Janus Dialogs

One of the great truths about the United States returns to the surface every four years when it comes time to elect a new president. We are not a democracy, we are a republic.

The Electoral College – a system put in place in 1787 – was established, depending on whom you ask, to prevent the larger of the original 13 colonies from dominating the office of the president, or to offset the power of the antislavery north.

In any case, this system could (and has) resulted in the election of a president with less than a majority of the popular vote. There is a .7% chance that Obama and Romney could actually receive the same number of Electoral votes (small chance yes, but much higher than a tie in the popular vote), resulting in the House of Representatives needing to select the next president.

Like many things in life, a logical and well thought out plan has aged, becoming out of sync with current needs. This is not exclusive to the realm of politics. Typically no one builds a run down building, or neighborhood – but without maintenance and upkeep, some end up that way.

Corporate or experience marketing strategy and design is the same. It needs to be reviewed from time to time to ensure it still fits the current need, delivers the objective, and syncs with the modern reality. If you are not moving forward, you are falling behind.

And then there are the ideas that just “make you go hmmm?” The Hotel Sofitel decided to place the “no smoking” notice on the bottom of an ashtray in each room.

Maybe there was a vote on this decision.

Is your experience marketing strategy getting old? Do you have a method for reviewing, updating, and revising? Start by looking to the fringe – this is where new ideas are born.

Note: As always, the desire of Janus Dialogs is not to adjudicate the appropriateness of any trend, but to bring it to the forefront for consideration by the caretakers for the shared moments in time we call experience marketing.