Innovation

Three Companies that Started down the Trust Path with Customers First

They do it by talking about and engaging with topics and content that will make their customers smarter. Or they share tidbits that are fun and engaging, and share the love. These are the secrets of successful corporate blogs - and ...READ»

Five Companies that Fix their Story to Inspire Service

Branding as a strategy means little if the customer experience is not there. If your story doesn’t align with what you do, all of the clever tactics you can come up with to follow your lofty goal will not make the cut.Unless you can ...READ»

Would CPG Brands Compete with their Own Channels for Customers?

AdAge writes an interesting article about going beyond online ads to eCommerce opportunities for CPG brands. Will it pay off? Services are easier to deliver online. A few product dot-bombs in the early 2000s made us keenly aware of ...READ»

Customer Issues and the Bottom Line

Many marketers spend a considerable amount of time calculating the ROI of campaigns by looking at cost per lead (CPL) or Web conversion numbers. You are probably quite smart yourself to the ways of lead nurturing and its importance in ...READ»

Innovation and Failure

There is a good relationship between innovation and failure. As Monica Harrington shares, Microsoft Bob gave plenty of very smart people a run for their money - and lessons to take to their next project.   Those are familiar ...READ»

Mad Men and Trust Agents

They’re at the opposite ends of the conversation spectrum. The show context is that of media and advertising, two areas that are undergoing rapid change - some would call it a decline. Mad Men captivated the public’s imagination ...READ»

Fluency in Customer Conversation is a Key Business Driver

There is a reason why this publication is called Fast Company. The US has an even shorter attention span than many places I’ve had the fortune of spending time in. I’ve been writing about customer conversation here for more than ...READ»

How to Give Your Company Service Deadlines

Usually it’s the customers who give you deadlines - and sometimes ultimatums - on service. Needing something done by, support within “x” time, service at “y” time and place. What would happen if you turned that concept on ...READ»

How you can get the Most out of Customer Service

We spend so much time talking about how to improve customer service that I thought one post on how to improve customer attitude would be time well spent. If you think about it, we call a customer support line only when we have a ...READ»

How to Map to the Social Media Engagement Profile of Your Customers

You probably already know that Forrester’s social technographics profile can help you analyze the social profile of your customer base. As authors Josh Bernoff and Charlene Li explain in the book Groundswell, people increasingly use ...READ»

How to Answer the Social Phone

It seems that if there are many ways to listen in the social Web, there are also many reasons with the ways to answer. Tom Asacker puts it well, we define ourselves both according to what we identify with and what we reject, and given ...READ»

Raising the Woof: 13 Eye-Popping Pet Projects

The $45 billion pet-care biz is changing -- and extending -- lives.READ»

Coda's All-Electric Sedan Revs Up U.S. Auto Market

Coda gears up for its all-electric sedan's big test.READ»

Novomer's Plastic Reduces Greenhouse Gas-But Will it Biodegrade?

Novomer's innovation cuts most of the oil and guilt.READ»

• The Multimedia Bed

RFD-TV: How an Ex-Farmer Built a $25 Million Media Empire for Rural America

How a scrappy ex-farmer from Nebraska built a TV channel for rural America. Hee Haw? Yeehaw!READ»

Three Business Models the $38 Billion Newspaper Industry Could Copy

Three ideas the $38 billion newspaper industry could copy to buoy its business.READ»

• Made to Stick: Stop Solving Your Problems

How an Economist's Cry for Ethical Capitalism was Heard

Not long ago, economist Noreena Hertz lived at the lefty margins of her field. But her (widely ignored) prediction of the credit crisis and her call for a more evolved form of capitalism have suddenly put her at the center of the universe.READ»

Augmented Reality Is Both a Fad and the Future -- Here's Why

Why layering data on top of smartphones and computer screens is both a fad and the future. READ»

• Reality Show

Intel Inside ... More Than Computers

In the Web 2.0 world, computers aren't the only products that depend on Intel chips.READ»

• Intel Risks It All (Again)
• Intel Everywhere
• Intel Then, Now, and Tomorrow

Intel Risks It All (Again)

How Sean Maloney and brand guru Deborah Conrad are helping Intel's first carpet-dweller CEO reengineer the company once known as Chipzilla -- and free the bong.READ»

• Intel Inside ... Everything
• Intel Everywhere
• Intel Then, Now, and Tomorrow

Hulu: The Second Life of Network Shows

Hulu has made online hits of network also-rans.READ»

• The Unlikely Mogul
• All-Time Top 10 TV Shows on Hulu

Tequila Timeline: From Agave to the Worm

Nothing can make a night--or a year--disappear quite like the agave-fueled Mexican liquor. Jose Cuervo is still No. 1 on the market, though Patron has soared to No. 2 since its 1989 launch. On the occasion of spirit maker Diageo celebrating the 250th anniversary of Cuervo, one year late, we drink up its economic history.READ»

• Now: November 2009
• Read: Shop or Stop

Cellphonometry: Can Kids Really Learn Math From Smartphones?

Schools are partnering with mobile-phone companies to help kids conquer math. Are smartphone-learning initiatives more than a corporate gimmick?READ»

The Six "Wow" Features of Windows 7

How Sam Moreau and his eclectic team of architects, industrial designers, and writers created the "Wow!" features of Microsoft's new operating system.READ»

Five AR Apps to Watch For

Five augmented-reality apps that reflect where this hot technology is going.READ»

• Augmented Reality Swoops In