Tag archives: Word of Mouse

WWW = Win Win Win

Posted by Shaun Abrahamson on Friday, 30 January 2009

The last 2 weeks in Tokyo have been wonderful. There are more than a few posts worth of material, but today helped to bring together a number of threads I have been trying to pull together. 

In short WWW = Win Win Win.  Because when organizations set out to collaborate with others: they win, their customers win and the people they collaborate with, win too.  We talked a little about how others outside your organization might be able to help you grow your business and also about Obama, who did so many things to make it easy to help his campaign. 

So here are some more ideas on this theme, direct from Tokyo.

Lets start with UNIQLOCK

uniqlock1

Saneel has been raving about this since we arrived in Japan and I admitted that it was not installed as my screensaver. He couldnt figure out how I had been telling time. 

Today we were fortunate to hear from one of the founders (team of 2) of Projector, who created UNIQLOCK for Uniqlo. 

It turns out that this is much more than a beautifully crafted, award-winning, fan-generating, entertaining timepiece. 

Lets take a look at some numbers. Today there are more than 61,000 UNIQLOCK widgets installed on blogs around the world. More than one year after its launch, it continues to produce steady interest. And this doesnt account for installed desktops. 

But whats more interesting, is how this came to be. The folks at the projector worked on an earlier project, involving dance, called Mixplay (shown below). Mixplay came about when the good folks at Projector saw the dancers and reach out to them to collaborate. As they put it “the were interested” in their work and this led to the collaboration. Which in turn led to 1.5m views on youtube and lots of active discussion and a realization that bloggers were picking up the video, too. 

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSdhDyPhyiU]

This then laid the groundwork for some of the creative in UNIQLOCK, but also the promotional and distribution strategy. UNIQLOCK is made available as a, you guessed it, a clock widget. And since it constantly updates, its unlike other widgets that get boring and removed. And so bloggers get something slick continuously updating content, Uniqlo gets traffic and sales and potential customers get to be entertained (and tell the time).  Win. Win. Win. 

[also, organizations like Circ De Soleil were brought in - they got awareness, UNIQCLOCK and the bloggers got more original content ]

So what is Pecha Kucha?

This idea was started in 2003 by Mark Dyson and Astrid Klein. As Mark desribes it -

Architects are boring

So why not give them 20 seconds for 20 slides? This way, you see the work, sans boredom. Excellent. But they never expected Pecha Kucha nights to be running in 160 cities. The numbers tell the story of steady growth in interest in the last few years or so (“pecha kucha” on google trends). Other than the local event promotion in Tokyo, they never did anything to push it along – more people started showing up and then asking to host it elsewhere. 

We did everything wrong

Says Mark of their approach. But he feels positive, that if they werent open to collaborators, the idea would never have left their event in Tokyo. The only real agreement is to ensure that there was one person representing Pecha Kucha in each city. 

Mark is amazed by the growth in interest, because they just have sought to promote it and yet is continues to spread. The format is even being used by some at Davos. But the core remains a willingness to work with and support whoever is interested and willing to help.

Whats interesting, is the way real events have results in the spread of a presentation format and the creation of a presentation forum for work that might not have any good forum otherwise and it emerged on its own, with very little support other than the maintenance of the site (and now responses to requests for interviews).

Maybe your city is on the list – if not, why not get it started. 

Pecha Kucha continues to spread indirectly build awareness for Astrid and Mark. Across the world, presenters get a new forum to share the work and ideas. Attendees get to see one anothers wonderful work. Win. Win. Win. 

Finally, an idea that could inspire 1 billion people this year.

Earth Hour

In 2007 5m people did it. In 2008 the number was about 50m in 35 countries. And in 2009, the target is 1b people in 1000 cities, who will turn off their lights for an hour to focus awareness on energy and environmental issues. 

Its a non-for-profit, with minimal budget, growing globally, rapidly, using various means to get more people involved. And also providing a focal point for business to do something positive (and benefit by association). Hopefully we all win, as we get more people to act in ways that can reduce energy consumption and the associated environmental impacts. The stakes are high, but we are hopeful that this is well on the way to Win. Win. Win.

There a few more cases that need explanation: A cosmetics brand used mobile to engage with a few thousand early adopters to help them develop and launch a product. Over a 3 year period they went from idea to 8m unit sales working tightly with their community. Then there is Graniph who partnered with artists to create T-Shirts and build their business while they increased awareness for artists.  More to come.

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Do great products and services need advertising?

Posted by Shaun Abrahamson on Wednesday, 9 July 2008

Why are we fascinated by how companies grow without advertising? Well, we work with early stage companies who need to acquire new customers as efficiently as possible and reduce the need to raise more money to grow.

There are a range of fundamental changes enabled online that expand the range of options for companies wanting to grow in new an interesting ways. For example, Roelof Botha, of Sequoia Capital talks about key concepts underlying the success of PayPal and Youtube (Zappos is on the list below). We have talked about word of mouth before (and the impact of its ongoing documentation online via product reviews). We dont think this is the only thing powered brand growth, but certainly a powerful part of the new suite of tools which reward great product and service experiences and make them easier to find.

So we have set about identifying companies that spend little or no money on advertising, to understand how they have managed to grow. For now we aren’t limiting ourselves to a specific industry and we are going to attempt to cover large public companies as well as early stage private ones.

Following is an initial list of companies, along with a short summary of why we picked them, beginning with the behemoths:

Google - sits atop the pile, according to the Brandz 2007 ranking (pdf). But Google doesn’t spend very much relative to its rivals and most of its spending has been for its enormous recruiting efforts.

Starbucks - may be experiencing some headwind in the slowing global economy, but it has spent even less than Google historically, running a TV ad for the first time at the end of last year in the US.

Zara - the Spanish retailer, spends just .3% of sales on advertising versus 3-4% for rivals. It uses its retail stores and rapid product turnover to do the communicating.

Amazon - famously cancelled ads in favor of free shipping and appears to be reaping the benefits today. Its online ad spend, goes mainly to Google.

Some other megabrands under consideration are spending much less on advertising than competitors,  or spending when they don’t seem to need to. These include: Porsche, Samsung, Nintendo, Costco, eBay, Harley-Davidson.

On the not-so-mega, but loved-and-respected-scale, here are some for consideration:

Zappos - is spending what it might have spent on advertising, on customer service.

Newegg - has built an almost $2b in sales, while focusing on keeping its community of tech users happy.

BitTorrent - reviled by the media industry, but downloaded an unprecedented number of times around the world.

Ducati - took a page from the Harley book and focused in its loyalist Ducatisti to jumpstart sales.

Tupperware - party anyone?

In-N-Out Burger – revenous fan base, underground menu. Its a secret society. Hold the ads.

Method Products – interview reveals how Method invests more in their products and less in talking about them to create another Inc star.

Kiehls – give away samples, no ad dollars.

Trader Joes – the “Trader Joe’s Fearless Flyer” circular is the only communications spend.

Zipcar - a new form of transport.

And finally, on the smaller startup scale, some companies we are considering, that you may or may not be familiar with

37Signals – celebrated for simple products and word of mouth.

Daylife - created a showcase and drew a crowd.

Meraki – connecting people together is a good way to spread the word.

Sigg - where did the Swiss water bottle makers come from?

Orb Audio – small speakers, big sound. And a commitment not to spend on anything except making speakers.

Denim Therapy – never replace your jeans, just repair them.

We’re just getting started, so lots of research to do. The list is likely to grow and change and we’ll start to dive into how each of these companies work their magic.

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Top 40 Products and Services

Posted by Shaun Abrahamson on Thursday, 19 June 2008

I remember growing up with the top 40 count down in South Africa. Each weekend, “the worlds best music” would be counted down from 40 to 1.

I was happy to re-encounter the idea in “The Word of Mouth Manual: Vol.II“. And so I thought is would be interesting to see what products and services are on my Top 40.

The order isnt important, because the process is a little lumpy. I seem to get stuck on themes and then recall related stuff. I am sure some cognitive, neural science folks know why this is. So the point is, I removed the numbers.

I left out media – news, books, music, games, etc. Just made the list cleaner. Of course, the book that inspired the post, is implicitly on the list. Clever. I filtered out clients and investments…we can discuss another time, why.

Right.

So here goes:

  • Apple TV – I dont have cable anymore (Berlin Schooler’s reading this will roll their eyes. ok). Everyone at home can use it, including Max. I discovered video podcasts on the big screen from people like TED and NYTimes and Monocle (ok, no more media).
  • Time Warner – happily not paying for cable anymore. But thanks for pretty reliable internet.
  • Wordpress - I talked about why I moved TO Wordpress.
  • Typepad - …and away from Typepad.
  • Lego - I have liked these little blocks since I recall liking stuff (and now other little plastic pieces and computers and electronics).
  • iPhone - for mixed reasons. I was excited and as things begin to fail (like parts of the screen are unresponsive to touch), I am giving Blackberry or Samsung a look again.
  • Dell - still one of the best PCs and just never been convinced that Macs are any better, particularly since now I seem to do most work in a browser with the exception of Excel.
  • Bruder - not sure who likes these toy trucks more – me or Max.
  • Twitter - I dont know why. I guess I like what I call the “Cosmo Kramer Effect” – i.e. someone just flinging open the door and saying something dumb, funny, timely etc.
  • Basecamp - its just useful and simple and better than anything else I have used, until Google comes up with an alternative or buys it or rips it off.
  • Nikon D40 – shutter speed
  • Wii - all sorts of things, but mainly inclusive, so I dont have to feel anti-social. Even non-gamers can have a go.
  • ZipCar - the joys of non-ownership and having a Mini or a Element or a convertible or you-get-the-idea.
  • Woodstock, NY – cant put my finger on it, but always enjoy going
  • Google - Apps, Reader, Search, Trends, Maps, its just open all day long being used in new and interesting ways.
  • Karyodong Bakery – the home of perfect bread
  • Coffee Shop – breakfast central on Union Square
  • Wikipedia - feels like part of Google, but I recognize it is its own thing
  • Lotus Exige – I cant say this as well as Top Gear and this is the only car missing from the ZipCar line-up I might be willing to buy.
  • Burton - have my board and an assortment of jackets and love the idea of a banker being let go and coming back to start an awesome company. I guess Bloomberg has a similar story.
  • Nike Plus - I dont use it, because I dont run. But I still want it.
  • Denuo - they are doing interesting work at the intersection of advertising, new media, etc. And as I meet more people there, I like them even more.
  • Sequoia Capital – they may not want to work with me, yet , but I still think that are the best of the best.
  • Microsoft - still hopeful, but slowly shedding their wares. Down to Excel as my only must have.
  • Berlin School of Creative Leadership – a brave new forray into executive education and I am really enjoying being back at school.
  • Alternative Energy – can I include Nuclear (I dont think its evil)? These just make more sense that current energy options, even if I rely on others to do the math.
  • Jeff Jarvis – Jeff deserves special mention because I keep mentioning him and his ideas.
  • Bazaarvoice - a little obsessed with reviews, as I have mentioned and so keep wanting to include these folks in my projects.
  • Springwise - constant list of good, new stuff. Special mention to PSFK, too, but sometimes overwhelmed by their twittering.
  • MIT - still the home of some of the smartest people I know, who also happen to give a damn about humanity.
  • Obama - hopeful in all ways.
  • Brazil - the country of the future and hopefully we are nearing the future soon. We’ll have to live there for a bit at some point.
  • Amazon - Prime and Proud.
  • Ikea - I almost forgot! Whether its hacking from pieces of furniture or just using it as it was designed.
  • New York City – still the center of the world.
  • Seamlessweb - do people actually call to order food, still?
  • Fresh Direct – cant live without. Almost literally.
  • Newegg - still my first stop to find out what is best in all of electronics land. Blogs, etc are second to the user reviews. Thanks everyone.
  • Havaianas – would wear them all the time if Andrea let me.

I am sort of amazed, ashamed, proud and confused but the brands that are top of mind for me at the moment. Its not scientific, but interesting nonetheless.

What’s on your list?

Update: I need to add Skype somewhere and BitTorrent. See – the themes again. Also, Method should be here, but for some reason, i always feel wierd about talking about clearning products. If this was Andrea’s list, it would have made the cut.

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