I
woke up this morning to a news story that the 2017 hurricane season is now in
full gear!
Hurricane Franklin is positioned right over Mexico and heading
west toward the Baja Strip.
The
reporters went on to say that there has been a light level of hurricane’s in
the last several years and that this year might post a record number…
particularly on the east coast of the U.S.
If
it had not been so early in the morning, I would have broken out my Jack
Daniel’s and raised a glass in a toast!
It’s
time way over due for the hurricanes to clean house where business has gotten itself
locked into over the course of the last half-dozen years.
Here’s
a set of observations from my perspective…
A
big story that hit this week is about Google and one of their senior leaders
who sent out a letter of perspective relevant to Google’s new “diversity”
employment program.
The
person writing the letter expressed a viewpoint that questioned whether
“diversity” employment programs actually, in the end, generate the best team
skill sets and whether individuals with better skills might get removed from
consideration because they do not meet hiring quotas.
Google
hit the news wires not because the senior leader expressed this perspective,
but rather because he was fired for expressing it.
Diversity
of perspective is actually what fuels innovation and creativity within
organizations.
As
Millennials become more involved in business leadership, their Helicopter
parenting of peace, love and harmony has resulted in corporate cultures that
advocate total buy-in to be a member.
If
any perspectives are voiced or issues arise that might upset the corporate
culture, the person expressing it is no longer employed and included in the
group.
I
remember as a kid how the Avon ladies were crafted all around a common look,
perspective, conversation style and sales pitch. On August 3rd a headline story in the Wall Street
Journal read… “Avon CEO to Depart Amid Mounting Losses.”
Folks
think that Google is a creative haven… I hate to be the naysayer, but
creativity and innovation fails to function when diversity of perspectives and
ideas are forced to meet corporate guidelines or you get fired.
Entrepreneurship
seldom honors a set of defined parameters and conventions.
Another
story this past week that showcases the beginning of the hurricane season was
Disney finally saying “no!” to Netflix and electing to create its own custom
channel routes of access.
I
remember one of the first business trips of my career when in 1982, Beatrice
Foods asked the ad agency where I worked to fly me down to a meeting with a guy
in Atlanta that had started up a broadcast network.
That
network was not ABC, CBS nor NBC.
The
guy was Ted Turner and his “network” was WTBS.
There’s
a good share of content in the EXPERIENCE blog posts about Turner and
Time-Warner and my history of eventually working for Ted.
What
Ted did back 35 years ago is not unlike what Disney is doing today.
Heck,
Netflix and Facebook and Google… it’s just not P.C. to say “no,” but maybe it’s
time to rattle the cages of the online Mecca-dom and challenge the now very
staid model.
Today’s
Wall Street ran a front-page story about how Facebook has put together a team
just to track down competitive social media startups from challenging
Facebook’s social supremacy.
The
story highlights a new social startup called Houseparty.
Facebook,
in turn, has launched a sub brand to compete against Houseparty called Bonfire.
Facebook
has also worked with Alphabet, Inc., Apple and Amazon is creating barriers to
Houseparty securing feeder links.
Wow…
look at what the politically correct of the San Francisco Bay area have morphed
into… wow… that Millennial management might want to contact their history
professors to tell them a bit about what happened to a corporate giant that
once wore the initials A-T-T.
If
one thinks what Disney is doing is a fluke, tell Alexa to shift your television
over to TBS and check out the new original programming that is being added to
the fall schedule.
I
personally might not agree with each show’s viewpoint and perspective, but by
damn, I will march down Wall Street and Madison Avenue in defense of the
network’s right to be whoever they want to be… and cultivate its own culture of
viewer loyalty.
Speaking
of Madison Avenue… there’s another story that hit the media today that many of
the large ad agencies might be in big trouble because they are padding the
budgets and not really securing open bids for productions costs.
No
surprise to me.
I
have no problem working with ad agencies.
As my psychiatrist friend told me, if the world were all sane, he would
be unemployed.
It’s
not my corporate mission to make the ad agencies sane.
As
hurricane season begins, watch how un-P.C. “digital ad agencies” will soon
become.
I
know, I know… “digital ad agencies” right now is where all the accounts are
headed if they have not hired one yet as their agency-of-record.
The
digital agencies deliver the “dashboards” of results.
No
longer do clients have to do those ridiculous pre-post campaign surveys and
tracking studies even matter.
The
digital agencies provide real time dashboards that present real time tables,
graphs and charts.
For
entertainment, check out this website… www.idashboards.com/reporting/?keyword=digital&_bk=%2Bdigital%20%2Bdashboards&_bt=205468767506&_bm=b&_bn=g&gclid=CP3m3KaVzdUCFQcGaQodTpUKK
And
please forgive the address length, it’s not my doing.
One
of my past clients that will go nameless shifted over a lot of the marketing
budget to a digital shop based in Chicago. That shop delivers daily interactive dashboard reports.
The
client’s CMO and marketing leadership rattle on and on and on about the
increases in site visitation hits and time spent online and return visits and
click-thru-pathways.
Unfortunately,
sales are not tracked on the dashboard.
Unfortunately,
the sales declines corporate-wide continue.
There
was an article in a recent issue of Wired Magazine about how wonderful Bed,
Bath & Beyond was netting more online visitation and social media
mentions.
Today’s
Wall Street Journal also reported that Bed, Bath & Beyond just announced
more than 1,000 corporate layoffs and more store closures.
Wonder
if they will name one of the hurricanes Digitas. Its gender neutral and that’s very P.C.
This
hurricane season, it’s not just the marketing and ad agencies that need
disruption, but so do the corporate HR teams.
A
good friend of mine was let go from an ad agency about five months ago. When I see her, I always find myself
humming Dr. King’s song, “free at last, free at last.”
I
had lunch with her this past week.
She told me about how unresponsive she is finding the job posting
websites.
She
went on to tell me how screening interviews are now all taking place online in
which questions are posted by management teams and candidates have to respond
with text replies.
(I
am not making this up.)
My
bet is that the H.R. teams have been taken over by the Millennials.
My
bet is that the H.R. teams stay very busy with a lot of jobs that net limited
stay employees.
My
bet is that the firms doing the hiring are facing some challenges right now.
Ever
hear of the 7% rule?
55%
of communication is expressed in body language, 38% in the tone of voice and 7%
in the actual words spoken … or in 2017 terms, text-sent.
When
I work with top management in re-engineering and re-fueling their brands, they
are often surprised when I shift the conversations over to H.R.
But
then I quickly ask them how can the brand becomes more emotionally engaging
with a team that has been modeled by computer word screening.
Come
along with me and let’s welcome in the hurricanes this year. Corporate America from Wall Street to
Madison Avenue to the Silicon Valley to even Peachtree Street in the ATL need
major cleaning out.
It’s
time for the hurricane season to begin!
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