Meaningful Experience
Leah Hunter — 30 June 2009
I've been thinking alot about the idea of progress, change. I've always been a fan of the stretch goal, for myself and my clients. BIG ideas. Overhauls. Starting revolutions and burning things.
I'm in a different place today. Change doesn't have to happen in leaps. It's the movement that's important. The fact that you're taking a step. Tiny movements or slow ones, like in tai chi, are still movements. Imprecise or clumsy ones count too, maybe even more. When you're feeling awkward and still take a step, that's brave. Progress is really...
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Leah Hunter — 18 June 2009
I was in Houston a few months ago doing a brand experience workshop with Added Value. I always get into great conversations at these things, and this one was no exception. One of the participants told me a lesson her grandfather taught her when she was 10. He said, “No matter how high you rise in this world, you’re never too high to go back and clean a toilet.”
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Darrel Rhea — 31 May 2009
The business world has woken up to the need to manage their relationships with customers with a more holistic framework than “products services and brands.” And many of us in Design have long been asserting that “experience” is the way to think about and guide the organization on their value-creation journey. But many of my peers in Design and Innovation claim that design managers should be accountable for the customer experience, and I disagree.
While designers have unique skills and processes for creating and managing experience, I believe there needs to be experience principals and a defined strategy at the corporate executive level. Designers usually contribute to only a few of the touch points of experience and have limited exposure to many critical areas of influence. The Experience Component dips into too many of the operational crannies, the technology aspects, engineering, marketing, customer service, finance, etc.
So who determines what the experience is?...
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Steve Diller — 28 March 2009
A client focused on understanding a global markeplace asked me recently about the likely impact of the recession on obtaining consumer insights. It’s difficult to know exactly how the current economic situation will show up in our work. It's essential to know how to listen to people in the context of their lives, of course, so the question is very timely.
We can anticipate that it could play out in a few ways, including:
1. People may be holding off on purchases. Because we know this is happening in the US, we can adjust recruiting so that, if people are intending to purchase relevant items in the next year (normally, we’d look for those planning on doing so in the next six months), they will qualify to participate.
2. People may be re-thinking the pricepoint they’re willing to consider for the relevant product category. We can’t predict the extent to which this is true, but we can detect it through the questions we ask respondents. Their sense of how their price sensitivity has changed over the last year isn’t entirely reliable, but at minimum, we can get a good read on how pricepoint is influencing their choices.
3. People may be re-thinking brand. Here too, respondents’ sense of how brand appeal is changing isn’t entirely reliable, but nonetheless, it’s important to dig up what is influencing their thinking currently.
It’s important to keep in mind that purchase timing, price sensitivity and, to a lesser extent, brand preference, are always subject to change under pressure of changing circumstances. Experiential preferences, however, are generally not, except in the broad sweep of a person’s lifestages. For instance, an individual may want to pay less than in the past, but their desire for excitement and accomplishment (two high-level experiences) is unlikely to be fundamentally altered by an economic downturn. Since the most valuable perspectives on people are grounded in the experiences people seek, our task will be to unearth enduring experiential preferences.
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Steve Diller — 23 March 2009
Not surprisingly, we've focused a great deal of our attention on IP surrounding customer experiences so our clients can compete more effectively. If you have a clear understanding of the full range of experiences your customer might seek from Product Category X, you're in a much better position to design solutions around the ones that matter most, providing the basis for an enduring competitive advantage.
Increasingly, however, we're also looking closer to home- the experiences our customers/clients seek from working with us. Too often, consulting firms focus only on problem-solving. We feel that, while this is a necessary pre-condition, it's an insufficient approach to delivering optional value. The key moving forward is "transformation."
At its core, this means we're seeking to ignite our clients’ ability to confidently and profitably transform their world. This can involve transforming their organizations’ ability to nurture innovation. Or, transforming the way markets perceive the value they deliver. Or, given our heritage, transforming their customers’ experience in a way that produces long-term competitive advantage. Or all of the above.
In addition to our corporate clients' experiences with us, there's always the more personal aspect of the engagement- the way it feels to work together. Towards that end, we're working to transform individual clients' experience of working with a consulting firm, bringing excitement, surprise, and some fun, to every interaction they have with us. Thinking about the career and other relevant personal objectives of clients also seems essential moving forward.
If a firm sees itself as an experience provider, rather than as a problem-solver, the implications range from complete re-designs of offerings to a transformation of each interaction. In other words, a total re-imagining of objectives as well as tools. Cheskin has always been in a state of re-invention, and this move toward more transformational experiences will continue that process.
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Ido Mor — 20 March 2009
In a recent posting about Aloft Hotels, a colleague of mine made a reference to the W Hotel brand as "too cool for school." This reminded me of a recent stay there (LA), that started out quite lovely – beginning with the thoughtfully lit foyer, accented by a subtle soothing scent as you walk in off the street. Off to a great start!...
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Tommy Stinson — 19 March 2009
On a recent trip to Denver to do some work for a retail client, I stayed at a new addition to the Starwood Hotels line: the Aloft. Billed as "a vision of W Hotels", the Aloft aesthetic reminded me a lot of the upscale professional "hostel" hotels in Europe (like the Clarion Hotel Stockholm where I recently stayed). According to the Aloft website, there are 25 hotels currently accepting reservations in the US, with other properties in Beijing and Montreal. The aloft Denver Airport just opened in December 2008, and it looks like expansion plans are aggressive, with a total of 69 (yep, 69!) new properties scheduled to open between 2009 and 2011 across the globe. But the brand still has a lot of work to do to make the chain successful with travelers.
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Steve Diller — 6 March 2009
Anytime you release ideas into the world, we know they take on a life of their own. What's surprised me recently is how true this is for "old" media, as well as the new social stuff.
Darrel Rhea and I co-wrote a book with Nathan Shedroff, "Making Meaning," a few years back. Our publisher, New Riders, was a known quantity- Nathan had worked with them before. Overall, we had a good experience with them during production. Once the book was finished, they helped put on a great event/book signing. After that, they kind of went quiet. They responded to orders, of course, and we enjoyed watching the books sort-of fly out the door. But there wasn't a big, global promotional push. Given that, it's surprising where the book and its ideas have lodged over time.
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Leigh Marriner — 4 March 2009
We’ve been discussing how the worsening world financial situation may affect people’s behavior and the meaningful experiences in their lives. Cheskin Added Value just completed a European leisure time trends study and one finding was about people switching to lower budget entertainment alternatives. Rather than going out to a play or game or restaurant, people are making a regular occurence into a party. Our Added Value office in the UK has coined the term “eventertainment”. I.e. Having a dinner party around Gordon Ramsey’s Celebrity Cookalong on a Thursday night – drinking some wine and cooking along with the TV screen, and then having a dinner party with friends.
The changing financial situation is opening up opportunities for people to get back in touch with some meaningful experiences in their life.
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Leah Hunter — 4 March 2009
Lately, I’ve taken a professional interest in the reputation management wesites like Naymz that are popping up all over the internet. Mostly, because it reflects a trend toward personality-scrubbing and echoes a debate that constantly rages among my friends and colleagues: How much of yourself do you share with others? Where do you draw the line between work and play—friends and “work” friends—friends and clients?...
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Leah Hunter — 3 March 2009
Last night, I lucked upon a copy of “Sylvia’s Family Soul Food Cookbook.” (For those of you who don’t know Sylvia’s it’s only the most amazing soul food place in Harlem. So worth a trip.) Flipping through her recipes for cornbread and lily white biscuits reminded me of a gift I received a few months back—and the most amazing brand evangelist I ever met...
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Tommy Stinson — 24 February 2009
Recently I've come across a large number of articles touting the value and benefit of conducting ethnographic research. It's a standing discussion in Quirk's and a recent issue of the Harvard Business Review includes a piece from Ken Anderson on corporate ethnography and its value.
Now, I couldn't agree more that ethnographic work is unique, valuable, and crucial to innovation. And I think a lot of Dr. Anderson and the work he and his colleagues do at Intel. But I find that the mantra of "seeing how people really live" is growing over-used. And it doesn't really capture ethnography's value at all!
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Lindsay Adams — 23 January 2009
I recently spent 5 weeks traveling to various college and professional football games throughout the Midwest and Southeast US for a project on “game day." The project explored consumer behaviors at the pre-game ritual that is tailgating. There is so much I could share about this experience but I’d like to focus on a cultural surprise for me. We’ve all heard of “southern hospitality,” and while I’ve definitely been pleased with the politeness of people when travelling to the south, nothing compares to the deep warmth I was touched by while in field for this project in North Carolina.
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Darrel Rhea — 25 November 2008
Recently, Roger Martin, Dean of Rotman School of Management, and I shared a conversation on stage at The Commonwealth Club. We discussed innovation from various angles, such as why companies should leverage innovation during times of economic stress.
But it’s not just the economy that is making innovation an imperative. There many parts of our social system that are also driving the need to innovate. One of those areas is Education.
A couple of decades ago I moved my family to Palo Alto in large part because we wanted our sons to benefit from its renowned public school system. As great as it is for many families (it ranks as one of the best in the nation), it has still failed many of us... How?...
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Leah Hunter — 5 November 2008
In Union Square, international students were chanting "USA!"... In the Mission, people were howling and dancing in the streets....
I work with brands to develop meaningful and memorable experiences--experiences that transform, inspire, and move people. Last night, I had one myself. Today I am especially proud of where I live. Go America!
Now, please pass the Advil.
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Tommy Stinson — 3 November 2008
I recently spent a weekend in Atlanta, GA observing parties and tailgates for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. It was fascinating. Even though I'm from the South, I've never been to a NASCAR race and always tended more towards SEC college football than racing. But the thrill of the event was tremendous, and got me thinking about NASCAR and the racing audience.
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LiAnne Yu — 7 July 2008
Here at Cheskin, we often use examples to help our clients consider all of the elements that contribute to a great brand experience. Nike, Apple, Starbucks offer more than just a product to their customers - they create the conditions for meaningful experiences. Disney is one such brand that is more than any park or cartoon character or toy. Disney represents a sense of Wonder.
But what does this really mean? Last weekend I had the privilege of visiting Disneyland again for the first time in many many years. Disneyland holds a special place in my childhood memories as it's the very first vacation i remember taking. Sitting on my parent's living room mantle is a faded photo of a four-year old LiAnne being hugged by Minnie Mouse. For my mini-me, D-land really was the happiest place on earth, and for many summer vacations after that I wanted no less than to dress up as a princess and walk along Main Street USA hand in hand with Minnie or Tinkerbell or Cinderella. On this recent trip I wondered: Would I be less enchanted as an adult now that I had more of an awareness of the artifice?
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Etienne Fang — 14 March 2008
Last week, I attended the opening of the U.S. flagship location of LIULI, the renowned Chinese glass company with over 60 retail locations in Asia. We were fortunate to have had the opportunity to help them translate their unique experience for their entry into the U.S. market. LIULI is founded on the concept of meaningful experience – such universal meanings as Love, Enlightenment, Harmony, Wisdom and Truth. So our expertise in helping companies deliver meaningful experiences, as well as our cultural expertise made this the perfect engagement...
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Denise Klarquist — 23 January 2008
As a marketer and a wine drinker, and a member of a company whose founder first developed the concept of "sensation transference," I was very interested in the recent study by the Stanford Graduate School of Business and the California Institute of Technology on how price affects wine drinking pleasure.
The study, recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and already widely commented on, showed that among a small sample of male graduate students who occasionally drink wine, the more the wine cost, the better it tasted.
I certainly don't question the validity of the study - Louis Cheskin proved similar concepts in work he did decades ago, and many marketers understand that how you package and position a product (especially a commodity, which arguably some wine has become) has a much greater influence on purchase than the characteristics of the product itself.
I think one key thing is missing from this study though. Baba Shiv, associate professor of marketing who co-authored the paper titled "Marketing Actions Can Modulate Neural Representations of Experienced Pleasantness," speculates that the results of the study would probably be replicated even among wine connoisseurs. On this point, I have to disagree.
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Leigh Marriner — 10 April 2007
Mac sales have picked up since the success of the iPod. But a closer look at the data is interesting. Mac market share fell about 0.2% per year from 1998 to 2003 in the US. The iPod was launched in 2001, but didn’t really take off until 2004. From 2003 to 2006 Mac has gained 0.4% market share each year.
Since the iPod launch, the incremental Mac sales over the 2001 baseline rate have consistently been about 10% of iPod sales. In other words, about 10% of iPod owners who were exposed to the iPod/iTunes user experience liked it enough to transfer that desire for a similar experience into a Mac purchase. Macs still have less than a 5% US market share, but the trend line is climbing a mountain. And with the new Macs that run Vista, a lot of people who bought Windows-based PCs because of work may make a different tradeoff in the future.
Here at Cheskin we know that designing a meaningful customer experience that connects with consumers in an authentic, transparent way generates passionate loyalty. A great experience creates value. And Apple is showing how that value can spread beyond the initial experience into other products associated with the brand.
Although consumers aren’t as brand-loyal as they used to be, since there are so many consumer-to-consumer sources of information on the web, a great experience will lead consumers to at least investigate other products from the same brand or company. In this era of declining efficiency of marketing expenditures, creating a meaningful customer experience has a big payoff.
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Steve Diller — 1 March 2007
The New York Times recently predicted the beginning of the end of "American Idol." The writer confidently anticipated that, because voting for your favorite singer is so easy, it therefore has no meaning and would soon lose any value it may have. If only he were right.
The idea that something has value to the extent that it requires sacrifice is a familiar one in economics. But, like many assumptions of the "dismal science," such as the idea of rational actors, this concept is seriously flawed.
Anthropology (and our work at Cheskin) shows that in the real world, "value" doesn't come from cost, it comes from significance. As long as people find meaning and/or entertainment in "American Idol," they're likely to vote, easy or not.
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Terri Ducay — 20 February 2007
1. In which country is kissing in public a new phenomenon?
a) Brazil b) China c) Finland
2. In which country is the equivalent to Valentine’s Day called Couple’s Day?
a) Mexico b) Brazil c) Japan
3. In which country does Valentine’s begin with women purchasing chocolate for the men in their lives?
a) Japan b) Russia c) Germany
4. Where can the biggest valentine be found?
a) USA b) China c) Mars
5. Which country expresses its admiration for women on March 8th – International Women’s Day?
a) USA b) Madagascar c) Russia
Answers: 1. B China, 2. B Brazil , 3. A Japan, 4. C Mars , 5. C Russia
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— 10 January 2007
People say to write about what you know. I travel for work, so I know airlines and hotels. Recently I’ve been thinking about what makes a great hotel experience, and two things stick out in my mind – customer service and personality. When I think of hotels, two brands pop into my mind – Starwood and Kimpton.
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Tommy Stinson — 6 December 2006
Sometimes debates emerge that challenge my long-held assumptions and prompt me to “go back to the beginning” to examine why those assumptions are held. Recently I was reading a discussion led by Grant McCracken’s blog on “why culture matters” (http://www.cultureby.com/trilogy/). McCracken cites both sides of the argument - that understanding culture holds a minor role in innovative marketing & branding versus the notion that understanding culture plays the prime role. In reading the comments and dialogue, I couldn’t help but consider how relevant this discussion is to the work we do at Cheskin.
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Darrel Rhea — 4 July 2006
Jack Trout has long been a hero of mine, after all, he was writing on branding when I was in high school in the 60’s. But there comes a time when pioneers not only loose their leadership edge, they start looking antiquated. While Trout has introduced or popularized scores of ideas that have influenced how we think of branding, his current thinking is muddled and misses sound marketing basics he has developed such a reputation for.
In his current blog, he questions the value or importance of a brand’s emotional resonance. Trout’s old school positioning is focused on creating differentiation on the basis of functional and economic experiences, and he rejects emotional experiences as providing real value. What is he thinking?
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Katy Haberkern-Mogal — 4 May 2006
It’s no secret that delivering a meaningful shopping experience that resonates with the target audience is a surefire way for retailers to create competitive advantage. So how do retailers create meaningful shopping experiences for fickle, been-there-done-that teens?
Toronto’s So Hip It Hurts (http://www.sohipithurts.ca/), located in that town’s trendy Queen Street West – think cleaner, couther Haight-Ashbury - extends the edgy, individualistic essence of boarding culture outside of the skateparks and into the shop. The store is situated at the top of a narrow staircase that leads to a rabbit warren of rooms that emanate a very Dogtown-Z-Boys vibe. Rooms feature groovy décor elements such as skeletons suspended from the ceiling (on the day I visited, several of them were coupled up in compromising positions – apparently the positions change on a regular basis), a thatched-roof tiki hut, and an Oscar fish whose gory 5 pm daily feedings attract crowds of teens who cheer as the fish devours a handful of goldfish in a swirl of blood and fins (that splatter spectators upon occasion). Shoppers who spend more than $80 CDN get a free beer or shot of liquor.
As a thirty-something (at least I like to think of myself that way) the place didn’t appeal to me at all, but then, I’m sure that’s the point. The juxtaposition of cool boarding brands, edgy (and for sensitive types, somewhat offensive) atmosphere, and a few elements of revulsion serve to keep away adults. So Hip It Hurts isn’t just a shop, it’s a retail experience whose designers know how to tap into the need that teens have to establish an identity separate from their parents and families, while still belonging to a tribe that shares common interests and values. Much like Harley-Davidson, So Hip It Hurts has created a sense of community for iconoclasts, delivering a meaningful (to the target audience, anyway) shopping experience that should be a recipe for success.
Darrel Rhea — 30 April 2006
Making innovation happen in the best environment is tough. Making innovation happen when the lines of authority are foggy is exponentially harder.
In the ideal world, someone owns each of your company’s brands. That is, he or she is accountable for the brand’s performance, and has the authority to control brand touch points and mandate changes. Without this structure of authority, there will be “brand by committee,” or “brand by politics,” or “brand by pecking order.” Usually it’s all three, and usually it’s ugly. If this occurs in a franchise business, which is where many consumer products and services are distributed, it’s worse than ugly.
If you are the brand manager and you own a brand, your responsibility is to define the brand experience. If it is clearly articulated (functional benefits, emotional benefits, economic benefits, and an explicit way the brand creates meaning in our culture), you can define criteria to evaluate how the brand is delivering today. And you can provide a tight creative brief for efforts to improve it. This focus provides a critical context for innovation research.
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Miguel Gomez Winebrenner — 25 April 2006
Have you ever heard of a place called Andrés Carne de Res? You probably haven’t because it’s in a little town called Chía in the outskirts of Colombia’s capital, Bogotá (33 degrees North, 95 degrees West). But to those of us who do know the place, its located square in the middle of our hearts. And to marketers, it is a reminder that it is possible to create meaningful experiences that transcend country of origin, ethnicity, age, and gender.
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Darrel Rhea — 14 April 2006
Again, reporting from Sydney…
“Superannuation” is the common Australian term for “retirement savings.” Retirement is something that touches almost all of us whether we think about it actively or not. Eventually, most of us will live beyond the period in which we are able to earn a paycheck. Having recently completed a Cheskin consulting engagement with an American organization that offers tax-qualified retirement plans -- and directing the research to determine what is meaningful to their customers – the concept of funding retirement has come into focus for me: retirement is about survival.
Retirement in the U.S. is a big hairy problem. With our Social Security system in a tenuous position, the imminent retirement of the Boomer population is going to be an expense that is very probably not to be adequately covered. The Feds have been discussing this problem for years; it was a key part of the Presidential campaign platform -- and is as yet unresolved. So far, what we have heard from them as the most future-oriented option is “privatization.”
This is where Australian Pioneering comes in...
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Denise Klarquist — 6 April 2006
I read recently about Mr. Luna, "a guy from Long Island who teaches kids science, and cares about the world in which they will live." Mr. Luna is remarkable because has turned a simple lightbulb into a meaningful experience. His goal is to have "every child in America plug just one Compact Fluorescent (CFL) bulb into their favorite lamp. [By his estimates,] this will help fight global warming by reducing our carbon emissions from electric power plants, save Americans at least $2.3 billion in electricity costs, and help put America on the path to environmental sustainability." Ultimately, he says, it's about our kids' futures.
How great is it that one person can take something as simple as a lightbulb and make it the hope for our children's future? How cool would it be if GE, instead of marketing their CFL bulbs based on functional benefits like light quality and longer life, focused on the more meaningful benefits of CFLs? In fact, how much more profitable might it be?
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Lee Shupp — 28 February 2006
I spent much of last week at the annual TED conference in Monterrey, CA, and it was truly inspiring. There were many truly great presentations, and lots of stimulating conversation. Once again I've experienced the TED swagger-followed by the TED slink.
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Lee Shupp — 20 February 2006
I've just returned from Costa Rica, where I spent 10 days on an adventure travel vacation with Backroads. I had a wonderful time there- hiking, biking, and kayaking my way across a breathtakingly beautiful country. But alas, I did not make it back with my boots. They died a slow, watery death in the rain forest and I had to leave them behind in Monteverde. This blog is in praise of old school technology that delivers meaning over many years.
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Darrel Rhea — 12 February 2006
A good friend of mine is getting his 15 minutes of global fame this week. His recent story about his simple act of clumsiness has become so widespread internationally that if you were to Google his name, you’d get 868,000 options to learn about what he did and why people think it is meaningful.
The short version of the story is that Craig McCabe was single-handling his 65-foot yacht between Newport and the Catalina Islands off Southern California, and somehow fell off. The boat kept going, and he was there in the broad expanse of cold water by himself -- without a life jacket.
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Darrel Rhea — 29 January 2006
Everybody needs downtime. In the past – when I had the luxury of recreational time – my play of choice was either composing music or something physically challenging such as paragliding and white water kayaking. These days, though, I have to settle for getting my kicks by playing with a handful of tech toys. As a confirmed closet geek, I love ‘em all.
Below are my current five favorite tech products. Each of them actually exceeded my expectations:
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Terri Ducay — 22 January 2006
The Wonderful World of Disney was a staple of my TV childhood, as most of my baby boomer friends will attest to. Every Sunday I would camp out on the living room floor a half hour or more before the show started and wait eagerly for Tinkerbelle to appear on screen, a signal that the show was about to begin. Little did I know the future impact of this show and Walt Disney’s genius would have on me.
Fantasia, which brilliantly used the music of Dukas’ The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, led to my love for classical music. The incredible animation in Cinderella and Bambi gave me an appreciation of art and design which led me to Cranbrook, where I completed a master’s degree in design. Disney’s use of technology to create vivid works of imagination made me see the power of technology and engineering, and once I fell in love with it, I moved to the Silicon Valley.
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Steve Diller — 11 January 2006
When you try to re-imagine any practice, you generally have to re-purpose language. The reason for this is simple- all words have connotations and a history of usage that invariably reinforces earlier concepts. New ideas need new language to bring them to life.
Take "meaning" in life. We view it as "that which gives us a sense of the value of our lives." This is the conventional definition in religion, anthropology and other social sciences. Unfortunately, it's NOT the definition of the word in marketing. When marketers got their hands on this word, they generally used it as a way to express "importance" of any kind.
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Darrel Rhea — 2 January 2006
New Year’s resolutions are almost always well intended…but unfortunately, they’re usually short-lived. A couple of days ago I discovered an interesting website, 43 Things, that provides online community support for its users to achieve their aspirations throughout the year. It’s an engaging concept, for a community-oriented website. What’s even more interesting are the goals that are cited the most by the thousands of people who make their declarations public. They tell us a lot about what is meaningful to Americans today.
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Steve Diller — 30 November 2005
A friend recently emailed me to point out an apparent contradiction in "Making Meaning," the book I co-wrote that's out in late December, and a recent blog of mine. The blog, entitled "How Cheskin Destroyed Civilization as We Knew It," argued that Louis Cheskin came up with the idea for the modern fast food restaurant as a revolutionary "casual dining" concept. The result, eventually, was a decline in the idea of "formal" anything, dining or otherwise.
My friend noted that, in the book, we argued that business thinkers don't really invent revolutionary ideas, they just respond to what's already there.
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Darrel Rhea — 20 November 2005
Writing Making Meaning has been an interesting process. Not only was our topic and material born from hundreds of thousands of interviews over many years of professional work, but as we get closer to the publication date, the book has also resulted in an increased intensity at Cheskin of internal discussions about our own treasured objects and the respective personal meanings behind them for us.
This round of discovery was kicked off when I asked all my Cheskin coworkers to do a short exercise and send me the results. My requested was that each person choose an article that he/she had purchased and which had provided a meaningful experience, to write a short essay about it and to send me the results. I also requested a photo of the object with the author.
To make clear what I was requesting, I wrote one myself and attached it to the request. Here’s mine:
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Denise Klarquist — 16 November 2005
This morning I received an email from the person who has been editing our upcoming book, Making Meaning. It read, "Speaking of meanings, we have a gong here at Peachpit (Steve, Nathan, and Darrel have seen it), that we bang when a book goes to press. Making Meaning actually left the building yesterday, but we held off gonging until today. It acknowledges the meaning of accomplishment, and we’d love to share it with as many of you as can participate. It only takes a minute, if that."
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Darrel Rhea — 25 October 2005
Despite devoting my meaningful work life to helping companies create meaningful innovations in products and services, I must admit that once in a while I am surprised when a financial institution comes up with a new service that is truly different and not just another marketing trick. This one is Bank of America’s new Keep The Change™ program.
Only recently launched, this is indeed meaningful to its potential users, meeting the criteria we delineated in our book Making Meaning (which is soon to be launched itself). And, in this case, it’s meaningful not just for each individual consumer, but ultimately – if it kicks off and becomes broadly successful – can be meaningful to our savings-starved economy.
What is Keep The Change and how does it work? It’s an electronic rendition of what some of my buddies did for years – every time they had a handful of change, they tossed it into a jar and when the jar was full, they rolled the coins and banked them. This is a little less visible, but equally painless way to save for consumers who buy with a debit card: the electronic debit card system rounds up on the cost of the purchase to the nearest dollar and stuffs the difference into the holder’s savings account.
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Darrel Rhea — 2 October 2005
About a year ago, an ex-employee who now lives in China called and asked me to be on the board of directors of a Chinese brewing company he had the opportunity to buy. While that venture didn't come together, my friend has his fingers in a wide range of other businesses ranging from exporting organically grown foods and ingredients to the Chinese music business, where he is very successfully managing and producing his eldest daughter’s career. Not only is she on her way to being a Chinese rock star, but they are branching out into ad jingles for the European market. He’s definitely an opportunistic entrepreneur operating on the frontier of a developing market.
Though the venture he is building is still small, he is a good example of what is happening with business in China these days. Where opportunities abound, opportunism rears its interested head. Many, like my friend, are scrambling to take advantage of the openings provided by changes in regulation, changes in values, changes in capital availability, and changes at almost every other level. What is especially interesting about this situation is that the dynamic nature of this market makes it exceptionally hard for businessmen to plan and manage based on “sound” (traditional) principles and expect long term success to come of it. As Donald Sull termed it, in his excellent recent publication, Made In China, it’s “the fog of the future.”
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Darrel Rhea — 6 September 2005
I spent the long Labor Day weekend reading a multitude of business and economic publications and watching major corporate advertising on mainstream TV…and am shaking my head today as I come back to the office. Even after decades of aggressive competition in the market and an increasing consciousness among executives and entrepreneurs about what creates demand, it is surprising that so many just don’t get it right. Despite a general recognition that what does work is to offer products that have greater value for customers – that is, that the products deliver meaningful experiences to them -- corporations often get side tracked by focusing too heavily on creating internal value. Yes, corporate initiatives such as leveraging technology, core systems, supply chains, financial structures, alliances, channel partners, etc., are important for strengthening a company. But initiatives like these hardly provide the incremental innovation needed to keep up with a demanding customer base much less create the breakthrough innovations required to be a market leader.
Part of the work that we do here at Cheskin that I am most passionate about is helping companies learn and apply processes for innovation that counts: creating customer value through meaning. As mentioned in my latest BusinessWeek Online article “Understanding Why People Buy,” it’s not a new concept – but one that begs exploration and systemization in new ways. No doubt you’ll be seeing more comments about that here.
Lee Shupp — 29 June 2005
I was in Austin, Texas for business last week, so I snuck into town for the weekend to see what was shaking. Austin has a thriving arts and music scene, and always has lots of interesting alternative culture going on.
I spent the weekend checking out underground events. By far the most fun was the roller derby, which was part punk rock, part Burning Man, and part World Wrestling Federation.
Here's why it was so interesting:
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Terri Ducay — 16 June 2005
I‘m in the market to buy a new car … but like many, I'm not just interested in its performance or its looks. If I were sitting on a psychologist's couch, she'd say I was looking to add new meaning to my life. I'd describe it as wanting to make a change and have some fun. None of the dozen's of car review magazines and web sites include this in their list of ratings, so I had to do my own research.
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Davis Masten — 15 February 2005
“I don’t understand why a Sunday newspaper is worth $5. What’s in it that makes it worth so much money?” I have heard this paraphrased at least a half dozen times from the Starbucks cashier ringing up my coffee and Sunday New York Times. I first heard it in New York then Reno, Lake Tahoe, Martinez and near my home in Silicon Valley. For me, lounging on a Sunday morning with the Times is a sign that I am taking good care of myself carving out some time for fresh perspectives. The experience of my latte and the Times can take me away where ever I am. For instance, our younger daughter had her first volleyball tournament in Vallejo recently. We spent the night in a Best Western in nearby Martinez, the home of John Muir. While the tournament was freezing cold and the played late into the night, I walked across the street to Starbucks the next morning. There I sipped my coffee, read the Times and felt rejuvenated. We spent the rest of the morning at John Muir’s home and hiking before volleyball resumed later that day.
I can not expect Starbucks management to help their employees understand why a paper is worth $5. From the cashier’s viewpoint, I think it is perceived as a ridiculous indulgence. However, I think of it as no less of an indulgence than a $2 cup of coffee or a $4 latte. However, the drink and the paper are part of a Sunday experience I find quite meaningful.
Darrel Rhea — 6 February 2005
A new year is always good for regeneration, with the first part of that process being re-assessment and re-focus. This January we took a few moments at Cheskin HQ to do just that -- but our intention wasn’t to declare individual resolutions. Instead, we made it a company-wide exercise, deeply aware that we aren’t just a “company,” we are a team.
What is new for us this year is our increased emphasis on the “Cheskin Experience.” We define that as the experience we want to design for ourselves and each other at Cheskin, and the experience we want to create for our clients. “Experience” can be an elusive concept, so we are tenacious in drilling down to uncover just what that means—starting with our shared desire to create a transformative experience for our clients and ourselves, in order to dramatically transform their ability to accomplish their desired outcomes. We concentrate on delivering this through creating powerful learning experiences for ourselves and our clients (going beyond standard interpretations to deliver deeper, broader and more original insights); offering up the experience of collaboration to create an innovating community with them that’s far greater than the sum of its parts; and creating the experience of inspiration.
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— 23 November 2004
In each of our consulting engagements, we see that consumers establish relationships with just about everything they buy. They view the products they purchase as multidimensional experiences in which they participate over time. People seldom buy a box of something for only one specific reason and then forget about it. Every element plays a role - the product, the packaging, the customer service, history with the product, and more. This is nothing new - people like Regis McKenna have been talking about this for years. Nevertheless, it's tempting to get micro-focused on one specific aspect and miss the forest for the trees.
As someone who flies a lot, my frequent flier experiences are a constant reminder that the story goes well beyond the most obvious element of simply "getting there". It also involves what you have to do before you get there, how you get there, and how you'll get there next time.
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