Musings on marketing and leadership from the C-suite

Hello Netflix, Hulu, general streaming. Goodbye cable.

That is the premise of today’s article in the WSU by Kevin Sintumuang entitled  ”Cutting the Cord on Cable”

While Kevin may have beaten me to publish, this has been on my topic list for 2 months. Cable is gone. Let me share with you my proof.

As many of you know, I teach students at UBC in Vancouver, BC and WWU in Bellingham WA. Last semester a UBC student shared a terrific ad they had seen on a piped-in US show. We pulled it up on YouTube, and it ended up being a great shared learning moment.

The next day down at WWU I asked if anyone had seen the same ad. The students looked at me oddly. I explained further that I knew for a fact it had been on the West Coast feed two nights before. The students still looked at me oddly. Finally one student said “I think you’re confused about how we watch TV. We don’t watch it live.”

Well that’s a conversation stopper. So I asked the room how they watched “TV”. They Tivo’d, they Hulu’d, and the Netflixed. They didn’t “watch”. They knew what they wanted to see, and they watched it when it was convenient to them.

I asked further how many had cable. There were 10 of 40 who had cable, and in all of those cases it was that someone else in their living situation – parent, partner, friends – who insisted on the cable connection.

“Live” is viewed via smartphone. Everything else is accessed via “service of choice”.

For readers in Canada, where Hulu is blocked and cell plans are much more expensive, this snapshot of behavior is perhaps a bit premature. But for the United States, cable is gone. Much like long distance plans and land lines, there will be a long tail of residual income…but from a planning and marketing perspective, media planners would be well-served to put a fork in this longterm staple “meal” – its done! –  and move on to the future.

image credit http://www.wilsonelectronics.com/

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Alternately titled “what Tim Tebow teaches us about marketing”.

I’m sure there are a few of you out there unaware of Tim Tebow. He is the “unofficial starting quarterback” of the Denver Broncos, a team in Denver, CO who plays American Football.

Tebow is a new from college quarterback, and according to people who know such things, not very good at it. There is a brilliant article from sportswriter Cam Cole in the Vancouver Sun that articulates the characteristics of Mr. Tebow’s football capabilities both better than I could and far more entertainingly.

I’m a marketing person, and Tim Tebow interests me as a marketer. Mr. Tebow exhibits a particular attribute which most marketers could learn from: he believes in himself and in his teammates.

Tebow not only believes in himself but is self-depricating when confronted with his shortcomings. As Mr Cole cites amusingly in his article, when confronted with the indisuptable numbers that he is at best an average quarterback Mr Tebow responds that he needs to practice more. With good humor, by the way. Which means he knows what he does well, knows what he doesn’t do well, and is willing to admit he needs more work on the “doesn’t do well” stuff.

Learning #1 for marketers – believe in your skills and capability yet be everpresent to the opportunity to learn and improve.

Far more importantly to me is Mr Tebow’s boundless and vocal support of his team. The guy who booted home an improbable 61 yard field goal in the waning moments of the surprising game for Denver was interviewed after the game. My paraphrasing of that reply is this “Tim told me that when it counted I’d get the job done. He told me that weeks ago. So I figured he knew something and believed it.”

Learning #2 for marketers (and dare I suggest humans in total): believe in your teammates. Tell them so every day. Reward them and heap praise on them when they do great, remind them of your faith in them even when they fail.

What Mr Tebow reminds all of us as marketers is to believe in our own gifts and believe perhaps even more in the gifts of others. Teams that believe they are good are good.

Marketing is never a solo effort. It always happens in teams. All too often a hotshot “player” thinks they can “go it alone”. They can’t. They need to first learn that teams matter, and then learn from Mr Tebow’s: BELIEVE.

That is the official end of this insight. I will continue, however, for those who are wondering if the real issue at hand isn’t whether or not Mr Tebow believes in HIM. Much of the buzz about Tim Tebow is that he is an expressive person with his faith. He believes that anything he does comes from God, and is open, frank, and expressive with his thanks when he believes HE has had a role in his performance.

My contention is this: the source of Mr Tebow’s belief in himself is irrelevant. His belief system is part of the magic that makes him Tim Tebow and not anyone else.  Mr Tebow’s belief in his teammates comes from a deep seated innate sense of teamwork and belief in his fellow humans and teammates. If that is rooted in his beliefs about HIM or his beliefs about coffeetables isn’t relevant either.

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