Brighter Than Sunshine

Tuesday, 21 June 2011 - Bermuda

Sunshine Bermuda

Presentation Summary

Presenting to AAC Saatchi & Saatchi in Bermuda, Kevin Roberts shares three key ideas on connecting people around ideas that create Loyalty Beyond Reason.


Congratulations to AAC Saatchi & Saatchi for 50 fizzing years of changing the conversation and making the connection.

Revolutions start with language… and the next revolution is upon us. It’s about how we respond to massive turbulence.

From Asia-Pacific tremors to Arab uprisings to America’s $14.3 trillion overdraft, we live in a VUCA world, which Bermuda feels more than ever.

Life happens in 100 day waves. How should we respond? By surfing not controlling; going with it rather than fighting against it. Surfers, not managers or leaders, will prevail.

The consumer knows this and she has already moved on. While we’re dealing with a world that is complex, uncertain, volatile and ambiguous, she has already reframed VUCA as Vibrant, Unreal, Crazy and Astounding.

Delivering for people is not about evolution – that takes centuries. It’s not even about revolution; that takes 30 years.

It’s about insurrection – 30 day creative tornados, 30-day movements of heart-stopping magic. Roughly half the world’s 7 billion people are under 25.

Over the last decade, the great power shift to consumers has accelerated, fueled by technology, competition and choice.

Today the power lever in the market has reversed fully, and the people decide, based on how intensely they feel, not on how production, distribution or marketing thinks.

  • Brands are owned by management, marketers and stockholders. Lovemarks are owned by the people who love them.
  • Brands are built on Respect. Lovemarks are created out of Respect and Love. If you’re financially structure on trust and respect, the next challenge is to inspire love.
    • Commodities – Low Respect, Low Love
    • Fads – High Love, Low Respect
    • Brands – High Respect, Low Love
    • Lovemarks – High Love, High Respect
  • Brands build Loyalty for a Reason. Lovemarks inspire Loyalty Beyond Reason.
  • Great Brands were Irreplaceable. Lovemarks are irresistible.

The future puts love over respect, connecting people around an idea that creates Loyalty Beyond Reason.

I’ve got three ideas to help you surf the future.

Idea 1 – Act Now

We are seeing national indexes of happiness, insurrections against control, and revolts against materialism, opening a future that is less calculating and more connecting.

In this 24 Forever world, New is dead. Speed is of the essence. The Age of Now is here. Now is the only operational framework. Always on, but more than that, living in the moment, a place that’s more exciting than the regrets of yesterday and fears of tomorrow.

70% of people’s happiness is in the Now.

ERA OF NEW AGE OF NOW
Interruption Participation
Return on Investment Return on Involvement
Shareholder Value Purpose-Inspired
Pumping Markets Creating Movements

Idea 2 – Unlock Three Secrets

The single biggest question consumers have is: “How will you improve my life?” Answering this is to deliver priceless value.

Performance, reputation and trust are today’s table stakes, and mystery, sensuality and intimacy are its game breakers.

1. Mystery is the unknown, the unexpected and the unbelievable, myths and icons, dreams and immersive stories…it’s what we don’t know that matters most.

Priceless moments flow through past, present and future, revealing the unfamiliar or twisting the familiar.

To develop a pen that could write in space, NASA spent millions on advanced technology. The Russians used a pencil.

2. Sensuality Touch / Scent / Vision / Sound / Taste. The five senses are an accelerator of lasting customer relationships, outstanding innovation and inspired execution.

3. Intimacy is empathy, commitment, passion. Small things done every time by everyone differentiates you.

It’s about transparency and honesty, working as one Bermudan family to treat each customer and visitor as an individual, a friend – and making it fun.

Idea 3 – Unleash Three Es

“Winning isn’t everything but wanting to win is.”
– Vince Lombardi

Business is a blood sport and winners leave the comfort zones and enter the fight zones.

Head for ‘E’ word territory where ideas go hot, results come fast, and people universally respond.

1. ENRAGED

“Don’t just do things better; do things different.”
– Pierre Berbizier, French Rugby coach.

Be an irresistible force of nature. Challenge and change the status quo; fight apathy and inertia and injustice.

Reject normality; change it with your dreams. Start a project. Build a movement.

2. EDGE

Change happens on the edge of the species, far from the boring orthodox center, on Islands and coasts, not inside continents, out where the unreasonable power of creativity booms.

We live in the Age of the Idea. Ideas are the currency of the future, and an idea is only an idea once. Our job is to be Creative Leaders.

Great ideas reframe, and they surprise with the obvious. In technology, Apple opened retail stores, Microsoft replaced a game controller with the human body, and Sony unlocked the child in you.

3. EXECUTE

“No point in being brilliant at the wrong thing.”
– De Bono

It’s not ‘get things done’. It’s ‘make things happen’. You can:

  • Reply to email OR Organize a community
  • Cross off the ‘to dos’ OR Set ambitious goals
  • Repeat what you heard OR Change perceptions
  • Go with the flow OR Forge a new path
  • Anticipate roadblocks OR Create possibilities

Fail Fast / Learn Fast / Fix Fast

Winners are relentless, and leave no one behind.

  • Responsibility
  • Learning
  • Recognition
  • Joy

Do it together.


How to Win in the Age of Now

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Spanning creativity, leadership and execution, Kevin Roberts’ presentation to the Entrepreneurs’ Organization Wellington Chapter is an inspirational primer in: Wanting to Win, Ways to Win Now and Ways to Keep Winning – the secrets of Peak Performance so that winning becomes a habit.

Up, Up and Away – Rotary Newmarket

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Kevin Roberts, CEO Worldwide of Saatchi & Saatchi, talks to the Newmarket Rotary Club about Winning in the Age of Now, and how to turn a brand into an irresistible Lovemark for the next generation.

Start Me Up

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Kevin Roberts gives keynote speech at the 6th Annual Global Competitiveness Forum “The Entrepreneurship Imperative” held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, sharing three ways to win in the region.

Set Fire To The Rain

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In this presentation to Spotlight On Lancaster at Lancaster University, Kevin Roberts talks about enabling, energizing and activating creative partnerships and achieving Vibrant, Crazy, Unreal and Astounding impact.

Magic Time

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In this presentation to EmoDay in Amsterdam, Kevin Roberts shares five key ideas on emotional innovations and creating Lovemarks.

Just Can’t Get Enough

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Presenting to the Institute of Development Professionals in Education in Oxfordshire, Kevin Roberts presents three ideas on creating Loyalty Beyond Reason and creating frameworks for development discussions.

Rhythm of Love

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Speaking at the National Speakers Association of Australia Convention, Melbourne, Kevin Roberts shares 5 big ideas to put you on the path to creating Lovemarks.