The people that inspire us!

THE INNOVATORS - ENGINEERED BY MERCURY1 1


Innovators that inspire us


This presentation is about the people that inspire us, our brand thinking and our approach in helping brands to be the best that they can possibly be!


Our Brilliant Dozen Not the usual suspects I am afraid– that would be far too boring


“May you live in interesting times” Old Chinese Proverb – and we sure live in interesting brand times


“He who knows himself, and his enemy need not fear the outcome of a thousand battles, for he has already won” Master Sun Tzu – the Art of War


Master Sun Tzu Sun Tzu inspires us because he wrote one of the first books on strategy – The Art of War. “All men can see the tactics whereby I conquer, but what none can see is the strategy out of which victory is evolved” Master Sun Tzu, The Art of War, Vi: weak points and strong. One can actually argue that this piece of literature is a prime example of systemic thinking strategy. In other words it is about the complete system and the patterns and not about one core thing or some sustainable competitive advantage or USP.


“At his very core lay a unquenchable lust for power” – Genghis Kahn The secret history of the Mongols


Genghis Khan Anyone who has ever read the “Secret History of the Mongols” will testify to the fact that everything the Khan did was strategic. From changing Mongol culture to writing a set of laws and values that helped him govern his nation (It was called the Yassa) to building a powerful brand that stood for fear, power and domination to those that apposed it. All the while he treated his generals as brothers. It is amazing to think that before an internet age, telephones and television, he lived in a time where information was transmitted verbally, everyone knew and feared the Khan. His reputation – his brand – preceded him.


“When you have attained the Way of Strategy, there will be not one thing that you cannot understand” Miyamoto Musashi – The book of five rings


Miyamoto Musashi For Musashi there was strategy in everything we do, in every facet of your life and every single action. Strategy was everywhere. He inspires us as everything he did was based on strategy and perfecting his art. Musashi was incredible at systematically building his own brand and becoming a cultural icon long before his death – famously known as the best swordsman and Ronen of his time.


Claude C Hopkins


Claude C Hopkins For an Ad man Claude C Hopkins did some pretty big things. He is responsible for creating the cultural habit of brushing teeth and building the Pepsodent brand. All through understanding human beings and their behaviour. (Charles Duhigg, The Power of Habit, 2012)

He was also one of the first guys to talk about the fact that there are certain scientific laws that successful advertising and brand communication need to adhere to.


Carol S Pearson


Carol S Pearson We love Carol S Pearson as she was one of the people to say that we need a better system to help brands create, control and stabilise the meaning behind brands. In her iconic book The Hero and the Outlaw she gave us such a system – an Archetypal Identity System that could be used to position and develop brands. All of this happened about a decade ago already. We love Archetypal Brand development and use it on a day to day basis.



Idris Mootee We love Idris Mootee as he gave us the 60 Minute Brand Strategist. In this book, he gave us an incredibly powerful and simplified version of everything that a brand strategists needs to know – in 60 minutes. He told us that brands are becoming like Ideologies, that brands build human “type” of relationships and that brands need more meaning behind it… in it he said: “Like human beings, all brands are born equal. The trick is to prove one isn’t. Branding is the art and science of identifying and fulfilling human physical and emotional needs by capturing attention, imagination and emotion long enough to make money from it.” This book in part inspired us to create our very own Human Centred Systemic Thinking methodology.


Marty (The Legend) Neumeier


Marty Neumeier Apart from writing a few of the greatest books on brand ever written (just our humble opinion of course – so do not shoot us), i.e. The Brand Gap and Zig & Zag, he also told us that brands need to answer three very simple questions: 1. Who are you? 2. What do you do? 3. Why does it matter?

If they cannot do that… then there is something fundamentally wrong with them. Can your brand clearly answer those questions?


“Marketers and branding people have been throwing meatballs and spaghetti at walls for

years, and hoping it would stick”

Martin Lindtstrom – Buy-ology


Martin Lindtstrom We are inspired by Martin Lindstrom as he gave us a different perspective on brand building, apart from helping us understand the importance of thinking of the sensory (read experiential) components of building a brand, he also told us that a brand needs to become like a religion. He also opened our minds to the importance of the Neuroscience behind the effective building of brands. It is essential that we start thinking of the Neuroscience behind brand building – the goal should be for a brand to break into the Basel Ganglia and become a force of habit in a consumers life.



Seth Godin We just love Seth Godin as he says things like: “I think that while markets are conversations, marketing is a story. Starbucks creates conversations among customers, so does Apple. The NYSE makes a fortune permitting people to interact with each other. But great marketing is storytelling, and if you’ve been to a Broadway show lately, you’ll notice that audience participation is discouraged. That doesn’t mean that great playwrights don’t listen! They do. They, like great marketers, listen relentlessly. They engage in offline conversations constantly. They poll and they do censuses and most important, they have true conversations with small groups of real people. But THEN, they tell a story” Seth Godin Source: Ten Questions with Seth Godin: http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2006/08/ten_questions_w.html


We think that AMAZING brands tell stories – powerful stories rooted in a strong purpose and identity. Ask Genghis Khan?


Why?

How?

What?

“Simon Sinek - Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action”


Simon Sinek Apart from his amazing TED Talk on the Golden Circles and why some leaders inspire and other don’t, we are inspired by Simon Sinek because he got us thinking of something very powerful… What is the purpose of your brand – always start with the Why behind your brand. There is more to building a brand than a USP, compelling differentiator or even a personality – that is all stuff that a brand needs to have anyway – what it essentially cannot do without… is a purpose. Could you do without a purpose in life?


An Higher Ideal


Jim Stengel We are inspired by Jim Stengel as he gave us a very interesting book called Grow. Like Simon Sinek he also said that the most powerful brands out there are all driven by a higher ideal of making a difference in peoples lives. Hence he says that Red Bull does not exist to sell energy drinks, but to energise the world. Imagine if all brands where driven by a higher ideal of adding value to peoples lives?



Byron Sharpe We are inspired by Byron Sharpe as he gave us a fresh perspective on marketing and what creates brand success. According to him things like brand differentiation is just a myth – it is more important to be distinct, relevant, available and creating a brand that creates memory structures. It completely challenges conventional and archaic marketing thinking that destroys great brands and brands with potential.


1. Continuously reach all buyers of the category (communication and distribution) – avoid being silent

2. Ensure the brand is easy to buy (communicate how the brand fits with the users life) 3. Get noticed (grab attention and focus on brand salience to prime the users mind) 4. Refresh and build memory structures (respect existing associations that make the brand

easy to notice and easy to buy) 5. Create and use distinctive brand assets (use sensory cues to get noticed and stay top of

mind) 6. Be consistent (avoid unnecessary changes, whilst keeping the brands fresh and

interesting) 7. Stay competitive (keep the brand is easy to buy and avoid giving excuses not to buy (i.e.

by targeting a particular group)

Professor Byron Sharpe – How Brands Grow, 2011 (Source: (HTTP://BRANDGENETICS.COM/))

The 7 NEW rules to brand growth

http://brandgenetics.com/)

http://brandgenetics.com/)


1. It is about the bigger picture 2. It is about systemic thinking 3. The power of purpose guides all 4. It is all in the brain man 5. The rules of the brand success game are changing 6. Be human centred in all you do 7. Find the patterns that rule your system 8. Brand building is more science than not 9. Simple & functional is the key 10. a brand = system of meaning

What we learn from these peeps


Andre le Roux: [email protected] 083 625 4348

Thys de Beer: [email protected] 082 565 5508

www.mercuryonestrategy.blogspot.com

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The people that inspire us!