Going Viral

Though his book at times reads like a gripping novel, Adam Penenberg has written a roadmap for any marketer wanting to know more about how viral works, how to think viral, and why viral happens the way it does. Penenberg writes from the trenches as he provides the back story on how some of today's most successful viral companies started. But the podcast takes you deeper into how to make viral happen for your company.

Gripping is insufficient to describe Pennenberg's ideas. I am usually pretty good at taking notes while I am interviewing someone, but I was so enthralled in listening I found my notepad relatively blank after our twenty minute discussion. However, here's what I asked Adam -- you can listen to the answers in the podcast interview:

1. What is a viral loop?
2. Is this someting you create or something that just happens to you?
3. What is a viral coefficient and can you use them in real time to predict your viral success?
4. What is the difference, if any, between stickyness and viral?

And loads more....

-- David Kinard, PCM

Dim Bulb Illuminates Once-Smart Marketers' Failure

My friend Jonathan Salem Baskin, author of the popular blog The Dim Bulb, wrote yesterday about Sprint losing

another 1.3 million subscribers, and turned in a quarterly loss of $326 million. It promised to boost ad spending. Company CEO Dan Hesse said they'd "make the case for competitive pricing." He's been the spokesperson in some of the ads so far.

Baskin suggested in his blog that Sprint go out and steal some customers from AT&T and T-Mobile.

However, I would venture that just stealing customers won't fix Sprint's problems. People are leaving Sprint for the same reasons they will soon leave At&T or any other carrier -- they get bored with the brand and will flock to the next new shiny thing that comes their way. Any investment spent on stealing a customer has a tenuous long-term ROI attached to it.

Rather, I think the problem is much deeper for Sprint -- they've lost their way. They stand for "simply everything" (Sprint's new catchy slogan -- just Google "sprint simply everything to see how pervasive it is) but mean nothing. When they draw a clear line in the sand, gain the courage to do something remarkable and valuable, then I think they'll begin to solve their customer migration issues.

As usual Baskin highlight's the most absurd in big-dumb-company marketing. It is amazing how quickly once-smart people can lose their wits when they enter the corporate board room.

What are the Essential Characteristics of a Disruptive Product or Service?

I posed this question in an earlier blog (see September 30 post) and said I'd do more research on the subject. After asking the question to groups on LinkedIn, I found that two main sources of information were consistent: 1) check the wikipedia definition on the subject; and 2) Clayton Christensen basically is the father of the idea.

From the wiki definition:

A disruptive technology or disruptive innovation is a term describing a technological innovation, product, or service that uses a "disruptive" strategy, rather than an "evolutionary" or "sustaining" strategy, to overturn the existing dominant technologies or status quo products in a market. Disruptive innovations can be broadly classified into low-end and new-market disruptive innovations.

By contrast, a "revolutionary technology" introduces products with highly improved new features into the market. This is the innovation that most often replaces the incumbent [automobile - horse drawn vehicle]. In addition, a "sustaining technology or innovation" improves product performance of established products. Sustaining technologies are often incremental; however, they can also be radical or discontinuous.

Other than one angry commenter on LinkedIn (go figure), there were a few interesting comments. Particularly, I liked Jody Wilson's comment about Step - Stretch - Leap.

Surprisingly, however, what I didn't find (even after some serious googling) was a laundry list to check against if you wanted to build a disruptive product or service. What this confirmed for me is that the characteristic of disruptive is nothing that can be planned or programmed. Rather it is a whole combination of elements working together at the right time and in the right ways that produces a disruptive nature.

Ahh, the beauty of synergy -- where one plus one equals three or more.

-- David Kinard, PCM

Disrupt the Status Quo in Product Offerings

A friend recently sent me a link to Demo.com -- it's a self-titled launch pad for emerging technology. I was intrigued at what one of the conference producers said...

...said Chris Shipley, product analyst and executive producer of the DEMO conferences. "Ours is a year-long process that culminates in 72 hours of products that are more than disruptive; they change the rules of the game as we know it. They are innovative, they are important, they are fun, and they represent the future products and solutions we all will be using soon.”

What struck me here is the willy nilly application of the idea of disruptive. Most people think that disruptive products are those that go agianst the grain, or that offer a modified alternative to the leading product within a category. That's where I think this whole idea of being disruptive goes horribly wrong, and companies waste money and energy on nothing more than variations on a theme (e.g. vanilla ice cream with nuts, vanilla ice cream with caramel ribbons, etc.). No matter what, you're still producing plain, mediocre, vanilla.

Disruptive means that you fundamentally change the nature of the market and the way the consumer interacts with it. The Apple iPod, the Nintendo 64 and Wii, and even in films with The Matrix and Lord of the Rings trilogies; these products changed the industry and consumer interaction within them forever.

I am going to do some research on this and see if I can come up with a list of what makes something disruptive. There is a ton of books on the subject -- I'll do a quick review and see if anyone has anything "disruptive" to suggest.

-- David Kinard, PCM