'Tis the season

While in the store earlier today I happened upon the following board game:

Nothing tells me that the holiday season is being ruined by commercialism more than a board game based on logo recognition!

At first I could not believe that anyone would buy this game let alone create it.  Next I was curious about it.  Now I'm secretly hoping to be able to play it to see how well I do.

Trendy, overused phrase that I wish everyone would banish from their marketing materials:

"Join the conversation!"

Where do good ideas come from?

Despite what many believe, good ideas might not come from flashes of insight or moments of brilliance.  Here is a good video that discusses further.

One cynic's view: Morality makes terrible brands

A strong brand creates an emotional bond with consumers and establishes a degree of trust.  This bond and established trust attracts brand advocates who allow a brand to make some missteps along the way and these brand advocates are a little more understanding and forgiving when these setbacks occur.

Unfortunately, I fear that our society does not behave the same way toward brands that are connected in any way with a squeaky clean image or those built upon any degree of morality as a driver of brand equity, however much or little that morality is implied or explicitly defined.  It seems to me that brands that are widely perceived as being moral or clean or uplifting become huge targets upon which many people will turn as soon as there is even the slightest hint of misstep, lapse in judgement or setback. Often before the facts are even in.

Perhaps it is the natural tendency for humans, who by definition cannot possibly be 100% moral, to tear down and try to destroy something perceived as morally superior at even the slightest hint of a failing because it makes us somehow feel better about ourselves.  Perhaps we resent any air of morality associated with a brand because we know it is impossible to be 100% moral 100% of the time.  Perhaps brand managers who foster any sense of morality are simply setting their brands up for catastrophic failure when an inevitable lapse occurs.

Why do we allow a lesser degree of forgiveness or understanding for brands that are built upon any degree of moral value?  Why do people seek to completely destroy these brands when an inevitable misstep happens?

It seems to me that we ought to allow these brand more leeway but quite the opposite occurs.

Brand managers beware.

Don't want U.S. jobs to go overseas?

As our U.S. economy continues to struggle it is quite common to hear people on radio and television talking about the state of the economy and the job market.  One comment I tire from is when people state, "I don't want U.S. companies to move our jobs overseas when we need those jobs right here."

Stop to think about that for a moment.

Companies do not  move jobs overseas to be mean-spirited.  They move jobs overseas to find a lower cost structure so they can remain competitive in a world where low price is a main driver of consumer behavior--especially during difficult economic times.

So the next time you find yourself complaining about American jobs going overseas stop and ask yourself if you are willing to buy more American products and pay more for them than foreign comparable ones.  If you would rather continue to choose products with the lowest prices so you can save money then look in the mirror the next time you are looking for reasons jobs are going to other countries with substantially lower labor costs.

Book review: Enchantment by Guy Kawasaki

In this work Guy Kawasaki manages to take basic truths about business, sprinkle in a little bit of useful information about the latest social media technologies, stretches it all into book length and emerges with a book that will underwhelm anyone who has read other business books related to marketing, branding and/or customer satisfaction.

That is not to say the book does not have an audience.

If you are a young entrepreneur or new to business management then this is a good book that will teach you the basic generalities of how to create useful products that people want and appreciate. You'll gain a better understanding of why it is important to be truthful in your marketing, why it is important to create realistic expectations for customers and why delivering on promises (and making the right promises) will help you build your brand. You'll gain a better idea, conceptually, of how to create products that stand out and are different in a crowded marketplace.

For those who have read other books on business management or basic marketing the triteness of this work will envelop you in a familiar fog of vague, basic truths about how to deal with people in the manner or style of Dale Carnegie, Napoleon Hill and Zig Ziglar. If you are looking for meatier nuggets than "be likeable, "be trustworthy" and "be prepared" then you'll want to pass on this work unless you are seeking a breezy refresher or looking to renew your commitment to The Boy Scout Law.

The later chapters that provide some useful and actionable information on how to most effectively produce online marketing videos and how to leverage push/pull technologies earn it three stars from me, but I was hoping for much deeper insights, more current case studies and more actionable information.

Everything counts in brand building

OK.  So I'm a bit of a brand geek.

I was watching a documentary-style news program about Coca-Cola the other night when a company spokesperson talked about introducing the contoured bottle shape to the company's 2 liter beverage offering in an effort to try to produce incremental sales.  (It is truly an art when a change in packaging produces increased sales with absolutely the same product inside.)

That reminded me of a previous post for which I took some flak regarding the redesign of Wal-Mart's soda packaging.  But that's not what I want to talk about today.

Today I want to talk about pizza.

Last week one of my Facebook friends posted the following picture to his wall (photo used with permission) along with his thoughts, "It seems like there are more toppings in the picture."

As you probably already guessed, the post sparked a number of humorous comments regarding deception, truth in advertising and the importance of good lighting in the studio when taking product shots.

It made me think a little about product packaging and how important package design is to a brand.

In this day and age, why would a product brand use packaging or labeling that misrepresents the product? 

Social media almost ensures that any misrepresentation is going to not only be uncovered but shared with many, many people.  Here is one of my fraternity brothers from yesteryear opening a package of pizza in his home and he feels so fooled by the packaging that he snaps a picture and uploads it to his Facebook page where no less than 136 people ( # of his FB friends at the time) see it, realize the misrepresentation on the package and then start commenting.  Do you think Frescetta has helped or hurt its brand at this point?

When you are managing your brand everything counts.  The product itself, the promises you make and keep, and even the promises made or implied by your packaging.  If your product does not deliver on those promises then you have made a one-time sale and probably hurt your chances for repurchase and long-term brand loyalty.  There simply is no place to use deception or misrepresentation because in this day and age of social media and user-defined brands, you just won't get away with it and you'll achieve the opposite of a strong brand.

Perhaps I've misrepresented this as a blog post about pizza.

Mea culpa!

This post was really about how packaging can either support or undermine your branding effort. Use packaging wisely.

Book review: The Power of Alignment

This is an absolute masterpiece that reminds all business managers that if an activity is not aligned with the overall objectives of the organization then it should abandoned or not embarked upon and that profits come only after relentless focus on people and service.

The authors describe the overall objective of the business or organization as The Main Thing and remind us how critically important it is to make sure that The Main Thing remains the main thing in the business otherwise the forces and efforts exerted in the business are at risk of working against each other. Yes, departments can meet their immediate or departmental goals and objectives but actually not get the business any closer to its overreaching goal if things are not properly aligned. I've seen far too many businesses operate with a silo mentality where silo goals are almost completely detached from overall corporate goals. This condition has lead to devastating results in management, branding, marketing and acquisition strategies. The authors remind us how important it is to make sure everything is aligned and remains in alignment.

Does everyone in your business know how their objectives are tied to the overall objective or mission in your organization? Do they really understand how all other employees' objectives are tied to the overall Main Thing? If not then "The Power of Alignment" will help you understand how to bring about organizational and cultural change that will allow your business to prosper and endure.

Loaded with great quotes from business leaders and plenty of examples, this book will show you how to make sure everyone in your organization is working together to hit the main target and why it doesn't actually matter if that main target changes from time to time when market conditions change. In fact, if your organization is aligned to hit targets then the target can be just about anything.

I highly recommend this book and hope that one day it is required reading at all business schools and executive management courses.

How to Use Facebook to Drive Higher Sales

http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2011/03/how_to_use_facebook_to_drive_h.html
"As Facebook has grown to more than 600 million users, many companies have been struggling to figure out how to leverage it to help their businesses.

Most have limited themselves to advertising or establishing company pages on the platform only to discover that while these methods allow them to engage their Facebook fans in a dialogue and increase brand awareness, they do not necessarily lead to increased sales..."

continue to article @ Harvard Business Review.

Just exactly what is a brand?

Brand - Direct Marketing

In my humble opinion, the integration of brand marketing and direct marketing is the way of the future.  With online and digital marketing more important than ever and traditional (paper) direct mail nearing extinction, savvy marketers will look for ways to generate a direct response (a click, collection of user contact information, purchase, etc.)  while creating a brand supporting impression at the same time.  The core brand values will be communicated while trying to elicit a direct response in some fashion.

Look for it.

http://chiefmarketer.com/disciplines/directmarketing/brand_direct_marketing_10182006/

Long-term value creation

I see a future where businesses are judged based upon the long-term value they create rather than quarterly financial reports or short-term dividends and profit numbers. Too much emphasis is placed on short-term results and the practice is harming long-term value creation and business viability. The short-sighted goal of pleasing investors on a quarterly basis places an enormous amount of pressure on managers to take short-cuts and artificially inflate traditional business performance metrics. The many recent corporate scandals clearly illustrate that many business managers succumb to the short-term profit pressures placed on them by investors. Let's all stop it and look to invest in long-term value creation.

Source: http://www.davedolak.com/mission.htm

Branding Gone Awry: 10 Most Ill-Advised Ads of All Time

From Bschool.com:

Branding Gone Bad: 10 Most Ill-Advised Ads of All Time

Capitalism is the answer

Unleashed capitalism is the answer to economic recovery.

Hire those overqualified applicants!

The Dec. 2010 issues of Harvard Business Review has a short article entitled, The Myth of the Overqualified Worker that discusses new research that reveals that overqualified applicants/new hires are not more likely to quit sooner or under perform on the job because they feel they are superior.  Counter to conventional wisdom, overqualified workers tend to perform better than other employees and they don't quit any faster.

Keep this in mind as you start to hire new employees coming out of this period of economic depression.  There are many overqualified applicants out there that are more than worth a second look.

Why would you not hire somebody capable and willing to deliver more than you ask for?

Social media is not a business model

Back in 2007  Rob Frankel posted an interesting analysis of the buzz environment that surrounded online social networking sites. In fact, Rob predicted the demise of social networking sites.

http://robfrankel.blogspot.com/2007/09/demise-of-social-networking.html

I agreed with Rob at the time in that current practices in marketing and advertising did not (and still do not) support the business models for many of these social networking sites.  The "build traffic now and worry about revenue later" mantra just won't cut it unless these sites can exist using an advertising-supported model.  Indeed, many social networking sites have vanished since 2007.  Friendster anyone?

So what if pure-play social networking sites are able to collect large numbers of users who interact in these online communities? Just because lots of people do it doesn’t mean there are profits to be found for the site owners--unless, as already stated, these sites can be ad-supported or user-supported which is hardly anything new.  In a nutshell, social media must in the long run be monetized by those who own the sites and the servers.

Most people who participate in social media simply are not willing to pay a fee to participate just yet.  Would you be willing to pay a monthly fee to be on Facebook?  Would you be willing to go to a "PPT" (Pay Per Tweet) model on Twitter?  Without substantial advertising revenue the name of the game in the long term will have to be building brand loyalists for these online sites. Loyalists who gladly contribute an ongoing revenue stream.  Right now social media users find paying fees undesirable and targeted advertising just a bit creepy.  In fact, targeted advertising is often seen as an invasion of privacy and when users sense that too much personal information is being shared with advertisers they quickly revolt.

Integrating social media elements into existing sites that already survive on revenue generated in other ways is a great way to bolster brands and further engage customers.  Adding Twitter, YouTube and Facebook to your marketing tool kit is just plain smart.

Just don't succumb to the notion that engaging in social media is in-and-of-itself a business model.

The latest logo debate says a lot about brands and social media

Starbucks recently unveiled a new, revamped logo that is stirring some heated debate and has some of its loyal customers frothing at the mouth based on some of the comments on the company's Facebook wall.

While some like the new logo others seems to absolutely hate it and say they want the old logo put back on the cups.  Starbucks has dropped both the name and the word "coffee" from the new logo.  Evidently being seen with the Starbucks cup is as important--if not more important--than what's actually in the cup to some.

This brings to mind a passage from Theodore Levitt in Marketing Imagination when he talks about the importance of packaging and how it is sometimes more important than the product itself.  The image projected and the feelings you have about a product can sometimes be more important than the benefit you derive from the functional product attributes themselves.

And so it is in the modern era of branding.

Marketers know within hours what people think of any change in their brands' packaging and identity elements because people express themselves openly, freely and almost instantaneously on social media.  People passionate about a brand will sound off about it and make their voices heard.  Remember that your brand never, ever meant anything other than what the market thought about it anyway.  You don't get to define what your brand means, they do.

It does make me wonder, though.  Do we buy the coffee because we think it is superior and that we are paying a fair price or do we buy the cup with the logo on it so others will see us with it and the content is inconsequential?