There is an interesting and well-informed article discussing Martha Rogers' and my Return on Customer metric in the most recent issue of the UK's Marketing Week magazine. David Reed, who covers the "data strategy" beat for the magazine, writes that while the data side of marketing has benefited greatly from a renewed attention to the financial metrics of success, particularly ROI, this might be a short-term blessing for the discipline. What he means is that ROI metrics typically look at campaign or product profitability figures, but have little to say about the long-term value created (or often destroyed) by marketing efforts. On the other hand, he says, the ROC metric does capture long-term value, because it incorporates changes in customer lifetime value (LTV). [Note, please that Martha and I have trademarked the terms "Return on Customer" and "ROC." We grant permission to people to apply these terms to their own analytics efforts when we deem the terms are used correctly.]

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Posted by Don Peppers | Permalink | Comments (1)

My first job out of the Air Force was as an economist for an independent oil company. We were based in New York City at 50 Rockefeller Plaza, which is the building that backs up onto Radio City Music Hall. I spent a little over a year in a shared office on the fourteenth floor at 50 Rock, before being promoted and transferred to Houston. Our office had a great view over the roof of Radio City, and we became a prime destination for lunchtime meetings and get-togethers during spring and summer, because on clear days we could usually spot several of the Rockettes out on the roof, tanning their legs.

For the last two days I've been sitting inside Radio City, observing and recording my impressions of HSM's World Business Forum as a member of the IBM-sponsored "Bloggers Hub." Radio City's atmosphere is electric, its setting majestic, and its historical pedigree authenticated by rows of now pointless public phone booths in the washrooms. But no sunning Rockettes were spotted. Instead, for the last two days we have been shining the light on business ethics, strategies, corporate culture, innovation, and employment practices.

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Posted by Don Peppers | Permalink | Comments (2)

There were three principle speakers the first morning of the World Business Forum - Bill George, Bill Conraty, and Patrick Lencioni, and they perfectly illustrate the generation-gap problem that afflicts discussions of management and technology these days.

The consensus around the Bloggers Hub was that Lencioni gave by far the best presentation, as a stand-up presenter. George had good material, although he didn't have the energy or style that Lencioni had. But Conraty was not so good, either in terms of style (a somewhat plain and boring PPT presentation) or substance (he seemed to miss the ball on CEO pay and on social media, for instance).

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Posted by Don Peppers | Permalink | Comments (3)