Archive for the 'Brand Strategy' Category
Bill Zabit, veteran branding expert joins Liquid as EVP.
Industry veteran with plenty of talent and experience.
Bill has been the president and CEO of both private and publicly traded companies, and has held a variety of senior executive positions in communications, branding and marketing. He was also a partner in a big-four accounting firm and a principal and national practice leader for one of the largest global business consultancies. Bill has also worked as an advisor and strategist to several of the most prominent companies in the world.
Bill understands Madison Avenue and Wall Street.
His impressive background in both business and marketing makes him well-suited for the role he’s taking at Liquid. He founded, built and developed multiple companies, one of which was a fully integrated agency delivering strategic consulting and creative client services in branding, advertising, PR, corporate communications, marketing communications, investment relations and employee communications to a marquee list of multinational clients. Within five years, the agency was named one of Inc Magazine’s fastest growing companies – going from three employees in one office to 100 employees in seven offices across the U.S. Zabit sold the company to a publicly listed Internet and marketing company in 1998. He then transitioned to the role of president for the buying entity. While he was president, the company went from OTC to NASDAQ listed, and the stock climbed from $6 per share to $48 per share in one year with the company’s market cap reaching a billion dollars.
A career that includes Emmy nominations and lots of awards.
Zabit has earned more than 100 awards of excellence including two Emmy nominations as a director and writer. He has been quoted on a variety of topics by the Associated Press, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Fortune, CNN, ABC, CBS, and NBC television news and national radio.
Although he doesn’t brag, he has plenty of reasons to do so.
Not one to brag, Bill will rarely talk about the three times he was invited to the White House as a communication strategist and advisor to the Clinton Administration. Or on stage with Paul McCartney. Needless to say, we’re very excited that Bill has decided to join our company and help us continue to provide valuable services to clients worldwide.
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Want to become an amazing brand? Build a culture of innovation.
Companies like Zappos and Apple are well known for being innovative. Employees at these companies are passionate about their jobs, committed to their brands…and ultimately help churn out one innovative product or service after another. Coincidence? Perhaps not. Actually, the importance of building a vibrant corporate culture is quickly becoming a hot topic in boardrooms all over the country…even all over the globe. Business leaders are realizing that people make the difference in their ability to be competitive and innovative. But how does this happen? How do you mobilize an entire organization to make powerful innovation-inspiring business decisions quarter after quarter? Make it your culture. Culture change isn’t easy, but the enormous return on making an investment in it is no less than shocking. Join the discussion on June 8 and learn why culture is the best tool for creating value.
This webinar will provide great insights into culture change.
We invite you to attend a webinar by Josh Levine, our Director of Internal Branding and get some valuable insights into what it takes to build and maintain a culture of innovation within your company. Sponsored by Microsoft and delivered through DMI (The Design Management’s Institute) as part of their Design Lecture Series, the webinar will take place on June 8 at 1:00PM EST. Learn more.
As a friend of Liquid you can take advantage of a special discounted rate.
Liquid Agency has negotiated a special discounted rate, which we are making available to any of our clients, partners and vendors. If you are not a DMI member, the rate is $125, but by using the following form you will be able to attend for only $85 – which is the same rate you would get if you are a DMI member. Download the form here.
About Josh Levine:
For more than a decade, brand strategist and noted industry expert Josh Levine has helped global brands engage consumers and empower employees. As Director of Internal Branding at Liquid, he helps organizations live their brand by designing and building culture-change programs.
Learn more about Josh Levine and his role at Liquid here.
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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 commentLiquid & Aviat are winning awards.
Liquid wins REBRAND 100 Global Award for the branding of Aviat Networks.
Winning awards is always flattering. It means that respected professionals think you do the kind of work that sets new standards in the industry. When that type of recognition comes with an international pedigree, then it’s something worth celebrating. And, that’s why we’re excited to announce that Liquid won a 2011 Rebrand Global Award for the rebranding work we delivered for Aviat Networks.
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Winning a REBRAND 100 Global Awards is a significant accomplishment.
The REBRAND 100 Global Awards is the first and most respected recognition for repositioned brands from across the world — meaning a brand “transformation”. Featured in publications like The Wall Street Journal, CNN Money and Bloomberg Businessweek, this annual competition receives entries from global organizations, Fortune 50 corporations, small businesses, entrepreneurs, nonprofits, cities, and universities from around the globe. Some past winners have been based in Brazil, Canada, China, India, Italy, Lebanon, Romania, Australia and the United Kingdom, in addition to the US. Aviat Networks was selected for a 2011 Rebrand 100 Global Award of Distinction. “We are honored to receive this award. This is a significant global competition, and it’s nice to know that we can compete with some of the best agencies in our industry at a global scale” said Alfredo Muccino, the Chief Creative Officer of Liquid Agency.
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A distinguished panel of judges selects the winning entries.
Each year, a multidisciplinary mix of respected international industry experts gathers to jury the competition. The entries include before and after examples of the work with written summaries outlining the strategic thinking behind the design execution. Some of the criteria used to evaluate the viability of the work includes:
• A clear evolution or transformation to meet strategic objectives
• Exceeded expectations and/or incorporated an element of surprise
• Spurred an emotional connection in the target audience
• Intelligently executed and capable of being implemented across a variety of media
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Aviat Networks underwent a major transformation.
Our client was originally known as Harris-Stratex, however, due to a change in ownership and a shift in its business focus, the company needed to evolve its brand. Liquid was hired to manage the brand transformation process. This extensive project included crafting a brand strategy and messaging platform, developing a new name, and designing a comprehensive identity program. Today the company is known as Aviat Networks and has quickly developed a reputation as a leading provider of end-to-end wireless solutions to clients that include public and private telecom operators in countries across the globe. Click here to read the full case study.
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Q&A with Myspace SVP of Communications Rosabel Tao
An exclusive interview with Rosabel Tao of Myspace.. Ms. Tao led a discussion on brand relevancy at the Liquid Brand Summit, held March 1 in Palo Alto. View photos of the Summit here.
ABOUT ROSABEL
Rosabel Tao is an accomplished corporate communications strategist with two decades of experience creating integrated, multi-disciplinary communications programs and building communications organizations from the ground up. She’s worked with a broad portfolio of companies in a full range of growth stages-from global brands to start-ups, including of Bank of America, Microsoft, HP, Levi Strauss, Safeway and Spot Runner.
Q: As brands evolve, so do their audiences. What are some tactics companies use to ensure brands remain aligned with their core audiences or adapt to new audiences as market forces change?
A: First, brands need to be very clear about who their desired target audience is and focus on serving that audience. This is more difficult than it sounds – I’ve seen many companies try to be all things to all people for fear of not capturing everyone who could possibly want their product/service. Oftentimes, this results in an offering that is too broad to appeal deeply to any one audience and prevents the brand from truly taking root. It’s best to build a core, loyal audience first and expand from there.
Disneyland, for example, has historically catered to families with children. Over time, the theme park has added new rides and shows and expanded some of its marketing to appeal to a broader audience, but at the heart, it continues to remain true to its core demographic.
Starbucks is an example of a company that built a loyal core audience for its coffee drinks and the experience of its stores. There was period of time when it expanded very quickly and got into music, food, ice cream, merchandise and more – and it lost focus of its core customer and started losing marketshare to a wide array of competitors. Since then, it has recommitted itself to its heritage of coffee and the store experience.
Q: If brand relevancy is partly based on perceptions (i.e. the perception of the market, media, customers and partners), what do think are some of the main challenges to managing customer perception? Can you give one or two specific examples of brands that have been successful or unsuccessful in changing and/or managing perception with regard to brand relevancy?
A: The challenge is that many factors influence customers’ perception of a brand, some of which are controllable and some of which aren’t. What is controllable is the direct experience they have with the company, such as quality of the product and customer service. What is not controllable is what they hear about the product – from their peers, the marketplace, press, blogs, etc. While these factors cannot be controlled, they can be influenced. Sometimes a brand that is in a stagnant or challenged state can be turned around with a game changing “moment in time” that in essence, acts like a defibrillator. This is a gamble, but it can work IF it is followed up with a longer term, sustained approach that delivers on a new promise.
John McCain’s selection of Sarah Palin as his vice presidential candidate wasn’t enough to win the election. But one’s loss is another’s gain . . . Saturday Night Live became hot again with Tina Fey’s skewering portrayal of Palin. Fey’s first Palin sketch became NBC.com’s most watched viral video (at that time) with 5.7 million views by the following Wednesday and the October 18, 2008, show had the best ratings of any SNL show since 1994.
Last year, when Conan O’Brien was being pushed aside for Jay Leno, he published a heartfelt manifesto to the “People of the Earth” that immediately cast him as the underdog hero, rallied his supporters and swayed a lot other people – particularly younger audiences – to Team Coco.
Time Warner attempted to change its old media perception with its merger with AOL. The marriage of those brands didn’t ultimately work out so well but AOL’s acquisition of HuffPost might.
Q: Technology plays an important role in helping brands to create unique customer experiences that build brand relevance and loyalty. For example, the ability of a brand to customize a customer experience based on their specific likes, dislikes, needs and desires. Can you give one or two specific examples of brands that have used technology and the digital experience to build brand relevancy with their customers?
A: I’m a big fan of the Pepsi Refresh Project. I’m sure everyone knows the story, but in 2010, they opted out of airing a TV ad during the Superbowl and announced they would create contests to give away millions of dollars in grants to fund good ideas that make the world a better place. They conducted an amazing viral campaign that spread like wildfire – and the campaign continues to feed itself through technology – contestants submit their ideas online, the approved ideas are publicly posted online where people vote for their favorites and contestants have to use social media, mobiles apps and texting to rally votes for their cause – thereby exponentially spreading the Pepsi brand.
Another good example of a company that has leveraged technology very well to establish brand loyalty and relevancy is Amazon. Amazon started as an online book seller and expanded its core offering to many other e-commerce categories to meet the growing needs of their audience. With its use of technology to personalize the shopping experience (i.e., recommendations engine, public customer reviews, etc.), along with competitive pricing and superior customer service – it made e-commerce a serious competitor to bricks and mortar stores and was a major force in shifting the dynamics of retail sales forever.
Myspace recently relaunched as a social entertainment destination for Gen Y – which is entertainment with a social media layer. It’s using technology to create a rich, highly personalized experience for people to discover content and connect with other fans who share similar interests. Users actually personalize the experience for themselves by expressing interests, sharing tastes and knowledge around particular topics, and scouting out up-and-coming subcultures.
WATCH FOR MORE FROM THE LIQUID BRAND SUMMIT 2011
We’ll soon be publishing more content from the Liquid Brand Summit, including additional video interviews with our expert session leaders, as well as key findings from the Summit’s 10 sessions.
Also, check out this year’s top tech brands, as named by the the Liquid Brand Impact Report 2011.
For more on brand transformation, visit Liquid Agency.
No 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 at dConstruct 2010.
Going into it’s 6th year, dConstruct 2010 invites and brings together leading industry figures to explore the power of design thinking. Held this year on September 3 in Brighton, England, dConstruct is the affordable one day conference for those designing and building web applications.
Marty Neumeier, Director of Transformation at Liquid Agency, has been invited to speak at this exciting one day event. His latest book, The Designful Company, explores how complex business problems we face today can’t be solved with the same thinking that created them. Instead, we need to break away from traditional management approaches and start with designful thinking. In his session, Marty will explain why designful thinking will become the new best practice, and how you can leverage your unique position as a brand-builder to transform the way business does business in the 21st century.
Follow dConstruct on Twitter for the latest updates. Find out who the speakers are here.
No commentsKnowing. 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.
14 commentsSteal This Idea: Culture Quiz
Culture Quiz
By Marty Neumeier, author of The Designful Company
Transformation is in the air. Business leaders across industries are recognizing that “old school” management isn’t up to the task of nonstop innovation. As a result, companies that were once run from the top down are steadily shifting to a more networked style of management in which employees and customers play a greater role in driving innovation. Networked cultures tend to be more creative, more agile, and better able to anticipate the needs of customers.
How do you create a culture of innovation? By recognizing one simple fact: If you want to innovate, you’ve got to design. Design and design thinking are the tools that create new products, new services, new business models, new markets, and new industries. The best way to leverage innovation—as outlined in my latest book—is to build a “designful company”. (Buy the book.)
To find out where you are on the culture curve, take this simple test: Share a total of 10 points across each of the 10 pairs below. For example, if your company is more siloed than collaborative, you might score it 6 and 4. When you’ve finished, add up the two columns to measure your progress. If your totals come out to 60 and 40, for example, you could say that you’re 40% along the path to an innovative culture.
