KEVIN ROBERTS, CEO WORLDWIDE, SAATCHI & SAATCH I Foreword by A.G. LaAcy, C hairman , Presiden t, and C hie f Executive,...
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KEVIN ROBERTS, CEO WORLDWIDE, SAATCHI & SAATCH I Foreword by A.G. LaAcy, C hairman , Presiden t, and C hie f Executive, Procter & Gamble
®
powe rHouse Books New York, NY
"I have learned, based on my experience, that everything is dominated by the market. So whenever we are struck with any obstacles or difficulties, 1 always say to myself: 'Listen to the market, listen to the voice of the customer.' That's the fundamental essence of marketing. Always, we have to come back to the market, back to the customer. That is the Toyota way. "So, whenever we're stuck, we always go back to the basics. Because branding, image, or Lovemarks are determined by the customers, not us . We really cannot determine anything. The customer does that. That is the essence."
Yoshio Ishizaka, Executive Vice President, Member of the Board, Toyota Motor Corporation
••
Contents FOREWORD A.G. LAFLEY
9
CHAPTER 1: START ME UP
II
H ere's what I lea rn ed from fi ve g reat busin esses I've wo rked for: • Always sllrrollnd you rsel f with Inspiration al Pla ye rs · Z ig when others zag · Get Ollt of the office and in to rh e street · Li ve o n th e ed ge · No thin g is Im poss ible
CHAPTER 2: TIME CHANGES EVERYTHING
23
T he journey fro m products ro trade ma rks, from tradema rks co brands. A q uick look at why brands are runni ng our of juice as they confront th e Attenrio n Eco no m y
CHAPTER 3: EMOTIONAL RESCUE
37
W hy I believe emo ti o nal co nnecti o ns ca n transform bran ds. If YO LI spend yo ur days rev iew in g d ata, read eve ry wo rd of th is chapter. Twi ce. INS IGHTS: Mauri ce Levy, Publicis Groupe
CHAPTER 4: ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE
49
Taking brands to rh e next level depends on o ne fo ur-Icn cr word: L-O-V- E. INS IG HTS: Sea n Firzpatrick, sportsman; Tim Sand ers. Yahoo!
CHAPTER 5: GIMME SOME RESPECT
59
Love wi ll chan ge th e way we do busin ess, but on ly if it is built o n Res pen. No Respec t, no Love. Simple. Let's celebrate what Respect has achi eved
CHAPTER 6: LOVE IS IN THE AIR
65
Okay, so how do yo u crea re Loya lry Beyo nd Reason ? INS IGHTS: Ala n Webber, Fast Company magazine
CHAPTER 7: BEAUTIFUL OBSESSION
73
SO what are Love marks? They inspire Loya lty Beyo nd Reaso n through th ei r o bsess ion w ith Mystery, Sens uality, and Inri macy. H ere are o ur first id eas abo ut purring rhem inro aer io n. INS IGHTS: Jim Srengel , Procrer & Gamble
CHAPTER 8: ALL I HAVE TO DO IS DREAM U nd e rstand how Mystery can tran sfo rm rela tio nship s w ith co nsum ers. G rea r sto ri es; m ythi c chara cte rs; the past , prese m , and future toget her; drea ms and inspiration. Be insp ired by rh e id eas and action s of g reat Mysre ry makers. INS IG HTS: Da n Sro rper, Purumayo World Music; Cecilia D ea n , Visioflflire magazine; Mauri ce Levy, Public is Gro upe; Sea n La nd ers, a rt ist
81
CHAPTER 9: THE HUMAN TOUCH
103
The five senses-sight, hea ring, smell, [Quch, tas te-make Lovemarks real in rhe world. Leadin g sensualists show how they move liS. INS IG HTS: Dan Sror pe r, Purumayo Wo rld Music; Masao Ino ue, Toyma; Alan Webber, Fm! Company magazine
CHAPTER 10: CLOSE TO YOU
127
Intimacy is rh e chall enge of our tim e. l nrimacy demands tim e and ge nu ine feelin g, both in ve ry shorr suppl y. See how businesses deep inro Inr imacy ca n create empathy, co mmitment, and passion. INSIGHTS: Clare Hamill, N ike Goddess
CHAPTER 11 : ACROSS THE BORDER
145
The Love/ Res pec t Ax is is yo ur first step. By plerring where YOLI arc roclay, YOLI can trace whe re YO LI need to go. Using the Love/ Respect Ax is, Kodak shows how it rein vigora ted itself with th e yo urh marker. INS IGHTS: Eri c Lenr , Ko d ak
CHAPTER 12: I CAN SEE CLEARLY NOW
153
The rei nve nrion of resea rch. Xplor ing a nd power listening-and powerfu l new proof that Lovemarks are what maner most to co nsumers. INSIGHTS: Malcolm G ladwell , wrirer; Peter Cooper, QualiQuam Imernational; Jim Stengel , Procte r & Gamble; Masao Inolle, Toyota; Cla re Hamill , N ike Goddess
CHAPTER 13: I' LL FOLLOW THE SUN
169
An Inspirarional Cons um er is precious beyo nd measure. Saatchi & Saatchi people share their most inspi ring co nsumer sto ri es. Tell me yo urs at www.love ma rks. co m INS IGHTS: Tim Sa nd ers, Yahoo!; Malcolm G ladwell, writer
CHAPTER 14: ROLLING THUNDER
185
Lovemarks in action. Real li fe client stOri es from Olay, Brahma bee r, Lex us, C hcc rios, and Tide showing the power of M ys tery, Sensuality. and jmimacy
CHAPTER 15: WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS NOW
20 1
The rol e of business is to make the world a berrer place for everyonc. Becoming a Lovemark has to be th e destination of eve ry business. Step up to th e challen ge. INS IGHTS: Sandra Dawso n, Cambridge Univers ity; Alan Webber, Fast Company magazin e; Dr. Arn o Penzias, No bel Pri ze winn er; Bob Isherwood, Saatchi & Saa tch i
INDEX
216
FURTHER READING
219
Foreword by A.G . Lafley, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive, The Procter & Gamble Company The best brands consistently win two crucial mome nts of truth. The first mom ent occurs at the sto re shelf, when a consumer decides whethe r to buy one brand or another. The second occurs at home, when she uses the brand- and is delighted , or isn't. Brands that win these moments of rruth again and again ea rn a special place in co nsum ers' hea rts and minds; rhe
stro ngest of these establish a li felo ng bond with co nsumers. Most of the [,stest-growin g P&G brands today Focus intensely on winning these m oments
of truth. Th ey a re in touch with consumers, not as demographics or psychogra phi cs, but as peop le- as indi viduals. Fast-growin g bra nds such as C rest, Olay, and Pampers have very e motio na l, aspirational equities. We are lea rnin g that a brand like Crest doesn't sta nd only For toothpaste or toothbrushes, bur For hea lth y smil es-a nd an expanding line up of brand ed products and se rvices that ca n help create those smiles . It's no coi ncidence rhar all of th ese brands are growi ng with the help of Kevin Roberrs a nd his coll eagues at Saatchi & Saatchi. I've known and have worked closely wit h Kevin For seven yea rs. His pass ionate belief in building brands co nsumers love is inspirational , and effective. It is helping reinvent how we at P&G think about creatin g, nurturing, and growing big brands. T h is book will provide even the most experie nced marketers with Fresh new ways to think about branding. It provo kes readers to think about mystery, sensuality, and intimacy as brand building tools. It provides practical insights into leveraging the power of emotion, res pect, a nd love. And it provides prove n case studi es that brin g the Love mark concept to liFe. In short, thi s is an important book for all o f us who care about consumers and th e brands
they love.
A.C.
L1.Aey, C hai rman , President , and Chid Execurive, The Procter & Gamb le Compan y
9
Chaptet.l
STA,RT ME UP
.
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I was born an optimist.
During my childhood in Lancaster I always believed that nothing was impossible. Where bener to find myself than as CEO Worldwide of Saatchi & Saatchi, the Ideas Company that made this belief a founding declaration? I've been lucky to have been guided by exceptional people who have mentored me. Inspirational Players. People who believe that to dream is as important as to act, and that winners are powered by passion and emotion. By the time I was ready to enter the world of work I wanted to go somewhere that was top of its class. Somewhere that relied on passion and inspiration as its driving force. Who better to work for than the most inspirational businesswoman of the 60s, Mary Quant? 12 lovem......
Mary opened her famous Lo ndon bourique Bazaa r in 19 55 and was swin gi ng-60s London person ified. The miniskirrs, hot- pallts, shin y plasti c rain coats, and painr-box makeup all added up ro rhe Mary Quanr decade. Mary was rhe first person [0 opcrarionalizc rh e co ncept "less is more." As she sa id:
''A woman is only as young as her knees." When Bea rl e George Harriso n and model ['arr i Boyd married in 1966, they both dressed head-ro-roe in Quanr.
." ...~
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It wasn't my in credib le cool and fashion sense that landed me the job. it was beca use I had learned French and Spanish at school and Quanr was moving into Europe. fu one does, I started in the lowest of jobs: fus istanr Brand Manager. The business was moving so fast it wasn't long before they promoted my marketing manager and a gaping opportunity opened up right in fronr of me.
/
I
Wl'llt
to Tony Eva ns. the boss of the ilHcrna tio nal d ivision . and said .
"I'll do the job for half the salary of the previous guy for the next six months. If you think I'm worth it, then you can pay me what the job deserves." I Ie said , "Okay, yo u're on . D o it. " Working in cosmetics was incredible. Every thing happened so fas t. It was try, r.,i l, learn , try .lga in , win. rry again. Every mOlH h. Wt' were f,f{)\ving o ur busi ness at 500 pt'rce nt a year wit h a product lifccyclc o f aro und nine mo n ths. That's new produ cts conceived , lau nched , sold , and d iscoIltinued with in ni ne mo nths! Fo r Illl' it was like enro ll ing in the Un iversity of Branding. I loved every m inute. Inn ovation a nd flln were ou r passion . \X/e we re the fi rst (0 do "makeup (0 make love in": a wa terp roof kissahk· lipst ick. waterp roo f masca ra. We did the first eve r makclip for men. W ith her perfe'ctl y o n-brand , super cool h airc u t hy Vidal Sassoon , Mary u nderstood as well as anyo ll e I have ever Ill et th at hrands a re ah o ut clll ot io n and personality. She also kllew that in tilt, l'nd it was what con sumers desired tha t wo uld pro pel her business in to the srrarosp here. "T he fundam ental s of fas h ion re ma in the s" me," she wrote in her book, QUI1n1 by QUl1nt:
"Women wear clothes to make them feel good and to feel sexy. Women turn themselves on. Men like to look at women to be turned on-to feel sexy is to k now you're al·lve. " W ht'llt'vn I .11 11 in Illectings and hea r compl ica ted stra tegies fo r getti ng co nsume r an clltio n. I rC lllt'mbcr M.lfY (~ u a nt 's simple heli ef in human desires and pass ions.
11 R ove m .ar~A
My ex perie nce in bringing new produc ts to market landed me my nex t job: G illette's Internatio nal New Products M anage r fo r their fast-g rowin g business in the M iddle East. It was my fi rst taste of the serio us corporate wo rld ; a three-year stay where I first visi ted the Casi no d u Liban, Aew Pa n Am 001, a nd sta rted a love affa ir with G illette razo r blades that grows stronger wirh eve ry innova ti o n they launch. I'm now a Mach 3 Turbo jun kie. G illerte was the fi rs t step rowa rds rhe com pany th at would cha nge my life: Proc ter & Ga mble, th e inte rnational m ulti -bi ll ion-do ll ar co nsu mer goods co mpany. T he people who inve nted brand man age m ent.
p&G My rela rio nship wit h P&G sra rred o n January 1, 1975-the d ay I jo ined . W har can I say' I love r &G . I always have.
I found out everything important I know about people, business, and marketing at P&G. And in amazi ng places li ke Sa na'a, AI Ain , Casablanca, a nd Fel ixsrowe Ferry w here I spent five mo nths selling P&G brands to the trade. I love P&G's scale. I love the ambitio n o f the enterprise. Th e disciplines inve nted at P&G have shaped my life. To be a P&G Brand Ma nage r in the 1970s was to be Kin g of the Wo rl d. In rhe Midd le East 1 lea rned lessons th at have been in valuab le to me abo ut how ro connecr with co nsu mers, and how to do it in a place w here mass marketi ng was in its infa ncy. I learned to love the peo pl e. In Arab co untries yo u make fr iends fo r life. T he peo pl e we re genu ine, emo t io nal, fa m ily- focused , h ospi ta ble. They understood their tradi tio ns and the past, a nd rhey really un de rstood tha t they h ad a co mp letely differe nt future. It was very excit ing. T here was lirde resistance to the new beca use they d id n't have much of a presen t. They had a past and they had a future.
Stan Me Up 15
I also lea rn eel there that yo u co uld make a big diffe rence fas t. The re weren't Weste rn -
style barri ers in place, so new ideas go t to th e surface much qui cker. Th ere was no burea uc racy to go through , they d idn't have a n orga ni zed, data- ri ch trade to say " NO! )) And yo u didn't have corporate HQ on yo ur tail. Whe n yo u broug ht Tide, Ariel, or Pampers in to Oujda , Abha, or Sa lalah it was trul y li fe-c ha ngin g. It didn't improve li ves a little bit: it improved li ves significa ntl y. P&G is a company to tally committed to doin g th e rig ht thin g. W hy?
Because the principles don 't belong to Procter & Gamble, they belong to the people who work there. Jo hn Pepper, H e rbert Schmitz, Ron Pea rce, and Fo uad Kurya tim li ve the principlesand th e d rea ms-<:very d ay. No one li ves th ese va lues more than current P&G lead e r A.G. L1Aey. All th ese yea rs later I sti ll believe in th e powe r of th ose prin ciples I learn ed at P&G . Totall y. C ha rl es Decker summed up man y of th e best in his book, Winning with the !'eire 99. Do the ri ght thing. Capitalize o n yo ur mistakes. Winning is everyt hing. Th in k sid eways. Make som ething happen. Neve r try to fool rhe conslim er. For m e the Midd le East was perfect. It was full of ad ve nture and I could be out th ere in
16 lovemarkA
th e streets and markers. wa tching. listening, doing, lea rnin g. Seven yea rs late r, still in love w ith the Middle East, I seized an o pportuni ty and moved to anothe r g rea t co mpany-Pepsi. More fan tasti c opportun ities and serious challenges. Like buildin g a Pepsi p lant in Kathmandu. Like gradu ating fro m Pepsi's elite negotiation schoo l a nd ge ttin g "th e Iraq job" on th e strength of it. Like building seven Pepsi pl ants in Iraq. Pepsi introduced me to m o rc Inspirat ional Players like Roger E nrico, Alan Pottasch- th e fath er of the Pepsi ge neratio n-and a tO ugh nut w ith a hea rt of gold , Bob BeebyPres ide nt of PepsiCo Internatio nal.
I beca m e President and CEO of Pepsi in Ca nada in 1987 . Another wo rld! In the M idd le East, Pepsi was N umber O ne; in Canada it was a different sto ry. We had been sitting behind Coke for yea rs. If you wa nt to learn about the power of brands at street level, th e Pepsi/Coke battl e is as good a place as any I know. In C anada we had the add ed problem of competin g aga inst some of Pepsi's own brands like Di et Pepsi a nd Mounta in Dew. So Pepsi itse lf was at risk of slid ing to Number T hree, don', wo rry abom N umbe r Two.
My gut reaction has always been to zig when everyone else zags. The best way for us to avoid becoming Number Three, I figured, was to become Number One!
competitive wirh America . About halfway through my prese ntation , a huge red-andwh ite Coca-Cola vending machine roll ed onto th e stage. I ignored it.
Lemonade was a reall y big ca rego ry in Canada. So we boughr th e 7 UP brand. Ar rh e sa m e time we drove Di et Pepsi hard against Die t Coke, the independent botrlers' network rook up the challe nge and stree t by streer, city by city, province by province, just poured it on. We passed C oke. No rhin g is impossible.
When you machine-gun a vending machine, it makes . . a seriOUS nOIse.
As I ended m y speech I reached down behind the podium , picked up a machine gu n and started blastin g the Coke dispen ser.
We had people di vi ng under tabl es and heading for the doors. It was in credibl e. For safery's sake we had invol ved the Royal
Canadian Mounted Police, so we weren't Ar rhar tim e, in th e late 1980s, Ca nada was anxioLl s abo ut the implications of the Free Trade Agreement wit h th e United States, and how it was going (0 be rh e en d of all thin gs Ca nadian. I rook th e completely opposite view. M y fee ling was rha t because Ca nada was s mall , fast, and flex ible, we could n't lose.
being comple tely irrespon sible. And what happen ed th e next d ay' The word around th e trad e was unbelievable. The shoot-up was on rhe ne ws, in th e papers and magazines. It was th e powe r of humor and branding at wo rk in ve ry diffe rent tim es . And it rru ly galvanized our sal es force and our botrle rs.
Being on the edge of the U nited Srates mad e LI S more powerful , no r less . G reat rhin gs always co me from the ed ge, as I've had th e chan ce ro di scover pe rso nall y. To inspire our people and pann ers, we hired a ve ry bi g a nd ve ry smart hotel in Toronto. Eve ryo ne cam e: the trade, our ow n peo pl e, all our botrl ers, rh e media. My keynote speech was all about comperirion. How Pepsi had just beaten C oke, and how, in the sam e way, Canada co uld be
SlaT! M e Up 17
Great ideas, like humor, come from the corners of the mind, out on the edge . That's why humor can break up log-jams in both personal relationships and in business.
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I have always loved the extreme, and my next move proved it. I went from
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on th e very edge of the Pacific O cean-New Zealand. In 1989 I moved to Auckland with my family as C hief Operating O ffi cer fo r Lion Nathan, which was led by Douglas Mye rs (another Inspirational Player).
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The first time I met with the finan cial analys ts at Lion Nathan in New Zealand , I walked into the room with a real lion I had borrowed from the zoo. I ca n tell you, fro m that dayan, no one in the company ever fo rgot the Lio n in Lion Nathan! O ver the next seven years we tran sformed Lion N athan from a large New Zealand brewer to a significant force in the Asia-Pacific beverage industry. And I transformed my life as well. H aving worked o n most conrinen [ 5 and in many, man y countries, I found my
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We built a brand new $ 150 million brewery in Suzhou, the most advanced brewing o peration in C hina. And I gOt to experience the pleasures of local brands of beer. We also moved our As ian HQ from Hong Ko ng to Shanghai.
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My home is New Zealand. We're as close to th e South Pole as yo u can get and still have running water. The edge gives us a special atti tude. C utting edge, leading edge, bleeding edge, the edge of inspiration , on the edge of our seats . It's a place to shake off conventions and worn-out fo rmulas, and shake out ideas. New ideas . The edge is exciting and ri sky and extreme. J love it.
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18 iovemarRJ..
obe revered as a hothouse fori world-changing creative ...--Ii.
ideas that transform our clients' brands, businesses and \
reputations.
I signed up o n the spot. Saatchi & Saatchi gave me the chance of big ideas and in emotio n.
to
test my bel ief in the power
I was de termin ed to refocus on emotional connectio ns, both within Saatchi & Saatchi and with peo pl e eve rywhere. T here was press ure o n me to res tructure the business . We're talkin g 1997, when the management consultancies were still in the ascendancy with th eir sli ce 'n' dice reci pe fo r dea ling with anything that moved. I was advised to bring in my tru sted guys: my HR guy, my marketing guy, my money guy. Instead I bro ught in nobod y and I move d nobody fo r twO yea rs. My instin ct was to go against the prevailing wisdom. I went to Saatchi & Saatchi peo ple and sa id , "Here's o ur Insp ira tional D ream. We're all goi ng to pull together to stay in the premier league fo r 24 mo nths. After that, we' ll thin k abo ut makin g changes, bringing people in and moving peo ple aro und. I thin k you can do it, and we're all goi ng to do th is thing together." As it turned out, they could. And we d id . In my experience, when yo u go inro most companies what yo u find is good people and bad management. Yo u can turn that around really quickl y by starting with an Inspi ra tional Drea m, settin g so me challenges, and getting everybody foc used. As it wo rked o ut, to get moving took only one year, not te n, as one wise-guy predi cted .
And in that time we were also able to kick-start three great ideas. The first was to transform Saatchi & Saatchi from an ad vertising age ncy in to an Ideas Company. In fact, the hottest Ideas Co mpany o n the planet.
The second was to start deliveri ng no t just great performa nce, but Peak Perfo rmance. Saatchi & Saatchi had to be N umber One, Two, o rThree in the world- preferably Number O ne. We had to be in co ntinuous co ntentio n-and we wo uld do it with inspiratio n. And the third was the most exciting of them all. It combined everything I had learned. It was the answer to the critical question :
What comes after brands? 5ran Me Up 21
For more years than I can remember I have used the
same shampoo: Head & Shoulders. Ridiculous, isn't it? I mean it's a shampoo to remove dandruff, which it
does. BlIt I've no hair, let alone dandruff! Still, I love Head & Shoulders. I won't buy or use anything else.
It's a Lovemark of mine.
Over the yea rs, I have visited China many times. Saatchi & Saatchi was one of the first businesses to take part in C hina's amazing transform atio n. It has been nothing short of awe-inspiring to watch this enormously complex and ancient nation assim ilate Western business practices in a matter of a few
yea rs. And set out to surpass them. Th e C hinese have an ancient curse: "May you live in interesting times." Well , my message to C hina is:
Hold on to your hats, interesting times ahead . No t onl y is C hina borrowi ng from the powerful fi nancial and social models of the West, but they are doing it at a time when those very models are shi ft ing fund amentally. T he jo urney from products to trademarks to brands is one of the great stories of the last century. It is a story that has had profound effects on how businesses deal with co nsumers. And how peop le dea l with businesses.
Each step has brought consumers closer to the businesses that produce the goods and services they need. C loser to their need for design, quali ry, price, usability, availabiliry, innovation , and safery. Each step has: •
turned up the voice of the co nsumer
•
added weight to what is most difficult to measure- the intangibles of relationships, brands ... people power pulled emotion closer to the center
•
Interesting times? I love them. 24 i ove marbh
Products to trademarks In the beginning, products were just, well ... products. One product was pretty much indistingu ishable from another. Get hit over the head with Jake's club or Fred's club, th e headache was much the sa me. Trade was kept in th e fam il y. Making the ri ght choi ce was easy. But people being people, even in such a simpl e trading system , trademarks made an ea rl y entry. There are trademarks on pottery in Mesopotamia (now Iraq) dating as far back as 3,000 B.C. There is a cafe I go to nam ed SPQR. It is named after one of th e most feared and respected trademarks the world has ever known. Four letters that to ld you the mighty Roman Empire was at hand.
implements from th e next village? No t so easy. So trademarks moved up a notch from simple name-tags to marks of trus t and reliabi lity.
From a business perspect ive, trademarks play great defense. They offer legal protection for the un ique qualities of yo ur produ cts and se rvi ces, and declare yo ur interests. Trademarks defi ne territory. That's how it works when yo u are in charge of a business .
To consumers, the picture looks somewhat different. Consumers care about a trademark because it offers reass urance. "This w ill have the quality I paid for." For both sides, businesses and co nsu m ers, trademarks are a sign of continuity in a constandy shifting environment. As Kate Wilson, a prom ine nt New Zealand parent attorn ey, on ce told me:
"Patents expire, copyrights eventually run their course, but trademarks last foreve r." Over th e centuries, trade increas ingly stretched past local boundaries and the impona nce of trademarks increased. Fine to trust the local village blacksmith. You co uld check out the forge, bite th e m etal, ask
Trademarks are not exem pt from change. SPQR gets thousands of hits on Google, but most of th em are not for the Senate and Peopl e of Rom e but for a popul a r compute r ga m e- SPQR: The Empires
around. But the weird guy bringing in iron
Darkest Hour'
T ime Chan ges Eve rything 25
The history of trademarks is littered with once-famous narnes (hat have gone generic. Bad news for them, as all the value they have created with co nsumers can be sucked up by juSt abo ut anyone. Band-Aid has become the generic term fo r any bandage that sticks over a sm all wound. )ell-O and Vaseline have been pushed down the same route. And the process is sti ll happening. In some countries,
unique product names like Rollerblades and Walkman have been accepted as the given and defining names for in-line skates and portab le music players. Just holding a trademark doesn't guara ntee successful diffe rentiation , but it can be a great sta rt. Over the 20th century so me trademarks have grown inro enduring ico ns.
Th e MGM lion first roared in 1928 for the silent movie White Shadows a/the South Seas. Work out the technology on that one! And if you have ever wonde red what it says in the circle that frames the lion, try AI1 Gratia Artis-Art for Art's Sake.
26 !ovemarbl.o
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T he cl assic Coca-Cola bottle was designed in 191 5 and registered as a trademark in 1960. Even the stories around the botrle des ign are great, with lots of mysterious co nnections. Reminds me of th e urban myths aro und the c1ubbers' energy drink Red Bull. Co ntains bull se men. Secret wea pon the military cann ed. Etcetera, etcetera.
•
he most P
world 'IIned' e~ ':M ;:;:;:'~p ".,..•'-'. package in the
the great trademarks of the 20th century. So protecti ve was the co mpany of its high status that when Stanley Kubrick wanted to use an IBM machine as the rogue computer in 2001: A Space Odyssey, the company pulled o ut. Kubrick, tongue- in-cheek, named the softspo ken killer co mputer by moving one letter back in the alph abet, and creating HAL.
In an average day you can expect to have contact with around 1,500 trademarked products. If you go to the supermarket, rack that up to 35 ,000!
T ime Changes Everyrhing 27
ff
Everyo ne wants to trademark their stuff Names and slogans are old hat. Now th e push is to trademark shapes, scents, and so unds. Even colors. Owens Co rning trademarked the very particular PINK®of th eir fiberglass insulation material in the 1980s.
But not all expansionary efforts have been successful. [n June of 2000, H arley-Davidson finally gave up its gutsy six-year effort to trademark the roar of its V-Twi n engine. In its application, the company claimed that the sound of this engin e was "as recognizable to motorcycle enthusiasts as ' The Star Spangled Banner. '"
Harley- Davidso n fin ally withdrew. Joanne Bischmann , the co mpany's Vice Pres ident of Marketing, said, "If o ur CUStomers know the sound cannOt be imitated, that's good eno ugh for me and for H arley-Davidson."
Th e id ea of separaring one producr from anor her wir h th e aid of trademarks was a good o ne. And ir wo rked- for a while. That was until it came up aga inst busi ness' own necrotizingfosciitis) o r Resh-earing disease: co mmodi fica tion.
For anyone in business, the rapid cycling of their valued products into generic stuff is a dark and constant fear. One day YO LI are sini ng 0 11 a premiulll product, enjoying high margins and fighri ng off co nsum ers. Th e nexr yo ur produ ct is being bottom-loaded on bac k shelves or dumped inro "Specials" b ins.
The warning signs:
Now we're not just talking about bulk stuff like salt and pork bellies , rice and sugar. Anything can become a commodity, given enough competitive pressure. C onsider the once mighty airline industry. No wonder brands were seized on as a way to fight back.
Brands were developed to create differences for products that were in danger of becoming as hard to tell apart as chunks of gravel. They are also a proven way for compan ies to capture and exploit their innovations. If you are making a big R&D investment you are going to protect it with a patent. But the little ™ or "patent pending" note was never enough . You had to make sure everyone knows the value of what they are getting. Brands do this brilliantly. When I was working with Procter & Gambl e in the 1970s, we were proud that it was P&G that had articulated the concept of brands fi rst. Neil McElroy was a hero. He had understood the potential of the brand idea and codified it in 1931 into the brand-management system that made it a reality. P&G understood that brand disciplines could bring together the legal protection of patents and trademarks with the stuff that has meaning for consumers: consistency, quality, performance, and value.
Commodities got a big hit, right on the nose. They wou ldn't be back for another round until late in the century.
30 20vemarb
Our world of brands As we watch television, open the mail, or go for a stroll, we now live in a world of brands.
My experience on th e street-in th e back offi ces of retailers and ar bottling plants as we battled for Pepsi in the Middle East-gave me the first hints that branding was at the final front ier. Talking wirh co nsum ers, I could see that as their choices gtew wider, their loyalty to brands that didn't to uch them in any perso nal way was shaky. And there was much morc co mpetition comi ng. Sure the main event was the tussle between us and Coke, but morc and more local and international co mpetitio n was edging in.
The deep insight for me was that many of our markerers saw Peps i as a business of margins. T hi s is the first sure srep towards becoming a commodi ty. I always thought of Pepsi's business as a business of selling case by case. Let me explain. One of the realities I faced in business was that I didn't have an M.B.A. I hadn't been trained in all the ru les-so it meant I had to focus on the people: they were the ones who did the real day-to-day business and were close to co nsumers.
Time Changes Everything 31
Many of m y colleagues didn't feel the same way. They believed that busin ess was won through the best plans, memos, recommendations. and posit io n pape rs. I beli eved that the co la business was won th ro ugh cases. In dividual cases of Pepsi sold by individual reta ilers to individual peop le who wa nted to drink it. Cases are strategic. H erbert Schmitz at P&G to ld me that. He was right. And because I believed this, and still believe it to this day, I was never in the office. I'm still not. Later, when I was working for Lion Nathan and marketing beer, the fundam e ntal problems with brands became eve n clea rer. T here is no such thin g as bad beer. They're all refreshing, taste great, a nd are the world's best socia l lubri cant. Techno logy is not a barri er. Beer is reall y srill just a local co rtage industry. Breweries a re ever)"Vhere.
Through the lens of this incredibly competitive business I could see a relentless process that was turning what we truly valued into the commonplace, To me it was clear that brands were stuck on rh e "_er" words: Bigge r, brighter, berter, stronger, faster, easi er, newer and, the final stake throu gh the heart, chea per. These are all tables takes, just th e stake any player has to bring to rhe ga me to earn a seat ar the tab le. I remember seeing a cover article in The Economist. It declared that 1988 was 'The Year of th e Brand. " I thought, "Yeah, ri ght. But is it the beginn ing or the end?"
The Attention Economy Brands had a dream-run pumpin g the global econom y. Maybe they could have survived the pressures of commodification if not for o ne big and unavoidable fact. By the 1990s it was cl ear that we were living in the Attention Economy. There we re thousands of TV channels, movies, radio "ations, newspapers, and magazines. Millions of websites. Billions of phone calls, faxes , and e- mails. And right through all of it, new product laun ches and new improved product-lin e extensions and ads struggling ro be heard. Too much information! People are overwhelmed by the choices they face . Forget the Info rmation Economy. Human attentio n has become our principal currency.
"I don't want 500 television channels. I just want the one channel that gives me what I want to see."
Time Changes Eve rythin g 33
Job N umber One fo r any marketer these days is co mpeting for attention . W hoeve r yo u are. Where ver you arc . And on ce you've captured that anc nrion , you've got to show YO LI deserve it.
Th e process really only has two steps-so why does eve ryo ne find it so hard ' It's all because we obsess over rh e arrention part
and forget abo ut why we need that attention in the first place : the relationships. Emotional co nnections w ith consume rs
have
to
be at the foundation of all o ur cool
marketing moves and innovat ive tactics. V iral
marketing. guerrilla marketing. enrcnainmenr market ing, ex peri ence marketing- they ca n all
seize atten tion if they are done right, but on ce they have it, th ey have nowhere much to put it. No thing to build, nothin g to add to, nothing
[Q
valu e or ca re about.
Let the relemarketing debacle be a warnin g. W hen it was first hot in the 1980s ir was a ragi ng success. You could sell ANYT H ING o n the phone. Fasr-forward a decade or so and yo u looked at a very different picture.
Even if the telemarketers get past our answering machines and caller ID, the rules have changed dramatically. Nowadays we'll hang up rather than order the steak knives. 34
R ovE m a r ~1..
Brands are out of juice ... Th ey ca n't stand out in the marketplace, and th ey are strugglin g to connen with peopl e. He re are six reasons why:
1. Brands are worn out from overuse
of multi -ge nerational , multi -e thnic , multi -
national consumers .
4. Brands struggle with good old-fashioned competition
Michael Eisner of Disney has called the word brand "overused, sterile, and unimaginative." He's right. As the brand manual grows heavier and more detailed , you know you're in trouble. Making sure the Rowers in reception confo rm to the brand guidelines just shows yo u a rc
Th e morc brands we inve nt, rh e less we
loolcing in the wrong direction. Consumers are
produc tion value, in c re me ntal c hange, tacti caJ promotions, and events.
who yo u should be paying attention to. What matters to them. Otherwise, yo u're hiding, and you're in trouble.
notice them as individuals. If yo u're not Number One o r Two, you might as well forget it. And the greater the number of brands, th e thinner the resources promoting
th e m. You get a treadmill of no vel ty,
5. Brands have been captured by formula 1 lo se patie nce w ith th e wanna-be scie nce
2. Brands are no longer mysterious There is a n ew anti-brand sensibility. There is much more consumer awa reness, morc consumers who unde rstand how brands wo rk
and , morc impo rtantly, how brands are intended ro wo rk on th em! Fo r most brands, there is nowh ere left to hide. Th e information age means that brands are part of the public domain. Hidden agendas, subliminal messages, tri cky moves .. .forge t it. For most brands, it is a new age of consumer savvy; at th e ex tremes, it's th e atracks of Naomi Kl e in and the ant i-global gang.
of brands. Th e d efinition s, th e charts, tables, and diag rams. The re a re too man y people following the sam e rule book. When everybody tries to beat diffe rentiation in the same way, nobody gets anywhere. You get row upon row of w ha t I call "brandroids." Formulas can't deal with human emotion. Formu las have no imagination or empathy.
6. Brands have been smothered by creeping conservatism The story of brands has gone from daring and in spiration ro ca ution and risk-aversion.
3. Brands can't understand the new consumer
Once the darling of the bold and the brave,
The new consumer is better inform ed , more
past experi ences rather than the potential o f future ones. Headstones are replacing stepping
criti cal, less loyal, and harder to read. Th e white suburban housewife who for decades seemed to buy all th e soa p powder no lon ger exists. She has been joined by a new population
brands are relying on th e accumulation of
srones. If th e antics of R.jchard Branson ca use
a riot (and th ey do), how bland and borin g has everyon e else becom e?
Time Changes Everything 35
Bra nds can no longer cope wirh so me of rhe mosr impo rta nr challenges we face (Oday as ma rkerers, producers, traders, and busi ness peopl e. • How to • How to How (Q • How to • How to
cu r rh ro ugh rhe informa t ion duner con nect meaningfully with consumers create integrated experiences co nvince people to co mmi t for li fe make the world a bener place
T here is o nl y o ne way
(0
thri ve as marketers in the At ten tio n Eco nom y:
Stop racing after every new fad and focus on making consistent , emotional connections with consumers . If you stand for nothing , you fall for everything .
The journey is over The great jo urn ey fro m products (0 trade marks a nd fro m trademarks (0 brands is over. Trade ma rks a re rablesrakes. Brands a re tabl estakes. Bo th a re useful in the quest fo r differentiati o n and vital to survival, but they're not winning ga me-breakers. Today the stakes have reached a new high. T he social fabr ic is spread more thinl y than ever. People are looking for new, emotio nal co nnectio ns. T hey are lookin g fo r what they can love. T hey are insisting o n more cho ice, rhey h ave higher expectations, and they need emo tio nal pull (0 help them make d ecisions. And , fi nally, they wa nt mo re ways (0 connect wit h everything in thei r lives-in clud ing brands.
Businesses have always assumed that people see the brands the same way they do . This is why they can get it SO-O-O-O wrong. But so me special brands don't seem (0 m ake th at m istake. They are so fa r o ut in fron t that they seem (0 have evolved in(O something else. T hey are what inspired Saatchi & Saarch i (0 develop Lovemarks as the furure beyond b rands.
36 lovemarbh
In my 35 years in busin ess I have always trusred my emotions . I have always believed that by to uching emot ion you get the best people to work with you, th e best cl ients to inspire you, the bes t partners, and the most devoted customers. The last ten years have seen emotion dominate the bestseller-a nd the not-so-bestsel ler- lists. C lick your way through Amazo n.com for tirles and see what I mean. Art and Emotion , Body and Emotion , Culture and Emotion, Reason and Emotion. Sounds fin e. Then there's Emotion
and Spirit, Emotion and Focus, Emotion and Religion, Emotion and Insanity, Emotion in Organizations. There's more where that came from.
People everywhere are w; Emotion
has become a legitimate subject for serious research. On what was obvious to everyone who cared to look.
38
~ov€mar~r..
In the business world there's Emotional Branding, Emotional Markets, Emotional Capital, Emotional Value and, of course, Emotional Marketing from my friends at Hallmark. It goes deeper. How about Emotional Intelligence, Emotional Genius, Emotional Unavailability. And then, a little further out in the galaxy, Emotional Yoga, Emotional Cleansing, Emotional Alchemy, Emotional Claustrophobia, and Emotional Control. And two books no self-respecting business should be without; th e helpfu l Emotionally Weird, and the essential Emotional Vampires.
ting to embrace emotion. scientists got into
emotion
it didn't take them long to prove
Emotional Rescue 39
"Father and Son" Cat Stevens was a mega-star of the 1970s with such hits (0 his credit as "M oonshadow," " Morn ing Has Broken," and "Peace Train. " He co nverted (0 Islam in I 977, changed his name (0 Yusuf Islam, and pre((y well left the music bus iness. Since then, he has devoted h is time (0 charities and education in support of his religion. He is very cautiolls about (he lise of his music. Man y of his songs deal with th em es from his life before conversion, and he no longe r wants (0 be associated with them. Li((l e surprise then that he had never allowed an y of hi s songs (Q be Ll sed in TV commercials. When creatives at Saatchi & Saatchi Welli ng(On gOt it inra their heads to use a Cat Stevens song for a comme rcial, the first reaction was "find another song. " Trouble was, the so ng th ey wanted was abso lutely perfect: " Father and Son."
I was once like you are now, and I know that it's not easy to be calm when you've found something going on. But take your time, think a lot, why, think of everything you've got. For you will still be here tomorrow, but your dreams may not. Our people didn't just want th e song as th e background music. The son g was the sra ry. An emotiona l portra it of a most special relationship-a father and son grow in g rogeth er from birth ra d eath. The client was Te lecom N ew Zea land. Like many o ther telecommunications compani es, rhey had never been big on emotion. Th ey are und er intense pressure every minute of every da y. Th e whole indust ry lives in a waking nightmare of margin -s hav ing, competit ion, un ex pected technology shifts, ri sing consumer expectations. They usuall y don't see peopl e's feelings as a pr iority.
40
iov€mar~~
But Telecom New Zealand had been a monopoly and was now confronting competition with energy. They were adventurous and up for a challenge. T hey knew that when you act like a commodity, yo u get treated like on e-that old vicio us cycle. Forget about being loved; it's rough ro get even a little respect on the street. That might have been the end of the sto ry in so me places, but our people took it as a perso nal challenge. They truly believe that Nothing is Impossible. A passionate plea to Yusuf was drafted . Sure, permission had never been given before, but that was then. Our people pinned their hearts to their letter and waited. Weeks later as the team sat in the mixing room despairing of even getting a response, they heard the rustle of a fax. 1t was ftom Yusuf H e had responded to the visuals accompanying his words and the emotional truth of th e story. He had written one word on the fax they had sent him pleading to use his song: "Yes."
Since joining Saatchi & Saatchi, I have given hundreds of presentations around the globe. "Father and Son" is the spot I always play at the end. In Dubai, Denmark, Los Angeles, Lo ndon , New York, Sao Paulo, Barcelona, and Syd ney, the response never varies. People feel this spot is talking to them personally. T he Story makes a deep emotional connection. Our client wanted a more connected counrry-
Cat Stevens sa ng the song. His Greatest Hits album moved into the Top 10 CD sales in New Zealand a month after launch. Emotional ResclIe 41
Human beings are powered by emotion, not by reason 5 wd y afte r study has proven that if rhe emotio n centers of o ur brain are damaged in so me way,
we do n't just lose th e ability to laugh or cry, we lose th e ability to make decisions. Alarm bells for eve ry business right there. T he neurologist Do nald Cain e puts it brilliantly:
"The essential difference between emotion and reason is that emotion leads to action while reason leads to conclusions." You don't have to be a brain surgeo n to get that. The rea li ty we face docs not require mastery of arca ne terminology, and it's not about evaluating
competing th eori es about how rhe mind wo rks o r how it is structu red.
T he brain is more complex, more densely connected, and mOfC mys terious than any o f LI S can dream. That's as much as we have to know. Emotio n and reason are intertwined , bur w hen they arc in conAic(, emotion wins
every time. W ithout the Aeeting and intense stim ulus of e motio n, rational rhouglu w inds down and disi ntegrates.
Maurice Levy, C hai rman of Publicis Groupe, owners of Saatchi & Saatchi, elaborates : "Consumers who make decisions based purely on facts represent a very small minority of the world's population . They are people without feelings, or perhaps people who put their heart and emotions in the fridge when they are leaving home in the morning, and only take them out again when they go back home in the evening. Although even for these people, there is always some product or service they buy based on impulse or emotion. 42 iovemar~A
"The vast majority of the population, however, consumes and shops with their mind and their heart, or if you prefer, their emotions. They look for a rational reason: what the product does and why it is a superior choice. And they take an emotional decision: I like it, I prefer it, I feel good about it. "The way this works is very subtle. Most of the time, before seeing something in detail, you have a sense of what it is. Before understanding, you feel. And making people feel good about a brand, getting a positive emotion, is key. This is what makes the difference. "To get emotion back into business in this period when cost-cutting is king is very difficult. People making decisions are tense, under pressure, and rationality is reassuring. But emotions
are more rewarding, both in the short and long-term. " [Maurie.: Levy, Chairman , Publicis Groupe, ParisI
Writer Vi rginia Postrel has a great example of how igno ring the real emotions of co nsumers ca n poi nt us in the wro ng dircnion. About ten yea rs ago, many wo me n's fashion retailers had the
sa me dumb idea : it's possi ble to rationally predict what women wa nt. Th e demographics sa id that wo men were gerring older and bigger and so perfect logic ki cked in. Older, bigger wo men are not go ing to be interested in yourh. novelty, or sex appeal. Bad call. Turned ou t that women didn't feel o ld er and bigger at all. They rushed to buy slinky slip-dresses and curvy, mini skirted bus iness suits. T he logicians tanked and th e few reta ilers who backed a genuin e understandin g of th e hum an hea rt did great. W hat is importa nt is to engage with the new realities of emotion. We must work out what they mean to us. How they affect behavio r. And then do someth ing different because of it. Marketing people talk about emorio n. They present charts and di agrams. even raise their voices and wave thei r arms, but fundamental ly they treat emotio n as . . .o ut-there, felt by so meone else and able to be manipula ted. Analyzing orher people's emotions and refusing to acknowledge ou r own dumps us in the same o ld ru t. W hat a waste. T he emotio ns are a serio lls o pportuni ry to get in rouch w ith co nsumers.
And best of all , emotio n is an unlimited resource. It's always there-waiting to be tapped with new ideas, new inspiratio ns, new ex periences.
So what kind of emotio ns are we talking about? Everyo ne has a different list, but peopl e tend to agree o n [wo points: first, emotions can be separated in to primary and secondary emotionsi and seco nd , most of ou r emotions are negative. Emotio ns can inspire and excite us. They ca n also fr ighten and threa ten us. It's survival. Our emotio ns tell us w hat's important, and in o ur ancient past it was smart to pay the most attentio n to the bad stuff. Emot ional Resclle 43
Chapter 4
My late father-in-law Don Honeywill played the famous sax intra on the Beatles song "All You Need Is Love ." It's a song that means a lot to me and my family. Intimacy in action. Plato gO t it right: "At the touch of Love, everyo ne beco mes a poet. " Or a cynic. I'm no cyn ic. At Saatchi & Saatchi our pursuit of Love and what it could mean for business has been focused and intense. People love people. We love ex periences, we love teams, we love events, we love abstract ideas like our country or town or cause. We love art. A nd we love sru ff The objects we make or buy or exchange. The objects rhar defin e who we are and where we sta nd. We are consumers by nature. For vi rtuall y all the world's c irizens, our possess ions add mea ning to our li ves. That's why we buy, exchange, give, rreasure, and possess them.
The things we ha ve chosen to
li ve with are nor in ert obj ects. We wrap o ur imaginat ions around th em. We ex press ourselves through th em. We make them into what we care about.
Sea n Fitzpatrick played for the New Zealand All Blacks rugby team for 12 yea rs. H e was one of the greatest ca ptains the ga me has known. H e told me what place Love has in a game as hard-fough t as rugby.
"To be in the All Blacks is about loving what you do. It's about caring for each other. The team is a family and you love your family. If you love your mate you're going to look after him and you're going to do anything for him. "That's the beauty of playing in a team. You have 15 guys who all have one goal in mind rather than a set of individual goals. A collective goal. The aim is to be successful. The aim is to win and to do everything you can to make yourselves better players and better people. At the same time you want to help your mates be better players and better people, the same as you would for your brothers or your sisters."
AJI You Need Is Love 5 1
Six truths about Love The
First
o ne is a warning. Human beings need Love. Without it they die. Sol itary
people without Love are three
to
fi ve times more likely
to
die early! Match this with plummeting
birth rates in many Western countries and major increases in the number of people living alone, and yo u've got to say that the wo rl d needs a lot more loving in it.
Next
comes a definition. Love means more than liking a lot. We are not ta lking
affection plus. Love is abo ut a profound sense of attachment. Want a reall y great metaphor' When resea rchers at Emory University in Atlanta track brain processes through sca ns, they can see different areas of the brain light up as they are engaged. How about that? We literall y light up! If yo u want a definition of Love, that's nOt a bad one.
Third, Love
is about responding, about delicate, intuitive sensing. Love is always
two-way. When it is not, it cannot live up to the name Love. Some people will always be better at it than othe rs, but we all have the capac ity and need for Love.
Our
Fourth
truth concerns who and what we love . Everyo ne knows about the glories of
romantic Love, but let's not forget the Love between couples who have been tOget her for years, Love within famil ies, the Love of close friends-very different relationships that join the experiences we love. For me, it's Bruce Sp ringsteen concens, Saturday nights, and a cold Becks beer. Whatever [urns you on.
Fifth, Love
takes time. The skill of respo nding
to
the emo tional rhythms of Love takes an
in vestment of years. Love has hisro ry. Love gives us meaning and makes us who we arc.
Finally, and
perhaps most profoundl y, Love cannot be com manded or demanded. It can
on ly be given. Like power, you get Love by giving it.
52 lovemarbh
"
I don't think there is anything higher than Love. I mean, I'm not sure what could possibly come after Love because Love is so expansive. I had such a difficult time coming up with a definition for Love in my book, but the way I define Love is the selfless promotion of the growth of the other. So to me, if you selflessly promote the growth of your customers and your colleagues, that's true Love. I don't know what more you could do for " someone. [Ti m Sanders. Chief Solutions Officer. Yahoo! . and aUl hor of 1-OI'l' Is the Killer rlpp]
, ,
Whenever someone asks me to define Love, I usually think for a minute, then I spin around and pin the guy's arm behind his back. Now who's asking the questions? , , lJack Handey, comicl
All You Need Is Love ).1
/II may not be a smart man, but I do know what Love is./I IForrest Gump]
''Love: Two minds
without a single thought." "Ah, good 01' trustworthy beer. [Philip Borry[
My Love for you will never die." IH >rner Sim psoni
"When Love and skill work together,
expect a masterpiece." "Love doesn't make the world go 'round. Love is what makes the ride worthwhile." IFranklin P Jones)
"People think Love is an emotion.
Love is good sens,~:'
54
ioV€mar~h
"I Love Mickey Mouse more than any woman I've ever known." /Y u
•
C
y
"Love keeps the cold out
better than a cloak./I [Henry Wadsworth Longfellow]
"Love does not consist of gazing at each other, but in looking outward together
in the same direction:' /I
Love is a canvas pattern furnished by Nature,
and embroidered by imagination:' [Voltaire]
/I
Love is the only sane and satisfactory answer
to the problem of human existence." [Erich Fromm]
"I'm in favor of Love
as long as it doesn't happen when the Simpsons are on TV./I [Anilo-oge 6J
When I fi rs t suggested that Love was the way to transform business, gtown CEO s blushed and slid down behind their annual accounts. But I kept at them.
I knew it was Love that was missing. I knew that Love was the only way to ante up the emotional temperature and create the new kinds of relationships brands needed. I knew that Love was the only way businesses could res pond to the rapid shift in control to consumers.
Once we got comfo rtable wi th saying the "L" wo rd, we delved more deeply into understanding its breadth and relevance to business. We wondered about a way to rank brands or anythin g else acco rding to the intensity of Love people felt for them. The really great things would be placed near the top with lesser ones towa rds the bottom.
Conventional wisdom says that brands are taking over people's lives. And that this is a bad thing. But maybe it works the other way. Maybe life is taking over brands. All You Need Is Love 57
relatIonships a catchphrase? brands could grow and evolve with richer and deeper conn s in the same way that people can in ir lives? the emotion that could make this rmlatiion was Love? ..
built on what?
Chapter 5
GIMME SOME RESPECT ~~
.
I
.
,
.,
r
.
The Lovemarks of this new century will be the brands and businesses that create genuine emo tional connections with the communities and networks they live in. T his means getting up close and personal. And no o ne is goin g to let yo u get close eno ugh to to uch them unless they respect what yo u do and who you are. Love needs Respect right from the start. W itho ut it, Love will no t last. It will fade like all passio ns and infatuations. Respect is what yo u need when yo u are in fo r the lo ng haul. Respect is one of the fo unding principles of Lovemarks .
II
Respect is love in plain clothes." [Frankie Byrne] Management loves the idea of Respect. It sounds serious and objective, easily measured and managed . In fact, Respect has been prodded and squeezed so often ovet the last century that its real power has been undervalued. Respect is the foundation of successful business. At Saatchi & Saatchi we decided o ne thing was mandatory from the get-go : No Respect, No Love. But Respect needs to be reinvigorated. We need to understand what it demands. We need to expand our Respect metrics from fin ancial and production performance to take on the deeper deman ds Respect makes of us. Respect looks to performance, reputatio n, and trust as its organizing principles. W ithin each of these principles I believe there is an inspiring code of conduct to lead yo u fo rward .
60 20vemarkh
Perform, perform, perform Respect grows o ut of performance. Perfo rma nce at each and every interactio n. Peak pe rformance is the u ltimate tablestake of all tablestakes .
Pursue innovation Inn ovatio n is kaizen, co ntinuous improve ment, for consume rs. Every busi ness roday is ex pected to innovate-a nd to innovate mean ingfull y while creating value.
Commit to total commitment Go ing the full distance is the price of Res pect. The new active consumer judges yo u at every encou nter, every touchpoint, and will punish failure by not coming back.
Make it easy The increas ing complexity of many goods and services has raised the stakes . The equatio n is sim ple. If it's hard to use, it will die. Goodbye VCR. Hello DVD.
Don't hide Peo ple ca n respect you only if they know who yo u are. Rem e mber, in today's Interne t e nviron ment th ere is nowhere YOli cannOt be found . Don't even try.
Jealously guard your reputation Built over a li fet ime. D estroyed in an instant. Consumers today are ruthless if yo u let them down. So don't.
Get in the lead and stay there To be o ut front can be lo nely and unco mfortable, bu t remem ber, the lead husky gets rhe best view.
Tell the truth Front up. Be o pen. Admit mistakes. Don't cover up, it will get yo u every tim e. Believe in yo urself- at t imes like this it may be th e o nl y thing yo u have. And at times like th is yo ur reputation is yo ur premium defense.
Gimme Some Rcs pcCl 61
Nurture integrity The corporate shake-ups of the last few years have put the spotlight bac k on integrity: the integrity of yo ur people, yo ur products, yo ur services, you r financial statements and, most importantly, yo ur perso nal integrity.
Accept responsibility Take on the biggest respo nsibility of all- to make the world a better place for eve ryone, creati ng self-esteem, wealth, prosperity, jobs, and choices . Quality is the measure by which yo u exceed expectations. Quality is all about sta ndards. Keep it simp le: set high standards and then exceed them . Meet, Beat, Repeat.
Never pull back on service Service is where transactio ns are transformed inro relationships. Where Respect meets Love. It is the first moment of truth.
Deliver great design Attention Economy 101. Competition is hot and getting hotter. If you're not aesthetically stimulating and functionally effective yo u just merge inro the crowd. You have to be different, not just act different.
Don't underestimate value Not just real dollar value but the perception of value. Only when people perceive the value they are getting as higher than the cost will they respect the deal you offer. Sam Walton built Wal -Mart, the biggest retail em pire in the world, by a rel entless foclIs on best val ue.
Deserve trust Consumers want to trllst you. They want yo u to remain true to the ideals and asp iratio ns you share with them. Practice what you preach. Never let them down.
Never, ever fail the reliability test Expectatio ns skyrocket: cars always sta rt the first time, the coffee's always ho t, the ATM is always open. Today reliabili ty is the door charge for Respect before the show begins.
62 20vemarb
It's a ro ugh list. Demanding and uncomprom isin g. Don't even drea m about Lovemark status unless you can tick off each and every item. The relationship between Respect and Love is deep, co mpellin g, symbiotic. At the risk of repea ting myself:
No Respect, No Love, No Respect, No Love, No Respect, No Love, Period. Gimlll c Some Rcspec[ 63
Five thomgs
to do t omorrow
Long before I joined Saarchi & Saatchi, I was aware that brands were entering an endgame. Being invited to be CEO of the most exciting advertising agency in the world certainly sharpened my focus. It was all very well knowing the problems with brands, but what was the solution' How could we inspire brands to evolve to the next level? The usual sruff like organizational change, rejigging structure, and smarter logistics wasn't going to do it.
There had to be something new, something that wou ld create
Loyalty Beyond Reason. My thinking started to crystallize around a line Tide used back in the 1970s. "Tide for cleaning you can Count on." I thought, "So mething you could always count on. That would be hugely valuable. That would be Loyalry Beyond Reason. " And the first word that came to me was trust. Many of our clients responded to the idea of trust. The Internet had put trust firmly on the agenda. Trust felt like part of the vocabulary. I was hot on the trail of something I thought of as Trustmarks when I met Alan Webber, Founding Editor of the business magazine Fast Company. We were at a top-to-top CEO forum at Cambridge University convened by P&G. Here's how Alan remembers it:
66 iovemarb.
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they know it but they haven't yet pop~ it up to the level of importance that it's worth. That's what happened in those roundtable conversaciolu lit ~e. "In my notebooks I just kept cirG~ of the! laagulige that Kevin was _"'''II~ .~ ••~ ~ about the emotions of maIi<1if.it1.g the nCed to migrate a brand leftIs of em'~t1on~.,..
meant. Yet here was a is tablestakes! Old go beyond the brand deeper into the .-elation-
----
/
\1) /'
/
I
My ideas were based o n work we had done compa ring brands with what we now know were emerging as Lovemarks. The best brands were Trustmarks, we had decided, but the grea t ones were Lovema rks. We charted the differences.
BRAND Information Recognized by consumers Generic Presents a narrative
The promise of quality Symbolic Defined Statement Defined attributes Values Professional Advertising agency
Qovemark Relatio nship Loved by people Personal C rea tes a Love s[Ory
The to uch of Sensuality Iconic Infused Sto ry W rap ped in Mys tery Spirit Pass io natel y creati ve
Ideas company
I said in the article: ''I'm sure that yo u can charge a premium for brands that people love. And I'm also sure that you can only have one Lovemark in any category." 70 ~ovemar~h
I was sure rhen. bur now I see I was wrong. Now rhar we have moved more deeply inro Lovemarks we ca n see rhar rhis was way roo narrow. The sushi shop on the corner of yo ur block ca n be a Lovemark to you. Lovem arks ca n be creared by designers. producers. service people, cities, and natio ns .
•s c
Can consumers make Lovemarks out of two products in the same category? As far as I'm concerned, they can do anything they damn well please! Love Is in the Air 7 1
One of the things that we all learn in our business careers is that language matters. That has been a hallmark of Ftlst ComptlllY. If you describe something or name something accurately, that coinage becomes not just a marketable product, it fundamentally changes the conversation, and people begin to reframe the way they think and talk to each other. They begin to create categories in their own business experience they didn't even know existed. "I definitely feel that's what our article with Kevin did. It opened up a whole new category where people could think about the way their companies perform. It's interesting that a recent Nobel prize for economics went to a couple of economists who were, once and for all, making it an official, acceptable fact that the most important part of economics is emotional. That emotion is one of the key elements of economic behavior. "One of the points Kevin was making in our article-and obviously it has emerged even more strongly-is that the way you relate to the market is, in many respects, making manifest that which is fundamentally intangible. It's not about the cost per thousand, or the rate, or what you are charging for this product. It's the way it feels, the way it represents itself, and then the way it either does or doesn't live up to those representations. [Alan \\ 'ehhcr. Founding Editor, Ftw
72 iovem a r~/.I
Comp'II~}'l
hapter 7
BEAUTIFUL OBSESSION
Lovemarks made immed iate sense. Every person we deal w ith is a n em otional hum an bei ng, a nd ye r b usiness had been rreari ng rhem like numbers. Ta rgets. Sra risrics. Res pecr was so merh ing rhar Saarchi & Saa tch i undersrood . Over rhe yea rs we had p ur a lo r of ri me in ro b uilding ou r cl iem s' p rodu cts in ro so me of the most highl y res peered bra nds in the wo rld. Now it was time to focus o n w hat made some b ra nds sta nd o u t fro m the crowd . W hat made so me brands Loved . W hen it ca me to working ou t wha t gave Lovema rks their special emo tional reso nance, we ca me prerry q uickly W :
Mystery Sensuality Intimacy T hese didn't so und like rrad itiona l brand a[(fibu tes. And they cap tured the new emo ti o nal co nnectio ns we were seekin g. As I have a lready rne nt io ned , we we re convinced from [h e sta rt by a ve ry impo rta nt idea thar beca me the hearr of Lovemarks.
Lovemarks are not owned by the manufacturers, the producers, the businesses. They are owned by the people who love them . Fro m there it was easy ro agree that yo u on ly get ro be a Lovemark whe n the people who love yo u tell YOLi so. But JUSt sirring aro u nd waiti ng fo r co nsumers to tell yo u yo u're a Love ma rk could mea n a ve ry lo ng wa it. Love is abo ut act ion. It's about creating a mea ni ngfu l relatio nship. It's a co nsta nr process of keep in g in to uch , wo rkin g w ith co nsume rs, understa ndin g them , spend ing time with the m. And this is what insightfu l marketers, empat het ic des igners, and sma rt peo pl e o n th e checko ut a nd produ crio n lin e d o every day. Now we we re ready to crea te o ur princip les.
74
iovemar~.1
:) Co nsume rs ca n smell a fake a m il e off. If yo u're not in Love with your own busin ess, they won't be either.
Th ey need to be brough t in to advising on new product d evelopment a nd working up ideas fo r services. In vo lve th em in everything, but the re is no point in just reAecting back what they have already ro ld YO LI. Make yo ur own commitme nt to change. Be creati ve.
" W ill yo u still love me tomo rrow'" Loyalty demands consiste ncy. C ha nge is fin e, but both partn ers must be fu ll participants.
Lovema rks are infused w ith powerful a nd evocative sto ries. At thei r best these g row inro mythical ta les. They recall th e great ad ve ntures of the busi ness, its products and th eir legendary consumers. Sto rytel ling gives luster by open ing up new meanings, con nections, and feel ings.
Lovcma rks a re, by defi nition , top of th eir class for the peopl e who love the m. Th e pass io n for a Lovema rk can be intense. At the fa r end of th e scale peop le will lay down th eir lives for a Lovemark. In fact, nations ma y well be so me of th e most powerfu l Love marks of them all.
Be:llHiful Obsession 75
We were seeing Lovemarks as highly charged emotional relationships. Whenever we talked Lovemarks we found ourselves referring to people we knew or had heard of. We asked ourselves:
How do families build up their vast reservoirs of Love? What Love inspires people to become extraordinary? When times are tough what kind of Love do people call on to see them through? What builds Loyalty that goes Beyond Reason?
Lovemarks could not be constrained by the world defin ed by brands and marketing. Sure th is world was important, bur Lovemarks had to be open
to more. Open to the local and to the global. To connect with people as well as services. Places as well as products. The objects peo ple make themselves as well as what they buy. Constantly testing our ideas against everyth ing that peopl e love, we agreed that Mystery, Sensual ity, and Intimacy are made up of the fo llowing elements:
76 iov€mar~/.o
.......
c
-
Commitment Empathy Passion
Th is was what we needed to generate ideas and insights. We were determined that Lovemarks we re go ing ro be more than an idea that could transform brands and marketing. They had to be a new point of view. A way (0 change how com panies see themselves and how they feel about consumers. And, as importantly, [0 change how co nsumers feel about business.
"If something gets to be a billiondollar brand, there's more going on than just a rational attachment. My feeling is that all the billion-dollar brands occupy a very special place in the heart among some consumers. That would make them Lovemarks."
Lovemarks would become nothing less than the future beyond brands.
A few jumped out. Not just major global brands, but brands with a stron g emotional connection with co nsum ers. Brands with a passionate gro up of people who loved them. Brands inspiring Loyalty Beyo nd Reaso n.
We created a test. We decided a brand might be a Lovema rk if it matched up to these sta tements: Lovemarks co nnect companies, their people and their brands Love marks inspire Loyalty Beyo nd Reason Lovemarks are owned by the people who love th em Th is was exciting. If Lovemarks could step up to this level, they wo uld become the ultimate premium-profit generators. Darwin wou ld have got it ri ght off. Fish to lizard. Monkey to man. Brand to Lovemark. An evo lutionary sta irway to heaven. We also bega n to play wit h suggestions as to what bra nds might already fit into our Love mark framework. After all, this was an idea that had emerged from what a select band of stellar performers were already doing brilliantly.
78 2 o VE m ar~>1
[J im
Stt:!1,!!d,
Clob.11 Markcting O lTic..:r, l'roctl'r & Cam hie]
Harley- Davidso n was one. We had all heard about how they had risen from th e dead , creating devoted customers and deli ve ring outstanding finan cial pe rfo rmance. Excited, we ran through our Lovemarks characte ristics. Harley's score was off th e charts- Myste ry, Sensuality, and Intimacy to burn. The iPod ? Fantastic. Coca-Cola? Another hit. Virgin Atlantic? Just ask Ben, my eldest son! We th en gOt a list of tOP global brands and thought about which ones seemed to us to be Lovemarks. We as ked people a round Saatchi & Saatchi what they thought, and instantly we found ourselves ca ught up in intense conversatIons. From these discussions we gathered together the Illost popular sugges tions to see how Love marks stacked up as a practical idea.
Even now, looking back, most of the brands we included o n that ea rl y list still look pretty good. In terms of our key elements- Mystery, Sensuali ty, and Intimacyour top 25 gave us a lot to think abour. Some made it in aJl three areas, so me didn't. Amazon , Apple, The Body Shop, CNN, Coca-Co la, Disney, Dyson , eBay, Google, H arley- Davidson, Italy, LEGO, Levi's, McDonald 's, Manchester United, Nelso n Mandela, Nike, Ni ntendo, Nokia, Pampers, Red Cross, Swatch , Toyota, Vespa, Virgin .
Pampers that worked exceptionally well for her child, the mother will have a very strong reaction! If you take away a CoverGirilip shade that looks just great with her coloring from a teenager, she will be angry. If you take away Tide with bleach, if you take away Ariel from loyal users, they will be angry. So these are measures of an emotional connection and an attachment to t he brand that goes beyond reason."
One thing that our Lovemark list did confirm: Lovemarks are personal. And they can be anything- a person, a country, a cat, an organ ization. Lovemarks are the charismati c brands that people love and fiercely protect. For keeps. You know them instantly.
The next task was to look carefully at
"Great brands have always been Lovemarks. What Lovemarks have done is give a structure in which to think about that. But I think as long as there have been brands with emotional attachments and connections and loyalty, there have been Lovemarks.
and develop our ideas.
[Jim S(cngcl, Glob,11 i\larkning Officer, Proc[cr & Cam bid
Mystery, Sensuality, & Intimacy, We were in for a few surprises.
"One way to think about what a Lovemark might be is to consider how a consumer would feel if you took the brand away. What would the person's reaction be? In our own business I know if you take away the
Beautiful Obsess ion 79
Five things to do tomorrow
-
ALL AVE TO D D
"I'll never understand you as long as I live!" Of everything peopl e say in a long-term loving relationship, that's th e killer. Th e on e that sums it up. Great relationships thrive on learning, anti c ipation , and surprise. When you know everything there is to know, there is nothing left to discover. No more wonder, no more o ppo rtunities .
No mo re relationships.
/
How many relationships come adrift because the spark goes out? And how often do experts and counselors prescribe more Mystery and surprise to re-ignite what has gone flat?
/ 82 iovemarbA
After giving a sermon 011 the Creation, a nzinister was surprised to hear an elderly parishioller tell him that she believed that the world rested 011 the back of a turtle. 1iJling to let her dowlI lightly, he asked what she thought held the turtle up. Rather puzzled, she replied "Allother turtle, of course. " The millister pushed harder. "Okay theil, so what holds that turtle up?" "Allother turtle," she said. "Alld dOIl't get your hopes up, young man. It's turtles, all the way down. "
W hen we were work ing through the essentials of a Lovemark, Mys tery was always at th e rop of the list. This may seem counterintuitive. Busin ess peop le
often feel that the more numbers they ca n throw at a brand , the more credibi lity sticks. This ma y get them to tag along with the march of scientifi c progress, but always at the ex pense of M yste ry. Fortunately, Mys tery is a parad ox . The more yo u strip away, the more Mysteries
yo u find. Ask neurologists, cosmo logists, biologists, and all the othe r "-ists." They will all tell yo u th e same process goes o n to infini ty-j ust like the turtles. As a child, I found highly detailed explanations numbin g. And all of us at one time or another have fel t the sobering pseudo-reality of nu mbers dump on what seemed to be an exciting idea . Remember the disappointment when yo u finally persuaded a friend to show yo u how a magic tr ick was done? On e m inute
YO LI
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eas ily you had been fooled. What a bum trade. Magic for trickery.
MOSl [JUSlne~ses c.rE.J
obsessed w th dow'lp ay ny Mystery. They '1re determl'l8d to frame thE' world so I! fits their ow., sy.:>te'll.:> dnd processes. All
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I-lave ro Do Is Drea m 83
No wonder they find it tough to communicate with anyo ne, including th eir ow n people. They pump out specificatio ns, deta ils, and diagrams. D efin e this benefi t, del ineate that target. Write plans a nd strategies backed up with statistics. Gives me a headache just thinkin g about it. And it's no t going to wo rk. Ir is nor go ing to work in rh e a irline business, the food business. th e clea nin g business, or a ny other busin ess. H ow can it? Every major industry playe r now has exactl y rhe sa me data , rhe sa me resea rch suppliers. the sa me techniques. the same processes, a nd, in ma ny cases, the same people, who've just changed companies but stayed in the industry. As Pete Seeger w rOte in his son g: "T he re's a green Oll e a nd a pink one and a blu e o ne and a yel low one, a nd th ey're all made OU[ of ti cky- tacky and they all look j ust the sa me."
Ac 10'lq as ::)"'0;:) e have 3 ,plYdtlons a'lO ~Ioa s a'ld C!redms, they w II dlw:1y0 JdV8 tv-y ,tpry Who('ver heard of llYO,18 r
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Th e great thin g abo U[ M ys tery is that it is beyo nd rati onal ity, beyo nd calculation. But Myste ry is under pressure evcryvv he re. From th e bureaucrats, the inc re mental ists, rh e traditionalists, th e we've- never-had- it-so -good brigade, the don't- rock-the- boat crew, and of course, rhe cul t of rhe Village G reen Preservation Society! And it is erod ing befo re o ur eyes. Tak ing acti o n o n Mys tery sou nds pa rad oxica l, but that is exactl y what we mu st do. C reatin g M ys tery is a n an. l
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If you believe in Mystery, clap your hands. Peter Pan got it right. When Tinkerbell was clocking our because no one believed in her anymo re, he asked the children of the world to revive her by clapping . Loudly. It worked. That is what Mystery needs, a surge of faith in its power. T he power of Mystery. You know it when yo u feel it. Marilyn Monroe had Mystery. Still does. Russell C rowe has got it-as a dangerous skinhead in Romper Stomper to MaxiI1lus to a recl usive mathematical genius.
The cloak of Mystery forces us to find our own meanings, our own sense of what is important in our lives. And it often does it through a revelation, a thunderbolt. What the French call a coup de fludre. Everything changes. This is what made The Lord of the Rings, C hanel No.5, and Red Bull into Lovemarks for their devo tees.
Mystery opens up emotion. Mystery adds to the complexity of relationships and experiences. It lies In the stories, metaphors, and iconic characters that give a relationship its texture. Mystery is a key part of creating Loyalty Beyond Reason.
A visionary at Visionaire Cecil ia Dean unde rsta nds the el usive charm of Mystery. With her pa rtne rs Steph en Gan and James Kaliardos, she co-founded in 199 1 the extraordin ary publ icatio n Visiontlire. Issuing out of New Yo rk three or fo ur tim es a yea r, Visionaire is a testament to th e powe r of Mys tery. It has an excl usive rep matio n. Complete edito rial integrity. A hi p add ress in SoHo. Wo rldbea ting image- makers. An unl ikel y marriage of fashion and co ntempora ry art. All insp ired by a new theme for each issue: Aipbooks, Lo uis Vuirron satch els, injection -mo lded plasti c cases, vi ntage novels. Each issue re inve nts the co ncep t of Visioflnire and plays w ith the infi nite possibil iti es of fo rm and co ntent. I see copies of Visionaire o n the tables of Saatchi & Saa tchi creatives throughout the world. Why' Beca use it gives them a heady mix of soph isticatio n and Mys te ry, inspiring ideas wrapped into a surp risi ng and sensual objecr. 86 iovemarkh
~ 1.' t1iinkmysterY" i; "really, ..eally imp'!:~!flf.t~~e invite very few people into the back offices of V~One of the biggest 'do~nfalls,ofHollywood is that celebrities no longer have any' mystery. i-It~~g<1il1 your dirry laundry in every tabloid is not what I call deeply mysterious. Unfortunately most of these celebrities a just like you and me. Who wants always to be reminded of that?
"Stephen Said, 'Uets /inC! mousand of romance novels ' l\iid diat reatly started driving the issue. There was this idea that ch book was going to be different and that the~ all had to be hardcover novels, hopefully with a Love story. Practically every novel has LOve in it anyway, so that was not too hard. And then on top of all these C!ifferent novels, we were gening highly personal work from these great photographers, so it started coming together like that.
Mystery's high five G reat stories ; combining the past , present, and future; tapping into dreams; great myths
and icons; and instilling inspiration .
1. Tell your stories Stories feed Lovemarks . They are how we explain the world to ourselves and give value to the things we love. We all know how a great story at the right moment can change our minds or release that viral "Oh-now-l-gcr-it. " The Maori people of New Zealand talk about surtounding their great treasures with "in teresting talk. " This, th ey believe, increases the marla (standing) of the object. I believe this too. I have seen "interesting talk" wo rk its mag ic time after time.
Just before Buck Shelford , an insp irational leader and captain of New Zealand 's All Blacks rugby team, led his playe rs OntO the field to defend the nation's pride, his final words drew on his own Maori heritage. Kia Kaha. Be Strong. For every All Black, no opposition is as intimidating as their own legacy. The world of information is a tough place to stimulate any change of emotion or action. Lovemarks use sco ries to show why information matters. That word "content" depresses me. No point of view. No energy. A generic label for generic stuff. Shovel-ware. It's for swo rn-in members of the commodification mafia. Stories have huge value in business because rhey look in the righr direction. At people. You cannor tell a sto ry without characte rs and emotion and sensory detail. Even the dumbest road-crossing-chicken jokes have it. And they capture us faster than the most elaborately produced annual report.
Q; \'(thy did the chicke n cross the road?
88 ~ovemarkA
A: To prove
(0
the possum it could aelUall), be do ne!
A picture may be worth a thousand words, but terrific stories are right up there with them. So it is no surprise tha t 30-second telev isio n co mme rcials ca n create powerful emot io nal co nnections like nothing else. They ate the most compelling sellin g tool ever inve nted. Peopl e who say that telev isio n ads are a thing o f the past just do n't get it. First. they tho ught that 500 cha nnels would kill o ff TV ads. But no, media buye rs juSt picked the channels peo ple watc hed. Sa m e sto ry wi th T iVo and an y o the r filtering devices anyone wa nts to put up. W hat peo ple hate a re bo rin g 3D-second co mmercials. Great 3D-seco nd co mmercials, they love. T hat's why there a re who le TV shows that play nothing but comm ercials. And why do peo ple love them ? Because they tell stories . And peo ple love being told a story. Annette Simmons is an ex pert in storytelling. She touches the central point precisely: "When you tell a story that touches me, you give me the gift o f human attention- the kind that connects me to yo u , that to uches my hea rt and m akes me feel more ali ve." Ad ve rtis ing is part of pop culture, like music, T V, movies, celebrity goss ip. The stuff o f the context o f our lives . We talk about great ads in ba rs, on buses, at wo rk, w ith our famili es, aro und the watercooler. We ra rel y debate statistics there.
A great story can never be told too often. JUSt look at the ones that e ndu re to become myths and legends. W hy' Beca use the re is always someone new ready to liste n for the first time. Lexus has always valued sto ries . They m ay no t use them in ad ve rtisin g, but they permeate the Lexus cultu re, a nd es peciall y the dealerships. And o ften it is the dealers who turn out to be the heroes of grea t sto ries. My favo rite Lexus sto ry? Imagi ne you're in yo ur Lexus dri vin g to th e hospital w ith yo ur p regna nt wi fe. You know yo u are not goin g to make it and just th e n your local Lex us d ealership co mes into view. Th at is exactl y w hat happe ned to M ark a nd his wife. They pull ed in a nd with the help o f the Lex us people delive red the baby. But th e suppOrt didn't Sto p th ere . They loa ned him a nother ca r, cleaned up his, and ge nerall y played proud relati ves . Wh at cou ld Ma rk a nd h is w ife d o in re turn ' They na med their da ugh te r [sabella Alex us.
All I H ave to Do Is Dream 89
The James Bo nd franchise. launched in 1962 wit h Dr. No. has also got a lot to tell us about lo ng-term success in the multi-billion dollar enterta inment industry. The question has gor to be: W hy is this Englishman who is consrantl y pirted aga inst glo bal crime cza rs still with us' Many others have tried to topple him. but even the Terminator was no match for the spiffy British spy. The reason is simple. The legendary movie magnate Samuel Goldwyn nailed it: James Bo nd movies tell a simple sto ry. tel l it well . and tell it every tim e. Love marks adapt to new generations of co nsum ers while being ve ry clear about their story. Then th ere is th e Spanish com pany. Camper. They start wit h the sto ry of
'-
___________
Majorca. the island in Spain where ~~:::=:::::Ca mper was born in 1976. but they also reach backwards to abso rb the craft and skill of generatio ns of shoemakers long before Ca mper itself was established . By artac hing themselves in this way to rrad irio n. the co mpany very consciously created an overall Ca mper style and philosop hy of life. and a sto ry of o rigin and trad it ion. Parado xica lly. this solid found atio n in the past has pushed them forward to make so me of the hippest shoes around. Shoes where so me styles ha ve a different-sized right foot and left foot. Shoes that may have messages an d poems inscribed into their soles. Shoes with stories on the label s. Lovemarks know how to mine and treasure their sto ries. They know that stories arc told by people. by individuals. You can't wo rk th em up o n a whiteboard in a meeting room and sti ll expecr them to co nnec(. Where do the real stories come from ? From people. From the people who love what you do. and from the peopl e who may nor love yo u but care enough to res pond. G reat brands have always been surrounded by great sto ries. Brand s aspiring to be Lovemarks Illllst deve lop inruiri ve listening ski ll s and ways ro harvest stories of dl eir co nsumer ex periences.
90 iovemarbl.o
2 . Use your past , present, and future Lovemarks a re like the best fam ili es~tI"ley co mbin e learning from the pas t with the dynami cs of the present to create great futures. Acknowledging how the past. present, and future are entwin ed was o ne of th e guiding prin ciples of Walt Disney as he built the Disney Corporation out of a short cartoo n about a mouse.
"To all that come to this happy place: Welcome. Disneyland is you r land. Here age relives fond memories of the past, and here youth may savor tbe challenge and promise of the future. Disneyland is dedicated to the ideals, the dreams, and the hard focts that have created America... with hope that it wilL be a source of joy a1ld inspi1'fltioll to the world. " 1\ kllHlri.tl l
W hen yo u experience so methin g you feel might be a Lovemark, ch eck out how it ac knowledges the past as it heads [0 rhe furure. No connections-no Lovcmark.
I'm not talking about cheap nostalgia, but the unshakeable conviction that the past shapes the present. Watching businesses shed their history like so much unwanted slUn makes me sad . What a waste.
All I Have
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Why do great gene rals stud y battles from ea rlie r tim es? Not to work out troop d eployment, tha t's for sure. They are looking for evidence of how peop le react [Q extreme situat ion s. How they react emotion all y. A nd how t hey ca n use th ese insights. It is said that there are 364 days to practice ... and one St. Patrick's Day. This is the Irish spirit tha t has inspired Cuillness to become a wo rld-fa mous Lovemark. Fueled by the renaissance of Irish culture since the 1980s, the G uinness brand has wasted no time in staking its claim to the Irish past , present, and future everywhere. Es peciall y in Jim O ' Mahony and Stan O ' Keefe's pub, Warners, in Cathedral Square in C hristchurc h, New Zealand. Th e G uinness Sto rehouse visitor center in Dublin transfo rmed the old St. James' Gate Brewery into the "Home, H eart, and Soul of G uinness Beer. " Set to become a majo r tourist attraction , the Srorehouse dee ply connects the Guinness brand with Irish natio nal history.
Then, when you add a powerfully emotional link to the 3,000 or so Irish pubs around the world selling the Irish dream, you have what comes close to a religious movement. 92 ~ovEmarkA
T he ge nius of the Gu inness brand is that it doesn't on ly connect with people in places to w hi ch the Irish have emigrated. Guin ness beer was nrst exported to Africa in 1827, and from this fo undation an extraordinary trad ition has grown up. The G uinness bra nd in Africa speaks of the future as well as the pas t. T he luck of the Irish indeed. Some co mpanies make the most of their heri tage and still can draw it brilliantly into th e present. Take th e German automobi le
Audi. T he class ic logo embodies th e fa ct that irs past, present, and future are in extri cably entw in ed. T he fOllr sil ve r rin gs represent th e four companies (Wa nderer, D KW, H o rch , and Aud i) th at ca m e rogether in 1932 ro fo rm the Auro Union th at became Audi. How th en could they res ist becoming th e official car of th e Lord of the Rings trilogy'
m y pe rsonal Love mark. Th ey a re o ne o f the most successful team s in th e hisrory of sport. T he All Blacks have a saying that slims it up: " Preserving your body never enters your m ind. Preserving your history never leaves it. "
3. Tap into dreams Lovemarks know that th eir emotio nal legacy can in spi re pass io n For current proj ects a nd inspire Loyalty Beyo nd Reason. Look at C heerios, a g reat Alll cri can Love mark. O ve r the yea rs, our client Ge neral M ills has understood that, ro milli o ns of Ameri ca n fa milies, C heeri os is mo rc th an JUSt a breakfas t cerea l. For instance, it can be a targe t. SOlll e little boys are taught ro aim with [he help of a C heeri o rin g in the bo tto m of th e potty' Th e creation of a Lovem ark is cumulati ve. [f YOLI don't understand what you mea n ro the gra ndparents, it's rough to und erstand what the nex t ge neration needs. T his is why a Lovemark never freezes in pl ace. If yo u can't res pond , there is no way yo u ca n be a Lovem ark.
Dream s create ac tion and actio n inspires dreams. N ow that's what [ call a virtuous cycle' It all com es down ro this. If we know what consume rs dream , it can only be because we are trusted and loved.
Brands wasted years fixating on information, boring people rigid with stuff they didn't want to know. Lovemarks know that th e people who love th em are pass ion ate, em o tional, a nd ofte n irratio nal human beings . W hat th ey are not are sta tistics o r bullet points in the findin gs of som e nerd y focus g roup.
If you want to see the past, present, and future working brilliantly together, look to sport.
It's all about listenin g. N ot just keepin g your mouth closed between each o f yo ur brilliant statem e nts, but reall y li stenin g.
W hen I was working o n the book Peak Performance with m y colleag ues Cli ve G ilson , M ike Pratt, and Ed Wey mes from Wai ka ro Ma nage m ent School, we found that successful teams al ways lionize th eir past. T he N ew Zealand All Blacks are my own favorite team ,
Tapping inro drea ms is a powe rful way of showing peo ple th at we understand th eir d es ires and can transform th em into delig ht. The relationship berween brands and con sumers has bee n irrevoca bly changed. T h e change is a big on e. And so are the rewards.
All I Have to Do Is Dream 93
Maurice Levy, C hairman of Publicis G roupe, sums it up:
"The idea of moving from a brand to a Lovemark means, for me, changing the relationship between the consumer and the brand. This change is from a rational decision to buy a brand to an irrational, passionate decision to be loyal to that brand. And you will find that, as the brand becomes a Lovemark, it will be forgiven for its mistakes. Lack of innovation, perhaps not always the best timing or the best price. In a Lovemark the bond between the brand and the consumer is very strong. It has moved from a rational 'I'm buying this because it has me getting this or that' to 'I'm buying this because I really love it.' It is adding to something that we call in France les gratifications psychologiques. It's giving you something that we callies supplements d 'dme-supplementing the soul. Now you can build loyalty with the consumer, which goes far beyond what you can get by being a brand, or a mega-brand. It is a step which is fantastic to take." And then there are the dreams that inspire businesses. The founding vision of Microsoft was a great o ne:
A computer on every desk and in every home . Of course, around the late 1990s, their dream had been pretty well realized, so they began looking around for something fresh and new. The proles replaced the visionary. T hey decided on :
Empower people through great software-any time, any place, and on any device. Gee, that's catchy! Back to the drawing board, guys. But how about this for an emotional and realizable dream'
"I believe this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth." [Presiden t Joh n E Ke nnedy. , pcct'h to U.S.
Congres~,
i\by 21. 1961]
Neil Armstrong, Apollo 11 , Jul y 20, 1969: Mission accomplished. 94 20vEmark,.,
One of the least understood business secrets of our time has to be Uncle Walt's:
"If you can dream it, you can do it." The class ic drea m-merchants are Harley-Davidson. They revived their fortunes on the brilliant insight that the middl e-aged still want to rock and roll.
They dream that one day they too will "put the map trash and ride."
In
the
No matter that you are riding to the rul es of the road on Interstate highways, the Harley drea m is as real as the roar. Freedom and the spirit of adventure rul e.
Anita Roddi ck understood the power of dreams. It was her dreams that powered th e pass ions of Th e Body Shop. From one tin y Outler in Brighton , England in 1976, The Body Shop has grown ro more than 1,900 srores in almost 50 countries. Anita Roddick's personal philosophy started a business empire fi xed on corporate social respo nsibility. The Body Shop taps into the dreams of th eir consumers for a better world . The dream of mys terious and exotic ingredients-jojoba oil, bergamor, and cal endula. And the Roddick dreams survived even after sh e stepped down as CEO. As one of The Body Shop ads so as tutely stared:
All
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Have to Do Is Dream 95
4. Nurture your myths and icons Nothing cuts through everyd ay clutter better than m yths and icon s. Why? Because they are memorabl e and memory is the we llspring of the h ea rt. M any grea t Lovema rks a re also g reat Icon s.
The Sydney Opera House Desi gned by the grea t Dane, jmn Utzon, its swooping sa ils defi ne Austral ian confidence and Sydn ey's emotional co nnection with rhe ocean. Th e inspi ra tion came out of di viding a small wooden sphere like an orange. Th e original model is in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art (an o ther icon) in New York.
Nike's Swoosh A big tick for one of the most stunning branding campaigns of the 20th century. N ike's Swoosh Design trade mark was designed by Ca ro lyn Davidson in res ponse to Philip Kni ght's brief that it suggest "movem ent. " Sure moved a lot of sports gear and changed the face of logo des ign. Across th e Internet , ro gue webs ites plot th e "Swoos hifi cation" of the world.
In times of crisis and danger the cross and c rescent ico ns of rhe International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movem ent seize attentio n and emotion. Th ey are symbol s of real sa nc tuary and rea l aid. Founded in 1863, the Movement has made its ico ns li ve in th e simplest possible way.
The International Red Cross and Red Crescent keep the promise they have made to alleviate human suffering wherever it may be found . The cross and the crescent give shape to that inspiring goal. 96 iovemarkJ..
Hello Kitty Born out of the Lovemarks idea that "a small gift can bring a big smile to a child ," the famous Japanese cat with no mouth is justly loved by chi ldren- and teens-across the world .
Nelson Mandela A man who has become a metaphor for doing what's right, and holding to you r principles.
Starbucks The medallion logo that signals the smell of fresh coffee around the world. How cool of this Seattle-based business to name themselves after a mythic character from the classic novel Moby Dick.
Smiley face I often use this iconic image. Fro m short-hand squ iggles on the bottom of notes to the su nn y yellow badge, the sm il ey face is a simp le ray of sunshine.
All I Have to Do Is Dream 97
C reating iconi c characters fo r M&M's was a grea t idea. It propelled them past the found ers Mr. Mars and Mr. Murrie to icon heaven. And when the colors Red and Yellow appoi nted themselves Spokescandies for th e new millenn ium, the Love quotient went through the roof.
M&M's work as icons not only because of their compelling graphic character, but also because of their feisty attitude and style. Their humor and irreverence. The candies with the endearing self-centeredness. Big kids. Love mark relat ionships are demanding ones. It's not enough to get it, and then forget it. Ico ns need Love (00. Fam iliarity can eas ily breed indifference. Or worse.
98 iOYEmarb,
Like Lovemarks, icons too must respond to the hopes, fears, and needs of new generations. The powe r of m any icons co mes from the touch of the person w ho c reated them . 1 ha ve hu ge admiration for professional d esigners, but sometimes th e professional process can blum passio n. A great ico n is direct. It is a response (0 a need rather than a step in corpo rate d evelopm en t. My pick for a fu ture global Lovemark' Toyota's ma rvellous ca r for the 2 1st cent ury, the Prius.
brands can be Lovanarb. out with some of the greatest . . world when I was researching the book P~ak Pnformanct with my colleagues. Our question was, "How do elite organizations sustain Peak Performance?" We might also have asked, ''And why are these organizations so often Lovemarks?" Do yo u want to see Love in ac tio n? Go to a local game and watch the faces of the fans when
rinp. the flame, and the medals as wdI as the sensua1 excitement of the opening events and competitions, the Intimacy of personal achievement, and the passion of thousands of athletes competing-the Olympics is a textbook Lovemark. Any business that aspires to become a Lovemark should have at least one day-long workshop a year developing insights from this mighty sporting event. Our research into team s that people are passio nate about- the Australian cricket team , Fe Bayern Munich, the New York Yankeesrevealed the sam e inspirational spiri t that typ ifies great Lovemarks.
As we wtote in Peak Performance: "They experience pass io n, elation , and heartache, and they secure meaning and purpose from their commjonenr to their chosen team and sports code. "
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"The reign of the poetical has s~ ."
100
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When it co mes to the senses, there is one day I will neve r fo rget. M y first visit to th e Middle East in 1972 . Beirut. The dazzling light a nd in credible textures, the chaos of traffi c and peo pl e, the brilli ant colo rs a nd the dark, ripe smells of a street ma rket culture. Yo u could tas te th e a ir. After a coupl e of days there I was exhausted by the strange richness o f it all. As someo ne who cha mpioned c ha nge, I still found myself ove rwhelm ed. Like so m a ny b efore me, I was experiencing c ulture shock. The cure? Ta ke time out. Let your senses recove r. Calm dow n. Ass imilate. And then get back into it' Later, when I found out that, in English , the word fo r th e "senses" comes fro m the Latin sentire, "to fee!," it made perfect sense!
The senses are the fast track to human emotions, Direct, provoca ti ve, im mediate. To ugh to fool. Even to ugher to override. T he senses speak to the mind in the la nguage of emotio ns, not words. Emotions alert us to how impo rtant th e findings of o ur senses are, not o nl y (0 our well-being, but indeed ( 0 our ve ry survival. All o f our knowledge co mes to us thtough the senses, but they are far more than sophisti cated gathe rers o f inform atio n. The senses interpret a nd prioritize. W he n we feel emotion all y connected , we say, "That makes sense." Lovemarks a re created by emo tional connections w ith consum ers in ways that go beyond rational arguments and benefi ts . We need to learn the language o f th e senses to make this happen. But this is to ugher than simply doin g more-adding fragrance, taste, texture. Pumping up the volume.
In the sensual world , faster, brighter, louder hit the wall real qui ck. People turn off a nd yo u lose them . Love ma rks need Sensuality, but they need it with a hum an touch.
Why do sensualists get such a bad rap? We should be co mbing the world fo r them.
The H uman 'Touch 105
The race to embrace the senses O ver the last 20 years, I have watched science and technology accelerate their mas tery of the senses . High-tech instruments designed to measure minute effects. Hundreds of publications, patents, a nd trademarks. W hat is dri ving this frenzy of acti vity? The understanding o f how impo rtant the senses are to human decision -
makin g an d to persuasio n. T he misunderstanding of how this relationship wo rks. But the appro ac hes to date have been [00 narrow, ro o analytical, too rati onal , and damn me tri c.
(00
Lovemarks are the missing link . There have been huge in ves tments into sensual innovation
over the last few decades . The Colonel's secret recipe, the shape of the Coca-Cola bottl e, the scent of a thousand perfum es, ho me sound-systems to die for, fabrics that mimic every possible natural surface. If you can sense it, they are getting cl ose to being able to make it. The Economist tells us that th e Ilavor and fra gran ce in d ustri es have global sales acco untin g fo r more th an a third of the $35-billion-a-year food ingredi ents market. A nd thi s is just the start. The pro mi se of biotechnology is virtually untapped.
Jr's a huge market, but still seriously lacking in two areas . Im aginatio n and ideas. W hen I look at what is happenin g in th e Aavor, food , and fragrance industries aro und the wo rld , l find them trapped in a race down the road to commodificatio n. They are obsessed by all the sruff that sho uld be treated as tabl estakes : co nsistency, ease of productio n, efficiency. They push deeply into ingredients, shapes, and surfaces, but always
unleash them. 106 iovemarkA.
to
control their power, no t
These indllstries now need to connect with what people feel and want, not simply with what can be delivered. The only breakthroughs will on ly come with and/and. Taste and textllre. Sight and sou nd. Taste and touch . Smell and taste.
Our senses work together, ard whe'l they are stimulated at the same time, the results are unforgettable Ask anyone wro has ~npd the dreaded ASian frUit, durian. Loot<.s Ike an aggressive mango. Smells like a sew€' .
For those who can get past the smell , the taste is supposed to be out of this wo rld. But who ca n get close enough to prove it' And it is where the senses wo rk together that you find that indefi nable s ixth sense we ca ll intuition. Impossible to measure, it gets di scounted from every business equa tion. Bur when yo ur focus is connectin g w ith consumers, intuition matters.
Th e Human TOLl ch 107
Making sense of the senses Sight, heating, smell, touch, taste. We're all gifted with a wide array of senses. Conventionally, we have categorized them into the Big Fi ve. But don't forget our other vital senses, co nstantl y mo nitoring our body: Are we warm or cold ? Upright. .. or nor? Getting enough oxygen' Putting one foot in front of the other? Are we walking'
The human senses are extraordinari ly refin ed. Apparently we notice if synchroni zation of the senses is off by more than 50 mi croseco nds!
It seems strange that as our li ves and experi ences have become more complex, we have tended to dow nplay our senses rather than pay more attention to their guidance. Yet it is sti ll our senses that kick us into action. The smell of smoke putS us on full alert. Fight or fli ght? And the senses can also calm and soothe us. Stroking the smooth skin of a baby. Breathing in a salt-flavo red breeze. The range of our senses is extraordinary. Thank evolutio n once again. The world co nstantl y cha nges . Who won the evo lution game? Hands up. Answer: the ones who respo nded fastest to the widest range of stimulation and information . And they won hands down.
The senses alert us, enflame us, warn us as well as fill our hearts with joy. They have protected and enriched us throughout our evolutionary story. Without Sensuality our existence wou ld become unbearably bland and ultimately, impossible.
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Crayol~, it tur~t o,\t;' are sensualists after my And CraJ>ola has somecimes .lidw~d too, j 0 ,.:') \ heart. T~eir passion is to combine color, low to the spirit o~ tbe time. Like ~hen smell, ')lid the feel of die crayons on the page they replaced the memorable "Blesh'~ into an 'unforgettable ~ensual experience. with the bland- ~ Peath." Or )'dien they Their ~u' cess h is bee ' so great that the decided t6 '; name Indian Red, and went Smidisonianlnstituti\'ln ;rrWashington"rf.c. , /. t~ consumers for suggestiJ ns. Great idea, .' ' . • but sadly they ch6se "Chestnut" ahead told their story:' ,I . •, ' ,I /' , , /~ £ 't h '4 I th · · . /,.!' ~( I' ,. 0 e two top runners-up, e tntrtgumg /
The' sme of Crayola'~rayons £#'es manyaf "" ':aaseball Mitt Brown" ~d the fantastic us on a:itQqstop t6p back to ·childhood. Who ."The Crjly.,"n Formerly Knowii' As (apart from y~e 'U)llversitY rese~che!s) ' , Jndi~.Red."· knows ·that,the sme~l,df crayons rank at ~. ~ -: . d umber 18 J mong the 20 most re~~gnizab!~ , .14 2003, e~la was ad on the retirement smells in the U ired States- with coffee and' r traily li~kin the public to "save jloshade." peanut bur'ter coming in at n;st ""d second? " 9i eAV~~ oryJ/ie block, one to be ,saved. , " . InsptratIo " /'! nal onsumer J0 d'1 on • ' " 4 Over thel~t 100 {ears, m.ore than 60'9. ' . 'r y.iwilldare.com exptaine4: ". shades of.<::raY,9la crayon~ have been pr (luced.,·. '" Time for. focus: '14 Ju.n'e J 990, the owners 'of "The five colors up for ousting a~e Burn t Crayola, Binp' Yr & Smith, decided w .retire ' "" '5ienna/ Bli~d Blue, Mt}lberry, Teal Blue, sOl1)e oftli.e.older colorsful repla! .,.them • and Magic)l.int. Yes, Magic Mint-what in ~ helI color is•. Magic.Mint? And really, with brighter, slfar~e'i'one . 'fhis was 'a ~ sensible, .rational dec'ision res~ondib.g to the • blizzards aren't blue, so that should auto,.,mati cally disqualifY Blizzard Blue from changing environme our kids live ilf. TV staying. What will happen (0 scenes of shows, clothing, toys-vibrant color showcases every one.~ , autumn days if Burnt Sienna is ousted? I ,I " • t" What about hors; s? Brown-haired people? Bridges, log 'cabins, amber waves of grain? "Not so fast, " said a band' of,"crayo)a ns. . Calling themselves RUMPS (tlie ~w Umber ' None of'these will be possible without , Burnt Sienna, Raw will not do. and Maize Preservation SO),iety, after two Brown is too trashed tints) , they picketed Crayola HQ. RUMPS was joined by another angry group: it. We need B~rnt CRAYON (Committee to Re-establish All I beg of you- help Your Old Norms). Log on to Crav()la"col Burnt Sienna. Knowing Loyalty Beyond Reason when they saw it, Crayola quickly backed down and Thank you, Jodi. re-released the old colors in a special (feel free to pass this on)" co mmemo rati ve colleC[io n!
•
The senses of the world Our senses remind us who we are-whar feels safe and fam iliar. The textu re of both homi ny grits and Molokhiyya, the Arab soup, a re an offense to many palettes. The Japanese fi nd the extravagant arm gestures of Europeans alarming. Sp ices that leave serio us burns o n some lips bring on ly a mi ld sweat to a Mumbai curry aficio nado. A quick sea rch of Google shows yo u that the Inuit apparently have distinct wo rds for many different types of snow that would all look the same to me.
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Richard Branson has got to be one of the great sensualists of o ur time. The only big place I buy music from is Virgin. (The best "s mall" place is Hea r, in Seattle-try it.) With their in-store headset stations, Virgin was the first to let me listen to the music I wanted to hear, not th e music so me punk happell ed to be playing. Virgin Atlantic is a triumph of the senses. From the music room ill the Upper-Class lo unge to the totally cool recl ining seats in the cabi n. I have seen grown adults spend 20 minutes playing around with rhe sears, raising and lowering the plush red recliners. And then there are the massages, the facials, the bar. And as for ill-Aight shoppin g, Virgin goes past rh e spirits, cigs, and perfume formula with a ve ry savvy collectio n of stuff And how do they gro up them ' Rig ht, by the senses.
On a clear day you can see fo rever. Sight is a wonder. Our eyes absorb an incred ibl e amount of info rmation , and they do it fast. Little wo nder thar process ing all this informatio n takes up so mething like two-thirds of o ur cereb ral co rrex.
The fact is that humans think in images, no r wo rds. Try sayi ng "T IGER" to a fr iend and ask her what she saw in her mind 's eye. It won't be the letters T-I-G-E-R, [ can tell yo u that. No, she will have seen an image of orange and b lack stripes. T hat is why all memory CO ll rses use images and visual sto ries to help people remember stu ff.
Putumayo World Music also has a distin cti ve visual style. The bold g raphi cs on all o f their C D covers are created by N icola H eindl. In her work, the traditio nal and the contemporary meet, just as they do in Purumayo's music. Da n Storper explains:
"1 bought a greeting card that Nicola had designed when 1 was in England 12 years ago. By coincidence, a friend of hers, Susan Brynner, was the display director for our retail stores, and she noticed the card on my bulletin board. She mentioned that Nicola was coming over from London and asked if I'd like to meet her. 1 was very interested, particularly because I'd already decided to start a CD series and thought her style would work well. Nicola agreed to create the first covers, and we've developed a long-term exclusive agreement for commercial products since then. We are currently planning a series of products utilizing her artwork, including culturally-themed note cards, travel journals, calendars, and books."
T he H uma n Touch I 13
u .
ntverse?',
In 2002, a couple of astronomers from Johns Hopkins University announced a mass ive turnarou nd. The universe, they announced, was nOt pale turquoise, as they had previously stated . The universe was beige. Karl Glazebrook and Ivan Baldry had been tripped up by a bug in their software, and Karl confessed all. "This is embarrassing but this is science. We are nOt like politicians. If we make mistakes we admit them. That's how science works. " They may be scientists, but these guys know the power of a good name. They figured "beige" was not going to do it and turned to their colleagues. The top ten suggestions from other Johns Hopkins astronomers were:
Cappuccino Cosmico, Cosmic Cream, Astronomer Green, Astronomical Almond, Skyvory, Univeige, Cosmic Latt8, Big-Bang Buff/Blush/Beige, Cosmic Khaki, Primordial Clam Chowder.
Ground control Color is a billion-dollar business, and Pantone is out front controlling it. I get to see a lot of designers, and they all share one rool. The Pan tone color range. Although Pantone has now moved over to on-line color matching, th e unmistakable bulky swatches are still to be found in shelves, on desks, and next to screens all over the world. Pan tone writes the new language of co lor. Thousands of colors, sorted, graded, and named. Thousands of colo rs matched around the globe. I understand co nsistency and clari ty is crucial for manufacturers, but the level of control bothers me. r guess as the range gets more and more minutely differentiated, it beco mes un wieldy an d we are kind of back to where we started. Pan to ne, like th e folks at th e United States- based Color Marketing Group, are also into th e color predi ction business.
W hen I addressed a Co lor Marketing Group co nference, I learn ed that one of the putposes of the Confe rence was to predict the future hot colo rs. The extended co ncept-to-des ign-to-manufacturing cycle for many manufacturers demands that color choices may have to be made up to three years ahead of marketing.
Who wants to be the sucker who launches the orange car a world where blue stripes rule?
In
W hat I liked abo ut their process was its weight on gut feeling and intuition. Much of the hard wo rk was done by groups of people gett ing together and shating experiences.
The Human Touch 115
IIG iOYEmarkA.
Sounds good to me Maybe it all started wit h C hampag ne, but there is something abo ut drinks and sound that makes you r mou th water. A water fountain splashing, the coffeemaker bubbling. Fabio Ferna ndes and his F/Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi team in Brazil sold a bee r for a client on a sim ple sound- the "tssss" of a cap co ming off a bottle. Beer drinkers simply mo uthed "tssss" to be served a chilled Brahma in any bar. Of cou rse C hampagne producers have known about this connection for centuri es.
The pop of a Champagne cork is one of the most evocative sounds in the Western world. Yes, we all know it's not supposed
to
pop, but who can give up that extravagance and the anticipation'
I love music. No big surprise th ere. I make p resentation s all around the world , and to get the ideas Aowing I use a song title or lyri c as my inspiration . M usic has become the so undtrack of o ur lives. We attach songs to special moments and are Aooded wit h memories when the right tune comes waftin g by. And it's not just the music that plays this powerfu l role. Th e lyrics too give us phrases that can set our course in life, rally arm ies, bind lovers eve n closer together. M usic is important to us because it can set moods and trigger powerful emotions. We have
always know n this anecdotally, but we also know that anecdote is like a red Aag to science. And so, in 1995, Jaak Panksepp, an intrep id neuroscientist from Bowling G reen State Uni ve rsity in Oh io, set our to put th e anecdotes to the test. H e asked several hundred yo ung men and women why music was important to them. Th e Human Touch 1 17
Emotion turned out not only to be an answer, it was pretty much the answer. Around 70 percent of both sexes said that music was important to them beca use " it elicits emotions and feeling. " The next choice. a very distant seco nd, was music's ability [0 "alleviate boredom. " For Lovemarks, the well-worn phrases-the voice of the product, the voice of the consumer, the voice of our time-are to be taken literally. Hearing and speaking are two of the most powerful forces in creating deep emotional connections with anyo ne. And yo u need them both. To speak without listening is to badger and hector. To listen and not speak is to lose yo ur personality. and rhe conversation peters out. Brands are already into so und- and I'm not just talkin g full-production TV commercials. Retail environments, phone messages, brand signatures, radio, and the Intern et. At Toyota they are even interested in the silences!
"With the Prius we talk about quietness. Now noise can be measured by figures, but there is also a quietness that you feel with your body. for instance, with regard to the acceleration, the Prius is ,cry different from other ca". You can time the speed of acceleration with a stopwatch, but the actual speed and the body's perception of it are very different. Of course, we do measure these things, and we set some target figures. But just because we get the target figure we are after, it doesn't mean it's okay. Figures are figures. We need to be able tope! the quietness or teel good about the acceleration as we actually experience it in the car. I think these things are very important." \1
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My New York apartment is a sensual haven. In New Zealand, my family and J live in a beautiful piece of native bush, with tropical palms and 150-year-old kauri trees. So our house there conneCtS directly to the landscape. In New York- much as I love the place-the idea was to djsconnect. Here, I live in the hurly-burly, working with 7,000 other souls worldwide in a whirlwind of emotional tension. I wanted to go back to a home that would be secure and warming, calming and relaxing- to an article of faith. I wanted to open the door into something uncomplicated. I wanted the feeling of being embraced. Architect Sam Trimble responded to my brief with empathy and intelligence:
"I went to geology texts and an encyclopedia to find metaphors for how to define the space physically and conceptually. In my research, 1 learned about tectonic caves-
natural caverns that look ordered and structured-and I decided to create a space that seemed hollowed out, as though carved from solid rock. " Sam sourced a Portuguese limestone to transform the apartment into a cave. Its surface is variegated, hewn by its ancient geological history of shells and liquid Rows. When I walk about in my bare feet, it is quiet and tactile. It caresses my soles! Other natural materials were used throughout. The stone of the walls and Roors is relieved by the softness of wood, and both are illuminated by plays of light and shadow. Sam created such a beautiful, sensuous space that I didn't even need art on the walls. I just walk in, and the space, its colors and surfaces, wrap and quiet me. The tranquillity liberates me. I'm refreshed here. Though I'm far away ftom New Zealand, I feel at home.
The Human Touch 11 9
Picking up the scent The huma n senses o f smell and taste a re intertwined so tighdy it is hard to experience on e without the oth er. Bonded together th ey speak more directly than the resr to o ur emotio ns, Qur memories and our dreams. Smell dominates taste. Whil e humans have fo ur genes for vision , th ere are over 1,000 allocated (0 smell.
"r f you were to say,
' Name a brand
that has managed to get big fast, make quality products, treat its people very well and respectfully, and understand the differences in economies and tastes in other parts of the world, while continuing to
With a round 4 00 ,000 recogni zable odors in the world , we have access (0 an incredible storehouse of potenti al conn ections.
grow,' one brand that comes to my mind is Starbucks. Part of what's interesting about Starbucks is the
They say that smell is almost exclusively stored in the long-term memory. Why else was Marcel Proust's most famous memory-jog the taste of a small cake, not its shape or name?
extent to which they define what they're producing not as a cup of coffee, but rather a wonderful experience, a break, a chance for some community and relationshipbui lding. Their stores create this third space for people in the middle of the rush and crush of everyday life.
1 remembe r a friend telling me a great story about the power of smell. She'd been trying (0 sell her house with no luck for a coupl e of months. When she changed agents, the n ew one suggested baking cookies in the oven jusr before people came (0 look over the house. The effect was imm ediate. The firsr peopl e (0 visit sign ed up.
They're not selling coffee, and they know it. They're selling something much more emotional. I was joking to somebody that in the old days you'd take your coffee to the office. Now with Wi-Fi at Starbucks, you take your office to the coffee. That's
Th e associati o n of rhe warm , cozy scent o f cookies in [he ove n turned the hOllse into a hom e.
120 RovemarkA
an 31nazing success."
Whether Starbucks plays mostl y on taste or smell is up for debate. This extraordinary business has built a ve ritable empire on the experience of a hard brown bean. By making sure that the aroma of coffee infused their cafes, Srarbucks created a distinctive place (hat their consumers loved to be in. And everyo ne else has noticed.
The retail world is being transformed as the potential of the senses is realized. We are enterin g the sampl ers' paradise. The favorite hang-o ut of the sensualist. Soaps, baked goods, and paints are allowed to smell exactly as they are. Suddenly it is okay for a fi sh market to smell like ... a fis h market. As far as taste goes, it is now hard to believe that the much-loved Japanese snack, sushi , was o nce thought of in the West as cold, wet fish wrapped in seaweed. The Lovemark lesso n' Don't knock tastes beca use yo u don't like th em th e first time round. Red Bull doesn't appeal to me, but millions of people love it. They don't call F 1 fans 'petrol-heads' for nothing. What a sensual extravaganza Formula One racing has beco me! High-octane fumes, the vibration of engines, the acrid smell of burning rubber. Overpowering. rut one percent of that energy into any other business and yo u've got a sensation on yo ur hands. No wo nder sensation and Sensuality are members of the same fam il y. Everyone of us has a personal odor that's as distinctive as a fingerprint. Why then ha ve businesses been so shy about using this most sensual of the senses?
Why do so few corporations have their own scent? My thought is that smell is so direct, so personal, and so specific, that people back off messillg with it. This is why yo u break open the game if yo u get it ri ght.
The H uman Tou ch 121
My heart in my mouth In the past decade we have learned more about the five bas ic taste qualities-sour, sweet, sal ry, bitter, and the recenrly described uma mi*-than we did in the previous 2,000 years.
We are at the dawning of a taste revolution . The exp lo ration of taste (a nd sm ell as the larger part of it) is now a huge part of Resea rch and Development. The hitch is that, o f a ll the senses, taste remains the most d ifficult to meas ure. It is dee ply subjective. It's tough to work out the eleme nts of a Aavor wh ere the quantities are so minute.
Science's solution? Taste scientists roam the globe searching for new tastes and novel ingred ients. They hullt th em , locate them , trap them , and then they take th eir treasures home to a nalyze and recreate them in the laboratory. And yet th e bigges t challenge remains. How can yo u predi ct what people will like? Try going "out" from human emotion rath er than " in" from chemi stry. Taste a nd smell are huge opportunities in the creation of Lovemarks. Both are pretty well limi ted to the food and fragrance industries today. To think
to
yo lltself:
"What is the taste of that car?"
or
"How does this DVD player smell?"
seem s silly.
Time to get over that res ponse. Expand in g th e senses into organizations, in to product develo pme nt, into co nsume r relationships can be a fantastic inspirati o n and a pote ntial ga me- breaker.
'Th e wo rd umami is derived from IImai, [he Japanese word for "delicious." More elusive than th e Big Four, it is often described as "mea ty" or "brOlhy."
122 ~oyemar~h
My favorite exa mpl e is Apple's wonderful campaign for the iMac. They took taste out of the mouth and into the hea rt with their iMac advertisements. They made their computers in shades of strawberry, grape, and blueberry. And the message? YUM! Pure Lovemark thinking. Apple customers are fa mously Loyal Beyond Reaso n. They really do think th eir computers are good enough to eat. At Saatchi & Saatchi , we are using Lovemarks to focus on Sensuality. Take a ca mpaign we did for Procter & Gam ble and their anti-dandruff shampoo Head & Shoulders. In bus shelters, we fea tured an image of a yo ung woman with (h e wind in he r hair. Peopl e were invited press a burran [Q act ivate a puff of c itric-scented mist.
[Q
The memory of this scent and its association with a fresh, free spirit is what endures .
The Hum an TOlLch 123
That magic touch
/
/
Fact: The skin is the largest o rgan in the body. Fact: The human skin has a special network of nerves. Fact: Our fingertips , tongue, and lips have the mOSt nerve endings .
So where do we go from there? With our fingertips we can instantaneously identifY smoorh, rough , hard , soft, wet, dry, hot, and cold through tighrly packed nerve endings. Put that sensitivity together with muscles and joints that tell us how much force we are applyi ng or is pressed against us, and we can get intense sensatio ns from just abo ut anything we co me in co ntact with.
No wonder that when things are going well we talk about !feting good. There are some places that do touch so wel l they become inspirations for the rest of us. Italy has got to be top of the list. Arrive at an Italian ai rport and yo u know yo u're deep in the land of the em brace. There have been serious academic studies of whether Italians touch more than everyone else. T he co nclusion ' They do. Italians were never ta ught "don't to uch! " and their superbl y tactile design heritage sp rings straight from these sensitive hands . That's the way it goes with touch. Even when everyone is wrong, eve ryo ne is also right.
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Co nsider th e Indian parable abo ut th e six blind men and the elephant.
The first blind man reached out and touched the side of the huge animal. "The elephant, " he said, "is nothing but a wall. " The second man felt the elephant's trunk. "The elephant, " he concluded, "is most likely related to the snake family. " The third blind man, chancing on the tusk, declared the elephant to be sharp and deadly like a spear. As he grabbed hold of the elephant's tail, the fourth blind man was convinced the elephant was like a piece of rope. The fifth man, feeling the ear, declared the elephant to be like a fon. As he put his arms around the elephant's massive legs, the last blind man scoffed at the others. "It is obvious," he said. "The elephant is exactly like a tree. "
Why are most of the tex tures in cars so similar? Shut your eyes. Are the re any d istinctive clues to the brand ? Occasionally there might be a how-boring-is-that leather/wood mix or (in the cheaper models) a don't-worry-about-me-I'm-just-the-driver vinyl/ plasti c combo. " The feel of a car often comes down to the small things, like the feel when you actually touch the material, leather, or wood. This is a new kind of thinking, thinking of how things feel to the consumer. To make my decisions, I must always ride in the car. There are many things that you cannot find from data that you discover when you ride in a car. There is nothing, no machine, that can replace the human body. It is the best sensor. For example, when you turn the steering wheel , sometimes you can just feel a sound. So faint you can't really measure it, but the feel of it is rhere. Also , things like the glove box, the console box, or the ClIp holder. When you open and close them they create their own sounds. And there are often faint sounds that can really irritate the person who is driving a car. The aim is to create a stillness that you can't actually measure by ligures in d,e normal sense, and this is done by feeling and touch ." [Mas:1O Inolle, Chief Fngineer. Product Pl:tnning Division, TO)'OIa Mowr Corpor.ltionJ
W here does the auto industry put its major in vest ment' lnto reduc ing touch, with power steering, super-suspension , state-of-the-art tires. No wo nder we e nd up feeling like the boy in the bubbl e! Out of touch. Literall y. We need touch back. A new challenge for the might of mass produ ction matched by the in ve ntion of techno logies that use tOllch. I have watched with fascination as kids have responded enthusiastica lly to tactile experiences in game controllers. Take the Xbox controller. Eight buttons, two triggers, three toggling switches . .. a nd untapped possib ilities. No wonder rhe under-25 set in Japan cal ls itse1f'The Thumb Generation." Mobile text-messaging marks a divide between generations that is as clear-cut as the Aares/ no Aares debate. There is serious sense behind the idea of tollchpoints with consumers. Every business is sta rrin g to rea lize this. From the supermarket shelf and the co upon boo k to the TV spot, the ma ile r, and all po ints in betwee n, touch ing people matters. In Ollr d etermination to make life easier we have removed valuable so urces of sensation from many products. Beating clothes against a stone has nothing much to recommend it, but I'm not so sure dropping them into a machine a nd pushing a button is the complete answer either. Somewhe re in the middle there is an importa nt place for our precious senses.
The Human TOllch 125
Five things to do tomorrow
What can turn an experience that is given to thousands and thousands of people into a mea ningful one for you' Intimacy.
The big question for me has always been, how do you get intimate with consumers without being invasive or insincere? My question was answered on a Qantas flight to New Zealand. I was tired and distracted as I got on board. All [ wanted was to get to my seat, put away my bag, and sit down. When a flight attendant srepped in front of me, I admit I was only halfway pleased ro see him. He smiled polirely, and asked, "Can I get yo u a C hardonnay, sir? .. Or a beer, mate?" That's how you do Intimacy.
As we developed Lovemarks at Saa tchi & Saatchi , Mysrery and Sensualiry were our immediate focus. They showed us big, new, and exciring ways thar would help people reconnect wirh brands in a deeper and more emotionally satisfying way. But as we moved in deeper we began to reali ze that something was missing. A stilJ, quiet voice. A vo ice rhat talked nor abour big effects or sensarions, but about rhe minuriae of everyday life.
Personal. Sensitive. Continuous. What we were missing was Intimacy. 128 ~ovEmar~,...
Sure we need thrills, spills, and big gestures in our relationships, but we also need closeness, trust, and (you've got it) Intimacy. Because Intimacy [Ouches directl y on our personal aspirations and inspirations, it is much morc contentious than Mystery and Sensuality. It pushes up close to what sorr of relationships we want to havei the kinds of fami lies we need, what we share, what we don't, who sets rhe boundaries. Intimacy poses questions like: How close can I get to you and sti ll feel comfortable? How much do I want yo u to know about me? How much do I want to know about you? Peo pl e of different cultures and at different times have treated Intimacy ve ry differentl y. We know for insta nce that the fr iendl y handshake that stans so man y greetings had its beginnings in the wa ry exposure of hands without knives or other weapons-another age's version of rh e airport fr isk' The th ree-cheek kiss of the French, the hongi nose-press of New Zealand Maori , the New Age hug, the high-five of the streer. They all show ve ry different faces ofTntimacy.
Close up A cru cial problem for brands in their battle against commodification is their growing apart from consumers. Distant, undifferentiated, unremarkabl e. Focused on growth and clamoring for attention , brands don't have a lot of time for nuance and sensitivity. I'll amend that- no time at al l. McDonald's a nd N ike and the rest of the U.S.-created, global front-runn ers a re struggling to retain the emotional ties that ha ve made th em legends and billion-dollar busin esses. The big question: Have the brands themselves changed' Or is it th e oth er way a round ' Has what peo ple want from brands changed' My take on th e brand /co nsumer relationship digs deep into the patte rns of human behavior. Look back at the 1950s and 60s and the place the automobile had in the heans of the American public. It was in so close that to have a family photograph wi thout the family wagon as backdrop made no sense at all. Fast-forward to the 2 1st centu ry.
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When was the last time you lined up in front of the family car and took a picture?
Share holders ve ry seldom love the brands they have invested in. And the last thin g they want is an intimate relationship. They fi gure tbis could warp their judgement. They want measurability, increasing returns (always) , and no surprises {ever}. Imagine a relationship with someone like that! No wonder so many brands lost rhe emoriona! thread that had led them to their extraordinary SllCCesS and [limed them instead into mctricmunchers of the lowest kind. Warch for the sign : Heads, not hearts, at work he re. They forget all about the intimate dimension of relationships. T hey loved Customer Relationship Management. They honed their ski lls assessing the benefits from sponsorships, entertainment partnerships, and al l th e other "ships." But if you attempted to get up close ... they dashed to the other side of the boardroom table. T hey ignored the power of Inti macy. They neglected to look at the intimate responses that illuminate rhe great Lovemarks.
Peo pl e need Intimacy in their lives. BlIt businesses have let many already well-defined opportun iti es slip away. Ma ny of tbe big brands becam e standoffish over the 1990s. Removing themselves from the peo ple who gave rhem their life-consumersthey fixed o n anothe r aud ience: shareholders.
What a shareholder demands of a brand is very, very different from what's demanded by someone who loves it. 130 2ovEmarb~
So many Love marks ha ve pet names it could almost be a prerequisite.
Gimme a Bud. Who owns that Jag? We're going to Harvey Nicks ... o r Bloomies, depending on where yo u live.
I'll have a Coke. Federal Express got it. They unde rstood this kind of Intimacy was a gift- and shortened thei r name.
FedEx it to me ... .
Transact a Love affair? I don't think so. Intimacy was crushed over the 20th century. Everyone was determin ed to reduce complex exchanges of buying and selling into fast and efficient tran sactions. Littl e wonder that the peopl e visiting the mall figured something was miss ing from their lives. Where once the moment of choi ce was wrapped in an intimate relationship with the seller, it has often beco me a ste ril e experience in an aisle that stretches forever.
"As a rule of thumb, if the guy who asks you to pick a card, any card, is wearing a top hat, he's not giving you a real choice."
Close to You 131
Shoppers res pond by ge rting the hell out as fast as they can. On an average supermarket visit, they are now spe nding only 32 minutes doing their major weekly shopping. Now there's nothing wrong with streamlining or with efficiency. Everyone wants and dollars whether they are a shopper, a manufacturer, a truck driver.
[Q
save rime
But why throw your heart out the window with the numbers? Anyo ne who has been to the Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo knows whar I am talking about. Tuna auctions where millions of dollars of frozen fish are sold without a computer or calculator in sight.
I am not suggesti ng that business go back to handshakes and scraps of paper, but there is a lo t to learn from the intimate network of trust that the trad itional marketplace thrives on. As the mass market geared up, businesses lost their way. They became d etached from pe rso nal re lationships. Everyo ne w ith a telephone has had a total stranger (aka telemarketer) asking how they are and did they have a nice day. As if they cared. Bank tellers and supermarket checkout staff treat us as long- lost friends. Our first names-form erl y the province of fri ends and family-have become common c urrency. E-mail spam is simpl y part of this n end ... on steroids. And what is the result> It feels all wrong. Trouble is that all this,
"Hi! I'm Harry, I'll be your best friend for this evening" is based on process and careful targeti ng and not on intimate knowledge. They presume toO much. And human bei ngs ca n spOt that sO rt of falseness fa st. Real fast. But connect with peo ple's emotions a nd- d es pite all their conce rn s about privacy-they will tell you almost anything. A Jupiter research project once found that 82 percent of all respondents would give perso nal information to a new shopping site so they could e nter a $ \00 sweepstake!
The nick is nor to exploit this thirst for personal co nnections, bur to slake it with integrity.
132 ~oV€mar~h
Two-way street While Intimacy is fundamental to sustaining emotional connections, it is more elusive than Mystery and Sensuality. Why? Because Intimacy has got to be a two-way process. Listening as well as talking. Listening is something that most brands are not great at. They evolved alongside the mass media, and that is where most of them have stayed. Talking, talking, talking. The fragmemation of media demands a fresh approach. And this is where Lovemarks co me in. Not to abandon the mass market, but to transform it with multiple emotional connections.
Intimacy requires an understanding of what matters to people at a very deep level. And that understanding means that you have to be prepared to reveal yourself as well. Reveal your true feelings. Not standard behavior for most corporations! But this is where we need ro venture.
Lovemarks are owned by the people who love them. Not by the companies and people who design , produce, market, and distribute them. To act in the knowledge that consumers own Lovemarks calls for radical change. And one of the most radical is opening lip to Intimacy. It is only through Intimacy that the barriers of reserve will dissolve and brands can become Lovemarks .
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Some brands seem to be intimate almost without trying. Oprah Winfrey is a spellbinding example. Her mix of no-nonsense advice and personal insight is a formula th ar has wo rked fo r a number of ra lk show hosts .
But then, just when everyone thought the Idea had rung all its changes, Oprah added a new dimension Intimacy. Oprah understands the power of Intimacy as well as anyo ne I have ever seen on relevis ion. She also undersrands how rhis Intimacy can rransform lives . T he camera loves Oprah Winfrey, but in stead of loving ir back like orher ralk show hosts, she looks righr rhrough ir and connecrs directly wirh her audience. Thar's Oprah's secrer. Transformation , not just communication.
The challenge of one Intimacy will meet a tough new chall enge in th e coming decades : rhe single- perso n household. And tradition al ways of dealing with people as members of co herent grou ps is just not go ing ro play. Humans cannot li ve without intimate relationships, and yet we see m to be constructin g a wo rld where Intimacy is harder and harder ro ach ieve. And we are goi ng crazy doing it.
On CNN I saw a recent poll in which American singles said that what they most missed from not being in a relationsh ip was compan ionship. And then I read that a whole bunch of people in America felt that watching " Friends" on TV was part of their social life. Give me a break.
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Intimacy has three very different faces: • • •
Empathy, so that we can understand and respond to other people's emotions Commitment, which proves that we are in the relationship for the long haul Passion, that bright spark that keeps the relationship alive
Empathy There is only o ne way to unde rstand other people's emotions, or to really understand anything for that matter. By listening. In my experience, empath y is most often created out of language and the sil ences that surround ir. When do yo u hear the most aston ishing insights? When yo u create an emotionally powerful space for th em to settle into, by liste ning.
Empathy is created out of the tension between the sound of the voice and an intended silence. As we quickl y find out when we enrer intimate relationships, what is said is often nOt so important. It is the inflections, the pauses, the combination of sounds and body lang uage. This c reates a co mpl ex mix of sig ns and signals that builds an empathetic rel ation ship. Marketers find this ve ry hard to accept. Their disciplines are founded o n rational analys is and co nclusions, not idle chat and unfinished sentences . Tn their goal
136 iovemarkh
to push as much information as poss ible, marketers fail cons istently to make real connections. Intimacy is an understanding of what we are sha rin g in this moment, not just what is being communicated. Quick Aings beco me li felong Love affairs through empathy. Without empathy yo u can't do emotion , yo u ca n't do Intimacyand you can forget all about truthful and transforming consumer insights. I have always claimed Toyota's Camry is a Lovemark. And it is no t just because the Camry has been the bestselling ca r in America so many times, year in and year our. It is because the Camry has extraordinary empath y with so man y consumers. The Camry is a qui et car that keeps to itsel f. It balances brilliantly on the cutting ed ge of normal. It doesn't go for the big splash, but it does everything required o f it-a nd more. Sounds like a good friend or a famil y member. The ones who make yo u feel better just by being there. No dram as, no fuss, just solid support and und erstandin g. They don't forget yo ur birthday, they don't nag, and they always remember yo u love red roses.
Love comes in many shapes. One of the strongest is the enduring Love built on intimate understanding . Camry owners know this. They have fa llen in Love with a ca t that understands they don't want ro attract attention . A ca r that kn ows Love can be a private experience. T hat it doesn't have ro ho ld hands and kiss in th e Street. So let's not forget this Love that binds. Camry hasn't. Another kind of engine, Coogle, has taken its own route ro empat hy, and been well rewarded for it. Coogle says it deals ro mo re than 150 millio n searches a day. W hile engines like Ya hoo! turned inro a system of porrals, Google ke pt it simple. Very simple. So simple that the temporary add itio n of a C hristmas tree felt like a m ajo r statement. You wa nt empat hy? How abo ut yo ur co nsumers loving what YO li do so much they in vent a new expression based on yo ur brand name-"ro Google"!
A moving experience Rethink the mobile pho ne. Yes, I know all the sru ff abo ut interrupting concerts, distracted drivers purring lives in danger, lo ud talkers annoying everyone else in a restaurant, but mo bile phones ca n teach us a ve ry different lesson abo ut what peopl e value as wel l. Let's go back ro the beginning. The telephone has a strange hisrory. The initial co ncept was as a broadcast machine. O ne person could talk ro man y others far away via telephone lines . And perhaps playa little music. Well , that didn't work' It is in our blood ro talk back. The telephone then found its true calling as an instrument of perso nal communication . As someone born in England , I have always been amused by the role the class system there played in ho lding up the di ffusion of this cool new techno logy.
Close to Yo u 137
Ir seems rh ar man y peopl e poinr-blank refused to use th e tel ephone because rh ey mighr have ro speak with someone ro whom rhey had had no formal inrroduction' Can't ger less intimate rhan rhar. The telephone survived rh e srupidiry of snobbery and opened up a whole new wo rld of Intimacy. People could keep in rouch. They could swap confidences in a way they would never think of in face-to-face e ncou nters .
People now auromaticall y phon e home to announce rhey are in the ca r and on rh e way
home. Everyon e is consta ntl y ca llin g every-
one else ro ex plain where th ey are, what is happening, what might happen. A poinrby-point track ing throughout our li ves with ollr
loved ones .
Intimate talking has beco me a 24/7 acrivity. Forget grammar and argument. We're talking haphaza rd, in co mplete, and emotional. This
They could make rheir lives faster and easier.
is not about co mmunicat in g information as we have known it. Thi s is a co nstant sensin g
In rhe 1990s rhe mobile phone rook the
of whe re YO ll are, where I am, and how we are both feel ing.
rransformat ion of everyday life [Q another level alwgcrher-consranr communication.
As the yuppie label faded rapidl y, the mobile phone beca me an instrument of Tnrimacy. Th e builder of relationships.
Commitment To m e co mmitm e nt is one of rhe most
If you want to be empathetic, you would have to admit there is a hell of a lot to listen to . I n an average day an adult can lise as m any as 4 0 ,000 wo rds. Thar's about five hours of co nrinuoLls speech. If you multiply this by a n average age of 75, that's over a billion words in a lifetime. And w hat will all these words be about' Im portant issLles of th e day' Very, very few o f them. Most of ou r ta lk could be term ed trivial. It's about the process of tal king rathe r th an the content. We ta lk about fam il y and fri ends, th e weather, loca l news, and (es pecially) the d ay's go in gs-o n. Gossip is the lifeblood of Intimacy. 138 2ov€mar~~
important and most d ema nding of the Love mark arrributes. Re me mbe r that g reat
definition of the difference between bein g committed and being involved ' In a plate of bacon and eggs, the pig is co mmitted, th e chi cken is jusr involved .
Long-term commitment-crucial to a Lovemark relationship. Wo rking with P&G, I was introduced to Cape Town academics Jan Hofmeyr a nd Butch Rice's Commitment-Led Marketing. We all agree thar loyalty is not enough. As Hafmeyr and Rice point out, loyalty ca n just be co nsume rs act in g on autopilot, continuing to bu y th e sam e brand because
they can't be bothered to make another choice.
Too tired to leave But commitment ca n transfo rm loyalty from an unthinking acceptance to a rea l sta re imbued
with rea l emotion- Loyalty Beyo nd Reason. This co mbination of loyalty and com minnenr is rhe powerful force we need ro harn ess for
Lovemarks. Getting to that crucial place where people ate beyo nd th e information stage and point-by-po int com parisons. They have made th eir cho ice. They have committed to it before friends and fam ily. It is part of them. And they are not going to change now. Fan clubs are a sure sign yo u are in the Lovemarks zo ne. T hey're also a great way to test the intens ity of feeling. Start with LEGO and LUG NET, the fan-created Internati onal LEGO Users Group Network. Not owned by LEGO , but ca ptu red by the LEGO experience.
From Adventurers to Robotics, Pirates to Football. They swa p, sell , debate, argue, learn. Fa ndom has gone up a notch with the onset of the Internet. We ca n now view thousa nds of movies starring the LEGO fa mily. C heck o ut www.geocities.co.jp/l-lollywood/9060/cinemae.html fo r an unfo rgettable version of The Matrix o r www.planetofthegeeks.com/workbench/legol legomovies.hnnl for something less sophisti cated .
Close ro
YOll
139
As for commi tment of a differe nt Aavor, take Lucky C harms, the breakfast cereal with marshmall ows. A clear Lovemark to millio ns of little kids througho ut the United States. But Lucky C harms are also the Number O ne breakfast cerea l consumed on college ca mpuses!
Now that's serious commitment, when you get college kids eating the same cereal they loved as youngsters. And doing it in public. The cute message for this group of cereal lovers? "I got lucky at breakfast!" Committed people are prepared to wait .. .and wait.
for a reservatio n at the Le Cap rice
fo r Aston Martin's VI2 Vanquish.
restaura nt in London .
fo r an underground tour of the Mt. Isa mine in Australia.
to have yo ur Japanese sword polished in Japan. Around 3
r
fo r a Pad ro n Mi llennium cigar.
in Singapo re fo r Kelly and Birkin bags by Hermes.
fo r a bouncing baby girl or boy.
fo r a Rolex Dayto na watch.
fo r a H arley- Davidson Softail Deuce.
to become o ne of the towns hosting a Tour de France start or finish.
to joi n the Reebok Sports Club/NY, the wo rld's most advanced fitn ess facili ty.
18 fo r season tickets to the New Yo rk G iants.
r
to receive treatments with t he highl y therapeutic Moor M ud in Austria, renowned for its healing properties.
140 iovemarbh
?D I' r fo r a I 50-year-old wall-mo unted G PO (General Post Office) box. With keys.
Loya lty Beyond Reason is what persuaded th e App le tribe to keep buying the brand when Apple was p roducin g b land, beige boxes no different than an y other o n the market. For peo pl e who had jo ined Apple because it was cool, buyi ng one of these compute rs was a big ask. Many of [hem s[Uck with it-all rhe rime wo ndering why. Steve Jobs made his triumphal return to App le in 1994. Back on track, the company we nt to the leading edge and stayed the re. And all those co mmitted consumers fe lt vi ndicated. More loya l than eve r. What susta in ed th e Mac love rs over the tough beige period>
I call it "Love in the bank." W ith Loyalty Beyond Reason, Apple could make mistakes and still be forgiven. Th is is the rewa rd for a Lovemark. Only Love wi ll get consumers through the bad times when common sense tells them they should change. Because Apple users loved the product, they were committed to it as an idea of the mselves. They were Apple people. Loved members of t he Apple fami ly. For M icrosoft, looking down from the top of its mu lti -billion -doll ar mountain , the Apple story may seem inconsequential. Big mistake. T he lesso n for Mi crosoft is not the threa t of Apple buildin g a bigger co mpan y based on Love a nd comm itment, but Microsoft's own chan ces of retainin g one that's not. Bigger giants than M icrosoft have decayed. W hen so mething bette r and more lovable ca me alo ng, nobody was committed enough to hang around.
C lose
to
You 141
Passion Th ere is o ne more thin g th at I believe Lovem a rks need that aligns with Intimacy. empathy, a nd commitm e nt. It is the intensity and rush that accompanies o nl y the stron ges t emotions. Pu t toge the r wit h Love it ca n transform the most insign ifi ca nt product inro a must-ha ve. It has t he power to give a n intensity to a relation ship th at wi ll carry it through good times a nd bad. Passion.
With passion, the most difficult of objectives can be achieved. Wit ho ut passion , the best-laid p lans can wit he r and die. Analyzi ng it is a waste of time. Having it is a blessing and a gift. W hen N ike signed up Mi chael Jordan , even they never suspected how pass io nately co nsumers wo uld co ntinue to feel about this man. Clare Ha mill , Vice Preside nt, N ike Goddess, says:
"The Brand Jordan phenomenon that's a part of the Nike brand continues to show an inexplicable Love for that man. With Michael Jordan, it's personal. You call him Michael, you have a name relationship with him. Somehow sports teams and some key athletes can really create that kind of emotional connection. They're like your family. You live and die if they do. "
142 iOYEma rb.
Pass ion can deepen if i[ can be handed on fro m person to person. The Zi ppo ligh[er has been an inspirat ion ro American servicemen throughout th e
wo rld. Why is [his? Apart from [he fan [hat the lighter wo rks every time, I think it has ro do with the way Z ippo has encouraged the use of its lighter as a mini billboard . Havin g yo ur Zippo engraved with a personal slogan has beco me a rite of passage for millions of sold iers and sailors.
It all started in the Second Wo rld Wa r when U.S . soldiers, far from home, regarded their Z ippos as prized possessions, o ften personalizing them with unique Trench Art. Ernie Pyle, the famous WWII war correspondent, wrote in August 1944:
"If I were to tell you how much these Zippos are coveted at the front, and the gratitude and delight with which the boys receive them, you would probably accuse me of exaggeration. I truly believe that the Zippo lighter is the most coveted thing in the army."
So why bother? Letting consumers participate in the brand is very powerful. With Lovemarks, as with personal relationships, yo u often ga in power by givi ng it away. The obvious question is, of course, why should a busin ess care wheth er its products are Lovemarks or not ' After all , things are going pretry well for companies like Microsoft. Wh y sho uld a fa th er be generous to his kids? W hy should we ca re abour o ur next-doo r neighbors? Because thar's how we create a wo rld we love to li ve in . It's a150 how we create long-lasting relationships- and Loyalty Beyo nd Reason. Without Love, 1 guarantee even the greatest businesses will topple. They wo n't even see it comi ng because no one will care enough to tell th em. It has hap pened befo re and will happen again . Even if yo u are [he biggest, the best, or the brightest , why wou ldn't yo u also crave to be the mOSt loved' Why wouldn't yo u want to help make the world a better place?
Close
to
You 143
Five things to do tomorrow
The Love/ Respect Axis 5aatchi & 5aatchi's C hairman Bob 5eelert is a Slllarr man and a grea t soundin g board for ideas that are struggli ng to realize them selves. We we re wa iting at Auckland Ai rport late o ne evenin g o n o ur way to Los Angel es and I started o n my Love rap. Bob had heard most of it before, b ut this ti m e I pulled o ut a nap kin a nd drew a horizontal line showing Love at o ne end and Res pect at the o th er. I showed Bob how it m ig ht wo rk. H ow everyt h ing was tell ing us that brands h ad run out of ju ice. How th ey had to evolve into somethin g more. And how I wo uld place th is new kind of brand near the Love e nd of th e lin e. Lots of Respect, but movin g towards hi g h Love on the righ t. Products wo u ld stay at the far left , low Res pect, low Love. Th e standa rd brands wou ld probably be so m ewhe re in th e middle.
The goal would be at the head of the line. High on Love ! Bob loo ked at it fo r a couple of m inures.
"Th ere's another way
[Q
show this to more
effect, " he to ld m e. Taking th e pen he drew a second lin e. thi s o ne crossing ove r my Love/ Res pect line midway. My lin e was transform ed in an insta nt inro an axis. And Bob was so ri ght. T he ax is forma t immed iately showed Love as a goal above a nd beyo nd Res pect. 146 tovEmar~'"
Now we could clearly show the o ngoing importance of Respect and the urge ncy of moving inro a relat ionsh ip based on Love. Love of des ign, Love of serv ice, Love of custome rs, Love of life. W ithout Res pect there is no fo und at io n fo r a ny lo ng-te rm relat io nship. W ith o ut th e sharp delineation of rhe axis fo rmat, it was toO easy for our ideas about Love to float off into feel ings with no practical edge. Okay if
we wanted
(0
be psychotherapists abo ut it,
bur so m ehow that was not w here we were headed' Bob brought Love to ea rth.
Respect is the key to the success of many of our biggest clients. Such success should not be devalued; it's just no longer enough. Compan ies like big-time 5aa tchi & 5aatchi clients Toyota and Procter & Gamble have in vested billions and won aston ishing Res pect for theit products a nd brands. And they have do ne it throu g h susta ined feats of foc us and self-disciplin e. W hatever we call ed the new ge neration of brands, it was go ing to need Res pect- and a lot of it. Respect, it was clea r, had to be tab lesta kes. No Res pect, no admission.
Looking for Love '/ L t1W ~1'~Vf I /
As we started to shape Lovemarks at Saatchi & Saatchi we saw how the Love/ Res pect Axis could help us work our where they fitted.
How low can you go? It was obvious that the lowe r left- hand area-low Res pect, low Love-would hold co mmodities. The products peo ple need but d o n't desire, or even like a lot. Sa nd , iron, salt, gravel, that so rt of stuff. Some o f them make it out of the shade and wo rk their way lip. Bas marj rice is o ne example. So is Ca rrara marble. Co uld brands fa ll from grace back inro this co mmodificatio n hole? Telcos will tell yo u the answer to that one. You bet th ey can. Afte r o ne of my presentations, a yo un g mark eter cam e up [Q me w ith an impo rtan t question .
"You say emotion is the key to building relationships," she said. ''I'm in the brick industry. How do you make bricks emotional?" "You don't," [ told her. "Buc," [ added, "what you do do is talk about what the bricks stand for: homes, families sitting around the fireplace feeling safe and warm. Achievements. Buildings built by bricklayers whose inspirational dream was nothing less than to touch the sky."
The botto m ri gh t- hand area had to be the home of fad s, fas hio n, and infatuatio ns. Loved for 15 minutes and then tossed as ide to make way fo r the next cool item in the queue. From hula hoops to kipper ries' to "Survivo r." I n far uario ns grow fro m ou r fan tasies abo ut w ho we are and where we belo ng. They thri ve o n ho pe, nOt understanding. Fun , froth y, and ri ght fo r the mome nt. And just that momenr. Yo u ca n make a lot o f mo ney out of a fad , but your timin g must be impeccable. Wh o wa nts a bunch of Beanie Bab ies now? So me ra re in fa tuatio ns ca n tra nsfo rm into Love. Look at the So ny PlayS tatio n. Initiated as a gaming system w ith N inrendo in 199 1, Sony qu ickl y went ir alo ne a nd released rhe first PlaySta rio n in Japan in 1994 . It srormed pas r the established comperirio n o ffe red by Sega a nd N intendo a nd too k anothe r leap forwa rd w irh rhe release of the PiayS ratio n2 in 200 1. No one is call ing it a fad any more.
• Don', remember those cXlra-widc kipper ties? T hat's because [hey were only a fad. Here today, forgoncn toJnorrow.
148 iovemar~A
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Stuck in the middle with you Above the low Respect lin e on the left are most brands. This is where the effortS and in vest ment of the last 50 years have gotten th em. But many risk fa ll ing into the sand trap below, tough competition , tight margins, and lack of individuality turning the m into "blands. " Others have built up high levels of Respect based o n sOllnd management and co ntinuo us improvement. But what they have earn ed in Respect has littl e emotio n. Se nsibl e and well meas ured, it's hard to tell o ne from another.
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The high life- Love marks
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= BRANDS
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In the top right, the sun always shines: high Respect, high Love. W hy wo uldn't you want to be there? You know by instinct who belo ngs in this quadrant. Virgin is there. United would like to be. The iM ac? Yes. The ThinkPad ' Don't think so. It's ho me for Disneyland but not for Seve n Flags.
I-DV£'
= lOVEMARK2
Make yo ur ow n list.
Love
Across [he Border 149
The Love/Respect Axis is at its best in conversation: co nversarions about products and brands and what they need in order to become Lovemarks, conversations about successes, conversations to spark insights. Jill Novak, a Saatchi & Saatchi Senior Vice President in New York, and Eric Lent, Kodak's Direcror of Youth Marketing, gor together over the Love/Respect Axis ro trace how Kodak got ro grips with the youth market in the Un ited States.
By the mid-1990s a new force was about to start snapping pictures: Generation Y. Kids born between 1979 and 1994. Cen Y had the biggest discretionary spending power of any teen demographic in history. And they loved photography, particularly girls from 12 to 17. The trouble was that Kodak was experiencing some keen competition from Fuji, and Cen Y 's comfort wi th technology made the situation even more critical. Eric sums up the issue:
"Technology had never entered a generation's cultural vernacular in such an intense way. The category was heading away from traditional photography to digital photography, making these young consumers even more important. They were the ones to drive the adoption of new products and services. We absolutely had to alter their perceptions of us and create a relationship that could last a lifetime." For a company that had, in Eric's words, "a 1OO-year history of talking to moms," it was time for radical change. JiU: Eri c, this conve rsation wi ll be about Saatchi & Saatchi taking a journey in the land of youth with Kodak. Jr's a journey we began almost four years ago. It all started with th e business objective of makin g Kodak the brand choi ce for th e generation that is critical to Kodak's fueure, Gen Y, and specifically teen girls. Eric: The Love/Respect Axjs maps out what was happening competitively in rhe U.S. market in 1999. We had Polaro id with their i-Zo ne instant
150 lov€markA
photo stickers. This was a novelry techno logy and very appealing to teens. Jr was the fad of the day, with high Love but no long-term Respect. Our other co mpetitor, Fuji, was primari ly into price competition. So they belong in the low Respect, low Love quadrant. Bur even there they were still seri ous competitOrs. Being a Japa nese company a nd not subj ect to the quarterly pressures we face, th ey were ab le to take a lo ng-term, 3D-year-plus view of the marker. O n top of that, Fuji had a
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multi-billion-dollar war chest they could tap in to to ensure their price co mpetitive ness.
W hich brings us to Kodak. You can see that for one-ri me- use ca meras, which is the product line we are looking at, I have pur us in th e top left quadrant. And yo u ca n see that we were getting much stronger Love from adults than teens. Jill: That's Kodak in 1999. How wou ld th e Love/Respect Axis look today for yo u with the Gen Y teen market? Eric: ['d say we are a developi ng Lovemark. N or at the sweet Sp Ot yet, but well on (he way. Fuj i went into the marker but stayed with price. and so hasn't rea lly moved on the Axis. Polaroid neve r got out of the fad qu adra nt. Jill: Cou ld you outline how we worked together to capture th e teen market? Eric: As a brand for teens you have to be fun and you have to be cool. In 1999 we were doing quite well, but when you looked at th e larger category, you quickly realized that everybody else was also into fun and cool. So we analyzed both the brand and the consumers closely. We found out th at relative to the category we had a heritage with some golden nuggets.
Kodak 's equities are emotion , optimism , quality, and trust. All very important to teens. So we tra nslated them for teens to drive off of: con nectio n, hopefulness, auth enticity, and honesty. We also found th at we were already part of the teen cul turaJ vern acular. You'll have heard it: "Excuse me, ca n I have my Kodak moment back?" Now that's a stro ng, ri ch, deep co nnection. We knew toO that teens go through so m e very dramati c changes. Trying on different value systems, different sets of fr iends, different sets of clothes. Trying to figure Out who they are, where they fit in, and what ro le th ey have.
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We also learned that everybody wants to be around a kid with a camera. When you have the camera in yo ur hand, yo u're in co ntrol. It helps yo u overco me some social inhibitions. We were onto so me d eep, deep teen truths. Jill: Can we look at how Mystery, Sensuality, and Intimacy helped shift Kodak to becoming a Teen Lovemark? Eric: Let's talk first about Intimacy. Once you get below th e ha rd surface, most teenagers are fragile individuals trying to figu re our who rhey are and where they fit in . Our adve rtising created a sense of optimism and hopefulness in their quest fo r self-identity. As for Mystery, just about all our TV SpotS show a situation that immediately intrigues kids about what's go ing on.
We show stories versus telling them and selling them. Let them figure things out for themselves. Jill: A great example was the goth spot. Eric: Sure. The spot Saatchi & Saatchi developed for us showed a goth teen takin g pictures and making a collage for a school photo project. And as she makes this collage she also co nnects wuh a goth guy in her class who is another .outsider. When she displays her collage, the entire class recoils in disbelief Bur one boy leans forward. It's the other goth, and they smile at each other. Jill : Where do we need to focus If Kodak IS to continue to push no rth to the top f1ghrhand corner of the Lovemark quadran t? E ric: I think it's Intimacy. What se ts us apart from everybod y else is we ca n relate to th e tee n wo rld.
Across [h e Border 151
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We discovered what we call passion points-everything from music , fashion, sports, and celebrities, to entertainment and technology, And we identified music as a teen's most important passion point. We worked with a record company out in L.A. and found an up-and-coming boy band called Youngstown. We didn't want an established group because teens want to be pan of the discovery and make a band. Jill: Mystery, right? Eric: Right. So we trained Youngstown to be brand stewards, and put them on a [Qur of 22 markets throughout the U.S. in partnership with Volunteers of America. We were in malls because this is where everything in America happens. We did a lot of pre-event awareness-building activities-advertising, radio, Channel I in schools, a partnership with Sam Goody where they sold a special Youngstown pack with a one-rime-use camera. a CD specific to the event, a Youngscown keychain. Usually, events like this get maybe a couple of hundred people, but our band was drawing up to 3,000 teens per event. As the show opened there was a big Kodak splat logo, which we had designed for younger consumers, on the back of the stage.
The boys came out with their onetime-use cameras, snapping pictures of the audience. Then they 'd throw the cameras out to them. It was just this massive photography love-fest. Jill : We also developed those cool little carry cases with the Kodak logo. Kodak Wraps.
152 iovemarkAo
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Eric: Playing to the theme of Intimacy as well. Teen girls worked on designing their dream accessory for a one-rime-use camera. Designs and color choices were pur up on AHoy. com, and teens voted on the final product line. Then we brought to market exactly what they recommended. Thar was a product created for tee ns by teens. Jill: So Kodak's in a great place right now with teens, but we need to keep up the momentum. What can we do to ensure that Kodak does n't become a fud like Polaroid? Eric: We need to have an absolutely relentless focus on what's top-of-mind with teens today, because we know their habits change.
And we have to remain a beacon to teen girls across the nation, letting them know that it's really okay to be themselves, Then, on top of that, we need products and services that anticipate teens' un met needs and tap into their desires. To sum that up with two words, we need to continue to be authentic and relevant. But the rewards for moving in the direction of a Lovemark are high. With, relatively speaking, limited funds we've achieved significant successes. The nrSt share increase in our company's history for the one-time-use camera segment. The Number One, Two, and Three hi gheSt-sco ring ads in the company's 100-plus year histOry. As well as improvements in brand preference and category usage. In fact, teen girls are now usin g one-timeuse cameras 53 percent more frequendy than at our starting point in 1999!
(
Chapter 12
I CAN SEE CLEARLY NOW
/
Malcolm Gladwell again :
"I am interested in what it means to take the unconscious seriously in marketing and other realms. Much of psychology at the moment is consumed with taking the unconscious seriously after a gap of 50 years. But it is a return in a much more sophisticated way than previously, exploring the role the unconscious plays in decision making, in impression formation, preference formation.
"Once you take the unconscious seriously you undermine virtually all quantitative market research and its focus. This is very good news for the creative part of the advertising world, and bad news for the number-crunchers. "I nside the heart of every marketer beats a control fanatic. They want a quantifiable process, and they would like to introduce a level of transparency to things that are necessarily oblique. " In my new book, I am interested by this question: When you ask someone how they feel , how seriously can you take their answer? And the answer to that is, not very seriously. And yet the temptation to take their answer at face value is nearly overwhelming in all domains, not just marketing. "
Lovemarks need research, but a d ifferelH kind of research. I know that I am rarely asked my opin ion as a consumer. I presume my transact io ns a re data-t racked and batch-analyzed by computer, but I never get asked for my stories. We need research that puts consumers at the cente r rather than at the base of a ve ry large pyram id. And I'm not ta lk ing about JUSt turning the PowerPoint upsid e-down l
156
iov€mar~~
I'm looking for resea rch rhar counts the beats of your heart rather than the fingers of yo ur hand. Research that connects with the inner life of the consumer. Not as statistical constructs. Not as they were. Not as yo u wo uld like them to be, but as they truly are: living, feeling beings full of fears and desires, hopes and dreams . Kris Kristofferson got it: "A walkin' contradiction/Partly truth and partly fiction."
Fresh and true insights are the way into the inner life of the consumer. Peter Cooper of the London research company QualiQuant International offered us this one:
"The way people personalize computers or other ordinary, everyday objects around the home is a very significant way in which people make sense out of the world. One of the earliest studies I was involved in was for Electrolux, the appliance manufacturer. I was always struck by a remark from one particular housewife lip in Manchester, England. She described her spin dryer like this, 'My spin dryer to me is called Fred, and I have a relationship with Fred which is often better than the one I have with my husband.'" As Lovemarks take onboard the best attributes of brands, so the new research will be created out of rh e best techniques of current research.
The failure of research to truly engage with consumers is not just a problem for resea rchers. It's a problelTI most people in any business share.
I discovered this first-hand when I was working in the Middle East for Procter & Gamble . Like other co mpanies at the time, P&G 's resea rch was done by th e numbers. Sometimes it seemed to m e that we did little other than to verifY what we already knew. We were tied to benchmarks and followed norms. I found it tough to see the value of all this, so I spent as much time as I could our of the office, three weeks out of four.
I Can Sec Clearly Now 157
My passion was store checks and home vis its. After goi ng through all the numbers, I'd head into Dubai and visi t a hundred little shops in the Soukh and get myself invited into consumers' ho mes. I talked w ith retailers, consumers,
people juSt walk ing by. Irrespective of what the share nu mbers said , I got my ins ights from these con nectio ns.
When th e store vis its ind icated the trends, I knew whether I had the right distribution model, the right prici ng model , and the right packaging lineup. My conversatio ns with store owners and what I saw with my own eyes wId me if O llf fundamenta ls were 0 11 track.
O nce I'd done the store checks, I'd go into homes and watch rhe wome n at wo rk. I'd sir down with a wo man
and watch h er life and the lives of her kids. I'd get an understa nding of how much tim e she spent with her hu sba nd, how he dressed, what he d ressed in , where he wen t, and what peo ple's reactio ns wcrc. I lea rned what
m atte red to them as a fam ily. As I gOt to know some of these wo men, they'd let me look into th eir laundry baskets, allow me to check out their cupboards. Some of these people were ve ry poor. Some didn't even have underclothes . The lesso n was obvious. W hile we had been ve ry co ncern ed in o ur adverrisi ng with helpi ng ou r co nsumers wash nne fab rics, guess what' Most of them d idn't have anyl
I learned that unless you get to know people and stand beSide them as they work, you will find out only what they believe you want to know.
158 iovemarbl..
I found this to be true tim e and time again. W hen I was wo rking for Pepsi, I found o ne of my local cafes wo uld buy pri vate- label cola and po ur it into their o ne Pepsi bottle. W hen a customer turned up they wou ld always be served a " Pepsi." You could interrogate the num bers ti ll you're blue in the face and never get close to that in sight into how people trul y va lued the brand. To undertake Lovema rks resea rch whereve r yo u are means develop ing close relationships with consume rs. J n the M iddle East this co uld mean markets and cafes. In the Un ited States we co uld be talkin g sports ga mes and schoolya rds. W ithout a doubt many consum ers are hi ghl y info rmed a nd deeply suspicious of marketing. W hat they do respo nd to, however, is pass io n. No one can resist enthusiasm. If you are sea rching fo r insight because yo u love yo ur product, the resu lts can be extraordinary. At Saatchi & Saatchi we gro up o ur resea rch into rh ree approaches. I believe these ap proaches can transform the way businesses co nn ect w ith co nsumers:
1. Climb a mountain 2. Go to the jungle 3. Think like a fish
I Can Sec Clea rl y Now 159
2. Go to the jungle Xploring is based on a very simple principle.
If you want to understand how a lion hunts, don't go to the zoo, go to the jungle. Xploring came out of our attempts ro understand China. 1.3 billion people. 3.7 million square miles. and 40 new babies every minute! At Saatchi & Saatchi. we believe that Nothing is Impossible. We began by encouraging our clients ro invest in better. more insightful research. We invested our own money and time in focus groups and discussions. fact-finding and analysis. Essentially. we gathered a lot of information.
Enter Xploring. It is probably the oldest research technique ever used. But despite its effecti veness, most compan ies seem to have forgotten abo ut it. Ironically. Xploring is far easier ro conduct. more affordable. and far more insightful and inspiring than traditional research .
Simply put, the Xplorer puts on a pair of comfortable shoes, grabs a backpack, and heads off. There are no one-way viewi ng mirrors . No projective techniques. Just interaction. observation. and lots of conversation.
Most businesses gather information consumers ~ goi~nt".~:Q.J respondents in a ·vlewing snack$. ~ let ~.tbrough
~ve
been ired counties homes. hung out with kids in video arcades.
. ,
.
.
'
~ ~
'. . I ; . , '
,
~(\. ~
In those travels we have met 22-year-old millionaires, and gas station anendants with dreams [0 own their own business.
We have met children whose ambition is to learn English, not so they can study abroad, but so they can make China stronger in the world market. C hildren with ambitions [0 keep Ch ina clean. O ld men who believe roday's Chi na is a woman's world . And yo ung srudents who believe the furure of the world 's economy is firmly in the hands of C hina. To be successful in C hina, we have [0 srop being lured blindly by the sheer scale of the market (and it is amazing) and take the time ro understand its people-and most importantly, what motivates them. As A.G. Lafley of P&G says, "Answers aren't just found in numbers. You have [0 get out and look. " By doing just that, we came away from our firsr Xploring trip I don't Wieve: JI any
II The women of China have achieved a high measure of financial equaliry. Now they are struggling for recognition and higher starus.
III
Like people everywhere, what the Chinese say is not necessarily how they feel , but the fear of loss of face adds a new layer of complexiry.
1/11 The Chinese are in Love with
romance. It is not the past that the Chinese [Oday respond ro.
-tttf- They are motivated by their passion to
make C hina great in the future.
-tttf- IThere are no VCRs. There are many DVDs. C hina is not slowed by decades of technological baggage, and leaps straight to the best new offerings.
-tttf- II Consumers in China don't fear technology. They crave it.
-tttf-ill
The Chinese do nOt want to become Western. What they do want is to gain respect for being C hinese. Western icons and imagery interest them. Respect for what is C hinese connects with them.
It is nor difficult to see how emotional can be inspired by any of these the bt!!ury of Xploring is that conducted on a sU~,err!lar~.
P&G have taken the "go to the jungle" idea and developed it as an approach they expect from everyone in the company. Jim Stengel, P&G's Global Marketing Officer, puts it like this: "What P&G tries to do is to be very closely and personally in touch with our consumers. This means being out there with them and participating in the ways they live their lives. And that's not just calling them or sending them an Internet survey. It's about being in their homes, shopping with them, watching them as they use our products, talking to them about their lives. For senior people, junior people, everybody at P&G , our culture means being a part of our Consumer's life. " Jim reveals a host of insights discoveted at the consumer's side. Insights that have not only shaped how P&G talks with consumers, but also how they have developed new products. Here's one example of how effective this kind of research can be: "I Unite States we sell a lot of Tide in outlets where they sell very large sizes of products at a discount. In the end we came to the point where we were making the detergent botrles so big and heavy that our consumers were having trouble lifting them! But, because we saw the problem in action in the supermarkets and at home, we knew we needed to act. Our solution was to put a spout on the bottom of the bottle, like a beer tap. This meant that was doing the washing could push a button and hold a cup underneath the get the amount
"You don't get an idea like that by sitting in a room. It happened when we were watching consumers struggling to pour out of very big bottles of detergent in their own laundries at home." The reverse situation came out of the same sort of observation in the Middle East. There, P&G people noticed that women often could not afford a box of Ariel for their washing. So they began selling Ariel in small sachets. Now households could spread the cost of washing and still avoid going down to the river with a bar of hard soap. Masao Inoue, the Chief Engineer of Toyota's fuel-efficient vehicle, the Prius, ventured out to do his own Xploring. He was wo rking on a new model for the very different Ametican matket. "Baseball is very popular in Los Angeles, so I went and watched a game there. I parked my Prius in the parking lot and then watched the game. When I walked back to the parking lot I found my car was surrounded by larger cars and pick-up trucks. The Prius looked very, very small against them. I just felt it very strongly. It is something that you have to experience, to feel. So my thought was that the Pri us as it was might be too small for the United States market. By being there and seeing the different sizes I learned something you can't real ly learn from r."Olno the size and m"asl"reme:n~
3. if ink like a fish . Clare and lier people at the Nike Goddess stores talked with consumers about time
Five things to do tomorrow
Chapter 13
I'LL FOLLOW THE SUN
Lovemarks are owned by th e people who love them. That's simple enough. But just as the consumer's point of view (rather than simply that of the brand) comes into focus, something else becom es very cl ea r. Some people take their Love of a brand very seriously indeed. These are the peopl e who would be shocked by the very idea of the "passive consumer," so loved by marketing manuals and anti-brand acti vists . Th ey are the ones who promote and advocate for their brand. The ones who organize for rein statement, who suggest improve ments and refin em ents, who create websites and spread the word. They are also the people who act as moral guardians for the brands they love. They make sure th at wrongs are righted and hold the brand fas t to its stated prin ciples .
I call them Inspirational Consumers.
"When you think about viral marketing and the people who turn others on to your service and recommend it highly, they are your Inspirational Consumers. These are consumers who themselves market the things they are passionate about. So, they might say, 'Oh, haven't you flown JetBlue?' and they all but sell you the tickets and put you on the plane! For the company, they become the buzz marketing arm. In the early days of Yahoo! we had a lot of that. Now you can see it too with Google. People are just passionate about Google, and they can't help themselves from telling their friends about it. For Yahoo! our Inspirational Consumers are the ones that, without getting any marketing dollars from us, tell people about our services."
170
~ov€mar~.1
In 1985, it was I n s pirational Co n s um e r s
who told the C o ca-C ol a Co mpany In no
uncerrain
terms that New
C oke was not gOing to repl ace tradi tional Coca-Cola. And th at was that. Too bad about the $4 million inves tm e nt in market
resea rch and over 200 ,000 blind taste tests. It may in prin ciple (or even in fact) have tas ted better, bu t these Coke love rs d idn't care. A del uge of phone calls and letters demanded the return of t he origin al C oca-Cola.
A group of In spirational Consumers formed the Society fo r the Preservation of the Real Thing . There was panic buying. In San Antonio , Texas , a local man drove to the town's bottler and bought $1 ,000 worth of "real" Coca-Cola. And C oke got the message. It took less than three mo nths fo r this huge company to respond ro rhe consumer tid e of o utrage,
and return to the original ingredients. C oke acknowledged that it is th e consumer w ho owns a Love mark ,
not the company. I 'll Follow l heSun 17 1
The New C oke debacle has become legendary, bur 1 am interested in those consumers who caused the turmoil and turnaround. Coke's website pays tribute to them today by posting New Coke memories. T his one is my favo rite:
That's the question that wo uld have allowed their Insp irational Consumers [Q warn rh em of the consequences. And make it ve ry clear to them that the line, "The best just got better" was never go ing to fly.
" My family and I have been active Coke drinkers for my entire life. I recall a time when Coca-Co la decided to change the formula; there was havoc amongst the members of my household. I believe there was a date when the new Coke would be sold and the old Coke would be removed from the shelves. My father, who is a tremendous Coke consumer, panicked , rushed to the store, and bought several cases of what is now Coke classic. These Co kes only lasted two weeks. I was a child when this happened , and I recall my father grounding me for drinking his 'old Coke,' which he held as priceless. Thank God for the return of Coke classic or my family may still be in mayhem. "
Inspirational Consumers understa nd that the Love o f a brand goes two ways. When a co nsum er loves yo u enough to take actio n, any action, it is t ime to take notice. Immediately.
As Roger Enrico, former CEO of arch-rival Pepsi-Co la, said in his well-known book The Other Guy Blinked, "By the end of their nightmare, [Coca-Cola] fi gured out who they really are. C aretakers." H e might have added ... "of a Lovemark. " Those blind tests were blind alright. They forgot to ask the key question:
"How would you feel if we changed Coca-Cola to this new formula?" 172 2ovemarkJ..
Be hon est. How man y suggestio n cards have yo u left in a box waiting until yo u had the time to loo k at them? How many times have yo u side-stepped an irate customer beca use you didn't need the stress' And isn't it a li ttle weird that yo u never get a sin gle e-ma il from a co nsum er? Ever. Yes, business protects itself wel l, and consum ers know it. But in these co nsumers li e the seeds of inspiration.
So start thinking of these people who love what you do as Inspirational Consumers. Help them get behind your brand and watch it accelerate into a Lovemark. Inspiratio nal Co nsum ers bu ild fan sites, Inspirational Consumers act as the catal yst for word-of- mouth campai gns, Inspirational C onsumers can make great produ cts better, Inspirational Co nsumers have ideas that matter, ideas that can transform yo ur brand- if yo u will let them.
In m y ex perie nce, Inspiratio nal C onsumers not only love a bra nd , they also love peo ple. That's what gives them their emotional dri ve- what g ives th em the ir sheer stamina.
They are the first voice in the game of tag we call "word-of-mouth. "
.' .... ..... :-: ·0:: ....
W hat was th e most famo lls telev isio n co mme rcial eve r produ ced in the histo ry o f the world ? Apple. 1984 . Ri ght? O nl y ra n o nce a t the Superbow l. W he n peo pl e first saw it th at Sunday nig ht, I do n't beli eve an ybody go t it. W hat was she doin g w ith that hamm er' And then .. . wo rd -of- mo uth . The best thin g yo u can do is e nterta in and stinllliate thro ugh a grear piece of M ys terious, Sensuous. a nd Intima te co mmuni cat io n . The n peopl e sta rt talk ing a nd you have th a t miracl e of powe r communi cation: wo rd-o f- mou th.
Perso nall y, I fin d "word -of-mo uth" a silly ex press ion. W he re else do wo rds come fro m ? W hat's impo rtant is wh ose wo rd -o fmouth and wh y they're talkin g. Some guy co mes up to you o n the sidewalk and raves abo ut his mobile phone. We all d o the sa me thing. Step to o ne side. Neve r slow dow n . We can hear eve rything, bur we wa nt to listen to somethin g that matters-fro m someone we love a nd res pect. So Lovema rks grow o n emo tio na l connectio ns rather tha n just word-of- m o uth. As Malco lm G ladwe ll put it:
"What I am looking for is someone who is defined simply by knowing more than I do . If I wanted absolutely the best source on computers, I would find someone who worked in the industry. But I don't. Most of us look for someone who has a marginal advantage over us in information. I tend to opt for trust over expertise, and I ask my brother." Let's look at some o f these Inspiratio nal Consumers at wo rk.
I'll Follow dl(' Sun 173
Inspirational break Insp irational Consumers can also help Lovemarks transform products. "Break" is a square chocolate bar with a loyal following in Greece. It had one problem. The blocks were so thick people struggled to break or bite off a piece. The retailets soo n picked up the message from the consumers and let Break know. Consumers wa nted a slim -
mer bar that they could snap. The Break people heard these comp laints and acted. The blocks we re made thinner and less expensive. Lovemarks hear messages of Love from Inspirational Consumers when everyone else hea rs compla ints.
Inspirational busybody In Spain, one Inspirational Consumer participated in the marke ting of corporate g iant Genera l
Mills. A fanatic lover of Old EI Paso Mex ican food knew that if he was to see his loved cuisine made more readily available, he was go ing to have to come to Genera l Mills' aid . The road to Sll ccess, as he saw it, was paying more atten tion to th e loca l situation. Why call it "Thick 'n Chunky" sauce if rh e product was "like our Spanish traditional Pisto sauce, but cooked in a Mexican way?"
The Old EI Paso products were perceived as too spicy, roo difficult to cook, and reserved by the Spaniards for special occasions. But our In spirational Co nsum e r was convinced that
Mex ican food co uld be co nsum ed daily like Spanish paella. Putting his thoughts down on paper he sent a list of suggestions to General M ills. He po inted out th e s im ila riti es be twee n Mexican and Spanish cuisine and even offered to write a cookbook that wou ld convince th e Spaniards that Old EI Paso was easy to ptepare. Th e result of this inspirational interve ntion? General Mills marketing managers wrote a textbook happy ending. They made the suggested changes. New labels, new product names and , yes, yo u guessed it, a cookbook written by Old EI Paso fanatics is to be published. 174 iovemarkA.
-.
Inspirational grandmothers In spirational Consumers want their Lovemarks to be available, nOt just for themselves, bur for everyo ne. T hat is their power. W hen a grandmother in Turkey found that the red cap milk she used was hard ro get at the local sto re, she took anion. This Insp irationa l Co nsUlner looked after her granddaughter, and red cap milk was the only product she felt was good enough for her precious charge. Unfortunatel y, she and her husband lived on the outsk irts of Istanbul, where red cap milk was hard ro get. She ta lked ro her local srore, rang the sales rep resentative of Slitas, and kept ringing until red cap mi lk was ava ilab le locally.
T his was fantas tic stuff, but th en she went that important step furth er. Concerned tha t her local sto re wo uld sto p stocking the milk if sales were low, she bega n a personal campaign. She deco rated the srore, recruited a gro up of volunteers to distribu te leaAets, and spread the news. I beli eve the re are Inspirational Consumers like this all over the wo rld just waiting for the call.
Inspirational rustlers Some Inspirational Consumers are so in Love with their brand they li terally can't keep their hands off them. Th is was what Becker's beer discovered in C hile when they introduced a powerful new character, a black sheep with the Becker's attitude. It was an instant classic. Everybody fell in Love wit h the Becker's sheep. It became an icon. So much so that ou r people started rece iving ca lls fro m reta ilers sayi ng that their pointof-sale black sheep cutouts we te being stolen faste r than they co uld replace them' O kay, I don't want to encourage people to strip sto res, bur that is th e so rt of attitude that ca n be harnessed for good. In spirationa l Co nsum ers want to be close to th e bran ds th ey love. We need to get out th ere with them and feed off their energy. I'll Follow the Sun 175
Inspirational snaps Any brand that wa nts to beco me a Lovemark gets no hig her mark of recognition than the hours of time Inspirat ional C onsume rs put
into fan clubs. Of the many Love marks that ha ve spro uted such loose but pass ion ate assoc iati ons, non e was more surpri s ing
to m e than th e Russian-made LOMO ca mera. Old-fashioned it may be. Strange design' Certa inly. Loved ' You better beli eve it. On the web there are 25 country, 80 personal, and seven commun ity sites for the LOMO , including th e iconi c society www.lomography.com. LOMO fans eve n persuaded the St. Petersburg fa cto ry to restart production of the fabled LC-A. T hey visited the factory and pressured th e then-Mayor of St. Petersburg, Vladimir Putin. No one stands in th e way of a Lovemark.
Inspiration rereleased Consumers who were Loyal Beyond Reason persuaded Techni cs to bring back th e fabled Technic 1200 d ecks. It turned our that OJ s so loved this giant of the turntable world that they wou ldn't play with anything else. Now th e Technics brand approaches Lovemark sta tus for th e club sce ne. C heck o ut the T-shirts, bags, and slip mats bearing the unmista kable line drawin gs of th e Technics decks and other equipmenr. So roo w ith Kung Fu ice cream
in Denmark.
A local radio OJ co nvinced over 6,000 Inspirational Co nsumers to co ntact loca l com pany Van den Bergh to rein state liquori ce-Aa vored Kung Fu ice cream. FOllr yea rs breI'. in 2002, Van den Bergh launched a website w here consumers could vO te for th e ir favo rite ice cream. The inevitable
resu lt' Kun g Fu , wit h 51,000 votes.
176 ioV€mar~h
Inspirational countdown Perhaps even more fanati cal than the LOMO lovers is the man who is probably th e ultimate Inspiratio nal Consumer: Jim Jetters of Douglasville, Georgia. In 1999, Jim's Toyo ta Starlet was getting read y to clock one million miles! Love his car? Sure did. The Starlet still had th e o riginal transmiss io n and engin e and. with regular maintenance, had been all but trouble-free. Jim wa nted everyo ne to know
it too.
His passio n for his Toyo ta ea rned him a spot o n th e " Late Show with David Letterman" and th e audience got to see the zeros click over for themselves . And remem ber, Jim also owns a couple of C amrys, one with 240,000 miles on the clock and the o ther 100,000. Jim is counting down already.
Stepping up Inspirational Consumers are always passio nate, fo rever enthusiastic, so metimes fanati cal, and
fiercely loyal. Tapping intO their emo tional co nn ections can reveal the insights Lovemarks live off. T hey do tend to see everything in black-a nd-white, but this is JUSt the Love shining through. Seeking out Inspirational C onsumers and feeding their innovations bac k intO the design, manufacturing, marketing, distribution , and sales processes is simple co mmon sense. Busi ness finds it tough to give up the control relationship they have had with consumers. This mea ns they have bee n very reluctant to unleash the power of the Inspirational Co nsumer. We are now past unleashing. Those Inspiratio nal C onsumers have been empowered hugely by th e Internet, and they are going to use their power in ways beyo nd anyth ing we can imagine. Get ready. By getting close to Inspiratio nal Con sumers, I believe an y business can transform itself and step up to beco me a Lovemark .
I'll Follow th e Sun 177
We have tapped the voices and opinions of Inspirational Consumers through our website www.lovemarks.com . Here 's a selection of what touches the passions and loyalties of people around the globe. REMO
Singapore Airlines
The antithesis of blah, an on-line
I love the way they let me sleep through the (fa ntas tic) food service and then when I wake up in the midd le of the nigh t, they bring me a bowl of great noodles. Complete bliss-a nd no fuss. I Consu lt ~uu . U.K.]
AJ addin's cave, rh e esse nce of must have and always, bur aiways ... full . Ie's a reminder of a misspent youth , rhe excitement of providing
rhe perfect giFt, and knowing that the recipient w ill nor be able ro resist REMOin g in return.
Love is a REMO stripey thing! [Manager. Auslr,llia j
A-Channel
Palm Pilot
The impac t A-Channel has o n each co mmuni ty it serves is pheno menal.
A tradesman ca me to my house to give a quote- bur when he pu lled
It's nor just a TV Station- it se rves as a public forum , a charitable o rgani zatio n, and a frie nd to
out his Palm Pi lot to check his schedule I knew I would give him the job....
every Ma niroban. A-Channel is LOVED because Love is what it offers. They offer great
When you come ac ross another Palm Pilot devotee yo u have fo und a friend , someone on your wavelength , so meo ne who und ersta nds.
progra mmin g roo. There a re seve ral stations here in Ca nada that care about their audience, bur A-Channel is so sincere-it spreads its Love-vibe
[Consuh:ulI, Aust ralia]
IKEA IKEA is the place where fantasy
iii ••••
rhroughout the region. People all over Manitoba have "A"s on display 011 their homes, cars, kids, and selves and they are all homemade' These people are in Love. [Producer. Canada )
becomes reality an d where adu lts
become children. At I KENs shop you can jump rhe chairs, sleep in rhe beds, improve yo ur Swedi sh, inve nt yo ur house, find free pencils,
iPod
0 11
and leave your babies at the playlleld ... and it all
Wherever I go, as lo ng as my iPod is right there with me, I rock. It's nor
fits in your ca r!
just larirude. It's att itud e. It's go t rh e
178 ~ovemarb.
[Student, Italy]
look of Love.
r Adw n i ~ i n g cxec lI ti\'C,
U.S.A. I
Aveda
Apple After 14 years I'm still in Love. To be honest, I don't know why I feel
Like a bevy of kind , attentive,
this way. I've simpl y never wanted [Q give rh e other olles a go. I don't even rcally know w hat
the differences are.. " Well , apart from looks' I've been told both do almost the same things-o ne way o r another. Bur wou ld (hey feel rhe same in the da rk' Perhaps deep down I know it's the way you learn to handle them, how readily they respond to your needs, the way they do it. Or maybe there's more to it? Ri cha rd Brie rs/Geo rge Clooney. PC/A ppl e Mac. What sort of idiot wo uld divorce their soul matc? Apple Mac- you arc my Lovemark. IDt:Signer, New Zealand ]
attractive sisters, m y Aveda hair products sit waiting to do m y hair ri ght each morning. Dressed in their sweet, subdued colo rs, th e team springs into action to smooth me, hold me, shine me up .... Patiently they work to disciplin e m y un rul y mop 't il it gleams
and hangs JUSt right. They wrap me up in their bright scents and send me out to f.:1ce th e world,
knowing deep down that I am loved. [Educaror, U.S.A.]
Twinings Twinings teas have a special place
. '\,'o\\NII'~' ""o,~ ,s
in my life. I'm JU St not a mornin g
The Statue of Liberty
person, but if, as I wake up to that unftiendl y light, I focus on the image of my breakfast tray
In tim es ullce rrain , past and prese nt, hu rnaniry in vests her with- or does she
already possess?- rhe srrengrh of a living icon, rh e hope of a li ving spirir. I've stood within her skin , climbed her winding stair, a nd surveyed
w ith its fragra nt pot o fTwinin gs Russian Caravan tea, 1 ca n make that brave move out from under rhe covers, Just a cup clears my head , ge ntl y, nor with a crude rush of caffein e, just a se nsiti ve push into reali ty, Twinings teas
help me face the day ahead with courage.
her domain frolll her crown. The nobi li ty of her
[Mother, Auslralia l
face, her steady gaze, and stro ng, straight stance
keep the f.1 ith like nothing else on this planer. Words are not equal to the hope and f.1ith the Statue of Liberty perpetuates.
Where the Wild Things Are
[Crcarin direcror, U.S.A. I o
Barbie The famous fad of the 60s is now a se rious Love mark thanks to the undying Love of yo ung girls eve rywhere. Barbie taps into th eir
dreams and hopes. She takes them by the hand partway into adulthood, but always in the safe guise of play. (Ed iwr, New Zealand]
The grea test children's book ever written. Everyone ca n ide ntify wi th Max beca use there's a littl e bit of him in all of us. At tim es we want (0 escape fro m so mething or someo ne, yet we know in ou r hearrs that the grass is gree ner
where we stand. This book is absolutely timeless and tho ught-provoking. It will endure fo rever and will be read and re-read by children and their parents un t il the end of time, (Entrepreneur. U .S .A.]
I'll Follow the Sun 179
BBC
Dodge Viper
It was only a few years ago tha t the BBC booked a one-way ticket to th e U .S. on th e QE2 . It soon becam e a ray of ligh t amongst th e thousa nds of bland tel evision stations we a re bombarded wi th here in rh e Scates. Since [hat rime, my own cultu ral horizo ns have grown a nd matured along with irs progra mmin g. Ever since crossing over to th e "English chan nel," t he word comedy has taken on a whole new meanin g, "home deco rating" has rurned into something of a sporr, an d m y garden (or whatever you call the rwo-by- two patch of grass in front o f my house) has blossomed. M y Anglophilia has finall y been satisfied.
A friend of m y son lenr h im h is Viper to go to a wedding. M y so n took me for a d rive. I have neve r experienced such a n ove rwh elmin g transition- from passe nge r to copi lo t. This veh icle embraces yo u as you sit down , it makes you pan of it. If o ne we re to get a ti cke t, it wouldn't be for go in g too fast, it wou ld be for fl ying too low. This isn't a ny ca r, (his is a T ime Machin e.
[Legal assistant, U.S.A. ]
BMW motorcycles BMW mororcycles are a world (and a brand) apart. And so much morc (han a brand. It is a lifestyle, a way of living, a way of definin g myse lf and the world a round me. When I am on m y R 1150 GS, traveling through the w ild and wonde rfu l co rn ers of Africa, (his inc redib le machi ne becomes m y survival kit. And after hu nd reds of thousands of kilo meters, the " kit" becomes "comrade," and the bond becomes emotional. To me, this brand means freedom. Or b rea king free. Escaping. But th at is almost generic ro all b ike b rands. The unique ness of the BMW is that it is a motorcycle for the wi ld . Ir turn s me, an ordinary man, imo an explorer, a p ionee r, a Lone Ra nge r. It makes me more than I am. [Author, South Africa]
] Farmer, Canad:l ]
Absolut
,'I
-
it is sman , funn y, uendy. It always has a d ifferem s[Qry for us-in viting us to "'. d iscover "what is the story (his (i me?" It can be an yth ing it wanrs, transformin g an y object, situation , or issue. I do n't eve n dri nk vodka, but I love the Absolut b ra nd.
[Designer, Romania]
Technics Classic tec hnology. T he 1200s are rhe original direct-d ri ve turntable. Precision hi -fi equipm ent made to last. First produced in the ea rl y 7 0s, small chan ges were made in th e late 70s (a d ifferent moto r and a few new co mpo ne nts) and th e MK J 1 was rel eased. This solid consuucrion , with the ab ility to tun e trackin g, we ight, p itch , etcetera saw irs popu larity in crease. The first Disco a nd Bear DJ s looked for reli abil ity an d fl exibili ty [Q scratch lloop/m ix music with other m usi c and M Cs in clubs, and on th e stree ts. The 1200 was th e an swe r. As a workho rse, the audioph iles have to agree. T his is a fin e marr iage- precision equipm ent mee rs th e rocke rs up[Qwn.
[DJ. U.K.[
180 iovemark ....
Fnac
Birkenstock
A specialist seller of books, C Ds, and videos. F!lac has around 60
A great stOry: 19th century German cobbler Konrad Birkenstock refi nes the shape of his grandfather's clog molds and adds a Aexible arch
shops all over France. Their main co mpetitors are rhe big retailers like Carrefollf
that sell yo u everything cheaply-from a pound of ca rrots to TV sets. Fnac, on rhe other hand,
suppon. It wins th e su ppon of loca l doerors.
has managed to c reate a special cl imate in their Sto res and a pride in buying culrural products from them rath er than from rh e big retaile rs. Their assista ll ts know abom everything. So much so, it becomes a challenge to question
next-generation innovation and takes the clog one step Funher- into a shoe. Voiffl-the Birkenstock sa nd a l is born. I love th e classic
them about a field they don't know! And in every shop, yo u will find a space dedicated to
Eighty years later, Konrad's son Karl applies the
styling, and most of all 1 love the comfort. H eidi Klurn can keep her "designer collec ti on" denim and rhin esto nes!
[Builder. ' I'he Netherlands]
ex hibitions or artist intervi ews or a showcase of
some kind . This makes Fnac not just a place where culture is sold- bur also a place whe re culture happens.
[1-.1anager. France1
Original Tommy's Burger
~.
Mikimoto I received my Mikimoro pearls as Q(", a gift from my boyfriend of three momhs baek in 1986. Immediately I knew he was a keeper. What a romantic, luxuriolls gift For a man to give a woman . Foreve r assoc iated in my mind with images of t he bea utiFul Mrs.
Every rime I'Ill back at Beverl y and Ramparr, I can't help feel ing like I'm 16 aga in. This was the stop on the way home from Dodgers and Kings
Jacqueline Kenn edy Onassis and the Queens of
games, co ncerts, shopp ing, or a nything else tha t
them. J married this m a n-and two child ren later, we re ma in vc ry much in Love!
would bring me to L.A. for the day. I've seen everything from wedding parties to gang fightS , Magic John son in his limo to a vagrant on C hri stmas day who ate a burge r I gave him like it was the only thi ng he'd had ro eat in d ays. Tommy's has had an effect on me like my first ki ss, or m y first ca r; it's so mething that stays w ith YOLI no mat ter where YOll go. For me, Tomm y's wi ll always be more than a burger; it's
part of my Ii fe.
[Graphic designer. U.S.A.]
England. When J'm weari ng them rhey remind
me of my husband's Love fat me. I cherish
]Wif,' :md mOther. U.S.A. ]
Tiffany's It's just a little aqua-blue box, but yo u know that in side is so m ething
absolutely special. Cou ld you ever open a Tiffany bo x w ithout a quiver of excitcment over what it contains? No other brand says more about how yo u Feel abou t someone (han this. [Creative director. AUSII':lli:l [
I'll Follow lhc SUIl 181
Tonga
Toyota
The best kept secret in the South Pacific, and probably th e most welcoming place in rhe world. Deserted paradise islan d s, virgin beaches, acrive volca nos, coral lagoons, Jonah Lomu. Cu rrentl y apply ing for status as an international marin e park reserve. A famolls hisrory of independ ence and the site of the mutin y on rhe Bounty. Sc uba diving visib ility for 50 meters. The only place in rhe wo rld that YO LI can watch humpback w hales d a n ce wit hout ever having ro leave the beach.
Here in Egypt I see loved Toyota pick-up tru cks every day. Paint jobs don't last well in thi s cl imate w ith sand being such a big problem. It upsets locals that own Toyota pick-ups to find t ha t the large Toyota sign at the back of th e veh icle wears our. The answe r, for many. is to painr the nam e "Toyota" in bright colors over th e original sign. That way YO ll ca n show you r Love for yo ur pick-up trllck and the name Toyota at the sa m e ti me. These brightl y painted signs on the back of p ick-lip trucks are eve rywhe re to be see n in this city of Cairo and all other parts of Egypt.
[M:nketcr. New ZCJ.b nd J
[Retailer. Egypd
Snaidero Snaidero was rhe first [0 understand that kitchens are evolvin g from a place w he re you cook and eventuall y ear, into a place where YO LI tran sfo rm food into Love an d affection for yo urself a nd yo ur fami ly and fr iend s. Famous des igners ha ve worked for them. Their new ES kitchen is made in slich a shape t hat it ca n be pur anywhereeven in front of a w indow. It feels smooth and fun ction al a nd it follows the c urves of your body when you Aex yo urself in one of your favori te sports-cooki ng!
ICEO , Ital y]
Coppertone
Campbell's
FJ"
.= My Lovemark is the ultimate comforr Tomato food-Cam pbell's tomato sou p and ....... our) grilled cheese on toast. On a gloomy day, lou nging on th e couch drinking so up is the ve ry bes t cure for th e blues. Cam pbell 's so up is more than a brand. Okay, so it was immortalized by Andy Warho l, but th at was simpl y a recognition of irs permanelH place as an ico n. H ere am I, in Swi t2:erla nd , a co ulHry with so m e of the fin est foods in the world ... fondues an d raclettes are brilliant and they're comforr foods in their ow n ri gh t". But on th is foggy w in te r day all [ desire is a big bowl of Ca mpbell 's tomato so up and toasted cheese.
IAdmin istrator, Swi tzerland]
Jn
the 60s rh e fragralH , exo ti c smell of this lotion , the sun , and the ocean , libe rated our coasral backwate r. C losin g yo ur eyes on a lonel y beach in a bikini, you could dream a nd esca pe to America, where it was all happening! ICompany director. New Zea land l
182 2 oVEmClr~,1
Google
Coogle
Google is my best friend' Google is my bes t fri end! Google is my best fri end! Google is my best friend' Google is my best friend' lCopywriter. Turkeyl
Concorde
Ermenegildo Zegna
A spectacular symbol of technologica1 achievemen t and by far the most beautiful aircraft in the sky. T he sleek, delicate hull and that complex wing shape. No other machine makes people stop and gape as it passes. No orhcr machine retains it's
Just a dream. The perfect wear for rhe perfeer man. JUSt for a few men. W he n I d ie I'll want
[Q
wea r an
Ermcnegildo Zegna suit so I can be in heaven wit h all the Ermenegildo Zegna angels. [Salesman , Costa Rica ]
own singular identity-peop le don't eve r say
"There's a Co ncordc," JUSt (he one we lovcthe Concorde.
[Enginee r, Francel
Doc Martens Docs signified teen angst and rebel lion for me and all the other kids growi ng up in suburbia. W hen I started wea ring them my parents didn't get it. Fo r girls, Docs showed the wo rld that for the first time "cool" meant morc [Q you th an "prctry" and you we re developing your own
sense of style. True, all your fr iends wo re the same shoes, so yo ur style was n't necessarily original, but it was gcrring there. At least I didn't dress like my parents! [Stylist, U.S.A. I
Bundaberg ot all ginger beers are created equal-but most are. For my loor and loyalty, one towers above the rest. The distinctive, yellow label is a century-old echo of mystery. Set against the deep brown of the bottle, it hin ts of a subtropical legacy of toi l and dedication rowards perfecting rhe ultimate dri nk nirvana. The burst of effervescence lIpon opening is an aura l orgy. And the taste of a cold o ne-Woah ! A dance o n the tonsils that slays thirst and jllSt keeps going down. Words don't do justice. W hich says it all really. [journalist, Australia ]
~
Steinway
~
The piano chosen by over 90 percent of concen pianists is one
Breyers To sum up my feelings, I must quore Ren (of "Ren & Stimpy"): "Oh! My beloved icc cream!" All that Breyers lacks is what makes it sooooo good. Eating Brerers is akin (0 eating homemade-from the way it melts. to the way irs edges "crisp" up in root-bee r Aoars. As a premium ice cream it's incomparable!
of rhe great musical Lovcmarks. 5teinway pianos are lovingly polished, tllned, and cared for through generations. A 5rein way brings the past, prescnt, and fuwre together with rhe myste rious power of music.
(Car salesman. U.S.A. ]
[Accountant, U.S.A.I
['11 Follow rhc Sun 183
Five things to do tomorrow
At Saatchi & Saatchi, we've been putting Lovemark ideas into practice. We want to make as many Lovemarks for our clients as we can. We know that any business that is not creating Lovemarks is simply not creating value. Here are case studies on Olay, Brahma, Lexus, Cheerios, and Tide from our ideas people from around the globe. Each one of these stories dramatically demonstrates the power of harnessing the Lovemark characteristics: Olay using Mystery to launch into a tight market; Brahma wrapping up the beer market with the power of storytelling; Lexus dealers building empathy with customers; Cheerios and Tide repositioning themselves as consumer Icons.
@
o LAY. A Mystery story W hat do Y OLI do when you are so successful that your loyal band of consumers don't want you to change? When yo u know you are limited by the category, but the ones who love you most won't let you move? This was O lay in 1999 . A great product , well-loved , and the leader in mass-market sales o f mid-priced moisturizers. But onc huge, new area rem ained for Olay to break into: the prestige skin -care market- th e wo rld o f supermodels, movie stars, and beauty queens. A sector that
186 2ovemark",
accounted for nearl y 40 perce nt o f the global skin-care m arket. And , criti ca lly, a step up [Q premium p rices .
The stakes in this market are high. With them come the desire to stay young. Or, even more profoundly, the quest to fend off mortality. Th e pres tige secto r had been do minated for years by th e Bi g Beauty Industry Playe rs. They played hard. T heir adve rtisingarrogant, self-ass ured, confident- played on consumers' hopes and drea ms. Surely, prestige consumers whispered to themselves, rhe stuff you pay a lot of mo ney fo r is mo re likely to work. And the stuff you pay less for ' Got to be a little less effecrive. Millio ns of women througho ut the world had lisrened to this "logic" for decades . The prestige sector also had se rvice on th eir side. D eparrn1enr stores are where the expensive luxury brands reign. T hat's where the beauty co nsultants ("dragon ladi es" with ve rmilion lipsti ck and perfect skin ) lie in wait, read y to grab a woman's hand and persuad e her that the pro duct is perfect for her. Olay, o n the other hand , lived in rhe "self-select" section o f the market- pharmacies, drugstores, even supermarkets. There, with no help in sight, a woman had to feel something abo ut the product before she got an yw here near the sto re.
T he power of 1 a nd 2 . . . Olay entered this co mplex situ ation wit h a lo ng and va lued hi story w ith wome n ... a nd a trump card. A new a nti -agin g c rea m wit h su pe rb performance. Plu s, P&G kn ew they co uld make thi s superior level of perfo rm a nce access ib le to more women than ever before. T hey could , in some cases, offe r th eir c rea m at up to $ 100 less than compa rab le products sold in departm en t sto res .
... equals 3: Enter a who le new beauty opportunity, masstige! Prestige products for rhe mass marker. Respect before Love The first job was to make sure that this fantastic product was greeted with the Respect it deserved . To take O lay into the hea rt of the prestige skin -care market, the credi bili ty of teal opinion fanners was cri tical. T hese are rhe bea uty ed itors, rhe mavens, and the media types. T hose super-stylish, trendsetting fashionistas from New York and London. But how to get these high-Ayers to listen ' Our team knew that if we sa id, " H ere's a mo isturi zer that is proven ro be more effective tha n all those other brands ... and it's ftom O lay," we'd get a "yeah, right" kind of respon se-a nd that wo uld be that. What was needed was a breakthrough insight that wo uld not only make these professional inAuencers notice the product, but also fa ll in Love with it.
At Saatchi & Saatchi, we figured there had to be a way to capture the best of both worlds . 1. To up-sell the tradi tion al "self-select" co nSllm er, a nd 2. ro e nti ce the prestige consumer off her luxury- bra nd pedesta l ...
We looked to Lovemarks and found just the thing : Mystery. T he a ura o f the u nknow n The first task was to cOll vin ce the opinion lead ing ed itors to trial the new product, but without the brand name. They agreed. The resu lt was spectacula r.
Rolling Thunder 187
"I call it amazing effects because it does exactly what it says it will do. I am hooked. " "Fan tastic. Where can Lget more?" "To my amazement the area under my eyes isn't as crinkly as it usually is," "I am really starting to glow now. When I put it on my face it
fecl s like a part of my skin that I have been missing. It is nice [Q be reunited with a youthful glow again. I'm happy'"
Mystery raised interest and expectations. Testers really did fall in Love with the product. And although they were surprised when they found out who was behind the Mystery. they were not disappointed. Our intuition was that the same enthusiastic
support could be created with consumers as well. A series of trials and tests co nfirm ed rhe hunch that Mystery was an inherent part
of the success of this Aedgling product.
Perceptions of the value of the product-with and without the association of the Olay name-were very different.
With the Olay name attached, the acceptable price point came way, way down.
Clearly, whi le associations with the O lay name were very positive,
it
was nor a
brand that could ex ist alone outside of mid-t ier pricing. For this new p rod uct ro break into the prest ige market it needed som ething more. And so th e laun ch of Total Effects. To the power of seven In developing the concept of Total Effects, Mystery was a guiding light. Take the lise of myrhs and icons. The promise to "Fight the 7 Signs of Aging" evoked all th e iconic associations of th e number seven. As a visual
identifier, we created a graphic of the numbe r seven that was used for th ree years
around the globe. T he m o me nt of Intimacy- an d tru th
Equipped with th e expert testimony of the beauty industry inAuencers, Total Effects was ready to launch and to take on th e prestige sector. The campa ig n started in the hea rt of the beauty business: Vogue magazin e. Real women who'd participated in the initial trials were recruited and photog raph ed. Th e spreads were beautiful- but, cruciall y, beli evable. The Tota l Effects laun ch was a ph enom enal success, proving the ab ility of
Without the O lay nam e, so me women (Old
Olay to attract rh e elusive prest ige consumer.
us th ey would be wi llin g to spend up to $60 for th e produ ct. That was th ree times more than the price Olay intended taki ng to market!
Sales were 53 percent high er in so phisticated prestige markets such as New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago.
188 ioV€mar~h
And the figu res kept on growing. long after the initial marketi ng campaigns were over. Unlike 92 percent of new product introductions. Total Effects' sales grew in (he second year, and even more dramatically in the thi rd year. Olay has always been respected and loved. With the add iti o n of Mys tery and lntimacy. it was also abl e to make a dramati c leap in price po int with the launch of Total Effects.
g
rmm:JM~ Brazil-where the beer comes from Everyone in Brazil knows Brahma beer. After all . they have had well over a century to get acquai nted . Brahma was founded in 1888. and has built its positio n to be the leading brewer in the nation. Th e name says it all : Brahma is "hee r. " In 1990 . most Brazilians wo uld have said Brahma was a Lovcmark. Brahma was th e lead ing brand . with 35 perce nt market share. A ycar later, Brahma decided nOt just to be out front . but to make everyo ne k now about it. They adopted th e line 'Th e N umber I. " Co nfid ent. assertiveand foc used on th e beer and its leadership of the market. Troubl e was. there was nothin g in there about the peopl e who drank it.
Seven years later. Brahma had lea rned the big Lovemarks lesson:
Love cannot be taken for granted. T he lin e "The Nu mber 1" crea ted confusio n. Was it th e first beer to be made in Brazil. the best beer. th e leading beer' W ho knew and. morc and more, who ca red? Brahma suffe red a hefty 11 percent drop in market share. Facing up to the truth . Brahma understood it had become toO traditional for the yo ung people who consumed it-their largest market. Fo r man y. it was no lo nger about having a good time or self-indulgence. Brahma's return to the embrace of yo unger consumers is a tex tboo k Lovcmarks story. To get back in to uch. Brahma and F/Nazca Saa tchi & Saatchi reached for Sensuali ty and . mo re specifica lly. for sound. In rh e search for a moment of real emotional con nec tion with th e Brahma drinking
experience. the sound of a ca n being opened was perfect.
"Tsss" became the sound of good times, the sound of anticipation, and the sound of Brahma. The power of sound as an iconic element in a campaign had immediate results.
Rolling Thunder 189
"Tsss" beca m e part of the vernacular of yo un g Braz ilian drinkers. Walk into a bar. Make the so und. You get what yo u wanted without saying a singl e word. You were in stantl y part of a club of fans. "Tsss" beca m e an ico n in its own right. Bralllna had nailed sound , but did not ignore the other senses. Specially decorated cans were produced for popular Brazilian parties and festivals. Touch was picked up on with thermosensitive stickers that changed color as rhe beer cooled. And Brahma was sold in champagnesized bottles in a stunning visual surprise.
successful marketing ideas to co nn ect with Brazilians.
The turtle spoke to the hearts of Brazilians . The turtle was irreverent, colorful, surprising .. . and he loved to party. This was a character that reflected every young Brazilian's ideal image of the national personality.
Indi viduall y th ese senses- based actions were sma rr, bur more importa nt was what they achieved to ge ther. Brahma was dramaticall y repositioned as ph ys ical, with excitement in irs sOllnd and (Ouch , and as a n esse ntial pa rt of rh e action. Now that was so methin g that eve ry yo ung Brazilian could relate to on an emotional level.
The original commercials featured the [Unle's efforts to lind a Brahma beer on a hot, dusty road. Th e tunic was an animated character interacting with real people and real situation s. This freed up the ca mpaign to heighten the action on-screen, and w make abs urd juxtapositions.
Having created a physical bond throu gh the senses, F/Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi and Brahma looked to utilizing more Lovemark characteristics-great sto ries, mythic characters. empath y, and pass ion.
The nrst turrle spot was a big hit. People couldn't get enoug h of the thirsty turtie who hij acks a truckload of beer in his quest to get a Brahma and to get up-close and intimate with som e bea uti ful wo men at the same time.
As Benjamin Franklin once famously remarked, "Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." That was ce rtainl y th e spirit that spa rk ed Brahma's runle ca mpa ign , one of the most
190 ~oV€mar~h
F/Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi and Brallma understood that beer was part of the consumer's emotional landscap e. That being the case, they reasoned , the more Love mark elements that could be drawn on in th e co mm ercial, the more potential there would be for an emotional response. Working through the key Love mark qualiti es, the turtie and his world are rich in Lovemark wuchpoints.
Mystery: The crearion of th e turtle's personaliry was inspired. Thi s was how Brazilian yo urh rhemselves wanted to be. Irreve rent, inclin ed ro show off, decisive, very successful ar achieving goa ls rhat are darin g and tin ged wirh dan ge r. The sto ries of the turtle's escapades we re classicall y constructed. The runle has a problem : he is hot and tired and trapped in an unwelcomin g e nvironm e nt. H e sees an
opportuni ty and se izes it. He thus rea ps the reward of a cold Brahma beer. In 1868, the scholar Georges Polti underrook an ex tensive review of wo rld literature. and concluded rhat th ere are o nl y 36 fundam ental stori es . Th e turtle's daring narrati ve of problem-opponunity-actionsuccess must be one of th e world's favorites.
Ir taps in to rhe drea ms of every hum an being: rhe sea rch for good fortune. Th e turtl e rhen becam e a hugel y popular character in hi s own ri ghL An icon for
Inti mac)': The runl e's perso nality res ponded
Brazili an attitud e and humor. So intense was rhe pass ion for rh e tu rrl e rhar hi s
to w hat consum ers wanted most in a fri e nd.
creator, Fabio Fernandes, became concern ed
rhar rh e rurtl e mi ght beco me bi gger than the brand. Sensuality: The rurtle is highl y ph ysical. He may have beco me a symbol of thirsr, bur hi s jugglin g and balan cing of the beer cans delighted eve ryone wirh irs crazy skill and dexrerity. As fo r so und , the turtle's delighred "ii iih" victory cry becam e part of rhe Brazilian vernacular.
The level cou ld be exaggerated, of course, bur humor a nd irreverence were highl y va lued by younger consumers. Th ey felt rhe rurtle was on e of th e m.
After rhree rurtl e SpOts, F/Nazca Saarchi & Saatchi felr rhe series had done its work. The cli ent had orher ideas. Enchanted by rhe success of th e turtle and the emot ional
response it had creared wirh rhe peopl e of Brazil , Brahma asked for on e more runle spor.
Rollin g Thunder 191
T his o ne would be special. The co mm ercial would support the Brazilian soccer team, whi ch was playing to qualifY for the 2002 FI FA World C up in Korea and Japa n. At the time, no o ne rated them as potential winners of the C up. Th e new spot encouraged everyone in Brazil to support the underdog Brazi lian eleven .
As Brazil's chances improved, it was almost inevitable that another turtle spot was called for. T he turtle had to keep goi ng with the tea m itself. H e had gone from being a mascot to a lucky charm. Against th e odds, the Brazilian tea m wo n th e World C up- and Bra hm a was with them all the way. Many Brazili ans could not help but give the turtle so me small credit for this remarkable victory. The effect of creating such a stro ng emotional ti e with the co nsume r had dram at ic res u lts for Brahma. Th e tunle ad, with its hum o r, personality, and empathy, ach ieved an incredible 59 percent awareness during the Wo rld C up. T his represented an ave rage increase of 7 percent over the fu ll cam paign. Brahma's brand consideratio n also increased by 4 percent; Brahma had achieved the highest recall and prefere nce in all product categori es in Brazil. During the World Cup, a udience recall peaked at just under 50 percent- a massive increase frolll rhe morc usual 5 to 15 percent.
192 iovemark ....
©,
EXIIS
A new luxury car for America? You've got to be kidding! It is hard to believe now, but as recently as the 1980s, the automotive giant, Toyo ta , was litrle known in the United States. Back then , the co mpan y was known as a manu fact urer of well -priced , sInall cars. And cve n in th e 80s, "made in
Japan ," the great put-down of the 60s, still lurked in corners of the trade. In Japan, Toyota ru led, but the compa ny needed ex pansion outside th e Pacifi c. Th e Am eri ca n car market was huge. Winning th e hearts of Ame ri can s was
crucial if Toyota was to mee t its growth expecta tions, and Toyota fully intended to d o JUSt that.
Did they do it? They certainly did. During the past few years, Toyota 's sales and profits have climbed . T hey have achieved th eir goal to beco me the most profitabl e automotive company in th e wo rld, a nd a rc now pursuin g a n even
higher goa l: to becom e the wo rld leader in
globa l 3uw mori ve sales .
A big parr of rh is success can be ri ed to rh e crea tion of LeXlIS, a lu xury Toyora brand specifi call y bui lr for Am eri ca ns. Th e introdu ctio n of LeXLls demo nstrates rh e critical importa nce of local connections and insight in develop in g powerful global brands. Ir also hi ghli g h rs how relarion ships-th e beating hea rt of a Lovema rk- can be th e foundarion fo r long-te rm competiti ve advantage.
How Toyota turned the tide of consumer opinion from mistrust, through Respect, to Love is a classic Lovemarks story. Leadin g wit h t he local In rhe 7 0 s a n d 80s, Toyo ra had rise n to rh e challenge of co n vin cin g a nat ion of Americans, in Love w ith American cars, [Q bu y and dri ve Japanese. Sa les of small cars we re boomin g, and Toyota had begun to di ve rsify th e lin eup. But th e introd ucti on of LcxlIs- a lu xury caT and a luxury distr ibution channel t har wou ld take o n th e big European a nd Ameri ca n manufacturers-was, ( 0 say th e leas t, a bold move. T he initial reaction ' Scorn a nd d isbeli ef. Toyota knew th e Lexus was up to th e job of dom inat ing the lu xu ry car marker. T hey also kn ew th ey had some powe rful allies in rh e task of co nvinc ing America ns to c han ge th eir rrad irio nal views- ca r d ealers. Such was th e Res pec r rhar Toyo ra had built up w irh irs own ca r d eaiers, as well as that of th e auromorive industry in ge neral , they we re
co nfident th at peo pl e wo ul d cl amor for rh e cha nce to acqu ire a Lex us franchi se. And th ey d id. M ike Sulli va n , a di e- hard car sales professiona l from Santa Monica, Californi a, had wo rk ed with Vo lkswagen , H y und a i, a nd Isuz u. In 1988, he heard abour Toyora's pl ans to es tab lish a se parate Lex us chann el:
"There were literally thousands of applicants. Without seeing the product or knowing much about it, other than that it was Toyota's upscale division, people were throwing themselves at the Lexus rep for the opportunity to be awarded a franchise. " We gOt in t h e lo n g line and starred negotiating. We j umped in a nd spent, at rh e rim e, a lor of mo ney for a ve ry excitin g 'm ay be.' Ir was so rr of blind faith - in hindsight, a labor of Love." W ith so m an y d ealers kee n [Q co rn e o nboa rd , Toyota co uld affo rd to be selec ti ve. Und ersta ndin g t he powe r of relat io nships, rhey saw rh eir d ealers as business parrners w hose ow n success was inregral ro rhar of rh e co mpa ny itself. Toyota saw them as people wit h w hom they intend ed to bui ld a mutuall y be nefi cial, lo ng- ter m relation ship.
Rollin g Thund,:r 193
So how did Toyo ta select their future partners' "T his was before all the surveys, and it was sort of g Ut instinct as ro who wanted ro move forward and change the industry w ith the m," says Sullivan. " We simply embarked on a 'no ful es' serv ice situation. Of course, th e Lex lis was an unbelievable car. But more importantly, Toyo ta didn't say no to us. Eve n if th ere was a problem, they'd say, ' Well, fi x it for the customer, and yo u and I'll work out th e d etail s later.' They d idn't ti e our hands with havin g to argue with rhe customer over what was perceived (0 be wrong. If the ( US(Omer was upset, we were supposed to fix it. And we
did ."
Dan Davidson has been with Toyota sin ce he started washing their cars in 1968. Dan was a noth er on e of the lucky few to be welcomed into th e LeXl!s deal er fo ld. "Toyota ke pt the number of d eal e rs to a minimum , which allows liS to sell quire a few ca rs per ourler, a nd for us ro be pro fitable. With that profitability we're able to give th e customers that littl e bit ex tra. And we're ab le to keep reinvestin g in the service side of Ollf business." C usto mers own the brand Toyota's corporate focus o n "QDR"-Quality, Durability, Reliability-is legendary. These elements of Res pect are now rablesrakes in rh e J uromori ve industry.
If everyone is respected ! everyone is the same. The task then is to step up 194 iovemarkA
beyond Respect and form a relationship created out of emotional connections. This sort of bond requires sensational service. With a cO lllmitme nt ro serv ice, LeXlls d ealers se t new sta ndards that oth er d ealers struggle to match. Does it wo rk' You only need to ask LeXlls owne rs. Serv ice has beco me a ha llmark of th e LeXl!s brand.
Mike Sulli va n endorses th e "littl e th ings" that add up to a big difference. "Th e free ca r washes . th e fresh ro lls, the Starbucks coffee. the leather c hairs w ith the Internet service ... there's no on e tangible thin g. It beco mes the who le ex perience." At Longo LeXlls, there are no customers, only guests, states Tom Rudnai . "We rreat every guest like a gu est in our ho me. We have rel ationships that grow with eve ry vis it to our facility and we are very respectful of our guests' ti me. We wa nt to meet and exceed ex pectations every time a guesr comes to Lo ngo. " Dan D avidso n, too , makes superio r se rvice a focus of his bus in ess. "We offer free pick-up an d deli ve ry whe n servicin g o r purchasing, via Aatbed. And all minor services are performed by rov ing technicians at the custo mer's home o r office. allowing the custo mer to make th e most of eve ry moment in their busy day.
"Say so mebody buys a car fro m us, and they dri ve it home, and a few days later a scratch appears on the vehicle, or it gets a crack in the windshield , or a Rat tire. T hen th e Clisro mcr calls liS up, and there's one of two thin gs we ca n do. We can say no . and
make the guest feel un co mfo rtable. Or we ca n replace the windshield or the tire, and it may COSt us a cou ple of hundred bucks. And we clo that. We say, no problem-when wo uld yo u like it' Do yo u need a loaner ca r' We'll take ca re of that G uest. We have an advocate for life."
Says Dan Davidso n, "Toyo ta's Lexus people listen, they trul y listen. Other co mpanies probably conduct the same sort of meetings. But wha t do they do with the in formation ' Yo u might as well not have bothered with rhe mee tin g, because rhe manufacturer is
just go ing ro go down the path they're already going.
Listening Beyo nd Reaso n LeXlIS
dealers offer a conduit
[0
th e consumer-
but as in all successful relationsh ips, the co mmunica ti on is two-way. Dealers a re
regularl y consulted about improvements. They're often ca lled on ro coordinate custOm er foc lis g ro ups) w hi ch are morc like
fami ly gatherin gs, to gather va luable product feedback.
But unlike some other manufacturers, Toyota takes this feedback onboard. This generates a feeling of trust that perpetuates the willingness of dealers and consumers to give back to the company-a virtuous cycle that keeps the relationship alive and growing .
" Lexus is different. Every single ca r that co mes our, we're as ked to contribute ou r
knowledge to its development. T hey want ro know the things that are really important ro the co nsumer. "
We've lea rned a great deal from participating in the Lexus srart-up. Like Saarch i & Saatchi , Toyota believes that Nothing is Imposs ibl e. And li ke us, they roo understand the power of Loyalty Beyond Reason- the ve ry loya lty they created with Lexus owners.
Rolling Thunder 195
recogni ze its d istin ctive shape and most
likely recall having eaten C hee rios ce real at so me time in his or her li fe. CO ll1modit) to
Out of the bowl and into the heart of the family Breakfast is big busin ess in the U.S. T hink $8 billio n a yea r. And that's the ready-tOcat ccreal catego ry alo ne. How much do
Americans love their cereal? Beyo nd reaso n. And, at the heart of this passionate mo rningtime Love affair is General Mi lls' cheery little 0 in its bright yel low box.
The deciding factor is about what the consumer needs in his or her life. Back when cerea l was still a commodity, co nsumers eating breakfast wa nted little informatio n beyond what type of gra in
When breakfast cereals first ap peared o n American tables in the 1940s, C hee rios
they were con suming . W hea t, ri ce, o r oars wa s abo ut as far as things we nt. Later,
was th e re. At that ti me, cereal was a
peop le needed
co mmod ity product based o n grai n forms. Co rn Flakes and Rice Krispies fro m Ke ll ogg's. W heaties, Corn Puffs, and C heerios from General Mills. Back the n, these five origin atO rs shared a powerful 75 percent of th e cerea l market.
tiated one g ra in from ano th er. and
Today the cereal busi ness is packed with ove r 250 brands, and market share has declined accord in gly. But in spite of thi s
to
know just what d iffe ren-
breakfast eaters began to choose from a wider ra nge of cr ite ria: taste, texture,
colo r, size, and shape. So me exceptiona ll y effective adve rtising byli nes were bo rn at the breakfast table. T he great "Co rn C runch" and "S nap! C rack le! Pop! " Ge neral Mills was one step ahead. They tOok their messages furth er- our of th e
dramati c shi ft, C hee ri os re main s a
bowl, and in to th e lives of the ir core
N umber One, a Lovemark th at has li ved th rough the histO ry of ce real itself. This is a brand thar has built such powerful
consumers. Focusing strongly o n "higher" values of health and nu trit io n, C heerios was established as both releva nt and salient fo r ad ults. Pediatricians reco mmended C heerios as the ideal first solid food fo r
emotional co nnect io ns w ith consume rs
that any Ameri can from six 196
hrand
H ow d id C heerios do it? How d id the cereal manage to t hrive in this fie rcely co mperiti ve category? To begin with , Genera l Mills realized ea rl y o n that food purchases are rarely ever about what's in the box, the package, o r the can.
Rovemar~/"
to
60 wo uld
babies. Studi es showed that children who ate a hea lth y brea kfast did better in school. And oar bran was shown (0 redu ce cholesterol and promote a health y hea rt. G rea t nev{s for rh e dominant oat cerea l on rh e marke r.
Advisin g General Mills. Saatchi & Saa rc hi convinced the company that emotion . not information , was the key to long-term success. The way forward was ro transfo rm Chee ri os from a breakfast cereal into a member of the fam il y. The campaign wo uld
o is f()[ Optillml11
with the emotional moments of breakfast
The rat ional. hea lth-ben efit message worked to establish Chee ri os firm ly in rh e minds of co nsume rs as "The One and Onl y" who le-gra in ce rea l that was best for the fam il y. So far. so good. This powe rful . produ c t-based pro pos ition sustained Cheerios throu gh two generations, positioning it as th e N umber Th ree brand in th e ca tegory. w ith an average 3.3 s hare.
time- Mother. From extensive research, and
focus on rhe person most closely associated
yea rs of speaking to her with rational messages. Saatchi & Saatchi and General Mi lls already kn ew what was goi ng on in her head. The
next step was
(0
capture her heart.
I~rand
to [mem.r!" A new campaig n was created to build on the Res pec t Cheerios had gai ned. adding a cr ucial new in g redienr. Love.
But in th e late 1990s. Gene ral Mills. along wit h rhe other big cereal ma nufacture rs, becam e ala rm ed . 1998/99 had marked th e third stra ig ht year of sa les d eclin e for brea kfast cereals-th e lo nges t d ecline in the histo ry of th e busi ness.
To make matters worse, new cereal competitors continued to proliferate, dangerously eroding the big players' share. And to shore up losses, many of the key cereal manufacturers moved away from longterm, brand-building initiatives, pouring marketing dollars into tactical sales promotions and price incentives.
Rational product cla ims were ca refully exam ined and translated into how a mot her mi ght res pond to them emo tionall y. T his understanding form ed th e basis for a seri es of T V Spots and print wo rk showin g Chee rios in intimate fami ly siruations .
Rollin g Thunder! 97
In the se ri es, C heerios was prese nted as emotional support ro a mother's innate sense of nurturing, as well as pe rvasive in her children's growing up. Chee rios srood in as both the opportunity ro connect with in the fam ily, and the child's need ro fly. And the ad ult-focused , hea lthy-heart message became th e brand 's recognition that all parents wanr ro be there for the ir loved o nes as they grow up.
Bigger than breakfast T he results of the campaign were dramatic. Sales grew an ave rage of 4. 1 percent in volume, representin g a yea r-an-year in crease of about $75 million. And share leapt ro an average of 4.4 perce nt, taking C hee rios from N umber Three ro Num ber On e in breakfast cerea ls. By positi o ning Cheerios as a member of the famil y, Saatchi & Saatch i and General Mi ll s were able ro captllre the emotiona l power behind the brand's powerful heritage. Th e result was rhe transformation of co mmon oats to an enduring ex pression of a moth e r's Love for her family.
Time and Tide Ge neratio ns of Americans grew up with the smell and feel of clothes was hed in Tide. The box with th e bull 's-eye was emotio nally co nnected to the memori es of fa milies thro ughout America. The crispness of a fa ther's shirr. The smell of fresh, Tidecleaned linen desperately missed in the cold bed of a college dorm. Sheets flapping on the family lin e. Tide was the scent of a fa mily that ca red.
These were the fam ily-o riented values that had carried the Tide brand for decades. Si nce 1946, when Procter & Ga mble introduced the world's first synthetic laundry detergent, Tide has led its category far ahead of its nearest co mpetitor. But by the late 90s, Mom was more likely to be up to her elbows in paperwo rk than suds, and nosta lgia was no longer powerful enough ro g ro w the brand. I n a new era of instant gratification , sales sragnated. Tid e was startin g to be perce ived by consum ers as a mass- marke r prod uct, out-of-touch with the realiti es o f everyday lives. P&G knew that Tide could still wo rk sensual wo nders in the laundry. They also knew that was hing clothes remain ed a ritual act of caretaking, an activity that helps keep fa milies fun ctional and in harmo ny.
198 Rov€mar~1.I
Four issues stood o ut. How to: • increase the releva nce of th e brand • re-establish the close relationship th at Tide had forged with the famil y • make Tid e a Lovemark for the co ntem po rary generation and beyond • demonstrate that Tide understood the ve ry diverse needs and values of consumers
C learly, Tide cou ld no lo nger ta lk to these wo men in the way it once did-she d idn't stand still lo ng eno ugh! T he brand would have to catch he r on the run- out in rhe wo rld. no r in the home, whe re its adve rti sing messages had tradition all y reached her.
T he challenge was to get intimate with a whole new group of co nsum ers.
The first thing that P&G and Saatchi & Saatchi did was to take a long, hard look at the lives of what P&G affectionately calls" Moms." It beca me a pparent that, whil e fami ly was no less impona nt to them than it had been for their own mo thers and grandmothers, the way they cared for th eir fa mi lies had changed. And it had changed radically. Moms on the move Tod ay's wo men li ve their daily li ves o n a punishing schedu le. They delive r th eir chi ldren to and from school. Their days are often packed wi th events and eX(facurricular actt vittes. Then there is the planning and participating in famil y events on the weekends and runn ing the househo ld. Added to this marathon is th e fact that the majority of mothers work full- or part-time. Th ey live in their cars. Th ey're constantl y o n the move.
The message wou ld have to be clear and qui ck. A message that showed how the brand empathized with her hecti c and d emanding lifestyle.
Rolling Th under 199
Po in t of Dirt All mot hers a re familiar wi th the place m ent of point of sale ca nd ies, g um , a nd small rays at the checko ut w ithin tantali zin g reach of sm all eyes and ha nds. The easy pu rc hases yo u just can't resist in a Illome nt of weak ness. To ta lk with Tide's co nsumers, we d eveloped rh e " Poi n t o f D in " ca mpa ig n . T hi s, we fig ured , wo uld rep rese nt all th e class ic sit ua tio ns w he re spill age a nd stai nin g occur. I n th e ca r. O n th e bus. At th e pizza pa rl or. A m yri ad o f p laces .
The strategy was to have Tide speak to mothers at the Point of Dirt-and to reassure her that in that instant, Tide would be right alongside her to clean up the mess . T he adve rt ise m ents that Saatchi & Saa tchi created we re lig ht- hea rted. Optimisti c. A musing. Ads that b ro ug ht smi les to the faces of m o th ers and everyon e else who ident ified th eir own personal sticky situatio ns w ith the sto ries o n th e billboa rds. As one consu me r to ld us: "Everybody's been the re. It's so app rop ri ate. " AJ10rhcr: " I thin k it's mo rc perso nal when they speak [Q YO ll at that mo m ent. It's almost as if they kn ew what YO LI wcre do ing. "
200 iovemarbA
The ca mpa ig n was a rare and successful fus io n o f med iu m a nd message. An in tr iguing bl end of info rm atio n a nd Intimacy. The rewa rd ' Sa les s howed an imm ed iate lea p, a nd con tinued to grow yea r-on-year, in so me m a rkers up ro 25 pe rcen t. No w th at's a dra ma tic rurn around fo r a brand that was funnin g O ll t of energy. By liste nin g to rh e co nsumer, we creared a ve ry special mo ment of Inrimacy- a mo ment thar reveals emo t io nal und ersranding. A mome nt th ar proved ro be rh e fou nda rio n of return ing a bra nd- T ide-to its status as a tr ue and endur ing Lovcmark.
T he past informs, but it ca nn ot be changed. My concern is th e future. How ca n business navigate self-i nterest towards social interes t? How can we mobi li ze th e innovations born of
corporate Resea rch and Developme nt for the be nefit of man y? How ca n busin ess crea te a tipping point that se ts a course for human well-being' Any business Illu st make sense eco nomica ll y, bur the re are now
new imperatives. It must also be enviro nmenta ll y and socially sustainable over time. The planet, people, and profits. Al l for one and one for all. We need to g uaran tee ro our children (hat the foundatio ns arc in place for sustainable enterprises across
all dimensions. Ca n business do this' [ believe it can. It sure has the credentials! As I rell business students arou nd the wo rld , busin ess is the engi ne of human progress. If yo u wa nt to cha nge the wo rld, yo u're in the right place. W hy? Because the people who will lead the innovation and crea te the opportunities that build and transfo rm li ves wi ll be the ones w ho dream about, obsess over,
and plan the Row of goods, ideas, and ex peri ences. And what is it that makes the heart of business beat? People. T he desi re of people a ll over the world to choose products, se rvices, and ex peri ences that satisfY the ir needs, fir th ei r va lues. engage their e mo tions, and respond to th eir des ires. To substitute funct iona l over-the-counte r transactio ns for the wa rm th of ge nuine emotio nal co nnections. W he n they find such co nnections, I ha ve seen co nsu mers nansform from fi ckle
brand-hoppers to fi ercely loyal advocates. As YOll know fro m C hapter 13, I ca ll these people Inspirational Consumers-the passionate guardians of a Lovemark .
T his is the new reali ty. A wo rld that not o nl y dema nds that busin esses be up- front and n3nspa re nt, but also in sists that consumers be trul y at the center. In such a world , producers
who embrace consumers and communities by bu ilding Respect and insp iring Love ca n anticipate prem iu m rewards. Producers
who don't wi ll be sidelined and, over time, displaced.
What (he World Needs Now 203
I often ask people whether they'd rather wo rk for a co mpany that is liked, or one that is loved. One hundred percent go for Love. W ith more of their time spent wo rking, people want that work to mean more to them. T hey are searching for identity and they are determ ined to make a contribution. G reat companies respond to this demand by articulating a higher purpose. T hey inspire their people with a call to action that builds identi ty, focuses o n inclusiveness, excites pass io n,
and challenges possibi lity. And, no doubt, a tock-solid foundation from which it is possible to make the world a better place. Even the hard neural sciences are fi nding evidence through brain scans that cooperating and feeling that we are doing the right th ing can really make us foel great. In The New York Times, Natalie Angier summed up Dr. Gregory S. Berns' find ings:
"The small, brave act of cooperating with another person, of choosing trust over cynicism, generosity over selfishness, makes the brain light up with quiet joy." It seems we are wired to cooperate. And what greater project do we have to cooperate on th an making the world better for all of us? Th is is the phi losophy I can see taking roOt at Toyota-a huge and successful company determ ined to make fundam ental change, and understanding that such change pivots on the commitment of Toyota people. Wo rking with passion and dedication, they are committed to a more prosperous society in this new century.
Pos itive steps toward a better future are being taken by businesses everywhere. An example? Research and Development that was once corralled at corporate HQ is increas ingly bein g undertaken where it will be appli ed, where it can make a difference. But let's go further.
204 lovemarlu
I believe that international companies should aim 50 percent of their R&D budget at those 1.3 billion people who earn less than a dollar a day. T his wo uld be a fantas ti c objecti ve fo r businesses with a real co mmitment to inclusive ness. Wi ll the shi ft towa rds business taking more respo nsibili ty fo r the wo rld's wel l-being be easy? No. As w ith al l shi fts o f power, there are to ugh iss ues to be assessed and resol ved. Professor Sandra D awso n, Director of the Judge Institute of M anagement at Cambridge Uni ve rsity in E ngland , highlighted what lies beneath the su rface:
"There is a paradox in the sense that if you empower or regenerate, or you enter into a partnership that fundamentally affects the power balance, then it's like a parent and a child . As a parent you enable an independence, which means that a child won't necessarily look at the world the way you do. So if you want to get away from the colonial notion of development, then that means you have to take really high risks, because you are enabling things to happen which may not then seem to be exactly what you would have wanted. In other words, you can't empower and secure regenerative actions and at the same time exercise control."
W hat {he World Needs Now 205
The desire to control is tough to relinquish, but that is what we mllst do if we want to start on the journ ey towards Lovemar ks. And let's face it, once yo u are in sp ired by th e id ea of Lovemarks, it becomes impossible to settl e for an ytbing less. Tracking Love returns a premium on every conceivab le level. As philosopher Daniel Dennett said: "The secret of happiness is to find so mething more important than yo u are, and then dedicate yo ur life to it. " Alan Webber, Founding Editor, Fast Company:
" One of the things we've always believed at Fast Compauy is that there is a higher road for business to take. That when you combine the notion that work is personal and that outcomes and performance matter, and you hook those two values up to the same energy source, then you actually get the best of all possible worlds, Vou get a workforce and a team of people who are totally committed to what they're doing, You get better results in their performance and in their sense of what's possible." At Saatchi & Saatchi , we are determined to expand our sense of what is possible. We have already made our focu s "to create and perpetuate Lovemarks through the power of our ideas. " We wi ll use our ideas to connect, transform, and em power the people in the 82 countries we operate in. We will demonstrate that to be sustainabl e in the new century, ente rpri ses will need to take on an emotional dimension. And we wil l grow stronger because we know that those who engage with more than th eir own profit margins wi ll gather momentum fast.
Those who limit their benchmarks to rational and financial outcomes will go nowhere slowly. 206 iOYEmar~,..
We have fo und this to be true in the area of social commitmenr. Over rhe yea rs, Saarchi & Saarchi has raken o n pro bono wo rk around the wo rld to hel p social causes. Ou r respo nse was emo tio nal. C lients wo uld b ring us powerful stories o f gro ups and orga nizatio ns pitched aga inst the most unimagi nable social injusti ce. C hild abuse, road d eaths, sex ually transmitted diseases, war, racism, drugs, to rture, lack of co nt racep tio n, ce nso rship , enviro nm e ntal damage, and many, many more. O ur respo nse was to create some of th e most co mpelling ideas in the wo rld.
- - - - - - - - - -- ;"
REII
THIS YOU
" \I~' .,. •....
... Of SHIT.
PENIS WIllIOUT AroNOOM. '~lrlllllll,
"m'l m·ml.
Whar rhl' \X'orld Needs Now 207
..
,
.....
Did this make us lose focus on profit' No. Did it dilute our relationships with major clients' Quite the reverse. What it did do was to ttansform us into one of the world 's leading social co mmunicatio n companies . Do our peopl e get a buzz from that and want to do more
(0
set things right with the world?
You bet they do.
The more power you give away, the more it comes back to you . 208 iovemarkn
But if business is to make the wo rld a better place we also need ro step o lltside o ur own com fort zo ne, share resources, and take a new pe rspecti ve.
It was this insigh t, championed by o ur Wo rld wide Creati ve D irecto r, Bob Isherwood, that inspired the Saatchi & Saatchi Inn ovatio n in Communica tion Awa rd s. Literall y, a cel ebration
of wo rld-changing ideas. We are an ideas co mpany, but we know th at ideas by themselves change noth ing. It's when they go to wo rk a nd transform the way people live tha t they matte r. D r. Arno Pen zias, fo rmer Vice President and C hief Scientist at Bell L1bo ratories and jo int win ner of the 19 78 Nobel Prize in Physics, li ves by this disti nctio n.
" Invention is the product of a creative or curious mind. Innovation is something that changes the life of the customer. It changes the life of the customer in some way, or th e world in which the customer ex periences things. That's an innovation ." T here is a paradox in all this, of course. O ften the simplest innovatio ns have the po tential to change the wo rld most. This was certai nl y true of D avid Irvine- Halliday's inve ntio n, which won rhe T hi rd Saarchi & Saarchi Innovation in Co mmunication Awa rd in 2003. Dave's idea was born du rin g a trekkin g tr ip ill ro the mo untains
of Nepal. A photo ni cs engi neer from Ca lgary, Ca nad a, Dave was str uck by the fact that the villagers in this rem o te, rural land faced an overwhelming barrier to their health , well-being, and develop ment-darkn ess.
They had no access to electric lighta situation that confronts some 1.7 billion of the world's people . What (he World Needs Now 209
Bob Isherwood takes up the story: "Dave Irvine- Halliday's in vention was exactly the kind we had been hoping for when we created th e Innova tion in Communication
Award. What we were after was the application of a simple, practical idea for the greater good . Dave's in vention is certai nly a simple idea, bur rhe impli ca tions for humanity are immense. " It is based on the amazing power of wh ite light em itting diodes. These tiny bulbs require very little energy but they light up a remarkable arca for their size. By clustering a group of t hese tin y light sources together, Dave took the technology into another realm. He produced a unit that could suppl y enough light for a child to read by. What a li fetransforming idea.
"A nd there is a lot of trouble to find. L1rge numbers of the people of the world find themselves hard-up against barriers that prevent them from doing simple things that most of the first world takes for granted. I'm thinking of basic acti vities like being able to read , gettin g quick, competent medical services, or having access to electricity.
"O ur idea' If the lives of million s were burdened by so much trouble, and at the same time ideas people are out there looking for trouble, why nOt put the twO together? That's why we issued the challenge for people to put forward ideas that have the potential to change the way we communicare.
future. That is the essence of how
"We we ren't thinking of anyone kind of communication. It could be anything- from between individuals
businesses can make a difference.
to
"To me, id eas are the currency of the
I agree with Arno Penzias:
between nations and planets! It was, as we say in the ideas business.
a very open brief. "'Creative people let their minds wander, and they mix ideas freely. Innovation often comes from unexpected juxtapositions, from connecting subjects that aren't necessarily related. Another way to generate ideas is to treat a problem as though it were generic. If you're experiencing a particular problem, odds are that other people are experiencing it too. Generate a solution, and you may have
"My friend and Innovation Award judge, Edward de Bono, sums it up best: ' It is better to have enough ideas for so me of them to be wrong, than to be always right by having no ideas at aII... : "The Innovatio n in Communication Award is
an innovation. '
another step towards making the world a better place. It's an examp le of how curiosity, passion, and concern for the well-being of our planet
"Ideas peop le start their day, in the words of
and its people can inspire miracles."
our technical consultant David Levy, 'looking
for trouble: 2 10 iovemarb.
A selection of standout entries from past Saatchi & Saatchi Innovation in Communication Awards Kaspa-Dr. Leslie Kay, New Zealand (W inner, 1998)
NeuroGraph- Dr. Richard Granger, U.S.A. (Finalist, 2003)
A sensory subst itute for the visually impai red. The helm et-like device uses so nar signa ls to help blind
Non~invasive aid for the early diagnosis of Alzheimer's and other neurological diseases.
peopl e "see with so und, "
Self·Adjustable Spectacles-Professor Joshua Silver, U.K . (Edward de Bono Medal , 1998)
Mind Switch- Professor Ashley Craig, Au stralia (Finalist, 2003)
develo ping world.
A radical devi ce (hat (Urns brai n waves into a ph ys ical exte nsio n of rhe body, allowing the disa bled (Q operate electro ni c equipmenr by remOle co ntro l.
Ouicktionary-Wizcom Technologies Ltd. , Israel (Finalist, 1998)
Artificial Sight- Dr. William Dobelle, U.S.A. (Finalist, 2003)
A handheld "pe n" des ig ned rra llsbre it simultan eou sly.
A pioneerin g rec hn o logy using vid eo proj ect ion and skull impl ant's, w hi ch has resulred in people wh o have lost th eir sight be ing ab le ro "sec" af-rer yea rs of roral blindn ess.
An inex pensive eyeglass-len s system destin ed for rhe
[0
sca n text and
Univers Revolved-Ji Lee, U.S.A (Finalist, 1998) A three-di m e nsiona l typeface that e ncourages
peo pl e to read "in rhe round ."
The Kinkajou Projector-Design that Matters Team , MIT, U.S .A. (Finalist, 2003)
Peratech-Peratech Company, U.K. (Winner, 2000)
A mobil e library. cl ass room projecror, an d t e3cher~ training roo l in o ne-ro give remore co mmunities unprecedenrcd a ccess {Q ed ucat ion.
A revo lutionary cl ass of clcc rrica lly cond uct ive co mpos ites (QT Cs) in corporated inw a texti le. The fa bri c, w ith rh e uniqu e abiliry (Q respon d w hum an rOllch, has been rested by NASA fo r spacesuits, and has been used by Bunon in "inrelli ge nr" snowboardin g jac kets.
Stand Up and Walk- Professor Pierre Rabischon9, France (Finalist, 2003) A syste m of b iomed ical implants that offers p3r3pl egics the real possi bility of wa lk ing again.
More abo ut th ese projects, and about the Award, at www.saatehi-saatchi .com/in novation
Judges 1998
2000
2003
Buzz Aldrin-Astron;ulI and moonwalkcr
Paul Davies-Mathematical physicist and
L1uric Anderson-Artist and musician
philosop[wr
Da\'id Byrne-Mllsici:1Il and ;lrtiSI Edward de Bon o-lnvc!I[or oflatloral thinking
James Burke-Scicncc writer Edwa rd de Ilono-Inventor ofbteral thinking
Edwan:1 (Ie Bono-Inventor of Lucral thinking Brian Eno-Multimedia anis!
Danny Hillis- Parallcl computing pium:er Dr. Kenji Kitatan i-Vicc pre~ide lll , Sony
W illi am G ibson-Science fiction writer
Kevin Kelly- Founding editor, \'(fired
Corporation
Tibor Kalman- lnAuential designer
Pattie Maes-Associate professor, M IT
u cilian Murd ocll-News publisher Ricllard Saul \Vurman-I nform:u ion :u chi,,'ci
Mt:dia 1...1b Kjell Nordslrom-C.o-amhor, FUliky RlfSiliffl
John Maeda-Artist and c),berguru Dr. Story Musgra\'e-Astro~scicnt i M Julie Taymor-Film and ,healer dirt'nor
What the World Needs Now 211
To set out to make the world a better place is inspirational. No inspiration , no innovation. Inspiration is contagious. It
is accessible to all. And, I believe, will accelerate us towards a better world. Sa ndra Dawso n aga in:
"You can't do it all on inspiration, but without different ideas you can't be good at business. So I think inspiration is absolutely essential. The more diverse your experience, the more you allow yourself to think unusual things, the more different experiences you have, the more you question and the more you look at things from different angles. That's when the ideas begin to Rowand where inspiration can be very significant." To set Ollt to make the world a better place is inspirarional.
That inspiration feeds back to create more great ideas and actio ns. This very powerfu l cycle wi ll not only benefit the people of the world, but everyone who parti cipates. Businesses, indi viduals, co mmunities, organi z.,,'u ions.
2 12 iovemar~/:I
Index 7 UP 17 42 Below vodka 5 Ahsolut Vodka 180 A-Channel TV station 178 Alessi 100 All Blacks rugby team 51, 88, 93, 114 Amazon.com 38, 79 Amul dairy products 4 Angier, Natalie quotation from 204 anti-globalization movement 35 Apple computers 79, 123, 141, 17.3, 179 Architectural Digest magazine 119 Ariel (Procter & Gamble) 16,79, 165 Aston Martin 140 Attention Economy 33-36,62 Audi 92,93 Australian cricket team 99 auto industry 123, 192-95 Aveda hair products 179 Band-Aid 26 Barbie 179 Basmati rice 148 BBC in U.S.A. 180 Beatles 4,50 heauty industry 13, 14, 116, 186, 188 Kevin Roherts in 13, 14 Becker beer I 75 Beeby, Bob (PepsiCo International) 16 Berns, Dr. Gregory S. findings of 204 beverage industry 16, 18, 27 Birkenstock shoes I 81 Bischmann, Joanne (Harley-Davidson) 28 Bloomingdale's department store 130 BMW motorcyles 180 The Body Shop 79, 95 Bond, James, movies 90 Brahma beer I I 7 Lovemark case study 189-92 brands 24 evolution of, from trademarks 30 limitations of 32-36, 66, 67 Branson, Richard 35, III Break chocolate bars 174 breakfast cereal industry 196-98 Breyers ice cream 183 Budweiser beer 130 Bundaberg Ginger Beer 183 Burberry pattern 112 business role of, in the world 202 Campbell's soups 182 Camper shoes 90 Camry (Toyota) 136, 137, 177
216 QovEmarb
Le Caprice restaurant 140 car industry see auto industry Carrara marble 148 case studies in Lovemarks 186-200 Chanel No. ') 85 Cheerios (General Mills) 93 Lovemark case study 196-98 China Lion Nathan operations in 18 Saatchi & Saatchi research team in 162-64 transformation of 24 understandi ng 162-64 CNN79 Coca-Cola bottle shape as trademark 27 as Lovemark 78, 79, 130 New Coke 171, 172 Pepsi, battle with 16, 17,31 color 114, 115 Pan tone color range 115 commitment, as element of Intimacy 138-41 Commitment-red Marketing 138 Concorde 18.3 consumers emotion, key role of for consumers 42 Inspirational Consumers 168, 170-86 listening to, importance of 3, 75, 81, 156, 166-68, 195, 200 Lovemarks, consumer "ownership" of 3, 74, 78 loyalty, consumer 138 Loyalty Beyond Reason 66, 78, 81, 139-41 product development, involving consumers in 166, 167, 195 Cooper, Peter (QualiQuant International) Lovemarks, research into 160, 161 quotations from 157, 167 Coppertone 182 cosmetics industry see beauty industry CoverGirilipstick (Procter & Gamble) 79 Crayola 109 Crowe, Russell 8') Dawson, Sandra (University of Cambridge) quotations from 205, 212 de Bono, Edward as judge of Innovation in Communication Awards 210, 211 Dean, Cecilia (Visionaire magazine) 86 quotation from 87 Decker, Charles and Winning with the P6-G 99 16 design, importance of 62, 64 Disney 79,91,149
Doc Martens 183 Dodge Viper 180 dreams, tapping into consumers' 93
eBay 79 edge, ideas from the 16, 17 Eisner, Michael (Disney) 55 Electrolux 157 emotion
in husiness and economics .38, 42, 72 consumers, making emotional
connections with 105 music and 117 primary emotions 44 reason compared with 42 secondary emotions 45 empathy, as element of Intimacy 136-38 Enrico, Roger 16 and The Other Guy Blinked 172 Ermenegildo Zegna lin FSOMAR (World Association of Opinion and Marketing Research Professionals) 155,160 Est"e l.auder I 16 Fado music 5 Fast Company magazine 66-72 Fe Bayern Munich soccer team 99 I'edcral Express 130 Fitzpatrick, Scan (All Blacks captain) 51 quotation from 'i 1 Fnac stores 181 I'uji 146 Gan, Stephen (Visionaire magazine) 86 General Mills 9.0, 196-98; see also Cheerios General Motors 192 Giants, New York 140 Gillette l'i Cilson, Clive (co-author Peflk PerjiJrmance) 93 Gladwell, Malcolm quotations from l'i'i, 1'56, ITl and The 7lpping Point l'i'i Goddess, Nike 166 Coogle 2'i, 79, 137, 170, 182 Guinness beer 92
Hamill, Clare (Nike Coddess) Nike Coddess research 166 quotations frolll 142, 166 Harley-Davidson 2X, 78, 79, %, 140 Harvey Nichols department store J.)O Havaianas 4 Head & Shoulders shampoo (Procter &
Gamble) 22, 12J Hello Kitty 97
Hermes 140 Hofil1cyr, Jan (co-author Commitment-red
Marketing) 138 IBM ThinkPad 7H trademark 27 icons and myths, importance of for Lovemarks 9(, IKEA 178 iMac 123, 149 innovation ()4
Saatchi & Saatchi Innovation in Communication Awards 209-11 Inoue, MascIO (''''yota) quotations fi-om 118, 125, 165 inspiration 212, 213 Inspirational Players 12, 213 Internet
role of in research 167 Intimacy Brahma heer campaign, as clement in 189 characteristic of Lovemarks 74-79, 128-44 Tide campaign, as clement in 198 iPod 78, 178 Irvine-Halliday, David 209, 210 Isherwood, Bob (Saatchi & Saatchi) 20, 209 on the Innovation in Communication
Awards 210 Ishizaka, Yoshio (''''yota) quotation from 3
Islam, Yusuf see Stevens, Cat Italy land of the emhrace 122 as Lovcmark 79 Jaguar cars 1.,0 Jcll-O 26 JetBlue Airways 170 Jordan, Michael 142, 166
kaizen (continuous improvement) 61 Kaliardos, James (Visionaire magazine) 86 Klein, Naomi 35 Kodak marketing to teen Generation Y 150-52 Kuryatim, ",llIad 16 Kung I'u icc cream (Van den Bergh) 176 Lafley, A.G. (Procter & Camhle) Foreword by 9 quotation from 164 Landers, Scan (artist) quotation fi-om 100 LECO 79, U9 Lent, Eric (Kodak) l'iO-52 Letterman, David (the "Late Show") 177 Levi's 79 Levy, Maurice (Publicis Groupe) quotations from 42, 43, 94 LeXlIS ('I('yota) 89
Lovemark case study 192-95 Lion Nathan Kevin Roberts as Chief Operating Officer for 18 listening to consumers, importance of 3, 75,81,156,166-68,195-200 LOMO cameras 176 The Lord of the Rings film trilogy 85,93 Love business, Love's importance for 56, 57 hUlnan emotion, most fundamental 45-47,52, 53 Love Bug computer virus 56 Love/Respect Axis 146-52, 160, 161 sport, Love's importance for 51, 99 Lovemarks case studies 186-200 characteristics of 60-63, 74-79 development of concept of 66-72 Inspirational Consumers and 170-S3 Intimacy, as characteristic of Lovemarks 74-79, 128-44 Love/Respect Axis 146-52, 160, 161 Mystery as characteristic of Lovemarks 74-79,82-102 research, Lovemarks approach to 154-68 research into 160-62 Saatchi & Saatchi's role in development of74 Sensuality, as characteristic of Lovemarks 74-79, 104-26 "Trustmarks" concept 68-70 Lucky Charms cereal 140 McDonald's 79, 129 McElroy, Neil development of brand management 30 M&M's 98 M·A·C cosmetics 116 Mach 3 Turbo razors (Gillette) 15 Manchester United soccer team 79 Mandela, Nelson 79, 97 Maori people of New Zealand 88, 166 Mary Quant 12, 13 MGM lion 26 Microsoft 94, 141, 143 Middle East Gillette in 15 Pepsi in 14,31 Procter & Gamhle in 157, 158, 165 Kevin Roberts in 15, 16, 31, 105, 157-59 Mikimoto pearls I 8 I mobile phones 137, 138 Monroe, Marilyn 85 moon project, Apollo 11 94 motorcycle industry 28
Mystery Brahma beer campaign, as element in 189 characteristic of Lovemarks 74-79, 82-102 myths and icons, importance for Lovemarks 96
The New Yorker magazine 4 New Zealand Kevin Roberts in 18, 19 Nike 79,96, 129, 166 Nike Goddess 166 Nintendo 79, 144 Nokia 79 Novak, Jill (Saatchi & Saatchi) 150-52 Olay skin-care products Lovemark case study 186-89 Old El Paso (General Mills) 174 Olympic Games 99 Original'](,mmy's Burger 181 The Other Guy Blinked 172 Owens Corning pink fiberglass 28 Padron Millennium cigars 140 Palm Pilot 178 Pampers (Procter & Gamble) 16, 79 Pan~one color range 1 15 passIOn as element of Intimacy 142, 143 about your own product 75 past, acknowledging the 91 Pawle, John (QualiQuant International) 161 Peak Performance 93, 99 Pearce, Ron 16 Penzias, Dr. Arno quotation from 209, 210 Pepper, John 16 Pepsi, 32, 159 Canada, in 16, 17 Coke, battle with 16, 17, 31 Middle East, in the 16, 31 Kevin Roberts and 16, 31 Peters, 10m 67 PlayStation (Sony) 148 Polti, Georges study of storytelling 191 Postrel, Virginia 43 Pottasch, Alan 16 Pratt, Mike (co-author Peak Performance) 93 President Avenue Fruirworld 4 Prius (Toyota) 98, 118, 165 Procter & Gamble 15,30, 146, 157, 166; see also Lafley, A.G.; Olay skin-care products; 'lIde research methods 165-67 Putumayo World Music 84, 85, 115
mUSK
emotion and 117 importance of for Lovemarks 124 Myers, Douglas (Lion Nathan) 18
QualiQuant International 157, 160, 161, 167 quality control 62 Quant, Mary 12, 13, 116
217
Red Bull 27, 85 Red Crescent 96 Red Cross 79, 96 reliability, importance for Lovemarks 62 REMO general store 178 Research 154-67 focus groups, limitations of 162, 167 Internet, role of 167 Love/Respect, correlation between 161 Lovemarks, research into 160, 161 QualiQuant International 157, 160, 161, 167 qualitative and quantitative, relationship between 161 Research & Development budgets 116, 205 research methods, limitations of 154-59 Saatchi & Saatchi, China research ream 162-64 Xploring 162-65 Respect as foundation for business 60-63 Love/Respect Axis 146-52 Olay Total Effects, in marketing 187 Rice, Butch (co-author Commitment-red Mtlrketing) 138 Roberts, Kevin China, in 18, 24 Gillette, as International New Products Manager for Middle East 15 Lion Nathan, as Chief Operating Officer for 18 Mary Quant, working for 13, 14 Middle East, in the 15,16,31 105, 157-59 New Zealand, in 18, 19 Petlk Perforrrltlnce, co-author of 93 Pepsi, in the Middle East 16 Pepsi Canada, as CEO of 16 Procter & Gamble, as Brand Manager f(Jt 15 Saatchi & Saatchi, as CEO Worldwide of20 "Trust in the Future" article 66-70, 72 Roddick, Anita (The Body Shop) 95 Rolcx Daytona 140 Rollerblades 26 Saatchi & Saatchi 20, 21, 40, 41 case studies on Lovemarks 186-200 China, research team in 162-64 F/Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi, Brahma beer campaign 189-92 Head & Shoulders campaign 123 Innovation in Communication Award
209-11 pro bono work 207 Kevin Roberts, becoming CEO Worldwide 20, 21 Sanders, Tim (Yahoo!) quotation from 170 Schmitz, Herbert 16,32
secrets
eliminating unnecessary secrets from your business 64 Seelert, Bob (Saatchi & Saatchi) 20 developing the Love/Respect Axis 146 Sensuality Brahma beer campaign, as element in 189 characteristic of Lovemarks 74-79, 106-26 service, importance of for Respect 62 Lexus, and 194 Seven Flags 149 sight using visual style in marketing 113-15 Singapore Airlines 178 "single living," rising trend of 135 smell Head & Shoulders campaign 120 use in marketing 118-21 Snaidero kitchen designers 182 Sony PlayStation 148 sound use in marketing 117-18, 189 Starbucks 97, 120 Starck, Phillipe 100 Starlet (Toyota) 177 Statue of Liberty 179 Statue of the Virgin Mary, Harissa 5 Steinlager 128 Steinway pianos 18.3 Stengel, Jim (Procter & Gamble) quotations from 78,79, 165 Stevens, Cat (Yusuf Islam) 40, 41 "Father and Son," Telecom NZ TV spot 40,41 Storper, Dan (Putumayo World Music) quotations from 84, 113 storytelling, importance of for business 75,88-90, 191 SUras dairy products 175 Swatch 79 Sydney Opera House 96 taste
Apple, iMac campaign 123 use in marketing 122-23 Technics turntables 176, 180 Telecom New Zealand 40, 41 "Father and Son" TV spot 40, 41 telecommunications industry 40, 41 telemarketing 34 text-messaging 125 ThinkPad, IBM 149 Tide 16, 66, 79,104,165 Lovemark case study 198-200 Tiffany's 181 The Tipping Point 155 Tonga 182 Total Effects (Olay) 188 touch use in marketing 124, 125
Xbox controller 125 Toyota 3, 79, 98, 118, 125, 136, 137, 146, 177,182 trademarks 25-29 brands, evolution into 30 generic nan1es, transformation into 26 historical development of 25 Trimble, Sam 119 Trung Nguyen cafes 5 trust
importance of in business 62, 66-69 "Trust in the ~uture" article, by Kevin Roberts 66-70, 72 Twinings teas 179 United Airlines 149 value, consumer perception of 62
Olay Total Effects campaign 186 Van den Bergh ice cream 17') Vaseline 26 Vespa 79 Virgin 78 Atlantic 79, 149 music stores 111 Visiontlire magazine 86, 87 Vogue magazine 188 Walkman 26 Wal-Mart 62 Walton, Sam (Wal-Mart) 62 Webber, Alan (FriSt COrnptlflY magazine) quotations from 67, 72, 120,206 "Trust in the Future" article, by Kevin Roberts 66-70, 72 Weymes, Ed (co-author I'mk I'erforrrltlnce) 93 Where the Wild Thing,- Are 179 Winfrey, Oprah 134 World Cup (Soccer) 192 Xbox (Microsoft) 12') Xploring, approach to research 162-6') Yahoo! 137, 170 Yankees, New York 99 Yorkshire pudding 5 Zippo lighters 143
Further Reading Diane Ackerman, 1991,
Margaret Mark and Carol S. Pearson, 2001,
A Nfltllrtll History olthc Senses, New York: Vintage Books.
The Hero and the Out/awe Building Extraordinary Brands Through the Power ofArchetypes, New York: McGraw-HilI.
Diane Ackerman, 199'),
A Ntltura! History olIoue, New York: Vintage Books.
Geoff Mulgan, 1998,
John Armstrong, 2002,
Business School Press.
Connexity: How to Live in
fI
Connected World, Boston: Harvard
Conditions ojIolle: The Philosophy oflntimflcy, London: Penguin. David G. Myers, 2002, Donald Caine, 2000,
Intuition: Its Powers find Perils, New Haven: Yale University Press.
Within Rl'IIson: Ntltionrziity find Humfln Behflvior, New York: Vintage Books.
Hamish Pringle and Marjorie Thompson, 1999,
Brflnd Spirit: How Cfluse Related Marketing Builds Brands, Antonio R. Damasio, 1994,
Sydney: John Wiley & Sons.
Desmrtes' Frror: Jimotion, Neflson, find the Humfln Brain, New York: Avon Books.
Robert D. Putnam, 2000,
Bow!ing Alone: The Collapse and Revivfll ofAmericfln Community, Antonio R. Damasio, 20U},
New York: Simon & Schuster.
Looking/i" SpinoZi/: Joy, Sorrow, find the Feeling Bmin, Orlando: Harcourt, Inc.
Annette Simmons, 20U 1,
Ciep Franzen and Margot Bouwman, 2001,
The Story Fflctor: Inspirfltion, Influence, and Persuasion Through the Art of Storytelling, Boston: Perseus Publishing.
Fhe Mental World of Brand;; Mind, Memory find Brrmd Success, Oxf
Gerald Zaltman, 2003,
Malcolm Gladwell, 2000,
How Customers Think: Essential Insights into the Mind of the Market, Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing.
Fhe lippillg Point: HOII' Little Things Cim Mflke fI Big Diffirence, New York: l.ittle, Brown and Company.
Theodore Zeldin, 1998,
An Intimate History of Humanity, New York: Vintage Books. Thomas Hine, 2002,
I Wtmt Fhru': How Wi, All Became Shoppers, New York:
Shoshana Zuboff and James Maxmin, 2002,
HarperCollins.
The Support Economy: Why Corporations Are Failing Individufl/s and the Next Episode ofCflpitalism, New York: Viking.
Lynn Jamieson, 1998,
Intimflcy: PersorMI Ne!rttion.;hips with Modern Societies, Oxford:
and www.lovemarks.com
Polity Press. Regis McKenna, 2002,
lot,zi Access: Giuing Customers What They W0nt in an Anytime, Anywhere WtJrld, Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
219
Credits Page 13: Photograph © 1966 David Bailey Page 40: Lyrics from Cat Stevens' song "Father and Son" are reproduced after consultation with Sony/ATV Music Publishing. Page 65: Photograph © 1994 Bill Lishman. Bill Lishman is associated with Operation Migration. Page 92: The GUINNESS word and HARP device are trademarks of Guinness & Co. Page 96: NIKE and the Swoosh Design Logo are trademarks ofNike, Inc. and its affiliates. Page 97: Hello Kitty is a registered trademark of Sanrio Co, Ltd, Tokyo, Japan. Page 98: M&M's is a trademark of Mars Incorporated and its affiliates. Page 103: This image is an artwork by Christo and Jeanne-Claude: Valley Curtain, Rifle, Colorado, 1970-72. Copyright Christo 1972. Photograph by Wolfgang Volz. The cables in this work span 1,368 feet (417 meters), varying from 365 feet (Ill meters) on the sides to 182 feet (55.5 meters) in the center. The artists do not accept sponsorship and pay all expenses of their large-scale, temporary works of art themselves. For more information, visit www.christojeanneclaude.net Page 116: Photograph of Rowena Roberts by Duncan Cole Page 137: Photograph by Kevin Necessary Page 163: Photographs by Chien Chung, a young photojournalist, working with Sandy Thompson of Saatchi & Saatchi Hong Kong. Look out for Sandy's awesome book One in a Billion, to be published soon after Lovemarks goes to press. Page 187: Photograph by Sarah Maingot Page 196-97: CHEERIOS is a registered trademark of General Mills, used with permission. The Cheerios box and still image from the "Football" Cheerios TV spor are reprinted with the permission of General Mills. Pages 4,5,17,19,23,33,34,37,42,56,73,81,94,95,108, III, 127, 128, 130, 131, 135, 153, 154, 157, 158,160 (National Geographic Image Collection), 162, 166, 169, 173, 185,201, and 213 feature images supplied by Getty Images. Pages 25, 26, 49, 91, 97, 99, 117, 141, and 145 feature images supplied by Corbis. All terms mentioned in this book that are known to be trademarks or service marks have been appropriately capitalized. Use of a term in this book should not be regarded as affecting the validity of any trademark or service mark. Any inadvertent omissions to these credits and acknowledgements can be rectified in future editions.
221
Acknowledgements This book draws together a range of contributors to inform and shape the evolving story of a future beyond brands. In beginning to place acknowledgements, my first and biggest credit is to my family. We share a continuous journey from our home in New Zealand to various parts of the world, sustained by human Love. Thank you Ro, Nikki, Ben, Bex, and Dan. The 7,000+ talented Saatchi & Saatchi people around the world are also family. They have worked together with me to bring Lovemarks to life, and I tell this story on behalf of, and for them. Credit for the development of concepts for, and execution of, the book's design goes to Derek Lockwood, Saatchi & Saatchi's Worldwide Director of Design. Derek has offered his empathy and energy to give a visual pulse to every page. Thanks to my friends at SVL in New Zealand, who have been with me every step of the way. Brian, Jane, Jim, Mary, Carla, Simone, Richard, and team .... Chapeau, chapeau! The crew at powerHouse Books are entrepreneurial, passionate, and edgy. I've seen how they're a Lovemark to their audiences. And the coolest thing is that they're one block from my office. The pulling power of the local shines yet again. For the insights given me by those I have spoken with about Lovemarks, and for the generous support I have received from the people I have met and continue to meet, I am grateful. Many friends helped me during the journey. Inspired me. Opened me. Touched me. You know who you are. Thank you.
Kevin Roberts
© 2004 Saa,chi & Saa,chi Foreword © 2004 A.G. L... Aey, The Procter & G:Jll1blc C ompan y All fi ghts rese rved. No part of this book may be reproduced in a ny manner in any m edi a, o r lransmincd by any m ea ns whatsoeve r, elee n an ic or m echani cal (includin g phorocopy, film o r video record in g, Intern et posting, or a ny other information sLOrage a nd rCHi eva l syste m ) without th e prior wrinen permiss ion of rhe publisher. Publi shed in th e United Slales by powerHou se Books, a di vision of powerHouse Cultural Enrerr3 inm cIH , In c.
68 C harlton Street, New York, NY 10014 -460 I telephone 2 12 604 9074, fax 2 12 366 5247 e- mail : lovc marks@ powe rHou seBooks.co m website: w~vw. powe rH ou se Books .co ll1 First ed it io n, 2004 Library of C on gress Ca ta login g-i n- Publi cation Data: Robe rts, Kevin , 1949Lovc marks : the futurc bcyo nd bra nds / by Kevin Rob(;rts ; rorcword by A.C. Lalley.-- 1st ed.
p. C I11. ISBN 1-57687-204- 1 (Hardcover) 1. Brand na me produccs-- Marketin g. 2. Brand n:lIn e producrs-- Fo recastin g.3 . Advenising-- Brand nam c products. 4. Trade marks. I. Till e.
HD69.B7 R632004 658.8'27--dc22 2003024927 Hardcover ISBN 1-57687-204- 1 An Di rccrio n: De re k Lockwood Cover Des ign: Hiroaki Ito Design Associat es: Kiki Bauer, Jen H oll ey, Ho ll y Ti ca Scpar:Hion s, priming, and bindin g by Amilcarc Pizzi, S. p.A. Milan A complet c cata log of powerHouse Books and I,imit cd Edirions is available upon requ es t; pl ease call , write, or find Mys tery, Se nsuali ry, and Inrima cy o n ou r websire.
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