Monthly Archives: November 2016

Tossing Arrowheads.

0

arrowhead

90% of brand strategies are arrowheads.  They have a points, are sharp, and are usually well crafted.  In most cases, brand strategies are ad agency crafted.  In the agency creative process – the building of the ads – the last thing often completed is the tagline. Taglines are summations of all the creative work.  In the case of Northwell Health, a huge NY area health system, the wan tagline “Look North,” is not a brand strategy. It’s a bow on the present.  In the case of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, tagline “More Science. Less Fear.” is both a tagline and brand strategy.  It’s provable.

Arrowheads are pretty and last a long time in the dirt as any archeologist will tell you but as a tool they are worthless without a shaft and flights (feathers providing stability.)  Ever try throwing an arrowhead?

Brand strategies un-complicate complication. As an organizing principle “One claim and three proof planks” transform pages and pages of product, positioning, segmentation and experience folderol into a workable business-building system.  Carrying the metaphor forward, brand strategy puts aerodynamics behind the tagline.   

Look at your marketing documents and outputs and see if you can put onto paper your claim and proof array. If you can’t, you are tossing arrowheads.

Peace.  

 

Recall of a Recall.

0

As I settled into my seat on Jet Blue last week a passing stewardess mentioned that all Samsung Galaxy Note 7s were barred from the plane. Glad I wasn’t a Samsung brand manager that day. That was on a Jet Blue flight. I suspect all airlines were making similar announcements. Hourly. Daily. For as long as it will take to eradicate the potential threat. That’s like 20 Super Bowl ads a week in terms of reach. (Please don’t fact-check, I’m riffing.)

All of this could have been avoided – yes, at quite an expense I know – by simply recalling the phones at first light (poor pun). Rather than doing the right thing, Samsung put a blight on its brand that will take a long, long time to quiet.  Especially for those who travel on airplanes.

That ROS (return on strategy) will be negative for quite some time.

Peace.                         

 

 

Facebook Ad Rates.

0

Facebook announced earnings yesterday and crushed it.  Then it announced it would reduce ad load on its feed thereby reducing the volume of advertising on Facebook — a good thing in most consumer/users mind — and the stock price tanked 8% after hours.  Fickle those investors.  If you ask me, the stock price should have risen. While the stock of marketers and advertisers should have been hit. Less volume means one thing. Thaaat’s right. Higher ad prices.   If the Facebook experience is improved, thanks to less and, perhaps, better ads, advertisers will pay whatever it takes to get in the feed.

This is a simple example of the law of supply and demand. All other things being equal, rates will go up. And things won’t be equal because Mr. Z is investing in the data side of the advertising house, which will make ads more predictive and effective.

Tink about it, as my Norwegian aunt would have said.

Peace!