Etcetera
Tim Hyer — 13 November 2007
As of 30 days ago, I am Cheskin’s newest employee. Like many things in my life, I can’t help but feel I got here through pure serendipity. I mean, I’ve always been drawn to the idea of innovation, but I could never quite put my finger on why. As a college student, I paired studies in the visual arts with marketing management because I subconsciously saw correlations between the two. To me, it was essential for business to be creative and for design to be strategic. But aside from the distinction thesis I submitted senior year, I had no idea what that meant in the real world.
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Denise Klarquist — 5 February 2007
In this morning's Monday Morning Must Read, courtesy of Core77, one of B.L. Ochman's 12 Tenents of Social Media Marketing was highlighted, ...
V. Thy communications must pass the "who cares?" test
Abandon ye all communications that are long-winded, formulaic, boring as hell, and laden with superlatives and marketing babble.
Write down your concept in one sentence. Then ask yourself, and answer honestly, "So what?" If it still sounds like a good idea, proceed to rewrite it, over and over, until it has not one extra word.
I hold this close to my heart and use it every chance I get. But it's much easier said than done.
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Miguel Gomez Winebrenner — 4 January 2007
On a recent holiday trip to Europe my wife and I experienced a technical glitch aboard one of the Eurail trains, which was handled in a way that ended up reminding me of a conference where I learned how kids can help calibrate our leadership skills.
First of all, I believe the train system in Europe is fairly decent, and I’m not exactly sure what caused the trouble, but as the train came to a stop all of the attendants/operators huddled together and were discussing how to solve the problem. We couldn’t understand all too well, but it was clear that they were trying to organize each other and assign responsibilities. However, they were over-analyzing the problem, to the point where nothing was actually being done to solve the issue. In America, we could refer to this as too many cooks in the kitchen. The problem was finally solved, but it reminded me of something I learned at a forum a few years ago.
Specifically, it reminded me of a leadership forum organized by NAMIC where we learned about leadership from the way kids rationalize certain things. In order to get to this point, the forum leader asked us four questions (that are routinely asked by child psychologists):
1. How do you get a giraffe into a refrigerator?
2. How do you get an elephant into the refrigerator?
3. The Lion King is hosting a huge party for all the Animal Kingdom, and everyone’s invited. But, one animal does not show up- what animal does not show up?
4. There’s a small river that is usually infested by deadly crocodiles, and you need to cross it. How do you get across?
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Keren Solomon — 31 October 2006
After 8 months at Cheskin, today is the first day that I’m not staffed on a project. So it’s a good day to blog and to reflect on my experiences to date.
Cheskin is a very interesting place. The more I learn about our projects and our people, the more curious and engaged I become. There is a huge talent pool here, in terms of both research and life experiences.
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LiAnne Yu — 20 September 2006
Congratulations to Renee at Down the Avenue for recently surpassing her 2000th post!
I can personally connect to her musings in the entry “Pen to Paper or Blog”. Although typing and blogging are so much more immediate and ‘fresh’ than taking the time to write things out in longhand, “the return to a notebook from time to time can be both rewarding and refreshing.” When I have a lot to think through or I've just had a particularly vivid dream, I still reach for my journal and favorite pen by the side of my bed. Reaching for my laptop just doesn't seem right.
And thanks Renee for the kind words regarding our recently published book, China’s New Culture of Cool.
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Lee Shupp — 5 May 2006
A very interesting thing is happening in the virtual worlds of online gaming: virtual currency is being exchanged for real dollars as virtual goods and services are bought and sold online. Several good articles on this phenonenon have appeared over the past week: Business Week's cover article on Second Life, and Cool News' posting Monday on the first ATM that converts virtual dollars into real money. (Players of Entropia can now covert 10 PEDs, or Project Entropia Dollars, to one US dollar, and that US dollar can be downloaded from an ATM.)
If you earn virtual dollars online, you can now exchange them for cold hard cash! What is going on here?
What is the future of virtual currency?
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Davis Masten — 20 April 2006
“I wish you the decency and nobility of which you are capable.”
Jonathan Daniels said this years ago in his college graduation speech. Jonathan, sometime later, gave his life stepping in front of a shotgun blast directed at an African-American woman in Alabama. He had gone to Selma at the call of Dr. King.
Jonathan’s words and behavior are alive and well with me; as they are with my friend Cabell Brand, who pointed out the words to me. And now, I hope, with you.
Thank you Jonathan.
Denise Klarquist — 3 January 2006
I love the new year – a chance to look at what was accomplished… and what wasn’t; what worked… and what didn’t. It’s the opportunity to course correct, build on success and start fresh with a renewed sense of what’s possible.
We’re fortunate that we’re starting out of the gates with great momentum – a new website (please feel free to take a look around) and a new book (on store shelves in a few days). Like a good race strategy though, the key will be in a careful plan and a moderated pace that will keep us on track and not too burned out before the end.
However, I don’t believe in slow and steady wins the race either. You have to make room for spontaneity and unforeseen opportunities – that’s where you learn and that’s what makes it all fun. So what is Cheskin making room for in marketing this year?
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Davis Masten — 19 December 2005
I was staggered the other day when I heard Intel's Chairman Craig Barret say that 90% of the products his company delivers on December 31st did not even exist on January 1st of the same year. Wow! A company that huge moving that fast. I would hate to compete with Intel.
P&G has also accelerated. Take a look at Tide, for instance. Tide has quickened the pace of new product introductions from Tide with Febreeze to Tide Cold Water to Tide with a touch of Downy to products that add devices or implements like Tide Buzz, Tide To Go, Tide Stainbrush and Tide Kick. They have changed the rules they wrote in the detergent business and are forcing their competitors to accelerate their pace or fade away.
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Denise Klarquist — 22 September 2005
As I write this, I’m on vacation sitting in a friend’s apartment in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Over the past 2 weeks I’ve been struck by how small the world is and yet how different its nuances.
For instance, today I was in Liberdade, a section of Sao Paulo populated by generations of Japanese immigrants where sushi bars and Sanrio knockoffs line the latern covered streets. As I was buying a coffee flask made in China from a Japanese man speaking Portuguese, my assembled in Mexico cell phone rang with a call from my car repair shop in San Francisco letting me know that my tires had arrived for my German made car.
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Jennifer Gray — 19 September 2005
Criticism. I think it's a delicious form of feedback.
I'll admit it's an aquired taste and like avocados or sushi or chocolate, there are times when I'm in the mood for it and times when I'm not. I receive one bit of criticism over and over again. Yes, I'm good. Yes, I add value. But there's this one little thing standing in the way of greatness.
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Christopher Ireland — 13 September 2005
Cheskin is fortunate enough to work with some of the finest people around. As evidence of this, I'd like to publically acknowledge the recent generousity of our friends at Sun, Mattson, Method and salt.
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Leigh Marriner — 12 September 2005
There is an interesting shift afoot in the PC industry. Google wants to bring consumers into its ecosystem as soon as they open their PC, and completely bypass the Windows desktop ecosystem. In this model, the PC and Windows are just a conduit to the web, necessary only to manage the hardware and peripherals, and Google is akin to an internet operating system. Google is following an integrated model offering many services in one place (not unlike what Microsoft did with Office on the PC) so a home PC user can do most of what they want to do from the Google platform. Google uses each of its services to promote its other services – search, mail, blog, social networking, photo management, shopping, TV and movies, etc.
Handling photos is a good example. Consumers are confused over what software to use to save, edit, organize and print their photos. Google offers Picasa for free and positions it as the place to start when downloading digital photos. Then consumers can use Hello to photo-share and chat, or Blogger, or attach a photo to an email. Google may be able to monetize this consumer traffic by passing consumers on to printing sites for a share of revenue, plus they get advertising revenue on their site based on number of eyeballs.
This scenario could end with consumer’s primary emotional attachment and brand identification on the PC being with Google. Will we see a $200 Google PC that accesse the web, supports email and IM, manages photos, schedules and online shopping and integrates with your mobile phone?
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Darrel Rhea — 6 September 2005
I spent the long Labor Day weekend reading a multitude of business and economic publications and watching major corporate advertising on mainstream TV…and am shaking my head today as I come back to the office. Even after decades of aggressive competition in the market and an increasing consciousness among executives and entrepreneurs about what creates demand, it is surprising that so many just don’t get it right. Despite a general recognition that what does work is to offer products that have greater value for customers – that is, that the products deliver meaningful experiences to them -- corporations often get side tracked by focusing too heavily on creating internal value. Yes, corporate initiatives such as leveraging technology, core systems, supply chains, financial structures, alliances, channel partners, etc., are important for strengthening a company. But initiatives like these hardly provide the incremental innovation needed to keep up with a demanding customer base much less create the breakthrough innovations required to be a market leader.
Part of the work that we do here at Cheskin that I am most passionate about is helping companies learn and apply processes for innovation that counts: creating customer value through meaning. As mentioned in my latest BusinessWeek Online article “Understanding Why People Buy,” it’s not a new concept – but one that begs exploration and systemization in new ways. No doubt you’ll be seeing more comments about that here.
Christopher Ireland — 4 September 2005
David Brooks knows America. The conservative NY Times columnist, PBS pundit, and author of Bobo's in Paradise, has consistently demonstrated an ability to understand the deepest motivations of the country's citizens and accurately predict their behavior. In his column today, which recounts the utter failure of the government's initial response to Hurricane Katrina, he predicts,
"Katrina means that the political culture, already sour and bloody-minded in many quarters, will shift. There will be a reaction. There will be more impatience for something new. There is going to be some sort of big bang as people respond to the cumulative blows of bad events and try to fundamentally change the way things are."
I've been too horrified and anguished by what I saw this week to comment in a blog, but David's column made me think about the cultural change this disaster will prompt. I agree with his assessment of the public's reaction. When government makes us mad, we argue and complain. But when it makes us feel ashamed of ourselves, we change it. More importantly, we change the conditions that spawned it.
There are a number of ways I think people and culture in the US will change in response to what happened in New Orleans and the surrounding area. Here's a few:
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Darrel Rhea — 1 September 2005
I have been listening to NPR by day and watching CNN at night, observing the unfolding of the horror in the South wreaked by Katrina. The stories that the reporters have been telling often border on the incredulous. Despite the constant barrage of information and images, sometimes I am almost in denial about it all —could this be happening here? And to our own people? Clearly there are whole cities and towns completely wiped out…and those inhabitants and visitors who have survived are suffering horrifically.
Thanks to an email I received from United Mileage Plus today, I was jogged into remembering that I needed to donate to the relief efforts now underway. I did so immediately, responding by going to the American Red Cross. Some firms are giving in-kind goods, such as Anheuser-Busch donating 825,000 cans of water to the Red Cross. It’s encouraging to see that some outpouring of help is starting to build. I’ve begun noticing other online links to donation sites, such as on the homepages of A9, Amazon and Google. After surfing around, it’s clear that many online retailers and even news organizations aren’t on the bandwagon yet – we all could put up a link on our homepage reminding people that we need to support the victims now, with a link to an appropriate service organization. You can at least click on one of them right here: AmeriCares and Operation USA. Do it now.
Jennifer Gray — 1 September 2005
I haven’t been able to get my arms around the level of disaster caused by Hurricane Katrina. I scoffed at news reports of a Category 5 hurricane and the urgency to evacuate. How many of these ‘supposed’ disasters do we hear about, only to find out it wasn’t as bad as anticipated? I thought the news programs were just trying to rile us up during the slow month of August. Normally I get a little adrenaline rush from an impending disaster and find myself watching more news than usual. Not this time. I was gonna rise above it and not get pulled in by the dire predictions. Even after the storm hit, I knowingly nodded as I heard the storm was downgraded to a Category 3.
Watching TV, I still didn’t quite ‘get’ the magnitude. I watched looters and got irritated. I figured it was like Loma Prieta and surely they were just showing us the small ‘pockets’ of town that were damaged. I’m not sure what it was, but the disaster just didn’t register for me. This morning, I picked up the Chronicle and read.
“Chaos gripped New Orleans on Wednesday….and officials said there was no choice but to abandon the city devastated by Hurricane Katrina, perhaps for months.”
I’m not sure why that hit me the way it did. Abandon the city? New Orleans? The town where I saw my good friend Anne get married; the place where I was fortunate to spend a blurry weekend with Chris fueled by Hurricanes and great music before he died suddenly two weeks later; the place where I feuded with my sister and didn’t speak for months after; the place where I’ve heard great music simply by wandering through a dark doorway? New Orleans. Abandoned? For months?
It’s finally hit me. I watched the news with a different understanding and read the paper with a new curiosity. These people need our help. I donated through MercyCorps. Please think about the people throughout the four states whose lives have been turned upside down. If you can help, please do so. Select a charity that works for you and do what you can. There are an infinite number of possibilities listed on the internet.
Darrel Rhea — 2 August 2005
Because our work was profiled in Malcolm Gladwell’s book, “Blink,” it generates a lot of questions for me on a weekly basis. It makes sense to comment on how “thin slicing” connects to the reality of shoppers making buy decisions on packaged goods. (For tips on how to deal with the retail experience overload, see my previous blog, “Mastering the Grocery Shopping Experience.”) People base their buying decisions on a strong feeling they get which isn’t necessarily rational but usually justified on some levels. The feeling that drives their decision is intuition, and what Gladwell calls “thin slicing” – but it’s not always right, just as any subjective opinion isn’t always right.
Why do we thin slice in the store? People do it out of self defense, simply because there’s so much stimuli in any retail environment that it virtually impedes shoppers from operating rationally. After all, most stores carry between 25,000 and 40,000 separate products, each with multiple packages. If you attempted to consciously “see” even a fraction of those, you would experience mental overload! --your brain would slow to a crawl and you would vulnerable to predators (like those old ladies with shopping carts that might run you over). It’s an evolutionary coping mechanism.
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Denise Klarquist — 27 June 2005
I'm getting back into managing our Cheskin blog so the pressure is on to refocus on what's new in the blogosphere. I've just spent the last couple hours browsing new places and visiting some old faves. I'd forgotten how useful and how distracting blogs can be.
I was very happy to see that Dina Mehta whom I had the pleasure to meet a few years ago, was given an honorable mention in the AO/Technorati Open Media 100. The list is quite impressive as is Dina's blog. She very much deserves the honor.
I also found that John Porcaro has been having the same problems as me when it comes to keeping up with blogging. But his most recent blog on Microsoft's CMG was insightful and very relevant to the work we do with that group.
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Darrel Rhea — 25 June 2005
Recently Ed Batista and I traded emails on Malcolm Gladwell's Blink – specifically Gladwell’s positioning of focus groups as a "a tax on revolutionary ideas.” Batista asked my take on Gladwell’s comment on focus groups as being detrimental to innovation. My reply was that market research has already evolved beyond where Malcolm is talking about it. Focus groups are an easy target because they are misused and over used. There will be 950,000 focus groups conducted in the world this year, and yes, some real atrocities will result from some misapplications of a perfectly good methodology. But that is only one method used in research, and there are plenty of others that do a great job of informing designers and the design process. Cheskin’s been making speeches about this since the early 80’s.
Contrary to Ed’s POV, Malcolm doesn’t pose a stiff challenge to traditional techniques. What he posed instead is a challenge to the mindless application of one specific technique by clients who demand focus groups – and an industry of researchers who don’t know better. The reality is we evolved a highly sophisticated design research practice decades ago, using ethnography and a host of other tools proven to be effective and fully endorsed by design innovators.
You don’t use focus groups to evaluate revolutionary ideas. They can provide context for them. They can facilitate the generation of them. This is old news now getting broad exposure, but better late than never. That’s Gladwell’s welcomed contribution.
Gary Feldman — 23 June 2005
My last blog talked about the entertainment industry—specifically theatre and cinema owners—worrying about the potential simultaneous release of films on DVD and in theatres, and how they are not recognizing an opportunity to innovate the movie-going experience.
Last week “Batman Begins” grossed $47 million at the box office but still couldn’t pull Hollywood out of its worst slump in 20 years. Even blockbusters aren’t enough.
So what is?
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Christopher Ireland — 23 June 2005
OK, I admit it. I'm in love with another man. Despite the headache this may cause me at home, the adoration I have for Thomas Friedman is beginning to take on signs of true romance. Granted, he doesn't know I exist, but he sends chills up my spine nonetheless.
His NY Times column is always my first read on Sunday. I loved The Lexus and the Olive Tree which gave great insights on globalization, and his latest book, The World is Flat, (a deadly accurate assessment of global competition and innovation in the coming decades), simply knocked me out.
This is not an adolescent infatuation. He's a pleasant-looking guy, but his biceps have nothing on his brain. What really does it for me is how boldly he thinks--and that he has the courage to speak loudly and decisively. Like his June 17 NY Times column titled "As Toyota Goes"...
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Darrel Rhea — 16 June 2005
Recently my son asked me to read an article in Discover Magazine , on the positive effects of video gaming. My concerns as a parent of a preteen (and several post-teens) about the effects of popular culture on youth influence many of my decisions about allowable activities, or duration of participation. Maybe, according to the many studies cited and various writers’ testimonials in Discover, gaming actually does have positive effects on shaping cognitive thinking -- and perhaps I should view gaming as important to shaping my son’s critical thinking as, say, reading or joining the debate team.
It seems that the addictive nature of games (the good ones) occurs not only because they are entertaining, but because they are challenging to the gamer at the appropriate level every step along the way, thereby taking the gamer to his/her point of “Flow” or what cognitive psychologists termed “regime of competence.” This is a core principal of learning: as the gamer (learner) becomes more proficient, the activity, characters and subcontext become more complex and rewarding.
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Denise Klarquist — 7 June 2005
I just ran across the new Inside Market Research blog by Gregory Kohs. I’m flattered he listed us on his site (thanks Gregory!). I’ll be curious to see how his site evolves given that he’s cut a wide swath from survey research to consulting, where Cheskin characterizes itself (though certainly grounded in customer experience).
While public opinion surveys and their results are quite fun (my guess for the missing cat names are Tiger and Shadow… am I close??), my interest lies in the insights within the results. What do these names really say about cat lovers?
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Darrel Rhea — 5 June 2005
As I fly high over Utah this Sunday morning, I’m experiencing one of those rare moments of solitude that pop up while traveling. Beautiful skies, clouds, landscape, and some great music on the headphones. How lucky I am to be flying 500 miles an hour in an aluminum tube, miles high and watching the sun play on Earth’s cloud formations.
It is so easy to keep my head down and plow through my day, and close myself off to the beauty that surrounds me. And it is so hard to stop, tune-in and sense what is happening around me, and then re-evaluate if what I am doing matches up with my environment. I go on to the next thing, not necessarily the next right thing.
While that might sound like a “stop and smell the roses” theme, it is really something much more important. The ability to see one’s situation in an open way, calibrate one’s perceptions/preconceptions and take action is a core trait of a survivor. I don’t just mean a survivor of an emergency situation, but a survivor of life. People who are successful and thrive in life have the ability to get off autopilot and really notice the reality of their situation, and then take responsibility for acting appropriately.
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Christopher Ireland — 31 May 2005
Over the last year, I've concentrated a significant amount of my time on training. When you have an organization like Cheskin that constantly responds to market changes, ongoing training is not a luxury. Without it, we'd quickly become chaotic and disorganized.
Initially, I approached this task with some reluctance because I thought of training in traditional terms: mundane, repetitive, the realm of grey-haired ladies in crisp white shirts. I like crisp white shirts, but everything else had to go.
I'm no longer reluctant. In fact, I actually enjoy our training sessions now. For good reason...
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Darrel Rhea — 7 May 2005
Cheskin is big on collaboration, and we are always looking for new ways to enhance our communications. That’s why I took notice when the people who run Sun Labs showed off two of their new products to me at Sun Labs Day. Given that Sun has invested over $8 billion in research over the last 4 years on the coolest future technology, getting an invite to this small event is a privilege. To call their open house (held at the Computer History Museum) a “geek fest” is an understatement. I found myself in conversations about metacircularity, acoustic resonance spectrometry, and squawk technology. (It should go without saying that I understood nothing about these, but used the opportunity to refine my intelligent, sincere nod –- it’s all in the eyebrows.)
The first was “Office Central.” The goal of this system is to provide remote workers some of the social advantages that workers in a central location enjoy.
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David Sapoznikow — 29 April 2005
The "Presidential $1 Coin Act" passed our House of Representatives this week by a bipartisan-happy margin of 422 to 6. Perhaps this conjures images of Nero fiddling - with all the problems in the world, our government has decided to spend time and resources on a tried-and-true failure for an amazing THIRD time.
Not so fast. I would bet you a Susan B. Anthony and a Sacagawea dollar that this will be a great success - even if you never see the new dollar coin. It's all thanks to the most basic marketing principle: know your audience.
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Darrel Rhea — 26 April 2005
Cheskin is full of great people who are committed to performing with excellence in their job, but one stellar example is Terri Gubi. Terri understands intuitively what the Cheskin experience should be and has expanded her role to be instrumental in delivering it. Almost everyone in Cheskin’s community interacts with Terri daily; she’s a central touch point for all of our clients and our internal teams.
Terri asked that her title be changed from “Receptionist” to “Concierge” because she defines her role to be about serving us. When you call or visit, Terri is the competent, compassionate human being ready to help you do what is needed. She runs a tight ship, keeping track of approximately 85 people on a day to day basis, but always has smiles and friendly words.
If there's a world event that puts one of our travelers in danger, Terri is the one who arrives at work already knowing where that person is, if they're safe, and who in their family needs to be contacted. Clients? Terri knows all of them. Projects? She knows about most of them too. Need a restaurant in the area? Terri’s got your reservations. Birthdays? Babies? Illness? Terri's on it.
Every now and then, companies are given a gift in the form of an 'employee' who gives their heart, soul and brain to the company. Our gift is Terri Gubi, Concierge.
Christopher Ireland — 22 April 2005
Usually you see the phrase "style and performance" in the description of a sports car. But I immediately think of the women at Cheskin. Why? Because the vast majority of females at Cheskin are both exceptionally skilled in business and comfortable expressing their interpretation of femininity.
I suppose this is expected by some, but I when I attended B-school in the early 80's, I had to sit through a class titled "Dress for Success" that taught me to downplay feminine inclinations (and wear a small bow around my neck, kind of like a pampered cat). You won't find any women wearing bowties or behaving like pampered cats at Cheskin. You also won't find them pretending to be men.
What you will find...
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Maria Flores Letelier — 14 April 2005
There has been much interest in capturing the billions of consumers in emerging markets in recent years. A commonly cited statistic is that there are 4 billion people making less than US$1500 per year worldwide.
The “bottom of the pyramid” appears to offer great potential for market expansion for many companies. In Mexico, there are 45 million earning less than $200/month. Of the over 35 million Latinos in the US, at least 10 million are underserved. Of those that are banked in the US, many have one checking account with less than $500 average balances.
The current thinking takes into account more than just the pure size of the market; many leading experts have pointed out that disposable income among the poor is the same as that of middle income segments.
After many years of helping companies penetrate transitional markets, I am convinced that the opportunities are huge. However, there are some serious differences that must be considered, as well as some common sense myths that must be dispelled.
The most common challenge I have witnessed for companies is to assume that customers in emerging economies have practices for being customers. To be a customer assumes an ability to enter into a transactional exchange where the terms of engagement are clear for both sides of the agents in a transaction. A common mistake for companies is to try to sell their products to the local distribution channels, small mom and pop shops often operated out of someone’s living room, and assume that these entrepreneurs desire to grow their business and accumulate wealth as a matter of fact. On the consumer side, the same mistake is made. Companies assume it to be obvious that a consumer will want to “consolidate debt” or receive discounts for bulk purchases. The assumption is that all human beings behave according to the principle of rational optimization of personal utility. The problem is that this principle assumes that someone lives in a transactional world with transactional practices, as modern customers do. It assumes that people understand what it means to be a modern day customer.
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Davis Masten — 10 April 2005
I am Thomas Friedman fan. His new premise that the world is flat both excites me and frightens me. The premise is simple. In the flat world, competition is abundant and those countries like China and India want to move from products that say Made in China to Designed in China. Essentially, the USA as the world’s innovation engine is soon to be challenged like never before. The American way of life has not been as endangered since the beginning of the cold war.
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Darrel Rhea — 8 April 2005
Two days ago, the NY Times reported that Taco Bell finally caved to a four-year boycott by a group that represents farm workers in Southern Florida to increase the wages of migrant workers and impose a tough code of conduct on Florida tomato suppliers. A senior VP of Yum Brands, which owns Taco Bell– not to mention Pizza Hut, A&W All American Food Restaurants and Long John Silver's – cited a case for “human rights” and that now under Taco Bell’s new labor rules "indentured servitude by suppliers is strictly forbidden."
This is admirable corporate conduct. It is encouraging to think that a behemoth fast food company finally cares about human rights and quality of life for the workers that supply them with product. What I think we have here is a traditional corporate player who wouldn’t normally get involved in migrant labor issues but is now realizing the importance of the Hispanic segment of their market.
From a marketing perspective, Yum is demonstrating serious brand leadership by expressing ethics and values from the point of view of its customers, not just from the point of view of management. It will be interesting to watch how Yum manages the PR on this action, and if this approach spreads to other parts of their organization.
Darrel Rhea — 8 April 2005
Two days ago, the NY Times reported that Taco Bell finally caved to a four-year boycott by a group that represents farm workers in Southern Florida to increase the wages of migrant workers and impose a tough code of conduct on Florida tomato suppliers. A senior VP of Yum Brands, which owns Taco Bell– not to mention Pizza Hut, A&W All American Food Restaurants and Long John Silver's – cited a case for “human rights” and that now under Taco Bell’s new labor rules "indentured servitude by suppliers is strictly forbidden."
This is admirable corporate conduct. It is encouraging to think that a behemoth fast food company finally cares about human rights and quality of life for the workers that supply them with product. What I think we have here is a traditional corporate player who wouldn’t normally get involved in migrant labor issues but is now realizing the importance of the Hispanic segment of their market.
From a marketing perspective, Yum is demonstrating serious brand leadership by expressing ethics and values from the point of view of its customers, not just from the point of view of management. It will be interesting to watch how Yum manages the PR on this action, and if this approach spreads to other parts of their organization.
Davis Masten — 6 April 2005
I just finished a customer satisfaction call from SBC about a service we activated recently at home. Five minutes into the call about how our home was wired/wireless (much of which was with SBC already and they could have just looked), I asked what the benefit was to me that I give them all of this information.
She said “It’s just a survey!” As if this innocuous technique gave them the rights to my personal behavior. She later went onto say it would help them sell us bundles of services in the future. Let’s see, I give them my information so they can make my relationship more meaningful. Nice idea in theory but would they be able to do this in reality?
My primary experience of SBC is one of sales calls three days a week mostly on things that we have already signed up for or for things we have rejected. They are proof positive that their right hand does not know what their left hand is doing. I gracefully got off the call early because I do not trust SBC to be able to get their act together and actually act in my best interest. Customer satisfaction is more than just a survey.
Darrel Rhea — 20 March 2005
Recently one of my colleagues wrote a fairly scathing review of Blink, Malcolm Gladwell’s newest tome after The Tipping Point. While I agree with some of her concerns about the conclusions people may take away from it in terms of unfounded or unfair snap judgments, I find that much of my work (many thousands of research studies) confirms his premise that people process visual information rapidly and on an unconscious level. In fact, his work echoes Cheskin's pioneering work a half a century ago. Blink will likely become Gladwell’s newest contribution to Twenty-first Century cultural idiomatics. But that doesn’t mean that rapid conclusions are always correct, or even that it is a good way to make decisions. Hence, the broad and deep customer studies proffered by Cheskin -- which do, in fact, support well-founded decisions that drive many millions of dollars into wise investment or away from product and brand concepts that would otherwise clearly fail.
Unfortunately, while many businesses do invest in the type of sophisticated research it takes to predict success, not all do—and not all take the advice that they pay for either. And sometimes, they fall prey to their own blinking, such as the failure of New Coke, which Gladwell discusses in Blink based on his interview of Davis Masten and me (most of which is paraphrased in the book).
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Jennifer Gray — 14 March 2005
Every Monday we meet to review the prior week's new projects and figure out what new projects are coming in the door. We also laud someone with the "Best Written Proposal of the Week", and a new learning is shared from each group.
It was a small group today so I opened our "Out of Office" calendar. Here's where Cheskinites are today:
Moscow, India, China, Chicago, Milan, Los Angeles, New Jersey, the 'East Bay',
Washington D.C., San Antonio, Baltimore, Bangalore, Frankfurt
Bear in mind -- we're not flying into corners near and far and sitting in a meeting or attending a conference of our peers. We're hitting the streets, invited into the homes and businesses of people all over the world, watching and learning. Now that's perspective.
Davis Masten — 9 March 2005
My wife, Christopher and I have been going to TED since TED 3. When we were TED Virgins, our world was rocked! New worlds were revealed. More recently, we have been energized into taking action. For instance, Christopher came back from TED a couple of years ago and started blogging. It was very edgy and the NY Times covered her in an article “CEOs that blog”.
This year, as usual, I met some wonderful people and saw lots of old friends. While I loved learning more about Biomimicry; drumming under the full moon on the beach in a drumming circle led by Mickey Hart; running in the Nike 5k; being inspired by Bono to make the world a better place; chatting with Dr. James Watson about his latest work at Cold Springs Harbor and other such notable experiences, the thing that shows up in my everyday life the most is how I tie my shoes.
TED gave a chance for members of the audience to have 3 minutes to share something with their fellow TEDsters. One of these brave souls got up and told us how most of us tie our shoes incorrectly. With all due respect to my dearly departed parents, they taught me to loop to the right and circle the knot on the left. What I am now teaching my 11 year old is to loop on the left and cross over on the right.
You never know from TED what will stay with you.
Davis Masten — 9 March 2005
In the March/April issue of Foreign Affairs, Niall Ferguson lays out a thought provoking case in his article “Is Globalization Doomed?”. He draws parallels between the conditions now and 1914. He claims that although the writing was on the wall, few were able to recognize it, much less take action. This reminded me of a set of management interviews I did back in the early 80’s. I was doing a project for the Chairman of Atari where we interviewed over 70 senior managers. Only one person had a clue
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Christopher Ireland — 14 February 2005
I don't know what I like more about musicians: that they seem to be completely color-blind; that they actually seek out and revere strong women; that they have an innate sense of good taste in nearly everything; or that they are masters of creating relevant, memorable and meaningful experiences.
If you had the pleasure of watching the Grammy's Sunday night, you have full proof of this. The range of artists was stunning and the music was so good, I had to keep hopping onto iTunes and buying more songs. Influenced by both the words and the delivery, I found myself swearing to be happier, vowing to live life to the fullest, and promising to take those Salsa lessons this year. It's a rare TV show that can make you say "I wish I was there"--but that's exactly how I felt. Highlights?
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Felipe Korzenny — 8 February 2005
Being Hispanic in the United States was not "cool" in the 50's, 60's, and 70's. We were punished for speaking Spanish in school, and looked down upon for speaking Spanish at work or almost anywhere. There was a stigma associated with being different and poor.
Marketers could not see any reason to approach a "niche" market like that. In the 70's the US Bureau of the Census needed to come up with a scheme that would aggregate people of Latin American origin in the US. That was mainly for political reasons, but an unprecedented effort. After the 1980, Census found that there were 10 million Hispanics in the US that decade was pronounced "The Decade of Hispanics." All of a sudden Hispanics had a political identity as a group. Little did we know that the power of Hispanics would come not just from politics but also, in a major way, from the economic sphere.
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Davis Masten — 13 January 2005
Words can not describe the depth of the tragedy of the Tsunami. Over time, it will rebuild…
As the long process of reconstruction happens my hunch is that new technology will be commonplace. It is not hard to imagine a rebuilt world where the hotels all have communication devices. These small waterproof devices could be given to each person as they check in and can go with each person everywhere they go – swimming, water skiing, scuba diving or dancing. These local communication devices could tie together every member of the family with low power walkie talkies, connect everyone to emergency broadcasts and provide GPS for transactional purposes. These could come in the form of necklaces, wristbands, headbands or earrings. The impression would be more one of fashionable go any where communication devices with location and emergency functionality than a straight reminder that people are vacationing in the land of earthquakes and tsunami.
However reconstruction happens I suspect that the infrastructure will be more up to date there than here in Silicon Valley in the next 5-10 years.
Lisa Leckie — 12 January 2005
“Thin slicing” is the subject of Malcolm Gladwell’s highly awaited new book – Blink. In it, he says that thin slicing is a new kind of rapid cognition – an intelligent way of filtering through your perceptions and understanding of something. “Getting it” in the blink of an eye. Paying attention to what really matters only, as opposed to waiting for all the data to come in before you act on it.
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Denise Klarquist — 12 January 2005
In my role at Cheskin leading Operations, I receive an intense amount of information, and share a lot as well. I often wonder what our limit is for information stimulation. When does too much information become a bad thing?
This weekend I watched Jacques Tati's M. Hulot's Holiday from 1953 and immediately after saw the Bourne Supremacy (I know - it was a weird night). The 2 films couldn't have contrasted more - Hulot was simple, quiet and allowed me to explore the nuances of the scenes. Bourne bombarded me with action, dialog, 10 cuts in 5 seconds. No chance to catch the nuance. All I could do was react and try to keep up. Hulot's Holiday allowed me the space to create connections, imagine, anticipate and look (rather than watch). Bourne grabbed my attention but didn't give me a minute to think.
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— 7 January 2005
When I’m thirsty... I Wanna....Odwalla. When I’m with friends….I wanna ....Odwalla. When I’m buying my sandwich at the deli at the checkout….I wanna Odwalla. So this got me to thinking - why do I always wanna ......Odwalla?
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Denise Klarquist — 23 December 2004
Last night when I pulled up in front of my house in Potrero Hill, I was confronted with about half a dozen kids shouting to each other as they stretched a chain of construction paper links down the block. One girl with clear leadership potential stood at the corner yelling orders to her cohorts. Another ran down the block with a stapler, ready for emergency repairs.
A gang of shouting children isn’t something that's heard on a regular basis at 7pm. I soon learned from the boy that let me pass over the chain to my front door, that it took eight kids two and half hours to create the 3-block long paper chain. It stretched from Goat Hill Pizza on one corner, encircling the block to Chatz Coffee on the corner just below it.
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Gary Feldman — 20 December 2004
The internet has enabled many companies and brands to innovate and raise the bar when it comes to the "customer experience." Amazon pioneered predictive "cross-selling" with personalized recommendations, Barnes & Noble offers same-day delivery from your screen to your door, the list goes on.
When comes to the "service" part of the customer experience, the promise was that email and live chat technology would allow companies to provide a higher, quicker level of service at even lower costs. Sometimes that's true.
Unfortunately, too many companies focus on the technology and not the actual experience someone has trying to communicate with them.
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— 1 December 2004
In his October article on Design Research, Andrew Zolli limits the interpretation of design to aesthetics and design research to designographics. In addition, he advocates that design research needs to be reinvented. In fact, there are many firms who currently utilize techniques and methodologies that yield rich and innovative design solutions through their craft.
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Christopher Ireland — 3 November 2004
We tell our clients repeatedly, "Don't count on changing people's behavior. Even if you have buckets of money. It takes time and/or motivation--not money."
If you read my blog yesterday on the election and the hope that a youth vote would change its behavior and show up to vote, you probably understand why I'm reminding myself of this truism. According to the San Jose Merc, "Many of the people Kerry expected to show - college students and other young people - never made it to the polls. Exit polling for The Associated Press found only one out of seven voters was age 18-29."
Maybe next time.
— 1 November 2004
I was visiting with an old friend I hadn't seen in a while. The conversation meandered to work and they asked how long I had been with Cheskin and how well I liked it.
As I replied after counting on my fingers that it had been 4 months,and that yes, I was very happy. I was somewhat surprised. It felt like I had been with the company longer.
Why? Because in 4 months I have been intimately involved in really great projects that have taken me around globe and I have been challenged to work on stimulating brand problems with talented colleagues.
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David Sapoznikow — 31 October 2004
If you're a fan of politics or the National Football League, you've may have heard of the correlation between the result of the final Washington Redskins game before a presidential election and the fate of the incumbent party. In case you haven't, here's the upshot: when the Redskins win their last game before the presidential election, the incumbent party wins the election; when they lose, the challenger's nominee acquires an alabaster address. This has been true since 1936, when FDR won his second term over the immortal Alf Landon. If you want the gory details, you can find them at http://www.snopes.com/sports/football/election.asp.
So what does it all mean?
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Denise Klarquist — 21 October 2004
Growing up in the suburbs of southern California in the 60s and 70s, an appreciation for cultural diversity wasn't something we were raised on. After spending my junior year abroad, I became a passionate spokesperson for the necessity of having culturally immersive experiences. I hadn't realized until then how naive so many of my friends were when it came to recognizing that the rest of the world is just not like us... nor do they want to be.
Fast forward 20 years later...
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Jennifer Gray — 19 October 2004
I don't know what happened. I was feeling creative a moment ago. But in one little instant, it left me. Quirky little ways of looking at things evaporated and I was left with a few simple and straightforward thoughts. Experience tells me to be patient. The energy I'm seeking will return.
But for now, I'm reaching out in a simple and straightforward way to creative thinkers who want to join the Cheskin team. Here's who we're looking for:
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— 8 October 2004
I recently had the privilege of speaking to a class of bright graduate students at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. The professor, Brenda Laurel, Ph.D., asked me to help her class understand effective ways of speaking to teens in an interview setting.
The students are part of the Media Design Program and were commissioned by a world renowned company to conduct a study that involved teens and technology. My job was to help them get a glimpse at what they would face when interviewing teens and provide guidance on how to be successful at getting them to open up.
Of the countless groups I’ve moderated, I have to admit that speaking to teens is one of the most challenging groups to speak to but by far my favorite.
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Gary Feldman — 1 October 2004
Last night’s episode of Will & Grace included a plot element that is part of a trend I refer to as “focus group bashing.” While criticism of focus groups is not something new, it struck me as ironic that those who like to mock or deride this form of research are often in a position to best leverage the learning and insights that this methodology can provide.
Or to put it another way, the creative development process is actually one of the areas where qualitative research can really be valuable, despite the bad rep it gets from questionable advertising, sitcom plots, and disgruntled agency creatives.
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Davis Masten — 29 September 2004
It seems we all have an Olympic story. My story starts back in the Spring. It was at the board meeting of Mattson and Co. Mattson is the premiere independent food and beverage development company in the country. I have collaborated with Mattson for over 20 years and been on their board for a few. Anyway, Steve Gundrum, the CEO said he had an unexpected agenda item and he asked the Chairman, Pete Mattson, if we could start with this issue.
Steve explained that Lindsay, the daughter of one of Mattson’s long term employees, Kristie, was playing in the Olympics for the Greek softball team. The employee, a single Mom, could not afford to go to the Olympics. Steve wanted the board to discuss and get approval for a Greek food and beverage tour for Jan. She would stay at the home of Steve’s Greek relatives in Athens. She would also have to sample food and beverages and take notes on opportunities that might apply to Mattson clients. Mattson would pick up her travel expenses and provide a per diem. Most importantly, she could take the time to also be with her daughter and watch her play. We quickly approved the allocation.
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Christopher Ireland — 25 September 2004
We regularly counsel our clients on the merits of a strong brand and an engaging brand experience. We extol the virtues of creating an emotional connection with consumers, and we harp on the need for succinct, easy to understand sound bites. We emphasis the need for simple visuals. We cringe when we see ad copy beyond 3-4 sentences.
But when we do this, we're referring to products like butter, or clothing, or software. We aren't referring to presidential candidates.
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Denise Klarquist — 24 September 2004
I recently returned from a trip to Spain. My ability to speak Spanish is rudimentary at best. But my exposure to the language everyday at Cheskin has given me the ability to understand a little and at least get the gist of many conversations.
I traveled with a friend fluent in Spanish and so found myself included in many a conversation with shop owners, cab divers, waiters and locals. I'm sure most Spaniards assumed I was as fluent as my companion, so politely directed their conversation my way as well, while I of course politely smiled, nodded and interjected an occasional si si. So were we communicating?
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Darrel Rhea — 20 September 2004
Now that Christopher Ireland has relinquished the position of CEO to me, I have been fielding this question most every day. My first response is that I am humbled by the honor to lead such a talented group of people. Many of our folks are the best in the world at their respective specialties. The raw intellectual horsepower and creativity of our people allow us to compete successfully with the largest, most prominent consulting firms and research organizations in the world. Cheskin isn't just any consultancy, so both internal and external expectations are extremely high. This position would be a challenge for even the most experienced CEO, and it certainly is one for me.
It's also a positive opportunity for me to leverage the skills I have acquired over the last 25 years at Cheskin, leading and coaching a diverse range of senior executives, boards of directors, consultants and agencies. I find it exciting to use what I have learned through decades of engagements, to benefit my coworkers within my own organization, who rarely have had the opportunity to see me do my best work.
The part of this job that resonates with me most is that it allows me to be myself. I am most comfortable when I am listening deeply, and have the opportunity to work thoughtfully. My clients express their appreciation for my ability to step back and see patterns, to recognize gaps and opportunities, and then to help focus and realign their team -- all of which I will apply here. And, I most enjoy drawing out the best from people, coaching and guiding them in their commitments, which is what this job is about. Cheskin's management team is top rate and from an operational perspective, the company actually runs itself. I can concentrate on the bigger picture.
Cheskin has consistently been a major innovator in our category of business for over 55 years. While we have led the industry with our perspective, thought leadership, and inventive methodological approaches, our own organization hasn't always benefited from it as much as it might. We have been more driven to defining and practicing the state-of-the-art than building a powerful institution. This is one of the aspects that I see we need to focus on now. Along with having the best people and best consulting and research products, Cheskin will be recognized as a world-class organization and culture.
So, how does it feel to be CEO of Cheskin? I find it to be an exhilarating, stimulating challenge!
Christopher Ireland — 1 September 2004
I've been Cheskin’s CEO for over 6 years, riding the dotcom boom, the recession and now, lately, the rebound. I've learned to be patient (somewhat), supremely accountable, and resilient--all important attributes that I'm glad I've learned.
But I've wanted a change for awhile now. I have no interest in leaving Cheskin (headhunters, pls note)--I just need a new role. I need new challenges and a different vantage point that will keep my thinking fresh and my heart engaged. Fortunately, I have phenomenal partners and senior management who understand this and have graciously allowed me the space to change.
My wonderful friend and partner, Darrel Rhea, is going to take a stint in the CEO role. He’s got exactly the right traits and experience for our current stage, and I have no hesitation about following his lead. I’m transitioning responsibilities to him and we should have that complete by the end of this year. Once I’m freed up, I’ll spearhead our R&D function, corralling all the brilliant ideas that swarm around this place everyday, and trying to find a way to make them come true. I’m also going to spend more time with project teams, training and mentoring the talented folks that have entrusted this phase of their careers with us.
Will I regret giving up the CEO role? Probably every once in awhile I’ll question my choice, but I know it’s the right step for me and Cheskin to take. Hopefully, my new challenges will leave me with little time to rethink past decisions and plenty of opportunities to write new blogs.
Darrel Rhea — 22 August 2004
One of the things I like most about blogs is the immediacy and authenticity I get from being connected directly to people and their experience. So I was disappointed to hear a campaign manager say off record that the blogs of her well known candidate were not actually written by him. They are based on his experiences and ideas, and well, he edits them occasionally…
Too bad. His blogs are juicy, contemporary sonnets, tightly constructed, with just a touch of wit and plenty of intelligence. The type you read and say, “Dang, this person is smart and cool.” Now I learn that it is just another form of media to help position the candidate. It has become a writing exercise for a pro that is operating from a creative brief, mixing up the right balance of values and principles, personality and humility, tone and manner.
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Jennifer Gray — 2 August 2004
Nothing works for everybody. I know that. Which is why I'm so grateful to have a job that works for me. Read that sentence again. It's vitally important.
I love to work but I'm not always great at it. Sometimes work becomes this giant mirror for all the things I'm not good at. I can't seem to swing getting in at the same time each day. I have a hard time when everybody doesn't wildly embrace my exceptional ideas :). The list could go on, but I'll exercise restraint.
But you know what? Cheskin is a company that understands how to match people to the work they do best. I can pretty confidently say I'm good at a whole bunch of stuff. I can quickly assimilate information and formulate direction on the fly. I can conceptualize new visions and implement a plan to get there. I'm fair. The list could go on, but I'll exercise humility :).
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Davis Masten — 26 July 2004
July 5th was my 30th anniversary at Cheskin. It caused me to reflect. I love the size of the Cheskin playground. With diverse interests and talents, we've got few boundaries and a super bright green light for us to explore our individual areas of interest.
My partners and I have encouraged each other in the pursuit of our passions. We are passionate people who love to explore the intersections and tension points of daily life around the world. Very little of this has been public. Our clients trust us to keep things quiet. In many ways, we're the 'thought' that precedes their 'hype’. So one of the things I have enjoyed through the years are our occasional collaborations to explore publicly themes we find of interest.
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Lee Shupp — 21 July 2004
I've just finished a wonderful week on vacation with Backroads, an adventure travel company based in Berkeley, California. This is their 25th year in business, and they showed me both an astute understanding of creating create customer experiences and a REALLY good time.
Adventure travel is for hyperactive children like me, who enjoy outdoor sports, love exploring, crave new experiences, and prefer to go full throttle on vacation. You can pick a sport that you like (biking, hiking, etc) or go on a multi-sport vacation that combines lots of things. I chose a multi-sport trip to Alaska that included hiking, biking, white water rafting, sea kaying, and flightseeing in a small plane. I crammed more experiences into a weeklong vacation than I thought was possible. It was wonderful.
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Jennifer Gray — 8 July 2004
The feeling of stress is palpable at Cheskin. July means performance reviews. Need I say more? We're all busy looking back to see what we've accomplished and figuring out how to get better going forward. Wears me out.
Cheskin is at the top of our game. We're selling more than ever. We have such good people they make the place sing. But during reviews, we inevitably self-assess using the harshest and most stringent criteria. Unless we get ranked #1, we feel inadequate and think we're failing.
Last Sunday I watched Wimbledon. The mens' final came down to #1 and #2 in the world. The first set was a beautiful thing for Andy Roddick. Then came the rain. Then came Roger Federer. Four sets and Roger Federer was the 2004 Wimbledon champion. Just like that. Andy Roddick became a 'loser'.
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Jenny Daley — 23 June 2004
Don't you just hate it when someone sends you a link to a site that looks really enticing... but you have to register to get in? It drives me bananas. In fact, I don't like linking to any websites that require a login when I'm writing a blog post because I think most people won't take the time to register. But its not just the convenience factor anymore - don't want to give out my email address to companies that are just going to send me spam.
It's come to my attention that I'm not the only one who feels this way. A new website has sprang up to meet the needs of the world's impatient privacy freaks -Bug Me Not. The site allows you to "bypass compulsory web registration" by searching for a login and password for your favorite webpage.
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Christopher Ireland — 21 June 2004
It's been a little over a year since we first started our company blog. I think it was a rather bold experiment on our part, and I'm particularly proud of the company's willingness to try something new in full public view. We made plenty of misteps along the way--how could we not--this is very young technology. But, overall, it's been a remarkable learning experience for us and one we now fully endorse for others. In fact, we're exploring ways to use blogging for research purposes, project communication and internal knowledge management.
Cheskin's blog is not a product of our marketing dept. We allow anyone in the company to post; in fact, we actively encourage them and run worksessions teaching them how. We also do not censor anyone as long as they comply with two simple rules: stick to business topics and don't say anything hurtful to others. So far, no one at Cheskin has posted anything we needed to revise. Unfortunately, we can't say the same of others.
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Denise Klarquist — 1 June 2004
As you might have noticed via Jennifer's posts or our careers page, we're hiring a lot of people lately. I sat in a meeting this morning with a number of these new people. In fact three of them - Michelle Vasquez, Alyson Madrigan and Julie Norris - just started today.
At Cheskin we have a set of design principals, one of which is "be a powerful presence." All of us are expected to embody this value in some way, however those of us in senior positions here are specifically charged with being strong voices of leadership. Yet as I sat in this morning's meeting I was overcome (or I should say, overjoyed) by the powerful presence of my newer colleagues.
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Cynthia Chan — 26 May 2004
My sis-in-law just gave birth to an 8 lb 5 oz baby boy last Wednesday (yep, first baby in the family). She had her baby at the California Pacific Hospital in San Francisco. Her experience in the past nine months was a classic example of how Asian Americans live their lives in “home away from home” – living their life in the US, but also turn to cultures and beliefs they brought along with them. She went to a Chinese American OB/GYN who is bilingual, followed both Western practice as well as the traditional Chinese way of trotting along her pregnancy (including a full-range supply of herbal soup), and named the baby with both English and Chinese names (Kaden, Chi Ho Chan).
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Davis Masten — 14 May 2004
It amazes me how often I am asked if I know the right person for thus and so job. Some of these positions are AMAZINGLY GREAT! I think people assume that because I am visible and in research that I somehow know every researcher. The truth is far from it. I've always hung out more with creatives, business types, academics and money people more than market/design researchers. So a couple of months ago when an old friend at a global giant asked who I knew for her 20 open slots, or when I was asked by a VP at another highly visible global giant who we would like to fill a VP slot to collaborate with us, I mostly drew blanks. I wish I knew more researchers. I think this is just another place where perception is not reality. In the meantime, some of the coolest work in the industry is left undone.
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David Sapoznikow — 11 May 2004
I'm currently in Cologne, Germany, finishing up the international portion of our research on a project that has spanned three US markets, London, and finally this beautiful city in the Rhineland. One of my favorite parts of my job here at Cheskin is this opportunity to travel the world, meet people, and reflect. It is wonderful food for thought about our commonalities and differences, but that's another blog for another time.
One of the many reasons our clients work with us (and me!) again and again is because they know they can trust us with their international projects. We take care of thousands of details they never have to consider in order to provide the highest quality research, and insure a seamless experience across each market, regardless of cultural, national, or other boundaries.
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Lisa Leckie — 26 April 2004
On my way to work this morning, I encountered three men handing out flyers. As I approached them, they stuck their mechanical arms out in front of me hoping to block my passage and be heard. They came within inches of my mid-section and then retracted at the last second as if some kind of sensor had indicated I was within a mere 25 millimeters. They quite possibly could have been deaf or mute because they didn’t say a word to me – didn’t identify why they were blocking my route, what they were handing me, or why they thought that I should listen to them. Nothing. I started to contemplate why I hadn't taken their flyer until, amidst their paper-pushing, one turned to the other and said, “So, did you have a good weekend?”
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Leigh Marriner — 26 April 2004
I read LiAnne Yu’s blog on dinner planning in the 50’s with a feeling of recognition and curiosity. I attended a women’s college that has well attended reunions every five years where we get together and talk about the major issues in our lives for that decade. Even though we are a decade or two older than LiAnne, the same issues remain for working women. Most of us try to do superior work at each of our jobs – working professional, mother, wife, daughter, friend, and keeping our physical and emotional selves in shape. We’ve concluded that we need to redefine success as doing a good or good-enough job, rather than an A+ job, at all these things.
When LiAnne writes “intellectually, she's a working woman and shouldn't have to feel responsible for producing a home cooked meal from "scratch" every night, [for visiting in-laws, but] it is, emotionally, an entirely different issue”, I realize many expectations haven’t changed in the past 25 years. But it’s largely up to us to move the goalpost.
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Maria Flores Letelier — 23 April 2004
Every so often, people in the valley start to talk about a new buzzword. Lately, social networking has been the buzzword. The growth and prevalence of social networking sites, such as Friendster and Linkedin, Orkut, and Tribe is generating serious curiosity from many folks in the business community. But are we all talking about the same things? And where does the newness lay? In using the online medium to meet others for business, to date, or in the use of these particular sites? Why does the business community care so much about the phenomena?
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Christopher Ireland — 23 April 2004
I cringe when I hear someone in my industry brag that they never watch TV (or only PBS). That's like a pilot saying he ignores weather reports. Like it or not, popular TV reflects crucial aspects of our very dynamic population. It's not an exact representation of our collective values--it's not meant to be--but it is a valid expression of popular culture and an interesting lens on the nation's current mindset.
Right now, I'm hooked on American Idol. It's the only show I will watch in "real time," forgoing the option to save it on my PVR and skip the commercials. This week's results fueled water-cooler talk among millions of other viewers. Why? Because the audience had to rationalize why the three best performers--all Black females--got the least number of votes.
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LiAnne Yu — 19 April 2004
I'm reading a fascinating book called "Something from the Oven: Reinventing Dinner in 1950's America" by Laura Shapiro. It's a witty look at the history of women and food in the postwar era. The food industry set out to promise women that they would be liberated from the drudgery of cooking from scratch. The vision: smiling women in pretty aprons preparing frozen dinners, discovering canned soup and Jell-O, ready-mix cakes, and Spam. The author chronicles the hilarious yet tragic tale of Poppy Cannon, author of "the Can Opener Cookbook", who championed such dishes as this one: Spam placed in the bottom of a casserole, then a layer of canned macaroni and cheese, then a layer of canned asparagus, and finally a layer of grated cheese and bread crumbs. Or how about a Red Crest Salad, made from chopped tomatoes and pickles stirred into strawberry Jell-O.
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Lisa Leckie — 14 April 2004
I just returned from a trip to Iceland. I didn’t go there to vacation per se, but to see a different world. To find diversity, remoteness, something untapped. Foreign. To stun my perspective. To get me back to reality.
Iceland’s landscape is incredibly diverse. Much of it feels alien. It is easier to imagine how when you think of it comprising 90% of the world’s volcanic activity. A lot of the geo-funkiness is actually as a result of it straddling the North American and Eurasian continental plates. And while it has a population of approximately 270,000, almost no one inhabits the interior and predominantly glacial part of the country (unless you believe in the abominable snowman). Imagine...apart from a few greenhouses yielding small quantities of bananas, a lot has to be imported.
Since returning, I’ve had to consistently answer the question, “So, why would you go there?” And, it’s all got me to thinking. Do others feel that remoteness is becoming harder to find? When was the last time you were traveling globally and were in a public place that didn’t have a single piece of advertising you identified with?
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Denise Klarquist — 14 April 2004
A few weeks ago I was invited to give a presentation to the local chapter of the National Charity League. They suggested that I might be able to address the topic of subliminal advertising. The presentation is next Monday, so naturally I'm waiting until the last minute to gel my ideas into a PowerPoint. But in the meantime I've been listening, reading and collecting ideas about advertising with this event and particular request in mind.
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Christopher Ireland — 12 April 2004
Things are hot around here lately. Sales are extremely high and all our clients are in a hurry. Just a few years ago, we would have started whining about now--but the recessionary lesson is still very fresh, so no one's complaining. Instead, Denise suggested I send out an email helping everyone at Cheskin deal with the added pressure of growth. Here's what I sent:
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Davis Masten — 8 April 2004
Both my personal and professional life is filled with new experiences that define and redefine how I look at the world. I meet people from all over the world who enrich my life in many different ways, and often stun me with their interesting view of life. However, as I referenced in my earlier Assholes blog post, not all of what I experience is positive. ;)
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Jenny Daley — 7 April 2004
I’ve been preaching the power of finding information via blogs around Cheskin for the past few weeks. I’m sure I’m starting to sound like a broken record, telling people to search on Feedster, or comb blogrolls for interesting blogs. But the quality of blog information didn’t really sink in until yesterday when I was doing a bit of searching for interesting, cutting-edge conferences. I was shocked to find that my Google queries mainly returned blog entries, rather than static web pages, and that these blog entries had more interesting and useful information than any webpage. For example, one conference webpage only showed a password protected site, with almost no information on the homepage. But the next page I checked (some random blog I’d never seen before) answered the question of why there was no information – the conference is invitation only and the organizer doesn’t allow any information to be disseminated to the greater public. Then it hit me – for the most part we’re all asking the same questions. Someone else out there wanted to understand why he couldn’t get information about this seemingly cloaked conference, and in deciding to write a blog post about it, answered the question for me too.
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Tammy Loo — 5 April 2004
A lovely assortment of fruit was delivered to our office the other day. Among the selection were high-in-quality strawberries, kiwis, bananas, pears, apples, oranges and nectarines. As I sat eating lunch in the break room that afternoon, I observed my colleague Laura pick up a fruit, look at the label, and set the fruit back in the basket with a bewildered look. I was curious as to her perplexity so, I picked up the same fruit and read the label. Immediately, I understood. The label listed its PLU code, the name of the fruit (nectarine), and a description: "white flesh". Flesh. That's odd. An image of Dr. Hannibal Lecter in "The Silence of the Lambs", gorging on human flesh, conjured up in my mind and I suddenly felt ill and no longer had an appetite. Flesh to describe a food product certainly does injustice. The labeling got me thinking that companies need to do more research into how customers perceive their products (and the words they use to describe them) if they want their products to be desirable.
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Lee Shupp — 2 April 2004
The APF (Association of Professional Futurists) conference on the future of reality led me to a couple of conclusions about reality (whatever that is).
To understand the future of reality, we took an ethnographic tour of the strip in Las Vegas, played in a virtual world called Second Life, and talked about where reality is headed. This conversation required several days and nights of conversation and cocktails ;-)
What is the future of reality? A couple of observations:
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— 2 April 2004
I guess I should consider myself lucky...I've never been summoned for Jury Duty until this week. I have to admit, I was curious as to what the experience would be like. (Too many John Grisham novels will do that!) But once I waited in the long line outside the courthouse, went through the metal detector, and finally took my seat amongst the other potential candidates, I couldn't wait for it to be over. At first glance, I took a look around and thought, "This is a great representation of a cross-section of people including every demographic imaginable." We had the businessperson on his cell phone, still trying to conduct conference calls, the stray in the corner occupying two chairs to take a leisurely nap and the group gathered in the back, mesmerized by Oprah chatting from the small mounted TV. My second thought as a market researcher was, "this is a great captive audience to do a small qualitative study; we should come here more often."
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Lee Shupp — 1 April 2004
I spent this last weekend at an interesting conference put on by the Association of Professional Futurists. (Full disclosure: I'm on the board and active in the group.) The topic was "The Future of Reality" and it was held in Las Vegas. What better setting to talk about the future of reality than Vegas?
One of the highlights of the conference was a tour of Second Life, an online digital world built and shaped by its participants. Philip Rosedale, head of Second Life, gave us an overview of the game and led a fascinating discussion of how online social worlds mimic offline social worlds. Philip is an intelligent and thoughtful guy, and creating and nurturing the game has given him an interesting sociological experiment to observe. Think digital ant farm. Several academic institutions are studying the social world of Second Life already.
Social interaction in this virtual world has led to some really interesting behavior.
* Entrepreneurship, and an emerging economy, with game currency being exchanged with real dollars in an economic bridge between virtual and dirt worlds.
* Political organization, with an online protest that was effective in forcing the administrators to change some policies.
* Crime, and now virtual law enforcement.
I wish that I had time to really play in this world. You can fly (which I've always wanted to do). You can build things. And you can express creativity in lots of different ways, because there are few rules so far.
Go play: www.secondlife.com
Davis Masten — 26 March 2004
On my way to Manhattan from JFK, pried into the backseat of a cab that inched its way through the traffic jam I heard enthusiastic reports about an aspect of the SONG experience that I did not encounter. Its worthy of note in that it is a new way to experience flying.
Me, I get on an airplane and on go the BOSE headphones plugged into my iPod. Out comes my Vaio and I work. My two bookends in the taxi backseat of the cab however played online music trivia on the flight. Unbeknownst to me, the trivia game is multiplayer. There were over 20 people connected and interacting on this flight.
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Denise Klarquist — 24 March 2004
I recently received an email from Network Solutions introducing their 100 Year Domain Service. Just think, 100 years from now Cheskin can feel secure that cheskin.com is still ours. No worries. Well, except for the fact that I'm not sure that Cheskin will be around (at least not in its present configuration) and I'm not sure that Network Solutions will either. And for that matter, I'm pretty well convinced that typing xxxx.com to locate information on the web will be ancient history. In fact typing anything will probably be a bit passé.
I'm not basing any of these
