Jonathan Bender
Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, who has never been shy about speaking his mind, recently made the decision to ban all bloggers - major and minor -- from the locker room. In a post on Blog Maverick, justifying his decision as a move toward equality, Cuban argued that he didn't feel that a blogger from the mainstream media should have more access to his players than a person who blogs as a hobby.
His assertion that this was an effort to ensure equality was met with heavy criticism from writers, both on and off the Internet. It was seen as a heavy-handed attempt at censorship and the backlash was immediate and overwhelming. In light of Cuban's well-developed persona, the ban seemed particularly out of character. He's opened himself up to criticism for eight years as the most connected owner in sports. By listening to customers about how to improve the fan experience, Cuban has built a brand based on accessibility.
If you ever need a blueprint for viral video success (or even a new media approach), it's sitting on YouTube's most viewed list right now: Guys backflip into jeans.
The viral spot created for Levi Strauss by the advertising agency Cutwater has rocketed past 2 million views in just a little over a week's time. The premise is simple - a group of performers do a series of increasingly complicated tricks to step into their jeans.
Southwest Airlines is a brand in crisis.
The corporation was an anomaly: an airline known for efficiency and entertainment but this month, they became known for fuselage cracks and inadequate safety inspections.
The low-cost airline's tailspin began with the recent announcement of a $10.2 million fine from the Federal Aviation Administration based on 2007 maintenance records. The Dallas-based company is also scheduled for a congressional hearing on April 3 to discuss maintenance practices while the stock price has dropped 10 percent since the news broke earlier this month.
Where are the places that most companies stumble when searching for an agency to partner on a brand?The right short list is a critical starting point - and the place where companies often miss. There are thousands of alternatives available and always more than one agency that can fit the bill.
The key in getting to the right short list is knowing how well the different agencies fit the criteria you determine are important. You want to find, say, five agencies that not only deliver the services and have the relevant experience that you want, but are hungry, for whatever reason. That's an indication that they will step up and do a good job.
Importantly, that list should not always be about who's "the hottest." A fabulous campaign done for somebody else doesn't necessarily mean they'll do the same for you. You want to make sure you are talking to companies who want you as much as you want them.
Can CEOs inadvertently be standing in the way of an organization's growth?
I sometimes find leaders choosing to stand above the organization and feel that they're going to change it without it somehow profoundly changing them in the process. Effective change can only happen when leaders grow personally. The CEO has to ask themselves: "Am I prepared for some kind of change in me?" Because change in their organization starts in their office.
I remember a client saying to me once, "Chris, I realize that every instinct I have for this business is no longer relevant, yet they are the only instincts I have."
They had got to a very critical place in their own learning, the place of "I don't know." But then he moved forward, and made some difficult and risky choices, which may well not have worked. Without this almost mystical combination of humility and courageous vision in a leader, change is very hard to foster. I have said, "As grows the leader, so goes the change process." It seems that this is most often the case.
How does the need for a change agent arise within an organization? A leader always has two fundamental challenges. The first is to run the organization they have today; they have a responsibility to serve and deliver products to their current customers. The second is to change their model, so that tomorrow's performance is in some way different, better, or sustainable. And the difficulty is that both of these goals need to be achieved simultaneously. Often, the management process pays particular attention to one task or the other, usually today's performance - best reflected in the numbers that show the current economic strength of a corporation. But the results today are the outcome of previous decisions, so today's change agenda is intended to produce results for tomorrow.
The quarterly earnings cycle forces a transactional response. CEOs feel that they have to do something today - preferably Now! - which is why it is sometimes helpful to have an outside opinion and perspective, one not caught up in the issues of producing today's output. A change agent has an eye on the horizon as opposed to the immediate crisis. It's that ability to simply think beyond the immediate issues of today, but do so fully cognizant of the present realities.
Marketers often believe their job is done as soon as sales leads start coming in the door. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how marketing dollars are wasted. Successful marketers help turn leads into customer conversions because they understand that sales can be the most valuable metric for measuring new campaigns. In attempting to fulfill their responsibility to connect campaigns to the bottom line, many marketers discover that their efforts are hampered by poor conversion rates resulting from an underperforming sales team. So, marketing needs to understand how to communicate with the sales department and effectively motivate the team responsible for converting leads. We brought in somebody fluent in the language of sales, Tim Brenton, President of the Brenton Group, Inc., to teach marketers the right questions to ask the sales management team and assess whether the right processes are in place for success.
