SCHMITTblog

Reporting on the elections

2006-03-28T12:55:00.000-05:00

No no, not another post on body hair. Clearly I traumatized Schmitt, however, as our porn-star smooth host is now himself writing on body hair. Live and learn.

But before I get to serious substance, a quick airline update: On my flight to London last week American Airlines departed an hour late because the video system was malfunctioning. I thought to myself, who cares?!?!?! I'm going to miss my connection over this. Sometimes airlines, perhaps overly taken by the "experiential marketing" trend, forget that getting people to their destination on a timely basis is the most important experience in air travel. You have to deliver the basic stuff before you deliver the fluff. I barely made my connection on British Airways as a result. Incidentally, BA is simply outstanding. I ate some excellent chicken tikka masala on the plane, and I know my chicken. Unlike Schmitt, I don't fly business class, so I don't get to eat foie gras. I guess that if I got foie gras that I wouldn't care about being late.

So now to the elections. We're in the throes of the elections here in Israel, critical elections, but the Israeli voting public is bizarrely apathetic. This is a country where voting rates are typically in the 70-80% range, and with two hours to go the rates are currently about 50%. There seems to be a complete disaffection with politics and politicians. Small parties are expected to gain seats in parliament even though they represent extremely narrow interests--the green party and the retirees' party (yes, we have one) are expected to receive two seats each! And our parliament has 120 members! What's especially troubling is that the party that is expected to win, Ehud Olmert's Kadima party, has advanced a plan to redeploy and evacuate of most of the territory that we control in the West Bank (just like Ariel Sharon did in Gaza). This would reverse a 39 year history, and still no one is mobilizing to vote! Except, of course, for the retirees...

The Musical Art of Keynote Speaking

2006-03-24T13:16:00.000-05:00

Last night I went to a concert of the New York Philharmonic. Great program: Schubert, Schoenberg, Ravel, and Rachmaninov.

I admit it: I am a sucker for “Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini.” Most of this Rachmaninov piece (especially the beginning and end) is a virtuoso expression of passion (thus, “rhapsody”). But about three quarters through, there’s this soft, ethereal, jazzy theme (actually inverted theme) of Paganini, first played by the piano, then repeated in the orchestra, which stops time for a moment. And that moment is the big hit! The music’s passionate, frantic rhapsody gives way to a moment of simple humanity – whose popularity helped revive the career of the young composer.

It got me to think about keynote speeches. Leaving the bores aside, for many speakers, usually the good ones, the definition of rhapsody applies: they engage in “exalted or excessively enthusiastic expression of feeling in speech.” You know the type – berating the business audience like a football coach telling his team they can do more. Or pronouncing the gloomy state of their industry, or the fabulous new opportunities of the future, always in rising, passionate tones.

But what distinguishes the good speaker from the great, is the ability to pause at some point, step back from the rhapsody, and – for a short moment – grab the audience in a very basic, human way.

Just like Rachmaninoff.

(Posted by Schmitt)

Mapping the Consumer Genome

2006-03-20T23:57:00.000-05:00

Breaking news from The Onion: marketing science has successfully mapped the human heart strings. At last the holy grail of experiential marketing has been discovered!

Among the initial findings:

"'Father dancing with his daughter at her wedding' causes a strong desire to buy a digital camera."

I guess ethnographic researchers can breathe easy now, and book tickets for their long-postponed vacations. We should expect more breakthrough cures to long-suffering ad campaigns to appear on a daily basis now...

Branded Entertainment: Here to Stay?

2006-03-17T15:09:00.000-05:00

Everyone agrees that times are tougher for traditional ads. Even Madison Avenue, while testifying to the continuing power of a great 30 second spot (with the right brand, strategy, and creative) is searching for new ways to offer a “360 degree” approach to branding – where broadcast ads are just one piece of the puzzle.

One of the newer pieces that ad folks spend a lot of time thinking about is branded entertainment (or “brand integration” or “product placement”). The frenzy really started with BMW’s glamorous online films – big budget affairs with top-tier directors and a variety of stars, each featuring a cool storyline that involved a lot of driving around in a Beamer.

Since then, there’s been a wave of copycats trying to create content that is basically an advertisement that people will choose to watch. Some companies are making online movies like BMW’s, others are paying buckets of cash to feature their products on reality TV shows, or in big budget movies—whether it’s the cell phone used in The Matrix Reloaded, or the cars driven in The Italian Job.

Some folks like Scott Donaton of Ad Age herald this as the way of the future (see his book “Madison & Vine: Why the Entertainment and Advertising Industries Must Converge to Survive”).

But people are already getting sick of product placements. There’s a really funny parody video online lampooning Tyra Banks’s hocking of products on “America’s Top Model” – and a spoof of the subservientchicken website making fun of The Apprentice’s brand huckstering (www.subservientdonald.com)

Businessweek’s David Kiley writes this week about Ford’s new online movies to promote its Lincoln and Mercury brands. But he complains that the cars hardly even appear in the movies—just some eccentric cereal-obsessed characters in their 20s who are supposed to inspire affection in Gen Y web surfers that will mystically rub off on the brand.

Has all this brand integration gone too far? Or is it just being executed in a crappy manner? (no news there – bad marketing stinks, no matter what trendy medium you use) BMW eventually got out of the movie-making business while they were still the top model to be beat.

When Donaton spoke at Columbia University last year, the discussion stayed mostly on the business models (yes – if we all start TiVo’ing out the ads, the networks will try to put products into all the shows to keep afloat). But it didn’t really zero in on the key question: when does this work and when does it not?

Is branded entertainment viable as a marketing tool that can be used for a variety of brands, and in a way that appeals to, and influences consumers? Or is this just another rotten idea like advertisements in the back of taxicabs?

Will marketers figure out how to make it work well like BMW did, or will they be hanging their head in shame at dinner parties of the future when people say “So, what do you do?” and they answer “Product placement.”

Image Management of the Stars

2006-03-16T12:14:00.000-05:00

The Wall Street Journal recently noted an interesting new trend among the stars – fake paparazzi photos. You’ve probably seen the images of Britney Spears’ bulging belly or a half-asleep Julia Roberts before makeup on the celebrity rags while waiting on line at the supermarket. But the WSJ notes how many stars are effectively casting themselves in a more flattering light:

Now many stars including Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie and Jessica Simpson are fighting back. They are hiring their own photographers to capture supposedly private rendezvous, tipping off reporters to their whereabouts and developing relationships of mutual back-scratching with magazine editors.

So is this a deceptive practice among the stars who stage the photos and the magazines that knowingly publish them without telling readers, or a justified strike back against the paparazzi? Or is it just great image management? You decide.

On Schmitt and body hair

2006-03-16T10:52:00.000-05:00

Dear fellow Schmitt groupies,

Today is my first post as an official Schmitt blogger. I will be posting my thoughts occasionally, and will be answering questions from fellow Schmitt admirers. Occasionally I might even convince guru-wannabe Gupta to post a thought or two. I might have to pull him by his moustache to do it, but that's not a problem because I'm bigger than him so I can always threaten to beat him up (I love Gupta, I really do, but sometimes he needs to have his arm--or 'stache-- twisted).

Next week I'm going to Israel, so I should have plenty of things to report. First there's my flight over, on American Airlines to London and then British Airways to Tel Aviv. Like Schmitt, I'll also post my thoughts about how bad airlines have gotten. Unlike Schmitt, I don't fly business class, so you won't hear me complain about how the b-class pijamas cause chafing. Back where I sit we don't get pj's, only a bag of pretzels served by a flight attendant with enough cellulite to melt an igloo. Second, there will be a parliamentary election in Israel on March 28th. It looks like Ehud Olmert will be our next prime minister. This is an example of a non-brand benefitting from the fact that other candidates have tainted brands. Olmert is like teflon; he's the most indicted (yes, as in indicted by Jack McCoy on Law and Order) Israeli politician ever, yet he's never been found guilty. Somehow his legal troubles haven't stuck to him. Of course non-brands only get to be non-brands for only so long, but in Olmert's case he'll have to pick an identity well after his impending victory in the elections. Lucky guy.

My last comment of the day has to do with body hair. All I have to say in that regard is that Schmitt must have some Chinese in his ancestry (maybe Schmitt's real name is Schming). The guy is smooth like a porn star. In contrast, our erstwhile hairy friend Sanjay Sood and our balding new product development expert Olivier Toubia are clearly descendants of King Kong. They remind me of a guy that I used to play basketball in grad school with, Goodloe White. Goodloe was so hairy that you could flick the sweat off his chest hair in the course of a game. He was like a human sprinkler system.

Kisses to you all!
Levav

Co-Creation and the SCHMITT Blog

2006-03-15T17:33:00.000-05:00

Today marks a turning point for the SCHMITT blog.

Why today? The winds of change are blowing. Everywhere I turn, I hear news that the old command-and-control marketing will no longer do. Brands can no longer be built by monolithic leadership alone. The new watchwords are transparency, openness, and consumer participation.

The new model is aptly titled “co-creation.” In it, consumers help to create the products, services, and brands they desire. The open-source model (started in software, with Linux, etc.) is coming to marketing. By involving customers more, companies lose some control, but gain the possibility of much more passionately involved stakeholders in their brand.

The old model of Disney suing schoolchildren for appropriating the image of Mickey Mouse is just no longer workable. Today’s marketplace winners are not a handful of mega-brands built by decades of advertising; today’s winners are brands that passionately engage consumers, and let them have a hand in shaping them.

Blogs are, in fact, heralded as one of the new technologies that can give consumers that hand in the process. Blogs allow for greater participation, interaction, and transparency. So why not this blog?

I have decided to bring co-creation to the SCHMITTblog. Instead of writing all posts myself, I will be inviting a handful of passionate brand evangelists to serve as contributors to the blog.

David Rogers and Nick Peterson, of the Center on Global Brand Leadership, have both collaborated with me on books, classes, consulting, and branding operas. Professor Jonathan Levav (a.k.a Levav) has already proven his mettle in the comments section of this blog (see his notes on body hair). In time, other contributors may be added.

There is a risk, of course, in opening up such an established brand as SCHMITT to the unpredictable hands of others. But the rewards and possibility of co-creation is too great to pass up.

Enjoy the new, co-created, SCHMITTblog!

-Bernd H. Schmitt

Blogging to Build Business

2006-03-14T15:34:00.000-05:00

Thanks to Steve Rubel, whose "Micro Persuasion" blog today points out an article by David Hayes in today's Kansas City Star that assesses the rising use of blogs as a strategic communications tool by business.

From Microsoft to Monster.com to Sprint Nextel and General Motors -- blogs are being used in old-tech and hi-tech companies to communicate better with customers and with internal audiences.

Obviously, allowing or encouraging a company's own employees to blog raises the risk of less centralized and controlled communications. But it also can allow for more immediate and effective communications.

Robert Scoble should be a boss’s worst nightmare. He’s been known to openly criticize the company he works for, with thousands of opinion-leaders listening in. In the process, he’s become one of his company’s most publicly recognizable employees. But, at the same time, Scoble and a group of employees like him have done something millions of dollars in advertising couldn’t. They’ve made Microsoft Corp. — long considered to be one of the most predatory businesses in the world — seem a lot more human.

Read the whole article here.

Don't Be So Specialized

2006-03-10T15:34:00.000-05:00

Excellent essay posted by Olivier Blanchard (a fellow Corante marketing network blogger) this week about the importance of hiring people who aren’t hyper-specialized. As he discusses, this is especially critical to strategy & innovation.

To think big, teams needs people with a broad range of interests (not just a wizard at hedge fund financing, but an avid mountain biker, German opera enthusiast, etc.). I find this is critical to having people who can look at a business or organization from different contexts, able to benchmark from outside their industry, and get ideas even from beyond business altogether.

Besides, these people are much more fun.

Labour-Reform Pain Hits German Theater

2006-03-10T15:21:00.000-05:00

I have had it! A week ago, I tried to see “Maria Stuart,” a Schiller play, in Munich. There was a strike by the stage designers! So the actors basically sat on chairs and read the text. When I protest and say “this is not what I paid for,” I am told that this IS the “full performance”--because they will speak each word of the play! So, what do we need those stage designers for, if the “product” is just the actors speaking the text?

A few days later, at the beginning of a performance of “King Oedipus” in Heidelberg, the director of the theater appears with a union representative, thanking him (I repeat: thanking him) for the fact that everyone appeared at work today. The union guy then gives an inflammatory speech, about “too much stress.” To which, I respond – to the shock of the audience – “Stress is good!”

Yesterday, the performance of “Macbeth” in Munich is cancelled – due to illness! What???

Germany has twice as many theaters as the entire U.S. German governments have pumped money into the arts for decades. At one point the cultural budget of the city of Frankfurt was 25% of the entire city budget. Berlin continues to have three opera companies and dozens of orchestras. So now–finally--the budget of some cultural institutions is being cut a little–and everyone screams!

The Radisson SAS Customized Experience

2006-03-09T11:54:00.000-05:00

I am staying in the fabulous new Radisson SAS hotel in Frankfurt. Sure, it’s a chain. Sure, they knocked off – excuse me, benchmarked – the W Hotels and others for experiential ideas. But still, this hotel is soooo original.

At the check-in, flatscreen TVs show images of the four different room styles you can choose from (“Fashion,” “Fresh,” “At Home” and “Chic”). A great example of customer choice in experience design—let the customers segment themselves!

Another customizable theme: the lobby area is no longer a strict space divided into coffee shop, business center, core lobby area etc. – instead multi-function spaces (a bar here, a workspace there, some place to hang out) that can be customized.

Below the roof, there is a "wellness space" with solarium, massage, gym, "infinity pool," etc. And broadband wireless access is free throughout the hotel, just as it should be (I view this like electricity and water).

Great job! I hope they will roll it out all over Europe!

Absolut Brand Mistake

2006-03-08T15:56:00.000-05:00

Absolut vodka is one of my longtime favorite brands. For years, their brilliant experiential campaigns (endless creative ideas based on the unique shape of the bottle) proved the potency of a great experiential brand. After all, if vodka is legally defined as “an odorless, colorless, flavorless alchohol,” then how else can you account for a premium price in the category? Absolut also showed the power of sticking with a good strategy, and of building brand equity for the long term.

But a new ad campaign this week has drawn my attention to the fact that even the best brand managers can sometimes make a very basic mistake.

In case you didn’t know (I’d forgotten), Absolut recently added a new “super-premium” brand of vodka. Apparently the company decided that the brand it had poured millions into was not strong enough to compete against today’s “super-premium” newcomers, at a 50% price markup. This I find mystifying. Can’t a great brand take a little heat?

But worse, was their brand architecture choice – a new, endorsed brand. They called it “Level”--with a similar bottle shape, but only very unobvious text at the bottom whispering “spirit of Absolut” -- so that it’s very easy to not even realize that Level is an Absolut brand.

What a perfect example of the wrong brand portfolio strategy. If they truly needed a new brand to move up, then the smart strategy would have been a sub-brand like “Absolut Ultra” that leveraged the existing brand equity. This has been done very effectively in the liquor industry, e.g. by Johnnie Walker scotch, which has a “Johnnie Walker Blue” scotch (aged more years, etc.) that is about 500% more expensive than their premium Johnnie Walker Black. This sort of brand extension capitalizes on the enormous awareness and positive equity built up in the original brand, allows you to move into a new price point where the original might not reach, and even reflects the “super premium” shine of the new brand back onto the original. (Johnnie Walker Black looks a little better when you notice its cousin Blue costs $199.)

I would applaud Absolut for guts if they were finally throwing some resources behind “Level” and the new communications were creating an exciting customer experience unlike anything else in the category. But so far, I’ve seen a website and print ads which look just like every other “cool” new vodka on the block.

Absolut, come back from your madness!

Help for Bloggers

2006-03-03T13:51:00.000-05:00

In Giessen, Germany today (not to be confused with "Glessen," where a Fedex was erroneously sent to me). One of my favorite sources for keeping up on news when traveling the world is the Onion. No passwords, totally free. Very cutting edge news.

I read an article there this week titled "I Can Write 600 Words About Anything." I'm advising this as an excellent primer for anyone planning to enter the world of blogging.

Conference on Innovative Marketing (Bloggers welcome)

2006-03-02T14:06:00.000-05:00

A follow-up to my 2/27 post: we have now set the dates for the event I mentioned where we were hoping to include the Whopperettes.

The 2006 Innovative Marketing Conference will take place June 8-9, 2006 at Columbia Business School, under the theme of “Building a New Marketing to Meet a Changing Market.” It is being co-presented by our Center on Global Brand Leadership, and by Corante, a blog media company.

The event should be very cutting edge, drawing on the Center’s researchers, and top-level alumni and corporate sponsors, and Corante’s large community of bloggers working in topics of innovative marketing. There will be one highly-interactive day for senior (CMO, VP) level marketers and a second “big” day for a large audience with speakers on the new trends that are reshaping marketing—the rise of search, mobile media, changing role of advertising, demand for ROI measurements, integration of marketing with H.R., etc.

More info will follow as we start to announce speakers and many more details. But mark your calendars for June 8-9!

Flash Mobs Against Branding

2006-02-28T21:09:00.000-05:00

I read a fascinating article this morning in the Wall Street Journal about the rising popularity of team purchasing in China, known as "tuangou."

Groups of shoppers interested in purchasing the same products meet online to organize buying groups for everything from bathroom fixtures to cars. These groups then gather as "flash mobs" at local merchants to gang up and demand bulk discounts. In cities like Shanghai, where consumers have a larger choice of brand name products than ever before, many sellers are giving in to the demands of team purchasers. In one example, the owner of a kitchen cabinet shop was explaining the high quality materials and craftsmanship of his cabinets when a member of a 12 person buying group demanded, “Forget quality. Let’s talk about price!”

What a challenge for branding! Some segments of Chinese consumers are willing to pay a premium for brands. But the price-fixated, Internet-wielding "tuangou" mobs are going to pose a challenge for brand builders in China.

For those of you with a WSJ Online membership, you can read the full article here.

Whopperettes, Hold on to the Dream!

2006-02-27T13:52:00.000-05:00

I was so inspired by the Burger King Whopperettes advertisement and website that I asked my office at the Center on Global Brand Leadership to see if we could involve them in an upcoming conference. The topic is the future of innovative marketing, so why not include the most innovative advertisement from the Super Bowl – but live and on stage? What a thrill, to host the kickdancing Whopperettes in New York, with their cutting edge show business branding!

The ad agency and Burger King were very helpful and their head of corporate communications worked with us to find a way to make it feasibly happen. We even reserved the Miller Theatre (Columbia University’s own Broadway stage) for a tentative date. But it turned out to be a bit more than we could muster – 92 dancers, pit orchestra, set design, and water ballet… hmm… no wonder the ad was so fun. Plus, it turns out the ad was shot in Brazil, so all the talent would need to be flow in. In the end, the price of the big show was too expensive. But maybe next year, we can get additional conference sponsors and dream big again!

“Frau Merkel, Tear Down That House!”

2006-02-23T11:21:00.000-05:00

Report on the Acela experience (as promised in my blog yesterday): that brand has been kept up quite well! On time, funny announcements, pleasant environment, really quite good.

However, I was mortified, as a German by birth, by the experience at my destination: the German Society of Pennsylvania, where I was invited for a reception by the “Minister President” of the State North-Rhine/Westphalia as part of his visit to the US. The German Society occupied a ramshackle, 3-story townhouse, on an abandoned block of Philadelphia’s Spring Garden Street. I thought I was in the demilitarized zone of the Berlin Wall, circa 1987 (see photo)!

Perhaps they are keeping it this way as a symbol of German social and economic decay? But I’m quite surprised, because in Germany they always “restore” everything for millions of dollars. They could learn something from the dynamic Chinese capitalists, who never saw a 10 year old building they didn’t tear down.

What would Ronald Reagan say? “Frau Merkel, tear down that house!”

How Well is this Experiential Brand Holding Up?

2006-02-22T12:33:00.000-05:00

I will be taking the Acela train from Penn Station to Philadelphia in a couple of hours. A few years ago, in 1999, I featured Acela as a great example of experiential design and marketing in my book Experiential Marketing (take a look at the pretty pics on pp. 40-41). I haven’t taken the train, though, in years and I wonder in what condition the seats and barstools will be by now. Is the brand still holding up? Will report tomorrow.

New Weapons of the Competitive War

2006-02-17T16:37:00.000-05:00

The sun is still not up in Singapore, and Reuters reports that US defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld is saying the US government still functions as a “five and dime” store, while today’s weapons of war include email, blackberries, instant messaging, digital cameras, and blogs.

How come Rumsfeld gets it but many participants in the war of the competitive marketplace don’t? While most companies have by now figured out their internet strategy (sort of), they have no clue about their mobile-device strategy.

Yet, at a brand experience conference here in Singapore at SMU, I just learned that the Asian market is moving ahead. By the end of this year, industry experts expect audio and high quality video ad messages (in other words, sophisticated mobile commercials) to be broadcast to Asian consumers by leading brands on the latest cutting-edge phones. And of course, these brands can track which consumer gets which message when and how consumers are going to respond.

Call that the future of communications, coming in a few months (at least in some parts of the world). In comparison, on my American mobile phone I can’t even respond to an SMS messages while roaming in Hong Kong.

So, another reason to keep your US mobile in the pocket while in Asia: so that you don’t embarrass yourself.

Music-Powered Brands

2006-02-17T04:51:00.000-05:00

The sun is not up yet in Singapore and I just called David Rogers (Associate Director of our Center on Global Brand Leadership) in New York. Rogers is also a composer, and he just had a piece played in Carnegie Hall at a sold-out concert last night. The orchestra was “Alarm Will Sound” an innovative young ensemble that champions “today’s music."

Brand managers could learn something from that ethos. I’ve noticed that lately all my favorite advertisements -- the ones that really suck you into a world of experience -- have original music. None of that "paying the Rolling Stones to use a rebellious sex song from 30 years ago" to sell your PC software. Or worse, using classical music to evoke a "sophisticated" feeling. Great brands require new music. Something totally fresh, perhaps a little silly (like the Whopperettes theme song that I featured recently here). Or a really new take on an old song (“I Love Paris” for Carls Jr.). Whatever it is, new music has the power to bring new life to brands.

Birdflu, jetlag and blogging

2006-02-15T13:42:00.000-05:00

Jetlagged I ponder the question if there can be –- physiologically –- a permanent state of jetlag for never-stationary business nomads that always migrate? As I wake up from one of those nomadic half-sleeps, I am reading online that the bird flu has reached Germany. CNN again runs a birdflu story with all sorts of disaster scenarios, including economic ones. Jetlag and blogging should both benefit, though, as we will all be staying at home. Right?

(Valentines Post) The price of brand loyalty

2006-02-14T09:27:00.000-05:00

Singapore Airlines, my favorite airline, is delayed. One and a half hours out of Hong Kong! And the flight of my assistant is late 16 hours out of Newark! Not their fault, though, I reason. There was a severe snowstorm in New York, and the type of mechanical failure out of Hong Kong can happen to anyone. Plus, the way they managed the delay out of Hong Kong was superb: status reports every 15 minutes. I recognize how attached I am to that brand, how I make excuses, how I justify. I especially realize it when I talk to my (less attached) assistant. “How was the flight otherwise,” I ask him, ready to hear “Great. And the snowstorm wasn’t their mistake.” Nick’s response, however, is something like: “It was fine, but not that outstanding.”

Surreal brandscapes

2006-02-11T17:07:00.000-05:00

On the flight to Hong Kong, I am reading, in German, one of the latest novels of Japanese cult author Haruki Murakami, titled “Afuta Daku” (i.e., After Dark). A beautifully produced work: those movie-esque descriptions are not really literature any more. Throughout the novel, he describes scenes as if they were captured by a birdseye camera. Awesome. The strangeness of his everyday scenes are also sooo post-post-modern. I wish some brand managers would think like brand storytellers and capture the surrealism of modern brandscapes more fully – i.e., branding as a Beckett play.

Great brands don’t do branding

2006-02-09T14:06:00.000-05:00

In Munich, I speak at the Best Brands College, an event organized by the Munich Center on Global Brand Leadership. The focus is on innovation—what is the future of innovative branding?

I argue that branding at the beginning of the 21st century– like composer Gustav Mahler at the end of the 20th century – struggles with traditional concepts that won’t do any more, while not yet knowing how to move beyond them to the next truly innovative approach. So, where are we going? One conclusion I offer is that in the future, perhaps great brands won’t do branding. Too far-fetched? Too much Mahler on my mind? At night, after the conference, at the Best Brands industry awards gala at the Hotel Bayerischer Hof, I feel confirmed. The winner in the corporate branding category is Google. Great brand, no branding.

Real time Superbowl Post

2006-02-05T18:42:00.000-05:00

I am watching the Superbowl to provide comments for the press on the ads. Just saw the great Burger King commercial of the Whopperettes. Whopperettes, I love you!!!

Competition To Do Good

2006-01-31T14:12:00.000-05:00

Following up on Negroponte’s idea of a $100 computer (see my blog from 11/30), Bill Gates has now proposed his own solution to providing the poor with a cheap computing device to help education: turning a cellular phone into a computer by connecting it to a TV. In my view, competition to do good can only be good!

Strategic Art Collecting

2006-01-29T16:08:00.000-05:00

Today I teach a session at the IBM Palisades conference center. The building has been kept up very nicely. I love the architecture and the art collection (anything from Dubuffet wall carpets to Rauschenberg drawings and Buckminster Fuller architectural sketches). What I like most about it is that the art collection is strategic. It is related to IBM’s business. That is, all art work has a technical touch. By the way, I happen to collect art as well (e.g., contemporary Chinese -- see above for a sase mple), and most of it is on brands!

Still Cool After All These Years

2006-01-28T23:44:00.000-05:00

Met Sanjay Sood, a UCLA prof, who is part of the new generation of cool Indians (a cross of Westwood and Bollywood). He just taught a new and successful entertainment marketing course at UCLA. Sanjay and I check out some of the brands that I often feature in my presentations – such as the bar at the W Times Square. It’s still a hopping scene. Sure, not the latest fashion victims, and not truly cutting edge New York nightlife. More, imitating out-of-towners. But, hey, this is a chain (W is part of Starwood) and as such they continue to be quite cool. Sort of like Absolut Vodka, Red Bull, and Tom Peters, which are all mass market and yet quite cool brands by now.

A Day in Which Nothing Happens, Twice

2006-01-25T17:01:00.000-05:00

Samuel Beckett's "Waiting for Godot" was once described by a critic as "a play in which nothing happens, twice." I'm thinking of this quote as I travel back to New York today. During a day spent in planes and airports, nothing can sometimes happen three or more times (if your connection is fouled up). I am leaving freezing Berlin (temperatures below 0 degrees Fahrenheit) after 2 days on a client project, but I've not been not frozen, existentially or physically. (Why no blog, Schmitt?) Just extremely busy with starting my course (a student asked me how to brand Beckett, the playright), and finishing up some research. But soon I will be back in the US and ready to blog again on matters of brands.

Democratic Brands

2006-01-17T16:11:00.000-05:00

Found this cool web site http://www.icons.org.uk/ The English are supposed to select and vote for the most common icons associated with England (no, not the UK; sorry, Wales). What are the strongest associations for the brand of “England”? English icons already selected range from the touristy (Stonehenge, double-decker buses) to the provincial (a cup of tea). Web visitors are encouraged to submit their choice for additional icons, and vote on others’ suggestions.

This seems like a great example of making corporate identity and brand associations a democratic process. As companies look to take a more customer-centric perspective, involving your employees and your own customers in defining the brand can be an important part of making sure the brand is truly relevant to customers.

Wacky Product Labels

2006-01-13T11:52:00.000-05:00

The Michigan Lawsuit Abuse Watch, an organization concerned about law abuses against companies, has just chosen its annual winner: a heatgun that states "do not use as blowdryer."

For the runners up and more wacky stuff (a cocktail napkin that warns "not to be used for navigation"!), check out their web site: http://www.mlaw.org/wwl/index.html

Theory & Practice (Oxo and Branding)

2006-01-13T10:35:00.000-05:00

I spent a couple of research-intense days, only interrupted by a few client calls and emails, with Professor Esch and his terrific associate at the Justus-Liebig University in Giessen (named after biochemist Justus von Liebig, shown here, who brought research into the classroom by devising the lab-oriented teaching method).

Esch, Langner and I focused on all sorts of marketing research this week, from product aesthetics and brand alliances to conceptual combinations. I am convinced this kind of theory-focused research that guides real-world practice is key for progress and innovation, in both science and management. (Liebig knew this already! His academic work on nitrogen spawned the fertilizer industry, and his process for beef extract helped his company invent the first beef bouillon cube, Oxo – see his Wikipedia entry)

Heidelberg Cool

2006-01-10T14:36:00.000-05:00

I passed by my home town Heidelberg for a couple of days on the way to a research meeting in Giessen. Heidelberg, once an old sleepy university town, is quickly becoming quite a cool place. For years, I hadn’t noticed these changes as they were happening. This time it suddenly hit me.

They’ve got a new chic “boutique hotel” in the old town now, a top-notch restaurant on top of the “Heidelberg” (the company!) corporate tower. A small cool museum. A new business school! And I sipped a couple of strawberry smoothies with two locals on the seventh floor of a hot new bar (“Sky Lounge,” pictured here). Apparently, even the American girls have started to discover and blog about Heidelberg (albeit the more sleepy aspects). Having a view from the Neckar Valley to the Rhine Valley at the Sky Lounge, strangely enough, it felt to me like LA.

2006: Books and Resolutions

2006-01-05T11:22:00.000-05:00

I finished reading “Frau Thomas Mann” (great title!). Splendid biography of the wife of Thomas Mann and a great portrayal of the life of the Mann family, and their interaction with other writers, musicians, scientists, lawyers in Munich, Zurich, Princeton and Pacific Palisades.

It’s a new year, and time to get started on my own new book on bold, creative strategies. And the book writing needs to reflect its content. That’s taken for granted in fiction, and rarely happens in business books. How many marketing textbooks that could and should be fun, can bore you out of your mind? My New Years Resolution: write a fun book.

Calling All Marketing Engineers!

2006-01-05T11:20:00.000-05:00

I finished up the draft of a paper on company innovativeness and sent it on to Werner Kunz, my co-author (this paper is based on his dissertation). Going through the scholarly literature, it is amazing to see how non-customer-focused the writing on marketing innovation is! On second thought, I guess it is not that surprising. Most of the research was done by first generation marketing scholars who were, at heart, still engineers (many still are!).

“Marketers of the world unite! You have nothing to lose but your lack of customer-focus!” [to paraphrase the 1999 Experiential Marketing Manifesto]

Logos Come to Life

2006-01-01T14:29:00.000-05:00

The ski jump event at Garmisch-Partenkirchen is a great chance to watch the effectiveness of sponsorships in action. This year, Nissan, the Milka chocolate brand, and Vodafone are among the major sponsors. Milka’s animated purple cow is the clear winner! It looks great in the stadium to the audience and also on TV. Purely textual logos (like those of Nissan and Vodafone) are fine for most communications but they are not great for experiential marketing.

Still Ways Behind

2005-12-27T14:02:00.000-05:00

To prepare for a shopping trip, I browsed the web sites of several luxury brands (apparel, mostly). Shocking – how bad most of them still are. The industry was slow in setting up web sites in the first place – and now, years later, they are still ways behind. It’s all about their image, their internal divisions, and their product lines. These web sites are heavens for graphic designers to try out silly navigation designs to win "creative" awards. No customer orientation whatsoever.

Sausage and Sauerkraut

2005-12-23T20:41:00.000-05:00

I still owe you my “reviews” of the Goethe and Schiller plays I attended in Munich. Both productions were disappointing. Goethe’s Iphigenie had too much gratuitous striptease by the male actor (Iphigenie, to no point, was played by a male actor). Schiller’s Kabale und Liebe struck me as an immature teenager play this time, which I attribute to the production, not to Schiller, who wrote it in his late twenties.

On the way back both nights, I noticed how bad the public transportation signage system is. Anything from the train maps to the directions is impossible! It’s not just an issue of inconvenience(e.g., as a foreigner, it’s impossible to figure out how to get a ticket and how much to pay for it). It’s an image issue as well. Do those bureaucrats that are responsible for this mess realize what damage they do to the image of a the city of Munich? Fix this, fast, I recommend, before the soccer world cup next year; benchmark Tokyo Station, which is quadruple the size of any Munich station.

Let me also say something nice about my “Fatherland”: I really liked the sausage and sauerkraut at the Christmas Fare, after window-shopping, and the chestnuts for dessert!

Holy (Shopping) Days

2005-12-22T02:04:00.000-05:00

Perhaps this debate on the appropriate name for the current “season” (Happy Christmas, Happy Holidays etc) can be resolved by referring to the one universal interest around this time: shopping. From Singapore to Dubai to New York, this is definitely the one thing on the minds of lots of individuals these days. (And that’s why the New York transit strike is so annoying!) So how about the following greeting: Holy (Shopping) Days?

Branding as Speech Act Theory

2005-12-20T18:40:00.000-05:00

In the midst of the NYC transit strike, I made it to the Lufthansa lounge at JFK. There I am reading a review of the new "Iphigenie" at the Kammerspiele in Munich. The reviewer calls it "reine Sprechakttheorie" (pure speech act theory). Presumably, "Kabale und Liebe" at the nearby Staatsschauspiel is about the impossibility of communication. A new theme in (German) theater? I will let you know if there's anything to it. (I will be flying to Munich tonight, and I've got tickets for Iphigenie tomorrow and Kabale und Liebe the next day.) I suppose most branding -- and company communications -- are exercises in speech acts as well and often just horrendous babble. I am glad there's at least Subservient Chicken.

Brandkultur

2005-12-16T14:32:00.000-05:00

My former student J. J. Brakus (I told him to use those double initials to better brand himself years ago, and he still does), comes to my office to close some loose research ends. J.J. is an expert at the interface of pop music (shibuya pop etc.), lit-crit pop stars (Zizek etc.), and guerilla marketing. A few years ago, we coined the approach “Brandkultur ™” and founded the “Virtual Brandkultur Lab™.” Stuff that’s still way too cool to Google.

The Ice-Skating Retreat

2005-12-16T13:18:00.000-05:00

Back in New York, after a dinner for Safwan Masri (yes, that Masri) at the Ritz Carlton, I pace along Central Park South in the icy rain heading for the subway—and fall down. Ouch. One of those existential, utmost ridiculous moments. Yet awesome. And an idea for the next senior executive leadership retreat: take them ice-skating to teach them humility.

Competitive Steakhouse Experience Analysis (Chicago Vs New York City Markets)

2005-12-15T17:05:00.000-05:00

ABSTRACT: A competitive steakhouse analysis, comparing the Chicago and New York City markets, was performed. Two product types (ribeye and sirloin) were consumed by one experimental subject (Schmitt) at two ultra-premium establishments with high brand awareness (Gibson’s and Morton’s). For the New York market, data from an identical study (same subject) of Peter Luger, Pampas and Wolfgang’s were used. Preparation technique (medium rare) was held constant. No significant difference was found between the products in Chicago and those at Peter Luger and Wolfgang's. However, the overall consumption experience (steak knives, dim lighting, service, blondes at the bar) was deemed superior at the Chicago establishments. Methodological issues of the study and implications for improving the overall steakhouse experience are discussed. (If you've never read an abstract of a paper in a scientific marketing journal, you must! They are soooooo funny.)

What Bernstein Learned From Mahler

2005-12-15T12:03:00.000-05:00

While at a client engagement in Chicago, I went to a terrific CSO concert of Gershwin, Bernstein, and Vaughan Williams in Symphony Hall. Williams’ s “A London Symphony” (though “increasingly popular,” as the program notes state) is not for me: London at dawn (movement 1) and then dusk (movement 4) with Big Ben in the harp—not my thing! “Rhapsody in Blue” was great; but the real insight was Bernstein’s “Symphonic Dances from West Side Story.” Since I know Bernstein loved Mahler, I listened to hear what Bernstein learned from him. Lots, it seems. Splitting up the orchestra in unexpected ways, the values of being sentimental at the right moments, and including cowbells as an instrument in the “Latin” dance sections. (David Rogers, though, now tells me that cowbells are common in Latin music and makes me jealous by telling me that he met Bernstein after a concert with the Vienna Philharmonic while he was a student at the University of Michigan. Bernstein, the irreverent, treated some undergrads to a scotch.)

Experiential Marketing Skeptics

2005-12-09T14:25:00.000-05:00

Schlepped myself through a New York City snowstorm this morning to the studio to do a live interview on experiential marketing for BBC Radio 4 in London. They had a couple of skeptics with me on the show. One was a guy called James Woudhuysen who argued that there’s nothing new about experiential marketing; it’s been part of good salesmanship for more than a century. Companies should rather focus on “real” innovations. The other skeptic was Joan Harvey, a consumer psychologist, who argued that experiential marketing is a short-term trend but it won’t stay. My view: the customer decides on what a “real” innovation is; and customers today and in the future will expect more than just a product that works. So, experiential marketing is quickly becoming the standard and will be the standard of the future. Listen in.

My Chocolate Experience

2005-12-08T15:21:00.000-05:00

I was invited to an extraordinary experience yesterday: a chocolate tasting party, organized jointly by Vosges (Haut Chocolat) and Amore Pacific, the skin care brand. Vosges showed off its chocolates: white chocolates with olive oil, dark chocolate with quajillo chili (the way a tribe in Mexico’s Yucatan used to drink it); other chocolates include licorice root and organic pumpkin seed. There is a raffle to win one of Amore Pacific’s $300 green tea massages. (And if you can’t come to their fabulous SoHo store, you can get their skin care products, priced similarly, at Bergdorf Goodman and Neimann Marcus.)

“Excess of late capitalism,” they would have called that in the late sixties – but then communism imploded, not capitalism. So here we are then: striving for utmost luxury, extreme exoticism (and eroticism) in just about anything. Increase the price to increase the demand. And it is all about providing the right experience. Susan, the marketing manager of Amore Pacific, is very nice to me: “The father of experiential marketing,” she passes me around from magazine editor to magazine editor. “He’s the one who consulted with us on the launch of the brand. He’s helped us create this experience.” I thank her and go for another white chocolate with a drop of olive oil.

Signature Touch

2005-12-07T15:46:00.000-05:00

I redesigned the signature line at the bottom of my email. A major undertaking that requires attention to all the little details. I guess you expect nothing less from the experiential marketing guru.

In Search of the Right Experience

2005-12-07T00:36:00.000-05:00

I am riding in a cab at 5am through 125 Street in Harlem, on my way to the airport. The street has been experiencing quite a revival from a retail perspective. Nice holiday decorations and experiential stores everywhere! Starbucks, M.A.C., Old Navy, Washington Mutual.

Then, flight to a client in Michigan. The situation: they have identified their “brand values,” but they seem so general that they are of little use. And it is three brand values again; it’s always three. I tell them they should replace the three generic values/personalities with one, simple, integrated, customer focused experience.

Driving the Brand, But Where?

2005-12-04T17:26:00.000-05:00

I am reading that Starbucks is setting up more coffee drive-thru’s. BusinessWeek takes that as an indication that McDonald’s and Starbucks are becoming more alike. So, is it reach-out to a new customer segment (the come-and-go coffee crowd), or the first indication that their experience might be slipping down the Krispy Kreme slide?

The Future of Branding

2005-12-02T15:16:00.000-05:00

I just finished two days of presentations by my MBA students in my class “Managing Brands, Identity, and Experiences.” They presented strategies for once-great, now struggling brands—Reebok, Tab soda, Sony, and more. The client companies would be smart to snatch up these future brand leaders with a good job offer today!

Hour of the Wolf

2005-12-01T06:31:00.000-05:00

3:30am. New York City. Jetlag. Hour of the Wolf (a Bergman movie, I believe?). The hour when, according to the movie, most people die; and when the living are tortured with nightmares. The hour when only the jetlagged nomads are having fun. For me, time to turn to “Menschen bei Maischberger” on German TV (http://www.german.tv/). Tonight: A roundtable on “Sackgasse: Ego-Gesellschaft” (“Dead-End Street: Ego-Society”). I first thought they’d misspelled “ego”--shouldn’t it be “eco”? (Germans always obsess about the environment.)

Then I get it. It’s the other favorite German theme: “Individualism is bad.” And, indeed, the show is full of that theme: “Alles geht kaputt,” “Angst” (“nachvollziehbare”), “Egoismus.” And what’s to be blamed? “Capitalism,” “the brutality of management,” “Hartz IV” (Germany’s new welfare reform law). I sigh to myself, “Verkommenes Land.” After a while, my jetlagged eyes just focus on “Sahra Wagenknecht, Marxist” (as the caption identifies her). There she is: a PDS party, Marxist, fashion-victim extraordinaire, in her thirties—attacking capitalism, in red lipstick and a Mao-Tse-Tung-look-alike Gucci (or its German variant Strenesse) suit. (Sahra, if I got the designer wrong, just post a comment.) Then a shot of her and “Oskar” (Lafontaine) at a rally where she seems to wear the same outfit. This woman knows how to brand herself! But does she also know that lipstick was frowned upon in China before Deng Xiaoping? And that she would have had a tough time to brand herself in a “Mao suit” in Mao’s China?

BIG Think

2005-11-30T19:43:00.000-05:00

Still in Shanghai, I get a spontaneous invitation to join a CEO roundtable run in Beijiing by China Daily titled “Next Generation Design, Creativity and Innovation in China.” China continues to think big: soon it won’t be just cheap labor and ISO 9000 any more. I would love to go to the event but have to head back to New York.

In the airport lobby, I pick up a copy of Fortune. Article on Nick Negroponte, author of Being Digital and MIT Media Lab founder, who wants to produce hundreds of millions of $100 hand-crank-powered laptops for poor children around the world. I had already read elsewhere about that amazing project. A really big idea! Like Jeffrey Sachs’s plan to end extreme poverty in our time (download an excerpt). And Bill Gates’s to fight disease in Africa. The older we get, the bigger we think? Because of—experience? Perspective? Hubris? Wisdom? Nothing to Lose?

When the Customers Just Don’t Understand

2005-11-29T01:49:00.000-05:00

I attend an automotive industry forum -- a great industry conference in the Pudong area of Shanghai organized by
the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS). Lots of car guys in the audience, of course. A couple of reporters interview me about the latest government initiative for automobiles: more environmentally friendly cars. Then my speech: I go for provocation. I found lots of material that indicate that international car guys think that the Chinese consumers have no clue about cars. “They pay more attention to the sun roof than the engine”; “they don’t know where to put in the car key” etc. I argue: That’s great. “It forces you engineering-focused guys to – FINALLY – pay attention to the customer.” Click here for part of my powerpoint presentation (“the stab”).

The China I’ve Seen

2005-11-26T16:39:00.000-05:00

Arriving in Shanghai. I take the magnetic train from the airport to Pudong. Top speed 430 kilometers = 267 miles an hour. But only for about 2 minutes. After that they have to hit the breaks to make it into the station. More show than substance, I suppose. China: still booming after all these year. I have witnessed the long boom with my own eyes – first teaching a course on consumer behavior here in 1991. On Thursdays back then, we could not use our transparencies (that’s what we did before PowerPoint) because they shut down the electricity in the district where the school was located. Over the years, I watched the building of a consumer society. I saw how the old cities were “deconstructed”--I was here when hotels, and restaurants, and shopping malls, and the skyscrapers replaced the old buildings. I was usually here several months each year throughout the nineties. “I was here …” will I say one day, with a faint voice to my grand-children? Oh god, have I turned old?!

It Don’t Mean A Thing, If It Ain’t Got…

2005-11-26T02:56:00.000-05:00

Concert at night by the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. The concert hall (check out this 360-degree peek) was designed by Michael Wilford – and the acoustics (Artec Consultants) are perfect. The orchestra plays Mahler’s First really very well, except for the third movement. The Viennese swing is missing. (Incidentally, last time I heard Mahler's First was at Carnegie Hall with the Vienna Philharmonics. That was just a little bit better ...)

The Singaporean Imagination

2005-11-25T02:00:00.000-05:00

Speech today on experiential marketing and subsequent reception in the new Singapore National Library. It’s a fabulous building and very experiential. We are in the Imagination Room. How appropriate! Lots of experience is about imagination. Singapore, the city, is a great example of it. They envision the future – and then build it. (See the development projects on the waterfront the last few years, the new cultural activities, etc.)

Perfection

2005-11-23T11:10:00.000-05:00

“Flight to Singapore on Singapore Airlines.” That phrase alone conveys perfection to me. (See write-up on the company in my books.)

Nietzsche and Softfood

2005-11-21T20:31:00.000-05:00

My hotel room faces a bright-lit office building. All Japanese offices are laid out the same way: huge rooms with everyone next to everyone else, sitting there like busy ants. Institutionalized creativity killers. Can’t they just change the design? Or would they need to first kill the crusted corporate structures that go along with it? At night, Naganuma, the CEO of my client, the ADK ad agency, has arranged tickets for the concert of the Berlin Philharmonic with Rattle in Suntory Hall. The orchestra (almost all men, by the way) plays Germanic-precise. That doesn’t work well for Debussy (Claude, I can’t see you), but works brilliantly for the Ades piece and R. Strauss. Ein Heldenleben is such a pathetic narcissistic peeve, though. The famous composer did not like his critics, so he composed a piece that smashed them and made him the Nietzschean hero (!). What silliness. After the concert, I have dinner at the adjacent ANA hotel, with friends from ADK and Goldman Sachs. We chat about “softfood” – that very Japanese culinary – and cultural – invention (that’s why I spell it in one word). Every food in this country is soft. Nothing to chew on – except the prime minister! Is that the reason why he's successful?

A World on a Plate

2005-11-20T17:50:00.000-05:00

Arrival in Tokyo. As always recently, I stay in Shiodome, the newly developed district next to Ginza (which is seeing a revival as well) because it is close to my client. For dinner, I am heading to a curry-udon outlet and then to an all-type-of-macha place in the Caretta building. Creating a world on the plate; that’s Japanese food.

Voice Over IP, Over the Pacific

2005-11-19T13:54:00.000-05:00

Flight to Japan. Since there’s broadband access on board, I check out my new VoiP -- using a Munich phone number to call New York, from my laptop, as I fly across the Pacific. It works. YES!!!!! Appropriately, I am reading a new book on Google and other search engines entitled "The Search."

Name Your Great Brands

2005-11-18T23:41:00.000-05:00

Gave a speech and workshop for Liz Claiborne. They are in the middle of a hostile takeover of J. Jill, as reported in the Wall Street Journal that morning. Still refining the portfolio, I suppose. I ask the unaided recall question “Name your great brands.” And I get what I get from any diversified company. A couple of great businesses, then pause, then the rest. In their case, the two great brands are: Lucky Brand and Juicy Couture. Both brands stick out their neck!

In the evening, concert at Carnegie Hall. Actually, more of a lecture with music illustrations. The program is called Seeing Debussy, Hearing Monet. I am there with Anil, a marketing PhD candidate who holds a PhD in music. He can follow the whole talk; I just get the broad outlines: synaesthesia; structural equivalence of composition and visual form; one sense reinforcing and transforming the other. Anil and I agree that there is some insight to be found here for advertising and communications. In ads, music is used in a trivial, associative way (e.g., to induce emotions). So much more could be done. We decide to start research on structural impact of music in communications.

Memories of Bodyguards

2005-11-17T02:39:00.000-05:00

In the morning I give a quickie talk for Brazilian executives passing through Columbia. They are great people. Fun. Eager to learn. Quite cosmopolitan. The group brings back fond memories of a “guru” speaking tour of Brazil I gave a few years back -- the Rio city beach, the great steaks, and of course, those juicy Caiprinhas. Also, memories of the three superfluous body guards that my hosts provided me (“show business”!). Today, while describing marketing’s engineering (rather than customer) orientation, I make fun of the one engineer in the Brazilian group. He’s a great sport. I have a great connection with them; it’s so invigorating to dance samba with the crowd.

Cult trailer

2005-11-15T12:16:00.000-05:00

Sorry, I have been off-blog for a while. Had an existential malaise about technology. Then again, not much happened the last couple of weeks (except for a superb Ligeti concert at Miller Theater). A couple of days ago, I found out that faculty was supposed to give a preview of the spring courses. Since I won't be able to attend, I asked my colleague Levav to fill in for me. He suggested instead that I produce a video and show it instead of him handing out a class syllabus and describing the course. I said "Well, too much work ..." Levav exploded, "What! You can't produce a video? The SCHMITT I knew would be ashamed of the schmitt standing in front of me." I accepted the challenge and here we go: in a couple of days, I produced a fabulous trailer for my branding course at Columbia next spring. I am sure it will become a cult classic. This sort of stuff catapults me straight out of any depression. Thanks, Levav.

The Mall of America

2005-11-03T15:18:00.000-05:00

Before a Minneapolis speaking engagement (keynote of the AMA experience conference), I visit for the first time in my life the Mall of America. It seems somewhat dated. “Way past its peak,” I tell the locals.

Consumer Power

2005-10-29T01:18:00.000-04:00

I moderate a panel at the (amazing!!!!!) student marketing conference on “Consumer Power.” I run it like a talk show (first a one on one with each panelist and only then the group as a whole). It works; I will use this format more often.

The Secrets of Dvorak’s Cello Concerto

2005-10-26T05:02:00.000-04:00

Jan Vogler, my cellist friend, presents me his latest CD: “The Secrets of Dvorak’s Cello Concerto” (that’s the name). Fabulous marketing! The best CD he’s done so far. Not just piece after piece – no, a theme about the CD, something to learn, to discover -- by providing context about Dvorak and what was in his head at the time of composing the concerto. Context, stories, themes. They are so important – besides the actual product – in anything. By the way, the actual product is great, too. Both (the New York Phil under David Robertson) and Jan play fabulously.

Return of the Apple

2005-10-24T20:23:00.000-04:00

Not Apple Computers, that is. I pick up a real apple in the cafeteria at Columbia. Back in my office, I realize it’s been mostly eaten up by a worm. They take it back, no questions asked. That’s why I love America: no questions asked. In many other countries there would be questioning and a whole bureaucracy behind the “return policy” – if they take it back at all. In Germany, they probably would try to convince me that the worm makes it more organic.

All For That Moment

2005-10-21T12:12:00.000-04:00

I am flying back to New York. The usual Lufthansa plane, an Airbus with nearly flat seats in B class and WLAN, is not available. So they lease a plane from Sabena. No apologies, no information to that effect at check-in. After a conversation with the purser, it is clear to me that this company is still a bunch of engineers that have no clue about service. For them, as long as they transport a passenger across the Atlantic, they don’t see a problem. But hey, I can get across the Atlantic safely on any airline. You Lufthansa guys are selling a product that includes all the extras (e.g.., type of seat plus internet access). In fact, you run an ad campaign exactly about that – advertising the seat and the internet access – “All for that moment.” Let me tell you, that specific moment and your treatment today was trash, and I will remember it for months to come.

Hitler

2005-10-20T12:09:00.000-04:00

Back in Munich. The EU announces a ban on chicken imports from outside the EU, now that the chicken flu has reached Russia. I watch Der Untergang on German TV – a recent movie about the last days of Hiltler. The movie really is about crazy leadership. Any book on leadership needs a chapter on its pervert aberrations.

Heeeeeeere’s Johnny

2005-10-19T22:13:00.000-04:00

Same talk for HSM in Madrid. My PA here is Brian from San Diego. He has a funny dry humor. Before I get on stage, I am told that at some point a tech assistant may appear on stage and asked whether it would bother me if the techie just shows up onstage in front of an audience of a thousand execs. “Not at all,” I say. “The more visible the better. All speaking is, in part, show business.” I joke with Brian that I will call the TA (tech assistant) when he appears “Johnny.” “Thanks, Johnny.” During the speech, “Johnny” does not appear – so in my story of “the helpful concierge” (one of the classics in my talk), I call the concierge “Johnny”: “I arrived in the hotel and Johnny, the concierge says, ‘Hi Mr. Schmitt, can I get you some opera tickets again?” Insider joke.

Lisbon: The Buzzing City

2005-10-19T02:14:00.000-04:00

I start my Lisbon speech for HSM by talking about the drastic improvements in the Portuguese experience. Early nineties: A sleepy tourist town with some charm. Now: a buzzing contemporary lifestyle place (with still some of the old charm). The big jump came during the last 2 years. I could literally observe it when I was here frequently as part of a six-month project in the spring and summer of 2004, then again in the fall, and four weeks ago for another consulting project.

In the early afternoon: Business lunch with executives. We talk about the future. The future competition is not “old Europe,” I say, but Dubai. When we exit the building, I am told that there are forecasts that the Sahara dessert may extend to the Iberian subcontinent. You see, I say …

Rigor and Relevance

2005-10-16T14:02:00.000-04:00

Gupta and I are invited for brunch at Toni Meyer’s, the marketing prof’s house in a Munich suburb. As always, pretty soon the discussion turns to a comparison of the US and German university systems. Bottomline, as usual: the German departments are more like small businesses with the prof as the big boss that can take on relevant consulting as research projects. In the US – impossible. We are rigorous in research but as a result the research is much narrower and often less relevant. Later on, after a hike in the Alps, Sunil and I try to nail down the advantage of a professor in business book writing: As professors, we are more framework-driven and can also present the ideas in a clear, conceptual fashion. If we add relevant examples to it (at best from our own consulting experience), we really got something going. “Rigor and relevance” as Sunil likes to call it. We agree that it is mostly possible to do this combination – and to have real impact -- through book writing.

Long Night of the Pharma’s?

2005-10-16T01:10:00.000-04:00

In Munich, I met up with Sunil Gupta, my Columbia marketing colleague. He was running a marketing research seminar in Germany. We went to the “Lange Nacht der Museen” (Long Night of the Museums): All museums are open until 2am, and all can be visited with a 15Euro pass. Great idea. Very festive atmosphere. Could companies that are in close proximity do smoothing like this. For example, “Madison Avenue” (which no longer is on Madison only), or the pharmas in New Jersey, or the Silicon Valley. You know: “open house” with parties – meet the employees, look at some cool inventions, some ads. May not be bad for awareness creation and understanding of what they do. And if done right, I am sure customers and others would come.

Six Types of Blondes

2005-10-14T18:24:00.000-04:00

Lunch with Grant McCracken. (Great name –manly, lots of "k" sounds.) He’s a cultural anthropologist that wrote some influential articles on consumer behavior, culture and consumption. He also wrote a book called "Big Hair" that offers a categorization of blonds: the bombshell blonde, the dangerous blonde, the brassy blonde, the sunny blonde, the society blond, the cool blonde. Great ethnographic work, Craig! He wanted to meet at the 21 Club. (Elsewhere I read he likes stimuli that have a distance in time – like the 21 Club?). I order what seems appropriate at this American classic restaurant: a hamburger. The waiter brings what he calls the “21 sauce.” I ask him how much Heinz ketchup there is in this “21 sauce.” Craig gives me a copy of his latest book “Culture and Consumption II: Markets, Meaning and Brand Management.” On the back cover it says: “new insights into modern consumer culture by a master critic.” Now, that should have been the subtitle. In the pouring rain, I rush to the subway – a guy exits into the rain saying “Eh, whole fucking end of the world.”

What are they doing to my MBA’s?

2005-10-13T19:49:00.000-04:00

In my MBA class, I ask my students to come up with wacko, creative initiatives for some very down-to-earth brands: Hertz, Duane Reade, Pringle’s etc. The Hertz group has a great idea: a yearly “car demolition” driver event with its top customers, to make the point that Hertz always has a new fleet of cars each year. Terrific fun, brilliant P.R., and it clearly communicates a key competitive advantage for the brand. Why can MBA students in my classroom generate better ideas in 5 minutes than most companies in 15 years? After all, these companies will hire the very MBA students I teach. What are they doing to them? What squelches their originality?

My editor

2005-10-11T14:50:00.000-04:00

My editor invites me to the TED party in a TriBeCa loft. Cool cult: find heaven on earth in an intellectual way, by meeting a variety of the smart obsessed. At the party are: a doctor that eradicated smallpox, the filmmaker of the “Control Room,” a designer/architect that sets up cheap, sustainable emergency housing in crises zones like New Orleans or Pakistan within days, which are better than the U.N. tents. I chatted with Peter Lawrence of the Corporate Design Foundation, the founder of delicious.com and with Mark Hurst. Afterwards, I have a drink with “my editor” (Kirsten, that’s how I call her) and my Japanese advertising agency clients at the fabulous Mandarin Oriental bar. Kenji admits to being a “psychic”; Kenji and Kamei-san crack themselves up inventing a suitably tacky title for the Japanese translation of the book I am doing with Kirsten. We leave at midnight – into the rain.

I have decided to blog – finally

2005-10-09T15:50:00.000-04:00

I wasn’t sure I should start. But a Columbia undergrad assured me: Yeah, it’s still cool. So what should you expect from the SCHMITTblog? Certainly chat about my work, my students, and executives. Some chat on art, classical music and German theater. Most important, stories about the most important people in my professional life (my editor and my hairdresser, for example).