Stefan's Blog

Just a few weeks ago, we dove into The Stage , an album released by Avenged Sevenfold (A7x) in 2016. From a marketing perspective, where we treat a  band as a brand and an album as a product , this was a unique, non-traditional album release because it was released without much promotion . Lets briefly re-visit some of our findings: Pre-release 1. The band gave a fake album name and release date a few days before they released The Stage.  This had fans talking about the new album without having to disclose further details. 2. A week before The Stage was released, A7x announced a special live streamed event on October 27th, 2016, the same date that the album was released. As thousands watched the live streamed performance, Avenged Sevenfold was scheduled to secretly release the full album right after the show. Post-release 1. A7x transformed The Stage into The Stage Experience . Throughout 2017, the band released seven songs that were digitally added to t

Have you ever changed? Was it easy? Li and Bernoff describe the importance of preparing for organizational change and transformation in the context of interactions with customers, or the groundswell . Before Satya Nadella became the new CEO of Microsoft in 2014, the company was seen as not being able "to connect with the new generation of users" . Nadella became CEO to lead an internal change effort to better connect Microsoft employees to its customers. After four years, many argue that Nadella has made Microsoft feel "like a different Microsoft" . Nadella has attempted to bend the company's structure. He believes that this will  keep customers and employees in tune with each other . Is the change effort complete? Li and Bernoff indicate that "when you're tapped into the customer community you get feedback quickly". Organizational innovation is better with the help of customers. Under

Did you, growing up, have a small corner store that you loved going to? In 2015, in Peru, the concept of corner stores or bodegas    was forever revolutionized: Tambo  came to life. In case you were wondering, the word Tambo, which comes from the Quechua language , was an Incan structure that contained several supplies. Taking this into a 21st-century scenario, the founders of the Tiendas Tambo    have adapted the original definition into a chain of convenience stores like 7-11 , currently running in Lima, Peru. Just to provide you with a little context , convenience stores in Lima have kept a traditional, old-school vibe.  It is common for families and individuals to go to the small corner store in the block and buy some daily products. At the same time, big and medium-sized supermarkets have grown and made their way into the market, especially in the past 20 years. This enduring change in the supermarket industry in Lima, Peru, and in other South Ameri