Yearly Archives: 2017

Just Say No. Or Yes.

By
Steve Poppe
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0

I’ve met some unusually powerful brand advocates over the years. And some not so much. Both are approvers and deniers of advertising and messaging.  One advocate, a telephone company president, killed a Wall Street Journal ad containing a visual of 10 adorable puppies because “Our customers aren’t dogs.” The bad ones approve or deny ads because they like or dislike them. When a client breaks out the like-ometer, the agency is in trouble.  

And then there are clients who kills or approve and ad because they supports generic business or messaging goals such as it generates leads, get more “likes,” or offers ad memorability.  This is better but still poor brand craft.

When a product or service has an active and strong brand strategy, all the yeses and noes are grounded. They’re all strategic. A brand strategy (one claim, three proof planks) gives form and reason to advertising. I’ve never felt bad losing an ad when the brand strategy card was played. Ever.

Brand strategy makes ad craft and brand craft scientific.

Peace.          

 

 

Rebranding. And Brand Strategy.

By
Steve Poppe
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0

I work with a kitchen remodeling company, Kitchen Magic, that has built a huge business offering something called cabinet refacing. Refacing is half the price of new cabinets because the old cabinet box is kept and a new “face” of wood and doors are attached to the outside.  In an unrelated example, Architectural Record, a venerable consumer and trade magazine, recently underwent a facelift of its own — new design, new cover, new masthead and logo. A rebrand or facelift, as it were.

Rebrands are all about taking something old and updating it. Sometimes it’s cosmetic. Sometimes it’s structural.

In the business of brand strategy, cosmetics and structure are secondary. At least they are at What’s the Idea? The process starts without an endgame in sight.  No architects plans, no site maps. Brand strategy is about as organic and alive as words and idea can be.

Working with a brand, I certainly understand business objectives and sales goals. But what the brand strategy will look like is a complete unknown at the beginning of the project.  The direction and science are not sealed until the paper strategy is complete.

Maybe, that’s why some companies are nervous about brand strategy. And why they prefer facelifts. They want to see what the finished product will look like before they begin.

Peace.

 

Moon Shots In Marketing.

By
Steve Poppe
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0

When Jeff Bezos is quoted as saying future Earthlings will be living in space – as he did in an article in today’s newspapers – was he tripping? I don’t think so.  It’s probably going to happen. Just as there will be self-driving cars and a cure for cancer. But the likelihood that Blue Origin, his space travel company, will be around or even contribute to space life is low. This so-called “space shot” bet by one the world’s most brilliant and effective marketers is, however, instructive.

Space shot proclamations are not just the provenance of billionaires. They are for business owner of every stripe and color.  While with Zude, a web start-up, I once proclaimed “In the future every person will have their own website.” And I wasn’t talking about a Facebook page either.

Every good business owner needs to understand the blocking and tackling of business “today,” but also they must see the “future.”  Only then can they help shape the future.

When a pizza parlor owner says s/he will make the best tasting pizza in town, then buys ingredients from Restaurant Depot with all the other pizza shops, that’s blocking and tackling; it’s not a moon shot. The best brand builders and marketers desire the future. It keeps them up at night and sometimes makes for wonderful dreams.

Peace.   

 

 

 

Disruption Starts With Brand Strategy.

By
Steve Poppe
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0

Probably the most overused work in marketing the last 5 years is disruption. Maybe the last 10 years.  If you were to put all the marketing conference speeches given since 2010 into a cull rack and block from falling through the ones with “disruption” in the title, you’d have a stack a mile high. Google SXSW speeches, book titles or blog posts.

Do you want to know something that is truly disruptive? Brand strategy. Huh?  Brand strategy.  Everybody has one they’ll tell you, but no one can articulate it. Not clearly.  Because brand strategy means so many things to so many people, it has become a nonentity. A quagmire within a morass.

Here’s the deal: A brand strategy is an “Organizing principle for product, experience and messaging.” Nothing less. The framework for such is “One Claim and Three Proof Planks.” Nothing less. And certainly, nothing more.

If you’d like to truly disrupt your business. If you’d like to make clear and easy marketing decisions. If you’d like to measure effectiveness with almost binary simplicity, consider a brand strategy. (And this is not a packaged goods thing. It’s a marketing thing.)

Peace.

 

You Cannot Discount Luxury.

By
Steve Poppe
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0

Tom Voelk, who writes the “Driven” column for The New York Times, reviewed the new Hyundai Genesis G80 today. The G80 is Hyundai’s latest venture into the luxury automobile market. (Branded Genesis, not Hyundai, it can only be purchased at Hyundai dealerships. So much for the veil.)  According to Mr.Voelk, it is designed with materials and performance that competitively positions it with BMW’s 5 Series and the Mercedes E-Class. The only thing things it does not offer is brand appeal.  And for that, it is pricing the G80 about $15,000 less than the aforementioned.

I write about brand all the time but rarely about price. Here’s a question for you marketers: Should Hyundai have used a discount for the G80 or not?  It’s a traditional marketing ploy — incentivize purchase to start to grow share.

I don’t recall if the first iteration of the Genesis (launched with much fanfare during the Super Bowl by Lebron a couple of years ago) was comparably priced with BMW and Mercedes, but this deep discount is at odds with the class of car. At least in my book.

So my answer to the question about discount is “no.” Even if it means a few years of slow growth.  A better idea would have been to offer a 1 year trade-in near list value to all buyers. That would have been bold. Price cannot be divorced from brand.  

You cannot discount luxury.

Peace.

 

 

 

 

New Washington Post Tagline

By
Steve Poppe
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0

“Democracy Dies in Darkness” is the new tagline of The Washington Post, now found under the masthead. It’s being lauded as a wonderful brand idea. I must agree. It’s poetic, memorable and few papers can wear it as can The Washington Post. Bravo.

Critics might say it’s a little generic. Not exclusive. But this isn’t the Amityville Record we’re talking about it’s one of the top two or so newspaper brands in the U.S.  One famous for breaking stories from the darkness.

When I think about the word democracy these days, the tweak toward president Trump that is this new tagline makes me wonder about the roots of the words democrat and republican. Is a republic different from a democracy?

The dictionary suggests a republic is “a state in which the supreme power rests in the body of citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by representatives chosen directly or indirectly by them.” The latter part of the definition “chosen indirectly” by them, may set a republic apart from a democracy.

This tagline positions democracy a left leaning concept, then, which most people will agree is a foundational paper POV. As smart as the tagline is, I’d hope we don’t begin to politicize the word democracy as a blue concept.  Nice tagline. I hope it doesn’t create a hint of darkness on its own.

Peace.              

 

 

Search Share Learn. (A rip off of “eat love pray”.)

By
Steve Poppe
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0

I was reading a story this morning about ResearchGate a social media community for researchers. It’s a place where they can get together online to share ideas, sources and projects – the end game of which is to accelerate project completion. If Facebook is the 800 lb. gorilla, social media plats (short for platforms) are smaller more discrete communities where people can commune and learn. Edmodo is one such for educators. Houzz is one for home remodelers.  And Etsy for people selling their home made crafts.

These category-specific social media plats bring the world’s resources to our fingertips. I remember talking and thinking about this while in a strategic role at (start-up) Zude in 2006.  Then, a few years later, while working for JWT on a “future of work” project for client Microsoft, the topic came up again under the guise of something I named the “logged and tagged workforce”  — an idea where was the project was more important than the workers.

The web opens up worlds of information and data to everyone. Google’s ability to search this information has transformed our lives. But as search matures and we pull back in search of better ways to get stuff done, I’m realizing how random and mis-organized is the Google sphere. Smaller learning and sharing communities are the future. And they won’t be free either.

More to come, once I dump the cache.

Peace.

 

 

New Cadillac Spots

By
Steve Poppe
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0

I wrote Friday about the new Cadillac campaign, sight seen. My qualm was actually with the quote by Publicis’ CEO who intimated image, not car sales, was the point of the work.  I get image. It’s an important got-to-have, but it’s not the primary reason for advertising. Image and an on-brand strategy message are imperatives. Not, however, at the cost of selling.

The Cadillac ad I watched last night on the Oscars was lovely. Of the time. Its heart was in the right place. The product manager/client made the agency show, at least, some old Cadillac cars. But how hard would it have been to show a new model at the end of the spot? Even grayed out a bit? As mentioned Friday, Cadillac’s challenge the past couple of years has been inelegant car designs. Not showing the new model car almost makes me feel, it’s still a challenge.

Then Cadillac ran another ad introducing the Escala. (Watch the second commercial on YouTube link above.) It’s product first. Product forward. And the car design is huge. Exhilarating.  These two execution could have ben combined a la the “Imported From Detroit” spot from years ago. That would have been some ad craft.

Peace.

 

Cadillack of Sales.

By
Steve Poppe
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0

The kiss of death for any advertising campaign is when the power brokers at the ad agency and client say “selling product isn’t the goal of the advertising, elevating the brand is.” Ouch. Double ouch. This type of defeatist attitude is so transparent. Something’s wrong — either with the product or the advertising.

These were the paraphrased words of Publicis CEO Arthur Sadoun in today’s NYT, when discussing the new Cadillac campaign.

Cadillac advertising has actually been pretty good the last few years, even with the churn in ad agencies. But it has been product design – the boring and sometimes ugly cars – that has kept sales down. I love new campaigns. And the one launching on the Academy Awards Sunday is likely to be topical, political and powerful. But if some metal doesn’t start leaving he showrooms the brand won’t elevate. People need to buy, drive and talk about the cars. Not the advertising.

Peace.

 

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