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Up, Up and Away – Rotary Newmarket

Tuesday, 2 April 2013 - Auckland, New Zealand

Rotary New Market

Presentation Summary

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.

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

You want to win as businesses, entrepreneurs, executives.
You want to win as Rotarians, humanitarians and leaders.
You want to win as families, parents, individuals.

I’m going to talk about how to win in a VUCA world.

Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous

A winner turns VUCA on its head; and reframes it as superVUCA.

Vibrant, Unreal, Crazy, Astounding

I’m a radical optimist. The only way is UP.

The 5 winning tracks to deliver a SuperVUCA world:

1.To Win Now, ENTER THE NOW

The context for winning in business has shifted from production to people.

Winning starts with Purpose.

Martin Luther King did not say: “I have a Mission Statement.”

And we live in the Age of Now.

ERA OF NEW AGE OF NOW
Strategy Purpose
Attention Participation
Inform Inspire
Interruption Interaction
Return on Investment Return on Involvement
Pumping Markets Creating Movements

“Winning is not a sometime thing; it’s an all the time thing. You don’t win once in a while; you don’t do things right once in a while; you do them right all the time. Winning is a habit.” – Vince Lombardi

In the Now, execution is the killer app.

  • Fail fast, learn fast, fix fast.
  • Drive the important not the urgent
  • Jeff Bezos: Customer Bar-Raiser
  • Blue Ocean: Eliminate – Reduce – Raise – Create

2. To Win Now, UP THE CREATIVITY

Velocity demands the unreasonable power of creativity.

1. Pour in Emotion

Creativity starts with emotion.

Emotion has always trumped reason, and it rules the world of the moment, because it’s fast.

Emotion is how to get action, and you are all in the action business. Donald Calne: Reason leads to conclusions, emotion leads to action.

2. Generate lots of small ideas, continuously

Big ideas are scarce, strung out over time, investment hungry.

3. Be a Disruptor

Evolution takes centuries. Revolution takes 30 years.

The Now demands constant disruption. It’s about reframing constantly:

  • Steve Jobs: Presence into absence.
  • Surprise with the obvious: ‘Space Pen’ – To develop a pen that could write in space, NASA spent millions on advanced technology. The Russians used a pencil.

4. Ask 3 questions of any idea:

  •  Will people want to see it again?
  • Will people want to share it?
  • Will people want to improve it?

3. To Win Now, INSPIRE OTHERS TO DELIVER

Continuously challenge yourself and coach others to achieve the Dream.

To inspire people today you must provide:

  1. Responsibility
  2. Learning
  3. Recognition
  4. Joy

4.To Win Now, CREATE A LOVEMARK

Revolution starts with language. To win, go beyond brands:

  • Brands are owned by companies, 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.
  • Brands build Loyalty for a Reason. Lovemarks inspire Loyalty Beyond Reason.
  • Brands deliver performance, respect and trust. Lovemarks infuse Mystery, Sensuality and Intimacy, the stuff that matters.

Mystery: It’s what we don’t know that has most value. Storytelling is the richest vocation.

Sensuality enthralls the emotions, Vision, Sound, Scent, Touch, Taste.

Intimacy is empathy, commitment, passion.

Most organizations do Intimacy badly, or wrong, or badly wrong.

The secret is to put yourself in the heart of the audience. Not bringing them to you, but asking to be invited into their individual hearts.

  • Brands aim to be Irreplaceable. Lovemarks are Irresistible.

5. To Win Now, START WITH 3Es

  1. Enthusiasm: Be an ‘irresistible force of nature. Otherwise, in the words of Vince Lombardi: “If you aren’t fired with enthusiasm, you will be fired with enthusiasm.”
  2. Edge: Change happens at the margins, the fringes, the crazy edges. The further you are from conformity at the center, the more you can make things happen. This is where Kiwis rock, at the world’s edge.
  3. Everyone: Inspiration and love driven through business is the way to go.
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