Protect your assets

Greetings once again. It is great to see you back. And great to be back.

And if you were one of those wondering if Cicero was losing his mojo, last week’s blast of enlightenment and wisdom will have convinced you that no mojo has been lost.

Could someone please enlighten this old man and explain exactly what mojo is. How can you expect Cicero not to lose his mojo when he has no idea what mojo is? This is a bit like Donald Rumsfeld, the former American Secretary for Defence, or Defense as they ignorantly spell it, and his ‘unknown unknowns’ although perhaps for Cicero this is a ‘known unknown’. Whatever.

In past few days those very clever chaps at MORI have published some interesting research findings. Every few days it seems that someone or other has undertaken some research among one group or another with their findings eventually hitting the airwaves and confirming the axiom that there are lies, damned lines and statistics.

And of course we should never forget that 81.3% of statistics are made up on the spot.

But back to MORI, surely they would not put their name against numbers that were made up. Or would they?

Anyway MORI have recently spoken with 187 senior board directors of the UK’s leading companies and found out that “94% agree that the asset which offers the greatest protection during an economic downturn is a strong brand”.

Of course this will not come as great news to you but there are people out there in senior positions who do not act or speak like they agree with this statement, the most notable of whom are the Bean Counters in many of our businesses.

So why is your brand your most important asset in a recession? Three reasons immediately spring to this aged and wise mind.

Firstly there is consumer confidence. Loyal customers retain confidence in a strong brand even when the going gets tough and confident customers are less likely to switch brand. Secondly in tough economic times potential customers, staff and shareholders are more risk averse. A strong brand mitigates this risk in the mind of the stakeholder, providing an anchor of certainty and surety when all about them is turmoil and uncertain. And lastly company value is more likely to remain buoyant in an economic downturn when it is supported by a strong and profitable brand.

And if you want more support for this argument, the Profit Impact of Market Strategy (PIMS for short) database has since the mid 1960s with great rigour and credibility been tracking data to identify the relationship between business action and business outcomes and they too have reached the conclusion that those enlightened and far sighted businesses which stand up to the penny pinching Bean Counters and continue to invest in their brand assets, have in the medium term added greater value than those businesses where parsimony prevails.

But surely this information perfect sense. And surely too it is important that said Head Honchos continue to invest in this asset. After all you would not invest in a spanking new factory and neglect to maintain it, would you?

So don’t be tempted to stop investing in strengthening your brand, even when all around are losing their heads. By neglecting your brand, you risk exposing the business at a time when recovery is much more costly and much less certain of success. Brand profitability is the ultimate goal but it takes investment. Short term budget cuts may lead to immediate relief of pressure, but they will surely lead to long term heartache. Stand up to the Bean Counters. And protect your asset. If you don’t, who else will?

Is it only me.............but I think I have been incredibly stupid.

I have had an epiphany moment of such great impact that I have suddenly realised that I might not be as clever as I thought I was. Wow! No doubt that has left you reeling.

As you will know the 1832 Great Reform Act did away with rotten boroughs, bribery at the polls and all sort of electoral corruption. Now in the spirit of Emil Zola j’accuse governments of all persuasions, and most notably the Last Lot, of acting in breach of the Great Reform Act, the foundation stone of our democratic system.

Stay with me on this one.

If you look at the map showing the distribution of our money masquerading as government largesse, you will be struck, as I was, with the extent to which government generosity is concentrated in pockets dotted around the country. In some towns, cities, regions and nations, the share of GDP you can put down to our money is greater than 50%. And when you get to this level of concentration there is such a hugely critical mass of vested interest that change is impossible. Is this not exactly the same conditions that the 1832 Act was designed to prevent? If it wasn’t, could you please explain the difference to me.

And my solution to this cancer at the heart of our democratic system? Simple. Deny the vote to all those dependent on government largesse and let only those without a vested interest, who are not in receipt of patronage, or who remain un-bribed, have the vote. In this way we can return to the ideals of the Great Reformers and to ensure that all those who died on the massacre fields at Peterloo or who were banished overseas, did not sacrifice themselves in vain.

Of course this would mean that the Apparatchiks would be denied the vote but this makes perfect sense. They work for the government of the day and are supposedly neutral and apolitical. Having a vote clearly makes this a nonsense so it is just that those on the payroll, those with their snouts in the trough so to speak, be removed from the political system. We do not want the politics of the pork barrel over here, methinks.

Anyone else think I have been incredibly thick?

Have a great week.

Sis felix. Et sis fortunatus.

The marketing triangle

Mea culpa for the absence of last week’s dose of enlightenment, wisdom and entertainment. Some questioned whether the criticism received may have resulted in a loss of mojo, whatever that may mean.

Sadly the fault is far more prosaic in that the enlightenment you crave was not given sufficient priority over other commitments. A state of affairs which must not be allowed to re-occur. And it shall not.

Earlier in the week Cicero was engaged in robust dialogue with a pupil seeking, and paying for, marketing wisdom. You will not be bored with the details of the discussion, no doubt to your delight.

In essence Cicero was being upbraided for initiating work in advance of budget authorisation notwithstanding the strangling tightness of looming deadlines. A fact which was of little interest to Cicero’s interlocutor who was only concerned that due process was not being followed. Even although in Cicero’s extensive experience when the marketing genius does get delivered, it will be the quality of the output and the outcomes delivered against which Cicero and his people will be judged, not whether or not due process was followed.

This is a classic case of the Marketing Triangle, an approach and axiom used by Project Managers which even Cicero is willing to stoop to apply when circumstances dictate.

And what exactly is the Marketing Triangle in this context, you are no doubt asking at this point?

Now think triangles. On each angle of the triangle will be a word-Time, Quality or Cost. In this context do you think it possible to deliver great work very quickly and at low cost? If you say yes then you are a marketing genius. Conventional wisdom dictates that at best you can have two out of three angles but not all three.

Consider the dilemma outlined above. Some ads had to be developed and produced for a fixed price as budgets were very tight, eye wateringly so. Now we don’t do OK work, we aim for great work. But if we had waited for all t’s to be crossed and i’s dotted it would have been impossible to produce great work in time available to us. Or at least not without throwing people at the problem which affects cost. In other words the time available to the Luvvie team to produce the work would have dictated the quality of the output and no doubt the outcome.

And that, mei amici, is the Marketing Triangle.

And if you think you can square the circle and oblong the triangle, please do tell and share. We are all eager to learn.

It might only be me........but I do believe that the world is at last coming round to my way of thinking........or has it?

Did you read a week or so back about the call to relax airport security checks? A position with which Cicero wholeheartedly agrees. It was pleasing to see that a Head Honcho in the airline industry had pointed out that many of the checks forced on innocent travellers, and the key word here is ‘innocent’, by the Airport Goons are totally redundant. Hear,hear.

Cicero has long pointed this out both in word and deed, to the point of imminent arrest, to the Gestapo-like figures who man airport security and whose work you dare not challenge or question. Indeed Cicero has been known to point out that there has not yet been one known case of an Eskimo trying to down an airliner or a 90 year old wheelchair bound woman or even a baby in a pram. And yet all who wish to fly are assumed guilty of being a terrorist until proven otherwise, an axiom which flies in the face of Common Law in this country.

It is also interesting to note that from the official HMG response it would seem that many of the checks put in place for UK citizens are determined by the US. Sorry. This is baffling. Surely we are a sovereign nation. Or have I missed something? At what point did we agree as a nation to become Uncle Sam’s poodle?
At least at this point the Two Caesar’s Airport Man looked like he was going tom relax the rules and look for ways to improve ‘the flying experience’. So far so good.

And then just as it looks like the world is yet again coming around to my way of thinking, and not before time on this one, what happens-someone ‘finds’ a bomb made from a printer carriage on a couple of planes flying out of some Stone Age land. Funny that.

Methinks that this is no coincidence. Methinks there are too many vested interests intent on making life difficult for flyers. Methinks that the enviro-mentalists might even a hand in this.

And so, mei amici, we are foiled yet again from our common sense prevailing. But never mind our time will come. Maybe our sense needs to become a little bit more common.

Have a great week.

Sis felix. Et sis fortunatus.