As part of the Rotman School of Business Speaker Series, I recently had the opportunity to attend the Canadian book launch of Sticky Branding by Jeremy Miller. In his opening dialogue he transported me back to my youth with an example based on the game of Red Rover, Red Rover. The takeaway point relating to his book was that as Red Rover begins we are in a “pick me, pick me” mode and want to be chosen first on a team amongst the row of competitors on the field. Fast forward to today and we are still in that choose me first mindset with our brands.
So this got me thinking of how, even at a young age, we were assessing the competition. If you recall, in the game once the teams are chosen you ‘call over’ a member of the opposing team to try and break through your human Red Rover Rope (RRR). As team captain, you were looking for players that would make your RRR as strong as possible; for example, arm strength for RRR breakage and running strength to penetrate the other team’s RRR. But when I was called upon, “Red Rover, Red Rover, let Stephanie come over”, my analytic brain kicked into gear. What was my strength – speed, cunning, brute force? Where were the weaknesses of my opponent’s RRR? Who was fearful of being pummeled? Where were arms opened or crossed? And while I might have not have been the biggest or strongest on the team, using my wits, I did end up with my fair share of RRR breakthroughs.
Our Quantized Communications approach starts very similarly in assessing the strengths and weaknesses of the Red Rover Ropes. Depending on the therapeutic category and product, we literally line up a brand against its competitive set. The assessment of variables pertinent to the issue we are addressing are captured in a column/row matrix so we can assess strengths and weaknesses across each row. It allows gaps and opportunities to be identified quickly and establishes a foundational platform for which shifts and additions to the data sets can be consistently captured and quickly evaluated and re-evaluated.
Learned in Kindergarten, applied in Quantized Communications.
Red Rover, Red Rover … let your brand come over.
Stephanie Frisina
CEO