EXPERIENCE in 2018... Our Focus With Brand Leadership

Welcome to 2018!

The last Blog post was all about five of the 2018 TRENDCAST Trends. This Blog is about how EXPERIENCE will embrace and seek out 2018 opportunity... 

#1 – We will focus more on mid-size brands and their leadership teams. 

In 2017, we saw more large brands merge with their historic competitors to form large behemoth corporations. 

Brands that own retail space.  Large holding companies absorbing fast food brands.  Media companies gobbling up like media or other media firms.  Retailers continuing to merge together and become one comprehensive brand. 

Brand differentiation gets kissed good-bye.  More C-level direction and control shifts over to the financial MBAs. 

A small share of C-level leadership – and it’s a very small share – understand that the brands merging together are not only at the height of market maturity, but even on the downward spiral of declining growth. 

TLC has a show called the “My 600-lb. Life.” These merged corporate behemoths could be showcased in that series.

I have highlighted the non-sense that leadership resorts to within these merged mega-brands. 

There’s a pizza mega-giant whose whole business is about home delivery that is running a $60 million+ television campaign about how they have torn down the old store fronts and built new ones. 

There’s merged television networks that have elected to cross-share programming between their networks.  Does the programming fit under the unique network brand equity?  What’s brand equity the MBA CFO asks, “we are saving production costs by extending the reach of the programming.”

There’s fast food restaurants combining menus and others that are splitting the store fronts into half one restaurant and half another.

There’s hotels and resorts that have one logo on the outdoor signage and another brand logo on the room décor and a third logo on the complimentary breakfasts and desserts.

When I went Christmas shopping this year, I was struck by how the same clothing lines are in many of the different stores until it finally hit me that the brand name on the store fronts are all owned by the same corporate holding company.

Over the course of the last five years, EXPERIENCE has worked with a higher number of large corporate brands vs. regional and new start-up brands. 

While the CEOs that have brought us to the table share similar passions and drive to move beyond the conventional, MBA modeled, slow-moving leadership of the past, the same CEOs quickly discover just how difficult it is to make change happen because of the behemoth size of their corporations.

No question that the big corporations have big budgets to spend. 

The large ad agencies function as reinforcement for the layers and layers and layers of internal marketing and brand “leadership.” 

The thought of an ad agency rocking the boat and challenging conventional thought that is challenged in moving the behemoth, newly merged corporate brands forward… well for all their talk about keen strategy and creative innovation, those same ad agencies are challenged with paying for those posh, “novel” office space. 

CP&G, a “creative, brand strategy and digital agency” just signed a new contract extending their relationship with that pizza mega-giant running the ads about its new store fronts through 2020.  Yup… the agency telling the pizza mega-giant that the ad content the Dominos is dictating to convey is meaningless to consumers and risk the agency’s contract extension? 

Hell no. 

Here at EXPERIENCE, the audience that drives our mission and reason for existence is the consumer marketplace. 

So in 2018, our business focus will shift over to mid-size brands and new brands that can capitalize on the true drivers of change.  Corporate structures that are fluid and can be molded and shaped.  Leadership that has a passion for the brand vs. an MBA financial model of the past.

The BIG brands and corporations are no longer able to capitalize quickly and adapt. 

What we are seeing with politics where the age-old political models are driven by a mis-matched, past engineered patchwork of mechanics is quickly moving to the business landscape. 

#2 – We will not fear confronting false predictions of change vs. what is really taking place in the marketplace.

I subscribe to a number of the online editions published by American City Business Journals including their weeklies that service Atlanta, Nashville, Birmingham and Charlotte.  In addition, I subscribe to Wall Street Journal, Fortune, Forbes, Fast Company and Wired. 

Each of the publications is addicted to march in unison with the same tune…

1. (1)  All of the Millennial generation is just exiting college and will continue to do so for many more years to come
2. (2)  The Internet is replacing the store fronts of the past and soon everyone will use the Internet for consumer purchases
3. (3)  The intown communities of today are evolving into luxury destinations that will drive all the business trends of the future
4. (4)  Corporate leadership is extremely brilliant in every move they elect to make
5. (5)  Soon technology will drive everything we do – literally with self-driving cars and trucks -- and the labor force of the past will be gone

If a trend forecast reinforces what they construct and reinforce, they embrace it quickly.  If a trend forecast challenges the that model, they either discount the source as unreliable or simply ignore it.

Our 2018 TRENDCAST challenges a whole lot of conventional thinking.  What is emerging right in our midst is already rattling the marketplace and a notable share of the marketplace cannot figure out what is driving the change.

I get a kick out of the recent articles in the WSJ, NY Times and Washington Post.  They ran articles that highlight changing statistics and then quickly make stupid statements like all market changes are attributed to the Internet.

EXPERIENCE doesn’t just wet the index finger and sense the direction and speed of the wind, we invest a sizeable amount of money each year in securing some of the most leading statistics tracked.

In 2018, EXPERIENCE will launch a line of market reports under the INFORUM brand name.  The reports will not only include the greatest and latest market statistics, but also a perspective of what the information means in terms of impact upon the brand whose leadership requested the report.

We are not an ad agency nor a digital shop so we are not bound to see market change and trends only through the perspective of the marketing sunglasses.

#3 – We will further integrate the cyclical change model into strategic guidance

What got me energized to script this blog the way that I have in large part can be attributed to the rag publication called Atlanta Magazine.

Atlanta Magazine is not unlike any of its publication families or like pubs produced by other media-promotional companies… they are all glorified promotional mailers the are filled with advertorial and similar ad sponsors. 

The current issue is anchored around “Atlanta in 2040.”  Here’s a share of what the advertorial writers highlight:

1. (1)  Our jackets could answer the phone (that’s the way the writers scripted it… not me)
2. (2)  Everything will be customized
3. (3)  Suburbs will learn to share
4. (4)  We won’t report to the office every day
5. (5)  Delivery food will improve

Wow.  I hear a group of middle school kids that hang out at the local coffee house make similar predictions in their essays. 

The best Atlanta prediction is that the official city of Atlanta will be “the largest city in the nation” by 2040.  The official city of Atlanta posts a new 2018 population of 466,512 residents and is growing at a rate of 5.74% over the next five years.

The official city of New York, the largest city in the nation posts a new 2018 population of 8,598,697. 

Atlanta magazine needs to purchase a new solar-powered calculator before it publishes any more predictions. 

Change is NOT linear, but rather cyclical.  Parts of the past re-surface and the influence of past dynamics re-appear. 

In 2018, we will work with clients in understanding the dynamics of like dynamics when the Boomer began forming families and having kids back in the 1970s and 1980s. 

Business need to place less attention on artificial intelligence and more focus on transferrable insight into factors that affected brand growth and development during comparative time cycles.

When I started my career back in 1981, I worked with a baking products brand called Martha White Foods.  The brand challenge was to craft product, distribution models and branding that could bring Martha White into a sense of connectivity with the growing share of Baby Boomer moms.

We are working with three brands right now on how to embrace the new Millennial moms.

One of the clients that EXPERIENCE has worked with a lot in the past 10 years is Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.  Children’s hired a new ad agency about two years ago.  The new agency launched a new brand campaign in 2017 focused around the Emotional Ignition Point that “Moms know.” 

Millennials seek out a sense of self-control and a sense of personal signature… thanks in part to how technology “invades their lives” … and thanks in part to their Boom “helicopter” parents.

Children’s Healthcare leadership has a viewpoint anchored by cyclical change.

Just a quick FYI… in 2018, 96% of all first-time moms will be Millennials.  The other 3.5% will actually be Zoomers!  And believe it or not, the other 0.5% will be GenXers.  

Sooooo….

If you are a new evolving brand or a middle-size brand seeking to capitalize on the big competitors who move very slow… call us.

If you wish to really know what are the true change agents of the marketplace and the impact they are having right now on your brand and how to strategically capitalize on them… call us.

If you ponder how the dynamics of past change operated and how the human marketplace evolves today… call us.

Call this number… 404.245.9378… and I promise that it will me answering the phone… no assistant… no admin… no automated service center… promise!

2018 Trendcast ... Top Five Trends!

It’s that time of the year again!

Time to forecast out the trends that will drive the marketplace in 2018. 

But first, I have to side-track. 

As I share in past Trendcast blog-logues, the trends noted each year are based on all the information that we weed ourselves through combined with the interesting times we have speaking with consumers in groups and one-on-one. 

This past year we have spent a lot of time working with retail clients, some related to food and dining and others related to house & home. We are working with a retailer in pet food and supplies and another retailer in jewelry.  We continued to work with our client in party goods and another one that competes with other department stores.

We have worked with an interesting mix of politicians and political campaigns from the West Coast to the Midwest to the Southeast on some levels state-wide and others very specific voter districts. 

 We have worked with healthcare providers as well as a couple of banks.  We even worked briefly with a trade association of lawyers and another network of funeral homes.

We did a good amount of work with print as well as online media in 2017.

I share this because it gives a feel for the scope of context around which we observe trends as they are being formed and birthed. 

Here are the first FIVE 2018 Trendcast sightings and a feel for how they will impact the marketplace. 

If you find these snapshots of interest, call us at 404.245.9378 and we are happy to come present more depth in person of these FIVE plus the second set of FIVE.

#1 - The Millennial Family Boom

This time last year we highlighted the beginning of the Alpha Generation.  In 2018, the first of the Alphas will be turning 3 years old.  What’s more interesting is that the number of Alphas will likely double in just one year! 

I have to laugh.  If you Google “Millennials having babies,” you will see a host of articles published in 2014 and 2015 talking about the “Millennial baby bust.”  But if you Google “Millennial Family Trends,” you will see a host of articles published in 2017 talking about the fast rate of Millennials now forming families.

The drive of the Alphas will become the #1 driver of change in our American marketplace as the Millennials shift from texting and selfies to claiming home space and assuming the roles of parent and homeowner.  The passion for eco-green and social cause is being replaced by getting to know and becoming active in the local school and PTA.

Reality checks are taking place too.  House payments and taxes are introducing Millennials to the mechanics that drive local politics versus what they see on CNN.com. Kids becoming addicted to a smartphone video game provide a snapshot of the Millennial peers and their addiction to texting.

Brand after brand after brand continues to personify the Millennial as the college kids that never shops in-person, but lives totally online.  Those brands are the ones that will lose out and close their doors soon!

#2 - Migration Out To The ‘Burbs

The reality check I cited in 2017 will explode even more in 2018…The attraction of urban dwelling space is being replaced with morning and afternoon commutes out to the new 3-bedroom-2-bath home. 

I cannot say it loud enough to proceed with caution on any investments being made future forward in what still wears the mask of the novel, hip, cool and growing urban centers and “revitalized” ‘hoods. 

I drove this past weekend out into the suburbs and exurbs of Atlanta and my jaw dropped as I saw subdivision after subdivision being built populated with swing sets in the backyard and tricycles in the driveways.  

In 2018, 96% of all first time babies will be born to Millennial parents.  Living with a partner plus a baby in 500 square feet is not an easy thing to do long-term. 

As noted in a Wall Street Journal article this past September, “the affordability crisis of inside-the-city neighborhoods is not just about buying homes.  Rents too have rising.  In hip urban rehab neighborhoods, the increased home values and rents have put housing out of reach for Millennials even making more than $125K."

Whether its new housing that provides square footage thought to be impossible to ever have again or retro mid-century homes that need rehabbing – or a “signature of personal design” as the Millennials call it -- the suburbs long thought dead are coming back full-steam ahead.

Is this all being driven by Millennials… maybe not. 

The big question is who will be more likely to replace the Millennials in the city.  Will it be Boomers who in their Empty-Nester and Senior years cannot stand to live among the screaming kids… or the GenXers whose Zoomer kids are soon heading off to college and finding that there are other folks besides GenXers dwelling in our society. 

Some suspect that it just might be the GenXers since their kids are not likely to rally up the college debt like the Millennials did before them!

#3 – Career Moms Becoming Stay-At-Home Moms

As much as brands like Betty Crocker and Gold Medal are likely to make a come-back, new terms like WAHM (pronounced as Wham) are all of a sudden hip.  WAHM is the acronym for “work-at-home-mom.” 

A Pew Research survey update found out that 48% of Millennial parents say children are better off if a stay-at-home mom raises them – a percentage level higher than GenXer and Boomers.

In a survey Pew did this past summer among working Millennial moms, 64% said that they would quit if they could to spend more time with their kids and “better anchor the homes.” 

And a stunning low percentage – less than one-in-five – working Millennial moms with one child plan to stay in their job when the second child is born.

I bet that corporate HR has limited idea of these stats!

Sure, there are a number of Millennial dads that are raising their hands to be the stay-at-home parent vs. the mom, but even then, the moms will likely play an instructional role of listing out the tasks that the dads need to do.

My psychologist friends say that fathers becoming the chief wage-earner or instead the stay-at-home dad are a hot new source of business in the next few years ahead!

#4 – Instructional Brand Relationships

I will say right up front, this is a role in which it is being driven by consumer need, not a client-brand desire to “teach” customers how to like and use their brand. 

No, the trend that is surfacing and going to pick up speed in 2018 is more than simple instructional use, its instruction relevant to the brand experiences themselves.

Pick up a copy of HGTV magazine and skim the pages.  You will see quickly just how much of the magazine is instructional in nature versus editorial features and design highlights. 

Whether it’s the Boomer parents that abandoned the kids at the malls or the politically incorrect state of shop and home-ec classes, HGTV Magazine is tapping a deep need for Millennials to understand the difference between a “mixer” and a “stirring spoon” as well as how to start a push mower.

A new growing genre of videos on YouTube are “how to” videos.  DIY-TV is posting its first wave of ratings growth.  Libraries across the U.S. are becoming the hip places to go to actually “learn” things from tuning up the car to innovative activities for the kids like checkers and bean bag games.

Baby Boomers are also drawn into instructional brand relationships that help them age as well as finally save and invest money in retirement plans. Boomers are suddenly coming to terms with the fact that life in this world is not infinite. 

Prepare to see this magnify more in 2018 and it will not be found only online… but in-store, on-packages and, of course, new blogs and news columns. Heloise is coming back!

#5 – Brand Blurs Fostering New Back-to-Basic Brands

About 10 years ago now – hard to believe – Target stores decided to become grocery stores too.  Course, grocery store brands like Kroger decided to become competitive to Walmart with electronics and home furnishings. 

This past Summer, Business Insider published an article titled, “The Restaurant Industry is in its Worst Tailspin Since the Recession.”  It cites the struggle of conventional fast food and causal quick service restaurants.  The authors attribute the rise in pick-up pre-pared meals at the grocery store as the primary cause.  

Nope.

The restaurant industry is now operating in a blur of brand distinction and character.

I can go to Burger King and get chicken nuggets.  I can go to Chic-fil-A and get a sausage sandwich the looks identical to a sausage McMuffin.  I can get pizza at Taco Bell and burritos at McDonald’s.  Shoot, I can get energy drinks and sodas at Starbucks.

Past simple menu boards featuring simple selection choice are now animated and constantly rotating a menu that has a vast selection choice. 

Starting with Chic-fil-A and now including Panera, management has decided to differentiate their brands by incorporating delivery to the table. 

I could care less if it’s hardware stores selling home furnishings or car dealers staging coffee cafes or farmer markets selling Whole Food products, brands have so blurred who the heck they are and what the heck they represent that even Google has difficulty charting out where the brands go in online searches!

In 2018, entrepreneurs and new start-ups will wake up!

The same entrepreneurs who spawned the rage of food trucks that tapped right into the need for specialty and simplicity will quickly rise with new offerings anchored around a simple and defined retail offering.

The Next Five of the 2018 Trendcast?… call us at 404.245.9378 and let’s schedule a presentation in person! 

The Winds Are Whipping Up From Wall Street to Washington to Hollywood

Hard to believe, but it’s just about the time when I begin crafting the Trendcast for the next year.

Trust me, there are some 2018 Trends that are rattling cages right now as brand teams start exploring options as they embark on planning missions.

Back at the beginning of August, I posted the blog about the impending Hurricane Season.  Mother Nature next followed suit.

While we read in the news about Houston, South Florida and other parts of the South, the most damage might actually be impacting Wall Street, Washington and Hollywood.

From corporate America to the American Senate to the Hollywood studios, long standing leadership is getting turned upside down.

While tornados quickly demolish and move on, Hurricanes linger long periods of time and might even double-back and demolish foundations all over again.

As I write this, America is weeks away from Election Day.

Many of you know that EXPERIENCE works with politicians and this election season is not one without involvement with a couple of election runs.

The New York Times ran an article about a week ago announcing that Independents now represents the largest political party affiliation in the U.S.

The GOP and DNC are not likely to survive in a conventional sense.  BOTH political parties are in trouble.

2017 Trendcast #3 cites the rise in Mobile Cocooning as our cultural ties not only are ones that travel with us, but ones in which many cling like an addiction to crack. 

As I write this, I am sitting in the San Francisco Coffee House in Atlanta.  There are three tables of Millennials sitting in here who are staring down at their iPhones with earphones plugged into the personal selection choice of music. 

They are not at all in tune with the environment around them.

Folks like these cannot dwell beyond their cocooned-defined world of comfort and perspective.

Many of the politicians of today sport the same behaviors… and perspective. 

The world … and local community perspective they see is defined within the confines of their mobile cocoons. 

I try to avoid the illustrations of the blind men and the elephant story where each attempted to define what they each were feeling and no one among them claimed it was an elephant.

But hey... if it works, use it.

In Atlanta, there are 13 candidates pursuing the mayor’s office.  Earlier this year there were more than 13 candidates in a race to fill a congressional office in the 6^th district.

Yesterday, one of the 13 candidates pursuing the mayor’s office came and sat down at the Wednesday business roundtable that I participate in at a Panera located smack in in-town Atlanta adjacent to Piedmont Park.

There were eight of us sitting around the table discussing aspects of business. 

The candidate that came in and sat down was serving as the Chair of the Fulton County Commission and resigned the elected post to run for Mayor.  Atlanta, the city makes up about 50% of the Fulton County population.  

The candidate, who will go nameless in this blog post, spoke at great length about what he views as the priority areas that Atlanta faces and that he… as a leader of academic and government agency groups… had the gifts and core values to “take over leadership” and move the city forward.

I was entertained by his “visionary” perspective. Issues like education, transportation and community unity are not too unlike the restaurant telling customers it's the place that stands apart from others because of its hot food and clean restrooms. 

He also shared that so far in the race, he had met and served as leader of more than 3 dozen sessions with Atlanta city residents…. And he had more than 20 schedule over the next several weeks before election day. 

The more he shared in terms of his understanding of what “made up” Atlanta and what were neighborhood concerns and issues, it quickly became apparent that he was clustering with those who shared common ground in his mobile cocoon. 

Best of all the sharing that caught the stage lights was the strategy to “lead” the Millennials through social media and public events where the vision could be shared and support secured. 

But wait… when Millennials talk about “finding options where they can co-author the design, engineering, programming and experience,” my bet is that they will not connect well with a a guy that positions himself as the sole leader they need to elect to "take charge."   

When we view national politico who share their perspectives of what’s happening in America, it does not take long to guess correctly where they reside when they leave their cherished views of the Potomac. 

Not only do Birds of a Feather Flock Together, they flock with those who see through a matched set of sunglasses.

Mobile access to the Internet along with social media and posting boards has created an added dimension to the perspective of the cocoon and a false sense of direct connection with leadership and change agents as birds of a feather text one another waiting in line at the local Starbucks for their Lo-foam-no-fat-dark roast-drip-venti-latte-in-a-recycled-environmentally-approved-insultated-tumbler. 

Diversity is great and let's promote that rainbow sticker as long as those in the green agree to a similar set of perspectives and values as those in the red, blue, purple, yellow, orange ... and pink!

By the way, that candidate who took over the table yesterday morning has currently fostered and developed a committed base of 2% of the Atlanta voter base. 

Wow.  Hold back my applause.

Elections across the U.S. this year are very entertaining to watch.  

A GOP candidate who is running for the Alabama governor’s slot and does not fit the conventional GOP model beat out another primary candidate who was the cookie cutter portrait of the longtime GOP. 

Right now, the social media landscape is experiencing the high winds of the impending Hurricanes of change as the aged relics like Pelosi and McConnell are being coached by their own kin to clear way for the next round of leadership.

John McCain and Chuck Schumer should jump in with Pelosi and McConnell and start cashing in on those retirement funds.

And the press follows behind in close sync too.  

Whether its NBC, CNN, MSNBC… or FOX News, they all are in denial that the conventional news studios that sit in their thrones of New York and Washington are unconnected from the vast public majority. 

Those occupying the high-brow halls of DC continue to think that Trump’s use of Twitter is “just so juvenile.”

And while I center the blog focus on America, the same winds are rattling the cages across the UK, Germany, Spain and Mexico… all the way to Iran and China!

Did you say North Korea? 

I assert that it just might be possible that Kim Jung-on and Weinstein might be more than just Facebook Friends.   Each keeps the news media content flowing as they scrape the fallen crumbs to stay afloat!

As we begin putting together the Trendcast deck for 2018, I will give away that the marketplace is changing at a pace that might qualify as level 5 Hurricane force winds. 

The elections this year are simple pre-cursers to what will transpire in 2018. 

Corporate America, the business press and the ad-pr-integrated-digital agencies ... better start moving inland and away from the east and west coasts...

Stay tuned…

The Experience of an Emotional Ignition Point (EIP)

When I saw it and experienced it, I literally stopped doing what I was doing. 

I stood still afterwards and looked out the window and simply said, "Wow!"  

EXPERIENCE is a brand that does not fit neat and tidy in a standard business vocabulary. 

As is said on the website… “we are not a conventional marketing research firm nor ad agency.” No, we are not.   And a conventional marketing research firm nor ad agency was behind what I just saw.  

Hooray for those of us that elect to march to a different beat.

In a moment, you will get a chance to click and experience what I did when I saw it.

There are many… millions and zillions of things that brands are doing that I have to ponder just how leadership can resort to the fly-by-night strategies they elect to take… and canned and trade-acceptable brand experiences they create and execute.

There are teams of people who I present to and speak to that I am sure think that I am a nut case by what I say, showcase, communicate and recommend.

Last post I spoke about a Hurricane.  This past weekend Hurricane Harvey hit the Texas coast.  Too bad it did not hit Wall Street or Madison Avenue or Lake Shore Drive or Peachtree Street!

The past couple of weeks EXPERIENCE has been dedicated to new business development. 

Part of the purpose is the generate new project assignments.  Part of it fits more in line with our “on-the-street” consumer encounter interviews.

All said, I am glad that we dedicate time to new business development.  Its a learning experience each and every time.

Just as it is our mission to “rattle the cage,” our cage needs to be rattled too!

My overall take-away from the process and exploratory confirmed what’s been discussed over the years in this blog-louge… very few firms want to face reality, and instead, seek out reinforcement of what they have long been doing.

Hey… I am all for a brand team that is dedicated to stewardship of its brand experience!

To be honest, leadership teams that combine stewardship with proactive sustainability craft brands that are the long-term winners.

There are some things that EXPERIENCE does with a rich resource of market and consumer data that is very mechanical.  The reports can be viewed in some ways as truly information reports.

Data tables.  Maps.  Charts.

When information is not further molded and modeled and used as a springboard of application ideas as well as dimensional definers of constraint, what we produce is safe for many of the mass implementation teams.

And safe for the set of CEOs who shun the thoughts of change and challenge.

Numbers are numbers... data is data... and there are a lot of folks who declare that they are database engineers of database mining. 

When I read this morning’s WSJ front page article that the BIG corporate ad agency groups are facing even harsher budget cuts and more clients are leaving, I was not surprised. 

However, as I read the article, my mindset shifted quickly to what I saw on the television screen the other night.

I see ad after ad after ad after ad… and website after website after website after website… that highlights this and that and this and that about the physical, award-winning, top performing mechanics of product and service.

When I read that Chrysler might be about to unload Jeep to the Chinese, I was not surprised.  

I see a lot of the stupid ads that Chrysler is doing with “real people” and the “independent” focus group facilitator and I am sure the Chinese will come up with something more creative even if they elect to steal it from Nissan, Toyota, BMW or Mercedes. 

Trust me… the line that “shit sells” is a lie and Chrysler is a great example!

That said, the brand behind what I saw on television that left me speechless is a brand that I had an opportunity to work with a bit in its past. 

Hope Schultz, who is in many ways my partner in crime, managed the brand’s account for a large ad agency on Madison Avenue.

I had an opportunity to meet the client numerous times. It’s a brand whose CMO totally 110% understood the validity of crafting a brand’s EIP or Emotional Ignition Point.

That EIP is what drives its new television spot. 

The firm who produced the ad was McGarryBowen, a group that was formed in 2002 by John McGarry, the former president of Y&R and Gordon Bowen, the man who crafted the American Express EIP, “Membership Has Its Privileges.”

Here is how the copy in the spot reads…

“It would be great if human beings were great at being human

And if all of mankind were made up of kind women and kind men.

It would be wonderful if common knowledge was commonly known

And if the light from being enlightened into every heart was shown.

It would be glorious if neighbors were neighborly and indifference was a forgotten word.

It would be awesome if we shared everything and being greedy was absurd.

It would be spectacular if the golden rule was golden to every common man

And good things that we ever did was everything that we can.”

And here it is. 

https://www.ispot.tv/ad/w6rw/marriott-human-the-golden-rule

The brand EIP speaks for itself. This is why I do what I do with EXPERIENCE.

Time For The Hurricane Season To Begin!

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 3^rd 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!

Don't Tell Your Customers About You... Tell Your Customers About Them

It’s hard to believe that half of 2017 has now taken place! 

With EXPERIENCE based out of Atlanta, we are always blessed with the dead heat of summer.  

At least so far this year, its not been as hot as it was last year.  I am sure that there are a host of Climate Change folks that are already coming up with exploratory theories.

As many of the readers know, EXPERIENCE is very active and involved with local Atlanta neighborhoods in forming and cultivating business networking groups.  

There are strong advocates of websites like LinkedIn.com that might cringe with the next comment, but when people relate in person … and even share some common geographic roots, the networking is so much richer.

One of the groups I participate in every Wednesday morning is anchored in the Piedmont Heights neighborhood in the core city of Atlanta. 

Members of the group include true locals from the immediate neighborhoods as well as others that are relatively new to Greater Atlanta and live nearby.  

The group has an enrichment of creative folks spanning the spectrum of architects to designers to creative directors to broadcast production folk. 

One of the members of the group, Harry Hayes, brought an interesting article to the discussion this past Wednesday that showcases the way many corporations and business groups define who they are and why they exist and how mechanical and rational and self-focused these vision/purpose/mission statements can be. 

I can totally connect with the article.

Back in the very first week of January this year, I was invited to meet with one of the largest insurance firms based in Atlanta.  

I was told that the firm was pondering just how much of a connected relationship it had with its clients.  I met with the chief partner initially when I arrived.

When I arrived and sat in the corporate lobby, I could not avoid reading large scripted posters that exalted the group’s vision, mission, purpose and values.  I pulled up their website on my iPhone and by damn the same personally dominated the home-page.

The deck Harry sent over was like a duplicate of this experience!  

Here are some examples from the deck Harry past over to me…

What the corporate team of an amusement park scripted… “Buy Tickets Now!  Our engineer’s new aviation-themed animatronic ride has been optimized for maximum attendee satisfaction.”

What the creative consultant team scripted that saved the amusement park’s butt… “Buy Tickets Now! Jump on. Strap in. Take off into the stratosphere for a high-velocity adventure full of heart-thumping surprises.”

EXPERINECE works extensively in the house and home marketplace.  Here’s another example that when I first read it, I thought that it might have been one of the prospective clients we pitched and did not receive.

Here's what the client had scripted… “Let’s get started. We’re proud of our commitment to quality custom home renovations, and our vision of exceeding expectations.”

Here’s what the team who must have twisted arms and issued threats finally got the shop mechanics to run with… “Let’s get started. You’re proud of your home, but you’d love ideas to enhance it – to reflect your vision, your style, and your life.”

There’s an ad agency in Atlanta that will go nameless who we are not currently in partnership anymore.  

The owners of the agency did not appreciate the fact that despite our counsel, they continued to pitch new business with a mirror of what the prospective client told them and failed to win new business.  When I personally told them that the role of an ad agency was to “rattle the cage” and move the business into the here and now, they found my commentary to be way too threatening.

That agency brought us in to pitch an HVAC company – heating, ventilation and air conditioning.  When I saw this example in the article, I thought that maybe the ad agency that won the account might have actually rattled the cage and this is the result of their work.

Here’s what the HVAC company was using… “Schedule an appointment. Our experience technicians will perform a house inspection detailing current HVAC system performance.”

Here’s what the website team got the HVAC company to use… “Schedule an appointment. Is wasted energy driving up your utility bills? Your Free Home Audit clearly identifies problems – and solutions.”

After I met with the insurance firm’s chief partner, the firms marketing guy came in.  

The chief partner shared with the marketing guy some of my commentary observations about the corporate mantra’s displayed in the lobby. 

The marketing guy immediately did not like me.  He went on to showcase to me all the rationale behind the scripting of their “brand message.”  He even had facilitated an off-site retreat with all the sales agents and what was displayed was the result of the weekend.

I knew right then that I likely would not be hearing back from this firm about any prospective partnership. 

Trust me, I often believe that my peers and I need to develop an AA type program to assist CMOs who are having to adapt to the process of “energizing their brands.”

By far the best case in the deck passed to me featured a bank.  EXPERIENCE works a lot with banks.  Financial management is very left-brain driven and in many ways, that is a good thing.  It’s just not a perspective that will generate much emotional brand engagement.

Here’s what the bank management told the website firm to use… “Find the best branch to serve you. Our banking specialists are offering home improvement loads at competitive rates to qualified borrowers.”

Yawn. 

Here’s what the website firm came back with … and thank the dear Lord that the CEO listened to… “Which home project has been on your list the longest? Stop putting it off, and start showing it off, before rates go up.  Find the best branch to help you take center-stage.”

Gimme the iPhone!

I sometimes instruct clients... don't tell your customers about you... tell your customers about them.  

Very few clients initially understand the sharing. 

After I read through the article, I looked in a mirror and I could see just why EXPERIENCE survives as a business. 

Just like the global dynamics of politics today are not much different from the times of Rome and Greece… there’s a lot of brand opportunity to farm.