Business tips from a dragon slayer

Everyone loves a David and Goliath story. Everyone likes hearing about how a small, weak, disadvantaged guy somehow manages to outmaneuver, outwit, outclass, and outlast a big, giant bully. We all like rooting for the underdog. For example, even if we all admired tennis legend Pete Sampras, there was something in all of us that rooted for his less powerful, but more charismatic nemesis Andre Agassi. Whenever we watch Tweety & Sylvester or Tom & Jerry on Cartoon Network, we love it when we see the bully cat get electrocuted, blown up, or maimed. And we all shed a tear when Rocky Balboa knocked out Apollo Creed to become the first heavyweight champion with a speech disorder.

Why do we like it when we see a small guy beat the big dude? It’s human nature, I guess. We all have some degree of insecurity in all of us. We all feel that someone out there is better than us and when we do beat that guy, it’s a feel-good story. Everyone wants the Jedi to beat the Empire. When we hear stories like that, we say, "Hey, if that small runt can do it, I can!" David and Goliath stories are inspiring and empowering.

A guy who’s a David of sorts is Greg Banzon, GM of RFM Corp. Greg’s well-mannered, well-groomed, and very soft-spoken. But don’t be deceived, this guy can be a monster — well, at least, in the brand-building sense. He’s known in the fast-moving-consumer goods (FMCG) industry as one of the few guys capable of transforming a no-brand (or a small brand) into a market leader. One such brand that Greg built up was Johnson and Johnson’s sanitary napkin Modess. When Greg was tapped by J&J, Modess was a "modest" brand, way behind the market-leading brands which were spending millions of pesos in advertising, tapping celebrity endorsers left and right.

"There are basically three things that you have to do if you want to slay a dragon," said Greg. "First, you gotta believe that the dragon can be slain. I was talking to a head of a multinational company whose brand had always played second-fiddle to a dominant brand. He said to me, ‘You know, there’s no way we can topple the top brand. It’s simply too far ahead and they just have way too many resources.’ I was really surprised hearing this from a guy who was leading a company. It’s either he hasn’t been in business that long — or he’s never had that much success in his career. For me, that was a death sentence right there.

"Second, you have to look for the kink in the armor of the dragon. You have to remember that every brand or company has a weak point, no exception. Again, if you don’t believe that, you might as well give up. When slaying a dragon, choose a route or strategy that the leading brand or the company cannot and will not take — either because they’re too big to take that route, or they can’t take that route because they have already chosen another path and can’t go back. Of course, finding what that kink is is another matter altogether. You have to do a lot of research. It’s a lot of hard work.

"Third, you gotta do your homework. At the end of the day, it all boils down to whether your product or service has attributes that the market will go for. Even if you find the kink in the armor of the dragon, if your product is inferior, you won’t get it done."

Greg’s principles sound so basic, it’s amazing how a lot of smaller brands don’t practice these three steps. Most small brands throw in the towel too early and they decide to do either niche marketing or settle on being a small player, which is tragic because the biggest thrill in brand building is challenging the big boys.

"When I was tasked to handle Modess, I told myself, ‘I can beat the market leader,’" recalled Greg. "I started out with some basic research. Based on our market interviews, consumers told us that while the celebrities made the market leader the-top-of-mind brand, they could not relate to the celebrities because they were too unreachable. The relationship between brand and consumer was too impersonal. I realized then that the strength of the market leader was also their weakness. Yes, celebrities provided a bang for the brand — but there was no personal connection. And since a sanitary product is a very personal product, I figured it needed a personal touch. So I used non-celebrities as endorsers. This was a great strategy because cost-wise, it was cheaper. Second, I made our brand more personal to the everyday girl. In fact, the opening line in the ad was something like — ‘Look, I’m not a celebrity, I’m just like you — so I can relate to your problems when it comes to sanitary pads.’ This strategy worked like a charm. In 18 months, Modess became the market leader."

Greg is now giving talks and seminars on the art of dragon-slaying and other great marketing principles. And I’m glad there’s someone doing it. Greg’s principles are very relevant to how we relate to our own country. For centuries, we’ve developed a bad case of inferiority complex as a nation. I think it’s about time we believed in Brand Philippines. I truly believe that if we all stop bad-mouthing our country, we can one day slay the biggest dragon of all — our lack of self-worth. Then, maybe then, we can slay all the other dragons that haunt us.

* * *

Thanks for your letters, folks! E-mail me at rodhnepo@yahoo.com. If you wish to find out more about Greg Banzon’s seminars, e-mail him at ghbanzon@rfm.com.ph.