Branding Strategy Insider

A Challenged Marketplace: Opportunity For Brands

In today’s business climate, one thing stands out. All the rules are up for grabs. At least from where consumers stand, everything they’ve taken for granted can no longer be taken at face value. What seems good and trustworthy is just a headline away from some bombshell of betrayal. Presumptions about family, gender and race are being upended by demographic turnabouts. Traditional milestones of education, career and retirement are under question. For most people, figuring out the future means reexamining what used to work and finding a new way forward.

What a great opportunity for brands and those that manage them!

More than ever, consumers want fresh answers and new solutions. Brands have an unprecedented opportunity to bring something better to the table. So here are three brand management tips for the marketplace ahead.

First, embrace incongruity. Combine unusual elements. Confound expectations. Reinvent category boundaries. Embrace experimental culture. What consumers know nowadays is what doesn’t work, so they’re willing to experiment and give something new a shot.

Why not a Nissan that is more a rolling day spa selling health than an automobile selling transportation, with the A/C spritzing you with vitamin C to prevent wrinkles and seats designed by NASA that improve blood flow? Why not iPad kiosks at selected Delta gates at LaGuardia and JFK where people can sit and order food, play games or read? How about the vegetable butcher at Eataly’s in New York City or the Paper Pot from Molla Space that stylishly dispenses toilet paper like tissue or the Urbio Urban Vertical Garden that turns any interior wall into a green space? And don’t forget THE RIDE, which remakes the old-timey Manhattan bus tour with a combination of live street theater and buses specially equipped with the latest audio and video technologies.

The Imperative Of Brand Ritual

The popular revolts that swept away regimes in the Middle East remind us that loyalty can be fleeting.  While it seems a stretch to suggest that political and brand loyalty might intersect, there is one point of convergence to emphasize – the importance of ritual to loyalty.

What drove those in rebellion was not social media, headlines notwithstanding, but the ideas and plans developed and taught to many activists by Gene Sharp, a scholar of rebellion now retired from the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth.  Sharp argues that rulers have power only if people allow themselves to be ruled.  Once people refuse to obey, governments lose all authority.  So, says Sharp, all you have to do to topple a regime is persuade people to stop obeying.

In practice, it’s so simple. Governments know this because they cloak themselves in rituals, ceremonies, histories and mythologies to instill a psychology of allegiance.  As long as these rituals hold sway, it is hard for people to see that power is not vested inherently in authority or that they are not bound by some natural law to obey.

The tactics Sharp teaches challenge ritual because once the psychological grip of ritual is broken, people become emboldened and regimes lose their hold on power.  Some regimes respond with brutal repression, which often has the effect of further undermining the perceived legitimacy of government.

Without digging any deeper into Sharp’s ideas, parallels for brand strategy are apparent.  Ritual binds people to authority or an object of devotion.  So creating these rituals is the essence of building a brand.  Ritual forges the grip a brand holds on loyalty.

Innovation: Growth Requirement For Brands

Innovate or die continues to be the mantra for business growth. Many great innovations are often borrowed from other ideas.

Just because a product is new or novel does not necessarily make it useful, necessary, or valuable. Every company wants to be perceived as innovative in their product development. The truth is many companies struggle to be innovative in ways that are game-changers for their long-term success. Many companies innovate around themselves, bringing to market only incremental innovation that can produced in strict cost structures, rather than developing a deeper and richer understanding of what people really care about. When we think of innovations, is there anything new under the sun? Are original ideas all that original, or is there value in collecting from prior sources and piecing new things together?

Enlightened companies innovate around life experiences and meanings rather than competitive or functional features and benefits.

The process of innovation in these enterprises is centered in a deep desire to serve the well being of people–to make life a little better.  To do that well requires insight and empathy in equal measure. Enlightened companies view the process of innovation as something sacred and transcendent of the physics of their organizations. Innovation is hard-wired into their culture.  It’s not a practice that can be mandated, it is inspired right along with failure. Enlightened companies know there is no such thing as failure in innovation, there is only learning. Thomas Edison proved that over a century ago when he proclaimed “Your idea needs to be original only in its adaptation to the problem you are currently working on.” Then he went about the process of failing forward to his “innovation”.

Trust: Lifeblood Of Brands

Over the years, we have conducted brand equity measurement studies for hundreds of brands and over the years, we have also helped leadership teams position hundreds of brands. What is the number one quality that people look for in brands? – Trustworthiness. What is the number one quality that management teams want to build into their brands? – Trustworthiness.

A brand is nothing if not trustworthy. If your brand is not capable of consistently earning its customers’ trust over time, it is doomed to failure. A brand must be predictable. It must be dependable and reliable. It must deliver on its promises. It must be responsive to its customers’ requests. It must be transparent in its business practices. And it must not lie to its customers.

It is that simple. If your brand is not there, you have work to do. There is nothing more to say.

Sponsored by: The Brand Positioning Workshop 

Capitalizing On The Underdog Brand Effect

Everyone loves a scrappy underdog. J.K. Rowling created an appealing underdog character in Harry Potter. The New Orleans Saints and the Butler Bulldogs gave fans against-the-odds teams to back in the Super Bowl and the NCAA Final Four this year. Both Barack Obama and John McCain positioned themselves as underdogs in the 2008 U.S. presidential election. Brands, too, can profit from this positioning — in fact, stores are teeming with underdog products. Its label informs us, for example, that Nantucket Nectars started “with only a blender and a dream,” and Clif Bar proclaims that its founder once lived in a garage. Brewery Samuel Adams reminds us how small it is compared with behemoth Budweiser — while avoiding mention of how big it is compared with most craft beer makers.

What underdog brands share is a biography with two important narrative components: a disadvantaged position (one that typically highlights a company’s humble beginnings and portrays it as being “outgunned” by bigger, better resourced competitors) and a passion and determination to triumph against the odds.

To understand what makes underdog brands powerful, we devised online and live experiments that looked at how consumers’ self-image and circumstances affect their reaction to underdog and top-dog brand stories. We hypothesized that not only would consumers prefer underdog brands but they would do so because they personally identified with the brand’s underdog characteristics. In fact, subjects across all experiments showed a preference for the underdogs, most dramatically in a study in which we gave them a choice of chocolate bars. One brand had an underdog story: We described it as relatively small and new, competing against longtime powerhouses like Lindt and Godiva. The other brand had a top-dog biography, characterized by experienced, well-resourced founders and a big marketing budget. The result: 71 percent chose the underdog chocolate.

The Brand Building Power Of Personalization

Some time ago, I checked into a hotel in Hong Kong. The receptionist handed me a bunch of business cards. They weren't the hotel's business cards but my own, complete with my phone and fax numbers and contact details while staying at the hotel. It was a gesture that kind of made me feel special.

I know we can all be cynical and see through this ploy, but it works.

Time after time, when evaluating what makes service unique, I conclude it comes down to two simple factors: attention to the individual and a personal twist. Whether we admit it or not, we all love particular attention, to be treated as unique human beings. Especially these days, when corporate inattention so often makes us feel more like statistical details than people with names.

A while back, I wrote a post on how important it is to personalize a brand's dialogue with the customer. One assumption was the more personal we make our brand's voice, the more effective communication becomes. Well, a reader from Holland, Erwin van Lun, contacted me to tell me the assumption has been proven.

Dutch marketing journal Tijdschrift voor Marketing published some hot-off-the-press data showing the personal touch can be even more effective than anticipated.

Brand Inspiration From The Far East

As the Far East seems to move closer and closer to the west, and its two billion people open their wallets to brands, it might be valuable to seek some inspiration from oriental culture. At least, from one part of the Far East, which is as culturally diverse as Europe’s thirty-plus countries are, and as varied as the cultures of North America’s states.

For western brands that are about to hit any part of Asia, you need a culturally aware Asian brand strategy to avoid a negative response to the culture shock you and your brand might experience. Even if you have no plans to enter Asian markets, there’s lots to learn from comparing culturally derived attitudes which all have lessons for brands and business.

For example, let’s look at sake, Japan’s traditional rice wine. When you’re in Japan, you’ll observe a gesture that’s typical in the hospitality of the country. It’s a gesture that has relevance to branding and business in general. The eggcup-sized sake cup will be placed in front of you, sitting in a receptacle of some kind – an elegant cherry wood box, an everyday saucer. When your host or companion pours your sake the cup will be filled to overflowing, the receptacle it sits in receiving the overflow and itself being filled to the brim. This over serving expresses the generosity of the host, restaurant or bar. It’s a gesture to show gratitude for your presence. And it exhibits a desire to give you more that you expect. You’ll agree that this vignette opens vistas of meaning – brands must over-deliver and exceed customer expectations. Yet, so often, brands simply meet expectations. I’ll never forget my first sake. Such gestures of abundance, hospitality and respect will be associated by your customers with your brand, creating an invaluable emotional tie between them.

Another lesson I’ve learned from Japan occurred when I was visiting a picturesque little village near Kyoto, in the beautiful Kansai region.

Brand Transformability In A Down Economy

In an economic downturn, there may be a tendency to give up on new ideas and thinking, and just hunker down, until the worst is over. But, what if this is really our chance to examine new possibilities? If freaking out doesn’t make your numbers improve (and - at this point - you can lead a consumer to your product, but you can’t make her buy), what might happen when you use that brainwave space to identify and integrate consumer trends you never actually noticed before? Perhaps amazing things.

Take Reena Jana’s quick hit Businessweek article and video with David Rockwell, architect/branding expert/set designer, as an example. He commented on hotel design, which has been on my mind a bit lately too. One of Rockwell’s thoughts: what about holding cooking classes in hotel kitchens? Such design thinking is worth a little hotelier attention these days, given the convergence of trends in staying home, cooking more, and being with family. What else, physical space or otherwise, is primed for such “transformability,” as Rockwell called it?

Cooking classes in a hotel kitchen could serve consumers and add value on so many levels - but without this “what now” sense of doom we feel, such ideas might never surface. Given extreme limitations, creative thinking is forced to be that much more bold, even as the solutions become more streamlined.

Here’s another example of transformability, in my mind: Consider how Subaru is handling the current “discount” season, with their “Share The Love” philanthropic campaign. Rather than promoting money-back at loan signing or one of the other typical year-end strategies for a car dealer, they kept within the tight parameters, learned more about their consumers and thought quite differently. What their research found was that a charitable donation would very much resonate with the types of people who’d be considering a Subaru buy right about now.

Brands Excel With Over Delivery

Recently I checked into The Peninsula Hotel in Chicago. Knowing the brand your expectations are by default tuned to the highest level – still I’ve time after time managed to be surprised. When I wished to access music in my room, I was told that the CD library didn’t exist in this particular hotel. The apologetic concierge however asked me out of curiosity which CD’s I was looking for. Listing all my favourite artists I hang up wondering the reason for this curiosity. 20 minutes later the bell rang on my door. The same person as I’ve been speaking with over the phone handed over a bag with three CD’s purchased by the hotel, all the favourites I mentioned – and given as a gift to me.

I bet you’ll never forget this story – neither do I. But the case is that the extra $20 the hotel decided to spend on my account makes me spread the story – just like now. Would you still claim this wasn’t worth the investment … hardly!

The story is very much in line with another experience taking place in a Louis Vuitton store, the maker of luxury leather goods, which explicitly does not offer a lifetime warranty on its products. In fact, the company's documentation states a charge will be applied for repairs. The salesperson to whom you return your faulty product further reiterates this when you take it in for repair. But when you come back to collect your item, you'll almost never pay for the service. The salesperson assures you this was done especially for you.

The over deliver and under promise builds your brand in ways which few can imagine – as it reflects a brand which cares about you – rather than a brand which traditionally only cares about it’s shareholders. It’s a story, which stays with you for life – and not only keeps you as a loyal customer – it makes you spread the rumour. If you don’t believe me ask any kid about how many bricks there is in any box of LEGO –and the answer would be – “there are always too many bricks in the box”. I remember as a kid I always noticed the pleasant surprise – which always made me think this was a special gift for me. Many years later, when visiting the factory I realized, other factors were the true reason for this generosity – still the story stays with me forever.

Marketers Can Borrow To Win

Not too long ago I picked up the "big new idea" book, Blue Ocean Strategy. Its basic concept is about pursuing and creating new products and services (blue oceans) instead of duking it out with established competitors in existing categories (red oceans).

It is absolutely a smart way to go. In fact, we have been preaching this concept for years. In my 1981 book Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind, Al Ries and I wrote, "It's better to be first than better." And in our 1985 Marketing Warfare you'll read how "flanking warfare moves into uncontested areas that avoids established competitors."

Did the authors borrow old ideas and build on them? Sure. They have followed Thomas Edison's advice when he said, "Your idea needs to be original only in its adaptation to the problem you are currently working on."

You can increase your odds of solving a problem by becoming a collector. When you come across a nifty notion or a savvy strategy, save it. Start a journal, a clipping file and a computer file. Keep a pad by the bed, a voice recorder in the car.

When you're trying to find a solution to something, dip into your collection. Then use a blueprint to make the most of an existing idea. (The blueprint itself is adapted from a checklist by Alex Osborn, author of Applied Imagination.)

The simplest way to solve a problem is to borrow an existing idea. Military designers, for instance, borrowed from Picasso's art to create better camouflage pattern for tanks.

The simplest way to invent a new product is to adapt an existing idea. The pop singer and composer Paul Simon was asked where he got the inspiration for "Bridge Over Troubled Waters." He was brutally honest. He said he was carrying around two melodies in his head--a Bach chorale and a gospel tune from the Swan Silvertones--"and I just pieced them together."