“If we don't know which port we are heading to,
no wind is favorable“
A wisdom that Seneca (stoic philosopher) possessed. Conversely, with a clear destination, people get on board who also want to go there. Then forces are joined, invested, cooperated, every day and unconditionally. And there is growth with direction. Then something is created.
Over the past nearly 20 years, I have boarded at various organizations with different roles in marketing and sales. From global to local. In retail, Out of Home, BtB, DtC and e-commerce. Unilever, Upfield, Bonusan; from corporate, through private equity, to family business. Around it, I have always trained and coached several teams in (top) sports and from that interest I have been involved as a professional organizational coach in several scale-ups.
Every organization and team has its own environment, dynamics and culture, but with all teams, direction and belief to get there make the difference. Whether it was one of my marketing teams, Men's 1 or just my daughter's mini-team: with direction comes energy and everyone wants to get there. Agreements, processes and ways of working together then follow logically. Because everyone saw it, felt it and felt like working on it. Then the laughter came and the energy went up; something was created. Growth with direction. Conversely, I have experienced it often enough. Brands and groups where that essence was obscured, or where we could not or would not make those real choices, where we then got further and further off course. No direction, no growth.
And how cool it is every time it does come about and it flies. Like at Calvé with the campaign with soccer star Lieke Martens ("you said boys"). The brand was in dire straits and all around us people were already shouting that there was no future for this brand. That made us combative. It couldn't be that this old brand with those advertisements that everyone knows would be gone, could it? That we were the ones turning out the lights?
We went back to the essence of the brand and translated that into its meaning for the next ten years. Not by analyzing even more figures and making even smarter businesscases, but by talking to people. The people in the factory, a long-retired representative, the creators of the old ads and, above all, lots of consumers. We looked at other iconic brands, we learned from other channels, we talked to emerging concepts. From all that input, it became crystal clear what we had to do. We felt it and could explain it in one sentence. To ourselves and to everyone around us. The briefing to the advertising agency could suddenly be done on half an A4 sheet. In no time, the campaign was ready. At the same time, we drew a line in the sand. We stopped incremental projects and shifted our focus to actually become future-proof. To put energy into what we stood for. Brand, business and team were successful, and people wanted to rejoin. Something had emerged, growth with direction!
THAT is what I want to continue to unleash and set in motion as much and as often as possible, which is why I'm excited and energized to get on board at Fresh Forward as Growth Navigator. I'd love to chat with you about it, so I'll be sure to see you soon!
