The Marketing Diet

Author Matt Taibbi refers to the Tea Party as "15 million pissed-off white people prone to the cynical rhetoric that deregulation is a prudent response to the crisis and recession." I call it masterful marketing that needs opposition.

If it appears that this week's blog is a little sluggish, slightly more obtuse, and at times even lumbering, please forgive me. For days I have engulfed our gross national product, gorged on America's finest processed offerings and became dizzy on caloric confections that had my arteries looking to tag-out. It's completely my fault. Well not completely my fault, mostly its Sarah Palin's. That's right! The de facto leader of the Tea Party movement is the cause of my recent bought of fat back and I want retribution.

From a marketing perspective, it's often easier to sell evil over good, temptation over resistance. These messages appeal more to right brain's emotional thought and usually the visuals are more compelling and flashy.

Today, companies and sectors that need the most marketing expertise are being trumped by the opposition. Health care, education, and capital reform are just three prime examples. However, a scam of epic and almost breathtaking beauty lies with Mrs. Palin's latest skewed diatribe against government involvement in the limiting of sugar served in public schools and the introduction of more fruits and vegetables.

In spite of the fact our children are the most sedentary and obese in history, or the fact that diseases that were non-existent in children ten years ago are now prevalent, she has chosen to make this her latest political agenda against big government, AND currently her marketing is better than the opposition.

Sure, some of the largest donors to her party are the Salt Institute, The Sugar Association, National Confectionery Association and American Beverage Association, but I'm sure that has no barring on her stance.

Department of Health and Human Services and U.S Department of Agriculture - WAKE UP! She's kicking your ass and if you don't start to get your message across in a more visceral way than saying, "eat this, it's good for you," we are doomed to a world were gestational diabetes will be more common than a healthy birth. For now, I will join a gym.

Gregory Salsburg
CEO/The Big STIR
STIR-Communications
Miami | New York | London
c: (561) 386-8064
o: (305) 407-1723
e: Greg@STIR-Communications.com

Thanksgiving

My favorite holiday is Thanksgiving. No other occasion directs us to be selfless, to give, to think of others and their impact on us in our lives. I have so much to be thankful for, I feel undeserving of my abundance. I wish businesses would operate in a Thanksgiving mindset year round.

This weekend I heard a touching story about a young boy connecting to his grandmother who is suffering from memory loss. The boy's caring actions moved me in such a profound way, it switched my evening's focus and left me proud to know his parents.

It also made me think about passing the Rubicon in life when we so insidiously start to think of our elders as feeble and unaware of current society rather than embracing, learning and giving thanks to them from the life they lead and the opportunities they provided us.

This is a short work week so I will match it with short prose. Thank you all for making this blog grow, for taking the time to read it weekly, send to others and often reach out to me directly. I am very thankful for all of you in my life.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Greg

Gregory Salsburg
CEO/The Big STIR
STIR-Communications
Miami | New York | London
c: (561) 386-8064
o: (305) 407-1723
e: Greg@STIR-Communications.com

Change & Ride the "Mo"

If you don't like something change it; if you can't change it, change the way you think about it. ~ Maya Angelou.

I would be remiss if I didn't point out my favorite indicator that people believe we are turning the corner. I sit on the Board of Directors of the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Southern Florida, which had its annual gala in Miami last week, and in spite of a very tough year for charity gifting in general, this evening produced stellar results under the circumstance. Norm Wedderburn, the President/CEO of the Chapter, is truly a marketing and business sage. He has nothing to sell, no leverage to hold over others, and a staff that is overworked, undermanned and highly motivated. His life is to "ask." In truth, all businesses life is to "ask" but most have forgotten and instead try to sell, manipulate, and at time hold hostage there very people that allow them to operate in the first place. Not Norm, he selflessly engages, informs, acquiesces, listens, cares, AND because of that, he receives. I admire him greatly and strongly believe that if more business leaders ran their organizations with the same playbook we would see significant change.

A great deal of our work over the past 18 months has been focused on helping our clients chart the murky and at times treacherous waters of business fluctuations. For some, “the best laid plans" have simply become plans "laid to rest.” For others though, this period has been one to focus on building the foundation for the future. While some sectors have a while until they return to "normal" growth, that should not be mistaken for no growth currently. In fact, most of our clients are having a banner quarter (Sure we think it's because they hired us. Paging narcissistic, party of one.).

However, the one area of concern and discussion is concentrated on creating a positive united mindset. We have spent so much time in precipitous slide to emotional malaise, that for many have become content with mediocrity. A collective shift of confidence needs to occur in order to right this ship and make these small positive upticks unfailing.

For business owners, that means the focal point needs to be back on the workforce and the consumer. In order to survive the past few years, companies did all possible to stay afloat. Some of these changes were positive business decisions and actually should have been made during the best of times. Much can get lost when we are collectively patting each other on the back. However, the same can be true when our time is spent at the water cooler of doom. We made so many alterations to the operational fabric that we didn't focus on how it would continue to fit or feel.

Personnel have been left despondent and reduced to a cog in the process. In earlier blogs we have discussed how we have advised companies to remove all silo lines of communication and create a circular dialogue. Businesses would be amazed how something as simple as providing a voice back to the employee will yield overall productivity and boast moral. Corporate leaders need to get back to leading again and stop covering their asses, while piously tucked in their ivory tower.

Consumers have spent the past few years absorbing the changes small and large. Some popular rolls of toilet paper cost 10% more than two years ago with the roll decreasing in the same sheet count. General net weight of packaged foods have been reduced slightly enough to shave costs and ultimately consumer confidence. Think I am being hyperbolic? How many times have you heard, "I have never worked so hard and made so little as I do today"? How any consumer loyalty remains is beyond me, but there are cases. Companies that have remained authentic to their brands morals will prevail. I view the seemingly minute changes as indicators for future transformation. On November 1st, weeks before the start of the holiday shopping season, a few of the companies that follow our marketing and communications principles, Amazon.com, Target and Walmart, shot the first salvo with free shipping. These companies listened to the cry of the consumer via a recent study by ComScore, which found that 55% of shoppers said they would abandon purchases in the middle of the transaction upon learning that shipping cost extra. I know you may be thinking this is inconsequential, but I argue we must start somewhere.

Bottom line is that we must finish this year strong and carry this "mo"mentum into next year. That means in all areas of your life take a moment and determine what’s working, what you can discard, what can you enhance and what needs to be jump started.

All my best,
Greg

Greg Salsburg
The Big STIR
STIR-Communications
Miami | New York | London
c: (561) 386-8064
o: (305) 407-1723
e: Greg@STIR-Communications.com

Empathy

At dinner last week with the CEO of a regional bank, I was asked what I believed to be the most important quality of a business leader today. Without hesitation, I reasoned “empathy.”

In today’s capricious economic climate, many individuals have been living with emotions perils that in spite of best efforts to squelch, assault the workplace. Additionally, the recent convergence of convergence has made “work life” and “personal life,” simply “life.” We are acutely connected to all that we embody with limited resources for escape. As such, a leader’s job is to understand their employee’s (and if possible clients/consumers) emotional pulls and pushes and understand how to guide the progress forward.

I am not suggesting there is not a need for compartmentalization of personal issues in the workplace and that all issues should be used as a reason for lack of productivity. Nor am I suggesting that as Ari Gold on “Entourage” suggests, “let’s hug it out” will be a solvent either. I am merely suggesting leaders tend to work in a silo way too often and have forgotten that without a productive (not happy) and focused, workforce accomplishment will be minimal. Taking the time to truly connect on a visceral and authentic level can garner positive returns in efficiency.

Leaders often flatter themselves with the idea that the burdens they insist on carrying are unique and original. But, really, nothing is less original. Truth is that we are all in this together so if helping the emotional load of individuals can yield success in the masses I say sign me up. It also feels great.

Also remember, we see ourselves in our love for others ...

All my best,
Greg

Greg Salsburg
The Big STIR
STIR-Communications
Miami | New York | London
c: (561) 386-8064
o: (305) 407-1723
e: Greg@STIR-Communications.com

What You Don't Know

"Every block of stone has a statue inside it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it." - Michelangelo

By all accounts, my father is a supreme erudite, the highly successful founder of an established law firm with an impressive history of guiding his clients to monumental success. He would often proclaim, “what you don’t know will kill you.” I heard it so many times I hummed it like a mantra. It sounds impressive and when shouted across a desk prior to walking into a legal battle it’s hard to dismiss. Most scholars and leaders of business would subscribe to my father’s way of linear thinking. Teacher’s lesson plans have little room for interpretation, deviation or original thought. Many businesses follow suit. I love my father, but, he could not be more wrong.

So much for my portion of the will.

If you are lucky, when you’re young you learn the importance of failure. I didn’t until later in life. Not because I was so successful, but rather so fearful of what I didn’t know. The lesson I often learned was “don’t try.” I mean, who wants to be killed?

No matter what you know, what you don't know always remains more important in your business journey and life progress. That’s right what you don’t know will not only NOT kill you, it shouldn’t be debilitating, but actually liberating. If you remain in a constant search for what you don't know, the chances of your growing and learning are much greater. It’s at odds with what I was taught by my father and throughout the educational system, which provides us with a false sense of confidence that the more we know the more successful we will be, the measurement tool of grades equals life preparedness.

What we don't know allows us to tap the opportunity to apply trial and error, to learn and grow. The greatest inventions in history came from the R&D portions of companies or people’s brain. Trial and error with an emphasis on error are what moves progress forward. Quick trail and success is either luck or a concept not pressing the innovative boundaries. When you have the most on the line and the least going for you, you learn the most about yourself. That is particularly true with personal change or attempting something anew.

I grew up with learning disabilities including dyslexia. That meant the wiring in my brain gave me unusual aptitudes and abilities that tended to make me go about life differently than other people (that difference scares teachers and parents). I struggled with tasks that many people find easy. I couldn’t read or spell until high school. Grammar school was filled with years of torment and negative exertion.

I had to struggle in life, making many mistakes in a quest for success, but I always kept going. I have since won awards for my writing and lead companies with their complex business thought. I do not say this to impress you, but to impress upon you that I could never have accomplished anything until I realized that what I didn’t know was equally part of my arsenal.

Learning to embrace the unknown is another way of learning to love thinking differently. If you think differently, you are going to fail now and then, but you are also going to achieve wonderful successes. If you are in constant fear of what you don’t know and the consequences of pending doom, no one would get off the starting line.

"I have not failed," Thomas Edison said at one point in his experiments to find long-burning filament. "I've just found ten thousand ways that don't work."

Yes, he was dyslexic, too.

All my best,
Greg

Greg Salsburg
The Big STIR
STIR-Communications
Miami | London | New York
c: (561) 386-8064
o: (305) 407-1723
e: Greg@STIR-Communications.com

Why Not?

Ralph Waldo Emerson warned, "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen, philosophers and divines."

As children, immersed in the golden light of curiosity, we embrace life without question or prejudice. However, as adults, we are weighed down by our histories and past narratives. That baggage limits our ability to be open, to be truly and honestly alive, and to see things with the freshness that once came so naturally.

Professionally, I spend countless hours moving clients to view their brands with honest and unabashed realities. Personally, I spend a few hours each week engaged in activities to get that freshness back and once a year I spend a full week shedding the mental tartar build-up of life.

Children are always asking "why not?" in a effort to take forward action. Adults are often pronouncing "why not?" in effort to renounce forward action. And, one wonders why I will never grow up.

For years I've heard people say, "one's truth is staring them in the mirror." The flaw in the argument is that the reflection in the mirror is a one sided perception of the truth. We are limited creatures with difficulties looking beyond the façade.

In order to find and thus make change to one's truth, we must view a new mirror, one that enables us to liberate our inner reality. Sure, these optics can be painful, however, the truth is not always easy and you must face it without recoil.

People and businesses are scared much of the time. Being scared is one of the central constraints in our lives and imaginations. We are afraid to reveal our fragility and our weaknesses. We refuse to do anything that would expose ourselves or make ourselves vulnerable. So we hide out, tucked in our shells, and keep our different personalities or selves under wraps. We prefer to describe our weaknesses with mere captions. The unarticulated or the unimagined is easier to live with. In fact, we consider such silence to be a virtue. We think of it as a mature way to act or respond seeing ourselves as quiet, unflappable professionals or partners.

I have found the reverse to be true. When people and companies unlock greater emotional truth, one experiences life through a deeper palette of colors and gain a truer sense of life and work.

"Why not?" a child asks happily never imposing limits to their imagination, ignorant of potential consequences and armed with focus of wonder gained from an untethered, fearless soul waiting to be released.

"Why not?" I often ask adults running businesses and families. We love heroes, buy the products they endorse, follow the sport they play, read their biography, wait in long queue to watch their film or eat at the restaurant. We do this because instinctively we admire their courage and heroism and these glimpses temporarily transport us. But "why not?" do these things yourself?

I'm told often by the VP of STIR-Communications that my thoughts live in the grandiose or the future. I counter with, I'm confident she has the present under control, allowing me to dream loudly, pushing the envelope moving forward. I mean, "why not?" If it doesn't work or come to fruition, just replace it with "so what?," then move on to the next "why not?"

That's how innovation, success and life happens.

"If we all worked on the assumption that what is accepted as true is really true, there would be little hope of advance," said Orville Wright.

Examine your life and business and determine what perceived truths can be altered. What new directions can you apply, sparking a fresh outlook to even the most mundane tasks? How can just freeing yourself to say "why not?" more often make life exciting?

All my best,
Greg

Greg Salsburg
The Big STIR
STIR-Communications
Miami | New York | London
c: (561) 386-8064
o: (305) 407-1723
e: Greg@STIR-Communications.com

Circular Brand Communications

Since so many commented on last week's blog, I am continuing topic and provide an example of a company that is following our advice.

Hasbro is a company we enjoy for their willingness to embrace new communication vehicles. More to the point, they have given control of its brand directly to customers.

As noted last week, brand strategy is evolving as control shifts from companies to customers.

Traditionally, most companies have used advertising, sponsorships, and other mass communication outlets as their primary branding platforms. But to truly differentiate, more brands are incorporating the customer experience into their branding efforts, particularly online.

Hasbro, for example, is transforming itself from a toy and game company to a "branded play company," according to President and CEO Brian Goldner. Many of Hasbro's more than 1,500 brands, including Monopoly, G.I. Joe, and Transformers, are already well-known to consumers. But Goldner wants to grow even more. "We are driving our brands to understand how consumers behave," he told the audience at last week's World Business Forum in New York. " Our company has created a new mantra for its brand strategy: ‘re-imagine, reinvent, reignite,’" he exclaimed.

(Hello, see my blog dated Aug., 16, 2010. Our many followers and influence is growing. Thanks for being one of our dedicated STIR’ers and feel free to use any of the thoughts as well.)

Goldner points to Monopoly as one example. "We bring to bear all the forms and formats that a Monopoly user would be interested in," he says. The 75-year-old board game has added mobile apps, electronic versions, video games, online games, a customizable version, and continues its game partnership with McDonald's. "The more they play our games in all these other spaces, the more they come back to our [board] games. It does not cannibalize." As a result, Monopoly's brand grew by 12 percent from 2005 to 2009. He adds that each Hasbro brand has its own customer experience strategy relevant to its consumer base.

Goldner also touted a partnership with Discovery Channel to launch an online community called the "Hub" this week that features top brands. Its goal is to mix cartoons, game shows, user-generated content, and other information with online and television delivery platforms to enhance Hasbro's brands. "That allows us to create immersive brand experiences for consumers of all ages with any brand, anytime," said Goldner.

Today, companies must allow the brand to be defined by the customer. Companies now participate in, not control, the direction of the brand.

At STIR-Communications, we are regularly reminding companies that in the past brands pulled the strings – they had all the information that was to be had, and so they were able to manage consumer expectations and impressions. Today, any one individual has a megaphone that reaches literally millions of people in real time. The message is whatever each person wishes it to be.

The engaged customer wants to be involved in the direction a brand takes. A recent Alterian report, Your Brand: At Risk or Ready for Growth, surveyed 2,000 consumers in the U.S. and UK, finding that 75 percent of individuals believe there would be a positive impact from companies taking more time to find out about their needs and interests. In addition, 82 percent of those surveyed are willing to get involved in product and service development with a brand, and the same percentage says such involvement would make them more likely to promote the company to others. That's some heady statistics.

How are you currently embracing communications? What areas are showing positive returns? Where do you think the next area of penetration will be directed?

All my best,
Greg

Greg Salsburg
The Big STIR
STIR-Communications
Miami | New York | London
c: (561) 386-8064
o: (305) 407-1723
e: Greg@STIR-Communications.com