Marketing Gurus

K16NextGEN16.Lay 4/13/07 11:07 AM Page 1 MATT COFFIN Most people ignore banner ads, until you make them dance. ABBY SPATZ Music works wonders for a hotel. And we don’t mean the canned kind. JOHN HADL Meet the father of mobile marketing. Boy, that kid’s sure growing fast. DANA DYNAMITE Some marketers hunt for cool, while others know where it hangs out. GAREB SHAMUS The man who made martial arts into major league. Kick it. 17 18 20 21 22 ERIC KINTZ The man, the blogger and the mission to make HP cool. RYAN CLARK Isn’t all that South Beach stuff over? Don’t say that to this guy, DOUG JAEGER His parties mean exposure, and there’s no time to print invites. BERNARD SMITH What do hockey and Diddy have in common? An earnest connector. JOSHUA SCHACHTER Never heard of social bookmarking? You’d better log on fast. 24 26 27 28 30 Unless you’ve been hiding under the desk in your office, you’ve no doubt heard some of the ubiquitous talk that’s been floating around lately about whether the Chief Marketing Officer—much like the Chief Information Officer of the last decade—is joining the endangered species list. The world of marketing, we are told again and again, has changed forever. Never mind that most of these corporate soothsayers we listen to can’t tell us exactly what it’s changing into; they know one thing: The marketing of yesterday— the way you’ve always reached your target demographic with those oh-so-clever messages—is gone. Mass media? Hah! Print ads? You must be kidding. Broadcast? Well, they’re not watching. So how to knit a brand into customers’ lives and the ways they really live? Of course, it’s not entirely true that nobody knows exactly where the marketing industry is heading. In fact, if you stick around, you’ll meet 10 individuals who know quite well. It’s surely no coincidence that they’re all under 40— though many other key traits distinguish Brandweek’s Marketers of the Next Generation, Class of 2007. Not only are their marketing playbooks increasingly nontraditional (employing social networking, e-partnering, and Web-based everything), the very brands they manage are as nontraditional as they are. Some of our honorees—like happycorp’s Doug Jaeger and del.icio.us’ Joshua Schachter—are phantoms on the branding landscape, spotlighting other companies even as their own behave as mere peripheral conduits. Other Next Gen-ers might represent traditional brands but, like HewlettPackard’s Eric Kintz, are using Internet-based technology to achieve a contemporizing image upgrade. And still others are using age-old marketing concepts such as demographic research and strategic partnerships, but revolutionizing them in a Web-based context. Take the way Ben Sherman’s connector/doyenne Dana Dynamite employs a simple MySpace page to test the cool factor of a new clothing line with the very hipsters who’ll be buying it. Or how Hilton Hotels’ Abby Spatz took the tried-and-true concept of partnering (in Hilton’s case, with the Grammy Awards) and blew it out with a “traveling piano” tour, song compilations of up-and-coming musical artists playing on an in-room TV network. We’ve poured an awful lot of ink into covering cuttingedge marketing devices that you’ve been told to heed, watch and learn; here’s an opportunity to meet marketers who know how to use them. Before you have to listen to another expert drone on that the marketing business is changing, take this chance to see what it’s actually becoming. —Robert Klara 16 APRIL 16, 2007 K16NextGEN16.Lay 4/13/07 11:07 AM Page 2 MATT COFFIN I first knew I’d be a marketer when . . . at the age of 10, I changed my father’s TrueValue Hardware store signage and tracked the sales impact. What is your most unusual source of inspiration? My wife’s and mother’s use of the Internet. Who’d be your ideal tie-in partner? H&R Block. If marketing were suddenly against the law, I would . . . retire. What was your best idea that you never went with? A commission-free real estate brokerage. Where—be honest—do you see yourself in 10 years? Running a high-growth entrepreneurial venture. Proud husband and father living in Tuscany part time and surfing in Malibu the rest of the time. Some call his ads annoying. Others say his business model is flawed. But the founder of LowerMyBills.com doesn’t care. He is laughing—you guessed it—all the way to the bank. att Coffin knows a lot of people find his ads irritating, but he really doesn’t care. Coffin is the founder and president of LowerMyBills.com, a Santa Monica, Calif., company that offers comparative rates on everything from mortgages and insurance to credit cards and phone service. Since its inception in 1999, LMB has unleashed a flurry of hard-to-ignore online ads that feature silhouettes of dancing people with blaring offers like, “$510,000 Mortgage for under $1,698/month.” Another doozy shows a guy getting the words “calculate new payment” buzzed into the hair on the back of his head. While these kinds of pop-under ads are notorious for infuriating consumers—Coffin said the company has actually gotten bomb threats because of them— they often do work. This past February, LMB garnered 2.82 million unique visitors, per comScore Media Metrix, an increase of 1 million from Feb. ’06 and nearly three-quarters of a million more visitors than the sector’s other big player, LendingTree.com. Last year, LMB spent $78 million on advertising, per TNS Media Intelligence, while LendingTree spent $126 million. The “more is more” approach has translated into success for the 38-year-old Coffin and his Web site, which makes money by taking loan applications from customers and selling them to lenders. In 2005, the U.K. credit reporting firm Experian paid $330 million for the company, which is facing stiff competition in the category from a host of sites like LendingTree.com and CreditCards.com that offer the same services. “The space is very crowded,” said Asaf Buchner, an analyst with Jupiter Research, New York. “There's a real question of whether lead generation can continue to make money.” Experian doesn’t release separate earnings reports for the online business unit. LMB’s ads, meanwhile, continue to draw criticism from industry observers. “Their ads are what the Web used to be five years ago: Get attention at all costs,” said Dorian Sweet, executive creative director for online advertising at Tribal DDB in San Francisco. Still, he admits, “This will last as long as they have enough kitschy ideas to get your attention.” Coffin is undeterred by his detractors. “We can launch 30 or 40 campaigns a year [on the Web],” he said. “[You can't] be afraid to invest in marketing ideas that may flop. When you get a formula that works . . . go big with it.” Coffin came up with the idea for his company while living in Los Angeles and working as director of business development for Miller Publishing Group, owners of Vibe, Spin and Tennis magazines. He had recently bought a house and was shocked when he M opened his first mortgage statement, which admittedly contained some unwieldy numbers he was unprepared to see. So Coffin began looking on the Web for a company that would let him do some comparison shopping. “I called 411 in New York and L.A. and asked if there was any business that did anything like this,” he said. “Both operators said, ‘We don't have it, but if you find it, call me back.’ ” From the start, Coffin knew that marketing would make or break his company. One of his first hires was a team of three pr people. The firm, which has since grown to about 250 employees, now faces some serious business challenges. The recent round of bankruptcies among sub-prime lenders, for example, means there are fewer companies bidding for LMB’s leads. Thus, some wonder if the site can continue to succeed. “If the intent is to gather as many clicks as possible then these are effective,” said Sweet. “The problem is how many of these people are actually qualified borrowers?” Coffin remains bullish. He believes that synergies with new owner Experian will allow LowerMyBills to do a better job of lead generation. And his basic aim for the company ris still unchanged. Whether it’s attention-getting advertising or new services, he said, “We need to roll out something that I ridiculously exceeds consumer expectations.” BY CONSTANTINE VON HOFFMAN Photo by Brian Davis “You can’t be afraid to invest in ideas that may flop.” K16NextGEN16.Lay 4/13/07 11:07 AM Page 3 ABBY SPATZ I first knew I’d be a marketer when . . . I was 7 years old, standing in front of the mirror holding up all the beauty products in my bathroom. I thought every 7-yearold did that. LIttle did I know the other [kids] were playing with their Barbies, and I was marketing. What is your most unusual source of inspiration? Shoes. I buy a lot of different shoes, and every one of them makes me feel a certain way. You see yourself a bit differently because you’re wearing your power shoes, girly shoes or sassy, be-on-stage-atthe-Grammys shoes. What was your best idea that you never went with? Who’s to say I won’t [still] do some of these? Where—be honest—do you see yourself in 10 years? Married with kids and doing something I love, whether it’s advertising and marketing, or something completely different. Whether she’s broadening a music alliance, building food partnerships or promoting an Olympic tie-in, Hilton’s marketer ‘goes deep’ to generate consumer interest in the brand. or years, Hilton’s promotion of its Grammy Awards sponsorship was relegated to a brief commercial announcement during the telecast that credited the brand with providing hotel accommodations for guests of the event. That timid effort wasn’t enough in the eyes of Abby Spatz, 33, Hilton’s senior director-brand marketing and advertising. “When you’re going to a party, you go all the way,” Spatz said. “Don’t put your logo on something just to put your logo on something. You should have it there because it means something.” Spatz herself has brought considerable life to the party since arriving at Hilton in May 2005. Namely, she has lent greater impact to its big-ticket marketing partnerships—including the Grammys and a U.S. Olympic team sponsorship—by layering new programs with a personal touch that has helped generate greater consumer interest in the brand. “Go few and go deep is something she is always preaching about,” said her boss, Jeffery Diskin, svpHilton brand performance. “It means find the right extension and build our business upon it. We want people to reconsider Hilton.” Last year, Spatz transformed a kazoo of music affiliations into an orchestra of promotion built around the Hilton Harmony Piano. The Gibson/Bald- F BY MIKE BEIRNE Photo by Marissa Roth win grand piano debuted backstage during the 2006 Grammy Awards ceremonies, where it was signed by celebrity presenters and performers. It toured nine cities, appearing at Hilton ballrooms with musicians like Natalie Cole and Buddy Guy, who performed before children from music schools, Boys and Girls Clubs, and YMCA chapters. The tour collected 110 signatures and raised more than $100,000 (with Hilton donating $1,000 per autograph) for the Grammy Foundation’s music education program. But Spatz wanted the tour to resonate even further, so she connected the effort to a “Travel should take you places” campaign from Young & Rubicam, Irvine, Calif., and Chicago. TV spots showcased scores by emerging artists like Ben Folds and James Blunt, who provided testimonies about their journeys in song writing. Those videos played on hotels’ in-room TV network and on hiltonjourneys.com. A sweepstakes offered consumers the opportunity to be at the Grammys and one winner the opportunity to make his or her own music video. The piano even found its way to the dinner table during an appearance on the Food Network show Emeril Live. Spatz also has stepped up promotion of Hilton’s Olympic ties. Rather than wait until next year for the Olympic flame to be lit in Beijing, Hilton is spreading the word that its guests can now sleep on the same plush Hilton Serenity beds as did athletes from the 2006 Games in Torino. Under the Hilton Competitive Advantage program, the company furnished the dorm rooms at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs and at their digs in Italy. Some room elements will be replicated when the team hits China for the 2008 Games. These efforts come at a time of renewed vigor in the travel industry, particularly in the high-end hospitality sector. In 2006, Hilton’s revenue per available room increased 9.7% to $109.11, and its occupancy rate rose by a point to 72.8%. By comparison, hotels in the upper upscale niche saw those numbers grow 7.4% to $107.60 on revenue and 0.4% to 71.2% on occupancy, per Smith Travel Research, Hendersonville, Tenn. The numbers are only part of the story for Hilton, which has done more in its branding than copy rivals’ penchant for showing beds and hotel beauty shots. Instead, it has used an emotional lens to project the optimism that travel can bring. For example, in its recent “Pangea” ad, a graphic shows a line between points A and B forming a globe, with two figures pushing hemispheres together into one continent. As Hilton’s featured artist Brett Dennen sings, “Blessed be this life,” copy flashes, “Travel (Continued on page 31) 18 APRIL 16, 2007 “When you’re going to a party, you go all the way.” K16NextGEN16.Lay 4/13/07 11:07 AM Page 4 JOHN HADL I first knew I'd be a marketer when . . . Pinch me. Am I truly considered a marketer? I have always just been called ‘the mobile guy.’ What is your most unusual source of inspiration? The Dog Whisperer. I learn more about human behavior from his shows. If marketing were suddenly against the law, I would . . . use my law degree to change it. Who’d be your ideal tie-in partner? SingleTouch [if it relinquishes its patent on mobile advertising] or Medio Systems. What was your best idea that you never went with? It’s still a trade secret, so shhhh! Where—be honest—do you see yourself in 10 years? Sailing around the world with [my girlfriend] Lucy. He has seen the future of branding, and it looks like . . . a cell phone? Laugh at your own risk; this guy’s pioneering efforts are moving marketing messages straight to customers’ screens. I BY KENNETH HEIN Photo by Vern Evans t’s hard to find any top executive who doesn’t carry a cell phone these days. John Hadl carries three. At least three. It’s not because he’s obsessive. Hadl, 37, is just being thorough: He has a Motorola, a Nokia and a Blackberry handset so he can examine how his mobile-marketing campaigns appear on the different devices. With the considerable weight of Procter & Gamble’s brands’ images entrusted to him, Hadl has learned that it pays to keep an eye on every detail. Which has won him a reputation that extends far beyond P&G. “John Hadl has earned his position as the indispensable man of mobile marketing,” said Eric Bader svp/managing director at Mediavest Digital, New York, which handles media buying for P&G. “Brands need him. They can’t get out of bed in the morning without him.” For as fast as mobile-marketing technology is developing, there’s still a limited range of ways to reach cell phone-toting consumers—from text-in campaigns to “mobisodes” that include commercials. Whatever the format, however, Hadl has been on the forefront of all of them. This marketer views the cell not as just a new place to slap ads, but rather a way to “mobilize your media. It’s the first time you have a marketing chan- nel as well as the response mechanism in portable form.” What’s more, Hadl’s confident that his specialty might well be the future of marketing itself: “With the gradual diminution of power among mass media caused by both fragmentation and greater audience control,” he said. “In a couple of years, we will see the mobile phone as the premier consumer connection and medium for insights available for marketers.” Hadl’s new-media education has been seat-of-thepants. He started as a mergers-and-acquisitions attorney, then left it all behind to co-found a company started by two buddies from MIT. That led to a stint at Creative Rx, where Hadl got his feet wet in the digital pool by selling prerecorded celebrity greetings for cellphone users. By 2003, he found himself working on emerging media at Quigley Simpson Interactive. It was there that Hadl developed some of the first mobile-marketing programs in the country, including the first digital direct-response initiative. A 30-second Old Spice spot on ESPN invited consumers to textmessage answers to sports-trivia questions for a chance to win a trip to the set of SportsCenter. “The results were eye-opening,” Hadl recalled. “You could rate the effectiveness of the spot by area code and time stamp. It was one of the first times I realized that this could really be an impactful channel for marketers.” Tapped next by Cover Girl, Hadl executed one of the first-ever brand sponsorships of a mobile game in the U.S. It was a simple game of Solitaire but, again, the results were measurable enough to be repeated. By the end of 2005, Hadl left Quigley Simpson to work as an adviser to Procter & Gamble. Hadl has since created P&G’s “Mobile Ad Lab” program. He’s currently overseeing the testing of over 50 mobilemarketing programs for his various clients. Which is why Hadl is truly the field’s indisputable man-in-demand right now. “John is our go-to guy when we need deep mobile expertise,” said Paran Johar, managing director at McCann Erickson, Los Angeles. “He’s helped move the industry ahead,” seconded Laura Marriott, executive director of the Mobile Marketing Assn. in Boulder, Colo. With his characteristic cool confidence, Hadl wouldn’t be surprised by accolades like that. His surprise is reserved for the quick, serendipitous route that got him to this point. “I never thought I’d be sitting here today,” he said. “I always thought I’d be a banker, a lawyer or a venture capitalist.” “But then,” he added, “I’d only get to carry around two phones, tops.” I (Next Generation marketers special report: Continued on page 21) 20 APRIL 16, 2007 Cell phones: “The premier consumer connection.” K16NextGEN16.Lay 4/13/07 11:07 AM Page 5 DANA DYNAMITE (Next Generation marketers, continued from page 20) Ben Sherman’s marketer won’t give you the shirt off her back—but she will give shirts to cool bands, who wear them for cool concerts and, well, you can see where this is going. or trendy clothing brands, there are two kinds of measurements—the S, M, L, XL kind, and the far more elusive measurement of cool. How to measure that? Well, if you’re U.K. house of hip Ben Sherman, you start by checking out how many celebs are wearing your threads. In Sherman’s case, that’s got a lot to do with Dana Dynamite, 36, vp of entertainment marketing (yes, that’s her real name), who’s dressed some very notable bods in her brand. Like Jack Black, Ashton Kutcher and Danny Masterson. And like actor/blogger Perez Hilton, who said Dynamite is “on the pulse of what’s new and what will be hot.” Eerily adorable rockers Good Charlotte have donned Sherman clothes, as has Sugarcult, whose lead singer Tim Pagnotta calls Dynamite “a fire-breathing dragon of spirit and pizzazz.” Which is exactly what a brand like Ben Sherman needs—not a marketer in a navy-blue suit trying to figure out what the in-crowd wants, but someone who’s already in that crowd. “In one night,” Pagnotta continued, “I have seen her go head-to-head with a record executive at dinner and [then] 30 minutes later [get] behind the DJ booth, spinning The Clash. She’s the real deal.” So, of course, is Ben Sherman, whose coolness is well into its fourth decade now. The Rolling Stones and the Kinks wore Ben Sherman’s slim-cut verticalstriped shirts, which became the mod dress code of the ’60s. British punks claimed the brand in the ’70s and 80s, ceding it to ska artists in the ’90s. Now Dynamite, who joined the company seven years ago, is steering the brand into the 21st century. Her connections have deftly landed Sherman threads on American Idol and in fashion spreads for magazines like Antenna, Nylon, and Spin. It was Dynamite behind the MySpace profile of Ben Sherman, featuring his hobbies and favorite bands. The site drew 20,000 “friends” despite the trifling fact that Sherman himself no longer exists. In fact, MySpace is Dynamite’s cross-pollinating marketing biosphere. It has given her a direct plugin to the underground music and fashion scenes, through which she can find the newest groups and then approach the chosen ones with an offer to dress them (the kind of brand exposure that no billboard is going to get you). MySpace is also Dynamite’s ad lab. She’ll post some of the latest Sherman designs and campaigns, then ask the “friends” what they think. Corporations pay princely sums for target-demographic feedback this good; Dynamite not only gets it for free, she makes more connections in the process. “Myspace offers an instant connection to a community,” she I first knew I'd be a marketer when . . . In high school I interned at a travel agency and came up with a Spring Break expedition to Cancun. I designed posters and distributed throughout the school. I convinced 25 kids to sign up and I got a free holiday. What is your most unusual source of inspiration? I live in [downtown Manhattan] and find it continually inspiring. It is such a diverse neighborhood. Within minutes you can be in the East Village, Little Italy, Chinatown. If marketing were suddenly against the law, I would . . . book a ticket straight to Anguilla and open a beach BBQ. Who'd be your ideal tie-in partner? Apple and iPod. They have the most brilliant brand identity and music association globally. True geniuses! Where—be honest—do you see yourself in 10 years? Nothing less than world domination. F said. “It has become a powerful research tool.” It probably goes without saying while Dana Dynamite learned to be a marketer, most marketers could not learn to be Dana Dynamite, who is a unique product of a varied past. She began her career as a buyer for L.A. store Spirit, then started her own multirep showroom called Dynomart. Over time, Dynamite got into the local scene, meeting artists and DJs. When a job at surf brand Fly Girls took her to New York, she met Vince Gonzales, then president of Ben Sherman USA. (Oxford Industries, Atlanta, acquired Sherman in 2004. While the U.K. remains its biggest market, the push has been to grow the brand in the U.S.) Gonzales hired Dynamite on the spot. Early on, “I called every agent, stylist, fashion editor and artist I knew,” said Dynamite. One of them was the agent for Fatboy Slim, who soon got some Ben Sherman shirts to try on. When Slim wore one for a photo shoot, Sherman’s exposure went global. That would have been a marketing coup were it not for the fact that Dana Dynamite—armed only with a little black book and an Internet connection— can make that sort of thing happen again and again. “My goal is to position Ben Sherman as the ultimate British lifestyle brand,” Dynamite said. She’s had I an explosive start. BY SANDRA O’LOUGHLIN Photo by Merlin Bronques “It’s a huge rush” to see Sherman shirts onstage. APRIL 16, 2007 21 K16NextGEN16.Lay 4/13/07 11:07 AM Page 6 GAREB SHAMUS I first knew I’d be a marketer when . . . I sold my first ad in the SUNY-Albany college paper. What is your most unusual source of inspiration? I have to try hard not to get into accidents when I write notes while driving. If marketing were suddenly against the law, I would . . . be selling contraband. Who’d be your ideal tie-in partner? Mountain Dew or Under Armour. They know how to reach this demo and always find the right partners ahead of others. What was your best idea you never went with? Three words: Pokémon trading cards. Where—be honest—do you see yourself in 10 years? Sitting ringside at an IFL championship event in front of 100,000 fans. He used his marketing skills and a love of comic books to make millions of dollars. Now—Pow!—he’s back with still another superhuman feat, the International Fight League. ear Mr Shamus: No disrespect to my family, but I have a question: Would you adopt me? Here’s why. You’re a self-made millionaire (a great quality in a dad) and I really like your “I’m really having fun with my life” attitude. You’re smart, too. In 1991 after graduating magna cum laude from the State University at Albany, N.Y., you took your love of comic books, your keen sense of marketing and a financial investment from your father and founded Wizard, the first full-color magazine devoted to the comic-book industry. Its tremendous popularity enabled you to launch industry pubs Toyfare, InQuest Gamer, Anime Insider and Toy Wishes. You then created WizardWorld national comic/toy conventions. More success. Now all of them are part of your Wizard Entertainment Group, Congers, N.Y. But you didn’t rest on your laurels. In 2006, you co-founded (with Kurt Otto) the International Fight League, featuring athletes proficient in mixed martial arts—boxing, kickboxing, submission grappling, wrestling. The concept mirrored the already popular Ultimate Fighting Championship. But your innovations made it stand out. You formed five-man teams (UFC has one-on-one confrontations). You created an NFLtype schedule with playoffs (Aug. 2 at Continental Airlines Arena, East Rutherford, N.J.) and an IFL champi- D BY BARRY JANOFF Photo by Frank Veronsky onship event (Sept. 15 at The Forum, Los Angeles). And you gave the 12 teams (11 North America, one in Tokyo) killer names such as Razorclaws, Tiger Sharks and Anacondas. Then, last November, IFL went public. Still, your true talent shone on the marketing front. You successfully broke the first rule of Fight Club (“Do not talk about fight club”) by talking about IFL. You signed William Morris Agency, Los Angeles, to rep IFL and its fighters. You signed marketing partners Warner Home Video, Suzuki, Microsoft’s Xbox 360, Sandals Resorts, Fairtex sports apparel, and Dale and Thomas Popcorn (Thomas being Isiah Thomas, president/head coach of the NBA’s New York Knicks). You added bikini-clad ring girls and TV co-host Tiffany Fallon (Playboy’s 2005 Playmate of the Year). By the time you were finished, you’d created a runaway sports hit whose popularity is exploding among 18-34-year-olds. Because of its IFL broadcasts, Fox Sports Net had a 24% increase in the 11 p.m. time slot versus the first quarter of 2006, per ACNielsen, New York. IFL drove FSN numbers in key male demos, with the 18-34 age group up 41%, 18-49 up 15% and 25-54 up 27%. The audience for MyNetworkTV, which airs IFL Battleground, a weekly inside look at the IFL, jumped 60% over February 2006, including a 250% increase in males aged 18-49. Yet, viewers aren’t your only fans. “The IFL reaches our prime 14-34-year-old target demo,” said Bill Nielsen, Xbox senior director of global business strategy at Microsoft, Redmond, Wash. “We’ve worked with Gareb on marketing efforts such as setting up Xbox sections at events so athletes and fans can use them together. It’s all hands-on, like the IFL.” “Gareb gets it—he knows how to build a business and engage marketing to make it work,” said Norbek Hudak, executive director of sports marketing at Warner Home Video, Burbank, Calif. “He doesn’t underestimate fans or marketing partners; he gives them what they want and more. He delivers the ‘Wow!’ factor.” And, Mr. Shamus, somehow you even found time to talk to me! “The concept behind IFL was to create a sports environment based on athleticism, not blood,” you said. “I knew we could target fans of action sports, comics and videogames, and people who wanted their intense reality shows in person, not on TV. But we are expanding our audience. Our marketing partners spend billions of dollars to build their brands. They looked at our demo audience and saw a lot of growth potential.” What’s next? At 38, you’re still looking ahead. “The challenge is to grow excitement,” you said. “Make our athletes superstars and get more people to rally behind them.” Iknow you already have a great family. But if you have room for one more let me know. Thanks. I 22 APRIL 16, 2007 “The concept’s based on athleticism, not blood.” K16NextGEN16.Lay 4/13/07 11:08 AM Page 7 ERIC KINTZ I first knew I'd be a marketer when . . . I did an internship at SC Johnson and discovered you could get excited by liquid soap trends and washing behaviors. What is your most unusual source of inspiration? Logic + Emotion (http://darmano.typepad.com/logic_emotion/ ), it’s a blog written by my friend David Armano. If marketing were suddenly against the law, I would . . . move back to France. Who'd be your ideal tie-in partner? Ask a Ninja, I love Kent Nichols. What was your best idea that you never went with? A move to Africa to become a trekking guide. I almost did it years ago. Where—be honest—do you see yourself in 10 years? Running a digital entertainment company in L.A. ‘Hewlett-Packard’ and ‘cool’ don’t often show up in the same sentence. But thanks to this buzz maker, a little new-media magic is well on its way to changing that. Dude. ric Kintz really doesn’t want to be known for that hand puppet thing. After all, Kintz, 38, has had more notable accomplishments at Hewlett-Packard. Primarily, he’s worked out some sort of system to assess ROI—no, not ballpark it, really measure it—on ads. His set-up allows HP to accurately compute the ad dollar-to-revenue ratios, and can even break out results for all the different countries that HP advertises in. It’s Kintz who contends all of this, of course—but it’s hard to doubt the system’s value because its creator won’t divulge any specifics for fear that, say, competitors might learn too much about it from a weekly business magazine. Fortunately, to substantiate Kintz’s marketing prowess, there’s other stuff to talk about. Which brings us back to the hand puppet. Last year, at the height of World Cup fever, Kintz’s new media team cooked up “FingerSkilz,” the viral video that featured a hand, with the body of a soccer player drawn on it, kicking around a balled up piece of paper. Say what you want, but the video scored more than six million views on YouTube and elsewhere on the Web—quite a score for HP, a company that’s not the first to come to mind when the topic of cool, viral marketing comes up. (HP initially didn’t include its logo with the video, but later relented. Smart move.) E BY TODD WASSERMAN Photo by Ed Caldwell The real point of the puppet thing, however, is that it embodies the ethos that Kintz and his marketing efforts are bringing to HP, efforts that are helping to engineer one of the tougher marketing feats out there: remaking a company’s image. The word “staid” has stuck to HP like a rap sheet since at least the 1980s. (Play along at home! Google “HP” and “staid”—you’ll get roughly 78,500 hits, about the same as you would pairing “Paris Hilton” and “vapid.”) Admittedly, it’s tough to be hip when you’re a $94 billion corporation. But similarly-sized IBM had a successful makeover in the ’90s with the help of innovative marketing. HP appears to be going the same route, in large part because of Kintz. Which might lead people to think he’s some sort of enfant terrible, a wiseass digital kid. Hardly. In person, he’s about as straight-laced as the company that employs him—a disposition that belies his considerable creative breadth. “He’s got a good handle on leftbrain marketing . . . the more technical aspects,” said Peter Kim, an analyst with Forrester Research, Cambridge, Mass. “But he’s also got a great understanding of consumer behavior and right-brain thinking. [It’s] a good mix of skills.” Take blogging for example. Launched about a year ago, the “Marketing Excellence” blog was HP’s first, but just in time to join the blog wave that the corporate behemoth would easily have missed otherwise. “It started as a personal adventure,” Kintz said. “It’s a space that’s very much driven by personal experimentation.” Indeed. Far from being a company dirge, Kintz’s blog gives traditionally non-HP types a reason to check out HP. For example, one of Kintz’s recent entries featured “10 reasons why I still need to be convinced about marketing on Second Life.” Drawing power aside, HP quickly discovered that its blog could also serve as a very effective, under-theradar medium for bitch-slapping competitors. Case in point: Last summer Sun Microsystems paid $6,000 for life-sized wooden statues of HP founders Bill Hewlett and David Packard, then announced plans to bring Bill and Dave cross-country for an art project called “Pioneers Hitchhiking in the Valley of Heart’s Delight.” (Though it would probably make blue-chip companies squirm, this kind of frat-boy rivalry is quite common to the high-tech sector.) Traditional marketing protocol would have called for HP to immediately issue a condemning press release, but that would have made the company look stodgy (much like McDonald’s looked when it objected to “McJob” becoming an official dictionary word). Instead, the company saved its venom, and Kintz used (Continued on page 31) 24 APRIL 16, 2007 HP’s blog “is driven by personal experimentation.” K16NextGEN16.Lay 4/13/07 11:08 AM Page 8 RYAN CLARK I first knew I’d be a marketer when . . . My first job was in finance, but I saw what product managers did every day. I quickly realized that marketing is where my heart is. What is your most unusual source of inspiration? Busy shopping malls full of people. If marketing were suddenly against the law, I would . . . become an architect. Who’d be your ideal tie-in partner? A restaurant chain that sold our products. What was your best idea that you never went with? A handheld bacteria scanner for kitchen counter tops. Where—be honest—do you see yourself in 10 years? In senior management. To continue growing Kraft’s South Beach product franchise, this marketing director builds a platform (a moving one, with sand to boot) of balanced nutrition and healthy living. ay you are in charge of marketing for a line of diet food products that boasts instant name recognition and a robust $36 million ad budget. The public is growing weary of fad diets, however, and you want to ensure that consumers maintain a long-lasting relationship with your brand. So how do you reinforce your message? If you’re Ryan Clark, director of marketing for Kraft Foods’ South Beach Diet products, launched in 2005, you add a little salsa to the advertising with some fancy promotional footwork. “After two years of building brand awareness, it was time to [promote a healthy lifestyle] beyond food to include exercise and physical activity,” said Clark, who, at 36, is an avid beach-goer and regularly flies to Miami for meetings with partner Dr. Arthur Agatston, creator of the South Beach Diet. Enter Beach in a Box Cafe: two 35-foot trucks framed in clear plexiglass and decked out with a “beach” complete with sand, palm trees, beach chairs and live models. Kraft used the mobile tour this past January to bring the flavor of Miami’s South Beach to urban denizens across the U.S. Celebrity fitness trainer Ramona Braganza could be seen exercising through the glass, while brand ambassadors handed out samples of new items like Frozen Tortilla S BY SONIA REYES Photo by Wayne Cable Clark, l., with vp of South Beach Diet Foods Howard Brandiesky Wraps and 100-calorie SnackBar Delights. As marketing efforts like these have taken center stage, colleagues and agency partners credit Clark with fostering a climate of experimentation within the typically more traditional food giant. “Ryan’s approach has facilitated a lot of free thinking and creativity. It’s allowed us to introduce fun new elements,” said Maryanne O’Dowd, svp at Weber Shandwick, Chicago. Clark rose up through the marketing ranks at Kraft, where has worked since 1999 on brands like Velveeta, Philadelphia Cream Cheese and Kraft Singles. The company licensed the South Beach Diet trademark to launch the new product line in January of ’05, and Howard Brandelsky, vp-strategic initiatives, tapped Clark for the effort. “Ryan encourages free thinking, giving his teams a strong sense of ownership,” said Brandelsky. “He doesn’t shy away from opposing points of view because he knows that type of dialogue can spur some of the best ideas.” Like the beach promotion, much of the branding echoes the South Beach lifestyle. Ads, via FCB, Chicago, use Latin rhythms to provide the backdrop for an educational message of a balanced diet filled with grains, fruits/vegetables, healthy fats and lean protein. Unlike the stricter Atkins plan, the South Beach diet allows for greater consumption of whole grains or otherwise nutrient rich “good” carbs, though it still falls into the low-carb diet category. “Diets are associated with deprivation,” said Clark. “We wanted consumers to associate the brand with energy and excitement.” Kraft, too, has a lot to be excited about. The South Beach Diet line raked in sales of more than $100 million in its first year, per Information Resources Inc. It surpassed the $250 million figure in 2006, earning the brand the No. 1 spot in IRI’s yearly list of top 10 food and beverage “Pacesetters.” In that time, the franchise has grown to 200-plus items, including pizzas and the new tortilla wraps and snacks. Still, consumers’ patience for prefabricated diet regimens has dwindled: 45% of adults now say they are actually on a diet (the lowest level in 16 years), according to the latest Eating Patterns in America survey by NPD Group. The No. 1 diet remedy cited in the survey? “My own diet.” “The good news for the South Beach diet is there will always be one-quarter of the population on some kind of diet,” said Harry Balzer, vp at NPD, Chicago. “The SBD offers convenience and a wide variety of all-day flavors for breakfast, lunch and dinner.” Perhaps that is a recipe for lasting success. I 26 APRIL 16, 2007 “We want consumers to associate the diet with energy.” K16NextGEN16.Lay 4/13/07 11:08 AM Page 9 DOUG JAEGER I first knew I’d be a marketer when . . . I was in the seventh grade and got an A- for a paper that was four pages too short, but had a color cover I designed myself. What is your most unusual source of inspiration? The hangover. I think it causes your brain to work in different ways. If marketing were suddenly against the law, I would . . . teach art or become a filmmaker. What was your best idea that you never went with? Everything I thought of I’m still trying to do! Sometimes you just have to wait for the right moment to execute. Where—be honest—do you see yourself in 10 years? When I was 21, I’d say, ‘Enough money to order anything I wanted off the menu.’ I guess when I’m 41 I want to be able to order anything off the menu and not worry about cholesterol. I don’t really think that far . . . I hope I’ll be relaxing [and] sleeping more. You only live once, so why not enjoy it? The founder of thehappappycorp global lives hard and plays with the culture queens. Fortunately, a number of brands also make his A-list. all him a marketing-agency-owning “grup,” but maybe not to his face. Doug Jaeger, the youthful founder of thehappycorp global, isn’t a fan of labels. In case the fun, informal, all-lowercase fonts aren’t a clue, Jaeger’s company is far from traditional and uptight. He served his time on Madison Avenue with such grown-up clients as Lucent Technologies, DeBeers, TD Waterhouse, Absolut and Orbitz.com as a partner of Digital@JWT and as the youngest creative director at TBWA\Chiat\Day. But his resume also boasts such playful milestones as “1990: Learned to drive stick shift on Atari’s Hard Drivin’ in an N.J. bowling alley” and “1996: invented Virtual Omelette, one of the Web’s first viral experiments.” At 31, Jaeger (pronounced like the herbal liqueur) seems like a textbook case of the lucky Gen Xer who managed to transform “work” into fun. “We don’t say, ‘We’re a marketing agency,’ ” Jaeger insisted. But basically, it’s a marketing agency wrapped in a social experiment shrouded in an excuse to party, or vice-versa. Or, something like that. By staging monthly NYC happenings that are part flash mob, part art experiment, part Fight Club, thehappycorp is designed to “do good by helping companies market better through the use of community-building techniques,” said Jaeger. Brands ride along as presenters of the fun. The events, which are thrown and publicized by his club/blog/quarterly print magazine arm, LVHRD (that’s “live hard”), utilize “fashion, art, architecture, speed . . . to get people together in a landscape where a competition can occur.” Take the Master-Disaster Vending Machine Challenge. Last month in a TriBeCa bar, teams from MoMA and publications AM New York, The Onion and Pocket Change were pitted against each other to see which could be the first to devour the entire contents of a fully stocked automat. Word of the event spread through the LVHRD grapevine and blogs, and the event sold out as about 200 local hipsters paid $11-22 to witness the snacking spectacle. And, while it might not sound like marketing per se, Dewar’s Scotch whisky, Fred water and Brooklyn Brewery also were in attendance. Other clients include auto-sharing service Zipcar, DJ source Turntable Lab and the blogs T Ching and Amy’s Babies. Five years into his previous agency career, Jaeger already was pegged as a digital maverick, but felt pigeonholed. He says he was working on an account for a candy with “lead and arsenic in it” when a colleague pointed out that he didn’t appear to be happy. “Though I’d worked on some clever marketing stuff, I didn’t want to make people feel bad about how much money they earn [in order to persuade them] to buy a C bigger diamond,” Jaeger said. “I think there’s this whole American ideal of bigger cars, bigger celebrities, bigger everything. I started thinking about what would make me, and others around me, happy.” Thus, thehappycorp was born in 2004, and about a year later Jaeger began the LVHRD gatherings to attract creatives—not the ad world’s cream of the crop—but the art, music, acting, design-scene variety who drive New York culture. The club now has roughly 2,500 “hardcore members” and 10,000 people on its e-mail list. Forget the velvet rope. LVHRD is about curating quality: members get texts with addresses 0f the super-secret parties on event days, not prior. Rather than pitch hard, sponsor imagery can be grafted into the action; food and beverage brands offer sample s. Video podcasts–both pro and amateur—pick up a sponsor’s presence at events and blogs weave them into the conversation. According to Jaeger, brands have to be entertaining—or, at the very least, entertainment enablers—to stand out in a DVR-driven world that is the antithesis of traditional advertising. “Brands need to make their messages active content,” he said. “They need to stop having taglines and start talking to people [and] providing content they care about. If you appear as an advertiser, you are not I going to get consumers to consume.” BY BECKY EBENKAMP Photo by Juliana Thomas “[It’s] something that creates this need for discussion as it’s happening.” APRIL 16, 2007 27 K16NextGEN16.Lay 4/13/07 11:08 AM Page 10 BERNARD SMITH I first knew I’d be a marketer when . . . I started The Boarding School Care-Package Co. as a sophomore in college. Although short-lived, I realized that I had a strong passion for creating and bringing to life ideas that reached consumers. What is your most unusual source of inspiration? The possibilities that exist and my work ethic, strangely. If marketing were suddenly against the law, I would . . . Marketing is in my DNA. I’d find alternative ways to market under the radar. Thorough brainstorming can almost always solve what's thought to be impossible. What was your best idea that you never went with? Actually, it just came true. Since college, I had this simple idea: Keep it Clean [now] helps newspapers that depend on vending boxes to improve the cosmetic conditions of their pub stands (and their circulation and presentation) by cleaning them. He turned a passion for ice hockey into a chance at a better education. Now he’s skating through the business world with the likes of Diddy, Lucky Jeans and DJ ‘Fatman’ Scoop. W BY TODD WASSERMAN hen Bernard Smith was attending boarding school on an ice hockey scholarship, he often wondered how other people’s parents were able to afford the $25,000 annual tuition. “I asked around and most of them were business owners,” said Smith. Lesson learned. When Smith graduated St. Lawrence University in 2001, he briefly tried to break into acting. When that didn’t work out, he decided that rather than work for someone else, he’d start his own business, which he did on his 21st birthday. Six years later, Smith’s firm, UA Marketing in New York, has worked with Russell Simmons’ Phat Farm on clothing promotions, has put together marketing deals for New York Hot 97 DJ Fatman Scoop and has worked with Lucky Jeans to launch a line focused at kids. He’s also setting about to help the New York City Parks Department convince local residents to clean up after themselves. Smith’s success is proof that it never hurts to have a lot of friends. The Russell Simmons affiliation, for instance, came via Peter Drakoulias, a veteran marketing executive who worked at Deutsch before running Simmons’ ill-fated marketing firm dRush. Drakoulias had coached Smith since the latter was a 13 year-old enrolled in Ice Hockey in Harlem, a pro- gram that would pay for Smith’s boarding school scholarship. “He always worked the room and is very engaging, a real bright guy,” said Drakoulias. “I was a mentor who really learned things from the mentee.” Smith remembers that he had tried to make a good impression back then. “I excelled at hockey,” said Smith. “I would always be a little more determined than the next person. I would ask questions.” Smith parlayed that connection with Simmons into UA’s first project, a Project Runway-like contest between New York’s Parsons School for Design and the Fashion Institute of Technology to design items for Simmons’ Phat Farm clothing label. At one point, Smith says, MTV was interested in covering the event, reality TV-style. “Just because of legal reasons, we couldn’t get the work done,” Smith said. Meanwhile, the real Project Runway began airing about three months later. Smith stayed on good terms with Simmons, though, and is now designing a new product for Simmons Jewelry. Meanwhile, a chance encounter even earlier than the Drakoulias meeting netted a relationship with Fatman Scoop. “His younger brother and I were best friends in preschool,” said Smith. That led to a relationship in which UA lined up marketing deals for the DJ, most notably a Bombay Sapphire gin tie-in for which Smith wrote and arranged a song called “Fire” that was played at influencer events. With Fatman Scoop and Simmons on its roster, the four-person UA firm has been able to nab clients like Diddy’s Sean John label and Lucky Jeans, which tapped Smith to handle experiential marketing for its Los Angeles and (this fall) New York introductions of a new line, Lucky Kids. This coming summer, Smith will juggle that project, the Simmons jewelry line and another effort in New York to clean up newspaper boxes on behalf of the New York Daily News and others. “I, for one, am turned off by boxes that are graffitied and dirty,” Smith said, adding that such outward manifestations do harm to the newspapers’ brands. “That’s what we do,” Smith said. “We help brands find better ways to connect with consumers.” Like acting, running a marketing firm involves a lot of hustling and Smith has often been tempted to forgo the business and work for someone else (including the teen-focused firm Alloy, for which he worked for a year or so full-time), but as he discovered years ago, being the boss has its rewards. So, apparently, does ice hockey, although Smith admits he hasn’t played in years. “I tried it recently and I wasn’t any good,” he said. “I think I’ll just hang it up.” I 28 APRIL 16, 2007 “I was a bit more determined . . . and asked questions.” K16NextGEN16.Lay 4/13/07 11:08 AM Page 11 JOSHUA SCHACHTER I first knew I was going to do this for a living when . . . I do what’s interesting to me. So, in some sense, I’ve always done “this” for a living. What is your most unusual source of inspiration? There are lessons to be learned everywhere you look. But mostly I come up with ideas in the shower or in my sleep. If the Internet were suddenly against the law, I would . . . If Internets are outlawed, only outlaws would have Internets. Wh0’d be the ideal tie-in partner for your business? Yahoo! Which is convenient. Where—be honest—do you see yourself in 10 years? Either racing jetpacks across the moon or . . . in a meeting. This Web wizard isn’t really a marketer. Actually, if you ask him, he doesn’t even like marketing. But Del.icio.us is revolutionizing social networking. Marketers, better pay attention. t first blush, Joshua Schachter, the 33-yearold founder of the Web site Del.icio.us—pronounced “delicious,” despite the periods—is a peculiar choice for a roundup of star marketers. His service contains minimal advertising and, on the phone with him, it quickly becomes apparent that not only is Schachter not focused on building the perfect ad model, he disdains most advertising online, period. Instead of creating ads that consider the effect over the long-term, he charges, marketers just pack in as many ads as they can in a “short-term optimization toward profit.” Then he turns the tables: “Do you think that’s a net gain or a net loss for the Internet?” OK, so, Schachter’s not exactly your traditional marketing vp. But his efforts are taking social networking—a concept that savvy marketers are awaking to in growing numbers—to its next level. The del.icio.us site (http://del.icio.us) has become a conduit through which links and opinions—both positive and negative—about brands are free to fly like atoms. With a few clicks, marketers can swiftly learn what customers think about their products. The site also serves as a cyber town square where consumers make their voices heard by demonstrating what sites—and points of view—are important to them. A BY CATHARINE P. TAYLOR Photo by Ed Caldwell Essentially, the site allows users to bookmark sites, then share them. Del.icio.us has been categorized as “social bookmarking” because, as with social networking sites, it involves the sharing of content. But Schachter prefers to think of it as a way of “keeping found things found.” (Sounds simple enough, but Yahoo! in 2005 thought it was worth paying a rumored $30 million to own.) The concept that keeps these compilations from becoming just a random pile of “favorites” links is called “tagging.” Schachter reappropriated the term from its old-school uses when first developing Del.icio.us in 2003. (An electrical and engineering grad freshly minted from Carnegie-Mellon University, Schachter was working for Morgan Stanley in New York when he first built Del.icio.us to help him organize his own favorite links.) But all that tagging does is let people associate their links with a bunch of self-selected words that will help other users find it. Say you visit Del.icio.us and search for the tag “Hummer”—you’ll find links to hundreds of sites that other users have tagged with that word. So, what makes Del.icio.us any different from, say, Google? Rather than algorithms, it’s people who are providing the organization—and that gives the classifying of Web content an entirely different spin. According to Clay Shirk, who teaches interactive telecommunications at New York University, Del.icio.us is “the user’s eye view of the world.” But how, exactly, is this supposed to rock a marketer’s world? Buckle up, and let’s go back to “Hummer.” A search on Del.icio.us spits up a slew of information about how Hummer is viewed by several hundred of the site’s two million users (GM marketers, if you’re reading this, take an antacid). Some 200 users link to a site called FUH2.com, which, when enunciated, speaks for itself. You’ll also find a link (from 161 users) to RonaldMcHummer.com, which decries a recent McDonald’s promo that gave away toy Hummers. What about a link to Hummer’s actual Web site? Only three users linked to Hummer.com. As Schachter explained: “You will get caught doing whatever you’re doing.” On a less ominous note, Schachter said he has seen a corporation use Del.icio.us to its advantage. Adobe, for instance, is “using a human approach” by setting up its own Del.icio.us account (http:// del.icio.us/adobe), run by two Adobe employees, who bookmark content about the company they find interesting. In the consumer-controlled world of Web 2.0, such endeavors will succeed or fail based on the merits users perceive in them, rather than how much money changes hands. And to Schachter, that’s just delicious. I 30 APRIL 16, 2007 “You will get caught doing whatever you’re doing.” K16NextGEN16.Lay 4/13/07 11:08 AM Page 12 ABBY SPATZ (Continued from page 18) ERIC KINTZ (Continued from page 24) the blog to dis Sun’s plan as a “nice stunt.” Readers got it; HP looked savvy. Lest all this Web savvy suggest Kintz is a Tech Guy, let the record show that, actually, he’s a perfume guy. The French-born Kintz started his career in Europe with Christian Dior, launching fragrances. From there, he moved to Roland-Berger, a McKinsey-like strategy consulting group. That job eventually brought Kintz to New York. Later, after moving to San Francisco, he landed a job with HP. At the time Kintz arrived, HP was girding itself for Dell’s invasion of the printer market. Though HP has a strong presence in PCs, printers have long been its cash cow. With its focus on tight margins and its lack of retail middlemen, Dell was uniquely positioned to mess all of that up. “We reacted very quickly, defining the strategic road map,” Kintz said. In 2005, HP bought Snapfish, an online photo service. It was a tacit acknowledgement that printers aren’t the best and cheapest way to develop photos taken on a digital camera. That, should do more than take you from A to B. Travel should remind you we are all connected.” Another spot shows a father and daughter pushing the ends of the line segment to form a sand castle in the middle. “Abby understands the creative process and is collaborative and open in the way she works with the agency,” said Sonya Grewal, creative director at Y&R’s Chicago shop. “She’s aware of what’s hot culturally and brings an interesting perspective to the communication for Hilton.” When Spatz first presented the squiggly lines that eventually would become the sketch art creative, senior executives were bemused. Where were the typical pictures of the happy, shiny faces of people at the beach they asked? “I explained, ‘It's not about what these people look like. It's about what they feel, how they live and what the journey means to them,’” said Spatz. “To show who that person is takes away the ability of seeing yourself in that experience . . . No one was doing that in our category.” She had a similar experience while working on the American Express Senior (Gold) Card. Instead of merely perceiving the audience as people over 65, Spatz understood this to be a consumer group that travels and has a variety of lifestyles: “The fundamental notions that drive concepts are largely rooted in how something should feel or how you want to experience it.” Today, Spatz is rarely “not working,” said Diskin, because she is always processing information that may help Hilton relate its journey with a particular program or medium. The Food Network relationship, for instance, began as a media buy but now is a partnership with 11 properties offering a “Food Network Travel Package.” Hotel executive chefs prepare destination-specific four-course menus and wine pairings. In-room TV airs highlights of FN shows featuring local restaurants, and guests booking the package receive a cookbook, restaurant guide and a DVD of the channel’s travel shows. Spatz also lined up an outreach effort to families with Discovery Kids Network to spark an adventure experience. Last summer, kids submitted video stories about their trips to air on the channel and on DiscoveryKids.com. This summer, Hilton will include a disposable digital camera in promotional packs so youngsters can do so again. “It's a lofty task to be part of redefining an icon but that’s why I got so excited when I was hired here,” said Spatz. “The idea of doing something bigger and changing the way people think about what Hilton is, that’s a challenge a marI keter doesn’t get very often.” www.brandweek.com and the introduction of photo kiosks at Albertsons and Longs Drugs stores, have broadened HP’s income sources, helping to diffuse Dell’s threat. Since then, HP has ridden out a well-publicized scandal over then-chairman Patricia Dunn’s WalMartish attempt to trace board-level leaks to reporters. While the media jumped all over the story, it seems the public cared far less: Both HP’s image and sales emerged unscathed. That leaves Kintz a clear horizon for his ongoing mission of making HP less aloof and more of a real-time Web 2.0 player. He’s got plenty to do before HP gets there. Right now Kintz is working on marketing efforts like a recent viral video featuring a British office worker who manages to hold on to his cup of tea despite free-running stunts that would give Johnny Knoxville pause. (What’s this got to do with HP products? Not much, but it’s another way of upping HP’s cool quotient.) So, what’s the ROI on that stuff? Has Kintz really reconciled the left-brain/right brain dilemma? Maybe. “I can’t tell you its contribution to the bottom line,” he said. “Everyone is still trying to figI ure out exactly how it works.” APRIL 16, 2007 31