The GHStrategic Models

GHS emerged via the insight that the Music Industry is somewhat of a Canary in a Coal Mine. As goes the music industry, so too will other industries. This insight allowed for the development of our Proprietary Models and the ability to guide our clients in a manner that enables them to avoid the perils of mistaking Product for Purpose. In addition to deploying these models across a diverse range of clients, these Models are now taught by GHS founder George Howard as part of the curriculum at Brown University and Berklee College of Music.

Mirror of Desire

Companies too often confuse “Purpose” with “Product.” At GHS, we begin all of our engagements with our first Model – “The Mirror of Desire” – in order to unearth a client’s Purpose; which is always different from their Product. Think of it this way: Apple’s Purpose is not laptops or iPads, but rather to reflect back at their customers a heightened sense of their  Creativity by having used an Apple product. Nike’s Purpose is not shoes, but rather a reflection of Activity. Whole Foods’ Purpose is not organic foods, but rather a reflection of Consciousness. By analyzing a client through the lens of our first Model, we help them define and polish their Mirror and begin the process of reflecting this idealized version of their customers. In so doing, our clients resist commoditization and are able to enjoy outsize profit margins and decreased marketing spends as the burden of marketing shifts to the customers themselves.

Customer as Teacher

The second GHS Model is: ‘Customer as Teacher.’ An amazing thing happens when a customer sees him or herself reflected back in a product or service in an idealized way: they develop information asymmetry with respect to those who are as yet unaware of the product or service.  Humans hate information imbalances — particularly when they feel they know something that is making them feel better about themselves, and believe that this knowledge could also benefit their friends. Thus, the customers tell their friends, and become potent communicators of the brand’s value proposition.  More profound than an “influencer,” and more nuanced than a Net Promoter Score, the Customer as Teacher concept accelerates and concretizes the all-important burden shift of promotion from the brand to the customer.

Architecture of Participation

One of the great myths of the Internet-era is the idea that a community can be created by a firm. Communities emerge around shared interests; the idea that anyone can force this to occur is ludicrous. Instead, communities form via a customer’s discovery of the aspirational “Mirror of Desire” of a company, and then – due to information asymmetries – becoming the “Customer as Teacher.” However, while firms can not create communities they must implement Architectures of Participation in order to scale awareness. The third GHS Model, “Architecture of Participation” helps firms provide elegant organization and foster engagement at scale.

Social, Fun, and Competitive

GHS has unearthed a commonality amongst the most successful firms: each develops products that are innately Social, Fun, and Competitive. Social simply means that they have a natively high viral coefficient; Fun means that the product supplies the necessary dopamine hits to combat boredom; Competitive is not a binary “I win/you lose” structure, but rather an aspirational game-mechanic element. Importantly, it is impossible to utilize this SFC schema until the above three Models (“Mirror of Desire,” “Customer as Teacher,” “Architecture of Participation”) have been articulated.  In fact, “SFC” is simply a natural byproduct of a successful articulation of the initial three models. Once these three initial Models are defined, the SFC Model guides tactical product development and deployment.

Some of our clients who have utilized the GHS Models and Approach: