For the past 15 years, I have relied on Debbie Laskey's Blog for expert leadership guidance and always interesting insights into marketing best practices and recaps of marketing trends.
Fortunately, through the years, Debbie has also shared her expertise through a variety of postings on my blog and I'm honored again today to feature Debbie via the following Q&A's:
Question: What inspired you to become so passionate about marketing?
DEBBIE LASKEY: When I started graduate school, I thought I would travel the typical MBA journey by studying finance, management, and organizational behavior. However, from the first moment in my first marketing course, I found my calling.
My assignment was to choose a product or service in order to write a classic 30-page marketing plan. I considered a famous retailer (Nordstrom) and the city of San Francisco, but I wanted to make substantive recommendations upon the completion of the project, so I chose EuroDisney, because at the time (1994), there were rumors that the French theme park would file for bankruptcy.
Long story short, I sent my final marketing plan at the end of the semester-long course to a VP of Communications at Disney (in Burbank, California) who then sent it to the President of Disneyland Paris (EuroDisney had changed its name) in France, and I was offered a summer internship in the Consumer Marketing Department at Disneyland Paris in Marne-la-Vallee, a suburb of Paris, France.
I spent the summer of 1995 touring theme parks in Europe and wrote a competitive analysis of the European theme park industry. So, I learned how to view the world through marketing-tinted glasses - and learned how from one of the most famous brands in the world.
Question: What company brands impress you the most, and why?
DEBBIE LASKEY: Here are five:
(1) Called the "Buy-One Give-One" social entrepreneurship model because it was developed by Blake Mycoskie of TOMS Shoes, this brand is impressive because for every pair of shoes sold, the company donates a pair of shoes to a child in a developing country.
(2) There's the Monopoly game by Hasbro. According to Wikipedia, "Monopoly is a multiplayer economics-themed board game. In the game, players roll two dice to move around the game board, buying and trading properties and developing them with houses and hotels. Players collect rent from their opponents and aim to drive them into bankruptcy. Money can also be gained or lost through Chance and Community Chest cards and tax squares. Players receive a salary every time they pass "Go" and can end up in jail, from which they cannot move until they have met one of three conditions.
House rules, hundreds of different editions, many spin-offs, and related media exist. Monopoly has become a part of international popular culture, having been licensed locally in more than 113 countries, and printed in more than 46 languages.
As of 2015, it was estimated that the game had sold 275 million copies worldwide...Monopoly is derived from The Landlord's Game, created in 1903 in the United States...Parker Brothers first published Monopoly in 1935, and Parker Brothers was eventually absorbed into Hasbro in 1991. The game is named after the economic concept of a monopoly—the domination of a market by a single entity."
What makes the game of Monopoly such an impressive brand to me is that it has stood the test of time, nearly 100 years old - and has many co-branded versions including Barbie, NBA, Super Mario, Star Wars, Pokemon, Harry Potter, Wicked (the 2024 movie), Marvel, Indiana Jones, Dungeons & Dragons, and Disney's Mickey Mouse and Friends - just to name the ones currently listed on the brand's website.
(3) There's Southwest Airlines. While known as a low-cost, no-frills airline, the company's employees understand that they are in "the customer service business and just happen to provide airline transportation."
Here's one example: In 2018, when deplaning, a young girl passenger with Down syndrome told a flight attendant that it was her lifelong dream to be a flight attendant. The Southwest employee made some phone calls to get the girl on another flight and have her work alongside her as an "assistant flight attendant."
(4) There's Barbie by Mattel, possibly the first brand I realized was important during my childhood (I had several Barbie dolls, Ken, Barbie's sister Skipper, Barbie's airplane, Barbie's camper, and her Dreamhouse).
Introduced in 1959, the Barbie doll owes its success to adapting to the ever-changing markets of various cultures and countries by launching Barbie dolls of shapes, colors, and sizes, and customization to the inhabitants of certain regions. Because Barbie has often been criticized for representing an unattainable beauty ideal for girls and women, the doll has evolved both in style and shape over the years. Since her inception, she has had 200 different careers. Around the world, a Barbie doll is sold every three seconds, and March 9th is celebrated annually as National Barbie Day.
The brand also honors pioneering women from throughout history. According to Mattel, "Barbie recognizes all female role models. The Inspiring Women Series pays tribute to the incredible heroines of their time; courageous women who took risks, changed rules, and paved the way for generations of girls to dream bigger than ever before." Some of the individuals who have recently been honored with Barbie dolls include Olympic gold medalist Kristi Yamaguchi; EGOT winner Rita Moreno; singers Stevie Nicks, Gloria Estefan, and Tina Turner; designer Vera Wang; wildlife conservationist and chimpanzee expert Dr. Jane Goodall; and Queen Elizabeth II.
(5) And lastly, there's Ritz-Carlton, a hotel chain known for excellent customer service, and as Chris Hurn explained in 2012, "Many companies mimic its training programs, and one often hears executives saying they want to be known as the 'Ritz-Carlton' of their respective industry, be it a law firm, car dealership, or plumbing supplier." I've been a guest at Ritz-Carlton and agree that attention to detail is omnipresent for this brand.
Customer experience expert Bill Quiseng told the story best, "A young boy lost Joshie, his plush giraffe (stuffed animal toy) while vacationing at The Ritz-Carlton Amelia Island in Florida. When the Loss Prevention team found the stuffed animal, the Ladies and Gentlemen of The Ritz-Carlton created a scrapbook of Joshie's extended vacation sunbathing in a chaise lounge, getting a massage in the spa, driving a golf cart, and even working a shift in the Loss Prevention department."
Read the first part of Joshie the Giraffe's story.
Question: How does a leader impact a company's culture? And how do both impact the brand?
DEBBIE LASKEY: A leader, whether president or CEO or another title, is the sole person to create, determine, and manage a company's corporate culture. At the end of the day, the culture is defined by this individual. If he/she/they want a happy workplace, a workplace where questions and feedback are truly welcome, and a workplace where employees do their best work, it all depends on the actions of the person at the top of the food chain. That is the person who sets an example, parks in any parking space—not the one closest to the front door and takes the time to get to know and talk with employees on a consistent basis.
Once the culture has been defined, the brand is a reflection of that culture. Think of Southwest Airlines. Founder and former CEO Herb Kelleher explained what made Southwest stand apart, "Our competitors can get all the hardware. I mean, Boeing will sell them the planes. But it's the software, so to speak—the people—that's hard to imitate."
Southwest's employees wear colorful uniforms, feature smiles as an important piece of their uniforms, and make every effort to make flying a fun experience. It doesn't hurt that Southwest's ads are funny too, "Bags fly free." Can every airline brand be Southwest? The answer is a resounding NO. And here's my example: I flew south from Oakland to Los Angeles after the Raiders won the Super Bowl as the team from Los Angeles, and upon landing in LA, the flight attendant said, "Welcome to Los Angeles, the home of the world champion Oakland Raiders." She was obviously an Oakland Raiders fan, so that was funny.
Question: If you could lead a company, which would it be, and why?
DEBBIE LASKEY: Here are three:
Since reading is a lifelong hobby, and I also love cats and dogs, my dream is to create a bookstore/cafe that doubles as a place with many inside rooms and acres of land for cats and dogs to roam safely so that people could read books, drink coffee, and meet pets to foster and/or adopt. I would call the enterprise "Words, Woofs & Meows."
Since reading is a passion, I would definitely consider being the leader of a book publisher to make an impact on publishing, such as Penguin Books/Random House, Simon and Schuster, or Harper Collins. Of course, it might also be fun to be the leader of Barnes & Noble, since that brand is enjoying an impressive post-covid turnaround, and it would be amazing to be able to determine which books are given window promotional exposure not to mention front-of-store shelf space.
Lastly, since my great-grandmother marched for women's suffrage in New York in the years leading up to the passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920, and I strongly believe that all citizens have a responsibility to vote, I would welcome the opportunity to lead the League of Women Voters of the United States (LWVUS) to promote the importance of voting because "your vote is your voice" and "your vote is your legacy."
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Debbie Laskey has 25 years of marketing experience and an MBA Degree. She developed her marketing expertise while working in the high-tech industry, the Consumer Marketing Department at Disneyland Paris in France, the nonprofit arena, and financial services and insurance sectors.
Her expertise includes brand
marketing, social media, employee engagement, leadership development, and
customer experience marketing. She is a regular contributor to several national
blogs that provide insights about marketing and leadership, and she's been
recognized as one of the "Top 50 Branding Experts" to follow on
Twitter/X at @DebbieLaskeyMBA. Visit her website at www.BrandingAndMore.net and
her blog at www.DebbieLaskeysBlog.com.
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