John Tantillo’s Winner and Loser of The Week:

Winner: Apple

Loser: Miss California

Folks, this week’s winner and loser illustrate some basics:

The Winner

I’ve got to say it, this week I’m feeling like a prophet: Apple has done it again.

The company has wowed Wall Street with earnings (1.21 billion on 8.16 billion sales) that far exceeded anyone’s expectations. This result in a downturn —do I even need to say it?— that’s shaking even the most fundamentally sound companies to their cores.

Sure, Apple’s simultaneously laying off 1600 workers from their stores, but this is brand management out of strength, not out of weakness or desperation.

How does Apple do it?  

Real marketing, of course… by which, as anyone who has read me here at IncBiz.net or over on Fox Forum knows, I mean identifying what their customers need and then delivering it time after time —not doing the old “Build-it-and-they-will-come” approach (a favorite of Microsoft’s).

In fact, speaking of Microsoft, I wasn’t surprised to see that its revenue fell for the first time in its 34-year history.  

I’ve written so much about Microsoft that even though they deserve to be loser of the week again, I decided to take a pass. Times are so bad for the company that apparently they are even canceling the company picnic. (I hope it’s to make more time to develop a real marketing strategy.) But take a minute to read what I’ve written in an earlier post to get a sense of what Apple has done so right and Microsoft so wrong.

Bottom line: Apple understands that it is there to serve its customers; Microsoft (still) does not.

My next prediction: we’re going to see this trend continue for both companies, with Apple building on its strengths and Microsoft shrinking even as it tries to grow by swallowing up other companies.

The Loser

Carrie Prejean, Miss California.

I might get some heat for this week’s loser since she has garnered quite a bit of sympathy.  As always, I mean no personal insult, but the marketing point here is too important for me to pass up.

Basically, Miss Prejean earns this week’s Brand Loser title because she showed that she was not Miss USA material —her brand characteristics simply did not match the job description.

It wasn’t that she spoke her mind or answered honestly and that this was wrong.   Right and wrong have nothing to do with it.  

It was the way she said what she said that disqualified her from consideration for the crown.

Forget the uncalled-for nastiness of Perez Hilton’s blog rant after the fact. What I’m talking about are the two core brand characteristics of the Miss USA brand.

No, not swimsuits and evening gowns, but diplomacy and leadership.

A Miss USA represents an organization and an ideal, and as such she needs to be both a diplomat and a leader.  

A diplomat considers the feelings and worldviews of those around him or her. A leader must do the same and also demonstrate that she is prepared to include, not exclude, no matter what surprising and uncomfortable public speaking situations she might find herself in as she performs her Miss USA work.

I’m not saying don’t speak the truth, but there is a way of delivering truth that can make all the difference, and a time and place for opinion as well.  

Carrie Prejean might have spoken from the heart, but a leader and a diplomat must process emotion through the brain —and in this case the brain should have told her to temper what she was saying in such a way that it would have been more palatable to Perez Hilton and the audience.  

Does this mean sometimes pulling your punches?  

Yes, absolutely, and there’s simply nothing wrong with that, especially if you are auditioning —as Miss Prejean was— for a job that is all about diplomacy and leadership.  

Diplomats and leaders must think about the concerns and feelings of those around them (not just themselves and their own personal convictions).  

Yes, marketing (like life) is not always or even usually about your feelings —it’s about responding to the needs of others.

A diplomat and a leader is a bridge-builder not a bridge-burner, and it isn’t unreasonable to think that someone who is insensitive of a judge when auditioning for the job and the pressure to conform is high might be even more insensitive in any number of situations where diplomacy is called for and the pressure to conform is off.

The key lesson here is that certain jobs demand that the personal brand characteristics of the individual be sublimated to the brand characteristics of the job.  

Another Queen (Elizabeth) could tell you a lot about that truth. She never forgets her Target Market.

As Miss Prejean discovered this week, even with personal brands, the build-it-and-they-will-come approach is bound to lose.

And remember, it’s always easier when you keep marketing and branding in mind.