What did I learn from books?

IN SEPTEMBER 2011 I reached the age that Cardinals retire. Because I have spent all my working life, except my time at Her Majesty’s Pleasure – national service in case you misunderstand – in marketing and advertising I have accumulated a large number of books on those subjects. I am attempting to give them away. But, when asked to write about ‘which books influenced you most’, it was not as simple as I thought.

The books rapidly divided into three areas: those that influenced marketing strategy; those that influenced marketing techniques; and those that helped me on advertising. Of course in the last two categories there is overlap.

On strategy my main influences were military, Von Clausewitz, Von Moltke, and Montgomery. Clausewitz1 the earliest writer pointed out that defence was easier than attack. Defence chooses its ground and has time to prepare. A numerical superiority of at least three-to-one was necessary to give the attacker a chance of success. This point is no help to marketers. It suggests inevitable defeat in any attack. Yet history shows that victory by numerically inferior forces is common.

Its relevance is that the attacker has to deploy his forces in such a way as to produce that superiority where it can be effective. Moltke2, victor in the lightning Franco-Prussian war of 1870, understood that one way to overcome this disadvantage was speed of movement and selective deployment of force. He failed, however, to consider the aftermath – civil war and the Paris Commune. Montgomery3 further refined Moltke by articulating the theory of balance. If the enemy strength is evenly deployed in front of your army, he is ‘balanced’. The next move is to attack on a three-to-one superiority basis at a point in his line where you perceive his weakness to be.

CONSIDER THE CONSEQUENCES

If for example you were to attack a brand leader – let us say Ariel – on a frontal attack it would be very expensive. In the short term with money to buy shelfspace and advertising you would take market share but for how long would you hold it when they counterattacked?

If you find this simplistic and obvious, may I remind you of the American ‘search and destroy’ tactic in Vietnam, and Eisenhower’s ‘broad front’ WWII strategy. This last was successful, due to overwhelming superiority, but costly in time and casualties. Before I leave this subject, I need to mention ‘shock and awe’ – the USA strategy in Iraq 2. This was successful in the short term but destroyed infrastructure and alienated the population, with the result that 10 years later they are only now extricating themselves, and possibly leaving a worse mess. Marketing lore has many examples of such unintended consequences – the famous Hoover promotion and the even more costly Persil Power mistake to name but two.

BRAND MARKETING INSIGHTS

In brand marketing, a major influence was Stephen King, who I had the good fortune to work with. Particularly influential was the T-Plan which articulated the relationship between rational and emotional responses to advertisements and how they contributed to the overall communication effect. His paper ‘What is a brand?’ remains definitive.

About 18 months ago these papers4 were collected and published together with a recent commentary from luminaries working in the business today. He wrote before the digital age but I do not doubt that he would have given us insights and methods that we would all have embraced. What did he teach me? I am a practitioner, Stephen was original. I learned how to judge an advertisement or promotion. I learned the proper and improper use of research. I did not get it right all the time, but my strike rate would have been a lot worse if I had never known him.

MARKETING WISDOM

Let me turn next to marketing textbooks. My shelves are crammed with them. There is all too much repetition or regurgitation in so many of them; by that I mean presenting an old theme in a supposedly new way and failing. I will not insult worthy authors by naming names.

I will say that two did influence me. One is Peter Doyle’s Marketing Management and Strategy5. This is a textbook for students as befits a Professor of Warwick University. I found it useful when looking to refine an argument for a presentation I was to make. I am afraid I cannot claim to have read it cover to cover.

The second is Michael Porter’s Competitive Strategy6. He subtitles the book ‘Techniques for analysing industries and competitors’. There is much to admire here, but one quote stood out for me: ‘Products have a tendency to become more like commodities over time as buyers become more sophisticated and purchasing based on better information. Thus there is a natural force reducing product differentiation over time.’

Nobody seems to comment today on the effect that the relative demise of ITV has had on brands. Weakened brands deprived of this weapon have induced manufacturers to play more and more into the hands of retailers. Porter published his book in 1980. It is still valid.

ADVERTISING GURU

I turn now to advertising. An early influence was not a book but a brilliantly satirical video. Jeremy Bullmore, David Bernstein and Ronnie Kirkwood did the piece for the IPA. They judged an advertisement presented by Sam Rothenstein. She came in with the famous ‘The Man in the Hathaway Shirt’ advertisement, a creation of David Ogilvy.

It features a man clad in the shirt who has a black patch over one eye. Sam responds to typical client-type criticism of the advertisement and eventually, with other amendments, the eye-patch is lost and the advertisement no longer noticeable or communicative. It is called Risk & Responsibility and it is very funny. The lesson is that if you take all the ‘risk’ out of an advert you run a bigger risk of not being noticed at all.

Of course Jeremy Bullmore was a major influence. His book Behind the Scenes in Advertising7 is still a classic. It is a collection of his writings and lectures over many years. He has the priceless ability to deliver the very serious and insightful message to his readers/audience with a riveting wit. He keeps you on edge wondering what he will say next and fearful that you will miss something. In the book there are so many pieces worthy of attention. Perhaps the first two pieces ‘Advertising: what is it?’ and ‘Competitive persuasion’ will have to do. He makes, among others, the point that primarily advertising has to inform. How many advertisements do you see today that make you say: ‘What are they selling?’ I became notorious in my latter days as a marketing director for saying: ‘I want to let the consumer in on the secret of who is paying for this space.’ Pompous of course, but deliberately so.

I cannot leave his book without mentioning his speech to Marketing Society Conference. He calls it ‘Saving on the Chardonnay: your very own conference theme while you wait’. You will have to read it to get the joke but his overall message was a simple one. As a marketing person do not take yourself too seriously; remember so much of what you do is common sense. If marketing and advertising brands is not fun – why do it? I can only agree.

Tony Scouller was marketing director IDV (UK) now Diageo)

References

1. On War, Carl von Clausewitz.1932/1968.

2. Moltke On the Art of War, 1993.

3. The Memoirs of Field Marshal Montgomery, 1958.

4. A Master Class in Brand Planning, Stephen King, 2007.

5. Marketing Management and Strategy, Peter Doyle, 1998.

6. Competitive Strategy – Techniques for Analysing Industries and Competitors, Michael E Porter, 1980.

7. Behind the Scenes in Advertising, Jeremy Bullmore, 1998.