You, too, can soar to new heights

In a restroom in a Denny’s Restaurant near Walt Disney World® in Orlando, the walls are adorned with posters from the Successories® series.

You know the ones...a picture of a lonely mountain climber reaching for the one available handhold above his present position, a beauty shot of an eagle soaring, a dusky photo of a crew team rowing in unison, and so on. The copy is generally spare, and tends to focus on single words or short motivational phrases such as “Teamwork,” “Above and Beyond,” and “Dare to Dream.”

The idea? That plastering the walls of your workplace with such dramatic photography and stimulating copy will encourage employees to dig down deep and give their best for themselves, and for the team.

It’s hardly a new concept – posters, doo-dads, and desk accessories have been part of the workplace environment for generations – but the company has definitely ratcheted things up in terms of quality, and built quite a business for itself. So much so that the Successories craze has even reached into a public restroom in the Sunshine State.

Whether or not the owner simply didn’t want to pony up for any other bathroom art, thought that visitors might need a little...er...encouragement, or is just a Successories junkie, the fact is that this isn’t a fad – it’s a $50 million a year company.

How did they do it? Three things come to mind immediately.

First, they redefined the category. Instead of cheesy, sometimes sophomoric photos and phrases, the company sought out the best looking photography it could find. They saw themselves as more than a breakroom bulletin board staple, but rather a piece of motivational art.

Second, they positioned their company around the end result, not the products themselves. In doing so, they weren’t selling posters – they were selling success.

Third, they created and stuck with a winning plan. While they have branched out into a handful of mall stores and, of course, they have a Web site, the company is familiar to most people because of its ads in airline magazines. They knew that that was the place to find tired, frustrated businesspeople looking for some way to light a fire under their employees.

What can the Successories story teach us about effective communications strategy?

• Run around, not with, the stampede. Rather than overtly (or subliminally, for that matter) touting how your products, your services, and your company top the competition, ignore the other guys completely. Instead, communicate as if you are the only one in a brand new category you’ve created.
• Benefits. Benefits. Benefits. Even the most seasoned communications professional could stand to have this tattooed somewhere on his or her body, just in case they have the temptation to write their company’s version of “rack and pinion steering” (whatever the heck that actually is) in body copy somewhere.
• Less – if it’s the right less – can definitely be more. Resist management’s demands to be all things to all people. Find your target; refine it; and refine it some more. Then decide how best to reach them, and stick with it, until the results suggest a different strategy.

The message? Be different. Be clear. And be patient. Who knows? One day you may find your product in better restrooms across America.