Talk To And With Consumers
Archive for January, 2012
A Flux State of Mind
Recently FastCompany’s Robert Safian coined ‘Generation flux’ in an article that highlights a few very successful people and how they stay out in front when technology continues to change our world faster than anyone can record it. I would highly enourage you to read Safian’s piece but I have a few thoughts.
Not sure if generation is really the right term, given that his premise is that it covers people from every age and industry to me it feels more like a state of mind.
Let’s take for example one of the icons that he identies in this generation, Bob Greenberg. I only know Bob through the accomplishments of R/GA and the work his agency produces but I suspect that Bob wouldn’t classify himself as living in a different generation than the people he grew up with. My hunch would be that he simply sees the world differently than most.
Safian’s example and quote of Danah Boyd, is probably a better example. Her answer around ‘not being afraid’ supports my theory, Flux is a state of mind, rather than anything that ties us to a specific generation.
No matter how you slice it. More people need to embrace Flux to be successful in this new environment that is every changing based on advancing technology.
Image credit: Stephani92
Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra Leverages Klout Perks
For the record, I don’t have a ton of faith in Klout, while I have no doubt that they have advanced the conversation about influence in general. Professionally I think their are better ways to find and measure influencers. With that said I found it extreamly refreshing to see a local non-profit here in Cincinnati leverage Klout’s platform to identify people who would be appropriate to invite to one of their biggest events of the year.
The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra is one of Cincinnati’s great treasures and over the past several seasons have been making huge strides in courting the almost un-catchable young professionals demographic. This year’s season boasted the world’s best and this past weekend didn’t disappoint.
Heralded as the ‘hottest artist on the classical music planet” by the New York Times, Lang Lang has played sold-out recitals and converts in every major city in the world. If you tuned in with the 4 billion who watched the 2008 Olympics Opening Ceremony in Beijing – you were treated to his talents. This was his first time in Cincinnati and you could tell that the crowd was ready. With a packed house at Cincinnati’s famous Music Hall – he received a standing ovation, and then after his encore – another ovation. What impressed me was how many young musicians were in attendance. Let’s hope this level of attendance continues for future performances.
Back to the CSO, by leveraging Klout’s perks platform to identify and invite several people in Cincinnati to get a view into what they have been up to.
My wife and I were treated to a short talk with from assistant conductor, William White. He talked about the upcoming renovation plans for Musical Hall. They will be closing after next season for a 16 month renovation to many areas of the hall, including reducing seating to make it more intiment. After William’s talk we attended the pre-concert chat with guest conductor, Jun Markl. Jun talked with such passion about the program of the evening and gave some insight into his upbringing and how it has impacted his journey.
Post concert, we were invited to a backstage tour of music hall. Unfortunately we didn’t stay – it had been a very taxing week but I hope to go back and get a tour soon before they rennovate Music Hall.
Thanks again to the staff at the CSO for a job well done this weekend, I hope more people in our region experience the CSO at Music Hall, it truly is a treasure.
A few more photos from the performance and Music Hall:
My Customers Aren’t Digitally Savvy…BULLSHIT!
I have been working in some capacity in advertising for what seems, and feels, like the better part of a decade, all my experience comes from midwestern agengies and clients (for the most part).
There is one common thread I can connect throughout my experience. Many midwestern based brands feel that their consumers are not technically savvy, leaving them with the opinion that they shouldn’t be first in their category with digital initiatives.
When you look at smart phone adoption rates over December 2011 along, in my estimation the equivalent of ~11% of the U.S. population activated some iOS or Android device. More data on this thanks to my friends at Flurry. You will find another graph below of the same study.
The argument that ‘our/my consumers are not using digital technology is over’, brand marketers who subscribe to this thinking need to reconsider their position because your competition is already ahead of you.
Interested in more information on this topic, contact me.
An Unwavering Will To Do Good For All
The champagne bottles have been recycled, my alma mater won their bowl game and today I find myself back at my desk, rested and ready to tackle 2012. Ok maybe not the rested part, thanks Beale Street.
Before we all cut out for the holidays, Empower (my employer) hosted our annual holiday breakfast. We used this time to reflect on the successes, challenges of the past year but most importantly look ahead to the coming new year.
During my visits with family and friends during this long break, I kept coming back to our collective purpose that our President/CEO laid out for us as we think about the years ahead. Our purpose: “Unwavering Will To Do Good For All”.
At first blush this might seem a bit odd for an advertising and media agency to think about such a high order purpose,but if you distill it all down, that is exactly what we strive for. For those of you who know about Empower, it has always been a family owned company with those same values. But beyond that we want what is best for our clients, their consumers, the agency, our families and our community.
I would argue that we are not different from most, many companies would tell you they have similar or even the same values, but do they live them?
Examples that shine are always the community service projects but when I think about truly living “Unwavering Will To Do Good For All” – shouldn’t we be just as passionate about community service drives as we are for the work we do everyday for our clients? ABSOLUTELY!
As I reflected on all the meetings, recommendations, successes and failures of 2011 - multiple examples of “Unwavering Will” kept coming to mind. All of them were examples of how passionate our entire team is for our clients and their success. Our teams get emotional and deeply disappointed when our clients disregard our advice and fail. While we certainly don’t expect to win all the time, we consistently get back up and fight the next battle each and every day on behalf of our client’s consumers. I wouldn’t have it any other way, would you?
Here is to 2012 and to another year of Unwavering Will To Do Good For All.
What will you do to show your unwavering will in 2012?
In case you thought Jeff Bezos was crazy in 1994
He wasn’t – to confirm this check out the infographic below.
Source: Frugaldad.com
© 2011 Drew McKenzie. All Rights Reserved.
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