Jun 18, 2009 | Management, Marketing, Strategy
Re-reading Seth Godins little gem “Triibes” during the week, I again came across the term “sheepwalking” to describe the pervasive impact on most people of the status quo.
Last week I was chatting to a mate about a book he is writing offering some ideas on the commercialisation of scientific IP by Australia’s largely publicly funded research agencies, whose record in this regard leaves a lot to be desired.
As a scientist who “sold out” and ran companies, and then went back to the scientific world after 25 years, he is in a great position to bring insight to the table. His descriptions of the power of the status quo in these organisations, and the reaction of those who live in them are exemplars of Sheepwalking.
Australia is supposed to be the lucky country, and it has been, our track record in inventing stuff is great, commercialising it has been a bit of a problem, but unless we get our act together in the race to commercialise knowledge, organisations like CSIRO will become shepherds keeping a few nerds employed at public expense.
Jun 16, 2009 | Demand chains, Management, Marketing, Strategy
There is a theme in the demand chain category of this blog. Wherever I go, I see the power of information transparency to improve performance, not just in commercial situations.
There is an ongoing battle in Australian education for school scorecards, anyone who seriously thinks about performance improvement of Australia’s education system comes to the conclusion that information on current performance is a pre-requisite for improvement, but the bureaucracy, and the teachers union together, but for their own reasons are making it difficult, all in the name of our childrens education.
Bullshit. It is in the name of retaining the very comfortable status quo.
Similarly, a scorecard of hospital performance has been shown in parts of the US to have a dramatic effect on surgical outcomes. Won’t happen here, even with the seeming catalysts for change that are evident in several hospitals, Bundaberg in QLD and Campelltown in NSW amongst others.
In the event we ever get real transparency, where results can be seen, and lessons learnt, the productivity of public dollars spent on health care would improve dramatically.
Businesses and value chains that have used transparency as a management tool routinely see productivity double over time, and there is no reason the results in Healthcare and Education would not repeat that performance.
Jun 8, 2009 | Marketing, Sales, Strategy
Yesterday I went to a free concert in Darling Harbour in Sydney, and saw Jeff Lang who plays “my music” the blues, and must be one of the best lap slide players in the world.
Point is, it was free, and he rocked the place, and judging by the reaction, he engaged with a lot of people who had never heard of him, and certainly had never seen him, and under normal circumstances, would never buy a CD of his, but they did yesterday, in truck-loads, and he hung around and signed stuff, smiled, laughed, and generally was nice to people.
Here was a world class player, engaging with people who were now avid fans of his, and who would remember the day, and continue to buy his albums long after the free sample. They may not have paid to be there, but will pay for a long time to come.
Free stuff sells, when it is good enough, different enough, and has a character and integrity people can relate to.
Jun 7, 2009 | Marketing
Today is the Queens birthday long weekend holiday (it always falls on a Monday, strange that) in a couple of Australia’s states, not all, and it is not even her real birthday. Obviously, someone failed to get the message about when the Queen was actually born, but then, there has been plenty of time to correct the inaccuracy if we chose to do so.
What the Queen does, or does not do has little to do with most Australians, so why do we celebrate her birthday, why is it that her photo, or that of one of her dysfunctional family on the cover of a magazine can give a huge boost to circulation, why do almost all young Australian travelers at some point wander down the Mall in London, watching the balcony window over the main entrance of the house at the end hoping for a glimpse?
Marketing.
Consistent, long term brand building, creating something that in a subliminal way we relate to, with all their foibles and eccentricities.
Brands are like friends, we give them personal characteristics when we think about and describe them, if we have a bad experience with a favorite brand, it is like being hit by a friend, but their contrition brings greater loyalty, because no-one is perfect.
The Queen and her brood, are the recipients of extended, long term brand building, probably without them even being aware of it, the changing of the guard, the pomp around the opening of Parliament, the references to the Queens parents role during the Blitz, all add to it.
The loyalty may be eroding, as newer, more trendy offerings turn up, the demography of Australia changes influenced by immigrants with no brand awareness, and they continue to demonstrate they are irrelevant to modern Australia, but it still works a treat, after all, we have a day off to celebrate don’t we.
May 31, 2009 | Management, Marketing, Strategy
In planning sessions, much time is usually spent defining target markets, reviewing sales histories and projections, new product schedules, what customers were doing with competitors, and so on. Sometimes there is discussion about what truly differentiates you from your competitors, what makes you unique, but not often enough.
Why not take it a step even further, and ask who amongst your customers would be in trouble if you suddenly closed up shop, why, and how long it would take them to find an appropriate substitute.
If you manage to answer those questions, you may have succeeded in defining what makes you truly different in the way that you add value to your customers.
In the event that you cannot identify a customer who would miss you for longer than it took to pick up the phone and call a competitor, you need to consider how you can change this before you disappear.
May 31, 2009 | Management, Marketing, Strategy
Sometimes you come across a web site that intrigues, informs, and attracts you again and again. For me, TED is such a site, and within these sites, there are things to which you return for all sorts of often personal reasons.
On the TED site (amongst many fantastic presentations) is a presentation by Sir Ken Robinson, which is thought provoking, funny, relevant, and informing. I was prompted to watch it again this morning when considering the impact of the $ being spent by the Australian Government on the appearance of Australian schools, (gates, painting, new halls, etc) and the political debate surrounding the spending of this money, summarised as necessary short term stimulus to the economy, and doing something useful with the money. Hard to argue, but most of the money appears to be going to contractors who use it to buy units on the Gold Coast (this assertion came from a real conversation in a pub with such a person, but a sample of one in politics makes a truth, we all know that).
Long term we need to be thinking hard about the sort of education we want our kids to have, and how best to deliver that outcome. A painted class-room is useful, but it does not address evolution of the underlying philosophy of what we are delivering, just the delivery mechanism.
Sir Ken, if I may call him that, asks some questions I would like to see answered. In addition, when you have watched it, you will have seen a sublime example of how to use personal presentation skills at a public forum as a way of making an argument. Not a Powerpoint in sight!!
