Branding Strategy Insider

Brand Marketing's New Reality

If for one reason or another, you’d slept through the past five years, only to find yourself suddenly awake in August 2010, you’d quickly realize the world of advertising and marketing has fundamentally changed in three major ways. First, subconscious or subliminal communication (and research) has become part of the vocabulary of most marketers.

Second, power has shifted from brand owners to consumers - even the most powerful brands know that successful campaigns have to systematically engage consumers, who will in turn use their mighty word of mouth to spread the messages opposed to relying on big media budgets do the work.

Third, 2010 is shaping up to be dominated by guilt. Guilt for spending money in the midst of a debilitating global recession, guilt for polluting the world, and finally, parental guilt, as kids increasingly engage in their own online world, far removed from traditional values that were previously the exclusive domain of the family.

So what does this mean for a marketer in 2010? Don’t fall into the trap of believing that conventional research will do the trick. More than 80% of all the decisions we make every day are decided upon in our non-conscious part of the brain. Now if we can trust these numbers, and every study indicates that we can, then 2010 will be the year where marketers will be forced to investigate alternative research methodologies that tap into the subconscious processes involved in decision making.

2010 Brings Brands 10 Golden Digital Opportunities

Looking ahead to 2010, marketers will be facing Olympic hurdles that will require steadfast agility just to stay in the game, much less to hit the finish line ahead of the competition. Here are 10 ideas, wrapped in Olympic glory that should deliver the gold.

1. Social Media: A Marathon, Not a Sprint

Hoping to become fast friends with their targets, a lot of brands rushed into Facebook and Twitter in the last 24 months without investing sufficient time or resources. In 2010, savvy marketers will increase their commitment to social media by first listening and then offering up a steady stream of engaging content that their fans actually want. This will be particularly true for B2B brands, only 38% of whom included social media in their 2008 marketing plans (vs. 71% for B2C brands). With one comScore study indicating that branded social media activities can have a multiplier effect on search results, there is even a quantifiable rationale for brands to up the social media ante in 2010.

2. Mash-Ups: Taking Inspiration from Biathlons

A few innovative marketers took a shot at mash-ups in 2009. E.P. Carrillo, a new cigar manufacturer, created a mesmerizing Twitter and Google Maps mash-up for its "coming soon" site that tracks cigar tweets from around the world. In 2010, these kinds of mash-ups will become smoking hot as marketers look to extend the value of their social media activities. Recognizing that tech-savvy consumers glide seamlessly between personal and business, online and offline, mobile and desktop, farsighted marketers will bring together formerly disparate elements into a cohesive and self-perpetuating social media experience.

3. App Happy: On Your Mark, Get Set, Go Crazy

Given the success a handful of marketers enjoyed with their "apps" in 2009, expect a blaze of new entries in 2010. iPhone apps that provide demonstrable utility like Kraft's iFood Assistant recipe finder and Benjamin Moore's color matcher will continue to gain traction. Expect more app's that integrate with other social media like the Gap StyleMixer that allows you to mix and match clothes and share them with friends on Facebook. And don't forget the non-iPhone universe. The steakhouse Maloney and Porcelli cooked up a humorous and somewhat deviant web-based app at Expense A Steak that extrudes faux expense reports with stunning verisimilitude.

9 Digital Trends For 2010

1: Facebook replaces personal email

Question: Google has it, Hoover has it (in the UK anyway), TiVo had it, lost it and has somewhat got it back. Xerox had it, but nobody really cares anymore. So what is it?

It's when a brand name becomes the verb associated with its use. So rather than searching, you Google, or TiVo when digital recording a television show. Arguably an even more powerful synonym is when a brand becomes a noun, such as Polaroid, for instant developed photographs, although that didn't end so well.

The newest one would seem to Facebook, although it has too meanings.

'I Facebooked you' could mean that you the person has added you as a Facebook friend or they sent you a private message though Facebook. The latter would seem to be of more interest as no-one has really owned this type of communication before. No brand ever became synonymous with email. To Hotmail or Gmail someone just never happened.

So the interesting and overlooked disruption of Facebook is its displacement of personal email as a communication tool. Completely permission based, no SPAM (yet), and no address book required - your friends are already on Facebook.

Top Ten Integrated Marketing Trends for 2010

1. Less will get done: until we learn to do more with less.

While the year 2009 was marked as the 'great recession', we won't feel its full effects until 2010. Both marketers and their marketing services agency partners are dealing with reduced resources in terms of head-count and budgets. We won't likely see enough breakthroughs in the marketplace, simply because marketers and agencies alike have to remain focused on 'getting the work out the door'. The only way to 'do more with less' is to align resources toward a single and powerful integrated marketing solution. Individual marketing tactics will simply become marginalized and highly tactical with 'less'.

2. Marketers will mistakenly 'whack' a medium of the marketing mix.

With reduced marketing budgets, 'something has to give'. Unfortunately, marketers are making wholesale cuts to specific marketing/media channels in the process. We've seen the most dramatic cuts occur in print media: newspapers and magazines. I caution marketers to consider whether the remaining media in the market mix can compensate for the cuts. For example, does the internet behave like print? Is the consumer experience the same in both media? Are the message formats the same? The answer is a clear NO. Reduced resources should not come at the expense of an integrated, multi-channel mix.

3. Marketers rush to employ 'social networking' strategies.

Marketers are in a mad rush to enter the social networking space with 'tweets', 'widgets', 'apps' and 'fan pages'. However, social networking is not a marketing tactic; nor is it a surrogate for the brand's social experience. It is not a line item on a marketing plan, a specific channel, or a form of content. Rather, it is an outcome. And, no single channel has a lock on the 'social' nature of content. Most any medium can serve as the 'originating' medium in a journey that can take a great piece of content across channels and into vast networks of hearts and minds.

5 Retail Marketing Trends for 2010

1) Inconspicuous Consumption

Consumers respond to the social moment by taking consumption into the closet. As when we talk about going to Fred's (in-store restaurant), not Barney's. Or, ask to have new purchases shipped, rather than be seen carrying a branded shopping bag. Or, decide to have shoes repaired and last year's jacket altered. Spending as a covert activity. No bragging rights.

2) The Dyslexic Dilemma

It's a "b." No. It's a "d." Consumers stall in their tracks, trying to figure out what to do, right now. Are we heading out of the woods, or perhaps a bit deeper into it. The moment to watch: What happens when unemployment hits 10 percent at the exact moment the Dow tops 10,000. That deer-in-the-headlights look on the consumers' face: Now or not yet? What is the real barometer of economic health? Dare I buy a peach?

3) Private Labeling

The number one brands thrive, innovating, advertising and product improving. But, the number 2s and 3s stop striving, unable to compete with performance advances or on price. Into the vacuum steps Private Label. No longer just "okay, available and cheap," these grocery aisle invaders are well-branded, feature rich and are oh-so-profitable for the stores. Say goodbye to familiar but moribund household names; say hello to snazzy new entrants that shave quarters off the check-out total without sacrifice. (Store brands in play at Walmart pictured above)

10 Branding and Marketing Trends for 2010

Niels Bohr once noted that "prediction is very difficult, especially about the future," but then he didn't have access to predictive loyalty metrics. Happily, we do. And, as they measure the direction and velocity of consumer values 12 to 18 months in advance of the marketplace and consumer articulations of category needs and expectations, they identify future trends with uncanny accuracy.

Having examined these measures, we offer 10 trends for marketers for 2010 that will have direct consequences to the success - or failure – of next year's branding and marketing efforts.

1) Value is the new black

Consumer spending, even on sale items, will continue to be replaced by a reason-to-buy at all. This spells trouble for brands with no authentic meaning, whether high-end or low.

2) Brands increasingly a surrogate for "value"

What makes goods and services valuable will increasingly be what's wrapped up in the brand and what it stands for. Why J Crew instead of The Gap? J Crew stands for a new era in careful chic --being smart and stylish. The first family's support of the brand doesn't hurt either.

3) Brand differentiation is Brand Value

The unique meaning of a brand will increase in importance as generic features continue to plague the brand landscape. Awareness as a meaningful market force has long been obsolete, and differentiation will be critical for success --meaning sales and profitability.

Trademark Statistics Reflect Economy

As the economy swoons, companies are cutting back on marketing. For proof, just ask the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, where the demand to register new brand names, logotypes and taglines has taken a steep slide.

In the first four months of 2009, the number of new applications for trademark registration fell 20%.

This accelerates a downward trend that began in 2008, according to Glenn Gundersen, a nationally recognized intellectual property attorney. Gundersen leads the trademark law practice at Dechert LLP  and has been reporting on trademark trends since 1992.

Gundersen sees other lessons in the numbers:

    * Trademark applications have not fallen as far as they did in 2001, but this time the slump comes from many sectors of the economy, and not just from the burst of dot-com bubbles.

    * The cutback in new product and business launches, ad campaigns, and package redesigns is clearly substantial, since many of those marketing initiatives would have necessitated new trademark filings.

    * The drop in 2008 and 2009 applications also reflects cutbacks in corporate legal budgets, as companies become more selective about which marks merit the expense of a federal filing.

    * There’s no relief for a company seeking to find a mark to convey the idea that a product or service is environmentally friendly. The continuing boom in eco-oriented marks has created a green-branding gridlock.

Sponsored By: +2 Marketing Consultants

The Future of Branding

The Future of Brand Management: My Prognostications:

•    Building emotional connection will be key
•    Brands will focus more on creating/engineering the total customer experience
•    Customer-relevant innovation will be a key success factor
•    Outstanding customer service will also be a key success factor
•    Hiring the right employees and creating the appropriate culture will be essential
•    More and more, brands will co-create the customer experience with the customer
•    More and more, brands will need to "stand for something" to survive
•    Strong brands will not only "stand for something," they will also provide forums for people who believe in what the brands stand for
•    Organizations whose employees become consultants to and friends and partners with their customers will be the most successful
•    One-on-one marketing will become more and more important
•    The Internet will also become increasingly important as a brand building vehicle
•    For larger organizations, customer relationship management (CRM) will become a critical success factor
•    Fast, flexible and agile organizations will increasingly "win" in the digital age

US: Dropping the Ball on Green Issues

Greetings from LA, where I am working on a major consulting assignment.

The contrast in climates between the cold, wind-battered island that I left behind and the calm, sunny skies of California could not be more pronounced. Even more striking, however, is the contrast between the US approach to climate change and the one I am accustomed to in Britain.

It's hard to avoid the issue in the UK. Switch on the TV and you are confronted with numerous features about the topic. Parliament is regularly debating the nation's response to climate change and most of our major brands are beginning to alter their approaches to respond to the issues too.

Tesco is the latest to take action; the retailer is to discount energy-efficient products, reduce its reliance on air freight and install wind turbines on top of its stores as part of a £500m green initiative announced earlier this year.

Here in the US, however, the climate-change debate is significantly less developed. The government is almost silent on the issue and most major companies are extremely reticent about confronting global warming.

This past January in Detroit, Van E Jolissaint, chief economist at Chrysler, made headlines with some comments he made at a recent automotive conference.

The Future of Marketing

Marketing isn’t what it used to be. In 2003, advertising spending across the world increased on average by 3.6% - however the returns from that spend decreased by 3.4%. Not a surprising fact considering that the average consumer who’s reached the ripe old age of 65 in Britain would have been exposed to at least one million television commercials. And the number in the U.S. and Australia is even higher. When you stop and do the sums, this equates to watching television commercials for eight hours every day, seven days a week for a mind-boggling three years! 

Given the low return on advertising investment, we are forced to conclude that advertising, as we know it, no longer works. Something new is required. I’m suggesting three new pathways. 

Sensory Branding
The world of advertising needs to go back to basics. Today 99% of all communication is based on what we see and what we hear. One may ask about what we smell, taste and feel – particularly in light of the fact that  75% of our emotions are connected to what we smell rather than what we see and hear. Marketing seems to have generally neglected this very important sense at its own peril considering that branding is all about building emotional relationships between a product and the consumer.

I call this concept of appealing to all the senses Sensory Branding – a topic you’ll hear much more about as I share the findings from the world’s largest study ever conducted on brands and our five senses as part of project BRAND sense. The results are nothing short of startling, and for the first time they offer proof that in order to survive, branding has to expand its two-dimension approach and become a five-dimensional concept.