Recharged

摘要

Motorola executives got a jolt earlier this year. Nine students, ages 18 to 24, were flown in to the Chicago area headquarters to sound off about the company's cell phones. "Motorola's problem is, Samsung kicks ass," one young guy told an audience of 240 top bananas. That started a cascade of complaints. Even the revered Nextel walkie-talkie phone came in for a shellacking. "That's a product plumbers or construction workers with low-slung pants use," said another student. These well-deserved swats in the pantaloons sent the company back to the drawing board―which is exactly what Geoffrey Frost, Motorola's "chief brand officer," had in mind. His title is incongruous in a place known as an academy for engineers, but it's nothing compared with some of the shocks Frost has inflicted on the system―all with official backing. Hired away from Nike, where he masterminded Michael Jordan's "Frozen Moment" and Tiger Woods' "Hello World" campaigns, Frost has spent four years reinventing salesmanship at the 75-year-old company.