Took my beautiful wife Mary to see the 'Rat Pack' Friday night. Phenomenal show. If you haven't seen it and were a fan of the Chairman its more than worth the price of admission.
I loved the music. But more than the music, I realized while watching the show that I missed the simple political incorrectness of the era. The boys fired up a cig, threw down a shot of bourbon, and romanced beautiful women. They stayed out too late and refused to accept the narrowly confined script of appropriateness. They didn't walk, they swaggered.
Before the Moral Majority and health fanaticism. Before HIV and the new moral puritanism, there was Frank and Dean and Sammy and JFK and the world just seemed a more sophisticated, fun, hip place.
Here's to the value of imperfection. The quality of a life well lived strikes me to be of more value than a wellness lived life. Drink. Eat. Love and be loved.
Cool should never be allowed to go out of style.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Brand touch points
Seriously I love reaching out and touching customers and prospects in the most unexpected of ways. Unexpected, not inappropriate.
Here's a great Skier's Choice story. We positioned our premium brand as the performance leader in the category. The market didn't want to 'give us' that position, but in comparison to the other critical consumer beliefs (quality/reliability), performance was our most winnable option.
We attacked performance attributes in multiple ways. I'm going to go into each of these in detail in different posts Tonight I just want to share with you how we executed an event strategy to make the performance claim ring true.
Bottom line, it was important to us to be visible as a tow boat that pulled professional wakeboarders and wakeskaters at the highest level of competition. Frankly we were shocked and delighted when one of our largest competitors gave up their rights to pull the WWA World Wakeboard and Wakeskate championships. The event was special on two levels. It marked the culmination of the year's professional competitions. And it brought the best amatuer riders together with the best pro riders in an event that was both family-friendly and pro-worthy.
Sponsorhship of the event was expensive ... roughly 5% of our annual budget. But we knew we could maximize its impact and use it to give credence to our performance claim. Here's how Rick Tinker, Natalie Carrera, Brian Raymond, Matt Brown, Rob Loucks and I made it work.
1. Establish an activation budget at least 50% of the event cost. We didn't want to be a passive sponsor. We wanted to embrace our prospects, our customers, the contestants, and our competitors at the event. To meet that goal, we needed to fund our efforts.
2. Use other people's money to offset costs. God how I loved Toni Gunter in our purchasing department. She gently laid the wood to our aligned vendors. She was able to help twist some arms ... allowing us to play large on the center stage, without laying waste to the bulk of my marketing budget.
3. Return true value to those vendors on their investment. Natalie did a phenomenal job giving our vendors appropriate visibility and credibility at the event. Yes, we used their money. But we returned their investment by being wholly transparent about their contributions.
4. Extend the value of the event throughout the year. Our advertising, our website, all of our press releases always displayed the WWA World Championship logo. We made a special commemorative badge and put it on the transom of each boat. We designed a premium package that was available on every model in our product line-up, and branded it a 'World's Boat' limited edition. And we then used that limited edition boat to pull the World Championships, so that television coverage of the event reinforced our messaging throughout the year. If you make the decision to build your marketing program around a special event, then commit yourself to making that event ubiquitous with your brand.
5. Be hospitable. We had a VIP tent ... but we held it open for everyone. Natalie disagreed with me, but my goal was to make Supra the friendly alternative to the corporate, purportedly arrogant category leader. I didn't just want to embrace our customers, I wanted to embrace our industry. So when our tent was filled with people wearing MasterCraft t-shirts, I gritted my teeth and smiled through the frustration. In this case it was tough love ... tough for me, love for them.
6. Be memorable. We were the first company to film video of every amatuer run, and with the help of our very good web partner DMGx, we literally shot, edited, and distributed the video to every rider before they went home from the competition. A first in the industry.
Of course, we cheated. Before the event we shot an open with our President Rick Tinker and with our pro riding staff. So that when the family put the video in the DVD player to show their friends, the first thing they saw was a gentle message from their friends at Supra. Sweet.
We found additional funds to enable our media partner Bonnier Corporaton to webcast every hour of the event. It was an industry first. A further surprise that the company that innovated was Supra.
7. Be inclusive. Pros become accustomed to award ceremonies. But amatuer riders were blown away that we held a sit-down banquet for them, complete with riding videos shot at the event for each of the amatuer division winners. Natalie came up with the big idea of allowing the amatuer riders to choose a pro that they could sit with during the banquet. The feedback from the families after the event was simply amazing.
8. Be inventive. The competition lasted from 8:00am - 6:00pm. We weren't satisfied with that. We wanted people to have as good of an experience away from the competition as they did during the competition. So we hosted nighttime events that complimented the day time schedule. It was fun, but more than that, it was another opportunity for us to connect with the families of the competitors and make friends that we knew would eventually lead to sales. Again, Natalie was brilliant in using other people's money to make these events talk worthy.
9. Be there. It's amazing how many times a title sponsor simply is invisible in all ways other than the named sponsorship and the media placement. Big time missed opportunity.
The real value at the event was for myself, for our great guy sales manager Dan Miller and for the world's best company President Rick Tinker to walk the shore line shaking hands and kissing babies. This was our party ... and we intended to be known as the very best of hosts.
10. Be thankful. It's so easy to become arrogant when you are spending the money to make the event happen. We tried to go the other way. We constantly thanked the competitors for their attendance. We thanked the event organizers for their effort. We thanked the judges for their efforts. We thanked the local media for their coverage. We thanked our aligned vendors for their financial contribution. We thanked our pro staff for being visibile in wearing our gear, interacting with the amatuer riders, and hanging out in our hospitality tent. When one of our pro riders got hurt, we found the best orthopod in OKC and we stayed with her until she had been fully cared for. Then we thanked the doctor.
There is truly so much more. We involved our dealers throughout the year in World's promotion. We encouraged them to show the World's edition at boat shows, and to activate the event at their stores by awarding fantasy trips to customers to the event. When the event was over, we sent letters to every competitor and provided them with a cash incentive for purchasing a new Supra through their local dealer.
I have no doubt that executing an event strategy effectively bought us credibility for our brand and as importantly good will within our industry. Our efforts at the event led to a partnership with the hottest brand in watersport equipment. They selected us specifically because they liked the way we executed our efforts at the World's. That was gratifying. So was the standing ovation from the competitors and their families at our Dinner of Champions event.
That was a touch point that really touched me. Appropriately.
Here's a great Skier's Choice story. We positioned our premium brand as the performance leader in the category. The market didn't want to 'give us' that position, but in comparison to the other critical consumer beliefs (quality/reliability), performance was our most winnable option.
We attacked performance attributes in multiple ways. I'm going to go into each of these in detail in different posts Tonight I just want to share with you how we executed an event strategy to make the performance claim ring true.
Bottom line, it was important to us to be visible as a tow boat that pulled professional wakeboarders and wakeskaters at the highest level of competition. Frankly we were shocked and delighted when one of our largest competitors gave up their rights to pull the WWA World Wakeboard and Wakeskate championships. The event was special on two levels. It marked the culmination of the year's professional competitions. And it brought the best amatuer riders together with the best pro riders in an event that was both family-friendly and pro-worthy.
Sponsorhship of the event was expensive ... roughly 5% of our annual budget. But we knew we could maximize its impact and use it to give credence to our performance claim. Here's how Rick Tinker, Natalie Carrera, Brian Raymond, Matt Brown, Rob Loucks and I made it work.
1. Establish an activation budget at least 50% of the event cost. We didn't want to be a passive sponsor. We wanted to embrace our prospects, our customers, the contestants, and our competitors at the event. To meet that goal, we needed to fund our efforts.
2. Use other people's money to offset costs. God how I loved Toni Gunter in our purchasing department. She gently laid the wood to our aligned vendors. She was able to help twist some arms ... allowing us to play large on the center stage, without laying waste to the bulk of my marketing budget.
3. Return true value to those vendors on their investment. Natalie did a phenomenal job giving our vendors appropriate visibility and credibility at the event. Yes, we used their money. But we returned their investment by being wholly transparent about their contributions.
4. Extend the value of the event throughout the year. Our advertising, our website, all of our press releases always displayed the WWA World Championship logo. We made a special commemorative badge and put it on the transom of each boat. We designed a premium package that was available on every model in our product line-up, and branded it a 'World's Boat' limited edition. And we then used that limited edition boat to pull the World Championships, so that television coverage of the event reinforced our messaging throughout the year. If you make the decision to build your marketing program around a special event, then commit yourself to making that event ubiquitous with your brand.
5. Be hospitable. We had a VIP tent ... but we held it open for everyone. Natalie disagreed with me, but my goal was to make Supra the friendly alternative to the corporate, purportedly arrogant category leader. I didn't just want to embrace our customers, I wanted to embrace our industry. So when our tent was filled with people wearing MasterCraft t-shirts, I gritted my teeth and smiled through the frustration. In this case it was tough love ... tough for me, love for them.
6. Be memorable. We were the first company to film video of every amatuer run, and with the help of our very good web partner DMGx, we literally shot, edited, and distributed the video to every rider before they went home from the competition. A first in the industry.
Of course, we cheated. Before the event we shot an open with our President Rick Tinker and with our pro riding staff. So that when the family put the video in the DVD player to show their friends, the first thing they saw was a gentle message from their friends at Supra. Sweet.
We found additional funds to enable our media partner Bonnier Corporaton to webcast every hour of the event. It was an industry first. A further surprise that the company that innovated was Supra.
7. Be inclusive. Pros become accustomed to award ceremonies. But amatuer riders were blown away that we held a sit-down banquet for them, complete with riding videos shot at the event for each of the amatuer division winners. Natalie came up with the big idea of allowing the amatuer riders to choose a pro that they could sit with during the banquet. The feedback from the families after the event was simply amazing.
8. Be inventive. The competition lasted from 8:00am - 6:00pm. We weren't satisfied with that. We wanted people to have as good of an experience away from the competition as they did during the competition. So we hosted nighttime events that complimented the day time schedule. It was fun, but more than that, it was another opportunity for us to connect with the families of the competitors and make friends that we knew would eventually lead to sales. Again, Natalie was brilliant in using other people's money to make these events talk worthy.
9. Be there. It's amazing how many times a title sponsor simply is invisible in all ways other than the named sponsorship and the media placement. Big time missed opportunity.
The real value at the event was for myself, for our great guy sales manager Dan Miller and for the world's best company President Rick Tinker to walk the shore line shaking hands and kissing babies. This was our party ... and we intended to be known as the very best of hosts.
10. Be thankful. It's so easy to become arrogant when you are spending the money to make the event happen. We tried to go the other way. We constantly thanked the competitors for their attendance. We thanked the event organizers for their effort. We thanked the judges for their efforts. We thanked the local media for their coverage. We thanked our aligned vendors for their financial contribution. We thanked our pro staff for being visibile in wearing our gear, interacting with the amatuer riders, and hanging out in our hospitality tent. When one of our pro riders got hurt, we found the best orthopod in OKC and we stayed with her until she had been fully cared for. Then we thanked the doctor.
There is truly so much more. We involved our dealers throughout the year in World's promotion. We encouraged them to show the World's edition at boat shows, and to activate the event at their stores by awarding fantasy trips to customers to the event. When the event was over, we sent letters to every competitor and provided them with a cash incentive for purchasing a new Supra through their local dealer.
I have no doubt that executing an event strategy effectively bought us credibility for our brand and as importantly good will within our industry. Our efforts at the event led to a partnership with the hottest brand in watersport equipment. They selected us specifically because they liked the way we executed our efforts at the World's. That was gratifying. So was the standing ovation from the competitors and their families at our Dinner of Champions event.
That was a touch point that really touched me. Appropriately.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Living the Brand right down to the architectural drawing
The mantra is ‘live the brand’. In many companies that simply says that the advertising is a direct result of a strong positioning statement. But in the best of companies, the brand is so fundamentally aligned with the corporate mission that every area of the company is a reinforcement of the brand strategy.
The new Dairy Queen ‘Grill and Chill’ store concept is a brilliant example of brand positioning driving the fundamental of product delivery right down to the architecture of the restaurant. This past weekend’s drive to Knoxville afforded me the opportunity to visit a new prototype store in Frankfort, KY.
Key elements of the brand heritage have been preserved in the updated logo treatment of the Dairy Queen name. Appended to the logo is the designator ‘Grill and Chill’. Once inside the restaurant, the food prep area is now arrayed in a classic L shape… with dessert items on the short side of the L, and grill items on the long side of the L. Instead of hiding the dessert prep in the backroom, DQ chose to bring the blenders out center stage. Consequently, DQ’s real competitive advantage, the Blizzard mix bar, highlights the food presentation experience. SMART.
The restaurant interior feels different than the traditional quick feeder. By creating more ‘intimate’ personal sitting areas, guests can find a little privacy when eating alone, or can gather more comfortably when sitting in larger groups. Floor, counter, and wall spaces have also been upgraded, not to the point of leaving the general quick service experience, but clearly defining the experience as a cut above the average Burger King/Taco Bell experience. New menu board graphics are much more appetizing, while the brand has intuitively included heritage statements throughout the point of sale materials establishing a heightened expectation for the dining experience.
It all comes together at the new DQ. Environment, marketing materials, food prep, and store signage left me with a lasting positive impression. Enthusions core tenet is that magic occurs at point of sale and point of use. DQ soared past my expectation level at every level of ‘Chill and Grill’. I left happy with the intent to return on my next trip through Frankfort. The visit was great. The French Silk blizzard hold the whip cream was even better.
The new Dairy Queen ‘Grill and Chill’ store concept is a brilliant example of brand positioning driving the fundamental of product delivery right down to the architecture of the restaurant. This past weekend’s drive to Knoxville afforded me the opportunity to visit a new prototype store in Frankfort, KY.
Key elements of the brand heritage have been preserved in the updated logo treatment of the Dairy Queen name. Appended to the logo is the designator ‘Grill and Chill’. Once inside the restaurant, the food prep area is now arrayed in a classic L shape… with dessert items on the short side of the L, and grill items on the long side of the L. Instead of hiding the dessert prep in the backroom, DQ chose to bring the blenders out center stage. Consequently, DQ’s real competitive advantage, the Blizzard mix bar, highlights the food presentation experience. SMART.
The restaurant interior feels different than the traditional quick feeder. By creating more ‘intimate’ personal sitting areas, guests can find a little privacy when eating alone, or can gather more comfortably when sitting in larger groups. Floor, counter, and wall spaces have also been upgraded, not to the point of leaving the general quick service experience, but clearly defining the experience as a cut above the average Burger King/Taco Bell experience. New menu board graphics are much more appetizing, while the brand has intuitively included heritage statements throughout the point of sale materials establishing a heightened expectation for the dining experience.
It all comes together at the new DQ. Environment, marketing materials, food prep, and store signage left me with a lasting positive impression. Enthusions core tenet is that magic occurs at point of sale and point of use. DQ soared past my expectation level at every level of ‘Chill and Grill’. I left happy with the intent to return on my next trip through Frankfort. The visit was great. The French Silk blizzard hold the whip cream was even better.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Little things at retail add up
I went to my local SuperCuts this morning. I bagged up to fight back the greying tide. This allowed me an hour or so of time to look/listen to the banter in the shop. Actually wandered the back rooms a bit reading sales goals on the walls. Clearly the push from management was 'cross-selling': a cut, a color, an upgraded shampoo, a wax, and at the end of the process purchase of 'products'.
There were three employees at the store. One of the three attempted to 'upsell' the purchase consistently. Neither of the other two did. They all were good at greeting customers as they walked through the door, but almost to the detriment of the customer in the chair. Meaning, 'who's next' was clearly more important than who is was already sitting in the chair. And when the phone rang, well, it was a mad dash of stylists to the phones. Again, current customers took second seat to 'who''s next'. In fact, as the waiting room filled, the speed of each hair cut seemingly increased to allow for 'who's next' to get into the chair that much faster.
Point of sale materials did nothing to improve the experience. They didn't cross-sell effectively. They didn't tell a story about the brand, about the people in the store, or set expectations for the experience. When the 'cross-selling' stylist attempted to sell product at the end of a purchase ... the discussion went "Would you like to purchase some products?" "No thank you."
"Well, ok, but we have this Biolage on sale this week." "Goodbye."
Let's relook at how management likely wishes that it had gone.
"Thanks for giving me the chance to work with you today." ... stylist
"I like what you did with my hair." ... customer
"You have such great hair. We have these Biolage products that are well formulated for your particular hair type. Should keep your hair looking like it does now for the next 6 weeks. "... stylist
"Really, never used them before." ... customer
"I think once you've tried them, you won't go back. Let me do something special for you on the price today. You'll love it, and I can save you a few dollars." ... stylist
In this scenario, the stylist shows interest in the customer and personalized the sale. She also presented the product at the proper time ... before the customer had completed the purchase.
Customer loyalty, repeat purchase, upselling ... each critical to the long term success of the salon, and in this case, each fumbled away ... not because of any major blunder ... but because of a lack of attention to detail by all parties involved.
There were three employees at the store. One of the three attempted to 'upsell' the purchase consistently. Neither of the other two did. They all were good at greeting customers as they walked through the door, but almost to the detriment of the customer in the chair. Meaning, 'who's next' was clearly more important than who is was already sitting in the chair. And when the phone rang, well, it was a mad dash of stylists to the phones. Again, current customers took second seat to 'who''s next'. In fact, as the waiting room filled, the speed of each hair cut seemingly increased to allow for 'who's next' to get into the chair that much faster.
Point of sale materials did nothing to improve the experience. They didn't cross-sell effectively. They didn't tell a story about the brand, about the people in the store, or set expectations for the experience. When the 'cross-selling' stylist attempted to sell product at the end of a purchase ... the discussion went "Would you like to purchase some products?" "No thank you."
"Well, ok, but we have this Biolage on sale this week." "Goodbye."
Let's relook at how management likely wishes that it had gone.
"Thanks for giving me the chance to work with you today." ... stylist
"I like what you did with my hair." ... customer
"You have such great hair. We have these Biolage products that are well formulated for your particular hair type. Should keep your hair looking like it does now for the next 6 weeks. "... stylist
"Really, never used them before." ... customer
"I think once you've tried them, you won't go back. Let me do something special for you on the price today. You'll love it, and I can save you a few dollars." ... stylist
In this scenario, the stylist shows interest in the customer and personalized the sale. She also presented the product at the proper time ... before the customer had completed the purchase.
Customer loyalty, repeat purchase, upselling ... each critical to the long term success of the salon, and in this case, each fumbled away ... not because of any major blunder ... but because of a lack of attention to detail by all parties involved.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Facts, Opinions, and Damnable Lies
When did our collective lose the ability to determine the distinctions between a fact,
an opinion, and an out and out lie?
Forcefulness and conviction are no substitute for knowledge and honor. Yet before the ink dries on a congressional bill, on a newspaper column, or on a print ad, we are bombarded with 'facts' about the value of the paper.
A few notes to myself. Self, when you don't know, don't state your support or disagreement as a fact. Self, facts are inalienable. The Holocaust happened. That's a fact. The North won the Civil war. That's a fact. The Canadian/Western European health care system is worse than the American system. That's an opinion. Obama wants to transform the United States economy into a socialist system. That's a lie.
My point is, a supposition, no matter how strongly stated or how convicted the speaker is in the belief does not make for factual evidence. Wanting something to be true doesn't make it true. I would like to be 35 years old, with a 32" waist, a square chin, with a small cleft in it. In my mind, that may well be a fact. Sadly, your eyes will bear witness to the falsehood.
It's incredibly important to have an opinion, a point of view, a perspective. It's even more important to base that perspective in facts. I don't know why I'm on this rant. Maybe its one too many Rush Limbaugh moments. Or too many postings about the lack of importance of keeping the best football player on the Titans on the team.
Call it a nagging observation. The truth will set you free. The opinion will set you free from friendships.
an opinion, and an out and out lie?
Forcefulness and conviction are no substitute for knowledge and honor. Yet before the ink dries on a congressional bill, on a newspaper column, or on a print ad, we are bombarded with 'facts' about the value of the paper.
A few notes to myself. Self, when you don't know, don't state your support or disagreement as a fact. Self, facts are inalienable. The Holocaust happened. That's a fact. The North won the Civil war. That's a fact. The Canadian/Western European health care system is worse than the American system. That's an opinion. Obama wants to transform the United States economy into a socialist system. That's a lie.
My point is, a supposition, no matter how strongly stated or how convicted the speaker is in the belief does not make for factual evidence. Wanting something to be true doesn't make it true. I would like to be 35 years old, with a 32" waist, a square chin, with a small cleft in it. In my mind, that may well be a fact. Sadly, your eyes will bear witness to the falsehood.
It's incredibly important to have an opinion, a point of view, a perspective. It's even more important to base that perspective in facts. I don't know why I'm on this rant. Maybe its one too many Rush Limbaugh moments. Or too many postings about the lack of importance of keeping the best football player on the Titans on the team.
Call it a nagging observation. The truth will set you free. The opinion will set you free from friendships.
Don't fear transparency
One of the stronger marketing tools that we built at Skier's Choice was an active message board community for both of our brands. The ability for fellow owners to share their praise and frustration about their experience with our product proved invaluable to our efforts.
1. Instantaneous product feedback: we were able to gather product use data first hand, not screened by our dealer network. Issues that recurred became brush fires at the factory. Every complaint gave us the gift of 'stop and fix it'. Product quality improved because of the feedback provided by our owners.
2. Customer satisfaction increased: our owners appreciated the sounding board. They appreciated the opportunity to get direct feedback from the factory when issues arose. They liked being able to provide insight into how we could build them a better boat. In turn, they supported us when NMMA surveys reached them inquiring as to their satisfaction levels.
For three consecutive years both of our brands won the CSI award indicating 90%+ approval rating from our customers.
Not particularly surprising when you consider that our customer's helped us design our product through their comments; helped us identify issues for our quality team to correct; and carried on an on-going conversation with people who they came to know at the factory through the boards.
3. Our owners became our best salespeople: often times prospective customers would visit our board to ask questions of our current owners. Invariably our owners would speak to both their satisfaction with our product and more importantly their connection to our company.
4. Events bubbled-up: our owners would organize local events where they could get together with other owners to enjoy their boats together. This sense of community became a bond that not only made their boating experience better, but also increased their loyalty to our brands leading to stronger repeat purchase patterns.
5. Marketing efforts became more focused: the feedback received not only changed our product and our customer service department, it also changed our marketing focus. We chose to nurture the growth of these branded communities. We built programs that furthered the connections. We partnered with brands that supported our owners and that our owners told us that they believed in. We were able to reduce our direct mail costs because we grew our message board communities to the point that when we wanted to speak with our customer base, we did so primarily through our message boards.
The one fly in the ointment was that we simply had to accept that our mistakes would be publicly discussed. When product issues arose, rather then trying to secretly quiet the quell, we lived with the transparency of failure.
Transparency appropriately managed and responded to built the bridge of TRUST. Our customers didn't demand perfection from our product. Rather, they demanded that we be honest, attentive, and responsive to their needs.
We were, and because of that, our brands were rewarded with market share gains. Transparency works.
1. Instantaneous product feedback: we were able to gather product use data first hand, not screened by our dealer network. Issues that recurred became brush fires at the factory. Every complaint gave us the gift of 'stop and fix it'. Product quality improved because of the feedback provided by our owners.
2. Customer satisfaction increased: our owners appreciated the sounding board. They appreciated the opportunity to get direct feedback from the factory when issues arose. They liked being able to provide insight into how we could build them a better boat. In turn, they supported us when NMMA surveys reached them inquiring as to their satisfaction levels.
For three consecutive years both of our brands won the CSI award indicating 90%+ approval rating from our customers.
Not particularly surprising when you consider that our customer's helped us design our product through their comments; helped us identify issues for our quality team to correct; and carried on an on-going conversation with people who they came to know at the factory through the boards.
3. Our owners became our best salespeople: often times prospective customers would visit our board to ask questions of our current owners. Invariably our owners would speak to both their satisfaction with our product and more importantly their connection to our company.
4. Events bubbled-up: our owners would organize local events where they could get together with other owners to enjoy their boats together. This sense of community became a bond that not only made their boating experience better, but also increased their loyalty to our brands leading to stronger repeat purchase patterns.
5. Marketing efforts became more focused: the feedback received not only changed our product and our customer service department, it also changed our marketing focus. We chose to nurture the growth of these branded communities. We built programs that furthered the connections. We partnered with brands that supported our owners and that our owners told us that they believed in. We were able to reduce our direct mail costs because we grew our message board communities to the point that when we wanted to speak with our customer base, we did so primarily through our message boards.
The one fly in the ointment was that we simply had to accept that our mistakes would be publicly discussed. When product issues arose, rather then trying to secretly quiet the quell, we lived with the transparency of failure.
Transparency appropriately managed and responded to built the bridge of TRUST. Our customers didn't demand perfection from our product. Rather, they demanded that we be honest, attentive, and responsive to their needs.
We were, and because of that, our brands were rewarded with market share gains. Transparency works.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
The proverbial song book
For better or for worse, the fad of Mission Statement reengineering appears to have subsided. I've observed that fewer CEO's are handing out translucent bricks engraved with the company creed today than they did in the 1990's.
Which may indeed be a good thing. It was my experience that Mission Statements and Brand Positioning Statements were rarely in alignment. As any mom will tell you, 'there are consequences for your choices', and when those choices lead to misalignment, business results decline.
Why?
A good mission statement rallies the stakeholders to a common cause. Most frequently, that cause is centered on 'providing exceptional value for our customers' or 'meeting customer needs'. Mission Statements often are a strong reminder that business success is largely determined by the will of its customers.
Most brand positioning statements acknowledge a similar fact. As industry leader Microsoft says in their current ad campaign, 'our customers own our brand'. I might quibble with the semantics,
but for the sake of this discussion, the ownership ideal provides for perfect alignment between the Mission statement and the Positioning statement.
In truth, the brand positioning statement is a very different thing than a simple recognition of brand ownership. When we position, we choose a side. We are no longer ubiquitous in expressing customer satisfaction. Rather, we are deductive.
"For (x) group of people, (y) represents the best product/service value, because of (z)."
So Myrtle Beach's Mission Statement for the Visitor's bureau might read 'providing exceptional customer value for beach vacationers', while the brand positioning statement characterizes the destination as 'affordable fun in the sand for people living on a budget'. Again, alignment.
The challenge of course is that in declaring a side, the Marketing Director risks offending a constituency. For instance, what about the golf course managers, or the amusement ride operators, or the restaurant and retail establishments? Where is their skin in the game? So in an effort to be true to all of Myrtle Beach various stakeholders, the Marketing Director opens the door to a broader vacation platform through a new extended position: "An affordable family vacation that provides fun for everyone, even when the beach is only one part of your travel plans."
In turn, the Executive Director of MBVCB might alter the Mission Statement: "Providing exceptional vacation value for our visitors -- on the sand, or on the land."
This then suggests to the Marketing Director that a further refinement need be made to the brand positioning: "Myrtle Beach is an affordable family vacation destination that provides fun for every member in the family: from beach balls, to golf balls, to high balls."
Which may indeed be a good thing. It was my experience that Mission Statements and Brand Positioning Statements were rarely in alignment. As any mom will tell you, 'there are consequences for your choices', and when those choices lead to misalignment, business results decline.
Why?
A good mission statement rallies the stakeholders to a common cause. Most frequently, that cause is centered on 'providing exceptional value for our customers' or 'meeting customer needs'. Mission Statements often are a strong reminder that business success is largely determined by the will of its customers.
Most brand positioning statements acknowledge a similar fact. As industry leader Microsoft says in their current ad campaign, 'our customers own our brand'. I might quibble with the semantics,
but for the sake of this discussion, the ownership ideal provides for perfect alignment between the Mission statement and the Positioning statement.
In truth, the brand positioning statement is a very different thing than a simple recognition of brand ownership. When we position, we choose a side. We are no longer ubiquitous in expressing customer satisfaction. Rather, we are deductive.
"For (x) group of people, (y) represents the best product/service value, because of (z)."
So Myrtle Beach's Mission Statement for the Visitor's bureau might read 'providing exceptional customer value for beach vacationers', while the brand positioning statement characterizes the destination as 'affordable fun in the sand for people living on a budget'. Again, alignment.
The challenge of course is that in declaring a side, the Marketing Director risks offending a constituency. For instance, what about the golf course managers, or the amusement ride operators, or the restaurant and retail establishments? Where is their skin in the game? So in an effort to be true to all of Myrtle Beach various stakeholders, the Marketing Director opens the door to a broader vacation platform through a new extended position: "An affordable family vacation that provides fun for everyone, even when the beach is only one part of your travel plans."
In turn, the Executive Director of MBVCB might alter the Mission Statement: "Providing exceptional vacation value for our visitors -- on the sand, or on the land."
This then suggests to the Marketing Director that a further refinement need be made to the brand positioning: "Myrtle Beach is an affordable family vacation destination that provides fun for every member in the family: from beach balls, to golf balls, to high balls."
Bottom line, your Mission Statement and your Positioning Statement should always remain in alignment. When they aren't, your internal actions are at risk of being out of step with your customers expectations.
If this misalignment occurred at Myrtle Beach, the result would be a very happy group of hotel owners ... in Daytona Beach.
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