On my way back from Oracle HCM World, (and by the way there will be more content coming from the event, including a HR Happy Hour Show that we recorded live from Las Vegas), and among the many excellent and thought-provoking presentations from the show, there was one really interesting nugget shared by an HR leader from Oracle customer, beauty products company Elizabeth Arden that I can't seem to quit thinking about.
At the top of the session, in the section of the talk where the presenter describes what the company does, the size and structure of the organization, and generally sets the context for the technology/strategy conversation to come, we learned that Elizabeth Arden has a concept that they call 'The Three axis of Beauty'. This idea guides, aligns, and helps prioritize their product development, marketing, and branding efforts. In case you were wondering, The Three Axis of Beauty' are color, fragrance, and skincare. Pretty much everything EA does has to align into one of these axis of color, fragrance, or skincare.
I don't know why I thought this was all that interesting a concept really, or particularly noteworthy - maybe it was just the use of a clever turn of phrase, i.e., the way the phrase 'The Three Axis of Beauty' just sounds way cooler than presenting the strategy or structure as 'The three elements of our strategy' or 'Our three product families', or 'The three pillars of our organization.'
In about 5 minutes I was, as a pretty much disinterested observer on the market for beauty products, turned into someone who seemed to instantly remember and have resonate with me the three axis of beauty and that, in fact, they are color, fragrance, skincare.
I bet you are even repeating them now as well, like some kind of Glamour magazine inspired mantra - color, fragrance, skincare.
Color, fragrance, skincare.
Color, fragrance, skincare.
Ok, I will give it a rest now, but I hope to at least someone else the beauty, pardon the pun, in presenting the company strategy and approach to their markets, expressed in a simultaneously simple and interesting way was well, a thing of beauty, (dang, that was terrible).
If you want people to actually think about normally boring content like a product/market segmentation strategy slide deck then it helps to at least try and elevate the manner in which you lay out said strategy.
The three axis of beauty is instantly memorable, is fun to say out loud, and even made a caveman like me interested in the world of beauty products. In 5 minutes of a talk I was able to connect with the strategy.
Can you say the same thing about the last time you or someone at your company presented on your strategy?
Have a great weekend!