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Winner:

Sometimes personal branding is best done by simply being who you are and doing what you do.

This sums up Mitch Daniels, Republican governor of Indiana and a potential sleeper brand for the next presidential election.

Folks, what I’m getting at here is the idea of authentic brand behavior versus mere brand promotion.

There are personal brands in business and politics that become well known for promoting themselves, but there are also brands that become well known because they labor quietly and successfully for years and the world eventually comes to them. Warren Buffet is a standout example of the second kind.

So is Mitch Daniels. Daniels is starting to get attention for what he is and isn’t doing. He is a Republican governor with incredible government and business credentials running a state very effectively. What he’s not? A Republican figure not currently governing (i.e., Palin, Gingrich, Romney) but inhabiting a public media platform from which to express his ideas.

This article in The Economist gives a pretty good idea why when we look at Daniels, we might really be looking at a serious Republican contender for the White House.

Fact is, when it comes to picking a Republican candidate for president, my sense is that both Palin and Gingrich have aligned themselves too closely with the populist and far-right aspects of Republicanism. This won’t work for them in a general election and because it won’t work for them in a general election, the Republicans will gravitate to someone who has a better chance. Moreover, Daniels, while conservative, has held himself apart from the tea party and other recent political trends. My guess is that over the next year or two, these trends will date and the American people will find a conservative who has been focused on the business of governing instead of self-promotion a very appealing choice.

One last point. Daniels is not only efficient but he’s likeable. And he’s not only likeable, he’s also positive. His brand of conservatism isn’t about simply saying “no” or being rejectionist. He’s an idea man and as I’ve said before, Republican’s can’t be the uncola… They must be for something.

Stay tuned.

Loser:

With the nation’s largest egg recall underway and the FDA reporting 1,000 people or more sickened by salmonella, the egg industry has taken brand damage.

But as with every crisis, there is opportunity.

Bottom line, the large egg producers, especially the ones implicated in unsafe practices, must go on the offensive showing that they are actively taking responsibility for the mess and ensuring the safety of their product. This means direct outreach to consumers in ways that are clear and forthright and will work to restore confidence.

But while the whole egg industry will be, fairly or unfairly, tarred with this crisis, the smaller egg producers known for high standards have an opportunity to break their brands out from the pack and differentiate themselves.

These producers have the chance through smart campaigns and packaging to make sure their customers know that their eggs are safe eggs and always have been. Even better, higher price points (say for organic eggs) might even become a sales strength when folks become willing to ensure that their breakfast doesn’t make them sick.

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

TODAY’S TANTILLO TAKEAWAY –
Sometimes brands can pull ahead by simply doing what they do best –and doing it consistently.

John Tantillo is an AMA member and president of the Marketing Department of America, a New York-based marketing firm.
http://blog.marketingdoctor.tv/

The opinions expressed in this post are the views of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the American Marketing Association.

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Winner: General Motors

As predicted in this space, General Motors just keeps on getting better…

This past week, GM posted its best quarterly profit since 2004.

All because of government money?

Fuggedaboutit!

It’s all because the company was forced to get back to what had made them strong in the first place: their brands.

People buy brands, they don’t buy companies, and this is never more true than with General Motors, whose brands are legendary and have always been the key to their growth.

This is why over the past year and a half, the marketing doctor predicted GM’s return to profitability. Even in the darkest moments of the auto industry in 2008, it was clear that General Motors was already remembering to focus on its brands.

Bottom line, an analyst who followed the marketing could predict the company’s recovery; the analyst who followed the finances and/or the herd (which in this case was the same thing) could only see the company’s demise.

Stay tuned.

Loser: President Obama

It doesn’t matter how many swims in the Gulf President Obama takes. Unless he starts listening to the people and stops listening to his ideology, his brand will only get weaker.

I’m talking about his 9-11 mosque position.

Of course, a president must stand for the highest ideals of our country. And religious toleration is one of our finest ideals (if only the rest of world did it as well as we do at honoring it).

But the 9-11 mosque uproar isn’t about religious toleration, it’s about defending what’s sacred in America. And it’s about being realistic when it comes to important symbolism.

Fact is, it’s about defending our country plain and simple – and that’s supposed to be a President’s top priority.

Folks, I said it all last week, but let me boil it down. The initiative to put up this particular mosque is not only tone deaf but an aggressive act by a very questionable group. Besides being in the poorest of tastes, there is no way that a victory by the mosque builders won’t be seen as some kind of victory for the jihadists who perpetrated the 2001 attack.

Instead of listening to his people and their attempts to express what they are rightly feeling, President Obama has decided to over-ride them by blindly applying ideals that don’t really apply to the situation. This is offensive and condescending to the American people because it assumes that their outrage is racist and anti-Muslim when it is, in fact, legitimate.

Bottom line, even if the President clarifies his initial position, my guess is that the brand damage has been done. People will remember that his first public reaction was to dismiss theirs.

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

TODAY'S TANTILLO TAKEAWAY:
Great brands listen to their target markets.

John Tantillo is an AMA member and president of the Marketing Department of America, a New York-based marketing firm.
http://blog.marketingdoctor.tv/

The opinions expressed in this post are the views of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the American Marketing Association.

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John Tantillo’s Winner and Loser of The Week:

Winner: Ellen DeGeneres

For a brand sometimes choosing not to do something is just as important as doing it.

That’s why Ellen DeGeneres is this week’s winner. She understood that American Idol and the DeGeneres brand were simply not compatible and she made a clean break.

For a celebrity brand, choosing not to do something so high profile is courageous. After all, today’s most sought after celebrities can become yesterday’s news. he Idol job widened DeGeneres profile.

But she probably realized that even though it widened her profile, exposing her to even more people, that it wasn’t necessarily strengthening her brand. For example, fans of the Idol show noted that she didn’t seem to have the edge that judges on the program are noted for –and in a statement DeGeneres said she doesn’t want to have that kind of edge.

Absolutely right. DeGeneres brand is likeable first. She’s funny, but never mean-spirited. The fact that she recognized that her brand strength didn’t connect with Idol and the acted on it should be a lesson for celebrities and non-celebrities alike.

Bottom line, we all have personal brands and if the shoe doesn’t fit, whatever you do don’t try to squeeze in –it will only crimp your style!

Loser: Mosque at Ground Zero

In a perfect world, a mosque at Ground Zero would be fine. But in a perfect world, 9-11 would never have happened. And that’s the point.

Fact is, for most Americans Islam and the attack on the World Trade Center are connected. Long after the hole in the ground that is the construction site is filled and new buildings rise, the 9-11 wound will remain open and mourned. And as long as it is mourned, the negative connection to Islam will remain.

No amount of good will, smart public relations or wishful thinking will change this fact –and the building of a mosque and Islamic community center will only inflame it.

The intent of those who would build it at the site might be honorable. They may genuinely see it as a bridge to better relations between all religions. They say that Christians and Jews will be on the board. All that is good, but…

The act of building a mosque on that sacred site won’t build bridges, it will only burn them.

Why?

Because one of the goals of the kind of radical Islam that was the credo of the 9-11 terrorists was the spread of Islam. Building a mosque, the enshrinement of that goal, on the ground that their destructive act made desolate gives the appearance that these radical religionists were successful in their goal.

It is incredibly powerful symbolism. As one friend of mind recently and memorably said, it would have been like the Japanese opening a sushi restaurant at Pearl Harbor.

I’m all for this great country that allows all religions the freedom to be practiced and Islam certainly has its place here. I’m also a firm believer in healing. But healing takes time and sensitivity.

My friend’s reaction and many others, including the Anti-Defamation League’s opposition and polling numbers, tell me that this particular symbolism must be heeded.

Bottom line, building a mosque at Ground Zero is not only in bad taste for most Americans, it is an aggressive act.

The symbolism of forcing a mosque onto the footprint of the World Trade Center, the graveyard of thousands sacrificed to Islamic extremism bent on conquest, can send only one message: we have conquered here.

Political correctness may have prompted many, including Mayor Bloomberg, to water down this connection, but the World Trade Center site belongs to all Americans.

The question is: is a mosque necessary at the World Trade Center?

The answer is no.

By all means build it nearby, but not on that ground hallowed by 2,750 innocent victims of a religion taken too far.

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

TODAY’S TANTILLO TAKEAWAY –

Sometimes symbolism is too powerful for any brand to ignore.

John Tantillo is an AMA member and president of the Marketing Department of America, a New York-based marketing firm.
http://blog.marketingdoctor.tv/

The opinions expressed in this post are the views of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the American Marketing Association.

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