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).

Trust and the speed of business

Last year I spend a fair bit of time talking to a senior People officer, can’t say I fancy their company (in my opinion most are not a whole lot more than policy police and many times a little on the dimmer side to my liking) but this one was strange and I like strange. Discussions were often at philosophical levels and usually open ended and vague. It’s just the kind that gets my creative juices flowing. Over several rounds of conversations we talked about talent one of my most favorite topics after brands.

We talked about talent and business models, talent acquisition, talent preservation, talent development and also talent decimation (no I am not kidding, that what most organizations do, they bring talent, morph it to a mold and destroy the ingenuity, the very thing they paid top dollars for. Fostering mediocrity in the process and obliterating any innovation prospects). To add to the challenge establishing guard rails in the form of bureaucracy to making any real significant contribution.

As we continued to discuss these topics we stumbled upon the speed of business model evolution and the factors that drive the speed. We talked about Clayton Christensen and even Joseph Schumpeter for perspectives on innovation. The one and only element of success behind discontinuous innovation is not funding, is not the creation of skunk works, it is not even intelligence it is TRUST! It is the pill that enables organizations to let individuals try new ideas, concepts and models outside the realm of ‘Business as Usual’. It is the panache that lets individuals the ability to take calculated risks FAST.

Later while thinking about this essay I did some basic research and found this book by Steven Covey.

Watered down-Conflicted-Democratic ~ Point of Difference

Tom Fishburne captures the essence of strugles most companies that are trying to find their core equity experience and then the challenges of translating those equities into sensory and executional experiences.

Tom, Thanks for a another fabulous encapsulation of the concept!!

Brand experience panacea

Ever since AG Lafley brought attention to two of the consumer strategic decision points in buying and using fast moving consumer products the concept of brand experience has been played over and over. The two windows, the first at point of purchase and the second at use leave a strong and lasting impression on the consumer mind and psyche.

The actual execution often leaves more to be desired!

So what is with the lacuna between the desire and actual execution? We have all heard about the service excellence at a Lexus dealership, we have also read about the standards of customer service at Nordstrom’s and yet the variance between the best and good is huge. Neither of the stores are pedestrian by any stretch and the difference in demographic is reflected in the clientèle.

Brand experience can many times be the elixir to differentiation but relevance is the first rung in that ladder. Without knowing her and without knowing what matters to her it would be impossible to know the value-benefit equation. Marketing must start with positioning, targeting and segmentation!

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).

Brand Fatigue

I recently consulted on reviving a brand that seems to be suffering from a certain level of exhaustion. Although the brand has strong equity it seems to lack vigor and more importantly distinctiveness. We have all suffered fatigue at some point in time or the other so I decided to look up synonyms to the word to describe my thoughts and feelings about the brand. At my favorite destination Wikipedia I found several links for the definition of fatigue, I started with medical. Fatigue also called exhaustion, languidness, languor, lassitude, or listlessness). The more detailed definition of the term and its implication were in metals, structures and metallurgy – fascinating stuff!

Do brands really suffer from fatigue? Of course they do!
· Brands are quickly diluted if they are not differentiated.
· Brands get stale if not perturbed.

Many well known and strong brands like – JC Penny, Swanson frozen entrée, etc. have experienced phases in their lifecycle where they need new energy to avoid the much feared lack of distinct recognition.

What is a brand to do to keep the brand cheerful, exciting and lively? I usually like to start with first principles and what better place than Brand basics? Defining that target consumer and knowing her is the first step. Who is she? What does she desire? How can we titillate her senses? What else is she considering? How does she engage with our brand and the competition?

Service based brands have a particular advantage when circumventing fatigue the opportunity to close the loop on the consumer experience enables a distinct advantage to learn and fix problems as quickly as they happen. Obviously nothing happens with out a keen focus and deep commitment.

Above all one can never under estimate the power of active listening!

Trust as a Tangible Brand Attribute

Very foundational article on brandchannel.com - Trust as a Tangible Brand Attribute.

Here are some top lines from the article.

Organization’s core values can be projected through an authentic brand platform, then consistently walking the talk

Authentic brand platform is the foundation of employee and customer trust and loyalty—both of which directly affect your bottom line

“Your brand promise is shorthand for everything that your company stands for,”

“Your ability to keep that promise is critical to establishing and maintaining credibility with both employees and customers.”

Trust: The Core of Tangible Brands
Trust is the engine that powers your brand. When a brand delivers consistently on what it says it will do there are tangible results. When the visual brand is aligned consistently with the experience it communicates an honest, reliable organization and there are tangible results. It’s all about building loyalty and long-lasting relationships.

Authentic Values: The Backbone of Your Brand
Trust results from a reliable cache of perceptions and experiences, built over time. We think of organizations just like we do people we know. If I have heard of you I am more likely to trust you. If you do what you say you are going to do, my level of trust will increase. If you do this over and over, I will become a raving fan. It all boils down to consistency and authenticity. If you say one thing and do another, or look and act differently each time I interact with you, that will chip away at my trust. I’ll go elsewhere to work or do business.

Sometimes, it’s the smaller daily actions and interactions that show you a brand is working beyond the logo and tagline.

Making Your Brand Tangible Leads to:

• Ongoing affirmation of purpose
• Organizational alignment
• Differentiation
• Stronger relationships and connections
• Increased recognition
• Stronger recruitment
• Increased ROI

Positioning across generations

As we continue to make progress in medical technology and develop a better understanding of our bodies we have made significant strides in extending human life. Our brand lifecycles unfortunately don’t have the same luxury, with lifecycles shrinking ever shorter. That’s not to say we don’t know what is causing length of brand life to suffer. The list is long and obviously contextual, lack of a clear focus for the brand, increasing diversity and varying emotional needs of consumers, pressure from distribution channels, economics and many more. Survival of brands is solely a function of focus! This can sometimes create a whole new challenge how does one balance the relevance of the positioning across a population that can now live longer and longer?

As brands position and reposition to increase appeal beyond their primary targets on to their secondary and strategic targets how should brand manage the risk of alienating the prime prospect? Brands like to stay Young, Fresh and Interesting, but the scope of Young, Fresh and Interesting is function of the age. Brands like Unilever’s AXE makes innuendoes to sex appeal as it attracts the Gen X & Ys, Procter’s Tide appeals to the quintessential mom that identifies herself self-esteem in how clean her kids clothes appear, Loreal’s Revitalift speaks of ageless beauty for the Boomer in helping her age gracefully.

Since survival of consumer brands is so heavily dependent on the volume the question on the table is how does a brand strategize targets? How does the brand stay relevant? How does the brand differentiate itself not just by “Who am I ?” but “Who should I appeal to ?”. Me too is a great strategy if the brand wants to follow the leader, but if you want to be the leader, the brand needs clarity. Positioning is a brand metaphor in the consumer’s mind and metaphors are contextual generations and age clearly affect what is meant and how it is interpreted. A strong and robust brand architecture and support for the brand portfolio can take the brands to new levels of leadership!

A conversation with the dream salesman

From a recent interview with Robert Polet of Gucci, published in INSEAD Knowledge.

“People buy our brands because they want to be a part of a particular dream… So people before going into the store, they decide ‘I would like to be part of that dream.’ And that is an emotional decision. It’s an aspirational decision for many. And they’re seduced when in the store; they’re seduced by the product, by a really desirable product that you cannot resist … This is not about selling bags or shoes or ties or suits. This is about ‘Would you like to be a Gucci man or a Gucci woman?’”

“Let me just reaffirm the importance of actually sticking to your strategy because the strategy that you build around brands is the strategy for the longer term. You manage brands for a long life or longevity, so you don't sort of whisk them around every quarter or every year or every two years,”

this seems a little anachronistic but very poignant (from the AMA newsletter)

"The man who stops advertising to save money is like the man who stops the clock to save time."

- Thomas Jefferson

No marketing can fix a failure in the product!!

The fundamental of the second moment of truth for consumer marketing is that you have to delight the consumer at usage!

This is a consumer world, trick me once shame on you, trick me twice shame on me! No marketing can fix a failure in the product!!

The new ad from Apple MAC does a fabulous job with the concept - Bean Counter.

Hi-Tech & Hi-Touch

In an economy where organizations want a touch less execution to drive out costs brands need a new point of view. As organization move into the Hi-Tech, they automatically transition into the Low-Touch a classic example of this experience are financial services companies and particularly credit card companies. Each time I call my credit card company, I have to sit through the frustrating automated system before I can get to a real person and sometimes that wait can be as long as 20 minutes or more. From a consumer’s perspective life is getting more and more fragmented, work, travel, home, family and friends and our patience is ever shrinking. We all want everything “NOW”, “My issues are more urgent than the next guy”, “I always have to deal with the big issues”, etc.

The fundamental question for a service brand today is – How can I be Hi-Tech and Hi-Touch at the same time while I keep my costs down?

Is Hi-Tech and Hi-Touch a paradox or the holly grail?

5 Lessons from Jim Stengle

From the ANA conference... Jim Stengle speaks at the ANA Conf.

Lesson One: Put people at the center of all you do.
Lesson Two: Engage your heart and mind in everything you do.
Lesson Three: Focus on the short & long term results (Sales is no more important than Brand health).
Lesson Four: Creativity is about solving problems.
The last lesson: Have a purpose.

The summary posted on MediaPost is very interesting.

Walking the unpaved path

Years ago I read a book by Dixit and Nalebuff, Thinking Strategically a text book on Game theory. The book covered several examples from business and academia on the topic but the one that caught my fancy was the example from the robot competition. The likes of the one held at MIT every year. The game theory insights gained from watching the robots compete were interesting and yet common sense.

The best way to stay in the game with the strongest and swiftest robot was the strategy “tit for tat” or “Monkey see monkey do”. Clearly those robots that were sub par failed, those that were at par but have a unique tactic had a chance to succeed and obviously risked failure as well. The only chance of survival for two robots at par with each others abilities was the copycat strategy.

Brands are much the same way, copying the leader can guarantee survival but true relevance and differentiation is the only way to success. For those who have ever read Jim Collins’ Good to Great know the difference between Survival and Success.

Let the brand chart its own unpaved path with the lights of consumer metrics.

Branding nothingness

As we get more and more aware of long term effects of chemicals on our bodies, our environment and our systems, we have gradually shunned them for healthier and sustainable alternatives. Organic foods (produce devoid of any fertilizers and pesticides to protect plants, fruits and crops from insects, bugs and infections), GMO (Genetically Modified Organisms-have improved our crop yield and farm productivity) free products, CFC (Chloro Floro Carbon-the stuff that causes holes in the Ozone layer) free refrigerants, Free range meats (Animals that are treated humanely and not captive in a cage/pen), etc. I have taken up on the fad, although not yet growing hair, avoiding deodorant, wearing tie-dye T-shirts, Birkenstocks, etc. but every once in a while I will buy a product that promises “nothingness”. It serious is “nothingness” one of the consultants I was working on a brand strategy with said to me – “it is so pure we promise NOTHING”.

This morning after my shower I feel that nothingness. I performed my typical morning ritual used just enough body wash, scrubbed myself with a mesh and yet I just did not feel fresh. I realized it was my new body wash, a NEW ALL NATURAL, NOTHING ADDED PURE BODY WASH. Supposedly the product has honey, shea-butter, no fragrance, natural alkali, and NOTHING ELSE. Of course the product did not create suds and obviously the honey & shea-butter did not leave a fresh fragrance. I guess “Nothingness” is not for me? Like my muse suggested if I want “nothing” why not simply rubbed the rind of an orange all over my body than paying for an expensive body wash.

Here is a recent and very creative execution of the concept from PUR.

The 'Dad factor'

Top line from the Mediapost article - Marketing to Today's Dads Requires New Approaches

Key facts about newer-generation dads and marketing effectively to them, per the report:

• Dads are men--meaning that parenthood doesn't change their overall approach to the world; it just expands it.

• Like mothers, fathers' key concerns regarding their children are education and health.

• 40% say they're doing at least half of the weekly household shopping. They are also increasingly likely to be the purchasers of items such as kids' clothing, school supplies and educational/entertainment products.

• Dads don't like to browse and shop, at least when it comes to family-oriented products. They identify their product targets, zero in on them, complete their purchases and leave. They gravitate to center store, "on the beaten path" areas, and expect items to be logically placed near similar items. And they're likely to have done Internet research on any significant purchase prior to heading to the store, to minimize shopping time.

• However, they do have a propensity to make impulse purchases--an opportunity for marketers.

• Electronic media and the Internet are key. New dads listen to radio, watch TV and surf the Web for parenting and other information/entertainment. They are less likely than moms to consume family-oriented magazines or "lifestyle" media content.

• New dads are attracted to products that are practical and solve a problem. They put quality before price. Product positioning should focus on solving a problem within the product category.

• At the same time, marketing should seek to leverage these dads' appreciation of a humorous element in advertising (as opposed to more sentiment-related creative relating to kids/family themes, more popular with moms), and seek to add an element of fun to the products themselves. Fun and play are cornerstones of interaction between these dads and their kids.

• However, younger dads do respond to "retro" product connections to their childhoods.

• Marketing/advertising should reflect these dads' parental motivations to give their kids what they want, make their kids happy and be perceived as heroes by their children.

• Marketing should include images of dads interacting with kids, especially "real" dads/kids, to reflect the more positive, involved image to which younger dads relate. The Silver Stork analysts note that new-generation dads feel that few campaigns to date include the dad/child relationship in the way that they perceive it.

• Product packaging should take male-appeal into account.

• Integrating traditional male marketing strategies within the baby/children's products market appears to be an extremely viable approach for brands looking to appeal to younger dads.

• Including products or product appeals geared to dads within promotions primarily targeting moms can also be effective

Here is a classic of how Clorox/Kingsford Charcoal brought it all to life - Meals together

Brands and our survival on the planet

As consumers develop greater awareness of the impact packaging leaves on the environment they start to get selective with brands. Over the past year I have been introduced to terms like: Precycling, Upcycling, Downcycling, Grass-tic, etc.

Here are a few interesting links...
Brandchannel - Pre-thinking Recycling: the New Eco-Consciousness
P&G has yet another point of view - Tide Swash
Cycling at - Terracycle

The ANA captured the essence in this single slide.

Lessons learned from the Best Global Brands

Top line from the Brandchannel.com article - Best Global Brands: Lessons Learned

Lesson #1: Brand Engagement is Crucial

Lesson #2: Luxury Brands Adjust to the Tides of the Global Economy
Luxury brands benefit from a consumer-driven psychological buoyancy that allows them to paddle the currents that stir the global economy.

Lesson #3: Know Thyself and Build Trust in Others
Branding communicates a set of values and promises to customers. When a brand delivers on those promises, trust is created, and a relationship based on shared experience and loyalty ensues. That bond is vital to brands, particularly when the economic climate sours and consumers shift their spending habits.

Lesson #4: Brands are Defining Borders in the Global Economy
when consumers around the globe think of fine "Italian" menswear, they aren't thinking of Italy, the actual country, at all; they are, in fact, collectively thinking of Italian brands such as Armani, Brioni, and Ermenegildo Zegna. The same principle applies to cars, (renowned German car engineering is the genius of Audi, Mercedes, BMW, and Porsche), and booze (all of France doesn't make Champagne, Champagne makes Champagne). Though particular nations may benefit from the halo effect of these brands, which is certainly warranted, credit should be attributed to the brands for the quality of their products and their admirable unwillingness to compromise the brand values that consistently ensure quality.

Lesson #5: Technology Continues to Empower the Consumer
"Only brands that actively engage their audiences in a conversation will survive… If we don't ask them to participate, watch out, because they will happily take matters into their own hands. Just look at the hundreds of homemade Apple commercials (or the more antagonistic Microsoft Zune spoofs) on YouTube and you'll see that this can't be stopped. So don't fight this phenomenon. Embrace it."

The most fascinating comment in the post was the one on 'Knowing thy self' as a brand.

Brands in Pop-culture

Our neighbor had a party over the July 4^th holiday and I met a bunch of video game characters. Nope I am not talking about the imaginative ones or the ones in the virtual world, and I don’t thing we have perfected holographic imagery yet, these were four real life characters, running, playing and barking Golden retrievers! It is always fun to see when people embrace brands and invite them into their life and families.

Brands touch our lives in so many ways through out the day. It is a great feeling when they permeate into our psyche and become such a strong part of the consumer. Few brands have achieved this stature a few brands that share the glow include Google, Kleenex, Xerox, iPod, Levis, Thermos, Ibuprofen, etc.

Becoming part of pop-culture to the extent of getting generisized’ is certainly an achievement but quite frankly a challenge and concern for the steward of the brand. Legally the brand runs the risk of loosing its trademark status as it takes on a descriptive nature and translates into a potential servicemark.

Andy Warhol’s 32 cans of Campbell soup made the brand an icon, one that would be instantly recognizable on store shelves, in museums and in the kitchen and into our hearts but the brand managers had to have their work cut out!

Search-fluence

I had a great discussion with a friend when he introduced me to a concept of internet searches through social networks. Can’t say I understood his point but he took the effort to explain the concept. Rarely do we perform an open ended search, we are typically looking for an answer to a question and once you are able to filter out the noise we are looking for more information about the answer itself. When we choose a place for dinner, we start with a location/cuisine then the restaurant but here is where the social nature of the search starts to become relevant. How do most people get to the restaurant? What are the options for conveyance? Where do you park? Who easy is to get in and out of the area? Do you take highway X or Y? Contextual searches help influence our choices, looking for something is one thing but to choose one of the results to act on is a whole different issue.

The concept is not much different from what AMAZON offers but the information is very concentrated around the book or the product not peripheral and the social interaction with the informant and or the reviewer is not fostered.

The idea of social network based searches is less of an actual search and more of creation of options. The greater the cohesion with the recommending party and the congruence of the value system the more the influence!

Could we be we moving from pure search into search-fluence?

Look x (Filters + Biases) = See + Imagination = Consumer Value

I was recently at a friend’s art exhibition and during conversation I asked her a slightly irksome question, “Do you ever feel like you could have painted this any different?”, She immediately responded by saying “Every time!”. Often times most people are their most critical judges. Every time I write an essay I sit on it before publishing and when I read it over I make changes amass, to the extent that I almost rewrite them sometimes. Not just words and sentences but also themes, context, tone and the stories.

I remember back in the days when I lead my brands I had a completely different perspective on the consumer, the competition, the customer and my brand. Today when I hear myself in conversations with my clients the point of view is significantly different from the old days. I am hoping some of it has to do with experience, age and hopefully a little bit of wisdom.

We all look at things differently thanks to our nuanced diversity and unique backgrounds. Our visuals are influenced by our experiences, our culture, where we came from and where we are headed and what we see in our minds eye is often different from we notice on the shelf. To the mental visuals our mind races with imaginative usage, social, culture interactions, until we assess the value the brands adds to our life.

Brands are products with emotions poured into them so the philosophy of WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) needs a large index of mental refraction.

The innovation story

A few days ago I received this email from a friend, who knows if this is an urban legend... anyways it is a great story.

The Japanese have always loved fresh fish. But the waters close to Japan have not held many fish for decades. So to feed the Japanese population, fishing boats got bigger and went farther than ever. The farther the fishermen went, the longer it took to bring in the fish. If the return trip took more than a few days, the fish were not fresh. The Japanese did not like the taste.

To solve this problem, fishing companies installed freezers on their boats. They would catch the fish and freeze them at sea. Freezers allowed the boats to go farther and stay longer. However, the Japanese could taste the difference between fresh and frozen and they did not like frozen fish. The frozen fish brought a lower price. So fishing companies installed fish tanks. They would catch the fish and stuff them in the tanks, fin to fin.

After a little thrashing around, the fish stopped moving. They were tired and dull, but alive. Unfortunately, the Japanese could still taste the difference. Because the fish did not move for days, they lost their fresh-fish taste. The Japanese preferred the lively taste of fresh fish, not sluggish fish.

So how did Japanese fishing companies solve this problem? How do they get fresh-tasting fish to Japan?

To keep the fish tasting fresh, the Japanese fishing companies still put the fish in the tanks. But they also add a small shark to each tank. The shark eats a few fish, but most of the fish arrive in a very lively state. The fish are challenged.

Peanuts & Monkeys

I have a certain reverence for those sales junkies. It takes a lot of patience and determination to keep at it for long periods of time, certainly there is a large pot of gold at the end of the tunnel but it is still a very dark place to tread and often slow. In categories where strong brands don’t exist like outsourced IT services the sale can be driven on what else but price?

During a recent conversation with an old friend who is now developing business for a growing IT outsourcing company I had the opportunity to relive his conversation with a prospect. He said the prospect wanted the lowest possible price and had experienced several issues in the past with other outsource vendors they had partnered with. The dialogue piqued my interest so I asked some more questions. Contracts with other vendors had fallen apart based on the quality of service that was delivered to the client. Pricing was the key differentiator when selecting those vendors and the experience

The immediate analogy that came to mind was if you offer peanuts the best you can afford are monkeys. A monkey is a monkey is a monkey is a monkey just smaller or bigger in size, all they can do is copy each other, scratch and sniff.

Marketing Evolution-Tom Fishburne

Another fascinating contribution by Tom on Brand Camp! - Marketing Evolution.

Habits, Habits, Habits!

Buy This: Save More, Spend Less
By ROBERT POWELL (WSJ-Subscription Needed)

Interesting article talking about how CPG companies provide the stimulus that generates profitable volume and brand growth without even making the consumer think about the product.

Not every industry has been successful in establishing and leveraging habits, one such industry is Finance and Financial services.

The article reviews a case on soap usage from Ghana and makes references to consumer irrationality discussed by Dan Ariely to know, understand and leverage. Worth a read!

Training the consumer Pavlov's way-Tom Fishburne

Tom captures an interesting store from his past, no one denies sales move volume but what does it do for a brand's equity?

A lack of a holistic view on brands growth strategy and heavy dependence on trade promotions are a paves path to the brand grave yard!

Stuff grows legs

Ever noticed how you don’t find things when you are in a rush or when you need them. In our household we have this happen with salt, sugar, chips, snacks, etc. The recent McCormick ad is a classic example of how this happens. In the advertisement the kid of the family is using the McCormick black pepper grinder while mom cooks a meal and can’t find the grinder. Mom asks the child and she hands over the grinder so mom can complete making meal for the family. Years ago I remember when I moved to Cambridge, Mass for school/work I lived out of my car for almost a week until I found an apartment. I slept in a hotel but my stuff stayed in the car. Even after I settled into an apartment things took a long time to leave the car and often accompanied me between the apartment and the car.

We had several similar experiences with folks misplacing brands from designated spots particularly the popular brands, causing the cooking to take longer than it really needs to. Over time I noticed the more popular brands and fancy new packaging is a major driver.

All this got me thinking, As a marketer an idea popped – Could brands have invisible feet?

What drives these products to ‘travel’, not something we have leveraged yet?

Core truths about 'Digital-lings'

Interesting post on ANA Marketing Maestros - Digital Natives By: Irina Gorodetskaya

Truth 1: Email is lame.
Recently, Chris Marriott of Axciom presented at an ANA Marketing Training workshop on Digital Marketing and he stressed that the younger demographic does not answer their parents’ phone calls or emails. Instead joining social networks such as Facebook has caught his daughter attention.

Truth 2: TV is dead. Long live TV like online video services, e.g. Hulu.
That’s right, television is still hip but the format we watch it in has changed. People are busier now and do more things simultaneously—we as digital natives expect to see movies on multiple platforms which we can take with us wherever we go.

Truth 3: Cant w8 2 c u luv mma
We have our own ‘hip’ lingo that can catch our attention if adopted by advertisers.

Truth 4: Teens have a totally different view on privacy. Totally!
Teens today put up their phone numbers on social networking sites without worrying about identity theft or telemarketers.

Truth 5: “We don’t need no education.”

Truth 6: Copyrights?
An average teenager’s iPod has 800 illegal music tracks.

Truth 7: They care.

The heart and the wallet

For years my wallet would get distorted after a period of usage. No matter how fancy or sophisticated, it met the same fate. Remember the Seinfeld episode where George has to sit at an angle with his wallet under one of his buttocks that should give you an idea why those poor wallets have such a terrible destiny. Then couple years ago on my birthday I received a Coach wallet and I was determined to preserve this one for as long as it took. The first thing I did was started carrying it in my blazer pocket. The first time I put it in my pocket a thought crossed my mind. We make brand decisions with our heart and emotion and pay from our wallet, now there is a connection.

I guess there is a reason why shirts tend to have pockets right over the heart? What is funny is it is said ‘The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach and to a woman’s heart is through flattery’. Wouldn’t it make more sense to have a pocket on the belly and not the chest? Women have it figured; to them the wallet is a fashion accessory. It is no wonder they carry it away from their immediate body on most occasions.

The good and bad part is with all the ‘stuff’ in the wallet its position has dropped for most men to the bottom rear while the heart is still up top! One more reason for marketers to focus on emotions and connect with the heart than just the wallet!

That being said it is tough to drive shaving cream and razors with any appetizing pictures of food? While women don’t buy any more maxi pads just because the package speaks to her saying ‘honey you look ravishing’? Patriotism has also only gone so far… ‘Made in America’, ‘Designed in America’, or even ‘Assembled in America’ in a day and age where consumers literally empty their wallets on each stop at the gas pump. That’s not to say consumers don’t make purchase decisions emotionally with their heart but every purchase is a negotiation.

The negotiation involves a balancing act between the heart and the wallet. For years businesses that have let their brands languish at the expense of promotions have noticed a typical phenomenon where revenues increase while profits drop. Closure has been motivated purely based on the price at point of purchase, conversion at the point of purchase does little to leverage the emotional bond and the sixth sense of the packaging itself. Then there is the phenomenon of the luxury market where the shopper has a strong emotional bond and one that is effectively communicated and reinforced in the store but the foot traffic is small and not quite enough to justify at a grocery, drug or mass merchandise stores.

Marketing with Metaphors

Emotions, Beliefs and Expression, Zalman knows it best.

Staycation

A long time ago a manager in one of my old roles told me the easiest way to build awareness for a project is to name it. A form of branding the project! Recently I heart of one such rallying term – Staycation.

In today’s economic times of increasing costs of food, energy and everything around us people are economizing. Like most things economy starts at home! Consumers are cutting back on shopping and vacationing. A good vacation can be rejuvenation we need after a long hard day of work but with energy prices where they are travel is an expensive proposition and that’s only the tip of the iceberg. Our creative genes help us reinvent our world over and over and our imagination is the fuel for this reinvention.

As consumers cut back on travel, they are starting to find alternative destinations like the backyard of the house! I am not kidding and there in is the genesis of the word I heard – STAYCATION. Stay at home to take a break and small vacation to destination backyard.

Hope may not be a strategy but till there is hope there will be life and rallying cries are the hope of brands. The hope for the season is Staycation!!!

Culturecode? - "Fuel your family"

Dr. Rapaille will be very happy to hear about this video on youtube...

On the money!!!

Tom is FAB!

Leveraging equity-prioritizing imp

I have written about strategy extensively in various essays on this and other blogs I contribute. I define strategy as the process of developing and prioritizing options to enable growth towards a broader vision. In my experience the development of options is often the relatively easier step, it is prioritization that most people and organizations bulk at. Ever watch a kid at a dessert table? It is a fascinating visual, he or she will want it all and very often the largest size or the biggest piece of ice cream, cake, milk shake, you name it. Rest assured he or she is not going to finish any more than a small fraction of the entire selection. Organizations act like little kids at times when going after consumers. They want it all, they want their brands to be everything to everybody ending up being nothing to anybody.

Anyway back to brand equity… when prioritizing the attributes that define our brand’s core equity brand stewards often run into a very similar dilemma. Who is she and what is most important to her? How is she satisfying her needs today and why should she choose your brand to meet those needs? Often these criteria are not a simple one plus one equals two but one plus one equals zero or even four, every psychologist has developed his or her own theory to understand her desire to try and enable the one plus one equals at least two if not more.

As a marketer and the research budgets available to large brands these days there is a strong tendency to get carried away, it is really where economists are different from a brand marketer. Keep it simple, ensure every equity attribute needs to simply abide the following –

• Be Different!
• Maintain Relevance to the target.
• Live the brand with the highest Esteem.
• Communicate, Communicate, communicate

This is based on the Y&R DREK (Differentiation, Relevance, Esteem and Knowledge) model in assessing a brands equity value, the intangible asset value to an organization.

Corporate identities from Brand Camp

Always fascinated by Tom Fishburne...

How do we decide?

How do we decide?

A article in the Times and referenced in the Stanford Business School's Knolwedgebase Newsletter on recent work by Baba Shiv, professor of marketing at Stanford Graduate School of Business, on how emotions influence decision-making.

The top line:

- Emotions are key to decision-making
- Commitment to a decision is critical
- Vulcan behaviour can be forced
- Price can influence the emotional experience
- Desperation (fear) is good for getting people to do something and so are Unexpected rewards
- Women make better decisions
- People are optimists
- Hope causes a delay in decision-making

A paper along the same lines (Nonconscious Goals and Consumer Choice by Tanya L. Chartrand, Joel Huber, Baba Shiv, Robin J. Tanner) addressing the value of emotions in making choices is published in this months Journal of Consumer Research.

ANA insights

ANA insights-29
Originally uploaded by ana.insightslides

The visuals are inspiring and insightful! A MUST experience...

Brand user community, ‘A movement’

The other morning while reading WSJ I was reminded of a topic I have been toying with in my mind and there it was. The article in the journal talked about an organization endorsing one of the candidates running for the US Presidential elections, I am not a political junkie but I do have some strong opinions and very defined preferences while I obviously don’t wish to voice on this forum but I would love to play with the idea of organizations and membership to those organizations as a they apply to brands.

Last year I presented someone with a very eclectic and premium watch. I was very proud of myself when I presented it and hoped the master piece will receive some airtime. During a conversation recently I found out that hardly happens for the fear of being damaged, lost or stolen? The idea got me thinking about premium brands the likes that celebrities consume and brand managers love to broadcast in the hope that it will generate fan following and clout for the brand itself. The implicit assumption is consumption of the brand automatically puts you into a community of users that share common values and a club that is limited to the brand users. But what happens if the celebrity is no longer seen consuming the brand or even worse seen consuming a different brand? Does the community still exist, given the flagship has fallen?

I always believed that the brand user community is a movement, one that embodies the brands mission and helps drive the vision and purpose. Every consumer is a latent ambassador that advocates for the brand as an unofficial spokes person. It is paramount as a brand steward to know your segment and target them so the brand resonates, a phenomenon that has a multiplicative effect versus additive; the contrarian view is the wrong target segment dissonates a form of chaos with no direction or growth for the brand. Simply put, it is a self reinforcing spiral, grow the right target community, the brand grows by leaps and bounds!

Confused retail marketing

Ever been to a party where you see people you don’t know but obviously recognize the Armani suit, Versace negligee, Patek Philippe or Cartier watch, Allen Edmonds or Jimmy Choo shoes. None of the stuff still helps you recognize the individual gentleman or lady? That is exactly how I feel when I enter most retail stores these days.

Walk into most food and mass merchandise stores and they usually all feel like the same (there are obvious exceptions-Wegmans, Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, Wal-Mart, Target to name a few). If one suffered from amnesia it would be difficult to know where you are once inside. What makes things worse is the fact that all promote brands that they don’t own, all the merchandising is focused on brands others own the equivalent of showing off the expensive dress/suit, watch/jewelry, shoe, etc. from my example but it does little for the store itself.

Retail is essentially in the service business, build a brand for service and make service your product. What would be ideal is leverage the equity brand manufacturers have built and piggyback an ultra premium service to keep Mom coming back again and again for top quality brands, bring kids for play and education on where stuff comes from, connect with the neighbors and friends shopping at the store, while still feeling at home with the same familiar comfort of the associates and the neighborhood.

The organizational bullwhip

I liked the post and to build on it further some organizations are so strange that they change without any perception or insights and sometimes so fast that they create unexpected and often unplanned resonance.

The obvious risk is complete chaos from two completely independent and unrelated change initiatives.

Jay Galbraith's STAR Model is a great framework when leading change.

The commodity squeeze is a community process but Brand is an individual strategy

With oil prices where there are it is not unusual to see an article on the state of affairs in the news every single day and with oil comes OPEC the cartel of petroleum producing countries. There have been several different cartels that came and went over the years Sugar cartel, Rubber cartel, Steel cartel, Aluminum, Magnesium cartel, Explosive cartel, etc. None of which are in existence any longer?

The basic definition of a commodity is a product without any appreciable difference from supplier to supplier giving the consumer the flexibility of substituting one suppliers product with the other. The classic economics of supply and demand apply to the commodity world too and since supply is no longer controlled by one single producing/supplying party creates an opportunity for suppliers to collude on supply quantities and fix prices to take advantage of the market need. The only way to make more money is to constrict the supply collectively between the producers/suppliers. These collective agreements between the members and the need to forego revenues for members producing/supplying small quantities of product are the primary reason why cartels are not sustainable over long terms.

Brands on the other hand are a property of its owner. Only the owner can choose to restrict or release supply. The economics of supply and demand apply to brands too but the emotional connection creates a demand where a need may be satisfied through alternatives but a want/desire remains. This desire also enables the supplier to charge a price different from a competitive supplier. Each producer/supplier can develop a own strategy independent of the competitor based on the consumer segment and differentiated positioning for the brand. A clear and differentiated positioning that is relevant to the target consumer segment is the difference between independence as a brand and the dependence as a commodity.

The pendulum swing

Products like art follow movements in time. Neoclassical, Classical, Renaissance, Realism, Surrealism, Pointillism, Dada, Cubism, Minimalism, Pop, Modernism, I can go on and on. In a world where products like Google mail is minimalist; Procter & Gamble’s Tide with bleach, Tide with Downy, Tide with Febreze is hybrid; Chevy’s American Revolution and Chrysler’s PT Cruiser designs are classical; Ikea is modern.

What are the points of inflection when products are ready for a change in movement? What is the product innovation swing amplitude and frequency? When is it time to continue to forge new or forge the old back into the future? It is not to say we tread backwards but squeeze a little nostalgia into the equity for innovation sake. Every time I notice the old in the new I am reminded a quote by Sam Levinson – “The reason grandparents and grandchildren get along so well is that they have a common enemy.”

Is creativity impactfull when unnoticed?

We have all struggled with the age old question "When a tree falls in a lonely forest, and no animal is near by to hear it, does it make a sound? Why?" at one time of the other. No one seems to know the origin of this question; I came to think of it again while reading an article in the WSJ about the Microsoft Vista challenges.

The article talked about how Microsoft needs to focus on communicating the existing features in Windows before developing anything new because current users already have a tough with the built in creativity of the Microsoft wizard programmers. It all starts with Microsoft second guessing the user community by making choices and settings from the simplest to the most complicated. Here is a classic example the Firefox browser takes less than half the amount of time to load than Internet explorer, primarily because Internet explorer had many more add-ins that the browser automatically loads and often the user community does not even need. Alternatively Firefox is minimalist and lets you add what you want when you need it, with less baggage the Firefox browser is quick to load and fast to surf/navigate. Not every user is savvy enough to use Firefox but not stupid enough to need Internet explorer to push creativity behind the curtain.

Microsoft windows is the worlds most popular operating system and is responsible for much of the global productivity improvement since the mid 80’s. Creativity whether innate at Microsoft or inspired by rivals has made computer usage a mass phenomenon. But if the user is unable to experience this creativity and innovation there is no value.

Innovation is the value on creativity and innovation needs marketing!

The Boss

An interview with AG on the Innovation Process at P&G and described in detail in his recent book The Game-Changer.

Another viral campaign

Up Close And Personal With The World

I have been a long time fan of Iconoculture...

Fascinating article for a marketer and a philosophical point of view from an organization focused on researching cultural trends.

Here are some of the top lines from the article:

• Technology is rapidly helping to level the worldwide commercial playing field
• Consumers make new connections everyday socially and professionally that redefine relationships
• A whole new relationship has been established between the consumer and the marketer
• There are 6 trends at play -

• The centerless world - Technology enabled global competition, Cultural migration.


• Greater expectations - Almost no barrier for new entrants, Consumer demand Trust!
  The fear economy - Brands are hope, brands are trust in an otherwise crazy world.
  Finite future - Sharper focus on sustainability.


• The Age upon us - Age'ing consumer has different needs that need to be addressed


• Belief and the globalized consumer - 3 types that are passionate about their views on ethics, morality and religion.

• Belief-motivated consumers: Cause Consumers driven by ethical (including environmental) convictions


• Confession Consumers: Live by a set of strict religious doctrines


• Conversion Consumers: Represent the shifting allegiances of religions and cultures as they mix

One thing to remember with research and consumer research is just as guilty of prejudices...

We don’t see things the way they are, we see them the way we are – Anais Nin It is never too late to give up your prejudices - Henry David Thoreau

Geometry INfinitly Adaptable

I just completed some market research and brand strategy for a food brand that allows consumers to PERSONALIZE the new buzz... 'Make it your own'.

But this may be a whole new revolution in Automotive technology - GINA from BMW.

Do brands need sidekicks?

We have all solved riddles at one time or another for pleasure or as a test of our intelligence. I remembered one while watching a movie, “Make this line shorter without erasing it.”. The simple solution is to simply draw a line longer than the one that exists. It is all relative, long, short, big and small, all adjectives are a relative assessment of one thing over the other.

Products often share several similar traits it is the relative assessment across attributes that results in a hierarchy of the good, better, best. The choices also create a clutter across consumer offerings, but it is only relative to the next product that makes a product better than the next. Every product is great by itself, it is only with reference to the next product that it is gets better or worse. Products need companions and competition to fade or shine, without a ‘sidekick’ products can’t hit its full potential.

Products need liberation! The liberation from the proverbial ‘sidekick’, the kind of liberation where one does not depend on another product to achieve its full potential. It is not to say that emotions are not relative, they surely rank order based on people, their psychology, behavior and attitudes but now the basis for measure of relative value is not another product or attribute but this one is in a new domain and a whole new dimension. One that is out of the labs where products are created and in a world of emotions and values. From the tangible to the intangible.

There is no doubt, Liberation is a great feeling!

Brand communication and the primal human instincts

As a marketer I have always believed the best chance of success starts by knowing the consumer, her desires, her needs and her wants. We sometimes forget some of the deepest motivations that drive our choices and our behavior. Perhaps it is the chaos of the day to day that masks these potent drivers of survival and the deep seated motivators of behavior.

Survival is our most basic human instinct. Our sole purpose in life begins with extension of life itself, procreating and protecting our existence. Modern survival manifests itself in other forms, our philosophies, our principles, our values and beliefs. We see our survival through proliferation and propagation in people we make friends with, the things we choose to do and the material items we decide to own. To the consumer the brands they own are an extension of themselves, we associates with friends who share a common taste and a similar preference for brands and products.

It is a shame we depend on sexuality in sensationalizing our brand communication to make this point of survival. As humans we are genetically coded to synthesize and decipher the right signals that enable survival and drive forth our genes and our ideals. Brands that leverage these signals in communication have a stronger chance of success. The works of Ernest Dichter during the later half of the 20^th century and more recently Clotaire Rapaille have gives us the hope to better leverage these deep seated drivers to be built into our brand communication.

Can dimensions be branded?

These days what gets branded is only limited by the marketers imagination and the need to differentiate. The other day I had was wondering if time, space and frequency can be branded? Hang on… I am not crazy, and no this is not an advanced physics essay either! I am still talking branding, all I am trying is to present a new perspective on branding a dimension. The service industry has used dimensions as a competitive edge for years, especially when they say ‘we have the expertise to do this job faster than our competitors’ – Time dimension, ‘We know the local market better than the rest’ – Space dimension, ‘Our scale and size enables us to support your needs, when needed’ – Frequency & Time.

IT services companies (IBM, HP, Infosys, Wipro, Accenture, etc.) initiated it with computing software, products, service and staffing; Cable channels do it with video; FedEx Kinko’s does this with printing; Merry Maids does it with household help; I could go on and on. Yet it is strange to think about the basic dimension that they leverage.

They are all in the business of being there when you need them!

So are basic dimensions differentiable? Time is time is time is time whether is mine, yours or anyone else’s, so also time in the US is the same as that in Asia, Europe or Latin America so clearly space and frequency are as much a commodity as grains and oil. Perhaps the differentiability is a function of ownership. My time may be more valuable today than it was yesterday and similarly when I am working on a job I am on a delivery schedule making the space-time combination valuable and hence differentiable. That is classic branding that needs segmentation, targeting & positioning for its success, may I just say dimensions can certainly be branded!!!

Brand manager is the brands backseat driver

In today’s world of User Generated Content, super segmented mediums of communication (Blogs, Podcasts, Videocasts, etc.) the brand manager has little executional control over the brand itself. What he or she drives is the strategy the road map to steer the brand towards the direction where we want the brand should go.

The consumer may hear about it from a friend, advisor, expert or may be she receives a sample from one of the same touch points or just watch hear an advertisement, print ad in a magazine or simply a flyer at the store; Mom is now curious about the product prompting her decision to try the product. She makes the trip to a store or a website to browse and make the purchase. Her purchase may involve interaction with fellow buyer (who knows may be someone who liked the product and praises the brand or someone who hated the brand/company dissuading her from buying the brand/company products) who provides her an opinion or an expert who influences her choice.

Once home she tries the product experiencing it holistically from opening the package, to reading dispensing, using, and repetition until the product/brand is ready for replenishment. If we convinced her about the efficacy of the brand and the benefits exceeded her price creating a value, we may even have an ambassador or even a zealot depending on how exciting the results turned out. On the other end if we failed her she is going to do everything within her capacity to talk about her failure. All this while the brand manager is tracking only aggregated data on market trends at a much higher level with the individual consumer in his or her blind spot.

The circle of the brand experience starts with awareness, research, browsing, purchase, usage, advocacy and repurchase. The brand manager is working out the grand plan for the brand, the message, the pricing, the placement, the promotions, the affiliations, the alliances, the endorsements and even the packaging with the intent to get to his or her prospect a fulfilling experience anytime and every time she interacts with the brand. As aggregate market data trickles in to the Brand manager any obvious deviations from expected outcome require retooling, taking aim and firing all over again, all this while Mom may be cooking up a whole new surprise.

Not too different from passenger who is reading the map and instructing the driver who may chose to follow the directions or simply ignore and do what they want.

Brands and rituals

It was talking my cousin sometime ago and I was fascinated to hear about his mornings, from the time he wakes up to the time he leaves for work. His narration got me thinking of my mornings and that of the members in my household. We have all heard about the strange rituals some of the sports celebrities perform before, during and after their games. It is amazing how every one of us have such a unique and yet eternally repetitive behaviors, whether it is by day part, week days, monthly or even annually. It sometimes feels like we are slaves to our schedules and rituals, and days when these schedules fall apart it throws us into a state of disarray. A sense of disorder takes over and it often feels like things are quite working out. Could it just be that these repetitions create a sense of HOPE?

From the more mundane things like the lights turning on when you flip the switch to getting the top grade or promoted in your career for the investing hard work in your work or a course. In a world where brands convey trust, wouldn’t it be great to build a ritual into the brand experience whether through packaging or form. Hope is the light at the end of the tunnel, Cicero said “While there’s life there’s hope”.

May be creating rituals may create hope, let my brand enable the hope mom desires!

Direct flight

When one is in the middle of a project or recently exposed to a concept it suddenly seems like there is a disproportionate coverage on the topic or a sudden cloud fall of consumer use of the product more than you ever noticed or knew about. This same thing happened to me recently when I was leading an effort on naming a new brand.

My agency introduced me to the concept of ‘the direct flight’, “Chemistry.com” is one such example! When you talk of relationships, rarely is there any chance of misunderstanding the term chemistry. If an online dating or matching site is named Chemistry.com, the site clearly must match prospects based on attributes of personal chemistry. The idea of the brand name should be vivid and descriptive enough to take the consumer’s mind on a flight, one that is direct and leads the consumer to imagine the potential product based purely by its name.

In a world where the absence of an interactive marketing strategy spells doom for the brand the availability of a domain can drive the selection of a brand names and moreover results in strange names like, Zillow.com, Squidoo.com, etc. The phenomenon is not limited to web based services, solutions but the physical world too – Wii, Ikea, etc. the list goes on.

Brand names need more than just a direct flight; ability to own and legal protect it; expandability in the event of future extensions; executability for operations to print without stretch, distortion or fit and lastly different from existing products and brands in the category.

...and I discovered Tom Fishburne

People Buy Brands Like They Make Friends

This morning I came across an interesting article on brandchannel.com -People Buy Brands Like They Make Friends. The article proposes an alternative perspective on brand relationship as a 'friend', the bond is still strong and emotional based on a reciprocal relationship of trust and familiarity.

Some of the top lines from the article:

• Every action associated with a brand (products, advertising, events) has implications for brand friendship.
• Just like our friends, brands shape our experiences. They show up at work, at home, and everywhere in between.
• People have one great love story, if they’re lucky, but they will form several strong friendships.
• Brand just like friends could play any number of roles viz. Builder, Companion, Connector, Collaborator, Energizer, Mind Opener, Navigator, and Champion.
• Brand needs to build - TRUST, INFLUENCE, SELF-IDENTIFICATION, SHARED ACTIVITY & EVOLUTION.

Innovation is socialistic

My first car was a used Audi I bought from another student on campus. The car died a very quick and painful death, not much to expect from a student car that cost $1500? My next car was downgrade or so I thought from an Audi to a Subaru. Although the Subaru lacked the cache of the Audi and several of the features it drove well and lasted a while. As life moved on my affordability for cars meandered through many different value cars, that lacked the features, gadgets and gizmos. Between my income level and the time span, innovation drove down costs to the point that my very last value car came with the same gadgets as my premium student car from over 8 years ago.

Innovation is socialistic constantly making things easy and affordable for the masses! Shrinking lifecycles and creating renewed challenges by commoditizing the product. Branding is the only sustained solution to compete in a ‘me too’ world.

Brand proposes innovation disposes.

Marketer the demigod?

I have been interested in Osho’s philosophies for several years now. I remember listening to a segment where Osho hypothesized the drivers of Friedrich Nietzsche’s fate. Osho believed the reason Nietzsche went mad (although medical reason was syphilis) because he did not believe in god! The logic was described somewhat along the lines of, god is the source of hope to most normal people. That makes god the datum! The baseline, essentially after we put in our best it is god/fate/destiny that delivers our share of success or failure. So if one did not believe in god there would be no baseline and no hope? Nietzche went into a free fall and went mad.

We as marketers provide that ‘HOPE’ in modern society. Our consumers, are merely clusters of goals, aspirations and desires. We help associate and infuse desire into our brands we develop and manage, the portfolios of these brands into ‘esteemed’ to ‘good to have’. In an ever evolving world we create social structure. The social structure creates the framework of the cultural socio economics that is reflected in owning a BMW or a Kia and owning a Patek Phillippe or a timex.

Disagreement is the mother of ideation!

We have often read “Need is the mother of invention”, years ago I heard from a mentor “Demand is the father of imitation and innovation is the other woman”. My contribution to these axioms is that, Disagreement is the mother of ideation!

Recently during a conversation I mentioned to a couple colleagues I do not enjoyed working with people who cannot handle disagreement. I came from a culture where disagreement is often construed as disrespect. People often feel violated and resort to guilt tripping. Just imagine running a business where the top guy is either heavy handed or leveraging guilt to get his or her point, it would be a pretty difficult place to survive.

I have always believed anytime an individual confuses disagreement for disrespect, it short circuits the intellectual process. It takes a lot of self confidence to be able to accept and handle multiple points of view with ease and comfort. As a strategist one needs to be able to accept as many points of view as the number of people in a room. Anytime this requirement fails, it is obvious to me the organization has the wrong set of people or a poorly crafted reward system.

Since I believe Disagreement is the mother of ideation, the mercurial the staff the better the pipeline of ideas. It all starts at the widest end of the hopper until it converges based on style, structure, systems, staff, values skills and strategy (the McKinsey 7S model) into a single directed stream line of action!

Market size and product lifecycle

As a human I am often in my old and often traditional ways of thinking. As a marketer that relates to the classic of marketing segmentation, targeting and positioning. When we think segmentation we think in terms of Demographics - Income levels, Household sizes, Head of household, etc.

With new innovations several products overlap and strive to satisfy a common ‘want’ yet satisfying a unique ‘desire’. Personally I own three different models of iPods, two cell phones and much more. Today we have many more devices and versions of devices in our homes than people and pets combined. It is evident that as we leap frog generations of innovation (functional use or the need the product satisfies) our wants don’t necessarily follow a repeatable relationship to the demographic attributes. It is time for newer attributes that capture these ethereal characteristics of brands –
Behaviors/Attitudes – Need states, Occasions, etc.
Psychographics – Lifestyle, Likes & Dislikes, etc

Emerging markets like China and India are a perfect example that have demonstrated how the size of a middle is not a direct translation of a market opportunity. Habits and rituals influence market size, product life cycles and adoption into the culture.

Data choke!

In every role I have ever held I have noticed one specific ingredient – CHAOS! There is always more data than I need, most times less specific and irrelevant to the immediate question.

In today’s day and age of super segmented data channels there is an always increasing need for visualization there is a constant need for dashboards. These very same dashboards are the source of knowledge and confusion, which really are two sides of the same coin. The data clog in organizations, their hiring practices and role, responsibility and expectations are what drive organizations north and south.

• The single most important responsibility I have had and least recognized stems from this exact clog caused by excessive data. This noble responsibility has been the creation of structure in a chaos of data, information and knowledge.
• The second least recognized is the difference between fact and truth. Fact is simply data driven and truth is contextual.
• The third misunderstood data point relates to the difference between depth and breath of experience. Sadly neither depth nor breath can be directly related to ones ability to influence. The organization in identifying inflection points in a business and/or enable innovation through cross pollination of ideas.

The science of success

"An effective vision begins and end with value creation. Which is the only reason any business should exist." - Charles G. Koch.

"The science of success", is one of the best books I have read in a while.

I had high expectations from "Doing what matters" by James Kilts but unfortunately my expectations may have been way too high?

Examples and Inspiration from unusual sources

I had a recent conversation where I recounted episodes and incidences that drive my ideas and philosophies. One in particular I was fascinated even as I shared was a course I took years during my engineering days, and I mean YEARS ago. It was a computer aided engineering graphics class that introduced me to B-Spline and Bézier curves. It is sometimes funny how things stick and others falls off, even some of the most important and sometimes some of the most mundane things!

The concept I was trying to communicate during my conversation involved planning. Planning for the long and the short term. I was not having much luck putting my ideas across using real life examples from my very own career in a manner that my audience was able to understand so I resorted to the examples from the world I left behind. The world of numerical analysis and engineering, the world of B-Spline and Bézier curves. A B-Spline curve is a combination of individual splines that enforce localized control to ensure the direction and trajectory. Bézier curves on the other hand are vectors with global control on the direction and trajectory.

Its like saying I want to be the CEO of a company by 2020, would be akin to charting out the direction and growth trajectory based off a Bézier curve. On the flip side having a goal to head about a business unit by 2010, then a region by 2015 and a company by 2020 would be the similar to planning the direction and trajectory of a B-Spline curve.

The interesting element is the idea of the next move? The search for the next move needs to align with ones current position, while still enabling progress to the short and long term goal. Similar to the nearest neighbor algorithm. I am a strong believer in the fact that people are made up of the ideas they have and each has to find her or her inspiration. I just look back into my past for my philosophies.

I will be writing about a gauge I used in engineering to measure surface roughness soon for another example or strange sources of my inspiration.

Brand 2.0: Every Brand Is A Beta

It is often difficult for us marketers to realize that the task is never done! It is merely phases that are completed. Each of us initiates a phase and hands it off to our successors to complete the next phase. With proper strategy, skills and support the brand continues to grow and move in the intended direction but there is certainly no guarantee of that either. The Mediapost article this morning - Brand 2.0: Every Brand Is A Beta is an interesting acknowledgment of the concept. Although the focus of the article is the impact of interactive marketing on brands the idea is clear.

The top line from the article is:

• It is a chaotic world! DON'T TRY to control it, adapt with it.
• Think beyond silos, change is about blurring lines and thinking across multiple levels, disciplines and touch points.
• Conversations cannot be one way, that is broadcast. Brands are about a dialog that needs to be managed carefully.

The ideas in the article are not new and or different but like most things the cases presented just help reinforce the concepts. We all need to hear the same idea at least 15 times before we internalize them, so here we go again.

Talent Management is no Voodoo

This morning in the Knowledge@Wharton Newsletter I read an interesting article about Peter Cappelli's new book. The article - 'Talent on Demand': Applying Supply Chain Management to People does a spectacular job of conveying the need for a disciplined and regimented approach to developing talent. One that the engineers and the analytically oriented applied on the supply side in minimizing uncertainty. These are the same processes and tools that helped record tremendous productivity improvements by eliminating waste and establishment of calculated and measured processed to avoid surprises.

Organizations like P&G demonstrated this could be done on the demand side with the right consumer marketing centred processes. It is not about the individual, although he or she is responsible for making the change, building the capabilities and ensuring their indoctrination into the organization. Hunter Hastings at the EMM Group have written two books on this topic.

The Book - Talent on Demand, seems to conveys the same concept on the talent side the only grim and unfortunate part is the comparison of an individual to non-living resources. It is a shame we have to think along these lines to convey a such a simple and powerful concept? Anyway... I am just happy to see some value in the analytical and structured approach to managing talent!

Blind Men and an Elephant

As a child I heard the South Asian tale of the Blind Men and an Elephant. Recently I was reminded of the tale with reference to modern leadership models.

The moral of the story is based on one's perspective may reality may be different from the absolute truth.

A modern leader in search of the ultimate truth needs to be able to empathize with the unique perspectives of individual partial truths and sewing them into a single panoramic view of what maybe the absolute truth.