Marketing Genius E-Book

Peter Fisk

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2010

Seitenzahl: 484

Beschreibung

The little black book of marketing is here. Marketing guru Peter Fisk's inspirational manual of marketing shows you how to inject marketing genius into your business to stand out from the crowd and deliver exceptional results. Marketing Genius is about achieving genius in your business and its markets, through your everyday decisions and actions. It combines the deep intelligence and radical creativity required to make sense of, and stand out in today's markets. It applies the genius of Einstein and Picasso to the challenges of marketing, brands and innovation, to deliver exceptional impact in the market and on the bottom line. Marketers need new ways of thinking and more radical creativity. Here you will learn from some of the world's most innovative brands and marketers - from Alessi to Zara, Jones Soda to Jet Blue, Google to Innocent. Peter Fisk is a highly experienced marketer. He spent many years working for the likes of British Airways and American Express, Coca Cola and Microsoft. He was the CEO of the world's largest professional marketing organisation, the Chartered Institute of Marketing, and lead the global marketing practice of PA Consulting Group. He writes and speaks regularly on all aspects of marketing. He has authored over 50 papers, published around the world, and is co-author of the FT Handbook of Management. "Marketers who want to recharge their left and right brains can do no better than read Marketing Genius. It's all there: concepts, tools, companies and stories of inspired marketers." --Professor Philip Kotler, Kellogg Graduate School of Management, and author of Marketing Management "A fantastic book, full of relevant learning. The mass market is dead. The consumer is boss. Imagination, intuition and inspiration reign. Geniuses wanted." --Kevin Roberts, Worldwide CEO Saatchi & Saatchi, and author of Lovemarks "This is a clever book: it tells you all the things you need to think, know and do to make money from customers and then calls you a genius for reading it." --Hamish Pringle, Director General of Institute of Practitioners in Advertising, and author of Celebrity Sells "This is a truly prodigious book. Peter Fisk is experienced, urbane and creative, all the attributes one would expect from a top marketer. The case histories in this book are inspirational and Peter's writing style is engaging and very much to the point. This book deserves a special place in the substantial library of books on marketing." --Professor Malcolm McDonald, Cranfield School of Management, and author of Marketing Plans "Customers, brands and marketing should sit at the heart of every business's strategy and performance today. Marketing Genius explains why this matters more than ever, and how to achieve it for business and personal success" --Professor John Quelch, Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School and author of New Global Brands "Marketing Genius offers marketers 99% inspiration for only 1% perspiration." --Hugh Burkitt, CEO, The Marketing Society

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Praise

Title Page

Copyright Page

About the author

MARKETING GENIUS

Part 1 INGENUITY: THE MAKING OF A MARKETING GENIUS

Part 2 THINKING: THE MIND OF A MARKETING GENIUS

Part 3 COMPETING: THE TOUCH OF A MARKETING GENIUS

Part 4 LEADING: THE IMPACT OF A MARKETING GENIUS

Part 5 THE GENIE: BECOMING A MARKETING GENIUS

MARKETING GENIUS

So you want to be a genius?

Why did I write this book?

What do I know about marketing?

What has inspired me?

What will you learn?

How will it help you?

Ingenuity: The making of a marketing genius

TRACK 1 COMPLEXITY - Making sense of uncertain markets

Inspiration 1.1 GOOGLE

Concept 1.1 MARKET SPACE

Inspiration 1.2 APPLE

Application 1.1 MARKET MAPPING

Concept 1.2 MARKET SPEED

Inspiration 1.3 STARBUCKS

Application 1.2 MARKET VORTEX

Concept 1.3 MARKET POWER

Inspiration 1.4 eBAY

Application 1.3 POWER PROFILE

Application 1.4 REVERSE MARKETING

TRACK 2 EXPECTATIONS - Creating tomorrow while delivering today

Inspiration 2.1 MICROSOFT

Concept 2.1 VALUE CREATION

Inspiration 2.2 TOYOTA

Application 2.1 CREATING VALUE

Concept 2.2 CUSTOMERS AND SHAREHOLDERS

Inspiration 2.3 COCA-COLA

Application 2.2 MARKET VALUE

Concept 2.3 VALUE-BASED MARKETING

Application 2.3 VALUE DRIVERS

TRACK 3 GENIUS - Marketing with more intelligence and imagination

Concept 3.1 GENIUS ATTRIBUTES

Concept 3.2 GENIUS DEFINED

Application 3.1 GENIUS PROFILE

Concept 3.3 GENIUS MARKETERS

Inspiration 3.1 STEVE JOBS

Inspiration 3.2 PHILIPPE STARCK

Inspiration 3.3 PHIL KNIGHT

Thinking: The mind of a marketing genius

TRACK 4 STRATEGY - Designing your business from the outside in

Types of strategy

Outside in

Market strategy

Making choices

Inspiration 4.1 JET BLUE

Application 4.1 MARKET STRATEGY

Concept 4.1 MARKET PERSPECTIVES

Inspiration 4.2 SKY TV

Application 4.2 MARKET SELECTION

Concept 4.2 MARKET FOCUS

Inspiration 4.3 ENTERPRISE

Application 4.3 PORTFOLIO ANALYSIS

Concept 4.3 MARKET ADVANTAGE

Application 4.4 COMPETITIVE POSITIONING

Inspiration 4.4 JOHNSON t JOHNSON

TRACK 5 BRANDS - Finding the big idea that defines you

Reflecting and engaging people

Enabling people to do more

Driving short- and long-term value

Inspiration 5.1 VIRGIN

Application 5.1 BRAND DEFINITION

Concept 5.1 LIVING THE BRAND

Inspiration 5.2 PRET A MANGER

Application 5.2 BRAND ACTIVATION

Concept 5.2 BRAND EXTENSIONS

Application 5.3 BRAND ARCHITECTURE

Concept 5.3 BRAND IMPACT

Inspiration 5.3 BMW

Application 5.4 BRAND EQUITY

TRACK6 CUSTOMERS - Getting inside the heads of intelligent customers

Application 6.1 CUSTOMER FORESIGHT

Concept 6.1 CUSTOMER INSIGHT

Inspiration 6.1 ZARA

Application 6.2 CUSTOMER INSIGHT

Concept 6.2 CUSTOMER RESPONSIBILITY

Inspiration 6.2 CAFÉ DIRECT

Application 6.3 RESPONSIBLE MARKETING

Concept 6.3 CUSTOMER COMPANIES

Inspiration 6.3 PROCTER Et GAMBLE

Application 6.4 CUSTOMER ETHNOGRAPHY

TRACK 7 INNOVATION - Thinking what nobody else has thought

Inspiration 7.1 BLACKBERRY

Application 7.1 INNOVATION PATHWAY

Concept 7.1 CREATIVE DISRUPTION

Inspiration 7.2 3M

Application 7.2 CREATIVE CATALYSTS

Concept 7.2 INNOVATIVE DEVELOPMENT

Inspiration 7.3 CIRQUE DU SOLEIL

Application 7.3 INNOVATION REFRAMING

Concept 7.3 BUSINESS MODELS

Inspiration 7.4 IKEA

Application 7.4 NEW BUSINESS MODELS

Competing: The touch of a marketing genius

TRACK 8 PROPOSITIONS - Seeing business through customers’ eyes

Application 8.1 VALUE PERCEPTIONS

Concept 8.1 PERCEIVED VALUE

Inspiration 8.1 TESCO

Application 8.2 VALUE PROPOSITIONS

Concept 8.2 CUSTOMER MESSAGES

Inspiration 8.2 CLUB WORLD

Application 8.3 CUSTOMER SCRIPTS

Concept 8.3 NEURO MARKETING

Inspiration 8.3 MINI

Application 8.4 CUSTOMER MEMETICS

TRACK 9 EXPERIENCES - Walking in the customers’ shoes

Inspiration 9.1 JONES SODA

Application 9.1 EXPERIENCE MAPPING

Concept 9.1 COOL DESIGNS

Inspiration 9.2 PAUL SMITH

Application 9.2 FUNCTION AND FORM

Concept 9.2 PERSONAL SERVICE

Application 9.3 BEING INTUITIVE

Concept 9.3 CUSTOMER THEATRE

Inspiration 9.3 AGENT PROVOCATEUR

Application 9.4 THEATRICAL PERFORMANCE

TRACK 10 CONNECTIONS - Doing business on customers’ terms

Inspiration 10.1 DELL

Application 10.1 CONNECTIONS MAPPING

Concept 10.1 INTEGRATED COMMUNICATION

Inspiration 10.2 AMAZON

Application 10.2 MEDIA INTEGRATION

Concept 10.2 CHANNEL INVERSION

Inspiration 10.3 MTV

Application 10.3 CHANNEL INTEGRATION

Concept 10.3 MARKET NETWORKS

Inspiration 10.4 KRISPY KREME

Application 10.4 NETWORK MARKETING

TRACK 11 RELATIONSHIPS - Who do you want a one-to-one with?

Inspiration 11.1 PANERA BREADS

Application 11.1 RELATIONSHIP MAPPING

Concept 11.1 CUSTOMER AFFINITY

Application 11.2 AFFINITY BRANDING

Inspiration 11.2 CENTRICA

Concept 11.2 CUSTOMER LOYALTY

Inspiration 11.3 MERCEDES

Application 11.3 LOYALTY LADDERS

Concept 11.3 CUSTOMER PARTNERING

Application 11.4 PARTNER DEVELOPMENT

Leading: The impact of a marketing genius

TRACK 12 PERFORMANCE - Unlocking the real value of marketing

Inspiration 12.1 CADBURY SCHWEPPES

Application 12.1 VALUE-BASED MARKETING

Concept 12.1 MARKETING METRICS

Inspiration 12.2 DIAGEO

Application 12.2 MARKETING SCORECARDS

Concept 12.2 MARKETING OPTIMIZATION

Inspiration 12.3 STELLA ARTOIS

Application 12.3 MARKETING ROI

Concept 12.3 MARKETING REPORTING

Inspiration 12.4 CUSTOMER CAPITAL

Application 12.4 INVESTOR RELATIONS

TRACK 13 MARKETERS - Time for marketing to take centre stage

A MANIFESTO FOR MARKETING

Inspiration 13.1 NESTLÉ

Application 13.1 MANAGING MARKETS

Concept 13.1 CUSTOMER CHAMPIONS

Inspiration 13.2 BRITISH AIRWAYS

Application 13.2 MANAGING BRANDS

Concept 13.2 BUSINESS INNOVATORS

Inspiration 13.3 PHILIPS

Application 13.3 MANAGING INNOVATION

Concept 13.3 GROWTH DRIVERS

Inspiration 13.4 DISNEY

Application 13.4 MANAGING GROWTH

TRACK 14 LEADERSHIP

Inspiration 14.1 RICHARD BRANSON

Application 14.1 LEADING MARKETING

Concept 14.1 FUNCTIONAL CMOS

Inspiration 14.2 JIM STENGEL

Application 14.2 MANAGING MARKETING

Concept 14.2 COLLABORATIVE CXOS

Inspiration 14.3 TERRY LEAHY

Application 14.3 INFLUENCING THE BUSINESS

Concept 14.3 MARKETING CEOS

Inspiration 14.4 MEG WHITMAN

Application 14.4 LEADING THE BUSINESS

TRACK 15 FUTURES - What happens after what happens next?

Inspiration 15.1 NIKE

Application 15.1 FUTURE SENSING

Concept 15.1 INTELLIGENT MARKETS

Inspiration 15.2 NOKIA

Application 15.2 BRAND BLOGGING

Concept 15.2 INSIGHTFUL BRANDS

Inspiration 15.3 DYSON

Application 15.3 PASSION BRANDING

Concept 15.3 INSPIRED MARKETERS

Inspiration 15.4 INNOCENT

Application 15.4 THE FIVE BALLS

The genie: Becoming a marketing genius

Genius Lab - Diagnostic of a marketing genius

Genius marketing

Genius marketers

Understanding your potential

GENIUS CATALYSTS - Challenges for the marketing genius

The strategy challenge

The brand challenge

The customer challenge

The communications challenge

The channel challenge

The pricing challenge

The innovation challenge

The performance challenge

The people challenge

The implementation challenge

GENIUS SOURCE - Who is a marketing genius?

Genius list 1: 50 genius brands

Genius list 2: 50 genius marketers

Genius list 3: 50 genius innovations

Genius list 4: 50 genius concepts

Genius list 5: 50 genius inspirations

MARKETING GENIUS - Recharge

Index

‘Marketers who want to recharge their left and right brains can do no better than read Marketing Genius. It’s all there: concepts, tools, companies and stories of inspired marketers.’

Professor Philip Kotler, Kellogg Graduate School of Management and author of Marketing Management

‘A fantastic book, full of relevant learning. The mass market is dead. The consumer is boss. Imagination, intuition and inspiration reign. Geniuses wanted.’

Kevin Roberts, Worldwide CEO Saatchi Et Saatchi and author of Lovemarks

‘This is a clever book: it tells you all the things you need to think, know and do to make money from customers and then calls you a genius for reading it.’

Hamish Pringle, Director General of Institute of Practitioners in Advertising and author of Celebrity Sells

‘This is a truly prodigious book. Peter Fisk is experienced, urbane and creative, all the attributes one would expect from a top marketer. The case histories in this book are inspirational and Peter’s writing style is engaging and very much to the point. This book deserves a special place in the substantial library of books on marketing.’

Professor Malcolm McDonald, Cranfield School of Management and author of Marketing Plans

‘Customers, brands and marketing should sit at the heart of every business’s strategy and performance today. Marketing Genius explains why this matters more than ever, and how to achieve it for business and personal success.’

Professor John Quelch, Harvard Business School and author of New Global Brands

‘Marketing Genius offers marketers 99% inspiration for only 1% perspiration.’

Hugh Burkitt, CEO The Marketing Society

Published in 2006 by Capstone Publishing Limited (a Wiley Company), The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 8SQ, England. Phone [phone]

Copyright © 2006 Peter Fisk

‘Marketing Genius’ is a registered trademark of MarketingGenius.com and is used with their permission.

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Reprinted with corrections July 2006, April 2008

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About the author

Peter Fisk is an experienced strategist and marketer, and has worked with some of the world’s leading companies including Coca-Cola, Microsoft and Vodafone.

He joined British Airways, at a time when it was justifiably ‘the world’s favourite airline’, after early adventures in nuclear physics. He worked across sales and marketing - including channel development, relationship marketing and brand management - and was part of a strategy team to address the challenges of globalization and low-cost entrants.

With PA Consulting Group, he led their global marketing consulting team, and worked with companies from Silicon Valley to Singapore to develop more customer-centric businesses. This ranged from innovation at American Express to market-shaping strategies for Shell, brand repositioning for Courage and leadership development at BT; helping Philips to become a customer-driven business, and Microsoft to embrace value-based marketing.

As CEO of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, the world’s largest marketing organization, Peter championed professional standards and reputation, and encouraging business leaders to embrace customers and brands as the most important source of long-term shareholder value. This was supported by the launch of Knowledge Hub, an online learning product, a new journal The Marketer, and the Shape the Agenda thought leadership programme.

He now jointly leads a strategic innovation firm, The Foundation, helping companies to grow their businesses from the outside in. By seeing the world as customers do, he helps business leaders to see things differently, and to develop the insights and strategies, belief and capability, to do exceptional things. This has, for example, led to the refocusing of MtS retail proposition, and reengineering of Volkswagen’s customer processes.

Peter is a recognized expert and commentator on marketing around the world. He is an inspirational speaker on customers and brands, strategy and innovation. He is thoughtful and considered, provocative and entertaining. He is co-author of the FT Handbook of Management, and The Complete CEO. In January 2006, Business Strategy Review identified him as one of the leading new business thinkers.

He combines youthful energy and inspiration with significant, practical experience. He is married with two young daughters and, having grown up in the Northumbrian countryside, now lives just outside London. He is a committed long-distance runner, Newcastle United supporter, and never far from his BlackBerry or iPod.

MARKETING GENIUS

Turn on

Every marketer has the ability to achieve ‘genius’, to combine their intelligence and imagination in more strategic, innovative and effective ways. I hope this book inspires you to think and do what you might never otherwise have thought possible. Play.

Part 1 INGENUITY: THE MAKING OF A MARKETING GENIUS

How do you succeed in markets that are incredibly complex and uncertain, intensely competitive and fast changing, where customers and shareholders constantly demand more, and the conventional ways of marketing just don’t work any more?

Track 1 Complexity

• Explore the new challenges of market space and speed, and the fundamental shifts in power.

• Consider the vision of Google and focus of Apple, the rise of Starbucks and revolution of eBay.

• Learn to map emerging markets, to create rhythms that give you an edge, and to harness customer power.

Track 2 Expectations

• Understand the demands of customers and shareholders, and how to create superior economic value for both.

• Learn from value disciplines of Microsoft and Toyota, and the strategic focus of Coca-Cola.

• Address these challenges through stakeholder mapping, and learn how to analyse the drivers of economic and shareholder value.

Track 3 Genius

• Explore what it means to be a genius, and how it applies to the world of marketing and marketers.

• Learn from the intelligence of Steve Jobs, the imagination of Philippe Starck, and the extraordinary results of Phil Knight.

• Consider and profile the attributes of genius, and how they can be applied to each aspect of business and marketing.

Part 2 THINKING: THE MIND OF A MARKETING GENIUS

Seize the best opportunities in your markets by thinking more strategically and innovatively, combining the rigorous analysis and radical creativity that led to Albert Einstein’s mind-boggling discoveries, and Steve Jobs’s market transformations.

Track 4 Strategy

• Embrace market strategies that give you the perspective and focus to create lasting competitive advantage.

• Learn from the market-shaping strategies of Jet Blue and Sky TV, and the bold differentiation of Enterprise car rental.

• Apply the ideas to your business through better market strategy and selection, portfolio analysis and competitive positioning.

Track 5 Brands

• Explore what creates a great brand, how it lives and evolves, and how to maximize its power.

• Learn from the brand thinking of Virgin, the passion of Pret A Manger, and the unrelenting focus of BMW.

• Develop your own brand strategy, with a clear architecture, brought to life inside and out, to build long-term brand equity.

Track 6 Customers

• Consider what really matters to customers, and how to ensure that the whole company is founded on a customer orientation.

• Reflect on the insights of Zara, the ethical approach of Café Direct, and the re-orientation of Procter Et Gamble.

• Learn to do business built on genuine customer insight and foresight, which is ethical and takes genuine responsibility.

Track 7 Innovation

• Embrace innovation that is based on disruption and creativity, applied to everything from products to business models.

• Learn from the innovation of BlackBerry and 3M, and the market-redefining success of Cirque du Soleil and Ikea.

• Embed innovation in your business through disruptive and creative catalysts, and by managing innovation in a more holistic way.

Part 3 COMPETING: THE TOUCH OF A MARKETING GENIUS

Deliver more distinctive and engaging marketing, in a way that Pablo Picasso, one of the few artists to become a legend in his own time, and Philippe Starck, the French designer of hotels and watches, would be proud of.

Track 8 Propositions

• Explore what really creates value for customers today, and how to articulate your offer in a way that is distinctive and engaging.

• Consider the brand propositions of Tesco, the sub-branding of British Airways’ Club World, and the re-emergence of the Mini.

• Learn to develop customer value propositions that stand out from the crowd, through compelling scripts and memic messages.

Track 9 Experiences

• Consider what creates a great customer experience, one that embraces cool design, personal service and theatre.

• Learn from the funkiness of Jones Soda, the function and form of Paul Smith, and the sexual thrill of Agent Provocateur.

• Improve your customers’ experience through customer mapping, intelligent design, and more intuitive and theatrical delivery.

Track 10 Connections

• Explore why integrated communications, inverted channels and new types of networks are essential to connect with customers.

• Reflect on the direct approach of Dell, the digital revolution of Amazon, the alignment of MTV and the buzz of Krispy Kreme.

• Learn to improve your customer connections through media and channel integration, and network marketing.

Track 11 Relationships

• Consider the challenges of building customer affinity, loyalty and partnerships in today’s promiscuous markets.

• Explore the infectious loyalty of Panera Breads, and the customer relationship building of Centrica and Mercedes.

• Learn to build better customer relationships through affinity branding, loyalty ladders and partner development.

Part 4 LEADING: THE IMPACT OF A MARKETING GENIUS

Unlock the real value of your brands and marketing. Learn from Warren Buffett, the world’s greatest financial investor, and Phil Knight’s passion for performance and profits at Nike, to do great marketing that delivers exceptional business results.

Track 12 Performance

• Consider how to embrace more rigorous marketing measurement and optimization, internal and external reporting.

• Learn from the value-based approaches of Cadbury Schweppes and Diageo, and the brand building of Stella Artois.

• Improve your performance by embracing value-based marketing scorecards and metrics, and ‘customer capital’.

Track 13 Marketers

• Consider why marketers must be the organization’s champions of customers, innovation and growth.

• Learn from the marketing leadership of Nestlé, the orientation of British Airways, and the sustained growth of Disney.

• Introduce a better approach to managing markets and brands, and innovation and growth in your organization.

Track 14 Leadership

• Explore the leadership roles of marketers, functionally and cross-functionally, and why marketers make better CEOs.

• Be inspired by the passion of Richard Branson, the discipline of Jim Stengel and Terry Leahy, and the leadership of Meg Whitman.

• Learn how to be a more effective marketing leader and manager, and how to influence and drive the wider organization.

Track 15 Futures

• Consider a future business world built around intelligent markets, insightful brands and inspiring marketers.

• Learn from the vision of Nike, the insight of Nokia, the innovation of Dyson and the innocence of Innocent.

• See the future of your markets and business, and how blogging, branding and the five balls might help.

Part 5 THE GENIE: BECOMING A MARKETING GENIUS

You have the potential to be a marketing genius, seizing the challenges and opportunities of today’s markets in more intelligent and imaginative ways. But where should you start? How can you and your marketing deliver extraordinary results?

Genius lab

A simple diagnostic approach to understanding how you and your team can achieve ‘genius’: evaluating your marketing and personal strengths and weaknesses, and how you could become a genius marketer, delivering genius marketing.

Genius catalysts

Fifty challenges for every marketer today - to make sense of markets and stand out from the crowd, improve your influence and reputation in the business, and deliver exceptional business results.

Genius source

250 inspirations to provoke your thinking and inspire your action. A selection of leading brands and marketers, the most significant innovations and informative sources, to help you think and act more intelligently and imaginatively.

List 1: 50 Genius Brands

List 2: 50 Genius Marketers

List 3: 50 Genius Innovations

List 4: 50 Genius Concepts

List 5: 50 Genius Inspirations

MARKETING GENIUS

Play

So you want to be a genius?

The genius of marketing lies in the ability to connect outside and inside, markets and business, customers and shareholders, creativity and analysis, promises and reality. Genius marketers have both the intelligence and imagination to seize the best opportunities, and to deliver extraordinary results.

Marketing Genius is for marketers who want to make a difference.

While many people have challenged the rise of global brands, and the influence of marketing on our lives, few have come to its defence. Few have considered why good marketing matters more than ever, its contribution to our economic wealth, and why it is the most exciting place to work today. However, markets have changed; therefore, marketing is changing, and marketers need to change further if they are to achieve high performance.

Marketing Genius offers a radically new approach to marketing.

In fast-changing and competitive markets, it is not obvious where to focus investment short-and long-term, or how to create and sustain exceptional value for customers and shareholders. Business needs marketing and marketers like never before. This book gives you the ideas, insights and inspiration to build brands that are truly different, to develop more innovative solutions and engage customers more deeply.

Marketing Genius is for everyone in business today.

Whether you are a communications specialist or market researcher, a brand manager or product developer, marketing leader or CEO, this book is for you. If you work in strategy or finance, sales or customer service, you will find it useful too. It is as relevant to large corporates as to small businesses, and agencies too.

Why did I write this book?

I want to inspire you to think differently, and to do great marketing.

In recent years I have experienced some great marketing, alongside much mediocrity. I have met many stimulating and ambitious marketers, but also many others who lack the confidence to challenge the status quo, to make their great ideas happen, to seize the opportunity to lead their organizations.

I want marketing to succeed, to be the driving force of business, and to have the influence and respect as a profession that it deserves.

Marketing creates more economic value for business than any other activity, yet it is too often seen as a marginal activity, a support function and a tactical cost line. Marketing has an unmatchable power base from which to drive the business - understanding the market, championing the customer, leading innovation, building the brand, driving profitable growth.

This requires an approach that is more strategic and commercial, innovative and engaging. Marketers must embrace the analytical rigour to connect passions with profits, but they must not lose their creative spark to reach out for what is new and different. Too many businesses, and their marketers, have become blinkered servants to process and numbers, which alone are increasingly commoditized and outsourced capabilities.

In today’s incredibly complicated world, every business faces enormous change, uncertainty and opportunity. The best ideas will make companies great. Customers, rather than capital, are increasingly the scarcest resources. Concept rather than knowledge management will matter more in the future.

I believe marketers are best positioned to address these challenges and others like them:

• People are more different - kids, for example, can typically do 5.4 things at once, while adults struggle to do 1.7 (and men even less).

• Traditional marketing approaches are under fire - 54% of US consumers have ‘banned’ telemarketing.

• Purchase decisions are made in an instant - the average decision about which brand to buy is made in 2.6 seconds.

• Markets are much more competitive than ever before - intensity has on average tripled in the last 10 years.

• Products are quickly imitated and outdated - life cycles have on average reduced by 70% in the same time.

• Customers face a confusing barrage of noise - the average person comes across approximately 300 messages every day.

• Technology has become central to our buying behaviours - the Internet is used by 42% of consumers before buying a new car.

• Yet people rely on people more than ever - 75% of consumers say they trust personal recommendation most.

• Proving the value of marketing has focused our minds on metrics - yet 60% of brand investments impact on future years, not this year.

• Businesses are still incredibly short term - yet major investors look at the potential of the business beyond the next 4 years.

• The majority of a business’ value is now based on intangible assets - accounting for 78% of Fortune 500’s market value.

• Marketing talent is essential to business leadership - 21% of FTSE CEOs are marketers, and deliver 5.9% greater TSR than others.

Marketers have the unique talents to address today’s intelligent and demanding customer, to bring direction and focus to their organization, and to drive the future profits that sustain business success.

What do I know about marketing?

As a marketer, I have worked for some of the most fascinating companies in the world.

From my early days at British Airways, where we spent many hours trying to work out how to fit a bed into a business class cabin and still make money, to the brand and logistical challenges for Coca-Cola in entering emerging Eastern European markets, more radical solutions have been needed.

At American Express we recognized that the brand had to be more than a plastic friend, but had to convince the business leaders to step outside their safety zone. Then there were the significant cultural challenges in making the ultimate technology firm, Microsoft, a more customer-oriented business.

However, working with small companies has often provided the greatest learning experiences. From government agencies to small bakeries in The Netherlands, to the astronomical rise and then fall of Regus, the office service firm, small businesses have no alternative but to think differently in order to beat bigger rivals, to make the most of their strengths, and do more with less.

As CEO of the world’s largest marketing organization, the Chartered Institute of Marketing, with 60,000 members in 131 countries, I was privileged to meet great marketers in every part of the world. I was motivated by the terrific energy and ideas that make marketers tick, their passion for brands and customers, to make a more valuable contribution to their businesses, and desire to succeed as a profession.

What has inspired me?

Work experiences have not been my only inspirations, and nor should they be yours. Our perceptions and ambitions, the way we think and our confidence to act differently comes more from experiences outside the workplace. All sorts of personal experiences, large and small, have inspired me.

My first real experience of a market was in the small town of Rothbury, where I grew up. Every Wednesday I watched convoys of farm trucks arrive from every direction to buy and sell their cattle and sheep, and then depart again at the end of the day.

My parents always encouraged me to try new things, and from this grew my passions. Even when I traded in music lessons for the local running club, my Mum still encouraged me, and my Dad would drive me to races every week. I would never have done many things without their support and encouragement.

I loved winning too, in whatever I did. Once you taste success, you want more of it. I will never forget the first time I won the district schools’ 1500m race as an 11 year old. And from that day, I was never afraid of putting myself on the line, in the pursuit of faster times, and the pure joy of sprinting through the finish tape before anyone else.

At university I had a scientific curiosity. I studied physics, and in particular the superconductivity of atomic particles when cooled to -200 degrees Celsius. Yet, while I was fascinated by the many still unexplained properties of nature, I was quickly bored by the need to solve long and repetitive algebraic equations.

Meeting your future partner is an electrifying moment. I will never forget the excitement of getting to know my wife Alison, who over the years has become my best friend, my motivation to do what I never thought possible, and my link to reality.

Of course I had sporting heroes like everyone else. Watching Sebastian Coe defy injury and illness to win his second Olympic gold medal, Steve Cram break world records every week, and Jonathan Edwards jump to lengths he just could not believe. I can still remember the dates, times and distances.

In the business world, the opportunity to innovate was what made me tick. In particular, working with colleagues and agencies at British Airways to truly let go of our beliefs and inhibitions, to create breakthrough ideas that would seek to redefine the travel industry, shaped my attitudes and ambitions.

Sometimes just being there is important too, to observe actions and sample the atmosphere. I was fortunate to work in Silicon Valley during the late nineties, to feel the energy and ambition of the entrepreneurs and investors who clambered to make their technological fortunes.

Perhaps most important in thinking about genius was meeting the successful people inside some of the world’s great brands. From the outside they were names that I was in awe of. Inside, they were ordinary folk, desperate to learn from other companies and to improve what they do.

And at the end of the day, there is nothing like two young children to bring you down to earth. They rekindle the innocent joy of play, to sing and dance, talk and laugh, like nothing else in the world matters.

These are some of the little things that have spurred me on. I am sure that you too have your own set of experiences that influence your beliefs and perspectives, guide your judgements and ambitions.

They have conditioned the way that I look at brands and their marketing, the way I read the many marketing books and learn from the companies and people around me. Books, of course, merely offer a point of view, and best practices are only one way to deliver results. The challenge is to select and apply the best ideas and insights in the right way for your business.

What will you learn?

Imagine if you could see the emerging opportunities in your markets as well as Apple’s Steve Jobs, address them with the vision of Jeff Bezos at Amazon, the leadership of eBay CEO Meg Whitman, and the commercial success of Nike’s founder Phil Knight.

Imagine if you could transform your industry with the direction of Michael Dell, the innovation of James Dyson and the persistence of low-cost airline king Michael O’Leary. Imagine if you could build powerful brands like Scott Bedbury did for Starbucks and Nike, with the irreverence of Jones Soda founder Peter van Stolk, and the creativity of advertising’s enfant terrible Trevor Beattie.

Imagine if you could deliver experiences with the aesthetics of iPod designer Jonathon Ive, the passion of sandwich entrepreneur Julian Metcalfe, and the effectiveness of PtG’s top marketer, Jim Stengel.

Marketing Genius describes how you can do all of this:

• Make sense of today’s complex and changing markets, and distinguish the hot spots, white spaces and black holes.

• Become the driving force of your business strategy, identifying new sources of competitive advantage.

• Bring an outside-in approach to your whole business, and align the expectations of customers and shareholders.

• Balance delivering today with the need to create tomorrow, by gaining new insights into what really matters to customers.

• Build strong brands that engage and inspire people, and which also embrace a new level of ethical and social responsibility.

• Innovate products, markets and business models more radically, by harnessing technology and design in creative and unusual ways.

• Articulate customer propositions that are distinctive and compelling, and ensure that your communication is contagious and unforgettable.

• Connect with customers on their terms, in more knowledgeable and integrated ways, when, where and how they want.

• Serve customers in more personal, empathetic and human ways, delivering experiences that are compelling and enabling.

• Measure your marketing with accurate and actionable measures, optimizing your budgets and resources for a better return.

• Unlock the real economic value of your marketing, and realize your own potential as a marketer.

Every marketer has the ability to achieve ‘genius’, to combine your intelligence and imagination, to think more strategically and act more effectively, and to do what you might never otherwise have thought possible.

How will it help you?

I hope that Marketing Genius gives you the confidence to do marketing that is more strategic, innovative and commercial.

While I have included many concepts, case studies and tools to help you, this is not an exhaustive guide to marketing, or a replacement for all the excellent theoretical texts.

Instead I seek to provoke your thinking, to illustrate connections, to highlight dilemmas, to suggest alternatives, and to stimulate more thoughtful yet radical action that delivers improved business results.

I hope it encourages you to see your market and business more holistically, to challenge conventions both outside and inside, and to remove the fear of areas of business that you perhaps understand less well.

Over the years, and in researching this book, I have become convinced that:

• Markets, complex and fast changing, competitive and borderless, are the best sources of opportunities for business today. They should be the stimulus and driving force of business purpose and direction, priorities and alignment.

• Marketing is the most important and exciting activity in business. It offers an essential mindset for everyone, particularly business leaders, and is the engine of strategy and brands, experiences and relationships, innovation and growth.

• Marketers are more valuable to their organizations than ever. They bring an outside-in perspective, with the ability to think creatively and analytically, strategically and practically, creatively and commercially.

If we can achieve recognition of this through practical actions and results, then marketing will be a profession that we can all be proud of - respected by peers, valued by society, aspired to by the best young talent, and the breeding ground of future CEOs.

Marketing is the key to delivering extraordinary business results.

You have the talent and opportunity to apply the intelligence of Einstein and the imagination of Picasso, to make sense of markets and stand out from the crowd, and to deliver results that even Warren Buffett would be proud of.

You could be a marketing genius, if you want.

I will never forget the inspirational words that I learnt in my early days of marketing: ‘Whatever you can do, or think you can do, begin it. For boldness has power, genius and magic in it.’

Be innovative. Be different. Be inspired.

Ingenuity: The making of a marketing genius

PART 1

Ingenuity: The making of a marketing genius

• How do you succeed in markets that are incredibly complex and uncertain, intensely competitive and fast changing, where customers and shareholders constantly demand more, and the conventional ways of marketing just don’t work anymore?

• How do you make sense of today’s markets? How do you identify the best opportunities for growth? How do you address the intensity of competition and rising power of customers?

• How do you meet the high expectations of customers, employees and shareholders? And indeed of society? How do you reconcile their different needs? How do you create exceptional ‘value’ for all of them?

• What does it mean to be a genius? How is a genius different? How do they combine intelligence and imagination? What does it mean to be a marketing genius, and how does it achieve better results?

‘Extraordinary people visualize not what is possible or probable, but rather what is impossible. And by visualizing the impossible, they begin to see it as possible.’

Cheri Carter-Scott

‘Keep in mind that you cannot control your own future. Your destiny is not in your hands; it is in the hands of the irrational consumer and society. The changes in their needs, desires, and demands will tell you where you must go … This means that managers must themselves feel the pulse of change on a daily, continuous basis … They should have intense curiosity, observe events, analyse trends, seek the clues of change, and translate those clues into opportunities.’

Michael Kami

TRACK 1 COMPLEXITY

Making sense of uncertain markets

Complex markets, intense competition, expectant customers and demanding shareholders require more intelligent marketing. To see the emerging form of markets and how they can be shaped, to target the best opportunities before others, to beat competitors in smarter ways than price discounting, to innovate more radically in new directions, to build brands like nobody else, to engage with customers in ways they have never thought possible, and to deliver returns to shareholders that would make analysts jump requires a new and different approach.

‘Unless you are prepared to give up something valuable you will never be able to truly change at all, because you’ll be forever in the control of things you can’t give up.’

Andy Law

‘They are playing a game. They are playing at not playing a game. If I show them I see they are, I shall break the rules and they will punish me. I must play the game, of not seeing I see the game.’

Kevin Kelly

Competing in fast changing markets, where borders have fallen and rules are broken, can be a disorienting experience. Take, for example, today’s world of communications - to some companies they are in the telecoms business, others the broader communications market, others the IT or networking world. Your perspective determines your competitors, your solution set, your customers, and your potential for success.

Does this make a difference? The narrow-focused telecoms company may start to wonder where their customers have gone, while the communications company might struggle to be relevant to those with a specific telephony need. The guys in the IT space may pitch their pricing relative to an IT peer group, which would be perceived to be expensive relative to the niche market. However, if the target customer is in the IT mindset, then it could quadruple your margins. Yes, it makes a difference.

Making sense of complexity requires intelligence. Bill Jenson wrote the book Simplicity, which seeks to interpret today’s world into dimensions you can get your hands on. However, as the quantum physicists realized, complex problems require complex solutions. And while the result might look admirable, the derivation is not easy. Nothing is certain; everything has a level of ambiguity about it. And everything is connected to everything else in some way.

We could do well to remember relativity and uncertainty into today’s world. Not only do the old ways not work, but complexity also throws up many new opportunities if you have the right mindset. However, the director who sits round the boardroom table and recites, ‘In my day, we looked at these things simply’ is probably missing the point, as is the marketer who seeks to apply simplistic, conventional models to the complex challenge.

Take customers. They used to come in a range of similar shapes and sizes. We called them segments. We could predict that people with similar socio-demographic labels would behave alike and want similar things. Not so today. Not only are people more different, resulting in many more highly fragmented segments, but they are also less predictable, behaving in different ways at different times, and therefore in many different segments depending on the occasion, or even the mood.

Marketers need deeper logic and more creativity to succeed amidst complexity.

Brands must reorientate to compete within these new market dynamics. However, the first step is to choose where and how you want to compete in this new world. Only in this way can you decide the kind of company you will be, the type of audience to pursue, the type of value proposition that will make sense. Only in this way do you have a chance to define the future in your own vision, to ensure that you are part of it, and a leader within it.

The blurring of boundaries, of virtual and real worlds, and fusion of previously unrelated industries, is a daunting challenge but also a fantastic opportunity. The creative possibilities within today’s connected world are endless. Almost any brand can work with any other, or against each other, in markets that used to have no connection. Whether it is Time Warner bringing together the disparate worlds of magazines, movies and networks - or a single brand like Virgin reaching out into many seemingly unrelated service offerings, there is immense potential to be realized by those who have the dreams and brains, confidence and persistence to realize it.

Inspiration 1.1 GOOGLE

‘Googol’ is the mathematical term for a 1 followed by 100 zeros. It perhaps symbolizes the magnitude of Google’s ambition and increasing impact on the whole dynamic of markets and marketing.

In 1995 Larry Page and Sergey Brin created in their Stanford University bedroom what within 5 years would already be dealing with 100 million Internet searches every day, and make them multi-billionaires in less than a decade.

Google has a simple vision, to be ‘the perfect search engine’ or, as Page puts it, ‘one that understands exactly what you mean and gives you back exactly what you want.’ Now with over 80 million users, searching through 8 billion web pages, Google is well established as the world’s leading search engine.

Indeed, most marketing today starts with ‘a Google’: textbooks don’t include it in their theories of communication flows, and few ad agencies would dare admit it, but it really does represent the customer taking control, the customer-initiated transaction, the customer seizing power in today’s complex world.

Brand awareness is achieved through word of mouth and the viral impact of click-throughs from many other sites, and revenues are driven by enabling advertisers to target online users in highly sophisticated and efficient ways.

Google argues that this makes the advertising useful to customers as well as to the advertiser placing it. It believes customers should know when someone has paid to put a message in front of them, so seeks to distinguish ads from the search results or other content on a page. Indeed, Google doesn’t sell placement in the search results themselves, or allow people to pay for a higher ranking there.

Thousands of advertisers use Google AdWords to promote their products and services on the web with targeted advertising, the largest program of its kind. In addition, thousands of website managers take advantage of the Google AdSense program to deliver ads relevant to the content on their sites, improving their ability to generate revenue and enhancing the experience for their users.

The basic ranking system is a model of customer democracy - search rankings determined by the most popular sites, and assisted by those sites that encourage more open networking, linking one to another.

Google stays strong in a complex world by sticking to its philosophy built on ‘ten things’. While their self-beliefs have often challenged conventions - not just in disrupting markets, but also, for example, at the time of their 2004 Nasdaq flotation when they insisted that investors should not treat them like a ‘normal’ company - their convictions are the empowered guidance that keeps them flexible but going in the right direction.

Google

Ten things

1. Focus on the customer and all else will follow. While many companies claim to put their customers first, few are able to resist the temptation to make small sacrifices to increase shareholder value …

2. It’s best to do one thing really, really well. Google does search. Google does not do horoscopes, finance advice or chat. Our entire staff is dedicated to creating the perfect search engine …

3. Fast is better than slow. Google believes in instant gratification. You want answers and you want them right now. Who are we to argue?

4. Democracy on the web works. Google works because it relies on millions of individuals posting websites to determine which other sites offer content of value …

5. You don’t need to be at your desk to need an answer. The world is increasingly mobile and unwilling to be constrained by a fixed location … through their PDA, mobile phones or in their cars …

6. You can make money without doing evil. Google is a business. Our revenues are derived from offering its search technology to companies and from the sale of advertising …

7. There’s always more information out there. Once we had indexed more pages than any other search service, we focused on information not readily accessible, such as images or PDF files …

8. The need for information crosses all borders. Google facilitates access to information across the entire world … the interface can be customized into about 100 languages.

9. You can be serious without a suit. Our founders wanted to a create a company not serious about anything but search … work should be challenging and the work should be fun …

10. Great just isn’t good enough. Always deliver more than expected. Through innovation and iteration, we take something that works well and improve upon it in unexpected ways.

Source: google.com (annotated)

Concept 1.1 MARKET SPACE

Kodak used to know where it stood - the brand leader in the photographic film market. The markets and competitors, customers and products were all fairly predictable. Over the decades camera film came in many different formats and sizes, yet everyone knew that Kodak film was the best, better than Fujifilm or Agfa.

Ten years later, Kodak’s position is increasingly unclear - what market it is in, who the competitors are, what customers want, or which products to focus on. Digital disruption has displaced traditional film, and previously separate markets of hardware devices, software and processing, imaging and printing have all converged.

Digital cameras come from Sony or Dell, images are stored on your hard drive, shared by e-mail, and if you still want the physical images then processing comes from Snapfish or Jessops, and printing from HP or Epson. Kodak has tried to respond in every direction. Kodak cameras, Kodak online wallets, Kodak printers, Kodak print kiosks. It describes itself as an imaging company, but neither its focus nor future are clear.

Market and technological convergence, the irrelevance of physical boundaries, the changing needs of consumers and retailers, and competitors emerging from previously unrelated markets have created complexity in every sector.

Today it is hard to know what type of business to call yourself, to distinguish a competitor from a collaborator (although they might be one and the same), and where you should bet your future. Not only is the market different, it keeps changing too.

So what are the drivers of change?

They are largely driven by technology, but also sociological and economic factors. The drivers include:

• Rise of computing power, interactivity and virtual networks.

• Compression of distance and time, and the speed of change.

• Irrelevance of geography, borders and hierarchies.

• Frictionless economics and corporate transparency.

• Rapid imitation of new products, and shortened life cycles.

• Globalization of culture, alongside religious difference.

Moore’s Law emerged during the ‘dotcom’ boom and, unlike many of the companies it was initially associated with, it is still going strong. Gordon Moore, the founder of Intel, observed that computing power doubles approximately every 18 months while costs remain the same (or, put another way, the same power can be squashed into a chip half the size). This relentless improvement drives much of the short life cycles and obsolescence we see in products today.

However, the power of the Internet goes far beyond the devices through which we access it. More significant than Moore’s Law is the related Metcalfe’s Law, which explains the power of networks and the way in which they drive new forms of interactivity, and can quickly build powerful communities and achieve great scale and reach. Robert Metcalfe, who launched 3Com, suggested that the power of a network is related to the square of the nodes. Therefore, every additional member has a disproportionate impact. Think of eBay, for example, where the network of users and diversity of goods creates the proposition.

Impact of Technology

The changing environment is accompanied by new practices, issues and regulations, presenting business and marketing with new challenges. The rise of more aggressive telemarketing approaches, such as the highly irritating recorded messages that interrupt your home at any hour of the day with highly misleading suggestions that ‘you have just won a major prize’ has prompted a majority of US households to ‘ban’ such practices by registering at donotcall. com.

More general examples include:

• Demand for customer privacy and ownership of personal information.

• Customer backlash against the avalanche and intrusion of direct marketing.

• Rise of social issues and ethics, from environment to transparency.

• Deficit of customer trust, and prevalence of competitive promiscuity.

• Globalization of brands, leading to cultural sameness and classlessness.

• Importance of intellectual properties, and value of intangible assets.

Customers are more different and intelligent, their expectations are higher and they are more powerful than ever. Research by Martin Lindstrom in BrandChild, for example, shows that kids can cope with complexity far better than adults: they can do 5.4 things at the same time - watching, playing, talking, texting, eating simultaneously - while adults can manage 1.7 (men even less).

Some of the broader implications are:

• Western populations are more affluent but with less time to enjoy it.

• Older people are wealthier, with time, and want to travel the world.

• Kids grow up fast, quickly replacing baby toys with designer fashion.

• Rise of online communities, buying groups and political lobbies.

• Concerns about health and obesity, the falling standards in sports.

• Many of us have everything we need, yet we still want more.

These structural and behavioural changes fundamentally reshape markets, making profitable ones unprofitable, requiring new ways to approach existing ones, and opening up completely new spaces to compete. Indeed, it is useful to draw an illustrative map of your extended ‘market space’, your existing and adjacent markets, adjacent in terms of both business capabilities and customer applications.

Within this extended space you can then plot where the best opportunities are likely to be, now and in the future. And where the competition is now, and likely to be. You can then begin to identify:

• Hot Spots, where demand converges and all brands seek to play, e.g. multimedia phones, the integrated computer and TV.

• Cool Places, where lead users go in search of newness and difference, creating niches or the next big thing, e.g. Korean food, Smart cars.

• White Spaces, where new opportunities emerge, often through convergence. They have not yet been exploited, such as iTV retailing, or cashless wallets.

• Black Holes, where traditional markets dry up, and the lead players are blindsided and marginalized, e.g. the music industry, the car manufacturers.

While this might sound impractical, far from the conventions of your own markets today, it actually describes the morphology of every market today. From sheep farming to corner shops, from industrial manufacturing to food restaurants, markets are more connected than ever, and influenced by outside change.

Market mapping is a strategic tool that helps you make sense of your changing marketplace, to spot the challenges and opportunities first.

The rapid convergence of mobile phones and cameras is just one example where not only should the camera-less phone manufacturer be worried, but the camera manufacturers should be too. Many people upgrade their handsets every year; therefore, adoption, and obsolescence, can be incredibly rapid.

There is no one authoritative map for any market, as there is no certainty as to how it will evolve. Market maps are therefore predictions, your own view of your markets and their future. Others will have different starting points, and different perspectives. Indeed, your future competitive advantage is likely to come partly from how well you can draw the market map relative to others.

Your market map might be based on any combination of attributes - such as capabilities versus applications, products versus location of use and products versus type of customer. The levels of change will depend on the market and other factors too.

A more sophisticated approach to market mapping might therefore also embrace techniques such as Market Radar, which considers the likely evolution of markets in terms of economic, competitive, customer, technological, social and political change - each mapping what is certain, likely and possible.

Scenario development can also be used to combine different possibilities into future market scenarios, then evaluating the upsides and downsides of each, and estimating the overall likelihood. If many scenarios predict certain aspects more frequently, then its likelihood will increase.

The output, intuitive or sophisticated, is a better understanding of your ‘real’ market today, and the challenges and opportunities that may well not be visible from a traditional perspective. The best opportunities should then be evaluated in terms of risk and reward, as described in the next chapter.

As an example, consider a local convenience store. On one axis we might plot the range of goods the store sells; on the other we plot the reason why a customer might use the shop.

Starting at the origin, the store currently sells food and drink. However, the store could easily sell flowers and newspapers, or even books and music, or perhaps even local or utility services. Beyond top-up shopping, the customer might shop for gifts, the weekly family shop, large occasional items, or seek advice on new services.

On the resulting grid we can then plot where there might be significant demand, who the customers might be, the competitors, and innovatively how we might deliver such a proposition.

Inspiration 1.2 APPLE

Apple has long been famed for its ‘think different’ mindset. Founded in 1979, in the pioneering days of the personal computer, the Macintosh was the great rebel of the industry, loved by the highly demanding graphic designers who harnessed its leading-edge features, but a rebel in refusing to bow to the growing power of Microsoft Windows.

Sometimes in those early pioneering days of the technology revolution, they were first to admit that they missed the mark, thinking as product inventors rather than market innovators. The Mac was technically advanced, but resolutely niche.

Years later, Apple was back in the forefront with that iMac, proving that PCs don’t have to be grey and boring, seeking to bring exceptional design both aesthetically and functionally to the user’s operation. The iMac was a great hit - now compatible with Windows - yet it was still for the knowing few rather than the profitable many.

Apple is one of the leading brands profiled by Kevin Roberts in Lovemarks. On the book’s related website, people are encouraged to rank and talk about their own ‘lovemarks’. Apple, not surprisingly, figures highly on the site, with many contributions like the following:

‘An Apple computer is the first thing I switch on every morning and the last thing to be turned off every night. Apple’s computers enhance my life, and make what I do possible in a way similar products by other makers never do. Apple’s story, their myth, their mystery is unassailable. I never cease to be fascinated.’

After the candy-coloured range of iMacs came the revolutionary iPod.

Recognition that the new millennium lives by new rules.

Digital music formats were struggling to move beyond the CD and the retailer. Napster was the rogue, illegal download website. Everyone could see a market flex but were uncertain where the future would go. Should record companies abandon physical formats? Should artists abandon record companies? Would network providers or phone companies seize the space?

Apple saw the opportunity and quickly made the iPod a cultural phenomenon. The complementary iTunes download site quickly became the global leader in downloadable music, selling more than 70 million songs in its first year, and for the first time a serious threat to the old physical world.

Apple’s shift can be simply illustrated by a market map, showing the rapid evolution of technology - from the wired desktop to the wireless handheld, while the consumers’ tolerance for such devices now went well beyond work. Apple is constantly disrupting the conventions of the market, and expectations of the customer. For example, the low-price, limited functionality iPod Shuffle was a shrewd move to ward off any low-end imitators of its iPod.

The next evolutions are probably still in the head of Steve Jobs; however, by extension of the axes, or consideration of other dimensions, we can see the possibilities.

Application 1.1 MARKET MAPPING

How do you make sense of complex markets, where borders have blurred and it is no longer clear which market you are actually in? Where are the hotspots or cool places for brand extensions? Where are the black holes?

Concept 1.2 MARKET SPEED

Jack Welch argues, ‘When the rate of change inside the business is exceeded by the rate of change outside the company, the end is near.’