Monthly Archives: March 2025

What Brand Planners Have in Common.

By
Steve Poppe
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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.

 

 

Ingles Market Tagline.

By
Steve Poppe
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0

Ingles, a successful regional grocery store chain headquartered in Black Mountain, NC, uses the tagline “LOW Prices…LOVE the savings.”  Let’s take a look at the tagline for branding value.

First, it breaks a cardinal rule. Let’s call it the “Tastes Great! Less filling!” rule. Good brand strategy is about a single claim.  Now all rules are made to be broken but I choose to keep this one sacrosanct.  (That said, if I can get a double meaning out of a word choice, no harm no foul.)

Second, “LOW prices,” all caps or not, is not a particularly aspirational claim. Low prices, suggests low quality.  That’s not Ingle’s fault it’s the marketing world’s fault. Does your mouth water over a dollar slice of pizza? Does the Dollar Store bring to mind, clean floors, welcoming clerks, and fully stocked shelves?

Third, “LOVE the savings” is redundant. Saying it twice doesn’t make it so. It only reinforces point number two, reminding you every time you come upon an over ripe piece of produce.

Fourth, “LOVE the savings” tells the consumer how to feel. Not a cardinal rule but most people already have mom. It’s presumptuous. Don’t tell consumers how to feel. make them feel.  Use a unique claim and carefully curated proof planks.

Ingles is a family business, it’s nearby, the stores are nearly immaculate, and they are brightly lit!  There’s a lot to work with for a well-honed brand claim. Defaulting to Aldi’s positioning (who really has proof(s) of price advantage) is lackluster, off-piste brand craft.

Peace.

 

 

Deeds. Comms. And Gun Control.

By
Steve Poppe
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0

A couple of decades ago I wrote my first significant brand strategy.  The client was North Shore-LIJ Health System now known as Northwell Health. The brand claim developed was “A Systematized Approach to Improving Healthcare” supported by the proof planks “leading edge treatments and technology,” “information and resource sharing” and “community integration.”  

Though it has been many, many years since its creation and I do not have any ties to Northwell today, I like to follow brand strategies to see how they hold up.

Recently, Northwell and ad agency Strawberry Frog have taken up a messaging campaign around gun violence. A bit of a head-scratcher when I first read about it, but the more I think about it, the more it makes sense. And here’s how it works under the “systematized” brand strategy.

If healthcare is heading anywhere today it’s moving in the direction of “preventative” medicine rather than “curative.” The effort to educate the public about gun violence and integrate that message into the community (third proof plank) is not only daring for a healthcare organization it’s life-saving. The big question now is whether or not Northwell and Strawberry Frog will operationalize this beyond communications. Deeds is how we affect change. Deeds and comms.

So proud of Michael Dowling and the leadership team of Northwell Health. This is a bridge within reach. Can’t wait to see where it goes and how it measures.

Peace.

 

 

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