From the inception of The Strategy Group, we have said we would be teachable. We would display a servant’s heart toward our clients. We would go above and beyond through work ethic and creative stretch to move the needle for them. We would give our best work to every client, regardless of budget. Do those values show up outside the agency/client relationship?

High school students have a lot of highway to travel. Their career decisions aren’t imminent. Jo and Scott have a lot of work to do. We’re in the middle of a very busy first quarter. But they poured their hearts and time into giving their best thinking and sharing their best experiences with these students (pictured here/ Jo is on the left and Scott is far right). They didn’t marginalize the opportunity by making a quick decision to not cut into too much billable time. They didn’t decide they could easily wing it with a bunch of uniformed kids. These kids got two hours of solid content, full-out enthusiasm from Jo and Scott, a sign at the entry and take-home promotional items from a printer because Jo stopped and asked for them on her way in to work.

Watching two art directors and six kids, everyone here got a value lesson. Here’s what I’ve asked myself: How often do I wing it?

We are brand gatekeepers. Without gatekeepers, brands crumble. Every single thing we do, every single thing we say and every single dollar we spend either builds equity in a brand or contributes to its dilution.

Right now we are witnessing the total annihilation of one of the world’s dominant brands. Make no mistake. Tiger Woods is not just a person. Tiger Woods is a brand. So I’m left to wonder, who was the gatekeeper of the Tiger Woods brand?

Sometimes our job is not easy. Sometimes we’re the bad guys. Sometimes “just do it” is just plain wrong. Wherever you go from this point forward Tiger, make certain you have an Alan in your life.

Cheers.

In a pep talk this morning Jeffrey reminded me to fight. Our clients are fighting hard for their businesses. We are required, as their partners, to fight hard—now harder—for them. Their trust in us mandates that we be 1) better students of the environment to bring them the best thinking, 2) quicker to cut through the clutter to distinguish them in the minds of their consumers and 3) smarter about what initiatives to keep, toss or place on hold.

I love a good fight, but I can’t fight for myself or anyone else without passion. Today, I had to stop to remember what I’m really passionate about. It’s potential. I love finding and championing the best in those I love and the clients I serve.

It’s funny, the track the mind takes when someone admonishes you. Mine went to a Keith Emerson (Emerson Lake & Palmer) piano solo. It came up on Jeffrey’s ipod several weeks ago as we headed to a K-State football game. It’s intense. When I asked Jeffrey about it he said that Emerson pushed his genius so hard that he ended up with severe nerve damage in his hands and wrists. He was passionate about playing the keyboards to a high standard.

Entry #1—passion. Do you remember yours?

Unfortunately, if the book were a record, it would have been dropped from most playlists…too many dropped names, too many dropped women—who, by the way, all dropped daughters, and too many dropped “F” bombs (commentary to follow shortly on people who drop too many “F” bombs).

There was this one pearl of wisdom though. Read the following excerpt. This made me—for the first time and likely the last—want to be just like Oprah and former President Bill Clinton.

…and I went off to be introduced to Oprah. I’m sure she knew absolutely nothing about me, but within seconds she made me feel as if I were the most fascinating man on the planet. (She and Bill Clinton have that gift in common. Most people are lost in a bottomless black hole of self-absorption, but people like Oprah and Bill make you feel as if you are the most important and fascinating person they’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting.) When I told Oprah that the Beatles had been one of my early influences, she wanted to know why, and she was dead serious about it. She wasn’t just going through the motions. And it reminded me of an old saying: “If you find yourself interesting, you’re a bore. But if you find me interesting you’re a genius.”

By the time we sat down to dinner, I knew Oprah was a genius and I was absolutely crazy about her.

“HITMAN - THE MEMOIR OF LEGENDARY MUSIC PRODUCER DAVID FOSTER”

We have a very dear friend who embodies this very principle and she’s positively uplifting to be around. Here’s to our friend Toni! May we all aspire to be more like you, Oprah and Buba. Cheers!

The product this company is selling is very compelling on its own terms and along with our strategic use of traditional mediums can very likely be accretive to advancing our client’s business to a new level. All in the meeting recognized this fact.

So, here’s the thing…go sell your product based on its own merit, based on results, based on anecdotal information from real case studies. DO NOT INSULT your target audience by launching a truckload of scud missiles. (We all remember scud missiles from Iraq, right? Missiles with no intelligence and subsequently little to no impact.)

Sell based on intelligence! With a wealth of available resources, consumers are more intelligent now than at any time in the history of the world—always assume you’re dealing with smart people. One client remarked recently that he’s found his consumers to possess highly sensitive and highly active “BS Meters.” I can’t agree more.

Therefore, I’m declaring the days of being able to “baffle ‘em with BS” officially over.

Cheers!

This gentleman’s problem is a communications issue—he didn’t communicate the big idea quickly and in a manner that won instant favor with his publics. We see this same issue all the time. Decisions today are made at the speed of light and first impressions have never been more critical. When you get the opportunity to tell your story, you have to compel your publics to engage.

elevator speech

A quick and compelling missive about your company, product or service wrapped tightly around one or two core messages and delivered within the time span of a short elevator ride.

As part of unearthing and building brand for a client, we fit the company tool belt with a very tightly constructed, on-brand elevator speech. This quick and compelling missive can be delivered in a social setting, but more importantly is used consistently with customers to help soften the point of entry and open dialog.

About now you’re thinking this is a no-brainer, so do me a favor. Go out into the bullpen and ask five employees to tell your company’s story in 30 seconds or less. I’ll wait. Okay, how many told the exact same story? How many were on-brand? How many got you excited? If your team responded like most, you’re probably feeling the need to start writing your elevator speech.

Start by writing two or three core messages that encompass the unique characteristics and key differentiation that inspire your company, product or service. Work to blend these core messages together to yield a simple, cohesive, tight and logical train of thought. Now add enough anecdotal flavor to make it conversational without diluting the message. And finally, practice your delivery. Use role playing and fun games to ingrain core messages and your brand new elevator speech up and down throughout the organization.

Build a great elevator speech and you’ll keep others from looking down while you’re going up.

To ensure that leaders’ voices were heard and opinions counted, we hosted a two-hour, guided ideation session. At the completion of the ideation, we knew that we needed to create an identity that was attractive to a younger crowd, while paying respect to and not offending an older audience.

We launched the logo design process. After a number of sketch rounds, we arrived at a logo that was both strongly progressive and rooted in tradition. By combining hand-lettered, modern type with the historic Celtic cross, we were able to create a look that appealed to a wide age spectrum.

Our work, however, was not done. We needed to devise a strategy that incorporated 18 distinct subministries into the at-large identity.

This might sound like a strange analogy, but this church identity needed to become a swimming octopus—I know, bear with me. The church’s many subminstries needed to become the tentacles and the logo the octopus’ head. As the octopus propels forward, the tentacles need to work in conjunction behind the head.

To create this swimming octopus, SG created a consistent format for the subministry names in combination with the logo, allowing the subministries to work with the main organizational identity rather than against it. This created a main-brand focus that allowed the smaller ministries to point back to the church’s main identity.

When building an identity for an organization that is made up of smaller entities, creating a concise, consolidated logo will help you build a sleek, sticky brand—your very own swimming octopus.

The times have rendered us completely impatient. Results can’t come fast enough. Change doesn’t happen quick enough. I remember way back in the late 80s, during the total quality revolution, when we needed “change agents” to overcome inertia and we operated in frozen fear of change. Fast forward 20 years…change is everything…just look at Madonna. In contrast, The Rolling Stones have changed very little (except getting sober, maybe).

Here’s my point in this diatribe of mixed metaphor…I fear the perceived need for change and magic silver bullets has everything to do with our lack of results. We need to commit to do a few, proven things consistently this coming year, like the Stones surely have done for the past 40 plus. I believe the results will follow.

In 2008, patience will still be a virtue. And magic bullets will still be for Lone Rangers.

High-yo Silver!

The heavenly bed points to an important discipline for strategic marketers, brand managers and CEOs: calculating what can go wrong. It’s a marvelous thing to be a person of vision, even better to see the line to the finish. But after the first flush of a new vision passes, it’s time to start the homework—to count the costs, understand the risks, study the competitive environment, jog around the whole vision with a few experts to look for both opportunities and pitfalls, and then, most important, slow to walk a mile in the brand consumer’s shoes. What is the consumer experience? What will the consumer say is great about this new vision of product or service brilliance? What will diminish his experience or worse, cause his confidence in my company to falter?

Several weeks before our not-so-heavenly bed experience, I booked two more room nights at this same hotel for an end-October visit back to South Carolina. It really is a beautiful hotel, but now I’m torn: cancel the reservation or travel with a bottle of Febreeze.

Curiously enough, this particular “pea” in my sleep experience was hinted at as early as 1749. I found this on Wikipedia when I Googled “duvet”:

“In Westphalia, an English travel-writer observed with surprise in 1749,
“There is one thing very particular to them, that they do not cover themselves with bed-cloaths, but lay one feather-bed over, and another under. This is comfortable enough in winter, but how they can bear their feather-beds over them in summer, as is generally practised, I cannot conceive.” —Thomas Nugent, The Grand Tour 1749, vol II. p66 [1]

While Tommy may not define every lifestyle, I believe his is one of the true branding success stories of our time. Read Cigar Aficionado, June 2007. I wish I were a little more like Tommy.

Tommy is an innovator. He had the courage to persevere when others were blind to his vision. Today he has legions of brand loyalists and just as many wannabe imitators.

Tommy knows who he is. He was created to live a very specific life (an attainable yet aspirational life)—and even more than a life, an attitude.

Tommy is true to who he is. He doesn’t try to be more things to more people. Instead he continues to drill into his own life (always asking the question: What would Tommy want?) and take a niche market deeper into his experience.

In my mind Tommy defines “boutique” and has rightfully earned his station in a life “where the weekend never ends.”

Relax.