John Winsor

Spark's Final Push

The final editing of my new book, Spark, has gotten in the way of my blogging. I'm turning the manuscript in next week and, as always, have found a few last minute things to improve.

I'll start posting some exerpts from the book next week.

Customer Love

I just posted this at BrandShift, but thought it was worthy of posting here, as well:

I had a conversation with a friend of mine who is a marketing executive at an outdoor products company last week. It seems, he had some extra time on his hands so stopped by a retailer to watch his customers in action. He watched as a few people drove up in their BMWs and dropped $500 buying some of his gear. As he observed his customers, he felt a little uncomfortable.

He said it wasn’t until a kid, who looked like a river guide, walked in with a bunch of clothing to return that he began to feel comfortable. It seemed that many of the things he was trying to exchange would not fit him. In fact, my friend thought that it was even possible the river guide had stolen some of the clothing.

My friend told me that after the experience he felt horrible because he could relate to the river guide spending absolutely no money better than he could to the customers dropping $500 on his equipment.

Do you love your customers or who you want your customers to be?

Great Job, Gap!

I opened the Boulder Daily Camera this morning and, as usual, a plastic bag containing a sample slipped out. Instead of the usual razor or fabric softener this bag was a promotion for the opening of a new Gap store entitled, "Clean out your closet."

The bag contained couple of bigger plastic bags and explained that in celebration of the new store Gap was helping collect items for Goodwill. What a great promotion! By co-creating this promotion with Goodwill everybody wins.

Paul Pressler and his crew have gained more loyalty from me! While their television ads might be hip, just think what would happen if they turned this promotion into an annual national event. Talk about effecting social change!

When the Blogger Blogs...

Check out the great NY Times article appearing this morning entitled, When the Blogger Blogs, Can the Employer Intervene?

"As the practice of blogging has spread, employees like Mr. Kennedy are coming to the realization that corporations, which spend millions of dollars protecting their brands, are under no particular obligation to tolerate threats, real or perceived, from the activities of people who become identified with those brands, even if it is on their personal Web sites."

It's going to be awhile until the rules of employee blogging get sorted out. Until then, I'm sure there will be many more people dooced.

Yeah, Right!

While this might be a great book, I have a very hard time believing the title. Can a diet really do any good in three hours? Seems a bit misleading, doesn't it?

When such hyped messages poliferate in the marketplace every company and brand is hurt.

Charlie and Harry

Aaron introduced me to a wonderful blog, dooced.com, written by Heather Armstrong exploring her curent life's journey, including motherhood. Not only is the writing and photography inspiring, I can relate being a dad of two, three and a half year old boys, Charlie and Harry.

Charlie and Harry have changed my frame of the world in a really postive and powerful way, constantly reminding me that we all can believe too deeply in our own worldview forgetting and respecting the fact that others might have a different frame of reference. Part of what has made my journey into fatherhood so powerful is that both boy's were born in Russia, Charlie in Vladivostock and Harry in Nahotka in 2001.

We have been lucky in the past three years since Charlie and Harry have joined Bridget and I on this wonderful adventure called life. And, have all learned a great deal from traveling to places like Kenya and living for extended periods in Mexico all the while being connected to our friends, family and work through the power of technology. Of course, being modern 3 year olds, the boys even have their own blog to facilitate this connection.

My goal is to help them become citizens of the world, understanding many different points of view. And, in the process opening my own eyes to a wider vision of how I might make a more positive impact on the world.

Being Human

While blogging is great, it's even better to make human contact. I had a chance to grab a cup of coffee with Aaron Dignan of Brandplay. Aaron has a smart, articulate and passionate voice about branding and marketing.

I also enjoyed a conversation on the phone with Christopher Kenton at Marketology. Christopher posted a trackback to my Unbrand post on BrandShift. While I was a litle concerned with the tone of his note, challenging me to a debate, after spending some time on the phone I think we realized that our thoughts are more aligned then we both thought.

For Spark, I interviewed Johnnie Moore and Jake Mckee. Johnnie shared his perspective regarding the power of improv and how it can effect a team's ability to be innovative. I really loved his thoughts about conversations based on yes/and versus yes/but. This simple tool has helped me embrace those who challenge me, giving me the opportunity to learn more.

Likewise, Jake and his efforts building the adult community for Lego where inspiring and reminded me that we all could be more proactive when engaging with the culture of our customers. Both Johnnie and Jake will add a great deal to the book with their unique voices and perspectives.

Lastly, I talked with John Moore over at Brand Autopsy about the cool new book project he's got going. It sounds like an awesome project!

So, thanks Aaron, Christopher, Johnnie, Jake and John for your inspiration and human contact! Keep it coming.

Does Advertising Really Work?

In the NY Times Magazine, Jon Gertner looks at the new portable people meter (P.P.M.) technology developed by Arbitron and what effect it might have on the way media content is valued in the article Our Ratings, Ourselves.

The world of media, as we know it, is heading towards chaos.

Unbrand!

William Safire wrote a thoughtful On Language column yesterday in the New York Times, where he stated:

In a world where the words new and fresh are relentlessly repeated on every product label, the name of the sales technique is getting old and stale. Where is the ad-Übermensch, the creative Ogilvy, who will put forward a new moniker for the name of the atmospheric marketing game? The time has come, as John Kerry puts it, to unbrand the word brand.

The working title for my book Beyond the Brand was Unbrand and at the time, many involved in the project thought that such a title would be too radical. Now, a year later, I feel, more than ever, like Safire is right. The word brand has started to loose it's magic through overuse. Is there another word that captures the same concepts? If so, what is it?

It's Chaos

I just posted this at BrandShift but felt it was important and wanted to post it here, as well:

I just listened to Bob Garfield tell the tale of An Impending Period of Transitional Chaos for Media on NPR's All Things Considered. Here's what NPR has to say about the segment:

Network television audiences are down as cable, the Internet and a host of other new technologies emerge; and marketers are shifting their dollars accordingly. The media world faces an interim of chaos before a new order is determined. The co-host of On the Media delivers his take.

After listening to the show it made me think more about the uneveness of change. While those of use who work in the "New Media" realm view the world of marketing optimistically, those that live in the paradigm of the "Old Media" view these changes pessimistically and cling to their worldview with every once of energy they have.

Times, they are a changing!