Two words to survive by

We hear a lot about the chasm that exists between those with a digital orientation and those who still cling to traditional ways. Yes, it has something to do with the generational gap (i discovered a recent hire in our interactive department was born the same year I graduated college, damn!), but I now know that age is a total cop out when it comes to playing in today's game. Age simply doesn't matter in the grand scheme. Seriously.

Take Brent Musburger. He's 70 years old but he's still considered among the upper echelon of broadcasters. He's still got game. Still plugged in. When asked by a younger colleague over dinner one night following a game they covered, "what is your secret for surviving this long in the business?" Brent replied with just two words.

"Stay interested."

In other words, even if you're not personally interested in things like the ShamWow, Lady GaGa, crowdsourcing or cloud computing, you have to figure out what it is that make all of these so interesting to others. What do they all mean? What trends are they signaling? What's the deeper insight into each and what is it teaching us in terms of culture and marketing? All this is crucial to success especially if you play in the innovation space.

In other words, if you want to stay relevant, stay interested. Because trust me, I've seen first hand that it doesn't take long for even young guns to turn into old farts if you don't take time to keep your head in the game.

Thanks, Brent.

Unique Selling Proposition

Let's face facts, without a clear and compelling selling promise, your offering is bound to get lost in the sauce.

This week, the team brainstormed names for a new service one of our larger clients is launching. It represented a potentially great new service at the retail level. The team was juiced and ready to create the future.

After an initial round of naming, we started to hit on richer, more interesting names that seemed to have one thing in common. They had a powerful and distinctive promise "baked" right into the name. The benefit of this is that the new names did much of the heavy lifting in the mind of the consumers. They didn't have to work hard in their head to figure out what benefit the company provided. A great name is literally a conversation starter. It moves a consumer instantaneously ahead which means the name has a much greater chance of being seen, noticed and acted upon.

If you're developing a new product or company name, make sure the names you consider work hard right from the start. They telegraphic the values and promise you wish to communicate. Words matter and so does their meaning in the marketplace. Choose wisely.