LET'S STICK TO BASICS

 Let’s stick to basics

After endlessly talking about geopolitics with stand-offs between soft liberals and the extreme right, I’ve concluded we need to focus on what we know most about, calmly and thoughtfully. For me, this is mainly advertising, marketing and fmcg (fast-moving-consumer-goods).

Let’s ignore the increasing trend towards marches and protests so often bad tempered although a Gay Pride march down Oxford Street last week was cheerful with a diverse bunch representing various facets of sexuality having a good time.

It made a change because cheerful is not how the media is describing our economy . We are going to be very cold, very hungry and very depressed this winter they predict. 

We’re regularly told by pollsters that the ‘cost of living crisis’ is the most important issue on people’s minds, ahead of Party-gate, Ukraine, Climate Change and corrupt, drunk or libidinous  politicians. Of course it is. Did you need to go to University to acquire the mental equipment to discover that? 

Fact: issues really close to home are the ones that always matter most to people. The amount of money they have and what they can buy with it.

 

Government is panicking  as they often do. There’s talk of  an upcoming campaign calling on businesses to divert marketing spend into cutting prices.  Silly story. Daft idea. And one which shows how little this government understands marketing or people.

Here’s a real marketing story. There’s a battle currently between Tesco and Heinz. It’s being staged as a classic Mohammad Ali v George Foreman, “rumble in the jungle”, or, in this case “knock-out at the check-out.” Two giants. One supporting the poor people, the other the poor food industry. How many customers will Tesco lose if they don’t stock Heinz Baked Beans and Heinz Tomato Ketchup? How many cases of the above will Heinz lose in sales by being destocked by their biggest UK customer? This is high drama and a great story.  And I bet sales go up for both of them.

The price increase of food in the UK since January has gone up 11% (source: IGD) and Reuters are predicting 15% increase running into 2023. Apparently the average household spend on food including take-homes and restaurants is around £4,000 – around 20% of total spend.  

I can empathise. I too was once in that hand-to-mouth, month-on-month world of balancing nice-to-have versus necessity. 

In that battle healthy eating was beaten by a full tummy. Chicken nuggets became luxury food and McGuigan tasted like Lafite (almost). What was different back then was the world was less intense in terms of competition, in terms of marketers pushing prices back down or finding clever alternatives. 

We now have Aldi and Lidl highly competitive and growing rapidly, taking £1 in every £6 grocery pounds spent, and about to take more. They’re no longer the mere “German discounters” as Tesco once disparagingly described them. Go there and be impressed by price and quality.

Since one of the biggest issues right now is food  and our alleged inability to recruit able pickers. This smells of a PR campaign. There are plenty of people who’d be happy to work outside in our glorious weather if only we pay them enough.

We used to be creative. Let’s get creative about issues like this. Let’s find new sources of “pickers”, let’s create more delicious low-cost recipes and let’s stop getting depressed because we can’t always afford to buy what we don’t really like, want or even need.

Let’s go shopping again, being choosy as opposed to just buying and hurrying on. Let’s, in short, get back to basics.

THE NEED FOR PLASTIC SURGERY

First an apology to Greta Thunberg. I once said she’s rather annoying. I should be less impulsive. I’ve listened to her a few times on the radio recently and recognise she’s calm and sensible. She’s determined, even implacable, and the way she conducts herself is admirable, not annoying. Sorry Greta.

She and others are right in saying ignoring an existential crisis because (as Al Gore, described it in 2006) it’s an “inconvenient truth”,  is just madness. Imagine hearing this on a plane:
“This is your captain here . The engineers say this plane in unsafe to fly. I say that your convenience comes first. We’re ready for take- off.”

As we watch the news – a plague of locusts in Africa, a dust storm the size of Britain in Australia following those catastrophic fires, a huge Turkish earthquake, an epidemic (rapidly becoming a pandemic) in China and spreading globally – it’s all  beginning to feel apocalyptic.

Whilst I don’t buy the view that we are all doomed – not yet at any rate – inventions that have brought us a greater comfort bring their own dangers. We are in charge (just) and we can influence the future.
Take the wonder of plastic. Imagine the world of medicine without it. Imagine a world without toys. Imagine a world without mobile phones (wouldn’t that be interesting by the way?) We invented plastic in 1907 and now it’s strangling us.

In the 1967 film ‘The Graduate’ Benjamin Braddock (Dustin Hoffman) is advised to secure a career in plastics following his graduation. Not any more I think.

So it was with interest I read the Coca-Cola story this week. They have decided not to abandon single-use plastic bottles… because? Because people still want them because they are light and resealable. The company makes 200,000 bottles a minute – that’s 3,000,000 tonnes a year. Ms Perez was talking on that subject at Davos. The Mail Online describes her as follows:

“Ms Perez is apparently the Coca-Cola corporation's 'Head of Sustainability'. Can there be a more comical job description? What's next? Hannibal Lecter as the face of Veganuary?”

Here’s what Ms Perez says. “Business won’t be in business if we don’t accommodate consumers.”
Or Beatrice – that’s her name – humanity will cease to exist unless we take this plastics issue more seriously than you are.

Apparently the weight of plastics in our oceans will weigh more than the fish by 2050 if we carry on like this. But so long as Coke’s customers buy plastic they’ll just carry on providing it willy-nilly. Unlike Tesco. Dave Lewis, its CEO, is taking a lead The banning the use of plastic for multibuys (regardless that customers find them convenient) and has declared war on plastic in their own label products. He reckons to remove 1 billion pieces of single-use plastics by the end of the year. Tesco seems to have a more enlightened view of what good business is than Coca-Cola does.

The operating theatre is open; plastic surgery has begun. And about time.

EVERY LITTLE...

No this is not about Tesco which is doing much better under Dave Lewis. Before he came along a better strapline might have been “Every dozy dinosaur needs a kick up the arse”. Having said that I have no idea why they’re targeting Aldi with their new Jack’s stores.

They are going down-and-dirty and as an occasional Aldi shopper I know it’s not down-and-dirty but just has lots of low cost, high quality products. Professor Mark Ritson in Marketing Week said Tesco should be trying to be a better Tesco and not trying to be like Aldi. Aldi is brilliant at being Aldi -  like a shark, ruthless and very efficient. This applies to Lidl too. Both examples of great retailing and high productivity.

But this blog’s not about Tesco it’s about the middle class darling Waitrose or as it’s now known Waitrose and Partners. Warning bell. An expensive rebranding exercise and  the worst profits for years. Does any connection spring to mind?

Let me confess two things. I like the partnership model and I like shopping at Waitrose. But for my loyalty to be maintained I need:
- It to stock what I want
- Its fruit and vegetables to be pristine – they charge enough to guarantee this surely?
- Its service to be exceptional

Recently little niggles have started to occur – rotten bananas, under-ripe avocados which ripen to black nastiness, constant stock-outs, no more Warburton’s bread that we like replaced by private label that we don’t like, slow service in the café, no more free coffee in the cafe on the Waitrose card, serve yourself coffee which runs out and is very messy.

It’s all very trivial, a series of little irritations but they combine to make me feel less loyal. And then it compounds…there are fewer staff around; where’s the presence of a jovial manager the sort who welcomes and is omnipresent; the rumour that you should stop using your Waitrose loyalty card because after a month the algorithm notices and the “lost customer” warning will kick in and you’ll start getting big discount vouchers to lure you back, much bigger than any “loyal” customer gets.

Little niggles build into monster gripes lead to customer loss. The “that’s typical” Victor Meldrew moments keep on happening. Sometimes there’s nothing you can do. I was told about a series of disasters at a hotel with an important customer. In desperation the manager offered a free meal with wonderful wine. All was wonderfully well until the sommelier spilt a glass of Lynch-Bages down the wife’s white dress.

We spend a lot of time talking about big pictures in business but big pictures can be ruined by a series of small smudges. Unless the process works brilliantly and consistently, unless that manager is leading from the front one thing can lead to another.

Every little cock-up leads to customers walking away – and who can blame them. Let’s not forget the maxim “the customer’s always right (even when they’re wrong”.)

TERRIBLE ADVICE

Rubbish solutions are in fashion

I’m not sure why this appealed so much to me but recently I was driving through Brighton behind a van emblazoned with a sign “Brighton Rubbish Solutions” and it occurred to me this was great name for a second or even third rate marketing consultancy. Mostly I guess because most advice nowadays is so suspect. Ask any economist – or rather don’t bother. I reflected further on businesses taking bold and sometimes strange decisions.

Like Jaguar. I saw their brand new Jaguar F-Pace recently. "Gosh" I thought “smart Renault!”.  It bore no resemblance to Jaguar refinement. If it were a painting it would be called a forgery. An SUV solution but a bad one.

Or Tesco’s secret plans to launch a new retail concept to fight Aldi (the UK’s favourite supermarket say  consumers) and Lidl. The conversations in Cheshunt where the mighty Tesco is headquartered have historically revolved around the risks to the brand and of confusing consumers in introducing a really cheap Tesco as opposed to a quite cheap Tesco. Trouble is Aldi is remarkable for its quality not just its prices. In a recent survey of 10 great value/quality grocery items in the Sunday Times Aldi had two – their prosecco and their new coffee pods – and Lidl one, their aged beef. Revealingly Tesco had none.

 

If they aren’t careful Tesco will end up with a rubbish solution. As Coca Cola have done in reversing their one brand strategy and relaunching their sugar free brands in isolation.

And in the world of economics  Bitcoin is either a genius introduction to the future of money or it’s the  next South Sea Bubble. Confusingly  it could be both. Which is a rubbish situation.

In the world of politics some weird things are happening. Politicians used to yearn for “clear blue water”  separating parties. Today an ocean lies between the wrathful disciples of left-wing-Momentum and the pinstriped intolerant Tory right-wing.

Let me introduce you to Jacob Rees-Mogg. America astonished the world by electing a game-show host who’s reckless, rude and crude. In the UK the bookies have two favourites for the next Prime Minister – Jeremy Corbyn (described by an American friend as Bernie Saunders without the brains) and Jacob. Ladbrokes and Coral actually make Jacob the narrow favourite.

Who is he?  48 years old. Educated Eton and Oxford. Co-founder of a Hedge Fund. He and his wife have around £100 million allegedly. He is strongly anti-Europe and advocates abrupt and total separation from the EU. He has six children. Their names are revealing: Peter Theodore Alphege;  Mary Anne Charlotte Emma ;Thomas Wentworth Somerset Dunstan; Anselm Charles Fitzwilliam ; Alfred Wulfric Leyson Pius; Sixtus Dominic Boniface Christopher. The names tell a story.

He has an icy charm. He’s clever, well mannered, calm and very dangerous. But chances are – if you believe the bookmakers – he could be the next Prime Minister. Or possibly another rubbish solution.

We live in strange times.

SO WHAT DO YOU THINK?

I am struck by how the nature of opinion forming has changed. When I was doing ‘A’ levels we were coached in the art of balanced arguments, considering the evidence pro and con to a given question and advancing a calm conclusion. It’s a skill that judges in courts of law or good consultants need to give sound judgements or advice.

The speed of our communication is partly responsible. From speed dating to speed reading or, in the case of Donald Trump, allegedly not reading at all. We are forced to think fast and decisively (for decisively read “impulsively”). And it’s beginning to catch up with us.

 

The Police and CPS have been caught out a series of times recently for being sloppy and dilatory in the handing over of crucial evidence to the defence. But on reduced budgets and manpower you try sifting through 4000 Facebook entries although they really must because it’s their job to see justice is done;  it is not their job to get a conviction. Just as in business it is our job to do our job properly not get a profit at any cost (remember the Tesco saga?)

   

Gary Kasparov on Desert Island Discs recently was an incredibly smart, considered guest who having beaten Deep Blue – the Computer that played chess – said that he knew he’d lose most times because human beings make mistakes and computers don’t. Even with all the experience he had he still made mistakes. imagine how much more prone we are when we don’t even bother to review all the information?

The fact is we live in a world of bias. Bias means being one-sided, lacking a neutral viewpoint, or not having an open mind. Watch Question Time and you see unbridled bias.

Go to a football match and see normally civilised and sensible men become loudmouthed, biased louts.

 
Last week inspired by that epitome of  bias, Jacob Rees-Mogg  (who was once described as “a barmaid’s idea of a gentleman”) Steve Baker a Junior Minister accused the Civil Service of working against the government before being forced to retract his comments. Meanwhile Donald Trump who never ceases in his mission to astonish  by his behaviour described the FBI as acting in cahoots with the Democrats against him. Likely? No not really but it was the tone of his comments that was alarming. Presidents don’t normally leap to conclusions. This pedlar of fake-news is an exception.

It’s time we started to do our homework rather than persisting in taking shortcuts and being impulsive. Time to realise first impressions are not always right. The Brexit debate is a case in point. On Question Time last week an enraged Brexiteer started shouting that he was fed up with all this talk and that – for heaven’s sake – this wasn’t rocket science, that Brexit meant Brexit which was a total divorce of everything with the EU. That’s bias not opinion and once embraced is virtually unchangeable. But we’ve got to stop it and start thinking again.

WHEN BIG BEHAVES BIG IT ALWAYS GETS IT WRONG

When you move house or office or anything like that a fair amount of disruption follows. For me the most intriguing thing has been the array of tradesmen who’ve been to call checking a variety of utilities, mending the broken and quoting eye watering sums for the potential beautification of the house.

All of them real craftsmen, impressively knowledgeable and attentive to our needs - including BT when they got here.  My concern about beastly BT is they’ve constructed an unwieldy and commercially crass structure until a real human being, the BT engineer comes to call. He was smart, assiduous and all is well - I’m back on line. But here’s the odd thing, the maddening thing - before he arrives I’m called by BT saying I can set myself up without an engineer (no I can’t and yes I know having an attack of rage so early in the morning can’t be good for me) and then even whilst he’s here I’m being texted to say he won’t be coming now for another two days. I show him this and he says “take no notice” and carries on working.

My dispassionate and utterly serious point to you BT is you cannot afford to carry on wasting time, money and talent doing the little stuff so badly. Please can I tell you how to solve the problem?

Be as big as you wish but behave as though you were small. When your customer interface parades your scale you are doomed. Thus with the banks. I bank with NatWest - I always have. At a branch level (yes I go to branches ever since being told by a banking friend that bankers never bank online - “are you insane?”) the service is brilliant, charming and helpful. Out there however beyond the phone, in the call centres life gets trickier. Thus with the retailers. Tesco suffered in part by seeming so huge. Wherever you went that 1970s logo reminded you that “every little helps”. Pretending to be little when they are really big and beastly. Thus with big government, it doesn’t work. Only small, can-do fix-it-it people can solve things.

It’s time to put human faces back into customer service like B&Q have done employing retirees who are D&Y fanatics and who really know what they are talking about.

And it’s time to break down the myth that big is better when it’s usually confused. In the case of BT left and right hands belong to completely different bodies. Imagine a left hand whom you don’t know and isn’t yours trying to blow your nose. My BT experience has been that bad.

Oh and it isn’t over. They called to say could they fix the TV by sending an engineer? Suspiciously I agreed. Then the paperwork was emailed. They are planning to go where we used to live. The trouble is I can’t get through to them to say don’t go there we’ve moved.

IT'S NEVER TOO LATE TO LEARN

I’ve just started reading “Smarter: The new science of building brain power” by Dan Hurley.

He’s an American journalist who writes for the New Yorker and various science journals. He writes beautifully and persuasively about how it seems possible to improve our fluid intelligence, our IQ, by a series of brain training exercises. The theory is the same as that of physical exercise making our bodies fitter. If bodies, why not minds?

It even applies to people whose theoretical brain power is on the ebb - the elderly.  But, more than 500 years ago one smart lady, Elizabeth 1, recognised the need to keep learning. She claimed to learn something new every single day. And she lived to 70 - a fine Elizabethan age.

Giving up on learning and assuming we know how to fit the facts to the script that we’ve already written for ourselves hit the headlines this week. Tesco, a victim of unreasonable expectations all round, seemed to have romanced its profits somewhat and a whistle blower showed them the yellow card. Extraordinary that mighty companies haven’t leant you can’t fib anymore.

On stage next, Ed Miliband. So you’re a show off - “look no safety net!”-  and you try to do your conference speech unscripted. But you screw up and forget to mention two crtical issues you meant to raise. OK stuff happens. But then you try to wriggle out of it in a furtive “the dog ate my homework” kind of way.

Had you said “Yeah. I made a mistake” I’d have felt better about you. Extraordinary that big public figures haven’t learned that they can’t take unnecessary risks and that they can’t fib anymore.

Whilst we maybe overstate the importance of presentation in our working lives, decent clear communication is the least we expect and inspiring oratory works miracles (whether read or half read.) What we don’t need are word perfect actors.

Age is the greatest teacher of all. Most mature people I know have more inquisitive minds than they did when younger even if the passion to get-it-done and go-for-it has waned somewhat. Ferocious characters like Portillo and Tebbit mellow and even a foul-mouthed trader called “the Animal” at Salomon Brothers in Michael Lewis’ exposé “Liar’s Poker” is a genial novelist now in Colorado.

Yet the concern some feel about the upcoming generation’s ability to think nimbly and cleverly and have a NASA scientist competence with technological complexity is misplaced. Never confuse cleverness with understanding. By far the greatest asset in a world where marketing and people skills are still king, is empathy. We must be able to get what people really feel and think.

Finally Einstein’s version of insanity best describes the Tesco issue:-
“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results".

We must vary our behaviour in response to what’s going on around us, avoid silly risks and learn to tell the truth.

Amen

SHOPPING WITH HITLER

It was my wife who said this to me after a particularly large shopping trip at Waitrose where we’d divided the list into two halves. Needless to say I finished first, in a frenzy of item-snatching that brought back to memory those “a much as you can get in your trolley in two minutes” competitions supermarkets used to run.

She, meanwhile, was thoughtfully assessing the ripeness of avocadoes and the quality of the plaice fillets  in fact she’d struck up a real rapport with the fishmonger with whom my relationship had not advanced beyond those “two of those now please”) . It was the smell of my victory plus years of working in fast moving consumer goods marketing that made me so assertive and objectionable I guess.

I thought nothing much of it until I started watching husbands shopping with their wives, the men resembling either failed summer puddings, soft and oozing with self-contempt and self-pity (“Ooh I wish I wasn’t here…what on earth do I have to do for sex and supper?”) or trying to be super productive “try this – no that one makes you look very fat – not white nor any colour in that shape – turn round – blimey! No nothing but ‘there she blows’ – sorry, sorry! -  – how about a hat? – oh, come on, you’ve got enough shoes – I put my foot down on shoes… foot down on shoes… heh! heh!”

Yet the boards of retailers are full of men playing boy’s games and re-enacting the Third Reich. A girl I heard about who was reputedly a tough nut, joined Tesco and after two weeks of sexism and extreme alpha male behaviour resigned and joined, as she put it, somewhere sane like the Royal Bank of Scotland.
I reflected on this when I heard about t Tesco’s AGM  last week at which Sir Terry Leahy’s predecessor, Lord MacLaurin, filleted, fried and despatched the erstwhile businessman of the year Sir Terry:-

“When you judge the performance of a Chief Executive you must not only judge the performance of the day-to-day business but also his legacy.  I think we are all very sad in this hall to see the legacy Terry Leahy left …. I think he lost the plot.”

RIP Tel ….join the other ex-heroes of the boardroom John Browne, Fred Goodwin and James Crosbie … all of them dictators who had things their own way.

It’s not that power corrupts it’s that their familiarity with the problems and mechanics of a business and the heady smell of success make virtually all leaders want to go out on a high on their terms.

For my part I’ve decided to be a more collegiate and empowering shopper in future – I’m staying at home… and sticking to the plot. My wife knows best when it comes to shopping.

www.colourfulthinkers.com

GETTING THINGS RIGHT, GETTING THINGS WRONG AND HURRAH FOR ENGLISH

My recent piece in praise of real books got a ringing endorsement in the Sunday Times in a piece by Robert Collins entitled "The Book Bounces Back”. From a Viking Invasion sales increase, raping, pillaging and plundering real books in 2011 when e-books registered sales increases of 366% this fell back to 20% last year. Meanwhile sales of e-books fell in the USA and Barnes and Noble’s Nook is having a ropey time. And Facebook users in the UK fell by 600,000 last year. Is common sense prevailing?

It’s also good to get things wrong. The One-Stop Travel Shop previously conveniently based at Brighton Station has relocated to splendid new premises in the centre of the City over ½ mile from the station. I was livid and predicted a disaster.

I was wrong.

It’s full. Tourists love it. It’s been a brilliant way of putting integrated travel advice in the heart of the city.  Mind you the Sales Executive there whom I knew confided “it’s a bit weird…we haven’t got used to it yet”.

And now two from James Arnold Baker whose nephew sent him these. The first a wonderfully simple way to understand the fiscal cliff in America

Simply imagine the US Fiscal situation as a household budget

• Annual family income in 2012: $21,700
• Money the family spent in 2012: $38,200
• New debt on the credit card: $16,500

But the outstanding balance on credit card: $142,710
Total budget cuts so far: $38.50.

This does not look good Mr Obama.

You need to cut your spending and increase your income. A lot. OK?

The second demonstrates why English is such a great language.

It’s about the “Burger Problem” and I’ve been hoarse with laughter as a result of these:-

• Went to the fridge to check my burgers, and they're off! .....
• Tesco PR people are having a mare
• New kids’ food found in supermarket.....My Lidl Pony
• Has this been going on furlong?
• I always though Tesco burgers were good......well, good to soft in places
• Sounds like these Tesco stories are being made-up on the hoof
• Just got a batch of 200 Tesco burgers cheap, it only cost me a pony
• Despite the scandal, Tesco say burger sales remain stable

www.colourfulthinkers.com

WOULD YOU RATHER WORK FOR THE CO-OP OR GOLDMAN SACHS?

The manager of our local Co-op where I get my paper, milk, bread and so on most days is something of a surprise. Young, well read and a polymath he is stalking me intellectually.

This morning he came up and said:-
“I was thinking of you last night” I eyed him suspiciously – this is Brighton after all, “I was reading Socrates who said ‘beware the barren life of a busy man.’”

Beware the knee of an irate customer I thought.

But I also thought how interesting it was that despite the lamentations of politicians about declining educational standards how much brighter and how much more intellectually curious many people seemed to be today. I’m constantly in cabs with drivers who have degree like intelligence….more in the north of England than the south. In Sunderland I think most of them have PHDs.

In Brighton where there are few well-paid jobs they say laughingly you need a 2.1 to get a job at Pizza Express. But actually it’s probably true.

And why not?

Intellectual brightness is a gift you hone and enjoy whatever you do and nothing whatsoever to do with commercial smartness.

Which brings me on to the term “muppets”.

This is the term of affection or scorn with which Goldman Sachs are said to describe their clients. Shocked? Don’t be. The big and famous client-facing companies like Tesco, HSBC, WPP, Google and so on that are on a roll, are not often or ever focused on the betterment of their clients but on creating the illusion of that betterment and the beneficial association of being served by a winner.

I’ve heard ad. agency people call their clients “pond life” , “punters” and “johns”.

But if you’re a Master of the Universe you would wouldn’t you? Power does that. It makes you nasty.
It also creates a pretty barren life. Here’s how barren. It could turn you into a “vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity”.

That’s how they talk about the demonised Goldman Sachs. Greg Smith who resigned this week accompanied by a heavily critical and well publicised letter shows that his employer is definitely not a not-for-profit organisation.  But like the masons with their insidious reach, Goldman employees have taken over the world of banking and international finance. Here’s a glimpse of the line-up:-

First of all Chief Squid – Lloyd Blankfein. What a great name. Nearly as good as the US Republican Congressman from Colorado called Randy Baumgardner.

“How are you Lloyd?”
“I’m blank fine you stupid muppet”

Nice smile Lloyd.

Uncertain smile Mike but still waiting to succeed the chief squid, Michael Sherwood

Well would you smile?

Greek prime minister, Lucas Papademos. Helped get Greece into the Euro. Together with….

Now Prime Minister of Italy, 68-year-old Mario Monti was an international adviser to Goldman Sachs from 2005 until 2011.

 Mario Draghi President of the European Central Bank. He was the vice chairman for Europe at Goldman Sachs International from 2002 to 2005.

PM's wife Samantha Cameron worked for Goldman Sachs executive Mike Sherwood after he led a buyout consortium in 2005.

Economist Gavyn Davies was head of global economics at Goldman Sachs from 1986 to 2001. The former chief UK economist was a key adviser to Gordon Brown.

“Beware the barren life of a busy man” said Socrates allegedly.

When it comes to a final tally most of these guys will shamelessly protest they did a great job. But I bet they really wish they’d worked at the Co-op…which is where in the next life they’ll end up.

EVERY LITTLE HELPS

Tesco’s advertising claim promoting incrementalism is belied by its own seemingly unstoppable growth and is irritating because it belongs to that know-it-all neighbour with over-the-fence-homespun-wisdoms (“a stitch in time…”; “time and tide…”;) and because any Tesco executive who was asked how sales were doing in his sector and replied “oh, you know, steady enough, keeping our head above water but, then again, every little helps”, would be instantly fired.

Its growth is matched by its creativity in finding new opportunities and imaginative ways of executing its strategy – yes, Tesco creative …and no, it’s not an oxymoron.

Now it’s into second hand cars creating (for Tesco) a high margin business, for the consumer a lower cost and more trustworthy source of product and at a stroke have changed the automotive game.

To the global automotive business Britain is known as Treasure Island because of the premium prices they can get here.  And car dealers make more money out of selling second hand cars than new cars. Post-Tesco they won’t be doing so much longer.

Despite their success Tesco’s image has taken a bit of a battering over the past few years. In research consumers don’t always say very nice things about them. Ironically it has something of the image problem of second hand car salesmen.

And yet the image right at its core is one of reliability, low prices and, in Tesco Finest, the biggest food brand in the UK. Quite simply if you were as ubiquitous as they are, you’d be up for a panning too – as are the USA or Microsoft or BT. In short the Tesco brand is a strong one in terms of awareness and reach and is respected perhaps more than liked but when push comes to shove, one that has, at worst, grudging approval for its standards.

This move into cars could change the way they are seen by the sceptics. The Tesco brand beats small, expensive, undercapitalised local brands. And one other plus – Tesco actually know how to sell to women which virtually no car dealerships are good at.

It’s already doing advanced trials in reinventing banking and reinventing estate agencies proving that strong brands can reach the parts weak brands can’t.

The scale of change continues especially in sectors where margins are very high, where customer service is wanting and where product and service innovation is lacking. Tesco is an early player in doing what Virgin dreamed and talked of doing.

My guess is this is the beginning of a new wave of looking at things buying a lot of the stuff differently. Sorry Arthur Daley. You are history son.

THE NEW WORLD OF BRAND VALUES

I’ve been spending time recently thinking about the brands of the future and what they’ll look like. This has been helped by a recent survey.

The Times of October 15th published the Populus/YouGov list of the most influential brands. I’ve compared 2007 and today to see what’s changed in the “top ten”.

2010	2007
Apple	Google
Google	Apple
John Lewis	Tesco
Amazon	John Lewis
Facebook	Microsoft
Microsoft	Virgin
Innocent	M&S
Co-op Group	Goldman Sachs
Co-op Bank	McKinsey
Twitter	BSkyB

In 2007 we were in the Vienna days of those good times before the economic war, so the reputational demise of Goldman Sachs and McKinsey since then isn’t so surprising. Virgin, M&S and Tesco are perhaps punished for their failure to keep up with the way people see the times and Microsoft and Tesco, I suspect, for being so big and bullying. But apart from John Lewis and the Co-op the “go-go” brands are young, all post war creations. Ten years ago half of them would have been establishment brands like Coca-Cola, Cadbury and Ford.

The big news is from the “we stand for an attitude to life and employees – employees always coming first” – John Lewis and the Co-op. Look at the Innocent website and you’ll see that they live in this same world of celebrating its employee/partners and its ethics (yes – good for them – they actually use that word).

The somewhat unworldly Co-op evoking as it has done a patronisingly sniffy “room-for-improvement” response from many marketers proves the power of staying true to principles and putting substance before style.

So welcome to real and sustainable brand values if you want to be taken seriously and maybe great product values too.