How to innovate faster by focusing on your end-users. Peter Thomson on brand strategy and social media.

1. EXECUTION
EATS
STRATEGY
FOR
BREAKFAST
HOW TO GROW YOUR BRAND BY DELIVERING WHEN IT COUNTS
@peterjthomson
2011, London
Peter Thomson

2. LAST MILE
The last mile is the final step in a supply
chain. It’s when the rubber hits the road.
Where you have to deliver every time.
Peter Thomson

3. LAST MILE
Example: Even if the entire grid is intact,
the loss of the last mile that leads to
your house will take out the power.
Peter Thomson

4. CHANNELS TO MARKET
If you can’t get your product to market
then no-one can buy it. Your channels
to market are so important that
sometimes you need to take matters
into your own hands.
Peter Thomson

5. CHANNELS TO MARKET
Example: Vibram were simply a rubber
sole maker until the shoe companies
refused to use their new toe-shaped
soles. They took the risk to create the
product themselves. Now Fivefingers
is a global consumer brand.
Peter Thomson

6. DECISION POINT
You need to win at the point where the
decision is made. Everything else leads
up to or follows on from this moment.
Peter Thomson

7. DECISION POINT
Example: Having come hundreds of
miles to the store, your breakfast cereal
simply needs to be picked from the
shelf. Everything is geared to that
moment.
Peter Thomson

8. MOMENT OF TRUTH
Every product has a moment of
purchase and a moment of use.
You need to win at both of these
touchpoints.
Peter Thomson

9. MOMENT OF TRUTH
Example: Apple streamline the
in-store point of sale by making it
mobile and instant. This blends with the
products to create a total experience.
Peter Thomson

10. VALUE CHAIN
You are part of an end-to-end chain of
events. Each incremental step adds
value to the final moment of use.
Peter Thomson

11. VALUE CHAIN
Example: From the fishing boat maker
and crab fisherman, to Chef Heston
Blumenthal and retailer Waitrose.
Each step adds value to a branded
ready-to-eat risotto.
Peter Thomson

12. LONG CHAIN
You need to take responsibility for how
every step adds value to the final
moment of use.
Peter Thomson

13. LONG CHAIN
Example: When you purchase a can of
coke a computer system sends a
cascade of re-stocking orders that
result in mining more bauxite for a
replacement can.
Peter Thomson

14. USER CENTRED
Whatever product you make, eventually
someone will use it. That user is a
human being with wants, needs
and fears.
Peter Thomson

15. USER CENTRED
Example: Multi-million dollar industrial
equipment can be rendered almost
useless by a hard to use interface.
Peter Thomson

16. WIDGETS
Whatever product you think you sell,
you are really selling the experience of
using your product.
Peter Thomson

17. WIDGETS
Example: Fred Perry don’t sell
t-shirts. They sell sunny sunday
afternoons playing tennis in the
park with your friends.
Peter Thomson

18. AUDIENCE
Every product has an archetypal
consumer. The embodiment of your
audience. Know their geography,
identity and aspirations.
Peter Thomson

19. AUDIENCE
Example: BMW sell freedom to a 38 year
old accountant from suburban Essex
who wishes he was a nightclub
promoter or a secret agent.
Peter Thomson

20. REAL STORIES
People are more influenced by editorial
reviews, peer testimonials and even
celebrity endorsements than any other
brand factors.
Peter Thomson

21. REAL STORIES
Example: Red Bull uses sponsored
athletes to create ambassadors that
convey the Red Bull attitude better than
any advertisement
Peter Thomson

22. EXECUTE
Even with the best of strategic
intentions, you will ultimately be judged
by what you can execute and deliver for
your end-users.
Peter Thomson

23. DELIVER
‘Execution eats strategy
for breakfast.’ - Peter Thomson
Peter Thomson

24. NEXT STEPS
1. Deliver on the last mile
2. Manage your channels to market
3. Win the decision at point of sale
4. Smooth out the purchasing experience
5. Find out about the rest of your value chain
6. Manage the value that each step adds
7. Obsess over the end user
8. Sell the experience not the widget
9. Know your audience
10.Tell real stories
Peter Thomson

25. NOTES
All images are copyright by their original owners. Use in this presentation does not assert any copyright over the
images. If you wish to use any images for commercial purposes you should seek permission from the original
owners listed below.
Cover: www.flickr.com/photos/tavopp
Power lines: www.flickr.com/photos/noonebutme
Vibram Fivefingers: www.vibramfivefingers.com
Supermarket Aisle: www.flickr.com/photos/tomms
Apple store payments: www.tigerlim.com
Heston Blumenthal: www.waitrose.com
Aluminium can: www.jobwerx.com
Machinery keyboard: www.ceratek.co.uk
Fred Perry: www.fredperry.com
BMW australia: www.ausmotive.com
Red Bull: www.infinitipress.eu
Credits: www.flickr.com/photos/professorcooper
Back cover: www.flickr.com/photos/peteranderson
The contents of this presentation itself are copyright 2011 with a creative commons attribution & share-alike license.
I’m granting you the rights to use the material in a wide range of ways because I believe in spreading the cause.
Peter Thomson

26. ABOUT
Twitter: @peterjthomson
Web: www.peterjthomson.com
Blog: www.economicsofinnovation.org
Peter Thomson