Steve Neiderhauser

On-Demand Brand

“They laughed when my avatar sat down at the piano but when I started to play!”

In 1926, John Caples used a headline almost like the one above and filled the page with a story about how a man's newly acquired piano skills mesmerized an audience.

Today, in a world of ad-resistant and elusive consumers, you’ll need more than a brilliant headline to engage customers and create memorable experiences. In his new book, The On-Demand Brand, Rick Mathieson reveals 10 secrets (or rules) to capture and hold your audience’s attention.

I’d like to look at three of the secrets. Before we do let’s explore the layout of the book. The book has 10 chapters − One for each secret. After each chapter Rick holds a Question and Answer with a marketing expert who provides context for the concepts described in the chapter.

I seldom see a Q&A section in business books. I mean, if you’re an author, you’re writing a book to shine a light on yourself, your insights... Only a confident author would share the limelight with other experts in his field.

And Rick’s confidence benefits his readers. You hear stories from Laura Klauberg (Senior VP of global media at Uniliver) about being shunned by teenagers on Facebook. From Alex Bogusky, the man described as the rockstar of advertising, we learn what gives his work such a viral quality. In addition, Rick points to Alex’s book Baked In, a book that explains how to bake positive experiences into your products.

Referring to his 10 rules for marketing success, Rick writes:

“Be warned: Whatever your objective, these rules will be rendered useless if your brand doesn’t produce compelling products that people want to buy…”

Let’s look at three of Rick’s rules:

• There’s no Business without Show Business
• Products Are the New Services
• Always Keep Surprises In-Store

There’s no Business without Show Business

It’s always been true for advertising that entertainment is part of business. Kevin Townsend, who has created entertainment initiatives for major brands, said this about branded entertainment.

“There’s an art form that is emerging now, which is being able to understand a brand’s audience so well that you can actually create entertainment that makes them want to come back to you.”

The ABC TV series Lost used alternate realities to entertain viewers and make them come back to the show. ABC did this by using faux public service announcements for a fake organization (Hanso Foundation) that was behind the show’s mysterious plot. They also created 70 video blogs featuring Rachel Blake, a protagonist investigating Hanso. When Rachel harassed the show’s producers at a sci-fi convention, the audience used camera phones to capture the drama, and posted the video to the Internet within 45 minutes.

We see that ABC followed Rick’s fundamental premise that the product must first be remarkable, then entertainment dimensions can promote the brand.

Products are the New Services

Products are the starting point for building relationships with customers. Many companies are also creating services that enhance the experience of owning physical products.

Butterball, for example, has an 800 number that people call during Thanksgiving to help overcome obstacles to creating that perfect dinner. Butterball also has a website that disseminates recipe information. So the product becomes a service, helping customers cook up delicious meals.

iTunes is a compelling example of a service enhancing a product. Can you image the iPod without iTunes. It would be a completely different experience. With iTunes, customers have a personal content service that’s easy to manage.

Keep Surprises In-Store

Retailers noticed that consumers are using cell phones and social media while shopping. A teenager may take a picture of a dress and email it to her friends for feedback.

Having spotted this trend, retailers are integrating technology into the store experience. Nanette Lepore has created what it calls the “Lepore Looking Glass.” A shopper can hold up a silk top to a mirror, and with the help of a video feed the mirror plays animated scenarios, featuring the brand’s Lepore Girl mascot. In another pilot, a posse of teen shoppers can use the mirrors to access each others’ video feed from their dressing room and give instant feedback.

My favorite example of retail surprise? At Polo Ralph Lauren’s Manhattan store, shoppers attracted to window displays can tap on the glass and access a touch screen display for more info or to buy the product. Now imagine a customer’s delight when she discovers window shopping really is… window shopping.

These examples (and many more) in Rick’s book help you think of ways to create positive emotions (surprise, delight, curiosity). And that’s key because your brand is defined by more than your product, your brand is defined by the experiences you create for your customers.

Dana Carvey "Lost" Parady

I spent time this weekend reading two books. One talked about marketing concepts and how TV executives marketed Lost. Another talked about how important humor is to changing yourself and your brain.

So I got big kick out of finding this Dana Carvey Parody on the Huffington Post.

A tale of two printers

With the release of Windows 7, HP decided to ignore upgrading printer drivers for some of its printer models.

That didn't sit too well with some long-time HP customers. When one customer posted a question online and HP deleted it, he started to search for other options.

This Infoworld article describes how Lexmark took advantage of HP's weak brand experience to win a loyal customer.

Scrum Master Training

Last week I attended a Scrum Master class, a class that teaches the concepts of Scrum Software Development.

There's really nothing new here. We've all been taught about the value of tight feedback loops, a market focus, and periodic prototypes.

Scrum provides a framework for Agile development. Depending on who's implementing the Scrum process in your company, it can lead to improved products or high comedy.

The bottom line? You still need to have people on your staff who know how to design and build great software.

Switch – How To Change Things When Change Is Hard

Have you ever had a flash of insight − a bright idea − that would help your company earn millions. And when you told management about the idea that resonated with you like a tuning fork, all you received was a stare so vacant it seemed like the mortgage company had foreclosed on your boss’s brain.

Yep, you can lead a horse of course to water, but no matter how thirsty that darn ol’ horse gets, you can’t make him think. Well, no need to feel sad. This has happened to all the great change agents. Heck, do you think Steve Jobs would have become the Zen master of presentation demos if people had simply acted on his word when he was a young business man. Not likely.

So instead of spending a lifetime learning the tricks and techniques that produce change in your life and the world around you, simply read Chip and Dan Heath’s new book: Switch − How To Change Things When Change Is Hard.

The book is filled with wisdom. I would need to write a book to review all the great points so let’s touch three:

• Bright Spots
• Shrink the Change
• Find the Feeling

Bright Spots

Bright spots are successful efforts worth emulating. Imagine that you run a business with a large sales team and two saleswomen are selling 20 times more of a miracle drug for asthma than their coworkers. Like a football coach you analyze the sales film and discover the women are successful because unlike their peers who are selling the benefits, these two all-stars are eliminating roadblocks by teaching doctors how to administer the drug.

After seeing the bright spot, management teaches the sales technique to the rest of the team... Now they’re able to tackle the tough accounts. That’s the story of Genetech and its drug Xolair. To learn more about Bright Spots read Fast Company’s book review.

Shrink the Change

Shrinking change helps motivate people because the joy of small successes snowballs to grand victories. Let’s consider Dave Ramsey’s debt-fighting technique − the “Debt Snowball.” List all your debts from smallest to largest. Instead of trying to pay off the debt with the highest interest rate, pay off the smallest debt first. So if your smallest debt was an $82 overdue electric bill, you’d pay that off first. After you cross off the $82 debt your money snowballs to pay off the next smallest debt.

We’re not solving a linear equation problem with this approach, we’re solving a motivation problem. When the $82 debt is dead and gone, you’re able to plant the flag of victory over one debt skirmish, proving you have the power to win the debt war.

UCLA basketball coach John Wooden said, “When you improve a little each day, eventually big things occur.”

It’s funny to me when a company posts a job description for managers who can multitask. Does HR really think multitasking is a skill? The problem with juggling multiple tasks is that people don’t accomplish much of anything. Instead, it’s best to drive a stake through a project, complete it, and put it behind you. When you do this, your mind is able to focus all its energy on the next task and feel the momentum.

Remember that basketball game you watched where a great shooter missed his first 6 shots and then when he scored on an easy layup, he swished the next seven long-range jumpers. He found the touch, he found the feeling.

Find the Feeling

Finding the feeling is the key to helping your associates embrace change. Because in most successful change efforts the sequence is not Analyze-Think-Change, instead the correct combination is See-Feel-Change. And demonstrations are the best method to get people to see and feel.

Target wasn’t always a retailer with fashionable products. The authors credit people like Robyn Waters, a trend manager at Target, for transforming Target through demonstrations. I love the fact that she used all kinds of demonstrations. To show the power of color in design, Robyn poured brightly colored M&Ms into a glass bowl, causing her coworkers to savor the delicious colors. For another demo, she set up a display that showed how a blue polo shirt popping with pigment captured your eye. In another, she displayed iMacs and let people explore Apple’s design aesthetics.

Why did a bunch of demonstrations at Target make a difference? Before Waters created the demos, she thought carefully about what her colleagues would see, knowing there’s a connection between what you see and what you feel. She found a way help people see the problem in ways that influence emotions, not just thoughts.

Demos are bright spots that make it easy for others to clone and model behavior, demos also have a story component that sparks action. Even if the story is mostly subtext, the story will speak to your subconscious in a way that's more powerful than any spreadsheet or PowerPoint.

Remember, whether you are marketing to employees or customers, Proof is powerful. Proof encourages creativity and hope.

Resources: For resources related to Switch, visit the author’s website.

Introduction to When Turtles Fly

In the introduction to her book, When Turtles Fly, Nikki Stone gives a perfect example of how to use story to make people want to read more.

See for yourself and read the intro.

Functional Specs at Disfunction Junction

Many software companies still write 100 page documents describing how a software product will function. I guarantee you, no one can truly wrap their mind around the avalanche of words. Not even the lead designer. Even though it seems like all this hard work should pay off, this approach often leads to lay offs.

Instead of paper requirements, visual requirements lead to insights and innovation. Jason Fried explains how to get real and skip the functional spec. What does he suggest to use for product requirements?

The interface is the functional spec. First with some quick and simple paper sketches, then directly into HTML. Unlike paragraphs of text that are open to alternate interpretations, interface designs are common ground.

Music Samples the LaLa Way

LaLa is a cool music website that lets you play, buy and share music on the web.

What do I like most about the site? It lets you listen to an entire song and then you can decide to purchase it. After you listen to a song the first time, you can always play a 30-second sample.

For those passionate about music, there's many more features that I haven't explored yet.

Apple acquired LaLa in December so your music may be coming to a cloud near you.

Brand yourself through writing

In this post from Tom Peters we are reminded of writing's power.

In his YouTube video Tom says that he is blow away by the power of powerful and carefully crafted writing. He explains that when you take on a growth mindset, your writing will improve.

"Work on your writing... it is a timeless and powerful skill."

Paragraph Art

Jonathan Morrow writes about The Art of the Paragraph. He provides five guidelines for paragraphs.

Have you ever dreaded attending a meeting just because of the sound of the leader's voice or because he spoke in an dull monotone.

Boring.

Well, a writer can make you skip the written page if every sentence in a paragraph is the same length. Instead, here's Mr. Morrow's tip to add rhythm to your writing:

Paragraphs are the vocal inflections of the written word. Good writers vary the length of their paragraphs to show the reader what’s important. Some paragraphs will be 3-5 sentences, but every once in a while, they’ll throw in a one-sentence paragraph in order to emphasize a particular point. It stands out, and it tells the reader to pay attention.