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    Brand Strategy

    Brand Naming is Critical.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    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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    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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    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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    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.

     

     

    For-Profit Altruism.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    0

    I bet you never heard those three words strung together. Well, they’re actually the result of some internal brand work I’ve been doing for What’s The Idea?.  A cobbler’s children exercise.  “For-Proft Altruism” is under consideration for my brand claim. (A brand strategy consists of a brand claim and three proof planks.)

    One of the core good-ats at What’s The Idea? is sharing — sharing best practices in brand strategy and branding. Sharing is a brain worm for me.  Generally speaking, giving away free advice and IP is not a smart business idea, yet it’s worked brilliantly Open Source software advocates. In my view if everyone did branding properly marketing would be much more effective…and more people could participate.

    Sharing is altruistic. So, what’s up with this seemingly contrarian “for-profit” notion? Ummm…have you ever presented to a CEO or C-level exec? While brand strategists are talking about “Mission.” “Vision,” “Voice” and “Personality,” the C-level exec is wondering how many basis points interest rates will change next quarter or if the Chinese manufacturing holiday will impact the new order from Walmart.  And while the brand strategist is trying to sell a touchy-feely, culturally savvy position like “work/life balance,” that same C-level exec is pondering more endemic product qualities, tied to phenomenological superiority.

    I spend way too much of my time educating and sharing and not enough providing the for-profit values offered by What’s The Idea?  So, I should heed my own advice and dial up the for-profit. Next step, work up the three proof planks — the three areas of evidence supporting For-Profit Altruism.

    Stay tuned.

    Peace.

     

    Brand Planning Effluvia.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    Many practicing brand planners are well-meaning and talk a good game. But they don’t always deliver the goods. And when I say goods, I mean brand strategy: An organizing principle for product, experience and messaging. A brand strategy’s only measurable job is to win business.

    Brand planners who talk about “story” aren’t providing strategy. Those who pepper their brand plans with the words like “mission,” “personality,” “values” and “vision” aren’t delivering strategy. Important planning tools though they may be, they are really the effluvia of the strategy process. CEOs don’t like to sit still for the effluvia, they want the strategy. And the rationale. Not the circuitous route to the strategy.

    Strategy is a directive.  One that “sells more, to more, more often, at higher process (Sergio Zyman).  Makers who use brand strategy are charged with creating communications and tactics that helps a brand win in the marketplace. Great makers move markets. But it’s strategist who points the Makers in the business-winning direction. You can give a Maker a story. A voice. Or a vision. But they really need a strategy.  

    Peace.

     

     

    Cobbler’s Children Part 2.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    0

    One of the first things one must align in brand building is the brand name with the strategy.  It’s not always possible. In the case of What’s The Idea?, the name came first. Ergo the name has to be an asset that goes into the stock pot (metaphor) to be boiled down into the brand claim and proof array (the framework).  Not ideal but certainly real world. A child needs a name.

    What’s The Idea? suggests locking onto a single business-winning value.  I repeat a single, motivating value. The brand name is not What Are the Many Ideas?. The single idea derives from customer care-abouts and brand good-ats. The baby stays, the bathwater not so much. Sometimes there is informational nuance in the idea; it might be a pregnant idea. As in, say one thing, get credit for more. Typically, this one thing offers an endemic brand quality/value. Coke is refreshment. Volvo about safety.  

    I like to say that the brand claim is an inelegant, non-creative tagline — to be interpreted by the creative agency. All comms should support the claim. The last part of the framework is the proof array, the three planks that support the claim. The planks must be tightly tethered to the claim so as to create believability and logic. Enough about the framework. Onto the actual brand strategy of What’s The Idea?.

    For that tune in to the next posts. The cobbler’s children’s shoe will hit the bench beginning tomorrow.

    Peace.

     

    Cobbler’s Children.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    0
    Cartoon shoemaker (cobbler), isolated on white background. Coloring book design for kids and children.

    Have you heard the story about the cobbler’s children? The children in town with the poorest shoes?  The cobbler is so busy he forgets to take care of his family’s footwear. Talk about a bad experiential branding move.  Ironically, it begs the question what is the brand strategy for What’s The Idea?

    You mean to say Steve you have never used your tools to create a “claim and proof array” for What’s The Idea?  You douche! 

    So where do I start?

    Why not with the name? What is the idea?  The name presupposes a lot.  I mean, what cognitive effort is not about an idea?  The reason the question resonates with brand planners and to a lesser extend senior marketing professionals is that there are so many, many ideas in marketing and branding that there are effectively none. It’s like marketers and advertisers are paid by the idea pound, rather than finding a business-winning claim and loading up on it.  Google “Fruit Cocktail Effect.”

    Ergo, the first objective of a What’s the Idea? brand strategy is to educate marketing prospects to stake a claim to an idea. More’s the pity. More’s the pithy.

    Stay tuned for more on the strategy itself.

    Peace.

     

     

     

    Perspicuity.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    0

    Perspicuous is an adjective derived from the noun perspicuity, it’s defined by Merriam-Webster as

    : plain to the understanding especially because of clarity and precision of presentation

    In brand planning and brand strategy there’ s not a lot of it going around. Clarity of brand strategy design and presentation are quite lacking. It’s not like it’s string theory or anything, it’s just that most planners are very deep in the roots — deep in the ingredients — and have a hard time ‘splaining what they are actually delivering. Brand strategy is not a bunch of value-laden verses or a brand poetry to be handed off to a client as a muse for creating a brand. It’s not ethereal guidelines for the creation of marketing stuff. It’s an organizing principle for product, experience and messaging. An organizing principle with boundaries, dictates and evidence.

    Boiled down, brand strategy is a framework for marketing work. It’s binary and measurable. Yet it is also creative. Better said, it allows for wonderful creativity.

    And it all starts with Perspicuity. A clean directive.

    Happy to share some samples. Write Steve at WhatsTheIdea.

    Peace.

     

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