Branding Blog

Tough times don't last but tough brands do

We're getting great results from an adaptation of our highly successful Brandmap workshops… our new half day workshops focus on how to take advantage of these financially tough times.

The first thing I would do in a crisis period is to appoint a cost reduction task force, to develop a recession business plan. Please don't let it be only in the hands of the finance department. They will cut everything that counts - and tell you to stop marketing, when marketing is the only prop that you can turn to, to sustain demand.
   - Philip Kotler, Kotler Marketing Group

While everyone else stops spending, stops employing and stops brand building, how does your company leap ahead and grab market share that was previously too hard to get?

In a client's own 4-6 hour workshop, we use our Degrees of Focus© model to work out the position of your brand and where it can get to during the next year of turmoil. We discuss how your brands or overall business can move to a higher degree of positioning that will improve your emotional connection to your consumers. The workshops also spend time testing industry norms and they look to new ways of doing things – nothing is taken for granted – "if it ain't broke, we'll break it." We spend time brainstorming closer customer relationships and New Media phenomenon's that could revolutionise the way you do business.

Clients walk away from this tailored workshop with techniques to assert a stronger connection with their consumer and an action plan for tough times from analysing revenue and developing new streams of income. Call me for more information.

The Importance of Positioning Pillars

Having just completed a Brandmap for a large shoe retailer and a Communications Proposal for an up and coming car manufacturer, it was interesting to see the similarities in their situations! The shoe retailer placed a lot of emphasis on price and range and the car manufacturer focuses on features like value for money, fuel economy and safety. Both businesses could see that a higher, more emotive level of positioning was advantageous but both were also concerned about giving up their current attributes. The truth is that most of those lower level positioning elements are mandatory – most consumers seek value, quality and safety etc. We can't neglect attention to those core elements or take them for granted but because many of the competition in the retail market or car industry or FMCG markets or banking realise that to, they are not often fruitful grounds for sustainable distinctive positioning.

So, in order to have a unique position we'd prefer to position a brand, not on mere features and benefits, but on consumer experience and company attitude facets. Regardless of the degrees of focus© we strive for in a brand, we must not forget, what I call, our Positioning Pillars – the foundations for the brand. And of course without a strong foundation we can't hope to support a higher, more emotional, more connected position for our brand. The point of this blog is to remind marketers that YES OF COURSE we should retain references to price, value, range and safety because they are Positioning Pillars but if we can deliver the message in a more emotive manner we'll get a stronger emotional connection to our consumer.

Branding and advertising doesn't have to be clever or esoteric to be successful but one of its fundamental jobs is to make the brand's Positioning Pillars relevant and distinctive from the competitors.

Our retail advertising methodology

Action: Actions speak louder than words – a moving object, an object in action, draws more attention than a stationary one.

Benefits: State the benefits as clearly as possible.

Campaigns: not single ads. Every advertisement, no matter how small, must form part of a campaign, showing a link and continuity.

Consistency and continuity of image: Having carefully researched and established an image stay with it. Nothing does more damage to an image than constant change.

Editorial Value: Support copy should not be overlooked. Editorial adds credibility to a campaign and should be related in every way.

Essence: Establish the brand mana (essence) of the client's business and underline every activity with it. Refer to Wasabi's Degrees of Focus modelling to explore brand mana.

Individual Identity: In order to stand out, every client must have an individual identity, one that is not confused with that of the competition.

POS and Ticketing: The most important element in all retail campaigns. The advertising theme must continue consistently throughout the store. The store must reflect the ad and the ad must reflect the store.

Price Perception: Make prices and captions relating to price bold!

Product Selection: Do not feature items simply because the supplier is paying. All chosen products have to be relevant to the theme & sales.

Product Understanding and Involvement: Get involved at store level. Understand the business, spend time in the company – get your hands dirty.

Promotions: Promotions are the lifeblood of any retailer. Promotions should be regular and co-ordinated with POS and in-store activity to achieve maximum impact.

Simplicity: Keep the ads and the message simple, bold and easy to understand. The promise of the ad must be fulfilled. A customer's perception of the ad relates directly to their perception of the store. The ad must not over-promise – this leads to disappointment. The store experience must always live up to the promise.

Topicality: Take advantage of whatever news is making the headlines and use it to attract attention.

Urgency: Retail advertisements must be urgent; people are more likely to react to a shout than to a normal voice. If you have something to say – make it bold.