Group & Association Resources

Cheskin Consulting Agency focuses on innovation through an understanding of people, culture, and change. Check out their site for links to topics on innovation, meaningful experiences, and how cultural understanding can lead to cultural capital. You might also look at their case studies that provide examples of companies who have grown tremendously by focusing on cultural trends and customer needs. The bottom line is that making friends with a culture means big relationships and more meaningful experiences.

The ex Group realizes that "to compete today, you need more than customer satisfaction. You need customer delight." Through research and business solutions, The ex Group identifies methods that can help build brand recognition and reliability by delighting customers. The key is to find a way to create an interactive, customized, customer experience. They emphasize making sure that your company isn't just associated with offering commodities, and have plenty of suggestions for escaping this association. Check out their case studies to find more examples of companies that have changed for the better using innovation and experience-based capital.

This is a book written by MIT's Eric Von Hippel that is entirely accessible through the web. It provides countless examples of how innovation and cultural capital are capable of redefining the marketplace, specifically emphasizing the value of "Democratizing Innovation." He states that 'Users' abilities to develop high-quality products and services for themselves are improving radically and rapidly . . . the net result is that rates of user innovation will increase even if users' heterogeneity of need and willingness to pay for 'exactly right' products remains constant." Through social networking and "democratization" users will be more likely to get the "exactly right" product. Search through Von Hippel's writings to find companies and methods that have been proven successful in the realm of cultural capital.

John Winsor created this site in conjunction with a book that's focused on gathering perspectives about innovation through a process of co-creation between corporations and their customers. Winsor's efforts are geared towards a methodology that simultaneously builds communities and businesses explaining that, "you can't build word of mouth, you can only set up the right environment for it." This site is about building a community around your product or service, and successfully integrating your efforts with the people you work with.

For a good source to some of the most innovative designs hitting the market check out Businessweek's online reference, the Design Directory, which focuses on "making meaning" through a combination of design and business. Companies are learning that by employing distinct design methods they can more accurately appeal to the needs of their customers. This source provides a unique database for experience-based design, and follows companies that are touching base with the primary values of society. The Design Directory is a great source for those who are looking to shift towards more meaningful experiences.

This site provides links to a great amalgamation of blogs that intersect anthropology and economics. Headed up by anthropologist Grant McCracken Ph.D., this site addresses the places where culture and commerce meet most often: in marketing and branding. McCracken's foremost interest is in understanding which products will be culturally embraced by the public, and why certain companies will be preferred over others. This brings us back to creating experiences in corporate strategy, understanding cultural trends, and customer needs. Check out this blog site to see how companies are getting into the heads and hearts of their clients.

The Church of the Customer Blog is all about creating unique, effective marketing methodologies for corporations that are trying to change the world through their business. The methodology they delineate is a word-of-mouth marketing approach, showing that when businesses are able to get people talking about their product or business-style their productiveness will increase. This site researches and teaches about the most effective ways companies can show their brand to the mainstream in a positive, world-changing light. The Church of the Customer Blog offers examples of extensive social-networking, paired with success stories from companies like Apple, Mozilla, and Google. The Church of the Customer is a great source for finding companies that are focused on providing meaningful experiences to their customers.

The Hub Magazine lives up to its name, acting as a central source for articles relating to brand management and identity. Hub focuses primarily on marketing trends that evolve around consumer wants and needs; emphasizing innovation, strategy and brand development. Its purpose is to help people understand trends and methods that can help facilitate the process of creating a meaningful brand experience.

For the last ten years, Reveries has been one of the best in depth, online databases that features information on everything from cell phones to beverages. This is a great site if you're looking to explore topics like popular culture, the media, consumer behavior, and innovation. It's also a good place to go if you need to find information from a few years ago. They have a Cool News of the Day feature where you can get up to date info on the latest trends, insights, and innovations that make up the incredibly complex world of creative commerce. This online magazine recently converted to a blog format in order to make your online experience more organized and user controlled - always a good thing.

CasePlace.org, sponsored by the Aspen Institute Business and Society Program, offers educational materials in areas of social impact management, sustainability, and business ethics. At CasePlace.org you'll find resources like articles, books, case studies, teaching materials, and conference announcements that can help your business work towards a greater good. While the site is designed for business schools, it can also be a useful tool to help corporations generate ideas on how they can give back. CasePlace.org is a good place to go if you're looking to connect with others about corporate social responsibility. They're constantly adding materials and organizing the site, so check back often for new information.

Since 2001, Brandchannel.com has been a trustworthy resource to a growing number of subscribers and visitors. Brandchannel's main goal is to provide a vast amount of information on brands from around the world. They want their readers to consider key issues in brand perception, and to connect with conferences, courses, and careers that can help propel their work today and in the future. Brandchannel provides an open channel of communication between readers by hosting online debates and white paper submissions. This global site is one of the best if you're looking to expand your outlook on branding.

Adrants is a website and daily newsletter that focuses primarily on marketing and advertising. This online resource is written by industry pioneers and is intended to provide straight to the point information on advertising and media industries. If you're searching through their website, expect to find information pertaining to topics like emerging marketing and advertising trends, cultural and demographic shifts that are affecting advertising strategies, new campaign launches, viral and buzz marketing, useful industry research and the examination of the industry's shift from old paradigms to new.

In addition to starting the experience curve blog, Karl Long also founded Local Zing Inc., an Internet marketing company that's geared towards service oriented businesses. He knows that marketing services online can be difficult, and focuses on customer experience to help companies achieve high conversion rates of web visitors into qualified leads. Karl's blog covers everything from marketing to technology and is a good resource if you know you're looking for something to improve your business, but you're not quite sure what it is.

Office Max covers categories like business improvement, business news, business services, accounting, business start-ups, commercial real estate, and even office furniture. It's a good place to start if you want current news on trends, ideas, and stories, although it's geared towards generating an understanding of today's business tools by offering tons of reviews on new products and ideas. At Office Max you can also find information on how to start and operate a business in addition to recommendations of where to go if you're looking for business services and products.

Good Experience is a website/newsletter that works to improve experiences for businesses and clients alike. It helps people recognize what a good experience is, and provides direction so that they can create their own. The newsletter contains how-to tips on improving customer experiences, information on bit literacy (an essential skill in today's workplace), events, and current industry projects. Within the website you'll find categories like Best-of, Bit Literacy, Column Archive, Gel, interviews, Job Openings, Quick Posts, Resources that further assist in organizing the process of experience building.