It didn’t take long to get through the wildcard round at the Bend Venture Conference on Friday. Each presenter had exactly 60 seconds to win a chance to do a 10-minute presentation later in the day. The ultimate prize: $110,000 cash.

Nothing tests an entrepreneur like a one-minute limit, and conference co-founder Karen Fast was right there, enforcing the 60-second rule with her wind-up kitchen timer. Low tech, but highly effective.

It was fun to watch, especially from a marketing communications standpoint. Presenters had to hone their elevator pitches to a short little spiel, and they had no PowerPoint to use as a crutch. Clearly, some were out of their element. A couple blew it completely. And everyone was seriously challenged.

So here are a few tips for next year’s wildcard presenters, or for anyone who’s trying to convey a big idea in a really small amount of time.

• It’s not what you say that makes a difference, it’s what choose NOT to say. The objective of the one-minute pitch isn’t to close the sale, it’s to open your audience up and leave them wanting more. Don’t educate them, just tease them.

• Don’t try to condense your 20-minute slide deck into one minute. About half of the wildcard presenters did this… they just cherry-picked what they thought were the most important bullet points from their 10-minute PowerPoint presentations. But a one-minute elevator pitch is a completely different animal. You need a script that’s conceived, written and honed down specifically for the purpose or dramatizing your big idea.

• Tell your story, starting with the problem and solution. It shouldn’t be that hard… In radio, 60-seconds is enough time to establish a plot, develop memorable characters and introduce a touch of humor. You should be able to convey the gist of your idea in one or two sentences — less than half the time allowed.

• Don’t start with numbers. It doesn’t matter that your market is 39 zillion dollars, launching into your pitch with a big number will not differentiate you from all the other presenters. Besides, the stats just won’t resonate with 99% of the people in the audience. It’s actually more powerful to show how your product will solve one person’s problem. You can address the market size later, if you make it to the next round.

• Get the right guy up on stage. A tightly edited script is crucial, but you also need a good, credible pitchman. The best presenters engage the audience with some charisma and deliver the message with passion and clarity. They have just the right balance of bravado and business sense, so they don’t come off sounding like a used car salesman, on one hand, or an engineering geek on the other. It’s not always the CEO or the person with the most experience. One of the presenters on Friday had a good script, but his demeanor was just too laid back to get people’s attention. Another, who had an impressive track record of start-ups, bumbled it completely.

• Forget about introducing yourself. You don’t have time to be cordial. In his book, The Art Of The Start, Guy Kawasaki puts it this way: “ Unfortunately, entrepreneurs still believe a pitch is a narrative with an opening chapter that must always be autobiographical.” Don’t talk about yourself or the management team. That can come later. Instead, get to the gist of your idea right away.

• Remember, the voting audience is judging the presentation as well as the idea. If your business idea has a major WOW factor you won’t need the most polished 60-second spiel because the idea will carry you. But you still need to verbalize the idea in a compelling way. For instance, there was a company at the Bend Venture Conference that has potential to cure Malaria. Imagine that! Unfortunately, the presenter completely missed it. They may have had the best business idea, but they got beat out on style points.

• Step out of the businessman mode for a minute, and think like an advertising guy. How would you dramatize your idea in a 30-second spot?

• Don’t underestimate the power of a good, old-fashioned product demonstration. Guess who won the wildcard round… The one guy who could demonstrate his product right then and there. He showed the audience what his product does, and didn’t waste one second explaining how it does it. Now that’s the right idea!

By John Furgurson

Marketing is a very judgmental business.

Marketing directors are constantly judging the results of their efforts. Sometimes objectively, sometimes not.

Ad agencies and design firms judge each other in a constant battle of “my work’s cooler than your work.” They also subject themselves to judging in award shows, where a few peers get to judge the work of hundreds of competitors on an entirely subjective basis.

When it comes to television advertising, everyone’s a critic. TV viewers sit around and judge the advertising they see, based on entertainment value alone. If it’s entertaining enough, they might talk about it over the water cooler. If not, they vote with the remote.

But playing armchair critic is less harmful than being judgmental.

Critical thinking is tremendously important in marketing. If we didn’t look at things critically, we’d never push ourselves to come up with fresh, new ideas. My team gets a lot of constructive criticism. But there’s no such thing as constructively judgmental.

You can be critical of someone’s ideas without judging the person. For example, “That’s the worst commercial he’s ever done,” is being critical. “That director’s an idiot for making that commercial” is being judgmental. Judgmental of who he is, versus critical of what he does.

Being judgmental has negative, disapproving connotations. It’s based on intolerance, stereotypes and prejudice. When people jump to conclusions about a political candidate, they’re usually being judgmental.

I’ve seen a lot of sensible, savvy business owners and high-level managers make hair-brained decisions because they were too judgmental.

One client I know believes that all advertising people are evil shysters, preying on well-meaning business owners. Once burned, he lets his past experience cloud his judgment to the point of being obstinately ineffective. His poor judgment in that one area puts his leadership in question and hurts the morale of his entire team.

Good judgment, on the other hand, is the ability to form sound opinions and make sensible decisions. Great leaders and effective managers continually demonstrate good judgment. They’re open minded, they listen well, and they make good decisions based on balanced insight, rather than conjecture or some ill-conceived notion of what’s worked in the past.

Many people who strive to be less judgemental in their personal lives still fall into the trap in their professional lives. It creeps into their hiring choices, their strategic planning, and their marketing plans.

Here’s a classic example that I’ve heard more than once: “Oh, I tried radio, and it doesn’t work.” That particular business owner condemned an entire medium based on one lame attempt… he had a crummy story to tell, a poorly-written script, and a schedule that was thinner than a supermodel on a new year’s resolution. Of course it didn’t work.

I’ve even run into CEOs who are completely biased when it comes to color. They won’t approve any work that involves IBM blue, blue-green, aqua, teal or any other form of that color. How rational is that?

Personal preferences and stereotypes creep into this business constantly. And stereotypes, based on judgmental conclusions at best, are not a helpful component of your marketing program. In fact, poor judgment based on stereotypes or close-mindedness can ruin a small business.

At my firm we go to great lengths to get beyond the usual stereotypical demographic profile of the target audience. One sentence cannot possibly sum up the feelings, attitudes and behaviors of a group! On the creative side, we always try to develop intriguing stories with quirky, unexpected characters. (In Hollywood writing circles it’s common knowledge that most memorable heroes and villains are those that defy traditional stereotypes.)

Here are three stereotypes from the advertising business that I’m familiar with… Copywriters aren’t analytical enough for strategy work. Art directors don’t know a thing about business. And advertising account planners can’t possibly contribute on the creative side.

Nonsense. Ad agencies perpetuate the stereotype by segregating their creative teams from the rest of the staff, but great ideas can come from anywhere. And creative teams pick up a lot of business acumen by listening carefully and working with clients in a wide variety of business categories.

Being judgmental is so common it’s listed as a personality type on Meyer’s Briggs Type Indicator tests. It’s also ingrained in American culture. Here’s a recent example from the Olympic track and field competition in Bejing: After Jeremy Wariner won the silver medal in the 400, the first words out of his mouth were: “he’s the better person.”

No he isn’t. He just ran a little faster in one race.

Unfortunately, we judge the quality of the person according to his or her performance. Ironically, we even judge ourselves for being too judgmental.

Blogs are inherently judgmental. The whole idea of an on-line journal lends itself to judgmental rants on just about any subject imaginable. I addressed the soapbox syndrome in my very first post, and I’m working hard to make sure this blog doesn’t digress into a petty critique of the latest marketing blunder.

I urge you to do the same.

Don’t let preconceived notions and stereotypes cloud your judgment when it comes to marketing programs.

Don’t rush to judge someone based on their performance on one day, in one meeting, or on one project.

Make sure you’ve done your homework — your research — before you dive into something.

And most of all, be open minded to new ideas. Throw away the rear-view mirror!

In the 1970’s Al Ries and Jack Trout popularized the concept of positioning. Since then, they’ve written dozens of books between them and have made a fortune on the speaking circuit.

Still, you could have a roomful of MBA’s and no two would agree on what positioning really means. Many people can’t even decide if the word is an active verb or a proper noun.

Most people think of positioning as a simple step ladder. The cheapest, lowest-end products are “positioned” at the bottom of the ladder, and the best, most expensive products are on the top shelf, if you will.

But positioning has little to do with real price or quality. Instead, it’s all about perception.

The whole concept of positioning is based on the simple fact that we form opinions about products and companies based on our own perception. These opinions are influenced by all sorts of things… word of mouth, personal experience, individual prejudices, blogs, the marketing efforts of the brand in question and a hundred other factors.

In our own minds we make some pretty broad — and often rash — assumptions about things. Call it consumer bigotry if you want to. The fact is, we pigeon hole companies and products the same way we pigeon hole political candidates.

As marketers, our goal is to tap into these existing perceptions and use them to our advantage.

Here’s a classic example. Back in1968, before the term positioning was ever invented, the makers of 7-Up scored a huge coup in the soft drink market.

Taste tests and other forms of consumer research revealed that people saw 7-Up as a refreshing alternative to colas. Respondents said it flat out… “it’s a nice change from all the cola I’ve been drinking.”

So the 7-Up executives decided to market the drink as the alternative to cola. It was a no-brainer, really. They simply took the existing perception in the marketplace and turned it into their strategy.

From a positioning standpoint this strategy worked remarkably well for several reasons. First, it didn’t attempt to change anyone’s perception. It simply leveraged the existing public opinion.

Secondly, it effectively repositioned the competition. Without slamming them, 7-Up lumped Coke, Pepsi and RC all together in a single boring category of colas.

Finally, the new strategy made 7Up relevant to the young people who account for a large portion of soft drink sales. The campaign tapped into the prevalent anti-establishment mind set of the late 60’s. It actively encouraged defiance against the cola establishment and portrayed 7-Up as a symbol of dissent. The entire campaign summarized the popular values of the public and catapulted 7-Up into the position as the third leading soft drink in America.

Like all good positioning strategies, 7Up’s was simple and almost painfully obvious. Once the executives at 7-Up knew what consumers were thinking, there was no other way to go.

The creative execution of the strategy, however, was not so obvious. J. Walter Thompson’s simple two-word slogan “The UnCola” said it all. Brilliant! The campaign gave the product a personality, cemented the idea in our collective consciousness, and assured 7Up a place in advertising history.

While it is possible to build a positioning strategy around images alone, it’s usually a few simple words like “The Uncola” that solidify things in the consumer’s mind. Because you don’t “position” a product, you communicate its position.

“Just Do It” communicates Nike’s position as the shoe for serious sports. “Pizza Pizza” is a fun way to communicate Little Ceasar’s low-price strategy. “Avis, we try harder” communicated the benefit of being number two in the rental car business.

On the other hand, many automobile companies have struggled to find the words that capture the public perception of their brands. Oldsmobile, the now defunct GM brand, is a good example.

In its last 14 years, Oldsmobile floated no fewer than ten different slogans. Here’s a few of the real gems: “Olds Quality. Feel it.” “This is not your father’s olds.” “Demand Better.” “Look what happens when you demand better.” “Defy Convention.” “It knows the road.”

Ironically, the slogan that’s most memorable is the only one that even hints at the reality of Oldsmobile’s perception with American car buyers. “This is not your father’s Olds” used the old, fuddy-duddy perception of Oldsmobile and spun it in a positive way. Maybe if they’d have stuck with it for more than a year, the brand would still be alive today.

You wonder what kind of research Cadillac executives did that led them to believe they could compete with Honda and Toyota in the small car market. The Cimmeron failed miserably back in the 80’s. Then they’re tried again in the 90’s with Caterra, “The Caddi that zigs.” Now they’re trying to compete against BMW, Audi and Mercedez, with little success.

This is a classic case of force-feeding a product into a position in the market. But Cadillac as a sporty car just does not compute with the American public. It goes against everything Cadillac has ever stood for. The world’s biggest, most luxurious SUV is one thing, but we’ll never buy the concept of a small, sporty Cadillac.

On the same vein, Porsche is way off track trying to compete in the SUV market. The Porsche of SUV’s has a nice ring to it, but it will never really resonate with the public that sees Porsche as a rich-man’s sports car. What’s next, Chateaubriand at McDonald’s?

There’s an important distinction to be made here between niche marketing and positioning. Cadillac can decide to focus on the luxury sports car niche and can build a car specifically for that purpose. But that does not mean the product will ever be perceived that way in the minds of the consumer. The problem is, Audi and BMW already occupy that space in the consumer’s mind.

Here’s another trap that many companies fall into: They mistake their mission statement for a positioning strategy.

Fortune-500 companies miss the boat all the time on this. There’s a giant health care provider that recently formed an internal committee to study the “position” of the company and draft a “positioning statement.” What they came up with was a mission statement at best.

But your mission — your statement of purpose — may have nothing to do with your position in the market place. And vice versa.

A mission statement is concocted by a committee and exists in corporate brochures, annual reports, and press releases. A positioning statement is formed in the consumer’s mind. A mission statement is the rose-colored view of your company. A positioning statement is the gritty, 16mm view.

No doubt, the semantics of positioning can get confusing. But if you want to hedge your bets, think of it this way:

Postioning is not something you do, it’s something that happens. You can choose a narrow market niche, devise a new pricing strategy and launch a giant ad campaign that, together, may affect people’s perception of you. But you can’t technically “position” anything.

How stock photos can hurt your brand image.

How many times have you heard this cliché on a local radio ad… “our friendly, courteous staff is here to help with all your _______ needs, blah, blah, blah.” Chances are, you changed the channel before they could finish the sentence.

Crummy stock photos have the same effect on people. How many times have you seen this image on a corporate website?

It’s the classic, customer service visual cliché, and it’s just as bad for business as the blather you hear on weekend radio commercials.

Unfortunately, images like this are a dime a dozen in Powerpoint presentations, company websites, corporate brochures and annual reports. iStock Photo alone now has over 3 million images to choose from, and they only cost a few bucks apiece.

At my firm, our art directors work really hard to avoid the milk-toast visuals that are so prominent on low-cost stock photo sites. Unfortunately, clients often question the custom photography line item in our proposed budgets.

They think the perfect photo’s just waiting to be downloaded for 99 cents.

“Stock photos don’t tell a story. That’s what makes them so universally appealing,” says Senior Art Director, Eric Haag. “For those photographers, it’s just a volume game… they want their images to sell a hundred times over, so they make ‘em as generic as possible. In that case, a picture’s definitely not worth a thousand words.”

The question is, do you really want to hang your hat on a photo that’s already being used by hundreds of other companies, including your competitors? Or do you want a compelling image that will help differentiate you from everyone else?

Mike Houska, commercial photographer and owner of Dogleg Studios, says easy access to so many images is both a blessing and a curse… he’s selling more stock photos (rights-managed) but the assignment work is harder to come by.

“The royalty free stock images are so cheap and easy to get, it’s pretty much eliminated all the low-end and middle budget work,” Houska said.

“Back in the day, buyers had to comb through a bunch of giant stock catalogs, then call the stock company to do a search that may or may not turn up something. It was a hit and miss proposition at best, and the shots weren’t cheap. Now, in a matter of seconds you can have a hundred images that fit your criteria. They’re not great, but they’re close, and that seems to be enough for a lot of people.”

Let me pose this… does “close enough” fit with your corporate culture or your personal approach to business? What would happen if the engineering department just said, “oh well, that’s close enough”? Does that sort of mediocrity apply to other areas of your business, and if it does, how’s that working out for you?

The fact is, your brand image should be just as important to you as the quality of your product.

The last couple weeks I’ve been involved in an on-going photoshoot for a client of ours. It’s a country club — a cliché just waiting to happen. There are thousands of good stock images we could use:  The guy on the tee, holding his best Tiger Woods follow-though. Smiling, happy couples clinking their wine glasses together. The dad and his son, bonding while walking down a lonesome fairway.

Yawn.

There’s nothing compelling or unique about any of ‘em. Nothing that will lead the viewer into the shot or tell the unique story of this particular club. They’re the type of stock photos that won’t offend, but they won’t impress either.

So we’re not using any of ‘em. We’re setting up every shot with painstaking attention to all the details that make custom photography worth every penny.

I believe that successful brands are built on three things: credibility, relevance and differentiation. Stock photos can hurt you in all three areas… If you’re trying to convey a message of quality, your credibility goes right out the window with a cheap stock shot. If the shot’s used by anyone else, differentiation is out of the question. And there’s nothing relevant about an image that’s designed to appeal to a mass market of consumers age 25 to 54.

So the next time you’re thinking of throwing another stock photo into a presentation or report, stop for a minute and ask yourself this: Will this image add anything to the story I’m trying to tell here? Does it convey a specific idea, or is it just a vague reminder of a general concept?

Is it just another visual cliché, like the good-looking customer service rep with the headset?

If it is, dump it! Either spend a lot more time refining your search, or hire someone to get the right shot for the job to begin with. Your brand will be better for it in the long run.

I’d like to hear about the worst clichés you’ve ever seen in marketing. Visual or otherwise. Post a comment, or e-mail me personally: johnf@bnbranding.com

Notice anything different at your local Starbucks lately? I sure have. The familiar green and white logo on the cups is missing. It’s a travesty to brand-conscious graphic designers everywhere.

At first glance I thought maybe it was just a corporate cost-cutting measure — the result of tremendous Wall Street pressure to improve performance. But once I looked a little closer, I noticed something even more revealing:

Starbuck has bared her breasts! The mermaid that’s been the Starbucks icon from day one, has gone back to her topless, hippy roots.

There are a lot of other changes going on at Starbucks in Seattle — you might even call it a corporate shake-up — but none are as symbolic as the undressing of the logo. I take it as a sure sign that CEO Howard Schultz is serious about stripping away some of the fat and refocusing on the core of the Starbucks brand .

That little nod to the humble heritage of his company says a lot. The green logo has just two words: “Starbucks Coffee.” The retro logo reads “Starbucks Fresh Roasted Coffee.” It’s a reminder to the world that Starbucks has always been obsessively focused on the quality of it’s product.

In his book, Pour Your Heart Into It, Schultz says, “The number one factor in creating a great, enduring brand is having an appealing product. There’s no substitute.”

I know a few coffee snobs who claim that Starbucks isn’t as good as the local guy’s Ethiopian Tega & Tula. And they may be right. But I also know that Starbucks beats the hell out of the mom & pop drive-up operations that have appeared on every corner.

At Starbucks, the product is consistent. The coffee is just as good as ever, but the company has made some operational decisions that have had a subtle effect on our perception of that quality. Shultz seems determined to correct that, and if his track record over the years is any indication, he’ll pull it off.

Ever since I read his book back in ‘99 I’ve used Schultz and his organization as a great example of focused leadership, exceptional execution and textbook branding. He has always been the brand champion in that organization. He was one who introduced the idea of gourmet coffee to a nation of Folgers drinkers, and he has always fought to maintain quality standards even during their hyper-rapid growth.

Shultz is adamant about controlling the brand experience as much as possible, down to the last detail. That’s why the company never sold franchises. At first, Shultz didn’t even want to sell coffee in paper cups at all, lest it detract from the experience and affect the flavor.

So these new “transformational initiatives” of his are no big surprise.

First thing is to recapture that appealing coffee aroma in every store. Believe it or not, that smell of fresh roasted coffee is every bit as important to the brand as the look of the stores or the music they play. It works on a subtle, subconscious level, but the bottom line is, you won’t hang out and enjoy your double half-caf mocha if the place doesn’t smell good. So Starbucks is going back to manual espresso machines and killing the sale of breakfast sandwiches.

The Starbucks business model is based on the idea of the third place… that we all need a relaxing getaway that’s not home and not work. To me, it’s more of a romantic, Vienna coffeehouse experience than a quick, Italian espresso shot. So the roll-out of free wi-fi service is long overdue. Paying for an internet connection at Starbucks was just idiotic to me.

The third and final cornerstone of the Starbucks brand is its own people.

“We built the Starbucks brand first with our people, not with consumers — the opposite approach from that of the cereal companies,” Shultz said. “Our competitive advantage over the big coffee brands turned out to be our people.”

Starbucks doesn’t just talk about treating people well, the company really does. In the retail food service industry, where getting good help is always a challenge, Starbucks leads the way with its pay scale, benefits packages, training programs and retention rates.

“We believed the best way to meet and exceed the expectations of customers was to hire and train great people. That’s the secret of the power of the Starbucks brand: the personal attachment our partners feel and the connection they make with our customers.”

The company also listens to its front-line employees. The idea for Frappuccino came from the store level. The new website, mystarbucksidea.com, started out as an internal feedback tool for employees. Now anyone can go online and post their own ideas for Starbucks, vote for the best, and see what’s being implemented.

Which brings us back to that idea of reintroducing the old logo, circa 1971.

The change coincides with the introduction of a new house blend, called Pike Street Roast, for people who just want a good, robust cup-o-joe. In that context, and with everything else that’s happening at Starbucks, the branding throwback makes perfect sense.

The mark was originally inspired by a woodcut image of a Norwegian mermaid, fully exposed. Over the years, as Starbucks grew and became “more corporate,” the logo slowly morphed. Eventually the designers gave her long hair, which covered her breasts and made her more palatable to a broad commercial audience.

Now Shultz wants to go back in time. Back to when the company wasn’t really worried about offending anyone on Wall Street. Maybe this little flash of skin is just what the company needs.

If you want to recapture the magic of your brand, or build a new one from the ground up, give me a call. 541-749-4409.

 There’s a lot of economic doom and gloom in the news these days; Unless you’re living in a cave somewhere, you’ve heard about the housing market, the unemployment rate and the rising price of groceries and gas.

For many business owners, it’s frightening. The fortune-teller economists are predicting even more “belt tightening” as the year goes on, and if you let it, all the crummy forecasts might scare you into doing something totally rash. Like nothing at all.

It’s pretty common, actually. When the leading economic indicators start heading south, many business owners go into immediate survival mode. Stop, drop and roll! Duck and cover!

The natural tendency is to adopt a siege mentality and hunker down until “things get better.” So they pull the plug on marketing and branding. Then P.R and charitable giving. Then training and customer service initiatives. They stop doing the things that helped them succeed in the first place.

It’s a strategy of inaction, and it never works. Not in the long run.

Studies of life and death survival struggles prove that action is the antidote for despair. You see it in cancer patients, in soldiers, castaways, mountaineers and disaster victims. Those who let despair take over, sit down and die. Survivors, on the other hand, take action.

Determination and a disciplined, almost clinical approach seem to be the secret. Survivors don’t place blame, make excuses or wallow in self pity. They accept their current circumstances and start working on a solution immediately by setting small, achievable goals. They don’t waste a lot of energy running around in circles, doing things that won’t get them to the goal.

For a climber in the Andes, it meant extricating himself from a crevasse and literally dragging his starving body and shattered leg 10 miles down a glacier. All the way back to camp. For one hiker in the canyonlands of Utah, it meant amputating his own arm with his pocket knife.

Makes surviving a recession seem like a cake walk.

Make no mistake about it, a significant economic downturn can be fatal to a small business. But businesses fail all the time, regardless of what the economy is doing.

The fact is, if you have a clearly defined strategy, and the discipline to stick with it, there’s no reason you can’t do much more than just survive a recession. You can thrive. You can gain ground on the competition. You launch new products and improve your entire operation. The history of American commerce if full of war stories that prove the point.

Post and Kellog’s were battling head-to-head in the breakfast cereal category when the Great Depression hit. W.C. Kellogg plowed ahead, doubled his advertising budget and even introduced the world’s first vitamin-enriched product cereal. Post cut back and Kellogg’s has been the market leader ever since. (Kellogg also cut hours in his plant for three of his shifts and added a fourth, just to spread his payroll among more workers. But that’s another story.)

But forget about the 1930’s. Here are some things you can do, right now, to survive the perfect, economic storm.

1. Use downtime to your advantage. Most managers have so many fires to put out they never get around to long-term strategic thinking. If things are slow, do it! Clarify your objectives and fine-tune your elevator pitch. Revisit your value proposition. Make sure you can communicate your strategy clearly and succinctly. (Few CEOs can.)

2. Get your bearings and refocus your efforts. In the woods, the last thing you want to do is wander around in circles. Same thing in business. Don’t waste precious energy and money chasing business that doesn’t really fit your model. (see item #1)

3. Renegoiate your media contracts. When it comes to print ad space and broadcast spots, you should be able to get a lot more for your money right now. So play hardball. Insist that your advertising salespeople work up innovative new schedules.

4. Get creative. Brainstorm new strategic alliances, sponsorship opportunities or marketing initiatives. Look for ways to leverage your existing partnerships. Do something! And keep this in mind: When times are tough even small initiatives can have a big impact. Because everyone else is sitting around waiting for the rescue helicopters.

5. Recycle one of your favorite, old ad campaigns. A lot of people kill campaigns way too soon, before the public has ever been thoroughly exposed to the messages. So instead of creating a whole new campaign, go through your archives and dust off the advertising that’s worked for you in the past.

6. Spend a little extra time listening to your best customers. Forget about you, and find out what their problems are. Then help devise a solution.

7. Take extra care of your people. They’re reading all the bad news in the paper too, and it’s unsettling. So step up, and be a leader. As the CEO, you have to be an optimist. Because nobody follows a pessimist.

It’s funny, where people find inspiration; For Monet, it was the garden. For me it’s the bookstore. The ski slopes. And the Children’s Museum.

My bank is definitely not on the list.

The most exciting thing to ever happen at my bank was the emancipation of the counter pens…  They were released from their chains and replaced with crappy logo pens that were free to take home with just a minimal, $10,000 deposit into a 15-year Certificate of Deposit at the historically low rate of 0000.01 percent interest, less deposit verification fees and other institutional weasels.

Nope. The banking industry is the last place I’d look for business inspiration or marketing insight. That is, until I met Ray Davis, the CEO of Umpqua Bank. Mr. Davis was in Bend the other day, visiting his local “stores” and speaking at the entrepreneurs forum.

Turns out, he doesn’t get inspired by the banking industry either.

Twelve years ago Umpqua Bank was a small, community bank with about $150 million in deposits. Today it has 135 stores in three states and almost 8 billion in deposits. Umpqua ranks 34^th on Fortune Magazine’s list of 100 best places to work in the country, and is #1 according to Oregon Business Magazine.

Bankers and banking consultants from all over the world visit the Umpqua headquarters in Portland to see what they’re doing and how they’re doing it. And what’s even more impressive is that other businesses, in completely different industries, are also looking to Umpqua for inspiration.

So what’s behind it? What’s turned this small town brand into one of the fastest growing banks in the nation?

“Umpqua started to take off once we realized what business we’re really in,” Davis said. “I don’t believe we’re in the banking industry. We’re in the retail services business.”

When Davis applied for the job at Umpqua he warned the Board of Directors that he was going to throw out all the old conventions of the banking industry and start something completely different. Because he believed they couldn’t compete against the big guys in any conventional way.

“Banking products are a commodity,” Davis said. “You can’t differentiate yourself that way. The big guys are just going to copy any good new product we come up with. But they can’t copy the way we deliver the service. They can’t copy our experience.”

For that, he borrowed ideas from two great retailers… Nordstrom and Starbucks. Umpqua stores look more like the lobby of a stylish boutique hotel than they do a bank. You can settle into a comfortable leather chair and read all the leading business publications. Have a hot cup of their Umpqua blend coffee. Check your e-mail or surf the web. Listen to their own brand of music and maybe even make a deposit or open a new account. Who knows.

It’s a dramatic leap when you compare that experience to the cold, marble conventions of the banking industry.

Clearly, Davis knows how to execute. He doesn’t talk about “execution” per se, but he obviously has the discipline to match the vision. He’s knows how to motivate and how to manage an organization through dramatic changes.

“As a CEO, you absolutely HAVE TO BE an optimist. There’s no other choice. Because no one will follow a pessimist. But you also have to be unreasonable to some extent and relentless to stay the course once it’s set.”

Here are some of the things Davis has successfully implemented and some reasons why his bank is now on my inspiration radar…

• Random acts of kindness:  Local Umpqua teams just do good stuff, like buying coffee for everyone who walks into a neighboring Starbucks. They don’t have to ask permission.

• They get their customer service training from Ritz Carlton.

• Every Umpqua employee gets a full week of paid leave to devote to a local charity. That’s 40 hours x 1800 employees! Any other banker would do the math and say it’s too costly. Davis says it pays off 100 fold.

• They’ve opened a innovation center in Portland’s trendy South Waterfront District.

• They have their own blend of coffee.

• Proceeds from Davis’ book go to charity. Buy it at www.amazon.com “Leading for Growth. How Umpqua Bank Got Cool And Created A Culture of Greatness.”

• They invented a way to measure customer satisfaction. As Fast Company Magazine put it: Umpqua Bank has a rigorous service culture where every branch and each employee gets measured on how well they deliver on what they call “return on quality.” Our research division, BNResearch, handles that kind of work for another innovative, billion-dollar company in an even less glamourous industry… veterinary medicine.

• They embrace design as a strategic advantage. Everything looks good at Umpqua. It’s a visually pleasing experience, which appeals to the creative side of me.

• Davis GETS IT! He knows, intuitively, that his brand is connected to their corporate culture. “Banking executives always ask, ‘How do you get your people to do that?’ It’s the culture we’ve built over the last 10 years. It doesn’t just happen. You don’t wake up one day and say, gee, look at this great culture we’ve got here. Our culture our single biggest asset, hands down.”

• He’s a great communicator. Davis uses stories, analogies and real world examples to motivate and persuade. Not banking statistics.

• He embraces the idea of a big hairy audacious goal. Everyone answers the phone “Thank you for calling Umpqua Bank, the world’s greatest bank.”

So the next time I’m looking for inspiration, maybe I’ll skip my usual haunts and head down to the bank.

Thankfully, the automotive engineers have devised a cure. With the new steering-wheel mounted audio controls, drivers can now change the channel, quite literally, without lifting a finger. So the instant a bad commercial comes on, they’re outta there. Before the gag reflex forces them to the side of road.

You’ve heard the commercials I’m talking about. The worst offenders involve a ridiculous, up-beat jingle or dialog between two “real people” who are stiffer than a week-old corpse. In the worst-case scenario, it’s a double whammy of bad dialog with a poorly-produced jingle sandwiched on both ends.

How does this happen? Why do so many radio commercials degenerate into one long string of corporate cliches and yes-man mumbo jumbo?

Radio is potentially the most creative of all your advertising options. There’s a reason it’s called the “theater of the mind.” In a 60-second spot there’s time for character development. Plot lines. Even intrigue. Well-written radio engages the human imagination and entertains while conveying a clear message about the character of your business.

You can be concerned, caring and compassionate. You can be convincing. You can create drama that moves people, or comedy that cracks them up. You can literally make people hungry just by using a few choice words and some sizzling sound effects.

Unfortunately, most companies come off sounding obnoxious, greedy or condescending. Announcers talk about “our friendly and knowledgeable staff. ” Jingle lyrics sing about “qual-i-ty and crafts-man-ship.” And in phony slice-of-life commercials people talk enthusiastically about douches and over-the-counter hemorrhoid medication. Puke alert! People just don’t talk that way, and everyone knows it.

If you want your radio commercials to be more palatable to the listeners — and more profitable for you — you have to do more than just the usual sales spiel set to music. In fact, the most memorable radio campaigns all contain five crucial elements:

1. A smart, coherent strategy.
2. An original idea.
3. Exceptional writing.
4. High production values.
5. Plenty of air time.

Devising a simple but intelligent advertising strategy is the single most important step in the whole process. Unfortunately, it’s also the most widely neglected. No one expects the radio stations to help with strategy. That’s your job — or your agency’s job. If you want results in the long run, you really need to spend some time thinking it through before you run out and book the air time.

Most advertisers use radio only as a tactical sales tool. But a long-running campaign can be much more than that. It can be a major asset to your business and a constant thorn in the side for your competitors. (You want them thinking, “gee I wish we would have done that.”)

A smart advertising strategy combines a high degree of business discipline with a good dose of imagination. It’s a creative thinking process that few business owners ever take time for and that many people consider pie in the sky… delving into issues like your core values, positioning strategy, brand personality and competitive analysis.

So if strategic thinking is not your strong suit, get some help. Find someone who can guide you through the planning process, help you prioritize your messages and hone-in on the dramatic difference that will resonate with listeners. Insist on a thorough strategy statement that will become the foundation of all your future advertising.

Once you know what to say you can begin thinking about how you’re going to say it. That’s where an original idea is absolutely invaluable.
Radio is great for conveying ideas, but lousy for listing details. People tune out when you start throwing laundry lists of products and services at them. You have to whittle it down to one main idea and then hammer that idea home time after time.

Doug Hall, Founder of the Eureka Ranch says, “articulating your overt benefit is a never-ending journey. You can always do it with greater relevance, interest and excitement. “

What you’re after is one idea that has thousands of possible iterations. Tom Bodett’s timeless, down-home humor for Motel 6. The Great American Hero series for Bud Light. Orkin’s authoritative announcer for their product that “kicks fire ant butt.” “Pizza Pizza” for Little Ceasar’s. These are big ideas that have produced big results over the long haul.

There have been many copywriters on the Motel 6 account, but the campaign stays fresh because the idea is consistent, the character is well developed and the writing is sharp. Which brings us to the third major component of great radio advertising.

Writing for radio is tough. Every word has to be written with an ear for alliteration. You have to hear it. You have to sound it out. Then you have to edit mercilessly. Dialog should flow naturally, as if from the lips of a real person, not some cheap pitchman. It should be quick. Snappy. And smart.

Easier said than done. Some of the finest fiction writers in the world have trouble writing believable dialog. In Hollywood the problem is pronounced. The major movie studios employ writers who do nothing but re-work the dialog on existing scripts. And even then, there is a lot of really lousy dialog that gets through. It takes a special ear. Just because you got A’s in English class back in college doesn’t mean you can write a good script.

Of course a good script, an original idea and a brilliant strategy won’t get you anywhere if you cut too many corners on the production of your commercials.
All the radio stations offer free production services. The sales rep will write you a script and the station’s producer will record the voice-over, add sound effects, drop in a music bed, do a mix, and cut the necessary dubs. The problem is, the producer might have as many as 40 spots to complete in a weekend, and after a while they all start sounding the same.

For instance, finding good voice talent is always a challenge. There are plenty of people on the radio with great voices who can’t act worth a hoot. And that’s what we’re really talking about here. Acting.

Modern technology now allows us to produce radio spots here in Bend while using actors anywhere in the world. So you don’t have to settle for a local DJ who’s also doing spots for a used car dealer down the street. Keep in mind, your talent is the audio personification of your company. He or she better be able to convey genuine emotion using just the vocal chords. He better be ready to capture the flavor and the inflection of a well-written script without going through thirty different takes. Otherwise, even the most talented audio engineer with all the latest sound enhancement software won’t be able to save it.

The last piece of the puzzle is reach and frequency. That is, how often are your spots running and how many people are listening. (Without getting ill.)

The most common mistake is spreading your budget way too thin across too many different stations. Inc. Magazine recently published some good guidelines for this. “You should be buying more frequently over two weeks instead of spreading it out over a month, and buying 30 spots on two stations instead of 18 spots on three.”

A rough rule of thumb is that listeners need to hear an engaging ad at least three times a week before it starts to break through the clutter. Believe it or not, if your spots are well done you’ll get sick of them a lot faster than the general public will. So resist the temptation to change. Stick with it until the airwaves are saturated.

Radio is a wonderful, cost effective medium. When all five elements come together in a 60-second spot it can be pure magic. Remember, you’re looking for solid strategy, an original idea, concise writing, strong production values and plenty of air time. Even four out of five would be nice. But when several of those elements are missing, there’s a good chance your ads will just be turning stomachs. And ultimately, it’s your responsibility as an advertiser to keep that from happening.

How to sell your ideas and improve your presentations.

Every year at the Mac Expo, Steve Jobs unveils some fantastic new, game-changing technology from Apple. His presentations are always outstanding, both for the content and for entertainment value. This week he pulled their tiny new laptop out of a 9×12 manilla envelope. Brilliant!

It’s not just natural charisma that makes Jobs an effective communicator. It’s his ability to convey ideas in simple, concise ways. He uses honest demonstrations. Stories. Theater. And yes, some Hollywood special effects.  But never Powerpoint.

PowerPoint is the antithesis of Apple.

A few months ago I dropped several thousand dollars to attend a two-day branding conference down in Austin, Texas. The keynote speaker was a notable pro who speaks and teaches professionally. He had an assistant with him, as well as tech support from the conference facility.

Three hours into it and he’s still fumbling around with his Powerpoint Presentation… Lights on. Lights off. Sound’s way too loud. Sound’s not on. Sound’s out of sync. Slides are out of order. How many times do we have to look at this guy’s desktop?  What a disaster.

But to be fair, even if the computer had behaved itself his presentation would have fallen flat. Because his ideas were totally scattered. His slides were loaded with text that he read verbatim. His facts were questionable. And his speech wasn’t really a speech at all. It was more of a walk-through of the slides.

Thank God, I’m not a middle manager in a big corporation where I’d have to endure daily doses of that crap.

In “The Perfect Pitch,” Jon Steele says, “most presenters start with the slides, and then treat what the are going to say simply as an exercise in linkage. The unfortunate consequence of this is that the presenter is reduced to a supporting role. To all presenters, I say this: YOU are the presentation.”

That’s easy to say if you’re Steve Jobs.  But you don’t have to be famous to put on a gripping and persuasive presentation. You just have to change the process, and forget about Powerpoint until you’re three-quarters of the way through.

Instead, think of yourself as a storyteller — in the old-fashioned, verbal tradition of story telling.  Stories are way more compelling than slides. And no matter how boring the topic may seem, there’s always a story buried in there somewhere. So tell the story. Write it down. Flesh it out and practice it before you ever open Powerpoint. Then use the software to create visual aids for your verbal points. Not the other way around! You’ll be amazed how focused your message becomes.

Back in the day, before PowerPoint was ever conceived, you had to send out for slides. And they were expensive! So you were forced to think long and hard about the content of each and every one. You had to plan the flow of the presentation. You had to know what the most important points were. And you were forced to boil it down until there was nothing left but the absolutely most powerful, relevant points. Then you’d cover the rest of the stuff in your speech.

Powerpoint makes it too easy to add slides and overwhelm people with charts and graphs. It’s like a crutch… Got an idea? Just jump right into PowerPoint and start creating slides.

Another unfortunate side effect of PowerPoint is lousy, truncated writing. People think they have to limit their words to fit the slides. And what they. End up with. Is choppy. Confusing. Information. That doesn’t. Communicate. Much of anything.

If you write the script first and then use PowerPoint slides as visual aids to drive home the main points, you won’t have that problem. You’ll be speaking from a coherent, written script, not reading random bullet points right off the slides.

I suspect that much of the problem stems from the fear of public speaking. And that’s understandable. People with that fear like to hide behind the PowerPoint slides. They can become almost invisible.  But that’s not how you’re going to make a sale, further your career or build a successful business. You have to suck it up, and put yourself out there.

Truth is, if you want to improve your presentations you’re going to have to get comfortable with public speaking. Join Toastmasters. Buy some videos and watch how the pros do it. Find a good mentor… Salespeople are usually the best at it, so if there’s someone really good at your company offer to be an audience as they practice. Watch, listen, and learn. And forget about mastering all the technical bells and whistles of PowerPoint. That will just distract you from the main objective.

Another option is to hire someone like myself to write and produce the presentation for you and coach you through the delivery. Do that a couple times, and you’ll either catch on or you’ll decide that it’s just best left to professionals.

Either way, you’ll end up with an effective, engaging presentation, even if you’re not introducing the latest, greatest invention from Apple.

Another ride down that twisting, mountain road of pathetic clichés.

I don’t know what it is about automotive advertsing. No other category is so rich in promise, yet so pathetically void of inspiring insight and unique execution.

Here’s a good example: Introductory ads for the 2008 Dodge Caravan and the Honda Odyssey. But first, a quick glimpse of how they got here…

Chrysler single-handedly created the minivan market when the Caravan and Voyager debuted in 1984. Sales skyrocketed and imitators sprang up only after Chrysler had firmly established itself as the segment leader. After years of dominance, Chrysler’s newly redone vans are fighting for their lives against the Toyota Sienna and Honda Odyssey and a host of crossover vehicles.

While they may not have originated the idea, Chrysler’s minis certainly moved the segment from niche vehicle to the pinnacle of the mainstream. And by now, the marketing people at Dodge have a pretty good handle on what their target audience is looking for in a minivan.

The Dodge spots are simple slices of family life: we see a baby sleeping peacefully in a car seat. Kids playing cards in facing rear seats. Kids watching videos. Moms & Dads reconfiguring the seats and loading the kid’s crap.

That’s what minivans are all about: Lugging kid stuff, looking for lost binkies and scraping from between the seats. That’s the reality of it. It’s not glamorous, and it’s not the least bit appealing to anyone who doesn’t have kids. But it’s relevant as hell for parents who are carting three kids around everyday.

The main benefit of all minivans is practicality. Plain and simple. And Caravan advertising conveys the idea very clearly. Honda, on the other hand, has careened off the road with their spots for the Odyssey.

The Honda spot goes like this: There’s an attractive young couple eyeing each other suggestively while driving along a winding, country road. In a mini van, for pete sake!

The husband, who’s doing the driving, glances at his wife as she reaches up and grips the “oh shit” handle above her window. She gives him a quizzical, turned-on look. He gives the van a little more gas and grips the wheel tightly as he lugs into another corner with all the agility of a Winnebego.

She holds on even tighter and looks at him as if to say, “ohhhh yeah, bring it on big boy.” I almost expect them to pull over and jump into the back for a roadside quicky. Instead, she just holds on for the ride while the voice-over chimes in: “Just because it’s a minivan doesn’t mean you have to treat it like one.”

Oh, c’mon.

First of all, curves and minivans DO NOT go together. Put a minivan on a windy road and you here’s what you get: Puking children. Horrendous messes of vomit. Leave the windy roads to the Porsche commercials.

Secondly, no one gets turned on by a minivan. A corvette might help you get laid, but not a dual-sliding, seven passenger, Chrysler product.

There’s no pleasure in getting from Point A to Point B in a mini van. Believe me, I’ve done it. There is some satisfaction in packing up both kids and the entire kitchen sink for a simple, cross-town play date. There’s satisfaction in changing a diaper on the side of the road without hanging your baby out on the tailgate. But not pleasure.

So Honda’s idea of promoting the minivan as something sexier than just a minivan, simply doesn’t wash. They could spend a billion dollars trying to convey that idea, and parents would still buy it for the cupholders. It’s like trying to kitten-up a milk truck.

So how did the message get so messed up, and what can we learn from Honda’s one-spot marketing blunder?

1. As a brand, be authentic. Don’t try to be something you’re not. Minivans are not 450 horsepower Italian chick magnets.

2. Realize that technical specs and insider information is often irrelevant to consumers. The automotive press consistently ranks The Honda Odyssey above its Chrysler competitors in performance and reliability. It’s a great vehicle. Best in class even. And the Honda executives are fully aware of this.

The problem is, in the minivan category nobody gives a hoot about “chassis refinement and driving feel.” By letting insider information dictate their marketing, Honda ends up with a message that’s relevant to their own executives and to the automotive cognoscenti, but completely irrelevant to the target audience. It’s a classic case of getting in your own way. Of knowing too much.

Of course it probably wasn’t the Honda executives who came up with the idea of using sexual tension in their Odyssey spots. Maybe the ad agency creative team just couldn’t find inspiration in a reliable minivan. Maybe there wasn’t any consumer insight or personal experience to go on. Or maybe they were just trying to steer clear of a technical, engineering message. Wise move, but they really blew it with the hot couple concept. And I’d bet there wasn’t an account planner involved in that idea.

Somewhere, the process took a wrong turn and the end result is a waste of marketing dollars. In the scheme of things, one spot isn’t going to kill Honda. But in the meantime, Dodge is sticking to an approach that simply demonstrates relevant features. It’s not going to win any awards, but at least it’s real. It hits the hot buttons of a specific target audience and it wins the head-to-head battle with Honda.