Saturday, January 25, 2014

My Depressed Schnauzer

I recently returned from my family’s Disney vacation. Walt Disney World is the epitome of non-stop marketing. I knew it and I didn’t care. How is that possible?

Don’t people hate shameless promotion? Don’t they feel “sold” when they purchase baseball caps with ears and blinking lights – hats that they will never have the opportunity to wear outside of the park? Aren’t we supposed to be angry that we are made to stand in line and stare at corporate sponsored displays? The answer is no! We love it. We even pay to see it.

We watched a fireworks display every night. Isn’t that overkill? No! Disney is about branding from start to finish. They understand that everything matters. Even their employees are called cast members. They are on stage. They represent Disney. I will be honest; we did have some bad experiences. Most notably was a concierge that bad mouthed the company and had a less than pleasant attitude. I have to say that my first thought after meeting him was, “They should fire his butt today.” Disney has about 50,000 employees and my encounter with one was enough to change my experience.

By now you may be thinking what the heck does this have to do with my depressed schnauzer. Good question. Ever since we’ve been home my dog acts like something is wrong. I think he wants to bring me down. There are two possibilities, either he had a great time while we were gone and wishes we hadn’t come home, or he is completely jealous that we had fun without him. If he doesn’t snap out of it, I may have to get myself a new dog before none of us are able to get out of bed in the morning.


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THE BOTTOM LINE:

Principal 1: Branding is internal and external. To maintain the integrity of your brand you will need to focus on marketing to your employees as well.

Principal 2: Your reputation depends on more than your product and promotions. You must create a complete customer experience.

Principal 3: One bad attitude can bring everyone down. Change the attitude or change the person.

Saturday, January 11, 2014

The Next Big Thing

If people could really pick the "next big thing", Forbes would have to run a double issue of the world’s richest people. Still agencies uselessly spend their client’s money on focus groups, commercial testing and a bunch of other bogus research projects. Who came up with the notion that people know what motivates them to buy anyway?

The truth is, consumers don’t often think about their “motivation to buy”. So how can you expect to get accurate information in a focus group or poll? Don’t get me wrong, I know client feedback is important, but you won’t research yourself to success in the market.

(It’s time for my disclaimer… I’m not talking about Research and Development. R&D requires research and testing. I’m talking about B2B and Consumer marketing of existing products and services.)

Consider this novel approach. If your ads are working, celebrate and run more. If they don’t work, pull them and do something else.

Remember the Geico caveman commercials? I know people who loved those caveman spots and I know others that hated them. But I’m guessing the cavemen did well for Geico, until over-educated over-paid Hollywood executives looked at the data, added ridiculous amounts of research, and determined that a TV show with the cavemen would be successful. Wrong again! Maybe they asked the wrong people.


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THE BOTTOM LINE:

Principal 1: Research won’t guarantee success.

Principal 2: Spend your money reaching your audience not researching them.

Principal 3: Just because something works once, doesn’t mean that it will work again.

Saturday, January 4, 2014

The Genius of Ben Franklin

“I guess I don’t so much mind being old, as I mind being fat and old.”

Before anyone gets mad at me for picking on fat people, you must remember that you are not mad at me, you are mad at Ben Franklin – he said it not me. Besides, there is a concept in that quote. (Ben could have been an ad guy.)

Here’s the point. Some things are within your control – others are not. Everything changes, but how you respond to change is up to you. You can get depressed, worried, frustrated or you can choose to embrace it. Where would we be without change? Change creates opportunity.

I can’t help but think about the demise of the one-hour photo mat. Couldn’t they see it coming? It’s not like the “Digital Age” just snuck up on them. But some refused to change and one by one they closed. It could be said, that digital photography was a business killer. It could also be said that it opened the door to endless possibilities like selling photo printers and paper, photo sharing websites, memory cards, electronic picture frames, etc. The the list goes on and on and continues to grow.

Maybe you are sitting passively by as change controls your business. Maybe your business is “getting fat”. Maybe Ben said it best when he said,
“Energy and persistence conquer all things.”
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THE BOTTOM LINE:

Principal 1: Planning and preparation won’t control the future.

Principal 2: Adapt or Die.
Principal 3: Every change creates new opportunity. Do something with it.