Don't fix what isn't broken

Miles Templeman, The Director General of the Institute of Directors made a very telling comment recently at the Annual Convention. Tucked away in all the various bits of spin, soundbites and home spun philosophy was an excellent quote that made attending the Convention memorable.

Miles said this - "Don't repair the bits that aren't broken". A simple statement but one that resonated with me for the rest of the day.

The reason why it resonated is that in all my years of consultancy it had not occurred to me to separate out the bits that worked and the bits that did not. I typically would have looked at the whole and sought solutions that included the fixed and the broken. How much easier to separate out the two parts and then focus on the broken bits.

Just occasionally you come across what appears to be a soundbite but on reflection turns out to be a paradigm shift in ones approach. This was an epiphany for me.

The moral of this tale - you are never to old to learn

Lovemarks - good theory or snake oil?

Kevin Roberts, Global Chief Executive of Saatchi and Saatchi, speaking at the IoD Annual Convention outlined his agencies' approach to marketing based on the concept of Lovemarks.

It is based on a traditional two by two matrix with the axis labelled Respect and Love as shown in the image.

Anything in the lower left hand quadrant is simply a commodity with no respect and no love. The top left is where most brands belong. They have respect but little love. Fads are in the lower right hand quadrant. They are loved but not respected. Lovemarks in the top right quadrant have both respect and are loved.

The key according to Roberts is to engage your client's emotions. The Return on Investment argument is replaced with Return on Involvement. Move from irreplaceable to irresistible to overcome the Weapons of Mass Distraction.

All heady stuff that had most of us marketeers salivating. BUT, is it the new marketing paradigm that Roberts believes it is?

Entertaining it most certainly is and Kevin argues it with the ferocity of an All Black. But I can't help but think that it is not a paradigm shift but the traditional marketing ideas repackaged.

After all doesn't every marketeer start with the idea that their products are perceived by the client in such a way as to generate loyalty? Don't we all start with the intention of building the relationship with clients in such a way that they are delighted and as such become irresistible?

So I believe it is not so much in the theory that it works but in the implementation. Getting the product or service packaged in such a way that it helps clients to remain loyal.

Roberts has successfully argued that Lovemarks is the best game in town but in my book it is simply a way to package sound marketing theory in a way that makes it inaccessible to most and as such a premium based service. Which is not bad marketing when you think about it!!