On Holiday..

Probably not alot of posts coming weeks..

Books I am taking with me:

• Blue Ocean Strategy – Kim & Mauborgne
• The Future of Competition – Prahalad
• Eight Habits- Covey
• Intensieve Menshouderij – Peters & Pouw

Thanks for the recommendations. You are not forgotten. I just need to read these first..

Talk soon!

Raimo

In the end there are only two markets: those who handle the customer and those who don’t

Two articles that confirm my creeping thought of the polarisation of the the valuechain Cutting out the middle: distribution and marketing.

Excerpt from Seth Godin’s post about web4:

I’m about to buy something from a vendor (in a store with a smart card or online). At the last minute, Web4 jumps in and asks if I want it cheaper, or if I want it from a vendor with a better reputation. Not based on some gamed system, but based on what a small trusted circle believes.

I think it’s fascinating that Web4 is coming from the edges (we see all sorts of tribal activities popping up in blogs, communities, rankings, Digg, etc.) as opposed to from the center. Web 2.0 happened in largely the same way. Even online, big organizations seem to have the most trouble innovating in ways that change the game.

Excerpt from Article of Doc Searls about Intention Economy:

The Intention Economy grows around buyers, not sellers. It leverages the simple fact that buyers are the first source of money, and that they come ready-made. You don’t need advertising to make them.

The Intention Economy is about markets, not marketing. You don’t need marketing to make Intention Markets.

The Intention Economy is built around truly open markets, not a collection of silos. In The Intention Economy, customers don’t have to fly from silo to silo, like a bees from flower to flower, collecting deal info (and unavoidable hype) like so much pollen. In The Intention Economy, the buyer notifies the market of the intent to buy, and sellers compete for the buyer’s purchase. Simple as that.

The Intention Economy is built around more than transactions. Conversations matter. So do relationships. So do reputation, authority and respect. Those virtues, however, are earned by sellers (as well as buyers) and not just “branded” by sellers on the minds of buyers like the symbols of ranchers burned on the hides of cattle.

The Intention Economy is about buyers finding sellers, not sellers finding (or “capturing”) buyers.

Both articles touch the same point of a “customer loyal group” of companies facilitating the customer. These companies probably emerge from the edges oh what we now know as web 2.0. Maybe some operator who dares takes on this role. As the middle man is out, production is not the bottom of the value chain but the foundation. Margin in production will probably increase. This due to felxibility, research, co-creation, crowdsourcing and open innovation. Can’t wait what power will be unleashed when China will open up production platforms with direct links to the customer markets. Already mentioned before that Amazon is one of the players who will play this game for sure.

The Boutique Era

Via Ben Rowe I read this post from Tara Hunt(I will follow her now). She explains the generation/group of people who are favouring the small local shops above mass consumption/production.

The Boutique Era don’t look at their habits as ‘better’ or ‘gourmet’ (although some do, it’s not part of the core experience, in fact, the less it is about the snobbery, the better the experience). The basic underlying thread is the desire for experience rather than just consumption. Craft over commodity. Boutiquers can enjoy a $7 bottle of wine with the right story and even more with the right $3 cheese and baguette, so it isn’t about money either (like the Trading Up book suggests).

It’s about connection. Community. Local village and neighbourhoods (even if it isn’t geographically local or your neighbourhood).

It’s about caring about individuals and saying so with our spending (sometimes). It’s also about slow food, enjoying life and paying attention to the company we share it with (quite often).

And as per my last post, people from all sorts of areas, walks of life, motivations and desires are exhibiting these traits. What do you think it all means?

Well she asks what it means. I have the idea it is a way to cope with choice. The abundance of choice. Choice stress. Comparisons…
Just have a look at Barry Schwartz and his idea of the negative aspects of choice. How will me manage it all? What effect has it on us that we know that we cannot oversee the total supply of things we can attain? What effect does it have on brands? Will we sell ourselves the story that it is not the “buying of the best” that counts but “enjoying what you have bought” that counts?. Whatever the choice was. Will we learn to see the value in everything just to cope with this constant cognitive dissonance. So are the small things the new treasures. The small brands, the crafters and the passionate. I believe so.. We will be more inclined to shop with favourable “companies” than to shop through rationalised comparisons. Is this the reason why Stormhoek sells so much wine?

A thought into space

More than a week ago I sent my mail with the WikiPPT to a couple of people.. If you don’t know what a WikiPPT is check this out.

A thought(a meme) into space.. Just curious who saw it, who enriched it. Wondering if the thought and the process of WikiPPT create enough energy to fulfill the cycle of 15 slides. Wondering if the value put into the slides determine if it the complete set will be made and sent back.

More and more I have difficulty seperating the process of making things and the end results.. What am I making with the WikiPPT? A slideset? An enriched thought? Inspiration? Is the value determined by the fact what this WikiPPT did with the participants or by the end result(end slideset)?

Maybe it is all here just for us to remember that the process of creation can have more value than the creation itself..

Prada Phone

So when will we see the first Visa device, BMW device, Porsche device and maybe hmm.. Raimo device??(User Generated Phones can that be the future?)

Seriously.. You see that big scale companies have difficulties managing the customer. Their brand just does not connect. In LG’s case they need a brand closer to the public they want to reach. In this case Prada(a small scale player with a clear target audience). Prada customizes the phone so it will fit that specific segment.

Have a look at this presentation on Slideshare showing the development that large scale production houses are slowly pushed back in the value chain and that the customer relation(knowledge, distribution and provision) is managed by small scale companies understanding certain specific customer groups..

Article at Boing Boing:

LG Electronics introduced its Prada mobile phone today. Designed in collaboration with the Italian fashion design firm, the device uses an entirely touch screen-based interface similar, some say, to the iPhone. The phone is slated to launch next month in Europe for approximately €600 (US$775), followed by China, Singapore, and Korea. No plans to bring it to the US have been announced.

Brand Spirituality

Nice post on BrandTarot about the role of spirituality in brands. Here a small excerpt:

Brand and spirituality are of course in some ways opposed. Brands are mostly indulgent, ego-boosting, superficial. Spirituality is mostly disciplined, ego-sacrificing, about the search for deeper meaning. So how they come together would of course be a creative event, and not an easy mix. People in any field to do with virtue (eg environmentalists) are rightly mistrustful of publicity and the dangers of doing things for appearances (greenwashing).

Purpose

purpose purpose purpose purpose purpose purpose purpose purpose purpose purpose purpose purpose purpose purpose purpose purpose purpose purpose purpose purpose purpose purpose purpose purpose purpose purpose purpose purpose purpose purpose purpose purpose purpose purpose purpose purpose purpose purpose purpose purpose purpose purpose purpose purpose purpose purpose purpose purpose purpose purpose purpose purpose purpose purpose purpose

What purpose does it have?

CSR at the Tipping Point

More and more signals are coming that CSR is at The Tipping Point. Mc Kinsey wrote in last year’s quarterly that 84% of executives from around the globe who participated in a McKinsey survey said their companies should pursue both shareholder value and creating a broader public good. At Futurelab just read an article from John Makower where he quotes the Guardian that states that BUSH(yeah Bush) might agree to a U.S. cap on greenhouse gas emissions for the first time. Next to that we have Al Gore, Bono’s RED, and also a group which call themselves 3C Initiative for Combat Climate Change. The goal, says 3C, is:

to underline the need for urgent action by the global community and to influence the post-Kyoto process by demanding a global framework supporting a market-based solution to the climate change issue. This can be achieved by getting as many companies as possible aboard and by getting our common platform well known and well understood.

All together many many forces drive towards a more structured and strategic approach on CSR and sustainability. I feel that the pressure is changing quickly from corporates towards governments. Adapted legislation is needed to facilitate strategic CSR. Just hope governments take this momentum and act on it swiftly and adequate (for a change)..

Vattenfall: We have a vision and a plan for how to move forward, which could result in almost 80 percent decrease of carbon dioxide CO2 emissions, that would stabilise our atmosphere.

Starbucks marketing money

Absolute great simple post on Brand Autopsy.

It’s just one more reminder that Starbucks spends its advertising dollars on making better products and better customer experiences and not on making funnier television commercials.

Value Chain Reshuffle

A week ago I posted something about User Generated Products. Part of the post was a powerpoint presentation.. Somehow I had difficultygetiing the point across..

Well. Just read a post on the blog of John Hagel. Here a small part of his post..

Almost a decade ago, I detected an intriguing pattern regarding the unbundling and rebundling of firms (purchase unfortunately required). Those of you have been following me for a while know the drill – I believe that most companies are an unnatural bundle of three very different types of businesses:

* Infrastructure management businesses – high volume, routine processing businesses – think of managing a logistics network or manufacturing assembly operations
* Product innovation and commercialization businesses – coming up with creative new products or services, getting them to market quickly and accelerating adoption
* Customer relationship businesses – getting to know a set of customers extremely well and using that knowledge to be more helpful in configuring tailored bundles of products and services to meet the needs of individual customers

These three business types have very different economics, skill sets and even cultures, yet they are tightly integrated into most companies today. The first wave of outsourcing can be understood as the systematic carving out of the infrastructure management businesses from companies, but we’re just on the cusp of a second wave that will unbundle product innovation and commercialization businesses from customer relationship businesses.

Based on this story I re-uploaded my presentation and used the structure from John..

Have a look.. Curious about your opinion..