Rationalizing Best Buy’s Geeksquad — Mike Linton // Ancestry

Marketing is not a democracy. Do not let the C-suite vote on marketing decisions because they'll overvote and change the story faster than a consumer can absorb, and you'll still be responsible. But how do you negotiate for and retain your decision right? If you want to learn about corporate marketing, how to keep your job, how to do a good job, and how to fail, this episode is for you. Listen to Mike Linton, former CMO of Ancestry, as he discusses rationalizing Best Buy's Geek Squad.

About the speaker

Mike Linton

Ancestry

Mike Linton is former CMO at Ancestry

Part 1 Rationalizing Best Buy’s Geeksquad — Mike Linton // Ancestry
Part 2Why the best marketers CMO’ed eBay — Mike Linton // Ancestry

Show Notes

02:26

Marketing is not a democracy; heres why

The most passionate consumers of your marketing are almost always in your company, and they always want to raise a vote on it. And if you let them, it will round off all the edges of the marketing, and it will be inconsistent, but it still will be your responsibility.
03:37

Negotiating for your marketing decision rights

Do not let the C-suite vote on marketing decisions because theyll overvote and change the story faster than a consumer can absorb. And youll still be responsible. Negotiate many decisions upfront and try not to take a job where you dont have control over the final media, creatives, or budget.
07:41

Absorb opinions but retain the rights to the marketing decision

Everyone thinks they know enough about marketing and want to make a point.
08:55

Dont make changes without understanding the problem

Coming on board as a CMO and making swift changes, such as firing the existing agency, sets off the wrong signal and creates the wrong expectations.
12:34

The Geek Squad case study

The idea was that fixing computers and systems in the house would be a big business. And a bunch of us got together and decided there's only room for one company here.
16:30

Whats the value of creative testing before going to the marketplace?

Dont run tests unless you have to else, you wont do anything edgy and hit a breakthrough marketing campaign. But once you put it in the market, you better be measuring it.
18:35

Whats a good amount of time when you know a product is a flop?

Measure and be the first to take out a product when the data shows it's not working. It's why having and keeping marketing decision rights is crucial.

Quotes

"Many companies treat marketing like democracy, and democracy is horrible for marketing. The most passionate consumers of your marketing are almost always in your company, and they always want to raise a vote on it. And if you let them, it will round off all the edges of the marketing, and it will be inconsistent, but it still will be your responsibility." - Mike Linton
"Try not to take a job where you don't have control of the final creative, the final media, the movement of the budget, and also, if it's leveled wrong, you can't take it because then the top levels will make the calls and they will vote, but then you will be held accountable." - Mike Linton
"I negotiate many of the decision rights up front, like who is in charge, and I'll ask for sample decisions. And if I get a lot of wrong answers, this is a job where I will be a team manager, but the company will tell me who I'm playing, and that won't work. You've got to defend those decision rights all the time because once you let people start voting, they will keep voting." - Mike Linton
"So I absorb the opinions but do not let people vote. Because if you allow people to vote, you will get a mishmash of stuff. And also, your job is to represent the consumer, not the company. You're supposed to match the consumer with the company. And often, the company wants certain things or sells things in a way the consumer can't hear. And once you let that happen, you're usually still accountable for sales and profit. If you let other people vote, you will get inconsistent marketplace results." - Mike Linton
"The idea was that fixing computers and systems in the house would be a big business. And a bunch of us got together and decided there's only room for one company here. And if you're first, you will get the bulk of the brand positioning. We went to Best Buy and gave them a safe and aggressive choice to expand it. And they let us make the aggressive choice. And we blew it out in two years." - Mike Linton
"If we could test things like we tested reward zone or eBay bucks at eBay has a loyalty program, we would. There's some stuff where you can't test it. And also, the consumer can't tell you. And also, by testing it, you may ruin it." - Mike Linton
"If you constantly defend your stuff to the max, you will lose your decision rights. People are going to give you rights based on objectivity. And if your team doesn't have it, they will start helping you make decisions. And that's when democracy gets bad for you." - Mike Linton