San Francisco Seminar 2009 Day 5
Channel strategy, media optimization and customer experience in practice
Introduction and context
The final day of the 2009 seminar took participants into the heart of Silicon Valley – not through technology, but through the people, methods and mindsets that make the region unique. Where the previous days had been about retail, customer behaviour and multichannel, Day VI was about what lies behind it all: the anatomy of innovation.
Through the lectures of Randy Haykin, BizWorld founder Tim Draper, the research material from BI, the 1-800-Flowers case, the Navico presentation, and Schwartz's reflections on creativity, participants gained a completely different perspective: digital transformation does not start with systems, but with people, experimentation, and culture.
It also became clear that even large companies – like JC Penney, Macy's and Williams-Sonoma – only succeed when they understand the logic that Silicon Valley is built on: rapid testing, extreme feedback loops, the willingness to reject one's own ideas, and a total orientation towards learning rather than control.
Day VI therefore became a kind of “final lens”:
A meeting between retail's challenges and Silicon Valley's solutions.
Program overview
The day was structured around four academic blocks:
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Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Silicon Valley. Based on the BI document Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Silicon Valley and Randy Haykins' lecture (March 16, 2009), which described values, driving forces, and methodology in the region's innovation ecosystem.
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1-800-Flowers case: From flower delivery to technology company. Two cases you uploaded show how a very traditional player went through a digital metamorphosis where customer insights, testing, and personalization became core principles.
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David Schwartz: Creativity, Experimentation, and Unpredictability. The Schwartz paper from March 16, 2009 analyzes what actually makes some environments creative – and why large organizations fail to emulate them.
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BI – Navico: Practical digital transformation in a global company. My own presentation, buddy, was a perfect ending: a concrete case from Norwegian business that showed how to build a digital platform in a complex organization long before “digital transformation” became a buzzword.
Main academic topics
1. From multi-channel to true cross-channel
Both 1-800-Flowers and ING showed how the transition from isolated channels to a continuous customer journey changed the entire business logic.
Customers started online, continued on phone or mobile, and completed their purchase in a physical store – without thinking about channel boundaries.
For companies, this meant that the organization had to mirror the reality of its customers: data, processes, and customer insights had to flow freely across them.
2. Media optimization and measurement
A common theme was how digital marketing created completely new opportunities to test, measure and adjust messages in real time.
1-800-Flowers combined traditional email marketing with search ads, banners, and social media – and was able to measure the impact at every stage of the customer journey.
ING used CRM and behavioral data to tailor communications to each customer profile.
3. The interaction between brand and customer experience
While previous models separated branding and sales, both cases showed that these are now merging. The digital customer experience is the brand.
Therefore, digital transformation was not just about technology – but about trust, timing and relevance.
Case studies
Case 1: 1-800-Flowers.com – “Every Connection Counts”
As a pioneer in online shopping, 1-800-Flowers started taking orders over the phone in the 1980s.
By the 2000s, the company had grown to become one of America's most well-known e-commerce brands, but faced new challenges: customers expected seamlessness between phone, web, and store.
The solution was a full integration of all channels.
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Customer data was shared in real time between customer service, store and web.
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Mobile applications made it possible to send flowers “on the go”.
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The CRM system connected loyalty programs with personalized email and SMS.
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Campaigns were tested against real-time data to optimize results.
The result was an experience where the customer received the same warmth and service – regardless of whether the order was placed by phone, online or in store.
This was expressed in the company's slogan:
“Every connection counts.” 1-800-Flowers.com became a textbook example of how data, people, and technology could together create a holistic experience with human presence.
Case 2: ING – Digitalization with a human face
ING showed how the financial sector could learn from retail digitalization.
Where traditional banks were hierarchical and product-driven, ING focused on user experience, simplicity and trust.
Through data-driven insights and digital channels, ING was able to:
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tailor messages to the customer's life situation,
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reduce the complexity of product offerings,
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offer full transparency in price and terms,
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and build trust through simple, direct communication.
The company shifted its focus from “banking as a product” to “banking as a service.” They developed a language and visual expression that mirrored the customer experience: accessible, friendly, and human.
"Digital banking is not about machines. It's about people using them."
Reflections and discussion:
Both cases showed that technology alone does not create value – it must be combined with culture, insight and organization.
The discussion was about how Norwegian businesses could learn from this:
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Dare to experiment with channels.
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Collect data into a single customer picture.
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Moving measurement parameters from internal efficiency to actual user experience.
It became clear that the competition of the future would not be about price, but about relevance and relationships.
International perspectives
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USA: Data-driven innovation and customer experience at the center.
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Europe: More regulated, but with increasing use of digital CRM solutions.
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Norway: Strong technology, but need for better integration between channels and professional environments.
What do we take home with us?
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Cross-channel is about people, not systems.
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Integration requires common goals, not just common technology.
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Analysis without action does not create value.
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Digital must be close, warm and trustworthy.
Relevance today
Over 15 years later, the lessons learned from 1-800-Flowers and ING are just as relevant. Today we talk about “omnichannel” and “customer data platforms,” but the principle is the same: the user at the center.
Those who succeed are still those who combine technology with an understanding of human behavior and emotional driving forces.
“Technology develops quickly – but people change slowly.”
Peder Inge Furseth
Peder Inge Furseth was a central academic driving force behind the San Francisco seminars and helped make the meeting with Silicon Valley relevant for Norwegian and European businesses. Through his role as professor at BI and as academic director of the program, he helped the participants put the lectures into a larger context – where technology, innovation, business development and people had to be seen in context.
In San Francisco, participants met entrepreneurs, researchers, technology leaders and investors from some of the world's most innovative environments. Furseth's strength was his ability to connect these experiences to practical challenges and opportunities in Norwegian businesses. He helped translate Silicon Valley's ideas and working methods into a Nordic context where collaboration, trust and long-term value creation are strong.
Throughout the entire seminar series, he was an important bridge builder between research, business and technology. For many participants, he therefore became more than a professional leader – he also became a mentor who inspired new thinking about innovation, digitalization and commercialization.
Read more about Peder Inge Furseth here
From studies and seminars to today's professional universe
The studies, seminars and field trips documented on this page are part of the knowledge base behind The Invisible Capital. Topics such as customers, technology, innovation, digitalization and value creation have followed developments over several decades – but the disciplines have also continued to develop.
At The Invisible Capital, we are therefore continuing to work on these questions in our own subject series. Here, we connect previous theory, research and experiences with newer knowledge, new technologies and today's challenges for people and businesses.
Innovation
Innovation is not just about new ideas. Value is created when knowledge, technology and ideas are developed into products, services, processes, organizational forms and business models that are actually used. The series on innovation goes from Schumpeter to modern innovation research and covers, among other things, incremental, radical, disruptive, open and user-driven innovation.
→ Explore the Innovation Series
The customer
The customer is not just the recipient of what the business produces. In a competitive market, the customer is a crucial determinant of whether the business actually succeeds in creating value. The series about the customer goes deeper into customer orientation, customer insight, customer experience, satisfaction, loyalty, trust and the encounter between people.
→ Read the customer series
Value creation
What does it really mean to create value – and who creates it? The series on value creation moves from economic theory and key researchers to a broader understanding of how people, expertise, institutions, businesses and the public sector contribute to value creation.
→ Read the series on value creation
Digitization
Digitalization has evolved from stand-alone technologies to a fundamental part of how businesses work and create value. The Digitalization from A–Z series follows developments through internet, web, e-commerce, search, UX, social, mobile, omnichannel, cloud, data, platforms and digital transformation – up to today’s AI First developments.
→ Read the series Digitization from A–Z
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence represents the next chapter in digital evolution. In our own AI universe, we investigate how artificial intelligence works, how AI finds and uses information, how it evaluates sources and websites, and what the development can mean for people, businesses, and value creation.
→ Go to the articles about artificial intelligence
Recommended literature
Where Good Ideas Come From
Steven Johnson explores how innovation and creativity emerge through collaboration, networking, experimentation, and open knowledge environments. The book shows how good ideas develop gradually over time – through people, technology, and environments that stimulate learning and innovation.
