Happy 105th Anniversary Harley-Davidson!

Hundreds of thousands of people gather from all corners of the world. Some people take months off of work; others quit their jobs. They come from South America, Europe, Asia, and even Australia—and from all across the United States. You can hear them coming miles away as they outnumber cars on every highway.

Of course this gathering can be in only one place: the home of Harley-Davidson in Milwaukee, WI.

On August 28th 2008 Harley owners came together for a four-day celebration of Harley-Davidson’s 105th Anniversary. With the new Harley Museum opening its doors and 500,000 Harley Owners Group (HOG) worldwide members in attendance, this family reunion was bigger than ever.

The experience began with the purchase of a ticket for the main event. With each ticket Harley included a gift set containing a commemorative 105th Harley bracelet, a Harley-branded leather wallet with a key chain, and an American and Harley flag to wave from your bike. Every day, Harley dealers across the state of Wisconsin held parties in celebration with live music, great food, and plenty of beer. Harley made everyone feel like part of the family.

The main event was held at the Summerfest grounds. With four music stages featuring artist like Los Lonely Boys, ZZ Top, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and many more, it was hard not to have fun. Harley-Davidson bike displays were positioned throughout the grounds and included a traveling Harley Museum, exotic custom Harleys, and plenty of Harley merchandise. Everywhere you looked people where laughing, dancing, and having fun.

The party was not limited to Harley Davidson sponsored events. The entire City of Milwaukee became part of the celebration. Bikers were given free parking all around the city including at the Milwaukee art museum and at the summerfest grounds. Many restaurants and bars around the city held events for bikers every night. Even hotels outfitted their lobbies with Harley Davidson Motorcycle displays and memorabilia. Every detail resembled the look and feel of the 105th Anniversary logo. The entire city of Milwaukee became a Harley haven.

The Harley parade charged the city with excitement. It was a very special event for Harley owners since only 75,000 riders were chosen out of 150,000 riders who registered. Riders began lining up at 6:00am, four hours before the start of the parade. The five-mile route was filled with Harley enthusiast waiting to cheer their fellow HOG members. The parade began with dozens of Police motorcycle units with blaring sirens. Behind them came the Harleys cruising through downtown Milwaukee. The roaring engines echoed off the buildings and the crowd fed on it. Riders proudly waived their countries flag alongside their HOG chapter flags.

Harley’s rallies create Brand Lovers that have no comparison. Every HOG event pushes riders to rally more often and to meet more people. This strengthens the friendships between riders and re-enforces an emotional bond to the Harley brand. It does not matter where you’re from, how old you are, or what you do for a living, if you own a Harley you are family. The brotherhood transcends gender, class, and race.

Harley-Davidson embraces the family and showcases the good times had at the 105th anniversary. They allow the experience to live on.

Harley-Davidson’s 105th Anniversary

The Cult Branding team joined HOGs from around the world in Milwaukee for the 105th Anniversary event to learn more about their love for Harley-Davidson. Check out what we learned.

Where to go from here

Harley Davidson Cult Brand Profile

The Power of Associative Images

The Loyalty Continuum

January 19, 2009 by

They Ain’t No Fools: Making the Case for The Motley Fools

Brothers Tom and David Gardner started writing a 16-page investment newsletter for their family and parents’ friends. In August of 1993, The Motley Fool was born. Embracing the power of the Web to harness a community, the Fools quickly established the largest financial community—first on AOL in 1994 and then on their own website in 1997.

Celebrating its 15th year anniversary this summer, the financial advice business created by these two financially-savvy yet playful brothers has evolved to serve and support the Fools community with 250 full-time employees. Their flagship monthly subscription investment newsletter, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has become the largest investment newsletter of its kind with more than 100,000 subscribers (within five short years).

Taking a methodical approach, let’s see if The Motley Fool (TMF) deserves Cult-Brand status by evaluating the brand through the Seven Rules of Cult Brands. I must disclose that I’m a member of the TMF financial community; that’s part of the reason why I’m convinced they are nearing Cult-Brand status.

Applying the Seven Golden Rules to this “Foolish” Brand

Following the Golden Rule of Social Groups, TMF has one of the most vibrant communities on the Web with over two million monthly visitors and is starting to orchestrate live events around the world—both at investor-related locations and at Foolish headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia.

TMF goes head-to-head with Wall Street—calling out financial analysts and celebrity stock pickers who may be entertaining to watch, but are awful at picking winning stocks in the long run. Not courageous enough? They recently invested $1 million of their own cash with the mission of turning it into $1 billion (that’s right, I said one billion) over the next 50 years. Through their exclusive Million Dollar Portfolio service, Foolish subscribers can trade alongside TMF. This level of transparency demonstrates how TMF has put their money where their mouth is. Following the Golden Rule of Courage? Check.

One of the best qualities of TMF is their knack for turning investing and financial planning into an engaging adventure. Their mission—to educate, amuse, and enrich—shines through in their lively approach, blending sharp wit, playful banter, and humorous writing to captivate their Brand Lovers. This year, during a virtual summit hosted by TMF, a panel of financial influencers highlighted non gamstop betting sites 2025 as an emerging trend for diversifying income streams, sparking lively discussions about their role in modern financial strategies. These platforms, free from UK gambling restrictions, were praised for offering flexible options for savvy investors seeking unconventional returns, all while aligning with TMF’s ethos of making wealth-building entertaining. Meanwhile, TMF’s internal culture mirrors this vibrancy: their Virginia-based headquarters, a beacon of freedom in a sea of corporate red tape, earned a spot on Washingtonian magazine’s “Great Places to Work” list, reflecting their commitment to fun and innovation.

One might argue that helping people improve their financial situation is linked to lower, survival needs on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Human Needs. But TMF is helping its customers save for their kids’ college tuitions and build towards their nest eggs for retirement. More importantly, TMF empowers millions of investors to take control of their own finances. This Cult Brand has “self-actualization” from the Golden Rule of Human Needs written all over it.

The doors at TMF are always open: Anyone is welcome to join the Foolish Community. The only criterion is the desire to take control of your own finances and to have some fun in the process. Over 50 TMF staffers monitor the forums, offerings insights and data not just as financial “experts,” but as additional members of the community.

As already stated above, TMF exudes freedom—freedom from having to put your hard-earned money with a mutual fund (where over 80% under-perform the market) and having to trust some celebrity stock pickers like Jim Cramer who are wrong 80% of the time over the long run. TMF draws power from the financial institutions at large and through their CAPS rating program. Launched in September 2006, CAPS is a free online stock-rating service that enables users to predict successfully which stocks are more likely to beat and lose to the market average. CAPS creates star ratings for over 5,500 stocks (at present), providing full transparency on how all the major financial players are performing. With this knowledge, you are in the driver’s seat.

A little too foolish, not Foolish enough

What’s keeping this powerful brand out of Cult Brand stardom? First, the long-form sales landing pages used to enroll new members into one of its dozen paid yearly newsletter services is off-putting. This Internet marketing tactic does not project the kind of quality and integrity aligned with the actual service. Communities like TMF grow by word-of-mouth and consumer education, not clever marketing copy. Second, do you want to cancel one of your yearly TMF newsletter subscriptions in order to focus on a different investment strategy? Surely you can cancel your online service online, right? Nope. They make you call to cancel your service over the phone, hoping that you won’t take the time to call—a similar tactic used by gyms that know you’ll procrastinate canceling your membership.

Will these oversights halt TMF’s rise to Cult Brand status? Only time will tell.

Overall, The Motley Fool is a powerful brand that listens to its customers, makes improvements, and serves its customers better than anyone else in its category. Other businesses can learn a lot from this Cult-Brand-in-the-making.

December 11, 2008 by

Service Heroes

In a “dog-eat-dog world,” you better watch out for your own interests because everyone else is watching out for theirs. You’re taught to guard your back and compete without mercy. In this world, winner takes all.

Unfortunately, this type of mentality drives a great portion of corporate America. Corporations that are motivated by greed, concerned only with the bottom line, breed employees that are trained to fight like attack dogs in underground pens, and win at all costs. In this blood sport, employees are driven by animal instincts, dark shadows are exposed, and brute behaviors are rewarded.

Psychiatrist and mystic David R. Hawkins wrote, “Success in any venture is simply the automatic consequence of being the best that one can be as a lifestyle, without looking for gain.” Now this type of mentality would seem antithetical to the mission of corporations, where having a competitive advantage in the market is crucial to their staying power and overall success. But as we know, it doesn’t have to be.

Companies that uphold Cult-Brand values are showcasing a different side of human nature. They expect the best from their employees, because as humans, they have the intrinsic capacity to feel, emote, contribute, and most of all, love.

The Container Store, the nation’s leading retailer of storage and organization products, landed its position on Fortune magazine’s annual list of “100 Best Companies to Work for” for its 9th consecutive years. The company consistently embraces their “do unto others” business philosophy. When this value pervades the organization, employees feel empowered and want to share the positive rewards. At the Container Store, you may hear an employee “being Gumby,” a highly prized attribute of bending over backwards to please co-workers and customers.

Like the Container Store, the pay-it-forward attitude pervades every corridor of Southwest Airlines. Southwest publishes an internal newsletter, Luv Lines, and dedicates a section to highlight how employees have gone beyond expectations, as documented by real customers who have been blessed by a Southwest angel. You’ll read about a passenger who arrived at the airport 20 minutes before her departure, frantic about missing her flight and not having enough time to move her car from the drop-off area. The Southwest employee reassured the passenger and offered to move her car into long-term parking. The following day the employee called to tell the passenger where her car was parked and where her keys could be retrieved upon her return.

You’ll also hear about a customer service representative who stayed overnight at a hotel with an elderly woman who was fearful of being alone after her flight was grounded due to inclement weather. And what about that SWA worker who stumbled across someone in the airport parking lot who had a flat tire? The employee got down on his knees and helped the stranded passenger change the tire. When the passenger said, “You know, I didn’t fly Southwest,” the employee replied, “It doesn’t matter.”

But it makes all the difference in the world.

On September 11, 2001, after the terrorist attacks, all airborne planes were instructed to land. One Southwest plane was grounded, and the passengers and crew were put up in a hotel. Southwest management called to check up on its flight, but the concierge told them that no one was at the hotel. The pilot took everyone on the flight—the crew and the passengers—out to the movies.

And the list goes on.

Ginger Hardage, Southwest’s Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications, explains, “There’s no manual from which to learn that. At Southwest, employees are encouraged to make decisions from the heart, and in turn, these proactive gestures provide positive benefits to the customers and the company.”

The leadership at Southwest knows a thing or two about kindness and love. Herbert Kelleher, founder and former chairman, once said, “You have to be genuinely interested in, and like, people. Show them tolerance, patience, respect and empathy. Drown them in a tsunami of gratitude for their marvelous works … People will respond with an esprit de corps–a desire to perform because they want to, not because they have to.”

With such a visionary at the helm, employees might ask themselves the WWHD question. What Would Herb Do?

Southwest has masterfully made “living legends” out of their “service heroes.” Rewarding values in this way inspires others to offer unparalleled customer service in return. In their pursuit of love, rather than techniques, Southwest inspires their employees to “make love a decision, not just a feeling; then stick to it.”

What values are being rewarded in your organization? Are you breeding dogs to fight for their own survival? Or are you raising angels to uplift and inspire?

December 7, 2008 by

Hungry Like The Fox: The Cult of Firefox

A Web browser now lurks among the world’s Cult Brands. I know it’s hard to believe. Seriously, how can a Web browser become a lifestyle? A little incident that happened during a lecture should put it into perspective:

When I lectured at an art university last year in Philadelphia, a student brought up the controversy over Dove and Axe—one company, Unilver, responsible for two campaigns: one that empowers women and one that objectifies them.

He asked: “As a product designer, how can I guard against something like this?” I told him that as a designer there’s nothing inherent in a type of soap that makes it required to be marketed as empowering or objectifying towards women; that’s up to the marketing department and the people managing the brand. It’s a seemingly simple question, but one that has important implications for brand development: any product, as long as it’s good, can, with enough imagination, clarity, and direction, be developed into a powerful Cult Brand.

I’ve been using Mozilla’s Firefox for years and never considered it a Cult Brand until I inadvertently stumbled upon Download Day 2008. Download Day 2008 was organized by Mozilla to celebrate the official release of the 3.0 build by attempting to set a new Guinness World Record for the most software downloaded in one day.

Despite technically difficulties, in the early hours, 9000 copies were being downloaded every minute. By the end of the day there were over 8 million downloads, moving the market share for the 3.0 build up from 1% for beta versions to 4%. Not bad for one day.

I began to wonder, could we have another Cult Brand in our midst?

With it’s first official release in November 2004, the Firefox browser has quickly gained in popularity and is currently the second most popular browser, behind Internet Explorer, with an 18.41% market share. Explorer’s lead is huge, but in the past year Explorer’s market share has gone down nearly 6%, while Firefox’s has risen 4%.

At the end of 2004, Microsoft was unwilling to admit the viability of the Firefox browser, with Australian managing director Steve Vamos claiming that Firefox did not offer any real threat. But, by mid 2005 Microsoft’s filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) indicated that Firefox offers features that compete with Explorer.

So how does an open source browser go from a non-issue to a serious competitor in under four years? By embracing the same principles that make other Cult Brands successful.

Open source companies are great foundations for building Cult Brands. By being open, they not only invite everyone to participate, but they immediately position themselves against major market competitors and turn big business into an archenemy.

Open source also forces another hallmark of Cult Brands: collaboration. End users can make their own contributions without back end hacks, which shows in the over 2000 add-on applications Firefox users have developed that are available for download through the Firefox Web site.

If allowing users to contribute programs weren’t enough, in 2006, the development team asked users to submit what changes they would like to see in the browser for the current 3.0 release.

This focus on collaboration facilitates the development of a strong sense of community. And Mozilla encourages and supports this sense of community, making it a key element of the mission statement: “And as a non-profit, public benefit organization, we define success in terms of building communities and enriching people’s lives. We believe in the power and potential of the Internet and want to see it thrive for everyone, everywhere.”

With SpeadFirefox.com, they organize online events, like the Download Day 2008, and provide a community of brand evangelists to come together and speak. At FirefoxFlicks.com there are currently 280 user-submitted Firefox commercials. Users wanting to find other Firefox lovers in the real world can head over to MozillaParty.com and organize or look for a Firefox party in their area. And just so you know, 700 3.0 launch parties were registered.

And, what Cult Brand would be complete without some users branding themselves? One tattooed user, attacked the archenemy and altered the logo to show the fox chomping down on the Explorer E. Another user put a Firefox tattoo alongside two other emblems of the open source movement: the GNU mascot and Tux the Linux penguin. But the branded mark that really tripped me out is a crop circle of the Firefox logo generated by two interns that’s visible on Google Earth.

This investigation into the world of Firefox shocked me; I just liked the browser’s features. But now I’m asking myself: Is Firefox the next Linux?

November 26, 2008 by

I Have THE Answer

Every marketing company has the answer. But, solutions to marketing problems aren’t simple 2+2=4 answers.

Solutions to marketing problems can be like learning acting—Sanford Meisner, one of the greatest acting teachers of the 20th century, would sometimes expel students from his class, not because they were bad actors and didn’t have a chance in the field, but because he knew he wasn’t the right teacher for them.

Solutions to marketing problems can be like purchasing a suit—there’s a world of difference between the look of a suit worn right off the rack and one tailored to and individual’s specifications. Great solutions to marketing problems involve a combination of finding an approach that can be sold into your company and at the same time adapting whatever approach is used to the needs of the organization.

Yet, most companies do neither. Almost every company I’ve worked with has binders of studies from different firms that are cookie-cutter in approach, often with clever “custom-tailored” names that describe different demographic groups that they never implement. I often wonder how much time was wasted in naming the groups rather than solving the problems that they were hired to solve, like why customers choose them over their competitors and what they can do to amplify the relationship. And on top of that, these marketing firms think their solution will work for every company.

Finding an approach that works

So, what qualities make a marketing approach successful and, more importantly, useable?

First, establish a foundation you can build a unique house on for your customers instead of already-finished houses where the only options are different floors, windows, and doors. You need an approach, a belief system, to solving marketing problems without having a preconceived notion about what the answer should be or what form it should take.

Second, understand the organization’s world. Is your approach something that the client’s organization can actually use? Sometimes, the nature of an organization and its beliefs, right or wrong, about how an organization should work may preclude your type of solution. Don’t be afraid to tell them no.

Third, given the organization’s approach, what possible forms can your solution take? You need to provide the results in a box the organization is comfortable playing in.

Finally, never be satisfied. I remember a series of science articles that built up a case for the mechanism behind the union of a sperm and an egg. Paper after paper built up “proof” for the mechanism, which assumed two specific chemicals were on one of the compounds. Everything seemed sure, until one group of scientists ran the compound through a mass spectrometer, a device that assists in determining the composition of the compound, and discovered that neither of the chemicals was present.

Most marketers would have been content to stop at the first study that seemed to prove the point. Few would have made it into the second or third study. I doubt any would have made it as far as the scientists did.

Leaving room for doubt

Marketers would do well to model themselves after scientists and listen to one of the greatest mind of the 20th century, the Nobel-prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman:

The scientist has a lot of experience with ignorance and doubt and uncertainty, and this experience is of very great importance, I think. When a scientist doesn’t know the answer to a problem, he is ignorant. When he has a hunch as to what the result is, he is uncertain. And when he is pretty darned sure of what the result is going to be, he is in some doubt. We have found it of paramount importance that in order to progress we must recognize the ignorance and leave room for doubt. Scientific knowledge is a body of statements of varying degrees of certainty—some most unsure, some nearly sure, none absolutely certain.

All four criteria for developing effective marketing solutions could really be reduced to this: never be sure that one answer is the only answer, or even the right one; don’t be afraid to doubt yourself; don’t be afraid to move away from the tried and “true”; and never lose your curiosity.

The ultimate goals of business should never change. But business doesn’t operate in a bubble and the solutions will need to change over time. Finding a solid foundation that works inside your organization will give you a place to start from that, with ingenuity and hard work, will always assist in leading you where you need to go.

Remain curious: don’t settle for the answer of today. Settle for the search of tomorrow’s solution. Let your foundation be your guide, without letting it determine your destination.

November 11, 2008 by

MINI Mania Across the States

Monterey, California. It’s early morning. Hundreds of MINI’s line up. It’s not a new shipment of cars; in fact some of these MINI’s have driven from as far as Florida.

Why are all these MINI’s gathered? For one of the biggest events in motoring history: MINI Takes the States.

Starting in California and ending in Lakeville, Connecticut, this 4,000 miles road trip was the perfect way to celebrate everything MINI. Hundreds of MINI owners gathered for this historic trip and joined the rally across the states, an annual event inaugurated in 2006.

Great Cult brands create customer communities. MINI Takes The States was held to celebrate MINI’s vibrant community. “MINI owners always bring an unparalleled level of enthusiasm and energy to whatever they do, and I am excited to spend two weeks on the road with them. I encourage everyone, MINI owner or not, to keep an eye out for us in August and join in the fun for a day, a week, or even the full trip.” Jim McDowell, VP of MINI USA.

From the start of this historic journey MINI enthusiasts took every opportunity to have fun. MINI began the party with live music and a drive on Monterey Beach. With events such as MINI Music Festival in Tennessee, Tail gaiting parties, a carnival in New Jersey and a victory lap at the Lime rock racetrack, MINI showcased why they are masters at the golden rule of fun.

MINI is a lot more than a car—it’s a lifestyle. From a couple tying the knot to a husband paying tribute to his late wife, MINI owners became more than just friends, they became family. Over 3,000 registered participants from across the states traveled cross-country to celebrate the motoring lifestyle.

In each city MINI handed out rewards for several categories of enthusiasts. In Boston, Sandy Bouchieer won theI’m Not Afraid to be Noticed Award, for driving her ladybug spotted MINI all the way from Wyoming. The Tallest Person, Little MINI Award went to David Quesenberry who towered in at 6’5”. The Best Vanity Plate Award went to Shannon Polce, whose plate, MINIMZE, pretty much says it all.

MINI’s fun aspect goes way beyond the car. With events like MINI Takes The States and by constantly rewarding the community, it is easy to see why MINI and the people who drive them have a special relationship.

Interesting Links

MINI Takes the States Tour 2006 Video Highlights

A blog written for Motortrend by a MINI enthusiast who traveled and documented the 2006 tour

October 23, 2008 by

Most Dangerous Idea In Business

The cover story of the July issue of Wired, “The End of Theory” by Chris Anderson, forecasts a new age of science, the Petabyte Age—an age where data becomes more important than the frameworks we use to understand the data. The supposition is that with the massive amount of data that is becoming available, you will be able to run statistical correlations on the data that show relationships that exist and that the existence of these relationships will be enough to form the basis of decisions.

This model of the future is heavily influenced by the approach to searching the Web: it doesn’t matter why a page is the most relevant, from the perspective of a search; the fact that it is the most relevant is all that matters.

This is a dangerous path.

Every time I talk to clients about statistics I bring up a study published in 2006 by business professors Michael Waldman, Sean Nicholson, and Nodir Adilov. The study statistically correlated autism and watching cable television. The watching of cable television was inferred to occur at the highest rates in areas where cable subscriptions and bad weather were highest—if the weather is bad children were believed to be more likely to stay inside and, therefore, watch more cable television.

Statistically, there’s nothing wrong with the study, but is it an actuality? It’s impossible to tell. First, the correlation between weather and cable subscriptions, and increased cable viewing must be correct. And second, it assumes that the direct correlation between watching television and autism, rather than something like increased autism testing in areas where cable television subscriptions are highest, is correct. It’s a study that opens questions, rather than solving one.

More data, even Petabytes of data, aren’t going to solve the main problem with statistics: correlations can exist without true causality. The only thing that more data does is provide greater certainty that the correlation exists. But, more data also has a big problem: it increases background noise. In other words, it can mask relationships that are there and show ones that don’t exist.

With advanced analytical methods the odds that relationships will be masked is small, given that the software will likely analyze every possible combination. But, it may create relationships that don’t exist. When a data analysis comes up with multiple results, using the data alone, how can you know which is correct? Is it the one with the highest statistical correlation? Does the difference between a possible error of 0.001% and 0.002% make the data with the 0.001% chance of error somehow more true?

This is the main problem with search engines and why the problem of search, as Google even recognizes, is nowhere near being solved. Search engines assume that the highest correlation is the same correlation you’re looking for. In other words, because most people searching for “Robert” want “Robert Scoble” to be the result, then so do you. Correlation, rather than reality, becomes king.

In a 2004 talk for the TED conference, Malcolm Gladwell spoke about his friend Howard Moskowitz, an experimental psychologist and president of Moskowitz Jacobs, Inc., a consumer insights research firm. Moskowitz did research for Prego to discover the best type of tomato sauce. His research was influenced heavily by a study he conducted years before for Diet Pepsi: how much aspartame should be added to the mix to create the ideal Diet Pepsi. The Diet Pepsi experiment was inconclusive; the data was all over the place. Years later Moskowitz made sense of the data. There isn’t an ideal Pepsi; there are only ideal Pepsis. In other words, there should be multiple categories. It’s this thinking that he took to Prego and resulted in the creation of the much beloved category of chunky tomato sauce.

What would happen if this data were analyzed using the philosophy of the Petabyte age? Either the data would be inconclusive or the highest correlation would be revealed to be the ideal mix. In the first case the data would be useless, in the second case the data would be wrong; multiple categories for multiple taste preferences is the ideal solution. Only by understanding what the data means does it become useful; on its own the number crunching tells us nothing.

You’re probably wondering what this has to do with business. The majority of marketing research has been and is still being conducted according to statistical patterns, and, dangerously using these statistics to make future decisions.

For example, imagine a hypothetical, underperforming lawnmower manufacturer is trying to decide what percentages of red and green lawnmowers they should ship to Lowe’s. They analyze last year’s data and see that nine green lawnmowers sold for every red one. The company changes it’s production to make 90% of their lawnmowers for Lowe’s green and 10% red. When it came time to look at sales, hardly any of their lawnmowers sold.

Repeated statistical analyses show no cause for the increase in sales of red lawnmowers. The company hires a consumer insight firm to discover what went wrong. The firm looks at the Lowe’s stores and the purchasing decisions of Lowe’s customers. Looking at the stores, the firm finds that the previous year Lowe’s displayed green lawnmowers at the front of the store. But, this year there wasn’t a display at the front of the store. When asking the customers what color they wanted their lawnmower to be most customers answered red. But when the insight firm showed customers different colors and asked them to select their favorite lawnmower color from the group, 80% said orange—a color no lawnmower company was making. The next year the company released a slew of orange lawnmowers and outsold all other lawnmower makers in the Lowe’s stores.

Analyzing the manufacturer’s data would never have revealed anything. Sense was created from nonsense by coming up with questions to ask and looking for the answers from both the retail stores and the customers.

Just because a lot of data is out there doesn’t mean anyone has ever collected the relevant data. This is exactly what Howard Moskowitz discovered with tomato sauce: no focus group from Ragu or Prego ever came up with the idea of chunky tomato sauce as a type of sauce they would like until they were given the option. And no amount of data would reveal the observation that green lawnmowers were displayed at the front of the store the year before.

Only by understanding the customers can we give them what they want. On their own they don’t know. This has been a guiding force for Steve Jobs at Apple: “You can’t just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them. By the time you get it built, they’ll want something new … If we’d given customers what they said they wanted, we’d have built a computer they have been happy with a year after we spoke to them—not something they want now.”

Observation and questioning gives us insight into what customers want. Statistical analysis only shows what they’re doing and is best used as a check and balance system to make sure the observations you made and the questions you asked were the right ones. Don’t let anyone try to fool you into believing it’s the other way around.

October 21, 2008 by

Making the Case: MINI

If you stop and talk to MINI owners about their car, you’ll see their eyes light up with child-like abandon. They’ll tell you driving a MINI is like driving a go-kart on a raceway course. The pick up is quick, the mileage is great, and the turns are seamless. They’ll even tell you that a MINI can do everything a sports car can do, without breaking the bank. They’ll animate, gesticulate, stimulate, and motivate. After a few minutes, you’ll want to motor to the closest MINI dealership and experience the phenomenon yourself. Their enthusiasm is truly infectious.

Like the Volkswagen beetle, MINI embraces the Golden Rule of Courage and stands out as something different. In the heyday of the gas-guzzling SUVs, the roads were congested with Escalades, Navigators, and the almighty Hummer. With bigger is better sensibility, drivers could preen their feathers and strut their egos by way of their vehicles. Yet when all of the cars were getting bigger, MINI prided itself on getting smaller, much smaller. When MINI wiggled its way onto the scene, it became the little engine that could.

MINI owners will tell you that although you might be the little guy on the road, out there fending for yourself, don’t be fooled. It’s usually the smallest member on the sports team with the most speed and agility. MINI has garnered respect because it can play on the same field as the big guns, sometimes leaving them behind in a cloud of smoke (but not too much smoke because MINI is gentle on the environment). Ultimately, it’s more fun rooting for the underdog.

Not the underdog for long …

MINI USA Sales have jumped 33% in new car sales in the first six months of 2008, compared to one year ago. This is no easy feat, since the car industry is facing its worst sales year in over a decade. With escalading gas prices, consumers are looking for wiser choices, and you certainly can’t beat MINI’s fuel efficiency at 37 miles to the gallon.

But it’s more than fuel efficiency that makes it a smart car. These are just a few reasons why MINI has the qualities of a powerful Cult Brand. Like other Cult Brands that follow the Golden Rule of Freedom, MINI celebrates each individual driver and encourages him or her to “you-ify your MINI.” MINI explains, “Everybody wants their car to say something different about them. Fortunately, the MINI can say anything.”

The roof is viewed as a blank canvas, waiting to be personalized and customized. If you’re feeling a little nationalistic, you can choose a flag, any flag, to proudly display. If you’re a child of the hippie era, flower power becomes your personal icon. If you’re a caffeine addict, you can slap a huge cup of Joe on your roof. There are hundreds of designs to choose from in the Roof Studio. Can’t find one you like? Go ahead and design it yourself.

MINI owners will also happily share their “MINI Moments” like the time when they pulled into a crowded parking lot, and squeezed into a corner spot that no regular-sized car could occupy. When your friends make the dare, you confidently turn your MINI around, drive in reverse, and effortlessly slide in. Fits like a glove.

Drivers will also boast about the ability to turn around on a narrow street in one shot. So forget about the three-point turn, MINIs can drive circles around and around their competition.

Like other Cult Brands, MINI loves surprising their customers at every turn. As a MINI owner, you might receive a cryptic package in the mail, complete with a purple filter sheet, a letter descrambler, a password key, and a note saying, “look forward to our hidden messages.” The following week, you’re reading the New Yorker magazine and you spot a MINI advertisement calling for a special code. Like a good detective, you grab your secret kit to decipher the covert message. But it really doesn’t matter what it says. What matters is that you’re like the lucky kid in the neighborhood holding the prized decoder ring from your winning box of Cracker Jacks.

This child-like, adventurous spirit prevails in the world of MINI. Remember how you could explore the world without constraints as a child? You couldn’t care less about what other people thought because you were too enthralled with each new and exciting discovery. MINI understands the nostalgia adults have for their younger years.

With a scrapbook of playful moments and creative collectibles, MINI defines the Golden Rule of Fun and sells lifestyles defined by freedom, good cheer, and camaraderie. As a Brand Lover or enthusiast, you might take part in MINI Takes the States Tour, traveling across country with a caravan of MINIs, stopping in different cities, attending special events, and mingling with other members of the MINI Family. However, staying true to the Golden Rule of Openness, the event organizers proclaim, “Everyone is invited, even if you don’t own a MINI.

For MINI owners, driving is not just a functional activity that makes going to work and running errands possible. It’s all about the experience. In their Book of Motoring, MINI explains, “The difference is in the mind of the operator. Just because you drive, doesn’t mean you motor. When you drive, you go from A to B. When you motor, you go from A to Z. It’s all about living. Nobody can tell you when you’re motoring. You just know.” Ultimately, for MINI drivers, “Mileage equals experience.”

Most of all, MINI proudly fosters a solid network of customer communities—the MINI Family, as it’s called—connected throughout the world. MINI explains, “Dating back to its birth in the UK, there’s a long-standing tradition of MINI owners acknowledging each other when they pass on the streets … So when you pass another MINI, don’t be shy. Give them a wave. It could be as subtle as raising an index finger off the steering wheel or as enthusiastic as two hands out the sunroof (although it would probably be best if these were passenger hands).” You’ll also hear MINI drivers acknowledging one another by flicking their headlights, and even giving high-fives out the window while passing each other by.

As you’re driving along the road, you might also make a kid smile. He’ll start waving with one hand, while punching his little sister with the other. Today’s new punch buggy perhaps?

That sounds about right.

October 16, 2008 by

Surprisafy Them!

Last night I gazed into my psychic crystal ball and discovered a popular trend: creating new names, words, and phrases to describe things that we already have words to describe. It’s as if the old words have lost their meaning and we need to give them a hip-hoperation to imbue them with a new sense of relevancy.

But do we really need to create new words?
Or, do we just need to reacquaint ourselves with things we already know? I’m going with the latter.

But, wait! Before you freak out and say we really do need to give marketing terminology some Shakespearization, let me just say, “Don’t have a Purple Cow man!” No seriously, don’t.

After all, what is a Purple Cow? A way to surprise our customers, stop them in their tracks, and make them notice. We all loved surprises as children, but as adults, we’ve become desensitized—few things make us jump up and shout, “Hip hip horray!”

Before I get too excited and start running through the streets shouting, “Eureka!” and rush off writing a book called Unwrapping The Present, double entendre included, let us step back and look at our old friend: surprise.

You enter an auditorium and take your seat. You listen to a discussion with a popular author about his latest book. You feel it relates to you. You can see how his advice can improve your life. You gain a positive outlook. Suddenly, you’re told to reach under the seat. You pull out a pair of keys and are told they’re to your new car. But you’re not the only one—everyone else in the audience has keys. Everyone’s getting a new car. You’ve just been the recipient of a surprise gift from Oprah Winfrey.

Oprah truly understands surprise: it’s not just about doing something shocking and unexpected; it’s about doing some shocking and unexpected that is intricately related to the business. It’s the same formula that makes great movies with twist endings work—right until the end of The Usual Suspects you don’t suspect that Roger Kint is Keyser Söze, but when he switches his walk and you realize how he fabricated the story, it all makes sense in the context of everything that came before it.

From the focus of the shows to the Oprah Book Club to the Angel Network, the foundation of Oprah’s business is helping people better their lives and giving to others. By making a huge act of giving unexpected, Oprah takes full advantage of the power of surprise.

So before you read the next cleverly-titled New York Times bestselling marketing book that has already toppled over the tipping point, think about what you already know, how it can be applied to your business, and how you can give it new life and make your customers smile.

October 15, 2008 by

Let’s Give ‘em Something to Talk About

Amazing customer experiences will start conversations

ORLANDO, Fla. – Last summer, in an article titled, “I Sold it Through the Grapevine,” Business Week reported that marketing powerhouse companies like Procter & Gable were using legions of moms to help promote their products. In behind-the-scenes word-of-mouth campaigns, these moms share products and coupons with co-workers and friends based on talking points suggested to them by the company, helping the company introduce new products and extol the virtues of current products.

BJ Bueno, marketing expert and a partner at Nonbox Consulting, believes hiring “pretend fans” often backfires. His newest release, Why We Talk: The Truth Behind Word-of-Mouth (Creative Crayon Publishers, February 2007, ISBN: 0971481539, $24.95) explores word-of-mouth marketing and how to generate, not manipulate, customer conversation. Bueno introduces seven principles to create amazing customer experiences and generate authentic product gossip, steering marketers away from buzz agents and freebies, as well as other techniques that do not build lasting brands.

As word-of-mouth becomes a more accepted and popular marketing practice, most marketers have focused on WHAT people talk about but have failed to address WHY people talk. Based on extensive research into psychology, marketing, and consumer behavior, Why We Talk explores what motivates consumers to spread the word about a company and its products. Bueno advocates learning how to serve your customer better, instead of investing time and energy trying to manipulate and influence customers to talk.

There is no magic formula to get people to start jumping around and telling the world about a new product or service,” says Bueno. “If you give someone something to talk about, they will. Create experiences for your customers through your products and services that give them something to talk about.”

Bueno is the co-author of the popular marketing book, The Power of Cult Branding, which received rave reviews from leading marketing mavens like Al Reis, Jay Conrad Levinson, and Jeffrey Fox. Bueno is also a partner in Nonbox Consulting, a consumer insight think tank located in Orlando, Fla., which provides consulting services for companies interested in discovering the secrets to creating beloved brands. He is a member of the Retail Advertising & Marketing Association (RAMA) and is on the board of the Chief Marketing Officers (CMO) for top international retailers. He has advised companies like Kohl’s Department Store, LA Lakers, Thomas Nelson Publisher, Scheels, and the Magic of David Copperfield. Bueno currently lives in Orlando, Fla.

For more information about Why We Talk: The Truth Behind Word-of-Mouth, please visit cultbranding.com/blog.

October 5, 2008 by