The genius of marketing - WordPress.com · 2013-01-31 · characteristics of ‘marketing genius ... insight of Zara, the passion of Nike and the customisation of Dell, today’s

PETER FISKI N N O V A T I O N

You need to dosomething specialto succeed intoday’s market-place. Peter Fiskidentifies the characteristics of‘marketing genius’with sketches ofsome of the brandsand people whohave embraced amore enlightenedapproach to business success

FROM THE vision of Apple to theinsight of Zara, the passion of Nike andthe customisation of Dell, today’s lead-

ing brands think and act differently. The ‘genius’ of business today lies in

resolving a number of paradoxes.Connections must be made between: outsideand inside; markets and business; customersand shareholders; creativity and analysis;promises and reality; today and tomorrow.

Today’s business leaders have much tolearn from both Einstein and Picasso, onewho started with mathematical rigour andthen thought creatively, the other who pro-duced unconventional work, but stillembraced the theory of his practice.

When we look at companies and leaderswho are shaping, innovating and leadingtoday’s markets, their genius comes in manyforms, as shown in Figure 1 above.

In recent years business has favoured ahighly analytical, logical, measuredapproach. Indeed our obsession with left-brain precision has often led to forgettingour right-brain imagination, which isrequired to see the bigger picture, to makeconnections and instinctive judgements.

We need both sides of the brain – for widervision and disciplined focus; radical creativityand rigorous metrics. Creating exceptionalvalue for customers is the only sustainable wayof delivering superior returns to shareholders.

Seeing things differentlyThe starting point is to see the world fromwhere customers stand – to see products andservices, business and sectors, the way realpeople see them. The obvious questionsthen no longer have simple answers.

Even the world’s leading brand, Coca-Cola, has recognised that it must reframe its

The genius of marketingHow would Einstein and Picasso do business today?

By PETER FISK

34 Market Leader Spring 2006

Apple’s market vision that redefines a whole industry

Intelligent thinking of EEiinnsstteeiinn

Nike’s brand about you and your aspirations,rather than them

Innocent’s storytelling with a passionfor fresh thinking

Jones Soda’s irreverance thatmakes it a cult brand

Zara’s speed to market of its high-fashion clothes

3M’s continuous innovation of concepts, products and markets

Alessi’s aesthetic design combines formand function

Cirque du Soleil’s heart-stopping entertainmentexperience

Agent Provocateur’s theatre thrills on screen and instore.

Imaginative action of PPiiccaassssoo

Cadbury’s disciplined metrics linked to economic profit

Google’s innovative business model for profitable search

JetBlue’s niche focus creates a premium, low cost airline

Microsoft’s rethinking its customerpropositions from the outside in

P&G gains new insights through customer collaboration

Toyota’s lean thinking to workfrom the customer back

eBay leverages the scale and powerof online networking

Dell’s direct personalisation and interactive supply chain

Diageo’s balanced portfolio of profitablebrands

Peter Fisk is an experienced strategist and marketer, andjointly leads The Foundation.

Fisk rev.qxd 28/02/06 13:36 Page 34

Aldo Rossi rather than following the whims ofthe market, and the possibilities of materials,more recently embracing colourful plastics tocomplement their classic medium of stainlesssteel. Two-thirds of Alessi products are nowexported to over 60 countries, helping them tobuild an intensely loyal customer base, whotypically build up a collection over a lifetime.

Genetics: design and technology, boldness andimagination.

ENTERPRISEEnterprise has quietly grown to become thelargest car rental company in North America

market context, and that juices and teas,rather than carbonated drinks, will morelikely drive its future success (see Figure 2).

The magic, however, is not just in theinsight but in the actions that can follow. Abusiness leader who sees a new landscape,with appropriate direction and stimulus,develops the belief and conviction to act dif-ferently – to disrupt the industry conventions,to do what everyone else has avoided, to inno-vate the market rather than just a product.

Look at the leaders of Dell or Tesco, eBayor Zara – they are market-thinking peopleby background, who intuitively ‘start withthe customer and all else follows’ (as Googledefines its number one principle). Theybring an outside-in approach, first consider-ing the market rather than what they have tosell. These leaders are obsessed with theircustomers and competitors, they championthe brand and innovation, and are constant-ly searching for new ways to stay ahead. PhilKnight of Nike is a good example (Figure 3).

It is no coincidence therefore that mar-keters are increasingly the best equipped tobe future CEOs. Marketing is in the back-ground of only 21% of FTSE CEOs, yetresearch shows that these companies onaverage generate 5.9% better shareholderreturns than all others.

While many brands have blindly con-verged towards sameness, others have hadthe confidence to run a different race.

Here are some of my personal favourites,who like Einstein and Picasso before them,have embraced both their left- and right-brain to do things differently.

ALESSIThe Italian designers combine design andtechnology to create objects of household util-ity and desire. In 1921, Giovanna Alessi firststruck his lathe in the Alpine village ofCrusinallo, with the belief that no man shouldbe forced to dine from a boring plate. FromAnna G, the corkscrew, to a radio called Poe,the Alessi design family enjoys and celebratesthe simplicity of everyday objects, while con-stantly pushing the boundaries of both func-tion and form. They are guided by the cre-ativity of designers such as Philippe Starck and

Figure 2: Global beverage profits

Figure 3: Growth ofNike

Market Leader Spring 2006 35


The Coca-Cola CompanyOther brands

Bubble size reflects estimatedglobal beverage profits

Retail Water

Bulk water

5 y

ear

aver

age

grow

th ra

te

Juice drinks

Sports drinks

Juices and nectars

Source: Coca-Cola.comIndustry unit margins ($|)

Carbonatedsoft-drinks

Ready-to-drink tea

Ready-to-drinkcoffee

Source: data from nikebiz.com

1972 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005

1

Phil Knightlaunches hisNike brand ofrunning shoes

Nike signs tennis‘superbrat’

John McEnroe

Nike becomes top US runningshoe brand and

goes public

Nike signs basketball rookieMichael Jordan

‘Nike Air’ launched with the Air Max

Nike rgains market leadership

from Reebok with ‘Just Do It’

Nike grows internationally. Soccer is key

Nike signs golfing star

Tiger Woods

Nike buys Converse and Starter brands

Nike outsells Reebok 3times, with a market

value of $12 bn. Knighthands over CEO role

$1bn$3bn

$7bn

$12bn

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I N N O V A T I O NPETER FISK

by rejecting the conventional wisdom offocusing on holiday and airport locations.Instead Enterprise and its 57,000 staff, whoall share in the business success, have grownup in the inner cities, focusing on short-termand replacement rentals. Their people sharean incredible entrepreneurial spirit moreassociated with a small company, workingcustomer by customer, car by car, to be thebest rather than the biggest. Their serviceculture and market focus enables them tocharge a market premium and to rapidlyenter new markets that to the conventionaleye, would appear saturated. The companynow generates over $7 billion from its600,000 cars and has made many million-aires out of its people on the way. Previousleaders Hertz and Avis now need to try evenharder.

Genetics: focus and differentiation, culture andservice

GOOGLE ‘Googol’ is the mathematical term for a 1 fol-lowed by 100 zeros. In 1995 Larry Page andSergey Brin created in their StanfordUniversity bedroom what within five yearswould be dealing with 100 million internetsearches every day, and make them multi-bil-lionaires in less than a decade. Indeed itsrecent Nasdaq flotation was not without con-troversy, when Google claimed it should notbe treated like a ‘normal’ company.

With over 80 million users, searchingthrough 8 billion web pages, Google is nowthe world’s leading search engine. It isknown entirely through word of mouth, andits revenues are driven by enabling advertis-ers to target online users in highly sophisti-cated and efficient ways. It stays true to its‘10 things’ philosophy, ranging from ‘focuson the user and all else will follow’ and ‘fastis better than slow’, to ‘you can be seriouswithout a suit’ and ‘great just isn’t goodenough’.

Genetics: technology and vision, simplicity andleadership

IKEAIngvar Kamprad set out from his Elmtarydfarm in the village of Aggunnaryd – hencethe letters forming IKEA – with a missionto ‘create a better everyday life for themany people’[sic]. Since 1943 the companyhas focused on democratising design byoffering a wide range of well-designed,functional home furnishing products atprices so low that as many people as possi-ble will be able to afford them. Its flat-packapproach gives it supply-chain efficiencyand speed, even if it infuriates some con-sumers. Its 230 stores are typically inurban, isolated areas targeting younghomeowners, and creating a distinctiveexperience (not least through its restau-rants at the heart of the stores). With glob-


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Larry Page and SergeyBrin, co-founders andpresidents of Google.

Right: one of Ikea’s230 stores.


on the bottles. A nationwide craze ensued asfolks searched through stores for the bottlewith their picture on it. Jones Soda has cre-ated a cult following with consumers, staffand shareholders – a cult that soon intendsto hit the UK.

Genetics: alternative and irreverent, personaland personality.

PANERA BREADPanera is the bread shop from St Louis thathas driven an American obsession for spe-ciality breads, and now has 700 bakery-cafes

al roll-out, and strong loyalty, its success islikely to continue as long as it can convincepeople to discard the old and refurnish theirlives.

Genetics: product and cost, design and experience.

JETBLUEThe revolutionary airline brought style to aprice-discounting market, offering spaciousleather seats each equipped with 36 chan-nels of live satellite television, while most ofits competitors crumbled around it.Launched by David Needleman, JetBluenow serves 30 carefully selected US andCaribbean destinations with a fleet of 68new, environmentally friendly Airbus A320aircraft. The airline succeeds competitivelyand financially by combining innovative,high-quality service with low fares to build aloyal following. Needleman followed hisprevious successes with Morris Air, whichhe sold to Southwest, and Open Skies, asimple yet powerful reservation system soldto Hewlett Packard. In 1999 he secured$130 million capital funding, rejected thethinking that no-frills was the only future,and judged that the time was right to bring‘humanity back to air travel’.

Genetics: innovation and timing, pricing andautomation.

JONES SODA‘Run with the little guy, create somechange,’ urged Peter van Stolk as helaunched his Canadian drinks companyback in 1996. His drinks were irreverent –turkey and gravy soda was a top seller – andhis distribution channels were different –placing his flame-design coolers in skateshops, tattoo parlours and music stores.Jones enhanced its cool credentials with theendorsement of leading BMX and MTVpersonalities, and a passion to do things dif-ferently. The company also embraced tech-nology, enabling consumers to mix theirown drinks and, most innovatively, toupload their personal photos atmyjones.com, which then became the labels


quot


5

6

© Jo

nes

Soda

Co.

Below: distinctiveJones Soda bottles.Bottom: a Panera bakery-cafe inRoseville, Michigan.

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I N N O V A T I O NPETER FISK

in 25 US states, with the highest level ofretail brand loyalty in America. ‘We arebakers of bread. We are a simple pleasure.We are a life story at dinner. We are a week-ly morning ritual. We are the kindest ges-ture of neighbours.’ The bakeries specialisein all-natural ingredients to bake the finestbreads, showcasing the artisans and craft ofbread-making, and becoming the centre ofthe local community. The story began in1981 with the Au Bon Pain Co. whichacquired a St Louis chain of 20 bakeries in1993. Since changing its name to Panera in1999 the share price has grown 13-fold,created over $1 billion of shareholder valueand been named one of Business Week’s ‘HotGrowth Companies’.

Genetics: quality and range, network and com-munity.

SKY Sky has changed our viewing habits, andour social behaviours too. With more than17 million viewers in 7 million UK house-holds, Sky now offers an unprecedentedchoice of movies, news, entertainment andsport. Not only that, but it has also beensmart in signing up the content that is mostin demand – not least Premiership football– in order to entice terrestrial viewers, andcharge a premium for it. Now that it reach-es 30% of homes, the focus has movedfrom land-grab to profitable delivery. Sky+has brought personal choice and recordingin a way that TiVo failed, while the licens-ing of its own channels – such as Sky Newsand Sky Sports – to cable and digital net-works has extended its reach. JamesMurdoch now has the challenge of sustain-ing the relentless growth demanded by hisfather.

Genetics: vision and innovation, content andpricing.

SONY‘Sony’ is derived from ‘sonus’ meaningsound and ‘sonny boy’, by which theJapanese mean a young person with a free


Ten challenges for a marketing genius

LeadershipBring an outside-in mindset to business, driving focuseddecision-making and inspiring more enlightened action.

StrategyConsider a broader context, focusing on the best few existing and emerging markets, and how to be positioned in them.

Brand Define your brands by the benefits they offer customersrather than the functional description of your business orsolution.

CustomersEngage more deeply with the right customers, observingand collaborating to discover emerging and unarticulatedneeds and wants.

InnovationReframe opportunities in ways that create new spaces inwhich to innovate products and business models, and theirmarket applications.

Channels Invert channels so that they become the trusted partners ofcustomers, working together, creating solutions based onintimate knowledge.

Pricing Actively manage perceived value, changing the frame of reference so that a premium price structure still offers‘value for money’.

CommunicationsBuild dialogue with customers on their terms, in their time and place, rather than product-push, mass-marketcampaigns.

RelationshipsBuild loyalty between rather than with customers, throughforming branded communities of people who want to cometogether.

PerformanceInvest in markets, brands and innovations that create a virtuous circle of more value for customers and shareholders,short and long term.

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people who can most naturally achieve thisnew balance – to connect customers andbusiness, to embrace creativity and analysis,to see the future and act on it today. Theyhave the natural ‘outside-in’ perspective andtalents to lead the business.

Marketers should be the most important,influential and inspiring professionals withinthe business community. Yet for too long,their capabilities have been organisationallyisolated, focused on marketing as a functionwith tactical deliverables, making a marginalcontribution. Businesses cannot survive intoday’s markets like this.

Businesses need marketers and marketingmore than ever, to step up to the challengesof market complexity and intense competi-tion, to be the creative and commercial driv-ing force, and to embrace customers andinnovation across the whole organisation.Marketing is the engine of growth and valuecreation.

Marketing must drive strategic directionand aligned delivery, both a stronger func-tion and an essential mindset for business.However, this requires marketers willing tochange, to step up to the challenge. Whilethere are good examples of those who arealready there, others must become morestrategic, innovative and commercial.There has never been a more exciting timefor marketing, or to be a marketer.

It’s time for marketing to take centrestage. ❦

[email protected]

spirit. Sony is therefore ‘a group of youngpeople who have the energy and passiontoward unlimited creation’. This coulddefine Sony, and its target customers. Indeedthere are few companies that have achievedsuch success through steady, organic growthwith a devotion to technological innovation,and a Zen-like ability to shrug off defeats.While there have been many successes, fromthe Walkman to the PlayStation, there hasbeen failure too, including losing the battlefor video and DVD format supremacy.However, the focus on sleek, attractivedesign that wins over customers, often at a20–30% price premium, has served Sonywell. As technologies converge, the focus isalso about creating solutions rather thanproducts – the Sony experience – and instaying one step ahead of the consumer.

Genetics: innovation and design, leadership andpassion.

ZARAIn 1963, Amancio Ortega started out as asmall lingerie business, producing low-priced imitations of upmarket fashion.However, Ortega thought consumers couldregard clothes as a perishable commodity,like food and drinks, rather than somethingto be stored over years. Ortega pursued hisvision of ‘ready-baked’ clothes, to create aglobal fashion phenomenon, translating thelatest ideas from the catwalk and trends onthe street into new ranges faster than anyoneelse. Zara’s ‘sense and respond’ approach,enables it to occupy the leading edge of thefashion cycle, when demand and prices arehighest and, coupled with its highly efficientsupply chain, margins are greatest. Withover 600 stores in 50 countries, Zara posi-tions its brand differently by market – inSpain it is at the cheaper end of the market,while in the US and Mexico it competes withluxury stores.

Genetics: insight and design, speed and efficiency.

The genius of marketingMost significantly of all, marketers are the


Marketing is in the background of only 21% of FTSE CEOs, yet research shows that these companies on average generate5.9% better shareholder returns than allothers


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Peter Fisk’s new book Marketing Genius is published byCapstone in March 2006. For more informationwww.MarketingGeniusLive.com


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The genius of marketing - WordPress.com · 2013-01-31 · characteristics of ‘marketing genius ... insight of Zara, the passion of Nike and the customisation of Dell, today’s