In my opinion in order to sell a product the people working for the product must experience it and sell it within themselves. Belief in your product is one of the most powerful selling tools.

The company needs to build a culture around the Hunsk through employees field trips and probably some kind of racing activities within these trips. This will start creating a common culture within the company and Hunsk will gain back its glory, at least in the eyes of the employees at the beginning. That will sell later on.

I disagree not having to wear helmets, because you don't need to risk your life to boost adrenalin up, or to act masculine or to feel like a the lone ranger. (Look at the professional racing, they all wear helmets and its a great experience)

I sincerely believe that the employees should live and breathe the brand, the brand should no doubt be the in the blood of every employee.
The employee should love the product, which he is working on.
Marty's view regarding Hunsk is right at his own level, but he forcing it into the employees mind, and disregarding the employees not so committed to it is wrong. This culture should be gradually developed in the employees through field trips and races.

Love for Company/ Brand cannot be forced into or taught by management, it develops gradually from within through respect for brand, and this respect is to be developed by the management.

HBR is very intersting I learned a lot from your subcribiption.

Thanking You
Thilaga

Customers of every firm have values , beliefs and behavior traits .

Its key for employees to share values with their customers . This creates an emotional bond which builds brand loyalty.

However its acceptable if the employees are well aware of the beliefs and behavioral traits of their customer base and do not mimic them.

Most firms today have more than one customer segment and hence it would not be impossible for employees to adopt behavioral traits of all segments .

Share values , understand beliefs and behaviors of each of your segments and i guess you would be fine.

There's no substitute for employees that know your product and have passion for your product. I did a profile of H-D and visited the engine plant in Milwaukee. The fact that 60% of Harley's employees own a Harley (and they encourage this with a 20% mark-down for employees) permeates the entire workforce--from HR to the guy powder-coating the engines to the union steward.

But people feel very passionate about motorcycles because they give you a feeling you get from very few other products.

My question is, putting the motorcycles aside, can you generate that same kind of passion and engagement with other products?
Dish soap?
Glue sticks?
Tax services?
Web hosting?

There's really nothing more concrete and visceral than a hog. It's so real that making the jump to authentic does not seem too much of a challenge.

In this case, I'm reminded of the BMW billboard that went up in Milwaukee during Harley's 100 year anniversary. It read something like "BMW wants to congratulate Harley on 100 years, but you probably can't hear us."

Authentic and funny and reinforcing the product differences all on one billboard.

So is there any link between humor and authenticity?

Customers of every firm have values , beliefs and behavior traits .

Its key for employees to share values with their customers . This creates an emotional bond which builds brand loyalty.

However its acceptable if the employees are well aware of the beliefs and behavioral traits of their customer base and do not mimic them.

Most firms today have more than one customer segment and hence it would not be impossible for employees to adopt behavioral traits of all segments .

Share values , understand beliefs and behaviors of each of your segments and i guess you would be fine.

I think customer value makes company survive. If a company doesn't have a value, it loses its purpose and sense of orientation. A company should dedicate itself to a mission of creating value to its customers.

For this case, I think first the value was defined too narrowly. Secondly, the process of internal marketing was not conducted via the most appropriate way.

Do the 15 year old girls in China adhere to the "Just Do It" philosophy of Nike? ("Just do it or else" seems more probable.)
Yet Nike is extremely successful.

You pay somebody twelve bucks an hour, and you shouldn't expect a spiritual conversion to your product. You should expect twelve bucks an hour of good, solid work.

Even if the 42 year old Packers fan in shipping miraculously develops an insane enthusiasm for the Hummel Figurines you manufacture, so what? Will it translate to the way he pours Styrofoam popcorn into a cardboard box? Not likely.

The bar is a lot higher for white collar workers, though. They are the ones regularly making strategic decisions about your product, and they'd better darn well have the spirit of your marketing campaign taken to heart.

Engineers, marketers, sales, management--these are the people who need to authentically love your product.

Although brand image is essential in marketing products and services that are not inventive or necessary, Today's marketplace is so drenched with false messages and images, that even the non-discriminating, undereducated and cost conscious have grown wary of false marketing claims, racy advertising campaigns and paid for editorial. One can smell a rat no matter how cleverly disguised and overmarketed. Therefore, this ridiculous display should not continue. The general public needs reality, not big,loud and fake solicitations for their attention. However, if it is not broken, do not fix it. Simply predict the future and tailor your approaches to it.

It's a bit of classism to think that passion for what a company is and does somehow can be defined along blue-color and white-color lines, thoughts of Nike workers aside. If the person packing my Hummel figurines loves Hummels, I believe that he will take greater care at work.

Marty's biggest task is at the top. The CEO has lost authentic passion for what Hunsk is or once was. Marty's attempts to lead the cultural reformation of Hunsk is blocked at this critical point. Cultural reformation isn't easy and the CEO needs to give a clear signal that he's on board, or just accept that Hunsk is a "once was" not an "is now."

As for the heavy handedness: All other issues being equal, the one with clear passion for the product wins.

I believe that Gordon should back Mart. Hunsk is not just any other motocycle, but, a moment and an experience. These customer moments and experiences are genuine and real and so, to deliver on our promises, we have to be authentic. The entire team has to be at par with what Hunsk represents.

I agree the helmet issue was an advocacy issue and not a safety issue.

Even though a helmet advocate myself, it was not a part of the authenticity.

However, if it was a concern to enough of the employees for what ever reason, then perhaps it could have been a foot note such as so many campaigns have.

Were told to drink responsibly. Were told to drive responsibly. Maybe add ride responsibly.

Since the length of stay of a CMO is only 27 months on average, Marty will need to keep growing and morphing his vision to keep up with the times. Internal buy-in is essential to maintain momentum.

Thanks for this great mental exercise.

This is an important issue confronting businesses today and compliments to the author and HBR for an excellent case.

I believe the problem is more with Gordon than with Marty for lacking the vision in creating an organization (particularly in key functions..marketing,design,manufacturing) that does not appear authentic now.

Biker enthusiasts expect the manufacturer to respond to their aspirations (eg;"a bike for me means freedom")and it appears Gordon has taken the company away from customer intimacy..probably the reason for it's declining franchise.

Hunsk has two choices, one..to continue on it's current path, appeal to a large customer base and compete with mainstream manufacturers on issues such as ride quality, safety etc, or, two..to sharply focus it's offering on enthusiasts.

If it chooses the latter based on a business analysis, it needs to be ready for hard decisions

Ravi Sundar
Chennai, India

I believe that there is both wisdom and nonsense in the idea of "being authentic."
On one hand, it is very important for Hunsk to appeal to the traditional biker, so giving off the rough, off-road look with some muddy motor cycles could indeed help their image. Also, having a workforce that can relate to customers and their needs will allow the company to create motorcylces that appeal to both the casual and "hard-core" bikers. On the subject of helmets, as much as I personally would advocate them, I believe removing them from the Hunsk image would be a wise move. Whenever one thinks of the big, tough, muscular guy riding down the highway on his hog at eighty miles per hour with his friends, is he wearing a helmet? No. The image of the true biker is one who lives on the edge, and a helmet makes that biker seem a little less tough and little more wimpy. While Hunsk is "going back to its roots" it can do other things to increase market share further. Its current fanbase loves its silent, sleek cycles, but what about the Harley-Davidson guys? If Hunsk already has a superior product, how can they make it more appealing? Simply offering different models without mufflers that can roar like a beast would likely attract many consumers away from Harley and toward Hunsk.
There is a flip side to all of this however. Marty takes the concept of authenticity a little too far, and almost to a fanatic point. His limiting on the careers "non-biker" employees is one thing that could definitely hurt Hunsk. Maybe increasing biker spirit solely in the marketing department might help, doing it throughout the company is definitely harmful. Fiona, for example, was very competent and productive, but was prevented from advancing because she didn't have a passion for motorcycles in particular. She then presumably went to search for a job elsewere. What if this happened to the company's engineers and designers too? Most people capable of building and producing a superior motrcylce don't have a personal interest in owning one themselves. This could lead to skilled employees leaving the company, resulting in the decline of product quality, which would then lead to a loss of customers. Once again on the helmet issue, Marty is passing up a prime business opportunity for the image of authenticity. Hunsk could sign agreements with a helmet maker to advertise their helmets alongside their superior motorcylces for quite a bit of money.
All in all, I believe that the idea of going authentic is a good one, but it shouldn't be taken too far. If a company begins to oppress employees and drive them away all for the sake of image, then they have taken too far. However, if they make some changes to increase their appeal to customers and expand their market share, authenticity can be very helpful.

Love how Marty puts it, “The owner’s manual tells people to wear their helmets—but there’s a difference between marketing and manuals.”

I think of insurance declaration pages, where thoughtful insurance company would strategically use the available space to write, in lament terms their key benefits over and above the crowd. I’m sure these key benefits are to be found in the wording booklet but I would think the majority of people would read that book in detail only when their claim is being denied.

I would say while Marty may need to balance his relationships at work, he is absolutely right in one thing—to believe in what you do—doesn’t matter if you have 100 years of Harvard MBA behind you, if you don’t believe, it can never be real.

I, as a customer, never buys a fake.

Will the real authenticity please stand up?

This post first appeared on my blog

The case revolves around an imaginary motorcycle brand called Hunsk. A new head of marketing wants the company to be ‘more authentic’. He wants employees to ride Hunsk bikes, to live and breathe the brand until they become bikers. He wants to turn the company trade show stand into a pit full of grease monkeys. Authenticity sells, he says – and right now Hunsk is a middle-class milquetoast company that lacks the attitude to do justice to its wares.

Maybe she’s born with it: maybe it’s marketing.

The expert responses seem to begin by making one of those assumptions that non-marketers make about marketing: that we’re a bunch of liars for hire whose modus operandi goes like this:

1.Decide what we’d like to be true about our brand

2.Work out how to make that true

3.If (2) is too hard, then find ways to make people think it’s true anyway.

The Princeton philosopher HG Frankfurt defines ‘bullshit’ as a statement which is intended to achieve a desired effect, without any regard to its truth. This pretty neatly sums up the experts’ approach. In fact this kind of marketing usually leads to an ugly kind of skid: your brand points in a new direction, but carries on travelling in the old direction.

Instead of inventing an ‘authentic’ Hunsk culture, a real marketer would look for the real, existing company values and understand how they resonated with today’s consumers. Then we’d work out how to tell the truth well. Only then, if necessary, could the culture be subtly and slowly evolved.

So here’s my take on Hunsk:

Hunsk’s Marketing Director has assumed that his company has to be like his customers in order to be liked by them. He’s wrong. Think about the appeal of Range Rovers and Rolls Royces to Gangster Rappers and sports stars. The appeal comes from buying into everything that Gangsters are not: aristocratic, British, traditional, establishment.

Or think about student bank accounts. Some try to be hip and talk like a 20 year old – they come off about as cool as a dancing dad. Others take the approach of a slightly indulgent but experienced uncle. Who do you think an 18 year old is more likely to trust with her money?

One of Britain’s best-loved brands is Homepride. Its spokesman is Fred the flour checker, a little chap in a suit and bowler hat. The only people who identify directly with Fred are Orangemen. But housewives have always responded to Fred, because flour that is checked by cheery but serious chaps in suits is going to be good flour.

Opposites can attract. Almost all Formula 1 drivers own Mercedes, because as professional risk-takers they depend on risk-averse people – like Mercedes engineers. Stuntmen drive Volvos for the same reason (they just can’t afford Mercs).

Hunsk motorcycles are built by serious, professional people, not hairy-arsed bikers. Perhaps we can rely on the intelligence of hairy-arsed bikers to appreciate the quality of this approach, and to let Hunsk do the engineering so they can do the rock ‘n’ roll. The Beatles needed George Martin. Elvis needed Sam Phillips. Bikers need Hunsk.

Gordon is in a classical fix of handing out the agenda without explaining organisational culture to his new head of marketing.

I've had a similar situation last year where I handed a similar brief on result -orientation which resulted in an over- zealous xl sheet- based matrix rollout. Net-net! we lost the entrepreneural drive in a web 2.0 communication services startup and tried aping large 90's corporates which re-engineered, ERP-ed, and CRM-ed their way to oblivion.

Authenticity is a mix of an organization's values and the credibility of its products and services in the consumers eyes. Addressing the consumer connect via a product or a service without first aligning a company's most important brand ambassadors - the people who work inside it - create organizational entrophy. Gordon should, therefore, get off his authenticity drive, make sure that he researches what authenticity means to his employees, customers in the context of the overall environment and then give Marty a fresh brief. And this time, make sure that Marty doesn't overstep the brief.

The constant challenge before the entrepreneur is to make sure that when he desires to make the quantum leap to higher brand awareness and marketshare, he makes sure that he takes critical elements of his first round of success- investors, customers, and employees along! else the story of authenticity becomes nothing more than a marketing gimmick.

Based on my experience, any product or service will be appreciated by customers as long as they see a culture in every interface with the company being passionate about the product/Service.(ofcourse the usefulness comes first)

Marty is exactly right in bringing the company close to the original value/theme/bonding/purpose.

The purpose of Marty's field trip is to trigger the movement among the employees and understand how many can appreciate the original value/purpose of the company.

As someone rightly said, the issue here is not "Is authenticity even possible for a corporation?". The issue here is what challenges a company faces when it deviates from its roots.

I think Gordon is right in bringing a person from outside to assess the current state and bring the company back to the roots.

But, Marty could have approached in a way that is appreciated by the employees first. The simple truth is , if your employees buy it everyone else will. Being a marketing expert, he should have sold first to his employees and given them a comfort feeling to themselves aware of what is being done is for the organization and subsequent steps would set it right over a period of time for all. yes ofcourse, we still cannot satisfy all the employees.

Even the helmet scenario is right, as Marty left it to the customers(who ofcourse are responsible for their own actions) and it shows a trust or a treatment that the company appreciates customers judgement. I think the campaign should highlight properly, otherwise this will be considered as a wrong approach.

yes I do think it should be backed, or at least with a time frame in mind ito seeing the results. If by then it hasn't had the desired effect then, it would need to be revisited. Marty was building a brand that needed to be long term, and you can only do that if you actually believe in what you are doing and what you stand for, and everyone in the company needs to understand what that means. It needs to be balanced though - you need the experience of those around you, but you would need to be patient to make them believers, and then and only then, should they feel as though they don't belong, then well, they don't belong !!!

yes I do think it should be backed, or at least with a time frame in mind ito seeing the results. If by then it hasn't had the desired effect then, it would need to be revisited. Marty was building a brand that needed to be long term, and you can only do that if you actually believe in what you are doing and what you stand for, and everyone in the company needs to understand what that means. It needs to be balanced though - you need the experience of those around you, but you would need to be patient to make them believers, and then and only then, should they feel as though they don't belong, then well, they don't belong !!!

I feel that only way to communicate your values is to live those values. One need not demand authenticity. One has to be authentic and that living portrayal of the value shpuld inspire the belief that there is some value in this value. Values can't be demanded from others. That's why I feel that Gordon should stop backing Marty's no-holds-barred authenticity approach.

Human being are different and this different itself brings lot of gifts to organizations by creating value out of no-value.

Perhaps I am just a bit thick:

Marty hasn't "ridden one since a bad spill his senior year in college" (pg.34).

In the illustration, he has (gawd forbid) grey hair.

So,how long has it been since those boots have been on a motorcycle?

Gillian A. and Glen B. have perhaps a bit more experience being authentic?

It sounds fantastic to talk about employee DNA-alignment with brands, but very difficult to practice. If at all achieved, this creates a bunch of executives who think/act alike and might fail to think out of the box. In short the company will lack flexibility to adapt to changes. If the company only wants to make motorcycles in the future, this concept of 'breathing the brand' might work.

The best way is to make oneself proud of the brand. We all are extremely influenced by external media, recommendations, celebrity endorsements etc. My take in this case is active marketing, both external and internal along with celebrity endorsment. The more the employees see their company's logo, the more they attached to the brand. Similarly a Tiger Wood featured ad can reap better benefits.

Finally I don't think everybody in a company has to align their DNA with the brand. May be the design department and marketing division will suffice. Others should have other priorities, egc- operations people should come out with better cost cutting processes.

Yes he should. If it stops producing results he can always hire more apathetic workers to revert to how it was before. Why not give trying to BE an authentic company a go?

Any corporation needs to truly understand and address the needs of its customers in order to be a successful player in the market.Marty is correct in the vision to create a passion for the product in the market , however he is incorrect in his approach in trying to create an internal passionate group of employees and translate the passion to the customers.

Employees should be educated and interested in the product that they are delivering. Employees should be provided sufficient customer interaction for them to understand the customer needs and deliver results.But it not necessary that every employee should live and breathe Hunsk.Not every employee in the organization is required to interact with a customer.

Marty is a passionate change agent and his ideas do increase the market share for the company.However Gordon should discuss with Marty and make him aware of the fine line between being an authentic company that stays true to its brand and forcing authenticity on its employees.It is important for employees of an organization to have a common culture,values and passion for the product.However it is an overkill to expect employees to live the brand .

Gordon can suggest alternative mechanisms to Marty.Gordon can empower Marty to hire and manage a customer relationship management team which would be involved in customer interaction and these teams can reflect the passion that Marty needs translated to his customers/market.This way Marty will be given the freedom to execute his customer focussed campaign. The organization can tie up with real world motorists and Marty can achieve his vision for the organization via different means .

Gordon promises to increase employee awareness and interest in the product by trainings/ field trips/customer events.A change of this magnitude has to be achieved incrementally .The employees can still be valuable contributors to the business even if they are not passionate Hunsk riders.Gordon should appreciate Marty for his customer focus and organizational vision while at the same time encouraging him not to tradeoff the focus on employees who are an asset to the organization.

With this solution, Marty's vision, the organizational needs and employee morale are all preserved.

Since this is also about motorcycles, Ducati and Harley Davidson come to mind as authentic makers of motorcycles.
The culture of an organization which is at odds with its product set would just feel wrong, and I bet that very few organizations with that kind of internal conflict could attain their highest potential.
A beehive where all the bees are not 100% into the bee business would be an empty box that used to be a productive hive.
Don't you think?

Authenticity, or more appropriately original values, can be a great differentiator especially in cluttered categories. However, one has to keep in mind the prevailing consumer aspirations as well as responsibilities as a corporate entity. The revertal to rugged 'machoness' may be a great idea if it finds currency with significantly large number of consumers at an attractive price-point, along with other hugiene factors in place (performance of machine, retail and service network etc).
However, ruggedness may have evolved from being reckless earlier (therefore no helmets) to a more mature and responsible form. That's the kind of fine tuning and reinterpretation of values that's essential to win over consumers of today. Also, purely in terms of organizational team it helps to have a little diversity of views, else the perspectives and programmes can get skewed.

There isn't a problem in any company that can't be fixed by a good product, and, no one quits when they're making money. In planning ahead, Marty has failed to allow time for other's acceptance and buy-in of his plan. Rather than dismiss Fiona, he should have made her the ambassador of fun and first impressions for the company using his vision as her motivation. Lastly, Marty has set himself up as the "knower of all things" always a fatal tripwire in management and marketing. It's the biggest mistake Marketing VPs and CMO's make.

Whenever I'd get a project from Procter & Gamble, Kraft or another company to invigorate a brand or create a new product I'd first take myself out of the loop, sit down and list out over 500 dimensions concerning that product that in some way shape or form might impact or influence consumer perception and purchase behavior regarding that product. Once that was done, the real work began. Under each dimension; sensory, form, function, usage, image, price, packaging, delivery system, design, technology and many others only I knew of, I'd bullet point another 500 short phrases per dimension that in some way shape or form might impact or influence consumer perception and purchase behavior regarding that product. When done I'd have amassed about 250,000 phrases - a list that often took over a month to complete. From that list our group would select 500 to 1,000 phrases that we would put in front of consumers so that consumers could select the phrases, and the selling dimensions, they liked best. In this way the mind of the marketing few could almost never miscommunicate with the mind of the consumer many. At times, we would stay up and argue for more than 72 hours straight over which stimulative phrases should be in the creative stimulus packages presented to consumers.

In the past 40 years we've batted over .950 regarding new product and brand repositioning success with results typically far exceeding BASES historic category norms for intent to purchase. Some of the deliverables? New products such as Tylenol Gelcaps, Cold-filtered Miller Genuine Draft and Baked Lays Potato Chips. Brand turnarounds; Wheaties, Breyers, Folgers, Pampers, Claritin, Zantac, Enfamil and many others.

But the most amazing fact? No one else ever does this type of homework.

Title: By making the brand more of what it is, it ends up being less than what it was.

Authenticity. What is authenticity? Ad agency McCann-Erickson's motto is, "The truth well told." Mercedes-Benz hypes the fact that it takes seven years to create a Mercedes-Benz. Is this an artifact of the company's painstaking attention to detail or engineering, or a Madison Avenue spin on the fact that the Mercedes-Benz product development cycle is three years behind industry averages? Tylenol was authentic. Then someone put cyanide in Tylenol capsules, erasing 92% of the brands sales. Public Relations and advertising addressed the issue but the brand continued to spiral into extinction until we hit on the concept of gelatin-enrobing and creating the first inherently tamper-proof capsule. Tylenol Gelcaps was authentic. Saturn bills itself as an "emotional" car company. How authentic is that "selling dimension"? The division has yet to turn a profit. Is that not the "brand" of authenticity customers are looking for? Yet it did not stop GM and Saturn from putting all of their eggs in the Hal Riney & Partners basket. Starbucks began as something authentic. It was something started by someone that caught on. Then Howard Schultz hired professional managers - not people who know how to create things, but people who know how to manage things. These people made Starbucks "more things to more people" diluting the company's image, equity and authenticity (no thank you, had I wanted a milder dimension I would have brewed Folgers). A brand's authenticity is tied to being fewer things to fewer people. My dad and I called them "found objects". That's what makes them appealing - like the Japanese farmer who can pluck a water worn smooth stone from a stream placed in a box tied with raffia and called art. Then the brand grows to become Baby Huey's (remember the old cartoons?) like the new rendition of Scion's xB. Now Howard Schultz has to go back to his roots because he hired the wrong people to baby sit his brand. They bastardized his concept with poor breakfast sandwiches and all other manner of attemptiing to appeal to the masses while his core customer remained the person that voted for dark roast coffee in that love/hate relationship. It is sad that so many have to learn so much all over again for the very first time.

In a study in the book Built to Last it talked about a similar trait. How visionary companies in compared with their comparison companies, often held many cult-like qualities. People almost obsessed with the idea of their product, where in a way the product became the cornerstones of their lives.

Nordstroms, Wal-Mart, and several other places put into practice these cult-like methods to raise morale. The reasoning being, a heightened sense of morale will create more productivity for the company, and of course, authenticity to the company's core values.

-Greg

Customers (aka people) are way too smart to try to fool them with a "campaign". There is little value, and indeed risk of brand damage, in trying to fake a position or display a mindset. Authenticity is simply honesty. Do you believe in what you sell? Do you think your product will actually benefit real people? If not, bail out.

Thank goodness for the Cluetrain Manifesto. Down with business as usual (stodgy, unauthentic, over-managed, fake, ...)

More importantly, by focusing on "authenticity" VP Marketing Marty converges on the same positioning as his rivals, merely saying the same things differently, which is why his focus is only showing "some" success. He is not highly differentiated. Are not Harley-Davidson, Indian Motorcycles and Polaris Industry's relaunch of Victory Motorcycles also focusing strategy on being "Authentic"? Harley even trademarked the sound of their bike's exhaust pipes!

If Gordon has concerns about Marty, he should engage Marty in a conversation about his plan, his direction and his intent. While there may be complaints, Marty appears open to his staff and to others in explaining his decisions and his motivations. He seems to be observant enough to know when to respond and when to move on.

Marty believes in the brand and believes that the people promoting it need to believe in it as well. I would agree. Plus, he doesn't seem to be terminating people who would rather commute in minivans, he simply nurtures those who are open to the excitement of a Hunsck (even if they don't own one).

It's not realistic to expect that everyone in the corporation lives and breathes the basis of the brand. It IS realistic to expect that everyone articulates and represents the brand and understands its connection to the customer. Add a dash of passion and the results only get better.

It is very critical to get your sales and marketing teams focussed on the flagship product...feel and breath it. Suchkind of passion can create waves in the market and the product can penetrate well.
However, during the times of multi product, multi brand companies forcing entire workforce to go towards a focussed brand may not be a wise decision. It may be interesting to see if a special team is created to market and sell a specific product such as Hunsk in the story here.
To attract a specific segment and create value for a brand, it may not be a good idea to ignore fundamentals of safety needed for an two wheel automobile company. It would be interesting to create some glamour around wearing helmets while driving Hunsk to show appropriate freedom would be a good idea rather than igniting the rebellious self of youngsters who would be the key target for Hunsk.

There is never a one-stop solution to any problem in the corporate world. Even a case study like this can be a waste of time if one fails to consider the fact that the views/comments presented here are those of people who have been brought up, educated and experienced in fields/situations that are truly unique and entirely different from that of any other person.

Consider this - you might have worked your whole life for a near-perfect organisation where any trouble that brews up sees immediate solutions coming in from people who hold expertise only in that field, and the solutions are carried out by a team of experts who are totally devoted to that particular task, thereby making sure that the person who has reposed faith in them does not feel let down by them. For the problem in hand, this could be a nip in the bud.

On the other hand, I may have a smaller, not-so-perfect experience where most of my decisions have gone wrong and I have been shown the doors by various organisations who think I did not know my job, whereas I am quite sure that the half-heartedness of the management and the executives was the real cause of the disaster. Clearly, I would keep myself away from providing a solution and rather be a mute spectator (my solutions could again go wrong/the management might not be really interested) rather than being a dynamic manager and believing in myself, as we have Marty here.

Here is my solution, based on my experience:

Marty is right in living his dream, for that is the only way any person can get into the "feel" of the problem (Remember the saying - The wearer knows best where the shoe pinches?). However, in the process, he forgets that it is "he" who is feeling the problem, and not other people who have not been shown the right picture. The company is facing the trouble because it employed people based on their bio-data and the solutions that they had come up with in the past. They were not as passionate as Marty, as is very clear with the first statement that Gordy makes in the case study. No wonder, they came and went.

As for other employees in the organisation, they are satisfied that their life is running smooth, that they complete the work designated to them and that they get their paychecks at the end of the month. They do not eat-drink-breathe-live the company and/or its vision, as Marty seems to be doing.

Now the problem with Marty is that though he is passionate about what he is doing, he should understand that if everybody was so passionate, then Marty would probably not be required at all.

Marty has nowhere defined his "authenticity" to his team or other employees of the company. Almost all the conflicts in the whole world arise due to just two things - "varied interpretations" and "lack of communication". Both these devils are working overtime in this situation. Very soon, even Marty would "come and go" just like his predecessors.

Rome was not built by meetings - it was built by killing those who opposed. I read it somewhere on the net. Very true, and Marty is probably doing the same. However, he still is duty-bound to explain why he is executing people. He has to share his vision with the people around him, ignite the same passion in the employees as he has in himself (nobody said this was easy) and be open to new ideas. There usually are people who are much lower in the corporate structure, but are much close to the reality of the market. If these people are identified and given due importance, they might come up with ideas that could do wonders to the company.

The corporate world is not just about "learning" - it is essentially about "de-learning and learning".

Authenticity: Is It Real or Is It Marketing?
by David Weinberger
Companies that boast of their authenticity confront challenges that more faceless firms don't even have to consider. Marty began: “Obviously there are going to be changes, but this is something we can succeed at only if we work together.”
Maybe he should tell Marty just to stick to marketing and not to worry about the company’s authenticity. “We need a management team that’s got the same DNA as our customers.” “Like riding a bull,” said a woman from design. “Keep ’em up. Now, how many of you had ever been on a Husk?” About a third of the hands went down. “Not too bad. And how many of you have ever owned a motorcycle?” Only three hands stayed in the air.
Sir
When I read this, much I feel like leaving the article alone. You have the race issue, DNA and you have someone who has employees who have not used the motor bike. Here are few abstracts and my note.
The employees may not want to raise their hands as giving used the products as they are not sure what is requested of them. May be more questions on the performance when they had bought for the price? May be they have bought this in the installments, paid few and are scared they will have the repercussions. The ladies asked on the motorbike will not say the ride was like the Cathy Pacific ride. Would they? They are delicate. For them even the BENZ with the broken shock absorbers is a bumpy ride. That does not make the BENZ bad. Does it? The questionnaire has to be big enough to represent the population of the usage. If you ask me, if I ma reporter, I would want a scooter with cushions and not the Husk or Helly.
There is another point I remember the phrase, “If you have a MBW, and the boss has the VW, you better park the car far and walk to show that you are a hard worker and sweat for the employer. Works? Like a hot knife on the iced butter.
Sir. Why do you reckon the pretty ladies are employed in the Autos shows? They open the doors, big doors, dressed dress as small as five-inch handkerchiefs. Is it the brands? The quality? The price? If you ask me, I will move around from the top model to the bottom, see my wallets, the plans to pay, what is included with the product. Like the warranty of how many months, the after sales service. If that is missing, I am stuck and I will refuse to take this.
The money is very tight these days. R&D if cannot produce, TATA of India comes in with the NANO. What is more sirs, more of all the components of the finished are from far East. Why? Cheap. If they are not made there we take our factories there produce these, ship it to Hungary and label, MADE IN EU. Nike has the factories in Malaysia. The employees complain of pay. Do we, in the West need to know of this? No. We see the Swoosh sign and buy. Right price.
I thank you
Firozali A. Mulla MBA PhD
P.O.Box 6044
Dar-Es-Salaam
Tanzania
East Africa

ONLY IF YOU ARE AYTHENTIC,YOU WILL HAVETHE ABILITY TO CORPORATE IN HIGH MARKETING LEVEL.

Authenticity is the only way, it will work.

You can't build a great bike compay with people who are allergic to bikes.

You need almost everyone to be a bike enthusiast.

Same applies to all industries.

There is a different world of opportunities available when you are really living in the customer world and then thinking and talking from there.

I think Marty is doing a great job.

One more thing he can do is get the other good people in the company to also fall in love with bikes.

Thanks
Manoj Onkar
India

Marty is concentrating on establishing or rather reviving the Brand name.He is interested in more than just marketing. I agree with his idea that Manual and Marketing are differnt worlds.A product that markets freedom cannot voice caution but definitely can sign the warning. The manual does it but branding does not have to talk of safety measures. It is usual what Gordon is experiencing in his company. A leadership and a overhaul of image will always meet with conflicts from the others.He has to be careful to tune disgruntles but he has to give in to some dissidents.
Gordon may advise Marty to be a bit more diplomatic to his people especially to fine tune his "salty remarks"; however he should continue to give him the support as market is showing the results. A strategy change always brings a negative impact first and then gains momentum.A very contemporary example would be that of TATA going global and acquiring Corus. While some lauded the effort as India Shining, market initially reacted nnegatively with Tata Steel stocks hitting a down slide.But slowly market got the real brand valuation and caught up with it.If head moves right, the body should allign to it; similary in an organization, the organization has to allign to the brand or the brand authenticity as the marketing head directs it or choose another.

My big question for Gordon is same thrown to the marketing team by Marty "Does Gordon himself owns a Hunsk Bike?" If he does, when last did he ride on it even for leisure?
I am sure your guess is as mine. Marty is a newly hired Marketing Head burning with passion and vigour to restore Hunsk glory but little did he know that "A tree does not make a forest"

Below are front burning issues for Marty

1. He needs to unravel reasons for zero internal customers (staff) loyalty to its product

2. Addressing issues like
i. Remuneration
ii. Right sizing
iii. Professional training

Amongst other things might be important for Gordon and Marty to work on.

3. Know Your Product (KNY) attitude must be restored, it's a living practise for customers to breath-in what they produce as OXYGEN, in summary they need not only to know hunsk engine but ride on it and flaunt it.
Consider a Bank marketing staff without an account (savings or current) with his/her Bank

4. Safety should be a front burner of Marty's new campaign as it will be a colossal loss if any biker dies riding a Hunsk without proper safety measures (following Marty's/Hunsk authenticity campaign)

In conclusion, it's a living record that male bikes while percentage of female biker is negligible however, female are the TOOLS and main reason why make bikers show-forth.

... Marty's new marketing campaign should have the under-listed strong points:
1. Authenticity of Hunsk engine
2. Safety 1st even on Hunsk engine
3. Male biker and female passenger (Perfect Combination)

This is a very interesting case that I believe is mirrored in many businesses today that start as smaller entrepreneurial companies and grow to be larger and unfortunately more static. When there is a passionate leader and a smaller group to lead, the positioning of the company is more clear and the culture more easily follows. This is more difficult to maintain as the company grows and becomes more process oriented. They lose their sense of identity and turn to "marketing campaigns" (and even products that don't fit their brand) to try and overcome this challenge and grow the company. (Note: Starbucks is now returning to it's roots, lead by Howard Schultz their original CEO, as they have experienced just this challenge.)

While Marty's plan to "go back" to the company's roots, or being "authentic" as the article mentions, is an admirable plan, it needs to be lead by the CEO. I didn't get a sense that he was totally onboard with Marty's initiative.

Also, when presented internally to the company, there needs to be a vision behind the plan so employees can "buy-in" to why this will be important for them and how it will create opportunity for them long term. This will help to create a more authentic culture that will get employees excited, whether they like the experience of riding a motorcycle or not. Having this clear understanding will also help HR to bring in the type of employees that will fit well in the culture.

Overall, I believe Marty's idea of positioning the company is good, but I'm not sure he did enough internally to bring everyone onboard that he could have done.

Authenticity is marketing. In most cases the idea of being "authentic" can break a business. Hunsk was, at one of point of time, a rival to Harley-Davidson(HD) and that proves the niche market Hunsk had. Hunsk was probably better than HD in ease of use and in safety measures. Before attempting to show the market that the company has turned authentic and trying to spread a message that safety is just a suggestion and not necessary, Marty needs to understand the existing customers and the impact it can have in sudden change of strategy. Such sudden change in strategy can break customer beliefs and can rupture the external image of Hunsk.

I think Marty is spot on -- you need authentic employees to build an authentic brand. As suggested by some of the readers above, the need for authentic employees is particularly acute for those in sales, marketing, engineering, management, production... any areas of high customer or product "touch".

It's less critical for people in accounting, HR, and such -- the CFO shouldn't start penalizing rising stars in accounting because they love numbers and don't ride a hog! Instead, once a critical mass of real, authentic employees are on board, the vibe and culture will permeate the others is subtle ways that should reinforce the momentum that Marty is building.

The concept of authentic marketing applies to most any industry, but certainly some more than others. Certainly companies within industries like professional services and consulting live and die by the authenticity of their employees, whereas others within industries like coal mining would not. Nevertheless, I think the vast majority of industries and companies would benefit from a CMO like Marty.

This is an extremely deep issue - one that cuts to the heart of heart of Hunsk's internal and external brand. Unfortunately, there is not a 'simple' answer to this dilemma.

That being said, Marty's concept of Hunsk "returning to its roots" is sound . . . considering there is impetus for change (i.e. slipping market share, lower customer satisfaction, etc.) Organizations cannot continue to keep doing the same things over and over while expecting a different result. As social media and the new face of marketing has taken hold, progressive organizations have learned that word-of-mouth can travel at exponential speed over the web, and in the same light, today's value propositions are about the entire experience with a brand (not just the "why" they make the buying decision at the moment of truth.) With this statement, I am referring to the entire lifecycle between the customer and the brand, from the first marketing message to several years later when the customer is considering replacement (i.e. new/further consumption).

Now, the above being stated, Marty's manner of initiating positive change is poor at best. It is apparent that Marty lacks not only the ability to strategically plan change, but also the emotional intelligence and leadership to execute a change management initiative successfully. The issue of turnover (voluntary and involuntary) must be considered if Hunsk is going to engage in a mass change, both internally and externally. Simple modeling of 'what-if' scenarios would help Hunsk prepare for a worst and best-case proposition. Furthermore, this may involve proactive talent pooling in the external talent market, as well as workforce and demographic planning to ensure that there will be ample 'replacement talent'.

To Gordon's question, the point is that authenticity is, in fact, highly important. An organization's authenticity permeates all touchpoints a given consumer may have, and it's easy to see any disconnects in an otherwise cohesive experience (i.e. customer support outsourced to a company that doesn't truly understand the Hunsk brand, etc.) The initial results of the change campaign have been positive, but as noted, the gorilla in the room is the 'valley of death' encountered within all change management initiatives. Gordon's imperative should be to plan for and mitigate this change initiative, while also working with Marty to develop his leadership and communication ability.

The time has come for Gordon to modify his own attitude and behaviors in an effort to get off the "cruise control" mindset that has led him to the golf course in the first place. His organization's future lays in his hands and I imagine the Board of Directors will be pleased to see the initial financial results, of which Gordon will gain credit for. Now the tough part begins -- sustaining performance.

Joshua Letourneau
Mg Dir, SSF (Strategic Sourcing Framework) Implementation
LG & Assoc Search / Talent Strategy
BLOG: www.lgexec.typepad.com