Out of the list of the following companies, how would you rank them in innovation?:

• Microsoft
• IBM
• Cisco
• Google
• HP
• Apple
• Dell

Now, rank those same companies on how much money they spend a year on R&D. Here is a hint for the 2nd list, it should look exactly like the list just presented. In fact, Microsoft spent 8 times more in 2009 in research and development than Apple based on numbers from the Business Insider. Here are the numbers:

• Microsoft – 8.6 Billion
• IBM – 5.8 Billion
• Cisco – 5.0 Billion
• Google – 2.8 Billion
• HP – 2.77 Billion
• Apple – 1.1 Billion
• Dell – 0.62 Billion

I think it would be difficult to argue that Apple and Google are not on top of the mix in innovation. Where as Microsoft and IBM are on the bottom. Why? Granted I don’t know the inner workings of either company, so this is just a guess. What I’m thinking is that much of the Innovation from Apple is coming from Steve Jobs. And Steve Jobs, love him or hate him, knows how to innovate and has little concern about saving other egos and feelings along the way. When it comes to companies like Microsoft and IBM, much of the “Innovation” is done by committee comprised of people that have survived politically long enough to grow into a corporate role that allows them to sit and lead committees tasked with being innovative. This is clearly not the formula for success. In fact one may argue that politically savvy and innovation are inversely proportional. On the other hand, being an incredibly gifted innovator and having what it takes to run a company successfully are also often inversely proportional. Suffice it to say, may things need to line up just right. As for the others, IBM and Microsoft, they will continue to ride with their inertia for years to come. And they will spend billions on R&D. And with their billions, they will do more to keep the senior level innovators happy than producing anything innovative.

Many are upset with Microsoft for not supporting IE9 on XP. Two things come to mind when I hear this:

1 - If you ARE stuck on XP AND you can upgrade, then why not upgrade to Firefox or Chrome for goodness sake.

2 - If you ARE stuck on XP.  Then be more upset about being stuck on a 10 year old operating system.

Every once in a while I will notice a piece of banner marketing done very well. This was the case with the banner to the left of a girl with what looks like a thumb drive or some type of storage device at the top of her sock. It caught my attention enough to click on the ad just to see how well the transition from the ad to the site was handled. But when I got to the site, I felt like I went from some cutting edge banner work to a site caught in the 1990′s. I was impressed to see that the theme of the banner was captured on the site. But the rest of the site looks like it came from a $25 do it yourself website kit. This makes me want to write this letter:

Dear SDI, Love your latest banner ad campaign. But just like Bare Bobby in the song, The Mermaid, You’re love that girl with all your heart (the banner)… but you’re not going to like the tail (the site).

Ever notice that at an all you can eat buffet, the people that would be the first to tell you they have a slow metabolism, are the ones eating the most?

US newspaper 1Q ad revenue down 10 percent - Some say same percent of subscriber base died of old age over same time. http://ow.ly/1R8rW

A friend that I work with recommend this book.  Partially because she like I, work for an agency.  But mostly because she used to work for that fictional place with those purely fictional people that only bear relation to the characters in this book in a purely coincidently way.  So blessed with some purely fictional inside knowledge, I picked up a copy of, Then we Came to the End, by Joshua Ferris.  This book gives us all a glimpse of how life at a declining agency can seem.  Written primarily from the account management and copy writing point of view it left me wondering, do people really waist time worrying about things a petty as mentioned in this book.  Are they really so un-engaged with life, work and reality?  So pre-occupied with things that matter little.  So focused on not focusing on owning their own success and failures?  Regardless of the depressing picture this paints on agency life, it will make you laugh.  It will remind you of people you know and work with.  It will remind you of things you have felt and thought.  It will remind of you of things you have done or have heard of people doing.  Now for me, I need to get back to counting my office ceiling tiles while leaning back in my chair one can only get with advanced title or back condition.

Great People + Great Process = Best Results

Great People + Bad Process = Good Results

Bad People + Great Process = Ok Results

I called all three today.  I can tell you Bank of America was the best experience by far.  The person I talked to knew what she was talking about.  I could understand her.  She could understand me. And she gave me more information than I had hoped to obtain.  I could tell that that she was thinking for herself and not just following a rigid call script.

RE/MAX - I hung up on the first guy that answered the phone as I got the idea that he did not have the skills to conduct the business I needed based on how badly he pronounced the greeting.  On the 2nd call I had better luck, but was less than impressed with the companies ability to provide the proper follow up.

Allstate - Not a horrible experience, but far from A++.  Perhaps this is the best you can expect from a call center option that most likely is costing Allstate 1/2 of what the nicer alternative would cost.

Regarding the CNet article about the Yahoo Nokia deal. I wonder how similar this news would have felt like if back in 1910, (a few years after the Model T was released), the worlds largest manufacture of horse drawn buggies and the worlds largest buggy whip manufacture announced they were teaming up to increase their market share dominance over the automobile.

Ari David should have known better to try to get this approved by Apple covered in this article by CNet. There are better places to focus your energy/money to get your word out. In general the GOP needs to catch up on the Intranet. This goes for digital marketing, Web Sites, mobile site, apps, the works. Perhaps the GOP is behind as the non-GOP side attracts more of the volunteers that understand how to work with the new tools.