B2BMX2018

A brand transformation perspective ZOMBIES/PHANTOMS/SHADOWS 3 Threats to Your Experience Innovation Initiatives 4 Zombie segments are vestiges of a strategic perspective that has been rendered less relevant by time. The perspective has not only lost its ability to inspire ideas, it prevents them. Note the use of the word "categorize" in the paragraph above. We can say with certainty that customer segmentation is a system of categorization. It's also apparent that this categorization does not belong to an objective external reality; it is, like every segmentation model, a mental tool employed to make sense of reality in the context of a strategic purpose. We've experienced together, through the Vikings and kittens example, that categories have prototype effects. We have felt and acknowledged how these prototype effects affect our reasoning, shaping our sense of probability. Does prototype theory offer a glimpse of insight into the legendary stumble of GM in the seventies—and so many other market leaders who have been toppled since? Is it possible the customer prototypes in the minds of GM executives—the equivalent to your Vikings of a moment ago—were misdirecting the reasoning of GM executives, causing them not to see the strategic insights about customers that were leveraged by Chrysler and by Toyota? And, if we adopt that view, what should we call a mental model of the customer that neither conveys nor elicits strategic customer insight and yet is still influencing decision-making in your organization? What should we call a mental model of the customer that has, over time, become brain-dead and threatens to infect your ability to reason? Would "zombie segment" serve? ZOMBIE /SEGMENTS They're long dead, yet still shuffling in your halls. Zombie segments are vestiges of a strategic perspective that has been rendered less relevant by time. The perspective has not only lost its ability to inspire ideas, it prevents them. Like a zombie, it's both lifeless and a threat to the quality of your ideas, thinking, strategizing and planning. How does this happen? Sometimes organizations get segmentation right for a while—and then the situation evolves. Consider this fairly typical scenario: A B2B organization has grown rapidly, rising to a place of prominence in a growing industry, on the basis of a successful product. During this time, the organizational design and distribution system is built out— with a direct sales force targeting high-value complex sales by industry and with distribution partners addressing the needs of lower-volume customers. As the marketing organization becomes more sophisticated, it conducts studies of the customers serviced by the different channels and arrives at a segmentation model for the business that conforms to the design of the distribution channels. But, do you notice what has taken place? Without necessarily setting out deliberately to do so, the organization has embraced— and then reinforced with research efforts— a strategic segmentation model based on a categorization of buyers by vertical sector (an index of tangible feature differences) and the volume of their purchasing power.

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