Do marketers know the meaning of the word "branding?"

Robert Rosenthal over at Freaking Marketing believes that some marketers just don't understand the term "branding."

Either that or he builds a strong case as to why designers and ad agencies purposefully misuse the term.
Check out his post.

Book review: Growing Small Businesses into Big Brands

Jack Sims has pulled together a great mix of theory and his own real-life examples in this book. His "brand to the bone" concept nicely illustrates that gaining a big share of your customers' hearts and minds is essential to gaining a larger share of their wallets, not in a deceptive way but in a way that benefits them so they willingly purchase your brand. You capture hearts and minds by being meaningfully different.

All this gets to the heart of it all. An authentic brand that delivers real value and that stands for unique benefits will be rewarded.

Don't overlook the questionnaires and checklists at the end of the book!

On my "Professional Marketer Investment Scale";
($-Poor investment, $$$$$-Great investment)

Rating: $$$$

Tropicana-Twitter ad campaign

I recently interviewed Leslie Bradshaw, Public Affairs Communications Manager at New Media Strategies who created a novel advertising campaign tied to Twitter for Tropicana.

Q: I noticed an advertising campaign at http://www.anorangeamerica.com that seems unique.  This campaign seemed to be tied to an analysis political talk on Twitter during the recent U.S. presidential campaign.  What exactly are you doing behind the scenes?

A: Not to totally geek-out here, buuut, to make it work, we take a sample from Twitter every 30 seconds and analyze them in 50-result batches for associations and term matches. They accumulate for 5 minutes and then we flush sample aggregates to the database. So the database has samples from when it started through present in 5-minute granularity. As new terms trend, they begin to populate on the X-axis. The system back end will be implemented using a Java-based stack and PostgreSQL RDBMS. The presentation will be implemented using Flash targeted to Player 9, standards-compliant XHTML/CSS targeted to modern browser versions with significant market share (Safari 2+, Firefox 2+, IE 6+).

Q: For those who might not be familiar, what exactly is Twitter and what is a Tweet?

A: I could go on and on about Twitter, because I love it and think it is an extremely useful tool... I think founders Evan Williams, Biz Stone and the Twitter team are incredibly brilliant for creating and harnessing the simplicity of what is human nature to us all - our ability to produce short, random, meaningful, silly, insightful, introspective, engaging and/or social thoughts. Hopefully this isn't too much...

Broadly ~ Twitter is a new communications application that allows users to send short updates to other users via the Internet, Blackberry, cell phone, and instant messenger (IM) applications.  Generally considered a "micro-blog," the application allows a user to send a text-based message, of up to 140 characters in length, to other users who have requested to receive updates them from that user.  When you post, it is called a "tweet" and the act of posting on Twitter is "tweeting." It's growing in popularity due to its simple, easy to use, and stripped down format. As of October 2008, there are over 2 million registered accounts.  

Specifically ~ Twitter is a social and efficient way of staying in touch with friends and contacts (who also use Twitter, of course) and meeting new folks. It is also provides an outlet to life-stream your thoughts, however short or random they may be, in a public or private (protected) web profile.

Q: How do you "see" or gain access to what people are talking or tweeting about and how do you tie that to the Tropicana brand?

A: There are a couple of ways you can do this, depending on your end goal. If you are a general reader and consumer, just interested in finding others talking about a subject in which you are interested, we recommend ,http://search.twitter.com/. If you are a developer, or an organization, wanting to tap into the data and build a site like we did with Tropicana ("An Orange America"), you would want to connect to the Application Programming Interface (API), which gives you access to the raw data (in this case, the short messages, aka: "tweets") and allows you to perform whatever analysis you would like.

Q: Could this technology be easily targeted to other conversations?

A: Absolutely. You can target conversations through the search engine I listed above and through the general API data I also just mentioned. The key is to make it both useful and authentic -- it is important to understand and participate in the space before just diving in. That is why working with the New Media Strategies Public Affairs team, all of whom are on Twitter; Tropicana was able to further leverage their ingenious idea.

Q: What implications might this have for branding efforts and what would one have to do to make sure it is not intrusive but rather something that advances the conversation or the dialog?

A: The great thing about Tropicana is that when they came to us, they really wanted to find a way to help add value to the social media community and larger political dialog going on around Election Day. As you can see in their An Orange America video, they have a non-partisan, 100% orange approach ("We're not red. We're not blue. We're 100% orange."), which allows the data to speak for itself. Not to overdo it on the juice puns here, but as a political blogger myself, it is refreshing :)  Overall, they felt that building a Twitter application would help make sense by "freshly squeezing" the massive amounts of data (aka: tweets) that would be posted this week.

Q: What else should we know about this technology?

A: At a workshop over the summer at the Online News Association, we shared something then that I would like to share again: Twitter is a natural extension of short-form communication that humans have always used to get their points across, like psalms, Haiku, hieroglyphics, graffiti, slang and text messaging. It is just the most recent - and technologically evolved - carnation of communicating. I want to challenge people to see it as a natural medium and tool, not something highly technical or alienating.
 
Q: What type of brands authentically lend themselves to this type of alignment to conversations on twitter?

A: I would say news brands lend themselves the most to twitter -- Fox News, C-SPAN, Huffington Post -- because they naturally generate a lot of discussion as it is. Twitter is a good way to create a conversation about those stories to make them much more interactive.

Thanks for the story behind the campaign. I’m sure we’ll be seeing more of this type of advertising in the future.

Help restore my faith in the profession

All you marketers out there, please, please help restore my faith in the profession. Please reply with your comments and answer this one simple question:

What is the goal of marketing?

Book review: Meaningful Marketing

Over the weekend I finished the book, "Meaningful Marketing: 100 Data-Proven Truths and 402 Practical Ideas for Selling MORE with LESS Effort" by Doug Hall. This book should be on every marketer's bookshelf.

Packed with solid information on how to sell more product and services, Doug Hall backs up his assertions with research-backed studies and data to assure the reader that these truths fall out from hard data. Experienced marketers might not learn anything new, but they probably will. At the very least the book will have you revisiting sacred cows and "common knowledge" about what you think you know about marketing and sales tactics that elicit customer response.

While probably not meant to be read from start to finish as a typical marketing work, this book belongs in your library as a handy reference. Packed with common (and not-so-common) consumer insights, the book is arranged with each left-hand page being a "truth" and the accompanying right-hand page listing several practical ideas to support those truths. Everything is well-indexed and easily findable.

Perhaps the most valuable gem of the whole book is the author's complete list of all references that support each truth so that you can track down the primary research or journal articles that the author researched. This list alone is worth the price of the book if you are looking for jumping off points to dig deeper into any of the topics.

On my "Professional Marketer Investment Scale":
($-Poor investment, $$$$$-Great investment)

Rating: $$$$ 1/2

Internal and External Brand Alignment

Mind the Gap - Are You Bridging Your External and Internal Branding?
By Laura Pasternak

You've seen it on tee shirts. Perhaps you've heard this British proper announcement on the London tube. But have you considered the importance of minding the gap between your internal and external branding efforts? If you haven't, prospects, clients and shareholders could very easily be get caught in the gap between brand promise and delivery.

No matter how brilliant your external brand communications, if the brand promise isn't validated through your internal efforts then it could all be for naught. By creating, implementing and maintaining consistency, you will build a stronger brand and, in the process, instill greater trust and customer loyalty.

The Pitfalls of Not Minding the Gap

Not heeding the gap can spell disaster for a company. All too often the focus of brand building is external - the sales force, marketing collateral and public relations efforts - with little attention given to internal brand touch points - company policies, practices, customer relationship management and employee protocol. Managing your brand both internally and externally is critical to creating a successful brand. When customers see a gap between what you tout and what you deliver, the mixed messages can have an adverse effect on your brand.

Brand is influenced by every contact you have with your customer. Does your customer's experience with your product support team align with your company's brand message? Is the experience created by the sales representative mirrored in the execution of the service? Does your collections department communicate the same brand attributes in their interactions with customers? Examine the consistency of your message, tone and action among all internal and external customer contacts. Chances are you'll find some sort of gap. Effective brand-driven companies focus on closing this gap.

But even some of today's most well-known brands face the challenge of effectively minding the gap. One high-profile example was internet service provider, America Online (AOL). On its corporate website, America Online (AOL) stated its commitment to creating an easy and painless experience for customers:

"We do all these things and much more because at AOL, we are dedicated to the simple premise that our members and consumers deserve the best possible - and most valuable - online experience available anywhere."

However, allegations among the company's customers suggested that AOL's external branding was not consistent with the company's internal operations. The web site, consumeraffairs.com, revealed AOL users' discontent with several of the company's policies and practices, citing extreme difficulty in canceling accounts, rude customer service representatives, unauthorized charges and even double billing.

If you reread the above corporate vision statement, there is clearly a disconnect between the message and the experiences of customers who posted complaints at ConsumerAffairs.com. This is a classic example of how actual practices fail to support a company's marketing rhetoric. AOL's message said their customers deserved the best experience (rhetoric). However, delayed cancellation techniques, antagonistic, and often difficult, attitudes of some customer service representatives and frustrating cancellation problems (actual practices) contradicted the company's promotional language.

As a result, customers were canceling their AOL accounts by the thousands, with statistics showing 800,000 cancellations in one quarter alone. Nearly 4,000 former users wrote ConsumerAffairs.com about problems with AOL and difficulties in canceling services. One former customer went so far as to record and post on the Internet his conversation with AOL customer service, further compounding the negative perceptions about the AOL brand.

The company responded with this statement:

"At AOL, we have zero tolerance for customer care incidents like this - which is deeply regrettable and also absolutely inexcusable," said AOL spokesman Nicholas Graham. "The employee in question violated our customer service guidelines and practices, and everything that AOL believes to be important in customer care," he said.

Despite the company's self-proclaimed "zero tolerance" for such incidents, the public perception that this was not an isolated incident didn't garner much sympathy for the company or positively support the company's desired brand position. Obviously, there had become a widening gap between AOL's internal and external brand management efforts.

Minding the Gap, Maintaining the Bridge

The above example demonstrates that even when you think there are no gaps between your internal and external branding, both require ongoing review, maintenance and careful management. Even with "strong safeguards" and "rigorous internal and external compliance methods" in place to help mind the gap, the reality is it could happen to any of us.

Brand management in an ongoing process that must be adopted by your entire organization. The key to ensuring you deliver on your brand promise is to empower your employees to be brand ambassadors. Have them participate in the process of establishing brand guidelines that identify how the company's brand is actualized at each touch point with a customer (from the initial sale through delivery and ongoing support). Then, on a continual basis, implement and monitor checks and balances to identify and close any gaps between your brand promise and brand delivery.

What can you do to ensure that you don't become the next news story? Here are some practical tips for minding the gap:

* Align your internal operational practices with your external brand message. From the president and CEO to the customer service representative or maintenance person, every employee must understand, articulate and implement that brand consistently. They must recognize that their actions and interactions with customers are what create the value of the brand. They must be brand ambassadors in everything they do. Forgo this crucial step and contradictions between your brand and how your employees deliver on it will create doubt in prospects' minds as well as in those of your customers, partners, shareholders and the public.

* Measure and monitor customer experiences. In essence, we don't know what we don't know. That's why measurement and customer feedback is critical to managing your brand. Whatever you promise to deliver to the customer, you must ensure that the measures are in place to monitor customers' perceptions of your delivery on that promise. AOL wanted their clients to have the best experience possible, yet the actions of its customer service representatives challenged that premise. By instituting measures for feedback, as well as establishing internal checks and balances, you can ensure that you deliver on your brand promise and close any potential gaps that could erode the trust and loyalty of your customers.

* Be objective when minding the gap. It's human nature to want to play up our strengths and downplay or ignore our weaknesses. But examining our Achilles' heel is as essential as understanding what we do right. The best way to do this is to be as objective as possible. Allow customers and vendors to give you essential feedback, even if it is negative. And, instill a sense of self-regulation in your employees. Proactively addressing customer-identified brand gaps will pay off tenfold.

* Walk a mile in their shoes. Selling in the field with the sales force, sitting at the customer service help desk or working the warehouse dock for a day, will give you a better understanding of where your company excels in delivering on its brand as well as where it is falling short. By understanding the intricacies of the interactions various functions have with your customers, you can help establish the procedures and measures for ongoing assessment and management of your brand.

* Motivate your employees to build and maintain the brand. Plain and simple, if your employees have a vested interest in the brand process, they are far more likely to uphold the company values and brand. They must understand the importance of their role and be motivated to act with the brand in mind at all times. Have employees work together to establish the framework for how they will embody the brand and then implement a plan to get all employees on board. Publicly recognizing employees for brand-driven actions or solutions is one way to begin to build brand into the culture of your organization.

Like anything else, your brand is only as strong as your weakest link. If that weakest link is the bridge between your internal and external branding efforts, then your brand won't be sustainable. By instituting checks and balances and consistently reevaluating them, the link between your company and your customers can become a powerful and lasting connection.

Don't let your clients, shareholders, partners or the public fall through the cracks. Mind the gap by building and maintaining a solid bridge between your external brand message and your internal processes for delivering on that brand message. By doing so, you strengthen the commitment and loyalty of your customers, in turn strengthening your bottom line.

Laura Pasternak is President of MarketPoint, LLC, a brand management firm that helps businesses improve results by identifying, integrating and managing customer-driven brand equities and strategies. Visit http://www.yourmarketpoint.com or call 1.866.21POINT toll-free to learn more.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Laura_Pasternak http://EzineArticles.com/?Mind-the-Gap---Are-You-Bridging-Your-External-and-Internal-Branding?&id=1463136

Advertising agencies warn of tough year ahead

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/50de0c18-a519-11dd-b4f5-000077b07658.html

Did the Internet Kill Direct Mail? (guest blogger)

Did the Internet Kill Direct Mail?
By Carol Oliver

It's hard to think direct mail still reaps benefits when everyone is resorting to online marketing. Put simply, many marketers now see the internet as an untapped chunk of potential markets waiting to be uncovered. This resulted in the boom of internet marketing websites, forums, and seminars. So did the internet kill offline marketing techniques such as direct mail? Many people will say it did, but there are always two sides of the coin. Let's look at this topic from a fresh perspective.

The world has become so internet oriented that you can hardly have a conversation without weaving internet website or tools into it. People who don't have basic internet skills are now met with raised brows and sometimes even jeers. So how does this relate to direct mail? When all marketers shift to a different technique, you have an advantage once the coast is clear. An average internet user has become so used to those flashy ads on blogs and websites that a paper under their door can definitely grab their attention more at this point.

Before internet advertising, one would receive heaps of junk mail under his door and would toss it away instantly. Now with companies shifting towards internet marketing, less are sending out direct mail. Chances of exposure now are much higher than they were in the past. The trick now is to grab your prospect's attention in an unconventional way - a way that totally goes against internet basics.

Let's put this scenario, your prospect wakes up, pours juice and checks the mail. You have up to one minute to grab your prospect's attention. In the internet world, at the moment, you have up to 8 to 10 seconds to grab the surfer's attention. That's the first benefit of direct mail over the internet marketing techniques.

Let's look into the factor of personalization. When your prospect surfs the internet, he is aware that at least thousands are being exposed to this ad in the very same second. This puts your prospect in the "impersonal, indifferent" mode. With direct mail, the ability of the prospect to touch a postcard or brochure addressed to them creates a sense of intimacy or connection. That is yet another benefit of direct mail over internet advertising that can reap enormous rewards on the long run.

The last factor that kicks in is your prospect's curiosity. While in both offline and online campaigns you can pique interest via design, copy, or incentives, when a prospect curiosity is minimal due to distractions. Let's see how this applies to a daily scenario. Let's say you're online, you find an ad that says "Are you broke?" While this may pique your interest if you're indeed broke or bored, you may click the website only to find it's a paid service and close the window.

The attention span of an internet surfer is very low. How about someone who's on the couch, bored to tears, with a direct mail catalogue on the table? Most people will look at catalogues for hours just for the heck of it. Their attention span amounts to how bored they are. That's a huge advantage for any company looking for exposure.

This effect is only maximized by targeting market segments. This can be done by distributing direct mail to those in need of your product.

You can't find such information? Acorn Marketing, a team of dedicated direct response marketing specialists, can help you maximize your direct mail recruitment today!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Carol_Oliver
http://EzineArticles.com/?Did-the-Internet-Kill-Direct-Mail?&id=1558236

Looking for little-known marketing tactics that work?

Have you ever wondered about:

Who High Reach Influencers are and why they might be even more important than some of your customers

Why and how the customer lifetime value (CLV) model is flawed and how it might be restraining your success

The one critical belief that must be held by your top marketing officer in order for your company to reach its full revenue potential

The element of the marketing mix that is most effective when it actually fails regularly...and why you should be glad it does

Why spreading your marketing budget as wide as it will go is a huge mistake

How to allocate your marketing budget across your media mix

How to choose the right words in your marketing campaigns?

If so, then you should download my new, free report, "5 Secret Marketing Tactics That Will Increase Your Revenue."

Please let me know your thoughts after reading the report. I'm developing some of the ideas contained in the report for my next e-book and I would love to know what you think.

Top 250 Blog Postings on Marketing

Top 250 Blog Postings on Marketing, by Scott Howard.

Act like a commodity and you'll become one

Tom Fishburne posted an insightful blog entry on managing premium brands in uncertain economic times. Read his post.

The cure for wasted advertising dollars

I've been working my way through a new business-to-business sales and marketing book and became intrigued with an idea mentioned by the author. It struck me that my own philosophy towards advertising is very much in line with what the author described as brand response marketing.

Brand response mixes the best from both worlds of direct/response marketing and brand advertising. I never knew it had a name. I just thought it was common sense and a little direct response logic applied toward advertising.

You see, I have come to hate those big, beautiful ads with wonderful, large graphics, images or pictures that capture attention but then fail to do anything with it. These ads might win design awards and get praised by agency art directors, but they certainly don't communicate any core brand values or drive measurable response of any kind. (See my previous post as an example.) I have never understood why anyone would waste advertising dollars on these image ads that are not measurable in any way.

After a little research, I found a good description of brand response:

"Brand response is essentially a carefully executed direct response campaign with longer-term goals such as customer retention, brand loyalty and improving customer relationships with the brand itself. The success of such a campaign depends on the use of consistent creative that reinforces the brand over time and delivers the messages through all media used - whether that be door-drops, direct mail, press ads, radio, the Internet or TV. The careful targeting and strength of a consistent brand response campaign means the relevant target audience is being reached at the right time in the right place with no wastage. Using an integrated media strategy is the most effective way to reach your target audience via a number of different media channels, therefore reinforcing the brand while generating response."

An integrated media strategy is an essential tool for brand loyalty Precision Marketing. London:Sep 2, 2005. p. 12-13.

Ah, now isn't that music to your ears?

Don't create another ad that doesn't both foster the brand message and ask for some type of response.

Your bottom line and your sales team will love you.

How to plan your media spend for next year

Many marketing professionals are currently starting to pull their marketing plans and budgets together for 2009.

If you are faced with making some hard choices due to budget cut backs because of an uncertain economy*, then let me offer some advice.

Attempting to spread your marketing investment across as many different media as possible is dangerous. Depth in media is absolutely essential to get the results you want.

All too often people spread their marketing dollars across too many different media and dilute their message and their success. They believe that “being everywhere” to create awareness is the most important thing they can do.

They are dead wrong.

These marketers would be more successful if they focused on mastering a few media first and then made the bulk of their marketing investment in those proven media rather than trying to be everywhere. Just because you test on a small scale with one medium and find a winning campaign that is ready to be scaled-up within the same media does not mean that it is time to roll it out into many different media at the same time. Different media might deliver very different results.

Concentrate on the few media channels with which you are successful. Experiment and measure until you have the return on investment solidly working in your favor and then pour most of your allotted marketing dollars into those media while testing new media on a smaller scale. Master each one of your media channels one at a time and then add them to your mix one at a time until you find the optimum mix and balance.

A winning message in one medium might not translate into a winning message in a different medium. Don't gamble on unproven media because most of the time you will be disappointed.

Don't spread your marketing dollars as far as they will go. It is a huge, classic mistake.

* As of August 29, the U.S. economy grew GDP at a 3.3% rate in the second quarter of 2008 which was stronger than expected. The U.S. economy has continued to post growth and has not met the threshold of being defined as a recession which is defined as a period of two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth. Despite this fact and because of uncertainty in the housing and energy markets, many business managers are being very conservative in their spending and budgeting processes for 2009.

Mplanet 2009 marketing conference from the AMA

Mplanet™ is the American Marketing Associations premier event for the marketing community and a destination for the latest marketing thinking, innovations and interaction with the best marketing minds. Senior marketing executives, industry luminaries and top academics will engage in a dialogue about the magnitude and pace of change during the last few years. Mplanet will provide marketers with a place to discover and explore new ideas, new learning, proven strategies and solutions for some of the biggest challenges and opportunities in the Marketsphere.

When: January 26-28, 2009
Where: Rosen Shingle Creek Resort - Orlando, FL

Created by the American Marketing Association, in partnership with Bain & Company, The Wharton School and SpencerStuart, Mplanet provides senior marketing leaders and luminaries with a hands-on, first-of-its-kind destination for:

* Relevant information and actionable solutions. Interact in discussions with the top minds in marketing on topics that reveal answers to today's most pressing marketing challenges.
* Interactive environments. There are no podiums and no barriers to inhibit the free-flow of information. Immerse yourself in an environment designed to stimulate ideas and provide results.
* Networking with marketing leaders. Make contacts, discuss strategies and create opportunities with the best CMOs and managers in the business.

Top 25 Marketing & Social Media Blogs

According to Viral Garden

1 - Seth's Blog - 8,344 (-136)(LW - 1)
2 - CopyBlogger - 5,206 (-357)(LW - 2)
3 - Chris Brogan - 2,646 (+226)(LW - 3)
4 - Logic + Emotion - 1,160 (-9)(LW - 5)
5 - Search Engine Guide - 1,085 (-103)(LW - 4)
6 - Influential Marketing - 830 (+12)(LW - 7)
7 - Duct Tape Marketing - 811 (-25)(LW - 6)
8 - Church of the Customer - 661 (No Change)(LW - 8)
9 - Six Pixels of Separation - 630 (+4)(LW - 9)
10 - Daily Fix - 591 (-27)(LW - 10)
11 - Brand Autopsy - 589 (+1)(LW - 11)
12 - Conversation Agent - 546 (-2)(LW - 12)
13 - Techipedia - 495 (-24)(LW - 13)
14 - Jaffe Juice - 473 (-13)(LW - 14)
15 - Drew's Marketing Minute - 461 (-5)(LW - 15)
16 - Damn! I Wish I'd Thought of That! - 435 (-9)(LW - 16)
17 - Diva Marketing - 417 (-2)(LW - 17)
18 - Social Media Explorer - 415 (+7)(LW - 18)
19 - The Social Media Marketing Blog - 388 (-11)(LW - 19)
19 - Converstations - 388 (+2)(LW - 20)
21 - Every Dot Connects - 367 (-13)(LW - 21)
22 - Techno Marketer - 366 (+1)(LW - 23)
23 - What's Next - 361 (-3)(LW - 24)
24 - Greg Verdino's Marketing Blog - 354 (-13)(LW - 22)
25 - The Viral Garden - 353 (+8)(LW - 25)

Brand equity Top 10

According to a recent Harris Interactive poll of 20,289 consumers which asked each respondent to rate 60 randomly-selected brands out of the 1,170 brands in the study, Heinz Ketchup is the number one brand in terms of consumer equity.

Here are the top 10 brands according to the study (rank., brand, brand equity score):

1. Heinz Ketchup 79.27
2. M&M Plain Chocolate Candy 77.79
3. Hershey's Milk Chocolate Candy Bar 77.51
4. Hershey's Kisses Chocolate Candy 77.20
5. Duracell Batteries 76.75
6. Cheerios Cereal 76.53
7. Discovery Channel 76.17
8. Kraft Foods, Inc. 75.93
9. Kleenex Facial Tissues 75.57
10. Neosproin Ointment 75.54

The god of copy

I've got to thank Bob Bly for blogging about and turning me on to The Copy God. This guy states, "Discover how to write copy so potent, powerful, and awe-inspiring, it starts to make money for your clients before they mail it – as incredible as that sounds!"

For those of you interested in marketing and writing copy, this one is great for a laugh. It actually is very well written and a case study in exaggerated claims (as slight as they may be.)

Just make sure you read it to the end...and be sure to click on the button at the bottom to see who is really behind it all.

...and a special welcome to my new affiliate

Check out the Queensboro Shirt Company for all of your logowear needs.

Linking Mission, Vision and Brand Promise

The Branding Strategy Insider Blog has posted an entry that discusses the role of brand promises within the context of organizational vision and mission and why it is important to link them all.

This represents further support for my Top End Alignment branding process.

Book review: BrandSimple

"BrandSimple: How the Best Brands Keep it Simple and Succeed" by Allen Adamson is a refreshingly easy read that boils the essence of brands and branding down to, well, their simplest but most important basics. Anyone involved in business management of any kind should read this book.

Adamson reminds us throughout the book that a brand is a very different thing than branding and that marketers cannot be great at branding without first creating a great brand.

The best brands are different. They promise something different and unique and deliver on that promise every time. They also find a way to simplify their brand message so that just about everyone instantly "gets it" and that the "it" resonates and seems obvious after the fact. Getting to that simplicity can require a lot of hard work and thinking, but making it seem so simple, obvious and intuitive is the key.

As Managing Director of Landor Associates, Allen Adamson peppers the book with real-world examples from his work at Landor and from his previous positions. His case studies show how the best brands work tirelessly to emerge with a simple promise and a simple message that is easily communicated in just a few words.

The real examples are brief yet clearly show the challenges and ultimate solutions from brands like Compaq, Visa, Apple, Aquafina, Baby Einstein, BlackBerry, JetBlue, Timberland, Pixar and many more. He uses these brands to show that often a simple insight that makes your product different is the real power in building a great brand -- as long as that difference is important and relevant to your potential customers.

The book is written at an easy reading level so that any business manager will be able to readily breeze through it without tons of technical branding terminology and grasp the important concepts. This in turn will inspire them to reevaluate and transform their own brands. The book is straight-forward, simple and highly insightful and useful.


On my "Professional Marketer Investment Scale";
($-Poor investment, $$$$$-Great investment)

Rating: $$$$$

Bud goes to InBev

Anheuser-Busch and its flagship brand, Budweiser, have been bought by Belgian brewer, InBev. Not only does this leave us to wonder if a truly American beer brand will play well globally, but it reminds us that distribution (or place) is one of the important "P's" of marketing.

Will InBev be successful getting Bud to be a broader-reaching global brand? Will the purchase by a foreign company hurt Bud's appeal in the U.S.? Will the synergistic savings on the supply and manufacturing side realized by InBev now more than justify the purchase?

Only time will tell, of course, but it will be interesting to watch what effect this has on the A-B and Bud brands.

The question is, will the Budweiser brand still have relevance as a non-U.S. brand or has its essence been fundamentally changed forever?

Can you build a brand without advertising?

You bet you can.

In fact, if a brand is powerful, it might not need advertising at all.

Look at what Smart Car is doing.

http://www.brandweek.com/bw/content_display/esearch/e3i8f0b924c729e72f62fd5acfbb4526b39.

and check out this quote from the article:

"The only U.S. presence [the car] might have is on our Web site," said Dave Schembri, president of Smart USA, Bloomfield Hills, Mich., the exclusive distributor of the Smart Car in North America and Puerto Rico. "But we aren't advertising. We don't need to."

More on High Reach Influencer Value and other marketing tactics

I've just released more information about high reach influencers in my new report, "5 Secret Marketing Tactics That Will Increase Your Revenue." The report is free for the asking.

Please let me know what you think of the report!

Your customer might not be king

High Reach Influencers (HRI's) are people who convince many others to purchase from you. High Reach Influencers often engage in word-of-mouth marketing and lead others to purchase products or services based on their personal recommendations. These people have the personal power to influence many others.

HRI’s might bring more new customers to you who then purchase far more than the HRI’s purchase themselves. In fact, HRI’s might not even purchase anything at all from you themselves. Because they might not currently be your customers, HRI's can often be overlooked by companies calculating customer lifetime value (CLV) or customer referral value (CRV).

HRI’s might be influential bloggers who comment on your brand as a result of hearing a rumor about you. These HRI’s might be industry reporters or trade editors. These HRI’s could be people who want to talk about your brand to others for a myriad of reasons other than the fact that they are your customers and they're either very happy or very disappointed with their experience with your brand.

Don't forget these high reach influencers when determining how to best build your brand. Quantify them as much as possible and seek ways to communicate with them and influence them.

Don't assume your customers are the only ones who refer others to you. By all means, don't assume that your customers are the only ones who matter because your best customers in terms of individual purchasing habits might pale in comparison to others who send much more business your way.

How to Build Your Reputation Online

Here is some great advice in the form of an interview on establishing and building your reputation online using some of the newer social media tools.

My recent break from blogging

Oh, did I not mention a conference that I would be attending in Cancun?

I'm back now and will start thinking about marketing again...although the entire concept of Cancun was obviously conceived with nothing but tourists in mind in order to find a way to part them from their money. Cancun is completely unlike the rest of Mexico and is entirely built for tourism. As branding goes, they've done a good job catering to their target market.

In order to further connect this trip to marketing and branding, I also snapped this second picture outside of a small convenience shop in Mexico.



Bimbo Bakeries was founded in Mexico City in 1945 and brought packaged, sliced bread to the Mexican market. Does this brand name hold up across countries and cultures?

..and this all begs the question, Is Cancun the best thing to happen in Mexico since sliced bread?

Great marketing quote...

"Authentic marketing is not the art of selling what you make but knowing what to make. It is the art of identifying and understanding customer needs and creating solutions that deliver satisfaction to the customers, profits to the producers and benefits for the stakeholders."

- Philip Kotler

Meaningful Marketing lesson

I'm working my way through a new book (to me), "Meaningful Marketing". This book is already looking like one of the best pragmatic marketing books I've read in recent years even though I'm only on page 50. I already uncovered a gem that I must share with you that goes to the heart of branding.

"To get customers to listen, you must give them a dramatic reason. A study of over 901 marketing messages for new products found that when the sales messages specifically stated the product's point of difference, those brands were 52% more likely to survive for 5 years or more than those that were less overt."

Great lesson. Create a point of singular distinction and communicate it clearly.

Amen.

The awareness question revisited

Well, I recently got "the question" again. Yet another reader of my e-book, "How to Build and Manage Your Brand (in sickness and in health)" emailed me a question about my stance on brand awareness. I get some iteration of this question every few months.

The question?

Always some variation of,

"I'm very interested to know what's behind your statement, 'Brand awareness is not everything. Brand awareness is vitally important for all brands but high brand awareness without an understanding of what sets you apart from the competition does you virtually no good. Many marketers experience confusion on this point.'"

What do I mean?

Brand awareness is vitally important for all brands but high brand awareness without an understanding of what sets you apart from the competition does you no good in-and-of itself.

Just because somebody is aware of your brand does not mean they understand why it is unique or why they should believe it represents superior value. Heck, there are a lot of brands with high awareness but also high notoriety. This is not desirable.

It is only once people understand what is different and unique about your brand that they can start to consider it as the superior choice in its category and start to develop brand preference toward it. Awareness means they are simply aware. Strategically aware means they are aware and understand what makes your brand different from every other one in the category...and just because they understand the differences doesn't necessarily mean those differences are favorable in their eyes.

Positive strategic awareness occurs when not only does the person recognize your brand, but they also understand the distinctive qualities that make it better in their eyes than the competition. This leads to brand preference.

Simply creating awareness for your brand is not even half the battle. Give me enough money for advertising and I can raise awareness for just about any brand...but that doesn't mean I'll drive any sales for it.

So remember, powerhouse, sales-driving branding is all about creating a point of singular distinction, creating positive strategic awareness and building brand preference in the mind of the target market.

SEE ALSO:
http://www.dolakblog.com/2006/08/brand-awareness-whats-deal.html

CRM: Can't Really Manage

An interesting article at Brandweek reports the results from a recent study involving CRM (customer relationship marketing). It appears that while much resource has been put into CRM systems and efforts to capture and aggregate customer information over recent years, few organizations are fully capitalizing on the efforts.

Only 16% of reporting companies report themselves effective or extremely good when it comes to CRM and a full 31% say they do not do any data mining at all.

It is much easier and much more cost-effective to keep loyal customers than it is to find and get new customers so why do marketers fail at focusing on the customer part of CRM?

Do marketers not realize that their responsibility does not end once a sale is made?

Pantene ad almost hits the mark

Quick! Which of the two ads above makes the greater impact?

Pantene's (P&G) agency of record, Grey New York, apparently created an almost great ad.

Their original ad is on the left and my slightly edited version is on the right. The text is identical in the two ads except I added the URL to the one on the right to at least add some semblance of a call to action.

Why did Grey New York not use a large, bold headline that's easy to read? Heck, it's only three words. The reader would almost not be able to not read the headline if it were big and bold. Why rely on the photo to stop the page flipper and make them work to find any sort of message? Knock 'em over the head with it. Just three words.

..and the logo? Make it bigger. Don't be ashamed of your client's brand. You've got an ad with 6 words here, folks. Why in the world did you try to hide those 6 words?

I just don't understand art directors who try to hide the message in tiny, gray print. Do they believe the gap is so wide between creatives and copy writers that they simply don't think words have any impact?

Yes, cool picture but your client is paying you to deliver a message. Deliver it effectively without making the reader work. As soon as you make the reader work...

Flip. Next page.

Make a promise and keep it

An effective brand represents a promise of value to the consumer. A solid brand message communicates what that value is in a way that resonates with the target consumer. If done properly, the promise offers unique value that is not found in competing brands.

As such, branding helps the consumer make the decision once they decide to purchase within the category. At the moment of truth when the consumer is ready to make their choice, a good brand promise will help the consumer make the purchase decision. If the branding holds true, then the consumer also feels the benefits of those kept promises and unique value after they have purchased the brand and those kept promises shape how they feel about the experience long after they’ve made the purchase.

Create a powerful brand and they will not only come back for more, but they’ll tell their friends.

Old-time marketing of the future

...meanwhile, back in the "words mean things" category, here's a sign I passed earlier in the week while traveling through Virginia:



When I pop over to Merriam Webster.com I find:

Antique:
1: a relic or object of ancient times
2: a work of art, piece of furniture, or decorative object made at an earlier period and according to various customs laws at least 100 years ago

Now, does anything currently "made daily" fit this definition or is this marketing communications created without really thinking about what is being said?

"Old fashioned" or "old style" would have been more accurate, but this marketer chose words that simply aren't and cannot be true.

No wonder marketers have a reputation for stretching the truth.

Brand Destruction

Earlier today in the American Marketing Association's Brand Strategy and Brand Management SIG, a member posted an intriguing observation.

This SIG member opined that U.S. companies work more to destroy and devalue brands rather than to build and nourish them. This person then went on to challenge the group to think of any brand that is as highly valued today as it was 5 years ago. He then asked a question, "Why do companies destroy brands?"

Firstly, I don't believe that companies consciously devalue their own brands. I believe the market takes care of much of that for them in a fierce, hyper-competitive marketplace where differentiation between a myriad of offerings in any single category is extremely challenging. Further, price pressures and readily-available information via the Internet helps drive just about everything toward commoditization. (For those new to the concept of commoditization, think "unbranded" and consumer choice driven almost exclusively by price.)

I also believe that the way most companies manage brands is unhealthy to long-term brand value.

I have reached the conclusion in my independent research that brands are, by nature, long-term entities and brand managers (and other corporate managers) are critters who are more interested in short-term -- especially quarterly -- results in order to satisfy their bosses and shareholders. One is focused on the short-term and the other is, by definition, a long-term concept. The two are not always in synch with one another.

Brand managers are primarily measured and assessed on their short-term results and when given a choice between making a decision that's in the best interest of the brand vs. making a decision that's in the best interest of their immediate career and income, they'll choose what's in their own best interest first. This may or may not always be in the best, long-term interest of the brand.

Let's face it. Price promotions and other marketing activities geared toward boosting short-term sales may make the brand look good by providing short-term bumps in sales, but these practices actually hurt brands in the long-run because they train consumers to wait for sales, stock-up when items go on sale or they simply reduce the likelihood that anyone will pay full price for a product or service.

When this happens you have a recipe for brand destruction.

A brand means that a product or service delivers superior and unique value that is worth a premium price.

Self-interest, laziness and simple lack of any unique product attributes cause the brand manager to fail to build, communicate and deliver that unique, superior value.

In the absence of unique value, pressure is placed upon low price and the destruction of the brand begins.

What's missing?

Of all of the information out there, of all the blogs and websites dedicated to marketing and branding, what information is missing?

What marketing topics do you wish were being covered but aren't? What aspects of marketing are not adequately addressed here or elsewhere?

Leave a comment or drop me an email and let me know.

This blog can go anywhere you want it to go, so tell me what's on your mind.

5 Truths About Branding

From guest speakers at the Rochester,NY chapter of The American Marketing Association's January luncheon.

http://www.ama-rochester.org/blogorama/2008/01/5-truths-about.html

Actually by my count, they've listed 13 but we won't hold that against them.

Speaking of brands that speak to the heart...

The Secret to All Great Communications
by Ted Nicholas

"The underlying secret to all great communications, writing or speaking, is understood by very few. And it's not taught in any school or university.

What comes from the heart goes to the heart.

It's so crucially important I'll say it again.

What comes from the heart goes to the heart.

What moves people to take action of any kind involves human emotion.

Yet, 99% of all writing appeals just to the mind. When you read it you are not touched emotionally. Magazines, newspapers and the Internet are almost entirely 'left brain writing.' It may be grammatically correct. But, it's extremely boring. And most of it is not read.

To get someone to first read, then respond to your message, you must capture their heart as well as their mind.

Appealing to the mind is the easy part. Many people can do that.

But few writers can capture people's hearts."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This article excerpt appears courtesy of THE SUCCESS MARGIN, the Internet's most valuable success and marketing e-zine. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=Jk_gx&m=1fhztU.ewyt2_H&b=rR62kw1S2fEnClC4TTxLvg

Can your brand become so meaningful to people that it literally gets under their skin?

In the early part of his book, Growing Small Businesses Into Big Brands, branding expert Jack Sims relates the story of a friend of his who was an absolute believer in the Ralph Lauren Polo brand. This friend dressed from head to toe in Polo-logoed clothing.

One day Jack watched his friend join a volleyball game on the beach and upon removing all of his Polo outerwear, the friend revealed that he had the Polo logo tattooed on his chest.

What is it that makes somebody so fully identify with a brand that they want to project the attributes of the brand into their lives and onto themselves? Think about this for a moment. People actually want to find brand values that they can hijack for themselves.

These kinds of brands so fully promise value using unique attributes that true brand believers adopt those values and attributes for themselves.

And therein lies the magic of truly powerhouse brands. These powerful brands promise something unique and they provide identifiable attributes that people just want to latch onto.

There are so many products in the marketplace that often entire categories have become commoditized. "Brands" that compete in these categories are virtually indistinguishable from one another. How many brands claim to be the complete solutions provider in this or the leader in that or the best in the other?

We are living in an age of over-communication. After a while, marketing messages all start to sound alike and we become cynical toward all of them. Advertising clutter is everywhere and we are actually become more and more oblivious to things at which we stare directly.

What is the answer?

Certainly not more and more messages or bolder and bolder advertising.

No, the answer is that we need to create brands that offer consumers unique value. We need to create brand attributes to which people are drawn.

In a crowded marketplace of "me too" products and services, we consumers are all starved for brands that give us something to latch onto. We all want brands that connect with us so that we can co-opt some of the brand attributes for ourselves and mutually connect with them. In a world of brands that are all screaming for our attention, we are looking for brands that mean something special and quietly whisper in our ears and speak to our hearts.

We all want to be able to say, "In a world of sameness, this brand is mine because it is different. Let me tell you why..." Once we hear ourselves begin that conversation, we will next hear ourselves mostly talking about ourselves without even realizing it. We're just using those powerhouse brands as a proxy.

So you rank high on Google. Now what?

An interesting article discusses how high search engine rankings do not necessarily translate into higher sales.

Just about anyone can improve their search engine rankings by optimizing their webpages for keywords and starting pay-for-click advertising campaigns. What just about anyone cannot easily do, however, is convert that traffic into paying customers once it gets to their website.

No, that's where good, old-fashioned content, marketing and copywriting take priority and do the heavy lifting of compelling somebody to buy something.

All the traffic in the world means nothing if you cannot offer compelling value that convinces people that living without your product or service costs them more than purchasing it.

Marketing drives sales, but do you really know how?

Marketing is about making sales. As such, it is very important to understand the Sales Funnel and know what key aspects of the sales process to quantify, measure and monitor.


Alliance Science just posted a brief article that reminds us of the importance of understanding KPI's tied to the sales process.

As I often say, if you can't measure it, you can't manage it.

Marketing secrets revealed

Anita Campbell at Small Business Trends asked top marketers to reveal one of their best marketing secrets.

The final list is very informational. Check it out.

How to Write an Effective Headline, Part #1

From Dr. Ralph Wilson, a good article that overviews the basics of copywriting and writing effective headlines.

Marketing is soda and branding is scotch

Jennie has posted an interesting take on the differences between marketing and branding over in the BrandTrellis.com Forum. It is definitely worth the read.

Thanks, Jennie!

More on brand awareness

Back in May I discussed brand awareness and how it occurs when people simply recognize your brand as yours. Brand awareness is not necessarily good or bad.

As I discuss in my e-book, How to Build and Manage Your Brand (in sickness and in health), brand awareness does not necessarily mean that people prefer your brand or even attach much value to it. It just means they recognize your brand and can identify it under different conditions.

In my opinion, too many marketers tout the merits of building brand awareness without giving further thought to building strategic awareness that represents positive associations and superior value that in turn make people wish to choose the brand over competing brands in the category.

New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin fell into the brand awareness trap back in August when, as reported by the Washington Post, he stated that the high violence rate in New Orleans was a "two-edged sword" because "it's not good for [New Orleans], but it also keeps the New Orleans brand out there, and it keeps people thinking about our needs and what we need to bring this community back".

So if high murder rates and violence build high brand awareness for New Orleans, is that a good thing? I think not.

Keep this in mind the next time somebody tells you that you need to build brand awareness. Tell them you know better and you understand the importance of building the right brand awareness.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Use words wisely in marketing communications

I've been hearing a radio advertisement for the American Stroke Association for some time now and it has bothered me since the first time I heard it.

A transcript of the ad follows:

{Struggling voice}: The First Amendment reads, “the people shall not be deprived or abridged of their right to speak”

Narrator #1: The odds are, the person you just heard is an African-American.

Narrator #2: Because African-Americans are twice as likely to suffer a stroke as white Americans.

Narrator #1: That’s twice as likely a stroke can rob you of your freedom to speak your mind.

Narrator #2: The freedom to shout from mountain tops.

Narrator #1: The freedom to tell your mother you love her.

Narrator #2: And it’s twice as likely a stroke could take your life.

Narrator #1: Therefore it’s twice as crucial for us to do something about preventing a stroke.

{Same struggling voice}: Learn how you can help beat the odds.

Narrator #1: Start by calling 1-888-4-stroke or go online to strokeassociation.org.

Narrator #2: Join the power to end stroke.

Narrator #3: A public service message brought to you by the American Stroke Association and the Ad Council.

Here’s what bothers me about the ad.

Strokes often rob people of their ability to speak, not their freedom of speech. To imply that the loss of the ability to speak due to stroke is somehow related to the loss of the American freedom of speech by referencing the U.S. Constitution is, well, misguided.

As marketing communication goes, the American Stroke Association and the Ad Council could have taken a better approach with an issue directed at a minority population rather than toying with the notion that a constitutional freedom is somehow being taken away.

I appreciate the message that those at higher risk for strokes should know they are at higher risk and inform themselves on the topic. I also applaud the strategy of informing all of us about the risks. I just wish they would have thought a little more about how they conveyed that message.

More information…

Amendment I to the U.S. Constitution

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

About the risk of strokes.

Top 100 Brandz

Millward Brown Optimor has compiled its list of the top 100 global brands as measured by their dollar value.

The top 10:

1. Google
2. GE
3. Microsoft
4. Coca Cola
5. China Mobile
6. Marlboro
7. Wal-Mart
8. Citi
9. IBM
10. Toyota

A direct link to the report with the complete list and description of methodology:
http://www.millwardbrown.com/Sites/optimor/Media/Pdfs/en/BrandZ/BrandZ-2007-RankingReport.pdf

Who or what is the consumer?

“The consumer isn’t stupid, the consumer is your mother”
- David Ogilvy

Who decides what your brand is?

“You don’t decide what your brand is, the consumer does”
- Marty Neumeier

Do you read ads?

"People don’t read advertising, they read what interests them, and sometimes, it’s an ad”
- Howard Luck Gossage

PR and Advertising in Branding

I've heard very strong arguments that public relations is the way a strong brand is truly established and advertising is how the brand is maintained. In fact, not too long ago, authors Al and Laura Ries devoted an entire book, The Fall of Advertising & The Rise of PR, to reinforce and illustrate this idea (Harper, 2002).

If you think about this theory for a moment, it makes a lot of sense.

If a brand is successful in making a connection with people and communicating its distinct advantage then people will want to tell others about it and word-of-mouth advertising will develop naturally —- not to mention writers in the press will want to write about the brand. Once that type of differentiation and story telling is established in the market's mind, advertising can help maintain and shape the brand.

Just don't confuse organic word-of-mouth with "buzz" marketing or Paid-For Word-of-Mouth. If you have to pay people to talk about your brand, then what you are really doing is investing in advertising. Don't let the new-fangled agencies out there make you believe that it is anything else.

The Top 25 Marketing Blogs

Top 25 Marketing Blogs according to Viral Garden.

As of Nov. 7:

1. Seth's Blog - 8,987 (-27)(LW - 1)
2 - Duct Tape Marketing - 2,264 (-17)(LW - 2)
3 - Search Engine Guide - 1,427 (+72)(LW - 3)
4 - Daily Fix - 1,088 (+2)(LW - 5)
5 - Logic + Emotion - 1,081 (-14)(LW - 4)
6 - Diva Marketing - 991 (+17)(LW - 6)
7 - What's Next - 965 (+6)(LW - 7)
8 - The Engaging Brand - 759 (+2)(LW - 8)
9 - Influential Marketing - 722 (+6)(LW - 10)
10 - Brand Autopsy - 709 (-8)(LW - 9)
11 - Drew's Marketing Minute - 704 (-8)(LW - 11)
12 - Converstations - 669(-10)(LW - 12)
13 - Church of the Customer - 651 (+2)(LW - 13)
14 - Jaffe Juice - 584 (+3)(LW - 14)
15 - Conversation Agent - 567 (+4)(LW - 15)
16 - The Viral Garden - 538 (-13)(LW - 16)
17 - Marketing Roadmaps - 533 (+2)(LW - 17)
18 - Branding and Marketing - 526 (-3)(LW - 18)
19 - Marketing Headhunter - 521 (No Change)(LW - 19)
20 - Customers Rock! - 451 (-8)(LW - 20)
21 - Servant of Chaos - 439 (-16)(LW - 21)
22 - CK's Blog - 436 (-1)(LW - 22)
23 - Experience Curve - 402 (+6)(LW - 23)
24 - Greg Verdino's Marketing Blog - 380 (-3)(LW - 24)
25 - Chaos Scenario - 348 (+1)(LW - 25)

The goal of marketing

A brief review of current online discussion reveals that few marketers can succinctly describe to non-marketing people what the primary goal of marketing is.

The goal of marketing is to drive sales.

Is that too succinct?

Let me try a slightly longer version to clarify.

The goal of marketing is to drive sales over the long-term.

I hope the latter was not too verbose.

Discussions about the marketing function typically involve how to choose the best marketing tactics and utilize and coordinate those tactics to drives sales. Sure there is a lot to it as there is a great deal involved in acquiring new customers and maintaining positive relationship with existing customers and doing so in a way that is profitable over the long-term.

True marketers realize that marketing is a long-term strategy that must also involve product development and an ongoing effort to satisfy customers to ever-higher levels of satisfaction while at the same time ensuring that one's offering represents unique value that cannot be found in competitive offerings.

Marketing to drive short-term sales is termed "sales promotion". Marketing to drive long-term sales is called, well, "marketing", but there should be no doubt that the goal of marketing is to drive sales.

Original knockoffs?

The Oct. 22 issue of Brandweek had an article about how Wal-Mart commissioned an agency to redesign the packaging for its private brands of soda: Choice Cola, Twist Up and Mountain Lightning.

Now, I've linked to the article above and since I don't have the rights to any of the photos of the product, I'll have to direct you to Murray Brand Communication's site so you can see the new designs for yourself. (Murray had enough sense to not show their design for Mountain Lightning at their website but InventorSpot.com has a photo with some great tasting notes from many fine, house brand sodas.)

I'll give Murray Brand Communications a little credit for the new look of Sam's Choice Cola, but their other two designs are a complete joke.

According to Brandweek, the strategy was "not to 'knock off' the national brands" and the ideas was to come up with designs that were "confident, distinctive and innovative".

What a joke!

There is nothing distinctive or innovative about the new package designs for Twist Up or Mountain Lightning. They are completely unoriginal and look like they were the result of a bar mishap where the barkeep mixed Pepsi's Mountain Dew with Coors and Tropicana's Twister with a dash of 7-Up.

And for Tom Kane of Murray Brand Communications to whine publicly in the Brandweek article that "we had only 90 days to develop three concepts for each sub-brand" is shameful. I'm not sure if Murray Brand Communications realizes how bad they look right there in the pages of Brandweek.

Murray Brand Communications ought to be ashamed of themselves for their lack or originality and for their public whining about their client's requirements.

Oh, but I guess if sales increased 10% then all is forgiven.

Maybe to some, but give me a break.

This is an example of the worst that advertising agencies have to offer and I'm not entirely sure how Brandweek chose this case study to hold up as a shining example.

Although, now I have new product ideas for Coors Dew and Sprite Twist. I must go to my lab and start mixing.

Business vision

Identifying and communicating a clear vision is one of the most important functions a business leader can perform. All business leaders should understand the basic elements of visioning and all marketers should know how to communicate that vision to all stakeholders and how to leverage it in brand strategies.

Creating a clear and effective vision delivers many benefits to the business. Not only does a clear, shared vision help define the values of the company and its employees, but it also helps guide the behavior of all employees. A strong vision also leads to productivity and efficiency.

Companies and organizations everywhere invest enormous resources in marketing and selling their products and services. Many of these organizations have a strong sense of who they are and why people should want to conduct business with them. Sadly, however, many organizations fail to have a strong sense of their own guiding principles and cannot clearly articulate their vision or communicate unique aspects of their brands in a way that compels customers and prospects to develop emotional attachments and buy their products and services.

Linking the vision and values of the organization to the brand promises made by the organization can propel the value of those brands into a whole new realm of business performance.

The following two articles expand.

Crash course in visioning

Linking vision & values to brands

Ad agencies and you the client

Ad agencies and traditional marketing firms are most concerned about impressing you with fancy images and slick graphic design because that’s how they make their money. They impress you and you pay them before you can measure the actual results of any given campaign that they create for you. Sweet deal for them, isn't it?

Somewhere lost along the way is the fact that effective marketing must speak to the ultimate customer, offer superior value to them and communicate with words and imagery that resonate and motivate them to modify their behavior in some way. Usually this behavior modification means that you make a strong enough case that somebody purchases your product or service -- and they are happy they did so long after the fact.

Also lost or often concealed from you is the fact that building brand awareness is nearly worthless (even though this is probably counter to everything you've been told by ad agencies) without building strategic brand awareness that differentiates and builds brand preference amongst people who actually spend money for your type of product.

This latter type of marketing is more difficult to achieve but it is precisely the kind of marketing that builds great brands. It is also the kind of brand building that makes cash registers sing. Brands that benefit both you and your customers over the long-term. Brands that ensure your profitability and customer satisfaction. This is the kind of marketing you should be trying to achieve.

Forget about the way brands were built yesterday. Yesterday is gone. Mass media are not so "mass" anymore. Consumers are different. Technology is different. Attention spans are shorter. Cynicism is everywhere. True connections are more important than ever.

Are you ready to step outside of the ad agency box and listen to more effective ways to approach your marketing? Are you ready to embrace the marketing of the future?

Is green marketing smart strategy?

“Green marketing” is the marketing of products that are presumed to be environmentally safe or that at least represent much lower impact on the environment than alternative products.

Green marketing therefore can incorporate promoting a broad range of activities such as new and improved production methods, product modifications, changes in package design and different ways to conduct business operations, among other things.

Green has always been smart strategy. Think about it for a minute. Does any rational person really strive to willfully incorporate waste and destructive practices into their business operations? Of course not.

Since my very early days in the Boy Scouts developing a love for the natural wonders of this earth I have believed that treading lightly is a worthy exercise, that leaving a natural place cleaner than one finds it is smart practice and that only using as much as one needs is courteous to others as well as the environment. (As a father and parent, I have subsequently learned that teaching such principles to my children also has the side benefit of saving me money!)

Lately, however, there is a growing trend for companies to proclaim their green credentials in their marketing communications and wear their environmentalism on their corporate sleeve. Is this new wave of green marketing smart strategy?

Greenclaiming is not guaranteed to stimulate sales, especially for companies out to make a profit for their owners and shareholders. The risk of backlash is also very real.

I recently came across an article written by Pamela Eichenbaum entitled, “Greenwashing – Ethics Aside, It’s Just Bad Business.” In the article, Pamela points out that with so many companies loudly touting their green credentials, there is a risk of desensitization and there is no guarantee that companies will benefit from the practice. She also states that no matter how green you claim to be, you might just invite criticism that you are not green enough.

I’d like to go even a step farther than Ms. Eichenbaum.

Today’s modern environmental movement is not only a social movement but also a scientific and political movement. There are different shades of green to this movement.

Towards the dark green end you will find anti-capitalists who are opposed just about everything that modern, industrialized society represents. If you are a for-profit concern, you will never win with this group.

On the lighter green end of the spectrum you will find highly-educated, upper-class, environmentally-conscious people who wish to be seen as virtuous through their conspicuous consumption of sustainable, environmentally-friendly, organic and often higher-priced products so they can be viewed, for social reasons, as elites who operate with the proper motives.

Of course, the movement includes people of many stripes in between, but as you can see, the green movement is not a monolith that will guarantee that a capitalist company or organization will be rewarded for flying a green banner. In fact, far from guaranteeing it, it will probably bring skepticism and scrutiny from many. Doing so may also have people questioning whether you are trying to position your brand as morally superior which might, in fact, come across as condescension.

Creating strong brands that make unique promises of value and that deliver on those promises every time is one of the most important things any marketer can do. Not only should brands be differentiated, but they must also represent superior value that cannot be found anywhere else. With so many companies claiming to be green these days, claiming to be green is no longer a point of differentiation and making such claims potentially opens you up to scrutiny and criticism that you are not green enough or that you only claim to be green in order to increase profits or to gain some other selfish benefit.

As a marketing strategist, my advice is to think very hard before you decide to wear green on your corporate sleeve and shout it loudly via your marketing communications.

Yes, I know it is the trendy and politically correct thing to do these days, but doing so will make you just like every one else trying to cash-in on the trend and possibly even backfire on you or make you look disingenuous.

If you are a business owner or manager who truly believes -- and always has -- in conserving resources and treading lightly, then you won’t be able to stop that philosophy from permeating your organization and affecting organizational behavior such that your organization acts in accordance with your beliefs. You will get more satisfaction from walking the walk than you will from talking the talk.

If I could give marketers (and politicians and green activists!) one bit of advice on the topic, then I would advise them to lead by example rather than preach to others how to lives their lives. Nothing speaks as loudly as living authentically.

Chances are that those who have true concerns will ask you about your practices and your green credentials will be a wonderful, hidden value that comes as an added, free bonus along with all the other wonderful and unique benefits delivered by your brand.


Greenwashing - Ethics Aside, It's Just Bad Business by the Kolbrener branding agency.

Don’t let a motorcycle run over your cookies

There seems to be some confusion outside of marketing departments as to the difference between a line extension and a brand extension. Hopefully I can help remove the confusion and help ensure the proper terminology is used.

A line extension is when you develop a new product closely related to one of your existing product brands and launch the new product under the same brand name in the same category. The new product is designed to meet somewhat different needs of customers. By using a successful brand name to introduce additional items in a given product category, line extensions typically represent a less expensive, lower risk alternative for increasing sales. An example of this is Oreo sandwich cookies introducing Double Stuf and Oreo Minis.

A brand extension is when you use one of your existing brands to launch a new or modified product in a new category. A brand extension gives a new product instant recognition and faster acceptance while saving much of the high advertising costs usually associated with launching and building a new brand. The brand extension strategy, however, is not without risk because you run the risk of confusing or diluting the image and value of the original brand. Sure there are successes such as the Honda brand being able to simultaneously remain healthy in several categories such as cars, motorcycles, lawnmowers and generators, but Bic was unsuccessful in launching women’s underwear, Harley Davidson perfume never went anywhere and nobody really wanted McDonald’s pizza.

When choosing a new product strategy , remember that a brand is an identifiable entity that makes specific promises of value and those promises of value might not make sense in a new category. The same brand name must stand for the same promises.

The world's only online exchange about branding?

OK. Let's discuss something.

BrandChannel.com uses the tagline, "The world's only online exchange about branding, produced by Interbrand".

If there are other online exchanges about branding (such as this one or BrandTrellis.com), does this mean Interbrand has chosen a poor tagline or positioning statement for their website brand? Should they change their tagline? Would they be OK if they simply removed the comma?

I'm very interested to hear your thoughts.

Top 30 Customer Loyalty Brands

It's time for the annual list of the top brands according to consumer loyalty, from Brand Keys:

1. Google
2. Yahoo.com
3. Avis
4. L.L. Bean
5. Coors
6. J. Crew catalog
7. Samsung cell phone
8. Sam Adams
9. Hyatt
10. Verizon Wireless
11. Amazon.com
12. Target
13. Lowe's
14. Sears catalog
15. Marriott
16. Fairmont hotels
17. Netscape.com
18. Canon office copiers
19. Miller Genuine Draft
20. Panasonic plasma HDTV
21. True Value
22. Eddie Bauer
23. Victoria's Secret
24. Land's End
25. H&M
26. Apple
27. Blackberry
28. Sony LCD HDTV
29. Treo
30. Samsung analog TVs

Some marketing definitions

If the circus is coming to town and you paint a sign saying "Circus Coming to the Fairground Saturday," that's advertising. If you put the sign on the back of an elephant and walk it into town, that's promotion. If the elephant walks through the mayor's flower bed, that's publicity. And if you get the mayor to laugh about it, that's public relations. If the town's citizens go the circus, you show them the many entertainment booths, explain how much fun they'll have spending money at the booths, answer their questions and ultimately, they spend a lot at the circus, that's sales.

The best way to brand?

There is no universal single best way to brand product(s), of course, but the best way for ~you~ to brand your product(s) depends upon many factors.

The first thing to study is your competition. Who is your competition and what are their positions in the minds of consumers? What is your vision for your company and what are your core values? How do those compare with others in your industry and what advantages, tangible and intangible, do you hold over your competition? What unique qualities will you bring to the marketplace? What are the benefits associated with doing business with you?

The answer to these questions can help lead you toward determining a strong brand position for you that is defensible and profitable over the long-term.

Co-branding or joint promotion of adjoining businesses

An interesting discussion over at http://www.BrandTrellis.com that discusses how or whether to co-promote two separately-branded restaurants that are adjoining and owned by the same owner.

http://www.brandtrellis.com/forum/index.php?PHPSESSID=9cd9d57f67850d5d9162035127d216ca&topic=11.0

The cart and the horse

For heaven's sake, do not let your ad agency get back to you with several concepts from which to choose and then change your message to match the winning concept. This happens all too often when somebody thinks of a clever statement after seeing an image or photo.

Graphics, photos and images are there to support and reinforce your core message. Make sure your message is clear before you ask for creative concepts and then only choose concepts that stay directly on message.

A brand that is not crystal clear about what it is saying is not much of a brand at all. If your message can be swayed based upon graphic design, then you must re-examine the messages you are sending.

All advertising agency employees should read this article

Tom Collins has a great ad makeover and article in the current issue of Direct Magazine. Perhaps even more valuable than the article and makeover are his quotes of David Ogilvy like:

"Advertising agencies…are now infested with people who regard advertising as an avant-garde art form. They have never sold anything in their lives. Their ambition is to win awards at the Cannes Festival. They bamboozle their unfortunate clients into paying millions of dollars a year to exhibit their originality."

and

"On the average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy. When you have written your headline, you have spent eighty cents out of your dollar. The headline is the ‘ticket on the meat.’ Use it to flag down readers who are prospects for the kind of product you are advertising.

What you're really doing with your headline, then, is separating out the readers who would be interested in what you are selling from those who wouldn't.

If they aren't prospects for what you sell, you don't want them reading your ad. Period."

Anyone involved in creating ads should read this article.

Why do I blog?

I was recently interviewed and asked why I blog about marketing and branding.

Why do I do it?

I believe that the best way to improve the quality of all marketing is to help educate as many people as possible about marketing so not only will marketers get better at what they do but consumers will demand better marketing, recognize it when they see it and reward those marketers who get it right.

Therefore, blogging about marketing and branding is a very good way to help marketers and consumers alike benefit from better, more ethical and value-driven marketing tactics.

iPhone pricing scandal? Think different(ly)

Apple seems to have upset many of its customers by recently dropping the price of the iPhone by a couple hundred dollars a mere couple months after its introduction. Is this outrageous behavior on Apple's part?

Let's look a little deeper.

Price skimming is a well-known pricing strategy whereby a product is introduced and the company charges the highest possible price that buyers who most desire the product will pay. Demand for products tends to be inelastic during the introductory stage of the product life cycle--especially if the product is unique with little competition.

Not only does price skimming strategy help offset development costs that might not be recovered if the price is set too low, but it can also help companies keep demand in line with their initial production capabilities. Also, once competition enters the market, prices will be driven downward making it even more difficult to recover development costs.

Apple knows that it has a powerful brand whose loyal followers will rush out to purchase just about any product they launch (at just about any price). These loyal customers understand that they are not rushing out to buy the product out of absolute necessity, rather they are fulfilling a desire to be trendy and have bragging rights because they are one of the first to own the hot, trendy, new Apple product. Yes, they even understand they are paying a premium to own the product a few months before the rest of the masses.

To those iPhone users who now complain about the recent price drop I say this: You are not unhappy that you overpaid. I saw you standing in those long lines to happily plunk down your $600. You aren't upset that you had the phone before the masses either. You are simply unhappy because you think the masses will now catch up too soon.

Don't get upset with the Apple brand. Just examine what the brand means to you and be happy that you are able and willing to pay for that feeling that obviously makes you feel so good.

How to Build and Manage Your Brand (in sickness and in health)

My newly updated e-book, "How to Build and Manage Your Brand (in sickness and in health)" is now available. New sections include: How to uncover the warning signs of an unhealthy brand, The 13 warning signs of an unhealthy brand and When and how to kill or retire a brand.

In this work, I discuss image, identity, awareness, brand preference, brand equity and more critical-to-understand branding concepts while also describing the brand management process. Includes a thorough discussion of "The 10 Steps in Building a Powerhouse Brand", outlines the Brand Audit process, and reveals why you must educate people about your brand with both emotional and logical appeals. Two special bonus sections: Positioning Workshop and Integrated Marketing Communications are also included.

On customer-driven marketing...

"This may seem simple, but you need to give customers what they want, not what you think they want. And, if you do this, people will keep coming back."
- John Ilhan

Wal-Mart, brand killer? Maybe not.

BrandChannel.com has an article that discusses the prospect of Wal-Mart as a brand killer.

Some claim that Wal-Mart is a brand killer because of its enormous buying power and ubiquity. Wal-Mart can buy for less because it has such power and therefore sell for less than any competitor. Wal-Mart represents such a wide distribution channel that some brand managers think they cannot afford for their brands to be left off the retailer’s shelves.

So the brand managers think.

If you are a brand manager, you must stop to ask yourself, "Does my brand belong in Wal-Mart?"

Many people realize that Wal-Mart is not always the smartest choice. It is not the trendiest. It is not the most exclusive. It is not where you are likely to find the highest quality. It is not the place to go if you are hoping to find products that deliver a bit more than you expect. It IS the place to go if you are looking for a functional product at a low price.

Think about your brand in those terms. Do you consider your brand a commodity item where you can compete almost exclusively on price? If so, then maybe Wal-Mart is a good channel for your brand.

If your brand, however, is highly differentiated from its competition and promises superior value, then perhaps your brand does not belong in Wal-Mart right next to a generic alternative selling for less money. That might actually hurt your brand.

Just because you can get your brand in front of millions of shoppers per day does not mean it is the right thing to do for your brand.

That being said, there will always be room for other retail outlets to find ways to successfully compete against Wal-Mart with highly differentiated brands.

Certainly, there is room for all and the symbiosis will only be a benefit for all consumers.