When The Ship Starts Sinking

President Mikey’s butt’s in trouble… and a bit more than 90 days ago.

Fourth quarter sales dropped 21% at McDonald’s and global sales are down.

Going over to the developing country with the golden arches isn’t too golden any more.

In the weekend edition of the Wall Street Journal, there was an article about McDonald’s Asian sales entering into the “grind down” mode.  The article went on to talk about how a release of sales information the first of the week would further turn the spotlight on a corporation that’s facing disturbing performance.

Before I go too much further in this commentary, I want to make sure that readers understand that what McDonald’s is facing is not something that only McDonald’s is encountering.

The WSJ article that ran over the weekend talked about how mature brands are facing edges of cliffs. 

On Monday, Radio Shack declared bankruptcy.

Last month, Coke laid off more than 2,000 corporate staff and its sales – and profits – continue to roll down hill.

Target is in the process of closing down Canada.  My bet is that we will hear about that brand shortly and its slide down the slopes.

McDonald’s ad agency, Leo Burnett, is just starting to air a new ad campaign.  Mikey even made commentary in the WSJ weekend that he’s looking forward to the campaign helping to turn around sales.

The ad agency folks are smiling up there on Michigan Avenue humming along with the song “I’m Lovin’ it” in the new spots as they deposit those production checks in the bank. 

As those customers go to McDonald’s and face a menu of more than 100 items, place orders with individuals who cannot figure out just how much change to give back and then wait there as their order is prepared with the “made-ahead” microwaved-to-order ingredients, I’m not too sure that many can related to those new spots. 

BUT… what the heck, those agencies are getting their buck and that McDonald's CEO can always go out and put the account up for grab and the prostitute-agency holding companies will be out there with their fancy clothes and digs before that ink dries on the Facebook post.

In today’s WSJ there’s a guest editorial written by the past McDonald’s CMO, Larry Light.

When I saw the editorial, my first thought was that this was going to be a very defensive article and Larry was going to be all out defending what’s going on with the McDonald’s marketing as it faces the challenge of social media and the Millennials.

BTW… that’s a common line of define that the prostitute-agencies and the “in-the-trenches” CMOs make.

After reading the editorial, I wanted to send Larry a congrats letter on “seeing the light.”  What he says in the editorial is smack on track with what brands like McDonald’s, Coke, Target and other mature brands need to embrace.

Here’s in a snapshot what he says in the editorial…

Stop the hemorrhaging – if a brand is losing its core customer base, ask the fundamental question first… is it because they are “dying off” or because the brand experience that they have sought is not being delivered.

Focus on the direct competition – who’s stealing away the share directly… yes, Chipotle is reaping in Millennials, but McDonald’s is not Chipotle.  It’s like a 60-something Boomer that thinks those BOTOX injections will make them look like a Millennial FOX News host.

Restore your claim to fame – in this case, restore fast-food to fast.  If Target’s claim to fame is “cheap, hip and cool,” I am not so sure how baby clothes and diapers is going to reel back in the folks that used to shop there. 

Keep the brand experience defined and focused – if its burgers and fries, stick to burger and fries.  Monkey see, monkey do is so true in the CMO rooms of brands today.  Last night I saw a new Domino’s Pizza “brand” ad that declares that Domino’s Pizza is no longer the brand.  Now its just Domino’s and the spot goes on with pictures of chicken wings, sandwiches, salads and even nachos. 

The loons reside in those corporate and prostitute-ad agency headquarters.

Re-energize the plan to win – Larry uses the phrase “laser focus on the customer” and goes on to comment that the customer focus has been lost by large global brands in the last decade.  I agree 100%.

What I would add to Larry’s list is simple.

Get your butt out of the office -- Go talk with customers and others like your customers that don’t even get near your brand.  A colleague of mine just spent 60 days up in Chicago with McDonald’s ad agency working with them on a project for another client in consumer package goods. The creative team, the account planning team, the client management team never once went out into the Chicago ‘burbs and walked into a grocery store.  They never once bought the product and cook up a lunch using it.

Realize that the ad agency cares more about their glamour than yours… A fundamental way of understanding this is to challenge them on coming up with something that your customers are emotionally craving and not what you told them or what they dreamed up. 

As I wrote in the last blog, I am not in the business to do dumb stuff.

I am the first to admit that every year in February, I get a tad down-in-the dumps.  I get tired of the cold nights, the darkness at 7pm and the clients that seem to go back to doing the same dumb-butt things that they did the prior year.

But then I get a chance to go out and take a couple of field trips and talk with real people.  I hear more about what’s real rather than imagined or declared.  I see people actually engaging with brands. 

I experience the brand experiences.

For all the money in the world, if I were locked up in a corporate headquarters or residing with a prostitute-ad agency, I would not last long.

My bet is that those CEOs and CMOs like those cited here in this blog will soon experience not lasting long too. 

The Super Fantasy Of Mass Brands

Just returned back from the grocery store… a Kroger “mega-store” to be specific.

Went and got the pizza, wings, nacho chips, brownies, olives, cookies and the Red Bull for the Super Bowl party tonight.

Every year a small group of my friends get together to cheer on the team we place money on. 

I know that many are favoring the Patriots, but I cannot cheer on a team that cheats to win.

Like many, we are more attracted to watch the commercials than really the football.  And… we often gather with expectations of seeing some brands doing some great stuff, only to be disappointed quickly by junk.

Junk that some CMO allocated at least a million to produce and another $4 million for the :30 spot.

The last couple of years, I have made commentary through this blog on the best commercials and the worst commercials.

This year, I am not going to do it. 

Part of the problem is that mass brands are struggling to stay afloat.  McDonald's sales are on a sliding decline.  Coke laid off 20% of its staff.  Chrysler's barely surviving after a government bail out.  Sears, JC Penney and Radio Shack are on IV.  Even Target is facing a not-so-rosy future. 

Ad agencies hate it every time the reality is brought to the table.

Most of the commercials that will run tonight are in the movie, soda drink, beer, and automotive business.  Viagra, Levis-Wrangler and men’s cologne spots will be in the mix too.  After all, football still is a men’s sport. 

Sure, we will see a couple other more “niche-brands” advertise. But then after the spots run, wonder whether the CMO is having an affair with the ad agency A/E. 

My purpose in writing this blog this year is to shed light on the fact that mass marketing is truly dead. 

Now I quickly raise observation how many other marketing leaders agree… but they also quickly make commentary about how social media is changing the dynamics of marketing today.

I know many may think that this is blasphemy, but social media, in many ways, is actually another diverted form of mass media too. 

Shoot, how many of the “high and mighty” ad agencies and social media-specialty agencies post their Facebook pages and seek to boost their “likes” from just about anyone that’s out there that happens to hit their page.

For years – wait for decades now – I have been harping to client and colleague alike that there really are no mass brands.  None.

And yet, this past week, I have had three meetings with some new venture companies that are declaring that “everyone” is their target market. 

There’s a story on the front page of this week’s Atlanta Business Chronicle about two guys starting up a new social media site that are aiming to become the next Facebook. 

By the way, both of those guys are barely legal age to drink. 

Not here to necessarily stop the youthful aspirations of Millennial entrepreneurs, but you would think that the editorial staff of the Atlanta Business Chronicle would have a bit more of a realistic vision.

The social media world has moved quickly from the first couple of brands on the scene to the evolution of niche brands. 

Just this past week, there was a story that ran in the Wall Street Journal that Pinterest is struggling to get a broader diversity of both men and women to interact on the website. 

Not too many guys… even my fellow gay buddies… have scrap books.

Maybe the Atlanta Business Chronicle is thinking that these two guys can bring back those faded times of the past when Atlanta was "high-tech" with Mindspring and WebMD.  

A past client of mine in House & Home – a flooring brand – spent a lot of money with EXPERIENCE in the development of a market segmentation model and the identification of four very distinctive market groups – all great opportunity – but all distinctively different from one another.

Even when the client was making the investment, there were members of their marketing and corporate leadership that had difficulty with the idea of “splicing and dicing” the marketplace. 

Their media buying firm was beside themselves.  They kept asking over and over and over again… why are we splicing up the marketplace and targeting media when we can get a whole lot more reach and cheaper prices if we buy it on a mass level.

(By the way, if you are using a media buying firm right now… you need to make an appointment with your doc to get a health and mental check-up)

This past week, I visited the flooring brand’s website. 

No niche target to be found.  They had pictures of their products in settings that ran the gamut from the “Ethan Allen look of old” to the “Haverty’s look of today.”  They had created an online resource center for individuals that had lots of hype about it being online, mobile and electronic. 

If there was any targeting at all, it was the targeting strategy of their past re-channeled in an “online” context.  

The only niche targeting I could see was that families are still a center point of text and human interaction with their product and their charity outreach channeled around a national pediatric care hospital.

So much for implementation of smart marketing, niche targeting and investment return.

My inspiration for writing this blog was actually not the Super Bowl Game tonight.

My inspiration came from the current issue of Dwell Magazine. 

I will make a $100 bet that the editorial team of Dwell Magazine is NOT on a mission to win over all the home dwellers out there – shoot, not even all the Millennial home dwellers. 

Dwell has a very defined target group that transcends conventional demographics and enters into the psychographic and geodemographic dynamics that drive a lot of what we do here at EXPERIENCE in crafting brand strategy with our clients.

There’s an ad in Dwell for Lindal Cedar Homes.  

Lindal is a brand that’s been around for a loooonnnngggg time.  The company is probably best known for their home building kits they packaged for second homes – a lot that were based on the old “A-frame” style -- birthed in the ‘70s.

Both the pictures featured in the ad and event the short copy was geared totally around the Dwell niche market segment of today in 2015 and beyond. The architecture is more 2015, its eco-green, the plans are actually smaller in square footage and foot-print and the feel is a blend of the past and today. 

Lindal Cedar Homes has changed with the times and has crafted a brand to deliver around a niche market segment.

This blog is actually the first one to post in 2015. 

This year I turn 56 years old. 

I have made it a mission this year to ask prospective clients a simple question when I receive a phone call or we sit down for coffee... tell me about who makes up your brand’s audience group potential. 

If I hear terms like “everybody,” I will ask a quick follow-up question... does that represent opportunity or obstacle in moving your brand forward.

Simple. 

You can bet what the answer is to that question that will lead to a continued conversation. 

By the way, the other thing about the current issue of Dwell that got my attention is a feature story on a cool Millennial couple that engineered a house with a roof top deck up on Capitol Hill in Seattle. 

As I said at the beginning of this blog… I cannot cheer for a team that cheats to win. 

Roll Seahawks.

House & Home? Grab The Dramamine.

Okay, where’s the motion sickness pills.

I need a handful.

Readers of this blog-logue know that I get a lot of my press perspectives from the Wall Street Journal and the cable news nets.

On this Black Friday shopping day, the WSJ posts an article complete with graphs and charts titled, “New-Home Sales Still Sluggish.”

Ahhhh… just last week the WSJ and the cable news nets talked about how much the housing market is coming back.

And then a full month ago, the story was about how new home sales are not moving as fast as predicted.

EXPERIENCE works in the House and Home category. A lot. That’s coupled with my personal passion for home décor and style.

Earlier this month, the Brookhaven Chamber of Commerce had a nice get-together at MODA Floors & Interiors new store location in Brookhaven. 

MODA is a past client of mine that I worked with in retail expansion and development.

Today’s WSJ article cites stats that show this calendar year might not even be as good as last year in new home sales.  Even home real estates sales are stagnant.

Just over a year ago, one of my House and Home clients that invested a lot of money in my crafting a target marketing model for their corporate brand and both U.S. and Canadian retailers, elected to follow the lead of a Washington firm that lives and dies by new home sales.

The Washington firm are the experts according to the client. They are the ones that have the "inside track" on builder and contract housing sales. 

There had been a good share of turnover on the corporate marketing team.

The new comers had risen through the ranks and a good number came in out of the sales field.

God love the sales people. If they perceive that the model ain’t broke – or in need of a major overhaul -- they see no need to fix it.

See no evil… Hear no evil… speak no evil.

I will never forget this Washington financial modeling guy standing up at the podium and presenting a “refined” way of defining market groups that “would much better capitalize on the forecasted housing growth return.”

Course the corporate marketing team newcomers loved what they guy said.

Sales would come back.  He would lead them down the pathway to harvest the payout.

Shoot… all that hype that EXPERIENCE talked about in terms of “Blue Sky Working Families” and “Millennial Home Cocooners albeit Rental Cocooners” was just false.

And the need to re-adapt the full scope of marketing from inventory packaging to website content to in-store customer bonding to sales dialogue re-crafting were all for naught.

All that money and time and beta tests and in-depth customer modeling was for naught. 

The Washington experts were not involved.  And in just three short weeks, they had built the model needed to capitalize on the great housing revival the firm was predicting. 

Did EXPERIENCE not understand that the housing market – particularly new home sales – was going to hit the 2014 ground running.

The client even waved copies of the WSJ with articles saying that their number churning was right on track.

While much of the programming on HGTV is actually staged, I am the first to say that HGTV understands House and Home a bunch more than statisticians and financial geeks in DC and Wall Street.  There is more programming today about remodeling and renovation than new home building and design. 

As I have stated in this blog-logue and the annual Trendcast Reports, the MILLENNIALS ARE HERE.

Today’s WSJ article states that the Millennials are leaving their parent’s home and going through the rental stage.  The authors of the article then state that as soon as the Millennials lease for a couple of years, then the housing market will take off running.

Yeah… right.

In some ways, the factors that drove the rapid growth of the U.S. housing market… the post-WWII manufacturing boom, the surge of young families – Mom, Dad, Two Kids, Cat and Dog, the expansion of automotive and interstates, the image change of home mortgage debt vs. home pay-offs, the shift from the rustbelt to the sunbelt… have not only run their course, but are much more likely to replaced with new change dynamics than repeat. 

I am not a strong supporter of Global Warming.  And as far as Climate Change is concerned… I am the first to observe that yes, the climate does change… and change… and change…

The Millennials are no longer affecting the market… they are driving it.

The House and Home market is not going away.  There will still be a need for flooring, lighting, plumbing, gardening supplies and home furnishings in the future.

BUT… the market model will not be the same.  The past… is long past.

The rental market demands a different perspective.  Home remodeling will stream versus be start-to-finish like seen on the staged HGTV shows.  Flexibility in terms of room purpose and use will expand.  Millennials never knew much of a non-tech world, but they do crave it. And square footage will be less important -- no pun intended!

Many, many of my clients ranging from financial to healthcare to house & home to consumer package goods to travel-tourism-lodging are discovering that Millennials are not just a fluke.

Each year I issue the annual Trendcast Report that cites the top ten market drivers that will affect brands in the next year.

In the next few weeks, I will issue the 2015 Trendcast Report.  BUT… unlike past reports, the 2015 report will be dedicated 100% to the Millennials and the depth of how they are driving the marketplace and its impact in 2015.

Brands that embrace the Millennial change will win. Brands that cling to the past will soon discover that the mirages will not survive.  

And individuals who read the press about the housing marketplace need to take a Dramamine.

McDonalds, Spooks and Scary Freaks

I am writing this blog on Hallow’s Eve.

This is the night of spooks and scary freaks.  I told a friend of mine that its always a fun evening … but for those of us working with many business firms today… there’s many of spooks and scary freaks we encounter every day on the job!

Boo. 

Looking back across the last year, I quickly have to say that in 2014, I’ve encountered a bunch.

Some attempting to wear the sign of “Advisory Services”… others “Ad Agency”… others “Brand Strategy Group” … funny how so many attempt to assist and guide businesses when, in reality, all they do is mix up concoctions that bubble and release steam!

Enough about the alchemists.

My drive in writing an article that was posted in this morning’s Wall Street Journal about McDonald’s.

Don’t know how many of the readers out there visit McDonald’s regularly.  I get breakfast at McDonald’s at least 2-3 times a week.  Hard to pass up a nice breakfast of two sausage McMuffins and coffee for less than $2.50 for the full meal.

As much as the food is good and cheap, the process of giving an order and getting the “fast food” fast is something that has bugged many this year.

I remember going into a McDonald’s and seeing food prepared sitting in bins that the person at the register could turn-around, place in a bag and hand over to a customer in less than a minute.

McDonald’s pioneered fast food.  But today, McDonald’s – and others that today wear the label “quick service” are finding that they are in trouble.

The last couple of months, I got out from behind my desk and actually went and talked to people on-the-streets about their thoughts and perceptions about fast food restaurants.

What they shared is reinforced directly by the Wall Street Journal article.

#1 – Fast Food is no longer fast.  Whether it’s a process flow issue, a technical communications issue, a mix of drive-through vs. text-in vs. person-at-the-counter order coordination issue… the service is not only not fast, its way too slow!

#2 – Corporate procedures and processes have created a blockade between the restaurant and customers.  There’s no local restaurant personality.  Comments and questions are channeled to corporate.  People no longer talk to people.  People have been replaced by corporate procedures, the Internet and mobile phones.

#3 – Product innovation at some of the fast food restaurants – and McDonald’s can take center stage in this act – has stalled.  Same-old-same-old is now just simply old.  Now I am the first to say that too many Quick Service Restaurant brands take a simple menu and make it complex as well as take a core focused deliverable and dilute it quickly… but lack of innovation is very problematic.

#4 – The Millennials are no longer in their teens.  As they have grown up and now coupling, their tastes have changed.  There are few exceptions with brands ranging from McDonald’s to Burger Kings to Taco Bell to Chic-fil-A that have arrived in the “here and now.”

The McDonald’s USA President, Mike Andres is quoted in the Wall Street Journal article a number of times.

President Mike would get a “C” grade if his commentary was actually an essay test.  He’s right about one set of commentary and wrong about a second set of commentary.

He’s right that the McDonald’s current regional structure needs some serious revamping. 

He cites directly how currently, McDonald’s groups the South with the Northeast as one region labeled the East. 

While much of the population of Atlanta is now comprised by folks not born in Atlanta, not sure if it’s the water that changes the taste buds, but “sausage gravy biscuits” that score well in Atlanta really struggle up in Rochester, Philly and Boston.

There’s a reason why Millennials champion “local indies” and “farm-to-table” dining options, and run from the BIG corporate chains. 

President Mike gets that one right.

However, Mike goes on to then talk about how McDonald’s needs to become more sophisticated in its digital technology to allow customers to order from their smart phone apps. 

First, not sure that too many folks resist getting fast food because they cannot go on their iPhone and place an order. 

Panera made a big to do about how it was doing away with some of its onsite people at the register and shifting over to mobile phone ordering.  The stores added a set of what appear to be IKEA-link book-cubicles where individuals placing orders through their smart phones can walk in and pick up their orders. 

While I cannot lay claim to what I see as full market research assessment, but when I visit Panera store sites around meal times, I have yet to see the cubicles filled with much of anything.

President Mike want to check out how many high-tech Millennials actually dine at McDonald’s... how many folks actually want to spend the time placing an order on a smart phone versus simply walking in and getting an order... how much time is wasted in taking an order and coordinating the time of arrival and just how hot is burger and fries ordered... for starters!

I remember back in my college days that the press featured a Laundromat that was also serving beer on tap and how that idea was going to forever change the way the 20-somethings would do laundry in the future.

Fast Food and smart phone apps might share the idea of “fast” in common, but not too sure that combining the two together is that smart of an idea.

If President Mike would send me an airline ticket plus some nice warm clothes, I would be happy to fly up to greater Chicago-land and show him how the Millennials are quickly moving out of the fun days of apps and into the realistic days of working 24/7 to have a place they call their home. 

In the annual Trendcasts that EXPERIENCE issues each year in advance of January 1^st, we’ve highlighted the impact of the Millennials a bunch. 

Fact is simple.  They are no longer news.  They are here. 

Earlier today, I grabbed a bagel and coffee at an indie café in Athens, Georgia. 

While Atlanta lays claim to being the state capitol of Georgia, Athens lays claim to being the capitol of the Socialist Republic of Georgia.  Many of the twenty-something individuals that comprise Athens are not big fans of big brands and BIG Business.

When I complimented the owner of the bagel shop on just how good the bagel was, he quickly thanked me and then added, “we’re not in the business of selling corporate crap.”

As I preach from the pulpit a lot and if President Mike called me I would tell him… Get out from behind the desk, laptop and corporate meeting calendar and get out and have some good conversation with the people who you are attempting to build a bond.

There’s simply too many spooks and scary freaks that sit behind those desks!

Target's CEO Is Banking On The Past Repeating Itself

It made the news last week. 

Target is going to change its brand experience.  And its brand offering.  And its brand followers. 

Target – the hip discount retailer where the latest style choice in everything from home furnishings to clothing to outdoor sports gear to electronics … shoot even doggie food and toys not only were found on the shelves… but also where they often premièred!

Target – whose advertising you actually took a moment to watch that seldom contained much of any copy, but was glamorized with music and graphics that made most any commercial break something fun to catch.

Yup.  Target is changing.

And their new CEO, Brian Cornell is driving the change.

Many who follow this blog, have heard it many times before…Target is the Millennial generation brand. 

And… as I wrote last week… the Millennials are evolving right before our eyes!

But here’s the gamble that Target is making.

They understand that the Millennials represent their core equity.  They observe that the Millennials are not only nesting, but beginning to form “family” units.

They look around the marketplace and see that the kid & family empires of the past have faded as the ZOOMER generation (GenXer’s kids) is now entering high school.

So Target is stream-lining and limiting its house & home.  Electronic facings are also being pared down to only a few.  Gifts and accessories in some cases being axed.

BUT… clothing – particularly kids and infant lines – will be expanding.  So too will the food and grocery items.

Target is going from being the hip and cool brand of the rising Twenty-somethings to becoming the emerging family brand.

I spend a lot of time talking to Millennials.  I camp out with them, sip coffee, Tweet and interact with them online and shop the grocery aisles with them.

The one observation I can quickly make… they are NOT at all the same headset of the Generation X Cocooners.  They are not hell-bent on creating the nest, making babies and living in the mdist of 24/7 family time.

In fact, when you say the word “kids,” Millennials quickly visualize both watches and pocketbooks.  How much time will raising the kids take and even more so, cost.

Now I have never met Brian Cornell, but there are some quick surface level observations I can quickly make…

1. He’s a trailing Baby Boomer, but sure looks, talks and reacts online and on-screen like a GenXer...BGO Example – “More and more I see moms shopping our stores with a child in a cart in one hand and a smartphone in the other hand”

2. His experience was shaped around Pepsico snack food brands – CPG as they say in the “field”

3. He’s dwelled a lot in the C-Store marketplace... BGO Example – “We’re launching a new concept called Target Express that will be 1/6^th the size of a normal one”

My gut tells me that Brian Cornell may not set any records for long-term CEO stay at a corporation. 

But then again, I am the first in line to say, I’ve been wrong.

Most Saturdays now, I get the great opportunity to spend the better part of the day with Zevi, my 5 year old nephew. 

No question, Zevi is one cool little dude. 

Its not only fun to see the world through the eyes of a five year old, the time I spend with Zevi actually makes me a better consultant in my exchange with clients.

Kids see things in a much clearer focus than adults do.

Zevi’s first request when he arrives at my country farm house is simple… when are we going over to shop Target – properly pronounced “tar-jay.”

He loves to go over to the Target down the street and walk the aisles. 

Of course, he goes first to the toy department, then over to the sports department, then over to electronics, then over to find a snack food for the day, then over to check out the latest in Ninja Turtle T-shirts. 

Now of course, I am also having a blast checking out the latest in seasonal specials, outdoor gear and the latest in the sport shirts.

We also shop together at WalMart and Five Below… but we both have more fun when we journey over to Target.

This Saturday, I will likely have to sit down and let Zevi know that Target is going to change a bunch over the next year. 

One thing is clear… at age 5, Zevi not only has moved beyond baby-goods and he cannot stand being near them. 

We probably have to find another place to journey to on Saturday afternoons… and my bet, is that we will not be the only ones out there making the change!

Corporate America sometimes does some dumb stuff.

Maybe Brian Cornell needs to get out from Target’s corporate campus, grab Zevi and take a journey through his store aisles for a good perspective.

Generational Change Is Never Easy To Accept

Change is never easy to accept.

Abrupt change is often citied as the most difficult and dramatic. 

In the business world we hear that a lot. 

A CEO is removed by a Board.  A marketing VP elects to quit.  An ad agency is fired.  A media publication bites the dust.

In the marketplace, we observe change with job losses, the closing of a retail chain, new elected leadership replacing old elected leadership and sudden price escalations.

Generational change is also never easy to accept. 

And perhaps, its even further magnified in its impact because its not quick.  And its something that is often overlooked and miscalculated.

Generation change is never-ending.  However, its not as predictable as many think.

There are three clients who I am working with right now who are coming to terms with generational change. 

One of the clients is a neighborhood community.

Another is a bank.

And the third is a media group that owns more than 30 newspapers.

Atlanta, like many Southern agricultural and rail line linked communities, clustered, for the most part, around train stations along the rail lines.  City lines extended out a mile or two at the most and after that, it was farmland that was organized the most at a general county level.

For many, many years after the war, Atlanta was the city and the rest of the countryside was the county. 

Yes, there were the cities of Marrieta, Snellville, Roswell and Duluth, but up until 25-30 years ago, those were very outlying cities that most living there, didn't even work in “that urban oasis called Atlanta.”

Up North where I was born, the cities are made up of a continuous flow of one ethnic or national group that butts up to the next.  Cities and suburbs are continuous and often there is no such thing as an unincorporated county neighborhood.

As the South grew fueled by industry moving from the “rust belt” to the “sun belt,” areas between the cities and towns expanded… and generationally are now experiencing change.

Those who settled in the county suburbs in the 1960s and 1970s are now in their own 60s and 70s.

Many have already moved out further into the ‘burbs, up into the cooler mountains or down on the sunny shores of Florida.

Back even 10-15 years ago, the GenXers coupling placed a priority on making babies and cocooning together in their suburban home where the schools were nice. Mom’s could caravan the kids to after-school events and the Dad’s could commute to bring in the money to pay for it all.

GenXers have worked aggressively to give to their kids what many did not experience because their parents divorced.

That said, the intown neighborhoods are now facing the onslaught surge of the Millennials who value less drive time and access to fun more than the frustration of commuting and living in sub-divided developments. 

Millennials are also “hands-on” change agents.  If the public schools went downhill, they are much more engaged in getting their hands dirty and taking on the challenge of making the schools better… and that’s even before they elect to have little kiddies to even send to class.

Millennials also crave that sense of “place.”  A physical dwelling spot that they can touch and feel and become part of… something that GenXers sacrificed for the ability to live all together in the family room.

This generational change is taking effect.  The pace is not overnight… but as more Millennials enter their 30s and more move from Property Virgins to community change agents… that pace will heighten and the impact will rattle many a foundation.

The neighborhood community I work with attempted to organize and create a "new" city last year.  It failed.  It was a model created by the aging Boomers that attempted to grab onto the community dynamic that was there 30 years ago.  Not the one there today.

The last session with them, I asked them a simple question, what percentage of this part of Atlanta do you think is made up of adults age 55+?  They quickly answered that the "Boomers" and "Seniors" who settled in this part of town made up at least 60% of the commuting.  The actual percentage was 12%.

The Millennials now represent the largest age group and its growing the quickest. 

As we hear in the international politics, they are having to re-anchor around the new generational realities!

I really get a kick out of working for my bank client.  They have a brand image that is actually retro-home-grown chic. 

From the viewpoint of Boomers, the bank might not be cool enough.  Shoot… they’re not a national brand that sponsors professional sports teams. Nor have posters in the airport terminals.  Nor advertise in the regional edition of the Wall Street Journal.

And that’s actually a good thing.

Small town banks that reach out beyond their foundation city, but still remain customer focused in the way that banks did before the advent of the ATM, is an essence of cool that Millennials crave… especially as their Boomer parents push them out of the house and they seek surrogate substitutes that can guide them and hold their hand!

My client, the small town newspaper group actually has the ability to look at a glass that is either half full or half empty.

No question that the web has challenged the survival of many city-centered newspapers.  Social media transport news and information perhaps even better than online editions of USA Today… or at least the news that many actually care about reading.

BUT… just as much as Millennials are declaring their own new hometowns, small town newspapers are providing a local anchoring point of connection that old and young alike place value.

The Mature Generation might soon be passing as they quickly enter into the 80s and 90s, but right now, they represent the vast majority of what makes up the population residing along Main Street in the hundreds – maybe even thousands – of small towns that dot the landscape of Middle America. 

Oddly… Millennials are driven to sink down roots… Matures are driven to continue to connect with their roots.

Millennials and Matures are more alike than many marketers might think.

The marketplace is experiencing BIG change. 

Ad agencies fail to see it.  Many entrepreneurs are driven by the expectation that everybody will buy their product. Corporations are too anchored by dated models to adapt to capture it.

I’m in the business to not only accept change, but find ways to embrace it… and capitalize on it.

Are you ready to journey?

My Advice is to Get Out

Whenever I tell people that I live in Atlanta, at least two-thirds reply quickly and say, “I’m sorry to hear that.”

After a number of years of hearing this, I have stopped asking the question “why.”  Instead, I ask them if they know anyone who lives in the city of Atlanta.

And they quickly respond that they do and that all they hear is that the traffic is horrific.

When I then ask where do the folks live in the city, they will rattle off places like Alpharetta, Roswell, Lawrenceville and Kennesaw. 

For those of you reading this that do not know much about Atlanta, those are cities that are close to 20 miles out from the city line.

Sure, the interstates the run through the city itself will become land-locked in rush hour, but in all honesty, not as much as the roadways outside the perimeter.

And the roadways in the city rarely get blocked. 

Living in Atlanta is more like living in a small town than the picture many paint of the city life.

I always find it amusing how people form viewpoints with little-to-no exploratory beyond the surface level see the world around them. 

Reading this morning’s Wall Street Journal was not a happy experience.

Whether it was the story about Coke and its global declines or Target and the hiring of a new CEO to bring it out of its coma or Samsung’s mobile chief feeling the heat or the European automotive brands hitting a pothole… the story line was almost the same.

Brand management is scratching their heads to figure out where to go next.

As I am writing this, Wall Street has dropped more than 200 points.  This might be more of a correction because of expectations of coming out of the Fed’s last meeting. 

My prediction is that we are going to see the economy hit another stalling point.

I share the story of Atlanta perceptions because that story is really not too different from the stories being shared in the boardrooms by the executive leadership that has no idea of where to turn next.

If you’re a really loyal reader of this blog, you probably know where this text is going.

Technology has invaded into the headset of management.

Systematic has over taken innovation.  Creativity is claimed and touted, but there are vast limitations that temper the scope of application.

Much of management today focuses inward.  They hire firms to talk with their management teams. Some even bring in the shrinks… I am not kidding!

The article about Target in today’s Wall Street Journal is perhaps the most interesting… and telling.

The CEO comes from Pepsico with past roles working with WalMart, Sam’s Club and Michael’s. 

The Wall Street Journal labeled him as a stabilizer of brands by helping to anchor them with the brand’s core market base.

I hope… and really hope that he sees more in the target brand than the fact that it can be labeled as a “discount retailer”… but I would not be too surprised if he doesn’t quickly transfer over his expertise of reaching out to the mass market.

Few of top management take the time to get out of their corporate cultures, slip on a pair of Levi’s and get out and dwell with “folks in the ‘hood.

I went into a Target yesterday to shop.  If you really want to see the brand through my set of glasses, you have to pronounce the brand name correctly… “Tar-jay.”

With all their hype about changing, my Target experience yesterday was really not too different from any in the past 10-15 years.

Perhaps the biggest change is the new and expanded food aisles that occupy space where once stood broader selection of products for the garden, car and home shop. 

In fact, Target right now is wrapping its hands around capitalizing on the bank-to-school last-minute shopping surge. 

There are displays of notebooks, pens, Crayons, and backpacks.  But there are also end-aisle overstocked displays of cheap home goods, desk lights and bath accessories.

The fact that there is now a downward decline in households with school age kids does not seem to get even a whimper of notice in Target’s merchandising effort. 

Back-to-School will always be around as a key promotional effort to tap.

Yeah… and Boomers will always be out there to relive their “Peace, Love, Harmony” days of the 1960s.

I also got a kick out of seeing all the cheap “dorm-room” fillers crammed into the Target aisles.  Futon sofas, bean-bag chairs, sleek desk lamps and geometric patterned shower curtains.

What Target is up against is the proverbial Blinding Glimpse of the Obvious or as I term it the BGO. 

The vast majority of the Millennials are long past their high school and college days.

Instead of shopping Target for the “hip and cool” furniture for their new cool $1,800 per month apartment or even their first-time home-owner pad, they are driving over to IKEA, HomeGoods, Haverty’s (yes… Haverty’s) and Pier 1 Imports store.

The BGO is simple. 

The Millennials have gotten older and passed on to another life-stage.

Oh, I know the reply from the internal Target team. 

Well we know the Millennials.  We have a Facebook page.  We Tweet and post pics on Pinterest. 

We know all about that mobile generation.

Yeah.  When’s the last time you got up from your desk or iPad and ventured out into where those folks live, work, dine, shop and hang with their friends in the real world?

The Millennials are driving the market right now whether they decide to wear the label or not.

What’s chic and hip is now up against what’s affordable and fits into their check book balance – or debit card balance.

My bet is that Target’s new CEO will be the driver of moving Target into more direct competitive alignment with WalMart. 

There will be limited change in its product line… except more price specials.

The brand will reach out to be more “mass-appeal.”

There will be a lot… a whole lot… of internal operational changes. They can't afford to have another credit card record leak like they had last year leading into the Holidays.

My friend, the psychiatrist told me that crazy people seldom become sane… and because of it, he will always have a job.

My advice to the brands featured in today’s Wall Street Journal is simple.

Get Out.

Get out from behind those corporate walls and boardrooms and go dwell with your customers in their day-to-day world. 

And if the thought of doing so creates a panic-attack…

Call me.

And in addition to my going out and doing it for you, I will pass over the phone number of the doc who can help you manage the panic-attacks.