Is your offer competitive?

Hidden Costs of Marketing#4


Many hidden costs can drag a campaign into the red. If you can anticipate these losses you can abort a loser before it happens.

Uncompetitive offers don't thrill customers. They can kill sales.

An offer can be unable to compete because:

... your cost structure puts you at a disadvantage;

... a failure to differentiate from the competition;

... your product lacks innovation;

...failure to react to competitive moves.

Do you know what your competition is doing, thinking, planning? Don't assume anuything. IGNORANCE IS A CHARGE AGAINST THE BOTTOM LINE. Is your senior management afraid of standing out and doing some kick-ass creative? LACK OF COURAGE IS A CHARGE AGAINST THE BOTTOMLINE. Are you the low cost leader in your market? CORPORATE FLABBINESS COSTS.

MK

COPYSCHOOL IS IN

John Caples is the Grand Wizard of Copy. His innovations are still not understood by most copywriters. Here is his most famous ad. Notice how it 'vocalises' - and creates mind images. (The entire long copy ad is reproduced here for later discussion about his 'back end' in a later post.)



[Headline]

They Laughed When I Sat Down At the Piano But When I Started to Play! --

[Caption]

"Can he really play?" a girl whispered. "Heavens no!" Arthur exclaimed. "He never played a note in his life."

[Body Copy]

Arthur had just played "The Rosary." The room rang with applause. I decided that this would be a dramatic moment for me to make my debut. To the amazement of all my friends, I strode confidently over to the piano and sat down.

"Jack is up to his old tricks," somebody chuckled. The crowd laughed. They were all certain that I couldn't play a single note.

"Can he really play?" I heard a girl whisper to Arthur.

"Heavens, no!" Arthur exclaimed "He never played a note in all his life... But just you watch him. This is going to be good."

I decided to make the most of the situation. With mock dignity I drew out a silk handkerchief and lightly dusted off the piano keys. Then I rose and gave the revolving piano stool a quarter of a turn, just as I had seen an imitator of Paderewski do in a vaudeville sketch.

"What do you think of his execution?" called a voice from the rear.

"We're in favor of it!" came back the answer, and the crowd rocked with laughter.

[Subhead]

Then I Started to Play

[Body Copy]

Instantly a tense silence fell on the guests. The laughter died on their lips as if by magic. I played through the first few bars of Beethoven's immortal Moonlight Sonata. I heard gasps of amazement. My friends sat breathless -- spellbound!

I played on and as I played I forgot the people around me. I forgot the hour, the place, the breathless listeners. The little world I lived in seemed to fade -- seemed to grow dim -- unreal. Only the music was real. Only the music and visions it brought me. Visions as beautiful and as changing as the wind blown clouds and drifting moonlight that long ago inspired the master composer. It seemed as if the master musician himself were speaking to me -- speaking through the medium of music -- not in words but in chords. Not in sentences but in exquisite melodies!

[Subhead]

A Complete Triumph!

[Body Copy]

As the last notes of the Moonlight Sonata died away, the room resounded with a sudden roar of applause. I found myself surrounded by excited faces. How my friends carried on! Men shook my hand -- wildly congratulated me -- pounded me on the back in their enthusiasm! Everybody was exclaiming with delight -- plying me with rapid questions... "Jack! Why didn't you tell us you could play like that?"... "Where did you learn?" -- "How long have you studied?" -- "Who was your teacher?"

"I have never even seen my teacher," I replied. "And just a short while ago I couldn't play a note."

"Quit your kidding," laughed Arthur, himself an accomplished pianist. "You've been studying for years. I can tell."

"I have been studying only a short while," I insisted. "I decided to keep it a secret so that I could surprise all you folks."

Then I told them the whole story.

"Have you ever heard of the U.S. School of Music?" I asked.

A few of my friends nodded. "That's a correspondence school, isn't it?" they exclaimed.

"Exactly," I replied. "They have a new simplified method that can teach you to play any instrument by mail in just a few months."

[Subhead]

How I Learned to Play Without a Teacher

[Body Copy]

And then I explained how for years I had longed to play the piano.

"A few months ago," I continued, "I saw an interesting ad for the U.S. School of Music -- a new method of learning to play which only cost a few cents a day! The ad told how a woman had mastered the piano in her spare time at home -- and without a teacher! Best of all, the wonderful new method she used, required no laborious scales -- no heartless exercises -- no tiresome practising. It sounded so convincing that I filled out the coupon requesting the Free Demonstration Lesson.

"The free book arrived promptly and I started in that very night to study the Demonstration Lesson. I was amazed to see how easy it was to play this new way. Then I sent for the course.

"When the course arrived I found it was just as the ad said -- as easy as A.B.C.! And, as the lessons continued they got easier and easier. Before I knew it I was playing all the pieces I liked best. Nothing stopped me. I could play ballads or classical numbers or jazz, all with equal ease! And I never did have any special talent for music!"

[Subhead]

Play Any Instrument

[Body Copy]

You too, can now teach yourself to be an accomplished musician -- right at home -- in half the usual time. You can't go wrong with this simple new method which has already shown 350,000 people how to play their favorite instruments. Forget the old-fashioned idea that you need special "talent." Just read the list of instruments in the panel, decide which one you want to play and the U.S. School will do the rest. And bear in mind no matter which instrument you choose, the cost in each case will be the same -- just a few cents a day. No matter whether you are a mere beginner or already a good performer, you will be interested in learning about this new and wonderful method.

[Subhead]

Send for Our Free Booklet and Demonstration Lesson

[Body Copy]

Thousands of successful students never dreamed they possessed musical ability until it was revealed to them by a remarkable "Musical Ability Test" which we send entirely without cost with our interesting free booklet.

If you are in earnest about wanting to play your favorite instrument -- if you really want to gain happiness and increase your popularity -- send at once for the free booklet and Demonstration Lesson. No cost -- no obligation. Right now we are making a Special offer for a limited number of new students. Sign and send the convenient coupon now -- before it's too late to gain the benefits of this offer. Instruments supplied when needed, cash or credit. U.S. School of Music, 1031 Brunswick Bldg., New York City

"I have a dream" (See below)

Hidden Costs #3: Foregone returns

... because creative is bland, me-too (client allowed to dictate creative, work done by inhouse creatives, agency unable to sell the creative, etc.);

... because no offer/proposition included to stimulate response;

... because distribution inadequate;

... because channels not 'greased' with promotion/communication to alert their customer-facing staff;

... because there is no brand discipline so exposure of campaign does not increase the asset value of the brand.

COPY SCHOOL IS IN!

Speechifying, not.

Writing copy is not like writing a speech. Even though a speech is vocalised. The difference between speech-writing and copywriting is the level of intimacy which means talking in the ear of one person, not standing on a soapbox.

Speeches can be powerful, but they rely on the human dynamic of proximity to others while consuming the message to give them their strength.

For instance, here is one of the most powerful speeches in history: The Gettysburg Address by President Abraham Lincoln.
It self-consciously speechifies. Compare it to the words of Martin Luther king where he deaprts from the script and speaks directly to the people as if to a single person.

THE GETTYSBURG ADDRESS

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate—we can not consecrate—we can not hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

MARTIN LUTHER KING March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom — August 28, 1963

I have a dream... that one day... this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.” I have a dream... that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood. I have a dream... that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today.

Hidden Costs of Marketing #2 (No joke)

Hi,

There are some costs which cannot be easily calcuated, but which, if included in a project's P&L, might cause the project to be abandoned.

Hidden Cost #2: Foregone profits by...

... poor pricing strategy (too high, too low)
... poor product integrity, causing recall costs, product replacement costs, etc.
... poor packaging/point of sale/channels management to convert investment in awareness and demand creation to sales.

Cheers!

MK

COPY SCHOOL IS IN

What tone of voice works best? If you are selling your services as an investment advisor or the steward of your prospect's money, perhaps a serious tone is best.

For everything else, I suggest you explore the potential for humour. People remember more information when it makes them laugh. (Don't ask me why...) Humour is also a way to reach out to others. Laughing together unites people, according to one expert I heard on Tony Delroy's late night radio program on Tuesday night. For instance, she solves problems between Indigenous communities and whites by getting them to laugh together. Humour is also a good way to address difficult and sensitive issues, like
death. I'm serious.

For instance, here is a script I wrote for a dreary Funeral Insurance client:



VIDEO

Two males in close up, side of heads, facing each other. (Alas Smith & Jones style)

AUDIO

FAT MALE:Went to a funeral the other day.

THIN MALE: That’s sad. Whose was it.

FAT MALE: Mother in law’s

THIN MALE: That’s aright then. You would have enjoyed that.

FAT MALE: I don’t like funerals.

THIN MALE; Why do you go then?

FAT MALE: To make sure she was dead. Besides if you don’t go to other people’s funerals they wont’ come to yours. Still, I wish I didn’t have gone to this one.

THIN MALE: Why? Wasn’t she gone? Did she sit up in the coffin?

FAT MALE: No, She was gone alright, but I had to pay!

THIN MALE: Pay to go to your mother-in-law’s funeral. How much?

FAT MALE: Never you mind… it was a lot. The old dear hadn’t left any money to pay for the funeral and the money in the will is frozen for who knows how long…

THIN MALE: Didn’t you tell her about that insurance you can get that covers all those expenses?

FAT MALE: Didn’t talk to her much. She was an angry woman. She left instructions to write on her headstone the words: “What are you looking at?” I stayed out of her way.

THIN MALE: Well that was a costly mistake.

FAT MALE: If I could have my time over again….

THIN MALE: Well you can. You don’t want to do the same thing to your own kids do you? [Hands him a telephone handset.] Here, call (Brand) Insurance and ask about the (Brand) Guaranteed Life Plan. You never know when you might be popping off these days, do you?

FAT MALE: Popping off? Do I look sick to you? I haven’t been feeling well…

THIN MALE; Better make that call right now. 0000 000000. Before it’s too late.

................

How did it perform? We will never now. The agency I freelanced for at the time did not have creative control of the account. The client did. The agency lived by the slogan of The Goodies: "We do anything for money." So no breakthrough was possible. (Warning to budding copywriters: You can only be as brilliant as your account management will allow you to be.

Here's another icky topic - menopause - treated with humour.

Radio 30s
Stand up comedy routine

SFX: Comedy bar

COMEDIENNE: If men went through menopause, hot flushes and night sweats would be another excuse for drinking lots of cold beer.

SFX: Laughter

COMEDIENNE: Mood swings would be something you worked out on the golf course.

SFX: Laughter

COMEDIENNE: If men went through menopause, back pain and low energy would be an excuse for watching even more sports on TV.

SFX: Laughter

COMEDIENNE: Low sex drive would be a cause for a national enquiry.

SFX: Laughter

MALE VOICE: If men went through menopause they’d understand what women go through.

(Brand) Because it’s your life.

Always read the label. Use only as directed. See your healthcare professional if symptoms persist.

..........

Hidden Costs of Marketing

Hi,

There are some costs which cannot be easily calcuated, but which, if included in a project's P&L, might cause the project to be abandoned.

Hidden Cost #1: Damage to the Brand...

... by alienating core customers
... by causing confusion about the brand's personality
... by causing negative media attitudes
... by creating negative regulator attitudes

In fact, any brand-eroding activity should be factored as a cost. If a brands value can be calculated, the loss of value can be estimated.

MK

PS. Tomorrow... Hidden Cost #2

OK. COPYSCHOOL IS IN.

Follow the Logic: Powerful copy resonates and speaks to a reader intimately. The reader hears the words deep within. To achieve such penetration, you must "speak" your copy to the reader as an individual. Speak as an individual to an individual. So when you write copy, write to a single person, someone you know who fits the profile of the target audience.

Two fundamental points here:

1. You speak as you.
2. As you would to an individual person.

That is the Zen of Copy. (MTC)

MK

Famous ads are always speaking in voices

Hi,

I searched high and low for the famous Saatchi & Saatchi ad about flies shitting on food before people eat it. It made S&S famous. I wanted to show you how the ad 'vocalises'. I couldn't find it, but I found the copy - it is used by insecticide companies in their markting materials. Listen to its voice...

"Flies cannot eat solid food, so to soften it up, they vomit on it. Then they stomp the vomit in to form a liquid, adding a few germs for good measure. After this, they suck it all back up again, dropping excrement all the while. And when they’ve finished eating – it’s your turn."

What do "vocal" ads have that "literary" ads don't?

They use short words, And short sentences. And vivd imagery.

CHeers!

Michael

Is there an easy way to write compelling headlines?

Hi,

Every piece of copy has to start somewhere. Like a speech or a conversation. In copy it is usually a headline or an opening statement. How do we approach writing a headline, using the vocalising technique?

Think of it this way: You've got news - great news for the person you are writing to. Imagine rushing into the room and blurting out your news... What's the first thing you would say?

That's your headline.

Cheers!

Michael

PS. The next line of copy is the second thing you would say in our imaginary situation. Speak your news.

Radio was Hitler's favourite

COPYSCHOOL IS IN: Hitler came on the scene just as radio was arriving as a mass medium. And he discovered something only people in radio know: the spoken word dramatised can reach into the soul of the listener. He used it to control Germany. The Nuremburg rallies were broadcast. RAdio is described as 'the theatre of the mind' by those who have been trained to write for the medium.

Maybe the same dynamic that makes radio so powerful - 'voices in my head' - makes copy that we subvocalise so enchanting.

EXERCISE: Listen to Under Milk Wood, by Dylan Thomas. The Richard Burton edition. A movie could not do it justice.

Just like the PM

Most voters vote on perceptions. Howard is the master political marketer. He knows that symbolic acts are the most powerful communications. He uses enquiries to convince voters that he's on the job. The Nuclear Power enquiry. The Carbon Trading enquiry. Staged events. Like Communist Chinese show trials in which the accused admit their guilt and are denounced by the masses and led out to execution.

What symbolic acts can you use to win the voters over in a public issue?

COPYSCHOOL IS IN:

When writing copy with your natural voice, don't think about where to start. Start wherever you like. It's your copy. Start talking.

Michael

Become a copy collector?

For the nano readers: "Carbon Neutral" is becoming a buzz. Look at your product or service. How can you ride the wave of enthusiasm for saving the planet? (I mean really ride the wave, don't just paddle around in the shallows.)

COPYSCHOOL IS IN:

Why am I dwelling on 'subvocalising'* in a course of instruction on 'finding your voice as a copywriter'? (I am sorry, if I have to answer that for you, you're not equipped for the rest of the course.)

People don't subvocalise all the time (Correction: really poor readers do). But most readers tend to subvocalise when they read: 1. poetry 2. letters from friends 3. difficult to understand information. There are probably other cases. (I am doing this research as we go, OK?)

what does this tell us? Poetry - drama and emotion. Letters - intimacy, personal. Hard info - need to know. What does this suggest to you?

Homework: Collect examples of copy that you find yourself subvocalising (hearing). File them. Ask others about their subvocalising experience.

*Hearing the words spoken in their head.

Copywriting: Lessons from Jesus and Shakespeare

For the non-copy nano readers: Why is Woolworths offering the same discount Coles is offering at the bowser (4¢ + 4¢)? Stalemate = guaranteed losses. Unless they are squeezing the others out of the market long term, to then set about plundering...? Driving retail sales inside? (Afterall they are shopkeepers, not oil companies.)

COPYSCHOOL IS IN: Why do more people remember what SHakespeare wrote and what Jesus said? Because they told stories to make their points. And what do people do when reading stories? They subvocalise (hear the words spoken in their heads). and they remember more... So what will a copywriter do, knowing this? Tell stories. (Read Jon Caples famous ad headlined "They laughed when I sat down at the piano...."

Heard any good copy lately?

MK

Google you?

Hi,

Here's a nano-thought for the thought-a-dayers: Have you Googled yourself yet? What turns up? Nothing? Can this be good? You must have an online presence if you want to be someone these days, and it must google up fast.

.........

COPYWRITING...

Thanks to those of you who enquired about my offer to help you find your voice.

A week ago I was sitting here at the dining room table (it's the size of an aircraft carrier) trying to start the copy for a fundraising blog post for the Carbon Coalition (our farm soil carbon credits lobby group) and I was getting nowhere. Everything I wrote was wooden and wrong. Nothing "sounded" right. Nothing "sang".

Then I remembered what I'd said to you about finding your voice. I snapped out of "copywriting" and used my voice. (Check out the result at carboncoalitionoz.blogspot.com - "I'm blown away...") Now this is full-throated 'voice'. It is personal and emotive and risky. It can pay off big time, or die a silent death.

Not all "vocal" copywriting is like this. Sometimes the copy can be stiff as a board - because that's the tone you need. Eg. An official-sounding directive. The key with 'voicing' is that you can control whichever voice you choose - switching like a voiceover actor, to suit the character you are playing.

You see, there's a little secret I discovered: Most people 'subvocalise' when they read. They hear voices. Shakespeare calls it, "To hear with eyes..." The seeing of reading is always at once a hearing, according to Richard Aczel. Reading is an over-hearing of voices, he says.

Some German named Gadamer says reading is "letting speak" ("Lesen ist Sprechenlassen"), a returning of the written word to the dialogue out of which it arose.

The spoken word is even more powerful than the written word because is has the ability to engage the listener in a type of conversation.

According to learning theory, subvocalisation is a crucial tool when learning new material. Subvocalising can help us remember what is read.

What does all this mean?

Listen...

Copywriting is not hard

The number of brilliant people who tell me they can't write documents, copy, etc. is staggering. Writing is a simple craft that requires awareness and practice. Practice is the easy part. Just repeat the task over and over. How many of you smart people who say you can't write have spent any time practicing?

Awareness is harder to come by. Let's see if this helps: have you seen or heard of programs where trainers try to "free the singer in you" or "free the dancer in you"?
Well you learn to write when you "find your voice" as a writer. You free the writer in you once you can hear the words in your head. Like a "voice".

Once you find your own voice, you can progress to learning how to use other voices, other characters' voices. But that is rushing ahead.

If you are interested in finding your voice, send me a note (michael@newhorizon.au.com) and I'll see what can be done.

Cheers!

Michael

The Customer Service Revolution is over!!

My old mate Bob Pritchard sends me his newsletter. His latest issue has a blurb on "Positively Outrageous Service is Great Business". It has an 80s tone, reminding me of my other old mate Bob Ansett who sparked the customer service revolution.

I hereby declare that revolution over.

Bob writes, in his 'new upcoming book "Kick Ass Business and Marketing Secrets" ': There is an increasing emphasis on providing good service, whether in restaurants, retail stores or factories, mainly because today's customers will accept nothing less."

I'm sorry. That's no secret. That's just bunkum. Qantas customers continue to fly with the airline despite their high levels of dissatisfaction. Telstra offers traditional levels of service. Are Coles and Woolworths going to do anything about checkout lines? Did people abandon banks when they stripped services away? No. The banks made historic profits instead.

Sure, service can be an important differentiator, when all other things are equal. But other attributes can be more important: security, location, lack of alternatives, an irresistable urge to be hip...

Michael

michael@michaelkielymarketing.com.au
0417 280 540
(02) 6372 0329

"I know nothing."

Tonight I heard that Australian Capital Reserve - a property trust - had collapsed, leaving a lot of little investors complaining. ACR had flash tv commercials offering a big rate of return, and smooth-talking door to door salespeople. The people dudded complained they didn't understand what they were buying. "I know nothing. I understand nothing," said one. He had handed over $60,000. Understood nothing. Bosh.

Greed. The ACR's business was built on suckers. People want to believe the dream. The conned contribute to the con. Human nature. People want to be sold. so you're already more than half way there when you start pitching.

We're baaaaaaack!

Hi,

Sorry to have been so silent. We lost the database when a tsunami of love craashed our systems (see last post). We lost you...

We have a new system now - RSS Feed is an email syndication tool that my colleague Fred Schebesta installed for me tonight.

You'll be sent an email with a link to the blogsite where the Thought Of The Day lays waiting for you. You can read it any time you like. Or read a week's worth in one go.

If you don't want to be in it, there's an opt out address.

Now for today's lesson: "Plan for the worst and hope for the best."

When planning a program or campaign, think to yourself: "What's the worse that can happen?" (Loss of database through a systems crash.) Then plan for it. And hope it never happens.
It sounds a little paranoid, but it works.

Michael

Long and short of it

Hello there,

Short item for the nanoreaders: No one ever went broke helping others fulfill their dreams.

Long item for those interested in a case study: I stepped on a success landmine in December and learned so many lessons. Background: We ran out of cash to hand feed our sheep and ran out of grass. So, faced with sending the entire flock of 2600 to slaughter and lose 7 years of breeding for superfine wool (which no bastard wanted to pay for anyway), we went public and appealed to people to adopt our sheep for $35 a head, the amount required to feed them for 100 days (the planning horizon during a drought). Action: Bodgied up a blogsite with PayPal to take donations. I thought we'd get 6 or 8. (Friends
and some of you kind people were the first to respond.) So I sent press releases to 2 Sydney dailies - SMH & Tele - and waited. Two days, 3, 4, and a call from Tele asking for pix. Sent what we had. No, need a sad pic of farmer and wife. We took one, hard not to laugh. Day 6, 6.30am Sydney radio stations start calling. Small item in Tele. Channel 7 calls. Can they land a crew near
the house at Uamby? 2 hours filming reduced to 1.45 minutes on that night's news. Tele and Channel 7 put links on their websites. Channel 7 promos the spot on every break duiring the news and runs it last. Kabloom! 5000 hits on blogspot. 100 adopted. Next day: SMH online calls. More links. More radio stations. Louisa and Daniel, no training, giving interviews on air to listeners all over the eastern states. Orders pouring in. 10000 hits by start of week 2. Channel 9 sends a crew. Today Show. Daniel features.
More links. More radio. Serious backlog of adoption certificates (personalised with name of sheep (+pic) and name of adopter. Calls from adopters - when will they get their certificates? Need them for Xmas. (Xmas! Forgot about that.) 20000 hits and 1000 adopters later, 3 of us getting 4 hours sleep a night, handfeeding sheep and churning out certificates, while fielding media and 'where's my certificate' calls. Recruit local business centre for help. Disaster. Customer complaints. Recruit sister-in-law. Great. Need more sheep portraits. Maxed out hard drive in my laptop. Crash. Byebye files. Phone keeps ringing. German journalist arrives to write a piece on the drought. In the next 3 weeks his articles appear in 4 major German online and offline newspapers. We are flooded with hits from Germany - 500 in a day. Put
up a German translation of the blogsite with link on landing page. Local papers and radio arrive late for the party. What's that rumbling? The rising drone of the online conversations about us. StatCounter lets me see where hits coming from. Follow hits backwards to source to find links. Turns out people are posting stories and links on their personal blogsites, discussion groups arguing about the rights and wrongs of farming in Australia, quilters and knitters and spinners and crafty ladies telling each other they adopted, highschool girls (lonelygirl15) adopting a lamb for company in their adolescent cocoons. People telling people what they've bought other people for Xmas. Wealthy people send a cheque for $1000, 'inspired' by what we are doing. Japanese man thinks he can take delivery of the animal. "Crikey!
You'll have to pay more than $35 for that, Cobber." That's Life magazine does a feature. More radio results. In the midst of the chaos, sniping comments left on blogsite by animal rights activists and farmers accusing us of not being financially crippled enough to deserve the money. (Response: "I'm just
doing my best with what I've got.") Calls from farmers begging for some of the money. Charity begins at home. "I'll save my sheep first, then yours. I can't help anyone if I go broke." (We put full step-by-step instructions up on blogsite and flag it. We call NSW Farmers to discuss taking the program national.) Negative blog comments spark large response from other commenters, positive. Cards and letters flooding in. Visitors turning up unannounced. Guided tours. Every adopter says they're praying for rain. Christmas Day: People are opening gifts to find our one of our lambs, rams or 'ma'ams' have come into their lives. It starts to rain at Uamby. 40mls. More than we've had for a year. It's raining money, too. Results: Our target $87000. Total Week 8: $70000. (We had spent $60,000 up to when the appeal started.) Still fulfilling orders. Many fell through cracks when computer crashed. Also lots of no-show of certificate (sent via email) because customer changes email address, spam filter knocked it back, inbox full, etc. Still "where's my certificate?" Customer is always right. No, not "customer" in our case. New
friends? No. We are now family. This farm is their farm. These sheep are their sheep. We got an email from a lady in Sydney asking if "Benny" (a male lamb sponsored on behalf of Ben, an elderly gent in London who loves Australia and cricket) would send Ben a note of encouragement, as he had fallen into a
coma. I wrote back that I told Benny that Ben was ill and he said, "How sick is he?" I said: "He's as crook as English cricket." Benny said, "No one can be that crook..." and dictated a note to Ben. We heard later that, after getting Benny's message, Ben started coming out of the coma. Our first miracle! Promotional
Budget: Media $0. Website: $0. PR: $0. Reason for Outcome: 1. Novelty. Most people unaware of adopta-animal programs overseas (NZ, USA, UK), as I was until after we launched. 2. Convenient Christmas gift. many grandparents said it solved a problem for them, buying for a bunch of grandkids. They could do it all online in 20 minutes. 3. Drought. Many people were effusive in their thanks (and we were the ones who were thankful) for giving them an opportunity to do something for farmers suffering in the drought. (We told everybody we weren't the most deserving, but they didn't care. We offered them the
opportunity,. and the most deserving didn't.) 4. Spirit of Christmas. Giving. Next steps: Expand the relationship. Expand the family. Learn how to love and be loved. Due to time problems, we developed a one word fulfillment letter body copy:

((((HUG))))

We meant it, too.

Michael

PS> 500 sheep to go... to the slaughterhouse or to you, with love?

The reverse sell

Hi,

Here's 2 installments to make up for shakey start this week:

The anti-sales tactic that sells: i went to the Apple Shop to buy a new computer after my big crash. The salesman refused to sell me a new computer. SO I said I'd need an external hard drive to back up my files. He refused to sell me a hard drive, saying his were too expensive for what I wanted. He told me there were cheaper drives available down the road. I insisted on paying $400 for an external hard drive, plus books and accessories... Though not a computer. The more he said he didn't want to sell me something, the more I wanted it.

Michael

Entry 2:

Woke to this news: Sydney temperatures up 7°C by 2070. Bushfires will double. Rainfall to decline by 40°C. The coastline to be hit by 110-metre storm surges by 2100. Doom and gloom. How much of this can consumers take before it freaks them out? These reports are going to increase in frequency. And so are bush fires and wind storms and water shortages... The weather is hard to ignore. My solution: Start talking to your customers about the issue now. Start talking about managing risk, planning to adapt, to protect the future. This gives them a sense of hope that the worst isn't inevitable. Governments can't lead. Brands have to lead.

Michael

Simple, SImpler, Simplest

Hi,

It's amazing how dumbed down you have to make issues to get through to the smartest journalists like
Laurie Oakes and Kerry O'Brien. You have to pitch issues like a discount furniture warehouse commercial.
They deal in simplicities because their audiences don't want to have to think too hard. (It's the
convenience culture. News best served like a Big Mac.) Their audiences want simplicities, and if you want
their ear, you must KISS. You must practice the art of simplification everyday. It's easy to complicate
things. Harder to simplify.

Michael

The Most Important Lesson

Hi,

The most important lesson I ever had in marketing was this: "Nobody cares how much you know until
they know how much you care." The word 'con' in the term 'con man' is an abbreviation of the word
'confidence' as in 'confidence trickster'. This person operates by winning the confidence of the victim
prior to separating them from their money. Confidence is critical to the legitimate sales process as well.
How can you build confidence? You convince people that you care about them and what happens to
them. How do you do that? Simply by doing it. If you haven't got a genuine interest in people and an
ability to 'feel their pain', how do you feel about what you do as a marketer? Are you only separating
people from their money? Turning a human being into revenue scheme? There is a way to succeed in
marketing without selling your soul. Many people are thinking about this issue right now. I have spoken
about it at 4 conferences and have never had such a powerful response from audience members. SO
don't be afraid of asking the question: "How should I live my life?" (As Soctrates said: "The uninspected
life is not worth living."

Michael

You have no competition...

:
... But yourself.

We tend to over-estimate the threat a competitor represents. They might look more imposing than they really are. Let's face it: they are just a bunch of frail humans keeping up appearances, just like your side. Once we've decided that, let's look at the real threat to your success: YOU. If 85% of success is in just turning up (Woody Allen), look to see where you are not turning up in your business life. You know what I mean. Doing the boring things or the uncomfortable things. Working your list of contacts. Responding to all opportunities. Following through. Keeping promises. They (your competition) are as good or bad at it as you are. They are not your competitor. YOU are.

Michael

Repeat your successes

Hi,

The second most important and long lasting lesson I learned was"repeat your successes". Now who
doesn't do that? I hear you say... Try nearly everyone. It takes a hell of a lot of discipline to return to an
'old' idea when you've impressed yourself by your ability to have new ideas. You fall in love with the thrill
of the new. "That was good. Now what's next?" The other side of the coin is 'avoid your failures'. Too
many people return to a failed or underperforming formula only to get what they always got. Humans are
funny creatures, aren't we?

Michael

Who listens to right wing radio?

Hi,

Radio personality Alan Jones wields immense political power. He has the ear of premiers and prime ministers because they think he can influence voters. But who can he influence? asked the Australia Institute in a web paper in June 2006. Jones listeners are far older than average, more likely to be pensioners, and more likely to be religious than the average listener, according to Roy Morgan figures. By a big margin. They are more likely to think fundamental Australian values are under threat and they also feel personally more under threat, ie. they feel crime is growing, contrary to the real trends. They are twice as likely to vote conservative than average. The study concludes that Alan Jones’s audience is small – about the same as a low rating TV show – and politically rusted-on to the conservatives. Therefore his influence is not based on his ability to shift votes, but fear of on air criticism. Marketers are aware of his power – not many major brands spend any money with his program. Could it be that there’s no one there worth talking to?

Cheers!

Michael

I don't know you...

Hi,

There's a famous ad for McGraw-Hill Magazines from the 1960's.
A severe-looking purchasing officer looks directly at the reader and says:

"I don't know who you are.
"I don't know your company.
"I don't know your company's product.
"I don't know what your company stands for.
"I don't know your company's customers.
"I don't know your company's record.
"I don't know your company's reputation.
"Now - what was it you wanted to sell me?"

This was an ad for advertising. Corporate advertising. In those days everyone read magazines and newspapers and watched Television. Media was mass. We've still got to do this awareness and reassurance job, because human nature hasn't changed (and it never will). But we can't rely on ads. Instead, corporates must rely on "brand actions" to get their message across. "Brand actions" are behaviours that define the personality of the corporation - such as sponsorships, community initiatives (eg. Virgin's Richard Branson pledging US$3bn for climate change action), customer service philosophy, customer experience, and other actions which speak louder than words. The communications channels used are publicity via media reports, word of mouth networks, and signage at events - in other words, channels that have in the past been considered incidental. They are risky because you have less control. But get it right and you generate authenticity.

Cheers!

Michael

Fear Bad. Fear of Loss Good.

Hi,

Have you ever wondered why therearen't any insurance salesmen any more? It's because they used to try to
sell insurance by scaring people. "What would happen to your wife and the
children if you died in an accident, Mr Jones?" (Mr Jones thinks: I hate
you. Get away from me.) Fear is not good for sales. Fear of loss, however,
is good. "We might look at making some arrangements to protect your wealth
base no matter what happens, Mr Jones." (Mr Jones thinks: Damn right. Let's
do it right now.)

Cheers!

Michael

Opportunity knocks

Hi,

I just spent 3 weeks with some of the top scientists dealing with climate change in the USA and here's a fact they all agree on: no matter what we do about global warming, we can't stop it. We can only hope to reduce the speed of its increase and the maximum temperature it eventually hits. It won't be long before the real 'crisis' of Climate Change sets into the public mind. Inevitably we will have a fearful consumer. Lacking confidence in the future, they will be less inclined to spend. They will spend on entertainments (the Great Depression coincided with the rise of Hollywood's dream machine) and protection (survivalist products for coping in extreme weather events). Some areas will boom naturally. Some will be caught like rabbits in a spotlight. But the brands that have engaged their customers in the Climate Change story and shown they understand the issue, these brands will endure and contribute to the important work of maintaining morale. (See "Carbon Credited Opportunity" below.) As Franklin Delano Roosevelt told Americans deep in the Great Depression in 1933, "We have nothing to fear but fear itself."

Cheers!

Michael

What have you been making?

Hi,

The death of Alfred Nobel was mistakenly reported in a newspaper before he had died. He was the inventor of dynamite and a major armaments manufacturer. "The merchant of death is dead," read the premature obituary. Given this premonition of how his reputation would be treated in death, he changed his will and left US$4.25m in the 1890's to establish the Nobel Prize Foundation. This year's Nobel Peace Prize was given to Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank. Yunus - a Bangladeshi businessman - invented microbanking, which means making small loans to poor people, mainly women, to start businesses so they can rise out of poverty. It has been a stunning success, making a profit and making a difference in the lives of thousands of Bangladeshis. Someone once said, "It's easy to make a buck; it's harder to make a difference." Both Yunus and Nobel made a buck. But they also made a difference. Someone else once said, "Some people spend their lives making a name for themselves; others make a difference." I guess Bill Gates, having given his fortune away to his philanthropic foundation, could prove that you can make a buck, and make a name for yourself, and make a difference. What are you making? Try the obituary test.

Cheers!

Michael

Carbon footprints to where?

Hi,

There are immediate marketing opportunities for companies wanting to leverage the NEXT BIG THING in consumer consciousness. Global Warming and Climate Change are real because more people believe in them, despite what the Government says. Every brand should be thinking of its response to their customers' question: "What are you doing to save the world?" News Ltd, Ford, Dupont, and Virgin are among the leaders in this issue. They are going 'carbon neutral' - reducing their emissions or paying others to 'sequester' or lock up carbon dioxide in amounts equivalent to their emissions. BP, Westpac, Origin Energy, and IAG are taking a leadership role. The front-foot approach involves the following: 1. Engage your CEO and Board. (McKinsey says: "The way a company manages its carbon exposure could create or destroy shareholder value." Goldman Sachs says, "Climate change is a topic that should be on the agenda of every Board of Directors.") 2. Audit your emissions. 3. Assess your potential for reductions by operational changes. 4. Estimate the offsets you will need to purchase to bring your "carbon footprint" down. 5. Engage your stakeholders - staff, suppliers, customers, shareholders - in the process. There are pitfalls to avoid: 1. As with any new market, there are many opportunists and snakeoil salespersons. 2. Some 'abatement offsets' being sold are 'junk', ie, not fit for the purpose for which they are offered for sale. 3. Companies that indulge in "greenwashing" (making a token effort, hoping to spin it out into an acceptable image of action) will be unmasked, and their deception will do them damage.

Cheers!

Michael

PS. I am available to advise your company on carbon-related issues.

Hey Al Gore – Less Is More

Hi,

Did you see An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore's movie about Al Gore and Climate
Change? An important message, the bit about climate change. The bits about
Al, his "green" credentials, his "almost the President of the USA" status,
and his family history were not necessary. In fact it gets in the way for
half his audience - his natural political enemies. I guess Al's speaking to
his supporter base, using this issue to reposition himself as relevant, as a
leader. But how much more powerful would it have been without the
biographical advertorial? David Attenborough has achieved almost Saintly
status without self-promotion. He just stands and delivers. Lesson: Don't
state the obvious. Let your audience draw the conclusion.

Cheers!

Michael

The Price of Everything

Hi,

Churchill: Madam, would you sleep with me for five million pounds?
Socialite: My goodness, Mr. Churchill... Well, I suppose... we would have to discuss terms, of course...
Churchill: Would you sleep with me for five pounds?
Socialite: Mr. Churchill, what kind of woman do you think I am?!
Churchill: Madam, we've already established that. Now we are haggling about the price.

Two things happened to me in the last 2 days: 1. I was interviewed on ABC702 this morning about ambush marketing re Allan Border's resignation as an Australian test cricket selector yesterday (because he is fronting a beach cricket promotion for XXXX this season and VB "own" the test team). 2. On the flight back from the USA, I saw the movie Forty Legends starring comedian Ahn Do (and some of the turtles from our farm - Ahn's co-writer and wife Suzy is a friend of my daughter Jessica). In the movie Ahn's team of losers look like coming out on top when the sleazy coach of their biggest rival tries to poach the unemployed Ahn with an offer of a full time job (which would put an end to Child Welfare's attempt to take his little sister from his care - heart-breaking stuff). Of course, Ahn sticks with his mates and they win the day. Lesson for the kiddies: true loyalty can't be bought. But is that only in the movies? Has marketing put a price on everything?

Michael

Attack Advertising

Hi,

The world's greatest democracy is in election mode right now and the TV screens are beaming out nasty ads trashing the reputations of everyone in the race for governor, judge, congressman, senator, sherrif, bus monitor, etc. They say dispicable things about their competitors because, apparently, it works.... The current President's dad used it to great effect against Michael Dukarkis. Well, it may work, but any fool can see that these ads are damaging the category. If everyone running is proved to be a liar, cheat, fraud, crook, etc. then it's no wonder Americans don't turn out to vote and it's not surprising that people have lost respect for public institutions. It's no wonder crime rates go up and young people take drugs. Their leaders are a bunch of crooks. According to their leaders.

Cheers!

Michael
………….

You choose

Hi,

Spin doctoring may be an ethical wasteland and all its practitioners damned to Hell and karmic suffering for all eternity. But it's fun to watch. President Bush: "When we say war, we really mean peace." LOL. The movie "Thank You For Smoking" has some of the best spinning I have ever witnessed, defending the right of tobacco companies to poison children. It convinced me. His motivation: "I've got a mortgage to pay. Besides I'm good at it." Ethical? Ethics is about the right and wrong thing to do. But often the wrong thing can be masked in language of the right thing - to enable us to act unethically. Our spin doctor claimed he was interested in the rights of the individual. He fought for the individual's right to choose to smoke rather than their right to know of the dangers of smoking. Do we have a duty of care for the people who we sell to? As fellow human beings? Or are they simply units of consumption who have the duty to look out for themselves? Who decides this question? We do. We have the right to choose.

Michael

The Pursuit of Happiness

.

Hi,

The Declaration of Independence starts with these words: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." The United States of America was the first nation to be founded on the principle of happiness. How has the experiment gone? Well, there have been multiple slayings at three schools in six days over here this week. The bookshops are full of books about depression which is epidemic. The newspapers are full of reports of official corruption and sleaze. Judges routinely take political contributions from parties to cases they are judging, then find in their favour. Members of Congress are expected to pay large amounts to their parties in order to 'purchase' the chairmanship of Congressional Committees. There is a section in one newspaper called "This Week At War" which lists the soldiers killed in a war that looks and smells more like Viet Nam every day. This is Happiness? I sense that ordinary people want to be able to believe in something again, something pure and good and bigger than themselves. They want to believe in each other, in their community, in their public institutions. They are sick of being lied to; they've heard so much spin that they are all spun out. They are ready to rebuild if someone points the way. I believe this applies in the USA and its dependencies (including Australia). Corporations have in many ways inherited the role of public institutions, as embodying values and showing leadership. Can you make the world a happier place?

Cheers!

Michael

…………..

Can do, can’t teach

Hi,

When I was a student, it was snidely remarked by other students, referring to one or other of our teachers, 'Those that can, do. Those that can't, teach.' Having spent a few days visiting academics in the USA, I was reminded of this saying. Academics worship at the altars of precedent and procedure. They engage in more critical rather than speculative thinking. They know the formulae and can apply them to standard situations. But my experience with academics (I wuz one) has taught me that they live in another dimension to me. I live in a zone where anything's possible. They live in a zone where nothing exists unless it has been proven in several double blind tests, under clincial conditions, published in a peer-reviewed journal, and replicated by several other researchers. They think they 'know' what's real. But they live in a world of models and theories - imaginary structures that approximate reality. The practitioners know what's real. It smacks them in the face every day. If your company hires an academic to guide strategy, you'd better hope that they have more than models and theories to offer. You'd better hope they have spent enough time in the 'real world' to know what's what. For every real thinker bearing the title "Professor" - a Porter or a Drucker - there is an army of "professors" professing to know what professionals do, but don't.

Cheers!

Michael

Outreach

Hi,

Today's sermon is about "Outreach". I am at Montana State University for a meeting of the Big Sky Carbon Sequestration Partnership, an alliance of US Government agencies, scientists rom seven western states' universities and private companies and non-profits, preparing to tackle Global Warming by developing technologies for sucking CO2 out of the atmosphere and storing it in soils, in trees, in old oil wells, in coal seams, and under rock beds beneath the oceans. There's a lot of weird science involved and the public have got to be comfortable with the proposals when they are released, or 10 years of work and millions will have been spent for no outcome. For this reason, the Partnership has a full time "Outreach" officer. Now Pamela Tomski is actually the group's marketing director and public relations manager and in-house lobbyist. But she wears the label "Outreach" which is a useful term for marketers. "Outreach" is what religious bodies do - the seek to reach the great unwashed and bring them the good news of salvation. And convert them into true believers, taking them from a state of ignorance and initquity to a state of knowledge and belief. How does Pamela do "Outreach"? She spreads the word through every channel possible... including public meetings and education in schools. She doesn't sell anything. She brings good news. "Outreach" is marketing, but marketing with a difference - with passion for a cause, with advocacy, with urgency. If you ever find yourself a little jaded, trapped in a marketing job just 'flogging stuff to mugs', either you can try to find the good news for salvation in your product offering. Or, if there is none, go out to the highways and byways and find one that has. Outreach means going to work with a passion and a purpose everyday.


Cheers!

Michael Kiely

Greetings From Washington

Hi,

My apologies for missing yesterday. I lost a day (and my mind) over the
Pacific flying to the USA for a study tour of the carbon credits market, a
special interest of mine. As I am paying my own way, we flew cattle class
which inspired today's "marketing thought".

To:
Managing Director
Qantas Airways

Dear Sir,

Have you flown your own airline economy class to an overseas destination
laytely? I can’t believe you have. No sane person would knowingly subject
fellow human beings to such discomfort. Only the rich and the footsoldiers
of the rich can afford comfortable air travel today. Forget the toxic food
and queues for the toilets. I can live with that. It’s space I need. As I
sit here on QF129 to LA (13 hours) I cant open my laptop far enough to see
the screen and type.

I know who decides how much space I have. You. Because you set the revenue
targets and they determine how many rows of seats you put in each aircraft
and therefore how little space is available to the passenger in each seat. I
can see those little rubber strips on the floor covering the train tracks
you slide the seats along. How do you determine how much space to allow
between seats? Measure out how much a normal human being would require for a
comfortable experience, and then shove it back far enough to guarantee no
sitting position is painless? If the aim is to cause sufficient pain that
you force us into business class for a fat margin, I can help you there.
Why not hire some really hard bastards with big sticks to whack economy
class passengers on the head until we agree to pay for an upgrade? This is
only slightly more ridiculous than what you do to us already.


Cheers!

Michael Kiely

How high is high involvement?

Michael,

I love your column, thanks for the daily lesson. I've got a question though and I'd love to get your thoughts.

I work in telecoms and thrash around with the conundrum of whether buying a mobile phone with a particular operator (Telstra for example) is a high involvement or low involvement purchase? I think that my colleagues and I fall into the trap of thinking it is a high involvement but I look at people int he street and think that it could be low involvement. Then again, younger people tend to spend a bucket of money and effort finding the coolest offer when older people don't.

As for the decision to choose which company for one's home phone, I think that different segments of the market probably differ as well.

You'd agree that this would change massively the type of marketing approach one would depending on the involvement level?

Perhaps this could be a subject of a future column - differing levels of involvement for the same product across age groups…

Cheers
Sean

Hi Sean,

Attitudes to a decision about a phone range from plugging in to a utility (land line connection for most people, except perhaps rural users for whom the phone is a life-or-death facility) to a life-changing milestone (a child getting their first mobile) and everything in between. The decision about the carrier is probably low involvement in cases where consumers don’t see a meaningful difference between you and your competitors. What differentiates carriers? Level of irritation, customer service ethic, cost, brand imagery, drop outs/coverage??? What determines the level of involvement of a brand choice? Risk? (Fear) Self esteem? (Craving approval) The level of emotion evoked in the consideration process would appear to be a key indicator of involvement. The context of the decision would appear to determine the level of emotion. You could segment consumers by how important brand is to them in your category. The importance of brand indicates level of involvement.

You could use my Quality Of A Sale Index (QOS) to reveal the level of brand involvement of your customer base vs competitors and consequently the long term stability of your market share. The QOS Index reveals the difference between sales that look the same on paper. A Low Quality Sale is driven by promotions, is churned from another brand, is likely to be followed by flight to yet another brand chasing yet another deal, generates no word of mouth, and does not represent an investment in the future of the brand. A High Quality Sale is not driven by a deal, is based on a brand choice, is a repeat sale to a customer, is likely to be followed by another repeat sale, generates advocacy and represents an investment in the future value of the brand. High concentrations of High Quality Sales indicates that a customer base is an appreciating asset. The reverse is the case with high concentrations of Low Quality Sales. Levels of involvement are also likely to be indicated as correlated with QOS. (I predicted the demise of Mitsubishi in Australia 6 years ago based on the QOS Index, as well as the decline of GMH and the rise of Toyota. QOS is a reliable measure of brand health.)

Cheers!

Michael

Fakes, snakes and flakes

Hi,

On October 30, 1938, mass panic broke out across America and people hid in their cellars or jammed the roads leading out of towns and cities, trying the escape an attack from Martians. The stampede was set off by a radio play staged by Orson Welles. The production took the form of simulated news broadcasts with sound effects. Nearly 70 years later Lonelygirl15 is posting video on YouTube, slices of her life as a 16 year old which have shot her to the second most popular channel on the video blogsite, with 2.3 million viewings and 24,000 subscribers. Investigative journalists and online snoops smelled a rat and uncovered a Hollywood scam by a group of filmmakers who now claim to have invented “a new art form… [that will] usher in an era of interactive storytelling where the line between 'fan' and 'star' has been removed". Fakes. The online world is full of them. It is a viral marketing technique to spread your message far and wide by creating what purports to be reality footage of something amazing that will be passed on by the unsuspecting. Eventually, like the Blair Witch Project, all is revealed, and the marketers congratulate themselves on another successful scam. “Fooled you again,” they say. I have friends in the digital marketing industry who produce neatly packaged fakes for big brands. Can a brand afford to lie like that? How many times can a medium reveal itself to be a snakepit of simulated truth (aka lies) and not infect its image indelibly with the image of the snakeoil salesman and the porn site spammer. No, you can’t trust anything you see or hear on the Net.

PS. Americans are especially susceptible. 15% of them believe the Apollo moon landing took place in a Hollywood film set. And 20% of them believed The X Files was a documentary. And nearly a majority of them voted for an actor for President. (That’s right. George W. is really B-Grade actor Tolson Holmes from Jacksonville, Missouri, playing the President in a worldwide production called The End of Civilisation As We Know It.)

Cheers!

Michael Kiely

Email responses:

Morning Michael

Your emails are tops.

I'm currently working as a speech writer in the public sector, but hail from a fairly traditional marketing/advertising background...so your 'thought for the day' is a good way for me to stay plugged in to what's happening out on the street, in a way that my job often doesn't provide me the scope or time to do.

Marketing commentary, social commentary, WHATEVER - your words are looked forward to and enjoyed!

Cheers
Caitlin

No news is good news

Hi,

If ever you despair of the world, try my failproof remedy. Say to yourself: "There was a time before [here name what is bugging you] and there will be a time after it is gone." You can insert anything you like: feminism, John Howard, Alan Jones, George Bush, the ALP... It will make you feel better.

I choose to insert the word "newspapers". Last weekend I did something out of the ordinary: I bought a newspaper. A big fat newspaper. When I had skimmed it and read 2 or 3 items, I was finished with it and had the problem of what to do with it. Half a tonne of paper to go into the waste stream. I used to read 4 newspapers before breakfast each day. Now I get my news on radio, on websites or delivered in special interest newsletters online. And I'm no trend setter in media usage. Little wonder then that The Economist has predicted the death of the newspaper. It has shrunk 50% in 10 years. (Bloody boring rag, really. Bleak world view - money money money.) The Australian wrote an editorial (who reads editorials?) saying news content is king and that Rupert's favourite populist platform in Australia would survive. But news content isn't king anymore. More people every day are switching off the news - which makes them feel frightened and powerless - and amusing themselves with cookery, gardening, collecting, gossiping - live and in the studio (either doing it themselves or watching it on TV). They say that bad news is good news for newspapers. But I believe it's choking them to death. The flight to lifestyle chat is a desperate plea for media culture to be put out of its misery - anything that can make a star of "Kochy" has got to be bad for you. No, the newspaper will go the way of the Town Crier. (Noisy git in a bad costume.)

Cheers!

Michael Kiely

Email responses:

I think you're right, the average newspaper readers will wither away.
Information is too easily available these days.. Particularly for free..

But the mega publishing companies won't lay down without a fight.. Their
livelihood is at stake.. So I'm betting page 3 girls will start
appearing in the Herald-sun/Daily Telegraph within a couple of years..
To help prevent the rot

There will still be the die hard purist who would still buy a newspaper
and devour every inch of it (I'd like to think I'm probably one of them,
information junkie). There won't be many of these kinds, but they'll
keep making newspapers for us... However I'll look forward to being
charged $10 a copy. And what of train reading??.. An institution the world over for daily travellers.. However I guess with the introduction of digital novels and readers.. This will evolve to digital newspaper readers one day..
But ultimately the demise of newspapers will inconvenience millions..
What will children use on their paper mache's?.. How will serial killers
send their taunting letters to police with the words comprising of
letters cut from newspaper headlines?.. How are we going to move houses
without our cups and plates not smashing because they aren't stuffed
with newspapers anymore??

Oh the humanity!!!! Damn you evolution of media technology!!!

Luan
................
I am the biggest fan of this.

When I listen to the radio I change the channel when the news is on. I
also don't read newspapers because its all lies. And I also don't go to
news websites unless something has crashed into the world trade centre
or Steve Irwin has just died.

Give me targeted relevant content from gurus as opposed to junkie 3 day
researched reporters!

Fred

..........
Hope all is well. Just wanted to say I enjoy your daily "news"
broadcasts. Cheers, Michelle

Cherchez le creneau!!!

Hi,

The French have a marketing saying: "Cherchez le creneau" which means 'look for the hole'. Look for the hole and fill it, say Jack Trout and Al Ries. In positioning your brand, cherchez le creneau in the head (brand mind map) of the marketplace. Size can be a creneau. VW's "Think small" campaign successfully exploited size to differentiate and win share. Age, price, distribution... There are many dimensions along which creneaus can be found. Finding a creneau is the first step to toppling a market leader. A successful creneau can be used to reposition the competition. By taking a "Good For You" position, a brand is saying the others (especially the leader) are not good for you. By taking a hip youth position, a brand says the rest are old and irrelevant. Without referring to the competitors,a brand can point to the future and say "We're going there! Follow us."

Cheers!

Michael Kiely

Create your own market

Hi,

The culmination of the last 3 or 4 emails dealing with marketing warfare concepts is this thought: the strategically smart way to defeat a market leader is to out-flank them by creating a new "market" that will grow in value to supercede the old order. Eg. computer hardware vs computer software. Where is the value today? Looking ahead and identifying the next big hill and capturing that hill rather than fighting for the old hill. You don't confront the Leader. You simply rob them of relevance to the future. Do it by defining a new market and aligning your offer to it. Simple.

......

The hysteria over Steve Irwin's death makes me wonder "why?" On the surface, he was a showman, a photogenic mug lair, using animals and reptiles as props for his sideshow. He spoke like Mick Dundee: "Crikey". He was packaged and promoted as a product. I loved the character he created. Sure, he had a message of conservation. But so do many others. Why is he being mourned so deeply? Because he was the genuine article. He was living his dharma. He used the word 'love' a lot and he meant it. In a world full of phonies, he was real. He wasn't putting it on. He was being himself. Being real is the best thing you can be, in marketing, in life. Don't be afraid to be real. There's a Steve Irwin in all of us.

Cheers!

Michael Kiely

Niche warriors

Hi,

The minnows in any market can't play Leader or Challenger roles. Instead the small player can fight a guerilla war, with hit and run raids on market niches that offer margins until the Leader blocks by entering and using predatory pricing to drive the guerillas out. Leaders who don't see the threat can allow a guerilla to get a foothold, forming a base for an assault on the market proper. IBM was once offered DOS, the operating system for personal computers, but they turned it down. The offer came from a young Bill Gates who had a vision of a computer on every desk in an era when mainframe computing dominated. Software was a tiny niche which Microsoft was left to establish. Microsoft nearly fell foul of the same "Leader's Blindness" re the Internet, leaving Netscape to dominate the browser market until the software giant was forced to use its monopoly power to establish Explorer as market leader. (The US Federal Court eventually forced Microsoft to decouple the browser from Windows.) IBM also left Intel to run away with the memory chip market. IBM's strategy was built on a vision that its founder had of a total world market for computers of around 30! IBM has survived by strong corporate focus and by dominating the emerging IT services market.

Cheers!

Michael Kiely

Word of hairdresser marketing

Hi,

I heard this on BBC Worldwide in the early hours and traced it on bbc.com:
A British law firm is offering hairdressers money in return for referring customers to them who are considering divorce. Trethowans Solicitors sent letters to businesses in Southampton and Salisbury. Nail bars, estate agents, physiotherapists and chiropractors were also targeted. One businessman approached said the scheme was unethical. "I would not reveal anything a customer told me, whether it was for money or not. The hairdresser-customer relationship is personal," said Steve Hall, who runs Heaven Hair in Salisbury. Total mailed: 300. Results: 30 signed up. 2 complaints. Publicity: worldwide coverage on BBC.

Cheers!

Michael Kiely

Maximum force at a strategic point

Hi,

Von Clausewitz said an army should not seek to meet an enemy front on across its entire front. Instead it should seek the weakest spot of its enemy's defences and concentrate all the forces it can afford to engage on that spot. The chances of breaking through are greatest. Once a breach has been made, the enemy's lines can be attacked from behind and routed.

The lesson for marketers is this: Concentrate your communications and brand messaging on a single-minded theme that strikes at the weakest spot in your competitor's marketing operation. "We're no. 2 so we try harder," was the positioning Avis took against market leader Hertz. Market leaders, when they become big and unwieldy, are often not leaders in service. Henry Ford said customers could have his T Model in any colour they liked, so long as it was black. IBM in corporate computing and Microsoft in software are not known for their customer focus. Common weak spots in market leaders include service, flexibility, range, price, relationship management, and access. Leaders hare a natural tendency towards arrogance and complacency which challengers can exploit.

Cheers!

Michael Kiely

When you’re No. 2

Hi,

Every market has a No.1 (Leader) and a No.2 (Challenger). While a Leader need only defend, a challenger must attack. Challengers who take on the leader with a full frontal attack so run out of soldiers (budget). But Challengers more often by-pass the Leader's frontlines to attack on its flanks, on a weak spot, hoping to cause disarray in the ranks. Qantas was attacked by Virgin Blue and Impulse on price. Qantas - like a good leader - knew it need only defend its share by meeting the challenge with a blocking move. Hence JetStar. This gives Qantas a slice of the emerging budget airline market (built by Virgin and Impulse) and gave these intruders someone to fight with, to exhaust their resources. Flanking attacks explain the landscape of the Australian luxury car market. Mercedes was the category leader: it held the position "luxury motoring" based on its 'engineered like no other car'. BMW attacked Benz's stodgy handling and sluggish acceleration by adopting the 'driving experience' position - appealing to a younger market. Lexus attacked both on price and the 'ownership experience' (a lifestyle benefits program). Benz responded with a range of low end product to meet BMW in the younger market, and an expanded range of sporty models. Both blocking moves.

Cheers!

Michael Kiely

Marketing warfare 2

Hi,

Carl Von Clausewitz was a Prussian general who fought Napoleon and wrote the bible of military strategy that forms the basis for military education today, a book called "On War". In it he teaches that the greatest tactic of all is defence. Defence is the tactic most appropriate for the dominant force in a battle. The numerically superior force needs only block the advances of the challenger until they exhaust their energies and run away. Lesson: Market leaders should defend. Challengers should attack. Leaders who attack look like challengers. Leaders don't acknowledge that challengers exist. They don't mention them in ads - the don't do comparative ads. They just know that if they meet the challenger's challenge they won't lose much share. Who is the market leader? Who is challenger? The answer is hidden in the ground the battle is fought over - the mind of the customer. Which brand has highest unaided awareness? This will, in most cases, be market share leader

Cheers!

Michael Kiely

Marketing warfare

Hi,

If you haven't already read it, grab a copy of Marketing Warfare by Trout and Ries. It is the easiest way to get a grip on grand strategy for marketers that I ever saw. The parallels between warfare and marketing are uncanny. We use the same language - campaign, tactic, strategy, attack, defend, etc. Military strategy is all about positioning your forces to outmanoeuvre the enemy. And in the final analysis, it is about brute strength - firepower. In most cases - all things being equal - "God is always on the side of the big battalions" (Voltaire) It stands to reason. If 10,000 soldiers are fighting 5,000 soldiers in an open field and they are killing each other at the same rate, there will be 5,000 left on one side and none on the other. LESSON: Never attack a bigger competitor front on.

Cheers!

Michael Kiely

Email responses


Angelo,

I am loving your pieces here on Warfare. It is inspiring me.

Fred

...........
Michael,

I started receiving your daily emails a couple of months ago -
great idea and your thoughts have definetly given me some new ideas.
Being that you are a marketing guru, thought I would throw my current
challenge and a few questions your way....
Customer Service Week is coming up in October (October 2-6), and a
designated group of us have to come with some ways to engage head office
and branches across SA & VIC in celebrating/promoting customer service
week.
There is a golf day planned and our company will offer a round of
golf/dinner to 4 of our employees. I need to come up with a way for
employees to win this prize.
We came up with the idea of nominating peers..."Tell us who you think
provides superior customer service and if you enter you win a
voucher"....but we have done this in the past with limited success.
Any suggestions or ideas of what we could to to get people to
compete/get involved for this prize, keeping customer service as a
theme?
Any ideas on how to engage employees throughout the week and keep
customer service at top of mind (although really, it should be at top of
mind ALL THE TIME!).
I recently read Ries' The Origin of Brands - great read!!! I will have
to check out your recommendation of Marketing Warfare.
Cheers,
Adrian
....

Adrian,

This thought flashed into my mind while reading your request:
Give the prize to the member of staff who can contribute the most revealing customer insight.This is rewarding several important behaviours:
Listening actively to customers.
Engaging customers in conversation.
Thinking deeply about their emotional life.

Your organisation gains the following:
A bunch of customer insights to share among your customer relations people and communications executives.
A message to your staff that customer intimacy is important.
A message to your staff that customer knowledge is important.

I believe the most powerful activity you can engage in is one that reveals customers as human beings that staff can empathise with.

Michael

Own a word

Hi,

Positioning takes place in the mind. The mind works to sort through and simplify information coming in. It helps to secure a position in the mind if you can 'own' a word, said Jack Trout and Al Ries in 1981. Own the word so that when it is said, your brand comes to mind. What brand comes to mind when you see the word 'cola'? 'Flying'? 'Feeling'? Coke owns the category.

There can be a downside. Toyota gives each of its models a single word - called its 'one word equity' - that it can grow into. Hilux is "Unbreakable" and no one would question the vehicle's toughness. As a Hilux owner, I can say the tough positioning is unbreakable. But too narrow a positioning can also expose a brand to attack. "Uncomfortable" is another word Hilux could own, especially in the minds of owners with "Hilux back". When I asked a local farmer why he drove another make, he said "I spend so much time in it, and my back's dodgy already."

Lesson: choose a word that is flexible.

Cheers!

Michael Kiely

First in…

Hi,

When I was getting into marketing I spent hours in the Library at UNSW going through back issues of old US magazines such as Sales & Marketing Management and Industrial Marketing. In a 1969 isssue of the latter I found an article called 'Positioning' by Jack Trout and Al Ries that blew my mind (in a 1969 kind of way). They were the first people in my experience who turned the telescope around and looked at marketing from the correct viewpoint - from the consumer's point of view. They said positioning (a term they introduced) took place inside the head of the consumer. Not on the blueprint of the marketing manager. They said the consumer's mind was like a series of filing cabinets, the drawers of which were product categories, and the files stored in little league ladders, from first to seventh or so. They said the first brand into the mind becomes the first or number 1 brand for awareness, recall, and usually preference and market share. Startling in 1984 when I read it and bought their first book, Positioning. I recommend that book and their next one, Marketing Warfare.

(BTW, if you can't be first in in your category, create your own category.)

Cheers!

Michael Kiely

Email responses:

However, it's very often that the ones that make the most money, are the ones that are not first to market. The first-to-market spend alot to create the category. Smart guys willfollow with a unique variation on the theme and clean up in the massmarket. Early adopter market is not as big as we all think. It might get more press, but probably less profit.

Jeff

Walk a mile in my Hushpuppies

Hi,

I am often surprised by the low levels of 'consumer consciousness' among marketing people. IE. The ability to step into the consumer's shoes and take them for a walk through a piece of communication or a sales proposition or a buying environment. I guess when you spend most of your time down among the details of product specifications and entangled in corporate politics it's hard to step outside and assume someone else's persona and point of view. It's not a skill we are born with - the Dalai Lama says that empathy is something we should aspire to. I believe it is the essence of the marketing mindset - Theodore Levitt called it the Marketing Imagination. The ease with which you can slip into your customer's hushpuppies is a key indicator of your marketing skills. Why? Because if every aspect of a marketing organisation and its operations are planned from the consumer's point of view, you can't fail. The distance between your reality and theirs is the gap that your organisation must bridge if it is to achieve its goals.

The accuracy of your imagination - how well you know the internal reality of that other person - will determine how close to success you can come.

Cheers!

Michael Kiely

email responses

That must be why I love watching people, especially children play with toys - and parents scolding "no dont touch that!"- trying to teach them you cant just do what you like with other peoples property. But interacting and playing is human nature, and so is our sense of novelty.

www.whatif.co.uk has the same sort of outlook in that they actually bring in the person/people (3D consumer insights) to gather insights. one of their best examples was for a skin cleanser- they went to Taronga zoo and interviewed animal cleaners and asked what they do when they go home eg. shower wise

They would definately be using cleaning products- not some glamourous showpony going to the races every month with a feather hat and diamond encrusted mobile phone... sorry- got a little carried away....

Jo

Content is King!

Hi,

The future is finally here. For 20 years people have been predicting the demise of free to air television as the heavyweight champion of the media. Yesterday PBL announced that the Nine Network saw profits slump dramatically, while all its other businesses - even old fashioned magazines - are on the up. Free to air tv has been losing the important 17 to 21 segment for years. Podcasting, Youtube and other Internet services are eating up this audience. But there are other reasons. The channels have gone cheap on drama, replacing it with reality tv that has almost run out of steam. Then there's the Eddie factor. He is slashing costs at Nine, 'boning' presenters and looking for even cheaper programming. Here's where the old media can learn a lesson from the new media. Lesson: It's all about content. Eyeballs follow interest. It's not about old or new media. Harry Potter and The DaVinci Code proved the oldest medium in history - the book - could pull a decent crowd with a decent story. Why is the Australian film industry dying today? Because it has failed to deliver on content. Stories. Scripts. Simple.

Cheers!

Michael Kiely

Email responses:

Hi Michael,

Here's a page that demonstrates the importance of content rather
effectively (if crudely):

http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=owned

Enjoy!

Dylan
..........

Well Put.

Jeff

Expensive advice

Hi,

AWB's strategy for 'managing' the crisis it faces over the charges that it bribed Saddam Hussein to sell wheat to Iraq is an object lesson in how NOT to act when caught red-handed breaking the rules. First deny everything. Then seek to justify your behaviour by saying 'everyone does it', 'it's standard practice in those markets'. Then defy authorities as they seek to drag the evidence out of you. Seek injunctions to deny the enquiry access to your documents. Drag the process out, proving your guilt and making a public spectacle of your refusal to admit it.

AWB hired a New York spin doctor to give them advice, then failed to take it. He advised them to come clean up front. Over-apologise. Take their medicine and move on. The media would have a one-off field day, then it would be history.

At $700 per hour it's expensive advice if you don't take it.

Cheers!

Michael Kiely

Picking a Publicist

Hi,

Denise asked me to recommend a PR agency. I couldn't. But I was able to offer the following advice:
.....

I wouldn't recommend anyone in particular because the agency that is just right for you is a very personal choice. But I can give you a strategy for finding and selecting a good PR supplier.

First identify the media outlets in which you want coverage. Then identify the writers and editors and producers and presenters you would like to take an interest in your company. Then contact them asking for their advice. Ask them to identify for you a PR operative they like dealing with. (Personal relationships are so important in that business.) The person they nominate will have won their trust and will therefore have good access (the most important thing they can offer you). Then, from that list, you will have people working with big PR firms, some in smaller firms, and a couple of solo operators. You should select the size of operation according to the size of your budget, your needs, and your own company - aiming to be big enough on the PR firm's client roster to be important to them. But most important is effectiveness - a combination of creativity, diligence and contacts. That can only be assessed by case studies. And speak with the firm's existing clients.

If you pick a dud after all that, I'll be amazed.

Cheers!

Michael Kiely

Ladies and Gentlemen

Hi,

I remember the Ritz Carlton in Macquarie Street, when it was still the Ritz Carlton, and I remember one of its general managers (an American whose name escapes me - Tom Collins?) who told me that the Ritz Carlton taught its staff to think of themselves as 'ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen'. A nice, genteel positioning.

How important is a person's understanding of their role in a service organisation? What a difference this makes.

"My role is to make money for the company."
"My role is to make customers happy."
"My role is to see that no one breaks the rules."

Cheers!

Michael Kiely

Platinum Man!

Hi,

Who queues anymore? If I gotta queue, I'm not going. What's so good about being in a crowd? Let me drive in under the stadium and take the lift up to the box or I'm staying home. I'm sorry, I'm just that kind of guy. Platinum Man! (If only.) My point is: no matter what you are selling, there's a market for a Platinum version. (It used to be a Gold version, but that's inflation.) In every category and every market there is a significant segment of consumers willing to... No, demanding to pay a premium for an enhanced version of your offering. They need it to satisfy their urge to separate themselves from the herd (physically, socially, emotionally, whatever.) So don't deny them. There's margin in it.

Cheers!

Michael Kiely

Society on speed

Hi,

Remember when you would heat food up in the oven, and wait 20 to 30 minutes for hot food? Now 3 minutes in the microwave passes like an eternity. Why? Because as, Einstein discovered, time is relative. As we get used to faster and faster Internet speeds, we're not gonna wait for 20 seconds while a page loads. More bandwidth! Fewer bytes! The mobile phone has taught us we can have it all, now... Expectation Inflation is infectious. It spreads from category to category. If I don't have to wait for this, why should I wait for that? I don't care if it tastes like cardboard and strangles my heart, give it to me fast!

You can speed time up. Edward de Bono once saved a company a fortune by adjusting people's sense of time while waiting for a lift. The lifts were too slow and faster lifts were too expensive. De Bono installed mirrors in the area, and people would check themselves out, passing the time without noticing. (Hard on the ugly ones.) Southwest Airlines would hire buskers off the street to play in departure lounges when they had long delays due to weather.

Cheers!

Michael Kiely

Email response:


Perhaps in this hustle and bustle world, the only alone time one has is
waiting for your food. And even then this alone time you have to pay for
the pleasure.

Luan

.......

Mike,

Money is a major factor when it comes down to service...

A number of years ago, I like many of our esteemed countrymen worked at
McDonalds. I remember there were so many times when customers would
launch into fits or rage because their $1.75 Cheeseburger took 2 minutes
longer than the promised waiting time of one minute. Here were grown men
and women berating 15 year olds because they didn't have time to wait
for their fast food.

I guess this comes down to your expectations theory. McDonalds is
renowned the world over as "fast food" and when it's not fast, it must
be the little punk kids fault.

However the same person probably wouldn't bat an eyelid when waiting for
their $38 porterhouse steak hits the 20 minute mark.


Luan
...........


I love that example of Edward de bono. Hes the one with 6 hats right?

While I embrace technology whole heartedly- it has made me incredibly
impatient (whilst naturally have incredibly impatient parents who want me to
get a post grad degree now, have kids now, get married now, may as well plan
my funeral now too) - and this creates stress for others.

We are living in such a contradictory world, where we are trying to save and
maintain culture and tradition in some things-yet revolutionise so many
other things. This is possibly why the Western world is so in love with
Japan, which strives to do both in appreciating culture/history and yet
speeds on technology. Also several sister city relationships with japan
assist this Western appreciation.

I hope in the future more people in Australia appreciate/understand other
Asian cultures, which are not marketed as well as Japan is. We are all never
rude, just ignorant of other cultures/sub cultures, within which others act
in - thereby perceiving others as rude. It is only when we purposely act
rude within our own culture'- that we are rude'.

I love your blog.
Jo

Expectation Inflation

Hi,

Do you remember those lame slogans that people used to peddle about "Excellence"? Like "Excellence is a race without a finish line." Excellence emerged at the same time as the Customer Service Revolution and I think of both each time I encounter bad service. In the pre-Excellence days, bad service was expected and hardly raised an eyebrow. But now we have higher expectations. Today we encounter better general levels of service. But at the same time we are more likely to be upset by bad service. We are suffering from "Expectation Inflation" - which means consumers grow harder and harder to please as you increase your levels of service. A pretty dilemma.

Expectation Inflation affects your operation whenever you offer benefits to customers. I have been a Lexus owner for 6 years. I have enjoyed the highest levels of service available in Australia - until my last service when they failed to bleed the rear brakes and I was driving on outback roads pumping the brakes to slow down. It forced me to make a special trip back to the city to have it rectified. When it was returned, the service person refused to take my assurance that we routinely pay by invoice and insisted on a credit card for a $78 bill. (The original faulty service - for $1200+ - was invoiced.) And no apology for the original service failure. Very unLexus. The brand set the bar - and my expectations - so high when it was launched in 1990.

I used to be an Advocate. Now, what can I say?

Cheers!

Michael Kiely

Feedback? No thanks!

Hi,

I have just completed an exercise helping a client structure and manage a pitch by 8 agencies for his business. He has offered the 7 unsuccessful agencies a debrief so that they can improve. My bet for how many of them will take it up: 0%. Naturally they don't want to dwell on a failure. But how else can you learn?

For all his faults (and I never did work out what went wrong) Bob Ansett of Budget Rent-A-Car (it was the '80's, you had to be there) got the service proposition right. He actively fished for complaints from customers so he could discover areas where he could get a competitive advantage. He lapped up complaints.

Be like Bob. Face the music. It hurts. But when you learn from it, you grow.

BTW, I saw Bob in town a few months ago (for the opening of some swank hotel. I guess they were short on tall, greying Americans.) He deserves a place in the Australian Marketing Hall of Fame for his work in almost single-handedly evangelising the customer service ethic in Australia. Our new service economy and our long tourism boom couldn't have happened without that. "Australian Customer Service" used to be an oxymoron. (Look it up.)
Cheers!

Michael Kiely

Email responses:

Michael,

People at work might think it's a bit strange I ask for feedback all the
time, as I want to improve, learn, develop, become more efficient - so next
time I can tackle it faster/smarter.

Constructive criticism is great- but so often it is delivered to the person
in such a manner that it is not perceived as constructive. Then emotions set
in, and before you know it- staff retention drops a few percent.

Jo

..........

Of course the reverse also applies....on a number of occasions I've been asked to prop on some media training or PR only to find that my hour or two of work has gone into a black hole. Sometimes I suspect that I'm only there to make up the numbers so that the person they really want looks OK.

More to the point: as a trainer I think that quality feedback is hard to get, but it's also hard to give good quality feedback. And once you've been given bad (say, inappropriate rather than negative) feedback it can put you off being interested in it again.

Bob
........

Hey -

As any decent rock guitarist knows, feedback can be your friend.

When used properly, it can help get you from here to there with much
more drama and authority than if you didn't have it.

Just ask Pete Townshend!

Cheers.

Jeff

When you are the problem...

Hi,

What do you do when you are the problem? I know of two cases in which the most senior marketing executive is the blockage to progress. Both lead dysfunctional teams that are divided into warring camps. Both organisations are struggling to meet their objectives. In one case - an agency - it's new business hit rate is dismal. Getting in the door, but failing at the presentation, led by the boss. ("He comes across as a used car salesman," said one prospective client.) The other guy is so out of touch with the principles of team building that he alienates his younger colleagues by making pronouncements as if they were law, refusing to share the evidence he says he has for his position (leading to suspicion that there is none).

More than any other corporate function, marketing is about team and team is about leadership. A leader needs a healthy ego to take on the job. But you also need a good dose of self critique daily because staff worried about their job security aren't going to deliver it. It takes a high degree of emotional intelligence to judge your own performance objectively and accept a negative report.

It's lonely at the top. A leader needs a feedback loop: a mentor who is close enough to the business to detect the subterranean rumblings, but far enough away to be able to see the whole picture. Someone you can trust to give you the bad news.

Cheers!

Michael Kiely


Email response:

Hi Michael,

I have just signed up for your daily 'thoughts' and I love them! They are always useful and relevant. Yesterday's thought I found particularly interesting...

I am currently working in an organisation which has great potential but I feel is being managed in the exact way you describe below - divide, conquer and burn people out in the process. Do you have any practical advice (short of leaving the company) to deal with managers like those in your email? Pointing out problems with the current system and coming up with alternatives doesn't seem to be working.

Thanks

Nat
...........

Michael

Totally agree about Bob Ansett - great thought for the day.

Cheers

Shaun

..........

Hi Michael,

Great to hear someone revering Bob Ansett, I had the please of working for him for many years and miss his entrepreneurial leadership and zealous dedication to the customer. Having worked all over the world and for many different companies and management styles I must say Bobs code of marketing conduct still guides my personnel beliefs. I recall fondly one of his catch cries (possibly a quote from another inspirational person) "do the ordinary things extraordinary well" !

PS I read with interest your 57deadly marketing mistakes, I was delighted to read something objective and 'real" that mirrors many of my own thoughts! I applaude you for your passion!

Viva BOB viva Kiely

Christopher

DIY PR?

Hi,

One of your fellow "subscribers" to this service submitted an interesting question (below). You may find the response interesting (further below).

...........

Michael,

In your experience did you have meetings with journalists and editors or
did you leave that up to PR types who work this channel? My thoughts are that if I were to have a regular discussion with them our company will get more editorial opportunities. We had a PR company working for us but we ended the relationship as we could not quantify the return. We now do our own when we have a decent enough story that we think will get press.
Reason I ask is that we have sales people calling us all the time
wanting to sell ad space (bless them!) but I think that we get better
mileage from editorial which does not cost us anything.

Richard

.....

Richard,

First, separate advertising and publicity in your mind. They are separate activities with different functions. Second, publicity is not free. It costs time and resources and money. Third, it is possible to quantify the value of press coverage. You assign a figure to the coverage relative to the same presence in advertising dollars (with a formula you can get from a competent PR type). Fourth, maintaining your own media contacts is a good strategy. 1. It frees you from dependence on PR types. (I used to be one. I know what they're like.) 2. It shortens the chain of communication, speeds things up, and can make journalists and editors more interested. 3. It can ensure that your message gets through undiluted. 4. It can save $$$. But downsides are: 1. It takes time when you should be playing other roles in the marketing function, reducing your effectiveness overall. 2. You may have skills in this area, but your successor may not. You leave and your company loses part of its marketing systems. 3. You may think you're good at it, but your performance might be sub-optimal (and nobody's willing to tell you). 4. Unless you have had training and/or experience in the function, you may not have the essential 'creative' side - the ability to see or invent news angles (or reasons for coverage) that editors need. 5. You might not get the access to journos/editors that a professional publicist can. (Not being as rat cunning.) 6. A lot of PR work is simply "grunt" - calling a list of people to confirm attendance at an event, etc. This can tie up internal resources and disrupt operations. Perhaps you could fashion a hybrid system, building your own contacts and working them, but taking advice from a mentoring senior professional pr operator as you go and using them for special projects.

Cheers!

Michael Kiely