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    The Toast.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    0

    My baby girl is getting married in a couple of months and I’ve been wondering what to say in the toast.  Stuff about her? Everyone in the room knows her. Stuff about her soon-to-be-husband?  Many will know him better than I. Should I lead with a joke? I’m funnier extemporaneously than when I write material.

    I’ve also been thinking about the father daughter song. Should it be a song we have in common? From a concert we attended?  Should it be about a thoughtful topic or life-lesson? Will listeners parse the lyrics and read too much into it?

    Then it hit me — my toast should be a tad instructive. I am, after all, a father who has been married for over 30 years.  I’m also a brand planner by training – someone paid to observe and make actionable important insights. So, how about I give this whole marriage thing some thought and share a couple, two, tree insights about the successful marriage practices. Hmmmm. I like it. So long as it isn’t about me. So long as it isn’t about my wife. Ish.

    I’d like to share with my daughter something that lasts. Something that adds value to her  relationship. Something that can be passed along the family tree.

    I have two months before my presentation, I mean speech. Stay tuned for the insights.

    Peace.

     

    The Bentonville Bus.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    Not sure if this is an apocryphal story or not but it certainly sounds legit. There is a 10 A.M, Delta flight out of LaGuardia weekdays that flies into Bentonville, AR home of Walmart.  Anybody who is anybody in retail, I’m told, has been on this flight known as the Bentonville Bus.  If you want to sell to Walmart, you need to meet their buyers which is best done in Bentonville. 60 Minutes did a report recently in which they stated Plattsburgh, NY gobbles up a lot of electricity used to power server farms mining Bitcoin, but I’m guessing the computing power churning in Bentonville is equally massive. 

    Bentonville computer nerds spend their days running sales reports, projections, analyses and other retail magic, which they send to the desks of the buyers in preparation for hour-long meetings with sales VPs arriving daily on the Bentonville Bus. Oh, to be a fly on the wall of those meetings. The marketers on the Bentonville Bus are a Who’s Who of American industry. You can bet they have a story or two. (Might make a a great book.) The Bentonville Bus is to American business what the All-Star game is to baseball.

    Peace.

     

    Poster Hall Of Fame.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    0


    Kandee Johnson is a supratypical “Posters.”  Different than a Paster, a poster is an original content creator on the web.

    I first ran into Kandee while researching an assignment on Plus White teeth whitener, a national consumer brand out of New Jersey.  Kandee was a blogger and vlogger with an amazing following of young women. She had an innate sense of style but her “go-to pitch” was her ability to share clothing and make-up tips for the budget-conscious.

    For those interested in teeth whitening, rather than buy the whole $18 Plus White kit, Kandee suggested buying a $2 lacrosse mouth guard and the $6 bottle of gel. She also taught young ladies how to clean makeup brushes in olive oil along with an assortment of other creative cost-saving tips. That was Kandee’s motivation; her brand claim, if you will.

    Kandee’s online persona is wrapped in an amazingly smart and videogenic package, but beneath the surface is a caring, thoughtful and self-actualized women. The fact that she is drop dead gorgeous may actually have hurt her initially with her base, but it is something she has overcome.

    Kandee will be on Kelly and Ryan this morning and her star continues to rise. This women who gave of herself online for years – opening her heart and talent to thousands of young women, making them laugh and cry along the way – is a web superstar. And should be nominated to the POSTER Hall of Fame.    

    Peace.

     

    Now Learn This…About Branding

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    The most powerful cognitive trait on the planet is learning. Animal’s learn where to feed. Insects learn how to procreate. Children learn to associate pain with danger. Learning is everywhere.  Except in brand strategy.

    At What’s the Idea? learning is a fundie. It has been a peeve of mine for years that most advertising is about claim. Our cereal is tasty. Our bank service is excellent. Our insurance is 15% cheaper. The claims are selling advantages, but not learning. Learning requires that the brain processes something and comes to a conclusion. Learning takes up new space in the mind.  

    In grammar school students are more likely to remember something they process and logically understand, rather than something experienced through rote recitation. That’s why the What’s The Idea? brand strategy framework relies on proof planks. Proof of claim allows the brain to learn. It created critical thinking around a brand claim. It’s evidentiary.

    Branding lasts when there is constant learning. When learning is refreshed. It’s a challenge, I know. But worth it.

    Peace.

     

     

    Birth Of A Meme.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    Google is an interested animal.  I play it like a violin, but it takes practice.  The key to using Google to your advantage lies in selecting and posting phrases. Unique phrases. Ehr-ee-body plays in keywords. Phrases, however, are ownable. To start, find what you feel is a meme-able phrase and post it to your site.  Then post it again at a later date. Basically, plant it in web soil.

    The longer the phrase the better, but you can accomplish success with even a few words.

    Google the phrase one claim three proof planks, it comes up What’s The Idea?. Before the phrase resolved to me. I’d have to put it in quotes: “One claim three proof planks.”  Before creating gravitational (Googitational?) pull on the phrase, it was likely highjacked by the term “planking,” the core exercise that was so hot for a while. Today the phrase is mine sans quotes.

    The more obscure the phrase, the more likely it will come to you. It can even resolve to you very quickly.

    Google Campaigns come and go a powerful brand idea is indelible.  See?

    Now meme on. Peace.

     

    Marketing Memes an Afterthought.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    0

    It only takes one meme to move a market. 

    I’ve been in advertising, communications and marketing since 1978 (Geezer) and know one of the quickest ways to success is a big communication idea that captures the interested of the masses.  If you capture consumer attention, they will sit still long enough for you to deliver something of value, which in turn, hopefully, gets them to buy.

    Back in the day, big ad campaigns or big news headlines got people to pay attention. Today online, big headlines and big campaigns are harder to come by. On news sites, every headline is a big headline. Roseanne.  Anthony Bourdain. Comey. World Cup. And the ads online are tiny. There are no big campaigns online.

    In digital marketing the communication of choice is the meme.  A good meme acts like wildfire. But most memes are consumer created. Marketers aren’t good at them. Memes are antithetical to advertising and digital agencies because they can’t get paid for them.

    Agencies need to work hard to create marketing memes – then charge for the virality. Charge for the impressions earned. That way they’ll take them seriously.

    Today’s marketing world is not optimized unless it takes the meme seriously. 

    Peace.

     

    Product Innovation and Brand Planning.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    Brand planning is not just about words on a paper. Colors on a palette. Planks and buckets and values. Or even taglines…and I’m a big fan of taglines. (If you’re spending marketing dollars which don’t prove your tagline, you’re “off piste,” as I like to meme.)

    Brand strategy is integral to marketing. As such, all brand planners are marketers. As marketers we need to be look beyond the dashboard. Look at what’s next. The earth is not flat.

    My night job is to wake up with new product ideas. Ideas that deliver on the brand strategy (one claim, three proof planks).  If in consumables, I’m dreaming about making packaging more planet friendly.  I was watching a YouTube video yesterday about shampoo bars that sell sans plastic bottle and cap.  Come se Genius??

    The growth of innovation labs, incubators and new product teams is a big thing today. In my humble if jaded opinion, no one is better able to crack an innovation opportunity than a brand planner – the person responsible for the care and feeding of the brand claim.

    Peace.

     

    New Brand Strategy Rigor.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    0

    Here’s an exercise for brand planners.

    I read this morning that when president Richard Nixon prepared for a summit in China to meet Mao Zedong, he created a checklist. What do we want?  What does China want? And what do we both want? Each question had three answers.

    Brand planners should ask themselves the same questions only with a slight modification at the end.  What does the company want? What do the consumers want? And what does the brand want?  The brand’s desires may not align with that of the company and could be a healthy source of exploratory tension.

    The What’s The Idea? the brand strategy process plumbs consumer “care-abouts” and brand “good-ats.”  The nexus of these qualities decides the brand claim and proof planks. But with the tripartite “What want?” approach, it may make the planner look at a new dimension.  May.

    Might be worth a try.

    Peace.

     

     

    Pride and Embarrassment.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    0

    I’m always on the lookout for new questions to use in brand discovery.  I rely on a fairly static battery of questions for company stakeholders, who provide the business foundation for my consumer questions. (Consumer questions are way less static.) Truth be told, the company is paying the bills and approving brand recommendations so they get dibs. The people I choose to speak with in the company are also the ones closest to the customer. Consumer insights are a planners’ bread and butter, but understanding the business side is fundamental.

    So, I’ve been think of adding a new question to my discovery and it delves into “embarrassment.”  I love plumbing the depths of “pride” as a matter of course, but embarrassment is something I’ve not dealt in. Embarrassment is opposite of pride. My pride questions goes like this “What is the nicest compliment someone ever paid you about_____?”  Imma have to think a little more before I come up with the embarrassment Q.

    Stay tuned. Peace.

     

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