Brand Planning

    Effective Selling Requires Organization and Nourishment.

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    The body is amazing thing.  Nobody will argue with that.   One of the keys to health is proper digestion.  It starts with enzymes in the mouth, mastication of solids via the teeth, then channeling food down the throat through various stomach and intestinal tubes and reservoirs, where the extraction of goodness and badness occur, adding life and nourishment to our blood and cells. Digestion.

    But digestion also happens in marketing communications. We hear, see, read and, yes, even smell promotional cues all day long.  Sometimes — even when we sleep.  Color, poetry, context, cortex stimulation, likeability all contribute to what we remember and choose to act upon. Megan Kent, a master strategist and student of the brain’s role in brand experience, is expert in the digestion of marketing. Her theory of “brand synchronicity” would likely support these thoughts on marketing digestion:

    • If you need a tab on your homepage labeled “What is brand X?” …you are having some marketing indigestion.
    • If your tagline is comprised of three separate and unrelated words….you have marketing indigestion.
    • If your ad agency writes ads promising change, and then laundry lists the supports to the point of confusion… grab the Tums.
    • If you test the work asking consumers “What’s the main idea of the communication?” to which they offer a look of consternation and a long thoughtful ummm…you are in the land of the indigestible marko-babble.

    Digestion of food is easy; the good is separated from the bad. When it comes to marketing and advertising, digestion is not so easy.  Only the well-organized can create selling nourishment. Peace.

    About Soul. About.com

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    About.com ran an ad in The New York Times (its parent company) today in honor of its 15th anniversary.  The ad also celebrates About’s 36 million monthly U.S. visitors.

    Not sure if they are launching a new tagline, but locked up with the logo at the bottom of the ad are the words “Need. Know. Accomplish.” They visited the triumvirate tagline store, apparently.

    Apparently, 15 years – which is nothing to sneeze at – is an About differentiator.  I say that because “need know accomplish” is the Bing strategy. And we know that Google owns the “need know accomplish” space.

    I want About to win because I love The New York Times. About needs some of that NYT sophistication and savvy to rub off on it. It needs to be more human, less algo, more alive. And, frankly, it’s built an okay site reflecting that. The user experience faces the right direction. Problem is, the brand is weak. The promise blah. The there is there, but the message is without ballast. The New York Times has never really had to brand plan for the paper-paper or the digital version. It has just needed to promote and sell, because brand “the package” has always been so strong.  About.com, on the other hand, needs a home in consumers’ minds. Right now it’s a word. A site. It’s has a pumping heart.  Let’s hope in 5 years it has a soul too. I wish it well. Peace.

    Observe, Intuit, Package.

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    The work of ad agency David and Goliath speaks to me.  I may not always be in the market for what they’re selling and may not always be the target, but I do know people and these guys and girls can package a message.  David Measer is a head planner at DnG and not long ago I offered him a “free day of planning,” something reserved for friends and family. He said “we are so immersive in our planning work, we don’t believe one day can really generate anything of value.”  And he’s right.  As it relates to the end idea. (But a day can generate some crazy good crumbs.)

    I was reading today about a volunteer park clean up in Brooklyn which brought to mind my archaeology days and how it helped me become a better planner. Archaeologists uncover stuff from the dirt. They plot it, ponder it, and may actually have to wait until winter in the lab to understand it – if they ever do. It’s a slow and thoughtful process, though it does offer some exciting immediate rewards.  Brand planners operate in the same exploratory sphere but with truncated timeframes. We observe and intuit purchase behavior — then package it for creative teams. We don’t have the benefit of waiting for winter or have a long mental gestation period.

    Brand planners need to be able to observe brilliantly. To see and hear only the important. Then they need to intuit the meaning, which requires context and experience. Lastly, it all has to be packaged for an art, copy and design team. In a way that inspires them to “focused” stimulating greatness. Observe. Intuit. Package. David and Goliath subscribes. Watch them grow. Peace.

    Showing Up Isn’t Enough!

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    Bob Gilbreath, chief strategy officer at Possible Worldwide, wrote a book a year ago called Marketing With Meaning. It’s a counterpoint to Woody Allen’s quote about “90% of life is just showing up.”  Bob suggests embedding your message (and offer) with something of value.  Not mere boast and claim — something meaningful and fulfilling. The book is a must read.

    I created a brand plan for a health system a number of years ago designed to move the dial on about 9 attributes that make for a successful hospital experience; things like: “best doctors,” “leading edge treatments,” “improved patient outcomes.”  If you can answer yes to these hospital qualities, it is likely you will want your procedure done there.

    When I see work in this category today, sometimes I wonder if marketers are trying to be meaningful at all.  One NYC hospital spending a lot of money is doing it the Woody Allen way, just showing up. Doing “we’re here” ads. One word headlines and pretty pictures.  And the system that once had the nine meaningful measures?  It must have listened to its ad agency and now only measures “first mentions.”  That’s a research term for a telephone poll indicating what consumers answer when asked, “Name a hospital or hospital system in your region.” That’s measuring the media plan and the budget, not the communication of the work.

    The best politicians are those who have a vision, are true to it, and allow the populace to experience that vision.  Process that vision. The worst are those who read opinion polls and change direction at will.  Similarly, the best brands have a plan that creates meaningful differentiation and organized claim and proof to consumers.  And they stick to it. Peace!

    Brand Planning Patterns and Breakage.

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    In brand planning there are two schools of thought: Find the strength and highlight it, or find the weakness and negate it.  At the root of this approach is optimism vs. pessimism.  This is where quantitative research can play a role – testing which approach will have the biggest business impact.  But few mid and small-sized companies are willing to spend that money.  Large companies will, but tend not to want to do major brand planning overhauls unless under attack. Pessimism, then, often wins out.

    Consumer Marketing

    Consumer marketers by nature are all about the positive. All about the user benefit and that’s a good thing. But if everyone, in every consumer category, is being positive: “be more productive,” “more individualized service,” “lower cost” then it’s hard to make an impression. 

    Business-to-business.

    In B2B selling for the last 10 years, sales people trek annually to Arizona to chant “Find the pain point.” Understanding a company’s pain seems the pop marketing way for a B2B salesperson to connect in a meaningful way.  And therein lies a marketing conundrum: consumer marketing labors around the positive while B2B favors the negative. Overstatements perhaps, but patterns. And brand planning is about patterns and breaking or disrupting them; in ways that serve all consumers — with actionable, scalable and repeatable ideas that sell.  Watch the patterns. Peace.

      Brand planning, patternsm pan points, b2b marketing, consumer marketing, whatstheidea, whats the idea,

    Chase What Brand Strategy.?.

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    Question: What is a brand strategy? 

    Answer: A brand strategy comprises a strategic idea or claim and three support planks that vivify the claim.  Three planks, because two don’t always allow for a complete, differentiated story. Getting the idea right is key. Selling it to consumers day after day is the heavy lifting…called brand management.

    Chase What Matters.

    JPMorgan Chase has a very identifiable idea: “Chase what matters.”  It’s a consumer directive from a very big company that knows how to make, save and invest money. Something they already get credit for.  The idea has ballast, but so far it is only an idea. Banks have been making promises without backing them up for decades. I’m not getting a read on the Chase support planks yet – the planks that allow me to believe Chase “knows what matters” to me and that they are the bank best equipped to deliver.   

    One of Chase’s neater tactical ideas lately is the “Chase Loan For Hire” program, through which it decreases small business loans by a quarter point for every new employee hired, up to three. Though I have no idea what Chase’s planks are, forensically, I might assume this tactic supports a plank titled “Meaningful borrowing matters.”  I’m not talking buy a hot tub meaningful, I’m talking something that relates to what popular culture views as meaningful. Today that’s jobs.  Nice touch.

    Banking is a tough category. In my bones I feel Chase has an idea, but the jury is still out on the organization of the proof.  I’ll continue to map its planks as they become evident and share them here at What’s The Idea? Peace!

    Brand Plan(ks)

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    I say brand plan you say________? Right.  No one really knows what a brand plan looks like.  That’s not to say Proctor and Gamble and L’Oreal don’t have brand plans. Or that Publicis, Ogilvy or Crispin Porter don’t have them. They do. But what they’re called and how they are organized are all quite different. 

    Brand Strategy Statement.

    My brand plans are simple to understand.  They contain a brand strategy statement which I tell clients is a suit strategy.  It’s not very catchy, not creative or tagline-worthy, but it tends to hit the CMO and CEO right in the solar plexus.  It may be contextual and/or contain metaphor but it’s certainly a quick, decisive statement of the brand value. 

    Brand Planks.

    Beneath this simple statement are three planks. Brand planks. Borrowed from Bill Clinton’s first election campaign when the mantra was “It’s the economy stupid,” a brand plank is a product development and messaging directive.  My planning process begins with the gathering of formation. Then I boil it down into its most powerful, tasty flavors and those flavors became the planks.  Of course, I make sure the planks are key consumer care-abouts and key company strengths (or potential, attainable strengths). 

    But lately I’ve been analyzing the planks to see if they share any formula for success.  Thinking about what makes good brand planks before I fill the stock pot with data and get sidetracked is (sorry Bud Cadell) what consumes me. 

    I haven’t gotten there yet but here’s a quick start: 

    One plank should educate (it’s what leaders do). One plank should engage (motivate preference).  And one plank should personalize (create a personally meaningful connection between the brand and consumer — bring the consumer closer to the brand). 

    This stuff is mapping the branding genome hard. Or not. But when I finish, it’s going to be exciting.  Peace!