Distinct or … Extinct Tom Peters Seminar2000 CRAVE San Francisco 27September2000

Welcome to the Age of “Ohmygod!”

NOW THAT’S B-I-G! “The period will bring the single greatest change in worldwide economic and business conditions since we came down from the trees.” David Schneider & Grady Means, MetaCapitalism

“The corporation as we know it, which is now 120 years old, is not likely to survive the next 25 years. Legally and financially, yes, but not structurally and economically.” Peter Drucker, Business 2.0 (08.00)

The [New] G e Way DYB.com

The 3B Problem:Better But Boring!

Quality Not Enough! “While everything may be better, it is also increasingly the same.” Paul Goldberger on retail, “The Sameness of Things,” The New York Times

“We make over three new product announcements a day. Can you remember them? Our customers can’t!” Carly Fiorina

“The ‘surplus society’ has a surplus of similar companies, employing similar people, with similar educational backgrounds, working in similar jobs, coming up with similar ideas, producing similar things, with similar prices and similar quality.” Kjell Nordstrom and Jonas Ridderstrale, Funky Business

We Must Lead: Different or Doomed!

“These days, you can’t succeed as a company if you’re consumer led – because in a world so full of so much constant change, consumers can’t anticipate the next big thing. Companies should be idea- led and consumer- informed.” Doug Atkin, partner,Merkley Newman Harty

“Our strategies must be tied to leading edge customers on the attack. If we focus on the defensive customers, we will also become defensive.” John Roth, CEO, Nortel

Funky Business: “To succeed we must stop being so goddamn normal. In a winner-takes-all world, normal = nothing.”

Design: The No.1 Source of Passionate Attachment! (Or undying despair)

Design “is” … WHAT & WHY I LOVE. LOVE.

I LOVE my ZYLISS Garlic Peeler!

Design “is” … WHY I GET MAD. MAD.

Wanted: Dead [preferably] or Alive: THE DESIGNER OF MY RADIO SHACK PHONE. Major Reward!

Design is never neutral.

Hypothesis: DESIGN is the principal difference between love and hate.

“We don’t have a good language to talk about this kind of thing. In most people’s vocabularies, design means veneer. … But to me, nothing could be further from the meaning of design. Design is the fundamental soul of a man-made creation.” Steve Jobs

Design is Surprise!

Ralph Caplan, By Design: “What affects us so strongly when we see an MG or a beautifully balanced knife is that someone has pleased us by making what we wanted and never knew we wanted.”

DESIGN transforms the perception of what’s possible. E.g.: Plate-glass windows. Apple II.

Design is a Great Story!

“Car designers need to create a story. Every car provides an opportunity to create an adventure. … “The Prowler makes you smile. Why? Because it’s focused. It has a plot, a reason for being, a passion.” Freeman Thomas, co-designer VW Beetle; designer Audi TT

Hmmmm(?): “Only” Words … Story Adventure Smile Focus Plot Passion

Plot Williams Sonoma = 6 [was 10] Crate & Barrel = 8 Sharper Image = 9+ Smith & Hawken = 8+ Garnet Hill = 9 L.L. Bean = 5 [was 9+] Land’s End = 7+ Colonial Williamsburg = ?

Great Design is Respectful

Users … STOP BLAMING YOURSELVES! (Don Norman)

“Sometimes I have episodes of wild fury in rental cars. It’s not road rage. It’s more like design rage.” Susan Casey,

Design is not about Lumps!

The I.D. [International Design] Forty* Airstream … Alfred A. Knopf … Apple Computer … Amazon.com … Bloomberg … Caterpillar … CNN … Disney … FedEx … Gillette … IBM … Martha Stewart … New Balance … Nickelodeon … Patagonia … The New York Yankees … 3M … Etc. * List No. 1, 1999

Design is the Web!

“Most companies would do more business on the Internet if they fired their entire marketing department and replaced it with people who could produce interactive content that actually made it easier for users to buy.” Jakob Nielsen, Nielsen Norman Group

Red Herring (01/00) 75% of online shoppers don’t complete their purchase!

Nielsen/Designing Web Usability All Web projects are customer- interface projects! Simplicity rules! Make it easy for customers to perform useful tasks! Less “cool,” more useful! Speed rules!

SWA Simple!!!!!!!!!!!! (customers call because the process is so easy they can’t believe they’re done) 30% of revenues directly from site (vs. 6% for others) Source: Business Week (09.00)

Web = PURE DESIGN MEDIUM

Caution!

Message: All the “cool stuff” looks [exactly] like all the other “cool stuff” in this, THE BRIGHT NEW AGE OF DESIGN.

“Against Smoothness” (Harper’s Magazine )

Design & Work: Piss on Dilbert!

“Reward excellent failures. Punish mediocre successes.” Phil Daniels, Sydney exec

The WOW Project!

Measures –WOW! –Beauty! –Raving Fans! –Impact!

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Design & the Individual: Self-design!

Design is … THE PRESENTATION OF … Me.

Headline: “Bank of America to Cut … 10,000 Jobs” “Middle-level and senior managers are expected to be the principal targets of the job cutbacks.” Source: The New York Times ( )

DISTINCT … OR EXTINCT! “If there is nothing very special about your work, no matter how hard you apply yourself, you won’t get noticed and that increasingly means you won’t get paid much, either.” Michael Goldhaber, Wired

“You are the storyteller of your own life, and you can create your own legend or not.” Isabel Allende

Design: The Most beautiful Systems Win!

Design + Beauty is Fred S.’s “mediocre” thesis and Herb K.’s napkin.

Progressive “We don’t sell insurance anymore. We sell speed.” – Peter Lewis Digital cameras, wireless Net links, etc.: SOME CLAIMS PAID WITHIN 20 MINUTES! Source: Business Week (09.00)

Design & Women: Opportunity No.1?

$4.8T > Japan 9/27.5/$3.6T > Germany

????????? Home Furnishings … 94% Vacations … 92% Houses … 91% Bank Account … 89% Health Care … 75% Etc.

Read This Book … EVEolution: The Eight Truths of Marketing to Women Faith Popcorn & Lys Marigold Faith Popcorn

EVEolution: Truth No. 1 Connecting Your Female Consumers to Each Other Connects Them to Your Brand

“The ‘Connection Proclivity’ in women starts early. When asked, ‘How was school today?’ a girl usually tells her mother every detail of what happened, while a boy might grunt, ‘Fine.’ ” EVEolution

Weight Watchers International “Model” “What if ExxonMobil or Shell dipped into their credit card database to help commuting women interview and make a choice of car pool partners?” “What if American Express made a concerted effort to connect up female empty-nesters through on-line and off-line programs, geared to help women re-enter the workforce with today’s skills?” EVEolution

The New New Jiffy Lube “In the male mold, Jiffy Lube was going all out to deliver quick, efficient service. But, in the female mold, women were being turned off by the ‘let’s get it fixed fast, no conversation required’ experience.” New JL: “Control over her environment. Comfort in the service setting. Trust that her car is being serviced properly. Respect for her intelligence and ability.” EVEolution

27 March 2000: to TP from Shelley Rae Norbeck “I make 1/3 rd more money than my husband does. I have as much financial ‘pull’ in the relationship as he does. I’d say this is also true of most of my women friends. Someone should wake up, smell the coffee and kiss our asses long enough to sell us something! We have money to spend and nobody wants it!”

Design & the Aging: Opportunity No. 1A?

Subject: Marketers & Stupidity It’s 18-44, stupid!

Subject: Marketers & Stupidity Or is it: is stupid, stupid!

Stats 18-44: -1% 55+: +21% (55-64: +47%)

Aging/“Elderly” $$$$$$$$$$$$ “I’m in charge!”

Priorities: Aging/“Elderly” Experiences … Convenience … Comfort … Access … Respect!

Design = Cornerstone of the Age of the Brand

Brand It! Now, More Than Ever! “The increasing difficulty in differentiating between products and the speed with which competitors take up innovations will assist in the rise and rise of the brand.” Gillian Law and Nick Grant, Management [New Zealand]

“We are in the twilight of a society based on data. As information and intelligence become the domain of computers, society will place more value on the one human ability that cannot be automated: emotion. Imagination, myth, ritual - the language of emotion - will affect everything from our purchasing decisions to how we work with others. Companies will thrive on the basis of their stories and myths. Companies will need to understand that their products are less important than their stories.” Rolf Jensen, Copenhagen Institute for Future Studies

Brand = You Must Care! “Success means never letting the competition define you. Instead you have to define yourself based on a point of view you care deeply about.” Tom Chappell, Tom’s of Maine

Design & Leadership: Passion Rules!

Brand Leadership! “A key – perhaps the key – to leadership is the effective communication of a story.” Howard Gardner Leading Minds: An Anatomy of Leadership

“Create a Cause, not a ‘business.’ ” Gary Hamel, Fortune (06.00), on re- inventing a company (Exemplar #1: Charles Schwab)

“I am a dispenser of enthusiasm.” Ben Zander

“A leader is a dealer in hope.” Napoleon