As a digital analyst, I spend a lot of his time thinking about the future of customer experience. So much so that my next book attempts to rethink the term “experience,” X:The Experience of Business Meets Design. “X” explores experience architecture the various ways companies can design meaningful and shareable experiences in every moment of truth. I recently spent time with the team at VisionCritical as part of the prep for its their upcoming conference in Chicago, 2015 Vision Critical…
5 Inspiring B2B Marketing Campaigns
by Ashley Taylor Anderson, excerpt The words “inspiring” and “B2B” may not seem like they belong together in the same headline. B2B companies have gotten a bad rap when it comes to marketing campaigns, and that rap isn’t entirely undeserved. Our products and services usually aren’t very sexy, and trying to make them sexy with marketing can be challenging, to say the least. That said, creative marketers have succeeded in creating inspiring marketing content for their brands. Here are 5…
Racing IndyCars with Team Penske and Hitachi
On August 30th, 2015, I dropped the top on my 1960s Corvette Sting Ray, fired up the 427 and made my way from Silicon Valley to Sonoma Raceway for the big IndyCar race finale. For those who don’t know, I am enamored with cars and have been since I was old enough to play with Hot Wheels. I remember obsessively washing my hands before and after too. In fact, my parents still tease me about it to this day because…
The Importance of Artistry in Business and Everything
I am a big fan of Chase Jarvis and I’m also proud to call him a dear friend. As I was preparing for the launch of my next book, I found this gem of a video from 2013. I can’t believe I lost this. In what is either a serendipitous or coincidental discovery, this video was shot as part of the official debut of CreativeLIVE‘s studio in San Francisco at the same time I was introducing What’s the Future of…
Apple’s Odd, Yet Effective, Social Media Strategy
CIO’s Matt Kapko recently explored why Apple’s social media strategy seems to play the game differently, according to its rules, and not the best practices of everyone else. We talked at length about it now and over the years. This time, I focused specifically on the question about why/why not have an @Apple account. Part of my thoughts made it into the final article, the rest is below for you to see. Excerpt: Apple does social media differently than its…
New Media and the Path to Business Transformation
I have a standing offer to all universities (around the world) that use my books as part of the editorial program. I will happily make time to speak to the class to address discuss the material and also answer student questions. In one such case, I joined my friend Kristian Strøbech who teaches budding media professionals at The Danish School of Media and Journalism along with his students for what turned out to be a fantastic conversation. I hope you…
The Hero’s Journey to Digital Transformation
I spent some time with Bernhard Steimel to help him with research for his “Smart Service” series. He sent over the audio files from our conversation for review. He organized them into snackable formats to make it easier for me to follow the conversation. It was so well done that he’s allowing me to share the discussion with you. Each audio segment ranges between two and four minutes. I hope these brief segments help you in some way… 1. The…
Facebook Advances Bazaar Ambitions
by Deepa Seetharaman, WSJ Excerpt Facebook Inc. is channeling eBay Inc. in its latest effort to become a trading bazaar. The social network is making it easier for its 1.49 billion users to buy, sell and trade used items from cars to waffle irons through a Facebook group. Facebook says more than 850 million people use its Groups feature each month, exploring shared interests ranging from politics to specific diseases. The company launched For Sale Groups late last year, and…
The Wrap: What’s Behind Maker Studios’ Dilemma -Executive Exits, Missed Revenue Targets
By Daniel Holloway, The Wrap Excerpt Recent signs at the Disney-owned multichannel network are troubling, but there’s no reason yet to panic August has been the hottest month for Maker Studios. The millennial-courting, digital-facing multichannel network, which Disney acquired with much fanfare in March 2014, has shown signs of struggle. The sale price that Disney paid for Maker, once thought to be as high as $950 million when the deal was finalized in March 2014, will turn out to be…
25 Social Media Keynote Speakers You Need to Know
by John Rampton, Inc. These are 25 of the top social media keynote speakers that you need to know that could change your conference. Brian Solis–Whatdoes a “like” on a Facebook page actually mean? According to Brian Solis, principal digital analyst at the Altimeter Group, not much. What really matters, he argues, is the nature and depth of the engagement a customer feels with a brand he or she needs to regard as a person. He’s written three best-selling books,…