Most popular

    Wu hoo…activism.

    Steve Poppe -
    0

    Google Reason.

    Steve Poppe -
    0

    A Clear Brand Idea.

    Steve Poppe -
    0

    Marketing

    You’re Welcome, Mr. Whitacre.

    By
    Steve Poppe
    -
    0

     “We want the government out. Period.” was the powerful quote from the powerful CEO of General Motors, Edward E. Whitacre, Jr. in today’s paper.  Nice efin’ bluster Mr. Whitacre.  Dude, you’re not Henry Ford. The American people own 61% of your company and you have the oafishness to pretend otherwise?  We certainly understand the sentiment – you want to be in charge again  – but it was bluster like this that got GM into its mess in the first place. I smell a relapse.

    Here’s a thought Mr. Whitacre (and Joel Ewanick, GM’s VP,  Marketing).  How about taking a few million dollars and a trick from the Saturn playbook and reintroduce us to GM with a big “Thank you.” Perhaps a series of low-cost barbecues at local parks across the country.  If need be, do it under tents at your dealerships.  Put your people to work flipping burgers in cut-offs and flip flops — real people stuff.  Be contrite. And don’t buy the real expensive food either, buy store brands and make the potato salad yourselves. Show us you care about our money.  Be resourceful, like most American’s are today.  Sweat for us Mr. Whitacre.  Do something  Americana (roots), not Bloomfield Hills.

    Earn back a smidgen of good will, because that quote of yours convinces me you have about as much chance of reforming GM as Lindsay Lohan has of staying away from white wine. Please prove me wrong. (And whatever you do, don’t say mea culpa via a McCann-Erickson :30 spot.)  Peace!

    Blogs don’t kill people…

    By
    Steve Poppe
    -
    0
    Paul Tilley, the creative director for DDB Chicago, tragically took his life last month and it has been said by many in the blogosphere that nasty bloggers were the cause. Nina DiSesa, chairwoman of McCann-Erickson, went on record as saying that the cowardly acts of anonymous bloggers in the ad biz taking pot shots at public figures has to stop.
     
    I like Ms. DiSesa, I do. When my father passed away, Nina wrote me a long note, both warm and touching. She was the creative director at McCann at the time, I an account geek. Big hearts make big ads and that is why Nina has been so successful over the years, but I’m not sure I completely agree with her on this blogger thing. Creative people need to vent. It’s their release. They vent positively and they vent negatively. Paul Tilley knew this.  I’ll bet even he was a venter.
     
    Mean people suck. Sticks and stones. The fact is Mr. Tilley and other people for whom suicide is the only option, will do what they do. Nina is right that we need to be less mean to one another. We need to vent in more constructive ways. But let’s not blame some anonymous mean-spirited rants for Mr. Tilley’s death. 
     

    McDonald’s Lost Opportunity. On a sesame seed bun.

    By
    Steve Poppe
    -
    0

     

     
     
    If you are a student of marketing, fast food is a very exciting category.  It responds immediately to advertising.  Burger King is on its way back for the zillionth time and it looks as Crispin Porter Bogusky’s work is finally paying off.  Never a big fan of all the “king” advertising, I do appreciate how he is weaved into the core (youth) customer message of “eat big , eat tasty.”
     
    On a roll since “I’m loving’ it” and especially so since the launch of salads, McDonald’s is currently pursing a pretty smart beverage strategy and has a winner on its hands with the new Southern Style Chicken sandwich. Maybe the new chicken sandwich will help win back some share lost to Burger King. And you can tell Mickey Dees is feeling a little Whopper pain because they’re launching a new promo for the Big Mac. But here’s the rub: to get younger customers interested in this dated sandwich, McDonald’s is hosting a consumer generated contest. Dohhhh!
     
    According to an Ad Age interview: “Customers will be able to go online, create or mix their own version of the two all-beef patties jingle through MySpace,”  the best of which will be aired on TV. For those who don’t know the old Big Mac jingle it went something like this: Two all beef-patties, cheese, onions, pickles, lettuce, special sauce on a sesame seed bun. (Does it get any “funner” than that?)
     
    This is an example of a marketing meeting gone wrong where the alpha fe/male says, “We need a promo, let’s do something with consumer generated content.” and the rest of the room does the account executive nod.
     
    They’ll get lots of entries, I know. They’ll sell some incremental Big Macs, I know. And it may be worth a quarter’s worth of improved sales, but it’s still a lazy tactic for a fast food juggernaut.
     
     

    McDonald’s Sales Up, but Ads Trending Down.

    By
    Steve Poppe
    -
    0

     

     

    Sitting around the big screen with a bunch of guys watching football the other night, one remarked how McDonald’s didn’t advertise like it used to.  “Remember how they used to be all over the place?  Their business isn’t good,” said this gentleman.  Marketing student that I am, in a very non-confrontational way (burger politics) I offered that McDonalds’s is actually doing quite well, thanks to the dollar menu and the softening economy.  Something in my memory telling me that quarterly sales have continued up since the introduction of salads and the “I’m lovin’ it” idea.

    But this one consumer is not seeing the advertising. And though I know he really is seeing and hearing it, he doesn’t remember.  Something is missing lately from McDonald’s advertising. They still have that wonderful ba-tah-bah-bah-bah mnemonic.  The brand proposition is still somewhat tight (family and fun.)  New products (Southern Chicken sandie) are on target.  But the ads are too diffuse.  What’s the idea?  

    Remember SNL’s “more cowbell.”  McDonald’s needs more red and yellow.  They need to better understand the “it” in “I’m lovin’ it.” And they need to find relevance beyond value.  Peace!  

     

     

    Carl’s Junior Hungry for Share.

    By
    Steve Poppe
    -
    0

     

    Carl’s Junior, a hamburger chain with locations in the Western United States, has long been a fast food advertising poser. It has tried to break through and had some momentary hits but never really latched onto a powerful branding idea.

     

    An article in today’s New York Times, however, shows they do finally have an idea and seem to be supporting it. “Young and hungry,” though slightly derivative of Burger King’s strategy is a tight, actionable branding idea.  I say it touches upon BK’s strategy because from a business standpoint the real turn around at Burger King IMHO was when it decided to target young males with big appetites, getting them to double and triple up their meat intake. And celebrate it.

     

    Carl’s Junior has employed as spokesman Rob Dyrdek. Though not young, Mr. Dyrdek is certainly hungry and quite the skateboarding phenom. He comes with a prepackaged young and hungry persona, an MTV show or two, a strong following among the target and he does tricks. 

     

    If Carl’s plays its cards right and manages this branding idea correctly, e.g., make the food look good (off-camera), serve obscene portions, etc. it will gain share hungrily. Peace!

     

    The Brand Planning “Boil Down.”.

    By
    Steve Poppe
    -
    0


    The real art of brand planning is in knowing what not to say.     When brand planning, I use something called the 24 Questions to help find the money. Once the money is found, job two is how to position. For this a number of hunting and gathering techniques are used; tools that are now vastly improved thanks to the Web. Information is amassed about the product, the competition, corporate leadership, the market, and current buying culture. Then future buying culture is projected, based upon trends. Only then, does the “boil down” process begin. 

     

    The boil down is the point at which things are prioritized and edited. Evaporation occurs over time until only a powerful branding idea is left.  By itself, the idea may come off as mundane. But when presented to executive management along with the boil down logic, that’s when the magic occurs.  Marketing executives love logic and strive for simplicity, but are often too close to make it happen. A powerful brand strategy can set marketers free, but it is the logic of the boil down that sells it. Peace!

    The “Is-Does” in Branding.

    By
    Steve Poppe
    -
    0

     

    I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, advertising, positioning and marketing are all about finding a strategy, getting management to support it, then turning it into a powerful branding idea. With a branding idea in place you’ll find it pretty easy to create a campaign (not an overrated approach today) and tactics which will allow consumers to hum your brand tune. Metaphorically speaking. 

     

    A branding idea is nothing more than an organizing principle that focuses selling messages to the masses. Often companies do a better job organizing their outbound messages – branding – than their inbound messages. This is most evident in early stage start-ups, where when you ask ten employees what the product is you get 7 answers.   Branding must acculturate consumers and employees.

     

    In its simplest form a branding idea is a claim (a consumer promise) backed by a product quality.  For Coke, “refreshment” is both a claim and a quality.  I sometimes refer to this as the “Is-Does.” Once you have a claim, it only takes hold if accompanied by believable supports or reasons to believe.  Supports should be organized too.  Brand plans, I preach, should contain 3 support planks.  Sounds easy no?

     

    Blog Action Day – A Poverty Pledge

    By
    Steve Poppe
    -
    1

    I’m embarrassed to say I am one of those people that never give anything to beggars. That’s what we 50 year olds call them, at least from my part of the world. This was a rule of mine because I used to line in NYC between 5th and 6th Avenues where there were lots of outstretched hands.

     

    Two quick stories: 1. I broke my rule one night when a person asked for $.17 so he could buy a can of Campbell’s Soup.   He was direct, had a purpose, and I believed him. 2. One night my pal and I ran into a dude we called “Mangia” at the Blarney Rock pub. We called him Mangia because he would echo this one Italian word up and down the corporate cannon in a most pitiful, pleading voice. The next time we saw Mangia, we were a little in our cups and ran up to him called him by our nickname, put on arm over his shoulder and gave him a beer. In a very Americanized voice, he said “Hey, thanks guys.”

    I’m not proud of my “no change for anyone” coda so, starting today, I’m going to make up for lost time. Every time I am asked by a sober person seeking money, I promise to reach down into my pocket and dispense change. So long as there is some jingle in the pants, I will give it.   It’s a start.

    PS. I saw a woman give a homeless man her orange the other day, and it near brought me to tears. Peace!

    Brand Plan…then Count the Change.

    By
    Steve Poppe
    -
    0

    I was reading a fascinating article today on the grid system of NYC and the original map that laid it out.  Quite the transformative event, that grid system. Did you know city blocks are 200 feet long?   Broadway was a path that meandered the length of the island and was left alone, as were the funky streets of Greenwich Village.  Back in the late 1800s the grid thing was not well received by everyone, especially those whose houses were located on parts of the gird that were to be torn down to create the streets. But it was this planning and forethought that made NYC the great place it is.  Albeit, “great” with an internal design and art tension.

    Brand planning is analogous. Smart people have asked me “How do you define a brand plan?”  And I my answer, though somewhat fluid, is generally “a single brand promise, supported by three planks or proofs of that promise.”  In effect, it’s a grid.  What resides in the grid is open for discussion and debate, but everything must fit. The artistry that is brought to life within the grid is what give the brand it’s life, but whether you like the grid word or not the brand plan is an organizing principle for selling more, to more, for more, more times.  The brand plan is not just about messaging either, it guides the product itself. 

    And the tension referred to in the city planning grid analog applies to brand planning.  Sometimes an amazing idea is created inspired by a brand brief that does not fit perfectly.  It may be just a little off kilter. What to do?  Debate it. Study it. Perhaps even build it — and compare it to the plan.  Humans organize. Humans also like the unexpected. So build a brand plan, see and live its beauty, and count the change (double entendre). Too many markets today start by counting the change. Peace!

    1...345...207Page 4 of 207
    © Newsmag WordPress Theme by TagDiv