Category Archives: Case Study

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How Silver Oak Cellars Emotionally Connects Special Moments with Visual Stories

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Silver Oaks Cellar Purple GrapesAfter reading David Meerman Scott's blog post on Silver Oaks Cellars (it's also published here on LinkedIn), I checked out their website to learn which social media channels anchor their digital marketing strategy. I discovered a remarkable, content marketing strategy sharing three (3) types of visual stories emotionally connecting:

1. Special moments with amazing products (as described in David's post). 

2. Remarkable people who craft amazing products.  

3. Beautiful locations and special moments with amazing products and remarkable people.

Silver Oak Cellars unifies and tells these visual stories through multiple social channels: 

Here's a look at how Silver Oak Cellars uses their visual, multi-channel social media strategy to emotionally connect special moments with their audience.

1. Sharing Special Moments with Amazing Products

 

 

2. Describing Remarkable People Who Craft Amazing Products

 

 

 

  

 

 

3. Experiencing Special Moments in Beautiful Places with Amazing Products and Remarkable People

 

 

 

 

What Are The Stories You Want to Tell? How Do You Emotionally Connect Your Brand, Your Company, and Your Employees to Your Audience?

When I combed through Silver Oaks Cellars multiple social channels, these visual stories emotionally connected with me. That emotional connection differentiates a brand, a service, a product, or a company from its competition.

And, that emotional connection is unique for each of us. That unique, individual meaning defines special moments.

How do you emotionally connect with your audience? What works for you? Is it images, video, words, voice, or something else?

Please let me know in the comments. I want to connect too.

 

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Tony Faustino is a marketing and corporate strategist.  He thinks and writes about how The Internet reinvents marketing strategy in his personal blog, Social Media ReInvention. Follow his tweets @tonyfaustino or circle him on Google+. 

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3 Tips on Writing and Storytelling from Twitter’s Investor Relations Team

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Twitter Investor Relations Logo (TWTR)

Twitter Investor Relations Logo (TWTR)

Earlier this week, Twitter released its 2014 Q2 Earnings Report. Here are highlights as reported by The Wall Street Journal’s Yoree Koh:

  • A second straight quarter of increased user growth: 16 million new users
  • Revenue doubled to $312 million (driven by mobile use and mobile ad consumption)
  • Mobile advertising accounts for 81% of total ad revenues
  • The stock price spiked 29% in after hours trading
  • 271 million monthly active users

How Twitter’s Investor Relations Team (@TwitterIR) framed these positive results is worth studying. Their critical and judgmental audience includes (but is not limited to):

  • Wall Street Analysts
  • Technology Journalists / Bloggers
  • Mutual Funds Managers
  • Silicon Valley Competitors
  • Individual Investors

Writing and storytelling skills are important in the financial and investment community. Investor Relations Teams are tasked with building credibility, trust, and transparency. The ability to convey confidence with a compelling and memorable story (particularly when financial performance suffers) makes or breaks organizations.

Real-time, Internet speed and scope, play a crucial role in addressing public scrutiny. Here are three (3) writing and storytelling tips I learned from the Twitter Investor Relations Team.

Tip 1. Play to Your Strengths

Twitter recognized before any social media network the competitive advantages and implications of real-time communications. It knew consumers were moving towards a mobile, one-screen world.

And, it maximized this competitive advantage during the July 29th earnings call. Topsy analysis shows @TwitterIR‘s (Twitter’s Investor Relations Team) published 23 real-time tweets supporting the earnings presentation.

 

Topsy Query for @TwitterIR for July 29 Tweets

Topsy Query for @TwitterIR July 29 Tweets

Tip 2. Be Simple and Concise

Communicating financial analyses (or other complex information) into simple, bite-size messages isn’t easy. Twitter’s Investor Relations Team addresses this challenge head-on knowing they have to frame a memorable, compelling story in “pulses” of 140 characters or less. I’m sure their rehearsals resulted in multiple iterations of tweets to constantly refine and simplify the gameday message.

According to Topsy, here’s the top tweet during the July 29th call …

Topsy Twitter IR Screen Shot - Top Tweet

Topsy Twitter IR Top Tweet

 

Topsy Top Twitter IR Tweet

Topsy Top Twitter IR Tweet

 

… and it clocks in at 136 characters (with spaces).

 

Tip 3. Draw Pictures for Key Messages

 

Twitter Quarterly Revenue Chart

Twitter’s Steady, Consistent Positive Revenue Growth. Note: I drew the red arrow.

As an individual Twitter investor, I appreciate and respect the Investor Relations Team sharing key metrics like quarterly revenue, EBITDA, and net income. But, the tweet has too much math for my simple brain.

The hyperlink and chart are vital. They impart two (2) positive impressions:

  1. “We know you want more details. Here’s where you can find/analyze the details.”
  2. “Remember This: Twitter’s quarterly revenue growth remains positive.”

The high “retweets” and “favorites” by the conference call attendees indicates this important information was share-worthy and memorable:

 

62 Retweets and 47 Favorites Shows the Audience Likes This

62 Retweets and 47 Favorites Shows the Audience Likes This

Closing Thoughts

Leverage your strengths. Be brief. Draw pictures. Define your story’s outcome from the beginning. Structure the argument.

That’s hard. But, your audience will love you for it.

 

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Tony Faustino is a marketing and corporate strategist.  He thinks and writes about how The Internet reinvents marketing strategy in his personal blog, Social Media ReInvention. Follow his tweets @tonyfaustino or circle him on Google+.

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Mark Zuckerberg’s 5 Point Plan for Facebook’s Future Growth and Mobile Domination

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Facebook mobile app iPhone

Facebook Mobile App iPhone

Facebook released its 2014 Q2 earnings report on July 23rd. Here are some mind-boggling financial performance factoids from Reed Albergotti's Wall Street Journal (WSJ) article:

  • $2.91 billion in revenue (a 61% increase); $791 million in net income
  • $2.68 billion in revenue from advertising (a 67% increase)
  • Mobile advertising accounts for 62% of advertising revenue (up from 59% in 2014 Q1 and 41% in 2013 Q2)

Remember concerns about Facebook arriving late to the mobile advertising party two years ago? How quickly sentiments can change. Here's Reed Albergotti's Wall Street Journal (WSJ) video review of Facebook's Q2 2014 financial performance: 

 

I've reviewed numerous articles explaining how and why Facebook continues transforming and reinventing itself under Mark Zuckerberg's visionary leadership (including but not limited to):

Noticeable patterns / themes in these articles give clues to Facebook's and Zuckerberg's long term corporate strategy.

  • Facebook's (and others') future global growth requires investment in global wireless infrastructure
  • Mobile applications will continue driving Facebook's capabilities
  • Strategic acquisitions are for building future (even moonshot) competitive advantages
  • When you're big, innovation doesn't come as easily as before (even for Facebook)
  • Proving digital marketing delivers positive ROI is a key strategy driver 

Here's my take on the Mark Zuckerberg / Facebook 5-Point Plan for Future Growth and Mobile Dominance:

1. Bring Internet Access to the Other Two-Thirds of the World

Zuckerberg described in his July 2014 WSJ article how roughly 2.7 billion people currently have Internet access. That sounds like a lot, but the majority of the world lacks connectivity. He knows Facebook's future growth is tied to increasing and sustainable investment in wireless infrastructure. The phrase "a rising tide lifts all boats" takes on significant implications not only for Facebook but also for its competitors.

Here are some key quotes from his article: 

"Bringing the other two-thirds of the world online will enable them to invent and create new things that benefit us, too."

"Not only do the vast majority of people have no access to the Internet, but even more surprisingly, Internet adoption is growing by less than 9% each year. That's very slow considering how early we are in its development and that rate is only slowing further."

"The challenge for our industry will be to develop models for Internet access that make data more affordable while enabling mobile operators to continue growing and investing in a sustainable way. Efforts like Internet.org — a global partnership founded by Facebook and other technology leaders –are already under way to solve this by working with operators to provide free basic Internet services to people."

Here's a great 2013 CNN interview with Zuckerberg describing Internet.org (my apologies for any commercials preceding the interview):

  

2. Make Facebook THE Killer Mobile App

Flurry (the mobile ad and analytics firm Yahoo recently acquired for $200 – $300 million) says mobile users spend 17% of their time on their phones in Facebook's app. This metric shows Facebook's mobile app is the most popular app on iOS and Android devices. Facebook's Q2 2014 Quarterly Financial Reporting slides show a consistent, steady climb in daily and monthly mobile users:

 

Q2 2014 Facebook Mobile Daily Users

Q2 2014 Facebook Mobile Daily Users
 
Q2 2014 Facebook Mobile Monthly Users

Q2 2014 Facebook Mobile Monthly Users

Zuckerberg knows consumers live in a mobile, one-screen world. The only screen users care about is the one in front of them. That's why Facebook's mobile apps have to deliver simple, fast, and seamless user experiences. 

Based on these mobile user numbers and the percentage of Q2 2014 revenues generated from mobile advertising, Zuckerberg and Facebook nailed it. And, speaking of killer, seamless, mobile apps …

3. Acquire Mobile Platforms (and Emerging Ones) that Increase Short Term / Long Term Competitive Advantages

In April 2012, Facebook bought Instagram for $1 billion. They recently acquired WhatsApp for $19 billion in February 2014.  March 2014 marked the acquisition of Oculus VR (a virtual reality headset company) for $2 billion. 

Zuckerberg views virtual reality as the next communication platform. It will be fun to track how Facebook leverages Oculus' technologies beyond gaming. Until then, here's a graphic from Austin Carr's Fast Company article showing the 700 million Instagram and WhatsApp users resulting from these acquisitions:

Facebook's Portfolio of Brands and Monthly Users

Facebook Brand Portfolio Illustrations:Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger by Marco Goran Romano

4. Give New Innovations Time to Develop (even if patience contradicts The Hacker Way)

Zuckerberg's brainchild employees 7,000 people. Even at Facebook, creativity and innovation slowed under increasing bureaucracy and jockeying for resources (in both talent and money). Stringent metrics and timelines meant new products had little time to improve post-launch.  

That's why Creative Labs is vital to Facebook's future innovations (and talent retention). Zuckerberg created it as a separate division in February 2014. It operates outside of Facebook's traditional product management processes with looser time constraints. That level of freedom and "small-team feeling" produced Paper, the mobile app for reading an responding to the News Feed.

Even Facebook "likes" innovations from skunkworks — cool twist or reinvention of The Hacker Way.

 

Facebook Creative Labs Image

Facebook Creative Labs

5. Prove Digital Marketing Results in Positive ROI

Facebook's successful foray into Mobile App Install Ads, and the experiments it's running with the Facebook Buy Button show how simplifying the consumer buying process results in higher conversion (and that elusive digital marketing ROI).

It's mobile phone, 1-Click Shopping:

 

Facebok Mobile App Install Ads

Facebok Mobile App Install Ads

In Austin Carr's Fast Company article describing the resounding success of Facebook's mobile app install ads, developers love this advertising medium because:

  • Promoted apps are no longer dependent on App Store "Top 10 popularity contents"
  • These targeted newsfeed advertisements are based on a Facebook's user's history
  • 1-Click shopping simplifies buying for Facebook users
  • 1-Click shopping simplifies customer conversion for the advertiser

This advertising medium has resulted in 350 million app installations (Carr estimates this equates to almost $1 billion in revenue). He cites one mobile gaming CEO who invests 75% of his marketing budget in Facebook mobile install app ads because they drive $70,000 in revenues per day.

 

Facebook Tests Buy Button

Facebook Tests Buy Button

If the experiments with the Buy Button prove fruitful, Facebook can validate the ROI value of digital marketing in not only building awareness, but also in converting eCommerce sales. Here are direct quotes from the experts:

Debra Aho Williamson of eMarketer: 

"With this step, Facebook is becoming even more firmly established as a major player in direct response advertising, and though this test is still only a test, it's a definite sign that Facebook wants to restart its efforts to become an e-commerce company as well."

Josh Constine of TechCrunch:

"If the test is successful and rolls out, Facebook could eventually earn money on the feature by charging a fee or revenue share in exchange for processing payment and improving conversion rates. It could also use the purchases to prove return on investment to advertisers, encouraging them to buy bigger campaigns."

Closing Thoughts

Mark Zuckerberg is the next Steve Jobs (along with Sergey Brin and Larry Page). I was publicly criticized for making that statement more than three years ago. He is a visionary leader. Remember how Facebook originally started out as a desktop application? That's what makes its reinvention as an industry leader and emerging pioneer in the mobile space so impressive.

And, it only took two (2) years! I can't wait to see what's next as Zuck & Company keep moving fast and breaking things.

 

 

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If yes, please share it with your friends and subscribe to my blog. Many Thanks!

 

Tony Faustino is a marketing and corporate strategist.  He thinks and writes about how The Internet reinvents marketing strategy in his personal blog, Social Media ReInvention. Follow his tweets @tonyfaustino or circle him on Google+. 

 

Photo Credit via flickr

Photo Credit via TechCrunch

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Being Interesting. That’s Bad for Twitter? #Not.

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I Use Twitter Wrong T-shirt


"The mandate is different on Twitter; —you have to be interesting. You need to develop a voice, which is something Facebook doesn't ask of you." – Sherry Turkle, a clinical psychologist and Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor

That direct quote from Yoree Koh's informative Wall Street Journal article: Twitter's Big Battle Is Indifference – Social Network Leaves Many Individual Users Cold, summarizes a 1st-time Twitter user's two-part learning curve:

  • Being interesting 
  • Earning followers

Twitter's learning curve is one of many reasons why technology journalists and investment analysts lambasted its  2013 Q4 financials and future growth prospects.

Earning Attention. Wasn't that the Point?

Learning How to Be Different on Twitter is Now a Liability. Hard to believe what made Twitter cool is now considered a curse. Taking time to find valuable content, sharing it with people who specifically choose us, and challenging ourselves to continue growing and retaining that audience's earned attention — that's now bad?

That's no longer called opportunity?

Are We Really That Lazy? Defaulting to the path of least intellectual resistance — that's now the key to sustainable, long term growth?   

Creating Content that Earns Attention. Learning to create and package interesting content takes time, practice, and effort (especially in 140 characters or less). After 3,100+ tweets, I'm still learning. 

What Happened to the Joy and Challenge in Learning? The joy and challenge in learning  to communicate on Twitter comes from other people choosing to follow your tweets. It comes from other people sharing your content with their followers (when they have hundreds of millions of other options).  It's seeing how you can build direct relationships with people in another part of the world. It's the thrill in earning someone's attention and permission (versus interrupting it).


Making Twitter "Mainstream" isn't The Prescription


The Investment Analysts' View: Make Twitter a Mainstream Product. Why? So brands can cram the channel with as much advertising as possible. Investment analysts believe Twitter's sole key to long term growth is a traditional advertising model.

So interrupting users with unwanted, crappy ads (and pissing us off in the process) that's a terrific strategy?

#Not.

Improving a First Time User's Twitter Experience — That's the Right Direction. After registering with the service in 2009, I remember feeling overwhelmed and bewildered. I was clueless on what to tweet. That's why it's refreshing to read Twitter is running experiments to improve the user experience without changing the core platform.  

Focusing On What's Important. A better user experience means rookie and veteran tweeters can focus on creating and sharing helpful, and valuable content. The challenge in a one-screen, digital-first world is don't suck.

Because if our tweets increase in educational, entertaining, or news-breaking value, they will earn our attention. Twitter's user growth will return.

Everyone wins. 

Note: I invest in Twitter (and also tweet). The impact of my investment actions and holdings in this company (and others) are equivalent to a dog shaking off its fleas — inconsequential.

 

Photo Credit by topgold via flickr

 

Your Turn

Please let me know if you agree or disagree with my thoughts in the comments. I would love to hear from you. I’m here to read, listen, and learn from YOUR PERSPECTIVE.   Comments are open. So let’er rip!


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Lesson 3A of 6: Reinventing You After Age 50 Case Study — Michael Ovitz and Developing Validators

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Mother of Reinvention

Career Reinvention After 50 Is Possible

IMPORTANT NOTE: This case study series is a self-initiated interpretation and analysis by me, the blog author.  I want to make it clear that neither Dorie Clark nor Michael Ovitz were consulted or personally endorsed this case study and how I've applied the analysis to the valuable teachings in Reinventing You.

 

Are You Too Old to Professionally Reinvent Yourself After Age 50?  

No!  You still have time.  The real question you should is: How Much Are You Going to Focus, Your Unique Assets, Time, and Energy into Your Post-50 Career Reinvention?  

If these thoughts run through your mind or resemble one (or more) of the following, I encourage you to keep reading:

  • "I just got layed off and am looking for a job (or I'm worried about getting layed off) …" or
  • "I love to learn, try new things, and build different skills …" or
  • "What do you mean by unique assets?  What the hell are you talkin' about?  I don't think I have any …"  

Because YOU CAN Successfully Reinvent Yourself After Age 50

 

Reinventing You Book Image

Reinventing You by Dorie Clark

This post is third in a series of six (6) about successful career reinvention after age 50. 

In this post (and the other five), I talk about linkages I see from Michael Ovitz's career reinvention after age 50 to six (6) of Dorie Clark's Reinventing You principles from Chapter 9: Reintroduce Yourself and Chapter 10: Prove Your Worth.

The bullet point highlighted in blue is the Reinventing You principle analyzed in this post:

  • Develop Validators
  • Leverage Symbolic Actions
  • Go Where The Action Is
  • Building Your Portfolio

Note: The following analysis references examples from the October 2013 Fortune Magazine article: Ovitz Does Silicon Valley by David A. Kaplan to describe Michael Ovitz's latest career reinvention in the context of Reinventing You's valuable teachings.

Lesson 3A: Develop Validators

 

Validators

Who Are Your Validators?

Dorie Clark emphasizes the importance of "having other people talk us up."  Here are key quotes from Reinventing You's Chapter 9: Reintroduce Yourself — Develop Validators:


Another important way we can convey our new identities is through external validators, that is, other people talking us up. As a powerhouse group of researchers led by both Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert Cialdini discovered, the secret is to have someone else bragging for you.
(Jeffrey Pfeffer) "People don't like people who self-promote. But ironically, even if you self-promote through the mouths of other people, somehow that stigma doesn't get associated with you.  It's much better to have someone else toot your horn." 
 

 

Defenders

Who Are Your Defenders?

 

Powerful and Influential Third-Party Validators Address Key Objectives for Michael Ovitz: (1) Promoting Him as a Trusted Silicon Valley Advisor and (2) Defending Him Against Critics.  Since 1999, Mr. Ovitz developed and nurtured business relationships with Sillcon Valley's movers and shakers.  These people provide and support him with significant third-party validation:

These direct quotes from the aforementioned October 2013 Kaplan-Fortune article highlight how Mr. Ovitz's third-party validators defend and talk him up:


1. Marc Andreesen on Mr. Ovitz role as a trusted advisor to Andreesen Horowitz (Andreesen's venture capital firm):


There are similar tales of Ovitzian assistance around the Valley as he rises again, this time far removed from the lights of show business. At Andreessen Horowitz, the venture capital firm, Ovitz is an in-house mentor on how to build a full-service operation in the mold of Creative Artists Agency, the Hollywood talent monolith he built and ran from 1975 to 1995.
"Michael is the classic kind of entrepreneur that we like up here — he's highly aggressive, he's highly disruptive," says Marc Andreessen, with whom Ovitz has cultivated a relationship since 1999. "Michael's a very close friend of the firm. He's a great friend to have." He's also an investor in the firm, though AH won't say for how much. 

2. Peter Thiel on the C-Level, cross-industry breadth and depth of Mr. Ovitz's business connections:


"Michael can get us in to see any CEO in the U.S.," Thiel says. "The Valley has this excessive insularity. But he has cross-sector relationships in New York, L.A., and other places."  Thiel says Ovitz has a preternatural ability to 'learn things quickly and then communicate them to the outside world."
Since the dotcom implosion of the late 1990s, he (Thiel) says, too many new companies in the Valley have 'retrenched,' de-emphasizing relationships with other businesses and institutions.  Consulting Ovitz, whose network Thiel calls 'second to none,' has been a way to overcome that inclination.

3. Peter Thiel, Marc Andreesen, Peter Szulczewski, Joe Lonsdale, and Boris Sofman discuss Mr. Ovitz's critics and detractors:


Says Thiel (Peter): "I've learned to discount bad things said about people by rivals, and I'm not aware of a single bad thing about Ovitz that wasn't said by a rival."
Although Andreessen and others in Ovitz's new circle acknowledge the skepticism, they have different takes on it. Andreessen is the most dismissive of Ovitz doubters and ascribes Ovitz's repute more to the peculiarities of Hollywood than to any of his own faults. "We're used to guys like that here — I mean, Steve Jobs, for God's sake! Or my career, right?" Andreessen says. "That's the cultural difference between Silicon Valley and L.A." Had Intel's Andy Grove or Netscape's Jim Clark made his mark in Hollywood, according to Andreessen, he'd have the same kind of bad-boy name as Ovitz.
Peter Szulczewski of Wish says, "I haven't seen the type of things that people warned me about."
Formation 8's Joe Lonsdale agrees. "People are naturally more cautious because of his history," he says. "But he's (Ovitz) demonstrated awesome value in so many tangible ways to different people that they overlook it. And it's hard to map out what's true and what isn't." Ovitz is a limited partner in Formation 8, with a "small" investment of "under $5 million," as the firm describes it.
"There's a disconnect between a lot of the things written about him and kind of the person we've gotten to know," says Boris Sofman, the CEO and co-founder of Anki, who talks almost daily with Ovitz. Sofman says Ovitz has alluded to his own past by counseling Sofman on what happens when you're successful. "When you lead in your industry," Ovitz told him, "it's easy to start getting vilified, and the tide can turn on you quickly and unexpectedly."
Sofman says Ovitz has no stake in Anki, not even advisory fees. That may merely mean Ovitz hasn't asked yet. Or, as Sofman suggests, it could be that Ovitz really is in it for more than the money. "One of the things he shared with me is he truly loves working with young people," says Sofman, who just turned 30.

 

Closing Thoughts

Your Turn. Okay, you may still be thinking:

  • "I don't have high-profile, high-powered connections like Michael Ovitz …"
  • "Even if I did, how could or why would any of my connections 'talk me up' …"
  • "If I were to ask, wouldn't my connections be offended. It's sleazy to ask for third-party validations  …"

 

Ipad and iphone

Your Third Party Validators Are In The Palm of Your Hand

 

YOU HOLD Multiple Assets and Connections In The Palm of Your Hand.  They're in your laptop hard drive. They're accessible via the keyboards on your laptop, smartphone, or tablet.   

YOU CAN mobilize these connections on your behalf with a few keystrokes or finger swipes. 

YOU HAVE Michael Ovitz-Like Third-Party Validators.  It's all relative. You already know and are connected to influential third-party validators through these online assets and communities:

  • Your Personal Blog
  • Blog Comments on Other Blogs
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter 
  • Klout

Build Your Relationships with Your Validators by Blogging, Commenting, Connecting, Tweeting, and +K'ing.  I connect with my third party validators on a weekly basis via these online assets and communities.  Several of these kind and generous people are highly influential and powerful in their respective professions.  These wonderful people generously support me as career mentors and allies in my personal branding and online reputation work.

Focusing on building these types of assets and participating in these communities enables you to do two important things:

1. Connect with like-minded people who share your values

2. Build what Dorie Clark refers to as an intellectual property (IP) portfolio 

Let me be candid: 

  • I'm not a rocket scientist (just ask my wife and my 9-year old daughter).
  • I'm not a New York Times, Wall Street Journal, or Amazon.com best-selling book author.

I'm just a regular dude who enjoys:

If I Can Do It, You Can Too.  I'll describe my own experiences on developing and cultivating relationships with my third-party validators in the next post in this series on Reinventing You After Age 50.

Lesson 3B: Developing Validators with Your Personal Branding Online Assets is scheduled for a February 2, 2014 publication.  

If you enjoyed this post, here are links to the series' first two posts:

 

 

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Please share my work with your friends. Many Thanks!

 

Photo Credit via flickr by World of Good

Photo Credit via flickr by xfile001

Photo Credit via flickr by Joriel "Joz" Jimenez

Photo Credit via flickr by spieri_sf 

 

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Lesson 2 of 6: Reinventing You After Age 50 Case Study — Michael Ovitz and Shifting Your Behavior

by

Mother of Reinvention

Reinvention After Age 50 is Possible

 

IMPORTANT NOTE: This case study series is a self-initiated interpretation and analysis by me, the blog author.  I want to make it clear that neither Dorie Clark nor Michael Ovitz were consulted or personally endorsed this case study and how I’ve applied the analysis to the valuable teachings in Reinventing You.

You’re Not Too Old to Reinvent Yourself After Age 50

Reinventing You Book ImageThis post is second in a series of six (6) about successful career reinvention after age 50.

In this post (and the other five), I talk about linkages I see from Michael Ovitz’s career reinvention after age 50 to six (6) of Dorie Clark’s Reinventing You principles from Chapter 9: Reintroduce Yourself and Chapter 10: Prove Your Worth.

The bullet point highlighted in blue is the Reinventing You principle analyzed in this post:

  • Shift Your Behavior
  • Develop Validators
  • Leverage Symbolic Actions
  • Go Where The Action Is
  • Building Your Portfolio

Note: The following analysis references examples from the October 2013 Fortune Magazine article: Ovitz Does Silicon Valley by David A. Kaplan to describe Michael Ovitz’s career reinvention in the context of Reinventing You’s valuable teachings.

Lesson 2: Shift Your Behavior

 

Change or Chance Dice

Change or Chance?

Changing Behaviors Can Augment Our Career Reinvention Process.  For example, some people may mean need to become more proactive in making business connections by reaching out and inviting them to lunch or an early morning cup of coffee.  For others, it may mean putting together a campaign to submit and pitch articles to industry publications so to build a thought leadership reputation in a new industry community.

The behavioral change will be different for everyone, but following through is important. Here’s a direct quote from Reinventing You:

Small tangible signals are only part of the battle, however.  The biggest challenge is changing your behavior to reflect your new goals and reality.

 

Change MuralFrom Hollywood Dealmaker and Power Broker to Trusted Advisor and Business Coach.  Mr. Ovitz now leverages his wealth of Hollywood client advisory experiences to counsel growing Silicon Valley startups and their young executives.  He’s not directly involved in “making the deals” for the entrepreneurs he now advises. But, he coaches, prepares, and reassures these entrepreneurs so they can successfully execute deals, negotiations, or other key (and sometimes unfamiliar) business activities required for company growth.

Here are examples from the Kaplan-Fortune article:

Managing Growth.  At Anki, a consumer-robotics startup, the CEO says Ovitz has advised him during some late nights about ‘psychological transitions’ as his company grows.

Pitching Wall Street.  At Formation 8, a flush new VC fund focused on Asia, Ovitz has explained to the three investment partners how to hone their image and brand for Wall Street types.  “Michael knows that world too,” says Joe Lonsdale, one of the young Formation 8 partners.  “He can show us how to ask them for a favor, but how not to push to hard.”

Telling Your Company’s Unique Story and Providing Reassurance.  Ovitz serves as a guru to other prominent people in the tech world, including Tony Bates, the president of Skype, and Brian Chesky, CEO of Airbnb, the home-sharing network.  Ovitz coaches them on culture and storytelling.  He picks them up when they have bouts of doubt.

Closing Thoughts


Things Can ChangeMore Than a Decade Before Reinventing You’s Publication, Mr. Ovitz Successfully Applied the Book’s Valuable Principles.  His focus, street smart savvy, and resilience are why Michael Ovitz successfully continues “working his magic” after age 50.  That’s why personal branding or personal reputation management is especially important for 50+ year-old professionals.

Shun The Naysayers and Critics. Mr. Ovitz did. Tenacity and mental toughness are critical.

Professional Reinvention After 50 is More Than Possible.  Michael Ovitz proves it can be done (and he’s approaching 70).  And, Dorie Clark’s Reinventing You shows you how to do it.


Our Turn: What Behaviors Do We Need to Shift?  Changing and executing these behaviors may make us uncomfortable. These may include trying new things that may not work. But, taking intelligent risks is an important part of career development (and reinvention).

  • Why not, submit some of your best blog posts to certain publications to become a contributing writer / editor?
  • Why not, directly connect on email, Twitter, LinkedIn, (or another social network) to a renowned business author or respected business leader (especially if you can provide her/him something of value)?
  • Why not, make that phone call or send that email to a potential, new business connection inviting them to breakfast, coffee, or lunch?  Maybe, you have something that can help advance that person’s career (i.e., a LinkedIn connection, a blog post supporting that person’s book, thousands of engaged Twitter followers, etc.).

If you proactively built your personal brand or online reputation, you hold differentiating personal assets.  Maximize those “soft assets” and don’t underestimate their power.

If It Makes Us Nervous, We’re on the Right Track.  The worst that can happen is any of the above (or all of the above) say no.  But, all it takes is one “yes” …

… and that “one” may lead to something life-changing and magical.

 

If you enjoyed this post, here’s the link to the first post in the series.  Please stay tuned for the next post in this series on Reinventing You After Age 50–Lesson 3: Develop Validators is scheduled for a January 24, 2014 publication.  

 

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Lesson 1 of 6: Reinventing You After Age 50 Case Study – Michael Ovitz Proves Status Can Be Taken With You

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Mother of Reinvention

Career Reinvention After Age 50 Is Possible

IMPORTANT NOTE: This case study series is a self-initiated interpretation and analysis by me, the blog author.  Dorie Clark and Michael Ovitz were neither consulted nor involved in how I developed the following analysis.

 

Reinventing You Book Image

Reinventing You by Dorie Clark

Do YOU Think You’re Too Old To Reinvent Yourself After Age 50?


Author and frequent Harvard Business Review and Forbes contributor, Dorie Clark would say you’re wrong.  And, she’s right on the money.

I agree we’re never too old to continuously shape our professional reputations (and portfolios).

Dorie Clark’s book, Reinventing You is one of my favorite MUST-READ business books of 2013.  Reinventing You is a GREAT investment for your professional career.  Dorie’s book is a personal and professional development GIFT.

Reinventing You After Age 50 Case Study: Michael Ovitz

Instead of a traditional book review, I’m applying Dorie’s thoughtful teachings to a successful real-world, high-profile career reinvention after age 50: Michael Ovitz, Owner of Broad Beach Ventures LLC.

Before There was Ari Gold and Klout, There was Michael Ovitz.  Mr. Ovitz personified and defined Hollywood business clout and influence.  For younger Social Media ReInvention Community Members, Michael Ovitz as the co-founder and leader of Creative Arts Agency (CAA) became Hollywood’s most powerful talent agent. Mr. Ovitz was THE Hollywood powerbroker — ask David Letterman.

CAA’s stellar client list and and Ovitz’s unique skills and strategic vision in “packaging” actors, directors, screenwriters, and other CAA talent as “solution offerings” (similar to how management consulting firms position their service capabilities) differentiated CAA and propelled his Hollywood influence.

Today, Mr. Ovitz No Longer Plays Hollywood Power Broker.  From 1995 through 2002, he publicly experienced high-profile, professional setbacks.  To say his detractors and former competitors delighted in these failures is an understatement.

I Admire and Respect Mr. Ovitz’s Resilience in Reinventing Himself.  For the past 11 years, he’s shifted and focused his unique talents, assets, and energy to the technology world. According to David A. Kaplan’s October 2013 Fortune Magazine article, Ovitz Does Silicon Valley, Mr. Ovitz methodically reinvented himself as a top advisor to Silicon Valley technology companies.


Still Think You’re Too Old to Reinvent Yourself After Age 50? 

This post is first in a series of six (6) about successful career reinvention after age 50.

The aforementioned Kaplan-Fortune article provides examples of Michael Ovitz’s latest career.  In this post (and the next five), I will talk about linkages I see from Mr. Ovitz’s reinvention after age 50 to six (6) of Dorie Clark’s Reinventing You principles from Chapter 9: Reintroduce Yourself and Chapter 10: Prove Your Worth.

The bullet point highlighted in blue is the Reinventing You principle analyzed in this post:

  • Status — You Can Take It With You 
  • Shift Your Behavior
  • Develop Validators
  • Leverage Symbolic Actions
  • Go Where The Action Is
  • Building Your Portfolio

 

Lesson 1: Status — You Can Take It With You

 

Halo Effect

The Halo Effect

Maximize the Halo Effect of Your Unique Competive Advantage. In Reinventing You’s Chapter 9, Reintroduce Yourself, Dorie writes about the “halo effect” (as described by Jeffrey Pfeffer, Stanford Graduate School of Business and author of Power: Why Some People Have It–And Others Don’t):

“It’s a psychological phenomenon known as the ‘halo effect.” “If I think you’re good in one domain, I think you’re going to be good in other domains, as well. There’s the presumption that talented people have this set of generalized abilities.”

That ‘durability of reputation’–across both time and situations–makes it essential for you to be strategic about how you’re perceived from day one.  “You need to do something to build a very good reputation, a personal brand, and that will help you not only in your current place but in other places, as well.”

The secret, then is to leverage both your past experiences and the confidence that you’ve derived from your accomplishments.  After all, other people take their cues from you, so when you’re introducing your new brand, assume that others will welcome your contribution.

 

Golden Key

Key to the C-Suite

Michael Ovitz’s Unique, “Halo Effect” Competitive Advantage: CEO and Executive Chairman Level Access Across Multiple Industries.  The Kaplan-Fortune Article describes two examples of how Mr. Ovitz leverages his lifelong business connections and maximizes his former Hollywood mogul / dealmaker / powerbroker status to open C-Suite doors previously closed to young, Silicon Valley entrepreneurs.

 

 

  1. Peter Szulczewski, CEO of Wish.com:  The October 2013 Fortune article describes how Mr. Ovitz assisted Szulczewski when he ran into problems with initially securing the company’s domain name.

The company had an uninspired name, ContextLogic, and its beta website was the forgetable wishwall.me.  Wish.com wasn’t available.

Ovitz saw immediately that the domain name was critical.  “I can help with that!” he (Ovitz) told Szulczewski, and, with his big swinging Rolodex, within weeks tracked down the owner of wish.com.  It was a French subsidiary of Barry Diller’s IAC. Szulczewski handled the actual negotiation — he won’t disclose the price — but Ovitz war-gamed tactics beforehand.

  1. Peter Thiel, Venture Capitalist, PayPal co-founder, and Chairman of Palantir Techologies on the breadth and power of the the Michael Ovitz business network (also from the Kaplan-Fortune article):

“Michael can get us in to see any CEO in the U.S.,” Thiel says. “The Valley has this excessive insularity. But he has cross-sector relationships in New York, L.A., and other places.”  Thiel says Ovitz has a preternatural ability to ‘learn things quickly and then communicate them to the outside world.”

Since the dotcom implosion of the late 1990s, he (Thiel) says, too many new companies in the Valley have ‘retrenched,’ de-emphasizing relationships with other businesses and institutions.  Consulting Ovitz, whose network Thiel calls ‘second to none,’ has been a way to overcome that inclination.

 

Closing Thoughts

More Than a Decade Before Reinventing You’s Publication, Mr. Ovitz Successfully Applied the Book’s Valuable Principles.  His focus, street smart savvy, and resilience are why Michael Ovitz successfully continues “working his magic” after age 50.

During this reinvention period and today, Mr. Ovitz shuns his critics and naysayers.  Tenacity and mental toughness are critical to a successful career reinvention (at any age).

Professional Reinvention After 50 is ABSOLUTELY Possible.  Michael Ovitz proves it. Dorie Clark’s Reinventing You shows us how to do it.

Our Turn.  Here’s a link to the landing page for Dorie’s free, Professional Reinvention Self Assessment.  Let’s take inventory of ourselves and ask:

  • What are our unique competitive advantages?
  • What makes us different from others in our current field (and the new domain we want to break into)?
  • How can we help others, what doors can we open, and who are the unique connections in our business networks so we can maximize our individual halo effects?

Those unique competitive advantages can help us “work our magic.”

Just like Michael Ovitz …

Please stay tuned for the next post in this series on Reinventing You After Age 50. Lesson 2: Shift Your Behavior is scheduled for a Friday, January 17, 2014 publication.

 

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R.I.P. Blackberry: A Cautionary Tale for Microsoft

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Blackberry RIP

My Old Blackberry. May It RIP.

I just finished reading this great article: Bloomberg Businessweek, The Rise and Fall of BlackBerry: An Oral History.  

The article recounts how a once-dominant technology company of the past decade is no longer a relevant player. Blackberry's 1997 IPO to its 2008 stock market peak are highlighted.

After 2008, the iPhone, iPad, and Android OS systematically put Blackberry out of business. A series of anecdotes from former executives, journalists, and others recounts Blackberry's demise due to management missteps, hubris, and self-denial.

Microsoft, Are YOU Paying Attention?  What's scary is how Blackberry's key mistakes closely parallel the same ones made by Microsoft and Steve Ballmer (which eventually cost him his job).  

 

 

 

Here are key quotes from the Bloomberg Businessweek article compared to other quotes (from other sources) paralleling the ongoing Microsoft saga:

Pattern 1: Apple and the iPhone are neither a relevant mobile player nor are they a legitimate competitive threat.

(Blackberry) In June 2007, the first iPhone hits the stores. Far from recognizing the potential threat to BlackBerry’s dominance, Lazaridis and Balsillie (e.g., RIM's Senior Leaders) publicly belittle Apple’s device, criticizing its short battery life and weaker security.

(Blackberry) Chris Key (global account manager and carrier sales and relationship manager, 2001-09): "I remember being at a [customer] meeting and the CIO was carrying an iPhone. I found out that a lot of senior executives … were carrying iPhones. That was a big red flag for me. The attitude for most of the people in the senior leadership at BlackBerry was, “The BlackBerry solution is secure. It’ll lock down company data. It’ll allow the organization to maintain complete control over the business use of the device. IPhone is a music player and a consumer toy.”

(Microsoft and Steve Ballmer) “There’s no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance. It’s a $500 subsidized item.”

Pattern 2: The Corporate / Enterprise Market is the only relevant market (which shields Blackberry from Apple's and Google Android's consumer penetration).

(Blackberry) Kevin Michaluk (founder of CrackBerry.com, a news site): BlackBerry was a darling of enterprise. If you had a BlackBerry you were an important person, as at that time a lot of people didn’t have a smartphone. It was almost a status symbol within the company. It was the most intuitive communication device. With that blinking red light, it had that addictive quality.

(Blackberry) Gillenwater: If BlackBerry was going to be serious about consumers, they needed to make a fundamental shift in the way products were thought about, created, iterated, marketed, and sold. This was done but never to the extent necessary. It was always a partial effort. There was a period of time when this could have been corrected, but when it became apparent that HQ and senior leadership were not addressing systemic issues, people like myself left.

(Microsoft and Steve Ballmer) “$500, fully subsidized, with a plan! That is the most expensive phone in the world and it doesn’t appeal to business customers, because it doesn’t have a keyboard, which makes it not a very good email machine.”

Microsoft Better Find Its Next CEO Fast

Don't get me started on how both Blackberry and Microsoft / Steve Ballmer missed the tablet market and underestimated Apple's and Google Android's dominance.  Remember, the Blackberry Playbook? It's a distant memory because nobody wanted it.

Remember the vaunted Microsoft Surface Tablet?  That's latin for $900 million write-down.

Microsoft says it's active CEO search continues.   Too bad, this former Googler accepted Yahoo's CEO job a year ago.  Because, Marissa Mayer's kickin' ass …

 

Tony Faustino is a marketing and corporate strategist.  He writes about how The Internet reinvents marketing strategy for organizations and individuals in his marketing strategy blog, Social Media ReInvention.  Follow his tweets @tonyfaustino or circle him on Google+. 

 

Related articles
Why Apple Acquired Topsy: Mobile, Real-Time Data in a One-Screen World
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The President May Be Ready to Give Up on BlackBerry, but iPhone Still Too Insecure
R.I.P. Blackberry: A Cautionary Tale for Microsoft
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Why Apple Acquired Topsy: Mobile, Real-Time Data in a One-Screen World

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Twitter on my iPhone

My Tweet on Why Apple Acquired Topsy

 

Yesterday, The Wall Street Journal broke the news that Apple acquired Topsy, the Twitter Social Analytics Firm.  First-gut reactions from the tech pundit community are questioning the deal's merits and objectives: 

Mashable.  Christina Warren described her initial reaction to the acquisition: 

"Topsy is an interesting acquisition for Apple because unlike its past purchases of startups, such as HopStop and Locationary, there isn't a clear product application."

"With Topsy, the purpose is less clear. The Journal posits that it could be useful for iTunes Radio — a product that already has direct integration with Twitter Music — or its flailing iAd product. Still, the purpose of acquiring an analytics firm that is so focused on one specific social network is, in a word, odd."

TechCrunch. Matthew Panazarino voiced his skepticism about the Apple-Topsy deal, and he also speculates why Apple pursued it:

"Given that Apple is a Twitter partner already, and hosts login and posting features for the social network on its iOS and OS X platforms, this seems like a confusing deal if all that it's after is the Twitter data firehose. It seems more likely that Topsy has technology or engineers (read: acqui-hire) that can parse trends in a way that Apple wants to incorporate into one of its products."

"If I had to hazard a guess, this might be related to Apple building out the relevancy engine of its App and iTunes Stores. Adding social signals to the search algorithms of its stores could help to improve the relevance of search results and help Apple surface apps that are hotter and more interesting to users. Tracking app trends across social networks would allow them to fine tune categories and collections of apps, and surface apps that are gaining steam more quickly."

My Take: Apple Wants to Know WHAT We're Thinking WHEN We're Thinking AND WHERE We're Thinking

Apple Literally Wants to Get Inside Our Heads.  Their strategy doesn't just apply to selling more Apple stuff (e.g., apps, music, books, movies off of iTunes).  In my opinion, they literally want to get in our heads about EVERYTHING.  

David Meerman Scott's November 26th blog post, Big Data, Rich Data, provides key insights and greater detail on how Apple (and other firms) can convert the real-time data into revenue.  Apple acquiring Topsy for a "mere $200 million" is a steal.  And, since Apple holds $147 billion in cash on hand, they're not even breaking a sweat.   

Capturing Real-Time Data and Converting the Insights into Revenue is Topsy's Business. Here's a screen shot from Topsy's "About Us" webpage:

 

Topsy About Us

Topsy About Us WebPage

Delivering the Right Message at the Right Time in the Right Place

The Big Data, Real-Time Marketing Implications are Huge.  Samuel Greengard's great CMO.com article, Real-Time Marketing: The Reality Ahead, reinforces why Apple gobbled up Topsy. Ironically, CMO.com published Mr. Greengard's article the same day as the Apple-Topsy announcement: 

"Today the Holy Grail is to deliver the right message at the right time in the right place. Of course, that's easier said than done–and breaking through the glut and getting a message to a consumer who is receptive is nothing less than daunting. Nevertheless, the tools and techniques exist to migrate to a real-time framework. "In the past, marketers had to conduct a massive amount of research to understand consumers and behavior," Vivaldi's Joachimsthaler said. 'It's now more about developing methods that allow consumers to draw a map to their doors. It's critical to capture their footprint.' "

But, Why Does Apple Want Twitter Consumer Information?

Mitch Joel CTRL ALT Delete Book

Mitch Joel Describes It Best From his book, CTRL ALT Delete.  The rationale for the Apple-Topsy acquisition comes straight from this section in CTRL ALT Delete: The One Screen World – The Shift From Four Screens Down to One (pages 90 -109). 

The entire chapter describes how consumers operate in a one-screen world environment. The only screen consumers care about is "the one currently staring them in the face."

Mitch further makes a compelling argument: The most important consumer screen resides on their smartphones.

Twitter Is Mobile, Untethered, and One-Screen Savvy.  It's a social media platform focused on telling Apple WHAT We're Thinking WHEN We're Thinking AND WHERE We're Thinking It.  This November 2013 Bloomberg-Businessweek article describes how the Twitter API, its meta data, and tweets provide rich consumer data. 

Here are Mitch's thoughts on Twitter and the one-screen world (from page 99 of CTRL ALT Delete):

"Twitter's metoric rise and continued success have less to do with how many followers Lady Gaga has and much more to do with the fact that it was the first-ever online social network that worked better on mobile than it does on the Web.  The sheer simplicity of those 140 characters of tweets makes it that much more workable and easy for consumers.  Twitter's focus (from day one) was on connecting people as they were on the go.  To this day, everything that Twitter does — from acquisitions to business strategy — is driven by a one-screen-world philosophy." 

Your Turn

You May Not Agree With Me.  What do you think about Apple acquiring Topsy?  Does the deal make sense?  Maybe, it still seems odd?

Either way, please comment with your thoughts.  I'd love to hear from you.

 

Tony Faustino is a marketing and corporate strategist.  He writes about how The Internet reinvents marketing strategy for organizations and individuals in his marketing strategy blog, Social Media ReInvention.  Follow his tweets @tonyfaustino or circle him on Google+. 

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