This Week in Strategy: Why was Pavlov's hair so soft? Because it was well conditioned
(I think I've heard this joke before. It definitely rings a bell.)
Hi Strat Pack,
Like many of us, I've been watching an insane amount of YouTube recently. And for whatever reason (partially work related) I've been watching a lot of phone reviews and unboxing videos. I've come to the realization that all these guys are absolute scams. With few exceptions they really just regurgitate specs and don't talk about any real world implications. It's very disappointing. But you know what's not disappointing? A real Airline Pilot Reacts to Airplane! Hollywood vs Reality. What a bizarre concept. Why did the algorithm decide to serve this up to me. I clicked on this expecting to hate it. But you know what? It's great content. It's long (20 minutes) but worth a background watch.
Guys. Guys. Guys. Guys. Under normal conditions, I would say print out Kellogg Insight's article Too Much Cross Talk. Too Little Creativity. How to Fix the Worst Parts of a Virtual Meeting and tape it to everyone's computer. but in quarantine, printers don't exist anymore. This actually great article can really help increase the quality video calls, the productivity, and your piece of mind.
File this under things I'm currently obsessed with: Indoors Zine is a publication about the great indoors. Created while the majority of the world is in isolation at home, It's Nice That asked 20 brilliant creatives to contribute a piece that would provide comfort (or just a laugh) during a trying time in all our lives. I love It's Nice That and I think it's great that they're putting out great content like this. Download it and give it a read over the weekend. It's beautifully laid out and really enjoyable. And if you're interested in learning more of the backstory, check it out on the Its Nice That website.
Special Section: Stone Cold Steve Austin (which I ripped off wholesale from a Bloomberg Opinion email)
Former professional wrestler “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, a WWE Hall of Famer, is generally not the sort of person you’d think of as weak-willed or in any way prone to shrinking from physical challenges.
And yet when he posted a picture of himself on Instagram wearing a mask — with the University of Alabama football team’s logo on it, no less — somebody complained he was not only soft but also conforming to communism:
First, let’s admire the simplicity of that rebuttal. Second, you must respect Austin’s obvious pride at driving a Ford Focus, even if you don’t understand it. Most important, though, this exchange says much about where we’re headed as a country right now. One of the most quintessentially Macho-American human beings who ever lived sets an example by protecting himself and others from a deadly virus, and he gets called a weak communist.
Alright, stop messing around trying to figure out which character I'd be in Airplane! (Definitely Leslie Nielsen). Let's jump right in.
1) Marketing Roles: The Conflict Between That Which is Important and That Which Companies PERCEIVE as Important [Doug Garnett]
Another excellent take from Garnett. Click through and read the whole thing. And consider how we can support our marketing stakeholders to get a better seat at the table.
Textbooks fail to offer students a vision of marketing’s role. And after one stumbling attempt to use the 4Ps to explain, I realized that while the 4Ps are CRITICAL they explain the functions of marketing — not its role.
So now my teaching and my thinking separate what I see as three fundamental marketing roles from the 4 primary functions expressed in the 4Ps.
I use this illustration with students and define marketing’s roles as:
To be the experts in the market and the experts in ways profit can be created from the market. In this role, “the market” is far more than tracking some clicks on Amazon. Market includes at least (a) customer, (b) influences on the customer, (c) distribution outlets, (d) communication outlets, (e) the competition and (f) the physical location at which products are bought. Nothing is more critical to a company, whether startup, entrepreneur, or Fortune 100, than building a useful, actionable understanding of the market.
To bring this expertise into the company and the execution of all roles. In this way, company efforts are aligned to have best impact on the market. Marketers communicate this strategically (with marketing strategies and by influencing the full corporate strategy) and by guiding tactical work. Notice that many activities influenced by marketing necessarily lie in other departments — the marketers aren’t busy doing the work…they’re influencing it.
To execute specific functions — primarily Placement and Promotion. These are usually seen as the responsibility of marketing from top to bottom. These are also the areas where marketers often look the busiest and where the impact of their work is most clearly understood. (I note below that many companies don’t see Placement as a marketing role but a sales role assuming it’s only about selling in the product. This is a serious strategic mistake.)
The Inverted Perception of the Importance of Marketing Roles
From 30 years marketing experience creating and introducing products to the market, it’s incredibly clear that the three roles should be prioritized as follows:
Being experts in the market is our single most critical role. And if we aren’t doing that, companies struggle, stagnate, or fail.
Following that, it’s critical that our expertise impact what the company does by influencing product development and a range of other areas within the company. This includes pricing which MUST be looked at strategically, developed by a cross-functional team led by a marketer, and created to have the best impact in the market.
And, yes, we do the placement and promotion activities which also require a deft touch guided by a deep understanding of the market.
Unfortunately, what I see within companies is the exact opposite idea. We can summarize this as:
Marketing is only communication. We need marketers for that. After all, GaryVee (or some other huckster du jour) says that’s all they need to be and that marketing education is a waste.
Our salesmen and women close the accounts — so it’s all their doing. And as long as an account can be closed, it must be a good idea. So we don’t need marketers involved there at all.
Engineers and designers know how to create products — just leave them alone to do their job. We’ll also just have the finance folks create prices — that way we “know” we won’t lose money (yet they do).
And market experts? It’s all of our jobs to be experts in the market. These marketers waste too much money navel gazing in research anyway.
The result? The CMO is demoted to a senior advertising chief. After all, marketing’s most obvious busy-ness is creating ads, driving social media, etc. So this is the one, single thing that the rest of the company is willing to agree is marketing’s area of responsibility. (That said, I observed one company when the accountant trained CEO decided to take control of TV advertising concepts and production too — believing they knew better. The results were disastrous, as you’d expect. Don’t know that the CEO ever came to understand how bad the results really were.)
The past 20 years have seen a massive loss of clarity around marketing’s role. Further, the rise of dime-store social media experts and massive consultancies leaves behind the impression that marketers ARE only communication folks.
I’ve found this error especially disturbing among startups. When a startup says they want to learn about “marketing” they usually only mean “we need someone to run our social media.” Among the many startups I’ve met with, very few understand their market and even fewer have developed products which their market cares about. Startups really DO need to start at the beginning with marketing — not jump in mid-stream by hiring communicators.
Go Forth and Embrace True MarketingI can’t leave this topic without noting that marketing’s involvement with other roles is one of complexity — a reality where roles are highly interconnected. Without the marketing influence, products regularly fail. Yet companies hate complex situations because we want, somehow, to deconstruct every problem into neat and tidy boxes.
That is a very, very bad idea. Companies must learn to live with the vagaries of complexity to succeed. And marketers do, too. For marketers this means accepting that having an influential role also will mean that much of their impact will be included in the output of other departments.
Yet we CAN improve the role of marketing. It requires clear vision among executives together with a strong CMO. And these executives must give smart marketers support to become experts in the market AND bring that expertise back to the company.
We must also suspend the short-sighted demand for “instant” in order to embrace an approach which satisfies short term needs while building powerful future profits. We must be doing today what will create higher profits in the future, Isn’t that what business SHOULD be about?
2) 68 Bits of Unsolicited Advice [Kevin Kelly]
What can I say, I'm into lists these days. Kevin Kelly is one of the co-founders of Wired. On his 68th birthday, he posted (you guessed it) 68 pieces of pithy advice. They're all great. Below are my eight favorites. But the whole list is worth your perusal.
Don’t be afraid to ask a question that may sound stupid because 99% of the time everyone else is thinking of the same question and is too embarrassed to ask it. [ED Note: this is my life]
Separate the processes of creation from improving. You can’t write and edit, or sculpt and polish, or make and analyze at the same time. If you do, the editor stops the creator. While you invent, don’t select. While you sketch, don’t inspect. While you write the first draft, don’t reflect. At the start, the creator mind must be unleashed from judgement.
If you are not falling down occasionally, you are just coasting.
Pros are just amateurs who know how to gracefully recover from their mistakes.
You can obsess about serving your customers/audience/clients, or you can obsess about beating the competition. Both work, but of the two, obsessing about your customers will take you further.
On vacation go to the most remote place on your itinerary first, bypassing the cities. You’ll maximize the shock of otherness in the remote, and then later you’ll welcome the familiar comforts of a city on the way back.
Art is in what you leave out.
Rule of 7 in research. You can find out anything if you are willing to go seven levels. If the first source you ask doesn’t know, ask them who you should ask next, and so on down the line. If you are willing to go to the 7th source, you’ll almost always get your answer.
3) Frameworks: The Essential Guide [Article Group]
I found this from Steve Bryant's really fucking smart newsletter and highly recommend you sign up. The Creative Problem Solving frameworks (starting on slide 24) and Client Thinking (beginning on slide 30) were by far the most useful to me and maybe I've already borrowed the CATWOE model for a brief, but then again maybe not!
Frameworks are how we understand the world. They shape how we think. They shape the connections we see. They shape the opportunities we realize.
In other words, they provide a method for making better decisions. The more frameworks you recognize and use, the better guesses you’ll make in a wider variety of circumstances.
BONUS FRAMEWORK! (also from Bryant):
Hallin’s Spheres
A framework for interpreting media objectivity
Proposed by journalism historian Daniel C. Hallin in his book The Uncensored War (1986) to explain the coverage of the Vietnam war, Hallin’s Spheres divides the world of the media’s political discourse into three concentric spheres: consensus, legitimate controversy, and deviance. Consensus is what everybody agrees on (motherhood and apple pie, as Jay Rosen put it). Legitimate controversy is the realm of traditional journalistic neutrality and debate (similar to the area described by The Overton Window). And deviance is what journalists ignore. One can imagine that the unbundling of media complicates this framework in interesting ways (Hallin’s Venn Diagram of Barely Overlapping Spheres, anyone?).
4) Quick Hits: A few articles that are concise, important, interesting, impactful, and I'm not going to write long descriptions for them
Covid-heavy this week guys, sign of the times.
Consumer sentiment evolves as the next “normal” approaches [McKinsey] This is a great report especially for those of us who are deep into 2H 2020 planning and beyond. If nothing else the charts are top notch. Overall spending intent is down across two-thirds of countries surveyed, but more categories are showing positive trends. While spending on staples and stay-at-home entertainment has always been elevated, spending on other categories such as food takeout and delivery, snacks, personal care, skin care, non-food baby products, fitness and wellness, and gasoline is slowly picking up in regions that are emerging from the crisis. Consumers continue to spend significant time on home-based activities. To work around restrictions, consumers have adopted digital and low-touch solutions like videoconferencing, curbside pickup for groceries, and telemedicine. Looking ahead to the next “normal,” around 40 to 60 percent of surveyed consumers who adopted these new products and services intend to continue.
Navigating the coronavirus: How 6 agency leaders are rethinking brand strategy now and for the future [Think With Google] I'm putting this here specifically below the McKinsey study which is amazing because frankly I think this is garbage. This was the lead-off article of the Think With Google newsletter and it had a lot of promise. What a waste. Six very smart agency people (two of whom I follow on Twitter!) and the most that Google could get out of them is "yeah, it's different right now. We need to rethink our approach." Great.
The Effects of the Recession on Brand Loyalty and “Buy Down” [comScore] I came across this 2011 report while researching models for the holiday season. It's far from a perfect comparison but has some useful information in here. And the lede feels hyper relevant to the next several months at least: Although the U.S. recession may have technically ended in 2009, its lingering effects are still very much being felt by Americans. As high unemployment levels and rising prices endure, consumers have been pressured to spend less and save more, ultimately affecting brand purchasing behavior and market share. A more price-conscious orientation among consumers has resulted in an increase in the “buy down” phenomenon, when consumers buy less expensive (often private label) brands in order to reduce household expenses and save money.
The Future 100: 2.0.20 [Wunderman Thompson Intelligence] In this special edition of the annual “The Future 100” report, we identify 25 trends that have accelerated, matured or come to light since we released the original “The Future 100: 2020” in January. In the wake of COVID-19, the report will help brands understand shifting demands, navigate emerging consumer behaviors and chart a course through the evolving landscape.
5) Department of Great Work
Guy Fieri and Bill Murray to compete in live nacho-making contest [Entertainment Weekly] "The Nacho Average Showdown" is live event to raise money for Fieri's Restaurant Employee Relief Fund (RERF), which gives financial assistance to employees impacted by the coronavirus shutdown. The quest for nacho flavortown will stream on Food Network's Facebook page on May 15 at 5 p.m. ET. Carla Hall will host and basketball legend Shaquille O'Neal and actor Terry Crews will judge. Why is this in Great Work? because it's sponsored by Tostitos of course. Smart.
IKEA Encourages Russians to Find the Fun in Lockdown with Self-Assembly Pillow Fort Instructions [Little Black Book] If you’re going to stay in, you might as well stay in with style. That’s why IKEA has elevated the humble living room den with a new content campaign. The social campaign depicts a series of elaborate dens, ranging from a wigwam to a full-on castle – all made from tables, lamp post, cushions and blankets available from IKEA. With parents struggling to combine full time work with home schooling and entertaining the kids, it’s a smart idea that should keep children entertained. And for adults, with or without kids, who doesn’t want to snuggle into a fantasy fortress and forget the real world for an hour or four? From Russian agency Instinct, part of the BBDO Group.
The beer wars escalated quickly today. [Twitter] Busch Beer fired a tweet at Miller Lite, which fired back about pandemic insensitivity. Busch deleted the tweet. Shots fired.
These Lockdown Candles Were Made to Smell Like the Places We Miss Most [Muse by Clio] The copywriting and visual design is amazing. Staying at home, we've changed, despite ourselves, on a profound level. In the U.K., Earl of East's latest line of candles illustrates that in a manner most sublime. It's partnered with Uncommon Creative Studio and the charity Hospitality Action—which helps people in the service industry weather setbacks—to create "Scents of Normality," a collection of luxury soy candles that embody everything we miss about pre-lockdown life. So much of that includes banalities that are now alien. Thus, the three available aromas reflect "some of the nation's favorite hangouts," according to Uncommon: The Local (as in the local dive bar), The Cinema and The Festival. From Uncommon Creative Studio and the charity Hospitality Action
Working Remotely - COVID 19 Principles from the Canadian Government [Twitter] I wish more companies would adopt these principles. Mark Richardson works for the Canadian federal government and they sent out an email with work at home guiding principles. It’s amazing to work for a place that speaks like this.
Department of Bad Work
MTA slams ‘despicable’ TikTok prankster who trashed train with cereal [New York Post] A man who goes by @fckjoshy — and has 3.3 million followers — dumped a giant tub of Fruity Pebbles and milk onto the floor of a crowded 4 train in the Bronx. The video got over 240,000 likes. "A new low," the MTA tweeted. "Pulling a prank on essential workers in the middle of a global pandemic. And making essential workers clean up your mess. Despicable." To be clear, the TikTok is the Bad Work and the MTA's response is honestly the least they could do to combat their *totally justified* unbridled rage
6) Platform Updates
Instagram introduces new features to help create a more positive space [Mashable] You'll now be able to delete negative comments in bulk, as well as block or restrict multiple accounts. In another attempt to curb bullying, the company is also rolling out controls to manage who tags or mentions you on Instagram. To highlight positivity, Instagram will soon be testing Pinned Comments, in which users will be able to select a specific number of their favorite comments and pin them to the top of their comments thread.
TV ad spend to fall even further as upfront commitments are cancelled [Business Insider] eMarketer's pre-pandemic forecast predicted TV ad spend would increase by 2% in 2020, but we now anticipate a drop of between 22% and 29% for H1 2020. As brands pull back on TV spend, ad dollars will likely be diverted to more flexible digital channels — a trend that could stick around post-pandemic. Committing spend upfront is becoming increasingly unappealing to advertisers looking for flexibility amid uncertainty: Nearly half (48%) of advertisers said that this year, networks shouldn't expect a commitment of more than 90 days' worth of inventory.
As always, the full archive is available here. Was this email forwarded to you? Want to start getting this on a weekly basis? All I need is your email, everything else is optional. Thanks for sticking around as always. See you next week!