July 22, 2010
The ripple effects of losing an event like Indy will be detrimental to our City.
Vancouver didn’t know what they had until they lost it—and the same might end up happening to us if we’re not more cognizant of that fact. The only difference is we will never—ever get it back if we lose it. Vancouver’s kung-fu grip will be tight. They’ll never let it go a 2nd time. That being said, if (and that’s a big ‘if’) Edmonton gets 1 last chance at making Indy über-successful in 2011, the following is a list of 21 things that must be done in order to have any hope of a shot at Expo2017.
1. Create a shared vision, purpose and strategy.
Instead of a bunch of disjointed events, create 1 major event, with a central theme running through all supporting events. This gives Capital Ex (under a new name), A Taste of Edmonton, The Edmonton Indy, as well as shops, restaurants, pubs and bars a shared purpose and an aligned strategy. More importantly it gives the customers something to rally behind.
2. Establish ownership by all stakeholders.
Accountability rocks! Wouldn’t it be awesome to see all of the companies involved in running the event put their profits on the line? If it’s a success, you reap the rewards. If it’s a flop, sorry pal—no pay cheque. (This only works if everyone is on board and we don’t have dead weight).
3. Articulate innovation as an organization/event-wide commitment.
Without innovation and a sense of “nowness” you’ll have bored, uninspired staff. This trickles down to bored, uninspired customers.
4. Think long-term.
What do we want this event to be 3, 5, 10 years from now? The short-term, ‘year-to-year,’ ‘go with the flow,’ ‘take it as it comes’ attitude is so “Edmonton.” Let’s get our stuff together. Seriously.
5. Focus on the customer experience—the brand; rather than the internal processes.
Otherwise you are just going through the motions.
6. Focus on challenges of the future rather than successes of the past.
Unless you’re in the business of selling Transformers or the Rubik’s Cube, you cannot build a profitable business on nostalgia.
7. Evolve or die.
Be willing to change when your platform is burning. Even more important—be self aware. Know that your platform IS burning!
8. Leave politics out of it if-and-whenever possible.
Politics can open a lot of doors, but in many cases it leads to sustaining the status quo in order to support entrenched, misguided and conflicted interests. See #7.
9. Reward crisis prevention rather than crisis management.
10. Get rid of any hierarchies that exist.
Inspire. Undermanage. Constantly review new ideas.
11. Fund new ideas in the wake of kiboshing current underperforming efforts.
12. Kill any initiatives that are not succeeding, especially ones that are funded and staffed.
13. Think critically.
Fear of criticizing current practices and commitments is a high-risk activity.
14. Make decisions with your heart.
Addiction to left-brained, analytical thinking (“data is God”) is corporate crack. People are emotional and heart-driven beings. Data is no longer the advantage it used to be.
15. Ideate-collaborate-deviate.
Adopt a more user-friendly idea management processes.
16. Find people that understand (and more importantly care to understand) the customers.
17. Be willing to acknowledge and learn from past failures.
Why is this one so difficult? It shouldn’t be. Own up to your mistakes and move on.
18. Make innovation part of the performance review process.
This goes for every single company/stakeholder/employee/volunteer involved. “How much did we/I innovate this year?” “Did we/I raise the bar?” If you’re not moving forward, you’re moving backward.
19. Create room for more “spec time” to develop new ideas and opportunities.
Good ideas take time. The best ideas might take longer.
20. Coach innovation and creative thinking.
I’m serious. Just as execs would bring in coaches/trainers into the office for their staff, Indy should do it too. This is after all a business (or at least it should be).
21. Create reward and recognition programs for every portfolio.
People like to know that their hard work means something.
July 15, 2010
That’s next year’s headline. I’m calling it right now.
No, I’m not an oracle, and no, I don’t have Zoltan in my basement. But I can show you why we’re going to lose what could be—should be—a world-class Edmonton event.
Let’s start by looking at the recent Edmonton Sun poll, then we’ll Tarantino this debacle.
84% of people don’t care about the Indy.
Do you know why? Because we haven’t been given a reason to care! There’s no public buildup of excitement. There’s no celebrity endorsement. There’s no branding to turn the Indy into a can’t-miss experience.
I have to be honest: I’m a little embarrassed to be an Edmontonian right now. Our city was awarded an amazing opportunity! The Indy should be a world-renowned event, even more attractive than the Calgary Stampede (racing vehicles at mach speeds is a bit more exciting and relevant than racing chuck wagons). But the powers that be are completely squandering the opportunity.
How did this happen? (Please circle the best answer.)
a. Many years ago the City awarded an exclusivity deal to Northlands to market and manage all major events (whether penned or implied is irrelevant)
b. Corporate greed, laziness
c. Politics
d. All of the above
If you chose “d,” awesome! You get a gold star.
Exclusivity promotes laziness, complacency, short-sightedness, and greed.
Don’t believe me? How inspiring and memorable is the “Make it your Indy” campaign? Laziness brained it, and laziness approved it. What you see in this campaign is the business model of “let’s do the least amount of work possible and still get paid.”
I’m sorry, but that doesn’t work for me. Organizers should be going above and beyond to make this one of the most memorable events in Canada. Northlands isn’t working hard or getting creative because they don’t have to. They’ve got the job. They’ve got all the jobs. Why put any effort into creating vibrant and exciting events that tell the world that Edmonton is the place to be when you don’t have to?
Northlands is not a marketing or branding company.
Northlands’ business is to provide space and coordinate the logistics of events (and they do a really good job at it), but that’s it. They are not a marketing company. They have failed to generate buzz and excitement around events and draw the throngs of people that should be attending because that’s not what they do!
That’s right. The wise decision makers in our city made an exclusive arrangement to market events that could draw who knows how much tourism with a company that isn’t a marketing company. While this might not be killing Edmonton, it’s definitely holding us back.
Instead the City should award the contracts for creating buzz around events and attracting large crowds to branding and marketing companies. (Earth-shattering idea, isn’t it?) Then they should hold those companies accountable. The current zero-accountability situation simply doesn’t work and is a waste of taxpayer money.
What would happen if accountability existed? For starters, the marketing of the Indy wouldn’t be left up to the sponsors, as it seems to be now. This is ridiculous and something no professional marketing and branding company would do. When sponsors are solely responsible for marketing, they aren’t getting the potential value out of the partnership. No wonder they’ve had an impossible time trying to secure a title sponsor and must find new sponsors every year. I wouldn’t renew my sponsorship either.
Make us care, and we will show up.
We are blessed with a many great cheerleaders in this city. @MasterMaq, @CaryWilliams, @ChrisLaBossiere, @KenBautista among others are all doing their best to help Edmonton evolve into a world-class city. But I’m worried that they too will one day give up, (Please don’t. You guys are awesome!).
Edmonton city council needs to start acting like a business. That means caring about its customers and creating brand experiences that we love and are proud of. Like any business, Edmonton must give the people what they want; otherwise, we will suffer the consequences of our customers’ choosing the competition. Vancouver is our competition. Calgary is our competition. Right now, they have much more to offer our customers.
I find it odd that Mr. Mandel is scoping Shanghai’s World Expo right now. It’s great that he’s taking the initiative, but I find it a little presumptuous. We can’t even manage a little Indy event properly. Does anyone seriously believe that Edmonton could land Expo 2017 if we were to lose Indy? And if we did, what impression would be left at the end of it?
Enough is enough. Quit killing opportunity. Quit killing creativity. Quit killing evolution. We need some new players—people and companies willing to do all it takes to make Edmonton a world-class city. The exclusive arrangement with Northlands has to stop if Edmonton is ever going to have a chance.
I bet the Indy will be pulled from Edmonton’s portfolio within the next year. Perhaps it will be given to a city that actually gives a damn about evolution, creativity, and inspiring its residents to live there. Vancouver—you’re well in the lead. Calgary—you are a close second. Edmonton—you are the dark horse I am rooting for.
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