Branding Strategy Insider

The Anatomy Of Place Branding

According the World Travel and Tourism Council (wttc.org), travel and tourism is “one of the world's largest industries, employing approximately 231 million people and generating over 10.4 per cent of world GDP.” When one considers that businesses, residents and event and meeting planners also choose one place over another, it is no wonder that cities, regions and countries are branding themselves in earnest.

This phenomenon has been labeled “place branding,” “geo-branding” and “destination marketing” among other labels. In some respects, branding places is no different than branding anything else. Finding the most powerful and unique image for the place (“unique value proposition” or “brand position”) is the most important activity. After that, building awareness is next most important. Both of these activities assume that the requisite research has been done with the most advantageous and receptive target audiences.

Beyond the basics, branding places becomes a more interesting and complex activity than branding a typical product or organization. The target audiences are myriad and disparate, including at least the following:

•    Residents and potential residents
•    Businesses and potential businesses
•    Tourists/visitors
•    Meeting and an event planners (including convention planners and major sporting event organizers)

Each of these audiences has its own distinct issues and needs.

The Language Of Branding: Brand Equity

Brand Equity is the commercial value of all associations and expectations (positive and negative) that people have of an organization and its products and services due to all experiences of, communications with, and perceptions of the brand over time.  This value can be measured in several ways: as the economic value of the brand asset itself, the price premium (to the end consumer or the trade) that the brand commands, the long term consumer loyalty the brand evokes, or the market share gains it results in, among many others. From an economist’s perspective, brand equity is the power of the brand to shift the consumer demand curve of a product or service (to achieve a price premium or a market share gain).

To use a metaphor, brand equity is like a pond.  People may not know how long the pond has been around or when it first filled with water, but they know that it supports life, from fish and frogs to ducks and deer.  It also may be a source of recreation, irrigation and possibly even human drinking water.  Clearly it is a valuable resource.  But many people take the pond for granted.  It seems as if nothing can diminish its supply of water, but yet we sometimes notice that it rises with the spring rains or lowers after a long draught or excessive overuse for irrigation.  Brand equity is a reservoir of goodwill.  Brand building activities consistently pursued over time will ensure that the reservoir remains full while neglecting those activities or taking actions that might deplete those reserves will reduce the reservoir, imperceptibly at first, but soon all too noticeably until it is too late and all that is left is mud.

BrandQuote

“Every brand builder will face a million temptations to obscure, dilute, or confuse his or her brand message. These temptations fall under two general headings: boredom and the desire for growth.”

                                          -David F. D’Alessandro, Brand Warfare

Sponsored By: Brand Aid

Starbucks: A Falling Star?

It looks like things are tightening up in Latte Land. The economy and competition are making Starbucks' glorious run a lot more difficult to sustain.

The first sign of trouble came from the stock market. Starbucks' share price has been cut in half in the last year after more than a decade of nearly continuous growth.

The next sign was the firing of its CEO who is to be replaced by the man who built the business from just four stores, Howard Schultz. Now it has 15,000 locations in 43 countries. What Schultz is learning is that the bigger you are, the harder it is to manage. He promoted rapid growth and he now has to clean up the problems he fostered by probably building far too many stores.

On the competitive front, Dunkin Donuts and now McDonald's are threatening to take more and more business by offering a good cup of coffee at considerably less than those $3 to $4 a cup that you pay at Starbucks.

I find it interesting that Schultz is not too concerned about competition. He feels that the problem is with Starbucks itself and all he needs is to fix it. In many ways he is right but I'm not sure that he is focused on the right problem.

Great Moments In Copywriting: Ogilvy And The Beggar

During one of his morning walks to work in New York City, David Ogilvy encountered a man begging with a sign around his neck.  The sign read: "I am blind," and, as evidenced by his nearly empty cup, the man was not doing very well.  Ogilvy removed the man's sign from around his neck, pulled out a marker and changed the sign to read, "It is spring and I am blind." He hung the sign back around the beggar's neck and went on his way. On his way home he was pleased to notice the vagrant had a full cap.

Sponsored By: Brand Aid

BrandQuote

"What’s your brand? If you can’t answer that question about your own brand in two or three words, your brand’s in trouble."                                           

                                          - Al Ries

Sponsored By: Brand Aid

Recession Marketing

A few years ago I was working for one of the major wine brands and analysing the Japanese market which, as always, was proving fascinatingly difficult to understand. The more I looked at the data, the more unlikely the story became: throughout the 90s, a time of unprecedented economic woe in Japan, the consumption of high-end wines increased dramatically.

My French boss was greatly amused with my confusion and eventually took me aside. 'Listen Mark,' he said. 'Let me explain. If you are on a plane, and the plane is about to crash, you don't drink piss.'

Perhaps not the most elegant of explanations, but one that has stayed with me, and one that should be top of mind as we enter 2008. Marketers with long memories or a keen grasp of macro-economics already sense that there is more in the New Year's air than the cold wind from the Continent.

The Advantage Of Price Segmentation

 
Price segmentation (offering different prices to different market segments) increases overall revenues and profits, and it is particularly beneficial to industries that have high fixed cost structures.  Obviously, price segmentation works better to the extent to which there are real customer need segments and to which you can effectively isolate those segments.

As an example, imagine that your business only offers one product priced at $5.  But some consumers are willing to pay up to $8.  You are leaving $3 on the table for each of them.  Other consumers are more price-sensitive and only willing to pay $3.  You do not get any of their business. With price segmentation more revenue  is generated by offering three prices -- $3, $5 and $8 – instead of just one -- $5.

Prices can be segmented in the following ways:

•    By time (higher hotel room rates for holidays and other peak tourist seasons)
•    By location (higher prices in locations with less competition or in which less price-sensitive shoppers shop, orchestra versus balcony seats in a theater)
•    By volume (volume discounts for large orders)
•    By product attribute (first class vs. coach section on airplanes; solid brass vs. plastic faucets)
•    By product bundling – examples:

The Language Of Branding: 'Brand Essence'

Brand Essence is the heart and soul of a brand – a brand’s fundamental nature or quality.  Usually stated in two to three words, a brand’s essence is the one constant across product categories and throughout the world. Some examples are “Nike: Authentic Athletic Performance,” “Hallmark: Caring Shared,” “Disney: Fun Family Entertainment or “Disneyworld, Magical Fun,” “Starbucks: Rewarding Everyday Moments,” “The Nature Conservancy: Saving Great Places.” (Typically, it is rare for an organization’s brand essence and slogan to be the same.  For instance, Nike’s essence – “authentic athletic performance” – was translated to the following two slogans: “Just do it!” and “I can.” But, “Saving Great Places” happens to be The Nature Conservancy’s brand essence and its slogan.)

Kevin Keller, brand expert and author of the popular brand book, Strategic Brand Management, coined the term “brand mantra,” which is very closely related to brand essence.  The “mantra” concept reinforces the role of brand essence in internal communication.  Kevin says, [brand mantra] should “define the category of business for the brand and set brand boundaries.  It should also clarify what is unique about the brand.  It should be memorable.  As a result it should be short, crisp and vivid in meaning.  Ideally, the brand mantra would also stake out ground that is personally meaningful and relevant to as many employees as possible.”

Sponsored by: The Brand Positioning Workshop

Ad Industry Icons: William Bernbach

William Bernbach
(1911-1982)
Doyle Dane Bernbach, New York
"I warn you against believing that advertising is a science." -- Bill Bernbach

After Bill Bernbach's death in October 1982, Harper's told its readers he "probably had a greater impact on American culture than any of the distinguished writers and artists who have appeared in the pages of Harper's during the past 133 years." Twenty-six years later, Bernbach's impact continues undiminished. And today he is recognized as No. 1 on Advertising Age's 20th century honor roll of advertising's most influential people.

Was it only yesterday that a "new" Volkswagen Beetle campaign appeared, one that proudly recalls its Bernbach lineage? Talked to advertising's creative stars lately? Or their mentors? It is still, "Bernbach, Bernbach, Bernbach." His influence is alive and well and ready to help lead the industry through the 21st century.

"Rules are what the artist breaks; the memorable never emerged from a formula." -- Bill Bernbach

As the single most influential creative force in advertising's history, Bernbach served as an inspiring father figure to some of advertising's most brilliant talents. His copywriters and art directors lived for his approval, competed to make his blue eyes sparkle, to produce work that would earn a Bernbachian smile. "What did Bill think?" was the question his Doyle Dane Bernbach people and clients would ask when new work was shown. Bernbach ruled.