This week / What’s new? | Why does it matter? | What’s next? | What else? | Quotable | One more thing
This week
Would you rather listen than read? Hit the play button above. ☝🏻
Regular readers might recall that, a couple of weeks ago, I wrote about why April Fools’ pranks are rarely a good idea for corporate brands. I couldn’t dive into this week’s news without first mentioning a development that makes my case stronger still: Volkswagen’s ill-conceived joke has now landed it in hot water with the SEC.
With that gratuitous self-appreciation out of the way, read on to learn why:
① Ill-conceived internal communications can be fatal.
② How you say something is as important as what you say.
③ Internal communications deserve your highest level of attention.
④ Marketing high-risk investments is about to get much harder.
⑤ Brands will depend on digital advertising more than ever.
⑥ CMOs are not immune to the pressures of the pandemic.
⑦ Private equity is opening up to an ever larger pool of investors.
This week / What’s new? / Why does it matter? | What’s next? | What else? | Quotable | One more thing
What’s new?
① On Monday, Basecamp founder and CEO - and hitherto admired company culture pundit and organisational theorist - Jason Fried wrote an internal memo. By Friday, Twitter was awash with Basecamp employees announcing they were resigning in protest and The Verge was reporting that the company had imploded with a third of staff leaving.
In short:
“After a controversial blog post in which CEO Jason Fried outlined Basecamp’s new philosophy that prohibited, among other things, ‘societal and political discussions’ on internal forums, company co-founder David Heinemeier Hansson said the company would offer generous severance packages to anyone who disagreed with the new stance.”
“The original blog post that started the brouhaha at the tiny company with an outsized voice also detailed how Basecamp would do away with ‘paternalistic benefits,’ committees, and would prohibit ‘lingering or dwelling on past decisions.’”
“The initial motivation for the letter stemmed from internal disagreement over a controversial list of ‘funny names’ of Basecamp customers. Several of the names on the list, which resurfaced several times over the years and of which management was well aware, were of Asian or African origin. Employees considered their inclusion inappropriate at best, and racist at worst. Hansson acknowledged the list and tried to move on but employees pressed the issue.”
This week | What’s new? / Why does it matter? / What’s next? | What else? | Quotable | One more thing
Why does it matter?
This story is fascinating for so many reasons: the debate about whether societal and political discussions belong in the workplace; the juxtaposition of staff mutiny with reputations the Basecamp founders had previously enjoyed as champions of liberal and forward-thinking leadership (in a deliciously ironic twist, Fried even wrote one of my favourite management books: It Doesn’t Have to Be Crazy at Work); and the conspiracy theories now surfacing that this exodus was exactly what the machiavellian founders intended all along.
I don’t want to comment on any of that - not least because I’m not clear about where I stand on it all myself - but it is worth noting, purely from a marketing perspective, how poorly handled internal communications can lead to such a very public mess.
② Fried’s memo has been praised and criticised in equal measure. It’s certainly not a bad thing to want your team to be able to focus on work rather than be distracted - if not, made to feel uncomfortable - by political discussions. But one thing almost everyone seems to agree on is that - in places at least - the tone is off. There’s an arrogance and a lack of empathy to the memo that prevents some of his very reasonable ideas landing. How you say something is as important as what you say.
This week | What’s new? | Why does it matter? / What’s next? / What else? | Quotable | One more thing
What’s next?
Take action
③ There are three lessons this debacle brings to mind:
Internal communications deserve attention at the highest level: I’ve written before how important it is to have a communications specialist on your senior leadership team. No matter how gifted a communicator you may be, we all benefit from being edited and advised by a specialist.
There is no such thing as internal communications: Fried and Hansson’s memos were written with an external audience in mind but the company’s internal message board wasn’t. Never write a word that you wouldn’t feel comfortable sharing in the public domain because, sure as night follows day, your internal communications will be leaked externally. Related: when speaking to a journalist, there is no such thing as ‘off the record’.
If you encourage your team to speak up, they will. And they won’t stop: Creating a culture of being vocal and active on societal and political issues - for instance, by doing so very publicly yourself - isn’t something you can later switch off without repercussions.
Get help
I’m currently looking for a full-time, in-house role but in the post-Covid age of depleted marketing budgets and remote teams with skills gaps, many organisations need marketing and communications support that’s agile, flexible, and risk free. That’s why I founded WhatsNext Partners.
Whether it be as a permanent member of your team or with 'on demand' support, let me know if you need my help.
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This week | What’s new? | Why does it matter? | What’s next? / What else? / Quotable | One more thing
What else?
Three other articles that are worthy of your time.
FINANCE
FCA sets out proposals to strengthen financial promotion rules for high-risk investments
④ Marketing high-risk investments is about to get harder. And that’s a good thing.
“The Financial Conduct Authority has published proposals to strengthen its financial promotion rules for high-risk investments because there is a growing trend of retail investors choosing to invest in inappropriate high-risk investments that do not meet their savings goals and investment needs.”
“The three areas of focus are the classification of high-risk investments, the segmentation of the high-risk investment market and the responsibilities of firms which approve financial promotions.”
“The FCA’s classification of investments determines the level of marketing restrictions that applies to that investment. It is concerned that despite its existing marketing restrictions, too many consumers are still investing in inappropriate high-risk investments which do not meet their needs.”
TECHNOLOGY
Big Tech’s surging growth stuns Wall Street
⑤ Brands will depend on digital advertising more than ever because we’re all addicted to our screens.
“Big Tech reported a surge in growth and profits, delivering powerful evidence that the digital dependence forced on a large part of the world’s population over the past year could have an enduring effect.”
“The leading digital powers have consolidated their gains from the past 12 months and made themselves an even more indispensable part of work and personal life. Big Tech is poised to lead the way out of recession, as consumer and business activity surges across their digital platforms.”
“Consumers once valued choice, but what they value now is dependability. That has led them to concentrate more of their attention and spending on a handful of familiar, easy-to-use platforms like the iPhone, Google’s search engine and Instagram.”
MEDIA & MARKETING
CMO tenure slips to just 40 months – the lowest average since 2009
⑥ CMOs are not immune to the pressures of the pandemic, while CEOs seem to be.
“The average tenure of a chief marketing officer at 100 of the top US ad spenders fell to 40 months last year, down from 41 in the year before and the lowest average since 2009.”
“There is a growing divergence in tenure duration between chief marketing officers and chief executive officers, with tenure time for the latter reaching an all-time high of 80 months. The findings are particularly striking as historically both roles have broadly tracked each other.”
“63% of respondents promoted internal candidates for open chief marketing officers positions in 2020, rising to 84% among first-time chief marketing officers.”
This week | What’s new? | Why does it matter? | What’s next? | What else? / Quotable / One more thing
Quotable
Martin Bamford, chief executive of marketing agency Bear Content and a fellow of the Personal Finance Society, on Standard Life Aberdeen’s rebranding to Abrdn:
“Up there with the most calamitous corporate rebrands in history. A poorly executed attempt to seek relevance with a digital-first audience.”
This week | What’s new? | Why does it matter? | What’s next? | What else? | Quotable / One more thing
One more thing…
⑦ As the Marketing guy, my job is often about getting my colleagues into the press. So, there’s a frisson of excitement when it’s my name on the byline for once. This week, I wrote a piece for Spear’s Magazine about how private equity is opening up to an ever larger pool of investors.
Off cuts
The stories that almost made it into this week’s newsletter:
🚀 Monday: How CMOs can keep marketing organisations agile in changing times
🤑 Monday: JPMorgan to let clients invest in Bitcoin fund for first time
🙀 Monday: A dangerous time to get caught up in the fintech frenzy
🕵🏻♂️ Tuesday: WPP creates new data unit amid ongoing privacy crackdown
⁉️ Tuesday: Are fintech’s best days behind it?
👨🏻💻 Tuesday: UBS promotes tech boss to top management
📲 Thursday: Revolut’s ‘super app’ gets an update
📰 Thursday: Why every adviser firm needs to think like a media company
Bedlam at Basecamp