War & Peace & Advertising
War & Peace & Advertising
Launches! Nothing is more exciting in marketing and advertising. It’s sweaty D-Day stuff. The culmination of all our heady efforts, we hit the beaches, plant the flags, move the merch, and hope that a bored and dismissive public sparks to the glow of our wonderful products’ possibilities.
I’ve been through an estimated 6 billion dollars in global launches. Some have been amazing. But time and again, I’ve seen plans sink into the same bogs. Because no two products are alike, people are often resistant to embrace comparisons, saying “Our launch is totally different than that last one.” And actually, they’re right. Every launch is unique. Not every rule applies.
But some rules apply.
I thought it would be interesting to look outside our business and compare a handful of launch principles with those in military history. After all, advertising’s vernacular — “campaign”, “media blitz”, “war rooms” even the term “launch” itself — come from hawkish roots, no doubt thanks to Mad Men like Don Draper who returned from their wars to build the juggernaut that is global marketing — men like the very real David Brent, who went from jungle psy-ops to pioneering account planning in Australia. So, since that’s how they built this beast, maybe it makes sense to look at launches through that lens.
Love the data.
The Korean War is weird. We don’t really study it in school. When I finally did, I discovered why we dodged the subject. It’s because we were morons, at least our leadership was, specifically, General Douglas MacArthur. He ignored any data that contradicted what he wanted to believe, even refusing to listen to CIA intelligence on the subject. Reports kept landing on MacArthur’s desk stating that Mao’s Chinese army was pouring into North Korea, but the general paid it no mind. He had his own sources, who told him what he wanted to hear. Consequently, his estimate of Chinese presence was 1/10th of their actual strength. The result was — predictably — a massive fiasco. Thousands of American soldiers died. As the Brookings Institution put it, “It was by far the worst military debacle the U.S. armed forces suffered in the entire twentieth century.” So, yeah, you can see why U.S. history books might skip past that one.
Similarly, in WWII, General Montgomery ignored a very earnest intelligence officer warning him that the German military buildup would mean very stiff resistance to Montgomery’s ambitious Operation Market Garden. Montgomery actually had the intelligence officer removed from duty, spreading the rumor that the man had suffered a nervous breakdown. Needless to say, Operation Market Garden was a colossal failure, thanks to the very stiff German resistance that very sane intelligence officer had mentioned.
I can see you rolling your eyes at this. What?! Ignore the data?!? Nobody you know would ever make that mistake, would they? But honestly, I’ve seen countless colleagues and clients who approached data like MacArthur and Montgomery. I’m probably guilty of it myself. If the numbers contradict our gut feeling, we find a way to discount or ignore them. It’s a human condition.
Obviously, there’s not much you can do if you’re working with someone who turns a blind eye to the numbers, other than keep putting the data out there, front and center, for everyone to see. But the most important thing, in the end, is to not be blind yourself. Be disciplined. Be tough. Don’t give up on the data. Because ultimately, the data will set you free.
It’s also equally important to ask the right questions. I once spent months trying to help a client launch a new cheese. Only it wasn’t really a new cheese. It was the same cheese in a new zip-lock bag. The client could never get the engagement scores they wanted from testing, so they spent untold sums on round after round of new creative development. Funny thing was, in all that testing, no one bothered to ask the consumer, “Um, would you ever find the bag your cheese comes in all that engaging?”
Prelaunch is where battles are won or lost.
“A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse.” Ring any bells, class? Bueller? Bueller? Well, back in 1485, King Richard III’s crown was challenged by Henry Tudor. They met at the Battle of Bosworth. The armies were pretty evenly matched, but sitting on the sidelines with his very own army was one crafty fellow named Lord Stanley. Whose side was he on? No one knew. Well, not until the battle actually came and Stanley’s men chased Richard round until he fell off his horse and then they put some sword blades into his head. Richard wound up buried beneath a local parking lot, Henry wound up being King Henry VII, and Lord Stanley wound up with a bunch of nice new fancy titles.
You can call Lord Stanley an influencer or a hand raiser (with a big ol’ sword in said hand) but the fact of the matter is that Henry undoubtedly got to him before the armies even reached the battlefield. In short, Henry won the battle and the crown because he won the prelaunch.
Because a prelaunch makes all the difference.
The landscape has changed so fundamentally, it used to be about the big game, now tens of millions of people have seen all the spots before the game even begins. So, do the math and start early. As early as you can.
Again, super obvious, but I cannot tell you how many times I have seen teams completely abandon this proven truth, even just months after a previous launch where the very same team had stunning success thanks to a strong prelaunch. Now, only a season or two later, they’re all itchy and hesitant, like “Yeah, we’re gonna pull back on the pre-launch this time.”
Why?! What!? Where does this amnesia come from? What causes such massive collective memory loss?
There are solid reasons. Mostly it’s paranoia about using up scant resources. Marketing teams want to hoard it all for maximum impact on launch day, to guarantee an absolutely explosive bang. But getting the story out there early — finding and empowering the evangelists, bringing in the enthusiasts, making it something more than just your launch — will make any work that you do just that much louder. Instead of just having one lonely folk singer up on stage, it’s like plugging in a gigantic wall of amps, giving everyone in the audience guitars, and cranking it up well past eleven. That is where the bang comes from.
Again, I apologize if it sounds obvious. It should have been obvious to Richard III to send Lord Stanley a fruitcake or something, but he didn’t. So, find your early adopters. Give a shout out to the hand raisers. Find some authentic influencers and let them play. Test drive your narrative. Tease it out. Pick a social channel and start telling an epic tale on it. Do more than you think you should do and do it all before the battle begins. Because the more people you have on your side as you charge forward, the smaller the chance you’re gonna wind up with a sword in your head.
Balance & Flexibility.
Hitler was an idiot. During the invasion of the Soviet Union, his armies were heading to the oil fields — oil he desperately needed — and things were going smashingly well, when, military genius that he was, Hitler decided to divide his forces, sending the German 6th Army to attack Stalingrad.
Why Stalingrad? Because it was called “Stalingrad.” Hitler thought it would really embarrass his arch-enemy Stalin. Needless to say, it was an incredibly stupid idea. But it wasn’t his stupidest idea.
His stupidest idea (here anyway, there were worse ones elsewhere) was to give the 6th Army an order to “never retreat,” which pretty much guaranteed that, once his army began to be encircled, they would certainly be lost. As conditions worsened, Hitler dug in his heels, refused to change the “never retreat” order and, sure enough, the Germans were encircled and lost an estimated 800,000 soldiers. This one order, no exaggeration, probably cost Hitler the war. What an idiot.
It’s the dogma that kills you. I’ve got a good friend who has a really successful campaign running right now. Scores through the roof. Everyone and their mother knows the work. So, the client has demanded that every single product live underneath that campaign umbrella. Only trouble is, the client’s biggest, most profitable product just slipped from number two in the category to number three. So, if the campaign is so great, how come sales are slipping? Because while the campaign might be memorable, the products it is selling — along with all their compelling USPs — are getting lost beneath the glow of that winning campaign.
Despite the slipping sales, the client doesn’t seem to be changing tact. They could switch to advertising that explains the product’s key strengths in a more compelling way, but they don’t.
They are losing ground, but their campaign keeps scoring well, and so they won’t retreat from it.
Now you might say, “Well the data says their campaign is strong, and you just said trust the data, so…” to which I would roll my eyes and reply “I also said, make sure the data is answering the right questions.” For instance, Progressive Insurance’s campaign works incredibly hard to sell the brand, personified by Flo their spokeswoman. Meanwhile their main competitor Geico uses an ever changing campaign to sell the product, ie, “15 minutes could save you 15% on you car insurance” I’m sure the Progressive clients are very happy with Flo’s test results, but which do you suspect is the more successful campaign? I’ve got my guess.
But I digress. The point is: Question everything. Keep an open mind. Follow Napoleon’s famous maxim on battle “First you engage, then you wait and see.” In other words, stay alert and flexible. Because Napoleon knew what he was doing. At least compared to Hitler, who was a complete idiot.
Never Say Die.
During the Civil War, the Union Army kept getting their poor asses kicked up and down the pastoral Shenandoah Valley. Finally, Phil Sheridan took control and pushed Confederate General Jubal Early’s troops back. Sheridan felt good enough about the situation to head off to a conference in Washington. That’s when Jubal Early struck back — a surprise attack at Cedar Creek that upset the Union troops and sent them scurrying up the road in an anxious retreat.
The fleeing soldiers happened to run into General Sheridan returning from his conference. Realizing what was at stake, Sheridan put a young Captain William McKinley in charge of turning around the troops and raced forward to the front lines shouting, “Come on back, boys! Give ’em hell, God damn ‘em! We’ll make coffee out of Cedar Creek tonight!”
Which, long story short, they did, pushing the Confederate Army back, turning retreat into victory.
So, yes, failure happens. Launches fail to launch. But a rout does not necessarily mean a loss, and things can often be flipped. Rallying the troops actually works.
If a launch falls short of expectations, consider launching it again. Seriously, if the product is good but the message is wrong, retrench, dig up whatever resources you have, and attack again.
You might shake your head and mutter, like some shattered soldier at the front, “Ferget it, it’s over, all our resources have done been all used up!” But there are still resources, maybe at the retail level, or in PR, or in the back of the sock drawer. (I guarantee that no marketing team is ever so organized that it actually marshals all its resources for that first launch. There’s always something left over.)
I’ve seen absolutely beautiful products wither because the campaign didn’t catch on and afterwards the despondent team wandered off into the darkness like losing politicians on election night. Alternately, I’ve seen successful second launches, completely unrelated to the failed first attempt, become incredibly successful, leading to products that continue to sell profitably to this day.
Conclusion
Despite being raised by hippies, I have had a long fascination with military history. But for me, it’s not about the blood and glory as much as it is about the tactics, logistics, and the very human strengths (initiative, imagination, insightfulness) and errors (pride, arrogance) that wind up making the critical difference. That’s the fascinating stuff.
Oh, here’s one more warning, if you’re sitting in a briefing and you hear “This is the most important launch in the company’s history,” don’t roll your eyes. If the client feels that way, then it probably is. D-Day was amazing, but if the Allies had lost the Battle of the Bulge six months later, D-Day wouldn’t have mattered much. The battle you’re fighting today is always the most important battle of the war.
Advertising isn’t war, it isn’t life or death stuff, but there is a lot on the line. People’s jobs and reputations, a company’s growth and profits. We’re here to make a difference, and — when we do a great job with a launch — we can have an amazing impact.
A successful launch isn’t magic (though if you do have dragons, you will win.) It’s science. It’s logistics. It’s discipline and planning. It’s about finding a way to stand out in an increasingly commoditized world. But it’s all learnable and teachable. There are best practices and real experts who can guide you to success. A fashion launch might not be like a car launch might not be like the launch of a financial product. But they do share a lot of the same best practices. You just need to think through every step and manage your resources with partners you trust.
If all else fails, just try not to fall off your horse. Or else they’ll bury you in the parking lot.
Originally published at https://medium.com on May 28, 2019.
