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1960Brand

Marketing Myopia

The point, in one line

The railroads decided they were in the railroad business. While they thought that, their passengers moved to cars and planes.

How it works

The railroads declined because they thought they were in the railroad business rather than the transportation business — and a club defined by its events is doing exactly the same.

Product orientationYou improve what you already know how to do and stop asking who needs it.
Customer orientationYou start from the need and test whether your format serves it.
  • We run eventsA first-year wants to meet people, a third-year a line on the CV
  • What event shall we run this term?Is an event even the best way here?
  • We send the alumnus an invitationThe alumnus needs a reason not to disappear
You answer what business you are in — and see which of this term's activities have nothing to do with that answer.
The same thing, in your club
  1. The situation

    The board changed and the calendar of events did not. Nobody remembers what it was for.

  2. What the model says

    The club has defined itself by a format. So each term the question is what event to run, and never whether an event fits here at all.

  3. What you do

    Give the board thirty minutes: everyone privately finishes the sentence 'Our club exists so that ______ can ______', without using the words 'event', 'activity' or 'organise'.

What it claims

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Who created it

TL1960
An illustrated emblem, not a portrait.
Theodore Levitt (1925–2006)
1960

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Why this is your problem

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Why gslk uses it

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Where it runs in the product

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Source

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Rights and licence
In copyright

The primary source is in copyright. This page retells it in our own words and cites it rather than reproducing it.

What this connects to

These works are related to the one you just read — and not by accident:

Grounds these competency domains

Of the ten gslk competency domains, this work grounds:

The student version
Marketing Myopia

The same work written for a member: what to do with it in the club.

Check it yourself

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