Profit by Serving Others
Written by Pat Goggin
Things have a way of not making sense until all of a sudden, they do.
Patterns emerge, some threads of consistency give faith, and then you can see clearly ... until things shift again, and chaos ensues. Do you ever feel that way? Do you ever feel paralyzed by a sea of data and a lack of truth? Life feels chaotic, and hope becomes a strategy. Work feels desperate and you fear being left behind? And you hope what you are being told is true as you rush to keep in step? Can we trust Meta data? Is Twitter safe? Is the programmatic platform transparent? Does Amazon provide a level playing field? We don’t really know the real truth and that is unsettling, as we do our best to spend clients’ money to drive behaviors that grow transactions, to grow businesses through successful marketing programs.
It feels like chaos absent the confirmation of truth.
So how does one make sense of chaos? This quote from serial entrepreneur Mamur Mustapha resonated with me:
It’s clear we need to create a new order.
Ok, that gets us a step closer to the truth. Where do we seek inspiration? For me, I like to check in with respected colleagues to help make sense of the world. This thought from Rishad Tobaccowala has always stuck:
So how do we create new containers for growth?
What are the immutable lessons from the past that need to be re-interpreted to deliver the truths that guide our future? This thought from Maya Angelou rings true:
So where have we been, and what has worked to guide us forward in the creation of a new order? We have been through some distinct eras – “The Golden Age of Ideas” from the 1960s through the 1980s. Big characters, big ideas, building big brands. Ideas work. The Mad Men era.
The 1990s through 2010s can be called the “People Era” where the 4 Ps of marketing (Product, Price, Place and Promotion) were merged with Purpose and Participation to drive Performance.
I started recognizing this when marketing The Coca-Cola Company in Africa, and practicing “Human Touch” or “Values Driven” marketing. It was the genesis of the HumanKind marketing philosophy (Brand Purpose and Acts of Kindness) which took hold at Leo Burnett starting in 2006. It’s interesting that this philosophy still guides Leo Burnett, providing a common language across the globe to this day.
As purpose, participation and kindness increased, social media, influencers, advertorials, partnerships and technology platforms became all the rage and there were many people participating in a brand’s success. Brands were becoming data ecosystems versus communications megaphones. Purpose-led growth was being realized by companies like P&G, Unilever and Apple – companies that had a solid understanding of the difference between collective purpose organizing all company activities, and purpose living only in the ESG department. Purpose leads growth.
"We were collectively headed in a good direction, but as always, short-termism and business realities got in the way of many companies"
- Pat Goggin
Rather than fully embrace the power of purpose and experience, money followed measurement as clients focused on bottom-of-the-funnel activities, which were highly effective at driving conversion for people shopping, but less effective in building an emotional connection, attracting new customers and creating loyal behavior through an understanding of the life-time value of each customer. As many brands were seeking conversions, the prices at media auctions were rising, making both customer acquisition and conversion expensive as many DTC brands have started to learn. Brands and companies were “Renting Success” from data-led technology companies that monetize data as “Bits of Gold.” Private equity money and metrics followed trends in technology/ecommerce, as people were looking to build sustainable brands, quickly acquire customers, extrapolate value on top-line multiples and get rich in five years. There have been some successes, but many more failures. It turns out that building a brand is really hard work, and the shortcuts are limited.
A hard truth emerged – when you rent success, others can raise the rent. Shifting the “pay others for marketing” mindset to understanding behavior, owned experiences and how people leverage platforms on their buyer journeys is a much more specific use of money. Shifting marketing from describing products and services to being an empathetic service to your consumers, customers, employees and shareholders. The data illuminates the path of experience versus attempting to interrupt people when they are thinking about something else. Marketing as a service to deliver empathy, kindness and drive behavior. Data works.
The New Era
So, what have we learned that can help propel our view of the future to create a new order? Here are five things that we can take from the past to shape growth:
Brands, ideas and emotional connections need nurturing.
Purpose-led growth is powerful when the Purpose is collective and intrinsically linked to product.
Experience is everything – User, Customer, Service Delivery and Employee. Data illuminates the “empathetic path.”
Performance is driven by business, not media metrics. Technology is a tool to amplify strategy, it is not a strategy.
Marketing as a Service and Brands as Ecosystems drive behavior and business growth.
It's now 2022. What does the next era look like? How do we create growth strategies that harness the 6 Ps of The People Era? What are the new Ps for the next decade? Let’s add Personalization and Profit. Technology combined with empathy to lead personalization through acts of kindness, and companies embracing owned data strategies to increase profit. In the “Ecosystem Era” there are 8 Ps working together in balance to activate purpose, experience and performance to drive healthy growth and profit. In the “Ecosystem Era”, owned data will fuel truth and truth will fuel experience.
Experience will drive performance and data will be realized as bits of gold fueling profit. We will realize that making money by serving others personally is good business, not some sort of evil conspiracy. Profit creates jobs and takes care of families. Companies have the power to be a force for good in the communities served, and many are. That’s the goal and what we do.
There is a great opportunity for CEOs/CMOs to calm the chaos, find truth they can trust, and create growth ecosystems for the future. It lies in owning marketing data versus renting from others.
How do we make sense of the past and organize growth for the future?
As Rishad says, the future doesn’t exist in the containers of the past. What is the new container for healthy brand growth? We have come to the view that healthy brands operate as ecosystems, where the organisms feed off one another to create a healthy environment. Brand ecosystems connect purpose, experience and performance in the service of healthy growth. Data is the connector of human behavior and growth. Our ecosystems are called Performance Branding Ecosystems, combining the best of branding with the best of performance marketing. Shifting marketing from renting from others, to owning growth strategies. So, how do we leverage Performance Branding Ecosystems?
It’s pretty straightforward.
Purpose to lead growth.
Organizing Idea from the Mad Men days to create emotional connection.
Ecosystem of Experiences to help drive behavior, led by empathy and linked by data.
Performance Marketing that combines first-, second- and third-party data to develop a “Brand Algorithm” that drives business metrics.
Everything is balanced and interconnected in service of healthy growth and profit.
So, the question to brand marketers is: how healthy and balanced is your ecosystem? Do all activities work harmoniously to create behavior and growth? What is standing in the way? How do we move from theory and strategy to execution and results?
Performance Branding Video
Ten questions that can help to illuminate a path toward healthy growth:
Is purpose connected to growth, translated into story and organized via a compelling idea?
Is purpose collective and shared with consumers, employees, customers and investors?
Is there proof that purpose leads growth and profit?
Are company/brand experiences for users, customers and service delivery personalized to activate purpose?
Have you developed a segmentation that quantifies high-value targets to drive growth? A segmentation of key channels and personas within channels?
Do brand experiences enhance consumer/customer buyer journey?
Are Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) aligned to drive behaviors that lead to growth?
Do you have a strong customer data platform (CDP) to track behavior and monitor growth?
Do you have the right MarTech framework for growth?
Do you have effective ecommerce strategy, loyalty systems, and lifetime value of customer?
Hopefully, if you have read this far, you are getting a sense of a new order. An order we can create and control. Grounded in the truth of owned data. At the service of consumers, employees and customers. To drive behaviors that grow brands and companies by increasing profits. Creating Performance Branding Ecosystems that will be growth containers for the future.
About Pat Goggin
Pat is Partner/CSO at Morning Walk and can be seen wandering the city of Chicago wondering how we can do better. He is the originator of Leo Burnett’s HumanKind marketing philosophy, Morning Walk’s experience journey “Truth to Transactions,” and is now guiding the development of Performance Branding Ecosystems. His mantra is “head in the cloud, feet on the ground.” By day he’s bringing big ideas and strategic insights to MW’s vast roster of brands, and by night he’s keeping up with his wife and three busy kids.
