The Culting of Brands

I heard a comment on CNN this morning that was a little ridiculous:  “We’re all in this together.”

Do you feel like you’re part of the reason for the economic crisis and were you consulted?  Do you feel like you should suffer the pain because of your individual decisions?  Do you feel like:  “We’re all in this together?”  Perhaps you feel just a little more like a woman that has just been raped?

Rob Walker, in his book Buying In, has a chapter called:  “The straw man in the gray flannel suit” that talks about the death of  The Organization Man.

I agree with this marketing book that social groups and branding are still strong and built around reciprocity and trustworthiness (cults if you will).  Are we seeing the “Culting of American?”

The chapter talks about loners that developed the skateboard culture:  “They had their skateboards, and they were the only ones who would say, ‘What’s up?’ And the next thing you know, I’m a punker, out of nowhere.”

“Consider, for example, the Red Hat Society, notable for bright costumes, exuberant group behavior, and the fact that it is made up of women age fifty and over.  Here the subculture motive is to challenge the way that society expects older women to behave.  ‘It’s a very genuine feeling–You need to get off the stage now and go sit somewhere in the back,’  Sue Ellen Cooper, the sixty-year old ‘founder and Queen Mother’ of the society, told me.  ‘Well, no.  I’ll tell you when I’m ready to do that.’ This is not exactly the same as punk’s generalized middle finger to society, but there is an element of refusal to go along with mainstream values–a bit of an ‘up yours’ to assigned social roles.

Founded in 1998, the society had within seven years signed up about 850,000 members worldwide.  It also operated a three-thousand-square-foot retail shop, had twenty-six licensing deals, and sold hundreds of products through department and specialty stores as well as its website, including at least thirty varieties of actual red hats.  …What these women do when they meet is, basically, goof off.  Fred Cohen of the film production company Creative Presentations has, while working on a Red Hat documentary, recorded Red Hatters engaged in everything from drum circles to fashion shows to dance parties to huge conventions where they gather in the thousands.”

Could you start a business that has 850,000 customers worldwide?

Perhaps the days of someone telling us:  “We’re all in this together” are long over.  Perhaps we’ll tell them when we’re in it together and when we’ll get off the stage while others take over?  Some look at CNN, NBC, Fox, (MSM) long-term like they look at the 1949 play Death of a Salesman (Willy Loman).

You may not start a movement as a business.  However, business always comes out of group activities doesn’t it?

Making a Clean Break?

Trying to make a clean break from your past?

Even Michael Phelps, the Olympic gold-medalist, is finding that actions have consequences. You may not be in the same situation as Phelps (actually he has support you probably couldn’t begin to have) after trying drugs.

Consider going into a legitimate business for yourself.

You’ve probably noticed U.S. jails are full of kids involved with drugs. And so, why struggle with a resume or job application.

Sign a distributorship agreement with a Direct Sales Company and begin to get your life straightened out. There are good options and looking for a job may not be one of them.  You are not on a par with a CEO or Politician that sticks millions in their pockets and then goes on a tax payer paid junket.

Above all else, remember that you are a person of great worth and deserve the chance to have life on your terms!

Let It Fail Strategy

Have you ever seen a business strategy of “Let It Fail?” Many of you have seen it often you just didn’t have a name for it. People in positions of power that surround themselves with “yes” people are prime targets for this strategy.

People playing in the corporate game (often at high level) use the “Let it Fail Strategy” and here’s how it works:

Your opponent champions a strategy that you know won’t work.  Instead of fighting your opponents strategy you quietly support and throw fire on the strategy so that it will not only fail but fail big (fail miserably).  Of course, the champion of the strategy is in big trouble.

Often disgruntled people in sales or marketing play this strategy by just remaining quiet.  They don’t fight powerful people they just let them fail because they realize that the strategy “will fail.”  This often proves to be a very good strategy to take against Corporate enemies.  Owners and Presidents often find themselves victim to the fallacy of composition assuming what is good for the company is good for the employee.  In other words, surely they would not set us up to fail on purpose?  Here’s a real life example:

A powerful VP (that you dislike) introduces a new phone system to handle sales or  customer service calls.  And so, customers begin calling in and they can’t get questions asked or problems solved.  Customers don’t often complain they just leave! You make sure that everyone knows this VP is the champion of the new phone system.  Next, the opponents of the VP show through market analysis that the company has lost customers because of the new phone system (some of them major customers).

Companies are often victims of the don’t rock the boat or let it fail strategy.

Here’s another example:  An innovative company comes up with a phenomenal new product without giving consideration as to how the customers should be approached.  They find their normal channel (corporate purchasing agents) won’t touch the new wonder simply because it is new and unproven.  In other words, the purchasing agent can be a hero (for which they get no recognition and money from their company or your company) or they can be a failure because they changed out products that work.  Obviously, they won’t take the risk of buying your great new product.  What’s in it for them?

Government Politicians are notorious for using this strategy. I’ve often figured that our nation will be destroyed from within and not from without.  In the let if fail strategy we have obvious programs like social security and medicare (the third rail).  These are not bad programs just not structured correctly.  No, I’m not promoting privatization.

If you truly want to stamp out the free market system and democracy how would you do it?  LET IT FAIL.  Make sure everyone is happy and/or scared to death.  Poor huge amounts of money into failed programs.  Never veto pork.  Make sure the bureaucracy is huge and can’t be managed.  Make sure that you take on all of the world (not just your own country).  Blame the other party or enemies for these failures.  When it comes to the fallacy of composition:  How many politicians are looking out for the country instead of themselves?

Do the Right Thing–Always Bo Schembechler
“Every coach, every executive, every leader: They all know right from wrong. Even those Enron guys. When someone uncovers a scandal in their company, I don’t think they cay say, ‘I didn’t know that was going on.’ They’re just saying they’re too dumb to do their job! And if they really are too dumb, then why are they getting paid millions of dollars to do it? They know what’s going on.

It all boils down to basic honesty. Without that, you won’t accomplish a single thing that’s worthwhile.

In the college coaching business, like every other business, the temptations are everywhere. You can break recruiting rules, give out cars, even fudge grades. But if you’re honest, and you know what you believe, these things really aren’t that tempting at all.”

Assume Infallibility

A former President of the Coca-Cola Company, Donald R. Keough, wrote a book called The Ten Commandments for Business Failure. He wrote the book discussing what will insure failure in business.

Here are the chapter titles and commandments of failure:

1. Quit Taking Risks
2. Be Inflexible
3. Isolate Yourself
4. Assume Infallibility
5. Play the Game Close to the Foul Line
6. Don’t Take Time to Think
7. Put All Your Faith in Experts and Outside Consultants
8. Love Your Bureaucracy
9. Send Mixed Messages
10. Be Afraid of the Future
11. Lose Your Passion for Work–for Life

This book is based on the insights of a CEO experienced in some of the largest companies in the World that have survived decades of competition.

We all can think of large companies that have assumed infallibility and here’s a great example from Don Keough:  “Schlitz beer had one of the greatest names in the American brewing business.  Do you even remember it?  In 1975 Schlitz was number two in the country, behind Budweiser, and it aspired to be number one.  Schlitz management fancied themselves more sophisticated in the ways of marketing than the traditionalists at Anheuser-Busch.  They used more extensive “marketing research” than the competition and began to see themselves as just plain smarter.  They began to think that their way of doing business was infallible, and if they ran counter to the traditions of the brewing business when they cut corners to reduce their ingredients costs, well, so be it.  And for a while it looked like a good idea.  And for a while things were all right.

But Schlitz kept tinkering with the brewing process.  To speed up the brewing cycle, they introduced new chemicals that began to affect the quality of the beer.

When the perception of quality in even the most ordinary product is lost, all is lost. When consumers got word that Schlitz had cut corners with its ingredients, they reacted negatively.  In an intensely brand-loyal business, Schlitz drinkers began to abandon their beer.  From one of the leading brews in the nation, Schlitz dropped to the point in the mid-1980s where ‘The Beer That Made Milwaukee Famous’ was not only not famous–it was gone.”

Yes, Don was at Coke when they introduced New Coke.  And so, he has made some big mistakes too and has listened to the experts and outside consultants when he should have been listening to his customers.

If you are the “Decider” be sure and correct your mistakes if you don’t want to go the way of Schlitz Beer!

The Tribes Q&A

You are a Champion!

I noticed on Seth’s Blog that he is giving away (linked) The Tribes Q&A ebook.

Seth Godin is a well known author and I particularly liked his book The Dip. Go check it out.

The Timing is Right to Join Network Marketing

You are a Champion!

In The Wellness Revolution, bestselling author Paul Zane Pilzer–a world-renowned economist, lay rabbi, presidential advisor, college professor, and entrepreneur–shows you how to tap into this next trillion-dollar revolution.  Already a 200 billion-dollar business, with most of its revenue coming from vitamin sale sales and health club memberships, the well-ness industry is just now taking off.  In the next ten years, an additional $1 trillion of the U.S. economy will be devoted to providing healthy people with products to maintain their health.“

SUPPLEMENTS CONTINUE TO BE A PRIORITY FOR CONSUMERS
—Annual survey finds slumping economy won’t deter most consumers
from purchasing supplements; price may become a central factor—

WASHINGTON, D.C., October 3, 2008 —When it comes to the downturn in the economy, many dietary supplement users don’t intend on cutting back their supplement regimen.  According to a new survey conducted by Ipsos-Public Affairs for the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN), a full 51 percent of supplement users indicated that the economy will likely not change their supplement- purchasing habits.  These findings were released this week from the 2008 CRN Consumer Survey on Dietary Supplements at The Conference, CRN’s annual symposium for the dietary supplement industry, taking place at the Hyatt Regency Tamaya Resort & Spa, Santa Ana Pueblo, N.M.

Survey results also showed that of the 51 percent who don’t plan on cutting back their supplement routine, 13 percent of dietary supplement consumers went further to say that supplements are “an essential part of my wellness regimen, and I cannot do without them.”

“It’s encouraging to see that, despite the current economic climate, such a large percentage of adults are continuing to invest in their health by including dietary supplements as a part of their wellness regimen,” said Judy Blatman, senior vice president, communications, CRN.  “Engaging in preventative health measures today, such as incorporating supplements into a healthy lifestyle, may help avoid potential healthcare costs down the road.”

Although survey results showed that most supplement consumers don’t plan on cutting back on their supplement routine regardless of economic anxieties, some may alter their purchasing habits.  In fact, nearly a third of supplement users surveyed (30 percent) indicated that, while they will continue to purchase dietary supplements, price will become a more important factor in the purchasing process.  Further, an additional 13 percent responded that, given the potential downturn in the economy, they will continue to purchase, but will likely purchase less in the future.

And while the overwhelming majority of supplement users plan to continue with their supplement regimen in one way or another, a small portion of the survey respondents said they might suspend their supplement usage altogether should the need arise.  Survey results showed that six percent of supplement users consider dietary supplements a luxury and believe they can do without them during economic hardships.

“Times are tough for many Americans right now, and countless families are faced with the difficult position of cutting back on items that are not of absolute necessity when trying to balance higher costs in gasoline, groceries and other daily necessities,” continued Ms. Blatman.  “We were pleased to see that an overwhelming majority of supplement users recognize the value of taking vitamins, minerals and other supplements, and are making a concerted effort to invest in their health long term.”

Prisons without Bars

You are a Champion!

When women talk about “glass ceilings” it is not a figment of their imagination. When people sing the following song many are singing about a prison of flesh.

I’ll Fly Away

Alfred E. Brumley

Some glad morning when this life is o’er, I’ll fly away;
To a home on God’s celestial shore, I’ll fly away (I’ll fly away).

When the shadows of this life have gone, I’ll fly away;
Like a bird from prison bars has flown, I’ll fly away (I’ll fly away).

Just a few more weary days and then, I’ll fly away;
To a land where joy shall never end, I’ll fly away (I’ll fly away).

Chorus
I’ll fly away, Oh Glory
I’ll fly away; (in the morning)
When I die, Hallelujah, by and by,
I’ll fly away (I’ll fly away).

There are many prisons of the body and mind (habits like drugs, gambling, gluttony, alcohol, sex, TV, and on and on).  Some prisons are self imposed.

There is no reason to be a prisoner at a job.  Rewarding businesses are obtainable and available to set us free.  Take a small step and join a company.

In Network Marketing there is no glass ceiling and NO LIMITS!

Marketing is Not Selling

You are a Champion!

“Creating The Future – Fixed Goals & Flexible Strategy”

“Strong Winds will Blow!” Charlie Ragus

Wal-Mart® does mass marketing and some selling. We don’t go into their store to get a loaf of bread and expect to talk to a salesperson. Why? Because we understand what a loaf of bread is and may even prefer a particular brand. Therefore, Network Marketing would not work well selling a loaf of bread and competing against Wal-Mart®. We use such an obvious example we can’t miss this point. Therefore, they do have marketing and not selling. Distribution is also a big marketing advantage to Wal-Mart®. For example, we would not go online and sell commodities with heavy distribution and freight cost to compete against them on price (unless we want to be short-lived in our business endeavor).

How a company markets products is critical to success. For example, in Network Marketing we are not just marketing products we are marketing a Business Opportunity and how we market the opportunity is just as critical as the products! People do need business opportunities and this is a part of the Network Marketing Business Model.

William A. Cohen, PhD in A Class with Drucker, “…‘Marketing and selling are not identical.’ Then he went on to really wake me up. ‘Selling and marketing are neither synonymous nor complementary.’ he said. ‘One could consider them adversarial in some cases. There is no doubt that if marketing were done perfectly, selling, in the actual sense of the word, would be unnecessary.’

Drucker went on to explain that marketing was more than just an important business function. In fact, he said it wasn’t a business function at all, but rather the basis of any business. It was a mistake to consider marketing on an equal basis with other functionary areas such as manufacturing, because marketing permeated every aspect of the business.

Here are some of the key aspects of Drucker’s theory on the relationship between marketing and selling:

• A poor marketing strategy cannot be overcome by good implementation or marketing tactics; marketing strategy is the governing aspect.
• Marketing and selling are neither synonymous nor necessarily complementary.
• The objective of marketing (and therefore marketing strategy) is to make selling superfluous.
• Selling and marketing can be adversarial.

Drucker did not intend to negate the importance of selling, advertising, distribution, and face-to-face selling are all critical functions. Drucker wanted us to understand that marketing was the governing factor of any business and was so central to all business that its goal was to make selling unnecessary, even if this objective could never be attained in the real world.”

Running with the Bulls

You are a Champion!

Tim Irwin, Ph.D. Run With The Bulls:  “This mixture of adrenalin, testosterone, and fear was the most overwhelming force I have ever experienced.”

“The bulls serves as useful symbols for everything that creates the context of our work lives–the events, the circumstances, and the obstacles. ‘Bulls’ constantly rage around us in the workplace. Inept managers, downsizings, misguided compensation systems, constant churn, outdated IT systems, ill-designed processes or structures that make our jobs difficult or even obsolete–they’re all part of normal organizational life.  To view these organizational realities as unfair or out to get us is impractical and maybe even naïve.  These ‘organizational bulls’ are indifferent to us (unless we get in their way), ultimately not caring whether or not we reach our goals, but rather whether or not they reach theirs. An organization’s goals are extraordinarily simple and straightforward–survival and success–and to not meaningfully contribute to these goals (or even to be irrelevant to the accomplishment of them) automatically puts us in harm’s way.  As Hemingway points out, ‘Each time he [the bullfighter] enters into the terrain of the bull, he is in great danger.’  An organization’s survival and success are the terrain of the bull.

One of the savviest CEOs I’ve ever worked with often said that he was never surprised when people or organizations acted in their own self-interest.  Even companies that strive to be the ‘employer of choice’ in their market or to have a supportive, uplifting culture do so out of self-interest.  We should not be surprised that organizations make decisions to assure their own success and survival.  Even most bad decisions are fundamentally motivated to help a company succeed–the decisions were just misguided.

All organizations constantly seek to achieve their owners’ expectations. Even if drastic measures are required, achieving the next quarterly earnings estimates or being able to assure stockholders that the company will remain in business another year is a nonnegotiable in today’s business environment.  Even nonprofit organizations, whose mission is usually altruistic, still seek first and foremost to remain in existence.  While an effective individual manager may care about our hopes, dreams, and aspirations, the events swirling in and around an organization do not.  The organizations’ only focus is achieving its goals, and an organization seeking success and survival will trample us if we do not run skillfully.“

Poverty to Obesity to Poor Health

You are a Champion!

A vicious cycle is causing much of the Health Care Crisis in America:  Poverty to Obesity to Poor Health.

Look at this map of 2008 Obesity published by CalorieLab.com:

U.S. Obesity

As you can see, Mississippi is ranked number one in Obesity.  What other number one ranking has Mississippi obtained?  According the the U.S. Census Bureau – persons at or below poverty level.  As we look at the most obese states we will find that they correlate strongly with poverty.

Many of us realize that the poverty problem in the U.S. is double that of other industrialized nations.  Therefore, when we talk about the health care crisis it stems back to the root causes including poverty.  Of course, other causes would be education and opportunity for the poor, etc.

The facts contradict that the average American is obese because of wealth and the ability to eat too much of the wrong things. While this can be true the overwhelming cause for obesity is poverty.

What causes obesity? More calories into the body than out of the body.  Poor people eat more canned fruits and vegetables containing more sugar and salt (processed foods).  Also, fast foods that are high in fat or sugar.  When people don’t eat right and don’t exercise they gain weight.  These are the types of foods that poor people can afford (if they eat at all).

Improper dieting is a reason for obesity and can become a spiral or cycle of weight loss and gain. The body needs “fuel to burn” just like a wood burning stove.  Our bodies can’t operate properly without fuel to burn! If meals are skipped our bodies go into starvation mode (lower metabolism) retaining fat and burning muscle (our bodies are smart systems).  Our false ideas and actions can be at odds with our “smart system.” People have learned that eating many small meals during the day along with good nutrition will cause the body to eliminate weight.  Many diets are not properly balanced.

The proper “balance” between proteins and carbs are necessary for good health.  While we might lose weight on a low carb diet consider this:  “Your brain needs carbs.”  Therefore, you may be losing your ability to think well to lose weight on a low carb high protein diet!

My wife and I learned long ago through experience that our best customers have money to spend on good nutrition because they are concerned about their bodies and health. 

Poor people are truly in a vicious cycle (poverty to obesity to poor health).