Friday, September 29, 2006

Sex, Death and Consumer Products

So this then is what it all comes down to: sex and death. The consumer products that we buy are really about just two things: trying to avoid dying and being attractive enough to the opposite sex to form a liaison. From food and medicine -- that living part -- to personal care and cosmetics -- that attractive part, almost all of our consumable activities line up behind those poles of life.

Think of the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics. Do you see any fat Egyptians on those walls? Those drawings and the attendant stories were the Vogue magazine of the Nile cognoscenti.

Two other quick points. Woody Allen in his eponymous movie calls these poles: Love and Death. A friend of mine, Jim Carpenter, characterized the attraction, as it pertains to women, as seeking security. Men, of course, are more focused on just sex. So maybe I am being crass and Darwinian by focusing on procreation and surely we are better than that and seek more out of life.

This is still the challenge for marketers. They need to truly make an effort to understand their consumers, to identify and mine the insights of their motivations, going under their skin and into their brains, and to develop products and positionings that meet consumer needs.

I know this sounds so basic. It is the mantra breathed in many CPG companies. Yet other businesses like banks, insurance companies, airlines, automotive companies even industrial manufacturers, do not well understand this point. They are struggling to find their way in and even their buy-in. And some CPG companies themselves have a long way to go to understand people's coping habits, buying drivers and decision-making.

Monday, September 25, 2006

Time, Money and Pixels

"Had we but world enough, and time,
This coyness, Lady, were no crime
We would sit down and think which way
To walk and pass our long love's day."

When the metaphysical poet Andrew Marvell wrote these lines in the 17th century, he was blogging what we already know about successfully reaching our customers (clients, consumers, patients, etc.)

This is what the world comes down in commerce: time, money and an exchange of satisfaction. Understanding those levers of satisfaction are critical for success.

Even if you enter a virutal world like secondlife.com, the trading can quickly change from virutal linden dollars to hard currency. It is the basic understanding of human motivation that stays the same: experience, expression, application of knowledge, acquisition of content (viz. knowledge) and simply living.

The challenge for many businesses is harnessing the concept of self-expression in their own lives and the relationships they have with their clients. If you can tie determine how to self-expression into your business transaction, you can harness a huge degree of satisfaction that will, in return, drive loyalty. And this will only increase your share of time, money and pixels.

Sunday, September 17, 2006

Batter Up: Talent Management and Performance

Many companies talk about talent management but how many of us know of people who got promoted because they were friends of a boss. If you are truly competitive, you want to have the best athlete in the right position.

When I worked for Peter Harf, the then CEO of Benckiser, one night at dinner, Peter said to a bunch of us: "I may like you, I may not like you. I don't really care. All I do care about is that you know how to get the job done and you do get it done."

In baseball, team managers have known this fact for over 100 years. Why don't business managers know this? Despite all the lipservice about talent management and the efforts of HR departments, the best people don't get the best jobs.

This approach is an area where executive recruiters can be effective consultants for their clients. Get them the best people and tell them to forget the beauty pageant.

Here's what the magazine Fast Company learned from Jeff Angus, a baseball columnist:

FC: So baseball managers are people people?
Angus: Since the National League was organized in 1876, managers have known that they will succeed only on the drive, acuity, and sharpness of their players. In business, the thing that prevents you from being outsourced or downsized is keeping the talent you have from being commoditized. Tom Peters and others started talking about this in the mid-1980s. Baseball had a 90-year head start.

FC: Baseball hasn't changed much in more than a century. So how is any of this relevant to business, which changes all the time?
Angus: Baseball is a perfect example of making yourself over on a regular basis. Every off-season, they debrief, reassess, start a new cycle, bring up young players, try people in new positions. Look at the Atlanta Braves' Bobby Cox. Over the past 15 years, depending on the talent, he's made power teams, hitters' teams, pitchers' teams--and they've all been competitive.

Sunday, September 10, 2006

Learning Dance Steps on Your Competitors' Graves

I was recently asked for advice from a friend of mine, who is a fashion designer. He was interested in becoming a master licensee for a famous European women's design name in the United States and targeting men. The potential gains seemed like a no-brainer: a well-known name entering a new market. He was all ready to go, but I asked him first if he had thought about other design houses that had done the same thing. What about Donna Karan? Liz Clairborne? Even a retailer like Talbot's? Were they successful? Yes, at first, but then the sales evaporated. I asked him if he knew why. He said no but that he was going to find out.

Then there were the goods. He was going to do belts, ties, watches and shoes, licensing the name out to sub-licensees. I asked him where he was going to focus. Which item was going to be the lead focus that would carry the entire line? What was the one item he would advertise? How much was the sub-licensee going to invest in this lead item? That licensee and their ability to deliver could determine the entire success of his line.

The biggest mistakes I see my friends making are in not analyzing and understanding their competitors and in not focusing their product lines. Competitive analysis helps you understand the landscape where you will be fighting. Focusing your line gives you the sharpest sword. Everyone learned this in business school. The challenge is truly spending the time and the effort to understand your market and then to understand which of your products will give you a competitive advantage in that market.

Monday, September 04, 2006

Internet Headlights Make Product Introductions Shine

Democracy in the marketplace is increasingly shaping the aspects, roles and popularity of products with the use of the internet. While this is not an amazingly astute observation, a pause for the moment to consider these developments can help direct future initiatives. Market researchers always understood this power: conjoint analysis has consumers assign degrees of attractiveness to various aspects of a product concept. With the internet, more and more people are anxiously willing to take polls, provide product reviews, write articles, adding their opinions, ideas and power to almost anything from the academics of Wikipedia to the electronicc reviews on cnet. P&G harnesses these views in seeking new product ideas, movie production companies build advance word-of-mouth through planned dialogues and politcial consultants endlessly poll, promote and raise money. Now, if you've got a new product, that is largely unknown, an interesting question is how you can build awareness, shape its introduction and secure its popularity by focusing on the relentless democracy of the internet marketplace. Unique points of difference can shine when consumers themselves turn on the light.

Saturday, September 02, 2006

Why let drug retailers control a manufacturer's success in the souk?

I was doing store checks for personal care last week, and I continue to be amazed about the variability and vagaries of shelf sets, particularly in drug stores. Drugstore Headquarters demand the best deals and margins for their space and promise execution, and Manufacturers, knowing there is no other game in town for mass market distribution targeted to consumers who purchase prescriptions and their other needs at one location, pony up what is needed and then pray for success. Retail merchandising forces who go in and set the shelves help, but all too often the incremental revenues realized by using a merchandising force do not payback the expense. The answers continues to be demand, stimulating desire that, for the consumer, over-rides the hazards of navigating the drug store souk. Cut the promotional fees. Reduce line promotions. Forget the circular ad no matter how much incremental (and profitable) volume you will realize. It still comes down to simple demand generation in the best media reaching your target audience.