Hi Billy, Actually, the right -policy- is the hard part. :-)
I realize that my / our bias is focused on -process- -- eg voting reform. We need something as concrete as 9-9-9 (though hopefully better thought out). It needs to both address people's felt needs and nudge America towards a radical centrist worldview. Any suggestions? E Sent from my iPhone On Oct 31, 2011, at 7:35, [email protected] wrote: > > Most Radical Centrists don't smoke, but we > don't discriminate against smokers, either. > > We are concerned with getting government to work. > We are concerned with getting past Right vs Left > and discovering what makes the best sense. > > > Here's looking at you, kid. > <Untitled.jpg> > > Radical Centrism sure beats > getting shot at by Germans > on a warship > in Lake Victoria. > > > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Great thoughts. I agree: if we want to "go viral", we need a concrete > "product" -- probably a signature policy with a catchy slogan. > > -- Ernie P. > > http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/2011/10/30/why-startups-should-pay-attention-to-herman-cains-999/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BothSidesOfTheTable+%28Both+Sides+of+the+Table%29&utm_content=Google+Reader > > Why Startups Should Pay Attention to Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 > > This is intended to be an apolitical post so if you want to get into a > political debate in the comments you’re missing the point. > > Herman Cain. He’s sorta lovable. He just says whatever he thinks and we > expect politicians not to do that. He’s sorta like a crazy uncle. He says out > loud that we ought to build a double fence on the border with Mexico and > electrify it. WTF? He then says he was joking. And then that he wasn’t. > > But his unfiltered approach is certainly resonating with early primary voters > in the Republican party. While Herman Cain is an accomplished person, he is > clearly not going to win the Republican nomination (if you need to see how > out of step he really is with traditional Republican red meat issues see > here). > > The reality is that there are far more accomplished candidates in the > Republican primaries who could challenge Mitt Romney – Jon Huntsman, for > example. Huntsman was formerly the governor of Utah and the US Ambassador to > China. He speaks Mandarin. His father is a billionaire businessman. > > Yet everybody is talking about Herman Cain. At least at this moment. As > Stephen Colbert said, “Get read for a category-5 HermanCain.” > > Which brings me to his 9-9-9 tax plan and why you should pay attention. In > case you don’t know, > > “the “9-9-9 plan” would replace all current taxes (including the payroll tax, > capital gains tax, and the estate tax) with 9% business transaction tax; > 9% personal income tax rate, and a 9% federal sales tax.” > > To be clear 9-9-9 would never pass through the legislature and I’m not > endorsing the idea (although I greatly believe a dramatically simplified tax > code is hugely necessary – it has too many political opponents because > anybody adversely affected by changes to the tax code is financially > motivated to lobby against it). > > But here’s the magic. With Mitt Romney, Rick Perry, Jon Huntsman and Ron Paul > all in the race nobody should even be talking about Herman Cain. You have the > fringe candidate in Ron Paul. You have the red meat social candidate in > Michelle Bachman. You have the groomed and polished candidates like Mitt > Romney and Jon Huntsman. You have the “anybody but Mitt” candidate Rick > Perry. You even have the old guard Newt Gingrich. > > But we’re all talking about Herman Cain. > > Why? > > Because he has defined a plan that is different than what other people are > saying. It is simple and easily explained. It has a pithy slogan “9-9-9″ and > a well staked out anti-establishment position. > > Is it good policy? Probably not. So I’m not suggesting to startups that you > define bad market positions to get noticed. I do advocate: > > 1. A clearly defined and differentiated market position – so many company > have “me, too” slogans or consulting gibberish in their taglines. > > 2. A pithy saying that differentiates you – Most intellectual people don’t > want to have to reduce themselves and their offering into a pithy statement. > That’s fine. As long as you don’t care about getting any press. Or > simplifying the purchasing process for customers. > > 3. A way to tell the press and customers what you stand for. They’re busy > people who aren’t going to take the time to understand the intricacies of > your business in the way that you do. Without this cogent set of messages > it’s hard to rise above the noise > > 4. Human speak, not gobbly gook – I know you want to impress somebody at > Gartner Group or your HBS professors, but they’re not the ones driving your > market adoption. People need to find out about you. Don’t be “too clever by > half” – be able to communicate to a wide audience of “normals.” > > 5. Repetition, repetition, repetition – You need to take every opportunity to > ram home your key messages with people so they really start to remember your > unique market positioning. > > Back to Cain. Once he got the discussion going he decided to do a bit of TV > marketing. In stead of trying to seem like a polished candidate who was going > to run a traditional campaign (a totally un-winnable position for a > long-shot candidate) he took a different track. > > He had his campaign manager to a totally unpolished video explaining why > Herman Cain in the candidate to win. At the end of the ad (if you haven’t > seen it you should check it out) his campaign manager takes a puff of a > cigarette. Hilarious. Not smoking. I’m pretty anti-smoking myself. But the > fact that they would actually have a campaign video showing smoking. It has > become politically totally unacceptable to have ads with smoking. The video > was no accident. They are trying to appeal to a part of America that wants > government to stay out of its business. And what better symbol of that then > smoking. > > And the reality is that when they produced this video they HAD to know it > would be controversial and therefore be all over the talk shows and late > night comedy acts. And that’s just it. We’re all talking about Herman Cain > again and even though some of you may find the discussion strange – it will > appeal to a part of Herman Cain’s base. HUGE free publicity and control of > the conversation. > > The ad ends with a really strange, close up of Herman Cain staring at the > camera and then a long, slow smile. Almost Mona Lisa like. This was > definitely not an accident and has been the source of at least as much > discussion. If you haven’t seen Stephen Colbert’s rendition you simple MUST > watch this video. > > But when I think about “stunts” and free press I think about people like Marc > Benioff (salesforce.com) or Dennis Crowley (foursquare). They have product > offerings in competitive markets and end up getting more than their fair > share of the press through stunts that both appeal to journalists writing > stories and also reinforce their brands. > > Salesforce for years ran a campaign of “the end of software.” What does that > even mean? They had buttons with software with a line through it. A normal > person would just say, “you’re still software, you’re just SaaS software and > not on-premise software” but how many inches of press would that tagline get? > > So my conclusion? It’s not that you should pick something radical or > necessarily be controversial. But in order to stand out from the pack and > differentiate yourself in competitive markets – in ADDITION to having a great > product you need: > > 1. A positioning statement for what you do that is clear, human speak, easily > understood, dumbed down and pithy > > 2. A series of PR initiatives that are non traditional and stand out. It’s OK > to use humor and be different. Be fun. > > 3. You need repetition. > > Did I mention: Pithy, PR and Repetition? > > > -- > Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community > <[email protected]> > Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism > Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org > > -- > Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community > <[email protected]> > Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism > Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org
