Scott M. Iseman’s Lifestream

I first learned about Robert Greene's brilliant book The 48 Laws of Power in year 2007, while taking a three month summer hiatus from a very successful run in corporate America. During this hiatus, I set out to read several provocative, and educational books, to not only expand my horizons, but gain new life and business perspectives. There were several books I read over that summer, but The 48 Laws of Power stands out as the book that left the most profound impact on me. 

Today on Twitter, I responded to a tweet asking if anyone had read the book The 48 Laws of Power. With the book now fresh in my mind, within minutes, I had pulled the book off my bookshelf, visited the author's (Robert Greene) personal blog Power, Seduction and War, and began wrapping my mind around these laws, and the author's quite simply, compelling, and astounding thinking.

Upon my first experience with Greene's The 48 Laws of Power, I plunged into the book with a worldly fascination that captivated my attention for weeks on end. In my mind, I began my own serious internal debate over the moral standing of the laws, but quickly discovered some of these laws are practical and useful for business applications, while other laws, to be straight forward, are dark and manipulative, and serve no ethical purpose. With this information, I could now gain broader perspectives on understanding how politicians, celebrities and business executives or CEO's may operate and consolidate power to build their empires, fortunes and fans.

Business, like politics and life itself, presents all of us with a myriad of opportunities to observe a wide range of power players in action. Some people are naturally charismatic and radiate a healthy aura of earned power, while other people may be power hungry, and can and will do whatever it takes (both ethical or unethical) to grab and hold onto power.

So what does "power" have to do with marketing? Everything... Good to great marketing is about building a respected, desired brand, while harnessing the power of persuasion, and creating long term value, a positive image, and customer demand.

Below, let me reference three of Robert Greene's laws (from The 48 laws of Power) to quickly demonstrate how "power" impacts marketing:

1.) Law #5: "So Much Depends On Reputation-Guard It With Your Life" - The foundation of any business is it's reputation. A business can spend years and millions or billions of dollars to build a respected brand, and within minutes, an event can damage or wreck the brand's good name. Take what happened to Domino's Pizza in April 2009, when two North Carolina Domino's Pizza employees filmed a very inappropriate video on YouTube, and it quickly spread across the internet, creating an international uproar, while fueling a media sensation. Domino's Pizza quickly went to work with a PR counter campaign to head off an unpredicable, unprecedented event that could have easily spiraled into a catastrophic brand crisis. Under tremendous pressure, Domino's Pizza USA President Patrick Doyle filmed a video putting a face behind the corporation to head off further damage. Three months later, while no one will soon forget this unfortunate incident, in retrospect, it appears Domino's Pizza handled the crisis pretty well, and got some great practice out of law #5.

2.) Law #28: "Enter Action With Boldness" - If a company is crafting a marketing, PR or advertising campaign, confidence speaks volumes. Below this post is a bold video of the Evian Roller Babies video, which now has over 2.2 million views on YouTube, in just eight days since it was uploaded. I'll let the boldness of the Evian campaign speak for itself. (Side Comment: This video is so good, I keep watching it over and over)

3.) Law #37: "Create Compelling Spectacles" - Isn't this what Michael Jackson did, over and over again? And at the end of his life, even after all the tragic events, the outpouring of love, respect and admiration has been globally huge. Michael Jackson was a master at knowing how to evoke the power of shock and sensationalism, to spectacularly market his own brand name.

And there ya have it for now, on the powerful subject of "Power". I'll conclude this post with a popular quote from the great American movie classic, Spiderman:

"With Great Power, Comes Great Reponsibility".  Even when it comes to marketing...