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Calling B.S. on P&G

Calling B.S. on P&G...

I sometimes recommend strategies that are about differentiating through brand integrity – how a brand treats its customers, employees, community and the environment. Lately it seems everyone is jumping on this bandwagon, even more than ever. Or maybe I am just noticing it more. But as friend, former colleague, fellow strategist John Karlson and I were discussing recently, there is a big difference between making a quick buck off of a cause marketing promotion and making an authentic long-term commitment to a social mission, corporate responsibility, brand integrity, whatever you want to call it.

For example, which one do you think this is, from Dawn dish soap (P&G)?

Smells like the former “quick buck” strategy to me, and the very healthy discussion of the spot on YouTube seems to mostly agree, though it’s definitely the “Skeptic” segment pitted against the “Pollyanna” segment who ran out and bought Dawn because the commercial is cute and the music is great. If you know me, read my blog regularly, or follow me on Twitter, you know which segment I fall into ;)

The commenters point out that P&G tests its products on animals, while the company states that such testing is a last resort. Which, in effect, is sort of a corporate escape hatch, IMHO. Further, the company has formed a “strategic partnership” with the American Humane Society “committed to the elimination of animal use for consumer product evaluation.” Was the objective of that strategy really “doing the right thing”? Or was it “form a defense against PETA”? Either way, if I can be super tactical for a moment, the fact that the spot is a Simulated Demonstration calls its authenticity into question.

Lo and behold, Dawn’s actual Good Guide rating is a whopping 5.7 out of 10. Not “Terrible” – though of couple of their products are rated “Terrible” in the health category – but certainly not good enough to call themselves the environmental good guys. So I’m officially calling BS on this Good Guy strategy, folks.

GoodGuide Rating for Dawn

What do you think? Do you think P&G is for real in this case? Or do you think its corporate whitewashing? If you know anyone from P&G, feel free to invite them to weigh in. I would love to be proven wrong.

For more on brand integrity, I highly recommend the brilliant Marketing Meritocracy blog by John F. Karlson. For more explanation of Good Guide ratings, go here.

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Sponge, Idiot Savant, Creative, Geek.

Sponge, Idiot Savant, Creative, Geek....


A few people have asked what a brand strategist is and what resources I recommend for aspiring brand strategists. In super simple terms, a brand strategist is someone who learns everything there is to learn about a brand and everything surrounding that brand – including its users, fans, prospects, detractors – and can distill it down into only what matters to create the most relevant value proposition. And then recommends marketing and/or communication strategies for bringing that brand to life.

A great brand strategist is:

1) A sponge. You don’t have to be a full-blown Account Planner, necessarily, to be a great brand strategist. But if you don’t have a heaping helping of passionate intellectual curiosity, do choose a different path. My top three books on brand strategy are:
Building Strong Brands, by David Aaker. Very academic but it’s The Bible. This is what Harley-Davidson used to craft their brand identity system when I worked on their business. If you still have questions about what a brand strategist is, read this book and there will be no further possible questions.
Disruption. Beyond Disruption. How Disruption Brought Order. all by Jean-Marie Dru and all absolute must reads.
Truth, Lies and Advertising by Jon Steel.
Those are just the books, obviously there are other publications (I love Communication Arts), numerous blogs (see blog roll for just a few of many), piles of research, etc.
2) An idiot savant. I suck at abstract math, science, and history, and really anything truly useful in the world. But I can cut through a brand strategy like a knife through butter. Which does not exactly put me up for the Nobel Prize, but hey, it’s fun. To be a brand strategist, you need a bizarre God-given ability to take an enormous pile of information and cut to just what matters. To craft it into a tight proposition that is confident, relevant and captures the heart of the brand experience. Frankly, I’m not convinced that being a really great brand strategist can be taught. You are either strategic, or you aren’t. If you aren’t, don’t beat your head against the wall.
3) A creative. Right now, I have on my desk essentially a laminated placemat of a brand value proposition architecture that a new client feels captures their brand to a tee. But it is complete and utter garbage if I can’t translate it to a far more brilliant creative team in a language that they can relate to. (There’s some killer stuff in Truth, Lies and Advertising on how to do this. The hair on the balls of a bee; if that doesn’t pique your curiosity, I don’t know what will. Read it.) So it helps if you have at least some creative urges, sensibilities or at least appreciation.
4) A geek. While tactical planning is (thankfully) not a huge part of the job as a brand strategist, it definitely helps to throw yourself learning about all kinds of media, interactive, social and otherwise, so you can therefore bring forward ideas for how to express your strategies in a variety of ways, which inspires others. And it’s important to be an inspiring geek, not a boring geek. If I am a boring geek, God forbid, I hope you will tell me so I stop blogging.
It’s pretty simple stuff. I hope that helps? What other resources do you recommend?
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Is your brand personality boooooring?

Is your brand personality boooooring?...

Brand personality has always been important. (Duh.) Now, for brands in social media, it matters more than ever. When a brand enters social media it should take a long hard look at how its personality is stacking up in that context. Welcome to the personality contest, folks. Bring it.

Let’s use the airline business as an example. It’s one that I know reasonably well, having worked on the American Airlines business at their agency in Dallas a few lifetimes ago. American has always been a seriously conservative brand. I would describe their brand personality as professional and efficient. It’s the LinkedIn of airlines. Yawn.

When you walk into the par-tay or networking event known as social media, is professional and efficient how you want to be seen? Does that cut it? While those traits are relevant for the frequent business traveler, which admittedly is American’s bread and butter, isn’t there a little more to it that that? Their stated customer commitment on their website is “safe, dependable and friendly” air transportation. So what does friendly MEAN in a social media environment?
Does it mean civil and pleasant responses to customer inquiries, as American seems to provide via @AAirwaves on Twitter? I think it takes more than basic courtesy to be seen as a friendly brand, though I applaud them for being responsive.
Does it mean a rapping flight attendant, as for Southwest Air, which in 2008 was named the Most Admired Airline by Fortune Magazine – probably one or two business travelers reading that, I’m thinking – and the Friendliest Airline by Time.com? A huge part of Southwest’s popularity is, in fact, driven by its brand personality, carried through each customer experience touchpoint. Maybe rap isn’t for everyone, and as I understand it, the Southwest Flight Attendant, David Holmes, started the rap thing himself. But that’s because the company created a culture of personality in which he could do that.
I would say there are plenty of other ways for American – or any brand – to use social media to humanize its brand. That’s half or more of the advantage of these new tools, isn’t it, the ability to put a face on  your brand?
When I go to American’s channel on the new YouTube beta it’s mostly junk about their new planes. Social media is NOT about your planes, your sale, or your junk. It’s about people. Personalities. Stories.

What’s the rest of your competitive social sphere look like? Maybe you’ve also got a brand like AirTran, with its crowdsourcing site everyflight.com and winning points by being the first airline to offer WiFi on every flight. (Hopefully, you do not have their social “hate” groups created by customers.) Based on the Tweet I showed at the start of this post, I would say that when you choose to go social, you are putting yourself in a position where you are going to be compared, and you need to deal with that fact.

I’m not saying any of this to dis American. I would actually give them a pat on the back for being social, and figuring it out, and doing some good things. (And I did try to contact @billysanez from American to get his perspective, but strangely enough have not heard back. Go figure.)
If your brand or your client is participating in social media, take the time to step back and reevaluate 1) what your personality is and whether it needs to evolve and 2) whether how you are expressing it is strong enough.

What do you think about how brand personality needs to evolve?

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