Influx Insights Weblog

influx interview- anthony myint- mission street food

Influx Insights — 2009-08-09T14:07:53Z

Having written a post about what brands can learn from San Francisco's Mission Street Food, I decided to track down the founder, Anthony Myint and ask him a few questions.

1. Tell us a brief history of how Mission Street Food came into being?

The current incarnation of MSF came about in a rather piecemeal and organic way. I was happy working at Bar Tartine, but had been there for a long time and had learned each station and seen the chef's repertoire for more than one cycle through the seasons. I started to think about ways I could still work at BT, but keep learning. I sublet a taco truck which, historically, parked near my house on Friday and Saturday, on Thursday--my day off. Some friends wrote food blogs publicizing the endeavor and, much to my surprise, there was a line before I had even set foot in the truck. After a few weeks of increasing popularity a real estate mogul complained and basically harassed us and continually called the police. We decided not to get into a fight about it, and went door to door in the neighborhood looking for space to continue. After the Chinese restaurant operation was successful we decided to invite guest chefs to join us--as both a way to keep things interesting and also to make things manageable for me (in terms of sheer volume of food preparation--I was working full-time during this whole process). Eventually I left BT amicably to pursue MSF full time and opened for a second day. We also introduced the charitable element, which I'll address later.

2. Do you see Mission Street Food as part of a new movement for eating out and do you see it being replicated in other parts of the country/world?

SF has already seen the emergence of gourmet street food or occasional restaurants, which is not surprising, given both the current economic climate and that it is a natural niche. I have a received a few emails from people interested in starting similar things, and asking for advice, so maybe. In terms of what we have called "an indie chef movement" though, I don't know because we are not even overwhelmed with interest by cooks.

3. If you had more resources available to you, what would you do?

I originally wanted fine dining experience to make good (technical) but affordable food in a chain setting with the profits going to charity. MSF was never intended as a realization of that goal--just a thing on my day off. As it grew in popularity we just added that charitable element. That said, I would love to expand, and in doing so, possibly start a movement in which charity is the next "green"--that is, a viable marketing strategy.

4. How do you select the non-profits you work with and why do you feel this is a vital part of what you do?

The specific non-profits are hunger related because it seems like a good resonance with a food business. Also, I don't know if we try to reinforce this line of thinking, but if it were like cancer research, a customer's donation might account for like 0.0000000001% of an eventual cure or progress, whereas with hunger it's like your meal just bought a family groceries for a week or something. Like I said though, we don't really talk about it because it seems maybe a little preachy.

5. Who and what inspires you?

I don't really know. I think being disappointed in a lot of things (like say sandwich shops in SF), or just seeing a lot of overrated things (like MSF has become) motivates me to try and do some of those things better. Maybe also the desire to do some kind of good, even if only an arbitrary one--you know ease the ol' conscience for living a cushy middle class American life while half the world suffers.

Posted by Ed Cotton

influx interview- mike simonian-mike and maaike

Influx Insights — 2009-07-16T23:00:13Z

A new weeks back, Mike and Maaike (designers of the first Google phone) received a lot attention for their atnmbl project that showed us all how to re-think car design.

I recently caught up with Mike Simonian and asked him a few questions.

Here's the interview.

Can you briefly describe your company’s background?

In 2005, we started our design studio Mike and Maaike to experiment on subjects that we find challenging, surprising and useful. By using experimentation as a collaborative work process we strive to develop strong conceptual foundations and therefore do not attempt to arrive at preconceived and static goals. We mix our diverse high-tech and low-tech design backgrounds to create progressive ideas and unexpected solutions for products, furniture, wearables, environments, and vehicles.

How did the car project come about?

We always wanted to design a car - it just never felt right. The current state of the auto industry made us feel that something had to be done. While there is a lot of discussion about new propulsion technologies for cars, we felt the conversation about the future of cars should be much broader, not just what's under the hood.

Have you seen “Who Killed the Electric Car” and was that an inspiration?

We did see it and it definitely added fuel to the fire. The movie asked a lot of simple but important questions. The main thing we took away from the film is that the auto industry actually dictates people's expectations when it should be the other way around.

What are the possible next steps for atnmbl?

Our goal for the project is to provoke new conversations about cars that will eventually lead to a new way of thinking about/ designing cars to solve real problems; to encourage a shift from styling cars to redefining them. The project has already had this effect, from some of the debates we have read about it. As far as creating a working ATNMBL, one scenario would be to secure funding to create a working prototype. This would be great but is unlikely because it would be a very long-term investment. More likely, we will take some of the ideas that went into the project and work within the emerging new car industry to design near-term vehicles with this new approach.

How much freedom does a designer have to break conventionally rules when it comes to commercial projects?

Its a designer's job to break conventions to arrive at new solutions that are meaningful. The best commercial projects encourage this.

How much value do you place on user research?

User research is a great way to get a first-hand understanding about the problems/ challenges. We place a lot of value on identifying problems/ opportunities through research. Where research becomes less useful is when you test designs to predict their success or ask people what they want. As Henry Ford said "If I had asked people what they want, they would have said faster horses"

What categories, beyond cars, would you like explore?

Robots are particularly interesting for us because so far, the implementations of robots have been very narrow-minded. Interior spaces and architecture are also of great interest because they are so immersive in scale. Other forms of transportation are also very interesting.

Posted by Ed Cotton

influx curated conference-speaker interview-neil grimmer- nest collective

Influx Insights — 2009-06-04T11:47:05Z

Neil Grimmer of Nest Collective is one of our speakers at Influx Curated on June 11th in San Francisco.

Here are Neil's responses to some questions I sent across to him recently.

1. Can you briefly describe your background?

I’ve spent the majority of my career helping food companies figure out what to do next, be it brand strategy, marketing direction or product innovation. For the past two years I’ve been the Chief Innovation Officer and Co-founder of the Nest Collective. Prior to Nest, I was the VP of Strategy and Innovation at Clif Bar & Co., and before that, a senior designer at IDEO.   In what feels like a previous life, I was a practicing artist and cultural critic. My work was, in effect, conceptual product design--high concept, fully functional products and experiences that made a statement about a world/culture that we live in.

2. What inspired you to start the Nest Collective?

We started Nest based on two beliefs:

1.    Businesses are in a unique position to solve many of the social and environmental problems that we face today.

2.    And, “making the world a little better” can, and should, be big business. In fact, it’s Nest’s dream to one day live in a world where organic, sustainably minded brands are the rule, not the exception.

The focus of the Nest Collective right now is to address the health of children in the United States by creating a suite of organic foods for babies, toddlers, and kids. As a dad myself, I’m aware that what my kids eat during those first few years sets a lifetime of healthy eating habits. Look, one out of three kids in the U.S. are either overweight or obese, so we believe that there is a lot of work to be done! We think our brands, Plum Organics & Revolution Foods, are part of the solution.

3. What other companies and people in this space do you admire and why?

I’m truly inspired by every entrepreneur that is trying to grow a cause-related business or a social venture. I admire those who have a vision to bring something new to the world that can have an impact on how we live, and who have the tenacity to actually start a company in this economy is. I have a lot of respect for Jeffery Hollander, founder of Seventh Generation who is a pioneer in the green cleaning space. You gotta love the folks at B Corporation for creating a new corporate standard for social and environmental company performance

4. What impact is the recession having on the organic/natural marketspace?

When it comes to organic foods for kids, the market is still very strong. We are experiencing substantial growth for both of our brands. The parents who see the value in organic foods are more likely to remain committed to buying healthier food for their kids and looking elsewhere to cut back.

Posted by Ed Cotton

influx interview- josh kadis on urban cycling

Influx Insights — 2008-12-22T11:30:18Z

I ran into Josh Kadis at the PSFK's San Francisco conference. We chatted about bike trends and and marketing and I promised to follow-up, so here's an interview we just did.

1. Briefly describe your background and what you do now?

I’m a marketing consultant working mostly in the bicycle industry, but I’ve also had some strategy projects for social networking sites. That’s pretty much my whole work history; I started doing PR gigs at a few bike races in 2003 while I was still working at a bike shop just after college and things progressed from there.

Some stuff I’ve worked on… I was the marketing manager for the Kodak Gallery/Sierra Nevada professional team in 2005 and 2006. This year I launched a blogging and social media campaign for SRAM Corporation around their sponsored teams and athletes. I also help with the business and sponsorship side of MASH, which is basically the first action sports-style urban cycling film.

2. What’s the story behind the current urban biking movement and what forms is it taking?

Utilitarian urban bicycling - as opposed to the recreational bicycling that most people in the US are used to - has always been a part of life in lots of places around the world, from China to Holland. In this country, the two most visible stories in urban bicycling right now are bike commuting and fixed-gear/track bike culture.

The use of bicycles for commuting and alternative transportation is benefiting from some extremely powerful societal and cultural trends. Environmental values have become mainstream. People are concerned about health and fitness. When gas prices were high and now that the economy is bad, the fact the bikes are an inexpensive form of transportation has become more relevant. Finally, urban living with a European sensibility is very much in style.

On the other hand, the fixed-gear culture started with bike messengers but it has inspired a much larger trend of people riding any sleek, fast, skinny-tire bike in the city. Not many are riding true track bikes without brakes, but lots of people ride a fixed-gear bike with brakes, a single-speed, or just a road bike. This culture combines the benefits of alternative transportation with action sports, style, and youth culture. When MASH came out, they had premiers all over the world, were featured in all these fashion magazines, and blew up in Japan. Nothing like that had ever happened with bicycles before.

(definitions of fixed-gear and track bikes at http://sheldonbrown.com/fixed.html)

3. How do you see this evolving in 2009?

No matter what happens with the economy, more people will have more reasons to ride their bikes to work and around town in 2009 than they did in 2008. But that doesn’t mean that the bike industry is recession-proof since most bicycling is still about recreation. Still, strong bike shops are doing better than most retailers right now.

One evolution that you’ll see in 2009 is bike-sharing programs rolled out in more major cities. They’re like Zipcar for bikes, except that some of them let you have a certain amount of time for free before they charge you. Paris’ “Velib” program is the gold standard, and DC started the first for a major US city this year. Honolulu, Minneapolis, and a few others are on tap for next year.

You’ll also see more celebrities on bikes and the general “fashionization” of bicycles. I recently interviewed the CMO of Puma for my blog about how they’ve made bikes a part of their strategy, and you’ll see more non-bicycle brands doing the same thing in 2009.

4. Who are the companies and organizations that are supporting this movement, it seems to have its own ecosystem?

For something so big, there’s very little hierarchy. It’s really just a chain of communities sharing ideas and learning best practices from each other. Cicolvia program for car-free days in city centers, started in Bogota and spread to other cities in Colombia, then around the world.

Generally, you see the most progress in terms of bike lanes, bike racks on transit vehicles, car-free days, and generally safer streets for bicyclists in cities with strong bicycle advocacy organizations and pro-bike mayors. London’s Ken Livingstone is a great example. In San Francisco, the SF Bicycle Coalition just passed 10,000 members and they’re a significant political force in the city.

The bike industry itself was fairly slow to react to the growth of urban cycling. Until two or three years ago, there were road bikes, mountain bikes, and lounge chairs on wheels. Now there’s an “urban” category of bikes that are designed for fast, efficient city riding. Bike companies are giving more money to advocacy organizations, although it’s likely that the industry as a whole still spends more on sponsoring professional racing than on promoting urban bicycling.

5.Is it possible with a renewed focus on alternative forms of transportation that biking will see a resurgence, if not, what is required to make this happen?

This is already happening, but mostly in denser cities and metro areas with political climates that are more progressive on environmental issues. In many places, the bicycle is not the most practical means of transportation, but we can’t just tear up the sprawl and start over. That’s why people in the bicycle advocacy community are starting to talk about bicycling not just on its own, but also as part of a system of alternative transportation. Instead of “ride your bike to work”, the messaging is expanding to include “ride your bike to transit” and “ride your bike to carpool”. Bicycling and other forms of group transportation go hand in hand.

Practicality is only part of the story; fixed-gear culture will play a role by changing the image of the urban bicyclist. It used to be that dorky guy in your office building who’d get on the elevator still wearing his helmet and reflective strap on his pants. Now it’s actually cool to be a bicyclist, which is an amazing thing.

As a final note… thanks to all the little line items that were included to pass the second version of the Bailout, you’ll be eligible in 2009 for up to $20/month of tax-free reimbursement of bike commuting expenses. Subtract $240 per year, and riding to work is almost free!

influx interview- paul kim- vp marketing, mozilla corporation

Influx Insights — 2008-10-16T19:11:20Z

Mozilla, the folks behind Firefox are at the forefront of 2.0 marketing. They rely on their community to build and market their products and have done some amazing things by taping into their base. Here's a short interview with Paul Kim, VP Marketing, Mozilla Corporation, who explains more.

1. Briefly describe your position?

I'm the VP of marketing for Mozilla Corp.

We work as part of a global open source project to make Firefox.

Mostly, I try to stay out of the way of an inspired team of marketers working in partnership with a worldwide community to spread the word about Firefox.

2. What, in your opinion, has changed for brands in the 2.0 world?

The poles that immediately jumped to mind for me are "I'd Like to Buy the World a Coke" and "Line Rider".

Classic branding reached a kind of apex in 1971 with the Coca-Cola "Hilltop" ad -

"Hilltop" rolls up multiple strands of an era that is receding for brands: concentration of audience and attention, advertising as entertainment, and implicit upleveling of professionalism over word of mouth.

I can't think of a better counter and illustration of the structural changes 2.0 has introduced than "Line Rider". A Flash-based physics experiment spreads through the global network to spawn a subnet of participant generated content, a commercial enterprise, and a 2.0 brand sui generis.

- 25K Line Rider videos

The core of 2.0 is continuous, realtime and actionable feedback loops.

As the pre-2.0 lag between idea and response shrinks, we'll see the rise of unpredictable, resonant brands that validate themselves not through multi-million dollar traditional campaigns, but through the trackable, grassroots support of individual humans, enstatiated on the web.

3. What have been Mozilla’s most interesting marketing efforts and why do you think they worked?

There is a line from the launch of Firefox to today that rests on co-opting traditional marketing models and opening them up to participation by our community.

The three campaigns that come to mind:

New York Times Ad. 10,000 Mozilla community members donate over $250,000 in a week to fund New York Times ad to launch Firefox 1.0

Firefox Flicks. A contest to deliver community generated 30-second ads for Firefox (inspired in part by MoveOn's Bush in 30 Seconds contest and Butler Shine's Converse UGC campaign). Over 250 submissions; tens of millions of views on video nets.

Download Day. Rallied the Mozilla community to drive awareness for the launch of Firefox 3 with a campaign to set a new Guinness World Record for most software downloads in a single day. Exceeded our goal of 5M downloads with a final tally of 8M. Campaign lived on the web, was global, and provided a satisfying mechanism for individual participation in a collective effort.

4. How can old school brands become more 2.0?

Listen, share, adapt, be open and give back.

At the edges, reimagine your business down to its DNA (for much, much
more on this topic, read Umair Haque at http://discussionleader.hbsp.com/haque/

5. How do expect the economy to impact people’s relationship to brands?

My hope is that the current economic environment, as fleeting as it may be, reinforces the need for sustainable living.

How this filter influences brand relationships isn't clear to me yet.

I'm optimistic about a rebalancing in the relationship and interaction between human and brand(s) in the years still to come.

Posted by Ed Cotton

influx interview- nat cutler- monk's kettle-san francisco

Influx Insights — 2008-10-13T22:52:04Z

The Monk's Kettle is one of San Francisco's finest beer haunts. They treat beer with a sacredness that's usually reserved only for wine. I was keen to learn more about the place and the inspiration behind it, so I sent an email to Nat Cutler (Managing Partner) and waited for a response.

It took some time, but it's worth it.

1. What's the inspiration behind Monk's Kettle?

The inspiration was really the brainchild of Christian Albertson, my business partner. He was first introduced to the world of beer while working at a brewpub in Boulder, CO, called The Mountain Sun. Then, while managing the Parish Caf? in Boston, MA, he discovered the city’s beer-focused places and learned about the industry as a whole. When he moved out to San Francisco about 5 years ago, and noticed virtually no beer focused bars and restaurants (save Toronado of course) he saw a market waiting to be filled. When we started talking about the concept, I was on board right away. Being from Seattle, WA, a city with a huge beer culture, I knew exactly what he was talking about. We soon began our work on the business plan and opened our doors a mere two or three years later.

2. Why do you think that beer has become elevated into more of a
gourmet product?

Well, for hundreds of years beer has actually been just as complex, flavorful, unique and sophisticated as wine: in essence, gourmet. It’s just that for the majority of the population, especially here in the U.S., there was no knowledge of that fact. The only beer really available here was mass-produced by the brewing giants of Anheuser Busch, Coors and Miller. Only over the last 20 years or so did the art of craft brewing make it into this country. Slowly, over that time, it gained popularity and recognition with the help of some great educators on the subject. A few breweries elevated their products, showing consumers the depth of the beer world (Sam Adams and Anchor are two domestics that come to mind), as well as expanded distribution which brought many previously unavailable brews to our shores. There have also been a few beer writers who have done much in the way of education: Garrett Oliver, the head brewer of Brooklyn Brewery has written on beer and food pairings, but by far the most significant writer is the late Michael Jackson whose writings are essential for learning about the world of beer. All of these forces together have brought beer recently onto a scene that was once dominated by wine alone.

3. What do you feel about a Belgian brewer buying Bud?

I think it’s a shame. Not so much because a ‘foreigner’ now owns the beer probably most associated with America, but because the brewing of beer is becoming so dominated by so few large corporations. I think that any time, in any instance, you take a process that requires creativity and a more hands-on approach, and make it more stream-lined and capable of being mass-produced, you lose something. Not to say that Bud is the most hands-on, creative and unique beer, but the principle is still the same. You’re seeing that happening all over Europe with many of their best brew-houses, and its happening here in the U.S. too. The more it happens, I think, the more the artisan beers will lose their character.

4. What do you think is one of the most overlooked beer producing nations-who has surprised you?

There have been a few surprises abroad; though in the way of individual breweries rather than countries as a whole. Most notable are Moa Brewing Co. from New Zealand, Hitachino from Japan, Cucapa Brewing Co. from Mexicali, Mexico, and Baladin from Italy. More surprising, however, has been the style of sour as the great frontier in beermaking today. They have been around for a very long time, developed in the Lambeek region of Belgium, but have begun to really emerge as of late. We at the Kettle have quite taken to this style, the reason we have been increasing our selections. We always have a sour on tap, and a growing selection by the bottle.

5. How do you think San Francisco compares to NYC, when it comes to setting trends in food and drink?

There have been a few areas where San Francisco has set the trend in food and drinks (most notably the Slow Food Movement led by Chez Panisse, as well as speakeasy-like bars like Bourbon and Branch). In general, however, it seems that New York often leads the way in this industry. We at the Monk’s Kettle has seen this specifically with the gastropub trend that is fairly established in NYC, while only getting started here in the San Francisco. When we arrived in San Francisco years ago, we were surprised to find that a place like the Monk’s Kettle did not yet exist. San Francisco is interesting in that there are an awful lot of restaurants and bars, but it seems that the percentage of places that are truly unique and/or providing an excellent product is too low to be considered a leader in the industry nationwide. But we could be wrong about that—we spend too much time at our own place to get out much elsewhere.

Posted by Ed Cotton

influx interview- dom o'brien- head of emerging technology- glue- london

Influx Insights — 2008-06-23T13:07:28Z

Dom was a fellow speaker at the Idea Forum in Bucharest the other week. Since Glue is blazing quite a trail in the interactive world at the moment, I thought it was worth asking its technology guru some questions about his job and the changing world of brands in the interactive space.

1. Briefly describe Glue and your role at the agency?

I work at UK digital ad agency glue London (current clients include the likes of Adidas, Toyota, Bacardi, Nokia, 3, Playstation, McCain, COI and Virgin Trains)

My role is Head of Emerging Technology which is a job title shrouded in ambiguity I know, but actually means I focus on identifying how technology can enhance glue’s creative idea, and how technology can be harnessed to take the creative idea out to new audiences. A lot of time is spent digging out links to the best campaigns and technology partners, creating learning's and then trying to educate and inspire the wider agency on how to do cool stuff.

2. How does technology integrate itself into the creative solution?

We strive to integrate technology as seamlessly as possible. We always approach things from the consumers perspective who on the whole couldn't care less about technology. What people want is a great experience that's tailored to the channel they're on. People should stay oblivious to what's going on under the bonnet. The best technology is invisible.

Once we have a creative idea and understand who the audience is, we're then in the position to identify which channels could be relevant - out of which the technologies generally fall. It's massively important to fully understand the opportunities and limitations of each of the channels, and to try and push those boundaries with each project.

3. What new demands are clients placing on interactive communications?

We’ve witnessed a shift from brands buying time with an audience, to a need for brands to create time with an audience – and by that I mean creating experiences or utilities that add value and that people choose to spend time with.

It’s human nature that once we’ve had a great experience we tell our friends about it (and by experience I mean any experience). Our objective is therefore to enable our brands to enter peoples everyday conversations in a positive fashion, and we do this by building rich and engaging experiences or utilities that people want to spend time with.

4. Looking ahead, what technology trends do you think are going to be big in the interactive space?

Everything is so new that the industry as a whole is on a collective learning exercise to understand what channel opportunities are out there, how people are using these channels, how brands can add value to people on these channels, and also how to build for them. (Made easier by the fact that all of these are constantly evolving!)

For me the special campaigns will be those that understand how people use particular channels, and identify when to employ them in combination to produce something special. The Nike piece is a perfect example.

The other big thing for me is dynamic video. The digital industry has historically been restricted on how work is executed by the limitations of Flash. Motion graphics and 3d applications offer a much wider variety of techniques and better production values, so I think we’ll see a lot more agencies moving into this space.

5. What work out there do you wish Glue had been involved with?

There is so much good work out there. The work R/GA do for Nike is amazing. I love Absolut Machines as an example of how to create a real world experience that is controlled virtually. The Japanese have always been good at technology and their creative skills are now catching up fast. The recent Uniqlock piece is a great example of this and is a strong creative idea is deployed over a variety of channels.

6. Where do you find your inspiration?

I have a wide group of friends from all walks of life. I expose myself and absorb as much as I can across all disciplines. I make time to look on the interweb but also make sure I do real world things too.

There’s an interesting insight to be had everywhere. We’re lucky in London because there’s stuff going on around us all the time, the trick is finding the time to go to it.

Posted by Ed Cotton

influx interview-design series- stiven kerestegian- sustainable designer

Influx Insights — 2008-05-23T19:41:36Z

Stiven Kerestegian is a sustainable designer who lives in the South of Chile where he is involved in several projects most of them related to sustainable design. He's also a partner in a full service production and design studio in Santiago and a sustainable product company Essustainable.

1. Briefly describe your background?

My background is in industrial design but I have worked in almost every related field from hardware design for Microsoft to conceptual or "innovation" design for Kodak to brand, packaging and web UI design for startups. Today, the projects I take on are as diverse as the market but more and more, clients reach out to me because they have an interest in sustainable or "green" design.

2. Sustainable Design is a current buzzword, how do you interpret it?

The concept has been around for a while. Victor Papanek and Bucky Fuller were among the first to start pushing for more responsible solutions to our everyday needs not because they were hard core environmentalist but because they realized that sustainable design, or design that uses nature as the developmental model is far superior especially as you look at long term solutions. Today I consider sustainable design that which incorporates social and environmental aspects holistically into the design process. The inclusion of these variables triggers unforeseeable innovations and cost savings.

Two key things are happening today that have triggered the green or sustainability movement, corporations are seeing value in more sustainable approaches and informed consumers are demanding more responsible products

3. How difficult is it for designers to think about sustainability? How do they know their actions are going to produce positive results?

The difficult part is getting informed you know, not only being on top of all the latest materials and processes etc., but considering a products complete life cycle into your design process is an essential aspect of sustainable design so this means more research in related areas beyond just form, function and experience. The great part is that it brings much more meaning to what we do as designers because we can measure results beyond just financial success, we can see social and environmental contributions.

4. Shouldn't we be producing better products that last longer or even encourage people to get more use out of old things, rather than producing new stuff all the time?

Yes, having fewer but better things would help but the problem we have today is not just that we are making and using too many unnecessary products, it's that we are making and using them in ways that are destructive to us and our environment. I don't think we have to stop being consumers, we just need to implement more sustainable models like the service model. The fun part is that we as designers get to redesign everything, we get to re-think the way we do most things and this needs to happen now, in our generation.

5. Consumers are addicted to the shiny and new, it's part of the thrill of consumption. How could we encourage consumers to think about this and should we?

I think that slowly but surely we are all starting to realize that good design is inherently "sustainable" and corporations and consumers will evolve their understanding of what is good design and what is desirable. The only reason why we need to consume less is because most of our consumption is unhealthy but if we can design and manufacture healthy products that are beneficial to us and our environment, then there would be a reason to encourage consumption.

Posted by Ed Cotton

influx interview-indi young- adaptive path- part two

Influx Insights — 2008-03-05T10:49:36Z

Here is Part Two of the interview I did with Indi Young of Adaptive Path. For a discount on her new book go to the Rosenfeld Media web site, drop Indi's book in the shopping cart (which can be done here: ), and enter the discount code (FOINFL10) for a 10% discount while completing the order.

5. How do you discover new unmet needs/behaviors and imagine new uses that consumers don't yet display?

The mental model is not about changing consumer behavior so much as supporting it better, and supporting it in new ways that haven't been thought of before. The easiest thing to do is look for gaps between a tower in the mental model (representing a set of behaviors around a particular concept) and the ways an organization supports it. There could be no existing support for a tower, or it could be weakly supported, in which case you could use the concepts in the tower to brainstorm ideas. You could already support a tower, but perhaps extend your support to better support some of the concepts in the tower that aren't covered. You could look across the mental model for similarities and bring some behaviors together by supporting them with one idea, thus making it more efficient for the user. You could look for emotion in the tower and see if there was a way to address it. You could look for surprising towers and see why these concepts just aren't acknowledged by the organization. You could look at whole areas that you kind of crossed out in your mind as areas your organization just couldn't possibly address, and see if there isn't a few ways to help out. And you can rethink services and features that don't match a behavior--perhaps they are not necessary, or perhaps they are a great opportunity. The best thing is to be as explicit as possible about why your organization is spending time and money on a particular service or product, and prioritize where to put your resources. (For examples, see here.

6. What about thinking about the totality of the experience- do you use mental models beyond the web?

Absolutely. Task analysis, the root of mental models, was used before the web existed. I've done several mental models about workflow processes, one about media buyers, one about training runs (like for a marathon), one about going to the movies, one about dating, and one about cat behavior. The output of the workflow process models was, of course, a new process flow. The media buyer mental model informed a software application. The training run mental model resulted in a few additions to a running watch. The one about the movies resulted in a mobile app, among the other things we imagined. The one about dating resulted in changes to an online dating social application. And the one about cats, well, it resulted in a few laughs.

A mental model has the single purpose of deepening your understanding of the
motivations and behavior of a group of people who are trying to accomplish
something. It allows you to see with great clarity how you already support
these activities and philosophies and emotions, and urges you to do extend
what you are doing to a much richer selection.

Posted by Ed Cotton

influx interview-designer series- indi young- part one

Influx Insights — 2008-03-04T11:07:51Z

Indi Young is one of the founders of Adaptive Path and the author of the recently published book-Mental Models: "Aligning Design Strategy with Human Behavior".

We exchanged a few emails and ended up with a fantastic interview.

Here's Part One.

1. Can you briefly describe your background?

I've been a "software designer" for 21 years. My undergrad degree was in Computer Science. In those days, there were none of these fun study programs like interaction design. This was before the Mac and before the desktop metaphor became prevalent. I have been consulting for 17 years, often helping startups craft their initial offerings and assisting Fortune 500 companies redesign existing architectures. I teach workshops, act as a team guide for projects, and present at a few conferences. My book about mental models and alignment with products and services was published in Feb 2008.

2. Explain how the Mental Models process came about?

It has roots in a project I was doing with Visa in the early 90's. I was doing task analysis for customer service reps and normalizing their actions when I realized I had a state machine on my hands. The state machine was helpful to the other software and database developers, but not to the business stakeholders who were guiding the project. So, over the years, I morphed "task analysis" to the "motivation chart" that you see now, mapped to the ways an organization supports each of the activities. Now the diagram, essentially an affinity diagram at its heart, is a good visual summary of customer behavior, philosophies, and feelings. Executives and other stakeholders find it understandable and useful. (For more of the story, see the Appendix B online )

3. What do you think the big differences between thinking about advertising and thinking about the web are?

I'm going to use my imagination here, since the closest I got to understanding advertising is from a mental model I made of media buyers. Advertising is about making a certain segment of people aware of and interested in a product or service. The web is a communications medium. In general, when you try to communicate, it works best if you know the segment of people you are trying to communicate with so that you can connect with them about what you are saying. Web communication is two-way. The segment of people can talk back. Most advertising (I *think*) assumes a one-way message. There are lots of things I could say about advertising on the web. You could harness the two-way communication format. (Seewww.getsatisfaction.com)

You could apply the richness of film and radio, if someone acts like they want to spend the time watching something. You could lessen the amount of time a person spends thinking about your service or product and give them more time to do what they intend to do. This freedom will make them respect you later because you respected them. In traditional advertising there seems to be a desperate pitch to the message, begging the listener/reader/watcher to spend some brain time with you. On the web, that doesn't have to happen. (See Seth Godin's "Permission Marketing" for other ideas)

I've found in several mental models for companies selling large software suites that potential customers "distrust salesmen." Salesmen have one goal: to sell you the product and increase their commission. Some sales people tell you they don't really need to sell you the product, but their happiest end-scenario is still the same: sell the product. Potential customers have a different goal. In their mental model, they want to find out the capabilities of the software and at the same time find out what their organization really needs in terms of software, or if some of the needs are really just wishful. It's something that each potential customer seems to have to explore in isolation, whereas a lot of the considerations and capabilities and needs are probably very common. No one has leveraged that yet.

4. When you explore Mental Models- it's clearly a piece of expansive thinking- you are stretching to really understand the breadth and depth of the totality of experiences- when and how do you decide what the limits are? What role does brand play in this?

Yes, the mental model explores the environment of the user, agnostic to all the tools she uses to do something. A lot of folks have learned a very limited definition of "mental model" meaning "how a person understands how something works." These mental models stretch that definition to "how a person gets something done, no matter which tools she uses." Plus, it extends the definition to include matching the services and products an organization offers to discrete parts of what the person is doing to accomplish something. This is really a step back from the details of the picture to look at the overriding motivations. This level of granularity limits what you put in the mental model. You ask "why" a lot, but you don't go into detail about "how" as much. The limits are also defined by the scope of the research. You might scope your research as, "What does a person do to remodel their kitchen or bathroom?" Or you might choose, "What does a person do to upkeep their home?" These are two different scopes of the same space, the first one narrower than the second one. The second one might have a mental space about remodeling, which if you want, you could blow out into its own mental model with the narrowly scoped research.

Brand plays a role this way: customers choose what source to get their service or product from based on a lot of reasons, and brand is one of the reasons. Proximity, price, convenience, habit--those are some of the other reasons. I've often been asked if a mental model could be syndicated. Could a mental model for a bank customer, say, be sold to all banks in an industry? I don't know, but my educated guess is, "No," because customers choose a bank based partially on the perceived "persona" of that bank, or its brand. I think the motivations for choosing a certain bank will show up as different towers in different banks' customer mental models. But I haven't had the opportunity to test this theory out yet. It could be true only in a slight way, in which case most of the bank customer mental model would be re-usable from bank to bank.

But to look at the brand question with a different example, let's look at drivers. The mental model of a driver who really enjoys the art and feel of driving and of performance is probably different than the mental model of the person who needs to transport many kids to various different engagements. There are different concepts that each of these groups will talk about. The concept of enjoying the g-force in a turn and appreciating how the tires are in contact with the road would be outside the realm of the person who is thinking about protecting her precious cargo of kids. The mental models would be different, and the ways you, as a car designer, would support the concepts would differ, too.

Posted by Ed Cotton

influx interview- scott belsky- behance

Influx Insights — 2008-02-26T16:32:35Z

Behance is a company that serves the needs of the growing network of independent creative professionals. It does everything from helping them find jobs, foster collaboration, generate new ways to think and delivers an engaging environment to view portfolios and creative samples.

I spent some time with Scott Belsky, the founder of Behance, to learn a little more.

1. What inspired you to make the leap from Wall Street to the creative world?

My work on Wall Street involved organizational and leadership development. I specialized in helping new, rapidly growing teams deal with the challenges that come along with growth. At night, I would try to leverage some of these skills for my friends in more creative and entrepreneurial roles. I found that, more than anyone else, creative leaders and teams struggle to push ideas forward. I became very interested in the leadership and organizational struggles of the creative world. I also believe that life is interesting because of the creative achievements around us. The music, art, design, and new businesses that start as ideas and ACTUALLY happen are the source of society's advancement.

2. Briefly describe what Behance is all about?

Behance is relentlessly focused on developing knowledge, products, and services that help creative professionals make ideas happen. We believe that creative leaders and team are never short of ideas, but often lack the organizational skills, leadership capability, networks, and platform to push ideas forward.

Our model is very simple: Over the past two years, we have interviewed hundreds of especially productive creative teams. In each interview, we ask "how do you make ideas happen?" We zoom in on methods and tips for productivity, networking, leadership, and strategy.

Behance is NOT about idea generation or stimulating innovation. Rather, we are focused on boosting productivity and access to opportunity in the creative world.

Here are a few examples of how our products and services accomplish our mission:

Behance Network

The Behance Network was developed as a platform for efficient dissemination of creative work. If a member posts a new project that is "appreciated" by the community, then it is likely that tens of thousands of people will see the work. We've had nearly a million visitors in the past month or so, and many of the visitors come from top agencies, galleries, and other companies seeking creative talent. Members use the network as a tool for self-marketing, exchanging feedback with peers, staying accountable to goals, and building professional networks.

Action Method

There is a great, self-proclaimed shortage of productivity in the creative world. We have noticed that "office-centric" or lingo-intensive systems for productivity, including GTD, are not easily adopted among creatives. Rather, we discovered that creatives need a simple, design-centric system method for creative project management. We developed the Action Method in response to the best practices we observed. The Action Method has spawned an entire product line that is sold around the US and the Museum of Modern Art stores, including the critically acclaimed "Action Book."

Behance Magazine

As we conduct interviews, we write up articles and also generate new "tips" for creative professionals. We have gathered them together in an online magazine.

Advisory Services

Our team is starting to do a lot of consulting work for creative teams within large companies. Surprisingly, creative teams suffer from many of the same inefficiencies as a designer or artist. We think that every creative company, agency, and project needs to consider a path to what we call "productive creativity."

3. How do you see the Behance growing and developing in the future?

Our team hopes to continue developing products and services that address the needs of creative professionals. We are starting to develop some interesting web-based applications in response to suggestions we have received. We are also developing a whole pipeline of knowledge, mostly "tips," that will help boost productivity in the creative workspace. The Behance Network is also an ongoing project that we believe is only in the "first inning." Ultimately, we will feel successful if more ideas actually happen as a result of our work.

4. What are some of the biggest trends you see out there in the world of creative professionals?

There are two trends we talk about quite often:

(1) More than ever before, we are seeing "creative" as a trait actively sought by recruiters across industries. We're also seeing the more self-described "creative" folks on teams getting promoted on the basis of their creative contributions. Of course, once creative people are empowered within a company/team, there is a great need for increased leadership capability and productivity.

(2) Creative professionals are feeling more empowered to represent themselves professionally, rather than depend on being found by a headhunter or working full-time for an agency. The "freelancer" is starting to act more like a business than an individual. We see the amount of work and opportunities that Behance Network members are getting.

5. What will it take for America to compete in the battle for creative talent?

It is really interesting to consider America's "competitive advantages" over the past decades. Remember that big American companies like GE and Hewlett Packard used to compete on "efficiency." GE's development of Six Sigma and HP's advances in plant efficiency were big selling points.

However, now GE has changed their tag line to "imagination at work" and HP is all about innovation. The change in brand is evidence of the fact that efficiency is now accomplished through off-shoring and is no longer a competitive advantage.

Our team believes that innovation is the grounds for competition going forward. We also believe that innovation is the result of PRODUCTIVE creativity. As companies hire more creative professionals to fuel innovation, they will recognize the need to design teams and workflow to achieve Productive Creativity.

To stay competitive, we think American business needs to bridge the gap between creative and other departments. There must be an emphasis on the components of "Productive Creativity," and we're hoping that Behance plays a critical role in this trend.

6. Where do you find your inspiration?

Most or our team's inspirations come from our own frustrations as creative professionals. We're in a unique business where the greatest "breakthroughs" are a response to the greatest frustrations we observe in our work and when we consult for others.

Posted by Ed Cotton

influx interview-designer series-verena dauerer-editor-pingmag japan

Influx Insights — 2008-02-05T23:17:15Z

Verena Dauerer is the only foreign journalist working at PingMag, the inspirational and influential Japanese art/culture/design website.

Here's an interview I did with her recently where we talked about PingMag, it's unique ownership, design and Japanese design.

1. Can you briefly describe your background and explain how you ended up at PingMag?

I've been working as a journalist for ten years now, the recent years I was freelancing in Berlin. Apart from that I have been doing production for short films for a while, briefly Lingo programming in the 90s, and eventually started giving lectures about VJ culture at design schools and festivals and organized a VJ festival with two friends there in 2006.

At one point, I got bored a bit of myself being in the city and decided to work abroad for a couple of months. I liked Ping, sent these lovely people an e-mail - and came to Japan to work as editor of PingMag in November 2006. Originally I wanted to stay for three months only, but they provided me with a contract and a working visa. Tempting! And I stayed...

2. Tell us a little about PingMag (its ownership, editorial policy, etc)?

In terms of our structure, we are 3 editors in total: My 2 lovely Japanese colleagues
care about the Japanese homepage, and I run the English site alone.

Each of us contributes with our own topics, and I handle most of the freelancers and possible pieces.

Regarding these: Anything can be interesting depending on the approach. I'd say our trait is being hysterically fond of anything that is special to us. There really are no limits, be it from the field of art, design, technology, architecture, fashion, crafts, etc. It doesn't even have to be Japan related, but it has to be done with a great love for detail.

Of course, each piece is decorated in the cheerful PingMag style since translation usually requires adaptation.

In terms of ownership, PingMag is part of Yes Communications!, our parent and run by our producer Tom Vincent. Financially we are in this very lucky and even rarer position that at the moment we are sponsored by a Japanese investment bank called RISA Partners. I know that this makes us kind of unique, as content wise we
are totally independent and far from being a corporate blog.

Also, we just got a little sister one month ago: PingMag MAKE is done by another colleague, a Japanese editor that reports once a week from regional Japan about traditional craftsmen, and small businesses.

3. What do you think is happening with the world of design? Are developed nations over-designed?

Over-designed? If the natural development of a civilization is its aesthetic refinement,
cutting back would be a step backwards or a possible indication of decay. There is no end to this refinement, as you can surely see in Japan... Provided that environmental factors are included.

4. How would you describe the current state of Japanese design and where do you believe it is heading?

Huh, I can maybe enlighten you with some aspects of its structure that might help you
understand its output: On one side, there are the star designers that design practically
everything from mobiles to furniture to any other gadget you can imagine with utmost
perfectionism.

Think of Naoto Fukasawa or Iwai Toshio (who just developed the Tenori-on.) As Sensei, they have an army of designers working for them - and this system is strictly hierarchical and as solid as the tough structure within the mainstream design establishment.

On the other side, design events like the annual DesignTide try since a couple of years to promote the young upcoming ones.

Then I have the feeling that some designers aren't interested at all in a wider exposure outside of Japan, others would like to but they don't speak any English.

Where it might all be heading could also depend on how far people keep perceiving the country as an isolated island and themselves as a closed community in the future.

5. What developments are important and interesting to look at in Japan- is tradition and history now more important that the thrill of the future?

I'm interested in Japanese society and its rapid (or not) changes.

So in this very special case, tradition is the overall tie that firmly grips everything quite rigidly.

Compared to Western countries this is a by far stronger driving force that keeps
preventing changes - of the attitude, of the approach to design, or work methods. And
since this applies to any nation with a long tradition, of course, everything is
connected with the past and will surely affect the future.

Every part of Japanese society is based on the collective and this hasn't changed a bit.

Combined with the way the corporations still work, their internal octopus-like structure that provides everything for their workers, this seems to be a kind of capitalism done the communist way.

And it works because of the concept of the collective. It's interesting to see what will happen in the next years, like how far will this be softened, and on the other side how far tradition could loosen its tight grip a bit.

6. Where do you find your inspiration?

I'm an info junkie thanks to rss feeds. The rest is journalistic handcraft:observing.

Posted by Ed Cotton

influx interview-designer series- steve portigal- design thinker

Influx Insights — 2008-02-04T11:48:35Z

Steve Portigal runs Portigal Consulting, a company that helps clients develop smarter thinking by bringing together user research, design and business strategy. I spent some time talking to Steve about his overlapping world of strategy and design.

Steve's client list includes the likes of Nestle, eBay, Palm, Berringer, General Electric and many others.

His other claim to fame is his creation of one of the first online communities (Undercover, a Rolling Stones fan group) in 1992, nurturing it from a time when the Internet was an underground academic technology through to today, as part of a global info-infrastructure.

1. Can you tell us briefly about your background and what you are up to these days?

I studied Computer Science because I liked the idea of making something- software- that had new functionality. But I soon realized that academically, Computer Science was extremely abstract and theoretical. Then I discovered Human-Computer Interaction, the part of Computer Science that dealt with people. After graduate school, I felt that the professional work of designing interfaces was too concerned with the details for my temperament. But that pointed the way to where my passion lies: starting with people, organizational behavior and culture, and asking the big-picture questions. For the past six years I've run Portigal Consulting, a boutique firm that's just outside of San Francisco. We like to say that we help organizations to discover and act on new insights about their customers and themselves.

2. What do you believe are the greatest challenges involved in inspiring great design?

Well, what makes something a great design? If I think about design as a total package- “an experience that addresses some functional and emotional need that also meets the business goals of the organization that created it (i.e., it's profitable, it's right for their brand, it helps them grow a category, etc.)- then to inspire the creators means we need to help them tell a new story. That takes facts, but it also takes emotion. The creators who we want to inspire are designers, but also marketers, managers, technologists, engineers, and every other part of the organization. Our challenge is often getting access to all those people and, once we have access, figuring out the best way to communicate to them so that they are engaged, and ultimately inspired.

3. What is it that makes a great design strategist?

A great design strategist may not see themselves as a design strategist. They're probably someone who has had a few different professional identities and gets excited by the spaces where disciplines, schools of thought, and methods overlap. They are curious and easily intrigued: they like to observe what's going on around them and they're good at listening to people. And they know how to use all this data to synthesize new patterns and communicate them clearly to a range of audiences. Charlie Stross, in the sci-fi book Accelerando, describes the profession of a "meme broker" and the intense amount of content they have to assimilate every day in order to do this. Bruce Sterling calls this activity "scanning“ looking at all the sources one can and constantly asking what does this mean for my clients. Being able to work through all those data sources and pull out the implications is crucial for design strategy.

4. As we become more cultural attuned to good design, does designing become easier?

I have an interaction designer friend who worked for Apple in the between-Jobs era (long before iMacs and iPods), and he used to tell me how challenging it was to be in his role at a company that had such a strong design culture, because everyone thought they were naturally a UI designer. It was a lot more challenging for him to get buy-in. If we generalize from that, more awareness of design may not make it easier.

Taking it one step further, the stuff designers are being asked to design is sometimes deep in uncharted waters. What kind of information designer figures out the dozen layers of text and graphics that get layered on top of Taiwanese television? Where do user interface designers pull from to create virtual world e-commerce? How does an 80-year old check their email on a mobile device? The shifts in what technology affords and what behaviors people are seeking that are definitely not making design any easier.

5. Do you believe research can play a role in helping designers, if so, what does the best research look like?

Absolutely. How else are you going to design for real people?

The best research brings to life the imperfect and messy stories of real people and presents generative frameworks that lead the way forward for new designs, products, services, features, communications, or whatever is needed.

6. Who are today's "thinkers" who are challenging designers to push boundaries?

I suspect that many designers are more influenced by the doers than the thinkers. That said, you've got some visionary people out there who do come up often in design circles: Bruce Sterling, John Thackara, Sir Ken Robinson, Roger Martin, Malcolm Gladwell, Edward Burtynsky, and John Maeda.

Posted by Ed Cotton

influx interview-designer series- phil lu- starbucks/iphone application

Influx Insights — 2008-01-15T07:34:27Z

In the last few days, just ahead of Macworld , a series of fantastic visuals were sent around the web at lightening speed.

People wondered if they were real, that's how good they were.

The visual concept was for an iPhone Starbucks quick ordering system, using Wi-Fi.

It made sense because the technology basically exists and some people are already aware that Apple recently applied for a patent to do something similar.

I tracked down the designer of these images, Phil Lu, (to see a fully animated version of the Starbucks application, please look here) for a very short interview.

This is one in a series of interviews Influx is going to be conducting with designers over the coming months.

1. Briefly describe your background and what you do?

I'm a multimedia designer currently living/working in San Diego, CA. My backgrounds is in media art and graphic design. I did a little bit of graphic design before moving on to multimedia design.

2. How do you come up with the idea for the Starbucks iPhone application?

The "what if?" thought came to my mind when I was waiting in line at Starbucks. I spend more time waiting to order than waiting for the drink. It got me thinking, since iPhone supports iTunes download over wi-fi using iTunes account; why not order my coffee over wi-fi with the same account?

3. How did you work out the conceptual design?

I looked through various interface design and studied the Starbucks' brands. I wanted an interface that feel like the iPhone interface with the touch of Starbucks' branding, The reason behind the design is that I don't want QuickOrder to feel like a 3rd party application. Instead, I want the application blend in seamlessly with the current iPhone interface.

4. How long did it take to make?

Once I have the concept worked out, the design phase goes rather quickly.

5. What's next?

I'm currently working on different online-social networking site that will bring like-minded people together.

Posted by Ed Cotton

influx interview-alex frankel- author- punching in-the unauthorized adventures of a front-line employee

Influx Insights — 2007-11-10T13:30:43Z

In 2004, Alex Frankel took us on a journey inside the mysterious world of brand name development process with his first book, Wordcraft.

In his latest book, Punching In-The Unauthorized Adventures of a Front-Line Employee, Alex examines the world of America’s front-line employees based on his own personal experience. He's spent the last two years working in frontline positions with the likes of Apple, Gap, Starbucks, Enterprise, etc.

Punching In is published by Harper Business and hits the shelves on November 20th.

In typical Influx Interview style, I sent Alex a few questions via email and here is his response.

1. What was the inspiration for your new book?

When I was about 17 I met a guy who had worked as a UPS driver and he told me all about his job. He told me specifically about how much he had been analyzed and examined by a team of scientists sent from corporate headquarters: They had measured things like how long it took him to walk an average package to someone’s front door from his truck. The level to which they cared about such things intrigued me and from then on I knew I had to work for UPS some day, to experience being the critical front line worker.

Until you “live the brand,” as I did, you are really taking other people’s word for how they feel. You cannot apprehend what it feels like to work acertain job unless you are wearing the uniform and living by the rules of a given employer. The subtle, or not so subtle, changes you feel when you put on a uniform and undergo training are extremely informative. For example, the feelings I had when I first changed into a brown UPS uniform and gazed at my reflection in the locker-room mirror were the kind of feelings you could not replicate by simply interviewing UPS workers about their jobs. (I tried doing so.) Subtle shifts are simply not apparent unless you are trying to be extremely observant, as I was.

2. It sounds like you did a bit of a Morgan Spurlock for this, explain how you approached researching the project?

Morgan Spurlock did a great job of being the ultimate customer of McDonald's. My goal was similar, but different: I wanted to be an employee at five or six companies in the retail space where I could be the face of those companies. I first worked at UPS and then applied at a dozen other companies that I chose based on my personal relationship to them, their popularity in business circles, and their prevalence in the commercial landscape. I applied for and was hired for five jobs in the retail sector and went on to work undercover over the course of two years.

3. Were the companies aware of your plans?

No, definitely not. My project hinged on my working at the various jobs in a completely unfettered and unadulterated manner. I wanted to live the life of an average employee and feel what it was like to wear the particular uniform of a company, train in the way an employee is trained, and then work directly with customers. I knew that if anyone knew of my plans, that the pure qualities of my experience would be compromised. And certainly I did not feel that any company would trust me enough to allow me to proceed with my project if I had asked for permission at the outset.

4. Do you feel brands are missing an opportunity at the front-lines of service and what can they do about it?

Yes, definitely many companies leave a lot to be desired when it comes to the experience on the front lines of service. When you think about it, this interaction--between customer and employee--is everything. This interaction carries the most weight in the minds of customers, but still most companies botch it by hiring the wrong people, training them poorly, and/or not giving their people the tools they need to do their jobs. Companies need to think creatively about these very areas: How can they better attract and hire the best people? How can they create places that employees want to work? These types of considerations do wonders for that critical customer/employee interaction.

5. Do you think Americans have given up on service?

Yes, many Americans have given up on service by finding ways around even needing service. Gas stations are self-run retail engagements. Every time you shop online you are avoiding going to a store and confronting what is often a poor service experience. At the same time, people tend to flock to those few stores or companies where service is strong (The Apple Store, JetBlue, etc.). Unfortunately, though, in many cases we are prisoners to poor service by having no better options.

6. Can you imagine a time when everything is self-service- from the grocery store to the Apple store and won't that just be better for everyone?

Yes and no. There are many consumer experiences that can be improved through automation. When things like self-checkout at Home Depot tend to work, they are great for customers and companies. But now, more than ever, people are increasingly a strong strategic weapon companies use to attract customers, people are often more important than the service or product a company is selling. In recent years many companies have realized how critical their people are in terms of presenting a cohesive experience for customers.

7. A few months ago, there was a trend of people posting videos on YouTube that showed shoddy looking stores and rats at fast food chains- do you think the thought that everyone potentially has a camera, is keeping retail brands on their toes?

What I found is that the top-notch retailers--places I worked such as Starbucks and The Apple Store--have fairly sophisticated feedback loops firmly in place so that these types of rats-in-the-kitchen surprises just don't happen very often. Starbucks has a team of roving quality control technicians that come into the stores unannounced and order drinks. They measure things like the weight and temperature of a latte and time their buying experience. Not a whole lot is left up to chance by the companies that value quality control.

Posted by Ed Cotton