Work In Progress

Two Fridays ago I ventured out to the West Village to see Work In Progress, a workshop put on by John Leguizamo to test out material for his upcoming show. At $20 a pop, it was a no-brainer.  There were no more than 75 - 100 people in the theater who sat in folding chairs with cushions.  John was up close and personal as he took us through his new material for almost two hours.  It was a true testament to workshop; he was just getting a gauge of his material - what was funny, what was offensive, what was sad, what was thought-provoking.  

I was really appreciative of this show too.  For starters, John Leguizamo has worked with Al Pacino, Robert Deniro, Sean Penn, Harrison Ford, Spike Lee, and Leonardo DiCaprio to name a few.  Additionally, it gave the audience a glimpse into the creative process.  Finally, the venue was perfect -- run by amateur playhouse employees, filled with people across the inebriation spectrum, and set in the middle of the West Village.  I thought the whole experience was really fun and interesting, and would love to do more of that.  The whole show really spoke to the transparency of his creative process.  

And it got me thinking about this whole transparency thing -- I think its something marketers can learn from.  I think we are just beginning to see a tip in the research/CRM process.  The gathering of knowledge and insights is transforming...slowly.  But it definitely is changing.  Over the past few years as an industry we went from a linear process of collecting, synthesizing, analyzing, and reacting to data to one where we measured quantitative data in real-time.  I think we took a huge leap though without thinking about everything we  over-stepped.  

However, some companies have leveraged this unchartered territory to their competitive advantage.  MyStarbucksIdea.com, Dell's IdeaStorm, and GenerationBenz.com are a few examples where companies are transparent about their creative process and gathering new ideas.  And, they are taking it one step further by merging research/analytics with CRM.  By bringing their consumers into their creative process they are also establishing a relationship base with their consumers, which they can nurture and use for up-selling, cross-selling and loyalty.

I think as the online medium changes and display advertising loses its appeal (although not all of it is bad or dismissive), marketers will opt for strategic CRM over mass-reach advertising. Especially, as CRM becomes scalable and engaging -- no more DR flyers or emails, now CRM can be conducted socially, with video and on mobile devices.