Does your marketing have a screw loose?

With the World Cup over for another four years (occassional) sports nuts like myself are turning to the Tour de France for their daily fix of action and men in tears.

It is race of 3600km and of millimeters. Most teams have spent millions to put their team on the track and the race can be won or lost in a heartbeat.

Team Sky is a UK entrant with the backing of the global satellite TV giant. They aim to have a winner in the next five years. They take the tour very seriously.

They adhere to the theory of an 'aggregation of marginal gains'. They believe that if they closely examine every aspect of what they do and make small improvements in every area it can lead to one big advantage over the other teams.

They have a sleep coach, they have a dedicated 'head of apparel' to get the best from their kit and like F1 teams their workshop floors are painted a specific colour to spot any components that fall off the machines.

I guess like me you have seen a few organisations with one or two components rolling around on the floor. So what could a review of your marketing mean if you wanted to 'aggregate marginal gains' to find a big advantage over your competition?

The most important step is to continually review and test everything you have in use in the market.

Benign considerations like keeping the call centre up to the minute, keeping your POS material looking fresh and interesting or finding the best ISP for your business to give you that extra megabyte of performance can be the difference between a good campaign and a great campaign. Imagine the Old Spice campaign without the rapid-fire responses to questions. It just wouldn't get the same traction.

Here are a few tips for finding some small gains your competitors may not pursue...

1. Comb through your product feedback and reviews and look at some of the less prominent requests or complaints. You may find a particular segment has a burning issue that you think is insignificant. Listen to them and show them that you have. That segment could be a 'sleeper' and become one of your most profitable.

2. Set up regular meetings with your sales team or call centre that go outside the hierarchy. Provide an incentive to get honest feedback and constructive ideas from anyone and everyone.

Managers will not always find the best solutions (!?)

3. Borrow from other industries. If everybody is doing the same thing be the one that doesn't (within reason). For loyal customers go the extra mile. Be the one Dry Cleaner who delivers.

4. Look at what works well in other parts of your business and apply learning to multiple campaigns. You don't need to reinvent the wheel each time. Knowledge and wisdom about how people behave and what they like is transferable (Duh).

5. Train hard. George Orwell would suggest you 'skill up' your peeps often. It can't be assumed that planting a large daily workload on people will keep them in top shape.

Often people find the easiest way to work, not the most effective way.

Give them new challenges, expose them to fresh thinking, send them on a work trip to somewhere they like.

Do you want a team that gets the job done each week or a team that will climb any hill with ease and win the race in style?

As Paul the octopus knows: anyone can win on the day.

The irrepressible juggernaut of the World Cup has been stunned and sent home.

Spain has beaten Germany 1-0 earlier today to progress to the final on Monday morning AEST.

Paul knew this would happen and if he could slurp some knowledge into your ear he would say this:

Its not the best who will win each time but the best on the day.




We can all take something away from this.

If you are the best in your field or a market leader you can't be complacent. Number two knows everything about you and is working every day to be the best. How are you going to prevent that from happening?

If you are number 2,3 or 12 it means on any given day if you prepare well and have a good strategy or idea you can win the day.

Desean vivo los españoles!

Until Monday anyway.

3 things you can learn from Roger Sterling & Peggy Olson

I'm a bit of a Mad Men fan. The dialogue, the exquisite styling and the perfectly paced stories are a sweet escape to early 60s Manhattan.

Roger and Peggy have had very different experiences at Sterling Cooper.

As a partner Roger has been accustomed to getting his own way. It shows. His dapper persona and incisive barbs keep the place humming and on edge.

Peggy has made something out of nothing. She has fabricated a career girl out of half-chances and determination.

There are some things we can all learn from them and apply to our own career/work/life...

Roger

1. Never prepare anything. That's what the team does. You are a man goddamit and fought to make this country what it is. Are you gonna let this client step all over you? Hell No! Take a bolt of something from the sideboard, stick a 'Lucky' in the corner of your mouth and give 'em what for.

2. Know the client's pressure points. Remember the time that Jap tried to run you through? Same thing. When they lean in and give it their best shot just step to the left grab their arm and apply a verbal chop to the neck. Why bother with a great campaign when you can just knock them into shape with a few quips?

3. The impression you make is 95% of the work. Sure you could work until 10pm, grab a bite at Sardi's and head home around midnight but, why do that when you have a wardrobe of $500 suits? If you look a million dollars, smile like JFK and talk like Muhammed Ali you can get the job done almost all the time.

Peggy

1. Take every opportunity you can. They may have hired you to take calls and work the Rolodex but you have much more than that. You see through the glittering veneer of advertising and know all that it takes is ideas and hard work. What does Don have that you don't? ("...everything, and so much of it."). He made himself just the way you have.

2. Others are happy for you to make them look good. If you have something don't hide it. For every original thinker there are ten hacks who get where they are through fortune and favour. They won't go as far as you though. When you have something great don't let others take the credit. There are too many Dons out there who will let you wallow in the backroom if you don't push them hard. Burn brightly like the Sun.

3. Sleep with whoever you need to. It's not nice but it might help.

On Social Media Day: the good, the bad and the ugly.

Well its 30 June, 2010 (in Oz anway) and Social Media has come a long way. For many people and organisations it has completly changed how they see the world and talk with one another. For others its business as usual and they couldn't give two hoots about SM. No big deal.

SM has certainly introduced me to many communities of passionate, interesting and engaging people.

While I'm no expert, I'll cite the DIY ethos of the medium and share some of my thoughts on where SM is at in mid' 2010

The Good

Great campaigns and deals online. There's no doubt that short of being there and talking to the person who thought of something great, or made a fantastic product, learning more online is the best way to go. Orgs like Dell are providing compelling offers to form a collective and buy online and campaigns like The Best Job in the World would be half as effective offline.


Collaboration. I read recently that 95% of user created content is spam but that hasn't been my experience. My recent favourite is The Johnny Cash Project http://www.thejohnnycashproject.com/ where you can draw a frame for a music video that is constantly changing based on subimissions and votes. Too much fun.

Access to (almost) everyone anytime. By and large the people I want to speak to make themselves available. Some are happy to have a chat, others just want to speak to people through a different medium. For individuals that's fine. How healthy is it to learn what your fans like and loathe about your work and for fans to have a chance to 'meet' their idols. Too much fun to be had.

The Bad

I still see a lot of organisations just putting up a sales pitch on Facebook or posting a sales video on Youtube. What's the point really? You may get a handful of sales but you're souring the majority of future customers. Don't do it.

Some places have adapted to the new mediums but continue to use old thinking. The content is not an honest sharing of what they can do with, and for, you. Its been spun and finessed to within an inch of its life. Its common knowledge now that orgs should be conversing with their community, not talking at it.

The use of creative designed for other mediums is still common. You wouldn't use the same image from a huge billboard on your business card (hopefully) so why is the landing page full of flash when the campaign largely went out to mobile?

The Ugly

More often than we should we see bloggers and online media pumping up their own tyres and pulling down others. Ego, pride and an 'I know best' attitude still seem to be common - despite the very nature of Social Media. I'd like to think the people behind these embarassing spectacles will realise they do themselves a disservice and start to feel (and spread) the love a little more.

I can't wait to see what's next. SM is a constant source of innovation, big ideas made a reality and genuine interaction. Nothing would surprise me and so much will please me.

ATMs: Are they the best way to reach bank customers?

Most of us have been marketed to at some point at ATMs.

We're a captive audience for those 20 or 30 seconds and the banks are looking to cash in on this. I for one get a lot of 'meet your bank manager' nonsense.

Is the insight really that customers would spend more if they only knew somebody there? Really?

While it's great the branch is looking to put forward someone to talk to me mano-e-manager they could do so much better.

I'd actually prefer some offers or incentives that are relevant to me and my banking. The banks have a wealth of data on us so why not use it to more effect?

If you know I usually withdraw $200 why not tell me how I could better invest $200 on a regular basis? You know where I spend my money through my eftpos transactions, why not show how that money is better spent with your bank?

ATM: Hi Warren, I see you've been purchasing rusty bikes through eBay. You know, if you invest the cost of one of those bikes in our super-high interest performer account each month you would have $1,254 at the end of the first year?

That would be kind of cool. Creepy, but cool.

As a Gen Xer I need as many reminders as possible on what I should be doing with my money (beside rusty bikes). I'm not watching the bank ads on TV. I throw your DM away (geez it costs a bomb) and I hardly ever do anything online except my everyday banking.

If you know people need a name and face at the branch then even have Bill or Belinda Bank Manager worked into the mix. I'm keen to know how they are good with money. Have them give me some money tips. I assume they're good with money so what can they teach me?

There is so much banks could be doing with ATMs during the time we spend there. I really hope to see more effective, personalised marketing some time soon.

But it's true!

Where (exactly) the bloody hell are they?

This week the ad industry collectively shrugged its shoulders as the new Tourism Australia campaign was launched.

The 'Nothing like Australia' TVC received mixed reactions as either an effort by Tribal DDB to put the Bingle bungle behind us (and play it safe) or an "... innocent and charming" look at the real Australia, as seen from afar.



While many were wringing their hands at the setback to the brand, a "wonderful piece of creative from 1987" said one comment on mUmBRELLA, the ultimate test will be - does the ad work?

Effective campaigns connect with the target market with an unmistakable and irresistible truth. This requires research, careful planning and execution and often the willingness to put forward creative that sells, not sell creative.

A fine example of this is the Pringles 'can hands' banner ad that won Silver at Cannes in 2009 (should that be 'Cannes hands silver to Bridge Worldwide?').

Play with it here...

http://awardshome.com/cannes2009/pringles/can-hands.html

There were other, more exciting ads and campaigns on show but the little thing is just irresistible.

The more you click, the more you enjoy yourself.

The more you enjoy yourself the more engaged you become with the Pringles brand.

A neat benefit of the ad is while its aggregating clicks for the client (nice for the agency too!) the consumer is repeatedly saying 'yes' to the brand and creating trust through a medium known for shenanigans.

By the final message (I won't spoil it) the truth that 'YOU are awesome!' is established and Pringles said it. Repeatedly.

It was not fancy. The colours are terrible. The budget could have been about US$97.25.

But it worked.

There were extraordinary clicks and time spent with the ad was over five minutes. There were 100,000 visits to the staging server in one day, great stats for sharing through social media (one person per minute tweeting the ad) and 100% positive comments through social platforms.

The banner ad was perfect for the audience and for Pringles. While the idea was clever it also showed a strong understanding of the main target segments and what pushed their buttons. It got under their skin and connected with them for five minutes in their world.

Kevin Johns recently asked in BandT "... [if many] practitioners have fallen perilously out of touch with the man on the street?" And it's a valid question.

Whether you're a creative, a suit or the guy who signs the cheques you should be concerned about meeting the client's needs by helping to produce the work that should be made.

Even if it looks like it's from 1987.