COLUMNIST – CUSTOMER SERVICE
Searching for the obvious . . .
. . . in all the wrong places. IAN HUGHES says we should
instead take a step back and re-think our value proposition.
It’s been a few months now ideas. In order to get to that
since you’ve had a half decent stuff you have to read a lot of
Cutting back to
marketers we spend time trying
to think of new and complicated
book review from me, although regurgitation of these ideas
some would question whether (cheap copy –you just copy the
what is simple
ways to get our message over
when, actually, what we should
there has been a decent one stuff you wrote before and paste
is not a sign of
be doing is trying to find simple
ever. So, I thought I better it again, then sell it as new) and ways to get simple messages
catch up on my reading. some clear swipes at campaigns
weakness, but
over. Twitter, facebook and
And who better to read than and companies that he doesn’t WOMM are all clever, but getting
Jack Trout and his most recent approve of (or pitches he didn’t of strength. overly clever about those
book, ‘In Search of the Obvious’. win?). It’s a great book, but you campaigns will not help a
I picked it up while waiting to have to bear with it, in the same company succeed.
travel back from my recent visit way as you do with my rambling If you are at Newsweekor
to the iDi Marketers Forum in these articles! Did I mention Harvard Business Review(HBR)
organised by the marvellous DMI how cheap it is to regurgitate or Nikkei (all of whom presented
crew in New York in March. For copy . . . how you just copy the at the iDi), then reading ‘In
those of you who didn’t attend, stuff you wrote before and paste Search of the Obvious’ is for
it was a fascinating day. it again? Oh, I did. On a side you. I cannot help but believe it
For me, a good conference note, I should say that whoever may be the beginning of the end
should always have a little bit of edited the book should have of these organisations. They
stuff that makes you say: ‘Hmm been shot. But that doesn’t should not forget what it is they
. . . I never thought of that’, and make it a bad book. do and why people subscribe to
a little bit of something that them. To me, it seems obvious
makes you go: ‘You have to be Marketing simplicity and their value proposition is
kidding.’ The iDi had all of that. OK, so this is the bit you can also obvious: They own content
But, rather stupidly on the take to the bank, courtesy of Mr and great creative writing.
flight back, I checked in my copy Trout. Fundamentally, what the HBR owns some of the most
of ‘Inside Steve’s Brain’, the book is about is simplicity in respected comment in the
story of Steve Jobs and his rise, marketing. business world; people want to
fall, and rise again. We will leave What Jack Trout says is that know what it says. It won’t sell
that for another day. bored marketers spend too more subscriptions by
Instead, I rushed into much time and energy trying to cheapening that brand; it must
Borders before getting on my justify their position to boards sell them by connecting readers
plane in search of something, that really only care about this to the content.
anything, to keep me amused. I quarter’s numbers. As a result I subscribed to HBR because
saw this book in a prominent, they tinker. it connected me to a body of
eye-level position in the business Trout points to the thinking, not because I was sent
section and picked it up. proliferation of Coke brands, a special offer. I stopped
I have read some of his Mercedes-Benz vehicle ranges subscribing when I stopped
other books before and his ‘22 and GM’s demise as examples of reading; I stopped reading
Immutable Laws of Marketing’ fidgety marketing departments. because I didn’t connect.
sits half-read on a shelf in my The thesis is to keep things In short, looking for the
office. Fortunately, having read simple. If you are the Real Thing obvious, the blindingly obvious,
this book, I think I can say I don’t then keep it real. If you are the is not a bad thing but a good
need to finish that or read any Ultimate Driving Machine, don’t thing. Cutting back to what is
of his other stuff. play with it. If Safety is what you simple is not a sign of weakness;
Let me do the review bit do in cars (Volvo), then why it’s a sign of strength.
first. If you don’t like book create a sports car or a You should dream of being
reviews you can skip the next convertible? It’s all about as so simple.
paragraph, then I will do some relevant as a ‘Manbag’!
thinking you can take to the In between these pages
bank, based on the book. there is some genius stuff that
The book felt like a some of the speakers at iDi
Ian Hughes, managing director,
combination of new and could really have used in their Consumer Intelligence. Email:
interesting takes on some old presentations. Often, as
ianh@consumerintel.com
50 May 2009 www.dmi-news.com
Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52