If only we'd studied our target customers better

[Lanya]

What Went Wrong In Iraq?  We Just Didn't Sell It Right
by BarbinMD
Sat Jul 21, 2007 at 02:55:51 AM PDT

After more than four years, with hundreds of thousands of people dead or maimed, and hundreds of billions of dollars spent, the Bush administration has finally figured out why we weren't greeted as liberators in Iraq.  And boy, this is embarrassing.  It turns out that our "show of force" brand identity has, "limited appeal to Iraqi consumers."  And no, you haven't inadvertently been redirected to The Onion. 

    The key to boosting the image and effectiveness of U.S. military operations around the world involves "shaping" both the product and the marketplace, and then establishing a brand identity that places what you are selling in a positive light, said clinical psychologist Todd C. Helmus, the author of "Enlisting Madison Avenue: The Marketing Approach to Earning Popular Support in Theaters of Operation." The 211-page study, for which the U.S. Joint Forces Command paid the Rand Corp. $400,000, was released this week.

If there ever was a time to say, "You can't make this shit up," this is it. 

    While not abandoning the more aggressive elements of warfare, the report suggested, a more attractive brand for the Iraqi people might have been "We will help you."  [...]

    In an urban insurgency, for example, civilians can help identify enemy infiltrators and otherwise assist U.S. forces. They are less likely to help, the study says, when they become "collateral damage" in U.S. attacks, have their doors broken down or are shot at checkpoints because they do not speak English.  Cultural connections -- seeking out the local head man when entering a neighborhood, looking someone in the eye when offering a friendly wave -- are key.

Yes, it is key to offer a friendly wave before you kick down their door or accidentally blow them up. 

And it turns out that many of the problems we have faced in Iraq could have all been avoided had we adopted the Walmart way of doing business:  knowing our customers and giving them what they want.  Or as the study put it...and I'm not making this up..."understanding the target customer." Perhaps they should have used a different word than target, eh?  It gets better:

    The most successful companies, the Rand study notes, are those that study their clientele and shape their workplace and product in ways that incorporate their brand into every interaction with consumers.

You just don't know if you should laugh or cry. 

www.dailykos.com

[BT]

The Rand Study makes sense.

Have a Coke and a Smile!

[BT]

Come to think about it.

Imagine how much further along the Green Movement would be if they hadn't adopted a hair shirt, us against them approach to selling their ideas.

[Universe Prince]

You can laugh at the language, but the criticism the study makes is not wrong. If we had understood the people and the situation better before we went in, the results would be much better for us and for Iraq.

[sirs]

You can laugh at the language, but the criticism the study makes is not wrong. If we had understood the people and the situation better before we went in, the results would be much better for us and for Iraq.

Still waiting for a cogent arguement of how to "understand terrorists"     

[Universe Prince]

I didn't say "understand terrorists".

[The_Professor]

It IS apparent that somewhere down the line the initial support of "America got rid of our oppressive dictator" evolved into a "America is an occupying foreign power" mantra. It might be interesting to discover all the nuances of this event so we may learn from it.

[Lanya]

Prince: <<You can laugh at the language, but the criticism the study makes is not wrong. If we had understood the people and the situation better before we went in, the results would be much better for us and for Iraq..>>

I agree, I agree.  But at this late date, with so many dead and maimed....it's a little late.

[yellow_crane]

Come to think about it.

Imagine how much further along the Green Movement would be if they hadn't adopted a hair shirt, us against them approach to selling their ideas.

Sell, shit.


"On issues like war crimes, torture, toxic dumping and stifling freedom of speech, corporations like Coca Cola, Chevron, and Philip Morris are way out ahead of the rest.

Corporations carry out some of the most horrific human rights abuses of modern times, but it has become increasingly difficult to hold them to account.  Economic globalization and the rise to transnational corporate power have created a favorable climate for corporate human rights abusers, which are governed principly by the codes of supply and demand and show genuine loyalty only to their stockholders."

The l4 Worst Corporate Evil Doers

http://www.alternet.org/story/29337/

[BT]

Sell, shit.

You deflect my point.

Think how many people would be less adverse to trading in their SUV for a vehicle with higher mpg, because it made economic sense , instead of resisting the idea because some fern bar cafe latte swiller decided the best way to clean the planet was to demonize SUV drivers.

The secret to sales is making the customer believe the purchase is in their best interest and confirming what a good idea it was of theirs to buy.

Putting a potential customer on the defensive is not going to close many deals.

[yellow_crane]

Sell, shit.

You deflect my point.

Think how many people would be less adverse to trading in their SUV for a vehicle with higher mpg, because it made economic sense , instead of resisting the idea because some fern bar cafe latte swiller decided the best way to clean the planet was to demonize SUV drivers.

The secret to sales is making the customer believe the purchase is in their best interest and confirming what a good idea it was of theirs to buy.

Putting a potential customer on the defensive is not going to close many deals.

Talk about 'avoiding being put on the defensive.'

Once, while young and on the road, I sold cable tv subscriptions in Austin.

While others kept checking their tie, and took the company grinning lessons, I took to the alleys, dressed down, bought a tool belt, and knocked on the back doors.  Told em this was their last chance to avoid a cable salesman. 

Worked so well I won the weekend.






 

[BT]

Told em this was their last chance to avoid a cable salesman.

Nice pitch, no wonder you won the weekend.

[BT]

Excerpted from It?s Time for Action by Eleanor Clift


Democrats needed to do something dramatic, even histrionic, to dispel the perception they are powerless to stop the war, even if they are. They?re keeping the heat on, and that?s a good thing. GOP leader Mitch McConnell, outraged at the sleepover stunt, cited a Zogby poll taken before this week?s Senate action that found voters? approval for the Democratic Congress has dropped to 14 percent?evidence to McConnell that the Democrats? strategy is failing. Pollster John Zogby questions this interpretation, saying that Congress never does well no matter who?s in charge, and in post-Katrina America, government institutions are at a low point. Liberals in particular rate this Congress very low because of the war, which is why the least the Senate could do is pull an all-nighter. ?I see this not as a stroke of desperation but something they have to do,? Zogby told NEWSWEEK. ?They have to keep trying to end the war. They can?t be seen as throwing their arms up in the air and saying it?s impossible, or they?ll get these kind of numbers.?

By cutting off the debate and pulling the bill, the Democrats denied the Republicans the chance to vote on more moderate amendments that would have given them political cover with voters while doing nothing to end the war. The antiwar wing of the party doesn?t like compromise, so they applauded the decision to put off further action until September. ?Now the ball?s in our court,? says Tom Matzzie, Washington director for MoveOn.org, one of several groups organizing antiwar campaigns in the home states of wavering Republicans. Matzzie talks regularly with Vietnam War activist Tom Hayden to get his thoughts about how to proceed, and how to avoid pitfalls. Hayden warned that the White House will try to divide the critics, and so Matzzie and others have worked hard to keep Senate Democrats unified. And they?ve countered White House efforts to demonize critics by putting Iraq veterans and military families in the forefront of demonstrations instead of liberal activists.

Sounds like niche marketing to me.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19875084/site/newsweek/

[fatman]

By cutting off the debate and pulling the bill, the Democrats denied the Republicans the chance to vote on more moderate amendments that would have given them political cover with voters while doing nothing to end the war. The antiwar wing of the party doesn?t like compromise, so they applauded the decision to put off further action until September.

Compromise is going to be needed in the months ahead, whether to end the war or to further it.

Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don't stand in the doorway
Don't block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There's a battle outside
And it is ragin'.
It'll soon shake your windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin'.

Sounds like niche marketing to me.

Possibly, but niche marketing has its place in the scheme of things too.

[BT]

Possibly, but niche marketing has its place in the scheme of things too.

My point, exactly.