Bizandbuzz

Friday, July 13, 2007

Dune restaurant blog

Dear all, a quick info about the blog.
Due to my poor technality, I turn the blog over the blogpost platform.
Typepad is far too complicated to me: my fault, indeed.

So go to the new Dune house: www.dunerestaurant.blogspot.com

Enjoy.

ads that make me sick

I begin today a new series about awful ads from the Italian market.
I've noticed that the qualitative level of advertising in Italy is rather poor.
Who's to blame for?

Agencies are not brave enough to propose bold creative execution. How many times I was in creative presentation where the agency apologize for a proposing something out of the box.
And how many times I've heard clients doing the job of the creative dept. Getting into meeting with handwritten papers with layout and claim already fixed in their mind. The first question to ask for should have been: are you paid for that? Are you a marketing manager (or a product manager ) or you work for the agency? Who does pay for you salary?
Well, to tell the truth, there are the international creative execution to mess the situation further. Those beautiful ads where the local environment is passed by. How many issues this approach has created to companies and agencies?

But let's go the winner for this week.

I do not know what's your knowledge of sailing and winds. But indeed you know that waves go in the wind direction as well as you may konw that the America's Cup boats do not sail with wind over the 18/20 knots.

The Italian watch makers, Sector, defied the law of nature and the rules of the America's Cup in just one ad:

the boat is sailing under a gennaker with backwind but against the waves
the waves are for a very strong sea, well over the regatta rules and the chance of the boat to float
last but not least, they should work a bit on photoshop

Monday, July 09, 2007

The heat is on!

Launch date: Monday, July 16th

Formats/Prices:

Hardbacks $29.99
Paperbacks $16.95
E-book $9.99

Background
Dedication

Authors:
Valeria Maltoni
Emily Reed
Katie Chatfield
Greg Verdino
Mack Collier
Lewis Green
Sacrum
Ann Handley
Mike Sansone
Paul McEnany
Roger von Oech
Anna Farmery
David Armano
Bob Glaza
Mark Goren
Matt Dickman
Scott Monty
Richard Huntington
Cam Beck
David Reich
Luc Debaisieux
Sean Howard
Tim Jackson
Patrick Schaber
Roberta Rosenberg
Uwe Hook
Tony D. Clark
Todd Andrlik
Toby Bloomberg
Steve Woodruff
Steve Bannister
Steve Roesler
Stanley Johnson
Spike Jones
Nathan Snell
Simon Payn
Ryan Rasmussen
Ron Shevlin
Roger Anderson
Bob Hruzek
Rishi Desai
Phil Gerbyshak
Peter Corbett
Pete Deutschman
Nick Rice
Nick Wright
Mitch Joel
Michael Morton
Mark Earls
Mark Blair
Mario Vellandi
Lori Magno
Kristin Gorski
Krishna De
Kris Hoet
Kofl Annan
Kimberly Dawn Wells
Karl Long
Julie Fleischer
Jordan Behan
John La Grou
Joe Raasch
Jim Kukral
Jessica Hagy
Janet Green
Jamey Shiels
Dr. Graham Hill
Gia Facchini
Geert Desager
Gaurav Mishra
Gary Schoeniger
Gareth Kay
Faris Yakob
Emily Clasper
Ed Cotton
Dustin Jacobsen
Tom Clifford
David Pollinchock
David Koopmans
David Brazeal
David Berkowitz
Carolyn Manning
Craig Wilson
Cord Silverstein
Connie Reece
Colin McKay
Chris Newlan
Chris Corrigan
Cedric Giorgi
Brian Reich
Becky Carrol
Arun Rajagopal
Andy Nulman
Amy Jussel
AJ James
Kim Klaver
Sandy Renshaw
Susan Bird
Ryan Barrett
Troy Worman
CK
Drew Mcclellan
Gavin Heaton

Saturday, July 07, 2007

Start me up

Yesterday evening, the Rolling Stones were on stage here in Rome.
As wrote in one of the previous post, I had an All access pass and, indeed, got to the concert.
After two hours of a flood of music, the Stones marked again the huge difference between the great rock and roll bands and most of wannabe music heroes of today.

This short video is a 1,44 minute video dedicated to Lewis Green, who made a comment saying "Start me up".
Even if a couple of days late, this is to celebrate the achievement of 1.000 comments on his blog.
Enjoy, man.

The second video is the tribute paid to Keith Richards. His guitar was the opening of all the songs.
He also sang a blues with Ron Wood at the acoustic guitar.
Rock on ,man.

Friday, July 06, 2007

This is a bold move from MPAA

MPAA in its war against illegal download has finally taken the boldest move possible:

"has launched a site called MiiVi that's dedicated to busting those that are both in the process of downloading copyrighted content, as well as those that have already engaged in the illicit act. Unbeknownst to download pirates who think MiiVi is a legitimate site, the destination allows users to download whole movies. It also features a downloadable app soliciting "fast and easy downloading all in one great site."

As reported by MarketingVoice.

Now, these guys seem to live at the Flinstones age.
Not only, they are not able to find new business model but spend money and time to try to trick the web.
And get eventually discovered in a couple of months.
Well done, guys.
If I was in the industry and pay for your salary, I would fire you.

Thursday, July 05, 2007

Tagged!!

Well, tags and tagging may be a little boring. We do all our best to avoid e -mails saying deliver to 100 people or you got headache for a weak!
But I have to admit that this is a little different as it make you write something more about yourself. Yes, we do write something about ourselves everyday with our posts and comments. And, lately, I 've seen most of us to turn on a more personal mode.

Anyway, here are Random Things About Me:

I love dogs, sometimes more than humans
I love Pinot Noir Burgundy stile
I love modern art
I have an All Access pass for the Rolling Stones concert in Rome of tomorrow
I have a tattoo with a phrase from Sympathy for the devil
I adore Paris (the city, not the Hilton)
I love to cook and try new recipe for friends
I love Buddhism

And now the tagging for 8 people.

CK - ck-blog
Masiguy - masiguy
Gavin Heaton - servantofchaos
Stephen Denny - note-to-cmo
Pierfrancesco - pier-blog
Simone - simonemorgagni
Drew - drewsmarketingminute
David Armano - darmano

I do not know your reaction to the meme and the tag game but consider this tagging comes from an admirer.

Wednesday, July 04, 2007

Feel free to step in

As life is too easy and I have a lot of free time, I have a new blog along with Bizandbuzz.
Please check: http://www.dunerestaurant.typepad.com/

This is the blog of the restaurant, where you can find information about the activity, as exhibition, parties, news about the city of Rome.

Enjoy,G.

Tuesday, July 03, 2007

Small thing that helps in making the world better

Eni, the Italian petrol company, has a new dress code: until September no jacket and tie.
The reason: 9% of saving in electricity and CO2 emission for each centigrade of air conditioning.
The goal: the perception that everyone of us, from the single person to the big company, can do something real for the environment.
The result: a great pr activity that goes along with the other activity named 30% - 24 practical suggestions to save energy, money and the environment.

Congratulation to Paolo Scaroni, the Ceo of Eni.

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Ethic, honesty, transparency

On the Sunday supplement of La Repubblica, I have found this amazing story.
Guillaume Prébois, a 35 years old journalist, will participate to the Grand Boucle, the Tour the France.
He will run the legs of the Tous one day in advance under medical control and making the anti doping control everyday.
The purpose is to show that too many athletes do use addictive drugs to be faster.
Fabio Biasolo, a ultracycler, will support him in this adventure.
We can follow him at www.Lautretour.com

It all started when Tom Boonen, the world champion, at the end of one mountain leg of last Tour de France, said: "today the leg was so tough that a normal person would have gone to hospital"

Why I do post about this story?

Because I feel that this could be a great chance for companies to sponsor the clean face of a much discussed sport. Masiguy had some post on the dope issue. (see May 25, 2007)
It is a great marketing chance to link your brand to a project where ethic, honesty, transparency are the goals.
It is a strong message to all the amateurs of this sport, which has a huge market, about your brand and its positioning as a trusted one.

Is your brand in the position to support a project like this?
Is there around other projects like this one that could deliver to your brand?
And last, if Guillaume had asked support to your company, what would have been your answer?

Sunday, June 24, 2007

A new blogger toolbox

A great new suggestion from Drew's marketing minute: the new blogger toolbox.

Et voilà the suggestion for the new bloggers around:

Conversation Agent by Valeria Maltoni - a great thinker who write in a clear yet articulated way
Bizsolutionplus by Lewis Green - the ethic approach to business and to blogging and god knows how we need it
Servant of Chaos by Gavin Heaton - the down under look to our world making you see things from a different perspective
Webware by Rafe Needleman and others - I like the fresh insight to cool web apps
Note to CMO by Stephen Denny - a cool way to tell to CMO to wake up

Hope you'll enjoy these blogs and find them useful and inspiring.

And do not forget: this is not a "if you're tagged, jump in" sort of thing. If you know of some great resources...jump in. If you got named -- please, by all means jump in too!

Thursday, June 21, 2007

Tell me why

Few months ago, Digitas was acquired from Publicis Group for some as 1.6 bn dollars. Not bad.
A bold move to reinforce the Publicis position in the digital world.
Then, David Armano left the agency to join Critical Mass.
And three days ago, Greg Verdino left Digitas to join Crayon.
And probably some other moves took place in the meantime.

Now, why buy a company, pay a huge amount of money and then lose talents?
This is not a new story about this form of acquisition from the communication groups.
They are late in detecting new trends, then buy companies and try to turn them to their corporate approach and, most of the time, they kill them.

Marketing is, after all, about value creation

This quote from CK's blog is the title of this post because I've neglected my blog lately.
And it shows from the readership.
Too many stuff to do. And a bit of selfishness.

But marketing, in its being a mix of art and science, has in itself some zen spirit and require a daily practice.

You need to stay on the news, get informed, attract and engage.
This is the main difference between writing a book and keeping a blog.
After a book is published you can have some rest, when a post is done you have to think about the next one: no post, no comments, no conversation.

And as well as marketing, blogging is about value creation.
The creation of a consistent reason to read your blog, to understand your thoughts and to comment them.

Sunday, June 17, 2007

“What else is there to live for? food and women”

And so I did it: I just became partner in a restaurant.
This is a long story.
I have always loved the idea of a restaurant, probably it's in my dna: my grandfather was a maitre in luxury hotels aroud the world.

Anyway, along with my consulting career, I'm now working on the marketing for the restaurant.
Go there and have a look:

http://www.dunerestaurant.it/main_Eng.html

And if you are in Rome or plan to come to the eternal city, send a mail.....

Friday, June 08, 2007

It's no longer the new news but the relevance of the news

When I first started to blog, my focus was on the latest news and on writing something with strict connection to marketing (or at least the serious side of marketing) because the blogs I read was consistent in this approach.
But lately this way of blogging has changed and shifted from marketing to relationship.
Wait, I'm not saying we are no longer writing on marketing. The approach has changed: we blog about personal aspects of life, about relationship.
We do not forget that the job of the marketers is to advice on how to sell brands and products to customers, but they are no longer customers only but human being.
And the relationship between our bloggers has followed this path.

I'm more confident that there is a way to sell brands and products which is smart and transparent and honest.
A way where customers are not only grps or clicks or whatever measure you need to use but persons.

And across this path, this group of bloggers, I'm linked to, became a community.
We don't consider ourselves for the number of links but for what we are and what we say.

My approach has changed too:
it's no longer the new news but the relevance of the news.
Being the first to write about is not important to me is I have nothing relevant to say about.

Monday, June 04, 2007

*@###§^^!!!!!!!!

I'm in a battle royal with technology!
Next update coming soon!

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Better work few minutes more

A quick update on The 4-Hour Workweek.
I've got a mail by Tim Ferriss who probably did not get my question (of course, it may be a fault of mine as I write in a foreing language).
Anyway my question was:

tim,
i'm very curious to read your book but, as i live in italy, no chance to get the audible version.
any suggestion?
thanks,g.

The answer is:

Hi Gianandrea,

Thank you for your email. You should be able to download the audiobook at www.audible.com, or you can download the ebook at www.powells.com .

Thanks so much!

Tim

The problem is:

at Audible the book is not available for outside the US
at Powells it is in pre order and I did not spent other time to check is there is the same problem

It is the same problem I detected by myself and which made me send a mail.
After three days, I got a mail with a useless answer.

Monday, May 21, 2007

Customer care and the 4 hours work week

You have heard about a clever guy who is selling his method to work 4 hours a week and still living healthy.
I heard about him yesterday at Steve Rubel's place.
At first I was amazed by how smart is this guy : the book, five minutes conferences, a blog, some advice on how to measure your life quality, how to save money with a more rational standard of living, etc.
Wow, sounds great. Let me buy the book.
First problem: the book is not yet available for Italian market. Ok, such a smart guy, I send him a mail telling how i wish to understand more and we'll find a solution. So I did and I got an answer in five minutes. The most disappointing answer I, as a customer, can receive:

Hi All,

In an effort to actually get work done, I am checking email once every 2-4 days. If you need a response soon and have my number, please call me. I actually prefer phone for quick decisions.

If this is media, speaking, or interview-related, please find
appropriate phone info under "contact" at www.fourhourworkweek.com.

Cheers, and here's to life outside of the inbox!

Tim

P.S. I read all e-mail personally, but I cannot always reply, especially with involved how-to questions. Please don't be offended if I don't respond, and be sure to check out the blog, forums, and 4HWW communities that are popping up online. Thanks for
understanding, and I appreciate your e-mail!

Wait a minute:

to save your time you just do not check email?
to save your time, I have to phone to you?
you read all email personally but do not answer because you can't?
I have not to be offended, if you do not answer?

What about customer satisfaction?
You sell a product, your book, and to sell more you build up a story around it and to live with your story you tell to a customer to not send mail, better a phone call and if you should not answer just take it easy?

Is it me or there is something wrong?

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Any new news?

The world lives with the paranoia of the latest news: we must be updated, we have to know the latest piece of information and the first who get it is the winner. Wait, the winner of what? If by chance I should be the first to know about a new way to cure a disease, this means that I could be able to use this information appropriately? The winner still should be the one who use it better and smarter.
A post from down under Servant of Chaos (ok, it's Gavin) talk about the chaos of influence.
A post create some ripples that seem to disappear and then, all of a sudden, an influencer get into the playground and make the post live and spread, no matter how old it is.

Blogs do not necessarily live on the latest news but on the content relevance.
It's content and analysis that bring in readers and commenters and eventually create your social network.

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Who's setting the pace in the advertising market?

We all know and say that the world of advertising is going to change dramatically, that mass media are on the verge of a nervous breakdown, that viewerships and media fruition are shifting from a passive to an active mode (Marketing Charts) with an overlapping of different media fruition.
Well, this is probably the time when we can check if the above is correct or if we have been foolished by our desire. This the time of the year when next year budget are deployed and bigger media choice discussed: this is strategy time.
It's interesting to see the gap between the development of the strategy for the advertisers and the development of the programming for the editors and publisher of the main media.
In this Ad Age article, the Unilever Media VP, Laura Klauberg, says that's going to be tough to negotiate right now with no clear mind on the need from a programming point of view. And she is lucky enough if the TV sales houses know which programs they are going to broadcast.
It seems to me that advertisers need to be strategic while media tend to be tactical and to unveil their programs at the very last minute. This is true in Italy, where the TV programming can change very often. What about other countries?

Monday, May 14, 2007

the copyright issue for the 100th times

two good news this morning.

the first one is that some smart guys are getting into sort out the copyright issue without making lawyers benefitting of all the revenues.
fast company reports of this model that may help in producing revenue for any stolen video.
i see some clear benefit here:

stop useless and expensive legal action
stop trying to face the tech evolution with last century approach
contribute to spread the creativity
make some positive pr to the industry

how it works?

"PodZinger's spiders will in time be able to track down specific video content on command--a clip from last night's Daily Show, for example, or everything that belongs to Comedy Central--and insert an ad into each segment, no matter where it is playing"

does it work?

we should hope yes, because it can be the first step to a newer and smarter approach to the unstoppable evolution of the web.

for the full article:
podzinger

the second news is the this is my post #100.
i wish to thanks all the readers and everyone who just passed by.

Saturday, May 12, 2007

alphabet city

other two letters just added to the meme.
well done.
here the links:

I am Blog with B

The Diet Pulpit with S

Friday, May 11, 2007

green is the colour of money

Enviroment is becoming a business and, if it will succeed, we have a higher chance to keep our world alive.
Italian newspapers are filled with adv from major utilities company, such as Eni, Sorgenia, and manufacturers of lighting systems, such as Guzzini, Beghelli. All these ads have in common the message: save on electricity through a responsible and efficient lighting system.

Advice such as: do not leave appliances on stand by, adoption of low intensity light bulbs, computer assisted light system, etc.

What I find interesting in the approach is that no one of the company lose time talking about the future of the world, the eco system, etc. They go straight on the saving concept.
The eco concept is in the bodycopy, as an additional benefit.

Is it the same in the US or in other European countries?
Is that a new trend?

Wednesday, May 09, 2007

alphabet city

It's time to turn this story into a meme and see what happens.

Valeria Maltoni posted her 4As about blogging.
David Armano did it one year ago with his 4Cs.
Mark Goren set up his 4Ps.
Grigor at Behind the glass describe his 4Ls.

My proposal is to build an alphabet with four words for each letter describing what blog is about.

My letter is I

Innovation - to be one step ahead with the latest information
Information - to get information about the rest of the world and keep my mind open and facilitate the integration
Integration - to approach others without prejudices, to have conversation with them and share thoughts that generate ideas
Ideas - to produce ideas that can really have an impact in my business as well in my life

What about you?

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

habitat for humanity

It's almost one month that this community established the badge.
please, go ahead in donating.
click on the badge, make yours a better day.

Thursday, May 03, 2007

a greener apple

i know, and you should know, too: i'm an apple addict.
but you must admit it: this is a bold move.
for the first time ever, steve jobs is addressing the company policy to be a greener company, and a more transparent one.

a greener apple

Wednesday, May 02, 2007

Age of conversation, the eBook

As you may know, two smart guys (Gavin and Drew) came up with a great idea: to build a book together with 100 bloggers, from all over the world, about conversation.
This has been a favourite topic since a while now, I had my own post about it, too.
But the interesting thing is to gather 100 persons and ask for a contribution.
I sent my two cents about it, titled about conversation.
What I tried to do is to define the structure of a conversation through my own thoughts and some quotes of writers, artists, philosophers.

The proceed goes to Variety, the children's charity

Monday, April 16, 2007

Rome, May 12, 2017

Few years ago, the devil in the internet world had one face. This one:

Scaring, isn't it?

Today, we live in a perfect world where some wise and nice looking guys have made our life easier and better.

This guy has put his hands over the music system, the movie market. Any song you want to download, any movie you want to see, you owe him a royalty. The box office is no longer based on the ticket sold but on the download from his network of web sites. He manages the most important artists and organize their tours around the world and the merchandise. (Rumors say he is keeping Mickey Mouse as a hostage but, as shown in the picture, they are very good friends!!!)

These two guys just bought internet. A stated in this latest news, google just made an offer in cash to buy the whole internet with huge benefit to the end users.

Seriously, don't you feel a little uncomfortable with the power that all these guys are concentrating in their hands?

Thursday, April 12, 2007

at home with books

reading is one of the pleasure of life. buying books, too.
then the problem is to make a catalog not to buy two times a title or to get quick reference when you write an article or a document.
this morning i want to spend this space to talk of a software , Delicious library, which make this catalogue in a smart way.
when installed, you turn your webcam in a scanner, pass the book in front of the cam, it reads the barcode and the book in recognized and catalogued with all the details.
it works with the amazon database for us, uk, france, japan, germany and france.
you can catalogue cd and movies, too.
as it is a smart piece of software it work on mac only ;-))

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

to whom pay the royalties?

this morning i saw this smart post by maurizio goetz.
and it make me think about the issue of the copyrights and the battle between the majors and the web.

the business of the majors was to invest money to produce a singer or a group and to earn from the lp, cassette and cd sales
singers and bands were getting most fo their money from the live acts
some of these singers and bands made up a form of pension plan with the right to reproduce their music
everyone was living a happy life until technology broken the game

now, my question is should we turn down technology or it's an issue of the majors to change their business model?

CK's love

This is what i mean when i write about being part of a community.
Check this out.
It's for a special friend and her family.
God bless them.

Friday, April 06, 2007

buddhism and the sharing attitude

since years i've been truly fascinated by the buddhist attitude towards life.
i also attended an introductory course to buddhism in a monastery here in italy, the place where the dalai lama stays when visiting my country.
and in my google page i linked to a site providing daily meditation thoughts.

i wish to share with you the one for today.

Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared. - Buddha

several reasons to do so:

i feel we are part of a community even if a non declared one
when something happens to one of "us" the support from the rest of the community is immediate and strong
this community is based on the rule of sharing
it goes beyond any personal believe
it grows through the six degrees of separation rule (a link to another link to another link.....
it's for a friend of "us" living a tough time

am i a bit too transcendental?

Monday, April 02, 2007

a quick comment about the annoucement of the deal between apple and emi. you know i'm a huge apple fan and i strongly believe that this company has the leadership is the major changes in the music market as we knew.

with this last move, apple is helping the music majors to save their own business, if the majors will get the message.
if not, i suppose that soon we'll see some business to shut down their premises.

anyway, this deal is a smart move for a reason that many commenters in the us may not have seen.
lately, the european commission on behalf of some european countries warned apple to remove the block to reproduce the songs bought on itunes.
this warning could have driven to serious trouble to apple with huge fine, as it happened to microsoft.

apple move was smarter than it seems: the deal was closed with the major european music label.
a sign of good will to gain some more time.

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

the dark side of the moon

We do all believe that blogosphere is a pleasant place where meet friends and learn useful stuff and, yes, eventually make some business and money.
Well, that's no longer true to me.
Not after what I read this morning.
At Steve Rubel's place I got this post about a blogger, Kathy Sierra, who received serious death threats.
This is the link to her original post: it's disturbing and scaring.
But do me a favour: read it and think about it.
This seems no longer to be a game.

Monday, March 26, 2007

Gigamiles or thousands of bytes

This is the kind of a moment when you wish that sci-fi was already reality and you can get transferred across the ocean in seconds.
That kind of stuff that you can see in Battlestar Galactica or Startrek.

Like this one:

Why?
Because last Friday, in New York City, some of the best brains around (and some of them are charming ladies, too) met for a party.

So, what?
I was several thousands miles far from.

And?
Still I'm a lucky guy because when we blog i do not feel the distance.

But?
NEXT TIME LET'S HAVE A WEBCAM!!!

want pictures?

the manhattan connection: it's a fact magic can happen

Friday, March 23, 2007

Pedro and the customer attitude

(Clone, one of my dogs)

Few days ago, before I left for few days out (sorry, no vacation) I saw a small dog known in the neighborhood. He carries a small tag with written on: My name is Pedro, I live in the parking area and I'm not lost. He is used to go around by himself. Well few days ago, he was following a young lady (dog, of course) very far from home. I saw him from the bus and got worried about his chance to get back home alive: he was crossing a very busy street.
The day later I saw him walking close to home in very good shape and safe.

Pedro has the customer attitude, the new customer attitude:

he goes by himself
he follows his instinct
he looks for new experience
he knows what he want
he doesn't get lost

Do you want to get new customers? Leave your desk and talk to people.
Do you want to retain your customers? Engage them in new experience and keep conversation alive.
Do you want to lose them? Try to put a leash on them. They will bite you.

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Spring cleaning

Next week it will be 5 months since the first post, here at Bizandbuzz.

But as the spring cleaning time is approaching, I decided to self celebrate ( sounds a lot pretending, I know) and got a new layout.

Do you like it?

Saturday, March 10, 2007

Jean Baudrillard R.I.P.

Jean Baudrillard has died aged 77.

Thanks for all his writings.

Time is on our side. Or not?

originally updated by Livornoqueen, via Gavin Heaton

We are always running out of time, pushed, pressed and squeezed like juiced oranges.
We do fight to keep the qualitative standard of your job as high as possible.
We do struggle to defend our revenue.
Sound insane, isn't it?
Why it seems so dificult to sit down and think about what we do?
I believe that we would probably be scared of our conclusion.

Stephen Denny at Note to CMO published this post about the information overload and its impact on our daytime
Luc at Mindblob had this post on the Production trinity and how going short of time impact on its quality
Valeria at Conversation Agent had this post on how all our stuff lifetime is shorter than it used to be: better replace than fix

Three different approach but the same question:

where has it gone all our time?

Monday, March 05, 2007

The age of conversation

In my own blog, and in most of the others that i read, to open and to manage a conversation is a key issue.
Without a conversation there is no engagement, no share of information, no transfer of knowledge.
Without a conversation, we cannot learn to listen, to give qords their own meaning and not the one we would like them to have.
Without conversation the essence of blogging would be lost as well as the newest trend in a customer centric marketing.
But when we talk about conversation, we should know to whom pay tribute for having created the modern art of the dialogue.
This great book from Benedetta Craveri covers this topic, describing when, where and who was behind this fascinating art.

You can find the book here Amazon and here Barnes & Noble

In the early 17th century, conversation was the newest form of art in the French aristocratic circles. On personalities and gossip as well as on intellectual arguments, conversation came from several prominent women. The most prominent was the Marquise of Rambouillet, whose Blue Room was the most important circle.

Conversation had, at that time, the power to influence writers, their style, their themes.

Is it still true today?
Are we still able to have a conversation with friends, parents, customers?
Do we write as we talk or it is the opposite?

Thursday, March 01, 2007

Get into real life (revised version)

When I used to travel intensively to the US of A, I was fascinated by some companies such as The Gap, Starbucks, etc. What do they had in common? They represented the American myth: wearing their stuff or telling about these coffee shops meant looking like the discerning traveller.
Italian tourists were landing in the States with empty luggages and fill them with goods from these companies.
Some of these brands have lost their appeal as of late.
No longer able to identify themselves with the cultural changes in society, they started looking only in their backyards for inspiration.
The Gap launched a division for women 40+ in a country where age is a taboo: something like "my dress is my ID".
Starbucks sold its "third place" experience to save one or two minutes to people in line. What it communicates: take your coffee and run when coffee is a pleasure that takes time to enjoy.
Many others followed the same path.

Some suggestions:

Get clued in -- read marketing books, but read newspapers and magazines as well
Observe -- go shopping and see what people look for and buy
Interact -- don't stop looking around and listening to people
Drive -- those changes, if you can
Experience -- be part of the world outside your office, your facilities
Adapt -- to the social and cultural changes

This is a revised version: thanks to Valeria