What motivates the elves to work for Santa?

From all the stories we have ever heard about the Elves, it is a tough life! Up at the North Pole in the cold cold weather.

They have only three options for jobs - The shoe shop, Santa's toy shop, Sleigh maintenance round the year for the big trip on Christmas eve. They do this year in year out, not sure if there is much else for them given they are vertically challenged and a weird sense of dress? I know most places are open minded but it may still be tough for people to adjust to the Elves and the Elves to adjust to people.

I have seen them play Elves take charge and move to Hollywood. They have secured roles in the Media and Entertainment industry but that too is far and few. Whats worse is the perception that an Elf dies each time someone opens their gift prematurely before Christmas. How scary is that? Obviously there is not much an Elf can do about the risk factor other than control delivery timing to avoid early delivery but then there are logistical challenges with the entire "LTL" (less than truck load) delivery system.

I am quite sure I may have personally contributed to a significant fatalities in the Elf community around the holidays with my anxiety to find out what I was getting for Christmas? Years ago during grad school I tried to help the Elves without much success in trying to help plan Santa's trip on Christmas eve, what is popularly refered to as the "Travelling Salesman" or the "Chinese Postman" problem. I am sure FedEx, UPS and DHL have been working hard on this for many years now, it is what is called an N-P Hard problem (Non Polynomial, unsolvable problem).

Every year around the holidays I have wonder what motivates the Elves to work for Santa? Food, Clothing and Shelter are obviously fundamental but is there something else? I am sure living with the old St. Nick is a treat but is it enough to keep someone up at the North Pole?

A few years ago I was working on a brand that had a altruist element. The joy and fulfilment to the consumers was very rewarding. May be it is the smiles on peoples face and the kids jumping to joy when they receive their Christmas gift that motivates the Elves and if they are anything like me then the idea of imagining Santa being stuck in the Chimney every once in a while gives them another reason to stick around!

Happy Holidays to All!

Marketing paradoxes

Paradoxes are the spice of life and a little poetic inclination never hurt anybody. Every time I get romantic with anything (not limited to my significant other but including a particular project, my bike, my new jacket, my new video game and the list goes on). Talking about figures of speech oxymorons create the same sense of levity of thoughts, images and internal tensions needed in a brand experience - ‘silence can be noisy’.

Brands have several communication touch points that enable the brand steward to instill the tension and bring the brand to life. The name, the tag line, the logo, the advertisement (creative), the medium (communication), the package, the of course the product, after all it is all about creating memorable experiences that draw her again and again and again.

The subtlety of the tension creates enigma that enables excitement, in numerous cases I studied I realized it was the innovation in the brand, the sort of contrarian thinking that helps identify true white spaces or adjacencies that leverage core equity. Who ever thought original Apple brand was about easy sharing of audio/video files(the iPod); Nike is about confidence not athletics, the kind that is visible in the flight of Michael Jordan as he dunked the ball into the basket; Trader Joe's is about the old styled, the classic, the small, the artisan, the under dog in a world where big box grocery stores are abound.

The tensions from these paradoxes is not a domain of marketing alone but the canvas for every bold citizen to express. The one thing to always remember though, all things being equal authenticity, simplicity and relevance trumps any paradox!

Lux & Candela of focus

I was in the attic over the weekend, never a fun place for me but you got to do what you got to do. The best part this time was an insight I had that inspired this essay. There are many reasons I hate the attic, a low ceiling, limited space to move, big storage boxes that make life difficult to maneuver, too hot or too cold depending on the season and the worst limited lighting. Each time we go up there we get there with a flash light or a torch as some English speaking readers call it. It is funny how plentiful light or the lack of it can bring knowledge?

While up in the attic and fumbling around I was reminded of high school physics concepts of the umbra and the penumbra. It is the shadow from complete obstruction or partial obstruction of emitting light. The annoyance of the shadows in the attic got me thinking about focus and strategy. As I raised the flash light in my hands the spread was wider that is to say the many more boxes and objects in the attic were visible from its luminosity but it did not help make the details clear on the flip side when I brought the flash light closer to an individual box it became clear while everything else went into darkness.

The philosophical nature of the lighting in the attic made me realize the power of horizon based strategy and planning.

Lux and Candela are the measure of luminosity of light.

Back to the basics - Needs and Wants

Buying loyalty

I had a strange and uncomfortable conversation recently about some consumer research revealed a fact that shouldn’t have been surprising. We are humans; We are intelligent (We may choose not to exercise it at times, but we are intelligent); We are individualistic (we do have some what of a herd mentality but we are each unique in our own ways) but most of all, We make choices and decisions based on our own definition of “SELF ACTUALIZATION”!

The conversation related to consumers exercising opinions contrary to executive belief that people should invest in their own business. What is the ‘All powerful’ consumer to do if the brand does not meet her needs, even if it is her own business? Old school thinking does not hold any longer! Consumer choice is a moment of truth when rational people can sometimes make irrational decisions driven by their values, their experiences, their personalities and their psyche.

Loyalty cannot be bought and more over loyalty cannot be taken for granted! Loyalty is priceless and needs to be respected. Drawing on Steven Covey’s ideas from Seven habits of highly effective people, brand stewards need to invest actively in the loyalty ‘capital’ pool before making any withdrawals (in form of repeat purchase even when prices creep higher, brands morph packages or when brands stretch into newer pastures).