By 2004, however, Dove had become just another skin care product company that was lost in all the noise. With the dawn of a new millennium, there was a renewed obsession with beauty, personal care, and “age-defying” products. Dove became merely another consumer brand which no longer offered the hottest new thing or latest wonder-drug. As a division of Unilever, it was even fighting for attention among its parent company’s brands, such as Lux, Pond’s, Sunsilk, and Vaseline. With a gradual decline in sales, Dove needed to do something to become relevant again.

In 2004, Unilever approached its PR agency, Edelman, for ideas on how to revive the sagging brand. Edelman’s opinion research division, StrategyOne, conducted a study of over 3,000 women in 10 different countries in order to better understand what was important to them. The results were not groundbreaking, by any means, but very insightful. The study found that “only 2 percent of women around the world described themselves as beautiful, while 13 percent of women said they were very satisfied with their body weight and shape. In addition, 75 percent of respondents strongly agree that they wish ‘the media did a better job of portraying women of diverse physical attractiveness — age, shape and size.’”

This research sparked an idea that grew directly out of the brand’s mission, which is “to make women feel beautiful every day by widening today’s stereotypical view of beauty and inspiring women to take great care of themselves.” The idea was to focus all marketing efforts on what the target market cares most about, not necessarily on pitching products or brands. The result was Dove’s Campaign For Real Beauty (we’ll forgive the use of the word “campaign” in this instance).

The new marketing push launched in England in 2004 and then into the United States the following summer. Since it launched prior to the creation and growth of many of the social media tools we have come to know and love today, it used largely the traditional media to tell its story. This included advertising, videos, workshops, special events, public relations, the establishment of a “Dove Self-Esteem Fund” with resources to further the cause, and even the publication of a book and production of a play. To promote the Self-Esteem fund, Dove launched a series of commercials, one of which aired during Super Bowl XL, which were meant to raise awareness about self-esteem in young women and drive registrations for Dove’s Mothers and Daughters workshops.

As new technologies came into being, Dove utilized these tools to further its reach. In October of 2006, Dove placed one of its seventy five second videos, called Dove Evolution, on a new video sharing website called YouTube. The video showed the process of making up and then touching up a female model for a single photo shoot. Hundreds of millions of views later (if you count all of the versions), it became one of the biggest viral videos in history. Dove also created a website at http://www.campaignforrealbeauty.com that allowed users to vote on questions raised in the campaign, send Real Beauty eCards to friends to tell them how beautiful they are, and even add user created videos to the Real Beauty Wall. Dove even launched a Facebook fan page which has millions of fans at the time of this writing.  All of these efforts centered around the core cause of helping women feel comfortable in their own skin.

Dove Evolution Video

This move by Dove was called “gutsy” by many. It took the complete opposite approach of the rest of the industry, which promoted its products as being able to help you look younger, feel softer, or be thinner. One of my older brother’s favorite sayings is “somebody has to sell soap”, meaning eventually it comes down to someone selling something. Wasn’t Dove’s job to sell more soap? Why all the investment of time, people, and money in an idea that had nothing to do with buying Dove products?

I believe the results speak for themselves. Besides the myriad of industry awards the “campaign” won, sales of Dove’s firming products increased 700 percent in Europe within the first 6 months. Dove sales were up 11.4% the first quarter of 2005 alone, with double digit growth again in the second quarter. In the US, “for the year ending Aug. 7 [2005], Dove’s total U.S. dollar sales rose 6 percent to $500 million, and unit sales rose 5 percent, compared to the year-ago period…And dollar sales jumped 2 percent in just one month, from July to August.” As a measurement of direct impact, by September 2005, “more than 1 million women around the world ha[d] visited the Web site and voted on the images.” Global sales for the Dove brand even broke the $1 billion barrier in 2004.

What was the reason behind success? Dove tapped into one of the things its target audience cared most about – self image and self esteem. Not only that, but Dove tapped into one of our biggest responsibilities as parents and that is to help our children develop positive self esteem. As a father of four daughters, I remember the first time I saw a Dove Real Beauty commercial during the Super Bowl and thinking that it was one of the best messages I had ever heard. What brand do you think was on the shopping list the next time we needed soap, shampoo, or any other cleansing product? You guessed it – and I am not even the target market!

The first in the series is a case study about Qwest Communications. Although Qwest is now a part of CenturyLink, it was once a powerhouse among telecommunications giants. Qwest learned through sad experience that it could not advertise its way out of a crisis. It had to first become a company worth talking about.

Qwest’s So-Called “Spirit of Service”

Qwest Service Truck

In June, 2002, Dick Notebaert was appointed CEO of the floundering telecommunications giant, Qwest Communications International, Inc. Qwest was the main telephone service provider across a 14-state region, mostly in the Western United States. Amid the chaos of some of the biggest corporate scandals in history, Qwest announced plans to restate its revenue for both 2000 and 2001 as a result of an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Justice Department.

The post-restatement damage – Qwest had actually lost $2.5 billion more than it originally reported over the two-year span. Like most in the telecommunications industry, Qwest had suffered from over-capacity and over-investment and tried to “massage” things with some creative accounting practices.[1] To make matters worse, former CEO, Joseph Nacchio, was accused of fraud and insider trading for which, incidentally, he is now serving 6 years in prison.

This came on the tail of another battle faced by Qwest around the illegal practice of “slamming”, or switching local telephone customers to Qwest’s long distance service without their permission. In 2000 and 2001, Qwest paid a $1.5 million dollar fine to the FCC and a $350,000 fine to the Pennsylvania Bureau of Consumer Protection to settle claims of slamming and deceptive advertising.[2]

As a telecommunications marketing veteran,[3] Notebaert’s first instinct when he assumed the reins was to create an image for Qwest that would quickly drown out the memory of the scandals. He became famous (some would say to a fault) for his “we look through the windshield, not in the rear view mirror” mantra.[4] His “mission [was] to brand the company as one that puts service to customers and staff above all else.” According to a case study by PR Week, Notebaert felt, “Our world centers, starts, and ends around the customer. Everything we do is around the customer. And you must be able to communicate with your customers, and through a spirit of service, meet their needs. Every employee and every associate has to understand what page of the hymnal we are on – and what line of the hymn we are on – in order to have a consistent, articulate message.”[5]

As a result of this new mission, Qwest began to roll out an aggressive new advertising campaign. It went from a campaign slogan of “Ride the Light” (meant to emphasize its technological superiority) to the “Spirit of Service” (meant to emphasize a focus on the customer). To his credit, Notebaert knew that it would require more than a catchy tagline to pull Qwest out of its downward spiral. According to Notebaert, “Everything must truly reflect who we are. Who we are is our brand, and every employee has to live the brand. It goes beyond an ad company that gives you a nifty flavor of the month.”[6]

Despite the best of intentions, Notebaert ran into a few problems. Qwest not only  carried the image of those scandals on its back, but it had acquired the infamous US West in 1999 in order to add local phone service to its growing product lines. US West was nicknamed “US Worst” for a reason, and it wasn’t for its lack of features or technology. US West’s customer service, or complete lack thereof, was legendary (see also America “Worst” Airlines). Even an internal Qwest document noted that when Notebaert took over, “…The company’s technicians were so ashamed to be working for Qwest that they traveled to work in regular clothes, rather than in their Qwest uniforms.”[7]

Secondly, while Notebaert spent a chunk of his time meeting with employees trying to drive home his vision (he would even call in posing as a customer to make sure customer service reps were delivering good customer service), he was fighting an embedded culture with rewards systems that focused on quantity, not quality. In short, the employees and customers weren’t buying it. Notebaert’s time was largely spent reorganizing debt, negotiating with employees and unions to forgo raises, and convincing banks to provide cash infusions.[8] His cost cutting efforts salvaged Qwest from the wrecking yards, but didn’t come close to delivering on the “Spirit of Service” promise.

In reality, Qwest had never exhibited any history of extraordinary service and most days its service was only slightly above that of an IRS auditor or a used car salesman. What was the result of Qwest’s “Spirit of Service” campaign? Here are a few customer comments:

• “Qwest’s Slogan is Ridiculous, Considering that Their Customer Service is Ridiculously Horrible…I do still have Qwest DSL service, but only because I don’t want to switch to cable internet and I don’t think I have any other options. If I knew of any other DSL provider in this area I would switch in a heartbeat.”[9]  01/2007
• “I would like to share my recent experiences with Qwest “Spirit of Service” customer service…I am completely astounded by the poor customer service and complete lack of accountability met in these exchanges. It does not appear as though any department knows or has access to knowledge of what the other departments are doing…I would not recommend Qwest to anybody I know and do not plan to be a customer for long.”[10] 09/2006
• “Spirit of Service? How about the Ghost of Service?”[11] 05/2008
• “Their service for the past eight or more years, particularly as expressed by customer “service” people, has been terrible. I’ve personally experienced excessive hold times, inflexible policies, rude reps and unresolved problems. So do I believe Qwest’s Spirit of Service? No I don’t. In fact it is a reason to scoff at Qwest. It takes more than a new slogan and a memo to all employees to make a major change, and even then it might not be enough.”[12] 7/2005

Rather than a rallying cry that motivated employees and signaled a shift in the way the company did business, the slogan “Spirit of Service” became something Qwest’s customers used to beat it over the head with. Did it impress customers? No. Did it motivate employees? No. Did it benefit Qwest in any way? Quite the opposite.

The best analogy for this would be walking into your favorite fast food chain, looking up on the menu board, and seeing a picture of a luscious, juicy burger with crisp lettuce, gently melted cheese, and sliced tomatoes with small, shiny beads of dew cascading ever so slightly down the side. However, when you receive said burger, you have to peel it off some messy, crinkled wax paper and it looks more like a shrunken head or something your cat coughed up rather than the specimen you saw on the menu board.

In Qwest’s case, the burger didn’t look at all like the picture they painted and they were punished for it – or shall we say bludgeoned for it. Customer service is a difficult trait on which to differentiate anyway, but to say it and not deliver made the situation infinitely more difficult. What made matters even worse was that it launched the new campaign at the dawn of the social media age, so not only could frustrated customers share their outrage with the neighbor next door, they could share it with millions across the country and the world. No longer did the “unhappy customer tells ten people” rule apply. With the advent of powerful Internet search technologies, it became “unhappy customer tells everyone”.

It wasn’t until I attended a seminar about a new book and framework from Franklin Covey called The 4 Disciplines of Execution that I stumbled across two terms that explain this concept succinctly. Authors Chris McChesney, Sean Covey, and Jim Huling call these Lag Measures and Lead Measures. A Lag Measures measures the ultimate goal you are trying to accomplish, such as an increase in sales or profits, however, it is always in the past… hence the term Lag. Make no mistake, Lag Measures are critically important, but once you see a Lag Measure, there is nothing more that can be done about it. For instance, once you see the weekly sales report, it is just that… last week’s sales. You can try to do better next week, but nothing can be done about last week.

Lead Measures, on the other hand, are both predictive, meaning they lead to the accomplishment of the Lag Measure or goal, and they are influenceable, meaning you can do something about them. Lead Measures are about narrowing your focus down to the 2 or 3 things that “trigger” success, or your end goal. For example, it could be number of out-of-stock items in a retail store, number of subscribers to an eNewsletter for an eCommerce website, or compliance to 8 key safety standards for a construction company.

The last key to creating an organization worth talking about is to identify 2-3 Lead Measures, or triggers, and measure them religiously. Only then can you drive true results.

I am often asked what are some of the challenges of leading the life of a consultant. My initial answer is that you are both the chief salesperson as well as the chief worker bee… and rarely both at the same time. I have gadgets with me at all times blogging, Tweeting, posting, or otherwise representing my clients’ businesses. I put time, energy, and passion into each and every client engagement and have delivered amazing results. However, for a client to truly see me as an expert, my own house must be kept in order.

Just the other day, I was working with one of my clients to evaluate SEO firms. He mentioned that he had been contacted by several and, when he went to go search for them online, they were nowhere to be found. “How can they deliver results for me if they can’t even generate results for themselves?” was his response. That was a wake up call for me…

I do not promise to inundate you ground breaking wisdom at the top of every hour, however, I do commit to share tidbits of insight that can help you grow your business. How many of you other cobblers are with me?

Here is where you come in. I am ever the believer in crowd sourcing and feedback and would love to hear any ideas or suggestions that you might have. Writing a book, as any author knows, is like birthing a child. This experience has been no different for me. It has been a cathartic process that feels a bit like Dumbledore’s Pensieve (for all of you Harry Potter fans) – a place to empty my thoughts, experiences, and some things I have learned along the way.

Trying to avoid the naivete that many in the social media world exhibit, however, I have password protected these pages so that only those who ask me for the password can view them. Intellectual property is a fickle thing. The Table of Contents and the Introduction are available password-free. However, if you want to read past that point, simply drop me an e-mail at info@navelmarketing.com and ask for the password.

Thank you all for your support and help. It is because of my experiences with many of you that these ideas have come about. Any feedback you can offer on the finished product would be much appreciated.

Many credit the proliferation of e-book readers such as Amazon’s Kindle, Barnes & Noble’s Nook, Sony’s Reader, or Apple’s iPad for driving the consumption of e-books. Though Sony’s Reader has been out for several years, it was the introduction of Amazon’s Kindle in time for the Christmas shopping season in 2007 that launched this rapidly growing trend. The combination of hardware, content, and wireless access was the missing spark that lit the e-book powder keg. It is no coincidence that what started it all was a product called the “Kindle”.

As the proud owner of a Nook, I am amazed at how easy it is to buy, read, and share e-books. I have always been an avid reader (in my adult life anyway), however, I read significantly more with the device than I did before. There are always free e-books that are on promotion and many authors are even giving away the first book in a series in order to get you hooked (I can attest to the fact that it works). I have an e-wishlist with 30 books on it and add one every time I hear about a new book that interest me. Sometimes when I am just sitting around (which isn’t often) or waiting for a plane and get the hankering to read, I just surf the Barnes & Noble eStore to see what’s available.

However, there is an even bigger reason for the growth in e-book sales. In fact, it reminds me of a client I had in another industry. Roaring Springs Water Park is the largest water park in the Northwest. Their season pass program gave the deepest discount to its customers and they considered getting rid of the program. What we did was help them understand that those people who buy season passes were the influencers. They were people who were so passionate about Roaring Springs, they knew they would come to the park enough to warrant a season pass.

Instead of doing away with the season pass program, we helped them add significantly more value through added perks and offerings. One of those was Buddy Tuesdays, where season pass holders could bring a friend for $10. They also stayed open an extra hour on Mondays, just for season pass holders as well as offered a 4th of July BBQ for $1 – again, just for those who were members of “the club”. The result – increased season pass sales and a 30% jump in profit the first year from people who would not only come to the park, but stay longer and spend more money.

How does this relate to e-books? Those who purchase e-book readers are like season pass holders at Roaring Springs. These are the influencers and evangelists. These are those who read so often that they know an e-book reader will be worth the investment. As such, they are shifting their reading habits from regular books to e-books and the book sellers as seeing the shift.

How are Amazon and Barnes & Noble appealing to this crowd? By offering a package of value that goes beyond just buying books cheaper. Those who own e-book readers are part of a club. They get special deals, can lend books to friends, and (in the case of Barnes & Noble) even have dedicated content when you bring your Nook into a store.

What does this mean for the future of the industry? Books will never go away, however, as your influencers and evangelists shift their reading habits you will continue to see a shift in the balance of power. Before, the publishing and distribution process was controlled by a select few. Now e-book readers are making it much more simple to publish and distribute your intellectual property. Barnes & Noble even has a new program called Pubit! that allows to publish your e-book directly to their library. Amazon has its Digital Text Platform which accomplishes the same thing. ePublishing sites like YUDU and Scribd make self-publishing simple and social. The iPad even allows you to have all these ePublishing libraries on one device.

When your influencers are on the move, so goes your industry. The publishing industry is seeing a seismic shift similar to digital music, television programming, and movies on demand. Some might say these earlier movements paved the way. However, one thing is for sure – the book industry is changing forever. Who will lead and who will follow? Who will be caught saying, “it’s just a passing fad”? How will the democratization of publishing affect the quality of the content? All these questions and more have yet to be answered.

Where do you think the growing demand for e-books will take the industry?

A recent Mashable story showcased how the social media landscape has changed in a short 3 years. Back in 2007, web comic XKCD published the original “Map of Online Communities”. If you visit the Mashable article, you can see the original compared to the latest rendition. Notice how the relative size of communities and online tools have changed between 2007 and the one created for 2010 by marketing firm, Flowtown, below. Twitter didn’t really exist back then, MySpace ruled the world of social communities, and “Farmville” would likely get you some strange looks.

Though many social media “experts” would have you believe that social media marketing means getting thousands of followers on Twitter or friends on Facebook, the landscape is always changing. I have often said that the tools will come and go, but the principles of marketing in a connected world will not. You still have to create something worth talking about, no matter the community in which your customers choose to talk about you.

One principle which is true no matter the size is that marketing is as much about what you are NOT as it is about what you ARE. No matter the size of the company, it seems everyone struggles with focus. This became apparent again during a recent workshop I conducted in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for senior marketing executives at Pfizer, Abbott, and Phillip Morris. No matter what industry you in, the natural inclination is to cast a wide net. The prevailing thought is that if you focus your efforts, you risk alienating a portion of the market. In fact, the opposite is true in marketing. The more you narrow your focus, the more you broaden your appeal – because you mean something.

This means there is more power in being the company that specializes in software for the education market rather than the general market. There is more power in being the legal firm that specializes in IRS tax issues than the firm that does everything. There is more power in being a marketing firm that specializes in digital marketing rather than being a “full service” agency. It gives your employees a direction and your passionate customers something to tell their friends.

When you sit down as a team (or possibly a team of one) to create your marketing plan, don’t just determine what you are, decide what you are not. This takes discipline, self-awareness, and the slaughtering of a few sacred cows. However, especially when you are introducing a new product, division, or company, focus becomes critical to staking your claim and establishing a brand.

What DON’T you do?

After you have yourself a quick chuckle, you’ll realize how much truth there is in this simple comic strip. How many companies today have heard of word of mouth marketing as a tactic and decide they need to add it to their “marketing mix”? I know have had too many companies approach me asking if I can do some of that “word of mouth stuff” for them. The problem is that marketing doesn’t happen in campaigns.

Let me share a secret I shared with the attendees at a recent workshop I conducted. The secret to word of mouth marketing is this:

1. Create an organization worth talking about
2. Engage with your customers
3. Arm them to spread the word for you

Notice step 1 is to have something worth talking about. How many companies do you know who miss that first, critical step?

How do you become a company worth talking about, you ask? Check out the “innie” model for a few ideas.

Any examples of companies you have seen who seem to epitomize the comic strip above?