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Some folks think that "marketing" means the act of telling people about a product or service. So advertising, posters, sponsorship - these things are "marketing".

Those of us in the field like to think that "marketing is business" - the entire process of figuring out what customer segments to serve, what need to fulfil, how to design a product or service offering and of course, how to tell prospective customers about it - now that's marketing.

"Art" on the other hand, is supposed to be the inspired creation of an individual who has his own story to tell, inspired only by his inner muse. Focus groups, "book packagers" and the like shouldn't have a role to play in the creation of true art.

This is why the whole Kaavya Viswanathan story about a young debutant author who was caught plagiarizing and had hired a book packager to "shape" her book, has gotten so much negative publicity. Anybody remember Milli Vanilli?

Clearly, the public expects a certain authenticity from works of art, even though they are viable only if they also entertain. There is an important lesson here for marketeers because customers are going to punish brands and products that fail the test of authenticity. More on this later.

Peter Drucker wrote that there are seven sources of innovation. Here they are, in reverse order of importance.
7. New technology and scientific findings
6. Changes in public perception
5. Demographic changes
4. Industry market and structures
3. Process needs
2. Incongruities
1. The unexpected

One of the most successful innovations -the Sony Walkman demonstrates several of these principles.

The Sony Walkman was originally designed as a music player for couples, based on Akio Morita's observation of teenagers lugging their radios with them on vacations (an incongruity) and came equipped with two headphone jacks and a recording facility. It even had a "hotline" button, partially overriding the sound from the cassette and allowing one user to talk to the other over the music.

Of course, nobody really used it like that and Sony was quick to see that most people used it as a personal, portable music player (unexpected) and redesigned it accordingly.

What are the incongruous and unexpected events and behaviours in your market? And what are the tools you can use to find and use them?

Thanks to Antonella Pavese for writing about Drucker's seven sources in her excellent blog on women, technology and happiness.

According to Gamesblog, a team of video game developers is offering their services via an online auction on eBay.

Could this be of interest to marketeers? Could a crack advertising or product development team "freelance" in this way? Of course, the game developers include a full team of people with all the skills needed to produce a game - it is really an organization, except that it's virtual. However, this could be the precursor to being able to hire the talent instead of hiring the firm. 

Via reBang. 

Virtual prototyping is the creation of a paper or graphic illustration to show and tell others about your ideas. This is useful because it brings ideas to life and lets other people add to them. It’s utility ranges from consumer research to internal presentations and it’s much easier than making an actual prototype.

Google has just released Sketchup - a free tool for creating 3-D models of houses, sheds, decks, home additions, woodworking projects – even space ships. You can add details, textures and glass to your models, design with dimensional accuracy, and place your finished models in Google Earth, share them with others by posting them to the 3D Warehouse, or print hard copies.

A great compliment to Sketchup is a handy little product from Japan, “Pepakura“. This tool creates a printable, origami-like pattern from which 3D models may be translated into paper “reality”.

I wonder if Sketchup can be linked to a 3-D printer - a device that fabricates a 3-D mockup from a CAD file fast enough and cheap enough to produce a prototype of a part simply to clarify design or functionality issues.

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Nintendo's noteworthy next generation video game console, which until now has been known by the code-name "Revolution" will be marketed under the guffaw-inspiring brand name "Wii" (pronounced "we").

Seriously, though, this is a device with a revolutionary user interface - imagine being able to actually swoosh a lightsaber in your hand and you get the idea.

It deserves better. As Nintendo rolls out a global launch marketing campaign, all I can say is "Wiiiiii?!!" (Pronounced "Why'

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Non-descriptive but effective product names 

Farrukh Naeem from the UAE writes about social responsibility in business. Some of his thought-provoking questions are:

"Does a tobacco company’s lung cancer funding make cigarettes healthier?"

"Does a brewery’s TV spot against drunk-driving reduce alcoholism?"

"Does an offshore oil company’s documentary on marine life, save it?"

 "…are we in advertising just to earn money, no matter what we end up selling? "
These questions are immensely important because in this age of instant gratification, it's all too easy to lose sight of values and ethics in our pursuit of wealth.   

There is a finer point to be made here. Some kinds of marketing activities are obviously unethical. What about the Milli Vanilli type of "product fabrication"? There's no doubt that people who bought Milli Vanilli albums were attracted by the photogenic dancing duo who represented the "package" and undoubtedly enjoyed the music, but their reaction to the truth demonstrated that people don't like being misled.

Food for thought for many of the edgier marketing campaigns today. 

Students in Japan have caused sales of Kit Kat bars to soar, by adopting them as lucky charms. The name of the chocolate bar resembles a Japanese expression - “kitto katsu” - used by students to wish each other luck before exams.

According to Alpha Male, this is the result of a patient 4 year effort:

Year One: Sampling of free bars as “lucky charms” via the hotels where students flock when writing competitive entrance exams.

Year Two: Continue sampling and generate positive press articles.

Year Three: Ads that didn’t look like ads but featured little stories about teachers, mothers, students and the lucky charm.

Year Four: Same type of ads but with real people and their true stories; no product shots, just a little Kit Kat logo in the corner.

Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, CEO of Nestle, deserves some of the credit for such a strongly authentic and local campaign in the era of globalization and global brands. “Show me a ‘global consumer’ and I will show you a ‘global brand’”. “…our products, our brands, and our communications will always stay local in order to stay relevant to the local consumer.”

It’s heartening to see such patience in this era of quarterly results when so many new products are introduced and withdrawn within a year because their manufacturers are impatient to achieve big results fast and ruthlessly cull anything that doesn’t meet this criterion.

In an earlier post, I discussed the value of seemingly meaningless product names. A recent survey by Opinion Research Corp. for CNN highlights how small changes to names can make a difference: The study polled Americans’ feelings toward Hillary Clinton and found that responses changed depending on which name was used - including Hillary Clinton’s maiden name increased her approval rating among Republicans polled to 23 percent. “Hillary Clinton” had a 16 percent approval rating among people who identified themselves as Republican. Among people who said they were independent, “Hillary Rodham Clinton” was favored by 48 percent, compared with 42 percent for “Hillary Clinton.”

The pop group Milli Vanilli were one of the first known “manufactured for a market” acts, in which a music producer assembled a group of talented musicians and singers and got them to create songs which were lip-synched by a couple of talented dancers. The audience was not meant to see beyond the package represented by the two guys dancing and ostensibly singing on stage.

Spinning Boris, the 2003 film starring Jeff Goldblum, tells the story of a group of American “political consultants” who use marketing techniques (including the much-maligned focus group) to re-package former Russian President Boris Yeltsin and turn around his election campaign.

It’s one thing to create a fake music act, quite another to create a fake political act - the latter has serious implications. Will the politician continue the act, constantly polling the masses and giving them what they want (as in the US) or will he revert to his true self after the election? In any event, I think most people would prefer authentic leaders who truly believe in their message. But how are we to tell?

On a happier note, the Real Milli Vanilli album Moment of Truth, featuring the genuine singers, spawned 3 hit singles.

Do you work on projects with team members in different parts of the world? If yes, then you will find Google Calendar to be quite useful in scheduling meetings and tele-conferences because it allows you to share your schedule with your team members.

You can have multiple calendars and choose whom you want to share each one with. An Agenda mode lets you see the activities you have planned for the next 2 weeks.