Say Cheese…

I re-read a popular business book this weekend “Who Moved My Cheese” (it’s a quick read). I was blown away — I felt like it was written for me as I am beginning a new chapter in my career next week. In a nutshell it, features four characters: two mice, “Sniff” and “Scurry,” and two little people, miniature humans in essence, “Hem” and “Haw.” They live in a maze, a representation of one’s environment, and look for cheese, representative of happiness and success. Initially without cheese, each group, the mice and humans, paired off and traveled the lengthy corridors searching for cheese. One group leads by understanding changes in their environment and one group is content on what they have and do not see the changes going on.

While it’s touted as a business book it draws many parallels on your personal life as well — whether it be about relationships, family dynamics, etc. As I ponder the meaning of the book I quickly draw parallels about this notion of “change” and how it has effected everything we do and defined us as a society, from entertainment to coffee to communications and so on….

In the age of social media consumption — think about what media was like 15 years ago…barley email and the internet. Think about communication 20 years ago…the cell phone, while 20 pound a device, was the it thing. They now refer to mail as snail mail because of the speed of communications we’ve seen over the years. How can you be ahead of that change? For a company like Pitney Bowes you find new cheese with the release of Volly™.

Even portions of entertainment industry have embraced change. When I look a the old school Disney animated movies they are a classic with a timeless story. But they are almost unbearable to watch –colors are flat, characters are flat. The world is flat — right? But then you add Pixar into the mix with digital animation and BAM…you have found your new cheese. What about consumables? I never liked coffee until I went to college. Coffee to me was my mother’s instant Foldgers — ick. But coffee that has 2 parts romanticism, 2 parts taste and 2 parts social engagement…the coffee industry certainly found their cheese…thank you Howard Kurtz.

For the BtoB marketing world — forgettaboutit. There is so much cheese it’s hard to understand where to go — in-person events to virtual events, lengthy data to 140 characters, print ads to interactive ads via QR codes, selling to engagement, does your head hurt yet? Mine does but I’m psyched to find the cheese.

Make it simple, make it fun to read.

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