Niko Herzeg Marketing » business

Halfway between a truth and a lie pt 10: behind the curtain, before the show

admin — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 08:29:50 +0000

Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Hellen Keller

In the next 14 days, give or take, we are opening up our service to the public. Nothing up this point in my life has me prepared for these next days.

I am an adman. Started out in publishing and through chance and helping hands, blagged my way into Account Planning. For all my bitching and bridge burning, I really enjoy it. I have a talent for it. Am proud of most works I’ve been a part of.

But launching a proper company, with people depending on you for money, clients across continents, investments, is not like launching a campaign. Not even close. Being a hoe don’t prepare you for pimpin’.

We’ve been working towards this launch for the last 3 months. Progress has been slower than expected. Most people who track our progress, disagree with me.

They tell us there are three criteria to judge progress as a start up:
1) You don’t believe in the idea..
2) You are fearing the end of finance..
3) The market consistently turns down your iterations..

If any of the above are happening, panic and have serious conversations. If not; focus and push forward..Judging by that, we’re good.

And yet here we are, weeks away from public judgement : a million things to do, and even more things slipping past me because of lack of time, hands and sheer inability to do better.

I know some perspective is needed, but in the lonely cool before the launch, this is how I am seeing and feeling things.

Lucky for me Kedar is co-founder. For the life of me I don’t get why he agreed. Good thing he did though. Being better at what I am good at and the opposite of me, has made all the difference.

I can’t imagine it always being easy to work with me: moody, impatient, prone to immaturity and unreasonable expectations. And then there are bad days. Though I’d never say it to his face, I am very thankful for his momentary lapse of judgement when he agreed to all of this.

Like I said, nothing has me prepared for what is next; least of all my time spend in Adland. For all their talk of failing fast and learning, always being in beta and shit; when you’ve invested as much as I have, we have, no way I am objective and rational.

This is personal, fuck business and fuck you.

Time to lift the curtains..

Anyways…as always

halfway between a lie and a truth: pt6 – month 1

admin — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 20:49:27 +0000

A month ago, advertising consultant;
A month ago, fall and chance of frost;
A month ago, ideas were just thoughts;
A month ago, LATAM was a continent I wanted to visit in my lifetime;
A month ago, Yo no hablo español;
A month ago, a lot of “what if’” and no real chance of finding out;

A month in, co-founder education start up;
A month in, spring and chance of heat waves;
A month in, ideas are less thoughts, more action plans;
A month in, LATAM feels like a continent I could spend a lifetime;
A month in, Todavía no hablan español;
A month in, a lot of “what if” with a fighting chance of finding out, and winning…maybe

Anyways… as always

halfway between a lie and a truth: pt3

admin — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 12:59:31 +0000

This weekend has been good for various reasons: first of we said hola to Santiago during the night. She kindly said hola back. and then some.

Secondly, we survived our personal version of a Chilean bbq; grilled for over two hours by a VC; keeping the bad bbq analogies going, in the end he did not spit us out after chewing us up (and no he did not lick the plate either, you perverts). We are now labelled viable. Seems to be quite a thing in that world, so a small hurrah.

Sunday’s are a bit weird as that day is mostly spend not doing anything in Chile. But when in Rome ..and all that..

Looking ahead the week is busy but shaping up nicely; lot’s of meetings, system design sessions (no idea what that means, but is sounds nice), budget talks, some emergency cloth shopping and attending a proper Chilean wedding.

Anyways..as always..

La vida es divertita

admin — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 00:24:49 +0000

Our project got selected and we accepted the invitation. Santiago is home for the next 6 months as we go about turning this chip into a boulder.

Updates will follow as events unfold, because if you think this is over then you’re wrong.

the business end of innovation (client thoughts on social, co-… and other ideas agencies love to push)

admin — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 00:05:43 +0000

The great lesson in microeconomics is to discriminate between when technology is going to help you and when it’s going to kill you. And most people do not get this straight in their heads. But a fellow like Buffett does.

For example, when we were in the textile business, which is a terrible commodity business, we were making low-end textiles—which are a real commodity product. And one day, the people came to Warren and said, “They’ve invented a new loom that we think will do twice as much work as our old ones.”

And Warren said, “Gee, I hope this doesn’t work because if it does, I’m going to close the mill.” And he meant it.

What was he thinking? He was thinking, “It’s a lousy business. We’re earning substandard returns and keeping it open just to be nice to the elderly workers. But we’re not going to put huge amounts of new capital into a lousy business.”

And he knew that the huge productivity increases that would come from a better machine introduced into the production of a commodity product would all go to the benefit of the buyers of the textiles. Nothing was going to stick to our ribs as owners.

That’s such an obvious concept—that there are all kinds of wonderful new inventions that give you nothing as owners except the opportunity to spend a lot more money in a business that’s still going to be lousy. The money still won’t come to you. All of the advantages from great improvements are going to flow through to the customers.

Conversely, if you own the only newspaper in Oshkosh and they were to invent more efficient ways of composing the whole newspaper, then when you got rid of the old technology and got new fancy computers and so forth, all of the savings would come right through to the bottom line.

In all cases, the people who sell the machinery—and, by and large, even the internal bureaucrats urging you to buy the equipment—show you projections with the amount you’ll save at current prices with the new technology. However, they don’t do the second step of the analysis which is to determine how much is going stay home and how much is just going to flow through to the customer. I’ve never seen a single projection incorporating that second step in my life. And I see them all the time. Rather, they always read: “This capital outlay will save you so much money that it will pay for itself in three years.”

So you keep buying things that will pay for themselves in three years. And after 20 years of doing it, somehow you’ve earned a return of only about 4% per annum. That’s the textile business.

And it isn’t that the machines weren’t better. It’s just that the savings didn’t go to you. The cost reductions came through all right. But the benefit of the cost reductions didn’t go to the guy who bought the equipment. It’s such a simple idea. It’s so basic. And yet it’s so often forgotten.

A Lesson on Elementary, Worldly Wisdom As It Relates To Investment Management & Business, Charles Munger, USC Business School, 1994

strategy is a popsong

admin — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 00:59:07 +0000

“Don’t try and write rock songs, write a pop song and then rock it up or whatever else you wanna do, on top..”
Noel Gallagher

This equally applies to our work: First come up with the problem the brand can/wants/should address, that is rooted in actual consumer buying/using behaviour. Trace back to understand what has lead them to behave the way they do (as good as possible).

Figure out what barriers (now you layer it with thinking around tools, digital, npd, attitudes) stand in the way of them showing the future behaviour you need to achieve your goals.

Start making it possible to remove and to get people to move. If they move; spread the word.

Is it really that simple? Yes, but obviously not that easy to execute.

client point of view and biggest lesson from two years freelance

admin — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 03:12:52 +0000

” William Lawrence of ABC, another former Times man, asked the first question on December 16: As you look back upon your first two years in office, sir, has your experience in office matched your expectations?

‘ Well, I think in the first place the problems are more difficult, than I had imagined they were,’ Kennedy answered. ‘The responsibilities placed on the United States are greater than I imagined them to be, and there are greater limitations on our ability to bring about a favorable result than I imagined them to be. And I think that is probably true of anybody who becomes President, because there is such a difference between those who speak, or advise or legislate, and between the man who must select from various alternatives proposed and say that this shall be the policy of the United States.

It is much easier to make the speeches than it is to finally make the judgements, because unfortunately your advisors are frequently divided. If you take the wrong course, and on occasion I have, the President bears the burden of responsibility quite rightly. The advisors may move on to new advice”

President Kennedy – Profile of Power; Richard Reeves

Astrix Advertising

admin — Sun, 22 May 2011 22:26:18 +0000

Here is a thought starter: If you still rely on * (as this mobile provider does) in your thinking or in the advertising of your solutions, your solution is to complicated.

Now obviously that is not always the case, but it does serve as a way to look at what you are offering. And how you are communicating your offer.

Static/passive media like print and tv used to allow advertisers some lag time between what your offer (in terms of what you offered and how you communicated it) and when the offer was acted upon.

The ever closing gap between input and outcome asks for ever greater streamlining of the purchase process and a greater level of trust between buyer and seller.

But the good side is that every * offers a chance to create something of meaning, something that meets a need in a delightful way (that does not mean you need to add technology to the mix, just start with some observation and buyer point of view empathy and take it from there).

Note to self: since people buy stuff, keep your eye on people..

admin — Tue, 10 May 2011 04:52:53 +0000

Comedy and Account Planning

admin — Wed, 04 May 2011 22:06:10 +0000

How comedy can help account planning

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