Branding Strategy Insider

Branding And Trade Secrets

Trade secrets are an often overlooked form of brand protection.  Trade secrets are simply information, techniques, procedures, codes, patterns, plans, processes, formula, prototypes, etc., that are developed confidentially and that are kept confidential.  This even includes customer lists and instructional methods.  The Coca-Cola syrup formulation is an example of a trade secret. (The added value of this approach from a brand perspective is that it often creates a mystique that has its own cache.)

Sometimes it is better to keep something a trade secret than to patent it.  In some industries, companies routinely watch for competitors' new patents and then try to design around them.  Non-compete and nondisclosure agreements are important, but not infallible, in protecting trade secrets.  The Economic Espionage Act of 1996 protects trade secrets against theft.  Information is legally considered to be a trade secret if an organization can show that it took reasonable measure to keep the information secret and that there is economic value to the information not being made public.

A business can protect its trade secrets in the following ways:

•Share confidential information only on a “need to know” basis.
•Limit the number of employees exposed to trade secrets. Always inform employees exposed to those trade secrets that (a) they are being exposed to secrets and (b) the importance of keeping the secrets secret.
•Mark all confidential documents “confidential – no copies allowed.”   For added security, number each copy and keep a log of which numbered copy was given to which employee.
•Use access logs for trade secrets.
•Require anyone (employees, suppliers, customers, consultants and other business partners) who might come in contact with trade secrets to sign confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements before the relationship begins.

Overcoming Common Brand Problems - 12

We are exploring the 40 Most Common Brand Problems. Number 12 in our countdown centers on creating brands for the wrong reasons...

Common Brand Problem Number 12: Creating brands or sub-brands for internal or trade reasons, rather than to address distinct consumer needs

Analysis: There is nothing more inefficient or wasteful than creating a new brand or sub-brand for a purpose other than meeting a different consumer need. Brands and sub-brands should exist to address different consumers and consumer-need segments. It is expensive to launch a new brand (and very expensive to maintain multiple brands that meet similar consumer needs; it also adds unnecessary complexity to your organization). Worst of all, it dilutes the position of your original brand.

Key Point: This problem often results from organizational structure. People leading business units that deliver specific products or services create a name and identity to put on business cards and to rally their employees around, whether the products or services are similar to products or services other divisions create or not. (This has resulted in the following printer lines for HP: DeskJet, OfficeJet, OfficeJet Pro, LaserJet, DesignJet, DeskWriter and PhotoSmart—while the consumer is likely to think of them all as HP printers.)

Sometimes, companies create separate brands or sub-brands for trade reasons – for instance, to offer something different to specialty stores versus mass channels of distribution. (Hallmark created the Expressions From Hallmark brand for mass channel stores while specialty stores continued to carry the Hallmark brand. These two brands don’t meet different consumer needs and it’s not clear consumers perceive differences between the two.)

This problem can also result from mergers and acquisitions in which the brands are neither rationalized nor strategically managed after the enterprises are combined.

Sponsored By: The Brand Positioning Workshop

Increasing Anti-American Sentiment And US Brands

Countries' associations can often help or hinder brands that originate in those countries. Country associations are complex and vary by people in different parts of the world. Often countries are associated with specific product categories, values, lifestyles and personalities. For instance, France is associated with fashions and perfumes. A report by BMP DDB Needham in London indicates that the UK is perceived to be conventional and stuffy. Switzerland is known for its precision watches. Russia is associated with Vodka. The US has been admired for its individualism and entrepreneurial attitude. Japan is associated with compact electronics. It is also known for its homogeneous culture. Germany is associated with quality automobiles and beer.

Think about what you associate with specific countries and how that might effect your purchase of certain types of brands associated with those countries. In general, would you rather buy a Japanese, German or American car? Would you rather eat at a French, UK or Italian branded restaurant? Would you rather buy a Swiss, Romanian or Brazilian watch? Which countries of origin will enhance brands in these categories: olive oil, shoes, jeans, universities, spas, pasta, skis, adventure travel? From which countries would you not buy bottled water? Why?

Increasingly, American brands are feeling the effects of the US's increased association with imperialism and militarism. This is occurring through demonstrations, petition drives and boycotts throughout much of the world. Non-US brands are also contributing to and leveraging this situation. For instance, the Qibla Cola Company in Derby, England is selling its product as the Muslim alternative to Coca-Cola or Pepsi-Cola, using the tag line, “Liberate your taste.”

Attention Auto Dealers: Change The Voice In Your Head

10 things an auto dealer can do to change world opinion and increase sales.

If you are close to the auto-dealer space in any way, you are most likely hearing complaints from dealers and staff that sales are down. For dealers who dare to have vision and heart, sales can increase higher than imagined. Here are 10 ideas.

Change the Voice in Your Head

The one that says, "I'm an auto dealer; I need to look and act like an auto dealer." If you are a "follower," you have inherited the reputation that follows dealers. Shake this liability by distancing yourself through relevant differentiation. That is, build an experience that is different and meaningful to your customers. Your new voice should say: "I build lasting relationships by helping people purchase automobiles in a unique and compelling way."

Stop the Noise

The world is ready for you to stop the shouting in radio and television spots. This approach does not generate excitement or motivation unless it is coming from a drill sergeant. Furthermore, it comes off as desperation and reinforces the notion that you are like every other dealer. The noise intensifies when you don't communicate clearly.

The blur of fine print, jabs of pressure and fast talking keep consumers in a daze and on the defensive. Be sure to deliver clarity. When crafting your messaging, don't depend on reasoning to entice buyers. Emotional connections trigger sales. Most of all, remember, people buy from people. When you speak to your customer like a friend, the noise becomes a signal.

Become Human

Brands are personifications of organizations, products, services and experiences. Consumers do not develop relationships with products, nor are they loyal to products.

Brands and what they stand for establish the emotional connection with consumers. Your dealership has a brand. Different from the manufacturer's, it is the sum of all experiences a consumer has with your organization. It has been or is being created in the minds of everyone it comes in contact with. If you are not creating it, someone else is creating it for you.

What does your brand stand for? What emotions does your brand evoke? It should exhibit admirable human qualities. To most people, a "dealer is a dealer." Shift the focus from selling cars to building long-term relationships with car buyers.

Remove the Barbed Wire

It is time to defuse your sales approach. It alienates your customers and puts them on the defensive.

Take your women buyers for example. They influence 85 percent of purchase decisions, yet they are treated as second-class. (How is this happening?) A survey from Power Information Network, a division of J.D. Power and Associates, found that of about 800 female buyers in the U.S. market, roughly 40 percent believe their gender hurt the way they were treated in their most recent visit to an auto dealer. (Learn more about your female buyers at Ask Patty.)

To counter this treatment, most women rely on a male counterpart to aid them in the buying process. With some respect from you, this audience would be very loyal, refer others and most likely pay more (willingly) for your product.

Live and Thrive Without Graveyard Pricing

The strongest relationships are not built on price. There are other ways to entice your target audiences. A reputation of a caring car dealer will compel many. When you humanize your offerings, funny things happen; your customers drive an extra three blocks to drink a more expensive cup of your coffee. Create something special, and let your competitors command the lowest price.

Brand Quote

"Advertising is a tax for having an unremarkable product."

Robert Stephens, Founder and "Chief Inspector" of the Geek Squad

Sponsored By: Brand Aid

 

Overcoming Common Brand Problems - 11

Like Number 10, Number 11 of the 40 Most Common Brand Problems manifests itself in the corner offices and hallways of an organization. Have you experienced number 11?

Common Brand Problem Number 11: Senior managers do not understand what the brand stands for

Analysis: This could well be the most pervasive and detrimental problem of all. The consumer will never be able to understand what the brand stands for and what its points of difference are if your management team doesn’t.

Key Point: It would behoove you to gain the CEO’s support and to involve the management team in a process of defining what the brand stands for, including its target consumer, essence, promise, personality, and marketplace positioning. At The Blake Project  we call this The Brand Positioning Workshop. A particularly important part of the exercise is to gain insight and consensus on the brand’s most compelling point of difference. Managing the transformation of your entire management team into well-informed brand champions may be a difficult process, but the investment of time and effort will be well worth it.

Sponsored By: The Brand Positioning Workshop

Branding And Cultural Differences

Marketers can get into trouble when they introduce their products to new countries if they don’t pay close attention to cultural differences.  A case in point: Gerber introduced baby food in jars in certain African markets.  The jars featured cute babies.  Sales were very disappointing.  When the problem was investigated, brand managers discovered why the baby food wasn’t selling.  As many people in Africa are illiterate, people generally expect labels to visually portray the contents of the package.  Cute babies were not very appetizing.

Other brands have encountered cultural problems as well:

Brand: Perdue Chicken
Slogan: ‘It takes a strong man to make a tender chicken’
Slogan in Spanish: ‘It takes an aroused man to make a chicken affectionate.’

Brand: Chevy Nova
Name: Nova
Name’s meaning in Spanish: ‘It doesn’t go.’

Brand: Schweppes Tonic Water
Name: Schweppes Tonic Water
Name’s translation in Italian: ‘Schweppes Toilet Water’

Brand: Coors Beer
Slogan: ‘Turn it loose’
Slogan in Spanish: ‘You  will suffer from diarrhea’

Make sure you understand the direct translation and the meaning of your brand’s name, slogan and advertising copy when taking a brand global. Be sure to tripple-check your sources.

Source: Brand Failures: The Truth About the 100 Biggest Branding Mistakes of All Time by Matt Haig, Kogan-Page, London (2003)

Sponsored By: The Brand Positioning Workshop

Branding And The Increasing Value Of Human Touch

It always fascinates me to see product, service and marketing innovations emerge that bolster our ability to get the ‘bear hug’ we seek from consumers. Take Ms. Dewey for example. A search engine with a personality. Designed to interact, entertain and inform, Ms. Dewey 'humanizes' the search engine experience.

I think there's much more to Ms. Dewey than pages of links. I think she's a sign of things to come as we continue the pursuit of strong relationships with our customers. Let's look at the obvious: Now more than ever we connect with each other electronically. There is less face-to-face human interaction than that of a decade ago. For some, entire work days go by without an in-person experience. This has upped the value of human contact. The result? Consumers are responding more and more to the human connectivity strong brands transmit.

If you define a brand as the personification of a product, service or organization you see where I'm coming from. On some level we humans are always looking to make connections. When we make them we are moved in some way. In this case Ms. Dewey softens the pixels and for a second makes you believe you’re not alone at being alone. Where will Ms. Dewey pop up next? How about your ATM, a vending machine or a gasoline pump? She will be welcome at those cold, sharp places that separate you from your money and deny any sense of an attempt at human contact.

Bring your customer closer. Make your offerings magnetic to human touch with a sense of human touch.

Sponsored By: The Brand Positioning Workshop

Brand Value: Cracking The Pricing Code

One of the five drivers of customer brand insistence is “value.” While value is comprised of more than just price (benefit bundle, perceived quality, etc.), it's important to understand pricing to deliver a strong brand value. Following are some concepts that you may find useful as you determine pricing for your brand’s products and services.

Reference Prices
People often compare a product’s price to a “reference price” that they maintain in their minds for the product or product category in question. A “reference price” is the price that people expect or deem to be reasonable for a certain type of product. Several factors affect reference prices:

•Memory of past prices
•Frame of reference (compared to competitive prices, pre-sale prices, manufacturer’s suggested prices, channel-specific prices, marked prices before discounts, substitute product prices, etc.)
o Creating the most advantageous (and believable) competitive frame of reference is essential to achieving a price premium
•Prices of other products on the same shelf, in the same catalog, or in the same product line
o The addition of a more premium priced product typically increases sales of other lower-priced products in the same product line
•The way the price is presented – for instance, absolute number versus per quart, per pound, per hour of use, per application, for the result achieved, etc.; also four simple payments of $69.95 versus $279.80; for automobiles: total purchase price versus monthly loan payment versus monthly lease payment
•The order in which people see a range of prices – like when a realtor uses the trick of showing the poorest value house first.

Price Sensitivity
It is extremely important to be able to estimate the impact of price changes on sales and profits. That is, it is important to know how a price change will impact consumer response, competitive response, and unit volume. Many business people erroneously believe that a price increase is the most cost-effective revenue generating marketing tactic. I have heard generally intelligent business people share their excitement about how a price increase will drop to the “bottom line” dollar-for-dollar. Most of the time, this is simply not true.

People display different price sensitivities to different products in different situations. Often people are relatively price insensitive, but only within a relevant price range. Once a price exceeds that range, people become very sensitive. Raising the price across that threshold is akin to walking off of a cliff.

The following factors decrease price sensitivity:

Overcoming Common Brand Problems - 10

We're at number 10 of our countdown of the 40 Most Common Brand Problems. Sometimes it's the marketing manager that is part of the problem...

Common Brand Problem Number 10: Frequently changing your brand’s positioning and message

Analysis: New brand managers and marketing executives often feel as though they need to make a name for themselves to continue the climb up the corporate ladder.

Key Point: Don’t succumb to the temptation of doing this by changing the advertising campaign or the brand slogan, especially if the current ones are working well or haven’t been in place long enough to assess their effectiveness. Consistent communication over time is what builds a brand. After all, Hallmark has used its “When You Care Enough to Send the Very Best” slogan since 1944; the Marlboro Man has been Marlboro’s icon since 1955; and Absolut Vodka has featured its bottle’s shape in consumer communication since 1978. If you do make changes, make them gradually and in an integrated fashion based on sound consumer research.

Have a request for the countdown? Let us know.

Sponsored By: The Brand Positioning Workshop