Lane Cardwell

Flat is the New Up

I returned this week from the Marketing Executives Group (MEG) conference in New Orleans with this phrase ringing in my ears. Get a room full of restaurant marketers together for a couple of days to advance their marketing skills and, no matter what the economy, it's hard to leave depressed. Marketers are a resilient bunch. They keep trying to move the needle on their flat lining brands, convinced that the silver bullet of success is just around the corner. And it could well be. Most importantly, they left with the conviction that the biggest problem they face is unrealistic expectations. After all, flat is the new up.

I have always admired marketing people, especially restaurant marketing people. They are the Secret Service of business. Their role, among many others, is to take a bullet for the president. They stand ready, but not excited, to sacrifice their professional lives so that the president of the brand may live to fight another day.

There is no stigma or shame in a marketing person being fired. Everyone knows that this is the unspoken bond between president and chief marketing officer. There is no higher qualification in being hired into a new brand, than having been fired from your old brand. Why? Clearly this is a marketing person who "gets it." Surely if they were willing to throw their body in front of the last president they would be willing to do it for the new president.

Presidents are suspicious of marketers who are currently employed and looking to make a change. Where is the proof that they understand their place within the food chain? Better dig a little deeper to make sure that there is at least one good firing in that resume!

                               

What else did I learn? Well, I was reminded again that the world of marketing continues to evolve in complicated ways. The choices of media in which to get the marketing word out keep evolving, splintering, and growing. The atomic bomb of advertising, network TV, costs more and more, while delivering less and less. Everyone is waiting for the end of the elections to see what will happen to TV ad rates, always at historical levels during presidential elections.

What's the best way to intercept people on the internet? Should a brand do a blog for its customers? How do you keep up with your customers as they leave feedback on other people's blogs and websites about your brand? What are the generational differences of how customers prefer to be reached? If you have a marketer who attends MEG, you can be assured that they are getting a first rate continuing education.

                              

No MEG is complete without the attending marketers doing their detective work to find out what is working for others in the room, and how to define success. After all, to be up 3% when the industry is up 5% means you are not keeping up. Clearly this is an old example. In today's terms, to be flat when the industry is down 3% deserves a victory dance. Why? That's right...flat is the new up.

Posted by Lane Cardwell on October 26, 2008 | Comments (7)