What's New in Marketing - Issue 55, March 2007
Corporate Branding in Waiting
Corporate branding has gained a bit of a chequered reputation over the past decade or so. Indeed, a few years ago, post the controversial Consignia and Monday rebrands, there was even talk of branding needing to rebrand itself. The situation was compounded by the high-profile failure of many dot.com start-ups which had spent heavily trying to create strong corporate brands overnight (and not helped by brand consultancies and advisers over-complicating the brand development process).
Yet today the concept of corporate branding, and its pivotal role as a business concept, is stronger than ever. Of course, many large businesses have taken branding seriously for sometime but recently professional services firms, government bodies, the not-for-profit sector and NGOs have also actively and enthusiastically embraced the concept. Even the Royal Navy has been through a branding exercise.
So, why is corporate branding enjoying a renaissance? At its best, corporate branding is a strategic organising framework for positioning and driving the business. Indeed the best marketing companies, such as Apple, BP, John Lewis, Nike, Tesco and Virgin, place their corporate brand at the very centre of their business and use it as a platform for all their marketing activities.
The corporate branding process is a particularly effective way of understanding and articulating the key attributes of an organisation such as personality, values and positioning. And this is at a time when the softer, intangible elements of a business's offer, such as quality of customer service, corporate and social responsibility issues and customisation are increasingly important.
Over the past few years most organisations have invested time in defining their brand, with differing levels of success. Many have also reviewed their brand identity (increasingly referred to as the brand expression) to ensure that it represents and supports the brand personality and positioning. This has led to some interesting recent trends in naming and the visual presentation of corporate brands.
First, we are seeing a blurring of the boundaries between advertising and the brand identity (the logo, colours, typefaces and ‘look and feel'). In the past these elements have been developed separately, with little integration between the two. But that's changing. The new award-winning MacMillan identity is as much a campaign line as a single corporate mark, ensuring that high impact messaging is on every MacMillan communication. Also in the charity sector, the NSPCC has taken the green dot from its memorable ‘Full Stop' campaign and ‘reversed it' into the NSPCC identity. The green dot is now the charity's corporate mark. And for many companies their imagery is becoming as much a visual asset as the corporate mark – think the 02 bubbles, Orange's colour and easyJet's phone number.
Internet-based brands in particular are breaking the traditional rules of brand identity. The golden rule that you don't ‘mess with the logo' has been challenged by Google and others. Google's design team regularly enhance the logotype with imagery. They particularly focus on bank holidays, festivals and other special days – snow on the logo at Christmas, hearts on Valentine's Day and so on. The BBC has also been progressive and experimental with its channel identities in recent years, regularly refreshing the visual expression.
These organisations are being more creative partly because they can - it's much easier to change a logo on a screen than it is on traditional identity applications, such as signs, letterheads and vehicles. But they're also doing it because they can control the change. By far the most visible face of Google is the search engine website – and changes can be made in line with the brand personality and implemented by a single person. If Ford, BT or Microsoft wanted to change their logotype regularly they would open the floodgates to visual anarchy as brochures, posters and advertisements around the world changed in an ad-hoc and chaotic manner.
Corporate naming hasn't stood still either. In line with the increasing need to put the customer or consumer at the centre of the business, there has been a strong attempt to personalise corporate names – so names such as mytravel, myhotel – and now youtube and myspace have gained currency.
So where are companies still falling down? Well it's not in the definition, or even in the expression of the corporate brand – but in how employees live and deliver the brand. Many companies now have a clear idea of their values and personality and have even worked with their people to define the norms and behaviours against those values. But translating this understanding into actual behaviours, both internally and with customers, is the real challenge. As we all know, when visiting a shop, flying an airline or entering a bank the way you're treated rarely matches the expectation set by brand communications. Some companies have managed to translate their brand into real employee behaviours – Disney, John Lewis, and Pret a Manger are examples - but they are the exception rather than the rule.
So branding is back and being embraced by more organisations than ever. It's more grounded than before and the mistakes of the early years of this decade are being avoided. But whilst companies have made progress with defining their brands – and some exciting developments are happening in the way that brands are being expressed through names and images, the real challenge is still to help employees deliver the brand promise to the market.
About the author
Adrian Day is managing director of FHD, a UK design consultancy which was established as Fishburn Hedges Design in 1991.
A Big Mac by appointment to the Burger King in waiting
At the end of last month in the UAE HRH Prince Charles may have bitten off more than he could chew when making off-cuff remarks about McDonalds and its effects on diabetes. Some cynics have wondered if there was some kind of subtle ulterior motive behind his outburst - perhaps to do with pushing the organic produce from the farm on his own Highgrove Estate, that doesn't use artificial pesticides or fertilizers.
From a Brand Forensics point of view, such a comment seems to have backfired. There has been much debate recently surrounding advertising fast food to children, so it is little wonder that the Press seized on the statement, pointing out that a McDonald's ‘Big Mac' contains fewer calories, fats and salt than some products from the Prince's own organic Duchy Originals food range.
HRH's Cornish pasty - a dish with a heritage that probably can be considered as the original British fast -food, contains 264 calories per 100g compared to the burger's 229 calories, and 5.5g of saturated fat as opposed to the Big Mac's 4.14g. By being loose-lipped, rather than promoting his brand as being nutritionally responsible, he may have uncovered more gristle than meets the eye. A Clarence House spokesman declined to be drawn into the heavyweight bout between the Big Mac versus the Duchy Originals Cornish pasties brand saying. " It is up to consumers to decide whether to buy them.”
In a classic case of brand one-upmanship, McDonalds retaliated explaining that the company was " disappointed" at the Prince's remarks, pointing out that several members of his family have been regular customers over the years. (Prince Harry was recently caught by the paparazzi tucking into a burger and some chicken nuggets after a polo match).
McDonalds is currently bending over backwards to change brand perceptions from being a fast food joint, to being regarding a nutritional food convenience outlet, promoting active lifestyles, with foods to match every need (including offering deli-style sandwiches and salads as well as offering Mac Cafes within key outlets).
The Prince's comments come in the same week that the country which gave the world the Oscars, boosting ‘brand Britain' to new heights, are indirectly also the people being scorned for their beef. (Imagine if he would have made a similar comment about British poultry).
The UAE has the second highest prevalence of diabetes in the world. Any promotion of healthy eating and well being, including tackling the scourge of diabetes is well within the remit of a Royal. However, when a Royal targets a particular commercial brand, things can get as messy as runny ketchup. One thing for sure - as far as Charles and fast food is concerned, he is no Burger King.
What is marketing and why should we use it?
Peter Drucker famously described marketing in the context of the firm with:
" Marketing and innovation are the two chief functions of business. You get paid for creating a customer, which is marketing. And you get paid for creating a new dimension of performance, which is innovation. Everything else is a cost centre."
He further defined marketing by saying:
“The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits him and sells itself.”
Many SME firms approach to marketing is often one of “we can't afford to spend money on marketing we need sales!” And of course they're right. And they're also wrong. They're right because without the lifeblood of sales a company drops dead.
And they're wrong because without the ability to get to the right customers that marketing can provide there is a lot of wasted effort in all areas of the business, not just sales.
Wasted Effort Without Marketing
These are examples of the many areas of a firm at risk or fail through the lack of a suitable marketing strategy:
- Customer prospecting
- Product or service development
- Sales
- Accounting
- Advertising
- After sales service
- Ad hoc marketing
Customer Prospecting
Many firms begin with a big idea they believe people will buy. Research into whether people want the product or service the company intends offering may be minimal or even non-existent.
Without a properly defined market to aim at, the business is tempted to go after all prospects they can think of. This leads to sales staff wasting their time following up with leads that either never convert or are wrong for the product they offer.
Product or Service Development
Often in the course of business customers inform companies of features or benefits of their product, or their competitor's products, that they like or dislike.
If the company simply includes every good idea into their service or product they may be creating a product that 1% of their customers finds “exactly” what they want but makes the other 99% of customers switch to another company because of the increased price to cover the development costs.
A company without a strategy for their product means all ideas are equal and there is no way to categorise them as helpful to their customer and prospect base.
Equally companies can innovate based on what they believe is the next product their market wants. Without some market research and test marketing they could end up spending money on wild goose chases that cost money rather than make money.
Sales
Without marketing, the sales team produce their own disparate letters, proposals and sales direction.
This is an ineffective use of time. Sales people should be out meeting prospects and customers as often as possible. They should be winning the sales with prospects they know are right for the business.
As sales staff come into the company they need training to understand the market they're selling to and proven ways they can meet and sell to prospects in that market.
Without this sales staff are doomed to re-invent the wheel and create sub-optimal sales tools.
And of course without a marketing strategy and the tactics that follow the sales staff don't know the best prospects to go for or the best ways to approach them to win the business.
Accounting
It may seem surprising that a lack of marketing affects the accounts function. But accounts hold the key company data about which marketing campaigns, which sales tools, even which sales people have been most effective.
If there is no strategy in place before sales begin, how do you know what data you need to keep analysing your sales effectiveness?
All the data may be held in the accounting system but there may be no way to retrieve it in a useful form to allow the company to analyse the best performing campaigns, tools and sales people.
Identifying great campaigns means you can repeat them, or modify them for a slightly different set of prospects. Identifying great sales tools mean you can concentrate on using and polishing those. Identifying great sales people allows you to analyse what they do so that other sales people can follow their methods.
Advertising
Companies without a marketing strategy are in danger of giving the wrong message, using the wrong media for their market, using a blanket approach to cover all bases, and not tracking lead performance against advertising
The result? Advertising is wasted on markets that have no interest in the company's product or even that the right market doesn't get the full message and consequently ignores the product.
After sales service
Companies which haven't defined how they tackle customer service could lose out on their ability to make more sales through their after sales service.
A customer may ring up to check where they can buy spare parts, or because they misunderstood the manual. In the first example a marketing strategy guides whether the company offers spares. If not, what should they tell their customers to leave them with a positive view of the company?
If the manual is misunderstood is it possible that other customers may face the same misunderstanding? Is it worth editing the manual immediately, or is there another way the company can provide the information to the customer until the manual is edited and re-produced?
These decisions need to be made with regard to the strategic marketing direction of the company. Otherwise staff make their own decisions based on what they believe is right and which may cost the company money without benefit to the company, the customer or the future customers.
Ad-hoc Marketing
There are so many forms of marketing that SME companies use on an ad-hoc basis:
- Yellow pages
- Web sites
- PR
- Telesales
- Advertising
- Direct mail
- Referrals
Yet without a marketing strategy every one of these tactics could be:
· hitting the wrong target completely
· sending an inconsistent message
· not telling the whole story
At the end the company says, “that was a waste of time, we won't do that again.”
Is Just More Marketing The Solution?
The short answer to that question is – No! Because using marketing tactics in isolation, as we've just noted, brings the risk that they're completely ineffective.
About the author
Jim Symcox runs marketing consultancy Acorn Service.
What is marketing?
Who would dare to tell marketers that they do not know what marketing is? Not me, for sure. I am convinced, though, that too many marketers have an incomplete understanding of it. Before laying out some facts in support of that outrageous assertion, consider the original question: what is marketing?
Self-taught or classically trained, we all have a very good idea of what marketing is and most of us could recite the ‘P' mantra. The trouble with ‘Product, Price ... etc.” is that it does not go far enough. Definitions abound, but I shall say that marketing is actually the bringing together of everything necessary to get a product — or a service, a concept etc. — into the continuing ownership of the intended consumer.
First point: ‘bringing together' is fundamental. You can do your research and establish pricing perfectly; you may devise a promotion that sets the world on fire; your product might be the answer to the market's prayers. Even so, if any of the marketing activities stands alone, unconnected to the others, it will under-perform. Second point: ‘everything' is the key word. If advertising, direct mail and sampling all go their own individual ways, none will deliver as they could and should.
So far, so good. We all understand how every action should both draw from and support all the other elements in a programme. Most marketers at least try to do this, although the ever-present budgetary or operational constraints never allow us to operate in an ideal world.
In that marketing Utopia, our consumer would hear a Superproduct radio advertisement while driving past Superproduct posters. Arriving home, they turn on the television and open a magazine. As they finish reading a Superproduct product review, they hear the post arriving. They return with it just in time to catch Superproduct on television. The post includes a Superproduct sample, which they try immediately and like. They then pop to the shop for milk and, seeing the Superproduct point-of-sale display, buy Superproduct on impulse. When their Superproduct is finished, they replace it with another. Oh, if only...
We all have the potential to improve our marketing, but without needing the unlimited budgets necessary for marketing Utopia. The way forward lies in realising the potential of a factor that few marketers exploit to full advantage: timing. Timing is the missing link, without which anything called ‘marketing' is not marketing. Of course, we all try to use timing to deliver joined-up marketing. This, though, is not about ‘integration' — we all know about that already. This is about mindsets.
Integrated marketing means timing campaign elements to feed and support each other in targeting a specific audience. Mindset marketing means timing delivery of elements to individual consumers according to when they will be most receptive to the message. In mindset marketing, a mailing is not sent to the target database on Tuesday; it goes to Pat Brown on Tuesday, to Les Smith on Friday... Why? How?
Mindset marketing exploits the importance of individual moments in people's lives. It delivers a targeted series of communications perfectly attuned to a consumer's emotional and functional needs at particular points. For example, a woman books a holiday online, ticking to receive relevant information. Within an hour, she receives emailed vouchers for relevant products from a particular retailer. Two weeks before the holiday, as she thinks of little else but looking and feeling great for that first bikini moment, the retailer sends samples. Four days later, a “Don't forget to take...” checklist arrives. The day before her flight, a text informs her of the resort's weather — and reminds her where to buy last-minute essentials. All communications, using three different media, are personalised and timed to match her mindset. Importantly, a relationship begins which can continue long after the holiday.
The retailer, in partnership with the tour operator, knew about this consumer as soon as her booking was confirmed. Having researched key mindset points between booking and departure, it knows how and when to contact her. Such an individually-targeted programme will out-perform any amount of mass mailings to a qualified, but broad, target group.
Mindset marketing suits all manner of products, but full exploitation requires certain conditions and it all starts with the consumer. Their functional and emotional needs must be researched and understood before a genuinely consumer-centric, rather than channel-centric, approach can be developed. Partnerships can be important, helping brands to extend their reach deep into the heart of the moment, enhancing credibility and opening new customer contacts. Unusually, the means of communication can be just as important as the content: the consumer must be in the right mindset for a particular type of communication for the message even to be effective.
Perhaps if mindset marketing began with a ‘p' it could become an official element of the marketing mix. Until then, if something does not include consideration for consumer mindsets, it is not marketing.
A new dawn for old school marketing?
Old school marketing (what a phrase!) used to be a case of placing adverts in strategically selected publications and locations, drafting case studies and directing and organising communications such as direct mail. With the introduction of the internet and the continuing immunity of audiences to marketing techniques, the marketers' job has certainly become more complicated. But this is not to suggest that these ‘old school' techniques no longer have a place in marketing strategy.
Everyone enjoys a good story and there is nothing more reassuring to a potential client than to read stories about your previous successes in the form of case studies. These can be long winded and stray from what potential clients will find interesting, but they are still essential. Technology has helped to make case studies a lot more exciting and accessible; video or audio clips can now be used to accompany or replace written stories. These videos or sound bites can include real feedback from current or previous clients, thus aligning them with your brand and vice versa. The ability to view video and audio on the move via MP3, MP4 players and laptops also makes the added functionality of video and audio to sell your business an increasingly attractive option.
With the advent of new media, many printed publications gasped in horror as marketers proceeded to plough vast majorities of the marketing budget into online advertising, search engine optimisation and pay per click promotion. Time has proved that there is still room for printed media in our increasingly digital world but it is now more important than ever for marketers and advertisers to make the most of every column inch. With up to 3,500 brand messages inflicted upon the average consumer daily it really takes something special to grab reader's attention. The price of advertising is often the reason why marketers feel they should squeeze as many messages into each advert as possible but often can be more effective to have something really eye catching with a call to action to drive traffic to a website or pick up the phone and find out more.
The rise of new media has not signalled the demise of outdoor advertising, after all we don't sit at home glued to the internet 24x7 and as a sign of the medium's effectiveness it has also been revamped though the introduction of new technology. For instance interactive posters are becoming increasingly popular at bus shelters and other similar venues where consumers can view, listen or even download by Bluetooth content on the feature.
Direct mail (DM) is perhaps considered the most ‘old school' marketing technique and many companies are reluctant to have anything to do with it as they consider it a highly effective way to throw money away. To a degree I agree that if done without enough research and if not targeted enough then it can be a waste. However by really doing your homework and sending something a bit more exciting then just a leaflet or letter you can achieve a greater level of success. For instance if you want to reach senior staff within an organisation you've really got to offer then something that will stick in their mind, not just a cheap plastic pen but something usable like a flash drive preloaded (and protectively saved) with a classy presentation of your company, its services and products.
Overall I think there will always be a place for what on the outset seem to be old fashioned marketing techniques but with the marketing savvy publics of today it is more important than ever to research, target and tailor your marketing activity.
Generating big ideas in a fragmented media landscape
The meteoric rise of new channels such as digital over the past decade, and the corresponding fragmentation of traditional media have forever changed the landscape in which brands operate. Integration is the buzz word on everybody's lips as we seek to find new ways of engaging with customers through the best mix of channels. But it's not just about presenting a consistent ‘face' across different media – simply bolting an email campaign onto an existing schedule or including a URL on press ads isn't enough. To succeed in the new world, brands need to reconsider the whole strategic process behind their marketing activity – the way ideas are formulated and executed – if they want to achieve lasting growth and customer loyalty.
Big ideas have always been the lynchpin of successful marketing – think about Oxo's ‘family meal' which has been around since the 1960s and innocent's more recent ‘nothing but nothing but fruit'. Traditionally, these ideas have been built ‘top down', developed at a macro level with broad appeal and subsequently imposed on customer segments at a micro level. For brands with mass appeal, this traditional ‘top down' approach has worked well. Big ideas have been created and developed based on a broad commonality of need across segments to give an umbrella that works at a macro level. Typically execution has been heavily supported by above the line media for customer recruitment.
The new world however demands a greater focus on the micro level to address discrete groups of more discerning customers. When you use the traditional ‘top down' approach in this environment, it's all too easy for things to start to go awry – the idea has to be adjusted and force fitted to the segments. It may even become irrelevant or get abandoned. HSBC's TV advertising depicting ‘the world's local bank' is both engaging and has stand out. However, I wonder how relevant this is for communications to existing customers regarding current account offers, for example. In such circumstances, the big idea – ‘the world's local bank' – becomes little more than a strap-line.
So how do you hit upon a big idea that will work in the new world? Paradoxically, the answer is often to think small and identify something that is simple and pure enough to work in lots of different ways. If you look at specific groups of your customers and find out what motivates and inspires different types of people, more often than not a pattern will begin to emerge. By piecing this together, and linking it with an underlying ‘truth' about your organisation, you can pick up a common thread that unites the different groups. Find a way to use this throughout all marketing activity and you have the seeds of your big idea. What's more, it will be an idea that is rooted firmly in what your customers really want rather than a board room decision about what you think they want to hear.
The Tesco model has been well documented over recent years, but it provides a great template for the contemporary development of a big idea from the simplest of little ideas. Lying at the heart of all Tesco's marketing activity is the single minded proposition ‘Every little helps'. This perfectly captures what customers want from their supermarket. It says to customers that while their lives will not be changed by buying meat or carrots, lots of little things can add up to something bigger.
The opportunities for Tesco to use this proposition are almost endless - from Clubcard points to price reductions, baby changing facilities to longer opening times. But what Tesco has done particularly well is stake a territory that it knows will mean something to its customers. By making the whole brand experience true to the big idea and reinforcing it at every opportunity, ‘Every little helps' becomes a memorable and compelling proposition. Each time a helpful new little something is introduced, the brand fulfils its promise and adds to the overall big idea.
It sounds easy, doesn't it? So what's stopping more brands finding their own big idea and using it to grow the business?
Much of the time there are internal barriers such as organisations' silo mentality that prevent the big idea from blossoming, so it is just left as a one-off campaign or strap-line. But there are ways to introduce a big idea and change the shape of the brand without taking a sledgehammer to it. Think about what your business does, why it's different, and crystallise it so it will mean something to your customers – not marketing speak, but their real everyday language. Use this as a starting point, stay true to your convictions, and you can begin a journey towards an overarching big idea that can integrate effectively and work at multiple levels. So give it a go, you might be pleasantly surprised by the results.
Virtual communities bounce out the social networking phenomena
Social networking is producing a huge shift in the digital marketing landscape. Youtube and MySpace have emerged from nowhere to become two of the world's most visited websites whilst brands such as Flickr.com (photo-sharing), Blogger.com, Piczo, Wikipedia etc are also seeing phenomenal growth. However, in the same way that punk rock broadened freedom of expression in the 70's, social networking is under threat from a new phenomenon - virtual communities.
This threat remains largely unseen simply because of social networking's continued growth rate. Founded in 2003, MySpace has 105 million global users and is growing by a quarter of a million a day. YouTube sees 100 million clips watched daily with 65,000 new uploaded videos every 24 hours. Thousands of other user-generated sites also witness millions of visitors – Nielsen Buzz Metrics monitors more than 30 million blogs and even owns blogpulse to discuss them.
Social networking sites rely on user-generated content where users are contributors, participation is emotionally involving and word of mouth recommendation is the most powerful marketing tool. It's dramatically altering the digital landscape with previously untouchable mainstream publishing brands slogging it out with hundreds of user-generated sites for readers.
Traditional publishers are taking a two-pronged assault in response to the threat. Some, like Newscorp and Associated Newspapers are busy purchasing sites (Newscorp owns MySpace whilst Associated now owns 85 sites and counting), whereas others are looking at how to transform themselves into content aggregators that sift through content online and provide the most relevant and useful material. Wikipedia and Yahoo Answers are partly a response to this.
However, creeping up almost unnoticed is the new trend that threatens to further transform the landscape in the way that MySpace and YouTube have done over the past 24 months. I'm talking about the rise in virtual communities.
Virtual communities exist in virtual worlds where people in the form of avatars live much like they do in the real world. They socialise, build homes and hang out in self created leisure environments created out of their own imagination. An example of a leading virtual world is Second Life ( http://www.secondlife.com/ ) which has over one million members, up from 350,000 in July.
Virtual communities offer the next step in the evolution of social networking. Participants are no longer shackled by their own real life persona and instead can create a three dimensional online character that reflects their personalised ideal. Emboldened by their idealised persona, members of virtual communities enjoy the freedom of being able to act, look and behave in ways that enliven their lives. Virtual communities therefore provide a heightened motivation to log on and participate.
Habbo Hotel (habbohotel.com), for example, is a virtual world in which teenagers can chat and express themselves safely and hang out in self-created virtual hotel environments. The concept's taken off with Habbo Hotel boasting 41 million users in 19 countries.
Virtual communities' increasingly popularity is, however, not limited to teenagers. Websites such as Second Life, for example, attract a sophisticated and web savvy audience from a broad range of age groups. With social networking sites such as MySpace seeing half their users aged 35 plus, it is projected that virtual communities will see a broadly similar demographic in time.
For brands, the major attraction of virtual communities is that unlike websites such as MySpace or YouTube, virtual worlds have a commercial basis . $300 million dollars a month in the US is now spent on virtual worlds as community members spend money on virtual houses, virtual leisure, virtual clothes and a host of other virtual products. Second Life itself has over 7,000 in-world businesses.
In ring fenced virtual communities such as these, word of mouth marketing takes extra prominence. For brands that are willing to really engage and offer distinct benefits to community members, the benefits are rapid ‘message spread' and super cool credibility. The downside is that negative or mercenary brand activity will be spotted, named and shamed before a brand has time to realise.
Virtual communities are going to demand that brands recognise the need to understand their customer closer than ever before. Adidas recently bought space on Second Life to support the launch of its new A3 Microride sports shoe and gave consumers who bought the virtual trainers extra bounce throughout the virtual world. The company even created a virtual bouncy floor where consumers could try out the extra bounce before purchase.
This is clever, clever marketing, combining the marriage of Adidas' brand values with the brand values and aspirations of the virtual world it inhabits. Perhaps the key word is ‘aspiration' because virtual communities are aspirational and in such an environment, brands must understand what their customers aspire to. Get that right and with some sensitive, refined and insightful marketing, brands can make both huge inroads into the digital space and also substantial profits. After all, Adidas charged £50 for their virtual microrides and sold a hat full.
What is marketing?
Ask any gathering of marketers to define what marketing is and a lengthy debate could ensue, as no two answers will be the same. There will be large areas of overlap, certainly, but there will be differences of emphasis and even of content. Just one example: there are marketers who believe passionately that all new product development should be within the remit of the marketing function, while others are equally vehement that marketing is what happens after a product has been invented. Marketers will argue forcefully over this, a herring of the deepest red. It does not matter who controls NPD, as long as somebody is doing it.
So, what is marketing? Marketing, in a nutshell is all about creating demand; marketing means making people want whatever is you are offering them. Think of it as answering three questions: What have we got? What do we want to do with it? How are we going to do it? The answers could be: a fizzy drink; persuade parents to buy it for children; sampling and advertising. They could equally be: a political vacuum; fill it with our chosen candidate; make the candidate look more voter-friendly.
In any case, marketing is identifying a situation (‘we have a new product'), a need (‘we have to sell this product') and a solution (‘we will talk about the product in the following ways'). The first two being relatively straightforward, the challenging part of marketing arises with the last question. How are we going to do it? This is where marketing becomes interesting, as we increasingly discover that the world is not organised in quite the way we thought it was.
‘Thought' is a good place to start. The latest advances in neuroscience tell us what some of us already know or feel, to a greater or lesser degree, about how we perceive the world: we may exist in a world of forces, atoms and molecules, but where we really live is in a world of stories.
There is no experience, but that it passes through the seat of the emotions and then onto the ‘higher' brain to be assigned a meaning and a value and a place in the internal narratives we create to understand the world around us. In other words, we feel something emotionally before we rationalise it with thought.
This is something which successful people, and successful ideas and brands, have long grasped. To be successful — meaning, to find a lasting home in people's hearts and minds — you need to tell a good, clear, simple story. What makes a story good, besides clarity and simplicity, is the degree to which it chimes with the stories the public themselves are living and imagining.
When Marilyn Monroe hit the big-time, she was not any prettier, any cleverer or any better at acting and singing than any one of a thousand other Hollywood starlets of her day. What she did have was a compelling story. She was the small-town girl from the middle of nowhere, living out the American Dream and ending up marrying a baseball hero. This struck a chord with similar stories in the hearts and minds of tens of millions of other small-town Americans. Importantly, she had a studio boss smart enough to recognise what she had, smart enough to push her into the right roles and powerful enough to suppress public knowledge of anything that might contradict the story.
Star story and public story. Or, to put it another way, brand story and consumer story. Both things matter, and each requires the other in order to succeed.
Another example: for decades, a small obscure stationery product called the ‘Filofax' sold in small numbers in small, obscure stationery shops. Then, one day during the early 1980s, it found itself a story. The Filofax became known as the thing that the new, glamorous, upwardly-mobile ‘yuppies' of the Thatcher years used to organise their busy lives. Lots of people wanted to be yuppies then, millions upon millions of them went out and bought Filofaxes, and profits went through the roof.
Over time, though, the public's story — the consumer story — began to change: the ‘yuppie' lifestyle began to seem brittle and shallow. Porsches and mobile phones are nice, but people began to want something more besides. Unfortunately for the Filofax, it stayed where it was in people's minds, still wedded to its clear, simple, formerly successful story about hectic social climbers. The inevitable result was a steep decline from which it still has not recovered.
So, brands, people and ideas need clear, simple stories if they are to succeed — but, having a story is only half the battle. The part that really matters is the degree to which the brand story matches and completes the stories in the minds of the public. What is marketing? Let me tell you a story...