A Selection of Some of My Favorite Business Books

Coming from an engineering background and MBA in marketing and finance, those 4 books were an interesting eye-opener before entering the healthcare industry. However, I do believe that even for experienced professionals in this industry, those are very fun, entertainment and insightful reads. 

Complications, by Atul Gawande
This is a well-written book by a surgeon. It lays bare a science not in its idealized form but as it actually is―uncertain, perplexing, and profoundly human. It is an essential book for people working in the health industry who don't have a medical background. It builds the understanding of the medical profession.

Hard Sell, by Jamie Reidy

Another essential book for those entering the industry. The former sales representative from Prizer gives an interesting view of the world of pharmaceutical sales.  As my professor told me though "I certainly would not use this as a reference document or refer to it in an interview." Make it a guilty pleasure.

Billion Dollar Molecule, by Barry Werth

Here is a fascinating no-holds-barred account at the drug development process and the business of science. For people working on commercial roles and dealing with bio-tech startups, Barry Werth chronicles give an interesting insight of this side of the industry.  

The Truth About the Drug Companies, by Marcia Angell

For those working for pharmaceutical companies this book gives the opportunity to "put yourself in someone else's shoes". Someone that believes that the entire industry is hopelessly corrupt:  the drug companies, the FDA, universities, physicians and all the rest. Honestly it's hard to read because the arguments are mostly flawed but the truth is, several people think like Marcia Angell, and the industry needs to be aware of how they think.

There are many Marketing books I love, but they may be specific to situations and needs. So I'd highlight two key ones that are broader in their applications

Kellogg on Marketing, edited by Dawn Iacobucci 

This is a great collection of articles on marketing written by the faculty at Kellogg.  It is a great refresher of the basic marketing concepts and while a bit old it remains very relevant.

The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing, by Al Ries and Jack Trout

This book is very basic and the examples are quite old which makes the point how the fundamentals of marketing will always remain the same. For the busy bees out there, you can read it during one flight and it will become a reference for life.

Marketing is about customer insights and fundamentally it's about understanding human behavior. I have read several books in this area, for example "How We Decide" and "How Doctors Think" but...

Predictably Irrational, by Dan Ariely

It's one of my favorite books. I actually need to find the time to read it again. It's so insightful and yet fun to read. Dan Ariely explains why people act in seemingly irrational ways, proving his point with several interesting studies.

On the leadership development side, there are so many great books, let me try to focus on only four.

Good to Great by Jim Collins 

A management classic, the book showed how great companies triumph over time and how long-term sustained performance can be engineered into the DNA of an enterprise from the very beginning. 

Authentic Leadership by Bill George

Former chairman and CEO of Medtronic, Bill George makes the case that authentic leaders of mission-driven companies will create far greater shareholder value than financially oriented companies. 

Discover Your True North by Bill George

This best-selling leadership classic enables you to become an authentic leader by discovering your True North. It's basically a practical guide on how to become the authentic leader as described by Bill George himself on the previous book.

From Values to Action: The Four Principles of Values-Based Leadership by Harry M. Kraemer

My MBA professor and former CEO, Harry M. Kraemer wrote this practical guide book based on his popular Kellogg MBA course on values-based leadership. And it serves me as a reminder and guide of what I learned back then. 

Customer Services evolving and thriving via social media: My KLM Experience

We all remember the tragic events that took place at the Brussels Airport on March 22nd, 2016. I had a flight scheduled for March 26th with departure from the same airport. It was a flight with a connection before my final destination. One day after the attacks, I had no idea if the airport would be operational in the next days. But I knew that the flights were not officially cancelled. When thinking about what happened in such a familiar place to me and so recently, there was no way that I would want to go there if not absolutely necessary.  In my case, it wasn't because I could drive to where I had a connecting flight and skip the first leg of my trip. Consequently I would avoid the Brussels airport, assuming it would be even operating. Now, of course we can't just do that without contacting the airline because the system will automatically cancel your whole ticket if you don't check in to take the first flight.

Before going any further I have a confession to make. Even though I love technology, I do not put myself under the "innovators" area of the classic technology adoption curve. For most situations, I am probably under the later part of the "Early Adopters". And even though I fully adopted Social Media in my personal and even professional life, the idea of making contact with customer services to discuss a complex ticket change seemed not feasible.

As a consequence, my first natural reaction to solve my KLM flight dilemma was to use the good old phone to call customer services. Well, that didn't go as I planned, given the critically of the situation and the high level of emotions, I had no doubt in my mind that KLM would change my ticket immediately and without any costs. To my surprise, the polite and nice lady on the other side of the line, cordially told me that she was not authorize to do that without charging me a huge re-booking fee. At that point I asked if there was any superior person that I could talk to because I couldn't believe in what I was hearing. But no, she said to call "tomorrow".

That's when I noticed that all over the e-mails and their website, KLM was advertising that we should "contact them via the new channels: Your questions answered 24/7 within 1 hour via Facebook and Twitter". Immediately after hanging up the old and archaic desk phone, I tried Facebook and the response and efficiency astonished me! Within 1 hr, they found my reservation based on my Facebook name and informed me that they could make the change with no problem. We started to chat with private messages and the problem was solved within hours and just a bit of typing.

My experience highlight many of the basic foundations that a company need to put in place when they open their social media channels as a customer service tool. Time is of essence and to get there you need the tools, capable personal and monitoring to track messages and timely answer them with a personal touch and in a meaningful way. An automatic message like "thanks for your question" would have been devastating for the brand.

But most importantly, when a customer is dissatisfied with your brand, everything depends on your response. When I went to Facebook to complain about the phone service, I was directly sending a negative feedback to KLM. While for some this is a threat, for smart companies is an open invitation to rectify your brand's image and, more important, your relationship with the customer. I felt like I was heard and my problem was taken seriously. KLM did what it had to do to keep me a happy customer, despite the difficult circumstances.  

SUPER BOWL ADVERTISING: My top 3 Commercials of 2016

Every year since I went to Kellogg, I follow the Kellogg School Super Bowl Advertising Review which uses a strategic academic framework known as ADPLAN to evaluate the effectiveness of Super Bowl spots. The acronym instructs viewers to grade ads based on Attention, Distinction, Positioning, Linkage, Amplification and Net equity. This year I also selected my 3 favorite ads and the biggest disappointment. I hereby summarize them by using the Kellogg framework.

Doritos
Doritos has almost never failed to score high on Attention, and this year was no different. I specially liked the ultrasound spot which is also Distinctive and cut through the mass with a funny yet clever story. The Positioning of the ad may not be super strong but it works: For the "bold", Doritos is so good that can be eaten anywhere. The Linkage here is super strong, from the start you see this big bag of Doritos, the brand is referred to during the entire spot and finishes with a full screen logo. The Amplification even if not super strong is decent and people will talk about it. The last point on the Kellogg framework is Net equity, and here Doritos is a long time Super Bowl advertiser and once again this campaign relates to and builds upon the net equity of the brand.

Toyota
Both Toyota ads were fantastic. I specially liked the "Heck on Wheels". As the corporate-looking guys gives a high pitch screen as a glam metal song, the viewers attention is grabbed. And it also gives a distinctive and catchy song and story line. The positioning is strong, not only there's an emotional benefit but also clear functional benefits. And there's no way to miss the linkage, the branding is very strong, within 10 seconds the Toyota brand appears twice and the Prius once while showing the car in full screen.  Amplification is quite OK, it will get people talking and many, like me, will potentially identify themselves with the story. Last but not least, the Net Equity. Prius is a brands with history and equity over the years. This ad is particularly important because it builds on their equity while evolving into a new direction for the brand.

TurboTax

This was one of the best surprises of this year. A financial services add cutting through the multitude of Ads and grabbing our attention by being funny and smartly using a celebrity, in this case Anthony Hopkins. An actor of his caliber doing a "serious" scene was enough to set this ad apart from the rest. But as we know that's not enough for an ad to be strategic and work for the business. But TurboTax didn't stop there, they also clearly position the brand and its benefits "help you file your taxes for free" and we know from the first few seconds that this is a TurboTax ad, the brand is everywhere to the point that makes fun of itself in a smart way, that's a strong linkage. Amplification may not be that strong, but it worked and finally this is a strong start for brand building.

LG
Now I want contrast my favorite ads with the weakest one that I've seen. And this is an interesting one because as a film, the LG ad is a fantastic piece of art. But as a strategic brand ad to support a marketing campaign, not so much. What does the story has to do with TVs? Yes, it does grab your attention and it is distinctive but the linkage to the brand is also weak. The ad is 1:00 long and we don't know what it is about until 40 sec and we actually never see the LG logo, but only the TV name during the last 2 seconds. And what about the positioning? I have no idea what's the benefit of this new TV? why should I buy it or be interested? Not so strong on the amplification and net equity either. Overall, a missed opportunity for LG.

For more info on The Kellogg School Super Bowl Ad Review and the ADPLAN framework:
http://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/news-events/superbowl/about/adplan-framework.aspx

Star Wars Product Launch Success

As reported by the NYT1, the Walt Disney Company’s “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” earned roughly $517 million in worldwide ticket sales during its first weekend. This number is just the first record for a movie that promises to smash multiple box office records.

At a time in which most media companies are struggling to impress investors, Star Wars comes at the right time for Disney. The conglomerate is itself struggling in several sectors, most notably the ESPN business that continues its decline.

Given those considerations, “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” demonstrates that great marketing can overcome very difficult market conditions. The movie business is suffering for some time now and ticket sales are soft. Piracy and competition from video games, television and other media are moving people away from the big screens.

First of all, Disney is building on the incredibly strong Star Wars brand. And we will see that this is a Hollywood trend for the next 10 years. Marvel, DC Comics, Jurassic Park and other strong brands will continue to launch sequels/prequels and spin-offs.

Secondly, Disney addressed beautifully the most basic principles of marketing, the 4P and STP (segmentation, targeting and positioning).

Product: The movie itself is very good. It has a good story and reviews across the globe have been mostly highly positive. And that's not by chance, there was a high investment on this movie which cost an estimated $350 million to make and market. It also tapped into a very experienced director, J. J. Abrams (Star Trek, Mission Impossible, Lost).

Price: Disney said that 47 percent of the gross receipts for “The Force Awakens” came from 3-D movies in which tickets sell for a premium. In areas around where I live is actually very difficult to find a time-slot that is not 3-D.

Place (Distribution): The movie has flooded every movie complex across the globe. More importantly, advanced ticket sales allowed the theaters to adjust their offering to the demand and where possible increased the number of rooms and time-slots to accommodate the demand.

Promotion: I don't think there's a single person within the target audience that did not know about the movie opening. And more importantly they were excited about it. The pre-launch promotion was early, intense and well executed. For example, Disney smartly used social media to turn consumer interest into a frenzy.

The importance of targeting: Females and Youngsters. Disney probably knew that it didn't have to target the old fans, traditionally males who are now grown men. But women roles in the past, especially in the original series were very limited. In order to correct that, The Force Awakens presented us with a brilliant and powerful new female main character, Rey. That is certainly helping the movie to gain ground with female audiences. We could also note many toys, Legos, even teddy bears with the new and old characters. Also BB-8 gives so much room to attract and entertain the young ones.

Given how well the marketing strategy for “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” has been planned and executed, it’s no surprise that, as reported this week, it has now sold $740.3 million in tickets at domestic theaters, according to NYT/Rentrak.

1. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/21/movies/star-wars-the-force-awakens-shatters-box-office-records.html?emc=eta1