CrapHammer

Rethinking Digital and Social Marketing for the Arts

Or the five hardest questions I've ever been asked.

Rethinking Digital and Social Marketing for the Arts

The presentation that I gave today to the International Society for the Performing Arts.

Beautiful High Speed Train - Japan

I fell in love with this movie taken from a high speed train in Japan.

I've often had negative reactions to the kaleidoscope effect applied to films and music videos. 

But this was just plain magical.

 

Shinkansen ver.2 from daihei shibata on Vimeo.

Do individuals matter anymore?

The other day I received a survey and it made me wonder.

When was the last time a survey made me feel engaged and listened to?

Surveys are now part of our cultural narrative.

Some come with a dollar bill in the envelope.

A few are even "mandatory", or so we are informed by the census.

As youth, we quickly learn that surveys are about an aggregate understanding.

A survey is a sign that a brand is disconnected from their audience.

Which is not to say surveys are bad.

But they send a signal that a brand is struggling to understand something.

At best.

At their worst, they scream to us that the customer doesn't really matter unless he or she happens to answer the same as a significant number of the rest of the disillusioned masses.

We know that some faceless manager in an office somewhere needs to make a "business decision" and likely doesn't have a lot of time for a little old outlier like us.

And even knowing all this, we still fill them out from time to time in a vain attempt to be heard or to feel like we were consulted.

There must be a better way. A way to truly listen to another. I'm not referring to when we monitor conversations, hold focus groups or perform stakeholder consultations.

I'm speaking of when we are open to someone else.

When we are putting them first.

In a world increasingly fascinated with "optimizing service delivery" and "experience design", I have to wonder if we've lost sight of the individual as an individual.

What if there is something beyond "customer first" or "customer centred"?

I heard Bob Young, of Red Hat and Lulu fame, speak last night at the Baycrest and MaRS scientist and entrepreneur event.

At the end, someone asked him, "If you could do it all again, what would you do differently with your first company?"

Bob had an answer ready.

He would create Hewlett Packard.

His reason was quite straight forward in that he envied and respected their culture.

A culture built around giving to the community.

A culture that was unstoppable and able to overcome just about any obstacle placed before or inside the company.

Bob spoke about a key aspect of this culture - how they would pay to educate the brightest young minds with no payback or expectations attached.

These youth then wanted to work for Hewlett Packard later in their life or they wanted to become customers of HP.

There was a relationship built around more than anything that can be captured on a spreadsheet.

Hewlett Packard cared.

About individuals.

Maybe it's a leap, but once again I see another example of how an evangelist employee strategy can truly transform brands and organizations.

Some of the most successful evangelist programs move beyond monitoring and empower employees to to listen and to care.

A strategy with non-linear returns that enables an organization to invest in and develop relationships with its communities and individual customers.

I really need to track down the book Bob was speaking of about Hewlett and Packard and the culture they worked so hard to build.

 

[Photo credit: gadl]

Passion and Content Creation (Red Nation)

 

I talk a lot about passion and "the most passionate."

I do so because I believe it is a critical component to building vibrant and healthy communities, brands and movements.

And by studying the most passionate, we can learn things about our products, our organizations and our communities that we never considered possible.

But it requires us to rethink how we define our audience.

It's no longer about demographics, no matter what the research company says or how many technographic reports we run.

Which is not to say demographics don't matter.

Demographics tell us not to be surprised that a bunch of middle aged guys love sports.

What it doesn't tell us is who is likely to become a passionate producer of unique content.

It doesn't give us any insight into who is developing authority or a growing audience of their own.

A couple of weekends back, I spent a few hours with 3 guys who spend their free time railing against the Toronto Football Club.  

It's hard to spend more than 5 minutes with them and not think they are anti-Toronto FC.

But I'd say that these guys are actually just really passionate about great soccer.  

And they are frustrated that their local team is not being setup to win.

So they started recording their drunken rants post game.

And something happened.

Other people shared their views and started subscribing.

They recently broke the 2,000 subscribers mark and have over 20,000 listens to date.

I was given a free seat for the game.  The seat they reserve for the writers they get to do the blog post writeup for each episode of their show (in trade for a seat to the game.)

These guys are no longer just a bunch of guys venting about the game - they are now trusted personalities on this subject.

I'd go so far as to say they have blurred the line between consumer and professional.

When I arrived at their "house of operations" post game for a beer and for the podcast recording, I could only gawk as they set into well-rehearsed motion.

A spare bedroom was quickly transformed into a full blown recording studio with giant folding baffles they made themselves, wall art that upon closer inspection is actually a set of hanging sound reducers and two Audio-technica mics hacked into Garage Band.

Here's a link to the podcast.  If you are into the content and stick around, you'll hear me around the 8 minute mark and then yelling in from time to time as I get drunk in the background.

Dark Clouds over Toronto

Stephe Perry, Ian Clark (Sparky), Tim Vickery (and on this episode, moi).

 

[Image credit: wvs (note that wvs is my FAVORITE Toronto photography.  Bar none.]

 

 

Planningness 2010 Recap: Made By Many on Making Things

I'm kicking off my recap of PlanningNess 2010 with a deck by the Made by Many folks.

I've seen a lot of talk about agile and scrum.  And frankly, it's usually just someone spouting a lot of buzz words and urging agencies need to adapt.  But its generally someone from the outside without a lot of credibility on how to improve what we do.

But I've clearly never seen Made by Many talk about it.  And there are few agencies on this planet I hold in higher esteem.  And true to form, I found their presentation deck insightful, inspiring and dead on as to where we need to get to.

So many gems in here!  How about a dozen user testing and engagement tools we could be all be using in our project development processes?  God I love these guys.  I think I want to have their baby.  Shit.

How to really make something

View more presentations from Made by Many.

The Passion Files: An Interview with Josh Clavir

This is an ongoing series where I interview some of the most passionate to understand their motivations, their secrets and their advice for others.

I’m speaking with Josh Clavir, Producer and all around amazing young man, who I’ve had the pleasure of knowing as film-maker, producer, student and friend. Josh is tireless.  He has limitless energy, passion and focus.  And I’ve wanted to interview him for some time to understand what drives him.

One of his first big co-producing gigs just got into TIFF. The Camera of Christopher Merk. Here is a link to more information on the movie: http://tiff.net/filmsandschedules/tiff/2010/cameraandchristopher

 

SEAN: I wonder if there’s not a myth about the film industry that we just come out of school and we get hired into a big production somehow? When we look at some of the greats, Ridley Scott, for example, and how he started in corporate and music video for a very long time before he made the leap to the films he is now so famous for.

 

JOSH: Starting in the art department. I was watching this interview with him on YouTube and he talks about how he was in love with D.A. Pennebaker, the American documentary filmmaker. Like loved him, “Oh, this guy’s incredible.” So he goes to New York, as a 20-year-old or whatever it was.

And one day he met D.A. Pennebaker in an elevator, “I want to work for you.”  He said, “Okay, sure. If you want to volunteer, sure. Here help our editor,” so he spent weeks getting the editor coffee. And then, eventually, after months of doing this he gets this phone call, “Hey, man, they’re hiring at the BBC. They need someone in the art department.”  And Ridley is just like, “Hey, I can get paid?” So then he’s on a plane back to England. But it’s pretty funny, like, how you’re just so passionate about something, so you’re like, “Oh, I’d love to do that.” But I think what’s interesting is that he said, “I’ll take a job that pays over that any day.” And before his first feature film The Duellists, he had done, God knows how many commercials, probably like 400 by that point or something.

 

SEAN: So what are you passionate about?  What drives you?  What would cause you to fly across a country to spend all day getting someone a cup of coffee? 

 

JOSH: I think what I’m really passionate about is story, more than anything. It’s just a compelling story, an interesting story. When I was a kid, I remember a large part of my childhood and education was storytelling, whether it was telling stories to my brother or telling stories to my friends, I was always in that role, recounting what happened in the playground or at recess.

Almost class clown but not really, more like I would just be always talking. I’d always have stories. And I spoke a lot as a kid, I was a pretty loquacious kid.   I used to have teachers that would try to get me to write things down, but I had a lot of trouble writing. It was much easier for me to speak ‘cause I didn’t have that filter - that self-criticism when you go to write.

My mother is a huge film buff and she would watch Saturday Night at the Movies on TVO and there were just some excellent films: How Green Was My Valley, The Maltese Falcon, Casa Blanca, Fat City, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Through a Glass Darkly, as a kid, I watched a lot of this and I really got engaged. I was also exposed to theatre and plays, but with film, more than anything, was this idea that you could really get into someone’s psychology. And those to me were the most compelling stories - the ones where you’re seeing it from someone’s point of view. And the ability of the camera to focus on certain aspects, as well as how rich sound can be in film between the score, between the effects, between how you’re mixing and stuff.

 

SEAN: I’m really curious about what keeps you going. You’re certainly not making a lot of money. I’ve watched you bounce from a variety of crazy jobs and positions over the past few years.  Why not abandon this path? Why not walk away? A lot of people do… 

 

JOSH: Right. Yeah. Well, that’s because it gives my life meaning. It’s the most important thing that I do. When my brother passed away, it was an interesting time for me because it was, sure, quite terrible, but it was also quite enlightening, because I was in a position where everyone was saying, “Hey… you’ve got to find out what your brother meant to you.” And I had to try to understand myself, as well. Being mid-20s at the time, I was still living at home so it was a very weird atmosphere, very surreal. So I tried to inject, if you will, some kind of joy into my life to try to temper the sadness and stuff. So, I started to do things.

And I think a lot of people do things in a situation like this.  They travel, purchase things, take up hobbies… all to see what would actually affect their behaviour. And, ultimately, at the end of the day, the only thing that I consistently found I really enjoyed doing was writing in a journal. And it wasn’t just writing thoughts, it was writing stories. It was always the same thing, it was talking about the next film, or what would make a good film or writing a script, even if the script didn’t work out, even if the dialogue was crap or the idea wasn’t fully formed.

It was creating something. I felt like I was working towards something, like there was a longer goal, and that was a huge factor for me. I wrote with a friend for a couple of months in the spring and that was the most fun I’d had doing anything, whether it was travelling, whether it was hanging out with friends, whether it was sex, or any of that.  Nothing compared to that period of creation. Because you just felt like, “I know this is maybe not going to work out the way I want, but I’m glad that I’m doing it,” you know?

After that period I knew for sure that I couldn’t be doing anything else. Like, whatever “normal” job I might do, I knew that I’d be repressing a part of myself.  I’d always need to have that aspect of creating something, creating a story or working on an idea.

So I think that’s what allows me to work on projects for free or next to no money. I look at this as a long process. I don’t ever think that I’m going to get to the point of knowing that, “Oh, I’ve done it. I’ve hit this mark.” I don’t think that’s ever going to be the case, and it doesn’t really matter because the process is really fun.

 

SEAN: So, a lot of people assume that some of us are born with well defined goals – that we know what we want to be. You were talking about just enjoying the process. What if it’s a project with friends and the story sucks. Would you still enjoy it?

 

JOSH: Yes, but not as much.  There’s a lot of times when you’re like, “Oh, I don’t think this story is fully fleshed out,” and I have a difference of opinion with the author. I guess what I enjoy in those cases is refining my skills. <laughs>  

So we’ve got the script and maybe it’s not the best script, but we can add things. What can we do, from the production standpoint, to make it as good as possible? What can we do to fix aspects of it? And I think that is always a good experience because you’re forced to kind of think on your feet and learn to adapt, which really is the number one rule in anything. Being creative is being able to adapt when someone throws you a curve ball and say, “Okay well, that doesn’t work.”

SEAN: How does it feel when you have to do that?

 

JOSH: It feels good as long as you’re able to do it as a group. I think what really derails people’s interest in the process, and people can get really pissed off about it, is when their ability to make an impact has been reduced. We all want to be heard. And it’s hard when you don’t have that kind of say and you feel like you’re just, essentially, treading water.

There are lots of little elements where if you can’t make an impact, especially as a producer, it can be, for sure, very disempowering. You don’t want to be as involved and it can taint future experiences, especially, if you’re being paid. I think that’s the worst.  If you’re being paid to be a hatchet man for a production, I think this can be the hardest part of my job. So, I would add that the greatest part about free projects is that you usually have a stronger voice.

 

SEAN: Let’s talk about your life and the choices you make.  Like running to LA for your friend’s school production and stuff like that.  Do you think people would say that you are following a “safe” path?

 

JOSH: No, not at all.  It’s definitely not the safe path.

 

SEAN: Would you see it as unsafe, though?

 

JOSH: I would say that I don’t take as many risks as others in the industry do, but I certainly take risks. I don’t know if I would use the word “unsafe” ‘cause, to me, it has more of a negative ring. But it also isn’t a question for me.  I have to do these things.  I can’t stop myself.  And that’s the hard part because it’s fucking stupid and I know I shouldn’t do it but, “I’m still going to do it,” you know?

It’s like the Bright Eyes lyric, “I’d rather be working for a paycheque than waiting to win the lottery.” To me, working for a paycheque doesn’t mean working nine to five.  It means continuing to get out there and work on what you love. I know a guy who has been working to get the same feature film produced for over 10 years and doing nothing else.  That’s like waiting to win the lottery, and I’m too pragmatic and conservative a person to fall for that.

Being in the industry doesn’t mean you have to be a starving artist, but it does mean that if you believe in a project and it’s for free and it’s for a friend or something, then you absolutely need to find a way to do it and there’s no question of saying “no.” Because then what was all this for? Why did you waste your time fucking going to Los Angeles, going to film school or doing any of the other projects?

 

SEAN: Talk about that, because we both know people who say they want to get involved in film and I would say 80 to 90% of the time these people don’t show up. They’re not reliable. They won’t put in the 14-hour gruelling days. But you are different. That’s what’s always struck me about you, that you’re going to come through. Where does that come from? Is it tied to the passion and enjoyment? 

 

JOSH: Yeah. Part of it is taking pride in what you do. And it always comes down to the craft. It’s like you want to be good at something, you know? You see so many things that aren’t working out and you don’t want to be that. You would like to be more certain, you’d like to be less changeable, less fickle than a lot of people. You like to come through. And I think a lot of that, especially, in your role as a producer, is you want to be that person on set and through the project who helps to steer the course. When the director’s having second thoughts, when the writer doesn’t know what he’s going to write next, when the editor’s upset about something, you want to be the one everyone can turn to.

I’ve always enjoyed that aspect of management. I like the leadership role. I’m digressing a tiny bit, but I think it’s an interesting insight that I’ve had about myself. I’m one of those people that needs to be a frontrunner. And I think that’s because of my personal competition with myself. I think anyone’s that’s competitive really is just competitive with themselves.

I always have the burden of, “If this doesn’t come through, it’s on your head - you were responsible for this,” driving me.  I crave it. And so a lot of the time I’ll go out of my way to take responsibility for things because I like the pressure that that puts on me to succeed. Maybe that can be self-destructive sometimes, but I think that this is also what I really enjoy.

 

SEAN: Can you give me an example of where you haven’t been so driven? I’ve never seen you without that drive or commitment.

 

JOSH: <laugh>.  Yeah, I don’t know if it happens. I know that I’ve gotten really resentful, even as a kid, when I tried to organize camping trips with my other friends, who are great guys, but total fucking boneheads when it comes to the details. And I remember just being, like, so frustrated when someone wouldn’t return a phone call or, forget to bring the charcoal. On the following trip I would pick up charcoal, so there would be like redundant auxiliary charcoal, ‘cause I knew he would probably forget to bring the charcoal again.

I think a lot of it is a control thing which I think I also have to learn to ease off of. Because, I know for myself, I can get frustrated and blame myself for certain situations, which is totally unfair, because things happen that I can’t control. But for me, it’s not an option. If my name’s going on it I would like it to be the best that I can realistically make it.

 

SEAN: So, at the beginning you talked about how the act of creating actually brings enjoyment to you. That’s something that I would say almost everyone that I interact with struggles with. Hell, I struggle with it!  We are always asking ourselves, “What’s my passion? What’s my thing? What’s my future? What’s my dream job?“ And, I don’t know if this is a fair question, but how do you teach people to just understand what they enjoy?

 

JOSH: I’ve always been so hyper-focused on my goal. Not a goal. It’s a desire, a strong desire, a passion really, to tell a really compelling story and to move people with something that matters. There was a time, though, when I was a kid, that I wanted to be a psychiatrist.  This lasted for a long time, for years.

I really think it comes down to what we yearn to do on a daily basis. And when you take away things like, just the basic appetite of desires (food and sex, new things, new technology, new clothes, and trips) people will start to gravitate towards certain things. Sometimes that’s just connecting with other people, sometimes that’s music.

I know, for my brother, it was a big thing figuring out what he wanted to do. He would spend a lot of his time talking to his friends online and recommending songs that he felt would inspire them. He had a friend that was in Afghanistan, and he would write him all the time and that guy’s still really affected by what my brother wrote. Eventually my brother started to realize he kind of liked music a lot. Not that he wanted to necessarily become a musician, he kind of realized that wasn’t for him. But he loved playing the piano and listening to music. He couldn’t work without it. So the more he thought about it the more he was like, “Well, maybe I could help people with my selections of music,” and it started to become this thing of, “Well, maybe I want to be a music therapist.” And that’s something that he ultimately came to a decision that he wanted to do.

I think that it really just started with noticing that everything he was doing had this constant element in it. I have a friend who I’ve always believed should probably work for government. Since I’ve know him, he has always read the paper, every single day of his life.  In fact, he always reads a couple of newspapers, every day, from like when he was 13 years old. I mean, there are not a lot of kids I went to school with that did that. And I always commented on it. He had very strong opinions on Canadian policy, foreign policy. He went on to get a bunch of degrees and now he’s doing odd jobs and is like, “Well, where should I be?” And I’ve been saying for years, “You really should consider the foreign service. Something where you can affect policies.  Or PR or government relations.”

I think a lot of people just need to take the time to tune into what they love doing. Go out and do all the stuff that is just a basic primal human thing like sleep in, eat well, have sex, travel but, at the end of the day, look at what you actually do between those moments. And what you enjoy doing.

 

SEAN: I don’t know if there’s anything scarier to an individual, in western society, than contemplating the things that we’re really passionate about. It’s the one thing that we don’t want to admit to ourselves. It’s almost like we’ve built this world where we can ignore our passions. To actually go and investigate a passion that’s potentially at odds or unrelated to our job and our life, can be really painful.

 

JOSH: I don’t have a kid.  I don’t have a mortgage. I don’t have a lot of debt. So I can take more risks. So in that sense, I have an advantage.  But I don’t think that it has to be so dramatic where we have to take weeks off of work or anything like that. It’s just about doing the things you enjoy doing. For no other reason than for the fact that, just intrinsically, you like doing this thing. “I intrinsically like to garden. I like it, it’s interesting. I love to read about plants. Maybe I should read a book on botany.”

I really do believe that when people start doing that, regardless of whether they’re a financial analyst or a movie maker, this will make them better at their job. Maybe that’s naive, but I think everyone’s so different and when you start to tap into that difference, what you are passionate about, you’re just going to see the world in a different way and that’s incredibly valuable to everyone, organizations and people. 

“I got a commerce degree, I work for a bank, blah, blah, blah,” but that’s not really who you are. What’s interesting is your background, your interests and what makes you different. And I think that it really comes down to taking the time. I’m wary to put a number on it, like a day or how many days or whatever. I know that we’re all incredibly busy.

But I believe everyone can afford the time to start a journal about what interests them. Maybe it’s a tape recording or an app on your phone that you can record your voice. What do you find yourself thinking about? “Okay, I’m going through my day. I’ve just eaten lunch. I’m back at the office. What am I doing?” and just recording it. And then just pay attention to what you enjoy doing. “Whoa, that’s really interesting. I keep wanting to read a book on how to build a kayak. It just interests me, how it’s built or the history of it.”

And then there are the people also already know what they like, “I wanted to be a rock star. Only, I’m entering my early 30s and I don’t think that’s realistic anymore, so I’m going to go take a job doing PR and promoting rock bands,” or whatever it is. I believe you have to examine what it was about an end goal or profession that you were attracted to. And I don’t ever believe its just fame. I don’t have such a cynical view of people. I think it has to do with what they love doing.

It can also be about going back to when you were a kid. What did you play with? What did you enjoy doing? What roles did you take on as a kid? Which roles did you not enjoy? And, again, that comes from getting in touch with how you think, really, on a day-to-day basis. And maybe that’s journaling, maybe that’s travelling, or whatnot, but I absolutely believe it’s all connected.

 

Everyone "says" that people matter

Every company says their people matter.

But would your company change their homepage to mark the death of someone?

Even if it meant you would see a SIGNIFICANT drop in sales?

Would you have the guts?

Everywhere I have worked, management always refers to "us" as a "family".

And I've often questioned the reality behind the sentiment.

Today, Apple proved to the world that their people matter.

If I was an Apple employee, I'd be walking a bit taller today.

The Eye Vagina Meets Trott Porn

There was a time when the Craphammer would run stories like these.  Le sigh.  ;)

Eye Vagina (Gavin)

The Perils of Giving Porn to Your Son (Dave)

And by two of my favorite writers on the web.  Coincidence?  I think not.  It's a day for awesome and edgy stories that are smart, insightful and willing to have some fun.

iPad - Stemming the Flow of Complaints

I'm quite amazed at the whiplash from the tech-heads and geeks around the iPad.

Is the name unfortunate?  Yes.

Does it do everything under the sun?  Hell no and thank god!

Will it be a game changer?  Yes.  No question.

But, Sean, "It's just a large iTouch!!!" 

I hear this over and over.  In fact, I predicted it would be a large iTouch.

So here's what I say back to all the geeks.

"Boo Hoo."

Because what people are really saying when they complain about this is "I wanted something new that was alien and inconceivable."

"I wanted to be surprised more!"

The iPhone was not alien and inconceivable.  We all knew it would be a phone and iPod with applications.

What made the iPhone so wonderful was the focus on design and the experience of using it.

I believe and predict that the iPad will be a game changer and here is why.

It is what we all needed and the industry was waiting for.

But no one had ever produced it.

Amazon came close with the Kindle.  But it failed to allow for further innovation by third parties out of the box.

Amazon also failed miserably with rolling out their device internationally.

Let's also keep in mind that the publishing industry is in need of some serious innovation here.

The content industry is still reeling from the financial shocks they have had to endure. 

And to date there has been no easy way for traditional publishers to reach a global audience while also adding unique value.

With the kindle, every publisher is the same.

This is assuming publishers don't make the same mistake as NBC and publicly state they will never be on iTunes (which NBC then had to take back many years and lots of missed dollars later).

The iPad will see a global increase in purchased consumption of eBooks and rich publishing content.

Will publishers make as much per title as they want?  no.  But it will drive revenue.

And yet the savviest amongst us are shouting out the perceived faults of this device as loud as they can.

So let's look at these complaints.

One of the biggest complaints is the lack of multi-tasking.  You can only run one application at a time.

Geeks are aghast.

"Boo Hoo," is all I can say back.

The average person won't care.  Nor will they care that the bevel is "large" or that there is no camera on their media reader.

Now... no flash sucks... but that's not a deal breaker.  That's just Apple being stubborn.  Again.

Here's the kicker.

The geeks clearly have their pocket protectors in a wad over this.  But mark my words, almost all of them will have one of these.  

They will all own an iPad.

Or they will go and buy a Sony Reader and we can all sympathize with their sad, poor little ebook content.

So let's assume it's just a fanatical few who are up in arms.

What will people care about?

That's easy.  The battery life, the responsiveness of the unit, and the experience of using it.  The experience being tied to the content available.

Design is a hard game.  It is a game of constant restrictions and constraints.

You can't have everything.  You have to make intelligent compromises.

Note:  you can have everything with bad design.  Tried to use an alarm clock recently with 325 functions but only 3 control buttons?  It's three years later and I still can't operate my alarm clock reliably.

Apple made the right choices.  10 hours of batter life together with a form, size and weight that is f'ing amazing.

So I believe quite strongly that the iPad will be a game changer. 

I have long stated my belief that piracy will not go away.  In fact, it will get worse.

The only solution for the publishing industry is to make their content ubiquitous to the user (digitally) and easy to purchase.  Easy, easy, easy!!

I spend quite a bit of money a month through my Apple TV because it's the highest quality HD content and it's one easy click with millions of titles at my fingertips.

But when something isn't there... hello torrent.

Remember this presentation from Sports Illustrated?

We all thought of it as science fiction.  Who in their right mind in the publishing industry would pump this kind of money into something this risky?  Only a moron looking to do a Kliavkoff. [edit: correction to name made]

Only now, the hardware exists to exactly enable this vision.

The iPad.

Sport Illustrated just has to write an app.  No hardware risks.  No crazy licensing deals.

Anyone can take their publishing vision and move it onto a platform that will have a global rollout and support.

I would like to applaud Jobs and Apple.

This larger than life iTouch may just change publishing.

Something has to.

Image source: yaunus

Wayne knows what many Word of Mouth experts don't

I was asked [for] a LinkedIn answer on how to build Word of Mouth for a new Montessori school (www.montessorinl.ca) that Steve Bannister and his wife  are starting in St John's Newfoundland.  Here is a reprint of my answer.  There's a cool story about an amazing man Wayne buried towards the end...

  A lot of what I recommend can generally be equated to common sense.  This is because I believe that people are social beings and we desire connections, comfort and to feel valued.  The idea being that it takes a community to make an individual.  So if we behave in ways that are socially relevant and bring value to the individual, then I believe word of mouth will prosper.

  At the risk of being flamed by WOMers, I feel it takes anything but an expert on Word of Mouth campaigns to get Word of Mouth.  Rather, it takes a hard fought for awareness and commitment to caring and forging connections.  You need to align your passions with your values and create the most valuable and humane service possible while recognizing and being honest about your limitations and failings. ie: being open to input and conversation.

  I'm adding some links to services that could be very useful but they assume you are starting your centre here in Toronto.  Whether they are working/adopted where you are is a critical factor to be determined. 

  Namely: Gigpark, LinkedIn, Facebook

  Certainly no shocks in the above list.  These services can foster increased activity, but what creates the desire for people to share your service with friends and family?  I'd post some additional questions.

  How do people make recommendations now?
  Who are people in your community listening to today about schooling/education for their kids?
  What makes you stand out in a sea of noise?
  What values are at the centre of what you are doing?  The "What and the "How" are weak cousins to the "Why".

  I'm going to tell you a story about one of the greatest word of mouth examples in the city of Toronto.  A story very few people know about, but those who do will jump up and down in support.  And this individual has most likely never hired a WOM consultant, nor has he focused on WOM.

  Wayne runs a laundromat.  My google maps search leads me to estimate that there are potentially more than 1900 dry cleaners in the city of Toronto.  So how do you make one outfit stand out?

  Historically, I have always chosen my laundromat by location.  Then when a piece of clothing gets ruined or improperly cleaned, I often select the next best candidate that is slightly less convenient to where I live/work/travel.  This continues infinitum as I never run out of laundromats. 

  Only this all changed when I bought my first Hugo Boss suit and a couple of $200 dress shirts. I suddenly realized that it's one thing for an $80 shirt to get improperly pressed and glossy, but I didn't want this to happen with my much more expensive items.  So I walked into the agency where I was working and asked if anyone knew of a decent laundromat in the area.  I use the word "decent" here because in my brain I had no idea that excellence could occur in the realm of the sweaty, disinterested dry cleaning world I have witnessed every week of my adult life. (I believe an analogy with education could be made here.  ;-)

  I was accosted by a good friend at the agency who literally shook me until I agreed to save my soul and visit Wayne at King West Village Cleaners (1000 King West, 416-596-0559).  I thought it a bit strange that my friend knew the guy's name let alone that he was so emphatic and excited about me visiting him. This makes me chuckle because I now find myself doing the shaking and empathic gestures when asked about dry cleaners.

  It should be noted that I now live over 10 miles away from this laundromat.  I no longer work nearby, I don't have a car and I rarely travel to that end of town anymore.  I'm an East-ender and he is far on the west end.  (For my NY readers, this is like my living and working in SoHo but visiting an laundromat in the high 40's.)

  But every two weeks I rent my Zipcar and "fly" across town to meet Wayne.  And every two weeks he greets me by name, discusses any issues I have and personally picks out the shirts to be hand finished.

  And every two weeks I watch in amazement as someone else walks in before or after me and receives a level of service I've never witnessed elsewhere.  On my last visit, I watched as a woman bashfully handed Wayne the most destroyed pair of jeans on the planet and explained that they were her "special jeans".  She was in front of me and he apologized once to me and then turned his full attention to her.  It took close to 5 minutes for her to explain which rips were not to be repaired, how she wanted other things done.  This pair of jeans must have been 10 years old and he treated it with extreme care, listened to every point and ensured he understood what to do.  He treated this horrible pair of jeans as she intended - as her most prized possession.

  The last time I was in the shop, I asked Wayne what he does.  I wanted to know how he creates something so unusual in a space so crowded.  He told me a very simple thing.  "I just treat every piece of clothing as if it is mine."  I think there is more to it than that.  He acts with respect and integrity.  He fully shows up every day and as a result, his entire staff follow his lead to a level of service I am privileged to receive.

  He told me they were just selected by NOW magazine as the best dry cleaner in the city.  Rightfully so. 

(reprinted from my LinkedIn Response)

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