Putting Twitter’s World to Use

Collectively, Twitter’s messages are a surprisingly useful tool for solving problems and revealing public opinion.

New York Times, April 14, 2009 — The first reaction many people have to Twitter is befuddlement. Why would they want to read short messages about what someone ate for breakfast?

It’s a reasonable question. Twitter unleashes the diarist in its 14 million users, who visited its site 99 million times last month to read posts tapped out with cellphones and computers.

Individually, many of those 140-character “tweets” seem inane.

But taken collectively, the stream of messages can turn Twitter into a surprisingly useful tool for solving problems and providing insights into the digital mood.

The Death of Consumer Segmentation?†

Rethinking a Traditional Marketing Tool

Advertising Age, April 13, 2009 — One of the most important paradigms governing today's marketing world is the constant drive to better segment a brand's customer and prospect base. Conventional wisdom says that the better we segment consumers, the better we can market to them. Consumer segmentation is viewed as a "best-in-class" practice across the marketing world.

But are we on the right track?

Tropicana Discovers Some Buyers Are Passionate About Packaging

IT took 24 years, but PepsiCo now has its own version of New Coke.

New York Times, February 22, 2009 — The PepsiCo Americas Beverages division of PepsiCo is bowing to public demand and scrapping the changes made to a flagship product, Tropicana Pure Premium orange juice. Redesigned packaging that was introduced in early January is being discontinued, executives plan to announce on Monday, and the previous version will be brought back in the next month.

Jay Leno to prime time: Why NBC is doing it

Entertainment Weekly, December 10, 2008 — Everyone knew the face of late-night TV would change when Jay Leno left The ­Tonight Show, but prime time as well? On Dec. 9, NBC announced that the reigning king of late night will stay put at the network by hosting an untitled new gabfest at 10 p.m. every weeknight, starting next fall. Leno, who is set to step down from The ­Tonight Show on May 29, will pack the first-ever Monday–Friday prime-time talk show with signature bits like those corny “Jaywalking” segments and a stable of A-list guests — which could set up a potential booking war with his successor, Conan O’Brien. (“I am absolutely thrilled that Jay is staying at NBC,” O’Brien said on his show Tuesday, although there are certainly drawbacks to the arrangement.)

The Contribution Revolution: Letting Volunteers Build Your Business†

Intuit’s cofounder challenges traditional companies to follow the lead of internet superstars—and of innovative peers such as Honda, Procter & Gamble, and Hyatt—in tapping the contributions of countle

Harvard Business Review, October 1, 2008 — Earlier this year, I spent an intense half-day closeted in a room with the top 70 executives at Intuit. Our aim was to come up with ways that people outside the company could volunteer their time, energy, and expertise to make life better for our customers. Sound odd? Well, if you’re not conducting an exercise like that at your organization, you risk missing the boat on a sea change that’s transforming business.

Every day, millions of people make all kinds of voluntary contributions to companies—from informed opinions to computing resources—that create tremendous value for those firms’ customers and, consequently, for their shareholders. When I first encountered this idea, several years ago, it struck me as unfathomable: Volunteerism was for... continue reading

Extending the Social Network

MySpace and Facebook connect users to other users. Is that enough?

eMarketer, September 25, 2008 — Facebook talks a lot about the "social graph." It is basically the network of connections between people, which changes and is amplified based on contributions that various people make to the network. The social graph matters to marketers because knowing how social graphs work can makes ads and campaigns more effective, according to Debra Aho Williamson, senior analyst at eMarketer.

Consumers Become Kindle Ambassadors†

Amazon Enlists Volunteer Army of Enthusiasts to Demonstrate Device

Advertising Age, September 8, 2008 — On a recent sunny New York afternoon, Stephen Beck, a retired lawyer and voracious reader, spent an hour at a Chelsea Starbucks showing off his Amazon Kindle reader. He patiently demonstrated how to wake the device, adjust font size, download sample books and even look up the definitions of words.

Chrysler Ready to 'Listen' on New Site†

Automaker to Recruit Online Consumer Advisory Panel

Advertising Age, March 24, 2008 — Chrysler will begin recruiting U.S. residents in the next few weeks to participate in closed, online dialogues to gather insights for the automaker's marketing, product development, vehicle features and engineering.

Going to the Company Elders for Help

New York Times, March 10, 2008 — On a recent Saturday afternoon, John Toppel, a retired Hewlett-Packard sales manager, did not spend his leisure time golfing or mowing the lawn. He spent it at a local electronics store extolling the virtues of H.P. laptop computers to customers. He was not paid by the store or by Hewlett-Packard, for that matter. Mr. Toppel, 62, left the technology company four years ago, but he remains a volunteer cheerleader for H.P., one of thousands of its retirees whom the company is trying to galvanize into an auxiliary army of senior marketers, good-will ambassadors and volunteer sales people. None of them get paid; they do it, they say, because of their affection for the company.

Is the Tipping Point Toast?

Marketers spend a billion dollars a year targeting influentials. Duncan Watts says they're wasting their money.

Fast Company, February 1, 2008 — Don't get Duncan Watts started on the Hush Puppies. "Oh, God," he groans when the subject comes up. "Not them." The Hush Puppies in question are the ones that kick off The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell's best-seller about how trends work.