Hey Kleenex, stop fighting the environment!

So strike me down if I’m wrong but my prediction is that Kleenex’s brand new product, Kleenex Hand Towels (http://www.kleenex.com/handtowels/), will be off the shelves in less than a year.

I have seen their advertisement on network television frequently over the last week or so and their marketing pitch to convert you from reusing a traditional hand towel (at home) to using their new disposable hand towels is that “hands are only as clean as the towel that dries them.” Well, I probably agree with that but environmentally, they’re bucking the system and my bets are on the system!

I’ll admit it, I’m not the “greenest” person in the world (although working on it) but even the voice in MY head screamed “HELLO???? Isn’t my traditional hand towel that I can wash over and over with my energy star (yes, I do have an energy star) washer/dryer better for the environment? This was my first reaction (and obviously a strong enough one to blog about it).

This entry isn’t about what’s green and what’s not. It’s more about strategic marketing. What is strategic marketing? In the end, it’s about business growth - selling product/services - growing the bottom line. A lot goes into the formula for strategic marketing including environmental influencers of the products and/or services that I’m marketing for my clients.

Environmental influencers are huge and cannot be ignored! Case in point: I have a pharmaceutical client that wanted their sales reps to gain more face time with doctors to increase prescriptions for a particular drug line. After some obvious and not so obvious research, I told them straight up it wasn’t going to happen. Docs are making less and less money and have less and less time and are paying more and more in insurance all while increasing their patient visits to make up for it their losses. And it was only getting worse. These are clearly environmental influencers that are impacting their audience.

Even the best chotsky or incentives (which are highly regulated now) wouldn’t get the reps face time. But what we did find out as result of a survey we distributed to sales reps and docs was that the “best incentive” by far was a medical textbook.

So instead of bucking the environmental influencers in our strategic marketing campaign, like Kleenex is doing against the “green” movement, we embraced it. We invited Docs to attend webinars (on their own time) in return for free drug samples and a medical textbook of their choice. It was a FABULOUS success. So, while we didn’t get what the client originally ordered – face time – we did grow the bottom line and that’s what strategic marketing is!

Kleenex, would love to hear from you! You’re a huge company with super smart marketers. Please tell me how you’re justifying your product that is the opposite of green with your strategic marketing approach that even set off bells and whistles in my “less green/SUV driving” head. Tell me how I’m wrong!

I welcome your comments!

Meg Ferguson, Vision House Marketing

“Extremely smart and effective strategic marketing”

You’re Judged on Your Associations

Mom always said…"you are who you associate with" and she definitely wasn’t wrong. Of course as time went on, you grew up, became wiser, made your own choices and while you still shared interests and maybe even the same group of friends, you probably no longer shared every opinion or thought of theirs anymore. That’s a good thing.

Unfortunately, some companies (and/or marketing agencies, marketing vendors, etc) don’t seem to get the "you are who you associate with" rule which is a very costly and damaging mistake.

Point in case: On a rare evening when I had an hour or so to watch TV I was watching a show on the issues surrounding human trafficking all over Asia. It’s awful. Young girls sold into sex slavery against their will. Horrible living conditions and little education make this lifestyle (for lack of better terms) a vicious cycle for these children and women who grow up under these circumstances.

"Okay, Meg, got it…it’s horrible and all but how does this relate to marketing and business?" Well, as I watched this expose, I viewed two ads during two different commercial breaks. One was for Korean Air and the second paid for by the Travel Commission of Vietnam encouraging tourism. Unfortunately, Korean Air and the Travel Commission of Vietnam didn’t think to ask (or their marketing agency or vendors did think or care) to ensure their ads were aired in a rotation that employed the "negative marketing" tactic.

Negative marketing (just a word I use..nothing official) is when you avoid placing your company in the middle of anything that is relative to your company’s services but is negative. So while I know Korean Air and the Vietnam Travel Commission are in no way promoting human trafficking, my mind is subconsciously (or consciously) associating the two because of the proximity of the two messages. A HUGE MISTAKE! So I ask myself, "Why would I want to go to Vietnam (even if it’s not the country that the expose is focusing on) when human trafficking in Asia is such a huge problem? I have no intentions of supporting that activity."

So business owners, Marketing Directors, TV/Radio/Print/Online marketing vendors, do your clients a favor. They’re hiring you to act on their behalf and produce revenue! Gone are the days when anyone should tolerate vendors that take the client’s money for the sake of making a buck. We need to partner, care, embrace the client’s business and it is our responsibility as marketers to make sure they see a positive return on the money/time they spent with us.

Marketers, be responsible. Business owners and Marketing Executives, be aware. Ask questions!

This is Meg Ferguson from Vision House Marketing and I would love to hear your thoughts/experiences with "negative marketing."

You’re lucky you have a job!

A relative of mine, who will remain nameless for reasons that will become clear, works for a large company - cubicle land/ corporate America. We all know that company. Similar to “Initech” from the movie, Office Space (if you haven’t seen this movie, it’s a must for “lessons learned in management”). The company with multiple layers of management who mostly were promoted to their own level of incompetence (ref: Peter Principle). They were great programmers so they are promoted to manager. Most of the time, programmers don’t make good managers = Peter Principle. Anyway, back to my relative….

His “leadership,” after cutting bonuses, reducing vacations and benefits and have every employee do the job of two (they laid off the other one) has the mentality that they’re lucky to have jobs therefore their complaints go unacknowledged. Morale is in the toilet and “leadership” is asking these people to follow them…or else. Or else they lose their jobs?

This entry is about leadership. There is nothing more I despise than a weak “leader” - a leader who has been appointed to a position but has not earned it. Company owners, managers of big and small companies alike, listen up! People might follow you under duress but to quote a line from Office Space “they’ll do just enough to not get fired.” Bottom line is, they won’t respect you and a leader leads out of respect and trust that is earned not appointed. The more you have their backs, the more you realize how much they sacrifice for your company, the more you provide a “give and take” atmosphere, the harder they’ll work for you, the more loyal they’ll be, more your people respect you, the more productive they’ll be! It is this that will see your company through these tough economic times.

So managers, business owners, if you’re one of “those” complaining about your subordinates or employees not doing their jobs, take a look in the mirror. YOU are to lead them. That is YOUR job! What kind of a leader are you? Challenge yourself. How can you find the balance between asking your people to do more with less and follow you?  There is another movie I highly recommend which focuses on the qualities of a true leader - The Last Castle with Robert Redford.

Post your stories about your leadership! What are qualities that define a good leader for you?