08


Spring 2019


COVER STORY


means how you reach that point with your target audience shifts. If you are truly a customer- centric organization, you focus on what matters to consumers, and your message is delivered to them in the way that best matches their consumption of it. That could be social, print, digital, mobile, or a combination of these, all of which can be localized and personalized.” Though XBlades is at a very different stage of


its life cycle than those luxury brands of his early career, Richards is applying what he learned about how big brands operate to battle the big boys in the sports world. At XBlades, the challenge is to be taken into consideration by consumers, as opposed to Nike or Adidas. Ironically, the enormity of those sports-equipment manufacturers is why Richards sees opportunity for his local brand. In fact, he believes that the same big-brand strategy he worked to execute at LVMH and Swatch—where brands use similar global messaging across all markets—leaves them susceptible to local brands that can speak to consumers on a more personal level. “As you get bigger, there are very few


markets where what you create centrally for your brand is applicable in every market,” Richards says. “Today, more than ever, it is increasingly difficult, because the landscape has changed. People can get exactly what they want now, so the message needs to be targeted to who they are, where they live, and their individual needs.” Richards and his fellow investors were


looking for a brand playing in a market with unmet needs—an insurgent brand. Nike and Adidas—global players that historically have targeted basketball, soccer, and baseball—have recently focused on large markets such as India and China, which have both a love of sports and huge populations. With their direction being mass-market rather than specialized, that leaves local markets un-catered to. For a brand like XBlades, that is an opportunity to meet the demand of local consumers and athletes playing Commonwealth sports such as cricket, rugby, and field hockey, the third-biggest sport in the world in participation. The best part: today’s technology has leveled the playing field and has made it easier for a small


brand to compete with the big boys. This is why Richards believes insurgent brands will continue to have big opportunities in the next decade. “For example, a few years ago, big companies had sophisticated IT systems that no one could aff Today, a small organization can get access to the cloud for dollars a month. The points of entry and competition are much more level now.”


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and Richards says he learned at Callaway Golf


that in sports, good product can build a brand, supporting a product-driven brand strategy. At his current company, they have rebuilt the product with footwear experts to deliver a performance


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advantage that fulfills the specific needs, wants, and desires of athletes playing these local sports. They have also created a ne


dvantage that fulfills the specific needs, wants desires of athletes playing these local sp sexier version of


the logo to help build an emotional connection to


also created a new, sexier vers help build an emotional co


WHAT I LEARNED FROM Harvard’s Leadership Program


In 2018, I was fortunate enough to spend three months studying


at Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program alongside professionals from around the globe. Much of our time was spent on case studies and in deep discussion about the successes and failures of brands. Among the many things I learned from the case studies and discussions with my classmates and professors, here are a few big takeaways that come to mind.


1


It’s important to be really clear about what is


in and what is out. And to be honest, you need to be even clearer about what you are NOT doing. The list of what we can do gets too big, and we tend to focus on that. The list of what we don’t do solidifies who we are not as a brand.


2


Businesses today must think about ecosystem and


platform rather than just a unique offering. That is, how does our product interact with other products to create a certain experience? Of course, Apple is the big example. The Apple platform is an ecosystem built around apps. The device is not the key strategy—the platform is. I don’t know whether they intentionally formed that at the beginning or not, but it’s true today.


3


Don’t get too attached to your own strategy.


Too often, the setters of strategy (leaders) get so wedded to their own strategy that they can’t pivot and move. It’s hard to go back to the senior boardroom and say, “We got this wrong and we need to pivot,” but organizations die because people worry about being wrong to the board. In the cases we studied at Harvard, being afraid to pivot away from what’s not working was a big reason for failure.


4


Listen to the new blood. When big brands


fall from grace, it often starts with a culture in which leadership is drinking its own Kool-Aid rather than being open to new perspectives. Listen to new employees. They come into the business and tell you their views quickly because they see things when longtime employees are blinded by the past. Companies that get beaten and fail usually do so because they are in denial internally.


The best part: today’s technology has leveled the playing field and has made it easier for a small brand to compete with the big boys.


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