Brand Messaging: Do You Talk To Your Real Customer?

30 Second Sales Seminar

Did you see the 30 second sales seminar on reaching the real decision maker during the Christmas shopping season?

Insights for the Complex Sale

The lesson came in the Rad Mom TV spot pitching the Nintendo Wii.   The commercial provides valuable insights for any company that needs to impress a group of people in the sales cycle, whether you’re flogging video games or a multi-million dollar software installation to a major corporation.

A Contrarian Work of Genius

The commercial is a contrarian work of genius.  It steers clear of the standard, predictable script used in most video game commercials.  The usual approach is to focus on users and fuel adolescent males’ rabid cravings for super hero combat and napalm explosions.

These flashy, but run of the mill commercials (like this promo for the Xbox Crackdown 2 game) do a good job of getting kids excited, but by no means win the sale.  Frequently they set the stage for ill-fated lobbying efforts and family conflict.

Here’s the scenario they create: excited teens with fire in their eyes and testosterone pumping through their bloodstream put the latest video game at the top of their gift list.  They expect their parents to become infected with their enthusiasm.  But it doesn’t spread.

The Real Customer

Instead they run into the objections of Mom, who barring an intervention by Santa, determines what presents make it under the tree.  Mom is very powerful.  She makes more than 80 percent of household buying decisions.  As the holder of the purse strings, she is the video game makers’ real customer.

Tough Objections

But asking a Mom to buy a video game is an uphill battle.  A lot of Moms, maybe even most Moms don’t think highly of video games.  Do any of these complaints sound familiar?

Video games promote violence.  They turn teenagers into zombies.  Kids lose all track of time, playing them for hours on end.  Homework gets neglected.  Grades suffer.  Kids emerge from a gaming binge showing aggressive, anti-social conduct.  Video games foster addictive behavior and erode our family dynamic.

These are tough objections.  Most video game makers don’t equip their users to refute the real decision maker’s arguments.  All they can do is hope that the teens have the necessary dogged determination, debating prowess and whining skills to wear their parents down.

Doing the Unthinkable

The Wii commercial removes the need for this family strife by doing the unthinkable.  It makes Mom the star of a video game ad.  It proactively answers each of the motherly objections, using Rad Mom as the spokesperson.

The Real Customer Becomes the Star

The spot opens with the very attractive, genteel Rad Mom having a coffee conversation with the camera in her spacious, nicely decorated kitchen.  She is surrounded by a poinsettia, a nutcracker figurine, a Father Christmas doll and an advent wreath.  Dressed in a cozy-looking snowflake ski sweater she diffuses the poor family dynamic objection by proclaiming “Family time is Wii time in our house.”

The commercial then cuts to the living room, where Mom, Dad and two young teenagers are on the couch engaged in head-to-head Wii competition.  Rad Mom is having fun.  She is good at Wii.  First she triumphs over her daughter in a quiz show bomb game.  Next she smashes her husband to oblivion in ping pong.  Finally Rad Mom gallops over her son in a horserace.

A Jubilant Cry of Conquest

With each victory, the mild mannered coffee conversationalist breaks from her refined demeanour into a jubilant cry of conquest.  She stops just shy of spiking the Wii control into the carpet and trash talking her competitors.

Why all the excitement?  Because in the Rad Mom’s house, Wii is a high stakes game.  The model family isn’t playing for money, but for something far more valuable in Mom currency – chore assignments.  Winners get free time.  Losers do extra work.

Transforming the Product’s Essence

With her Wii success, the Rad Mom got her daughter to do the dishes, her husband to make dinner and her son to put the laundry away.  The commercial transforms the essence of what a video game is in the eyes of Mom.  Wii is not the enemy of family values, it is the platform of honour for Mom, the real hero of the family.

What could be better for a Mom than to emerge from her underappreciated support role and delegate a few household tasks?  It just doesn’t get any better than this.

“Everyone’s a Winner, Especially Me”

In her final appearance, Rad Mom is back in the kitchen, observing that with Wii “At the end of the day, everyone’s a winner, especially me.”

The commercial then closes with special holiday pricing details on Wii systems.

Great Entertainment & Great Example

The Rad Mom commercial is great entertainment and a great example for companies that need to appeal to different levels and roles in a large corporation to make a sale.

Many of the B2B companies I’ve encountered follow the Xbox Crackdown 2 advertising approach.  They focus their brand persona and messaging on the user.  They excel at talking techie to techie, but the message isn’t meaningful to the real and often hidden customer in control of the budget.

Stymied Sales Efforts

Solid proposals enthusiastically supported by users get rejected in the corner office because they don’t address the right issues.  The executives don’t get excited about the product features and buzzwords that wow users.  “Innovative, next generation, cutting edge solutions” are as appealing to the CEO as rocket powered gas canisters are to Mom.

The sales efforts of user-focused brands often falter at the upper rungs of the corporate ladder.  Have you ever had a sure-fire pitch shot down by a nameless V.P.?

Talk to Your Real Customer

The solution is to follow the Wii example.  Give attention to “the Mom,” who has the ultimate power to say yes or no.  Craft your value proposition in terms that are meaningful and hopefully irresistible to the holder of the purse strings.

Talk to your real customer.  Make your real customer the star.

Personal Branding: What Can You Learn from the Brand of the Year?

Happy New Year!  Welcome to 2011.

What’s ahead for your brand this year?  As you plan your 2011 marketing efforts, consider some valuable lessons modeled by 2010’s Brand of the Year.

• Accelerate your sales cycle with a powerful introduction
• Convey style AND substance online
• Unleash the power of story

International Media Attention

The 2010 Brand of the Year is a story of surprising success.  Over the course of a just few weeks it climbed from obscurity to national and international prominence, attracting coverage on every Canadian TV network, plus CNN and the BBC.

40% Market Share

In a crowded market with 15 competitors, the Brand of the Year claimed 40% market share.  The Brand of the Year triumphed over established and much better known competitors in a realm where conventional wisdom states “name recognition is everything.”

The Brand of the Year had a much smaller marketing budget than its major rivals.  It captured loyal followers based on the strength of ideas.

The 2010 Brand of the Year is a person, a previously unknown university professor, Naheed Nenshi, now the mayor of Calgary.

An Amazing Accomplishment

Naheed Nenshi’s ascent from nowhere to the mayor’s chair is an amazing accomplishment.  Going into the race his only political experience was as a fourth place aldermanic candidate in 2004.  He is now the first member of a visible minority to hold the top elected position in a city with an old west, conservative reputation.

In the mayoralty election he beat a popular TV news anchor, a corporate executive and six candidates with City Council experience, including Alderman Ric McIver, a fiscal hawk who was endorsed by the city’s largest and most influential newspaper.

From Unknown to Mayor in Six Weeks

Six weeks before the election, Naheed Nenshi was an unknown with a name that wasn’t recognized by spell check or by the vast majority of Calgary voters.

When I first saw the name in a newspaper headline, I wondered if Naheed Nenshi was the 2010 version of Alnoor Kassam.  In the 2007 mayoralty campaign Kassam, a businessman from Kenya, poured $1.5 million of his own money into an unsuccessful attempt to unseat Dave Bronconnier.

Despite enormous odds, Nenshi emerged triumphant, due in large part to his ability to create and portray a professional and credible personal brand.

Three Powerful Lessons

Nenshi’s campaign triumph offers three insightful lessons for every personal and corporate brand: mastering the introduction, balancing style and substance online, and capitalizing on the power of story.

A Masterful Introduction

My formal introduction to Naheed Nenshi as a candidate came after a business meeting on the University of Calgary campus.  It was mayoralty forum day so all of the major candidates had displays set up in the student centre.

Sensing a personal branding market research opportunity, I chatted with volunteers of several candidates.  At the Nenshi table I told a volunteer that I had heard about her candidate, but didn’t really know much about him.  She responded with a natural sounding, brilliantly scripted introduction.

The Brilliant Opening

“Naheed was born in Toronto, but grew up here in Calgary.  His family moved here when he was very young.  He was educated here at the University of Calgary where he was Student Union President.  Then he went to Harvard for a Master’s degree in Public Policy, where he was a Kennedy Fellow.  After he graduated he went to work for McKinsey.  While he was on an assignment at the United Nations, his father suffered a stroke.  To help care for his father, he soon returned to Calgary.  He is now a professor in the city at Mount Royal University.”

Leveraging Respected Brands

It was an outstanding introduction.  In less than a minute the script diffused objections, presented positive attributes and leveraged the reputation of respected brands – Harvard, President John F. Kennedy, the U.N. and McKinsey & Company, a top tier, big money consulting firm with a reputation of hiring only the brightest minds from the best schools.

The script established that Nenshi is not a foreigner or an Alnoor Kassam.  He’s a Calgarian, he’s one of us.  He has a long history of contributing and being involved.  He is very bright.  He has the capability to play in the big leagues.  He is dedicated to his family and willing to put family interests ahead of his own career aspirations.

Creating the Desire to Learn More

The introduction elevated Nenshi into a new category – from unknown with a strange name to credible candidate.  The intro script, repeated countless times on door steps and in chance encounters throughout the campaign, set the stage for further discussion.

Every brand needs a powerful opening.  Do you have an introduction that stirs interest for customers to learn more?

Balancing Style & Substance Online

The second branding lesson from Nenshi’s campaign is the skilful balance of style and substance online.

In the online marketing world every brand needs to cater to a customer’s appetite for details and craving for an entertaining presentation.

Depth of Details

In substance, Nenshi had home field advantage.  As a highly articulate professor, and the lead author of a book on the future of Canadian cities, Nenshi had a large volume of clearly reasoned ideas to present.  During the campaign he frequently pointed out that his website had the most detailed platform covering a wide range of issues.

Nenshi was the leader in substance.

An Approachable Style

But substance is only half the battle.  Good ideas poorly presented never get the attention they deserve.  Nenshi’s ideas took the spotlight because of his presentation skills and his skilful use of online video.

Skillful Use of Online Video

The featured videos on his campaign website (nenshi.ca) gave Nenshi major points on style.  The lead video, recorded on the steps of City Hall during the summer, set the tone.

Outlining Nenshi’s main platform, the opening video was positive and approachable.  It positioned Nenshi as solid, reasonable, strong and most importantly, likeable.  He focused on constructive campaign themes while still including enough edginess to make the case for change and differentiate himself from other hopefuls.

The video was a professional production, but it did not come across as overly slick.

Conversational Delivery

Nenshi’s delivery was conversational not authoritative.  His verbal tone provided a sharp contrast to the speaking style of his main rivals, Ric McIver and TV anchor Barb Higgins.

During the campaign, opposing candidates frequently questioned how 20 years of reading TV news qualified Higgins for the mayor’s chair.  Perhaps to reinforce her credibility, she rolled out her polished, authoritative newscaster speaking style.  This verbal cadence with predictable downward inflections, is very effective in the broadcast realm of traditional media, but is a major turn off in the YouTube era.

The Language of We

Nenshi understood this.  He didn’t speak from on high.  His tone was inclusive.  He used the language of we rather than I.  His video was more of an invitation to participate, than a proclamation from someone with all the answers.

How Do You Say Naheed?

Nenshi also used video to overcome the strange name obstacle and to demonstrate he doesn’t take himself too seriously.  The third of the featured videos on the website is a fun exploration of the topic: “How do you say Naheed?”  It stars more than a half dozen citizens representing various ethnic groups, all with exaggerated facial expressions and differing opinions on how to say the candidate’s name.  It is peppered with appearances by Nenshi himself gently correcting mispronunciations and adding moments of levity.

Like the Nenshi introduction and other videos, it is both strategic and brilliantly scripted.  By repeating Naheed Nenshi over and over again, the video builds familiarity with an unusual name.  At the end of the three and a half minutes, the name doesn’t feel quite so peculiar.  The video also includes a variety of faces suggesting widespread support.

A Page From Obama’s Playbook

How do you say Naheed? was likely inspired by the opening video on the obama.com website when another candidate with an odd name was seeking political office in 2008.  And for the record, the correct pronunciation of his first name is NAH-hehd.  The second syllable has a short “E” sound and rhymes with red rather than reed.

The Power of Story

The final branding lesson from the Nenshi campaign is the power of story.

According to Nenshi’s website, his campaign organizers were surprised by the number of questions about his family background.  Rather than just post a webpage that stated the facts – Nenshi is single, was born in Toronto and raised in Calgary – the campaign launched a new video that harnessed the power of story.

Naheed Nenshi: A Family Journey stars the candidate’s older sister, Shaheen Nenshi Nathoo, a mother of two young daughters.

The Classic Immigrant’s Story

It is a personalized portrayal of the classic immigrant’s story – a young couple, desiring a better life for their children, takes the courageous step of leaving their home country of Tanzania and moves halfway around the world.  Faced with significant challenges, they work hard to make ends meet and give their children the support they need to succeed.

Personal, Conversational & Heart-Warming

The Family Journey video is personal, conversational and heart-warming.  Filled with pictures from the Nenshi photo album and shots of Naheed interacting with his two young nieces, the video does far more than just present the facts.  It gives the viewer the opportunity to get to know the candidate as a person through the eyes of a proud and appreciative family member.

The video provides some inside information that would never make it onto a fact sheet.  When Naheed was with McKinsey in New York, he tired of having a cramped apartment with only ketchup in the fridge.  He paid off his student loans.  He serves as baby sitter and chauffeur to his nieces.  Naheed’s parents live half time with him and half time with his sister.

Family Values & Dr. Seuss

The video capitalizes on a story’s ability to create rapport, hold attention and engage emotions.  It models family values, an appreciative spirit, respect for parents and community service.  It closes with Nenshi reading Dr. Seuss’ Cat in the Hat to his young niece.  How can you not like a university professor candidate who takes time to read Dr. Seuss?

The Family Journey video was designed to build an emotional connection between voters and the candidate.  After viewing the video, voters ended up liking Nenshi as a person.

An Example Worth Emulating

The Nenshi campaign did a phenomenal job of building and presenting a credible and appealing personal brand.  It is an example worth emulating whether you’re trying to sell widgets or ideas.

Implement these ideas from 2010’s Brand of the Year for your 2011 success.  Happy New Year!

Is It Possible to Go from Dirt Cheap to Dirt Expensive?

From Commodity to Brand

Branding insights can happen just about anywhere – even in the next door neighbor’s driveway.  That’s exactly where I encountered a commodity product that has been transformed into a brand – in my next door neighbor’s driveway.

Avid Gardeners

My neighbors Bob & Sharon are avid gardeners.  In the spring they go to every nursery and garden center in our area in search of the best plants.  They spend a lot of time tending to their flowers and shrubs.  The results are outstanding.  In the summer months their yard explodes into a kaleidoscope of color.

Recently Bob told me about his plan to add some extra soil to his flower beds.  The delivery was scheduled for the next day.

Delivering the Order

I expected to see a dump truck arrive and unload a big pile of dirt on Bob’s driveway.  But that didn’t happen.  The next morning, instead of dump truck, a huge semi with two trailers and a fork lift came rolling down the street.  It was loaded with dozens of big yellow bags filled with “Alberta Gold” top soil.

Bob hadn’t ordered a dump of dirt.  He ordered a nice, neat, branded container of top soil.

The packaging is the essential point in this story.  The big yellow bag transformed a commodity into a brand – and not just because it provided space for graphics.

The yellow bag is a brand maker because it enhances the customer’s entire experience with the product.

Dump of Dirt Dilemmas

Gardeners who order a dump of dirt are at the mercy of the weather.  If the dirt arrives on a windy day, it blows into the adjacent yard and riles up the neighbors.  If rain is in the forecast customers have to do their yard work as soon as the truck arrives, or risk having the dirt wash away into the storm sewer.

A Better Customer Experience

The big yellow bag is a game changer.  It protects the soil from wind and rain.  It allows gardeners to do their yard work when the sun shines and in little bits at a time.  There is also no mess to clean up afterwards.  With the yellow bag there is no unsightly dirt footprint left on the driveway or lawn.

The Brand Price Premium

The packaging provides huge advantages over the traditional dump truck approach to home dirt delivery.  And because the soil is now a brand, it is also more expensive.

The going rate for a cubic yard of dirt dumped on the driveway is about $100.  The same cubic yard of dirt delivered in the big yellow bag costs 50% more.  This price premium is definitive proof that the yellow bag has achieved true brand status.  Yellow bag soil is not dirt cheap.

What About Your Company?

What can your company learn from the big yellow bag?

The biggest lesson is to focus on your customer’s experience.  What bothers customers about your product or service?  What would make their experience better?  In the case of the dirt, the problem wasn’t the product itself, but the weather.  Finding a way to protect the soil from the wind and rain made all the difference.

If you can make problems go away, or add extra benefits, you could have the basis for a brand.

Packaging as a Competitive Advantage

The next lesson is a bit more specific - pay attention to packaging.  There is no difference in the actual product whether it is delivered by dump truck or in a big yellow bag.  The source of competitive advantage is in the packaging.  The yellow bag doesn’t just make the product look better, it makes it more functional.

Hope for Commodity Sellers

The final lesson should be an inspiration for every company, no matter what you’re selling.  Is there anything that is more of a commodity than dirt?  And yet the big yellow bag people elevated dirt into a brand.

If you can brand dirt, you can brand anything.

What’s Your Most Important Marketing Decision?

There are a myriad of decisions that must be made in bringing a company or product to market.  Out of all the vital issues, one decision stands above all others as the most important.  The decision of what to name your company, product or service.  What makes the name so important?

Crucial First Impressions

The name is the first piece of information customers encounter in the sales cycle.  It plays a crucial role in forming first impressions.

In our communication overloaded age, customers don’t wait until the end of a formal sales presentation to begin forming opinions.  From the point of first contact customers start making judgements:

Is this product interesting?  Is it appealing?  Is it worth buying?  Is it worth a premium price?  Is it worth the time of day?

Names that make a great first impression open the customer’s mind to the products they represent.  They earn a place on the customer’s radar screen and create momentum for your sales efforts.

But if the name fails to communicate a pertinent message, the name and the product are swiftly cast aside as irrelevant.

Names Form Thought Patterns

When christening a product or service, you have the opportunity to plant ideas and images that command attention, pique curiosity, build emotional rapport or claim a strategic advantage over competitors.

Some Good Examples

In six short letters, Acura conveys a message of accuracy and exacting standards – excellent qualities for a luxury automobile.

Ben & Jerry’s uses personality-rich names to promote calorie-rich ice cream.  Imaginative names like Chunky Monkey, Chubby Hubby, Neapolitan Dynamite and Jamaican Me Crazy surround the high end frozen treats with a spirit of pure fun.

Spark Buying Demand

Names can also spark buying demand and accelerate the sales cycle.  Hertz entices customers to buy its GPS upgrade option with the name NeverLost.  In just three syllables, the name offers a solution to the common fear of straying into a rough neighbourhood in a strange city.  NeverLost is far more effective in the up-sell process than the accurate but boring title of GPS Mapping System.

Choose A Name Worth Repeating A Few Million Times

The name is not only the message customers encounter first, it is the message they encounter most.

The name is present every time a customer sees the product, uses the product or talks about the product.  The name is at the core of every sales pitch, webpage, video, blog post, social media page, brochure, email campaign and public relations initiative used to promote the product for years and often decades.  Over the life of the product, the name will be repeated millions of times.

An engaging name presented a million times will yield substantially better sales results than a bland name repeated a million times.

Not Just for Consumer Giants

Huge consumer goods companies have leveraged the power of naming to earn billions.  But you don’t have to be a giant corporation selling to the mass market to reap the rewards of effective naming.  Naming offers tremendous benefits for business-to-business enterprises and even start-ups.

The story of one of my clients is a great example.  A seasoned CFO contracted Identicor to name his new business – a boutique consulting firm that advises corporations on mergers, acquisitions, and other complex financial transactions.  The client needed a name that would portray his start-up company as a credible entity when competing head to head for business against international accounting firms.

A thorough, professional name development process led to the name Corplan Advisors – with Corplan being an abbreviation for corporate planning.

This concise, direct, confident-sounding name positioned the new consulting firm as a solid, trustworthy organization from its first day of operations.  The Corplan name has been very well received with clients in the target market and continues to play an important role in the firm’s growing reputation.

Not Just Any Name Will Do

Naming offers an impressive array of benefits.  But capitalizing on the possibilities is by no means automatic.  The results you’ll realize depend on the quality of the name you choose.  Not just any name will do.

If you select a name with a compelling message and engaging imagery, then every time the name appears, you’ll create a sales opportunity.

But on the other hand, if you select a name that conveys a non-message or the wrong message then every promotional piece you create will have to compensate for a missed opportunity or waste energy correcting the naming deficiency.

Naming is your most important marketing decision.

Company Naming: Advice for 1-800-Flowers

A Naming Critique on Network TV

Did you see the scathing name critique on network television?

The president of the world’s largest flower and gift chain had to silently endure mini lectures from front line staff as they pointed out some serious deficiencies with the company name.

The staff members see some big problems with 1-800-Flowers.com, the company’s official title since it went public in 1999.

Undercover Boss

The dressing down came on the season finale of Undercover Boss, the new series CBS that premiered on the heels of this year’s Super Bowl broadcast.  In the show, a top executive leaves the corner office to pose as an entry level trainee to learn what’s really going on in the trenches of the business.

The star of the 1-800-Flowers episode was President Chris McCann, who is also the brother of the company’s founder and TV pitchman Jim McCann.

The Name Is “Outdated”

The first name critique came as Chris, in a bearded and bespectacled disguise, was learning how to make a pleasing arrangement of yellow lilies in a mug.  His tutor told him the name was “outdated.”  The remark prompted a pained expression.  I can imagine what went through his mind.

“Outdated?  How can you say the name is outdated?  The name has been crucial to our success.  It has been instrumental in consolidating the flower industry and making people comfortable to buy over the phone and the Internet.”

Although Chris might have been thinking this, he had to remain silent so not to blow his cover.

A More Scathing Assessment

A far more cutting name assessment came a few days later when Chris was assigned to a storefront location in an upscale Boston suburb.  Although the shop had been open for about a year, customer traffic was low.  The inquisitive trainee asked if the store was always so quiet.

Sending the Wrong Message

The store manager lamented it is very difficult to get people to realize that 1-800-Flowers is an actual flower shop and not just a telephone ordering service.  She said that people see the name on the side of the building and think the store is a call center.

She also divulged that the name sounds cheap and repulsive to the well-heeled clientele who live in the area.

“I wish you would change your name”

“I had a woman come in here one day and tell me ‘I wish you would change your name because I can’t buy anything here.  I really love your stuff, but I can’t send something out to my friends that says 1-800-Flowers.’”

Ouch!  That remark must have really hurt.  But it was right on the mark.  The frontline comments illustrate an important naming principle.

Names Set Expectations

Names set customer expectations.  When customers see a name they form opinions about the business’s scope of operations and the level of quality it provides.  Once those expectations are established, customers are reluctant and unlikely to accept ideas that are inconsistent with the name message they see over and over again.

Good for Online Orders, Bad for Retail

1-800-Flowers.com is a great name for customers looking for a convenient way to order flowers.  But it is an ineffective retail store name.

1-800-Flowers doesn’t beckon mall visitors to come buy bodacious blossoms.  The name tells shoppers to go home and use the phone or go online.  The name also positions the company as a mid-market merchandiser not a high end boutique.

What Should 1-800-Flowers Do?

So should the company just change its name as the ritzy customer wished for?  Absolutely not.

The name is essential to the company’s success.  1-800-Flowers is extremely well known, easy to remember and responsible for a big percentage of the company’s $700+ million in annual revenue.

When someone gets a notion to order flowers over the phone or online, what’s the most likely company to come to mind?  1-800-Flowers.  That’s too valuable an advantage to surrender.

Time To Create a New Brand

It’s time for the company to segment its business.  It should stick with 1-800-Flowers for phone and online orders and create a new upmarket brand for its retail locations.

1-800-Flowers should follow the lead of the Japanese car manufacturers.  Back in the mid 1980s Toyota, Nissan and Honda rightly realized that their aspirations to serve the top end of the automotive food chain could not be achieved under their existing nameplates.  Wisely they developed entirely new brands and gave them their own locations.  The Lexus, Inifiniti and Acura names convey the aura of prestige that luxury car buyers desire.

Down Is Possible, Up Is Not

High end brands can successfully scale down to appeal to the mid market.  But lower end brands can’t scale up.

Mid market clientele are happy to stay in a Courtyard by Marriott or a Hilton Garden Inn.  But even if Walmart brought in ultra high quality merchandise, it would never win the allegiance of Neiman Marcus customers.

1-800-Flowers makes a great product.  The wealthy shopper loved the bouquets.  But nice flowers are not enough.  The company needs to add an extra element to what it sells in the retail environment.  The retail shops, especially those in chic surroundings, need a name with status and cachet.

1-800-Flowers already owns the mid market.  A new luxury brand will help it serve the top end.  The right name will drive traffic and sales in posh locales.  Adding a glamorous new brand to its portfolio will also increase the value of the company.

The TV Epilogue

At the end of the show, the various employees who worked with the undercover boss were summoned to corporate headquarters to learn the trainee actually runs the company.  The most surprised employee was the florist who earlier told the cameras she didn’t think Chris had what it took to make it in the flower business.

In one-on-one sessions in his office Chris told each worker how much he appreciated her efforts and about the steps he was taking to enact her improvement suggestions.

He arranged for an aspiring floral stylist to design a new spring product line.  He introduced an incentive plan for employees who exceed production targets.  He instructed the corporate marketing department to bolster promotional efforts for the suburban Boston store.

Pledge of Personal Support

The most moving conversation was with the diligent 19 year old assistant manager who was working to support his widowed mother and siblings.  He told the young man he had great potential and just might become the company’s youngest ever franchisee.  Chris also pledged $25 thousand of his personal money to help the budding florist with set up costs.

To his credit Chris acted swiftly to fix the problems he could handle right away.  The one issue he didn’t mention was the name problem.  And rightly so.  Naming is too important a matter to make a snap decision under the glare of TV lights.  It’s best to take some time to think and call for outside assistance.

I’m Ready to Help

So Chris, if you’re reading this, I would be pleased to help guide you through the naming issues you’re facing.  I will welcome your call.  My number is 403.685.2100.  I look forward to seeing 1-800-Flowers on my call display.

(If you’re not Chris McCann and you need naming help, I will welcome your call too ;-)

Business Card or Branding Card?

Networking Energy

Fall is probably the best season for networking.  Energy and focus are high as we all get back into full business mode after our well earned summer vacations.

High Interest Rates

This fall is no exception.  Bank interest rates may be low, but networking interest rates are high.

So far this fall I’ve met more than a hundred new business contacts.  I expect I’ll do business with some and refer others to people in my network.

I’ve also found the people I meet at events to be highly interested learning about my company’s services.

Do Business Cards Make a Difference?

Why the heightened level of interest?  I haven’t changed Identicor’s service offering or business model, so the credit has to go to my new business cards.  That’s right my business cards.

Can business cards make a difference in stirring a prospect’s interest?  Absolutely.  But only if they voyage beyond the Geneva Convention mentality.

The Prisoner of War Paradigm

Flip through the cards you’ve received lately.  If your stack is like mine, most of them follow the rules of the Geneva Convention.  They do little more than provide prisoner of war information – i.e. name, rank and serial number.  Okay, for business purposes, the serial number is now replaced with phone, website, and email details, but you get the point.  These cards present contact information and maybe a functional description about the company’s products and services.

This is all worthwhile content, but it is not enough to pique curiosity about the benefits a company provides.  Prisoner of war business cards can never position a company as a high value brand.

Engaging the Imagination

In developing the new Identicor cards, I wanted them to do much more than just provide contact facts.  I wanted the new cards to capture attention and engage the imagination.  I wanted the cards to turn the business card exchange into an event that would prompt my new acquaintances to think and ask about how Identicor could help their businesses.

Can a business card really accomplish these goals?  Absolutely.  Identicor’s new cards are living proof.

Now when I present my cards, people stop to think.  They frequently smile and offer positive comments.  They talk about their business needs.  They actually study the cards.  They talk about the cards to other people they meet.  Why?  Because they get to choose.

What Makes My Cards So Special?

My new cards have one front, but seven different backs.  Identicor doesn’t have just a new business card, but a collection of business cards.

Thought-Provoking Questions

The front of the card displays the Identicor logo, service and contact information, and lots of white space.  Each of the seven card backs presents a different thought-provoking question such as:

What are you doing in your customer’s mind?

Where in the world do you want to do business?

How big is your blip (on you ideal customer’s radar)?

Questions beg for answers.  They get people to think and respond.  Have you ever mentally replied to a question in print?  (Maybe you just did J)

The questions get my new acquaintances thinking about Identicor’s services in the context of their business needs, which is the first step in the sales cycle.  The questions are supported by visually commanding photographs.

 

Which Card Do You Want?

Now when a contact asks me for my card, I respond with an unexpected question.  “Sure, which one do you want?”

Intrigued, they want to see their options.  So I show them the cards and state the questions.  Then they have to select the card they like best.  If they can’t narrow it down to a single card, they often ask to take more than one.  If the purpose of printing business cards is to get them into circulation, this is a very good development.

What Do the New Cards Accomplish?

The new business cards make Identicor memorable.  They present the company in a context that is relevant to potential customers.

They demonstrate that Identicor knows how to attract the attention of potential customers, which is what clients hire the firm to do.  They model Identicor’s prowess in crafting captivating language and selecting riveting visuals.

They exemplify key attributes of what Identicor is all about.  On second thought, maybe they’re not business cards after all.  They’re branding cards.

A Branding Card for Your Company

Is your current business card stuck in the Geneva Convention?  Take a look at Identicor’s new cards and consider how you could adapt the concept for your business.  Come up with a series of questions that prompt customers to explore the unique benefits you provide.  If you serve different market segments, come up with a card back that addresses each sector.

Business cards can do so much more for your business than just supply name, title, email, web and phone number information.  Make sure you take full advantage of the card opportunity.

Turn your business cards into branding cards.

And the next time we meet in person, ask me for my card.

2008’s Hottest Brand

This edition of Brandscapes takes me back to the early days of my career when I worked as a radio news reporter.  Back in 1983 and 1984 the news was dominated by the Conservative and Liberal parties both selecting new leaders.

During those years I interviewed candidates, delegates and political pundits.  I pounded out countless stories on a manual typewriter (remember this was the mid 80s) and shared my observations on the air.  At the time I thought I was writing leadership stories.  But in hindsight, they were actually candidate branding stories.

From my perspective as a newsman turned branding consultant, here are my observations on 2008’s hottest brand.

And to U.S. readers of Brandscapes – Happy Thanksgiving!

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The Meteoric Rise of Barrack Obama

2008 will be remembered as the year of the meteoric rise of Barrack Hussein Obama.  Back in January he was a first term U.S. Senator with an impossible dream.  His objective was to defeat frontrunner – and former White House resident – Hillary Clinton to secure the Democratic Party nomination, and then claim the presidency.

At the beginning of the year the candidate with the unusual, unappealing, and for some un-American name was known only to serious political junkies.  Now he is loved by many and known to all.  Following his convincing win over Republican John McCain earlier this month, he will be sworn in as President in mid January.

A Marketing Success Story

Obama’s rapid ascent to the world’s most important elected office is an impressive story of skillful campaigning and great marketing.  No matter what your ideological stripe – whether you see Obama as an inspiring source of hope, or an inexperienced, smooth-talking liberal – you can’t help but admire his branding savvy.

His campaign offers some important insights that can be leveraged by any brand.

The Importance of Being Different

Great brands are distinct.  They stand out from competitors.

On the ballot, Obama was running against McCain.  But the Democrats defined the true competitor as the Republican regime personified by the unpopular incumbent George W. Bush.  They even produced signs declaring “Bush McCain More of the Same.”

The Democrat strategy was for Obama to appear different than Bush.  It was an easy requirement to fulfill.  When you compare Obama with Bush, it is hard to imagine two less similar individuals.

Bush is a conservative.  Obama has the Senate’s most liberal voting record.  Bush is white.  Obama’s skin is black.

Bush was born into a political dynasty.  His grandfather was a Senator.  His father has one of the most impressive resumes imaginable – Congressman, United Nations Ambassador, CIA Director, Vice President and President.

Obama was born in obscurity and came from a broken home.  His father, a man he never really knew, was a foreign student from Kenya studying at the University of Hawaii.

Bush has a folksy and sometimes stilted speaking style.  Obama is a silk tongued orator.  Bush is given a rough ride by the press.  Obama is a media darling.

About the only thing they have in common is Harvard.  Bush has a Harvard MBA.  Obama graduated from the Harvard law school.

A key element of Obama’s success is the un-Bush-like nature of his brand.

How does your brand compare with competitors?  Is it widely different, or much the same?  What can you do to make your brand more distinct?

A Simple Powerful Message

Great brands tell a clear story in a few words.  Obama honed his message down to a single word – Change.  The message resonated with an American public dismayed by the status quo.

In the Democratic primaries voters wanted Obama’s “Change” more than Senator Clinton’s “Experience.”  In the Presidential election McCain presented a variety of messages, including “War Hero” and “Maverick.”  None of McCain’s messages was focused or strong enough to trump Obama’s “Change.”

Simple, powerful, on target messages usually win.

How about your brand?  Do you have a message as potent, focused and relevant as “Change?”

Relevance Is Indispensable

Relevance is indispensable for any brand to gain a devoted following.  Genuine relevance influences what a brand says, how it behaves and where it interacts with customers.

Obama’s relevance started with message, the promise of “Change.”  But it didn’t stop there.  Convinced that Marshall McLuhan was right and “the medium is the message” Obama dove headlong into social networking to reach young Internet savvy voters.

Social Media Strategy

In early 2007, Obama’s campaign recruited Facebook co-founder, 24 year old Chris Hughes, to the position of Online Organizing Guru.  Hughes’ strategy gave Obama a prominent presence on a host of social networking sites including Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Flickr and LinkedIn.  Text messaging was employed to contact hard-to-reach young voters.  Hughes also set up the my.BarackObama.com website which attracted 1.5 million account registrations.

The social media plan first gave Obama youthful relevance.  More importantly for his campaign, it rallied grass root support and drove individuals into groups and into action.  The my.BarackObama.com website fostered the formation of 35,000 community groups, the staging of 150,000 campaign events and a massive election day phone campaign to get out the vote.  It was also instrumental in Obama’s unprecedented fund raising success.

Obama’s social media campaign is a convincing example of the importance of relevance and the power of social networking.  What are you doing in the message you present and the media you employ to make your brand more relevant?

Focusing on Strengths

Every brand has strengths and weaknesses.  The best brands focus on strengths and try to keep weaknesses out of the limelight.

Obama followed this strategy flawlessly.  He is a smooth, charismatic and inspiring speaker when presenting from a prepared speech.  His detractors observe that he is not nearly as impressive in non-scripted situations.  So when the Republicans lobbied to change the format of the campaign debates to town hall meetings – where Obama’s off the cuff weakness would be exposed – Democrat officials dug in their heels.  To keep Obama in his strength zone, it was a change they were not willing to make.

Where does your brand present the best?  What can you do to help customers focus on your strengths?  What are your brand’s weaknesses?  How can you improve those areas?

Leveraging Other Brands

Brands are like teenagers.  They are known by the company they keep.  A sound strategy for up and comers is to leverage the reputation of respected, existing brands.

Obama received valuable support from some heavyweight brands at pivotal times in the campaign.  First it was Oprah endorsing Obama during his primary battles with Hillary Clinton.  Next the liberal godfather of the Democratic Party, Senator Ted Kennedy, weighed in behind Obama.

In the final weeks of the campaign, the first African American to serve as Secretary of State joined the Obama camp.  Republican Colin Powell, who was also Chairman of the Joints Chiefs of Staff during the first Gulf War, threw his public support to Obama over McCain.

Endorsements from these influential brands boosted the value of the Obama brand.

What bigger name brands support your brand?  Retailers can leverage the brands of the products they sell.  Systems integrators can tap into the credibility of respected software companies.  What alliances can you form to boost your brand?

The Real Test

So far Obama has shown great skill in the advertising side of branding.  Less than a month before the election, Advertising Age named Obama its Marketer of the Year for 2008.

Advertising awards are nice.  But the real test of the Obama brand will be how well he performs in office.  Can he live up to expectations?  Great brands make promises and fulfill them.  Will Obama be able to deliver on his?

He takes office during very troubled times.  For the sake of the United States and the world economy, let’s hope Obama’s performance matches his promise.

And for the sake of your company’s future, make sure your performance matches your promise.

The Folly of What & Where Names

The Need for Change

I’m currently advising a couple of future-minded companies on changing their names.  Both of these organizations have outgrown their original monikers and need new titles to be effective long term.

They operate in completely different service areas, but their current titles suffer from a common flaw – an over emphasis on what they do and where they do it.

What & Where names – titles that state what you do and where you do it - are very common.  But putting industry and geographic references into a name give it a very limited shelf life.  In fact one of the companies that needs a new title is less than five years old.

A Naming Approach from Decades Past

What & Where names may have been effective in decades past, but not today.  Instant global exposure through the Internet renders geographic boundaries irrelevant in many sectors.  Technology, industry dynamics and customer expectations change too quickly today for geographic-industry style names to endure for any length of time.

Outgrown Company Names

Companies with What & Where names are invariably destined to outgrow them.  American Telephone & Telegraph outgrew its name.  So did the Radio Corporation of America, Canadian Tire and countless others.

A Visionary Title for 1901

The Royal Bank of Canada is another example.  Introduced as the visionary new title for the Merchants’ Bank of Halifax in 1901, the Royal Bank of Canada name positioned the company as far more substantial, upscale and sophisticated than its more parochial competitors such as the banks of Montreal, Toronto and Nova Scotia.

From Growth Asset to Liability

The Royal Bank of Canada name helped drive the growth of the company, making it the largest bank in the country.  But in the 1990s as the Royal Bank cast its gaze southward to the U.S. in search of additional growth opportunities, the name ran out of gas.  It was no longer a growth asset.  The name became a liability.

Company leaders came to realize there were three problems with the name.  The first was Royal.  The second was Bank.  The third was Canada.

Royal doesn’t play well in the States.  More than 230 years after the fact, Americans are still miffed about taxation without representation and the Red Coat occupation.  Bank comes across as a rather narrow transaction-focused term, especially in today’s market where the Royal Bank and similar organizations are involved in so many financial fields beyond traditional banking.

And when Americans see the word Canada, they think about hooligan hockey players and Arctic cold fronts sweeping down from the Great White North.  There are no connotations of world-class financial institutions linked to the word Canada.

An Abbreviation Retreat

In order to appeal to its primary growth market, the company decided to jettison its century old title.  It became an abbreviated shell of its former self, taking on the name RBC Financial Group.

In Canada the new moniker camouflaged the name’s appealing, historic meaning and required customers to reverse engineer an acronym to realize they were still dealing with the Royal Bank of Canada.

In the U.S. the name went from having a bad meaning to having no meaning at all.  Coming across as just another random collection of letters that collided in a bowl of alphabet soup, the RBC label failed to plant any appealing or relevant message in the minds of customers.

Inviting Confusion

The RBC name also created a new problem, poor differentiation.  It left the company prone to constant confusion with other alphabet soup named entities like RBS (formerly the Royal Bank of Scotland) which is also pursuing a U.S. expansion plan.

When geographic-industry names hit their limitation points, they almost inevitably degrade into a meaningless collection of letters.

Steer Clear of Geographic-Industry Names

Unless you’re planning to play small and stay small in a market segment that is immune from cultural and technological change, avoid What & Where names.

Putting a geographic and industry reference into a name is a guaranteed recipe for future obsolescence.

Beware of What & Where names.