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    Brand Strategy

    How Much Brand Discovery is Enough?

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    That’s a fine questions Steve. I’ve done some freelance work where the shop wanted 30-40 interviews. On the B2B side, inclusive of technology, that may be too many.  You can never learn too much, you can never talk brand too much, but 30 plus takes time and reduces focus.  That said, in my last engagement I probably conducted 25 interviews. It was for a complicated tech assignment, however, requiring that I learn blockchain, cryptocurrency and such.

    Ideally, and things are never ideal in the interview business, one would get all the conversations out of the way in a week. That said, don’t over-schedule and burn yourself out. You need time for the information and insights to marinate and react. I like to use a pat set of questions so I can look at the variation of answers or the deltas as they say in the research business.  

    If you don’t do enough interviews, you can fall into the traps of projecting insights from elsewhere — and that’s a bad.  If paid to only do a few interviews you might rationalize things by short-cutting — relying on your planning experience. Don’t do it. Your brain will fart. You’ll spend more time looking for patterns that aren’t there and it will take more time, not less.

    Go long, but be careful not to go too long.

    Peace.

    PS. For a presentation of brand strategy framework with real examples (sans attribution), write Steve@WhatsTheIdea.com  

     

    Nike’s “Just Do It” Is Not a Brand Strategy.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    A fellow brand strategist recently wrote a LinkedIn post about “motivating” an expected customer behavior.  It made me think.  I get doing a deep dive on what motivates customer behavior — but I’m not sure I want to build motivation in to my brand strategy claim.  This may go against the grain but “Just Do It” is a great advertising line but in my mind it’s not a good brand strategy claim.

    Bear with me here.

    When gathering and developing insights that feed the brand claim, I delve into customer Care-abouts and brand Good-ats. By addressing these values my hope is it results in motivation. By jumping straight to the motivation or promoting the desired behavior I believe we’ve defaulted to advertising. I repeat, by jumping to straight up motivation, we’re advertising.

    “Improve your ass” might be a better brand strategy claim for Nike.  It encourages proper advertising. Is it motivation? I don’t think so. It’s a declarative statement, a scold. It’s a Care-about. “I want to improve my ass.” “If I improve my ass the rest will follow” or whatever. 

    I can build three proof planks around “Improve my ass” where I can’t (not easily) around “Just Do It.”

    Brand planners need not motivate. Their efforts are best spent creating an environment in which motivation results. Let the ad agencies motivate. How do we do that? By immersing oneself in the Careabouts and Good-ats.

    Peace.   

     

     

    We Are Brand Builders Not Gallerists

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    Creative people don’t really like rules or incumbrances. Unless they are creating art for a loved-one. This highlights the traditional tension between creatives (in advertising) and strategists.  I recently wrote a brand strategy with a strongly articulated target. A target offering lots of spark. But in my world the target is only one part of the brand brief – is a serial, logic document that drives to a brand claim. The brand claim is the strategic directive.  Creative people, so long as they are happy with the artistic output, often think they’ve done their job if inspired by any part of the brief.

    Bullshit.

    We are working on building brands not a series of gallery-hangings. We (strategist, creative team, client) are trying to get consumers to buy, then buy again, and again. To that end, we need to find the most compelling care-abouts and good-ats and codify them into a brand strategy (claim and proof array) that will outlast any campaign. “Coke is refreshment.”   

    Campaigns come and go, a powerful brand idea is indelible. Creatives need to follow the brand claim. That’s brand building.

    Peace.      

     

     

    Celebrate By Doing.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    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.     

     

     

     

    Brand Strategy and the Building Blocks of Brand Life.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    “Campaigns come and go. A powerful brand idea is indelible.” was a phrase I used in a pitch to Gentiva Health Services many moons ago. And I still use it today.  It’s really a cornerstone of What’s The Idea?, brand consultancy. Ideas, any business person will tell you, are a dime a dozen. That’s why I considered naming the business What’s The Big Idea? It had a bit more attitude. But it was also a bit long for a URL. 

    Ideas may be a dime a dozen, but a single idea is how you build a brand. The problem is, landing on a single brand idea is not easy. And it’s hard to stick to.  Stand for something. Stand for one thing.

    The way to build on an idea is to prove it. Prove what you stand for. Each and every day. I suggest doing that through proof planks. Three proof planks. The What’s The Idea? brand strategy framework comprises one claim and three proof planks. One idea, three evidentiary means by which to prove it.

    Following this framework you can build campaigns. Acquisition programs. Websites. Press events. Packaging and brand extensions.

    Just as amino acids and proteins are the building blocks of life, brand strategy provide the building blocks of brand life.

    Peace.  

     

     

    Swimming With the Tide.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    When meeting with a new client, one should not jump right into the water and evaluate pricing, distribution and promotion — not without first understanding the product. If you begin with the first three components of marketing without fully understanding he product/service, you’re likely to observe, form insights and think about suggestions based upon “generic” category understandings.

    Generic category information is what consumers default to, it’s what they believe about your product if they don’t know you.  You are simply a product swimming in the tide of public opinion.

    It is imperative, I repeat, it is imperative, to fully understand the product before forming any sort of suggestion about marketing.  It’s a strategy first, tactics last approach.  

    Brand strategy is about differentiation. It’s about positioning around heightened value. It is about proving that value with every breath. With every dollar. Mic drop.

    Swimming with the marketing tide does not make you Tide. It makes you menhaden.  (How’s that for a mixed metaphor?)

    Peace.

     

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    The Magic Logic Partnership.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    The dichotomy of creative and strategy has been around in marketing and advertising for ever. There was a times in the 1800s when “We’re Here advertising” worked. Demand so out-stepped supply that all you had to do is tell people where to buy your product and the transaction began.  I experienced this back in the 90s when all AT&T Network Services had to do to sell Cat 5 computer wire was to publish an address in the Thailand edition of Computer World magazine.  Today competition is too great. Marketing has to be competitive and advertising great.

    The strategy/creative dichotomy was explained quite nicely last week, during a viewing and discussion of the film about Sir John Hegarty with outgoing CSO of BBH Sarah Watson. “I provide the logic, you provide the magic.” Succinct is always best.

    When one applies magic against logic it’s a recipe for success. Magic by itself, not so much.

    Brand planners are in the logic business. The more the magic can excite the magic makers the better.

    Magic. Logic. It’s a nice living.

    Peace.

     

     

    An Extensible Recipe for Business Failure.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    0

    Growth Hacking is an idea for the times.  I’m kind of sure it’s a bad idea.

    Here’s a definition from Wikipedia:  

    Growth hacking is a process of rapid experimentation across marketing channels and product development to identify the most effective, efficient ways to grow a business. Growth hackers are marketers, engineers and product managers that specifically focus on building and engaging the user base of a business. Growth hackers often focus on low-cost alternatives to traditional marketing, e.g. using social media, viral marketing or targeted advertising[2] instead of buying advertising through more traditional media such as radio, newspaper, and television.[3]

    I don’t take issue with rapid experimentation across marketing channels. I do believe, though, product development as a hack is a little iffy. If growth hacking is a synonym for research and development (R&D) that’s fine. But using the web to randomly and quickly build a business case is goofy.

    When it comes to growth hacking, start-ups or recalibrating business better know their good-ats. They shouldn’t look to the web to find out what people want. Brand planning is about good-ats and care-abouts. At What’s The Idea? brand strategy is an organizing principle for product, experience and messaging.  It’s business strategy writ small.  Too much focus on care-abouts and not enough focus on good-ats is an extensible recipe for business failure. You may want to look like Cinderella but you are who you are.

    Growth is what businesses aspire to. How they get there and how they get to success is a result of planning, learning and commitment. An hour-long presentation on growth hacking may make you feel all warm inside, but it’s not a sustainable business approach.

    Peace.          

     

    When Brand Equity Doesn’t Travel.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    0

    Bob Gilbreath’s book Marketing With Meaning is an important read for all marketing strategists and executives. Without “meaning” in marketing deliverables we are simply singing. Not that good songs don’t sometimes work, they do; but a meaningful selling premise motivates.

    Meaning is an imperative for brand planners, when creating an organizing principle for a brand. Finding a pent up demand consumers desire – one that your product can fulfill —  is hard enough.  Landing on a desire that extends across buying targets is some seriously heavy lifting.  This is a problem for most brand marketers.  

    As one’s planning audience grows in size and complexity, the focus of the desire has to lessen. And the meaning delivered even more so. 

    This is why many brand extensions fail. A company that has meaning with one target and adds a new one, often finds out the brand equity doesn’t travel.  I once blamed Google for its “culture of technological obesity.”  It was eating everything in its way, independent of its palette.  Marketers need to know what businesses not to get in to.  He happy with your meaning.  Unfortunately, it’s that money thing, that stockholder thing that turns us crazy. So we expand, lose focus and add fish to the burger menu. 

    Let’s be happy with success marketers. Don’t hedge your bets by adding more targets; get better at what you do. Protect your meaning. Peace!

     

    Politics, Bias and Branding.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    0

    Has “political” become a bad word? If you follow the press these days it has. When something has become politicized it takes on the aura of an agenda. And today a political agenda is either left leaning or right leaning. Moe Davis, running in NC’s 11th district to replace Mark Meadows pointed out recently that the armed services isn’t republican or democrat. Not everything has to be political.

    In branding, the word “strategy” (nice segue, huh?) is not a bad word. Yet brand strategy is all about creating bias. Bias toward your product. The best brand strategies, however, are built upon strengths. Positives. If a positive implies another brand negative that’s fine, but brand building is not brand tearing down of a competitor.

    Brand strategy, unlike politics, is a build-up business. It’s why I love it. We delve into customer care-abouts and brand good-ats and stay away from the blood lust that has become politics. I’ve cherry picked things from the political game to use in my branding practice. There are a lot of similarities. One thing I have not borrowed though is negativism. For me “bias” is a positive. Creating bias toward.

    Peace.

     

     

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