The Blog

I pulled into my neighborhood gas station, the same one I’ve been using for more than 2 years now, and slipped my credit card into the slot as I always do. As usual, I was asked to answer the same question about my zip code, whether I wanted a receipt, car wash, etc. Then it dawned on me, why doesn’t the gas station have software integrated into their system that recognizes me as a repeat customer? It should greet me by name, not ask for my zip code and know that I never get a car wash. That way I can save precious time at the pump and my customer experience would be that much more delightful.

Certainly there have been some great and notable innovations in the past decade including but not limited to the Web, electronic medical records, smart phones, drones, apps, biotechnology identifying DNA proteins and stem-cell therapies to treat disease, etc. And there are new and exciting innovations soon to launch. Like a microwave oven that accepts voice-over recipes, a washing machine that takes commands from a smartphone app and the NEST, a Wi-Fi enabled thermostat that connects your air conditioner to a smartphone.

But what about the “everyday” innovations from the merchants we do business with all the time. The dry cleaner, the diner, the grocery store, the movie theater, the car wash and gas stations. Where’s the innovations there?

Let’s be more like Ritz Carlton.

If you’ve ever stayed at a Ritz Carlton, you can’t help but admire their customer experience philosophy and brilliant execution, “Ladies and Gentlemen serving Ladies and Gentlemen.” When a guest arrives by car to the hotel, the valet asks for a name. While the guest is walking into the hotel, the valet is using his communication device to notify the front desk that Mr. Dornfield in the navy blue blazer is arriving. And when I approach the front desk, I’m greeted by name, a refreshing and welcomed “tactic” that never fails to impress.
Yes, my local dry cleaner has my phone number in his computer which tells him how I like on my shirts starched and my pants pressed. This is a nice bonus and helps to speed up the transaction. They even have an Express Pouch program that lets customers drop off a bag of laundry into a 24-hour locked bin and retrieve the finished pieces anytime of day or night. But what about other retailers, restaurants, hospitals and the like? Where are their innovations?

Innovating the dressing room.

Neiman Marcus, one of a growing number of retailers who understands the power of the fitting room, has unveiled the Memory Mirror in its Walnut Creek, Calif., store. The Memory Mirror is located outside the fitting room — but still has an impact on what occurs inside. A shopper tries on an outfit in the fitting room, stands in front of the mirror and creates a video. When she tries on the next outfit or two, she can see herself in the varying looks side by side. She also can send out the video for that all-important social experience: feedback from her friends.

The technology also allows for efficiency. Like the story of a mother whose daughter was shopping for bridal-related clothing. They spent all their spare time coordinating trips to retailers to find the right looks. When the daughter tried on outfits and sent her mother images from the Memory Mirror, the shopping process became a lot easier for both as they no longer needed to coordinate schedules for joint shopping.

Innovating the supermarket.

Imagine a keg-equipped “beer bike” riding around the grocery store transporting beer to shoppers wheeling shopping carts equipped with cup holders to store their beer glasses. A brewmaster even peruses the store to select new ingredients for his next recipe.

Welcome to Whole Foods Market’s new Houston store, home to the Whole Foods Brewing Co., the retailer’s first-of-its-kind in-store microbrewery.
Even Amazon is innovating with drive-thru groceries. According to a recent report in the “Silicon Valley Business Journal,” Amazon.com is trying to bring a drive-through grocery store to Sunnyvale. Users would select groceries online, then pick them up at the brick-and-mortar location at 777 Sunnyvale-Saratoga Road.

With all the marketing talk today about gaining market share, increasing share of wallet, and the like, I challenge merchants to innovate more. They might find that creating a unique selling proposition through innovation leads to a faster path of building brand equity and growing sales.

Today’s consumer faces a bewildering choice of products on store shelves, and exponentially more online. Salad dressings and cereal brands as far as the eye can see. Cracker and cookie brands that could stretch across the Brooklyn Bridge. Add to that the unlimited varieties of deodorants, shampoos, cold medicines, sneakers, the list goes on infinitum. And so do the line extensions of each of these product categories. There seems to be no end to segmentation.

Exponential growth is impossible.

I had a college professor who spoke at length about the notion of exponential growth. Virtually every industry experiences a pattern of growth and expansion, that if left unheeded, creates havoc. For instance, what if the railroads were allowed to place tracks everywhere and anywhere throughout America to increase their distribution channels and transportation networks? It would be impossible. At some point in time, the professor argued, companies and industries must reach a “steady state.”

For decades General Motors manufactured the same chassis on 40 different car models with different brand names. It was only during the recession of 2008 that the company was forced to realize that they had too many brands with similar features, and today, with just Cadillac, Buick, Chevy and GMC, they have returned to a “steady state” of profitability.

Will hotels learn from General Motors?

Today’s traveler faces an outrageous choice of hotel brands with similar-sounding and confusing names. Want to stay at a Hyatt? There’s Hyatt Regency, Park Hyatt, Grand Hyatt, Hyatt House, Hyatt Place and, coming soon, Hyatt Centric.

The world’s 10 largest hotel chains now offer a combined 113 brands at various price points, 31 of which didn’t exist a decade ago. And hotel executives say more brands are on the way.

Yes. Thanks to high occupancy levels and cheap interest rates, developers are scrambling to build new properties, just like the railroad barons. With the opening of the West, railroad construction reached record proportions just after the Civil War and during the 1870’s and 1880’s. Railroad mileage rose from 35,000 miles in 1865 to over 163,000 in 1890, almost a fivefold increase.

And while the West has already been won, hotels are trying to win a new generation of travelers in search of authenticity by building a new batch of so-called “lifestyle hotels” designed to attract Millennials.

“The Internet has driven people to more niches. Everything is more segmented,” says Best Western CEO David Kong. “Our six brands are actually six different needs.”

Sounds like General Motors all over again.

It’s not a question of how many brands. It is a question of the right brands.

The last time the hotel industry saw so many new brands introduced was in 2006 and 2007, in the boom just before the Great Recession. Déjà vu?

Seriously, are there that many different customers out there that we need so many hotel brands, so many vodka brands, so many wines, so many watches, so many shampoos, so many fragrances and cosmetics? Will most of these brands still be around in five years? Ten years?

Surely, manufacturers strive to try new flavors, new formulas, new innovations, knowing full well that if the new products don’t capture a certain market share within a certain window of time, they’re eliminated. Unfortunately, with thousands of new products introduced every year, and an equal number eliminated every year, how long can America’s manufacturers continue to waste resources before they find happiness with a steady state? Should we blame Wall Street for this quest for more? Is the consumer really demanding more choices, more flavors, more varieties, or is the CEO, in his/her quest to show growth, the culprit? More ice cream flavors make way for the new Gelato line-up, more cereals make way for the Raisin Bran with Cranberries, more deodorants make way for the fresh scents, the spring scents, the summer scents, the desert scents, the nonsense!

Segmentation cannot be sustained anymore than exponential growth can. It makes no more sense than building railroad tracks into every city, town and hamlet. To me, and I suspect to many others, it makes little sense to build a hotel brand with just Millennials in mind anymore than creating a hotel chain with Boomers in mind. Segmentation for segmentation sake will not, and cannot, produce sustainable results. What’s next, JetBlue, American Airlines and Delta building planes for Boomers?

In a market filled with possibilities, there is power in constraint.

There’s a tendency in Corporate America (and Wall Street) to believe that more is better. For me, and I suspect millions upon millions of other consumers, it has reached a point of absurdity. Even overwhelming at times. All the talk of innovation and segmentation fuels product development and line extensions that have so little differences worthy of consideration. One brand of cough syrup makes 8 different kinds. Daytime, nighttime, 8 hour, 12 hour, with decongestant, without decongestant, for adults, for kids, in 4 flavors…why?

With so many brands, so many line extensions, products are introduced into the market so rapidly that they quickly outpace consumers’ ability to learn the subtle differences, or whether these differences even matter at all. Manufacturers must learn the power of focus and constraint. They must strive to keep brand ranges and extensions within confines that make sense. The challenge for brands is not in piling on layer upon layer of changes and new ideas. It is in finding a “steady state” with the right products that can take people with them.

STUART DORNFIELD is an award-winning freelance Creative Director/Copywriter who finds creative ways to grow businesses. He has worked with more than 200 clients in b2c and b2b industries across digital and traditional channels. www.stuartdornfield.com

Valvoline, which is in the late stages of a creative and media review, has put out calls for agencies that have experience marketing to guys in their late teens, 20s and 30s. In particular, guys who are passionate about their cars and like to do things themselves.

According to the brand’s Request for Proposal, Valvoline recognizes that it is difficult to prove differences between brands of motor oil. That’s a problem the new agency will need to solve. Of course, they would like an agency who has demonstrated the ability to overcome a similar problem before for other brands. And it would be helpful if the agency can prove that their problem-solving skills can also successfully build brand equity and increase sales. And since Valvoline will be celebrating their 150th anniversary next year and needs help in social media, they want an agency who is not just good at branding, but a firm that has a track record of generating a steady flow of digital content and ideas. Oh, one last thing, the brand doesn’t spend a lot of money in advertising and will require the agency to sign a contract with a 60-day out clause, just in case things don’t work out with the new marriage.

Valvoline’s current agency, Young & Rubicam (general market ads) and Grupo Gallegos (Hispanic market) are defending against a handful of other shops. I wish them luck.

Some clients, like Valvoline, have such specific requirements that even the best and biggest agencies wouldn’t qualify with their laundry list of demands. They want a bride that has all the attributes they have ever dreamed possible. Like 11 on a scale of 1 thru 10.
Perfume marketer Coty launched a global media agency review and has told potential candidates that it wants five months to pay its bills. According to sources, the client’s brief focuses in large part on efficiency, with little if any attention to effectiveness or consumer insights.
Omnicom’s OMD—which handles Coty media duties in the U.S. and other markets—is not participating in the review. Smart move on their part.
Let’s look at RFP’s a little differently. Imagine you’ve divorced your wife and a friend suggests you meet with a professional matchmaker to help you get back into the game. So the matchmaker asks you to prepare a Request for Proposal. And following in Valvoline’s footsteps, you ask for the following: “I want her to prove she has experience in living with a man like me who needs constant acknowledgement, a woman who is independent and likes doing things herself—especially fixing household plumbing and appliances. A woman who considers staying fit to be a lifelong mission, is always smiling, never argumentative, demonstrates an ability to genuinely laugh at all my jokes, keeps a beautiful home and is a wonderful host, makes friends easily, looks attractive, enjoys sex anytime of day or night, knows how to make a great martini, and will sign a pre-nuptial agreement in case things don’t work out.” God bless.
Yet, as difficult as it is to get married to a new agency, it seems equally difficult to get divorced.

Perhaps it’s much easier to lose an account outright than to pitch one like Valvoline or defend it. Many in the industry believe that even if the relationship is rock solid, an incumbent has a 1 in 4 chance of retaining an account that’s in review.

Point in case… the voice-over-IP service Vonage has recently named FCB Garfinkel in New York as its new agency of record, three months after parting ways with J. Walter Thompson. 3 months!!!

Vonage Chief Operating Officer Joe Redling said, “we’re excited to be working with FCB to build on the incredibly high awareness of the Vonage brand and extend the brand into business markets.” What he neglected to say is that the agency was awarded the business without a pitch because agency CEO Lee Garfinkel was able to leverage an existing relationship he had with the client.

Vita Coca also had a short run with Saatchi & Saatchi (its first agency of record), terminating their 6 month contract and moving the business in-house. So what changed? “We felt that what we needed were local (agency) partnerships rooted in (global) markets. You can say that an agency is global and has a bunch of global offices, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they are as entrenched in those markets,” said Arthur Gallego, spokesman for Vita Coco. In other words, it’s cheaper for us to hire local agencies than to stay with Saatchi & Saatchi, even though we thank them for giving us a brand platform that can last us a long, long time!

So win or lose, for some agencies it’s what you know that can help you win business (Valvoline) and for others, it’s who you know that can help you win business (Vonage) and for still others, it’s all about the fees, not the quality of the work. Either way, getting divorced (and married) can be painful.

STUART DORNFIELD is an award-winning freelance Creative Director/Copywriter who has worked with more than 200 clients in b2c and b2b industries across digital and traditional channels.www.stuartdornfield.com

The recent announcement by Elevation Burger to move into hormone-free and antibiotic-free chicken is just one more indication of how “organic” is changing the face of marketing today.

As a fast-casual chain with just 33 domestic locations and already the biggest fast-food seller of organic beef, Elevation Burger is forcing McDonald’s and other fast-food chains to change the way they operate. In fact, McDonald’s in early March announced that it will stop using chicken treated with antibiotics, responding to growing pressure from consumers who want healthier food options and have voted with their wallets by making brands like Chipotle and Whole Foods among the most successful in America.

Going organic isn’t easy. But losing customers is.

While other chains like Chick-fil-A have promised to drop antibiotics from their chicken within five years, and giant producers like Tyson and Perdue have ramped-up production of antibiotic-free chicken to meet growing demand, Elevation Burger is moving quickly to capture a greater share of wallet in this growing shift to organic by not only selling chicken free of antibiotics, but also without pesticides or hormones.

Considering that a recent Gallup Poll says that 45% of American’s say they actively try to include organic foods in their diets, it’s clear to see that the “organic movement” is here to stay and in fact, is starting to impact non-food categories seeking to make their brands more authentic.

The new “organic movement” is appearing throughout non-food marketing circles.

Every marketer should look at the “organic movement” in fast food restaurants and grocery shelves as a wake-up call to their own marketing. Marketers who view “organic” as something authentic, eliminating artificiality or hype from their advertising, and being truthful and honest with their customers, have the best chances for success.

For example, the lodging industry is making their modern hotels homier, roomier and more vacation-rentalized as a reaction to the among people choosing vacation rentals over hotels. Dry cleaning chains like OXXO have eliminated harsh chemicals. North Face’s latest marketing campaign is inviting customers to the mountains for a workout without ever leaving the store. Neutrogena claims that washing with soap and water wastes five gallons of water a day and urges people to switch out their usual skin care routines and use Neutrogena’s Naturals waterless wipes. And Aerie, American Eagle Outfitters’ retail brand devoted to intimates and swimwear, has pledged not to retouch images of its models and is encouraging young women to upload unretouched videos and images with their comments.

Matthew McConaughey’s campaign for Lincoln takes an organic approach.
In an industry known for pumping and plumping its brands with growth hormones, antibiotics and pesticides, the new Lincoln-Mercury campaign with Matthew McConaughey is a good example of this new “organic movement.” The Lincoln brand has not only reaped the kind of cultural awareness that marketers die for—blazing across the Internet and earning spoofs from Jim Carrey and Ellen DeGeneres— it has helped Lincoln boost sales by 16% in 2014 and has driven measurable traffic to dealers, tripled its website traffic, and helped the brand hit about 10% market share in the fourth quarter of 2014, which is about double its brand average.

Conventional thinking versus organic thinking.

From the outset, Lincoln knew that if they treated their new campaign for the MKC model like a conventional car commercial, they would be lost in a sea of sameness.
Oddly enough, when Lincoln’s marketing team first started talking about how to market the new MKC model, a celebrity spokesperson wasn’t even part of the discussion. They weren’t looking for a celebrity face but a true collaborator. They didn’t want McConaughey to be some famous name catapulting in to create some immediate short-term buzz. They wanted their campaign to be more authentic, more organic if you will. They knew that if they treated this like a conventional spokesperson role, it would scream of borrowed interest and wouldn’t be very authentic to Matthew either.
It was a tough but conscious decision to remove the hormones, the antibiotics and the pesticides that are part of a loud, stereotypical car ad.

According to Lincoln, they agreed early on that they wanted to stand out and draw attention to the brand by doing things differently, and that meant having a quieter, more authentic approach with Matthew that could draw interest to the brand and recast it. And if you’ve seen the TV spot, you’ll agree that the tone, the direction, the copy, and the overall look and feel of the commercial is calming, natural, very “organic.”
Like Chipotle’s decision to go organic with beef and chicken before other fast-casual restaurants, Lincoln’s decision to go “organic” with McConaughey was a calculated risk with the power to significantly amplify their marketing and advertising effectiveness.
According to Lincoln, “at another point in the brand revitalization we might not have been willing to take that risk, but what we realized is as a challenger brand, we have to be open to doing that, because the upside is greater than any potential downside.”

STUART DORNFIELD is an award-winning freelance Creative Director/Copywriter who has worked with more than 200 clients in b2c and b2b industries across digital and traditional channels. www.stuartdornfield.com

With all the challenges facing companies today, it’s no surprise that when the going gets tough, the CEO job gets tougher. A quick look at the corporations who have changed CEO’s recently reveals some of the most significant changes in C-suites in decades. Both large and small companies have executed both planned and unplanned succession strategies that would leave any stockholder scratching his/her head, or smiling with joy, depending on which side of the boardroom or stock price you are sitting.

Here’s a list of companies who have appointed new CEO’s or on the hunt for one over the past few months:

• McDonald’s
• Home Depot
• Gordmans
• Bon-Ton
• ConAgra
• JCPenney
• GAP
• Walmart U.S.
• Target
• Sports Authority
• Tesco
• Fred’s Super Dollar
• GNC
• Delhaize
• Claire’s
• Barnes & Noble
• Ross
• Duluth Trading Co.

So, if the turnover of CEO’s and Presidents in Corporate America today is so volatile, I make the case that it’s much better being the #2 person in the organization. Let’s face it, we are not all corporate or business visionaries. Yet there is nothing wrong in aspiring to be the “Great Second Guy/Gal” (GSG) in the organization.

• The GSG is the person that drives the process and keeps the visionary on track
• The GSG has the ability to recognize the potential of a vision and has the responsibility to turn vision into reality
• The GSG is the key person ultimately responsible for the success or failure or any vision.
• Most importantly, the GSG doesn’t want to be the CEO.

 Here are “The 5 Tenets of the Successful GSG”

1. Finding the right person

The first rule of playing successful tennis doubles is picking the right partner. Common goals, complimentary styles (not necessary like styles), affinity for one another. Finding the right GSG is the same as picking a tennis partner.

2. Buying into the Vision

The GSG must be able buy into the vision, see its merit and visualize its execution. GSGs by nature are grounded in reality. This is their strength. Not only can the GSG recognize a great idea or concept but can see potential pitfalls and solutions, unlike the visionary, who deals in the abstract.

3. Commit, Commit, Commit

Once the GSG has found the vision and visionary of his liking, the true GSG will take every step conceivable to bring the vision to successful completion. This dogged determination to succeed is a common trait of the GSG. Once the commitment has been made, the GSG will not accept failure. Failure is never contemplated.

4. Thinking Outside of the Box

The beauty with working with a true visionary, and is inherent in the term, is that what is being tried has never been tried before. This is the thrill and challenge for the GSG. Finding ways and procedures to accomplish things, which have not been tried before, is what drives the GSG.

5. Self Direction (Leave me alone I’m thinking)

The GSG is self-directed. Once the marching orders have been given the game begins. The GSG is writing the rules as he goes. He/she understands that the ultimate success is on his/her shoulders.

So forget all the stock options, all the recognition, all the stress of knowing your job is on the firing line. Be a great #2 and stick around a lot longer!

When I was Sr.VP-Creative Director of a $1.8 billion Omnicom agency responsible for not only supervising four creative teams but traveling the country to produce commercials, writing scripts and returning emails at 10:30 at night from my hotel room, attending back-to-back meetings in the office on weekdays and working on new business presentations on weekends, teaching young account executives about creative briefs and mentoring young writers and designers, I soon realized that my world was spinning too fast. If truth be told,
I could rarely spend 20 minutes in any one meeting for fear that I would not get to “touch” everything that was necessary throughout the day.

Surely, I’m not alone. Managers, small business owners, supervisors, even my ultra-busy, always moving wife (who runs the household, cares for her aging mother, doctor’s appointments, shopping, caring for our Bichon Riley, and doing pro-bono work as president of our homeowners association) can attest to, many of us seem to be running out of time to do all the things we need to do. Or we’re moving so fast, we don’t know any other speed.

Have we become a multi-tasking society incapable of slowing down?

Let’s face it. Between all the personal and business tasks we tackle on a daily basis — all the emails, texts, phone calls, Facebook- LinkedIn-Twitter-Pinterest socializing, and face-to-face meetings (remember those?) — we all need to slow down. If not for our own health and well-being, but for our customers and colleagues.

How often do you use your customer’s name in conversation? Slow down and start building a stronger connection with them. Stop selling your customer all the time. Slow down and start working as a team to solve his/her challenges together. And while you’re at it, be more realistic about the time limits you set. Customers don’t mind a few days delay just so long as they know it up front. It’s okay to slow down and deliver 110% rather than an acceptable 85%.

For some people, running out of time is chronic. Perhaps it’s a severe lack of time management or follow up. Some people have so many plates spinning that it’s virtually impossible to give clients, colleagues, kids and spouses the proper attention they deserve. And we all know what happens when you can’t keep plates spinning? They come crashing down.

Whether it’s running out of time, or running too fast all the time, both situations can lead to greater anxiety. That, in and of itself, can lead to other problems.

For instance, a study by Fraley suggests that anxious people may have problems in their relationships because they jump to conclusions too quickly about facial expressions. This ‘hair trigger’ style of perceptual sensitivity, according to the study, may be one reason why highly anxious people experience greater conflict in their relationships. The irony is that they have the ability to make their judgments more accurately than less-anxious people, but, because they are so quick to make judgments about others’ emotions, they tend to mistakenly infer other people’s emotional states and intentions.

People who speed through the day, consuming large amounts of caffeine, going from meeting to meeting, texting while in meetings, texting while driving, multi-tasking at every turn, are experiencing more severe levels of anxiety, whether they realize it or not. Doctors say that this can often lead to problems with balance, with many people reporting they sometimes feel dizzy for no apparent reason and sway more than others while standing normally.

Recent studies found that four 20-minute meditation classes were enough to reduce anxiety by up to 39%. Other research has found that meditation can help people fight the ‘negativity bias’: people’s natural tendency to focus too much on negative information. If this is the kind of improvement that can be seen after just 15 minutes of meditation, just imagine how much consistent, regular meditation can improve thinking and decision-making skills.

Admittedly, I am not the meditation type. But before anxiety and stress overtake you, perhaps you should find other ways to slow down. Before your blood pressure hits 220 over 110, slow down. Before you get acid reflux and put on 20 extra pounds from stress eating, slow down. Before you miss your kid’s third soccer match, slow down. Before you cut a 30 minute meeting down to 10, slow down. And guess what, in the process, you may find that by doing so, you get to finish what you started rather than leaving it partially undone. Your job will be less stressful. You’ll feel less anxious. Your life will be richer. Your health will be better. Your clients will appreciate the extra time you are taking with them. Your spouse will get to reconnect with you again. Your kids will rediscover what’s it’s like to have “non 24/7 working” parents in their lives. And your colleagues and employees won’t feel like they’re being minimized.

Little tricks you can start today to help you slow down.

Slow down and re-read your emails before pushing the send button. You’ll be amazed at how many spelling errors you’ll catch. Slow down and think about what you really want to say in an email instead of just putting just anything down because you have 40 more emails to return. Take a 15 minute break during the day. Close your door and listen to your favorite Pandora music. No emails. No phone calls. Just disconnect (wow, there’s a concept!) for 15 minutes. Take lunch every day. Religiously. Don’t skip it. And yes, it’s okay to leave your phone in the office for 45 minutes and just be human again. Have a few laughs (very therapeutic) with colleagues. Slow down on the road. Stop texting and driving. Stop checking your emails while you’re out to dinner with your spouse. Slow down and see how much more you can accomplish completely during the day. You may be surprised how much better you’ll feel.

Stuart Dornfield is a leading freelance senior copywriter, creative director and marketing strategist who left the 9 to 9 grind of the agency world to give himself, and his clients, more time to accomplish more things, more completely. A winner of more than 200 awards for creative excellence in web, print, radio, tv and direct response, you can view Stuart’s credentials and copywriting services here website.