Sunday eve, 23:58h… Current status: 14 beers, hardly any cash left and the dealer starts dealing. I pick up my first card of what might be my last game of the night. It’s an ace of spades… I try not to look too predictable… Come on **** give me that other card!

There it comes… King of spades… This might not be my last game of the night. Although still no success is guaranteed I bet most of the players on the table would pray to be in my position. But still, I have to remain calm not to expose my card-happiness. Although I blamed the alcohol for all my dubious loses this night, at the moment we speak I feel as sober as I was when I entered the room at the beginning of the night.

First bets are being placed… What should I do? Some of the guys look pretty comfortable… What will it be? Good cards, bluffing, the alcohol, misinterpretation? Well what I do know is that I’m definitely not chip leader by now. Should I go big and go with the easy cash? Should I follow and wait, some good cards at the flop will make my day.

I decide to start easy and hope for the big fish at the end. There comes the flop…
Ace of hearts and two lower spades… This is good, really good. Although the Royal Flush I hoped for didn’t show up, you won’t hear me complaining. With the highest pair at hand and the highest follow up card… the king, and the a flush still belonging to the possibilities.
Here we go again another betting round before the turn. Bill, current chip leader, does an impressive raise! What are his tactics? Will he have one of the few possible hands to beat me? Or is this one of his bluffing moves?

What should I do, I definitely won’t fold, my cards are just too good! But what should I do? Just follow him, equal his raise and beat him at the end? Or go all-in, show him I’m as serious as hell and he’d better fold, minimizing his losses. This would give me a decent win over this round and get me back in the game. However when I follow him I could end up with the big fish, with as a result being the chip leader.

I decide to follow and hope for the big fish… The turn shows a 10 of hearts. Damn, this might not be as easy as I hoped it would be. If someone has two hearts at hand, he’ll be in an equal position as I am, with the final card to decide who wins.

Bill checks and hands over the initiative to me. What is his plan? Does really he have good cards or did the turn crapped his hand. Nevermind, ’cause right now I am the one to decide. Although we are left with only 3 players, I not quite sure that my cards will guarantee victory. But I’m still in the race to be the next chip leader. However I decide to play it easy again. I check as well, and the three of us make ourselves up for the river.

Here comes the river… Another spades… I can be quite sure I’ve won this round. Bill makes his final raise this round and I bet he will regret this one. I decide to go all-in and give my other players the signal that I’m as serious as hell and they better knock off! And they do…

I collect the chips and my alcohol-influenced calculations make me chip leader of the night.

Okay that’s enough insight into my leisure time, the reason why I tell you this is to clarify the link between marketing and design. A link that came to me the morning after the just described happening. (For the curious ones, the alcohol did screw the eve, because I ended the night the way I began the story; +5 beer. The poker game = design+marketing. Yeah right, drink another one, you might argue. However just take the following into notice and re-read the story.

The whole poker game is symbol for a market, the players with their cards at hand are the companies within this market. The cards at hand symbolize the output of the design department from this company, the marketing department is symbolized by the player. To maximize the utility of the output from the design department, the marketing department has to play it smart within this market. In the poker game the market circumstances are symbolized by the cards at the flop. After this is known all companies behave uniquely. The turn and the river symbolize the effect of time on these market circumstances and the corresponding behavior by the companies.

From this story we can conclude, for a poker player it is important to get some good cards at hand. To maximize his cards at hand he’ll need a decent strategy. Therefore companies need a excellent design department to make a marketing department maximize the pay-off from these innovations.

Okay, why such an explorative story to tell something everyone already knows. We’ll it’s quite easy; it is remedy for a company that lacks a good communication between design and marketing. Send them a week to a deserted chalet, with some alcohol with chips and a set of cards with chips (no it’s not the same). Tell them the above mentioned story. And they will learn to communicate with each other when being locked up together for a week. Furthermore they’ll learn the essence of both departments within their company.

So guys, practice your pokerface in the name of your company.

(not familiar with poker, click here to get some useful information to interpret this months column)

P.S.1 Studio469 can not be held responsible for addictional behavior.
P.S.2 For the ones who have read Marketing Monday #1, just re-read the story above and take in mind that Bill’s last name is Gates and the I-person is also known as Steve Jobs. This round symbolizes media devices, like the Zune and the iPod/iPhone.

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