David Magliano: 10 things I wish I knew..

I attended a talk by David Magliano, ex Marketing Director of Go, EasyJet and London 2012 Bid group, at the Richmond Event’s Marketing Forum 2007 on the “10 things that he wished he had know 10 years ago”.

The talk was very interesting. Instead of focusing on trends and things like the Internet, David spoke more about the importance of fundamentals and making sure that you understand the importance of and focus on the real fundamentals of business and marketing. His point being that if you do that and make sure you get those things right then you are more likely to spot, identify and act on trends and issues.

I think this is a key thing. I found in my roles when looking at some of the issues we faced it was because senior marketers and general mangers had tended to let some of the basics and fundamentals slip. I will cover that more in another posting about my lust of 10 things.

Here is what David Magliano identified as his 10 things he wished he had known, and appreciated the importance of, 10 years ago:

Know how to build a business case. One that is compelling, considered and thorough with all issues thought through. He s

Ability to make a persuasive presentation. Key in selling your ideas and getting everyoen on-board. He spoke about the importance of structuring your content well and finding a story. For example, London focused their presentation to the Olympic Committee on how London would and could serve Olympic movement, while Paris focused on why to pick Paris. The former story was more compelling to the audience.

Make contacts. You can never know too many people. But remember, if you want to ask people for a favor, you need to have done one for them!

Deal with staff problems quickly

Importance of the business model itself. The underlying business model is the key not the brand, the brand adds to the model not the other way round. He used the example of where the low cost airline model itself is the key versus the brands. You need to focus on having a disruptive model.

Pricing. Understand pricing and how to use it. He gave the example where Stelios of EasyJet had been the one who turned the airline pricing model round by realizing that actually the closer to departure you booked, the more you would be prepared to pay as the trip was probably more essential. Traditional airlines used product (economy and business etc) to differentiate price. But even then the price differential was 4x but Stelios set it as 10x. On Ryan it is now up to 30000x!

Manage stakeholders. Invest time in this. The 2012 bid had many 1000s of them, and they spent time to communication to each. Is important to meet and communicate. It reminded me of the Subway experience that I also heard on the Forum.

Create alignment. Have a crystal clear goal and unmovable deadline (Like the first flight date for Go Airlines and the Olympics bid presentation) helps to galvanizes and means everyone rejects irrelevant activities

Meet expectations. His view is do not try and exceed, but ensure that you set expectations and meet them every time. Ryan Air for example is very clear about it’s no frills and no extras approach and ruthlessly follows those.

Objectives and Strategy and setting goals. Understand the difference and make sure you do them.

What do you think about David Magliano’s thoughts? Leave your comments.