The "Indirect" road to success

As a follow up to my last blog essay, I wanted to explore this topic further. As often happens, my posting an essay prompts a few emails, texts and calls from friends that follow my blog. This happened right on schedule after my last posting earlier this month, and a number of good discussions ensued. Rather than keep them to my self, I thought it best to share a few of the themes here.

First of all, it might make sense to have a quick re-read of the last essay, “ Some times you need to go up to go down …” The core idea is that life, leadership and success are not linear, and have not been in my life. My experience was not one of a single well laid out plan, with no twists or turns, clearly leading on a single upward trajectory. In my essay I encouraged readers to reflect on my experiences and think about ways/avenues where those same experiences may be coming to life in their lives.

In a number of my follow up calls/discussions, I talked with friends about possible enablers or drivers to that approach. The following are a few of those principles highlighted and reviewed:

Be Open

Maybe the toughest idea of all, how to “be open” to new ideas/concepts/approaches as you move through your life and career. I especially think this is tough for those who have been successful early in their lives/careers. Why “be open” to new ideas when what I am doing now is working so well?? Seems like a good question! My experience is that the key drivers of what has made you great, will not only NOT be the drivers of your future success, they probably will be the biggest barriers to that success. I talk about this in great detail in a previous essay, “The Gravity of Success” which you can find in the “Perspective” section of the blog archive to your left.

Be Inquisitive

Such a simple idea! Since the time of Socrates we have been taught to ask questions as a path to knowledge and learning. Why are we so busy preparing our comments, ideas and critiques that we don’t spend much time thinking about and crafting the significant questions that can help us grow and succeed? I have seen this so often across the business landscape, where individuals who have the “quickest” and most “well crafted” responses and actions plans are advanced quickly in their careers. Too often those early advancers don’t end up with a long and impactful career. I have specifically witnessed this in the landscape of sales, and have gone into more detail in a previous essay, “Selling: The art of the “question” which you can find in the “selling” section of the blog archive.



Be Attentive

Even when we ask good questions, are we really listening? How do we use all of our senses to pick up data, deeply “listening” for the underlying meaning and innuendo of the comments we receive? I think back to all the times that I had with mentors from my past and wish that I could find one time with them to dig in an ask questions and really “listen” to their thoughts and comments. Finding ways to really pick up data in life and in business is a rare and precious skill! I have touched on this in a number of previous essays, most recently in an essay titled “A moment in the 3rd person can change your world”, found in the “Perspective “ section of the blog archive.


Be Active

Life and business is not merely a set of reflections and introspection! We need to take those isights that we have uncovered and put them to work! I so often say that we have an inifinate INABILITY to affect yesterday, but an infinite ABILITY to impact tomorrow. Remember the lesson from my old boss Bruce, “Regret is a trap.” Don’t squander your energy on the “what if’s” or the “should have/could have/would have’s” of life. Take the insights and perspectives that you gained above, and turn them into action today! A good example of this idea if covered in my most read essay, “A teachable point of view”, found in the “Leadership” section of the blog archive.


Here are four principles that I hope you find helpful and productive as you seek success in your life and career. Look for ways to be MORE “Open/Inquisitive/Attentive & Active” as you move into your week ahead; always scanning the landscape for more data/input and insights that you can take action quickly!

Sometimes you need to go Up to go Down, Left to go Right, North to go South.

While this essay is not intended to be focused on geography or route mapping, I will start with a recent moment in a rental car to set the stage. My sweet son Bryson and I were on a trip recently to chilly Minneapolis /St. Paul to visit colleges. With the high one day forecasted to be -4 degrees Fahrenheit, I wanted to make sure that my driving directions were tight and without detours or potential issues. At one point in the afternoon, we needed to drive across “the cities,” leaving St. Paul for an afternoon appointment in NW Minneapolis. Not knowing the local area very well, I pulled up the map function on my I-Phone and entered our destination. While the route seemed simple enough, the last few miles had us exiting the highway, heading north a few miles, looping under the highway and heading back south toward our destination. At first it seemed crazy, I could see on the map a much more direct route, what the heck??? Well maybe the combination of the temps and the unknown city lead me to squelch my intuition and follow the directions on my phone. Crisply and very quickly we followed the routing commands, went north to go south, and found ourselves at our destination early for our appointment. What the mapping system “knew” that I couldn’t was that the seemingly straight route was under massive construction, highway exits closed and/or re-routed, and my “direct route” would have failed miserably. This experience got me thinking about how the dynamic of the “indirect route to success” is actually common in many moments of life.

We live in a time of supercharged, overscheduled lives and careers, where the idea of planned inefficiency seems out of place and almost unthinkable. The idea that you would intentionally NOT take the seemingly most direct route literally sounds crazy writing this paragraph. The reality is that in many facets of my life, this “truth” continues to come to life. The following are just a few examples….

Examples in Life:

As I look back on my education, it is easy to see how the “direct route” almost got me in trouble multiple times. As a boy I was convinced that I wanted to be a Lutheran Pastor. When I looked at colleges, I only reviewed religion departments, and ultimately chose an undergraduate college very much based on that single strength. It wasn’t until my junior year when I was studying in a divinity school in Edinburgh Scotland that I realized that while I was academically challenged and fascinated by the realm of Theology, I wasn’t “called” to it as a career. I came home from Scotland with a major need to find a “plan B; ” ultimately completed a BA in Economics, an MBA with a focus on Marketing, and then off to a 30+ year business career.


Examples in Business:

There are numerous examples of companies that became so focused on the “direct route” of their existing strategies; they missed the chance that some “indirect exploration” might have created. On either sides of this example, think about Xerox and Netflix. Xerox, the home of copying and copiers was also the home of the engineer who created the original “mouse” used to enhance early computing efforts in the late 1960’s. While originally applied sparingly within Xerox, uncertain how it lead to better, enhanced copier/copying experiences, “the mouse” became well known after 1984 and the introduction of the Macintosh 128k computer. A bit of “indirect exploration” might have created much more value for Xerox in that example. With today’s “House of Cards” Netflix in mind, it’s hard to remember that Netflix began as a mailer driver DVD rental model. While mailer rental DVD's are still available Netflix is not only streaming content broadly, but now a major player in content development and production; seemingly a bit of an indirect route from the original example. The examples are numerous, but the challenge to be open and flexible enough to take “the indirect route” in business is no small thing. I will explore the drivers and barriers to “the indirect route in business” in an essay in the near future.


Examples in Careers:

It is so easy and tempting to think about mapping your career “ladder,” taking roles that lead one after the other always upward climbing the proverbial “corporate ladder.” I learned this lesson from a good friend and I have now described it to others as following “Irma’s Rule.” Irma is a good friend and one of the brightest marketers from across my career. I had the fortune to have her join my team in a key role in which she flourished. As her time passed, instead of looking for the obvious advancement opportunity, she looked for and secured a lateral assignment where she could expand and build her skills. This “indirect route” seemed not only counterintuitive, it WAS counter cultural and very unusual. I dug into the situation and realized that she had a number of lateral moves under her belt and a big part of her success was the breadth of her experiences combined with the depth of her capabilities. This “indirect career route” served Irma well, propelling her to significant career growth over time, built on a foundation of a breadth of career experiences… “Irma’s Rule.”


As I mentioned above, this essay is not meant as a primer to “Google Maps,” or any other mapping app. I have mentioned this idea obliquely in earlier essays, “Ode to a Shunpiker,” and “Longlook Gardens.” I am convinced that we need to find ways to take the less direct approach, the “indirect route” personally and professionally; as a way to help us gain perspective on life/business and ultimately to achieve greater results, success and happiness.

A moment in the third person can change your world

Over the years, this idea of how to gain perspective has been a growing priority in my professional life. It was almost twenty years ago that I actually wrote this idea on the white board in a co-workers office, trying to encourage him to slow down, take a moment and reflect on his world from outside of the frenetic day to day, and reassess his action plan going forward. Well to say the least if that advice was appropriate in 1995, it certainly is more so applicable today in 2015!


This idea of finding a way to “step out” of the heat of the moment to gain some perspective is clearly not a new idea. Plutarch, as a priest at the Oracle of Delphi, reminds us that one of the key inscriptions at the temple in Delphi was the Greek phrase translated, “Know Thyself.” The ability to “know thyself” is obviously no simple thing, and finding the ability to step outside of yourself, and your day to day actions and interactions may be harder still. As I reflect on the tempo of our work reality today, fueled and accelerated by technology and devices, this ability to “step back” may be harder than ever. We spend so much time in the hectic first and second person today, the concept of “slowing down” or “reflection” seems completely counter cultural. We are either sending texts, emails, tweets, etc. or responding to those sent to us at all hours of the day, a furious back and forth in the first and second person reality of our lives. While it seems very simple to say, it is very hard to find the time/space/courage to step away from that back and forth and truly reflect on your own situation.


This idea/need was brought to life last month at a presentation that I lead at a health care industry conference. I was leading a discussion on the idea of “The Gravity of Success” (see previous blog essays, “The Gravity of Success” and “The Gravity of Blockbuster”) , and focused on the idea of what made you and your business great in the past can and will be a barrier to future success. During the Q&A session, one person commented very honestly that with everything on his plate, and how busy and challenged he was in his day to day job, he was unsure on where to start. In a bit of a “rainman” response, I blurted out that “a moment in the third person can change your world,” and I encouraged him and the audience to find just a few moments to step back/away from their day to day, in order to reflect on main drivers of their past successes and if/how/when those same drivers could be the barriers to their future success. Now in a Q&A session at a conference it certainly was easy for me to share that advice, but regardless of environment, the course of action remains very true.


Regardless of your role, industry, age or experience, this idea holds very true. Take a moment today, or this week, and find a few minutes to ask yourself a few key questions from a third person perspective:

• What’s important to me?
• How am I spending my time on what’s important?
• Am I making progress on what’s important to me?
• Am I having the impact on others as I want?
• What should I start / stop/ or change in what I am doing today?


While there are certainly more than five questions to ask, this is a pretty good place to start. Find that time, “step back” from the frenetic day to day tempo of your world, and allow yourself the time and candor to ask and answer these five questions as a starting point, and look for ways that your time in the “third person” can start changing your world!

Courage, Optimism, and Love: a response to terror in 2015

It is impossible to live today and not feel surrounded by, and at times directly assaulted by, acts of terror. Last week’s shootings in Paris, alongside the attacks, bombings, and massacres in northeast Nigeria have been another reminder that the global drumbeat of terror marches tragically forward. It knows no limits of continent, nationality or time zone; we are all under attack and all must stand together to reject and denounce this cowardly, pessimistic and hate filled agenda. Just as millions came together last Sunday to link arms and march together in the “Unity March,” so too must we broadly and virtually “link arms” together to stand up to these horrific acts of terror.


As I think about the responses to these acts of terror, there are clearly immediate actions required. What security measures must be improved and in what countries, what communities or locations are uniquely under threat and need enhanced protection, what improvements in global security collaboration and communication should be enacted, etc., etc. These responses are sensible and need to be explored and acted upon promptly. My concern is the growing cries of fear, revenge and retribution, whether directed toward immigrant communities across a variety of countries or towards specific religious groups closer to home. It is in this context that I want to suggest an alternative response to the terror of today, that response centered on the principles of courage, optimism and love.


These three ideas, courage, optimism and love almost seem naïve and out of place in today’s security centered discussion of global terror threats. As a clear and strong rejection to a number of the core principles of the terror groups active today, we must be vocal and active in our support of these three key ideals:

Courage: as a response to the cowardly acts by the terror groups, whether exemplified by a shooting of innocent shoppers in a Parisian supermarket, a masked beheading of an aid worker in the desert, or the use of school girls as suicide bombers in Nigeria, our response to these cowardly acts need to be courageous. Just seeing the linked arms of a number of world leaders who marched together in Paris last Sunday, striding “out in front” of the crowds, boldly proclaiming their unity AND courage, was truly inspiring.

Optimism: whether through the lens of a global citizen, or as a husband and father of two wonderful teenagers, we must be centered on the idea that (quoting from Dr. King’s Nobel prize acceptance speech) we are not just the “Flotsam and Jetsom of history,” and that we can and must reject hatred and fear and the “isness of humanity” and be centered on the actions required to achieve the “oughtness” of our collective future.

Love: finally a very emotionally packed ideal that may seem out of place in this response to terror. In a previous essay on this blog (“the Golden Rule from Dulles Airport”) I comment on the wide variety of cultures, faith traditions and communities that fundamentally espouse the “golden rule.” While translated a bit differently across cultures and languages, simply said it’s “do unto others as you would have them do unto you” or a touch more simply, “love thy neighbor as thyself.” If we can focus on acts of “love,” with a perspective that in our global village we are actually all “neighbors.” The terror groups feed the fire of hatred, why one group/faith/community should be hated and why and how that hatred can be used to legitimize unspeakable acts. We must reject that idea and NOT respond with hatred in kind. It’s my opinion that only through acts of “love to our neighbors” can we break this cycle of hate filled violence.


As we all move into 2015, try to keep these three ideas close at hand. Unfortunately, the year ahead will probably hold more painful and horrific moments, fueled by the terror groups cowardly, pessimistic and hate filled beliefs and actions. We must all strive to reject those ideas/ principles and look for ways to be vocal and active on another lens for our world, one centered on the ideals of “Courage, Optimism, and Love!”

“Nous sommes Charlie”

“Nous sommes Achmed”

“Nous sommes dans le monde”

"Do Justice," a holiday calling from Micah

Over the past few years, I have typically shared a family recipe as part of my holiday blog essay. If you dig around in the December posts over the past five years (it’s hard to imagine that the blog is now more than five years old with over 120 posted essays, more than 30,000 page views, from over 25 countries!) you will find recipes for “Kuni’s Chocolate Cake,” and “MaMa’s Giblet gravy” to name just two. Well this year I will depart from that historic culinary tradition to share some thoughts on the weightier topic of “Justice,” a principal in short supply in our country and our world this holiday season.


Since I was a boy, I have been struck by a single passage from the Old Testament. Micah was a “prophet” who lived in the early part of the 8th century B.C. in a village 20+/- miles outside of Jerusalem. While a very small book of the bible (Micah is considered as one of the 12 “lesser prophets” of the Old Testament) I have continually found my way back to this one specific passage:


Micah 6:8 (NRSV)

He has told you, O mortal, what is good;
and what does the LORD require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God


This combination of “do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your god” has struck a deep cord since I was young. I have seen this passage quoted on the front of Synagogues and Churches, in a wide range of texts and sermons, and while this passage is over 2700 years old, it seems a deeply important and a very current admonition for our society today!


Over the years, I have focused on the specific idea of “walk humbly with your god.” In my experience, the space of faith/religion/belief seems often lacking in this concept of “humility” broadly, and the concept of walking “humbly with your God” is applicable to so many faith traditions across the world. Over the past few weeks and months, while this idea still rings true to me deeply, my attention has turned to an earlier portion of the verse, that being the idea of “do justice.”


Clearly we are all living in a time when “justice” seems to be lacking in every corner. Turn your attention to Ferguson or Staten Island, Hong Kong or Kobani, to NW Pakistan or NE Nigeria, to countries, cities and villages all over our world and it seems unarguable that we are living in a time that lacks of justice broadly. Whether centered on race, economic, religious, sex , sexual orientation, or other sources of injustice, our worldwide community struggles with justice broadly, and seems to be making little or no headway or progress toward a more just tomorrow.

As I reconsidered Micah’s passage this holiday season, the call to “do justice” took on a singular prominence. In a moment of research that would have made my old testament professor (from New College, the divinity school at Edinburgh University where I spent some time during my undergraduate days) smile, I dug around through a variety of translations to understand this specific portion of the verse more deeply. While clearly not exhaustive, I looked into nine English translations of Micah 6:8 with the following results:

“Do Justice:” (NRSV, RSV,ESV,NAS)
“Do Justly:” (KJV,NKJV)
“Act Justly:” (NIV,WEB,CJB)

While the specific words do change slightly, one idea rings true; this call to “justice” is an active one, pushing all of us to “do” or “act” toward “justice!” Once again it is not enough to be satisfied with thoughts, beliefs or good intentions, we must take action!

Like many reading this essay, it often seems that this call to “do justice” is meant for more significant players on the world stage. What should our president or congress do? What is the UN doing? Etc. I am convinced that all of us can and need to take action in our sometimes “small” everyday lives, communities and neighborhoods. Injustice is broad and pervasive and we can only make progress if we all find ways to “do justice” where we live every day. In my neighborhood, just a few miles east of downtown Atlanta, there is tremendous wealth and poverty living side by side. Beside the large, beautiful historic homes are individuals and families living in the streets, the alleys and the bushes. My family and I are involved in a small religious community in our neighborhood where one Sunday a month we make sandwiches for a neighborhood shelter and one Wednesday night a month we gather and share a dinner with ALL in our neighborhood… whether coming from the street or the executive suite, all gather and share a common meal in a warm, safe, welcoming space.

Now will these actions eradicate the economic “injustice” in our neighborhood? Of course not! But rather than throwing our hands in the air, thinking that the problems are too big or maybe someone else’s responsibility, it is clearly the right move for us to take action where we can. Those sandwiches or that Wednesday night meal do make a difference, and while maybe small, they are actions working to make a difference in people’s lives. Injustice is not somewhere else or someone else’s problem. Remember the quote from Dr. King where he reminds us that “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”! As you enter into this holiday season, look for ways in your towns, your neighborhoods, your communities to follow Micah’s call, to look for ways big or small, to “do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God.”

Building Brands, a daily regimen

At the center of my career are brands, brands that matter to consumers and shoppers, and brands that have grown over the decades. I have had the pleasure to work on a number of large, growing, expanding brands that have really stood the test of time, ranging from Kleenex, to Breyers Ice Cream, to Coca-Cola, and to Bolthouse Farms. Brands are precious and valuable, and like children, are also fragile and needing of care. Brands aren’t static, they are never in “pause mode” with the consumer or shopper; they are either gaining or losing relevancy in the lives of their consumer franchise.

Not only have I had a chance to work on and represent some amazing brands, I have also had the chance to work with a number of brands that I have watched crumble over time. In my customer management roles over the years, I worked closely with the executive teams at Blockbuster, Circuit City and Woolworth. All three WERE major brands and strong retailers in their respective spaces, and today not one of them exists in the consumer landscape.

At the center of my philosophy on building brands is the concept originated by A.G. Lafley, Chairman and CEO of P&G, where he described the “First and Second Moments of Truth for a Brand.” Now more than ten years ago, I saw Lafley give a keynote speech at the FMI convention where he introduced this idea that a brand must “First” win at the point of demand, at the retail shelf. The “Shopper” needs to see the brand as a winning option. Once that hurdle is accomplished, the brand must then win a “second” time when it is used or consumed by the consumer.

A 2003 Bloomberg Businessweek article describes it well:

As CEO, Lafley hasn't made grand pronouncements on the future of P&G. Instead, he has spent an inordinate amount of time patiently communicating how he wants P&G to change. In a company famed for requiring employees to describe every new course of action in a one-page memo, Lafley's preferred approach is the slogan. For example, he felt that P&G was letting technology rather than consumer needs dictate new products. Ergo: "The consumer is boss." P&G wasn't working closely enough with retailers, the place where consumers first see the product on the shelf: "The first moment of truth." P&G wasn't concerned enough with the consumer's experience at home: "The second moment of truth."
Lafley uses these phrases constantly, and they are echoed throughout the organization. At the end of a three-day leadership seminar, 30 young marketing managers from around the world present what they have learned to Lafley. First on the list: "We are the voice of the consumer within P&G, and they are the heart of all we do." Lafley, dressed in a suit, sits on a stool in front of the group and beams. "I love the first one," he laughs as the room erupts in applause.

This idea that brands are precious, fragile, and ever changing, and that they are built on these two “moments of truth” is at the center of my beliefs and approach. I deeply believe that while brands matter deeply, brand loyalty is an outmoded and potentially dangerous idea (see previous blog essay) and that a consumer’s “brand preference” and hopefully “brand advocacy” has to be built, rebuilt and re-earned every day, truly a daily regimen!

Brand Loyalty, a dangerous and outmoded marketing principle

Like so many things in business today, the speed and acceleration of change is having an amazing widespread impact. Across the past thirty years of my business career, I have experienced the advent and explosion of technology across a wide number of fronts. It’s hard to imagine that in my first marketing role in 1985, there was one fax machine shared in our BUILDING, one PC that was shared by my DEPARTMENT, no use of cell phones, no concept of a tablet, and no idea of what a “world wide web” might mean to any of us, personally or professionally. Clearly the distant past!! While it seems clear that the dramatic impact of technology has changed many elements of how we get our work done, it is interesting for me to see how these changes have also affected a number of the foundational principles of business and marketing that I was taught in business school. One such example has to do with the concept of “Brand Loyalty,” and the overarching “Brand Adoption Model,” which I was taught as a student over thirty years ago and unfortunately remains in many b-school curriculums today.

This “Brand Adoption Model” was a foundational element in all b-school marketing classes, and typically was depicted as a ladder or across a horizontal spectrum, linear and clear in each distinct step of the process. It usually looked something like this:


Unaided Awareness -> Aided Awareness-> Trial-> Repeat-> Preference-> Loyalty


While I have critiques across the board and at the end of this essay will offer an alternative to the model as a whole, the really dangerous idea of this approach is the concept that “Brand Loyalty” is the destination of this model, the end point of the marketing efforts, and seemingly the unassailable hill of your marketing efforts. Well my experience over the past thirty years and most importantly over the past ten years teaches me that you are never “done” as a marketer, and that the consumer may be loyal today/this moment, but tomorrow is a different story.


The reality of the “promiscuous consumer,” is prevalent across so many categories. We all have more choices for every possible purchase decision, and more information at our fingertips giving us input, ratings, suggestions, discounts, and opinions/reviews for each and every commercial choice. Whether choosing a car, a hotel, a restaurant, a doctor or a seasonal beer for a party, there is a deluge of information and input vying for the consumer’s attention. There should be no surprise that consumers may seem a bit “promiscuous,” so many choices, so little time!!

It is specifically this reality that makes me deeply question the idea of “brand loyalty,” and makes me consider it dangerous and outmoded. No marketer should EVER think about consumers as being “loyal” to their brand. Every day we need to wake with the fear and concern that some other product or brand is out there working hard to capture the interest and imagination of our brand’s consumers, and will not sleep until they divert their attention and purchases to their brand or product. There are so many examples of big brands losing their franchises over the past few decades, just remind yourself of the current status of Blockbuster, Pontiac, Kodak, or Myspace; all at one time leaders in their fields/categories, now all gone (or almost gone) from the landscape of consumer choice. There was certainly no residual “brand loyalty” that insured their success. Quite the opposite, over time consumers explored new choices in those specific categories and found alternative brands/products that better met their needs/wants/desires.

Clearly I think the idea of “Brand Loyalty” is outmoded and dangerous, and correspondingly I think it is time to consider a new “Brand Adoption Model.” Instead of a linear model, I believe that it needs to be circular and dynamic, always working to refresh itself as consumers and marketplaces change and flow over time. And instead of “adoption,” I want to advocate the idea of “Brand Advocacy” as the central defining premise.




Brand Advocacy: whether you want to think that this model begins or ends in this idea, it is vital and central to my thinking. A marketer and a business leader is working to have strong and growing advocates for their brands, and today sharing their pictures (Instagram) or ratings (Yelp) to their personal networks. The most potent way for anyone to consider a new brand / product choice is to have their friends “tell them” about it … otherwise advocate for it!

Brand Relevancy: Once advocated, is the brand relevant in my life and in my set of choices. Recently I had a friend share how much they love a specific SCUBA resort destination in the Caribbean, inclusive of pictures and specific hotel room reccos. While fascinating, I am not interested in SCUBA and thus the advocacy was irrelevant. In the sea of input, ratings and reviews, all consumers process through this “filtering” step.

Brand Action: think of this as “why act now.” Once advocated and relevant, something must trigger some sort of action. This might be an offer for a sample, a discount or a direction of where to find a certain option. Recently I was hosting a friend that not only loves craft beers but looks forward to all of the “Oktoberfest Beers” that hit the market every fall. Well this year I checked reviews on line and while reading a review for Sam Adams Oktoberfest, a pop up ad appeared, highlighting it on special at my local Publix. As a loyal Publix shopper, I was intrigued, and that little spark moved my decision making along.

Brand Purchase: Ultimately all good things need to result into a commercial action. I am a firm believer of A.G. Lafley’s first and second moments of truth for a brand (I will share that idea on a future essay) and that the fist moment of truth for any brand occurs at the point of demand. For many brands/categories that moment is at the retail shelf. Is the brand ready to win at the point of demand, to turn “advocacy, relevance, & action” into a purchase moment? Following up on my Oktoberfest beer example, on my next visit to my local Publix store, I encountered Sam Adams Oktoberfest beer in three environments in that specific store. In the deli, a small display was setup next to an area featuring brats and sauerkraut. In the beer aisle, it was clearly available and nicely merchandised and in stock and cold. Finally, towards the back of the store, there was a nice size display of a family of Sam Adams beers, clearly featuring the Oktoberfest seasonal beer. Three points of brand interaction and a number of clear calls to action at the point of demand, clearly a winning formula for the first moment of truth.

Brand Preference: Well we have come this far, how does the product actually perform to your expectations. Does that brand purchase exceed your expectations, or does it fall below your expectations? How many times have you tried a restaurant with a yelp score of 4+ stars and a sample size of n>= 200, only to be disappointed by the food or the experience? Brands need to win at the point of demand (as highlighted above) AND win at the point of consumption. What was fascinating about my Oktoberfest beer loving friend, he had dismissed Sam Adams as being to mainstream and had never bought it for himself. Once he tried one at my house, he loved it and became a quick advocate!

REPEAT and REPEAT Quickly!!


This model ends as it begins with “Brand Advocacy.” Is your brand experience good enough to make you a fan, a “raving fan,” good enough to make you a "brand advocate??" That is the destination, and hope of every marketer and business leader; that every day, you are creating more “brand advocates” than you did yesterday, more than your known competition, and you always watching the consumers and the marketplace to make your brands/products more relevant every day! This never ending cycle operates at a very high tempo, with technology accelerating the cycle over time. One needs a healthy sense of paranoia as a brand leader today; always scanning the marketplace, working to build your brand's “advocates” one day at a time, every hour and every day!