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    Brand Strategy

    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.

     

    Marketing and Branding Are Different.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    I was listening to a segment on Fox Sports Radio…I said sports radio… and one of the guys was talking about the NBA logo and its value.  I may have misheard but its possible someone had suggested putting Kobi’s likeness in the logo. The talk show host, it might have been Ben Maller, was against the idea suggesting it’s bad business to mess around with a very recognizable logo — one with so much brand equity.

    He went on to say “Marketing is the battle of perception not products,” and I go all “Whoa, hold up.”

    Au contraire sir.  Marketing is, most definitely, the battle of product. “Sell more, to more, more times, at higher prices” said Sergio Zyman.

    Brand Strategy is the battle of perception. Brand Strategy is the brain work, the mental conditioning, the preference creation that leads to predisposition.  Brand strategy is words on paper that directs the mental outcomes that change consumer behavior.  Moving a consumer closer to a sale. Marketing encompasses the tactics – governing product, price, place and promotion – that activate a sale.

    These words are not interchangeable. Brand Strategy is strategy. And marketing is the mission critical plumbing that makes it happen.

    Peace.

     

    Jeep Grand Cherokee Brand Controversy.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    0

    Representatives of the Cherokee Nation have asked Stellantis, the car manufacturer that owns Jeep, to stop using Grand Cherokee as a brand name of the top-selling SUV. Stellantis by the way, is the name resulting from the merger of the Fiat Chrysler company with Peugeot. (I’ve got to get out more.)

    Living not too far from Cherokee, NC and having read up on the Tribe’s history, e.g., Trail of Tears, broken treaties, deforestation, racism, I understand their sensitivity. It’s time for a change.

    Naming is tough. Just look at the moniker of Jeep’s parent company. Hee hee. And it will take fortitude to rename this car brand with such a strong heritage. All the more reason to do it right. And with permission. Perhaps negotiate with the Cherokee nation and use something from their native culture. It’s a respect thing not a money thing.

    Most Grand Cherokee owners will not be happy with the name change. That’s up to them. Jeep is a powerful master brand and will lend a hand to any car name chosen.  But my recommendation would be to celebrate the Cherokee Tribe with a commemorative name, approved by the Tribe, that suits the car and strengthens it’s Americana cachet.

    Peace.

     

     

    Print Journalism

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    0

    I subscribe to The New York Time national edition.  I counted 1, 3/4 pages of advertising in the first book or section this morning. The print newspaper business is in trouble. You know it. I know it. Luckily, after a slow start, NYT online is going gangbusters. If you search my blog posts from 10-12 years ago you’ll see I held out great hope for the online property – even when it was slow to adapt.

    If “All the news that’s fit to print” isn’t booking serious ad revenue, the paper-paper that is, what must be happening to newspapers in secondary and tertiary markets?  It’s scary.

    One solution might be to hire and promote the absolute best journalists in the land. And make them rock stars. Maggie Haberman may be the closest thing the Times has to a rock star. But there are scores and scores of other writers who need elevated personas and reputations. I know it cuts across the grain of the Old Gray Lady to take second chair to an individual writer, but it’s a potential solution. 

    Where will the money come from to pay and promote these stellar writer? From the budget that fills some of the other floors at headquarters. Cut the masthead by a third. Sell more stock. I don’t know.  Twitter is already helping writers grow their reps. Double down.

    We need great journalism. We need great writers.

    Peace.

     

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