Branding Strategy Insider

Keys To Renewing Interest In Your Brand

As consumers, our attention spans are getting shorter and shorter. We are inundated by brands – on the shelf, in print, on television, on our phones and computers, on coffee cups, napkins, billboards, trash cans, t-shirts, cars, just about everywhere we turn. Most of us have become desensitized pedestrians in this ad-blanketed world that we need to be visually stimulated to keep our attention, even for a few seconds.

Did you know?

On the record, we are becoming more inattentive, over-active, and impulsive. It is becoming harder and harder to catch and keep our attention. The Center for Drug Control (CDC) estimates that 5.3 million, or 8.6%, American children age three to 17 have been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). And, it is estimated that 4.7% of adults in America currently live with ADHD. These numbers are growing each year.

To further exasperate our shorter attention spans, we also have a lot more stuff to choose from. In the US, we have over 400 different types of cereal, 1000 types of potato chips, 240 types of toothpastes, and over 800 types of shampoos. The average, American visits the grocery store at least twice a week, that’s a lot of product to choose from and a lot of decisions to make!

Finally, when we are home, we can’t escape brands and their messages. According to the Nielsen ratings system, the average length of commercials in the U.S. today is 30 seconds. Commercials take up approximately 18 minutes of airtime from one-hour programs. That’s about 36 commercials an hour!

So ask yourself...

In this age where consumer’s minds are skipping faster and faster from one thing to the next, how can marketers keep their brands top-of-mind and in the cart? Look at your brand and ask, Are we still fresh? Do we stand out on the shelf? Are we capturing the attention of the consumer? Are we connecting with the consumer on multiple levels? And ultimately, are they buying our goods? If you pause to think, it’s time to Look, Listen and Connect.

The Challenges And Rewards Of Destination Marketing

It’s not easy for small cities to attract positive attention, but it is easy to forget that the rest of the world is not as interested in our hometown as those of us who live there. Small cities generally have rare opportunities to capture our attention or to impress the outside world.

Each year, thousands of small places across the USA come to the forefront in the national media for a few seconds in news reports or other events, and then disappear from our radar again. We usually don’t spend much time thinking about cities other than those that are regularly covered in the media, or those where we live, have visited, do business in, or where friends and relatives live. When we do hear of them, it is often for the wrong reasons such as bad weather, disasters, crime, accidents, or maybe in a more positive vein, for sporting events, famous people, or travelogues. Additionally, the media often unknowingly reinforces negative stereotypes or conveys inaccurate and outdated information about places.

Cities wanting to maintain or elevate the standard of living of their residents must counter unproductive stereotypes about themselves. This is more of a challenge for those that have not actively projected a contemporary image of themselves or have not had a flow of visitors to see the reality of what the place is really like.  Outdated and inaccurate images frequently prove slow and difficult to eradicate, even in the minds of residents who don’t recognize the positive changes that have occurred around them.

Brand Packaging: 3 Things A CEO/CMO Must Understand

As principal of a brand identity firm for 15+ years, I have too often seen how brand-packaging redesigns fail due to inherent client subjectivity. And, unlike brand advertising, which is readily malleable, “brand dress,” the most long lasting of all marketing media, must remain competitive and relevant for on average three years.

Still brand packaging is the most potent weapon in the CMO’s arsenal in the battle for the hearts and minds of consumers on the actual playing field - the retail shelf; the last moment of truth where ROI is tracked daily!

But by following three steps, your brand packaging will be seen (visual), felt (emotional) and understood (rational) in the five seconds or less that your consumer takes to select your brand...or to pass it over.

1. Get The Right Resource Onboard

Ensure that your RFQ process removes politics and potential favoritism to actually uncover the firm most appropriate for the project. Then ask for proof of trademark/infringement insurance, while inquiring that a trademark/trade dress attorney is connected to your firm of choice. Only in this manner can you trademark newly developed brand assets and protect them from private label copycat activity.

Pranks In Brand Management

April Fool's day calls for a post on pranks here on BSI. Below is a list of some noteworthy “pranks” played by consumer-friendly brands:

Google: Google asked members to sign up to test the newly unveiled “store everything” feature in Google Docs. Google Docs was allowing users to store more than documents; they could store their pet rock collections, winter clothes, apartments and even their pets for the competitive price of $.10 per kg. Finding objects stored in Google Docs would become as easy as pressing “Ctrl + F”.

Starbucks: Starbucks announced that in response to customers requesting more beverage sizes, they were introducing the 128-ounce “Plenta” and the 2-ounce “Micra”. Starbucks explained that the additions were a result of direct customer feedback from MyStarbucksIdea.com and a year’s worth of research.

Nike: Nike released a video revealing the secret behind where they get the air for Nike Air shoes. The video explains that the air is collected from star athletes to help you perform at your best.