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How Trump and Apple ARE a Lot Like selling CARS.

9/12/2015

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Two of the biggest deals occupying the media of late are Donald Trump and Apple Computers.  Neither the 9/11 observances nor the Pope’s upcoming New York visit (not to mention start of the new Fantasy Football season) could match the fervor with which reporters awaited pronouncements from these two cultural phenomena.

The revolutionary new product star hoped for from the Cupertino crowd didn’t show up, although evolution of the iPhone continues unabated; a stronger case, better camera, new touch feature and Rose Gold color captured a moment’s attention each. The windowpane-sized iPad Pro was announced, along with “The Pencil”.  And there was a hint of disruption to come with Apple TV.  Thousands of devotees watched the product reveals unfold online and speculated about what Tim Cook and his subordinates had to say anew while watching Apple stock prices bounce up and down on their computer screens.

Viewers also anticipated something fresh and raw this week from The Donald -- and he failed to disappoint, although there wasn’t much substance in his pronouncements, just the usual mix of shocking lines about the continuing stupidity of the current bunch in D.C. or Carly Fiorina’s face. That Trump has tapped into an angry underground river of frustration about the country’s social, political and geo-political direction cannot be denied.  The question, however, is now that he’s got everybody’s attention what is he going to do with it beyond entertain us with more indignant blathering? – other than help the media make more money (as CNN staff complains about how much Donald appears on their channel, and Huff Post now has a whole section devoted to nothing but Trump).
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Trump and Apple hawking their respective wonderfulness reminds me of selling cars.  Years ago, when I was but a pup, one of the biggest deals around was each autumn's announcement of the following year’s new models.  Folks looked forward to getting a peek at the latest designs, such as Chrysler’s Forward Look. And automakers worked hard to give people the new styles they expected, especially in the decades immediately following World War II (during which automobile manufacturing had been suspended in favor of producing war materiel).  

These days, most new car announcements produce all the excitement of a morning yawn, unless you’re a true aficionado, and I for one think we’ve lost a little something, because that wedge of the American can-do spirit represented by our automobile industry back then has all but vanished.

I have neither the expertise nor prescience to suggest what Apple may come up with next – if anything.  But I do hope they have at least one more out-of-the-park home run in them, an innovative new product that we can anticipate with the kind of excitement that used to surround the announcement of next year’s cars.

As for The Donald, who tends to speak loudly and carry a big geo-political stick, and who changes his mind all too often about whatever's in his gun sights, including the phalanx of progressive social concerns that so concerns a wide swath of Americans, I’d like to think that he’ll eventually bow or flame out of the presidential race.  In an odd way, the election process may have been refreshed for his having passed through it, like the sun after a violent rainstorm.

Content © 2015 by Brian E. Faulkner.  All rights reserved. 



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How To Win BIG in 2016: A Tagline For Tomorrow. 

11/5/2014

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PictureImage © by Brian E. Faulkner
Despite its overwhelming success, the Republican 2014 campaign was a sorry example of strategic positioning.  Yes, the Republicans improved their ground game and voter motivation differed markedly than in 2010 or 2012.  And yes, there was considerable angst afoot about the president and his policies, his slide toward extra-Constitutional thinking and his enthusiasm for progressive social initiatives that cut deep into traditional American culture. 

But absent the “Nobama” ax the Republicans swung with such gusto, there was a clear lack of strategic underpinning to their midterm messaging.  Instead, they allowed the president to make their case for them.  He saved the Republicans the trouble of building a brand -- a short-term plus but a long-term minus.

The Democrats had more substance to build on (they always seems to think further down the road than the Republicans), but their 2014 messaging wasn’t all that cohesive, either – at least overtly.  However, it was clear to the electorate that the Democrats mostly stood for Obama and his ways, despite some candidates who fled toward the exits in fear of even mentioning the president’s name.   Love him or loathe him, the 2014 midterm was a referendum on Mr. Obama, including his carriage, his approach to a frightful list of geopolitical and geo-economic conundrums, his penchant for  social reconstruction and his claim to “protect the middle class” – a phrase I would forever ban from all political discourse, not because it isn’t important, not because it isn’t needed or worthy or possible, but because it has been beaten into utter meaninglessness by overuse.

So, as the endless phalanx of political ads finally fades to black, leaving the talking heads to chew things over, this observer has a suggestion for both political parties as they slog toward 2016: come up with a magnetic, meaningful word picture of the years ahead.  Recast The American Story in its many manifestations, from Main Street to Wall Street to the Arab Street.  Create a message that people can get a grip on, hang their hats on -- or cast aside in favor of the other guy’s take on things.

Democrat or Republican, what’s needed is a hard-working tagline that acts as a stand-in for party "market positioning".  Which should include the following characteristics:

  1.  Simple – uses as few words as possible.
  2.  Direct – makes a strong, unambiguous declaration.
  3.  Compelling – connects to both head and heart.      
  4.  Personal – speaks to people’s wants and needs.
  5.  Strategic – sets your message (or brand) apart.
  6.  Authentic – grounded in Marketable Truth©.   
  7.  Meaningful – presents tangible benefits.   
  8.  Visual – attracts eye and ear.
  9.  Memorable – sticks in the mind.
10.  Enduring – remains true, even in the face of change.

Readers of this blog know that my subject is communicating competitive advantage.  I am no political commentator, but there clearly are parallels between positioning a business, product or brand to advantage and doing so for a political party or candidate.  If you spread out the pieces and parts of your belief on a tabletop, you should be able to re-assemble them in a more strategically useful, more refreshing and attractive way, regardless of which political party plucks your heartstrings and moves your feet toward the voting booth. 

Use the list of qualities above to guide you in creating a key message, a compact, well-crafted expression of competitive advantage that helps assure consistency in every communication you make – commonly expressed as a tagline.  Then lay out a plan to tell your American Story.  Start disseminating your message at least by November of 2015.  And stick with it.   Modify the accents, if needed, but not the core message as party and candidates move together toward November of 2016:

Short, Compelling & Strategic Tagline

- supporting initiative #1
- supporting initiative #2
- supporting initiative #3
- supporting initiative #4
- etc.

Can it be all that simple?   Seems so to me.  And it just might save us from suffering through two more years of verbal mush, the kind we’ve become all too accustomed to as our national political campaigns unfold. 

Content © by Brian E. Faulkner.    Marketable Truth © by Brian E. Faulkner  


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The People's Vision: Don't Let Our Future Just Happen.

7/30/2014

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PictureImage © by Brian E. Faulkner
The managing editor of Bloomberg Politics, Mark Halperin, suggested during a conversation the other day on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that Hillary Clinton lacked “a big strategic vision on how to deal with the world.”  Same for President Obama.  Both, he observed, tend to look on the world episodically rather than strategically:

“We’re still dealing with the fallout of the end of the Cold War. We’re still dealing with the fallout of a post-9/11 world. And I think a lot of people are able to question (Mrs. Clinton's) role in the president’s record on the question of where is the grand strategy? Where is the vision of how to take America into a situation where we’re not dealing episodically with lots of crises without an overall sense of how to bring things together?”

Where is the vision, indeed! 

How do we “position” ourselves in the world?   How do we want to be perceived – generally and in light of tectonic shifts in geo-politics?  Where are we going?  How will we get there?   And how does all this impact my world, my country and me? 

The political parties and their presidential aspirants could do well to figure that out.

“The vision thing,” as George H. W. Bush famously called it back in 1987, has tripped up many a politician – and business leader.  Vision is not something you brainstorm for a couple of hours during a weekend retreat, tack on the office wall and forget about (although I have seen that happen many a time).  A well-grounded vision should arise from the core of your business with the vigor of Jack’s beanstalk because it wraps competency, focus and future into a single commanding insight about who you are and what you bring to the world.  Vision fuses who you are with what you want to become.  It propels you into tomorrow and next year and the year after that -- whether company or country. Decisions no longer get made piecemeal but are considered within the context of a well understood, well accepted and forward-looking strategic framework.

My definition of vision is a dream with a goal.

Too simple?  Vision is simple.  Making vision complicated is make-work.  And a disservice to your organization and the people who will help imagine and fashion your future.

All too often, however, we give little more than lip service to vision.  As Halperin noted, we react episodically.  We may solve some immediate problem with clever footwork but, in the long run, not get much more than a rim shot in return.   

The Obama administration appears to lack vision.  The president and his frequently flying secretary of state seem to react to foreign policy situations while fostering the impression of acting deliberately.  It seems true in their Middle East decision-making and when dealing with the seemingly indomitable Mr. Putin -- unless, of course, the administration’s actions are being guided by a strategy that simply isn’t apparent to the rest of us.  Either way, the perceived result is the same: geo-political muddle.

Our leaders do the country a disservice by not connecting the dots, by refusing (or neglecting) to meld the people’s dreams and goals into a clear and compelling vision, whether they’re talking about “rebuilding the middle class” or how government plays out its foreign policy on their behalf.  Historian and diplomat George F. Kennan once stated that, as an agent of the people (but not a principal unto itself), the primary obligation of government is to the “interests of the national society it represents … military security, the integrity of its political life and the well-being of its people.”    

Considered in that light, is it clear that President Obama has a vision for America – for all Americans?  Is he serving the interests of the national society he represents?  Or is he working his own agenda?  And are we in for more of the same if the Democrats’ leading contender is elected president in 2016?

On CNN this weekend, geo-political commentator and author Fareed Zakaria asked Hillary Clinton about the upcoming presidential campaign, to which she responded, in part, with her view about visioning:  

“Every election is sui generis.  I think it starts with where we are in the country at this time, with what Americans are thinking, feeling and hoping, and it proceeds from there.  And it is always about the future.  …  The questions for somebody running for president are not, you know, will you run and can you win … you have an election, not about a candidate, but you have an election about an agenda.”

The comment suggests that one day Mrs. Clinton actually may come up with a vision that helps the American people discern whether her view of our country and its place in the world earns their vote.  Meanwhile, even NPR national political correspondent Mara Liasson says that Hillary lacks “a big idea.”  Clinton’s early-bet, very liberal opponent, Elizabeth Warren (who says she’s not running in the primary), already has posted a list of 11 Progressive Commandments that leaves no doubt about her vision for the country, at least regarding domestic issues.  I admire her specificity if not her politics.

What about your business?  Do you have a vision?  Does it reflect your present and illuminate your future?  

  • Perhaps your business strategy is concerned with protecting what you’ve already built.   
  • Maybe your company banks on its ability to respond with agility to present and emerging customer needs – faster and with greater innovation than its competitors.  
  • Or you’re a groundbreaker, with that rare ability to see beyond the horizon, make new things happen and change the world. 

In each case, your business should be guided by a strategic vision that your people understand and buy into, a vision that reflects both its dream for the future and a concrete goal somewhere out there in time.  Proverbs 29:18 (KJV) says “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” They also are apt to react to situations episodically (interestingly, a more up-to-date translation of the Proverbs verse suggests that things tend to fall apart without having first acceded to God’s guidance). 

Content © by Brian E. Faulkner

Tags: vision, strategic vision, Bloomberg Politics, Mark Halperin, Hillary Clinton, Morning Joe, President Obama, Cold War, George H. W. Bush, George F. Kennan, Fareed Zakaria, Elizabeth Warren, 11 Progressive Commandments, Proverbs 29:18  

ABOUT BRIAN FAULKNER:

Brian Faulkner is a content writer and Key Message expert.  He helps clients come up with words to set their businesses, brands and products apart and attract the customers they want most.  His strategic insights, and the words that go with them, have made a significant, often immediate difference for client companies over many years.  His "sweet spot" is smaller to moderate sized consumer products, retail, service and manufacturing companies that may have struggled to find just the right words to position their business, brands or products to competitive advantage:

>  blogs to establish you as the thought leader / authority in your business category
>  case stories that communicate your sales successes and invite prospect inquiry
>  testimonials that showcase customer / client satisfaction in 1-2 short sentences
>  positioning statements to guide business development & marketing
>  landing page copy to set your business or brand apart in a compelling way
>  tagline development to attract the interest of your most qualified prospects

Brian also is a three-time Emmy award-winning Public Television writer / narrator and is principal writer and narrator of UNC-TV’s popular "Our State" magazine series, on the air since 2003.  His distinctive sound has been heard on many hundreds of radio spots and client videos since the 1970s.  People say he has a “Mercedes voice” and sounds a bit like Charles Kuralt, which Brian considers a welcome ... but happy ... illusion.
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    sample blog:

    This is a sample blog  for writer Brian E. Faulkner.   It presents stories about brands that do a good job communicating competitive advantage. Stories have been gleaned from the business press, personal experience and occasional interviews. Updates are made from time to time, and every so often there will be a post of general interest -- about things like success, passion, social trends, etc. 

    Author

    Brian Faulkner is a writer and strategic communication consultant who helps business clients explain their competitive advantage in compelling and enduring ways.
     
    He also is a five-time Emmy award winning Public Television writer & narrator for a highly-rated and well-loved magazine series.

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