Embracing the ‘ Dream Business ‘ . How About Some ” Dreamketing “?

 

A dream is a complete moment in the life of a client. Important and fascinating experiences that tempt the client to commit substantial resources. The essence of the desires of the customer. The opportunity ( or should it be AWEopportunity?) to help clients become what they want to be.

 

We shape our words. And then the words shape us.

 

It’s migration time. Get into the ” Dream Business “. The ” Incredible Imaginings Business “.

 

My rant here is that most of us are still mired in the Old Economy, Old Product Thinking. But, all of us, MUST, strategically, take pages from and come to grips with the fact that the winners of tomorrow…will be masters of the dream business.

 

And the vision is to visualise, imagine totally offbeat, even insane schools, hospitals, enterprises, permutations, combinations providing..so so so far from just products and services..” impossible-turned-possible-dreams ‘.

 

The stakes are high. We talked about words shaping us. Here’s the next vocabulary s..t..r..e..t..c..h: dreams.

 

Consider this very inspiring statement made by former Ferrari North America CEO Gian Luigi Longinotti-Buitoni. Dreams are his shtickDream products. Dream fulfillment. Dream marketing. Dream provision.

 

” A dream is a complete moment in the life of a client. Important and fascinating experiences that tempt the client to commit substantial resources. The essence of the desires of the customer. The opportunity to help clients become what they want to be “.

 

Look at the marvellous use of words that shape dreams- ‘ complete moment’ , ‘ tempt ‘, ‘ desires ‘, ‘ essence ‘, ‘ commit ‘ and the beautiful summarising,  ” The opportunity to help clients become what they want to be “.

 

He continues to articulate the difference between ‘ common products‘ and ‘ dream products ‘:

 

Maxwell House versus Starbucks

New Jersey versus California

Hyundai versus Ferrari

Suzuki versus Harley-Davidson

Carter versus Kennedy

Connors versus Pele

CNN versus WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE 

 

Nothing necessarily wrong with the first part of each of those pairs. Each offers a solid workaday response to some need or another. But the second part…the part that comes after versus..” stuff ” that all carries a dreamlike power that goes far far beyond the realm of mere ‘ need fulfillment‘.

 

Longinotti-Buitoni preaches the marketing of dreams. An idea that he compressed into a word, all of his own making called ‘ Dreamketing‘:-

 

Dreamketing: Touching the client’s dreams

Dreamketing: The art of telling stories and entertaining

Dreamketing: Promoting the dream, not the product

Dreamketing: Building the brand around the Main Dream

Dreamketing: Building ‘ buzz ‘, ‘ hype ‘ ‘ a cult ‘

 

And for all the stakeholder apprehension about getting into the dream wagon, the financial returns on dream products are miles and miles beyond those compared to common goods.

 

So, let’s raise the bar. Way, way, way up. Say experience. Say DREAMS. Please!

 

Dramatically ( or Dreamatically). Alter. Perspective.

 

ENDS

 

 

 

 

 

 

A case for brands and business to be more ‘visible’?

Visible not in the conventional sense of the term. Visible here means the value that can be derived by keeping your processes and efforts(emotional labour included) being made clear and visible to your customer universe. Seeing is believing the saying goes.

Imagine you are at your favourite restaurant. And ordered their to die for stake. 30 minutes (with nothing at stake and meaningless multiple up and down scrolling on the smartphone later), you see the restaurant attendant bring your order swinging in through the kitchen doors and sashaying to your table and placing it on your table. Voila! You are a sizzling hot stakeholder now.

Now, lets visit the same situation wherein once you have placed your order for your favourite stake, you get to see what is happening in the kitchen and the team of chefs and kitchen staff doing what they need to get your stake ready. You see the intensity, the passion, the precision, the effort and the collaborative energy that is being invested to get your order to the table. You recognise the emotional labour that has gone into the making and delivering of your order.

So what is the prognosis from the above two scenarios. In situation one, you the customer has no idea of what is happening behind the scenes. Your order comes in and there is almost a sense of deja vu- ” I expected this “. You are not according any additional value to the experience. On the contrary, the opaqueness of the experience, takes away the true potential value proposition.

What happens in situation two? As you see what is happening behind the scenes, the labour , the effort, the commitment that is going into your order being processed, subliminally you begin to value the experience far better. Respect for the brand grows. Not just that. In the context of the team that put the order together, they begin to take greater pride in what they are doing as their effort is being showcased to the end user and the chain reaction of getting better continues.

When CEO Teruo Yabe came aboard Tessei( the Facilities Management company that cleans Japan’s Bullet Trains), the perception of the company was at an all time low. The work was considered 3D: dirty, difficult, dangerous. Yabe wanted to change this into the 3K : it stands for “kansha,” “kangeki” and “kando” (gratitude, drama and strong impressions). How did he do it? Read on..

Firstly, he changed the colours of the workers uniforms from a pale blue to flaming red. Attract attention, yes! On any day, in Tokyo Central Station, a work unit clad in the red uniforms of Tessei Co line up with military precision. A bullet train on the Tohoku shinkansen pulls in, and the workers, at the given signal, step aboard and hastily go about their work. They have a total of 12 minutes(gap between train pulling in and departing) of which 5 minutes must be set aside for passengers disembarking. So, effectively time available to them is just 7 minutes to complete their tasks.

Normally (to quote the  Shukan Post), two to three workers are assigned to a first-class car, as opposed to one to clean up a regular car. In addition to checking for items left behind on the overhead racks and seats, they must flip the 100 seat backs in each car to make them face the front of the train, and while doing this, they scan the aisles and floor for any refuse, a task generally performed in roughly one minute, 30 seconds.

They then proceed to wipe off the table tops in front of each seat and adjust the window blinds. If any of the white covers on seat backs appear begrimed, these are exchanged for clean ones.

At the two-minute warning, they turn their attention to emptying the waste receptacles between cars. They also team up with other staff, whose task is to tend to the lavatories and washrooms. After a final check of all assigned jobs on their list, they assemble outside on the platform and bow in unison toward the passengers awaiting boarding.

1000 seat train, 22 team members, 7 minutes turnaround. Visible : Very. The CNN Crew called it the ‘ 7 Minute Miracle ‘. Their efforts have even inspired a bestselling book, “Shinkansen osoji no tenshi-tachi” (Shinkansen’s cleanup angels) by Isao Endo (published by Asa Shuppan).

Now, lets move onto another brand that hopped onto the visibility bandwagaon. Domino’s Pizza. About 10 or so years ago, Domino’s decided that they will throw open to their customers an interface(Dominos Tracker) wherein they are able to track what is happening to their order right from order received, dough prepared, toppings gathered, gone inside the oven, packed and on the way to delivered. The image quotient for the brand skyrocketed. Not surprising that this has become case studies in many business schools.

As I write this, I am tempted to share what we should have done when at ISD Global(the Dubai based branding agency where I work) delivered the ExceLENS Awards for Photography( sponsored by Toshiba) a couple of weeks ago. Over 10 weeks, a talented, passionate, committed ISD Global team of more than 10 members(apart from a number of equally committed external partners) clocked really long hours to make the event a resounding success. Am trying to make a case for visibility which helps improve and transform experiences, outcomes and business objectives for all stakeholders.

Till the next, VISIBLY Yours!

ENDS

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