PS insights

Hindsight. Insight. Foresight. It takes all three to successfully manage a business. Time and again we see marketing teams who do two of the three. Usually Insight and Foresight. But they rarely look back to understand how similar marketing efforts have worked in the past. Often, serious marketing mistakes can be avoided if someone would take the time to add "hindsight" to their list of skills. History is a great teacher.

Size up what you see on the horizon. Is it a Fad - here today and gone tomorrow? Is it a Trend - a shift in the attitudes, beliefs, habits or opinions of the culture? Or is it Forever - a seismic shift in the zeitgeist? Having a handle on which one it is will lead you to make smarter marketing choices and more profitable ones, too.

Kids take to malls like ducks to water. An average Friday night, the mall will be overrun by tweens and teens. At first blush, they're really annoying, but take a moment to observe their behavior - their style, their fashion, their attitudes and relationships. It will be an eye-opener - both painful and pleasurable. And it will get you in touch with what is going on real quick.

Ask yourself "why does this work?" "what can I learn" "how do we know?" Never stop asking questions.

What's the Big Idea? Big Ideas are just that: one, simple, single Big Idea. If you need to embellish it with other stuff it probably doesn't qualify as a Big Idea. Find your single Big Idea and focus on delivering that one, simple, clear message.

What we witnessed from this entire debacle was an exercise in contentious vs concensus. Regardless of where you stand on the issue, there are really no winners here; and if this kind of drama played out in business a number of heads would roll.

We're working on an article with a U.S. Marine Colonel on the differences between business strategy & tactics versus military strategy & tactics. Paul's observation about the differences was succinct and memorable: "The whole purpose of being for the Marine Corps is to get the job done. Ex*****on is never up for discussion or debate. While business is great at strategy, we're often miserable when it comes to ex*****on." We should all take a lesson from the Marines.

Secret Sauce. Some recipes are carefully guarded secrets. The formula for Coca-Cola. The spices in KFC. The flavor of Heinz ketchup. Each of these brands is thought to be the taste pinnacle in their categories. Part of their cachet is the special recipe, the "secret sauce." What "secret sauce" do you build into your brand or business that makes it so specially desireable?

We're sick and tired of good meetings. Most of the time they're the result of a bad agenda. Or no agenda. Everyone gets a chance to speak; there's general good camaraderie; and generally no meaningful conclusion or action step. One good meeting leads to another good meeting. What a collosal waste of time. Don't schedule a meeting unless you've outlined an action agenda that will move the topic forward instead of just around the table and on to another meeting.

New York's newest park and a lesson in meaningful meandering. Rather than just paving over the West Side railroad tracks, they took the time to create a series of micro-environments in the middle of the grittiest part of the city. The result is a surprise around every turn and a lesson that sometimes the straightest route to inspiration is not a straight line.

Steve has a general rule when it comes to creative revisions. If a client goes into a fifth revision of the copy, Steve brings back (without telling them) his first revision. By that time, it sort of sounds familiar and it usually sounds exactly like what they want to say. Nine times out of ten, they approve this "sixth" revision which is really their first. Original or first is virtually always the best!