The singing budgie
I was at a business lunch last week and we happened to be talking about my blogs. Someone asked me “Where do I get my ideas from”. Part of my answer was that I do a lot of reading.
One article I came across very recently was how, simply by announcing that she was releasing a new single in just over 3 months time, Kylie Minogue caused a meltdown on her website. Kylie had used the Twitterverse to give her fans a sneak preview of her new single, which sparked a fan frenzy. The rush of interest was much bigger than anticipated - “Aaahhhhhhhh…you’ve overloaded the system!!!,” she Tweeted minutes after the clip’s release. “That is the strength of your combined power!!!!!!!
OMG!!!”
So I started to wonder, how is it that someone who was so pilloried in her early career, and who has suffered such major career and health setbacks, has survived, prospered and indeed become a global brand?
The old model of business is “work hard and get people to buy your stuff.”
The new model is “authenticity and service, which leads to wealth”.
When you learn to create your business in the new model, people thank you for being successful. They thank you for who you are and what you’ve created.
OK. So it is a given that:
a) Kylie’s music is popular (maybe pop, but it also has dance roots);
b) Her packaging is excellent (look at some of the great videos and you’ll see what I mean);
c) She provides high levels of service to her fans (e.g. spectacular live stage shows).
But let’s look at her mode of communication for a moment…
When Kylie was first diagnosed with breast cancer and had to cancel her world tour to look after her health, her team made an immediate announcement. In it was an apology to the fans she would disappoint, and a solution (“hang on to the tickets – I’ll be back”).
Unlike Toyota, who was extremely reticent in announcing what was to become a far-reaching product recall, and took months to even apologise to their customers for a very serious safety issue, Kylie took a leaf from Johnson & Johnson’s book and went on the front foot.
Just in case you don’t remember it or didn’t catch it at the time (1982), Tylenol made a hero of Johnson & Johnson after seven people tragically died in the Chicago area after taking cyanide-laced capsules of Extra-Strength Tylenol, the painkiller that was the drug maker’s best -selling product.
What set apart J&J’s handling of the crisis was that it placed consumers first by immediately recalling 31 million bottles of Tylenol capsules from store shelves and offering replacement product in the safer tablet form free of charge. Before 1982, nobody ever recalled anything.
It was predicted that the Tylenol brand, which accounted for 17 percent of the company’s net income in 1981, would never recover from the sabotage. But only two months later, Tylenol was headed back to the market, this time in tamper-proof packaging and bolstered by an extensive media campaign. A year later, its share of the market, which had plunged to 7 percent from 37 percent following the poisoning, had climbed back to 30 percent.
Sure, these moves were costly, but Johnson & Johnson’s shareholders were hurt only briefly. The company has paid out increasing dividends for 39 years.
Of course cancelling a concert tour is not anywhere near as serious as people dying from ingesting poisoned pills or losing control of runaway vehicles, but the business parallel is fair.
Both Kylie and J&J responded with authenticity and great concern for their customers. They also offered an immediate solution to the problem, demonstrating highly effective customer service. And as a result, their respective customers showed loyalty and yes, thanked them for the way they do business.
Time will judge Toyota’s reticent response to their particular crisis.
For someone who had her first hit more than 20 years ago, Kylie’s longevity and remarkable earnings power is impressive.
She has moved from being the “singing budgie” to a global megastar. Although she has been regularly dismissed by some critics, especially during the early years of her career, she has achieved worldwide record sales of more than 68 million, and has received significant music awards including multiple ARIAs, Brit Awards and a Grammy. She has mounted several highly successful concert tours and received a Mo Award for “Australian Entertainer of the Year”. She was awarded an OBE “for
services to music”, and an Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.
Authenticity and service.
Over to you now…
