We work with lots of companies in the business of health. Almost every one thinks hospitals will commit to exclusively buy their brand as soon as they provide some kind of interconnectivity solution. That means all the machines of that one brand will "talk" to each other, share information, work on a common IT platform, etc. Makes sense, right? WRONG! 

Of the zillions of customers, buyers, and providers we've talked with, guess how many have said they WANT OR NEED a single brand of equipment, or a single supplier of anything, throughout their hospital or practice? Zero.

What's the disconnect? Three things: 1) Engineers are in love with the idea. 2) Customers agree interconnectivity is good, and 3) It's the holy grail for the company that "wins." 

If you ask customers if they like the benefits of machines that "talk" to each other, share information, and work on a common IT platform, of course they'll say yes. Who wouldn't? But that's the wrong question. The real question is not about the benefits, but about the loss. Will they be willing to give up having the devices they feel serve them and their patients best? If they have a choice, their answer will be no.

Customers want best of breed. They do not want to be locked into one brand. It is a technology push, for which there is no customer pull. However, the logic of it, the passion behind it, and the promise of riches blinds the industry to the reality: No one can be best at everything. From a provider perspective, the incremental gain from improved interconnectivity is more than offset by the loss of opportunity for buying what they really want. 

Until and unless they redirect their efforts, companies will continue to invest millions of dollars competing to be #1 in something their customers don't really want.

Microsoft opened its fourth retail store recently - this one in San Diego, the same day Apple launched iPhone 4. According to blogger Joe Wilcox, the Apple Store (a stone's throw from the Microsoft store in the Fashion Valley mall) had about five times the crowd.

Microsoft was giving away lots of freebies, while people were waiting for hours to give Apple money. I wonder where Microsoft got the idea for their retail stores?? I'm waiting to see a TV ad (in the spirit of Windows 7 ads) with Steve Jobs in front of a Microsoft store saying... "My idea." 

Old fashioned bumper stickers are the medium of choice in this war of ideology taking place in laid-back Ocean Beach (OB), in San Diego County. OB has long been known as a liberal, safe and friendly haven for the homeless.

Compare the two bumper stickers. Both welcome people to friendly OB. The brown one says "Don't feed our bums" and was made by a local smoke shop to deal not the homeless they say, but the more aggressive panhandlers: 

"It isn't about the homeless...it's about the bums, the trolls that we deal with day in and day out, they get angry at you if you don't have spare change, they urinate in your doorways, graffiti on the buildings, it's terrible." said Denise Prigmore, an employee at The Black.

Many OB residents were angered and felt that the message portrays them as intolerant. Look what was created in response, by San Diego's Regional Task Force to End Homelessness.

Ideology and personal beliefs about homelessness aside, I see all forms of separatism, prejudice, and racism as a market segmentation issue. It involves dividing based on differences and uniting into subgroups based on similarities. Even good ideas like segmentation can be put to bad use. The positive segmentation challenge here is to distinguish between the "good" homeless and those that cause unnecessary harm and damage.

I just called a colleague - a seasoned business executive - who answered his cell phone, only to apologetically tell me he was in a meeting and could I call back later. See, it's not just teenagers! Emergency situations excepted, wouldn't it make more sense to not answer and let voice mail take over when one is busy? I often tell my kids that somehow I (and a few zillion other people) survived most of my life without a phone in my pocket. They look at me like I'm nuts.

Marketers know that "everything talks" - your ads, the quality of your work, your signage, and yes, even how you deal with phone calls. All these communications convey a message. When someone answers only to say they're too busy to talk, the message is either: 1) you're not important enough for me to stop what I'm doing, or 2) I'm addicted to my phone and can't stop myself from answering no matter where I am or what I'm doing.

A marketing by-product of our collective love affair with the cell phone is to use that relationship to gauge the importance of other relationships. Like "Which of these would be hardest to give up - your mother, your job, your sex life, or your cell phone? But seriously, the zealousness of cell phone use is a powerful marker by which a host of products and services can be profitably compared. Think about it.

A very sweet ad for P&G's Dawn dishwashing detergent won the top spot in the Ace Metrix list of best TV spots for the second quarter of 2010. The ad shows how Dawn Ultra can clean and save birds and other wildlife soaked with goopy oil.

Note that the ad debuted two weeks before the BP oil rig explosion, and was rated first prior to the spill as well... wow.

I'm glad to see a "cause-related" ad win (here's the story in AdWeek). This one is interesting because it is not a traditional cause marketing approach that would link P&G or Dawn with selected non-profit organizations. It is an ad centered on the product. I see the primary message as this: Because our product can save poor animals, you should buy it. Secondary message #1: By the way, if we're good enough to clean oil-soaked birds, imagine what we can do for your greasy dishes. Secondary message #2: And feel good, because we will donate a dollar of your purchase to help these animals. Nice job P&G and the Kaplan Thaler agency!

One key reason why companies that know and value marketing lose their way is money. Cash flow to be more specific.

We know several good organizations that fully intend to take the long view and honor their marketing plan, but instead capitulate to pressure to meet their quarterly numbers instead. Even if doing so means heavy discounting, losing focus, and breaking promises.

It is not evil. It is not mean-spirited. It is a combination of fear and reality. Fear of underperforming, looking bad, layoffs, and going belly-up. And the reality of needing enough money in the bank to pay the bills and keep the ship afloat. It is a condundrum because short-term revenue needs are very real, but the costs to the organization of fulfilling those needs creates a vicious and depressing cycle of running a "near-sighted" business.

What's the solution? One is a marketing plan that has well thought out contingencies for addressing short-term growth needs, and then cultivating the necessary relationships even when business is soaring. That requires discipline and commitment. The result is that business leaders can put their attention back on the business (instead of in the business) where in belongs.

For India, GE Healthcare produced a hand-held electrocardiogram (ECG) device with cutting-edge technology that is much smaller, much simpler, and less than half the cost of traditional ECG machines. Here's one of their launch videos:

GE's inexpensive pocket-sized ultrasound device, designed for the Chinese market, turns out to have broad global appeal. Tata Motors in India has produced the Nano, a $2,200 car, which has stimulated "cheap car" development in the U.S. and many other markets.

There are numerous examples of high quality products and services produced and sold in India, China, and other countries at far lower cost than in the West. Emerging markets (formerly known as developing countries) invite us to make do with less. That leads to frugal/disruptive innovation.

I believe these five principles are key to creating a frugal innovation mindset and successfully innovating: 1) Start with a blank slate - zero-based thinking, not with the deductive approach of simply stripping away features from the existing expensive product. 2) Think of the end user customer as different, not deficient. Don't compare with the stereotypical Western lifestyle. 3) Don't overgeneralize and assume all people in an emerging market are the same. Segmentation principles apply as they do anywhere else. 4) Proactively consider and take advantage of the numerous brand enhancement and cause marketing opportunities. 5) Think simple, which means less is more. What's the minimum feature set your customer needs?

Don't be surprised when your simpler cheaper product has greater appeal than your traditional product in developed markets too. In fact, plan on it.

Old Spice figured out who holds the purchasing power in their target market's household. In previous campaigns, they targeted end users' (men's) awareness and liking. Look at their old ad with the shouting macho dude that would annoy maybe 200% of women. However, men may actually like the fact that women don't like the ad, with this logic: Because women don't like it, it is automatically manly. Who said we're not shallow.

Now to focus on a better outcome - selling their product - in the newer campaign, they are targeting and winning the buyers' preference by appealing to women, and through women, to their men.

This ad has multiple messages. What women doesn't want a man to bake them a cake in the dream kitchen he built with his own hands??  But the message doesn't negatively affect men's awareness or liking of Old Spice. Men appreciate that Old Spice understands their "situation" - another way to sell manliness.

As marketers, we know Old Spice probably conducted copious amounts of research to intimately get to know and understand their customers and the the purchase decision process. To Joe Bro, it feels like he just had a "manversation" consisting of mostly grunts, nods, and maybe a fist bump with Old Spice. Then the product he (and she) wants magically appears in his bathtub. Cha-ching.

Last week I blogged about how the National Pork Board (NPB) is planning to reposition pork, since "the other white meat" approach is not increasing sales. Today I came across Tim Berry's post about how NPB lawyers took quite seriously ThinkGeek's April Fool's joke that proclaimed:

Pâté is passé. Unicorn - the new white meat. Excellent source of sparkles!" 

Canned Unicorn Meat

They sent ThinkGeek a 12 page "Cease and Desist" letter. ThinkGeek went to town with it, now offering discounts on their very funny pork-inspired products and getting all kinds of viral coverage.

Yes, diligently protecting your brand and slogan and positioning is important - it's all about distinctiveness and competitive advantage. But unicorn meat... really? Maybe the Pork Board's lawyers and marketers oughtta talk...

This weekend I saw a Goodwill truck with this big and bold slogan: "Getting people jobs." I was impressed.

As an international organization, their homepage states their mission clearly and succinctly - and in plain language: 

We help people who are looking for work or better jobs so they can better provide for their families.

Goodwill is a good example of a major non-profit that knows how to brand itself and tie its brand to its mission. Cone's Nonprofit Power Brand 100 study ranks Goodwill Industries International as #5 among leading nonprofit brands in America, with a brand value of over $2.5 billion. I think if Goodwill directly connects donating with jobs, their brand image and fundraising will be even stronger.