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Cry the Beloved Marketing

by : Earl Kopeledi

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Index

1. We’ve got 99 problems and marketing might just be one pg3

2. Simons says pg4

3. Tell me a story pg8

4. Yes I am talking to you pg11

5. TV is dead. Long live TV pg13

6. Marketing is too important to leave to marketers pg17

7. So who is this Roy guy? pg19

8. Don’t hate the playa hate the game pg20

9. My Agency brings all the brands to the yard pg21

10. Follow the leader pg25

11. How to get fired like a Rock Star pg27

12. The End pg28

13. References pg28

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1. We’ve got 99 problems and marketing might just be one.

I want to make this clear that this is not a book and it’s not a tool that will make

you the Marketing Rock Star that you always wanted to be although I do tell you

how to get fired like one at the end

I have been in the marketing field for 15 years and about 2 years ago I resigned

from my corporate job to go and sail the world and have a spiritual awakening.

My first lesson to you is, always do your research and insights before you take on a

new project. Now you would expect HR to remind me that I would not have

enough money for such a trip and more importantly that the sea is infested with

great whites. So there I find myself jobless without a life changing project that will

lead to some sort of New Age ah ha moment. So I started reading, having

conversations about and immersing myself in why marketing sucked so much that

I needed to take a break from it. At the end you will see a lot of books and

articles referenced. Some of the ideas in these books and articles inspired me and

in some cases I took the liberty to expand and put my own twist to it. If there is

some ideas used and I didn’t give proper acknowledgement to the original

authors I apologize it just means I couldn’t always find the original reference.

This started out purely as a tool to frame my thoughts because I can ramble a bit

and lose my audience, even in cases where I have a monologue with myself.

Having discussed some of these thoughts with peers and friends it led to some

interesting debates about brands and the field of Marketing. If this inspires one

good conversation over a braai and some cold ones it was worth it. Tupac said

he won’t change the world but he will spark the brain that will. I say, where is Pac

when marketing needs him now more than ever?

What you won’t get is a paper that will get published in the Journal of Marketing

Theory and Practise. South African universities will not suddenly adapt their

curriculum to reflect the ground breaking yet not so ground breaking ideas in this

toilet …I mean White Paper. It is written with some dodgy grammar and I

guarantee a few spelling mistakes. I may offend or provoke but hopefully I won’t

bore. The intention is to hopefully open up a bit of dialogue on the current state

of Marketing and brand management. I endeavour to write in words that make

sense, with hopefully less jargon than the Monday compulsory management

meeting on “How’s your kids doing and the affordability of private schools” now

let’s look at the Margins and top line sales. To the Gurus and Marketing execs out

there, this paper is probably not for you. To people that just want a bit of a smile

and an honest opinion about what is going on in Marketing, take a print out to

the restroom, kick back, enjoy and remember it’s a dual purpose paper

This is my thoughts on the state of the nation and how I think we all can make

changes in our thinking to improve the Game. Somewhere along the line the gig

stopped being fun and I needed to understand why or die trying. OK so let us

forget the dying part, I just included that for dramatic effect and from time to

time I throw in a Hip Hop reference to maintain the doc’s street cred.

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Please send all hate mail via the Post office for the simple reason that I am old

school and the chances of me getting it is also dramatically reduced.

So it all started when I was 2 years old………just kidding but I always wanted to

start something off by saying that………

2. Simon says!

Neuroscientists (those guys that study the brain) have proven that all decisions are

based largely on emotional factors and there are numerous studies on this.

McCombs marketing professor Raj Raghunathan and Ph.D. student Szu-Chi

Huang point to their research study that shows comparative features are

important, but mostly as justification after a buyer makes a decision based on

emotional response. What?

In one phase of their study, Raghunathan and Huang showed participants two

photos. One was a nice looking, plump chicken. The other was a chicken that

looked thin and sickly. Participants were told that the plump chicken was a

natural chicken, and the thin chicken was genetically engineered.

The researchers informed half of the participants that natural chickens were

healthy but less tasty, and genetically engineered chickens were tasty, but less

healthy. The other half were told the opposite.

So at this stage you will probably ask me why the chicken crossed the road. My

answer to you would be….wrong question.

Overwhelmingly, sets of participants expressed a preference for the nice plump

chicken, but their justifications were different. The first group claimed it was

because they valued health above taste, and the second group said it was

because taste was more important. Neither group seemed to justify their choice

based on how they felt about the chicken's looks. They felt compelled to justify

their emotional choices with non-emotional reasons, to the point that the two

groups found completely opposite ways to justify the same decision.

Ragunathan said that the researchers tested the same hypothesis using political

candidates. Participants were asked to rate the effectiveness of certain work

styles displayed by two politicians. Not surprisingly, Republicans tended to value

the work style used by the Republican politician, and Democrats valued the work

style used by the Democrat. Like the chicken example, different groups were told

opposite work styles for each candidate, but each group made their decision

based on their pre-conceived political preference, and then justified their

decision by whatever trait they had been told “their politician” used. Now what

does this tell us about our own political landscape? Unfortunately this question

goes way beyond the scope of this article

“This is called post-hoc rationalization,” said Ragunathan, “and it is found in every

aspect of our life, whenever we made decisions. We are ruled by our emotions

first, and then we build justifications for our response. You can see this happening

in hiring decisions, dating, you name it.”

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“In our society it is generally not considered justifiable to make a decision purely

on an emotional response,” he said. “We want to be considered scientific and

rational, so we come up with reasons after the fact to justify our choice.

“This process seems to be happening somewhat unconsciously, people are not

really aware they're coming up with these justifications. What is even more

interesting is that people, who claim that emotions are not that important, who

consider themselves to be really rational, are actually more prone to fall into this

trap.”

Ragunathan and Huang believe this is because once someone has denied the

possibility of making a decision based on emotion, there is no other option but to

come up with justifications. “You paint yourself into a corner,” he claims. “You

want to portray yourself as this rational decision maker, but in reality, you're the

one who's most likely to show post-hoc rationalization.” Boom! (I can’t use Boom

in an academic paper which really sucks.)

Like many people, I was exposed to Simon Sinek through his TED Talk on “Start with

Why.” I also purchased his book with the same title that goes into more detail.

From time to time we get confronted with a concept that appears so simple that

it’s almost too simple. Simon may have just captured an elusive, yet simplistic truth

that so many organizations and brands brush over.

Through his golden circle theory Simon Sinek established that great and successful

brands figured out that people buy “Why” (purpose/ emotive connection) you do

what you do as oppose to “What” you do (product). Through applying this at the

core of everything they do they always lead with their authentic truth, purpose or

also called True North. Many people refer to Apple as a computer company, the

same as they do with Dell. Most people would not buy a MP3 player or a phone

from Dell yet they do from Apple. If both are perceived to be computer

companies (what they sell) why does Apple get away with selling diverse

categories that does not look like obvious adjacencies?

Sinek explains this through his Golden Circle concept that emotions are the corner

stone of purchase behaviour. People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you

do it.

Every organization knows what they do. We make pizzas. Most organizations

know exactly how they do it. We make thin base pizzas and we only use fresh

produce and we add our own wicked tomato base using a proper clay oven.

Yay! But when you ask them why they do what they do, you often get a blank

stare or someone may shout out:” We love the Dough” (There’s that hip hop

reference again.) The reality is that making money is never the purpose. Top line

sales and profit is always a result of what we do it is not the original driving force or

purpose.

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Why = The Purpose (What is your cause? What do you believe?)

How = The Process (Specific actions taken to realize the Why. The strategy)

What = The Result (What do you do? This is the result of why. Tangible proof in the

form of a product or service)

Apple started with their why or purpose by saying: Everything we do, we believe

in challenging the status quo. We believe in thinking differently.

How we do this is by making our products beautifully designed, simple to use and

user friendly.

What we happen to do is make computers. But wait, we now also give you 1000

songs in your pocket and wait there’s more, look at our IPhone.

Apple entrench their purpose in everything they do and how they interact and

communicate. I am positive that they could sell fridges if they decided too and

Brand Fans will be rushing to buy it. They will then spend days explaining to you

why their water is so much colder and their meat is so much fresher and their new

purchase costs just slightly more than a Smeg fridge. Boom! Post-hoc

rationalization. (Sorry, that will be the last Boom)

Apple is telling a consistent and authentic story that means something. People

that own Mac notebooks love opening them up in public places. They like that

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everyone knows and that the Apple symbol says something about them and how

they see the world.

It is important that marketers understand that people buy your brands because it

says something about them personally. A brand purchase is actually a very selfish

decision. If they buy something that fails to embody their own sense of why, those

around them can’t have a clear picture of who they are.

It all starts with the brand figuring out their authentic purpose and reason for

being. It’s always funny when brands or people ask someone how they can be

more authentic. Being authentic means you already know, duh! I sounded a bit

smug there. Apologies, I get carried away sometimes.

If you can define what that authentic truth or “Why” is and you can consistently

live and breathe that throughout your organization and communicate it through

touch points consumers that’s like minded can find you.

So in essence people do business with people that believe what they believe. You

got to love old Simon. Go get his book. Get one for your boss whiles you at it.

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3. Tell me a story

I woke up one day to a speech from my dad inspired by a tirade from my Mom.

Arriving home the previous night hungry and way past dinner time, I raided the

kitchen without cleaning the dishes afterwards. After numerous rational lectures

and an ass whipping didn’t get the desired results my dad changed his strategy in

a desperate attempt to get through to me.

“Son you remember when you were young and you believed in Fairy tales” Now

please don’t judge me we were all young and dreamy once upon a time. (Not

quite a Hip Hop reference but Breezy’s got some street cred)

I briefly reflected on my failed attempts to fly by jumping off rooftops and my “I

see Unicorns” phase. “Well” he said. “You stumbled in at the early hours of the

morning, prepared a feast and left the dirty plates in the sink. The only thing I can

deduce from that is there was an expectation on your side that the Fairy

Godmother was going to waltz in at approximately 6am and do a bit of cleaning

behind you.

20 years on I’ve never forgotten that lesson. I haven’t consistently cleaned up

after myself since then but somehow that is always the memory I recall when I

leave the kitchen in a mess late at night.

My dad instinctively knew that stories are a very powerful vehicle to ingrain a

message for long term recall and consideration.

As mentioned, purchase decisions are influenced by Rational and Emotional

factors. On the rational side are product and price (2 of the well documented P’s)

and emotional factors include brand experience, brand equity and

convenience. Research shows that we can only operate with one at a time.

People make their decisions emotionally then justify it with facts through a rational

process.

This is profound because often Marketers spend all the focus on those rational

USPs in their marketing and communications but we shop brands with our hearts.

Yes the rational is a non-negotiable in product design but that is not what moves

people to buy.

In his research documented in Buy.ology, Martin Lindstrom proves that the

successful Marketing is a lot closer to science than most people ever anticipated.

There is method to the madness in our buying behaviour but that the emotive

centres of our brains is without a doubt the bus driver on our way to destination

brand purchase.

Buyers rationalise using a part of the brain called the neo-cortex which is the seat

of language and reason. But emotion resides in our older, limbic brain. The limbic

system is the seat of emotion. The limbic brain does not use language it expresses

in feelings and drives behaviour. It has no capability to do speech and that’s why

we struggle to verbally communicate our feelings.

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Ever had a hard time trying to explain to your husband why you couldn’t live

without those Jimmy Choo’s. It just felt right didn’t it? Now go explain to him why

those new golf clubs really isn’t necessary.

So where does storytelling fit into all of this? Nothing pulls at the heart strings like a

compelling story. Stories are the glue that keep facts together and makes them

sticky. So if we are able to clothe truths in an authentic, entertaining, emotive and

novel story we force people to consider us.

Michael Margolis founder of Getstoried.com has this to say about brand story

telling:

1. When we name something, our relationship with it transforms.

“If a cow is given a name by her owner, she generates more milk than a cow

that’s treated as an anonymous member of the herd,” according to a research

study by Newcastle University.

Names provide us with purpose and direction, often revealing the inner purpose

(There’s that Why thing again) and destiny we are expected to fulfil. Those names

impart an energetic connection that shapes us through the stories we tell.

Brands operate in a similar way. A brand represents the complex emotional

relationship between the storyteller – the one who is sharing something about that

brand – and the audience. Put in a more traditional context, a brand represents

the emotional relationship between a consumer and a product. Your brand is

only as strong as the stories people tell about you.

2. Brands and names are psychic containers for the meaning of stuff.

Nearly anything can be branded. It’s a natural human impulse to want to put a

name to the images, energy, and patterns that are a part of a shared

experience, event, or relationship. Consider Fast Company’s 2008 article titled,

“The Brand Called Obama.” That campaign marked the first time in election

history where a president, along with all that his story encompassed, was so

clearly and powerfully branded.

Personal branding is a relatively new phenomenon, accelerated by social media

including blogs, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Even if you would rather avoid

the personal branding movement, you may have difficulty doing so. Because

when you don’t craft and maintain your brand story, other people will do it for

you. Can you afford to outsource your storytelling?

Building successful relationships for your brand or your business comes down to

the stories you tell as well as the stories other people tell about you.

3. Every storyteller has a brand and every brand has a story.

A storyteller can’t be separated from his or her story. If you google yourself, you’ll

see that you already have a brand, whether or not you’ve had a hand in

creating it. (Really? Googling yourself now? You’re so vain you probably think this

article is about you……..So what if it’s a Carly Simon reference). The real question

to ask yourself is “What value does my brand have?” Or, what stories are people

telling about me? People remember stories more than they remember names.

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Take a careful look at the stories you see being told about you online. Do they

reflect the story you wanted or expected to be told?

4. We all need something to believe in.

What do you stand for? What do you fight for? Your brand story needs to define

how it sees the world. Seth Godin, reminds us, “Great stories agree with our

worldview. The best stories don’t teach people anything new. Instead, the best

stories agree with what the audience already believes and make them feel smart

and secure when reminded how right they were in the first place.”

You want your story to become their story. As your audience sees their own

values, hopes, and dreams in the story you create, they will deepen their

emotional connection to your brand. Brand Fans baby! (Can I get a Boom?

No?....)

5. Brand stories shape culture.

How do you hope to change and improve people’s lives? Consider how iPods

have transformed our music listening habits. Think about how Ubuntu and other

open-source communities are shifting the way we interact with technology. Just

as we are hard-wired for storytelling, we are hard-wired for brands.

“Move your listeners hearts and their feet and wallet will follow” Peter Guber

author of Tell to Win

Don’t let this be your story…………………………………

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4. Yes I am talking to you.

Marketers have found that the demographic profile of a target market, while

helpful, is limiting. The demographic describes a target market in terms of its

socioeconomic characteristics. It sheds little light into how the target market

behaves, how it thinks, its interests, its passions, its lifestyle and its values. Marketers

sometimes call these behavioural characteristics the internal reality, which

describes the target market in terms of its psychographic profile.

But how do we get to the masses because that’s where we make the real money.

True, but it also costs a lot of bribes to sway that folk. Short lived promotions can

get you those spikes. It’s a bit like having a lot of one night stands. How do we get

to a loving long term relationship with your customer? Here’s a clue, slutty brand

behaviour is not the answer.

A lot of single guys can attest that a girl may go out with you for an after work

cocktail but that doesn’t make her your girlfriend. Cause Frank will come next

week and take her to Beluga and buy her sushi and drive her around Camps Bay

in his M3 and she won’t respond to your whatsapp messages and that expensive

dating agency that was supposed to understand what women wants

suggests………….Sorry I digress. F#*ing Frank, if only I had his budget.

Let me introduce you to my little friend, something called the Diffusion of

Innovation curve.

The Law Of Diffusion of Innovation, introduced by Everett M. Rogers, explains how

innovations spread through society that can be broken up into 5 segments.

1. Innovators (2.5%) – This group pursue new products or ideas aggressively

and have a very high need for novelty and being first. They are a small

percentage and they challenge the rest of us to see the world a little

differently.

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2. Early Adopters (13.5%) – This group appreciates and recognize the value

brought on by new ideas and technologies and are willing to suffer an

inconvenience and pay more for products that feels right. They trust their

gut. Early adopters are also willing to spread ideas and really drive word of

mouth.

3. Early Majority (34%) – This group is more practically minded with a slight

level of comfort for new ideas and technologies. However, they will not try

a new product until the Joneses get it.

4. Late Majority (34%) – This group is also practically minded. Practical factors

matter more and will not try something until someone else has tried it first.

5. Laggards (16%) – This group usually only accepts new technologies or

ideas because they have no other options. These are the people who are

using touch-phones because rotary phones are no longer available. If it is

not broken why should we fix it?

But, you may say, I sell mass market products so I need to get to the good stuff

fast. Have you ever tried to skip from first base straight to 3rd base? It almost never

ends well for you. By the way we are using a baseball analogy here

Mistake #1: Marketing to innovators

You would think this would be a smart move, right? Innovators are risk takers, they

dive right in, and they probably will pay a bit extra. These are all great things, but

unfortunately, innovators are also selfish! They want exclusivity. They will likely keep

the new thing to themselves. (I really hate when that happens). Market to them

and you will probably gain a sale, but the word will not spread very far.

Mistake #2: Marketing to the laggards

The world is full of laggards and people that just won’t move until they want to or

are forced to. Don’t waste your time on them. They are probably not going to buy

your product until they ready or dead. (I’m betting on dead). Often times,

wonderful inventions and technologies pass them by because they write it off as

a trend or fad. But even after trends become social norms they often still don’t

care.

Mistake #3: Marketing to majority

This is a risk-averse group for the simple reason that they don’t like feeling stupid.

They need peers endorsement or social proof. They will play it safe and unless you

spend huge amounts of money to drive awareness as well as promotional and

price campaigns it is almost futile to convince them to purchase. They will love

you at mothers-day and other promotional periods but go back to their slutty

Brand behaviour when you return to your inevitable every day pricing strategy.

SKANK! What this target market and especially the early majority respond to is

word of mouth from people they trust and who they see as opinion leaders.

We should be targeting the Early Adopters.

Due to the size (only 13.5%) of this segment it is more affordable to converse with

them. Size doesn’t always matter but influence does and these guys have bucket

loads of this.

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1. When early adopters vet our product or service, they create a situation

where the early and late majority are comfortable buying from us. If the

early adopters have tried it, liked it, and approved it, then the majority is

more likely to jump on board.

2. Early adopters give our product or service the social credibility we need to

convince the majority that our product works. We can tell our targets how

great the product or service is until we are blue in the face, but coming

from our mouths it doesn’t mean much. Early adopters give you the social

proof that you need to build trust.

3. The majority of our audience will ignore advertisers, but will listen to the

early adopters. By interrupting our target audience repeatedly with

commercials and advertisements, we have trained them to ignore us. But

when early adopters talk, the early & late majority are listening and taking

notes. Once the early adopters embrace what we are selling, they will sell

it to the majority…not us.

Early adopters may fit a range of stereotypes, but a study by Forrester Research

that marries their “techno-graphic” profiles with psychological theories found that

three key drivers compel early adopters:

Risk Taking

A desire for novelty that exceeds caution and reflects a “universal openness to

new experiences, including new products.... They are willing to take a chance on

a product with little to no market history. There is also a desire to be first.

Information Gathering

“There is an informational burden that needs to be overcome for new products,

and early adopters are more likely to seek out the information needed to inform

their adoption decisions.” But they also “seek to mitigate risk through information.”

Status seeking

Early adopters take pride in showing off their purchases.

Early adopters choose products that represent them to the world—their

preferences as well as their social status.” It’s the old Thorstein Veblen’s

“conspicuous consumption” discovery, dating back to 1899, that explains that

people accumulate “stuff” as way to convey status.

It is expensive to talk to everyone and the reality is most of them do not want to

hear from you. So stop phoning me on my cell phone offering me a fabulous deal

for two new phones and free weekend minutes, argh. I miss rotary landline

phones.

5. TV is dead. Long live TV.

It is interesting how people fight to convince one another that This medium is

better than That one. Dude I’m telling you, digital is the way. Come on now Bro,

no one has ever been fired for suggesting a TV ad. Playa please! It’s all about

mobile.

I think we be missing the plot. How we consume media, information etc. is just the

tool to reach a particular audience. It is an enabler. Some mediums are more

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appropriate given how, where and when people interact with messages. What

no one is answering is why the consumer should care.

Content management is a buzzword that’s been on a lot of peoples tongues for

quite a while and it’s a broad topic that needs its own paper. The crux for me is

not the vehicle we use but what is the story or narrative we are projecting on

these mediums (see Tell me a story)

I believe there is still a place for traditional mediums and that a good Brand story

can live everywhere. Our concern is to ensure that we tell that authentic,

engaging, emotive and entertaining story in a commercially viable way using

vehicles that is convenient for our target audience.

People often ask me if a medium like TV is still relevant and effective. My answer

is……Do you have a good story? And by the way who said you can’t utilize

traditional media to set up a platform and then take the conversation into a

digital space. Because surprise, surprise you can have the best of both worlds.

An example that I often bring up and show to people is the Chrysler 200 ad that

flighted on TV only once during halftime at the 2011 Super Bowl. When I first saw it I

was like wow, this ad really kicked me in the crop. (Who talks like this?) I don’t

think the car is a particularly good looking vehicle but I suddenly saw Chrysler in a

completely new light. I was obsessed to know more about this ad and whether it

brought any success for Chrysler.

Here are the cold hard facts:

It only flighted on TV once. Elicited a powerful emotional response while

tempting viewers to go online to learn more about the featured product

14m youtube hits in 2011

5 awards at Cannes Festival of creativity

won the 2011 Emmy Award for best commercial

But sometimes marketers get off track chasing social media metrics, but that

can’t be the goal. The goal is always to sell the product. (and don’t forget earning

Love )

Drove growth in shopping consideration by 1619% on the Chrysler 200

Consideration for the Chrysler 300 virtually doubled in the week after the

Super Bowl even though that vehicle was not mentioned in the Super Bowl

ad

Created a halo effect with total Chrysler consideration up 267%

Chrysler sales rose by 26%

Market share grew 1.3 percentage points, best of all automakers.

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Below is two links. One is to the actual ad and I want you to watch it and just feel

it for a bit. Don’t analyse it. Don’t rationalize it just go with the emotions and let it

simmer for a few seconds.

The next link is of Joe Staples who is one of the creative heads that worked on this

campaign. In this clip Joe eloquently explains Why they created the ad. This is

Storytelling at its best.

Chrysler Born of Fire

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKL254Y_jtc

Joe Staples

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJhnpCSKG74

Now watch it again.

I told you to watch these videos and because after about 10+ pages you may

feel like you know me and we building a bit of a trust relationship. Because we

are good mates now, you felt compelled to waste your expensive data on

checking out these clips. This is the power of word of mouth and viral. Word of

mouth will always be more potent in spreading the gospel.

So I tried to decode why we feel compelled to spread some ideas and not others.

Is there a science to it and can we build some magical ingredients into our work

to at least have some confidence that people will spread it. To design something

to go Viral is a lot harder than suggested. Most communication that does never

had the guarantee of spreading when it was conceived. But like any success

story there must be certain rules that will assist you in constructing a message with

the highest propensity to spread.

There are a few books written on this topic but the 3 that I can recommend that

assist in understanding elements that can make an idea sticky are the following

1. Chasing the Monster idea – Stefan Mumaw

2. Contagious – Jonah Berger

3. The viral video manifesto – Stephen Voltz & Fritz Grobe

All 3 books have got a different slant but at the core it looks at what makes ideas

sticky and lends itself to people sharing.

I created something that I call The Sticky Ven diagram using this literature (I know

terrible name, but maybe it will become sticky ) to vet ideas and measure if they

have a higher propensity to spread or create talk-ability. I hope it’s a tool that

can assist you in creating more compelling ideas.

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At the core you will see is emotion which is such an eye opener because a lot of

communication is so focussed on the rational at the expense of that human

connection. As mentioned in the “Tell me a Story” segment, purchase decisions

are driven by Rational and Emotional factors. People make their decisions

emotionally then justify it with facts through a rational process.

Even though Telling Stories only overlaps in Monster idea and Contagious the

reality is that it is so closely related to emotion that you could actually combine

the two factors. People post rationalise their buying behaviour using a part of the

brain called the neo cortex which is the seat of language and reason. But

emotion resides in our older, limbic brain. The limbic system is the seat of emotion.

The limbic brain does not use language it expresses in feelings and drives

behaviour. It has no capability to do speech and that’s why we struggle to

verbally communicate our feelings.

That’s why we sometimes say, it just felt right when the neo cortex is having a slow

day and we just can’t find justification for buying those Jimmy Choo’s and your

husband now wants a divorce.

Let’s tell more emotive stories. I love humour like the next guy but there are more

emotions in the human spectrum. If you think of that funny washing powder ad,

no I mean that funny insurance ad, wait a minute I’m actually referring to that

funny fast food ad……..Never mind you know which one I’m talking about.

Than authenticity and being novel is also key. Great brands know their truth and

they have the ability to maintain that truth throughout the various touch points

they create. We call this the brands True north. It boils back to why we do what

we do. It is the purpose of the brand. If the brand is about entertaining than it

consistently needs to entertain.

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As Simon says: people buy “Why” you do what you do as oppose to “What” you

do. Through applying this at the core of everything they do they always lead with

their authentic truth.

How does Chrysler story stack up against the criteria mentioned above?

A few of the other areas that need explaining are using money shots. This is key in

a viral space which makes viral so different to a 30sec ad and why we often click

through on those TV ads that load before we get to that Youtube video we

wanted to see. On the web people don’t have a sec to waste so if you don’t

grab their attention from get go they will dismiss you. If the footage is not vital in

moving the story forward or to contextualize it’s not needed.

Triggers are about relating something back to your brand eg. the reason Bar One

is the first chocolate we think of when we hear the word coffee. Music is brilliant

at creating a trigger. Iconic music used in ads often reminds us of the brand. If

you can engineer a song that will become a potential hit and use it in your

communication it can become a powerful soundtrack and Trigger.

Social currency is our need to share ideas, stories etc. with people. People prefer

sharing things that make them seem entertaining rather than boring, clever rather

than stupid and hip rather than dull. When we hit that share or like button on

Facebook it says a lot about our taste and how cool we are. Just like we use

money to buy products we use social currency to achieve desired positive

impressions amongst our families, friends and colleagues.

Public is about visibility of our products in public spaces and how that self-

promotion assists the brands popularity. Think white earphones when the apple

launched the iPod. We look to other people to provide social proof that it’s ok to

be part of that clan. That’s how the Early and late Majority know when it’s OK to

buy new stuff.

Lastly, people like to pass on practical value. Useful things are important as it

strengthens social bonds. If I send a new Asian food recipe to a friend that loves

cooking I am providing real value.

So the more elements you can build into your communication or campaign the

larger the potential to create stickiness and fertile ground for people to share that

message. We all know that word of mouth marketing is still the strongest because

we value the opinion and advice of people we trust.

People do business with people that believe what they believe.

6. Marketing is too important to leave to Marketers.

A good friend who happens to be an accountant said this to me. Because unlike

most other business specialists, Marketers are always mocked about the value

they actually add. I’ve come to appreciate this statement because I do think the

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responsibility of promoting brands should run across all departments and

principles of the organization.

I always thought that you get people that think in words and numbers and then

you get those that think in pictures and in stories. So even though I had loads of

fun in art class, it ended abruptly as part of the curriculum in primary school. A few

years later I started getting decent grades in Accountancy and Math and I was

destined to become a serious businessman.

On paper this sounded logical and meant to be, but my attention span was

always marginal at best and I had a low boredom threshold. Combine this with a

few missed classes and an obsession to become the best card player campus

had ever seen my first year ended in tears. These were the days before online

poker became a viable career choice. In my second year I discovered that not

all business graduates need to become an accountant and that Business

Management and Marketing were real world career paths.

I never lost my flirtation with numbers but Marketing rekindled the artist in me and

my love for a good story. I always thought the combination of commercial

acumen and the artistry of telling a compelling story goes hand in hand in

creating great Marketing.

Conversations with my marketing colleagues made me realize that generally they

view management accountants as evil money hoggers that are there to make

them fail in their noble pursuit of Brand excellence. The accountants in return

thought of marketers as wannabe artists with a God complex that was not good

enough to make it at art school and treat budgets as a blank cheques to the

detriment of every employee’s bonus at year end.

I found this role play very fascinating because I knew that with better alignment

and some mutual respect for each other’s expertise the opportunities for real

Brand magic was immense. I see myself as a Marketer but I have the utmost

respect for the importance of commercialization throughout the lifecycle of

brands.

Often there is a chasm between brand strategy and the commercial optimization

of said strategy. Commercialization is a service often neglected and can derail

sound brand strategy. Even a great idea/story that is not efficiently executed will

fall short of stringent commercial objectives.

Commercialization should ensure that the bulk of the money spent in the

execution phase will maximize return on investment and also address that said

spend is targeted in the correct areas.

Because FD’s are returning to seats of power and driving business decisions you

got to check your inner artist at the door. I know I promised very little Jargon at

the beginning of this paper but if you want a seat at the new board table and be

taken seriously you got to speak the Finance lingo.

Commercial efficiency is about

1. Understanding quantitative data around sales and marketing expenses and

how to best align it. (What? You expect me to understand real numbers)

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2 Ensure commercial category knowledge is adhered too in the construct of

brand strategy.

3. Ensure that marketing spend aligns with brand strategy.

4. Highlight opportunities to increase ROI in the implementation of brand

strategy.

Commercialization can only happen if we ask the right questions?

1. When is the right time to introduce the product? What is the state of

economy/category. How confident are we that we will not cannibalize on our

other product sales and if so can we quantify.

2. Where is the right market to launch the product? It can be in a single location

or several regions. We often have this obsession with a mass market launch where

we could learn so much from a regional test market and then scale the insights to

build a more efficient national approach. Resources in the form of capital,

Operational capabilities, confidence etc. will all play a role.

3. Who will we primarily target? These primary consumer groups should consist of

early adopters and opinion leaders. (see yes I’m talking to you)

There is a saying that goes: “Don’t let the Facts get in the way of a good story.”

This may be great if you are a novelist or a Hollywood script writer but its shitty

advice when those Facts are financial indicators and you are trying to tell a

brand story.

7. So who is this Roy guy?

Return on investment. ROI is hardly ever heard and mostly what the FD need from

you. (Screw Hip Hop this is serious stuff and we bringing in some Billy Joel) You

would think there is an agreement on what we are measuring here. Can I tell you

how much it would cost to generate R1m in sales? I’m sure I can. Can I tell you

how we improve the efficiencies on a cost vs sales ratio? Yep. Reduce investment

in R&D, cut overheads, tweak quality yadda yadda. I love numbers there is an art

to them even though arty purists would disagree. A lot of very boring people have

given numbers a very bad name. As mentioned above ROI plays a major role in

the commercialization process.

But what about Social media? Can you get me more likes on Facebook?

Some girl liked a picture of me on Facebook. I inboxed her and ask if she loves me

and if we can be exclusive. Never heard from her again and for some strange

reason when I do a friend search her name does not appear.

How do we measure love? Should we introduce a new metric called ROL?

(Return on Love) People always talk about brands with a loyal following as a love

mark. Does love really not cost a thing as Jenny from the Block once proclaimed?

(Hip Hop is back baby)

Because there is such a strong emotive driving force behind our brand decisions

the purist or the rational arguments around ROI will always be muddy at best.

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Most marketers have a very one night stand, promotional campaign approach to

strategy. Let’s do this promotion get some instant gratification and applaud as

our market share spike to a 4 week high. Let’s drive sales in April and lets hit

November hard again. You know what; if you are going to treat your customers

as a one night stand they will do the same to you.

Relationships are built on trust and trust is built over time. Are you building brands

or adding notches to the bedpost. Let’s not be shy to ask the hard questions. Is

your brand prone to slutty behaviour?

We need to start measuring longer term yields based on sound strategy over

periods ranging from 12 to 18months.

8. Don’t hate the playa, hate the Game.

Bigger brands will always have more money than you and they will always win

over more people because the world is unfair and it sucks. But is that really what is

going on here or are we missing a trick.

I was convinced that Frank was out spending me to get Rebecca’s attention. I

wasn’t taking it lying down and even had a focus group with Rebecca’s friends

and peers to establish why she wasn’t digging my swag. I still didn’t get an

adequate answer. It ranged from more dinners (promotions) to “be funnier” to

“just be yourself” At that stage being myself was a very fluid concept because I

would be any “me” Rebecca would want me to be. And that’s when the

schizophrenia set it. Even friends that knew me for years were like bro you’ve

changed, not sure we wanna hang with you anymore. Rebecca would still go out

with me occasionally but I always felt I had to top the previous time. I knew I was

in trouble when on my last date I used my rent money to get us golden circle

tickets to see Josh Groban. I didn’t feel lifted up and I was clearly not standing on

mountains. I don’t even like Josh Groban.

I knew I hit rock bottom when I saw Rebecca and Frank a week later at a dodgy

bar during happy hour nursing their “buy one get one free” drinks looking more in

love than Brad and Angie before they adopted their 24 children. It seems I got

Frank all wrong. There was something more going on other than his bigger

budget. Maybe Rebecca wasn’t the gold digger I made her out to be. (Can I get

a witness Kanye) Maybe……..and it hurts me too admit it…….maybe she was just

not that into me.

Just for clarity sake this is an analogy and Rebecca is taking the place of a

consumer with Frank and I being the competitor brands. Any hint of realism is

purely coincidental and the author would like to distance himself from any

suggestion that this scenario is anything but fictional.

Now that we got that disclaimer out of the way…….

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I needed to educate myself and I knew I had to start watching what successful

brands like Frank did to trigger this affection and loyalty. I hate to admit this but I

started stalking Frank.

I realised that I was creating rational reasons for Rebecca choosing “old Frankie

with the receding hair” over me. Frank stopped dating Rebecca but he always

had a bevy of beauties around him and he caught me staring one day, walked

over to me and introduced himself. I said hi, held out my hand but my inner

dialogue went something like……..You are short and you have even less hair up

close and I know you spike girls drinks, I hope you get hit by a bus.

Frankie befriended me, completely surprised me with his consistent authenticity,

his humour, his disarming honesty, his great stories that had the whole bar

engaged and just being a transparently good guy.

I’m embarrassed to say a few weeks ago I got into a fight. Some guy was talking

smack about my mate Frank. When another friend confronted me I post

rationalized. Dude, you don’t fight WTF. I was like….. I wasn’t defending anyone

but the Oke stepped on my Stan Smiths and no one f*#s with my Adidas.

9. My Agency brings all the brands to the Yard.

So, the account executive said, just for clarity sake, you want me to think “outside

the box” and come up with a brand solution while spending R2m on a Media

campaign on a national channel that will reach women 18 -25, LSM 8 -10. Oh and

to make sure we focus on the functional benefits of our new cleaning product

that works just as well as the category leader but will be 20% less at launch.

You have to love this kind of brief because after fitting all the mandatory

requirements in the box there really is no other space available other than outside

the box. Unless management provides you with a bigger box, then you can put

Jack in there and pleasantly surprise everyone at the pitch.

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What is fascinating is this idea that everyone is looking for the next big idea but

only if is very similar to the last big idea or the one big idea that has worked for our

main competitor. Because we all are looking for certainty and find ways to

mitigate risk and still lay claim to the next big thing.

It is like wanting the thrill and bragging rights of a bungee jump without

experiencing the scary bits. Consider this quote from Howard Aiken, a former IBM

engineer: "Don't worry about other people stealing your ideas. If your ideas are

any good, you'll have to ram them down people's throats." Why is it so difficult to

convince people of the merits of a fresh approach?

Could it be that brand problems became so complex that there is just no clear

solution in sight? A wicked problem is defined as a problem that is so complex

that there is no definitive statement to it; in fact, there is a broad disagreement of

what the problem is. There may be no agreement on the problem, its nature, its

goals, and its consequences among its multiple stakeholders. Obviously, without

a definitive statement of the problem there is no definitive solution either.

Wicked problems force us to work “outside the box.” We do not really “solve”

wicked problems; rather we “design” more or less effective solutions based on

how we define the problem.

Increasingly, today’s CEOs, Strategists and Marketers face wicked problems for

which they are ill equipped.

In a survey sponsored by Neutron and Stanford University, 1,500 top executives

were asked to identify the wickedest problems plaguing their companies.

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1. Balancing long-term goals with short-term demands.

2. Predicting the returns on innovative concepts

3. Innovating at the increasing speed of change – organizational agility

4. Winning the war by world-class talent

5. Combining profitability with social responsibility

6. Protecting margins in a commoditizing industry

7. Multiplying success by collaborating across silos

8. Finding unclaimed yet profitable market space

9. Addressing the challenge of eco-sustainability

10. Aligning strategy with customer experience

These are wicked problems and some of them were not on a radar 10 years ago

so the chances of solving them through experience and everyday business

resources alone has got limited chance of success.

This looks like pretty dreary territory for brands to be in and how do you even

begin to address this?

The best way is to collaborate with objective opinion based parties that will bring

the following characteristics to the party.

1. Independent and objective no allegiance to any specific service provider

2. Cross functional (because marketing is too important to leave to marketers)

3. Brave. Because if it doesn’t scare you, it will not change the game.

4. Collaboration. Are you willing to park that ego at the door?

5. Willing to lead with why you exist as oppose to what you do.

But I’m sure my agency will be able to handle this because bigger is always

better.

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Service providers like advertising agencies and marketing consultancies will have

to take heed of the ever chancing complex Brand environments we navigate.

The focus need to shift towards solving business and Brand challenges through

intelligent and purposeful design through collaboration beyond traditional means.

Here's to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs

in the square holes... the ones who see things differently ... Steve Jobs

Steve understood that design can create solutions. He knew how to address

wicked problems. He was brave and brave people and brave Brands leave

legacies.

1. Who is solving your brand/business problems?

People need to ask if advertising can solve all their brand problems. If not what

do agencies offer beyond ads whether that is conventional ads or in a digital

space. If my brand has adequate awareness levels how do I improve market

share and the answer is not necessarily an on pack promotion or a price off. In

the end the solution to a brand problem could be anything from a product,

design, a process, education, packaging, new services, advertising, digital tools,

events and or social media activities. The new agency model would define itself

as problem solvers. Most agencies do but the proof is in their structure as well as

the capabilities of their service offering.

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2. Who’s telling your story

Storytellers are key. Writers would always be an essential part of the team. Not

necessarily copywriters. You need people who truly could write and tell stories.

Hell maybe you need people that write screenplays, work in theatre and other

things that touches your heart.

3. Design should be at the core

Consumers expect nothing but excellence and that is possible through design.

The focus need to shift towards solving business and Brand challenges through

intelligent and purposeful design through collaboration beyond traditional means.

Design goes beyond hours on a Mac and creative direction. Business today face

problems that is quite complex. Who is designing your solutions and are they well

equipped to do so?

4. Charge for ideas not production

What? Yes I said it. When you run an agency that solves problems and tell brand

stories the revenue model of old makes no sense. Agencies that are built around

making money through production, eventually leads to ideas that are made to

make money for the agency not the client. Production will become a

commodity, great ideas never will. Smart Brand owners understand this.

5. Collaborate with engineers, architects and industrial designers. (a Rocket

scientist if need be)

The big problems in the future will not be how to advertise but how to enhance

the brand offering using product and service innovation. Future branding will be

all about solving complex (wicked) problems for clients by whatever means it

takes.

10. Follow the leader

I sat in an innovation workshop a few years ago amongst mid and top

management and we were discussing ways to innovate and take the company

to the next level. While there were a lot of discussions focussed around products

and strategy it bugged me that nobody was talking talent. I couldn’t understand

why none of the junior brand teams were included when there was a lot of

discussion around bringing in fresh faces to drive new approaches and innovative

ideas. I never got an adequate answer but today I realised that leadership has a

lot more to do with your actions than what is said.

“Companies that are made up of clusters of leaders will actually accelerate their

growth by speeding up their rate of innovation as their competition pulls back,

build better teams by investing in people while their rivals shrink training budgets,

and pick up top talent as their industry peers lay people off. And so fast

companies understand that unsettling times are actually gifts for them and these

periods should be used to get so far ahead of the competition that they can

26

never catch up.”

― Robin S. Sharma, The Leader Who Had No Title

People often confuse management with leadership. Managers control and

motivate, Leaders enable and inspire.

Counting value vs Creating value You’re probably counting value, not adding it, if

you’re managing people. Only managers count value; some even reduce value

by disabling those who add value. If a diamond cutter is asked to report every 15

minutes how many stones he has cut, by distracting him, his boss is subtracting

value.

By contrast, leaders focus on creating value, saying: “I’d like you to handle A

while I deal with B.” He or she generates value over and above that which the

team creates, and is as much a value-creator as his or her followers are. Leading

by example and leading by enabling people are the hallmarks of action-based

leadership.

Circles of influence vs Circles of power Just as managers have subordinates and

leaders have followers, managers create circles of power while leaders create

circles of influence.

The quickest way to figure out which of the two you’re doing is to count the

number of people outside your reporting hierarchy who come to you for advice.

The more it happens the more likely it is that you are perceived to be a leader.

Leading people vs Managing work. Management consists of controlling a group

or a set of entities to accomplish a goal. Management at its core is about

balancing time, quality and money. Based on the business objective it may slant

towards one corner of this triangle to the detriment of the other factors.

Leadership refers to an individual’s ability to influence and enable others to

contribute toward organizational success. Influence and inspiration separate

leaders from managers, not power and control.

Simon Sinek says in his new book called” Leaders eat Last” I know of no case

study in history that describes an organization that has been managed out of a

crisis. Every single one of them was led.

Marine leaders are expected to eat last because the true price of leadership is

the willingness to place the needs of others above your own. Great leaders truly

care about those they are privileged to lead and understand that the true cost of

the leadership privilege comes at the expense of self-interest.

Are we building organizations that will create the next generation of great

marketers or are we micro managing every move because really…….what do

these kids know?

The Litmus test could be to watch management at the next conference and see

if table nr 1 gets served first. Maybe it is oversimplifying the issue but it’s still a fun

game.

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11. How to get fired like a Rock Star

**Please read disclaimer at the end

There is something that’s been bugging me for a long time about brand

communication. Why do we use the same tools and the same story lines to

communicate diverse products and services? As mentioned earlier there is a

place and time for most mediums and I am a sucker for storytelling, but here is the

thing……….don’t bore us.

Homework: Watch 10 ads tonight and before the big, brand reveal at the end

see if you can guess which brand it is and see if you can differentiate between

the financial service ad and the washing powder one.

I think if brand custodians start seeing themselves as consumers first and how they

like to be communicated too they will stop listening to the “advertising experts”

Industry gurus still insist that demographic segmentation is the be all and end all of

targeting consumers, that big media is a non-negotiable to increase brand

awareness, and that humour (or an attempt at it) will make all brands thrive.

We call this the safe option because there is a saying that goes “No Marketer has

ever been fired for suggesting a TV ad”

The big Multi nationals have deep pockets and Big media is not going away

anytime soon. These channels are not always the most efficient for every brand

and the Connection economy is going to insist that more Brave marketers

question the wisdom of throwing a few mil at a particular medium and hope it

resonate with their target.

There will come a time in the near future when you start to lose market share and

you will brief your agency to address this. They may come back with a storyboard

of the quirky husband that throws a tantrum in the supermarket because his wife

does not want to buy his favourite baked beans and then start to dance for no

apparent reason.

At this exact juncture, look at your boss and say: ‘If we produce this ad I am

burning this Bitch down” Walk to your desk and collect the pre-packed box with

your personal belongings and get the hell out of there. Do not pass Start, do not

collect the R200 and don’t wait for the “We are letting you go due to

subordination or your bad attitude” speech.

**Disclaimer: Please think about your options prior to pulling this stunt. The title is

not ‘How to get fired like a Rock Star and proceed to land a six figure job at

Google” The author will not take responsibility for your actions and will not provide

financial assistance while you search for new employment.

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12. The End

There are some really great minds out there that has really inspired me to question

some of the thinking prevalent in Marketing today. Guys like Seth Godin, Stanley

Hainsworth, Simon Sinek, Tom Fishburne, Michael Margolis and the list goes on.

There are some South African Marketing Rock Stars in the making. My request to

the Marketing gatekeepers out there is give these kids a platform to play their

music.

13. References

Books

Berger, Jonah (2013). Contagious. Great Britain Simon & Schuster UK Ltd

Godin, Seth (2012). The Icarus Deception USA Portfolio/Penguin

Guber, Peter (2011). Tell to Win USA Crown Business

Middleton, Simon (2012). Brand new You UK Hay House

Millman, Debbie (2011). Brand new You USA Allworth Press

Mumaw, Stefan (2011). Chasing the Monster Idea USA Wiley

Lindstrom, Martin (2008). Buy.ology USA Doubleday

Lois, George (2012). Damn Good Advice (for people with talent) USA Phaidon

Press Limited

Sharma, Robin (2011). The Secret Letters of the Monk who sold his Ferrari Canada

HarperCollins

Signorelli, Jim (2012). StoryBranding USA Greenleaf Book Group Press

Sinek, Simon (2003). Start with Why. USA Portfolio Penguin

Smith, Paul (2012). Lead with a story. USA AMACOM

Voltz, Stephen & Grobe, Fritz (2013). The Viral Video Manifesto. USA McGraw-Hill

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Online Articles / Websites

A Tale of Two Chickens (2010)

Available: http://www.today.mccombs.utexas.edu/2010/04/do-you-make-

buying-decisions-based-on-logic-or-emotion-a-tale-of-two-chickens

Forget about the masses, Target the influencers.

Available: http://edit-ability.net/blog/2012/04/11/forget-about-the-masses-target-

the-influencers/

Brand Storytelling 101 (2012)

Available: https://www.getstoried.com/brand-storytelling-101/

How Chrysler Drove Real Sales, Not Just Social Media Buzz (2012)

Available: http://www.commpro.biz/advertising/how-chrysler-drove-sales-not-

buzz-lessons-from-last-years-most-successful-super-bowl-ad/

Tom Fishburne blog (2014)

Available: http://blogs.hbr.org/2013/08/tests-of-a-leadership-transiti/

Three Differences Between Managers and Leaders (2013)

Available: http://blogs.hbr.org/2013/08/tests-of-a-leadership-transiti/

Video

Chrysler Eminem Super Bowl Commercial - Imported From Detroit (2013)

Available: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKL254Y_jtc

Joe Staples on Chrysler's "Born of Fire" (2013)

Available: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJhnpCSKG74

Fernanda Romano on Dulux's "Let's Color Project" (2011)

Available: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvSBXcD25A4

Peter Guber and Tony Robbins: The Stories We Tell (2013)

Available: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PI7yqMmsXp0

Simon Sinek, An Experiment in Humanity (2011)

Available: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OznuU2GK37s

TEDxMaastricht - Simon Sinek - "First why and then trust" (2011)

Available: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VdO7LuoBzM

Creating a loved brand by telling a story: Tether (2010)

Available: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejSSLzaJplw

Winning the Story Wars: Jonah Sachs at TEDxRainier (2013)

Available: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvaPF_y-fiU

Awe!thenticity: Mark Ecko at TEDxMidwest (2012)

Available: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_fJ3wMuhAc

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Tom Fishburne - Content Worth Sharing (2013)

Available: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsBXRsb-484