Conducting a Planning Postmortem

In this issue.

• ON STRATEGY: CONDUCTING A PLANNING POSTMORTEM
• STICK TO THE PLAN
• THE iPOD: BRANDING TUNES
• IS YOUR CAMPUS INTELLIGENT?
• MARKETING MBA PROGRAMS

ON STRATEGY: CONDUCTING A PLANNING POSTMORTEM

After your plan has been finalized, and implementation has begun, it is time to hold a planning postmortem. The purpose of the postmortem is to help you evaluate the planning process you just completed so your next planning cycle will be more effective and efficient.

To gather as much insight and information as possible, the postmortem must involve the key stakeholders who played a significant role in the planning process.

Begin at the top

After the plan has been underway for a period of time, ask the president how she or he feels about the planning process and the resulting plan. Was the president clear about and comfortable with her or his role? Did the overall process live up to the president's expectations? What would he or she like done differently the next time around? Ask good questions. Listen closely. And probe.

As part of the postmortem, it is also a good idea to spend time with the marketing team. Take the team out to lunch and query them about the planning process. What did they like and not like? What would they do differently? What was their favorite part of the planning process? What part surpassed their expectations? What part did they like least? Was enough time spent on each step; was too much time spent? How did the process affect their interaction with colleagues not directly involved?

Discuss each step. Focus on how the processes associated with each step could have been improved. Ask questions like these:

• Was the process empowered correctly? Did it have the support of the campus community?
• Was the decision to proceed with the planning process compelling?
• Did the marketing team understand the purpose and communicate it to internal constituencies?
• Was the right champion chosen?
• Were the right people on the team? Who should be on the next team?
• Did the group function as a true team or was it just another committee?
• Were planning relationships, terminology, and processes understood?
• Were stakeholder expectations determined a priori and well-managed?
• Was communication on-going and aggressive?
• Did the team make the correct decision to stay inside or go outside?
• Did the planning process begin with a clear sense of mission and vision?
• Was the situational analysis comprehensive enough? Too comprehensive?
• Did the process solicit enough input and provide adequate opportunity for synthesis?
• Did anyone feel left out?
• Did the team have solid data with which to work?
• Was the process for finalizing and prioritizing the situational analysis?
• Were the marketing goals clear, compelling, and achievable?
• Were the action plans well-conceived, well-timed, and well-funded?
• Was all the promised money made available? Is the budget adequate? Is it sustainable over time?
• Was the plan debugged appropriately? Were decisions made that will improve its performance and impact?
• Is/was the plan's execution on time and on target?
• Did the plan celebrate early wins?
• Are criteria, tools, and procedures in place to modify the plan as it progresses?

And don't forget to ask the team the big question:

• Did the process focus on the people?
  

STICK TO THE PLAN

The August 30 issue of Newsweek had a short article on the impact that slogans (tags) have on tourism. The article noted that "a new slogan can boost a place's image, but only if it's around long enough to stick in the minds of travelers." Says one travel expert, "you can't constantly change a brand and expect people to know what it is. Kansas went from the "Land of Ahs" to "Linger Longer" to "Simply Wonderful," and is shopping around for a new slogan. So is Denver, the "Mile High City," which has also cycled through "Above the rest," "Center for the New West," and "Gateway to the Rockies." The two most famous tourism slogans, "I love New York" and "Virginia is for lovers" are more than 25 years old.

The major point of this snippet is not tourism taglines. The major point is this: Give your strategies time to work.

THE iPOD: BRANDING TUNES
by Lynn Donham, Senior Consultant

Duke gives iPods to all freshmen
iPod, therefore I am.
—Newsweek

When I turned 50 last Saturday, my one and only desire was an iPod. Sure, my CD player kept falling off when I worked out, and it was a lot to carry when I travel. But as Purple Cow's Seth Godin would say, I had come down with a serious case of otaku.

That's the Japanese word for the severe enthusiasm. The "overwhelming desire that gets someone to drive across town to try a new ramen-noodle shop that got a great review" … or people who "read Fast Company because they have an otaku about business."

A few lessons on brand marketing came with my iPod.

It's about mindshare, not marketshare. With three million iPod owners since its creation three years ago, the iPod has mindshare and is gaining marketshare even as new competition enters the arena.

A great brand is relevant. When Steve Jobs returned to Apple in 1997, he had no plans for a music initiative. "We just had to be ready to catch the ball when it's thrown by life." Apple snagged the digital music ball, fielded a development team in February 2001, and the iPod hit home-run sales at Christmas of 2001.

A great brand knows itself and its audience. The iPod is "as Apple as anything Apple has ever done," says Jobs. It's powerful, visually stunning, sleek and cool. It delights people and inspires attachment. For its users, iPod's experience is everything. As Tom Peters writes in Re-imagine! "Experience is holistic, total, encompassing, transforming and emotional…leaves an indelible memory. An entirely different way of parsing life."

A great brand invents or re-invents an entire category. The iPod is as different from the MP3 players that preceded it as a Derby winner from a plow horse.

Brands have a personality and style and are expressed through emotional attachments. Newsweek: "Music hits people's emotions and the purchase of something that opens up one's entire music collection - up to 10,000 songs in your pocket, makes for an intense relationship." I downloaded my daughter's 546-song iTunes library and listened to her favorites at my ideal volume. The iPod is louder than most MP3 players, because Steve Jobs is partly deaf. One more reason for us Boomers to buy it.

Tom Peters writes in Re-imagine! about creating memorable experiences versus a product or service:

Educational institutions can create this experience in many ways. Last week a friend of mine was married in an elegant outdoor ceremony. A die-hard Tennessee fan, she chose "Rocky Top" for her recessional music. She stopped short of making the groomsmen wear orange cumber bunds, but orange daylilies shouted from every bouquet.

Godin believes everyone in the company IS the marketing department because they create the experience. Every product or service can be made remarkable by distinguishing it on any of the 4 Ps (product, place, price, and promotion.) And anyone in your organization can make it happen, though not always alone. Jobs says, "Most people think good design is how something looks. Actually, good design is how something works."

Lynn Donham is a senior consultant at Stamats based in Atlanta and a longtime Macintosh user. If you would like to talk more about branding or just gush about your iPod, contact Lynn at lynn.donham@stamats.com, or 404-373-9832.

IS YOUR CAMPUS INTELLIGENT?

Survey after survey tells us that today's freshmen are the most digitally savvy group of people in the history of our country. And when they come to campus they expect a highly digital environment and learning experience. The question is: Is your campus as digitally advanced as these teens expect, even demand? To find out, check out Dell's online Intelligent Classroom Assessment. Go to www.dell4hied.com/solutions_detail.php?si=163&cn=3&PHPSESSID=bf55b2e28bcf225f6073f6e84608861b

MARKETING MBA PROGRAMS

Later this fall Stamats will be presenting a Webinar on marketing MBA programs. As we finalize the content for that session, we are looking for great examples of great work. If you have some great publications, ads, Web sites, or other marketing media that you would like to share with us, please forward them on to me. Thanks. Bob (bob.sevier@stamats.com).

FREE INTEGRATED MARKETING SCORECARD AVAILABLE ON WEB

The IM Scorecard allows you to complete a quick self-evaluation of your current integrated marketing strategy. The 17 questions address the major components of an integrated marketing effort and the combined score (ranging from 0 to 100) will give you an approximate sense of how things are working.

The Scorecard is a balance of serious (it really does work) and a little bit of fun. So, take five minutes (really, only five minutes), and complete the Scorecard. When you are done, if you feel like you might need a little help, there's an option for contacting us about your integrated marketing needs.

You can access the Scorecard from the Stamats homepage www.stamats.com or you can go directly to www.stamats.com/scorecard.