Archive for the 'Brand Management' Category
Brand advocates are more important than ever.
The growth of the social web has meant one thing to a lot of people: information overload. So much so that folks are regularly sharing content without consuming it — we’ve all been guilty of this at one time or another. You get a headlined Tweet or Facebook post from a particular writer or brand X and you pass it along, never bothering to click through and actually read or view the content.
David Spark makes some interesting observations about this in a recent Mashable article titled “Why Sharing Online Content Might Be Too Easy”:
None of this “sharing without consumption” behavior surprised me, but I thought these users were in the minority, and that it would never be pronounced enough to be noticeable. That was until I saw one of my own posted videos receive more shares than views. It was a low discrepancy, 52 shares and 48 views, and I didn’t see any bot-like behavior. Still, it was clear to me that sharers were more interested in being seen as someone sharing my video, entitled “How do you get everyone to watch your video,” rather than actually watching it.
My situation is not an anomaly. SocMetrics, an influencer identification service, was able to uncover 100 more similar cases of shares exceeding views.
So how does a brand rise above the content clutter and stand out? How do marketers get their customers to actually read an article or view a video? Rob Fuggetta, CEO for Zuberance, a company that helps brands leverage word–of–mouth, says look to your brand advocates — energize those folks and encourage them to share your brand’s content.
“There’s a trend that has been taken place whereby consumers don’t trust marketers and advertising, but they do trust their peers and friends,” says Fuggetta. “What traditional media channels and advertisers continue to face is a loss of trust between brand creator and consumer. That’s why brands need to be building relationships with brand advocates to act as marketing partnership with friends.”
Before rallying your advocates, though, you’ve got to first identify who they are. And surprisingly, a brand’s best advocates are not always the customers who buy the most. They are the customers whose word–of–mouth brings the most profitable new customers to your door, regardless of how much they themselves buy. Identify those people by sending inquiries to your CRM database on their likelihood to recommend your brand on a scale of 0 to 10 (Fuggetta calls this the “ultimate question”) with 0 being low and 10 being high. Those who answer 9 or 10 are the ones you want to energize.
You can also scan the social web for evidence of brand advocacy – like testimonials on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and other social networks.
Once you’ve identified your advocates, give them what they need to go out and spread the word. Keep in mind, though, that not all brand advocates are alike. Some are willing to create content, while others may prefer to share offers and still others may only be willing to give a testimonial. Brands, therefore, need to develop some kind of learning system that helps them figure out what their advocates are willing to do. And by all means, don’t annoy people by asking them to do something multiple times they haven’t responded to in the past.
Also, find ways to identify with your advocates and build a strong sense of community. Reinforce their brand experience and reward engagement by showing genuine appreciation for the work they do on your behalf. This gives them a stake in the brand and will encourage advocates to share on your behalf. And — at least in theory — that sharing gives you a better chance of actually getting others to read or view your content. After all, wouldn’t you be much more likely to click through something a friend or colleague sends versus what’s coming directly from a marketer?
We’d love to hear from you. Share your thoughts and comments on how to get people to actually engage with branded content.
1 commentQ&A with method Soap Master Eric Ryan
An excerpt of our interview with method Co-Founder Eric Ryan. Mr. Ryan will lead a discussion on turning customers into brand advocates at the upcoming Liquid Brand Summit, held March 1 in Palo Alto.
Click here to learn more about the Summit and our other outstanding guest speakers and session leaders.
ABOUT ERIC:
Eric Ryan is one-half of the “proud brain parents” of method, the leading innovator in eco-friendly household and personal care products. He started method in 2001 with his high school buddy Adam Lowry and has since built the company into a $150 million retail brand that was ranked the 7th fastest growing company in America by Inc magazine. He’s been named an eco-leader by Vanity Fair, a Food & Wine Tastemaker, an eco-revolutionary by Time Magazine, and PETA’s Person of the Year.
With method, Eric has successfully grown one of the world’s most loyal brand communities, the core of which is rooted in the company’s distinct values and brand culture.
THE INTERVIEW:
Q: What were some of the initial challenges you faced in building a community of brand advocates for method? Can you describe the one or two things that were most successful in growing that community?
A: One of the biggest challenges for creating advocacy within method is the fact that we compete in very low-interest categories. While there are self proclaimed “clean freaks” in the world (think the character Monica in the TV show “Friends”), it is difficult to build a community around the act of cleaning, which most people consider a chore to be avoided at all cost.
We took the approach of building advocacy around a diverse set of shared values which includes the emotional connection to our homes, caring for loved ones in our homes (i.e. pets and children) and the environment our homes sit on. The end result is that our advocates share our passion for design, sustainability and eliminating toxins from the home—and it’s these shared values that allow us to create advocacy in a low-interest category.
The core of growing this community starts with our culture. The team at method is truly passionate about our values and this comes through in everything we do as an authentic brand. We purposely blur the lines between who we are and who we serve under the belief that we are all “People Against Dirty.” This allows us to build the brand from the inside-out with a high level of transparency providing a lot of ways to connect with our advocates.
Want more from the method Master Eric Ryan? FOR THE REST OF THE INTERVIEW, CLICK HERE.
JOIN THE CONVERSATION:
Send your questions and thoughts. We’ll include them in discussions at the Liquid Brand Summit. We look forward to hearing from you.
Q&A with Chuck Eichten, Design Director of Nike DNA
Read our exclusive interview with Chuck Eichten, Design Director for the Department of Nike Archives, and a session leader for the Liquid Brand Summit taking place March 1, 2011 in Palo Alto.
Every great brand has a powerful story to tell. By creating these stories and sharing them, brands can build a powerful, emotional connection to their audiences. Without question, brands that master the art of storytelling have an advantage over the ones that don’t—take Nike for example. In this Q&A, Chuck shares his thoughts on the important role brand storytelling plays in building a brand’s identity and culture.
ABOUT CHUCK:
Chuck Eichten started at Nike as an apparel designer in 1996 and later moved to Nike Brand Design where he led the packaging, the logos, the books, the posters, the retail spaces and event experiences. Chuck is currently the Design Director for the Department of Nike Archives (DNA). In DNA he helps gather and preserve the Nike stories, and find fresh new ways of telling them again. The story of how the first best-selling Nike shoe was born of a waffle iron. How Phil Knight, when he first saw the swoosh mark, said reluctantly, “Well, I guess I’ll get used to it.” Why Michael Jordan wanted to sign with adidas out of college.
INTERVIEW EXCERPT:
Q: Why do you think the concept of “story” is so compelling to people, and how does story influence the brand?
A: Stories are compelling because that’s how our lives unfold. Stories provide context to what happens in our lives. You have a story to accompany anything that happens in your life. When brands tell stories, it makes them feel more real, more alive, more honest…more like us.
Stories influence brands the same way stories influence our lives. Grandma tells us a story and it becomes a part of who we are. It explains something about us. Stories are something we share as families, and as employees. Our stories make us unique, and help us imagine the traits that set us apart — and likely way above all the rest.
Stories of strength, of obstacles overcome, of passion, and belief, mistakes made and hard work that paid off (maybe even when no one else believed it would), that’s something to build a family or a brand around.
MEET CHUCK:
Learn more about the Brand Summit and how you can get a chance to meet Chuck Eichten, click here.
READ THE FULL INTERVIEW:
To read the full interview, please click here.
Organic Drivetrain
In a survey by Liquid Agency (formerly Neutron) and Stanford University, 1500 business leaders were asked to rank their top ten biggest problems. Their number-one problem? “Balancing long-term goals with short-term demands.” In large corporations, the phrase “short-term demands” is code for “shareholder demands.”
The solution to this conundrum is sustainable earnings. A CEO who can deliver solid shareholder returns quarter after quarter can afford the luxury of pursuing a long-term vision.
When you ask any CEO what keeps him or her up at night, the answer is usually shareholder value. And when you ask what drives shareholder value, the answer is usually earnings growth. But what drives earnings growth? Innovation, of course! Okay, but what drives innovation? Working backwards, the engine for non-stop innovation is company culture. It takes a culture of innovation to turn innovation into a core competency, so that successful new businesses, products, and services, are more than a matter of chance. But what drives culture? The answer here is company vision.
Without a bold, beguiling vision, there’s no rallying point for culture.
These links represent a drivetrain for organic growth. If you want sustainable earnings at the back end, you need to invest in the links at the front end—vision, culture, and innovation. These are the investments that can generate profits year after year, not just quarter after quarter. Download slide set.
Celebrity endorsement: The road to fame or the road to shame?
Sometimes celebrity partnerships work out very well. And sometimes they can be a disaster.
For example, In 2004 Glaceau VitaminWater recruited the rapper 50 Cent to help promote the brand. He created his own VitaminWater flavor and sales of the brand skyrocketed among young consumers. Nike’s relationship with Michael Jordan is the stuff of legend. And Priceline has done well with William Shatner for over a decade; and lately Dr. Dre is using his own brand to help promote HP’s Envy notebooks. These partnerships have worked out very well.
Of course, that’s not always the case. Tiger Woods’ personal issues became a fiasco for several brands – while allegations of drug use by Kate Moss led to Chanel, Burberry and H&M terminating their relationship with the model.
Do the benefits of working with celebrities outweigh the risks? Can a troubled celebrity seriously damage a brand that is being endorsed by them? What can brands do to protect themselves from negative publicity generated by celebrities associated with the brand? What’s the best way to structure such relationships? Which brands have done this well? When do brands drop the relationship and how?
We’d love to hear your thoughts. Please post your comments!!!
3 commentsBrand ManageCamp 2010: Fresh thinking starts here.
Last week a few of us went to Las Vegas to attend Brand ManageCamp, where Marty Neumeier, our Director of Transformation was one of the featured speakers. The event was very well attended, with over 300 branding professionals who came from cities across the country – and also quite a few from outside the US (We met one attendee that flew in all the way from Qatar!). I wanted to compliment Len Herstein for putting together an extremely well organized, inspirational and very successful event. The line up of speakers was outstanding and the topics extremely relevant. It was a pleasure being there as an attendee – and Marty was also very pleased in terms of his experience as a presenter.
Here are some highlights from the presentations we were able to attend:
Andy Stefanovich
Andy, who has co-authored more than 24 books on branding an marketing, started the day and “woke” everybody up with an energetic presentation on “Inspiration” as a brand differentiator. Andy encourages people to take risks, be provocative in a positive context, be passionate, and create an inspirational culture within the work environment.
David Meerman Scott
David presented ideas from his book “New Rules of Marketing and PR”. According to David, “It’s all happening in real time…bloggers pick up stories and then the machinery starts and it has a life of its own.” He recommends having a “real time mindset” and using the same media form to respond, so you have a chance to stay on top and put out the fire. David believes that companies need to start planning in much faster cycles – and make decision in real-time or they will not have any chance at shaping the buzz.
David Aaker
Without question one of the most respected authorities in branding, David explained that first movers define a category and subsequently have an opportunity to “own it” – giving them a huge advantage. According to David, the first mover is not always the pioneer, it’s more important that the brand is authentic and sets up barriers to the competition with a set of clear brand/ product values. According to his research, first movers “own” a market for a very long time and profit highly. One of his most memorable examples was the Chrysler minivan, first introduced in 1983 as a new product segment, it dominated the market (45%) for a long time. Finding a neglected customer base can also be a great entry into new and highly profitable markets for products and services.
Bob Gilbreath
The author of “The Next Evolution of Marketing”, touched upon some of the same points made by David Aaker – but he had a slightly different approach. Bob suggested that brands should consider “unique actions” to create special relationships with their customers – he called this practice “Makerting Meaning”. For example, during the recession Hyundai started a campaign where they would take the car back if the buyer lost their job – no questions asked. Sales rose 20%. Another example involved the “Samsung power stations” at airports – and we all know how helpful that can be for all of our gadgets. Bob suggests that with these “unique actions” a brand can create special relationships – and that creates strong brands.
Jackie Huba
Jackie is a noted author and consultant, and she delivered one of the best presentations of the day (at least, in my opinion). We all know the 4 Ps of Marketing: Product, Price, Place and Promotion. Jackie spoke about the “5th P”: Participation. She shared the story of “Makers Mark” (www.makersmark.com), describing how they are creating their own evangelists. She also mentioned Harley Davidson (www.harley-davidson.com), of course. Both of these brands have created once-a-year events bringing together their entire evangelist tribe…so they can all celebrate the brand while doing something good for a worthwhile cause. She also pointed out how these brand fans create their own shared symbols. Take the hand claw symbol used by Lady Gaga fans, for example. Lady Gaga calls her fans “little monsters” (therefore the little monster claw).
Don Schultz
Don teaches Integrated Marketing Communications at Northwestern University, and he opened up his presentation with 2 essential questions: How much should I invest in my brand? How much return will I get? The room got pretty quiet very fast. You’d think that someone would have known the answer, but the 300 people in attendance did not. He blasted out the follow up question: How the hell do you want to sell it to your CFO? The answer, according to Don, is to determine the customer’s financial value and to redefine Marketing Budgets as “Investments in Customers”. Getting everything to look the same is way less important than getting all the brand’s messages, opportunities and incentives aligned in order to reach the customers and impact the marketplace. Analyzing this will help answer how much should I spend, what media should I buy, and how long will it take for returns on investments. You are now ready for your CFO.
Jeffrey Hayzett
The former CMO of Eastman Kodak gave a very colorful presentation. He shared his insights on Kodak campaign that were successful and those that were not-so-successful. Jeffrey believes that “if you’re gonna fail, fail fast and cheap”. What has helped him succeed in his quest to turn Kodak around has been to “jump over corporate walls” and complexity, and simply taking the necessary risks if they are justifiable. Again, we heard the importance of real time marketing. Like others, Jeffrey emphasized that “no time can be lost – even if this means bending the rules to succeed”. He recommended a culture that promotes the idea that no one would be killed if they make a mistake. Be brave and be bold. I felt he truly represented this philosophy – and really enjoyed his presentation.
Marty Neumeier
Marty’s speech included highlights from both his bestsellers, ZAG as well as The Designful Company. He started his presentation mentioning the fact that during this economic downturn Apple has increased its profits 6-fold. Steve Jobs response to the recession was: “we intend to keep innovating.” This is exactly in line with one of Marty’s favorite mantras: “IF YOU WANNA INNOVATE, YOU GOTTA DESIGN”. According to Marty, the prevalent approach is to define a problem and start implementing a solution. To truly innovate, he believes that a crucial step is required: to design. Marty invites brands to experiment with possible solutions, be creative, work as a team from several parts of the company, implement small solutions, evaluate how well they work, improve and reflect results. In today’s highly competitive and cluttered market it is very tough to stand out. Marty suggests that in order to be successful, it is necessary to be radically different. In his language “when everybody Zigs, you should ZAG”. He mentioned the Aeron chair from Herman Miller. The Aeron chair took a radical new approach, creating more of a “sitting machine” than a chair. During tests, people did not respond positive to the looks at all, but once they sat on it, the overall response was “WOW”. A complete new chair category was born and the Aeron became the most successful product ever created by Herman Miller.
Aaron Magness
Aaron was the final speaker of the day, and he delivered a lot of interesting information about what made Zappos.com so successful (Amazon bought Zappos in 2009 for almost $1 Billion). Aaron talked about the huge growth that Zappos have had, and how it mainly happened through word of mouth, fueled by their outstanding customer service. He mentioned that one of the drivers for expanding their product range beyond shoes was that they noticed people searching for other product categories in their site search. Paying close attention to what is important to your customers is key to long term success. He also talked about the fact that “people make the company” and Aaron stressed how important it is to hire the right people and – the need to act quickly – if they don’t work out.
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Turning customers into brand advocates: What’s the secret?
Some brands create such strong customer communities that they are practically cults.
Apple, the Grateful Dead, and Harley Davidson are a few good examples. The customers for these brands become part of a tribe – with its own culture and sense of belonging. The brands that succeed in creating such a strong connection among its customers and employees benefit from exceptionally high levels of loyalty, to the extent their customers rarely practice brand-switching – instead, they actually promote the brand actively – and often try to convert others into becoming “brand believers”.
I am curious to see if anyone has any thoughts on how do companies create such strong affection for their brands that their customers are compelled to become active brand champions? Does this phenomenon happen on its own…or is there a secret to help it along? If so, what are the programs that are put in place? How are they run? What are the strategies and tactics that turn average customers into brand advocate superheroes? On the other hand, in your experience what have brands tried that simply does not work?
Your thoughts and ideas are welcome. We look forward to hearing from you!!!
12 commentsMarty Neumeier at Brand ManageCamp 2010.
Brand ManageCamp 2010 is an intensive two-day conference that features the most engaging and dynamic speakers in branding. This year, Marty Neumeier, Director of Transformation at Liquid Agency has been selected along with twelve peers to speak at this renowned event in Las Vegas, September 21-22.
Created by experienced branders over eight years ago, the Brand ManageCamp marketing conference has become a place to generate new ideas today’s brands need in order to survive. Industry mavericks, best-selling authors, world-renowned experts – these leaders in innovative brand thinking will cover a wide variety of topics to help broaden perspectives, generate fresh, actionable ideas, and become a stronger marketer and a more dynamic leader. Some topics will include: Determine where to spend your precious marketing dollars, Drive innovation and creativity through a discipline of inspiration, Get big results by thinking and acting small, and much more.
“Industry professionals attend this conference because they want fresh inspirations on how to take their brand to the next level,” said Marty Neumeier. “I’m both honored and excited to be able to share what I’ve learned at an event like this.”
Marty will be speaking on Wednesday, September 22 about “How to build a culture of nonstop innovation” from his latest book, The Designful Company. In an era of fast-moving markets and leap-frogging innovators, companies can no longer merely “unlock” wealth. Today they have to actively “create” wealth, or end up in the fossil layers of business history. As a result, brand-builders have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to play a key role in the next management revolution.
Find out more about Brand ManageCamp 2010 here.
No commentsLiquid launches the Hitachi LifeStudio brand.
Hitachi hires Liquid to develop launch campaign for new brand.
Hitachi LifeStudio is a new brand of hard drive products that takes simple storage and backup to a whole other level. When Hitachi started looking for an agency to help them launch the new brand, they selected Liquid because of our experience with technology brands and retail. Working on the LifeStudio launch has been fun because the products are truly unique. LifeStudio is much more than an ordinary drive – the products include software designed to help users manage their “digital mess” through an innovative interface that enables people to find, organize, and share photos, movies, music and files like never before. This is a total breakthrough for this category…as no other drive offers this type of user experience.
From messaging to merchandising, we delivered a complete launch campaign.
Liquid worked closely with the Hitachi marketing team to collaboratively develop all of the materials needed for the launch. We started by crafting a new messaging platform, then we developed product videos and marketing collateral, and lastly we designed a modular merchandising solution that includes inline, end caps, and stand alone kiosks for retailers nationwide. We worked with Rapid Displays to quickly execute prototypes, work out details and to build the units that would end up in the retail stores.
LifeStudio is truly an amazing series of products.
Hitachi has practically re-invented the category, and built tons of innovations into the LifeStudio series of products. As is typical with most new products, there are a few areas for improvement, as pointed out by Walter Mossberg in his recent review on the Wall Street Journal: “I can recommend the LifeStudio drives for local and online backup, if Hitachi follows through and fixes the “read-only” bug I encountered…” According to Hitachi the company is addressing all of the issues and it is committed to delivering a great user experience. LifeStudio has also been reviewed by CNET, and CoolestGadgets, among others.
Want to get one of your own?
The new line of products are currently available at Office Max, Fry’s Electronics, Micro Center, and can also be purchased online at Amazon, BestBuy, and Newegg.
Knowing. Making. Doing.
As I said in my book The Designful Company, if you want to innovate, you have to design. Yet design is a foreign language to most business managers. This is because the principles of traditional business management principles evolved to serve the needs of the industrial age. They rely on a mechanical two-step process for making decisions: knowing and doing. You “know” something—from a past experience, a case study, or a best practice—and then you “do” something.
The problem with this process is that what you “know” is limited to either “what is” or “what was,” while innovation is all about “what could be.” It’s impossible to know what could be without the process of design. To generate new ideas, the design process inserts a middle step: making.
Through the act of prototyping—using sketches, models, maps, mockups, simulations—the “making” step puts options on the table that weren’t there before. It pushes back on what we think we know, and also changes what we’re likely to do. It shifts the emphasis from “deciding” the future to “designing” the future. In a business climate that requires perpetual innovation, industrial-age thinking is useful, but woefully inadequate. We also need design thinking.Here’s a simple pair of slides you can throw into your presentations when you build a case for a more innovative culture. Download slides.
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