Random

    brand strategy tips

    Follow Das Money.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    0

    One of my brand planning tricks is to fully understand a business’s financials before I dive into the consumerism of the brand.  Back in the day, when working at McCann -Erikson NY, I was asked to be on a task force pulled together by AT&T and McCann to help write marketing plans for a number of emerging new business services.  Collectively we came up a rigor which I have refined over the years and renamed 24 Questions — all of which are follow-the-money questions to help understand the balance sheet and the opportunity.

    I’ve been using the 24 Questions as part of my brand planning discovery for years. When you understand how money is made, you have credibility with the chiefs of a company. And that is critical when discussing strategy. And justifying strategy choices.

    Don’t ever forget to follow the money when brand planning. Plumbing the depths of brand voice, purpose, personality and narrative are but brand strategy tactics.  Money is the composition.  

    Peace.

    PS. For a copy of the 24 Questions, write Steve@WhatsTheIdea.com

     

    A Marketing Conundrum.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    0

    Two of the most discussed concepts in marketing today are “authenticity” and “artificial intelligence.”  One is communications advice the other a communications device.

    They are diametrically opposed. You can’t be authentic and artificial at the same time. Unless you are Tucker Carlson. Hee hee.

    I’m a fan of authenticity albeit, for me, it’s the price of doing business. If you have to speak about it, it must be lacking.  Those who use the word a lot must be steeped in a world of inauthentic-ness.  As for artificial intelligence I much prefer the term machine learning. It’s mote accurate. And more descriptive.   

    Dabbling in AI with my blog (e.g., “edit this blog post”) was a fun exercise.  Those who make a living in by-the-pound content love it. It’ generates volume and is a time-saver. However, it’s a bit inauthentic. “AI, edit my blog post in my voice.” Huh?

    From time-to-time I use a strategy exercise called The 5 Conundrums where I outline consumer contradictions which need to be addressed before brand strategy can be entertained. It’s a way to focus and clear out some stale air. Authenticity and AI are one such marketing conundrum.

    Peace.

     

     

    Deepening Brand Insights;

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    0
    JOHN SCHOEN

    I was just reading that of all the forests in the USA, only4-6% are considered old growth. That means when Europeans landed we’ve cut down 95% of the trees — many of which have regrown over the last 3-4 hundred years. (We’re lucky to have some old growth forests in the Smokies Mountains.)

    Ever in search of metaphors for my branding practice, today I’ll turn to old growth forests. AKA origins. Many brand planners — especially those who learned the craft since the advent of the web, search technology and ecommerce — are doing brand strategy using new growth forests. Sure, they look at brand heritage, founders, and naming. And sure, they delve into the company brand archives. But they’re really only evaluating yellowing artifacts. Rarely strategy. Were they to be dealing with old growth evidence, they’d be planning and strategizing using the people, culture and psychology of the day.

    Let’s face it, in America most products and services aren’t (themselves) old growth. If your product has been around 50 years plus you are in the micro-minority. Even so, planners need to be aware of the brands they study over time. Rather than mine physical artifacts, they should be thinking about the people, their motivations, and existential desires longitudinally. This is how we get to insights. This is how we understand and change behavior.

    Ask yourself when planning, what are the old growth factors, the functional/behavioral factors the brand will fulfill. And deepen your insights.

    Peace.

     

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