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    Feedback or inspire forth.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    0

    In the marketing world there are “approvers” and “inspirers.”  I’ve been both and the latter is a much nicer place to live. Both must teach the people who work for them, but approvers tend to look at work product, evaluate it, then recite the right way or provide principles for good work. More often than not this comes off as preachy and pedantic. Using a pedagogy metaphor, they teach from the front of the class, broadcasting the lessons.  Inspirers, on the other hand, instruct by creating an environment for people to do great work.  It’s not judgmental it’s inspirational. Rather than instruct from the front of the class, continuing the metaphor, inspirers allow for learning through participation, experience and discovery.

    When writing creative briefs or insight decks my job is to inform through stories and observations pregnant with possibilities. Telling an art director and copy writer to sell more absorbent paper towels is different than finding a moment when an absorbent paper towel is important. (Baby in arms, new skirt on backwards, presentation in 35 minutes, sitter late, orange juice spill.)

    We are all big boys and girls.  Not everyone deserves a trophy. Some work is not good and doesn’t deserve to be approved.  Balancing feedback with inspiration forth can make a world of difference. Find ways to inspire and everyone’s work will improve…including your own. Subtle peace.

    Money.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    I broke a rule of mine this morning.  I used the word “transparency” in an email.  The word is anathema to me because it’s part of the lexicon of markobabble used in meeting rooms across America.

    The reality is, though, some marketing categories do not tell the complete truth.  They tell the “selling truth” and leave the rest of the story for consumers to figure out.  Thanks to the web, consumers are more educated these days before purchasing things. With rating and ranking systems, it’s harder to sell a dog. But there are still certain categories that are almost in collusion when it comes to telling the whole truth. Banking is one such category.

    Were one bank to stand up and go all “Michael Bloomberg soda legislation” on us, it would be refreshing. It would engender trust. Bank vault doors are opaque for a reason. It’s sad because banks don’t stand for anything these days. (Customer service?) They could stand for so much.  Banks are integral to the American dream, yet they get no credit.  That’s because they are always selling. And now with the mortgage scandal fresh in our minds, and borrowing instruments at every turn, we could use a bank to step up and tell us the hard truths.  That strategy is money. Peace.     

    Roots Rock.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    Someone from McGarry Bowen in an account planner’s group on LinkedIn posed the question “What are some hot trends in the offing for 2013?” My response was roots. In college I read a book that talked about cultural transferences – the complications of modern society that take us farther and farther away from being able to provide for ourselves. As in, Can you put asunder, pluck, clean and cook a chicken with the help of Pathmark? Do you know how to jump start your Prius if it conks out? Can you walk 12 miles in a pinch?

    Roots is all about removing the middleman and doing things for yourself. And in doing so, being just a little more self-sufficient, healthy and sustainable. Rather than throw out jeans with a rip, sew them. Rather than toss an appliance, fix it. Have friends over for a meal that you cook rather than order in or go out. Build a birdhouse with your hands. A lot of learning there.

    Hike to smell a flower, instead of purchasing aromatics. Listen to simpler hand-made music. Etsy is about roots. Going to school board meetings is about roots. Fishing with your kids, sitting around a campfire, sitting on a stoop in Brooklyn drinking a pint of homemade beer – the list goes on.  As statistics and big data and the web flatten the world, bringing tragedies and goblin to our door, all glamorized by TV and movies, we need to and will return to roots culture.  (Just Google it.) Peace Friday.     

    The Samsung Leash.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    Samsung should be the world’s most powerful and prestigious brand. Peter Arnell knew it in the 80s and did his part to burnish the brand. Every time I turn on my Samsung flatty to watch a little TV  I’m in awe.  The color saturation and picture never cease to amaze.  Though I don’t own the Galaxy III smart phone, it is no apologist piece of hardware.

    Samsung, makes great office phone systems, microwaves and, I suspect, has ships loaded with merch heading for our ports in numbers we can’t fathom.  So why isn’t the Samsung brand more powerful?  Why has South Korean executive management stood in the way of this amazing brand? South Koreans get style and new like few other cultures, yet Samsung refuses to let go of the North American reins. They are okay being a challenger brand. They are okay being adaptive rather than brand innovative. And they continue to spend promotional dollars with South Korean transplant agencies (read Cheil) and little ad hoc shops while some of the best marketing shops we have to offer are never called.

    Samsung in the U.S. needs to throw its weight around.  It needs a brand leader (person) in the U.S. with some power.  South Korea needs to “drop the leash.” It’s a flat world. Let freedom ring. Peace.

    When Brand Equity Doesn’t Travel.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    0

    Bob Gilbreath’s book Marketing With Meaning is an important read for all marketing strategists and executives. Without “meaning” in marketing deliverables we are simply singing. Not that good songs don’t sometimes work, they do; but a meaningful selling premise motivates.

    Meaning is an imperative for brand planners, when creating an organizing principle for a brand. Finding a pent up demand consumers desire – one that your product can fulfill —  is hard enough.  Landing on a desire that extends across buying targets is some seriously heavy lifting.  This is a problem for most brand marketers.  

    As one’s planning audience grows in size and complexity, the focus of the desire has to lessen. And the meaning delivered even more so. 

    This is why many brand extensions fail. A company that has meaning with one target and adds a new one, often finds out the brand equity doesn’t travel.  I once blamed Google for its “culture of technological obesity.”  It was eating everything in its way, independent of its palette.  Marketers need to know what businesses not to get in to.  He happy with your meaning.  Unfortunately, it’s that money thing, that stockholder thing that turns us crazy. So we expand, lose focus and add fish to the burger menu. 

    Let’s be happy with success marketers. Don’t hedge your bets by adding more targets; get better at what you do. Protect your meaning. Peace!

     

    Pent Up Demand

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    Three of my favorite brand planning words — words that let me know I’m on a roll and in a place near and dear to my marketers’ hearts — are “pent up demand.”  When a market is growing at a certain rate and product availability doesn’t meet the demand, a hungry market exists.  When consumers clearly exhibit behavior indicating dissatisfaction with a product or product category, there is pent up demand for functionality.  When Google searches are off the charts for information about a service, brand or activity…yep, mondo, unmet demand.

    These are words any marketer likes to hear.  So when doing your diligence, fact-gathering and filling up the brand stockpot (before the boil down), ask yourself are there any areas of pent up demand related to your product or service that can be studied on behalf of customers or prospects. Competitors or detractors.  Opinion leaders or analysts.

    It’s fertile area, planners.  Dig in then smile as you hear the words pass your lips during presentations.  Peace!

    The magnetism of a freight train.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    0

    I sometimes tell people in the business how my brand strategies contain one word that company management finds objectionable.  They love the strategy — they get it and it gets them – but they say “That, one word. Do we have to use it?”  My answer is always “No, it’s a suit strategy, not a creative strategy.”  “Systematized” for a healthcare org is kind of cold.  We know where you “live” is a little creepy, for a newspaper. Stuff like that.  

    Have you ever walked in a city and passed someone you couldn’t keep your eyes off of?  They’re so uniquely made-up or dressed in such a magnetic way you have to do a double or triple take.  It may be beauty, or fashion or demeanor. It may be all three.  That’s how I like my brand strategies. The claim may not be that magnetic, but the attitude, salience and three brand planks are. The gestalt of the idea and support creates a life that pulsing with “look at me.”

    A brand plan is not an ad.  It is a story with organized chapters. Three chapters to be specific, but those chapters are long and lush. Well executed, a brand plan can carry serial campaigns over years. Even over ad agencies.

    If you can find that word that is s branding freight train and surround it with value building supports, you will win your marketing war. Peace!

    Financial marketing.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    0

    I’ve been thinking about financial services lately.  I’m sure lots of people have been.  Finances and jobs will impact how the upcoming election plays out.

    Financial institutions have been vilified in the press the past 5 years, yet they are still out there hawking their wares daily in advertising.  One radio spot for a credit card sits right next to a property foreclosure spot.  We are a country with trillions in debt.  Is it any wonder many Americans have lines of credit exceeding their annual salary or credit card balances beyond monthly income?

    So what have I been thinking about from a strategic standpoint?  How about a financial institution that stops building web apps, and mobile credit devices and starts sharing some best practices about saving?  Any kid with a piggy bank will tell you there is nothing like a little savings.  Any squirrel with a summer nut will chatter the same thing. Saving is healthy and life preserving.

    In a sea of bank advertising, all of which is the same, what would happen if one bank decided to talk about the value of saving?  The strategy of saving? The positive community effect of saving?  I’ll tell you what would happen:  this type of straight talk – clarifying talk – would create a bank that people trusted.  Like no other.  The door is open.  Someone needs to step through.  Peace!

    Build or Borrow.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    0

    Brand planning is a lot like cooking. It’s all about technique, palette and ingredients.

    Technique is about the where to find the inputs and how to effectively assemble them. Palette is about knowing what tastes are and meeting those tastes in a meaningful, desirable way. And Ingredients are the things of which the idea-dish is made.  Minimalism is awesome, but so is a complex sauce. Knowing what not to use is often a difference-maker.

    From the palette side of the brand planning equation, let’s look at the ideas we serve up. When landing on a brand strategy, there are two approaches: build or borrow.  Build requires using words, ideas and imagery that is uniquely yours.  It’s never been done — it is a pioneering approach.  Borrowing, on the other hand, uses context of other products or culture to frame up the selling. Context borrows known messaging and repackages it.

    Build is expensive. Borrow much less so. Borrow is what Samsung did with its tablet and phones. A Few Good Women, borrows from movie that has become a part of our cultural patois.  “You can’t handle the truth,” another cultural borrow from the same movie.

    I love fresh. And I love build. If you have the fortitude, it’s preferred.  Marketers use famous spokespeople to embellish their brand promise, a form of borrow, because it is fast and can save a few shekels in the long run…but it is not innovative. Go forth (Levi’s), and build.

    Peace!

     

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