Staying Ahead of the Curve

In a time when just about every company is talking about dialogue, listening to customers and transparency - few actually deliver on their vows. Recently Domino's Pizza put their money where their mouth is. They boldly reinvented themselves, even when things (from all outward appearances) are good. That takes a lot of balls. Humility is very Un-American, except of course when people are walking away. Chevy was really good at saying sorry, only after they were screwed. 

There is a theory in business called the Sigmoid curve - it basically states that there are four phases for any business: growth, maturity, decline, and death. It goes on to suggest that in order to prevent death, you must institute change while you are in maturity and before decline.


Even before I realized it had a name, I had observed this lifecycle in real life. And Domino's is putting the theory to the test. I'm eager to see what happens. 


A very wise man pointed out to me that there are two important rules that the Curve teaches us:  1) Nothing lasts forever under its own momentum.  2) Success contains the seeds of its destruction

Finding The Lowest Common Denominator

Anyone seen the recent Census advertising campaign? I saw this recently on television and it definitely piqued my curiosity, called "Payton Schlewitt's Snapshot of America." It's a Christopher Guest-type tongue in cheek mocumentary - very funny.

I did a little digging and came across this article: http://www.suntimes.com/business/lazare/1996380,CST-NWS-lew18.article.

So far, there's a facebook fan page (http://www.facebook.com/snapshotofamerica?ref=sgm) and a trailer on Youtube...worth watching.

So here's my question: If this is intended for the true general public, I'm curious to see if they get it. Right or wrong, I generall think of "America" as a lowest common denominator deal, and this definitely isn't.

Wonder what the next 4 ads have in store.