In much of the discussion TomorrowToday has especially in the line of customer experience (Turning the PAGE on Customer experience) we have emphasized the need for companies to be ‘more human’.
What we mean by this is that companies need to display a personality and warmth that have been unbeknown to corporates of a bygone era. The rules governing emotions at work was set and no interference with a professional service was allowed.
Adding to that, we have been amplifiers of the notion that social business and the way people receive and process information has changed dramatically. More specifically, we have all read reports that books as we know it and book retail as we know it are fighting a losing battle. So much so that Borders, a large and well known retailer in the UK has announced they will be liquidating their remaining stores.
Some authors are nervous and have been for years or months. Others are finding other outlets for their works. This industry however is in serious need of radical ideas.
Enter ‘Unbound’…
It is the brainchild of John Mitchinson, Dan Kieran and Justin Pollard. It takes the principles of investment and relationship to the extreme emotional end of business. It basically works likes this:
1) Author puts out an overview of a novel he wants to write
2) Reader/investor decides if they like it
3) If liked, the would be reader chooses his/her level of investment (£10 for an e-book and maybe a mention in the ‘thank you’ section or £250 for lunch with the author)
We can agree or disagree on whether this is a sound business idea. What we can’t deny is that it is out-the-box thinking to get an ailing industry partially back on its feet. What we also can’t overlook is the valid questions it raises on customers’ personal attachment to the product and supplier.
It may be a defined example of relationally real the customer experience is becoming. The model cannot necessarily be extrapolated to other industries in equal effective measure but the questions that other industries’ need to ask remain equally valid.
The organization so far seems to be doing well. Sometimes it is the freaks like the Unbound trio amongst us that need to be heard.
Great article Berne. Thank you. Often it is the ‘freaks’ as you called them, who are the best innovators. Surely Unbound emulates the idea of customers dictating what product and how distribution should work. If Justin Bieber were a product (which he kind of is) this is how I would argue he was made…