#categorycreation

What does it mean to be a strategist? A common definition: A strategist is a person with responsibility for the formulation and implementation of a strategy. Strategy generally involves setting goals, determining actions to achieve the goals, and mobilizing resources to execute the actions. Not a bad definition. There are numerous proven models that strategist use in business today. Chron.com states its definition of a "strategy model" as one that exists within the term itself. Basically, a strategy model constitutes a strategic plan, or model, designed to improve a process. Organizations use strategy models to improve operations and meet their goals. Blue Ocean Strategy works outside the primary focus of other strategic models. That focus being the known industry boundaries where competitive rules are understood and accepted. Blue ocean are defined as untapped market space. Typically, the blue ocean is an expansion of existing red ocean competitive, you know where all the bloody competition takes place. There are tremendously strong strategists in the market that never once refer to Blue Ocean Strategy tools or frameworks. That's all good. There is room for everyone. Blue oceans are about abundance and new markets. We don't believe in zero-sum games. One of the reasons I planted my flag in Blue Ocean Strategy as my "deliverable" is the processes and frameworks that make, asking the right questions, corporate implementation, and employee engagement so much more measurable. My mindset and philosophy is not built to be a natural skeptic or doubter. I don't instinctively ask the right questions that always lead to discovery. Discovery of solutions to problems or even the problems themselves. I'm guilty of assuming I'm right about most things without sufficient evidence. I'm betting I'm right in assuming I'm not the only one with that problem. Blue ocean strategy and the tools it provides give me the strategic thinking rail and questioning process to run on. Let's highlight the qualities of a Blue Ocean Strategist. These qualities I can now attest are for the most part my qualities as well. I. Blue ocean strategist do not take industry conditions as given. They set out to reshape those conditions in the favor of their companies or clients. II. Blue ocean strategist do not seek to beat the competition. They instead, aim to make competition irrelevant. III. Blue ocean strategist focus on creating and capturing new demand, not fighting over existing customers. IV. Blue ocean strategist simultaneously pursue differentiation and low cost. They seek a complete break from the traditional value-cost trade-off. They have an expansive field of vision. As you can see, these qualities are found in some of the most successful leaders in all industries. Today's market conditions are forcing the hand of traditionally minded business thinkers. There is little room for sacred cows and words like, that's how we've always done it. In my view, having a strategic rail to run on will enhance a company's chance of thriving in a post-coved-19 world. Someone recently asked, what are your attitude about the next 6 months? What are your plans? My answer was this, hope for the best, plan for the worst. How might you plan for the worst? Ask the right questions. Use the right tools. If you have questions about how Blue Ocean Strategy thinking, mindset, and implementations, feel free to set up a call. No obligation and we'll chat for an hour or so about anything related to your business that you wish. If blue ocean applies in some way, I'll let you know and steer you in the right direction. Set up that appointment here. 

It's time to disrupt and innovate the promotion and marketing model of spirits, wine, and beer. Sampling and tasting methods of marketing are broken and hundreds of millions of dollars have been wasted on what brands perceive to be tried and true models. In Blue Ocean Strategy parlance, there is a need for a new value proposition. One of the ways a new value proposition is developed is via the ERRC Grid in Blue Ocean Strategy. One goes through and exercise, generally with use of the As-Is Strategy Canvas to determine the current strategic key factors of competition. This helps define the current state of play.  It provides data and insight leading to the hard decisions around what may be eliminated, reduced, raised, and created. Hence, ERRC. The culmination of the ERRC exercise is a new value proposition. Ideally, one that creates blue oceans of uncontested market space. In the image below, one can see the power of the process. In the Four Actions Framework, the practitioner is lead to ask key questions around what should be eliminated, raised, reduced, and created.

I contend it is well past time for these processes to be used to address the broken spirits, wine, and beer sampling and activation models. This has never been more the case then now. Billions of dollars in marketing money are at play with the recovery of the global economy completely undetermined. The ways brands previously built their business, sales, and brand equity was through on-premise promotion. Sampling and tasting as a marketing method are okay in and of themselves. They just aren't good enough anymore. The competition is too strong and the market for spirits, wine, and beer are under more competition than ever. Moreover, the Covid-19 crisis and its lockdowns have changed the way street teams, promo girls, and samplings at venues will be done in the future. New thinking is required. My take on what should be don't in the marketing of samplings, tastings, and activations are made clear in the image below.

Elimination should include street teams, point of sale merch and other schemes sold by agencies are useless spends. If the giveaways are not attached to measurable digital metrics the dollars may as well be burned at the distillery. Reduction of out-of-home advertising, in-store tastings without real strategic planning, and poorly targeted advertising should be a priority. Raising of priorities around highly targeted advertising and converting all samplings and tastings into actionable micro-moments with associated measurements. If you're not advertising as a bourbon brand to the individuals that have visited the bourbon aisle of your retailers two to three times in the last six months, you're dropping the ball. Finally, the creation of true brand ambassador success metrics that have to do with integrated depletion goals as well as truly individualized post-sampling or post-tasting marketing after every event. This all has to be tied to retail. My colleagues and I have this figured out. I'm certainly not sharing the solution in this post. There are Blue Ocean strategies at the ready that would work for your brand. I have little doubt. In the spirits, wine, beer business, your brand is fortunately still viable. If you're a small craft distillery, there are ways for you to grow sales based on a per-performance basis. If you'd like to discuss Blue Ocean tools during a free one hour visit, book it here.