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August 31, 2004

800CEORead: Great Plays in the Business of Business Books

Just had a great discussion with the Jack Covert and Todd Sattersten at 1-800-CEO-READ. Although of course we are a little self interested in doing the interview – given that we want to learn from the pros on how to sell our upcoming book – we have to declare that these guys are a great example of all the elements of the playbook. While this is a great story for the business book category it is also really illustrative for just about anyone dealing with an evolving and competitive market.

We talked to them about their strategy and how they got to it in playbook terms. Here’s a summary:

Marketing Playbook: How did you get into this business? What were the ABCs of your marketing playing field at the time?

800CEORead:
There are really two stories here. The first is how we entered the book business. The second is how we developed our specific play for entering the wild world of web book sales.

As you describe in your book, it’s important to look at the overall market and the three Cs (customers, competitors and your own competencies) of your category’s playing field. Back in 1983 when A. David Schwartz, owner of Milwaukee-based Harry W. Schwartz Bookshops, asked me to explore the potential of the corporate book-buying market, I did just that.

Rather than hiring a market research firm, I talked directly to our potential customers – all the corporations I knew. I cold-called hundreds of companies. I would fill my car trunk with books and make road trips to businesses throughout Wisconsin. I could sell $1200 worth of books on a trip. In those days, that was huge.

We built our business through phone and fax sales. We built mailing lists by collecting business cards. It was really a ground up effort. As 800-CEO-READ grew, I began to looked at the competition and saw no normal bookseller was equipped to handle this corporate market. So next I looked to our own competencies and realized we needed to build something new, something special that would make this the core of our business. Thus our company was born.

Then in the 1990’s with the advent of the web and the emergence of Amazon as a new force in book retailing, we saw that we needed to reassess our playing field. If I were to describe our assessment at that time in your ABC or gap analysis terms it would be something like this:

• Customer Gap. A. Yes, our regular customers like us and we have done really well. B. But, more and more customers are going online. C. So, they need a way to get the same service we have provided with all the benefits of online/direct.

• Competitive Gap: A. Yes, Amazon is exploiting the web and its software to revolutionize and dominate the single book sale business online. B. But, they focus on offering every book in existence, and on using their platform to sell everything else too. C. So, they are not capable of selling business books in the special way that larger corporate buyers have come to expect.

So we saw the opportunity to adapt, learn from many of Amazon’s strengths but also to migrate our own special competencies in a way that took full advantage of the web and grow the business in a strong new way.

Marketing Playbook: So how did this affect your core strategy or Marketing Play?

800CEORead:
Well, here also there are really two stories. I guess you could describe our first strategy as a kind of stealth or niche play. We chose not to compete head on with either the biggest book retailers like Barnes and Noble or local community bookstores in their core foot traffic business or later with Amazon in its core single book sales business. We chose to focus and specialize on one area – business books, to businesses who wanted to buy many copies. We built a great reputation as a specialized alternative to these players.

But over time I think, while retaining this focus, we’ve also evolved into what you call a Platform.

We have and are actively building and supporting a healthy ecosystem of interested parties. Not just of our customers but also across the whole value chain of business books. With many customers, we use our platform to simply become their in-house, branded corporate/employee bookstore. It isn’t their core competency and it works out great for all parties involved. One of the other constituents that we address better than anyone is people like you, authors of business books. In a world of so many books and so much crowding in stores and online, authors have to do a lot more of their own work to get their book noticed and sold. They do their own speaking, they give workshops, they do their own tours, they drive demand with their own corporate friends and clients. All of which are special and unique to them and their relationships. And in each of these cases they can’t really rely on either someone like Amazon or their publisher to handle their special needs – like making sure that there are enough copies to be signed everywhere they speak or sending personalized notes or signed copies to the most influential buyers.

That’s where we come in. And authors love us for it. We also believe because of our focus on business books our influence in this category is of growing significance, whether in terms of our own “Jack Covert Selects” or the growing use of our best seller lists. All this reinforces what we see as a self sustaining and mutually reinforcing ecosystem in this truly dynamic category.

Marketing Playbook: This is a great example of Plays and their progression. Any highlights or secrets of how you executed these plays in your marketing efforts and campaigns.

800CEORead:
Yes. But we’re not telling.

Ok, look. It’s a competitive business so we like to play it pretty close to the chest. We are proud of our basic value proposition – kind of fits your rule of oxymoron – we offer the speed and selection of an online retailer with the personal touch and handling of your own book buying or selling agent. In terms of promotion stuff I will say we really think we do a great job on our site, in our PR and reviews, newsletters, and in our blog. These are important. More than that I will keep “stealthy.”

Marketing Playbook. Thanks so much. It’s a great model. Really appreciate you sharing it.

800CEORead:
Our pleasure. And lots of luck with your book.

Posted by johnza at 09:53 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Why tech marketing fails

Take a look at this. Infectious Greed: Christensen on Why Tech Marketing Fails Christensen from Gartner focuses on the lack of disruptive technology as the main reason and that following consumer marketing examples is a dead end. I have to agree with Paul Kedrosky's counterpoint.

Frankly most marketing of any kind fails not because the product is not disruptive but because
1. it isnt actually better or ready for human consumption
2. the tech marketers have no idea what a "benefit" or how to communicate it to humans no matter how technical
3. they haven't mapped their competitive and customer landscape before they go off half cocked with a lot of undifferentiated "marketing."

End of sermon.

Posted by johnza at 09:50 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Is it a bus or a modern ground transport?

I remember taking the bus home from college quite often (especially when I needed my mom to bake something or clean something). Not always the most pleasant experience - but always great social (or sociology) event.

Well, it appears that greyhound is running a new campaign to attract college kids.

Peter Davidson, points out that maybe they ought to be thinking about their product gaps first. Do they know what college students are like now? Maybe instead of big splashy ad dollars they should put in power outlets and wireless broadband. That might create some buzz and lasting loyalty instead.

Posted by johnza at 07:43 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 30, 2004

Values

Most of the time when people talk about values what comes to mind is either disingenuous politicians or laminated cards that big corporations stick in their benefits folders and annual reports and then forget about.

But we believe that values are critical. Who you really are and what you believe in should embue everything you do and everything you say. This is especially true in your marketing and in developing a real brand. No matter how slick and well produced your ads and sales pitches, if you don't walk the talk in the long run people will stop believing and those ads and pitches will be shoved back in your face.

So what are your values? Really? Think about it.

We did - long and deeply - at our company, Ignition. And while we're sure we're biased we think they're pretty darn good. And most importantly, we really do ask ourselves - when looking at a deal, when talking to investors, when helping our companies - are we being true to these values. Click here to take a look at the Ignition values.

Posted by johnza at 06:05 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 28, 2004

Quotes of the week

Three related quotes this week. The first two came from Sandbox Wisdom:

"Common sense is not so common."
- Voltaire

and similarly,

"Most marketing knowledge is tacit knowledge. The issue is one of implementation."
- Mohanbir Sawhney (who really liked our book by the way:-)

Both of which underscored for me how marketing doesn't have to be a mystery. You have the tools, you have the guts, you just need to know how to use them. And so for the last quote, which came from looking at Johnnie Moore's blog on the importance of improv.

"A battle was never won according to plan… … and a battle was never won without a plan."
- Napoleon

As much as we think you should start with your playing field assessment and in defining a core strategy, you have to be flexible, trust your instincts and adapt when you are actually running down that field.

Posted by johnza at 10:12 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 27, 2004

Small Fish Strategy - Platform/Add-on

E M E R G I C . o r g: August 27, 2004 Archives A great link about a new book "The Keystone Advantage" by HBS professor Marco Iansiti and Roy Levien.

They really describe what we call a platform play (where your position is derived by helping others succeed) and a stealth play (where you hide from and feed off the ecosystem of the platform). They call these two plays "keystones" and "niches." Big fish and little. Really interesting.

Here's an exceprt thanks to Rajesh Jain:

"Think of the business environment as a series of ecosystems, they urge, with 'keystone' companies such as Microsoft and Wal-Mart providing for the health of all who do business with them. What are the best strategies for companies living in these ecosystems? This excerpt focuses on strategies for niche players...

The essence of a niche strategy is to achieve specialization by taking explicit advantage of the opportunities provided by the ecosystem while avoiding the kinds of traps that challenge firms in such environments."

Makes sense to us!

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August 26, 2004

How 51 Gorillas Make Awful Business Books

Economist.com | Business books

As usual a witty, and insightful article from the Economist. This time about how bad most business books are. (Hopefully our book does not fit their description too closely. Although the sentences do tend to be short, we do like PowerPoint a lot, we have a number (5) in the title, and the wisdom, while not exactly homespun, is down to earth and hard won - but hey, we don't have any animals. Can't wait for you to judge for yourselves.) Below are a few excerpts:

"It is astonishing how bad most business books are. Many appear to be little more than expanded PowerPoint presentations, with bullet points and sidebars setting out unrelated examples or unconnected thoughts. Some read like an extended paragraph from a consultant's report...

"The formula seems to be: keep the sentences short, the wisdom homespun and the typography aggressive; offer lots of anecdotes, relevant or not; and put an animal in the title—gorillas, fish and purple cows are in vogue this year. Or copy Stephen Covey (author of the hugely successful “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”) and include a number. Here, though, inflation is setting in: this autumn sees the publication of “The 18 Immutable Laws of Corporate Reputation” by Ronald Alsop. And Michael Feiner has written a book offering “the 50 basic laws that will make people want to perform better for you.”

Posted by johnza at 04:46 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Juxtipositions

One of the things that we heard over and over again while there was that there are two Chinas. One the new, flashy, rich, modern China you see in Shanghai and Beijing and the other the old, traditional, still often poor, more rural China. Here are some pics that really struck this dicotomy home.

New China Go Cart

Old China Go Cart

New China Mobile Game

Old China Mobile Game

New China Community

Old China Community

A Pause that Refreshes in New China...

... and old

And, finally, just too wierd. A friendly ogre and a great leader in the same theater...

(for some additional images see my other blog Zagula.com)

Posted by johnza at 03:51 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 21, 2004

Extreme Best of Both Worlds

Aside from enjoying at least 10 different amazing, interesting, sometimes pretty mysterious forms of Chinese regional cuisines, I have really been having fun tracking fast food in China. Like everything else here the playing field is super competitive.

McDonalds here is different and really good. The McChicken is spicy and really crispy. The staff is fast efficient and helpful and, very importantly, the happy meal toys are cool and Asian.

Meanwhile, the venerable colonel is doing a roaring business here with similar menu adjustments for KFC.

Not to be outdone by foreign multinationals, a Chinese company has combined both concepts, menus, logos, etc. into one new company. The name, Maikenji, translates pretty directly into "McKFC". Now that's taking a best of both play quite literally.

Posted by johnza at 06:28 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

More "know your market"

Dairy Queen is paying attention here in China. They have stands with "Blizzards" and other stuff in malls but this is the only place I think you can find a DQ with soft-serve green tea ice creme.

It was yummy.

Posted by johnza at 08:15 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 20, 2004

Think globally, act locally, and know the difference

We were honored to be able to meet with Wang Jianzhou, Chairman and President of China Unicom, China's second largest wireless carrier. He shared a lot of wisdom with us but a few things really stood out.

The first was that he very explicitly chose to follow NTT DoCoMo's platform play in launching their wireless data service. Rather than trying to build the "killer apps" on wireless data themselves they opened it up to tons of ICPs (independant content providers) - over 600 major ones at last count. And made it easy for them to make money, providing billing and other infrastructure and charging only 10-15% of the revenue in return. Result, wireless data has taken off (a very, very good thing with over 300MM cell phones in China). By not being too greedy, China Unicom established an awesome ecosystem and reaps ongoing rewards.

Another of the many insights that left a huge impression. When searching for the plan of how import DoCoMo's success Mr. Jianzhou went to Japan and took the subway to watch how the Japanese used their cell phones. As he watched, he noticed that at least 50% was staring at thier handset screens and clicking away quietly. He took the same subways in Korea and the number was around 25% and others were talking on their cells. In Hong Kong, no one.

Why? Culture. In Japan it is considered impolite to talk loudly in subways. So data phones are the perfect outlet. In Korea less so. In Hong Kong everyone is loud anyway(look at the US where Cingular has to run ads about the annoying cell phone man - to get people to stop talking in movie theaters).

How did he figure this out and adapt? The smart, practical way - on the ground with his real target customers. What a wise man. Assume nothing. Check it out for yourself!

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August 19, 2004

After the dragrace finish line...

Just met with the super smart, super nimble, fun CEO of KongZhong, Nick Yang. They are one of the fastest growth consumer companies delivering all kinds of entertainment, community and media services to mobile handsets. I can't even tell you the numbers and their speed, they might make you too dizzy.

Nick had all kinds of pearls of wisdom behind his success (having to do with patience, focus, clear risks and bets and flexibility - all of which he seems to have in spades). But one of the things he said (and put up in the poster pictured below) really struck home:

"Number One is Temporary. Only Exceeding Yourself is Forever."

You got that right Nick! Keep it going!!

Posted by johnza at 08:27 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Talk about reach and frequency...

One thing that cannot fail to impress you in Shanghai and Beijing is the presence of advertising. Going beyond broadcast seem like a passion in this country. Anywhere, I mean anywhere you find yourself waiting, you will be reached with ads.

While waiting for your bags

While waiting for the elevator

While waiting for someone to answer your call.

And this is just the tip of the iceberg. Outside subways, inside subway trains, inside cabs. And it's not just static. This is 15-30 second quality spots. Everywhere.

One of the companies leading the charge is Focus Media. Interestingly, they don't do anything fancy like refresh the ads over wireless or anything. They just have fleets of people on bicycles driving around swapping out DVDs. It may seem primitive but it's working enough for them to think about going public soon.

What's next, ads in your hotel shower?

Posted by johnza at 08:02 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 16, 2004

Hey, get with the program

Talk about a call to action. How about this slogan for Expo 2010 - on the front of the City Planning Department in Shanghai:

Keep pace with the time
Blaze new trails in a pioneering spirit

Posted by johnza at 03:30 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Tallest building in China - sign of things to come?

Tons of impressions from our first day in Shanghai but one big one was The Jin Mao (kind of "golden growth") Tower. Stunning views of this huge, amazing city, but also of note was the photo review of all the worlds tallest buildings. Proud to say that three were in Chicago. But worty of note that all the US buildings were build at least 25 years ago vs. the remainder which were all in Asia.

Posted by johnza at 03:24 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 14, 2004

We're off

We're off to China for a week. Should be interesting but we will be posting a lot less. Hope to have lots to share when we return.

Posted by johnza at 08:22 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 13, 2004

Imagine you're China

Seth's Blog: Starting Over

Thought provoking post, as usual from Seth. Take the view that you get to start a bunch of stuff from scratch and make it better, what then would you do in any product or offering category? Hmmm.

Well, that's where I'm off to tommorrow, so I'll see what the Chinese have to say about this and other topics and hopefully have a chance to post while I'm there.

Posted by johnza at 05:33 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Features are great - if they yield something

.... like a benefit.

For every new feature you need to... (Signal vs. Noise)

Great post from Jsaon at 37 Signals on the importance of managing feature creap. Approach sounds similar to how you manage marketing campaign. Think first, don't do what you don't need to. And don't push until you know who you're pushing to with what and why they might go for it.

Good food for thought for our next book (The Product Playbook)

Posted by johnza at 05:12 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 10, 2004

Fast Company Better Brand Contest - Part V

Below is the final of five installments of our attempt to use the Marketing Playbook ABCs to answer the question Fast Company recently posed in its contest (for which we got an honorable mention).

Brand 13. Tiffany & Co- Diamond Depot

A. Yes, great job at going mid-market while retaining high end image

• In all kinds of malls everywhere across the country
• Still conjure images of Audrey Hepburn that all brides to be long for

B. But, You're way behind online.

• Lot's of men would prefer not to go to a Tiffany store, esp. with their intended.
• Your site is too complicated and not helpful to a diamond dummy like me.

C. So, Buy Blue Nile and Be the Best of Both.

• Take your great brand to the world wide web
• Leverage Blue Nile's technology and selection.
• But add your mystic and aura (and your lovely gift boxes) to all these orders
• And use your stores as the ultimate bricks and clicks showrooms and pick up depots (so guys can look really suave when they bring the bride to be or anniversary wife in the store).
• If not Blue Nile then buy someone else online - like Ice.com

Brand 14. The USA - Inviting, Uniting States of America

A. Yes, this is the greatest country on earth

• For more reasons than any of us can count.
• Our freedoms, our say in government, our courage, our common sense, our goodwill, for starters.

B. But, we are at a crossroads.

• Where we can grow to resent the freedom of those who disagree with us.
• Where we let the threats we face alienate us from the rest of the world.
• Where we can take refuge from our challenges and fear in patriotic slogans and comforting consumption.

C. So, Be Humble, Be Proud, Be Open, Be Responsible.

• Whatever your party, I don't think you could do much better than Barack Obama's Democratic Convention speech.

• We are not and cannot be the Blue and Red, the liberal and conservative, the protectionist and globalist states of America.
• We have to be the United States of America
• So, express yourself, listen to others views, disagree but do not belittle or deny, try to understand and find commonality, here and throughout the world
• FINALLY, VOTE. IT MATTERS!!

Brand 15. Virgin - Eve's Apple

A. Yes, you appeal to the youth in all of us.

• From records to planes to wireless service.
• You say, fresh, fun, functional and why not nice looking at the same time.

B. But, you do all the creating, why not give me a chance.

• If I'm a Virgin person, I am creative in spirit. I like new experiences.

C. Buy Apple.

• Take the Virgin style to computers, music players, software etc.
• Take the Apple design and thinking to all of your services.
• Put creativity, style and fun in the power of all your customers with the coolest tools.
• Richard Branson/Steve Jobs - President/Vice President, now that's a compelling ticket!?!

For the previous set of brands click here.

Posted by johnza at 11:05 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Aristotle and Powerpoint

beyond bullets: Aristotle's Top 10 PowerPoint Tips Great post about Aristotle's Rhetoric and how it applies to PPT (and frankly any kind of communication). Just goes to show you how few new ideas there really are and how useful it is to look at the old ones over and over again. Here are Aristotle's tips and tricks:

1. Be logical.
2. Think clearly.
3. Reason cogently.
4. Remember that argument is the life and soul of persuasion.
5. Study human nature.
6. Observe the characters and emotions of your audience, as well as your own character and emotions.
7. Attend to delivery.
8. Use language rightly.
9. Arrange your material well.
10. End crisply.

Not always easy to do but boy these make sense.

Posted by johnza at 11:02 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Fast Company Better Brand Contest - Part IV

Below is the forth of five installments of our attempt to use the Marketing Playbook ABCs to answer the question Fast Company recently posed in its contest (for which we got an honorable mention).

Brand 10. Radio Shack - Helpdesk Hut

A. Yes, Radio Shack is great when you need to find a special wire

• Still have a surprising variety of hard to find electronics in those little stores

B. But, what are you really all about - Radios?

• You have a weird range of stuff in your store from capacitors to robot cat toys.
• You're too small to compete with CompUSA/Best Buy on electronics prices or with Sharper Image
• And, frankly, your staff is not as knowledgeable as it should be.

C. So, embrace being small, be special, be expert.

• Your stores, often in malls are more the size of boutiques than warehouses.
• So, go ahead be an electronics boutique, and like a boutique sell hard to find accessories AND the expertise on how to best accessorize.
• Hire or train the experts, become the folks people turn to cope with or even fix the ever more complicated world of wiring (or wirelessing) stuff in their homes.

Brand 11. Starbucks - More than a "Coffee Company."

A. Yes, an unbelievable, positive, global coffee/cafe brand.

• Honestly just doing an amazing job on quality, consistency and ubiquity.
• Symbolizing the "you deserve a break today" of this generation.
• All with basically no advertising. Wow.

B. But, just scratching the surface.

• You already have a store on almost every block.
• You've already priced beverages about as high as you can.
• Yet people can?t get enough of your brand.

C. Sell more than coffee, sell the whole Starbucks lifestyle.

• No longer "Starbucks Coffee Company" but "Starbucks, Inc."
• Take a cue from Virgin, who sells almost everything but is more about an attitude and a way of delivering value than about the stuff they sell.
• Go all the way with your concept of a "third place" where people meet, do businesses, feel relaxed and pampered - offer massages, Cranium tournaments, poetry readings, classes, install printers and MP3 stations (nice job by the way on the coming XM radio station!).
• Take that third place online, what better place for web/blog cafes than Starbucks? And when people are done meeting online let them schedule a face to face at the perfect Starbucks location (which includes online dating, what better place for a safe first date than a Starbucks).

Brand 12. Tide - Washing Machines for Wetlands."

A. Yes, a big bold brand that's been used forever.

• With a great logo and a memorable name in a very, very broad category.

B. Not hip or eco enough for the REI/Whole Foods Generation.

• Who knows what your chemical make-up is?
• Who knows how well you wash hemp, flax or bamboo?

C. So, embrace a cause, go green.

• Create a green box, that is the lowest phosphate etc.
• Give some percentage of profits to wetlands charities, under the "Tide Tidal Pride Foundation"

Click here for the previous installment and here for the final one.

Posted by johnza at 10:12 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 09, 2004

Seattle Times on the Marketing Playbook: The Book

The Seattle Times: Business & Technology: "Playbook" analyzes marketing strategies. Yup, this is the Marketing Playbook web site.

The Marketing Playbook, the book will hit the shelves late this fall. To get it right now, you can:

• Bulk order a whole bunch from 1-800-CEO-READ. A great stocking stuffer for Fortune 500 companies (hint, hint :-) and for those of you have to have it right away.
• Pre-order it from your favorite bookstore. A great stocking stuffer for your kids, friends, collegues, clients (but don't let it into your enemies' hands). It is nearly the 1000th best selling book already (How this happened, I don't understand, but join in and help us keep up the trend :-)

Hey, for another local mention in the press see the Seattle PI's note.

Also for more Information. To get on our mailing list for the latest updates and other information.

Posted by johnza at 05:44 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 08, 2004

Fast Company Better Brand Contest - Part III

Below is the third installment of our attempt to use the Marketing Playbook ABCs answer the question Fast Company posed recently posed in its contest - how to make these brands better (for which - by the way we got an honorable mention).

Brand 7. Microsoft - More Wealth by Sharing It More

A. Yes, the most recognizable, cash rich, powerful brand in technology today.

• On almost every computer on every desk and every home
• And incredibly cash rich

B. But, competing with nearly everyone they used to business with.

• Getting into every single business there is
• Or believed by most to get into them eventually
• Thereby making partners less and less happy and incented to work with them

C. So, go back to being a true platform for others to make money.

• Not just operating system as platform, company as platform
• Not just dividends to shareholders
• Real incentives, openness and benefit for tons of partners, developers etc to make lots of money by using Microsoft.

Brand 8. Office Depot - A Depot for Offices, Actually

A. Yes, great job becoming a mass market category killer.

B. But, what category are they actually killing now?

• Seem to offer everything to anyone who has a job
• (from snack food for the kitchen to office chairs to games)
• How do you compete with Costco?

C. So, be a Depot for Office services, physical and virtual

• Stop trying to be a consumer business, embrace that you are selling to business
• Use your locations more effectively, be even better bricks and clicks solution
• For any business service - daily replenishment, business services directory, meeting rooms and of course a depot for pick up.

Brand 9. Old Navy - Salute Your Own Colors

A. Yes, Old Navy stands for nice casual clothes for not too much money.

B. But, what really is the difference between Old Navy and the Gap?(and the Banana Republic for that matter)

• Other than a little price differentiation, it feels like they buy their stuff from the same place and from a very similar design template.

C. So, Let Old Navy Be/Buy Old Navy.

• Set the buyers and the designers free for each store
• Let us consumers have a real choice to make.
• And let Gap be Gap, Let Old Navy be Old Navy and Let Banana Republic be Banana Republic.

For the previous set of brands click here and the next click here.

Posted by johnza at 08:56 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

No Buck Fifty No Picnic?

Not long ago we praised WaMu's customer service too. But now a Fortune article says they're stuggling. See BusinessPundit: WaMu - A One Trick Pony? for a summary. Too bad. Still like the lollypops.

Posted by johnza at 08:33 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 07, 2004

Fast Company Better Brand Contest - Part II

Remember, Fast Company did a contest on how to make 15 brands better. We entered using the ABCs (for which we got an honorable mention).

Here are our thoughts on the next set of brands:

Brand 3. Fast Company - Faster/Safer Company

A. Yes, Fast Company broke through, survived, and thrived post the bubble burst as one of the very few most compelling new magazines to make it in the tough business category.

B. But, the Fast Company generation is now at least 5 years older

• We were pulled in by the desire to be "in fast company"
• We've been through a lot since then and are hopefully a bit more mature, humble, realistic and prudent.

C. So, Be Faster Company/Safer Company - The Volvo of Business

• Move (like we did) to the Volvo Turbo Station Wagon - with tons of airbags and all the power and speed a grown up could want, responsibly.
• Be Faster - Put the wheel in the hands of your drivers.
• Give every subscriber their own blog as part of the subsription, make them editors, contributors, etc. to Fast Company itself.
• Be safer, follow the Fast Company generation and our needs as we grow up.
• Ask the hard questions of us, like how to make your brand better (whoops, I guess you're doing that with this contest and in other surveys)

Brand 4. Kmart - Kbazaar

A. Yes, well, Kmart is still alive. It is a brand that everyone remembers, it still has lots of real estate.

B. But, it's getting totally squeezed.

• It can?t compete with Wal-mart or Costco on plain pricing (it's not a warehouse) and it's too late to compete with Target on design.
• It seems to have lost track of it's customers, now mostly imigrant and ethnic folks in suburban stip malls.

C. So, Throw Open Your Doors and Floors

• Don't try to beat either Wal-mart or Target. Number 3 or 4 is no good.
• Embrace who's really shopping there, fully. Appeal to the Latin, Asian and Indian immigrant communities who go there.
• Take a cue from Uwajimaya or the Great Wall Mall here in Seattle. You have all these stores and floor space, become a mini-mall with lots of smaller stores and brands that have it all: groceries, clothes etc AND a great ethnic food court.
• And let others do the job for you, become a platform for lots of other small retailers (many of them your customer base) to succeed inside.

Brand 5. Martha Stuart - Martha Twelve Step

A. Yes, Martha evangelized a new generation of the perfect "homemaker".

• She built an amazing brand on creating/managing the perfect home
• She did this by demonstrating and inviting emulation of her own ability to make life and home perfectly lovely and well organized.

B. But, she screwed up, big time.

• She never really accepted her audience's weaknesses (no one was ever as organized or perfect as Martha seemed to be),
• Or her own. Well, now she is going to jail and her perfection has cracked.

C. So, embrace the ordeal and sell it.

• Build a brand on how you fell, accepted your faults and rose again.
• Martha as 12 stepper. Martha as born again, self help evangelist.
• Step One - repent, Step Two - get out and renew, Step Three- tell everyone else about it in your magazine and shows

Brand 6. McDonalds - Eat Your Own Lunch

A. Yes, MickeyDees is one of the biggest brands in the universe. They still sell more burgers and happy meal toys than most countries' GDP.

• They are a cheap place to eat for families for families of all income brackets.

B. But, the Golden Arches have kind of lost their way.

• It's not really a very upbeat or happy place to go.
• Maybe Ronald and his kids are eating more at Taco Time , which doesn't have toys that are as cool but boy they are clean and the food is really healthy.

C. So, Quality is it. Get back to it, for real.

• The new exec team at McDonalds needs to look back to their basics. Food Folks and Fun - McDonald's stood for dependable, quality food and experience.
• They need to do what Gordon Bethune did with Continental when he flew all the time on his own planes anonymously. They need to eat there with their families - everyday. And improve it based on their first hand experience.
• They need to do what Les Schwab did, get their owners/employees excited about quality and service.

Click here for the previous set of brands and here for the next.

Posted by johnza at 09:38 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

Negotiating (or persuading/marketing) backward

Thought provoking HBS piece (via Emergic and Jeff Nolan) on Negotiating Backward. A really smart principle for any kind of planning, especially where you are trying to persuade people (kinda like marketing). Here's a quick paraphrase:

"When you map a negotiation [or selling effort] backward, you envision your preferred outcome and think in reverse about how to get there." Here are the basic steps:

1. Draw a "map" of the parties involved (the playing field).

2. Estimate the difficulty and cost of gaining agreement with each (gap assessment).

3. Identify key relationships among the parties (who influences them)

4. Focus on the most-difficult-to-persuade player (figure out how best to win them over first), win the skeptic (influential end user) and the others follow

5. Figure out how to get the right other players to negotiate (evangelize) for you
Map backward in this fashion until you have found the most promising path through the cloud of possibilities.

Posted by johnza at 08:06 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Positioning is a stand not a statement

Radio Marketing Nexus: "Positioning" is not a "Statement"

Nice entry from Mark Ramsey. Positioning XYZs applied to everything, including politics!

Posted by johnza at 07:56 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 06, 2004

Fast Company Better Brand Contest - Part I

Found this on Fouroboros, Fast Company did a contest on how to make 15 brands better (for which we got an honorable mention). The 15 brands are Barbie, Brooks Brothers, Fast Company, Kmart, Martha Stewart, McDonald's, Microsoft, Office Depot, Old Navy, Radio Shack, Starbucks, Tide, Tiffany's, The United States of America and Virgin. You can focus on one or do them all.

Heck, we figured there's nothing the Marketing Playbook System can't handle. So, we couldn't help ourselves, we decided to enter and to do them all. We just had to look at the ABCs, gap analysis of each one of these brands. It was fun. Three common themes arose: decide what you really stand for and do that, get back to your basics and refresh/embrace them more fully, or expand what you are already doing well to new areas.

Here's what we had to say, in 5 parts:

Brand 1. Barbie - Boutros-Boutros Barbie.

A. Yes, Barbie is a huge brand with awe-inspiring longevity.

B. But, is she really the great kids will hope to grow up to be?

• For all the "dolls of the world" and Career Barbies, her image remains superficial and materialistic.
• She's the "Everything Girl." Everything pretty and nicely dressed, that is.

C. So, stay cute but become someone kids that inspires kids to strive for greatness.

• Be more like "Legally Blond" - beautiful and perfectly accessorized but a fighter for what is right.
• Embrace a bigger set of values. Be more active, involved, responsible and ethical and invite kids and parents to participate.
• Barbie as Aid Worker, Charitable Girl , Barbie Foundation, Barbie University, Barbie World Schools, Barbie Womens Rights Around the World. Go Barbie and all You Girls Who Love Her. Save the World. You Can Do It!

Brand 2. Brooks Brothers - Grown Up Garanimals

A. Yes, it's a great, long lasting clothing brand, with great, classic quality (I love their no iron shirts!), that you can always rely on.

B. But, they're stuck between stodgy (for your Dad) and hip, slick (for emaciated models in the NYT Sunday Magazine), and between snobby boutiques and massive department stores/warehouses.

C. So, Dress By Numbers For Serious Businesspeople

• Appeal to the majority of business people esp. men who need to look good but who suck at dressing ourselves
• Make it super simple for everyone to always look professional
• Be the antidote to being overwhelmed by the selection of men?s warehouse or intimated/put off by the queer eyes for the straight guys at Barney's
• Take a cue from Garanimals, the kids clothing brand with a color coded system for mixing and matching outfits. Provide a simple, can't fail business dress system using great Brooks Brothers Brand clothes.
• And once you're personally sized and flesh/eye/hair color schemed at a Brooks Brothers store subscribe to this system online with a personal-business-meeting-requirements configurator a la Blue Nile for Rings.

Click here for the next set of brands.

Posted by johnza at 10:42 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 05, 2004

Search Engines - let all dragraces bloom

Boy this category and all it's offshoot categories just seem to keep germinating more competitive dragraces.

In the past we've written a lot about a company we admire, Baidu, the number one search engine in China who successfully dragraced and won in that market. Well, here comes someone to dragrace them.
According to China Digital News, huge Chinese portal Sohu has entered a new challenger, "its all-inclusive, proprietary search engine under the new brand name SoGou, which means 'Search Dog' in Chinese." Search Engine Journal also noted this news but say's it means "Search Fox." Hmm. Pretty different connotations in English I will have to ask some pals about the Chinese. John Battelle notes that, whether dog or fox the logo looks kind of like some kind of cross-breed (between Ebay, Yahoo, Google, Lycos). What I'm really curious about is what is the real secret sauce, or differntiation in the offering and positioning.

Meanwhile in another search market, yet another dragrace has emerged. Local search has been a huge topic. How come it is so hard to find stuff I want where I want it. (Note that local advertising is still the lion's share of the market outside of search). So now for the local search dragrace.
First there was Google's Local Beta. Which John Battelle, noted when it first came out still needed work. Now, there's a beta of Yahoo Local which Battelle seems to like. I need to check them out but I really look forward to hearing his comparison and to watching the dragrace mount (keeping my eyes out for MSN local too).

Posted by johnza at 09:42 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

A huge but often overlooked market

At our office, we sometimes like to tease our over 50 collegues about them becoming senior citizens. But it is no laughing matter. It is in fact a giant and growing market and one that (hopefully, as my wife says "from your lips to God's ears") we will all be entering eventually.

Strange, and disappointing that more companies, products, and services aren't adapted to the senior market's unique needs. But here is a nice example courtesy of Peter Davidson.
It's a phone with bigger keys and screen (note that already 15% of cell phone users are seniors). Makes sense. Also he provides a link to Textually, which has a nice set of links to info on seniors and wireless. They mention a number of phones that have only three buttons and are perfect for emergencies. Very smart. I tried to get my mom a cell phone for just this reason for her car, but I called her on it and the ring scarred the heck out of her. So she threw it out. Maybe Glen Miller ringtones would help.

Posted by johnza at 09:14 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

August 02, 2004

"The Marketing Game"

Nice mention of our book and blog today in the Seattle Post Intelligencer's Insider. Scroll down to "The Marketing Game" to read about it.

Only nit to pick is that we clearly intend the book to be about a lot more than our experience marketing at Microsoft. It's all about making marketing work for anyone, in any competitive market, and it covers stories and examples from tons of companies in dozens of industries. Still, nice to see the mention in our hometown ;-)

Posted by johnza at 11:45 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

August 01, 2004

Are “Boys” lost to advertisers...

Perception Analyser highlights a recent Wired Article "The Lost Boys." Read the whole thing but there is a great little summary called “Gone in 30 Seconds.” Basically:
• "Young men (18 to 34) are tuning out broadcast TV …
• as they turn to games and the Internet …
• where porn, music, and auctions are top draws.
• As audiences shift away from network TV …
• the networks still raise their rates …
• and advertisers turn to cable and the Net.
• Five companies haved 'changed channels' " (Anheuser Busch, Coca-Cola, Ford, GM, and McDonalds)

Interesting ABCs according to David Raines, the Coke VP in charge of divvying up ad money:
A: Yes, 18-34 year old males are a critical target
B: But, although they haven't stopped watching TV, they're doing a lot of other stuff, too, going online, watching DVDs, playing videogames.
C: So, ad dollars have to follow them where they go.

"Of course, some media are more immersive than others. As young males drift away from the tube, advertisers are trying to focus on entertainment that grabs their attention and holds it. Tops on that list is videogames." Example, last year Coke followed them into The Matrix Reloaded and Atari's Enter the Matrix videogame. So much so that Jeff Brown a VP at Entertainment Arts said, "We're eating the networks' lunch!" Maybe a bit early to claim this but interesting.

Also, look at Atom films. The cult political online clip they distribute, This Land by JibJab, starts with a Toyata spot that looks like a video game.

Posted by johnza at 11:21 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack