The 42 Below Story is a unique one, a touch of genius, raised 15 million in a public listing, capital was used for building a brand, took a Kiwi voice global, created 138 million in shareholder value.
I am listing some key nuggets from the chapter “I hate marketing” by Geoff
Diamonds are made under Pressure
Marketing is really common sense with a dose of good ideas thrown on top.
Marketing is not safe, nothing bold or new is ever is.
The best way to judge an idea “if you react to it with nervous excitement, it is probably right” if you are comfortable then it has been done before and is too bland so it will die alongside the clutter in the massive misspend of marketing wasteland.
Nervousness is a natural reaction when forging in new territories, yet everyone the world over want to remove nervousness, remove risk, – the malfunction of modern marketing.
Great marketing comes from a great culture – a culture where there is a freedom to have a go.
Safe solutions achieve a 1 per cent rise in market share. (helps in getting the corner office and a bigger title)
Marketing is part art, great artists did’t become great because they did something that was five per cent different from the artist before that. They created something totally new.
two sayings from the “B” in DDB, Bill Bernbach
– Rules are what the artist breaks, the memorable never emerged from a formula.
– The real giants have always been the poets, men who jumped from facts into the realm of imagination and ideas.
freedom as a culture, freedom from fear, freedom to fail, freedom from chaos, freedom to succeed.
1 ONE – culture leads everything, your culture needs to know what the fight is.
if you don’t have money you are forced to think.
22 TWO – Brands need real roots and real credentials
With the internet and google, people can check your backyard pretty quickly
42 below was created by people who loved vodka, knew vodka and knew how to make great cocktails.
333 THREE – Listen to everyone, but be prepared to ignore what you don’t like.
another quote from “B”: We don’t ask research to what it was never meant to do, and that is to get an idea.”
” The bees we use to make our Manuka Honey Vodka work 24 hours and we don’t pay pay them a cent. Hell, we even work some of them to death, poor bastards. “
4444 FOUR – At all costs get noticed, Be heard, Stand for something.
please note consumers are subjected to 3000 advertising messages per day, typically absorb 2 of these. that means 2998 of these are totally wasted. Why? because they are boring. In an obsession to inform they have forgotten to entertain. They have forgotten everyone out there is desperately trying to avoid their message.
55555 FIVE – Word of moth is the most powerful medium in the world.
Word of mouth travels without cost. but only a story with enough of a talk factor will travel. There is no formula for a story some travel some don’t.
42 below had stories that travelled
– winning more awards than any other vodka
– being poured at the best bars in the world
– ruffling feathers in the establishment
– vodka university tutorial
– cocktail world cup, cocktails made while bungee jumping
– brand ambassadors with perspex briefcases full of vodka.
666666 SIX – PR builds brands, advertising maintains them
7777777 SEVEN – Sales is Marketing, Marketing is Sales
good marketing people should also be selling. sell a story and also a case
good salespeople need to be able to sell the brand too, tell a brand story that will start a great word of mouth.
to go sell a case and not the story ( and vice versa) is a wasted opportunity.
guess what all the successful people in the world have in common, they be presidents, lawyers, head of industries, leader of charities, Answer they can sell and are bloody good at it.
” All great marketers need to be great salespeople, and Vice Versa”
8888 8888 EIGHT – The power of opposites, anti cyclical thinking.
The power of opposites, “Zig when others Zag”
Being anti establishment is pro growth. whatever you do always be a leader not a follower.
there is power in putting things together, that would typically not go. formal, informal – classic modern. etc
99999 9999 NINE – Pitch it high, Sell it wide, Positioning is different from distribution
If people did not pay our price to stock our brand, then it would not be at their outlet.
10 TEN – Brands have stretch
The best people are vibrant and diverse. SO are brands. Don’t put a brand in a straightjacket, it will become very boring.
11 ELEVEN – Ready, Fire, Aim
” Strategy is fine but doing stuff is better “
Every day you refine, you change, you improve, you add and you delete. the perfect plan does not exist.
You learn more in a day of doing business that day of research. The good thing about doing business is that business makes money. You sell stuff, research costs money.
A brand is like a guided missile, a heat seeker, the target is being constantly being reexamined. the aim is being constantly being tweaked. every second adjustments are being made, you never stop aiming.
Just start
