Random

    Brand Strategy

    Fertile or Fallow.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    0

    Templates are the savior and bane of the brand planner; and when I say brand planner I mean me. We are all different. Ish. I have a few Word files I go to time after time, which help me amass discovery information and insights.  What’s The Idea? readers know I immerse myself in customer care-abouts and brand good-ats during discovery. And from this information I boil down and cull. Then, using other templates, primarily briefs, I organize the info into a brand value template called a claim and proof array.

    But not all questionnaires work across all categories. For instance, when interviewing world-class security hackers – Are there other kinds of hackers? – I need to learn their language. It’s a culture thing. Or when talking to morbidly obese people it’s imperative I understand their life, trauma and culture. Can’t get there with a templated set of Qs. So you create a new set. Tabula Rasa. Ish.

    I wrote recently of some short cuts used to get to “claim and proof” without my normal templated outputs. This approach can be dangerous but sometimes budget requires we live dangerously. That said, going off-piste or off-template can be exhilarating.   

    This ability to adapt to new situations, including short-cutting the process, is the art of brand planning. The resulting are sometimes fertile, sometimes fallow. Good planners know the difference.

    Peace.

     

     

    Voice-Activated Branding.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    0

    It is a rarity in branding circles that you don’t hear references to “voice.”  A subset of voice is “tone and manner.”  Tone and manner are often found on creative briefs. They can be important so long as they, alone, are not carrying the brand directive. Voice or tone and manner often sound like this: “helpful and happy.” “caring and motherly,” or “innovative and direct.”  

    Voice is a quality, not a strategy. A brand strategy is not built with tone, voice or personality – it is built upon a persuasive, business-winning, organizing principle (one claim, three support planks) — the components of which are both desired by consumers and well-delivered by the product.  When “what consumers want” is not well-delivered, that’s a problem. Not insurmountable, but it may curtail market share. It also may suggest segmentation opportunities. Not everyone likes anchovies.   

    Voice is an adornment to a brand strategy. It can work well in support, but alone never carries the day. Peace!

    Cheerleading

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    0

    I must admit to being a cheerlead for my brands. That’s not to say all brands are worthy, some will actually be clunkers. When that’s the case all you can do as a cheerleader is convey to management the changes that need to be made in order to make them good brands.  Those changes can be in the form of product or product experience. If the brand is underdelivering what consumers “care-about” or what it’s “good-at,” then you can always share with management benchmarks of better competitive products. Cheerleading for quality.  Hopefully management will see your category interest and positiveness not as a slight but as caring and industry insight.

    But let’s assume your product is good. Being a cheerleader and living in the land of milk and honey is a good thing when establishing positioning and brand strategy. Positives beget positives. They give people enjoyment. When you are a cheerleader and constantly praise and mine brand values, if something negative does come about management is more apt to seek out your perspective.

    Brand planning is a positive pursuit. High school cheerleaders are taught to smile. Even when the score is lopsided. Look for the good in your brand and celebrate it.

    It makes everyone’s job easier.

    Peace.      

     

     

    Brand Strategy Misnomer.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    0

    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.

     

     

    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.          

     

    Defense of a Brand Name.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    0

    My business is called What’s The Idea? I rather like it. Following my own advice to have a brand name with a strong Is-Does, What’s Thea Idea? puts me in the idea business. The logo lock-up uses the descriptor “A Brand Consultancy” adding further context. (Perhaps I should have said brand strategy consultancy since I’m a words person not a graphic designer, but that’s a discussion for another time.) 

    Now the idea business could pigeon-hole me into an innovation bucket or a creative bucket. Don’t mind being there. Though, another way to parse the name is that I’m in the indignance business. “Hey, what the hell are you doing? What’s the idea?” Another bullseye. Another call for focus.

    At its simplest, the name asks businesses what is their single idea. Their single brand position the minds of consumers.  Their single consumer magnet.  The company is not called “Whats Are The Ideas?”, a common branding problem for many brands/companies that want to be many things to many people. AKA the “fruit cocktail effect.”

    One of my favorite quotes is from David Belasco a renowned Broadway producer. He said “If you can’t put your idea on the back of my card, you don’t have a clear idea.” Bravo!

    Find your brand idea and you’ve reached the first step in brand strategy.

    Peace.

     

     

    Taglines Gone Wild.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    0

    The tagline is a very misunderstood communications and branding device.  A tagline should be the de facto brand claim.  Beside the product itself, it is the single most important thing consumers should remember about your offering.  While a brand strategy is actually one claim and three proof planks, the claim element is the one indelible thought or value that motivates preference, consumption and repeat consumption.  I would say loyalty, but one can be loyal and not consume.

    Many marketers go wrong when they confuse branding with advertising. This happens when the advertising campaign line or tagline drives branding. KFC’s “Finger Lickin’ Good” is a great example an advertising tagline that brilliantly reflects the brand claim. “That’s My Mission,” the tagline for Mission Health, is way too ad driven — and not even close to a meaningful, powerful brand claim.

    Unless your tagline can reflect a coherent, endemic brand value, you are wasting branding dollars. And ad dollars.

    Brand strategy first then advertising. Not the other way around.

    Peace.

     

     

    Aol. Off to the Races.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    0

    Aol’s purchase of TechCrunch, the world’s most authoritative tech blog, is mad proof of its brand strategy to be the web’s content leader. Tim Armstrong, Aol’s chief, gets strategy. Claim: Be the content leader.  Proof: Ellen DeGeneres, TechCruch, local news with Patch. Using a TV metaphor, Mr. Armstrong is trying to create a lineup of talent not dissimilar to NBC’s “must see TV” on Thursday night in the 90s (or whenever that was). Buy and built the best visited sites on the web. 

    The Web is nothing if it is not content.  TechCruch rocks its category not because Michael Arrington is a star, but because he is focused, a great journalist, and attracts stories like white on rice…before brown rice became popular. Aol and its similarly strategied competitor Yahoo realize the ad-supported model is viable, so it is looking to cherry pick the best talent on the web in every category and corral it. Hopefully, it will keep its hands off, as if has suggested, and let TechCrunch be TechCrunch.   

    Patch.com

    Patch.com – Aol’s localization play – is a neat idea but I’m not sure it fits this model.  A local reporter from Bumpus Mills, TN may not raise the editorial or content bar but we’ll see. Aol is off to the races – and finally it has a race track.  Yahoo? Not so much. Peace!

    Movements, Demonstrations or…

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    0

    Strawberry Frog likes to tout its brand and advertising strategy “Creating Movements.”  Movements are a slow burn – so, some might argue it would be more expeditious to “create mobs?”  Well, the difference between a mob and a movement is virulence and no marketer wants their followers to be hostile or spiteful.

    The business of branding is to influence in a positive way. To build value appreciation through customer care-abouts and brand good-ats. Research even suggests introducing an element of danger in advertising can cause consumer unease making them less likely to purchase. Sunny day anyone?

    Physics reminds us movement from a standing still position causes friction.  And brand people love to talk about tension. They uncover competitive tensions for breakfast.

    Most will agree creating mobs around brands is wrong. Stop gun violence. Stop the war. Better pay for nurses. All three of these examples offer the potential for anger but I wouldn’t call them mobs. Yet I also wouldn’t call them movements. Demonstrations might be a better word. Legal. Careful. Pointed.  Plus, I love the word demonstrations. Demonstrations also support the “claim and proof” framework which is the backbone of What’s The Idea? It works two ways.

    There is probably a good word between the passive movement and the more animus-infused demonstration. The search is on. Thoughts?

    Peace.

     

    Trust.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    0

    I hear a lot of service brands talk about trust. There’s nothing wrong with being a trusted brand. Hell, it’s the same in the brand strategy world. Clients need to trust. Especially when marketers are not buying something existential, like a logo or name. They’re buying “an organizing principle for product, experience and messaging.” But I digress.

    When trust becomes a problem in a category, say car dealerships or low-cost lawyers, marketers sometimes default to using the “T” word in their advertising. It may sound like marko-babble but it’s reality: You can’t sell trust, you earn trust. Using the word trust in an ad is flawed craft. Proving you can be trusted is the only way to approach it. Through deeds. And actions.

    Trust Pilot has built a business on codifying trust. Yelp, to an extent, has done the same collecting customer comments.

    Whenever I read an ad that contains the word trust I lose interest. It’s worse than canned laughter on TV. Don’t tell me how to feel, make me feel.

    Peace.

     

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