Branding matters. Because branding matters.
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07 Dear Friends: The curtain is coming down on the year and the last issue of 2013 therefore punches far more than its weight. In this issue, we showcase the Best Green Brands of 2013 (a few misses, some surprises and the usual suspects) while Wharton Marketing Professor and Best Selling author Jonah Berger (of the high impact ‘Contagious‘) lends his content gracefully on how brands should be making the transition from complacent to contagious. MySpace seems to be alive & kicking (yes!) and there could be big opportunities for marketers in store to collaborate with the Social Media platform. For all those who have grown up with one of advertising’s classic ‘Got Milk‘ campaign, there is a lesson that still is worth learning 2 decades on after it was launched. Cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar may have retired but there seems to be no retirement for Brandulkar as evidenced in Anand Narasimhan’s feature. How the dead can walk the branding talk is very well articulated on this piece on Brand Dracula. Starbucks and its reinvention of the Coffee cup is an interesting read and so are several others in this issue. So, till we meet next time, next year, have a wonderful and happy Brand Knew 2014!
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Suresh Dinakaran @sureshdinakaran ae.linkedin.com/pub/suresh-dinakaran/67/355/335/ blog.sureshdinakaran.com/wordpress suresh@groupisd.com
Managing Editor: Suresh Dinakaran Creative Head/Director Operations: Pravin Ahir Magazine Concept & Design/ New Media Specialist: Mufaddal Joher Country Head, UK: Sagar Patil Country Head, India: Rohit Unni Digital Marketing Strategist: Mark Cijo Associate: Brand Success: Andre Van Helsdingen Web Specialist: Prasanta Kumar Sahu Online Support: Mahendra Kumar Behera
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CONTENTS
Brand Dracula: Four Branding Lessons From the Undead From Complacent to Contagious: Where is Your Brand on the Spectrum? 20 Years of ‘Got Milk?’ No retirement for Brandulkar! Don’t take your brand’s value proposition for granted Starbucks Reinvents The Coffee Cup Best Global Green Brands 2013 Why Ad Agencies Aren’t Going Away Anytime Soon Social Media Strategies: How Top Brands Staff, Budget, & Measure Here’s What Pepsi, Victoria’s Secret, And Other Corporate Logos Would Say If They Were Being Honest Five Ways to Develop a Cross-Channel Brand Story Can mySpace become a must have for marketers? MMS Could Be the Next Big Mobile Marketing Channel Excessive personalisation undermines marketing message Three Easy Ways to Jump-Start Your Cause Marketing: When Marketing and Philanthropy Intersect ‘Natural’ food-branding trend is fizzling amid confusion, lawsuits Book, Line & Sinker
Brand Dracula: Four Branding Lessons From the Undead Michael DiFrisco Tod Browning’s production of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, from 1931, is one of my favorite of the Universal horror collection. And Bela Lugosi’s portrayal of the creepy count from Transylvania continues to inspire moviegoers and enthusiasts, as well as inform all other depictions of vampires on stage, screen, and in books. Because of that consistency and memorability, Dracula can actually teach important lessons about branding for small businesses, associations, or entrepreneurs.
Lesson 1: Positioning Dracula Brand positioning should always be done relative to the competition. In Dracula’s case, he is positioned against other classic monsters of the day: Frankenstein’s monster, the Wolfman, the Mummy, the Gill Man from Creature of the Black Lagoon, and many others. But effective positioning defines what makes you unique. The famous vampire is differentiated by his aristocratic alter ego—Count Dracula—and by his ability to morph into a bat on demand. While other movie monsters terrified their victims simply by their presence, Dracula first hypnotized with his gaze, and then sucked their blood for a protein-rich midnight snack.
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Lesson 2: Defining Brand Dracula Developing the Dracula brand is pulling together various attributes like personality, image, and core competencies. What did Dracula stand for? Dracula was good at mixing with high society. His personality was sophisticated, and—in later movie evolutions of the character—he’s quite the ladies’ man. He was mysterious, shrouded in intrigue, and he was repelled by wolfs bane, garlic, and a cross. A mirror could not hold his undead reflection. Those, and other characteristics, are what make up the memorable and unique brand. Dracula was about something remarkable. That’s how he got noticed, got publicity, got word-of-mouth buzz—and, ultimately, got new customers (or victims!).
Lesson 3: Developing Dracula’s Identity This is the fun part. In business, it’s stuff like your name, logo, tagline, colors, and other elements that make up your trade dress. For the Count, it’s his signature cape (Lugosi was actually buried in his Dracula cape; it was that important a part of his persona). It’s also his widow’s peak hairdo, eastern European accent, hypnotic eyes, nocturnal feeding habits, and his propensity to shape-shift into a bat. It’s important that all your identity elements are in place—and used consistently—before spending a penny on marketing, communications, or advertising.
Lesson 4: Going Public With Dracula Dracula enlisted the assistance of Renfield, the real estate broker who unwittingly helped the Count secure a derelict abbey near London from which to “run his business.” This was Dracula’s “brand launch.” But that launch started inside Dracula’s castle, as Lugosi prepared his undead minions and his daytime hangout—his casket—for the public launch. That’s because he realized that his staff was critical to building a strong brand. Your employees and frontliners are your best advocates, your most loyal evangelists, and your best brand ambassadors. Like Dracula, your job is to make sure your staff is engaged, bought-in, involved, and communicated to continuously in the branding or re-branding process. Only when safely in Carfax Abbey with his staff—which now included the hapless Renfield—did Dracula make his grand entrance into London society, his “target audience.” Here’s how you can be sure that—like the Count—you’ll effectively stand out in a crowded marketplace: Position your business and stand apart. Positioning is the process by which your business creates an image or identity in the minds of your core market giving them a reason to choose your offerings. Positioning is always done relative to your competition. Consider what makes your business really unique. Why should people support Brand You and not Brand B? Specialize and focus. The aristocratic vampire drank blood from his victim’s necks to stay alive. Like Drac, specialization lets you build your brand around your strengths. And this focus allows you to differentiate your business, offers you presumed expertise and perceived value, and makes it easier for prospects and customers to understand your business. Focus allows you to first simplify, and then amplify your message. Because the less information we’re given, the more likely we are to remember it. Your business’s identity is made up of “outer layers”—those attributes that prospects and customers see and experience. Make sure you’re clear on what makes your offerings unique, and then align that difference with your name, logo, tagline, messaging and other visual and verbal cues that will allow your target market to “get” what you’re all about. Like the Count’s cape, your trade dress can be the ultimate branding tool. It’s critical to engage staff and other stakeholders in embracing what you stand for. In fact, 86% of employees say being engaged in the brand would make them more likely to talk positively about the company they work for with others outside the organization. Your customer’s notion of your brand is formed from his or her first experience or “imprint” (or in Dracula’s case, love bite) with your business or services. Every interaction is a chance to enrich your brand. Your staff should be able to answer this question every day: “How am I helping to deliver on the company’s brand promise today?” Sure, Dracula eventually had a stake pounded through his heart. But don’t let his demise distract you from building a strong brand to help increase your business’ awareness, differentiate you from the competition, and drive revenues.
From Complacent to Contagious: Where is Your Brand on the Spectrum? Jonah Berger
Why do some ideas spread like wildfire while others don’t? The Wharton School’s Jonah Berger has examined hundreds of baby names, thousands of New York Times articles and data from millions of YouTube videos to break down the elements that make things go viral. Here, the bestselling author joins the Engagement Project conversation by giving a glimpse at his findings on how brands can shift their thinking to create engaging, contagious content. Engagement is a spectrum. On one end of the continuum, you have passive consumers and interruption marketing. This is any kind of ad that is unsolicited, not based on who you are, and gives you no opportunity to signal your interest (or lack thereof). You may be engaged, if the stars align, and the right message finds you, but it’s a relatively passive type of engagement — one which puts the onus on you to go elsewhere (online, in-store, an event) to signal your interest. On the other end of the continuum, are the marketing efforts that invite you to take part. In these cases, when done well, people actively share or talk about products, ideas, brands, companies, or reputations. They don’t just like those things, but they like them so much, they’re actively telling others about them. That is active engagement. The web gives consumers and brands the opportunity to engage with each other. As a result, smart advertisers are looking to the web not as a home for their offline content, but as a place to really take advantage of the nature of engagement. My colleagues and I have spent the past two years looking into the phenomena that lead to hyperengagement on the web — the things that get shared so often they “go viral.” In the age of the web, alot of companies focus on how many friends they have, or how many likes they get. But the question is not just likes or friends — which are static. It’s engagement: Are people actually coming back to your site? Are they sharing and commenting on things that you’re posting? Are they spending time with your content? So how do you grow this type of love? How do you get your brand’s ideas to spread? There’s a tendency, especially after The Tipping Point — which is a book a lot of people read — to focus on the messenger. The Tipping Point argued you need to find the special people, you need to find the mavens — the super-influentials. But
what my book, Contagious argues is that it’s not about the messenger. What really matters is the message. Brands need to ask: “How can we design a message that people are more likely to talk about and share?” You don’t have to find the perfect people to spread your idea. If you focus on the message, and make it easy to share, it doesn’t matter whether the people who share it have 10 friends or 10,000 friends, whether they’re really persuasive, the most popular person on a social network or they’re not really popular at all.
“When done right, technology enhances the story, it doesn’t replace it.” In fact, for marketers to effectively spread their message using social channels like Twitter, it may be much more cost effective to create interesting, relevant content and get normal people — people who are not necessarily “influencers” in their area of expertise to share it. And though this may seem intuitive to many of us, the magnitude can be surprising. A study last year found 80% of US online adults credit communication with people they know personally for helping them discover new brands, products, or services. Ninety-four percent of those respondents actually purchased or tried a new brand or product after hearing about it through the grapevine. So how do you go about creating content that maximizes the grapevine?
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The Six Principles of Contagious After analyzing hundreds of contagious messages, products and ideas, my collaborators and I noticed six “ingredients,” or principles that are often at work in the things that are talked about, shared, and imitated. They are:
1. Social Currency: People want to be smart, cool and savvy. That motivates us to share and engage with things.
Pepsi MAX & Jeff Gordon Present: “Test Drive”
This video went viral on the web and was viewed 28 million times in the first week. There was significant chatter across the web around whether it was real or not, with users sharing the content on social channels across the web. http://youtu.be/Q5mHPo2yDG8
2. Triggers: Stimuli prompt people to think of related things, for example, peanut butter reminds us of jelly.
Official Ram Trucks Super Bowl Commercial “Farmer”
Even though most pickups will never see a farm, by evoking farm imagery, and Paul Harvey, the brand puts itself in the mental space of Americana. This becomes more than just an ad. It’s a salute to all that is good about America. This ad “won” many of the Super Bowl contests, and more recently was selected as a winner in TED’s Ads Worth Spreading. http://youtu.be/AMpZ0TGjbWE
3. Emotion: Emotions get people engaged and activated. When we care, we share.
Dove Real Beauty Sketches
Dove recently swept the Cannes Lions Awards with their Real Beauty Sketches. The campaign is so much more than just advertising. It’s a compelling story of how important feeling beautiful is to how we see ourselves. http://youtu.be/XpaOjMXyJGk
4. Public: When something is observable — it could a ribbon signalling solidarity with a cause or a glowing piece of fruit on a laptop — it becomes much easier for others to imitate.
YouTube Proud to Love
YouTube timed it’s Proud to Love campaign with the Supreme Court’s judgement that struck down the Defense of Marriage Act and prompted Pride celebrations nationwide. They both featured user generated content and encouraged users to upload their own videos or experiences using #ProudToLove. In just over a week a search for #ProudToLove on YouTube yielded more than 91,600 results. http://youtu.be/mDm0zsw9vjY
5. Practical Value: People like to help others. If your content can save time, or money, or improve their health, they’ll spread the word.
Home Depot’s How To Content
Since 2009 the Home Depot has been publishing “How To” content that’s informative and useful for their audience. Complex, but popular “How To” topics like tiling a bathroom floor, wall or shower; installing a toilet; or building a deck. http://youtu.be/1-i0S_6oVSE
6. Stories: People don’t just share information, they share stories
Usher’s “Looking 4 Myself” Presented by Samsung
This recent ad from Samsung reached #1 on the June 2013 YouTube Ads Leaderboard. It compellingly showcases the amazing new motion features on Samsung’s new Smart TV through a compelling breakup story. http://youtu.be/xMsrPokGqVE
Trojan Horses Win In the end, while there can be a tendency to get technology-drunk, fundamentally the same thing that’s been true for 50 years still holds — the underlying factor in all of the most viral content is the story. When done right, technology enhances the story, it doesn’t replace it. Because stories underpin contagious content, brands should think about what larger narratives they can wrap their ideas in. Build trojan horses. Embed your products and ideas in stories that people want to tell. It’s not easy, but shut off that first instinct to “sell, sell, sell” and think about how you can make consumers’ lives better. They will appreciate it and help you out along the way.
20 Years of ‘Got Milk?’ How such a boring product got such a classic advertising campaign Jeff Goodby
It is perhaps the most boring product imaginable. We have all tried it. Most of us already own some. There is very little to say about it. Milk is not new. It is not improved. It is white. And so it was that when the California Milk Processor Board first asked us to pitch their business in 1993, we were shockingly ambivalent. A number of us simply thought the product was inherently too boring.
In the end, however, the consummate patience and advice of the California Milk Processor Board members, their directors Steve James and Jeff Manning and a cadre of artists like Kinka Usher, Noam Murrow, Michael Bay, Tom Kuntz, Jonathan Elias, Don Piestrup, Terry Heffernan, B-Reel and Method (and hundreds of others there is not room to name) made all the difference. Not to mention dozens of my favorite people ever to have worked at Goodby Silverstein & Partners (if I begin listing them, I am certainly in trouble). Our research shows that “got milk?” has become the most remembered tagline in beverage history, outstripping those of beer and soft drink companies with budgets many times the size of ours. It is so ubiquitous, in fact, that people don’t think of it as a tagline anymore. It is a piece of culture that was always just … there. We have always felt that it’s fitting that the campaign got its start in California, which is at the leading edge of experimentation and health trends. But it has been a long time since it was exclusively a GSP creation. After a period in which the California campaign ran nationally, it has been ably extended by a number of national agencies, and
Oversimplifications of the history abound. Here’s what really happened: Jon Steel and Carole Rankin were at a focus group when the clouds parted and a woman said, “The only time I even think about milk is when I run out of it.” Goodby scrawled “got milk?” on a poster board for a meeting and decided it might be a tagline. And Silverstein set it in that typeface that has by now been appropriated (“got ____?”) by lots of junk, donuts, wine and Jesus folks. And of course, a 20-year downturn in California milk consumption leveled off and has even headed upward now and then. Actually, there were a number of false starts before all that, as you can imagine. Someone noted that people always seem to drink milk along with something else—which was a fine insight, but they wanted to call the campaign “Milk and…” There was also a contingent that perhaps loved hard, milk-fed bodies and whiter teeth a little too much.
extended into Hispanic America by John Gallegos with a unique humor and artistry. In short, we have all been very lucky to find each other and have this happen. When something lasts 20 years in a very pure form, it reminds us all how much serendipity and chance contribute to what we like to think is a very orderly, brilliantly orchestrated process. I wouldn’t trade it for anything. May we have 20 more, please.
No retirement for
Brandulkar! Anand Narasimha
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16 For a change, we are not going to talk about Sachin Tendulkar’s cricketing achievements, anecdotes and accolades. What we’re going to look at instead, is the evolution of one of modern India’s most loved and iconic brands- Brand Tendulkar. As Charles Darwin propagated in his Theory of Evolution, “It will not be the biggest or the strongest that will survive, but it will be the ones most responsive to change.” Brand Tendulkar not only survived, but thrived for over 24 years at the top of his game. Inspiring and injecting joy, hope and pride amongst three generations of Indians. While Tendulkar the cricketer has retired, Tendulkar the brand will continue playing. Let’s take a closer look at how Tendulkar has evolved as a brand that stays connected to the dreams and aspirations of a billion Indians and revered by millions across the globe. His journey can be divided into 4 phases: The Marauder, The Master, The Mentor and The Messiah- (4-Ms, if you like). Each phase reflects a different facet of Brand Tendulkar’s journey and impact on Indian society.
The Marauder- first 5 years This marks Tendulkar’s discovery as a batting prodigy, his baptism into competitive cricket and his early years as a destroyer of bowling attacks. He was that affable, middle class, Marathi Mulgaa, who fired the imagination of a postliberalized India, where winning was suddenly becoming as important as competing. The fact that he was ‘one-of-us’ and yet had the grit and passion to take on the best, without flinching, made him a heroin-waiting. His exploits as a Young Turk became part of conversation. That his arena was cricket, (the opium of the Indian masses) made it a heady cocktail waiting to ignite. And ignite it did! The sight of this baby faced, cherubic little boy (with a squeaky voice to boot), annihilating ferocious bowling attacks with bat in hand, set heart’s on fire. It gave a message that talent without fear can make the David beat the Goliaths. It also sent a signal that in India, gene pool does not determine success anymore. Talent and courage does. Tendulkar become this ‘mythical marauder’ who fired young India’s aspiration to take on the world.
The Master – next 10 years Having achieved unprecedented success at a very young age in International cricket, Tendulkar’s next part of the journey saw him evolve into a mature and masterful batsman. He was now moving into the league of all time greats. From the fearless marauder, he was bearing the cross of the Indian batting line-up, carrying the expectations of a billion Indians, every time he went out to bat. He was no more the little boy next door of unadulterated excitement, but someone whom people trusted to ‘bat for their lives’. Tendulkar’s mindset and game evolved to reflect this reality. Suddenly he had to let go the gay abandon and start becoming a high performance run machine. This was the time when he broke several records, his team started growing in self-belief and winning overseas. He became a household name, the
flag-bearer of not only Indian cricket, but Indian sport and the face of many a brand. Also, he became more ‘real’ from being mythical. There were ups and downs, victories and defeats, achievements and disappointments and career threatening injuries. He changed his game from a destructive stroke player to a more balanced master of his craft. His dedication and focus on the game, his humility amidst widespread adulation and sense of dignity on and off the field, were lauded as values that complemented his cricketing acumen. The exciting wonder boy impetuousness had transformed into the equanimity of a Zen master. From an icon of young India’s hopes, he became new India’s brand ambassador.
The Mentor- last 10 years By now, Tendulkar had grown into one of the legends of the game. As Alexander the Great famously said, “Every now and then even a legend has to reinvent itself.” It was time for another phase in his evolving career. Tendulkar’s new role went beyond his own performances and prowess and he began to inspire a new breed of wannabe cricketers. Young Indian cricket aspirants wanted to be the ‘Next Sachin’- fearless, talented, hungry and passionate. Not only did he ignite passion for the game amongst a vast multitude in India and abroad, but also played friend, philosopher and guide to a new generation of his team mates. His presence in the dressing room was as valuable as his exploits on the field. Like a true mentor he was there to inspire, guide and nurture the future of Indian cricket. He had evolved into a ‘guru’ and role model for not just young cricketers but young Indians, as well.
The Messiah- coming years Having retired from playing cricket, ongoing debates in media continue discussing ‘What next for Sachin?’ Irrespective of what Tendulkar does next, he may have retired from the field, but not from the hearts and minds of people. Very much like how the great Don Bradman continued to be an icon of Aussie pride, well after his retirement. His next role in my view would be of that of a ‘messiah of human spirit and values’, which transcend cricket or sport and impact the field of life itself. This would be among his greatest influence in today’s world, to plug the growing deficit in values, propriety and ethical behavior. Tendulkar can, and I am sure he will, continue to inspire and inject joy, hope and pride amongst the next generation of Indians. In my book, “He’s more than just the God of Cricket, he’s The Complete Man”.
Play it again Sachin! Anand Narasimha is the Dean and Professor of Marketing at IFIM Business School, Bangalore. And a die-hard Sachin fan. With over 25 years of experience in Brand Marketing, Advertising and Consulting, he describes himself as a ‘Brand Mentor’. He can be reached at anand.n@ifimbschool.com
Don’t take your brand’s value proposition for granted Pat Tremaine Do you have a well-articulated, customer-focused value proposition? Is your organization aligned to it? The value proposition may be a simple statement about the value you create in customer terms and how the customer feels after interacting with your product/service, and having one can provide focus for your organization. A good measure to determine if you have a clearly defined and articulated value proposition is if your front-line staff knows what actions they need to take every day to deliver it. If they cannot answer that question, then you have not clearly defined, communicated or implemented it. A well-executed value proposition can bring your brand to life and improve the customer experience. Delivering on your value proposition requires cohesion between cross-functional teams in the organization. The entire organization must be engaged, and each employee needs to understand what actions they have to take to deliver on the value proposition at each customer touch point. Whether you already have a value proposition in place or have determined that yours needs to be redefined, here are 3 key steps for creating alignment around the value proposition to enhance the customer experience.
1. Ensure all executives are on board, engaged and accountable. Defining and implementing a value proposition is not a marketing exercise; it is an organizational exercise. While marketing must play a significant role, facilitating organization-wide involvement is critical. Best practice indicates that there needs to be one executive sponsor, but executives from each key functional area must also be on board to ensure the successful and consistent delivery of the value proposition proof points. It is also very important that the CEO is involved in the value proposition development, as well as key milestones along the way. Remember that this is not about creating a marketing positioning statement — that is a derivative of this exercise; it is about defining the activities and actions your organization must take to deliver a consistent and valuable customer experience.
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2. The customer must be at the center of the value proposition development
3. The value proposition work must be used to guide the organization
Many organizations have proprietary and syndicated customer information including customer satisfaction surveys that can be used as input, but that is just the starting point. Equally important is gathering customer information from all touch points in the organization: sales, service, customer care, etc. Gather reports and listen in, or visit customers with representatives. Once you have gathered all sources of input, distill the information down to customers’ needs and pain points.
A value proposition that is developed with customers and employees, and is communicated in the customer’s voice can rally an organization to action. Implementing the value proposition proof points consistently creates strong customer relationships and can transform an organization. The following will help to ensure that your value proposition is a living process:
From the analysis, create two or three distinct valueproposition hypotheses. These should be statements with clear descriptions of the value you create in customer terms and an account of how the customer feels after interacting with your product/service. You will also need to define the related activities (proof points) that the organization needs to engage in to deliver each of the value-proposition hypotheses. The value-proposition hypotheses need to be validated with your customers. We use a methodology call co-creation that involves customers and employees in a professionally facilitated process. The direct interaction between customers and employees results in valuable insights and deeper understanding. Utilizing a collaborative, cross-functional, customer focused approach will help you to select and finetune the value proposition, achieve alignment and buy-in, and create the impetus for change within the organization.
Build a cross-functional team. Similar to the executive buy-in; you need to have all key stakeholders involved in the development and implementation. Use it to feed the planning process. The proof points should be projects and activities unto themselves and need to become part of the strategic plan for the next one to three years. Use it to help set priorities. When completed, the proof points need to be discussed and prioritized. Determine which ones must be delivered because they are expected and which ones differentiate you from your competitors. Create action plans for each proof point. Each proof point needs to be scoped out with detailed activities that look at how each functional area will deliver. Developing these plans cross-functionally will guarantee alignment and consistent delivery. Measure and report. Create milestones and measurements at the strategy and execution levels so that the organization sees the progress and impact Communicate. Regular updates will make sure that the organization understands what is being done and their role in its success. Your value proposition is the single most important element driving your brand. Don’t leave it open to interpretation or let others define it. Take control and make it work to bring your brand to life.
Starbucks Reinvents The Coffee Cup Margaret Rhodes
THE COFFEE BRAND ABANDONS ITS UBIQUITOUS PAPER CUP FOR A NEW, HIGHLY STYLED VERSION AIMED AT TEA DRINKERS. Last week on the Upper East Side of New York, Starbucks unveiled its newest outpost, Teavana. Unlike the company’s other 13,000+ stores, Teavana will only carry tea and it will be served in a calm environment specifically designed to lure the 158 million Americans who prefer Chamomile over cappuccinos. In addition to an interior design that caters to tea drinkers--here food displays come after you order drinks so that you may peruse while your tea steeps--the company also revamped the most identifiable aspect of its original store: the cup. “Even though today’s life forces most of us to be on the go, drinking tea is a traditional ritual,” says Daniele Monti, Creative Director for Emerging Brands at Starbucks. With that in mind, the Teavana cup was designed to evoke the feeling of drinking from porcelain china. That meant nixing the cardboard sleeves, which Monti calls a design “afterthought.” Instead, the cup has double-walled insulation that mimics the effect of a sleeve (and uses an estimated 50 percent more material than a cup-and-sleeve combo). Gone is the familiar, flat cardboard texture of the standard Starbucks cup, replaced by an embossed paper that has a
feathery, foamy feel. “It’s a Zen moment, and the cup should reflect that,” Monti tells Co.Design. Considerable R&D was also packed into perfecting the ergonomics of the lid. The Teavana team wanted a curvier, organic look, and they widened the opening of the spout a bit so that drinkers could sip more of the beverage at once (since tea has a subtler flavor than coffee.) Co.Design checked in with an avid tea drinker and designer: Ellen Lupton, graphic designer and curator of contemporary design at Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, about the new design. “Dunkin Donuts also features a molded spout on their lids, but the new Teavana lid is more sleek and elegant overall,” she says. In addition to how it looks, the sensory experience of the Teavana cup versus the original Starbucks coffee cup isn’t just different--it’s vastly better. No scalding fingertips, fewer splashes escaping the redesigned lid. So could this cup become the new design for Starbucks coffee drinkers as well? “There’s a lot of love for the cup internally,” Monti says. “I wouldn’t be surprised if the question was raised.”
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Why Ad Agencies Aren’t Going Away Anytime Soon Al Ries
Years ago, I was making a presentation to a client about the need to make a major change in the brand’s overall strategy. The client’s marketing director looked at me and said in a stern voice: “We do the positioning. You do the advertising.” (I bit my tongue so I wouldn’t say, “But Jack Trout and I had something to do about creating ‘positioning.’”) He was right, of course, and he was wrong. The client always bears the responsibility for the success of a marketing campaign. But along with that responsibility is the need to listen to its advertising agency and marketing partner.
Ignorance is bliss? Agencies have one big advantage: ignorance. In other words, objectivity. That’s the reason, in my opinion, the advertising agency is going to be with us for many more years to come -- in spite of the fact that clients could do all of their own advertising and marketing programs faster and cheaper. Client marketing people are too close to the company, its
products, its brands, its history, its distribution, its competitors. Most of these things don’t really matter because the essence of marketing is getting inside the mind of consumers. Good agency people look at the brand the way the consumer looks at the brand. Not the way the company looks at the brand. Recently, Nokia’s chief marketing officer said the company’s goal “is to reignite the Nokia brand, bringing meaning, relevancy and emotion to the brand.” Really? Is that what the smartphone buyer wants? If so, I would think he or she would get all that meaning, relevancy and emotion by buying an iPhone. If you could put yourself in the mind of a smartphone prospect, I think you would find an attitude expressed by the question, “Why should I buy a Nokia when I could be getting an iPhone or a Samsung Galaxy?” Furthermore, if you really want to get into the prospect’s mind, you should answer that question with a single word. That’s how brands are built.
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Boardroom thinking creeping into ads What I find astonishing today is how corporate platitudes that sound great in the boardroom manage to show up in the company’s advertising. Ask Chevrolet owners last year why they bought a Chevrolet. Are they going to say, “Because Chevy runs deep”?
I have a feeling a similar survey today would find that the percentage of “brand deniers” has increased, not decreased. In a world that gets increasingly more complex every day, you might expect to find just the opposite: that brands would be getting more and more important. That’s certainly my take on the world at large.
Ask Chevrolet owners today why they bought a Chevrolet and are they going to say, “Because I wanted to find new roads to drive on”?
I recently read a summary of a speech by a retired CEO of a major American company. He stated that the marketing function and its leaders must ensure that their “marketing goals are in alignment with the organization’s goals.”
But that doesn’t seem to bother Chevrolet’s chief marketing officer. He calls “Find new roads” “a platform that has legs and can really stay with us a long time.”
That sounds so logical you know it must have been created by a left-brain management type.
Is marketing a discipline to create platforms that have legs? I thought marketing was a discipline for putting ideas into prospects’ minds. Ask Toyota owners, why they bought a Toyota and are they going to say, “I wanted to go places”? Ask Honda owners why they bought a Honda and are they going to say, “I wanted to start something special”? Ask Bud Light drinkers why they drink Bud Light and are they are going to say, “Here we go”? Ask Coca-Cola drinkers why they drink Coke and are they going to say, “I was depressed so I thought I’d open a little happiness”? You know what? I don’t blame advertising agencies for creating these “say nothing” ideas. I blame them for not insisting the brands involved make product changes in order to provide ideas that resonate with consumers. That’s what marketing is all about, as differentiated from advertising. Advertising is taking the client’s marketing strategy and converting it into consumer messages. Marketing is taking the consumer’s point of view and converting it into a marketing strategy.
The problem with advertising today The problem with advertising today is not in the advertisements themselves. For the most part, the ads are faithful to the client’s marketing strategy. The problem is in the marketing strategy. Take Chevrolet. What marketing strategy could you possibly concoct for a brand that sells everything under a single brand name? “If it has four wheels, you can find it at a Chevy dealer.” (That might work well for a monopoly, but not when there are 23 separate automotive brands in the U.S. market, each selling more than 100,000 vehicles a year.) Five years ago, an Interbrand survey of 118 chief marketing officers and senior marketing executives at ANA member companies found that 64% of these executives noted that “brands do not influence decisions made at their organizations.”
A history lesson Chevrolet really does run deep. Its history that is. Back in 1962, Chevrolet was the dominant automobile brand in America with a market share of 31%. That year, 87% of all Chevrolet vehicles sold were “entrylevel” cars. Today, in addition to entry-level cars, Chevrolet also sells cheap cars, luxury cars, sports cars, spot-utility vehicles and trucks. Chevrolet’s market share today: 13%. You might think General Motors’ management would make a connection between the two. Just because you have more types of vehicles to sell doesn’t necessarily mean you sell more vehicles. Even more importantly, the more types of vehicles you sell under a single brand name, the weaker the brand becomes. There’s another dynamic at work, too. As a general principle, the more competitors in the marketplace, the narrower your product line should be. The fewer the competitors, the broader your product line can be. Back in 1962, there were only 12 automotive brands that sold more than 100,000 vehicles a year. Today, there are 23. So Chevrolet today should have a narrower product line than it had in 1962. But apparently, the “organization’s goals” are to sell more types of vehicles under the Chevrolet brand name and marketing goals need to be in alignment with the organization’s goals. So Chevrolet says to its advertising agency: “We do the positioning. You do the advertising.”
The eyes and ears of their clients Too bad more organizations don’t take more advantage of their advertising agencies. With no axe to grind, an agency is an ideal organization to serve as the “eyes and ears” of a client. A CIA, so to speak, that can determine “what can be done” given the situation inside consumers’ minds. Once a brand’s reasonable “marketing goals” can be determined, then the client is in a much better position to establish “management goals.”
Social Media Strategies: How Top Brands Staff, Budget, and Measure Ayaz Nanji Marketers at large brands are increasingly devoting a significant number of staff positions to social media: 46.5% of companies with revenues of more than $1 billion now have 50 or more employees devoted to social, according to a recent survey from Wildfire by Google and AdAge. These large companies are also more likely to call on extra
Below, additional key findings from the report, which was based on data from a survey of 500 executives from large companies.
help: 65.5% have agencies as well as in-house resources managing their social activities. This picture is quite different at smaller companies. Businesses with revenues of less than $1 billion a year most likely have one to five employees dedicated to social, and just 37.6% hire outside agencies.
Only 29.1% of respondents have a distinct budget for social. The rest are pulling spending from various areas, including traditional media, with 23.9% of budgets coming from print, television, and radio.
Budgeting
Companies are equally likely to put social media spending under general brand marketing or digital media budgets.
45.6% of respondents expect their social media spending
Among industry categories, retailers are more likely to have already developed distinct social media budgets, followed by technology and media and entertainment companies.
to increase up to 10% in the coming budgetary cycle, and 15.9% expect an increase of 11% to 30%.
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Measurement Tracking content shares is currently the top metric for measuring the impact of social media initiatives, with 58.4% of respondents saying it is important or very important.
The number of social followers is second, with 55.8% saying this metric is important or very important. For retail focused companies, metrics tied to ROI are seen as far more important than for marketers in general.
Top Concerns Marketers’ top social media worry is how to maintain high levels of audience engagement. Finding ways to effectively measure social initiatives is the next biggest concern, and maintaining brand consistency is third. The lowest-ranked concern is brand damage due to negative postings.
About the research: The report was based on data from a survey of 500 executives from large companies with some functional responsibility related to social. Just over half (50.7%) of respondents work for businesses with $1 billion or more in annual revenues.
Here’s What Pepsi, Victoria’s Secret, And Other Corporate Logos Would Say If They Were Being Honest Aaron Taube
Every time Clif Dickens, a graphic designer in Nashville, would ask for Coca-Cola at a restaurant, the waitress would invariably ask him whether it would be alright to serve him Pepsi instead.
The experiences became a running joke amongst Clif and his friends, and it inspired him to reimagine Pepsi’s logo with a new slogan that honestly portrayed the soft drink as the second choice of many of its customers:
The joke led Dickens to create Honest Slogans, a website dedicated to re-imagining how corporate logos would look if they were being honest about the goods and services they sold.
As he did with the Pepsi logo, Dickens tries to present what he calls “slices of life” that resonate with the frustrations and experiences of anyone who’s felt inadequate after watching the Victoria’s Secret fashion show, or been hit with big service charges when purchasing tickets on Ticketmaster.
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Dickens works as a graphic designer for the hospital operator Hospital Corporation of America and has updated the blog intermittently since creating it in 2011. But after seeing the site gain popularity once he shared it on Reddit, Dickens says he is now trying to update it with a new logo every work day. “A lot of them are a bit harsh, I guess,” Dickens told Business
Insider. “I try to make it so that even if Kmart or another company were to see it, they could kind of nod their heads in agreement. I try to keep it tasteful, but it’s a little bit tonguein-cheek.” Here’s the Kmart logo Dickens referenced, as well as some of our other favorites:
Five Ways to Develop a Cross-Channel Brand Story Diana Udel
In this article you will learn that... - Omni-channel success for consumer brands hinges on the ability to deliver engaging, cross-channel brand stories. - Five key tactics can help marketers improve the quality of their cross-channel brand storytelling. Stories have always been vehicles via which we communicate and perceive truth. But more than ever before, stories are taking center stage in the consumer marketplace, enabling brands to forge meaningful, lasting connections with generations of customers. One of the key challenges for today’s marketers is the creation and delivery of cross-channel brand stories. Consumers no longer access content via a single channel. They use a range of personal technologies to connect with the brands and retailers that are important to them—and they expect to be
“wowed” every time, regardless of the channel they use to access the brand. So, for growth-minded retailers and consumer brands, omnichannel success hinges on the ability to deliver cross-channel brand stories that are engaging, memorable, and consistent.
The Art and Science of Cross-Channel Brand Stories Deployment strategy is only one aspect of effective crosschannel brand storytelling. The most successful brand stories blend art and science to create highly engaging messages that reach more audiences, across an extremely diverse range of touch points. Ideally, the stories being told will be shared by large numbers of consumers and ultimately exhibit viral qualities across multiple channels.
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The art of brand stories is the ability to craft relevant and impactful content—encapsulating brand culture while connecting with the needs and preferences of core audiences. Whether content is being generated for the company’s digital catalog or for some other multichannel purpose, the creative process focuses on deliverables that hit home and invite audiences to deepen their relationship with the brand. However, science is often the driving force behind the art of brand storytelling. The creation of impactful brand messages begins with the use of analytics to identify core audiences and discern their cross-channel behaviors. Customer and user behavior shape the story by informing creatives’ quest to produce meaningful content and by helping them perfect the story across all channels. The bottom line is that cross-channel brand stories require both art (creative development) and science (cross-channel analytics) to be successful. The art is driven by the idea, while the science inspires the art by aligning messages with target audiences and prevailing behaviors in the omni-channel marketplace.
Five Tips for Cross-Channel Brand Storytelling Clearly, cross-channel stories play a pivotal role in omnichannel commerce. Marketers can employ various tactics to improve the quality of their cross-channel brand storytelling and forge deeper relationships with core audiences.
1. Identify the story The development and deployment of cross-channel brand stories begins with identifying key elements of the story based on the brand’s history and consumer behaviors. By applying analytics, creatives gain visibility to consumer behaviors across channels and platforms, including mobile, social, e-commerce, in-store—anywhere consumers connect with the brand.
Whether you are attempting to connect with consumers through humor, aesthetic beauty, or some other emotion, support your efforts with an analysis of data related to your audience’s values, attitudes, beliefs, and cross-channel behaviors.
3. Provide useful content The best cross-channel brand stories offer value to core audiences. In addition to being fun and engaging, content needs to deliver useful information rather than forcing consumers to provide personal information, survey responses, or other information to the brand. The goal of cross-channel brand storytelling is to offer noninvasive opportunities for consumer interaction. By rewarding audiences with valuable information, fun experiences, or otherwise useful content, brands can begin to use stories as drivers of loyalty and re-engagement.
4. Be experiential Cross-channel opportunities give marketers the ability to take the experiential aspect of brand storytelling to a new level. Consistent and memorable stories can be shared across multiple platforms, with each channel feeding off the momentum generated elsewhere in the brand experience. For example, Apple has done an impressive job creating a finely tuned, cross-channel experience that makes it easy for consumers to locate and purchase desired products, regardless of whether the consumer interacts with the brand online or in-store. By identifying core elements of the brand experience and consistently incorporating those elements into the design or content of cross-channel opportunities, marketers can duplicate Apple’s success and significantly improve loyalty as well as brand engagement.
Equipped with insights, creatives and marketers have the raw material they need to marry key messaging with cross-channel consumer desires. The result is that the creative aspects of the brand story reflect actual, measured dimensions of the marketplace, enabling the brand to better inspire, capture, and engage its target audience.
5. Make it accessible
2. Evoke emotion
When marketers go to the trouble of creating cross-channel brand messaging, they need to shout its availability from the mountaintops, applying cross-channel capabilities to make compelling messages visible and accessible to target consumers.
Emotion can help cross-channel brand stories resonate with consumers. But for many marketers, the challenge is to create compelling content that reflects the brand’s values without crossing over into the realm of the ridiculous or the absurd. For example, humor can be an effective tool in cross-channel brand storytelling—if it’s done well. Smart, witty content that embodies the essence of the brand is shared more often than flat content that elicits no emotional response. However, poorly executed attempts at humor can easily backfire, causing consumers and core audiences to re-evaluate their relationship with the brand.
Finally, cross-channel brand stories need to be noticed and accessible to core audiences. Many brands invest time and energy in the development of messages that fall short simply because target consumers never knew those messages existed.
*** The key takeaway for marketers is that cross-channel brand stories need to be memorable. Consumers remember strong creative messages; by tapping analytics for behavioral insights, marketers improve their ability to produce impactful content, to perfect brand stories, and to compel core audiences to take the all-important next step.
Can mySpace become a must have for marketers? Albert Costill In case you missed the news, Myspace is making a comeback. Don’t make an appointment to get your eyes checked. You read that correctly. Myspace, the once dominant social media platform, has been gaining users. Within the last four months, 24 million people have signed up. This brings Myspace’s total users around 36 million. While that’s an encouraging sign, it may be too little too late. For the time being, however, there’s some buzz circulating around MySpace. This begs the question, should you jump on board? Before we get too far ahead of ourselves, let’s briefly describe the ‘new’ Myspace. The site has had a major overhaul, in case you didn’t catch the launch earlier this year. It has a beautiful horizon layout that has a Pinterest-meets-Tumblr vibe with extra-large images, full screen video and being able to drag-and-drop content. Users can also create multimedia playlists and share them with friends on Facebook and Twitter Of course, because the site now has a focus around music, there’s music galore. Signing up is a painless process and once you’re in, you have options to create a sharp looking Myspace page that contains a bio, images and link to your website. Done effectively, you can select images and multimedia that represents your brand. A nice and engaging way to contact with consumers. The problem, thus far, is that brands really haven’t embraced Myspace, which is understandable since the company is attempting a comeback. Since the is site geared towards music, you would think that almost anyone in the industry
would latch on. For example, publications like Rolling Stone and Billboard aren’t on Myspace, which is a shame. Obviously both magazines are involved with music, but the layout, large images and multimedia content could expand their market by connecting with fans through a new medium.
Even non-music brands could use Myspace. Have you seen the recent Gap campaign? It features the children of iconic musicians covering classic songs originally performed by their parents. Gap could have used Myspace to not only showcase the new clothing items and music videos, but they could have had the artists create playlists on their Myspace pages which relate specifically to the ads. It’s just a simple way to reach new consumers who may not have typically invested time into your brand. Again, another a wasted opportunity. In short, there’s some potential with the new Myspace. While it will never top Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc., it doesn’t have to. Myspace is just another social media outlet that allows people to express themselves in a different way. As of now, it’s perfect for people in the arts, since the images and music are appealing. However, it may have some uphill struggles before major brands jump on board. But, if done properly, Myspace could really help your brands cross into new territories, especially a younger crowd since 70% of its community is now 35 or younger. If you’ve joined the new Myspace, how do you like it? And, would recommend brands to sign up?
MMS Could Be the Next Big Mobile Marketing Channel Todd Wasserman
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“Mobile advertising” usually conjures up images of banner ads or maybe native advertising, but a few firms think the future is in the humble text message. Brands including Ikea, Kellogg, Bloomingdales, Starbucks and TV networks ABC, Fox and CBS have launched marketing outreach programs designed for SMS and MMS. The latter is seen by some as an opportunity for multimedia ads, including video. In a vote of confidence for the latter, Chicago’s Iris Mobile announced this week that it received $3 million in Series A financing led by Chicago’s Origin Ventures, Illinois Ventures, Hyde Park Angels and OCA Ventures. The funding will help the company expand its product offerings. Deep Malik, Iris’s co-founder and COO, says using his platform, brands can reach any phone, whether it’s an iPhone 5S, a flip-phone or a Lumia. Why texting? Malik says consumers are more apt to open text messages than emails and more likely to redeem offers as well. Messages that use rich media are opened more often still because, as he says, “a picture is worth a thousand words.” Iris isn’t the only one making the pitch. Mogreet, a unit of Payvia, is also preaching the multimedia MMS gospel as is Vehicle, a Seattle-based startup; and ePrize. “It’s an app that every single person in the world has,” says James Citron, the CMO of Payvia and former CEO of Mogreet. “ People don’t
People don’t think about it but there are two apps that are on every phone — phone calling and texting think about it but there are two apps that are on every phone — phone calling and texting People don’t think about it but there are two apps that are on every phone — phone calling and texting.” Despite the popularity of messaging apps like WhatsApp and Viber, which are also seen as possible vehicles for advertising, because it comes standard on smartphones, MMS is growing faster. According to the CTIA, consumers sent some 74 billion MMS messages in 2012, a figure that rose as the number of minutes of talk and text messages fell. Despite such stats, brands have been slow to exploit MMS. A May 2013 survey of 745 marketing pros by email marketer Strongivew found that 38% use SMS and MMS for mobile marketing outreach vs. 76% who use a mobile website and 49% who employ “mobile-optimized email.” One industry insider told Mashable that marketers are wary of texting because open rates are a mystery (carriers don’t report them) and the campaigns can be expensive. How expensive? In the UK at least, bulk messages sell for about $.08 in bulk.
(Malik, however, says that carriers don’t charge extra for video over MMS.) When asked about the efficacy of text-based marketing messages, many proponents point to a 2010 Frost & Sullivan report that purportedly showed a 98% open rate for such messages. However, that report is unavailable. A Frost & Sullivan rep says that data came from a custom report for a client and the report is sealed. Another oft-quoted figure from Juniper Networks of a 97% open rate could not be verified. Nevertheless, common sense dictates that a text will get more attention than another email. Of course to receive a branded MMS message, a consumer first has to opt in. While there’s no industry percentage for
Citron says some brands have gotten millions of consumers to opt in to their text messaging programs opt-in rates, Citron says some brands have gotten millions of consumers to opt in to their text messaging programs Citron says some brands have gotten millions of consumers to opt in to their text messaging programs, often with the hope of getting a discount or coupon. Sometimes the programs are more elaborate than that. Iris hosted a promotion this summer in Chicago for the play Sunday in the Park With George that sent a short video to consumers to texted the word “Sunday” to 406-79. In addition to the video, the text message offered a phone number to call for tickets, let users share the video on Facebook and entered them in a contest to win tickets to Paris. Starbucks also ran a program in May that tapped MMS. The campaign was an SMS trivia contest offering prizes. After that, Starbucks was able to determine what kind of phone each consumer had and then send MMS messages if appropriate. The MMS messages with a short video and info about an in-store Happy Hour special offer. ePrize touted the Starbucks promo as a success, but Zach Zimmerman, the company’s account manager for mobile, says MMS isn’t for everyone: “MMS is a way to get rich engagement content on your consumer’s mobile devices, but it’s not the only way,” he says. “Not all mobile devices are MMS-enabled (yet) and MMS doesn’t provide the tracking that an SMS with a URL to a mobile web site does. While MMS provides additional real estate — more than 160 characters and the use of images and short videos — it pales compared to the space and tracking of a mobile web landing page.” Zimmerman says that marketers have to determine for themselves whether MMS makes sense. Says Zimmerman: “MMS is a tactic, not a strategy.”
Excessive personalisation undermines marketing message Philip Storey
Delivering a personal and customised user experience that doesn’t just tick the boxes, but genuinely exceeds expectations can be a challenge. The way that people feel about how brands approach them can vary dramatically, and it is rapidly changing. In this piece, I will walk you through the research we recently carried out with The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), to demystify the facts on how people really feel about personalisation and customisation. There are interesting findings, particularly in product industries such as finance, travel and media. Our research found that broad and excessive personalisation undermines the effectiveness of marketing messages. In truth, 70 percent of consumer respondents agreed with the statement that “attempts at personalisation are superficial,” and 33 percent cited it as one of their top annoyances. Incidentally, the banking industry lags behind other industries in moving beyond personalisation to individualised offers. However, personalisation is the second most popular marketing strategy among marketing executives. We also discovered that whilst consumers felt jaded by superficial attempts at personalisation, they do genuinely appreciate truly customised offers. Almost 20 percent said that including details, such as references to previous transactions or correspondence makes them feel valued. Simple use of core data that every business has access to and stores, is the key to creating a valuable customer experience. Leading objectives across the sectors are: - Banks assign unusually high importance to their reputation for consumer service (28% vs. an all industry average of 16%) showing the importance of regaining trust again - The media industry says its entering new markets as they are under siege from online competition - Cultivating influencers for travel marketers likely due to personal referrals among travellers, which has the largest influence at final assessment On the other side, nearly half of the marketing executives surveyed said that they lack the capacity for analysing customer data and it is becoming a major obstacle to implementing more effective strategies, such as customisation. The media industry assigns more importance than the others to developing deeper consumer insights (26% vs. all-industry average of 21%). Strategic capability, technology and data must marry in order for any of these three elements of a marketing programme to be effective. Clearly, there is a major gap and lack of alignment between what marketers deliver and what consumers want. So how do we move from turning our customers off with communications based on simplified personal attributes (name, age and gender) to engage them with content that is tailored according to what their online behaviour tells us?
We suggest a three-step approach to bridging this gap:
Understand what matters: Marketers have access to a huge wealth of data, but not every data point needs to be examined. Start by looking at data that lets you create enticing, targeted and relevant messaging that anticipates your customer’s next action and elicits the desired response. For example: Who is opening your emails and what are they doing next? What information can you glean about their response to previous promotions and purchase history? Use this insight regularly and make it efficient for your marketing team to do so.
Create meaningful interactions: Examine your customers’ behaviour across all channels, not just email. For instance: What are they “liking” on social networks? Where are they “checking in” on their mobiles? What products have they looked at on your website? This insight can help you understand each unique consumer’s journey to purchase, and allow you to suggest opportunities for creating interactions with them that are more meaningful, relevant and valuable. However, make sure you do not overuse data – be selective in what you use and how often. If you are at the stage where you have lots of data at your fingertips, that is truly actionable, spend the most time on making the right choice.
Support insight with best practice digital marketing: Data-driven insight is only as valuable as your ability to use it effectively. Creating customised content is one thing. Making sure it reaches your intended audience when, where, and how it’s supposed to is another. Applying digital marketing best practices like data analytics, a thorough testing strategy, mobile optimisation, dynamic content and re-engagement strategy propels the hard work of customisation to its ultimate goal – reaching your customers and incentivising them to act. Take a look at the entire customer lifecycle to create and optimise contact strategies. Bridging the gap between marketers and consumers requires marketing professionals to gain more understanding of data analytics to optimise customer experience and create customised offerings that drive loyalty, assist with retention and cultivates influencers. By combining a deep understanding of the customer journey with data-driven best practice, marketers will be able to eliminate these gaps and positively impact every stage of the purchasing journey resulting in greater sales of financial services, holidays or media products.
Three Easy Ways to Jump-Start Your Cause Marketing: When Marketing and Philanthropy Intersect Chase Cornett Some of the most progressive retail brands have discovered quantifiable marketing success in what may seem like an unlikely place: philanthropy. It’s not what you think. This is not an appeal for increased philanthropy in support of noble corporate citizenship. To be sure, there are compelling reasons for making charitable commitments—as a means for projecting company values, raising visibility, or giving back to local communities—but there also are strategic ways that philanthropy can affect the bottom line. It starts with remembering that the key word in “cause marketing” is marketing. Look no further than one of the Web’s most prominent brands—eBay—for a paradigm that is not only harnessing the company’s philanthropy to enhance its brand image but also producing ROI. eBay has built a robust cause-marketing machine within its online platform. The company’s program, Giving Works, offers charitable incentives to sellers, giving them the option of donating some of the proceeds of their sales to charity. It also designates what sellers are regular contributors so that potential buyers can support their favorite charity-minded sellers. In effect, eBay has created embedded retail cause marketing to support sellers who want to give back and grow
their sales. The program has lived up to its name—that is, giving works. It not only raised $73 million for various charities last year but also offered good news from a business perspective: The Giving Works program led to a 29% increase in sales among sellers and a two-thirds decrease in customer churn. The latest consumer research confirms what eBay and socially minded retail marketers already know: Consumers are assimilating charitable elements into their purchasing decisions. More than 90% of consumers say they will buy a product associated with a cause, while 72% would recommend a cause-related brand. And three in four consumers think it’s okay for a brand to support good causes while making money. What we are seeing are the lines between buying decisions and giving decisions being erased. Consumers are extending their charitable reach by making purchasing decisions that are consistent with their own values. They shop with purpose and as a result are both buying and giving more. The news gets better. Not all companies have to build in this kind of infrastructure to take advantage of philanthropy’s capacity to accelerate revenue and create a more fulfilling customer experience. Smart retailers are moving ahead with innovative strategies that align their marketing with philanthropy using existing marketing assets.
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With that in mind, here are three easy ways to jump-start your company’s cause marketing initiatives.
1. Start Online Setting up an online-focused campaign can be as easy as a promotional code. Creating a simple promotional code as part of the checkout process enables retailers to see and track how customers respond to various charitable offers. By analyzing that data, companies can apply what they learn toward developing continued growth strategies. Importantly, online offers should be kept simple, straightforward, and transparent; that is, consumers should readily understand how much and to whom the charitable component is going.
2. ‘Test and Learn’ Approach The Web is a practical incubator for testing and refining. Philanthropy as part of a retailer’s marketing program should be evaluated in the same vein as other marketing programs. Experiment on a subset of products or consumers, deliver various offers, test messaging, and—most important— measure results. Whether your strategy is giving a percentage of purchases, promoting special give-back products, or allowing customers to donate their shipping, there are plenty of variable combinations to test. Learn what works, what doesn’t, and
apply those outcomes to larger-scale efforts.
3. Giving Tuesday There are also seasonal considerations. The Tuesday after Thanksgiving has come to be known as #GivingTuesday (as part of that stretch that includes Black Friday and Cyber Monday). As the name suggests, the day is set aside to encourage online donations to charity. Last year, the day involved more than 2,500 partners; online charitable giving topped $10 million. The day is heavily promoted throughout the country and has become an important part of many retailers’ marketing strategies. It’s a good opportunity to test strategies and use the movement to gain momentum for your efforts. *** For years, charitable giving was viewed as a means for helping others—and it still is. But as more and more retailers have come to discover, philanthropy also can be a means for retailers to help themselves. And the two need not be mutually exclusive. The integration of philanthropy and marketing holds tremendous potential for not only fueling significant growth in consumer giving but also providing an effective engine for driving sales. In the end, there need not be any distinction between delivering social and business impact.
‘Natural’
food-branding trend is fizzling amid confusion, lawsuits Mike Esterl Now you see them. Now you don’t. Food products labeled as “natural” are starting to disappear.
last year by Mintel, another market research company, found 51% of Americans seek out “all natural’’ when food shopping.
A growing number of food and drink companies are quietly removing “all natural” claims from packages amid lawsuits challenging the “naturalness” of everything.
The problem is, “natural” has no clear meaning.
“Natural” Goldfish crackers will soon be just Goldfish. “All Natural” Naked juice is going stark Naked. “All Natural’’ Puffins cereal is turning into plain old Puffins. A growing number of food and drink companies including PepsiCo Inc. PEP -0.66% and Campbell Soup Co. CPB -6.24% are quietly removing these claims from packages amid lawsuits challenging the “naturalness” of everything from potato chips to ice cream to granola bars. Food labeled “natural’’ raked in more than $40 billion in U.S. retail sales over the past 12 months. That is second only to food claiming to be low in fat, according to Nielsen. A survey
The Food and Drug Administration has no definition, says a spokeswoman, but rather a long-standing policy that it considers “natural’’ to mean that “nothing artificial or synthetic (including all color additives regardless of source) has been included in, or has been added to, a food that would not normally be expected to be in the food.’’ The agency’s website says it is “difficult to define a food product that is ‘natural’ because the food has probably been processed and is no longer the product of the earth.” A “food labeling modernization’’ bill, introduced in September in Congress, would force the FDA to establish a single, standard nutrition labeling system, including new guidelines for the use of “natural.’’ But any rules are certain to take a long time to hash out.
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Meanwhile, lawsuits are piling up, alleging false advertising. Attorneys say at least 100 lawsuits have been filed in the past two years challenging the natural claims of Unilever ULVR.LN +0.16% PLC’s Ben & Jerry’s, Kellogg Co. K -1.06% ‘s Kashi, Beam Inc. BEAM -0.03% ‘s Skinnygirl alcohol drinks and dozens of other brands. Some lawsuits have been thrown out, but others have ended with multi-million-dollar settlements. Still others are pending. For the most part, the suits are filed by plaintiffs’ lawyers on behalf of consumers who purchased the products, seeking class-action status. “There’s a boatload of litigation and that is going to continue until companies stop conning people,’’ said Stephen Gardner, litigation director at Center for Science in the Public Interest, which has urged several companies to remove “natural’’ or “all natural’’ from packaging. “Companies are tending to pull back from the natural label because it isn’t worth it right now,’’ said Lori Leskin, a lawyer at Kaye Scholer and co-head of the American Bar Association’s Products Liability Committee. Only 22.1% of food products and 34% of beverage products launched in the U.S. during the first half of 2013 claimed to be “natural,” down from 30.4% and 45.5%, respectively, in 2009 according to Datamonitor. Though many Americans still want natural products, Datamonitor says only 47% view the claims as trustworthy. The litigation issue is complicated on both sides by the lack of clarity from the FDA. Judges this summer stayed lawsuits for six months against Gruma Corp.’s GRUMA.MX +1.76% Mission tortilla chips and General Mills Inc. GIS -1.12% ‘s Nature Valley granola bars, requesting FDA guidance on whether products with genetically modified organisms can be marketed as natural. Other gray areas include processed ingredients like high fructose corn syrup, alkalized cocoa, sodium benzoate and ascorbic acid. The legal uncertainty is a setback for PepsiCo, which has worked hard to make its snacks healthier and used the term “All Natural’’ to signal the overhaul to consumers. As part of a companywide strategy shift, its Frito-Lay snack unit reformulated more than 60 products by 2011. It removed about three dozen artificial ingredients including FD&C Red 40, a food coloring it replaced with beets, cabbage and carrots. The company experimented with more than 300 “all natural” versions of its barbecue potato chips alone before finding one that tasted like the original. That year it launched Frito-Lay’s largest marketing campaign ever, “Seed to Shelf,’’ and emblazoned “all natural’’ on Lay’s potato chips, Tostitos tortilla chips, multigrain SunChips and Rold Gold pretzels. But by last year, several lawsuits against
PepsiCo alleged the chips and pretzels contained GMOs and additives such as caramel color, citric acid and maltodextrin. The “all natural’’ labels have quietly disappeared and the litigation is pending. A Frito-Lay spokesman said the snack maker is “constantly updating’’ its packaging and, like Kellogg and Beam, declined to comment on the lawsuits. In 2009 PepsiCo acquired Naked Juice Co., which started out selling small batches from a backpack on Santa Monica Beach. At the time, PepsiCo said Naked juices were made from “the best bare-naked fruits’’ and represented its continuing expansion into “natural, healthy, good-for-you products.’’ But in July PepsiCo agreed to pay $9 million to settle a class action alleging the juices contained GMOs and chemically processed vitamins. Naked is made with “all-natural fruits and vegetables’’ but the wording is being removed “until there is more detailed regulatory guidance,’’ PepsiCo said. Campbell Soup’s Pepperidge Farm Goldfish crackers have begun arriving on store shelves in recent weeks stripped of their front-of-pack “Natural’’ claim. The crackers have been the target of several lawsuits alleging they contain genetically modified soy. Campbell said the change was part of a “package refresh’’ that preceded litigation, which is continuing. Barbara’s Bakery Inc., the maker of Puffins cereal and Snackimal crackers, paid $4 million this summer to settle a suit accusing it of using some nonnatural ingredients. The company, a pioneer of the natural-foods movement, in recent weeks changed its logo to “Since 1971’’ instead of “All Natural Since 1971.’’ Barbara’s says it used to define natural as “no artificial preservatives, flavors, colors or ingredients’’ but that it now believes the term is “vague and confusing.’’ It instead plans to rely on terms such as “simple,’’ “wholesome,’’ “nutritious’’ and “minimally processed.’’ Barbara’s also says it began eliminating GMOs in 2011 and has secured non-GMO verification for nearly 80% of its products, which it touts on new packaging. Ben & Jerry’s has grappled with the issue since 2002, when the Center for Science in the Public Interest began publicly urging the ice cream maker to quit claiming its products are “all natural’’ because they contained hydrogenated oils and other factory-made substances. In 2010, Ben & Jerry’s agreed to remove “all natural” from its packaging and today trumpets the ice cream as “Vermont’s finest.’’ Last year Unilever, the parent of Ben & Jerry’s, agreed to pay $5 million to settle a consumer lawsuit against the brand. But the deal was rejected by a judge. Another court hearing is scheduled this fall.
Book, Line & Sinker Brand Relations Management: Bridging the Gap Between Brand Promise and Brand Delivery Brand Relations Management is a book for all those interested in strategy and marketing. The primary intention is to show that both brand promise and brand delivery are necessary in order to build a sustainable brand. The book’s greatest strength is that it gathers and presents all the relevant theories of brand building.
Designing Brand Identity
By Alina Wheeler
By Tony Apéria, Rolf Back
What Great Brands Do: The Seven Brand-Building Principles That Separate the Best from the Rest
By Denise Lee Yohn
How great organizations put their company’s brand front and centerResearch suggests that only a small portion of companies practice brandbuilding the way great brands do. “What Great Brands Do” reveals how exceptional firms rely on a brand-as-business management approach in order to grow and succeed in tough economic climates, regardless of the size of their marketing budgets. This must-have guide distills their approach into seven guiding principles and best practices to provide a thoughtful and practical methodology for putting a company’s brand in the driver’s seat of the organization.
StoryBranding: Creating StandOut Brands Through The Power of Story Having worked on many famous brands as an advertising executive, Jim Signorelli has found that today, in order for advertising to be truly effective, the brand being promoted must work the way a good story works. Many brands continue to get in their own way with an over-reliance on editorialized benefits. “Today, that’s a deathwish,” says Signorelli. “To remain competitive, brands must provide consumers with story themes they can relate to, identify with, and share with their tribes. By Jim Signorelli
The Brand Gap
By Marty Neumeier
THE BRAND GAP is the first book to present a unified theory of brand-building. Whereas most books on branding are weighted toward either a strategic or creative approach, this book shows how both ways of thinking can unite to produce a “charismatic brand”-a brand that customers feel is essential to their lives. In an entertaining two-hour read you’ll learn: the new definition of brand the five essential disciplines of brandbuilding how branding is changing the dynamics of competition the three most powerful questions to ask about any brand why collaboration is the key to brand-building how design determines a customer’s experience how to test brand concepts quickly and cheaply the importance of managing brands from the inside 220-word brand glossary
Kellogg on Branding: The Marketing Faculty of the Kellogg School of Management
By Alice M. Tybout, Tim Calkins, Philip Kotler
The Power of Habit
The Foreword by renowned marketing guru Philip Kotler sets the stage for a comprehensive review of the latest strategies for building, leveraging, and rejuvenating brands. Destined to become a marketing classic, Kellogg on Branding includes chapters written by respected Kellogg marketing professors and managers of successful companies. It includes: The latest thinking on key branding concepts, including brand positioning and designStrategies for launching new brands, leveraging existing brands, and managing a brand portfolio.
Thinking in New Boxes: A New Paradigm for Business Creativity
In “The Power of Habit, “award-winning “New York Times” business reporter Charles Duhigg takes us to the thrilling edge of scientific discoveries that explain why habits exist and how they can be changed. With penetrating intelligence and an ability to distill vast amounts of information into engrossing narratives, Duhigg brings to life a whole new understanding of human nature and its potential for transformation.
By Charles Duhigg
A revised new edition of the bestselling toolkit for creating, building, and maintaining a strong brandFrom research and analysis through brand strategy, design development through application design, and identity standards through launch and governance, “Designing Brand Identity, Fourth Edition” offers brand managers, marketers, and designers a proven, universal five-phase process for creating and implementing effective brand identity. Enriched by new case studies showcasing successful world-class brands, this Fourth Edition brings readers up to date with a detailed look at the latest trends in branding, including social networks, mobile devices, global markets, apps, video, and virtual brands.
THINKING IN NEW BOXES is a revolutionary process for sustainable creativity from two strategic innovation experts from The Boston Consulting Group (BCG). To make sense of the world, we all rely on assumptions, on models on what Luc de Brabandere and Alan Iny call “boxes.” If we are unaware of our boxes, they can blind us to risks and opportunities. This innovative book challenges everything you thought you knew about business creativity by breaking creativity down into five steps By Luc De Brabandere, Alan Iny
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By Larry Freed
Innovating Analytics
The Leadership Contract
“Innovating Analytics” introduces an index that measures a customer’s likelihood to recommend and the likelihood to detract. The current concept of the Net Promoter Score (NPS) that has been adopted by many companies during the last decade--is no longer accurate, precise or actionable. This new metric called the Word of Mouth Index (WoMI) has been tested on hundreds of companies and with over 1.5 million consumers over the last two years. Author Larry Freed details the improvement that WoMI provides within what he calls the Measurement Ecosystem. He then goes on to look at three other drivers of customer satisfaction along with word of mouth: customer acquisition, customer loyalty, and customer conversion.
The book lays out the four terms and conditions of the leadership contract and enlists leaders in making a conscious decision to lead, including the understanding that leadership is a decision, entails an obligation, is difficult, and requires a community.Designed for top-level executives, midlevel managers, front-line leaders, and emerging leaders, the book identifies the shortcomings of current leadership methods and explains how to adopt new policies and mentalities to make you a better leader and ensure business success. Author Vince Molinaro, Ph.D., CMC is the author of two successful books, Leadership Solutions and The Leadership Gap and is also a Certified Management Consultant.
By Vince Molinaro
Energy Bus: 10 Rules to Fuel Your Life, Work, and Team with Positive Energy “The Energy Bus,” an international best seller by Jon Gordon, takes readers on an enlightening and inspiring ride that reveals 10 secrets for approaching life and work with the kind of positive, forward thinking that leads to true accomplishment - at work and at home. Jon infuses this engaging story with keen insights as he provides a powerful roadmap to overcome adversity and bring out the best in yourself and your team. When you get on “The Energy Bus” you’ll enjoy the ride of your life! By John Gordon
By Matt Haig
By Steven Johnson
The Little Book of Big Data, 2012 Edition
By Noreen Burlingame
The term Big Data gets thrown around a lot, but what it actually means is less well understood. Big Data is the future, so it is essential for brand marketers to get up to speed right away. Yet, there are few primers offering a solid foundational understanding of Big Data much less a comprehensive look at its many incarnations, including those directly affecting brand marketers. This book, written specifically for senior business executives with little or no background in IT, fills this gap. Covering a wide variety of industries, data environments and business applications, this book is the best resource for getting in the know quickly, intelligently and proficiently.
BRAND ROYALTY
Brand Loyalty
Some say that brand success equals business success, and since there is no single magic formula for creating a winning brand, studying the best brands can provide many winning strategies for those looking for a better way to brand. Branding expert Matt Haig, the author of the acclaimed Brand Failures, has studied the longevity, technological advancements, new product developments, workplaces, mass communications, achievements and financial success of hundreds of brands to determine the best of the bunch. The result of his research is Brand Royalty, a book that provides a list of 100 brand success stories, helpful commentary about them from brand managers and experts from a variety of fields, and the secrets behind their worldwide recognition as great brands.
A 1984 for the 21st century, the novel explores a possible world which has been taken over by the corporate totalitarianism of the ULTIMATE company. Personal identity and meaning have become trading commodities and the central characters struggle to maintain their individuality in the face of a world which has registered, trademarked and copyrighted their very existence.
By Cally Phillips
Future Perfect: The Case for Progress in a Networked Age
Tubes: A Journey to the Center of the Internet
Johnson has built his career as an unabashed champion of contemporary digital culture, debunking critics and promoting the nurture of ideas and innovation. He goes the next step in this book with an examination of the ways in which digital sophistication and imaginative reinvention are transforming everything. Decentralized peer networks that channel and harness the flow of data are remaking government, education, railways, community infrastructure and more.
The term Big Data gets thrown around a lot, but what it actually means is less well understood. Big Data is the future, so it is essential for brand marketers to get up to speed right away. Yet, there are few primers offering a solid foundational understanding of Big Data much less a comprehensive look at its many incarnations, including those directly affecting brand marketers. This book, written specifically for senior business executives with little or no background in IT, fills this gap. Covering a wide variety of industries, data environments and business applications, this book is the best resource for getting in the know quickly, intelligently and proficiently.
By Andrew Blum