Doe-Anderson

Jeff Fisher, the coach of the Tennessee Titans, and I are contemporaries. We are nearly the same age. We are both members of the all-powerful and attractive club. We even share a similar passion: Tennessee Titan football. Which is why both Jeff and I spent the past several weeks considering fate, mortality and the importance of winning a game both on the field and on the scoreboard.

If you aren’t a fan of the National Football League, then you probably are unaware that after posting the best record in the regular season of any team, the Titans lost in the second round of the playoffs to the Baltimore Ravens.

The lesson for me in my career was not that the Titans lost, but how they lost. In this game, the Titans were clearly the stronger team. They dominated time of possession. They marched up and down the field like the Florida A&M Marching 100 band. Yet, when the final whistle blew, the Ravens held the advantage on the scoreboard – 13-10. Millions of Titan fans like me were left pondering how this loss could have happened. The only person who appeared more perplexed was Jeff Fisher.

He had put together the right team. He had thoroughly prepared them for the game. He devised a brilliant game plan. And he had the home-field advantage. Virtual lock, dead no-brainer, put the trash in the can and shut the lid.

Haven’t we all been there as marketers? We did the research. We secured adequate funding. We developed a branding strategy and executed the creative flawlessly. Even more to the point, we hit all the touch points, staffed up to meet record demand and waited for the phone to begin ringing wildly. What happened next? The sound of crickets chirping.

I’ve often recounted the story of facing Sid Bass in the conference room of Tradecast Securities. Sid was a principal investor in the software/on-line brokerage firm for which I was the Chief Marketing Officer. The $15 million investment in marketing which we had undertaken had just broken to mixed results. Advertising recall was off the charts. Brokers were using a catchphrase from the commercial on the trading floors of their firms. We successfully conducted a nationwide trading demonstration courtesy of Hughes Satellite and Peterbilt trucks and a group of 20-something guys who lived in a sleep-deprived state for 120 days. It was glorious victory … in every area other than than the scoreboard.

Our expectations of 100,000 new customers diminished as quickly as a fifth of Maker’s Mark in a trendy New York City bar. So as Sid compellingly took me to the woodshed and demonstrated his prowess with a paddle, I was left to consider how my efforts so painstakingly crafted had left me so exposed. Ten years later the lessons continue to ring true.

1. MANAGE EXPECTATIONS: Our vision was grandiose. Unfortunately, so were those of E-Trade, AmeriTrade, TD Waterhouse and ten other firms offering similar services. Too many people fishing in the same pond makes for a poor trip. We knew that the obstacles were great. We simply failed to communicate realistic expectations for our program’s efforts.

2. KEEP THE GUNPOWDER DRY: Like a bad Texas hold ‘em player, we went all-in too early in the game. If funds had been held back, we may have been able to make course corrections that would have allowed us to get closer to the goal over a more protracted period of time.

3. DON’T BE IN SUCH A HURRY: Sure we were caught up in the dot.com frenzy. In truth we were never a company built to last. We were built to be sold at maximum multiples. But time is a marketer’s best friend. Competitors stumble. Market conditions change. Opportunity is always just another few feet down the road. Keep driving.

4. THE DEVIL REMAINS IN THE DETAILS:We didn’t make a colossal blunder. There was no “if we had only done this differently” moment. We simply were nicked to death by a thousand small paper cuts. As marketers, we tend to get swept up by the “big idea” when in truth 100 little ideas may have ultimately generated greater success.

5. BE TRANSPARENT: Marketing directors live in the glass fishbowl. It’s likely the only job in the company that everyone from the receptionist to the billing coordinator feels confident that they can evaluate. For me it was the software programmers from Bangladesh that were my barometers. Twenty-four hours after getting their work permits, they were experts in their judgment of our promotional efforts. I chafed.

I look at the experience differently today. I should have welcomed their input. I should have given ownership of the program to every Tom, Dick and Manmhet interested enough to comment on our activities. I should have embraced their comments and made it clear that every idea expressed was considered and factored back into the effort. I should have made them all the Chief Marketing Officers. United we stand divided we fall.

At the end of the day, Mr. Bass doubled his investment in the company within 12 months at sale to Ameritrade. I had the statistics, but Sid held the scoreboard. Not a mistake I intend to make a second time in this career.

Got thoughts? Please share them in the comments.

IMAGE: Scoreboard by dmperkins on Flickr.