Monthly Archives: September 2012

The Brand Idea is Misunderstood.

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The whole brand plan thing – one claim and three support planks – is not really that difficult a concept. Ask the executive suite “What are the three things that differentiate your company?” and you are likely to get answers like “people.”  “Service or product” is often the second thing and in today’s touchy/feely business world the third point is “culture.”  Oy.  And American business chugs on.

Even with these three undifferentiated corporate drivers, a girl can make a living. (And trust me, these are pretty lazy planks.)  What most companies have a hard time articulating is their main claim or idea. Brand strategy is made up of this claim plus the 3 planks.  That’s what drives success inside and outside a company. But the brand idea must stand alone and it must have power.  Apple’s “simplicity.” Coke’s “refreshment.” Krispy Kreme’s “sweet treat.”  Google “information in one click.”  Outside the realm of consumer marketing circles, these over-arching ideas are hard for corporate executive suites to articulate.  They use b-school worlds like excellence and operations and shareholder value.

Brands and the molders of brands are the bedrock of marketing.  The more they are understood, the more successful marketing will be…Peace.

Pent Up Demand

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Three of my favorite brand planning words — words that let me know I’m on a roll and in a place near and dear to my marketers’ hearts — are “pent up demand.”  When a market is growing at a certain rate and product availability doesn’t meet the demand, a hungry market exists.  When consumers clearly exhibit behavior indicating dissatisfaction with a product or product category, there is pent up demand for functionality.  When Google searches are off the charts for information about a service, brand or activity…yep, mondo, unmet demand.

These are words any marketer likes to hear.  So when doing your diligence, fact-gathering and filling up the brand stockpot (before the boil down), ask yourself are there any areas of pent up demand related to your product or service that can be studied on behalf of customers or prospects. Competitors or detractors.  Opinion leaders or analysts.

It’s fertile area, planners.  Dig in then smile as you hear the words pass your lips during presentations.  Peace!

The magnetism of a freight train.

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I sometimes tell people in the business how my brand strategies contain one word that company management finds objectionable.  They love the strategy — they get it and it gets them – but they say “That, one word. Do we have to use it?”  My answer is always “No, it’s a suit strategy, not a creative strategy.”  “Systematized” for a healthcare org is kind of cold.  We know where you “live” is a little creepy, for a newspaper. Stuff like that.  

Have you ever walked in a city and passed someone you couldn’t keep your eyes off of?  They’re so uniquely made-up or dressed in such a magnetic way you have to do a double or triple take.  It may be beauty, or fashion or demeanor. It may be all three.  That’s how I like my brand strategies. The claim may not be that magnetic, but the attitude, salience and three brand planks are. The gestalt of the idea and support creates a life that pulsing with “look at me.”

A brand plan is not an ad.  It is a story with organized chapters. Three chapters to be specific, but those chapters are long and lush. Well executed, a brand plan can carry serial campaigns over years. Even over ad agencies.

If you can find that word that is s branding freight train and surround it with value building supports, you will win your marketing war. Peace!

Financial marketing.

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I’ve been thinking about financial services lately.  I’m sure lots of people have been.  Finances and jobs will impact how the upcoming election plays out.

Financial institutions have been vilified in the press the past 5 years, yet they are still out there hawking their wares daily in advertising.  One radio spot for a credit card sits right next to a property foreclosure spot.  We are a country with trillions in debt.  Is it any wonder many Americans have lines of credit exceeding their annual salary or credit card balances beyond monthly income?

So what have I been thinking about from a strategic standpoint?  How about a financial institution that stops building web apps, and mobile credit devices and starts sharing some best practices about saving?  Any kid with a piggy bank will tell you there is nothing like a little savings.  Any squirrel with a summer nut will chatter the same thing. Saving is healthy and life preserving.

In a sea of bank advertising, all of which is the same, what would happen if one bank decided to talk about the value of saving?  The strategy of saving? The positive community effect of saving?  I’ll tell you what would happen:  this type of straight talk – clarifying talk – would create a bank that people trusted.  Like no other.  The door is open.  Someone needs to step through.  Peace!

Passion.

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Is there a word more used these days in marketing meetings than “passion?” I write and speak about marko-babble a lot — marko-babble defined as words so often used and watered down, they become meaningless. It’s like they come out of a handbook. Authenticity, transparency, ROI all come to mind. I’m not saying “passion” is marko-babble, it’s a price of entry, a means of staying  truly alive in your business category, but in brand planning, it is actually a negative word.

For less than a day, I changed my LinkedIn profile to read: “I am a passionless brand planner.  That’s right passionless.”  Passion can cloud the judgment. Parents are passionate about love of their children. Is that why many miss teenage maladaptive behaviors?  Company officers are passionate about their product and services.  Does that put a gauze over their ability to see market realities?  Brand planners must be ever-energetic in their search for insights, patterns and cultural observations surrounding commerce and purchase behavior, but passion should not enter into it. Peace!

Build or Borrow.

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Brand planning is a lot like cooking. It’s all about technique, palette and ingredients.

Technique is about the where to find the inputs and how to effectively assemble them. Palette is about knowing what tastes are and meeting those tastes in a meaningful, desirable way. And Ingredients are the things of which the idea-dish is made.  Minimalism is awesome, but so is a complex sauce. Knowing what not to use is often a difference-maker.

From the palette side of the brand planning equation, let’s look at the ideas we serve up. When landing on a brand strategy, there are two approaches: build or borrow.  Build requires using words, ideas and imagery that is uniquely yours.  It’s never been done — it is a pioneering approach.  Borrowing, on the other hand, uses context of other products or culture to frame up the selling. Context borrows known messaging and repackages it.

Build is expensive. Borrow much less so. Borrow is what Samsung did with its tablet and phones. A Few Good Women, borrows from movie that has become a part of our cultural patois.  “You can’t handle the truth,” another cultural borrow from the same movie.

I love fresh. And I love build. If you have the fortitude, it’s preferred.  Marketers use famous spokespeople to embellish their brand promise, a form of borrow, because it is fast and can save a few shekels in the long run…but it is not innovative. Go forth (Levi’s), and build.

Peace!