Maneuver Marketing Communique

Al Ries - The Language of Marketing Has Been Borrowed From The Military...

Al Ries has a good column at Advertising Age:

The language of marketing has been borrowed from the military. We talk about defensive marketing, offensive marketing, guerrilla marketing. Often overlooked, however, is "flanking," one of the most powerful military strategies.

Read the whole thing here. This is my take on why vSente uses military metaphors...

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INTERESTING ARTICLE - MANOEUVRE WARFARE: A NEW MILITARY PARADIGM FOR BUSINESS DECISION MAKING

I haven't read this yet but it looks interesting:

Manoeuvre warfare: a new military paradigm for business decision making               

"Emphasises the dangers of complacency in business thinking and of the risks associated with strategic decisions that are repetitive and predictable. Introduces a military decision making model termed manoeuvre warfare and its history, successes, and applications within a business context. Recounts some well-known military and business decision making blunders and warns of the strategic implications of falling into the same flawed decision-making traps. Concludes with arguments supporting aggressive strategies that exploit the elements of speed, surprise, and flexibility."

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A DIFFERENT VIEW ON THE UTILIZATION OF MILITARY METAPHORS

An ongoing topic in this blog is the use of military metaphors for marketing campaigning. You can read more here of what has been said in prior entries. So it was with interest I read a paper written by Anthony Judge titled: "Enhancing Sustainable Development Strategies Through Avoidance of Military Metaphors". He presents a thorough, well researched effort that offers the most exhaustive list of alternative metaphors I've ever seen. If you're troubled by the use of military metaphors or you're seeking alternative metaphors to communicate with, his paper is well worth the read. Here is the introduction:

There is a desperate worldwide search for sustainable development strategies and for the appropriate means for their implementation. To a large extent such strategies are elaborated and presented through the use of military metaphors. In discussing the associated challenges of communication, great emphasis is placed on "target audiences", "targets", and "targeting" in designing "campaigns" and "mobilizing" resources. Typically in slide presentations, notably those enhanced by Microsoft's Powerpoint software, strategies are structured in terms of "bullets" -- which are also characteristic of the documents in support of such presentations.

The question asked in this paper is whether such simplistic language is adequate to the challenges of communicating complex insights in response to complex environmental issues -- or of eliciting the support of partners vital to the success of such initiatives. Furthermore, there would seem to be a strong possibility that such language is based on mindsets and frameworks that were fundamental to the generation of the problems that sustainable development strategies purport to address. In this sense use of military metaphors may contribute directly to inhibiting and undermining any useful implementation of such strategies.

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MORE ON BUSINESS AS WAR - ARE METAPHORS ACCURATE? ARE THEY APPROPRIATE?

We recently blogged Clausewitz on Strategy. The authors had crafted an interesting description of attack and defense. A description well suited for any marketer confronting tough competition. Another topic in the book that made for interesting reading was the authors description of the similarities and differences between war and business. (Click here to read an earlier post explaining why vSente chose a military metaphor to express our positioning)

In a section titled "Business is Not War" the authors offer up their notions that business and war have many elements in common but in total are in fact different enterprises. Too which I add my agreement. And the obligatory business is not war. The authors caution against "rigidly mapping" war onto business and vice versa... and warn that such attempts result in "distortions" because there are elements of business such as customers and elements of war such as the annihilation of the enemy that do not apply in both instances. I have a different take on this.

First, the notion that war does not have customers in the business sense is certainly true. But the notion that those civilians inhabiting territory in contention could be engaged with many of the same persuasive techniques utilized in business to influence customers is worth discussing. Second, the notion that business does not have an annihilation analog is certainly true at face value - competitors are not yet in the habit of blowing each other up. But the concept of annihilation is spot-on considering the havoc that is wreaked when companies are driven from markets via bankruptcy, merger or abandonment.

We approach markets as competitive arenas hosting conflicts which must be won in order for the enterprise to thrive. Business and war are both forms of conflict. Business is a battle for market share. Markets represent territory contended for by competitive enterprises. Markets are made up of customers who offer their own resistance setting up conflicts in multiple dimensions. Business is about winning and losing. The result of losing this conflict is a form of annihilation; net worth evaporates, industries are decimated, lively-hoods gutted, reputations ruined, families destroyed, dreams shattered. There are millions of entrepreneurs and workers who understand the reality of losing this conflict.

I have long taken the position that while business is not war in the traditional sense of guns and bullets, business and war share many attributes that are important to understand and invaluable to exercise. Here are several examples:

a. Activity. Business and war are each a form of competition involving two or more adversaries striving to gain an advantage or achieve a victory.

b. Strategy. Strategy plays an important role in each activity and can determine the outcome of the conflict.

c. Resources. Both business and war face significant logistical issues that require the organization and projection of people and resources.

d. Competencies. Both the military and business must marshal and command a complex set of resources and competencies.

e. Leadership. Visionary leaders capable of driving sustainable results are critical to the success of each activity and can be a decisive factor in determining the success of the campaign.

f. Intelligence. The ability to collect, analyze and distribute competitive intelligence is paramount to both the military and business.

So is business war? Of course not. Does business share many attributes with war. Yes. But perhaps the closest  association between business and war can be found in the definition of battle command as offered by the Army in FM 100-5:

The art of battle decision making, leading, and motivating soldiers in their organizations into action to accomplish missions. Includes visualizing current state and future state, then formulating concepts of operations to get from one to the other at least cost. Also includes assigning missions, prioritizing and allocating resources, selecting the critical time and place to act, and knowing how and when to make adjustments during the fight (FM 100-5)

We have "tweaked" this definition by substituting "campaigning" for "battle" and "people" for "soldiers" and by doing so have found a definition for marketing campaigning and business leadership second to none. Read the definition with the substitutions:

Campaigning is the art of decision making, leading, and motivating people and their organizations into action to accomplish missions; visualizing current state and future state, then formulating concepts of operations to get from one place to another at least cost; assigning missions, prioritizing and allocating resources, selecting the critical time and place to act, and knowing how and when to make adjustments during the fight.

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ATTACK AND DEFENSE: CHRISTOFER BASSFORD (VIA THE BOSTON CONSULTING GROUP) OFFERS AN EXQUISITE EXPLANATION

I have recently made the acquaintance of Chris Bassford a professor of strategy at the National War College, in Washington D.C. Chris was a major contributor to the development of the USMC warfighting doctrine including  MCDP 1-2, Campaigning one of the more useful references we use at vSente for our campaigning methodology. Chris is an expert on Carl von Clausewitz and wrote a book a short time back with co-authors Tiha von Ghyczy and Bolko von Oetinger (both of the Boston Consulting Group) titled Clausewitz on Strategy.

I highly recommend both his book and web site to competitive marketers. I will be blogging several sections from the book over the next several weeks because I feel they demonstrate critical concepts that marketers need to understand in order to compete in the 21st century. I'd like to start with the chapter titled Attack and Defense which opens with an exquisite explanation of attack and defense:

Whenever two concepts form a true logical antithesis, in other words, one is the complement of the other, the one is essentially implied in the other. However, if the limitations of our mind do not allow us to consider both at once, and to find the totality of one by mere antithesis in the totality of the other, in any case, nevertheless, strong light is shed by one that is adequate to illuminate many parts of the other.

Hence in addressing the attack, we shall most often have the same subjects before us as when considering the defense.

The ability to hold and reconcile two opposing notions in your head at the same time is a necessary competency for an effective strategist. The ability to clearly sense the differences and similarities between attack and defense, when to employ the attack and when to establish a defense, and most importantly when they become one in the same is the hallmark of a great strategist. Next posting we'll discuss their thoughts on using military metaphors to describe business operations.

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MILITARY METAPHORS: IS BUSINESS WAR?

When we developed the positioning for the Armory and the Maneuver Marketing Communique we knew that the extensive use of military metaphors and concepts would be met with a fair amount of criticism. Marketing over the past several years has become dominated by a blue state of mind which is intolerant of all things deemed politically incorrect.

The positioning you see in the blog and elsewhere on our web sites has evolved over several years and hundreds of conversations with staff, partners and associates. Many counseled against the use of military metaphors because of the potential for criticism and ridicule. Their point being why alienate somebody if you don't have to? A point well taken.

But the reality is that most of the theory that drives vSente's campaigning methodology has it's roots in military strategy and specifically an area of thought called maneuver theory. Attempting to hide or disguise this would be less than genuine and dilute the power of the theories and contributions.

The father of maneuver theory is the ancient Chinese military philosopher Sun Tzu. The essence of maneuver theory is the ability to shape the competitive landscape to your advantage and the disadvantage of your adversaries. The best practice of maneuver theory results in winning without fighting. Which by itself is delicious with irony when confronting critics of war metaphors...

At face value maneuver theory has much to offer marketing campaigning - especially if it holds open the opportunity to better a competitor without engaging them directly. As a marketer I first began applying maneuver theory to marketing campaigns back in the late 80’s. I was attracted to the concepts of maneuver theory because of my need to get more done with less money, quite often against larger better-provisioned competitors.

What I discovered as I read more and more about maneuver theory were the many similarities between military and business campaigning. Here are several examples:

a. Activity. Business and war are each a form of competition involving two or more adversaries striving to gain an advantage or achieve a victory.

b. Strategy. Strategy plays an important role in each activity and can determine the outcome of the conflict.

c. Resources. Both business and war face significant logistical issues that require the organization and projection of people and resources.

d. Competencies. Both the military and business must marshal and command a complex set of resources and competencies.

e. Leadership. Visionary leaders capable of driving sustainable results are critical to the success of each activity and can be a decisive factor in determining the success of the campaign.

f. Intelligence. The ability to collect, analyze and distribute competitive intelligence is paramount to both the military and business.

So is business war? Of course not. Does business share many attributes with war. Yes. Can those engaged in the conduct of both learn from each other? Yes. Is war an appropriate metaphor for business? Depends on your point of view. In our case the answer is yes.

We have been seeing an increasing number of folks finding our blog and web sites after googling sales and marketing military metaphors. I'm not sure why that is, but the point of this entry is to offer why we have chosen this form of metaphor to communicate who we are and what we do. There are two military related resources I would direct critics of war metaphors to in order to gain an understanding of the topic you're criticizing.

The first is the Denma translation of Sun Tzu's Art of War. They have written an excellent explanation of the real meaning of the Art of War in the their forward titled Applying the Art of War. The second resource is John Boyd's monograph Organic Command and Control in which the maverick fighter pilot outlines his approach to building agile, cohesive, motivated and empowered organizations.

So if you review these resources and still think military metaphors are bad at least you're criticism will be from a informed point of view. But as marketers if you're simply kvetching PCisms then you're missing s significant body of thought that just might hold the key to you greatly improving your own campaigning skills.

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