Inside the Group

(Ok, Here’s a Question) Don’t the definitions matter in healthcare?

As the healthcare debate has gone local and turned ugly again (ahh weren’t the 90s great?) I am suffering from a head ailment that is progressively getting worse. No, wait it’s just a question that is bothering me. Whew.

Augmented Reality a Buzzword with Potential (Cutting Edge)

We are a sucker for new things to be sure and especially when they have the potential to be a real game-changer. Today, however we aren’t talking about a thing, rather a concept, or more appropriately a utilization of technologies that are creating a new experience for consumers and users. This new mashup is generally referred to as “augmented reality” which in a simple definition is the combination of the digital and physical worlds to provide a uniquely enhanced experience. Of course with most things in the digital world, that definition encompasses a lot of possibilities. Below are three examples along with our take on their “it’s a keeper” potential: 

Proctor & Gamble – Always Infinity (Is it really worth the customer’s time?)
Best Buy (A little gee whiz is all you get but could be improved.)
Zugara's Clothing Tester (Wow, an actual use to benefit the customer.)

After looking at the above examples you might start to think that there is in fact big potential in AR as well as under the bigger umbrellas of mobile marketing, 3D technology, and location-based marketing. And we would agree with you. In fact at Westfall | Group we’re following the growth of AR utilization and are looking for ways to incorporate it into our work for clients to provide meaningful user experiences. The key there is meaningful because as with most marketing tactics, if in the end your audience is left asking, “is that all there is?” then your money would definitely be better spent somewhere else.

Technorati Tags: augmented reality,interactive media,online marketing

Inside the Group is the discussion and brainstorming world of evolution firm Westfall | Group

Social Network Evaluation (Group-Life)

If anyone was wondering if we at Westfall | Group are really in touch with what it is like to get and keep a company off the ground, rest assured we are. As evidence, you just have to look at how the rollout of our new website and blog have taken longer than expected (note: both are still being tweaked as we speak). Of course rolling out sites, services and products in beta form is not new and is in fact growing in adoption.

Cash for Clunkers and the Multiplier Effect

Quite often policies and programs created by the federal government are viewed with distrust, dislike, and a general skepticism. So when a program such as Cash for Clunkers comes along that, while still having opponents, seems to have been so well received that it has almost ran out of it’s initial budget--it is somewhat refreshing to see a policy strike such a chord.

3 Considerations in Designing Restaurant Space (The Quick List)

As with most things, the ultimate objective of a restaurant is to provide its guests with the best experience possible, so that they’ll come back again and again and tell their friends, thus becoming the best marketing money doesn’t need to buy. Of course terrible food, poor service, or bad location each could kill the experience (all things we’ll take about in the future to be sure), but just as is important is the design of the restaurant itself.

A restaurant often reflects the personalities and interests of the owner, especially the  single location, local establishment. And it should. The restaurant is an extension of the passion of the owner and should have that energy flowing through-out the place. But it’s also important to ask who the targeted customer will be, what will they like, what will they expect, and what will make their experience a great one.

Here are three simple things that should be considered when designing the space:

1. Line of sight: People don’t like to have all of the action happening where they can’t see. At the same time people don’t like to be the center of attention. So avoid creating spaces where the customer would feel like all the eyes are on him or her or spaces where people’s ability to see the rest of the crowd is hampered.
2. Sound: Unless you are running a heavy metal bar and grill, pick a music or ambient noise level that will be loud enough to keep conversations somewhat private while not so loud that screaming becomes the required speaking tone.
3. Lighting: It can be used in many ways to create unique and dramatic moods and environments. But it still must be functional—people like to be able to read their menus, see who they are talking to, and locate where the runaway meatball landed.

 

Technorati Tags: restaurant planning,restaurant design,interior design,customer experience

Inside the Group is the brainstorming and discussion world of evolution firm Westfall | Group

Make it better, make money (Right On)

Okay, our first post out of the gate was a little on the negative side, so I wanted to quickly follow-up with something of a more inspiring nature.

In the June/July issue of Businessweek’s Small Biz, I came across a short profile of a man named Mark Calvo, CEO of Serotek, a maker of accessibility software. Mark is blind and after a rough start in life he decided to build a company that would help improve the lives of sight-impaired people, an often ignored and misunderstood segment of our population.

Mark is so committed to improving the lives of this group that he freely admits that he partakes in reverse discrimination with over 90% of his workforce sight-impaired. He also makes a point that the Internet needs to be more accessible not because it is the right thing to do but that blind people's “money is green too” and that it just makes good business sense. Now I’ve never met Mark or worked with his company, so I only know what I have read, but I can say that it is that type of ‘here’s a problem that needs addressed and a population that needs to be served’ kind of thinking that we respect and admire (and hope to emulate on a daily basis).

So, right on Mark. Keep on keeping on.

Technorati Tags: entrepreneur,small business,innovation,strategy,marketing

Inside the Group is the brainstorming and discussion world of evolution firm, Westfall | Group

Spend the money, really. (UGH!)

Today: NETZERO

I was watching something on TV the other day when onto my screen popped the head of dial-up internet provider, Net Zero. As he often does, he immediately began touting the wonder that is his company, going so far as to say that his company could save broadband users $16B dollars annually by using their service. Wow! That’s a lot of mullah that hard working Americans could use for other things, and all they have to do is revert their entire lives back to those turtle-slow days of the early 90s.

I mean really, who is Net Zero trying to kid anyway? Their offer is tantamount to me promising huge savings if you were to trade your gas guzzler of a car in for a brand new horse and buggy. What a deal…save money on gas, protect the environment, and only add four to five hours to your daily commute.

Bottom line is that NetZero is in a dying industry. Dial-up access is only used by those who have no other choice or who have decided that to do their very minimal chores online that is all they need. But as is evidenced by the boom in online video, cloud computing, and other bandwidth-sucking innovations, the idea that saving money with dial-up comes with no catch (such as missing out on most of what is being offered online these days) is false. Yet that exact premise is promoted in NetZero’s marketing.

Now there is something to be said for the oligopoly that the cable, satellite, and DSL companies have on our access to the internet, and hopefully in time we will create ways to make competition stronger and keep prices in check. But to try and convince people that preventing themselves from all that the information economy provides and requires is somehow the solution to higher broadband prices, is not only disingenuous, but insulting to consumers, and is worthy of our UGH! Seal of Disapproval.

Technorati Tags: broadband,netzero,consumers,deceptive marketing,information technology

Inside the Group is the brainstorming and discussion world of evolution firm Westfall | Group

Welcome to the New Inside the Group

 

Well, if we had the answer to this question that would pretty much be the end, now wouldn’t it? But of course this is just the beginning. In fact this is the first post in the new Inside the Group. The real beauty of that question is that it’s never fully answered, at least not to the extent that there’s always somewhere else to go, something else to achieve. All any of us can do is keep asking the question, keep plugging away at finding the answers, and then start over and do it all again.

That is what this blog is going to be about...asking the questions that we think need to be asked, sharing the answers we’ve uncovered along the way, and highlighting the ideas and ideamakers which are moving us forward as a society, whether through technology, business, science, culture, politics, what have you. Now before you think that this is going to be a place just for big, pie in the sky theoretical thinking, fear not. Over time we plan on packing this place full of helpful, ready-to-go advice, tips, and tools that you will be able to incorporate into your own business, organization, or job.

We’re going to also be doing a lot of experimenting along the way, trying out a bunch of different features, expanding our social network, adding the occasional off-topic morsel of “huh?” and sharing a lot about the day-to-day life of our company. We’ll also have some fun along the way, at least we hope so.

To the right is a link called “So what is this Group and should I care?” If this is your first time here, we suggest you go there next as it answers that question quite well and will help you get a feel for who we are and what we are trying to do. Since this is just the beginning of the new blog, we’re going to keep this post right up front for a while until we have gathered a decent following (hopefully only 4-5 years for that…yes we will be sarcastic at times, be prepared.)

This brings us to the last point I want to make and that is that this is place for YOU to share what you are thinking, what you have learned, and what you want to learn more about. That’s the only way this place is going to work.

So if you’re ready…where next?

Technorati Tags: innovation,design,small company