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Positioning Roulette

By
Steve Poppe
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I came across a brand position tool today called Positioning Roulette. It’s a lovely (sometimes I like to sound British) business idea by a couple of commercially minded planners Ulli Appelbaum and Vincent Schmidlin. Designed to make brand discovery easier. it comprises 29 questions, many with multiple parts, that when answered will give the strategy runner enough information to make smart brand strategy decisions. And ultimately lead one to the strategy itself.

I love this thinking. Positioning Roulette is complex, a bit like DNA mapping, and will certainly provide enough grist to build a brand idea.  And even more fun, especially for DIYers, they’ve productized the idea into flashcards which you can buy on the web.

I’m not sure I’d use the word roulette in the name as it feels very game-of-chancey, but let’s not fuss. Frankly, that’s the point of this post. It is game of chance. With 29 brand related outputs, how do you build the idea?  Ahhh, that’s why you need the experts. It’s the cull-through or what I call the boil-down that’s the hard work. This tool or tool kit will make that very obvious to those in need of brand strategy help. Don’t try this at home. Brilliant execution. Smart men.

Peace.

 

 

Evidence Based Brand Strategy.

By
Steve Poppe
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0

The difference between brand planners can be found in their respective abilities to do something “smart” with the info and data they collect during discovery. One planner’s questions will differ from then next, as will their observation techniques and data sources. Yet once all the hunting and gathering is done, it’s time for all planners to think. And apply. To fill out the brief, as it were.

My framework is different than that of some brand planners and the same as others. I use one claim and three proof planks as the organizing principle.  How I get to the one and three model, however, is through an exploration of “evidence.”  Evidence is not hearsay. It’s not marko-babble. It stuff. Actions.  Existential results. Proof.

When Eva Moskowitz stands on the steps of city hall, alone or with thousands, that’s evidence. When a prepubescent cancer patient has part of her ovary preserved in liquid nitrogen at age 9 so that 15 years later she can gave birth, that’s evidence.

I’ve read hundreds of brand strategy documents from so-called brand planners and am appalled by how few are evidence based. Tring to change that one brand at a time.

Peace.                 

 

Brand Strategy Compliance Disclaimer.

By
Steve Poppe
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0

I help companies help themselves. Brand strategy isn’t a tool.  It’s an organizing principle for tools.   The thing about brand strategy is, if you don’t believe it and follow it, it’s worthless. If you don’t enculturate it into the company to truly drive innovation, experience and customer facing communications, you’re not in compliance. Effectively you are driving the car with no destination.  Or a destination of “make more money.”

I see lots of consultants on Twitter who start their profile descriptions saying “I help companies optimize their quack quack quack…”  Brand strategy puts the keys in the company hands, not the consultant’s. Stakeholders who understand this are the ones who succeed.  

When you sign up for a new website or app you have to read and acknowledge the disclaimer.  As a business practice, I should have customers sign a disclaimer statement that they will actively comply with the principles of the brand strategy.

Hmm. I like it.           

Peace.

 

 

Heart and Humor.

By
Steve Poppe
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0

I sadly see a future, probably way before the sea levels rise, when advertising becomes almost completely programmatic.  Not just ad buying but creative. Why is this? Because we can. Sports stories are written by computers. Machine learning is to the point where self-driving cars can avoid accidents (in labs) without human control.  And marketing metrics are plotting success at rapidly growing rates. 

Advertising agencies are expensive. Employing humans to write and produce mediocre ads has been a billion dollar industry for ages. The shops that do good work probably amount to 7% of all shops…and even their outputs aren’t always perfect.  So marketers will ask, “Why not let the algo write my consumer pitches? “Why not put the money saved toward the bottom line or into more media?”  “Why pay a premium for people, when machines can do mediocre?”

This is going to happen. Trust me. But the reason if won’t work well is the algo can’t nail heart and humor.  Or surprise and artistry.

In this future there will be machine advertising and a little bit of old school bespoke advertising. Priced accordingly.

I can wait.                                                 

Peace.

 

Microsoft Needs to Let LinkedIn Percolate.

By
Steve Poppe
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0

Let’s hope LinkedIn is not Satya Nadella’s Nokia? A huge investment that goes to shit. There are a couple of cues that scare me. The admission that the “top priority for LinkedIn will be user growth.” That’s code for hurry up and make changes. Mr. Nadella has said LinkedIn will remain autonomous and Jeff Weiner will man the helm, but Microsoft doesn’t “get” autonomy.  It can’t help but play with new toys, tweaking them to what it believes will be the customers’ advantage. (They’ve already said Microsoft Office will integrate more easily with the platform.)

We’ve seen this movie before. In 10 years LinkedIn may be replaced by the “next thing.” Perhaps Snapchat meets NetPromoter?  Or Salesforce Cubed.

Microsoft needs to see beyond the dashboard and allow LinkedIn enough rope to invent the next frontier of business networking. Come on Mr. Nadella have some patience. Observe, learn, then observe some more. It was a good purchase. Let it percolate.

Peace.

  

 

Last 5 Years.

By
Steve Poppe
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0

I worked on a branding assignment a number of years ago for Hospice Care Network. It was fascinating.  End of life is not something many younger people are familiar with.  One of the behavioral problems facing hospice providers is denial. Hospice care is best meted out 6 months before passing, yet most cases get to hospice 3 weeks before (anecdotal data.) Denial is what we’re facing today when it comes to dealing with the advanced aged.

End of life, especially form a gerontology perspective, is hidden. The elderly are cared for by family caregivers or in nursing homes. I believe there’s a massive business opportunity to develop technology applications to improve the lives of the elderly and I challenge marketers and technologists to think about it.

Let’s call app the Last 5 Years.  

Here’s what the app/device/rigor needs to accomplish. It need to encourage ambulation which, in turn, will help circulation. It needs to assist the aged with balance. It needs to work to delay cognitive loss. Pain management will be needed, as will home help and general entertainment.

How can we accomplish all of these things?  In chunks. One app/device probably won’t work.  (An exercise chair?)

One could argue these things are available in a nursing home. But the fact is, many “Last 5 Year” candidates don’t leave their rooms. They wait for meals between TV shows.   

Let’s tackle this. And let’s start now. Tweet me y9our ideas @spoppe.

Peace.

 

 

Delivery Inefficiency.

By
Steve Poppe
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0

amazon-boxes

A next big thing in marketing will be distribution related. No, it’s not drones — that’s the next, next thing.  It has to do with the last mile of distribution.  A logistics solution is needed so multiple truck deliveries aren’t made to a single location on a given day. Two days ago all these boxes were delivered to my home. You can’t see it from the pic but each box was from Amazon. UPS and FedEx trucks aplenty dotted the curb. (My sister EJ has been going a little bit crazy this year, me thinks.)

All these random deliveries eat up a great deal of gas. Not to mention manpower.  Each package has a tracking code and delivery address. One piece of software and some colocation warehousing will cut delivery costs down to the bone.

This is a job for Amazon, Uber, UPS or an EPA code nerd (after Scott Pruitt leaves his appointment).

The 4Ps of marketing are Product, Place, Price and Promotion.  If we can get the Place right over the next few years it will positively impact the environment, price of goods and even U.S. manufacturing.  

Peace.                 

 

The Boil Down.

By
Steve Poppe
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0

Every brand planner has his or her own toolkit. But basically they drop themselves into a category or brand space and learns. They understand the product, competition, care-abouts and functions. If they’re smart they also try to understand the business and finances. A dive into the culture of the buying is important. And learning the language of the category is not underrated.

After all information is amassed, balanced by some qualitative data, it’s time to put paper to pencil. Or finger to keyboard. This is where the good brand planners separate from the not so.  

My key tool is the brief. Many brand planner use a brief to create strategy…or a fill in the box template. Same thing.

The real key in crafting a brief is the “boil down.” The boil down removes all non-essential information gathered during discovery.  I call it the boil down because it riffs on the metaphor of the stock pot. Fill up the stock pot and boil it down to a very rich bullion at the bottom.

At What’s The Idea?, a brand strategy is one claim, three proof planks. This is the organizing principle for brand strategy. Four things. That’s a lot of boiling.

Peace.  

 

 

A New Model for Messaging

By
Steve Poppe
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0

Innovation in product and service marketing has redistributed wealth for ages. Yet one area where innovation has completely stagnated is messaging. The ads and sales copy developed in the 1880s by Lord and Thomas are the same as today.  Words like “sale, quality, buy, and new” were commonly used then and now.

Why can’t we innovate the message? Sure, we can sing it, animate it, give it life with video. And tomorrow we’ll add more dimension and experiential verve with virtual reality.  But the real innovation in messaging will not be in copy, art or delivery but in how we craft behavioral cognition.  Rather than tell someone what to do, we need to help them conclude they want to do it. Make if feel more like their choice. Facilitate and stimulate the behavior.

The old AIDA principle of selling: awareness, interest, desire and action is still a valid construct. Yet most messaging today concerns itself only with the last step action.  Innovations like Twitch Point Planning and other customer journey approaches account for all steps to a sale. Let’s court our consumers appropriately.

Peace.

 

 

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