I n f i n i t e W i s d o m C o n s u l t i n g

Infinite Wisdom announces new Partners/Friends

2010-08-03T02:29:00.000-07:00

Today Infinite Wisdom is proud to announce two new Partner/Friends. These additions help us extend our services in telecommunications and technology with a focus on market and brand value in emerging markets. Curious thing about IW, you'll notice that we all have the same title - Partner/Friend. That's because we need to be both to those we work with in the office and to our clients as well. A partner and a friend. What could be more valuable, or more simple? Please click above and meet our new people.

Infinite Wisdom Consulting

2010-04-13T14:57:00.000-07:00

I N F I N I T E W I S D O M C O N S U L T I N G

is currently under establishment in Munich, Germany. To contact a partner please email David at David.E.Carlson@gmail.com or visit his personal blog at The Wild Wild East Dailies. We'll be up and running in 2010 and look forward to serving our clients with creative, strategic and profitable solutions to their business challenges.

Should consultants position brands? The right consultants certainly should.

2010-03-24T07:29:00.000-07:00

A recent story in AdAge recounts a campaign failure at Anheuser-Busch and cites the positioning statement created by a management consulting firm. Click the link for the full story - excerpts below:

Bud's Big Blunder: Letting Consultants Steer Brand - 'Drinkability' Campaign Flop at Anheuser-Busch Comes as Marketers Expand Influence of Outside Advisers on Ad Work

By Jeremy Mullman
Published:March 15,

2010 CHICAGO (AdAge.com) -- Shortly after August Busch IV was named CEO of Anheuser-Busch, he accepted a company director's recommendation for a consulting firm that would assist with managing the brewer's burgeoning brand portfolio.

The firm, Cambridge Group, ended up going far beyond portfolio management. In fact, its exhaustive research resulted in the "Drinkability" campaign that -- four years and millions in fees later -- is considered a major factor in Bud Light posting the first full-year sales decline in its history.

The "Drinkability" debacle, however, resonates beyond A-B, as agencies increasingly chafe under the growing influence of consultants. Marketers are under pressure to justify their budgets, and CMOs, skating on ever-thinner ice, are trying to bring a more scientific approach to a discipline traditionally heavily reliant on gut calls.

And therein lies the rub: gut calls. When you're working on a brand assignment that creates an emotional connection between consumers and your product, should you hire a scientist to shape the brand communications, or an artists, or both?

Consultants "can be outstanding at what they do, which is linear thinking and process," said Peter Krivkovich, CEO of independent Cramer-Krasselt. "It's just important for clients to remember that human behavior is not linear."

So this is where Infinite Wisdom seeks to differ - by combining business intelligence with human emotion to provide not only linear analysis but also a creative perspective on creating communications. More simply said: Can the strategy produce compelling messages for consumers?

Cambridge Group, a 30-year-old firm with sterling case studies for some of the largest consumer package-goods companies, seemed well-qualified to do that.

In an interview, Mr. Kash stressed that Cambridge didn't touch creative, and that the campaigns that stemmed from the firm's findings were the result of decisions made by A-B executives and their ad agencies. "We rarely have anything to do with the creative process," he said, though he noted that occasionally the firm attends meetings with creative agencies.

And this is precisely where we find the hole in the philosophy that simply following a well researched business strategy will produce compelling communications. Why shouldn't your consulting firm be involved in creative, when that indeed will need to be what the end product relies on?

Executives at the shops who worked on the "Drinkability" campaign -- DDB and Euro RSCG -- say it's true they didn't take orders from Cambridge. But they add that it seemed that executives at the brewery -- particularly Mr. Busch -- had invested so much time, money and energy into the process that its recommendations almost always quickly became the client's.

Attempts to reach Mr. Busch for comment were not successful. "It's just an enormous, expensive process, and clients buy in," said a former A-B agency exec. "But the insights weren't that insightful, and they really derailed [Bud Light]." In 2009, its shipments fell 2.5%, the first-ever negative sales year for the country's No. 1 beer.

Infinite Wisdom's unique mix of partners blends MBA educated market research, analysis, strategic marketing and superior creative experience to provide both hard and soft skills and renders a balanced yet emotional perspective to your brand building efforts.

2010-03-05T18:22:00.001-08:00

Our First Assignment

2010-03-04T15:03:00.000-08:00

Good News. Our first assignment will launch the KINZO AIR brand of aerodynamic office furniture in the US. KINZO AIR combines kinetic origami with intense workplace studies to not only increase efficiency, but to do it in an elegant and streamlined fashion. Bau+Art Berlin represents and Kinzo Architects Berlin, remain, Kinzo Architects Berlin. Our thanks to the folks at KINZO and Bau+Art Berlin. Infinite Wisdom is now one step closer to nirvana. Here's the press release:

b+a Press Release

2010-02-11T15:02:00.000-08:00

Management Consulting Partner Needed

2010-02-11T15:01:00.000-08:00

Infinite Wisdom is currently seeking a partner position in Management Consulting.

Hard skills need to be meticulous and dependable financial analysis for investment regarding Internet start-ups as well as diversified existing concerns, IPO introduction, Market and Consumer Analysis for Global 500 Companies, emerging and frontier markets and Structural Support for globally directed firms of all natures.

Soft skills include, active participation in social networks, knowledge and love of Web 2.0 and beyond, and an acute desire to kick the living butt out of the big consulting firms who just do "Off the Rack" solutions for our market. Intuitive skills must include a love of business, art, music, architecture and graphic design, a glass or two of fine wine now and again and the ability to use the past as a guide to the future but not a map.

It will help greatly if you already have a blog of over one year old. The winning candidate will need to be a friend as well as a professional partner to both our company and clients, as the position title is "Partner/Friend" - the same as mine. Partnership includes stock ownership.

Look at the spinning woman. If she is turning right, the right side of your brain is working . If she is turning left, the left side of your brain is working . If she turns both ways for you, you then you have a 160 or better IQ. We're looking for someone who can see things both ways.

2009-12-30T16:58:00.000-08:00