Global Marketing Transformation Director at MARS Inc, Tom Lindley, looks to The Beatles, Elvis and Picasso for better ways to creatively collaborate, and offers four tips of his own
I would suggest the songwriting of Lennon-McCartney will never be bettered, and I do mean never… ever. One could argue about the definition of genius and whether or not Lennon and McCartney were both creative geniuses, I would argue that neither of them were. Not a popular opinion, and apologies to anyone that has thrown whatever digital appliance they are reading this article on across the room in disgust. I really hope it’s not broken. Putting aside the fact that geniuses don’t come along very often — two being born close together in both time and location is a somewhat of a coincidence — my argumentation for such a crazy statement (warning inflammatory statement about to be repeated) that neither Lennon or McCartney were creative geniuses is three-fold:
Firstly, let’s look at their material — together they were incredible, unstoppable, as The Beatles they’ve released many of the best songs to have ever been written. Now let’s think about their solo material, outside of Imagine, I don’t think there’s another song that would break into the “50 best songs written by Lennon / McCartney, Lennon or McCartney”. Secondly, a big part of their success can be attributed to others, George and Ringo obviously, but for me the fifth Beatle, George Martin, developed their sound through his arrangement, production, his writing (many orchestral pieces in later albums were written by Martin) and also by his desire to experiment and push technology. Thirdly, the platform the Beatles got from others around them – a huge part of their success was being part of the "British Invasion" of pop and rock into the United States and around the rest of the globe. The Beatles learned from — and benefitted from — being part of a movement that included The Rolling Stones, The Kinks, The Who and others.
I think you get my point, unbelievably talented individuals came together, collaborated and the creative output was far bigger than the individuals could have ever achieved on their own. And this argument doesn’t just hold for The Beatles – Elvis had a great voice, a great look, incredible moves, but the vast majority of his hits were written for him, its textbook the writer and the performer collaborating in perfect harmony (in this case, literally). The same “the best creative artists were great collaborators” argument holds for artists beyond music; Picasso is probably unrivalled in terms of his output and contribution to art, but he is was fundamentally a Cubist and without Cezanne before him and latterly Braque (with whom Picasso painted side by side) cubism would probably have never come about.
The same for Rembrandt: part of a group we now call the Dutch Golden Age. Two of my favourite sculptors Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore met at Leeds School of Art and spent their lives looking at each other’s output, building and responding to each other's work. I suspect your most loved 20th- or 21st-century artist was part of a movement: maybe surrealism, impressionism or pop art.
Picasso and Braque
The media creative is nothing without the media buyer. The innovative marketer needs R&D. The designer needs the copywriter. The customer marketer needs sales. In fact, whatever type of role you are in, whatever the type of marketer you, are I suspect you are reliant on one or more other functions, whether that’s IT, finance, sales, production or logistics to bring your product or service to market. In times of stress or challenge, it’s easy to see these other functions as internal battles – the CFO that cuts your budget, the Supply Director who only wants to make one flavour, size or pack type, the Sales Director who always wants a better price for the customer.
I’d encourage you to think of all of these situations as an opportunity to creatively collaborate. What is the CFO really looking for? Greater efficiency? Higher ROI? Clearer tracking? How can you work together to deliver that? What does the Supply Director offer you? Clarity about complexity? Important information about where you can add customer or consumer value without damaging the business model? The Sales Director offers invaluable information on what the customer wants and is prepared to pay for, insight into what extra consumer benefits would be recognized as value add to the customer.
Al Pacino as salesman Ricky Roma in Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)
I love being a marketer. I can’t think of a better way to earn a living, not least because I frequently feel at the centre of the organisation – in terms of understanding consumer needs, developing products that deliver against these needs, developing business models, creating stories that resonates with the end consumer, and developing a rationale as to why customers should stock our latest product. When brands are either flying or underperforming who does the MD or CEO ask to share a plan to accelerate a turnaround? The marketer, that's who.
Can you achieve any performance transformation on your own? Definitely not. I’d happily wager who's met a marketer that thought they could drive the organisation forward on their own probably found that said marketer didn’t last long in the organisation.
Got a chewy challenge? Of course you have, you're a marketer. Let me rephrase: which chewy challenge and you looking to solve first?
Here’s my fab four; tips to help you get a better outcome through collaboration. Read on...
Before your dive into the problem, be sure to frame the outcome you're trying to achieve. Once you have done this, scan your virtual office. Who can help you achieve your goals? Send them an instant message now, they’ll be pleased to be involved.
Brad Pitt as manager of the Oakland Athletics in film Moneyball (2011)
Your agency partners, consultants, suppliers, customers and end consumers all represent great collaboration partners. When collaborating with agencies, consultants and suppliers their natural response may be “Great, thanks for the brief. Let me go away and come back with the solution”, so be really clear that you're requesting their help to partner with you. Collaborating with customers and consumers can feel the most daunting but can often be the most rewarding. Not only do they know what their needs are, my experience would suggest they really value being included. Which means they’ll likely appreciate the product more, and are more likely to buy it and tell others about if they were involved in developing it. Put another way, if you choose not to collaborate with your customers and consumers, what will happen to your market share, particularly if your competitors do work with them?
The old adage there’s no wrong answers, is a great mindset when collaborating. Come up with lots of ideas or solutions. Listen carefully to each other’s ideas and work out the benefits of each idea, then build on the best ones. Interrogate ideas with questions that take it to the next level: can two great ideas be combined? What would the premium version look like? Rather than satisfying our customer’s needs, how could we thrill and delight them? How could we increase the value with an accompanying app? How could we increase the appeal of this idea and allow it to solve multiple problems of multiple customer groups? These sorts of questions often push the boundaries of your upfront framing. You may have started trying to solve a challenge that you're facing this year and come up with a strategy, but then discovered a phase two and three that will cement and grow the plan for the next few years.
Come Together - John Lennon/The Beatles (live In New York City)
Don’t wait for the right creative collaboration to come along, I can almost guarantee you’ll already have it. You’ve just done some analysis and now have a key metric to turn around. Your competitor has just made a move and you need to respond. The lockdown has fundamentally changed your buyer’s behaviour and your penetration is down. Your boss has asked you to find a solution to a problem the business is facing. You’ve just stumbled across an incredibly powerful insight and your mind is buzzing, wondering what to do with it.
So whatever challenge you're facing, the phrase “two heads are better than one” is as true today as it’s ever been. If you don’t believe me, just say in a loud voice “Hey Siri, play The Beatles”.
