Dory Ellis Garfinkle00:02 — it's very tempting to just invest in your strategy and your brand architecture and just go right to ship it. That's super tempting because everybody is under extreme pressure to go to market and to drive those results and they have fewer resources. But you'll lose out if you don't employ the right smart governance models and the right partners and put in the real work to be clear on who you are and who your customers are and whether you're speaking to them directly. Clarity is not dumbing things down. It's doing the hard work so that your audience just doesn't have to.
Benjamin Ard01:02 — Welcome back to another episode of Content Amplified. Today I'm joined by Dory. Dory, welcome to the show. Yeah. Dory, I'm excited. This is going to be a ton of fun. I'm really excited for this subject. There's so many places we could go with this, but before we dive in, Dory, let's get to know you, get to know your background, work history, all that kind of fun stuff.
Dory Ellis Garfinkle01:07 — Thank you, Ben. Great to be here. Sure thing. So I'm a career long marketer, but I've zigged and zagged a little bit within that. spent my career really at the intersection of brand and growth. I started agency side, going to places like McCann and draft FCB early on, then led brand led growth at several transportation tech companies, did stint at Zipcar, if you even remember what that is. AAA's venture lab, and then went to design innovation consultancy IDEO, then to Lyft, and now I'm CMO at a global brand consulting firm called Siegel+Gale So it's sort of full circle back to agency life, which has been very, very fun. And I think to summarize my journey, I think the question has always been the same.
Benjamin Ard01:45 — absolutely, yeah.
Dory Ellis Garfinkle02:12 — that from a marketing and content perspective, we need to solve. it's how do you make something easier to understand and convey it in a way that's impossible to ignore? I've thought about it a lot. You know, we've done the research, we have the receipts, but that's really the big question that I know I'm not alone as the marketer trying to solve this, but I do think this is the moment we're in and in a way, you know, the thing that marketing and brand need to solve for.
Benjamin Ard02:44 — Love it. So that's exactly what we're going to talk about today. Simplicity. And I love how you broke it down into the two buckets. Easy to understand, but impossible to ignore. So do you, do you mind, let's try to take like those on separately for a second. What do you mean by easy to understand? I think the term simplicity has a lot of different meanings for a lot of different people, lot of different contexts is easy to understand simple.
Dory Ellis Garfinkle02:53 — Mm-hmm. Okay. Yeah. Yeah.
Benjamin Ard03:11 — what is that actually looking to feel like to you?
Dory Ellis Garfinkle03:13 — Yeah, there are many answers to that. think, so at Segal and Gayle, simplicity is our ethos. It is our philosophy and it has always been. But what simplicity means in the context of what else is happening in the world has changed so, much over the many years that we've been in business. And really, making something easy to understand inherently brings the audience into question, right? So who do you want to really understand what you're offering? Which audiences? Is it a robot? Is it a big you know, potentially B2B audience? Is it a person at home like feeding their pets? So if you have a message or a product that's instant to get, like do people get it? Do robots get it? Then they intuitively understand what you are all about and that intuitive understanding lowers a cognitive load, which right now everyone is going to be drawn to anything that lowers that cognitive load. and makes it so that, you know, it's just quick. You know, people get it, they intuitively connect with you. And so that's kind of the next thing of, but how do you stay interesting? How do you stay relevant? How do you go without being ignored and, you know, even preferred? How do you stand apart? How do you break through? That's the other piece is if a tree falls in the woods, nobody's there. Right? So you could have the most simple intuitive message in the world, but you also need to get it out there in a way that's compelling and consistent.
Benjamin Ard04:45 — Yep. So today's market, that feels like it's almost harder than ever before. People are collecting their information in a million different ways. How are you making the tree fall actually be heard? Because I love the simplicity side, like easy to understand all that. We could dive into that for a million years, but I do think people in marketing are scratching their heads and saying, I've got a beautiful story. I just don't think anyone's hearing it. What are you seeing happen in that space?
Dory Ellis Garfinkle04:58 — yeah, we're in. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely. right now we have a crisis of complexity. This is the problem. This is the battle. Okay. And actually, Siegel+Gale has 15 years of research on this topic. Our annual simplicity study surveys more than 15,000 people across nine countries. And we found that 64 % of those people are willing to pay more for simpler brand experiences. There's 78 % more likely to recommend a brand. because of simpler experiences and communications. And brand complexity actually costs companies $780 billion in unrealized annual revenue. OK, one more stat. Since 2009, the publicly traded simplest brands on our index that we publish have consistently outperformed the global stock index by 1,600%. So this is not soft brand stuff. Simplicity is a financial strategy. It's a growth strategy. It really breaks through. And so it almost addresses both the story and how you tell it. Because when you focus on...
Benjamin Ard06:12 — Wow.
Dory Ellis Garfinkle06:29 — telling that great story and getting clear on who you are and what you have to say that matters. Everything else that follows is also in line with that story. So when you talk about this crisis of complexity, mean, content that amplifies is content that's clear first.
Benjamin Ard06:49 — When you're talking about this and this is like, I had the small pause cause I'm thinking through this. I love this. So the easier and the better the story, the simpler, the message, the clear value without adding the unnecessary complexity is the very means by which you can stand out in this crazy confusing world where there are a million messages.
Dory Ellis Garfinkle07:06 — Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah.
Benjamin Ard07:16 — I love that there's something pure. It resonates. How, how do you find that? Because I think that is something that's like a really big aha moment here to stand out. Maybe you need to look at your story a little bit better, but how do I find that? How do I find something that actually stands out?
Dory Ellis Garfinkle07:20 — Cool. Okay. Yeah. Yep. Yeah, here's another interesting insight. Simplicity is actually, it actually can be very difficult to achieve. If you're doing it with the right partner, like, you know, plug for Siegel+Gale you know, we... We have a lot of experience doing this. And when you talk about brands that are in the middle of these big mergers and acquisitions and spin-off moments, and you have the external world of complexity that you're battling, and then you also have the internal. multilayered, multi matrices, different stakeholders, ultimately a lot that you have to deal with, bringing in a partner can really, really help with that. For example, look what we did with the US Army. US Army was facing a recruiting crisis a few years ago, and there was a perceived lack of relevance to Gen Z's values. Understandable. And research showed that these young people are driven by purpose, they're driven by experience and personal growth and community. But the Army's brand actually lacked the tools to convey that with any conviction or authenticity. The fix wasn't, let's make more content. Let's tell more stories to more people. It was clear content that needed to happen there. And we guided them to a more modernized identity. because we pared down to like, what is the essence of the army that has this universal appeal? Like, what is the aspirational promise that they can actually pay off? And so we had a modernized identity come out of that, a new visual language built for digital, and a return to be all you can be, which was a line that always was great, but really needed a platform that was worthy of it. And so the content was amplified because the message was finally clear. And since then, they've had record-breaking Gen Z enrollment. And that's not to say we didn't also win a bunch of awards for it. It was a good move. so sometimes, and we have a bunch of stories like this too, like CVS. is a client of ours and it's also a great example because they boldly back in the day decided to stop selling tobacco and they were the first pharmacy ever to do that. They were already the largest pharmacy health services provider in the US. They acquired Target's Pharmacy, they acquired Aetna and then they needed a bigger, more connected way to tell the CVS health story. And so they came to us and we went deep. with them and looked really looked in and really thought about not just what their customers want, but what are their employees see here and, you know, bring the entire business, including the recently acquired ones into a shared unified purpose. And where we landed was helping people on their path to better health.
Benjamin Ard10:41 — Mmm.
Dory Ellis Garfinkle10:58 — Very simple, very, very simple. And so the icon, the heart icon was born out of that. And everyone knows it now, this heart icon, because it works so well to express that purpose. Think about what that heart icon says to you as a CVS customer. It's clear, it's gettable. You're like, there's a heart, it's a health. It's a purpose. This is not just a nameless, faceless corporation. They are humans, right? And so when we did that, we saw a 5.5 % year over year bump in those same stores that we turned over the branding and a 22 % increase in pharmacy services revenue. So when you think about that at scale, that's a really strong business result. and that's, that's sort of the gist of the value of clarity when it's applied at that enterprise scale. And when you have such a commitment to simplicity, you have the right partner. You can look in and find the good stuff. It's not always looking back. It's not always looking ahead, but getting to that real vision. And it's almost like, you know, measuring twice because once you cut and you release it to the world, the crisis of complexity is going to do what it wants to do with it. But if you have that beautiful red heart logo and you have that elegant purpose, it can't do too much to get in the way. The complexity.
Benjamin Ard11:58 — Yep. I love that. That's so cool. And I love both of those examples. There was a story that kind of fit behind it. I love that you went and looked at the CVS story. The first people to get rid of tobacco. And there is proof in that story. Like we are helping. We care. By the way, let's prove it. Let's look at our history. Let's do that.
Dory Ellis Garfinkle12:20 — Yeah. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah, that's the value of authenticity as well. Never before has there been such a sensitive BS detector. in not just Gen Z, but I think everyone now. mean, when you have like AI and you have all this content that's like not necessarily exactly hitting the mark, people are going to pay attention to what's authentic. They know, they definitely know. And one of the ways to reinforce that is by thinking about your internal audiences deeply and making sure that they are fully invested and on board with the vision and the decisions that are made around what happens externally. Because for a long time now, internal has been external. What goes on inside of a company, ever since social media, what goes on inside a company everybody knows about. So they're your brand ambassadors. That's an easy win a lot of the time, just to get a foothold on the right idea.
Benjamin Ard13:41 — That's so cool. So I wanna end, cause we're almost out of time with something really tactical. So I'm gonna throw you kind of a tactical question curve ball. Dory, when it comes to someone sitting here and listening to this episode today, and they're thinking to the self, man, we're caught up in this complexity. What can they start to do today?
Dory Ellis Garfinkle13:45 — Sure. Okay.
Benjamin Ard14:04 — to simplify and take advantage of their authentic story in a way that genuinely can help cut through the noise. What are a couple of things that come to mind that someone can actually start doing today?
Dory Ellis Garfinkle14:17 — For sure. I think what's happening now is it's very tempting to just invest in your strategy and your brand architecture and just go right to ship it. That's super tempting because everybody is under extreme pressure to go to market and to drive those results and they have fewer resources. But you'll lose out if you don't employ the right smart governance models and the right partners and put in the real work to be clear on who you are and who your customers are and whether you're speaking to them directly. Clarity is not dumbing things down. It's doing the hard work so that your audience just doesn't have to.
Benjamin Ard14:56 — Mark Twain quote. I'm sorry I wrote a long letter because I didn't have enough time to shorten it.
Dory Ellis Garfinkle14:58 — I That's it. I love that quote. I love that quote because it's true. It's a universal truth.
Benjamin Ard15:06 — 100%. And I love how you phrased it. The simplicity is not dumbing it down. It's doing the hard work for the consumer. I love that. I think that that is such a bold statement.
Dory Ellis Garfinkle15:15 — Mm-hmm. Yeah, that's where I'll click. Yeah. And I think, you know, it's not the advice can't be tactical because it's a big idea. And I think that, you know, depending on what your goals are and what you're trying to solve for. Ultimately, you kind of come back to the same principle, which is like, what's complex about this? What's getting in the way of an intuitive connection with my customer? And once you release it to the world, the algorithms are going to do what they will with it. So how do you account for that in the beginning? How do you maintain the integrity of your message? And I think firms like ours are evolving to address for that. We have a whole practice around governance and making sure that we have a cohesive story doing things like partnering with other firms within Omnicom, by using the right technology to deploy it, by enlisting the right departments within the client entity and making sure that everything has a backup plan. Everything has like the right infrastructure to make sure that it works. And I think it's resisting the need for speed just long enough to have the confidence that you're going to get it right.
Benjamin Ard16:38 — I love that. Very cool. Dory, we've run out of time been It goes by quick and this was amazing. This has given me so much to think about. Our audience is gonna love this. This is incredible. For anyone who listened and wants to reach out and connect with you online, how and where can they find you?
Dory Ellis Garfinkle16:41 — Thank you for having It does. You can find me on LinkedIn. You also can go to https://www.siegelgale.com/ and drop us a line. We'd love to hear from you and we'll keep in touch that way.
Benjamin Ard17:05 — Love it. For everyone listening, scroll down to your show notes, regardless of what platform you're on. You will see both of those links in the show notes. Click on them, connect with Dory. Dory, again, this has been incredible. Thank you for the time and all of the insights today. Really do appreciate it.
Dory Ellis Garfinkle17:21 — Thank you.
