The Finch Post

The Falling Star of Celebrity Endorsement - Part 2 of a 4 Part Series

Part 2: Hail to the Geeks

One of the best examples of companies selling their unique corporate culture along with a product or service is The Geek Squad. Formed in 1994 with a flimsy $200 endowment, founder Robert Stephens wanted his company to be more than just another IT consulting and repair service. He was well aware that competitors could deliver equally as effective technical support. He also knew that IT professionals were stymied by stereotype. How did Stephens separate himself from the high-tech herd? Simple: he embraced the qualities that made geeks different and in doing so differentiated The Geek Squad.

To achieve this, the geeks in Stephens’ squad had to BE the brand, eating, sleeping, and dreaming his singular vision. Each “agent” was given a 1950s-inspired geek chic uniform consisting of black pants, short-sleeved white dress shirt, and skinny black tie. To add dimension to the company’s whole retro police detective schtick, Stephens also outfitted his staff with cast-metal badges manufactured by the same company supplying local law enforcement with their bling. 

After looking the part, The Geek Squad had to act the part. One famous case of theatrics involved The Geek Squad staging a SWAT team mission in order to win an account. The farce was so effective that the prospective client actually thought it was a legitimate police operation.    

From custom-designed shoes with a reverse imprint logo on the sole, to die-cut oval shaped business cards offering computer tips, Stephens never missed an opportunity to showcase his brand. An eye for detail, sharp self-awareness, and passion for promotion fueled The Geek Squad’s rocket-like ascent into the hearts and minds of consumers. Like mother always said, “be yourself and people will love you.” 

4 of the Most Memorable Marketing Moments of 2011

In a year where the dollar was down and competition was up, businesses had to embrace the idea of thinking outside the box like never before. Since we appreciate good work even when it’s not our own, here are four of our favorite picks for 2011:

Bill(boarding) House

In 2011, Godialing (formerly Adzookie), an agency specializing in ad space on smartphones, introduced the world’s first billboard house. In exchange for converting homes into canvases, where their entire exteriors minus the roofs, windows, and any awnings bore the company’s ad, Godialing agreed to pay owners’ mortgages every month for as long as the houses remained painted. Home sweet smartphone?

Advertising Space

In a novel upselling scenario, KLM launched a viral video to make a case for why passengers should pay for the Dutch airline’s business class seats. The video, which showed a stranger invading people's personal space, highlights how much we value inches between strangers, especially when traveling! The message was clear: Avoid the tight squeezes and close quarters by purchasing a business class ticket, where the airline puts you next to an empty seat. We’re certain that this video was the ticket in helping secure skyrocketing sales for KLM’s business class section.

We’ll Drink to That

Although the launch of their new roast called Tribute Blend occurred in the summer of 2010, we’re including this on our list because Starbucks’ campaign was recognized by the Advertising Specialty Institute in 2011. The new coffee was promoted as part of Starbuck’s rebranding effort celebrating the company’s 40^th anniversary. To brew up additional excitement over the new blend, Starbucks sent out an exclusive email to their Gold Card members one week prior to announcing the new product to the general public. Individuals who responded to the email by purchasing a one-pound bag of Tribute Blend received a ceramic taster cup not available in stores. Only 4,000 of these cups featuring a new logo were produced. In less than 24 hours after the offer went live, the cups were gone. Consumers drank up this promotion, resulting in the most successful limited edition coffee run in Starbucks’ history.

Undeclared Baggage

2011 was a big year for airlines as evidenced by another one making our list with their “Unexpected Luggage” video. On December 24^th, a Spanair flight from Barcelona to Las Palmas arrived close to midnight. The 190 passengers on board were in the air during Christmas Eve. To see to it that those who celebrate Christmas had an opportunity to share in the festivities, Spanair surprised its passengers with wrapped presents delivered on the baggage claim conveyer belt. The feel good viral video helped Spanair’s message take flight, bolstering the airline’s brand as a company that cares about its customers.

What are your favorite picks for the most memorable marketing moments of 2011? Leave us a comment and let us know.

5 Marketing Missteps

We’ve all done it—especially after one too many cocktails—promoted an idea that, in hindsight, is just as ill-conceived as drunk-dialing your ex. When companies exhibit questionable ad campaign judgment, we’re left with unfortunate (although often hilarious) results. Here is a list of our personal favorites:

 

1)      Receptacle-ready underwear from Bic

The throwaway titans at Bic are still scratching their collective heads over what went wrong with this launch. After all, the new product line was in keeping with their brand platform as a provider of disposable products ranging from razors to ballpoint pens. Moreover, as anyone knows who has ever spent time with or been a teenager, sometimes it’s simpler to just use a shovel to clear away and discard forgotten undergarments than painstakingly retrieve them from among the clutter and put them in the wash. Nevertheless, this idea never found a foothold in the market and, to the chagrin of Bic executives, the product wound up where it was ultimately heading anyway, straight in the trash.

 

2)      From Netflix to Please Fix

We wrote about this brand bumbling before, but it bears repeating. After first alienating many of its customers by announcing that the company would split its DVD and movie streaming package into two distinct services, Netflix swiftly declared their plans to create a new affiliated company. Like Smokin’ Joe’s 1-2 combination, this follow-up move left many consumers dazed and off-balance. The new company, Qwikster, would manage all DVD renters while Netflix would retain streaming video customers. After considerable customer criticism that the new model complicated the process and increased the cost for users of both services who would now need to maintain accounts on two separate websites, Netflix abandoned its plans. “We just moved too fast,” explained Steve Swasey, Netflix’s Vice President of Corporate Communications. This is a perfect example of how pursuing an idea without fully considering how it will be received by your customers will always wind up with you in over your head. Perhaps a more apropos name for Qwikster would have been Quicksand.

 

3)      Como se dice “cultural blunder”?

Hindsight may be 20/20, but that sentiment provided little comfort to these companies that succumbed to the ultimate cultural language translation trap. Naming is arguably the cornerstone of branding. From these monikers consumers first begin to equate characteristics to particular products and companies. When businesses fail to account for regional differences, however, they often end up with some unintended implications, such as what occurred in English-speaking countries with IKEA’s release of the “Fartfull” desk. Other examples include:

• Gerber baby food, which you won’t find on the shelves in France, likely due to the fact that there it translates to “vomiting”, and
• U.S.-based Wang Computers’ “Wang Cares” campaign in the UK, where it was pulled after public consensus that it sounded too similar to the expletive “wankers”.

 

4)      Complex solutions for simple problems

There’s an old Cold War story about American ingenuity versus Soviet resourcefulness. In zero gravity standard ballpoint pens don’t work. After an exhaustive and expensive investment in research and development, NASA came up with a pen that writes in space. The Soviet Space Program’s solution? Use a pencil. Likewise, two similar products, the Xenote and the Sony E-marker, were launched to solve the age-old dilemma of hearing a song you like on the radio, but not knowing what it is called or who performs it. These devices would bookmark the song and match it to an auditory lineup. Who knew that someone would come along and put out radios that display song names, making the Xenote and E-marker obsolete?

 

5)      He who smelled it DELL-d it

Similar in concept to the Smell-O-Vision, the unfortunately-named iSmell was a computer peripheral device developed by DigiScents in 2001. Designed to replicate natural and man-made odors and emit “theme-appropriate” aromas when users visited websites or opened emails, the iSmell was recognized in 2006 by PC World Magazine as one of the 25 worst tech products of all time. Makes you wonder, though, what type of scent it would have produced for IKEA’s “Fartfull” desk.

 

Thanksbranding

Hear the word “Thanksgiving” and chances are images of piping hot turkey, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie flood the brain. It doesn’t make any difference that the historical record is vague when it comes to the type of wild fowl originally served, or that cranberry sauce didn’t make its debut until about fifty years after the first Thanksgiving feast. We are happy to gobble down the Norman Rockwell version of our nation’s pilgrim past. That’s the power of branding. 

Strong brands are authoritative and tell compelling stories. They’re the reason why Everlast packs a punch, other ergonomic chairs take a back seat to Herman Miller’s Aeron, and why you don’t picture trout and apple sauce for Thanksgiving (forgive the shameless promotion of our clients).

While we all prepare to break out our sweatpants and feast on festive favorites, take a minute to ask yourself these questions: What images come to mind when people hear your company name? What story does your brand tell? Draw a blank, and you will have more to contend with over the next week than a healthy dose of heartburn. Companies that don’t know their proper brand positioning are like holidays without all the traditional trimmings and tantalizing tales—neither will hold the public’s interest for long.

Brand Castration

The iconic coke bottle with its highly visible, instantly recognizable contour shape epitomizes the power of packaging. Now imagine the same soft drink housed by a no-frills plain glass bottle sitting on the shelf, nestled next to its competitors, all without a single, distinguishing shape or label as far as the eye can see.

This barren branding landscape is not merely a business’ worst nightmare, but the reality facing one industry. After years of increasingly stringent regulations, the Australian government has recently introduced legislation that has Big Tobacco fuming. In an effort to discourage smoking, new cigarette carton packaging rules have extinguished tobacco companies’ ability to brand their products.

Packs now bare an identical look, with no brand adornments whatsoever. Product names are required to be in a uniform, small font unobtrusively placed on the bottom of the carton.

Legislators enacted these new laws with one clear objective in mind: to seriously hurt tobacco companies’ capacity to thrive in the market by removing the differentiators that package branding provides.

This Australian ambush on nicotine is the perfect reminder of how powerful branding (or in this case, brand castration) is to maintaining or losing market share. If it’s been a while since you’ve polished your brand persona, it’s time you revisit this integral investment. Ignore it and you will be ignored.

2011 – A Brand Odyssey

A former U.S. Secretary of Defense cautioned us to remember that “there are things we don’t know we don’t know.” Politics aside, when it comes to business, there is much truth to that statement. In fact, sometimes situations change so quickly that the things that you know as accurate one day no longer are the next. Since our name derives from the finches that inspired Darwin’s theory of evolution, we’re going to use a similar, but more current, evolutionary example that exemplifies this point—our chimp cohorts.

If you’re like us, the thought of spear-wielding chimps evokes images of your family fighting over the last morsels of turkey during Thanksgiving dinner. If you enjoy a more refined pedigree, then it probably reminds you of Stanly Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, or the Planet of the Apes film franchise. Either way, the assumption that this striking scene is anything more than mere monkey business is simply bananas, right?

During a study partially funded by the National Geographic Society's Committee for Research and Exploration, researchers observed this movie magic firsthand—chimpanzees on an African savanna fashioning sticks into spikes to hunt smaller mammals. Our chimp cousins had officially evolved from silver screen standouts to spear-wielding superstars!

We bring this up because at Finch Brands we are not only fans of handy hominids, but because we also like stories with morals. This account beautifully illustrates one of the fundamental principles of marketing: what you know today might be obsolete tomorrow, so you should never stop testing your assumptions. Sure, it’s a simple enough lesson, but one whose significance is routinely downplayed. 

We all like to think that we have a smidgen of psychic ability when it comes to predicting external factors that will impact our businesses, but the harsh reality is that sometimes there are unanticipated developments. You put yourself at a disadvantage if you rely solely on your company’s current performance as a barometer for its future success. Waiting until an obvious risk presents itself, like a new product launch that steals some of your market share, is akin to standing idly by while Bobo sharpens his spear in preparation for a brutal biped barrage. Winning brands are ones that look for ways to bolster their image even in the absence of an imminent threat.

Bottoms Up!

Amidst all the gloomy news out there, it’s important to remember there’s much to celebrate. Here’s to all of our clients who give us the opportunity each day to support their success in times that are tough for many.

McDonald’s Summer Vacation

During summer vacation, a time when some advertisers are relaxing, McDonald’s shines like that over-achieving first born.  One might wonder why McDonald’s has to be Valedictorian, class president, and prom queen!  There may even be those who wonder why  McDonald's bother to advertise much at all. The truth is – McDonald’s stays on top because they constantly work at it.  Not only refreshing their advertising to strengthen their brand, but re-inventing just how the message gets to their audience.

Check out this article on Adweek.com: Play a Giant Game of Pong on This McDonald's Billboard

DDB Stockholm and McDonald’s are challenging all comers to a giant game of McPong. Imagine table tennis meets Wii in Times Square using your smartphone. A huge interactive billboard allows you to play a McDonald’s version of ping pong, right from your smartphone in the public’s view.  The better you are at the game, the more rewards.  Last 30 seconds in a game and win McDonald’s coupons.

This idea may be expensive but the interaction is right and very possible for other advertisers.  Working outside of the box is free.  It means constantly working to be the best and working to remain the leader.  It’s about knowing your brand and taking bigger chances.  It’s about working through an idea and making it a reality.

The impact it has is impressive – creating a powerful interactive buzz, writ large in the public square and spreading virally via smart phone and social media. And while they’re at it – capturing participants’ mobile information. You see it, you interact, you play, you win, and you remember McDonald’s.

(No pressure at all to the “beach bums of advertising” out there, none at all.)