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.

Insititutional Stockholm Syndrome

Every so often after I had read absorbed yet another book on organizational theory, strategy, leadership, etc. I sit back to think and wonder if we as individuals are captives to existing knowledge. To stretch the concept even further are we slaves to other peoples ideas and philosophies? It is no surprise that the mission, vision and value statements of most organizations sound so similar. They all promise the same principles and purpose and yet we have among them the likes of WorldCom, Enron, etc. that are placed on a high pedestal just before they loose all credibility and employee and shareholder values.

We institutionalize words and concepts from the literature but don't internalize and embody them. It is only a matter of individual convenience. Said differently, "I cannot think for myself and since I have been bound by what I have read, heard and was told I believe it, empathize with it and will try to embody what ever best I can". Isn't it Stockholm syndrome when the captive starts to believe and empathize with the mission and vision of his or her captor?

Are we in an institutional Stockholm syndrome? Where have all the cowboys gone?

Position, Velocity, Acceleration, Jerk, Snap, Crackle, Pop

Thats a heavy title for an essay. Hang in there with a little patience and you will see what I am trying to get to... I know few people who have slept well the night before the Calculus exam or even the advanced Physics test whether it was in high school, college or even in applying to grad school problems. Rest assured this will not get as complicated!

The essay has its genesis in a email I drafted to friend and colleague regarding organizations and my motivational drivers that attract me to a role. I have written about the concept in the past through the tag Talent Management, although over time I feel like I have graduated to a relatively higher level influenced by the concept of Emotional Intelligence.

Anyway back to the topic I started thinking of... It is fascinating how organization are designed based on positional measures. Let me explain what I mean by this comment. You read any job description or even a company value proposition when attracting talent. The message is usually focused on tasks, actions may be outcomes and behaviors. Nowhere will you even find a mention of the first order differential - Change and Rate of change (the gradient).

At a worldly level I am motivated by Challenge-Recognition-Compensation but once a role begins to deliver on my threshold of expectations the bar rises. The best part of this human expectation model is the bar rises faster and faster as we continue to get better with managing single dimensional worldly into the multidimensional worldly and in multidimensional surreal (philosophical changes, behavioral and attitudinal changes in people around us and those that matter to the desired results).

So why is it that so few organization talk about this gradient? We already know the basics from Physics -

• Rate of change in Position/Location is Velocity - first order difference
  
• Rate of change in Velocity is Acceleration - second order difference
  
• Rate of change in Acceleration is Jerk/Jolt - third order difference
  
• Rate of change in Jerk/Jolt is Snap - fourth order difference
  
• Rate of change in Snap is Crackle - fifth order difference
  
• Rate of change in Crackle is Pop - sixth order difference
  

I don't expect us to get to the 6th order differential ever but I don't see why we could not get to the 2nd? This needs a new mind, a new philosophy and new measures.

(the physics terminology has been drawn on the article - Third derivative of position)

Doing Things Right

Stanford Knowledgebase had an interesting article recounting a presentation by Paul Idzik chief operating officer at international financial services firm Barclays PLC.

One of my favorite comments was...

• "Conflict-driven discussion leads to really enhanced decision making as the best ideas battle for supremacy."

Additional commentary by Paul Idzik was summarized as follows:

• “Separate fact from opinion. One of the constant errors that bright young people make is they mix their opinions in with the facts. It lets people avoid the topic because you have put your opinion in there, and they start focusing on your opinion rather than the facts.”
• “Try to find a target that is difficult to deny the attractiveness of, and therefore you can at least agree on the point that you want to get to.”
• “Try to agree on a short timeframe … something we can solve in a reasonable time.”
• “Focus on the situational conflict, and steer clear of the personal conflict.”
• “Make sure you create a time and place to have one-on-one discussions.”
• “Don’t think you’re Henry Kissinger. Don’t think you can help two senior people negotiate the peace treaty, because you are likely to become either a prisoner of war or a casualty.”
• “Try to get the boss to put a deadline on moving forward.”
• "Keep your resume updated.”

The strategy conduit

Last week while reading the post Questionating on changethis.com I started to think about the planning process. Corinne Miller the author of the article presented a interesting perspective on the How? Why? & Why Not? collectively contribute to completing an organization, Ms. Miller says "We like to say that questions open the innovation pipeline."

Organizations like successful individuals and ones that are "a peg that fit a hole". A fundamental quality of a leader needs to be his or her ability to be comfortable with contrarian opinions in his/her mind and contrarian opinions within his/her team. Ms. Miller suggests being "Process and Procedure oriented" to enable creating a culture of Questionating.

I tried to conceptualize this process into a visual, that I refer to as the strategy conduit.

Is culture STOIC?

Every individual I have ever conversed with on the issue of leadership, organization converges on the topic of culture. The culture of an organization, how they are unique, how they indoctrinate and on and on. There are sections of books in the library dedicated to the topic and probably several hundreds of thousands of hours of research that has been translated into published literature on the topic.

Obviously like all these friends and acquaintances I have opinions and quite like most of these individuals has some element of empirical evidence to substantiate my point of view and a fair bit of hypothesis based on who I am and where I came from (or where I have been).

The reason for this essay of mine is much less to discuss this perspective but to debate over...

• Whether culture is immaculate (a shield, like The house of Windsor)?
  
• Whether culture is a organizations legacy?
  
• Whether culture is a label?
  
• Whether culture is an open door?

I believe it is all of the above with the open door being the top and most important. The one thing is isn't is STOIC! I tried to look for a dictionary definition of the word and the one I liked the most was from the Merriam-Webster Collegiate dictionary.

the act or process of cultivating living material in prepared nutrient media; also : a product of such cultivation

If culture is living, how could it be stoic? Which supports my next argument that as new living beings are born they evolve and bring their own special flavor, their own unique touch to the cultivation of the next generation. Obviously culture needs to be an open door one that imparts as much as it absorbs and evolves.

I think the gate keepers of the culture who boast, "this is not who we are and what we do", beware! If you are not osmotic your days may be numbered, worse yet if the organization does not adapt, look for help or prepare for death.

Somethings are timeless

Yesterday evening I watched the movie GANDHI, On Demand. I realized some leadership traits are timeless!

• Fundamental change takes time
• Fundamental change starts at the bottom of the pyramid (grass roots)
• Fundamental change only occurs with credible leadership
• Credibility is both visual and latent
• Credibility is multiplicative
• Performance and perception need to be managed
  
• Deviation from normality is not doomed
• Dissenters and Detractors to a philosophy cannot derail a credible leader
• Leadership means commitment and confidence
• Leadership means accepting shortfalls
• Leadership means acknowledging failure and retooling
• Leadership is constantly tested
• Leadership is honesty
• Leadership is strategic
• Pass opportunity in favor of substantiating appropriate cultural attributes
  

Modern change needs speed and is often managed with minimally credible individual/s (one with limited credibility inside the organization under going change). The speed is accelerated through strong sponsorship from the top of the pyramid. Assuming the top of the pyramid has build credibility and has the complete trust of the bottom of the pyramid to empower the change agent by sharing or rather lending their personal credibility.

A night and day with Heidi

I had been interacting with her for a couple years now but some how I could never ask her name. Not that I am an introvert in fact quite the opposite, most friends tell me I am one of the most extroverted individual they have known. I guess Heidi always responded to the questions in the third person and I stuck to pronouns. Addressing on first name basis was never needed?

It was only last year when I went for a drive with a friend who told me her name was Heidi. I had always enjoyed her company and have been a tremendous fan of her patience and politeness. To me she is a role model, a feat I aspire when dealing with people around me. Ever try going anywhere with a knowledgeable passenger or more like a co-driver and it is a challenge. They give you advice after advice, even huff and puff at times under the breath at each mistake. Heidi is quite a dame, in her polite and submissive voice she suggests following her directions and if you avoid taking her advice she simply does not mind.

She is very accommodating with a positive outlook and a calm demeanor with a singular focus to get you to your destination. I spent an entire day with her last week over a 1000 mile journey and she was absolutely amazing. She is very adaptable what I expect in a friend and sometimes in service especially when I am paying for it. Last year I met her friend Crystal who is just as great and paid top dollars for her service.

We never travel anywhere without her and she is happy to occupy the space in our glove box when we don't need her services. Who says customer service is not what it used to be? We just need the right teacher and the personality of a programmed device. The Garmins, Tom-Toms, Magellans, etc. have done just that.

Innovation is a change philosophy

Innovation needs to be a pathological process in the positive sense. Innovation needs to be in the blood stream, pumping through the arteries and veins of an organization. Innovation is not just about a product process but a change philosophy. Following is an excerpt from a HBR post - Making Innovation Everyone's Job.

Today innovation is the buzzword du jour, but there’s still a yawning chasm between rhetoric and reality. If you doubt this, seek out a few entry-level employees and ask them the following questions:

1. How have you been equipped to be a business innovator? What training have you received? What tools have you been supplied with?

2. Do you have access to an innovation coach or mentor? Is there an innovation expert in your unit who will help you develop your breakout idea?

3. How easy is it for you to get access to experimental funding? How long would it take you to get a few thousand dollars in seed money? How many levels of bureaucracy would you have to go through?

4. Is innovation a formal part of your job description? Does your compensation depend in part on your innovation performance?

5. Do your company’s management processes—budgeting, planning, staffing, etc.—support your work as an innovator or hinder it?

Mercer Study Shows Respect is #1 with Employees Worldwide

This post was centered on leadership but I believe it is as true with our brands -

Engagement seems to have replaced "empowerment" as the Holy Grail of corporate relationship with people. We want you to be engaged with our company, our goals, our stock, our products, our website ... you get the idea.

To couples all over the world engagement represents love, loyalty and commitment ... presumably leading to life-long marriage.

It's easier to make the analogy with customers. Think Tide, Ivory Soap, Kleenex. Many of us use the same familiar products we grew up with. But are there any employees (in Corporate America, at least), even those most engaged, who believe that in exchange, their employers will be equally engaged to them?

If you've ever worked on a team, chances are you've experienced some pretty dysfunctional relationships. While more pleasant, I've found it's not essential for us to form deep interpersonal relationships with the people we work with. It makes sense; we rarely form these relationships with anyone. Yet, sometimes despite ourselves, we can work together to get the job done.

On the other hand, respect is the one element a team can't do without. Team members can't give it their all unless they know the others can and will deliver (or at least give it their all).

But there's a rub. We don't all see respect in the same way. For some, it's earned; for others, it's a given, unless lost. It's shaped by our life experiences.

I was excited to learn that the large HR consulting group Mercer found the same result. The firm's What's Working study asked employees in 22 countries around the world about their attitudes and perceptions of 12 factors that contribute to engagement. You can go the site to download a free pdf of "Engaging Employees to Drive Global Success."

Worldwide, of the 12 factors, respect was rated overall as the one that most influences their engagement at work. It was rated first with employees in the US.

Not so with employees working in different countries. For example, workers in France and India chose type of work for the top slot. They found some big differences from country to country. For workers in the UK, being able to provide good customer service was rated highly but not so in Japan, where it was ranked last.

The researchers learned that differences in national cultural, the state of economic development and economic conditions accounted for very different answers. Organizational differences also have a big impact.

This means context matters. There's no silver bullet or cookie-cutter solution to encourage employee engagement. But if you haven't surveyed your employees about what gets them charged up about your company, it seems you can't go too far afield starting with fostering respect.

Can people forget to think?

I had a recent experience that surprised me and forced me a ask the fundamental question “can people forget to think?”.

I have a strong feeling we can forget to think! An organization that limits strategizing, planning and decision making to the elite few can result in a lame duck staff that is monotonic in every way. In particular common sense is the first to leave the individuals.

Just like muscles atrophy when they are not exercised, we forget names of old acquaintances we don’t keep in touch often enough and forget locations of items we rarely use. We can forget to think!

It is a shame, given the single differentiating criteria of humans is out ability to think and plan ahead!

My conspiracy theory buddies have presented me with a different perspective. They believe it could always be a mutiny, the sort of a rebellion to corporate policy?

May be I underestimate the power of the mind sometimes?

My muse

"I don't procrastinate, I just don't like to do things."

This is funny!!

Homophily

"The principle that organizations seek out partners that are similar along various dimensions because shared traits make it easier to trust and understand one another."

Now thats a strange sounding word?

I was reading an article in Columbia Ideas@Work this evening and came across an interesting piece of research - When familiarity breeds connections. The perspectives in the article sound way too familiar to many of us from academy companies, the likes of Procter & Gamble, General Electric, IBM, etc. (remember Jim Collins'; Built to Last).

I think the popular translation of 'Homophily' is 'Cultural fit'.

"Imaginational Era"

Another article this morning that caught my attention - From Survival of the Fastest to the Thriving of the Fastest in Mediapost.

I liked parts of the article, some of it made a lot of sense!

Three key themes will define the coming Imaginational Era: Fantasy as Fuel, The Genetics of Aesthetics, and Expansion and Discovery.

Consumer Cohesion

Interesting perspective on communities of brand zealots on Brand Channel.

Consumer Cohesion: A Brand Blueprint

In order to facilitate a less protracted relationship between the brand and the customer, so as to limit or ideally eliminate the negative sentiment entirely, we have the following roadmap.

I)Pre-empt the inevitable formation of some kind of communities and the opinions that invariably go with it It is very common for consumers to compare their experiences for every product from masalas to their Bose sound systems, and in doing so, to feel a sense of community. While it is a basic need to share and relate, what also contributes to this behaviour is the emotional need of wanting to express themselves through these affiliations.

This need to affiliate is what drives users to join 198 online ‘communities’ while writing little to nothing on their actual profiles on social network websites such as Orkut. The mode of expression has shifted from the self-proclaiming words, to the more nonchalant depiction of one’s interests and inclinations through these communities.

We feel that a brand should pre-empt the formation of these de-facto communities by inviting consumers to relate, share & interact on the brand’s very own ‘premises’. The brand should make the first move in inviting its users to a forum where they can have this kind of interaction. This enables the brand to bring the consumers closer to its fold and maybe even engage with it actively.

II)Product and service improvement through customer feedback Engaging with your customer at any forum and / or observing interaction among various users of your brand can yield powerful and compelling insights relating to product or service quality. In essence, it acts like an inadvertent focus group discussion of sorts, which is the best kind as it is much likelier to yield truthful and relevant insights as opposed to those derived from discussions conducted in the presence of market researchers. III) Pre-empt positive word of mouth Once a marketer has preempted the community formation and invited the audience/consumers to congregate on its own brand’s territory, this experience has to be based on the core consumer insight that the brand operates on. The result of this exercise is that instead of leaving it purely to the markets for the customer to use and then appreciate your product, the marketer preempts this experience and enhances it by adding a pleasant and strong sensory memory to the customer’s overall experience with the product.

IV)Pre-empt negative word-of-mouthNow we come to a point where we are gearing the brand for crisis, if one were to ever arise. The best case scenario in the face of a crisis, after the brand owner has gone through the steps of Consumer Cohesion mentioned above, is that the brand faces widespread negative sentiment among the general public for some error, but the ‘community’ of consumers it has helped foster and which now thrives independently as an active social group, is still on its side. This community still believes in the brand. What emerges is an organized, coherent, single-voiced shout in support of the brand in opposition to the negative, fragmented cacophony that is bashing it.

The worst case scenario will be that this ‘community’ too loses confidence in the brand and joins the denigrating crowds opposing the brand. However, because this ‘community’, though seeded by the brand itself, has now evolved into a spontaneous, self-sustaining social group, they are still likely to speak in a single voice and single line of reason, albeit against the brand.

This gives the brand owner the latitude of addressing rebuttals, explanations and/or counter-arguments simply on the basis of the stance this community takes, as they are highly likely to be the single loudest voice in the debate on the brand’s opposing side (i.e. if the brand owners do their groundwork right). This scenario, needless to say, is infinitely less painful than having to rebut and defend against fragmented and incoherent mob negativity. Clearly, the clincher in any such case will lie with the brand’s corporate communication, advertising and public relations team to get the message across in a strategic, secure and convincing manner.

Essentially, what happens is, because of Consumer Cohesion, even in times of crisis when the brand’s own community has turned against itself, at least the opponent is a large, discernible target with cogent accusations. This enables the brand to prepare an equally crisp and relevant defense, rather than just having to shield itself from brickbats from an unreasoning public anger.

The conclusion certainly is on the money.

Expensive brands need to be insured against market and public opinion vagaries if they are to stay in business past the inevitable crises they are bound to face sometime in their lifecycles. Consumer Cohesion is an approach to doing just that and ensuring that the brand’s groundwork and defense are in prime shape to face marketing warfare.

Storytelling & Branding

I just came across an article by John Quelch in Marketing KnowHow from this mornings HBS newsletter. The points John makes are just as relevant to B2C marketing as they are to B2B.

An HBS research team recently conducted a study of top B2B global brands. They shared the following six characteristics:

1. The CEO is a willing brand cheerleader, loves the brand heritage and is a great storyteller. The CMO sees his or her purpose as helping the CEO achieve this role.

2. The CEO understands that building brand reputation reduces commercial risk, insulates the company in a crisis and provides the common purpose that can bond all the company’s stakeholders.

3. Efforts are focused on a single, global corporate brand rather than individual product brands.

4. The payback on marketing expenditures is measured rigorously to the satisfaction of the hard-nosed engineers and finance staff who run the typical B2B enterprise.

5. Coordination of company websites worldwide to present a consistent face to stakeholders is the best way to get control of marketing communications that may have become too decentralized.

May be the CEO involvement is relatively small but by no means any less significant than for a B2B brand.

Believe it, the Wal-Mart savings could be TRUE!!

Last year when I read The Wal-Mart Effect I was very impressed at the scale of transformation a single corporation can have on a generation. I took the time to follow-up on some of the research mentioned in the book. I visited Dr. Emek Basker's website at the University of Missouri to read her analysis and ensuing publication on, The Causes and Consequences of Wal-Mart's Growth, (Journal of Economic Perspectives 21:3 (Summer 2007) 177-198). This morning when I read the article "What Wal-Mart Savings Claim Doesn't Tell You" in Ad Age I had no reservations believing Wal-Mart.

I say cheers to Wal-Mart economics!

I strongly believe most products at Wal-Mart are Okay, Available and Cheap but the innovation it forces and the price pressure it creates on its suppliers establish a certain Wal-Martian socialism.

I am no fan of any socialistic system but it has worked. From making products available to Americans at an affordable price, to creating a consumer culture globally to developing unsustainable practices of consumer use and throw of products and even the Salmon farming example from Southern Chile; Wal-Mart has made a profound impact. One that is well beyond the $2500 savings the retail store claims to generate for every American household whether they shop at Wal-Mart or not!

BCG - Leadership Perspectives

I was browsing the web when I came across a mention of George Stalk of BCG. His retirement speech was published in a the 'BCG Perspectives' in April 2007.

Here some nuggets of wisdom -

• All investments must be Fast, Focused & Fundamental
• Say Yes or No, but never say Maybe
• Keep your people - Employees, Customers, Suppliers & Financiers - informed
• Leaders don't get more than one chance.

C&D - P&G's Innovation model revisited

From Harvard Business Online: Connect & Develop - Procter & Gamble's Innovation Model.

The Idea in Practice:

Know Where to Look

Before scouring the world for ideas you might develop into profitable products, clarify what you’re looking for:

• Identify consumer needs. Ask business unit leaders which consumer needs, when satisfied, will drive their brands’ growth. Translate needs into briefs describing problems to solve. Consider where you might seek solutions.

Example: P&G unit managers identified a need for laundry detergent that cleans effectively in cold water. They decided to search for relevant innovations in chemistry and biotechnology solutions that enable products to work well at low temperatures. Possibilities included labs studying enzymatic reactions in microbes that thrive under polar caps.

• Identify adjacencies. Ask which new product categories, related to your current categories, can enhance your existing brand equity. Then seek innovative ideas in those categories.

Example: P&G expanded its Crest brand beyond toothpaste to include whitening strips, power toothbrushes, and flosses.

Leverage Your Networks

Cultivate both proprietary and open networks whose members may have promising ideas.

Example: P&G’s proprietary networks include its top 15 suppliers, who collectively have 50,000 R&D staff. It created a secure IT platform to share problem briefs with these suppliers—who can’t see others’ responses to briefs. One chemical supplier, for example, may have ideas for making detergent perfume last longer after clothes finish drying.

P&G’s open networks include NineSigma, a company that connects interested corporations with universities, government and private labs, and consultants that can develop solutions to science and technology problems. NineSigma creates briefs describing contracting companies’ problems and sends them to thousands of possible solution providers worldwide.

Distribute and Screen Ideas

You’ve identified ideas for refining and further commercializing existing products or for employing technology solutions to create new products. Now distribute these ideas internally—ensuring that managers screen them for potential.

Example: At P&G, product ideas are logged on P&G’s online “eureka catalog,” through a template documenting pertinent facts—such as current sales of existing products or patent availability for a new technology. The document goes to P&G general managers, brand managers, and R&D teams worldwide. Product ideas are also promoted to relevant business line managers, who gauge their business potential and identify possible obstacles to development.

Promote Openness to External Ideas

Encourage use of outside ideas. For example, P&G rewards employees for speed of product development. Incentives thus favor innovation developed from outside ideas, since these often move more quickly from concept to marketplace.