The Opposite Of Camouflage

The other week I mentioned how to give quality instructions.  A lesson I had learned from the Army that I had transferred to the commercial world.

It was suggested to me that I might like to pass another Army method -> Commercial tool lesson on.  So having watched a Harry Potter Movie with the kids on the weekend and been fascinated by Harry’s invisibility cloak, I thought I might pass on how the Army feels about invisibility (or camouflage anyway) and how it makes me think about marketing.

My thought processes are simple.  If camouflaging yourself makes you hard to see, then doing the reverse will make you more visible.  Transferred to commercial terms, more visible means getting noticed and more customers.  Marketers call it cut though.

The Australian Army teaches (or did when I was around) that the principles of camouflage consist of 5 S’s and an M.

Shape
Almost nothing in nature is symmetrical,  therefore if you wear triangles and squares you will stand out.  Much better to be lopsided.   The same principle applied commercially is to make your offering stand out from the competition. If everyone has square business cards, why not a round one?  In fact if everything is symmetrical, why not something lopsided?

Shine
Shiny objects catch the eye, so make sure everything on you has been dulled.  The commercial reverse of this is make sure your advertising is eye catching.  No one reads a dull sign, but something with outrageous colours will catch the eye and from a much greater distance.

Shadow
Your shadow can betray you, for example if you are hiding behind a tree.  Commercially this makes me think about the footprint of my actions.  If we are giving great service, make sure that others are aware of it after we have gone.  Eg the fridge magnet so we can be recommended weeks later.

Silhouette
If you stand on the crest of a hill, you will be easily seen as behind you will be blank canvas of sky.  Commercially I think a about how my offer stands in the clutter of other offers.  How do I get my offer to “stand against a blank canvas.  This may be as simple as arranging a breakfast meeting so that there is nothing else on my customers mind when they meet me.

Sound
Quite obviously if you are making a lot of noise, you will be noticed.  To me this translates into turning every day occurrences into exciting dramatic events.  Letting customers known when we get new staff, or change the way we operate.  Everything is news=worthy when portrayed the right way to the right audience.

Movement
Finally movement catches the eye every time.  Commercially this means that we must be either constantly be innovating, or be seen to be innovating.  When your offering is the same day after day, you are almost guaranteed to lose mindshare.

More on camouflage in the military world can be found at resources like http://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1452904 and http://www.camo-store.com/sniper_camo.htm .  Wikipedia has an interesting article on camouflage that is much more focussed on the animal kingdom.  Quite an interesting article, especially when you approach it with the thought – “Is there a commercial tool here?’.  Herd animals deliberately make it difficult to distinguish individuals.  I’d have to say that the majority of the IT business works pretty much the same way.

Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.