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Jim Autry on metaphors

"Becoming a manager has much to do with learning the metaphors; becoming a good manager has much to do with using the metaphors; and becoming a leader has much to do with changing the metaphors."

BwcoverThe latest issue of Brandweek magazine is called "The Results Issue."  It's filled with telling metaphors, like a picture of the fictional Bigfoot on its cover and references to TV ads as the hammer, and print and radio, the nails in the marketer's toolbox "that build a brand."

Other "tools" that are shown to provide "real, provable results" (along with photos of various devices used to perform manual or mechanical work) include: advergaming, direct mail, guerrilla, outdoor, mobile, viral marketing, podcasts, social networking, health club ads, user-generated content and word-of-mouth.

Their "results issue" totally ignores the more strategic components of brand creation, such as product and experience design, and the more challenging innovations in organizational design and distribution that improve pricing and quality. To Brandweek, and other mainstream media, marketing = communication. Don't be seduced by this metaphor. 

It is compelling, and much simpler, to view a brand as a fixed and valuable asset, like a piece of real estate.  One that simply requires protection and promotion.  Instead, today's brands should be thought of as perishable assets, like salad bars.  They are marketplace offerings, which need to be constantly reinvented and refreshed to remain relevant. Make no mistake about it. That's the metaphor change that will turn marketers into leaders.

Posted July 30, 2007
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Tracked on Jul 30, 2007 10:30:36 AM

Comments

hey tom, what can i say... brandweek still seems to communicate from within the symptom. to me personally it is one of the biggest miracles, how the concept of marketing can be stuck so profoundly within its own frame. -- weird but true: "when you are a hammer the only results that you count is those you can actually nail..."

Posted by: jens | August 03, 2007 at 05:15 AM

and one thing of course is little satisfying for people with a slightly broader perspective: that marketing has so profoundly hijacked and reduced the concept of brand, which as a consumers' movement actually went against the advertising practice of throwing around with hollow promises.
...
but whom am i telling this?

Posted by: jens | August 03, 2007 at 05:26 AM

Hi Tom! love the way you ground this in metaphor. You are absolutely right -- identifying the underlying metaphor reveals so much more than is actually being said. Your salad-bar metaphor is an interesting one...I'm wondering though if "brand" comprises both fixed and perishable assets. It seems to me that there needs to be some fixed asset, or perhaps a fixed idea, around which the perishable assets come and go....am I mucking up what you are saying?!

Posted by: Renee Hopkins Callahan | August 03, 2007 at 11:26 AM

Thanks Jens. You absolutely, positively get it! :)

And hi again Renee! Long time.

You're not mucking it up at all. Indeed, the brand must have an identity and idea that conjures up the appropriate message of uniqueness and value. However, these "fixed" assets are being created and reinvented at lightening speed today. Thus, they're really not "fixed" at all. Know what I mean? :)

Posted by: Tom Asacker | August 04, 2007 at 12:44 PM

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