« September 2006 | Main | November 2006 »
Intrigued by my earlier post mentioning Bob Sutton’s THE NO ASSHOLE RULE? If so, learn more by watching this short video of Bob explaining the concept courtesy of 50Lessons.com. You can also read more about it from Bob’s blog and from this CIO article. Plus, Guy Kawasaki shares his smart-thinking on Bob's book.
Months ago I was asked to give a one-off presentation at the 2006 In-HOWse Designer Conference (being held this week) for session titled, “Growing a Brand. Growing a Team.” I didn’t struggle with the crux of the content but I did struggle with how to make the content compelling and relevant.
Lucky for me I received a galley copy of Bob Sutton’s to-be-published book, THE NO ASSHOLE RULE, last week. Bob's book inspired me to showcase how productive project teams have more “likeable” team members than “asshole” team members. From there, I infused the presentation with some Tim Sanders LIKEABILITY FACTOR thinking and voila … a richer presentation.
Thanks to SlideShare, you can sample the slides by clicking the ‘play button’ below …
RSS Readers ... click here to view the slides.
I bet you’ve never thought how the game of Rock, Paper, Scissors (a.k.a. Roshambo) can be applied to business growth. Marty Neumeier has. And brilliantly at that. In ZAG, the book I’ve been pimping all week, Marty explains how growing businesses go through the stages of SCISSORS, ROCK, and PAPER during its maturation.
According to Neumeier, small businesses and startups are SCISSORS-like in their sharp focus which allows them to carve out a niche to better compete against much larger companies.
A successful SCISSORS company will grow into being a medium-sized ROCK company.
ROCK businesses have lots of sales momentum going for them. To maintain and grow their momentum, ROCK companies expand their brand portfolio and thus, lose the sharp focus they once had as a SCISSORS business. ROCK businesses can crush SCISSOR companies who lack the resources needed to compete against the momentum of larger and broader-based ROCK companies.
Eventually, the momentum at a ROCK company slows and it then morphs into a PAPER company.
PAPER companies are typified by having tremendous size, a cadre of brands, and fleeting focus. Because of their size and reach, PAPER companies can smother ROCK companies.
As in the game, SCISSORS cut PAPER … ROCK crushes SCISSORS … and, PAPER covers ROCK. The business interpretation of this is … focus beats size, momentum beats focus, and size beats momentum.
SCISSORS cut PAPER | “focus beats size”
SCISSOR businesses are able to compete (and beat) expansive PAPER companies because of their sharp, niche-minded focus. Dollar General and Family Dollar are SCISSOR companies focused on selling inexpensive and close-out/odd-lot general merchandise. Because of their tight focus, Dollar General and Family Dollar are able to beat much larger PAPER companies like Wal-Mart and Target.
ROCK crushes SCISSORS | “momentum beats focus”
Starbucks is a ROCK business which trumps more focused, SCISSOR-like coffee joints. It’s not necessarily that Starbucks is better than smaller, upstart coffee shops. It’s just that Starbucks has tremendous momentum (convenient locations, adoring customers, etc.) and significant resources (stockpiles of cash, relationships with suppliers, etc.) which make it very difficult for other coffee shops to thrive against them.
PAPER covers ROCK | “size beats momentum”
Wal-Mart is a PAPER company that beats its general merchandise ROCK competitors (Sears, Kmart, Meijer) and its grocery ROCK competitors (Kroger, H-E-B, Publix). However, since it is a PAPER company, Wal-Mart is vulnerable and can lose out to SCISSOR businesses like Dollar General and Family Dollar.
… I’m continuing ZAG week on the Brand Autopsy blog ...
Beginning on page 104 of ZAG, Marty Neumeier shares thoughts on strategically growing a brand. As we marketers know, most businesses feel the pressure to grow sales by launching brand extensions and brand adjacencies. And after a few brand extensions/adjacencies have launched, marketers are left with managing a portfolio of brands.
Marty has helped me to better understand the strategy of brand portfolio management by writing this …
There are two main models for organizing brand portfolios. The first is a ‘house of brands,’ meaning a company that markets a range of separate brand names (Procter & Gamble). The second model is a ‘branded house,’ meaning that the company itself is the brand, and its products or services are subsets of the main brand (Hewlett-Packard).The advantage of a house of brands is that each brand is free to fight its battles on its own terms, unfettered by the meaning of the parent brand.
The advantage of a branded house is that all the products and services can share the same budget, customer, and market position.”
As a blogger and author, I continuously find myself reading smart/pithy lines from other bloggers and authors that I wish I had written. Marty Neumeier’s book, ZAG, is chockfull of so many smart/pithy lines that this blogger and author is envious.
I’m especially envious of how Marty breaks down the fallacy of loyalty programs like “frequent shopper” programs from retailers. In TRIBAL KNOWLEDGE, I write about the fallacy of loyalty schemes but Marty’s musings on why loyalty programs don’t work is BRILLIANT. His brilliant take makes my take rinky-dink in comparison.
On page 100 of ZAG, Marty outlines six reasons why customer loyalty programs like “frequent shopper” cards don’t work.
"... and here are six reasons why [loyalty programs don't work]: 1) Loyalty programs are based on discounts, which ‘train’ existing customers to expect low prices and wait out normal prices, 2) They attract loyal customers who would happily pay a premium, 3) they discourage new customers by making them feel punished or excluded, 4) they encourage competitors to retaliate with me-too programs, 5) they reduce profit margins, which 6) reduces the company’s ability to serve customers at formerly high levels.The truth is, loyalty can’t be programmed. As soon as customers begin to feel ‘stalked,’ they choose ‘fight’ or ‘flight.’ They either figure out how to game the system, or else they run to another brand.”
Dang. I wish I had written that!
For their upcoming conference in December, WOMMA, the Word of Mouth Marketing Association, is doing something worth talking about. They are holding open six slots on the agenda for sessions created by YOU. It’s being called the YouSessions and it’s a deal where YOU submit an idea for a session and then YOU vote for the sessions you want to see at the conference. The six sessions receiving the most votes are then plugged into the WOMMA Summit 2 Conference agenda.
YOU have until Saturday, October 28 to submit your session idea. Voting opens on Monday, October 30 and closes on Friday. November 10. (For specifics on the YouSessions, click here.)
Already, Sam Decker, Adi Sideman, Rick Hecker, Li Evans, James Spellman, Sandy Goldman, Marshall Malone, and Mike Dochtery have submitted session ideas. What session idea are you going to suggest?
I’m submitting this session idea ...
Sign-ups will be on a first-come basis and we’ll do our best to squeeze in as many people as possible in the allotted time.
So … what are you going To Say & Touché with your 2 minutes?
For the graphically-inclined, Marty Neumeier illustrates the differences between Marketing, Advertising, PR, and Branding on pages 24 and 25 of ZAG. This is the best, most simplistic definition, visual or verbal, of core marketing disciplines that I’ve ever seen.
Marty Neumeier’s latest book, ZAG, rocks. (His first book, THE BRAND GAP, also rocked. It received a “prestigious” 2003 Marketing Book award from me.)
ZAG is much more than yet another business book riffing on the business differentiation strategy of when everyone zigs, your business should ZAG. On every page of ZAG is a knowledge nugget worthy of much mental gnawing. For example, on page 71, Marty distills the strategy behind how best to compete in a crowded marketplace by sharing this knowledge nugget:
“The wider the competition, the narrower the focus—and vice versa.”
[Marty Neumeier, ZAG, pg. 71]
”There’s a myth that people in organizations don’t like change. Actually, people do like change. What they don’t like is being changed.”
[Marty Neumeier, ZAG, pg. 127]
Tasty, eh?
I plan to share more money quotes from ZAG throughout the week. And if you’re eager and wanna work ahead … spend some time on the ZAG website. You can also get a heaping serving of BRAND GAP wisdom from devouring this PDF presentation.
Robyn Waters’ second book on trendspotting, The Hummer and The Mini, urges marketers to spot and embrace the paradoxes going on in the world today to better reveal consumer trends. Be it “luxurious commodities” (Whirlpool’s Duet washer/dryer, the Michael Graves designed Toilet Brush, or In-N-Out Burger) or “healthy indulgences” (Whole Foods Market, functional candy), Robyn contends trends emerge from discovering consumer dichotomy.
It’s an interesting premise that Waters proffers because it follows the trend of what’s old is new. Much of Waters’ insights are “old” as she resurrects and remixes some of Charles Handy’s “Age of Paradox” thinking with Seth Godin’s “Purple Cow” concept with Michael Silverstein’s “Trading Up”/”Treasure Hunt” writings. Then again, as she notes on pg. 45, “Many of our best ideas are really just old ideas reinterpreted.”
The Hummer and The Mini is a breezy read with hints of brilliance. The concept of identifying emerging trends through identifying paradoxes is rich. However, we would all be richer in knowledge if Waters dug deeper with more brilliant insights rather than retro-fitting case studies to support her paradox trend position.
Money Quotes from THE HUMMER AND THE MINI …
“It became clear that for every trend there was a countertrend, and both were equally valid. The trend itself wasn’t important anymore. It was how the trend meshed with the consumer’s conflicted paradoxical, and often counterintuitive desires that mattered.” (p. 2)
“It seemed to me that by the late nineties, everywhere I looked I saw contradictory trends as consumers pursued opposites simultaneously. Just as video-game sales skyrocketed, sales of old-fashioned book games took off too. While Sony racked up sales of PlayStation, Cranium became a big hit.” (p. 5)
”Luxurious Commodities. A commodity is a mass-produced, unspecialized product that is both useful or valued. A luxury is something that adds pleasure but isn’t absolutely necessary. Surely then, a luxurious commodity qualifies as an enchanting paradox.” (p. 74)
”Paradoxes make life interesting. Remembering what Charles Handy said, ‘Paradoxes are to be lived with, not solved,’ I believe you can discover new approaches to old problems by embracing the paradoxes.” (p. 209)
UPDATED on 7/22/07
David Armano, by way of Steve Portigal, clued me in on SlideShare.
SlideShare is basically YouTube for PowerPoint. Meaning … you can upload PowerPoint presentations and view them slide-by-slide in an on-screen display resembling YouTube. You can also embed the html code to display the slideshow in a webpage (as done below). It really is YouTube for PowerPoint.
Sure, SlideShare lacks the universal appeal of YouTube. But dang … it sure does make sharing PowerPoint presentations online super-easy. Have a try.
The following is a presentation I delivered in October 2006 at the In-HOWse Design Conference about "Growing a Brand. Growing a Team." I simply uploaded it to SildeShare for all to view. Enjoy ...
RSS Readers ... click here to view the SlideShare presentation.
I did a google search and found this line has been used many times before. It’s become a cliché and many sources cite David Ogilvy as appropriating this line to advertising research. I’ve sent an email to a contact of mine who will reach out to the authors and hopefully we can get some clarification.
Enough of this … here’s the post I accidentally deleted.
Marketing executives Rex Briggs and Greg Stuart share advertising effectiveness insights in their recently published book, WHAT STICKS: Why Most Advertising Fails and How to Guarantee Your’s Succeeds. The book goes into exhausting linear detail on how to systematically fix the problem of ineffective advertising.
If you enjoy step-by-step guidance on fostering alignment as it relates to project teams and their marketing efforts, you’ll really enjoy this book. So Marketing Managers on the client side and Account Executives on the agency side will probably find this book useful. I found the book too linear for my liking. Doesn’t mean there aren’t money quotes, there are aplenty. Briggs and Stuart make some strong comments, especially as it relates to advertising research and measuring marketing effectiveness.
Money Quotes from WHAT STICKS …
“Our research proves that of the nearly $300 billion spent per year on advertising in the United States alone, as much as $112 billion is wasted.” (p. xvi)
”The problem [advertising ineffectiveness) isn’t lack of brain power or diligence (marketers and agencies have very bright people who work very hard to do the best job possible). The problem is a rapidly changing marketing landscape that has made the old approaches and research tools obsolete.” (p. 5)
“Many people use [advertising] research the way a drunkard uses a lamppost; more for support than illumination.” (p. 21)
There’s high stakes in admitting that a marketing campaign is wrong. Think about this for a moment: If you were measuring your marketing’s program, would you be happy to learn a campaign or an aspect of the campaign failed? (p. 31)
”A problem discovered in marketing is not a treasure—quite the opposite is true. It’s the f-word: failure. And one f-word can lead to another f-word: fired. The f-word fired leads to another pernicious f-word: fear. The greatest fear of the advertising agency and perhaps the marketer too is failure. (p. 31)
”Advertising agencies want their clients to succeed, on that point there is no doubt. But success is often ill-defined, and measurement is and reporting are either nonexistent or lag behind the actual campaign in such a way that they simply aren’t useful. This lack of measurement causes the focus to shift from objective data to whether the agency has pleased the client. (p. 36)
“There is an adherent conflict in the advertising agency measuring its own work.” (p. 37)
“Note that scenario planning is not a creative brainstorming session to come up with the campaign or the creative message, nor is it about ‘advertising by committee.’ It is making sure that the brand managers, marketers, agency creatives, finance managers, researchers, media planners, and others are aligned to the same goal, are aware of the same potential downsides, and are in agreement on the same action standards based on different outcomes.” (p. 69)
“In our research, with more than 3 of the top 100 marketers, we fond that 87 percent of their teams started with divergent definitions of success.” (p. 72)
Listen up businesspeople in the Badlands of Central Texas …
BookPeople does lots of book events with authors but rarely with business book authors. Things change this Thursday at 7:00 PM when BookPeople hosts Polly LaBarre, co-author of MAVERICKS AT WORK and former long-time Fast Company magazine writer.
I blogged about MAVERICKS AT WORK last week and if you enjoyed the optimism and inspiration of the old-school Fast Company vibe, you’ll get a lot out of reading Polly's book. And, I'm sure you’ll get a lot out of hearing Polly share stories and strategies from the remarkable companies her book profiles.
For more on the event, go here.
NOTE: I plan to update this post with more mini-documetaries. So keep scrolling to read/watch updates.
My mother, Glenna Moore, was recently diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, more commonly known as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s Disease. This diagnosis didn’t come as a surprise to the family as her “creeping paralysis” has become much more pronounced in the last few months.
ALS is a neurological disease where motor neurons from the brain stop reaching one’s muscles. When muscles no longer receive neurons, muscles cease to move. And when muscles stop moving, paralysis sets in. There is no cure for ALS and patients that suffer from this disease live a life of work-arounds.
At first, patients use a cane to help steady themselves when walking. And when walking becomes too challenging, patients start using walkers, wheelchairs, and scooters as their work-around to get around. Patients also lose the ability to move their arms and hands and thus need to find new ways to write, eat, dress, etc. One’s speech also becomes affected and eventually, ALS patients lose their ability to speak.
But patients do not lose the ability of their mind, nor the sparkle in their eyes. Dementia does not set in with ALS patients and that is what makes this disease so devastating. Sufferers suffer from the inability to move their voluntary muscles but they do not lose the ability to mentally comprehend what is happening to their body. Eventually, ALS patients lose the ability of their involuntary muscles, namely the ability to breathe, and subsequently patients lose their life.
As I mentioned, the family wasn’t surprised to learn of the ALS diagnosis and I had mentally and spiritually prepared myself for that diagnosis months ago.
And it was months ago when I began a special project to capture some of the stories my mom knows. Glenna Moore is our family historian and resident storyteller. She knows so much about intimate relatives and distant relatives. Unfortunately, I’ve never paid much attention to her stories through the years. I realize now … that’s my loss.
So to make up for my past mistakes of not paying enough attention to her stories, I sat down with my mother in August and recorded her telling stories while she shared family photos with me. I plan to turn her stories and photos into mini-documentaries. The first mini-documentary I’ve put together shares the story of the wedding between my parents, Al and Glenna Moore.
RSS readers click here to watch the video.
The ALS disease is progressing as expected with my Mother. Which means ... each day Glenna Moore finds doing everyday activities like talking, writing, and swallowing a little more difficult to do. She gets around using a nifty scooter and takes more naps during the day to help keep her energy level high at opportune times. This Thanksgiving weekend provided my Mom lots of opportune times to spend with her grandchildren.
I recently completed the second mini-documentary sharing stories and memories from my Mother. It shares photos of all the Moore children beginning with Lana, then Trip, and it closes with the twins—Marty and John (me). With each photo of the children, my Mother shares quick stories and memories. Enjoy.
RSS Readers … click here to watch the video.
Before ALS progressed with my mother, she shared stories about the people and the photos from a scrapbook her Mom crafted for her when she was a young child.
The following video documentary shares amusing childhood stories from my Mom’s remarkable life. Enjoy.
Direct link to the video on Google
[NOTE: The audio for this documentary was recorded in August of 2006.]
Al and Glenna have been married for nearly 45 years and to hear the unbridled joy in my Dad’s voice thrills me. He truly found the greatest love of all. Enjoy.
MAVERICKS AT WORK is a tremendous biz book that rekindles the classic Fast Company vibe of challenging the status quo and expressing the optimism of how making a difference truly makes a difference. I promise you’ll be a lot smarter and a lot more inspired to make great stuff happen at work after reading this book.
The authors, Bill Taylor and Polly LaBarre, are getting a lot of well-deserved digital ink ... such as this worthy interview on TomPeters.com. Some stand-out money quotes from the interview include:
“In industry after industry there's been this changing of the guard, where the companies that are now generating all the growth, creating all the jobs, generating all the shareholder wealth, are companies that a decade ago were dismissed as outliers and wild cards. They're now the ones in positions of power, or at the very least the ones that are succeeding and growing in industries where everybody else is consolidating and cutting back.”
“When we talk about standing for important ideas we mean that these are ideas that shape the future of an industry, that reshape the sense of what's possible among customers, among employees, among investors. That distinctive and disruptive sense of purpose is the hallmark of a maverick. A company with a clear sense of purpose wins. That's the first principle.”
“The second principle concerns relationships with customers. Sharing your values beats selling value. That's the paradox at the heart of the relationship with most companies and their customers today.”
“When everything keeps getting cheaper, better, easier, and faster, offering customers something that's a little cheaper or a little better doesn't win you a place in their hearts or their lives. Companies and organizations increasingly have had to move away from just selling value to striking a genuine relationship on the basis of distinctive values.”
“The fourth principle will not come as a shock to anyone. In this world of disruptive strategy, open source innovation, and psychological contracts of customers, your success as an organization is built upon one very core and perennial reality: The people are the company. You simply cannot have a great company that's filled with people who are of not so great quality. Your organization cannot be better than the quality of the individuals in it.”
In SUCCESS BUILT TO LAST, Jerry Porras (collaborating with Stewart Emery and Mark Thompson) explore how to apply the Built to Last concepts of building an enduring business to individuals striving to become enduringly successful people. It’s a powerful book chock-full of thought-provoking “money quotes.”
My single post of select money quotes cannot begin to adequately convey the magnitude of meaning this book shares. Success Built to Last is a MUST-READ for everyone seeking to find the nexus point connecting personal happiness with professional happiness.
Money Quotes from SUCCESS BUILT TO LAST …
”Success in the long run has less to do with finding the best idea, organizational structure, or business model for an enterprise, than with discovering what matters to us as individuals.” (p. 4)
”Extraordinary individuals take one step back and two steps forward with most every challenge—and sometimes two steps back to one step forward. They harvest useful lessons and knowledge from what doesn’t work, and they display a remarkable resiliency; and ability to bounce back from adversity.” (p. 9)
(Note … playing off the “clock-builder” concept introduced in Built to Last, the authors describe people who “… feel compelled to create something new or better that will endure throughout their lifetime” as being Builders.)
“For Builders, the real definition of success is a life and work that brings personal fulfillment and lasting relationships and makes a difference in the world in which they live.” (p. 19)
”Builders insist that success may never come without a compelling personal commitment to something you care about and would be willing to do with or without counting on wealth, fame, power, or public acceptance as an outcome. (p. 21)
”When achievement for you or your organization comes without meaning, then it doesn’t last.” (p. 23)
”Most of us worry more about being loved than being what we love.” (p. 30)
”It’s dangerous not to do what you love. The harsh truth is that if you don’t love what you’re doing, you’ll lose to someone who does!” (p. 35)
”Enduringly successful people, many of whom live a life that’s a gift to the world, don’t raise balance as a major issue—not because they had it masterfully handled, but because they were all busy doing what mattered to them.” (p. 54)
”Opportunity comes from expertise, not just luck, talent, and passion. If you find it impossibly tedious to become an expert about what you think matters to you, then you’re not chasing a dream, you’re just daydreaming.” (p. 120)
”Builders insist that self-esteem comes from trying and failing, trying and failing, then succeeding with small wins and doing the work a little better each time.” (p.125)
”Builders think of success and failure as feedback. They don’t judge either as a complete win or loss.” (p. 137)
”For most Builders, the journey is like shooting for the moon and instead hitting Mars—perhaps a better, but different outcome than envisioned. Builders are the first to admit (at least, in private) that planning works, but as the adage goes, the plan itself, rarely does.” (pgs. 173-174)
”Builders take bold risks that they measure in small steps.” (p. 175)
”The thing that matters is meaning! It drives everything. Builders align their attention to the things that matter to them, and they know a lot about that stuff.” (p. 207)
I'm quick to tell others that I take my job seriously but myself lightly. It's a line I picked up years ago from reading IMPROVISE THIS and it helps to explain why I am so passionate about the work I do. Basically, I try to have fun while playing the complicated and stressful marketing game.
In the spirit of taking my job seriously and myself lightly, I put together a spoof commercial for TRIBAL KNOWLEDGE. Yeah, it's super-goofy. But hey ... it's just me trying to have some fun. Enjoy. (I hope.)
the TRIBAL KNOWLEDGE "commercial"
Consider this the start of an ongoing series of posts where I’ll highlight smart thinking from recent business books I’ve read. First up are “money quotes” from IDEASPOTTING: How to Find Your Next Great Idea (Sam Harrison).
Money Quotes from IDEASPOTTING ...
”To spot ideas, you want insights. Lots of them. Because ideas aren’t spotted in forms. They’re spotted in sights—those revelatory insights seized only when you roam new turfs, meet new people and have new experiences.” (p. 19)
”Open your mind and people will show you what’s on their minds.” (p. 25)
”Am I filling my life with work or am I filling my work with life?” (p.32)
”The more you look, the more you find.” (p. 46)
”Early jazz players praised a fellow musician by saying he or she had ‘big ears’—meaning the person actively listened to another’s playing and built on rhythm, lyrics and tempo. Have big ears when you’re talking with others—whether with one person, two people or a team. Spot ideas and build on them.” (p. 78)
”Notice how creative people are the ones asking questions.” (p.84)
”Good mistakes have strong efforts but seemingly bad results. Bad mistakes have sloppy mediocre efforts and bad results. Be willing to make good mistakes. And try making them early. While they are still cheap.” (p.148)
We’ve all become familiar with Lonely Girl 15 but have you seen Lonely Marketer 16?
There’s a three episode arc on YouTube with some marketing schlub sharing his frustrations about how the company he works for is stuck in the TV Industrial Complex. This schlub goes by the name of “Drew” and we learn he is only marketer in his company who is interested in word-of-mouth marketing.
Episode One:
"Drew" works up to courage to contribute in a brainstorm session; however, he gets yeah-butted by Bob from Finance.
RSS readers click here to watch the video
Over on the Tribal Knowledge book companion site I received a worthy question. (Worthy enough to republish it here.)
Judy asks, “Can you tell me what it means to create an employee experience? How do the best companies ensure that the employee experience is aligned to the customer experience?"
The best companies, namely those listed as one of Fortune Magazine’s "100 Best Companies to Work for in America," spend just as much time marketing to its employees as it does to its customers. In other words, these companies realize that happy, knowledgeable employees will usually translate into happy, knowledgeable customers.
For example … The Container Store is a Dallas-based privately held company specializing in selling boxes, bins, and everything in-between to help consumers organize all their stuff. They have been highly successful with sales in 2005 topping $425 million with just 37 locations in 12 states.
New Container Store employees are given more than 240 hours of training in their first year compared with the industry standard of 7 hours of training per new employee. Employees are paid two-to-three times more than the industry average. And employees are given a generous 40% discount for anything purchased at the Container Store. The company is renowned by retailers and customers as delivering great customer experiences which helps to explain why the company is so successful.
With its focus on making the employee experience matter (tribal truth #33), The Container Store astonishes its employees who in turn, astonish its customers with great customer service.
Given this Container Store example, one sure-fire way to ensure the employee experience is aligned with the customer experience is to treat employees like you would want employees to treat customers. Sounds simple. But if it was so simple, more companies would be doing it ... right?
I’m agnostic about advertising but I always pay attention to the Jack In The Box (JITB) television spots because they are clever, savvy, original, and authentic. I’m also a believer in Evolutionist Word-of-Mouth and not Creationist Word-of-Mouth. [For more, watch this YouTube presentation.]
The Evolutionist WOM mindset is about generating talk with and between customers by designing products/services that are worth talking about. Marketers believing in Creationist WOM would rather create conversations with and between customers through outrageous attention-grabbing antics which may or may not have any connection to the advertised product/service.
And it seems like Jack is also a believer of Evolutionist WOM thought.
In a new JITB commercial, a JITB marketer is seen pitching Jack on a variety of attention grabbing antics to promote their latest Ciabatta burger. One of the great ideas the marketer pitches to Jack is to name the baby of a pregnant woman (seen in Jack’s office) after the new Ciabatta burger. The JITB marketer also pitches Jack on other Creationist WOM marketing ideas.
But Jack abruptly cuts the marketer off and says something like, “Hey, I have an idea … let’s have our new Ciabatta Burger advertise itself.”
Yep … Jack is an Evolutionist WOM guy.
Kate Newlin, former Faith Popcorn cohort at BrainReserve, has written a book that strives to challenge consumers to stop being obsessed with buying stuff on the cheap from the Big Box retailers. It’s called SHOPPORTUNITY: How to Be a Retail Revolutionary.
SHOPPORTUNITY revolves around 21 steps consumers should take to get the best, most meaningful experiences from every shopping opportunity. I can’t say all 21 steps are on-target but a few of them are chewy enough for us marketers to gnaw on and over ... such as these two steps:
(1) Relearn Anticipation>
Newlin argues that a key ingredient missing in many of our current shopping experiences is the lack of anticipation. Meaning, there are very few retailers out there that customers truly anticipate going to and shopping at. For the most part, consumers no longer anticipate and retailers have lost the ability to elicit feelings of anticipation.
Newlin is onto something here. In a recent Starbucks Tribal Knowledge presentation, I touched upon this point by telling the audience that “Destinations become expectations when they lose the feeling of anticipation.” By being omnipresent and super-consistent, Starbucks is losing the ability to elicit feelings of “anticipation” from customers.
Which retailers are eliciting feelings of anticipation? Are there any businesses you look forward to doing business with? What must your company do to relearn anticipation?
(11) Shop Where the Staff Knows More than You
Newlin is spot-on. As shoppers we are more likely to find deeper, richer, and more worthwhile retail experiences from businesses whose employees are smarter about the products they sell then are the customers.
There’s a difference when buying a complicated a product high-tech gizmo from a big box retailer than from a specialty retailer. That difference should be the employee at a specialty retailer knows more about the high-tech gizmo than a part-time staffer does at a big box retailer. (Unfortunately, that isn’t always the case.)
Recent Comments