Find Your Greatness

I absolutely love the Olympics!

As a runner, as a fan and as a world citizen … the Olympics are a radiant flower that blooms for only 3 weeks every 4 years.

The true blessing, as an American, is that this 3-week festival of competition and world-togetherness offsets and provides a distraction from our own American, poo-slinging political environment.

But lets focus back on the Olympic competition.  Not between the USA and China, not even between the finely honed athletes, but the competition of sports apparel brands.  As a marketer, I’m as enthralled by the Nike/Adidas competition as I am in the marathon competition between the Kenyans and the ... ahhh … well … OK, they really don’t have competition.

Here’s a link to Nike’s Find Your Greatness campaign.

Quick question:Is Nike an official sponsor of the London Olympic Games?

Answer: It doesn’t really matter!  But no, they’re not. 

Last week, Ad Age reported that an online survey found that 37% of those surveyed identified Nike as an Olympic sponsor (compared to 24% for Adidas, a real sponsor).  Add to that, in the last week, Find Your Greatness landed as #1 on the Viral Chart with 4.5 million views compared to Adidas’ 2.9 million views with their Take the Stage campaign.

In short, Nike has hijacked the London Olympics.  Without mentioning the games or paying the $40 million+ sponsorship price tag.  They did it by focusing solely on emotion.  They’ve tapped into the consumer’s reality.  One I’ve related to since I first started running in 4^th grade … I’ll never be an Olympian, but I love being an athlete!  I’ll never compete internationally, but I can’t listen to the National Anthem without picturing myself on a podium.  Admit it, most of you know exactly what I’m talking about … and Nike identified it … put it into words and images … and made us feel it!

So, what can WE do as marketers without Nike’s marketing budget or rock star ad agencies?  We can learn from their strategy of tapping into emotions.  It sounds idealistic, but the truth is that emotions sell better than product or price.  Take Find Your Greatness, for example.  We’re not selling shoes or shorts, but our financial consumers want to find their greatness at home, right?  They can’t buy a car, move into a home, pay for groceries, hope for retirement or insure their property without us. 

How can you help your community find their greatness?

Take care and enjoy the remainder of the games.

Eric

This is a Career Changer!

Alright, stop what you’re doin’,

‘cause I’m about to ruin

the image and the style that you’re used to…

Seriously … stop … take a breath … grab the biggest, boldest writing instrument at your disposal … and write this down as large as you can…

BE DISRUPTIVE!

How will you get the market’s attention?

            Be disruptive!

How will you differentiate your brand?

            Be disruptive!

How will you get people motivated to care … and to act?

            Be disruptive!

Your new Marketing Mantra from now on ...

BE DISRUPTIVE!

Now the fun part … how?

There is no one way to be disruptive.  All you have to do is come up with the obvious answer, do an about-face, and run like hell the other way!

Message

The most obvious disruption is to not be obvious at all in your marketing message.  Think about your favorite ads.  The reason you remember them at all is because they caused a disruption and impacted your memory.

To often, marketing is like those annoying political yard signs, you see them everywhere, but nothing stands out.

Here’s a link to a past blog with 6 examples of disruptive marketing.

Actions

We’ve helped several clients be disruptive in their actions.

For a branch opening for one client, we created a Street Team staffed by college kids that went around town in branded jumpsuits and a wrapped car.  Each outing was strategically choreographed to provide giveaways and generate positive awareness for the bank.

For another client, we orchestrated a "Restaurant Ambush" where we coordinated with a restaurant to “buy dinner” for everyone at select times.  Rather than a bill, each table received a, “Dinner’s on us” message from the client.

Ideally, you can disruptive at the point of sale.  What can you do to assure that a day-to-day interaction with you will stand out and make them want to come back?

Product

Every so often, you can create a product that turns a category on its ear.  You have to be first and you have to make people wonder how they ever lived without it.  Think iPad.

Frequency

OK, back to the annoying political yard signs.  The only reason every candidate pays thousand for this legalized litter is because the schmo with the most signs has name recognition.  You can be disruptive with average ads if you go crazy on your media buy and assure everyone not only sees them, but gets sick of them.

Price

It’s an option, but not a great one!  You can price your product to a place where it disrupts the competitive landscape.  Certainly not a long-term strategy, but short-term promotions can work to jump start interest.

But a disruptive offer doesn't always have to be about price!  Can you help your customers give back to the community?  Can you create a fun contest?  Can you create an experience?

Any Crazy Idea

There are countless ways to cause a disruption in a product category, and most of them entail creative muscle.  A truly disruptive idea should scare the hell out of you.

Here’s the winning spot from this week’s The Pitch.  This approach is disruptive!

OK, I think I've disrupted enough of your day.

Take care!  Thanks for reading.

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