Are You Weird Enough to Win?

Tom PetersThe NAB Radio Show

New Orleans/09.06.2001

“We are entering an era of no limits, with nothing to brake the cascade of human intelligence

unleashed by the Information Age. The Web essentially allows all the brains on earth to communicate and share insights in real time, around the globe, all the time.”

Jeffrey Young, Cisco Unauthorized

“In 25 years, you’ll probably be able to get the

sum total of all human knowledge on a

personal device.”Greg Blonder, VC [was Chief Technical Adviser for Corporate Strategy @ AT&T] [Barron’s 11.13.2000]

<1000A.D.: paradigm shift: 1000s of years1000: 100 years for paradigm shift

1800s: > prior 900 years1900s: 1st 20 years > 1800s

2000: 10 years for paradigm shift 21st century: 1000X tech change than 20th

century (“the ‘Singularity,’ a merger between humans and computers that is so rapid and profound it represents a rupture

in the fabric of human history”)

Ray Kurzweil, talk april2001

Part I: Brand InsidePart II: Brand Outside

Part III: Brand Leadership

Forces @ Work I

The Destruction Imperative!

“The corporation as we know it, which is now 120 years old, is

not likely to survive the next 25 years. Legally and

financially, yes, but not structurally and economically.”

Peter Drucker, Business 2.0 (08.00)

“Good management was the most powerful reason [leading firms] failed to stay atop

their industries. Precisely because these firms listened to their customers, invested aggressively

in technologies that would provide their customers more and better products of the sort they wanted, and because they carefully studied

market trends and systematically allocated investment capital to innovations that promised

the best returns, they lost their positions of leadership.”

Clayton Christensen, The Innovator’s Dilemma

“Acquisitions are about

buying market share. Our challenge is to create markets.

There is a big difference.” Peter Job, CEO, Reuters

The [New] Ge Way

DYB.com

The Gales of Creative Destruction

+29M = -44M + 73M

+4M = +4M - 0M

Brand Inside

Brand Org: Lean, Linked,

Internet-driven, Virtual

White Collar

Revolution!

108 X 5vs.

8 X 1= 540 vs. 8 (-98.5%)

IBM’s Project eLiza!

Brand Inside

Redefining the Work

Itself: The WOW Project

“Reward excellent failures. Punish

mediocre successes.”

Phil Daniels, Sydney exec

“Learn not to be careful.”

Photographer Diane Arbus to her students (Careful = The sidelines,

per Harriet Rubin in The Princessa)

The greatest dangerfor most of us

is not that our aim istoo high

and we miss it,but that it is

too lowand we reach it.

Michelangelo

Characteristics of the “Also rans”*

“Minimize risk”“Respect the chain of

command”“Support the boss”

“Make budget”

*Fortune, article on “Most Admired Global Corporations”

Forbes100 from 1917 to 1987: 39 members of the Class of ’17 were alive in ’87; 18 are in ’87 F100; the 18 F100 “survivors” underperformed the market by

20%; just 2 (2%), GE & Kodak, outperformed the market from 1917 to 1987.

S&P 500 from 1957 to 1997: 74 members of the

Class of ’57 were alive in ’97; 12 (2.4%) of 500 outperformed the market from 1957 to 1997.

Source: Dick Foster & Sarah Kaplan, Creative Destruction: Why Companies That Are Built to Last Underperform the

Market

Message*: Are all CEOs bozos? Was Darwin a

genius, or what? So, Boss Man, whadda you say

about “risk taking” now?

*And “all that” (2 of 100; 12 of 500) was in relatively placid times.

Brand Inside

Brand Talent: The Great War for Talent

From “1, 2 or you’re out” [JW] to …

“Best Talent in each industry segment to build

best proprietary intangibles” [EM]

Source: Ed Michaels, War for Talent (05.17.00)

“We believe companies can increase their market cap 50 percent in 3 years. Steve

Macadam at Georgia-Pacific changed 20 of his 40 box plant managers to put

more talented, higher paid managers in charge. He increased

profitability from $25 million to $80 million in 2 years.”

Ed Michaels, War for Talent (05.17.00)

Message: Some people are better than other

people. Some people are a helluva lot better than other

people.

“AS LEADERS, WOMEN RULE: New Studies find that female managers

outshine their male counterparts in almost

every measure”Title, Special Report, Business Week, 11.20.00

Women’s Stuff = New Economy Match

Improv skillsRelationship-centric

Less “rank consciousness”Self determinedTrust sensitive

IntuitiveNatural “empowerment freaks” [less

threatened by strong people]Intrinsic [motivation] > Extrinsic

“TAKE THIS QUICK QUIZ: Who manages more things at once? Who puts more effort into their appearance? Who usually takes care of the details? Who finds it

easier to meet new people? Who asks more questions in a conversation? Who is a better

listener? Who has more interest in communication skills? Who is more inclined to get involved?

Who encourages harmony and agreement? Who has better intuition? Who works with a longer ‘to do’ list? Who enjoys a recap to the day’s events? Who is

better at keeping in touch with others?”

Source: Selling Is a Woman’s Game: 15 Powerful Reasons Why Women Can Outsell Men, Nicki Joy &

Susan Kane-Benson

“Boys are trained in a way that will make

them irrelevant.”

Phil Slater

The Cracked Ones Let in the Light

“Our business needs a massive transfusion of talent, and talent, I believe, is most likely to be found

among non-conformists, dissenters and rebels.”

David Ogilvy

“Are there enough weird people in

the lab these days?”V. Chmn., pharmaceutical house, to a lab director (06.01)

AndAnd: Dr. LauraLarry King

Paul HarveyImus

Howard SternPat Robertson

Garrison KeillorJohn Edwards

MantraM3

Talent = Brand

Part I: Brand InsidePart II: Brand Outside

Part III: Brand Leadership

Forces @ Work II

The Sameness Trap

“The ‘surplus society’ has a surplus of

similar companies, employing

similar people, with similar educational backgrounds, working in

similar jobs, coming up with similar

ideas, producing similar things, with

similar prices and similar quality.”

Kjell Nordstrom and Jonas Ridderstrale, Funky Business

“Companies have defined so much

‘best practice’ that they are now more or

less identical.”Jesper Kunde, A Unique Moment

Brand Outside

Strategy 1:Use E-Commerce to

Re-invent Everything!

“Ebusiness is about rebuilding the organization from the

ground up. Most companies today are not built to exploit the Internet.

Their business processes, their approvals, their hierarchies, the

number of people they employ … all of that is wrong for running an

ebusiness.”

Ray Lane, Kleiner Perkins

“The concept of being always on, always connected, is very powerful. … Companies are going to need to reach consumers across all

the different transmission media and devices –

across wireless, on cell phones, into cars, onto airplanes, into cabs,

into the home and TV set. … It’s not just the message – now you’ve got a connection, what do you do

with that?”Marc Andreessen [Mosaic, Netscape, Loudcloud]

“The Age of the

Never Satisfied Customer”

Regis McKenna

Brand OutsideDemographics/

Strategy 2A:

Women Rule!

$4.8T > Japan

9M/27.5M/$3.6T > Germany

?????????

Home Furnishings … 94%Vacations … 92%

Houses … 91%Consumer Electronics … 51%

Cars … 60% (90%)All consumer purchases … 83%

Bank Account … 89%Health Care … 80%

Women … 50+% of Web users; 6 of 10 new users; 83% of wired women are primary decision makers for family

healthcare, finances, education.

Source: Business Week; Jupiter Communications

Read This Book …

EVEolution: The Eight Truths of Marketing to Women

Faith Popcorn & Lys Marigold

FemaleThink/ Popcorn

“Men and women don’t think the same way, don’t communicate the same

way, don’t buy for the same reasons.

“He simply wants the transaction to take place. She’s interested in creating a relationship. Every place women go,

they make connections.”

EVEolution: Truth No. 1

Connecting Your Female Consumers to Each

Other Connects Them to Your Brand

“The ‘Connection Proclivity’ in women starts early. When asked,

‘How was school today?’ a girl usually tells her mother every

detail of what happened, while a boy might grunt, ‘Fine.’ ”

EVEolution

What If …

“What if ExxonMobil or Shell dipped into their credit card database to help commuting women

interview and make a choice of car pool partners?”

“What if American Express made a concerted effort to connect up female empty-nesters

through on-line and off-line programs, geared to help women re-enter the workforce with today’s

skills?”

EVEolution

“Women don’t buy

brands. They join them.”

Faith Popcorn, EVEolution

STATEMENT OF PHILOSOPHY: I am a businessperson. An analyst. A pragmatist. The enormous social good of increased women’s

power is clear to me; but it is not my bailiwick. My “game” is haranguing business leaders

about my fact-based conviction that women’s increasing power – leadership skills

and purchasing power – is the strongest and most dynamic force at work in the American

economy today. Dare I say it as a long-time Palo Altan … THIS IS EVEN BIGGER THAN THE

INTERNET!

Tom Peters

27 March 2000: email to TP from Shelley Rae Norbeck

“I make 1/3rd more money than my husband does. I have as much financial

‘pull’ in the relationship as he does. I’d say this is also true of most of my women

friends. Someone should wake up, smell the coffee and kiss our asses long enough

to sell us something! We have money to

spend and nobody wants it!”

Brand OutsideDemographics/

Strategy 2B:

Welcome to “Old World”!

“ ‘Age Power’ will rule the 21st century, and we are woefully

unprepared.”Ken Dychtwald, Age Power: How the 21st

Century Will Be Ruled by the New Old

Subject: Marketers & Stupidity

“It’s 18-44, stupid!”

Subject: Marketers & Stupidity

Or is it: “18-44 is stupid,

stupid!”

2000-2010 Stats

18-44: -1%

55+: +21%(55-64: +47%)

[ Member Growth: 1987 – 1997

18 – 34: 26%35 – 49: 63%

50+: 118%Source: IHRSA]

“NOT ACTING THEIR AGE: As Baby Boomers

Zoom into Retirement, Will America Ever Be the

Same?”USN&WR Cover/06.01

Aging/“Elderly”

$$$$$$$$$$$$“I’m in charge!”

50+

$7T wealth (70%)/$2T annual income50% all discretionary spending

79% own homes/40M credit card users41% new cars/48% luxury

$610B healthcare spending/74% prescription drugs

5% of advertising targetsKen Dychtwald, Age Power: How the 21st

Century Will Be Ruled by the New Old

Brand Outside

Strategy 3:

BRAND POWER!

“WHO ARE YOU [these days] ?”

TP to Client

Brand = You Must Care!

“Success means never letting the competition

define you. Instead you have to define yourself based on a point of view you care deeply

about.” Tom Chappell, Tom’s of Maine

“You do not merely want to

be the best of the best. You want to be considered the only ones who do

what you do.”Jerry Garcia

1st Law Mktg Physics: OVERT BENEFIT (Focus: 1 or 2 > 3 or 4/“One Great Thing.”

Source #1: Personal Passion)

2ND Law: REAL REASON TO BELIEVE (Stand & Deliver!)

3RD Law: DRAMATIC DIFFERENCE (Execs Don’t Get It: See the next slide.)

Source: Jump Start Your Business Brain, Doug Hall

2 Questions

“How likely are you to purchase this new product or service?” (95%

to 100% weighting by execs)

“How unique is this new product or service?” (0% to 5%*)

*No exceptions in 20 years – Doug Hall, Jump Start Your Business Brain

2001 NAB Marconi Radio Awards

Jim Bohannon. Paul Harvey. Ronn Owens. (Mark Breen.) WGY.

KGO. WTOP.

The individual station! / The

quality of talent! / Point of view! /

Peculiarity!

Part I: Brand InsidePart II: Brand Outside

Part III: Brand Leadership

Brand Leadership

Passion Rules!

“Create a Cause, not a ‘business.’

”Gary Hamel, Fortune (06.00), on re-inventing a

company (Exemplar #1: Charles Schwab)

“Let’s make a dent in the universe.”

Steve Jobs