marginally subversive

Photo is from Dubster of Flickr.

When I was younger, my roommate - Jervs - and I had some friendly competition.  We would write songs.  He'd always been the more musical.  It would take me days to get lyrics right - since I can't rhyme.  It would take a few more days to put into a music sheet the notes that are floating in my head.  (These were the days when mobile phones were expensive and had no "push-to-record" buttons... and I had a bad memory.)

Anyway, he'd always come up with good songs with good lyrics.  And he'd never put them into music sheets.  So by simply listening to his songs, I would "look" for the notes on the piano.  And play them.  As I went on playing his songs, I would tweak it a little.  Perhaps an emphasized, sustained pause here and an emphasized note there.  (I was aided by my earlier music theory and piano training with the Catholic nuns in the province.)

One time, he took me aside after having played his song on the piano during a small party and told me, "Dude, you're stealing my songs".

In all honesty, I did love his songs - and I did envy the way he would tame the whirl and twirl of both words and notes.  But I had no intention of "stealing" his songs.

But looking back now:  was I?

"Covers" are not uncommon.  And all I was doing at that time was really doing a cover of his song - with my own 'flare and vanity' added in.  But in my doing so, was I stealing his song?

These days, I am utterly confused by DRM as well.  If I linked to a photo (as I did above), am I stealing it?  Or am I just "merely doing a cover" of it?  If I cut and pasted from Wikipedia in - say - a thesis, is that stealing?  Is that cheating?  If I linked to a YouTube video that is from another person who lifted it off another person who lifted it off a music video, is that a violation of DRM?

"The Dip" by Seth Godin - One Year...

One year ago, I stumbled upon The Dip by Seth Godin.

I wrote earlier about it (but well, deleted it together with the rest of my old blog, Organized Chaos) - and how I got something new out of it each time I read it.

Without knowing that it's been a year, I recently started rereading The Dip again.  Somehow, I felt compelled to re-read it as part of my attempt to understand and discern (a 'deep' word these days in this phase of my life) whether I should make a move or not.

And again, I got something new out of it:  If you can't be the best in what you do in a certain situation, either re-create and redefine the situation such that you can be in your top form or get out.

That's exactly what I did - I tried to redefine the rules with the hopes of redefining the situation I was in so as to get a sense of accomplishment, or being remarkable at the end of each day.

I failed.

So I got out.

A lot of my friends and even colleagues and former bosses told me I was making a stupid move.  It was - in one of my ex-bosses' words - what every one was looking for.  It was, as Nigel and Emily from The Devil Wears Prada (yes, that movie again) defined as "the job that a million other girls (and boys) would kill for".

And I could see where they were coming from:  I come in at 9am, I plonk myself in front of the PC and do my work, I log off at 6pm, head to one of my evening activities - Spanish classes, readings in Stats and Econometrics, readings in Philosophy, visits to the library, dinner with friends, partying and a little bit of drinking, and gym (not on the same night...).

But that, I told my ex-bosses and colleagues who still work 12-15-hour days, how I want my life to be.  I want to be able to use whatever talents I have been blessed with - and make full use of all the learnings I have gathered from 12 years of working with other people (making mistakes, perfecting processes, perfecting the art of asking questions and quantifying them, making sure that things are "perfect enough").

Anything short of that is, well, not for me.

Sure, it's also about the money.  But it's not just about the money - or even tenure or security or whatever else you can think of.

It's personal fulfillment - and the chance to be good and remarkable.

Seth Godin made a request - "take it off the shelf and lend it to someone".

I am sorry, Mr. Godin, I can't.  It just is too useful for me.  Don't get me wrong - it's not the best book I have read.  It's amongst the better books, for sure.  If I were to be stuck in an island for a year and can only bring 10 books, it sure will be one of those 10 books (alongside those books by NNTaleb and Mark Buchanan, and ET Jaynes).  I tend to be very protective of my books (you should see my apartment shelves - they're full of books).  I am happy, however, to tell others about it.  In fact, I have bought a couple of friends copies of your book.  And I would even gladly buy some of my friends one for their birthdays and anniversaries and farewells and all.  But sorry, I just can't part with my copy just yet.  Perhaps next year.

Of Breakfast Cereals and Marketing

One of my previous clients had a view about marketing which somehow got me thinking:  For her, the whole purpose of marketing is to get people to buy - that when they pick your brand off the shelf (in a sea of other brands) that's success.

At first thought, I did think she was right - marketing is all about getting people to buy your brand as opposed to buying another brand.

Then I realized there's something else to it:  If she believed (and she did believe) that the greatest brand medium is the brand itself - and that the proof of a brand is in the eating/using, then marketing actually should extend beyond the mere buying.

Think about it:  Imagine a person in front of a shelf of breakfast cereals.  She stops for a moment - and picks up your breakfast cereal brand.  She heads to the cashier's to pay, goes home, sleeps - and wakes up.  Brand new day - and here comes breakfast!  Imagine her experience when she pours milk on her bowl of cereals and right after the first scoop.  Is she rushing?  Does she feel rushed?  Is she in touch with the brand?  Is she actually enjoying the brand?  Does she even stop and consider herself "great" for having chosen this brand of cereals?  At the middle of the day, does she remember her breakfast?  Does she remember her brand of cereals?  Does she even talk about her brand of breakfast cereals with her colleagues?

Marketing has always been thought to be about the 4Ps - Promotions, Pricing, Product, and Place.  And when people talk about "product", they usually think "product development" or "product extensions".

I would like to think that it goes beyond the functional.  Product experience - or the physical, tangible experience of the brand - ought to be included in there.  And marketeers should be thinking about the same things as well.

Getting in Touch with my Coding Side

I finally made it - write a program in Visual C++.

For some it might not be that much of an accomplishment.  But hey, it's been years since I last attempted to create a program.

The subject of the programming project was simple (no, it wasn't the customary "Hello, World").  I wanted a simple program that would be an implementation of a Monte Carlo simulation.  In my head, it was simple.  It looked logical when I created the skeleton of the program - the "algorithm", I think it is called.

What really got me was relearning all the keywords and the functions and the 'nitty-gritty' of Visual C++.  It's the translation of the idea into a real, working and workable program that got me stuck. 

(Oh, I do remember a little bit of C++ - then I realized whilst I was working on the program [it took me weeks...], Visual C++ keywords were quite different from C++'s.  So I had to go back to the drawing board and reword the program - only to find out in the end that I had the option of running ANSI-standard C++ within the Visual C++ environment.)

It was interesting.  Not only was it like a trip down memory lane - back when Turbo Pascal and Turbo C and PDP11 Machine Language were the 'basics' that I had to learn as part of my "Intro to Programming" and "Data Structures and Algorithm" classes.  It was also akin to learning a new language.

Would I have been a good programmer?  I am not sure.  Computers, software and their workings never really appealed to me - although I do want to "power-up" sometimes.

My Excel 2007, for example, are filled with macros (both recorded and built from scratch using VBA) so I can automate mind-numbing tasks.  Pivot Tables are my best friend now - and I am still looking for ways to maximize my use of them (because I know that I have not fully maximized them yet).  And after 1 week of being lost in Office 2007 - specially the painfully difficult "ribbon" - I started to get the hang of it.  And voila... efficiency.

Anyway, that's one challenge down.  And a few more to go.  There are still 'programming projects' that are swirling in my head - mostly things that would make my life a little, um, easier.  I hope.

Life - Dreams = Job

Star World has got this new trailer for Eureka, a TV program that I kinda like.  One of the lines that's included in the program promo was this equation:

"Life - Dreams = Job"

It is a reminder - at least to me - that it is dreams (hope, expectation, future) that ultimately drive us.  Dreams are what drives us to hope, to strive, to create something out of nothing.  To be something.  To evolve.  To grow.  To extend.  To reach.

For some, it is the quest of money.  Others, the quest for knowledge.  The others are driven by dreams of "ultimate happiness" - whatever and however they may conceive what "ultimate happiness" is supposed to be.

The funny thing about "dreams" is that it comes with whole package - corollary and ancillary stuff come with the package called dreams:  Hope, Expectation, the Future, Fun, Excitement, Change.

I for one thought I could just work for the money - and forget about dreams.  But then I realized that what really drives me to get up in the morning, soldier on to work, go through the challenges at work - mundane, complex, inane, or otherwise - collect my salary at the end of the month, and fill in my income tax returns is not the work itself.  It is not the company.  It is not my colleagues and how I appear before them.

It's all about my dreams.

For me, for my 'significant other', for my family...

I am still - after all the things I have gone through and the cynicism that I seem to emanate - a dreamer after all.  And I won't let anything or anyone rob me of my dreams - or even block the view.

 

No more ads...

Well, the truth is there are still ads.  But I have been not noticing any ads.  If you asked me now what web ads have I seen in the last couple of days - or even the past week (apart from those which I had to "see" as part of my job), I wouldn't be able to name one.

Which leads me to the question: Are digital ads really declining in effectiveness?

If that is so, then why is everybody so hung up on ads (at least seemingly)?  Microsoft and Yahoo and Time and AOL and Google.

Everybody seems to be thinking that the reason why these companies have made the moves they made in the last couple of months is "advertising".

I would beg to differ.

Advertising could be a part of it.  But it's beyond that.  The fact that Yahoo seems to be so intent at avoiding the bid and Microsoft is so intent in pushing the deal - and everybody else from Google to Time to AOL - are all trying to get into the ruckus themselves suggest that there is something else beyond advertising.

Advertising is on a decline.  People don't want ads to be shoved down their throats anymore.  A new way to - all together now - "communicate" is necessary.  (And no, social networking ads?  C'mon.)

The days of "inventory-based advertising" - regardless of whether it is in display or search - are on entering the "wane" period.  Whatever you call the next phase - engagement planning, IMC, IPC, CCP, Comm Planning, Media Neutral Planning, Atomized Planning - it will not be solely 'inventory-based' anymore.

imagine

for today, just imagine.  who knows where it will lead... perhaps - and hopefully - it will lead to a better world.

Video: john lennon - Imagine_

I Am - therefore I Blog...

Back in college, I had to take a course, "History of Psychology" as part of my academic requirements (and in order to be considered for graduation).  I thought "Oh no.  It's going to be one long boring semester or memorizing dates and names and everything else".

The professor - and God bless her but I cannot remember her name - I am sure was perceptive enough to have realized this preconception and bias amongst her students and tried very hard to make it interesting.  She wasn't very successful - but oh well.  That's another story.

I did find it interesting however.  And one of the things that I really did like was the discussion about Descartes' "Cogito Ergo Sum" and an opposing view (whose was it, I cannot remember now).  It was a discussion about "which came first - being or doing?"

"Cogito Ergo Sum" says "I think therefore I am".  Others say "I am therefore I think".  I am sure there are more dimensions to the story.  But these are the two that stuck in my mind.

And I will take that position and apply that into something I like doing - which is writing, and well, blogging.

I am - therefore I blog. 

And that pretty much sums up everything that I believe in about writing.

Seth Godin has this to say about blogging:  Show up. Not writing is not a useful way of expressing your ideas. Waiting for perfect is a lousy strategy.

How apt, I felt.  I blog because I want to show up.  I write because I want to show up.  And there may be grammatical errors and spelling errors and reasoning errors - but heck, I am not aiming for perfection, I am aiming to simply write.

And I write because, well, I am.

How about you?

Of PowerPoint(R) Presentations...

I have always been a tech-geek.  Not the "programmer" kind - but the one who maximizes all possible shortcuts there are in the software that I use.  My philosophy is completely opposed to RTFM - for me, the best way to learn something is to do it.  Experiment.

I never had PowerPoint training in the past.  When I first started working in 1995, PowerPoint was just starting in the Philippines.  I remember that I was still using Quattro Plus back then to do my spreadsheets and my charts, and print them on a "dot-matrix" printer.

(Okay, I am that old.)

But I immediately caught on.  I spent a whole week learning the in's and out's of PowerPoint - and how I can make it a support tool for me to communicate my ideas.  I learned through feedback from clients and colleagues that "anything smaller than 16points is really bad" - and "too much color on a screen is confusing".  I also learned that "people don't go beyond the title" - and "tell a story, stupid - not what's on the charts... people can read".

I also began to develop my own story-telling style - and in spite of my chart- and numbers-heavy charts (in succession, sometimes), I believe that I do manage to deliver a compelling story.

And the key to it all is having a story.

My former bosses would ask me to send over the presentation file to them - and then they would critique it.  And I wouldn't hear of it.  I would rather that I get them seated in front of my PC, and tell the story - why this chart precedes this chart and why this slide precedes this conclusion.

It's a story - and you can't get a story out of reading slides and numbers.

Of all my former bosses, it was only my latest boss - Jon T. - that actually 'got used' to my style.  He would see the file and immediately find loopholes in the story, suggesting how to further strengthen a case or whether a certain slide is not necessary to the story or is a different story altogether.

As I am mired in PowerPoint presentation preparations right now, I cannot help but admire people who present other people's presentations.  They get others to craft the story, get the file, and re-tell the stories themselves.  I am not sure how effective they are or how close the stories they tell are to the stories that I wanted to convey - I have not sat in any one of their presentations.

But it is quite interesting.

Some people, I believe, are able to craft stories out of nothing (well, not nothing... but out of the morass of numbers and charts).  And some people - upon seeing mere outlines and slides - get it and could retell it.

Frankly, I am not one of those who could retell another person's story - whenever I get a deck for presentation, a deck that was prepared by someone else, I always allot time for me to go through the entire thing - and rejig it.  The objective:  tell the story my way whilst keeping true to the spirit of the story.

Sometimes, I remove slides.  Sometimes, I do different things with the order.  And still sometimes, I add in my own interpretations.

But I can never present another person's deck.

I guess it's a talent that I don't have.

Time to get out...

"How do you determine if you have been in a company for far too long?"

Jack and Suzy Welch talks about decision-factors that one needs to consider when answering the question.  And surprisingly - at least for me, because I always thought that Jack Welch is very traditional - the same old answers come out:  Do a gut-check.

Is it fun to work at?  Does it feel like you're making a difference?  Do you dread going to work?  Does it drive you crazy?  Do you keenly watch the clock to reach 6pm? Is it a drag?  Do you like your co-workers?  Do you like hanging around with this people?  Do you like working with them since you spend 1/3 of your day - or perhaps even more - with them?  Would you want to spend a weekend with them?  Is it meaningful?  Is it something worth working for?  Is it wringing the best out of you without you feeling shortchanged?  Are you selling you out?  What are you going to look like in this company a year from now?  Will I be where I want to be - in this company, in this life, in this cubicle?  And do I like that?

Interesting thoughts - but more importantly, interesting questions.

Making decisions, Decision-making, and Risks...

Anne Mulcahy, CEO of Xerox, talks about decision making - and about waiting too long to do things.  I think it is true - waiting it out won't make the problem go away.  And that is the most important thing in business:  Get in, fix it, get out.

One thing that I like the most that she said is the need for speed and clarity.  Clarity is needed to understand where exactly the business and the organization are headed - and that vision needs to be upheld with utmost clarity amongst all stakeholders.  It's what guides speed.

I always go back to one of the things that coach told me:  Being efficient is not necessarily being effective.  Being efficient is doing things fast and as quick as possible; being effective is doing the right thing.  And keeping the right thing in mind - perhaps, even as the backbone of the every decision and action - directs and guides and roots any and every decision.

Interesting...

Is it indeed the time to buy?  Hmmm.  My thoughts?  Any time is a good time as long as you've got time on your side - and some luck.

"All or Nothing" or "At Least Something, Not Nothing"

An interesting thought woke me up this morning:  Which is a better situation - having half-baked data and having "something" than nothing, or having nothing at all?

At first glance, some would prefer the "half-baked data" - it is better than nothing.  Besides "something is always better than nothing".  Right?

My first reaction is - no.

"Something is always better than nothing" is too overvalued.  That "something" needs to be qualified first and foremost - specially, and most specially, if we need to make decisions based on that something.  There is nothing far worse than making a wrong decision because "our data is showing this trend" - when the quality of the data is not correct.

It is perhaps the perfectionist and the disciplined in me to say "It's all or nothing, dude".  But I know that it's economically not viable in all situations.  However, saying that at least "we have something - better than nothing" - and taking satisfaction in that specially when it comes to crucial, critical factors that may drive a business - is also not acceptable.

"Perfect enough."

Those are words that I learned from Carly Fiorina's book.  And I think that's applicable in this situation.  Never cut corners - always conduct due diligence - always seek for perfection - and if there is the need to drop the human need for perfection because of reality, then drop it.

But because you've aimed for perfection, if you stopped 20% or 30% or 40% short of 100% perfection - you still have the confidence to say "Yes, we've got something... It is not perfect, but we've been duly diligent and rigorous".

Indeed, a careful balance - one that marketeers, decision-makers, and business executives ought to think about in these data-rich, information-flooded, yet "analysis-paralyzing" situations.

Photo Source: www.rwongphoto.com 

It's that time again...

To dust off that presentation that says "When in a recession, do not stop advertising".

When I was working in an ad-agency a few eons ago, somebody would always come up with reasons on why stopping advertising during a recession - or "challenging times" - would be detrimental to the brand.  The slew of charts that showed brands that did not stop advertising during a recession tended to be recalled more, bougt more, and bucked the trend would be flying (digitally) aboutin the office.  I was tasked - once - to "localize" the presentation and present it to a host of clients.

(I think I vaguely recall making the analogy that "the Chinese character for danger is the same as opportunity" - I am not sure now if that indeed is the case.  In spite of years of attempts, I cannot - for the life of me - read Chinese characters.)

I was amongst those usual suspects.

But I guess, this time around, I would do something else:  I wouls say, "if there is no reason for you to advertise and continue advertising, then don't - and don't let anybody tell you otherwise".

Why?

Simple:  There is no single rule that holds across all kinds of brands and categories.  Just because Brand A suvived the downtrend "because they advertised" doesn't mean another brand will fare similarly - even if they had the same message, even if they had the same media plan, even if they had the same marketing considerations.

I am going to go out on a limb here and say that it is the culture of tenacity that pervades throughout the organization - marketing, sales, operations, supply chain, procurement, talent management, etc. - that determines whether a brand or a company survives the economic slowdown. 

Not advertising - its presence or its absence.

My suggestion to those who are being lured and tempted to advertise because "the great big, brands - according to my agency - survived the last recession by advertising":  Take a look at you own history. 

How did your brand - and your company - survive the last slowdown?  Look at all the shallow - and the deep - metrics.  Don't stop at awareness or image - look at sales. 

Determine what the other departments did - what did the Sales team do?  How did the Sales Director feel and reacted to the gloom and doom?  What did the sales managers - the frontliners - notice amongst customers and how did they respond?  What were the results of their response?

If you can, quantify the impact of each of the actions done by each of the business stakeholders.  Sure, it will be hard work - but that's marketing - it is hard work making decisions.

Create scenarios.  In the same way that financial strategists have buy/sell limits, set your own by creating scenarios.  There is such a thing as "short-term advertising effects" which could guide you.  If you keep on advertising, and well, recall stays the same, but sales are not picking up - then decide:  is this a scenario that demands pulling out of advertising?  Or should you pump in more?

I believe that saying - and believing - that "advertising during a recession is the best way to keep your business growing" is irresponsible.

Businesses are systems - and marketing, and definitely advertising, are one part of that system.  And it is the entire system that will determine the probability of a company weathering a downturn.

Not advertising.

Seen on a shirt @ Adam Road Food Center

I can work for money - but that would be boring.

Not sure if I agree... but I am also not sure if I disagree.  Hmm.  Neutral?