FINALLY - Authoritative -- and Believable Economic Good News

A few years ago, economist Alan Beaulieu stood in front of a packed Indianapolis crowd at Butler University and blithely predicted that the whole economic world was going to go to hell in a hand basket. A lot of very intelligent people were in that crowd. Most, like me, didn't do what he said. Way in advance he predicted what we now call the "Great Recession" would be The Perfect Storm. It was going to be exceptionally ugly.

Of course, it was.

At the time, I wrote a Chicago-based business column called the Hoosier Coefficient. So I interviewed Beaulieu and wrote a column about his predictions.

They. All. Came. True.

Every last ugly one of them.

Since I didn't do what he said, the economic maelstrom blew out the windows of my little business. We hung on by our fingernails. When he made his prediction, banks were throwing money at me. When he said that in a few months nobody would be loaning anybody anything, some thought him mad. He said cash would be king, and now I know what that means. I REALLY know what that means. In fact, my business became a little bank, as some client invoices started going 30, 60 and in some cases 180 days, before they were paid.

Just like Beaulieu said they would.

Now, in the past year or so, I -- like you -- have heard it all about our economic "recovery." Off and on, double dip or no double dip. It wakes me up at night and sends me to my knees.
Until now.

Wait for it.

Beaulieu's company, The Institute for Trend Research, has made it OFFICIAL. ITR has a 96% accuracy rate. Here it is:

The year 2012 will be the first real year of expansion and recovery.
The recovery and expansion will continue right through the first half of 2013, and then perhaps get a little bumpy.
ITR says we may have a little bump of a recession beginning in the latter half of 2013, but the economy will pick back up and then expand again from 2015 to 2017.
Now, according to ITR, is the time to market, position and SELL. Time to build up cash reserves, leverage favorable interest rates and GROW.

Did I say that I believe this forecast?

How can I not, especially when he was right down the line, point by excruciatingly painful point, when everyone else was saying "Oh, the housing marketing will rebound, we'll be okay" just a few years ago.

I'm ready to believe. And act!

Stop Commoditizing Communication – Capture the Strategic Creative Advantage

This column by creative director Tim Meyers has developed a virtual life of its own, so if you have not already seen it, enjoy!

Stop Commoditizing Communication – Capture the Strategic Creative Advantage

By Tim Meyers, Creative Director, The MEK Group

Is automation driving your marketing? Is your advertising and creative work dependent on templates and populated by clip art? Does your social media messaging automatically appear on Facebook, then on Twitter, then on your Web site – popping up over and over again until it’s digital tapioca?

What ever happened to the all-compelling “big idea” that drove brand messaging home, regardless of the channel or the platform?

This type of high-octane creative – which still exists today – represents a Big Idea that re-positions an entire company for success. It represents what companies used to go to advertising agencies for: a hot, creative idea that drove the business. An idea that transformed. These transformational ideas create strong, believable brands that literally became part of our culture.

Today, with all of the advances in communication, one might think that this principal is even more true. Ironically, the opposite has manifested itself in many instances, blurred strong communication elements down to meaningless blobs of redundant obviousness. Differentiation in an automated world is the next best thing to an oxymoron.

Advances in communication technology, in desktop publishing, in video production and in portable mobile devices should have created communication excellence. Instead, it’s created a new level of communication clutter that is nearly incomprehensible. Much of what passes for communication today is simply awful.

Because production capacity has become cheap, communication has lurched toward commoditization. A great idea, a great brand, a great campaign – these all take time to nurture, develop, produce and execute. Instead, it is far easier to cut budgets, slam together template ads, spots or PowerPoint presentations and then call it “communication,” even though few are certain to what it’s communicating or even whether it’s communicating. It’s incredibly – and unfortunately – easy to think that one is communication, when in reality all that is happening is the creation of more and more confusing and brand-busting clutter.

With clutter comes anxiety, so bad communication bruises brands – some fatally – even though people may not be aware of it.

At MEK we’ve found three things that will help change the world and get us back to real communication.

1) Automation is not a bad thing, as long as it adds real value to all points of a transaction. Quantity is not necessarily quality, and in an era where plenty of alternatives exist, you want to ensure that you are tantalizing and delighting your customers with real authentic messages.

2) A strong creative idea, fueled by relevant and strong content, can change the world. Or it can at least change the world that you and your customers are used to. Communication platforms like Facebook and Twitter didn’t exist a few years ago. Their replacements – or the platforms that will enhance them – are probably already in development.

3) Accordingly, it’s not about the platform or the technology. It’s about the idea, the content and the message.

Industry labels like advertising, PR and media buying are changing right in front us. What many PR people do today – compared to a decade ago – is in most cases dramatically different. And there’s a reason for that change.

Want to be successful in the second decade of the 21st century? Resist the ease and the siren call of commoditization. There used to be a popular saying in advertising that went something like this: cheap, fast, effective – pick two. In today’s incredibly cluttered communication environment, the saying should perhaps go like this: savvy, simple, relevant – pick three.

Strategic marketing is not a commodity. It doesn’t come in a ready-to-use box. So, fight back and champion the big idea, the big brand, and cheerfully reject those efforts to commoditize real excellence in communication.

Has Your Marketing Become Digital Tapioca? Try the Big Idea!

The following great column by MEK's creative director appeared recently in Inside Indiana Business. If you work in any aspect of communications today, it's definitely worth a read!

Stop Commoditizing Communication – Capture the Strategic Creative Advantage

By Tim Meyers, Creative Director, The MEK Group

Is automation driving your marketing? Is your advertising and creative work dependent on templates and populated by clip art? Does your social media messaging automatically appear on Facebook, then on Twitter, then on your Web site – popping up over and over again until it’s digital tapioca?

What ever happened to the all-compelling “big idea” that drove brand messaging home, regardless of the channel or the platform?

This type of high-octane creative – which still exists today – represents a Big Idea that re-positions an entire company for success. It represents what companies used to go to advertising agencies for: a hot, creative idea that drove the business, an idea that transformed. These transformational ideas create strong, believable brands that literally became part of our culture.

Today, with all of the advances in communication, one might think that this principle is even more true. Ironically, the opposite has manifested itself in many instances, blurring strong communication elements down to meaningless blobs of redundant obviousness. Differentiation in an automated world is the next best thing to an oxymoron.

Advances in communication technology, in desktop publishing, in video production and in portable mobile devices should have created communication excellence. Instead, it’s created a new level of communication clutter that is nearly incomprehensible. Much of what passes for communication today is simply awful.

Because production capacity has become cheap, communication has lurched toward commoditization. A great idea, a great brand, a great campaign – these all take time to nurture, develop, produce and execute. Instead, it is far easier to cut budgets, slam together template ads, spots or PowerPoint presentations and then call it “communication,” even though few are certain to what it’s communicating or even whether it’s communicating. It’s incredibly – and unfortunately – easy to think that one is communicating, when in reality all that is happening is the creation of more and more confusing and brand-busting clutter.

With clutter comes anxiety, so bad communication bruises brands – some fatally – even though people may not be aware of it.

At MEK we’ve found three things that will help change the world and get us back to real communication.

1) Automation is not a bad thing, as long as it adds real value to all points of a transaction. Quantity is not necessarily quality, and in an era where plenty of alternatives exist, you want to ensure that you are tantalizing and delighting your customers with real authentic messages.

2) A strong creative idea, fueled by relevant and strong content, can change the world. Or it can at least change the world that you and your customers are used to.

3) Communication platforms like Facebook and Twitter didn’t exist a few years ago. Their replacements – or the platforms that will enhance them – are probably already in development. Accordingly, it’s not about the platform or the technology. It’s about the idea, the content, and the message.

Industry labels like advertising, PR and media buying are changing right in front us. What many PR, marketing and creative people do today – compared to a decade ago – is in most cases dramatically different. And there’s a reason for that change, due to the changing playing field. However, the Big Idea and how to make it strategically happen has always been a major key.

Want to be successful in the second decade of the 21st century? Resist the ease and the siren call of commoditization. There used to be a popular saying in advertising that went something like this: cheap, fast, effective – pick two. In today’s incredibly cluttered communication environment, the saying should perhaps go like this: savvy, simple, relevant – pick three.

Strategic marketing is not a commodity. It doesn’t come in a ready-to-use box. So, fight back and champion the big idea, the big brand, and cheerfully reject those efforts to commoditize real excellence in communication.

Will My Religion Hurt My Career?

An e-mail posting from BNET recently asked this question: "Will my religion hurt my career?" If one were to follow stereotypes, could this be a HR outcome to evangelistic quasi-preaching in one's workplace?

While clicking through to the BNET story reveals something quite different (a little "bait and switch" about derogatory career perceptions of online atheism), the question remains a fair one. I for one have been asked in a respective work environment whether or not I had "been saved," which--despite the good intentions of person leading with the question--didn't really advance the theological cause they were espousing.

After all, in my world, brand equals performance. How one acts, how one performs, has much to do with the perceived promise and credibility of their personal brand. I would daresay that this is especially true concerning the validity -- and/or career-enhancing elements -- of any proffered spiritual belief system. That being said, do you want to be known as a religious person? Or, perhaps better said, do you want to have the reputation that your spiritual values are openly reflected in how you conduct yourself at work or in life? From a career perspective, what elements of personal brand equity should be considered here?

One could surmise that from personal career or brand considerations, the real question distills down to this: could one responsibly and appropriately advance their career through a real application of their religion? The ancient New Testament writer James (who possessed a very strong positive reputation in both ancient Christian and Jewish communities) declares: "Faith without deeds [applied behavioral application] is dead" or, as he says earlier a bit more forcefully, "faith without deeds is useless." (James 2:26, 20, New International Version). An element of real performance is more than suggested here.

From traditional Christian and Jewish perspectives, I would then humbly suggest that at least one aspect of applied religion would be most beneficial to one's career. Both practicing Jews and Christians share a critical teaching from the Hebrew Tanakh that would certainly advance one's career from performance and productivity perspectives: "Whatsoever thy hand attaineth to do by thy strength, that do" (Ecclesiastes 9:10, Jewish Publication Society). This piece of wise advice is translated in a more contemporary fashion as "Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might" (New International Version of the Bible). Without indulging further in stereotyping, would this be a productive consideration for those of the Gen X entitlement mindset? (Not, mind you, that all members of the Gen X era eschew productivity)

The direction and expectation for high and ethical performance at work is ramped up even higher for practicing Christians, as Jesus Christ Himself is quoted as commanding His followers to "let your light [behavior] shine before men, that they may see your good deeds" (Matthew 5:16, NIV). The Apostle Paul, an individual credited with spreading Christianity across an entire Empire, echos the ancient Hebrew writings when he commanded a Greek congregation: "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men" (Colossians 3:23, NIV).

Of the five "P's" commonly cited for success (passion, patience, persistence, perception and purpose), passion remains the top or close to the top as a key driver for achievement. In this age, "working with all your might" would certainly be a key brand differentiator. So, whether you're a Boomer, Gen X or era-independent, if you want to advance your spiritual beliefs, perhaps you should consider the paraphrased performance-focused advice of Francis of Assisi: "Preach often. When necessary, use words."

With that as a workplace backdrop (with appropriate career advancement in mind), are you a high performer? The Apostle Peter noted that a high-performing Christian will attract attention (I Peter 3:15). If there exists perceived connectivity between your outstanding work performance and your spiritual belief system, then the chances are then that your religion will be viewed both as the driver, and as high performing and attractive. If that is the case, what then will happen to your career?

After all, from a practical persuasive point of view, demonstration and performance trumps rhetoric and theology any day.

Irrational "cool" -- How are we wired to make decisions?

As social media continues to ramp up--whether we want it or not--efforts to determine just how consumers (or the general public for that matter) make decisions also continues apace. Are we more emotional? Or do we deploy rational logic?Related to this is the consideration that the elusive title of "Cool" is irrational from a number of dataviews -- how "cool" is defined, who possesses the authority to bestow the title of "cool" and the like. The mysteries of the Human Dynamic--what motivates and drives us--continue with little real illumination.

PR News offered up a recent piece on human emotions and drivers which was quite interesting and worth a read, especially as some marketers and PR pros will serve up high emotion (which may promote irrationality) to motivate decision-makers. Among other bits, the PR News account included the above motivational/emotive map of blackberry users vs. iPhone owners. Clearly the Blackberry types are a bit more achievement-oriented and practical than the iPhone people, who clearly view the objective of "having fun" as more of a driver.

As one lets this all roll around in one's head, then the progenitors and outcomes concerning any given "brand" begin to insert themselves. As humans indiscriminately assign value to an object or concept--thus producing the "brand"--how is this process truly influenced?

Perhaps some food for thought in this cluttered market- and mind-place.

Last Words of Priceless Wisdom from David Ogilvy

As this week's Fortune magazine points out, yesterday (July 21) was the 10th anniversary of the death of arguably one of the greatest communicators of the 20th century: David Ogilvy. If that's an unfamiliar name to you, then if you have any interest in top flight, high quality communication practices, you owe it to yourself to check out Confessions of an Advertising Man or Oglivy on Advertising from your nearest library or bookstore.
And if you're a business owner, you will find the following short summary to potentially be some of the greatest advice you could solicit during this time of economic turmoil - all free of charge. Hats off to Fortune's Patricia Sellers for sharing this priceless document (which Ogilvy hand wrote out for her in November of 1991):

1) Remember that Abraham Lincoln spoke of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. He left out the pursuit of profit.
2) Remember the old Scottish motto: "Be happy while you're living, for you are a long time dead."
3) If you have to reduce your company's payroll, don't fire your people until you have cut your compensation and the compensation of your big-shots.
4) Define your corporate culture and your principles of management in writing. Don't delegate this to a committee. Search all the parks in all your cities. You'll find no statues of committees.
5) Stop cutting the quality of your products in search of bigger margins. The consumer always notices -- and punishes you.
6) Never spend money on advertising which does not sell.
7) Bear in mind that the consumer is not a moron. She is your wife. Do not insult her intelligence.

David Ogilvy
Charleston
November 15, 1991