1. Team Exercises !
in Preparation for
Creative Tactical
Development!
Timothy Roe For King Pharmaceuticals!
August 2009!
2. TACDEVEX !
! TACtical
DEVelopmental
EXercises are not new
concepts!
! There are countless
exercises to prepare a
team for positive,
creative and enjoyable
tactical planning. !
2!
3. Before We Begin…!
! The strategic Strategic Optimization Model PEQ322 Input Customer Data Here
plan must be !
! Optimized!
! From the customer s
perspective!
! Non-issues based!
! Allow for tactical curve-
fitting!
! Fully-developed and
approved!
3!
4. Optimization!
! An optimized strategic plan is...!
! Simply a roadmap. It tells us where we R today and where we need 2B in the minds
of our customers in order to meet internal objectives. It is always an external view, never
internally focused. !
! Based on customer (both Rx er and end-user) perceptions at time points R and 2B !
! Customer perceptions should be measured across several meaningful attributes relative to
product profile, customer expectations, and competitive profiles – it is that easy!!
! Perceptions are 80% reality (Peter Drucker - modified Pareto s Principle)!
! Remember the marketing adage form product launches You are not actually launched
unless your customers can recognize and tell you that you are !
! Never issues-based! An issues-based plan is never optimized. In an optimized plan,
issues are nothing more than a bump in the road. Planning for issues that may or may
never occur waste planning time and resources. If an issue is large-enough to be included
in the plan, then it is not an issue, rather a critical success factor to overcome!
! Simple to understand and communicate !
4!
5. Sample Perceptual Maps!
Along 2 Attributes: Satisfaction and Loyalty! Along 5 Geographic Attributes!
5!
6. One Last Word On Strategy Development "!
! Most organizations, independent of industry, spend
very little resources on strategy development !
! Brand Engineers estimates that less than 1% of budget dollars go toward strategy
and positioning. The irony in this is that these are the marketing aspects that
ultimately drive the vast majority of your spend. Even if you allocated 2% or 3% to
ensuring appropriate strategic and positioning insight, would that still be enough? !
! Ill-Strategic planning leads to poorly optimized tactical
plans and can actually do more harm over the log-term!
! Example: Quiznos Creatures Campaign!
Fourth Worst Tactical Idea Ever*: The Quiznos creatures Superimposed over a
Quiznos sub shop were two disturbing, singing rat-like creatures. No one
wanted to eat in a place associated with disease-ridden rats. !
!
Fortunately, the shop got wise and ditched them after public outcry. But it s an
image that stays with you. Quiznos is still recovering.!
!
Go ahead, look them up on YouTube–but don t say you weren t warned. They
are all too reminiscent of the sort of guys who hang outside a Quiznos and ask
for your change!!
*Entrepreneur Magazine, Ten Best and Worst Campaigns Ever, January 29, 2009! 6!
7. Tactical Curve-Fitting!
! Will fast, inexpensive buses , or large,
pretty-to-look-at, slow-moving yachts to
take you where you need to go on time?!
! Not all tactical ideas are appropriate just
because !
! everyone is doing it !
! it has been done this way for years!
! it is easy!
! it is proven to work!
! This is where team creativity comes in...!
7!
9. Attitude of Team Before Exercises!
! Kitten vs. Baby Monkey Attitude*!
! Kitten in Danger or Confused - meows and waits for mother!
! Baby Monkey - runs to mother, jumps on her back and hangs
on for itself.!
! These exercises are for monkeys! !
! Control Your FUDs !
! Nothing is more harmful to positive creative attitude than
fears, uncertainties and doubt (FUDs). When you are
depressed, your thoughts are quite different from when you
are happy. When you feel rich and successful, your thoughts
are different from when you feel poor and inhibited.*!
* Michael Michalko, Thinkertoys, 10-Speed Press, 1991! 9!
10. Human Need for Consistency!
! If thoughts are inconsistent with other,
stronger ideas, then the mind will reject
them.!
! Example: Most people immediately see
only one way to cut 13 in half!
* Michael Michalko, Cracking Creativity,p2, 10-Speed Press, 1991! 10!
12. Preparation For The Exercises!
! Eliminate any tactical ideas that absolutely will not help drive brand
strategy and change or improve perceptions!
! Observe %-change in market share!
! List current marketing mix for last 12 months!
! List marketing mix of competitors for last 12 months!
! Bring data and forecasts if available!
! List tactics and costs currently on the docket!
! From current marketing mix!
! New tactics from the team and from agencies/vendor partners!
! From interviewed firms who have pitched their solutions!
! Assess possibility that a tactic can kill two birds with one stone !
! Driver in more than one channel!
! Driver across multiple products in portfolio (shared expenses) !
! Observe budgets; What is working (ROI) and what is not?!
! Think of ideas as if there were no Legal/Regulatory/Compliance
concerns!
! Assign probability of success to the idea!
! Invite L/R/C to be an integral part of the team!
! L/R/C must come with ways of making ideas work or have alternatives to rejected ideas!
! Assess risk and reward to ideas in the Grey-Zone!
12!
13. Good Old Brainstorming!
! Session is short 1 -2 hours!
! Set Specific Goals !
! either tell team the goals!
! or hide the goals form the team!
! Smaller group works best!
! Warm-up group with fun or exciting activity!
! Members should be comfortable working with each other
to avoid inhibitions!
! All ideas should be white-boarded and considered viable!
! Review and Evaluate results!
! Absolutely include 1 to 2 people from your agencies!
! they have life experiences you do not have!
! Creates cohesiveness - everyone sees where the thought process and discussion is going!
! everyone is on same page relative to budget!
13!
14. Mind-Maps!
(Often used as decision trees)!
! A mind map uses visual thinking to create an organized display of the plan, problem, or
project—a diagram that mirrors the way our brains naturally processes information. !
! A mind map works the way the human brain works, aided by a powerful graphical process.
It frees the mind to think, visualize, and understand in ways that go beyond multi-paged
linear documents. !
! Information and tasks radiate out from a central theme or goal, rather than falling below a
header, as in a list. Related items link with connecting lines. New items can be captured
randomly and then organized into the larger scheme, with new ideas flowing naturally as
the map gains detail. !
! Information can be illustrated with symbols, words, color, images, links, and attachments
to add context, helping to reveal new directions, greater clarity, and big ideas.!
14!
16. Mind-Mapping
Software is Abundant!
! It is inexpensive even for team use!
Old Hand-Drawn !
! Extremely easy to use!!
! There are online collaboration mind mapping
software and desktop, stand-alone software!
! 30 different companies slightly favoring Mac
over PC-based platforms!
! MindJet is the most robust and well-known. It
has the greatest flexibility.!
16!
17. Searle and Celebrex®!
The most successful drug launch in history! !
! Team of positive, can-do attitudes!
! Six-month lag behind Vioxx!
! Cox-2 Inhibition was new class with same NSAID-class
Labeling!
! World was watching!
! Several studies showed current drugs Meloxicam and
Naproxen were also 1000 times more cox-2 selective!
! Successful strategic and tactical
planning exercise with entire team
and agencies!
17!
20. Michael Michalko!
! There are many other fun and very interesting
exercises on the author s web site!
• http://www.creativethinking.net/
WP04_Exercises.htm!
For
Example:
Share
at
this
for
20
to
30
seconds
then
close
your
eyes
and
;lt
your
head
back.
What
comes
to
focus
in
the
white
light
beyond
your
eyelids?
20!
