Recently I was asked a few questions by one of our clients, TSheets.com, about the importance of tracking time and their system for doing so. Matt Rissell and company are doing a great job over their at becoming a 1000 Year Brand!

Check out the video interview here. And also make sure to check out their site next week when we mix things up, change their look and feel, and officially launch the national campaign!

Here’s a sneak peak at their new logo:

Malcolm Gladwell calls it “The Tipping Point”. Jim Collins calls “The Flywheel”. I simply call it “Inevitability”.

Inevitability is the combination of many things: The sense of momentum with an idea or product; reaching a level of ubiquity; a place of assumption. Inevitability is beyond name recognition and brand awareness.

It is hard to compete with the shear weight of inevitability. Companies, sports teams, and politicians crave it because it just makes things easier. And easier means more profits/wins/votes. Inevitability happens in small circles like families (going to grandma’s house for Christmas every year), small businesses (becoming someone’s plumber of choice), and global brands (more on that below).

But how do you reach Inevitability? That is the hard part. I think there are 3 ways (for the sake of this post, I am primarily using  corporate brands as examples):

1. Own the Channel - If you are the only newspaper in a small town, you have reached Inevitability. It doesn’t mean you are the best option; you are just the only option. Microsoft would fall into this category, as would HP. They both “own the channel” - meaning they have distribution and partner relationships that lock them into the sales process. They also were first-to-market in the early days of technology. They seized momentum, got to the top position, and (mostly) have held that advantage. Today, this method is probably the most difficult unless you are in a very specific sector or niche. Distribution rules have changed - primarily because of the direct-to-consumer nature of eCommerce. I would also place WalMart, Walgreens, and McDonalds in this category. The channel they own is simply just being everywhere.
2. Be the Best - In a small town, the busiest pizza place is the one with the best pizza. To me, this is the best kind of Inevitability. Who wouldn’t want to be the best? Being the best use to mean just having the best product. But with the consumer revolution, “best” also is about the image, the shopping experience, and the customer experience. It also includes being the best place to work … and probably doesn’t hurt to have the best stock value. I would place Apple, Southwest, and FedEx in this category. They all have varying degrees of being the best - Apple is the best at creating cool products. Southwest is the best at being the low fair airline. FedEx is the best at overnight shipping. Being the best requires tremendous focus and discipline. It also isn’t something that is trumpeted via advertising; it has to be experienced.
3. Be First - I alluded to this with “owning the channel”, but think it is actually a different category. Being first can be brutal. It typically requires enormous cash reserves. It often involves educating the audience. In short, it is difficult for brands to quickly reach Inevitability by being first to market. They almost have to grow into it through the process of introducing/educating, nurturing early adopters, creating customer evangelists, etc. It can be a long, slow process but can lead to Inevitability. I would put eBay, Amazon, and Google in this category. These brands all took awhile to catch on, but now they are the leaders. If you have something to sell, you use eBay. Want to buy a book, it has to be Amazon. And Google just might be the most inevitable brand of our time.

Notice that I didn’t say Inevitability comes from advertising or marketing. While marketing is essential throughout the process of becoming Inevitable (a process that we refer to as The 1000 Year Brand), it is less of a factor than you would think. After all, Google became the #1 Brand in the world without spending any money on advertising. Marketing is best as a catalyst, but things like the customer experience, quality, and usability are at the root of Inevitability.

I also find interesting how view long-term brands are still inevitable.  Missing from the lists I have put together are Crest, Tide, Ford, Coke,  Levis, Wrigleys, Sears and dozens of other established companies.  Maybe this is because the hardest thing is to stay inevitable (just ask the Patriots!). I think of Dell, Starbucks, Nike, Disney and Red Bull. At one point, they had reached inevitability.

While these are all still successful brands, their place in the pecking order has slipped. And all are trying to get it back. They may say it is to “improve shareholder value” or to “adapt to a changing marketplace” - but I think is more simple than that. It is just good to be #1 - to be the Elvis/Tiger Woods/Harry Potter of the world.

CMOs and other top marketing executives are under more pressure than ever to produce results.  As such, I have developed a check-list of sorts to be used before you pull the trigger on that seven figure marketing campaign.

1. Is your message simple?
2. Did you stay true to your brand core?
3. Does your audience have a face and name?
4. How will you prove results?
5. Would you buy your product?
6. Are your promises true?
7. Are you employees excited?
8. Where are the gaps?
9. Will there be two-way communication with the audience?
10. Why should the audience care?

Depending on your industry and budget, you need to know at least 7 - 10 of the answers.  In a highly competitive environment, you better have all 10 nailed down.  Note that there was little to do with which tactics to implement or what agency to choose.  I am assuming that you have both of these figured out - and without knowing the answers to these questions, it really doesn’t matter.

Here is a great blog post from Marc Bresseel about the issues facing CMOs and their agencies. As I mentioned in my comment to Marc, this is almost at manifesto level! I highly recommend reading this and passing it around CMO and agency worlds.  It will clarify a lot of expectations on both sides.

Pick three brands that you associate with.

Look at those brands you chose and examine the elements of those brands. What are the characteristic’s of that brand? What do they stand for? What are some of the key words that come to mind when you think of that brand? Write down those 2 to 3 words that came to mind about each of those brands.

Now the fun part. Take those words and think of your personal brand. You. How many of those words would people use to describe you. How about your company?

Many times brands that we associate with and relate with match our core identity. And likewise our core identities are passed thru to the businesses we start and operate. This happens because our core is unwavering and solid. It is something that we have built into our character and strive to improve. The problems lie when companies (and people) try to disguise or fake their core identity.

How can your customers relate with your brand and feel that connection if the core of your business isn’t communicated accurately?

What words would customers say about your brand?

I was recently asked to submit an article to a local trade organization.  Here is a link to the article.

David Meerman Scott is one of my favorite bloggers.  He recently wrote a great post on why CMOs get fired.  Read it here.

I’ll add a few of my own reasons … CMOs get fired because:

• They think Web 2.0 tools are new forms of advertising, so they spend on them with no real increase in results.
• They didn’t make the CFO happy with decent ROI on marketing dollars.
• They were forced to fill the gap between what a company wishes it was and what it really is.
• They didn’t get more involved in product development.
• They didn’t get more involved in defining the customer experience.

As David says, there are a lot more reasons!

Here is a great article from Stephen Denny on CMOs and blogging.  The article pretty much speaks for itself, so I will just add my “amen”.

One of the worst things a brand executive/marketer can do is to create advertising or marketing that is a distraction from the Brand Core.   This distraction comes in many forms - cheap tag lines, discount offerings, reward gimmicks, shock/entertainment - all things that are unnecessary if you have properly communicated the original simple idea that is your Brand Core.    In short, sell what you are.

As we have mentioned before, when you are ready to “go to market” your first step should be internal.  This was the premise of a webinar I did recently.  Here is a link to the PowerPoint that I used.  It is somewhat out of context without audio, but there are some useful tools in there.