5 Ways That Offices Matter

Respect My Space

In the MidAtlantic region where I live and work, the change in seasons has come, as it usually does, with a surge in thunderstorm activity in the afternoon. My company is also in the process of upgrading our office space, so we can turn three locations into one, and become more integrated across teams. It's going to be a really great moment for the company, in ways that I'm not sure many of our people even realize, because many of my co-workers, frankly, haven't gone through this kind of thing before.

I've been at companies that have moved locations, and it's much like moving on a personal level. There's always a reason to go, and you always get enthused about it, because change is always better to take on the rise. Finally, and this is kind of an odd coincidence, the old building inevitably fails you in some way, usually just before you leave. (We'll be in our new location in a few more weeks.)

Anyway, long set-up complete. Today, the power went out after a thunderstorm, and everyone got to (well, had to) go home early. We've also had issues with the wifi, the AC (well, maybe that's just me, I seem to be under a vent), leaking windows that have gotten to a mold situation, security issues in the parking lot, and so on. So while I was driving home today and thinking about if I would do better to log in tonight to clear the last bit or just come in early the next day, it struck me... my office is, honestly, just in my bag, and has been for decades now. I've also worked out of my home for decades as a consultant, or on the road at various locations. So what are the common factors in the offices that have helped me work better, and those that held me back?

1) Enough space, and make sure there's a mix.

One of my start ups in Silicon Valley, another in Manhattan, and an old-school place in the greater Philadelphia region, put people way too close to each other as a deliberate act, either due to high real estate costs or mistaken ideas about collaboration. It can provoke an intense camaraderie and occasional big wins from unavoidable eavesdropping on telephone calls, but in the long run, it's just disastrous, especially around any excuse to get out of the torture chamber for meals. Too little space makes for people just wandering off to get work done, and a room that people just don't want to be in. Especially if some of these roles are more vocal than others.

2) Many commuting options.

If an office is in a commuting choke point, and there's only one way to get there, with no public transportation option, what you have is an office that's at routine risk for an unpleasant commute... and that's just deadly in the long run, because it just creates a reason for turnover that's persistent and invisible in the actual venue, and contributes to an overall negative tone.

If your office isn't blessed with walkability, public transit options or alternate highway support, what I *strongly* recommend is flex time to avoid traffic. When I worked in the Bay Area, doing a 10 to 7-ish shift meant that I'd get back a full hour of my day, every day... and since the commute was car only, that hour of traffic avoidance just meant that I didn't spend five hours a week thinking about finding a different gig.

3) Don't neglect, or overdose on, the start-up areas and touches.

If you work in a traditional office setting, you tend to look wistfully, or skeptically, at the clubhouse touches of start-up offices. These would be the Foosball tables, game consoles, lounge areas, and so on, and I've been at places where getting my work done was downright difficult due to the buzzing of hobby drone blimps and first person shooter games.

When these touches work, it's because they inspire teams to spend more time with each other outside of work, and to make bonds that limit turnover. (As an aside, if I have one piece of advice for any marketer that needs support from engineers... develop a Foosball game. Mine has done me no end of good over the years.) You can always curtail the fun and games to certain hours, or move on from the hire that has the best Halo skills, later.

4) Health makes wealth. 

When you set aside a quiet room for nursing mothers, a variety of snack and beverages options, flexibility in desks with standing points or beyond the law handicapped accessibility, push for a better health care plan, matching 401K, etc... well, yes, this all costs money, and limit choices that you might make in terms of bonuses, competitive compensation, increased staffing, and so on.

But you also create a situation where distractions to cover these needs just go away, and an undistracted work force makes for efficiencies and less turnover. You also create, and this is a big plus, a company where your people recruit and assist your hiring.

5) The biggest gain from a good office is in recruiting.

Especially if you've been suffering with a weak office, interviewing in a good one just puts stars in your eyes. It speaks to success, to stability, to a progressive and inspiring future, rather than one where you get caught in the weeds of commuting, parking, and so on.

Offices matter, even if you've got a distributed work force, and heavy road miles. If you are only making the decision at a bottom line basis, you probably aren't making your best decision.

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Feel free to comment, as well as like or share this column, connect with me on LinkedIn, or email me at davidlmountain at gmail dot com, or hit the RFP boxes at top right. RFPs are always free, and we hope to hear from you soon.

5 Client Retention Lessons from Frank Underwood

He's Hard On Housekeepers

This weekend, in between other chores and my inevitable NBA playoff watching, I caught up to the latest season of "House of Cards", the Netflix political drama / soap opera that's won awards and no small amount of attention over its first four seasons. (Don't worry: I'll avoid any spoilers.) The life and times of Frank Underwood, the show's central character and MacBeth-esque figure, have done Kevin Spacey a world of good, and the show has already been picked up for additional seasons.

That's all to the good. But while I'm still a pretty big fan of the show, and probably will remain so for as long as Spacey and Robin Wright are around to chew the very expensive scenery, I can't help but think that the show has passed its peak... if only because my binge-watching was entirely sane this time around, and obvious drama turns and episodic arcs became, well, a little more predictable. (Don't worry, this will all come around to marketing and advertising soon enough.)

This isn't fatal or even all that surprising. There's 50-odd episodes of HoC in the can now, and at this point, we all know what we're going to get when we fire it up. But it struck me, on some level, as indicative of where you get as a consultant, especially when your client relationship gets more and more seasoned. How do you keep the relationship fresh when there's a world of other people with ideas and experiences that would just love to take your spot, or clients that would never turn down an opportunity to cut down their expenses?

1) Develop new tricks.

One of my issues with Season 4 is that Underwood kept going to the well of direct violence against the women in his life... and while that's entirely correct for the character, it also undermines the core hook of the show. Like Walter White in "Breaking Bad", viewers get pulled into rooting for the protagonist through his occasional virtues (in White's case, righting past wrongs, and in Underwood's, competence in getting his goals accomplished)... but when he uses the same methods, that competence is undermined, and we're just left watching to see what happens, rather than being more emotionally invested.

As a consultant, if you are all about one method -- analytics, creative, copy writing, design, list management, etc. -- you are going to eventually seem limited. Good craftspeople have more tools in the belt, and make sure that the task matches the means.

2) Don't play the game everyone else plays.

The best moments in HoC come when Underwood or his associates use creativity or a greater vision to out-maneuver their adversaries, because being in the presence of people who are good at what they do is, well, captivating.

In marketing and advertising, if everyone else is selling impressions on prestige and branding, consider a paid acquisition model -- because if those numbers work for you, you've moved from an idiosyncratic choice to one that's a business imperative. If your client insists on sticking with a practice that you know is a loser, think about steering into the skid to truly show the extent of the mistake (assuming, of course, that you are also able to run a test cell with a less ruinous message, to limit the damage and ensure the learning). Move away from single metric measures of success or failure, because life is rarely that simple, and it will give you more ways to achieve. And so on. While choosing the lesser of two evils is sometimes necessary as adults, it's also not the way to run a business.

3) Candor can devastate. Use it carefully.

The "showiest" aspect of HoC is when Underwood breaks the fourth wall and addresses the audience directly about his inner motivations, in moments that none of the other characters hear, or react to. It's part of what leads to the whole MacBeth aspect of the show, along with Underwood's ambition and single-minded need for power, but what it also does is makes the audience complicit, an insider, someone with extraordinary insight. Only Underwood gets this power, even though there are plenty of scenes where he's not on screen, and these moments rarely disappoint.

Candor can intoxicate, and the right client can make you feel like you can fully "level" about what's going to happen in the business, or why something is going down the way it is... but it can also unsettle, since it can show that you only see one outcome. Especially if that outcome doesn't come to pass, at which point even the most impressed client has to wonder about your skills. My advice, learned from a long time in the trenches: be candid when you are completely sure of something. And try not be completely sure too often.

4) Control the pace.

In the current season, Underwood is undermined by the calendar of events in a political campaign, and has to take more drastic actions to put the odds back into his favor. As consultants, we usually have to deliver by certain deadlines, show results in time for Q4, and so on. But that type of thinking can leave opportunities on the table, and prevent more lucrative and successful initiatives, especially when you are trying to change what a brand means to the end user.

My experience says that if you can be direct and upfront about the desire to go beyond your limitations, you can often win more business and a longer rope. And even if you aren't able to get what you want right away, you lay the groundwork for winning it later.

5) Think from other perspectives... but never assume that such thinking will be airtight.

In the season finale, Underwood has to adjust when a risky ploy goes sideways, and the reason why is highly instructive. Since they know the background of the person they are dealing with doesn't quite jibe with his current situation, a leverage play is used to get him to do what they need... but the pull of the new position is stronger than what could be reached through realpolitick. While the outcome wasn't entirely shocking, and on further reflection seemed like a weak moment of plotting to my eyes, it's still instructive.

One of the easiest mistakes to make in marketing and advertising is falling for the Naturalistic Fallacy, simply known as "what is true for me is true for all." It's fine to put yourself in the shoes of a client or prospect, and work to find a solution from a different starting point. Just be aware that this is an easy way to make howling mistakes. So make sure to get "sanity checks" from outside perspectives, especially from people who are unafraid to tell you uncomfortable truths. It could save your business.

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Feel free to comment, as well as like or share this column, connect with me on LinkedIn, or email me at davidlmountain at gmail dot com, or hit the RFP boxes at top right. RFPs are always free, and we hope to hear from you soon.

Lessons In Brand Marketing: The Life Of Prince

Signature Super Moment

First things first; I'm a lifelong fan of the late and very great artist, going back to high school days with cassette tapes played until the music warped in my car's deck. Since the news came out on Thursday, I've been alternating between joy in viewing so much unearthed archival footage, and reliving all of those hits, and coming to grips with the loss. But you read me for marketing and advertising, and how the man handled his affairs has some lessons for and against our field.

First off, the easy stuff; his uncanny discipline in creating, and success in exploiting, his personal brand. From a signature color to the symbol he used when he became TAFKAP (The Artist Formerly Known As...), he always gave the media what they needed to write about him consistently... and then he gave them reams and reams of content, through a tireless work ethic, an ability to reinvent design looks, and more. From feuds with his label to scandals with any number of people who were convinced that he symbolized the downfall of the culture (and to be fair, that ventilated outfit at the MTV Awards while performing "Gett Off" is as red meat as it gets to goad the goad-able), there was a very long period of time when the sizzle nearly drowned out the steak. Like David Bowie before him and Madonna concurrently, Prince reinvented himself while not losing his core audience, and never limited himself to a single market. This was a global business, and one that ran with a relatively minimal amount of scandal, considering his field and subject matter.

That's not to say that everything was a Gold Experience. Most of his attempts to make it in film, or to recreate the "Purple Rain" success, were bad misses. His relentlessly prolific output exhausted casual fans, and the label battles meant an eventual saturation release experience, with good materials lost in the clutter. He never really adapted to the Internet age of music, and lost relevance and reach by staying away from streaming services. Litigation efforts that prevented his catalog from gaining new fans, and an old-school attitude towards not using his music in commercials, cut back on his relevance to newer audiences. While no one ever doubted his genius, pop music changed, and he, well, didn't.

Here's the thing, though... very little of that did any long-term damage to the brand. Because the plain and simple of marketing is that the quality of the work will overwhelm matters like last-mile creative failures, delivery and distribution mistakes, pricing issues, personal foibles and the other flotsam and jetsam of a real life.

What we do for our clients is important for the success of the enterprise, especially when it comes to finding new markets, monetizing to proper levels, positioning for the future, and so on, and so on. But this isn't alchemy, or the reverse. If you've got the goods, the marketing and advertising can succeed, even if it's sub-optimal. If you don't, all of the tap dancing in the world won't keep the curtain up.

And, well, with a catalog of dozens of hits in a variety of tempos and instrumentation, and a signature sound and acumen that's unmatched by anyone in his field or era, Prince's legacy is secure.

But, sadly, just not as long as it should have been.

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Feel free to comment, as well as like or share this column, connect with me on LinkedIn, or email me at davidlmountain at gmail dot com, or hit the RFP boxes at top right. RFPs are always free, and we hope to hear from you soon.