From SPAM to MAPS
Before I get started here, I have to provide some personal background information.
Since September 2004, I am the VP of Worldwide Marketing and Strategy at Mindjet. Mindjet is the leading provider of software for visualizing and managing information and provides applications for business teams to think together, plan together, and work together. MindManager, the company’s award-winning flagship product with more than 500,000 licenses sold worldwide, is productivity software designed for business professionals working as individuals or in teams at Global 2000 companies.
What makes MindManager really unique is the fact that it enables its users to work with what we call “business maps”. Many examples of those maps can be seens at: http://www.mindjet.com/us/products/map_gallery.php. Maps are a visual way to easily capture, organize and share any kind of information (ideas, tasks, plans, data, images, files, text…).
Before that, I was the VP of Marketing at another great software company called Brightmail. Brightmail was a major player in the email security space. It was the anti-spam leader and was acquired in June 2004 by Symantec, the global leader in information security and maker of the famous Norton Anti-Virus product line. For more information go to: http://www.brightmail.com. Brightmail had pioneered the anti-spam software industry and was fighting very hard to free the mailboxes of million of business and ISP users from spam, while delivering accurately valid messages.
So to summarize, Brightmail was a company focused on defeating spam while Mindjet is focusing on promoting maps. And I recently noticed something strange: SPAM in reverse is MAPS!
I started to wonder about this coincidence. How many times in your life do you have a chance to focus exactly on the opposite on what you had been doing before and was I doing just that?
Well, after thinking about it, I realized that I wasn’t doing the opposite at all. In fact, I have exactly the same challenges: establish maps as something as universally known as spam is today. I have the very unique challenge to create a new category and to establish a leading brand and position for my company. I need to build awareness, leverage the viral aspects of our product, encourage positive word of mouth and listen to end-user feedback.
Next, the main issue with both spam and maps revolves around business productivity. But of course, spam has a negative impact on it, while maps have a very positive one. Spam creates information overload, while maps can help solve this 21st century problem. Also, both spam and maps are changing the way we work. Spam changed the way we deal with email, while maps can change the way you work forever for the better.
In addition, both spam and maps deal with visualization: the worse spam has images in it and those can be offensive, while maps leverage images, icons and relationships to add to the meaning of the message.
To summarize, maps and spam are indeed mirrors images of topics that have a lot in common, one loaded with positive, and the other full of negative aspects. I have very similar challenges with both of these. If you believe your experience can help me, have a perspective on this story or a similar experience, please comment!
Since September 2004, I am the VP of Worldwide Marketing and Strategy at Mindjet. Mindjet is the leading provider of software for visualizing and managing information and provides applications for business teams to think together, plan together, and work together. MindManager, the company’s award-winning flagship product with more than 500,000 licenses sold worldwide, is productivity software designed for business professionals working as individuals or in teams at Global 2000 companies.
What makes MindManager really unique is the fact that it enables its users to work with what we call “business maps”. Many examples of those maps can be seens at: http://www.mindjet.com/us/products/map_gallery.php. Maps are a visual way to easily capture, organize and share any kind of information (ideas, tasks, plans, data, images, files, text…).
Before that, I was the VP of Marketing at another great software company called Brightmail. Brightmail was a major player in the email security space. It was the anti-spam leader and was acquired in June 2004 by Symantec, the global leader in information security and maker of the famous Norton Anti-Virus product line. For more information go to: http://www.brightmail.com. Brightmail had pioneered the anti-spam software industry and was fighting very hard to free the mailboxes of million of business and ISP users from spam, while delivering accurately valid messages.
So to summarize, Brightmail was a company focused on defeating spam while Mindjet is focusing on promoting maps. And I recently noticed something strange: SPAM in reverse is MAPS!
I started to wonder about this coincidence. How many times in your life do you have a chance to focus exactly on the opposite on what you had been doing before and was I doing just that?
Well, after thinking about it, I realized that I wasn’t doing the opposite at all. In fact, I have exactly the same challenges: establish maps as something as universally known as spam is today. I have the very unique challenge to create a new category and to establish a leading brand and position for my company. I need to build awareness, leverage the viral aspects of our product, encourage positive word of mouth and listen to end-user feedback.
Next, the main issue with both spam and maps revolves around business productivity. But of course, spam has a negative impact on it, while maps have a very positive one. Spam creates information overload, while maps can help solve this 21st century problem. Also, both spam and maps are changing the way we work. Spam changed the way we deal with email, while maps can change the way you work forever for the better.
In addition, both spam and maps deal with visualization: the worse spam has images in it and those can be offensive, while maps leverage images, icons and relationships to add to the meaning of the message.
To summarize, maps and spam are indeed mirrors images of topics that have a lot in common, one loaded with positive, and the other full of negative aspects. I have very similar challenges with both of these. If you believe your experience can help me, have a perspective on this story or a similar experience, please comment!
posted by Francois Lavaste at 1:00 PM
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