Ken Tencer

Apr 16, 2012

Ding-Dong, This is Your Wake-up Calling

Innovation Insights
One of a series by Ken Tencer, Spyder Works CEO

Dove speaks to “real beauty,” and Revlon to hope. There is Martha Stewart who has redefined the notion of ‘living’ and, of course ‘O’, the empowerment juggernaut.

But Avon Products is still best known for “ding-dong” – the century-old symbol of how they deliver, not what they deliver. Well, today the middle class are not at home during the day, they’re at work. And every business now provides in-home shopping, through the Internet, and next-day delivery.

Avon’s recent fourth-quarter results showed a sales drop of 4%. After 125 years, it needs a new direction. Avon needs to build on platform, not process. Avon needs to focus less on finding new ways to sell its products, and more on making people want to buy them. Capture the imagination of consumers, and they will want to find you. Avon should cull its 20-years-behind roster of celebrity endorsers and embrace the A-list: a socially interactive, engaging and inspiring life of beauty, glamour and style.

Process and delivery are important to every business-consumer relationship; be on-time, be in-stock, perform the way you promise – but today they are a “given.” What you make and how you deliver is not as important as how your customers perceive your brand’s ability to positively impact their lives.

By Ken Tencer Blog, business strategy, Innovation No comments Tags: Avon, brand, business strategy, customers, Ken Tencer, platform, process, The 90% Rule

Mar 26, 2012

Too Big To Fail

Innovation Insights
One of a series by Ken Tencer, Spyder Works CEO

While the assumption that a company or an industry could be “too big to fail” has been used mainly since the recent financial crisis, the notion itself has smugly resided in corporate boardrooms since the dawn of the modern corporation. “Our technology dominates the market, no need to worry,” said the buggy-whip maker to his horse.

Failure and evolution are a natural part of business, but sometimes it’s hard to watch. Sadly, we may now be witnessing the demise of a key industry giant in Kodak – a company that actually foresaw and invented the future, yet somehow managed not to learn from it.

As reported in the New York Times, “The big story here is that their core business, the yellow box business [film], got cannibalized by the digital camera, which ironically they invented,” said analyst Chris Whitmore of Deutsche Bank Securities.

The good news for investors is that Kodak’s management claims that the company is now soundly and strategically focused on digital printing technology – this in a world that is increasingly going paperless. I don’t mean to pick on Kodak; they are not the first company or industry to resist change, nor will they be the last.

In an upcoming Innovation Insight entitled “Fueling Green,” we will look at how the auto industry is managing changing technologies very well by re-imagining their own future… and actively trying to adapt.

By Ken Tencer business, business strategy, Entrepreneur, Entrepreneurial Thinking, entrepreneurship, marketing, optimzing innovation, planning No comments Tags: branding, business, business strategy, Innovation, Ken Tencer, Kodak, marketing, planning

Mar 21, 2012

Use big ideas to get your mojo back

Originally published as a Special to Globe and Mail Update on March 21, 2012

Mea culpa.

As a relentless cheerleader for innovation, I have harped on its importance as a stimulus for competitive advantage and organic growth. What I may have forgotten to tell business owners is that innovation is also fun.

It’s the coconut-cream pie after dinner. It’s the trip to the toy department after buying socks and underwear.

Spending time with entrepreneurs has taught me that they share a desire to create something new. An essential strand in their DNA compels them to cause a disturbance by shaking up their marketplace and filling a void. But my sense is that some entrepreneurs tend to lose that killer instinct as their role evolves from disruptor to operator and manager. They spend more time and energy doing what they have to do rather than what they are wired to do.

Instead of guilting business owners into embracing innovation, I’m going to remind them that their instinct for discovery and disruption is the reason they became entrepreneurs in the first place. Big ideas made them happy. And big ideas can put the bounce back into their step, and the rev in their revenue statements.

It’s never a bad idea to do what you’re best at, and what you love to do.

To all the entrepreneurs chained to their desks and baffled by their own bureaucracy, my suggestion is simple: offload a bunch of operational responsibilities onto someone who loves them, and focus your passion on the next epiphany or invention that’s pinging around in your right brain.

Even if an idea doesn’t turn into a full-fledged profit centre, the discovery process will energize you and infect the people around you. Once you reassert yourself as your company’s chief innovation officer, you’ll inspire your team to start thinking about possibilities, rather than simply punching in and out.

We all know what innovative cultures can do. You’ve seen companies such as Google, Apple and Virgin thrive and grow under the leadership of original thinkers. You’ve seen upstarts such as Under Armour and Spanx shake up the stodgy underwear industry, with the leaders of both companies recently vaulting onto the latest Forbes magazine “billionaire’s list.”

Give yourself and your people permission to imagine and explore new ideas – even if they’re only process improvements. Questioning the status quo is always beneficial. By rediscovering your own eureka muscles, you can lift the spirits of your people and your business’s bottom line.

You’ll have more fun and your people will feel more invested in the company.

Special to The Globe and Mail

By Ken Tencer Blog, business, business strategy, Entrepreneur, Entrepreneurial Thinking, Innovation, marketing, Spyder Works, strategy, The 90% Rule No comments Tags: globe and mail, Ken Tencer, new york, toronto