Dear CMO:
Peter Drucker neatly summarized the definition of marketing, in so many words, as the sum total of everything your company is, as described by your customer. Every product, package, interaction, bill, user guide – everything. It’s a strong definition and one that speaks loudly to the experience of a brand more than just the sum total of its ad slogans. On this, I’m sure we can agree.
So in this light, I’m perplexed – out of ignorance, really – at SAB Miller’s recent sponsorship of a local San Francisco street fair celebrating a very less-than-mainstream and far-from-family-viewing-let-alone-safe-to-view-at-the-office sub-segment of the beer market.
As with many interesting choices we come across – as always, safely from the perspective of our armchairs and keyboards – I truly don’t know whether to laugh or cry. If the Miller Beer brand is all about the S&M market, then I applaud them and we should all view their sponsorship of the Folsom Street Festival as a brave and visionary step.
If it isn’t, I’m wondering how many heads will roll.
If I was going to place a bet on this, I’d be putting my money on the latter. I have the sneaking suspicion that what's left of the Jet Blue marketing department must be thrilled to be responsible for the second worst event marketing decision made this year.
Here’s the thing: if your core market is the guy who doesn’t want to leave that last deviled egg on the platter and whose closest association with leather is football, you might lose a few customers if your advertising and sponsorship choices run to alt hardcore.
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POLITICALLY CORRECT DISCLAIMER:
The content of this blog post is intended to express the author’s personal opinion and is in no way intended to defame, slander or put in ill light any sub-segment or perceived minority of the beer drinking market; wearers, users, purveyors, or viewers of those wearing leather or leather-like garments; or employees, buisiness partners, or stockholders of SABMiller. No animals were injured during the writing of this post.
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Here’s another thing. SABMiller, as a South African company, is acutely aware of the impact of AIDS in their global community and has made HIV/AIDS awareness, education, prevention and activism part of their global brand strategy. This is an authentic part of who they are and should be the point of the story. But how one chooses to put this idea in motion is the difference between elevating a brand above the product to make a real difference in the world and being a punch line. Do you think anyone at Budweiser is thinking about a “Hi, I’m a Mac” type of ad right now to run during Monday Night Football?
* * *
Key Takeaways:
> We’ve spent a lot of time on this blog talking about authenticity. SABMiller believes that HIV/AIDS is their business. How they choose to animate this desire to save the lives of their customers is a question of implementation. This is a good case study of how to do it wrong.
> We’ve also spent a lot of time here talking about thinking through the implications of our actions. If we sponsor cats, we might well offend all the dogs that buy our beer. If dogs represent 99.9% of our customers, we must think carefully about how close we want to get to the feline market. We may come to the conclusion that the worldwide eradication of fleas satisfies everyone’s needs. Barring the allegories and metaphors for a moment, let’s just hire smarter people who will make smarter decisions. Enough said.
> We live in an age of social media. Bloggers. That whole “internet” thing. News travels fast. Not much is “local” anymore. So it’s hard to do something quietly in San Francisco that isn’t quickly heard in Milwaukee. Or Mumbai, or Montreal, or Port Moresby.
* * *
This isn’t the first time Miller has stepped into unexpectedly deep waters, the earlier instance being the sponsorship of a march supporting illegal aliens. It seems they are a bit slow on the uptake when it comes to learning from mistakes.
The CEO of Miller Brewing is Tom Long. If you’re a NtCMO reader, Tom, could you weigh in on this and let us know if you signed off on this?
Regards.
Peter Drucker neatly summarized the definition of marketing, in so many words, as the sum total of everything your company is, as described by your customer. Every product, package, interaction, bill, user guide – everything. It’s a strong definition and one that speaks loudly to the experience of a brand more than just the sum total of its ad slogans. On this, I’m sure we can agree.
So in this light, I’m perplexed – out of ignorance, really – at SAB Miller’s recent sponsorship of a local San Francisco street fair celebrating a very less-than-mainstream and far-from-family-viewing-let-alone-safe-to-view-at-the-office sub-segment of the beer market.
As with many interesting choices we come across – as always, safely from the perspective of our armchairs and keyboards – I truly don’t know whether to laugh or cry. If the Miller Beer brand is all about the S&M market, then I applaud them and we should all view their sponsorship of the Folsom Street Festival as a brave and visionary step.
If it isn’t, I’m wondering how many heads will roll.
If I was going to place a bet on this, I’d be putting my money on the latter. I have the sneaking suspicion that what's left of the Jet Blue marketing department must be thrilled to be responsible for the second worst event marketing decision made this year.
Here’s the thing: if your core market is the guy who doesn’t want to leave that last deviled egg on the platter and whose closest association with leather is football, you might lose a few customers if your advertising and sponsorship choices run to alt hardcore.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
POLITICALLY CORRECT DISCLAIMER:
The content of this blog post is intended to express the author’s personal opinion and is in no way intended to defame, slander or put in ill light any sub-segment or perceived minority of the beer drinking market; wearers, users, purveyors, or viewers of those wearing leather or leather-like garments; or employees, buisiness partners, or stockholders of SABMiller. No animals were injured during the writing of this post.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Here’s another thing. SABMiller, as a South African company, is acutely aware of the impact of AIDS in their global community and has made HIV/AIDS awareness, education, prevention and activism part of their global brand strategy. This is an authentic part of who they are and should be the point of the story. But how one chooses to put this idea in motion is the difference between elevating a brand above the product to make a real difference in the world and being a punch line. Do you think anyone at Budweiser is thinking about a “Hi, I’m a Mac” type of ad right now to run during Monday Night Football?
* * *
Key Takeaways:
> We’ve spent a lot of time on this blog talking about authenticity. SABMiller believes that HIV/AIDS is their business. How they choose to animate this desire to save the lives of their customers is a question of implementation. This is a good case study of how to do it wrong.
> We’ve also spent a lot of time here talking about thinking through the implications of our actions. If we sponsor cats, we might well offend all the dogs that buy our beer. If dogs represent 99.9% of our customers, we must think carefully about how close we want to get to the feline market. We may come to the conclusion that the worldwide eradication of fleas satisfies everyone’s needs. Barring the allegories and metaphors for a moment, let’s just hire smarter people who will make smarter decisions. Enough said.
> We live in an age of social media. Bloggers. That whole “internet” thing. News travels fast. Not much is “local” anymore. So it’s hard to do something quietly in San Francisco that isn’t quickly heard in Milwaukee. Or Mumbai, or Montreal, or Port Moresby.
* * *
This isn’t the first time Miller has stepped into unexpectedly deep waters, the earlier instance being the sponsorship of a march supporting illegal aliens. It seems they are a bit slow on the uptake when it comes to learning from mistakes.
The CEO of Miller Brewing is Tom Long. If you’re a NtCMO reader, Tom, could you weigh in on this and let us know if you signed off on this?
Regards.
4 comments:
Hi Stephen:
Thanks for this reminder of Drucker's excellent definition of marketing. I think it is safe to say that many marketers might rethink some of their decisions if they all ascribed to this belief.
BTW, the politically correct disclaimer is very funny...
Anne: thank you -- it's ironic enough that 'politically correct disclaimers' are, at times, necessary. But they are.
I have a piece soon to go up on The Daily Fix that touches upon this topic, as well, with a slightly different (and frankly, more Pro-SABMiller) slant.
Thanks again!
Stephen, I'm surprised at you. Are you not keeping up with the times? Marketing today is not about the customer, it's about the marketer.
Jay, I hate to admit how often your comment seems to be right.
CK and others have been talking recently about *listenting* as opposed to talking, which viewed with the Drucker quote I opened with might guide a smart marketer away from making foolish mistakes.
You can lead a horse to water (and even stick its head in the trough until it drowns) but you can't make it think. Or drink.
Thanks -
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