The 'Dad factor'

Top line from the Mediapost article - Marketing to Today's Dads Requires New Approaches

Key facts about newer-generation dads and marketing effectively to them, per the report:

• Dads are men--meaning that parenthood doesn't change their overall approach to the world; it just expands it.

• Like mothers, fathers' key concerns regarding their children are education and health.

• 40% say they're doing at least half of the weekly household shopping. They are also increasingly likely to be the purchasers of items such as kids' clothing, school supplies and educational/entertainment products.

• Dads don't like to browse and shop, at least when it comes to family-oriented products. They identify their product targets, zero in on them, complete their purchases and leave. They gravitate to center store, "on the beaten path" areas, and expect items to be logically placed near similar items. And they're likely to have done Internet research on any significant purchase prior to heading to the store, to minimize shopping time.

• However, they do have a propensity to make impulse purchases--an opportunity for marketers.

• Electronic media and the Internet are key. New dads listen to radio, watch TV and surf the Web for parenting and other information/entertainment. They are less likely than moms to consume family-oriented magazines or "lifestyle" media content.

• New dads are attracted to products that are practical and solve a problem. They put quality before price. Product positioning should focus on solving a problem within the product category.

• At the same time, marketing should seek to leverage these dads' appreciation of a humorous element in advertising (as opposed to more sentiment-related creative relating to kids/family themes, more popular with moms), and seek to add an element of fun to the products themselves. Fun and play are cornerstones of interaction between these dads and their kids.

• However, younger dads do respond to "retro" product connections to their childhoods.

• Marketing/advertising should reflect these dads' parental motivations to give their kids what they want, make their kids happy and be perceived as heroes by their children.

• Marketing should include images of dads interacting with kids, especially "real" dads/kids, to reflect the more positive, involved image to which younger dads relate. The Silver Stork analysts note that new-generation dads feel that few campaigns to date include the dad/child relationship in the way that they perceive it.

• Product packaging should take male-appeal into account.

• Integrating traditional male marketing strategies within the baby/children's products market appears to be an extremely viable approach for brands looking to appeal to younger dads.

• Including products or product appeals geared to dads within promotions primarily targeting moms can also be effective

Here is a classic of how Clorox/Kingsford Charcoal brought it all to life - Meals together

Brands and our survival on the planet

As consumers develop greater awareness of the impact packaging leaves on the environment they start to get selective with brands. Over the past year I have been introduced to terms like: Precycling, Upcycling, Downcycling, Grass-tic, etc.

Here are a few interesting links...
Brandchannel - Pre-thinking Recycling: the New Eco-Consciousness
P&G has yet another point of view - Tide Swash
Cycling at - Terracycle

The ANA captured the essence in this single slide.

Lessons learned from the Best Global Brands

Top line from the Brandchannel.com article - Best Global Brands: Lessons Learned

Lesson #1: Brand Engagement is Crucial

Lesson #2: Luxury Brands Adjust to the Tides of the Global Economy
Luxury brands benefit from a consumer-driven psychological buoyancy that allows them to paddle the currents that stir the global economy.

Lesson #3: Know Thyself and Build Trust in Others
Branding communicates a set of values and promises to customers. When a brand delivers on those promises, trust is created, and a relationship based on shared experience and loyalty ensues. That bond is vital to brands, particularly when the economic climate sours and consumers shift their spending habits.

Lesson #4: Brands are Defining Borders in the Global Economy
when consumers around the globe think of fine "Italian" menswear, they aren't thinking of Italy, the actual country, at all; they are, in fact, collectively thinking of Italian brands such as Armani, Brioni, and Ermenegildo Zegna. The same principle applies to cars, (renowned German car engineering is the genius of Audi, Mercedes, BMW, and Porsche), and booze (all of France doesn't make Champagne, Champagne makes Champagne). Though particular nations may benefit from the halo effect of these brands, which is certainly warranted, credit should be attributed to the brands for the quality of their products and their admirable unwillingness to compromise the brand values that consistently ensure quality.

Lesson #5: Technology Continues to Empower the Consumer
"Only brands that actively engage their audiences in a conversation will survive… If we don't ask them to participate, watch out, because they will happily take matters into their own hands. Just look at the hundreds of homemade Apple commercials (or the more antagonistic Microsoft Zune spoofs) on YouTube and you'll see that this can't be stopped. So don't fight this phenomenon. Embrace it."

The most fascinating comment in the post was the one on 'Knowing thy self' as a brand.

Brands in Pop-culture

Our neighbor had a party over the July 4^th holiday and I met a bunch of video game characters. Nope I am not talking about the imaginative ones or the ones in the virtual world, and I don’t thing we have perfected holographic imagery yet, these were four real life characters, running, playing and barking Golden retrievers! It is always fun to see when people embrace brands and invite them into their life and families.

Brands touch our lives in so many ways through out the day. It is a great feeling when they permeate into our psyche and become such a strong part of the consumer. Few brands have achieved this stature a few brands that share the glow include Google, Kleenex, Xerox, iPod, Levis, Thermos, Ibuprofen, etc.

Becoming part of pop-culture to the extent of getting generisized’ is certainly an achievement but quite frankly a challenge and concern for the steward of the brand. Legally the brand runs the risk of loosing its trademark status as it takes on a descriptive nature and translates into a potential servicemark.

Andy Warhol’s 32 cans of Campbell soup made the brand an icon, one that would be instantly recognizable on store shelves, in museums and in the kitchen and into our hearts but the brand managers had to have their work cut out!

Search-fluence

I had a great discussion with a friend when he introduced me to a concept of internet searches through social networks. Can’t say I understood his point but he took the effort to explain the concept. Rarely do we perform an open ended search, we are typically looking for an answer to a question and once you are able to filter out the noise we are looking for more information about the answer itself. When we choose a place for dinner, we start with a location/cuisine then the restaurant but here is where the social nature of the search starts to become relevant. How do most people get to the restaurant? What are the options for conveyance? Where do you park? Who easy is to get in and out of the area? Do you take highway X or Y? Contextual searches help influence our choices, looking for something is one thing but to choose one of the results to act on is a whole different issue.

The concept is not much different from what AMAZON offers but the information is very concentrated around the book or the product not peripheral and the social interaction with the informant and or the reviewer is not fostered.

The idea of social network based searches is less of an actual search and more of creation of options. The greater the cohesion with the recommending party and the congruence of the value system the more the influence!

Could we be we moving from pure search into search-fluence?

Look x (Filters + Biases) = See + Imagination = Consumer Value

I was recently at a friend’s art exhibition and during conversation I asked her a slightly irksome question, “Do you ever feel like you could have painted this any different?”, She immediately responded by saying “Every time!”. Often times most people are their most critical judges. Every time I write an essay I sit on it before publishing and when I read it over I make changes amass, to the extent that I almost rewrite them sometimes. Not just words and sentences but also themes, context, tone and the stories.

I remember back in the days when I lead my brands I had a completely different perspective on the consumer, the competition, the customer and my brand. Today when I hear myself in conversations with my clients the point of view is significantly different from the old days. I am hoping some of it has to do with experience, age and hopefully a little bit of wisdom.

We all look at things differently thanks to our nuanced diversity and unique backgrounds. Our visuals are influenced by our experiences, our culture, where we came from and where we are headed and what we see in our minds eye is often different from we notice on the shelf. To the mental visuals our mind races with imaginative usage, social, culture interactions, until we assess the value the brands adds to our life.

Brands are products with emotions poured into them so the philosophy of WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) needs a large index of mental refraction.

The innovation story

A few days ago I received this email from a friend, who knows if this is an urban legend... anyways it is a great story.

The Japanese have always loved fresh fish. But the waters close to Japan have not held many fish for decades. So to feed the Japanese population, fishing boats got bigger and went farther than ever. The farther the fishermen went, the longer it took to bring in the fish. If the return trip took more than a few days, the fish were not fresh. The Japanese did not like the taste.

To solve this problem, fishing companies installed freezers on their boats. They would catch the fish and freeze them at sea. Freezers allowed the boats to go farther and stay longer. However, the Japanese could taste the difference between fresh and frozen and they did not like frozen fish. The frozen fish brought a lower price. So fishing companies installed fish tanks. They would catch the fish and stuff them in the tanks, fin to fin.

After a little thrashing around, the fish stopped moving. They were tired and dull, but alive. Unfortunately, the Japanese could still taste the difference. Because the fish did not move for days, they lost their fresh-fish taste. The Japanese preferred the lively taste of fresh fish, not sluggish fish.

So how did Japanese fishing companies solve this problem? How do they get fresh-tasting fish to Japan?

To keep the fish tasting fresh, the Japanese fishing companies still put the fish in the tanks. But they also add a small shark to each tank. The shark eats a few fish, but most of the fish arrive in a very lively state. The fish are challenged.