Brand Central Station

Skip Lindberg, resident genius at Maple Creative and author of the Marketing Genius blog gives us a good rant about what’s not quite right with Walmart’s identity makeover. 

Skip brings up a problem faced by dozens of brands going through an identity re-boot: a mark that looks too much like another brand that may – or may not – be complimentary.  In this case, Skip says (and I agree) that Walmart’s new mark looks too much like the Holiday Inn mark located on hundreds of marquis signs throughout America.

Yikes.

I have another problem with the new Walmart mark and that goes directly to the discount chain’s “every day low pricing” positioning.  The retailer offers that positioning as some kind of guarantee.  But the new mark looks too much like an asterisk for me to take any kind of guarantee seriously.

Am I reading too much into this or is it a real problem?  Let me know what you think.

From the “What were they thinking department?” – here’s a story about a restaurateur in Mumbia who, after reviewing all of the potential names and historical icons with whom to associate his restaurant, decided that Adolf Hitler was the man for him. His restaurant, Hitler’s Cross, opened last week.

It stands out, you can say that much.

Ads promoting the restaurant used pictures of the German leader, Nazi iconography and an extra serving of controversy. But today, four days after the restaurant’s opening, the owners have decided to rename the eatery.

According to this story off the Zeenews web site, owner Shakir Siddiqui said the decision was made after a meeting with the Jewish Society of Inda. The meeting was held following public protests by a variety of people including the German and Israeli Consul Generals.

A new name will be announced in a few days. Any suggestions? Send us your proposed name and we’ll post them to this site.

The Fast Company blog shares information on the opening of the Museum of Brands, Packaging and Advertising in West London. You can find more information on the museum here (subscription required).

The museum’s web site can be found here (although there isn’t much more than a landing page right now).

The Hidden Persuader has provided this look at Levi’s new iJeans which features a pocket for your iPod. Now it will be even easier for my son to put his iPod in the wash.

Great.

Micropersuasion’s Steve Rubel shares a list of the things every company should be monitoring online:

- Your company name
- Your company URL
- Your company’s public-facing figures
- Your product names
- Your product URL’s
- Your industry hang-outs
- Your employee’s blogs
- Online conversations about your brand/company
- Your brand’s image
- Your competition

Thanks to Steve for tipping us off to Cameron Olthuis’ blog post on this subject. Cameron provides a list of web sites and tools that you can use to “track your buzz.”

Sounds like a full-time job, doesn’t it? I know a firm that would be happy to help.

We love it when a brand extension hits it big-time or crashes and burns. It’s exciting. It’s dramatic. It’s also not about the product/extension itself.

As a business strategy, deciding to extend an existing brand is sound but wrought with potential disaster. With every brand extension, you are putting all of your chips on the table and betting against the house.

Anything short of a home-run could be construed as a defeat. Successes, like the Apple iPod or Kellogg’s newly revitalized Eggo’s are noteworthy. But the failures, like water-filled bras from Evian, can be devastating. (more…)

Very often, when it comes to presenting out-of-the-box, creative thinking to clients, the biggest sales job has to happen inside the agency.

It’s a shame, really. Clients love to see innovative thinking but many times the folks that work back at the agencies (both PR and advertising-focused) get into a project mindset that is great for getting work out the door but not so good when it comes to generating the next big idea. Clients often refer to creative burn-out as a reason for initiating new agency searches.

The benefits of unsolicited innovation for a client can be difficult to define on the P&L and even harder to find with the account team. Creating new advertising campaigns, conducting unsolicited research or pestering vendors for new ideas or special deals takes time and effort. An effort that is often minimized or overlooked entirely by the account manager.

It’s tough enough to do the work; to do it with very little information, no client input and limited resources is almost impossible. To then have the effort dismissed by an account executive is often the final straw. The only consolation for those team members who get diss’d is the realization that AE’s who commit this error against the account team are hurting themselves worse than they can imagine.

It’s time to turn this situation around and lead the team to victory.

Account managers first have to understand the value of having a client perceive the account team as interested, engaged, passionate and knowledgeable about his business. The easiest – and best – way to do this is to present new ideas, concepts, research and programs to the client for his review and comment. There shouldn’t be a separate charge for this service. If you manage your budgets right, there should be plenty of opportunities for the team to think about the client’s future and then use available knowledge assets to conceive possible executions.

The account team has to recognize the value of having a client who is convinced of their interest, passion and knowledge of his business. Clients who love their agencies don’t leave them. And with an average shelf-life of 3 years, any client who is happy with the nature of the partnership he has with his agency is likely to stay past that deadline. That spells job security and more for all the members of the account team, not just the AE.

Initially, unsolicited ideas should be presented to the client as a teaching opportunity. Present the ideas to the client with a request to learn why it is or is not a good idea for him. This soft-sounding procedure will help you identify where the client sits politically inside his organization as well as how much the client knows and understands about the state of his industry or profession. This is a border-staking expedition and everything you learn about the client (i.e. his likes and dislikes, his areas of interest and expertise, the budget and political challenges he faces) should be relayed to the account team for future reference.

As time goes by, the ideas and concepts generated by the account team will come closer and closer to the strategic goals of the client’s organization and (hopefully) will fall within the client’s expectations of budget and production timelines. That’s when, as the account manager, you’re able to start making the change from just presenting the work to selling the work. If you do your job well, new ideas will create referral opportunities for you within the client’s own organization. That business expansion strategy can be both profitable and tremendously satisfying.

Both to the client and to your account team back at the agency.

Why are solutions to problems called “Silver Bullets”?

I suspect it has something to do with the old, traditional legends that demons, giants and (after 1941’s The Wolf Man) werewolves could be killed by the shot of a single, silver bullet. In the 1930’s and 40’s, The Lone Ranger shot silver bullets at the bad guys and did good deeds for everyone else. (more…)

There is no question that innovation is important. The participants in our BCS polls agreed (as we suspected they might). More than 80% of the companies we surveyed said their businesses were more innovative than they were just one year ago.But why?

“It’s the key to being competitive,” explained Denise Dorman of Write Brain Media in Chicago. Dorman works with a variety of clients located around the country, helping them to spot the innovative and creative, then bringing it to people’s attention.

Her statement was echoed by several others survey participants. “Change can bring success on many fronts,” wrote one manager from a national retail chain. “Merchants, marketing and our stores have the responsibility (for innovation).”

But businesses must be careful to avoid innovation without reason. Product innovation without suitable backing of customer insights can lead to some unpleasant consequences.

Consultant, author and speaker, Reva Nelson puts it this way:

“… what happens with innovation gone wrong, innovation for its own sake?

It forgets its roots, it moves too far away from the main trunk, it tries to disconnect and communication gets shot to hell. There are some consultants, managers and CEO’s who forget about connection and communication, and think innovation is an end to itself. It’s not. All innovation, like all change, must be well-communicated. It needs to take its time, and stay connected to the source.”

Nelson uses the example of downsizing as a perfect example of innovation run amok. The backlash from losing some really good people and vital institutional memory can quickly erase the financial benefits of the business decision.

It’s also possible for technological innovation to outpace the ability of the users to learn and adapt. The result is frustration, a loss of productivity and the possible loss of talent due to frustration.

The key to making innovation work is to make sure there is plenty of communication both internally and externally. Expectations need to be set and managed and, most importantly, benchmarks need to be clearly set so those living with the innovation can recognize the progress they’re making.

Technorati Tags: Marketing, Advertising, Branding, Brand, Leadership, Client Management, Innovation, Creative Thinking

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Staying focused on your own enterprises innovation efforts is important, sure, but how do you keep track of what your competitors are up to? Competitive intelligence is an important facet of any innovation program – and your contacts in the media can help.

Competitive intelligence programs are on-going efforts and are intended to give owners and management an on-going look at the marketplace so they can make decisions regarding new product developments, marketing, customer retention programs and the like. The media can play a big role in these programs – both in terms of what they report and what reporters actually know when contacted.

Here are some ways to do that:

1) Set up competitive clipping protocols. If you use print or online clipping services, set up searches for key competitors or their brands. Be careful when selecting keywords or search terms because you don’t want to have to search through the searches when you get them back at the office.

2) Create a historical view of your competitors’ media presence. Look at where they’ve been running ads and announcements in the trades and then compare those placements to the publications’ editorial calendars. It’s likely you’ll find some patterns. In the B2B space, especially, it’s common for advertisers to try and time their advertising creative with editorial coverage to increase the effectiveness of their ad. Knowing these patterns may help you predict where the competition is likely to strike next.

3) Use Google Alerts and other online search-oriented tools to scan the web. These tools are free and easy to use. There’s no excuse not to.

4) Engage in an active media relations program. The more time you spend with reporters covering your industry, the greater the likelihood you’ll hear about new market developments when they occur. Reporters have a job to do and sources to protect, of course – you’re not going to get them to violate those cardinal tenants. But being on good terms with a reporter can mean that you’re one of the first to be called when a new idea (a.k.a. a trial balloon) gets floated by the competition.

5) Work with the media to establish benchmark research (and follow-ups) on your sector or on key issues related to your sector. This kind of effort takes time and money but is generally very useful. In most cases, if the client pays for it, the results are kept confidential although the media generally gets the rights to publish an overview of the findings.

Remember, it’s the media’s job to uncover and report the news. It’s your job to find a way to stay on top of it (or, ideally, one step ahead). A good overview of competitive intelligence programs can be found here.

Not all innovation is technology-driven – sometimes re-thinking how things are done can bring real value. And the best inspiration for finding that new line of thought is the customer (whether they are external or inside your own company).

Charlotte Sibley, with Shire Pharmaceuticals, uses customer reaction as a barometer of innovation inside her own company. “… if I get a lot of pushback from internal customers, I know I’m pushing the innovation envelope,” she says.

Blogger Dave Pollard provides a list of non-technological ways of looking for innovation (from his How To Save The World blog:

• How you design your core offerings (e.g. the Mercedes Smart Car’s unique and imaginative attributes)
• Product system: How you link and/or provide a platform for multiple products (e.g. the Microsoft integrated productivity suite)
• Core processes: How you create and add value to your offerings (e.g. Wal-Mart’s reinvention of retailing as shelf-space leasing)
• Enabling process: How you support the company’s core processes and workers (e.g. Starbucks’ premium wage and benefits packages to attract superior staff)
• Service: How you provide value to customers and consumers beyond and around your products (e.g. Singapore Airlines’ thoughtful and pampering extras)
• Delivery Channel: How you get your offerings to market (e.g. Martha Stewart’s multi-media ways of getting her ‘home’ stuff to your home)
• Brand: How you communicate your offerings (e.g. Absolut vodka’s “theme and variations’ advertising concept)
• Customer experience: How your customers feel when they interact with your company and its offerings (e.g. the Harley Davidson owners’ community)
• Networks and alliances: How you join forces with other companies for mutual benefit (e.g. Sara Lee sticking strictly to branding and outsourcing all manufacturing)
• Business model: How you make money (e.g. Dell’s pay-in-advance for a custom-made PC model).

If you’re interested in investigating the concept of customer-driven innovation further, you may want to check out this white paper by Howard Moskowitz, Ph.D.

We’ve spent a great deal of time talking about the power and importance of a corporate vision. Once you’ve gone through the process of clarifying a vision for your company and you’ve had a chance to share it inside your organization, there’s still something you need to do in order to bring your vision to life.

You need to make a public declaration.

The media – whether it’s a blog, a corporate newsletter, television, local newspaper, whatever – has a way of making promises firm and turning ideas into commitments. And depending how you handle it, vision-related media coverage can be tremendously validating. But don’t do it just for yourself.

Every key constituency group has a relationship with multiple sources of news and information. The time you invest in understanding those people who mean the most to your brand and what matters most to them pays off as you craft and present messages that reflect the values and beliefs represented by your vision and the promises made by your brand.

Don’t consider the publication of your corporate/brand vision to be a one-time effort, however. You need to realize that media messages don’t last long at all (consumers are exposed to millions of commercial messages a year), so in order to build recognition of your brand and its unique attributes you’ll need to reinforce your vision and messages in the media over and over again.

Hey, this brand-building thing isn’t easy.