Ms the Word: If youre not living on the edge, youre taking up too much space
Marketing is about differentiating from the competition, not just ticking boxes
By on Mar 21, 2011
I looked in the mirror and smiled, trying not to show the uneven grey English teeth, and instead focus on the laughter lines around the eyes.
A good face for radio, someone rather amusingly put it.
The hair is now grey rather than dark brown, but at least it still covers the scalp, so I have something to thank my father for.
But it does look a bit weather beaten. Perhaps the skiing?
More likely the years of cajoling, pushing, and pressing people to do things they did not want to do.
I have been lucky, I think. I have learned a lot, usually from others.
In fact, I never stop learning. When I do, I guess it is time to cash the chips and shuffle off.
So I was conducting a review, part of the personal management process in the company.
The person I was reviewing is a young but smart brand manager.
I am new, so I have relied a lot on the opinions of other people, but it is still easy to see how he impresses.
There is a light in his eyes that says there is someone home and an eagerness and enthusiasm that I can sometimes fake in the mirror but that takes a lot more effort now than it used to.
I averted my gaze and skimmed through the list of achievements. He has done a good job.
Before I arrived, the previous incumbent was unwell for most of the year and his manager was not particularly diligent.
So a lot of the actual work fell upon the slight shoulders of the person facing me.
I read the list of achievements.
The company runs an impressive marketing program and this person had ticked most of the boxes, performed most of the tasks impeccably.
But I arrived in the last quarter of the year and it was not so easy to conclude the review.
It would have been easy to say, In trying circumstances, you did a fine job,' award a high grade, and smile, shake hands, and move on; or more likely observe as this eager young man moved on to a better job that deserves his obvious talents.
But I stopped and reflected.
For an awful moment, the phrase painting by numbers' came into my mind and hovered like an ugly black cloud.
He had ticked all the boxes; he had conducted the research at the appropriate time; he had filled in all the templates.
But there was no strategy, nothing to differentiate the brand from the competition, no insights, a vanilla paint applied to a vanilla canvas, blood group O.
But just as I was about to give him my best grim smile, he apologized: "I did not finish the advertising program, so I missed that objective. I was not happy with the agency proposal and I want to see if there is another group that will do a better job."
Hallelujah. "Explain," I said. And he did.
And finally, he demonstrated what I was looking for.
Marketing is about much more than filling forms, even when the forms are well-designed things of beauty.
It is about finding the edge, differentiating from the competition. And this young man had taken the first step.