I hope you are having a Happy Holiday Season in whatever way you choose.
To honor the holiday in the local tradition I am recycling two posts from last year, for which some readers developed a particular fondness. Both are about memes - the holy grail of product development, PR and advertising. For a concept to become a meme it must be an idea, symbol or practice which can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing, speech, gestures, rituals or other imitable phenomena (thank you Wikipedia).
Consider the popular website LOLCats. Didn't even exist a few years ago and now the "language" created by these friendly felines has permeated water-cooler culture across North America, parts of Europe and elsewhere. In addition, the Cheeseburger Network, who owns the site, has since launched a dozen other equally time-killing websites and is now a multi-million dollar enterprise thanks to their creative (and somewhat silly) CEO.
It takes a certain savvy and no small amount of good luck to generate these cultural phenomena. Some are clearly unintentional - like the popularity of Oolong the bunny, seen here on the left. You may recall this popular photo of Oolong with a pancake (or other items, mostly food based) on his head. I have received this image in way more emails than should be considered socially acceptable. Oolong had his own website and was even written up in the New York Times.
Other memes are the result of an intentional effort, like the aforementioned LOL Cats.
To wit . . .
The first blast-from-the-past-post confirms one of the most recognizable "cultural" icons in the world is actually a meme generated by a multi-national corporation and their desire to sell sugary drinks year-round.
The other shares the origins of a holiday meme which is occasionally dangerous, enjoyed by multitudes, supported by many - though no one really knows why. Here's why.
THE POINT:When creative icons or ideas are communicated well they can evolve into memes - thus generating "earned media" for companies and "15 minutes of fame" for individuals. Neither of which is a bad result.
This is an example of what you should do when presenting so that your audience stays engaged, and your message is delivered clearly. Note the use of repetition to encourage recollection of major themes.
When you deliver a presentation, create an ad or convey a message - I want you to tell me a story.
Virtually every religious text on the planet uses allegory as a teaching tool. Nearly every teacher in every classroom will use an anecdote to educate at some point. Since the days of Aesop and his timeless fables fiction has been a conduit for teaching fact.
Consider - which would be more compelling, a reporting of basic product features, combined with statements of fact supported by screenshots of the system? Or, a story about a fictitious user of that system, where the audience shares the product experience and sees "first hand" how it solved a problem for the user? At the end of each the details, the specifications, the benefits are all delivered - but the second method was more interesting, more compelling and more likely to be recalled by the audience.
In a recent review of Nancy Duarte's new book "Resonate," Forbes editor Bruce Upbin provides this summary of her key points regarding presentations, "Don’t be too cerebral. Tell stories. Figure out what the audience cares about. Create common ground with them. Move back and forth between opposing ideas to create energy. Deliver facts but put them in context and make them shocking if possible."
Good advice.
However, simply telling a story is not enough. You need to tell an interesting story. Scott Simon, the Peabody Award Winning host of National Public Radio's Weekend Edition goes one step farther and says, "you can tell a story with vivid analysis and breathtaking detail, but if not one is listening, why are you talking?"
Good point. So, to assist in your efforts you can learn a few storytelling tips from Scott here.
When it comes to business communication use the same fundamentals found in storytelling to deliver your message to your audience. Set the scene, create interesting characters, give the audience someone or something to care about - and use the traditional story arc to deliver your content in an engaging way. In the end any experience you create for the audience will be far more effective than any dry report you could ever deliver.
I am your audience - tell me an entertaining story and not only will I listen to you, I'll remember what you said.
THE POINT:As stated by Alan Kay, vice president at Walt Disney, "in a typical boardroom . . . we're all just cavemen with briefcases, hungry for a wise person to tell us stories."
What's worse than a missed spelling mistake or word-o which gets published?
A missed spelling mistake or word-o that gets published in five foot high letters.
While such errors in a presentation are temporary (thankfully the next slide is just seconds away) the shame seems to endure forever.
How often do we switch "to" for "too" or forget which witch is which?
And is that witch over "their"? Or is she over "there"?
Did we mean to say we should unite, or untie?
Simple mistakes, which once made, suck the professionalism right out of your presentation. It doesn't matter how well you present or how brilliant your conclusions are - you are henceforth from the moment the error appears on the screen branded as "the one who did not spell check".
So damaging. So embarrassing. So why does it happen?
It happens because we rush. We rush to make a last minute edit and spell something wrong. We rush when reading through our slides and so our mind seemingly inserts the word which should be there - and so we don't see the incorrect word which actually is. We rush. So we make mistakes.
While rushing is sometimes unavoidable - last minute changes do happen, we can avoid most mistakes by simply giving ourselves time to do the job right. Just as we must allow time to rehearse, we must allow time to review and edit our slides.
To maximize the value of the time you have - here's a tip. Instead of reading your slides properly, read them in reverse. From bottom to top and right to left. This will force you to see each word as a word and not as part of a sentence. This will help prevent word-o's (which, by the way, are properly spelled words used in a grammatically incorrect way given their context) as well as other all-to-common careless errors caused by rushing.
THE POINT:Everybody makes "misteaks", but public humiliation can be avoided if we allow enough time to catch them.
In the last week I have both presented and been presented to in the genre known as "the product demonstration". The presentation I delivered ended with a woman shouting a marriage proposal from the back of the room.
I couldn't believe it either. But it actually happened.
The presentation delivered to me was a bit different. It lasted just over an hour, only about 15 minutes of which was relevant in any way to anyone in the room. The balance was wasted time consumed by the presenter rambling on and on about their corporate history, their team's skill set and a range of product features which have no relevance to our company's business whatsoever.
So, what was the underlying, fundamental difference between these two events? Why did one end in a proposal for marriage and the other result in the audience begging for the pain to stop? Simply this, one speaker (me) understood their audience and what the audience wanted out of the presentation, and one speaker (the other guy) did not.
By tailoring my presentation to my audience I made maximum use of the opportunity and met their expectations. Because I told them what they needed to know, because I made my message relevant to their needs - I was rewarded. The person who presented to me did not align their message with the audience's needs and therefore wasted everyone's time, including his own.
What did I do to assure my presentation would align with the audience's needs? Simple. I asked what those needs were. I called in advance of the presentation, thanked them again for the opportunity to present and asked them what in particular would they like to know? They told me, and appreciated the fact I inquired.
Had the other speaker inquired as to our needs we could have told him we'd already researched his company, we were confident in the skills of his team and were most interested in viewing a particular set of features. Had he done this, his message would have been more on target and the results of his presentation would have been very different.
THE POINT:Don't waste a valuable opportunity by delivering the wrong message. Ask your audience what they want out of your presentation - and then deliver just that.
I spent the last couple weeks across the pond in England, mostly in London and the surrounding areas, but also spent a few days in the lands of Shakespeare - which was inspiring. All in all it was a wonderful time during which I learned three things:
1. If you're not careful it's very easy to start faking an English accent.
2. That may not be a bad thing as proper articulation and pronunciation is the key to effective communication, especially with those who do not speak their words the same way you do.
3. Colloquialisms are local.
Regarding points one and two . . . This was the interesting thing about my time in England, I met travelers from many shores and though all of us were able to speak the same language - the many subtle variations in the way we spoke the language occasionally made communication cumbersome. While good listening skills certainly helped, being cognizant of this fact and subsequently speaking slowly and pronouncing words properly made it easier to get my message across.
Regarding point three . . . What I call "leftovers" others call "take-a-way". What I call a "pet peeve" others call a "pet ache". The use of these colloquialisms were fun to sort out, but when presented in reasonable concentration mitigated effective communication.
THE POINT:When communicating across cultural boundaries, even in the same language, pronounce properly and be aware the message you send may be received differently.
This is, no joke, an actual PowerPoint slide depicting the complexity of U.S. military strategy.
It first appeared in Kabul during a presentation to General Stanley A. McChrystal - who was at the time leading American and NATO forces in Afghanistan, and who upon seeing it commented, "when we understand that slide, we'll have won the war."
The New York Times just ran a great article about the use of PowerPoint in the military, and the program's overall shortcomings when dealing with complex ideas.
THE POINT:Some concepts just can't be "PowerPointed".
Niche communication is a powerful thing. By identifying a narrow, but viable, target audience and orienting all communications toward that audience Communi-Creators best position their business as an expert on that niche's needs. If the goal is to sell Widget 2.0 to Lawyers - the company website should be "LawyerWidgetsOnly.com", the license plate on the company car should be "WIDG4LAW". By consistently positioning the business in all ways,as an expert in a thing, and only that thing, one finds the message soon dominates the niche.
To achieve niche marketing success the niche must be well-defined - for example, take a company who says they work with small business people. Well, the woman who owns the 50-employee factory making B2B equipment and the guy who is my dentist are both small business people - but no one can be a true expert on the unique needs of each. If the messaging is even this well-rounded it won't cut through anything. Instead the messaging needs to be sharp, honed to a point and ready to penetrate the chosen market. The company in the example above is better served avoiding the broad "small business owners" category and instead have their communications state repeatedly they are, "an expert on the needs of business owners operating manufacturing companies with 50-150 employees". That's a narrow, but viable, niche we can work with and become an expert in.
Now, being a niche communicator does not mean one sacrifices opportunities which may come along but are outside the niche - and this risk is feared by many. Which is too bad. So many businesses sacrifice the tangible, measurable benefits of niche marketing because they are afraid they will miss out on some grand opportunity which is outside the scope of their communication plan.
First - if the niche is truly viable and the communication program is both well-conceived and well-executed the business should have no problem generating traffic. Second, a business can orient their communications around a narrow niche, and still capitalize on unique opportunities when they develop.
To this point consider. . . "The Duck Hunting Story" (borrowed, by the way, from the mind of Phil Buchanan, CEO at the Cannon Financial Institute).
Four hunters are duck hunting. They are sitting in their duck hunting blind, with their duck calls, wearing their duck hunting hats and their duck hunting clothes, their duck decoys are in the water and their shotguns are loaded with duck hunting ammunition. They are fully prepared for a day of duck hunting, and are thus far having a great deal of success. One hunter needs a break and leaves the blind to take a short walk down a near-by trail. A few minutes later shots ring out and the rest of the hunters coming running to see what happened. When they find their wandering friend he is standing over a huge deer which he just shot. Amazed, because duck hunting ammunition has all the killing power of harsh language and would not bring down such a large animal, the hunters asked how he did it.
"I had a few slugs with me".
"Slugs?" the friends asked. "Why would you bring slugs when we're duck hunting?"
"'Cause you never know when you might need to stop hunting ducks," the wanderer responded.
"Stop hunting ducks? When did you need to stop hunting ducks?"
"The minute I saw that big deer walking down the trail."
THE POINT:The benefits of niche marketing don't require surrendering opportunity.A business can be 100% successful duck hunting, and still be able to bag the big deer when it comes along.
After a recent email discussion with some readers of this blog, I am evolving the content presented here. This blog is relatively new and still finding its voice. As there is a growing readership, I find it valuable to incorporate your feedback as the site grows.
To wit . . .
The term "Presenter" has been used to define the audience, and the audience finds the term limiting. After much discussion and vigorous debate, I hereby christen thee "Communi-Creators". This is a term born from the merger of "communication" and "creativity," and one which better defines both you and your goals for coming here.
You have told me . . .
. . . stories about how Santa Claus became a global cultural icon as a byproduct of an advertising campaign, or how the availability of multiple font-types on PCs are the direct result of Steve Jobs’ lackluster college experience - are of interest to you, as they demonstrate what happens when creative communication impacts culture;
. . . and stories about design and visual communication (this one seems to have been a favorite as well) - are of interest to you, as they get your imagination engines pumping.
I will endeavor to provide more of this content in the future.
You also told me you enjoy "THE POINT" - included at the end of each post, so this feature shall endure.
You also told me going to LinkedIn to contact me was a bit of a pain, so I’ve created a “Contact Page” with my email address, this way we can more easily have discussions in the future. Also, please feel free to use the comment section at the end of the posts – this way we can share the power of our growing creative community, and welcome others to the discussion.
Folks - I'm glad we're working together to make this resource valuable for all.
Thanks for reading.
THE POINT:I hear you, and I appreciate your feedback.
It has been some time since I posted on presentation skills. Oddly, many of the presentations I have been privy to in recent time have not been terrible. Not all rose to performance level, which should be the goal, but all-in-all they have not left me praying for a flock of rabid magpies to descend upon the presenter either.
I do, however, have a lesson to share.
Presenters, please know - simply holding a microphone in your hand does not actually make it work - in fact, the act of turning it on does not make it actually work. To achieve microphone success you must accomplish the aforemention steps and then hold it near, and point it at, your mouth.
Amazing amount of failures occuring around those last points.
For hand-held mics - waving it around a la Harry Potter, using it as a pointer or holding it waaay down by your side renders it all but useless.
For microphones attached to lecturns (which as a performer you shouldn't be using, but I digress) - pointing the microphone mid-chest is not accoustically helpful.
For the clip-on/wireless mics - please, actually clip it on. Otherwise, I promise you are either going to hold it so close to your mouth that you sound like Zeus commanding from on high, or you will be so far from your mouth as to render the tool useless. Worse yet, you will likely vacilate between these two points thus irritating the audience to a degree so extreme as to not be measuerable with modern technology.
Not awesome.
Here's how to fix it.
For handhelds - put your fist against your mouth like your blowing into it. The space your fist takes up is equal to the distance the microphone should be from your mouth at all times. Microphones have varying levels of sensitivity, so consider this more a guideline than a rule.
For lecturns - look down at the microphone and adjust so that you're staring into it like it were a tube. Then look up at your audience, the microphone is now pointed at your mouth.
For clip-on / wireless - stack one fist on top of the other and attach to the bottom of your chin while looking forward. The bottom of your bottom fist is where the mic should get pinned. And be sure this site is free of obstructions which will brush against the mic and disturb your audience.
Simple guides, yours to use.
THE POINT:Your message is meaningless if no one can hear it.
3M used to allow employees to dedicate 15% of their time to near-unbridled creative exploration. Sadly, unguided creative thinking led to a lot of bloated ineffciency within that organization. In recent years, 3M has required a more process-oriented approach to the application of creativity within the workplace.
Creativity for creativity's sake has its place, but its value is difficult to quantify.
So often in the agile modern business world we are so focused on creating BestIdea 2.0 that we often overlook opportunities to achieve tangible results by reviewing current operations. If we took a little time to examine each highly ingrained procedure within our sphere of influence, took time to explore all the things that are "the way they've always been", what might we learn? If we couldn't do things this way, how would we do them? What would we do differently if money didn't matter? What opportunities for improvement does such a simple line of thinking present? Can the value of these opportunities be measured in a tangible way?
This last point being the most important because quantifiable value has a strange tendency to strengthen business cases, and to many managers - money does matter.
Rather than "free thinking" focus creative energy on an area which aligns with organizational objectives, ideally one over which you have some control and responsibility. In such a case you are best able to alleviate fear, remove constraints and try to move the organization from "yes but" to "yes and. . .".
Dedicating a fixed percentage of time to creative thought is a noble pursuit, but not necessary for achieve measurable advancement. More often a procedural trigger can be cause for creative review. Consider, you need to make a routine hire to add support to an established but growing product line. If you could manufacture an ideal universe for the management of this product in your organization - what would it be? Would this person report to you? Would this product even remain with you, or could there be new opportunities for growth if it, and the new hire, were integrated elsewhere? As you make one transition, are there others which could be beneficial, but had not previously been considered?
Sometimes there is value to looking in directions other than forward.
Fast Company has published their 2010 list of the top 100 Most Creative People in Business.
I read the magazine on a flight back from Chicago, and am still unsure about their choice for the number one spot. I'm not sure if I'm questioning the decision based on the individual's merits, or exposing my own creative prejudices.
An associate of mine has a poster on his wall that reads something to the effect of, "Don't do project planning - this way failure can just sneak up on you and you avoid many months of worry."
I find project management to be a pretty interesting creative exercise - especially when it comes to risk management. The need to think about what could go wrong, and what could be done to mitigate risk in each case is to me, the modern day business version of a "Choose Your Own Adventure" book.
What happens if the vendor suddenly goes out of business?
What happens if we get hit by a seasonal natural disaster and have to close for a week mid-project?
What happens if the project is delayed past the target date?
What if the current system fails before the replacement is in place?
At a minimum - do we have a plan "B", "C' and "D" for all possible contingencies?
To go into the cave turn to page 16. To walk past the cave turn to page 22.
Discussions around risk and "what ifs" are opportunities to examine the creative thinking / level of paranoia that exists within stakeholders or members of the project team as well. I find sales people are the greatest source of obscure apocalyptic scenarios. If there is an opportunity for me to have to develop a "what if" strategy around alien invasion - it likely originates in a meeting with sales.
So while creativity in this instance generates unnecessary work - it also gives the project manager a chance to flex their creative muscles in turn.
So . . . project planning, who knows where that road may take you.
THE POINT:Creative adventure awaits, all it takes is a little planning.
Search Engine Optimization is big and getting bigger. Everyone wants to optimize opportunities for search engines to find them and so they embrace the fundamentals of SEO - whatever one perceives them to be.
A musician friend of mine recently launched a site designed to promote his musical endeavors and retail his latest CD. In an effort to attract as much traffic as his servers would allow he applied every conceivable keyword/metatag thing-a-ma-bob from "Britney Spears" and "classical music" to "I Heart Kittens" and "free sex".
Creative? Perhaps.
Effective? Not in the least bit.
What he got for his effort was a good amount of emotional abuse and whoppingly mediocre sales. His ambition failed when he thought he could attract teeny-bobber boy-band fans and/or animal loving / pervert types to his brooding neo-gothic retail engine, and wow them into spending their hard-earned allowances on music they don't generally like.
He soon surrendered his creative thinking and gave in to a bland solution - he referenced relevant concepts such as other dark brooding coffee house musicians too obscure to reference here, and similar things that go bump in the night.
It took some time, but his sales took off once that small population who would enter such terms voluntarily found him popping up repeatedly as one of the two results in their obscure keyword searches.
He found his niche-target audience and they loved him. The masses? Not so much.
THE POINT:Sometimes we really do out think ourselves.
“The art of war does not require complicated maneuvers; the simplest are the best, and common sense is fundamental. One might wonder how generals blunder; it is because they try to be clever.”
- Napoleon Bonaparte
Agenda Magazine has a great article about Napoleon's campaign into Russia in the year 1812 which comments on, amongst other topics, Napoleon's ultimate downfall being a likely byproduct of deviation from his own best practices and generally making things too complex to succeed. Often times creativity in business manifests itself in the delivery of the simplest possible solution. We are too often awed by the size of the problem, so we assume the solution must be equally large.
The old joke that NASA spent billions on a pen that could write in zero-gravity while the Russians used a pencil, though not entirely true, comes to mind.
On a similar front, one might wonder if too many minds are wrapped up in the tech-boom-big-sexiness of trying to become the next great GOOGLE-optimized social media tool. Perhaps we've forgotten the elegance of simple business.
Consider, most business in the world is done by small businesses doing simple things - how could your product or idea help these operators do what they do better, faster or even more simply? As an alternative, how can you take a lofty concept or difficult process and make it simple enough for mass access? Apple does this well - the IPOD made music more simple, the IPAD makes content management more simple.
The strongest organisms tend to be the most simple, the most durable ideas tend to be the most simple and he who has the best sound bite often wins.
THE POINT:Simple may not always be easy, but it usually works.
Allegedly, business runs on incentives. Incentives to consumers to induce purchase behavior. Incentives to employees to increase productivity. Incentives to managers to boost the bottom line.
The idea that incentives are effective is reinforced by the popularity of the concept. Nearly every form of media streams attractive offers to we, the target audience, on a 24-hour cycle. If you're awake chances are someone is trying to sell you something. Retailers keep offering coupons, businesses keep handing out bonuses and everyone presumes the incentives are successful since, in the short term - and in the most obvious ways - they are.
Do incentives really work? If you want to build a business, will coupons drive sales? Yes. They will. But there is no buy-one-get-one-free offer in the world that will build brand loyalty. Great Clips is a national hair salon franchise who supports deep discounting as part of their grand opening strategy for new locations - often prices are as low as $2.99 a haircut.
During the grand opening these salons do a lot of haircuts. The problem is they have to hire a lot of staff to service customers who only value the product at the discounted price. Shortly after the grand opening these salons see same store sales drop precipitously, as customers move on to the next cheapest shop in town -with layoffs at the salon soon to follow.
Similarly, businesses who offer performance incentives will find they are successful in driving a specific behavior. The problem is employees stop taking risks. They stop thinking creatively and start doing exactly, and only, what is required in order to earn the incentive. Nothing more. The incentive may achieve a short-term objective, but in the long-term it caps personal initiative and business development.
Alfie Kohn writes a great article articulating the findings of several dozen studies which support the idea that incentives do more harm than good.
THE POINT:Monitor the horizon, will your strategy get you where you really want to be?
In ancient Greece a person's creativity was considered to be the direct result of outside influence. Gods, Daemons or Muses held sway over one's ability to sing, play instruments, write or perform. In Rome a person was said to be possessed by Genius - alluding again to an outside spiritual influence. It wasn't until centuries later that our neo-narcissism allowed us to be geniuses ourselves.
The benefit of this spiritual outsourcing is that when Greek stand-up comedians told jokes that bombed, or Roman writers drafted copy that wouldn't sell - they could blame the Gods. This ability to pass the buck empowered them to take risks without fear of personal failure. "It's not me, it's my Muse".
Frankly, this seems like a smashing good idea.
Today if your jokes bomb - your fault. If your book doesn't sell - your fault. As a result people are less willing to be daring lest they fail and subject themselves to ego crushing humiliation. And that's too bad. How many creative concepts never manifest because the thinker is too afraid to share their original idea?
Perhaps we should renew the old philosophies as Rudyard Kipling did, once quoted as saying his creative Daemon abhorred blue ink, so he only ever wrote with the "blackest of blacks".
Or like Nick Cave who at the height of his commercial success declined an MTV Video Music Award saying that such measurement of his creativity might spook his Muse and he couldn't afford to have her abandon him completely.
Presenters - next time you take the floor to pitch a product or communicate a concept, open yourself to the possibility the daring idea you have to make your presentation a true performance comes from something besides yourself. Perhaps this externalization will empower you to act on it.
THE POINT:Your Muse is your inner mentor. Do what your mentor says.
Our friends at "Bored Panda" (advertised as the only magazine for pandas) have compiled some pretty comprehensive histories covering the evolution of 21 common logos.
To be successful your product or service must be designed to purposefully exclude large numbers of people. If you try to do everything for everyone you'll find you do very little very well. The end result is a mediocre offering and a lot of alienated people.
The best promotions have a well-defined target audience, the best companies support their core business above all else and the best products do one thing well.
You don't have to please everyone, and nor should you try.
The Scion xB is a great example of this concept. The original xB was an econo-box on wheels that was either passionately loved or viciously scorned by all who viewed it. The benefit of this dichotomy was the vehicle created instant apostles - people who who would pontificate upon its glorious merits at any given opportunity. Given the volume of persons who had few complimentary things to say about the xB, there was much opportunity for boisterous discussion - and so the interwebs and other assorted media exploded with free advertising for Scion. However, after the initial launch of the xB to cult-like response, the product line experienced a series of redesigns intended as concessions to the haters - beefier engine, added weight, rounded edges and so that which was kooky became blase.
The result was not the hoped-for mass migration of tweens to the new offering, but rather 16 consecutive months of sales losses for the automaker. Scion lost their apostles by trying to appeal to people who didn't like them in the first place, and arguably never would.
In 2007 Scion sales dropped 25%.
THE POINT: There is only one Swiss Army Knife - don't waste an opportunity trying to be everything to everyone.
This week I’ve been watching the “Sneaky King” 15- and 30- second spots wherein the Burger King, conspicuously concealed in a Burger King mask, breaks into McDonald’s headquarters and steals the plans for their classic Egg McMuffin sandwich. Thus, the BK Breakfast Muffin sandwich is born, or borrowed – as the case may be.
Brian Gies, vice president of marketing impact for Burger King Corporation states, “This provocative campaign highlights the King's edgy antics and makes it clear that our newest breakfast sandwich is a great deal for our guests.” John Schaufelberger, senior vice president of global product marketing and innovation for BK further elaborates, “We took a breakfast sandwich that has proven likeability among consumers and are delivering it at a great price.”
What a great way to benefit from a 38-year “market test” funded by a big competitor.
The Egg McMuffin was invented in 1972 by Herb Petersen, a former VP with D’Arcy Advertising and eventual owner of six McDonald’s franchises in California. Peterson first sold the soon-to-be-very-popular egg sandwich at his Santa Barbara franchise without the knowledge of McDonald's Corporate, which at the time endorsed serving lunch and dinner only. When the franchisor learned of Mr. Peterson's unauthorized breakfast offerings, it allegedly issued a reprimand and threatened him with a number of penalties for violating the sanctity of his franchise agreement. In short order, however, Ray Kroc – McDonald’s President and franchising genius – saw the potential in what he described as, “...a crazy idea”.
Today, several countries serve Egg McMuffins around the clock, due to the prominent use of the egg in meals other than breakfast in those countries. U.S. restaurants usually restrict the item to the breakfast menu, due mainly to the radical variation in acceptable grill temperature required for cooking beef patties and eggs.
So what of the “Sneaky King” and BK’s honesty regarding the pilfering of their competitor’s prized product? McDonald’s certainly doesn’t own the rights to putting egg and meat on bread – but will wise consumers perceive the product acquisition as a sign of the King’s weak offering, or as a symbol of his royal highness’s marketing savvy?
Thus far the sandwich sells well with no signs of concern from consumers or the folks at “Mickey-D’s.” If then, we presume that theft of an established, albeit non-proprietary product concept is ok with consumers, is there tangible value in being honest about it?
In 2008, McDonald's faced criticism for launching its Southern-Style Chicken Sandwich, which featured a fried chicken cutlet on a buttered bun with two pickles. To fast food fanatics, it was nearly identical to the chicken sandwich that made Georgia-based Chik-fil-A famous. These allegations were disputed by McDonald's. Perhaps, that was a mistake.
If McDonald’s had instead embraced the notion they were borrowing from a competitor as BK has done, they could have controlled the spin.
They may have been better served running an ad wherein the Hamburglar gets caught in the chicken-coop with Grimace and both flee at high-speed in the “burger-mobile” – feathers flying everywhere. In this way they could choose to tell the story, thus control the story, then use the story to build interest in their product - rather than allow others to tell the story for them, and just kind-a hope things go their way.
BK actually went down this road before too. The Big Mac is McDonald's signature burger: two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions, served on a sesame seed bun. But in 1997, Burger King released the Big King, which was also two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions, served on a sesame seed bun. The only tangible difference between the Big Mac and the Big King was the beef patties: Burger King notorioulsy "flame-broils," but McDonald's "grill fries."
The Big King was discontinued in 2003 due to low sales.
Looks like BK’s learned from their mistake, and this time around they've cast subtlety aside declaring proudly their conscription of the egg-based breakfast sandwich. Only time will tell if this approach creates a durable breakfast item for the King, but so far so good.
THE POINT:If you steal it – best to take credit for the heist.
The awesome Power of 1% has been making the rounds lately. Whether it be a business or marketing plan landing on my desk, or an article in a blog I'm reading - 1% is getting a lot of play.
Usually it goes like this - someone walks into a meeting and says, "Our audience is X, but if we get just 1% of X to use this product, we'll quite simply be the coolest kids since 21 Jumpstreet."
The failure in this scenario, and the inherent problem with the Power of 1% - is everyone conveniently forgets there are numbers smaller than 1.
Like zero.
Presenters, we have to compete and effectively (dare I say, compellingly) communicate to earn every user we have, simply putting product in the field is no guarantee of success. There is no hard line sitting next to 1% that prevents us from crossing into the dark void of .1% or worse yet .01%.
If 1% market share is where we want to be when entering a new line of business - when, arguably, there are many competitors who also have negligiblemarket share - what do we plan to do when those competitors consolidate, or grow into the space left by those who inevitably get out of the game? Aiming for 1% is like planning to be non-competitive.
If you want to present a communication plan to me I may endorse - come with a scalable plan that targets a durable share of market. The Power of 1% may be impressive on paper, but it will not save you when boots hit the ground. THE POINT:Often times the low road goes nowhere.
Borrowing from Ken Robinson - why is it all children think they are creative, and most adults think they are not? What happens to us as we age that stifles our creative abilities?
What was the last truely creative thing you did?
I don't mean the last painting you painted, last doodle you doodled or last musical masterpiece which driped harmoniously from your mind's eye. Though, such activites certainly qualify.
When was the last time you looked back and said, "Yea, what I just did was different."
Did you jump up on a desk to start a presentation? Start presenting from the back of the room?
Did you look at the way something has always been done, and suddenly see the way it could be done better?
How did you last innovate, create or by some means or fashion move the needle forward by applying a different perspective to what would otherwise have been just another . . . whatever?
Has it been to long?
Why do we fall into the trap of creating "new sameness"? How do we get out of the trap after falling into it?
Food for creative thinking.
THE POINT:The business world is seeking creative thinkers and problem solvers - if you can' t remember the last creative thing you did, why would they hire you?
Previously I wrote that I couldn't understand why someone would pay for an oversized IPhone that didn't make calls.
Not only are people buying the IPAD, but they are buying it in droves since online sales began March 12 - one must be impressed by Apple's marketing.
Consider this, according to Victor Castroll, an analyst with Valcent Financial Group Apple earned about $72 million in revenue after one day's web sales, selling a product 99.99% of consumers had, at the time, never touched or seen in real life.
Pricepoint may be a contributing factor, but bottomline - that is serious brand loyalty.
In 1997 self-made billionaire Sidney Frank introduced a new brand of vodka designed specifically for success in the American marketplace. An experienced brand-builder, who acquired the North American import rights to Jagermeister and turned it into a mainstream success, Frank saw an opportunity to reinvent the concept of "top-shelf" vodkas. Market research had proven that a perception existed amongst the target population that French made products were perceived as high-end and quite desirable. So Frank, went to France.
The end product was produced from French Winter Wheat which is grown in an area south of Paris, then distilled in a column still using a particular variety of alpine spring water. This water had been gathered after self-filtering through the limestone plateaus of the Massif Central - a volcanic region in South-Central France. Final distillation of the vodka takes place in Cognac, France.
The packaging for this product was unique as the bottle's aesthetic blended images from the exterior front with images etched into the interior rear of the vessel. The result is a seemingly holographic image magnified by the liquid in the bottle. Rather than employ the traditional twist-top common among competing vodkas, Frank's vodka used a cork to conjure wine experiences and thus reaffirm for the consumer that this was indeed a high-end French product. The advertising was aligned with singular events called the "Discerning 5" - a stay at a top hotel, dinner at a fine restaurant, sailing a yacht or exotic travel opportunities that would appeal to high society participants, or those who perceive themselves as such. Partnerships were established with the best night clubs and eateries in the marketplace - at it's launch Sidney Frank's vodka had exclusive domain over its beverage category at VIP tables across the U.S.
So . . . given the United States government declares any beverage retailing as "vodka" must be an "odorless, colorless, tasteless liquid with a proof between 78 and 103" one must be impressed that Mr. Frank sold his Grey Goose brand for $2 billion to Bacardi in the largest single brand sale ever.
Sidney Frank himself net nearly $1.6 billion from the sale, having successfully created a new product class through tangible differentiation in a beverage category characterized as having almost no physical properties whatsoever.
THE POINT:Creativity in marketing can be the genesis for product differentiation, and differentiation drives sales.
On June 12, 2005 Steve Jobs was invited to deliver the commencement speech at Stanford University. The broad topic of his presentation was one never really knows what experiences are going to be critical to one’s life, until one has a chance to look back and see the coincidences.
Perhaps the most significant formative experience in Steve Jobs’ life, the one he spent a good amount of time emphasizing in his speech, was the advantages of dropping out of college. This is why Steve is never invited to speak at orientation.
Dropping out of college allowed Steve the opportunity to take courses he wanted to take, to learn about things he found interesting instead of being compelled to learn what the institution required to confer a degree. So amongst other seemingly random academic explorations - Steve Jobs took a calligraphy class. There he was introduced to the beauty of serif and san serif typefaces, to the importance of varying the space between characters and to the impact an artist could achieve when curvy waves of copy are juxtaposed with more rigid blocks of text.
Steve enjoyed the class. The memory of the experience and the acquired knowledge stayed with him even as he moved away from an academic setting and stepped onto the 10-year path that would ultimately define Steve’s personal and professional life.
The original Macintosh computer was designed to serve as the first home-use personal computer, but was soon positioned as a creative tool. The system launched the age of desktop publishing, which some original programmers saw as a computer combination of typewriter / layout table - fairly sterile, but easy to manipulate. Steve saw publishing as an art form – he saw publishing as design. As part of this evolution he called upon his experience in the calligraphy course many years before. He wanted to provide the creative population who would become the first true graphic designers of the computer age with a complete toolset they could use to achieve their artistic vision. Thus the Mac became the first computer with truly beautiful typography, and Tahoma, Arial, Times New Roman, along with the power of proportionally spaced fonts - found their way into a computer.
The conceptual leap around the techno-sphere was simple, since Windows copys everything Mac does (per Steve) they too included a variety of font selections in their software. This universality of concept gave birth to a cottage industry where artists design new fonts for computer applications - after a few short years this became multi-million dollar enterprise.
Henceforth creativity abounds, and that which was unheard of outside high-brow calligraphy courses is now considered a technology standard, because Steve Jobs dropped out of college and audited an art class.
THE POINT:Embrace innocuous opportunity – you never know where the next game changing idea will come from.
Don't rush to start speaking after your introduction. Take a few seconds and allow all eyes to fall upon you. Allow the room to hush. In those precious moments know you are the authority in the room and stand quietly, maintain good posture, make eye contact with a few members of the audience and project "command presence". Then speak. The simple passing of time between the introduction and your performance is important as it allows the room to calm and focus, allows you to get comfy with the attention on you and allows you to assume control of the stage.
Silence is important at the end of your performance as well.
Make your final point - to a person. Maintain eye contact - with that person. Then turn to another person, and say "thank you". Then enjoy the applause. Don't run off the stage, take a moment to enjoy the gratifying sensation of a job well done.
If nothing else, hearing this validation makes it easier to step into the spotlight next time.
Own the stage.
Give it back.
That is all.
THE POINT:Own the stage, work the room, deliver your message well and make them remember you.
Encoding (the speaker translates conceptual thoughts into words);
Transmitting (those words are spoken aloud in a common language);
Receiving (those words are heard by the audience);
Decoding (those words are understood and translated into concepts).
Those last two steps - Receiving and Decoding could easily be lumped together in a gushy ball and called "listening". While your delivery of a message certainly comes with its own opportunities for failure - listening is most commonly where the train goes off the tracks, over the cliff, into the ravine and bursts into flames upon the jagged rocks hundreds of feet below.
More scientific communicologists than I will oft divide listening into three categories:
Competitive or Combative Listening happens when one is more interested in promoting one's own perspective than in understanding or exploring someone else’s. In this case the listener either seeks opportunities to speak, or focuses on finding flaws or weaknesses in a presentation which can be attacked. This type of listening is all too common in audiences - and seems especially popular during product demos and sales presentations.
Passive or Attentive Listening occurs when one is genuinely interested in hearing and understanding the another's point of view. One may be attentive and passively listen without actively verifying what was understood to be said. This type of listening generally results in subsequent discussions of the, "I know you think you understand what you thought I said, but what you thought I said isn't what I meant" type most common in IT development projects and marriages.
Active or Reflective Listening is the single most useful and important listening type. In active listening one is so genuinely interested in understanding what another person is thinking, feeling, wanting or what the message really means. To that end the recipient will reiterate or paraphrase the message and reflect it back to the sender for verification. This verification or feedback process is what distinguishes active listening and makes it the most effective means of assuring accurate communication. It's also how lawyers badger witnesses.
Of course there are alternative opinions.
Robert K. Cooper, popular leadership consultant and author, says, "Many 'active listening' seminars are, in actuality, little more than a shallow theatrical exercise in appearing like you're paying attention to another person. The requirements: Lean forward, make eye contact, nod, grunt, or murmur to demonstrate you're awake and paying attention, and paraphrase something back every 30 seconds or so. As one executive I know wryly observed, many inhabitants of the local zoo could be trained to go through these motions, minus the paraphrasing." THE POINT:Better, perhaps, to consider a quote from Frank Tyger, "Be a good listener. Your ears will never get you in trouble."
