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Blogging is a powerful brand builder. It is a low-cost, high-return tool that can raise a company’s profile and shape it’s reputation.
How best to blog? A report in the New York Times offers a variety of suggestions from successful bloggers, including the story behind Free Money Finance, a blog hosted by Denali, makers of Moose Tracks ice cream.
[More posts about Online Branding | More posts about Online Brand Strategy | More posts about Social Media Brand Strategy | More posts about Blog Strategy | More posts about Brand Management | More posts about Brand Opportunities | More blogs about Online Brand Strategy]
Lalit Khaitan is Chairman of Radico Khaitan Limited. The New Delhi based company manufactures and distributes a portfolio of liquor brands throughout India and internationally.
Mr. Khaitan, focused on building his brands globally, has this to say about branding:
Branding isn’t about re-energizing a company with a new logo and slogan. It means communicating a corporate culture from the inside out. The integration of branding into a corporate facility design sends a clear, concise message about the company’s values, business, and employees.
Radico Khaitan’s Chairman offers another example of a leading business executive with a concise understanding of the power of branding.
Read more in this report from the Hindustan Times.
[More posts about Brand Management | More posts about Architecture As Branding | More posts about Global Branding | More posts about Beverage Branding | More posts about Liquor Branding | More posts about Consumer Goods Branding | More posts about Radico Khaitan | More posts about India Brands | More blogs about Brand Management]
Friday, December 28, 2007
The Weekly B.S. is a digest of thought-provoking reports addressing brands and B.S., otherwise known as brand strategy.
The key to any effective branding effort is to change and take ownership of the conversation. You are invited to this conversation of brands and the stories they tell.
This week’s B.S.:
From Economic Times - Gurgaon, Haryana, India
Reality Check: Measuring a brand’s image against consumer experience
The divergence between consumers’ perceptions of brands and their experience of them can be marked, for better or worse. This gap can also have a significant impact on financial performance.
From the Los Angeles Times - USA
Cable TV’s search for identity
Stations such as Court TV and FX are tweaking programming and retooling advertising campaigns in a bid to create brand awareness and build audiences.
From MediaPost Publications - New York, USA
Gestalt: Seismic Shifts Shake Media
In a vertical world, there is a new way to think of branding: The tried and true conventional wisdom is that a human being can remember only two or three brands in any broad category. But in a world of verticalization, those categories can be as specific as a disease, or a hobby, or a genre of music, or a type of car.
From the New York Times - USA
Buzzwords 2007: All We Are Saying
New words are most happily received when they arrive without fanfare. A large part of the delight derives from the re-orientation that new words make possible. They are fantastical transportation — portkeys and improbability starships — into other cultures, workplaces, minds.
From Marketing Daily - USA
BMW Launches Site That Welcomes Consumer Input
Consumers will be able to talk to each other and leave reviews, ratings and comments, making the site what BMW hopes will be an online community of enthusiasts, as well as a 360-degree marketing kiosk for configuring, ordering, buying, and servicing BMW cars.
From the New York Times - USA
Oprah Puts Her Brand on the Line
She is, without a doubt, the most powerful endorsement in pop culture. After her endorsement of Mr. Obama, however, the message boards on Oprah.com are alive with allegations of “betrayal” and “sellout.” Mr. Obama’s base may have been engaged, but part of Ms. Winfrey’s base is livid.
From the International Herald Tribune - New York, USA
Inside Apple Stores, a Certain Aura Enchants the Faithful
As other electronics makers like Dell, Nokia and Sony still struggle to find the right retail formula, Apple seems to have perfected it. Not only has the company made many of its stores feel like gathering places, but the bright lights and equally bright acoustics create a buzz that makes customers feel more like they are at an event than a retail store.
From The Wall Street Journal -
Kiwi Goes Beyond Shine In Effort to Step Up Sales
For a century, Kiwi shoe polish remained pretty much the same - just over one ounce of colored wax in a palm-size tin embossed with the image of a kiwi bird. But two years ago, Sara Lee Corp., whose predecessor company, Consolidated Foods Corp., acquired the brand in 1984, interviewed 3,500 people in eight countries about their shoe-care needs. What it learned was “a shocker,” says Kiwi President Paco Casa: People don’t care nearly as much about the shine on their shoes as they do about how fresh and comfortable they are on the inside. On a list of more than 20 attributes people desired in their shoes, shine ranked merely 17th.
Whisper is an international brand consultancy based in the United States, Europe and Asia. Contact us to learn more of how to own the conversation® among audiences you seek to attract and influence.
Conversation, the painting shown above, is the work of British artist Barnaby Menage. You may see other works of the artist at this online gallery.
[More posts about The Weekly B.S. | More posts about Brand Strategy | More posts about Brand Narrative | More posts about Own The Conversation® Strategy | More blogs about Brand Strategy]
Robert Stephens, founder and chief inspector of The Geek Squad, contends “Marketing is a tax you pay for being unremarkable.”
We agree.
We take it a step further — Advertising and other forms of marketing is the tax you pay for an ineffective brand.
For organization leaders who rush to an advertising or PR campaign without an understanding of the value of branding — including the brand name and narrative — the price they pay is steep.
[More posts about Branding Definition | More posts about Brand Definition | More posts about Laws Of Branding | More posts about Branding vs Marketing | More posts about Branding vs Advertising | More posts about Brand Strategy | More posts about Brand Simplicity | More blogs about Branding Definitions]
Friday, December 21, 2007
The Weekly B.S. is a digest of thought-provoking reports addressing brands and B.S., otherwise known as brand strategy.
The key to any effective branding effort is to change and take ownership of the conversation. You are invited to this conversation of brands and the stories they tell.
This week’s B.S.:
From CNET - San Francisco, USA
Trends 2008: The end of marketing?
Robert Stephens, founder and chief inspector of The Geek Squad, contends that “Marketing is a tax you pay for being unremarkable.”
From Adweek - New York, NY, USA
The Power of Many: Social Connectivity Signals Change
As consumers take control of the spreading of media, they invariably have a say over how brands are perceived. Old notions of planning a brand image through commercial messages are running up against consumers actively voicing their opinions to each other.
From the New York Times - USA
Now, Shopping Bags Are the Fashion
Once a flimsy afterthought in American retailing — used to lug a purchase home from the store, then tossed into the trash — the lowly, free store bag is undergoing a luxurious makeover.
From The Wall Street Journal - New York, USA
Male Bonding
Many luxury brands, known for their focus on women, are hoping to spur sales by luring male shoppers with new stores and product lines.
From The Wall Street Journal - USA
Intel Scales Back Plans For Living-Room Brand
Intel Corp. is scaling back an ambitious plan to build a brand in the living room.
Whisper is an international brand consultancy based in the United States, Europe and Asia. Contact us to learn more of how to own the conversation® among audiences you seek to attract and influence.
Conversation, the painting shown above, is the work of British artist Barnaby Menage. You may see other works of the artist at this online gallery.
[More posts about The Weekly B.S. | More posts about Brand Strategy | More posts about Brand Narrative | More posts about Own The Conversation® Strategy | More blogs about Brand Strategy]
Friday, December 14, 2007
The Weekly B.S. is a digest of thought-provoking reports addressing brands and B.S., otherwise known as brand strategy.
The key to any effective branding effort is to change and take ownership of the conversation. You are invited to this conversation of brands and the stories they tell.
This week’s B.S.:
From Seeking Alpha - New York, NY, USA
Building Brand Loyalty in China
Chinese consumers are brand loyal when companies like Apple or Belle International carve out well their core markets and launch effective marketing communication strategies that taps into their aspirations and needs. Marketing to Chinese is not that different from marketing to consumers in other markets, though many companies fail to plot a firm strategy in China at their own long-term peril.
From Forbes - USA
That Bewildering Beer Business
Companies look at their brands from an economic point of view. To gain cost efficiencies and trade acceptance, they are quite willing to turn a highly focused brand, one that stands for a certain type of product or idea, into an unfocused brand that represents two or three or more types of products or ideas
From BusinessWeek - USA
Beware the Advertising Pretest
If brands are to succeed, they need to be based on differentiated, unfamiliar brand strategies. Unfortunately, these are the exact same ideas that people initially dislike. That’s why quantitative testing of alternative positioning ideas will likely systematically kill the more original ideas, and people will prefer the ones that are closest to what they already know. The marketer using this type of test will unwittingly select the strategy that is less differentiated and eventually fail in the marketplace.
From The Wall Street Journal - USA
Marketers Focus More On Global ‘Tribes’ Than on Nationalities
Women everywhere respond to marketing that emphasizes people.
From The Australian - Australia
Refresh ‘brand Australia’ and ease strain on infrastructure, Eddington urges
Reinvigorating “brand Australia” and making far-sighted investments in infrastructure are among the challenges facing the tourism and transport sectors, Rudd government business adviser Rod Eddington has warned.
From Guardian Unlimited - UK
Chaos theory: advertising cash will soon decrease
Advertising is no one’s first choice as the basis of a relationship. For marketers, it’s expensive and inefficient. For customers, it’s invasive and annoying. And targeted advertising is only slightly more efficient and slightly less annoying. Clearly, the direct relationship between a customer and a company is preferable.
From Computerworld Australia, Australia
Co-ordinated marketing: A single voice
Establishing a strong, defensible brand and strategic positioning are make or break propositions. Yet many organizations still view their brand initiatives only in terms of communication, or fail to link their branding efforts effectively to the overall business strategy. The real goal of marketing is to win the market, not just to make or sell products.
From Conde Nast Portfolio.com - New York, USA
The Brains Behind the Brand
3.1 Phillip Lim C.E.O. Wen Zhou has carefully guided her fledgling label’s success. Within a year the label was breaking even. The exec says she’s able to keep costs low by operating “without fluff,” by which she means such practices as eschewing expensive advertising in favor of cultivating positive word of mouth.
From the New York Times - USA
Success Without Ads
Consumer Reports, a monthly, refuses to publish ads, which are the primary source of revenue for most magazines, yet it makes a healthy profit. And it not only charges for access to most of its Web site, it has three million paying subscribers online — up about 60 percent in the last 18 months — which experts say may be the largest number in the industry.
Whisper is an international brand consultancy based in the United States, Europe and Asia. Contact us to learn more of how to own the conversation® among audiences you seek to attract and influence.
Conversation, the painting shown above, is the work of British artist Barnaby Menage. You may see other works of the artist at this online gallery.
[More posts about The Weekly B.S. | More posts about Brand Strategy | More posts about Brand Narrative | More posts about Own The Conversation® Strategy | More blogs about Brand Strategy]
With brand defined here, what is the cut to the chase definition of branding?
Rather than the often bewildering definitions offered by ad agencies and PR firms, the answer is much simpler, and essential to grasp. For any product, place or organization brand, branding is:
Defining why you are, so that you become the only logical choice for what you offer.
Talk with us when ready to learn more.
[More posts about Branding Definition | More posts about Brand Definition | More posts about Laws Of Branding | More posts about Brand Strategy | More posts about Own The Conversation® Strategy | More posts about Brand Simplicity | More blogs about Branding Definitions]
The story behind effort of the Republic of Malta to find their brand continues to devolve, offering a cautionary tale to nation branders everywhere.
The story began over two years ago, with updates since.
In the latest twist, the MaltaStar.com reports:
[T]he man in charge of Malta’s Media Consulta account leading the team which had the task of creating audio-visual material to brand Malta as a tourist destination was removed from the Malta project after the Malta Tourism Authority told the PR and Media company it could not work with him.
At issue is more than a simple personality clash, again according to MaltaStar.com:
[O]nce the Berlin-based media and PR company started presenting their audio-visual material, the Tourism Authority started having second thoughts about whether MC would be worth the money. In fact, MC presented three different sets of visuals before MTA accepted what it considers as average visuals, these are already being used to sell Malta in the United Kingdom.
Media Consulta, the agency hired on behalf of the Malta Tourism Authority, describes itself as a “leading independent PR and advertising agency in Europe.”
Finding the brand of a country has nothing to do with public relations or advertising. Which begs the question, why would Malta hire a PR and advertising agency for such a mission-critical task?
While not privy to the details of the Malta project or the Media Consulta hiring decision, anyone may use the Media Consulta site search function and see that a search of the firm’s core competencies, skill sets, or focus uncovers no mention of brand strategy, brand narrative, brand expression or, more simply, brand.
Malta is not alone in experiencing such difficulty. In the United States, for example, the former Olympics host city of Atlanta painfully has yet to find its brand.
Finding the brand of a country or place is always infinitely harder than people imagine. Too often those in charge of branding exercises think of the outcome only in relation to sales—more tourists, more hotel bookings, more conventions, more tourism/conventioneer spending—when the focus should equally be placed upon how is value best created for the owners. The owners of a nation brand such as Malta are, of course, its citizens.
PR and advertising agencies are ill-equipped for such important work, as their world view is is to chase the audiences Malta seeks to engage, rather than attract them, a principle illustrated at this link.
By looking for advertising and PR solutions, Malta’s decision makers demonstrate their inability to understand this law of branding:
Good branding works even when the brand is not advertising or conducting a PR campaign.
Perhaps next time, Malta’s leaders will look for effective assistance from a consultancy that knows what they are doing.
[More posts about Malta Tourism | More posts about Destination Branding | More posts about Place Branding | More posts about Nation Branding | More posts about Branding Malta | More posts about Malta Brand Image | More posts about Brand Strategy | More posts about Tourism Branding | More blogs about Destination Branding]
We came across a fascinating column under the same title at Securing Innovation, the blog of IP.com.
Companies are often reluctant to embrace the benefits offered by blogging in finding their brand, as they too easily focus upon the risk of criticism. The reality is the most forward thinking of companies embrace blogging as a communications tool. To use blogs effectively, as with any business endeavor the secret is to have a well thought-out plan to achieve the business objective.
Securing Innovation offers this nugget of wisdom on the topic of blogs and blogging:
Find the conversation. Join it. Contribute to it. “Conversing is how we learn. It’s how we network. It’s how we grow as professionals,” says Kevin O’Keefe, CEO of LexBlog, whose team of experts guided us in the development of our corporate blog, “Blogging is a conversation. Not only do you learn and grow your reputation by joining in, you will not be conspicuous by your absence.”
For any reputable organization reaching out to today’s audiences, failure to blog makes your brand conspicuous by it’s absence.
Conversation, the painting shown above, is the work of British artist Barnaby Menage. You may see other works of the artist at this online gallery.
[More posts about Online Brand Strategy | More posts about Social Media | More posts about Own The Conversation® Strategy | More posts about Blog Strategy | More posts about Brand Strategy | More posts about Social Media Strategy | More posts about Pop Culture | More posts about Brand Opportunities | More blogs about Online Brand Strategy]
Muji has opened in the United States.
Soho in New York City to be precise.
The Muji brand promise is simple. Literally, simple:
Because there is complexity in purity.
Elegance in plainness.
Intricacy in streamlining.
Richness in reduction.
Depth in minimalism.
Surprise in uniformity.
Innovation in re-use.
Cool in the avoidance of cool.
And there is true sophistication in simplicity.
Our friend in Europe tipped us to this story of Muji’s arrival:
Muji contends that design needn’t announce itself—rather, it can become apparent to you through use, over time… The company’s discretion—almost unheard of in the industry—reflects Muji’s dogged determination to reduce a product to its essence.
Muji offers a powerful demonstration of how the principle of simplicity works in attracting a consumer audience.
Muji’s brand promise is in the tradition of one developed centuries ago by a brand strategy thinker ahead of his time:
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.
[More posts about Consumer Goods Branding | More posts about Retail Branding | More posts about Brand Promise | More posts about Brand Positioning | More posts about Muji Brand Reputation | More blogs about Retail Branding]
Friday, December 7, 2007
The Weekly B.S. is a digest of thought-provoking reports addressing brands and B.S., otherwise known as brand strategy.
The key to any effective branding effort is to change and take ownership of the conversation. You are invited to this conversation of brands and the stories they tell.
This week’s B.S.:
From Church of the Customer Blog - Austin, Texas, USA
A religious devotion to an unlabeled beer
What does a cult brand look like? Well, here’s one example.
From Stuff.co.nz - Wellington, New Zealand
Symbolic branding emphasis misplaced
In bemoaning New Zealand’s lack of an accepted single national emblem, former New Zealand Tourism head Neil Plimmer pointed to Canada’s internationally recognised maple leaf as an example to us. He described our multitude of emblems, including the kiwi, the coat of arms, the silver fern and the koru, as a dog’s breakfast, implying this lack of clear branding harmed marketing New Zealand tourism and products, to all of which I say, hogwash!
From the New York Times - USA
Coke Promotes Itself in a New Virtual World
Coca-Cola lovers will have a new place to hang out starting today, and it is an island on the Internet that is shaped like a Coke bottle.
From Adweek - New York, USA
Forrester: Web Shops Not Ready to Lead
Digital agencies are improving their skills to help clients strategically, but still fall short in their ability to lead broader marketing and brand strategy, according to a new report by Forrester Research.
From the New York Times - USA
The Graffiti of the Philanthropic Class
As reported last month, the dean at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Business couldn’t find anyone to pony up a cool $50 million to get his or her name on the school. So the dean switched strategies and discovered that several givers were willing to chip in to ensure that, for 20 years at least, the school would not be personally branded, but would instead simply remain the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Business (a long enough handle, surely). The non-naming fund eventually reached $85 million.
From the New York Times - USA
The World as an Imperfect Globe
Nearly a quarter century ago, Theodore Levitt, the Harvard business professor, heralded a global convergence of consumer tastes. The global corporation, he proclaimed, “sells the same things in the same way everywhere.” In 2005, Thomas L. Friedman, The New York Times columnist, sounded a similar trumpet about the effects of technology, inaugurating his world-is-flat franchise. But in “Redefining Global Strategy,” Pankaj Ghemawat amasses data to show that even now, globalization has profound, and most likely enduring, limits. Unilever, for example, must produce more than 100 variants of its global Lux brand of soaps.
From Rediff - Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Brands target India’s ‘orange’ men
Walk down any street in India and you are almost guaranteed to pass at least one middle-aged man with a glorious head of pumpkin orange hair. The use of henna, or mehendi, as the hair dye is known locally, may be waning as western tastes sweep through the malls and markets of urban India, but it is far from dead in towns and villages.
From Financial Times - London
Challenges ahead for Bono’s brand
Twenty months ago, a small start-up run by an Irish rock star and a Californian conscience capitalist set itself an ambitious task: creating a brand that would save thousands of Africans dying from Aids.
From Scotsman - United Kingdom
Daft slogans won’t make us miles better
Criticising these branding and advertising exercises is easy - coming up with new ones that are any better is supremely challenging
From VietNamNet Bridge - Hanoi, Vietnam
Building Viet brand name – how?
Building a national brand name is surely a thorny process, and Vietnam is still at the starting point on the long road.
Whisper is an international brand consultancy based in the United States, Europe and Asia. Contact us to learn more of how to own the conversation® among audiences you seek to attract and influence.
[More posts about The Weekly B.S. | More posts about Brand Strategy | More posts about Brand Narrative | More posts about Own The Conversation® Strategy | More blogs about Brand Strategy]
A new report from McKinsey indicates “US patients and physicians are more likely to base their choice of hospital on nonclinical aspects of a visit…”
As with any business category, consumers are influenced by how they feel as a result of an experience, whether for a hospital stay or in purchasing a latte.
We previously asked the rhetorical question of whether the CEOs of hospitals possess the fearlessness needed to find their respective brands.
As McKinsey suggests, they often do not:
[F]ew hospitals have the marketing skills, the organizational structure, or the operating approach needed to deliver a distinctive experience in the way that retailing and hospitality companies do.
As competition for commercially insured patients heats up, US hospitals will have to invest in the capabilities needed to learn what these patients want and to deliver an experience that could attract them. Hospitals that succeed should gain a sustainable competitive advantage.
Until hospital CEOs and their marketing staffs begin to understand the traditional approach of a new ad campaign, or a PR push for press mentions, does not deliver the competitive advantages of effective brand strategy—the differences illustrated here—they and their in-house marketing team will miss the competitive advantage that comes with owning the health care conversation within their respective markets.
And, for some, the job insecurity of hospital CEOs will continue.
[More posts about Health Care Branding | More posts about Hospital Branding | More posts about Emotional Branding | More blogs about Hospital Branding]
Courtesy of our friend in South Africa, the following from the book Zag, an accurate demonstration of the differences between marketing, public relations, advertising and branding:
The book includes two additional panels in this series. In one labeled “Telemarketing” the woman answers a phone to hear the man as telemarketer say “I’m a great lover.” The other is labeled “Graphic Design,” in which the image of a heart floats above the man’s head, illustrating that a logo is not a brand.
[More posts about Branding vs Advertising | More posts about Branding vs Public Relations | More posts about Brand Strategy | More blogs about Branding vs Advertising]
Cities from Washington to Wichita, nations from Malta to Mexico, each compete to attract tourism dollars and business investment.
Too often the leadership of city, state, or national tourism, convention and economic development offices rely upon “The List” in communicating the story of their place.
The result is predictable. The very audiences mayors and governors seek to attract will tune out, as they have heard it all before.
What is The List?
The List is a formulaic approach to developing the narrative of a destination brand as expressed in words and imagery. Similar to a shopping list, The List is a checkoff approach to branding. But it is not branding.
By use of the “formula” offered by The List, government leaders preclude for their brands the benefits of effective brand strategy, including the opportunity to become unforgettable.
This List is a recital of common “attractions” promoted by a city, province or nation, including claims such as:
1. a young, lively city with a
2. vibrant nightlife, a
3. glimpse of an ancient civilisation, a
4. cultural feast, a
5. musical odyssey,
6. stunning scenery, a
7. spectacular coastline,
8. museums,
9. shopping,
10. dining,
11. hospitality,
12. lifestyle benefits, also described as
13. quality of life,
14. relaxation,
15. energy, vibrancy,
16. theatre,
17. sporting events,
18. festivals,
19. outdoor attractions,
20. golf,
21. our people,
22. and more!, and
23. __________ (add any common attribute, such as “great hotels!”).
Similar to overused claims such as innovative or high quality for technology products, basing the narrative of a destination brand upon messages of dining, shopping, museums and friendly people paints a place as banal. The reason is easy to see when stepping into the shoes of a tourist or business developer.
Tourists and developers assume dining, shopping, museums and friendly people are available at any place. When confronted with these messages, similar to the narrative of any number of competing destinations, it becomes part of the white noise of contemporary culture, and thus unworthy of the investment of time to listen further.
But yet, government decision makers return to The List time and again.
It is an addiction.
An addiction offering a short term high through lavish self praise, which for a government leader is easy to explain to a constituency as the message is so darn POSITIVE. But the citizenry is already convinced—they previously decided to “pay” by living or working there—while the tourist or business developer has not.
Instead, the tourist or developer has to pay, literally, when they pay attention—they pay with their time and mental effort, neither of which they are likely to invest when a city or nation shouts in self-flattery.
The List does not speak to the soul of a place, or to the soul of the tourist or investor. It speaks functionally rather than emotionally, and does not differentiate one place from another, nor answer the seminal question of any destination brand; Why do we matter?
Instead of touting dining or shopping, or other claims from The List, a destination must offer the attraction one cannot find closer to home, often an emotional truth a place may uniquely define and own. Identifying that unique something, offering the breakthrough needed in search of the brand of a place, is always infinitely harder than people imagine.
But, as any addict will tell you, seeking help for the compulsion is the first step to recovery.
[More posts about Brand Differentiation | More posts about Destination Branding | More posts about Place Branding | More posts about City Branding | More posts about Brand Strategy | More posts about Government Strategy | More posts about Nation Branding | More posts about State Branding | More posts about Tourism Branding | More blogs about Destination Branding]
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