Fast Pack 2000

What I see on the Web is a simple proposition: When you change either the packaging or the distribution of a product, you fundamentally change that product. That's true in Nordstrom's case, that's true in the music industry with MP3 technology, and it's true in the career-search industry. The offering can actually start to play out in a way that the previous packaging or distribution system wouldn't allow it to. A magazine reaches some people, an airport kiosk reaches other people, a Web site other people, a radio show still other people. And each medium will change the demographics of your audience--and eventually it will change your product.

Liz Dolan

The problem in the dotcom world is the flimsiness of most ideas. There's a presumption that anyone with a PowerPoint presentation can be in business. In the dotcom world, there are people with 15-page PowerPoint presentations and no core ideas. There's nothing to differentiate what they're trying to do. There's no experience for the consumer that is transforming in any way. And most of all, there are no values. Occasionally, you hear about companies that are changing an industry or changing people's lives. Most of the people whom I've encountered are only motivated by greed.

People may tell you that they want to build a brand. But a brand has to have some inherent values. A brand delivers something important to people. Too many people think a brand is something that you create with advertising. If you tell them that a brand flows from a set of values, they'll say, "Sorry, I don't have time for that. I have $10 million, and I need a lot of ads to create my brand." You want to tell these people, "Go away! You people are jerks! I couldn't create a brand for you for $100 million, because you don't care about consumers, you have no values, and you're not offering people anything important. So keep your money."