Front Page Feature Post
http://schoolofthought.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/SOT-Video_FINAL.flv
When planning a party, it is typically wise to book a venue that can accommodate all of your guests. Sage advice, that we here at School of Thought may have taken a bit too lightly when inviting 354 people to join us for our 1st Anniversary-slash-Launch-slash-Holiday Soiree—in a location meant to hold 100.
Some things to keep in mind for the future:
1) Do not send out a single invitation until all hosts [she means, ‘Tom & Joe’—Editor] have firmly assembled their guest lists.
2) Do not tell the caterer that you expect 70-90 guests on the assumption that over two-thirds of your invitees will send their regrets. Free drinks and food. People come. Who knew.
3) Do not try to delete invites already sent through an online-invitation service in hopes that you can stop people who have not yet replied from RSVP-ing. You cannot un-ring the bell. We tried.
In the end it turned out great. Pictures coming soon. As soon as we find the camera. And Tom.
I’m impressed with the new Domino’s work. Here’s why: it’s gotten a brand that’s completely removed from my consideration set back on the radar. After all, I can’t remember the last time I had a slice of Domino’s pizza. Their brand position seems to have been, it simply couldn’t get much worse than this.
Remarkably, with their new campaign, Domino’s is acknowledging this perceived truth. For a marketer, this takes some real resolve, which means it almost never happens. Admitting the shortcomings, however painful or difficult internally, has a remarkable effect externally—it neutralizes the vitriol we have towards the brand.
To be honest, watching the Domino’s executives on the new commercials, wincing as focus group respondents ripped into their wares, I actually felt some empathy. This, from the guy who heretofore would’ve turned down a complimentary slice.
Jon Steele makes the case in his book that it’s critical to note the relationship the consumer has with both your product, and with the category at large. If you’ve got credibility problems [Vista], you aren’t going to get anywhere talking past the issue. Honesty, as Mom would say, is still better than a kick in the teeth. Mom’s a rebel.
The Story
In 2000, Tom started working at a Hal Riney spin-off that had about ten dot.com clients. This might explain why the agency went under subsequently. Anyway, these weren’t your average tech clients. This was super geeky, technical stuff. Aside from these dot.coms, the agency had one consumer brand, a company called Jelly Belly. Guess which client we all wanted to work on. (It didn’t hurt when the account executive would walk by daily, taking orders for flavors. Sour apple, please, perhaps with a Margarita chaser?)
Jelly Belly is one of those remarkable success stories. Between a solid product and some guy named Reagan, the product had great awareness.
What could we tell the world that they didn’t already know?
The Work
Jelly Beans, in general, are pretty yucky. Pretty on the outside, devoid of flavor inside. Jelly Belly beans, on the other hand, are incredibly flavorful. Was there a way to dramatize the fact that these remarkably tiny confections were supercharged with flavor—as close to their namesakes as you can get?
There was. Ultimately, the company didn’t go with this campaign, which is too bad, because the true-to-life flavor is really at the heart of the brand, but that’s life in the big city.
HBR featured an article on their blogs way back in September, called The Awesomeness Manifesto, by Umair Haque. It struck a chord here at School of Thought. Because we like awesome—we’re all about awesome.
What is awesomeness? Awesomeness happens when thick — real, meaningful — value is created by people who love what they do, added to insanely great stuff, and multiplied by communities who are delighted and inspired because they are authentically better off. That’s a better kind of innovation, built for 21st century
economics.
For those who need a guide (we tend to need guides), consider this:
The Four Pillars of Awesomeness
1) Awesome stuff is produced ethically
2) Focus on creativity and you will make insanely great stuff
3) Love what you do
4) Create real, meaningful, and sustainable value
Joe and I have worked for some big organizations. McCann’s San Francisco office, my home for nearly four years, was the largest shop on the West Coast, with nearly 700 people. At its height, Agency.com had 1800 people, ostensibly working together in one collective. When I was at Ogilvy in NY, the agency seemed to take up most of a skyscraper, with a cafeteria that could serve hundreds at a time.
This, to me, is the communications equivalent of World War I. Thousands of people in the trenches. Incredible, senseless waste. And leadership a helluva long way off, probably out of touch.
I’m not able to thrive in an environment like that. Not knowing half of my coworkers by name. Sitting in a conference room with, I kid you not, 45 people, (which has happened). Perhaps it’s me. According to Gladwell’s The Tipping Point, it’s not.
Robin Dunbar, an anthropologist and evolutionary biologist, found that the number of social contacts primates have seems to be proportional to the size of their neocortex.
Based on the neocortex in humans and looking at historical data, Dunbar theorized that the maximum effective social group size is about 148. This, in part, explains why the military and some companies (most famously W.L. Gore, the maker of Gore-Tex) create autonomous units of no more than 100 to 150 people.
Any more than that, Dunbar relates, and people simply can’t operate effectively.
So that’s it. We draw the line at 150. Which means, if Joe agrees, we’ve only got 147 remaining hires. This should be simple, if they’re as great as Alexis.
After all, ultimately, for each respective client or brand, there’s only one campaign needed. If you can’t get there with two or three teams, you’ve either got the wrong teams, or some poor direction.
Anything more, and you’re back in the trenches. Which is to say, a great waste.
© 2011 School of Thought, LLC.