GUEST POST from Kevin Roberts

This week was a biggie – speaking at HSM World Business Forum at Radio City Music Hall in New York. I was onstage immediately before George Lucas, and as much as I would have loved to stay, I had the week from hell with speeches and meetings over the following three days in Miami, Washington DC, and Chicago.

In the lead up to the event I recently gave a webinar where I gave a preview of what I covered in my presentation, and I answered about 20 questions which poured in from all parts of the world.

In my webinar opening remarks I focused (again!) on Winning Ugly, which has been my mantra at Saatchi & Saatchi since the recession. There are a bunch of ways to win ugly, but one constant in the list is reframing your beliefs about value. With more choice, more connectivity, and less spend, consumer power is reframing the notion of value.

In this time of “new frugality” everyone is wanting more for less. People are evaluating more (71% of Americans shop online before buying a car), trying more, comparing more, and contemplating switching more. Online themselves, and online through others.

Here are the ways consumers are thinking about value; they’re saying:

“I’m sorting true value from false economies.”
People want smart abundance, not rubbish

“I’m not cutting back on luxuries, I’ve just redefined what luxuries are.”
People still treat themselves, just not in the same way.

“I’m into the challenge of finding creative solutions.”
Ingenuity is the new innovation.

Companies must jump-shift their value comparisons.

P&G invites consumers to compare Tide Total Care with the costs of dry cleaning.

Prius invites drivers to enjoy exhilarating motoring while at the same time refreshing the environment.

Tylenol shifted the goal posts in an admirably non-self-serving way: their advice for a headache? Drink a glass of water, wait 20 minutes – and if you still have one then take Tylenol.

Even a private jet company – Flexjet – reframed its private jets from a luxury item to a valuable business tool, from status-oriented cost center to commonsense transport investment.

Each of these examples represents an ’emotional bonus’. They check the rational value boxes but also deliver emotional value by improving your world.

I call this Priceless Value… uplifting life solutions tuned to how people are feeling, living, spending – and sharing.

I’ll be talking again about reframing value, and creating priceless value, at Radio City. Now this, for me, is Priceless.

For more with Kevin Roberts, check out our video interview from the World Business Forum.

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GUEST POST from Kevin Roberts

I had the opportunity to interview Kevin Roberts, CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi at the World Business Forum this week at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. You can see the video interview here:

Saatchi & Saatchi is a well-regarded advertising agency and Kevin Roberts has a lot of great insight on the customer. In this short video we chat about the evolving relationship between customers and their mobile devices, the state of integrated campaigns with social media as a component, and about Saatchi & Saatchi’s “Do One Thing” (aka DOT) campaign.

For those of you don’t know, Kevin Roberts is a contributor here on Blogging Innovation.

What do you think?

Braden Kelley is the editor of Blogging Innovation and founder of Business Strategy Innovation, a consultancy focusing on innovation and marketing strategy. Braden is also @innovate on Twitter.

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GUEST POST from Kevin Roberts

We will be bringing you live coverage on Twitter of the World Business Forum today and tomorrow (October 6-7, 2009) from the Radio City Music Hall in New York City.

Here is a partial list of the amazing speaker lineup:

PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON – Embracing our Common Humanity

PAUL KRUGMAN – The Future of the Global Economy

GEORGE LUCAS – A Conversation with George Lucas

GARY HAMEL – Management Innovation

IRENE ROSENFELD – Leading Transformational Change

JEFFREY SACHS – Economics for a Crowded Planet

T. BOONE PICKENS – A Conversation on Energy Dependence

PATRICK LENCIONI – Building Winning Teams

BILL CONATY – Talent Management

DAVID RUBENSTEIN – Global Economic Crisis

KEVIN ROBERTS – Branding

Here is a video from one of the speakers, Jeffrey Sachs, on “Lessons for the Future”:

So follow along with us on Twitter and the rest of the people from the Bloggers Hub.

Braden Kelley is the editor of Blogging Innovation and founder of Business Strategy Innovation, a consultancy focusing on innovation and marketing strategy. Braden is also @innovate on Twitter.

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GUEST POST from Kevin Roberts

Kevin Roberts will be speaking at the World Business Forum in New York City, October 6-7, 2009. Here is our latest hand-picked article:

Source: daylife.com
Seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong (C, black shirt, yellow helmet) rides in Los Angeles’ Griffith Park with local cyclists on September 10, 2009

A couple of weeks ago a few hundred people got together in LA for a bike ride. No big deal, right? The ride included over 500 cyclists and was organized in less than 24 hours with one short message: “Hey LA — get out of your cars and get on your bikes. Time to ride. 7:30 tomorrow am. Griffith Park, LA Zoo parking lot. See you there.”

The message was sent via Twitter by none other than Lance Armstrong. The next day hundreds of cyclists turned out to ride along side their hero. How often do you get to say you rode with a seven-time Tour de France winner? Some of the riders were said to have driven long distances to join the rare opportunity.

This was not Lance’s first time organizing a flash mob of cyclists. Recently in Dublin more than 1,200 cyclists showed up, some even dressed in work suits. The star power brought Dublin to a standstill.

Flash mobs like this are nothing new. There’s the Worldwide Pillow Fight Day, which started in New York, and of course London’s Silent Disco, where thousands of people listening to their iPods danced in public in eerie silence. There’s also a No Pants day where people commute to work without wearing trousers. 1,100 New Yorkers rode the subway without trousers during a snow storm.

These all point not only to the power of a good idea, but also to our desire to be part of something bigger than ourselves. We want to participate in something unique. Our award-winning T-Mobile spot Life’s for Sharing tapped into the power and energy of this thought.

Increasingly, we have the means to participate like this more and more, and faster and faster. The truly great ideas, for brands or for anyone, will be those idea that give us an opportunity to contribute and play a part.

Back in LA, Lance sent out a short message of thanks…and perhaps a new opportunity? “Great ride in Griffith Park. Thanks, LA! And thanks to the LAPD for the help. Off to Montreal…”

It’s not too late to catch Kevin Roberts at the World Business Forum in New York City, October 6-7, 2009.

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GUEST POST from Kevin Roberts

Kevin Roberts will be speaking at the World Business Forum in New York City, October 6-7, 2009. Here is our latest hand-picked article:

For change to take real effect, it needs to be personalized. Saatchi & Saatchi S, our sustainability agency, is working with companies to implement nano-practices in the workplace to reduce carbon use.

We call this DIY contagion DOT, Do One Thing. Each person is encouraged to choose one thing to pursue regularity. It can be anything from cycling to work or doing laundry with cold water. It’s just one thing, a start not a complete change of life. One person’s DOT may stand alone, but connect a billion DOTs together and you’ll see a movement of change happening.

Employees throughout our own network have shared their DOTs. Here are ten, from Sao Paolo to Singapore:

1. My DOT is to take public transportation to and from airports whenever possible.
2. I use the same bottle for water each day every day.
3. I am going to stop smoking.
4. I no longer use plastic shopping bags.
5. My family will no longer buy water in plastic bottles.
6. I turn off the tap while brushing my teeth.
7. I buy ecologic food and supplies, when possible.
8. I will not eat meat at least once a week.
9. I will drink coffee from a reusable mug whenever possible.
10. To find my bike in the cellar – yes, and to use it!

What’s my DOT? Make one less flight per month. What’s yours? It doesn’t matter what it is, so long as you Do One Thing.

It’s not too late to catch Kevin Roberts at the World Business Forum in New York City, October 6-7, 2009.

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GUEST POST from Kevin Roberts

Biologically speaking, humans are a remarkable, and quirky, species. The New Scientist magazine has published a list of the odd things we do everyday that don’t make a lot of sense. With all the scientific advancement, you’d think we know why we do the funny things we do. But why do we create art, or dream, or pick our noses?

Here a list from the magazine of our quirky traits and why they think we do them:

1. Blushing: some think it may help diffuse confrontation or foster intimacy by revealing weakness.
2. Laughter: a 10-year study confounded our reasons for laughing, saying that more laughter is produced by banal comments than jokes.
3. Kissing: not all human societies do it. Theorists say it’s associated with memories of breastfeeding and that ancient humans weaned their children by feeding them from their mouths, reinforcing a link between sharing saliva and pleasure.
4. Dreaming: recognized to help us process emotions, but why we see such bizarre visions has not been properly explained.
5. Superstition: it makes no evolutionary sense, and it seems beneficial not to dismiss a lion’s rustle in the grass as a gust of wind. Religion taps into this vein.
6. Picking your nose: why do a quarter of teenagers pick and ingest ‘nasal detritus’ on average four times a day? Maybe it boosts the immune system. Yeah, right.
7. Adolescence: no other species undergoes the dramatic, unpredictable teenage years, which John Hughes portrayed so well in his films. Some say it helps our brain reorganize before adulthood or that it allows experimentation before the responsibility of later years.
8. Altruism: giving things away with no certain reward is odd in evolutionary terms. It may help with group bonding or simply give pleasure.
9. Art: painting, dance, sculpture and music, none of it shows one’s mating potential. However, it could also be a tool for spreading knowledge or sharing experience.
10. Body hair: fine hair on the body and thick hair on the genitals is the opposite of what occurs in primates. Explanations include its role in radiating scent, providing warmth or even protecting from chafing.

What would you add to this list? I’d have to add: flying with US air carriers.

Image source: ArtThatFits.com

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GUEST POST from Kevin Roberts

I wrote yesterday about the recent YMCA Raise Up N’ Represent in Auckland. In my speech I referenced a startup by three twenty-something guys in Dunedin, a city near the southern tip of New Zealand’s south island. If New Zealand is the Edge of the world, Dunedin is at the Edge of the Edge. And as I’ve written before, the Edge is not a liability. It’s premium territory, and co-founders Jason Leong, Francois Bondiguel, and James Wigglesworth demonstrate that.

Together they developed a personal budgeting program called PocketSmith. There are many services that track your expenses and show your performance meeting budgets and the like. However PocketSmith doesn’t linger in the rearview mirror, it looks forward to forecast your financial future. They already have 6,500 customers from 70 countries and partnership deals that will give them massive reach into the US consumer base. For New Zealand, the old way of thinking was that you have to leave the country to make any difference in the world. Not any more.

Three young guys recognized an opportunity and had the guts to take on Silicon Valley. Instead of operating in the typical stealth-mode of early stage startups, they were open about their idea and developed a community around it in a matter of weeks.

As I told the youth at the YMCA event:

“Your idea can light up the world. No matter who you are, no matter where you’re from, whether you’re brainy, sporty, nerdy, crazy, some or all of the above.”

The road to success is built on ideas. Just ask these three guys from Dunedin.

PS: My other favorite things about Dunedin are Carisbrook, Otago mountains, The Chills, and Sam Neill’s Two Paddock Pinot Noir (ok, that’s Central Otago).

Image source: NBR.co.nz

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GUEST POST from Kevin Roberts

Saving water is going to become ever more important as time goes on. If you’re easily offended, skip this one, but it’s really pretty harmless and the ad campaign referenced is targeted at children.

A great ad is one that can be understood across borders without the need for subtitles or translation. That’s the case with the TVC above created by F/Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi for the Brazilian environmental group SOS Mata Atlântica. The message here couldn’t be any more clear.

SOS Mata Atlântica says that if a household avoids just one flush a day, it can save up to 4,380 litres (1,157 gallons) of water annually. It’s the little ways we can make a difference each day. Adam Werbach, CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi S, focuses on the impact of our collective “nano-practices” – the hundreds and thousands of tiny things you do each day that together make up your lifestyle. In his ‘Birth of Blue‘ speech last year, he explained the idea: “How you tie your shoes, the type of shoes you wear, your choice of socks, how you fold your socks, and whether you wear your shoes indoors. Instead of trying to change the big things about someone’s identity…we start by finding daily or recurring practices that can express his or her values.” We all could cut down on our water consumption every day. It might be peeing in the shower, taking a shorter shower, or waiting a day to do a load of laundry. One thing can add up.

The other reason this TVC has had such a big response is the way it communicates with us. Sure, the environment is an important and serious topic, but preaching doom and gloom is no way to save the world. Instead of scare tactics and depressing statistics, this ad goes for humor, and there’s no better spokesperson for tomorrow than kids. They can diffuse any situation. The campaign includes posters, a television film and a website which features a frog imploring us to pee in the shower, all to generate awareness about water wastage.

Saving the planet turns out to be easier than expected. Listen to the children and xixi no banho!

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GUEST POST from Kevin Roberts

The World Business Forum is coming up soon.

It will take place October 6-7, 2009 at the Radio City Music Hall in New York City, with an optional Gary Hamel workshop on October 8, 2009.

September 25, 2009 is the last day to get the $610 early bird discount.

As a special service to my loyal readers I have negotiated an extra $100 discount when you register using the discount code – INNOVATE.

Sign up for the Day 3 – Gary Hamel Seminar at the same time using our discount code – INNOVATE – by September 25, 2009 and get the 3-day pass for $2,600 (a $2,210 savings).

Here is a partial list of the amazing speaker lineup:

PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON – Embracing our Common Humanity

PAUL KRUGMAN – The Future of the Global Economy

JACK WELCH – Execution

GEORGE LUCAS – A Conversation with George Lucas

GARY HAMEL – Management Innovation

IRENE ROSENFELD – Leading Transformational Change

JEFFREY SACHS – Economics for a Crowded Planet

T. BOONE PICKENS – A Conversation on Energy Dependence

PATRICK LENCIONI – Building Winning Teams

BILL CONATY – Talent Management

DAVID RUBENSTEIN – Global Economic Crisis

KEVIN ROBERTS – Branding

Here is a video from one of the speakers, Jeffrey Sachs, on “Lessons for the Future”:

For those of you who choose to go, I hope you enjoy the savings and this event!

Braden Kelley is the editor of Blogging Innovation and founder of Business Strategy Innovation, a consultancy focusing on innovation and marketing strategy. Braden is also @innovate on Twitter.

Sign up here to join 17,000+ leaders getting Human-Centered Change & Innovation Weekly delivered to their inbox every week.

GUEST POST from Kevin Roberts

If guilt is the gift that keeps on giving, here’s an easy way to break its grip. We’re all aware of the things that we can be doing to improve society, the community, the environment – but frequently we don’t get around to activating this desire, usually because it involves sacrifice or getting around some inconvenience.

Recycling is one thing that’s easiest enough to do, yet we don’t recycle as much or as often as we could. Eighty percent of all garbage is recyclable, yet the average residential recycling rate is less than 20 percent. Recycling saves cities millions of dollars in landfill and disposal fees, saves trees from the paper mill, and even millions of gallons of oil from use.

Some point this as a result of problems in the infrastructure of cities or simply that it’s not convenient enough to do. Some of our cities are better placed with bins and programs, while other cities leave it entirely up to your own persistence.

Maybe we need more incentive to do so? That’s the approach from the people at RecycleBank. They have introduced the element of rewards into how and when you recycle for both curbside pickup and electronic waste recycling.

RecycleBank’s slogan is “Rewards for people and planet”. So what do people get? Similar to an airline rewards system, you earn points that are redeemable for goods or discounts from retailers. Some pretty big names have signed on – Target, Kraft, Sears, Evian, and Bed Bath & Beyond.

Headquartered in New York City – about three blocks from the Saatchi & Saatchi office – and co-founded in 2005 by Ron Gonen, RecycleBank now serves over 20 million people in America. Last week, Mayor Daley in Chicago instigated the RecycleBank program in 10,000 households. This summer they launch in Europe. They’re also expanding the program to include additional Blue actions, e.g. using solar and wind power, efficient use of water, riding public transportation, or buying products that are manufactured from recycled content.

I think the idea is a very good one, as do some of the savviest venture capitalists in America – Kleiner Perkins are among the investors. For what it’s worth, the United Nations and World Economic Forum agree. Incentives can be a smart strategy for any product or service, especially when those coincide with rewards for the planet. Now that’s Blue Thinking.

Image Source: RecycleBank.com

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