An article in the Harvard Business Review stated the following: Surveys have shown that 80% of Americans don’t trust corporate executives and–worse–that roughly half of all managers don’t trust their own leaders. Mergers, downsizing, and globalization have accelerated the pace of change in organizations, creating a crisis of trust that didn’t exist a generation ago.

Given all this uncertainty, trust has been at an all-time low.

When it comes to analyzing and facilitating trust, Brain Science is fascinating. In order to make Brain science interesting and easy to understand, we have to make the following statements:

1) The brain controls our actions,
2) We all have a brain,
3) As a leader you are not only managing people but you are also managing their brain. I know it’s an unorthodox way of looking at this but it’s extremely relevant and logical.

So far, so good. Problems start when you factor in how trust has broken down in your organization. Trust is broken down by fear (ex. losing one’s job, making mistakes, damaging or losing assets). Fear is that always-on emotion that is controlled by your amygdala. Your amygdala (a pair of small organs in the brain) is the fear and emotion center in your brain. It’s the area that prepares you eventually for ‘fight or flight’.

In its most simple terms if the amygdala is activated or overheating because of fear, this will also affect other parts of your brain such as the reward system, your gut feeling and another area called the ‘Accountant’ which essentially tells the ‘action brain’ either Go or No Go or in other words, to carry on a particular task.

According to a Brain Science leading authority Dr. Srini Pillay:
“Trust and fear are inversely related and affect the brain in opposite ways. Fear increases amygdala activation while trust decreases it. Developing a trusting work environment is important in similar ways to creating a non-fear based motivational space. It frees up the thinking brain to focus on relevant issues rather than using up thinking resources to resolve trust conflicts. Trust is also rewarding since it affects several components of the reward system. These components feed back to the action centers in the brain, preparing the brain to act. Without trust, action is inhibited or infused with fear; this compromises actions.”

So now we know that Trust frees up thinking resources in the brain by decreasing amygdala activation.

Armed with this scientific yet logical insight through your leadership style, you can address trust. By instilling trust in your organization you will notice a difference in staff performance and morale. It won’t happen overnight but it can become contagious if you follow some basic steps:

1) Be honest and sincere. Why? It only makes sense. People will feel that you are hiding things and will respect you as leader if you communicate without hesitation. By being direct, employees will stop the rumor mill and concentrate on the task at hand. Remember that for any news – good or bad, You need to communicate it! One of my CEO clients delegated the delivery of bad news to the HR Director. It bombed and created more fear! Staff needs to hear it from you.

2) Be appreciative. If you have fallen in the trap of not thanking people then you better change your approach. I don’t care what cultural background you are from. In the ten countries I have worked in, saying Thank You goes a long way. I challenge you: If you speak to one of your line staff and remember to say thank you, that person will go home that evening and tell his spouse or loved one that the boss thanked him/her…Imagine that!

3) Be open to feedback. Encourage feedback. Listen but remembering the most fundamental rule of encouraging feedback: You have 2 ears and one mouth…use them accordingly. Listen, acknowledge and don’t defend the idea/feedback since this is counterproductive.

4) Remain focused on the task at hand. You still need to sell, serve or create something. Employees need to be reminded of the obvious – the job has to get done. Remind them that their individual contributions matter to the organization.

5) Trial and error. It’s OK for employees to fail while trying. Implement an attitude of ‘trying without asking’. Then tell your staff member ‘if you mess up, that’s OK as long as you learn in the process’.

If you cannot empower your team members to make decisions without you, how will they ever succeed? Sometimes you need to let them try, fall flat on their faces and learn in the process. In my experience this is by far the strongest message of trust instilment you can deliver.

Trust is intangible. It can be a dark cloud or a motivator. By tapping into the brain of your team members you may discover that removing fear by instilling trust will give you an exponential effect on team morale and performance.

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As you gather your ideas for your presentation, 3 more problems occur and at this point you want to either, 1) kill the next person that shows up at your door or, 2) you wish you could disappear to a remote island in the Caribbean with a Mojito in your hand as you swing back and forth in your hammock – both choices not possible. Worse, for some reason you can’t focus on the presentation. What’s the problem?

Brain Science tells us that your amygdala (a pair of small organs in the brain) is overheating. This is called ‘Amygdala activation’. The Amygdala is the fear center in your brain. It’s the area that prepares you eventually for ‘fight or flight’. The amygdala stores and perpetuates the anxiety response and anxiety disorders.

In fact the amygdala orders your brain to go into a state of alert with its first instructions going to your unconscious mind indicating that danger is imminent.

Hopefully your amygdala is not overheating the entire time like it’s the case in this moment.

According to a Brain Science leading authority Dr. Srini Pillay ‘An overloaded amygdala can also explain your fatigue. You may think that you have no reason to be tired but Brain Science tell us that your unconscious brain may be absorbing the stress and fears of your daily life’.

Suggestion: Take a time out!

Of course this is what your spouse or partner means when they say: “Why don’t you take a break’ when you are really stressed but I really mean it here. Take a time out for about 3-5 minutes.

Get up from your office and get away where you can concentrate, meditate and forget what is currently stressing you.

Ok nothing new here – you have done this before without thinking too much about it in the past or perhaps the suggestion came from someone to go for a break. Some smokers claim that they think better after a cigarette break – I can’t comment here. Once you come back from a break however you seem to have found your inspiration or ability to think, but what really happened in this process?

Here is how it works:

Find yourself a quiet spot where you can be alone, without interruptions like cell phones, internet and sms free your mind of the work issue. This place should facilitate a quiet moment for 3-5 minutes where you need to concentrate on your breathing.

The idea is to focus your thinking on only one thing. When you focus on your breathing, inhaling oxygen, holding it only for 1-2 seconds (actively recognize that little moment between inhaling and exhaling) then completely exhaling the air out of your lungs, continuously focusing on your breath. While focusing on your breathing process, it is impossible to be able to think about anything else.

Try it now for a few moments. As you concentrate on your breathing – you will not be able to think about anything else…pretty cool eh!

This is not so much a relaxation technique bur rather a method to reduce this amygdala activation. By not thinking about anything except your breathing for 3-5 minutes you are essentially setting your amygdala in a more relaxed state. You of course can’t see this happening but trust me, this is what is happening which explains why after 3-5 minutes you regain focus, composure and inspiration.

What I want to emphasize here is that if you are stressed, from reading this article you will know in the future that consciously taking that Time out will help you.

Next time you are in a Board meeting and you are really stressed, try taking a washroom break (no one can blame you when nature calls) and instead of using the washroom for its real purpose, use the toilet stall to hide, close your eyes and focus on your breathing for 3-5 minutes.

Apply this to any issue that stresses you: Personal, business or social.

I have used this practice often including one particular event I was organizing. Everything was falling apart and the guests were arriving in one hour and my thoughts were frozen, I felt paralyzed. I could not decide on easy, basic matters yet having done this time and time again before.

I took a time out and after 5 minutes I regained my ability ‘to put out the next fires’.

The brain is an amazing tool but at times it can go into meltdown and easing off on the amygdala can put you back in shape. The best way to fix this is to ‘Take a time out’.

For a cool video presentation on amygdala activation, check out this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GdALwuYtG8

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Rule of thumb (again): Don’t ask yourself how this works. It just does. Most people will act in disbelief till they spend an inordinate amount of time questioning or wondering how Peak Performance tools really work.

Ask/Believe/ Receive is different than plain ‘wishful thinking’ or ‘positive thinking’. I know these other methods since I have tried them and the Ask/ Believe/ Receive method has worked for me.

I initially thought that this method was metaphysical liking it to the practice of some of my peers in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) . I had once joked with some staff about the existence of metaphysical phenomena only to get a cold reminder that the Congolese and a lot of Africans do in fact believe in it. And by the way, who am I to convince them otherwise that metaphysical phenomena do not exist? Who am I to know better?

However after taking a Brain Science coaching certification with a leading authority in Neurosciences , Dr. Srini Pillay I have come to the conclusion that the reason we receive what we ask and believe is probably due to some really creative programming in our brain.

I am firm believer that we shape our destiny and by doing so, we are one step closer to greatness. One sure way to do this is to focus one’s thinking. Of the many authors I have read on positive thinking and optimism, there are traits that leaders have developed in which they repeat over and over again which explains why these leaders always seem to do better than their peers and have more success than most of us.

A lot has to do with Ask. Believe. Receive.

Here is how it works:

Find yourself a quiet spot where you can concentrate and think without interruptions like cell phones, internet and sms.

Think about the task you wish to accomplish. It can be delivering an important presentation, overcoming a tough negotiation, convincing a new client to agree with your proposal, ending a dispute with a loved one. You need to have in mind the objective first, before you can ask for its attainment.

Then quite simply ask for what you want. Ex. ‘ I want this presentation to go well and people to say Wow great presentation’.

Now focus on what you want by saying to yourself (in your mind) ‘I want the following’ or basically, Asking for something (hence Ask. Believe. Receive )…this should last about 5-7 seconds.

At this point you will notice or feel a little jolt or shock in your body. It may be subtle or strong or almost nothing.

Once you asked for what you wanted try to imagine agreement, or someone agreeing or nodding to your request. It can be a person’s face or a person’s head nodding in agreement. It does not have to be a person you know and it does not have to be you, or you imagining that your head is nodding in agreement.

As you picture someone agreeing with your request, this is forming the Believing (hence Ask. Believe. Receive) part of the method.

Then, exhale because you would have kept your breath throughout this 10-15 second exercise. This is the Receive part.

After this is done, don’t think about it anymore. Go straight or proceed to what you are planning to do. In this case proceed to the meeting room and get ready to present. Let it go. It will come to you.

Remember to only ask once. You don’t need to repeat over and over what you asked for. Asking repeatedly actually messes up the process; it sends the message too many times ‘out there’. To make it easier to understand, think of a similar case such as when you order a pizza from your favorite pizza shop. You call and order a pizza only once. You don’t call 5 minutes later to say “I want a pizza’ and then 5 minutes later again to say “I want a pizza’. You call once and the pizza shows up in about 30 minutes.

The Ask/Believe/Receive process is the same here – ask only once. In some scientific way you are programming your brain, you are calling on a metaphysical phenomenon, the stars align, magic happens; whatever…It doesn’t matter – it just works.

Apply this to any endeavor you undertake, personal, business or social.

What this exercise does is it focuses your brain on a particular objective or outcome. If you focus, ask and sincerely believe that you can achieve this outcome, then you will receive it – pure and simple.

My track record? Answer: Probably 95%. In fact I was so surprised of its efficiency that I don’t even think of the other 5%.

This method has an effect of building up your confidence. Once you have done the exercise, exhaled and proceded to the task at hand, you forget about your fears, doubts or confusion enabling your mind to be free and to concentrate on the task at hand.

I have used this practice for simple tasks and even for more complex objectives or milestones.

My own belief is that the success rate is due to a combination of focused brain programming, enhanced confidence, added lucidity and to some extent you are influencing the people or audience by sending positive energy ‘out there’. Perhaps this is where the metaphysical comes in.

Again, I apply the rule of thumb: I don’t ask myself how or wonder how this works. It just does!

Besides what’s the worse thing that can happen for having spent 10-15 seconds of focused thinking is well… nothing . Not a big loss for the level of investment.

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There is one stretch of my cycle routine I now call the gauntlet. It’s a long narrow space where I can’t fully see what’s coming up and this is where the street dogs greet me. My first experience was eventful. As these street dogs caught me by complete surprise, I felt this cold flash starting from the back of my spine all the way to the back of my head sort of the fear that can dogs smell. Pretty ironic for a dog lover but I can tell you that the fear although automatic, was real even though I did not want to show it.

As they surprised me I then got into survival mode and I did what comes natural: I pedal faster.

I’m thinking, ‘I can do this’ so I start to pedal even faster as they start catching up to me. Two of the 6 dogs gave up, then 2 more and even with the last two on my tail (pardon the pun) I am pedaling even faster. By this time I am feeling like Lance Armstrong trying to win another Tour de France or dodging the anti-doping officials, depending on when you read about Armstrong.

Then I think Uh-oh. I need to come back through this gauntlet to get home. Turns out they were too busy looking for breakfast and did not want to wait for me. The next trip I gave the dogs some food while moving like a ‘bat out of hell’ and that did not work either.

The last time I was pursued something unusual happened. As I saw them running after me (showing teeth and not being too friendly) I slowed down to offer them some food. What happens? They run away! It seems that as I stopped pedaling and became a pedestrian, it was their turn to be scared.

I had done the complete opposite of what I thought was the solution and it worked!

Business is like that too.

How many times does this happen to you when you are trying to finish a project, or you are dealing with a difficult peer or boss or you are trying to close a deal before a deadline? What do you do in these circumstances ? You pedal faster. You do what comes natural to you thinking this is the solution.
Try doing the complete opposite.

Ask yourself; are the project and its direction really the best for you or your organization?

Instead of fighting or avoiding a peer…listen, process and then reply, as opposed to mixing up this order.

Is this deal good for all parties? Sometimes ‘No deal is better than a bad deal’.

We all get caught up so much in what we do or what is keeping us busy that we miss the obvious. We never really pause, process and say to ourselves… what if I did a complete 180 degrees on this product, project or sales call? It may very well be what the business needs. Sometimes obvious is not obvious enough.

Sometimes, it’s worth stopping, stepping back, slowing down and re-assess if you are following the best route and ponder…what if I did this differently? In fact ask your boss: What if we could do this differently?

How will you know if you don’t try? It takes courage to stop and re-assess.

Like in my case, you may be surprised to find out that to pedal faster is not always the solution.

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Paul Renaud moderating an Evernote Meetup with Phil Libin, CEO of Evernote on November 7th, 2012

I get the chance to meet and moderate interesting people. Phil Libin, CEO or Evernote (www.evernote.com) was in town and I was asked to moderate an Evernote meetup. I like to get to meet/know my guests since I need to know a bit about their leadership style and values. This makes it more interesting for the audience which in this case, ‘is my customer.’
Evernote is a $1billon (USD) company based in Silicon Valley and currently have 40 million customers. Evernote is a solution that helps you remember and act upon ideas, projects and experiences across all the computers, phones and tablets you use.

I had asked Phil what were the reasons of Evernote’ s success and after a few push backs indicating to me a touch of modesty, he admitted one of his guiding principles.
‘Paul, I hire smarter people than me’. I smiled and I let him finish. He went on to say, ‘I need to hire smarter people so we can progress. If I don’t hire someone that is smarter than me, then I end up doing the job myself which is counter-productive’.

I later told Phil that I smiled because I agreed with him and I adopted this principle in the emerging countries I had worked. I also smiled since I remembered the look of shock on some of my managers’ faces when I told them they too, had to hire smarter people. Then the question came…Well, if I hire someone smarter than me he/she will take over my job!’ which is a normal reaction to the unknown. At this moment, I would explain the difference between Leadership and Management.
The difference between Leadership and Management is that ‘Management is doing things right; Leadership is doing the right things’. A Leader will do what is right for the organization by having the best possible talent and will hire smarter people. Leaders such as CEOs cannot manage every aspect and have the same deep level of knowledge of every facet of the organization.

Therefore the CEO must lead the experts in IT, technology, audit and product management in order for the organization to adapt, progress and win in the most efficient manner.

The Leader does exactly that…he leads. The Manager on the other hand, gets the job done.

Think about this distinction in your case. Are you a Leader or a Manager?
Are you doing what is right for your organization or are you managing the finite details?
Chances are your employer hired you to lead. Like Phil Libin, when you hire subject matter experts, this person understands that he/she was hired for their specialized skills and that you are the Leader, a fact that will remain.

Leaders don’t need to establish that they are in charge; ‘doing the right things ‘establishes them as Leaders!

http://evernote.com/

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Colin Shea
Vice President for Strategy, Planning and regulation, Vodafone Czech Republic

Colin is a Marketing Wizard! He mixes bold pricing with innovative leading edge services and… Presto! Cool services that customers can’t get enough of. Find out how this strategist goes against the wave, use the ‘basic’ and transforms it into the ‘compelling’ and …generates revenues in the process.

What has he done?
Colin came to Vodafone with extensive consulting experience in Business Intelligence, telecommunications and market research. He participated in the foundation of financial advisory firm belonging to the Core Group working in Central and Eastern Europe. Before that he worked KPN Mobile, where he was responsible for strategy of mobile data in the retail customers segment.
‘To think well is wise, to plan well is wiser. And it is even wiser if you add corporate strategy to the planning’. Colin manages all these activities really well. At Vodafone he is responsible for corporate planning processes, inorganic growth and business development, relations with other operators, regulation, legal affairs and external relations. He is also responsible for transformational programs and implementation of processes leading to streamlining activities of the operator.

What will you learn?
You will learn about Product development and pricing.
1) Product development and innovation seem to be the key difference between competitors.
How much is too little and how much is too much? How do you know if you’re developing products fast enough?
2) The right pricing has an immediate effect on revenues. What are some tricks of the trade where you increase price and still retain customers?

Actionable learning for you to take home?
“One of the most important choices for a company to make is to what degree product development and innovation is core to its value proposition. It is not a strategy to be taken lightly; meaningful product development means meaningful investments in technology, people, and customer insights. It is not necessarily bad to be a fast follower, or even a slow follower in some cases. However, what definitely does not work is claiming to be an innovator or product leader but dimensioning as a follower.”

Colin’s favorite Quote
“It must be remembered that there is nothing more difficult to plan, more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to manage than to initiate a new order of things. The initiator has the enmity of all who would profit by the preservation of the old institution and merely lukewarm defenders in those who gain by the new ones. ” – Machiavelli

How someone quoted Colin
“He has this strange ability, that the more outrageous and dangerous his ideas are, the more reasonable and enlightened he makes them sound”.

Join us at Leaders in Marketing on October 18, 2012 in Bucharest, Romania to hear more about Colin Shea and our roster of international Marketing heavyweights.
See http://leadersinmarketing.ro for more details.

Leaders in Marketing
Get Smart …stay Smart!
Smart people welcomed

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Peter A. Blackwell
Managing Partner at 4thought Marketing Consultants

His 20 years’ experience with some of the most successful and well-known Consumer Packaged Goods and Retail companies is drawn upon to lead organizations in the complex, yet essential goal of achieving full Marketing integration across all marketing channels, all parts of the marketing organization and its agencies and all other areas of the business.

What has he done?
Peter started as a Marketing summer intern and now he’s Managing Partner at 4thought Marketing Consultants.
He began his career in Brand Management at Adams Confectionery he oversaw brands like
Trident Gum and Halls Cough Drops – each $50mil brands in Canada, interfacing with teams in
Mexico, Brazil and Japan.
He then served as Director of Corporate Strategy for Kraft’s $3 bil Canadian business after
which he spent five years as VP Marketing for Canadian Tire – a 90 year old, $7billion Mass
Merchandising Retail icon and Canada’s most beloved retail brand. Peter was responsible for a
budget of $400 mil in Marketing spend, including a team of 130+ marketing colleagues working
with over 20 agencies.

What will you learn?
His innovative and unique approaches to solving business and people challenges will make you understand that a brand is not only a logo, a slogan or an advertisement. He will explain that a Brand is the sum of every experience a customer has with your business/organization, why it’s important to put Brand first in your business and he will help you assess if your brand is truly the heart & soul of your business.

Actionable learning for you to take home?
‘To succeed you must increase the practice of putting the Brand first – establishing a clear, compelling Brand Purpose followed by processes & policies that align, guide and inspire everyone in the company to deliver consistent, on-Brand, superior customer experiences at every single touchpoint – always! ‘
Join us at Leaders in Marketing on October 18, 2012 in Bucharest, Romania to hear more about Peter A. Blackwell and our roster of international Marketing heavyweights.

Leaders in Marketing
Get Smart …stay Smart!
Smart people welcomed

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On a recent trip to Canada, a former boss and mentor (In fact to think about it…a lot of my former bosses are now friends and mentors!) shared this article with me which is really an interesting article about Brand building on the web, Facebook’s latest performance and companies like GM dropping Facebook. I mean c’mon now…GM dropping FB! Is this the beginning of a new trend? Is this the beginning of ‘Facebook bashing’?

Typically I would attach the link and wish you ‘good reading’ but this time with this article I thought maybe you‘d like to go through the same experience I did.

The fellow, Robert V. Green is writing about Marketing. So in order to make this interesting (no peeking) while you read this article, think about these questions:
1) Is this fellow a marketer? Either MBA or perhaps a Marketing prof? Perhaps he’s a CMO for a large multinational?
2) Do you agree with his belief on FB?
3) I would like to see attendees ask this question to our lineup of Marketing heavyweights at Leaders in Marketing in Bucharest, Romania on Oct 18, 2012. (http://leadersinmarketing.ro/). In fact, as moderator I intend to make this a topic of debate in one of our panels.

Hint: At the end of the article I will reveal what Robert V. Green does for a living.

In the meantime enjoy the article like I did. It’s a bit long yet thought provoking for anyone who considers him/herself a Marketing Pro.

Ahead of the Curve

Updated: 02-Aug-12 09:49 ET

Facebook and the Great Internet Advertising Dream

The collapse of Facebook since its IPO is generally being attributed to shares being overpriced originally. However, there may also be other reasons. Is there perhaps an extreme oversupply of advertising space, not just on the Internet, but in the media in general? How much advertising can we really absorb as consumers? Is Internet advertising even effective? Here are some thoughts, and how it applies to Facebook.

Advertising on the Internet – The Great Promise

Advertisers have always sought to direct their message to precisely the persons most likely to absorb the message and be motivated by it.
This concept is called targeting, which means that information about the type of person who is likely to see the message is known to the advertiser. The more accurate and more detailed the information about the user can be, the more effective the advertisement can be, presumably.
The great promise of the Internet, since the very early days, has been the idea that advertisers could accurately target their message to the user. The pursuit of this dream has been the foundation of many a startup company.
After all, the Internet is the greatest spying tool ever invented for advertisers. By tracking a user’s actions on the web, a detailed profile of the user can be created.
Television show audiences are measured by surveys of individual users that are extrapolated to a larger audience. The content of the show and the ratings metrics are then used to create a demographic profile of the entire viewing audience. This has always involved an element of uncertainty, which the Internet has promised to remove.
To date, the company that has done the best job of fulfilling this dream of the Internet as supreme advertising vehicle has been Facebook.
But is this dream actually real?

How Facebook Targets Advertising

Targeting an audience has always been important, even before the Internet.
The key elements for targeting an audience know the particular demographics of that audience, from which the likelihood of an ad being effective can be estimated.
DoubleClick was the first company to truly begin to target individual users by developing a detailed profile.
DoubleClick did this by tracking the surfing history of a user, recording each visit to a page where a DoubleClick ad was displayed. The ad is drawn from the DoubleClick database, but the database also records the unique ID of the user (stored in a cookie) and tracks the user over time.
DoubleClick’s value proposition was that improved targeting could be provided by the detailed profile created by a history of surfing. Using this profile, an ad most likely to appeal to that user could be displayed.
This value proposition was so strong that Google bought the company in 2007 for $3.1 billion.
DoubleClick’s value proposition was eclipsed by Facebook, however, as Facebook promised an even more detailed and more accurate profile.
This profile is created in part by the user themselves, as data such as birth date, education history, geographic location, and much more is actually given up freely by the Facebook user.
Furthermore, since the “like” button can be placed on other web sites, or persons can sign in to other sites with their Facebook profile, Facebook promises an even more precise profile than DoubleClick can create, since the user themselves has defined the details of their interests.
Add to this the incredible number of users that Facebook has been able to sign up – almost one-quarter of the adult persons on earth – and it seems like Facebook has finally cracked the problems faced by all advertisers.
At least, that is certainly what the advertisers buying space on Facebook believe, or are led to believe.
Does it actually work, though? Or is the Facebook promise more of an illusory dream of perfect advertising?
To answer this, it is first important to consider the various types of advertising.

The Types of Advertising

Historically, there have been three main types of advertising:
• Name recognition
• Sales generating
• Brand building

The Internet has created a fourth type, which can be called “traffic generation.”
Name recognition is simply the idea that the advertiser’s name becomes common and accepted in the potential customers perception of the everyday world. Little, if anything, is conveyed about the product, service, or company except the name.
Companies that purchase the naming rights for stadiums, for example, are not able to communicate anything about their product or service except for the idea that they are large enough to spend millions of dollars annually simply to place their name on the team’s stadium.
Name recognition is the least effective of all advertising in terms of generating revenue for the advertising purchaser. It is very difficult to measure the effectiveness of name recognition advertising.
Sales generating advertising is a very specifically targeted message that is intended to generate immediate revenue. Coupons are the most obvious example, although media advertising promoting lower prices or promotional financing rates are also in this category.
Sales generation advertising is generally easily measured, as the promotions usually have expiration dates and revenue during the sales promotion period can be compared to those before and after the promotion.
Brand building advertising is the most powerful form of advertising, although measuring the impact in precise metrics is difficult. Nevertheless, this type of advertising is considered the best-spent
Brand building advertising, however, requires the “telling of a story.”

Brand Building Advertising

This type of approach generally uses a story, of whatever level of detail, to communicate a particular feeling. This feeling is then associated with the product or company, sometimes by no more than displaying the brand name at the conclusion of the story.
The best example of this type of brand advertisement is Budweiser beer, particularly the advertisements developed for the Super Bowl. These ads usually tell a short, humorous story that either provokes laughter or warm-hearted empathy. The story is then associated with Budweiser simply by displaying the brand name at the end of the ad.
Although some of Budweiser’s ads include the beer within the context of the story, it is very rare for the ads to make any type of statement about the features or qualities of the beer itself.
It is enough to simply associate the good feeling created within the viewer with the brand name. The hope is that this same feeling is then regenerated in the viewer at the moment of decision at the liquor store, either consciously or unconsciously. The purchase decision then revives the good feeling created by the ad’s story, resulting in sales.
This is the core concept of brand advertising: the telling of a story that evokes a certain emotion that is then associated with the product, service, or company.
The effectiveness of brand advertising is difficult to measure, except by comparing regional sales with and without a particular ad campaign. However, most companies choose to purchase brand advertising when they can afford it, particularly if overall revenues have been, and continue to, rise.
Perhaps the purchase of quality brand building ads makes the advertising companies feel good about themselves as well, just as it is intended to make potential customers feel good about themselves.

Advertising on the Internet

Brand building advertising’s greatest media vehicle has historically been television.
On the Internet, however, we would argue that no one has – at least, not yet – created a meaningful vehicle for true brand building advertisements.
In fact, the bulk of Internet advertising since the beginning of the world-wide-web in 1994 has been banner ads, which are primarily either name recognition or sale generation advertisements. In recent years, the development of traffic generation ads has become important, but the difference between traffic generation and name recognition is blurry.
Measuring the effectiveness of banner ads has been much easier than other types of advertising, however, as the user’s reaction to ads can be instantly tracked and measured.
This measurement, over time, has led to the now-common practice of extremely low prices for banner ad placement, with a much larger payment made for a “click-through” — which means that the user has intentionally seen and reacted to the ad (unless the click-through was accidental).
The Internet has developed its own type of advertising category, which can be called “traffic generation.” This category is intended to guide a user to a particular web site where that site can make its own value proposition without having to pay someone else for displaying the message.
The greatest seller of traffic generation ads has been Google, who sells advertisements based upon the information typed in as a search string by the user. The purchaser of the ad intends to steer that potential user directly to their site as a result of the prominent placement of the ad in the search results.
The market for this type of traffic generation ad has been so strong that Google can actually price the ad’s placement in accordance to how prominent it appears on the page. Higher placement in the list of returned links costs more than placement of the ad’s link on the side of the search results.

No Brand Building Advertisement Vehicles on the Web

Almost the entire amount of advertising displayed on the Internet since 1994 has been in the traffic generation, sales generation, or name recognition category.
We would argue that there has been almost no brand building advertising on the Internet, at least in a historical sense.
Why?
It is simply difficult to “tell a story” in the current incarnation of the wide world web.
The only real attempts at this have been short ads that precede a video that the user has requested, such as are now appearing on YouTube and other video-based information sites.
However, in almost all cases, the user has the option to “opt-out” of the ad after a short time period. We are curious how many users do this. Certainly it could be easily measured, but we have seen little public information about this practice.
Perhaps the absence of data on this practice is telling in itself.

Where This Leaves Us

The Internet, therefore, is primarily a vehicle for the least effective types of advertising: name recognition, traffic generation, and sales generation.
Even though Facebook has done the best job of creating a detailed profile of users for advertisers, they still haven’t created a meaningful vehicle for brand building advertising.
Furthermore, the continual creation of new websites whose business model is advertising has led to an almost incredible overcapacity of advertising sites.
We wonder if venture capitalists have any interest in supporting a new Internet startup whose business model is based upon banner advertising. We would not be surprised if they didn’t.
After all, the total advertising budget of all advertisers put together isn’t growing. When the potential supply for placing ads increases, it simply reduces the prices that websites can command for advertisements, particularly banner ads, which fall in the least valuable category of all advertising.
Perhaps now is the time for some young entrepreneur to start pitching the “I’ve solved the brand building advertising problem on the web” idea to venture capitalists (whether they actually have solved it or not).

GM’s Dropping of Facebook

Perhaps the greatest clue in how the industry is viewing Facebook and Internet advertising in general was the announcement by GM, just weeks prior to Facebook’s IPO, that they were canceling all ads on Facebook.
GM simply discovered that Facebook ads just weren’t selling cars.
And since Facebook has no vehicle for creating brand building advertisements, GM found no reason to purchase ads on Facebook.
We think that the primary impact of GM’s decision was to prompt other advertisers to start asking the exact same question about their own advertising budgets.
We suspect most people who buy ads on Facebook also buy ads elsewhere, probably in other mediums as well, such as magazines and television.
How many of those advertisers bought ads on Facebook simply because it was the latest fulfillment of the advertisers dream?
How many of those advertisers have actually started to examine the effectiveness of those Facebook ads, as General Motors did?
We wonder.
Certainly if they haven’t yet done so, they will eventually. No business entity makes ineffective purchase decisions forever, although many certainly do for short periods of time.

Conclusions

The decline of Facebook stock’s value since its IPO is being attributed to the IPO being overpriced and oversold to poorly informed retail investors. Those investors associated Facebook’s explosive growth with a near-certainty of future revenue growth, and value.
We have begun to wonder if the decline in Facebook’s value is instead associated with an increasingly prevalent re-evaluation of advertising on the web in general.
Certainly, GM’s decision to stop purchasing advertising on Facebook had nothing to do with Facebook’s IPO pricing. It was simply an informed advertiser’s assessment of Facebook’s effectiveness.
We think that the decline in Facebook stock has as a lot to do with a widening reassessment of the value of Internet advertising in general and, in particular, the absence of true brand building advertising on Facebook.
If such a reassessment leads advertisers to view Facebook as other than the fulfillment of the ultimate advertisers dream, and instead to view Facebook as yet another Internet promise that just didn’t last, then Facebook stock probably is likely to drop much more over time.

Facebook (FB) August 2, 2012: $20.37 -0.51 (-2.4%)
Comments may be emailed to the author, Robert V. Green, at aheadofthecurve@briefing.com

Answer: Robert V. Green is a Senior Investment Strategist for Briefing.com (http://www.briefing.com/corporate/our-experts.htm), not a Marketing expert!
Paul Renaud

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I asked him – why the interest? He said ‘because Paul at your last speech you showed us the importance of setting objectives and your objective for 2012 was to read one book per month. I liked that idea and ever since hearing you I too, want to read more!’

What a nice compliment that my messages to reach out and help people had some traction and was actually working!

Another colleague suggested that I post my favorite book list. The benefit here is that I can emphasize the books that have helped me and perhaps help others learn, address change or improve their leadership skills.

What a great idea!
Here is my top 15 list with a short summary/reason as to why you should consider them:
1) What color is your parachute? Richard Nelson Bolles. This is a classic in identifying your skills. If you think you know what are your skills are, think again. Do the exercise that Richard suggests. It’s an investment in YOU and you won’t be sorry.

2) Influence, The psychology of persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini PhD. This is a great book for Sales and Marketing teams.

3) The power of Now, Eckart Tolle. This is a great book on spirituality without any religious overtones. Tolle gives you tips on how to get control of your life, outcomes and stress – I use his tips dally! If you like this book you will enjoy even more…

4) A new Earth, Eckart Tolle. Again spirituality with really cool hints on how to master your life. I strongly recommend both books; they are bit dry at the beginning but get useful once you get used to his style.

5) Rich dad, poor dad, Robert T. Kiyosaki. I like Robert’s modest style. This is not a ‘Get rich quick’ book or scheme. He fundamentally believes in raising the level of education when in comes to personal finance. Read this one first then…

6) Cashflow quadrant by Robert T. Kiyosaki, and Guide to Investing by Robert T. Kiyosaki.

7) Perfect pitch by Jon Steel, this is great for the Adverting agency crowd but not only – great book on how to make great client-winning presentations.

8) Super Freakonomics by Stephen D. Levitt and Stephen J.Dubner. Great book on trends and unusual statistics. It makes you go…Huh!? Fun read and certainly gives Marketing specialists some creative ways to get customer insights.

9) Your Brain and Business: The Neuroscience of Great Leaders, Srini Pillay M.D. Srini was my teacher and is a master and authority on Brain Science. Finally someone unlocks the code as why we behave in such ways in business (because of brain patterns) and he describes how to address change and to improve team performance.

10) Life Unlocked: 7 Revolutionary Lessons to Overcome Fear, Srini Pillay M.D. We all have self-doubt and fear. Srini’s second book unravels how to deal with fear, stress and anxiety, an area where Srini is recognized worldwide.

11) How to win Friends and Influence People, Dale Carnegie. If you don’t know Carnegie, this will be a wonderful introduction to an icon. The book was written in 1936 and the concepts that he describes then are still ‘alive and well’ today. If you like this one you will certainly treasure another classic from the same author…

12) How to stop worrying and start living, Dale Carnegie

13) Smarter Pricing, Tony Cram. Good interesting tips on a somewhat dry topic – Pricing. He kept my interest and I have used his insights for the MBA classes I teach in Marketing.

14) Exponential Marketing by Paul Garrison. This is THE book in segmentation. Paul is CEO Garrison Group, novel writer and Ivy League Professor at Dartmouth University. Learn from this former exec at Coca Cola and P&G. 

15) 7 habits of highly effective people, Stephen R. Covey. No nonsense, no hype, plain common sense to effectiveness. I instructed my marketing team to read this book and to apply/follow his suggestions. I quote his book every time I present to audiences.

Finally. Here are some books on my radar:

1) Emotional Intelligence, Daniel Goleman
2) Drive by Daniel Pink
3) The art of the start: Guy Kawasaki (former Apple soft evangelist)
4) The present, Spencer Johnson

I hope that these books help you find happiness, they help you improve your relationships and they guide you in finding meaning to your life.

It is what we think we know already that often prevents us from learning.
Claude Bernard (1813-1878)
Physiologist

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Common integrated campaign pitfalls.
Pitfall #1: Media that don’t reinforce each other
Pitfall #2: Create a budget first, metrics second.
Pitfall #3: Awareness vs. sales
Pitfall #4: Delegate and forget
To close off this topic and as a continuation of my last post on the topic of campaign integration here’s pitfall number 4.

Pitfall #4: Delegate and forget
Another pitfall is when the Chief Marketing Officer decides to get involved, rolls up his/her sleeves with the team and assists them in launching his first campaign with the team then retreats to his/her management meetings leaving his deputy in full control of the subsequent campaigns.
Till then he or she sets the direction and tone of the Marketing plan (example)
“I want us to be positioned as the company whose real estate project owns the concept of European living standards such as providing large green space, offices, large employer complexes, schools, retail, professionals, fitness centers, public transport.”
He/She made sure the message was communicated efficiently by signing off on all ads, and held the Marketing department responsible for the success of their campaigns (“If we don’t generate revenues that are at least twice what this new Marketing program costs, I want it stopped”).
The campaign was a huge success, improving sales and raising the company’s presence to the point where it could demonstrate a correlation between sales and the advertising campaign.
Then he/she takes his eye ‘off the ball’, starts trusting the agency and then makes the decision that he/she would change from being an inspiration to becoming more involved in day-to-day management. He begins focusing exclusively on the dynamics of reporting systems and internal controls. Although he was a sale-and-Marketing pro who had built the Marketing department from the ground up, he/she now feels that time should be spent building an internal organization.
Soon enough Marketing was delegated to inexperienced staff that could go through the motions of creating Facebook pages, web-site banners, and the like, but who were lost without the leadership it takes to turn these elements into a powerful sales-building machine. No wonder revenues and earnings slowed down.
The team needs inspiration all the time. This means getting involved in all aspects if the Marketing leader wishes to see results while at the same time maintain the consistency of the message.
He/she is supposed to be diligent enough to have created a succession plan but rushing into management duties too fast is not going to help anyone especially when it comes to generating Top Line revenues with Marketing.

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