Idea Development's Inner Circle
Tasked with uncovering a big brand idea that can work across every channel, four people are locked in a conference room. Who should those four people be?
Brad Jakeman's answer might surprise many marketers. Jakeman, this morning's keynote speaker at Ad:Tech Chicago, is the former executive VP of marketing for Federated Department Stores and the mind behind Citibank's long-running (and Emmy Award-winning) "Live Richly" campaign. He says the four people should be: 1) A person with the talent of understanding the consumer and consumer insights, 2) A business head who knows how the business makes money, 3) An operations head who can be the "voice of reason" and answer concerns of capabilities or how an infrastructure would have to change to execute that brilliant idea, and 4) a marketing person.
Jakeman was insistent that any big brand idea must be owned by the company--not a company's agency. He says that if it is owned by the agency it won't get enough traction to survive, or be able to be fully absorbed by the company, which should live the message through all its communications and points of interaction with consumers.
It's a mainstreamed way of developing your marketing. Do you think this is all a company needs to get a new, feasable idea started?
Comments
Business concepts should follow a phased process of evaluation. Certainly, the four people cited by Jakeman do not represent a static group. Early phase discussions have a small group of 3 or 4 people, while later phase discussions, if they proceed that far, and have a cogent underlying Business Case, would have people from Strategy, Finance, Operations, Customer Service and Support, Supply Chain (for sourcing and logistics), and other relevant stakeholders who are responsible for integration with the business and execution.
Steven Haines
Author: The Product Manager's Desk Reference
sjhaines@sequentlearning.com
Posted by: Steven Haines | August 11, 2008 12:26 PM