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Archive for januari, 2006

Nokia: How mobile phones can connect people with more than words

Published by on januari 31, 2006

nokia_mobile.gifThe Finnish company Nokia is a global market leader in mobile phones. The company has both strong technical development and is well-connected with other developers around the world. But what about their connection with consumers? Business is evolutionary and when a company has become as successful as Nokia it must take things one step further.

Nokia has spent many years building its brand around the slogan “Connecting people”. Early on, they took the lead in user-friendliness and eye-pleasing design. Everything about the brand breathed connectedness in a disconnected world. Today, however, mobile phones are becoming more and more similar and offer more or less the same features. “Connecting people” could just as easily apply to a number of competitors. This is a problem, but also an opportunity.

It is time to take connecting people to the next level and do something to connect them physically as well as theoretically. One way to do this, surprisingly enough, is through hardware design. One solution can be seen below, a new model that can literally bring people together. Two mobile phones in one, a sort of mobile yin and yang. (To see it in colour go to DetectiveMarketing.com.) It is a known fact that it’s always hardest to get people to buy the first product. But what if when you buy one mobile phone, you get one free. One for yourself and one for a friend. Talk about connection. This not only potentially doubles the number of the company’s products out on market, but provides a physical link – the telephone itself. Here is an idea of what the new mobile phone could look like.

Phone features that connect people

• Magnets hold the two phones together. Two phones become one, two people are brought closer together.
• Free calling to the other person/mobile.
• Special offers and applications at Nokia club.
• Solidarity (sharing batteries and other functions).
• Stereo (impressive sound when the phones are put together).
• Wide-screen picture when put them together.
• Computer connection (sharing Palm functions).
• Games (special versions from leading game brands)
• Pictures (trailers from providers such as Paramount)
• Internet faster with bigger picture (more power)
• Events where you can connect phone with others
• Every sold pair is a small Nokia club
• Special collection of mobile accessories
• Alert sounds when your phone partner is nearby (of/on, practical to use in big cities, large gatherings, spying…).
• The separate digital cameras become a high-quality 3D camera.
• Offer technology that allows people to talk to each other in different languages such as German and Japanese. (If this sounds strange, remember that we will be able to mail in different languages in the very near future.)
• Offer technology that allows people to talk to each other in different time zones in the same way as you email across time zones (you always read mail when it is convenient for you in your time zone).

People need other people. People want to have fun. The Nokia brand can use the technology of their products, the magnet in the phones as a magnet for people. Nokia could “share the fun” and capture a large share of the “fun market”.
There are countless variations on the paired phones theme – matching astrological signs, find a partner theme contests, two player game tournaments – anything that will get people to connect. The key words are buzz and story telling.

Nokia is an excellent example of how products can bring people together at the same time that they experience the product and the brand. What kind of alliances and partnerships could Nokia form to make the most of this? What other products could develop these sort of values through new features and design? With an entire world that badly needs to connect, how can Nokia develop connecting people into a social responsibility program (corporate citizenship)? How can a satisfied customer recruit others?

These ideas are only one point of departure for finding ways of getting people to connect with each other.

More illustrations of how this Nokia mobile could loook (PDF).
How could an APPLE PROJECTOR look like and work? (PDF).

Illustration by Joachim Nordwall

Update 23 August:
Mehboob Kasim did kindly send me a good send this tips about an site that now writes parts of the ONE solution:

“This picture shows a dual-ended cell phone power connector made in Korea. The connector connects two cell phones at each end of it. It is for the occasion whenever your cell phone battery runs out of juice (hope not occasionally.) and one of your buddies is willing to let go off some of cell battery power for you.”

Read more at techtree.com

Putting the customer in the driver’s seat

Published by on januari 27, 2006

When Caesar’s army landed on the British Isles, he knew he had to motivate his troops more than usual. He ordered all the boats burned before the soldiers’ eyes. By the light of the burning boats he explained that there was no turning back, no retreat. They had to win or die.

Today we don’t need a Caesar to tell us that there’s no turning back.
If corporate leaders don’t start including customers in their
corporations, they will be the ones that will go down in flames.

Make love not war, they say, but most companies still approach the marketplace as a battlefield when they should spend more time wooing their consumers instead. When the corporate world is so busy waging war, it is so much easier to get closer to your customers and exceed their expectations.

Watch Indian space management going trough the roof

Published by on januari 25, 2006

To save space in a shoe shop in Bombay, they throw down and up the shoes trough a hole in the roof. It gives entertainment for costumers and safe space in the shop. It is great fun and will make people talk about it. How do you think it would spread the word in London, Paris ore New York?
Click here to see a 5 second clip I did filmed in the shop (Media Player)
Click here to see a 5 second clip I did filmed in the shop (Quick Time).
Click here to see a 5 second clip I did filmed in the shop (Flash Player 8 ore later version)

Knowledge makes us humble

Published by on januari 24, 2006

For a week this words “knowledge makes us humble” has been growing in my mind. Then an evening in London last week I was out with my friends Roland and George. We went to a new place cold The Living Room W1 (a good name for a good place). George told me that they now are playing live music (I thought he was joking, it sounded to good). Turned around to see and enjoy this great musician:


In the break I told him, you are really good, and every time he responded “do you really think so?” When I asked if he had any album coming out ore a website so we can here him again he responded, “Just type my name in Google.” So here is it is “Tommy Blaize” in Google (you will find he been playing with artist like Tina Turner and Craig David, but he did not tell).

Music operates in a higher form of mindset

This humble musician was honest humble for he got the knowledge to focus on us as consumer so we could discover his great music. In the end of his gig he did write down names and addresses in London where we could here more great musicians. Tommy was truly ONE with his music and audience so he did not need to focus the joy we where sharing on anybody’s ego. He was showing us in a nice way what the words “knowledge makes us humble” really mean. It would be interesting to see a company using this statement. That anit-ego attitude would make consumer listen more to their music and massages.
Do companies that are humble listen more? Is there a difference in new and old companies in the humble level?

ONE ice breaking cash machine for Absolut Vodka

Published by on januari 23, 2006

To be a hot brand you need to be ice cold! Wherever we did go in London they recommended the Ice Bar at Belowzero in London. The vibes/buzz around this place was so strong that there was no choice. After arriving it felt like a “surprise party” only for my friend Roland. The director Roger Van Hooft did show us around, with a great attitude and strong passion for his staff and concept. His wife is Swedish (also a Swedish export success).
The Swedish brand Absolut Vodka and the Ice Hotel is working together to build this Ice bar. The ice could workers in the bar told us that they have 6000-8000 visitors a WEEK! That is an ice breaking cash machine. It is a great way of making the costumer to be ONE with the brand. Their brand has made history by being brave and creative. To make history like this, you need the right people, clear vision and an ice-cold management that let people be brave (to do what never been done before).
I guess it was now random that the Absolut Vodka team found the great personality Roger Van Hooft running a trendy place in London, with a Swedish wife. When it comes to management at restaurants a transparence be twin leaders and the attitude of the service persons. This attitude makes an experience for the costumers how then send the vibes/buzz out to other consumers. This was the reason why we did not have a choice, than to follow the vibes to the Ice bar. Internal attitudes build brands from the inside and out. This is also the ONE reason why consumers could stand in the Absolut Vodka bottle in the Ice bar (se photo above).
Next time you go to a restaurant, ask them why they have good service (are they educated to now how to have an good attitude ore is it a gift)? Can Absolut Vodka be a so strong brand today that they can do a flavor with no alcohol in? Is the evolution level of new great places like above and Cocoon, that make London ONE of the best places to go back to?

Saturday night fever, with no fever

Published by on januari 21, 2006


West End in London has world-class musicals. But in this week I did see the musical Saturday Night Fever, it was not near as good as the movie. Intact it was the worse musical performance I have seen in the world! And this was in the West End. 95% of the professionals on stage were more aerobic instructors than dancers (you will find better disco dancers at your local disco). Off course some of the artist was great and is going to make it big one day, but most of them were only the wrong people at the wrong place. Don’t want to be hard on them so this is quite nice critic compared to the level of the performance. People around me in the audience fall a sleep, and there where nearly more people on stage than in the audience.
It would be great if West End ore Broadway will do a musical only preformed by armatures, with an audition like they have in soaps as in American Idol etc. They could send it in the television and rich a younger audience, by television and “word on stage.” This musical could then have fond a REAL Tony personality and not a professional with no personal connection to the roll that they should be and not styling up a personality?
Back at the evening with no fever: In the grand finale they wakened the audience by invited them to dance along with them… HELLO… wasn’t disco about doing it with everyone, al the time? Why not start the hole musical with having the audience doing an warm-up dancing and end it with “an traditional finger in the ala Travolta?” That would kick us of for some 1970 feeling. Instead it was a perfection performance with no passion and connection with the audience. If you go to a 1970 musical you have a relation to that time period. The Saturday Night Fever musical have the same potential as Fame and West Side Story to be a classical but not without passion and more work to make it REAL. The reason for this demand is those billion people how can and want to see them self in the mirror of the 1970.
I did study for my self to become a professional dancer for many years and I did recognize the problem this evening: Professionals are more in to perfection than the passion and joy it is and should be to dance.
How do you think armatures and professionals could work together? Could this ONE musical develop into a talent evenings at disco clubs around the world? Could it be a trend at big clubs to have this Saturday night evenings (combined entry fee with musical tickets)? How should you play ore dance in it? Is there any other musical you would like to act in? Is professionals stuck in perfection? Can armatures communicate better with passion and real attitude than some actors? How can the performance of the musical be ONE with the audience? Could it be performed at a disco (the audience world not now if it is an actor ore audience and everybody could sing along, and dance al night without falling a sleep)? Could it be served Italian food in the evening? Witch is the scene’s that could be involved this evening? How fare can this concept go? Where in the world would it be most popular? When did you do some Travolta dancing last time (maybe Tonight)?

Fans are driving the PR Rally for Mitsubishi

Published by on januari 18, 2006

This week I ended up on a PR event for Mitsubishi in Stockholm. They did show their cars and that they are a winner in the Dakar rally. As a consumer am also a winner if I buy their car. There is no car brand that will say that you are a loser, so way should I believe them on a PR event? Because I was talking with a devoted fan called Kristoffer Bylund. He runs a fan site called Evoix (in Swedish). It was really great to talk with Kristoffer how is a passionate fan with great knowledge about his car. He did show me his ONE love (his car) and also involved me to start driving rally (in an Mitsubishi car, but as a beginner NOT in his car).

Car brands like, BMW, SAAB and Volvo have work against fans site and stop the passion. With fans brands can win more than Dakar (sharing and spreading passion around and in the brand will make others like to drive the car).

ONE interesting dimension is that this fan is living in a part of Sweden that is perfect for rally (it is like a Swedish version of the Dakar). This devoted fan is driving 8000 miles a year! That is what will make reporters write an extra mil about Mitsubishi.
If you are a fan ore now others, please send me an email.
What other brands do you see could work with there fans in media relations?

Not understanding is the easiest form of knowledge

Published by on januari 15, 2006

Work consciously to create an atmosphere where everyone is comfortable. Use humor. Do not let the meeting become a forum for grievances. It is so much easier to criticize the ideas and suggestions of others, than it is to come up with your own new ways of thinking. Concentrate on tomorrow. Conflicts can be productive and sometimes it’s necessary to point out the impossible in someone else’s idea. For the most part, however, this is counter-productive. When someone in the group gets a rush of creativity, a flood of ideas will come pouring forth to the entire group. Ask questions, but don’t be condescending; that person is at his or her most vulnerable. Lift instead of dampen. Utilize his or her creative energy. Who knows what is possible the moment an idea is born? Let the meeting flow like a jazz jam session, where everyone is given a solo. The business community needs more jazz!
A meeting that bubbles with enthusiasm and new ideas is magic, like falling in love. Don’t let egos get in the way of the feeling. The more you acknowledge each other’s ideas, the more your results will improve. Collective intelligence is greater than that of the individual and besides, who wants to dance alone?

“Not to know is wonderful”

Praveen Tripathi
Former CEO, Starcom India and media director P&G
in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong

If there are participants at the meeting that see only problems, give them time. If they still are unable to adapt to this new way of thinking, they should perhaps be excluded from these meetings. Discuss where they might make a more meaningful contribution and feel more satisfied. No one feels good about constantly having to raise objections. Be firm without stepping on anyone’s toes.
Judgments that hamper magic and love in creativity also dampen motivation. Wake the love of creativity and your enthusiasm will carry you towards your goals.
Ask questions and try to understand each other’s ideas to allow the group to grow. Let the ideas create the content. Become a chameleon of the meeting who plays a number of different roles. If you have a tendency to be too verbal and domineering you can ask the other participants questions to encourage them to be more active. Put value on silence; silence can also be very creative. Seek chaos and confusion. Seek movement. Just say no to passive coffee sipping.
You’ll soon find a format that you feel comfortable working with. Look at change as a long-term process with many steps. You can’t accomplish everything in one single meeting. You are the only expert on what form your meeting will take. Discuss what tomorrow should look like.
Remember, it is the combination of sun and rain that causes a seed to grow.
10 Tips for becoming more creative

The world will only change with the right people

Published by on januari 12, 2006

Jack Yan is ONE of doe’s heroes.
Read his post “The brand wiki
and you will join his mindset.

See Steve Jobs pimp a naked Apple

Published by on januari 10, 2006

Combine car seller with a comedian and you get Steve Jobs on stage. iPod sells without a car seller but the computers still need at least a comedian to motivate the prices and low input from consumers. I miss the creativity and innovative big steps that really build the Apple brand. It is business like in the old management school, where it is bad business to sell a car from the future (then you have nothing to sell tomorrow). I like Apple but instead of showing episodes from desperate housewife they should be desperate for innovation. Consumers buy into the future when we consume a product it means we invest in the future. They have to deliver more than this naked Apple with anything to dress in.

To stress Apple evolution, consumers should
start a competitor brand called Pear.

See Steve Jobs pimp a naked Apple.

Update Jan 11:
The purpose of this post is that Apple needs to speedup their evolution/development of their products. Today Apple doesn’t have any competition in many ways. But if companies like DELL should start to work with strong input from consumers they would discover that the Apple brand is naked.

Update 2 April:
Read Michael Kanellos/Cnet.com article: If Apple Computer is so great, how come it’s so small?

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