6/2/10
Kevin Maney
Trade-Off: Why Some Things Catch On, and Others Don't
Kevin Maney is an acclaimed author and award-winning journalist who has interviewed many of the biggest names in business in a career spanning twenty-five years. He writes for Fortune, The Atlantic, Fast Company and other magazines, and he is a former technology columnist and senior technology reporter at USA Today. His best-selling books include The Maverick and His Machine and Megamedia Shakeout. From all this observation and thought he has developed a simple, compelling framework for understanding the success or failure of new products and services in the marketplace
Among the things you will learn from this session are:
- How two conflicting forces—fidelity and convenience—determine the success or failure of new products and services in the marketplace;
- Why falling in the middle between fidelity and convenience makes success very unlikely;
- How to choose the right strategy, or multiple strategies, to fit your business and your best possible customers.
More about Kevin …
Kevin has made dozens of television and radio appearances including spots on CNN, CNBC, C-SPAN, BBC, and Fox News. Furthermore, he has contributed to ABC News Now, Wired, PBS This Week, NPR, BBC radio, and Tech TV Silicon Spin. He is also a musician and songwriter, and in 2008 released a CD of songs of wry commentary on business and technology – Piracy by Kevin Maney & His Briefs. Kevin has a B.A. in English and Journalism from Rutgers University. He grew up in Binghamton, N.Y., and now lives outside Washington DC, where he plays soccer and hockey as much as possible.
Kevin will be talking with us about his new book, Trade-Off: Why Some Things Catch On, and Others Don't, which like The Innovator’s Dilemma by Clayton Christensen, The Long Tail by Chris Anderson, and The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell, offers an important new lens for thinking and talking about business. And, he’ll not only bring the concepts from his book alive with narrative stories, he’ll also go beyond the book to comment on the news of the day. Here’s a brief look at what he’ll cover. We are quoting here from the back cover of the book.
“Why did the RAZR ultimately ruin Motorola? Why does Wal-Mart dominate rural and suburban areas but falter in large cities? Why did Starbucks stumble just when it seemed unstoppable? The answer lies in the ever-present tension between fidelity (the quality of a consumer’s experience) and convenience (the ease of getting and paying for a product). In Trade-Off, Kevin Maney shows how these conflicting forces determine the success, or failure, of new products and services in the marketplace.”
“He shows that almost every decision we make as consumers involves a tradeoff between fidelity and convenience — between the products we love, and the products we need. Rock stars sell out concerts because the experience is high in fidelity — it can’t be replicated in any other way, and because of that, we are willing to suffer inconvenience for the experience. In contrast, a downloaded MP3 of a song is low in fidelity, but consumers buy music online because it’s super-convenient.”
“Products that are at one extreme or the other — those that are high in fidelity or high in convenience — tend to be successful. The things that fall into the middle — products or services that have middling fidelity and convenience — fail to win an enthusiastic audience.”
“Using examples from Amazon and Disney to People Express and the invention of the ATM, Maney demonstrates that the most successful companies are disciplined about sticking to one extreme or the other — fidelity or convenience — in shaping products and building brands.”
You’ll love Kevin. He has a full storehouse of knowledge, stories and insights. He presents his ideas in a way that is smart, sophisticated, funny and understandable, without getting into business-speak. He thrives in roles that require him to engage with C-level executives, synthesize key learnings, or infuse flair and energy to the sometimes-too-predictable and mundane business conference.
AN IMPORTANT NEW WAY TO UNDERSTAND WHY WE BUY • A KEY TO BUILDING AN EFFECTIVE BRAND STRATEGY
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