RWL Newsletter #125
Greetings from the University of New Hampshire! We came back from Rome to find the town has emptied out for the summer. Campus is a ghost town, and I have shifted gears to high-research for the summer. I’ll be thinking about teaching again in August. I have a few papers at various stages that I need to work on and get out the door over the next several weeks that I am excited about.
This morning was also my first opportunity to kayak this year. We’ve had a cold, wet spring (even for New Hampshire), and I’m getting my first padde in almost a month later than last year. But it was a beautiful day, with the tide in and the wind calm, it was wonderful to be back on the water. I went to an ACHE panel last night and the speakers all talked about the importance of having something to stimulate you outside of work, as well as being physically active. For me, that’s kayaking in the summer. I was starting to feel deprived. Now I look forward to racking up as many hours in my boat as I can until the cold sets in again.
Read
What: CNN Business, How a cheap, brutally efficient grocery chain is upending America's supermarkets
https://edition.cnn.com/interactive/2019/05/business/aldi-walmart-low-food-prices/index.html
Why: If a company can make Walmart nervous by offering lower prices and fewer frills, that is a company worth looking at. According to this CNN story, one company taking Walmart to the mats is the grocery chain Aldi.
Aldi has more than 1,800 stores in 35 states and is focused on growing in the Midwest, the Mid-Atlantic, Florida and California. It’s on track to become America’s third largest supermarket chain behind Walmart and Kroger, with 2,500 stores by the end of 2022.
I’ve only shopped in one Aldi and I was not thrilled with it. I like having some choice, and I like some frills, like bags for my groceries. But when I posted this article on Facebook earlier this week, all my friends, especially those who have lived in Europe swooped in to defend Aldi and say how much they love the store.
There’s no secret to how Aldi keeps its prices so low: The company strips down the shopping experience in an unapologetically and brutally efficient way.
“They are able to drive out every fractional cent of cost without compromising on quality,” said Katrijn Gielens, professor of marketing at UNC's Kenan-Flagler Business School.
I think there are some lessons to be learned here for American healthcare. Is it possible to do to healthcare what Aldi is doing to the grocery business? What “frills” can we cut out? How could we streamline healthcare delivery so that the consumer is getting high-value?
Watch
What: Ad Age, THE NORTH FACE USED WIKIPEDIA TO CLIMB TO THE TOP OF GOOGLE SEARCH RESULTS
https://adage.com/creativity/work/north-face-top-imagens/2174261
Why: So when I think of the The North Face brand, I think of the black jackets with the brand name on on the back right shoulder that overwhelmed campus a few years ago. Along with the Ugg boots and some sort of skin-tight pants, it seemed like all of the female students were trudging through the snow in uniform, most of whom had probably never camped a night outside in their lives and more than most SUVs never go anywhere more rugged than a mall parking lot. The brand was an upscale status symbol of wealth. A sort of aspirational purity - even if I may never actually go hiking, I’m the type of person who could. I have a pure heart of intention (and a ton of money to blow more than $100 on a fleece) is what it seemed to say, at least to me.
So reading this article from AdAge about how the brand proudly tricked its way onto the top of Google searches strikes me as profoundly inconsistent with the brand image. The North Face marketeers photographed models in famous outdoor locations wearing North Face gear and then placed the photos on Wikipedia.
My first reaction was “brilliant!”, but my second reaction was this is marginally ethical, and definitely violates the brand image. When I posted it on Twitter, I immediately received feedback about it from a variety of Wikipedia community members. Wikimedia posted a response shortly after: https://wikimediafoundation.org/2019/05/29/lets-talk-about-the-north-face-defacing-wikipedia/
I think this is a great example of poor brand management. The Wikipedia community thinks it was unethical. I think it was in bad taste, but I’m on the fence about whether it is a violation of business ethics. However, I am absolutely clear that it violates my beliefs about The North Face brand. Had a snarkier brand done this, one that people associate with being tricksy and clever, it would have been a great brand enhancer. But The North Face, as a supposed serious manufacturer of high quality gear that people entrust their lives too, cannot do snarky, tricksy things.
Good lessons here for healthcare executives thinking about brands and trust.
Listen
What: Conversations with Tyler, Ezekiel Emanuel on the Practice of Medicine, Policy, and Life
Why: This is a wide-ranging discussion about healthcare covering questions about physician education, the importance of emotional intelligence in medicine, pharmaceutical regulation, and chocolate, among other things. Definitely worth listening to.
Thanks for reading and see you next week! If you come across any interesting stories, won't you send them my way? I'd love to hear what you think of these suggestions, and I'd love to get suggestions from you. Feel free to drop me a line by e-mail, or you can tweet to me at @mbonica .
Also, if you find these links interesting, won’t you tell a friend? They can subscribe here: https://tinyletter.com/markbonica
Have a great weekend and do amazing things!
Mark
Mark J. Bonica, Ph.D., MBA, MS
Assistant Professor
Department of Health Management and Policy
University of New Hampshire
(603) 862-0598
mark.bonica@unh.edu
Health Leader Forge Podcast: http://healthleaderforge.org
"I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by a conscious endeavor." - Henry David Thoreau