By Bob Siegal, Prager & Fenton
Listening and watching Mr. England’s presentation this morning I was struck by the notion that the ANA may just have to institute a policy that prohibits beer marketers from speaking at future conferences. This proposed ban is not based on any issues I have with beer, the legitimacy of the companies’ corporate messages or the content of their marketer’s speeches. Rather, it speaks to the unfair advantage beer marketers have over the rest of us. Simply put, Mr. England could have been reciting nursery rhymes in French, but as long as he kept showing those great ads he had the audience in the palm of his hand.
In truth, Mr, England shared a lot of terrific content with the highly engaged audience – one just had to dismiss the entertaining ads and pay attention to fully appreciate it. Even the title of his presentation was disarming; Dude why are you drinking that? Although at first it seemed cute and perhaps overly simplistic, Mr. England revealed that in many ways this question – and the consumer’s response to it was actually a core concept that drove their marketing effort. The beer consumer wants to have the “right” answer to that question for his friends, for any women he might encounter but especially for himself.
He spoke about the motivators that do and don’t drive the beer purchase decision:
Sensibility
Fun
Status
Savoring
Contentment
Independence
Or as his boss has put it when pressed as to why people consume their product; “Its enables me to be the ‘me’ I want to be.”
But beyond understanding of the consumer’s mindset, Mr. England spoke to need to identify the core positioning concept and execute in all manner of approach and media. More than simply deciding on Rocky Mountain Cold Refreshment as a slogan, he reinforced the need to execute the RMCR message and iconography at all touch-points; equity advertising, innovations, Hispanic, sponsorships, POS, internet and social networking.
He also had some advice for the those who wanted to be a successful CMO;
Own the P & L
Be the Sales Person
Understand the impact of what you do on the supply chain
Be famous for benefit – driven innovation
Cherish great people (on your marketing staff)
Mr. England summed up his major take-away as “Be famous for benefit driven innovation”
Personally I was struck by an earlier discussion he had on the various ways they position and reinforce the notion of Coors as a ‘Work Reward’. Not taking anything away from Mr. England or MillerCoors, I couldn’t help but think how fortunate we all are not to that we are lucky enough to work in an industry where we don’t need a ‘work reward’ although a nice frosty Coors sounds pretty good to me right now.
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