The COMRADITY Journal

Positioning with a Purpose.

Making sense of many marketing choices is challenging. Positioning is a strategic tool that narrows the choices.

Think of positioning as a navigation tool. It identifies where your brand belongs on the marketplace map. The simplest way to visualize a markeplace map is on two dimensions: quality and price.

A high quality/high price positioning will narrow the competitors and marketing tools, certainly. But within this competitive niche, a positioning statement with a purpose distinguishes the brand even more. For example, in the home furnishing business, one brand's purpose may be modern and smart for a young adult with a tiny, yet expensive apartment versus another brand, whose purpose is to be classic and traditional to signal affluence and prestige.

A well-defined purpose helps to inspire marketing choices which capitalize on the brand's competitive advantages.

For example, the leading bubble gum brands, shapped in discreet cubes, promoted long-lasting flavor when we launched BUBBLE TAPE. There's nothing discreet about a cannister of 6 feet of gum. We defined the brand's purpose to be "kid" cool - as in purely uninhibited, attention-getting fun. Research told us that 12 year old boys were the most uninhibited and into getting attention - i.e., the "ring leaders". Convenience stores near schools, where kids make purchase decisions uninhibitied by an adult, was their channel of choice.

We produced television ads "For You Not Them" ("them" being grown-ups) to run in the kid's television shows that 12 year old boys spent several hours a day watching. Salesforce time and efforts were concentrated on Convenience Stores.

The results were stunning. In Year I, with only Convenience Store distribution, BUBBLE TAPE became a leading bubble gum brand.

It is natural for an established brand to invest marketing dollars everywhere to defend against competitors. But consider that narrowing marketing choices to capitalize on competitive advantages could be the most effective way to get more for their money.

In the 1980's many leading consumer packaged goods brands began to see increased competition from discount brands. When increasing advertising support didn't help Procter & Gamble's SECRET antiperspirant compete with lower priced "white label" competitors, they chose to shift advertising dollars into trade promotion - i.e., discounts to maintain valuable distribution real estate, pulled through by couponing in local newspapers.

Why didn't increasing advertising work? As background, the purpose of SECRET Antiperspirant is to meet the unique antiperspirant needs of women. The "secret" is that the PH balance of women's sweat is different than men's and therefore harder to neutralize.

But the legacy advertising campaign wasn't working as hard as it did in the earlier days of the "Women's Movement".  Known internally as "Jack and Shirley", the stories were based on women's relationships with husbands. By the 1980's, (as evidenced by a plummeting birthrate), women were more likely to be working and facing relationship  issues with men like discrimination at work. The tagline "strong enough for a man but made for a woman" didn't work very hard to overcome a woman's challenge to prove that she was equal to men. And "strong enough for a man" actually contradicts the true story that a woman's antiperspirant has to work harder than a man's. (a very relevant metaphor for young women in the workplace.)

Imagine what the SECRET marketing plan would be like its packaging and advertising were updated to align with its purpose to meet the unique antiperspirant needs of women. Specifcaly to communicate that SECRET works as hard as women.

Who are the women who will most relate to this message? For example, Young High School and College athletes, young women studying in STEM subjects or entering the workforce.

Where are they most likely to buy it? Probably drug and convenience stores.

Where do they spend a lot of time? Working hard - getting in shape for their sport, studying, or at their desk.

The outcome would be a marketing plan that doesn't look anything like the competitor's. And the dollars, energy, and time spent will be concentrated on opportunities where the return on investment is highest.

What Makes a Strategy Great?

A couple of nights ago I was driving home and listening to NPR's Melissa Block's @NPRmelissablock interview with Bill Prady @billprady, co-creator of "The Big Bang Theory" (among other rare TV block busters). He was talking about the buzzwords used by comedy writers. The phrase that resonated with me was "Laying Pipe" (get your head out of the gutter, not the 'urban dictionary' definition "/). Here's how the conversation went:

PRADY: Laying pipe is one of the most annoying things to have to do when you write a script. And laying pipe means delivering exposition, creating a way to share with the audience information usually that the characters already know. So you often hear it done very clumsily. You hear somebody say, well, John, you're my brother and an attorney, so you should be familiar with this.

BLOCK: (Laughter).

PRADY: What you look for is a way to do it artistically, and sometimes, you know, you can talk about how it was done in restoration comedy, where you had what was called feather-dusting scene. So a maid came out and said, well, here we are in sunny Spain, and that set the scene. But, you know, in a modern comedy, that's not the kind of thing you want to do.

BLOCK: That's not going to fly.

PRADY: No, you look for an elegant way to lay pie. And then you can sort of modify the lingo. You say, oh, that pipe is nicely hidden.

Here's the entire interview: http://www.npr.org/2014/11/05/361820803/in-comedy-writing-fear-the-bonos-and-nakamura

This brought to mind the days at Leo Burnett of training creative strategy writing. Most beginning account executives were wannabe copywriters, so part of their training was to understand that inspiring great creative does not mean writing the copy. It means "laying the pipe."  

As Bill says above, it can be tedious to "lay the pipe." Behind every great creative strategy is a study of the marketplace - the consumer, the competition, the product development. 

But a really great creative strategy is elegant in its simplicity. Like a "well-hidden pipe," it has just enough information to "get" the key who, why, where. But it leaves the "how" to be discovered.

To inspire a great "how", a great strategy ignites ideas the way a match sparks when it hits a strike. For example, 'the Holidays are a busy time when stressed-out customers deserve a treat' paraphrases a strategy that inspired a promotional spot for McDonald's by Jim Ferguson @HicoBoy. It featured a family at a christmas tree lot safely tucked away in the station wagon while the Dad posed with different trees in the pouring rain for their approval. That spot performed so well vs promoting McDonald's Holiday Chicken McNuggets as a party pack it was repeated in subsequent years.

Russ Klein @KleinRuss, the recently named CEO of the American Marketing Association, writes about the importance of "tension" in a good strategy:

The tension must be relevant, and must live at the intersection of your brand and your customer’s life. Finally, the tension must be vividly set up, and then discharged by the story of your respective product or service.

I continued to test and retest this theory incessantly in the days and weeks that followed. I studied tension and what was known among psychologists and social scientists on the subject. I came upon the quote by Sigmund Freud that became a mainstay of every presentation that I’ve ever given since: “Without tension, there is no release. Without release, there is no joke.” All of the best humor is rooted in tension. Think about it: Tension is at the root of all great stories however they are told or whatever medium is used to tell them, including advertising.

He points out in this post that most of the time, it is the creatives who come up with the tension, as is illustrated by the "Be Like Mike" campaign, written by @BerniePitzel. He then goes on to describe the thinking process that led to the strategy for the long term positioning of Gatorade around the tension of sustaining confidence day-to-day for atheletes.

The examples shared here relate to a time when advertising was designed to build awareness - primarily via Network TV at home - far away from the point of purchase.  Do the criteria for a great strategy from this time apply today?

Bill Prady's interview explains that "laying the pipe" is not a new concept, but must be applied with today's  audience in mind.  Today's audience has a shorter attention span than ever before. So the techniques of the best :30 second advertisements, print ads, and billboards should be more relevant than ever before.  But there are new factors to consider. The flood of information overwhelming the strategists, the creators, and the customers. New media which reach customers or prospects at diverse stages in the purchase decision process, including the "Moment of Truth" at retail. The resulting tension of "just because you can, doesn't mean you should." 

To improve results - and there is a lot of room for improvement - we need to put as much time into figuring out how to use new media capabilities strategically as was done "back in the day", when we had less information and fewer choices to make.

What we heard at "Creativity in the Workplace"

Here's our analysis of the themes that emerged at the "Creativity in the Workplace" Working Innovation Session at COMRADITY Studio, on October 1. The purpose was to uncover ideas to "Motivate a Multi-generational Workforce." About 60 participated, representing businesses ranging from Blue Sky Studios to Pitney Bowes, UCONN students, artists and curators, as well as Creative Professionals. Bryan Mattimore of Growth Engine Innovation Agency led the ideation process.

Here's the video of the event which was produced by Kendra Farn of P Garyn Productions and edited by Wilson Converse of Eyedit:

Overall, the most liked ideas fell into five cateogries or themes. "Mutual Respect" was the more popular theme, with about 30 of the 106 ideas circled by participants. The circled favorite ideas inspired each group to recommend a tactic or strategy to "motivate a multi-generational workforce."

One of the most original recommendations was inspired by the "Mutual Respect" ideas:

As you can see above, the "Mutual Respect" ideas reflect a yearning for discovery, receptivity to learn from others, an appreciation for sense of community and a nurturing environment. These sentiments were consistent across generations. An unexpected idea was "Mentoring Up" which connects to all four themes.

Join us on October 20 at Fairfield University to learn more.

Let us know you are interested in joining a COMRADITY project group to implement the idea of "Mentoring Up." 

The Elephant in the Room

 

It was six men of Indostan 

To learning much inclined,

Who went to see the Elephant

(Though all of them were blind),

That each by observation 

Might satisfy his mind

The First approached the Elephant,

And happening to fall

Against his broad and sturdy side,

At once began to bawl: 

“God bless me! but the Elephant 
Is very like a wall!”

The Second, feeling of the tusk,

Cried, “Ho! what have we here

So very round and smooth and sharp?

To me ’tis mighty clear

This wonder of an Elephant 
Is very like a spear!”

The Third approached the animal, 

And happening to take 

The squirming trunk within his hands, 

Thus boldly up and spake:

“I see,” quoth he, “the Elephant 
Is very like a snake!”

The Fourth reached out an eager hand, 

And felt about the knee. 

“What most this wondrous beast is like 
Is mighty plain,” quoth he; 

“‘Tis clear enough the Elephant 
Is very like a tree!”

The Fifth, who chanced to touch the ear,

Said: “E’en the blindest man 

Can tell what this resembles most; 

Deny the fact who can 

This marvel of an Elephant 
Is very like a fan!”

The Sixth no sooner had begun 

About the beast to grope, 

Than, seizing on the swinging tail 

That fell within his scope,

“I see,” quoth he, “the Elephant 
Is very like a rope!”

And so these men of Indostan

Disputed loud and long,

Each in his own opinion 

Exceeding stiff and strong, 

Though each was partly in the right, 

And all were in the wrong!

http://www.rhymes.org.uk/the-elephant-rhyme.htm

We're reading about the hurdles to creativity in business. Reportedly (links Mercanta Communication in Sweden), a "review of the rapidly growing body of research into creativity and innovation in the workplace" suggests that the most significant hurdle is not a lack of ideas. "The vast majority of companies operating today are not doing a good job of translating creative ideas into solutions that improve the firms’ performance," according to one of the reserachers, Jing Zhou of Rice University Business School.

As in the elephant rhyme, many ideas are partly right. But without clear vision, each idea's author lacks a holistic perspective. They are motivated to sell their perspective instead of a desire to find something in another's idea that can make theirs even better. 

A holistic perspective has clarity of vision and motivates collaboration. 

Understandably most businesses and creative professionals fear collaboration. It can be a huge time waster and doesn't necessarily result in the clarity needed for everyone to paddle in the same direction.

That's why process is valuable to both business and creative professionals. When collaborators have a roadmap, they are more likely to use their creative time more productively.

What are features of processes that work in today's increasingly complex marketplaces?

How could existing businesses apply this learning to the marketing planning process?

What would a collaborative innovation process look like for new business ideas?

 

It's a Jungle out There

An abundance of choices in the marketing industry makes the selling strategies and buying decisions very complex.

As the number of choices expand, sellers vie for a bigger piece of the pie with little consideration for how to integrate their offering with others.

Therefore buyers have little expertise about how to combine tactics to create a "bigger bang for the buck". 

One reason is lack of knowledge about how each detail in a marketing program effects others. Marketing has become a cacophony of throwing tactics against the wall to see what sticks instead of a symphony of harmonious, well-executed disciplines working together.

One reason is lack of training. During the "hay day" of marketing, ad agencies competed for the best talent by offering training programs, working along side experienced, successful talent. When I started at Leo Burnett, experienced marketers provoked me to think about the interplay of the many variables effecting success. And in those days there were a fraction of the variables there are today, including an audience that isn't even listening:

Is it possible that an abundance of choices and lack of training contribute to disappointing marketing ROI? 

In the news this week, there is yet another factor multiplying the number of choices a buyer of marketing and creative services has to consider: bothMillenials and Boomers alike are choosing to go independent in search of more rewarding projects.

In fact, according to a study commissioned by The Freelancers Union, Edelman estimates that freelancers have increased to 34% of the US workforce. THIRTY-FOUR percent.

The growing "freelance" economy multiplies the already growing number of choices available to a marketing decision maker. How does the cream rise to the top?

Many large companies have given their procurement departments more and more control over marketing choices, hoping that some discipline with improve results. Most of their systems are designed to pit competing commodity providers to lower prices.

But what if there is no one silver bullet at any price to get noticed and achieve business objectives? What if a marketing program in today's complex, highly competitive marketplace requires multiple components.

As the jungle is getting more fragmented and more siloed, there must be potential added value from collaborating to develop a knowledge base and expertise on how individual components can multiply the effectiveness of others. This  knowledge and expertise may be the single most effective way to improve marketing ROI. Collaboration among business stakeholders, including marketing and sales, and diverse creative professionals, including both traditional media and digital media experts.

Collaboration among multi-generations, learning from each other.

Or we can keep wandering around the jungle.

 

 

What Makes a Webinar Great?

Most webinars are intended for a "captive audience" - employees or students - who are required to participate.

But what if your webinar does not have a captive audience. For example, there is growing interest in using the "webinar" as a marketing tool to educate prospects about the features and benefits of today's more sophisticated offerings. What are the standards for success - in terms of creative strategies for content and production values?

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary definition for Webinar is: "a live online educational presentation during which participating viewers can submit questions and comments."

To develop these standards, we have something to learn from professionals with each expertise a webinar requires - for example, live broadcast producers, educators, interactive game designers, live event promoters and influential bloggers.

Live broadcast producers know a live event is more challenging than a recorded event, both from the writer/director perspective and the technician.

Education pros know how challenging it is to engage learners today.

Game development pros know the challenge of motivating audience participation.

Live event promoters understand it is more challenging to draw an audience to a scheduled live event than to promote an event available on the viewer's schedule "on demand."

Influencers who have built and maintain a subscriber audience know the challenge of converting the curious to a trusting audience.

Subscribe to learn from experts in each of these professions and to learn how we connect the dots to develop a workflow to produce a webinar that delivers a return on investment - or a great marketing webinar

Independence Day

Independent thinking is essential to the creative process. We all need objective feedback that we respect and trust to validate our ideas.

Many successful creative people understand that fear haunts our confidence in the creative process. For example, David Kelley

Our takeaway from his story - Whom we choose to validate our ideas effects the creative process. As David Kelley points out the nasty little girl in elementary school who told you that your clay horse looks nothing like a horse still resonates when we prepare to begin the creative process as adults.  

How do you choose a sounding board for your creative process?

Businesses look to creative professionals. But creative solutions for a business don't come in a kit. If every business checks off the same boxes and does the same thing, they certainly won't stand out in today's highly competitive, cluttered marketplace. Businesses need original ideas that are aligned strategically with their unique set of problems/opportunities.

Many creative professionals prefer to work independently because we have witnessed great ideas (whether our own or others') be impaled by a peer or manager for self-serving reasons.  But in today's multimedia, fragmented audience ecosystem, no one professional can do it all.  We need partners we respect and trust.

Both businesses and creative professionals need independent, unbiased, nothing to gain or lose sounding boards to validate original ideas and execute them across the board. A safe haven for independent thinking, where business and creative professionals can collaborate to develop and execute original ideas.

 "An oasis," with the addition of humor, in the vernacular of John Cleese

Here's to Independence Day!

Disrupt Ambiguity

Jill Lapore, the first Harvard academic to critique Clay Christensen's "Disruptive Innovation" theory, is generating a lot of buzz. Clay Christensen responds defensively that he is constantly improving the theory.

 

Essentially, Lapore applies her expertise as an historian to debunk a theory developed by a business analyst based on a moment in time. Which is how businesses are analyzed. (Which is a bigger issue for another post). Importantly, neither Lapore nor Christensen provide a business owner or manager with advice on how to capitalize on their analysis. 

 

In my opinion, the problem with "Disruptive Innovation" is its ambiguity.

 

Ambiguity confuses people. It isn't actionable. People act on one objective at a time. Is the goal to disrupt or innovate? These are two different modes of operation. One positive. The other negative.

 

Ambiguity divides people in debate instead of bringing them together to act.

 

Ambiguity doesn't help people to make good choices. When taken literally, the (perhaps unintended) consequence is the conclusion that a successful innovation strategy starts with the objective to destroy. Here's what that gets you: a vicious cycle of mutual destruction. Which looks a lot like a stagnant economy with high longterm unemployment.

 

Ambiguity is often used by so-called experts to keep everyone else in the dark so they must continue to hire the experts to tell them what to do.

 

So let's Disrupt Ambiguity.

 

Accept that we don't know it all. Consider that the best answers come from good questions.

 

Start with a purpose that is aspirational - i.e., better.

 

A purpose that benefits all stakeholders so the outcome is virtuous cycle with the momentum to perpetuate.

 

Finally, be clear about what it takes to be better and prepare to work hard. In a highly competitive world with diverse cultures, needs, and wants it isn't easy to develop and market a product.