Critical thinking

Common Sense Idea 9. The power of opposites. Anticyclical thinking.

At Saatchi and Saatchi there was a saying, ‘Zig when the others zag.’ Fashion designer Karen Walker, who was on the 42 Below board, spoke about the power of opposites. In creating a collection, she said, there is often power in putting items together that typically would not go: formal wear with informal wear, classic with modern. My friend in investment banking (yep, I have a friend in investment banking) talks about the logic of anticyclical investing. These are all versions of the same point, and in brand-building the same applies – perhaps more so. When all the marketing efforts of a category are talking about one thing and in one medium, it is a good time to do exactly the opposite.

Doing exactly the opposite makes marketing people nervous because there is a risk. But it is in the fertile, new and uncluttered space where every other brand isn’t that you are more likely to stand out.

When we first started 42 Below offshore, we saw a lot of ads for vodka: ads in Vanity Fair for US$100,000 per page; billboards for US$50,000 per month in LA. Not only could we not afford that, we also didn’t want to look like a ‘me too’. So we did stuff that was completely different.

If other vodka brands did a testing of their own vodka, we did a tasting with ours and eleven others all in the same session. It would be delivered not by some old distiller but by a young ex-lawyer who was in love with vodka, who knew more about others’ vodkas than they did themselves. If other vodkas threw dirt at their competitors, we praised them – then let the bartenders’ own tastebuds decide. We proudly told the story of brands like Absolut, Grey Goose and Belvedere. (We heard we told their story better than their own brand people.) If other vodkas talked about their founder in awed tones, we talked about ours as a South Pacific version of Moby the bald DJ.

If other brands took the crème de la crème of bartenders to a tasting room in their local city, we took them all the way to Queenstown, New Zealand, and threw them off a bridge with a shaker in their hands.

If other brands shied away from negative PR, we courted it. We got a conversation going, got in the press, then we backed ourselves to tell a story that would make us come out tops. All other brands in this category and others would go to ground when bad PR came their way. In fact, we loved it when someone had a crack at us in the press. It gave us a forum to respond. And rather than give a sanitized, stock-standard diplomatic response, we would go all out – with our usual ‘David and Goliath’ cheeky tone that people would gravitate to. People love to back the guy swimming against the tide.

Being anti-establishment is pro-growth. Bucking the trend is actually creating a new trend. Whatever you do, never be a follower. Always be a leader.

Common Sense Idea 10. Ready. Fire. Aim.

Another saying I borrowed from Saatchi. In the 42 Below culture, we restated this as ‘Strategy is fine. But doing stuff is better.’

I learned this the hard way. Right at the start of 42 Below, I desperately tried to get every word of the business plan right before launching, and the same with every element of the marketing support package – the bar coasters, the aprons, the shirts…

The truth is, you never get it right. Ever. Every day you refine, you change, you improve, you add and you delete. The perfect business plan does not exist. The day after you create it, a better version could be written. This doesn’t mean ‘don’t do one’ (especially the financial part). It means you shouldn’t use ‘waiting for the business plan’ as your excuse not to get started. You will learn more in a day of doing business than a day of research. And the good thing about doing business is that business makes money. You sell stuff. Research costs money.

A brand is like a guided missile, a heat seeker. The target is constantly being re-examined. The aim is constantly being tweaked. Every second, adjustments are being made. You never stop aiming. So whatever you do, don’t wait until you think you have everything perfectly set, because you never will. Just start.

Common Sense Idea 11. Listen to everyone. But be prepared to ignore what you don’t like.

The many people who said NO! to the concept of 42 Below had, supposedly, much better knowledge of the liquor industry than I did. But when you conceive an idea, you can see the future for it; you have seen the dynamics that give your idea a future. I could see a rebirth of cocktail culture and, thanks to the New Zealand wine and fashion industry, a growing credibility in our beverage and design abilities. Others weren’t as aware of this and therefore, couldn’t see the future that we could for 42 Below.

When taking a read on the future for your own idea, listen to all – but be prepared to ignore some. There will be a number of opinions, even from credible sources, that you need to throw out.

Be careful with research, too. Another quote from the ‘B’ in DDB, Bill Bernbach: ‘We don’t ask research to do what it was never meant to do, and that is to get an idea.’

Research is not good – actually it’s terrible – at looking forward. It can’t predict an outcome or create a model that truly replicates what it will be like for your product when it hits the market. Research is also slow and costly. The best form of ‘research’ is what you see and hear every day.

Listen to your dream and your financial spreadsheets. From these two sources, the answers will emerge.

• This information is provided by Geoff Ross:
  
  www.ecoya.co.nz