Here’s a very good use of 48 minutes.
Seth Godin spoke to Google and, in 48 minutes, pretty much gave the talk every company of any size offering any product or service should watch.
There is a pretty interesting moment that struck a cord with me.
Seth, in the video, talks about a Google shirt he wore in a NYC market. A lady selling peaches fawned all over him talking to him about how she loves Google, Google is her life.
Years ago, I was on vacation in Stockholm visiting the VASA museum. I was wearing my Microsoft developer relations coat with my Windows NT polo shirt. Yeah, I was geek pathetic, leave that aside. A women comes up to my wife and I and says “Do you work for Microsoft?” Why yes I do, I say proudly. She responds with a rant about not getting her Word upgrade and some other problem she was having with a support question. Before my wife had a chance to grab her by the throat, I politely took her name/number (no email!) and promised somebody from the local office would call.
Slightly different times, slightly different issues but in end: Brand.
Watch the video, here. It is a great use of your time.
[Memo to Robert Scoble: Tell HR to make this mandatory viewing for all of MSFT.]
Out of the country right now... anyone have a mirrored copy of the link that can be streamed or downloaded from India?
Posted by: rakeshagrawal | March 06, 2006 at 07:52
Try this http://video.google.com.proxy.cjb.net/videoplay?docid=-6909078385965257294 for countries where Google Video is not Available
Posted by: cyberwiz63 | March 06, 2006 at 08:29
Well, duh...
No offense, Rick, but *of course* Google's success is because of the brand. Why? Because a brand is the sum total of all experiences that a person has with a product, service, person or organization - specifically, how well an expectation is built and how consistently that expectation is met. Google scores highly on all fronts: they have stayed enthusiastically true to their Consumer Insight ("Mission") and make their customer's lives better in so doing.
That is the *definition* of creating brand value, even moreso in this emerging post :30 spot world we live in.
Good on Seth to get paid to tell them, I guess, but it's not like it's news.
- Stuart
Posted by: Stuart MacDonald | March 06, 2006 at 10:28
Duh to you, me, and 40% of the rest of the world. Not so Duh to the other 60% judging by the talks, feedback, meetings, etc, that I'm involved with.
See you tonight.
Posted by: Rick Segal | March 06, 2006 at 10:54
A lot of people in technology have the impression that "marketing" and "brand value" are things done by a department of people too profoundly stupid to be trusted with real work. This impression is generally reinforced by contact with many of the people getting paid to do "marketing" in organizations of any significant size.
Google's technology is a huge component of its brand image. So is "not being evil". So are all the myriad things about google that make it almost the only "big" tech company anybody I respect could stand to work for as an employee. But the average geek's experience with "marketing" has so soured him on the concept that in some cases this data (about how it can be done cluefully) must be pounded into his head by main force.
Posted by: Matt | March 07, 2006 at 08:07
You want to talk about Ranting?
Soon after leaving America Online (many years ago) I received a beautiful AOL varsity jacket which I was proud to wear.
That was until AOL went from hourly charge to a monthly fee. You old timers may remember this period when a new local access number was a lead story on local news even bigger then news from the OJ trial.
I almost had to leave a bank when folks in multiple lines all started to complain about busy signals. The jacket stayed in a closet for over a year. :)
Posted by: Bill Pytlovany | March 07, 2006 at 10:09
You want to talk about Ranting?
Soon after leaving America Online (many years ago) I received a beautiful AOL varsity jacket which I was proud to wear.
That was until AOL went from hourly charge to a monthly fee. You old timers may remember this period when a new local access number was a lead story on local news even bigger then news from the OJ trial.
I almost had to leave a bank when folks in multiple lines all started to complain about busy signals. The jacket stayed in a closet for over a year. :)
Posted by: Bill Pytlovany | March 07, 2006 at 10:09