The Finch Post

♫ ♪ This Brand is Your Brand

Branding is “not about what we say. It’s about what they hear.” New York Israeli Consul General, Ido Aharoni, could have been referring to any number of products or companies, but he was talking about nation-branding.

An event held on Wednesday at the University of Pennsylvania, examined the connection between marketing and global politics, using the current status of Israel’s “brand image” as the example.

Regardless of personal politics and one’s perspective on Israel, this is a fabulous example of how branding’s influence reaches far beyond the world of commerce and business.

Aharoni’s premise is that like a company managing a brand, nations must direct their own image. And like any other brand, nations must not allow competition (a la political or military conflicts) to solely define themselves. Applying this lesson back to business, if you’re managing a brand and spend a significant portion of your awareness campaigns pitting yourself against your main rivals, you may be doing yourself a disservice.

Referencing recent research that reveals a majority of Americans view Israel dimly though they’d still support it over Palestine 7 to 1, Aharoni points out a major challenge all brand managers face: people’s thoughts and feelings don’t always correspond. In his own words, people “can agree with you intellectually and disagree with you emotionally—it doesn’t have to be rational.”

The goal, therefore, for anyone trying to create a successful brand, is to achieve a head and heart harmony. So get out your tuning forks, practice your scales, and happy branding, every one!

The Falling Star of Celebrity Endorsement - Part 4

Can You Hear Me Now, Catherine Zeta-Jones?

If you suffered a heart attack, you’d want an expertly trained Cardiologist at the helm of your recovery, not a glitzy hospital mouthpiece paid to look good while reciting medical references he or she probably doesn’t even understand. The same goes for purchasing products or services. Savvy consumers want to learn about the best and brightest from the best and brightest. Hence, the long-running success of Verizon’s “Can you hear me now?” campaign.

From 2002 to 2011, Verizon aired more than 100 TV spots featuring a bespectacled field tester asking a question familiar to many cell phone users, “Can you hear me now?” Test Man roaming across the country not only visually represented the strength of Verizon’s network, but showcased the spokesperson’s man-on-the-street appeal as well.

In stark contrast to Verizon’s employee endorser, T-Mobile hired starlet Catherine Zeta-Jones to plug the cash-saving benefits of the carrier. With her good looks, fame, and respectability, Zeta-Jones possessed all the hallmarks of a successful spokesperson. The problem, however, was that she lacked a convincing connection to the product she pushed.

In order for celebrity endorsements to be successful, consumers have to buy into the idea that their favorite actor or singer really does use that weight loss program or $5 lipstick. Watching the millionairess promote T-Mobile’s budget-friendly phone plan was as believable as Bill Gates shopping at Shoe Circus (see part 3 of this blog series), it just didn’t ring true.

Today’s audiences demand that A-listers be authentically in sync with the products they sell. This break from our star-struck tradition has celebrities nervous and businesses redefining their criteria for successful spokespeople. Perhaps Verizon should have texted T-Mobile and informed them of the importance of source credibility.

The Falling Star of Celebrity Endorsement - Part 3 of a 4 part series

Part 3: Syntax Error

Long recognized as an industry innovator, Apple Computers placed their unique corporate identity front and center as the star spokesperson of their highly acclaimed “Get a Mac” campaign. The move paid off for Apple and was so successful that in 2010 Adweek declared the series the best advertising campaign of the first decade of the new century.

Featuring then unknown Justin Long as a Mac personified, the advertisements pitted his unflappable wit against the schlubby, corporate, has-been PC played by John Hodgman. The duo entertained viewers for years with their playful exchanges and left Microsoft in desperate need of rebooting their brand.

Who did Microsoft use to champion this ambitious undertaking? A celebrity that’s synonymous with software of course, comedian Jerry Seinfeld. Designed to reintroduce Windows to disenchanted consumers, the ensuing ads got laughs, but for all the wrong reasons.

The first commercial, entitled “Shoe Circus”, showed Seinfeld helping Bill Gates buy shoes at a discount retailer. The second installment of Bill and Jerry’s excellent adventures chronicled the odd couple connecting with “normal people” as unwelcome house guests.

Microsoft tried to play to its strengths, namely the universality of its software, by unveiling a clever new slogan: PC—Perpetually Connected. However, the campaign failed to focus on its biggest selling point: the billions of PC users Gates boasts about bringing together. Shockingly, even with Microsoft’s CEO as Seinfeld’s sidekick, audiences couldn’t connect the comic with computers. 

The titans of tech finally got it right with their “I am a PC” campaign—a counterattack and homage to the “Get a Mac” commercials. Microsoft embraced the stigma Apple placed on the PC, repositioning it as a badge of honor. The renovated advertisements showcased diverse members of the global Microsoft community proudly proclaiming “I am a PC.” By using less celebrity and more reality, Microsoft positioned themselves as boundary breakers and a beloved fixture in billions of lives.

Although the folks at Apple and Microsoft fiercely differentiate themselves on and off the screen, they are both still techies at heart. Staying true to their corporate identity, they sent a clear message to appreciative audiences: we get it. With consumers growing increasingly savvy, credibility will always trump celebrity.

The Falling Star of Celebrity Endorsement - Part 1 of a 4 part series

Legendary art director, George Lois,  mused that “enlisting a celebrity to sell cat food, an airline, off-track betting, an analgesic, or a lube job would seem to be a delusionary strategy fraught with irrationality. But let’s face it, it’s a star-struck world.”

Sure, it’s a star-struck world, but with exorbitant high costs, bad behavior, and questionable credibility plaguing celebrity endorsements, is it any wonder that businesses are starting to look within to inspire campaigns and develop brands? 

This four-part blog examines the changing face of the spokesperson from gregarious celebrity to unassuming everyman, and how this shift in audience preference allows businesses to bolster their brand by celebrating the people behind their products.

Celebrity Losing its Fizz

 According to recent marketing research, one out of every four advertising campaigns in the US features famous faces. From magazine spreads to Twitter, television commercials to Facebook, the advertising industry is clogged with celebrity and is in desperate need of Draino.

Although most of us believe that our voracious appetite for celebrity is a relatively recent speedbump in social evolution, actors and athletes, musicians and models have been peddling products to eager audiences for centuries.

In ancient Rome, popular gladiators received handsome sums to endorse various products and services. In the 1700s, Josiah Wedgwood capitalized on the popularity of his products with royalty by promoting himself as “Potter to Her Majesty.”

At the height of the Cola Wars, PepsiCo also used ties to aristocracy to promote their carbonated product. The history-making partnership with the King of Pop made Michael Jackson the richest pitchman on planet Earth. With his unmistakable flair, Jackson touted the beverage to his fans as the choice of a new generation, resulting in Pepsi earning $7.7 billion in sales and edging out its competitor as the King of Soda Pop for 1984.

Throughout the ten-year commitment, Jackson earned tens of millions of dollars, while Pepsi enjoyed sole sponsorship of his concerts. Allegations of child abuse in 2003, however, burst the campaign’s bubble, and Jackson was quickly released from his contract.

Pepsi’s ill-fated promotion is one of many examples of star powered endorsements losing their shine. Although hitching an advertising campaign to a Hollywood cash cow can prove beneficial at first, it is wise for businesses to remember that if the spokesperson gets stuck in the mud, then so too does the brand tied to them.

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.

Time for B2B to Jump on the Brand Wagon

Like the Elephant Man who passionately proclaimed, “I am not an animal! I’m a human being,” so too are B2B buyers. This is not a new topic. It has been written about by many different people over the years, but compliance in the B2B community remains poor, so this is a message worth repeating.

Companies serving corporate accounts exist in a world where branding matters, even for them. In order to remain viable, they need to jump on the brand-wagon and connect with customers on a more personal level.

Sure, selecting from among companies isn’t akin to “Sophie’s Choice,” but that doesn’t mean that emotion doesn’t factor into the process. Contrary to popular belief, business customers do not purchase strictly on the basis of rational considerations such as pricing, specifications, performance, etc. Most purchase based on brand.

Whether they realize it or not, their decisions are frequently made long before the buying process is completed. The reason for this is simple: business buyers are still people, and people are governed by their emotions.

No matter how disciplined the buyer, most are overwhelmed with information and choices. Few can evaluate the various vendors and countless queries inherent in a typical business selection process without relying to a degree on instinct. The resulting decision process often entails buyers subconsciously justifying their initial emotional inclinations. In other words, your brand figures heavily in B2B buying verdicts, so give it the attention it deserves.

In a market characterized by gray uniformity, branding offers the best way for businesses selling to other businesses to add some color. Develop the right brand and you’ll help your salespeople close deals before they even start selling.

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Two-ply or not two-ply, that is the question

We at Finch Brands are a curious bunch. Like Socrates, we ask the really big questions, such as “what’s the point of single-ply toilet paper?” We imagine that the manufacturers’ intent is to create a perception of value achieved through savings—reducing consumer cost by cutting product characteristics.

This “no frills” approach is an interesting premise, and one that achieved wide adoption by many companies scrambling for footholds during the world economy’s descent into Recession. Can this method, however, be taken too far? How many features can be stripped in order to justify cost-cutting before a brand becomes blemished?

When too much is taken away, the “savings” achieved is often more illusion than reality. After all, who uses only one square of toilet paper? Firstly, eww! If you can see through it, we’re fairly certain that you can feel through it! Secondly, the moment you fold over at least two squares, you might as well be using two-ply.

We won’t go so far as to claim that pursuing price-pruning to establish your product’s key promotable benefit is the equivalent of flushing it down the toilet—several major businesses, including high-end brands like Vera Wang’s, have launched cost-conscious collections successfully—but we do think there are limits and that this topic warrants some discussion.

Where do you stand on this issue? Please comment and share your thoughts.   

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.

 

Inspiration to go

And now for a personal anecdote... I (Daniel) returned yesterday from a trip to the Pacific Northwest, which included a visit to the world's first Starbucks in Seattle and the Nike world headquarters in Portland. Say what you want about either -- they are two amazing success stories who elevated themselves to the top of their industries and have managed to stay there for quite a while. I (like many) am personally inspired by the extent to which these brands have become essential to the lives of their customers; and I look back at the story of each one's rise to find a common illustration of exactly what it takes to achieve that type of dominance -- most importantly, visionary leadership and a relentless focus on (and steadfast execution against) the needs, desires and mindset of the customer.

 

Front of the first Starbucks store at Pike Place Market

My 6-year old scaling the Nike office climbing wall

A view of one of the many office buildings on the Nike campus

Post-PC Era?

We’ve recently noticed a few articles such as this one that suggest we are now living in a “post-PC” world.  IBM’s Mark Dean believes that services have taken over, rather than another computing device.  Frank Shaw, communications chief for Microsoft thinks otherwise, calling this the “PC plus era,” meaning that people will supplement their PCs with other computing devices such as tablets.  HPs spinoff of the former Compaq, disastrously acquired in 2002 based on a big bet on the PC, certainly suggests the end of an era.  

While the argument rages, dominant players in the technology space are both driving and reacting to customers’ sense of what they need to function – some win by leading, others by learning.  Apple has been a leader – changing the discussion with must-have technologies consumers would never have even contemplated.  Others have focused on learning – including Microsoft, whose fast follower launches in mobility and elsewhere haven’t quite taken off, but whose core “PC plus” business (operating system enhancements, cloud computing, etc.) have created value.

The bottom line is that there is no consistent template to win – ‘leaders’ have seen customers fail to follow, ‘learners’ have struggled to adapt to changing times.  The winners, though, have several things in common – a focus on brand strength and strong customer relationships.  This is the lesson for all companies, whether they seek to lead the market or win by learning from it.