Marketing Research Blog

Most people who run businesses are acutely aware of the Blitzkrieg-like attack against the principles on which this nation was founded. What’s happening is akin to what we see in aviation from time-to-time, controlled flight into terrain. It appears as though our leadership is purposely flying this nation into the ground. 

While things now look bad, I am absolutely certain that the American people are about to change our nation’s course from the disastrous direction in which we are heading to that which our founders envisioned in our Constitution.

In the meantime, do we wait for this redirection of our country to occur before taking action to grow our businesses? Absolutely not! This is the time to charge ahead—when the timid won’t. Yes, Virginia, businesses still can thrive!

That’s what I do–help businesses grow and thrive.  I have no interest whatsoever to merely helping them survive. Several years ago, I had a conversation with an experienced banking executive who had just become the CEO of a start-up banking enterprise that realistically had the potential to rapidly become a major, profitable, player in the market. Our conversation was about how I could help him position the bank to profitably realize it’s potential. Among other things, I asked the CEO this simple question “Would you be happy with a loan officer who never made a bad loan?” When he responded with a “yes,” I knew that he was risk adverse and, consequently, it neither surprised me that he didn’t contract with me to help him grow his business nor that a decade later that business has barely tapped its vast potential.

A couple years ago on a Sunday afternoon, I emailed the CEO’s of the top 25 advertising agencies and claimed that I could identify those minor changes in positioning that would greatly increase a brand’s share and well as those minor changes which should be assiduously avoided because  they would hurt share. The note said something like “Many ad agency executives will think that this simple psychologist is  ’delusional’ to even imagine that he could possibly help an agency grow a client’s share; but I also said that a few may think that I am ‘crazy like fox’ and would give me a call. That’s just what happened that very evening– one of the CEO’s reached out to me.

I can help you seriously grow a client’s share. Just  contact me!  Then judge for yourself whether I’m ‘maniacal’ or ‘crazy as a fox.’

I’ m not one of those guys who watches what happens or, worse yet, one of those who wonder what happened. Instead I’m one of those rare people that make things happen. We don’t have to look very far to see that what’s true with people is also true with organizations.

When JFK became President, he brought in McNamara–known as a whiz-kid-from Ford Motors as his Secretary of Defense. It was McNamara who established the military strategies for the conduct of the war in Vietnam with the help of other whiz-kids (MBAs) he had brought with him from Ford. Talk about irony. Now Obama has brought in his whiz-kids to rejuvenate General Motors and Chrysler Motors. McNamara and his whiz-kids had no experience running wars and they failed in Vietnam. Neither Obama nor his whiz-kids have had experience running automobile companies. Why should we expect any more success than we saw with McNamara and his whiz-kids in Vietnam.

As for this simple psychologist and marketer, I have have no experience either in overseeing the conduct  of a war or in operating an auto producer. But I do have  a proven record of successfully helping marketers use their talents and experiences to make things happen. What I do is really quite simple. I help marketing organizations achieve significant  profitable growth–even in the current economic environment.

To have the audacity to claim that I can help organizations achieve significant profitable growth during this downturn in the economy may make it seem to some that this psychologist is certifiably crazy. But if you think that this psychologist just might a sly fox who can achieve exactly what he claims, challenge me!

 In 1970, Philip Morris’ share of the domestic market was about 14%. Currently, it is around 50%. They did this by consistently having their share of voice greater than their share of market. Not just one year, but year after year. And this was when RJ Reynolds vowed not to be outspent.

But what does that have to do with “Marketing Research and Advertising When the Economy Goes South?” Everything. The sad reality is that many otherwise “bright” folks are prone to cut their advertising (and marketing research) expenses when the economy is soft. The fact of the matter is that a soft market is exactly when advertising (and marketing research) investments should be increased, not reduced.

When Philip Morris set out to outpace their competitors, they viewed increased spending in advertising and marketing research as an investment, not as an expense. And their investment probably had a greater return than even they had expected.

In this challenging economy we find ourselves in as we enter 2009, I’d recommend that  well thought-out advertising and marketing research investments be increased, not decreased. Of course, if you don’t mind giving up share to competitors, let them outspend you as did RJ Reynolds (and other tobacco companies) when Philip Morris starting outspending the competition. When they started their heavy spending, share wise they were (as I recall) a distant 4th to the category leader, RJ Reynolds, who had long held more than 30 share points-now far behind the leader, Philip Morris.