Are we crazy?

By 2027, 75% of the companies currently quoted on the S&P 500 will have disappeared. It’s time to start reinventing

Way back in early in 2018, I was on a flight and endeavoring to write a keynote speech about the evolving customer and how leaders and brands are struggling to maintain the pace. Fast forward to today, and nothing has changed - perhaps we have gone backward.

My time at Amazon taught me that innovation and change come from a brute focus on customer obsession. In fact, I believe that Amazon's growth comes down to their Purpose or Conviction Statement: The Earth’s Most Customer-Obsessed Company. (Even though Jeff Bezos said that; 'Despite Amazon’s seemingly unstoppable growth at the moment, one day the nearly $1 trillion retail empire could fall apart.' But that's a story for another day.)

Is it ever a good time to change direction?

Put it this way…..

If you’re not changing and innovating, you’re standing still.

And if you’re standing still and the customer is moving forward, you’re going backward.

The average life-span of companies listed in Standard & Poor's 500 was 61 years in 1958. Today, it is about 12 years. And by 2027, 75% of the companies currently quoted on the S&P 500 will have disappeared.

How’s that for a slap-in-the-face wake-up? And scraping in at #500 on the lit worth $4.51 billion is Xerox (founded 1906). My gut says smaller companies will hang around even less.

Many brands and thus, their advertising agencies, spend too much time focusing on their products and services, rather than their customers and staff - and reinventing themselves for those customers.

This is the 'sell' approach. It’s far too obvious, benign and linear. I made the decision to go another route and lead clients and leadership towards deeper personnel/team and customer experiences and to help them migrate away from the 'sell'.

“STOP SELLING.”

Are you crazy? (This is a question that I am often asked.)

Yes! The learning curves at Amazon were the steepest I have ever had. Change takes time and I have had several long stints in my career because I know it takes time to impact large companies. 

The issue is: Many ‘Leaders’ manage what they have as opposed to looking forward and growing. It’s pretty sad really. Then they get stuck in a rut, and then that rut gets deep and the company sinks.

Why it is important

The term Product Marketing should disappear and become Customer Marketing. We need to lose the gloom and move forward. And since I love to create content and I believe that traditional marketing is going to be significantly less important in the future compared to the development of content and next-gen storytelling, it seemed obvious to put the above two points together. 

Time will tell.

But I'll leave you with one important point: to Grow you need to put people first, and your strategy and product second.