Chief insight officer translates culture into strategy

Two years ago, Andy Ford sat in GM's Detroit offices, ready to help the company discover a way to better reach its customers.

A marketing leader for the company told him that GM needed to plan its strategy seven years in advance, in order to prepare its plants and other processes. His response: It's impossible to know what the marketplace will hold in seven years.

"I couldn't help it. I said, 'What if you're wrong?'" Ford recalls.

Now, as the carmaker battles bankruptcy and accusations that it failed to listen to what its customers want, Ford says GM lacked mobility and flexibility to succeed.

"Their culture had calcified. They didn't realize the landscape was going to change," he said. "GM was not prepared."

Preparation is Ford's specialty as chief insight officer for Springfield-based Noble Communications. His job is to observe culture, help companies identify their customers' behaviors and translate that into better products and marketing.

Ford was the featured guest Tuesday morning at Springfield Business Journal's 12 People You Need to Know breakfast event at the Clarion Hotel's Newsroom Café.

The typical week has him taking clients to dance the salsa in Chicago, experience nightlife in Austin, Texas, and visit underground speakeasies in New York City - in short, immersing his clients in their customers' lives.

"If I tell you to get a fake tattoo, embrace it, and always be thinking, 'What does this mean for my business?'" Ford said.

He and the Noble team helped one client - Doritos - understand that 18-to-24-year-olds like to live on the edge, with a "barely legal" mindset, and tailored the company's marketing strategy to that group. Another client, Taco Bell, had a hold on the late-night fast-food crowd but didn't know it. Ford showed the company how it could capture that with its "Fourth Meal" marketing campaign.

While riding the metro in Dallas, Ford once observed a man on a cell phone who was planning a trip with his family. The conversation made Ford realize that trip-planning almost always has an "alpha" character - a concept he took to American Airlines for a marketing campaign.

"This is what's happening in your marketplace to your customer," Ford tells his clients. "This is what's happening in real life."

Ford said the greatest mistake a company can make is assuming its customers care as much about the business as its owners do.

"They don't," Ford said. "You don't just have to make a path to your customers. You have to kick down their kitchen door, shove food in their mouth and demand payment."

He also recommends that businesses continually reinforce their digital footprints with a combination of blogging, podcasts, online video and geotagging, all optimized for mobile devices.

And the next marketing niche, Ford predicts, will be "trust" - a product that smaller, local companies are best poised to offer.

"The big guys are going to try to own trust," Ford told the 60 people in attendance. "But trust is local. Stay hard on that brand."