Fear of the new and unknown

Wow this is funny, and yet sad at the same time. Back in the day, with the beginnings of rail transportation, came what some historians have called "extraordinary paranoia". Apparently it was thought that trains would blight the crops with their smoke, terrify livestock with their noise, and that people would suffocate if traveling at more than 20 miles an hour! Some saw the railway as a threat to social order, allowing the lower classes to travel too freely, weakening moral standards and dissolving the traditional bonds of community.

Sound familiar to what has been predicted with constant changes in technology, and the explosion of social media? Or how about the fear and paranoia surrounding same-sex marriage ... "weakening moral standards and dissolving the traditional bonds of the family".

Fear of the new and unknown can stop innovation at best. At worst, it can cause a chasm and huge divide between adopters and dissenters. You know what I'm talking about - and have probably heard some of these refrains... "Facebook is for college kids. It won't catch on for business". "Social media opens us up to our customers' being able to post their discontent with our company for all the world to see". "We don't want to create opportunities for customers and prospects to actually interact in case our customers have a beef with us". "Allowing same-sex marriage threatens the family". Really?

Trains run every day, some upwards of 200+ miles/hour, and no one suffocates as a result. Social media has responded to customers' desire to state their truth and their positions (whether we like them or not). The post-industrial world and all its opportunity has caused lasting changes in the world of work, the role of women and the family, long before the idea of same-sex marriage.

So on this Thanksgiving Day I am thankful for all the pioneers who are much smarter than I, and those willing to take great personal and professional risks to expose us to the new. Some of it may not stick. Some of it may not be judged helpful. But change and curiosity is nothing to fear.

Middle Child Syndrome

These 3 poodle girls are living proof that "middle child syndrome" exists in the canine kingdom as it does in the human. From left to right: Tailor (just 6), Olivia (8) and Isabelle (13!) are quite the family. Izzy now stands at the door to the motorhome on her potty breaks and looks at me like, "well are you going to lift me down?" while Tailor pushes her way through, and Olivia hangs in the background.

And meal times? Well, the 2 younger ones eat first, then Izzy's bowl goes down. Middle child Olivia ALWAYS finishes first, while Izzy decides if it's worth the effort, and Tailor ("One Crunch") takes her time. So Olivia goes back and forth between each, hoping for a reaction or better yet that one of them will walk away. If she could speak I swear she would say, "Can't you just let me finish it??".

Snuggle time at night? Tailor, because she's the smallest and "cute" always seems to have a place on my lap - she just makes it so. Izzy, stretched out on her back on HER couch. And so that leaves Olivia, moving from dog bed to dog bed, wandering past me and pushing her nose up under my arm craving a pet. So interesting to watch the dynamics.

So parents be aware - middle child syndrome is still alive and well, even in the canine world.

SHIFT - brands that you join, not just buy

Just finished Peter Arnell's book, "SHIFT" and loved it. I had no idea until I finished it and Googled him looking for more that his agency was the one behind the changing of the Tropicana OJ packaging (referred to as a $35M mistake as consumers revolted) but it was still a great book. Great writing style, simple, pithy and compelling.

Throughout the book, and all the examples given, I was reminded about so many creatives who take the notion of "brand" only so far. For some it's about a look/feel or logo. For others it's about "raising awareness" or helping a company become known for what it does. For others it's about sales. So many in this space don't put the thinking energy into taking their brand to the next level and making it something so much more meaningful than just a marketing construct.

Arnell puts it simply - "In consumer branding, we need to not just have customers buy a product but to join a brand. We need to issue an invitation not push for a transaction."

I think he is so right. Every single one of us, including those who make our lives in the vast array of "marketing" pursuits, are customers too. And I bet most of us despise, some even hate, being treated like a transaction and part of an equation on a sales report. So as "Black Friday" looms just a few days away, the most transactional of all shopping days, I'm making it my personal charge to drink in the whole experience and see if I can find any "transactions" that invite me to join, in a sustainable way (beyond the monthly service contract!).

I'm betting there are few, if any. And yet, as a client once told me when we were launching a new destination resort and trying to tell the story, "I'll know it when I see it". For me, it's beyond just seeing, I know great brands when I feel them, and they invite me in to their community. Let's make it our professional charge to do this on every brand we touch. You in?

Harvest Festivals. Community. Simple pleasures.

Today at the Del Mar Fairgrounds I joined what seemed like thousands of others interested in hand-crafted arts and crafts, artisanal food and baked goods, toys carved out of wood, unique metal jewelry, original music and every other thing like these you can imagine, typically found at the world's best street fairs. I admit, I expected to find a bunch of older ladies, hair done up, looking for quilts, silk flowers, and selling things that had no practical use at all. My mind's stereotype was pleasantly blown.

The vendors were as diverse at the world in which we live - young, old, gay, straight, Americans, immigrants, families and eclectic individuals whom I imagined live in funky outposts in small town Arizona or New Mexico, or coastal California towns no one has ever heard of.

It was packed. And it was cool. There was a happiness and peace in the air. Those of us buying were doing something "good", supporting local artists directly, and those who were selling were clearly proud of their creations, many very in touch with the ebbs and flows of this crazy world we live in, like the silver pendants with motivational sayings designed to make you feel ok about "making it through", or the belt buckle switchblade knife combo that comes with a card quoting the penal code appropriate to a concealed weapon (it is not one ... apparently one inch more and it would be), or the cupcakes made with some famous ingredient used by the native Americans that promote energy and are appropriate for vegans, or every kind of fruit and herb-infused olive oil imaginable.

I have been to many street and craft fairs, and this one was the best. I was struck by the energy, and the fun everyone was having supporting the artisan movement. It didn't feel like a Sunday afternoon for old ladies who drive beat up gold cars too slowly. And it made me reflect again on "community" and what it means.

Two years ago we asked our home shoppers how they spent their free time. Almost 50% said "dining out". Today, that has dropped to just over 10%. Glad I am not in the restaurant business... And in answer to that same question about free time, two years ago just 2% said "spending time visiting friends and neighbors in my community". Today that number has increased more than five times.

Maybe there's a correlation, maybe not, but there's a line in a song somewhere about enjoying what you have, not wanting what you don't. If ever there was a time to just turn it down a notch and enjoy what's right around us, including the creative gifts of others, it's now.

Is it just a cycle - or has it changed forever?

At the ULI Fall Conference last week there was a lot of talk about things like, "when will it come back?" or "when will it return/recover to what was?".

Understandable questions for so many who spend their time and lives creating communities and building real estate. I think this question though is a moot point. The premise behind it is the real estate business is cyclical, beholden to the ebbs and flows of the economy, the political economy, job creation/retraction. So we are all wondering when these conditions will improve. In my humble opinion, that is the right question. But wondering when it will "come back" and the American consumer will go back to consuming like before is not as relevant as spending our time trying to understand how this American consumer will fulfill the belief in personal attainment, and opportunity, in a world that has forever changed.

The convergence of a number of factors - technological, environmental, demographic, gender roles, and global economics - have all dramatically changed our culture and our society, and forever altered the way we live, relate, consume and express ourselves. I think if we stop looking backwards and look at what is we would mostly all agree with that. AND, what has not changed is the American consumers' belief in opportunity, and their ability to create a future of their own making. The two are not mutually exclusive. I think more can be learned and gained about looking forward to the cues and signs from this new reality than worrying about the loss of old.

It's an exciting and motivating time to be alive!

The Changing Customer ...

I'm preparing for a panel presentation at ULI (Urban Land Institute) next month. Our topic is basically about the changing consumer, what trends we are all seeing and how our various businesses are responding. With every new thing we are trying, what's working and what's not, and maybe a little bit about why.

The thought that occurs to me is for at least the past 3 years we have been talking, writing, hearing about the "changing customer". Like it's some kind of new permanent state, or new absolute - this "changing" customer. The changing customer is not the same as s/he was 3 years ago, and will not be the same next month. I think we need a new moniker for this illusive person.

The customer as of September 2010, versus the customer of April 2010. In the residential real estate business those are two different people. And what will they be like in December of this year? Fun to think about. There's no magic pill, other than SPEED of thought, and flexibility in approach. And the need to look outside ourselves, really, and deeply at this customer. I know that to be true - we don't have the answers inside the walls of our offices or boardrooms. They are out there in the marketplace to be observed and participated in.

The Web is to Cities What Apple is to Suburbia

I love the Sunday NY Times, not only for my "me" time with a good cup of coffee and some fine writers who make me think, but also for the Book Review and The New York Times Magazine. Today's Magazine did not disappoint, and Virginia Heffernan's feature, "The Medium" drew some thoughtful and thought-provoking parallels between the Web and cities, and Apple and suburbia. Given that much of my life right now is devoted to how people live, what they care about in communities, and working with teams to build these communities, AND yes I am an Apple devotee - this was a must read.

Here's the link for those whose attention in piqued:
http://nyti.ms/9jM0Rq

The basic gist is the "open" Web is like urban centers, full of the unexpected, the gritty, the sometimes not clean sides of life, and with the advent of the iPhone and now the iPad, Apple is enabling Web users to avoid the urban decay of the big wide open Web and head to the suburbs. The App store lets users self-select their experience, behind walled gardens of better developed "user experiences" where everything is neat, cute and orderly.

Her overall premise? The Web is being "stratified" with pay walls, subscription access and privacy settings and other ways of controlling the experience. This makes users feel safe. The parallel she draws (though not totally stated overtly) is that suburbia is one of society's physically stratified places. Safe, clean and away from what many consider the decay of inner city urban living. Life is never this black and white for sure, but it's an interesting metaphor.

She says 50 million people are on their way to quitting the open Web entirely (the current number of iPhone and iPad users), and warns: "By choosing machines that come to life only when tricked out with Apps from the App Store, users of Apple's radical mobile devices increasingly commit themselves to a more remote and inevitably antagonistic relationship with the Web."

Now, were creating communities NOT my business I hope I would still see this metaphorical stretch a little fatalistic! The parallel here is of course that people who choose to live in the suburbs are committing themselves to an inevitably antagonistic relationship with urban life, or that their suburban life comes alive only when "tricked" by the creations of suburbia - private amenities, walled access, and god forbid a gate to keep out interlopers! I'm probably carrying the link too far (let's hope!) but what I see in suburbia all over the country is new models of community, new styles of home product, and shifts in demographic and lifestyle characteristics of the people who are moving there. It's no longer the traditional families who live here (where "family" means you must have children) and where mom stays home and everyone lives in a single-family house with the garage out front.

Suburban living today is every kind of family you can imagine, and more new ones being created each day. And it's more and more about every kind of home product too, smaller homes, attached homes, townhomes, walk ups, live/work homes, and homes where multiple generations live together. Just like in cities. All these shifts and many more to come are forever changing the character of suburban living.

So maybe the real take away is that the proliferation and accessibility of Apps from the App Store and the growing stratification of the Web will simply be another additive alternative to our online world. Stratification, doesn't always have to divide - sometimes it just gives people more choice and ways to stay in control of their own reality. City or suburban dweller, open Web user or iPhone browser, I am pretty certain that's a desire we all share.

Anyway, it's a great read - she made me think.