Pro global business

I’ve been harping on Burger King and Quizno’s about their pathetic, gimmicky advertising so I thought I’d show you how it should be done. Volvo seems to stay on their brand identity of “safety” almost all the time. Ask 10 people on the street what Volvo means and you’ll hear “safety” most of the time. Check out these spots and notice how they leverage their branding.

Now these spots aren’t slick, naughty, funny or anything else but on brand. People buy Volvo’s because their safe. I like how they’re tying in the “Luxury of Life” as well. What do you think?

This morning I woke up to news that President Obama has fired GM President Rick Wagoner. Which now means the government is running GM, at least for now. I’ll say it again…The government is running GM.

Sure GM took some bailout money, sold their soul to the devil and are now paying the price. But here’s the part to ponder. Obama and his group gave GM and Chrysler a last chance effort to come back with a plan that would get them out of this mess. A plan? How does a company whip up a marketing/financial plan on the spot when they obviously haven’t had a plan for years?

Was it a big surprise that gas prices went up and their products were gas guzzlers? Was it a big surprise that they built copycat vehicles to compete with Honda and Toyota instead of differentiating themselves?

GM and Chrysler have been clueless for the last 20 years. What’s either of their branding stand for? If Volvo equals safety what does GM and Chrysler stand for? Nothing.

Then factor in the unions. What role did they play in destroying the American car maker? So here’s what you have. A company sucked dry from the unions (Obama supports these guys so it’s not their fault), with no vision or brand identity that’s somehow in trouble? There is only one solution for these brands.

Let them die. Before you know it we’ll see new, exciting brands pop up. They will most likely be niched brands that will differentiate themselves. Maybe we’ll get an automaker that just makes electric cars? Who knows but it’s time to let capitalism shine.

The last thing I want my president doing is acting as a CMO!

I was watching TV today when I saw a commercial for a product called Heat Surge. It’s some kind of electrical heater/fireplace. But here’s the kicker….they’re branding it as Amish built.

Now I’m certainly no Amish expert but isn’t electricity against their code?  Here’s an excerpt from a site as it pertains to technology:

The Amish are averse to any technology which they feel weakens the family structure. The conveniences that the rest of us take for granted such as electricity, television, automobiles, telephones and tractors are considered to be a temptation that could cause vanity, create inequality, or lead the Amish away from their close-knit community and, as such, are not encouraged or accepted in most orders. Most Amish cultivate their fields with horse-drawn machinery, live in houses without electricity, and get around in horse-drawn buggies. It is common for Amish communities to allow the use of telephones, but not in the home. Instead, several Amish families will share a telephone in a wooden shanty between farms.

Read more here

If you’re going to focus your brand built by the Amish and tie it to quality why open the door for questions? And is quality associated with the Amish? Does this brand identity makes sense to you?

Some companies know the importance of building a brand identity. Volvo is and will always be the “safe” car company. They own it. Energizer will own “long lasting” in the battery market forever because of their commitment to their brand identity.

The Energizer Bunny is a branding icon. But for the right reasons. He means that his battery is more powerful than your battery. At least that’s how consumers initially perceive it. What does Duracell mean to you? Do you have to think about it?

Most icons fail because they don’t really mean anything. There has to be a clear, easy message that differentiates you. Energizer is the king of perception when it comes to long lasting. But IS their battery the longest lasting? That’s a story for another day.

Who are you? What do you want to be? How do you get there? Here are 3 proven methods for obtaining brand identity.

1. Dictate it. You have a vision, that vision is to be the “cheesiest pizza” in town (insert your vision here). Be it. Live it. Make it happen each and every time. Add more cheese and use the best tasting cheese. You own cheese damn it!

2. Brainstorm with outside help. Bring in a company like us and brainstorm it out. Come to your best educated guess at what your brand identity is. Then follow #1.

3. Brand Research. Hire a company like us to conduct real brand research within your target markets. Good unbiased research is a great way to tap into your target market. Then follow rule #1.

Sounds simple right? This is where most businesses fail.

And here’s what I mean by that. In my life I exclude people on a daily basis. As I get to know someone I’m quick to know whether or not they are friend/business worthy. As I read other like industry blogs It’s obvious to me whether or not they’re someone I want to communicate with or at. I don’t like grey areas because grey is a loss of focus.

My personal friendships are 100% in. Ask a friend of mine about me and you’ll get a strong, passionate overwhelmingly strong response. Ask someone who doesn’t like me and the response will be as strong and passionate. I like it that way. You always no where you stand. And I’m certainly not trying to “fit” in with anyone. Fitting in is like committing brand suicide. So branding is my life.

Since I started this branding blog I’ve received a ton of great feedback and praise. Mostly people like it because I’m not afraid to challenge the witchcraft others call branding. Some have called me a bully, others have literally called me on the phone and threatened me (p.s. I’m a svelt 220lbs, I’m called the BIG Kahuna for a reason). They passionately despise me…man does that turn me on. The line is drawn.

Then I get feedback like this (I’m keeping this person anonymous):

As a branding guy myself, I love how you preach the gospel about what a brand really is. People just don’t get it. The new one on brand identity is dead-on. I constantly fight that battle if the word brand comes up. I am a HUGE proponent of aligning your internal operations to your brand promise. Just wish more companies understand the importance of that and are willing to pay for it.

I’d love to find ways to work together - outside of your political leanings, I find myself nodding myself constantly when reading your blog. When you guys look to add more kahunas, let me know…

Trust me my friend, when the need arises YOU will be a Kahuna! By the way BEING a Kahuna for BIG is not easy. And I promise we can agree to disagree on politics all day long.

So once again the BIG Kahuna demonstrates how important a brand identity can be. In life and in your profession, your identity is everything.

And as my friend Jonathan Salem Baskin would say, my actions (behavior) propel my brand forward. The BIG Kahuna commands you to buy his book today (click on the book):

I meet with some of the best and brightest CMOs (Chief Marketing Officers) in the business. I also scratch my head far too often. If you’re a CMO and you ask me “what all this branding stuff is” then you have problems. Or if you don’t know what RSS is and how it works. CMOs need to keep abreast of what’s happening as it relates to their profession at all times.

Being a CMO isn’t easy. Your average length of stay at a company is about 18 months. Why? Because either you know your stuff or you don’t. And you’re personally held responsible for your company’s marketing. I don’t expect you to be a branding guru but I do expect you to understand the principles of branding and being smart enough to bring people like me or someone almost as good as me in

I love working with smart, sophisticated CMOs. They get it and see the BIG picture, call me anytime.

Here is the problem with word of mouth experts or word of mouth marketing companies. In my opinion they have little to absolutely no knowledge of branding. Here’s a great example from self proclaimed word of mouth marketing guru Andy Sernovitz, he writes:

A great word of mouth topic has to be interesting, fun, and easy to repeat.  It doesn’t have to be about your product or product features.

In fact, trying to turn your brand message into a word of mouth viral phenomenon will almost always fail–because real people don’t repeat brand messages.

What people like Andy don’t understand (in my humble opinion) is that a company should be true to it’s brand identity first and foremost. For instance, Nike stayed true to it’s brand identity of performance when it developed the tagline “Just Do It”, one of if not the most memorable taglines in the history of business. And I’m pretty sure that was quite a word of mouth phenomenon, dare I say it went “viral” as well.

The point is using “fun, gimmicky” efforts to try and spread word of mouth is a big waste of time and money. Hell, Andy will have you selling 10lb candy bars if you listen to him.

Word of mouth marketing just like any other TACTIC should always be on brand and leverage your brand identity. Someone dressed in a gorilla suit passing out lollipops ain’t gonna get er dun.

But just to visually show you the difference between gimmicky word of mouth and leveraging your brand I give you two examples. Example one is from Andy Sernovitz. Example two is from me, the BIG Kahuna.

Andy Sernovitz demonstrating “A great word of mouth topic has to be interesting, fun, and easy to repeat.  It doesn’t have to be about your product or product features.”

The BIG Kahuna demonstrating the power of delivering on a brand identity:

Vote, which one do you like?

I’ve shopped at Sears before. They have great appliances and of course tools. But who is Sears? What do they stand for or want to stand for? How do people perceive Sears? Sears, you’re schizophrenic.

As my wonderful wife forced me to watch another episode of Extreme Makeover I asked the question again. Sears is a major sponsor for Extreme Makeover.

They give away thousands and thousands of dollars in product each and every week. All for the hopes that fans watching will rush out and buy their products. Huh?

I’m not rushing out because you gave away boxing equipment to a nice deserving family. Nor am I buying from you because of the new dishwasher. You need to make sense to me as a consumer then I’ll buy from you.

Go to the Sears website and just look at it from a visual perspective (click here) . Is it warm? Friendly? Family oriented? Or does it look like any other e-commerce site? What’s the first feeling you get from the site? Is it caring? Giving? Or cold and distant?

Sears, you desperately need a brand identity. Call the BIG Kahuna today at 508-238-4347 or call someone else. But call someone. Stop wasting money on meaningless promotions when you have no clear focus or brand identity.

As I troll through blogs of “experts” I can’t help but laugh when people use the term brand identity. There are very few who use the term correctly and it’s sad. But here goes it.

Brand Identity as defined by Wikipedia:

How the brand owner wants the consumer to perceive the brand - and by extension the branded company, organisation, product or service. The brand owner will seek to bridge the gap between the brand image and the brand identity.^[2] Brand identity is fundamental to consumer recognition and symbolizes the brand’s differentiation from competitors.

Brand identity may be defined as simply the outward expression of the brand, such as name and visual appearance.^[3] Some practitioners however define brand identity as not only outward expression (or physical facet), but also in terms of the values a brand carries in the eye of the consumer.

A brand identity is not a logo or corporate identity design. Sure those are parts of a brand identity but so is how the phones get answered, or don’t. How about the delivery person? The customer service rep? Those are all areas that need to be aligned with the brand identity.

In other words, the brand identity is the most important thing any company can establish. Or face certain brand death as customers will assign you a brand image. And just so we’re clear a brand image is defined as how people actually perceive your company.

Most of our new clients come to us saying people perceive them a certain way and they don’t want to be perceived that way. That’s a clear gap between brand identity and brand image. Another big problem within organizations is the gap between management and employees. Often times employees are not even aware of what their company’s brand identity is.

So brand identity not only touches a company’s external efforts but also their internal efforts.

Here’s a big tip from the BIG Kahuna:

Make sure your marketing and advertising leverages your brand identity. If your brand identity is safety like Volvo’s then build strategies and tactics that leverage safety. Easy, huh?