We flipped a coin, and lost. Lairig Marketing is back. Fifty days have passed since we closed up the blog shop, early last December. In all that time, absolutely nothing new has been written in the marketing-sphere.
In fact, it has gone exactly as we said it would in 2011’s final post: All Facebook, Twitter, Google, Apple, and P&G. And, oh yeah, for the sixth year in a row, this will be The Year of Mobile.
It is so bad, we’ve unsubscribed from Ad Age and AdWeek. If it weren’t for George Parker, there would be no reason to open the computer each morning.
Maybe it’s time to get an academic perspective on marketing. Let’s consult with the #1-rated Marketing MBA program in the U.S. – Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management.
Oops.
Last summer, Kellogg’s new dean embarked on a long journey to remake the school. And just like the “new CMO” phenomenon we see so often in the private sector, she spearheaded the development of a new marketing campaign. Complete with a new tagline.
Ready?
“Think Bravely.”
Grammatically suspect, Kellogg’s tagline is one part derivative (see: Apple, circa 1997), and one part off-kilter. As cynical as this might sound, people don’t get an MBA for the experience. The school each one chooses is based on which will deliver the best outcome. How would a Kellogg committee of its best and brightest miss this?
Lead Bravely, maybe. Or Manage Bravely. Or Get Rich Bravely. Whatever.
The "Kellogg Marketing Makeover" team didn’t stop at just a tagline. A manifesto was developed, along with a video touting the school’s new point of view. It would seem the team consulted the famous bullshit generator.
Here is Kellogg’s new brand mantra: “We believe business can be bravely led [ed.: then why not Lead Bravely as the tagline?], passionately collaborative, and world changing.”
They couldn’t stop themselves. Alongside the new brand video is this: “Intellectually Vibrant. Innovative. Socially Engaged.” (Can a person be engaged without being social?)
Perhaps in a later post, we’ll dissect the buzzword-filled, nonintuitive and often contradictory script for the “Think Bravely” video. Or how, in another video on Kellogg’s website, the dean summarizes the new brand essence as “thinking outside the box,” a term so old it now induces derisive laughter when said in a business setting.
For now, though, let’s end with this question: Why didn’t the dean focus on the data that indicates less than one of every five Kellogg MBA grads takes a job in Marketing?
We have enough “innovators” and “collaborators.” What we don’t have enough of are “brave” marketers.
