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This last week has meant that two brands that we’ve looked at before need a re-examination. As predicted, the Tiger Woods brand is clearly on the mend. And also as predicted, the Republicans need to take quick brand-fixing action fast —or else.

Winner

Even though divorce rumors are swirling around Tiger Woods again, the fact is, the Tiger Woods brand is back.

There’s no question that Tiger Woods could be finished with the women of this country. But from a marketing perspective this doesn’t matter; women were not his Target Market.

Using the marketing lens, instead of the pundit lens or the public relations lens, I predicted that Tiger’s brand would enjoy a comeback —and sooner than many thought. No, I don’t possess incredible powers of clairvoyance. I simply understood that when we talk about Tiger Woods, we are talking about a performance brand. And when we talk about Tiger Woods, we are also talking about a man who understands the rules as they apply to his brand.

Being a performance brand means one thing: as long as a performance brand performs where it counts (i.e. on the playing field, basketball court or golf course), the brand will remain strong. If scandals occur, a performance brand has plenty of room for redemption and correction by virtue of the positive exposure of continued victorious performance —not to mention the attendant media platform— of each major sporting event.

Soon after Tiger’s scandal broke, I wrote this about what redemption might look like:

People love stories of redemption. If Tiger does what he says he is going to do and works hard to heal his family and himself, he will re-enforce those aspects of his brand that made him a star. If, a year or so from now, Tiger tells his side of his story in such a way that he admits he was self-centered, his Target Market and the public will accept that he is a changed man who has applied himself to becoming a better man. This will actually make his brand stronger than it was before the scandal. However, to do this, he will need to tell people that while privacy is important, his privacy in the past was selfish and that he is now coming forward to tell his story for his fans, for his family and for his personal growth as a human being. Then people will say the prodigal son has returned —the man we always believed in was really there.

Tiger did most of the above faster than I expected him to, but the point is that he did it, and it clearly worked. His polling numbers are strong. He is going to be playing in the Masters, and Las Vegas has him as the favorite. His long-time sponsor Nike has just shot a commercial with him in it.

But here’s the public relations point: Tiger didn’t do his apology and response on a public relations timeline; he did it on a brand timeline. Bottom line: his Target Market expect him to tackle a problem head on and then devote as much time as he needs to triumphing over it. The public relations folks wanted Tiger to get out there and spill his guts on Day 1, but this simply isn’t consistent with Tiger Woods’ brand. He did end up making the tearful apology —but only after he had put in the hard work (sex rehab) to show that he meant it. The lesson from all of this is that public relations without marketing and an intimate understanding of branding truths is like going to war without being dressed for battle.

So what happens if Tiger Woods’ marriage fails? My guess at this point is that his brand is past genuine danger. Frank Sinatra had a pretty scandalous reputation, but he always delivered to his Target Market, and they always supported him.

Fact is, Tiger Woods’ brand is now well positioned for future growth, as long as he performs on the golf course, keeps true to his brand of excellence and makes sure that his public relations people keep the focus on him, not themselves. (Ari Fleischer’s high profile departure from Team Tiger only reinforces the “handled” image you don’t want to reinforce, but this time it shouldn’t be fatal.)

The Loser

If you want to get a sense of just how in danger the Republicans are of destroying their brand, you don’t need to look any further than this YouTube remix of “Yes, We Can,” the successful Obama campaign video. In it, the positive Obama “Yes, We Can” message is interrupted by John Boehner screaming “Hell No, You Can’t!”

Whatever your politics, this is simply bad news for Boehner and the Republican Party. Propaganda, you say? Sure, it’s propaganda. But wow, does it work.

Why? Because the Republicans are feeding the caricature of themselves as unreasonable, hate-filled obstructionists who have abandoned the disciplined and optimistic spirit of Ronald Reagan for a brand unsure of what it is all about.

Sure, a minority power in opposition must frequently say “no,” but it has to make this “no” ring with a positive affirmation of values and the electorate’s needs, and it has to explain why it’s saying no.

Before the Republicans rush into trying to repeal Health Care, they ought to read Dana Milbank over at The Washington Post, who has just reminded all politicos that Alf Landon ran his disastrous presidential campaign of 1936 on trying to repeal Social Security.

People will always complain about medical care, and they will complain in particular about a problem-plagued system. As the inherent flaws of the new legislation become clear, Republicans should be ready to address them.

What the Republican Party needs to do is reposition themselves as the opposition party that listens and responds to the people.

This is called brand differentiation. When one brand (in this case, the Democratic brand) is not perceived as filling a need (in this case, actually listening to the people), then a competing brand (like the Republicans) must promote how it is different.

First, the Republicans must really listen to the people. Maybe the people won’t want everything about health care repealed. Maybe they’ll want it improved. Republicans can learn this by conducting extensive market research. The main point is to abandon the outright “we know best, and it’s repeal” approach and instead adopt a “listen and repair” approach.

Second, the Republicans must show the people that they are listening. To do this, all Republican candidates should hand out business cards with the number for a “Legislation Hotline.” This number would give the voter the opportunity to weigh in directly on specific legislation, both pending and on the books.

Successful brands have clear-cut visions of the future that are positive, not negative. End of story.

Whatever they do, John Boehner’s “Hell No, You Can’t!” must be replaced by “Yes, We Can.” If it isn’t, the Republicans will be in the wilderness for a very long time.

And, remember, things are always easier when you keep marketing and branding in mind.

TODAY'S TANTILLO TAKEAWAY -
Political Brands Must Have A Positive Vision To Succeed.

Posted by John at 8:55 AM | Permalink

By Guest Blogger Kevin Douglas West

After six months into my job transition, I started to realize a few things…

1. It’s tough to transition from one industry to another as a CMO. Companies are flooded with talent right now and want to bring in someone that makes an impact on the first day, not someone that needs 6-12 months to learn the industry. After 18 years working in the energy industry, I wasn’t having much luck with the hiring managers at T-Mobile, Disney, Target, or Starbucks.

2. It’s a bit more likely to transfer from one competitor to another as a CMO in your industry. I re-focused my efforts and decided that I needed to do the same thing for my own brand that I’d been counseling companies and Presidents to do for years. Focus on a small niche and own it. So I retooled my resume, did a thorough segmentation on the competitors (and leaders), and began an extensive networking campaign in my industry.

3. The talent pool is flooded and I wasn’t standing out. Even after all my effort, I realized (again remembering what I’d been telling others about their company brands) that I needed to do something to stand out from a stack of hundreds of resumes that recruiters are seeing every day.

With those three issues driving my activity, I launched my own campaign to re-brand myself as “The brightest CMO in energy.” I put some life into my resume actually making fun of what everyone else does on their resumes. Mine starts like this (after my name of course)…

Strategic. Innovative. Results-Driven. You’ve heard all these buzzwords before. Consider hiring the one of the brightest CMOs today!

But that just wasn’t enough. I needed something bigger and something that I had never seen done before to get attention. So I developed a 90-second video resume highlighting my experience in the energy industry, using some of my marketing campaigns (primarily television), and showcasing myself as the answer to their current marketing dilemmas.

Luckily I am a writer and a part-time independent filmmaker so writing the script was easy and pulling together some of the footage from advertising campaigns wasn’t too hard…always stay in good graces with your agencies! I purchased some stock footage and photographs to help fill in and make the story complete. Since I didn’t have video footage of myself and that would have cost money to rent a studio, I opted to do the voice-over and insert my picture. This gave the spot a personal feeling but wasn’t overtly showcasing me in the spot – remember I’m a marketer, not a model!

Start to finish, the spot took about 3 weeks with lots of edits and changes. I ran early drafts by friends and colleagues seeking advice on how they were receiving it. They made excellent suggestions. Just like a focus group, I refined it each time I received feedback. Once I had the finished product, I loaded it on YouTube and then told “my world” about it. I announced it on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and sent over 200 emails inviting my network to help me get it out there.

The results have been really exciting. All combined, I probably announced it to over 700 people. I’ve received over 300 hits on YouTube, but more importantly in the last 6 weeks, I have had 20 plus interviews for positions at 8 different firms. 100% of these came through a recruiter who heard about me through a friend or colleague! I’m well into the “offer zone” and hope to be the Chief Marketing Officer of a growing and exciting firm soon. To watch my video resume entitled “Imagine”, you can see it via my website or go directly to YouTube and type in kevindouglaswest.

Posted by John at 5:41 PM | Permalink

Sunday brought a historic legislative victory for President Obama and a major change for Internet behemoth Google. Only one event was good for the brand involved (hint: it didn’t happen in Washington).

Winner:
Google.

After months of speculation, Google has announced that they are no longer going to censor their service in China.

As a result, they are moving their search operations to freer Hong Kong and hoping that they will still be able to grow their Chinese search base despite inevitable push back from the Communist government.

This is excellent branding.

Why? Because Google is a company that began with its “Don’t Be Evil” slogan and must be seen to be guided by it. Other multi-nationals might be able to play it looser with authoritarian China, but that’s because people buy brands, they don’t buy companies. In other words, most multi-nationals are in the business of moving products and it is the products that interest the Target Markets not the way the companies maneuver behind the scenes to get those products to market.

But Google is the product. The search engine itself as well as most of the services that Google is involved with depend on the impression that they “aren’t evil” and are doing their best to make the free flow of information and unfettered access to the Web a reality for their users.

Being seen as a participant in censorship of the extent demanded by China was simply not possible for long.

Moreover, Google’s company image is what has enabled them to develop other brands (i.e., products and services) and gather as much good will as they have. The massive book scanning project or their YouTube business would be harmed if they were seen as tampering with the user’s experience.

This high-visibility stand which will certainly hurt them in China at least for the short-term will pay dividends for the center-piece brand of the company in the long-term because it will re-assure all of the search engine’s devoted users that Google is putting the effectiveness, quality and freedom of their search first above all other concerns.

Now that is marketing!

The Loser:

On Sunday night a major piece of legislation was passed without one Republican vote –this hasn’t happened in modern times.

Politically, Barack Obama managed to pull something off with health reform that no one had been able to do thus far. This is an achievement.

Unfortunately, it is a brand-damaging achievement. To accomplish it the President had to align himself so closely to the Democrats that his image as an outside “change bringer” is virtually ruined.

Fact is, he has now cast his lot with the Democrat old guard and the Republicans are now positioned as the hardened opposition. Forget all about bi-partisanship. Even if it were possible, it’s over now. (With their talk of repealing the legislation, the Republicans are signaling that they risk becoming the party of “no” which isn’t good for them either –but it’s easier to fix than Obama’s problem.)

The fundamental problem for the president from a marketing perspective is that by turning to the old guard Democrats, he has turned his back on significant segments of his Target Market. Fiscally conservative independents and Democrats as well as the many cross-over Republicans who voted him into office are not seeing the man they voted for occupying the presidency. This is political bait-and-switch and it affects a wide swathe of the previously favorable Obama electorate.

Bottom line, the die has been cast. Obama and the Democrats are joined at the hip. What’s next?

President Obama needs to put the pedal to the metal if he wants to have a chance of re-election in 2012. This means that he might as well start pushing every piece of partisan legislation he can because he won’t be getting his reputation as a new kind of politician back anytime soon. He can only hope that the legislation he passes (Wall Street regulation, immigration, etc.) works and makes those Target Markets he’s done such a good job of alienating happy again.

And, remember, things are always easier when you keep marketing and branding in mind.

John Tantillo is a marketing and branding expert and the founder and president of Marketing Department of America. His book, “People Buy Brands Not Companies”, is available on amazon.com

Posted by John at 5:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

By Guest Blogger Bob Deutsch

In my work as a cognitive anthropologist I study how the mind works, how people “make meaning,” how people form attachments to things (brands), and how people make decisions. Decisions like how to select what to invest in, whether stocks or mates; why and under what conditions, people prefer Coke over Pepsi (or vice versa), Charmin over Cottonelle; why a person believes in one God over another.

In that search I have inadvertently uncovered something about viva la difference: WOMEN CYCLE, MEN CONSUMMATE.

Marketers need to understand the implications of this difference.

The male is oriented to the present, the concrete, the visual, the “hit,” the win, the “me.” Evolutionarily speaking, the male must bring home the bacon. No Dilly-Dallying. No excuses. The male is in the now and, above all else, is a pragmatist.

The female is oriented the conceptual, to underlying dynamics, to the relationship between things, and to stability over the long-term. The female understands and sees patterns over time.

Males act and say things like: “You’ve got to act, you can’t wait too long.” “You must know how to look at the environment, know what the data and specs mean. Then pounce.” “My goal is feeling powerful and getting peoples’ attention.”

Females act and say things like: “It takes time to have things in order.” “I want to feel good about where I am and what I’ve done.”
“My goal is continuity, building positive relationships, and long-term stability.”

A Seattle couple that started a small business together have different ideas about inventory. Wife: “I live to reinvest in inventory when I have cash, so I can buy stuff off-season and sell it next year at a bigger profit. I also like to have inventory just as a customer service.” Husband: “Get rid of inventory as fast as possible.”

Male: Do what you set out to do and finish the job. Female: Evolve.
Male: Achieve. Female: Experience.
Male: Stay on top of things. Female: Create good relationships.
Male: Get the biggest piece you can. Female: inner peace.

Females want to understand things and want to be understood. Males are more focused on explanation.

Explanation entails seeing the world as governed by finite laws that humankind can direct through successive approximations. Understanding requires comprehending meaning from the inside out, in its unfolding. To understand, the world can’t be approached from solely an intellectual stance.

In general, the two genders have different ways of perceiving causality, time, and power. This implies seven principles for making your brand more appealing to women:

1. PATTERN, not just point. Recognize that women have the ability to perceive more than the metric of a product attribute or an instance in time; they appreciate the underlying pattern (idea) that gives rise to the fleeting moment.

2. AUTHENTICITY, not just immediate appearance. Recognize that persona, biography (or history), and current contingency must all be factored in, and that universal principles underlie particularities.

3. QUALITY, not just quantity (size). Recognize that for women bigger and more is not necessarily better; and that a steady build is often better than an impulsive response.

4. CONNECTEDNESS, not just individuals. Recognize that communality can reign over dominance. We are all bound together.

5. SOCIETY, not just markets. Recognize that markets are numbers, and that markets can be counted and the goodies duly noted. But numbers are not people. Women are people and people have personal feelings and social intentions.

6. QUALITY OF LIFE, not just accumulation. Recognize that there are material and spiritual needs made up of individual wants and musts, but that are cast in the context of a social matrix.

7. REASONABLENESS, not extremism or absolutism. Recognize that all issues have grays, and exaggerations to one side or the other only cover-up the reality of subtlety and nuance.

Marketing to women is not as easy as ‘pretty in pink’ or ‘basic black’. But knowing the inner reality of women can help marketers feel more in the pink and put them in the black.

DR. BOB DEUTSCH is a cognitive anthropologist, founder and president of Brain Sells, a strategic branding and communications consultancy.

Posted by John at 10:29 AM | Permalink

First things first. Watch this amazing video from the most entertaining band on YouTube, OK Go.

Notice the little toy truck at the beginning, and if you stuck with it, the calling card at the end? Yes indeed, State Farm made this music video possible. Makes you think a little bit differently about the video, doesn't it? In spite of all the chaos, the band keeps on singing cheerfully that "This too shall pass". Because they have great State Farm coverage?

This is all incredibly nifty, but there's one probing question: Why? A partnership between an insurance company and a rock band in this fashion is pretty out of the ordinary, and in this age of accountability, it seems impossible that State Farm could trace this endeavor back to sales. Todd Fischer, manager of national sponsorships for State Farm, essentially said so himself when interviewed by Marketing News Exclusives.

So what is State Farm getting? Well, there's been a lot of media mentions and positive blogger comments, particularly since State Farm shelved over money in order for the video to become embeddable. (This is in the wake of a much-buzzed about New York Times editorial by OK Go lead singer Damian Kulash, who criticized record companies for prohibitting embeds of music videos since they don't make money off of them.) Fischer also reports qualitative feedback from State Farm agents who say that customers are talking about the video with agents, who in turn can find a way to enter into a product conversation. And this effort is a chance for State Farm to appeal to the teen and young adult audience that follows OK Go, to increase the chance that the company will be top of mind when they seek out insurance, he says.

“We’ll be the first to say we’re in a product category a lot of people don’t want to talk about,” Fischer told Marketing News Exclusives. “The only experience people have, typically, is when they need the product, and it’s not always a positive time. … So [this music-based marketing strategy] increases the importance of our product, and uses brand engagement and activation to create a positive experience in between insurance moments.”

This isn't the first time State Farm has done something unusual in the music space. Marketing News wrote about an ambitious Hispanic marketing effort, where the company transformed musicians recruited for a State Farm Spanish language commercial into its own Northern Mexican-inspired pop band. The band made appearances on Spanish-language TV and radio, toured in select markets, and even got a reality show on Telemundo. They also appeared in the below music video.

Again, why? Because State Farm saw it as a chance to show they were there for newly immigrated Hispanics, a target demo that is definitely growing, but one oft overlooked by insurance companies. By making these regular guys into stars, State Farm proved that it cared about the sector, and in turn hopes they will be considered for coverage by the demographic.

Read "State Farm Backs Band to Build Brand Awareness," appearing in the March 18 edition of Marketing News Exclusives, to learn more about the OK Go initiative. You can also learn more about State Farm's Hispanic band campaign in the article "La Musica to Their Ears," available in the May 15, 2009 edition of Marketing News. For access, click here.

Posted by Piet at 8:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Guest Blogger
Bob Deutsch
Brain Sells
Boston

The first Baby Boomers will turn 65 in 2011. In the US alone, more than 3.5 million babies were born in 1946. Volumes have been written about the Vietnam-era proclivities and behaviors of this post-WWII cohort. In contrast, our conception of Seniors – what Boomers soon will be – is highly stereotyped.

Aging is something we Americans do not like to attend to. We go for youth, we go for the “new.” So how should marketers plan to communicate with an arthritic Chubby Checker, a Paul McCartney who is looking back at 64, trying to reach gray-haired couples who are still “Singin’ in Rain” or just rolling in a rocking chair?

Baby Boomers can accurately be labeled “Pragmatic Idealists.” As a demographic they are a “glass-half-full” group. They feel they can make things the way they want them to be, or at least engage with the forces at work to tilt the odds 51% in their favor. Even in our constrained economy, Baby Boomers still seek, and assume, growth, all the while acknowledging new limitations in resources.

In interviews they say things like:

• “We now have more responsibility and less irresponsibility.”

• “Anger, in the long run, just hurts you.”

• “Hey, maybe ‘now’ is an opportunity. It forces you to re-evaluate who you are and where you are going.”

Sharp Contrast with Gen X
In sharp contrast, Gen-Xer’s generally perceive themselves to be in real trouble. For the most part, Xer’s are losing hope in the ties that bind hard work to success. They see their future as “closing.” This hunkered-down mentality foreshortens their vision of themselves, others, and the world. Their orientation, about almost everything, is defensive. Listen to their tone:

• “Money makes the world go around. Now I have less money.
Now I have less hope.”

• “I feel better when I see someone worse off than me.”
• “I gotta fight for everything, and I don’t have a lot.”

• “What’s the point?”

THREE BASIC LIFE STRUCTURES OF BOOMERS

Identity – Optimism and Adaptation to Power Diminished

The developmental history of Boomers casts them as characters that possess a self-expansive nature primarily devoid of cynicism. Yes, time will add a few more rings around their trunk causing recognition of new limitations, but for the most part the 65+ crowd embodies a vitality that makes them survivors, even if they can’t always be thrivers.

Territoriality – Space Contracts and is Re-Articulated

As Boomers age their odometers might not proceed as fast, home range will become more important, and getting settled in new spaces – a smaller, closer-to-town abode or a move to a warmer climate – will require adaptation to new interpersonal and larger social arrangements.

How they will develop new networks – digital and face-to-face – will provide new opportunities for marketers. The same is true for how Boomers will develop requirements for new types of mundane services, particularly in the domains of finance, healthcare, and personal care products.

Time – Perceptions of Past, Present ad Future

As people age their nostalgic yearnings grow, making them more receptive to advertisers and marketers use of what researchers call "a longing for positive memories of the past.” Moreover, nostalgia can make Boomers feel that not so much time has passed between then and now, making them feel young (er) again, still with a long ways to go and the time to get “there.”

Nostalgia should be considered as one marketing aesthetic to attract Boomers because it telescopes time and brings it more under each individual’s own emotional orchestration.

POINTS TO REMEMBER WHEN MARKETING TO BOOMERS

• Boomers are at a time in life when they really don’t want to compromise their authenticity.

• For Boomers, process is at least as important as the end-result. They want “the ride.”

• Boomers like to inspire others. Help them feel helpful.

• Boomers have been around long enough to know there are few absolutes, little is black or white.

• Accentuate personal style over rote action or blind ritual.

• Boomers are oriented to the human dimension, that’s the only real thing. They can see the humor in most situations.

• What Boomers really dislike is felling put upon by arbitrary power, feeling trapped, conned, boxed-in, and being thought of as one of the masses.

• Boomers are creative and conservative (“A beautiful garden is wild and tended”).

• Boomers go for what gives voice to things they are thinking and feeling, but haven’t fully worked out yet.

• Boomers respond to what stands out by its presence, not its loudness; and what shows them it really listens and, therefore, understands.

MARKETING TAKE-AWAY

Now, in times of less goodies and more unpredictability, recognizing the authenticity of your audience and having deep insights into their self-perceptions and primal meanings (not garnered by traditional market research methods) will parse corporate success stories from those that muddle through or worse. This is particularly true for marketers who seek the aging Boomer as their customers.

Posted by John at 1:01 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (1)

This week the Marketing Doctor is taking a look at two very different areas that both need to remember their Target Markets: musical performance and politics. Unfortunately, only our winner is remembering her Target Market; the Democrats in our government are not.

Winner

You might not have heard of Imogen Heap, but she is an incredibly successful pop musician and composer who has a devoted following.

She’s our winner of the week because of her decision a few years ago to abandon her big record label and manage her fan base and distribution herself.

Now, instead of spending a year in a studio making a single album, she composes a single track, perfects it, then puts it out on the Web. Today’s cheap production (off-the-shelf software and equipment) and almost zero distribution costs as well as the fact that live touring and merchandising bring in most of the money makes her business model not only possible but very profitable. The pop music world has been turned upside down: in the past touring was a promotional tool for an album, whereas now the tour is the moneymaker.

Heap knows this and uses MySpace and Twitter as well as a video blog to keep her fans involved and up-to-date so that the touring machine remains primed. The result has been impressive. She has over 750,000 fans following her on Twitter, and there have been over 40 million plays of her music on MySpace.

Basically, she plans all of her tours based on the information she receives through social networking. Here’s what she had to say in a recent interview with Craig Mathieson about how she uses YouTube and Twitter to identify her Target Market plan her marketing strategy:

"You can plan your tours around where the love is on Twitter and YouTube. Before, you couldn't tell. I've been touring in Germany, where I've hardly sold any CDs, but the word spread via the Internet and I've come here because I know the fans are out there."

So hats of to Imogen Heap for keeping her Target Market first and foremost in mind and using the precision and interactivity of our new Internet-connected world to do what couldn’t be done before.

Loser

Sad to say, our losers of the week (and probably the next election cycle) could learn a lot from Miss Heap. But more than that, they should simply know better. I’m talking about the Democratic Party, which seems dead set on forgetting its Target Market with the push for health care reform.

As a marketing man, I know that there is always a temptation to think you know better than the consumer. But follow this temptation and you will almost always get into trouble.

The parallel here is with New Coke. Coca Cola made the mistake of forcing a new product onto the consumer in an extreme way that left no options. Theirs was a take-it -or –leave-it approach. As we all know, the approach failed miserably and there was eventually a “product repeal” —New Coke went to the ash heap of history and Classic Coke returned. The consumers had spoken.

The Democrats seem to be behaving like Coca Cola. Comments by Nancy Pelosi and others have indicated that they’ve adopted a kind of “We know better than you the electorate” attitude with respect to this legislation and are prepared to push it even if it means invoking the “reconciliation” maneuver on Capitol Hill.

The problem is that people buy brands, not companies. The Democrats seem to believe that because Barack Obama was elected, the party has been given a mandate to pursue big government policies. This is wrong. Obama was elected as a distinct brand from the Democrats. Not only that, but even if the Democrats were popular, the health care reform legislation (a separate brand entirely from the party) is clearly not popular nor in keeping with America’s long tradition of being wary of social service programs that encroach on individual liberties.

This reminds me of the failed push for the super-deluxe mouse trap. The device failed because people like to throw away the mouse trap with the mouse. They did not want to clean up an expensive super-deluxe mouse trap and opted to stick with the cheap version. Basically, people simply couldn’t relate to the super-deluxe trap… it didn’t meet their needs.

The current health care legislation faces the same problem as the deluxe mouse trap: the people cannot relate to it. Not only has it been presented incomprehensibly so that no one really seems to be able to explain what it is all about, but the parts that can be explained don’t seem to meet the actual needs of the people.

Unlike Europeans, Americans have never been comfortable with the government taking care of them and acting as their primary social service provider. Americans welcome situational or one-time assistance but not systemic assistance. The proposed legislation, however, moves government much closer to this role as a system provider —hence the wide-spread negative reaction so far.
Bottom line: by forcing this brand on the people, the Democrats will be identifying their party brand with it, and that won’t be forgotten anytime soon by their Target Market.

And, remember, things are always easier when you keep marketing and branding in mind.

TODAY'S TANTILLO TAKEAWAY -

Never ignore or condescend to your Target Market.

John Tantillo is a marketing and branding expert and the founder and president of Marketing Department of America. His book, “People Buy Brands Not Companies”, is available on amazon.com

Posted by John at 12:53 PM | Permalink

Following three straight years of sales declines, Hoffman Estates, Ill.-based Sears Holdings Corp. has a big issue on its hand - the need to make Sears, Kmart, and the retailers' brands more relevant in order to survive.

What Sears is doing with its ambitious Kenmore Live Studio experiential campaign is certainly a step in the right direction, but can Sears keep travelling along that path to become a successful company again? Based on opening night impressions, I have some doubts.

Sears has rented some space at Wells and Huron in Chicago, a stone's throw from a number of tourist-friendly eating spots, for a stylish, interactive showroom, laid out with ample white space and wooden floors. Think Apple store meets artist gallery. Open Thursdays through Sundays for at least the next six months, in-person visitors can watch cooking demonstrations, see a recurring Second City show called "Dirty Laundry" and scope out new Kenmore products, while Kenmore fans on Facebook can see events and make comments online.

Creating an emotional connection for an 83-year-old cooking and cleaning appliance brand has got to be a tricky task. I for one have never given Kenmore much thought, let alone considered it a modern brand. Showcasing the brand in such a stylish space, and opening up the experience online, seems like a smart move to make Kenmore more appealing and top of mind for 20 to 40 somethings. As of March 11, the date the studio opened, Kenmore had approximately 200 Facebook fans, which I admittedly would consider a low number even for the type of brand that it is. On the bright side, that number has essentially doubled in five days. At that rate, Kenmore could very well build up a substantial online presence.

There are some good ideas here, but the execution, based on the opening night experience, needs work. Betsy Owens, vice president and general manager of Kenmore, told Marketing News Exclusives that she wasn't interested in "jamming a product down your throat" with Live Studio. In line with that, fliers and event barkers stressed the star of the opening night festivities - Top Chef Season 4 winner Stephanie Izard - as opposed to Kenmore products. But once inside, brand ambassadors, not sure what to do with themselves, kept pushing guests to interact with the Kenmore products and the space. Essentially being commanded to have fun is the exact opposite of fun in my book, and feeling uncomfortable by their pushiness thinly disguised as enthusiasm, I would have bolted sooner if I didn't have a job to do.

I also question whether the content alone is strong enough to support this experience. Will cooking demonstrations be enough to draw in fresh crowds not just away from their vacation and weekend itineraries, but also at home, considering how much cooking content they can get from the Food Network? And I didn't find the Second City bit teased out in a press conference to be particularly funny, and an interactive feature where guests could spray a living mime with pink liquid was, well, a bit unsettling.

Sears also needs to do more to promote this experience. Thus far, I've seen a handful of blog posts here and there, but primarily it's being pushed through its own Web presence and Facebook page. That, in essence, is preaching to the choir, and of course Kenmore will need to attract more than people interested in Kenmore to make this experience worthwhile. And I'm having trouble determining a clear cut schedule of events for the Kenmore studio, so what's the incentive for encouraging people to attend if they don't know what is happening at what date and time?

But there's one aspect to the Sears Kenmore strategy that I find more puzzling than anything else - a complete omission of the parent company inside the studio. Unless you knew that Kenmore was a Sears brand, you would have no idea participating in this experience that you could buy the product exclusively at a Sears or a Kmart store. How is Live Studio supposed to improve sales if it is not also promoting the exclusive retailers that make the product available?

Of course, the Kenmore Live Studio has just begun. Sears has at least six months to get it right. But the clock is ticking - Sears has to do a better job creating engaging content and getting the word out or else they'll quickly lose interest.

You can read more about Kenmore Live Studio in the article "Sears Spotlights Kenmore Rebrand with Experiential Effort," appearing in the March 18 edition of Marketing News Exclusives .

Posted by Piet at 2:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

By Guest Blogger Dr. Bob Deutsch
Brain Sells, Boston
www.Brain-Sells.com

The ubiquitous Lady Gaga is the newest "It Girl" with mega hits, a creative directorship for Polaroid and endorsements for brands like Estee Lauder’s Viva Glam products. But through an anthropologist’s lens, 23 year-old Stefanie Germanotta represents something completely primal, a shamanistic high priestess.

Beyond the torrent of press coverage and her 5.2 million Facebook fans, or "little monsters" as she lovingly calls them, lurks a fascinating back-story. It's not just how Lady Gaga sings and dances to her own beat, like Mic and Astaire, who danced to the melody. Each shaman whether from New Guinea or the Amazon, has an atypical gait and tempo, a reflection of their other-worldliness.

To the Spirit World and Back, with Knowledge
And it's not simply Lady Gaga's theatrics, wild outfits, headdresses and masks, although she shares these with most Shaman who cover themselves with rare feathers and paint their faces with natural pigments. These attention-getting communication devices are necessary accoutrements of the shaman's prototypal ventures out of the temporal and into the "spirit world" where the Shaman does battle with the dark forces of the cosmos -fighting "monsters." As the Lady says, for this you must feel "fierce." One must vanquish all doubt, blood-soaked and mythic.

Following the trials of battle, the shaman comes back to his people (having traveled beyond via trance or hallucinogenic) to give over lessons - practical, existential, and cosmological. In large measure the shaman's expertise lies in how well these teachings are transmitted, such that the tribe experiences what the shaman has, as if they themselves had made the hero's journey, a felt sense of "post-icipation."

Then it is up to individuals of the tribe to rely on their newly expanded beings. Moses is a model: lead your people to the promised land, and then they enter and proceed without you.

The Benevolent Priestess
Lady Gaga is the archetype of the benevolent leader. This completely fearless-about-her-ambition Italian girl from Yonkers, has a dream and is outrageously outspoken, not only for herself but for her fans, particularly her young, female fans.

In her Barbara Walters interview, she voiced the sentiment, wanting to be a teacher, saying, "I want to liberate them from their fears so they can find their own place in the world." In this way, she represents the essence of a brand.

Attaching to Brand Gaga
Human biology and cognition dictates that people will attach to people, and brands, that provide the stimulus to more fully realize their latent potential. Lady Gaga is like the Yellow Brick Road; through post-icipatng in her journey, each fan feels," I can become myself." There is no greater gift to be bestowed.

Lady Gaga's seemingly-instantaneous rise to fame is largely due to her embodiment of a fearless leader, a hero who matches the zeitgeist of performance and pose, while appearing completely authentic. In some peculiar way, Lady Gaga is like other leaders, such as Ronald Reagan or even Pope John Paul, who spontaneously performed and inspired intense emotional attachments and loyalty.

Gaga is Primal
Why is Lady Gaga so watched on YouTube, Twittered about, commented on and searched by the millions? Because she is the real deal. She is primal, a shaman priestess whose performances propels you out of your mundane existence. She is artfully full of life that others may become so too. That s the secret of stardom and that s brand power at its greatest..

Marketer's Takeaway

1. A marketing strategy, no matter how good in the abstract, won't work if its essence is not authentic to the "product."

2. Channel selection is critical, but channels only exist to carry compelling "messages."

3. Modern technologies are great, but how they operate and what they (re)present must answer to what human nature and the nature of mind intrinsically responds to. Remember, the future has an ancient heart.

Dr. Bob Deutsch founded consulting firm Brain Sells, Boston, Mass. in 1990. Bran Sells’ retail clients include TJ Maxx, Marshall's, Home Goods, Radio Shack, Sephora, Verizon stores, McDonalds, Dunkin Donuts and Toyota.

Posted by John at 4:12 PM | Permalink

Hollywood loves remakes, but when it comes to the marketing campaign for Paramount Pictures' "Paranormal Activity," there'll never be an identical do-over, says Amy Powell, executive vice president of interactive marketing strategy and film production. But she expects social media will continue to play a crucial role in creating fervent fans for Hollywood releases. The way she sees it, Twitter and Facebook are already as important to movie marketing as TV spots and trailers. The success of "Paranormal" proves it.

How exactly did a $15,000 fright flick became a $100 million plus hit? "Paranormal" started popping up in cities and college markets for select midnight shows. Positive buzz went viral via Twitter and Facebook, and Paramount teamed with entertainment planning site Eventful to submit demands for the movie to be screened in their hometowns. From there, cities with the most demands got the movie, and the online buzz grew louder. The big breakthrough came after Paramount and Eventful dared 1,000,000 people to submit demands to see "Paranormal" in order for the movie to go national, which it did, just in time to scare up a high gross during Halloween season.

If there's one thing Hollywood loves more than remakes, its crowdpleasing formulas. Repeating the "Paranormal" strategy step by step won't work, Powell admits, but elements from the campaign are still playing in movie marketing campaigns. Twitter buzz was crucial for the "Paranormal" phenomenon, Powell says, and Paramount's own "Up In The Air" campaign acknowledged the social media site users with a flashy custom collected tweets page. Other studios are using Eventful to spread the word: Roadside Attractions for instance is hosting free screenings of its thriller "Cash" in the five cities that accumulate the most demands, with one person in each city winning $2,500. And even after "Paranormal" left theaters, Paramount turned to Eventful users again, encouraging them to submit their names to be included in the credits for the DVD release. (Full disclosure: my wife submitted our names. You can find me in this list, between Pierson Ochoa and Pietari Karppinen). When "Paranormal Activity 2" comes out this fall, Powell promises there'll be major user-generated online marketing behind the effort.

As for how "Paranormal Activity" may have opened Hollywood's eyes, Powell says the campaign illustrated the tangible results digital can deliver, and made the entire company recognize the power social media has in creating fans and driving profits. Powell wants to push fervent fan advocacy even furthur, such as through crowdsourcing (read MN staff writer Elisabeth Sullivan's story to brush up), to strenghten the collaboration and bond between movies and moviegoers.

There's much more from Powell about the "Paranormal Activity" campaign - including the critical role event marketing played - in the March 8th edition of Marketing News Exclusives. Access the story itself here. You can also read more about the campaign, particularly Eventful's role, in the Marketing News article "Digital Dozen," appearing in the March 15 edition, Marketing News' very first special digital issue.

Posted by Piet at 3:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This past week saw two brands go head-to-head, and one emerged as a definitive winner and illustrated some real marketing truths to boot. Without further ado:

Winner

Akio Toyoda is the clear marketing winner this week. The third-generation head of the family company reminded anyone who was listening what responsibility to one’s brand means.

First, Toyoda expressed how deeply hurt he was by his defective vehicles:

"As you well know, I am the grandson of the founder, and all the Toyota vehicles bear my name. For me, when the cars are damaged, it is as though I am as well. I, more than anyone, wish for Toyota's cars to be safe, and for our customers to feel safe when they use our vehicles."

Then Toyoda did something that must have made his lawyers crazy (something I don’t think you’d ever see an American CEO do —and that’s not a compliment): he admitted that too-fast growth had distracted the company from its long-time focus on safety and likely resulted in the tragic problems:

"I would like to point out here that Toyota's priority has traditionally been the following: First, Safety; Second, Quality; and Third, Volume. These priorities became confused, and we were not able to stop, think, and make improvements as much as we were able to before, and our basic stance to listen to customers' voices to make better products has weakened somewhat."

But he wasn’t done. After stripping away all defensiveness or public relations maneuvering of the kind that ultimately gets in the way of the best marketing, Toyoda told the audience what steps he and his team would take going forward to make Toyota cars safer than ever and restore the brand’s reputation for top quality.

Among a series of smart and practical plans that involved creating a direct feedback loop from customers back to Toyota’s management and design teams, he told Congress that he was a qualified test driver and that he and his team would be directly involved in assessing their vehicles. In other words, he left no doubt that safety was going to be Priority #1 at Toyota.

His statement, delivered in a quiet, steady voice, might have been heavily accented but it could not have been more effective. Toyota’s legendary quality hadn’t come from nowhere; it had been built over generations by committed family members, and it was going to be restored under his leadership. (This message was reinforced by the fact that he has only recently become the head of the company.)

I’ll leave you with Toyoda’s words (if this doesn’t go to the heart of marketing, I don’t know what does):

"We now understand that we must think more from a customer-first perspective, rather than a technical perspective, in investigating complaints and that we must communicate faster, better and more effectively with our customers and our regulators."

Fuggedaboutit, Toyoda-san.

The Loser

The losers were for the most part sitting directly across from Akia Toyoda in the hearing.

It was clear from listening to their statements that they hadn’t really listened to the man across from them. In fact, some of the congressmen seemed simply oblivious to the game-changing comments of the Toyota boss. They were going to read from their little scripts no matter what.

Yes, they had their constituents to appeal to and wanted to convey their outrage, but if Toyoda’s statement showed anything, it showed that sincerity and genuine engagement with the matter at hand is the better marketing route.

In a period when the electorate seems more disillusioned by its government than ever, the congressional members on display only reinforced the image of politicians out of touch. Bottom line, they looked like they were playing for points or too slow to change course when the facts changed right in front of them.

If they had planned to knock it out of the park —i.e., look like they were really giving it to a corporate villain— they certainly failed, since Toyoda’s performance made him look like anything but. If anything, they looked like they were beating up a nice guy who was really trying to set things right.

Listening was what Toyoda did, and listening is what Congress must be seen doing if there’s going to be a brand turnaround for these politicos. Stay tuned, but I won’t be holding my breath.

And, remember, things are always easier when you keep marketing and branding in mind.

TODAY'S TANTILLO TAKEAWAY -

Listening to your customers is the core of all marketing.

John Tantillo is a marketing and branding expert and the founder and president of Marketing Department of America. His book, “People Buy Brands Not Companies”, is available on Amazon.com

Posted by John at 12:06 PM | Permalink