Archive for November, 2009

How about some internal talking?

It has been said before, and by now it should be obvious to everyone – organisations are structured around principles that no longer apply.

What are these principles?

  1. Departments have different P&L’s hence functioning as silos
  2. Companies have job titles that ensures everyone knows their role and the parameters in which they operate
  3. Organisations have geographical breakdowns with each country fighting for resources and power

I could go on….

I’m sure no-one would dispute that this is not conducive to collaboration, lateral thinking, innovation, integrated solutions, and customer service.

Dilbert

However changing any of these principles is not an over night exercise, and doing so would be quite disruptive to business, in addition to prohibitively expensive.

I’m convinced that there is an easier way to achieve immediate change which would lead to collective thinking, cross functional cooperation, and solutions that do not only benefit the entire organisation but also customers. I’m referring to a tool that is systematically underused – internal communications.

Sharing information, ensuring knowledge for everyone, and increasing the level of understanding does not only break down barriers between departments, but it improves the quality and speed of decision-making. Creating a unity through common understanding between employees leads to products and solutions that benefit everyone involved, internally and externally.

Imagine working in an organisation where the WW CEO of 30,000+ people leaves a voice mail to the entire organisation explaining why he has just bought a company, what he expects to achieve through the acquisition, and the potential risks he has just taken by doing so.

Imagine working in an organisation where you are regularly informed of changes and challenges in all departments ensuring that you understand the working of the organisation’s value chain, from manufacturing to customer service.

Imagine working in an organisation where by using the power of the word, and all communication tools available to them, senior management ensures everyone is aware of, and understands, the goals, aspirations, opportunities and threats of the organisation in real time.

I had the pleasure of working in such an organisation in the late 90’s; I had the pleasure of working at Cisco Systems.

In this environment I learned so much about business my subsequent MBA felt a bit like a waste of time.

In this environment I made a decision costing my department $6,000 a month because I understood that if I didn’t it would cost the manufacturing department $30,000 a month.

In this environment I never doubted what the organisation was trying to achieve and what was expected of me, nor did I ever speak to anyone who did not have the same clarity.

Cisco TelepresenceEmployeeMeeting

Yet. Cisco had job titles like most companies, Cisco had a manufacturing, logistics, sales, marketing, customer service department like most companies, and Cisco had offices all over the world…but through the power of communication they ensured we thought and worked as one company – and what a great company it was!

It makes me wonder why internal communications is not seen as one of the most strategic activities of an organisation – I have no doubt it played a critical role (if not the key role) in making Cisco the most successful company of its time.

I don’t know about you, but that’s a title I would gladly adopt if I was an organisation.

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2009
11/20
CATEGORY
Internal Communications
Thoughts
1 comment

If it doesn’t oink like a percy pig, or squeal like a percy pig, then it just isn’t a percy pig!!!

It’s Friday so lets chat about something relaxing, let’s talk about percy pigs and brand extension.

When I moved to London from Paris, (which for a croissant, seine, boulevard lover like myself was a hard thing to do) I discovered one of the great pleasures of life, the little yet overwhelmingly brilliant percy pig!

Percy Pig

I can’t think of any situation where having one doesn’t make sense, be it to celebrate, drown your sorrows, fill a little gap in the stomach, or just because you can – percy pigs never let you down!

So you can imagine my joy when a friend turned up Wednesday night with, not only a pack of percy pigs, but also some percy organic biscuits! I love tasting something new, and in this instance I couldn’t wait to double my percy happiness!

Percy Pig organic biscuits

After chewing on what felt like a hard shortbread, I had to accept a harsh reality, if it doesn’t oink like a percy pig, or squeal like a percy pig, then it just isn’t a percy pig!!! – and these biscuits had definitely nothing to do with percy pigs.

I’m all for brand extension. If I produced percy pigs I would be tempted to spread some of that percy magic across a ton of new products!!!

But I wouldn’t. Why? Because I have not forgotten my abc’s of brand extension:

1) Brand extensions that does not create positive synergy for the parent product should not be pursued – I can’t imagine these hard little biscuits will bring a smile to anyone’s face, nor  any value to the percy pig family (unlike the brilliant product extension percy pig and pals).

Percy Pigs and pals

2) Positive feelings towards the original product will not automatically transfer to the new one – if I didn’t believe that to be true I would have tried to convince my business partner to call our company this percy world rather than this fluid world.

3) Brand extensions must be a logical fit with consumers’ expectations. I can stretch from candy to biscuits, but not from super soft and filled with personality to hard and boring.

4) It works both ways, brand extensions that creates confusion or a negative image for the parent should therefore not be undertaken – if you’re sitting on something brilliant, don’t break it (in this instance I was genuinely worried about breaking my teeth).

As I went to bed that evening I wondered if my biscuit experience would have a negative effect on my love for percy pigs…

Apparently not, as I ran out last night to meet a friend I found myself making a de-tour to M&S at Bond Street station for some you know what (you should I’ve only mentioned it 14 times in this post).

Which means I think I have to adjust rule 4 by adding ‘unless you’re lucky enough to have a product that so totally rocks it’s bullet proof to brand extension mistakes!’.

I wonder how many brand managers are out there sitting on a  product that would pass the percy test, in my experience not many!

(Do you think I‘ve mentioned percy pigs enough times in this blog for them to send me a massive box? :) )

Have a great weekend!

P.S this one is for you Ludden for being brilliant, and for sharing my love of pigs (and crumpets of course, vive l’Angleterre!!!).

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2009
11/13
CATEGORY
Branding
Marketing
Thoughts
2 comments

30 seconds is just not enough to please everyone, and why would you want to anyway?!!!

Has anyone seen the latest PC World ad?

I wouldn’t be surprised if you hadn’t (or if you did promptly forgot about it). The only reason I did is because it seems to me as if it’s a case study in how trying to please everyone in 30 seconds is not a good idea.

Take a look….

Friends' World

I can almost ‘hear’ the person overseeing the making of this ad thinking  “ Let’s have a bigish idea to please the brand people, lets get some consumer research stuff in to resonate with consumers, let’s remember the economy is dire, let’s get some corporate speak to please management, and let’s also make sure product managers get their share – I’m sure I’ve included everyone thus ensuring happiness!!!”

Actually not so much, the end result is a rather long speech by a female voice over which sounds like she has multiple personality disorder (the language she uses and what she speaks about changes every few seconds).

Let’s take a closer look phrase by phrase.

•    My world is my friends (bigish idea, why not…).
•    We are always chatting on-line (yes what a ‘great’ ‘insight’ about consumers) so I went to the PC world sale (not sure of the connection, but I suppose they had to get it in there).
•    They have this Samsung NC 10 notebook for only 239 pounds (who speaks like that? Oh yes of course companies!).
•   It has a 7 hour battery life (I’ll give you that, an important benefit, expressed in a language everyone can understand and more importantly repeat to their friends) so I have time to catch up on all the gossip (ah there it is again, the old consumer research, caus gossip is what we women spend our time doing, not at all patronising).
•    And I even got it free when I signed up to mobile broadband (again not bad, easy to understand and repeat to my friends – and respects that we are all a little broke right now).
•    (and then, for the finale, they go crazy!) Plus they had 200 pounds of this 47 inch LG 200 hertz 10 ETP TV and it was only 699 pounds (What? I had to Google that just to get it right! I mean really, I’m sure that no one but product managers speaks that way!).

If you are going to make an ad that involves a consumer talking to a potential customer, than make sure you do just that. And if it’s meant to resonate with women, then make sure it does that too. It’s not brain surgery. I don’t think you would have to do more than two things to make that happen.

1) Listen to a few women talking to each other about computers (rather than looking at the latest tabulations from your latest research).

2) Lose the corporate speak and the request from brand managers (blame it on the postal strike).

I can assure you, doing this would have changed the tone of the ad, the assumptions made about women, the content and most definitely the language…there would not have been an NC 10, LG 200 hertz, nor an ETP in site!

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2009
11/08
CATEGORY
Advertising/Media
Human Behaviour
Thoughts
2 comments

Just because we’re ready (as in the suppliers) does not mean the market is ready, willing or able!!!

I spent yesterday at the Figaro Social Media Marketing Conference in London.

During question time an attendee made a statement that made me sit up.

“By the time companies catch on to, and do, social media it won’t be new media anymore it will be old media”.

What he said made me question the definition of old and new, it made me question the feeling that new is better than old, and it made me question the assumption that it (the new) should happen now because we want it to, because we are ready!

oldnew

Old to me is not about semantics it’s about action

How you define old I suppose depends on how you look at things.

If with old you mean people have spent considerable time talking about it within the four walls of their offices, if with old you mean it has been the topic of conversation at many conferences, if with old you mean that the press has covered it from most angles possible…then yes I suppose the statement would be correct, by the time companies ‘do’ social media it will be old media.

I have a slightly different definition of old, one that has little to do with talking, one that has little to do with writing, and even less to do with power point.

Old to me is something that has been around for a while, something that is clearly understood, something that has been tried and tested, and has been incorporated into business as usual. Basically something that has been done by many, over and over and over again! It’s old because it has worked (at least at a certain point in time).

What’s so wrong with old anyway?

I mean people still listen to ABBA? Old is only bad if something better has come along, (better not just different) and if that something is getting ignored for the wrong reasons (lack of knowledge, myopia, fear etc).

Resistance to something new, to change is normal, and I think in some instances healthy. Can you imagine what business would look like if companies jumped on everything new that came their way? It would have the same disastrous affect as UGG boots had on fashion!

This is why I respect the old. At some point in time it was good enough to convince companies to change, to adopt to something new, it subsequently stood the test of time, and it probably survived a lot of fads.

It won’t happen because we wish it to

Having said this I also like a good spring clean, I like bringing in something fresh, I absolutely think new is needed (OK personally I love new and i love change)! I have spent most of my career navigating uncharted waters, trying to drive change – and enjoying it!

My experience has taught me that resistance to change is not likely to go away, and that nothing is going to happen because a number of suppliers livelihood depends on companies ‘catching on and doing something new’, nor because a bunch of us get inpatient.

Until resources are unlimited, and fear of taking risks eliminated, change will happen because the people advocating, and believing in that something new, will make it happen. If they want to reap the benefits it’s their job to clearly define the value they (or their idea/product/solution) bring, it’s their role to educate the market, to decrease the risk in trying the new, and to develop solutions so successful and sustainable that companies have no choice but to get on board.

So anyone in the social media space (or any other new space) should pray that social media becomes old media. Why? Because this means that we have been successful in achieving the above, in proving the value of the new, in having an impact on business and in gaining a significant part of marketing budget!

So let’s all of us hope that anything new we get involved in becomes old…and don’t worry…if you still have the wonderlust, just find something else new, it’s called progress!

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2009
11/04
CATEGORY
Advertising/Media
Social Media
Thoughts
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