Claim, Proof and Kandee Johnson.

By
Steve Poppe
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0

I write a lot about “claim and proof.” ChatGPT tells me so.  I write about it because it’s fundamental to my business.  Claim and proof is the proof of my brand strategy chops.

I came across a “Poster” by the name of Kandee Johnson 10 plus years ago when working with Megan Kent and David Kessler on a brand called Plus White, an inexpensive teeth whitening system. Kandee is a prolific social media icon, who at the time posted about inexpensive fashion hacks. Kandee was a Plus White fan and one of her hacks was buying the whitener by itself sans boxed system and using it with a $1.99 sports mouthguard, thereby cutting the cost in half. Kandee would also demonstrate how to cut up a tee-shirts to make a cool dress/cover ups (sorry, man speak) and she also counseled fans to use olive oil to clean make-up brushes.

Kandee’s vibe was supportive of her audience, penny-wise and very, very real. And her creatively was unbound. Her followers loved her and still love her today as her career has taken off. The reason I bring her up is because her “authenticity” (that’s a joke, I hate that word), her motivation was grounded in proof. Some, today, might call them receipts. Kandee has a role, a motivation, and she delivers it every day.

I often say advertising is 90% claim, 10% proof.  Kandee built a mini empire out of proof. Much love to Kandee Johnson and all her loyal followers.

Peace.

 

 

Brand Strategy Framework

By
Steve Poppe
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0

“Tell me about your brand strategy framework?”, is the single best question you can ask brand planners when evaluating whether to hire them.

If they can’t answer the question in less than 30 seconds or write it on the back of a business card (ageism alert!), ask them to. Don’t get caught up in the gobbledy.

I’ll be first to say developing brand strategy is not a simple process.  Love-at-first-sight, it’s not. It requires lots of study.  Lots of time. And lots of thinking.  But the delivery of that thinking — the packaging of that thinking needs to be understandable. Specific. Thorough. And memorable.  (Current brand-o-babble theory asserts it should also be “differentiated” or “distinctive.” To that I will say, the product should be differentiated and distinctive but that’s a story for another post.)

If brand strategy were a science, it would fail. You can’t measure the value of voice and personality against sales. Ah, the ephemora. Strategy, by its very nature is measurable. It works or it doesn’t. But not if it can’t be articulated. And that requires a tight framework.

Ask your brand strategist about their framework. Have them show you the formula.

Peace.

Steve@WhatstheIdea

Brand Stalker?

By
Steve Poppe
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0

The metaphor is a critical tool of the brand planner. It creates context, clarity and often gives creative people a source of inspiration. Brand planners ask a lot of questions and do a lot of research on their brands.  Planners — the good ones at least — are like dogs on a bone. We immerse ourselves in a category and have a hard time letting go. Even when sleeping. It’s stalker-ish.

Dare I say, for a one- or two-month paid engagement I often find myself a brand planner for life. Always on the hunt for proof of brand claim. It’s no way to run a business yet it is part of the planning life.

Strategy is timeless. It never really stops. In as much as I need to dump the cache on past clients, I just can’t. Unhealthy? You decide. But it’s part and parcel of the curiosity that is the brand planner’s world.

So, me droogies, stalk away on your brands. Find a good strategy and prove it.

Peace.

Poster, Pasters and Posers.

By
Steve Poppe
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0

Back in the aughts, working at a social media startup, I created a meme Posters and Pasters. Posters were original content creators and Pasters were people who curated and posted others’ content. A ZDNet newsletter dude Jakob Nielsen (I think) thought 93% of the web’s content was the work of Pasters.  My qualitative thinking agreed.

As a brand planner I love studying Posters: Smart, committed writers and thinkers who share their topic-love on the web – mostly for free. They inspire me. They delivered great grist for the brand planning mill.

I grew up in the business (ad agencies) reading trade press and insider looks at their respective category. One trick was to religiously read the most respected and talented journalists on a given beat. It helped with sources, interview leads, data and trends.

We’ve come a long way since those days.  Trade magazines have moved online. Journalism has changed. Influencers have sullied the waters. Some Influencers might even be called Posers. Be careful with Influencers.

Still, I seek out Posters in my work and you brand planners should as well.

Peace.

 

 

Little Q & Large A.

By
Steve Poppe
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0

I was driving through the Beaucatcher Tunnel this morning, listening to NPR (Don’t judge, okay judge.) and knew I was going to lose reception for a few seconds. Upon realizing I would miss the interviewer’s question it struck me the important part was the answer, all things considered. Hee hee.

As a brand planner who has made a modest living asking questions, it was a bit of a slap in the face. Or was it? 

Upon reflection it hit me all my brand strategies are the result of answers. Consumer answers. SME answers. Corporate answers. Market insights built on answers. In fact, many of my best questions are redirects and probes based upon answers. As a quiet self-promoter I will admit it takes skill to set interviewees at ease and get them to truly share.  Tone, interest, humor, self-deprecation, eagerness to learn — in addition to truly listening — are all tools the brand planner needs to generate fruitful responses. No doubt.

That said, were I to weight questions versus answers, I’d have to go with answers every time.

Any answers?

Peace.

 

 

 

 

A Strategic Welcome To Burger King.

By
Steve Poppe
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0

I’m a big Burger King fan.  Flame broiled has long been one of my favorite brand strategy elements. It’s visual. It’s olfactory. And it is an inherent (endemic) product quality. Flame-broiled differentiates Burger King.

When you drive by a Burger King, even sight unseen, you know you’re nearby. BK has made a wonderfully smart and experiential change to its stores that reinforces its flame broiled strategy – it has replaced traditional door handles with replica BBQ spatulas. With every visit you can’t help but be reminded of the flame broiled advantage.

This is genius brand management and genius brand strategy stewardship.

If anyone knows the originator of this idea, please the name.  Big move.

Peace

 

 

Starbucks New Dress Code

By
Steve Poppe
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0

Building a brand is about everything. Everything a company spends money on.  And if done well, everything employees touch. If done perfectly, it extends to consumers who share brand love and value(s) with other customers. The latter two behaviors are free.

I read today that Starbucks, in an effort to strengthen brand and bottom line, has instituted a bit of a dress code tweak for baristas beginning May 12th. Under their green aprons, baristas must wear black or dark colors. 

Starbucks rationale:

“By updating our dress code, we can deliver a more consistent coffeehouse experience that will also bring simpler and clearer guidance to our partners, which means they can focus on what matters most, crafting great beverages and fostering connections with customers.”

This is certainly a brand building effort. Consistency of “product, message and experience” is a smart brand-building strategy. Hence, the green apron. And hence the more controlled uniform. As for allowing baristas to focus more on crafting great beverages and fostering connections with customers, that’s a bit of a stretch.  

One of the best ways to demonstrate commitment to brand values is through deeds. Remembering names, engaging beyond the order (small talk?), discussing the product are process deeds. These are behaviors Starbucks should suggest to baristas if connection is the goal.  

Brand strategy in “an organizing principle for product, experience and messaging.  This dress code thing is smart. Behavior change is also smart.

Peace.

 

 

 

 

Brand Naming is Critical.

By
Steve Poppe
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0

Naming is important. It’s central to proper branding. If a brand is an empty vessel into which one pours meaning then a name is the most common representation thereof.

Way back when, geographical location relied on names to convey information. Delaware Water Gap. Great South Bay. Summit, NJ. Iceland.  My advice for brands is to create names that convey information about the product, E.g., Coca-Cola (as in coca bean), or to a lesser degree convey something about the product’s inherent value. I worked for an owner who named a social media startup Zude because it rhymed with Dude.

Like naming children, naming a brand is not easy. But as difficult as it is, the best brands convey. Not just in the real estate sense, but in the communication sense. Of course, likeability and pronunciation are critical. (McCann-Erickson once presented a campaign to AT&T in a new business pitch with the tagline “Go Live.” But rather than live, as in live-wire, some pronounced it live as in live your life. Conveying, perhaps, “Get a life?”  Hee hee.

The chicken and egg problem with naming involves creating meaning out of a new thing; something with no product history. That requires lots planning. But planning is what we do, yes? 

Naming should be existential.

Peace.  

 

 

By-The-Pound or Buy The Pound.

By
Steve Poppe
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0

The brand strategy framework at What’s The Idea? can best and most simply described as one claim and three proof planks.  A proof plank being a cluster of evidence, bound by a discrete value label that supports the claim.

An example: If the claim for an ACO Physician group is “Intensive Primary Care” – ACO refers to a physician model of preventing illness, rather than only treating illness – a proof plank might be Intensive Yearlong Focus. Examples of a proof point beneath that plank might include a contract between patient and doc requiring a medicine compliance agreement and periodic communications with the doc about wellness. Building proofs under a plank is the job of product marketing.

So, claim and proof. Too much of advertising and marketing today is 95% claim, 5% proof.

When I think about commodity products and mature markets where brands are often tired, the brand plans often default to a by-the pound or buy the pound media approach.  Think Geico. If we ear-worm enough media, they will buy. This is not how one builds a brand. It’s how one builds a media plan.  The way to build a brand is by constantly creating reasons to buy. Reasons to believe a brand’s superiority.  And that requires proof.

Peace.

 

 

What Brand Planners Have in Common.

By
Steve Poppe
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0

All brand strategists have their own way of getting to the brand idea and organizing principle.  Followers of What’s The Idea? know I hunt for “proof.”  Existential evidence of superiority. But the means by which each brand planner gets to the brand strategy, varies. Not everyone uses proof. But everyone uses some form of discovery. And discovery really means talking, interviewing, learning, story collection and, yes, data.

If every brand planner is different (snowflakes?) one thing we all share is the need for new, clean inputs. Not preconceived outputs. The latter is what anthropologists refer to as poor ethnography added to what planners might call poor “businography.”  What sets brand strategists apart from one another is what they do with the inputs. How they are organized. How they are prioritized.  How they are presented. Sold. And rationalized.

When a brand strategy resonates with the C-suite, when a brand strategy is accepted like family, the planner’s framework is easily forgotten. The story is forgotten. All the other brand-o-babble is forgotten. What is left standing — the strategy — is indelible. Inviolate.

Peace.

 

 

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