UX BizPlan Vending Co.

The vending machine is marvel of retro technology which thrives in our digital hi-tech portable world. Not only can you order items on your cell phone, you can now buy a cell phone from a vending machine!

But let's stick with food for a moment.

Will you hover over your selection just that extra half second to insure you don’t accidentally get black licorice when you wanted cheese doodles?

Dinner In A Bag


It can be stressful when you made the decision to work late and replace dinner with a few handfuls of deep fried potato slices.

Snack food is a multi-billion dollar worldwide industry. There are companies making money hand over chips as we toil late in to the wee hours searching for sustenance.

Conformity and Choice
How can we learn from the vending machine while running a business?

Some say if we are left with too much choice, we make none at all. But if we think we are too restricted, then we are unhappy with the choices presented to us.

User experience must be – by definition – designed for the user. We customize our phone backgrounds and voicemail, we can modify our computer color schemes, choose from the long menu of options for our car and fashion is an individual choice.

Why do we conform in the workplace?

Could it be beneficial to examine the tastes and desires of each member of the team? Is it possible to find a more co-creative workspace by incorporating the choices made by each person involved?

If we all liked the same things, shirts would only be available in blue and the parking lot would be filled with the same make and model of car.

No Rules. No Conclusions.

This is not to suggest you create an atmosphere where everyone chooses and no one makes decisions - that's just as unproductive as a benevolent dictatorship.

If you work with clients or run a business, give some thought to the abundance of knowledge and experience of everyone involved. You may find some surprises along the way and not blindly feed them black licorice when they’d prefer cheese doodles.

What's your selection?

@knealemann
Helping you create your best business
marketing and social media strategy.

image credit: askdavetaylor.com

統合されているか? What Is Integration?

Are you integrated? Is your company integrated?
Do you know? Do you know how?

Integration is a word that is thrown around quite a bit these days. But what does it really mean? Let’s start with one definition; the organization of various traits, feelings, attitudes into one harmonious personality.

But it’s one thing to define it; it’s another to put it in to practice. It can be as foreign as speaking Japanese to someone who only speaks English.

統合されているか?
What Is Integration?

Integration has become a catch-all like social media, marketing, user-experience, paradigm shift and community. In simple terms – though easier said than done – it is when several topics or concepts or pieces are seamlessly merged to make a better result. The parts are not lost but work well with each other in a natural way.

But integration is not about trickery. It is about reflecting life.

設定した上で静かな
Quiet On The Set

In the entertainment world, we have seen infomercials and product placement for decades but those applications are often clunky and obvious. The advertising and marketing communities have embraced integration for the purpose of telling more of a story around the product or service.

You may remember the Dog House viral video or the Guy Richie BMW mini-movies. Though neither may have increased sales per se, they were a part of the overall strategy.

コピーを取る
Make A Copy

The mistake many make is to see something that spreads through viral channels and think they can duplicate it. That strategy is about as sound as all the years when the New York Rangers thought they could buy a Stanley Cup by paying gobs of money to a bench full of “superstars”.

Copying is not integration, insuring all the parts are in tact is not either. Integration happens when you remember the human part – when you can reflect the tastes of your audience or customers - not dictate them.

はじめまして
Nice To Meet You

If you are having coffee with someone you just met, you notice their clothing and the surroundings, you are more conscious about yourself and your body language. But once you get to know someone, those thoughts are melded into a relationship with that person which is integrated with all that you do with each other. You become yourself.

When we can forget the screen, the transmitter, the camera, the out-of-context medium that is simply delivering the content then we begin to enjoy true integration.

どのように統合されますか？
How Do You Integrate?

@knealemann