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Category Archives: Marketing

Did Brand Management die in 2009?

Posted on January 12, 2010 in Brands and Culture, Marketing, Sustainability

What is a Brand Manager and how will he/she play a role in building the 21st century?

Given the tough business climate, mind bending tech. changes & dire need for innovation in the next decade & beyond, some (like Forrester) propose that we ax the command and control “Manager” part of the traditional Brand Manager title and go with something more relevant like “Brand Advocate.”  Ad Age followed up with a similar article on this topic near the end of 09.

Brand Managers today in many companies are really business managers that guide a multifunctional business team (e.g. Finance, PR, Supply Chain, etc.).  Marketing promotion is just 1 part of their job (remember the 4Ps of marketing).  Brand Managers create the strategy for the business, making decisions about how to run their business & build their brand.   Like my good friend Dave Knox writes in this excellent post, a Brand Manager in many cases is a General Manager in training…he/she is at the center of everything that happens on a brand.

GOOD

Good Brand Managers are fun, open & inspire their teams as they lean forward to discover new ideas.  They get out front & show that they want to build future focused products & their brand for the next generation. They work together with trend, consumer research, and design agencies to envision the future, so they can  build something that makes sense.  These guys & gals are visionaries with a lot of courage.  They are Builders first, managers second…

BAD

Other Brand Managers can tend to focus too much on how they will close the financial year. They operate with so much discipline & care to deliver the right numbers that they lose sight of the future.  They don’t take risks…and they aren’t willing to adapt to technology.  They spend too much time on internal “horn blowing” and developing processes for yearly evaluations instead of following up on what’s happening in the culture and working out how they can build a better future for people. These folks wind up killing the “golden brands” built by earlier entrepreneurial heroes.

There are good & bad brand managers in every company.

“Brand Building” the 21st Century

P&G invented the “Brand Manager” term back in the 1930s when the industrial era was moving full steam ahead and command & control was in vogue (check out the McElroy model that spawned Brand Management at the end of this post–via Forrester).

So, as the new century emerges, it will be interesting to see how Brand Management evolves and what (if any) title emerges to take its place.  I personally like the idea of the Brand Builder.

Brand builders create the classic, seemingly untouchable brands/products that form the foundation of a company.  Brand builders aren’t just 20th century leaders seeking internal influence and power; they prefer constructing and transforming the future.  While they thrive on understanding what’s happening now in the online social spaces and in the culture, they don’t meekly conform to the fleeting whims of online crowds…instead, they think longer and deeper to consider the impact of their products on future generations.  They are reflective, curious and tend to motivate other people.  Brand builders would rather put messages into the culture that help & inspire.  Builders think about driving the evolution of culture…not devolution.

As Umair Haque puts it in his recent manifesto, today’s builders are igniting the distant grandchild of yesterday’s industrial revolution: an institutional revolution for a post-industrial world. They are forging the new building blocks — from ethical investment, to deep journalism, to socially useful finance, to universally accessible communication — that a rusting economy, society, and polity so urgently demand.

It’s easy to get into the mode of “just trying to find newfangled ways to move product” via promotion.  Brand builders would like to see more focus return to the Product part of the 4Ps. Brand builders want to create sustainable & responsible growth that matters…not just another boring line extension that clutters the shelves and people’s lives.

The 20th century Brand guy/gal thinks “I” & “we”. The 21st century Brand person thinks  “all” — people, communities, and society.

Let’s hear it for the 21st Century Brand Builder.

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10 things to buy online for XMAS (+ a little side gift for me, please)

Posted on December 13, 2009 in Marketing

This time of year the blogosphere gets festive as bloggers come out with excellent lists of things to buy online and offline.

Like many of you out there, I enjoy reading the lists of people I respect and trust.  It’s rewarding to get a sneak peak into what a favorite tech or marketing blogger is buying.  Really, who wants to plow through online retailer gift recommendation lists when you can get solid tips from that trusty blog guy/girl you “know”. After enjoying their posts all year you realize that you are interested in the same topic areas/products…so the gifts they recommend are likely to be very relevant. 

Content marketing online is Über powerful stuff!

One thing to always remember, however, is that holiday lists are often peppered with affiliate links.  So, if you click through a helpful link to an online retailer site and make a purchase, you just might be giving that trusty blogger an additional side gift…below is an example of an affiliate network that you can sign up to as an online publisher.

For the most part, I think it is good to help out bloggers from time to time by clicking through a link to make a purchase.  After all, many bloggers write for free and help you discover topics/ideas, etc. that you might have otherwise missed.  Bloggers have expenses too…someone has to pay for all that web hosting, etc.  What’s wrong with helping someone out who, for the most part, adds value to your life at their own expense?

Back in June, the FTC made it mandatory that all affiliate links (even links to Amazon book recommendations) be disclosed by bloggers.  Below are some fun examples of honest disclosure from “big” bloggers.

  • Frank Kern goes to absurd lengths to entertain his followers even while disclosing, using tactics such as this: “<<—– BIG scary affiliate link!”
  • Chris Brogan says “If you buy this from me, I get some beer money (not enough for a pony).”

The FTC regulation is new and its hard to monitor.  Unfortunately, there are still plenty of bloggers who don’t disclose their affiliate programs very well.  Or, they do it in a weird kind of way that makes you think they have something more sinister lurking around the corner to hide.

Disclosure is a Really Good Thing…

CDNow developed affiliate marketing way back in 1994 and Amazon has been one of the biggest drivers of the practice on the web (staring back in 1996).   Today, however, people are more cynical and much less trusting of what people recommend on their websites.

So, bloggers just need to start telling the truth about their affiliate connections as per the FTC regulation.    Being honest and admitting that you are going to make a few $$ on a product should not be a problem and will help you to continue building trust with your audience.

And, have fun with it please.  Don’t act guilty or sheepish.   Come out of the affiliate closet boldly; it might even be good to add in a little humor when you tell us you are on the take.

Another idea would be to appeal to my m-cause driven guilt…tell me that you have to put your blog hosting fees on your credit card because you can’t pay your mortgage due to the housing crisis or something like that.  Finally, you can always help the common good a bit by donating 50% of your affiliate cash to a great cause.

Happy (online) shopping this year!  If you are interested in checking out a great article on this topic, head on over to Copyblogger and read this.

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A New Marketing Thought Leader for Gen X / Gen Y

Posted on November 21, 2009 in Advertising, Marketing

“I have a confession to make, I lead a double life.”

Bob Gilbreath in the Marketing with Meaning introduction

If you are looking for a fresh voice from a new generation of marketers…then I highly recommend you pick up Bob Gilbreath’s new book:  Marketing with Meaning.

Yep, there are reasons why marketing heavyweights like Sir Martin Sorrell and Seth Godin rave about Bob Gilbreath’s new book.  It simply delivers.

Too often marketing books are long on hot air (how to use “shiny new objects” that are often just tactics) and short on strategic frameworks, methodologies/cases.  Bob’s book balances strategic frameworks & cases and ties them together under the mantra of marketing with meaning.

Many people have written very eloquent reviews on the book.  Here is a link to a good one by Pete Blackshaw

While cracking open the book cover on my living room couch, I grinned when Bob confessed that he’s a walking contradiction (see intro quote).  Like many of the 17 Million marketing professionals in the US, Bob is a marketer by day…and an avid marketing “avoider” by night (via Tivo, mentally blocking billboards, etc.)

After reading this great intro, I was almost hoping Bob would focus the book’s content around the Epilouge entitled, Adding Meaning to your Life (which you might want to read first) and lead us through an in-depth discussion on the perilous state of the marketing/advertising profession (is it a profession?) Side Note:  Bob also provides a fantastic cause marketing example from Luxottica in the Epilouge.

Though he touched on it briefly, I would love to read Bob’s take on the darker side of creating closer, deeper brand connections with consumers…and his thoughts on the potential negative impacts of marketers funneling cultural, political and community activities through brands (as Rob Walker puts it).  What will a world look like when we are all word of mouth agents touting products to friends, pitching in to spread the gospel virally? But, I’m digressing into shoegazing now…

Go out & buy this book if you want to understand where the future of marketing is going!  Great work Bob.

Full disclosure: Bob & I have traded thoughts/ideas, etc. over the past couple of years in the blogosphere and he was kind enough to send over a signed copy over to Geneva recently.  And, I’m probably biased because Bob has spent several years living life in the brand trenches as a Brand Manager at P&G (like me).

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Picasso: art genius…marketing genius? Something in between?

Posted on July 15, 2009 in Marketing
Pablo Picasso 1962Image via Wikipedia

Pablo Picasso created about 20,000 art objects over his lifetime. Picasso was extremely prolific and despite the large number of art items that he created, he was able to command premium prices vs his competitors. Elmar Wiederin from the Boston Consulting Group argues that not only was Picasso an art genius, but he was also a shrewd businessman who understood key luxury marketing fundamentals like:

  • Exclusive distribution (only via Gallery Kahnweiler)
  • Differentiation (leveraged the use of African art styles)
  • Smart Cultivation of critics “in the know” (he did portraits of collectors and “taste makers” of the day)
  • Strong emotional affiliation

So for Wiederin, Picasso was not only an art genius, but also a marketing master who was able to command premium prices vs. contemporaries over an extended period of time.

Several brands have taken a Picasso approach over the years, and have reaped the benefits of super premium pricing (Porsche, Rolex, etc.)

Alessi is a brand that has been able to command premium prices over a fairly long period.  A few weeks ago the McKinsey quarterly ran an article on Alberto Alessi–the CEO of Alessi–a leading Italian design firm.   I thought  Alessi’s discussion in the article on his “Picasso-style approach, ” where he uses a network of “little Picasso” designers and then “humbly mediates” between them, was very interesting.  Alessi also talks about how he hates typical market research and looks down on what he calls the “car company design process” that relies heavily on market research:

When a car company sets out to make a new car, what do they do? First of all, the top person asks for market research to understand what the customer is thinking. So market research people go around asking the consumers, “What would you like?” And what do the customers do? They look around at the existing cars and say, “OK, I like this part of that car,” or, “I like this part of another car.” And so on. The research people put all this together in a shaker. They shake. Then they pour out the recipe for the new car design and give it to the car designers.

Then Alessi provides an example of how Pablo Picasso might have started to create one of his masterpieces:

Our way is closer to the way of Pablo Picasso. Imagine Picasso waking up in the 1920s on a nice, sunny morning in a village on the Côte d’Azur and feeling strongly the wish—the need—to start painting. So he starts painting. But he’s not asking himself, “To what target customer will I address my new painting?” Picasso shows us a completely different approach: starting from yourself, as a creator, and using your sensibility and your intuition in order to touch other people’s hearts or sensibility or intuition. And by the way, he also built an interesting business.

I’m not saying that we are like Picasso. Not at all. We are simple, humble mediators. But what I want to say is that all the designers working with us are like little Picassos: their creation process starts from intuition, not from market research.

I am personally a fan of Alessi design and applaud their efforts in coming up with a continuous stream of fantastic designs.  And, of course, I don’t want to reduce Picasso to a mere marketer.  However, Picasso definitely had a flair & understaning for business–unfortunately a skill that many of his talented art contempories sorely lacked.

Have a look at the Interesting Alessi case in the McKinsey quarterly (free online if you register).

Hat tip to Elmar Wiederin for the excellent BCG presentation that provoked this post.

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What type of Marketer are you? Reviewing the Marketing & Strategy relationship

Posted on May 28, 2009 in Marketing

If you are an avid reader of marketing literature, you might feel that much of the content out there on commercial book shelves is focused on Promotion–just 1 of the traditional 4Ps of the marketing mix (product, price, place & promotion).  Sure, I get it, it is fun to read how a beautiful communication plan drove a brand from zero to hero; I enjoy reading several of these excellent books every year myself.  The promotional world has become so excruciatingly difficult to follow with the deepening fragmentation of media touch points that books (and eBooks) on promotion are written almost overnight now.  Will all this focus on the new reality of complex promotion drive marketers toward becoming pure playing, “1P shows”?

I hope not…

I stumbled across a recent Forrester study highlighting that while a majority of marketing leaders feel somewhat comfortable with leading product and promotional strategies involving consumers (2 of the classic 4Ps) a mere 28% are multitasking geniuses, able to juggle the 4Ps successfully for their businesses.  Here is the Executive Summary of the report:

Most marketing leaders drive — or are involved in — their firm’s consumer and product strategies. But three out of four have decided to leave distribution strategy and brand acquisition to their peers. To be successful in driving customer engagement, marketing leaders should involve themselves in these activities, especially as the effect of eCommerce on pricing and channel strategies grows.

At a minimum, marketers should lead consumer and product strategy (the heart of a marketer’s job, matching consumers to products).  The report goes on to make the case that marketing leaders should get back on top of all of the 4Ps (ideally).

What type of marketer are you?

According to this Forrester study, there are 3 types of marketing leaders:

  • Low-involvement marketing leaders, focusing mostly on market and competition.
  • Average-involvement marketing leaders drive customers and products.
  • High-involvement marketers have a stake in all marketing P’s.

If strategy is the unique and clearly communicated positioning of a company, then as Mary Beth Kemp points out in her article, marketers need to be able to provide strong insights so they can drive and monitor strategic choices.

So, if you are starting to cut your teeth in the marketing world & you are charting a plan to put in your 10,000 hours of practice (see Gladwells Outliers) don’t forget about those other “Ps”.  Mastering all 4 of the Ps can help you become a highly involved, strategically minded, & well-rounded marketer.

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To Be (or not to Be) an authentic, out front, brand ambassador

Posted on May 20, 2009 in Marketing
SAN FRANCISCO - JUNE 09: (FILE PHOTO) Apple ...Image by Getty Images

When asked to name Brands that leverage their founders as “cult icons” or celebrity “Faces”, you can probably think of several right off the bat…Dave from Wendy’s, Steve Jobs from Apple, Jeff Bezos from Amazon, etc.

The benefits of turning a founder into a celebrity are pretty clear.  From a brand equity perspective, you can quickly build brand character and personality as (competent) “founder ambassadors” understand how to authentically communicate the values their compan(ies) espouse.  In addition, founders are often inspiring and authentic…if a brand gets it right, these ambassadors can even become cultural icons.  Additionally, from a pure cost perspective, you also don’t have to pay expensive celebrity buyout fees.

Deliberate spokespeople (founders, characters, authorities, celebrities, enthusiasts–as classified by Rohit Bhargava) often work well for brands, but can sometimes fall flat (the Bill Gates/Seinfeld ads never received rave reviews.   While the “founder spokesperson” idea has been around for a while, a trend that seems to be picking up steam is for employees to step into the public spotlight to become a “Face” or public ambassador for their brand (either deliberately or accidentally).

A (Green) example using a marketer as an authoritative deliberate spokesperson.

Using employees, brand managers or marketing execs., etc.  as deliberate spokespeople will likely continue as consumers demand more & more authenticity.  Timberland–a fantastic brand with outstanding Green credentials in my opinion–has used marketers and other employees in its Earthkeepers campaign (see this spot).  Some have criticized the Earthkeepers ad, saying it might have been more authentic if it would have incorporated the gritty contributions made by consumers found on the Earthkeepers YouTube page.  Whatever you think about the polished 2 minute testimonial featuring a values marketing employee, I think it is great to see Timberland getting out there and communicating their enviro-ethos with real employees out front–leading the way.

The trend of companies putting real people “front and center” is not going to wane in this age of corporate mistrust. And, as more and more marketers/customer service reps, etc. get behind their brands on Twitter, the rise of the hybrid “accidentally deliberate” spokesperson will continue.  Today, we already see brand representatives building deep consumer relationships via strong customer service and outreach (in the case of RichardatDell).  We also see charismatic marketers, simply out there communicating authentically with their communities (see Jeffrey, Chief Creative officer at Threadless).  Indeed, getting it right externally for your brand as a new age manager is definitely more an art than a science–but one thing is for sure, you’ll need some PASSION and social networking competency if you want to engage going forward.

Hat tip to Dave Knox for pointing out the excellent post from Mya Frazier.

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The Future of the Social Web…Power shifting to communities

Posted on April 28, 2009 in Inspiration, Marketing, The Future
The OpenID logoImage via Wikipedia

It has been a while since I’ve discussed social media specifically on this blog, but I recently saw a very interesting Forrester report on the future of social computing…so I thought I would write a few words on the topic this evening as I am always a sucker for future reports on practically everything.

The basic problem with social computing today, according to Forrester, is that the social experience is disjointed. Consumers have separate identities in each social network they visit. In the very near future, however, portable IDs (like OpenID and Facebook Connect) will soon empower consumers to bring their identities with them everywhere they go on the web. In addition, consumers surfing the Web will no longer have a lonely experience. New browsers and identity technologies will let consumers see what sites their friends have visited - and what they thought of the information there. Because they trust their friends more than they trust companies, consumers will lean on their network to make decisions about what they’re reading, considering, and buying.

In the report, Forrester describes how the online social experience has evolved through 5 eras: i) the era of social relationships ii) the era of social functionality iii) the era of social colonization iv) the era of social context and v) the era of social commerce…the last era of social commerce will eventually emerge around 2011 and start maturing by 2013.

I certainly agree that the current social landscape is very disjointed.  Consolidation across the social landscape would certainly simplify my life. Personally, I struggle to keep up with my social networks across Facebook, XING, LinkedIn, Twitter, Ning, etc. etc. Having a portable ID could be very useful…but, will it be a panacea? And, will I actually want my community to virtually travel with me as I surf the internet? I am fully on board with the first 4 eras, but I struggle a bit with the last one.  Just how much people are going to want to involve their communities in their purchasing decisions?  Having said that, I do see shifts happening in this area and I will keep my mind open as this develops.

Below are a few recommendations from Forrester on how to deal with changes coming in the future (in the interest of time, I’ve only listed a couple of these–here is the report if you want to get more).  Here is a blog post with more details on Jeremiah Owyang’s blog

Focus on advocates and prepare for communities

  • Focus on your most vocal advocates. New forms of advocacy will emerge as social applications systems enable rating friends’ reputations for reliability.
  • Prepare internal culture for seismic shifts - Senior marketers should start by participating in the Social Web themselves and lean on staff marketers who understand the Social Web and encourage them to educate others.

What it all means: As power shifts to communities, marketing will transform itself

  • Advertisers will buy based on social capital
  • Communities will influence media content more & more.
  • Brands with community appeal will assert power over brands without it. This one is very interesting…I’ll consider writing more on this later.

Kudos to the Forrester team for the report. This space is extremely fast moving and impossibly hard to predict (2 years ago, who thought Twitter would emerge like it has)? There is a lot more meat in the report, but it is late for me…so I’ll wrap up.

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mob marketing–>a future of pitchforks & torches?

Posted on April 6, 2009 in Consumers driving change, Marketing
Foto tomada en el invierno del 2007 en el caba...Image via Wikipedia

How did an internet mob force a major company to pull a seemingly harmless packaging change off the shelf so quickly?

For those who haven’t followed the story, the Tropicana packaging change drama has been going on for a few months now (click here for the background).  The latest news is that the huge internet amplified backlash seems to have contributed to a 20% drop in sales.

Wow…

Tropicana didn’t mix gasoline into their juice.  They didn’t get caught making 5 year old kids work for 20 hours in the hot sun without sunscreen.  They weren’t using strange genetic formulas to make their oranges turn watermelon sized.  They didn’t even change the taste of their iconic juice (like Coke did with New Coke) Instead, Tropicana got hammered due to a pretty harmless packaging design change that didn’t sit well with consumers–apparently leaving off their recognizable “juicy orange + straw” logo (among other things) etc.

According to Information Resources Inc., unit sales dropped 20%, while dollar sales decreased 19%, or roughly $33 million, to $137 million between Jan. 1 and Feb. 22.   Several of Tropicana’s competitors appear to have benefited from the misstep, notably Minute Maid, Florida’s Natural and Tree Ripe.

What a response.  Why Tropicana?  And who set this agenda in motion?

Consumers…

The lesson for those looking to change companies in a hurry…start finding ways to motivate the consumer mobs.

As Consumers, we really can drive change in today’s connected world–and not just meaningless packaging design changes…we can drive change that makes a difference.  Purpose led internet mobs can start driving record sales of “Good” companies/brands and force change on companies with sketchy sustainability track records.

Look, today there are enough “Good” brands and companies out there with cause related campaigns or “justifiably” green products.  We can spend a little extra time to seek out these products and buy them.  And, even if a company isn’t particularly “green” or “social” (in your mind) but offers a new product in this space, give them the benefit of the doubt (for now).   If they do make an honest effort to offer a product with a cause or green focused campaign, don’t bash them as greenwashers right off the bat–encourage them!  Go ahead and buy the stuff…this will help motivate companies to lead to bigger, better, (and probably more authentic) promotions down the road as skeptical managers discover that green/social products actually work (Greenbacks lead to Greenmanagers)

Don’t get me wrong, I know that there are some unscrupulous players out there trying to prey on the recent uptick in green consumer sentiment…and we should avoid them like the plague.  Watchdogs need to be all over this space.

But, if we can psycho-analyze Tropicana orange juice packaging changes & spend 2 hours writing a blog post about this nonsense, surely we can do our homework and get our hands on some Green/social products + occasionally buy from a new player out there trying their luck in the space.

If we drive $change$ 1 purchase at a time, we will see companies change.  And, if companies change, the world will change.

And, through the web, we can amplify change, making all this stuff happen MUCH faster…

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What (more) Should or Could Google Do?

Posted on March 23, 2009 in Marketing

Revolution, Contagion and Abundance filled my weekend in London…and that was before I picked up a copy of Jeff Jarvis’s new book, What Would Google Do?

I thought about Revolution as I watched Les Misérables…Contagion crept into my mind as a guy completely went out of his way to be friendly on the train, putting my wife and I in a great mood about the British (how contagious friendliness can be!)  Finally, abundance thinking struck me after discussing exciting new ideas with British friends.

And then I picked up this new book about Google…

Google is by far one of the most amazing companies of our time.  In the span of about a decade, Google has gone from humble start-up, to the world’s #1 brand (e.g. see Millward Brown’s Top 100 Most Powerful Brands.  As I plowed through the book on the flight home, I had a bit of déjà vu as the Revolution, Contagion and Abundance themes jumped back into my mind.

Revolution: Google’s Brand building revolution happened mostly without any traditional marketing spend (when have you ever seen a Google TV ad?) Google didn’t go to the barricades itself to start this revolution, they just quietly gave more power to the people over the internet (search) and look what happened.

Contagion: Google spreads its new applications mainly through word of mouth.  If an application catches a “Googleinfection”, the bug seems to infiltrate us all.  Google is by far one of the most contagious companies I know.

Abundance: Early in the book, Jeff Jarvis notes that our economy has shifted from a scarcity model to one based on abundance.  In Jarvis’s words:  “Google has found a business model based on creating, exploiting, and managing abundance…the internet kills scarcity and creates opportunities in abundance”.

In the book, Jeff puts forward several Google rules for us to learn from:

New Bus. Reality:  Middlemen are doomed, Free is a business model, Decide what business you are in

New Attitude:  Inverse relationship between control & trust, Trust the people, Listen

New Ethic:  Make mistakes well, Life is a beta, Be honest, Be transparent, Collaborate, Don’t be evil

New Speed:  Answers are instantaneous, Life is live, Mobs form in a flash

New Imperatives:  Encourage, enable & protect innovation; simplify, simplify; Get out of the way

These rules are pretty straightforward…what I like about the book is the section on “If Google Ruled the World” where Jeff takes us through several ways in which a “Google-like” model could disrupt traditional manufacturing, retail and service businesses.

As Google moves forward to build on its #1 Brand position, I am wondering,  what (more) should Google do?   At what point will Google become too unwieldy to manage?  Do we want Google to do more? Will they become overbearing at some point?

Also, as the world’s most powerful Brand, Google has incredible power to do “Good” things and lead by example (see Google.org…an initiative seeking to find Energy and Health solutions).

As the #1 Brand in the world, Google holds great influence.  With all that power, what more could the “great wizard behind the search curtain” do?

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Stop hiding. Go seek your Personality instead…

Posted on February 10, 2009 in Marketing

Why does a company–any company–lack personality?  Partly because it has made a deliberate choice to hide its personality under layers of policy according to Rohit Bhargava.  Rohit was so passionate about the “state of personality” within today’s companies that he dedicated an entire book to the cause.  In Personality not Included, Rohit Bhargava seeks to help managers inject life into their organizations & “get their mojo back”.  He argues that great brands and products must evoke more dynamic personalities in order to attract passionate consumers in the 21st century.

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed PNI, and I found the case studies very useful.  I read Rohit’s blog frequently and am familiar with his material, yet I still discovered plenty of nuggets to take away.

Rohit defines personality as the unique, authentic and talkable soul of a brand that people can get passionate about.  He admits that personality is a loaded word and that people have different opinions on its meaning.  This was a smart move because early on in the book he avoids a head on collision with potential detractors who may not care for the word personality.  To some, personality evokes images of “quick fix” or “smiling salesman” solutions lacking substance.  As said, Rohit realized this pitfall early on, however, and painstakingly defined personality in a way that clearly outlines what he advocates…a more character driven, consumer centric approach where brands/companies actually care about people and are try to be authentic.  He goes on to focus (within his case studies) primarily on brands that have a strong sense of purpose (Zappos, etc.) and character.

To breathe some personality into our brands, Rohit tells us that we should quit focusing as much effort on new customer marketing and acquisition and instead turn more of our attention (and precious marketing spend) to building advocacy with existing customers and employees.  This is a great idea.  Shotgun blast communication approaches across a range of consumers who may not be as interested in the brand can dilute precious marketing spend.  It is not as easy to be laser focused on key prospects & brand lovers (and even employees) but this is a key way to reach your near term growth targets–especially in tougher times.

One of my favorite chapters was Chap. 2.  I enjoyed the matrix breakdown of Deliberate Spokespeople…this was a helpful way for me to think about key influencers. I also liked the “backstory guide” in Chap. 4.  This chapter alone is worth the price of the book as it does a good job of breaking down proven & successful business storytelling.

Another interesting item I discovered in PNI was Rohit’s secret intro URL near the front of the book (you know the page where they list publisher info, etc.).  In the copy I received, there was even a sticker and arrow pointing to it…I was curious about content and went to the URL where I received an interesting alternative intro.  This was a nice touch–adding some “Rohit personality” to the otherwise traditionally “faceless” book intro area.

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