Greg Hrinya, Associate Editor03.16.15
Jim Stengel, former global marketing officer with Procter & Gamble, gave a keynote presentation on the opening day of DscoopX, March 5, 2015, in Washington, DC, USA. For the third year in a row, the Digital Solutions Cooperative (Dscoop), the association of HP Indigo technology users as well as brand owners, welcomed over 2,000 attendees as the conference and exhibition celebrated its 10th anniversary.
John Rogers, Dscoop global executive director, and Jay Dollries, president of Innovative Label Solutions, preceded Stengel and introduced DscoopX.
“We’ve done a couple things here – a packaging renaissance and brand event,” said Rogers. “It’s really exciting stuff. We’ve always had label and packaging as part of our offering. What we felt, because it’s growing so rapidly, we wanted to engage to a greater degree, so on the front end of Dscoop, we’ve put a lot of focus on label and packaging. And we want to educate brands on the power of digital printing and what it can do for them.”
According to Rogers, DscoopX had the largest HP presence to date. At least 50 new applications or products were launched, and 116 partners participated in the Solutions Showcase – the exhibition portion of Dscoop. The showcase affords companies the opportunity to network while promoting and demonstrating their products and equipment. Of the companies participating in the showcase, 20 were first-time exhibitors.
Upon taking the stage, Stengel discussed different ways for industry professionals to enhance their brand in his presentation titled, “Leading a Growth Culture.” Over 250 people from 41 countries around the world joined members of Dscoop and various attendees for Stengel’s presentation. In addition to his work with Procter & Gamble, Stengel has served on the boards of AOL and Motorola Mobility and as an adjunct professor of marketing at the UCLA Anderson School of Management.
Stengel highlighted two philosophies that can help brands take that next step in their business. He believes all brands need to experience an “AHA!” moment, an acronym designed to enhance a brand’s profile.
AHA! stands for ambition (A), humanity (H), always on (A), and organization energy (!). To illustrate ambition, Stengel showed a video from the headphones company Beats By Dre. Apple acquired the business for $3 billion, and the video looked at LeBron James’ training regimen to display the company’s marketing philosophy: “Help people get ready for their big game in life.”
Beats By Dre also has a 61% market share. Stengel said, “Great brands today have an ambitious purpose. It’s inspiring to people, it engages people and it makes a difference in the lives of the people they serve. These brands ask these kinds of questions of themselves and of each other.”
To illustrate humanity, Stengel showed how people and brands connect from all over the globe using Skype. The company’s advertisement featured two girls with similar backgrounds from different parts of the world that became best friends while never having met. Skype captured their first meeting and used that emotional experience to resonate with the human element.
“This idea of stepping into someone else’s skin and shoes and walking in their shoes and bringing that back into your organization is really, really powerful,” explained Stengel. “Empathy is a core value of the businesses that are winning.”
Being “always on” is a way to break barriers and always be there for a client, 24 hours a day and seven days a week. Organizations must then have the energy to accomplish all three phases of their re-brand. “This is where I think successful brand-building is going, a sense of AHA,” said Stengel.
Stengel’s second acronym revolved around a “SPINE” framework. This theory utilizes letters from the words in: “It’s simple, but it’s not easy.” Businesses need to be willing to internalize, inspire, and implement in order to change their institutional philosophy.
For example, CVS re-branded as “CVS Healthy,” which included the elimination of cigarette sales. The campaign featured people taking deep breaths and breathing fresher air and how CVS wanted to be a part of that movement. With the SPINE framework, CVS had to display passion and make people believe in its vision.
Stengel presented a video from Dr. Brene Brown which showed how she views vulnerability and weakness in a organization’s willingness to change. “Vulnerability is not weakness,” said Brown. “I define vulnerability as emotional risk, exposure, uncertainty; it fuels our daily lives. Vulnerability is our most accurate measure of courage.”
Businesses then need to make a better use of their time in order to accomplish a turnaround. “How we spend our time is our most precious thing,” said Stengel. “It says everything about us and what we value.”
In addition to Stengel’s keynote presentation, Jay Dollries announced this year’s winners of Dscoop awards:
Rod Key Marketing Excellence Award: Nosco
Top Contributor: Chris Reine, Franklin Press
Jack Glacken Award: Susan Moore
For more pictures of the event, click here to view the slideshow.