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MITSUBISHI TV COMMERCIAL RULES!!

There is one advert on TV at present that I think is incredibly effective. Congratulations to Mitsubuishi, your CEO Mr. Tom Phillips, and your advertising agency. I think that your current advert featuring your CEO is absolutely MASTERFUL. The first time I saw the commercial, it grabbed my attention, I watched it and listened to it all the way through and I registered the fact that it actually both changed and created perceptions for me about the company and the product.

Firstly, it is a huge step for a CEO to appear in a televison commercial without  fitting the "extreme persona"  stereotypes a la Big Kev, Sydney from Sydney Lounges or a "highly tailored" image al la Aussie Home Loans "We'll save you!"

Also, we all remember the adverts from some of the banks and financial institutions who had some of their advisors speaking about their company and what they do - very "down to earth" simple conversations designed to create trust and credibility - I am sorry but I found them too contrived and the staff members appearing on the commercials were not convincing - they were just a little too serious... or something- maybe righteous like some moralistic defender of customer interests. Some of them even reminded me of possums caught on a road in the headlights of an on-coming car!

Well, move over - we have a new corporate star who I believe is sincere, down-to-earth and utterly believable. Mitsubishi's CEO Tom Phillips. It is immediately obvious that he is totally convinced of the value and quality of his company's product and in my opinion he is able to convey those messages direct to the viewer - I feel as though I am sitting with Tom and he is telling me about his company in a one-on-one conversation. It is rare to see someone break through all the barriers that the medium of television places between the subject and the viewer. Tom Phillips starts the commercial by admitting  that things have been tough for the company in recent times (effectively "tapping in" to one of the very powerful Australian mythological cultural drivers - "the Aussie Battler" and then effortlessly glides to statements about the very impressive engineering and exceptional (5 years) warranty features of his company's products which actually ARE quite outstanding (again tapping into another Australian mythological archetype - the high achiever.) Throughout this, we are shown very interesting and somehow very convincing images of the cars at various stages on the production line - even the staff in these images are impressive and for me create a sense of confidence in the company and the product.
I would like to know who conceived of this advert and who directed it because they have created an incredibly effective yet simple concept and then managed to translate the concept into a very effective commercial. Well done I say.

Tom, I have one question ,when will the SPYDER come to/be made in Australia?

"Profound" Marketing

"Profound" marketing is a term that I have coined (driving home from work this evening) to create a distinction between "traditional" marketing and a new type of Marketing that I think goes beyond and adds a new dimension to "traditional" marketing. Now, I want to state up-front that I have never worked as a Marketing Manager nor have I ever formally studied "Marketing"  so what gives me the right to express any opinion on "Marketing"?  The fact is that  I am an avid and passionate observer of marketing strategies and I have had some 20 odd years experience in performing the marketing function for my own recruitment company, TriStar (which was sold to Robert Walters PLC in 1997).

So, my impression of the purpose of "traditional" marketing is to create favourable brand awareness and to promote a company and it's products and/or services to its' target market, so that the company increases sales, profit and "market share". (Fairly broad but that is my understanding of the essential purpose of  the marketing function.

"Profound" marketing adds a further dimension to traditional marketing by working WITHIN a business to create the structures, processes and culture that will ensure that the customer experience and "real world" service delivery are completely CONGRUENT with the marketing mesaages of an organisation. So traditionally, the great majority of marketing activity seems to me to be focussed "outward" - what I am talking about is augmenting this traditional marketing with an accountability for creating the organisation so that it actually delivers the service and experience that the marketing mesaages promise.

This would involve the marketing function becoming heavily involved if not accountable for the actual PERFORMANCE of the organisation.

My thinking is that so many companies spend so much money on communicating promises and dreams to the market that an organisation is often not capable of delivering. The marketing spend is wasted - customers vote with their feet as their expectations were not met and the business does not grow its' market share.