Image
Over the last few days I’ve had conversations with a variety of people here at Drake University. I had the opportunity to speak to the Associate Deans of the Business and Journalism schools, and the pleasure of talking to David Maxwell, our President. One of the themes that kept coming up in our conversations was image.
There are some who argue that you can “be what you want to be” and still maintain the career path that you may want to take. However, you do not see very many CEOs with visible piercings, tattoos, or sporting crazy outfits. Not only do they have to maintain their own image, but every single employee is a representative and an image of their company.
A few months ago I wrote about dressing the part. This is critical in creating and maintaining a personal image. However, it goes beyond just what you wear. You can be the best dressed person in the world, but still have a poor image.
There are a variety of things that dictate this image
There are obviously some other factors, but these seem to be the most important.
Remember, however, not to get too caught up with this image. It is important to maintain a healthy work-life balance, and taking time out of the schedule to tend to one’s own needs. Basketball, movies, traveling, whatever your hobby may be, make sure it is not compromised by the need to carve out a certain type of image.
Services: Some Experiences
I would like to highlight two experiences in the last week that have helped me understand the sheer importance of service.
1. Kereta Api Indonesia
I had the pleasure to ride the train on a 7-hour trip from Bandung to Yogyakarta this past weekend. Honestly, I did not put much faith into the Indonesian public transport system, but I thought – why not? It couldn’t have been better. The design of the train allowed more space than usual, but what set the experience apart was a young gentleman who was serving passengers on the train.
His presence and warmth was projected by his constant smile, and even one of the people I was traveling with said it was probably stamped on his face at birth. Regardless, his service, and the dedication he was doing his job with made the trip that much better. Drew has already said that it is truly your employees that make your company.
2. Singapore Airlines
I really used to think that Singapore Airlines was the Crème de la Crème of the sky. I even participated in a presentation cooing about the fact that Singapore Airlines was the best thing since sliced bread. And my experiences were very good in the past.
Last week I was flying in to Singapore having already been delayed with an overnight layover in Tokyo. We had 45 minutes to board our plane, and made it in time to check in and get our boarding passes. The lady checking us in alerted us that our baggage would be on the next flight 3 hours later (it happens). She then said that we were liable to pick up the luggage from the airport. I disagreed with her, but she rudely interrupted and told me I had to drive to the airport and pick it up.
I told her to put me on the flight with my luggage, but to hold on a minute while I made a phone call. I found out that I was right and that SQ was liable for my luggage. After she had handed the boarding card to another person in our group on that flight, I told her that I would like to be on the earlier flight. With 40 minutes until boarding (check-in closes at 30), she said that she closed the flight already. I asked her to just wrap up the paperwork on the later flight, and that I would be fine with it. Once again, she rudely told me to go back in line and wait.
There was not an ounce of sympathy in her demeanor in the fact that at that point I had already been traveling almost 45 hours and that she had just delayed me another four. This truly did not reflect on Singapore Airlines’ mission statement, and they will be hearing from me shortly.
Services
Drew McLellan, Top Dog at McLellan Marketing Group, reiterates the importance of service in this experiential economy we live in. In a market oversaturated in goods in almost every industry, the experience of a relationship with a brand may be what sets it apart from the others. Some great examples are Apple, with their interactive stores and wonderful customer service and Singapore Airlines, with the immaculate attention to detail by the entire staff in ensuring your comfort. Service is such an important factor of each brand, particularly because of the Internet. Word of Mouth now spreads through the Internet at lightning speed.
When you have a great experience with a company, how many people do you tell?
When you have a horrible experience with a company, how many people do you tell? (Usually a lot more)
With the Internet multiply that by 10.
Crossroads Marketing Competition: Lessons Learned
The Crossroads Competition was a great success in proving to the community that there is great talent being fostered at Drake University. It also allowed me to learn a few valuable lessons.
1. Be very organized
Deadlines, deadlines, deadlines.
Make sure there is a system in place to keep track of things
2. Leaders must cooperate
When working with other people, there is a certain level of give and take.
Negotiations are particularly important, moreso when the final result is to have both parties come out winners.
3. Sometimes leaders must wing it
Cooperation is important, but sometimes executive decisions must be made on the spot. More often than not, a leader will have time to confer with others before making a decision. There may be, however, that one call during which a decision must be made as soon as possible. A leader is there because he knows (or should know) what he is doing, and is ready and capable to make an intelligent decision on behalf of others, and ready to take the responsibility and consequences of it. This is where the decision is made with a strong gut feeling and belief that it is the best one.
I ran into this last one quite often over the course of the competition, and I really liked it. Conferring with others is a great way to provide a well-rounded perspective, but sometimes what a group needs is that one shot into the dark. Who knows, maybe you’ll hit something and maybe you won’t. That’s the risk a progressive leader should be willing to take.
This marketing competition was a shot into the dark. It was a risk for which I was willing to compromise my reputation and credibility because I believed in it. With a few glitches here and there it worked, and it will be held again next year.
Let me tell you, hitting that target in the dark is pretty damn sweet.
Happy New Year!
December 31, 2007, 11:14 am
Filed under:
new years Happy New Year!
“We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year’s Day.”
- Edith Lovejoy Pierce
Crossroads Marketing Competition 2
The judging occurred on December 4th, followed by a showcase and awards presentation after the Crossroads Entertainment Conference on December 5th.
Although five of the seven teams competed in the final judging, the event was a great success. The bands involved were very impressed with the physical work of the students, some of which will be used in the future. The bands were also impressed with the students themselves, and some were hired to work on future promotional material. Furthermore, ties were developed with the local community, and the Drake image was strengthened. Finally, a week later I was given a call by a local record producer who wanted to hire a group of students to create a promotional kit for a local artist presenting to a major record label in New York City. The presentation was yesterday.
I can say that I am incredibly proud of this entire event. I am particularly proud of each and every one of the Drake University students who participated. The final work is just the tip of the iceberg of the talents and determination these students possess. Congratulations to each and every one of them.
Crossroads Marketing Competition
This past semester I had the chance to sit down with a few people and lay out a concept that we wanted to bring to life. Kathryn Dickel from Swaelu Media, Abbey Robertson from Red Bull North America and I planned on creating a student advertising/marketing competition based on something we had seen at the University of Minnesota.
I strongly believe in the experiential economy, and that people should try to experience as many different things in life as possible. Without trying different things, how can you truly settle on what you like and don’t like?
Anyhow, we decided to team up with the Des Moines Music Coalition with the competition focusing around promoting bands. This way, the teams would have the chance to communicate with local clients face to face, become involved in the community, and come away with important lessons learned and networks created. Each team was assigned a local band, with genres ranging from country to bluegrass and even some heavy metal. Their goal was simple: to come up with a promotional kit for this band that would catch the attention of a venue promoter as the primary target, and a festival promoter as a secondary target. Judging would be based around the idea of Three P’s – Proposal, consisting of a 1 page executive summary outlining the strategy used, Product, consisting of the actual product – the kit, and finally Presentation, which focused on the 20 minutes each team had to pitch their concept to the panel of judges. The judges consisted of a radio promoter, an executive creative director at a local advertising agency, a graphic designer and an owner of a record label.
The teams consisted of between 5-7 people. The teams were divided first by year, so that each team would consist of experienced juniors and seniors to lead the way, and some sophomores and freshman to help and get the hang of the concepts. The second division was by major, either management or creative (graphic design, creative advertising). This way, the teams had not only students with experience as a result of age, but students with experience in the different aspects of marketing and promotion.
…to be continued…
Be Right Back
After an absence, I just wanted to say that I will be right back. <b></b>There have been a few events that I would like to write about, and they will be online soon! <p></p> Thanks again for the support!
Nobody Gives You Credit, You Have To Earn It
I was watching a documentary, “Maxed Out” about credit card use in the United States. The situation is dire. Before I get started, here are some quick statistics.
- Total US Consumer Debt (including installment debt, but not mortgage debt) - $2.46 Trillion in June 2007
- Total revolving debt is $904 Billion
- US Households will have received 5.3 billion offers for new credit cards in 2007
- 40% of US families spend more than they earn
Courtesy of Credit Cards.Com and Hoffman Brinker.
One of the best quotes in the documentary was “Nobody Gives You Credit, You Have To Earn It”. Funny thing about this, is that the quote came from a very old clip from the 50s or 60s. This mindset is not new, yet it has been disregarded so vehemently over the last few decades.Nothing in life is free, especially not credit.
Yes, you may start out with $500. But when you’re paying 24% interest on your last missed payment, are you given credit? Not anymore. I keep returning to this subject, but I strongly believe that it is important to establish a strong sense of financial responsibility early. Yeah, you could buy that car that you can’t afford. But do you want to be paying $30,000 for a car worth only $20,000?
Robert Kiyosaki hit the nail on the head in his book, “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” . One of the only ways out of the Rat Race of debt (yes, chasing yourself silly to find money to pay off next month’s bill is a rat race) is the exercise of financial intelligence.
“The only way to get out of the “Rat Race” is to prove your proficiency at both accounting and investing, arguably two of the most difficult subjects to master.” - Robert Kiyosaki
Yes, we do live in a “right here, right now” world. But wouldn’t that computer or TV be so much sweeter if you worked hard for it and bought it with cash?
Trusting Your Gut
In the past few weeks I have discussed with many different people the concept of instinct. I can’t believe I haven’t written about it yet.
Personally, I believe that some people have or develop an innate ability to read/decipher a situation without having a logical reason as to how this process happens. This is called the gut or the instinct. Sometimes, your gut feeling pulls you one way, whereas logic and reason pulls you the other way. On some occasions, your gut may be right. On others, it may not. Some people have trained their instinct a little more, some people are just born with it.
Do you think that somebody who is very good at what they do calculates the pros and cons of the situation every single time? After a while, the processes become innate to the point where the person simply knows which decision is good or bad.
I came across an interesting article today on Newsweek.com. In his piece “Less (Information) Is More”, Wray Herbert discusses a new take on the strength and credibility of trusting your gut.
Check it out! “Less (Information) Is More”
