Monday, December 24, 2012

Elizabeth Gilbert: Your elusive creative genius

Inspiring.



Some noteworthy quotes: 

  •  “‘Ole!’ to you, just for having the sheer human love and stubbornness to keep showing up.” — Elizabeth Gilbert 
  • “I have had work or ideas come through me from a source that I honestly cannot identify. What is that thing? And how are we to relate to it in a way that will not make us lose our minds, but, in fact, might actually keep us sane?” — Elizabeth Gilbert 
  • “Maybe [artistry] doesn’t have to be quite so full of anguish if you never happened to believe, in the first place, that the most extraordinary aspects of your being came from you. But maybe if you just believed that they were on loan to you from some unimaginable source for some exquisite portion of your life to be passed along when you’re finished … it starts to change everything.” — Elizabeth Gilbert

Thursday, December 20, 2012

Never Give Up on Your Principles for Short Term Results

These days have been very challenging. A dear friend of mine was at the hospital in tough conditions and, by sitting next to him, I've learned a lesson that I'll bring with me for all my life.

Never give up on your principles for short term advantages
Don't worry, I won't start a philosophical discussion, but rather keep it very practical.We live in a world that's narrowly focused on immediate results and the principles we choose in our life are sometimes difficult to live by.
21-06-10 Cause I'd Rather Pretend I'll Still Be There At The End ~ Explored #1
We may be tempted to cosmetize facts to please our boss. We clearly see the short term benefits, but what's the end result? Lost trust can't be considered good, even if accompanied by a bit more money in our pocket. We may use edulcorated words to discuss a recent event and again, an immediate advantages are waiting at the door. However, what happens when the truth is presented by others? The recipients may be confused and draw their conclusions about us.

What do you prefer from others? What do you expect from your best friend? What would you expect from your favorite brand?

Monday, November 19, 2012

Applying Clarke's Law to the Present Age (a Quick Tip to Foster Innovation)

Arthur C. Clarke
Cover of Arthur C. Clarke
The British writer Arthur C. Clarke formulated three laws of prediction and, undoubtedly, these can be easily transformed to tips and tricks to foster innovation, but let's start with the rules:

  1. When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong. 
  2. The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible. 
  3. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

I pretty much like all the laws, but I'm amazed by the 1st of them. Funny at first sight, if you scratch the surface there's something enlightening. I won't argue that youngsters are smarter than adults, that's not always the case and it would be an over-generalization.  The problem is that, once your mind gets used to see things in a certain way, changing that habit becomes difficult. In other words, if you think as you've always done, you can interpret the old days and read your present with confidence, but see the future as a reflection of past times.

I'm not sure if I can change how neurotransmission works in my brain, but I'll not raise a red flag every time my experience tells me that something is impossible. I'll also try to change the lens I see the world trough and consider thoroughly all the options before making any conclusion. Time travel anyone? ;)

Disclaimer: I've drawn the inspiration to write this post from Daniel Gilbert's "Stumbling on Happiness". If you want to read an well-written book on how the human mind works and how we tend to predict and like our future, that's a great starting point.
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Monday, October 8, 2012

Ogilvy's take on the Social Enterprise

I just stumbled into the Social Media Week 2012 opening keynote from Global Managing Director of Social@Ogilvy. I fully endorse the idea that there's an inevitable shift in the enterprise and companies should leverage that to improve customer relationship, communication and even employee retention. Presentation is embedded below, for all those interested.

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Groupon, how to keep a loyal customer (UPDATED)

Dear Groupon,

I've always been a supporter of your site and when I've heard someone complaining about the quality of your services I was with you, on your side. The reason is that I really loved the concept behind Groupon: give power to people trough collective actions.
This simple idea appealed a lot to me and whenever an issue arose, I always gave you the benefit of doubt and said that it wasn't your fault.

Logo of Groupon
Logo of Groupon (Wikipedia)
Then something changed... and a few months ago I bought a set of knives hoping to receive them in less than 20 days as advertised. It was back in January and, as of today, I've never got anything at my place. That could happen, could be merchant's fault.
I started to open an endless chain of tickets to your customer care department and I've usually got two answers: "we're checking with the seller" or "we're working on your refund request" and nobody ever came back to me (ticket numbers #714518, #688063, #687435, #655754, #623462, #596450, etc..). Five months passed.

This lack of meaningful communication and all the time I've spent trying to fix this trivial thing made me really, really, really unhappy. I trusted the Group Promise, what should I do now?

Regards,
Luca


UPDATE (21/05/2012):
The Groupon Team was very responsive to my tweets and provided a refund. I've changed the blog title to "How to keep a loyal customer" as it's how you deal with problems that really makes a difference.
Thanks @groupon @groupon_italia.



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Monday, May 14, 2012

Italy could be a great place for start-ups

Italy is famous for its food and fashion, for sport cars and lovely places to visit, for the warm character of Italians and for fine works of art, but could Italy be the perfect place for start-ups? I think so and let me explain why.

Why should I start my company here?
Birth of Venus, Botticelli
What do you need to craft the perfect recipe? And to build the world's most desired cars? What do you need to create a fine piece of art? Creativity and passion.
What do you need to build the next big thing? Creativity and passion.
Creativity, as your idea should be disrupting and challenge the status quo. Passion as you need execution to transform an idea in a business, despite the crisis and the headwinds.

Working surrounded by wonderful sights, in the relaxing and warm atmosphere that only Italy can give, startuppers can focus on their ideas and live a meaningful live. Another important factor is the moderate cost of living, which is relatively low compared to other major European countries.

Let's change what doesn't work
There are some issues that stop entrepreneurs from moving to Italy, like the bureaucracy or the limited amount of VC funding, but that'll change quickly. Government is focusing on a digital agenda, on simplification and growth. To stimulate young talents we should organize events and conferences. We should build state-funded incubators to ensure proper support and money to early stage startups. We already have some great VCs, but many more will come when they smell the renewed energy of Italy's startup scene.

We innovated many times throughout our history and a crisis is the perfect excuse to change our skin again and adapt to the new conditions. Let's make this Country the dream of every young entrepreneur!

Saturday, February 4, 2012

How to Build an International Brand

The Coca-Cola logo is an example of a widely-r...
Lately I've been reading articles on how to build international brands. While it's not that easy to transform a syrup into a global brand, there are some steps that should be taken. Smaller firms can benefit from them too.

Begin at the Beginning
First things first, everyone should get it right from the beginning. Global-always-on companies are now the standard and even local brands, sooner or later, should jump into the unknown and embrace the world as a market. If the branding strategy is heading into the right direction since its infancy, time won't be lost afterward trying to re-position the image. Brand is an intangible asset that allows you to ask for a premium on your products and at the end you'll have a good return on your investment.

What Should you do Then?
There are a lot of excellent tips in Inc's article, however I dare to summarize all of them in two words: respect and knowledge. Respect local habits, styles and preferences. You won't be successful in front of a diverse audience if you consider them similar to you. Cultural sensitivity is at the heart of your branding campaign. Know the foreign market, embrace their universe and understand what makes people proud to be citizens of that country. Rely on someone who as a direct knowledge of that market. It could be a local company or a global partner with local specialization.


Success is Never Granted
It's not a given that you'll be successful in front of a foreign audience and there's no recipe that guarantees that. Your brand is a hope. You're making a promise that people are buying into and you need to deliver whatever that product or service is.You need to ensure that your customers' experiences with your product, your business, and your staff are positive and your brand will be enriched. Delude your customers and your promise will vanish.

Will you be successful? Time will tell.
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Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Computers, Humans and Intentions of Speech

I was chatting with a colleague who's culturally aware and he talks to me in Italian whenever he can. We've been discussing how life is always full of surprises and he used an automatic translation tool to say something very deep and profound in my own language. I appreciated the tentative and the end result wasn't too bad from a language perspective. The issue was with the meaning itself.

The lesson for me? Tools can translate words well, but not intentions of speech.

Humans are sometimes affected by the same disease. We get the words. We hear them. However we miss the real sense. The next time I speak/listen to someone who has a different background and culture I'll make sure to dig a bit more into his intentions and reasons.

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Ted's short talks (aka Ted in 3 Minutes)

Everyone knows TED and I wont spend so much time to introduce it. I've just stumbled in a section of the website that I always ignored: Ted in 3 Minutes. It TED's equivalent of an elevator pitch and if you're running out of ideas or inspiration, this section is what you should look at.

What can be accomplished in around 3 minutes? You can say something simple in an interesting way and make someone laugh as you can see in the video below.

 

Or tell a life story that's both inspiring, sad and full of hope.

 

These two videos remind me that we don't need to spend too much time in communication. Important, remarkable or even simple things can be presented in less than three minutes.

What are we talking about? What's publicime?

It's the beginning of a new year and along with wishes and dreams, I'd like to start with concrete actions. I've always had two passions: technology and advertising. I devote most of my life to the first one as it helps to pay the bills and care for my family, but I realize that the latter gives me equal joy and kindles my dreams. The first is logical, the second is foolish. The first is real, the second is imaginary. One touches minds, the other moves hearts. Together, they're the essence of me.

This blog is meant to complement the logical side of me and I plan to discuss things like marketing, advertising, public relations and communication. I'm sometimes enchanted by advertisements and I believe I can reach a difficult goal: Making readers love communication and advertising! That's why I've started this blog.

I'm going to move all the non-technical content from my other blog to begin with. They'll be published with the original dates. Feel free to reach out to me, even just to say hello!
Luca