Failure is not in falling down. Failing is actually not getting back up again.  And you can be sure that Toyota will pick itself up again, brush off the dust, and rise to be a producer of the best quality cars on the planet.

Why am I so confident of this when so much of the Western media, and Toyota’s competitors, are basking in this leader’s demise?  It’s because quality is in the DNA of Japan, and the “quality gene” is actually fundamental to the Toyota and Lexus brands. It’s also something most Japanese believe in – delivering a quality product or service to their customers.

The key issue the automobile business faces isn’t one of quality.  Quality is normally the “price of doing business” and not a differentiator – although there a number of large automakers who have produced poor quality cars for years. The real issue is that cars - whether they are made in Japan, Korea, China, Germany or America - all look alike. They are not differentiated and hence not well branded.  

The reason for this “sameness” starts with design.  Most brands of cars are designed by the same people - mainly in Southern California. Moreover, the sameness in the business  also comes from aversion to risk.  It is expensive to develop a new vehicle and the cost of failure is high. It’s also less risky to follow the design leader than to break new ground. 

The Italian and French auto makers seem to understand this and that’s why they strive to make different cars. But for the most part, the logos on most other brands are interchangeable.

That said, if Toyota were able to both fix its quality issues, and hire Italian designers to jointly develop their next generation of cars, then it could well return to be the leading auto maker in the world. A Lexus designed by Bertone or Pininfarina. Now that would be a beautiful thing!

It’s a lot to ask of any brand to undergo gene therapy. But maybe this is exactly what is required of today’s global automakers - to combine what has made them great, with the differentiated features people want to buy.   

The past 25 years have seen a huge shift in the way brands are developed and managed. Over this period we have moved from an era of near complete company control to one of “joint ownership” of brands between companies and consumers. This process continues, and we, as branding practitioners, must enhance our craft knowing the forces at play will continue to change our business long into the future.

Here is a brief review of how branding is becoming increasingly sophisticated and the direction in which it is headed:

1.The Age of Management Control

Branding was formerly an elite domain owned by the company’s management, the marketing team and the marketing and communication consultants, brought in to help bring the brand to life.  This was an age marked by the simple formula:

                                    Strategy* + Image = Branding

* Strategy implies that the brand’s Vision is clearly established.

2. The First Questions over Control?

This era of brand control by management was first questioned during the launch “New Coke” in 1985.  During product development of New Coke, between 10 and 12% of focus group respondents in the US felt angry and alienated at just the thought of a new formula for “their” Coca-Cola. The Company, who overruled this minority and proceeded with the launch of New Coke, quickly faced a minor rebellion from its users over 400,000 phone calls and letters protesting against the new formula. (Criticism even came from Fidel Castro, a long time Coca-Cola user, living in a land where the US had a Trade Embargo!) 

In response the Coca-Cola Company quickly back-tracked and re-introduced the original formula of Coca-Cola under the new banner “Classic Coke”, which lived along with New Coke, was ultimately withdrawn in 1991.  This in turn, heralded a new age of branding where company’s started to listen a little more to consumer needs and to probe for “damage control” via research.

The formula that marked this era of branding was modified to start to include consumer feedback:

                                    Strategy + Research + Image = Branding

3.  The Age when Actions Speak Louder than Words

In the early 2000’s a few brands discovered the need to align management vision, with image and the culture of the company, to support overall brand positions. Here are two examples – one from the B2B space and the other from the B2C space:

a.) IBM

IBM’s Management wanted to transform and present itself into an “e-Business”. To do this it first had to become an “e-Business”. This made complete sense, for who would in their right mind would trust an e-Business consultant without an e-Business track record?

b.) Pedigree

Pedigree decided to reposition itself as “Everything we do is for the love of dogs” to break out of the commercial clutter of rational feeding. Before it could support this claim, it had to truly transform itself into a dog-loving company, starting with the people who worked on the business, who carried around business cards with their dog photos, to having “dog days” and/or bringing their dogs to the office.

This was a branding era marked by the formula that recognized the need for all parts of the organization i.e., the brand’s culture, to live the promise and values of the brand:

                                    Strategy + Research + Image + Culture = Branding   

4. The Age of Integrating Strategy and Execution

Brands then began to study the lessons of why some branding strategies succeeded but many others failed.  Successful brands have learned to avoid a so-called “Air Sandwich” where there is vision at the top layer of management and day-to-day action on the bottom layer, but nothing to connect the two in the middle.  They have found that connecting the top and bottom parts of the “Air Sandwich” is critical because it strengthens the strategy by identifying the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threat to its implementation.

Moreover integrating the previous strategy developers and those who implemented the execution has helped decreases the resistance to change and recognizes the need for today’s better educated workforce to be more involved in their destiny.  

This era in branding is marked by the formula:

Strategy + Execution (integration) + Research + Culture = Branding

5. The Age of Consumer Activism

The rise of digital (blogs, social media, wikis and crowd-sourcing) has helped spark a rise in consumer activism because it provides consumers with the vehicles to influence the brand’s vision, mission and even its values.  Consumers increasingly want to be part of brand development and also want brands to answer to their “higher needs”. Specifically they want brands to account for a triple bottom line of profit, people and planet.

This era in branding is marked by both the addition of consumers and by brands doing good deeds for all the people involved in their creation and usage as well as in the impact the brand has on the planet:

Strategy + Execution + Research + Culture + Consumer involvement + Good deeds = Branding

6. The Age of Storytelling and Advocacy.

The strongest brands are those who have others tell stories about them vs. those who tell stories about themselves. As a result, storytelling and advocacy are becoming more important to branding.  Control over brands is moving from companies that create brands to consumers who own the concept of brands in the first place.  The companies that learn to listen, engage and develop brands along with their users will be the ones who win the most.  That’s because the users will feel closer and more trusted to them than those who don’t.  As a result, advocacy will become a bigger part of branding.

This branding era is marked by the following formula that illustrates the growing importance of advocacy:

Strategy + Execution + Research + Culture + Consumer involvement + Good deeds + Advocacy = Branding.

7. Summary and The Future of Branding

While it is interesting to develop formulae to show how brands are developed and managed, effective branding requires more than the left brained thinking suggested by an equation. It is also an art and will continue to evolve so that branding will be “whole minded” meaning that it will require both left and right brained thinking.

As for the future, branding will almost certainly become more complicated. We will continue see a continued shift in control from companies to consumers. This will continue but there will have to be a point where a balance of power is reached because consumers may be good at stating what they don’t like but are rarely good at providing a vision for the future.

Branding will also take on new dimensions based more on experiences and services than physical products, because you can only have so much stuff. It will also explore other dimensions than visual and audio and will include the other senses.  These are just a few thoughts on where branding is headed.

If the past 25 years have been any indication of the next 25 years, we’re in for some interesting times ahead.   Does anyone want to attempt to fill in the blank in the attached formula?

Effective branding in the year 2035 = _______________________

This Wednesday, January 27^th at 10 am in San Francisco, Apple will unveil its “latest creation”, the much hyped, anticipated and cryptic “iPad”. (The formal name has not been announced yet.)  

There is actually so much hoopla around this launch that Valleywag.com, a Silicon Valley gossip website, offered a reward of up to USD 100,000 for proof that Apple has actually made its tablet computer. Valleywag declared Apple itself to be the first winner of its contest after receiving a letter from Apple’s lawyers stating that “We believe you and your company have crossed the line by offering a bounty for the theft of Apple’s trade secrets.”

Much of the news around the “iPad” launch concerns Apple’s discussions with newspaper, magazine, and book publishers, game developers, as well as television networks and film studios.  There’s a buzz in both the digital and traditional media sectors over this product.

That said, the “iPad” launch raises questions about how the new tablet will fit in among Apple’s already impressive range of devices, as well as how the new digital tablet can help turn around the fortunes of newspapers and other forms of traditional media.

A. Benefits and features of Apple’s Tablet

We can expect the tablet to feature:  

1. A Business Model that users the iTunes Stores as a toll gate to organize High Quality Content and/or Applications. The iTunes Store presents a “Pay as you go” and “Share revenue with App developers” Business Model will almost certainly be part of the tablet offering.  

a.) Pay as you go. A key feature of this Model will be high quality content. While many songs, movies and television program are available “freely” on the Internet through peer to peer sharing or via online video services such as YouTube and Hulu, the iTunes Store, provides top quality material without advertising and with the assurance of no embedded viruses or Trojan horses in the content at reasonable pricing.  

b.) Revenue sharing. Apple has been negotiating the traditional media owners to charge for content through the iTunes Store toll-gate and to share the revenue in a split (70/30?) as it currently does with the software developers of its Applications (Apps).  The only things that are not certain are what and how it plans to charge. It could collect small or micropayments per program or piece of printed content or it could collect a fee for a time period e.g., one month. 

Whatever collection model it uses this will provide traditional video and print media as well as book publishers with a different business model to increase distribution and to collect fees for their content. 

2. Provide elegant organization and “long tail” filtering and search technology to organize to millions, if not billions, of files of print, video and audio content. The iPod interface (like Google’s opening webpage) is a very simple organizer and storage system for literally millions of songs below it.  Just as the iPod helps compact a whole record collection and allowed you to carry it in your pocket, the “iPad” should all us to carry a library of books, videos, television programs, songs and games, around where ever we go.  Moreover, the elegant organization and search functions allows for finding niche content found well done the “long tail” without cluttering the interface and experience.

3. “Exact content.” The “iPad” will be able to provide users with exactly what they want not a bundle of goods that marketers or publishers want to sell them. One of the less talked about advantages of the iTunes Stores was that it allowed people to buy singles without having to purchase a whole album of sons that would cost ten times the price of the US1.99 single.  This will likely be a feature offered by the new “iPad”.

4. Hardware that features a touch-screen “slate”, no keyboard, high definition video and gaming technology. Further it will need an extra battery or power management system to cope with a power hungry color screen. Further it will be available in two or more colors –at least black or white.

 One thing appears to be certain is that Apple will not play in the “Net-book” game where pricing is the name of the game. It will continue to offer a premium, well designed, pleasing to use device, and charge a premium price of between US800 and 1000 for it.  This is much more expensive than the USD259 (International price) Kindle e-Book reader which has recently, as well as HP’s Slate.  

5. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Social Media features can be incorporated to upgrade the system. Apple could rapidly incorporate “Amazon.com – like” features  of providing recommendations to purchase content based on purchase patterns of individuals as well as people with similar profiles. It could also build in Social Media features to collect reviews and to share information with friends.  This may help differentiate the “iPad” offering from what Apple currently offers in its iTunes Store. 

B. Where will the “iPad” within Apple’s portfolio?

As the features and benefits are not yet public we can only speculate on where the “iPad” will be positioned. But reviewing the competitive landscape, market gaps and in reading the many articles on this launch, it is expected that the “iPad” will fill a gap somewhere between the iPod Touch and the MacBook.

The best guess is that the “iPad” will have touch capability of the iPhone but in a better and more capable form.  For example the “iPad” could feature large sized applications of an iPhone that stretch to the size of the 10 or 11” tablet.  These Apps could be business tools such as spreadsheet or presentations. However, they will need to be more interesting and different from those on the iPhone to encourage business users to carry the tablet vs. their iPhone or Net-book.

In terms of data plans, the “iPad” will probably feature both CDMA and GSM technology to be used with a variety of carriers around the world, and the major US carriers,  and it might allow integration of data plans of iPhone through dual SIM cards users so consumers don’t feel they are being taken by Apple for purchasing multiple devices.

There are rumors about what the “iPad” might offer such as a secret software project codenamed “Cocktail”. The software is thought to be a development in conjunction with a number of major music labels, and would be “a new type of interactive album, which will combine photos, lyrics sheets, video clips, and liner notes, all gathered into an interactive booklet.”

But there seems to be more with this launch as Steve Jobs has indicated that this is the most important thing he has ever done. If that’s so this could be something much more disruptive and revolutionary.

C. How the “iPad” will help traditional media owners?

While it will be brilliant for Apple to add to its already long list of successful products, the “iPad” launch may even be better for traditional media owners. That’s because the launch presents a new business model that can provide much needed revenue to these analog players. 

Specifically it provides a toll gate for digital distribution of traditional content, organization by filters and search to help find the desired printed, video and audio material, “exact content” that consumers are looking for, and a possible recommendation and referral system through Social Media that will allow more accurate targeting and higher sales in the future for traditional media using this digital gateway. Clearly this is a great thing for traditional media.

To move matters forward Apple is apparently working on an upgrade for its iTunes Store. Specifically it is considering a new web-based version of the site (www.itunes.com?) that will bypass the computer and iPhone routes you must now travel to get to the store.  This may open up another channel to apply this business model with or without the new tablet. 

That said, even if the new “iPad” is not hugely successful, it will have shown the traditional media industry a way to recover some of its lost ground.

D. Summary and conclusion

At the end of the day it will be a beautiful thing to see Apple to win once again. But this time others might win even more from its success.  

Only a few days more and we will have a much clearer picture of what’s to come.

As clients expect more from the same or smaller marketing budgets, business development becomes more important for agency growth. Here are 12 thoughts on how to increase your agency’s success with new business.

1. Approach new business/business development as a core discipline/competence.

New business should become a key agency competence, managed by the agency’s senior management team.

Business development should require a formal budget, a detailed business plan outlining objectives, goals, strategies and measures, and it must adopt business skills from other industries including database management/contact management system, key performance indices based on prospects contacted, pitches invited to and successes within these pitches.  In these competitive times, New Business cannot considered an “ad hoc” function and needs to become more of a core competence as it is the key driver for growth.  

2. Stand for something

To win at New Business an agency must clearly differentiate and stand out from the crowd. To quote Bill Bernbach: “If you stand for something, you will always find some people for you and some against you. If you stand for nothing, you will find nobody against you, and nobody for you.”

To do so an agency will need to take a position on how it will help build its client’s business, how it is better than its competitors, why this matters to the brand(s), as well as proving the proof for this. Increasingly an agency will need to provide a point of view on a brand’s “Triple bottom line” of Profit, People and Planet.  It will also need to assign people on the business who are both principled, and really care for the client or prospect’s businesses.

3. Be Distinctive and Progressive at every step of the way.

To ensure a greater percentage of success, an agency needs to stand out at every step of the pitching process and demonstrate that it is a thought leader and on top of all the changes in marketing communications.

There is too much “sameness” among the large agencies and it is important to find ways to stand out.  Clients and prospects are also struggling to keep up with changes in technology, media and entertainment, so it’s important that an agency employs the latest thinking while communicating with the client/prospect through the pitch process. To do this it will have to incorporate news from the latest events, show comfort and ease of employing new media in its work and presentation and provide overall confidence that it can lead through changing times. 

4. Don’t pitch if you are not convinced you will win.

Pitch to win or don’t pitch. And certainly don’t play if you suspect a “loaded deck”.  There is no prize for coming in second and pitching for new business burns up valuable and limited resources as well as goodwill of your key players. To do this you will need to investigate prospects thoroughly, ascertaining your competitive advantages and budget the resources you have available to pitch.

Above all do not take on too much or too many pitches. The “Greed principle” - Much is good but more is better – does not work. New business development must be a sustainable practice, which means choosing quality over quantity and to build in rewards and rest periods for the new business team.  

5.  Keep in mind that not all business is worth winning.

Unprofitable business is not worth pursuing, and notorious accounts should be avoided. The exceptions to these rules are if there is additional revenue that will result from winning the business, and/or if this new piece of business helps build a global network or develops an agency’s reputation through creative awards.

Business that runs contrary to the agency’s beliefs should also not be pursued. For example, premium agencies should not generally take on discount accounts because of the different business practices and expectations from both parties. A mix match in values tends to only end up in heartache, pain and lost jobs. 

That said, some business that looks unprofitable might become profitable under the right conditions, such as through Performance incentives. One must be careful in dismissing business when a creative approach to a contract and remuneration could make it profitable.

6. Involve the commercial and financial partners throughout the pitch process.

Agencies must really understand the role that communications play in driving their prospect’s business and the agency commercial people can help with this.  

Further, as Clients and prospects increasingly involve purchasing people in the select process of communications vendors, adding commercial people from the start of the will communicate an understanding of the importance of this function and can elevate the profile of your company in the eyes of the key financial influencers in the decision making process.

Moreover, financial people will help facilitate the discussion throughout the agency selection process and help with the development of a contract that is mutually beneficial.

7. Go beyond the brief…..but follow the letter and spirit of the brief

When entering a review, an agency must answer the brief accurately, intelligently and creatively. This is the price of entry. Going beyond the brief is the key to success.

If the brief concerns the need for an agency network, then consider how bringing in resources from beyond the region in question to bring new thinking and show the power of the network.

If the brief talks about integration, show how you can work within partners both inside and outside your own group.  While bundling helps Group Profitability the client or prospect may see it to be in the best interest to bundle projects unless there are definite strategic or cost advantages. Provide options, be ambitious but don’t cross the line of being greedy. It’s better to tackle one project and do it well than to take on too much. 

Above all demonstrate you really want to work on this business by going the extra mile. Ask all the members of the pitch team to work in a prospect’s retail outlet. Bring in an outside expert on the target group.

8. Orchestrate a great show.

An agency needs to keep sight of the fact that clients/prospects want to be “wowed” with thinking, ingenuity, creativity and entertainment, as well as receive a cost effective solution.  As such a pitch should be informative, thorough and entertaining. 

One key component of putting on a good show is to be completely familiar with the room and equipment.  It never ceases to amaze me how many pitch presentations stumble because of difficulties with the IT and Presentation equipment. It is best to scope this out well in advance and rehearse in the presentation room if this is possible.

Another key component is to Rehease (sic) and Rehease (sic) and Rehearse in front of tough outsiders who can critique and help improve the presentation. That way you strengthen your argument, improve your timing, and remove all the flaws in your presentation. You should also do this with people who are experienced, opinionated and not involved in the process. 

Don’t use up all the time. Value the “white space” and invite interaction and discussion.  This will allow you the decision makers and influencers to get to know you, which is critical because the ultimate discriminator is the people involved in the business.

10. Use your Best People to Pitch but don’t overload the presentation only with heavy weights.  An agency should use a combination of people who can capture the prospects imagination but will not give them the impression that there are only “pitch-men” in the room. This will require a combination of great presenters and people who will work on the business and the later of these should be identified in the pitch.

11. Bring in advocates to help support the prospects choice of agency

Agencies should request the support of their current clients to help convince prospects that their choice is both smart and safe. In this age people trust their friends and professionals in similar businesses more than they trust sales pitches. As such it is critical to have advocates support the agency. Nothing sells like good work and a happy client.

12. Never give up.

Tenacity is the key to business success. There are on-going obstacles to winning an account as it involves change. Always keep in mind that inertia based on existing relationships has strength and a new agency needs to present rational and emotional reasons to switch.

Even if you do not win a pitch keep pushing. For new agencies often have trouble bedding down accounts and the tenure of retaining an account gets shorter and shorter. A lost pitch should be considered an invitation to regroup and try harder in the future. It is a learning experience at worst.

Happy hunting!

“Brand Japan” clearly needs to find a new positioning for the 21^st Century to attract more business investors, tourists and immigrants - that latter of which will increasingly be necessary to support its farming community and ageing population.  

More than this Japan needs to actively push forward with this new positioning, to prevent foreign investors from skipping over this country in favor of its neighbors and other faster returning markets. 

1. Reasons for a new positioning

Japan is losing its relevance in the world and to some, is becoming “The Switzerland of Asia” - wealthy, well armed, but largely unable to yield influence in proportion to its economic and geopolitical weight.

While Japan remains the largest economy and wealthiest nation in Asia Pacific, China will soon (if it hasn’t already) overtake it economically in terms of overall GDP.  Korea is also giving it a run for its money in the automotive, electronics, ship building and steel sectors. More alarming is the fact that multi-nationals are increasingly less impressed by Japan’s offerings – the relative quality of people and the openness to do business.  

As a result, they are decreasing their investment here because they see increasing risks and diminishing returns.  

2. Japan is inwardly focused.

A key problem with Japan’s current positioning, concerns the idea of positioning itself.  Japan doesn’t really see the need to actively pursue outsiders as there is a widespread belief that outsiders are not as important as the domestic market and foreigners will come searching for Japan versus the other way around.  This is why its telecom industry may be the most developed in the world but it cannot survive beyond this Asian version of the Galapagos Islands.

The trouble with this thinking is that the world has changed rather dramatically in the past 15 – 20 years. While the Japanese economy has remained locked in neutral from 1990 to 2008 has been in reverse for the past 18-24 months, other markets continue to move forward. A recent CIA Factbook report shows Japan having the 28^th largest per capita GDP in the world. That’s quite shocking with Singapore holding 6^th place and Hong Kong tied for 10^th spot – for more details see http://bit.ly/193E8H

3. Historical positionings for Japan.

When presenting itself to outsiders, Japan has generally talked about itself than how it can fulfill the needs of others. It’s The Second Largest Economy. It’s the leader of a flock of geese. It’s the lead of greater regional co-prosperity etc. This thinking runs contrary to the basic principles of positioning, which begin with a target audience.

Further, size (“the World’s second largest…..”) is more of a support point than a positioning.  Size does not always relate to market potential because so much in Japan is closed off to foreigners.  For example in the advertising business foreign companies compete in only about 15-20% of the total market.  So in many ways the advertising business in Japan is quite a small market when considered in this light.

4. A New Positioning for Japan – The Highest Quality of Everything.

So what can be done? There is one interesting area where Japan could rightly claim a new and compelling positioning and pursue this successfully. “Quality” is solid ground for Japan to establish a relevant, supportable, true and unique base to strengthen and differentiate its brand as seen in the following examples:

• Historical artisanship
• A very complicated rail network that runs like clockwork.
• Supermarkets that feature perfectly formed fruit
• Impeccably presented food in Japan’s incredibly varied restaurants
• Fashion – Japan is the fashion capital of Asia Pacific and a driving force of global youth fashion.
• Brilliant service done in a society that does not encourage tipping

There are obvious and immediate extensions from this “Quality” positioning for almost every target group:

• Businesses and investors
  • Japan is a country where you must deliver the highest quality of product and service to secure a sale. This presents Japan as a benchmark for both R&D and training efforts. For if a product or service can live up to the standards of demanding Japanese consumers, it can generally live up to any standard. Moreover, Japan can be a model for other markets to emulate and learn.
• Tourists –
  • Japan is a unique experience featuring ne of the most interesting cultures in the world starting with its history, natural history, cuisine, favorite pastimes, technology, sport, etc. It has great appeal for both individual and MICE tourism.
• Immigrants –
  • Japan offers a tremendously high standard of living for immigrants who can help its agricultural and health care industries – to name two that are in short supply of talent.

Quality, backed by a well integrated campaign to promote the advantages of superior quality is one key way Japan could/should reposition itself.  

5. Will it happen?

While I think that a Repositioning based on Superior Quality is strong, differentiated, relevant and sustainable, I am not confident of the drive to take this abroad. Japan is still inwardly focused and is expected to become more so with the new federal government as it battles with the long established bureaucracy.  I’m afraid we’re in for another decade of stagnation.

If this happens, Japan will remain the “Switzerland of Asia” - a great place to live; but one that lives far below its great potential.

Data is becoming more important to persuade clients, management, peers and other stakeholders to stand behind marketing investments.  The trouble is that many marketers are not comfortable with data, and particularly the abundance of data. We often shy away from it preferring to use more qualitative ways to make decisions.

This avoidance of data has clear limitations and is not necessary with the growing number of elegant tools for gathering, analyzing, interpreting and displaying data in a way that persuades others to share the story.  Data formatted into stories, frames facts and organizes information to help guide the audience to a natural conclusion and prevent them from “checking out” at the sight of cold hard numbers, along the way.

Moreover, the relative quality of the display adds strength to the value of the data behind the presentation. A high quality design communicates that the data is worthwhile “romancing” helping make the data, and the information derived from it, more valuable.

Some of the tools below claim to make data more fun.  Do they deliver on this promise?  You be the judge. They work for me.

1.  Sample methods for displaying data

Augmented reality, dashboards, heat maps, mash-ups, networks, and tag-clouds are just some of the ways to visualize data. However, it’s difficult to write about these in a blog. Better to work on a Slideshare presentation. That said, I’d like to introduce a couple of tools for telling stories with data in this posting:

a.) Visual Literacy

Visual Literacy is an e-learning service that has a very interesting “Periodic table” for visualizations that can be found at http://bit.ly/NjWI8 . When you run a mouse over the various elements shows ways to visualize data.  In the example below the mouse was run over “Sd” or “Spray diagrams”. (You will need to click on the Bit.ly link as the bottom table is just an inactive screen shot.)

b.) Gapminder

Trendalyzer is a software program that helps animate statistics, which was initially developed by the non-profit Gapminder Foundation in Sweden. The company was subsequently acquired by Google in March 2006. This program was first picked up by the Human Development Report of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and they graphically depict changes over time.  Please click on the following site for a review of these animated statistics http://bit.ly/7kOOUe and/or refer to the static screen shot below.

 2. How to start visualizing data?

Data visualization is becoming important so it’s worthwhile for a marketer to bring in a specialist into the organization or contract the work to an outsider who is adept at telling stories through data and visuals. Whether the work is done internally or outsourced marketers should consider the following process in finding ways to best present data as support for their stories:

a.) Define your objectives and goals

• What is the main message of the presentation?
• Why does this message matter to the audience?
• What data is available to support it?

b.) Work from the viewer’s point of view.

• What are their audience’s needs?
• What benefits can you provide for them?
• How can you support this?
• What are the “hot buttons” to push with the audience?
• What is the process and way forward?

c.) Review the amount of data available as it will drive the visualization

• How many variables are there?
• How is the data ordered?
  • Linear? Tabular? Hierarchy? Network? Geographic? Time based?
• Establish rough concepts and visuals for telling the story
• Experiment

d.) Select the best treatment based on the available data and how you want to tell the story

• Dashboards? Graphs – relationships, time series? Heat maps? Mash-ups? Networks? Tag clouds?

e.) Select the best tools for telling a simple story with visuals and a few words

• Graphic sources – Gapminder, Many eyes by (IBM Alphaworks (a social media website of data and graphs) and Swivel (another social network for visualization).
• Software - there are many commercial platforms available.
• Visual sources – Flickr, Google Earth, Google Images, Picasa, etc.

People relate more to stories than they do to data or facts. E.M. Forster refers to the difference in the following paragraph: “The King died and then the Queen died” is a fact. “The King died and the Queen died” is a story.  Both sentences have a causal connection but the latter works better because it connects on an emotional level.

A number of people are comfortable with data just the way they are comfortable with facts. But when data is visualized it can become much more powerful because it connects on both a rational and emotional level.  As such, marketers who are able to visualize data will have a competitive advantage over those who do not.

Check out the 40 things that Wallpaper and Wolff Olins think will change the world at: http://bit.ly/7XYN7P

Some are expected but many are really exciting.

Change is inevitable, but progress is not. Knowing that change does not always proceed smoothly, managers need to find ways to overcome the resistance that develops in advance of almost every significant change in the organization.

As a pre-requisite, change agents must understand that resistance to change can be healthy. The resistance can force the manager spearheading the change to reassess and refine its position and plans and ensure they think out all the ramifications.  Once understood, the change agent must then find ways to implement changes that maximize performance and minimize negative disruption over the course of finding a new status quo.

1. Satir Change Model

A good place to begin this process is by finding a model that has proven successful for managing significant change in other organizations. One good example is the Satir Change Model, named after Virginia Satir, an American pioneer of Family Therapy.

2.  Characteristics of the Satir Change Model

According to the Satir Change Model, significant change is characterized by five stages that link “Performance” with “Stages of acceptance”.  The first stage is known as the “Old Status Quo” where the organization has developed a process for enjoying success in its market. When an external or internal “Foreign element” is introduced to this steady state, many people in large organizations resist change, often for good reasons including the fear of decreased performance, discomfort with the unknown. During this period, chaos can ensue as people fight to retain the familiar way of doing things. This chaotic state will continue until a “Transforming idea” is introduced and starts to be embraced by the organization. From here, various experiments will be tried out to integrate the new idea into the organization’s practices until it ultimately gains success, acceptance and becomes a “New Status Quo”.

3. What can managers do to minimize the negative disruption and maximize the performance of the New Status Quo?

The best way forward appears to use the Satir Change Model as a backdrop and to develop a plan that tailored to the particular organization and key players within this organization.  To do so a change agent must break down the overall process into smaller, manageable tasks rather than try to implement change in one go. These small steps include the development or outlining of:

• A Detailed Plan for Organizational Change – the change agent needs to develop a plan including the Objectives, Goals, Strategies and Measures (OGSM) he/she would like to achieve.
• A list of “WIIFM” Benefits – the change agent must highlight the benefits of change and use these to persuade the organization of the advantages of change. People will always want to know “What’s in it for me” and why they should risk changing certainty for uncertainty.
• The Satir Change Model to plot how the organization will likely behave when the “Foreign element” or need for change is introduced.
• The major sources of the resistance, the reasons for this opposition, and a plan to deal with this.  This will involve separating the resistance to change into a.) Active Resistance (organizing others, refusing to partake in the change or even sabotaging the plan) and b.) Passive Resistance (such as worry, griping about the company and management and generally finding reasons not to change).
  • Active resistance must be dealt with immediately by first listening and then debating concerns and criticisms. At the same time, the change agent must set the boundaries of what is acceptable and what is not, outlining the outcome that will be expected with continued active resistance.  If Active Resistance continues, then the organization must hold the individuals accountable for their actions.
  • Passive resistance is more of distraction and it can be won over through on-going listening and actively doing things to reduce their concerns.
• The “Foreign elements” and “Transformational ideas” and support points for the need for change.
• An open and honest discussion to share the Plan and Change Model with the Management Team to gain input and to refining the final plan.
• An enumeration of the major reasons for resisting change, communicate the final plan with the Management Team to gain their support. At this stage it is important to identify the protagonists and antagonists to move forward.
• A “Town hall” meeting to announce the plan, and communicate the Foreign element, Transformational idea, Process for minimizing Resistance and Chaos in daily, weekly and monthly steps, possibly including training program for change,  Providing a channel for Communications and discussing the Expected outcome. It’s important to disrupt only what needs to be changed and not fix what isn’t broken.
• Regular updates on progress in terms of Integration and Practice.
• Applying new learning and/or Failing quickly if necessary. That said, the change agent needs to close all avenues to return to the “Old Status Quo”.

US Army General and Chief of Staff Eric Shinseki once said “If you don’t like change you’ll like irrelevance even less”. An organization that is not changing is probably an organization that is dying. So we need to all embrace change.

At the same time, we need to understand that change requires letting go of certainty to gain uncertainty. This involves risk, effort and learning new skills, which are often difficult for people to do.  This is why the Satir Change Model and Change Management Process are important for all marketers to help ensure that their organizations keep performing in the face on continuous change.

Brands are not only learning to share control with their stakeholders, but they are changing their business processes and times when they operate, to deal with different consumer behavior.  The main reason for this is that brand planning – the process of analyzing data, coming up with insights and ideas, planning, executing and measuring results before re-planning – is getting out of synch with the way people act.

People today live in a world that is increasingly 24×7x365. With globalization, shift work, retail outlets that are open around-the-clock, and digital, consumers are “always on”.  While brands are planning campaigns, people are operating on their own schedules,   continuously working, communicating, connecting and shopping. If brands are not there to immediately meet their request for sales support, or to respond to a complaint, consumers will move on in the click of a mouse.

1.  Continuous communications

To better deal with consumer demands, brands are shifting more from campaigns to continuous communications, including:

• Analytics – brands need to better understand how their consumers live, work, and play, around the clock. This information can then determine the type of content that will help tell the brand story, as well as the order and timing that messages should be delivered.  

• Content development (on-going) – local, regional and global news, as well as compliments or criticisms from a customer or consumers, all present opportunities for brands to communicate with their audience. Brands need to better utilize the events and trends around them to help amplify their stories. This means more continuous content generation which is both faster and more economically feasible with digital communications.  One way to do this is to appoint a Chief Content Officer to help manage the process of generating on-going content - starting of course with listening to the market daily and identifying opportunities for the brand.

• Immediate response – today’s consumers are impatient. They can barely wait for a webpage to open up let alone wait for a full day before receiving a response to a compliment or complaint. Increasingly, brands need to respond around the clock to consumer stimuli. This is where global networks can help for a company can use its overseas office to provide 24 hour coverage.

• Media selection – brands need to select more “continuous” media in the owned, bought, shared, and earned spaces including CRM, digital, public relations, retail and social – that are always on. 

2.  Continuous marketing

The idea of “Continuous” is also important for activities beyond marketing, including:

• Budgets – while budgets are important for shareholders, analysts, and for setting annual targets for growth, they are based on “campaign thinking” where brands controlled most of their actions over the course of a full year. In a rapidly changing environment it’s important to always keep an eye on market changes and project how the brand can take advantage of the opportunities and challenges.  That’s why marketers should work up budgets and run continuous forecasts, looking one to three years into the future, each month. (In a rapidly changing world it is difficult to forecast further into the future.)

• Employment – companies generally think of employment in terms of campaigns. They hire for a particular job for a specified amount of time and consider promotions when our needs arise or when the employee tires of this position. This way of thinking does not take into consideration the need of today’s employees to have a broad range of learning. Rather that recruit for a 3 year cycle, companies should be looking for more continuous employment and building a career around a number of disciplines. This is very possible with multinational, multi-brand and multi-faceted companies on both the client side and agency side of the business.  These companies can swap employees and develop a continuous career path to retain good employees.

• Production outsourcing – agencies can improve their response rate by thinking more in terms of continuous operations using geography to be a 24 hour a day operation. Account management teams, planners and creative directors can meet clients and develop plans during regular office hours. Then production work can be outsourced to another part of the world, or a second shift, to take advantage of a 24 hour clock. Further, cost savings can be gained by outsourcing to a cheaper market.  (Concern for people is also growing so this is not a call to stretch our employees’ days any longer than they currently are.)  

• Training and education – companies increasingly need to think in terms of continuous education and reinvention. The world changes so rapidly that we can no longer rest on our formal education and on-the-job training. Rather we must continuously upgrade our knowledge and skills, drawing in thought leaders on a continuing basis.  This will involve both personal commitment and commitment from companies to share learning from the brightest people, and from different sources, both inside and outside the organization.

The business of marketing is moving quickly away from a one-way, linear process, where communications start with the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) and end up with the customer or consumer. With the rise of digital and social media, we have moved to an environment where marketing is more complicated and shared across a number of disciplines within the client organization, requiring an increasing number of internal and external channels, different stakeholders and advocates, as well as multi-level conversations.

The CMO must also respond to increasing consumer demands from brands. Consumers want great products, services and experiences. But they also want brands to do good deeds for people and the planet, and provide education, entertainment, information and the ability to connect with other like-minded people.

While this is an incredibly exciting time, many marketing people are struggling to keep up the market changes. An increasing number of influencers and advisors are moving in to help fill the gap and become the CMO’s top advisor. Some of these players are existing partners including Brand Consultancies, Creative Agencies, Digital Agencies, Media Agencies, Public Relations companies and Research Houses. Others are new players, including Business Process Consultants and Internet Companies such as Google and Microsoft.

Given a backdrop of increasing complexity and expectations, who will become the most trusted advisor(s) to the CMO? The winner will almost certainly be the one who is able to serve the CMO’s needs – as outlined below – in a manner better, faster, cheaper and more comprehensively, than others. Who is best positioned to do this?

1. Brilliant Ideas and Thought leadership

Trusted marketing advisers need to be inspirational, presenting big, inspiring ideas to build businesses in these changing times. To do this the need to involve both the best people in their organizations and to bring in outside experts in relevant fields e.g., youth experts, authors, editors, film makers…. who have both a vision of the future and the means to help marketers achieve their objectives and goals. The leaders of these advisory companies must share their time and skills with both their key clients and the people who work in their organizations.

Apparent leaders: Creative agencies and Brand Planners tend to be strong in this area of “Big ideas” so they have an advantage here. PR agencies also excel at bringing outside advocates in to support brands and marketers. Business Process Consultants have great ideas on how to run business more efficiently but are not necessary attuned to consumers. In short, no one has a corner on thought leadership, and many will compete in this arena.

2. Unique insights

Trusted marketing advisors must provide unique insights into how to build brand affinity and drive sales and repeat purchases. These insights will come through:

• Analytics of existing data. (Most brands have a wealth of data. The real challenge is how to draw insights from this data.)
• Proprietary Research related to the specific target groups and brand industry
• Round-table Discussions where the marketing partner brings in a number of clients and experts to tackle specific topics that have shared interests.

Apparent leaders: Research agencies obviously have a wealth of information from dealing with many clients and have advantages here. Media agencies also have strong target group data and have done research into Social Media which gives them an advantage here. In addition, the top PR agencies have released studies on Advocacy, CSR and Trust, which give them strength here. Digital agencies and Internet companies also bring a wealth of data to uncover insights and future trends. Finally creative agencies are often able to combine data with qualitative thinking to provide insights. So a number of players are competing for dominance in this area and the CMO and Brand should be able to benefit from this competition.

3. “Whole brain” thinking

Trusted marketing advisors need to bring both creative and analytical thinking to support their recommendations. While in the recent past it was possible to be strong with “right brained” creative thinking or excel at “left brained” rational support, today’s market requires both sides of the brain to work together. So the brilliant idea is not just inspirational to some but has been analytically proven to have broad appeal. Marketing investments needs to both “smart” and “safe”, meaning they will deliver a proven ROI.

Apparent leaders: This area does not seem to have a strong leader as agencies tend to be either creative or analytical. An “integrative” solution is not widely available suggesting opportunities for a new type of agency.

4. Financial acumen

Trusted marketing advisors need to better understand the financial elements of their clients business and present ideas from the position of driving bottom line results. They need to demonstrate to both the CMO and its Finance and Procurement divisions, the direct relationship between spending and results. Financial acumen can be improved by involving financial people in the account management function.

Apparent leaders: The media agencies have strength here because they work with thin margins and tend to have stronger finance functions. However all agencies can and should think more about the broader context of client financials.

5. Internal communications

Trusted marketing advisors should help their clients align the “cultures” of their organizations (i.e., the people who work on the brands) to the Vision and Image of the brand. A key reason for this is that brands are judged more on what they do versus what they say. So it’s increasingly important to involve more players in the marketing decisions across organization – for brands are only as strong as their weakest links. Increasingly organizations will have to live up to their brand promises or be held accountable through the transparency provided by the Internet.

Apparent leaders: Business Process Consultants and Branding Consultancies have strength in this area, as they help advise clients on structuring organizations to more effectively and efficiently delivery products, services and experiences, and in expressing a unique “Behavior identity”.

6. “Added value”

Trusted marketing advisors will have to generate ways to help the CMO provide added value to consumers beyond great products, services and experiences. They will have to develop ways for brands to do good deeds for people and the planet in addition to being profitable. They will also need to help brands and CMO’s share their know-how in their particular expertise to educate, entertain, inform and help consumers connect with other like-minded people.

Apparent leaders: The PR agencies have strength in this area because much of this involves brand advocates. Further, there are a number of CSR and Sustainability consultancies that can help companies with the “Triple bottom line” of profit, people and planet. However, there is no one group that has an edge in this area for added value is tied closely with consumer insights.

7. Content generation and continuous communications

Trusted marketing advisors need to help develop on-going content to keep up with the continuous conversations that revolve around brands. Consumers interact with brands on a 24×7x365 basis. They are increasingly demanding fresh content and two-way communications, with the result that the model of campaigns is now obsolete.

Apparent leaders: Digital agencies, retail marketers and PR companies have strengths in continuous communications. That said, digital agencies are probably best at generating on-going content as it has been easiest and cheapest to produce, when compared with traditional communications.

8. Integration

Trusted marketing advisors need to help their clients integrate the specialists from the various disciplines including BTL, brand identity, creative, digital, media, research etc. Given the huge developments in digital (and particularly search and social media) clients are finding it difficult to manage the complete communications of their brands.

Apparent leaders: While the large holding companies are in the best position to help integrate the various communications disciplines they have not been overly successful in doing this as the individual silos are often fighting for the same portion of the marketing budget. Holding companies still have an edge but need to find better ways to provided integrated services to the CMO.

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To conclude, consumer behavior has dramatically changed and placed higher expectations of brands. Companies are also demanding more accountability from the marketing function. As a result, the CMO’s job is becoming increasingly complicated.

While this is an exciting time for the CMO, it is difficult to get on top of all the changes in the market place. And the marketing advisors see this time as a chance to increase their position and the trust they earn from the CMO. But it is not clear which ones are gaining ground in this area.

Until this resolves, the role of the CMO will be to get the best from the varied advisors and to let time, ideas and results decide who will be the most trusted advisor.