For marketing breakthroughs, look away.

John Hoeschele, Creative Director

One thing that's intrigued me over nearly 30 years in the marcom business is the commonality of marketing retail products vs. technology products vs. industrial products. Clients, of course, believe their industries are 'totally unique' -- which is true to a certain extent. But one of the advantages of being an objective outsider/consultant is that we can sometimes see patterns and parallels you may not see when you're in among the trees.

As one for instance, consider how the leverage point for marketing products can shift, if circumstances are right, from the manufacturers of said products to their distribution or 'channel' partners... Typically this happens when it dawns on the channel that it has the more enviable position of being closer to the end-customer. Some examples:

• whereas electronic component manufacturers once had nearly all the say in how, when, and where their new products were promoted through distribution -- today's large electronics distributors like Arrow, Mouser, and DigiKey largely call the shots as to what components will get the most oxygen and exposure to their customers; many go the additional step of combining said components into bundles and assemblies -- or offering design services where they hold even more sway over what components are spec'd into a customer's project -- making distributors themselves quasi-manufacturers;
• whereas makers of all kinds of consumers goods used to be in the driver's seat when bargaining with retail stores, today's Wal-Mart, Home Depot, and Target very much dictate how the major brands they stock must behave, controlling everything from pricing, to packaging, to return policies;
• whereas wires and cables used to be the 'dumb' infrastructure that piped valuable content to your home or workplace, control of content (and the customer) has clearly shifted over the last decade towards folks like Time-Warner, Verizon, and Netflix -- so much so that many of these one-time distribution-only allies now create their own, competing content.

Why should such parallels matter to you as a marketer?

Most importantly, setting your sights on trends, technologies, and behaviors in adjacent or even distant industries can yield insights or ideas that might be applied in your own, in turn yielding competitive advantages.

A few years back, I was fortunate enough to be a sub-contracted copywriter on a project for the razor giant Gillette: The project in question entailed turning an old razor blade factory in Boston into a very slick Retail Innovation Center, where the company would develop, test, and spotlight its latest retail marketing concepts (e.g. packaging, displays, promotions) for increasingly the tough-to-please retailers mentioned above. Even though the category here was decidedly consumer -- wouldn't Gillette's approach be of interest to any industrial or tech OEM faced with increasing mindshare at their own, increasingly tough-to-please channel partners?

Point is, looking past your particular forest can really get your noodle going. And that's when you're most likely to generate business-building ideas and, yes, maybe even a genuine breakthrough or two.

Cheers! -- JH    

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