6 blades... really!?!  Read on...

When I was in college Gillette came out with the innovative Trac II- two blades on one razor. The logic made sense to me- the first blade does most of the work and the second blade gets what the first blade missed. That was 30+ years ago.

Today's razors have not two, but up to six blades! The value proposition just isn't there. There's incremental improvement, and there's improvementless improvement. Here's a scathing commentary (rated R for language kids!) from the Onion, written a year before the five bladers hit the market. And check out this video contrasting the Trac II with Gillette's new (as of 2010) ProGlide razor.

I understand the need for continuous innovation and improvement. And the need to to create a "felt need."Every marketer does. I get Gillete's oft-cited mantra of giving away the razor and making money on razor blades. And generating a perpetual revenue stream at $10 for a handful of razor blades every few weeks. 

But six blades?! Maybe it sells and is a money-maker. From a customer point of view, it appears manipulative and disingenuous. As a proponent of honest marketing and customer intimacy, I think Gillete, Schick, or a new entrant in the market would garner far more trust, competitive advantage, and market share by going back to a two-blader and telling customers exactly why. Who wil take the risk and reap the rewards?

Me? I just bought an old-fashioned double-edged safety razor. Classic design, far more economical, and closer shaves. Yeah.

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We do a lot of work with companies that make products for the healthcare industry. One of the recurring challenges we take on is helping companies figure out how to connect emotionally with their customers - often doctors, nurses, and healthcare executives. One useful conceptual framework is Emotional Design, pioneered by Don Norman in a book by the same name (Don was a psych. professor and mentor of mine at UCSD a few decades ago, and is one of those very smart and practical guys). His framework can help achieve connection when designing medical devices, developing public health programs, or shaping healthcare services. Don's Linked In profile summarizes the framework this way:

 "The three kinds of design, the better to ensure enjoyable, pleasurable results. Visceral Design emphasizes appearance. Behavioral design emphasizes function, understandability, and the sheer joy of handling, touching, hearing, and using a well-designed product. Reflective design is about pride of ownership, about image, and the role of brands."

Here's an old TED video in which Don explains his thinking that led to the book.

More and more, I think marketing is all about connecting on an emotional level. Call it heart connection. So how do you know if your design is on the right emotional track?

Apply our think/feel/do test. For every feature of your product, program, or service, force your team to articulate what it should make the user think, and feel, and do. Then do the research to see if the features achieve the intended objectives, especially the feeling or emotional objective. If yes, you're on the right track. If not, back to the drawing board. For when design connects on an emotional level, it is astounding.

P.S. For the theorists among us: Given that the Emotional Design framework grew out of the classic ABC model  (affect, behavior, and cognition) to understand how attitudes are formed, our simple think/feel/do test is well-aligned with its principles. 

Image source: http://cpaprotectplus.com/blog/2011/03/warning-signs-of-an-unhealthy-heart-th...

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Imagine you have a bunch people in a room talking about buying or using a certain product or service. Like in a focus group. And you happen to know that emotion drives behavior more than logic. So how do you get these folks to reveal not just their thoughts but their underlying feelings too?

Let's set aside the assumption (and it's a significant one!) that the people are aware of and able to talk about their feelings. 

One standard query, borrowed from psychotherapy, is asking "How do you feel about that?" In my opinion, this is bad in therapy and it's bad in marketing research. As soon as we ask "How..." we are inviting people to become analytical, which frequently moves them away from feelings, not towards them. That's why responses are usually not expressions of emotion, but rather thoughts like "I feel that it's a good product" or simply "OK." When we get more directive, and say "How does that make you feel?" we still hear back thoughts, but often coupled with defensiveness triggered by the implied causality.

What works better is to ask what questions like "When you use the product, what do you feel?" perhaps supplemented with a range of examples. However, I think it's most effective to probe about feelings in real time when we observe them. For example, if you see people become passionate in a discussion, acknowledge it and get more by saying, "You seem to have strong feelings about that. Tell me about it." And when doing so, be sure you echo back the intensity of the feelings they expressed.

Getting people to talk honestly about their feelings is an art. And it's not easy. A lot of moderators are more comfortable facilitating discussions about thoughts and ideas, rather than feelings and emotion. But bottom line, nothing makes for open hearts and deeper connections more than the respectful and honest sharing of emotion. Which makes the outcomes of marketing research far more effective.

Image source: http://cache2.artprintimages.com/p/LRG/7/781/6G8I000Z/art-print/jim-borgman-h...

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How do you get people to change their behaviors? 1) You can EDUCATE them. 2) You can ENFORCE consequences. 3) You can change their ENVIRONMENT. These are the "3Es" of behavior change, a simple and powerful model for influence.

The current "cell phone in cars" debate offers a prime illustration of the 3Es. As a starting point, we all know it's a bad problem getting worse, as CDC's Injury Center makes very clear.

What to do? Take EDUCATION. The cell phone and auto industries, together with injury prevention folks, can create campaigns to teach us that driving while texting, talking or surfing the web is dangerous and even deadly. Check out, for example, the Department of Transportation's (DOT) "Distracted Driving" efforts here. These campaigns can make a difference, though research shows that most health campaigns generate only a modest impact. That's in part because most campaigns are based on the misguided premise that if people just know better, they will change. Decades of research, and even a bit of life experience, make clear the often-exercised human ability to not act in accordance with what we "know" is best.

So let's add some teeth with ENFORCEMENT! We're trying that now with police levying heavy fines on people driving while holding and using a cell phone. But it's tough to catch people in the act. And we need to deal with the resource allocation argument of diverting police from "serious" crimes. In a sense, enforcement is a fear tactic, which means that the perceived risk of getting caught coupled with the perceived seriousness of the consequences (fines, loss of license, shame, etc.) needs to be sufficient to motivate behavior change, but without being so scary that it makes people tune out.

Will changing the ENVIRONMENT help? Some call this approach social engineering (a powerful and traditionally unpopular phrase in some political camps). An example would be creating technology in cell phones and cars that make it impossible to use the phones while driving. Note that in the extreme, this approach eliminates choice. Knowledge and motivation no longer matter. That's the power of engineering an environment that makes the desired behavior change happen. 

Engineering the environment is what I think it will take to really impact such prevalent and highly addictive behaviors like cell phone use in cars. Complement it with education so we object less, and with enforcement for those who create workarounds. 

There you have it. The 3Es in action.

Photo source: plg-pllc.com

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Set a goal. 

Because as ace marketing consultant The Cheshire Cat advised to his client Alice in Wonderland...  "If You Don't Know Where You're Going, Any Road Will Get You There." 

What you may not know (only because I'm, well, making it up right now) is that The Cheshire Cat then continued... "Only It Might Take You A Very Long Time, And You Might Never Know When You Are There, Which Means You Really Need to Start With A Goal."                           

There are lots of goal-setting tools and heuristics, like S.M.A.R.T. (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound). I just want to add one piece of advice. Make your first 2012 marketing goal an outcome goal, not a process goal. That means it specifies an accomplishment or result, not just an activity.

Think big. Where do you want your business or organization to go? What outcomes do you envision? List them, apply the S.M.A.R.T. test, then choose one. 

Rather than moving forward without a clear direction (more on this via our late friend George Harrison in his poignant song Any Road), or choosing an end point blindly (as Dr. Doolittle did to go to Spidermonkey Island), or "throwing the rock, then moving the target" (as my colleague at AARP Senior Research Advisor Bob Vorek describes many social science research projects), set your goal with purpose and commitment.

It will set you up for a solid and effective start for 2012.

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For years, the dairy industry "owned" the category milk. In our minds, milk meant the stuff from cows. As a result, other forms of milk needed a descriptor. For example, nursing a baby wasn't about just "milk," it was about breast milk. 

Marketers know there is nothing better than dominating a category. Like FedEx created and dominated the category of overnite delivery, the dairy industry (a family of brands) dominated the category of milk. 

But, in the words of the great singer/songwriter Bob Dylan, "Times, they are a-changing."

Check out the game on the Got Milk website to find "real" milk. Here's a screen shot of how they show what one can only assume are the "fake" milks.

Then take a look at their "Real Milk comes from cows" TV ad. Seems that the California Milk Processor Board (they're behind the long-running the Got Milk campaign) is getting defensive. That means Silk and other brands of Soy Milk, Almond Milk, Coconut Milk, Rice Milk, and others are taking not just shelf space, but market share from cow milk folks. Hence, the campaign to equate cow milk with real milk. 

As a long-time consumer of the competing non-dairy products (when my "raised on rice milk" kids were little and lactose-intolerant, they heard the refrain cow milk is for baby cows at least a million times), I see this as a prime example of a category (milk) growing beyond its dominant product line (cow milk).

Will we see the day when restaurants say, "Would you like cow's milk, coconut milk, or rice milk with your cereal?" I suspect we will.

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My daughter Hana saw these in a store and texted me a photo, being impressed with Jelly Belly's marketing savvy.

They aren't available very often, but when they are...Jelly Belly fans love to snap up our famous Belly Flops. These special beans taste great, but don't quite meet all of our demanding standards for size, color, shape and flavor.    

 - From back of bag, as blogged by Sugar Pressure

 This is another example of the world's greatest marketing axiom (my favorite anyway): If You Can't Fix It, Feature It!

Four marketing lessons from Belly Flops:

1. Instead of trashing the misshapen jellybeans or hiding the irregularities, they feature the "mistake" and the fun it produces:

You may find one that's round, one that's square, or you may even find a bunch stuck together. On very rare occasions, a flavor may not match a color. A red Belly Flop might taste like Blueberry, or a white one might taste like Chocolate Pudding. Crazy!

2. The product name Belly Flops leverages the well-established Jelly Belly brand name, while simultaneously repurposing a kinda funny label that most people know refers to a not very serious, well, flop. Which is all strongly reinforced by the graphics on the bag.

3. They assure customers of the usual great Jelly Belly taste, and at the same time, reinforce that they have "demanding" aesthetic standards that this product doesn't meet.

4. They make us feel like we're getting a deal - half price, in fact.

Good marketing JB!

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Micheline, head of our International Desk, recently gave me a Time magazine article about seducing customers. Actually, it was about how supermarkets create "zones of seduction" that get customers to spend more. What the author and consumer fan Martin Lindstrom (check out his buy-ology book pictured below), called "seducing," I used to refer to as "engineering." But seducing sounds well, more seductive (and is actually more customer-centric). Don't you think? 

A key point was changing the environment to trigger our primitive, and often subconscious survival responses, like hoarding for lean times. The approach requires lots of customer field research to know what works and to fine-tune the changes. For example, changing a point of purchase sign in the supermarket aisle from $1.95 to 1.95 increased sales. The dollar sign seemed to trigger a greater awareness of expense, not value. Adding the line "maximum 3 cans per customer," coupled with smaller shopping carts and a bumpy (and noisier) tile floor that led people to slow down increased spending sevenfold. Sevenfold!

Think about slot machines in Vegas, starting with your first steps off the airplane.They are everywhere! You can't even go the bathroom without passing a zillion slots seductively beckoning your credit card.

Are we being constantly manipulated? Yes. Is that bad. Sometimes. Is it an inherent part of a capitalistic society? Yes.

And the real bottom line question: How can YOU more effectively and ethically seduce your customer (or client, patient, partner, investor, etc.) to "buy" from your organization?

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As I was watching the Broncos (barely) win yet again, I was struck by a Dodge Journey ad. Positioning the car as "the search engine for the real world," the campaign (Wieden + Kennedy) makes the point that people can't experience life online. The campaign was launched several months ago with the added ploy of hiding three Journeys in different parts of the country and making a contest of finding them. And ironically, you needed to go online to get clues.

Interestingly, there is no mention- zero, zip, nada- of any car-related features or benefits. It's all about experiencing life.

Three powerful marketing lessons:

1) Your competitive advantage may have nothing to do with the features of your product.

2) The campaign is strategically sticking to its theme - Journey, by virtue of the storyline in the ads, the design of the contest, and of course, the name of the car.

3) By highlighting that experiencing something online (aka "like" being there) is not the same as really being there (the copy goes "no one makes list of websites they want to visit" while driving by beautiful sites that people do want to visit in person), the campaign touches a pain point most of us know deep down is true, yet may not articulate. 

And Dodge is providing the solution: Buy the Journey, and really live.

I predict that lots of products and services will join the growing ranks of campaigns that contrast "real life" with what they portray as a much more shallow online or "virtual" life. Again, the message is you buy the product, and you really live!

P.S. Check out AdWeek's story here.

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O stands for Opportunity. It's part of the AMO marketing trinity- Ability, Motivation, and Opportunity. These are three key factors to consider when determining how to get customers and how to get them to do what you want them to do. The AMO trinity is very similar to what you hear on police shows, like: "OK Biff (the bad guy), you must have done it. You had the means (aka ability), the motive, and the opportunity."

The photo below is simple illustration of the often overlooked "opportunity" factor, from a playbill at a concert I recently attended at the Poway Center for the Performing Arts (PCPA).

PCPA could have just said that they welcome feedback and given a phone number or website address. But how many people act on that kind of opportunity?  Instead, they took it to the next level by providing a very convenient and immediate communication channel - the humble yellow sticky. They also assured attention (a reward of sorts) by providing a convenient and public place to post and view the feedback - in their lobby. My only recommendation would have been to also include a PCPA-branded pen or pencil to remove any barrier to giving feedback, while also strengthening the brand.

There are simple ways to enhance the "opportunity" factor in almost any marketing situation. The driving question is this: How can make it easier for people to do what you want them to do? 

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If You Can't Fix it, Feature It (IYCFIFI) remains one of the most powerful marketing axioms I know. From green M&Ms to Nicorette's Quitting Sucks campaign, I showcase lots of examples of IYCFIFI in this blog.

And you'll see IYCFIFI applies not just in business, but in all areas of life. Here's a funny example from comedian Demetri Martin:

One of my friends has a stutter, and a lot of people think that's a bad thing, but to me that's just like starting certain words with a drum roll. That's not an impediment, that's suspense.

Here's a video clip from a young Demetri that includes his stuttering bit:

http://comedians.jokes.com/demetri-martin/videos/demetri-martin---stuttering

Let me know IYCFIFI examples you run across too (I'll credit you by name of course-unless you want anonymity).

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I ran across Aviva, a global insurance company, through this ad at a U.S. airport. I was immediately intrigued by their customer-centered mission: YOU. While arguably not a formal mission statement (most aren't very good anyway), it makes manifestly clear where they want us to think their focus lies.

And Aviva is consistent with this message throughout their communications. For example, their brand promise explanation is all about a distinctive customer experience that recognizes the value of each one of us:

Aviva has committed to deliver one distinctive experience for our customers, wherever we are in the world - we want them each to feel that "no one recognises me like Aviva".

And they nicely tie this intention to their cause marketing efforts. In fact, their brand is the centerpiece of all their communications. Check it out here.

Aviva (which means "Spring" in Hebrew) gets that branding is a core and essential business discipline. They are a good example of a company in which marketing and customer research have seats at the decision-making table.

Now, having generated such high expectations, it's especially critical that they deliver on their promise.

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Lone Star College does good marketing. As this ad in the Houston airport shows, they get to the bottom line right away: Adding over a billion dollars to the local economy. Then they tell how: Students' increased earning power and a better educated workforce. Their call to action? Go to our website to discover our full impact. Clear, succinct, and powerful. Which should be how they educate too.

Their website follows through: Why choose Lone Star? They tell you not in three pages, or even several paragraphs, but in 11 plain language words:

We're close to home. We're affordable. We want you to succeed.

(I might have said "We help you succeed." Small point though.)

So many colleges and universities don't put a stake in the ground and declare their value proposition. Which make it hard for prospective students and parents to know why they should choose or support that particular school.

Learn from Lone Star.

State clearly and concisely why people should choose you.

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Check out this Explanation of Benefits (EOB) I got from Anthem Blue Cross:

Now take a look at the EOB I got from CIGNA for the same exact service a month or so later:

What message does each send you? I'm unfortunately used to the unfriendliness of Blue Cross EOBs. But I always wonder why they don't make it easier for their customers to understand. It can be done, as evidenced by CIGNA's simple, plain language, user-friendly approach.

Is it intentional obfuscation, or having no clue about what customers want? Either way, it's bad performance on the part of Anthem Blue Cross, and an opportunity for competitors to get an edge in a very concrete way about something every customer cares about- their out of pocket costs.

So CIGNA, tell the world how (at least with EOBs) you're giving customers what they want! And Anthem, get a clue about connecting with your customers.

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You gotta see this video!" ace ResearchWorks strategist Ross Dammann gleefully exclaimed. And he was right. Watching the parody of Microsoft "improving" iPod packaging is as funny as it is poignantly instructive. It's several years old; and not much has changed. Check it out:

Here are three key takeaways:

1. Purpose: The job of retail packaging is first to get the customer to notice the box and look at it, then to engage them enough to dig deeper. That's it. So K.I.S.S.

2. TMI: Like with other forms of seduction (hey, it is what it is), revealing all right away is NOT the best approach. The package should not try to convey every detail. It's Too Much Information. Usually, less is more (hence, my top secret code name Les S. Moore, since you were wondering).

3. Think/Feel/Do: Every communication piece should be subject to the think/feel/do test. Yes, even Apple stuff. In advance, determine what you want target customers to think, feel, and do when they see the package. Then use those objectives to make sure the creative execution hits the mark. It's a simple, powerful, and ego-free form of assuring purpose-driven communications and accountability for results.

Happy and persuasive communications!

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I talk a lot about how powerful pop culture can be as an educator about health and social issues, and as a shaper of social norms. From USA for Africa's We Are the World song for African famine relief to the Entertainment Industry Foundation's Hope for Haiti Now telethon, there have been many of these efforts over the years. Perhaps the most poignant example is when pop culture, particularly the entertainment industry, comes together in response to sudden tragedy. 

What reminded me was tonight's airing of the documentary (dramatically titled), When Pop Culture Saved America: A 9/11 Story on the Biography channel. Below is their description, and here's the full show on Hulu.

In the aftermath of 9/11, getting back to normal would not be a simple task. For those in the world of pop culture and entertainment, the challenge was how to help America achieve that goal--to cheer the country up during its darkest days. This documentary takes a comprehensive look at the days and months following the attack--to show how the non-news media pitched in to bring the nation together. Comedians, singers, actors, entertainers all did their part with concerts, telethons and specials. Television, movies, Broadway, music and even sports helped bring us back to the new normal. We'll also review the impact of the events of 9/11 on pop culture and how TV and films were changed forever.

Fundamentally, these highly visible pop culture shows and songs do several important things: They unify us, they acknowledge what we're all trying to make sense of, they give us permission to feel the emotions that the celebrities express, they invite us to eventually laugh in spite of the tragic losses, and at the right time they tell us that it's okay to move on with our lives.

And these are all things that every individual and organization can also do- each in their own way.

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I just saw a new Unilever Dove ad promoting Dove's Men+Care. Reminded me how good Dove is at getting to know what really makes their customers tick, targeting their products and tailoring their messages, employing a variety of media platforms, and all the while maintaining their identity and authenticity. Their campaign (Ogilvy) launched with this Super Bowl Manthem ad last year:

Dove's success is rooted in listening. Just like they did to create their Campaign for Real Beauty which targets women, Dove started with deep research - The Dove Men+Care Global Study. The study revealed that even though men (late 30s to about 50) have reached a stage in their lives where they are comfortable with who they are, they do not always have comfortable skin to match. The number one skin complaint was dry skin. What resulted was Dove's Journey to Comfort program.

In a recent eMarketer interview Robert Candelino, marketing director for Dove's Men+Care, described the key insight this way:

“Journey to Comfort” is rooted in the powerful insight that our target male has experienced many unsung moments in his life, such as marriage, fatherhood and professional successes that amount to a personal journey. These moments have helped him reach a point of comfort in his own skin. By bringing to life the journeys of our target’s favorite athletes, Dove Men+Care was able to produce content on multiple platforms—including online, mobile and social media—that is compelling, relevant and organic.

The many Journey to Comfort ads beautifully leverage the metaphor "be comfortable in your skin" by connecting the personal meaning with good skin care; in other words, literally being comfortable in your own skin. This elevates Dove from being about personal care products to just being personal. They are so good at tapping into fundamental human wants and needs, and then linking their products to those core wants and needs. On top of that, Dove knows how to deliver their messages to overcome the most likely objection from their target audience of men. Who better to legitimize skin care for men than professional athletes... from MLB, NCAA, and the NFL. The explicit message in many ads- that each star is comfortable in his own skin, is delivered with humorous glimpses into their personal lives, and virtually no Dove product mentions. The implicit message of course, is that skin care is a manly thing to do.

One more ROI quote from Candelino:

"We believe that creating a rich, loyal community leads to brand affinity and results in sales."

I strongly recommend any large B2C organization looking to generate and sustain customer loyalty in today's rapidly changing marketplace, look to Dove as a great example.

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What's the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of green M&Ms?

When I was growing up in the '70s, everyone "knew" that green M&Ms were an aphrodisiac. Even if we didn't know what the word meant, we sure knew what it led to! Or what we believed it led to. Where the urban legend started, no one knows for sure. But what a great marketing idea! For years, Mars, the company that makes M&MS, denied the green M&M story. Then they decided to capitalize on it.

Here's the Valentine's Day story from a few years ago, excerpted from blogger David Emery's fine post. Mars dubbed green "the new color of love" for Valentine's Day. Special all-green packages of M&Ms were available through the holiday marked with a "disclaimer" that read, "Consumption of The Green Ones® may result in elevated romance levels. If you experience this effect, contact your significant other immediately." The idea was to stand out "amidst a sea of traditional red and pink products." And they did.

Mars was putting into action my favorite marketing axiom: If you can't fix it, feature it! They recognized how widespread the myth was, probably thought it was harmless, and figured out how to uniquely market what they then called "the Green One" while simultaneously positioning the brand to appeal more to teens and even adults.

Since then, "Miss Green" (the only female M&M) has done a racy Sports Illustrated swimsuit video commentary, a strip tease video, and a music video with Adam Lambert that has parental warnings for sexually provocative content and nudity (a naked Miss Green, not Adam!).

Can we create and capitalize upon harmless myths to promote health and social good... a pro-social placebo? Hey, maybe CDC will make asparagus the new green aphrodisiac!

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VH1 just aired the Do Something! Awards show for the second straight year. Quite a partnership! DoSomething.org describes the event as a "high-energy mix of pop culture and activism." I call it harnessing the power of entertainment for social change! Check out their "celebs gone good" and the show's highlights video below.

As background, DoSomething focuses on empowering teens to take action about a cause they passionately believe in. With roots in the entertainment industry, they use online to motivate action offline. 

I think it's great when our high profile, entertainment-based, pop culture channels address social issues. Like the Do Something/VH1 partnership, the MTV Video Music Awards with their new Best Video with a Message award category (see my post on it here), and the numerous concerts that raise funds for different causes. Sure, there may be alternative agendas and it may be silly that celebrities garner credibility - BUT these activities still gets important issues in the public eye. Bottom line: Better they happen than not. Now let's leverage the exposure and the interest these shows generate!

P.S. Take a look too at the "and you" widget that aggregates and personalizes all kinds of social action opportunities.

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Today I applaud MTV for promoting the use of entertainment to promote social change, a marriage I've been advocating for years, in a very visible way.

MTV Video Music Awards has a new award category this year: Best Video with a Message. AceShowBiz describes it this way:

It's a special category that recognizes artists who use their music videos to send positive messages of empowerment or raise awareness of social issues that youth are dealing with. 

And the messages range from self esteem (Lady Gaga's Born This Way) to domestic violence awareness (Eminem's Love the Way You Lie) to anti-bullying (Taylor Swift's Mean), among others. Big name nominees.

By creating an category for artists doing videos with positive social messages, MTV is bringing "entertainment-education" to a whole new level of credibility. It is clear recognition from within the entertainment industry. 

Now it's up to public health folks and social service agencies involved in these causes to leverage the buzz that this new MTV award will generate. Let's step up and do it!

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