Brand vs. Commodity
July 25, 2008
The next time someone in your company suggests to you that investing in brand development, positioning and messaging isn’t important, remind them that without your brand, you’d have little left to compete with than price. In other words, without your brand, you’re just another commodity.
Certainly, your products and company offer features and benefits that consumers want and need, but it’s your brand that makes those features and benefits recognizable and preferred. Those features and benefits are extensions of your brand. Will they function on their own without a brand to support them? Perhaps, but a brand makes those features and benefits much more powerful and helps to further differentiate them from anything else available on the market. The brand makes them special and makes customer loyalty possible. Read more
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Proctor and Gamble Realize the “Mommy” Strategy
July 22, 2008
Ask a typical stay-at-home what she does all day long, and she will likely answer with
- “change diapers”
- “watch Elmo”
- “wash dishes”
- “pay bills online”
Or a myriad of tongue-in-cheek answers that would indicate that mom’s value is likely within the four walls of her home. But all of that is about to change, has changed and has started with Proctor and Gamble.
In a recent strategic move that, in my opinion, elevated the public relations quotient factor at P&G by at least 30%, Proctor and Gamble decided to get the opinion of some folks who affect their target buying market and is a significant influence on them…
“It’s official: Mom bloggers are the new influencers,” said Bryan McCleary, director of external relations for P&G baby care.”
The baby diaper folks had 15 of the Internet top bloggers flown into their office in an all-expenses-paid trip to pick their brains, gain their assessment on their product, help tweak some things and hopefully impress them enough that they will blog about them, and do so quite favorably, on their blogs.
Many corporations and organizations like Proctor and Gamble are beginning to see the intrinsic value in what these Internet bloggers and high-influencers have to say. Blogging is slowly becoming a respected and even sought-after method for marketing and client attraction because it provides a first account of a product, service or idea that directly affects the customer. Bloggers tend to tell it like it is.
Bloggers are also effective because they establish relationships with their readers through their blogs and slowly but surely become a source of influence for their readers. When the community needs advice, seek reviews or compiles information, they will look to the expert on a topic and will almost always go with whatever the “opinion” of the blogger is since they have been in the trenches themselves. This is why mommy bloggers are popular and in high demand – they know what the customers want AND how to articulate that through their opinionated review blogs.
Proctor and Gamble and others who have used this strategy have not been so concerned as the mommy bloggers being celeb-moms (high profile names), but more interested in the voice they have over the Internet.
“In and of themselves, they’re not huge websites,” said Tina Sharkey, chairman and global president of BabyCenter. “But they were voices we felt were representational of the different moms online. … BabyCenter partnered with them so we could have a blog network not just for our consumers but also for marketers who wanted to get the reach of the influentials.”
As for the effect that this type of exposure has for P&G, results will be seen soon and visible in their bottom dollar. However, it was a very savvy business move on their part to embrace what is going on in the blogosphere and to capitalize on it without reserve and without apology.
Yum! That’s Good!
July 15, 2008
What is the best way to market your media message and create warm and fuzzy feelings in customers?
By giving.
Brand Awareness
Creating brand awareness and loyalty in customers start by sharing something that makes a difference in people. Giant corporate moguls often do this by creating grants, special opportunities or giving a portion of their products or services to consumers as give-a-ways. Many times, these perceived “marketing strategies” backfire, causing feelings other than warm and fuzzy and can set a tone for a bad name instead of a good one with customers. However, if their actions are successful, customers usually remember them for a long time, citing their generous acts as reasons to reward them with repeat business.
The largest restaurant chain systems, Louisville, KY based company Yum! Brands Inc. does create those warm and fuzzies by giving away what their trademark brand is…food. They have done this by partnering with the United Nations World Food Program and other hunger relief agencies to reach out and make a difference. Their efforts have touched the lives of over 1.6 million people globally, concentrating on areas where there is a significant impact on world hunger.
The Right Way
What’s remarkable about what Yum is doing is the way they have chosen to make a difference and the impact that it has world-wide. Instead of a corporation this size simply profiting and enjoying its profits, they have taken an interest in local and international global affairs and decided to make a difference. As a parlay into success in media relations, instilling brand awareness and maximizing their message, Yum! has done a wonderful job of and is an example to the value of this type of public relations. As the parent company to their fast-food restaurants like Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and others, they are a leading example of what and how community interaction on a significantly broader level can help any company achieve that coveted word-of-mouth advertising and the aforementioned “warm-and-fuzzies.”
When is Sharing Not a Good Idea?
Consumers have a special knack for seeing right through messages that are only interested in their dollars. They know when they’re being “sold” to and when the only thing the company is after is their business solely for the sake of having their business. To that end, corporations would be wise to be careful when they share goodwill or attempt to broaden the scope of their audience by using certain tactics. They should be sure that their motives are pure, although there is nothing wrong with marketing to gain new consumers. The key to this type of marketing strategy to be successful is to know what the boundaries are and avoiding them at all costs.
After the company has achieved their objective in consumer relations, they can then enjoy the aftermath of increased sales, increased exposure, a successful marketing message and all of he good word-of-mouth advertising it can stand.
Now, I’d say Yum!, that’s pretty darn good!
Turn Brand Negatives into Brand Positives
July 14, 2008
Is there an aspect of your brand that is viewed negatively by consumers? If so, it’s quite possible that your brand negative could be repositioned or recommunicated to become a brand positive. Remember, much of branding and marketing is about consumer perception. How do consumers perceive your brand, and what is its position in the marketplace relative to other brands? By massaging consumer perception, you can turn threats into opportunities.
Take a brand like Listerine for example. Listerine has battled a negative brand image as a mouthwash with a terrible taste since the day it arrived on the market. In fact, the taste is so awful and the mouthwash is so strong that people have difficulty rinsing for the required 30 seconds recommended on the Listerine label. Read more
BAT’s A Lesson In Sustainability
July 10, 2008
News just in: British American Tobacco (BAT) is in sustainability trouble. Again … no, yet again.
Actually, forget it. BAT falling foul of sustainability standards isn’t really news any more.
The company is one of the great bêtes noires of a whole collection of pressure groups, each keen to use it as an example of what can go wrong when corporations are unchecked. Highlights from the past six years include:
- 2002 – the World Health Organisation accuses BAT of using “lies and deception” to hook children into “a lifetime of addiction and suffering”
- 2003 – BAT becomes the last UK company to cease business in Myanmar following a direct plea from the UK Government
- 2005 – the company’s manufacture of cigarettes in North Korea, not reported in its annual report, comes to light
- 2006 – examining BAT’s systematic destruction of scientific documents, a judge concludes “the whole purpose was to keep evidence [concerning the health risks of tobacco] out of the courts”
- 2007 – Nigerian state governments sue BAT for systematically targeting underage smokers
- 2008 – BBC broadcasts evidence that BAT is continuing to ignore its own guidelines across Africa in order to sell to underage smokers
However, many of BAT’s practices are legally acceptable and it has won awards from the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants for its sustainability reports. So this should not be taken as a hatchet job on BAT.
It’s purpose, in fact, is simply to illustrate the point made in recent posts concerning the FTSE Environmental Technology Index and Caisse d’Epargne’s Financial Product Certification Scheme: that a company’s sustainability cannot be wholly measured using financial instruments.
For example:
- shredding documents may avoid hefty payouts, but does it help sustain the regulatory freedoms companies rely upon? [BAT strenuously denied the claim, but settled out of court to avoid disclosing further documents ]
- operating in a communist state may be cheap, but does it really help improve the lives of those who are paid the flat communist wage? [BAT have since announced they are going to sell the North Korean factory ]
- targeting young, impoverished smokers may bring in revenue, but does a 5 minute gasp of tar and nicotine help them sustain health and well being? [BAT have recently launched a Youth Smoking Prevention campaign ]
I think I’m morally obliged to point out that I’m an ex-smoker. However, I’m in no way part of the Ex Smoker Mafia and I find the recent wave of anti-smoking legislation deeply unsettling.
However, you cannot measure a smoker’s freedom to light up in financial terms, only the cost of allowing and maintaining that freedom. Similarly, better ways of measuring sustainability have to be found to replace the crude instrument of the monetary impact a company’s actions have.