iPlot

Morning becomes Elektra

SFO at 5 am. Total quietness, except for the buzzing of the air-conditioning engines. Ten people waiting in line at the Virgin America check-in counter. A solitary announcement ("the SFO airport is inviting military personnel and their families to visit the SFO Museum") interrupts the silence. Everyone’s waiting for the monster to wake up. Who's going make the first move?

One Day You'll Dance For Me, New York City

I'm packing for NYC and I'm taking this with me:

Thomas Dybdahl from the fantastic Concert à emporter series, featuring singer-songwriters performing anti-MTV, intimate, urban campfire versions of their songs.

Here's "F-Word," another favorite of mine:

..and of course, Bon Iver:

Brand Enemy

Exclusivity is not just a trademark of premium, luxury brands. By definition every brand needs to be exclusive in order to stand out. The very act of branding is an act of exclusion, and that is even true for a household name like Wal-Mart (to be spelled, very soon, Walmart). Wal-Mart appeals to every customer, but it excludes those who don't care about less exclusive shopping. Wal-Mart targets the socio-graphic segment of low-budget shoppers -- that's a huge group but still an exclusive group.

To achieve this kind of exclusivity, the exclusion may sometimes just be a symbolic act. Exclusivity, then, is only a perceived value, not an actual one, and the excluded are depicted as the "enemies of the brand" -- those who don't share the same (brand) values.

Look at Southwest: The no-thrill brand promise excludes the frequent travelers who enjoy special status privileges and typically provoke the envy of fellow coach passengers. The Southwest experience is for everyone -- but certainly not for those who value top-class service and other amenities in flight.

If you start thinking about "exclusivity" in such terms, you will find it easier to pinpoint the core of your brand. Amazingly, most businesses start off without a clear understanding or definition of their brand, and they later spend hundreds of thousands of dollars for consultants finding out who they are and want to be.

Who does your brand exclude and why? Who's the adversary, the persona non grata of your brand?

frog Design Mind Event with Barack Obama's Director of Video Field Production

In a recent blog post on the upcoming Fortune Tech summit, Fortune's senior editor David Kirckpatrick hinted at the possibility of having "a super-amazing special guest from outside the industry who we aren't yet able to announce. (Joining us at the original Brainstorms were Bill Clinton, Shimon Peres, Jordan's King Abdullah, and John McCain.) This visitor could make things really rock."

Hmm…who might that be? The magazine, in its current print issue, just examined both candidates' economic policies in a 1-to-1 comparison, and, in a not so subtle endorsement, chose to display Obama on the cover….

While we at frog design won't be able to feature Obama himself, we will provide a look behind the scenes of his campaign. On July 16, at NYU, we'll host a very special Design Mind event with Arun Chaudhary, Obama's director of video field production. I just looked at the guest list so far, and it's going to be a fantastic crowd. EllenMcGirt from our co-host Fast Company, who wrote the magazine's April cover story on the "Brand Obama," is going to interview Arun -- about the impact of new media on this year's election, the new rules of political communication, and life on the campaign trail. Really looking forward to it.

Is the New York Times (Becoming) a Software Company?

Nothing is more old news than the good old newspaper from yesterday. Silicon Alley Insider reports on the New York Times' attempt to counter the continued print media decline by establishing new revenue streams through several online initiatives. Marc Frons, chief technology officer of the Times' digital operations, provides cues as to where the company is placing its bets: "Widgets, iPhone apps, APIs, and more."

In essence, this means the Times is turning into a software company, applying the same business model philosophy "as many start-ups in Silicon Valley:" "Build neat tools, get traction, and then figure out how to make money off them later," as the Silicon Alley Insider describes it.

The Times' plans indicate a larger trend in the media industries: Responding to the effects of the Distributed Internet, content companies have begun to compartmentalize their content and provide it through myriad, hyper-targeted, personalized, socially aggregated micro-channels. Hard content is becoming soft, and, who knows, maybe news will soon be coming straight from the "clowd," with Google serving as the only editorial filter.

"A Better World by Design" Summons Change Agents from Various Sectors

"A Better World by Design" is a first-of-its-kind conference on "globally conscious design," as the organizers call it. Held at Brown University/RISD from November 7-9, it aims to generate innovative solutions to issues facing today's world, including extreme poverty, access to basic resources, and environmental degradation.

The conference wants to attract academics and professionals interested in learning and discussing ways in which user-centric and affordable technology can improve the world around us. It will bring together such far-ranging fields as social entrepreneurship, engineering, design, economics, development, and environmental studies in search of new opportunities for the private and voluntary sectors.

The organizers expect 300 attendees. Confirmed speakers include Bernard Amadei (Engineers Without Borders), Ken Banks (Kiwanja), Cameron Sinclair (Architecture for Humanity and Open Architecture Network), Denise DeLuca (Biomimicry Institute), Steve Glenn (LivingHomes), Erik Hersman (Afrigadget, White African, and Ushahidi), Paul Polak (International Development Enterprises and D-Rev), and others.

The Most Exclusive Brand in the World

The most exclusive brand in the world does not sell anything. Nor does it provide values, programs, or policies. It doesn't have a web site, a retail presence, a Facebook profile, a customer or member base. It is not clear whether the brand is a company, a non-profit, a political organization, a club, or a person.

Only few people have heard of the most exclusive brand in the world, most haven't. It does not come up in conversations very often because there is not much to talk about. There is no trademark registered. There is no brand system, no brand architecture that embeds it. It doesn't have a corporate identity or brand guidelines to support it. It doesn't have a logo. It doesn't even have a name.

The most exclusive brand in the world does not appear in the media, does not do any advertising. No one knows how old it is and when it saw the light of day. It doesn't host events, and it doesn't offer any other touch points. And yet everyone who's heard about it, wants to be part of it, as an employee, partner, or customer.

The most exclusive brand in the world has no traits, attributes, or persona -- and it doesn't leave any traces. It is a "brand without qualities" and doesn't stand for anything except for exclusivity. It is what it is and thus what you make it. Everyone can shape it, no one can own it. The most exclusive brand is the most elusive brand in the world. And the most powerful.

The Rise of Digital Nomadism

On the occasion of Independence Day, Steve Rubel reflects on the growing independence of knowledge workers in the network economy and predicts the rise of "Digital Nomads:"

“If you spend as much time on the road as I do, you’re likely to run into Digital Nomads. This sector of the workforce includes both independents and corporate workers. They use web-based tools like Twitter, wikis, Google Docs, social networks and Skype to collaborate and work wherever, whenever and however they want.

Digital Nomads are already extremely influential. Many of them blog and hang out on sites like Web Worker Daily. In addition, they shun traditional communication tools like email.

Luis Suarez is one such corporate nomad who I met recently at a conference in Brussels. Suarez has a successful career in knowledge management with IBM. He lives in the Canary Islands and has virtually eliminated all business email in favor collaborating via social networks. Suarez has chronicled this extensively on his blog.

Others are declaring free agency. Charlene Li, an influential Forrester analyst who tracks digital trends, blogged that she is leaving the research firm to go independent. Some believe that the growing ranks of free-agent analysts may spell trouble for traditional research firms.

The reality is that many of the tools that workers need to do their jobs are becoming free or low cost. This extends into verticals as well. For example the Google Ad Planner, which launched last week, theoretically could allow anyone to become a nomadic media planner.

Digital Nomads are growing in numbers and they will create ripples. This trend will accelerate use of Web 2.0 technologies in the workplace. Over time, this may slow the efficacy of email marketing and accelerate the reliance on social media engagement.

However, it goes deeper than that. If you don't allow your employees to become nomadic, they may do so and even compete against you in the process."

Leader vs. Follower Bloggers

I had an interesting conversation with Jess McMullin, who writes the Business plus Design blog, the other day. We were talking about leaders vs. followers in the blogosphere.

Leaders come up with and promote original ideas; they provoke and initiate a conversation. Followers aggregate, consolidate, and curate, adopting trends and POVs from others. Leaders' blog posts typically have fewer hyperlinks, followers' posts are full of them.

Of course one might argue that leaders are followers in disguise, as they receive inspiration for topics from sources outside of the blogosphere. No one is a blank canvas, and it’s hard to draw the line between original and curated thought in the age of prosumerism. Among the group of A-list bloggers, Seth Godin is a leader, truly. Bruce Nussbaum is a follower, at least most of the time. The blogosphere needs both, and one thing – leader or not – is clear: in the blogosphere, one thing leads to another.

For Facebook, Silence is Golden

I thought today that it got somewhat quiet around Facebook lately. There have not been any new features presented in a while now (at least not with much fanfare), and I'm starting to wonder if this silence is deliberate.

The company has almost constantly been in the headlines for months, at the peak of the hype and then with its Beacon disaster (not to mention the notorious SXSW interview with Mark Zuckerberg), which seems to make the self-imposed news moratorium a smart strategic move that calms the waters and gives the organization some more focus for the challenges ahead. Zuckerberg and Co. may have realized that the hectic, hyperactive PR pushes weren't all that helpful, and that sometimes no news is good news for a young brand that wants to grow up.

The Writing Organization: Knowledge Management Made Easy

I have a piece of advice for those who bemoan the lack of knowledge-sharing in their organizations: Make tacit knowledge explicit. Externalize expertise and experiences across all functions, from the office manager to the executive team.

How? Make it mandatory for every employee to keep an internal blog and post at least once per week. Depending on their role, employees can blog about customer experiences, sales tactics, strategy, product improvements, organizational design, competitors, market trends, and even gossip. Potential productivity losses are outweighed by the value of knowledge that is being generated and shared.

And what is productivity anyway these days? "Productivity (...) is exactly the wrong thing to care about in the new economy," writes Kevin Kelly in his "Maxims for the Network Economy": "In the coming era, doing the exactly right next thing is far more fruitful than doing the same thing twice."

Blogging helps identify the right thing. If you turn your organization into a writing organization, it will become readable and thus more knowledgeable.

Work/Life Balance

On vacation in Ojai, this morning, reading the Sunday New York Times by the pool, I finally came across the one line that I'd been looking for as I'd needed some help for explaining my lackluster feeling about vacations. The line is from Spanish philosopher Miguel de Unamuno:

"Work is the only practical consolation for having been born."

Growing Pains

There's a great line in a recent Harvard Business Review article on the “The Contradictions that Drive Toyota's Success”:

"Most enterprises stop growing because they stick to process and practices their past successes have generated."

Exit-Architecture: Design between War and Peace

Stephan Trüby is a theoretician, curator, and architect, and his new book "Exit-Architecture -- Design between War and Peace" is essentially a pamphlet that condenses his preceding writing. He rehashes the key theses of his previous publication, the anthology "5 Codes -- Architecture, Paranoia and Risk in Times of Terror," and substantiates them in his own words and with more contemporary examples.

"Exit-Architecture" maintains Trüby's obsession with "anti-panic design" and examines how paranoia, as a cultural force, shapes architecture and ultimately entire societies. In a time when war and civil architecture can no longer be dichotomized, and war has become a pervasive, permanent state of emergency rather than a defined event (the US, for example, has not officially declared war since World War II), stress levels are at a historic high. Paranoia -- in Trüby's definition "the belief in the devil under secularized conditions" -- rules. He argues that this results in "exit-architecture," architecture whose primary purpose is not to keep in but to offer an out. In other words: it results in architecture that is designed for potential sudden exits.

Trüby takes the reader through a tour de force from corridors to fire escapes to the Pentagon to the World Trade Center, but his most mesmerizing example of exit-architecture is the Jamarat Bridge in Mina near Mecca. At certain times, more than a million people gather in the area of the bridge during the Hajj pilgrimage, and pilgrims are not infrequently trampled to death in stampedes. As a result, the Saudi government decided to demolish it and replace it with a safer one. The new Jamarat Bridge, under construction since 2006, will allow the flow of 100,000 people per hour per story on completion. In the year 2009, three million pilgrims will be able to perform the "stoning of the devil" ritual every day. By the year 2015, six million pilgrims are expected to be able to cross the bridge every day; that approximates the total population of Israel.

(Rendering of the new Jamarat Bridge)

Trüby views the new Jamarat Bridge as the "paradigm of exit-architecture," and believes it will trigger an unexpected and dramatic cultural evolution:

"With the building of the new Jamarat Bridge, the preparedness to die will vanish and the Hajj will become nothing more than a meta-physical wellness holiday. Thus the new Bridge could turn out to be a secularization machine -- an epoch-making masterpiece of unconscious Intelligent Design."

"Indentured Advertude"

Adam Richardson has coined an interesting term -- "indentured advertude" -- to describe "advertising in places where you are held captive, like movie theaters." The most recent and extreme example of this trend is US Airways, which has started selling advertising on their planes' tray tables.

Read Adam's rant in full length

Are You a GNE?

In a recent article, Wallpaper describes Global Nomadic Expatriates, or GNEs, as a new breed of "career expats" who move from country to country for short-term professional gigs, "with no particular loyalty to a home nation."

The magazine cites a Mercer study covering 232 multi-national corporations, stating that the numbers of GNEs have increased by more than a third in recent years and now outnumber traditional expats (who return home) and long-term expats (who finally settle in their new place).

For GNEs, home is where they're going to, not where they're coming from. They move on for the sake of moving on, always on the hunt for the better opportunity, the richer cultural fabric, the more exotic and adventurous experience. The immersion is temporary but the network grows exponentially (through the strength of weak ties). The other significant allure of the GNE lifestyle is that expats are usually welcomed into a city's cultural elite far more easily than natives, enjoying the foreigner bonus (as a German citizen who's been living in the US for five years now, I can tell you my German accent has not been a detriment).

And yet:

"The unhappiest people I know these days," writes Pico Iyer in The Global Soul, "are often the ones in motion, encouraged to search for a utopia outside themselves."

Horror Branding: Expedia Corporate Travel is Now Egencia

The Seattle-based online travel site announced today that it will rebrand its corporate services as "Egencia." The way the move was communicated to the customer base was as poor as the name choice itself. Here's the email I received (as a "valued customer") -- an example of how NOT to do customer communications. See my comments in parentheses inline:

"Hello Valued Customer,

-- (note: if you really valued me as your customer, you would call me by my name)

It is with great excitement that I share important news with you.

-- (alright, you've already lost all your credibility with this incredibly phony line)

Expedia Corporate Travel is updating its brand. After careful consideration, we have decided to invest in raising our brand to a whole new level.

-- ("Raising it to a whole new level" -- just by giving it a new name? You gotta be kidding me! What else did you do?)

As part of the new brand, Expedia Corporate Travel is changing its name to Egencia, an Expedia, Inc. company, effective Monday, June 30, 2008. For us, Egencia signifies our commitment to delivering results that matter to you. The Egencia brand is also a symbol of Expedia, Inc.'s strong investment in the corporate travel space. Our company has become a growing global business on a scale that warrants its own distinct name and brand. We will continue to take advantage of the tremendous strength that comes with being part of the leading travel marketplace.

-- (ok, great, but why should I care?)

However, I want to stress that Egencia is more than just a new name. It is a sign of our promise to continue developing a world-class offering, raising the bar in the industry and delivering superior value to you. We are investing in the new brand by launching several new services in our next release to benefit you and your travelers. Ticket performance reports, customized hotel tools and enhanced business traveler content are just a few.

-- (you’re finally getting to the point, your brand promise – too little, too late!)

Another area of ongoing focus is in expanding our global footprint. To this aim, Egencia Canada has entered into an agreement regarding the acquisition of Mississauga, Ontario-based Synergi Global Travel Management, a leading Canadian corporate travel management, meetings and incentives company. The acquisition builds upon Egencia's existing presence in Canada and expands on its current strong service and product offering to Canadian business travelers and companies who do business on a local and global scale.

-- (Canada?)

While this is an exciting time at Egencia, I want to stress that your business and customer service will continue as usual. The web site will reflect the new name, it will continue to work the same and be available at ExpediaCorporate.com for the foreseeable future. Our goal is to make this a smooth gradual transition for you. Feel confident about the fact that you will have the same dedicated team at Egencia negotiating great rates and developing services on your behalf.

-- (I am, um, slightly put off by the construction: “While this is an exciting time at Egencia, I want to stress that your business and customer service will continue as usual.” Does this mean "exciting" and customer service exclude each other?)

Sincerely,
Jean-Pierre Remy
President
Egencia
An Expedia, Inc. Company

-- (I'm really confused, Egencia but still Expedia?)

Alright, now to the name itself. Egencia!

I’m sure the company did the math and concluded that the aimed elevation of the brand (for corporate travelers) outweighed the potential destruction of equity (and trust) built with the Expedia name. But still, the question lingers: Why? Egencia sounds like a travel agency doing business back in the days of the Roman Empire. Or, as a friend of mine said, like genitalia ("I feel pain in my egencia."). Nomen est omen, as the Romans said.

Remember Altria (formerly Phillip Morris)? Or Prince formerly known as TAFKAP (the Artist formerly known as Prince)?

We’ll watch the Egencia brand very closely.

The Next Big Thing: Table Tennis Triples

The Table Tennis Triples and Modular Table Tennis System was a finalist in the Australian Next Big Thing Awards.

I love how the invention's "unique benefits" are listed on the award site:

"- More people play on one table: social benefits, reduced waiting times
- Greater shot range, fairer 'Triples' scoring system
- Conventional tables can be reversibly 'Triples' retrofitted
- Numerous games/table shapes possible with the MTTS sectors"

Hat tip to Jordan Kanarek from frog

The Notwist: Where In This World

From the new album ("The Devil, You + Me") by The Notwist: There's no other band that sounds so claustrophobic and at the same time so open.

Brand-Dead: Song Over, End of Ted

United announced that their low-fare, no-frills sub-brand Ted is closing. At the beginning of the year Delta had already terminated services of its low-fare subsidiary Song.

I think this is sad because both were bold attempts to revitalize old, traditional brands by extending them. It turned out that it was too much of a stretch -- consumers didn't buy into it, no matter how low the fare.

Beautiful CI and a clever name (both designed by Pentagram) smart ads, designer uniforms, better safety videos, XM satellite radio, free movies, and organic meals -- all of that didn't fly. Ted and Song looked promising because of branding, but in the end it was their brands that made them fail.