Blog Posts

Coopting Commencement

5/3/2020

by David Hagenbuch, founder of Mindful Marketing & author of Honorable Influence

People are missing out on many favorite activities because of the pandemic, but not being able to eat in a restaurant or go to the movies are small sacrifices compared to the major life events some have been forced to forgo: weddings, honeymoons, graduations. Some caring companies have stepped in to ease the pain, but could their efforts actually be causing more harm?

As one who’s taught in higher education for two decades, I certainly appreciate the significance of college commencement. I’ve had a front row seat to thousands of students’ struggles and success over their four-year college careers, as well as to their graduation days, which are meaningful tributes marking the culmination of a lifetime of formal education.

When students’ academic journeys conclude, there’s tremendous relief and joy! The about-to-be graduates are excited, and their proud parents and grandparents are often even more animated—sometimes embarrassingly so. Families and friends want to be together to witness their loved one walk across the stage and to celebrate their momentous accomplishment.

Tragically, those celebrations will not happen on most college campuses this spring, as the coronavirus has pulled the plug on virtually all large group gatherings for the foreseeable future. While many formerly in-person experiences have been moved online, some with very little distortion, it seems impossible to replicate electronically the sights, sounds, and feelings of an on-campus commencement ceremony.

However, one ‘institution’ is making a great effort to ensure that this spring everyone’s graduation (high school, college, or other) is memorable. It’s not an organization you’d likely guess, but it is one with which you’re probably familiar: Anheuser-Busch. The King of Beers will play the role of principal and president at a very unique commencement event.

Natural Light, one of Anheuser-Busch’s many beer brands, will host “a virtual college commencement ceremony on Facebook Live to celebrate graduates around the world.” The ceremony will take place at 7:00 pm Eastern Time on Thursday, May 14, on Natural Light’s Facebook Page.

Graduating seniors who sign up in advance will have their names read on a “branded commencement microsite” by celebrities Shep Rose and Arianny Celeste. The event’s speakers will include, among others, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and ESPN sports commentator Stephen A. Smith.

It’s great to see companies giving to those who tragedy has impacted physically, emotionally, and socially. Anheuser-Busch has a history of such corporate social responsibility; for instance, it has “donated nearly 83 million cans of emergency drinking water to disaster relief since 1988.”

Given the personalities employed, “Natty’s Worldwide Commencement” is likely to be an expensive event for its sponsor, even though done entirely online. It looks like the company wants to lift the spirits of soon-to-be grads, but are there other reasons Anheuser-Busch is willing to go to such effort and expense to offer an education-related event for free?

The rather obvious answer is that the firm wants to ‘teach’ young people to drink more Natural Light. A recent article in Marketing Dive suggests the same motive:

“Natural Light is attempting to make up for [coronavirus-related] losses while drumming up brand awareness among its core college-aged consumers. By providing this experience to young consumers during a difficult time, the brand could build good will and position itself in a positive light to help it nurture a loyal following of beer drinkers in the future.”

The fact that Anheuser-Busch’s motives for the commencement ceremony are not solely altruistic isn’t necessarily a problem. I, for one, am a firm believer that individuals and organizations can and often do successfully maintain more than one motive at a time, i.e., they can realize multiple goals simultaneously. Whether it’s a marriage relationship or a customer relationship, people often receive benefits from others, even as they give them.

There’s also not necessarily anything wrong with a beer company building pandemic-era brand equity by tapping positive consumer sentiment. Miller High Life, for instance, is running a contest to help couples get married at home. Thanks to the Miller Brewing Company, three engaged couples will win a “Wedding at Your Doorstep,” which includes beer, a photographer, an officiant, and $10,000 for honeymoon expenses. The company even promises to cover cancelled wedding costs.

So, what could be problematic with Anheuser-Busch’s product positioning? The issue is the target market. The company seems to be specifically targeting college students and is likely appealing to those even younger with its Natural Light line, which contains teen-friendly flavors like Strawberry Lemonade Beer and Strawberry Kiwi [hard] Seltzer.

Natty’s Worldwide Commencement is one piece of evidence that supports the college-targeting claim, but there’s more, such as an Anheuser-Busch promotion offering free beer to anyone turning 21, and a YouTube-based campaign to find a summer intern. Based on such evidence, Marketing Dive has deduced: “Natural Light in recent years has narrowed its marketing focus to reach college students.”

What’s more, aspirational purchase behavior often leads to target market creep: People who technically are not part of a target market buy its products because they want to be like those who are the ‘in’ group. For teens, this behavior often translates into wanting a more mature appearance and purchasing items aimed at those older than them.

What’s the connection to Natural Light’s Worldwide Commencement? It has to do with demographics. The National Center for Education Statistics projected that about 19.9 million students attended degree-granting postsecondary institutions in the fall of 2019. Of them, approximately 4.27 million (21.45%) were 19 years old or younger.

Another 4.47 million were either 20 or 21 years old. A conservative estimate is that 25% of those students, or 1.1 million, will not turn 21 by the end of May, which means nearly 27% of college students in the 2019-2020 academic year are 20 years old or younger (4.27 + 1.1 = 5.37 million / 19.9 million = 26.98%). In addition, almost all high school seniors are just 17 or 18 years old.

Anheuser-Busch’s target market for Natural Light is troubling in two ways. First, other than some rare exceptions, the legal drinking age in the United States is 21. For older college students, that’s not an issue, but for 27% of them and virtually all high school students, alcohol consumption is illegal.

Second, although many people do drink responsibly, there are potentially serious risks associated alcohol abuse, to which teens are especially susceptible. Here are some of the ‘sobering’ statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:

Alcohol is the most commonly used and abused drug among youth in the United States.
On average, underage drinkers consume more drinks per drinking occasion than adult drinkers.
Those aged 12 to 20 years drink 11% of all alcohol consumed in the United States and more than 90% of the time are involved in binge drinking.
After drinking, 6% of youth drove and 17% rode with a driver who had been drinking.
Outcomes of underage drinking include changes in brain development, poor academic performance, social and legal problems, imprudent sexual practices, physical and sexual assault, and higher instances of suicide and homicide.
Every year, more the 4,300 underage youth die from excessive drinking.

Those who read my blog regularly might remember another time I took issue with marketers associating alcohol and academia. In January of 2017, I wrote a piece, “Alcohol Ads and College Athletics Don't Mix,” that questioned the NCAA’s designation of Dos Equis as “The Official Beer Sponsor of the College Football Playoff.”

It’s not that I thought another beer brand would be a better sponsor. I argued that having any alcohol company as an official sponsor of college athletics was “a paradoxical distinction that further propagates the false compatibility of beer and books, drunkenness and diligence, wasted-ness and wellness.”

In some ways, I believe Anheuser-Busch’s decision to sponsor a college commencement ceremony is even worse. First, its positioning as an event for ‘all graduates’ means it may reach an even younger demographic, which definitely doesn’t need any additional enticement to drink.

Second, while a graduation is a celebration, it should be a dignified one. Yes, people of age can choose to drink beer during a football game or soccer match, but they shouldn’t be drinking during a high school graduation or college commencement. Yet, that’s exactly what Natural Light encouraged in a Facebook post on April 9:

“Graduation ceremony cancelled? Sucks, but we got your back. We’re throwing a worldwide commencement ceremony for the class of 2020 . . . Plus, you get to drink beer.”

Another significant part of commencement is the stole that drapes over certain graduates’ shoulders, conveying special honors or individual achievement. As shown in a Facebook post on April 24, Anheuser-Busch has diminished that symbol of “prestigious recognition” by silk-screening Natural Light logos on a custom-made stole that it “might” send to those who like or share the post. Perhaps it's a stole for those who 'minored in binge drinking' and 'majored in partying.'

Finally, important but sometimes overlooked roles in a commencement ceremony are the people who read the names of the graduates. Where I work, those individuals are the deans of our various schools. As a graduate, it’s an honor to have your name read by an accomplished scholar or respected teacher. It’s another thing to have it ready by someone who’s resume includes “UFC ring girl” and “Playboy model.”

As a college professor and a marketer, I appreciate the need for partnerships between corporations and higher education. In fact, without the former’s support, most colleges and universities either could not exist or could not begin to serve students in the ways that they do. Tuition revenue typically cannot cover all operating costs or fund large capital projects like academic buildings, dormitories, and sports complexes.

Higher education needs business, and business needs higher education, for instance, to help prepare the next generation of employees. Everyone needs companies that respect the educational process and the people who participate in it, especially its young and most malleable consumers. Unfortunately, Anheuser-Busch’s global graduation ceremony is a thinly-veiled promotional-grab that offers no genuine respect for either.

Over the last month-and-a-half, I’ve been meeting via video conference twice a week with the students in our capstone marketing class, all of whom are seniors. Each time I see their faces on a computer screen, I feel for their loss—unable to enjoy campus life for their final semester. However, I’m sure each of these marketing majors, who have learned what it means to market for mutual benefit, can see past Natural Light’s benevolence façade and recognize the long-term risk its pop-culture ceremony holds for their peers.

It's nice that a star-studded event may temporarily lift the spirits of some of those most regrettably impacted by COVID-19. However, disregard for educational decorum and the well-being of those most vulnerable to alcohol’s harmful effects, earns Anheuser-Busch a degree in “Single-Minded Marketing.”

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The Business of Forgiveness?

4/18/2020

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by David Hagenbuch, founder of Mindful Marketing & author of Honorable Influence

“To err is human, to forgive is divine.” Alexander Pope’s adage applies to every person who has overlooked another’s offense or asked for forgiveness of their own, yet organizations often seem immune to any such ‘mercy mandate.’ At a time when many people are showing others unusual grace, should companies also be forgiving others?

The COVID-19-induced economic slowdown has derailed demand in most industries, leaving some businesses on the brink of insolvency. The U.S. Federal Reserve has promised $2.3 trillion in programs aimed at undergirding small and medium businesses; still, organizations of all sizes face immediate pressures to meet payroll, remit rent, and settle obligations with suppliers.

Many firms find themselves beholden to creditors like never before. While simply dismissing others’ debt may sound nice, such kindness cuts against the very grain of capitalism: Companies can’t remain competitive and profitable by giving away their goods and services. It may sound callous, but isn’t it just good business to forgo forgiveness?

Among the many hats I wore while a partner in our family’s promotional products company, was that of debt collector. At times, I would pick up the phone and call customers who had invoices that were 60, 90, or more days overdue. It wasn’t a job I enjoyed, but if enough of that revenue remained outstanding, it would take a significant bite out of our small business’s bottom-line. Although I worked to keep the conversations amicable, I wasn’t calling to offer forgiveness.

Fast forward a couple of decades—As I watched the April 9, 2020 installment of CNBC’s Squawk on the Street, the show’s often insightful and easily excitable Jim Cramer became uncharacteristically subdued while considering the pandemic’s unprecedented economic impact. In order to battle through the shared struggle, he recommended that businesses offer each other financial “forbearance.”

How surreal to hear the former hedge fund manager of Mad Money fame, who aims to help ordinary people understand the stock market and invest profitably, offer business advice that appeared tantamount to fiscal heresy. Had the Mad Money host gone mad? Or, has a time come when companies should be extending financial forgiveness?

To answer these questions, it’s important to differentiate forgiveness from forbearance. These definitions of the two verb infinitives seem especially relevant:

Forgive: to cancel an indebtedness or liability of
Forbear: to be patient or self-controlled

So, my earlier conflation of the two terms was somewhat misleading. While any forgiveness naturally includes forbearance, forbearance does not necessarily involve forgiveness. For example, a landlord can choose to forgive a month’s overdue rent, i.e., never collect it; or, he/she can forbear, i.e., give the tenant more time to pay.

In the Squawk on the Street segment, Cramer did aptly apply forbearance, suggesting that firms should be patient with their debtors. At the same time, he didn't preclude forgiveness, i.e., if a company can afford to reduce or cancel a specific debt, even better.

Such recommendations prompt two more important questions: Who exactly should forbear or forgive and why? The following story may offer answers.

The owner of a small grocery store was many months overdue on a $1,000 invoice from a large produce supplier. Unable to pay, the store owner begged his creditor for more time: “Please be patient and I’ll pay the bill.” The produce company owner felt sorry for his customer, so he told him, “It’s okay; we’ll cancel this invoice. You don’t owe us anything.”

The same day, a regular customer, who was recently out of work, came into the grocery store and asked the owner. “I’ve been shopping here for years and just lost my job. Could I get $10 worth of food to feed my family tonight? I can pay you tomorrow when my unemployment check comes.”

The store owner berated the customer: “Get out of here! I’m not running a charity!” When the produce supplier heard about the incident he was enraged. He phoned the grocery store owner: “I cancelled all of your debt. Why couldn’t you show some grace to one of your customers?”

Some may recognize this story, which is a modern paraphrase of the biblical parable from Matthew 18:21-35. Whether two thousand years ago or now, the moral is the same: We all should show grace to others because others show grace to us.

Over the past month, that point has been ‘brought home’ for me literally, as the pandemic has moved virtually all of higher education online. My house is somewhat unique in that in one upstairs room there’s me, sometimes asking my students for patience as I adapt to teaching college courses online. Meanwhile, down the hallway our son is taking classes from a different college, and his instructors are dealing with similar challenges.

As a college professor and the parent of a college student, I’m both a supplier and a consumer of higher education services. If I’m going to ask my ‘customers’ for forbearance, the least I can do is extend similar forbearance to our family’s ‘educational service provider.’

Life’s winding paths often lead to unexpected outcomes. Earlier I mentioned the collection phone calls I made decades ago for our family business. I can no longer remember any of the overdue accounts I called, except one: A company I had never seen that was located about 80 miles to the south that sold/rented lawn and excavating equipment.

I recall this account because it took what seemed like forever until I finally got to talk with the owner and kindly implore him to pay several long-past-due invoices. Significant interest charges had accrued, but I told him, “Just pay the original amounts, we’ll forgive the interest,” and he did.

I also remember this account because after we sold our family business and I entered higher education, our family happened to move within a few miles of where that business is still located. Now, I’m occasionally one of its customers.

As flawed people who work for imperfect organizations, we all need to extend and receive forbearance at times, especially during a crisis. That doesn’t mean enabling those who take advantage of kindness, nor does it preclude going a step above and beyond to forgive an obligation entirely. A healthy balance of forbearance and forgiveness is good for business and makes for “Mindful Marketing.”

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Pivoting in a Pandemic

4/4/2020

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by David Hagenbuch, founder of Mindful Marketing & author of Honorable Influence

“When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” Evaporating demand due to COVID-19 has caused many industries to sour, yet some innovative organizations continue to score in unexpected sweet spots. Thanks to creative thinking and agile adjustments of their marketing plans, certain companies have rapidly repositioned themselves for productivity uninfected by the virus.

Serious fans of basketball are familiar with an offense skill, not often employed in the current era of three-point shooting: the pivot foot. In order to move with the ball, a player must, of course, dribble. Once he stops and holds the ball, he can’t dribble again; however, he can still move provided that one ‘pivot’ foot remains planted on the floor.

Few basketball players use their pivot foot to its full potential, but those who do can adeptly avoid defenders’ grasps by turning their bodies 180 degrees, or even in full circles. Doing so, they can make what may have looked like a lost possession into an amazing pass or a spectacular shot.

The coronavirus has caused many organizations to ‘pick up their dribble,’ stopping them in their tracks. Some companies, however, have realized that both feet don’t need to be bolted to the floor. They can still pick up one foot and pivot, finding profitable new opportunities, sometimes in a direction opposite the one they were facing.

A few firms that have made very ‘hard pivots’ are those that have decided to manufacture products they never made before, including ones crucial for lessening the pandemic’s impact:

3M, Ford, and GE are partnering to produce respirators desperately needed by those suffering from the harshest effects of COVID-19. The companies are “repurposing existing parts and hundreds of workers in a wartime-like battle against the outbreak.”
Leveraging its 3D printing capabilities, Ford is also expecting to produce 100,000 face shields per week, which frontline healthcare workers need to protect themselves from the dangerous droplets that coughing and sneezing patients propel.
Many companies have started manufacturing for the first time the smaller, lighter face masks that people increasing wear to avoid spreading the virus if sick, or to avoid contracting it if healthy. Some of the mask producers include Carhartt, Eclipse International, and Gap. Even high-end fashion brands like Burberry, Dior, and Giorgio Armani have promised some of their production capacity.
With Purell and its competitors unable to meet demand, several companies we wouldn’t expect also are now bottling hand sanitizer, including distilleries of Anheuser-Busch and Pernod Ricard, the maker of Absolut Vodka. According to FoodDive, “Drinking alcohol and rubbing alcohol are not identical substances, but they can be used as substitutes for each other.”

The preceding pivots are in the spirit of President Trump’s invocation of the Defense Production Act, which allows a commander-in-chief to divert civilian manufacturing capacity and resources to the production of goods that promote national defense.

Meanwhile, other organizations have seen market disruption in their own industries and moved decisively to capitalize on the resulting opportunities. Those pivots have often involved emphasizing specific goods and services that complement the ways many of us have been forced to adapt our daily lives, for instance:

Groupon is promoting cooking at home items like cookbooks, meal starter kits, and cookware.
Giant Food Stores is highlighting “contactless ways to shop.”
Best Buy is running sales on technology that helps people stay connected digitally.
Bed Bath and Beyond is promoting trash cans with voice- and motion-controlled lids.
Warner Bros. is speeding up the release of movies to streaming services.

All of the above are prudent pivots; however, one of the most significant ones I’ve seen comes from an organization you may not know, unless you have a child between the ages of two and eight who likes soccer.

“Driven by the belief that a positive experience with sports can make a lasting impact on a child’s life,” Soccer Shots teaches soccer skills and life skills in affirmational ways to the youngest of athletes. Since opening its first franchises in 1997 in Charlotte, NC and Harrisburg, PA, the company has grown to nearly a half million enrollments in 37 states and Canada.

As one might expect, Soccer Shots’ business model is based on face-to-face interactions between coaches and kids in physical spaces. So, how does an in-person organization respond when social distancing directives don’t just spread the field, they end the game? The player pivots.

The company has swiftly created “Soccer Shots on the Go,” a virtual sports education program that allows young people to learn soccer skills with Soccer Shot coaches, in the safety of their homes. Soccer Shots Franchising (SSF) describes the program:

Soccer Shots On The Go uses our expert-approved curriculum to help families get moving and have some fun…at home! Each week, you’ll receive an age-appropriate video packed with soccer skills, character development and creative ways to stay active. Soccer Shots On The Go also includes activities and resources for the entire family delivered directly to your email.

The notion that learning soccer ‘online’ can’t be quite the same as learning it on the field is not lost on Steve King, executive director of the company’s Harrisburg-York, PA region. He readily acknowledges the difference and puts in perspective:

“Certainly there are some different or missing components compared to being in-person, including the child-coach interaction for which we are so well- known, but the quality of the video sessions is terrific, and our longtime experience with child development and curriculum-based programming is seen in both how the videos are produced and how the child is engaged with the coach who is on-screen.”

Helping others survive the devastating health and economic impacts of coronavirus comes first, then individuals and organizations should think how they can thrive amid the challenges. In the face of unprecedented disruption, Soccer Shots co-founder Jason Webb cheers his team for making just that kind of “impressive pivot,” skillfully creating “a quality, professional-produced program alternative” for all those Soccer Shots serves.

Sometimes anguish is unavoidable, but pivoting in the face of pain is “Mindful Marketing.”

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Sick and Healthy "Viral Marketing"

3/21/2020

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by David Hagenbuch, founder of Mindful Marketing & author of Honorable Influence

Difficult times bring out the best and worst in individuals and organizations. You’ve likely seen some of each during recent days. Although it’s frightful to find our world battling a pandemic, it’s a healthy occasion to diagnose what is and isn’t Mindful Marketing.

One of the ‘sickest’ cases has involved two entrepreneurial brothers from Tennessee. When Matt and Noah Colvin heard of the first U.S. death from coronavirus, they quickly began buying all the hand sanitizer and antibacterial wipes they could find—around Chattanooga, across Tennessee, and throughout Kentucky.

After emptying stores of the valuable virus-fighting products, they piled palettes of their pillage in a garage and began selling the items online for a premium: between $8 and $70 each for the first 300 bottles of hand sanitizer M. Colvin listed on Amazon.

The gig lasted for about a day before “Amazon pulled his items and thousands of other listings for sanitizer, wipes and face masks” and “eBay soon followed with even stricter measures.” The retailers’ swift actions and accusation of price gouging left Colvin sitting on over 17,000 bottles of sanitizer he couldn’t sell, even as people around the world were desperate to get their hands on the products and the product on their hands.

Was Colvin “profiteering from a pandemic,” or were Amazon and eBay unnecessarily constraining capitalism? Colvin claimed he provided a “public service” by exploiting market inefficiencies and redistributing products to other parts of the nation where they were needed more.

Could he be right? Perhaps he was improving the supply chain. Also, how different were his actions than someone making a significant purchase of a publicly-traded stock with the hope that their big investment will help push the security’s price upward?

First, it’s safe to assume that national and regional retailers like CVS and Walmart, with decades of logistics experience and cutting-edge supply chain processes, didn't need Colvin to help get products to places in the country where they’re in short supply. Furthermore, any person with an internet connection could conceivable buy hand sanitizer online and have it shipped directly to them, no matter where they live.

Second, there’s a big difference between playing the stock market and ‘playing the hand sanitizer market,’ especially in the face of a pandemic. People don’t need to own Apple, Tesla, or any other specific stock; however, Individuals do have to have products that can help them avoid contracting a serious illness that could kill them or someone they might infect.

The Colvin brothers’ actions were the epitome of “Single-Minded Marketing,” which quickly turned “Mindless” once Amazon pulled the plug on their online sales. Such blatantly selfish actions are pretty easy to diagnose, but what about the wide continuum of tactics other organizations have employed amid the outbreak?

Some emails that have hit my inbox within the last few days seem tone-deaf to health advisories that have asked us to forgo nonessential services, to practice social distancing, and to be extra careful with hand hygiene. Although less extreme than those of the Colvin brothers, these tactics also seem “Mindless”:

Groupon: specials on Swedish massage, axe throwing, ice skating, and even “group bowling”
Local Flavor: offers on experiences such as billiards, salt room, and climbing walls
Bed Bath & Beyond: promotional copy reading, “Put a spring in your hosting game with fresh and EXCLUSIVE picks”; “Dazzle guests without breaking a sweat (or the bank)”
Old Navy: ad image showing two women walking with arms wrapped tightly over the other’s shoulders while smiling at each other, with faces about eight inches apart

Meanwhile, certain other companies have shown healthier situational awareness by quickly adjusting their marketing communication from “Mindless” to “Mindful”:

Coors: pulled its “Official beer of ‘working’ remotely” spots that lampooned the nation's annual loss of productivity during March Madness
Hershey: removed ads that featured people shaking hands and hugging while sharing candy.
KFC: pulled its ‘finger lickin’ ads in the UK

There’s also been an abundance of vibrantly “Mindful” correspondence from companies aimed at calming our anxieties by describing what they’re doing to keep employees and us safe:

Enterprise: “Aligned with guidance from health authorities, we are implementing additional measures to clean and disinfect our locations and vehicles.”
Chase: “We've ensured that our branches, including ATM screens and keypads, are cleaned daily with EPA-approved disinfectants and we have hand sanitizer available in our branches.”
Best Buy: “The first [goal] is to protect our customers, employees and their families. The second is to do the best we can to serve the millions of Americans who are looking to us for increasingly vital technology tools to stay connected, as well as household necessities.”
Office Depot: “We’ve reinforced existing Office Depot policy encouraging employees who exhibit flu-like symptoms to stay home and consult with a medical professional.”

Finally, a few firms have ascended to the highest level of corporate health and community consciousness by going above and beyond what might be expected even for “Mindful Marketing,” for instance:

U-Haul is offering 30 days of free self-storage to students who need to move due to coronavirus.
Highmark Blue Shield has waived all copays, deductibles, and coinsurance for 90 days for those with telemedicine access “because the safest place for you if you’re sick is at home.”
Wiley is providing instructors and students who do not have an online learning solution free access to its courseware for the remaining spring 2020 term.
Martin’s Famous Pastry Shoppe has increased production of its popular potato rolls and other bread products in order to keep stores stocked during periods of intense demand.

To unpack the last example, there are few things as anxiety-inducing as walking into a grocery store during a crisis, only to find shelves empty of bread, which may be the most staple of foods for Americans. However, people living in areas where Martin’s distributes can still find its products on their store’s shelves every day, even on Sunday. Scott Heintzelman, vice president of finance and administration for Martin’s explains:

“Almost no commercial bakeries deliver [Sunday]. However, our awesome bakery and transport teams have been working around the clock to make and move truckloads of extra product to our warehouses. The result is on Sunday morning, many of our amazing distributors and sales teams are out making deliveries to help feed people. I am truly humbled by our team members.”

As a writer, I should disclose that Martin’s is a faithful supporter of Messiah College, where I teach. Also, Heintzelman, who I call “Scott,” was my college roommate, the best man in my wedding, and still a best friend.

During this moment of nearly unprecedented uncertainty, many people probably feel like Martin’s and other firms that have gone above and beyond to meet important, life-sustaining needs are their best friends. It’s times like these when we really need friends, and when we can be especially grateful for organizations that practice “Mindful Marketing.”

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Giving Poor Athletes an Assist

3/5/2020

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by David Hagenbuch, founder of Mindful Marketing & author of Honorable Influence

Few fans of major professional sports ever say, “I feel so sorry for those players.” After all, the average NFL salary is about $2.7 million, and MLB and NBA players earn even more: $4 million and $7.1 million, respectively. However, what's a dream for many athletes can quickly turn into a nightmare once their playing career ends.

Yes, there’s the long-term impact of knee surgeries and head trauma, but many former professional athletes also endure another kind of body-blow: a financial one. Now a reality TV show with an unlikely host hopes to pull past players out of their poverty.

The NFL’s new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) has proposed increasing the minimum player salary from $495,000 to $510,000. You may be thinking, “That’s a ton of money,” which it is. There are, though, other important circumstances to consider when playing careers end.

While there are the rare retired athletes who land very lucrative endorsement deals, like the $130 million Michael Jordan makes annually from Nike, and the $17 million-a-year broadcasting contract former NFL quarterback Tony Romo recently secured from CBS, most former athletes’ incomes fall off a cliff. Once retired, they command only a fraction of what they earned on the field or court, partly because elite athletic competition often comes at the expense of developing other marketable job skills.

It’s possible to blame some athletes for spending too much and not saving enough, but it’s also true that many enter professional sports in their early twenties or even in their teens, where they may encounter corrupt financial advisors and temptations to make bad business decisions, all during playing careers that often last just a few short years.

Unfortunately, there’s a growing list of former professional athletes, including long-tenured ones, who have found themselves in financial peril after their playing careers ended. Some on that luckless list include well-known former NFL players Bernie Kosar, Warren Sapp, Lawrence Taylor, and Vince Young. If these once high-equity athletes can lose most of their money, it’s easy to imagine how ones on the opposite end of the earning scale can end up insolvent.

So, who has stepped to the plate to help poor past pros? It’s someone I wouldn’t have expected: former MLB player Alex Rodriguez.

During his 22 seasons of major league baseball, twelve with the New York Yankees, “A-Rod” established himself as one of the greatest players of all time with stats such as a .295 batting average, 696 home runs, 25 grand slams, 3,000+ hits, 14 All-Star appearances, and three Most Valuable Player Awards.

However, despite all that success, and two Gold Glove Awards, Rodriguez made an epic error: To deal with chronic back pain and so he could “put up big numbers,” Rodriguez violated MLB policy and used steroids. That mistake caused the league to suspend him for the entire 2014 season, which Rodriguez says, “cost me my reputation, and it may have cost me the Hall of Fame.”

Now, fast forward to a few weeks ago: I’m watching television, and a show comes on CNBC called “Back in the Game,” starring . . . Alex Rodriguez. I remembered promos for the program describing its premise—Rodriguez helps former athletes and entertainers rebound from financial ruin. I’m about to change channels when I see who he’s helping this episode: Ryan Lochte.

If you’ve forgotten, Lochte is a very accomplished U.S. swimmer who won 12 Olympic Medals but infamously embarrassed the entire nation after the 2016 Summer Olympics with a drunken escapade that included vandalizing the bathroom of a gas station in Rio de Janeiro. To cover up the mess, he filed a false police report, claiming that he and three teammates were robbed at gunpoint.

Not being a big fan of Rodriguez or Lochte, I have two good reasons to change channels, yet something compels me to stay tuned—maybe the unseemly sense of an impending train-wreck.

Reality-TV-show-host is just one of Rodriguez’s post-retirement gigs. He’s also an announcer for EPSN’s Sunday Night baseball. Furthermore, he’s the founder and CEO A-Rod Corp, a firm that “identifies, originates and manages investments across a broad array of industries, including real estate, sports and wellness, media, and entertainment.” On the corporation’s website, Rodriguez tells how his desire to start the company came from an impoverished childhood in which his mother tirelessly worked multiple jobs to afford ever-increasing rent.

Now, with annual income of about $33 million and net worth over $350 million, Rodriguez has clearly broken the cycle of poverty and achieved financial freedom in his post-playing career. Several pictures on the A-Rod Corp website visually support that success, such as one of the former slugger sporting sunglasses and a stylish grey suit as he poses proudly in front of his private jet with the firm’s ‘baseball swing’ logo emblazoned on the tail.

During his playing career, some described Rodriguez as “moody” and “aloof” and even as “the most egocentric player in Major League Baseball.” Could someone who was and still seems caught up in his own success, truly care about the well-being of others? Despite such skepticism about Rodriguez and Lochte, I can’t look away from the reality show spectacle.

As slugger met swimmer, the former challenged the latter to make lifestyle changes that could help anyone facing financial peril. For instance, Rodriguez urged Lochte to reduce reoccurring expenses by replacing pricey monthly payments on two very posh cars with a single lease on a much more modest ride.

Rodriguez also helped Lochte identify new income earning approaches, including some personal brand-appropriate endorsement deals and several solid speaking engagements. However, these new PR opportunities seemed likely to sink Lochte, unless the swimmer could rise above one ostensibly unsurmountable obstacle: his ego. Given Rodriguez’s own epic fail and apparent self-absorption, how could he possibly coach Lochte free from such hubris?

As it turns out, Rodriguez had come to terms with his own rocky past, several years before. A 2017 ESPN article described how the former all-star genuinely owned his steroid error, tearfully admitting the hurt he had caused his wife, daughters, and others and accepting full responsibility for his “stupid” mistake.

In the Back in the Game episode, Rodriguez also recounted how he undertook another extremely difficult task—apologizing to his former teammates. Now the slugger was asking the swimmer to attempt the same formidable feat. At first Lochte balked, but eventually he picked up his phone and started making calls.

With just his first apology, Lochte’s countenance visibly changed. One could see how the normally brash competitor was visibly broken. One also could hear how those on the other side of the phone calls were moved by his genuine humility, as they accepted his heart-felt apologies.

As I watched both Rodriguez and Lochte realize redemption, my cynicism subsided. I gained new-found respect for these former athletes, and I was reminded of three things: even the mighty fail, everyone needs help in some way, and all people have the potential to change.

I haven’t yet watched other episodes of Back in the Game, and I’m not sure how many others have seen the show. It seems, though, that an interesting TV program that encourages personal responsibility and restored relationships can rise to the level of “Mindful Marketing.”

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The Impossible 'to Stomach' Whopper

2/22/2020

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by David Hagenbuch, founder of Mindful Marketing & author of Honorable Influence

Green bumps, black specks, white fuzz. You saw the telltale signs when a piece of once fresh fruit or an edible vegetable fell to the back of a refrigerator drawer where it laid low for a few months. It took a deep breath and all the courage you could muster to pick up the nauseating produce and pitch it into the trash. So, why would one of the world’s leading fast food restaurants want consumers to see its most iconic menu item in a similarly sickening state?

Few food companies have the mettle to play with such fire, but one known for flame-broiling and often flagrant marketing does: Burger King. The fast food icon recently launched a “global, integrated advertising campaign showing its iconic Whopper® sandwich covered in mold.”

A video from the company begins with the staging of a very attractive Whopper. Then, against a music bed of “What a difference a day makes,” filming turns to a rapid time lapse and the burger ages abhorrently before our eyes.

First, the lettuce starts to wither. Then the bun sags and mayonnaise melts. Before we can look away, white fuzz flows over the beef patty and a green/blue ‘foam’ appears, making a cross-section closeup look like a storm at sea. Thankfully, the camera pans out, but only to show a bun enveloped in mold with some black substance oozing from the burger’s epicenter.

The visual agony eventually ends as a text overlay briefly appears: “The Whopper DAY 34.” The grotesque burger vanishes into an all-black screen that frames the tagline “THE BEAUTY OF NO ARTIFICIAL PRESERVATIVES,” followed by an all-white Burger King logo.

Most organizations agonize over advertisements, trying to ensure that their products are presented in the most positive light. Those in food industries seem especially attuned to their ads’ optical appeal, and for good reason: Studies have found that visual stimuli such as color, evenness, and shape “exert cognitive top-down influences that can and sometimes do alter assessments of taste and flavor.” In other words, there is truth to the old adage: ‘We eat with our eyes.’

So, why would Burger King flame-broil conventional wisdom by plating a burger that could make the Geico racoons retch?

The main reason stems from the spot’s tagline, “The beauty of no artificial preservatives.” The company wants consumers to realize that it has made a clean-break from past practice and it no longer uses nonorganic life-extenders, at least not in “most European countries and select markets in the United States.” Furthermore, according to Christopher Finazzo, Burger King’s Americas President:

“The Burger King® brand is currently rolling out the Whopper® sandwich with no preservatives, colors, or flavors from artificial sources in the U.S. The product is already available in more than 400 restaurants in the country and will reach all restaurants throughout the year.”

Unfortunately, in terms of touting “real food,” Burger is painfully late to the game. Chipotle, Panera, and a crowd of fast-casual restaurants have been making that claim for a few decades. Even many processed food manufacturers, like General Mills, have kept better pace with consumer desires for healthier food. The company has already removed artificial ingredients from most of its cereals.

So, maybe Burger King needed to do something shocking to grab the attention of a populace likely to overlook or be unimpressed by what is an increasingly common change. The promotion certainly has gained the company free media exposure and gotten marketers like me talking about it.

A similar tact also must have worked, at least somewhat, when the firm unearthed its Halloween-inspired “Nightmare King” in the fall of 2018. Although it never seemed that the green-bun burger was a big seller, it did grab headlines and likely helped keep the restaurant top-of-mind among those who frequent fast food.

It’s also possible that the Moldy Whopper promo resonates with Gen Zs and Millennials, who are used to unconventional advertising and who demand transparency from the brands they buy. These age cohorts might uniquely appreciate the combination of candor and irreverence.

Still, the avant-garde ad campaign takes an extraordinary and nearly unprecedented risk by essentially forgoing the Maslow-level-one appeal of appetizing food. Maybe having “no artificial preservatives” hits a higher tier of the hierarchy, such as safety or self-esteem, but according to the theory, people’s desires will never ascend to those upper levels if their hunger is unsatisfied.

Burger King apparently is banking on viewers remembering the pristine burger that appears at the beginning of the ad for a few seconds, rather than the progressively repulsive Whopper that fills the other forty-five seconds. “Negativity bias,” however, upends that hope: Our brains are “simply built with a greater sensitivity to unpleasant news.” Said another way, there are some things we simply can’t ‘unsee’ and a mold-covered Whopper is probably one of them.

Although few organizations are so daring as to cast their products in a negative light, many do fall into the same general AIDA-defying trap: In an all-out effort to grab attention and retain interest, they sacrifice desire and action. As evidence, recall all the commercials you can from the last Super Bowl, then try to remember the companies responsible for each of them.

Like many other restaurants, Burger King is in an existential battle with all kinds of new competitors, especially those in the fast-casual space. It’s great that the fast food icon has taken steps to make some of its menu items more user-friendly, but those health benefits will never accrue to people who are put off by what they see in the company’s stomach-turning promotion. The new burger may be better for you, but etching the image of a moldy Whopper onto people's minds must be “Simple-Minded Marketing.”

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Should the FCC Have Thrown a Flag?

2/7/2020

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by David Hagenbuch, founder of Mindful Marketing & author of Honorable Influence

The latest Super Bowl was another big game mired in controversy. This time the debate wasn’t whether a fourth-quarter play was a penalty, but whether the halftime show was pornography. Should the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) have thrown a flag for ‘illegal use of the hips’ or ‘unnecessary raunchiness’? As armchair apologists argue, mindful marketers aim to analyze the action from each angle, hoping to make ‘the right call.’

Rocking hips, pulsing pelvises, and legs wrapped around a stripper pole sound like a scene from a gentleman’s club, but they were just part of the Super Bowl LIV halftime show featuring superstar entertainers Shakira and Jennifer Lopez.

Whether one enjoyed the performances or not, most agree that the show was a production spectacle, complete with elaborate scenery, extravagant costumes, moving stages, dozens of talented dancers, and amazing fireworks. The production level was fitting for the biggest television viewing event of the year, which this time drew an astounding 102.1 million U.S. viewers, making it the “11th most-watched TV show ever.”

With so many people watching the same thing, it’s not surprising that the show spawned differences of opinion. Some, like former Florida governor and U.S. presidential candidate Jeb Bush loved it; he tweeted, “Best Super Bowl halftime show ever.”

Many ordinary citizens have also sung its praises, including 2.3 million people who liked the YouTube video. Some of those fans have said:

“One of the most amazing shows ever.”—Lucy B.
“Loved both”--manel manel
“whos watched this more than 10 times? i know i aint the only guy”—Maxwel Rajcic
“I love JLo but i can't get over that Shakira performance. Damn.”—Annitah Lesley
“One of the best Super Bowl halftime show ever”—grace khuvung

However, a smaller but still substantial number (134K YouTube viewers) didn’t think the show was ‘so hot’; actually, they thought it was too hot. Some tweeted:

“I saw way more of J-Lo than I ever wanted to. There was a moment there that actually made me blink my eyes. Everybody in the room was blinking their eyes.”— @TheAnnoyedMan
“When your crotch shot reveals your panty liner than you’ve definitely crossed a line”—@meredithdicken1
“I’d settle for a halftime that is somewhere between Karen Carpenter and a pelvic exam.”—@Bookwormdearlor
“My 13 year girl old said ‘man, that was TRASHY.’”—@FilthyMcN
“My 9 year old asked, ‘Is this what sexy is?’”—@kdonohuenj
“It was inappropriate for the venue. They can't sell it as a family entertainment and then present something that millions of people had to quickly turn off AFTER their little people got an eyeful of soft porn.”—@Plainsspeak

Maybe detractors are being over-sensitive or narrow-minded, not giving enough consideration to factors such as:

The empowerment of women: The halftime show showcased two women’s exceptional voices and dance skills, physical strength and stamina, as well as their abilities to command one of the world’s largest stages. Furthermore, both women are over 40 years of age.
The celebration of Latin culture: The show served up large portions of energy and excitement, along with vibrant sounds and colors, for which Latin culture is known.

Those are valid arguments that we may not fully appreciate, depending on our own demographics. On the other hand, one may wonder if those lauding the performance have considered issues like these:

Demographics: Unlike most TV shows, an extremely wide swath of the population watches the Super Bowl—everyone from two-year-olds to 92-year-olds. The lower end of that range should not be exposed to sexually explicit content, and many would argue that no one should see it without warning at 8:00 pm, on broadcast television.
Legality: The halftime show may have violated the FCC’s mandate that “Indecent and profane content are prohibited on broadcast TV and radio between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m., when there is a reasonable risk that children may be in the audience.” It’s hard to imagine that the agency would have allowed the same sexual content, which included very revealing apparel and highly suggestive camera shots, as part of a 30-second Super Bowl commercial; yet, the FCC permitted 14 minutes of the ‘exposure’ as a Pepsi-sponsored mini-program.
Addiction: If the halftime show represented ‘soft porn,’ as some have said, there’s a risk that the show encouraged pornography addiction for some viewers. Lest one think that’s a wild claim, check out Google search results: In the period from January 29, 2020 through February 4, 2020, at the exact time of the Super Bowl halftime show, there were extreme peaks in searches for terms such as: Hustlers (name of the film about strip clubs, staring Lopez), pole dance, stripper, and jlo hustlers dance.

Cultural relativism: Virtually every culture, past and present, has had good things to offer, but not everything in a given culture is good (e.g., segregation, subjugation of women). Latin dancing is known for its sensuality, which people may debate is good or bad, but for the situation at hand, the discussion should consider the prevailing culture and composition of Super Bowl viewers, as well as when, where, and with whom most watched the halftime show.
Empowerment or Objectification: As implied above, my maleness limits my ability to appreciate the ways in which Shakira and J Lo’s performances may have made other viewers feel empowered. However, as one who has studied oversexualization in advertising, I saw many signs of objectification of women, i.e., reducing their personhood to specific body parts (e.g., legs, bottoms) and ‘serving them up’ as objects for others’ sexual gratification. For instance, in the YouTube video of the performance, there’s a camera shot at about 2:22 focused just on Shakira’s belly and hips, i.e., no head or feet, and another at 7:06 centered squarely on Lopez’s bottom, as she bent over, back to the camera.

In an article that includes several helpful illustrations, Ronnie Richie develops a seemingly useful distinction between sexual objectification and empowerment, the bottom-line being that a person is sexually empowered, not objectified, when she/he holds power versus the person looking at them. That analysis likely works on one level, such as for superstar celebrities like Shakira and J Lo, but the reality is that oversexualized images in mass media often impact others within the same people group (e.g., women, children) with tragic consequences.

According to UNICEF, “The objectification and sexualization of girls in the media is linked to violence against women and girls worldwide.” On a personal level, former Yale University student Veronica Lira Ortiz shared her unfortunate experience as a child in a Latin culture infused with machismo: “I was twelve years old, and a man on the street [in Mexico] was already verbally harassing me. He looked at me as if I were a juicy steak instead of an innocent child. Shakira and J Lo may have held power in their Super Bowl situation, but many indirectly affected by their performances do not.

“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” but when the beholders number over 100 million, including millions of children and adults anticipating family-friendly entertainment, and when many others are indirectly affected by what’s shown, the creators and broadcasters of ‘said beauty’ should demonstrate better discretion. So, the replay of the action suggests that the FCC should have flagged Fox, Pepsi, and others associated with the Super Bowl LIV halftime show for a broadcast communication violation, as well as for “Single-Minded Marketing.”

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Should Apple Open a Backdoor?

1/25/2020

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by David Hagenbuch, founder of Mindful Marketing & author of Honorable Influence

Imagine that someone you know is coming to your home, but you’re not able to let them in, so you tell them, “I’ll leave the backdoor open.” Of course, doing so means that anyone else, with good intentions or bad, can easily enter. To help fight crime, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has again asked the world’s most iconic tech company to ‘open a backdoor’ on its smartphones. Shouldn’t Apple finally oblige?

On December 2, 2015, Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik, opened fire at a holiday party in the Inland Regional Center of San Bernardino, CA, killing fourteen people and injuring 22 others. Because both terrorists died in a shootout with police, law enforcement was left wanting to know more about what motivated the attack and whether there were accomplices. So, the investigation turned to Farook’s locked iPhone:

“Agents wanted Apple to write a new operating system that would bypass the 10-attempt limit on the security code and other security measures. With this done, agents then planned to use a computer program to churn through the 10,000 possible passcodes until they hit upon the right one.”

Apple cooperated in other ways e.g., making engineers available, providing data, and trying to unlock the phone, but it refused the request to create a “backdoor,” to its phones, citing concerns over consumer security and privacy, as well as the precedent that such a concession would create.

Eventually, the FBI was able to gain access to the inside of Farook’s phone. The Bureau didn’t say how, but reports circulated that it paid Cellebrite, an Israeli forensics company $900K to hack into the device. In the end, however, “the FBI didn’t find any information they didn’t already have.”

Fast forward to the present, and we see how history often tragically repeats itself. Almost exactly four years after the San Bernardino shootings, Mohammed Saeed Alshamran, a member of the Royal Saudi Air Force, opened fire at the Naval Air Station in Pensacola, FL, killing three U.S. sailors and wounding eight others. Once again, the terrorist died in the attack, leaving behind two locked iPhones that the FBI can’t crack. U.S. Attorney General William P. Barr has explained the need to access the phones’ contents:

“It’s very important for us to know with whom and about what the shooter was communicating before he died. This situation perfectly illustrates why it is critical that investigators be able to get access to digital evidence once they have obtained a court order based on probable cause.”

Again, Apple has refused to acquiesce and build a backdoor to its phones. Barr has claimed that the company has offered “no substantive assistance” in the investigation. However, Apple, has rejected that characterization, saying “Our responses to their many requests since the attack have been timely, thorough and are ongoing.”

So, why isn’t the intelligence and security service of one of the world’s superpowers simply able to hack into a few smartphones? The most likely answer is that the data encryption, which Apple improved significantly with the introduction of iOS 8, is that good. Other explanations for the inaction are that “the FBI simply doesn’t understand (or won’t accept) Apple’s inability to help,” which had led to “Attorney General Barr’s larger anti-encryption push.”

Notwithstanding concern for citizens’ safety, and perhaps even national security, in terms of marketing’s 4 Ps, Apple’s backdoor decision has profound impact for its “product,” i.e., the value users derive from owning very securely-encrypted iPhones and the company’s ability to continue to sell smartphones to those consumers.

No one wants his/her phone to be hacked, just ask Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, but does such personal protection outweigh a nation’s ability to fight terrorism and other crime? Clearly, the issue is complicated. Here are three related questions to consider:

Would a backdoor mean less crime? Some may accuse Apple of averting justice by not providing an easy unlock for its phones, but less iPhone security could easily lead to more unlawful behavior. Although subsequent hacking would probably more often involve nonviolent crime like bank fraud and identity theft, there’s also reason to believe that users’ physical safety could be at risk by virtue of address information, GPS locations, and smart home apps found on many people’s phones.
Would more easily-unlocked iPhones deter terrorism? Like most things in life, crime probably takes the path of least resistance. If one phone becomes easy for ‘the Feds’ to unlock, criminals will likely switch to another, and if every phone proves vulnerable, they’ll find other forms of communication. Also, if law enforcement is mainly accessing terrorists’ phones after the fact, they’ll just be more diligent in destroying them.
Can governments be trusted? Although some individuals around the world and in the U.S. would answer this question emphatically, ‘No,’ most people appear to have a fair amount of faith in their local, state, and national officials. However, trusting anyone doesn’t necessarily mean giving them access to information or other sources of power that could prove too tempting to resist using unscrupulously. The founders of this country certainly had this principle in mind as often evidenced by various directives in the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

Unfortunately, any one of us or a loved one might become the next victim of terrorism or another criminal act, possibly committed with the aid of an iPhone. However, providing easier access to the information inside our smartphones doesn’t appear to be a way of reducing that risk. In fact, such entry would likely introduce many more issues ranging from invasion of privacy to physical harm.

As the introduction of this blog post suggested and Apple affirms, “there is no such thing as a backdoor just for good guys.” If a smartphone maker creates one, it enables access to its users’ lives by anyone who can locate that entry point. By resisting pressure to comply and keeping its phones securely-encrypted, Apple engages in “Mindful Marketing.”

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Fighting Fire with Desire

1/12/2020

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by David Hagenbuch, founder of Mindful Marketing & author of Honorable Influence

Earthquakes, hurricanes, floods—natural disasters are unfortunate reminders of how powerful earth is and how weak humans are. Yet, in the wake of such tragedies it’s encouraging to see caring people help others in need. So why has one woman’s philanthropy aimed at fire relief for Australia sparked a media firestorm?

Since late July, “Australia is [still] being ravaged by the worst wildfires seen in decades.” A terrible drought and record-high temperatures are helping fuel the horrific flames. So far, the tragic toll includes 27 people dead, over 2,000 homes destroyed just in the state of New South Wales, smoke 11-times the hazard level in Sydney, more than 17.9 million acres of land burned, and millions of animals likely dead.

Thankfully there are organizations and individuals responding to the tragedy. One of those people is Kaylen Ward. An attractive 20-year model from Los Angeles, Ward tweeted a promise on January 3 to send a picture of herself to anyone who sent her proof of a donation of $10 or more to a legitimate fire relief organization such as the Australian Red Cross or Salvation Army Australia. Ward kept her promise, and within four days, her efforts helped raise an amazing $1 million!

Why has Ward’s work been so successful and controversial? It was because she wasn’t wearing anything in the photos; Ward was nude.

The people receiving the pictures, weren’t surprised—they got exactly what Ward promised and what might be expected from an “influencer and sex worker” who makes a living from nakedness, often by selling nude photos and videos of herself on OnlyFans. Recently, she’s come to call herself “The Naked Philanthropist.”

One reason people have taken issue with Ward’s promotion of wildfire relief was a perception that she must somehow be skimming money off the top for herself. However, she quickly clapped back at such allegations, tweeting that “none of the donation money to Australia has or ever will go to me. The only money I have made is money from my [Only]fans. I guarantee I am not pocketing any donation money.”

Given that people donated directly to the relief organizations and just direct messaged Ward copies of receipts, she had no access to the money. In contrast, Ward apparently incurred some direct costs from her philanthropy. After her initial tweet went viral (over 88K retweets and more than 226K likes), she said she had to hire four people to help her sort through all of the messages, verify the donations, and send out over 10,000 nude photos.

It’s likely, though, that whatever those cost were, they were more than offset by all the free media ‘exposure’ (sorry) she’s received, probably worth at least tens of thousands of dollars, not to mention the contact list of future customers she undoubtedly built from all those who direct messaged her for a free pic.

Likewise, Ward’s social media following exploded. Before her first ‘fire relief post’ she had about 176K Twitter followers. She now has over 387K.

Knowing those positive personal outcomes, some may argue that her philanthropy was intentionally self-serving. Ward takes issue with that assessment, however, saying that she had seen the impact of the recent California fires firsthand and knows “how devasting” they can be.

Also, soon after stopping her nude photos promotion, Ward started a GoFundMe campaign aimed at raising money for the New South Wales Rural Fire Service and the World Wildlife Fund. She stated: “I want to continue raising funds to save the people and animals of Australia,” because the causes are “very important to me.”

It’s hard to judge motives. There’s also not necessarily anything wrong with a person wanting both to help others and to advance his/her own career. Many forward-thinking organizations take a similar strategic approach to their philanthropy such that they do well financially while doing good socially.

But, then there’s the specific nature of Ward’s career. It’s pornography.

Many individuals and organizations believe that there are standards of decency that should be upheld, including ones involving sexual explicitness. Facebook, which owns Instagram, is one of those organizations: It disabled Ward’s Instagram account because she apparently violated the site’s prohibition of offering nude images.

Some may say, though, that the means justify the ends, i.e., given the devastation Australia has endured, ‘baring’ oneself is acceptable in order to provide relief to those in need. Such an argument usually stems from a belief in consequentialism, or that the greatest net happiness is what determines whether an action is ethical, not freestanding moral principles like decency, dignity, and decorum.

But, if one considers consequences, there’s a need to look at all the consequences likely to come from Ward sharing her nakedness. Those include consequences associated with pornography. Here are several of the negative outcomes that individuals often experience from using porn, provided by Caron Andrews:

Changes the brain: Through the release of dopamine each time, the brain requires more and more porn.
Affects behavior: Porn users often have more violent attitudes toward women and exhibit more domineering and harassing behavior toward them.
Leads to sexual dysfunction: Actual physical intimacy becomes less stimulating.
Harms one’s sense of sexuality: Porn can cause people to have deviant and even dangerous sexual tastes.
Stunts real-life relationships: Users often draw away from others and keep secrets from them.
Teaches that women are sexual objects: Women are often ‘stripped’ of dignity and presented as vehicles for men’s sexual satisfaction.
Makes people feel bad about themselves: The lack of congruity between one’s values and actions causes stress and feelings of hypocrisy.
Changes moods: People who use porn are often easily annoyed, angered, and depressed.

The preceding list isn’t comprehensive. Besides negative impacts on individual users and those close to them, some suggest that pornography carries a major economic price: $16.9 billion a year in lost productivity.

Again, it’s impossible to know Ward’s true motivation, but even if she really did mean well, her philanthropic approach was greatly misguided. The nude photos probably pleased their recipients and the corresponding donations likely helped ease Australia’s pain, but Ward discarded basic decency while fueling the flames of a terrible social problem, which makes her work “Single-Minded Marketing.”

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Burberry after its Burning Ban

12/28/2019

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by David Hagenbuch, founder of Mindful Marketing & author of Honorable Influence

Did you give or receive clothing this holiday season? You may not know that if that sweater, jacket, or hat hadn’t been purchased, it might have been burned. In an age of increased environmental consciousness and frequent corporate cutbacks how can companies tolerate such waste? It has to do with building brands.

In 2017, the upscale British fashion label Burberry destroyed over $38 million worth of its own clothing, perfume, and accessories. BBC News says that over a five-year period, the brand scrapped products worth a total of about $121 million. Fortunately, Burberry announced last year that it would stop the ‘self-destructive’ behavior; although, it hasn’t said how it will handle the excess product. Unfortunately, Burberry isn’t the only brand known for trashing its own inventory.

According to Vox, other participants in the practice include luxury labels like Louis Vuitton, Michael Kors, and Cartier. However, even basic brands such as Eddie Bauer, Nike, and H & M, have been cited for incinerating unsold merchandise.

Why would any company destroy products it spent valuable time and resources making? Motives may vary for such a seemingly inexplicable practice, , but the main reason seems to be that high-end fashion brands, especially, need to preserve perceptions of exclusivity.

Some manufacturers, e.g., makers of snack foods and soft drinks, would like as much of their products sold as widely as possible. Certain other brands, however, seek to create an air of exclusivity in one of three main ways, either by not making the products available: 1) all the time, or 2) everywhere, or 3) for everyone.

For instance, although McDonald’s Shamrock Shake is available all over at a price that most people can afford, the ice cream is only sold for a limited number of weeks each year. Notwithstanding ever-increasing ticket prices, Disney positions its theme parks as entertainment for a very wide range of people, year-round, but it maintains ‘the magic’ by limiting the number of locations to just a few around the entire world.

Upscale fashion brands like Burberry, in contrast, place no real time restrictions on purchase of their products. Likewise, although they’re not as ubiquitous as MacDonald’s restaurants, these fashion retailers tend to have a decent number of brick-and-mortar locations. Burberry has about 50 stores in the continental U.S. in addition to its easily-available online storefront.

The main difference is that Burberry and similar luxury fashion brands aim for exclusivity by positioning their lines as prestige products sold at premium prices. For instance, a search for “all bags” on Burberry’s website returns a low price of $490 for a “Grainy Leather Card Case with Detachable Strap” to a high price of $2,750 for a “Medium Quilted Monogram Lambskin TB Bag.”

Of course, price alone excludes most people, who can’t afford to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on a handbag, from buying Burberry; however, other positioning of the products also adds to their exclusive appeal: They’re not the purses we see shoppers carrying into the average supermarket.

‘Mousingover’ specific products on its website, reveals images of the kinds of people Burberry envisions owning its bags: ultra- stylish, impeccably-attired, young, affluent, runway-model types. That description probably doesn’t apply to most people reading this blog, nor does it apply to the person writing it, but Burberry doesn’t mind.

While MacDonald’s considers it a win if hundreds of millions of people eat its hamburgers, and Disney is delighted to have an even wider variety of people visit its theme parks, Burberry and other luxury labels don’t covet consumption of their products by the masses. Their brands’ allure is based largely on limiting availability to the relatively few people who can afford their products and who live the more lavish lifestyles associated with their use.

If somehow ‘average people’ began buying Burberry’s bags, the brand’s true target market would be turned off. Though its loyal customers may not articulate it, one reason they like Burberry is because very few people own the brand. Burberry banks on feelings of exclusivity, allowing its users to assert, "I own something that not everyone else has."

That brings us back to the issue of over-supply and what companies like Burberry should do when they’ve made too many handbags, hats, etc. In the past, Burberry has justified burning excess inventory, saying that it captured the energy from the burning, making the annihilation environmentally-friendly.

Unfortunately, though, “the energy that is recouped from burning clothing doesn’t come anywhere near the energy that was used to create the garment.” In addition, burning garments that contain polyester, which comprises about 60 percent of the fiber market, means the release into the air of harmful CO2, as well as chemicals often present in clothes.

Other ways firms have attempted to destroy unwanted products have included shredding and landfilling. Of course, these methods carry their own negative environmental impacts and fail to qualify as sustainable solutions.

Some may wonder why excess clothing can’t be recycled or donated. Mixed fiber cloth, from which many woven clothes are now made, makes recycling especially challenging, as do buttons and zippers, whose removal is very labor-intensive.

Others may ask “Why can’t surplus clothing simply be donated or sold at a discount?” For many companies, such product disposition ‘makes cents’ (pun intended), but not for high-end fashion labels. These brands can afford to take a hit on their enormous markups, but as mentioned above, they can’t accept dilution of their brands’ images, which occurs if their products fall into the hands of the less-than-modish masses.

So, what can fix this problem that pits environmental stewardship against brand equity? Unfortunately, there doesn’t appear to be a clear solution. In a 2018 interview with Vox, Timo Rissanen, an associate dean at Parsons School of Design and a professor of fashion design and sustainability at the school’s Tishman Environment and Design Center, provided a thorough analysis of firms’ destruction of excess product, but in the end, the best solutions he offered were for consumers to avoid impulse-buying and to instead purchase secondhand products.

Those are valid recommendations for you and me, but unfortunately they don’t really address prevention of the problem, i.e., what companies can and should do. I’m no fashion expert, and the following thoughts are admittedly undeveloped, but I’ll offer two possible ways to decrease the production of excess goods:

Implement quick response processes: Fashion lead-times are often three months or more, making it challenging to match supply and demand. Spanish retailer Zara, however, has developed ultra-responsive production processes that allow it to move from product conception to consumer within a few weeks. If more brands would ‘follow suit’ (pun again intended), it might help to close the gap between what’s made and what consumers want to buy.
Use artificial intelligence: Firms have employed data-based demand forecasting for decades, but even more accurate prediction is now possible through artificial intelligence in which machines learn from past experience and use algorithms to very accurately estimate future consumption. Such technology holds great promise for synchronizing supply and demand.

Burberry’s decision of over a year ago to stop burning its unsold clothes was certainly laudable and might be considered Mindful Marketing if the company were to implement some of the strategies mentioned above or take other consequential action. However, in the absence of a clearly conceived and communicated plan for managing excess inventory, Burberry’s announcement now seems like “Simple-Minded Marketing.”