Monthly Archives: June 2021

Claim and Proof.

By
Steve Poppe
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0

I write a lot about claim and proof. A brand claim, done well, organizes one’s thoughts. It sets the tone and expectation. But it’s the proof of that claim that embeds the reasoning.  That makes a claim more than magic. More than ad copy.

Take any piece of marketing content and using two different color highlighters, light up all the written claims language. Then light up the proof language. The evidence. See what happens.

When someone says “We will work hard to earn your business,” that’s a claim.  

If that same person says we are “available 24/7 and provide a personal mobile number,” that’s proof.

When someone says “we’ll customize to meet the needs of your business,” it’s a claim.

If that same person shares 25 segmented offers from the last year, that’s proof.

Claim without proof is marko-babble. Dirty dishwater. Branding and the brand strategy upon which it is built begins with proof. Organized, discrete proof. The claim is simply the bow on top that ties it all together.

Peace.

 

 

One Story.

By
Steve Poppe
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0

Brand planning is like painting. In fine arts painting there are lots of strokes, lots of paints, colors, brush techniques, time and effort. Repeat. When the canvas is filled (or not) the painting is done.  Granted with painting, art is in the eye of the beholder and in brand planning strategy art is in the eye of the strategist — but the layers and layers of effort are not dissimilar.

In brand planning there are interviews, research (primary and secondary), field work and consumer observations. Also lots of stakeholder interviews, so as to get the motivations of the brand people right.  All inputs are considered for development of the brand strategy. A lot of strokes. But I’ve found more often than not, that one particular story from all the interviews sticks out. The touchstone story. It’s one example that speaks most loudly about the product or experience and drowns out all the others. For me, this one story is the fulcrum of brand strategy development. The most valuable vein of ore. Metaphorically, it’s when the finished painting comes into focus.

As you are doing brand discovery, seek out that one story. Keep hunting until you find it. It will feed the fine art that is brand planning.

Peace.

 

 

Celebrate By Doing.

By
Steve Poppe
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0

This is Pride Month.  My bestie is gay and when people and businesses encourage me to celebrate Gay Pride Month, I do so eagerly. Just not always sure how. I don’t own a flag. I have a bracelet, somewhere.

One of my new mentees with Asheville Elevate (a program for startups) is in the business of “Diversity, Equity, Inclusion.”  She is educating people out of systemic racism by attempting to change policies, procedures and practices.  I want to celebrate her efforts. I want to advocate. I’m just not sure how. 

I use the word celebrate in my brand strategy practice quite a bit. It’s a lovely word. A wholesome and humane word. While I fear it is much overused in advocacy, it’s a good action verb in brand strategy. It’s a do word. Just as branding is about (organized) doing, celebrating is also about doing. Happy, healthy, communal doing.

 A good brand strategy makes it easy for employees and consumers to act on behalf of a brand. It gives them a roadmap. That’s what advocacy must do. Provide a roadmap.  Roadmap is an apt descriptor because much of advocacy today takes place at parades and outdoor demonstrations. Secondarily, with the dreaded letter-to-one’s-congressman.

All advocates want celebrants – but they need to prime the pump with “doing” tactics. Strategy sans tactics is an impoverished business. Celebrate by doing.

Peace.     

 

 

 

Neutrogena Tagline.

By
Steve Poppe
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0

Yesterday I posted about high-flying Oatly and the tagline “It’s like milk but made for humans.” I said I wasn’t a fan of the line. One reason being it identified the target as all of humanity rather attempting to carve out a special segment most likely to partake — thereby creating a bit of a tribe.  Well, last night I watched a Neutrogena commercial with a similarly crafted tagline: “Neutrogena, for people with skin.” Doh!

This one wins. Though it offers a bit of a smile, it massifies the target into an amorphous blob of consumers. No one is special. No one is unique. None share a reason for buying Neutrogena.

Branding is about creating differentiation. It’s about consumers identifying products as different.  

Imagine a brand planner trying to do customer journey work for people with skin. Step 1. You wake up in the morning. Step 8. You go to bed.    

Neutrogena and Oatly have created taglines meant to be fun and humorous. But, sadly, that’s the creative people talking not the strategy people.

Peace.

 

 

Oatly Tagline

By
Steve Poppe
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0

Oatly, a Swedish milk company whose product is made primarily from oats, has been in the news lately. You may recall its fun, albeit somewhat odd, Super Bowl spot in which the CEO is singing about the brand in a field of oats. Two weeks ago, Oatly had a public stock offering on the Nasdaq, with a nice little first day bump.  And not long before that they made a neat hire in Heidi Hackemer as EVP creative director.  Should be an interesting company to watch.

But one thing I can’t wrap my head around is their tagline. “It’s like milk but made for humans.”  Milk has for millennia been the life-blood of humans. Read mother’s milk. So the statement is intuitive wrong.  Whether they are talking about milk allergies or global warming, I’m not completely sure. Probably both, but either way they are trying to deposition accepted and current forms of milk and other mild substitutes.

Moreover, to position your product “for humans,” or in other words everybody, though perhaps  a smart massification of consumers, it is not very special. Air is for everybody.  Water is for everybody. People don’t select brands because they are for everybody, they select brand because they are for “me.”

I think I know the play here but it just seems a little weak. I predict the sing-songy line will be around a few more months, maybe a year, then put to pasture.

Peace.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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