12573: Walking With Harry Webber.

The ever-revolutionary Harry Webber presented more breakthrough thinking at LinkedIn…

A Company Is An Idea That Goes For A Walk.

By Harry Webber, Creative Director at Idean Enterprises, Inc.

I have been starting business entities for almost fifty years. All of them have been profitable. All of them have been based upon a simple idea. Help other businesses gain more customers. In all, the companies my companies have helped, have enjoyed more than one trillion dollars in sales. They have become household words. They have become global brands. They have dominated their product categories. This has made my reputation on Madison Avenue.

In five decades of doing the same thing over and over again, I knew that one day, my methods of working would ultimately outlive their usefulness. I knew that one day the world of business would change. 2015 has brought that change to light. Today, the customer is now in charge. That single event has changed the ways that companies go to market. Unfortunately, 99 44/100% of American companies have no idea that this change is now in force. Unfortunately, for them. Not unfortunately for me. I saw it coming a long way off. When the change arrived, I was ready and waiting to leave Madison Avenue behind and step into the future. The Era of CX is now upon us. Customer Experience Rules!

But this time I intend to play a different game. Rather than sell what I know about this brave New World of CX to the highest bidder, I will use it to build one more company. A company that takes this idea for a walk. Companies that are based on CX are structured completely different than other firms. Their structures are far more flexible. They are built to constantly change with their targeted audiences. When the customer changes, the company changes to accommodate them. When the wants and needs of the customer changes, so do the products that the company offers those customers. The products change to meet customer desires. Flexibility is built into the business model. The company anticipates changes rather than following trends. Products are designed to be produced and delivered digitally, when possible. Digital and analog aspects of the company are designed to be integrated and in many cases interchangeable. But the greatest advantage of these CX companies is that they are massively scalable.

Where as traditional companies earn revenue through the sale of physical products or offered services, this new generation of companies earns revenue through the delivery of experiences. These experiences combine product and service components into memorable experiences. These experiences begin as an answer to an unmet want, need or desire of the selected audience. Their cost is minimal, so as to provide the least amount of risk to the customer. These experiences are interactive so that they can be altered by the audience to suit their specific needs and interests. We strive to allow the audience to see themselves and their interests in the manifestation of the experience. Each experience strives to reflect the values and lifestyles of its audience.

Every touchpoint between the customer and the company is specifically designed to be friction free. The audience is a participant in the creative process that evolves the experience as well as the personas who are enjoying the experience. And as the experience grows and evolves the personas involved have the option of sharing these experiences with like-minded participants and communities. At will, these experiences can be unique or shared, simple or complex, realistic or fantasy driven. Ultimately, these experiences evolve into a massive feedback loops that stimulate and engage the creativity of all involved. Experiences can be active or passive. Experiences can be imaginary or physical. Experiences can be ongoing or episodic. The audience is in the driver’s seat for every moment of their journey.

The company will deploy these experiences from house to house, neighbor to neighbor, block to block, zip code to zip code, city to city, state to state, nation to nation. Only one aspect of each experience will remain constant. This common ground will draw those within the experience closer and closer. This common ground will provide the singular “reality” that manifests the reality of each experience. This common ground will allow the shared experiences to grow.