ANALOGIES BETWEEN ALFRED SLOAN OF GENERAL MOTORS AND BILL BELICHICK
In researching articles about Albert Sloan, the CEO of General Motors in the 1920s-1930, I found some significant analogies between Mr. Sloan and Bill Belichick, coach of the New England Patriots of the National Football League. Both achieved their greatest victories against a foe which seemed unbeatable. Those victories were achieved by taking their opponents greatest strengths and turning those strengths into weakness that allowed them to defeat that opponent.
This is why social marketers should study both of these great leaders. An important fact about social media marketing is that many times a brand’s great strength is great weakness that an opponent can use to defeat that brand in the market place. Conversely, a great strength can also become a great weakness.
Before their greatest victories, each leader had to defeat a foe which seemed unbeatable. Each used social media, engagement with customers, to create branding for their organizations. Each used their biggest weakness, and created their biggest strength.
In the case of Mr. Sloan, his opponent was The Ford Motor Company. In 1923, Ford autos made up 90% of the cars on the road. Most business experts, including some executives inside of General Motors, thought that GM had no chance at ever overtaking Ford. Albert Sloan, spent a great deal of time talking to people. Because he engaged people, Mr. Sloan knew that Ford was extremely vulnerable in its greatest strength.
Coach Belichick’s greatest victory was the 2002 Super Bowl against the St. Louis Rams, “The Greatest Show on Turf”. This victory is the biggest upset in Super Bowl history. They were talented, they were experienced. Just as in Mr. Sloan’s case at General Motors, no one thought that the Patriots would have a chance at beating the Rams.
Like Mr. Sloan, Coach Belichick used social media, in this case, intensive engagement was used to create a brand---in Coach Belichick’s case, intensive use of video was the means by which he created his “brand”. Think of it like this in terms of analogy, NFL teams are social media brands because of their intensive use of video to create their brands.
In Mr. Sloan’s case, he engaged people in personal conversation about what they liked in a car. From this engagement he knew that the car market had changed. The paradigm of the market didn’t revolve around low cost, but upon variety, comfort, enjoyment, as well as low cost. He also realized that people bought cars to define their financial position in relation to other people. Entry level people buy Chevrolet, successful business owners buy Cadillac.
Ford had no variety, and was looked up on as a very stodgy old brand. People in 1923 in comparison to 1908 wanted an attractive, cool product. They wanted a car that had an emphasis on image and styling. Knowing this, Sloan created a group of very stylish cars. Ford’s strength in low price, which seemed so insurmountable, was only a paper tiger in a world of social media. Social media professionals should understand this in studying the case of Alfred Sloan at GM in 1923. Alfred Sloan did not have Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. If had, he might have overtaken that 90% share in a couple of months, instead of the 3 years that it took him.
In Coach Belichick’s case, after watching film, he noticed that the Ram offense, “The Greatest Show on Turf”, revolved around two players----Kurt Warner and Marshall Faulk. He decided, just as Mr. Sloan in 1923, to make the Rams strength their biggest weakness, the means by which the Patriots would win the game.
Belichick did not want these two players out of the game. He wanted them in the game. He decided to have linebacker Teddy Bruschi shadow Faulk. Teddy’s job was to go where Faulk went and to hit him every chance he had, legally. By doing this Faulk was worn out by the second quarter. Just as the 1923 Ford Motor Company, the Rams biggest strength was now their biggest liability. Faulk hurt the Rams during the game. He wanted Warner to pass, because the more he passed, the greater the risk that a game changing, big play would be made.
Warner did pass. He passed for 365 yards in the game, which is the second largest in Super Bowl history, but he also passed for two interceptions that lead to touchdowns, plus a big fumble. Belichick took the Rams strengths, made them into weaknesses that the Patriots used to win the game.
This is the message for social media strategists. There are no perfect brands. Each time you compete with a brand, understand that the brand has a weakness that you can exploit, with social media
Dean Hambleton
dnhambleton@gmail.com
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