Questions

Is money “the” motivator for success?

Remember studying the Herzberg’s Theory of Motivation? It talks about hygiene factors and motivators. Money is just a hygiene factor. You need some of it but beyond that “some” (playing with the word sum here), the satisfaction it gives is at a diminishing rate. So, what are the motivators? What increases satisfaction at an increasing rate? The answer: respect and self-esteem

How do you avoid doing wrong?

The solution is to avoid the “marginal cost” analysis. The primary reason for doing wrong is that the marginal cost of it, the cost of “just this one time”, is very low. So the marginal cost of driving drunk can be understood through the following equation:

Cost = Probability of Occurrence * Monetary or any other cost

Note that the probability of occurrence will keep reducing after each experience of drunken driving and getting away with it. And with it your propensity to act. Remember, it is easier to be 100% committed to your principals than being 98% committed to them. You do it once; you will do it again and again.

The Greatest Marketer Ever?

Business has only two functions Marketing and Innovation, said Peter F. Drucker. I discussed innovation in my first post. The time has come to talk about the other function of business, Marketing. The question is: Who is the greatest marketer ever? (As if that wasn’t obvious from the heading!)

According to Sean Burke, CMO GE Healthcare IT, there are four characteristics of an effective marketer.

a.       Innovator of products, wants and value.

b.      Instigator or agent of change.

c.       Integrator of cross-functional members.

d.      Implementer

The nominees for this prestigious award are:

a.       The Church: What an idea! The name of the idea: Santa Claus. He sells the spirit of Christmas. No other religion in the world has an icon so loved by children. That is innovation at its best.

Church has used all types of marketing – ambush marketing, viral marketing & even mass market marketing. Surprisingly they seem to succeed in spite of the fact that their product (Christianity religion) is in no way greater than other religions in the world. The reason they are able to do so is because of their implementation skills.

b.      Hugh Hefner: The founder of Playboy Enterprises has all the qualities of a top-class marketer. Hugh Hefner, my personal favourite, launched one of its kind Playboy magazines in 1953.The magazine captures the imagination (pun not intended, clearly!) of the young and the old, erasing the hype of generation gap. As an agent of change, he introduced the world to Playboy Radio, Playboy TV and Playboy Wireless for mobiles. Playboy has handled the paradigm shift from Paper-to-Pixel pretty well. It sells twice the number of magazines as compared to its closest competitor.

c.       M.K. Gandhi: Father of the nation of India, M. K. Gandhi, was born on October 2^nd, 1869. Imagine the scene in 1915, on his return to India. The industry of Indian freedom was dominated by the product of violence. As any smart marketer would have done, he introduced something new to this industry. His product was non-violence.

      

      He used the Non-Cooperation movement, Salt March, Quit India Movement and many more, in order to establish the strength of his product. It also helped him implement his marketing ideas. And it also shows his leadership skills and the role that an implementer plays in any marketing effort. He was able to garner support of people of all ages, a rare commodity nowadays.

d.      Osama Bin Laden: The mastermind of the 9/11 attacks also features on our list because of his creativity and execution. He introduced the “art” of crashing planes into buildings, in a market (terrorism) dominated by bomb blasts and suicide bombers.

Thinking is different from doing. The difference between good and great marketers is the act. Execution. And that is where Bin Laden is, sorry was, so good. His execution of the 9/11 attack was what got him on our list.

He also used his popularity to great advantage, by encouraging youngsters to join him on his quest and instilling fear in the minds of others.

And the winner is............. M. K. Gandhi. He seems to be the only candidate on our list, who meets all the four requirements of a great marketer. 

Marketing Mix of Terrorism

The recent terrorist attacks in Mumbai on 13^th July, 2011 got me thinking. How do terrorists market themselves to their prospective customers (both internal and external)? What are the 4 P’s involved in marketing to terrorists (internal customers) and the common people (external customers)?

For those lucky enough not to what these 4P’s are, its Product, Price, Promotion and Place.

Product: The product here is emotion. To the common people, the emotion a terrorist organization sells is fear. To its employees, the organization sells dreams. Dreams of martyrdom and glory.

Price: Price always has two aspects, cost and revenue. To the seller, price represents revenue. To the buyer, it represents cost. For the terrorist organization the revenue may be money, land, power and so on and so forth. For the common people, the cost may be loss of life and a life plagued with constant fear.

Promotion: The age of the internet has opened doors to large-scale terrorist promotions. Youtube is one of the major sources of promotion (though users can now flag videos on youtube as “Terror Promotion”).

Place: The distribution channel of a terrorist organization is highly centralized. All the participants in the distribution channel are owned and controlled by the organization.