“What Was Nike Thinking?” Maybe this:
“If you are involved in a business that has been uncomfortable with the Republican attacks on human decency, there is really no better time to share those concerns with your customers than right now.”
A week ago the President tweeted “What Was Nike Thinking?” It’s hard to say for certain, and certainly the 30th anniversary of their “Just do it” campaign was in the works for far longer than two months, but I’m guessing what they were thinking was a whole lot like our 4th of July email/FB post.
And maybe a week ago they were more hoping than believing that just doing the right thing was the right thing to do. But this week, with their sales taking off and their stock more than recovered, I’m guessing they are now believing the same way we do. Below is a little shorter version of that email/post. If you know of anyone in marketing or running a business, or just looking for some hope for the future of our world, please forward this to them. It matters.
July 3rd when I wrote this, I’m sure not every business leader was ready to give these ideas serious thought. Now, a little more than two months later, thanks to the courage of those at Nike, this is the new reality everyone that sells a product or service to people must do their best to understand. Once drive-thru windows were a novelty, then almost overnight no one in that industry could survive without them. Standing in support of your customers’ values in these times of unlimited political spending may be that same game changer. To wait idly by while your competitors figure this out is no longer an option. I think the words below can help you to understand how this works.
And to all at Nike who made this happen, my hat is off to you. For us the risks are small; for you, huge. When the Penzey family gets out to visit our Beaverton Store, I would like to buy you all a beer. You are heroes. There is no more important struggle right now than the shift from profits through destroying our humanity to profits through defending our humanity. If we all succeed at this, all the rest of our problems will fall into place. Last week you moved the ball way down field to just where it needs to be. I thank you for your bravery.
July 3, 2018
Please share this with those you know in business, marketing and with other humans as well. —
We think we’ve discovered something. What we’ve discovered is that standing up against everything the Republican Party has become is really, really, really (+76 more reallys), really good for business. I understand how this can seem at odds with the image so popular right now that America is an evenly divided nation, but as we’ve learned this image does not reflect reality. And as much as it seems that the big issue right now is an out of control, possibly worse than racist presidency, that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
The real issue is the unlimited political spending that brought this President and so many other Republicans to power. Watching tv ads and reading comment sections it can seem like Republicans actually have popular support, but these days ads and comments are simply part of the many things unlimited political spending can buy. Yet from our experience what we’ve found political spending can’t buy is popularity.
This chart is our weekly online sales this year vs last year starting with the week of April 1st. It mostly is the tale of just two offers. The first was calling out the President for claiming that he was above the law; he isn’t, this is America where no one is above the law. No one can pardon themselves.
The second came with us pointing out that the Russia probe has to happen because: Our President chose a campaign chairman who had accepted $17 Million from a pro-Russia political party. This chairman personally picked the Vice President, who in turn went on to pick a literal Russian agent as our country’s top national security advisor, despite being clearly warned by our intelligence community about his past.
The first offer in the chart looks like two spikes because this is a weekly graph and that offer ran over a Saturday and Sunday. But that second offer, that big pyramid there, just ran for eighteen hours over a Thursday night. With that offer we received an eighty-fold increase in sales over the same time period last year. Along with the avalanche of orders we also got comments like: “Don’t mix business and politics, Bill. It’s bad for the bottom line.” “I was taught years ago, you don’t mix politics or religion with your business.” Yet look at the chart. This is not 80% growth, this is 80 times as much in sales!
In our experience we’ve found that when you honestly support and speak out for the values of your customers, your customers support you. Looking at how we evolved, humanity really is the gift of Cooks, and for people who cook to simply watch as Republicans use the power the money of unlimited spending has bought them to undermine education, attack the environment, take health insurance from the poor, dehumanize those deemed not white enough, and separate children from their parents simply for seeking asylum, these can be heartbreaking times. Speaking out now really matters.
If you are involved in a business that has been uncomfortable with the Republican attacks on human decency, there is really no better time to share those concerns with your customers than right now. Your country needs you to step up.
And if you are a marketer, please be aware that the times are changing. Maybe it’s time to stop saying young people can’t be reached and instead try to get your clients to look to the values young people hold dear. At some point some breakfast cereal maker is going to celebrate the bravery of Colin Kaepernick by having him taking a knee on the cover of their box. In that moment they will lose a third of their customers over 55* for what I imagine might be another year or two. In that moment they will also win all of the younger generations for all of the rest of their lives.
There’s talk right now about people no longer being interested in things but instead being interested in experiences. At Penzeys we sell Spices, the very things that have been selling continuously for longer than any other thing in human existence. I believe a big part of why Spices have the staying power they do is that they are experiences. Each Spice, every Seasoning connects us to a place, a time, an event that has at its heart our humanity — how we take care of each other. Make your product an experience, make your experience in some way radiate decency, compassion, and kindness and get ready to be busy.
Right now those on the frontlines of challenging what the Republican Party has become are being rewarded, and that’s a good thing. Unlimited political spending has taken away the vote from individuals and given it to corporations that seek profit from undermining the public good. It’s time for Americans to vote with our spending. My advice is to be a company worth voting for.
I believe what we’ve been experiencing is only the start of something much bigger. Business is an evolutionary process where the new things that work very quickly become what everyone needs simply to survive. This is not the time to be left behind.
Spend every day like it’s November 6th.
Bill Penzey
bill@penzeys.com
*I do regret the impact of this line: “In that moment they will lose a third of their customers over 55 for what I imagine might be another year or two.” I was trying to reach marketers and people responsible for making the numbers work for business, and in that world the 18-55 year-olds are the “coveted group.” And there is a reality to this. With wisdom the desire to spend money to impress strangers fades dramatically. That desire is pretty valuable to the marketing world.
Yet as much as the 55+ crowd does not spend like sailors on shore leave, they are the ones who marched us out of Vietnam/Nixon, are responsible for so many of our environmental successes, and with the 1.27.17 Women’s March taught us how to march again. This age group does have a higher percentage of Republican Party supporters, and I tried not to lump everyone in this age group together by saying “a third,” but many still felt lumped. I am sorry. At some point I will figure out a way to showcase the heroes in this generation. So much of the goodness in our lives comes directly from them.
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And Black Lives Matter. Racism is real in America and so much of where that racism is made real is through our justice system. To those creating the propaganda that taking a knee to bring awareness to this racism is an attack on Veterans and the flag—just stop already. As any Vietnam Veteran can tell you, through really painful stories, the well of support for those who serve in America is not limitless.
Falsely creating the sense that speaking out against racism disrespects our troops may seem clever to those in charge of the current Republican Party agenda, but it’s a lie and it’s damaging the lives and reputations of those very troops it pretends to support. Falsely equating serving our country with the silent support of racism will have real costs. And once again, the brunt of these cost won’t be born by those doing the damage, but by those who have sacrificed so much to serve. Just stop already. Black lives really do matter.
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If you like what we are doing please “Like us” and share this, not just with business leaders, but with everyone who might find value in it. And since we have this belief that cooking is about caring for others it means our posts now fall into the political category. Your comments go a long way to helping overcome the extra roadblocks to reaching people this category puts in our way.
And if you don’t want to miss a posting, please sign up for our email list at this link:
http://spices.penzeys.com/coupon.html Right now we are featuring $2 really good Oregano and wonderfully rich Apple Pie Spice. We also have 2 1/4-Cup jars of our very popular Fox Point Seasoning (an $11.90 value) yours free with any $5 purchase. It’s part of our Fox Point not Fox News campaign, “Because Reality is so much more Tasty than Make Believe!”
Thanks again,
Bill
