Back in the days when Englishmen colonial India, at that time does culture could not been more different than they where for each other. They influence the India culture with their way of being (they even got them to play cricket). Today Indians say that the English part of their culture is disappear more and more. And ones again the Indian culture is taken over its culture again. Still there are English tracks that always will be a part of India culture like the Gateway of India in Mumbai/Bombay (se photo above). Stones will always be around, that’s why I call these manifestos for “Culturestones.”
Same thing is happening with corporate cultures when they do fusions. When different culture combines in corporate fusions like Air France and KLM ore DHL and Dutch Post what are there Culturestones that will last forever?
Today cricket has gone from a sport to a religion in India; it has become fare stronger part of the India culture than it is a part of the English culture. Differences in cultures can be strong as stones when they become rituals and manifestos as a part of the new culture.
Where is the Culturestones for your company? And can you share them with your consumers? How can consumer value and relations be Culturestones? Witch is the most different combination of corporate culture you can think of? Cricket is ONE with India what else will be it over time in a corporate fusion?

In my first book Detective Marketing, I did write: “The grass is always greener on both sides of the hill.” Today is consumer power growing so fast that I would like to ad “grassroots don’t mind the hill.”

If you sell cameras, for instance, you’ll sell more close to where there’s something to photograph. Kodak should really create more Kodak moments: the Spanish steps in Rome, the Eiffel Tower… A tourist destination is rated by the number of photographs taken by tourists, which drives story-telling back at home. India doesn’t have that problem the whole nation is like ONE big Kodak moment. On my first trip to India I did shot 500 photos in Mumbai. Here they are some of them.

How important do you think the numbers of photos is for buzz and storytelling for the marketing of India?

If a picture says more than 1000 words, how will you target then to take does pictures?

Exactly that is the feeling you get as a consumer, when you give positive feedback to companies. They only respond on feedback to consumers that are not satisfied.

If the customer is not let inside, there is a risk that he may force his way in as a “Trojan horse” employee. Disloyalty can cause incredible damage: program code can be posted on the internet, blueprints can be spread across the world, new films and games can be leaked well before their premiere. Disloyalty can take every so subtle forms as well. How many times have you gone into a store to be told by an employee that the “other store” had a better/cheaper product? Dissatisfied customers can be expensive for everyone, especially if they work for you.
How can companies get ONE into the corporate DNA?
How can a satisfied customer recruit others?

This show is not for kids, more for wild animals. You most check out this film clip. Probably the show is not maybe for your kids.

Many CEOs say “ONE sounds great, but we have so much work to do just trying to live up to our promises to the consumer that we can’t afford to think about the future or taking the next step with our customers.”

It’s a bit like living in a rough neighbourhood and putting on a tough facade to fit in. Your entire life then becomes a struggle to keep up the image. Instead of devoting all that energy to fighting, it is better to get to know the people in the neighbourhood and make friends with the right people. This is more than a metaphor, this is my own childhood in a rough neighbourhood.

A company that produces its products and services together with the company can spend less time and money on fighting to maintain its image and more time making the right friends. There are a number of good cases of large companies moving into the right neighbourhoods. Proctor and Gamble have literally moved into Spanish-speaking and black neighbourhoods in the US to develop products that meet the needs of the people who live there.

When I lecture or take consulting assignments I ask people who are sceptical of ONE a simple question: “Tell me the names of your 5 most loyal customers.” Ninety-nine times out of a hundred they have no answer.

Then I say: “In a tough neighbourhood, you wouldn’t last a week without knowing who your friends are.”

After 9/11 the security on American airlines is higher than ever before. Traveling today from Mumbai with Delta Airlines was no exception. Finally when I got on the airplane they where showing an action movie called Dus wich was about terror that started with an airplane and went on with bombs and a terrorist look-a-like Bin Ladin (see the filmtrailer). This would probably not work in the USA. My impression of this strange way of saying that they cannot stop terrorism so instead they show us an Bollywood movie about the problem they cant stop.
Finally when the airplane arrived at the airport Paris De Gaulle I understand that they not only show movies on the screens. It is like getting stuck in the movie “The Terminal” with Tom Hanks (that couldn’t get out of the airport throughout the whole movie). My personal experience is that we have a 50% chance to actually get out of this airport and on to the right airplane. Hours after hours a hade the chance to enjoy nice design, everything looks so great. The airport is an architect masterpiece but doesn’t deliver function, for example there is no way in this life that anybody that not speak France to find its way around here (not so good for safety and logistic). In fact it looks like a design UFO and if I ever find an airplane that takes me home to Stockholm today I will start believing in UFO.
The best thing is that I will soon find Tom Hanks walking around in the terminal.

Sad for France that the airport function so badly, I will do my best to find other airports in the future. Many of my friends say the same thing and with consumer power it will soon only be Tom Hanks left in this France version of the movie.

Why don’t the clothing companies like Hugo Boss design belts and jackets that you don’t need to take of in the airport security?
Why is that low price flyers are more smooth than the more expensive ones?

Update: 25 Mars
Seth Godin puts a purple touch on Delta Airline.