Never been much of a basketball fan. Prefer cricket. However. Still interested in contributing to any sport that is being poorly marketed and the moment and that would be most of them.

People administering sports have often spent their lifetimes in the sport, just like business people spend a lifetime in the business. The reason for engaging an independent consultant is identical. Perspective. Working 9 – 5, you just get too close to it. A good marketing strategist will say things to you like, ‘actually, people don’t give a shit about that’, or ‘perhaps we should mention that in your advertising’. And if they’re good, they’ll ask you stuff before they suggest stuff.

Here’s what prompted this post: I watched a video (don’t click it yet) that if I were marketing basketball, I would have sent out to every player, coach and coach’s mother on my database. Because it sums up the reasons you’d go to a game of basketball.

So much of marketing is Point of Difference. Why is going to a basketball match different to a cricket match or a swimming meet? I think this video says something about that. It’s a crowd thing.

Basketball: Get Excited.

“We chased the consumer with aggressive discounting in November and December . . . so when we got to the stocktake sale consumers didn’t need to purchase,” – Bernie Brookes, Myer Chief Executive, Feb 7, 2011.

Well there you have it; the head of our largest retailer declaring that they only have one weapon in their marketing armory and they’ve fired it. May as well pack up and go home.

They used to tell us in marketing school that there was Product, Price, Packaging and Distribution. Turns out there’s just Price.

Retail is in some trouble. Much angst about the feelthy internet gobbling up THEIR sales.

Do this for me: open a newspaper and look at the retail ads.

Page after page. Photos of products with the price next to them. I forgive your thinking that nothing has changed in forty years of retail advertising.

Here’s a clue, Bernie. If it’s not working, try something different. Try putting QR codes in your ads linking to videos that explain why I need your product.

Supermarkets: I know what your product range is. I know where your chain sits on the price spectrum. I know about loss leaders. I’m not running in to your store because you have tomatoes on special. If price is my key criteria, I’ve already made the decision. You offer me no extra information in your advertising and no reason to visit. Supermarkets and liquor stores treat their customers like idiots.

Car sellers: instead of a page full of empty cars photographed in a car yard, link to a video of a salesman pitching the virtues of each car. Isn’t that their job?

Myer and David Jones hope that their photo of competitively priced manchester triggers my realisation that I need a new set. But I don’t buy manchester on price.

If I have a pressing need to buy something and I see it advertised at a discounted price, I’m probably interested. But at any one time there are DOZENS of things I’ve imagined I need. I ruined my pressure cooker. I want new lighting (I always want new lighting). Need to get bloody birthday presents. But the thought of visiting your store is just completely uninspiring.

Will I be surprised by what you’re selling? [Oh wow, David Jones is selling dancing lessons]. Will I be entertained by an in-store demonstration? [So here’s how you cook buffalo in a pressure cooker]. Will someone lead me by the hand to the various departments and save me 50% of shopping time? No. No. No.

Price is a trigger but only in some circumstances – there are other factors at play. Presence, inspiration and salesmanship are at the core of discretionary purchases.

In another universe, here’s what Bernie said about the failure of the January stocktaking sales:

“If we continue to rely on discounting, we’re toast. We need to get people in to our stores. We need to rejuvenate the shopping experience. We need to train our staff better. Luckily, we’re blessed with visionary staff and diligent management. Bring it on”.

In the 1950s, new products were new. Those days are gone. Learn a new trick. Give me a reason. Show some imagination. Tell me a story. Engage me, you tired old conservative has-beens.

A. These guys are going out of business.
B. They deserve it.

Publisher Henry Rosenbloom and bookseller Mark Rubbo on Late Night Live talked about the fragile state of the industry and blamed the Internet, the Aussie dollar, the GST and the e-book.

And these are real factors. But what has the industry done to re-structure the retail offering to compete in this new environment? Precious little, gentle reader.

I did the bulk of my Christmas shopping in bookshops and it was the same as it was 20 years ago.

I’d add that there are good independent bookshops in Perth that choose their books carefully and are run by knowledgeable and helpful people. Here’s a roll call:

The Lane Bookshop, the Bookcaffe, New Edition and Planet Books.

But follow any of those links to understand why Amazon is doing well. (Particularly the Lane; it’s a pearler).

Maybe unfair to expect much innovation from small, independent booksellers but the bookselling chains do have resources and their lack of innovation is shameful.

I was in Borders. They have an ‘on-line catalogue’ you can use to look up a book. “2 copies in stock”. So I find a guy who helpfully looks in the various possible locations and reports back: out of stock. Get this: the database only updates every 48 hours. If only they had computers! So there’s the first tip for bookshops: implement real time inventory tracking.

I was in Dymocks. The sales person there does the look-up for you. Maybe it’s too complicated for customers … Their database searches every Dymocks store in the state. The title; a popular 2010 book, was out of stock everywhere. What’s meant to happen at this point is the sales person says to you, “we don’t have THAT but have you read THIS?”. Nope. He suggested I try Angus & Robertsons. Tip #2: The customer wants to buy a book NOW. Help the customer to buy a book NOW.

I was in Angus & Robertson’s. That really is a bumhole of a store. Books on the wrong shelves; old titles; the staff going through the motions. But here’s an idea that applies to all three chains: instead of sticking every book in one motherfuckingly huge section, put paper signs in between the books to show where the different letters of the alphabet start. I have thoughtfully illustrated this for you. See above.

But. Why classify by alphabetic order of author anyway? You’re not a bloody library. Tip #4: display books in order of popularity, not by author’s name. I know what you’re thinking. How will I find the book I want if I know the author’s name? See Tip #5.

Tip #5: Put a barcode and a shelf number on every shelf. Scan the book and the shelf barcode when you put it on the shelf so the computer knows exactly where the book is. When people use the catalogue (which could also be an app they download to their phone) it tells you the shelf-number AND shows you a picture of the spine of the book so you can eye-ball it quickly. If it’s out of stock it shows you the location of other books by the same author.

A contemporary book store should be about saving you time, helping you select and delivering a pleasant experience in a physical space. Remaining tips relate to that experience.

New Edition often plays Chopin in the Northbridge shop. Music, atmosphere: here – take my money.

I’d love to see a Recommendation Table. Customers are invited to pull one book off the shelf and put it on the Table. (Yeah I know this screws up the inventory system but it gives the customer a stake). I’d like to see some books OPENED so I can read half a page.

I’d like to do the store’s personality test. 10 multiple choice questions and the store computer generates a reading list which the staff member then turns into a pile of books to peruse.

Or it’s a list of single sentences from the 20 most recent new releases and I pick my favourite three.

If your business is under environmental pressure it doesn’t work to keep doing what you’ve always done. That path leads to extinction. Retail has to aggressively use technology and it has to develop more compelling experiences that differentiate it from online shopping.

In the mid 1990s I spoke to the first organised meeting of Olive Oil growers in the Gingin region about marketing. There were some small farmers and there was a clutch of Managed Investment Schemes all offering “tax effective” investments with a 24% Return on Investment. Subsequently, investors lost lots of money, the major schemes changed hands at discounted prices and many “entrepreneurs” did well to avoid jail. Yields were less than forecast and prices were lower than forecast.

My main point at the talk was that the region had no cachet as a food production area and needed to develop a brand so they could cooperatively market themselves.

I suggested they cut a deal with the New Norcia Monastry and call the region New Norcia. The monastry has a rich history in olives and a very solid tourism profile. Speculation, but I believe the industry and New Norcia would both have benefited from that approach. It became the Moore River Region instead.

Now the industry is established and approaching large scale production. The main game is export, but my comments relate to domestic marketing.

The competition is European imports; often old and occasionally rancid. The Australian industry has been loathe to criticise the Europeans; worried about stepping on toes. The Australians now have a voluntary Code of Conduct; most companies have signed up. Not surprising, since (on my reading at least) it doesn’t actually require you to do anything.

I reckon the locals should have established a cooperative marketing fund to tell the consumer that olive oil is a fresh product. They could have worked with the food industry on this and created an awareness of New Season Olive Oil (it is bottled May – June). They could have stipulated year of harvest on the front of the label, as happens with wine. The Code says year of harvest is optional; “for those growers promoting freshness”. The York Olive Oil Company is one of the very few companies that prominently state year of harvest. Others are happy for you not to know how old the oil is – they don’t want to get caught with old stock.

Neither do the retailers, who don’t want to bother with the logistics of returns. And the industry doesn’t want the extra cost. So everyone just feeds their new olive oil into the pipeline when the old stock runs out. In the Re Store in Northbridge, supposedly a gourmet food store, there was still no new season olive oil at the end of September. Every bottle at least 15 months old.

The Code of Conduct discourages the use of ‘Cold Pressed’ in labelling. “Not an indicator of quality… not recommended”. Well practically every Australian oil is described as ‘cold pressed’. Lucky it’s a voluntary code.

Of course the manufacturers all want to establish a brand name so they’re desperate to get distribution. That means you can buy very good oil at ridiculously low prices. But turn the bottles around and compare the Best Before dates. Oil made in 2009 will say ‘Best Before 2011′. Not sure what it’s best for then; maybe it still works as a lubricant.

A disappointing result for a new industry which was well placed to influence food culture and food marketing.

This article not sponsored by the Fresh Food People or MasterChef Curtis Stone.

The iPad’s about to become the most quickly adopted electronic device of all time. And it’s throttled the growth of netbooks, notebooks and netwooks. Netwooks have not been invented yet; full marks if you noticed that.

It’s a great marketing case study because design-lust aside, the iPad addresses a consumer need the market was ignoring. Simplicity of use. Phone makers, particularly Apple, inherently understand the market’s hatred of complexity. But the navigability of that particular interface (press one button to access any application) is one of the great and obvious ideas in the short history of computing. For consumers who’ve been intimidated by the Windows interface since Bill was a boy, the iPad is a relatively safe and easy technology purchase.

But with the simplicity comes sacrifice. The tablet interface is annoyingly flawed. The ends of my fingers are flat from pounding the screen waiting for it to react properly.

The closed Apple architecture makes web browsing a short-term activity. In many cases you miss the precision of the mouse and the spat between Adobe and Apple means you can’t be confident that any web site will perform as it should. The on-screen keyboard is fine for a few minutes, but that’s all.

Of course, companies can design aps specifically for the iPad; allowing maximum use of the finger but those have cut-down functionality. The newspapers will sell you a subscription so you can read their stories but unlike the netbook, they won’t let you copy/paste a section and email it to a friend. Rupert is completely wrong on this; consumers will not pay for restricted access on the iPad when they can get open access on the web.

So on the iPad; games? Sure. eBooks? Definitely. But web browsing and office or work applications; nup. If you already have an iPhone, you’re better off with a netbook. An iPad will just duplicate the shortcomings of your iPhone.

I haven’t seen any netbook manufacturers taking that line but I think there’s a strong case for spelling it out.

Have a look at this official promotional video for Western Australia and then we’ll talk. When I say ‘talk’ I mean ‘rant’.

Tourism marketing in Western Australia is famously abysmal. Look critically at this from the viewpoint of international tourism marketing. What is the positioning of Western Australia as a tourism product? What is it that distinguishes Western Australia from any other tourism destination in the world? Come on; I’m waiting!

It’s a product that doesn’t know what it is. The ad is a case study in poor strategic thinking.

Does the tourism authority think we the only place in the world with beaches and waterways? The only thing to be said in favour of Perth beaches is that they are quaint, reflecting the determination of generations to resist ANY tourism development of ANY sort on even ONE of them. Welcome to 1960.

Why do we have to re-assure people that there are designer clothing shops in Perth? Are we competing with Paris?

Who is the target market for this ad? If it is young people, are they going to fly 24 hours on a plane to drink beer in the Ocean Beach Hotel? “Well honey; it’s Carnivale in Rio or a beer in a pub in Perth. Toss a coin.”

If ‘relaxed lifestyle’ is all we have going for us; NEWSFLASH; that’s an immigration strategy, not a tourism strategy.

If local colour is what we’re selling, for God’s sake, don’t fill up the ad with bland-looking models acting badly. Use REAL people who look interesting. Let’s hear some Australian accents! Americans in particular find Australian accents very engaging; instead we serenade them with insipid guitar music.

Ironically, they’re using Russell Morris’s ‘The Real Thing’ as the sound track and they’ve completely emasculated the REAL version and turned it into MUZAC. The original is a fabulous arrangement which could be the basis for a very strong campaign and HOLD THE PHONE they’ve removed the emotional underpinning of the song; the line that says: “there’s a meaning there for me”. *Bangs head against desk*.

Now what is the only thing in this ad which will be remembered by international viewers? Close your eyes for a minute and pretend you’re not Australian. What stood out?

Kangaroos. The reason they keep putting kangaroos into ads for Australia is that research shows people love them. So, knowing that, do we create wildlife corridors close to the city and promote ourselves as the wild west of Australia? Do we invite tourists onto golf courses where kangaroos hang out? If Kings Park were populated with kangaroos and you could take your pet kangaroo for a hop along the beach, which city in Australia would Oprah be visiting?

Tourism marketing (like just about all marketing) is PRODUCT and BRANDING and not much else. We have neither product nor branding at present. Tourism Australia is absolutely correct to direct Oprah to Sydney, Melbourne and the Great Barrier Reef. They’re brands and Perth is not. How much do you want to bet Oprah will nurse a joey on camera?

Here’s a song about Perth.

Christien Meindertsma spent three years researching the end uses of the range of raw materials that derive from pigs. Then she photographed the products that include a little bit of pig. Paint. Bullets. Beer. Sandpaper. Marshmallows. Beauty masks. To name a few. Her charming talk on the book follows.
I don’t know about you; I often have problems with Vimeo videos. You may have to play it through without volume first to buffer it locally and avoid the stop/starts.

TEDxAmsterdam: Christien Meindertsma from TEDxAmsterdam on Vimeo.

A simple book concept beautifully executed. Let me say that another way: the more clearly you define your project the more clearly you will communicate it and the greater your chances of success.

In this case, Christien’s marketing success allows her to powerfully comment on interconnectedness. Ordering the book and can’t wait for her next project.

The invention of the disposable razor is a celebrated marketing story. Invented by Bic, not a shaving company. The reason Bic got into this market was that they were competing with Gillette in the portable cigarette lighter business. The portable razor was a way of undermining a competitor’s profitability. I digress. My point was, innovation very often does not come from market leaders. It’s largely because they’ve developed a particular way of looking at the market.

I recently had occasion to wear makeup, while shooting a video and I looked so good I wore the stuff again the following day. Just for the hell of it. And I liked it, so there.

Men wearing makeup during the day still carries a stigma and it’s a tiny market. A GQ survey in 2005 reported that “92 percent of men would not wear makeup even if it guaranteed them a more fulfilling sex life.” OK, well there’s 8% of us who’d wear flowerpots on our heads.

I think it’s quite possible men’s makeup will become common but it needs a marketing twist unlikely to come from the big cosmetic brands.

Instead of trying to market foundation, a product as symbolically feminine as brassieres, companies should market men’s suncream with added foundation. Guys are happy buying suncream (in summer at least) and once your metrosexual 50 year old sees the difference that foundation makes, it’s down the slippery slope me old hearties.

Of course, getting a shade of foundation that matches your skin tone is critical if you don’t want your mates in the workshop to beat you to a pulp. So the sampling experience needs to be right. Here’s where I think the Internet plays a role. Men are not likely to want to be seen publicly in the cosmetics department. I think they’ll prefer to experiment at home with a sampler.

I suspect the cosmetics companies are too entrenched in the beauty paradigm to address the male market; the major sunscreen manufacturers – Proctor & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson, Merck & Co – can own this business. As heterosexual men become older, vainer and less concerned about being labelled homosexual, this market will grow. ‘Ray for men’s liberation!

That’s not me in the photo but doesn’t he have nice eyebrows?

A brief overview of perhaps the least understood marketing concept: positioning. It’s what you need to get clear on before you start advertising.

Imagine you’re a wealthy business person and your birthday party is coming up. You’ve decided to book a comedian to perform for your friends and you can afford any performer in the world. Who do you choose? Maybe you come up with a short-list of people you think are equally funny: Billy Connolly, Woody Allen, Tina Fey and your next door neighbour, Tim, who does amateur stand-up.

I put it to you that you have a clear mental picture of where each of these people sit in the comedy landscape.

Who would you choose if your friends were mostly Jewish psychologists? Who would you choose if they were mostly people working in politics? If they were mostly blue collar workers? Each performer occupies particular mental territory in your comedic imagination. That territory is their positioning. Connolly is positioned strongly as ‘outrageous’ and ‘irreverent’; Allen ranks for ‘sophisticated’, Fey ranks for ‘sex appeal’ and ‘current affairs’.

Probably you’re unlikely to choose Tim because you recognise that in the minds of the audience he doesn’t have a profile. He hasn’t established a positioning in the market. He might be as funny as the rest, but for the important attributes of ‘famous’ or ‘credible’, he doesn’t rank.

We build up these mental pictures of where people sit in relation to everyone else – different people stand out in different areas.

Same applies to business positionings. What marketers try to do is mark out mental territory and make that territory as proprietary as possible. Because if our positioning is powerfully clear, it will jump into the mind of the consumer easily.

Some positionings are more valuable than others. A surgeon would rather be positioned highly on ‘technical expertise’ than ‘lives close by’. So choose a positioning that is meaningful to your target market.

Pick the absolute most concise positioning. If you are trying to position your widget as ‘convenient’, ‘value-for-money’ and ‘long-lasting’ you’re going to confuse the market. Be single-minded. You don’t have a $50 million budget. (And even if you did…)

In all cases we’re trying to latch onto territory that we can own. Territory that becomes identified with your brand and no-one else’s. It’s hard to own the positioning ‘quality’ if everyone in your industry says they are the best quality. And they probably do. Choose something that you can own and take into account your budget and your competitors’ budgets. You might want to own ‘convenient takeaway’ but you probably can’t match McDonalds’ budget.

Bind the positioning to your brand name so that when customers think of that positioning, they think of your brand. If you are the top-of-mind product you are likely to get the first phone call the customer makes.

Can you successfully communicate that positioning in your advertising? If you’re saying ‘better quality finish’ than your competitors’ furniture, you’d better make sure the finish looks better in your photography than theirs.

Finally, your positioning should reflect who you are as a business. If your advertising says ‘reliable’ and the customer experience is not that, you’re in trouble. If their experience with you reinforces what you’re promising, you’re unusual. People will talk about you. Otherwise you’re just another bullshit artist. I mean advertiser.

Summary
1. Choose a positioning that is majorly meaningful to your target market.
2. Make it incredibly concise. One idea. Three words. That kind of concise.
3. Make sure you can own the positioning, given your competition, your budget and your advertising message.
4. Make sure your positioning is a reflection of the experience you actually deliver.

Went to Sexpo and met Fiona Patten, the Convenor of the Australian Sex Party. I think this is going to be successful and influential. Set up by the Eros Foundation, the sex industry lobby group, it’s attracting the support of commercial operators within the sex industry. That means they’ll have a physical distribution channel through which they can promote membership. I gave Fiona my unsolicited opinion (people love that) – I think their strategic focus should be on gaining members. This is because the mainstream parties actually have very low membership numbers. If the Sex Party get to the point where membership numbers match either of the major parties, they will legitimise themselves in people’s minds. Nobody wants to vote for a party that nobody votes for.

Their web site is already attracting 35,000 uniques a week after just six months and they are more pro-social media than the rest. Okay that’s not difficult. Join the Facebook group here.

They also need to establish in people’s minds that what they’re chasing is some representation and balance in the Parliament. Not a take-over. They need to present themselves as reasonable and normal people and they probably should consider knocking off some of the hard edges on their policies, which are pretty strongly anti-religious. That won’t help.

I wish to point out that I’ve written about this without a double entendre which seems to be beyond most media folk.

Two products at Sexpo I thought were interesting. Sportsheets are a clever product. Restrain your partner using velcro pads that adhere to the sheets. So much easier than those infernal ropes.

Party High Pills is a new business selling herbal euphorics manufactured in Hamilton Hill (in a state of the art garage?) from ingredients sourced from New Zealand and Israel. Good quality presentation; they’ve done an excellent job. Although the danger levels are almost certainly lower compared with Ecstacy and amphetamines I think they’d be wise to amp up the reassurance on their web site about toxicity testing. I’m sure there’s a substantial market there so at some point, someone needs to fund a clinical trial. Meanwhile, will instigate individual sampling for purely research purposes.