “artist’s block” or whatever. If you’re looking at a blank piece of paper and nothing comes to you, then go do something else. Writer’s block is just a symptom of feeling like you have nothing to say, combined with the rather weird idea that you SHOULD feel the need to say something.

Why? If you have something to say, then say it. If not, enjoy the silence while it lasts. The noise will return soon enough. I the meantime, you’re better off going out into the big, wide world, having some adventures and refilling your well. Trying to create when you don’t feel like it is like making conversation for the sake of making conversation. It’s not really connecting, it’s just droning on like an old, drunken barfly.

Posted by hugh macleod at 9:00 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

site's back up

Yep. The site was down this weekend as I changed servers, but it's up now.

Everything seems to be working fine... more later.

Posted by hugh macleod at 12:22 PM | TrackBack

September 4, 2004

culture war

I saw this headline recently on Joi Ito's blog:

KYOTO — The creator of a program for anonymous file-sharing over the Internet pleaded not guilty on Wednesday at the Kyoto District Court to the charge that he developed the software knowing it would facilitate Internet piracy.
People say "The Culture War" is Progressive vs Conservative, or Highbrow vs Lowbrow.

Wrong. It's Free vs Paid.

Posted by hugh macleod at 11:42 AM | TrackBack

baby boomers

Earlier I wrote:

For the record, I don't believe that some new happy happy joy joy marketing schpiel is going to somehow usher in a new dawn in human conciousness.

There is a new dawn in human conciousness happening whether we want it to or not. All marketing folk like myself are doing is just reacting to it, same as everyone else.

So why is this happening? No, I don't think we're all suddenly taking magic mushrooms, or Jesus has come back for a second round etc. There are many reasons, a lot of them simply to do with technology bringing people closer together etc.

But there may be another good reason; one I thought of last night while I was re-reading Tom Peter's wonderful new book, "Re-Imagine!":

The Baby Boomers, the most powerful demographic in the history of the world, are starting to age. The older ones are hitting their sixties. The younger ones are hitting their forties.

You get older, and suddenly life isn't so much about sex and ambition anymore. Suddenly you find there are fewer days ahead of you than there are behind you.

Suddenly you get reflective. Suddenly you start looking "inside".

And, because you're part of the most powerful demographic in the world, everybody and everything else starts doing the same.

I'll say it again. We live in wonderfully interesting times.

Posted by hugh macleod at 2:01 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

September 2, 2004

going offline

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This website will be down, starting Saturday afternoon, 4th September, for about 24-48 hours, while I change over to a new server. Sorry.

Just check back after the weekend and it should be fine.

Thanks.

Posted by hugh macleod at 11:31 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

September 1, 2004

been tweaking the hughtrain

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Been tweaking The Hughtrain:

THE HUGHTRAIN: "THE MARKET FOR SOMETHING TO BELIEVE IN IS INFINITE."
We are here to find meaning. We are here to help other people do the same. Everything else is secondary.

We humans want to believe in our own species. And we want people, companies and products in our lives that make it easier to do so. That is human nature.

Product benefit doesn't excite us. Belief in humanity and human potential excites us.

Think less about what your product does, and think more about human potential.

What statement about humanity does your product make?

The bigger the statement, the bigger the idea, the bigger your brand will become...


(Read more...)

It's a work in progress. Expect more tweaking etc.

UPDATE: Yeah. I know. I ditched the word "Manifesto". About bloody time; it had been bugging me for a while. As a term, it worked fine in the 1990s. Then again, so did "Mission Statement".

Thanks to Primus for the suggestion.

UPDATE: Yeah. I know.

The word "Branding" will offend the spiritual people.

The word "Spiritual" will offend the marketing people.

Both parties, offended in equal measure. Hurrah!

For the record, I don't believe that some new happy happy joy joy marketing schpiel is going to somehow usher in a new dawn in human conciousness.

There is a new dawn in human conciousness happening whether we want it to or not. All marketing folk like myself are doing is just reacting to it, same as everyone else.

Posted by hugh macleod at 3:08 PM | Comments (8) | TrackBack