Out of the Box

Iowa and Follow the Leader

By Menachem Lubinsky on January 11 2008

The Iowa caucuses are over and the 2008 US presidential race, which has been underway for some time, is beginning to count. Marketing experts are already pouring over the strategies of each of the candidates to learn whatever they can for future campaigns. How did Barack Obama connect with the voters and what went wrong for Hilary Clinton? What was it that put Mike Huckabee over the top? The strategists of the candidates will, of course, seek to perfect their winning messages and correct the perceived flaws.

Rather than focus on the marketing nuances that helped or hurt the various candidates, let’s take a look at the big picture that Iowa represents for the world of marketing. Being perceived as a leader is a formidable objective for any marketer, which is why winning in Iowa, a small state with relatively few delegates, was so important to the candidates. As a winner, the candidate is able to instantly lay claim to the notion that they can be elected. That translates to money, endorsements, the machines of various organizations and increased media attention. Recent history shows that winning in Iowa can lead to winning the nomination: in 2004, 2000 and 1996, the winners from each party went on to compete on Election Day.

A leader instantly raises expectations which is why a defeat in New Hampshire, the very next state to select the party candidates for president, can cancel out the gains of Iowa and even open the door to a third candidate. The best case positioning is to be viewed as a winner and to preserve an image of a leader.

How that concept works in the world of business and commerce can be best illustrated with the recent launch of a spa in a major resort. It was a project of an investment group that was planning to establish a network of at least 5 fitness centers and spas. They had identified locations that seemed to fit the profile of a potentially strong customer base. A marketing consultant had suggested that the new spa should open “with a bang,” meaning that it should be perfect. He warned that it was important for management to “get the kinks out” before formally opening the modern multi-million dollar spa.

But management was over-anxious to open and to begin recouping some of their heavy investment. The spa opened with major problems. While an introductory membership was nominally successful, users were less than enthusiastic. Some of the interior construction was yet to be finished, there were temperature control failures, and showers that did not work. The two local papers that covered the opening of the spa even included photos of some of the problems at the spa.

In time, management corrected all of the problems and plans were set in motion for the second location. But unlike the first spa, the advanced registration severely lagged behind the first site. Instead of being perceived as a leader, the early problems of the charter spa continued to haunt this business venture. Word had spread of the problems that plagued the spa despite the fact that it had long been corrected. The marketing consultant was correct in that the project should not have opened until it had ironed out all the problems and was ready to unveil a model of perfection.

I have heard marketers say that one should not wait until the product is perfected. Waiting for such a moment may entail enduring long delays and losing ground to competitors or risking that the timing would no longer be right for the launch of a product. In other words, they are suggesting that so long as the ultimate goal is perfection, it can be fixed as time goes on and that eventually the branding and the marketing will do the trick.

In the case of Iowa, it would seem to say to Hilary Clinton and John Edwards: “you’re in the race, true that you may have had a disappointing finish in Iowa, but learn from your mistakes and move on towards the ultimate prize: winning the nomination.” The same would go for the spa people who may have had less than a perfect launch. Their game plan would be to constantly upgrade their facility, introduce new and creative programs and provide the best service.

You may have detected that I am from the school that believes in perfection first with one major caveat. If reaching perfection is elusive and the product is sufficiently competitive in areas such as pricing and packaging, I would support a launch without waiting until the product is 100% perfect which may never happen.

Back to Iowa. The political handlers, many of whom are marketing people, will no doubt analyze exit polls and seek to “fix” the deficiencies in their candidate’s presentation to the voters. Each state’s caucuses or primaries will give them the feedback they need to change the presentation, which usually means the message. They will be trying to figure out the road map to making their candidate the leader.

Iowa then is much like any product or institution. Marketers should constantly look for the feedback to improve or upgrade their product until it reaches the ultimate goal of being a leader.

Out of the Box is a collection of strategic marketing articles that Lubicom has published on various topics, trends and ideas in the marketing world. The articles have been published in the Hamodia weekly newspaper circulated on three continents to a readership of well over 100,000.

The name, "Out of the Box" is a term used frequently in business nowadays to describe creative thinking that is not the norm. It is meant to help a business pull away from the pack or separate oneself from the competition. It is to some extent fraught with risk, simply because it is not the run of the mill thinking, but it is at the same time the key to reaching the next opportunity.