Chipotle and Proof.

By
Steve Poppe
-
0

Steve, the one trick pony here.  The one thing that sets my brand strategy practice apart from others is the foundational concept of “proof.”  I mine proof that drives belief and muscle memory of brand claims. Proof makes the brand go round.  I was watching a commercial on the TV yesterday done by Chipotle and ad agency Venables Bell (Source: Google) and for the first time ever, heard Chipotle reference the proof point: no freezers.  In the past they’ve told consumers their meat is never frozen but that is not the same proof point. 

It’s not a stretch to say Chipotle’s brand strategy is built around “fresh.” At the very least, fresh is one of the three Chipotle proof planks.  So, let’s look at what No Freezers conveys about Chipotle. One, they are super, super committed to freshness. Two, this may be the first claim and behavior of its type ever in fast food. (I believe Wendy’s claims the meat is never frozen, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have freezers.) Three, it’s unique…I’ve never this proof point before. Four, it’s memorable. Lastly, it’s probably gets them credit for being sustainable.

I often say advertising is 90% claim and 10% proof. Good brand strategy uses proof to drive the train. 

Peace. And Happy New Year.

 

 

Machine Content

By
Steve Poppe
-
0

As a young’un growing up in advertising, stock photo books were everywhere in ad agency art departments. Lurzer’s Archive was also around for those departments that could afford subscriptions.  (As a strategist, I used to subscribe to Archive and keep a few in my office; when art directors visited, they’d often ask, “What are you doing with Archive?”  But I digress.)

Stock photo books were an inspiration to creatives. Idea starters. And today’s stock photo book for content creators (AKA copywriters), is in many cases going to be AI. 

Faris Yakob, whom I love as a strategist and bon vivant, is known for his concept “recombinant ideas.”  Quoting Steve Jobs in this video, he suggests originality is nonexistent. The only originality is the mashing up of other ideas. I agree. Some of my best ideas, creative thoughts, brand brief nuggets, come from this process.  My mind works this way. It generates based on some very random principles. But it’s all original recombination rather than plagerism.

If AI is used by content creators, as more than an appetizer for clean newish recombination, but to copy and paste, we will have another downward trend in creativity. Machine marketing, as it were.

Let’s not let that happen. Appetizers good. Laziness bad.

Peace.  

 

 

 

 

Brandsplaining

By
Steve Poppe
-
0

For quite some time now I’ve been using this blog and social media to brandsplain.  I Googled brandsplain and it seems as with most good ideas it’s not an original idea.  Philippa Roberts and Jane Cunningham have a book Brandsplaining.  There’s is a feminist take on how misguided advertising to women has become.  Bravo.  But with deference to the authors I’m going to use a more unisex definition of brandsplaining. One, a little less fiesty.

When I brandsplain, I like to think I’m educating. My wish is to make brand strategy a more important, codified and healthy marketing undertaking.

Here’s my definition of brand strategy: “an organizing principle for product, experience and messaging.”  (Anyone who would like to discuss this definition, please contact me via Twitter/X at @spoppe, LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/stevepoppe or email at Steve@WhatsTheIdea.com.)

Over my career I’ve met scores of brand planners and followed even more on social media.  Some of the smartest planners have gotten out of the business. Others consult. A great many have turned to brandsplaining over LinkedIn. Or in meetings over coffee and beer. As a brandsplainer, I’d much rather brand plan. I’d much rather interview consumers. Talk to SMEs. Scour social media threads. Review sales info. And learn the lingua franca of the category and its buying culture. Yet instead, I brandsplain.

If you can do. If you can’t brandsplain.

My 2024 resolution is less ‘splaining, more doing.

And to the world, peace be upon you.

 

To Big or Not to Big?

By
Steve Poppe
-
0

When naming my company, I debated using What’s The Idea versus What’s The Big Idea. Donnie Deutsch used The Big Idea in his cable TV series many years ago but that didn’t really factor in.  I opted out of the word “big” because it sounded boastful and braggartly. Plus, big is in the eye of the beholder. And frankly.  Most barns don’t even have an idea, let alone a big idea. Plus dropping big made the URL shorter.

A brand idea doesn’t need to be big to be good.  It just needs to convey the appropriate consumer value and position of the product. If it does, then it’s up to the marketing team and agencies to make the strategy big and ring the cash register.

Leave the tactics to those paid to create interest and sales. Leave the idea to the brand strategists.

Is “refreshment” a big idea for Coke or just an idea?

Is “The world’s information in one click” (Google) a big idea or just an idea?

How about “safety” for Volvo?

Or “love” for Subaru.  (Just kidding, that one’s a clunker.)

There are lots of little brand ideas out there.  Let’s start by crashing through that ceiling.

Peace.

 

Brand Strategy Freebee.

By
Steve Poppe
-
0

I’m hungry for brand work.  Blogging’s fun but planning and talking to people about consumerism is funner. The problem is, I charge money for my work and when I’m not on a job, the planning field lies fallow.  

My life is cursed with a brain that watches marketers shoot in the dark. My blood curdles when I see ads, pr, social, and promotion that lacks brand strategy. The owners of this errant marketing will tell you they have a business strategy — to make more money — yet they think by publishing their brand or company name, surrounded by some generic sales effluvium, sales will appear.  That doesn’t work today. As I watch all this silliness play out in the marketplace I wonder what could be. If organized.

A brand strategy is an organizing principle for product, experience and messaging. Are you organized? Sure, you say. But tell me how. Tell me how today!  I’m giving it away. I’m giving away my critique of your organizing principle.

Write Steve@WhatsTheIdea.com. It’s a limited-time only freebee. I’m hungry.

Peace.

 

Nike’s “Just Do It” Is Not a Brand Strategy.

By
Steve Poppe
-
0

A fellow brand strategist recently wrote a LinkedIn post about “motivating” an expected customer behavior.  It made me think.  I get doing a deep dive on what motivates customer behavior — but I’m not sure I want to build motivation in to my brand strategy claim.  This may go against the grain but “Just Do It” is a great advertising line but in my mind it’s not a good brand strategy claim.

Bear with me here.

When gathering and developing insights that feed the brand claim, I delve into customer Care-abouts and brand Good-ats. By addressing these values my hope is it results in motivation. By jumping straight to the motivation or promoting the desired behavior I believe we’ve defaulted to advertising. I repeat, by jumping to straight up motivation, we’re advertising.

“Improve your ass” might be a better brand strategy claim for Nike.  It encourages proper advertising. Is it motivation? I don’t think so. It’s a declarative statement, a scold. It’s a Care-about. “I want to improve my ass.” “If I improve my ass the rest will follow” or whatever. 

I can build three proof planks around “Improve my ass” where I can’t (not easily) around “Just Do It.”

Brand planners need not motivate. Their efforts are best spent creating an environment in which motivation results. Let the ad agencies motivate. How do we do that? By immersing oneself in the Careabouts and Good-ats.

Peace.   

 

 

We’re Here!

By
Steve Poppe
-
0

Lots has been written “attention” in advertising. Recently, I read a neat piece by Catherine Campbell of East Fork Pottery on LinkedIn where she suggests attention as too ephemeral — a social media phenomenon. She advances the idea that “consumer trust” is much more worthy as a goal than attention. Smart women. You can’t argue with her logic.  But two things at the same time can be true.

For instance, take out-of-home billboard advertising, where you have about 5 words to make an impression. Back in the 90s when ads shrunk from pages to pixels, the units were more akin to billboards than traditional print ads — a tough time to be a creative person.

One way to get attention is to tell a consumer something they didn’t know. Or show them something they’ve haven’t seen. It sparks attention.  If you pair that with a sales message you accomplish something. So, let’s not pooh-pooh attention.

I write a good deal about “We’re Here Advertising” which is little more than an announcement of what one sells and where to buy. This morning I listened to a local allergy doctor radio spot on the way to get coffee. You know what I learned?  They treat allergies. All kinds: pet, plant, food, pollen, bad advertising…

When spending money advertising “tell me something I don’t know.”  Work a little harder to prove why you’re worthy of a sale.

One of my favorite brand strategy claims, developed for an assisted living company in Westchester, NY, was “Average is the Enemy.”  When I left the premises everyone on the marketing team had their assignment.

Pair attention with trustworthy and you can build a brand.

Peace. 

 

Brand Strategy Framework.

By
Steve Poppe
-
0

Merriam-Webster defines the word framework as:

1.a : a basic conceptional structure (as of ideas)

b : a skeletal, openwork, or structural  frame

In my business, which is brand strategy development, I rely on a framework. It is made up of one brand claim, supported by three proof planks. That’s the structure. That’s the skeleton.

Everybody in branding understands the word claim. And people know what the word proof means — so, it’s not a difficult concept.   

I’ve been doing this for a while and have yet to find another brand strategy framework that outlines what a brand truly needs to truly succeed in the marketplace. And that does so in a simple way.

At What’s The Idea? brand strategy defines as “an organizing principle for product, experience and messaging.” The claim and proof framework provides that organizing principle.

Another benefit of this framework is that it leaves creative development to the creatives. There is no voice. There is no persona. No purpose or essence. Creative teams deliver on the claim then prove it with evidence. That simple. Of course, there should be visual identity components: logo, name, typeface and such. But even those can be a bit fluid so long as the claim and proof are there…and the creative team has a good reason for the departure.

Google these three words “brand strategy framework” and see what happens. Then click images. It’s a strategic mess. General Patton wouldn’t approve. If you’d would like to see examples of real, clean, clear brand strategy frameworks please write Steve at WhatsTheIdea dot com.

Peace.

 

 

 

Global Brand Strategy Firms. I Mean No Disrespect.

By
Steve Poppe
-
0

Global brand strategy firms, the ones that charge in excess of a quarter million dollars per engagement, are big on science.  I love science. But in branding, science is expensive.  In my pitch presentation I like to explain this by saying the big girls (and their business consulting sister-thren) begin with multivariate statistical analyses. Then they build a regression analyses. From which they plot the slope before delivering cluster maps. Science.  Who could argue. Expense. Who could argue?

But the reality is, science doesn’t always predict success in branding. Sure you can deliver quantitative research supporting your value proposition. Even quant on “agree to purchase.” Been there, done that. However, smart companies know the market is fickle and doesn’t always respond the way science says it will.  AI aside, that’s why we need people to make decisions.

95% of my clients buy my work (which is their work) based upon qualitative findings. My average engagement is less than $20k, less than a 4C page in a trade journal. My point here is, for less than 1/10th of what the big quant brand strategy shops get, they can get sound strategic advice.  You know how I know? Because they feel good buying. They know I know them. And they know I know their customers. They just know in their hearts. Science might make them feel secure, but when you know you know.  

Also, the big quant shops have multiple points of contact.  They are like electronic medical records. A loose federation of information. At What’s The Idea? the brand is tight. And brand managers and CMOs like tight. The heart feeds the brain which feels emotional decision making. That is branding.

Peace.

 

 

The First Step of Branding.

By
Steve Poppe
-
0

Naming is one of the most important functions of branding.

For a tech startup I worked at, the CTO liked the name Zude. It rhymed with dude.  I liked the name Mashpan.  It sounded like a home brew device, was a cousin of Mashup and the word Pan stood for “all, complete, total.” (Our product was a web authoring tool used to build websites without code. It was a drag and drop play.) My point? A name should that convey information.  

This week I attended a meeting of startups working on their financial pitches as part of Elevate, a Venture Asheville program. Two of the very cool startups have names that make my point.  One company is named East Perry, the other Larry.  The former sells ethically sourced sheep-skinned home décor while the latter sells a refrigeration device. I can’t go into too much detail on the latter (and changed its masculine name) as the product is proprietary but suffice it to say, Larry doesn’t convey dittly. And though East Perry sounds like a nice street name or address, it too, is not particularly pregnant with meaning.

Naming takes time, energy and forethought. Words are important. In the way they sound.  Their harmony. Their poetry (East Perry ticks that box.) But most importantly, what a brand name conveys informationally is mission one.

Get your name right and the first step of branding is complete.

Peace.

 

 

123...309Page 2 of 309
© Newsmag WordPress Theme by TagDiv