In what appears to be a “candidate driven” market with analytics, digital and mobile strategy and marketing skills in high demand, we thought our comments on how to close the deal with job candidates would be of interest.

While we do not like to admit to losing candidates to competitive offers, this is sometimes the case and we wanted to share our perspectives on this topic.

The Role – This is the most important aspect of attracting and closing the deal with prospective candidates. It is the recruiter’s role, together with the client, to define the authorities and responsibilities within the scope of the position clearly – as well as defining what is outside the scope of the position. Selling a “bigger or inflated” role to a candidate and then having them realize the reduced scope during the interviewing process is one sure way to lose candidates’ interest. The flip side is also true – especially with new digital strategy, marketing and customer experience roles which are frequently new within an organization. To the extent you can highlight this is a new role and has the commitment of the CEO and Executive Leadership Team, plus there is a budget commitment to invest behind the role, this can make it more desirable for candidates to accept this position.

The Vision – The vision for the position as well as the advancement potential (or head room) for the candidate are critical to attracting and closing the deal. High performing candidates, while interested in the role, want to hear about the career path potential and where their position can lead in the future. The vision for the role needs also needs to be consistent with the company’s overall vision and priorities in terms of capital investment. In some instances, we have heard back from candidates that they heard different visions (or lack of a common vision) from several executives they spoke with and this is a kiss of death in terms of closing the deal. We recruit a lot for CMOs and so we tell our clients it is critical the CEO, CMO and CTO be on the same page and this must come through clearly to candidates.

The Culture –  At the end of the day, candidates leave jobs because of culture and they join because of culture. In addition to the role itself, candidates ask themselves, “Is this a place I want to work at and are these a group of people I can be motivated by, learn from, and enjoy working with? If the culture appears dysfunctional, or people seem to operate in silos, candidates will leave the front door and not look back in the rear view mirror. We coach our clients to sell the positive culture aspects as well as making sure the interview team is on the same page in describing the company’s mission, vision, purpose.

The Close –  First, and foremost, the offer package has to be right and this is a responsibility of the recruiter from the outset to set expectations fairly and to advise the client regarding the candidate’s compensation expectations. Without a compelling and attractive offer, the deal is DOA. However, managing and staying close to the finalist candidate during the “closing period” – typically a 2-3 week process during which background checks and references are being checked plus the final offer package is being approved – is equally important. We had an instance recently with a consulting firm client (they tend to be the worst because they operate by consensus and committees) who “went dark” with the finalist during the closing period while another competitor swooped in and closed the deal. The candidate remarked, “I didn’t hear from them at all during this period and thought they might have lost interest or were questioning my candidacy.” If you are the hiring manager or recruiter, you need to stay close to the candidate with weekly telephone calls, possible offers for other members of the firm to meet for drinks/dinner, or otherwise letting the candidate know you are moving toward a “win-win” close and remaining excited about their joining.

Summary – As always we enjoy hearing your comments and feedback and we look forward to staying connected. Best, Jeff Gundersen – CEO Executive Connections LLC

 

The recent article reprinted directly below, “Davos 2017: Responsive Leadership in a World of Disruption,” was written by our client Julio Portalatin, CEO of Mercer LLC, as a reflection on his participation at the recent 2017 World Economic Summit in Davos, and it was so inspiring we have chosen to share it with our entire community.

As Julio outlines in his article, there have been significant disruptions in the world; economic, political, social and otherwise.  These disruptions of course create a sense of caution, but also, in some arenas, a sense of optimism, unleashing some otherwise unattainable possibilities for growth.  We have heard this sentiment in our discussions with CEOs, CMOs, and other C-level executives.

What is your company’s plan for responsive leadership? What challenges and opportunities do you face in this world of disruption? Are you driving transformative change or reacting to it?

Another of our clients, Barry Stowe – CEO, Jackson National Life, said recently in an Executive Leadership team meeting, “We can either be at the cause or effect of changes in our industry….and we intend to be the drivers of transformation. Anyone too attached to the past and status quo, or unwilling to drive change, the exits are clearly marked.”

As always, we welcome your comments and input.

Best,

Jeff Gundersen, CEO

Davos 2017: Responsive Leadership in a World of Disruption

Published on January 20, 2017
Julio A. Portalatin
CEO at Mercer LLC

Disruption!

Perhaps it’s an overused word, but it was certainly a global theme of 2016, and the years ahead will be marked by how well we deal with it. Wrapping up my annual visit to the World Economic Forum in Davos on behalf of Mercer and MMC, I’m struck by how appropriate WEF’s emphasis on “Responsive Leadership” is to the disruptive challenges that face our organizations.

If anything, I’d describe this year’s tone at Davos as being of two minds about the days ahead. On one hand, there was a sense of caution due to the uncertainty created by such events as Brexit and the outcome of the US election. On the other, a palpable optimism — that the world will chart a pro-growth agenda while working through the sensitive issues we face, from income inequality to immigration.

Indeed, Davos is a meeting of many minds, but it’s primarily a place to share with and learn from each other. Arriving Monday, I was thrilled to share Mercer’s vision at dinner for about 100 leaders and MMC clients – and consider this: collectively, their employee base numbers in the millions! With robotics and AI on everyone’s mind, I reflected how the leaders of major organizations worry about the intersection of technology with the human element.

Tech amazes! And yes, tech disrupts — but it’s the human factor that energizes our organizations. Are we in touch with it all? As WEF founder Klaus Schwab noted in his recent blog: “Leaders must be much better prepared for the rapid and disruptive changes of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, including those affecting labor markets.”

I’m proud to note that Mercer partners with the Forum on its Future of Jobs research, which tells us how the new technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution – along with demographic changes – will transform labor markets in the coming years. I look around me and realize my own granddaughters, born a few months ago, are very likely to start work in jobs that do not even exist today.

That’s a disruptive notion, for sure. But how to respond? We did on Tuesday, with the first of two Mercer breakfast briefings at Davos. We addressed a key to the future of our organizations – women, whose fortunes we’ve focused on at Davos and globally since we introduced our groundbreaking – no, our ceiling-breaking — “When Women Thrive, Businesses Thrive” research three years ago.

At this year’s Davos panel, Mercer’s Multinational Client Group and When Women Thrive Leader Pat Milligan and I welcomed Chairman of Bank of America, Anne Finucane; President of Personal Care at Unilever, Alan Jope; Executive Board Member and President of Business Network Applications at SAP, Steve Singh; and Harvard Kennedy School professor and author of “What Works,” Iris Bohnet. Highlights of the discussion are posted here.

The panel was tough-minded and insightful. Pat and I agree on the main takeaways:

• Artificial intelligence and advanced manufacturing are driving the future of work. Women and minorities will be significantly implicated in these changes.
• New technologies can minimize the impact of unconscious biases far more than employee programs do to change our mindset.
• Data and transparency play a powerful role in changing systems and behaviors to be more inclusive!
• Brands have an impact on society and, therefore, a responsibility to shift the conversation. Let’s move away from gender stereotyping in advertising!
• The difference between cultures is perhaps far greater than the difference between genders! We must celebrate that diversity and its potential for innovation.
• The gender gap deserves unswerving commitment and focus as an aspect of the Big Picture. On Wednesday, we went even bigger, with a breakfast briefing that looked at how leadership can mend another gap that deeply touches all employees: financial security – or, more accurately, financial wellness – for today’s and tomorrow’s workforce.
• Mercer Health and Wealth President Jacques Goulet and I hosted a panel discussion that included Old Mutual Emerging Markets CEO Iain Williamson and Omada CEO Sean Duffy. Highlights of the discussion are posted here.

It’s always ambitious to take on the subject of global retirement systems — they play a crucial social and economic role, yet they’ve been taken for granted. These public and private institutions have long managed and pooled the risks of individuals, guaranteeing adequate retirement outcomes. But, again, disruption: the old system has slowly been supplanted by one where each individual is responsible for their retirement and financial well-being.

At the same time, corporate pensions, public pensions, and individual savings all face underfunding, so any solution requires what I think of as a triple play, a winning trifecta of coordination among corporate, governmental, and individual stakeholders. Motivating these stakeholders to mend the gap is another big call for responsive leadership, and that’s where Mercer’s latest perspectives on public, private , and individual financial wellness will make a difference.

Of course, Davos is always about so much more than our own perspectives. As the week wore on, I had the chance to interact with scores of mind-widening thought leaders, Mercer and MMC clients.

Everything from sessions on the emerging revolution of blockchain technology to discussions with leading journalists convinced me that we are facing 2017 and hurtling forward not only with tremendous motivation to solve for the future, but also with the breadth of insight and innovation it will take to meet — and make the most of –any disruption. What are your thoughts from or about Davos? I’d enjoy keeping the discussion going right here.

Julio Portalatin – CEO, Mercer LLC

Happy New Year! If you are making New Year’s resolutions, a good one would be to prioritize innovation as your #1 mandate in 2017.

Attached is an article (“Innovation As A Mandate”) written by our friend and client Doug Rozen, Chief Digital & Innovation Officer at OMD, inspired by his recent attendance at CES 2017, a place where several innovations in consumer electronics are announced annually.

CES innovation standouts this year included the LG’s “wallpaper” TV, PowerVision’s underwater drone to help recreational fisherman, PicoBrew a home beer brewing system, Motiv smart ring captures fitness and health data – an alternative to FitBit, and Amazon Alexa the must have personal assistant.

We are also seeing several firms including Uber, Google, Tesla continuing to expand testing of driver-less cars….and Toyota unveiled their 2030 “Concept-i” car at CES2017. With so much smart technology being included in the design of “next generation” automobiles, we are perhaps less than a decade away from changes in automobile travel that will dramatically improve safety.

What are your company’s plans for innovation in 2017? Which areas of your business are most vulnerable to new competitors entering with new, disruptive digital and mobile business models?

Also, in terms of your personal brand and career, what new innovations do you need to pursue in order to create the career changes and advancement you are striving for?

As always, we welcome you comments and input.

Best,

Jeff Gundersen, CEO

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The Innovation Mandate

By Doug Rozen, Chief Digital & Innovation Officer – OMD

Why the first week of the year at #CES2017 is critical.

We are just 5 days into 2017 as 200,000 ascend on Las Vegas for the Consumer Electronics Show. While #CES2017 has become the place for marketers to see the latest and greatest, meet with agencies and partners and just have a good time, the real reason to attend #CES2017 is to get your innovation agenda in place for the new year.

Every marketer should adopt an innovation mandate – be it a manifesto, a framework or a roadmap. Innovation is not an accident. The best innovation is intentional. This is the difference between true innovation and just ideation. Marketing innovation is separate from creative ideation – the two often get confused as the same. Innovation is the delivery of ideas that either causes disruption or accelerates opportunities.

Successful innovation mandates are:

• True to a marketers organization and brand
• Measurable (good or bad)
• Long-term visions with short-to-mid term flexibility
• Supported broadly across the organization (top down, bottom up)
• Safe zones for an organization to push teams
• Not an accident: They carefully designed and structured

If done right, marketing innovation removes friction, tells a story and allows for emotions to overweigh data. Sometimes you need to fire before you can aim. Innovation mandates will allow you to define the disruption opportunities (think Netflix 1.0 – DVD distribution) as well as acceleration opportunities (think Netflix 2.0 – creation).

As you review #CES2017 highlights, don’t forget that innovation is intentional. Reaching consumers in new ways and in new places is seldom achieved on just a leap of faith. Spend time analyzing your innovation agenda and updating it for the new year, new gadgets, new trends and new opportunities.

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New Year, New Role! – Lola White, Partner & Personal Brand Strategist – Executive Connections LLC

Are you ready for new career opportunities in 2017? The job market is heating up, there is pent-up demand for talent in several industry sectors, 2017 budgets are approved, and the market for top talent is currently robust.

Finding the right next career step is not just about updating your resume, bio and LinkedIn profile, it’s about creating a strategic plan and framework for achieving your long-term career objectives. This type of planning is essential to creating a strong foundation from which to either launch a new job search or be an “active listener” as search firms call to solicit you for desirable positions.

Fitting this personal planning into your current full-time career role is the other challenge we hear from almost all of our clients. We have worked with numerous C-level and mid-level executives who have commented, “What EC helped me accomplish in 30 days would have taken me 3-4 months to fit into my busy schedule.”

EC is now taking reservations for our February Brand Activate program and we have 3 spots open for new clients. Our personal branding programs include Brand Activate, Brand Positioning, and Brand Forward and you can check out these programs on our website, www.executiveconnectionsllc.com. Pls. e-mail me (lwhite@executiveconnectionsllc.com) for a free 30 minute consultation if you know now is your time to initiate your next career step.

Remember, it’s about figuring out where you are going first, then adjusting your personal brand materials to reflect the direction.

 

Gratitude – The Importance of Thanksgiving!
“The deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated.” — William James

“The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings.” — Eric Hoffer

As the Thanksgiving holiday is upon us, we are reminded of the power of saying “thank you” and being grateful for clients, friends, and family that support us throughout the year.

Especially in this challenging post-election environment, it would help for each of us to focus on gratitude for the many blessings and opportunities we have been fortunate to receive.

Human beings long for recognition, and the business benefits of addressing it has long been understood. Yet some leaders and managers tend to undervalue the importance of recognizing employees. In a landmark Towers Perrin study, employees felt that recognition was twice as important to them as their managers had thought it would be. So tell your company bosses, peers, subordinates, and family/friends how much you appreciate their contributions to your business, life and career.

What may be missing in some organizations is not an understanding of the importance of recognition—after all, managers are employees, too. Rather, the missing element may be a sense of gratitude. If you cultivate a keen sense of gratitude for the contribution of all your employees, then recognizing the best ones, as well as the best efforts of all of them, becomes a natural—and sincere—expression.

By cultivating a sense of gratitude for everyone you work with, you will find that employee recognition stops being a chore, and becomes a natural expression of what you already feel. Extend the process of cultivating gratitude to your co-workers and any executives above you, and you will discover qualities you appreciate in even the most challenging of your work relationships.

Of course, gratitude isn’t just about recognizing employees. Rather, it is a mindset that can become part of the fabric of an organization. Leaders with a positive mental attitude can trigger a virtuous cycle in a company, energizing employees and achieving superior performance. A sense of gratitude is a key element of that positive mindset, and it quickly becomes infectious. Fostering a sense of gratitude—for each other, for the opportunity to have challenging and engaging work, for the cup of coffee your co-worker just brought back from Starbucks, can enhance the quality of your own work experience, as well as elevate your workplace.

The notion of expressing gratitude for the blessings in your life is a common and natural theme of the Thanksgiving season. Extend that idea from your personal life to your work life and you will find you have created even more blessings for yourself—and the people you work with—in the process. And certainly, once you develop an appreciation for your blessings at work, you will find even more to be thankful for in the rest of your life.

All of us at Executive Connections LLC wish our clients, friends, and connections a Happy Thanksgiving holiday. We want each of you to know we are grateful for the business, kindness, friendship, and support you provide to us.

Best,

Jeff Gundersen

AdTech Celebrates 20th Anniversary

We attended an historic event last week….AdTech NYC 2016….the 20th anniversary of AdTech!

It was quite a nostalgic conference….many of the early pioneers in AdTech (rebranding now as MADE – Marketing and Advertising, Digitally-Enabled) reminisced that when AdTech started (in 1996) there were no smart phones, no Google, no Facebook, Apple stock was selling at $2.00, and most CEOs felt the internet was a “fad.”

Fast forward 20 years and where has AdTech arrived? In 2016, Google, Facebook and Amazon are 3 of the top 5 market capitalization companies and there are numerous Fortune 100 companies in merger discussions (i.e., AT&T – Time Warner, Verizon – Yahoo) being fueled by the rapid transformation of the media and entertainment sectors into digital, content-on-demand, subscription models delivered through numerous new subscription service platforms (Netflix, YouTube, HBO GO, Apple TV) to mobile devices (tablets, smart phones, PCs) which have become the new “first screen.”

Rishad Tobaccowala, Chief Strategist at Publicis Groupe, emphasized 3 major global trends that suggest continued future digital/mobile/social changes are “unstoppable:”

1. Globalization – Despite Brexit, and discussions of building a wall or closing borders, globalization is unstoppable since it is good for the majority of the people in the world. 1B+ people have come out of poverty in both China and India over the past 20 years and these are the 2 fastest-growing global economies (5-7% growth). Politicians can say whatever they want, frankly they don’t “get it.” If you do not compete in a global world, you will not be viable in the future.
2. Demographic Shifts – China is “growing old fast” (avg. age 40+) due to limits of 1 child per family, while India is “young” (avg. age 20) and the largest users of Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Google+ (which are all banned in China). Africa, with a current population of 1B people, will become a population of 4B+ people within the next 10-20 years.
3. Digitization – Digitization is the new religion, it has given people “God-like” power. The iPhone 6S has the same processing power as the space shuttle and it has allowed people globally to connect to everything and everyone. Digitization provides a “David vs. Goliath” slingshot where people globally can being down all governments and all businesses.

According to Tobaccowala, no amount of walls or legislation will stop these 3 big global macro-trends; they are irreversible and that’s the real crisis. Our political leaders don’t talk about the real problems, which is why so many people regardless of political affiliation have become dissatisfied with politicians.

The future global business outlook is bright because of the smart phone and the global connectivity that the Internet of Things (IoT) has provided. We are in the “connectivity era” where to remain relevant companies need to embrace marketing and business transformation. Future successful companies must be customer-obsessed, frictionless, seamless, and highly modular. How do you accomplish this in legacy businesses where you can only change the people or change people’s mindsets – and 75% of the time we change the people? This is the big challenge and opportunity for CEOs.

 

October EC Communications Briefing – “Drive For Diversity”

Advertising Week just finished in NYC and one of the major topics on the minds of top 100 global advertisers was the need for a “Drive For Diversity” among the advertising agencies serving these same clients. We encourage you to read the article below from Ed Baum, a new Managing Director in our firm, who summarizes the comments from several CMOs regarding the diversity issue.

I was interviewed recently by Ken Kraetzer, Executive Director – Sons of the American Legion Radio and VP at Harrison NY-based CBSI Services, regarding EC’s perspective on how diversity recruitment needs to include veterans of the armed services. In our video interview, which will be posted by Ken shortly on YouTube, we indicated that our firm has a track record of placing senior level marketing and marketing services executives with undergraduate degrees from the U.S. Military Academy, U. S. Naval Academy, U.S. Air Force Academy, Reserve Officers, ROTC graduate officers, NCOs, and other armed services veterans, with 5+ years of military service experience as an officer.

What we have found, over a 20+ year period, is many West Point and Naval Academy graduates develop extraordinary leadership, adaptability, and tenacity skills over the first 5 years after college graduation through their military service as officers in the armed forces. In effect, many are given significantly larger management and leadership roles and responsibilities (in terms of both people leadership and P&L/budgets) than their counterparts on the commercial side during the first 5 years of their careers.

We are not saying or suggesting these distinguishing traits (leadership, adaptability, and tenacity) are found in every military graduate or armed service veteran. However, we have found these distinguishing core competencies in several candidates with this profile type, which have enabled these candidates to transition rapidly and successfully onto the commercial side and move on a fast-track to C-level roles including CEO, CMO, Chief Analytics and Chief Digital Officer roles, among others.

In this rapidly changing marketing era, technical and functional marketing skills are essential. However, the technical and marketing skills are the basic pre-requisite skills for being hired. Especially in large, multi-national companies, the qualities of leadership (establishing a vision/mission, creating strategies/action plans, and building/developing/motivating teams), adaptability (flexibility to adjust to unexpected circumstances/events, operate in ambiguity), and tenacity (the passion to “take the hill” and persevere until the mission is achieved) are what separates extraordinary from ordinary leaders.

So if your “Drive for Diversity” does not currently include hiring veterans with undergraduate degrees from a military academy, plus 5+ years of military service in one of the armed forces, your company is missing one of the best sources of future leaders with fast-track growth potential.

As always, we welcome your comments and questions.

Best,

Jeff Gundersen, CEO

“Drive For Diversity” 

by Ed Baum, Managing Director at Executive Connections LLC

The advertising industry’s diversity gap has taken on bottom-line implications for leading agencies. In the last few months several major brands have started to demand explicit recruiting strategies and other action plans on the part of agencies to address the problem. The implication is clear: If changes aren’t forthcoming, their business will be pulled.

Heavyweight marketers including Verizon, General Mills and HP Inc., formerly a part of Hewlett-Packard, are making diversity hiring at their creative agencies a central issue because they are concerned that the absence of women and minorities across agency roles and leadership positions may be hurting the brands’ efforts to connect with consumers.

“Marketers are expected to have a deep understanding and insight about their markets, about decision makers and about customers,” Diego Scotti, Verizon CMO, said in a letter sent to 11 agencies in mid-September, according to a report in The New York Times. The letter continued, “We are more likely to create solutions that amaze our customers if our work force and suppliers represent the communities we serve.”

Over the summer, General Mills included in its creative agency brief the goal that 50 percent of the creative departments at agencies it would work with be staffed by women and 20 percent by minorities. Speaking at a recent industry gathering hosted by the 4As, Michael Fanuele, the chief creative officer of General Mills, explained his company’s drive for diversity this way: “You don’t need to be a mom to make some Cheerios ads, but if we have more moms on the team making Cheerios ads, maybe we increase the probability we do work that connects with moms in a richer, deeper, more powerful, meaningful way.”

The agencies’ stance on diversity reflects what The Times called “a growing concern among marketers that Madison Avenue’s largely white, male leadership may be hindering their efforts to connect with American consumers.”

As pressure from leadings brands’ grows on agencies’ diversity practices, the sense of urgency on the part of agency business and talent acquisition leaders is also expected to increase. “Nothing will drive intent faster than a client’s dollar,” Nancy Hill, president and chief executive of the 4As, was quoted as saying in The Times story.

Executive Connections can be a talent acquisition resource for marketing services firms who are committed to diversity recruitment.  As evidence of our expertise in this area, we have successfully completed a wide range of  diversity placements including Managing Director positions at the largest global digital agency and consulting company, Chief Marketing & Communications Officer of a global life insurance company, Chief Analytics Officer at a global human resources consulting firm, and SVP/Internet and Mobile Banking at a financial services company.

To discuss how we can help you meet your diversity recruiting goals, contact Jeff Gundersen , CEO/Founder of Executive Connections, at jgundersen@executiveconnectionsllc.com.

The Dog Days of Summer – Time For Brand Activation

We are now in the “dog days of summer,” the last week of August leading up to Labor Day weekend. Those of us in the NYC-metro area are enjoying beautiful, sunny, late summer weather and one of NYC’s annual big sporting events – U.S. Open tennis tournament.

This is a time of year when everyone is asking, “where did the summer go?” Business typically slows down for many of us in this last part of August, as everyone is either in “vacation mode” – taking those last few days of vacation before the fall sprint to the year end finish line – or many are busy getting their children off to college or back to school.

We all like enjoying the carefree feeling of a few more free days – we like living the life of a child in summer, right? And who can blame us, enjoying each single, sunny day to the fullest, jumping in the lake, eating ice cream, or just enjoying the glorious summer sunshine.

The dog days are also an excellent period for reflecting on your career and personal brand. Where is your career heading? What’s your ultimate destination? Is your current organization the right vehicle to get you there? Are the leaders of your current company a match for your personal vision and values? How proactive is your current supervisor in developing/growing your leadership skills and competencies?

Too often we can get stuck in the same routines dictated by the frenetic day-to-day work challenges that we don’t stand back and ask these career questions. The dog days of summer provide a time to step back and reflect on the bigger career picture.

EC is working with a number of executives currently in our Brand Activate program, and this number always increases during the summer months, as many executives decide this is an ideal time to begin planning a change so it can be actualized early into the next calendar year.

Please reach out to us directly if this is a “summer of discontent” for you and you realize that a future career change is in order. While our August calendar is completed, we currently have 3 openings available for our September Brand Activate program.

We are also attaching a related article (7 Tips to Refresh Your Brand Strategy – by Marcy Shinder – CMO, Work Market) which has some great ideas for refreshing your company brand. Marcy is an exceptional marketer, one of the many great American Express marketing alumni, and she recently moved into a new career role.

Enjoying the dog days,

 

Jeff Gundersen, CEO & Founder

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7 Tips for Refreshing Your Brand Strategy (by Marcy Shinder, CMO – Work Market)

The dog days of summer are the perfect time to refresh your brand strategy. Wait, what!? It’s true – with a little pre-Labor Day thinking space, you will set your company up with fresh energy heading into fall selling season.

A brand refresh is a makeover for your company. Think of it like a personal makeover … a new haircut, contemporary outfit and a great pair of shoes transform how a person is perceived. It is the same with your brand. Best of all, if your budget is too tight for an agency right now, you can leverage on-demand talent for this type of work: art directors, graphic designers, copywriters and brand strategists. Get started immediately, do so affordably and inject some incredible fresh energy into your brand to drive sales.

Here are 7 easy tips:

1. Manifesto: A manifesto is important for all brands. It goes beyond the product and chronological history and portrays the fundamental essence of a company. It unlocks your company purpose and informs your marketplace positioning. It becomes your brand’s north star.
2. Unique positioning: Answer the question: “What do we stand for that differentiates us from competitors in a way that matters to our design target?” Include in this effort a workshop around your brand personality which can be a fun team exercise as it forces the company to think of itself as a person, candidate, character. This output is critical for developing the brand identity (#7).
3. Single metric: Choose a metric from your purchaser’s business dashboard to align your messaging to. It will help you increase category relevance and connect the dots to how clients look at your role within their business. Examples may include net promoter score, cost to acquire a customer, growth, etc. Pick one to inform your messaging and apply it across all of your touchpoints. You’ll be surprised at how dramatic the impact of a single metric will be.
4. Product bundles: Answer this question: “How should our services come together to make it easy for prospects to understand our value and buy from us?” Your product bundles should be clearly presented and connect back with the design target’s use cases and benefits. They do not have to map to your internal org chart. There are pros and cons of bundles as outlined by Forbes; having learned marketing at American Express, I’m a fan (think Amex Green, Gold, Platinum Card).
5. Sources of value: Getting to product bundles involves first examining the sources of value and drivers of differentiation of your feature sets. It is the unsexy but necessary starting point. You can shortcut the exercise with some scrappy online research and a few internal working sessions with Product, Marketing and Sales.
6. Pricing: Design your pricing for purchasers with Procurement in mind, and always offer a value option with upgrades available. Pricing is the logical outgrowth of product bundles (#4) together with sources of value (#5).
7. Identity: Last but not least, tie your strategy together with a strong visual and voice, informed by all of the above, that brings the brand personality (#2) to life. For this you’ll need an experienced art director, a brand strategist and an editor. With the outputs from exercises #1-6 in hand, they should be able to work quickly.

 

Article by Karen Lithgow, Managing Director – Executive Search & Marketing/Business Strategy Consulting

As the implications and consequences of the Brexit referendum vote are in the midst of being understood, I find myself reminiscing about my days as a brand assistant and thinking about the importance of fundamentals. So what can we learn from what has transpired in the UK?  For the marketer, there are a few good reminders:

Brexit Lesson #1: Understand your audience inside and out

The RemaIN campaign failed to understand their audience, what motivates them and what message would resonate with them vs. the Leave campaign that understood their target consumer very well and spoke to them directly.  The fact of the matter is that although 73% of 18-24-year-olds supported RemaIN, they did not turn out at the polls.  The older generation was motivated to get out and vote vs. the Millennials whose voice was drowned out because a lack of voter turnout. And with advanced analytic capability through social media that can target the right audience with the right message, one can’t help but think of the missed opportunity.

Brexit: Lesson #2:  Keep the message simple and have a clear CTA

In the world of “snackable” content that we now live in, a simple, clear message and Call to Action (CTA) is more necessary than ever. The RemaIN campaign, while a clever play on words, was not able to communicate their arguments for staying in a simple manner and lacked a clear CTA. RemaIN’s “Britain stronger in Europe” does not have the galvanizing mission, as say the Leave campaign’s “Let’s take back Control” and it certainly did not pull the Millennials out to vote. The consensus was that the RemaIN Campaign’s messages were irrelevant and did not speak directly to their target audience. Distilling a complicated message into simple terms, for specific target audiences makes it more memorable.

Brexit Lesson #3: Never discount the power of emotion

In our early marketing days, we learned that the combination of the rational and emotional is what drives decision making. The RemaIN Campaign seemed to focus solely on the rational reasons for staying in the EU. On the opposite side, the Leave Campaign provided voters with a more emotional connection by creating a message that all could relate to that ultimately ended up being more influential. The Leave Campaign was fueled by a passionate emotion and was able to engage its customers in a more meaningful way.

So, as you reflect upon your campaigns, what parallels do you see with the Brexit campaign? How has Big Data and advanced analytics been employed to help focus on the fundamentals of your business? In today’s fast-paced social media fueled environment is it becoming more difficult to focus on the basics?

As always, we welcome your comments and input!