COMMON GOOD

Alex Bogusky, former leader of Crispin and Porter, says "collaboration is the new competition." To drive his point home, he created a new social company called "Common" based on a crowd sourced collaboration philosophy.

Corporations are learning that not only does incorporating autonomy, mastery, purpose, and connection into the employee culture make for more dedicated, motivated, and productive employees, it will drive bottom line. Alex's presentation hits on pro-social motivation by connecting the common community to solve issues and drive new capitalism. I believe these same philosophies will carry over into corporations in order to filter employee engagement, knowing their company is providing the platform and effot to be a part of the solution for a greater good.

Introducing COMMON

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Chasing the Mosquito

A few years ago, I set my alarm to make it to the 7 am Minneapolis Farmer's Market on a Saturday morning. When 7 am generally meant awakening from a coma. There were a few highlights on this brisk morning - the fish tacos, and an art stand that called itself, Dream Chimes. I was fresh out of grad school, young and naive, and confident that I could help take any business to the next level that needed branding help.



I was attracted to the artistic theme and consistent look Dream Chimes used by minipulating, molding, and rearranging serving ware to make a larger functional and aesthetically pleasing product. However, I quickly learned Dream Chimes not only had no place to shop or order products online, they had no website or online presence. No book. No mission. And a business card that was printed at home. On a ink jet that you probably had to manually push the paper through.

I saw opportunity... a wedding decor section, incorporate your personal piece, share-with-friends online tool, partnership with Anthropology (ok... I was getting ahead of myself), a brand to identify with. I got the stand owners information and went home to get to work.

To jump ahead, no, nothing came of it. I developed company names, mood boards (which the wise Cabell Harris would say you should start with), and began writing the brand story. The owner was confused that I was eager to help without sneaking him a pen and SOW with X ________ at the bottom. None the less, I learned I could exercise what I was taught and that I had a passion. If you ever want to be your own boss one day, it will all fall back to leaning on that passion. Today Mosquito reminded me of this story when their passion for retail packaging was illustrated in their voice and on screen.

Health Literacy

Health care is complex and confusing and if you were to synchronize or standardize a process within the industry, you could be safe to call it a big idea. 

As health care will begin becoming commercialized and placing more focus on the consumer, the more important it is to speak their language - done through words and design. Wired Magazine shows a true example when redesigning Patient Lab Results Forms.

However, many people learn visually through experience. Awareness is not enough, people must engage to sustain learning. “Tryvertising” is a new marketing trend that focuses on engagement. As opposed to historical marketing campaigns that begin by educating consumers on a new product or service through messaging, Tryvertising takes a fresh approach to education and awareness that actually starts with consumers evaluating the usefulness of a product with trial, and then making a final decision on continued usage.

In the near future I believe you will see many more trial opportunities as a consumer in relation to billing, patient visits, scheduling, testing, and more.

Trending the Future

Space 150 put together a nice presentation that talks about why we should be cautious of QR codes and welcome NFC (Near Field Communication) technology.

Mobile Trends - June 2011 - Trending The Future

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It seems on track with a recent presentation I heard from iLoop's VP of Retail and Mobile Officer, Michael Bragg. He mentioned with 235 million people in the U.S. having a phone, in combination with mobile internet usage overtaking the desktop in the next five years, you have a large captive audience. However, when you are quick to develop an ecosystem for a desired outcome with a mobile marketing strategy, you must not forget that an app (in this case a QR code) plays a role but is not a strategy or solution.

'Just Click It'

This ad is an example of why I fell in love with advertising - It tells a story using one word. The maze that reads 'Just Do It,' made me think 'Just Click It,' in that this ad is positioned to turn the maze into a QR Code that can drive consumers to more information or entertainment (maybe a full-sized maze that Nike is putting on).

Working in the healthcare space everyday, it also reminded me of the idea that QR codes could put a stop to the stuggle of understanding medical bills. Where am I at with my deductable? What did my insurance cover? Is this the same bill from the provider and hospital?

As a consumer, I would love to seperate my healthcare expenses from other expenses. I assume others would too, as 62% of bankruptcies are from healthcare debt. BlueCross BlueShield started incorporating QR codes on paper bills to cut down the amount of information that was sent with the bill. Not a bad idea for patients to opt-in for further information, given that the current paper billing system averages $8 per transaction. Did I forget to mention...

- Approximately 15 - 20% of the cost of health care goes towards billing and collections (typical hospital margins are 4%).
- The U.S. healthcare system is a major driver of the overall economy with $1.9 trillion payments processed a year.
- Bad debt from self-pay patients is now close to 40% of total billing.
- In 2005 consumers spent $250 billion on healthcare, a figure that is expected to grow to $420 billion by 2015.

As much as hospitals want to improve patient satisfaction, control costs, and increase collections, patients want a place that will host all there healthcare bills.

I propose a platform is built by a large healthcare corporation that will fulfill this need. QR codes, along with apps, are not a solution, rather a part of the strategy to communicate a larger idea.

The larger idea:
- All healthcare bills are mandated with a QR Code for the consumer to opt-in with their smartphone to set up an account online(+app) where the bill will then be uploaded to the site.
- The site will consolidate all bills, have informational videos explaning each bill, as well as recommended next steps. It will show where the consumer stands against their deductable and will allow hospitals to nuture customer relationships and satisfaction by setting up appointments and follow ups if the consumer chooses to opt-in.
- The corporate sponsor of this site potentially have an opportunity to target consumers with their programs and services that would suit their needs with advertising on the site.
- Consumers would be able to pay with the click of their phone.

My phone is decorated with colorful financial apps including: Currency, ING Direct, Well Fargo and Mint.com. Between financial and healthcare apps such as WebMD and DocGPS, I would love to add this billing facilitation app to the mix as I believe it could transform healthcare.

Peanut Butter Jar Redesign

1 Peanut Butter Jar = 20 sticky knives in the dishwasher.
Plastic knife attached to the top also makes it easier for on the go.

You Fully Charge Your Phone, Why Not The Person Operating It?

Hyper-Personalization

This morning I was fortunate to attend AdFed's event which featured Ann Mack, Trendspotter at JWT, speaking on '10 Trends That Will Shape the World in 2011 and Beyond.' There I ran into fellow VCU Brandcenter alum and strategist, Ed Reilly.

Matt: Ed, what's up with the new age camera?

Ed: It's my business card.
Matt: Huh?
Ed: It's my business card. [Turns to the person sitting next to us] Would you mind taking a picture of us?

[Camera prints photo and I'm handed his business card, which has a front and back]

When getting back to my desk I type in the URL from the business card and receive this personalized message:

" Hi Matt - Thanks for your willingness to test my new business card format. I think it's a bit inconvenient though having to ask someone else to take the photo. We'll see if I continue.

My original thought was in this new world of "hyper-personalization," why should business cards be left behind? It's all about customized personal connections.

Thanks again for the referral to the position at Carrot.

Let's keep in touch,

Ed Reilly "

Ann Mack's trend #9 was 'hyper-personalization.' Ann's presentation was consumer focused as Ed has brought 'hyper-personalization' to networking. This interaction was memorable, engaging, and continued after shaking hands when the event was over.

Ed reconfirmed why I happily referred him.

Lab Rats - The Packaged Deal

Consumers not only need simplicity, clarity, personal relevance, and emotional appeal, so do group/community members. If is often a task to generate creative ways to make someone feel a part of something larger than themselves and to feel 'invited.' I felt honored when receiving my package in the mail after accepting the invitation. Cabell Harris, founder of Work Labs, has unique gene in his DNA to develop the complete package.


Lab Rats is just one example of a unique way to package a program from top to bottom.

Lab Rats started recruiting “Alpha Rats,” in 2010, a group of well-known brand marketers and creative thinkers who are experienced in all facets of brand management and brand development, from account planning to brand strategy and from ad writing and art direction to the digital space. Beyond that group will be a much larger group of several hundred “Lab Rats,” the majority being graduates of the prestigious VCU Brandcenter, the number one advanced degree advertising program in the world. The core of the project will be made up of an army of disruptive thinkers contributing their thoughts and ideas to solve problems.

The innovative initiative is designed to reengineer the
concept of crowdsourcing to make it a pragmatic tool for focusing the
thinking of experts from many different disciplines on specific brand
problems. “The trouble with crowdsourcing, in a general sense, is the
quality of the crowds,” said Harris.
"This new effort, which I call ‘brandsourcing,' solves that problem by assembling a crowd of pedigreed ‘Lab Rats’ that can take on a client challenge, provide feedback and generate ideas that are on strategy and focused on tangible, bottom-line business results.”

In addition to addressing the crowd quality issues, Lab Rats has also
designed a unique compensation model. According to Harris, “Lab Rats
need ‘cheese’ to keep them fueled up and engaged, and we’ve designed a
compensation system that departs from the traditional model of paying
crowd participants. Briefly, the system serves up four basic types of
cheese. First, we are investing significant dollars in the Lab Rats
community website to give Lab Rats a place to meet their interests and
needs and to interact with other Rats. Second, they will get cheese
points whenever they give feedback on WORK Labs’ own work, points that
are ultimately redeemable for cash or merchandise. Third, when they
participate in a project, they are compensated for the ideas clients
accept and again if they agree to continue their participation in the
ongoing scope of work. And, finally, they will receive a 10% finder’s
fee if they are successful in finding a home for one of WORK Labs’
intellectual properties. So, active Lab Rats can get fat eating a lot
of cheese!”

One product that needs a home:

This Is Not a Tweet

Being able to distribute ideas and information where people, and more of them, are more likely to receive it and converse with others on the likes of Facebook and Twitter has funneled me away from the Blogosphere. Undoubtedly, blogs produce much more personal insight on a topic than a Facebook status or 'tweet.' But the simplicity of a two-click post on a phone generally wins every time over sitting down and typing a thoughtful post. I'm guilty of it myself.

A blog provides a platform that allows others to see what's inside your head. To understand why you found something interesting or why an idea you have is worth sharing. I'm naive enough to think someone stopped here to see what I'm currently thinking rather than posting thoughts of their own.

So what am I thinking... Much like how a blog provides a platform to share creative ideas, many corporations need a platform that provides a place for employees to share their creative ideas. To share ideas in-depth, without a character number restriction. I'm an advocate that creativity can be learned and can come from anywhere. Yes, an accountant can be creative. Have you tried telling a story using only numbers? I've seen it done.

Under Work, you can find a Keynote titled 'The Roundtable.' This idea was designed with a specific company in mind in order to accelerate engagement among future leaders that are hungry to do more. There are two components: (1) Educating - Building a knowledge base to be a more efficient employee will aid in frameworking ideas. (2) Innovation - Providing an experience to collaborate on ideas that employees have a vested interest in.

Two videos I grabbed clips from that are inspirational in making my case for 'The Roundtable':
David Logan - Tribal Leadership
Daniel Pink - Motivation