The problem (structural) and how to counter it (a concept)

The main problem in a nutshell:
- Agencies are most of the time judged by reputation, also of their methods, by the collective WOM within business networks
- not competence alone, but a successful track record influence this most
- in order to attain a successful track record, agencies have to get projects that the system (that does not understand their relevance yet) allows them to perform. The resources are dependent on the project size
- corporations decision making is influenced by conservative and classical structures. Thus agencies without track record and proven methods tend to not get the project
- this forces on the long run, agencies to adapt their methods. They have to present something that people "want to hear", results and methods that can be integrated into the present best practice. If they don't, then they will run out of business pretty fast
- THE RESULT: big corporations have the resources that are needed to create such a system and legitimize it, small corporations have the capabilities but will loose them over time in order to fit in
- THE SOLUTION: you have to attain a high level of legitimacy from the start that legitimizes your methods. This can be done by WOM, positive one. In order to get this, it has to be artificially induced, not only as the result of natural reactions to the projects. This would be too slow

---> big agencies and small agencies have to share capabilities and resources. The small ones have access to deeper information and networks, the big one to business networks and financial resources. Together they can create value
- The deal, big agency helps small one to finance the time until legitimacy is gained. In return the big agency gets the capabilities of the small agency, aslo long-term and acces to networks, exclusively, gaining competitive advantage
- Connecting networks

Companies decide to employ people not only because they need them for a special project, but in order to enhance their HR capital. This includes both a long-term and abstract element. It will not be clear what exactly that person will be doing, but he/she will provide value that will exceed the salary. When it comes to agencies, on the contrary, companies engage services of agencies not in order to enhance HR or create synergies, but only for clear cut projects with a determined outcome. Even though they know that HR and synergies are most essential inside a company, they only integrate people on an employment basis. This brings two problems:
- people working for the company will be socialized on the long-run to adapt to a corporate culture that will be aligned with the corporate mind-set. They will tend to start to think like the people around them and will be flooded by the same messages, integrated into the same systems of thought and incentive structures. This makes thinking completely outside the box nearly impossible.
- the people employed have to be used "economically", efficiently, which excludes in most cases actions that are not ordered from above, top-down. Google introduced the 20% rule, this is a start, but not enough to create real out.the box innovation

What we propose is to look at small boutique agencies in a purely utilitarian way. An investment is justified if the money spend on it over time is less than the return on the investment. So if you spend 2,000 dollars on an agency each month for whatever reason (the reason is not important, you do not have to associate this with any clear cut project) and the agency produces more VALUE than this on average per month, then the investment is justified and should be made.
- The only question that counts, is, can the person employed or the agency engaged, produce VALUE to the company that exceed the costs spent on them.
- If you now calculate the value that our proposal wants to create over the course of one year, you will get a picture where we want to go with this. The VALUE is created predominantly through synergy effects, access to networks and consulting, and exposure in networks. Further, a competitive advantage in all pitches related to consumer networks, the ability to advertise this advantage and to openly associate yourself with the partner companies.
- to each of the above points, an economical value can be assigned that unfolds over the course of one year.
- the cost is calculated as a retainer that is much lower than the value, for one year. The build-up phase.
- what you get: access. Access to 30-50 magazines read continuously, student, OL and other consumer networks, creative input, etc ...
- This business plan is also a proposal for the agencies involved.
- magazine report, HNWI report, HNWI travel report
- costs, 8,000 Euro retainer per month. You can use our services for one year, means consulting from the side of Japan Access (senior and junior consultant). Our expertise can be integrated in any way possible
- access to interviews has to be charged extra. But not the access to our expertise
- you could integrate Masubuchi and Japan Access into any pitches. We would help to prepare material that enhances the competitiveness of Euro RSCG

like Philipp said, focus on synergies. And value created. Social value, access to networks that they are interested in accessing. We cover the social costs, decrease transaction costs. Make diagrams.
focus on new social media. We monitor it

Christianity is the religion of transcending Earth. Buddhism, science is naturalistic. The latter is the trend.
Our sense of the sacred and thus luxury along with it comes down to earth...to materialism. This begins to mingle the sacred sense with the profane sense. For both luxury and mass marketing. The dialogue of the sacred and the profane is at issue.

Mystics find the beauty, God, buddha nature in the most ordinary things. The duality of sacred-profane is thus annihilated. We are near home. To reconcile the duality yields great power. It is to be at home everywhere.

This natural universe is our home. Always has been.

Sex is spiritual. Our flesh is divine. Our body is our soul. The universe is our soul in its entirety.

People long for this reconciliation. People want their bodies, animal selfs validated. There is no original sin. We are forever innocent. We were just lost. Confused, exiled into history. Thrown into turmoil.

All of this yields a new aesthetic: The beauty of the Earth. 

Matter is good. The ills of materialism, blind consumerism is the result of confusion. If the perception, the ages old guilt trip is taken away then we can properly respect matter. All things on Earth is good. The Earth is our sacred ground. We find tangible beauty in this world. There are no other worlds. No heaven. No hell.

New values follow the new aesthetic. Nietzsche's life affirming values. Respecting the Earth, matter. Real human values, not transcendental bullshit of sacrificing life on Earth for some hereafter. Characters of depth, of salvation on Earth, of the human touch. Honesty, integrity, being alive now, kind, sharing, loving all humans. Love of all life. The innocent child open to all things. People will respond. They thirst for the new gospel, the good news. Enjoy life now.

What's fascinating for me to think about is the difference between luxury markets and mass marketing. They intersect. They are so different.

For luxury marketing it's about finding more novelty, adapting to new wealth, keeping up standards and creating new concepts of quality, etc. Luxury I think moves from the religious realm to the secular technological realm. It's about how to carry over the quality of sacredness (Agenda, Inc. here we go) from the religious to the secular. How do we extend luxury into virtual realities we are beginning to create without falling into the pits of hyper-reality. It is also about going deeper into the appreciation of materialism, alternatively or parallel to virtual realities and technology. Is this where Proteus is heading? Luxury...to realize beauty as yet unimaginable.

Mass marketing is equally fascinating. I saw a movie recommended by Phillip recently. Into the Void. What fascinated me about the movie was that it mingled the most sacred things about human existence with the most base and profane humanity. Beautiful DMT visions interlaced with ugly human suffering. But this creates fascination! It is a more Tantric attitude to life. I think the masses are heading this way. They seek quality, but they seek to devour the whole of life.

The monkey and the angel in me are fascinated by both, the depths and the heights.

Courtiers. Guerrillas.

The thing about competition in the marketplace is that the war is implicit. It resembles more of the medieval court situation (which of course Robert Greene recognizes the similarity in the supposed democratic climate we live in) where brands compete against each other behind the scenes.

What Greene says about individuals hold true for brands as well. We are mesmerized by the supposed democratic fairness and civilized atmosphere and are trained all our lives for peace. But we are not at all prepared for war. This insight alone yields advantages to the brands who do realize this reality, or are lucky enough to hire a marketing agency who understands this. Civilization is skin deep.
This is an arena where the subtlest, most flexible, the cleverest survives.

The system within a system is like a guerrilla unit. Or perhaps more like guerrilla strategy. Guerrillas make friends with complexity. They use it to maximum efficacy. The more chaotic the environment, the more power to the guerrillas and less to corporate giants.

Quotes from Guevara's Guerrilla Warfare

When we analyze more fully the tactic of guerrilla warfare, we will see that the guerrilla fighter needs to have a good knowledge of the surrounding countryside, the paths of entry and escape, the possibilities of speedy maneuver, good hiding places; naturally, also, he must count on the support of the people.


The China of Mao begins as an outbreak of worker groups in the South, which is defeated and almost annihilated. It succeeds in establishing itself and begins its advance only when, after the long march from Yenan, it takes up its base in rural territories and makes agrarian reform its fundamental goal. The struggle of Ho ChiMinh is based in the rice-growing peasants, who are oppressed by the French colonial yoke; with this force it is going forward to the defeat of the colonialists.


Taking account of the possibilities of development of guerrilla warfare, which is transformed with the increase in the operating potential of the guerrilla band into a war of positions, this type of warfare, despite its special character, is to be considered as an embryo, a prelude, of the other. The possibilities of growth of the guerrilla band and of changes in the mode of fight, until conventional warfare is reached, are as great as the possibilities of defeating the enemy in each of the different battles, combats, or skirmishes that take place. Therefore, the fundamental principle is that no battle, combat, or skirmish is to be fought unless it will be won. There is a malevolent definition that says: "The guerrilla fighter is the Jesuit of warfare." By this is indicated a quality of secretiveness, of treachery, of surprise that is obviously an essential element of guerrilla warfare. It is a special kind of Jesuitism, naturally prompted by circumstances, which necessitates acting at certain moments in ways different from the romantic and sporting conceptions with which we are taught to believe war is fought.

War is always a struggle in which each contender tries to annihilate the other. Besides using force, they will have recourse to all possible tricks and stratagems in order to achieve the goal. Military strategy and tactics are a representation by analysis of the objectives of the groups and of the means of achieving these objectives. These means contemplate taking advantage of all the weak points of the enemy. The fighting action of each individual platoon in a large army in a war of positions will present the same characteristics as those of the guerrilla band. It uses secretiveness, treachery, and surprise; and when these are not present, it is because vigilance on the other side prevents surprise. But since the guerrilla band is a division unto itself, and since there are large zones of territory not controlled by the enemy, it is always possible to carry out guerrilla attacks in such a way as to assure surprise; and it is the duty of the guerrilla fighter to do so.

"Hit and run," some call this scornfully, and this is accurate. Hit and run, wait, lie in ambush, again hit and run, and thus repeatedly, without giving any rest to the enemy. There is in all this, it would appear, a negative quality, an attitude of retreat, of avoiding frontal fights. However, this is consequent upon the general strategy of guerrilla warfare, which is the same in its ultimate end as is any warfare: to win, to annihilate the enemy.

Thus, it is clear that guerrilla warfare is a phase that does not afford in itself opportunities to arrive at complete victory. It is one of the initial phases of warfare and will develop continuously until the guerrilla army in its steady growth acquires the characteristics of a regular army. At that moment it will be ready to deal final blows to the enemy and to achieve victory. Triumph will always be the product of a regular army, even though its origins are in a guerrilla army.

This popular work should at first be aimed at securing secrecy; that is, each peasant, each member of the society in which action is taking place, will be asked not to mention what he sees and hears; later, help will be sought from inhabitants whose loyalty to the revolution offers greater guarantees; still later, use will be made of these persons in missions of contact, for transporting goods or arms, as guides in the zones familiar to them; still later, it is possible to arrive at organized mass action in the centers of work, of which the final result will be the general strike.

All this presupposes an increase in the territory included within the guerrilla action, but an excessive increase of this territory is to be avoided. It is essential always to preserve a strong base of operations and to continue strengthening it during the course of the war. Within this territory, measures of indoctrination of the inhabitants of the zone should be utilized; 

When the guerrilla band has reached a respectable power in arms and in number of combatants, it ought to proceed to the formation of new columns. This is an act similar to that of the beehive when at a given moment it releases a new queen, who goes to another region with a part of the swarm. The mother hive with the most notable guerrilla chief will stay in the less dangerous places, while the new columns will penetrate other enemy territories following the cycle already described.

The fundamental characteristic of a guerrilla band is mobility. This permits it in a few minutes to move far from a specific theatre and in a few hours far even from the region, if that becomes necessary; permits it constantly to change front and avoid any type of encirclement. As the circumstances of the war require, the guerrilla band can dedicate itself exclusively to fleeing from an encirclement which is the enemy's only way of forcing the band into a decisive fight that could be unfavorable; it can also change the battle into a counter- encirclement (small bands of men are presumably surrounded by the enemy when suddenly the enemy is surrounded by stronger contingents; or men located in a safe place serve as a lure, leading to the encirclement and annihilation of the entire troops and supply of an attacking force). Characteristic of this war of mobility is the so-called minuet, named from the analogy with the dance: the guerrilla bands encircle an enemy position, an advancing column, for example; they encircle it completely from the four points of the compass, with five or six men in each place, far enough away to avoid being encircled themselves; the fight is started at any one of the points, and the army moves toward it; the guerrilla band then retreats, always maintaining visual contact, and initiates its attack from another point. The army will repeat its action and the guerrilla band, the same. Thus, successively, it is possible to keep an enemy column immobilized, forcing it to expend large quantities of ammunition and weakening the morale of its troops without incurring great dangers.

a great amount of firing on the part of the regular army, sporadic and accurate shots on the part of the guerrillas.

Another fundamental characteristic of the guerrilla soldier is his flexibility, his ability to adapt himself to all circumstances, and to convert to his service all of the accidents of the action. Against the rigidity of classical methods of fighting, the guerrilla fighter invents his own tactics at every minute of the fight and constantly surprises the enemy.

The surviving enemy, resting, believes that the attacker has departed; he begins to relax, to return to the routine life of the camp or of the fortress, when suddenly a new attack bursts forth in another place, with the same characteristics, while the main body of the guerrilla band lies in wait to intercept reinforcements. At other times an outpost defending the camp will be suddenly attacked by the guerrilla, dominated, and captured. The fundamental thing is surprise and rapidity of attack.

The second conclusion is that if guerrilla fighting must include the extremely important factor of work on the masses, this work is even more important in the unfavorable zones, where a single enemy attack can produce a catastrophe. Indoctrination should be continuous, and so should be the struggle for unity of the workers, of the peasants, and of other social classes that live in the zone, in order to achieve toward the guerrilla fighters a maximum homogeneity of attitude. This task with the masses, this constant work at the huge problem of relations of the guerrilla band with the inhabitants of the zone, must also govern the attitude to be taken toward the case of an individual recalcitrant enemy soldier: he should be eliminated without hesitation when he is dangerous. In this respect the guerrilla band must be drastic. Enemies cannot be permitted to exist within the zone of operations in places that offer no security.

Inspiration from War

Deep knowledge of the terrain will let a brand process information faster than their competitors, a tremendous advantage. This allows brands to get a feel of the consumers from the inside. Tactics will then tend to flow forth much more naturally.

page 53 of 33 Strategies of War
Marketing strategy is about creating a powerful internal dynamic in the brand's company or marketing team as much as it is about influencing the market. If the house is divided, then it can not hope to effectively influence consumers and the market at large. Proteus must act as the general. The client maybe the commander in chief, the person who gives the ultimate authority. But it is the general who understands the war of marketing. First and foremost the general must understand the structure of his own army. The general must not be too authoritarian nor too easy going. Make yourself look like a paragon of fairness, but never relinquish unity of command. This in itself is a work of art. To command an army is much like riding a horse. The rider and the horse relationship.
"Understand: the future belongs to groups that are fluid, fast, and nonlinear."

A fluid army is decentralized, operates in segmented groups, expands options for mobility.

Once you get the job you must act as the leader, and be responsible for creating the army's morale. Personal example is the best way to set the proper tone and build morale.

Tactics-strategy--Perhaps the biggest mistake brands make is mistaking tactics for strategy?

Intelligent war is sublime.

Tactics are important details. Brands probably lack both strategy and tactics. Marketing for them is just blind experimentation, that is not scientific nor for that matter even artistic. It's tactless money-wasting busily putting on an appearance of doing something.

Of course qualitative changes are not new. What is novel here is the depth of the change. 

It's a backlash of the Hyper-reality, of postmodern nihilism. 

A beast is in the making...a new quality, more complexity and unpredictable markets, a new society. 

We take cues from the world around us...corporate empire, globalization, technology, social networking, etc. 

There will be a counter force.

Quality, Integrity, Character

High quality, integrity and depth of character are what people want. This is what will sell in the future I believe, and not just in luxury industry but on a mass scale.

It's a pendulum swing. Think America voting for Obama after 8years of Bush.
Everything under the sun has been tried in marketing (or actually in everything). This causes a backlash psychologically. People begin to look for substance.

Check out the case of Dominoes Pizza recently. They went for brutal honesty in their TV ads. People were saying terrible things about their pizza and they said they got the point, they will change and would like the customers to try their new pizzas. It worked. It remains to be seen if they can keep up the numbers but.

I've been telling my friend Morizumi for years about this. There will be a paradigm shift in the market, politics, sex, etc. People will start to look for something authentic, real, high quality, etc.
That means instead of flirtations, people will look for courtships. Brands that are willing to go through the process of wooing and seducing their customers will win the day.

War, Seduction

Tokyo...on the surface everything looks peaceful. But beneath the surface we find brands competing for attention. This is the battlefield. How do you take over key points in the social networks? Japan Access is the general, the strategist that will win over the territories for the client brand (the king, the emperor). Or it's like seduction. How to become the most popular guy (brand) in the room at a party full of ladies (consumers) and rivals (other brands).

Proteus must become a master strategist.

"Strategy is more than a science: it is the application of knowledge to practical life, the development of thought capable of modifying the original guiding idea in the light of ever-changing situations; it is the art of acting under the pressure of the most difficult conditions." --Helmuth von Moltke

First, in war never underestimate randomness.

A brand's marketing should be subtle and hard to trace. A woman is vanquished by a seducer who is not too obvious in his maneuvers. Of course he's seducing her but never obvious.

Appearance is everything! Dirty work must be done undercover.

Brutal marketing is costly! Highly sophisticated, subtle, strategic marketing win wars with the least amount of casualties.

Sun-tzu's art of war is about winning without bloodshed.

The funny thing is Japanese people love this ideal! This is what I find so sublime about some characters in Japanese culture. They love the hero who can subdue the bad guy without hurting him. Like aikido. The top 3 mangas I love have this running theme also. They know how to fight so well that they can subdue enemies without killing them. Musashi says...if you've already won before the fight has begun, is there a need to fight?

War Metaphor

Biology, evolution, etc. these metaphors worked and should be kept, but it's too complex. There's a metaphor that strikes at the heart of the issue, and that is War.
Of course this is not novel in marketing. Just combine it with other metaphors.
War is complex. But in order to make the enemy fall, you take over certain key points. The field is complex so you find various chinks in the armor. Marketing is like this. The territory is complex. You are warring in foreign land, foreign soil, Japan. You need informants, native guides, trend scouts.

This is just a start. I'll go over 33 Strategies of War, Greene again, and come up with more metaphors.

A System Within a System

I wasn't thinking in the direction you mentioned but I suppose Taleb would nod in agreement. 

For boutique companies, they have to come up with something more controlled right? Small companies I imagine have a different dynamic in relation to random circumstances. Boutique co. are navigators. Guided missiles. They wade through the complex territory and tell the big ship (client companies) to adjust directions as the marketing campaign progresses. This is fine-tuning. There's no guarantee but it's a sophisticated advantage over other companies who only launch linear missiles.

---

From: helge.fluch@gmail.com
Subject: Re: u
Date: Sat, 21 May 2011 20:01:12 +0200
To: devilishlemondrop@hotmail.com

hey. you remember that. cool.

by the way. I get the point now from your Twitter feed.

Marketing as evolution.

We increase mutations, we increase complex interactions.

Thus, we accelerate evolution and open the possibilities for advanced "species" in marketing. In order to accelerate evolution in marketing and idea generation, you have to increase randomness, random interactions, and uncertainty. This will create more exposure to positive black swans for companies.

something like this?  

We can share ideas here. This blog is private right? Just your therapist knows?
We can use this blog like a forum.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVOTdheq5eU

Pragmatism, especially neo-pragmatism is what I view as the complimentary force to post-modernism and deconstruction.

Post-modernism is generally anti-foundational (deconstructs fundamental assumptions that hold up whole worldviews, narratives, etc.). But so is pragmatism. It's empirical and skeptical. So we come full circle back to Taleb! Skeptical empiricism is anti-foundational, it does not cling to some ultimate notion of something. It begins with empirical observation. Patently scientific. Also pragmatism says don't worry about ultimate justification and just take action! (it's a bit more complicated than this but don't worry about it). Very roughly speaking I suppose you can say that Taleb's empirical skepticism finds itself corresponding in the following way: empirical=pragmatism, skepticism=deconstruction.

This is a very very crude way of explaining pragmatism but ok for starters. It's sometimes called American pragmatism. But don't be fooled by the name: it's very deep, sophisticated and scientific. Like Taleb, it goes to the very heart complexity. Especially evolution. It's no accident that fractals, Black Swans, pragmatism are so illuminated by biological evolution. Biological evolution is the story of how complex life forms evolved out of simpler ones. 

One very illuminating example is how animals evolved minds to package and handle the environment. This is precisely what pragmatism is! It's our ability to handle and package the environment. This ability of ours is not then about realizing some ultimate truth. It's the product of our biological evolution. This is actually an astonishing way of looking at our intellect. Indeed like Taleb it is anti-platonic. It is empiricism pitted against platonicity.

Prometheus - the return

The hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man.

So the hero ascended to the heights of heaven, to steal the fire from the gods. The he descended. 

The really creative acts are represented as those deriving from some sort of dying to the world, to come back, filled with creative power.

So here we are.

Let us venture deep.