Brand Strategy

    The Fine Lines of Brand Strategy Consulting.

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    When you are a consultant, you walk a fine line between telling customers and prospects what they are doing wrong while complimenting them on what they’re doing right.  You wouldn’t have a foot in the door were they doing everything right, yes?  But that’s no reason to tell them their baby is ugly.

    When a brand consultant, you walk an even finer line when interacting with prospects because you don’t really know the brand. You haven’t done discovery. You haven’t articulated the addressable business problems. You haven’t dug into the customer care-abouts or brand good-ats. Without those lines of reasoning anything you say can and will be shallow. So, you do the shallow spade work. Which often ends with discussions about process, procedures and practices. Not sexy.

    People like to talk about themselves and their frames of reference. Brands do too. Trust me, when I do brand discovery it’s fire hose time. But to get to discovery you have to a client to sign on. And even if they open up on a call or two, you can’t make any real judgements until the cake it out of the oven (Alex Bogusky).

    This is a conundrum I have yet to crack adequately. So I listen. I overlay some thoughts. I qualify my answers with a plea of brand ignorance. And I hope to build trust.

    As I said, a fine line.

    Peace.

     

    Proof Clusters.

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    You are never too old to learn new tricks.  Coming out of the advertising business as someone who wrote a lot of advertising creative briefs (strategy instructions for art directors/copywriters), I began my brand strategy business by writing brand briefs. The brief I used, and still use, answers a serial set of questions (a template, if you will) designed to uncover brand strengths, deficiencies, target care-abouts, market observations, etc.; all of which pointed toward a brand claim or promise. (“Coke is refreshment,” for instance.) The more discovery I did on the brand (interviews and research), the easier it was to fill in the template.

    But the serial questions had to tell a story. One with a beginning, middle and end. And if the pieces or segues didn’t fit perfectly it was problematic. Clunky.

    Well, the new trick has to do a new brand strategy framework I call Claim and Proof. After discovery, with all information and data gathered, I now search for what I call proofs.  Evidence of value or superiority. Not marketing words like quality or service, but real acts, deeds, procedures or product spec.

    Under closer inspection, some of these proofs are likely to cluster. When key clusters of like-values emerge, they begin to tell a story. And from the proof clusters and my notes I can then walk back a brand claim. My brand strategy framework is constructed with one claim and three proof planks.

    I still write brand briefs for clients who want the full-monty, but they are easier to write when the framework is complete.

    Peace.

     

     

    One Story.

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    Brand planning is like painting. In fine arts painting there are lots of strokes, lots of paints, colors, brush techniques, time and effort. Repeat. When the canvas is filled (or not) the painting is done.  Granted with painting, art is in the eye of the beholder and in brand planning strategy art is in the eye of the strategist — but the layers and layers of effort are not dissimilar.

    In brand planning there are interviews, research (primary and secondary), field work and consumer observations. Also lots of stakeholder interviews, so as to get the motivations of the brand people right.  All inputs are considered for development of the brand strategy. A lot of strokes. But I’ve found more often than not, that one particular story from all the interviews sticks out. The touchstone story. It’s one example that speaks most loudly about the product or experience and drowns out all the others. For me, this one story is the fulcrum of brand strategy development. The most valuable vein of ore. Metaphorically, it’s when the finished painting comes into focus.

    As you are doing brand discovery, seek out that one story. Keep hunting until you find it. It will feed the fine art that is brand planning.

    Peace.

     

     

    Celebrate By Doing.

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    This is Pride Month.  My bestie is gay and when people and businesses encourage me to celebrate Gay Pride Month, I do so eagerly. Just not always sure how. I don’t own a flag. I have a bracelet, somewhere.

    One of my new mentees with Asheville Elevate (a program for startups) is in the business of “Diversity, Equity, Inclusion.”  She is educating people out of systemic racism by attempting to change policies, procedures and practices.  I want to celebrate her efforts. I want to advocate. I’m just not sure how. 

    I use the word celebrate in my brand strategy practice quite a bit. It’s a lovely word. A wholesome and humane word. While I fear it is much overused in advocacy, it’s a good action verb in brand strategy. It’s a do word. Just as branding is about (organized) doing, celebrating is also about doing. Happy, healthy, communal doing.

     A good brand strategy makes it easy for employees and consumers to act on behalf of a brand. It gives them a roadmap. That’s what advocacy must do. Provide a roadmap.  Roadmap is an apt descriptor because much of advocacy today takes place at parades and outdoor demonstrations. Secondarily, with the dreaded letter-to-one’s-congressman.

    All advocates want celebrants – but they need to prime the pump with “doing” tactics. Strategy sans tactics is an impoverished business. Celebrate by doing.

    Peace.     

     

     

     

    Neutrogena Tagline.

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    Yesterday I posted about high-flying Oatly and the tagline “It’s like milk but made for humans.” I said I wasn’t a fan of the line. One reason being it identified the target as all of humanity rather attempting to carve out a special segment most likely to partake — thereby creating a bit of a tribe.  Well, last night I watched a Neutrogena commercial with a similarly crafted tagline: “Neutrogena, for people with skin.” Doh!

    This one wins. Though it offers a bit of a smile, it massifies the target into an amorphous blob of consumers. No one is special. No one is unique. None share a reason for buying Neutrogena.

    Branding is about creating differentiation. It’s about consumers identifying products as different.  

    Imagine a brand planner trying to do customer journey work for people with skin. Step 1. You wake up in the morning. Step 8. You go to bed.    

    Neutrogena and Oatly have created taglines meant to be fun and humorous. But, sadly, that’s the creative people talking not the strategy people.

    Peace.

     

     

    Oatly Tagline

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    Oatly, a Swedish milk company whose product is made primarily from oats, has been in the news lately. You may recall its fun, albeit somewhat odd, Super Bowl spot in which the CEO is singing about the brand in a field of oats. Two weeks ago, Oatly had a public stock offering on the Nasdaq, with a nice little first day bump.  And not long before that they made a neat hire in Heidi Hackemer as EVP creative director.  Should be an interesting company to watch.

    But one thing I can’t wrap my head around is their tagline. “It’s like milk but made for humans.”  Milk has for millennia been the life-blood of humans. Read mother’s milk. So the statement is intuitive wrong.  Whether they are talking about milk allergies or global warming, I’m not completely sure. Probably both, but either way they are trying to deposition accepted and current forms of milk and other mild substitutes.

    Moreover, to position your product “for humans,” or in other words everybody, though perhaps  a smart massification of consumers, it is not very special. Air is for everybody.  Water is for everybody. People don’t select brands because they are for everybody, they select brand because they are for “me.”

    I think I know the play here but it just seems a little weak. I predict the sing-songy line will be around a few more months, maybe a year, then put to pasture.

    Peace.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Brand Flotsam.

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    I came across what looks to be a cool hot sauce company in Austin, TX by the name of Yellowbird.  Nice memorable name. Playful and fun logo. The website that is bold and visual.  I even dug deeply into the site and found in the About Section, a suggestion that birds aren’t bothered by the heat of hot peppers — a tie to the brand name.

    Yellowbird, I also noticed, was looking for a director of marketing.

    Following are 15 things they are seeking in a candidate:

    • Be the voice and advocate of the customer within the organization
    • Work with Leadership to ideate and create quarterly and annual marketing initiatives and budgets and ensure tip-to-tail execution
    • Leverage data to plan, optimize, and report on marketing efforts
    • Help create the brand story in the world and evolve the brand and voice over time
    • Grow market share and overall brand awareness
    • Plan and manage field marketing, sampling, and event activities on a national scale using internal and external resources
    • Coordinate with sales team on shopper marketing initiatives and activities
    • Work with multiple internal stakeholders including but not limited to creative, finance, innovation and others to coordinate projects, develop messaging and produce marketing materials for various communications and events
    • Utilize best practices to own or assist with project management, marketing team planning, reporting, operations, budget, and contracts
    • Communicate regularly and clearly with Yellowbird team members to maintain consistent forward momentum
    • Use company tools and systems to store files, manage vendor relationships, stay on top of communication, and manage projects and timelines
    • Ensure that all marketing and communication processes are continuously evaluated for proper operation, relevance, efficiency and utilization
    • Continually assess and introduce process improvement measures.
    • Lead, manage, and develop your team to deliver exceptional results
    • Manage cohesive working relationships with all other personnel and stakeholders to ensure unified and effective promotional efforts

    All of these functions are important. Cut and paste important. But they are also very much tactical. I’d be hard pressed to see any strategic focus here. And that was also reflected in Yellowbird’s “nice” website. Lots of words, lots of product flotsam, little strategy.

    What gets people ordering hot sauce online or out of their chairs and to a retailer is strategy. Strategy with a poetic, memorable, replicable flair.

    Yellowbird has a good first step (name, package, website) but it hasn’t begun yet to do the real work of brandcraft. 

    Peace.

     

     

    Rebranding. And Brand Planks.

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    I did a brand strategy for a cyber security company a number of years ago. It was a killer assignment and a killer company. A couple of years later the CEO re-approached me and asked if I would do a refresh.  The company had moved into a couple of new areas and he wanted to check to see if his claim and proof planks were still dead on.  The new business areas were crypto, block chain and osquery.

    My approach to brand strategy has always been one in which the work is supposed to be future- proof, if not future enabling. But sometimes when the product, target or technology change a look-see is required.

    When the reassessment brand work was complete I was happy to report that the 3 brand planks stayed the same.  The claim, however, evolved a bit yet it was certainly only an evolution. An evolution that allowed the company to take more responsibility for understanding the nuanced science of cyber security.

    The learning for me was that even if a strategy claim changes, it’s less likely the planks will change. Planks are more like DNA. Leopards don’t really change their spots.

    Brand planks are critical because they feed the teaching narrative that build indelible value. Many brand strategy consultants sell you a claim and some gobbledygook about voice or personality. Unless you are getting planks you’re being short-changed.

    Peace.   

     

     

     

    Brand Strategy Targeting.

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    Brand strategy should speak to all targets. And, in a perfect world, all people.  Once we segregate a target and prioritize sub-targets (for maximization) we are moving beyond branding. Segmentation goes counter to brand craft. Segmentation is an important function but it’s a marketing function.

    Let’s start at the beginning. When creating a brand strategy, the planner wants to look at all targets that come in contact with the brand. As an example, let’s look at a recent What’s The Idea? engagement for a math tutoring company. The most important target was the parent. The payor. Another important target was anyone who might recommend a tutor, such as a teacher or friend in academia. The tutee (Is that a word?) AKA the student, is also important. And, of course, prospective math tutor employees are important. All these targets have different motivations and care-abouts, albeit math improvement is an ultimate goal.   

    To make it more complicated, it’s possible to further parse the parent target. That is, are they up-scale moms and dads? Price-conscious?  Professional or blue collar? Is the tutoring remedial or preparatory, for say college testing? All of these things must be factored in. But for proper brand strategy, with everything factored in, the value prop/brand claim must appeal to all. Everyone must be treated as a prospect. A news reporter, without kids, might break a huge story on your brand, while never being part of the target.

    Brand strategy isn’t code, it should speak to everyone.

    Peace.

     

     

    Stop Fiddling Nero.

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    I’ve worked on hundreds of brands throughout the years but the one that probably taught me the most was AT&T. I started out schlepping ads back and forth to Bridgewater, NJ is a big black portfolio case. And I left the business a brand strategist. 

    My years working on multiple AT&T lines of business — from retail phone stores, early email services, business long distance, technology (microchips, central office switches, PBXs, video), data lines and more — taught me about the company and its culture. And it taught me brute force marketing. Not all AT&T companies were equal but the brand was strong, well-managed and at the very top, well led.

    Today the newspapers refer to AT&T as a wireless company.

    The strategist in me would say AT&T is not a wireless company. It’s a telecommunications company. And its announcement to spin off the media properties, formerly Time Warner, is a welcome one.

    At its best AT&T is a business business. Not a creative business. People invent stuff there. They are in the telemetry business. And this world and the future are moving that way. Some of us refer to AT&T as in the plumbing business. The pipes, switches and receiver business. It is. And without going too Sci-Fi on you, that business will take all of the company’s energy and efforts to own.

    Bring back Bell Labs. Create the future. Leave the sitcoms and romcoms to someone else. Stop fiddling Nero. The planet needs you.

    Peace.