124: Get your recommendations adopted, MS MONOPOLY, new research on B2B branding + thought leadership, and making ads work harder
Good morning.
In this edition of The World's Best Newsletter:
1. New research on B2B thought leadership
2. How to get your recommendations adopted
3. Ms. Monopoly ms-understood?
4. Am reading - Trailblazer
5. Brand-building and B2B
6. Quote of the week: Make ads work so much harder
1. New research on B2B thought leadership
Out from Edelman and LinkedIn. One of my favorite annual studies.
"...companies with the best ability to produce timely, thought-provoking thought leadership content are much more adept than their competitors at capturing their customers’ attention and turning that attention into positive results.
88 percent of decision-makers surveyed believe that thought leadership is effective in enhancing their perceptions of an organization—yet only 17 percent of them rate the quality of most of the thought leadership they read as very good or excellent."
Read the findings here.
2. How to get your recommendations adopted
h/t Tamsen Webster
Great article by Nancy Duarte about "the most effective ways for people to present their ideas and get the responses they need to either take action or go back to the drawing board. Clarity about how to communicate and what strategies to employ gives people a better chance of getting approval for their recommendations."
To sell a manager, provide lots of detail.
To get a decision from an executive, provide a clear recommendation.
To get your peers on board, speak your geek.
To spread enthusiasm to a wider group, add emotional arguments.
3. Ms. Monopoly ms-understood?
The intrepid Meg Murphy tagged me in a LinkedIn thread that's growing quickly.
The skinny:
Hasbro released a new game "MS. MONOPOLY" where female players get more $$ at the beginning of the game and each time they pass "Go."
CNN: "Instead of buying property, players will invest in inventions created by women -- things like Wi-Fi and chocolate chip cookies."
It feels like an Onion article, TBH.
I believe it's a well-intentioned move from Hasbro to "empower young women" but as Meg stated, "not a real investment in furthering the conversation."
My reaction: The equality convo is typically halted due to the misunderstanding that feminism is asking for handouts. Feminism is not asking for handouts, it is demanding empathy.
The real "game" of being underestimated/underrepresented in business is misunderstood by those in privilege because they cannot relate.
So, for a game like this to simply add more money from the outset? I can't help but think it will only fuel the trolls who say women want special treatment "just for being a woman." We don't, we want an equal shot.
I agree with Jennifer Borda, an associate professor at UNH quoted in the post who feels the game should "..have male players face the penalties women face in the workplace." It would certainly create some empathy. Have players experience the hurdles that women/minorities face in the workplace. That would foster a dialogue about how to address the real issues.
Like, some suggestions (Hasbro these are free, you're welcome):
"Do not pass 'go' your natural hair was considered a career liability. Until you have it chemically straightened, you won't be perceived as professional."
"Stop and pay $500, you've had to invest in 30% more than male counterparts on your makeup/wardrobe."
"Go back 5 steps, you were not hired for that AE role because the partners feared you'd get pregnant soon."
We cannot fix problems we don't see and understand clearly.
4. Am reading - Trailblazer
Benioff has a new book, Trailblazer: The Power of Business as the Greatest Platform for Change. I'm reading it now. One highlight:
“Just as CEOs can’t look away when social issues clash with their values, employees can’t pretend that whatever its leadership decides to do is above their pay grade. If leadership won’t act...employees at every level need to hold them accountable.
I'm thinking of the Wayfair Walkout, Amazon employee protests around facial recognition software to ICE, Google employees' protest of harassment allegations and their Pentagon contract for drone warfare. I'm curious to see if he addresses the protests at SFDC within Service Cloud where 650 Salesforce employees signed a letter questioning doing business with the US Customs and Border Protection Agency.
Are you reading it? Virtual book club!?
5. More (of the same but important) research about brand-building and B2B
I feel like I've read this study 100 times from various groups and each time the findings roughly end up the same, but each time I will share it because it's that important.
Via The Drum "...only 4% of B2B marketing teams measure impact beyond six months."
New research from B2B Institute and LinkedIn says this short-sightedness is damaging the growth potential of B2B brands.
"B2B marketers are incredibly sceptical about the value of brand building and many have a misconstrued view of the effect brand building has on the business.... only 50% believe reach is a strong predictor of success."
Four arguments why B2B marketers should spend more on brand building:
The share of voice rule - 10% extra share of voice will lead to a rise in market share of 0.7% per year.
Brand campaigns also help reassure existing customers they have made the right choice.
Branding makes decision-making easier
Emotion works "emotion based, fame building campaigns outperform rational ones by a margin of 10x. Even the tightest CFO can’t say no to that."
Read the full article summary, and the original research here.
6. Quote of the week: Make ads work so much harder
"If you're going to advertise to me, show me how we can make a difference and make advertising work so much harder." - Nicole Vollebregt, SVP Global Purpose at adidas who judged the recent D&AD Impact Awards
h/t Amy Small on LinkedIn
You betta work. And have a great weekend.
And thank you as always for reading.
Katie
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