Just a quick note that the Schmitt Shanghai Trojan Horse was auctioned off at a conference in Munich. The proceeds will go to an institution that supports children. More on that soon. I am off to Kolkata (India) for a branding workshop and a couple of other speaking engagements. I have never been to West Begal; so expect a blog from there as well. Enjoy July!
NBC’s popular morning show “Today” currently runs a daily feature on its anchor, "Where in the World is Matt Lauer?" (On Monday he was in Buenos Aires; on Tuesday in the Netherlands, and today in Laos). So, you may wonder, “Where in the World was SCHMITT?” (this spring that is).
Well, like Lauer, lots of places. In-between teaching at Columbia every week, I was in Germany, Korea, Mexico (twice), Greece, Turkey, and, oh yes, Atlanta and Virginia-–for all sorts of things (speaking, consulting, researching). And there’s more coming: Brazil, Korea (again), Japan, Singapore, India, and South Africa. I am busier than ever, especially internationally (I know you are, too). Must be the weak dollar.
Which place so far was the most fun? (Turkey, without a doubt; I had not been to Istanbul in a while, and it is turning into a fabulous business and lifestyle place. Presumably, Newswek called it the "coolest" city recently.)
And the most interesting? (Greece, no doubt. After my consulting engagement in Athens was over, I went to the Acropolis for the very first time.)
And the most exciting? (Virginia. Had an audience of senior government execs, it was great to speak to them on "Big Think Strategy.")
Approaching eudaimonia ...
I will be speaking this week on Big Think, and leading an interactive session for CMOs on sourcing big ideas, as part of the BRITE '08 conference and CMO summit on branding, innovation, and technology, at Columbia Business School, this Thursday and Friday, Feb 7-8th.
BRITE '08 is part of a major initiative by my Center on Global Brand Leadership at the school. The event will bring together big thinkers from business, technology, media, and marketing to discuss how technology and innovation are transforming the ways that companies build and sustain great brands.
Topics include: social networks, user-generated content, viral campaigns, B2B branding, driving innovation inside and outside the organization, ROI for online marketing, TV 2.0, online content platforms, brands that thought big in 2007
Fellow speakers include:
* Marty Homlish (Global Chief Marketing Officer, SAP)
* Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
* Patia McGrath (Global Director of Innovation, GE)
* Bob Greenberg (Global Chief Creative Officer, R/GA)
* Andrew Miller (CEO, Quattro Wireless)
(full speaker list)
Conference registration is here. There is also a BRITE blog, wiki, and more fun things to explore.
I hope you can join us!
-Schmitt
It’s finally done. The artists and craftsmen in Shanghai have completed the wooden horse that I commissioned to provide a physical manifestation for the content of my new book “Big Think Strategy.” Right on time; the global launch date for the book is December 6. And it looks fabulous (below is one of the first shots of the completed work). Now, the Schmitt Shanghai Trojan Horse can fulfill its mission to inspire company employees and stand as a monument to big thinkers everywhere.
I was just holding a pre-launch event for my new book "Big Think Strategy" in Dubai. AGA-ADK, a local agency, was kind enough to organize it. It was attended by senior managers from the Middle East region. Below are some photos.
Dubai is an appropriate place for the pre-launch: a place where Big Think happens (seven-star hotel Burj-al Arab, the Palm development project; the indoor skiing resort complete with a 400m slope. As Dubai's ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum put it in a recent 60 Minutes interview, if it can be done somewhere in this world, then it can also be done in Dubai. That's a big think attitude!
I normally don’t do product endorsements, but this innovative device is terrific. Spotme is a convenient PDA for conference participants. I had the chance to experience it last week while speaking at Ascent, the Siemens Business Leadership conference.
Spotme keeps the conference audience up-to-date in real time about the agenda and presentations. It also allows you to send messages and exchange business cards electronically. Its coolest feature is this: at the start of the event, you can choose who you would like to meet from the list of attendees. Then, throughout the event, whenever one of these people comes nearby to you, the Spotme device spots the person, and you get a vibrating alarm sound, with their picture. Love it!
Today I got my second and final Brite Smile tooth whitening here in Singapore. Originally, I wanted to do Lasik eye surgery, but a Singaporean friend and brand consultant protested, saying “Schmitt without glasses is a brand travesty.” So I at least treated myself to white teeth. Now, I have teeth like a movie star, as the lady at the front desk of my service apartment put it.
I am also on a strict 24-hour diet of white and clear food only: bananas, milk, water, rice, apples (no peels), white bread, white fish etc. It’s interesting when you suddenly have to use an unfamiliar categorization scheme when you enter restaurants and supermarkets. But it’s fun too. And it sensitizes me to color in food. Try for yourself. Eat purple on Monday, and black on Wednesday, and see how you feel. Or only round food on Tuesday, and triangular food on Thursday. It’s not that easy to find what you need – but it stretches your mind and may boost your creativity.
Arrived in Singapore last night from Seoul. Singapore is, by far, the best managed city in Asia. Forget even Tokyo and Hong Kong. Once again, I am stunned by the level of service, efficiency and care. Top level management! The only problem: for Singaporeans it's hard to be abroad. Every other place is "too dirty," "too crazy," "too inefficient" for them. I guess even paradise has its shortcomings.
Yesterday evening, upon flying back into New York, I took part in a panel on “Brandism and Architecture,” where the question of whether architects are brands was debated, among others. One of my fellow panelists was Daniel Libeskind, one of the foremost architects of today. During the exchange, I realized how 20th century architecture developed quite similarly to the way the marketing field did. A monolithic ideology (Bauhaus in architecture, the Model T in marketing) gave way to plurality of style, with a focus on experience (see Mr Libeskind’s latest designs, such as the Royal Ontario Museum pictured below, or see the iPod, in business). This evolution is great news for all of us, as consumers, city-dwellers, and citizens. The only people that still snipe about it are the non-doers: architectural critics (“Doesn’t brand lead to a commercial homogenization of landscape?”) and academic marketers (“What’s the utility in superficial experiences?”). We’ll let them have their Small Think.
Some luxury hotels have found a new way to charge you double for (roughly) the same thing: they simply rename their offer. When I stayed in a Hyatt on my latest Asia trip, I discovered that the hotel had recently built a spa area next to the fitness center. They now offer massages in two places – the quiet massage room adjacent to the fitness center, and the “spa room”; both are virtually identical but the massage in the spa costs twice as much (more than USD160).
How can you justify that price premium? I guess you could call it “segmentation”: let the the zen-desperate pay for their “spa experience” massage with a scented candle added. Even more preposterous, they are charged another USD 30 if they want to stay in the same room after the massage, to “meditate.” Serenity-seeking couples can pay a USD 50 markup if they want to enjoy their massages next to each other in the same room. They really charge you big for "experience." But I guess I may be to blame, in part, for this sort of experiential pricing nonsense. Didn’t I write in my books over and over again that “experiences have value”?
