Category Disruption: Brand Lessons From Obama
Be different. Make a stand. Keep it simple. Tell the truth with one voice. Demonize your opponent. The CMO of a top 10 retailer recently reminded me, “Sounds like Marketing 101.” Maybe so, but why is it so hard for marketing departments to follow it?
“We need a new logo. A new logo is the fastest way to signal change.”
Again, Marketing 101.
But let’s be clear. Any outreach program based upon aesthetic “change” without a real dramatic difference to the status quo is akin to peeing your pants in a dark suit: sure, you look good and it gives you a warm feeling, but nobody really notices. And by the time they actually do get it, you will be pretty embarrassed.
Category disruption requires an infrastructure willing and able to follow through on the innovation. Many a CEO believes that innovation is the responsibility of the marketing people, who in turn look to their agencies to carry that responsibility. Creative Brand work without executive consensus on how to deliver the plan is not smart business, it offers short-term impact at best. Category disruption comes from the top down. We need a big vision and the power to pull it off. This must come from C-level leaders.
Otherwise your new Brand positioning risks being driven by those who cannot articulate it. This leads to a workforce that can’t authenticate it, because management has not engaged its internal audience nor delivered the message in a way that is meaningful to customers. By contrast, market leader Brands have employees that border on Brand freaks; proud of their jobs, because the Brand positioning reaches into their lives far beyond the paycheck to provide meaning. And, because they know how they fit into the big picture, its easy for them to evangelize to others.
Brands that succeed in our communication-saturated world are those enlightened enough to realize that people want to love the brands they allow into their lives. And true love can be summed up like this, “I love you because of who I get to be when I am with you.”
PS. Create your own poster at do it yourself Obama.