I had the great pleasure of introducing Richard Tait, Gran Poohbah (founder) of Cranium at Wednesday's lunchtime keynote. I am a big fan. We play Cadoo in our household. That's something that keeps our family together - literally. He ran us through a great group game that livened up the crowd (I have to say that this has been a tremendous Summit - lots of energy and smarts)
From 2 guys to being the 3rd largest game company - that's Cranium. The first board game of Cranium was created in PowerPoint (one point for PPoint). They went from concept to shipping in 6 months. (Trivial Pursuit took 4 years). They now sell 22 million games around the globe.
Customers call themselves Craniacs. What does it take for people to self-proclaim themselves as Craniacs?
5 Ideas that drive Cranium' approach:
1. Create a culture not a company
2. Build products that customers love
3. Break through the clutter
4. Change the channel
5. Your customers are your sales force
Build Culture
He's created a methodology for building a culture - one that's playful and collaborative. (He's a fan of Starbucks and Google. He vsited the latter and was struck by their nutritionst and the fact that the food they served was high performance food like what you might serve to athletes - wow)
He mentioned a couple of cases of companies who look at what people are doing and what they need:
- Defribrilators (not sure the company): They studied where people have heart attacks (hint: it happens at home and in airports)
- Picnik.com:studied what people need for photo manipulation and publishing
- Captivate: what do people need to do in an elevator?
This is their iterative, reproduceable approach:
- "Moment" engineering
- Cranium Cuisinart - 3 prototypes
- CHIFF Checklist (Clever, High-quality, Innovative, Friendly,. and Fun)
- Manufacturing Mindmeld
- Operation Big Ears
Other key products and tactics that are very WOM focused:
- Whoonu sold 800K games - and it came from a grandmother.
- He shared a great example of an inflight Cranium experience done with America West
- Sample pullout game with InStyle magazine around the Oscars
- WOW House Parties for the release fo the (did it with company: House Party)
- They do a tremendous amount to nurture their customers as WOM ambassadors:
Craniac-driven activity, Cranium tours, Cranium proposals, Cranium weddings, Cranium birthdays
Richad's a true inspiration. He clearly loves what he does. The games are great. He is smart and willing to share his experience. I loved the games. Now I'm a fan of richard, as well.
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