How inspiring is it to look backwards? It depends on what you are looking for. If you have some time and you want to relax, have a look into the year 1959. For me it is a lesson in starting things up, quality, innovation, collaboration and for sure inspiration.
America was on the brink of great social and political change. Integration, Vietnam, the Cuban Missile Crisis — they were all coming around the bend, and sometimes figures like Mingus and Coleman commented musically on these events. But it was also a pivotal year for jazz. Musicians started moving away from bebop, exploring new, experimental forms and collaborations. Four absolutely masterpieces were recorded that year:
If you (don’t) like Jazz you should watch this approx. 60 minutes documentary: 1959: The Year that Changed Jazz. And if you want you can see the musicians as coworkers, the albums as projects or start ups, enjoy!
Google has introduced a new online tool. A calculator to help marketers figure out ‘The Full Value of Mobile,’ as well as case studies and tips. The microsite shows five different categories related to mobile, and videos that show how a brand can monetize them.
Consumer Journey Video
To explain this Google has produced a video ”How they got there”. It’s a short story told backwards that will show you 5 ways in which mobile can drive value for your business.
Years ago on e-day I had the pleasure to see a talk of Gary Vee. If you have ever seen Gary Vee or not, if you are in marketing, sales or any other business you should at least see this guy once. Here is a (one year old) talk he did at Inc 500 – it is amazing and funny. Don’t skip the last few minutes, the Q&A and the end is also really worth all your time.
Here are the things he is mentioning, but you better watch the whole 1 hour.
social media, ROI, it’s a race, it’s a branding race, it’s s a context race
Most of us are acting like a 19 year old dude, trying to close on the first transaction
It is all about long term value, not about the spend you get right now.
Marketing is like a cocktail party, everyone is in play …
Thank You Department (the offense) vs. Customer Service (the defense)
We call every single customer who places an order and thank them – and that’s it!
how much thank you economy stuff are you doing with your people?
NFC near fiels communication
we are extraverts, even if we are introverted
this social media game is not about talking: you need to wire your mouth shut and start using your ears. Because that is the game in play.
Word of mouth is the currency and now we have the infrastructure
we are in the eyeballs and ear business
go to twitter search instead of google search to see what your experience is like
retention is the game, life time value is the game.
What is the real ROI of social media, what’s the ROI of your mother?
The ROI of my mother is everything, I can’t show you in data the ROI of my mother but i promise you it is all of it.
really go deep emotionaly with your customer base – they should be your best friends
There are loads of books on business and there are more and more books that take music as a starting point for inspiration, strategy, change or innovation. Here is a new Rock ‘n’ Roll Music Thinking Book by Peter Cook:
‘The Music of Business’
Cook is the author of ‘Best Practice Creativity’, ‘Sex, Leadership and Rock’n’Roll’ and ‘Punk Rock People Management’, acclaimed by Professor Charles Handy and Tom Peters. Peter mixes up business ideas with music in a heady cocktail that reaches the parts that other business writers do not dare to touch.
The new book, entitled “The Music of Business” is endorsed by Harvey Goldsmith. Topics include:
What can hard rock groups such as Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin and Spinal Tap teach you about business strategy and project execution that the MBA cannot?
What can you learn about creativity and innovation from The Beatles and David Bowie?
What can Lady Gaga teach you about business strategy and using social media to build a powerful, durable and sustainable brand in a complex and ever changing world?
Can Britney Spears, Take That and The Kaiser Chiefs help you become a true learning company?
Can Jazz and structured improvisation help you succeed in a complex and changing business world?
Peter also tries to top the established amazon charts with this independent published book and this works only if a lot of purchases are done in a very short time: nice tip! Let’s do it!
When designing a brand it is necessary to have a shared understanding about the why, what and how of a brand. This can be written down and visualized in a manifesto together with the brand DNA, vision, mission, ambition and the brand values, personality, promis and expressions. But this is just like the musical score. To really ‘live the brand’ it has to be performed and adapted everyday together with your audience.
Music Thinking:
Here are two musical concepts that could inspire and engage brand professionals to think about the brand consumer relation to add value to both sides: first to the consumer, then it will pay back to the brand.
Pattern
Marc Shillum is approaching the filed of branding from a pattern thinking perspective: Brand as Patterns. He states the most important feature of a successful brand is not just consistency, but rather the ability to continually reinvent the brand image according to what is most relevant at the time. In short, a successful brand must have a long term goal, but the short term strategy of how to get there must be continually reworked to remain coherent and relevant in a contemporary context.
Besides patterns there are more concepts that can bring context and meaning. In the Wagner Year it is worth to have a look on the contextual building blocks Wagner is using in his compositions: ‘das Leitmotiv’.
Leitmotiv
Leitmotives are musical phrases like story elements that does not imitate the sound of – for example – ‘crackling logs’, but make you feel the heat, thread and magic of fire. If you want to enjoy the music you don’t have to necessarily know everything about it, but ‘the more you know, the more beautiful it gets’.
Watch a great ‘musical introduction’ to Wagner’s Götterdämmerung with Kurt Masur and Jessy Norman and learn everything about the coding and decoding with Leitmotivs in film music like star wars and Wagner’s music.
From a branding point of view many different elements should make a ‘Gesamtkunstwerk’ so that the consumer can enjoy, be engaged and get an emotional bond with the brand without knowing exactly every detail.
But to create a brand it takes a lot of listening skills and contextual vision. Maybe the most importing thing: the music is not ready when the score is written. It has to be performed with real people for real people – again and again.
CREATIVE COMPANION
