I was recently in Austin to give a presentation and I joked with the client that what would really make me happy would be if they used my results.  Routinely I find myself fighting against the option to do nothing.  Even during final presentations, when the work is done and paid for, I find an unwillingness to change the status quo.  Rather than battle the silos, the culture, or the project approval process to put in place recommended strategies and tactics, it is easier to put the final report on a shelf and call it a day. 

On new business pitches, I worry more about inertia more than I do the competition.  Has the client or prospect really committed to making changes to their business?  If so, we can have a discussion about the many ways to solve the business problem at hand.  If not, there is little I can do if someone is unwilling to commit time or resources.

I ran a 5K race recently and so I have been thinking about my pre-race routine.  I may not have a lucky rabbit’s foot but the morning of a race I have a ritual of sorts.  I eat my usual breakfast and of course drink coffee.  There are some things I just can’t do without!  I wear the same clothes and sneakers for the race as I wore training.  I will not do anything new or different.   

This ritual keeps me from being distracted so that I can concentrate on the race.  In this case, my ritual helps me.  But in the office, rituals can be limiting.  Always doing something the same way can get old and stale.  A colleague asked me about identifying best customers.  My first thought was an RFM or RAD segmentation because I was in the midst of a RAD segmentation.  It would have been easy to stop there.  However, I couldn’t stop until I also suggested clusters and CHAID.   If she had let me, I would have added modeling and NPV.   The trick is knowing when to stick with rituals and when to avoid them.

The print edition of the Wall Street Journal has introduced a daily sports page and when I say sports page, I mean it is just a page.  It seems like an odd choice, introducing more sports coverage to a business oriented newspaper.  However, it may be an attempt to increase advertising revenue and grow the subscriber base, similar to the earlier introduction of the Weekend Journal.  

The sports coverage is supposed to be analytical, high-level and statistical.  That does not mean it is dry.  I laughed out loud when I read this excerpt from yesterdays’ journal, written by Bernie Lincicome.

“The visual highlight of the week was Henrik Stenson, a particularly tidy sort who avoided splashing mud on himself by taking off nearly all of his clothes.  It takes a lot to upstage Tiger Woods, but a Swede golfing in his skivvies in a water hazard will do it every time.”

As more entertainment and news have moved online, it seems like more and more things can be had for free.  I can watch a clip from a cable television show on Hulu even though I don’t subscribe to cable.  I can read a New York Times article even though I dropped my print subscription.  As Tangyslice write in a post last month, there are lots of things you can get for free — software and international phone calls included.

So you can imagine my surprise when I read that Disney is starting a web portal that will require a $75 annual fee.  Subscribers will get access to Disney news, entertainment and merchandise.  In addition, they will receive a quarterly magazine.  While I understand that Disney wants to generate revenue, I wonder if consumers are willing to pay for the features offered.  The online Wall Street Journal has been effective at generating revenue with a subscription model but they offer financial reporting and insight.  Is Disney news and entertainment as desirable?  In addition, will consumers be able to find most of the information provided other places (e.g., youtube, other fan sites, etc)?  If so, the value of the portal will be diminished.

In this tough economy, what can a CEO do?  The more I think about it, the more I am convinced that a CEO’s options are limited.  The CEO can try to increase revenue through participating in and supporting sales efforts; however, he cannot be everywhere and he does not control customer spending.  In addition, there is the problem of information asymmetry.  He must rely on sales and operations to provide feedback on revenue generation.  The CEO has more control over costs and companies large and small have announced layoffs, wage freezes and reduced benefits.

However, the CEO also has the power to bring the company together to survive and possibly achieve competitive advantages in this tough environment.  I have been thinking about an HBR article I read in my business school strategy class, “Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail” by John P. Kotter.  It describes eight steps for transforming an organization and it is extremely relevant in today’s turbulent environment.  It all starts with the CEO.  She can form a guiding coalition that assesses the company’s problems and opportunities.  In addition, her vision for how the organization can effectively react to the challenging economy will ground all of the company’s efforts.  The guiding coalition may develop a list of plans, projects and initiatives but the CEO’s vision will determine the priority of the projects and keep everyone on the same track.  Further, her vision will reassure employees as they will know where the company is heading.  The CEO will need to reiterate her vision across multiple channels in order to empower others to act upon it.  Change is hard and will almost certainly involve sacrifices.  However, employees will pull together to help the company survive if they understand the CEO’s vision and are inspired by it. 

This is a crisis too good to waste.  CEOs can do more than just survive until the economy recovers by using this opportunity to transform their organizations.

“I think that playing the same music over and over again is irresponsible, uninteresting, and somewhat immoral.”  This morning I caught an interview with Gil Rose, the Artistic Director of BMOP, on WGBH.  I could not resist quoting him.  The interview mentioned that BMOP has started an independent record label, BMOP Sound, for their recordings.  It seems slightly quaint to be starting a record label when consumers are buying downloads rather than compact discs.   However, vertical integration, in this case expanding into the business of recording and distributing music, makes sense.  They want to create awareness both of the music they champion and their brand.  Most record labels are unlikely to be interested in their music or be willing to invest in it or them.  In addition, vertical integration enables them to reap more of the benefits from each compact disc.  They can also leverage their concerts and subscriber base to promote or sell compact discs.  It is yet another innovative way that BMOP is addressing the challenges of the music industry.  An earlier post dealt with an inventive approach BMOP has adopted to market itself.

I have been thinking about a conversation I had recently.  I was talking to someone from a prestigious Boston cultural organization about her subscriber base and the catch 22 they are facing.  The subscriber base is aging so the organization needs to bring in new, younger subscribers.  However, younger subscribers do not like the repertoire favored by the existing subscriber base.  She described a challenge that companies face all the time.  How do you acquire new customers while retaining loyal customers?

In this difficult economic environment, it is hard not to focus on protecting and defending your most loyal customers. They represent the life blood of your company. However, they will not be there forever. You need to balance acquisition and retention efforts.

In the case of the cultural organization, I think she has at least three options:

1. Focus on the loyal customers for now. Once the economic climate improves and budgets ease, begin courting high potential prospects. For example, a local opera company performed Carmen on the Boston Common and used the opportunity to collect lead information from attendees. In this case, they collected information on cards distributed before the performance and then sent a targeted follow up mailing about their upcoming season. 
2. Create a new sub-brand. The organization could develop a sub-brand that would leverage their considerable name recognition and reputation. For example, Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP) has concerts at the Jordan Hall in Boston as well as concerts some Tuesday nights at Club Café. They may play Elliot Carter at both types of venue but the club concerts are in a more intimate and less intimidating space. I imagine that they attract a different crowd as a result - probably younger and less well-versed in classical music. I haven’t yet made it to a club concert but the next one is February 3! By providing an alternate venue and experience, BMOP caters to their current subscribers and reaches out to new customers who will become future subscribers.
3. Try to please to both segments. It can be hard to meet the needs of both new and loyal customers. James Levine caused a stir in Boston by including new and contemporary compositions with traditional stalwarts of the repertoire at the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO). However, the BSO did not give up. A new program provides $20 tickets for those under 40; it is another innovative way to bring a younger demographic to the symphony.

These are my thoughts. Is there anything you would suggest?

Direct mail marketers face several challenges. First and foremost, they get no respect. Almost everyone refers to direct mail as junk mail and many think it is bad for the environment. Second, their business has been negatively affected by the current economic conditions. The credit card companies who were responsible for mountains of solicitations have fallen on hard times and reduced their mail volume. Third, e-mail is replacing some direct mail as it is cheaper and offers the same measurability as direct mail. And now there is news of Postal Service carriers who did not deliver the mail entrusted to them.

According to a recent Associated Press article, one Postal Service carrier stored third class mail in his garage for six years. He was placed on probation and fined $3,000 but an e-mail marketing firm, MailChimp, paid the penalty. AP reported that Ben Chestnut of MailChimp said, “We’re doing everything we can to stop junk mail.”

In the Wall Street Journal recently, Ann Patchett wrote “recommend the books you like, even to strangers.” So I am recommending “Then We Came to the End” by Joshua Ferris. Before you buy it, let me tell you that I enjoy gallows humor. This book is about an ad agency in Chicago in the midst of a business downturn.  Sound familiar? The book may resonate with its painful, incremental lay-offs and staff trying their best to keep busy and desperate to look good at their jobs.

I laughed out loud at the controversy over an office chair. When someone left the agency, his chair was appropriated. Eventually, the office manager tried to retrieve the chair but by then no one knew who actually had the original chair, given the many rounds of lay-offs. It was even funnier after I received an e-mail at work asking who had taken a former co-worker’s chair. This was followed by a second e-mail stating that the chair recently placed in her cube was a poor substitute and not the real chair. In this case, life imitates art.

Reading provides a portal into another person’s experience and enables us to “feel empathy for people we’ve never met”, as Ann Patchett so simply and elegantly stated. Empathy is needed in these difficult times as is a good laugh.

Last night I saw an episode of an upcoming cable television show in my local movie theater.  The lead character is played by an actress I have enjoyed in movies in the past so I thought I would go to the screening despite being the wrong “demographic”.   I do not have cable and average less than 5 hours of television a week.   When I want to watch cable, I go to the gym! 

The television show was disappointing and slightly disturbing.  The experience itself was wholely unsatisfying.  Once the episode aired, the lights came on and that was it.  No one wanted to know what the assembled audience thought.  There was no mechanism to provide feedback.  I was left wondering why the cable channel bothered.  If this wasn’t an opportunity for market research, perhaps it was part of a viral campaign?  If so, it worked.  I have told two friends how terribly disappointing and unfunny I found the show to be. 

I have since read that an integrated campaign to introduce the show included more than just screening episodes of the show at movie theaters in major markets.  The first episode is available on websites like YouTube and on some mobile phones.  Since I went to a screening, I am surprised that I needed to find this out using Google.  While I applaud the use of multiple channels and delivery devices, more integration could have been done.  Why not let the audience at the movie theater know about additional ways to view the first episode?  Why not enable viewers to take an on-line test to determine which personality featured in the show best fits them?  At a minimum the channel could have informed the audience at the screening I attended when the first episode would air.