Sergio Zyman, the former Marketing SVP of Coca Cola tells a salutary tale in his book The End of Marketing as We Know It. Coke had a new, feel-good Christmas ad featuring a kid, Santa and a grizzled old baseball player.

Everybody loved it.

The CEO of the company loved it; his wife loved it; Zyman’s neighbour loved; the security guard at the front desk loved it. It was going to win awards.

After two days, Zyman pulled the ad. It was having no impact on sales.

B2B OR NOT B2B?

I often mention this story when  interviewing Marketing candidates or discussing Marketing strategies with Clients. It’s the kind of decision that true Marketers dream of making – where creativity, strategy, metrics and market performance meet, to directly impact the revenues of the company and ultimately the share price.

After more than 20 years in  the Tech sector, I’ve come across no more than a couple of examples that really make that kind of  link between ‘Marketing’ and business results.

B2B Tech Marketing has lost its way. The reason is part geographic, part the mind of the customer, part structural:

Geography: In The Hands of the Gods

Like it or not, the vast majority of tech companies are either American or Asian. So that’s where the big, strategic decisions are taken. The current buzz about the Apple Tablet – a wonderful piece of market destabilization – is a strategic play driven by California.

And that means that an entire company is dependent on the person at the top ‘getting it’. Steve Jobs certainly gets it: that’s why he’s Fortunes’ CEO of the Decade. When you think of great marketing in Tech, it’s always Apple – from design and user interface, through pricing and channel, to communications and impact.

Lou Gestner at IBM is the other great Tech marketer. Who’d have thought that boring Big Blue would create  the most memorable campaigns to support its strategic play into services? But Gerstner – dismissed by some  as  a  ‘biscuit salesman’ – brought insight from Nabisco  about the importance of communicating during times of great change.

The company is still reaping the benefits of that today, some 7 years after his departure.

The Customer: Just the Facts, Ma’am

B2B customers tend to be better informed than individual consumers. They are specialists in their niches, with a clear grasp of their subject, and the requirement to justify their decisions to their superiors, so facts are imperative. They rarely buy on impulse.

Account managers may have a vital role to play – and even in the ruthlessly logical world of the corporation, relationships do matter – but the imperative is to provide facts to help support a decision, and that’s the role of the Product Manager.

There’s also the issue of credibility. Tech has a sorry history of over-promising and under-delivering, to the point where the trust agreement may have been damaged beyond repair. Vendors want to be cautious because they think that equals credibility.

Structure: Make It and Sell It

In the Tech sector, Philip Kotler’s classical 4P Marketing bundle has divided into two main camps: Product and Place.

All that goes with Product – product management, product development, product marketing – tends to sit in a separate function, reporting along its own line. This is especially true in the software sector, where – in the apocryphal words of Larry Ellison of Oracle- if you not selling it or not making it, what are you doing in my company?

For ‘Place’ read ‘Channel’ which is usually run by the sales function. Channel isn’t a marketing decision; it’s all about sales execution. And no amount of dressing up of the Channel Marketing function can hide the fact that it gets driven as a tactical sales support role, providing sweeteners to distributors, VARS or retailers to shift more units.

(Interestingly, Kotler’s own website has a section on Tech Industries, in which two out of three service offerings are specifically related to the sales function).

MARKETING LITE?

So that leaves Promotion, or, as it’s now known in most Tech circles, Marketing.

Marketing in Tech B2B is about messaging and communicating. It’s about putting tech people on platforms, and about getting column inches in the trade press or tweets in the mediasphere. It is about enabling conversation.

It could be – should be – energising and challenging and setting the agenda. Not just for technical debate, but social, economic, artistic and educational issues. Indeed, there aren’t many aspects of public and private life that technology doesn’t touch.

So why is so much of B2B Tech Marketing so underwhelming?

Because B2B Tech companies are risk averse. Hence, every marketing program from every Tech company is exactly the same. There may be nuances of audience or twists on the Channel programme theme. But at heart, all B2B Tech marketing is a copy of all other Tech marketing. Because it is what is known.

But when everyone is reasonably competent, the playing field is very level, and the view across to the horizon is very bland.

No one puts their head above the parapet, and no one takes a risk.

The role will always be needed – someone has to run the PR agency and create the lead generation programs – but this isn’t big, brave Marketing with big, brave ideas.

LONG LIVE TECH MARKETING

So is this the end of the road for Tech Marketers – to be consigned to a backroom, writing press releases and sending out invitations to seminars?

Only if Marketers let that happen.

The truth is that Marketing has an infinite opportunity to take the reigns and change the game. Because they sit at the heart of a central paradox: the people who run Tech companies don’t understand the beast they have unleashed.

Many senior Tech execs don’t really understand the Web.

Sure, the company has a website, maybe some e-commerce, perhaps the CEO even has a personal LinkedIn account (although not a fair number of  the SVPs and CEOs I know). But many still seem to regard it as just a Comms channel -  a cheap way of issuing press releases and cutting down on sales collaterals.

So if you’re a Marketing professional in the Tech sector (or anywhere else for that matter), your opportunity is to fill that knowledge gap. We have only scraped the surface of how the websphere impacts our relationship with customers, partners and influencers. What it means to your company and its business model.

Dive deep and drink long. Now is the time for Marketing to reclaim its seat around the table.

Christmas: the time of year when people who don’t like music buy music, and people who don’t read books buy books.

If you’re a music buff (I mean the sort of person who has Alberto Y Lost Trios Paranoyos on vinyl, or who thinks the Rolling Stones blew their credibility with the 1966 ‘Aftermath’ album) then you’ll watch the TV ads promoting the new Boyzone covers of Westlife (or vice versa) and weep into your cushions.

Well, here’s the truth. They’re not aimed at you.  The target is people who buy records twice a year – usually for Christmas and Mother’s Day.

Similarly with books: Despite the mind-boggling statistic that the UK publishing industry produces 4,000 new titles a week , book buying is a minority activity.

According to Nielsen Bookscan, 20% of all book sales happen in the run up to Christmas. While the literati may be out in giddy force looking for the new Herta Muller or Elizabeth Strout, the majority of sales that happen in the next six weeks will be to people who usually go into a bookshop for a coffee and to shelter from the rain.

THE LAST HURRAH?

Added to this, the book trade is going through the same radical shift that the music business has experienced over the past ten years. The arrival of Amazon changed the game (much as I try to support independents, for at least five years the majority of my book buying has been online), as did the entry of the supermarkets. So trying to complete with that shift in models has become increasingly difficult.

But, to misquote Bachman Turner Overdrive,  they ain’t seen nothing yet: the Amazon Kindle and Sony e-reader – plus other lesser-known platforms – are about to change the whole paradigm of the industry, in the same way as the MP3.

So the booksellers are having to work doubly hard to wring the most from their peripatetic customers at this time of year – because it might be their last oturn on the swings.

Deep discounting is common, best known as the 3-for-2 offer which has almost become the standard now in the sector (in the same way that furniture stores have an annual sale. Not once a year: ALL year.)

So hats off to my local Waterstone’s branch for this moment of genuine merchandising insight:

Not sure what to buy your husband / son / uncle / nephew / brother this year? But know that he likes watching all those BBC re-runs on that blokey channel.

Well, Waterstones have made it a straightforward purchase. Here, in one place,  are all the celebrity brands and TV tie-ins that you might have heard of, and you feel pretty sure that he’ll enjoy.

Don’t scoff; it may not be the high culture or specialist niche that interests you – but it is a triumph of customer understanding and sales promotion. Helping a customer base that isn’t quite sure about the market, doesn’t quite know what’s acceptable now to buy for a 17 year-old grandson (“they grow up so fast don’t they?”) but who recognise that nice young man off the telly.

It’s a superb example of Sales 101: Selling is making buying easy.

In August 1997,  Fast Company magazine ran a landmark article by Tom Peters. In his usual breath-of-fresh-air style, he encouraged readers to think not like a ‘worker’ or ‘manager’ or ‘employee’ – but as a microbusiness engaged in interesting projects. His big idea was that the continuing flow of customers for that business-of-one (You, Inc) would be dependent on its brand.

Peters extended that notion by stressing the importance of taking initiative, participating in interesting projects, life-long learning, networking through association, personal growth, added value through going the extra-mile and the delivery of results.

In short, he talked about how businesses function and grow – and the lessons that an individual could learn from that.

It was a rallying call for knowledge workers at the edge of an economic abyss to make themselves more employable in an increasingly fluid job market.

And it opened a Pandora’s box of flim-flammery and snake-oil promising the easy way to a ‘personal brand’. Most of which is twaddle.

THE COLOUR OF MONEY

I’ve just been reading an article in a recruitment magazine from the senior consultant of a personal branding consultancy. Aside from a series of platitudes about brands adding-value and how “popular iconic figures tackle the secrets of human nature” (including Martin Seligman and Robert E Thayer – yes, those popular iconic figures) her schtick is about dressing for success.

Successful people (quote) “adapt beauty and fashion trends, and manage their body language to enhance their physique. They also develop a unique positioning strategy to enhance their career prospects by harnessing the power of colour, clothes, body language and posture. In short, they develop a unique personal brand.”

To put it another way: “Haircut your way to promotion.” Or “Power handbags –  the secret to breaking the glass ceiling.”

Basing a personal brand strategy on what colour jacket you wear is like basing a nation’s economic policy on the colours in its flag.

(For the record, I accept that some people need advice of how to dress – including me, before anyone else leaps in with that suggestion. A well-cut suit can make all of us feel like a million dollars, but that is to branding as the front elevation is to a building; it creates a first impression, but it does not make an entire house.)

ARE YOU EXPERIENCED?

Branding is NOT about colour. Branding is NOT about look. Branding is about EXPERIENCE. In the same way that a product brand (the logo) is a visual mnemonic – a shorthand for a myriad of other factors – so a personal brand is another way of saying reputation, which is based upon events, not earrings.

A brand is a complex, multi-dimensional construct that exists nowhere other than in the minds of your customers. Consider the following, and what they mean to you:

- Innocent – iPhone - Amazon – Prius – Luis Vuitton – Caterpillar – Duracell – The Rolling Stones

See? I haven’t shown you a logo, a colour swatch, a brochure or even a product, and you already have an opinion. Values, associations, impressions, memories, understandings, data, stories; they may have been formed through direct consumer experience or come second-hand through the intermediation of the press, the internet or other third party recommendation.

Very little – if anything – is to do with look and feel.

The anglepoise lamp in the Pixar logo has some connotations of its own; if you saw the studio’s first-ever short, it brings a smile to mind. But the values of that business, and the ‘meaning’ of that brand aren’t on display here – but your experience of Buzz and Woody and Mike and Scully and Edna and Wall*E bring deep and rich feelings to the name.

AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH

Design has a place, but it is not a replacement for  content – which in the case of a personal brand, is the experience created by you delivering results. As Peters said in his original article:

Ask yourself: What do I do that adds remarkable, measurable, distinguished, distinctive value? Forget your job description. Ask yourself: What do I do that I am most proud of? Most of all, forget about the standard rungs of progression you’ve climbed in your career up to now. Burn that damnable “ladder” and ask yourself: What have I accomplished that I can unabashedly brag about?

There’s a deep truth expressed and implied in every word of this paragraph: that the building of brand is based on work. Old-fashioned, time-consuming, sweat-breaking work.

It can be augmented by customer/colleague recommendation. It can be promoted through comment and the sharing of insight. It can even be leveraged through association with other brands.

But it cannot be created by a new wardrobe.

CLOTHES MAKETH THE WO/MAN?

Peters made it clear that the development of your brand should be a conscious, planned, considered activity. And there is plenty of scope for advice and consultancy here – how you network with third parties and influencers, how you express your core proposition and values, how you attract new business opportunities. All of this needs work, care and attention. (I have sat with many senior people who have achieved extraordinary results in their careers, but who just can’t see the wood for the trees).

And, of course, the current minefield : using social media and the internet  to ‘spread the word’.

The reason is straightforward – the internet never forgets. Every comment you make, every photo you post will be out there, forever, waiting to be found. That can affect the perception of you in the same way that an indiscretion at the Christmas party can hang a big question mark over you for a long time to come.

None of this is a  simple process. Your brand (reputation) is a complex thing, influenced by many factors, including the people you work with, the projects you work on, the results you deliver, the company you keep and the recommendations you attract.

Changing your wardrobe might make you feel better, but as with all ‘outside-in’ activities, it’s a short-term fix. Your brand – your reputation – is a long-term project.

Think deeply. Act wisely. Manage it with care.

The size of a chequebook, it’s full of pictures of things I can insure (a ‘fridge, a car, a pet) with my name on each: ‘Paul’ integrated into the photos as if it were actually on the item. It’s a very clever piece of digital printing.

And on the first page, they thank me for choosing them again, and as a token of appreciation here’s this ‘handy booklet in which you’ll find our gift to you’:

“Discounts across their range of products”.

That’s not a gift; that’s an offer. Putting aside the legal difference , what really irritates about this hand-tooled, finely-wrought piece of marketing nonsense is the blatant abuse of meaning.

When I give a gift (see; use of the word give is a clue), it doesn’t come with conditions. I don’t expect the recipient to have to give me something back so that they can realise the value.

“Happy Christmas, son. Here are some batteries. Given me £150 and I’ll let you have the remote control car to go with them.”

That’s a deal, an exchange, a contract, a bargain, a sale. It’s not a gift.

Interesting to note that there is some precise language on that first page: ‘we’re giving you this handy booklet in which you’ll find our gift to you’ (my italics). So, the company is clear that the  booklet isn’t the gift. There is nothing tangible here. Indeed, the only way of realizing the ‘gift’ is to make another purchase.

Which means that not only is this a jaw-tensing abuse of  language, it’s also a lie. They are not making me a gift at all. They’re making a promise of a gift if I make another transaction.

With wobbling bottom lip he recounts: “My present was under the tree. I was so excited, I tore off the paper, and found that the box was empty, save for an IOU.”

Thank you, Direct Line.

CAUSE FOR CELEBRATION

While we’re here, at the first virtual meeting of “Pedants’ Anonymous”, have you noticed how the word celebrate has changed its meaning?

You probably grew up thinking that celebrate meant to mark an achievement or a milestone of some sort; a marriage, a coming-of-age, exam results, a sporting success.

Not any longer. Now we’re being offered the chance to celebrate the release of a DVD.

Celebrate now means plug.

But again, take a moment to unpack the sentence in which it appears on your local radio station: “We’re giving you the chance to celebrate the release of ‘Now That’s What I Call High School Musical 58′ with our fun competition / ‘phone-in / organ donation scheme / whatever.”

Oh THANKS. You’re giving me the opportunity to mark the fact that I can now buy something from you. Truly, I am blessed.

Look – I know that I sound like a grumpy old man on this. That’s because I am. And I am, because it matters.

Language defines us. Along with opposable thumb, it puts space between us and pondlife. As a friend recently posted on his Facebook wall: “We do not describe the world we see; we see the world we describe”.

Language is the toolkit with which we make the world. The greater our vocabulary, the greater the granularity with which we can see and understand. The meaning of words matters because they give common currency with which to share understanding.

And if we let words like gift and celebrate get hijacked and subliminally redefined without even noting that it’s happening, we’ll be much the poorer for it.

Listening to Mark Kermode‘s round-up of ‘Films of the 2008′ the most damning thing he said about the latest Bond, Quantum of Solace, was that the blatant product placement didn’t interrupt the narrative of the movie.

Because there is no narrative.

With the major film studios now spending over $100m just to promote a movie, all financial contributions are being gratefully received. Similarly, as advertisers find it increasingly difficult to be heard about the din of the marketplace, communicating with a captive audience is an opportunity too good to miss.

Expect to see a lot more blatant product placement in the near future, as the boundaries between the studios, media owners, technology providers and distribution networks become increasingly blurred.

The shift to digital also creates new possibilities. I predict that soon, brand managers and corporate sponsors will be able to insert their product or message into the studios’ back catalogues. Indeed, I am setting up a new agency to advise in this area. Here are my initial thoughts on possible ‘value enhancing synergies’.

Apple – All About Eve

Guinness – Black Narcissus

Ann Summers – Brief Encounter

Parcelforce – Deliverance

Fairy Liquid – Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Dyson – Gone with the Wind

Kleenex – Home Alone

Strepsils – Little Voice

Skype – Look Who’s Talking

Audi – Lord of the Rings

Dulux – Magnolia

Tarmac – Paths of Glory

Harrods – The Prince of Egypt

Ronseal – Rabbit Proof Fence

Velcro – Hook

London Stock Exchange – Raging Bull

Chelsea Football Club – Roman Holiday

Rolls Royce – Silent Running

Michelin – Star Wars

Google – The China Syndrome

Greggs – The Fabulous Baker Boys

Eurostar – The French Connection

Microsoft – The Great Dictator

Rotring – The Thin Blue Line

News International – The Wizard of Oz

All further ideas and suggestions are most welcome…