http://www.cheskin.com/blog/perspectives/ en-us http://www.cheskin.com/blog/blog/archives/001065.html 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... Meaningful Experience Steve Diller 2009-03-28T08:03:57-08:00 http://www.cheskin.com/blog/blog/archives/001063.html 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... Meaningful Experience Steve Diller 2009-03-23T11:29:42-08:00 http://www.cheskin.com/blog/blog/archives/001057.html 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... Meaningful Experience Steve Diller 2009-03-06T12:51:02-08:00 http://www.cheskin.com/blog/blog/archives/001044.html This winter, I’ve been teaching a “Marketing Insights Studio” course in California Academy of the Arts’ new Design MBA program. The idea of a design-oriented MBA may surprise some people, but the logic is impeccable. Just like we have MBA programs that specialize in marketing, like Northwestern’s, or finance, like... Innovation & Design Steve Diller 2009-02-24T16:49:25-08:00 http://www.cheskin.com/blog/blog/archives/001011.html Many of us offering innovation consulting services are engaged in a relentless debate about the concept. For some of us, "innovation" is about fresh product concepts. Others focus on a broader agenda that includes re-inventing corporate structures. Yet others argue from a more ephemeral standpoint, concentrating on the dynamics of... Innovation & Design Steve Diller 2008-07-27T12:38:52-08:00 http://www.cheskin.com/blog/blog/archives/001008.html In the last decade or so, it seems like marketing departments have come to see "ideating" as a core test of their coolness and creativity. Since few of us in business maintain parallel careers as artists, this expectation creates anxiety about corporate managers' capacity to be creative on demand. The... Innovation & Design Steve Diller 2008-07-20T08:20:15-08:00 http://www.cheskin.com/blog/blog/archives/000897.html 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... Meaningful Experience Steve Diller 2007-03-01T17:49:13-08:00 http://www.cheskin.com/blog/blog/archives/000782.html 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... Meaningful Experience Steve Diller 2006-01-11T10:30:41-08:00 http://www.cheskin.com/blog/blog/archives/000769.html When you write a book, you pay a little more attention to what other people are writing. You also pay attention to the way their books are being promoted. We just received notice of a new book on "cult" brands that claiimed it was "the most original book on the... Positioning & Branding Steve Diller 2005-12-16T12:05:37-08:00 http://www.cheskin.com/blog/blog/archives/000763.html 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... Meaningful Experience Steve Diller 2005-11-30T17:14:26-08:00 http://www.cheskin.com/blog/blog/archives/000753.html One advantage in writing a book about meaningful experiences was the opportunities it provided to plumb the depths of Cheskin's history. It's a pretty illustrious history, with engagements that often had impacts far beyond what Louis Cheskin, our founder, might have anticipated. It also has implications for all of us... Innovation & Design Steve Diller 2005-10-26T17:00:22-08:00 http://www.cheskin.com/blog/blog/archives/000590.html As I've mentioned in an earlier entry (I think), I've been writing a book on the design of meaningful experiences with Nathan Shedroff and Darrel Rhea. We're at the point now where the book's largely written, and we're in discussions with a few select publishers. One of them has noted... Innovation & Design Steve Diller 2005-01-25T15:01:07-08:00 http://www.cheskin.com/blog/blog/archives/000470.html I had the dubious pleasure of some laser eye surgery last week. The design of the experience of eye enhancement has undoubtedly come a long way in the last few years. The Nob Hill boutique I went to, plush in a mid-century style, seems designed to simultaneously create feelings of... Innovation & Design Steve Diller 2004-08-10T11:00:10-08:00 http://www.cheskin.com/blog/blog/archives/000387.html I've been working on a book, in collaboration with Nathan Shedroff, on Designing Meaningful Experiences. The process of pulling our ideas together has been hugely exciting and stimulating. One key aspect of the work has involved trying to read everything I can get my hands on on design, meaning, and... Innovation & Design Steve Diller 2004-05-23T19:01:19-08:00 http://www.cheskin.com/blog/blog/archives/000339.html Just came back from an incredible week in Shanghai. The reconstruction of the city is arguably the most important urban design initiative since the rebuilding of Paris in the 1800s. Undeniably glamorous, the new Shanghai is consciously, centrally-designed, to project an image of the ultimate in internationalism. Architecture is about... Innovation & Design Steve Diller 2004-05-05T11:36:44-08:00