I have long been a believer in the parallels of war and marketing and am in no doubt that there is much that marketers can learn from the discipline of warfare. What made Sun Tzu special was that he used common sense and applied this to his daily life and also chronicled these seemingly obvious formulae. Too often marketers get caught up in the rigors of daily life, office politics and planning to sometimes see the woods from the trees. Also, it is not surprising that many are reluctant to apply common sense to what seems like complicated problems and intricate situations.
As Sun Tzu seems to imply, we need to simplify our thinking: "If the enemy has a strong position, entice him away from it. If the enemy is confused be decisive. If the enemy is solid, prepare against him. If the enemy is superior, avoid him. If the enemy is angry, irritate him. If the enemy is strong, pretend to be weak so that he may grow arrogant. If the enemy is relaxed, make him work. If the enemy is united, break him apart. Attack him when he is unprepared. Leave him when he least expects it."
Sun Tzu outlines the importance and steps necessary to plan for war, how to engage the enemy and why, and the importance of avoiding a prolonged battle. Such decisive action is often obvious only in hindsight with some notable examples of the likes of Coca Cola's recovery and three month turnaround with the introduction of their Classic version in response to the public furor over the launch of New Coke in the 1980s.
The importance of having a well founded and thought through strategy is demonstrated by Sun Tzu and whilst this may seem obvious, there are plenty of examples by major brands like Audi, AT&T and Tylenol of why this is so important but so often not done. One fine example of where one local company did this well was how Pick n Pay and Sean Summers in particular, handled their product tampering scare.
So little time is spent by most companies on the importance of discipline, motivation and their company values, yet this is an area where Sun Tzu pays particular attention. Interestingly it seems that this key area of business management is receiving increasing attention by senior executives and this focus is being rewarded, as witnessed only a few weekends ago in the UK when the Sunday Times published their annual survey on which companies and business leaders were the most favored places and people to work for and the resultant business outputs.
Sun Tzu also gives marketers insight to the importance of maneuvering, the value of being tactical of mind and foot and the significance of knowing the terrain on which you are traveling. Brands like Apple, Disney, Virgin, Absolut and the Body Shop are good examples of companies who are well attuned to these disciplines. Each time they have encountered problems it has been because their management have failed to observe and properly consider these areas.
But perhaps the most entertaining area that Sun Tzu focuses on is how to attack by fire and the importance of using spies. To interpret these guidelines into modern day marketing warfare you will need to apply some creative thinking or face the consequences of the law! Certainly companies today have enough sources of market intelligence at their disposal to anticipate their competitors but do they use it properly or simply review the information every so often? The chances are that most don't use this information to its full potential and neither do they know how to use fire to disrupt their competitors' camp. As long as they don't, there will always be a need for marketing and brand consultants, so I guess I should be grateful for this at least.
