I am currently about two thirds of the way through reading the mighty tome that is Walter Isaacson‘s biography of Steve Jobs. It ranks with Keith Richard’s biography as one of the most surprising and illuminating books I have read recently, with some interesting parallels between the subjects.
For those who haven’t got to it yet it is the story of the brilliant but flawed man who, more than most, has changed the way we live, communicate and entertain ourselves. He grabbed the opportunity presented by nurture, geography and social, cultural and technological change to build one of the most valuable brands in the world and stamp an enduring mark on history.
What has caught my attention in particular is his relentless passion and refusal to accept the less than brilliant. His desire to control very aspect from concept to end user experience has driven Apple to the heights it has achieved and created modern classics of consumer product design, quality and usability. From iMac to iPad and iPod to iPhone they are products and operating systems that just work.
He has proved the point that while price is important it is not the only arbiter of choice. Design, manufacture and market items that combine quality, desirability, usability and sheer chutzpah and price becomes a secondary consideration.

We may not all have Steve Job’s drive and genius but if we can just apply just a percentage of that passion and attention to detail in all the aspects of how we do business we can be sure that success will be ours.

The limiting effect of listening to negative talk from those we associate with coupled with the limits we can set on our own chances of success by setting “realistic targets’ formed by our past experience. Just barrelling past the word ‘can’t’ is a good start. We were told that casting off the shackles of negative thinking and association and finding positive and successful people to be around will help us to think more positively and so more successfully. It is what changes challenges into opportunities.

So here’s to Ben Kench, ‘The Can Can Man’, for delivering a motivating presentation that, this time, really was inspiring!

Amazonia by V&B Spring Fair 2012 NEC

It’s been a while since I had been to the Spring Fair at the NEC Birmingham so I was curious to see how things had changed, particularly as far as Housewares, my earlier career sector, was concerned.

WHERE HAVE ALL THE BIG BRANDS GONE?

Having been to the Frankfurt Ambiente fair over the previous few years, what struck me forcefully was how much smaller this ‘International’ Fair feels by comparison. Hall 1 is a prime example of how much has changed since the first Spring Fair in 1976. Then the Wedgwood group, as it then was, Royal Doulton, Denby, Spode, Royal Worcester, Dartington and Stuart Crystal dominated a Hall packed with table top brands. Today names like Hammersley, Midwinter, Crown Staffordshire, Masons Ironstone, Crown Derby, Johnson Bros are either defunct or their current owners dont feel it is worth the investment to present them. Surviving names such as Waterford Wedgwood and Royal Doulton reflect the priorities of their US Private equity owners with a much reduced footprint, while Spode and Royal Worcester have fallen into the warm embrace of the Portmeirion Group. It is the Portmeirion group, along with a dynamic Churchill China and Denby, who appear now to be today’s standard bearers for an industry in danger of being marginalised in the UK. Villeroy & Boch still stands as a lonely representative of the great, innovating, European brands. A slightly worrying example of badge engineering in the style of the late and unlamented British Leyland is the appearance of a collection of designs by the late Eduardo Paolozzi which are pale reflections of a stunning set of pop art collectors plates by the same designer produced by Wedgwood in the late 1960′s.

Wedgwood Spring Fair 2012 NEC

Wedgwood Queen's Diamond Jubilee commemorative Products

Portmeirion Group in particular now look like a group in good shape with a clear balance between its collection of brands whereas last year at Frankfurt their stand looked confused and undefined. Churchill, having added the Jamie Oliver license from the collapse of Royal Worcester plus its investment in popular designers like Cath Kidston and Jeff Banks and new design in general, has grown in market reach and impact.

Villeroy & Boch stand Spring Fair NEC 2012

Hall 1 today swamps these surviving islands of the tabletop industry with a plethora of wholesalers, distributors and more generally food related brands such as Typhoon, Mason Cash, Kitchencraft, La Cafetiere, Bodum and Riedel. Times move on and there are hopeful signs that the UK tabletop industry is finding new directions and slowly emerging from the ashes finding new distribution and ways of exciting today’s consumers.

The disappearance of some key independent tabletop retailers such as Stockwell China Bazaar and Church’s of Northampton is pushing the UK distribution towards the department store and internet channels as had already happened in the US by the 90′S, albeit for different reasons. Perhaps this is why Halls such as 6 and 7 focussing on Home Gifts are buzzier and more varied recognising that consumers when they are out shopping are pursuing it as a leisure activity where impulse purchase is more the norm.

All of which leaves me with the feeling that if I were a bricks and/or clicks retailer I would be better served by Frankfurt or even Paris rather than the increasingly parochial feel of the NEC.

It exists on several levels. There is the much lauded ‘big idea’, the change maker that creates a whole new sector or ways for consumers to relate to an existing one. By their nature they are few and far between – the Compare the meerkat.com creative executions shaking up the dull Comparison site sector are a good example creating an emotional attachment in a sector dominated by supposed rationality. The big idea or even just a good idea that is going to stimulate the consumer then needs the support of great execution and communication – otherwise it might as well have remained unthought.

This assumes that the creatives have managed to communicate the idea in a convincing way in the first place!

Many ideas have died stillborn because they weren’t understood, were dismissed for a range of irrational reasons and otherwise foundered before they could become the spark that lit up a sector. But is this important? Isn’t it just as valuable to have done a solid workmanlike job that ticks boxes, keeps the client happy and doesn’t drive customers into the arms of the competition? I would argue that this is in the same ballpark as arguing that if you cut costs the company will prosper. It is part of an answer not the whole story.

Creativity that is harnessed to clear business objectives but deploys the imagination to presents those to the market in unexpected and stimulating ways is really adding value to the process and allowing a business grow its potential. This does of course assume that the product or service being offered and the customer service standards are equal to the message being conveyed. Creativity is not the panacea for the problems of a poor business. On the other hand creative thinking from an outsider can shed the light necessary to lift a business out of the doldrums, excusing the mixed metaphor and set it on a course to prosperity.

So is creativity important? Yes, of course  - as part of a solid strategic vision that embraces all aspects of marketing a business. On its own it is at best a flickering flame and at worst an indulgence that produces product clunkers like the Zune or Edsel and dire campaigns  like Burger Kings ‘The King’.

What do you think is the most self indulgent piece of marketing yet?

This is not to say that spontaneity doesn’t have its place. The unexpected gesture that delights a customer, that puts a smile on the face, beats carefully planned but uninspired promotions any day of the week. It needs to be a spontaneity that grows out of a well crafted and understood strategy, one that drives a coherent plan of marketing activity. For the larger business this will normally come naturally as there will be a marketing resource that is dedicated to putting such things in place and monitoring their success. For smaller businesses it is more of an issue as it will usually fall to the business owner, short on time and perhaps lacking the necessary breadth of expertise, to pull it together.

It really is true to say that time spent in planning is never wasted. For the under pressure business owner the answer is to work with someone whose success is determined by practising the discipline effectively, can empathise with the clients ideas and ambitions and translate these into a coherent and practical action plan that works with the constraints of the business but is sufficiently creative to take it to another level. The fact that, as a marketing consultant, I would say that wouldn’t I doesn’t make it any the less true!

“I need an independent, experienced, point of view”.

“I need another pair of hands to deliver what I know we need to do but haven’t the time or expertise to drive through”.

“I need both”.

In essence this, small or large scale, describes the common need. Its not unlike the role of a sports coach. Its not that the rugger team or tennis star don’t know how to play their game. It is that they recognise a need to improve if they are to reach their potential and it won’t come  from doing the same old thing.

A coach or consultant will have experience with many different players or types of business and will have developed the skills to draw the best from their charges. So immediately there is the benefit of being able to access a pool of experience gained across a spectrum of business types. The good consultant will blend this with their key marketing skills and an ability to empathise with the client and work with them to create solutions of which the client can feel he or she has ownership. In my opinion this has to be a collaborative rather than prescriptive process if the development of marketing strategy and business  orientation are to be sustainable.

The marketing consultant will be able to  help with a range of issues from building a marketing strategy from scratch, proposing budgets, developing a brand proposition to managing its implementation, creative direction and providing their own input. The value to the client comes not just from this breadth of experience and expertise but also access to the network of professional providers, graphic designers, social media experts, web developers, printers, photographers and so on which the professional consultant will have built up to complement their own skills and create the ‘virtual’ team needed to implement today’s complete marketing activity plan.

So the real value of a Marketing consultant is as both a ‘team’ performance enhancer and outsourced ‘team’ member to drive programmes through. As with any working relationship it is important to choose a marketing consultant with the right chemistry for you. Do that and your business will be well on its way to achieving its potential.

Big brands like Budweiser, BMW and Apple do this religiously, spending serious budget and resource making sure that every aspect of brand communication is a consistent expression of what they and their products are all about. They don’t produce products that don’t fit that vision, sell them in places that don’t conform or use advertising content or channels that don’t fit the message. They are the mighty spacecruisers of the Brand space fleet. Of course any fleet comprises many different size and shape of vessels and their ‘firepower’ varies accordingly.

This level of discipline and focus can be applied whatever the size of business or resource available. From Gerald Ratner rubbishing the quality of the jewellery sold in his shops to disastrous rants on Twitter, we have all seen the damage that can be done when businesses large or small forget the need to stay ‘in brand character’. The micro business is just as much at risk of a sudden absence of business after making tasteless or personal remarks on Facebook or Twitter as the corporation who farms out social media to junior staff or an agency without making it clear the tone of voice and range of subject to be covered. There is a need to have an awareness of who ones customers are, their needs and expectations. Actions that don’t fit these expectations will confuse customers and create doubt and a likelihood that they will look for a more comforting brand relationship elsewhere.

Once a business has gone through the process of assessing what it’s marketing proposition is, who it’s consumers are and identifying the key priorities, putting to one side the digressions and distractions, it can look at how best to reach them through the myriad means now available in this digital age.

How much effort and investment is put into marketing communication is going to be down to a blend of the right channels chosen  for the proposition with the budget and people available to deliver it. For the smaller scale business the ability to promote themselves and mix it with their larger competitors has been dramatically enhanced by the growth of social media, Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin in particular and e-mail marketing. For relatively low cost the reach of the smaller business as well as its ability to get closer to its consumers has undergone a revolution. Like most revolutions how this will play out over time in such a swiftly changing environment is unclear. What is certain is that the genie isn’t going back in the bottle any time soon.

Nonetheless the increased opportunities presented by the internet and social media, not to mention traditional print and broadcast media, still rest on the fundamentals – clarity, a motivating message and production quality. A message littered with typos, poor grammar and poorly executed design will not inspire confidence in your brand. If it is not a core skill within the business it is better to outsource to someone who can deliver a quality result on your behalf rather than risk damage to your brand image through poor implementation.

Brands want and need to be liked. To achieve this they must  a) be seen and b)  communicate. As soon as they are seen and communicate those they touch can form opinions – positive or negative. Negative is not always bad. Ryanair‘s bad boy image has kept it constantly in the news and its customers can have no misunderstanding of what to expect from frill free air travel. For many this is too far down the ‘Marmite‘ end of the spectrum for comfort. The ideal is to strike a balance that delivers enough definition to provide a brand character that attracts more than it repulses, especially in its target market.

The strongest brands are like our best friends – or enemies! We have a clear idea of their strengths and weaknesses, what we love about them or what drives us mad. For our friends and favourite brands we will forgive much because what we gain from the relationship far outweighs the negatives. Those we dislike we dont spend time with or listen to if we can avoid it. The dislike may be rational, the result of a slight or hurt, or irrational, we just dont like the way they walk, talk or just are. These are brands that will never engage with us however hard they try.

Brands effect us in a similar way and it is the quality of this interaction that is the key to their success or failure. Here is that crowded room where they need to mix and shine, to stand out as the ‘go to’ person/brand. To work in ‘brand world’ they need to be in the right clothes, in the right room , in dialogue with the right people.

To extend the analogy our friends/brands might be the most trustworthy and reliable types – M&S and John Lewis Partnership perhaps,or  fun to be with – Facebook, Twitter, Bacardi or Radio6Music, perhaps confident and cosmopolitan – Prada, Burberry, Ralph Lauren or up to the minute and sleekly successful – Apple, BMW or Bang & Olufsen. The precise list will be as constantly varying as peoples tastes and interests and that provides the perpetual challenge in matching perception and aspiration, brand with brand loyalist and consumer.

This is where the whole spectrum of work on brand identity and marketing communication kicks off – of which more later.

It is still so large that you need an iPhone app to find your way round. The show catalogue is heavy enough to give you back ache after a while. Segways would be an idea and getting around is only manageable as a result of plentiful moving walkways and shuttle buses between halls. With eleven halls, mostly with several floors, this has got to be up there with the largest  home wares shows in the world.

While it is at its heart a show for the German market it is also a key international buyers destination. My particular interest is in Hall 4 which now hosts the leading tabletop brands and one cannot help feeling that the move from the permanent showrooms of Hall 10 to the temporary stands of Hall 4 is an indication of the reduced status of this industry sector. The mass exodus of French and Scandinavian brands since 2010 – Baccarat, Lalique, Royal Copenhagen, Desoulieres etc is perhaps more due to the growing prominence of the January Maison et Objet show in Paris than this move but it is an interesting coincidence. This is not to say that the remaining players are not giving it their best shot. The Villeroy & Boch stand provided its usual impression of a teeming anthill of buyers and sales people with coffee drinking as one of its main product focuses. WWRD (Waterford, Wedgwood and Royal Doulton) took the high ground with a dazzling white stand focused almost entirely on new products from the three brands. This was unusual in that the natural conservatism of the industry sales teams tends to dictate a comfort zone display of core products. From the levels of activity it certainly appeared to be a strategy that was working. Close by the Lenox and Dansk brands were making a bold presentation clearly aiming to build their business in Europe. Their display included the now obligatory ‘designer’ product, a range from Kate Spade New York. Rosenthal, Thomas and Hutschenreuther, now under the umbrella of Sambonnet, are said to be beginning to see some of the benefits of group synergies and a more rigorously commercial direction. Portmeirion, with its expanded family of brands that now include Royal Worcester, Spode and Pimpernel, are in a great position to reap rewards from these acquisitions, as demonstrated in their results. They now have the challenge of how best to position them for long term growth.

As usual much of the most interesting product design was to be found in the ‘ Loft’ exhibition in Hall 11, focusing on avant garde and design orientated home accessories, lighting, textiles and smaller furniture pieces.

There is no doubt that Ambiente is a ‘must do’ for home wares buyers worldwide and that it is evolving into an even more international market place with a large and growing presence by Far Eastern suppliers in all sectors. A day and a half is hardly time to do justice to the huge spectrum of Brands and products presented at all levels so this is necessarily a selective set of impressions. The underlying impression was one of guarded optimism for 2011 business.