We’re back from thinkAbout 2007… what a great trip. Along with Todd rocking Tootsie’s (above), it was an inspirational and educational 2+ days. We reunited with old friends, made many new friends, and saw our fair share of boots and beers. But let’s start at the beginning.
We were invited to attend thinkAbout 2007 by our friends at Strategic Horizons. I had attended last year, and through conversations with Strategic Horizons, we’re now developing the companion web site for their new book Authenticity: What Consumers Really Want. While the site doesn’t launch until October 18th, we wanted to get a sense of what authenticity means through the conference. One of the key ideas we took away from the event is this: authenticity isn’t saying what you are. It’s creating a brand promise, and delivering on that promise. Authenticity = trust. But that’s just the beginning… more after the jump (yes, click on “more” link below so you can read and see the whole thing, if you’re on the Thinking page and reading just the intro, that is).
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TUESDAY: Substance leaves for Nashville
Todd, David and I left PDX early on Tuesday morning. Already, we were discussing what “authenticity” means, and how it would manifest itself during the trip. And after a 1 1/2 hour delay on the runway in Houston, we finally made it to Nashville. Instead of staying at the Gaylord Opryland (where the conference was), one of our Portland friends hooked us up at the Hotel Preston. At the Preston, if you’d like a pet fish for your stay, you can get one. I took advantage of the fish option…
After we checked in, and an informal meet-and-greet with other thinkAbout attendees at the Opryland Museum, it was off to bed to prepare for a jam-packed day on Wednesday.
Photo recap from Day 0. Click on a thumbnail to enlarge.
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WEDNESDAY: thinkAbout, Day One
We started with breakfast at the Gaylord Opryland. If you haven’t been, here’s the quick description: a surreal country-meets-French provincial village built within the friendly confines of a huge glass canopy. Protected from the humid Nashville September weather, the buildings reeked of fabrication, all the way down to the faux rust marks under the faux aged iron shutter hinges. It’s a mammoth structure, easily visible from space. After breakfast, it was over to the Acuff Theatre for an introduction to authenticity.
Joe Pine (left) and Jim Gilmore (right), both dressed as the Man in Black, welcomed the group of about 120 people to thinkAbout, and introduced the concept of authenticity. “If you are authentic, then you don’t have to say you’re authentic.” This axiom from the book sums up a lot of the thinking from a marketing standpoint. If you say you’re the real thing, you’re already creating an impression you aren’t the real thing. If you use the word “still,” like you’re “still the best,” you probably aren’t. But even beyond this, what we (Todd, David and I) discussed after the event, authenticity is so much more than what companies say… their marketing. Authenticity is based on trust. It’s creating a brand promise, and then delivering on that promise. We’ve seen so many companies make a brand promise, and then fail to live that promise. And that’s what separates the “fake” from the “real.” It’s saying what you do, and doing what you say. Talking the walk and walking the talk. But back to thinkAbout…
After the introduction, it was on to authentic activities. Jim and Joe talked about the idea of the Real/Fake matrix.
Is it real, or is it fake? Apparently it can be both… you see, it’s a 2×2 matrix. Along the Y axis, you have “Is it what it says it is,” on the X axis you have “Is true to itself.”
So, if you are what you say you are, and you’re true to yourself, you’re Real/Real. I’m doing a terrible job explaining it… you’ll be able to read about it on page 97 of the book. We did an exercise with the big matrix on the floor, discussing companies like Disney, Starbucks and the Geek Squad. Not surprisingly, many people had different opinions on what was real and what was fake.
On to Opry Mills, a massive mall (also easily visible from space) next to the Gaylord. There we toured the mall for “authentic” experiences and participated in exercises like shopping for shoes, looking at stores that sell customized goods, and the differences between automated and “real” human massages. Todd sang “Cherry, Cherry” in the mini recording booth next to the food court (more on that at the end of this story); I tried out Guitar Hero. I see Substance getting an XBox 360 for the office in the near future.
There were also breakout sessions about authenticity. With topics like, “what role storytelling plays in learning,” and, “how to be creative,” there was something interesting for everyone. David and I attended the session about “Real Innovation,” which discussed how to foster greater experiential and transformational innovation within your organization in order to deliver it to your clients. Not sure it was a good thing we attended, as we somehow managed to derail the discussion. I think the original idea was to discuss ways to create more creative and effective teams within your organization, but it evolved into a discussion about how innovation must be a critical component of a company’s resource and management philosophy. That there is no way to “systematize” innovation, that it needs to be integrated into the culture of a company from the top down, and that today’s companies who do not embrace a culture of innovation are at serious risk of becoming nothing more than tomorrow’s commodities.
After all this action, it was on to Legends for dinner.
David enjoyed some BBQ, baked beans, and cole slaw. And a Rolling Rock or two. Then it’s on to the world famous Tootsie’s for some music. Todd surprised the crowd by joining the band to perform “Hurt So Good” by John Cougar. That’s the video at the top of this post.
We then went to the Wild Horse Saloon for some music, then over to Wanna B’s for some karaoke, and finally back to the hotel around 1am.
Photo recap from Day 1. Click on a thumbnail to enlarge.
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THURSDAY: thinkAbout, Day Two
Started the day with some delicious sausages. Then it was right back to work, talking about what authenticity means. We broke up into small groups to create discussion topics about authenticity, such as how to enable authenticity on the front lines, to a question about Oprah being “real,” to the authenticity of mash-ups. I don’t think I can capture the passionate discussions that swirled around these and so many other topics in this one post… it’s one of those things where you had to be there. But many of the ideas discussed we’ll revisit in our thinkAbout Big Ideas post.
After lunch, there was the closing ceremonies. There was the Experience Stager of the Year Award and the Experience Management Award. And thinking about The Big Idea. And then thinkAbout was over. David headed back to Portland, but Todd and I wanted to have a couple extra “authentic” experiences. So we got in the car and headed back into Nashville to visit two shrines: the Shrine of Vintage Typography and the Shrine of Vintage Guitars.
Our first stop was Hatch Show Print, one of the oldest letterpress and silkscreen shops in the United States. It’s a designer’s wonderland… shelves and shelves of type, symbols and imagery.
Amazing stuff.
Then we went to Todd’s shrine, Gruhn Guitars. If you love guitars, or simply appreciate a finely handcrafted instrument, this is your place. Walls and walls of some of the most beautiful six stringed instruments (along with other numbers of strings) that you’ll find anywhere. Todd found a new little baby that he was trying to figure out how to fit in his luggage.
We also looked at boots, boots, and more boots.
We fortunately had on our own socks.
All this gawking over typography and guitars made us hungry, so we stopped in Robert’s Western World, one of the only places you can get a beer, a burger and boots all in one place.
Heading back to the car, we noticed this speakerbox… this random fixture on the sidewalk cranking out the tunes.
Seriously. The music was coming from the box.
Then back to Gaylord Opryland for an after-party jam and drinks. And then to bed for a 6:05am flight. Talk about 2 days of nonstop action.
Photo recap from Day 2. Click on a thumbnail to enlarge.
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CONCLUSION: thinkAbout, in review
Now that we’re back in Portland and decompressing from the event, we’re talking more about what it means to be authentic, and how companies like Substance are B2B(2B) and B2B(2C) companies. Our business isn’t simply “business to business” (our relationships with our clients), but also to our clients’ clients (businesses and/or consumers… who are really just “people” in the end… B2B2P?). So we not only think about our authenticity with our clients, but also creating authenticity for our clients. Digital media has become more powerful than marketing and advertising agencies. It’s not what the ad agencies are saying anymore, it’s what people are saying about the brands, the companies, and the ads, and the marketing. The way we can be “authentic” is to communicate the brand promise through an interactive medium (web site, kiosk, mobile device, etc.), and have the brand deliver on this message. It’s not simply having a conversation between people and brands, but having a conversation that people believe. It’s the idea that authenticity is built on trust, and trust is built through authenticity.
A huge thank you to Scott Lash, Joe Pine, Jim Gilmore, and Doug Parker from Strategic Horizons for putting on a great event. For all of you who we met in Nashville, it was great to meet you. Stay in touch, and please add your comments on your experience in Nashville.
To see all our photos from thinkAbout (all that you see here, plus a couple bonus ones), you can view them in our thinkAbout 2007 Flickr set. If you’re adding your own photos to Flickr, how about tagging them with “thinkabout 2007 nashville” to create one big collection? You can also watch the musical photo montage below… music track provided by Todd singing “Cherry, Cherry,” as performed in the “recording studio” at the Opry Mills food court.
Yee-haw!
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