Chris Writes.

Quantification is everything. As someone smarter than me recently said, if you can apply the video game concept of “Levelling up” to something, it makes it easier to accept that you’re at a certain level, and that you can improve, and that it takes practice/training/work to accomplish those improvements. You need only to quantify your improvements to track progress.

My Garmin Edge 305 GPS, affixed to the handlebar of my bicycle, provides exactly this. It’s really an incredible tool, especially when combined with their MotionBased site that allows you to upload/track your rides, and if you want to, share them with others. Like this one. And this one. And this one. And today’s.

There’s no doubt that a site like this has privacy concerns – if you look at my rides, you can pretty much figure out where I live, or work. That’s a bit concerning. If you look at my rides, you can figure out where I was at a specific time/day. Also concerning. Sure, I can flag all my rides as “Private”, or I can just use the desktop-based program to chronicle my rides. But I like the idea of sharing the ride information, and thankfully, the site is relatively annonymous. But it’s still a bit strange to know that this little tiny thing on my handlebar speaks to orbiting satellites, and these satellites (and lord knows who else) now know exactly where I am. And the GPS in my car is no different.

I suppose, given that every cell phone in the world will have tracking chips in them within a few years, the concerns I have about my bike computer are about to be trumped by concerns that are far, far more serious. What will you do when faced with a cell contract that says that they’re “allowed to monitor you via GPS for marketing/research purposes, or as demanded by the dept of Homeland Security”. I fear those days are not far off.

I think it’s healthy when big companies don’t take themselves so seriously. It’s usually a few individuals in the company who find a way to take a risk on something, and that risk turns into something that people want to talk about. Maybe it’s good marketing. Maybe it’s people just trying to be people. Maybe both.

However, sometimes these “risks”, when successful, are seen as threatening. Sometimes they’re so effective, so simply remarkable in their effect, that others, whether internal or external competition, assumes (correctly or not) that this bit of whimsey was directed at them, or worse, was intended to operate without them *at all* (”GASP! They didn’t even *ask* us! The NERVE!”). And they retaliate, and it ends up looking just funny.

An example? Sure! Last year, a few of us at Specialized concocted the concept of the Specialized Angel, a winged beauty who we’d put at the tops of big climbs during major races like the Tour of California. And it became an overnight sensation, made popular by sites like Flickr, by bloggers, and by the media. It was a story, and people liked to talk about it. It’s success was attributed to a small team of people here, and a much larger and more important team known as the “general public”.

Following the recent (and awesome) Tour of California, which of course included our angel again, someone at Cannondale apparently got an idea. This USA-based bicycle company, one of our industry competitors and new sponsor of the Italian Liquigas team, thought of a new print ad.

(click for larger)

I happen to drive a Scion Tc. I’ve had it for nearly two years now, and quite like it. I’m also, I’ll admit, not really a car guy, so I like it because it does it’s car job: it goes. But I do sometimes catch myself thinking that it’s a pretty cool company. They have hip ad campaigns, their cars are well designed, and perhaps most crucially, it seems as though people like me drive them.

Today, I got home and found a box in the mail. In it was a present from Scion: they sent me a 1/24 model of my car, apparently because there was a recent safety recall that I had taken care of (painlessly). So, 2 points to Scion for going above and beyond. I now have another reason to talk about my car. It’s a small thing, but it’s just kinda cool.

(click for larger)

Seth Godin recently crafted a brilliant and succinct list of things he learned when they launched the community-based site squidoo.com – and the lessons they have written out here should be tacked to the wall of anyone interested in building any sort of community-based anything. No matter what you’re building, if you’re fundamentally bringing groups of people together in a way that allows the group to exert control over what you’re doing, these rules apply. Oh, and if you’re doing that, good – it’s where this is all going. A marketing guy or girl no longer lives the life of “telling and selling” (I heard that term somewhere recently, can’t recall where, but I like it…it sounds so, well, old fashioned). We’re beginning a renaissance towards an actual ‘age of reason’, which will hopefully culminate in the elimination of junk mail flyers at some time in the very, very distant future.

Of course, Seth’s list resonates with me and my colleagues at work for it’s relation to the Riders Club. Based on our experiences so far, which I admit are still very limited, I’d like to agree with everything on Seth’s list, add two items to the mix:

1. Once you’ve accepted patience as a virtue, be continually ready for success. Don’t make any promises that you can’t continue to make if your membership suddenly skyrockets. Saying “yeah, but that’d be a good problem to have” is actually about as far from the truth as one can get. Find ways that guarantee everyone is happy, and stays happy.

2. Be an active part of your own community. Budget time in your day to be a participant, rather than just being an overseer. Play with your new friends.