Comments on: Delight = Brand + Experience

By: Jim Kukral

Jim Kukral — Thu, 04 May 2006 17:58:49 +0000

Yeah, it helps when you can do all of those things yourself. There aren’t many of us yet, but we’re out there.

By: Sridhar Ramanathan

Sridhar Ramanathan — Wed, 03 May 2006 18:19:48 +0000

David,
Nice article. Steve Jobs comes to mind as he forces ruthless focus on delightful consumer experiences. And he drives all functional organizations to deliver on the promise that the cool ad compaigns like the iPod billboards communicate.
Wish more B2B high tech companies had that kind of focus. Thank you for the needed reminder and call to action.
Sridhar

By: David Armano

David Armano — Wed, 03 May 2006 17:38:54 +0000

Leigh,
Please send some of that Calgon my way when you’re done with it.
Good points about this being relevant to company size. I would also add company culture. Some big companies have this stuff ingrained. We all know who the examples are–they make things like iPods and fashion forward athletic apparel etc.
To Sandra’s point–I love the term contrarian collaboration. It’s about getting real. Getting real means getting your hands dirty–all in the name of producing a great experience.

By: Leigh Duncan

Leigh Duncan — Wed, 03 May 2006 16:42:14 +0000

Great stuff. We’re all feeling this. If you can package a magic formula that will help companies genuinely reinvent companies so that they can behave in a truly customer-centric manner, you’ll be able to mint money.
This isn’t so hard for smaller companies… but horrendous for larger ones. The real problem is that most businesses go through evolution, not revolution.
Until executive leadership truly appreciate the urgency and importance of synchronizing the organization AROUND the delivery of consistently great customer experience (instead of being operational or task-focused silo organizations), we will continue to sit in endless “collaborative” meetings. Calgon! Take me away!!!

By: Ann Handley

Ann Handley — Wed, 03 May 2006 15:58:54 +0000

LOVE that phrase — “contrarian collaboration.” It really paints a picture.

By: Sandra Eggers

Sandra Eggers — Wed, 03 May 2006 15:27:30 +0000

Excellent point, David. What you propose is more than “breaking down the walls.” It is, what I call “collaboration with contrarians”–contrarians in world view, in training, in abilities, etc.
This is exactly the new level of collaboration proposed by Tom Peters in his book, “Re-imagine,” where he challenges business to do more than re-invent itself; it must re-imagine itself.
Personally I believe for business to succeed in this new rough-and-tumble, mix-it-up transition from an industrial-based economy to a knowledge-based economy, now naked to global forces, we need the innovation that can result when true contrarian collaboration occurs.