Will the Co-op's #HaveYourSay campaign provide the clarity it so sorely needs?

Ok, I’ll admit it.  I have a soft spot for the Co-op, or The Co-operative Group as it is now known.  Both my parents worked there. In fact my father spent 40 years with the organisation, rising through the ranks from the shop floor to a senior management position.

In recent years the Co-op’s reputation has taken a battering, primarily driven by the poor performance of its banking business and a distinct confusion as to what its purpose and business really is.  Bank? Supermarket? Convenience store? Funeral director? Travel agent? Ethical business?

In a move to re-vitalise the brand, the Co-op is now taking the bold step of finding out from the public what it should stand for through its mammoth Have Your Say campaign (#HaveYourSay).  A key part of the campaign is an online questionnaire seeking views of members, customers and potential customers on a variety of areas such as fairtrade, pricing and community involvement.

This is a bold move.  While it certainly reinforces the mutual’s historic roots of being owned and directed by its local customers, I can’t help think that it also smacks of desperation.  It sings: “we’ve given this a lot of thought but we couldn’t come up with any real ideas.  So we thought we’d ask you”.

The reality is that the Co-op has lost its way.  While its origins are in local mutual societies, a succession of mergers and acquisitions has created a behemoth that has become divorced from its membership and lost its original purpose.  And a successful ethical positioning in recent years has been eroded by its banking fiasco.

I’m all for asking customers what they think, but the Co-op’s survey looks too much like a clumsy exercise in reputation management.  I’m not sure what testing has been undertaken or whether focus groups were engaged to react to a series of propositions, but I have to say the questionnaire itself doesn’t imply there has been much preparatory work done.  It’s fairly long – about 20 minutes online – and a seemingly disjointed series of questions.  There’s no real attempt to explain the Co-op’s history or founding philosophy and there’s an assumption that everyone will understand it’s a mutual and what that really means. And there are no draft proposition areas to unpick or react to.

I really hope the Co-op finds its way soon but I’m not convinced that running this campaign will help it find the clarity it needs.  It would have been far better for its management to consult on a series of recommendations on what it believes its customer and community obligations should be and to be seen to listen to the feedback.

Why not take the survey and see for yourself: http://www.haveyoursay.coop

Thomson's Simon the Ogre - offensive to the disabled or just poor advertising?

Thomson Holidays has come under fire recently for its “Simon the Ogre” advertising campaign.  The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has received a number of complaints that the ad is offensive to people with facial and physical disfigurements, and that it trivialises disability.

The ad features a husband/father figure who has turned into an ogre and in need of a holiday.  The character is shown as oversized, hunchbacked with horns and teeth sticking out of his mouth.  During the course of his holiday he is transformed, losing his distinctive features.

The ASA has yet to decide whether the complaints merit further investigation.  Thomson has said that the ad was designed to show the revitalizing powers of a good holiday and no offence was intended.

Having seen the ad several times (I know, I do need to get out more), the potential to offend those with disabilities passed me by.  Indeed, I can’t help wondering whether this is yet another case of political correctness gone mad.  This is a fairytale style character that no more trivializes disability or facial disfigurement than the much-loved Shrek character does.

What’s more disturbing for me is what Thomson is seeking to achieve by the ad itself.  Yes, I understand it’s about getting people to identify with the benefits of a good holiday.  But I’d argue that the message is already well understood by the average customer and evidenced by the billions spent on holidays every year.  What the ad singularly fails to do is to associate those benefits with Thomson specifically, rather than holidays generically.  And it also fails to advocate the benefits of the package holiday over the growing trend for independent travel fuelled by the ease of online booking of flights and accommodation.

In my book, Simon the Ogre is a triumph of storytelling, prosthetics and lavish budgets over the core principle of convincing the average holidaymaker to buy a Thomson holiday.

Here's the ad for you to make your own mind up: 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXNJA1yGn-8

'Passionate' about your sector? Prove it.

Google ‘passionate about property’ and be prepared for the long list of estate agents who claim to be so.  In fact, you’ll find businesses everywhere proclaiming their ‘passion’ for what they do.  How lucky these people are to work in a field they’re passionate about.

I’m all for brands being clear about what they stand for but I’m also clear that any such assertions need to be explained and then demonstrated through consistent action and behaviour.  I read such assertions and have one response: prove it.

If you’re making such assertions in your business and you’re serious about keeping the statement, ask yourself the following:

• What does this mean?  Make a point of asking people inside and outside the business what they understand the meaning of your statement to be.  You may be surprised to find an array of different interpretations, not all of them what you intended.

• Who says we are? Of course you do, but does anyone else?  What third party recommendations/commentary do you have to prove your passion?  What are the results of your customer satisfaction programme?  What do customers say – not just the last time you asked them, but now.

• What’s in it for our customers?  Ask yourself what this means for the average customer and make sure you explain it to them.  In the case of the estate agent, does it mean that you know all the properties in your catchment area incredibly well?  Does it mean you’re able to advise on what makes a property saleable to a particular type of buyer?

• How can we demonstrate our passion every day?  It seems to me that people who are ‘passionate’ about something live and breathe it.  They never cease talking enthusiastically about their favourite subject.  They’re borderline obsessive.  So, if our estate agent is passionate, I’d expect to see them talking regularly in the local media about property and their website should have lots of really useful information about the subject, for example.

• How do we get all of our people passionate?  This is probably the most important question but may be the most difficult to answer.  Consider appointing role models to champion the cause.  Revisit your reward/commission structures and ask yourself whether they encourage different or counter behaviours.  Look at training options.  Consider how you communicate and behave internally – are you continually talking about the subject and providing your people with the necessary data, tools and know-how to build their own passion?

The key is, whatever you say about your business will be meaningless unless you’re able to bring it to life in a meaningful way for your customers and prospects.