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    The ACA is Working. Now Let’s Prove it.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    Readers know my branding equation has three variables: claim, proof planks and proof points. The Affordable Care Act has one primary goal: improve patient outcomes. The big honkin’ goal is to make America less sick. If it works, the cost of care will go down. America spends $18-19 of every $100 on healthcare. If we prevent disease we can cut that number substantially.

    We are in year 2 of implementation of the Affordable Care Act and the CMS (Center for Medicare Services) and most other number-gatherers are hard-pressed to find evidence of improved population health. We have lots of claim little proof. I understand big data takes time, but frankly, I think we’re not looking hard enough.

    Rather than spend hundreds of millions on web site usability, call centers, systems integrators and community outreach, can’t we cut off a piece of that pie and hire 100 data analysts whose sole mission is to quantify health improvements in communities with improved health services?

    As more patients have access to physicians and more patients are educated in ways to prevent high blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease the numbers will improve. Daily. We just have to turn loose some data nerds. The data is there – it’s probably at Aetna, Blue Cross and United Healthcare – we just have to find it. And publish it. And celebrate it.

    We have the claim right, now it’s proof time. Peace.

     

    Brutal Mistake.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    If you are paying an agency to do social media marketing for you, you are making a brutal mistake. You are losing an opportunity to learn from your customers. And you are giving that opportunity to a partner who is as loyal as its last retainer check.

    Never outsource an opportunity to learn from customers.

    If doing social media yourself, that’s a good start, but you need a plan. Having a plan helps with listening. It helps with customer care. Content development. Analysis. And engaging.

    I created (but have not yet fielded) a piece of research indented to find out how many social media programs are guided by brand strategy. My guess is not a large percentage. All the dashboards in the world, all the HubSpot portal tools and tutorials, all the competitive alerts are no substitute for a plan tied to brand values. Brand values that prioritize business-winning values.

    Engagement is not a business-winning brand value. Clicks are not a business-winning brand value. Coupons redeemed aren’t either.

    Social media programs are extensions of brand strategy. Plain and simple. If there isn’t a brand strategy, there isn’t a good social program. If there is a brand strategy and it’s not in harmony with you social media program you are sailing at the whim of the wind, with no destination in mind. You are making a brutal mistake. Peace.

    How to Fix Bank Reputations.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    Here’s a fun little video showing what a handful of European kids think of banking as a profession. Very cute, unless you are a banker. I suspect bankers aren’t that offended, but then I grew up in the advertising business where “ad man” was one rung above car salesman on the bottom of the trusted jobs ladder. Bankers probably say they are misunderstood.

    If you read the news there is an awful lot of press about banks and their billion dollar fines. Not that kids read that type of stuff, but their parents do. Talk around the dinner table must trickle down.  So if you are a bank, what to do? How do you slow the negative perceptions kids are faced with about banking? Well, you could give a 50 million dollars to a blighted city and hold a press conference. Or, rather, you could invest in programs to help kids understand the value of saving. Banks don’t focus on saving, they focus marketing efforts on borrowing.

    What do you think would happen if one bank devoted half of its budget to messaging around saving? Would its borrowing numbers go down? I suspect not. I think some education about saving and financial proficiency would make consumers trust that bank more. And when you trust someone more, you’re more apt to borrow from them. And they more apt to lend you to.

    Bankers can move the dial; they just need to flip some priorities. Peace.  

     

    How to Avoid Stasis in Business Planning.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    As a brand and marketing consultant my job is to “redistribute marketing wealth.” For start-ups I like to create wealth anew. For challengers I target leaders and attempt to sheer off big chunks of revenue. And for companies in leadership positions my mission is to bully their way to greater share.

    To most, the phrase “redistribution of wealth” feels like a liberal pursuit. Certainly in politics it suggests the antithesis of free enterprise and capitalism. But not in branding. Not in marketing. It’s all about free enterprise. Marketers who facilitate attitude and actions that change the way people purchase win. Marketers who invest in changes that impact how they sell, behave and go to market, are actively participating in capitalism. Conversely, those who do not invest and who do things the same or incrementally are left bobbing up and down in the market.

    Business people who want to redistribute marketing wealth, first and foremost must understand where that wealth comes from. It does not comes from banks, or angel investors or last year’s topline – it comes from consumers. Voters with pocketbook. The best form of free enterprise must include consumers in the equation. If your business plan treats consumer the same, year after year, there will be not wealth redistribution. There will be stasis.

    Peace.

    Entertainment and Learning

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    I’ve posted a number of times about the role of learning in marketing. If we help consumers learn the value of brands we’re more apt to gain favor and loyalty. The discovery of new product information and utility is a learning moment which is much better than by being taught by rote recitation of benefits.

    We all know the most common leaning environments – schools – aren’t always that effective. Kids are bored. They can’t concentrate. They’re not engaged. So it helps to introduce a little entertainment. Today’s marketing, certainly today’s advertising, tends to be very entertainment focused. Too much so.

    The best work helps consumers learn but holds their interest through entertainment. These Deutsch Volkswagen spots on diesel engine myths are a wonderful example of learning and entertainment. Watch all three.

    Peace.

    Evidence-Based Brand Planning.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    This is a blog about brand planning and marketing. There are millions of marketers in the world and only a thousand or so brand planners. Most brand planners also known as account planners work at ad agencies. The rest are consultants like me, hiring themselves out to agencies or working directly with marketers.

    A brand planner is a strategist. In my case, I am an up stream strategist who helps organize product, experience and messaging. My tool is a specialized brand plan, consisting of one claim and 3 proof planks. The word plank was borrowed the political world. Each brand plan has three key planks, all of which support the claim. It’s a family.

    What resides in a proof plank? Real examples. Evidence. Existential proof of the brand claim. No platitudes. No marko-babble. No blather or bluster. Just proof.  People remember proof. They remember it before claim.  In healthcare there is lots of talk today about “evidence-based” medicine. That’s what makes a great brand plan. Proof and evidence.

    For examples or just a chat about evidence based brand planning, write Steve at WhatsTheIdea.

    Peace.

     

    Deconstructing brands.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    Brand planners go about their business in a number of ways. If you’ve planned on 500 brands and identified 1,000 insights, it’s hard to go all tabula rasa on a new assignment. To quote a friend and colleague Faris Yakob of Genius Steals, there’s a lot of recombinant culture invading the planner’s work day. And this can be a bit of a problem.

    Etsy is going through a bit of a hub-bub because some artisans are thought to be mass producing products and passing them off as artisanal. When brand planners do this, it also taints the work.

    Brand planners look to two places for insights. The product and the consumer.  If we think of the product as comprised of natural resources — all natural, all built with different DNA, different chemicals – it’ hard not to see it as unique. Deconstructed, these unique resources bring forth insights and features from which the brand strategy flows.  A pizza parlor may look like another pizza parlor, an accounting firm may look like another accounting firm, but they really are all different. And by happenstance or design, those differences appeal to consumers in special ways. That’s the big “find” of the brand planner. And never forget we are creating disposition to purchase, not just packaging.

    Brand planners find product uniqueness, decide if it is business-winning, then turn it into a brand strategy. (One claim, three proof planks.)

    Off the shelf solutions don’t work. Every snow flake is different. Peace.

     

    An insight about brand planner insights.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    “Insight” might be the most used word in the lexicon of the brand planner. If art directors and writers work in “creative,” planners practice the craft of insights. We may write briefs, manifestos and decks – but insights are the brand planner’s money shot.

    I recently came across a chart outlining nine type of insights: consumer, cultural, future, product, brand, market, purchase, usage, and owner. To this I immediately thought of 3 others: jealously, success and re-use (and that without giving it much thought). So it’s safe to say insight work is rich. But here’s the thing, the best strategies are singular. Planners play in all of the listed insight areas, then chose one. One. The one at the nexus of what consumers want most and what the brand does best. The insight must “feel” organic, not forced. It must provide massive stimulus to the creative department (the makers of the messages, deeds and experiences). Because remember, an insight is not an ad. It’s not even a brief. It’s bedrock for the idea.

    Really good planners wade through insights, be they 9, 12 or more, and land on one. Then they milk it until it flows free, clean and rich with protein. It is then turned into a strategic idea (claim) and proof array, before being handed off to the makers, business owners and the managers.

    Remember, campaigns come and go, a powerful brand idea is indelible. And insight powered.

    Peace.

     

    One Plus in Streaming Services

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    0

    As HBO Now is about to launch and the whole “cord-cutters,” “cord nevers” segments assert themselves, companies like Netflix and HBO are innovating in cleaver ways. One such is the shared password (let a friend watch) behavior. 

    We have Amazon Fire TV. Cool as shit. But if we were just allowed to watch Amazon Prime movies it would be a yawn after one weekend. But ‘cessa (our daughter) lent us access to her Netflix account so we are streaming there. Our son, through some sort of trade deal with a friend (don’t ask) has access to HBO GO, opening up lots of other content so we are truly rich streamers.

    This sharing of streaming service log-ons is the “idea to have an idea.” It’s the spark for marketing packages we haven’t quite figured out yet. Just as MCI’s “Friends and Family” telecommunication plan changed telephone billing and pricing, this BFF stream sharing thing will turn onto a big marketing idea. Service providers will, no doubt, police it better, but the notion of allowing multiple sign-ons per account will be an interesting battle ground. And it may get complicated. Especially, if it generates data for the data nerds. BFF’s are a dime a dozen. One pluses on a streaming plan, now they are true friends.

    Peace.

     

     

    Google’s Insurance Foray to Impact Ad Revenue

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    0

    Google is getting onto the car insurance business. It’s called Google Compare. Near term they will act as the search engine for best cost policies. When they eventually roll out the program nationally (it’s been tested in England and launches in California), it won’t need much of a national TV ad budget. They are Google after all. We use Google 5 times a day. And more importantly, everybody knows Google is search. It’s not a massive behavior change.

    Insurance is one of the bigger national advertising categories thanks to Geico, AllState and Progressive. When Google gets in to the mix and doesn’t need to spend huge money on ads there will be a great price advantage for them. If they siphon off car insurance business from the big guys, the ad budgets of the big guys will diminish. (Thank you Jesus.)

    Many checks that used to go to newspapers, magazines, radio and TV stations are going Google these days. And as Google funds new businesses like insurance, it will put even more strain on traditional and digital revenue. Wait this they start underwriting insurance. They have the appetite for it. It’s the future.

    Peace.

     

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