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    Brand Strategy

    Education or Decoration?

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    I’m a firm believer that the best marketing is based on education. This goes for branding. Give people information that stimulates and is new to them and they will retain it. Of course, that information must be about brand value, brand function, brand discernment and personal utility. Not necessarily all at the same time. Hee hee. As a smart branding mentor once said, make deposits in the brand bank.

    I am not a firm believer that the best marketing is based on decorating. Decorating attempts to gather attention through beauty or other creative means and build off that attention with an often hidden and or/shoehorned sales message about the product. Attention is important, don’t get me wrong. If you are not being scene and referred, you are not likely to be considered and purchased. But you don’t want to be all hair gel and no hair.

    The best approach to marketing is not to decorate for attention, then sell as an afterthought. The best approach is to establish a brand strategy, which you only need to do this once, then use your marketing budget to educate your way to preference.  Sadly, I’d estimate 80% of marketing and advertising budgets are spent on decorating.

    We need to flip that equation.

    Peace.

     

     

    Proof. And Its Successor.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    Readers and clients know my brand framework revolves around “one claim and three proof planks.” To readers passing in the night and the those steeped in brand-speak and the many theories of brand planning, claim and proof may just be new flavors of the same old.  But to those who have actually been through the What’s The Idea? planning rigor, the notion of mining proofs is unique brandcraft. When president Trump says there’s election fraud, that’s a claim. When he actually trots out proof of fraud we (will) take notice.  When a bank says it offers the best customer service, that’s a claim. When they take 15 minutes to pull up your computer records that’s the opposite of proof.

    But when talking about brand planning and brand strategy, claim and proof aren’t always the catalysts that cause people to buy. It’s inside baseball. It’s fill-in-the-blank stuff. Generic inputs. Only when they see actual proofs from their own company does it make sense. Does it become salient.

    I’ve landed on a new rubric for selling brand strategy that is aligned with proofs but uses a notion which is much more easily understood. It revolves around a word more obvious in its ties to selling: Persuasion. Rather than call the selling keystones of brand strategy proofs, I will begin calling them persuasions. Proof out of context is generic science. Persuasion, as a word, stands on its own.

    Stay tuned for more discussions of the framework around persuasions. It’s going to be fun!

    Peace.

     

     

    Are KPIs a Brand Tool?

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    KPIs (key performance indicators) came into active use in the 90s, though codifying business objectives has been around since the 1800s. In an interview by Ana Anjelic of two founders of South Fork Pottery here in Asheville I noticed a reference to establishing KPIs for each department. Measurement dashboards are au courant. But that means lots of KPIs. How many KPIs is too many I wonder.

    Jeff Finkle a smart VC and finance dude came up with a wonderful performance objective a number of years ago I have used with clients for years. It’s a key branding objective really and it is tied solely to the brand claim.

    Every day, at the end of work, as each employee is walking to their car, that person should ask themself “What did I do today to (insert brand claim here)?” If they did nothing to advance the brand claim, it wasn’t a great day. It was a day they could have been more productive.

    Sharing the company or product brand claim with every employee is free. Reminding them they are there to advance the claim is free. Creating incentives and culture around a brand claim is business-winning. It puts the entire company into the marketing effort.

    KPIs are for spreadsheet and dashboards. Brand claims are for the people…and the bank.    

    Peace.

     

    Do It Yourself Marketing.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    I was reading this morning about the growth of the DIY (Do It Yourself) culture in the face of the Covid pandemic. Did you know the price of retail wood has tripled in the U.S. because people are renovating their own homes. In the UK, 50% more businesses started up in June 2020 than in June of 2019.  And on and on…

    YouTube is answering the call with a new TV campaign celebrating all the people searching its site using the words “How to?” Doing it yourself, win or lose, is very fulfilling — whether replacing a bathroom light switch or porch stairs. Both How-Tos are available on YouTube.

    I’ve come across a number of young entrepreneurs who are DIYers when it comes to marketing. Many believe with a little research they can cobble together a free website. Build a list of search terms and run Good AdWords. Create a logo using design templates. And set up a marketing engine to support their good business idea. All for a few hundred dollars.

    But marketing is not an undertaking for the weekend warrior or the Covid free-timer. Unless they begin with a strategy. A brand strategy, more specifically. As an “organizing principle for product, experience and messaging” it undergirds each and every tactic of marketing. Tactics sans strategy are an Excel flowchart and nothing more.

    If you are a DIYer getting ready to launch a business, set your brand up to succeed; get the strategy right before you start doing.

    Peace.     

     

     

    More Science in Branding.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    0

    Yesterday I wrote about a famous ad campaign for Dawn Dishwasher Detergent and its use degreasing ducks following oil spills.  I mentioned that the key ingredient in Dawn, the one that cuts the grease, is a surfactant. (When a kid in the ad business I did advertising for Union Carbide Corporation surfactants.)

    As a brand consultant that touts proof in its strategy framework, you can expect I would lock on to surfactants as the proof of grease cutting. A surfactant being defined by Wikipedia as: “Compounds that lower the surface tension between two liquids, between a gas and a liquid, or between a liquid and a solid.” But the fact is, in the Dawn commercials there was no mention of surfactants. Likely, there were not even scrubbing bubbles diagrams or animations about surface tensions being broken down. Someone decided to remove the science from the spots. Just greasy ducklings then clean, happy ducklings for our viewing pleasure.

    As smart and creative as those spots were, there was a missed opportunity to educate the dishwashing public about the solution (pun intended). When someone asks why Dawn degreases better than other competitors, a reason why is always a good thing to convey.

    Science is the new black. And it will only continue to get stronger…ahem.

    Peace.

     

    Strategy Must Be Interesting.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    The foundation of What’s The Idea?, the eponymous brand consultancy attached to this blog is strategy.  It is about a particular framework that organizes product, experience and messaging.  Brand strategy is binary. You are either off or on.

    The fuel for brand strategy here at What’s The Idea? is “proof.” Or evidence. Proof is tangible. It builds conviction. If I say my cleaning liquid cuts grease better than competitors I need to explain what a surfactant is. And how it works. That’s what Dawn Dishwasher Detergent has done so well. For me, the duck befouled by an oil spill, cleaned by Dawn, was the perfect demonstration of proof.

    But here’s thing. Proof and evidence by themselves are great in a science project. But they are not necessarily compelling theater.  That’s why the creative side of the business is so, so important. It’s why we need writers and designers. It’s why we need smart creative directors. Strategy must be interesting or it lies fallow.

    To build your brand properly, you need a motivating strategy then you need to land that strategy with brilliant, on-piste creative. It’s a time-tested formula.

    Peace.

     

     

     

    Brand Science.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    0

    There has been so much talk this past few years about fake news and fake facts that I thought I’d slide that discussion into the business I am in and the business of most commercial products: Branding. Lots has been written and discussed about brands. An entire lexicon has developed about the art of branding. The processes. The journeys. The architectures, components and touchpoints. But all if it is for naught if, to borrow some words from Sergio Zyman, the efforts don’t sell more, to more, more times at higher prices.

    Sadly, there’s tons of fake branding and there shouldn’t be. Because done properly branding is a science. In marketing and communications, you are either putting deposits in the brand bank or you are making withdrawals. You are either adding value – organized value – or removing it.

    Branding as a science is provable. Replicable. It’s binary. Off or on. It’s also formulaic.  That is to say, once a brand strategy is established (one claim three proof planks), the way forward — the way to establish value in the minds of consumer — is clear. But in order for everything to work, you have to get the formula right. And once the formula is right it shouldn’t change, not until the product changes.

    You don’t build a house without a foundation. You shouldn’t build a brand without a strategy.

    Peace.

     

     

    Brand Strategy and the Building Blocks of Brand Life.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    “Campaigns come and go. A powerful brand idea is indelible.” was a phrase I used in a pitch to Gentiva Health Services many moons ago. And I still use it today.  It’s really a cornerstone of What’s The Idea?, brand consultancy. Ideas, any business person will tell you, are a dime a dozen. That’s why I considered naming the business What’s The Big Idea? It had a bit more attitude. But it was also a bit long for a URL. 

    Ideas may be a dime a dozen, but a single idea is how you build a brand. The problem is, landing on a single brand idea is not easy. And it’s hard to stick to.  Stand for something. Stand for one thing.

    The way to build on an idea is to prove it. Prove what you stand for. Each and every day. I suggest doing that through proof planks. Three proof planks. The What’s The Idea? brand strategy framework comprises one claim and three proof planks. One idea, three evidentiary means by which to prove it.

    Following this framework you can build campaigns. Acquisition programs. Websites. Press events. Packaging and brand extensions.

    Just as amino acids and proteins are the building blocks of life, brand strategy provide the building blocks of brand life.

    Peace.  

     

     

    The Magic Logic Partnership.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    0

    The dichotomy of creative and strategy has been around in marketing and advertising for ever. There was a times in the 1800s when “We’re Here advertising” worked. Demand so out-stepped supply that all you had to do is tell people where to buy your product and the transaction began.  I experienced this back in the 90s when all AT&T Network Services had to do to sell Cat 5 computer wire was to publish an address in the Thailand edition of Computer World magazine.  Today competition is too great. Marketing has to be competitive and advertising great.

    The strategy/creative dichotomy was explained quite nicely last week, during a viewing and discussion of the film about Sir John Hegarty with outgoing CSO of BBH Sarah Watson. “I provide the logic, you provide the magic.” Succinct is always best.

    When one applies magic against logic it’s a recipe for success. Magic by itself, not so much.

    Brand planners are in the logic business. The more the magic can excite the magic makers the better.

    Magic. Logic. It’s a nice living.

    Peace.

     

     

    The Edge Of Newness.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    0

    In a discussion between Rick Boyko and Sarah Watson on the film about Sir John Hegarty I posted about this week it was said that brand planners like to “live on the edge of newness.”  Not only could I not agree more, I have to say it’s really what sets good planner planners apart.

    Newness is what we all strive for. Even with a simple concept, wrapping it in new language, context, and culture is a key to breaking through and being remembered.

    I like to talk about rearview mirror planners, sideview mirror planners, and dashboard planners. All are worthy.  But I think the craft is at its best when we play beyond the dashboard. Seeing what we can’t see yet. That’s living on the edge of newness. Peering over the edge. Planning for what’s beyond.

    In my brand strategy framework (one claim, three proof planks), I like claims that have some familiarity yet utter newness.

    Battle, Bartle, Hegarty (BBH), Sir John’s old shop, is at its best when working on edge of newness.

    Peace.

     

     

     

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