Page 48 - Selling the Invisible: A Field Guide to Modern Marketing - PDFDrive.com

Occasionally, one plus one equals more than two.
Bill Bernbach discovered that in the late 1950s, when he brought new

imagination to advertising by bringing a new method to it.
The method was the copywriter and art director team. Before Bernbach, most

copywriters and art directors worked independently. The copywriter came up
with an idea, a headline, and some copy for an ad, and slipped his notes under
the art director’s door. The art director dressed up the idea, made a layout, and
voilà! an ad.

Bernbach believed in brainstorming, the process in which ideas ricochet
between at least two people. He believed that if individuals can produce good
ideas, teams can produce even better ones.

Then Bernbach’s teams at Doyle Dane Bernbach created the ads for Avis,
Volkswagen, and Polaroid that proved Bernbach right.

Given that groups are good at brainstorming, perhaps many services might
benefit from focus groups that brainstorm new ideas.

They might. But consider the major innovations in service marketing:
automated teller machines, negotiable certificates of deposit, storefront tax
services, legal clinics, predictive dialing systems, traveler’s checks, overnight
package delivery, automated airline reservations systems, junk bonds, frequent
flyer and other loyalty marketing programs, credit cards, money market mutual
funds, extended service contracts, home equity lines of credit, alternative dispute
resolution services, drive-in and drive-up services, home delivery, database
marketing, home shopping, and a dozen others.

Did focus groups generate any of those ideas? Could a focus group have
generated any of those ideas?

Could a focus group inspire the personal computer, personal copier, cellular
telephone, electronic digital assistant, fax machine—or anything like them?

And while we are on this subject, consider three recent innovations: skinless
Kentucky Fried Chicken, McLean (lower-calorie McDonald’s hamburgers), and
low-fat Pizza Hut pizzas. Focus groups loved these ideas. Real people,
unfortunately, did not, and KFC, McDonald’s, and Pizza Hut abandoned all three
products.

So maybe focus groups can brainstorm for you. But you should never bet on
it.

Beware of focus groups; they focus only on today. And planning is about
tomorrow.

The Fallacy of Memory