Archive for the 'Liquid Brand Summit' Category
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 commentsLiquid and Socratic release the results of annual Brand Impact study.
Liquid Brand Summit attendees got a sneak peek.
Who are the biggest brands in the technology sector? Folks who attended the Liquid Brand Summit last week were the first to find out as Liquid Agency released the findings from an annual research study by Socratic Technologies evaluating the impact of brands in 40 different technology markets.
Facebook dominates social media.
When you combine Facebook’s explosive growth with the fact that TIME Magazine named Mark Zuckerberg its “2010 Person of the Year” and Hollywood released an award-winning film about the company, it’s no surprise that Facebook was named “Brand of the Year” in the Liquid Brand Impact Report 2011. The report summarizes the findings from the annual research study by Liquid Agency and its research partner, Socratic Technologies – which found that Facebook is the clear winner in the social media category.
More than 200 brands are evaluated in the study.
The Liquid Brand Impact Report is derived from a quantitative study of more than 200 technology brands in 40 business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) categories. It examines a brand’s relative strength as measured by its “Brand Power Rating,” which is derived from a Socratic Technologies’ model measuring several key market perceptions: Awareness; Consideration; Preference, and Purchase Intent (ACPP). The Brand Power Rating has a very high correlation to a company’s current market share, but more importantly, it can detect early shifts toward newcomers with the potential to disrupt the status quo.
Adobe scores highest in B2B category.
With its win as Brand of the Year, Facebook edged out Amazon who came in a close second. Adobe, Google and Intel rounded out the top five performing brands. In addition, Facebook also took top honors in the B2C category, while Adobe won the B2B category.
VMware, EMC, Vizio and HTC showed the most growth.
The Liquid Brand Impact Report also tracks the biggest movers up or down in terms of a company’s brand impact in each of the 40 categories. This includes companies like VMware with the biggest upward movement in Virtualization Software, EMC for Enterprise Software, Vizio for HDTV and HTC for smartphones, to name a few.
Download the report.
To download the full Liquid Brand Impact Report 2011, which provides a detailed breakdown of rankings and brand performances in each of the 40 categories, go here.
Brand Leaders Gather at the 2011 Liquid Brand Summit
People, Ideas and Energy — it was all a buzz at this year’s Liquid Brand Summit, held Tuesday at the Four Seasons Hotel in Palo Alto. And what a day it was. By far our most successful event yet, the Summit brought together more than 120 truly outstanding folks — brand marketers, CEOs and thought leaders — who showed up ready to share in an open dialogue and exchange of ideas about their best practices and most difficult challenges in branding and marketing.
This year’s theme, transformation, resonated throughout the room as participants exchanged ideas in ten separate table discussions on topics as diverse as building brand advocacy and culture, the new frontier of social media, design innovation, and the art of telling your brand story — to name a few. Conclusions from those discussions were then shared with the entire group in an end-of-day panel presentation that summarized best practices and key findings. We’ll be expanding on these findings and making them available on the Liquid web site within the next two weeks in our Liquid Brand Summit Best Practices Report. Watch for it.
Our outstanding session leaders were instrumental in making this all possible, and we truly appreciate their dedicated work throughout the day. Thank you as well to our attendees who were so open and willing to share their experiences and thoughts.
We’d especially like to thank the folks who helped make this year’s Summit a success, including Rob Fuggetta and the Zuberance team, Socratic Technologies and Allison & Partners.
Finally, we have to give a call out to Marty Neumeier and Rob Fuggetta for kicking the day off with two presentations that were full of energy and insight. (You can view Rob’s presentation “Energizing Brand Advocates” on SlideShare.) And, of course, a huge thanks to Method Co-Founder Eric Ryan who stepped in at the last minute and did nothing less than “wow” the crowd with a talk that was not only intelligent and entertaining, but downright inspiring. Eric, I think we all agree that you’re a rock star!
In the coming weeks, we’ll be posting content from the Summit on the Liquid site and on our blogs, including live video of the presentations and one-on-one interviews with some of our session leaders. Stay tuned for more to come.
No commentsQ&A with Boost Mobile’s Caralene Robinson
An excerpt of our interview with Boost Mobile’s Brand and Marketing Director, Caralene Robinson. Ms. Robinson will lead a discussion at the Liquid Brand Summit on how brands are turning shoppers into buyers with new retail “experience centers.”
Click here to learn more about the Summit and our other outstanding guest speakers and session leaders.
ABOUT CARALENE:
Caralene Robinson, director of Brand Marketing and Communications for Boost Mobile, has spent more than a decade producing advertising and marketing campaigns across a broad range of products and services. Known for delivering results and creating vanguard campaigns, she’s earned a reputation as a creative innovator. At Boost, Caralene is responsible for planning and executing the company’s consumer marketing. In addition to developing all advertising campaigns, she utilizes brand assets, media, merchandising, creative, sponsorships, and local planning to drive integrated marketing programs that engage Boost Mobile’s core customer base.
Q: Define today’s retail experience through the Boost Mobile lens.
A: The consumer exploration and decision sequence has changed. For significant purchases, consumers now typically research online and collect opinions prior to visiting retail locations. They often visit retail locations with a partial decision, utilizing several locations to compare prices, engage with the product and connect with a live salesperson. Therefore, it is critical to create an engaging informative experience at retail. As a result, while we very much value our retail partners, over the past two years we’ve worked hard to create brand–exclusive destinations designed to create a surround sound retail experience.
Q: How do you think retail experience centers will evolve in two to three years?
A: Retail centers will become more of a comprehensive brand experience, designed to drive acquisition, retention and up–sell.
FOR THE REST OF CARALENE’S INTERVIEW, CLICK HERE.
JOIN THE CONVERSATION:
Interested in retail experience centers? 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 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 Robert Richman of Zappos Insights
Here is an excerpt from an exclusive interview with Zappos Insights guru Robert Richman who has shared with us some of his thoughts on Brand Culture.
Mr. Richman is one of the Session Leaders at the upcoming Liquid Brand Summit, taking place on March 1, 2011 in Palo Alto.
ABOUT ROBERT:
Robert Richman lives in Las Vegas, where he works for Zappos Insights, an off-shoot of Zappos.com that was started by CEO Tony Hsieh to show other companies how to create a workplace people love and a service customers rave about. Robert began his career in 1996 creating sites for U.S. Senators and co-founding the web strategy company Articulated Impact. He co-wrote the business plan for a new online venture from the Tony Robbins companies and has developed digital media strategies for The Hollywood Reporter, Billboard Magazine, and The National Leadership Institute. When Tony met Rob, he asked him to re-launch the Zappos Insights program—then a small web site with a staff of one. Rob has grown the program to a 12-person company, offering a range of experiences and services to educate companies about culture and to give insight into “what” and “how” Zappos.com has built such an amazing culture and brand.
THE SESSION:
Building Brand Culture. Today’s leading brands have one thing in common: They have a strong culture. Growing companies often ask themselves: How can we grow and sustain the culture that makes us successful? Amazon recently purchased Zappos.com. Why? One key reason: Because of their culture and potential to innovate the customer experience on the web and “WOW” them. In this session you can learn how to create a strong brand culture that will fuel your company’s sales, create customer loyalty and attract the right people to work with. Oh – and it will make life at work great!
THE INTERVIEW:
Q: How do you define brand culture?
A: Brand and culture are two sides of the same coin. One faces inside the company; the other faces outside. It is made up of the values, stories and rituals that a company engages, and it all starts from within, so the brand is usually a lagging indicator of the true state of the culture.
Q: How is a company’s overall performance influenced by its brand culture—for example, its management, growth, innovation, customer relationships, etc.?
A: The culture influences everything because it is everything. Said simply, the culture is the way of being. Or to be even more literal: In biology, you use a culture to grow something—it’s the environment that creates the context for growth, interactions, and relationships.
FOR THE REST OF THE INTERVIEW, PLEASE CLICK HERE.
ASK ROBERT:
Please feel free to send us comments or questions, and we will make sure that we include them in the discussions during the Liquid Brand Summit. We look forward to hearing from you.
Making a brand relevant…again. The fine art of revitalization.
When and how do you start a revitalization effort?
Strong, established brands can lose vitality because of a lot of different reasons: Shifts in the corporate structure and/or ownership can be distracting; Audiences and their habits can change making it challenging to remain relevant; Products and services can become obsolete or tarnished over time; The competitive landscape can become more challenging…etc. Brands that were once popular can slide into obscurity, and their value seriously diminish.
Just look at recent efforts from AOL, Yahoo and MySpace who are all trying to revamp their brands. And, outside of the internet/social media space, look at GM – which has emerged from bankruptcy to become the biggest IPO in US history. GM recently beat Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC with a profit of $2.16 billion in Q3 2010 – and now the company is investing to be the first major U.S. automaker to design and manufacture electric motors.
So….what are the tell-tale signs for a revitalization effort?
How does one go about the task of reinvigorating a brand whose luster has faded?
How do brands stay relevant with their audiences?
Join us at the Liquid Brand Summit to discuss this.
On March 1, 2011 we will be discussing this very topic at the upcoming Liquid Brand Summit in Palo Alto with Rosabel Tao, Sr. VP from MySpace – a brand that has seen its traffic and member numbers dwindle due to Facebook’s growth, and has recently admitted that it’s looking to sell off the troubled social network. “News Corp is assessing a number of possibilities including a sale, a merger and a spinout [sic]. The process has just started,” Tao said in a recent interview.
In the meanwhile…we’d love to hear your thoughts about the best strategies and tactics for keeping a brand fresh, transforming relationships with consumers, and creating experiences that build relevance and loyalty.
Your thoughts and ideas are welcome.
1 commentSave up to $200 with the Early Bird rate for the Liquid Brand Summit 2008!
Last week we launched the Liquid Brand Summit site…and we’ve opened up the registration process by offering a discounted Early Bird rate to anyone that signs up by December 15th.
The Early Bird rate represents a savings of up to $200 off the Late Registration fee (which is $850). So, if you want to attend, sign up fast!
Check out the site: www.liquidbrandsummit.com
No commentsTen Principles of Consumer Generated Advertising Campaigns
I was recently reading Max Kalehoff’s blog about Consumer Generated Advertising Campaigns and really think he hits the nail on the head. Many of his comments echo the outcomes of the module from our Brand Summit moderated by Colin Decker. I encourage you to read it and take heed when thinking about using CGM (Consumer Generated Media) in your next campaign.
Important to note that a CGM campaign must be connected to larger business goals (otherwise why bother?) and that CGM is not necessarily a less costly alternative than traditional production as this avenue can be very resource intensive. Finally, item ten in his list is a big winner in my book. Move from campaign to platform. One of Colin’s points during our session and echoed by Max is that the big mistake marketers make is producing a successful CGM campaign, and not “letting it live.” As Max says, “prepare a platform to facilitate and leverage sustained engagement and brand return.”
What do you think?
2 commentsLooking forward to Liquid Brand Summit 2008.
The Liquid Brand Summit 2007 was great!
The feedback we’ve received from many of the attendees has been extremely positive. And the experience was also great for us at Liquid. The summit was a wonderful opportunity to discuss topics about branding that are dear to our hearts. It gave us the chance to share challenges and solutions with people that face the same issues every day, and to put together a set of Best Practices.
We’re already starting the planning process for next year, and we’re evaluating potential dates and locations. We’re also updating the Liquid Brand Summit site, which will include some of the critical content from the original site + a dedicated blog + a photo gallery. Check it out!
