I was asked at an informal meeting last week just how can the health of our brand be assessed? Great question, I was glad they were interested in such climates as these.
This is something that I always ask a brand or business and more often than not they reply with conversation about products, P&L, tracking, share, activity and overheads etc. Not bad, but they are all looking at their brand from the inside out. I suggest looking from the outside in.
A great way to consider the health assessment of your brand is not so much how healthy it is, but how strong is its immunity and tolerance? Brands are often seen as living, breathing and functioning organisms so let’s assess them accordingly. Just like the health of humans, where it’s not about your strengths but more about how strong your weaknesses are. The humans that are continually getting sick are the ones that have a low tolerance and weak immune system. Therefore the ‘healthiest’ ones are the ones with the greatest tolerance.
Brands are exactly the same!
Brands are getting sick and losing market share, some are falling all together because they have low tolerance especially in a volatile market. This can be because of any number of things but quite often it’s because the brand didn’t focus on strengthening their weaknesses.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Think like your perfect consumer
Prescript: Oliviero Toscani is worth ‘googling’ if you don’t know of him already.
Some Advertisers search for the ‘creative’ in everything. Elongate and lengthen an element of the brand and its message and then play with that.
It can be great entertainment and it may build a sensational story that consumers love but how effective and simple is it?
An example of this is ‘humour.’ It does work well but there other genres of entertainment that could work just as effectively if not more than humour and all its brothers and sisters i.e. Sarcasm..
Most times advertisers are always looking for the ‘funny’ in the brand or the 'creative' in the message that they have to ‘think outside the square’ when they should be ‘thinking like their perfect consumer’ Most times advertisers are playing off their ideas and concepts against each other. Most times the results don’t matter because the idea is so great. This often loses the audience and in turn they often just don’t get it.
I cannot count how many times I have witnessed perfect target audiences watch an advertisement in all its forms and heard them say I don’t get it?, what does that have to do with ‘brand’? or ‘that is just silly!" (Not in those words.)
Advertising and art are too very different things. If you have a great idea, be disciplined and save it for a short film festival, a public installation, a canvas, a book or website.
Some Advertisers search for the ‘creative’ in everything. Elongate and lengthen an element of the brand and its message and then play with that.
It can be great entertainment and it may build a sensational story that consumers love but how effective and simple is it?
An example of this is ‘humour.’ It does work well but there other genres of entertainment that could work just as effectively if not more than humour and all its brothers and sisters i.e. Sarcasm..
Most times advertisers are always looking for the ‘funny’ in the brand or the 'creative' in the message that they have to ‘think outside the square’ when they should be ‘thinking like their perfect consumer’ Most times advertisers are playing off their ideas and concepts against each other. Most times the results don’t matter because the idea is so great. This often loses the audience and in turn they often just don’t get it.
I cannot count how many times I have witnessed perfect target audiences watch an advertisement in all its forms and heard them say I don’t get it?, what does that have to do with ‘brand’? or ‘that is just silly!" (Not in those words.)
Advertising and art are too very different things. If you have a great idea, be disciplined and save it for a short film festival, a public installation, a canvas, a book or website.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
How to change the world around you…
In the late 1990’s there was a gentleman named Christopher who lived on a street off a little street that had no name. Everyday, he would walk down his street, then through the little street with no name to get to work.
It annoyed him how this street had no name. He researched the street directory, he asked shop owners, spoke with locals and approached the council. The street was known as ‘the street with no name.’ The council was not willing to do anything and no one seemed to care.
After much thought over many months he spoke with a friend of his that worked in sheet metal. He asked him to make a sign that looked quite similar to that of others in the area. He then proceeded to thump the newly made sign with a hammer and mullet until it was unrecognisable.
Christopher then went to the local council and said that this battered sign had fallen off the wall of the corner shop, he gave the location and mentioned that the sign once read ‘Christopher’s little St’ and that it should be remade and reinstalled.
It was four days later when the new authentic “Christopher’s little street’ was reinstalled and it was on this day that Christopher then contacted the street directory company to alert them of the fact that he was in ‘Christopher’s little St’ and it did not seem to be in the directory. He was told that occasionally this happened and that a surveyor will venture down to the location to gather details for the next edition of the directory.
This is all history now and it’s documented in every edition of the street directory.
It annoyed him how this street had no name. He researched the street directory, he asked shop owners, spoke with locals and approached the council. The street was known as ‘the street with no name.’ The council was not willing to do anything and no one seemed to care.
After much thought over many months he spoke with a friend of his that worked in sheet metal. He asked him to make a sign that looked quite similar to that of others in the area. He then proceeded to thump the newly made sign with a hammer and mullet until it was unrecognisable.
Christopher then went to the local council and said that this battered sign had fallen off the wall of the corner shop, he gave the location and mentioned that the sign once read ‘Christopher’s little St’ and that it should be remade and reinstalled.
It was four days later when the new authentic “Christopher’s little street’ was reinstalled and it was on this day that Christopher then contacted the street directory company to alert them of the fact that he was in ‘Christopher’s little St’ and it did not seem to be in the directory. He was told that occasionally this happened and that a surveyor will venture down to the location to gather details for the next edition of the directory.
This is all history now and it’s documented in every edition of the street directory.
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Complexity through simplicity
The mobile phone was a huge development, but the first mobile phones where very large and would usually sit in your car while you were mobile. It certainly could not be put in your pocket but at least you could be contacted if you weren’t at your office. It’s fair to say one communication process could last a few days.
Computers changed everything. Funnily enough though, at their onset they were only seriously adopted in the late eighties and early nineties. There was still a cloud of mystery surrounding them well into the mid nineties and companies were not sure if this was the way business was going. They needed more convincing. Well, it was always going this way and this was only the beginning.
When the World Wide Web came around it really shook things up, businesses where either in or out. Some businesses where at the forefront of this movement others just had their head in the sand and thought the storm would pass. (Coincidently some companies are still around others no longer exist)
How could business be opened and closed online? Surely this could not be done via the internet.
We have almost done a complete revolution, the web has been reinvented and conversely the way you do business has changed forever. The way your consumers interact with your brand is like nothing we have ever seen before. With the rise of a new networked economy, social media and a multitude of communication platforms available to touch your consumers. Your consumers know just as much about your brand as you do.
Funnily enough, there is a similar ‘mood’ surrounding this movement as there was when the internet first came around. Businesses are either in or they are out. Adopt or put your head in the sand and wait for the storm to pass- It’s not going to pass, it’s only getting heavier.
Think about the progression of mobile phones to computers, the internet, hotmail, messenger chat, SMS and then MMS, blogs, forums and second life, then the rise of Myspace (bands, too many to mention built their empire on Myspace alone) the development and the cross adoption of Facebook and now the almighty and mysterious Twitter.
It’s all complexity through simplicity. The way we communicate is complex. We are getting more complex because the conversation has changed and is forever changing- This also means we are searching for a simple method, a simple execution.
Your consumers are talking about you right now through these modern channels, if you don’t answer the phone, they are checking you out online, and then will read and write blogs about you, see if you have a Facebook group and if your active on Twitter.
You have two choices; join them or watch them interact with your competitors.
Computers changed everything. Funnily enough though, at their onset they were only seriously adopted in the late eighties and early nineties. There was still a cloud of mystery surrounding them well into the mid nineties and companies were not sure if this was the way business was going. They needed more convincing. Well, it was always going this way and this was only the beginning.
When the World Wide Web came around it really shook things up, businesses where either in or out. Some businesses where at the forefront of this movement others just had their head in the sand and thought the storm would pass. (Coincidently some companies are still around others no longer exist)
How could business be opened and closed online? Surely this could not be done via the internet.
We have almost done a complete revolution, the web has been reinvented and conversely the way you do business has changed forever. The way your consumers interact with your brand is like nothing we have ever seen before. With the rise of a new networked economy, social media and a multitude of communication platforms available to touch your consumers. Your consumers know just as much about your brand as you do.
Funnily enough, there is a similar ‘mood’ surrounding this movement as there was when the internet first came around. Businesses are either in or they are out. Adopt or put your head in the sand and wait for the storm to pass- It’s not going to pass, it’s only getting heavier.
Think about the progression of mobile phones to computers, the internet, hotmail, messenger chat, SMS and then MMS, blogs, forums and second life, then the rise of Myspace (bands, too many to mention built their empire on Myspace alone) the development and the cross adoption of Facebook and now the almighty and mysterious Twitter.
It’s all complexity through simplicity. The way we communicate is complex. We are getting more complex because the conversation has changed and is forever changing- This also means we are searching for a simple method, a simple execution.
Your consumers are talking about you right now through these modern channels, if you don’t answer the phone, they are checking you out online, and then will read and write blogs about you, see if you have a Facebook group and if your active on Twitter.
You have two choices; join them or watch them interact with your competitors.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Simple is the new genius.
Marketing, first and foremost is an ‘Understanding.’
Seeking to understand your brand, listen to your audience and put a stethoscope to your market is in essence at the core of what marketing is about. From here you can create Art or you can employ Science. Either way it requires an understanding of your brand in your market.
Some products/services need the art of marketing and some need the science of marketing. They all need ‘understanding’ through listening. These days listening has never been so important and with the unstoppable growth of social media and the world wide web marketers should all have their ears to the keyboard.
So rather then attempting to be creatively ingenious and firing your message way over your audiences head- stop to ‘understand’ your audience, brand and your market. Eliminating the want to be so out there creative or analytically anal about measurement and theories is what’s making a successful marketer today.
Listen before you speak.
Simple is the new genius.
Seeking to understand your brand, listen to your audience and put a stethoscope to your market is in essence at the core of what marketing is about. From here you can create Art or you can employ Science. Either way it requires an understanding of your brand in your market.
Some products/services need the art of marketing and some need the science of marketing. They all need ‘understanding’ through listening. These days listening has never been so important and with the unstoppable growth of social media and the world wide web marketers should all have their ears to the keyboard.
So rather then attempting to be creatively ingenious and firing your message way over your audiences head- stop to ‘understand’ your audience, brand and your market. Eliminating the want to be so out there creative or analytically anal about measurement and theories is what’s making a successful marketer today.
Listen before you speak.
Simple is the new genius.
Thinking about it...
I was reminded the other week by my Mother, that when I was a lot younger I had explained to her that I always felt as if I was watching myself live. My Mother triggered memories of me playing sport, when I was at school and my reasonably small stint at university and how I always felt as if I were on the sidelines, in the lecture theatre and classrooms sitting along side myself. Odd, I know but that is just the way I went about my life, as an acute observer of not only others, but myself as well.
I find the small things the most interesting about people that have left amazing legacies. Let’s face it, it is all about our legacy and how we leave it. Yes, living in the moment is very important, but trying to make this moment and the sequences of moments the follow, live forever in the hearts and minds of people around you is by far more important- Hence, it’s all about your Legacy.
I love the idea of a small and unknown gentleman working in a patent office (without promotion until he mastered the machines) in Switzerland in the very early 1900’s. How, he still had the tenacity to consider some of the biggest thoughts that had ever occurred to man. How, although his few applications for a teaching position were refused and he failed entrance examines, he went on to change the world.
I love the idea of the hardest working and most exhibited artist in the early 1900’s wasn’t even accepted as a great artist in his own country until he was nearly half a century old. By then he had already changed the art world. I love the irony of how ‘The Scream’ is his most famous work.
I could go on…
I remember a very successful lady once said when I asked her what she often thinks about on a day to day basis.
“I envisage I am someone that I hold in very high regard and I am watching myself. I then make up a conversation this person would have about me and I listen very carefully” she said.
I liked this idea, it made me feel like she was always trying to impress herself, grow the concept and push the boundaries of her own reality.
Deep, but it is interesting to consider our own cognitive science, how our own thought processes can be our secret disadvantage or advantage.
I find the small things the most interesting about people that have left amazing legacies. Let’s face it, it is all about our legacy and how we leave it. Yes, living in the moment is very important, but trying to make this moment and the sequences of moments the follow, live forever in the hearts and minds of people around you is by far more important- Hence, it’s all about your Legacy.
I love the idea of a small and unknown gentleman working in a patent office (without promotion until he mastered the machines) in Switzerland in the very early 1900’s. How, he still had the tenacity to consider some of the biggest thoughts that had ever occurred to man. How, although his few applications for a teaching position were refused and he failed entrance examines, he went on to change the world.
I love the idea of the hardest working and most exhibited artist in the early 1900’s wasn’t even accepted as a great artist in his own country until he was nearly half a century old. By then he had already changed the art world. I love the irony of how ‘The Scream’ is his most famous work.
I could go on…
I remember a very successful lady once said when I asked her what she often thinks about on a day to day basis.
“I envisage I am someone that I hold in very high regard and I am watching myself. I then make up a conversation this person would have about me and I listen very carefully” she said.
I liked this idea, it made me feel like she was always trying to impress herself, grow the concept and push the boundaries of her own reality.
Deep, but it is interesting to consider our own cognitive science, how our own thought processes can be our secret disadvantage or advantage.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Work on achievement not activity.
"I’m so busy." "I can't believe its Friday tomorrow and half the year has already gone."
People are constantly getting stuck, they get stuck doing what they are doing. They get busy getting busy. Living turns into existing, existing to surviving and then you live from pay cycle to pay cycle and monitor your activity in between.
The better you get, the easier things should get. This makes sense doesn’t it?
This is the case for all companies too, not just humans- We learn, we commit and we should acquire.
Eating is nowhere near as hard as when I first attempted it many decades ago and I no longer fall off my bike in the rare case I go for a ride.
The interesting thing is more often than not it’s the complete opposite. The better we get, the busier we get. This is because we continually focus on activity and forget about achievement. Achievement in the broader scheme of things is guiding you towards accomplishment.
How many people can look back to the last few months (let alone the last few years) and feel a great sense of accomplishment?
The irony of all this is we think that activity is what gets results- most companies believe this as well and will have some form of measuring your activity in your workplace. Fact is that activity will cost a company money and achievement will make a company money.
Work on achievement not activity.
Activity gets you stuck. Achievement sets you free.
People are constantly getting stuck, they get stuck doing what they are doing. They get busy getting busy. Living turns into existing, existing to surviving and then you live from pay cycle to pay cycle and monitor your activity in between.
The better you get, the easier things should get. This makes sense doesn’t it?
This is the case for all companies too, not just humans- We learn, we commit and we should acquire.
Eating is nowhere near as hard as when I first attempted it many decades ago and I no longer fall off my bike in the rare case I go for a ride.
The interesting thing is more often than not it’s the complete opposite. The better we get, the busier we get. This is because we continually focus on activity and forget about achievement. Achievement in the broader scheme of things is guiding you towards accomplishment.
How many people can look back to the last few months (let alone the last few years) and feel a great sense of accomplishment?
The irony of all this is we think that activity is what gets results- most companies believe this as well and will have some form of measuring your activity in your workplace. Fact is that activity will cost a company money and achievement will make a company money.
Work on achievement not activity.
Activity gets you stuck. Achievement sets you free.
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