Take It Face To Face

MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, the list goes on and on. Marketers are constantly hitting the pavement trying to find the newest trends and methods that reach their target segments. Regardless of who reaches these destinations first, any worthwhile ideas are imitated or copied, and eventually spread throughout the rest of the group.

Coors Light's Current Campaign

MillerCoors’ VP of Marketing Innovation, Patrick Edson, would include those channels in the “80% of insight that everybody knows.” He argues that in order to truly create a competitive advantage, you must focus on the 20% of insight that is spent tracking down great ideas.

This begs the question, “how can you tell which ideas are great?” While many firms rely on quantitative measures, Edson argues that insight (and I’ll argue instinct) is the driving force behind innovation. While numbers can act as hard evidence for the success, or failure, of an idea, they can only do so much in predicting outcomes.

We’ve all had that feeling when we know an idea will work without any formal reason or evidence to believe so. These are the ideas currently driving the marketing and advertising behind MillerCoors’ Coors Light brand.

During a time period littered with chopped marketing budgets and decreased spending, Coors Light has strung together 14 consecutive quarters of increased sales.

Not bad for going with your gut.

Thanks to Mr. Fish for the above.  While it sounds a bit outlandish, I’ve certainly heard the equivalent of what was said above said in corporate offices.  It most often happens in the marketing department.  Numbers or down, or a new campaign has been slow in coming and some new ideas are needed to make an impact.  Not just the same ideas repackaged with different graphics and slightly different copy.  Something NEW!

This is often the case when most companies or people could use an outside opinion.  Whether it be reaching out to a firm that has created new ideas time and again (wink wink, nudge nudge…) or just asking a friend who works in a different industry.  I call it “puzzle vision,” you’ve probably experienced it in some way as well.  You’re sitting at the table, maybe with a few friends on a slow day toying around with a puzzle until you get to one part you can’t get passed.  After hours of staring at this thing, you can’t get any further.  Suddenly, a friend passing back from the kitchen glances down and solves the problem in less than an effortless minute.

I have yet to encounter a situation where calling a few friends and picking a few brains hasn’t been rewarding in the end.  Sure they may throw some joke ideas at you, or things that don’t quite fit - but just some out of the box suggestions can get you moving in a new direction.

Good luck and Godspeed.