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.

The News Media is Becoming Extinct

Today is a great day to take a break and write this blog. 

Today is Memorial Day Monday and what I write below, is a nice match with the "memorial" part of the holiday name.

As I was getting ready to write this, I grabbed a great Southern Fried Chicken lunch at one of the great Atlanta hole-in-the-wall mom & pop restaurants.  As I sat pickin’ apart the chicken from the bones and taking a spoon full of home-made potato salad, I thought a lot about how I would best write this.

When I mentioned to the "grandmother" that cooks up the chicken, she said, "darlin', just tell it like it is!"

We are in the midst of watching an industry get slam dunked. And I’m not talking about the Big Brands mentioned in the last blog!

Gallop just released a study that evaluates sources that people trust and source that people don’t trust. Gallop has been doing the survey since 1972 – that’s 45 years ago!

In the release this year, the “national news media” scored rock bottom at the lowest level of trust since Gallop started the survey in 1972. 

“Full trust” in the news media posted only a single digit percentage!  “Total full trust” combined with “fair amount of trust” did not even secure a third of the participants at 31%. 

More people trusted banks, insurance salespersons, organized labor, the medical system, the police and the church than trusted the media! Only used car salespersons scored lower than the news media!

Folks, the news media is committing suicide!

A month ago, Fortune Magazine published the results of another study in which nearly two-thirds of the surveyed public believe that news journalists regularly “make-up” news – 64%. 

The Wall Street Journal printed a story last week that reported more people trust the Trump White House than the media!  37% of the respondents in the survey trusted that the White House was being truthful vs. 29% of the respondents trusted that the media was being truthful.

Nielsen also just issued a report in the last two weeks that radio news is at its lowest level of trust since 2013.

Having worked at Time-Warner and having worked with the CEO of CNN back then, it is difficult to say it, but I think CNN might be the root cause of the collapse.

While the bottom has broken out of CNN’s last several years of ratings, CNN needs to take on the responsibility from day #1 Ted Turner launched it.

Upon the launch of CNN, the news left behind its calling for news reporting and shifted hats to news entertainment.  After all, CNN was a commercial-supported 24/7 television network.

Oh I know, when CNN first launched, it was a replay of news most every 30 minutes.  BUT quickly the ratings it got from 6a-7a and again from 6p-7p waned. 

CNN then converted over to the new-talk forum from its radio cousins. 

And that is when broadcast news entered a new era. 

Then came MSNBC and then CNBC and then FOX News and then radio news nets fought for its slice of a slice-and-dice news entertainment genre.

With the onset of the Internet more than 20 years ago, those that thought that they still held control of news quickly added 24/7 “real-time” news websites.

As Millennials left behind the news-nets and the newspapers for social exchange, the news media bastardized itself even more with social media news feeds… or news media social feeds. 

LOL… it all adds another level of perspective to the trans-gender debate!

So where are we at today as I write this?

CNN is free-falling right now and has gotten beat out by MSNBC in primetime news!

CNN reaches 1.170 million households during primetime.  MSNBC reaches 1.174 million households during the same day part.

CNN’s ratings are down 47% from 18 months ago.  MSNBC rating are down 42%.

FOX News is not having party-time either.  While FOX News nets more viewers than CNN and MSNBC combined together during prime time for a total of 2.9 million households, its viewership is down 2% since 4^th quarter 2016. 

Some think that the FOX News slip will be more severe in 3^rd quarter 2017 as the network struggles finding talent replacement for its highest ratings hosts who are been let go for their confrontation with women.

The Big Three nets – ABC, NBC and CBS are seeing drops of more than 10% in their corresponding ratings... and that is after a decline of more than 35% in the last three years.

This past week, the news journalists spent more time foaming at the mouth about an encounter up in Montana with a congressional candidate and a small niche media journalist than reporting about a terror attack in Egypt or Wall Street stock market gains.

From the New York Times to the Washington Post to the Chicago Tribune, the big newspapers rank up even higher percentage on perceived “fake” news than the broadcast nets. 

Here in Atlanta, The Journal-Constitution (AJC) ran a series of stories highlighted on its website about the police and sexual abuse of their staff for six months.  Never found any similar news on the radio, broadcast TV or online during the same time period. 

The only winners coming out of all of this are the local community and alternative newspapers whose readership is actual increasing. 

Community Newspapers Inc. (CNI) is one of our clients.  CNI owns about three dozen small town newspapers in Georgia, North Carolina and Florida.  We also work with a set of suburban and alternative newsweeklies in greater Atlanta, North Carolina and Tennessee.

In surveys we do for the papers, local news and local events-entertainment take top slot in terms of importance among readers.

I work hard coaching the owners and editors to stay on track with reporting what is of value and avoiding editorial slants. 

Just before I started my company, I approached the University of Georgia Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communications (that really is their name) and tried to set up a scholarship fund for advertising majors. 

When I called the Dean’s office, I was informed that he was very busy with the Peabody Awards, new faculty and relations with the large broadcast news media.

Thank God he was busy. 

Had I set up the scholarship fund, my money would not be reinforcing a basic skill, but instead churning out graduates focused on getting the ratings and readership up again with entertainment content vs. true and honest news.  

Will the news media correct itself and get out of the entertainment field?  No time soon from my perspective. 

Do brands need to re-think how they use the news media as a channel of communication?  Absolutely. 

My firm does a significant amount of work with politicians.  The strategy we have used in the past is getting re-engineered in terms of the role news media plays.  Media endorsements are not even a goal because the endorsement action itself affects the politician-brand in a way that is not necessarily positive.

People are running away from the news media and refocusing around what is real, honest, trusted and local.  

Millennials are buying homes and learning for the first time how to use push mowers.  Boomers are abandoning the East coast and West Coast urban centers for the more real, small town and in-town community hamlets. GenXers are replacing the kids soon-to-leave with volunteerism in the local non-profit and cause groups. 

Getting featured at Betty Crocker Cook-offs, Bud Beer horse-shoe tournaments, PTA meetings, 4-H clubs and Rotary meetings are bunches better than securing a TV newscast. 

Americans believe that those events are real, personal and genuine.  In an era of social media isn’t that what the techies strive for onine?

Nearly two-thirds of Americans believe those TV newscasts are fake.

I know where I am putting my bets.

The De-massing of Retail

Trendcast 2017 lists out Trend #4 as “The De-massing Of Retail” and after a set of interesting weekend experiences (no pun intended), I thought what a great blog post topic!

I am sure that many of our readers go grocery shopping at least once or twice a week.  The next time you do, take a look at the brands that populate the grocery shelves. 

What you will quickly observe is that there are a good number of brand names on the shelves of which you likely have limited, if any, awareness. 

You will also see that brands you know well and probably even purchased in the past, are less visual because they no longer command as many “facings” as they did even a year ago.

This past weekend, I shopped a combination of Kroger, Publix, Whole Foods and Target for the ingredients that went into two dinner get-togethers.  When I arrived back to the house, I unpacked some interesting options purchased that did not bear the brand names of P&G, Kraft, Frito-Lay, Kellogg, Pillsbury and Nabisco. 

Yet, the brands I purchased were smack next to those BIG brands along with a few other brands I had not seen a lot of until recently. 

Last week, the Wall Street Journal featured an article titled, “Big Name Food Brands Lose Battle of the Grocery Aisle.”  The article notes that Nielsen is reporting a decline of 2.4% for the top 10 national packaged food brands in first quarter 2017. 

That same article goes on to cite increases in the top 10 regional packaged food brands along with fresh, locally produced meats, produce and bakery items during the same time in 2017.

Occupying shelf space and taking the lime-light away from the “mass brands” are unique, locally-rooted, specialty brands that quickly personalizes the shelf facings at the “chain” grocery stores. There might not be a "mom" nor a "pop," but the stores feel more personal!

I also went and shopped at a “Super” Kroger and a Walmart “super-store.”  In both cases, after long hikes, I could not find what I went in to purchase.  I next visited a new Publix mini-store and found the fresh vegetables I needed and then visited a local lawn & garden store and found the specific type of garden supplies that Walmart did not carry.

This time last year EXPERIENCE worked with an ad agency that was attempting to pitch a restaurant-pub account.  The restaurant-pub was a chain developed by a set of founders that included the CEO of one of the largest restaurant corporations in the U.S. 

When I first started EXPERIENCE back in the early 2000s, that CEO came to us and asked us to create a new restaurant-pub concept. 

The ad agency was one of three other firms that were challenged with finding ways to increase sales.  I always quietly laugh how clients believe that the ad agencies can work magic and how the ad agencies sell themselves in with reinforcements of the belief.

The concept that EXPERIENCE developed was to create a true neighborhood non-chain, chain. We gave the concept an overall brand name, but laid out a brand platform in which the environment and aspects of the menu varied from pub-to-pub.  We also recommended setting geographic boundaries in just how close one pub could be from another pub.

The restaurant-pub initiated the review because sales were down in markets now like Atlanta that now has about 10 locations or smaller markets like Orlando that have 4 locations. Oh well, I guess that the brand platform gave way to the craving to sell as many franchise units as possible.

In my counsel to the ad agency who hired us, I quickly channeled them over to observe what a lot of the new wave of restaurant groups are doing. 

Here in Atlanta, there is a cool guy who we worked with very early on in his venture development.  His name is Ford Fry and he started with a restaurant called JCT Kitchen. 

Early in the development of the holding company, we sat down with Ford and chatted about brand expansion scenarios. He was very passionate about the uniqueness of the restaurant experiences and yet, at the same time, passionate about his brand name – Ford Fry.

Today, in Atlanta, the hippest restaurants are owned by umbrella firms that have as many as two dozen individual restaurants, each reatuarant with their own personality and brand name.

About 80% of the time that I sit in a café with my Mac and/or clients, we are sitting in an indie coffee house.  God love Starbucks with over 13,000 locations in the U.S. alone, they chucked the “third place” brand culture and now lay claim to their coffee blends and price deals. 

Business leaders and entrepreneurs that operate in a vacuum of thinking that a single concept can be defined and mass produced are living in past-times. 

My suggestion among the doubters of this blog… go spend an evening watching Food Network and check out which restaurants and dives are featured in the programming!

The de-massing of retail is still very much in its beginning stages. 

Will we see large, universal brands begin to de-mass?  My bet is before year’s end, one of the large department store brands – perhaps Macy’s – will see opportunity to resurrect the regional brands that they acquired and re-branded under the Macy’s name. 

Maybe Atlanta will see Rich’s Department Store return!

We will see more and more and more of will be in-town and village-anchored shopping centers chuck leasing out to the national chains and instead, lease out to the regional and local retailers… as long as they are able to pay the leasing costs!

Local chamber of commerce and business development groups will begin to re-think what makes their communities attractive for residents and businesses.  They will begin to think less of becoming another Atlanta or Dallas or LA and perhaps more of an Austin, Asheville or Portland.

As I was writing this, I took a time-out and met with a very cool guy that I used to work in tandem with during my Time-Warner days.  Luca Magnanini is his name.  Luca headed up TBS and TNT Latin American when I was doing global brand work with Cartoon Network. 

Luca and I both met this morning about opportunity to employ some very cool virtual reality (VR) integration into real-time brand experiences.  We specifically talked about how those VR experiences could be customized against local communities and culture.

We both commented that many of the ad agencies and technology firms are still clinging to the past models of mass-marketing – even when they lay claim to personal relationship building executed within interactive and social media “networks.”

Luca and I are engineering some very cool VR applications that can be married with the neighborhood lifestyle audience modeling EXPERIENCE has expertise in crafting. 

If you are reading this and it begins to get your mind pondering and generating some interesting thoughts and ideas, text me or call me at 404.245.9378. 

The “De-massing of Retail” is only one – number 4 to be precise – of the Top 10 Trends rattling the marketplace.  I get a kick out of presenting the trends and hearing others chime in about what they too experience and how they are working to capitalize on the change!