37signals posted an excellent summary of Five marketing/business lessons from Harry Houdini: focus on the killer bit; judo big problems into small ones; beat copycats by innovating; give ’em a story; free samples build buzz. Worth a read.
“Let’s just write that down…”
Human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson reckons Australia needs a Bill of Rights. I reckon he’s right about rights. And that’s because the central issue reminds me of when we were running The Core magazine…
The Core‘s sole source of income was advertising, and most of it came from nightclubs. Nightclub managers are [coughs] the most honourable and [chokes] reliable [gargles] businessmen and women who can be found. Their integ… [coughs] [chokes] … sorry, I seem to have something caught in my throat.
They’d brag about how their new club night would be the biggest, brightest thing ever. “It’ll be huge,” they’d say. They’d want to book a heap of advertising — on credit, of course — and wanted discount.
“Sure,” I’d say, showing them our rate card and the discounts on offer.
“We’ll book a full page for 8 weeks then, for that 25% discount,” or whatever it was.
“Sure,” I’d say again. “Just sign here.”
And then they’d freeze.
The Structure of the Company
As you start work on a rainy Monday morning, do you feel that this diagram matches your place of employment?
Thanks to the redoubtable Laurel Papworth for the pointer — and for a great article on why companies that ban access to Facebook and other social media websites are troglodytes.
Where’s the communication?
Why are you most likely to wait on hold when you call a communications company?
Being Real: more notes on radical transparency
Information Architects Japan have published a great guide to What Works on the Web — a good read for anyone wanting to do business online.
One section touches upon what I’ve been calling radical transparency — something which can shock clients more used to their suppliers spinning bull.
The openness with which we communicate here is not common. It has gotten some people suspicious and angry. We talk about clients that screwed us over (without mentioning their name, or even giving hints of course), contracts we didn’t get because we were not good enough, we shoot against people that are potential clients, we mess with one of the lungs of the blogosphere and one of the biggest marketing agency in the world started to get nervous after we opened fire against them and their unprofessional dubious practices.
This openness is to a certain degree an experiment, to a certain degree unavoidable, as it goes back to the character of iA’s peculiar owner. iA’s openness is based on the assumption: That being real works better that being virtual. In the so called virtual world as well as in the real world. Yes, in the business world as well: Because if you show your clients who you are, you are more likely to get the ones that understand you.
The definite reality check on that one is yet to come. But we are pretty optimistic.
I’ve written about transparency before, but it’s great to find a like-minded firm. Hat tip to Zern Liew.
Web 2.0? Try “Enterprise 2.0”!
Following on from recent posts about Web 2.0, I’ve just heard about this article about Enterprise 2.0 — using this “Web 2.0” stuff in business. Lots of diagrams. I haven’t had time to read it properly, but soon, My Pretty Ones!