December 27, 2011

Clark Kokich, chairman of the digital ad agency Razorfish, has it right: "What we as marketers, and advertisers to marketers, need to do is, well…do. In other words, rather than invest all our time, energy and dollars in communicating with consumers about our current offerings, we should put those same resources toward actually transforming our products."

"Don't confuse starting a Twitter feed or building an iPhone app or running interactive, sliding, expanding, exploding banner ads as a do rather than a say," he continues. "There are lots of clever and creative online ads, social marketing campaigns, and digital initiatives floating around these days. But there are very few truly redefining efforts that substantially enhance the experience of being a customer of a product or service."

You might wonder where Kokich is preaching from, so that you can link to the full sermon. Unfortunately, I can't really help you other than to tell you to pay $9.99 for his new book Do or Die. I can't provide a link to a bookseller, though, because the book is only available (at the time of this writing) as an iPad app. Do or Die isn't a book. It's a book app. A bApp.

Now, this puts an entirely different spin on not just the definition of a book, but the definition of authorship and readership as well. And to be completely honest, I'm not sure what to make of all of it. I'm an author. I'm a reader. I'm a reviewer of Gurus (authors) and their books. But I'm at a bit of a loss on this one. The best I can do is walk you through the experience, because that's really the defining characteristic of Kokich's offering…you won't find much in the way of profound new insight. Don't get me wrong: I like what Kokich has to say; it's just that most of us have heard it before, from folks like Guy Kawasaki, Chris Brogan and Seth Godin.

For example, we've all heard and know that it's not what you say but what you do. We know that our ideas live or die based on our ability to deliver an experience worth repeating and recommending to others. We know that marketing is changing at the speed of light. We know we need a strategy, not just a bag of tactics. We know we need to build a company culture in which ideas can come from anywhere, and that those ideas must be implemented in a quick and nimble way. We know that we need a flatter and more agile company structure, and that silos impede the free flow of ideas. We know we need to fail fast and learn through rapid prototyping. We know that social media demands a rethink of consumer communication, and that it isn't about your tally of Likes, Fans and Followers. And we can find examples of brilliant people all over the planet saying so if we search a bit, for example, on TED.

So the real question, at least for me, is this: does Do or Die walk its talk? If, as Kokich says, we aren't to confuse building an app as a do, does Do or Die deliver the kind of transformative experience he's recommending?

Luckily, I have an iPad, so I was able to get Do or Die from the Apple App Store. If you don't have an iPad, you're out of luck, at least right now. Wise strategy? While the number of business iPad users is growing exponentially, it's hard to imagine a savvy marketer thinking his target market is at best limited to business readers that are tablet owners and users.

Let's start with the downloading experience. It's looonnnggg…nearly 40 minutes long over my home WIFI, and I can't imagine what it would be over 3G. It's a weighty app, over a half gigabyte, because of all the spectacular hi res imagery and HD audio and video embedded in it.

The bells and whistles don't stop with the eye and ear candy. Options abound and are available through navigation that isn't as intuitive or slick as it could be, compared to some other publication apps. There are 11 chapters, each about 10 app pages long. You can read the book or opt to hear the book, which for audio book audiences is a very nice and cost-saving built-in feature. You can read magazine-quality layouts on each of the cases, or choose to listen to them. You can watch a number of interviews, and the video production quality is superb. You can submit comments at the end of each chapter, and you can share what you're reading on Facebook, Twitter, and through email—all of which is standard fare for magazine apps and newspapers.

But.

The app crashed on me if I clicked around a little too aggressively, especially when going from reading to listening. This happened frequently enough to become annoying—I can't remember my old school Kindle ever once crashing no matter what I did to it. Also, if I switched from reading to watch an interview, the app didn't hold my place in an intuitive way: it didn't snap back to where I was. Rather, the position-saving feature is hidden in a larger overall navigation function, and no instructions for how to use it exists. I could not make notes or highlight or bookmark what I was reading, which is something I and most readers love to do. One of the interesting features of a Kindle book is being able to see what others find interesting (along with the ability to turn that feature off if you want to). No such feature here.

The commenting feature is the standard blog method, as is the social media sharing functionality. It seems curious, though, that neither LinkedIn nor Google+ are included, both of which cater far more to the business crowd. Content of tweets, wall posts, and email messages is a little over the top and self-indulgent, and requires deletion or rework to make usable. There's no way to connect with other readers except through comments—no Yelp! or Fouresquare-like functionality, no chatting and no location services. This is something I thought Kokich would have attended to: why not build in some sort of a virtual "book club" feature if you're going to spend all this money on a new school application that is supposed to redefine how you read a book? People love to share and discuss what they are reading, and the technology exists to enable that through an app.

I realized as I made my way through the plethora of content in various formats that I was not truly reading, but rather skimming, skipping, sipping and tasting…much as I do with magazine apps—a little here, a little there, never swallowing the whole meal. That's how a magazine is intended to be read and designed, but not how a book should be. Magazine reading is a completely different way to consume content from that of a book, which you read linearly beginning to end, making notes as you go. If you love the better iPad magazine and newspaper apps, you'll love Do or Die, but even then it does not significantly improve that particular experience, or even compete well with others.

In the end, Kokich may have failed to follow his own admonition about mistaking the building of an app as a do. As a reader, my reading experience was not truly enhanced. It was interrupted. And if this final Guru Review of 2011 reads more like a technology review than a book review, that's because it is. Never am I critical when it comes to reviewing a book. If I don't like a book, I simply don't review it. But Do or Die isn't a book. It's a book app, emphasis on the app, which eclipsed the book.

I liked the style and verve of the Kokich manifesto, though I thirsted for something on how to do the do. I liked the overall message—once in a while it helps to get a call to action or just a solid confirmation that you're already on the right track. I liked all that, I just didn't like the wrapper. It complicated what is generally a simple and enjoyable experience.

Am I envious of the technology? In many ways yes. I'm not that old school. Do I think that the future of books and publishing must surely involve the use of this technology in a more artful and integrated way? Absolutely.

But in more ways I'm already missing the most transformative experience of all when it comes to a book: consuming a compelling narrative that fires my imagination, sweeps me up and carries me along in an absorbing story, makes me think, and prompts me to tell my friends, followers and colleagues all about it.

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Matthew E. May, Article, guru review, business books, Do or Die, Clark Kokich