Politics, Strategy, and the Demise of a Brand

"He's a good man, just in the wrong century."
-Kathleen Parker, syndicated columnist.
 
There is no better widely-broadcasted public arena than national politics in the US to witness and study strategy.

The above quote is in reference to Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum who has been making headlines lately for his polarizing rhetoric and a surge in the polls. He has seemingly led the conversation to a religiously charged place where each candidate is jockeying to be the most conservative in the eyes of the public. Santorum is leading the charge to bring religion into the conversation with statements like "separation of church and state make me want to vomit" but is he the one who actually wanted this shift in the debate?

The Obama administration's recent proposal to mandate that religious based health organizations pay for contraception created a fire storm in conservative circles and led to a public discussion on whether contraception should be promoted or even used at all. Was this just another controversial stance by Obama or was this a strategic move to shepherd the republican debate into territory that is only supported by a small number of Americans? All of whom are aligned with an aging political party that is growing increasingly less diverse and seemingly less in tune with a rapidly changing nation.

If the goal is differentiation, the republican party is successfully moving that way, just not in the direction of their ultimate year end goal, to occupy the White House. While each candidate works to position themselves as the conservative of choice, they are moving increasingly farther away from appealing to the moderates and independents that they need to get elected.

We are witnessing the very public demise of a brand, the Republican party. As the world changes and evolves around the party that currently has control of the House of Representatives, they are failing to realize that their rigidity, a core value that their most public figures praise, is what will ultimately be their downfall. Flexibility and the ability to adapt is core to the existence of any brand.

If the Republican party continues to stand their ground, they will soon be left with no earth beneath their feet.

Same Same but Different

In a post back in November, I wrote about an event I attended called the Oregon Imagination Conversation that was hosted at the Ziba auditorium. This event was a focused discussion on the state of imagination in Oregon and how imagination could be harnessed to address issues that the state faces.

This past Thursday, I attended an event at the Ziba auditorium put on by GOOD Magazine called GOOD Ideas For Cities aimed at harnessing local ideas and finding creative solutions to challenges that the city of Portland faces.

Mayor Sam Adams was there.

Where as the Imagination Conversation visibly lacked a strong showing of more than ten people under the age of 35, GOOD Ideas For Cities clearly brought out the millenials in full force. It is within this clear dichotomy that lies a major issue opportunity for Portland and a concept that I've been thinking about for a while now.

How can young energy and ideas be combined with experience and resources to get things done? Or how can we create a super generation of movers and shakers hell bent on finding creative solutions that have legs?

Like I said in November, Portland has a strong creative culture that, in part due to the lack of job opportunities, is proving to be quite entrepreneurial. And on top of being entrepreneurial, this generation in Portland (many of whom have recently moved here from all over the country) want to help solve problems and make their work do good things for the community. Many of them truly love this community and are looking for ways to plug in.

So my next question is, what is community? Is community something we are born into? Is it something that you automatically  become a part of once you touch down in a new place?

The way I look at it, community is whatever we want it to be, it's the collective efforts of people in the same place or with a similar mission. And based on this, Portland has two communities that are awfully close to becoming one based on the fact that these groups of people, young and old, native Oregonian and not, established or seeking solid ground, are in the same western outpost trying to make it a better place.

I knew this was true in November and now seeing another event, in the same space, with starkly different age groups in attendance working to tackle similar issues, it's even clearer that there is a bright opportunity here, who's in?

Economic Nostalgia

Yes, it's true and what does this mean? Is this the way society is headed regardless of whether knitting, canning, and overall self reliance is trending or not?

The culture in Portland seems to heading this way. Underneath the ridiculous trends and all the talk of hipsterdom, there is a an honest desire by many to be more self reliant. Because of this, the economy seems to be cutting out the fat and becoming more lean.

What types of opportunities will come from this shift? We're already seeing the emergence of a world class food culture in Portland, what else?

What Would You Change? - Part 2

I wanted to continue my thoughts regarding the business I started and try to answer the question, what would you change?

We're focused on strategy this week, so let's dive in.

When we launched our space, we knew that it was different. We wanted it that way. We were trying to build a professional space that would spur synergy, creativity, and economic development. Our vision was strong, our strategy, specifically how we positioned the space among competitors was not.

We started the space in September 2008, right when the economy was starting to take a dive. I decided to market the space as "affordable office space (plus)." The "affordable" would get them in the door and the added benefits of co-working would keep them and hopefully change their  perspective of the value they were receiving. From a sales standpoint, this worked well. Inexpensive office space got people in the door, singing leases, and paying rent. But, this strategy led to negative impacts to our brand down the road.

When differentiating between our space, a large open plan with 15 work stations, with our competition, which were mostly private office spaces scattered throughout town, we positioned it as "affordable" rather than open, creative, and different. This position led potential customers to believe that our space was affordable because it was open and shared, and therefore was inferior to private office space. When the real estate market worsened and landlords in the town began lowering the rent of their private offices, it made even current customers at the time ask why they would pay the same amount for open space as they would for a private space.

 All that said, due to the timeliness of the launch, I don't know what other strategy would have worked better. The strong economic forces that were bearing down on our small piece of the economy led all of us who were providing space and business amenities to have to adapt very quickly and often.

What would you change?

For me, this is a pretty strange question. I often don't think about what I would change because I find that there are so many valuable lessons to be learned from diving in head first into experiences like starting a business or...enrolling in grad school.

In September 2008, I started a business. (An excellent time to go into business...) I'm often asked what I would have changed about my business model knowing what I know now. Until recently, I didn't have the context to answer this question with insight outside of my own experiences. Now, I'm starting to formulate news ideas about what I could have done differently.

My business was a 3,500 square foot incubator and co-working office space that I designed and developed with the vision that it would be a catalyst for economic development in my hometown of Shelburne Falls, MA. I envisioned a thriving hub of young entrepreneurs working in synergy and inspiring the community to look ahead. I ran the space for tow years until it was no longer feasible for me to do so. I was not turning enough of a profit to live off of and it was taking up too much of my time to manage. In 2010, I worked with the building owner, a friend and mentor, and transitioned the space into his hands. This allowed me to step out and make an important life change and made it so the space continued to exist and provide value for both the owner and the tenants. When I left there were 15 tenants. There are now 25.

I used to answer that question of what I would change by explaining how I had become a middle man with all the risk. I was leasing a space, making improvements, and releasing it to tenants who wanted to share space and work alongside each other. Because I had no ownership of the building, I had nothing to borrow on and had little control of the expenses of the building.

What I realize now, when thinking about my business model, is that the value proposition was not fully aligned with the existing customer segments within the community. And, I did not have a financial plan that allowed me to bridge the existing needs of the customers with my long term and idealized vision of what the space would be and how it would affect the community.

In a strategy discussion during last month's intensive at BGI we discussed the role of intuition in business strategy. It may have been intuition that led me to build the space, that allowed me to make it something real, and ultimately led me to know that it was time for me to step away. I am thankful for this and I now realize that I put too much reliance on this intuition when starting the space. What is now apparent that was missing were the tools and resources necessary to run all aspects of the  business.

My thoughts are still formulating around this topic so this post is...to be continued.

When they Zig...

I'm currently reading a book called Zag, by Marty Neumeier of the Liquid Agency. In it, is the best definition for brand that I have heard. Neumeier defines brand as, "A person's gut feeling about a product, service, or company."

Could it really be that simple?

In essence, yes. Perhaps a company's control and degree of understanding of its own core qualities helps to strategically position itself so that it can survive and thrive. Brand has always been important to a company's success and right now it is more important than ever. Customers not only want a quality product at a good price, they want to align themselves with their choices because they know that our choices, our purchases, are a reflection of ourselves. In a way, the stakes have never been higher for companies to develop a solid brand worth emulating. Neumeier argues that the winning manufacturer is no longer the one with the best product but the one with the fastest supply chain. He quotes supply chain expert Rob Rodin who explains that companies today have no choice but to connect to the "three insatiable demands of business - free, perfect, and now."

How are companies to survive in such a climate, let alone compete?

Zag, simply implies that when everyone else zigs, you must zag.  Neumeier explains that companies no longer have to just compete with other companies to do things in a more cost effective and efficient way, they must compete with the absolute clutter and constant bombardment that the modern marketplace...provides us. Not only must companies stand out from the pack, they must somehow stand aside while the torrent of products and services flow by in a raging torrent. Marketing wise, rather than just yelling louder to be heard, being clever or witty, a company must be so different and confident in its own brand that it shines so (subtly) that nothing else compares. The best brands have always known this and now because of the incredible rate at which ideas and products are actualized  there is even less room for error, or, lack of self awareness and realization.

The question that fascinates me is,  how exactly does a company's collective understanding of its own brand affect its strategy and ultimate success - and - why can it be so difficult for a company to understand itself in simplistic and elegant terms?

(extra) ordinary

Tell me what you see.


I was taught to walk very slowly on the beaches of Prudence Island, RI by my grandmother who was a master at finding treasures. She found pieces of bone pottery, artifacts from the revolutionary era, arrowheads, and countless pieces of beach glass. Six years ago, I took a break from prepping for my thesis presentation in college to spend the weekend on Prudence to relax and reflect. While I was walking on Picnic Tree Beach on the west side of the island, I came across this view which instantly made me smile. This subtle and seemingly bland view of of two trees that I have walked past hundreds of times, on a grey spring day, reminded me of how important it is to slow down and appreciate the nuanced complexities and beauty of the ordinary and the common.

Enjoy.