Within every mistake, there is a lesson. This week, I learned a good lesson at work.

I’ve been listening to Lis Wiehl’s Winning Every Time: How to Use the Skills of a Lawyer in the Trials of Your Life. It’s a good book covering the tactics lawyers use to build their case. Such tactics have real life applications outside of the courtroom. For example, by correctly choosing your juror, and building a solid case, you could win an everyday argument like getting credit for returning a product. For example, talking to a part-time store associate who didn’t want to be working at the store in the first place probably is going to be a waste of time. S/he is not going to care. A store manager, who’s focused on profit and store traffic, may be more inclined to listen to you in hope to keep your loyalty.

Another lesson I learned was that lawyers ask a lot of questions in the courtroom. However, good lawyers never ask a question that they don’t already know the answer to! This is powerful!

This week, I walked into the big boss’s office, asking for her approval on a piece of creative. I’ve done so so many times before, and generally such reviews go okay. This time was a little different. For reasons still unknown to me today (I was just having an off-day), I walked into her office completely unprepared. I did my homework. I checked the boxes and crossed the to-do list. I knew that my creative was solid on delivering on what the team wanted. However, I also knew that it was a much focused piece that intentionally left something off. I should have known that this could have been a point of discussion. I should have had my “evidence” ready. I should have had my “counter arguments” ready. I had them, but somehow, at that moment that matters, I just didn’t perform! I didn’t frame my argument. I didn’t present my evidence. I froze. And the review went very differently than what I had initially imagined.

This taught me that no matter how many times you’ve done something in the past. No matter how many times you’ve won the game (to borrow an Olympic inspired analogy). You have to be 100% prepared and ready to perform your best every single time! Every meeting is a trial. You’ve won if you achieved your objective. You’ve lost if you did not. In order to win, you need to present your argument with evidence. Every meeting is a trial; no exceptions.

When I asked my boss what she thought about the piece, I should have known the answer. Again, never ask a question that you don’t know the answer to. I should have known that she would contest the points that were intentionally left off the piece. In order to secure a winning judgment from my boss that day, I needed to address why certain points were intentionally left off. I needed to establish that the points we chose to include on the piece were the most impactful one for delivering on our needs. I should have framed my argument carefully, slowly leading her to the conclusion I wanted. If I had acted like a lawyer, I would have presented a logical argument that would have left her no choice but to must award me the decision I sought. A winning verdict for that piece of creative.

Every meeting is a trial. Every meeting has juror(s). Every one of us has a lawyer inside that could help us win our everyday cases!

Photo credit: Joe Gratz

Successful branding takes a lot of work. It doesn’t matter if you’re a Fortune 500 powerhouse, or if you’re a Main Street Store, or if you’re just you. Overnight success doesn’t happen. If you want success in the future, plant that seed today. In fact, that success should be based on one thing: performance. Take social media for example. It’s the latest hype. However, social media wouldn’t help you much if your store doesn’t carry what your shopper is looking for. Today’s breakthroughs are still built on yesterday’s fundamentals. Once you’ve mastered the fundamentals, all those extra things that you do would make it that much better. Social media could be a great thing.

However, everything good can still be lost in just a moment. Think Toyota. The key lesson here is to not avoid the problems. Don’t think they will go away. They never do. Face them head on, and face them fast. Brands could be defined by a single disaster, or the response thereof. Johnson & Johnson taught us that lesson with the Tylenol incident.

At the end of the day, everything you do comes down to the closing. Could you close that sale? Could you close that job interview? Sometimes, you’re just bested by your competitors. But, with enough hard work, and perhaps a little luck, you could win.

Photo Credit: Megan Cole

Related articles online

• Toyota’s Tylenol moment (money.cnn.com)

Recently, I read / listened to via audiobooks How We Decide by Jonah Lehrer and Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. Both of which were really great books, and I’d highly recommend both. Instead of posting plain book reviews of these two books, I’d like to highlight what I’ve learned.

1. From How We Decide, I learned that people can only be expected to take into consideration seven facts. Therefore, when managers ask for analyses that include everything but the kitchen sink, most of that information just becomes noise. In fact, such noise may distract the decision makers from the facts that are truly impactful, and they may end up making the wrong decision as a result. This is also the root cause of what sometimes people referred to as “analysis paralysis.”

2. From How We Decide, I learned that we should listen to our gut. Sometimes, we unconsciously pick up clues about a particular situation that allow our subconscious mind to lean toward a particular opinion. The example in the book was that a trained operative was able to pick up a delay in a particular radar signal that he could not consciously realize. But he followed his gut instinct and made the right decision. However, the important key to this was that your instinct has to be honed. In Outlier, it was established that it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert in a subject matter. Therefore, if you work 10 hours, 5 days a week, and 50 weeks a year (assuming 2 weeks of paid vacation), it’d take four years before you’re an expert in that particular subject. But, if you have that experience, go ahead and trust your instincts. They may be more finely tuned that you realize!

3. From Outlier, I learned that to be exceptionally successful, you have to be at the right place at the right time. For example, to be a Bill Gates, you have to be born at precisely the right time, so you get to be at the forefront of technology. If you were born too early, the technology wouldn’t be available. If you were born too late, someone would have been ahead of you. However, I also learned that “big breaks” are really just the opportunity to work really hard. All those who had become exceptionally successful had put in a lot of hours to hone their craft! I don’t know if I have been born at the right time, but I am going to work really hard. Even if I am not going to be wildly successful, honing my craft will help hone my instincts!

Photo Credit: Suchitra Prints

Awesome + Awesome = Awesomer does not work! That kind of silly execution may be aligned with Emerald Nuts’ brand equity, but it does nothing for Pop Secret. Though, being the bad ad does generate some publicity (hence people like me talking about it). Also, it is “ground breaking” in the fact that it tries to communicate way more than what a commercial is supposed to do (i.e. to promote two brands). But, in the end, in my opinion, it doesn’t work.

So, I ask again, why are ad agencies still in business? Because ad agencies have really good salespeople, who know how to make us corporate folks feel good about how we’re spending our money.

If I was to be the judge and the jury, the consumer generated CareerBuilder ad titled “Worst Seat” would win best ad this year.

Too often, people remember funny commercial, but forget the brand. I believe this ad successfully achieved both.

Consider the audience of the game, this kind of fart joke humor appeals to the demographics. Yet, everyone could easily identify with this commercial. It may not be farting, but we all know how it feels to sit between two idiots.

However, the humor did not distract from the main message that it’s time to move on. Find a new job, and Careerbuilder can help.

This ad is the summation of a larger campaign where consumers generated the content, and voted on the content. It is this kind of comprehensive campaigns that makes a $3 million ad spot worthwhile. Considering the economy and the job market right now, it’s surprising that Careerbuilder’s main competitors have not been more aggressive with ad spend during this game.

Google’s “Parisian Love” did win hearts everywhere, while showing off everything Google. So maybe there is some value in having good ad agencies still.

Related articles online

• This year’s Super Bowl ads go goofy and frugal (seattletimes.nwsource.com)

The other night, I came across a commercial for a local flower shop. With Valentine’s Day just two weeks away, it was the perfect time for a local flower shop to raise its top of mind awareness.

The commercial went something like this:

Valentine’s Day is on February 14th, and there is no better way to give something special to your sweetheart than to give a beautiful arrangement from our shop. In fact, you could make her whole week special by having the flowers delivered to her work earlier in the week. Remember, Valentine’s Day is on February 14th. Order your arrangement from us today.

Now, that was a horrible commercial for a local flower shop.

Why?

Because this ad did a lot more for the category than it did for the flower shop itself. This would have been a great ad for a shop that has dominant share of the market. In which case, as long as more people order flowers, the dominate player would be bound to get more business.

However, a local flower shop is rarely the dominate player, or even a big player. In which case, the goal of any marketing effort should not be growing the entire category, but to grow your own share within the category.

How could you do that?

By focusing on why consumers should pick you over all the other alternatives. What would make you better than the flower shop at the grocery store? What would make you better than an internet flower shop?

Would it be the personal attention? Would it be a timed delivery guarantee? Would it be the experience of the florist? Would it be the availability of unique flowers?

Reminding people that Valentine’s Day is around the corner was a great message. Giving people the idea to have arrangements delivered early was a great idea. However, even the best idea or the best message would be useless if the objectively of the commercial, or any marketing effort for that matter, was ill-defined.

Photo credit: FotoDawg

Today, there is a good celebrity example to look at.

Few of us have the opportunities to address “People of Earth” and have them actually pay attention.

Conan O’Brien has a very strong personal brand, through his own talents and his association with very other strong brands like the Tonight Show. His “People of Earth” release only enhanced that brand. It is easy for anyone to pick up his enormous passion for his job from this release.

We can all learn a lesson from that.

If you survey your workplace, would others know what your passion is? What have you done lately to demonstrate your passion?

Photo credit: vtdainfo

Related articles online

• Conan O’Brien’s manager says statement not about points or strategy (latimesblogs.latimes.com)
• Conan tells NBC he won’t wait up for them (thestar.com)
• Conan Won’t Do A Later Tonight Show (cinemablend.com)
• Conan O’Brien Leaving the Tonight Show (defamer.gawker.com)
• Conan O’Brien Says No To 12:05 (popdose.com)
• Conan Makes An Official Statement (perezhilton.com)
• Local viewers sympathize with Conan’s no-change stance (pbpulse.com)

Seth Godin recently release an e-book WHAT MATTERS NOW, in which he asked a few of his friends to discuss what matters now. May it be Change, may it be Sleep, may it be Productivity.

To me, two things matter most: Passion and Curiosity. Passion had been wonderfully covered by Derek Sivers, an entrepreneur and programmer, within the e-book. But Curiosity was curiously missing! Allow me this opportunity to express what I believe matters now:

Curiosity

It is an emotion.

It allows us to grow.

Seth’s full e-book available for download via this link.

Photo credit: hapal

It’s estimated that as many as one million revelers gathered at Times Square in New York City to usher in the New Year. Nivea was once again the sponsor of this event. As one of that one million revelers, I wanted to comment on the impressive execution of Nivea’s effort.

Prior to New Year’s Eve, Nivea had set up photo booth at the American Eagle store. I didn’t realize how effective that could be, until I saw the line at the store of people waiting to get their photo taken! These pictures could then be sent to friends and family as a photo postcard of sort for people’s trip to NYC for New Year. That’s great viral marketing!

At Times Square itself, a very dedicated team of promoters blanketed the venue. There were blue balloons everywhere. Blue party hats, that came with a free sample and a BOGO coupon to a local drug store, were also passed out. As you may have saw on TV, it was a sea of blue. I know I wouldn’t forget that sea of blue any time soon. Nivea was also branded the countdown clock on the television broadcast on NBC. All together, I could only imagine the number of impression Nivea got. This hasn’t even taken into account all the photos that was taken by the revelers, and would now be share with friends and family all around the world. Those blue party hats went into the suitcase of many revelers and they would now be on display at homes around the globe.

But as with any great promotion, it was not a one time deal. Nivea is following up with a cause marketing campaign that encourages people to upload their kissing photo.

This was a great example of what a comprehensive marketing campaign could look like. Of course, I couldn’t truly evaluate how successful this campaign is because I don’t know how much it costed Nivea, and how much sale they got from it.

But, regardless, most businesses won’t have this kind of funding. However, something like this could easily be executed at a community level. But, take a lesson from Nivea and learn that sponsoring a major community event is only one element of an integrated marketing campaign. Find ways to involve your consumers before and after the event to make your message relevant and viral!

I was home for the holidays. Like many families across the country, there was a family gathering at my home. There, I learned that my aunt had a hobby of making jewelry, and she had even sold a few pieces.

She also revealed something quite profound. While she’s an immigrant herself, she wouldn’t sell to immigrants. Why? It’s not discrimination. It’s because there wasn’t a demand from the immigrant population.

Immigrants, perhaps through their trials and tribulations, had learned to be more critical of their purchases, generally speaking. They believed that they should not to pay for that piece of jewelry, because it was something they could make themselves!

This is a simple short story. But it reveals to us that no matter how small your business may be, how simple your product may be, it is always good to segment your population. It is the only way to know who you should target, and more importantly, who you should not target. No one can be everything to everyone.

My aunt could easily target the immigrant population, being an immigrant herself. She had a network. However, that would have been a waste of effort, time, and/or money!

Photo Credit: Target, originally uploaded by wili_hybrid.