A Big Science Idea

Over the past year I have had the pleasure to work with Brad Nuccio at the Saint Louis Science Center to develop the Center for Science.  The Center for Science is based on the concept that a national network of science centers working together can more effectively engage and impact the public that these institutions working completely independently.

10 Forces Changing the World

Our friends at HOK have published a very interesting and thoughtful collection of articles that examine global trends and forces changing the world.  Looking out over the next 40 years the team collected some very interesting research and information that is worth the read.

We recently took some time to mentally escape from the day-to-day and explore the “Art of the Long View.” Inspired by Peter Schwartz’ book of the same name, we partnered with our friends at Magellan Consulting and researched what we felt were the top 10 forces shaping our world between now and 2050. As we re-imagine the role of the design community in our global economy, this material has served as fodder for some fascinating conversations across HOK.

What did we learn?  Though the dialogue is ongoing, the idea of resiliency has undeniably emerged as a major theme. Resiliency is the not-so-new idea taken from nature that we can withstand the inevitable shocks to the system, rebuild and continue to adapt and evolve into something better. The key is that resiliency doesn’t just happen – we have to plan for it.  

Was Google Hacked?

Reviewing some SEO work for one of our companies this morning I was surprised to see that last night (according to Google) we grew from about 20,000 pages of content cached to over 3,780,000,000.  What was more alarming was Google now showed under the search result a little note that said “this sight may harm your computer”.  The site was listed as a spam site!  I started to fire off a string of emails to get the technical team working on the problem, tried calling the CEO and then I noticed something even more alarming.

Tissue Pack Marketing

One of the more clever concepts in awareness marketing in Japan is starting to get attention in the United States, advertising on the front of small packs of tissues.  Advertising agencies have stuck logos on just about everything imaginable, but how many times in the winter do you wish you had a small packet of tissues handy to take care of a runny nose?

Ask Your Customers, The Downside

There are many missed opportunities to engage and communicate with your customer regardless if you are a start-up, hospital, retailer, etcc…  As noted in the previous blog there can be great upside when engaging in brainstorming and improving your product.  But there can be a downside as well in how and what your customers will communicate.

Why Not Ask Your Customer?

How should we improve our products? What new services should we offer? More often than not these questions are not asked to the customer. Companies spend hundreds of millions of dollars on market research, data analysis, customer focus groups and often forget to simply ask their customer – what else would you like?

Despite Recession, Internet Advertising Still Growing

Although the overall advertising market is expected to decline in 2009, several recent reports are still projecting an increase in the on-line advertising space.

More Food for Thought

Patrick Davis Partners, a brand consulting firm (and one of the smartest group of people you will come across) recently published a video “New Priorities for the Post-Agency Market”.  The video covers six high level concepts to provoke thoughts about the future of media and agencies. Worth the watch.

Might also want to watch The Machine is Us.

The Future of Retail

Interesting article today in the Wall Street Journal by Tom Hayes and Michael Malone highlighting the rapid and significant change in media and the potential impact on how retailers find and connect with the customer.

Retailers now must reimagine a world where consumers experience products in stores but ultimately buy them on the Web: Stores are for experiences, the network is for inventories. And what in turn prepares potential customers for what to look for in stores? Online communities.

Although the statement above is a bit for effect to help lift sales of their upcoming book, it does raise a legitimate and serious question about the future of the retail experience.  With the majority of shoppers checking reviews online before they purchase, the impact of social networks and word of mouth referral can not be overstated.

Is Twitter a Netscape?

Twitter’s PR team must be working late each night because over the past several weeks dozens of articles have appeared in almost every media channel.  Many of these articles examine the twitter business model and try to hypothesize a path to prosperity or failure.