Good time leads to Good Money for brands & Vice Versa for prestige brands

Focus on Time Sells More Products : Research: Stanford GSB

"It’s Miller Time." "Live Richly." - What do these vastly different marketing campaigns—one selling beer, the other financial services—have in common? They both focus on experiencing, rather than possessing, products.

Here are some of the top lines from the article:

- Because a person’s experience with a product tends to foster feelings of personal connection with it, referring to time typically leads to more favorable attitudes—and to more purchases
- Research identified the different attitudes and behaviors triggered just by mentioning time rather than money
- One explanation is that our relationship with time is much more personal than our relationship with money
- Ultimately, time is a more scarce resource—once it's gone, it's gone—and therefore more meaningful to us
- How we spend our time says so much more about who we are than does how we spend our money.
- One theory is that references to money will always be negative because consumers are reminded of the cost of acquiring a product rather than the pleasure of consuming it.
- When marketing products that consumers buy for prestige value, stressing money spent seems to be more effective. Designer jeans, expensive jewelry, and high-status cars all fall into this category.
- With 'prestige' purchases, consumers feel that possessing the products reflect important aspects of themselves, and get more satisfaction from merely owning the product rather than spending time with it

The most interesting part of the article was an experiment on concert tickets with the comment - "who actually incurred a higher cost in terms of time spent—rated their satisfaction with the concert higher". Might explain the commitment of the Starbucks' consumer.

Rewards, Expectations and Deliverables

Strange things have happened and aligning rewards with expectations and deliverables is certainly not one of them. Consulting is a fun business, it gives me the ability to see a lot of new things and experience a lot of strange, funny and sometimes stupid concepts.

Recently during an engagement I had an opportunity to better understand some performance metrics for a large national retailer. The part that was most enlightening was the knowledge of the performance indicators and a mental contrast with a street hawker merchandising and selling their wares… the result was the inspiration for this essay.

	Street Hawker Retail (typical from a Developing Market)	Large Retailer (typical to a Developed Market)
Image
Not in the KPIs	· Customer satisfaction · Customer experience · Customer communication · Vendor satisfaction/partnership	· Customer satisfaction · Customer experience · Customer communication · Vendor partnership/partnership
KPIs	· Revenues · Profits · Units · Identical sales to previous day	· Revenues · Profits · Units · Identical sales to year ago · GMROI · Inventory turns

Challenging the frontiers of AGE

This morning I read another mention of how anti-aging is not just a beauticare phenomenon but a business strategy (my alma mater) MIT has a lab that is researching opportunities as the generation ages and nature starts to challenge the way consumers do day to day tasks.

The article from the Boston Globe - Growing old is the New frontier, sheds light from research and efforts at MIT.

As boomers around the world age, the richest consumer generation has new FUNCTIONAL needs and brands need to respond with solutions to capitalize on the opportunity. Here is a old post from my blog on how it is happening in the retail world in Germany.

War in the Boardroom

I scanned through the powerpoint slides on slide share about a week ago and this morning USA Today summarized some of the examples from the book. The synopsis of the book was great may be now I need to read it in entirety

War in the Boardroom

View more presentations from Laura Ries.

•Management deals in reality; marketing, in perception. Most managers believe that producing a better product is the key to success. Yet, time and again, new products with perfect benchmarks fail, such as Volkswagen's Phaeton (a luxury car with top ratings) and beverage Miller Clear. Miller Clear tasted like regular beer, if you closed your eyes. "(But) when you drank Miller Clear with your eyes wide open," the Rieses write, "it tasted like watery beer. Perception always trumps reality."

•Management focuses on the product; marketing, on the brand.

Pepsi-Cola and Coca-Cola are similar soft drinks. Although Pepsi consistently wins blind taste tests, Coke outsells Pepsi by more than 50% in the USA, and even more internationally.

•Management wants a diversified market strategy; marketers prefer to focus in one area. Motorola introduced the first commercially available mobile phone in 1983, while Nokia came later to the cellphone market. However, Nokia began selling off non-cellphone holdings, while Motorola added computers, radio, even satellite communications. By 1998, Nokia could boast cellphone supremacy.

•Management targets the center of the market, while marketing targets the ends. Management sees the market as a bell curve with a large middle; marketers see it as bifurcated between a low end and high end.

Southwest Airlines succeeded by ignoring the first-class market and sticking to discount fares. Kmart failed by attempting to target the middle ground between low prices (Wal-Mart's specialty) and designer goods (Target's specialty).

•Management wants better products, while marketing wants different products. Management's response to a rival is often to try to do the same thing better. The marketing response is to do something different and create a new mental category.

Rather than fight Ivory Soap's pureness campaign, Dove responded with "cleansing cream." Rather than fight the hardware of the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, Nintendo released the Wii. It's still a video game system, but it creates its own category — as well as more sales and profits than the other consoles.

•Management wants a single brand; marketing wants many brands. Management wants the big brand name on everything to justify the money spent on brand recognition. Marketing wants to launch new brands, because often the new product isn't a good match for the old brand name.

Xerox was well-known in copiers, but Xerox computers fell flat. Kodak was a leader in film photography, but Kodak digital cameras didn't move. On the other hand, Levi's launched a workplace casual line with Dockers, and Toyota managed a luxury brand called Lexus. No doubt a "Toyota Elite" would have gone the way of VW's Phaeton.

The Analytics Chasm

I often wonder what makes a strong candidate for an Analytics role? I know what has gotten me excited during presentations… it is the ability of an individual to narrate a story. One of my favorite presentations is the NPD eating trends by Harry Balzer. Harry does a fascinating job when it comes to narrating the story and connecting the data and insights.

The chasm between reality and analytic insights has often made me uncomfortable. How much of the insight are truly data and the social, anthropological elements contributing to “SPIN”?

Certainly a business driven by analytics is build on a sound base! The easiest way to cross the chasm is to try a little, test a little, try some more and test some more until you are ready to go all the way. A culture of analytics without the a culture of risk taking is like going to a fine dining restaurant with a severe hangover.

Consumer driven product lifecycle

This is a very interesting view of the product life cycle. In the past I have written about the brand manager as a driver in the rear seat, this is a classic example of what could be happening and the need to constantly steer the brand in the desired direction.

Not all is lost there is hope for the Brand Steward and it is called BRAND ARCHITECTURE.

Geo segmentation

The Organization Triad

Over the years I have run into three types of organizations and the other as I sat to think about them I visualized them in a triad.

1. Stable organization with controlled change
2. Evolving organization with experimental change
3. Metastasized organization with no change

1. Stable organization with controlled change: Are the ones that are extremely successful with a defined culture and strong foundation of institutionalized knowledge. They are able to attract top talent and sometimes competitive pressures inside the organizations can get caustic but always push individuals to perform better than expectations
2. Evolving organization with experimental change: These organizations are always trying to understand why things are not working at the highest levels of performance? A definitive culture is lacking, knowledge is not usually institutionalized, fear prevails across all the ranks creating the need to try new things without giving anything a fair chance of success and leadership gaps exist at many levels within the organization
3. Metastasized organization with no change: These organizations are in a very sick state. Talent has suffered, leadership is very often in denial on many issues, and most people like to play the blame game. Issues tackled are symptoms and the root cause continues to fester. Poor leadership is often the root cause – MOKITA is a fact here. Short term thinking leads to shortfalls and is perpetuated, no one wants to tie a bell around the cats neck.

Making a promise & keeping it!

For the old but still relevant and in fashion... from a German grocery store. Appealing to a segment and staying relevant in every way.

Personal expression is catching up with Barbie!

Nothing is more personal than the individual, their personality, their appearance! The marketers at Mattel are making Barbie relevant (...Oh this is surely not for the 3-10 yr old that has to look up to Mom & Dad for the $20 toy but the 30-60 yr old bird out of the nest that can drop $200 if interested) to the new sense of personal expression through tattoos and piercings.

"Totally Pierced Barbie"
"Totally Stylin' Tattoos Barbie"

The article made reference to another blog that mentioned the divorce with Ken a couple years ago and the possibility of a "Divorced Barbie"?

The agency BRANDTRUST published some research on the topic of Tattoos (called Indelible) that calls for a deeper meaning that just Barbie with a tattoo but none the less; here are some of the top-lines from their work:

Tattoos are clear statements of willing nonconformity, and refute any suspicion that failure to fit in is unintended. A tattoo thus transforms someone who sticks out into someone who stands out.

Tattoos illustrate a map of the wearer’s life.

Tattoo artists are the ultimate arbiters of who will join this tribe. They guide people to an understanding of the meaning of the tattoos

The first tattoo takes on significance of the same sort as coming-of-age rituals in traditional cultures.

tattoo is the opposite of a mask. Although tattoos visually cover the skin, they reveal their owners

You don’t get tattooed for other people. You get tattooed for something within yourself. The only way to get this thing that lives inside of you out is to get tattooed.”

Now that is a BOLD, UNAPOLOGETIC BRAND, kudos to the team at Mattel! (pictures of Barbie from over the years)

Frito applies Neuro marketing

Top lines from the the editorial on the article - The Female Brain

• Women’s brains have more distributed functions than men, especially for language and memory. Women’s brains have stronger connections between the two hemispheres.
• Women have a larger hippocampus, a major area of the brain that is involved in memory function. Women rely more heavily on brain areas that contain mirror neurons during empathic interaction. Mirror neurons enable a person to feel what they see another person is feeling.
  

WOMEN	MEN
Look for landmarks	Look for targets
Look for connections	Zone in on the target
Explore territory	Systematize, make maps
Are relational	Are spatial

“When women are depressed, they either eat or go shopping. Men invade another country.” - Comedian, Elayne Boosler

Productivity tools and the loss

I always hear people complain about receiving too much email or addiction to the Blackberry what surprises me is that these are some of the same system/tools/devices that are supposed to improve productivity and performance. Is the power of these brands and the value being lost because of the user’s lack of expertise in taming these productivity improvement tools? If productivity improvement is the value proposition should training stretch beyond just the manual and a quick reference guide be part of the product?

It is amazing how few of the capabilities of the systems and tools users know and leverage. It often amazes me that the manufacturers of these brands invest more into research and development while adoption of some of the advanced features and capabilities that are at the core of the value proposition (in existing models/versions) fade away by the wayside for the dominant cross section of the user community.

When does it makes sense for the brand stewards to focus on training the user community and reprioritize the messaging, visuals and launches?

This is one classic challenge with most software companies where the brand marketers are focused on new versions, new tools, new launches when there is a community of users are frustrated because the product does not deliver to expectations and forces them to make compromises and trade-offs especially when there are minor settings that can help alleviate the root cause of the issue.

Is it time to get back to the drawing board in trying to figure out what is the scope of Marketing and how it aligns with the Value proposition?

Simplify your finances from American Express!

Home Run but The American Express Marketers! Simplify your finances

American Express once over extended at the peak of the economic growth and carried away by momentum is now trying to help itself and the consumer.

Enroll now to simplify your finances.

Enroll by February 28, 2009.

Pay off your entire balance between March 1, 2009 and April 30, 2009, and we will send you a $300 value prepaid card1 to thank you2. Enrolling in this promotion will automatically cancel your account

Do we really know ‘Ownership?’

It is one word in the corporate world that’s over exposed and obviously unclear. It is sad when you think about it especially since it is the only thing that really gets things done and makes stuff happen? Anyway some recent experiences motivated me to contemplate on ‘ownership’ and the rest was this essay.... it is funny how that happens.

So what really is ownership? Every organization I have ever consulted with asks its employees to ‘Take OWNERSHIP’, ‘Be a player’, ‘Don’t be a spectator’ and yet… I am not saying anything any further? What does it really mean to be a player, to take ownership? Every day works is getting done, tasks are being completed, we are sending out emails, printing pages of reports, creating billions and billions of bits-bytes of data. I was at dinner recently with some dear friends and in conversations we started to talk about juggling and somehow the concept of OWNERSHIP was loud and clear in my mind.

When the juggler juggles there are many things he or she has to be aware of, anticipate and respond to. Everything from the wind drag if her or she is outside to making sure the object being juggled don’t hit into each other, the synchronicity with which the items are swung up in air, ensuring the receiving hand is in position to accept the descending item and so on. In so many ways similar to how organizations operate. Every task has an element of marketing, sales, product supply, financial control, reporting and logistics and yet when individuals complete their deliverables and hand-off they often miss the coordination of the juggler. Resulting in the items falling to the ground!

Ownership has to be holistic an unfortunate irony of the word itself while still ensuring that there is no power grab and everyone over compensates ensuring a flawless delivery. I am proposing shared ownership but with a grain of salt “a common yard is never swept”!

THE Pepsi Doc!

'Breathtaking' Is One Word for Purported Arnell Pepsi Doc

Great story and even better communicated via the document.

Marketing Strategy: Presenting 25 Years of Marketing Truth and Research

Interesting article on the 25 years anniversary of ISBM (Institute for the Study of Business Markets)-Marketing Truth on Research . The article mentioned B2B truths but they are as relevant to B2C.

My favorite was:

"Integrated" means everything looks the same. Integrated really means everything works in tight concert around your brand to drive toward the same objective.

Key Insights

• Understand, quantify, demonstrate and document customer value. This, the heart of marketing to businesses, continues as a major ISBM issue. When both seller and buyer focus on creating value and sharing its profitable benefits, everyone wins. That should be self-evident, but it isn't when sales organizations still have "stories to tell," sell on the basis of price and fail to listen carefully to what customers say.

• Go beyond what customers say. Business customers often can't (or won't) express what really concerns them or explain the real opportunities they have to add value to their offerings. Finding their hot buttons, and understanding how different purchasing influencers work together on buying teams, are of special importance in business-to-business markets. Some of the techniques enjoying more popularity as business marketers become more sophisticated:

• Studying the customer's business design closely for robust clues.

• Practicing reflexive thinking. You cannot really understand customers, partners and competitors unless you put yourself in their position.

• Visiting customers and examining their processes closely for potential efficiencies their people might have missed—problems that your offering can solve.

• Applying the discipline of Voice of the Customer research.

• Going downstream to the customers of your direct customers value chain—visibility—to learn how your offering adds value that resonates at more than one level of the pipeline.

• Going beyond established research techniques (such as satisfaction studies and conjoint analysis) to probe hidden, intangible factors and deep emotional needs with non-directive tools (such as ZMET).

• Your customers can develop valuable new offerings for you…if you let them. Customer co-development programs and studying how your most innovative and unusual customers actually use your product will spur innovation in market-oriented directions.

• Take a long- as well as a short-term view of markets. Despite constant pressure for short-term results, the truly important marketing initiatives have long-lasting impact. Marketing communications, research, training and other marketing programs create asset values regardless of accounting conventions that expense all marketing costs. Even in times of economic recession, marketing is a necessary investment in the future—even more powerful when competitors fail to invest.

• Implement STP. Following the discipline and logic of "segmenting," "targeting" and "positioning" ensures marketing efficiency and focus. In any market, there's no such thing as the "right" or "best" segmentation. It depends on the firm’s workable options for delivering and promoting customer-specific value drivers.

• Never doubt the power of brands in business markets. A brand name built and nurtured to connote value opens business customer doors and impresses buying decision makers. B2B branding dynamics are complex compared to consumer brands, particularly across value chains as with "ingredient branding." Remember that:

• Attacking a well-entrenched competitive brand head-on is futile.

• Brands belong to customers, not to companies. Brand values live in the mind of the customer and determine how the customer feels about using and "experiencing" the brand.

• "Customer experience engineering," a component of the branding alchemy, speaks to subtle but powerful motivators marketers can associate with their brands.

• Messing around with a successful brand is commercial suicide.

• Keep the right customers, lose the wrong customers. Firing a customer—particularly a large one, or one with a personal relationship to your company's people—is painful but necessary triage in business marketing wars. Customers who do not receive genuine value in the relationship won't stick around for long, anyway. Customers unwilling to pay a fair premium for the value they receive only steal your profit.

• People go where they're led and do what they're paid to do. Staffers do what they are measured on and compensated for, so successful implementation can occur only if you align metrics and compensation with your goals. It's well known that, as the expression goes, "salespeople are coin-operated." Yet respect, empowerment and recognition for people are essential throughout the organization.

Scrap Obsolete Thinking

Fortunately, old-fashioned and dysfunctional notions keep losing ground as business marketers improve their skills, strategies and sophistication. Bid farewell to obsolete "rules" such as:

• Communications are from "us" to "them"—or they're a dialogue initiated by the supplier firm. Marketing communications actually are becoming more of a "pull" experience as customers take the initiative to search for the information they need. Venerable models such as AIDA (attention > interest > desire > action) and DAGMAR (defining advertising goals for measured advertising results) fail to describe the communication dynamics of a digitally networked world.

• Cost and price have a fundamental relationship. They never did. Price should be based on value. Selling on price usually means giving away value and profit.

• Segmentation is easy. It's not. The obvious ways of categorizing customers—e.g., industry, size and location—usually fail to improve marketing efficiency, and often reduce it.

• The 4 Ps. They worked in the 1950s, but cannot describe the communication and value chain processes at work in today's complex business markets.

• Stick to your technical core competence and outsource everything else. Owning and controlling every aspect of your customer's experience should be among your core competencies.

• Six Sigma has an answer for everything. It doesn't, despite what the zealots insist.

• People understand what "marketing" is, and "brand," and "innovation," and… The assumption that anyone in the discipline shares the same definitions and language that you do is almost always wrong. The truth, as George Bernard Shaw once observed: "The greatest danger in communication is the illusion that it's happened."

• "Creative" equals "cute," and drives behavior change. No. People still really want to know, "What's in it for me?"

The disloyalty cards

Since the stellar success of Tesco and their relationship with Dunn & Humby that made the headlines, businesses have gone crazy with loyalty cards, loyalty programs and loyalty hooks for consumers and shoppers. What is the true value of a loyalty card program? Does CRM start with a loyalty card or end with a loyalty card?

Recently I came across an interesting article ‘Rewards that Reward’ in the Journal (may need subscription) that reviewed opportunities with some of the long standing loyalty card programs.

“The biggest problem with loyalty programs, we would argue, is that most retailers adopt a one-size-fits-all approach: They use monetary rewards to encourage repeat purchases. But product discounts won't change buying behavior in the long run in shoppers who value things like personalized service, convenience or shopping pleasure more. These types of consumers may change their behavior to access the price promotion, but they likely will revert back to their regular brands or buying habits shortly thereafter, resulting in, at best, a temporary change in sales and market share.”

The article also identified some obvious issues like, “sameness between programs”; the lack of differentiated from the “me too” syndrome in the retail environment means several loyalty card holders have more than one loyalty card (often competitors)! Rarely do loyalty cards really help develop loyalty?

Is there an issue with the programs or the lack of leadership? Isn’t there someone out there that wants to get in bed with the best shoppers and ignoring all others? I haven’t seen one yet? That’s not to say one wont be ready to step up and deliver!

Chk out these pics of a typical loyalty card holders wallet.

Marketing In a Recession - ANA

Marketing In a Recession time for back to basics - from the ANA Marketing Maestros

1. Insights – Know your customer better than anyone else in your organization. Understand their unarticulated needs, those they cannot tell you about, but formulate how they act, or would act. To discover these hidden gems requires living with your customers, seeing how they act and react. Knowing your customer is the key to making everything else happen.
2. Be a Growth Champion – Elevate the role of marketing; be the force within your organization that turns marketing into a profit generator. Innovate. Find new revenue streams building both top and bottom lines. Marketing has the innate ability to create revenue, but it takes a big idea to do so. And that takes guts, determination and a desire to lead, not just serve. Finally, make sure you are on the same page as your CEO. Too many marketers are still doing stuff versus providing their management with the ideas that will drive the company’s agenda. Be strategic, not tactical. No one gets rewarded today for having completed a number of projects. Did the action you took drive shareholder value, build brand equity, or create a new stream of revenue? If not, don’t do those things any more.
3. Segment – You cannot be everything to everyone. Focus on who your target is, what is your brand DNA, and how your brand can satisfy the target you’ve chosen better than your competitors.
4. Market Internally – Partnerships are critical. Marketers today must bring internal and external teams together. The sum is greater than the whole. First, other team members not only have great ideas, but they also make executing ideas easier if they are on board. Secondly, every member of your organization is in marketing. From the phone operator to the delivery team – if anyone does not put the customer first, then all else will eventually fail.
5. Measure – knowing what’s working and what's not is the only way to ensure we continually put our resources (both money and people) against the right objectives. If you cannot measure your results or are not going to change your direction when you receive feedback, don’t take any action. Only do what you can prove will work. Not sure? Then adopt a test, fail, expand methodology.

White Rainbow

Watched a fantastic foreign film recently by the same name. The essence was there is a rainbow in the sky every single day but it is only visible when it rains; As a man of science I know it is the dispersion of light from the moisture (light refraction) in the air right after the rains that makes the colors visible.

Leadership is much like that!

It is the ability to draw images in sand and then bring them to life; it is the ability to identify talent and develop it; it is the ability to align people, resources against opportunities that will take organizations to the next level!

Yes, it is not much different from moving the prism and place it at the right angle against white light to bring out the colors to the fullest and the best!

Reading Your Mind - CBS 60 mins

Neuromarketing is a rapidly growing area, CBS ran a segment on Jan 5th during the 60 minutes episode that evening.



What is more interesting is the area of Neuroeconomics!

Another viral... for positioning

It was Bud that was the 'Best friend' & now it is Jim Bean... that is the 'Best Girlfriend'

The Customer Service Disconnect!

A recent survey conducted by the CMO council found some disconnects between the role of the CMO and the focus on Customer Service -

The most critical role a CMO can play in an organization: to own every facet of listening, learning, interacting, engaging, and optimizing the relationship with the customer, and understanding where the attrition, pain and aggravation is, and doing this in real time.

Top lines from the article:

• 23% of the Marketers said their companies track or measure customer emails
• 17% use that feedback to identify potential customer advocates.
• 59% of marketing officers said their companies do not compensate any employees or executives based on customer loyalty, satisfaction improvements or analytics.
• Majority of respondents' companies have no programs in place to track or propagate positive word of mouth among customers.
• 16% of those surveyed monitor online message boards and social networking sites.
• Most companies don't even have systems in place to monitor feedback or engage consumers
• 37% of companies surveyed gather customer insight from customer engagement situations
• 15% use such situations to identify and cultivate potential customer champions and advocates
• A third reported that they look for ways to turn problems into new sales opportunities
• 16% introduce new products or services to further monetize the relationship
• "It's all about leveraging the touchpoints, or engagement with customers--more than just taking an order and introducing another offer"

My first hand experience seeing, doing and living this says things are a lot worse than what the survey found?

Viral - Viral - Viral & Funny!

From DUREX...

Driving change with history

Have worked for an academy company I know the power of a strong culture! There is no denying the power of its distinctiveness and the resilience from its indoctrination. That being said like everything else history and culture is a two edged sword! The size and scale of the Titanic caused its demise so also with history and culture. The inertia of culture and history can help gain momentum for change or create the resistance from change.

Drawing on principles from ‘Just In Time’ production of driving down the water level to the point of being able to see the rocks that obstruct the streamlining of the flow? Using history and culture to drive the change itself? I think,YES! A compelling vision a relevant and unifying mission combined with the right strategy; organizational structure; staff; recognition/rewards; work and communication processes can result in right behaviors. Lastly communication through metaphors that bring concepts and ideas to life can not be underestimated!

The most compelling change starts from within and what better than history to drive it!

Truspect in organizations

The other day I was wondering if trust flow from bottom to top or top to bottom in an organization? So also respect, does respect flow top to bottom or bottom to top?

The team has to respect its leadership! Leadership, not just for their openness to learn, honesty, transparency, speed to action, judicious risk taking, as organizational figureheads and their industry knowledge but more importantly as humans! The same is true of the leadership’s respect for the team particularly when entrusting them with authority and accountability. Way too many will supposedly ‘entrust’ and ‘empower’ their teams only to stifle them with a constant need to track progress and micro manage. Respect and trust to are the two sides of the same coin!

What is the most logical flow of trust in organizations? Can respect help influence and enable the direction of this flow? Given the relationship between trust and respect one can not survive without the other! Trust can certainly help develop respect so also respect can help build trust. Are there traits necessary for the genesis of trust some visible and some invisible like - Career experiences, education, intellect, persona, title, etc. or can trust stand for itself? Respect can sometimes be misinterpreted for fear but trust is rarely misconstrued.

Respect can start with a positive base but trust clearly needs to be invested into from zero, leadership cannot withdraw from the trust capital without having created a base.

A Dimensional View of Experiential Marketing - Brandchannel.com

Interesting article in Experiential Marketing, but the question remains:

• Is it all about Experiences?
• What happens to the traditional channels of awareness building?
• Is more the merrier, where and how to prioritize?

Top line from the article:

• Keeping the message consistent is challenging, particularly across sales teams, channel partners, online and offline venues, and sometimes over long sales cycles.
• Today customers expect to interact with products in such a manner as to reveal their behavior, features and advantages.
• Interactivity is a bi-directional process involving the actions of one participant, and the responses to those actions, in a continuous feedback loop. (Think of an interactive experience as a conversation. Action equals reaction.)
• Interactivity is a key ingredient in building an emotional connection between a customer and a product.
• Digital focus:

Delivering realism: making the digital product look as close to the actual product as possible

Mimicking behavior: making the digital product behave in the same way the actual product does (e.g., doors open, batteries are removed)

Maximizing performance: making the digital product experience fluid and natural

I am Spartacus!

Interesting article on shared leadership! Here is the top line.

TO LEAD, CREATE A SHARED VISION

• An attribute that most distinguishes leaders from nonleaders: Being forward-looking—envisioning exciting possibilities and enlisting others in a shared view of the future.
• Constituents want visions of the future that reflect their own aspirations. They want to hear how their dreams will come true and their hopes will be fulfilled.
• The only visions that take hold are shared visions

Innovation in the Middle Ranks

I never really believed the wisdom in the HBR articles that said innovation comes through the middle ranks of most organizations. I did not refute it either but maintained a certain level of skepticism. Then couple days ago while participating in a corporations strategy development session, I became obvious. The leaders exuded a passion for the future, it was visible but sadly the vision was stale. The mission was not much more than one that read like the nearest competitor's and worthy of not a whole lot more than being framed and placed in the hallways to to get anyone really excited about. What was most alarming was how generic the strategies for the next fiscal year ended-up being.

Strangely enough the strategies were being confused to opportunities.

The data supported the strategies but there were too broad, lacked prioritization, lacked measures associated (the idea was to revisit the strategies and assign measures at some point in the future). As a consultant I experience more than my fair share of such organizations. In my understanding the result is mediocrity in performance of the organization, mediocrity of the results and a constant need to change to improve on performance while focusing on the symptoms and not the root cause. The strangest thing is that leadership is unable to connect the dots and see the cause. Some how in many cases these same organizations will hit a home run but at most times when the ball reaches the ropes it is merely based on the middle managers and the executors who internalize the strategies into creative expression and innovative engagements with the consumer, the shopper and their ecology.

In closing I thought this quote by Peter Drucker sums it up!

"No institution can possibly survive if it needs geniuses or supermen to manage it. It must be organized in such a way as to be able to get along under a leadership composed of average human beings." - Peter Drucker

Inspiring quotes

Some men are born mediocre, some men achieve mediocrity, and some men have mediocrity thrust upon them.
- Joseph Heller

The hope and stress strategy

Peter Drucker said “What gets measured gets done!”; Truer words were never said and yet nothing was said about the kind of measures. To make things ever more confusing and complex not all results are measurable and results can be soft and best relayed as benefits. I was recently involved with a branding effort that had more to do with mannerism and attitudes as a foundational element to the strategy than any real economic deliverable.

Metrics can be manipulated, it is not difficult to make things look rosy when they really are not. Substituting quantity for quality can easily confuse the most discerning of judges. Stress and hope are two emotions that people often use as a metric of effort. As a matter of metrics hope and stress cannot be a strategy. Although success of brands is deeply rooted in emotions and sometimes fears and so the success is a matter of how deep you can reach to sow the seed.

What motivates the elves to work for Santa?

From all the stories we have ever heard about the Elves, it is a tough life! Up at the North Pole in the cold cold weather.

They have only three options for jobs - The shoe shop, Santa's toy shop, Sleigh maintenance round the year for the big trip on Christmas eve. They do this year in year out, not sure if there is much else for them given they are vertically challenged and a weird sense of dress? I know most places are open minded but it may still be tough for people to adjust to the Elves and the Elves to adjust to people.

I have seen them play Elves take charge and move to Hollywood. They have secured roles in the Media and Entertainment industry but that too is far and few. Whats worse is the perception that an Elf dies each time someone opens their gift prematurely before Christmas. How scary is that? Obviously there is not much an Elf can do about the risk factor other than control delivery timing to avoid early delivery but then there are logistical challenges with the entire "LTL" (less than truck load) delivery system.

I am quite sure I may have personally contributed to a significant fatalities in the Elf community around the holidays with my anxiety to find out what I was getting for Christmas? Years ago during grad school I tried to help the Elves without much success in trying to help plan Santa's trip on Christmas eve, what is popularly refered to as the "Travelling Salesman" or the "Chinese Postman" problem. I am sure FedEx, UPS and DHL have been working hard on this for many years now, it is what is called an N-P Hard problem (Non Polynomial, unsolvable problem).

Every year around the holidays I have wonder what motivates the Elves to work for Santa? Food, Clothing and Shelter are obviously fundamental but is there something else? I am sure living with the old St. Nick is a treat but is it enough to keep someone up at the North Pole?

A few years ago I was working on a brand that had a altruist element. The joy and fulfilment to the consumers was very rewarding. May be it is the smiles on peoples face and the kids jumping to joy when they receive their Christmas gift that motivates the Elves and if they are anything like me then the idea of imagining Santa being stuck in the Chimney every once in a while gives them another reason to stick around!

Happy Holidays to All!

Marketing paradoxes

Paradoxes are the spice of life and a little poetic inclination never hurt anybody. Every time I get romantic with anything (not limited to my significant other but including a particular project, my bike, my new jacket, my new video game and the list goes on). Talking about figures of speech oxymorons create the same sense of levity of thoughts, images and internal tensions needed in a brand experience - ‘silence can be noisy’.

Brands have several communication touch points that enable the brand steward to instill the tension and bring the brand to life. The name, the tag line, the logo, the advertisement (creative), the medium (communication), the package, the of course the product, after all it is all about creating memorable experiences that draw her again and again and again.

The subtlety of the tension creates enigma that enables excitement, in numerous cases I studied I realized it was the innovation in the brand, the sort of contrarian thinking that helps identify true white spaces or adjacencies that leverage core equity. Who ever thought original Apple brand was about easy sharing of audio/video files(the iPod); Nike is about confidence not athletics, the kind that is visible in the flight of Michael Jordan as he dunked the ball into the basket; Trader Joe's is about the old styled, the classic, the small, the artisan, the under dog in a world where big box grocery stores are abound.

The tensions from these paradoxes is not a domain of marketing alone but the canvas for every bold citizen to express. The one thing to always remember though, all things being equal authenticity, simplicity and relevance trumps any paradox!

Lux & Candela of focus

I was in the attic over the weekend, never a fun place for me but you got to do what you got to do. The best part this time was an insight I had that inspired this essay. There are many reasons I hate the attic, a low ceiling, limited space to move, big storage boxes that make life difficult to maneuver, too hot or too cold depending on the season and the worst limited lighting. Each time we go up there we get there with a flash light or a torch as some English speaking readers call it. It is funny how plentiful light or the lack of it can bring knowledge?

While up in the attic and fumbling around I was reminded of high school physics concepts of the umbra and the penumbra. It is the shadow from complete obstruction or partial obstruction of emitting light. The annoyance of the shadows in the attic got me thinking about focus and strategy. As I raised the flash light in my hands the spread was wider that is to say the many more boxes and objects in the attic were visible from its luminosity but it did not help make the details clear on the flip side when I brought the flash light closer to an individual box it became clear while everything else went into darkness.

The philosophical nature of the lighting in the attic made me realize the power of horizon based strategy and planning.

Lux and Candela are the measure of luminosity of light.

Back to the basics - Needs and Wants

Buying loyalty

I had a strange and uncomfortable conversation recently about some consumer research revealed a fact that shouldn’t have been surprising. We are humans; We are intelligent (We may choose not to exercise it at times, but we are intelligent); We are individualistic (we do have some what of a herd mentality but we are each unique in our own ways) but most of all, We make choices and decisions based on our own definition of “SELF ACTUALIZATION”!

The conversation related to consumers exercising opinions contrary to executive belief that people should invest in their own business. What is the ‘All powerful’ consumer to do if the brand does not meet her needs, even if it is her own business? Old school thinking does not hold any longer! Consumer choice is a moment of truth when rational people can sometimes make irrational decisions driven by their values, their experiences, their personalities and their psyche.

Loyalty cannot be bought and more over loyalty cannot be taken for granted! Loyalty is priceless and needs to be respected. Drawing on Steven Covey’s ideas from Seven habits of highly effective people, brand stewards need to invest actively in the loyalty ‘capital’ pool before making any withdrawals (in form of repeat purchase even when prices creep higher, brands morph packages or when brands stretch into newer pastures).

Trust and the speed of business

Last year I spend a fair bit of time talking to a senior People officer, can’t say I fancy their company (in my opinion most are not a whole lot more than policy police and many times a little on the dimmer side to my liking) but this one was strange and I like strange. Discussions were often at philosophical levels and usually open ended and vague. It’s just the kind that gets my creative juices flowing. Over several rounds of conversations we talked about talent one of my most favorite topics after brands.

We talked about talent and business models, talent acquisition, talent preservation, talent development and also talent decimation (no I am not kidding, that what most organizations do, they bring talent, morph it to a mold and destroy the ingenuity, the very thing they paid top dollars for. Fostering mediocrity in the process and obliterating any innovation prospects). To add to the challenge establishing guard rails in the form of bureaucracy to making any real significant contribution.

As we continued to discuss these topics we stumbled upon the speed of business model evolution and the factors that drive the speed. We talked about Clayton Christensen and even Joseph Schumpeter for perspectives on innovation. The one and only element of success behind discontinuous innovation is not funding, is not the creation of skunk works, it is not even intelligence it is TRUST! It is the pill that enables organizations to let individuals try new ideas, concepts and models outside the realm of ‘Business as Usual’. It is the panache that lets individuals the ability to take calculated risks FAST.

Later while thinking about this essay I did some basic research and found this book by Steven Covey.

Watered down-Conflicted-Democratic ~ Point of Difference

Tom Fishburne captures the essence of strugles most companies that are trying to find their core equity experience and then the challenges of translating those equities into sensory and executional experiences.

Tom, Thanks for a another fabulous encapsulation of the concept!!

Brand experience panacea

Ever since AG Lafley brought attention to two of the consumer strategic decision points in buying and using fast moving consumer products the concept of brand experience has been played over and over. The two windows, the first at point of purchase and the second at use leave a strong and lasting impression on the consumer mind and psyche.

The actual execution often leaves more to be desired!

So what is with the lacuna between the desire and actual execution? We have all heard about the service excellence at a Lexus dealership, we have also read about the standards of customer service at Nordstrom’s and yet the variance between the best and good is huge. Neither of the stores are pedestrian by any stretch and the difference in demographic is reflected in the clientèle.

Brand experience can many times be the elixir to differentiation but relevance is the first rung in that ladder. Without knowing her and without knowing what matters to her it would be impossible to know the value-benefit equation. Marketing must start with positioning, targeting and segmentation!

Buying loyalty

I had a strange and uncomfortable conversation recently about some consumer research revealed a fact that shouldn’t have been surprising. We are humans; We are intelligent (We may choose not to exercise it at times, but we are intelligent); We are individualistic (we do have some what of a herd mentality but we are each unique in our own ways) but most of all, We make choices and decisions based on our own definition of “SELF ACTUALIZATION”!

The conversation related to consumers exercising opinions contrary to executive belief that people should invest in their own business. What is the ‘All powerful’ consumer to do if the brand does not meet her needs, even if it is her own business? Old school thinking does not hold any longer! Consumer choice is a moment of truth when rational people can sometimes make irrational decisions driven by their values, their experiences, their personalities and their psyche.

Loyalty cannot be bought and more over loyalty cannot be taken for granted! Loyalty is priceless and needs to be respected. Drawing on Steven Covey’s ideas from Seven habits of highly effective people, brand stewards need to invest actively in the loyalty ‘capital’ pool before making any withdrawals (in form of repeat purchase even when prices creep higher, brands morph packages or when brands stretch into newer pastures).

Brand Fatigue

I recently consulted on reviving a brand that seems to be suffering from a certain level of exhaustion. Although the brand has strong equity it seems to lack vigor and more importantly distinctiveness. We have all suffered fatigue at some point in time or the other so I decided to look up synonyms to the word to describe my thoughts and feelings about the brand. At my favorite destination Wikipedia I found several links for the definition of fatigue, I started with medical. Fatigue also called exhaustion, languidness, languor, lassitude, or listlessness). The more detailed definition of the term and its implication were in metals, structures and metallurgy – fascinating stuff!

Do brands really suffer from fatigue? Of course they do!
· Brands are quickly diluted if they are not differentiated.
· Brands get stale if not perturbed.

Many well known and strong brands like – JC Penny, Swanson frozen entrée, etc. have experienced phases in their lifecycle where they need new energy to avoid the much feared lack of distinct recognition.

What is a brand to do to keep the brand cheerful, exciting and lively? I usually like to start with first principles and what better place than Brand basics? Defining that target consumer and knowing her is the first step. Who is she? What does she desire? How can we titillate her senses? What else is she considering? How does she engage with our brand and the competition?

Service based brands have a particular advantage when circumventing fatigue the opportunity to close the loop on the consumer experience enables a distinct advantage to learn and fix problems as quickly as they happen. Obviously nothing happens with out a keen focus and deep commitment.

Above all one can never under estimate the power of active listening!

Trust as a Tangible Brand Attribute

Very foundational article on brandchannel.com - Trust as a Tangible Brand Attribute.

Here are some top lines from the article.

Organization’s core values can be projected through an authentic brand platform, then consistently walking the talk

Authentic brand platform is the foundation of employee and customer trust and loyalty—both of which directly affect your bottom line

“Your brand promise is shorthand for everything that your company stands for,”

“Your ability to keep that promise is critical to establishing and maintaining credibility with both employees and customers.”

Trust: The Core of Tangible Brands
Trust is the engine that powers your brand. When a brand delivers consistently on what it says it will do there are tangible results. When the visual brand is aligned consistently with the experience it communicates an honest, reliable organization and there are tangible results. It’s all about building loyalty and long-lasting relationships.

Authentic Values: The Backbone of Your Brand
Trust results from a reliable cache of perceptions and experiences, built over time. We think of organizations just like we do people we know. If I have heard of you I am more likely to trust you. If you do what you say you are going to do, my level of trust will increase. If you do this over and over, I will become a raving fan. It all boils down to consistency and authenticity. If you say one thing and do another, or look and act differently each time I interact with you, that will chip away at my trust. I’ll go elsewhere to work or do business.

Sometimes, it’s the smaller daily actions and interactions that show you a brand is working beyond the logo and tagline.

Making Your Brand Tangible Leads to:

• Ongoing affirmation of purpose
• Organizational alignment
• Differentiation
• Stronger relationships and connections
• Increased recognition
• Stronger recruitment
• Increased ROI

Positioning across generations

As we continue to make progress in medical technology and develop a better understanding of our bodies we have made significant strides in extending human life. Our brand lifecycles unfortunately don’t have the same luxury, with lifecycles shrinking ever shorter. That’s not to say we don’t know what is causing length of brand life to suffer. The list is long and obviously contextual, lack of a clear focus for the brand, increasing diversity and varying emotional needs of consumers, pressure from distribution channels, economics and many more. Survival of brands is solely a function of focus! This can sometimes create a whole new challenge how does one balance the relevance of the positioning across a population that can now live longer and longer?

As brands position and reposition to increase appeal beyond their primary targets on to their secondary and strategic targets how should brand manage the risk of alienating the prime prospect? Brands like to stay Young, Fresh and Interesting, but the scope of Young, Fresh and Interesting is function of the age. Brands like Unilever’s AXE makes innuendoes to sex appeal as it attracts the Gen X & Ys, Procter’s Tide appeals to the quintessential mom that identifies herself self-esteem in how clean her kids clothes appear, Loreal’s Revitalift speaks of ageless beauty for the Boomer in helping her age gracefully.

Since survival of consumer brands is so heavily dependent on the volume the question on the table is how does a brand strategize targets? How does the brand stay relevant? How does the brand differentiate itself not just by “Who am I ?” but “Who should I appeal to ?”. Me too is a great strategy if the brand wants to follow the leader, but if you want to be the leader, the brand needs clarity. Positioning is a brand metaphor in the consumer’s mind and metaphors are contextual generations and age clearly affect what is meant and how it is interpreted. A strong and robust brand architecture and support for the brand portfolio can take the brands to new levels of leadership!

A conversation with the dream salesman

From a recent interview with Robert Polet of Gucci, published in INSEAD Knowledge.

“People buy our brands because they want to be a part of a particular dream… So people before going into the store, they decide ‘I would like to be part of that dream.’ And that is an emotional decision. It’s an aspirational decision for many. And they’re seduced when in the store; they’re seduced by the product, by a really desirable product that you cannot resist … This is not about selling bags or shoes or ties or suits. This is about ‘Would you like to be a Gucci man or a Gucci woman?’”

“Let me just reaffirm the importance of actually sticking to your strategy because the strategy that you build around brands is the strategy for the longer term. You manage brands for a long life or longevity, so you don't sort of whisk them around every quarter or every year or every two years,”

this seems a little anachronistic but very poignant (from the AMA newsletter)

"The man who stops advertising to save money is like the man who stops the clock to save time."

- Thomas Jefferson

No marketing can fix a failure in the product!!

The fundamental of the second moment of truth for consumer marketing is that you have to delight the consumer at usage!

This is a consumer world, trick me once shame on you, trick me twice shame on me! No marketing can fix a failure in the product!!

The new ad from Apple MAC does a fabulous job with the concept - Bean Counter.

Hi-Tech & Hi-Touch

In an economy where organizations want a touch less execution to drive out costs brands need a new point of view. As organization move into the Hi-Tech, they automatically transition into the Low-Touch a classic example of this experience are financial services companies and particularly credit card companies. Each time I call my credit card company, I have to sit through the frustrating automated system before I can get to a real person and sometimes that wait can be as long as 20 minutes or more. From a consumer’s perspective life is getting more and more fragmented, work, travel, home, family and friends and our patience is ever shrinking. We all want everything “NOW”, “My issues are more urgent than the next guy”, “I always have to deal with the big issues”, etc.

The fundamental question for a service brand today is – How can I be Hi-Tech and Hi-Touch at the same time while I keep my costs down?

Is Hi-Tech and Hi-Touch a paradox or the holly grail?

5 Lessons from Jim Stengle

From the ANA conference... Jim Stengle speaks at the ANA Conf.

Lesson One: Put people at the center of all you do.
Lesson Two: Engage your heart and mind in everything you do.
Lesson Three: Focus on the short & long term results (Sales is no more important than Brand health).
Lesson Four: Creativity is about solving problems.
The last lesson: Have a purpose.

The summary posted on MediaPost is very interesting.

Walking the unpaved path

Years ago I read a book by Dixit and Nalebuff, Thinking Strategically a text book on Game theory. The book covered several examples from business and academia on the topic but the one that caught my fancy was the example from the robot competition. The likes of the one held at MIT every year. The game theory insights gained from watching the robots compete were interesting and yet common sense.

The best way to stay in the game with the strongest and swiftest robot was the strategy “tit for tat” or “Monkey see monkey do”. Clearly those robots that were sub par failed, those that were at par but have a unique tactic had a chance to succeed and obviously risked failure as well. The only chance of survival for two robots at par with each others abilities was the copycat strategy.

Brands are much the same way, copying the leader can guarantee survival but true relevance and differentiation is the only way to success. For those who have ever read Jim Collins’ Good to Great know the difference between Survival and Success.

Let the brand chart its own unpaved path with the lights of consumer metrics.

Branding nothingness

As we get more and more aware of long term effects of chemicals on our bodies, our environment and our systems, we have gradually shunned them for healthier and sustainable alternatives. Organic foods (produce devoid of any fertilizers and pesticides to protect plants, fruits and crops from insects, bugs and infections), GMO (Genetically Modified Organisms-have improved our crop yield and farm productivity) free products, CFC (Chloro Floro Carbon-the stuff that causes holes in the Ozone layer) free refrigerants, Free range meats (Animals that are treated humanely and not captive in a cage/pen), etc. I have taken up on the fad, although not yet growing hair, avoiding deodorant, wearing tie-dye T-shirts, Birkenstocks, etc. but every once in a while I will buy a product that promises “nothingness”. It serious is “nothingness” one of the consultants I was working on a brand strategy with said to me – “it is so pure we promise NOTHING”.

This morning after my shower I feel that nothingness. I performed my typical morning ritual used just enough body wash, scrubbed myself with a mesh and yet I just did not feel fresh. I realized it was my new body wash, a NEW ALL NATURAL, NOTHING ADDED PURE BODY WASH. Supposedly the product has honey, shea-butter, no fragrance, natural alkali, and NOTHING ELSE. Of course the product did not create suds and obviously the honey & shea-butter did not leave a fresh fragrance. I guess “Nothingness” is not for me? Like my muse suggested if I want “nothing” why not simply rubbed the rind of an orange all over my body than paying for an expensive body wash.

Here is a recent and very creative execution of the concept from PUR.

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.