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Examples of Connection Plans?

I've been running into the phrase "Connection Plans" or "Touchpoint Plan" more frequently lately. Makes me scratch my head a bit. As i learn more about the ad business (it's dying) and try to apply what i know about the web world (things are going well there, thanks), i realize its the Ad biz's way of doing what web folks know as experience planning. Or, at least that's what i think right now.

There's conferences, cool job descriptions, and even some theorizing. I'd love to see some examples of the deliverables that get described as "connections plan". Anyone care to share?

Service is Marketing, Marketing is Service

Link: [ paul isakson ]: The Future of Marketing + Advertising.

For a number of reasons having to do with my job, i've been thinking a lot about this concept lately:

• The best advertising is true service
• [insert noun here] that delivers truly valuable service, something that is helpful, delightful, authentic
• The brand is embodied by the full breadth of the delivery experience:
  • Tone
  • Content
  • Results
  • Timing
  • Aesthetics
  • etc. etc. etc.
• The job of marketers is to ensure consistent delivery of consistently good service
• True for product manufacturers just as much as for service businesses. Products have service wrapped around them, whether you like it or not. It's called consumer experience.

Paul does a nicer job getting it across than i could. See also:

• Zeus Jones *
• Peter Merholz / Adaptive Path - Experience is the Product

* (yes, i know they've been getting a lot of link love from me)

The Future of Software Development (and business planning?)

Lot's to think about in this article on, of all things, the emergence of agile development methods. I've been thinking a lot lately about how to apply some of these ideas - build process to embrace change, refactoring - to business planning. No great breakthroughs yet, but i do believe there's a germ in here somewhere. The strategy and planning model we're following now - essentially the waterfall method: plan for 8 months, execute for 12, start over again - is broken. The institutional reasons for planning like this - tv production cycles, product development cycles, budgeting, - have all gotten faster and more iterative, so why hasn't our business planning cycles? Gotta keep thinking about this and looking for alternatives to the waterfall method. Anyone out there have better ideas?

Link: The Future of Software Development.