tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23546830830903884232024-03-08T02:56:45.713-08:00Executive InsightJade Bunkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01212431893605641784noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2354683083090388423.post-41269017984303548102008-09-09T05:28:00.000-07:002008-09-09T05:31:36.161-07:00Look forward to spur innovation<span style="font-family: arial;">Companies that experience high levels of success often build models upon which to generate future growth. As success often becomes a byproduct of a new way of thinking, companies typically adhere to the principles that became pillars of growth in the past. In a constantly changing business environment, however, organizations must exercise a high degree of caution in adhering to the old ways of doing business. The reason is simple. What propelled a company to success in the past, might not work in a competitive business environment that’s changing at a seemingly exponential rate. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Moreover, organizations that implement processes and build infrastructure must always keep the end objective in mind. This means that the executive team must continuously reevaluate existing structures to ensure that they facilitate the end objectives with the highest degree of precision. Leonardo Da Vinci once said that “inaction saps the vigor of the mind."<span style="font-size:78%;">(1) </span>In large organizations, processes and infrastructural components often become layers of bureaucracy that sap the vigor of innovation. With added layers of bureaucracy, organization are often confined to thinking within the structural components of the organization instead of mapping out a future based on changing marketplace dynamics. This type of inactive thought impedes innovation. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">As a company moves forward, it’s imperative to ensure that an infrastructure is built on a forward-thinking philosophy and not the old ways of doing business. Remember, processes are a means to an end. Once a company becomes focused on the means instead of the end, it can lose sight of its vision for the future. In short, past successes can impede progress because there is propensity to adhere to things with a proven track record. Since companies are competing in an evolving competitive environment, it’s important to look forward on an ongoing basis to open up the doors to innovation—and not simply look backwards to open the new doors of success in today's changing marketplace. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" ><span style="font-family: arial;">Footnote (1): http://www.legacyproject.org.</span></span>Jade Bunkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01212431893605641784noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2354683083090388423.post-12416400785710226402008-07-15T15:03:00.000-07:002008-07-15T15:04:15.089-07:00The three ingredients of powerful branding<span style="font-family: arial;">Building a powerful brand starts at the strategic level and continues with actions that support the brand promise. If you’re looking to maximize the value of your brand, it’s imperative that your brand is believable, defendable, and distinctive. By carefully blending the right mix of these three brand ingredients together, you can give you can give your company a competitive advantage in today’s crowded marketplace. Here’s what you need to know: </span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: arial;">Making your brand believable </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">All branding strategies attempt to position a company in a way that’s advantageous to the organization. This typically involves a brand promise and corresponding attributes that define your branding strategy. To make consumers believe your brand promise, your company must simply deliver on it. Netflix did—and its brand value continued to soar. Blockbuster didn’t—and its brand value plummeted. The first step is making your brand promise believable. Walmart, for example, cannot position itself as a retailer to the rich and famous because its brand (along with its organizational strategy) does not currently support this position. In other words, customers simply would not believe this claim because Walmart did well on focusing its strategy as becoming as a low cost provider for its niche market. As you can see, making your brand believable is important for creating the right type of perceptions in the marketplace—and it’s a perquisite for making your brand defendable. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: arial;">Defending your brand</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Once you build a brand strategy that’s believable, you must defend the brand promise through action. If your company is attempting to build a brand around superior customer service, for example, your company must simply deliver on it. Companies like Bank of America and Direct TV are unable to defend claims of good customer service because callers are placed on hold for long period of times. In today’s competitive marketplace, consumers are getting more demanding every day—and companies that make claims based on internal standards (instead of customer standards), they risk reducing their brand value. That’s one of the many reasons why it’s imperative to build a brand around areas you can defend. If your company makes statements it cannot defend, your organization’s credibility suffers, thus making all future claims less believable.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: arial;">Making your brand distinctive </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">While making your brand believable and defendable are certainly prerequisites for building a strong brand, making it unique is what’s needed to separate it from the competition. Netflix is a great example of a brand that made it itself distinctive by staying to true to its core business model and delivering on its brand promise. Apple continues to deliver on innovative products with clean design elements and added functionality to make its brand stand apart from the competition. To get the most out of your brand, you need to blend the three branding ingredients with strategic precision in order to make sure your brand recipe provides maximum value to the organization. </span>Jade Bunkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01212431893605641784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2354683083090388423.post-49370362179533543892008-06-24T00:45:00.000-07:002008-06-24T01:06:37.384-07:00The power of culture<span style="font-family:arial;">An executive looking for a distinctive competitive advantage doesn’t have to look too far. It’s all within the organization. The ability to create a working environment that facilitates desirable behavioral characteristics among the workforce is one of the most valuable skills a leader can bring to table. For the executive ready to move his or her company forward in a competitive marketplace, it’s all about creating a culture that guides a company in a strategically sound direction—and then leveraging it as a competitive weapon. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Leveraging the power of culture begins with creating an infrastructure that aligns culture with strategic goals. This means that an organization must evaluate the current culture to ensure that all policies and processes support strategic initiatives efficiently and effectively. The goal is create a lean infrastructure that allows an organization to create behavioral norms within the workplace that guide employee actions in a particular direction that is advantageous to the company.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The complexity with shaping workplace behaviors suggest that an executive team might want go beyond strategic alignment and make sure there is a reward system in place for behaviors that are in alignment with desirable actions. The power of culture is unmistakable—and we’ve seen companies such as Southwest Airlines<span style="font-size:78%;">(1)</span> use culture as a competitive tool. At the same time, we’ve seen companies like as Enron<span style="font-size:78%;">(2)</span> create a culture that contributed to its cataclysmic collapse. The key for the modern executive, therefore, is to recognize that an organization's culture can be used to his or her advantage. By creating a culture that supports strategic goals with the appropriate reward system, an organization is able to add a powerful ally in its quest to increase the company’s level of success and set itself apart from the competition.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:78%;" ><br />1. Thompson, Arthur; Gamble, John; Southwest Airlines: Culture, Values, and Operating Practice<br />2. Lawrence, Anne; The Collapse of Enron</span><br /></span>Jade Bunkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01212431893605641784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2354683083090388423.post-9545228798155136912008-06-09T15:35:00.000-07:002008-06-09T16:26:19.534-07:00Innovation: How to rescue it from the abyss of bureaucracy<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:arial;">The largest companies in the world often suffocate innovation through multiple levels of unnecessary bureaucracy. As companies grow, structures are often put in place to standardize and streamline processes. The problem? The diversity of opinions and ideas that can spur innovation often get buried in a tangled web of red tape and office politics. In today’s competitive business environment, however, executives must create a multi-directional information infrastructure to open channels of communication in order to leverage the talents of a larger employee base.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Organizations with traditional hierarchies often forced information downward without providing opportunities to incorporate the insight and creativity of a larger resource base in the development of the organization’s corporate strategy. This means that organizations often failed to amalgamate “the collective intelligence and imagination of managers and employers throughout the company”<span style="font-size:78%;">(1) </span>to provide the maxim benefit of a diverse workforce. With increased competition and changing conditions, companies must leverage the strengths of all persons in the organization through open communication channels. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Once the executive team understands that the collective talent of the organization is more powerful than the brains of the oligarchy, the team is able to foster a mindset that enables multidirectional communication. This starts with a culture that inspires employees to communicate upward with the same frequency that managers communicate downward. As the company expands its communication infrastructure, collaboration among executives, managers, and employees must occur horizontally as well. By facilitating communication in all directions, companies are able to develop a “more open-ended process of strategic discovery”</span><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:78%;">(2)</span></span><span style="font-family:arial;"> that can lead to increased communication and the opportunity to capitalize on the plethora of great ideas that are typically buried in the abyss of corporate bureaucracy. </span><br /></div><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;font-size:78%;" >Sources: </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:78%;" ><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Hamel, Prahalad, Competing for the Future, (Page 26)</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Hamel, Gary; Strategy as Revolution, Harvard Business Review (Page 11)</span></span>Jade Bunkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01212431893605641784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2354683083090388423.post-69189083548618961762008-05-24T13:21:00.000-07:002008-05-28T22:37:00.952-07:00The business value of a promise<span style="font-family:arial;">In 2004, Blockbuster announced that it would no longer charge late fees for movie and game rentals. Good news, right? Well, not exactly. As droves of customers turned in rentals late, they found that they were assessed a new fee—a restocking fee. As customers became angry at how the company marketed its new policy, its reputation took a serious hit, damaging the Blockbuster brand for years to come. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">While Blockbuster was busy alienating customers, Netflix was building loyalty due to its added convenience and its ability to deliver on its brand promise. There were no restocking fees, no hidden charges, and no deviations from its promise. The company simply delivered what it promised—and its brand value began to soar. At same the time, Wall Street began to take notice. In August 2003, the stock price for Netflix was on the rise $16.67 while Blockbuster was still holding strong at $20.49.<span style="font-size:78%;">(1)</span> In May 2008, the stock prices for Netflix and Blockbuster were $31.21 and $3.32, respectively—demonstrating the connection between brand loyalty and financial performance.</span><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:78%;">(1)</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Why did Blockbuster heavily promote a no-fees approach while charging customers with hidden stocking fees? CNN reported that Blockbuster might lose up to $300 million without the late fees.<span style="font-size:78%;">(2)</span> As a result, the company attempted to recoup some of the losses with hidden fees—and this type of short-term thinking ended up costing the company more in the long-run with unhappy customers, decreased brand value, and lower stock prices. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Companies looking to succeed in an increasingly competitive marketplace must take a long-term that focuses on building customer loyalty and brand equity. It starts with creating a brand that is believable. It continues with building a brand that is defendable. Netflix simply made a promise and kept it. Blockbuster, on the other hand, failed to deliver on its promise—and its brand continues to suffer. As both companies jostle for market share, which company will you find more believable in future marketing ads? If you’re not sure, you might want to check with Wall Street first.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" >1. http://news.moneycentral.msn.com<br />2. http://money.cnn.com/2004/12/14/news/midcaps/blockbuster_latefees<br /></span></span>Jade Bunkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01212431893605641784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2354683083090388423.post-8395905185965771832008-05-22T17:27:00.000-07:002008-05-23T14:54:05.287-07:00A BRAND new definition<span style="font-family:arial;">The brand value for companies like Apple, Google, and Coca-Cola continue to soar. For these companies, brands are billion dollar assets. According to a 2008 report by Millard Brown Optimor, a leading research organization, the financial value of the top five brands in the world is estimated at a combined $343 billion dollars!<span style="font-size:78%;">(1)</span> </span><span style="font-family:arial;">The ability to take an intangible asset and turn it into tangible value is certainly impressive; the ability to turn it into a billion dollar asset, however, makes it necessary to take a closer look on how we define branding.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Merriam-Webster defines a brand “a class of goods identified by name as the product of a single firm or manufacturer.” It also goes further to define a brand name by saying it relates to “having a well-known and usually highly regarded or marketable name.”<span style="font-size:78%;">(2)</span> The problem with these definitions is that they’re short-sighted, outdated, and incorrect. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I define a brand as <span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">“an intangible asset defined by customer and marketplace perceptions, which are shaped by the amalgamation of an organization’s symbols, colors, collateral, products, services, and human interactions.” </span>In other words, a brand encompasses everything. Every person, every action, and every symbol is part of a company’s brand. The power of branding is well known. In fact, most know that a strong brand can give a company a significant competitive advantage—but in today’s global marketplace, it can also be worth billions. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" ><span style="font-family:arial;">1. Millard Brown Optimor, Top 100 Most Powerful Brands, April 2008.<br />2. http://www.merriam-webster.com<br /></span></span>Jade Bunkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01212431893605641784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2354683083090388423.post-42443854883211735542008-05-20T12:14:00.000-07:002008-05-20T12:26:21.285-07:00Healthy strategies for increasing productivity<span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >The bottom line on employee health</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Changes in the health care industry are making businesses rethink traditional cost saving strategies. Medical and prescription drug costs are now taking a back seat to a more significant cost driver—presenteeism. According to a report published by the Harvard Business Review, presenteeism is costing companies more than $150 billion per year in lost productivity<span style="font-size:78%;">.(1)</span> As health care costs continue to rise, businesses must look to reduce costs through forward-thinking strategies that focus on overall health management and controlling the impact of presenteesim. After all, presenteeism might be putting a significant strain on your bottom line. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">What exactly is presenteeism and how does it impact your business? In short, presenteeism is the term used for employees who show up for work and perform below capacity due to illnesses. Chronic conditions like pain and depression are among the leading drivers of presenteeism—and they’re costing companies money in the form of lost productivity. Productivity losses due to employee health are giving researchers and businesses a broader view of the current health care landscape. As the impact of presenteeism becomes clearer, forward-thinking businesses are taking action quickly—and they’re starting to invest in employee health. The reason is clear and simple: a healthy workforce leads to a healthy bottom line.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >Keeping costs under control</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">According to a report funded by the National Pharmaceutical Council, a Texas-based employer saved an estimated $105 million over a three-year span by reducing presenteeism and absenteeism through specific initiatives</span><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:78%;">.(2)</span></span><span style="font-family:arial;"> This report does more than illustrate the connection between employee health and financial performance—it demonstrates the enormous power businesses yield at controlling health care costs. As health care providers continue to provide more tools for managing chronic conditions, it’s up to you to give your employees the resources they need to stay healthy. In today’s changing health care landscape, it’s all about health management and healthy living. In short, it’s about preventing the onslaught of serious conditions and keeping chronic illnesses under control in order to save your business money over the long run. With real solutions starting emerge over the horizon, what can your business do to control health care costs? </span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >Solutions for your business</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Businesses of all sizes can benefit by adapting to the changing health care paradigm. The keys are to (1) create a culture around total health management, (2) focus on reducing long-term health care costs, (3) reduce the impact presenteeism, and (4) select the right health care partner. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 102, 0);font-family:arial;" >Creating a culture around total health management</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Creating a culture that drives employee health forward ultimately drives your business forward. Often, employees are fearful of making a call to the doctor’s office or checking prescription information while at work. Removing these fears by encouraging your employees to take care of their health is in your best interest—even if it’s on your watch. By giving your employees the flexibility to manage their health, you’ll not only reduce stress on the job, but you’ll also save your business money in the long run. </span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"> </span><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0); font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >Focusing on long-term health care costs </span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Managing health care costs over the long run translates into long-term cost savings. As a result, it’s important to invest in a healthy workforce today. By focusing on preventive care and health management now, you’ll be able to keep your employees healthier longer. With healthier employees, you’ll find that they’ll spend less time—and less money—responding to neglected (or even preventable) illnesses. </span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0); font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >Reducing the impact presenteeism</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">As health care costs continue to rise, businesses must begin looking at how to reduce long-term costs by controlling presenteeism. The first step in controlling costs associated with presentessim is to understand the link between employee health and productivity. Once you make this connection, it’s important to provide your employees with the tools and resources to help them stay healthy and on top of their existing conditions. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 102, 0);font-family:arial;" >Select the right health care partner</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Today, health care providers are focusing on total health management. Providers that understand the changing health care paradigm are providing members with a wide range of health management and healthy living tools online through a sophisticated system of care. The goal for your business is to find the provider that suits the needs of your workforce—and helps your business build a culture of healthy living. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >The advantage of a healthy bottom line</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">A healthy workforce does more than create a happy workplace—it provides your businesses with a competitive advantage. By focusing on total employee health, you’ll not only get a healthier workforce, but you’ll also benefit from increased worker productivity. With increased productivity, you’ll get greater efficiency and long-term cost savings—and that’s good business.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:78%;" >1. Hemp, Paul, Presenteeism: At Work--But Out of It, Harvard Business Review, Oct 1, 2004<br />2.Ronald Loeppke, MD, MPH, Et Al Health and Productivity as a Business Strategy, American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 2007.</span><br /><br /></span>Jade Bunkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01212431893605641784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2354683083090388423.post-77488008640258362292008-05-13T21:02:00.000-07:002008-05-13T21:03:19.198-07:00Finding value in statistical anomalies<span style="font-family: arial;">The ability to collect and categorize data with greater ease is helping companies around the word become data-driven entities. Customer service surveys and web-based tracking tools are allowing companies in a wide range of industries accumulate high volumes of data for making informed business decisions. In short, collecting data allow executives to draw meaningful conclusions that can lead to increased business value. When collecting data from customers, prospects, partners, or vendors, it's important for executives to develop an accurate picture of its business situation. To do this, executives must not only look at general themes derived from the data, but also look for hidden gems found in statistical anomalies. While the abundance of information with which executives are inundated makes it impossible to examine all data points, it's important for them to take into consideration statistical outliers that deviate from general trends. While many statistical outliers might provide a skewed view of the business situation, it's important for business leaders to understand that certain statistical outliers might provide key insights that are not reflected elsewhere. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Imagine that you’re an executive at a Fortune 500 company that's recognized for outstanding customer service. In fact, your company is considered the best in the business when it comes to customer service. Now imagine that a recent web-based survey that was sent to 10,000 customers revealed that 98.5% of all respondents confirmed that they're “extremely satisfied” with the company’s customer service—the highest designation in the survey. With such a large sample size acknowledging satisfaction in customer service, it appears that the executive team can assure itself the company is delivering solid customer service. The question becomes: do the statistical anomalies that deviate from the overwhelming majority even matter? More importantly, should the executive team consider feedback from a single disgruntled customer that appears to be providing a biased responses? If the goal is industry leadership, the answer is yes. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">While the executive team might not be evaluating the core data, it's important for them to become aware of statistical anomalies. This is important because skewed data that might paradoxically conceal a flaw in the organization’s customer service paradigm (regardless of how impressive the service might appear). The reason for going to this level of analysis is simple. Companies looking to establish (or maintain) a leadership position must relentlessly pursue a level of excellence because they're not only competing for business today, they’re competing for business tomorrow. As a result, it’s important to accumulate as much data as possible to (1) construct an accurate picture of the entire situation and (2) determine if statistical outliers provide clues for gaps in the business model. Remember, the dismal of a single statistical outlier due to its size represents an exercise in flawed logic. As the global economy expands, executives must look at all information with an open mind—and adapt before the competition even has a chance. </span>Jade Bunkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01212431893605641784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2354683083090388423.post-46866775129310267132008-03-17T23:57:00.000-07:002008-03-18T00:01:34.896-07:00A message to the industry leaders<span style="font-family: arial;">In today’s competitive marketplace, organizations with dominant industry positions can surrender the lead to competitors that push the boundaries of creativity. Throughout the twentieth century, companies in different industries emerged as leaders with seemingly impenetrable market positions—only to find that smaller competitors were not content with second place. With unconventional thinking and industry foresight, the challengers to the status quo battled the industry leaders for marketplace supremacy. Industry giants such as IBM, Xerox, and GMC seemed invincible until smaller competitors such as Dell, Canon, and Toyota brought new ways of thinking to the marketplace. With new challengers to the throne, different tactics were required to launch an assault on the established leaders.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">With fewer resources and smaller market positions, the challengers needed to penetrate each stronghold by deviating from convention. Dell decided to manufacture and sell computers directly the consumer, Cannon decided to target a market Xerox ignored, and Toyota adopted lean manufacturing methods. The results were stunning. Organizations that once peered down from the summit of particular industries were overshadowed by more aggressive and innovative organizations that found gaps in the strategies of the world’s most powerful companies. The message is clear and simple: sustaining leadership in today’s marketplace is an ephemeral proposition. With relentless pursuers looking to share the profits in attractive industries, market leaders must continue to widen the gap—not merely protect the lead. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">As the global marketplace continues to intensify competition, it important that industry leaders reevaluate corporate strategies and marketplace offerings on an ongoing basis. In other words, all industry leaders must make sure there are no gaps that can be penetrated by competitors that are more willing to offer customers exactly what they want, when they want it, and how they want it. The marketplace is changing—and customers are demanding more and more with every passing day. Keeping in touch with changing customer demands is the prerequisite for giving customers exactly what they want. The companies that emerged victorious against the giants must continuously reinvent themselves in order to maintain the market share they've taken from the leaders. It’s an ongoing struggle that never relents. As the lessons of history illustrate, complacency does not bode well for the market leaders. With marketplace strongholds vulnerable to the creativity of outsiders, executives must lead with a relentless pursuit of redefining the industry in which their organizations compete—or prepare to surrender the lead by an unexpected challenger.</span>Jade Bunkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01212431893605641784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2354683083090388423.post-3231112338931837452007-06-25T10:11:00.000-07:002008-05-13T21:06:17.210-07:00Apple Thinks Differently<div align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;"><strong>Overview</strong></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;">In 1997, Apple Computer launched a brilliant marketing campaign that captured the attention of consumers around the nation. Anchored by icons that deviated from convention, the campaign accelerated the company’s quest to differentiate itself in the marketplace. By featuring unmistakable figures such as Albert Einstein, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Thomas Edison, and Pablo Picasso, Apple was able to communicate a powerful message that captivated the imagination of consumers everywhere. With sounds of unconventionality and progressive thinking echoing throughout the marketplace, Apple was able to reposition itself as a leading organization that fostered innovation and creativity.<br /><br />The Think Different strategy was significant because it became the catalyst for resurrecting a faltering brand. The campaign also proved successful for catapulting the Apple brand name back into the minds of the consumers and associating that brand with positive connotations. As a result, the subsequent sections in this article review the key characteristics of a powerful campaign that ultimately became the company’s pillars of success.<br /><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;"></span></div><div align="justify"><a name="_Toc131966177"><span style="font-family:arial;"><strong>Emotion</strong></span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"><strong> </strong><br />The ability to evoke emotion among a target audience is a powerful tool for communicating effective messages that shape consumer perceptions. Apple was able to apply this concept to its marketing campaign by selecting a group of people that accurately embodied the Think Different message. The contributions to humanity by the persons highlighted in the campaign were so significant that Apple was able to evoke emotion from a large portion of its target audience. By including a variety of well-known figures along with the most famous scientist, inventor, artist, and civil rights leader of the twentieth-century, Apple was able to capitalize on deeply-rooted beliefs and values that existed among its core customer base. As a result, the overall message from Apple resonated deeper than rival communications because the campaign featured figures for whom consumers maintained a high degree of appreciation, respect, and admiration. In addition, the lesser known persons in the campaign were also important because these persons struck a strong chord with a niche audience in which smaller groups of people were emotionally attached. In short, this trigger of emotion along with a sense of appreciation for the people in the original commercial makes the strategy both powerful and effective.<br /><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;"></span></div><div align="justify"><a name="_Toc131966178"><span style="font-family:arial;"><strong>Identity</strong></span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"><strong> </strong><br />The campaign established a solid identity for Apple that tied the company to innovation, creativity, and excellence. These were highly desirable characteristics for a high-tech company and provided a foundation for conveying messages that were both believable and defendable. The campaign was believable because the company continued to produce innovative products that were enhanced by sophisticated and stylistic designs. In addition to high quality products, the company continued to establish a corporate culture that was unique and in alignment with the Think Different campaign. By incorporating the critical characteristics of campaign into the company’s corporate culture, Apple was able to establish a strong identity that significantly enhanced its brand equity.<br /><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;"></span></div><div align="justify"><a name="_Toc131966179"><span style="font-family:arial;"><strong>Differentiation</strong></span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"><strong> </strong><br />By developing an identity that was linked to innovation, creativity, and excellence, Apple was able to differentiate itself in the marketplace quite effectively. This differentiation was fueled by the use of figures that were remarkably different from their contemporaries. The creativity of Picasso, brilliance of Einstein, leadership of Gandhi, courage of King, and innovation of Edison were distinctive to such a degree that it allowed Apple to brand itself as a company that truly thought differently.<br /><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;"></span></div><div align="justify"><a name="_Toc131966180"><span style="font-family:arial;"><strong>Imagery</strong></span></a><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">It is often said that a picture is worth a 1,000 words. Apple’s campaign capitalized on this concept by using powerful imagery that evoked emotion, established identity, and ultimately provided differentiation. Images of figures such as Gandhi, King, and Einstein were effective because these persons were recognizable around the world and required no introduction or lengthy explanations to describe their relevance to the campaign. This important factor will also become critical in future marketing efforts because this concept allows Apple to place its logo and tagline on an image of anyone that embodies the attributes of the Think Different campaign without altering its overall strategy.<br /><br />A key success factor is that all of the persons in the campaign have different degrees of appeal to certain groups and individuals. While each person is important, there is an image of one man that personifies the concept of Think Different more than any twentieth-century figure in the world - Albert Einstein. Apple used an image of Einstein for individual ads that displayed the Think Different tagline. The power behind this type of imagery triggered emotion and communicated the company’s identity while allowing it to differentiate itself in the marketplace. </span><span style="font-family:arial;">This type of ad was so powerful because Albert Einstein was a symbol of brilliance and genius worldwide. The effectiveness of Einstein’s image with the Think Different tagline is uncovered when one examines the level of convention that Einstein challenged. Einstein’s theory of special relativity replaced the commonly accepted principles of Newtonian physics. According to Einstein, the world was no longer surrounded by a mechanical universe in which space and time were constants. In fact, space itself was actually warped and time was relative to the observer. This was a ground-breaking theory that shattered centuries of traditional thought and complicated matters by adding a fourth dimension to a seemingly three-dimensional world.</span><span style="font-family:arial;"> This is significant because Einstein’s theory takes the concept of thinking differently to the highest possible level. While each of persons used in the original commercial conjures images of innovation and achievement, it was a successful challenge to scientific dogma that was more powerful than a deviation from the conventions of art, philosophy, and politics. This is particularly true for a scientist because the public typically views mathematics and physics as two of the only factual constants in a world of evolving ideas, beliefs, and values. As a scientist that introduced the radical idea of the space-time continuum, it is easy to see why Einstein’s image articulates the Think Different concept deeper than any other twentieth-century figure.<br /><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;"></span></div><div align="justify"><a name="_Toc131966181"><span style="font-family:arial;"><strong>Adaptability</strong></span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />Selecting the right imagery with carefully targeted messages represented only part of the overall strategy of the Apple campaign. The beauty of the Apple strategy is that it provided a foundation for a diverse range of future marketing efforts in both domestic and international markets. This adaptability was illustrated by Apple’s dedication to Rosa Parks on its website in 2005.</span><span style="font-family:arial;"> The site commemorated her life with her photo and a superimposed Apple logo with the Think Different tagline to reminded consumers of Apple’s defining differentiator. By slapping a logo and tagline above the name Rosa Parks, Apple was able to reconfirm its position as an innovative organization that supports unconventional thinking – all at no variable cost.<br /><br />This concept of adaptability is extendable in international markets because the Think Different campaign allows Apple to leverage the achievements of regional icons for which certain segments of the population maintain a strong appreciation and admiration. This means that Apple is able to leverage a successful campaign in both existing and new international markets by adhering to the principles of a strategy developed almost a decade ago.<br /><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;"></span></div><div align="justify"><a name="_Toc131966185"><span style="font-family:arial;"><strong>Posterity</strong></span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"><strong> </strong></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;">The success of the Think Different campaign is a testament to the power of the creative mind and the skilled marketer. In essence, the campaign provided a foundation upon which the company can build a solid system for future initiatives in both domestic and international markets. By celebrating the human spirit by reaching deep inside psyche of the consumer, Apple was able to rebuild its brand and differentiate itself in the marketplace. By applying the intrinsic principles of the Think Different campaign in current and future marketing efforts, the company is likely to ride its surging wave of success for a long time - simply because Apple thought differently.<br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;"><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;"><strong></strong></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;"><strong>Sources</strong><br /></span><a href="http://www.redlightrunner.com/appleads.html"><span style="font-family:arial;">http://www.redlightrunner.com/appleads.html</span></a><br /><a href="http://tvadverts.blogspot.com/2005/10/apple-think-different.html"><span style="font-family:arial;">http://tvadverts.blogspot.com/2005/10/apple-think-different.html</span></a><br /><a href="http://twm.co.nz/consc_phys.htm"><span style="font-family:arial;">http://twm.co.nz/consc_phys.htm</span></a><br /><a href="http://www.theappleblog.com/2005/10/26/think-different-rosa-parks"><span style="font-family:arial;">http://www.theappleblog.com/2005/10/26/think-different-rosa-parks</span></a> </div>Jade Bunkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01212431893605641784noreply@blogger.com0