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Marshall McLuhan on a point of view

"A point of view can be a dangerous luxury when substituted for insight and understanding."

When I speak to audiences about the critical need to understand and embrace the evolved concept of branding and marketing, I survey the audience for looks of skepticism.  I frequently find it among members of the not-for-profit community.  Their collective point of view is that branding and marketing is nothing more than artifice and manipulation.  Nothing could be further from the truth.

For an example, consider the failing of football Hall of Famer Mike Ditka.  On Tuesday, Ditka announced that he would dissolve his Hall of Fame Assistance Trust, a charity established to help needy ex-football players.  USA Today reported that the charity collected $1.3 million in its first three years, but gave only $57,000 to needy ex-players.

Ditka's trust spent the bulk of its money - more than $715,000 - staging three golf tournaments from 2004 to 2006 to aid the charity.  In 2005, the trust paid $65,000 in appearance fees to get former stars to play in the tournament.  That was $8,000 more than the charity paid indigent players in its first three years!

How could former sports stars have expected to be compensated to play golf to benefit their needy, fallen  comrades?  Simple.  They didn't feel a strong enough emotional connection to the cause - a.k.a. the brand.  The charity did a poor job of creating a compelling story and sense of shared interest and community - a.k.a. marketing.   IMHO, Ditka had a dangerous point of view of how to accomplish his goals.  And IMHO, so do a lot of other organizations.

Posted December 14, 2007
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