A few years ago, Dove started their campaign for real beauty. For Dove it was a point of differentiation but it was more than that - a core belief that a) the cosmetics industry negatively impacts women's (and particularly young women's) self-esteem and b) real beauty exists in all women. It's been enormously successful for Dove, so successful that Nivea has recently started a poor imitation of the campaign.
Here are three examples of Dove's campaign and the latest ad from Nivea. Firstly, Dove's 70 second 'Evolution' film released virally a couple of years ago, showing how fake images of models really are: (email readers click through to view)
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Secondly, Dove's 'True Colours' ad - a clear statement of belief without selling any product at all:
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Thirdly, an advertisement from Dove on their pro-age range of products, a brilliant counterpoint to the proliferation of anti-aging products on the market:
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Finally, here's Nivea's lacklustre me-too campaign which is currently running on Australian commercial TV:
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In his book BE Brands, author Simon Hammond explains how brands with core BElief foster a desire for BElonging from consumers. If the brand exhibits BEhaviour consistent with their BElief then they can expect amazing BEhaviour in response from their consumers. Dove has achieved this to a remarkable degree by sharing a clear and original BElief. Nivea will, however, need to come up with the own BELief and share it with much greater clarity than the advertisement above.
As for your business, your BElief can be simple and does not require the investment that Dove has devoted to theirs - it just has to be yours and not faked. Simon Hammond's advice is to be who you are, to "start with your passion ... follow your real spirit, align that with the real lives of consumers and see where you end up".
I loved this 15 minute talk by Paul Bennett of design innovation firm IDEO. In it he highlights some fabulous, empathic solutions and explains how they were created.
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Paul's main points are that designers need to:
reconcile what organisations want with what individuals need,
look at situations from 'the person out' rather than 'the organisation in',
consider the human element of a solution and foster it,
look at people's 'thoughtless acts' which contain significant meaning,
have a beginners mind - look at ideas afresh, and
communicate clearly and simply with their clients.
?Also that:
good solutions are often staring us in the face,
tiny solutions can make a huge difference, and
many significant inventions come from observing small interactions.
What small changes could you make to your offering that will have significant, positive impacts on your customers?
I pity the teddy bear stores that sell just bears - Build-A-Bear Workshop delivers an experience 'where best friends are made'. Here's a video that a customer has made about their visit (because Aunt Debra sent a gift card). Don't skip what the kids have to say.
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Children follow this process, posted on the wall of the store:
Choose Me (select an empty bear from around 20 styles)
Hear Me (a prerecorded/personally recorded sound or heartbeat)
Stuff Me (insert a heart, make a wish and child presses button to fill)
Stitch Me
Fluff Me (brush the bear on a stand which looks like a child's bath)
Name Me (name the bear, print a birth certificate)
Dress Me (choosing from a wide range of clothing & accessories)
Take Me Home (in a home-shaped box)
Because Build-A-Bear Workshop provides every opportunity for kids to personally create and bond with their bear in-store, the bear is highly anticipated, lovingly made, unique to each child and cherished longer than the average bear. This in turn makes the bear worth more to the parents who happily pay higher prices, giving more profit to the store owner.
Most products can be turned into experiences of one form or another, and it doesn't necessarily mean a large investment. My local shoe repairer is called 'Pete the Pom' and the entire district knows him. He ends every sentence with either 'me handsome' or 'my lovely' as in 'What's wrong wiv your 'eels, my lovely?' or 'That'd be fifteen bucks if that's alrigh', me handsome'. We all know he's hamming it up but we love it, love him and love his work. He doesn't repair shoes, he makes us feel good. Sure, his style doesn't suit everyone but he doesn't care - visit on a Saturday morning and there's a queue well out the door of his tiny store.
Take every opportunity to turn your product into a customer experience.
I love watching the UK version of Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares, a TV show featuring one of the world's most successful chefs delivering weeklong, intense and foul-mouthed crash courses on how to run a restaurant for those who desperately need it.
Here's the first ten minutes of one episode:
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Gordon follows more or less the same consulting method each episode:
1. Visit as a customer Gordon visits, tries the food & samples the service. He provides critical feedback, pulling no punches, to the assembled owner and staff.
2. Obtain commitment to change Gordon shows how bad things really are and obtains commitment from everyone to change.
3. Observe staff Gordon steps into the kitchen and watches the chefs and service staff at work. Typically owners haven't put systems in place either in service or the kitchen, don't have properly trained staff and don't have enough experience to improve the situation.
4. Demonstrate viability Most owners cannot go much further financially and have reached desperation point. Gordon demonstrates how the business can be turned around, sometimes running trials to show how much money can be made.
5. Inject business sense Gordon puts systems in place across the restaurant, leverages relationships to get better deals on business inputs and finds contra deal opportunities such as cross-promotion.
6. Rebuild passion Usually the staff have wallowed in mediocrity for so long that they've lost all interest in their job. Gordon works with them to restore passion, care, attention & love for food.
7. Provide focus Typically the restaurant has an inconsistent theme and a menu without focus. Gordon says "a good restaurant does one thing brilliantly, a bad one does fifty badly" and typically cuts the menu down to 5 excellent (& simple to prepare) dishes per course.
8. Restore confidence Gordon often provides the staff with a surprise challenge that irons out problems in the kitchen and restores confidence of the staff and owner.
9. Consolidate the learning Gordon observes staff on a busy night, irons out remaining bugs in the system.
10. Find replacement staff Some staff cannot change or do not have the owner's interests at heart. Gordon provides the owners with the courage to get rid of them and finds qualified replacements.
11. Leave Gordon Ramsay know how to make a number of small changes to achieve significant outcomes. Then he hands control back to the thankful owner and leaves.
So that's Gordon Ramsay's method. It's good advice for any type of business and entertaining to boot.
I have a great party trick - I can catch almost anything that I accidentally drop. My ability to catch is only a second-order solution, however - it's a response to a first-order problem of clumsiness. Really I should try and overcome my clumsiness but for now it's easier to catch things and wear the odd breakage.
I'm not alone - many businesses have sexy, fun or easy second-order solutions to first-order problems. It's sexier to make new sales than it is to invoice on time and chase bad debts. It's more fun to chase new customers than to take care of existing customers and generate repeat business. In a public company it's easier to boost the share price by making grand announcements than by working hard to increasing company profits.
Beware the sexy, fun or easy second-order solution - the only long-term strategy is to knuckle down and fix your first order problem.
Satisficing was a term coined by Nobel-prize winning economist Herbert Simon for a decision-making strategy that combines satisfaction and sufficing. Put simply it means selecting the first choice that meets your predetermined criteria rather than continuing to search for the optimal choice.
In the book The Paradox of Choice (Why more is less), author Barry Schwartz gives an excellent and well-researched account of the negative impact that excessive choice has on our wellbeing. He strongly recommends satisficing when making personal decisions so as to be more satisfied in life. For a teaser of the book (which doesn't do the book justice) he has written this ChangeThis.com manifesto: 'The Paradox Of Choice' manifesto
By comparison, Matthew E. May - author of the book The Elegant Solution has a must-read ChangeThis.com manifesto on innovation that calls satisficing the fourth of the 'Seven Sins of Solution' - sufficing causes innovators to accept a 'good enough' solution rather than pushing through to find the best: The 'Mind Of The Innovator' manifesto
So - when making a personal decision, satisfice. When solving a problem, optimise / maximise.
, author Barry Schwartz gives an excellent and well-researched account of the negative impact that excessive choice has on our wellbeing. He strongly recommends satisficing when making personal decisions so as to be more satisfied in life. For a teaser of the book (which doesn't do the book justice) he has written this ChangeThis.com manifesto: 
