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    Brand Strategy

    Boiler Plate.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    The older I get the more I post about pet peeves.  Hope I’m not getting cranky. Saw this piece of boiler plate used by a company that shall remain nameless. It’s a great example of burying the lead and lack of focus.  If you are Coca-Cola or Google you needn’t remind people of your Is-Does — what a brand Is and what a brand Does. But if you’re new or newish it’s pretty important.

    Here’s the boiler plate:

    Founded in 1998, So and So Company is a purpose-driven company that strives to empower the whole family, including pets, to live happier, healthier lives.

    They believe that the products you put in your body, on your body and use in your home matter.  Popular product lines include premium pet food and supplements as well as clean health and beauty products for the consumer.

    Okay, okay…if you get past the copy about being purpose-drive, you do get what they sell. Albeit, it’s a bit of an all-over-the-place portfolio.  Pet and people?  Products for in your body, on your body and in your home?  That covers some consumer ground. What tethers the products together is the all-natural claim, I guess. It doesn’t even say all-natural, I’m just assuming.

    This company may be successful. In fact, they are growing.  But positioning, as Al Ries and Jack Trout proudly proclaimed, is everything. 

    This boiler plate makes me cringe. In my brand evaluation tool “Brand Strategy Tarot Cards,” boiler plate is one of the first cards turned over.

    Get it right so your consumers don’t have to work too hard.

    Peace.

     

    A Powerful Brand Idea is Indelible.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    Mining consumer insights and understanding human behavior are the key tools of the brand planner. It’s our day job. How we mine varies from planner to planner. The secret sauce and what we get paid for, though, is using those insights and behaviors to position a product in a way that increases sales conviction among consumers.  

    In my case, positioning is laid out as a single brand claim, supported by three proof planks. That’s my methodology.

    Knowing which insights to develop into a claim and proof array is the money maker.  Most purchasers of brand strategy are looking for a strategic and maybe creative spark to ignite consumer sales conviction.  A pithy line perhaps. A magnetic logo visual. A campaign idea. Or a disruptive retail approach. Metaphorically, many sell the dressing on the salad or the icing on the cake. I sell the base idea. And the supporting science for the idea (the planks).

    There’s a saying at What’s The Idea?, “Campaigns come and go, a powerful brand idea is indelible.”  And that idea is simply conveyed in words.  It’s the result of a boil-down of insights and behaviors stated in a clear but hopefully poetic way.  Steak not sizzle.  For examples please write Steve at WhatsTheIdea.

    Peace.

     

    Marketing Coach?

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    I often speak about “pent up demand” and how important it is to brand and marketing strategy.  If people are clamoring for your product or service you only have to position it and promote it.  But if people don’t know they need your product or service — perhaps it’s a new category, or a complicated value proposition  — then you first need to educate them. Only then can you sell them.  It’s a two-step approach and much more expensive.

    What’s The Idea? was initially positioned as a band consultancy. Then it was repositioned as a brand strategy firm. The latter position making it clearer I didn’t design logos or websites or collateral. I do strategy. Everybody knows what strategy is. But brand strategy?  Even brand strategists have a hard time explaining it. 

    My problem is brand strategy is not easily explained on the back of a business card. Nor is it something people wake up in the morning thinking about.  It doesn’t directly solve a common problem.  But do you know the problem it does solve?  A problem that most marketers have (pent up demand)?  Poorly performing marketing.

    I’m giving serious conside-ration to another reposition: marketing coach.  Everyone knows what marketing is. Everyone knows what a coach does. Two words, no ambiguity.

    And guess what my key tool will be as a marketing coach: uh huh, brand strategy.  AKA “an organizing principle for product, experience and messaging.”

    Peace.

     

    Be Ambitious With Your Brand Objectives.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    At the end of my brand strategy presentations, I like to make sure the claim is well received.  I offer up slides listing all the pros and all the cons.  At present, I don’t ask C-level management and approvers how they feel the claim will perform against key product objectives. That needs to change.

    Of course, understanding the KPI is critical to this step.

    Much work in brand strategy work focuses on one overarching problem. I like to walk and chew gum.  What’s The Idea? brand strategies are intended to accomplish numerous things. All tied to top company objectives. Not just one.

    A healthy discussion of how key objectives are met by the brand claim and brand planks proves the worth of the strategy.  Presentations meant to simply earn a go/no go decision are weak. Once the strategy is approved the hook has to be set. It has to show its business-winning nature.

    I once worked on a huge healthcare brand and presented 15 plus objectives I believed the strategy could accomplish.  The client was nervous and made me pull back.  He didn’t want to his boss to think we were overly ambitious.  And he didn’t want to fail. Oh my!!

    Peace.

     

     

    Brand Strategy Misnomer.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    If I ask a marketing person their ad strategy is, likely answers would be “Increase sales.” Or “increase customer base.” Maybe “generate customer activation.” And were I to ask that marketer to articulate their brand strategy, they’d probably also default to generic functional answers.  Say things like “maintain our graphic standards,” or “design signage, packaging and graphics to clearly convey a unified message.” Possibly “maintain a consistent voice in the marketplace.” When, actually, the question “What is your brand strategy” is not a structural question at all. It’s meant to elicit the idea or value that propels the brand to success – a business-winning claim in the minds of consumers.

    If I ask your name, you’d say Joann or Edward, not “It’s the descriptor people use to identify me.”  But many people either don’t think of a brand strategy as their specific claim for building business — or they just don’t have one.  In the latter case they probably rely on their ad campaigns for brand strategy.

    Either way marketers are not reaping the rewards of brand strategy. It’s a crying shame.

    Peace.

    PS. The definition of brand strategy, here at What’s The Idea? is an organizing principle for product, experience and messaging.

     

     

    Positivity in Brand Strategy.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    Neil Young’s new album has a rather apocalyptic track called Human Race. Many of today’s social commentators seem obsessed with negative goings on. Climate. Politics. Covid.  The list rolls on. There are, indeed, lots of reasons to be negative. I get it. My friend Donald hasn’t tweeted a nice thing about American politics in years. The evening news is 92% bad stuff, one puff piece.

    There’s a miasma of negativity surrounding us. It’s deafening. Yet life goes on. We try to be healthy, tell jokes to lighten the moment, and search for light.

    One place positivity is quite important is branding. (Didn’t see that one coming, did you?) Planners should always be looking for the light. For the promise of goodness, success and perhaps a touch of elation. That’s how I run my brand strategy practice. Lot’s of planners look to solve problems. I get that too.  It’s easy lifting. Many marketers looking to branding solutions are trying to fix things. But positivity is my jam and I like to think it makes for the best brand planning.

    Find a positive brand objective. Seek out a positive consumer motivation. Bathe your discovery in warmth, consumer pride and satisfaction. We have lots of time to be solemn. Our job it to position brands around hope and positivity. Not the meh.

    Peace.

     

     

    Can Brand Strategy Enculturation Cause Disruption?

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    A not so new marketing buzz word is Disruption.  It’s been around the advertising business for decades and thought-leader Charlene Li has made quite a business out of it.  I’ve been thinking about the word and my business, brand strategy, and wondering if brand strategy can actually be a disruptor. My answer is a big fat “yes.”  Brand strategy, as “an organizing principle for product, experience and messaging” has the ability to govern the decision-making of employees and cohorts. 

    When decision-making is in lockstep within a company, consumer attitudes cannot be far behind. And consumer behavior quickly thereafter.  Early in my career I leaned the fastest way to change consumer attitudes was through TV advertising. Smack TV watchers in the face with a message and demonstration enough times and they tend to believe. But advertising has been so watered down and the web has collapsed many of the steps-to-a-sale so as to make advertising way less powerful.

    Brand strategy however, brought forth through all channels and contact points can disrupt business as usual. But it must be tight. Compelling. And category-meaningful.  When products and services live the life of the brand strategy, and don’t just talk about it, change can happen. And fairly quickly. That’s disruptive.

    Enculturating your brand strategy is the ideal. First within the brand company, then within the buying public.

    Peace.

     

    Nonbinary Selling.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    There are two kinds of selling. Demand selling where people are actively shopping for a product. And interruption selling where the consumer is not shopping just living their life and you attempt to connect and convince them to buy from you. Think having your credit card in hand and your browser open to Amazon (demand) versus eating dinner and having a solar panel salesman knock on your door (interruption).  

    The latter type of selling is harder because first you need get the consumers’ attention. Then you must convince them of the need for the product. And lastly, you have to convince them why to buy your product. A three stepper.

    The toughest job I ever had was as a consumer salesman.  Working for a kitchen remodeling company, I was tasked with intercepting consumers at big box stores and signing them up for in-home free estimates. It took me months to figure out how to get people to stop and talk  — only then after breaking the ice could I begin to sell.  

    A great deal of advertising today is about capturing attention. Think Geico. It’s 90% attention 10% sell.

    Branding strategy is way different than advertising. Brand strategy is totally focused on convincing consumers “why” your brand. Brand strategies that spend time garnering attention or trying to convince consumers to buy a product they’re not shopping for is someone else’s job. The agencies job.

    And brand strategies that promise consumer happiness as a brand value are ridiculous. (Unless selling Xanax.) Brand strategy is about selling product. Not movements. Not emotional outcomes. Not attention. It’s about positioning your product, de-positioning competitors, and as Jack Trout and Al Ries would say, establishing a unique place in the mind of consumers tied to an endemic brand advantage.

    Brand strategy development is nonbinary. Find your single, key consumer benefit and lock it down.

    Peace.    

      

    Chipotle and Proof.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    0

    Steve, the one trick pony here.  The one thing that sets my brand strategy practice apart from others is the foundational concept of “proof.”  I mine proof that drives belief and muscle memory of brand claims. Proof makes the brand go round.  I was watching a commercial on the TV yesterday done by Chipotle and ad agency Venables Bell (Source: Google) and for the first time ever, heard Chipotle reference the proof point: no freezers.  In the past they’ve told consumers their meat is never frozen but that is not the same proof point. 

    It’s not a stretch to say Chipotle’s brand strategy is built around “fresh.” At the very least, fresh is one of the three Chipotle proof planks.  So, let’s look at what No Freezers conveys about Chipotle. One, they are super, super committed to freshness. Two, this may be the first claim and behavior of its type ever in fast food. (I believe Wendy’s claims the meat is never frozen, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have freezers.) Three, it’s unique…I’ve never this proof point before. Four, it’s memorable. Lastly, it’s probably gets them credit for being sustainable.

    I often say advertising is 90% claim and 10% proof. Good brand strategy uses proof to drive the train. 

    Peace. And Happy New Year.

     

     

    Brand Strategy Proof Planks and Interdependence.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    0

    I studied Anthropology in college.  Cultural anthropology – the fieldwork, the unfettered observation of people and cultures has helped my brand strategy practice.  But so has physical anthropology, the study of the adaptation to change by living things.  You know, the ascent of man stuff.

    In his Op-Ed column this morning, Thomas Friedman talked of climate change and how it is not the strongest or smartest species that survives climate change (dinosaurs, for instance), rather it is the most diverse,  “…the most adaptive ecosystems are usually the most diverse, offering different ways to adapt. They thrive because they’re able to forge health interdependencies among the different plants and animals, and in doing so, maximize their resilience and growth.”

    Brand strategies, too, must offer a diverse and interdependent way forward. The secret to my framework is three proof planks. Taken together these planks create the business-winning proposition. Individually they are ads — or floating claims in a kelp bed of marketing. Brand strategy is a long-term game. Sometimes the 3 proof planks can be at odds. One may diminish the other. But life is messy and branding can be too. Yet taken together, in support of one claim, three well-thought-out brand planks provide a healthy interdependence that can last the tests of time. And the test of change.

    Peace.

    PS. For examples of how planks can be at odds and yet work together write Steve@whatstheidea.com

     

     

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