BrandSmart 2010 Shines the Spotlight on Relevant Brands

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. 

The Future of Brands - Certain or Not?

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."

Brands and the Media: The Trust Factor

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

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!

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

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/

Brand Olympics 2009: Where Does Your Brand Stand?

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.