Occasionally, one plus one equals more than two.
Bill Bernbach discovered that in the late 1950s, when he brought new imagination to advertising by bringing a new method to it.
The method was the copywriter and art director team. Before Bernbach, most copywriters and art directors worked independently. The copywriter came up with an idea, a headline, and some copy for an ad, and slipped his notes under the art director's door. The art director dressed up the idea, made a layout, and voilà! an ad.
Bernbach believed in brainstorming, the process in which ideas ricochet between at least two people. He believed that if individuals can produce good ideas, teams can produce even better ones.
Then Bernbach's teams at Doyle Dane Bernbach created the ads for Avis, Volkswagen, and Polaroid that proved Bernbach right.
Given that groups are good at brainstorming, perhaps many services might benefit from focus groups that brainstorm new ideas.
They might. But consider the major innovations in service marketing: automated teller machines, negotiable certificates of deposit, storefront tax services, legal clinics, predictive dialing systems, traveler's checks, overnight package delivery, automated airline reservations systems, junk bonds, frequent flyer and other loyalty marketing programs, credit cards, money market mutual funds, extended service contracts, home equity lines of credit, alternative dispute resolution services, drive-in and drive-up services, home delivery, database marketing, home shopping, and a dozen others.
Did focus groups generate any of those ideas? Could a focus group have generated any of those ideas?
Could a focus group inspire the personal computer, personal copier, cellular telephone, electronic digital assistant, fax machine--or anything like them?
And while we are on this subject, consider three recent innovations: skinless Kentucky Fried Chicken, McLean (lower-calorie McDonald's hamburgers), and low-fat Pizza Hut pizzas. Focus groups loved these ideas. Real people, unfortunately, did not, and KFC, McDonald's, and Pizza Hut abandoned all three products.
So maybe focus groups can brainstorm for you. But you should never bet on it.
Beware of focus groups; they focus only on today. And planning is about tomorrow.
***** by Harry Beckwith, Selling The Invisible
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