Helping good people build great brands.
There’s a curious tendency these days to bemoan the “disloyalty” of consumers. But is consumer loyalty really in decline?
Some like to point to studies like Deloitte’s annual “American Pantry” study, which this year reported Continue reading “What You Need to Know About Superior Consumer Loyalty”
Earlier this week, WPP and Millward Brown released the annual “BrandZTM Top 100 Most Valuable Brands Ranking.” The news this year is that Apple jumped Google for the #1 spot; the top ten is rounded out by Microsoft, IBM, Visa, AT&T, Verizon, Coca-Cola, McDonald’s and Marlboro. (The press release, with links to more information, can be found here.)
Such lists can serve merely as conversation-starters, like discussing with your friends the top five live albums of all time.*** But for those of us who didn’t make this ranking, there’s much to be learned. Below, I offer eight lessons, inspired by this list, that challenger brands can apply. Continue reading “8 Lessons for Challenger Brands From the Top 100 Global Brands”
Is strategy dead? Some are reporting that it has, in fact, ceased to be.
One of the more prominent claimants is Kevin Roberts, Executive Chairman of Saatchi & Saatchi. (You may know him as the “Lovemarks” guy.) Mr. Roberts had this to say at the Institute of Directors’ Annual Convention in 2012:
Continue reading “Is Strategy Dead?”
(Reading Time: 4 minutes)Most brands are challenger brands. Probably yours.
It’s not just a matter of share. If you have fewer resources than your competitors, you’re a challenger brand. You might have a smaller budget. Lower awareness. A short-handed sales team. Or all of these, plus a few things I haven’t listed, you lucky devil.
I’ve been fortunate to work on challenger brands for my entire career, in both brand management and consulting. I say “fortunate” because victory is sweeter when you come from behind, or when you achieve more with less.
Around 20 years ago, I was the brand manager of Airheads candy. At the time, our two largest competitors, Skittles and Starburst, outspent us by about 20 to 1. Despite this, we tripled our sales in less than five years. And we launched what became the fastest-selling non-chocolate single in the country. (The Airheads 6-bar package can still be found near cash registers today.)
The lesson I learned early: Continue reading “Two Rules for Winning for Challenger Brands”
(Reading Time: 4 minutes)Budweiser debuted one of this year’s most-discussed Super Bowl ads. Called “Brewed the Hard Way,” it’s still running. I saw it twice on CBS yesterday.
In this spot, Bud declares, in screen-filling block text, that it’s “proudly a macro beer.”
“It’s not brewed to be fussed over,” the text announces, as a bearded, bespectacled hipster inhales deeply from a tulip glass filled with a stout-like brew. “It’s brewed for a crisp smooth finish.”
“It’s brewed for drinking, not dissecting,” it continues. We see more hipsters, this time sampling a beer flight.
“Let them sip their pumpkin peach ale,” it proclaims. “We’ll be brewing us some golden suds.”
Why the broadside against craft brews and those who drink them? Continue reading “Dove, Bud and the Quest for Real Brand Values”
(Reading Time: 4 minutes)
Much has been written about Steve Jobs – he was the visionary with the prescience to anticipate consumer needs, the genius who could fuse design and technology with an elegant simplicity.
His successes were significant and well-documented. But Apple users are living with his greatest failure right now.
That failure? Continue reading “Steve Jobs’ Greatest Failure”
(Reading Time: 3 minutes)“As to methods there may be a million and then some, but principles are few. The man who grasps principles can successfully select his own methods. The man who tries methods, ignoring principles, is sure to have trouble.”
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
I once came across a website that sold manuals for creating Unique Selling Propositions (USPs) to small businesses. Among the preposterous sales claims for this manual was the following: Continue reading “Make 2015 a Year of First Principles”
(Reading Time: 4 minutes)In a prior post, Why You Can’t Sell to the C-Suite, I shared my experience of being a sales target during my recent tenure as a CMO.
The quick summary: I received over twenty-five unsolicited contacts per week – over one thousand in a year. Of these, about 98% didn’t work. Today, I want to discuss the approaches that did work.
I need to first make clear, in boldface: I am not a sales expert. My intent here is to offer some perspective from “the other side of the desk,” based on my own experience and that of other executives with whom I’ve discussed this topic. I expect that readers will have additional insights to share, and I invite you to do so in a comment below.
Let’s start by reviewing, as we apparently must, the table-stakes: Continue reading “Selling the C-Suite: The “Four Knows””
(Reading Time: 3 minutes)Recently, marketing guru Al Ries published a piece in Advertising Age, with his thesis right there in the title:
“Having a Better Brand Is Better Than Having a Better Product”
Here are a few excerpts from Mr. Ries’ piece:
There are no facts. Everything in life is “perceptions.” There are no superior products. There are only superior perceptions in consumers’ minds.
What else do we know about perceptions? They are very difficult to change. Once a person holds a strong perception about a specific brand, it’s extremely difficult to change that perception. Continue reading ““Would You Rather Have a Better Brand or Better Product?”: A Response to Al Ries”
(Reading Time: 3 minutes)Three weeks ago, I received an email from a local business publication I subscribe to. The subject line read:
“Action Required on Account No. ###”
The body of the email included the following copy (all caps theirs):
“Your print and digital access will expire if you don’t ACT NOW!”
“Don’t let your subscription end! RENEW IMMEDIATELY!”
