Conversation Agent - Valeria Maltoni

Awakening the Child Within: Your Vote Counts!

We're still in March and there is some hint of madness in the blogosphere. Maybe we all feel spring finally at our door. I never win any games that are random, and occasionally have played in some that are less so. Then again, playing in company pools is a relatively low-cost proposition. Some of us tend to feel more confident when it comes to our business skills. Every time we discover something new, we expand our thinking in new ways -- creativity, innovation, and energy surround this experience. We also stretch ourselves to keep up with more and integrate it... Read more →

Branding: New to You

Here are a couple of posts I wrote on branding, that you might have missed. Michelin Man and Environmental Pitch -- Michelin Man gets a Makeover, Company Rallies Around Sustainable Road Mobility, February 23. A Sound Brand -- about the incredible story of innovation and reinvention of an Italian music legend: Mina, February 14. A company favored by its customers that has a couple of citizen marketers to its credit and a new video initiative -- How do You Say Flat in Swedish?, February 7. Get comfortable, dig in, and visit in the comments. P.S. Later today or this weekend... Read more →

Expectation vs. Delivery and What not to Say

Have you noticed how the more experienced you become, the more you learn to edit down? We learn to be more efficient with time management, while at the same time more effective in what we deliver. We learn to listen for cues that tell us when things are going well, and when we need to adjust our course when they are not. We learn to be more attuned to the needs of our customers and to set expectations properly: this is what we do, this is what we don't do. That is the underlying topic of this week's post at... Read more →

Selling and Pricing

These are two of the most important words you will ever utter in marketing: selling and pricing. The whole reason and justification for your job is the expectation that at some point there will be a sale. A key role in the sale is the determination of pricing. When it's all said and done, you know you will stay in business when your revenues outweigh your costs and the company makes a profit. Simple, right? Here's a short vignette to illustrate how the masters of fashion branding and storytelling do both. How about Italian stores? You look at the window... Read more →

Dialogue *and* Action: the Power of Community

A little over one month ago, the Italian government launched a new web portal for tourism. The budget: 45 million Euros. The result: according to a passionate group of professionals, students, university professors, tourism and marketing experts, IT people and geeks -- dismal. As Robin Good reported last week: "... not feeling satisfied and represented from a project that should be our country online business card - [they] have decided to spontaneously aggregate with the will to understand and discuss how such a tourism web portal should have been architected and designed." Thus RItalia was born. The goal: to aggregate... Read more →

Privacy in the Age of New Media

It's worth asking the question. Even in the absence of answers, we should all stop for a moment and ponder what it means to have privacy in the age of new media. AdWeek just published an interesting article that discusses issues like libel and invasion of privacy (re: Martin Sorrell of WPP): "... in an era when digital communications allows anyone to become a publisher, the case is believed to be one of the first high-profile actions based on blog postings and an e-mailed jpeg." This case will shed some light, unflattering that it may be, on the very important... Read more →

How do you go from Start to Success?

You pass by strategic quitting. "Almost everything worth doing in life is controlled by the Dip." [Seth Godin] The kinds of decisions you make as you start something will determine whether you will be successful or not. Starting is easy; it's knowing how to pull through the rough times that will bring you success. You've heard it before: someone who becomes famous all of a sudden, except it was several years in the making. It is not easy to identify a course of action, and to know the difference between what to pursue and what to let go. We often... Read more →

The Manhattan Connection

It wasn't my first time. It was one of the most memorable ones. Friday was a long day's journey into night for me, one very different from Eugene O'Neill's play (thanks to David Newman of Unconsulting for setting me straight on the writer's name)-- walking on Broadway and thinking about a play, it felt artistic. I made my way through Times Square, mingling with the people coming out to enjoy a mild evening and partaking in the sheer energy of a city that can always surprise and delight. The occasion was an encounter organized by CK: bloggers face to face.... Read more →

From Australia with Love

We already know I have a split personality so I will probably take forever. And I like stories that work. My trackback function has been broken so I have no idea if this will work. Gavin Heaton from Servant of Chaos is about to hit 500 inbound links -- you can help him make that happen by linking to his blog for the first time. That is the deal so it cannot be me, I've already linked to Servant of Chaos a couple of times. Why would you want to do that? When it comes to telling stories about you,... Read more →

Everybody Talks About it.

What is normal in service anymore? Do we know? Everybody talks about wow and extraordinary experiences. We hear of how company so and so did something unique -- I do think that's another term we're abusing these days -- and other tales of incredible feats. Yet I do wonder out loud if we haven't gone off the deep end on our enthusiasm to celebrate the heroes of the day. When I deal with a company about its product or service, sometimes a straight, honest answer goes much further than a string of good-sounding excuses and promises. And that answer is... Read more →