Melodies in Marketing

Here is a look at my current reading list over the next few months. Not quite all the books, but most.

One of the best aspects of reading business, design, and communication books is all the advanced material so well explained and enlightening, that one just cannot meaningfully retain from magazines (as opposed to Journals). To learn the subjects even better, take notes and write yourself summaries that add personal relevance, related topics, and other contextual detail. The last thing you can do, is try to teach others what you learned - the passion will flow because at this point, you’ll understand the material so well and the story will be yours.

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What’s on your Reading List?

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April 11th, I attended the local tour stop of Design Green Now, a seminar that explored green and sustainable product design & development. This article is Part 2 of a series that highlights the panelists, their presentations, and issues discussed during the Q&A.
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Nathan Vanhook
Art Director, Senior Wetsuit Designer
Body Glove

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Body Glove, a water sports equipment and clothing manufacturer, decided three years ago to develop an eco-friendly line of products as part of a first step in transitioning the firm. Nathan was part of the development team that began first with life jackets (aka Personal Flotation Devices), then later with wetsuits and shirts.

The primary goal was to replace the foam, Neoprene, with an alternative material that could provide the same elastic and insulating properties. Neoprene is a DuPont product that is a form of PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride), that has additives called Plasticizers< to make it soft and flexible. While PVC has been widely used around the world to make a variety of products, the material has been under growing international scrutiny for the last 10 years. This is because some of these additives are bio-hazardous and have been shown to leech/offgas after initial production and over time. Additionally, PVC (like all plastics), is petroleum-based.

Nathan recalled to the audience his first experience visiting their manufacturing plant in Donghuang, China. While being an eye-opening experience in many regards, Nathan told how he entered a poorly-ventilated massive room filled with new life jackets. The air had a strong chemical smell; a few workers who were affixing tags and performing quality control, weren’t wearing any protective gear for handling nor breathing. The experience awakened Nathan to the sobering reality of China: low cost labor, short life cycle designs, no environmental regulations, and a massive impact on the earth in terms of manufacturing volume.

Body Glove was able to find in Japan, a suitable alternative made from organic compounds. While this was great, the foreign procurement would mean adding to the products’ life cycle mileage - a new aspect that simply now had to be accounted for. From materials’ origin to factory, U.S. warehouses, and on to local surf shops, the products had a total of 8,806 miles. Nathan explained that while eco-friendly materials are definitely one of the most important aspects of sustainable product design, one should think about the total travel distance in life cycle analyses.

When asked during the Q&A about tools and processes helpful to design & development, Nathan heavily promoted using the Internet as a global research tool for materials science information, alternative sources, applications, and suppliers. New developments and best practices in sustainable materials and construction are happening around the world; designers and architects can learn a lot by looking outside their borders.

In closing, Nathan mentioned the Iriquois native Americans considering the impact of their activities for the next seven generations - a wise and responsible forward-thinking philosophy that we as mankind should apply today.

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Design Green Now - Article Series:

Part One: Heidrun Mumper-Drumm

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For additional information about Nathan, please see his profile at DesignGreenNow.

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I read a story today of a gentleman having came to San Francisco, and was unable to find a prepaid SIM card for his phone. This presented a big problem for him because he needed cellular service, but didn’t want to buy a new phone, nor pay overseas roaming fees. Prepaid SIM cards though, are difficult to find. American telecoms either sell service contracts combined with subsidized new phones (most often the case), OR monthly plans to customers with unlocked phones (seldom). For more information, please see Stopwatch Marketing by John Rosen and AnnaMaria Turano, p.76-82.

While I understand the economics and customer ‘lock-in’ strategy, I have two major contentions with this traditional business practice. One: It isn’t customer-oriented because people are not being given the freedom of handset model/maker choice; (Aside: Hey Alltel! This is a huge differentiation opportunity if you don’t already offer it).

Two: If new phone sales are subsidized through service plan changes, promotional upgrade offers, and new carrier signups, could that perhaps mean that Americans are more inclined to upgrade to new phones and dispose of old ones, in comparison to other countries?

As a result, Americans are not only subject to shorten their cell phone’s life cycle through great advertising and a personal desire to own a better phone, but ALSO through national carriers’ product marketing & sales models. What if an individual wants to sign up with a new carrier because they’ve moved, are seeking a better rate, the previous provider’s customer service sucks…whatever the reason? If they are happy with their current phone, but it came from a previous carrier, it is the owner’s responsibility to try and seek out someone to unlock their phone (if possible), and then come back.

According to my own personal experience, and from Stopwatch Marketing’s authors, the cellular service shopping experience is best characterized by reluctance (because of service plan complexity), and by a fast moving perception of time spent. With these factors at hand, it is no surprise that many individuals would see the option of purchasing their phone through non-traditional channels, or having phones unlocked through independent resellers, as too burdensome.

This presents an industry business model design with substantial negative externalities: a potentially higher per capita volume of cell phone e-waste in the United States, in comparison to other countries.

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What do you think?

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A model for concept development I put together, as part of a weekly series of info diagrams from different designers, marketers, and other creative types. The series is called “Think Draw Make”, the website is www.thinkdrawmake.com , and is organized by DT of DesignSojourn.com

Here is my official explanation of the diagram, as left by my comment at ThinkDrawMake:

My inspiration is from product development phases, with the understanding of ‘product’ as being wide open to include objects (physical and intangible) for commercial, nonprofit, personal, and communal use.

The word ‘Market’ may imply designing an object for commercial use only. However, it could be stretched so that we simply mean looking at non-competitive objects elsewhere in the world. This may be done for noting best practices, styling, and other inputs into concept development.

In the diagram, multiple ideas are thought out then each is examined against:

- Our Objective or Scope
- Quality (as a function of time, cost, and absolute value)
- Strategic Fit (organizational or personal values, culture, intended future direction)

If the idea passes that preliminary intuitive test, then it’s a good ‘Concept’. These will then be further explored and refined through detailed descriptions, models (drawings, 3d forms, etc.), research, and viability analysis.

The second screen simply asks which concepts are worth making, given our scope, their viability, attractiveness, and whatever constraints we may have (time, money, etc.).

Then we build prototypes and lastly, finished objects. In the diagram, we began with 5 ideas and ended up building 2. I don’t want to make the whole process seem too disciplined or difficult - but hey that’s life - to make great objects we have to be a little critical, you know? Money and time doesn’t grow on trees

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Last Friday night, I attended the local tour stop of Design Green Now, a seminar that explored green and sustainable product design & development. This article is part of a series that highlights the panelists, their presentations, and issues discussed during the Q&A.

The moderator, Rob Curedale, is an industrial designer with 30 years experience in consumer products. He recounted to the audience his feelings on how designers’ relationships to their work have enlarged over the years from being aesthetics-oriented with a large attention for personal fame, to a holistic constraints-orientation that includes environmental and societal considerations with a greater concern for “Us”.
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Heidrun Mumper-Drumm
Adjunct Associate Professor, Graphic Design
Art Center College of Design - Pasadena, CA

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Sustainability starts in the creation phase. This means not only considering materials selection, but also being efficient in the concept/prototype development phase in terms of minimizing scrap waste, packaging, procurement distance, and general energy consumption.

The challenge now is in finding an excellent process model for sustainable design, because the traditional design process doesn’t support it. We need to go from a linear model focused on constraints and objectives within our immediate realm of influence in the value chain, to a complete life cycle model. That means considering the activities and indirect needs of everyone besides the end customer - manufacturer, distributor, retailer, 2nd/3rd-hand parties, and recyclers. It means looking at the product’s environment throughout its life - packaging, shipping, application, storage, disposal - and how it interacts with that environment (beneficial, neutral, detrimental).

At Art Center, they have a Color Material Trend Lab (CMTEL) established in 2005 with funding from Nokia, where students can learn about and explore using a wide variety of materials, and staff members can request additional information and samples from suppliers.

They also have an EcoCouncil, established by Art Center students as a weekly forum to discuss sustainable design topics, in addition to proposing & organizing research and community projects. The prominent interest area involves conducting Waste Stream Analyses of scrap materials, packaging, and trash by using process maps, journals, and mathematical formulas for extrapolating collected data into a forecasted life segment/cycle assessment.

When asked during the Q&A about the ability for capitalism and profit-mindedness to coexist with sustainable design thinking, Heidrun was a bit skeptical. The future holds a lot of opportunity for both fields, but don’t expect businesses to consider environmental stewardship for its own sake. The greater motivation for businesses in adopting sustainable thinking lies in reducing materials and operational expenses, while minimizing risk and product liability.

To promote responsible action and industry change, not just by leading product companies and innovators, regulation will be needed. This may involve:

• Restricting the use of certain materials, while providing incentives for others.
• Establishing stricter guidelines for manufacturing, storage, distribution, and reverse-logistics processes.
• Taxes and rebates for recycling, landfills, and other end-of-life cycle scenarios.

While sustainable thinking can be applied to many areas within a company’s operations, Life cycle analyses incorporated within the product concept development phase represent the best way forward. Briefly, they involve building multiple cost/benefit scenarios for concepts as a part of the Scoping, Business Case, or Product Design Strategy phases of product development.

In her closing statements, Heidrun gave the following recommendations to the audience:

• Avoid Greenwashing - There are going to be a lot of manufacturers out there using subjective labels and terms describing how environmentally conscious their companies, and safe their products, are. Whatever you say, be specific and honest.
• Perform a Life Cycle Analysis
• Do not fake the eco-friendliness of your product for the benefit of the design community or other value chain members. By only using a low percentage of friendlier materials or by mixing them with others that effectively create monstrous hybrids that cannot be recycled, and whose assets cannot be reclaimed, is a major disservice to this cause.

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Design Green Now - Article Series:

Part Two: Nathan Vanhook

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For additional information about Heidrun, please see her profile at DesignGreenNow.

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After one week since Blogger Social, it’s been great looking back at the whole experience. The only general expectations I had would be that everyone would be really friendly and smart in their own regards. While this held true, there were other things I noticed and felt. In follow-up to being tagged by Ryan Barrett of CheapThrills, it is these feelings that I’d like to share:

• As much as I wanted to try to speak with everyone at least briefly, there just wasn’t enough time. But I damned made sure to do the best I could; only about 10 people got away because of different schedules, seating, timing, etc. There were some dear folks with whom I had wanted to spend more personal time with - our interaction was circumstantially brief - and which left me a little sad. However, this difference of wanted v. actual time used, ended up with me having excellent conversations and dialog with individuals - on an unanticipated intellectual or social plane, and a few times on a personal and extended basis.
   
• The informal blogger profile booklet really helped in quickly getting to know everyone and identifying individuals I had wanted to speak with. It was this complete picture of professional and personal background information, painted by an impartial 3rd party, that made everyone seem so human and approachable - regardless of what industry we came from, what stage of life we’re in, our relative ’success’ level, etc. Secondly, the informal profiles immensely helped shorten ’small talk to conversation’ cycle time (Yes, I am a process/productivity geek - time is valuable; let’s make the most of it).
   
• While there was a LOT of enthusiastic conversing going on, there were also a couple times when I felt general content and satisfaction in the air without the need for words during little mini-breaks; maybe a few folks were around us, but there was no awkward rift, no pressure to start conversation again right away - the small talk was truly genuine and had a pace of its own. That feeling was extremely comforting.
   
• Speaking with and listening to so many individuals from a variety of professional backgrounds and experiences, helped really exhibit the relative nature of all reality. In a mixed social setting with no professionally organized agenda (explicit and implied), we’ll all dramatically contribute to the very healthy and important virtue of open-mindedness, while seeing each others’ professions and point-of-views in new ways (or at least be more inclined to).
   
• I came away with a better understanding of what my unique passions are, where my strengths lie, in which direction I want to drive forward, and realistic idea of how to get there. What is my passion and career direction you may ask? It’s heavily leaning toward green marketing, innovation, and sustainable product development. But as I learned from a few folks, opening our minds to diverse and different work opportunities can also help us grow in ways perhaps we’ve never considered before. The path is never quite straight, nor must it be.
   
• Time is now more valuable than ever before - Any and all acquaintances and friends I decide to maintain online, must have some level of genuine ‘interestingness’ or geniality. Novelty is not an option (unless it’s so remarkable and entertaining, while not interfering with my ability to be professionally and socially productive). If I have an opportunity to develop a future relationship with someone I have only very weak ties now, I’ll let it develop on its own accord and timing.

With all that said, it was an amazing experience that I will cherish. For all the folks I met last weekend, previously ‘known’ and unknown, it was marvelous meeting you and I hope that we may remain in good company for a very long time.

Susan Bird, Tim Brunelle, Katie Chatfield, Matt Dickman, Luc Debaisieux, Mark Goren, Gavin Heaton, Sean Howard, CK, Valeria Maltoni, Drew McLellan, Doug Meacham, Marilyn Pratt, Steve Roesler, Greg Verdino, CB Whittemore, Steve Woodruff, Paul McEnany, Ann Handley, David Reich, Tangerine Toad, Kristin Gorski, Mack Collier, David Armano, Ryan Barrett, Lori Magno, Tim McHale, Gene DeWitt, Arun Rajagopal, Rohit Bhargava, Anna Farmery, Thomas Clifford, Lewis Green, Geoff Livingston, Kris Hoet, Connie Reece, Cece Lee, Toby Bloomberg, Seni Thomas, Darryl Ohrt, Joe Kutchera, Paul Dunay, Marshall Sponder, Chris Kieff, Tara Anderson, Jason Falls, Paul Soldera, Roberta Rosenberg, Saul Colt Todd Andrlik, Nathan Snell, Ryan Karpeles, Jennifer Laycock, Neil Vineberg, Cam Beck, Mike Arauz, Matthew Bailey, Heather Gorringe, John Rosen, Cathleen Rittereiser, Tamar Weinberg, Rita Perea, Linda Sherman, Matthew McDonald, Kaitlyn Wilkins, Terry Starbucker, Jennifer Berk, Jane Quigley, John Wall, Scott Monty, Kevin Horne, Virginia Miracle, Amanda Gravel, David Polinchock, Shashi Bellamkonda, David Berkowitz