Very interesting post at HBR. http://bit.ly/idPmjJ
It is about creating a coherent strategy and deals with a lot of things you'd expect.
Focus on capabilities? Check.
Differentiate? Check.
Lead with your strengths? Integration? Find the right target audience? Check, check and check.
What caught my eye was this: focus on capabilities as the start point for planning. That is, start with what you do well.
Contrast this to lessons young account planners are taught. We regularly teach them to focus on a keen understanding of consumers' needs -- the consumer is at the center! And in these days of web-centric planning, companies need to work even harder to provide experiences, even if the companies sort of suck at creating them. No wonder so many ads seem overly aspirational.
To be fair, we don't exactly ignore company capabilities. And it's a fine line between "focus on capabilities" and being way too internally focused.
Still, reading this posting was a nice reminder. Perhaps the center is actually where consumers meet capabilities.
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