“Discuss the role of
diversity inside your marketing
department and in your
marketing strategies.”
Annica Kreider
VP of Brand Development
Mellow Mushroom
Marketing to a diverse
consumer base is
something we not only
discuss often among
our team, but something we also embrace
internally from a talent management standpoint. From a
leadership perspective I’m a huge believer in having a very diverse team in
terms of demographics, psychographics, and lifestyle. If everyone on a team
looks alike, dresses alike, and does the
same things on the weekend, you’re
really missing the boat in terms of creativity and brand advancement.
With most elements of our creative
we like to push the envelope and be as
provocative, interesting, and engaging
as we can. This is particularly true of
the digital space. Our team creates a
lot of original art exclusively for digital
consumer engagement. At our biweekly
editorial meetings we have some very
lively discussions about what the art and
messaging might look like in an email
message, for example. The individual
diversity that our team possesses has
really allowed us all to free our minds
a bit and see unique perspectives on
how the message we want to give the
consumer may end up being designed
and articulated.
We also have a great diversity of
backgrounds and core competencies
within our brand development team.
Some of our team members came from
traditional franchised restaurant marketing backgrounds, some started out
as servers and advanced through the
ranks of our company, some came from
restaurant operations, and others came
from government entities or large retailers. This diversity of workplace experience allows us to capitalize on best
practices. Sometimes as marketers we
tend to breathe our own fumes in terms
of how we think consumers view our
brands. It’s important to do anything
you can to open your perspectives.
In regards to consumer marketing,
diversity is really the name of the game
for our brand. We are a purposefully
unique brand, with no two locations
having the same exterior signage, interior design, or décor package. We
are also able to be successful in a wide
variety of environments ranging from
urban to suburban, big city or small
town, and everything in between. We
have some great demographic reporting
about the consumers surrounding our
restaurants that allow us to really hone
in on what the most common lifestyle
attributes are for the guests of a specific
restaurant. We approach almost all of
our marketing on a community-based
level, so our target can be almost anywhere on the spectrum of demographic
attributes, depending on the location.
Stacy L. Anderson
Chief Marketing Officer
Anytime Fitness & Waxing the City
As a global franchisor
operating in more
than 15 countries, embracing diversity in
the marketplace isn’t
a choice for us, it’s a
must. Simply put, developing offerings sought after by more
people, both domestically and abroad,
equals more opportunity to grow. With
20 percent of our clubs located outside
North America and the greater part of
our growth coming internationally over
the next 5 years, developing marketing
strategies that are relevant and compelling to a wide array of cultures and
communities is critical to our long-term
success.
To capture the revenue opportunity
the complex global marketplace provides,
we ground our marketing strategies
in basic human truths that go beyond
borders, demographics, and language,
such as: All people seek to have personal
connections with other people; Everyone wants their lives to be made easier/
better; and Physical health is deeply
connected to one’s self-esteem. Those
insights help us align worldwide on the
role we can play in people’s lives, both
for consumers and franchisees.
But aligning on those global truths
is only part of the equation. Bringing
those strategies to life in a way that
takes into account local values and lifestyles is even more important. To that
end, we take a truly “glocal” approach
to marketing, standardizing wherever
possible, localizing whenever necessary.
We are doing this by providing our incountry marketers flexible tools that
allow them to reap the efficiencies of
the global insight framework, but adapt
to their own marketplace.
As we launch our new franchise concept, Waxing the City, cultural norms
and ethnicity will play an even more
important role in our marketing strategies. Understanding and developing
services that cater to the specific needs
of those markets will be paramount.
So how does a compa ny with roots
in rural Minnesota stay relevant to the
diverse communities we serve? It’s because our company is founded on the
core value that diverse opinions and
richness of perspective lead to better
business. In fact, the majority of our
executive and marketing teams is made
up of women, a rarity in franchising. We
employ Millennials, Boomers, veterans,
LGBT, franchise experts, and those
who bring retail, services, and countless other experiences to the table. But
most important is employing people
who are curious about other people,
dedicated to understanding each person’s individual journey. n
Franchiseupdate I S S U E I , 2014
Grow Market Lead
CMO
roundtable:
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