India’s recent debacle at Mumbai undoubtedly saddened the hearts of its myriad cricketing fans. But there was more to that loss than that captured by the television broadcast. For buried in the manner in which India faltered and England prospered, there lies an invaluable insight, pertinent to the world of branding. As the tide turned in Mumbai, a phenomenal quality came to the fore, which truly separates champion sporting teams and winning brands. It has been a virtue often glossed over in these hurried times. But its absence can frequently lead to either a batting collapse, or an erosion of market position.
Patience – that seldom mentioned fifth P in the branding mix!
Some years ago, the legendary rock band Guns N Roses strummed, ‘All I need is just a little patience’. Perhaps that was a precursor of a ‘virtue wish list’ for the times to come. As the digital age dawned, patience levels have dwindled across a host of fields in human endeavour. Hence watching India capitulate at Mumbai was not just a sporting tragedy but held relevant lessons for those in the branding world.
Being comfortable with the waiting period
England team captain Alistair Cook has done a lot to bring back classical test batsmanship into focus again. What really makes him a salient exponent of this art is his ability to doggedly grind out difficult periods. He displays great patience and comfort in being consumed with just occupying the crease.The tendency to meet the ball with a dead bat, and purely maintain the current situation, is an instructive one. And inevitably, as he begins to take stock of the situation, the score begins to mount as well.
Perhaps in this era of technology and media options, all humans have become inherently uncomfortable with the prospect of nothing happening. These behaviours transition into shortened patience levels at marketing launches as well. There is an unreasonable fear of the status quo. But given how many new concepts are vying for the consumer’s attention, it is unlikely that many of them will ever create initial ripples. The strong need is to wait out this difficult phase, where, while seemingly nothing seems to be happening, actually all the vital ingredients are falling in place.
Being hardly the first social networking site around, Facebook initially was relatively slow to take off. But that carefully considered approach, with its bias for ensuring its back end infrastructure was in place, enabled it to avoid the pitfalls of its peers such as Friendster.
Allowing time for an idea to simmer in the marketplace might just be the branding equivalent to batsmen giving themselves time to get started.
Resisting the knee-jerk response
Captaincy celebrates patience as a key quality as well. What was striking about Cook’s leadership was his persistence with a set field, even after boundaries were being hit. Far too often one witnesses visiting captains (and some Indian ones as well) change the field, the very next ball after runs have been scored. There is a need to be relentless in execution on a cricket field and that implies adhering religiously to the plan for the longest possible time. It also entails resisting the very human urge to change things when things are not going one’s way.
Brand marketers face this conundrum fairly regularly. When things aren’t going quickly enough, there is always brainstorming about what needs to be done now. But sometimes not doing anything is not such a bad option. Frequently marketers forget that consumers are busy with their lives. And the prospect of something new arresting their attention is only possible if given time and the benefit of a consistent approach.
While the Bollywood business has changed considerably over the years, it is rather quaint to consider the case of Sholay . Initial response to the movie was rather lukewarm, and the makers were considering changing the incumbent version of the film to one which had a revised ending. However, better sense prevailed and they decided to persist with the original. That decision saw Sholay take fresh guard for a truly great innings at the box office.
Conceding some of the battles
Where Cook and Pietersen did well during their game-changing partnership was not trying to win every skirmish early on. In the testosterone-induced environment of sport, it is easy to get carried away and want to try and dominate the opposition, right from the very first ball. Often players succumb to the ego-driven lure of striving to stamp their authority on the opposition, each single over. But test cricket has this sublime way of showing that it is better to concede some early battles to eventually emerge triumphant in the war.
It is fascinating to see how this sort of bellicose mindset migrates so easily into the domain of marketing. World domination and total annihilation of the competition are nice rallying calls for the troops but in reality are exhausting ventures on resources, intellectual or otherwise. Finding the right battles to win, whether it is a fight for shelf space, or the perfect riposte to a competitor’s promotional activity, then becomes the primary task of the strategic think tank. Military strategists over the centuries have stressed the importance of knowing which battles to fight, and that is sound advice even in the present branded times.
Challenger brands have this habit of provoking a confrontation. It is to their advantage, it is in their very DNA. But the choice then lies with the market leader, if it chooses to respond. Often, and for purely ego-driven reasons, it does. And this is almost always to its detriment. Those which are more prudent, and simply ignore what the challenger is up to, usually find this approach far more rewarding. Brands such as Coca-Cola and IBM have experienced this after trying to engage in head-on conflict – that allowing the competitor to get away with a few giggles is a great recipe for laughing your way to market success.
To conclude, much has been spoken about the four Ps of marketing – product, price, place and promotion. Little has been articulated about that elusive fifth P, which binds all of these strategic imperatives together. Sometimes it can only take the magic of test cricket, wonderfully juxtaposed against recent limited overs mayhem, to bring such a concept to the fore.
Vinay Kanchan is a creative thinking trainer and an independent brand consultant.