Company Blog

Looking Back

by Adam Zack — January 8, 2025

“I assert that when it comes to our field of marketing and branding the maverick grocers of North America, the question that matters most and that each should be asking first and foremost is WHY?”

2025 marks the tenth anniversary of writing this blog. Yay! Happy Anniversary! Ten years goes
by so fast. I was talking to one of my employees the other day, a 20 year old kid and we talked
about how 20 was kind of no-man’s land of ages. Too young to buy booze or smokes, but too
old to blame it all on being a teenager. I, on the other hand, as I turned a seemingly ancient 61 a
few days ago, think back to how fun my 20’s were and how life evolved. So I thought about how
this blog has evolved over the last 10 years, and decided to look back and see just what the hell
my ramblings conveyed in the early years of blogdom. This one below, my third blog ever,
struck me as still being very relevant, so I decided to re-blog it. Our recipient list has increased
by about 1,000 people since then, so I feel it is relevant to share again.

The Most Important W
Most of us who went to school remember the 5 W’s. Who, What, When, Where, and Why. In
this age of equality for all words, letters, colors and numbers, is there really one that is most
important? Is there one word that proves that there is a master word among the millions of
words available? One W to rule them all? I assert that when it comes to our field of marketing
and branding the maverick grocers of North America, the question that matters most and that
each should be asking first and foremost is WHY?

Let’s start with a true-life example that occurred last week. A well respected and prominent
owner of 15 grocery stores recently asked a share group I am in for input on creating a full color
magazine style holiday guide for his company. What were the costs and ways to fund it? Who
was the best to create it? When was the best time to distribute it? Where should he get it
printed? I related this inquiry to the consciously attuned guru leader at DW Green and, after
assuming the lotus position, chanting Ah-uu-mm and lighting the incense, received a response:
“My son, the question first to be asked and answered is what is the purpose of this holiday
glossy full color marketing piece?” The Why. Why should they publish this magazine? Is it the
best use of their funds to achieve their purpose?

In marketing decisions we too often concentrate on the first 4 W’s and fail to fully flesh out our
purpose for what we are doing. What is the end result we are trying to achieve and how does it
communicate our brand and our purpose to our customers and employees? When I posed the
thought to the excellent grocer in our story that he and his team first needed to address their
purpose in creating this publication I received the following response:

“Thanks Adam. I appreciate your help. You nailed it when you said we needed to decide our
purpose first.”

So we don’t end up with the W result “WTF”? Let’s first start by asking why? What is our
purpose? We like helping grocers define their purpose. It fulfills our Why, our business purpose.