LaughlinOutLoud

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” — George Santayana

It’s as apropos a way to start a new year as any. And to paraphrase a paraphraser (Sir Winston Churchill): We must learn from history or we’re doomed to repeat it. But as the marketing – and cultural – landscape changes ever more rapidly, understanding the horizon requires not only lessons from history, but an understanding of your current vantage point.

I agree that those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it. But I think an essential – if less snappy – addendum for the marketing world is:

“Those that have learned from history but fail to consider its new context are doomed to woefully underperform.”

I’ve written before about looking back to look ahead. The true benefit of good data is the ability to make better decisions next time. But even the best data is no sure bet. Taking a past success and projecting it forward is dangerous. Because the one thing that data – and history – can’t inform is current context. Think of the change over the last five years. History and data may be fact. But they’re not necessarily truth.

You can absolutely learn from your industry’s benchmarks. You should positively take learnings from your last campaign. But using either to look ahead can be dangerous unless they’re looked at through the Lens of Right Now. Which has never mattered more than, well, right now.

My advice: As you start your 2011, take what you know, what you’ve learned and what you believe to be true. Then look at it through the Lens of Right Now. What’s changed? What’s stayed the same? And what does that mean for your next big thing?

Interested in more stuff I find interesting? Follow me on Twitter.

[Ed. note: I’m big on holiday traditions. Including watching the same reruns and reading the same books every year. How The Grinch Stole Christmas has recently been reintroduced into both of those categories for me. So why not make it a hat trick and make it a blog tradition, too? This was one of my favorite pieces from last year. And an important reminder for anyone who works in the business of intangibles.]

We are faced with choices on how best to tell stories on a daily basis. Often times, the decision comes down to “do we / can we trust the audience?” Can we trust them to be smart enough? Engaged enough? Responsible enough?

I was reminded of this the other night as I read How The Grinch Stole Christmas. It was the first time I had read it in, likely, twenty-five years. And you know what? [Spoiler Alert!] Despite the promise of the title, The Grinch doesn’t steal Christmas. He can’t. That’s the point of the story. Here’s how the book ends:

And he brought back the toys! And the food for the feast!
And he… HE HIMSELF… !
The Grinch carved the roast beast.

The story ends with The Grinch carving the roast beast at the Who’s Christmas dinner.

When run through a committee, the story would have been called “The Unsteal-able Holiday.” Or “How The Grinch Couldn’t Steal Christmas.” Or, maybe most palatable, at least in hindsight, “How Christmas Saved The Grinch.”

But it wasn’t run through a committee. Or made into a literal translation. It was told by someone who believed strongly enough that this was the exact right way to tell it. And that people would get it. The good Doctor Seuss used a title that was, in reality, the opposite of what the story was about.

And the story has been told and retold ever since.

Happy Holidays.

Last week, I wrote about data being powerful. But it isn’t naturally powerful. Data needs help. Thought must be given to both its organization and presentation. At it’s best, data is illustrative. At it’s worst – well, we’ve all sat through those meetings. Three rules of the road for getting the most out of your data, without having to change how you collect it:

Make it pretty. There is a false dichotomy between data and creativity. The presentation of data should be interesting, engaging and relevant. Data can change perceptions. Data can affect behavior. Don’t think of numbers like a textbook or a spreadsheet. Think of them like an advertisement. A great, recent example? The connections Facebook makes – a map of human relationships.

Make it simple. Mark Twain once said, “I didn’t have time to write you a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.” It’s an important idea that should be applied to every research presentation. Everywhere. Always. The common misperception is that numbers are scary. Numbers aren’t scary. How they are presented? That’s another story. Complexity is a choice. It’s one that must be avoided. Watch Hans Rosling take 200 years of population data for 200 countries and make it make sense. In four minutes.

Make it a story. There was a great piece in the New York Times a few weeks back titled Stories vs. Statistics that made the point that with stories, we suspend disbelief. But with statistics, we suspend belief. That’s insightful. Make sure your numbers have a point. It doesn’t matter whether they are interesting or rational, surprising or expected. Make them memorable. Make them sharable. Tell a story.

It’s a scary time to graduate. I get that. A year and a half ago I graduated from the University of Minnesota with a degree in professional strategic communications and a dream job in mind: working at an established, award-winning agency in the Midwest.

A brief stint at a coffee shop post-graduation left me a bit dissatisfied, but a career launch at a publishing company and a lot of persistence eventually landed me at Laughlin. So how did I score my dream job? Here are my tips for standing out and making sure that even if you’re not always gaining a job out of your search…you’re gaining something.

1) Don’t be afraid to go the untraditional route.
After endless online applications left me high and dry, I decided to go directly to the source. When I saw a job opening at Laughlin that I was qualified for, I contacted Joyce O’Brien (who had posted the position) via LinkedIn. Instead of just being thrown together with an abundance of online applicants, making direct contact can help you stand out and make you look ambitious. Don’t be afraid to use social media outlets to help you connect during your job search.

2) Realize that an interview is more than a job opportunity.
Interviews are opportunities to learn from someone who is sitting in the seat you wish you were in. Set up informational interviews with individuals at organizations you admire. Ask questions. Learn. When you get an interview for your dream job, be sure to prepare questions in advance. Even if you don’t get the job you should still leave with some knowledge.

3) Make yourself memorable.
Set yourself apart from other interviewees by leaving behind a tangible memento. That way when the company is reviewing candidates, they have something to remember you by that shows off your personality and ability.

4) Follow up with a thank you.
It seems so simple, yet so many people forget to do it. Whether it was a job interview or an informational interview, you should always follow up with a personalized thank you. It can be in the form of an e-mail, a handwritten note, or something a bit more creative (check out this cookie thank you from a recent Laughlin job applicant).

5) Be reasonable.
Recent grads have the tendency to want instant gratification. You know where you want to be and you want to be there now. But things take time and not every interview will lead to your dream job. Don’t be too hard on yourself. Your career is a journey and you might have to work at a coffee shop before you get your big break.

Interestingly enough, these five simple tips for the job-hunting grad can also be applied to brand building.

1) Don’t be afraid to go the untraditional route.
Don’t be afraid to try out social media. It’s an ever expanding realm and a great way to reach and engage an audience. However, don’t fall into the trap of throwing out information into the abyss of the internet because everyone else is doing it. Make sure to have focus, strategy and purpose behind your social media usage to ensure that you see the results you want to see.

2) Realize that brand building is more than a business boosting opportunity.
Realize that as you build your brand you have the opportunity to learn. To learn about how your brand is being perceived, about your target audience, about your competitors. The more you know the more successful you’ll be at positioning and building yourself.

3) Make yourself memorable.
You have to have a message associated with your brand that continues to resonate with the audience even after they’ve seen your commercial or visited your Facebook page. A leave behind, take home message that keeps bringing the consumer back.

4) Follow up with a thank you.
Not necessarily literally. But it’s important to show your customers some appreciation and to reward them for their loyalty.

5) Be reasonable.
Brand building takes time and effort. Don’t expect overnight results. Be patient, do your homework and flex those creative muscles.

So whether you’re a recent grad, a brand builder, or both…tuck these five versatile rules into your back pocket and go get ‘em!

When Project Management was first explained to me I winced. I cringed. I put up my wall of “That’s not the way I do things.” But I must admit to being a convert. Here’s why:

Project management encourages action. It helps me move from making lists to making things. It gives a framework to move ideas forward. And provides motivation to overcome the Lizard Brain.

I’m in the middle of the book Making Ideas Happen by Scott Belsy. I picked it up on my way back from hearing him speak at a recent conference. I encourage you to do the same. His premise is compelling: Most ideas never happen. Those that do aren’t necessarily the best. And they don’t happen by mistake.

What makes them happen? Organization and a bias towards action. So why do we intuitively rage against the concept of both?

It’s doubtful your ideas live in a meritocracy at your work. Sadly, it’s likely they don’t live in a meritocracy in your own head. So a compelling case can be made that project management can not only make our work better, it can make our work… exist. I like that:

Project management encourages efficiency. This presentation by Derek Robson illustrates how Goodby Silverstein & Partners creatives are expected to be efficient. Goodby’s formula derives a “hit rate” from ideas that are produced and ideas that aren’t. They know who is productive. I’ll be the first to admit that efficiency can be a dirty word. But it’s a powerful skill when it’s tied to effectiveness.

Project management encourages collaboration. By being mindful of process, ideas can be shared earlier and in a more organized fashion. The benefits are two-fold. First, collaboration can lead to innovation – and innovative ideas are the ones that move needles and reshape categories. Second – and, again, from Scott Belsky who may have been channeling John Madden – people will only act like owners of an idea if they feel like they own the idea. In today’s fast-paced world, the more supporters of your idea you have, the better.

Project management encourages proactivity. Jack London once said, “You can’t wait for inspiration, you have to chase after it with a club.” Project management encourages the club. It might give you the club. It may even be the club. But it will undoubtedly set you on a course for action. And it’s action that changes things.

I’ve written in the past about how marketers use too many militaristic words. But for all the military phrases we do use, there is one we don’t use enough – the operational pause. I believe incorporating this approach into our day-to-day would allow most work and most initiatives to be more effective.

An operational pause is a proactive, temporary stop in the action. It’s used to serve as a logical break before transitioning to another phase of an operation. The thought is that stopping allows for greater success in what’s next.

Steve Laughlin has a simple four-step process for how to have an idea.

1. State the problem.
2. Immerse yourself in it.
3. Now get away from it.
4. Wait for the idea to come to you.

Step Three is immensely important, but often overlooked. Getting away from what you’re working on helps you with what you’re working on. For marketers, this could mean attending a conference, reading something you typically don’t or simply taking a walk around the block. (Note to self: Take a walk around the block.)

Taking a planned break may not seem like good advice when your inbox is full. But you never know where a game changing perspective may be hiding.

That was the premise of a presentation we gave along with one of our clients – Delnor – earlier this week at the Society for Healthcare Strategy and Market Development (SHSMD) conference. The presentation was titled, “Does Hospital-Defined Quality Matter In A Consumer-Defined World?”

Hospital-defined quality is becoming more important in the world of healthcare. An article from the Chicago Tribune two Sundays ago reports, “The trend toward quality measurements and standards has been in the works for several years, but implementation of the new health law is adding to the urgency.” It would be easy – as a healthcare marketer – to read that, call a meeting and immediately begin promoting your quality scores.

But doing so may be ignoring 80%-95% of the population.

We just closed the first of our nationwide Pulse surveys, tracking consumer perceptions in the world of healthcare. A few of our findings worth noting:

• Only 19% of participants reported being aware of clinical quality and / or patient satisfaction ratings being available online.

• Only 8% reported ever looking into quality or patient satisfaction ratings and seeing specific scores.

• Only 4% reported ever having their opinion of a hospital be changed by a quality or patient satisfaction rating.

So this potentially seismic – and “urgent” – shift in the world of healthcare marketing is news to most consumers. Which means healthcare marketers better translate their message accordingly. Especially in this new Age Of Engagement.

It’s an easy trap for marketers to fall into. And applies to situations beyond Hospitals and Quality. Our advice in this age of two-way dialogue applies across categories, too. It’s a simple, yet often overlooked approach.

1. Understand how the consumer defines the equity you care about – in this case, quality. (“So, you define quality as patient-centered care?”)
2. Find a common ground. (“Patient-centered care is one of our most important outcomes of better quality scores.”)
3. Use that as a starting point for a conversation. (“Let us tell you how we get to patient-centered care by way of measuring – and improving measured – quality. This is something we have – and you should – take very seriously. Let us explain why…”)

As I alluded to in last week’s post, everyone has something to sell. A product. An idea. A suite of services that will move your needles and rock the very foundation of your category.

And just about everyone has suggestions on how to give a better Elevator Speech. At the time of this writing, a Google search finds 343,000 results (in a worth-mentioning .28 seconds). Here’s mine: Get on the elevator and keep riding. If someone offers to ride the elevator with you, take them up on it. Never turn down the opportunity to give your speech. Because the more you tell your story, the better it gets.

We are all invited to more meetings to pitch (and re-pitch) our stories than we probably care to attend. But, unless it is physically impossible for me to be there, I always accept. It’s one more at-bat. One more opportunity to explore a new wrinkle. One more chance to find the one thing that will make the difference between meeting and exceeding expectations.

Brands can do this, too. Of the many lessons I believe we can learn from the man your man could smell like, the most important may be from @bud_caddell. His take? The Wieden+Kennedy and Old Spice teams evolved the story. They didn’t move away from something they believed in for the sake of moving away. Or because they got bored. They tinkered. They focused. And they eventually struck gold.

In the case of Old Spice, hindsight appears to be 20/20. But something I believe we can see with a little foresight: Re-telling your story – again and again – makes good sense.

Collaboration and integration are powerful tools for innovation. Fresh perspective helps. We’ve innovated everything from medical treatments to mp3 players. And that’s why I’m going to start sharing everything I know.

Collaborating lets you innovate your insights. It leads somewhere new and, often, more interesting.

Even for the most anal-retentive planner, sharing your findings early (and often) can prove invaluable towards the end result. I’m reminded of this often within the walls of LC. Integrating with specialists allows me to see things in new and interesting ways. I’ve also been reminded of this lately in much of what I read.

Collaboration – even among rivals – can lead to better solutions. A recent New York Times article reported: “In 2003, a group of scientists and executives… joined in a project that experts say had no precedent: a collaborative effort to find the biological markers that show the progression of Alzheimer’s disease in the human brain.” A great deal of progress – progress that might not have otherwise been made – is now under way.

Not depending on your answer can lead to better solutions. In the much-Tweeted article titled “How Will You Measure Your Life?,” Harvard Business School professor Clayton M. Christensen shared his approach to helping people answer questions: “When people ask what I think they should do, I rarely answer their question directly. Instead, I run the question aloud through one of my models. I’ll describe how the process in the model worked its way through an industry quite different from their own. And then, more often than not, they’ll say, “OK, I get it.” And they’ll answer their own question more insightfully than I could have.”

Even just sharing data can lead to better solutions. I recent Malcolm Gladwell piece titled “Drinking Games” made the point that it’s often not the anthropologist who delivers the a-ha moment. The wife of famed anthropologist, Dwight Heath, reported, “It is not anthropologists who recognize the value of what they’ve done. It’s everyone else. The anthropologist is just reporting.”

It’s natural to want to deliver all the goods. To own the project from beginning to end. But enlisting the help of other experts and specialists, letting them come up with their own solutions and being confident enough to know that they may be able to innovate your insight can leave you – and your business – in a better place.

Russell Davies wrote a seminal post (for me, at least) a few years ago on How To Be Interesting. One of piece of advice he shared was “Every week, read a magazine you’ve never read before.” It’s good advice. For planners. For marketers. For people. I took it to heart.

Looking back through today’s lens, I wonder if he’d give the same advice. 2006 was a long time ago. And, even though he was writing a blog at the time, magazines were still the go-to source. Things have changed. Now, it’s worth noting that I do subscribe to multiple magazines: The Harvard Business Review, McKinsey Quarterly, Fast Company and Wired, for starters. But that list in itself is pretty telling about where I go (and don’t go) for news, insight and inspiration.

I did a little self-evalutation after last week’s post. We’re all constantly evolving. Myself included. In doing so, I became aware of three meaningful shifts in my own appetite for media.

Shift One: I err on the side of more. Understatement of the year: I like Twitter. I’ve written about it before. It’s a great source of information, insight and inspiration. I’m betting that my ability to connect new and interesting things will outweigh an attention span that’s measurable in minutes. So far, so good.

Shift Two: I don’t read much about advertising. Ten years ago, I read AdAge, Adweek, and Brandweek. Now I read publications like The New York Times and the aforementioned subscriptions. I follow Twitter feeds like @forrester, @the99percent and @pewresearch (and, in keeping in the spirit of Interesting, I try to find a new one every week.) The new voice of the marketer is rarely in the old sources.

Shift Three: I appreciate all sides of the issues. In a real – not cable news – way. This week, for instance, I read an entire Fast Company article (a magazine I subscribe to) without reading Fast Company. Rather than go to the source for its profile of Alex Bogusky, I read his Posterous blog where he had inserted his comments and context where he deemed it appropriate. As I was doing so, I felt like it was a watershed moment in media.

A professor once asked me about what books I would recommend to her students to read. I gave her a list of blogs. I love the quote from last year’s Planningness conference, “Modern branding isn’t being taught in books, it’s being created in the marketplace.” Knowing where to find the teaching is essential.