BrandSmart 2010

BrandSmart 2010: From WOM to Lady Gaga

2010-06-23T20:05:00.002-05:00

What do WOM marketing, low-budget, community-based marketing, keeping an eye on the future, and Lady Gaga have in common?

All will be highlights of Thursday’s BrandSmart 2010 thought-provoking sessions and discussions. Click here for the full agenda.

Word of mouth (WOM) marketing, and the control brand marketers gained over it, will garner attention through Dave Kissel, partner at Zocalo Group, and his presentation “Word of Mouth Marketing: The Most Powerful Form of Influence Is Now The Newest Way to Build Brands.” Sharon Feigon, CEO of I-GO Car Sharing will spotlight how her company was able to build awareness and grow a diverse membership base with a relatively small budget – a topic all marketers can take something away from, given organizations’ general budget tightening over the last 18-24 months.

Following lunch, FedEx Services Vice President Len Hostette will deliver the afternoon keynote. Len will draw on his experience at FedEx to demonstrate how the company has remained relevant by focusing on the future – more specifically, focusing on what is important to the company’s next generation of customers and employees.

And Lady Gaga? She will be discussed by Jon Pollock, senior vice president and chief marketing officer of Polaroid. Earlier this year, Polaroid announced a partnership with Lady Gaga for the entertainer to serve as creative director for a specialty line of the company’s imaging products. How is the partnership between a 70-year-old brand and a 20-something British pop superstar going? Join us at BrandSmart to find out more.

The day will also feature even more relevant topics in the areas of innovation, engagement strategies, and social media.

See you there!

(These topics are great, but don’t forget about the awards – brand marketer’s version of the red carpet! During lunch, peers will be honored in the categories of consumer, business-to-business, non-profit, new product launch, small budget, and pure digital.)

BrandSmart 2010 Shines the Spotlight on Relevant Brands

2010-06-21T15:49:00.000-05:00

BrandSmart 2010 brings together a diverse spectrum of experienced brand managers for a top-level conference that will illuminate the challenges and achievements of global brands as they navigate the turbulent waters of today’s marketing environment. You’ll hear insights from leaders of established brands as well as some up-and-coming companies who are making a name for themselves.

If Danielle Paris, director of US menu management, product innovation & development at McDonald's Corporation, has her way, we’re all gonna be lovin’ it a lot more this summer. Paris is credited with the launch of the McCafé line in 2009 and has been instrumental in McDonald's foray into the frozen blended beverage category.

The global brand is set to introduce some new menu items such as Angus Snack Wraps, McCafé Real Fruit Smoothies, and McCafé Frappés (which have been rolling out nationally for the past few months). At an exclusive product-tasting event in NYC in early June, McDonald's executives and representatives “made it loudly known that they care about the quality of their ingredients, they are constantly innovating and they base many of their actions on customer feedback.”

While all McDonald's product innovation is the result of brainstorming sessions with, and reactions from, “food scientists and engineers, high-caliber chefs, suppliers, [and] independent store owner/operators,” feedback from customers is key to determining what is eventually developed. According to the company bio posted on Twitter, “We’re here to listen and learn from all of our fans and followers.”

Some of that feedback may not be quite what McDonald’s wants to hear, but customers and columnists voice their opinions over everything from remodeling to menus and ambiance. Attend the BrandSmart 2010 conference this week to find out how McDonald’s uses customer feedback to implement changes in its offerings.

Meanwhile, over at Walgreen’s, the dispute between the company and CVS Caremark Corp. seems to have been resolved, as reported by ChicagoBreakingBusiness.com. Kim Feil, chief marketing officer of Walgreen’s, may be able to shed some light on the outcome of the falling-out that recently concluded in a truce. Walgreen Co., with 7522 outlets, is the largest U.S. drugstore chain operator, slightly ahead of CVS.

The dispute threatened to prevent thousands of people from getting their prescriptions filled at Walgreens stores. Here’s an excellent example of the impact of the media on brands—and the ability of relevant brands to weather the storms surrounding corporate business decisions. According to an article at ChicagoBreakingBusiness.com, “shares of Walgreen and CVS Caremark jumped more than 3 percent each in (Friday) morning trading after tumbling more than 5 percent since the public battle began.”

Not only are Walgreen’s stock prices up, but the company recently inaugurated a new feature: prescription text alerts to let customers know when their prescriptions are ready for pick-up. Walgreens also has launched mobile applications for the BlackBerry and Google’s Android platform.

“These new applications follow the previous release of the company’s iPhone application in the fall. That program has been updated with new features, including the ability to view a prescription history and search for the nearest store using the phone’s GPS function,” reported ChicagoBreakingBusiness.com on June 15. Feil may spend some time on these latest developments during her presentation at BrandSmart 2010 this Thursday.

If the big brands aren’t enough to whet your appetite, perhaps the VP and Brand Alchemist of SCVNGR, John Dobrowolski, will provide some tasty morsels for your consumption. The recently-released consumer version of Google-backed app SCVNGR awards points to users for taking photos of themselves at various locations, its chief difference from the likes of Foursquare. At this time, Chicago currently only offers up a President Obama-based trek and a search around Millennium Park. You may be able to suggest additional treks that could become part of SCVNGR’s searches in the future.

Don’t let the lack of local pickings keep you from joining the hunt—SCVNGR’s location- and mobile-based social gaming platform “goes beyond the check-in process…to provide challenges that put the mobile phone owner in the game. It's about participating in challenges, going places, earning points and unlocking badges. People who play the games scan QR codes, take photos, and solve riddles.”

We’re only a few days away from the BrandSmart 2010 conference, where you’ll hear from these—as well as several other—speakers from top companies who will share stories of how their companies stay relevant in a world that is in constant flux.

Social Media Gains Traction and Empowers Small Businesses

2010-06-18T15:58:00.005-05:00

Small business owners of all ages are embracing social media networks and using them to empower their organization in today’s highly competitive marketplace. One in five small business owners is incorporating social media into their marketing plans according to a study done by the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business and the Small Business Success Index (SBSI). All types of small businesses doubled their adoption rate of social media usage from 12% to 24% in 2009. Naturally, this helped to spur on an increase in time spent on social media, +82% more time, or 5.5 hours per month in 2009.

Who are these small business owners? According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics,“More Americans Start Own Business” by Laura Petrecca, USA Today, the fastest growing sector of small businesses, +29% growth rate, is among those aged 65+ years old (10% of the total). That translates to some 213,000 senior citizens, or baby boomers, spurring on our economy with their ingenuity and experience. The next largest sector of growth is among those aged 20-24 years old, at 16% growth (3% of the total). However, the largest sector of small business owners, 26% of the total, is still the 45-54 year old boomers who experienced soft trends of -2% vs. 2008. It’s interesting that the very young professional or new graduate and the mid-career professional and the senior citizen professional are all playing a vital role in keeping the US small business sector healthy.

No matter how old you are, if you are a small business owner, you may want to know how other small businesses are utilizing social media, why others are using it and does it pay off? The Small Business Success Index™ (SBSI) reports the major social media trends:

75% have a company page on a social networking site
69% post updates/articles on LinkedIn and/or Facebook
58% feel that it met expectations, 12% feel it exceeded expectations and 25% feel it fell short of expectations
57% have built a network through a site like LinkedIn
54% monitor positive/negative feedback on social network sites
50% say it takes more time than expected
45% expect social media to be profitable in the next twelve months
39% have a blog on an area of expertise
36% Tweet about an area of expertise
17% express that social media give people a chance to criticize their business on the Internet, yet only 6% feel that social media use has hurt the image of the business more than it helped
15% us Twitter as a customer service channel.

Here are the most common reasons for using social media for small business owners:

73% claim that social media identifies and attracts new customers
56% say it develops a higher awareness of your organization within your target market
46% use it to stay engaged with their current customers
34% claim it allows them to collaborate more effectively externally, with suppliers, partners and colleagues
25% claim it allows them to collaborate more effectively internally.

One of the big issues today is whether or not social media efforts are worth it. Here is an article that speaks to the success of Twitter and blogging in effectively increasing lead generation from Hubspot in eMarketer’s online publication. Businesses are just now figuring out how to measure and calculate the effectiveness of social media, so watch out for more studies examining the ROI of social media in the future. In the meantime, the Small Business Index report indicates that 22% of small businesses have made a profit already while 53% feel that they will make a profit in the next 12 months and only 9% say they will lose money. With these preliminary numbers in mind, it is safe to say that social media networks do in fact work and empower a small business in staying competitive.

If you are not using social media networks or have no clear plan, here are just a few articles that may assist you in how to approach them and some simple steps on what to do.

The nuances of the unspoken etiquette and on participating with integrity from MarketingProfs.
How and why you should use the top three social medial networks, e.g. Linkedin, Facebook and Twitter, from MarketingProfs.
Tips, tools and trends for mastering social media from Small Business Trends.
Social media marketing tips by type of social media from Mashable/Business.

For some examples of companies that are using social media networks, see below. You can learn from representative of these companies at the Brandsmart Conference 2010 in Chicago on June 24th.

I-Go Car blog

McDonald’s Facebook

Hard Rock Hotel Linkedin

Discover Network Linkedin

Chicago Cubs Twitter

Zocalo Group Blog

Is your small business or company using social media more these days? Tell us how social media has changed the marketing landscape for your company or business.

The Future of Brands - Certain or Not?

2010-06-14T15:30:00.000-05:00

Brands have evolved and changed throughout the decades. How can we predict what the future of brands will be? What trends should be aware of when considering our branding efforts?

Perhaps the future of brands is best summed up in this statement from Interbrand's The Future of Brands: "The future of brands is inextricably linked to the future of business. In fact, the future of brands is the future of business if it is to be about sustainable wealth creation. Further, because of the interaction of brands with society, and since so many socially influential brands are in the not-for-profit sector, the future of brands is also inextricably linked to the future of society."

If the future of brands is linked directly to the future (and success) of business and society, it's difficult to completely identify indicators about what is next with certainty. That said, there are recent trends that have been adopted by various brands that may give us clues.

Engage your audience.
Successful brands can no longer deliver a one-way message. Competition is fierce in the market place. As a result, it has become more important for a brand to engage and relate directly to its consumers. Car makers have really stepped up to this trend. Think about Ford's "Swap Your Ride" and Toyota's Sienna minivan advertisements. Toyota makes driving a minivan cool. Ford reminds us why more people choose their cars over the competition.

Participate in partnerships and collaborations.
Brands need to think above and beyond their bottom line and many are doing so by giving back to the community. This community kickback drives profits for the brand, but it also engages consumers beyond the scope of the product's use. Consumers feel good about giving back to the community and as a result feel good about the brand. Take a look at Dawn and its most recent campaign. For every bottle of Dawn soap purchased (up to $500,000) $1 will be donated to help save wildlife in the oil spill. Yoplait in its "Save Lids to Save Lives" is another brand that has partnered with a non-profit organization to raise money for breast cancer. How can your brand make a difference and still leave a lasting impression?

Provide a social experience. Create a community.
What better way to develop a deeper connection with your consumers than to develop an online community for them to share, discuss and socialize with other consumers within the context of your brand. It is also a great way to learn more about your consumers. This has been an increasingly popular trend and many organizations are either developing their own platforms, such as Harley-Davidson with HarleyLot and Pepsi with their Pepsi Refresh Project. The future will certainly include many new online platforms. How will your brand stay relevant and ahead of the curve with its online outreach?

As new brand trends arise, adaptation will need to be made. The most important thing to recognize about the future of brands is that it is constantly changing. What does your company do to prepare for these changes? How far in advance to plan your brand's messaging and campaigns?

FutureBrand's Ten Trends for 2009+ gives great insight to the future of brands. Specifically with its #10 Trend: Fear of the Unknown. As stated, "The point of this trend is to push home the point that the future is ultimately unknowable. Yes you can see general patterns and make well-educated speculations about next week or next year based partly on past events and human behaviour. But if history teaches us anything, it is surely that totally unexpected ideas, inventions and events ... have a habit of ruining logical and well laid-out plans."

Personal Branding and Today's Job Market

2010-06-11T16:57:00.002-05:00

With 9.7% unemployment rate in the US, how do you land the right job offer, or any job offer? The average length of time someone is unemployed is 34.4 weeks or 8.5 months. What if it takes you longer? How long can you go without replacing your leaky roof? Frankly, the TV ad for The Ladders portrays the situation perfectly. You are one of a large pack of job hunters running frantically all over the tennis court after the same, dinky little tennis ball. People all around you are pushing and maneuvering around the same target. Deep down inside, you know you need a personal strategy to not only keep you in the game, but to differentiate yourself from the rest of the tennis pack. What choices should you make? Do you spend money and time perfecting your resume? Should you start your own website? Should you beef up your social media efforts? How do you juggle the myriad of choices at your fingertips?

The answer is easy but difficult to execute well. One must build and nurture a strong personal brand in order to stay in the game and win the match. Overtime, a personal brand that is honest, unique and relevant, will edge out your competitors and get you the job you need to survive, and the position you deserve.

To help you effectively manage your time and communicate your personal brand, listen to the inside recommendations from two marketing recruiters, Geri Kleeman from The Kleeman Group, Marilyn Vojta from Vojta & Associates and marketing consultant David Kissel, Partner at Zocalo Group and AMA Brandsmart Conference speaker, June 24^th. Here’s how they collectively rated and evaluated the following key components most often used in building a strong personal brand. (Scores from 1-10, 1 Low Importance to 10 Most Important).

(Personal Brand Activity with respective rating and evaluation in order of priority)

1. Job Interview 10+

Of course, an interview is the most important factor in landing a job. There were three simple things our experts wanted to share:

Be consistent and portray your personal brand with 5-7 prepared stories that exemplify who you are, what you stand for and what your promise is.
Kleeman suggests you should avoid the trend of “panel interviews because they are a huge injustice to the person being interviewed.” Companies are justifying panel interviews because it saves time for the panel members. Regardless, it’s not an effective means to get to know the candidate.
Use behavioral techniques, like the STAR technique, to quantify and describe your main points. Make sure you provide clear examples of what you’ve done that can lead to how you can deliver results for this potential employer and be as specific as possible.

2. Resume 9.3

This vehicle, to no surprise, is not going away. Kissel says “it is the common currency that documents oneself in the marketplace in a condensed format.” However, it’s vital that you have a well-written resume because recruiters see plenty poorly written resumes (believe it or not). This is the first opportunity for you to communicate and solidify your personal brand. “Make sure you take a stand and speak to who you are, what you stand for, and what your promise is” says Kissel. In order to uncover your personal branding qualities, he recommends that you “think about if people were talking about you, what would you want them to be saying? Somewhere in or around those words is where you should start in defining your personal brand.” Are you known to be passionate, a master with numbers, or someone who knows how to get things done?

3. Phone Interview/Conversation 9.3

Both recruiters felt that the phone was key and pivotal throughout the entire process. Do not underestimate the fundamental power of a two-way, personal conversation. This vehicle can sway someone into either making you a job offer or even convincing them not to hire you. Here are a couple of ideas to help:

Whenever you can, get a conversation going and be persuasive about selling your personal brand.
Align your conversations or stories around your personal branding qualities and what the truth of your promise is. Always remember that your written key messages should be consistent with your verbal key messages.

4. Linkedin.com 8.7

Eight-percent of employers seek new employees using Linkedin and recruiters rely heavily on this social media channel to seek out new candidates. Therefore, in order to be competitive, you must have a healthy presence on Linkedin. Here are some tips:

Quality of links are more believable and important than quantity, 50+ is OK
Make sure your personal brand shines through and matches your resume.
Take advantage of this channel because it is more dynamic than a resume, says Kissel. All three sources believed that you should join pertinent organizations and engage in conversations for the purposes of widening your network and building trusting relationships with individuals you don’t ever meet face to face.
Kissel also explains how Linkedin can be a short cut for trust when used well. For instance, enough of the right recommendations can portray trust. One way to get recommendations is to give them out to others unsolicited and you will automatically get them back in return. However, don’t forget that quality is more important than quantity, where thirty is definitely too many. Lastly, ensure that your recommendations align with your key personal brand messages.

5. Verbal References 8.0

Recruiters use references in two very important ways, one way you may be aware of and the other may be a surprise.

Recruiters rely heavily on casual references. Unbeknownst to you, they are calling your former supervisor or someone else in their network that knows you for a quick chat. This is part of their regular due diligence so it’s in your best interest to never burn any bridges, even under the most trying of circumstances like a firing or a lay-off.
Once a company is ready to give out an offer, a recruiter calls your “official” references for a longer 15-20 minutes chat. Ensure that your references are aligned with your personal brand messaging because the recruiters are looking for continuity and fit. So, if you claim that you are passionate about your work and none of your references bring this quality up, this weakens your claim.

6. Professional Extracurricular Activities 7.0

Do not be lazy or so busy that you fail to participate in professional associations. . Basically, involvement in organizations is evidence that you are still learning, well connected and on top of your game. These are qualities that are more desirable than someone who is stuck inside their own cocoon.

Vojta feels that “being a part of a professional organization shows that you are a global thinker”.
Kissel adds some good spin by suggesting you should take these activities and extend them, publicize them into the social media channels in order to extend the reach of your personal brand
Don’t become involved in so many organizations that it’s impossible for you to stay involved and keep up.

7. Organic Name Search on Yourself 7.0

There is some variation on how much recruiters and employers search your name organically. Regardless, you should search yourself in case you need to correct anything misleading, differentiate yourself from someone with the same name or improve a lack of meaningful listings. Our sources share that:

* It is more appropriate to search a name for senior level positions.

* You may never get the phone interview if someone is not impressed with your listings or even a little curious.

8. Blogging for yourself or for your company 5.3

According to our two recruiters, blogging for the purpose of expressing your personal brand is not monitored by those who are vetting you for a position. So, they do not advise blogging in order to to get found. However, there are other venerable reasons for blogging such as expressing your opinions as an expert on some subject, for the purpose of being heard, helping others, garnering advertisers and earning an income as a blogger and more . Here’s what the experts had to say:

According to Vojta, it’s possible that your opinions could be misconstrued or considered too strong and it could actually work against you.
Kissel had a pertinent warning that “if you can’t think and express a unique, meaningful point of view, don’t blog. It’s all about what makes you special, your point of view.”
Kleeman would not bother investigating anyone’s blog unless it was a part of the position they were applying for.

9. Facebook 4.0

Presently, the majority of recruiters and most employers don’t seem to be checking Facebook profiles, walls or photos according to our three experts. Facebook has a strong personal social aspect to it and is not as professionally oriented as Linkedin. However, look out!

Although Kissel recognized Facebook’s personal utility, he realized that it could negatively impact your professional life. More than half of employers surveyed by Harris Interactive recently reported they did not hire candidates based on provocative photos or references to drugs or alcohol. Needless to say, that is not considered good personal branding.
One recruiter predicted that more and more companies may start reviewing Facebook for younger, new hires in order to discover things they cannot ask legally, e.g. gender, race etc. In addition, a company could also use a Facebook presence to judge your integrity and character. Regardless of age, it’s wise not to put anything on Facebook that could malign your professional character or negatively sway a potential employer.

10. Twitter 3.7

Every one of the sources claimed that Twitter is not highly relevant in the job search today. Only one out of three sources Twitters diligently despite the fact that there are 110MM Twitterers. Overall, this new social media channel is still immature and crowded with noise, but, if executed regularly, efficiently and wisely, I believe there may be some opportunities waiting to happen. Some companies recruit directly on Twitter. What successes have you heard about? In the meantime, here are some comments from our sources.

Aptly stated by Kissel, “Twitter is a lot of talk and not a lot of meaning.”
Kleeman uses it as another channel to stay in touch with candidates and gets the word out with tips, advice and announcements of job openings for her followers. This alone may be good reason for a job hunter to follow recruiters and their Tweets.

11. Personal Branded Website 1.0

All three of our experts saw no value in developing a personal website. It may be a big waste of time and is not the most effective means to communicate your personal brand, especially since there are so many other vehicles that can do the same thing.

Take a deep look inside of yourself to uncover the truest attributes that make you special, differentiated and competitive in the workforce. Take time and effort to consistently communicate these qualities across all methods, verbal and written, and throughout numerous social media channels, in order to extend your brand into new territory.

Like Marilyn Vojta wisely reminded us, “if you can brand and market a widget, you can brand and market yourself”. What successes have you had in some of these channels?

Brand, goodwill, and the balance sheet: More than just a feeling

2010-06-09T16:19:00.000-05:00

$104 billion. An impressive value for just about any organization. A company with $104 billion in revenues would rank 16th in the Fortune 500, between General Motors and AIG.

But this $104 billion doesn’t represent a particular company’s revenues; it equals the difference between Procter & Gamble’s (P&G) market capitalization ($150 billion) and its book value ($46.6 billion). According to P&G’s 2009 annual report, “The difference is the value P&G shareholders place on the Company’s brands, the earnings and cash these brands generate today, and the confidence that these leading brands will continue to grow in the future.”

$89 billion is another impressive number. It represents the value of net goodwill and other intangible assets on P&G’s balance sheet. These facts raise questions for brand marketers: Why are there tens of billions of valued intangible assets on the balance sheet, and what does this mean?

London-based consulting firm Brand Finance teaches us that brand valuation and other “intangible assets” began to figure more prominently on balance sheets over 20 years ago when, “the corporate raiders and asset strippers of the 1980s who targeted brand rich companies and paid significantly more than their net asset value. This resulted in huge ‘goodwill’ values that had to be recognized.” All of a sudden, companies realized that they needed legitimate means to account for brands so that the true value of a company was recognized on the balance sheet.

CoreBrand is another company specializing in brand valuation; others include Interbrand and Millward Brown. CoreBrand defines an intangible asset representing, “the reputational portion of goodwill.” (CoreBrand published the CoreBrand 800 that tracks top brands. P&G ranked 50 in the Q4 2009 rankings. CocaCola ranked first. According to its 2009 annual report, CocaCola’s combined goodwill and intangible asset value was $6.6 billion.)

For P&G, its $89 billion net goodwill and other intangible asset value has been built over decades of investing in research to deliver innovative products, and well-executed, highly strategic marketing and branding initiatives. The company puts it pretty simply, “P&G’s billion-dollar brands are platforms for innovation. They are global leaders. Consumers want them in their homes. Retailers want them in their stores. They enable us to bring innovation to consumers around the world effectively, efficiently and profitably. They make consumers’ lives a little better, every day.”

Numbers like these clearly have the attention of company CEOs and CFOs, as evidenced by their appearance on balance sheets. However, brand values have further financial implications for annual reports. First, brand valuation plays a critical role when a parent company moves to sell or divest a brand. The purchase of Pabst Blue Ribbon at $250 million is a good example of brand valuation driving a sale. Second, brand strength is a key factor in stock price. We’ve already discussed the $104 billion gap between P&G’s market capitalization and its book value, but also take a look at this interesting story about company stock performance following appearances on this spring’s successful Undercover Boss. Each public company’s stock was higher since the episode aired.

$104 billion and $89 billion – these numbers are more than just a feeling, they are real numbers vital to a company’s financial health. How does your branding strategy fit into your company’s financial strategy? We welcome your thoughts.

Strong Brands and Bottom-Line Value

2010-06-07T15:48:00.000-05:00

Brand relevance and brand value are two sides of the same coin, both of which affect brand strength in the marketplace. Brand value is a key differentiator; it is more than just a collection of perceptions in consumers’ minds. Strong brands have real value when it comes to customers’ purchase decisions and deliver an economic impact that positively affects a company's bottom line.

When a brand has a strong presence in the marketplace, it reaps a number of economic benefits that include:

Premium pricing: Consumers pay more for branded items that they believe have higher value and lower risk than lesser-known alternatives. This preference is based largely on the trust that a given brand engenders. Think Grey Goose vs. Smirnoff or Tumi vs. American Tourister.
Lower cost of sales: Consumers of valued brands make more frequent and repeat purchases, which spread customer-acquisition costs over a long-term client relationship.
Lower cost of promotion: Consumers of valued brands become ambassadors who spread positive word-of-mouth at no cost to the brand.
Higher market share: Valued brands acquire loyal customers who recruit more customers to the brand, increasing the brand’s share of market while reducing customer-development costs and building immunity to competitive attacks.
Lower employee turnover: Great brands attract passionate employees who pass their enthusiasm to satisfied consumers, who in turn make employees’ jobs more enjoyable, reducing employee turnover as a result. The trust factor is significant among employees as well.
Higher stature: Valued brands enjoy a high level of awareness and esteem in the minds of consumers, industry leaders, community leaders, news editors, financial analysts and investors, which leads to yet higher brand preference and marketplace prominence.

In his well-known book, Strategic Brand Management, Kevin Lane Keller states, “the ability of a strong brand to simplify consumer decision-making, reduce risk and set expectations is…invaluable.”

The same is true for B2B brands. How can B2B companies truly differentiate their offering and be relevant to customers over the long-term? The answer: brands.

According to Kevin Randall, Director of Brand Strategy & Research at Movéo Integrated Branding, “A strong brand becomes the customer’s ‘shorthand’ for making good choices in a complex, risky, and confusing marketplace.”

In an article on BrandChannel, Randall posits that “brands produce economic value in the B2B marketplace. According to a [previous] Interbrand/BusinessWeek ‘Best Global Brands By Value’ ranking, IBM, GE, and Intel, largely B2B-focused brands targeting sophisticated enterprises and ‘technical buyers,’ are among the most valuable brands. Their intangible asset of ‘goodwill’ drives billions of dollars in value and market capitalization. IBM’s 2009 brand value is US$60,211, (GE $47,777 billion, Intel $30,636 billion). Their brands, not their products, are their differentiators that lead to competitive advantage.”

Randall identifies that the intangibles, or “trust factors,” are even more important than the tangibles in determining which buying decisions are made. He cites GE as making more money and achieving greater differentiation through its value-added intangibles in the form of its “branded” offering (services, assurance, solutions, people, etc.) than its “parity products,” such as aircraft engines and medical equipment.

Says Randall, “Today’s B2B customers may articulate their need for ROI, higher performance or a better mousetrap; yet, what they really want is to avoid doing business with ‘an Enron.’ They want a name or people they can trust; they want to buy from a ‘leader.’ Strong brands play to these important drivers.”

Malcolm Gladwell’s best-selling book, Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, reveals a well-known “secret” among neuroscientists and new wave market researchers that “the driver of their real feelings, thoughts and actions is their unconscious. Buyers make split-second decisions (“thin-slicing”) based on stored memories, images and feelings—which is what a brand is all about.”

Such research has spawned an entire industry and created the field of neuro-marketing. Find out how Campbell’s Soup launched a redesigned label using neuroscience research or check out Dan Ariely’s book, Predictably Irrational.

Do you agree that a strong brand equals a strong two-second impression, whether you’re buying potato chips or specifying microchips? Leave us a comment and add your voice and thoughts to the discussion.

Top Internet Brands in the News & Two Top Trends

2010-06-03T15:57:00.011-05:00

It’s easy to get lost in the details of the daily news churn as it relates to today’s top internet brands like Google rated #1 brand globally and Facebook.

The top Internet brands*, according to a key ranking on unique visitors are:

Compete's Top 10 Sites Ranked By: Unique Visitors - April 2010

Domain & Unique Visitors

1 google.com 145,646,954

2 Facebook.com 135,375,036

3 yahoo.com 128,239,023

4 Youtube.com 90,780,604

5 msn.com 85,656,793

6 amazon.com 72,195,127

7 live.com 71,490,935

8 ebay.com 67,715,471

9 wikipedia.org 62,762,314

10 bing.com 50,122,089

Each of the top Internet brands faces similar privacy and open content issues as they are challenged to grow. Here are some updates:

1. There is a constant barrage of invasion of privacy issues.

* Facebook has repeatedly been the target of privacy controversies. When Facebook started sharing personal data and online behavior with outside websites, an advocacy group filed a complaint on May 5 with the Federal Trade Commission about the misuse of personal information. Some 31,000 users, less than 1% of total Facebook users, banded together to create the Quit Facebook Day website. Although the site attracted attention, it did not make a dent in decreasing Facebook users.

* Congress has asked Google and Facebook for cooperation into inquiries regarding privacy practices. Google had a snafu with WIFI data that was mistakenly collected in Luxembourg.

2. Foreign countries are challenging the open content concept.

• Youtube and Facebook have had numerous incidents. Facebook is banned already in Syria, China, Iran and Vietnam. Just recently, both Facebook and Youtube were banned from Pakistan due to inappropriate Muslim content. They have since been allowed to be reinstated by censoring out content inappropriate to Muslims. Bangladesh followed Pakistan’s lead and banned Facebook as well.

• Italy is threatening Google’s open content premise and business model. Three Google executives were convicted of violating Italian privacy laws because the Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi wants to control Internet content. He believes that the Google leadership is responsible for third-party text, photos and videos and if the conviction is upheld, Google’s business model of advertising and searching based on open access to all will be at peril.

As these top Internet brands continue to grow and attain more market share, power and revenues, you can expect to read more news regarding yet undiscovered privacy issues. Just remember that you can have a voice through collective groups online, through social media campaigns and our government and politicians if you want to speak your mind.

You can also expect additional foreign countries, be it Western Europe or third-world countries, to be questioning and censoring the Internet to suit their politics, policies or religions. The overall nature of the Internet may look very different from country to country in the future. Each of the Internet brands may look very different overseas vs. the US version of the same brand. It is not unusual for the global expansion of any US brand to face serious issues unique to each country. It will be necessary for the management to be in close touch with their foreign consumer insights and constituents in order to succeed. What are your thoughts?

What’s next for these top Internet brands? I guarantee there will be a lot of change, aligning of powers (Yahoo’s online search deal with Microsoft), some further company consolidations and product/service brand expansions. For instance, although Google started out as a pure search engine business, they have expanded into more software-like enterprises with Chrome OS, Docs and Android. Google is even entering the media industry with its “Internet TV” deal with Sony this fall. What do you think is on the horizon?

* Note that I am including only pure-play internet brands (but not for long) and not brands that have brick-and-mortar, multi-channel or manufacturing components.

(For the curious, here are some additional rankings based on: Best Global Brands, Great B2B sites, Top E-retailers, Top website designs, and on and on depending on what criteria or industry you want to look at).

Brands and the Media: The Trust Factor

2010-06-01T14:20:00.001-05:00

When we hear bad news about a major company, we follow avidly as former brand kingpins are toppled from their lofty thrones in the few minutes it takes to post a news release online. How do media reports affect our brand loyalty, and how do they impact the degree of trust we feel toward these brand leaders?

For example, BP PLC has been charged with responsibility for the worst oil spill disaster in history—thanks to the oil rig fire that has destroyed not only fishermen’s livelihoods, ruined coastal environments and caused upheaval to the world’s oil supply but also encased BP’s formerly stellar reputation as a global brand (ranked #83 in 2009) in slimy residue. Greenpeace recently posted make-over’s of the company’s logo on its website depicting the oil company with less than complimentary images and words.

We’ve also seen the previously pristine Toyota brand suffer immense damage as a result of their unwillingness to put customer safety above corporate profits and performance. Today they are still trying to repair their tarnished image after a series of embarrassments and ongoing reports about manufacturing negligence and lack of responsiveness to consumer complaints.

Even the highly-vaunted Lexus brand was hit hard after Consumer Reports, a trusted source of information about brands in various consumer goods categories, labeled the 2010 Lexus GX 460 dangerous and issued a “Don’t Buy: Safety Risk” recommendation in its April 13 Cars Blog. The impact of such a warning could lead to a drop in overall sales for Toyota, especially as the company is trying to recover from its recall fiasco.

Worse than the lost auto sales for Toyota is the loss of consumer confidence in its brand. Numerous Lexus owners posted comments on CR’s Cars Blog the day the “don’t buy” warning was announced, expressing feelings ranging from deep concern to total outrage. Some readers even stated their annoyance with Consumer Reports: “…I hope that CR isn't trying to stay relevant by feeding into today's 24-hour news cycle with its insatiable hunger for negative news.”

Public opinion is very sensitive to media reporting of real or perceived disasters and debacles. Not even President Obama is immune from brand erosion. Denny Hatch’s blog, Business Common Sense, says it succinctly: “Obama’s massive PR failure (following the BP oil rig fire)…is not about politics, it’s about process—an exercise in public relations and communication that directly applies to every organization—a one-person entrepreneurship, CEOs of a small business or a giant corporation all the way up to the President of the United States.”

The issue in question is not the facts of what the White House did or didn’t do right after the fire, but the perception transmitted by multiple media channels that they did nothing. Says Hatch, “This is about critics putting negative spin on administration policies and the White House shrugging it all off.” Hatch’s conclusion is worth noting: “It’s not good when the face of your organization has egg on it.”

Not all news is bad news, however, and plenty of media attention was showered upon Apple when it introduced its newest offspring, the iPad, such as the glowing review published by Engadget. As Apple has so often and so masterfully branded itself, and Time magazine reported just prior to the iPad’s launch, “…it's not about the features—it's about the experience. You just have to try it to see what I mean."

In a time of brand flux and economic uncertainty, it all comes down to the user experience. If Toyota’s products are deemed unsafe, their sales plummet. If the oil giant BP fails to respond quickly and appropriately to a global disaster, their image is damaged and their credibility suffers. If the White House seems to turn a deaf ear to a major environmental disaster, they are perceived as uncaring and unresponsive. If a company like Apple continues to offer products that customers love, they will enjoy market domination, which makes it difficult for competitors to gain an advantage.

All of these situations ultimately focus on the relationship between a brand and its customers. It comes down to trust. Is your brand trustworthy? Can you identify other companies who have lost or gained trust in the marketplace as a result of being scrutinized by the media? Share with us the way your brand has been affected—positively or negatively—by media coverage.

Brand Trends that Engage Your Consumers

2010-05-27T13:59:00.000-05:00

Brands have reached new heights on engaging and influencing their audiences. One-way messaging designed solely to build awareness and increase sales has been replaced by a message that focuses on the consumer’s experience and the role and relationship they have with the brand.

As mentioned in our post on Monday, social media is on the rise. This has given companies a first-hand chance to directly engage consumers. Advertising can be personalized based on the user’s wants and needs. Face it - consumers have a voice in today’s branding mix more than ever before.

Let’s take a look at some recent successful brand engagement campaigns and techniques.

GO ONLINE: GIVEAWAYS & POLLS

· Dockers. Remember their commercials from the SuperBowl this year – go online during or after the game for a chance to win a free pair of Dockers? Did their giveaway yield results? Yes! Not only was ‘Dockers free pants’ the most searched term on Google in the United States on Sunday and Monday, but maybe more importantly the pants giveaway engaged consumers. Jen Sey, vp of global marketing at Dockers said, “Our objectives for our Super Bowl ad were clear - we wanted to first get consumers' attention back on Dockers, but more importantly, we wanted to engage them in our brand and get them into our new products.”

· Cottonelle. Another popular engagement campaign (and one that was certainly visible throughout the Chicago area) was the Great Debate: Roll Poll done by Cottonelle. Consumers were asked how they roll their toilet paper - over or under. Answers could be submitted online or through text messaging. It was easy to track the results and declare a winner at the end of the poll. This poll challenged consumers to think about how they use the product in a non-traditional way.

· Mountain Dew. Through their campaign – DEWmocracy – Mountain Dew is allowing consumers to vote on the next new beverage flavor. Users can go to the website to cast their vote and see a timeline and breakdown of votes. This campaign allows consumers to make a product decision. Will DEW drinkers have more loyalty to the brand after being engaged in the decision-making process?

TELL THE BRAND’S STORY: THE AVERAGE USER BECOMES A BRAND CELEBRITY/SPOKESPERSON

· Old Navy. Who doesn’t want a chance to be a featured mannequin in Old Navy stores and win $100,000 in the process? Old Navy recently featured commercials with people acting as the mannequin in an America’s Next Top Model atmosphere as part of their Supermodelquin Super Search. While the winner still has yet to be announced (June 3), the search drove thousands of entries and certainly increased brand awareness.

· Activia. It’s one thing to have a celebrity talk about her improved regularity when adding Activia yogurt to her diet, it’s another thing to have someone who could be your friend, neighbor or mom tell you. The Activia Challenge web page lets you be the judge of the effectiveness of their yogurt. You can Hear the Real Results from Real People or be one of those voices yourself. While there is no grand prize for being part of the challenge, coupons are available as is a refund if the challenge doesn’t work.

· Pantene Pro-V. Pantene this week announced the World’s First Reality Hair Star. Many women entered for a chance to put Pantene’s hair products to the test. This is yet another example of a company empowering the consumer to be the brand spokesperson.

CONNECT WITH OTHERS: BUILDING A BRAND COMMUNITY

· Nike Plus. Buy the shoes and gear, track your workouts and connect with others in the Nike community. Nike Plus encourages its consumers to do more than just wear its product. An online community exists for other Nike Plus users to share workout information, join challenges, motivate each other, and have a conversation about their experiences. What does your brand do to build strong relationships with its consumers? Do you have a brand community?

· US Cellular. This telecommunications company is in the business of connecting calls and connecting people. In their “Real Everyday People” advertising efforts, they are highlighting an average, but unique US Cellular customer and then including his/her cell phone number at the end of the commercial. Viewers can then connect directly with this person to learn more about his/her experiences. By doing this, US Cellular is creating a community and a personal touch to their brand.

· Threadless. This Chicago-based tee-shirt company is all about community with their ongoing, open call for designers. Without a strong community Threadless wouldn’t be able to do everything they do. They rely on users to submit and score designs. Your design gets selected and your tees get sold on the website. Way to empower the consumer to participate and support the brand. What feedback do you seek from your users and consumers?

These are just a handful of examples of what some companies are doing to more actively get their consumers to participate in their brand. What examples do you relate to most? What is your company doing to attract and engage consumers? Does it work and, if so, how are you measuring results? Let’s share our ideas!

Risky or Smart? The new trend of “Omega Male” Marketing

2010-05-26T14:22:00.000-05:00

Old Spice’s Isaiah Mustafa has gained fame and made viewers laugh for his portrayal in the brand’s somewhat goofy “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like Campaign.” Axe has its Theaxeeffect.com website where men are invited to visit such sites as the “Women’s Attention Deficit Disorder research center at AXE.” Miller Lite has launched The Miller Lite Registry – a Website supplementing Miller’s TV ad where a groom registers for beer when his fiancé isn’t looking.

These examples showcase a growing trend of brands positioning themselves toward a certain type of young, single male. There are a couple of common themes or tactics used across this trend, which Slate’s Jessica Grose might call omega male brands (See: “Omega Males and the Women Who Hate Them,” March 18, 2010). First, humor, often colorful and demographic specific, is central within the message. Second, women are used in the appeal (e.g., using the product will help attract women, or women are key to the punch line).

In this context, these tactics can be considered risky because the messages being communicated may ultimately alienate other people in the market. For example, perhaps male members that are more conservative or slightly older may be offended by the colorful humor. Maybe some female fiancés take their registries seriously and don’t like the implication that their soon-to-be grooms’ have a blasé attitude toward gift registry.

Maybe not. How does a brand marketer find the right balance? Old Spice seems to have struck the right tone given what we know of the popularity of Isaiah Mustafa. But last fall, Burger King and Pepsi seemingly missed the mark - with both receiving public criticism and Pepsi offering an apology. Begging the question, what might the short- and long-term consequences of “omega male branding” be?

The trend of omega male marketing and brands is worth examining because it can be related to the “big-picture” choices brand marketers make every day. We understand that we can’t be everything to everybody and be successful. However, does that mean we are willing to risk offending those that fall outside of our target market? We welcome your thoughts.

The Tsunami Impact of Social Media (and Tips to Help you Swim Through It)

2010-05-24T14:05:00.001-05:00

Brace yourself, the social media Tsunami has reached land! Facebook has 400 million worldwide users, Youtube is the second largest search engine with more than 2 billion views per day, 80 percent of U.S. companies’ primary tool for finding employees is LinkedIn, there are over 200 million blogs, there are 18.1 million Twitter users, and 48 percent of U.S. consumers over 12 years old have one or more social network profiles.

Yes, social media networks are not only mainstream, but are the #1 online activity, surpassing porn. They’re growing and morphing into something new even while you are reading this blog (like the new Facebook Open Graph platform and Foursquare’s badge marketing).

How has it changed the everyday consumer and our brands? Our fundamental human behavior has changed, no joke. There’s been a paradigm shift in the ways you and I interact with each other. Instead of using a Jewish Yenta or your friend as a typical matchmaker, 17 percent of U.S. couples successfully turned to online dating services to find their wife or husband last year. Such powerful social networks have created an active, targeted two-way flow for people to easily connect, relate, and meaningfully communicate between themselves and with entire businesses and brand entities. Networks like Facebook travel beyond the old boundaries of privacy with photos, fans and the new “like” buttons that now track your online activities outside of Facebook. Even Twitter has quickly narrowed the communication gap between a brand and its consumers. Let’s face it, our privacy standards are now looser, more transparent, easily accessible and yes, in a sense, more personal.

This is where you, as the marketer, come into play. You have amazing power at your fingertips, but only if you use it strategically, honestly and very, very quickly, in order to stay ahead of competition, of course.

As a veteran brand marketer, I know what your daily life is like with management reports, balancing the marketing mix, executing near perfection, measuring results and aligning company objectives. Of course you need to prove that your ideas are efficient and effective. To help you out, I have compiled some key facts that any marketer could use. Explore these sources, share these facts with your management, align them with your objectives and create a story for diving into the turbulent social network marketing waters.

Facts and Studies for Building a Social Networking Case for Management

* 221 million total U.S. online users

* 125 million U.S. Facebook users

* 43.5% of US Internet users use social networks, this is set to rise to 50% by 2012

* Average of 5.5 hours/month spent on social networking sites

* Internet users who use social networks are more likely to shop online, especially under 25s (Gen Y) who are more than 2x as likely to be online shoppers (Gen X 50% more likely)

* 30% of social network users visit several times/day, 20% visit nearly everyday (Twitter Usage in America)

* Depending on your target market, different generations use social media differently.

* 1 of 5 internet users (18%) purchased because they saw something on a social network site although there is low trust from the consumers (Vision Critical, 2010)

* 47% of U.S. consumers consider a brand message on a social site most trustworthy when in the form of a discussion or recommendation from friends, family or contacts within the site, and 33% consider coupons or special offers most reliable (Vision Critical, 2010)

* Everyone can be a publisher on the Internet through reviews, company blogs, fan pages, “like” buttons, Twitter messages, LinkedIn updates, etc. This means that companies cannot control the positive or the negative content about a brand. Although this is a legitimate fear, don’t be afraid of negative PR.

* Be patient, a long-term strategy pays off in social media.

* 70% of U.S. consumers trust opinions posted online as much as brand websites

* Companies most engaged in social networks experienced more than 18% increase in revenues and those the least engaged experienced a 6% decrease.

http://brandsmart.chicagoama.org/

Quality Content: Why It's Valuable to Your Brand

2010-05-21T15:09:00.001-05:00

Many times branding and strategy are discussed at the beginning of an initiative and how the content will be created is a functional afterthought. Savvy marketers are paying close attention to content marketing http://www.junta42.com/resources/what-is-content-marketing.aspx and how it directly correlates brands and messaging to the consumer or client base.

As a company builds its brand identity and develops strategy, content will come into play. The discussion about content should happen simultaneously as the strategy is being developed.
A strong strategy will determine the types of content that might be used and will clarify some of the following:

· Who is your target audience?
· What types of content will you need to create?
· How will your content be delivered?
· What are the metrics to determine success in reaching the audiences?

The importance of answering these questions enables re-use of collateral, which saves time and reduces costs by creating multiple pieces of content (video, articles and a social media campaign). This approach allows a content group or marketing department to save time on researching and creating content on similar topics with a different spin.

Content marketing encompasses all of the marketing initiatives that involve creative content generation. It is important to understand when writing for the Web vs. writing for print or ad campaigns that there will be different content needs and different outcomes. http://s2eo.blogspot.com/2010_04_01_archive.html

If writing for the Web, make sure you have someone who understands how to build a taxonomy (utilizing keywords and meta-data from your Web gurus), how to create strong quality content to match brands and then test the theory. Put the content out there and see what the response is. The measuring and tweaking takes time but allows for the content to mature along with the brand.

Not sure if content marketing is a MUST for your brand? http://s2eo.blogspot.com/2010/03/content-marketing-why-content-matters.html When determining strategy, most marketers want to direct traffic to the company site, convert a visit to a sale or a lead and engage visitors so they begin to trust and stay on the site for a longer time period. If a site has a high abandon rate, isn’t bringing in the sales or having much lead generation, then content marketing and building a site with quality content is a must.

If your site is looking merely for quantity, you can utilize free online articles or very inexpensive content to fill your site. An increasingly-savvy audience will get the message--your company is not dedicated to quality. In social conversations you can figure out how individuals feel about messaging and content. They will quickly reveal who has it right and who doesn’t. Of course, their buying decisions will be a tangible sign and ultimately, sales will reflect this as well.

Brand Olympics 2009: Where Does Your Brand Stand?

2010-05-21T14:01:00.000-05:00

We all love lists. Dave’s Top 10, the Guinness Book of World Records, the best-selling albums, the most influential people—there is no end to our passion for lists and list-making.
Marketers are no different. And to feed that passion, the folks at Interbrand Inc. compile an annual assessment of the top 100 global brands in several different categories. Before we actually take a look at who’s on top (focusing on the top 20—you can check the rest for yourself at http://ow.ly/1Obcu), let’s consider what benchmarks and measurements are used to determine the winners.

According to the company, “The Interbrand method for valuing brands…examines [them] through the lens of financial strength, the importance of the brand in driving consumer selection, and the likelihood of ongoing revenue generated by the brand.”

Here are the specific criteria:
1. There must be substantial, publicly-available financial data.
2. One-third of the brand’s revenues must come from outside its country of origin.
3. The brand must be positioned to play a significant role in the consumers’ purchase decision.
4. The Economic Value Added (EVA) must be positive, showing that there is revenue above the company’s operating and financing costs.
5. The brand must have a broad public profile and awareness.

In the words of Patrizio di Marco, CEO of Gucci (whose brand ranks at #41), “The most successful and enduring brands are those built over the long term, where a consistent and cohesive set of values is established in the minds of your customers. From that moment onwards you should never compromise on these values for short-term gain.”

While the financial data is certainly significant in determining the top brands, the other side suggests less tangible criteria are equally important. Those who study such things indicate that one of the primary keys to becoming and remaining a top brand is relevance, and the underlying basis of relevance is authenticity and meaningfulness.

An article by Joe Cecere, Vice President and Creative Director, Little & Company, http://www.littleco.com/pdf/PERSPECTIVES_Brandrelevance.pdf offers the insight that the brands that endure, the brands that consistently rise to the top year after year, do so by understanding trends, recognizing shifts in the marketplace and taking actions to defend their brand within the volatile environment of global change.

So we have to ask the question—the same one BrandSmart 2010 poses: In a world that’s constantly changing, how do you maintain brand relevance? According to Cecere, the answer is found in one word: adaptation.

“Adaptability can take many forms. These brands have not only remained relevant, but have thrived because of their ability to meet changing consumer needs, new competitive challenges, even shifting internal trends.

“Change is a key ingredient in brand longevity. If brand watching teaches us anything, it’s that if you want to remain relevant, you can never stand still, no matter how established your laurels.” This goes back to di Marco’s position of building a brand “over the long term with a consistent and cohesive set of values.” Yet the established brand must be flexible, adaptable and responsive in order to remain relevant.

The effect of all this volatility and change results in a loss of customer trust overall. And as customers trust less, stable brands matter more. A successful brand needs to stand for something that actually matters. (http://www.klminc.com/branding/brand-relevance.html)
Brands must build a “foundation of messaging that is flexible, adaptable and nimble to take best advantage of emerging opportunities, while mitigating unforeseen obstacles. As the business world continues to shift beneath your feet, a message platform (and the story that guides it) can be the roadmap for remaining relevant to every stakeholder in every situation.” http://briancreath.wordpress.com/category/brand-relevance/

So which brands have successfully created that foundation of messaging to survive, thrive and flourish as relevant and meaningful from both a financial and qualitative standpoint? Here are the top 20 brands for 2009 (2008 rank in parentheses) identified by both Interbrand and Business Week http://ow.ly/1ObiR

1. Coca-Cola (1)
2. IBM (2)
3. Microsoft (3)
4. GE (4)
5. Nokia (5)
6. McDonald’s (8)
7. Google (10)
8. Toyota (6)
9. Intel (7)
10. Disney (9)
11. Hewlett-Packard (12)
12. Mercedes-Benz (11)
13. Gillette (14)
14. Cisco (17)
15. BMW (13)*
16. Louis Vuitton (16)
17. Marlboro (18)
18. Honda (20)
19. Samsung (21)*
20. Apple (24)
*American Express fell from 15 in 2008 to 22 in 2009; Citi had been ranked 19 in 2008, 36 in 2009.

After you check out the rankings at these sites, let us know if you agree or question the validity of the rankings. Did your brand make the cut? Should another brand have been named to the top 10 or 20 leading global brands? What factors do you believe are most important in determining a successful global brand, and does success equal relevance? Share your thoughts here and take a stand for your brand.

What Makes a Top Brand?: I want people to buy my toilet

2010-05-17T17:00:00.000-05:00

“I’d buy a toilet if they made it,” said a man waiting in line outside of an Apple Store recently waiting to purchase his new iPad.

Apple has a strong brand mindshare. We know it because of comments like these and because we can measure the lines outside of their stores during a new product launch. It’s not always so clear for the rest of us.

“What makes a top brand?” Type that phrase into Google and just over 88 million results are returned. It’s a common question for consumers and marketers alike. So before that question is discussed, let’s take a step back and ask – what are the standard metrics to assess brand mindshare?

Measuring brand mindshare, or popularity, is critical for brand marketers because we want to know if our products are part of the evoked set, otherwise known as the “short list,” of products being considered. It is one of a brand marketer’s main objectives.

There seems to be no definitive list of metrics currently used to assess mindshare. That said, we offer the list of metrics below to consider when assessing brands. This list is a compilation distilled from industry experts and authors with additional resources for further insight.

Web site and Web search traffic: How frequently is your brand being searched for on sites like Google and Bing? Is your Web traffic working for you?(Check out: Working Toward the Solutions for Online Brand Measurement)(Check out: How to Measure Online Brand Popularity)

Social media: How active are participants in your social media communities and networks?(Check out: 5 Ways to Track Your Brand/Website on Twitter)(Check out: 10 Social Media Benchmarks, What are Your Plans for 2010?)
Focus groups and surveys: Is your brand one of the top products that come to mind when participants are asked to name brands in your category?(Check out: It All Begins with Mind Share)
Stock value and other financial indicators: What is the market saying about your brand? What is your balance sheet saying about your brand?(Check out: It’s Time to Put Brand Value on the Balance Sheet)

Applying these measurement tools consistently can help keep your brand strong and healthy. For example, assessing mindshare and taking appropriate action may have helped California Pizza Kitchen. Or, it can assist you track recovery following a “brand disaster” (e.g., BP, Tiger Woods, Toyota).

We’d like you to share your thoughts and suggestions. Do you agree with this list? What metrics do you use to determine if your brand is tops?

Brands 201: What is in a name?

2010-05-14T09:19:00.000-05:00

Name recognition may help define the success of a brand, but it certainly requires more than just the name. Think for a moment about the top ten brands that quickly come to mind. What do they have in common? Are their names short, concise and easy to say? What scope of appeal do they have? What, if any, emotions do they evoke? How do they differ? How does your brand compare?

While a brand’s name may be important, it’s not all about the name. There are many different types and styles for brand names, varying from acronyms, founder’s names, descriptors,etc. A rulebook for how to best determine a name for brand does not exist. In fact, a brand can be built up from nothing to something when coupled with right marketing, advertising, public relations and outreach. The name, in many cases, is just the starting point.

So what is in a name? Here are traits and examples to consider:

Creativity. A brand’s name does not always have to utilize a traditional meaning or be a real word. Take for example the story behind Kodak and the creation of its name. When making a decision about how to name his company, George Eastman made up the name – Kodak. His rational being that the letter “K” had always been one of his favorite letters, because as he said “it seems a strong, incisive sort of letter.” Who would have guessed that this name would later be so widely used and recognized? Sometimes all it takes to begin building a brand is a little imagination.

Relevance. While you cannot predict the future when naming your brand, being aware of the reactions and hidden meanings that may influence your consumers is key. What brand of cookie would you prefer to eat – Hydrox or Oreo? It is hard to believe that Oreos are the generic brand, created a couple years after the Hydrox cookie. Many have noted the name Hydrox sounded more like a cleaning agent than something edible. If naming a cookie based off the periodic table elements hydrogen and oxygen may have seemed like a good idea at the time, but it definitely did not prove to be a sweet deal for Hydrox. These cookies are no longer being made.

Recognition. Some brands are so well known in the market that their name alone defines the market segment. These brands are known as proprietary eponyms / genericized trademark and typically dominate the market. These brand names are their own vehicles for word-of-mouth marketing. Such brands include, but are not limited to: Band-aid, Kleenex, Scotch tape, Xerox and Post-It.

What brand names would you consider successful? What brands have failed to launch because of their name? Let’s discuss.

Brands 101: From Recognition to Relevance

2010-05-11T17:11:00.001-05:00

Brands 101: From Recognition to Relevance

What makes a brand relevant? Let’s agree that relevance applies equally to a specific thing, service or information. A basic definition describes relevance as how “pertinent, connected, or applicable something is, if it serves as a means to a given purpose.” (Wikipedia)

Everyone talks about the “new” rules of marketing, branding and PR, but not everyone understands what exactly has shifted and changed from those tried-and-true practices http://bit.ly/1FbWC7. Companies are seeking ways to connect with their audience that converts customers from being brand loyalists—based on recognition and awareness—to brand evangelists, who are really committed to a given product or service.

Some marketing professionals talk about moving beyond establishing a brand or service mark to creating “lovemarks” http://www.lovemarks.com. Do people love your brand? Will they stay faithful to it in spite of price increases, negative publicity, competing brands or other adverse effects?

The media has cast the harsh light of criticism and publicity onto the failings of such trusted and revered brands as Toyota http://bit.ly/9HEPZg and Nike http://bit.ly/bgjkZD. Both have suffered from a loss of status and a fall from grace; their positions in the marketplace have been dealt a blow due to mechanical problems or relationship breakdowns. Can we still embrace the auto manufacturer whose mantra of quality over many years has been exposed as overlooking manufacturing processes in favor of bottom-line performance? Can we feel the same way about our Nikes knowing that its primary spokesperson—who embodied the “Just Do It” approach—just did it too often?

Consumers crave a connection with a brand that transcends utility. We seek the personification of our own values among the plethora of brands that flood store shelves and vie for our attention. How do you create a brand that is so memorable, so entrenched in the public consciousness, so well-loved and embraced that it becomes the first and only choice among a crowded field of contenders?

The challenge facing brands today is to rediscover their relevance through insight, innovation, investment, and other revealing techniques. Companies are expected to make something that matters and treat customers with respect. In a values-driven environment, a company’s or product’s personal brand story needs to gain relevance, thereby finding its place in the hearts and minds of its audience. Marketing practices, therefore, must focus more on rewarding consumers first and giving them an opportunity to make an impact on the product’s design, application and usage. It’s a conversation in which marketers must find ways to engage their audiences to participate if they are to remain relevant.