Metaforce co-founder Allen Adamson’s
new book explores the power of How
Why Businesses That Reimagine Our Daily Routines Are Dominating the Market
We are all creatures of habit. The way we do things is just “how we do things.”
That is, until someone demonstrates that “how” can be done in a way that makes life easier.
People like easy. Think about it.
You stand on a street corner in the rain trying to hail a taxi – until Uber enters your life.
You muddle through a sea of confounding reviews before buying a toaster – until someone introduces you to Wirecutter.
You consider the hundreds of dollars you (or your in-laws) will spend on quickly outgrown baby gear – until a friend in Lamaze class tells you about Loop.
You keep forgetting dog food on your weekly shopping list – until Chewy frees you from this annoyance.
You work from home on Zoom, stay in Airbnbs when you travel, call up your favorite tunes on Spotify, open DoorDash when you’re too tired to make dinner, read with the glasses you tried on and bought online from Warby Parker, and keep your wardrobe current with Stitch Fix.
Businesses that focus on experience disruption – not product disruption – have become the fastest growing segment of the market. When consumers discover an easier way to handle routine things – shopping, banking, dining, traveling, healthcare – they opt in, in a very big way. Consumers quickly embrace these experiences as the new normal.
This focus on the consumer experience, not solely on product, has enabled these businesses to drive remarkable growth, increase customer loyalty and, in many cases, to create totally new marketplace categories.
That is what Seeing the How is about.
Read the Reviews
Antonio Belloni
Group Managing Director, LVMH
"Don’t ask ‘what?’ Ask ‘how?’ In his new book, Allen Adamson makes clear that now, competitive marketplace advantage is being achieved by savvy businesses transforming not just products, but the experiences of life, making them more desirable and better in some never imagined way. Seeing the How is both entertaining and instructive.”
Suzy Deering
Former Global CMO
Ford Motor Corporation
"Today’s most successful new innovators don’t look to just reimagine products, they look to reimagine consumer experiences – the way we do the stuff of daily life. This is the powerful idea driving Allen Adamson’s new book Seeing the How, which he supports with a combination of compelling storytelling and prescriptive guidance. Both a fun and practical read, marketers in every category will enjoy and learn from this engaging book."
Bob Pittman
Chairman and CEO of iHeartMedia
"Allen Adamson’s new book, Seeing the How, is a valuable guide on how to see – and seize – the next innovative opportunity by identifying ways to make the things people do every day even better.”
Gary Briggs
Former CMO
Facebook
"Today’s most successful new innovators don’t look to reimagine products, they look to reimagine consumers’ experiences – the way we do the stuff of daily life. This is the powerful idea driving Allen Adamson’s new book, Seeing the How. Both entertaining and enlightening, it’s a must read for anyone looking for the next breakthrough opportunity.”
Noah Brodsky
Chief Commercial Officer
Lindblad Expeditions
"In Seeing the How, Allen Adamson shares the secrets and insights of those disrupting the market, not by focusing on changing products but by changing how consumers do things. Offering a wealth of examples, he persuasively argues that it’s not by asking “what” but “how,” that today’s savviest marketers are finding dramatic ways to grow brands.”
Paco Underhill
Author, Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping
"Why is it that in so many companies the desk farthest from the front door is where the person in charge sits. Allen is talking about getting to the front lines.”
Dr. Samantha Sterling
Chief Strategy Officer, AKQAA
"Products and technology are no longer the name of the innovation game. Today, businesses that save people time and frustration, that make daily life more joyous in some essential way, are the ones that win big. Covering categories as far-reaching as car repair, banking, travel, healthcare, shopping, and dining, in Seeing the How, Allen Adamson shares why the most heralded new business ventures in recent years are those built on reimagining how people do everyday things. Both a fun and practical read, anyone charged with business success will enjoy and learn from this engaging book.”
Kevin Lane Keller
Professor of Marketing
Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth
"Allen Adamson is one of the most experienced and insightful marketing observers; he brings unique perspectives to the most difficult and perplexing marketing problems. With an impressive track record of industry leadership and business best sellers, Allen’s latest book, Seeing the How, astutely shifts the innovation focus for marketers to customer experiences and the wide variety of different lens available to better understand them. Skillfully blending classic ideas with fresh thinking, Allen once again breaks new ground on a critically important marketing topic.”
Rajeev Batra
S.S. Kresge Professor of Marketing
Ross School of Business University of Michigan
"We hear a lot these days about creating brand differentiation and customer value through “the customer experience,” but it’s hard to really find good examples and concrete specifics. In Seeing the How, Allen Adamson provides these necessary case histories and ground-level details about how these market-winning experience innovations were conceived, as disruptive out-of-the box ideas, and then executed. A fun and practical read, this book will motivate and enable you to create the types of customer experience innovations that will help your business win in today’s experience-driven marketplace.”