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    Brand Strategy

    Stop Fiddling Nero.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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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.

     

     

    A Tale of Three Strategies.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    A number of years ago, I was involved in a new business pitch for a big piece of healthcare business in NY. I had a knock down drag out fight with one of the ad agencies principles about whether or not to keep the existing (previous agency’s) tagline. I was yeah, the principle was nay. He finally threw in the towel. We suggested keeping that tagline which was “setting new standards in healthcare.”

    The brand strategy claim I developed for the health system was “a systematized approach to improving healthcare.” Eyes on the system. You can see how close setting new standards is to a systematized approach.

    Fast forward 15 years and that same health system hired a brand consultant to assist in a name change. The brand claim they came up with was “Providing transformative leadership driving the future.” A first pass you’d think it was a Google translation of the previous efforts. A repurpose. But on closer inspection, it was a bit of a pander to senior management. Making the health system leaders the heroes, rather than the system itself.  Words and emphases matter. Especially in strategy.   

    Tomato, to-mah-toe?  I don’t think so.

    Peace.

     

     

    Search and Stick-to-itiveness.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    Every morning I try to blog about branding. To date I have somewhere north of 2850 posts. One of the tricks I use to build make blog more visible and build followers is to index each post with my consultancy brand What’s The Idea?  In search terms that means I tag whatstheidea, one word, to every blog — along with whatever else I happen to be writing about.  My intent is to be able to tell people to Google whatstheidea and another word or brand using the plus sign (e.g., whatstheidea+burger king) and they will be one click away from my writings and thoughts. 

    It worked for a few years then as Google kept changing the algorithms my results were sent way beneath the fold. I mean waaaay beneath.

    Well, it looks like I may be back. Thanks to the latest Google algorithm, some secure server and WordPress magic by my hosting company (Unreal Web Marketing) and a lot of stick-to-itiveness, my years of indexing work has not been for naught.

    It’s fun when plans work out.

    Peace.

     

    Dunkin’ Cover. (As in, duck and cover.)

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    The wifus loves donuts.  Her favorite is Dunkin’ Donuts Vanilla Crème. On Mother’s Day, a lil bit of powdered sugar still on her lips, she happened to mention that the donuts used to be better. Apparently, the vanilla filling used to extend right to the very end of the donut and now it takes a bite to get there. As a kid who was coaxed to go to church with a jelly donut, I appreciate her point. A donut bite without filling is a lost opportunity. A branding problem.

    Since the customer is always right, why did Dunkin’ (they officially dropped the word Donuts from the brand) decide to lighten the filling load? There might be an assortment of reasons: new filling extrusion machines, reduce sugar content for health reasons, save a few pennies, the list goes on. But if one donut lover noticed, you can bet thousands of donut lovers noticed. And of those thousands, how many consciously or subconsciously have decided to try another donut shop – perhaps a craft donut shop — or even another morning confection altogether?

    When a butterfly flaps her wings….

    When you have craving brands and you alter the recipe or the proportion, it has an effect. There had better be a very good reason for doing it. It gets noticed.

    Peace.

     

     

    Made for People Strategy.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    0

    I came across a website yesterday for an electronic bicycle business opening a retail store in Asheville, NC. I’m sure the products are great but I didn’t that from the website write-up. Here’s an open letter form the CEO:

    Pedego is the best brand of electric bikes on Earth because we put people first.

    The most important part of every Pedego isn’t some high-tech gadget or fancy bicycle component – it’s the person riding it.

    Producing great eBikes is just the beginning. To be truly great, a company has to stand for something…

    Pedego stands for you.

    Don DiCostanzo

    This claim is the most-used brand position in the history of commerce. And to be honest, there’s nothing wrong with putting the customer first; I’ve written a number of strategies around ergonomics, for instance. But if I’ve said it once I’ve said it a thousand times, don’t make a claim and let it sit there. Prove it. Provide evidence. Be the claim. Live the claim.

    When Nfinity sneakers says their cheer shoes are made for women, they show an engineering drawing of the unique weight distribution radiating down the leg from womens’ hip structures. And then there show the different shoe configuration and weight bearing areas. This is claim and proof.

    Mr. DiConstanza, may make bikes that put people first (hate those dog bikes…hee hee), but he needs to build a support case. And he needs to pound it home.

    Words matter. Especially in selling. Be what you say you are and share it.

    Peace.

     

     

     

    Brand Strategy Is Not Foreplay.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    0

    “How do I write a brand strategy” is search term to avoid. It is a well-intended phrase — one that shows proper marketing thinking and consumer empathy. But the problem keying this question into Google is the outcomes will be all wrong. Small business owners or neophyte marketing people shouldn’t be writing their own brand strategies. Just as psychiatrists shouldn’t attempt to self-diagnose and self-heal.  

    It’s hard to objectively view your brand when you are the owner; but, more importantly it’s a misguided errand. Using the web to learn about brand strategy, it’s frameworks and tools is a rabbit hole. Effectively, you are looking for templates to help you with a brand articulation. It’s not effective.

    Brand strategy is often seen as foreplay in anticipation of selling large ticket items like logos, names, retail/web experiences and style manuals. The money-makers. Companies that focus on brand strategy and position themselves as experts really want to sell you other things. So they salt the web with goodies and search-ables in order to get your attention. Educating the market on brand strategy with so-called tools only to attract your business.

    Don’t try to write your own brand strategy. Don’t search the web for brand strategy tools. Find a company that cares about brand strategy and brand strategy alone — the words and organizing principle.  Seek them out. You’d be surprised at how fast and cost-effective a paper brand strategy can be.

    Peace.

     

    Brand Jab

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    0

    Out of necessity, while living in small-market Asheville, NC, I am having to reevaluate my pricing model.  Without going into my process for brand strategy development let’s say it takes me roughly about 150 hours of research and labor to get to an idea.  But for clients in this market and encumbered by the pandemic, something has to change. Toto, we’re not in NYC anymore. Adapt or suffer.

    Over the past year or so I’ve been mentoring some startup entrepreneurs through a neat program called Asheville Elevate.  I have not had the ability to do brand strategy for my mentees, as it doesn’t fit into the MIT-based program guidelines. It’s been hard trying to help young companies without having a brand strategy in place. Sans organizing principle, everything feels tactical. So, recently I’ve decided to try out a process lite to short cut my normal process with a couple of mentees. And it’s worked. I’m calling it a Brand Jab. Like a vaccine jab, it’s quick and painless. The process reduces the number of interviews I conduct, by attempting to find the one or two people most likely to speak for all targets. Rather than write a perfect brief, I cluster consumer care-abouts and brand good-ats and fast track my decision-making.

    It’s not exhaustive. But it’s agile.

    And I’m able to try it out on the market at a price point that should resonate. It also comes with a guarantee. For a quote write Steve@whatstheidea.com.

    Peace.

     

    Fertile or Fallow.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    0

    Templates are the savior and bane of the brand planner; and when I say brand planner I mean me. We are all different. Ish. I have a few Word files I go to time after time, which help me amass discovery information and insights.  What’s The Idea? readers know I immerse myself in customer care-abouts and brand good-ats during discovery. And from this information I boil down and cull. Then, using other templates, primarily briefs, I organize the info into a brand value template called a claim and proof array.

    But not all questionnaires work across all categories. For instance, when interviewing world-class security hackers – Are there other kinds of hackers? – I need to learn their language. It’s a culture thing. Or when talking to morbidly obese people it’s imperative I understand their life, trauma and culture. Can’t get there with a templated set of Qs. So you create a new set. Tabula Rasa. Ish.

    I wrote recently of some short cuts used to get to “claim and proof” without my normal templated outputs. This approach can be dangerous but sometimes budget requires we live dangerously. That said, going off-piste or off-template can be exhilarating.   

    This ability to adapt to new situations, including short-cutting the process, is the art of brand planning. The resulting are sometimes fertile, sometimes fallow. Good planners know the difference.

    Peace.

     

     

    Mentoring and The Deep Dive.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    0

    I am a mentor in a program called Elevate. It’s a wonderful group of men and women who donate time and experience to help startup entrepreneurs in the Asheville, NC area. Supported by Venture Asheville, an economic development coalition of Buncombe Country and the Asheville Chamber of Commerce, it uses a mentorship framework developed by MIT.

    One thing the brand planner in me is finding difficult is completing the discovery process I use in my day job. That job is to define brand strategy which guides product, product experience and messaging. Getting to that strategy requires a deep dive into business metrics, customer care-abouts and brand good-ats, which when culled and refined make all tactical decisions easy — from hiring to web design to product extensions and more.

    But as a mentor, I’ve found instances where we only talk tactics. The deep dive discovery I’m used to is not part of the rigor. Flying by an instrument panel, if you will, rather than eyes open with the landscape before me.

    With brand discovery typically requiring 75-150 hours to wrap my head around the business, its problems, challenges, and opportunities (which isn’t practical) I sometimes feel the need to scratch my head. 

    So what do I do? Well, I try to innovate. To short cut. I asterisk my recommendations. But most of all I sponge up as much as I can and rely on fellow team members. It’s a different approach. And different is good. It sharpens skills.

    Peace.

     

     

    The Tutor and the Brand Planner.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    0

    I’m working with a startup in the math tutoring space.  I did a Q&A interview yesterday of the key company stakeholder.  Having done a deep dive in the K12 education space in a prior engagement, I was eager to hear how this young man approached the problem of educating kids in need of improved math skills.

    A critical starting point for his organization is to get a level-set on where the student is in the learning process.  That is, what they know, what don’t they know, and what type of learner they are. Good pedagogy tells us not all students are the same and not all students learn at the same rate.  Makes sense. The best teachers teach to the student’s aptitude and place on the learning curve. It requires a lot of listening on the part of the teacher/tutor.   

    The approach is not dissimilar to that of the brand planner. We don’t just begin outlining some formula for brand positioning and success.  We begin by plumbing the depths of the brand owner’s understanding of the product/service.  Then we gather information on their aptitude and ability to deliver key value(s). We listen. We learn. And we build trust. Ultimately, we use the foundation of that learning to guide our planning rigor. That’s not to say we’re changing the algebra. Or our formulas. But we are learning who the brand owner is and taking our cues from him/her.  Only when they trust us, will they follow us. Trust the process. Understand the pupil.

    Peace.

     

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