CMO tenure is rising since the financial crisis, from just over two years to almost four years. But this says more about the economy than any consensus that CMOs are being given more room to move and innovate. The pressure to stay in line and focus on the present never goes away. Mark Dwyer, director of verbal identity at Interbrand Canada, offers some advice for marketers to help them break out of groupthink and defeat the forces that are holding their brands back from being world-changers.
THERE IS NO TOMORROW
Hit today’s numbers. Meet your monthly goals. Don’t think too long-term or get distracted by “pie-in-the-sky” innovative thinking. Brands that stay in line focus solely on the now, and measure success against daily criteria. This malevolence darkens the doorways of most CMOs every morning, hindering creativity and dashing great visions.
GMOOT
Get Me One Of Those. This acronym achieved meme status in 2008, when the approach of many CMOs was, “I probably won’t be here much longer than 28 months (if that), so get me something that one of our competitors has already proven effective – y’know, like a viral video – and let’s run with that.” Brands that stay in line allow GMOOT-thinking to lure them into copycatting a competitor’s successful initiative instead of creating something inspired and original.
SAME AS IT EVER WAS
It worked before, it will work again. Roll out the same thinking year after year, dress it up with a swipe of lipstick and hope no one notices. It works for Hollywood – shouldn’t it work for your brand? Trouble is, while your brand clings to a proven formula, the world doesn’t. It changes. Technology advances. Needs and desires evolve. Values shift. Consumers age, move, drop Facebook and pick up Snapchat. Brands that stay in line recycle their old ideas without overhauling or updating them to be relevant – the Hollywood sequels of the marketing world.
FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION
Innovative ideas rarely spring to life fully formed and flawless. In fact, the ones that succeed usually do so because they fail during development, each setback a critical step in the ongoing refinement of the idea. Brands that stay in line lack the fortitude and will to embrace failure as a key aspect of innovation and growth.
NOBODY ASKED US FOR IT
In this age of brand co-creation, it’s tempting to believe that consumers will tell brands exactly what they want. But it’s not that easy. Brands that stay in line wait to hear the answers from consumers rather than listen for the insights beneath the words. They accept pyrite truths rather than delving deeper to unearth genuine gold nuggets.
MY NEPHEW DOESN’T LIKE IT
Whether it’s a name change or a new CSR initiative, all ideas are subject to some form of informal focus group testing. But when we rely on sample sizes of one, or test and validate without rigour, we risk dismissing truly world-changing ideas for the wrong reasons. Brands that stay in line fall into the beauty contest trap by asking people which idea they like best rather than testing it against a range of creative and strategic criteria.
EVERYONE IS OUR TARGET
Ideas targeted at everyone are designed to fail. They don’t always fail – and sometimes they’re even successful. But without a deep understanding of your target audiences and insight into what drives their behaviour, universally pleasing ideas have little potential to resonate with the stakeholders that matter most. Brands that stay in line aim to attract all the people all the time, and risk engaging none.
Conclusion
Brands that change the world are constantly fighting off the dark forces conspiring to keep them in line. IMAX, Virgin, Four Seasons, Alfred Sung, lululemon, Apple, Nortel, and Google – all made history by creating new sectors or transforming existing ones. And while it makes for a good story to suggest these brands were lone visionaries operating in isolation, all were highly attuned to their consumers’ needs, desires and values.
Great brands don’t wait. They listen. They learn. And then they act. With an eye toward the future, they innovate constantly – because they know that to do anything less would put their leadership into question.
A longer version of this story runs in Interbrand’s 2014 Edition of Best Canadian Brands
