So why am I standing with a bunch of marketing professionals from the Asia Pacific region with PhDs,  MBAs and more air miles than Bill Gates?

Here’s why: Life Technologies partnered with The University of California Irvine to offer seven global post-graduate courses in Marketing. I taught their Campaign Development course in Melbourne.

I pity the companies competing against them. Not only does Life Technologies have 50,000 products, 4000 patents and scarily bright employees, they are rated as one of the top 50 companies for innovation by MIT, Time and Fast Company. They are leaders in their field. They invented the Benchtop Genome Centre.  They are innovation rich and now more marketing savvy. Smart move for a smart company. What are you doing?

Best Buy was the inspiration. They analyzed their ideal customers and, surprisingly, they weren’t techno geeks. One of their best consumer clusters was the soccer mom. Best Buy figured out her ‘persona’. What did she want from a store, staff and a shopping experience? In fact, they persona-lized their brand. They changed who they hired, how they trained and the store layout. Ca-ching. Profits soared.

I was so intrigued by Best Buy’s success, described in Waiting For Your Cat to Bark? Persuading Customers When They Ignore Marketing by Bryan and Jeffrey Eisenberg, that I used the approach with a global franchise. I analyzed their most successful franchisees and found five buyer personas. For each persona I fleshed out their character as if I was a Hollywood screen writer. This helps you see your client and what they need.

For example, one buyer persona was ‘Ally Buzz’  a 20-something, single, ambitious woman who was glued to her smart phone and wanted her own business.  Letting ‘Ally Buzz’ speak with other successful female franchise owners was gold because social proof works for Ally.  If she could see it, she could believe it. Also a family member was often a key support person. Inviting them to join in the information gathering conversation – in person, on calls or via Skype, increased Ally’s support and confidence.

You can’t use slick to close a sale, it barely worked before and it really doesn’t work now. You can figure out your best buyers’ path and persona-lize it. Analyzing your customer personas also helps you find your anti-customer. In fact, I only figured the nightmare buyer because I went looking for ideal ones. With this franchise, the nightmare was ‘The Good Neighbours’. You trusted them because you liked them but they knew nothing about business. They were slow to buy, hard to train and sued the most because they didn’t follow best practices.

Identifying and avoiding your anti-customers saves you money. Persona-lizing your ideal customers and smoothing their buying path makes you money. Trick or treat my friends.

She wore red shoes.  One of the funniest speakers you’ve probably never heard of said “The way I see it, if  you have to spend your days in a wheelchair you can either whine about it or you can seize the opportunity to wear  smokin’ red heels with zero discomfort.”

Sue Minns had her goodbye party today. The emcee, yes there was a funeral emcee, asked if those wearing red shoes could take one off and raise them up. This was not an odor test. This was an influence moment. Red stilettos, flats, Mary Janes, Doc Martins and even a lone Converse runner rose up.

Susan got her red pumps on ebay, from a drag queen. Her shoes became her brand icon. They represented saying yes to joy no matter what and Susan had lots of what: a house fire, cancer, MS, dying. Fueled by faith, family and Motown, Susan gave us a great story to tell, a perspective to cherish and a distinct way to remember her. She got branding but more importantly she got life.

Last April, I was so impressed by Ladies who Shoot their Lunch that I interviewed CEO Matt Fowles and his team then wrote and spoke about them internationally. I told them to enter Australia’s Marketing Institute Awards. Here’s what happened. Just before the submission was due, Matt emailed and said he wasn’t entering. I emailed back: CALL ME.

Matt, whose entire team has done everything right with their brand, was stuck. You see, you can’t see the picture when you are in the frame, or the label when you are in the bottle. I found the bottleneck. Matt was trying to sound corporate and that was strangling his genius. The game changer was focusing on the essence of the Ladies who Shoot their Lunch brand. It is a personality brand, which has an emotional component that makes it likeable.

Matt had a great story and it needed to be told in the first person with honesty, humour and directness because that is the brand. I wrote and wrote then pressed send.  Further beautiful writing by Matt and tah dah (one of my favourite expressions ) he submitted an application that evoked the brand perfectly and they won. Let’s drink to that. Wait, I already did.

http://www.plunkettfowles.com.au/

Then there is you. A small brand, a brand that doesn’t contribute to childhood obesity, trying to stand out and do good. Maybe you are the green architect, the honest lawyer, or the little music company. What can you do? You can make your audience gasp and giggle. You can realize  it’s the era of emotiononmics. You can be brave and cause a reaction.

This wise writer takes 15 minutes each morning to focus on what she wants to feel and have that day. If you were sea kayaking around Franklin Island, a Georgian Bay UNESCO site, you might write “To feel the awe, majesty and beauty of this area.” Now before you say “that’s hokey” ask yourself two questions. Do you go places without really arriving? Do you rush through life without connecting to the people in it?  Step one is to focus on what you want to feel.

Step 2 is what do you want to have? This means writing, in full, what you want in your life and day.  Our athlete/scientist started with “To have: a perfect, healthy, strong, fast body with an infinitely intelligent immune system.” Spoken like someone who avoids a: junk food and b: complaining. Therein lies the secret. Instead of living a life of reaction, proactively state what you want. Health? Joy? Money? To make a difference? Hazelnut gelato?

I’ve long tried to find a morning practice that centres me for the day. I’ve tried this one for a few weeks. It seems to keep me aligned to the best of who I am and want to be. May it do the same for you. Give it a try and let me know what you think.

These pictures remind us of the Microcosm, Macrocosm Rule. The little things you do will be seen as endemic of who you are.

What people want from financial services firms are good returns and no mistakes. What I saw, from an organization whose products I own and whose agents I admire, was inattentiveness writ large.

Your brand is being looked at all the time.  Is your message broken? Is anyone checking? Is it time to appoint some brand guardians?

Photos taken in Hamilton, Canada.

Global CEO Kevin Roberts of Saatchi and Saatchi runs one of the most powerful advertising agencies on earth. I met him and was charmed by his message. According to Roberts, successful brands transcend people’s expectations by earning their respect and their love. (His book Lovemarks describes how.)

Kids teach us how to love. They teach us that delight matters. They teach us to be completely present because moments can be magical. Walt Disney understood this. He agreed with  Shakespeare, “All the world’s a stage…” so he made Disney staff  ‘Cast Members’.

Maja and I said hello to the big plastic lemon on top of the Lemonade stand. We said hello to the summer breezes as they cooled us. We danced and spun until we collapsed on the ground giggling. We looked for wonder and found it everywhere. Children, in addition to seeing the world as it is… fully alive, teach us how to be and …how to run our businesses. Have fun, give joy, be present. I know I sound like a Hallmark card. We want our organizations to be well-liked brands. What if you choose to be well loved instead? What could you change today?

P.S.  Craig’s own site is: http://www.craigglover.com/

And…for those of you who want the science behind creating lovable brands check out Dan Hill’s Emotionomics or… Jesper Kunde’s Corporate Religion.

The answer is on this T-shirt. Amnesty International  grabbed my attention with an identity: the lifeguard.  The phrase is a mind twist.  You can save people without needing a Brazilian bikini wax. And, it’s a mind shift. When Amnesty uses ‘lifeguard’ they jolt you from the leisure of the coast line to struggle of the front line.

If you want people to join your movement,  consider using a heroic identity.

Do you know any movements that use an identity? Let me know.

Thanks to George Harvey for letting me photograph his chest while he walks his talk!

http://www.amnesty.ca/

http://www.golden-rescue.net/

http://love146.org

You can complain, gossip and criticize. You can whinge and whine or you can live. My dad had polio. The older he got the more he broke. Knee cap and toes but never spirit. It wasn’t until eight months after he died that I realized he never complained. NEVER.

Not when he fell and  had to drag himself to the front door while people drove by. Not when his knee turned into a watermelon of purple or when he turned yellow from cancer of the bile duct, which became pancreatic cancer. No. No complaining, not ever.

Here he is building a Muskoka chair with my mom. He was dying. Can you see his wheelchair? Or is it the smiles that you notice?  This is the man whose five last words were ‘Take care and love everyone.”

You have a choice,  build or break down, criticize or create. Live or …