Brand Dots

Posts Tagged ‘Brand’

Understanding the consumer is more important now than ever. So why not focus on our most profitable patrons?

The classic 80/20 principle claims 20 percent of all customers generate 80 percent of the demand. For example, heavy users make more than 60 percent of fast-food visits, but they only account for one of five fast-food patrons. If we can understand what these super-consumers want and then offer it to them, it will be mutually beneficial.

Tap into Your Super-Consumers reinforces this philosophy. Some of the examples provided by author Eddie Yoon boast a 20% increase in sales and a migration to the top spot within the respective industry. If companies keep brand-loyal customers happy, they will continue to come back for more.

Research can help us make informed decisions. Interviews, focus groups, surveys, questionnaires, and observation can all be useful tools. However, knowing the right questions to ask is equally important. It’s important to ask your best customers what matters most to them.

Are your star patrons looking for additional features, distinctiveness, better quality, improved service? Most consumers will pay a premium for their ideal product. It’s up to us to give them what they want.

Interbrand recently released the results from their 2009 Best Global Brands Summary.  Every year they rank the world’s most well-known brands in order of value.   For the ninth consecutive year, Coca-Cola has been the leader in brand equity.  Could it be their impressive logo that gives them a competitive edge?

Well-known symbols are often used to represent companies.  Take Mercedes-Benz and McDonalds, for example.  Consumers see their brand marks and immediately recall the company name.

Branding has three primary purposes: product identification, repeat sales, and new product sales.  When companies use a logo to represent their product, they allow marketers to differentiate their products from others so consumers can immediately indicate the product’s quality. The repeat and new product sales that are generated from a company’s brand recognition can make or break a company.

Logos are a very important part of branding to buyers and sellers.

Advantages to buyers:

• Helps identify products
• Cue to product quality and consistency

Advantages to sellers:

• Basis for product’s quality story
• Provides legal protection
• Helps to segment markets

A logo’s shape and color can have a lot to do with a company’s success.  Check out 6 Things We Can Learn From Google’s Logo for tips on how to create a meaningful and valuable logo!

Test your brand familiarity by taking this Corporate Logo Quiz.  How many logos can you name?

Boone Oakley is an advertising agency that has created brilliant campaigns for clients, such as MTV, Carmax, and Ruby Tuesday.  Their work is hilarious and their cutting-edge tactics have earned them Ad Age’s title of Southeast Ad Agency of the Year.

Boone Oakley uses a YouTube video for their main website.  It’s interactive and fun!  Check it out.  It’s very clever.

The video above is their homepage.  It shows an innovative and humorous brand story.  Storytelling is a common thread in their advertisements and viral campaigns.

My favorite video on their website can be found under “News,” where they thank Obama for naming his dog Bo after the company.  They make the connection between their initials and the spelling of the pooch’s name.  They also reveal that they share a name with Bo Derek, whom they refer to as a dreadlocked white girl, forever connecting their brand with sexiness.  It’s pretty funny.

I’ll be honest. Radiohead is one of my all-time favorite bands.  I found a keen fascination with the band years ago, when they released the album “Pablo Honey.”  And I have been a huge fan and admirer ever since.  I’ve bought every album and listened to them religiously over the years, and now I can add one more reason to love them to my list.  They are marketing masterminds!

Last year I was blown away by the huge success of their “In Rainbows” album.  With industry album sales in decline, largely because of the expansion of digital distribution and piracy, Radiohead decided they would try something new.  They marketed their “In Rainbows” album in a fresh and controversial way.  Fans could download the album from their website and name their price.  The “pay what you want” price strategy, intrigued consumers and in one year, the band sold more than three million copies.  The buzz helped move them and keep them at the top of the charts.

According to the NY Times, Radiohead didn’t stop there.  They have more contentious and cutting edge marketing tricks up their sleeves.

Here are a few marketing concepts that Radiohead has mastered:

• Create buzz-worthy material: They continue to release great music that speaks to people of all ages and social classes.  It gets people talking and makes them want to share it with everyone.
• Viral vitality: They’ve embraced technology.  Internet videos, blogs, digital downloading, and forums are all part of Radiohead’s marketing vocabulary.   They start rumors about new releases and encourage consumer connectivity.
• Fan interaction: They ask fans to participate in their success.  They hold contests, ask fans to create their music videos, and get consumers involved.
• If you can’t beat digital distribution, join ‘em: Recently, Thom Yorke, the band’s lead singer, announced that the band has plans to start releasing singles as opposed to albums.  This strategy goes against the music industry’s traditional distribution strategy.  This is generating more buzz about the band…maybe the industry could learn a thing or two from the group.

No doubt, Radiohead has found a way to stand the test of time through great musicality and notable marketing practices.  Here is the winning video from one of Radiohead’s recent contests.  Rock on, Radiohead.  Rock on!

Sean John Combs has created one of the strongest entertainment brands of this generation.   He is involved in hip-hop’s Bad Boy Records, has two clothing lines (Sean John and Sean by Sean Combs), a film production company, and two restaurants.  There is no question that he has built an empire out of his personal brand.

The world’s most powerful brands typically align themselves with a well-known archetype.  This is true for all types of brands, including celebrities.

I’ve enjoyed watching Comb’s celebrity evolve over time.  He started his rapping career as Puff Daddy.  People nicknamed him Puff or Puffy.   In 2005 he decided to change is name to P. Diddy, which eventually was changed to plain-ole’ Diddy.  This guy has had more names than I can count on one hand.  Through all of these name changes, you would think that Comb’s brand would be worthless, but quite the opposite happened.  With every name change, he worked toward reinventing himself.

In the beginning Diddy personified the outlaw archetype.  He was born in the Harlem projects, his father was shot and killed when he was a small child, and when he started the Bad Boy label, he became involved in the East-Coast/West-Coast Hip-Hop Feud.  In true outlaw form, he eventually faced gun possession and bribery charges.  Combs and his brand embraced the outlaw archetype.  He was a rebel, completely outrageous, and eager to start a hip-hop revolution.

Combs knew he couldn’t maintain success if he continued to embrace the outlaw persona.  He had to change his image.   This is where the name changing began.   Diddy’s new name, or maybe I should say names, were an attempt to reinvent himself as the ruler archetype that he is known as today.

Sean Combs has been able to reposition himself as the king of hip-hop, fashion, and all things entrepreneurial.  This is evident through his I am King fragrance campaign, Sean John ads, Ciroc commercials, and every interview that he is in.  He is an empowered, successful leader.  He’s gained credibility by showing the public that he can be a trusted, responsible, and dependable role model.

This rebranding strategy has worked for him.  He has taken control of his image and has acquired overwhelming success.  His net worth is currently estimated to be more than $346 million and will only continue to grow.

Celebrities reinvent themselves all the time.  Can you think of any good examples of celebrities that have switched from one archetype to another?

Laura Reis’ article, The Demise of Dell, provides a great example of why expansion is NOT the answer. 10 years ago, Dell was the best selling personal computer brand in the world!  They were focused on one thing: selling personal computers directly to businesses.  And then they decided to expand to the consumer electronics market.  They even started selling their PCs in retail stores, such as Sears and Walmart.

What were they thinking? Dell was known for having a direct to business sales/distribution model. They sold their souls, thinking that they would be able to capture more customers if they found new ways to sell and distribute their product. This change turned their tried-and-true business model on its head. It confused consumers and made people wonder what their brand really stood for.

History repeats itself and this is one example that proves that brands can’t be everything to everyone.  Stick to what you know and what you’re known for!

As a child, I was always creative.  I loved art, music, and eccentricity.  God bless my parents because I put them through hell during my teenage years.   If I could label my teens and early twenties, I would call them my “Rockstar” years.

I started my undergrad degree as a rockin’, partying, art student.  But after a few years I realized that, while I loved art, I didn’t want to end up a “starving artist” so I changed my major to Marketing.  This was probably the best decision I ever made because, little did I know at the time, Marketing was my calling. While pondering my evolution, I had an epiphany.  I may have grown older and my focus has shifted to my family and career, but I haven’t lost my rockstar roots.

To build a successful brand, YOU have to be a ROCKSTAR!

• Stand out!  Be the company that sports pink hair, so to speak.  Make people within your respective industry stand up and take notice.
• Go against the grain.  It’s okay to be controversial.  Burger King is the first example that comes to mind.  They make a lot of people question their advertising methods but they continue to win over fans from their target market.
• Revolutionize.  You say you want a revolution?  Create one!  Be the first to try new things.  Break the mold.  Give your customers new and improved products.  Try a new distribution method or take your advertising strategy up a notch.
• Keep it real! Don’t be fake; authenticity is key.  Be consistent in your brand messaging, stay true to yourself and company values, and be genuine.
• Nobody likes a sell-out.  Fans know if you’re the real deal.  Give them what they want and stay true to who you are.  You can’t be everything to everyone.  Be you!
• Start a fan club.   Build a sense of community around your brand.  Give your customers an interactive experience.  Plan events, encourage feedback, and reward your loyal customers.  Harley Davidson has mastered this strategy.

So, to all my fellow rockstars – the key to your success is staying true to who you are, making yourself the center of attention, and embracing your fans.  If you keep this in mind, your brand will continue to ROCK ON!

MTV has taken building interactivity and community into a brand strategy to the next level.  They are giving their fans complete creative control over their branding.  Today I came across this really cool website that allows people to submit their own version of the MTV logo, and if enough people like it, it will be used on the MTV website.  How cool!

MTV’s brand strategy had a humble beginning.  For those of you who haven’t noticed, MTV doesn’t really stand for “music television” as it once did.  MTV is synonymous with “pop culture,” so why not choose a logo that represents the same.

Frank Olinsky, Pat Gorman, and Patti Rogoff, young independent designers at the time, created the first MTV logo.  The original design consisted of a blocky 3-D “M” with a graffiti-scrawled “tv” on top of it. In the spirit of pure-nonconformity – rather than choosing “corporate colors” for the logo, they decided that the logo should always change, as music, art, and culture changes.  Over time, it has changed size and style, but the fundamental logo design has stayed consistent.  The ever-evolving design has kept the brand strategy current and trendy.

Now that’s what I call brilliant design!

The Fourth of July is one of my favorite holidays.  It’s a low-stress holiday, full of bar-b-q, parties, beer, flags, and fireworks.  Independence Day gives us the opportunity to remember how fortunate we are to have freedom.  As we approach America’s birthday, I can’t help but point out how powerful a patriotic marketing strategy can be.  After all, American’s have the strongest sense of national pride!

Patriotic marketing works!  It is one way that companies can appeal to a very broad segment of consumers.  Most Americans love to support their country, veterans, and American brands.  People tend to feel a connection to their country of origin and strong sense of national pride.  By embracing these emotions, companies can influence consumer-purchasing decisions.

One way companies incorporate patriotism into their brand strategy is through their logo design.  Some companies choose a name and company logo to show their pride and others, such as Google, have incorporated the stars and stripes into their existing logo.

Other companies choose to incorporate patriotic colors or images into their packaging.  Most of us have seen “Made in the USA,” eagles, or American flags stamped on products.  This stamp of patriotic approval could make or break a consumers buying decision.

Another way to show national pride is by outreach marketing with customized promotional products.  People love free key chains, stress balls, magnets, pens, and pins.  And the best thing about them is that people keep them, use them in the future, and will reference back to them to find your phone number or web address.

Military discounts are a win-win marketing approach.  They show others that you support the troops, give back to those that protect and serve our country, and specifically speak to a very large and precise target market: military personnel.  If you’re having a difficult time promoting your discount,  Veterans Advantage is one way you can get your products or services in the hands of vetrans, personnel, and their families.

Display your support!  Patriotic marketing can be as simple as decorating with American flags, stars and stripes, or a yellow ribbon.  Just make sure you display patriotic items that are in good condition.  There’s nothing worse than a worn and tattered flag on display.

So get out there!  Hang your flag and show your pride.  Stand UNITED!

One thing that’s obvious is that the world was shocked by the unfortunate death of Michael Jackson.  I haven’t seen such an overwhelming amount of media coverage about the death of a celebrity since Princess Diana died in 1997.  The cultural outcry shows how strong Jackson’s brand was.

How Michael Jackson Became a Brand Icon is an interesting article that I came across today that contains some very insightful information about how Jackson became such an influential brand.  Michael was many things to many people.  He may have been eccentric or just plain odd but one thing that’s certain is that his brand will outlive him. And although he will never embark on the sold-out 50-city tour of Europe, his records will continue to sell and our society will forever remember the iconic, self-proclaimed, “King of Pop.”