Brilliant Results

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Cover Story8 Point — Know — Buy

Departments6 publisher’s letter

7 contributors: who’s who in the industry

12 solutions: five reasons why you can’t ignore gamification

16 outside the box: confessions of a Pinterest virgin

18 marketing: thou shalt covet what thy neighbor covets

20 travel: tourism: international marketing par excellence!

21 promotions: figment/snapapp – a case study

22 exhibit: tips to insure a safe business trip

23 service: wanted: e-commerce leaders

24 advice: ambition may not be so good for you

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Vol. 9, No. 08 2012

3M.com/promote

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Choose Post-it® Brand.Knock-off notes may look like the real thing, but they fall down on the job. Original Post-it® Notes stick securely and remove cleanly. When it comes to sticky notes, it’s the name underneath the pad that counts.

The Other Guys Post-it® Notes

Don’t be the fall guy

Brand.Knock-off notes may look like the real thing, but they fall down on the job.

4 Brilliant Results • August 2012

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Choose Post-it® Brand.Knock-off notes may look like the real thing, but they fall down on the job. Original Post-it® Notes stick securely and remove cleanly. When it comes to sticky notes, it’s the name underneath the pad that counts.

The Other Guys Post-it® Notes

Don’t be the fall guy

Brand.Knock-off notes may look like the real thing, but they fall down on the job.

While I cannot imagine playing games at work…gamification is trending and is poised to be the new thing at companies in the near future.

However, it has really been around at progressive companies for a long time, just with a different name. For example, when I first got into publishing the company I worked for installed a horse track sales game. It was merely a paper track that hung in front of every elevator in the company with horses (representing salespeople) on the track placed by dollar volume of sales. It was a fun way to see who was selling and who was not and even kept salespeople’s egos in check. Plus as a sales professional and one who hates to lose I can say point blank I sold more to make my horse move! It was something I thought of daily. Who knew at the time we were so forward thinking! The games these days may be a bit more high tech but I can see how they would inspire and encourage people to perform and learn.

Speaking of engaging and building brands have you seen the stats on Pinterest? If you want to grow your brand with women I would check it out immediately. I have to say I love this online scrapbook of memories. As far as social media goes Pinterest is by far my favorite. Followed by Twitter and lastly Facebook, which has become an opinionated waste of time. Pinterest is not preachy, nor is it political…filled with beautiful images and insight it fits my ADD to perfection.

Those features and more engaging information such as Point-Know-Buy are covered in this brilliant issue. So grab a coffee or tea and learn how you will survive, thrive and

Make it a Brilliant Future!

publisher’s letter

Brilliant Publishing LLC9034 Joyce Lane

Hummelstown, PA 17036Ph: 717.571.9233Fax: 717.566.5431

PUBLISHER / ADVERTISINGMaureen Williams

[email protected]

EDITORIALEditor in ChiefMaryAnne Morrill

Senior EditorMichelle Donofry

Style EditorCharity Plata

Asst. EditorMolly Anika

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Whitney Cook, Reinier Evers, Barton Goldsmith, Ph.D., Martin Lindstrom,

Barry Siskind, Dr. Peter Tarlow, John Tschohl, Steve Woodburn

PRODUCTION / DESIGNArt DirectorJeremy Tingle

Brilliant Results is published monthly by Brilliant Publishing LLC, 9034 Joyce Lane Hummelstown PA 17036 (717) 608-5869; Fax# (717) 566-5431. Copyright © 2012 Brilliant Publishing LLC. All rights reserved. The publisher reserves the right to accept or reject any advertising or editorial material. Advertisers, and/or their agents, assume the responsibility for any claims against the publisher based on the advertisement. Editorial contributors assume responsibility for their published works and assume responsibility for any claims against the publisher based on published work. No part of this publication can be reproduced in any form or by electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher. All items submitted to Brilliant Results become the sole property of Brilliant Publishing LLC. Editorial content does not reflect the views of the publisher. The imprints, logos, trademarks or trade names (Collectively the “Marks”) displayed on the products featured in Brilliant Results are for illustrative purposes only and are not available for sale. The marks do not represent the implied or actual endorsement by the owners of the Marks of the product on which they appear. All of the Marks are the property of the respective owners and is not the property of either the advertisers using the Marks or Brilliant Results.

brilliantresults™

Maureen [email protected] 717-608-5869

Follow us on twitter: http://www.twitter.com/@Bresults

6 Brilliant Results • August 2012 www.bri l l iantpubl ishing.com

contributorsa Whitney Cook has in addition to

successfully managing marketing initiatives for several of the world’s largest retailers, also been a key stakeholder for multimillion dollar projects for a wide array of clients in the Consumer Package Goods industry. Her experience encompasses several delivery channels including in-store signage, print collateral and national direct mail campaigns as well as extensive video and audio production. For more information visit www.inwardconsulting.com or contact her [email protected].

b Reinier Evers, Founder of trendwatching.com, is an accomplished trend watcher, entrepreneur, and presenter. He has been quoted as a trend expert in numerous business publications, including BusinessWeek, Time Magazine, New York Times, and Advertising Age. On a corporate level, Reinier has worked with leading brands like Young & Rubicam, KLM Airlines, SonyEricsson, Schiphol Airport, Electronic Arts, InterContinental Hotels Group, INSEAD, MasterFoods, and Unilever.

c Barton Goldsmith, Ph.D. For more than two decades Fortune 500 companies, educational institutions, and government organizations have relied on Dr. Barton Goldsmith to help them develop creative and balanced leadership. His columns appear in over 500 publications. He may be contacted through his web site www.BartonGoldsmith.com

d Martin Lindstrom, a respected branding and marketing expert, was selected as one of the world’s 100 most influential people by TIME magazine. The founder, CEO and Chairman of the LINDSTROM company (Sydney), Martin speaks to a global audience of approximately one million people every year. His latest book; Buyology – Truth and Lies About Why We Buy – a New York Times and Wall Street Journal best-selling book has been translated into 37 languages and is on almost all major best-seller lists worldwide.

e John Tschohl, the internationally recognized service strategist, is founder and president of the Service Quality Institute in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Described by USA Today, Time, and Entrepreneur as a “customer service guru,” he has written several books on customer service and has developed more than 26 customer-service training programs that have been distributed throughout the world. John’s monthly strategic newsletter is available online.

f Barry Siskind is an internationally recognized trade and consumer show expert. He is the author of six bestselling business books including Powerful Exhibit Marketing. Read his newest book, Selling from the Inside Out for an in depth guide to a successful sales career. Visit Barry at www.siskindtraining.com.

g Dr. Peter Tarlow is the founder and president of Tourism & More Inc. Dr. Tarlow has appeared on Nationally televised programs such as Dateline: NBC and on CNBC. Dr. Tarlow organizes conferences around the world dealing with visitor safety and security issues and with the economic importance of tourism and tourism marketing. For additional information visit www.tourismandmore.com

h Steve Woodburn works with clients to develop creative and measurable solutions that solve their marketing needs using promotional products, uniform programs, online company stores, point-of-sale initiatives along with rewards and recognition. He builds long-term relationships and becomes a trusted advisor and consultant his clients can turn to for all their brand extension needs. You can reach him at Staples Promotional Products: [email protected]

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Now, that consumers crave information is nothing new. Information and knowledge give consumers power, control and certainty (or at least the illusion thereof). Therefore they will forever be in demand by consumers searching for the best of the best. Equally important, the discovery aspect of information adds a fun factor too.

“Discovery will no longer be limited to text search”After a decade of near-obsessive Googling, instant

access to information with the right (textual) input is now expected, a way of life. The next frontier is visual info-gratification: consumers accessing information about objects encountered in the real world, in more natural ways and while on-the-go, simply by pointing their smartphones at anything interesting.

And just as ‘going online’ is no longer limited to sitting in front of a computer (at a desk!), discovery will no longer be tied to text search. People will be able to immediately find out about (and potentially buy) anything they see or hear, even if they don’t know what it is or can’t describe it in words.

CAVEAT AND THE FUTUREPOINT-KNOW-BUY is still an emerging consumer trend.

The desire for ever-present, easy-to-access information is there, but it’s important to remember that many of the technologies listed are still developing, and there is still some way to go before the process becomes ubiquitous, seamless and (most importantly) reliable.

We’re getting there though, as shown by the examples below. But first the tech platforms of the now and the future that will enable full POINT-KNOW-BUY:

Tech Platforms:A quick round up of some of the technologies fueling

POINT - KNOW - BUY:1. QR CODESAfter trying hard for years, QR codes are finally breaking

into mainstream consumer consciousness, although they are in danger of being superseded by the newer, often more natural technologies below.

2. AUGMENTED REALITYAR is the addition or overlaying of digital content onto the

physical world (as seen through a screen). To date, most augmented reality (AR) apps (such as Wikitude) have relied on a phone’s GPS and compass sensors to ‘guess’ what a user is looking at, but newer and more powerful visual search AR technologies are beginning to appear.

3. ‘TAGGING’A host of applications are now available that can pick up

on invisible markers in objects or sounds in order to trigger information or actions. Check out Blippar’s or Aurasma’s interactive magazine covers to get an idea of where this is heading.

4. VISUAL SEARCHThe future of POINT-KNOW-BUY. Rather than trying

to determine where a user is, ‘smart’ image recognition technologies (like Google Goggles or Layar Vision) attempt to identify the actual object in the viewfinder in order to search or deliver additional content. So pointing one’s camera at an image of the Eiffel Tower will have the same result as pointing it at the real thing.

By: ReinieR eveRS, tRenDwatChing.Com

Point – Know – BuySMARTPHONE-TOTING CONSUMERS ARE embracing a world in which they can find out about (if not buy) almost anything they encounter out in the real world, anytime. Learn from the brands already capitalizing on this trend, then get going!


Point – Know – BuyPOINT-KNOW-BUY definition:

With textual search and information now abundantly available to most people most of the time; the race is on to make instant visual search and information ubiquitous too. Any real world object (if not person) will soon be able to be ‘known’ by on-the-go consumers equipped with smart phones, which can be pointed at anything to retrieve/find related information on a whim. And yes, some commerce may follow from that as well ;-)

LET’s sTART wiTH THE ‘kNowiNg’ pART oF poiNT-kNow-BUY:

WordLens is an app that enables users to translate printed text (such as menus or signs) from French or Spanish to English (and vice versa) via the iPhone’s camera. For example,

Schiphol & Charles De Gaulle Airports, recognizing that many Chinese passengers are not proficient in English, and wanting to roll out the red carpet, launched a mobile app in January 2012 specifically designed to help Chinese navigate around the airports. Users can point their phones at 750 signs in Paris’ CDG Airport and 250 signs in Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport to obtain a Chinese translation. The app also offers airport information in Chinese and a translation of maps to the departure lounges.

Leafsnap is a free app that utilizes visual recognition technology to enable users to identify species of tree by taking photographs of leaves.

Google’s Skymap continues to be a great POINT & KNOW showcase, by enabling users to point their phones at the sky to discover details about the objects or constellations they look at. Star Chart and Star Walk are similar apps for the iPhone.

Keen golfers can take advantage of Golfscape’s GPS Range-finder. The app uses a combination of GPS and augmented reality so that when a golfer holds their iPhone or iPad up with a view of over 37,000 courses worldwide, markers display the distance they are from hazards and the green.

Find My Face. Indeed everything is becoming KNOWN, even people: Created by Carnegie Mellon University, PittPatt is a facial recognition tool. PittPatt was acquired by Google, and is behind Google+ Find My Face. Launched in December 2011, the feature automatically suggests who people are in users’ photos. Scary? Perhaps. Interesting? Definitely.

AND oF CoURsE THERE’s AN AUDio AspECT To poiNT & kNow As wELL:

The pioneering Shazam, which enables users to identify any track they hear wherever they are, announced in September 2011 its users were tagging over one billion songs a year, and the service would offer unlimited free tagging.

WeBIRD allows anyone with a smartphone to record a bird’s call, submit it wirelessly to a server, and (after a few seconds) receive a positive ID on the species of bird.

poiNT & kNow TECHNoLogiEs CAN ALso EAsiLY BE AppLiED To BEComE poiNT & kNow-How To:

Aurasma, an app developed by Autonomy (recently bought by HP for over USD 7 billion), delivers object-driven augmented reality. The company recently released a video showing how users could view real-time instructions of how to wall-mount a TV, on the wall itself.

Metaio showcased an augmented reality guide to changing printer cartridges (perfect for consumers staring blankly at the inside of a printer wondering where ‘Door B’ could be ;-).


And here’s an innovative twist to POINT & KNOW for the visually impaired: VizWiz is an app that allows people to help blind users ‘see’, by telling them what objects are that they’ve taken a picture of.

Heinz launched an ‘augmented reality recipe book’ using Blippar’s technology. Users of the app can point their camera at a bottle of the brand’s eponymous Tomato Ketchup to see recipes pop-out of the bottle.

AND FoR wHEN TECHNoLogY FAiLs, THERE’s ALwAYs CRowDsoURCED poiNT & kNow:

French site WhereToGet.It allows users to post photos from the street, magazines, blogs or films, and ask the community where featured items can be purchased. While Belgian magazine Flair’s fashiontag Facebook app enables users to tag photos of friends’ clothing, and ask where they bought it.

But for a real glimpse of where POINT-KNOW-BUY is heading, it’s worth looking at how the big tech players are rolling out even ‘smarter’ image recognition and visual search:

Google Goggles allows users to search the web by taking

photos of objects. In fact, in the latest update, continuous shooting mode users no longer even have to take a photo of an object. Instead the app continuously scans everything in the viewfinder, and automatically shows relevant results as it recognizes objects.

Not surprisingly, adding the ‘BUY’ element directly to visual searches will soon become a common feature for big retailers:

Amazon’s Flow app released in November 2011, also features continuous scanning technology. As soon as users point their phone at books, games, DVDs or CDs, information appears instantly; including media clips, reviews and purchase information.

eBay’s CEO John Donahoe announced that image recognition would be a key feature of eBay’s future mobile applications. Users would be able to take photos of real world objects and find similar items for sale on eBay.

Wine lovers can use the Snooth Wine Pro app to snap pictures of wine labels, which are matched against the site’s database. Users can view reviews, find local stockists, check prices and purchase online.

“POINT-KNOW-BUY unlocks huge opportunities fortrue instant info-gratification”

We don’t need to point out (pardon the pun) that POINT-KNOW- BUY is of course just one part of the much bigger trend of mobile commerce (‘m-commerce’). Smart business and marketing professionals will immediately recognize that POINT-KNOW-BUY unlocks huge opportunities for true instant info-gratification, where consumers are able to learn and buy at the moment of discovery. POINT-KNOW-BUY can also make the purchase process more convenient and/or transparent, from reviews and price comparison to smoother checkouts (QR-shopping windows anyone?).

oppoRTUNiTiEs

While perhaps only the biggest brands or platforms (e.g. Wikipedia, Amazon, eBay) will have the range of content or products to be able to satisfy any snap or scan, there will be endless opportunities for any brand to cater to consumers’ endless lust for information, for discovery, for instant gratification.

Think practically: how can you add depth of knowledge and communicate stories, origins, price comparisons, reviews, e- commerce and so on? Anything that helps POINT-KNOW-BUY consumers to be better informed, able to discover and act on the things they encounter in the real world.

Good luck!

Not surprisingly, adding the ‘BUY’ element directly to visual searches will soon become a

common feature for big retailers:


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future trendsBy: whitney CooK

GAMIFICATION. YOU MAY not have heard a lot about this topic yet, but you will. At a recent National Retail Federation conference, Gamification was touted as the next form of social media where people and employees interact and socialize around a common bond of knowledge, competitive strategy and fun. Right now, you are probably hearing whispers of gamification in your workplace. But in the near future, you will hear it shouted out in the hallways—loud and clear.

Gamification is more than newfangled training. It is engaging employees with new knowledge that encourages competition among peers and bestows public rewards and recognition on those who excel. It can cover just about any topic: improving operations, cutting logistics costs, challenging employees to understand how their role contributes to enterprise success.

Yes, in the future we will start seeing people playing games at work. Gen Y professionals have been nurtured and brought

up on gaming. Gamers are everywhere: at work, at home and even in the airplane seat next to you. The last statistic I saw said that the average gamer is 37 years old. Let it be known: video games are not just for kids.

To understand why game mechanics are emerging as essential elements in all facets of business, it is imperative to grasp the dynamics of today’s business environment. In the not-too-distant past, our workforce demographic consisted largely of baby boomers (those born between 1946 and 1964). As boomers near the glorious age of retirement, two other generations will make up the majority of the American workforce: Generation X (born between 1965-1978) and Generation Y (1979-2000).

As you might imagine, Generations X and Y view the workplace in a completely different light from their baby-boomer predecessors. Gen Y, also known as “Millennials,” is of particular interest with respect to gaming. They have grown

Five Reasons Why You Can’t Ignore Gamification


up with technology and video games as a normal part of their everyday lives. Game mechanics have played a prevalent role in the way they solve problems.

iN His Book gRowN Up DigiTAL, DoN TApsCoTT ExpLAiNs THAT:

Growing up digital has had a profound impact on the way this generation thinks, even changing the way their brains are wired. And although this digital immersion presents significant challenges for young people—such as dealing with a vast amount of incoming information or ensuring balance between the digital and physical worlds—their immersion has not hurt them overall. It has been positive. The generation is more tolerant of racial diversity and is smarter and quicker than their predecessors. These young people are remaking every institution of modern life, from the workplace to the marketplace, from politics to education, and down to the basic structure of the family. … To them, technology is like the air.

Growing up digital changes the way that Millennials engage with others in their day-to-day work lives. They come to work expecting the same engagement they found in the digital world. So, how do we reach them?

At the beginning of 2012, The Oxford Dictionary added “gamification” to their official short word list.

gA.mi.Fi.CA.TioN (N.):The application of concepts and techniques from games

to other areas of activityIndustry leaders and respected innovators in the field

define it a thousand other ways, but any way you slice it, gamification is trending upwards at an undeniable rate. CEO’s, HR directors, operations and innovations teams across various industries are learning that integrating gaming into their companies drives performance, highlights achievement and skyrockets engagement within their organization. The experts at Gartner predict that by 2014, 70% of global organizations will have at least one gamified application; by 2015, 50% of organizations that manage innovation processes will gamify them. Many of the world’s largest brands are deploying gamification. Coke, AOL, Nissan, Nike and Viacom are all jumping on the bandwagon and, as more and more studies become available, the advantages to gaming in the workplace are becoming ever more apparent.

Now that we have a better understanding of what gamification is, let’s take a look at what some companies are doing.

miCRosoFT RiBBoN HERo: oNBoARDiNg AND mAsTERY AppLiCATioN

Learning complex software can be an overwhelming task

The experts at Gartner predict that by 2014, 70% of global organizations will have at least one gamified application;

by 2015, 50% of organizations that manage innovation processes

will gamify them.


for almost anybody. Office is a multi-billion-dollar business for Microsoft, so it is in the company’s best interest for its users to understand the breadth and depth of functionality available in the software suite. Otherwise, those same users might turn to cheaper, “good enough” alternatives. So what is the challenge? How do you get people to learn Microsoft Office without leaving them feeling like they are sitting through a five-hour PowerPoint training session?

The gaming solution: Microsoft created Ribbon Hero 2, an application built directly into Microsoft Office that uses gamification to motivate users to go through training without that classroom atmosphere. Users are playing a “game” and doing something productive at the same time, so it’s a win-win situation. Ribbon Hero 2 takes users out of their normal work mode and puts them in “explorer mode,” where it is actually fun to discover new things about work and safe to fail. Users feel a sense of accomplishment for completing something difficult. Ribbon Hero 2 encompasses the entire Office Suite, so in order to play, people must learn to use all the products, which reinforces the value of the entire suite as opposed to a single application. (Source: Enterprise Gamification.)

sAp gAmiFiCATioN CUp: EARNiNg poiNTs To mAkE A DiFFERENCE

It’s safe to say that most employees don’t like being stuck behind a computer all day entering data. While accounts payable is one of the most important departments in a successful business, the reality is daunting: thousands of AP clerks manually enter invoice after invoice for hours on end. In 2011, the winner of the SAP Gamification Cup had the idea of gamifying SAP’s vendor invoice transaction. For each invoice and line item, users and their teams can earn points, raise their status and participate in daily or monthly challenges for their team. The reward at the end of the month is a dollar amount that is donated to charity. (Source: Enterprise Gamification.)

iNNoV8: iBm’s simULATioN gAmE To impRoVE BUsiNEss pRoCEssEs

In 2007, IBM created a Business Process Management (BPM) simulation game called Innov8. It was originally designed as a game to help develop college

students and young IT professionals; but over the past 5 years, it has evolved into a program that gives both IT and business players a better understanding of the impact of successful BPM on an entire business ecosystem. INNOV8 provides a carefully instrumented, personally interconnected and intelligent world for its users while supporting process improvements. At its core, Innov8 helps people work smarter so they can help build a smarter planet. Players quickly see how practical process improvements can lead to increased profitability, customer satisfaction and environmental goals while solving real problems faced by municipalities and businesses. And when they’re done playing, players can compare their scores with others on global scoreboards.

googLE: REDUCiNg BUsiNEss TRip CosTs; pRomoTiNg ENViRoNmENTALLY FRiENDLY CommUTiNg

Google created an HR game motivating their employees to spend less than the allotted per-diem amount per business trip. Employees who meet the challenge may allocate the saved funds toward a future trip (to book a nicer hotel, for instance); charitable donation or cash back at the end of the year.

The teams at Google Australia are using gamification in an environmental effort. Employees who use environmentally friendly methods to get to work accumulate points that they can trade in exchange for the weekend loan of a Mitsubishi innovative Electric Vehicle (i-MiEV).

We’re all motivated by different things. What’s emerging is that employee satisfaction, and therefore employee

retention, can no longer be achieved simply through financial compensation. Ultimately

the big-stick approach doesn’t always work and, these days, it is not the only

method available to motivate and encourage your teams. In order to stay on top of the game, managers must be forward thinking. Our CEO’s of the future must employ creative techniques to engage their

employees.Ready to learn more? Here are the five undisputable reasons why you

can’t ignore gamification and its potential to empower your

business.1. Gamification allows your employees to actively gauge their performance

Those dreaded yearly evaluations. Everyone has to do them, but wouldn’t

Gamification gives the power of feedback to the employee and accelerates knowledge. This is good for the company

because it creates a more efficient and engaging way to monitor

employee progress.


it be nice to give your employees access to real-time feedback whenever they need it? The great opportunity with gaming is that there is immediate cause and effect. If you make a wrong move in a game, you are corrected on the spot. If you make a strategically smart move, you receive immediate positive reinforcement.

Gamification gives the power of feedback to the employee and accelerates knowledge. This is good for the company because it creates a more efficient and engaging way to monitor employee progress. In addition, it fosters transparency about how performance is measured and where the employee actually stands. Imagine if businesses used gamification to help streamline that information so that their employees could actually grow instead of constantly wondering, “How am really I doing?” “Is my work performance being ranked fairly?” and “How am I supposed to set goals if I have no idea what I am trying to achieve?”

2. Gamification improves knowledgeIt’s no secret that most of us started playing games

at a young age. Indeed, our brains are built for game play. Doesn’t it make sense for us to use the same types of techniques today in our training environment? As we all know, knowledge retention is a big part of any employee’s daily life. Training and promotion isn’t just important for the employee, it’s essential to the growth of the company. Industry expert and author of Corporate Universities Jeanne Meister asserts that interactive learning games can explode long-term retention rates by up to 10 times. That’s a pretty powerful statistic when you start talking about knowledge retention. Can you imagine how powerful your employee handbook would be if you turned it into an interactive journey rather than a cumbersome document stuffed into a binder?

3. Gamification enhances achievement across the board

Every year, companies spend thousands of dollars sending employees to seminars, classes, training sessions—the list is endless. You might know from personal experience that one of the pros of learning is displaying our achievements through certificates on our desks, letters behind our name, and highlights on our LinkedIn page. We love to compete, to win, and to receive validation. In the workplace, people are automatically judged on their knowledge, achievements, and overall reputation. Translate that into a game, and virtual badges, trophies and level mastery become the new bragging rights of Gen Y workers. Allowing your employees to become masters of their business and creating a community that openly recognizes their accomplishments will not only grow your people, it will grow your bottom line.

4. Gamification creates unparalleled levels of engagement

Employees crave social interaction in the workplace. We love our lunch buddies and kickball teams, and might even go to the team-building event at the local golf course. People like to feel that they belong, that they matter and that they are more than a cog in the big corporate machine. Gabe Zichermann, an author and the founder of the Gamification Summit, stated at a recent gaming conference in New York that “Gamification can run a loyalty program that has all the bells and whistles of something like [United’s] MileagePlus, but cheaply. Traditional loyalty programs fail because they don’t typically generate new or additional revenue streams and can cost a company more in the end.”

Zichermann adds, “What drives loyalty is not giving away free stuff, but status and recognition. People are very into status once they achieve it, and they don’t want to lose it.” Gaming creates a virtual world where you can be productive and still have fun. This is good for your business because it fosters innovation, productivity and fun, which inevitably enhance the work environment. Studies have shown that happier people equal higher revenue.

In a 2011 field study conducted by Saatchi & Saatchi S, 55% of respondents who were employed said that they would be interested in working for a company that offered games as a way to increase productivity. Additionally, out of five different gaming options available, respondents said they preferred a probability or guessing scenario where you could play against opponents to win points.

5. Gamification reinforces learning and developmentIt’s not surprising that many companies are embracing

gamification to encourage innovation among their employees. In his blog, Gabe Zichermann describes the crowd-sourcing game Foldit, developed by the University of Washington. In 2011, 46,000 people worked for just 10 days to solve the secret of a key protein that scientists believe may lead to a cure for HIV. Researchers had been working on the problem for 15 years. This is a big deal! You may not be searching for a cure to a deadly disease, but creating and fostering innovation within your company is essential in today’s marketplace. Reinforcing learning and development within your team will not only foster a productive work environment, it will also create opportunities for expansion and job security for employees down the road.


Modern thinkingBy: Steve wooDBURn

I CAN’T BELIEVE I haven’t done it yet. You know what I’m talking about… it! If you know me, you know I am all over using social media to build a personal brand so it’s odd I have never even looked at Pinterest. Honestly, I think I’ve been scared-to-death to introduce yet another time-sucker into my life, worried I’ll immediately see its value and the need to engage. However I decided it was time to finally take a peek and share my first impressions with you.

While this newest of social media sensations has 12 million users that still leaves about 301 million citizens of

America that don’t yet use the site so I’m in good company. I have to admit; my first look left me unimpressed. While the pins on the landing page change regularly, there’s not a lot here. But what shocked me the most was the fact I can’t just join, I have to be invited.

I dutifully filled out the information needed to be invited and hit send, not sure if I’d get an invite or when it might arrive. While I pondered whether they would perform a background check before inviting me, I started clicking on some of the postings to see what it was all about.

Confessions of a Pinterest VirginThe average

time spent on Youtube is 16.4 minutes

while on Pinterest it’s

15.8 minutes.


As the third most popular social media site, some of the stats I found about Pinterest are truly amazing:

Only Youtube beats Pinterest in average time spent on the site and not by much. The average time spent on Youtube is 16.4 minutes while on Pinterest it’s 15.8 minutes.

50% of Pinterest users have kids.Just over 68% of the users on Pinterest are women and

that stat alone should give you hints as to how to build your brand here.

27% of the users are between the ages of 25 – 34 and 22% are in the 35-44 demographic.

The number of daily Pinterest users has increased 145% since January of this year.

Scrapbooking memories have become popular with women over the last decade and Pinterest is basically a place to scrapbook online memories… to capture a moment in time and share it with your friends and followers. It’s almost a voyeuristic place to peek into other’s lives, to see what they like, to share their dreams and even something as simple as seeing the recipe they are using for dinner tonight.

I received my invitation (whew, cleared that roadblock) and have posted my first pin and while I could get lost in following other’s pins, I realize this is quickly becoming a huge boon

for businesses. Shopify, an e-commerce service, reports Pinterest members spend an average of $80 each time they make an online purchase as a result of Pinterest, double the amount Facebook members spend on an Internet buy. And soon Pinterest will be extending its reach even farther with foreign language versions and also just landed a $100 million investment from a Japanese e-commerce company.

My fear of finding the value in this relatively new social media site has come to fruition and now I must act. I understand just enough to be dangerous and must first map out a plan for creating interest with the items I pin. Postings must earn the trust of those who choose to follow and give them value so they’ll take the time to interact. I’m reading all I can on how others are using this unique social venue to refine my strategy and make an impact within my audience.

If a picture is indeed worth a thousand words, the founders of Pinterest are hoping they can transfer those pictures into thousands of dollars each. I’m no longer a Pinterest virgin and can never go back nor do I want to. I’m taking my time learning to navigate this unique experience and hope I can avoid the siren song to look at just one more pin. Just one more…


By: maRtin LinDStRombranding

WHEN IT COMES to the things we buy, what other people think matters. A lot. Here’s how the desires of strangers–inflamed by branders and marketers–mysteriously become our desires, too.

Many of us spend our days–or at least part of them–quietly cursing our fellow human beings. The guy in the Hummer who cuts us off at the intersection… the old woman in the supermarket line counting out pennies one by one… the tourist consulting a map right in front of the subway entrance. They may be annoying, but when all is said and done we actually rely on these people, and others like them, to help dictate our purchasing choices–with more than a little help from companies and marketers, of course.

When it comes to the things we buy, what other people think matters… a lot… even when those people are complete strangers. One survey, by Opinion Research, shows

that “61% of respondents said they had checked online reviews, blogs and other online customer feedback before buying a new product or service,” and a similar 2008 study commissioned by PowerReviews showed that “nearly half of U.S. consumers who shopped online four or more times per year and spent at least $500 said they needed four to seven customer reviews before making a purchase decision.” So persuasive are the opinions of others that while many of us are well aware that roughly 25% of these reviews are fakes written by friends, company staffers, marketers, and so forth, we purposely overlook this. We’d rather not think about that. And, frankly, we don’t seem to care. As the Times of London points out, we are born to believe, in part, because a collective belief helps us to bond with others. In short, we want to trust in these messages, even when we may also be deeply skeptical.

Thou Shalt Covet What Thy Neighbor Covets


To see just how powerfully complete strangers’ preferences and purchases can sway our decisions; consider the phenomenon of best-seller lists. Best-seller lists work so well in persuading us that they can be found everywhere from, famously, The New York Times‘ lists of best-selling books to Sephora’s list of best-selling cosmetics to Entertainment Weekly’s Ten Most Popular TV shows to Variety’s list of the ten highest-grossing movies of the week to the Apple iTunes music store’s list of best-selling or recommended singles, albums, movies, and music videos. And on and on–well past the break of dawn.

Let’s talk for a moment about iTunes. Not unlike a Barnes & Noble superstore, the iTunes start page is a chaotic place teeming with choices. Luckily for the overwhelmed shopper, however, these endless offerings are organized into tidy recommended categories like “What We’re Watching,” “What’s Hot,” “What We’re Listening To,” “New and Noteworthy,” and, of course, “Top Songs” and “Top Albums.”

An intriguing study published in the journal Science shows just how well this can work. The researchers invited 27 teenagers to visit a web site where they could sample and download songs for free. Some of the teens were told what songs previous visitors had downloaded, while other teens were not told. Those told what songs their peers had chosen tended to download those very songs.

And part two of the study was even more telling. This time, the teens were divided into eight groups and told only what people from their own group had downloaded. The researchers found that not only did the teens tend to choose the songs that had been previously downloaded by members of their groups, but the songs that became “hits” varied across all the groups. The implications were clear: whether or not a song became a “hit” was determined solely by whether it was perceived as already being popular.

But this still doesn’t explain precisely why our buying decisions are so unduly influenced by a brand’s supposed popularity. So the authors of the study decided to use an fMRI to see what was really going on in these impressionable teenagers’ brains when they succumbed to peer pressure. They had 12-17-year-olds rate 15-second clips of songs downloaded from MySpace. Then they revealed to some the songs’ overall popularity. The results showed that when the participants’ own ratings of the music matched up with what they had been told about the song (e.g., if they liked a popular

song), there tended to be activity in the caudate nucleus, an area of the brain connected to rewards. When there was a mismatch, however (e.g., the teen liked the song but discovered it was unpopular), areas associated with anxiety lit up. The researchers concluded “this mismatch anxiety motivates people to switch their choices in the direction of the consensus, suggesting that this is a major force behind conformity observed in music tastes in teenagers.”

Early popularity is so closely tied to a brand or product’s ultimate success that even Hollywood is leveraging the predictive power of the ticket-buying hordes. According to New Scientist, (subscription needed), one of the most widespread

new techniques for predicting the box-office performance of a film is by using something called “artificial markets.” On The Hollywood Stock Exchange, for example, movie fans can buy and sell virtual shares in celebrities and in forthcoming or recently released films. This virtual market, which operates with a virtual currency called Hollywood Dollars, uses these predictions to create a stock rating reflecting the aggregate view of each film’s popularity or likely popularity (obviously, people only buy virtual shares in things they expect to be hits) becoming the gold standard in the industry for predicting likely box office receipts, political campaigns and share prices.

Of course, we generally aren’t consciously aware that perceived popularity is driving our preferences. So for my new book Brandwashed,

I decided to team up with Murray Hill Center, one of the top focus group companies in the country, in order to find out what we think attracts us to products. “Why do you love Louis Vuitton so much?” we asked 30 women. In answering, each of them began talking about the quality of the zipper, the leather, and finally, the brand’s timelessness. But had we heard the whole truth? To be sure we decided to scan the brains of 16 of them using fMRI to uncover another layer of their answers.

In each case, when the women were shown pictures of Louis Vuitton products, the Brodmann area 10, the region of the brain that’s activated when respondents are observing something they perceive as “cool,” lit up. The women had rationalized their purchases by telling themselves that they liked the brand for its good quality, but their brains knew that they really chose it for its “coolness,” perhaps explaining why we’re all so addicted to those top 10 lists–because deep, down inside we want to be on the top of the cool list.

So persuasive are the opinions of others that while many of us are

well aware that roughly 25% of these reviews are fakes written by friends, company

staffers, marketers, and so forth, we purposely

overlook this.


travelBy: DR. PeteR taRLow

Tourism: International Marketing

Par Excellence!

TOURISM IS BY definition marketing to the other. As such tourism officials have had to become experts in multicultural marketing, in dealing with the other, and in understanding that each ethnic group and nation has its own idiosyncrasies. The tourism industry then can be a model for other industries that wish to enter into the international market and can teach others how to obtain brilliant results.

As the world’s largest industry, tourism exists on all seven continents, and comes in a variety of transportation modes, price ranges and lengths of stay. Tourism has a great deal to teach other industries about international marketing and what one needs to do in order to succeed. Here are just a few of the principles that almost anyone can learn from the world’s largest industry when it comes to international marketing. Here are some of the universal lessons that tourism can teach to other industries in order to obtain brilliant results.

kNow wHEN To UsE AND To igNoRE THE woRLD oF HigH TECH.

Tourism officials understand that they need to match their marketing efforts to local customs and habits. For example, in some countries, high tech can be a negative marketing tool. While technology is important, tourism marketers understand that it is often personal relationships, especially in international marketing that make the sale. For example, if you have a dedicated telephone line set up to handle customer problems, do not have that line force the consumer to pass through numerous telephone menus until he/she reaches a human being, and make sure that your marketers know the local language and its slang expressions.

Tourism marketers know the importance of taking the time to study not only current trends, but also local, national, and international economic, social, ethical, and political trends.

International tourism marketers know that what may have been true for last year may be incorrect for next year. International tourism marketers are well aware that many industrialized nations are experiencing a “graying” influence. Begin to consider how your marketing will impact people who in a few years will be in their retirement years.

iNTERNATioNAL ToURism mARkETiNg TEACHEs Us To BE FLExiBLE.

Flexibility means adapting to the other’s culture rather than making the other culture adapt to ours. Simple things such as body language, intonation and food choices can make or break a sale. Tourism officials have learned that what may work in one locale may be a total failure in another locale.


Good tourism marketing teaches us that before trying to convince someone to purchase a product, take the time to question what makes your product unique and why anyone might want to go to the trouble of importing it.

Before you go on the international stage make sure that you review your product’s strong points and weaknesses. Internal improvements and product development are often the best marketing that you can do. For example, in the world of tourism, all too often tourism professionals try to make their place into a destination rather than a center for a tourism activity. Tourism officials have learned that customers go to a place because they can do something there that they desire to do. In most cases, it is the activity that is the attraction rather than the mere location.

UsE BoTH soCiogRApHiC AND psYCHogRApHiC moDELs iN YoUR iNTERNATioNAL mARkETiNg.

A sociographic or psychographic model tells us a great deal about customers from other parts of the world. Are our clients people who seek thrills or do they want a less risky environment? Are they the type of people who want to spend a great deal of money on a few purchases or do they prefer to buy souvenirs for all of their friends? How we determine these models helps each component of an industry to become a total package that meets the needs of its customers.

Follow the lead of international tourism marketers and you are sure to obtain, brilliant results!

FIGMENT/SNAPAPP CASE STUDY:

Figment is an online community for teens and young adults where members can share their writing, connect with other readers and writers, and discover new stories and authors.

“We had been searching for a platform that we could use to supplement and complement our content and SnapApp has the functionality we were looking for… SnapApp helped us boost our Facebook Like number – a metric we were interested in improving.” – Emily Steele, Editorial, Figment.com

OBJECTIVE: Figment wanted to engage their very active community in

a unique and entertaining way. In particular, they wanted to:Increase the number of their Facebook fans. •Easily create original content that would appeal to their •target audience.Engage their audience and spark conversation on the •Figment blog. Reach a broad audience on social media sites and drive •them to their main site.

SOLUTION: SnapApp Quizzes & SweepstakesFigment embedded quizzes on their blog and Facebook

page. The quizzes on Facebook were like-gated, which required visitors to “like” the Figment Facebook page before they could access the quiz.

Quizzes were primarily personality tests that resonated with Figment’s youthful audience. Sweepstakes included a chance to win a Kindle.

KEY FEATURES:Like-Gating •News Feed Question Answering •Multiple Quizzes on Facebook Tabs •Facebook and Twitter Share •

RESULTS: Figment ran a variety of quizzes during their first four

months with SnapApp. Highlights include:Approximately 37,000 additional likes on the Figment •Facebook page60,718 impressions •111% share referral rate (For every quiz or sweepstakes •“share” 1.1 new visitors came to the Figment Facebook page)Top performing quizzes had a greater than 85% quiz start •to quiz completion rateFigment’s Fan Page had 9,700 Likes before they started •using SnapApp. Less than 1 year later, they have 119K


By: BaRRy SiSKinD

exhibit

TRAVEL, WHICH IS usually an essential part of attending an exhibition, can add an element of danger for the unprepared.

Every day you read stories of trips interrupted by disease, terror, acts of nature and crime against unsuspecting travelers.

Here are a few suggestions to make your next business trip safer.

sEpARATE YoUR soURCEs oF moNEY

If you lose a major credit card you can usually have it replaced relatively simply but if you lose cash you’re out of luck. Separate your cash leaving some in the hotel safe and some in different pockets of your clothes. If you are travelling with a companion spread your cash around so each of you carries a small amount.

wATCH YoUR wALLET

Don’t keep your wallet in your back pocket and don’t sling a purse over your shoulder and let it dangle. Both practices are an invitation to a would-be thief.

CopY mAjoR DoCUmENTs

Before your leave, copy your passport, birth certificate, visa or health cards leaving one copy at your office or home. It’s also helpful to have a second copy that you can leave in the hotel safe.

BEwARE oF sTRANgERs

If you want to tour the city, let your hotel or travel agent arrange your local tour guides.

BUY THE NECEssARY iNsURANCE

Talk to your insurance agent to make sure that you have the proper health and travel insurance in place. For health insurance get the names and contact information of the insurance company’s local representatives so in case you need help you can access it quickly.

gET VACCiNATED

Disease is not a problem in most major urban centers but you can never be sure. Take the proper precautions by

checking with your health practitioner or access information on-line as to what diseases are prevalent in the countries you are visiting. Plan ahead of time, as some inoculations require one or more doses.

LimiT THE NUmBERs oF VALUABLEs

Leave expensive jewellery and personal items at home. If your schedule demands lots of travel during your business year, an inexpensive watch is a good investment.

iF CoNFRoNTED DoN’T FigHT

If you are mugged give up and don’t fight. Hand over your watch, wallet, jewelry and anything else the mugger demands. Jewelry can be replaced – you can’t.

REgisTER wiTH YoUR EmBAssY

Check with the country embassy or consulate and register the date and length of your stay ahead of time

kNow THE LoCAL LAws AND CUsToms

Your embassy can be very helpful but they are generally reluctant to intercede when you have broken a local law.

NoTiFY YoUR CREDiT CARD CompANY

It’s a good practice to let your credit card company know when you’re travelling. This way they can expect charges from these countries and flag unusual charges that come from countries you are not visiting.

TAkE AUTHoRizED VEHiCLEs

Be careful of unmarked taxis and buses. If in doubt let your hotel or local travel agent arrange ground transportation for you.

BE sTREET smART

Don’t get too complacent because danger can lurk everywhere. Always be on guard.

Business travel can be fun, exciting and filled with wonderful adventure. A bit of caution will go a long way to make sure you can focus on the real reason that brought you to this destination.

Tips to ensure a safe business trip


idealsBy: John tSChohL

“A BUsiNEss THAT FAiLs To sATisFY iTs CUsTomERs is woRTH NoTHiNg.”

I made that statement in “e-Service,” a book I wrote in 2001 about how to build a successful e-commerce business, and it’s as true today as it was then. If you don’t give your customers what they want, when they want it, and how they want it, you won’t be in business long.

If you want to survive—and thrive—especially during these tough economic times, it’s critical that you focus on customer service. If you don’t believe that, look at Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of amazon.com, which had sales in 2011 of $48 billion, a 41 percent increase over the previous year.

Amazon has 164 million customers, more than 20 million products--and a reputation of providing unprecedented customer service. There is no denying that Bezos is an e-commerce leader, and you would be wise to emulate his ideas and his drive. He has proven that blending customer service with technology can result in huge rewards.

You, too, can be an e-commerce leader. Start by taking these steps:

Understand your business. No matter what products or services you are selling, your core business is customer service. Everything you do must be built around providing customers with the best experience possible. Not only does that keep customers coming back to you, it results in priceless word-of-mouth advertising.

Be available. You must be available to your customers 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If you have an IVR, throw it away or, better yet, give it to one of your competitors. Hire people to answer your phones. Nothing says service like the

ability to talk to a real person. And don’t—I repeat, don’t—outsource your call centers to someplace like the Philippines. If you do, you’re placing yourself on a suicide watch.

Make it easy for customers to do business with you. Realize that there are many doors customers can come through, and make sure those doors are open wide. Some customers prefer to do everything on the Internet; they don’t care to engage in conversation with another person. Others, like me, prefer to talk to someone. And, still others like a combination of technology and personal contact, often doing research about a product or service online and then wanting to talk to someone who can answer their questions before they make a purchasing decision.

Be competitive in your pricing. Good prices and great service—what more could a customer want? Service leaders are very aggressive at reducing costs and passing the savings on to their customers.

Forbes magazine, in an April 23, 2012 article on Bezos, quoted him as saying, “There are two kinds of companies: those that try to charge more and those that work to charge less. We will be the second.” He goes on to say that frugality is one of eight official company values at Amazon. It should be one of yours, too.

Look for ways to reduce costs. That includes eliminating policies and procedures that get in the way of serving the customer. Those policies and procedures cost a lot, including the salaries of the people you hire to develop and enforce them. Train and empower your people to serve your customers; don’t hinder them with needless rules.

Hire smart. Look for people who like people; you can train them to be knowledgeable about your products and services, but you can’t train them to genuinely enjoy working with—and for—your customers. Hire people who are smart and personable, and you’ll have a winning combination.

E-COMMERCE LEADERS Everything You Do

Should Focus on the Customer


adviceBy: DR. BaRton goLDSmith

I HAVE ALWAYS been ambitious. It wasn’t a learned thing. I was just born that way. For whatever reason—I used to think it was happiness—I strive to be and do my best at about anything I attempt, as long as I don’t need to use power tools or develop a turnaround jump shot.

This is why I got a little nervous when I read about some recent research on how ambition affects people’s lives. The study by Notre Dame University Management Professor Tim Judge, and published in the Journal of Applied Psychology, found that while ambitious people may go to the best colleges and have success in their careers, they fall short in happiness and even health, and actually tend to live shorter lives.

My first thought was “Now you tell me!” But I truly do not want the ambitious part of myself to go away. It keeps me moving forward, and that forward motion is, for most people, where happiness comes from. Unfortunately, according to the study, people like me may not live as long as our less ambitious counterparts, or even enjoy ourselves as much along the way—especially if our ambition is unfulfilled.

Judge states that “Most parents want their kids to be ambitious, attend the best schools, and achieve professional success, and while it certainly isn’t wrong to have those parental hopes and dreams, we shouldn’t delude ourselves into thinking they will make our kids happier.”

Surely it’s important to take into account all the different parts of a person, whether young or not, before we decide if attending a prestigious school or getting a high-end (high pressure) job is really worth it. But I think you can attain your ambition without either a prestigious education or working for somebody else.

Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg are three examples of very ambitious people who dropped out of Ivy League schools to build some of the largest companies of our generation. I don’t know about their personal happiness levels, and Mr. Jobs did die fairly young, but these gentlemen’s achievements continue to add to the fabric of our lives. Indeed, Mr. and Mrs. Gates have donated much of their fortune to try to make the world a better place.

The study states that ambition and happiness don’t necessarily go together, but if becoming successful is in your blood, I can’t see a healthy reason to try and reduce it. The frustration level would be extremely high. Artists have to create—it is an in-born need—and ambitious people need to make it in whatever area they are focused on. I do

think it’s important to have a target. If you just want success for it’s own sake, or if money is your only goal, I’m afraid Professor Judge will be correct in his findings and you won’t achieve happiness.

So despite the research findings, I’m not going to pull back on my goals or my work. I know I get more out of reaching for the stars rather than just gazing at them in wonder.

Ambition May Not Be So Good For You


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