Finding the competition's Achilles' heel.

We often see companies attempt to compete against a successful category leader through price cuts and other forms of discounting in an attempt to maintain market share. This is usually the sign of a company that is out of ideas.

A smarter strategic response is to see if you can turn the leader's strength into their vulnerability.

I was reminded of this while reading a Wall Street Journal article on how Illy has chosen to compete with Starbucks. Starbucks’ strength is its ubiquity. Illy cannot compete by building more brick and mortar. So its response is to piggyback on the ubiquity of local independent coffee shops, signing contracts with cafes that agree to serve Illy exclusively and allow Illy to exert quality control. Starbucks’ strength becomes its vulnerability – too many stores result in too much overhead and fewer opportunities to grow. Illy becomes the cool indie brand.

We see this same dynamic at work in other categories.

Amazon turned Barnes & Noble’s success in building bookstores around the country into bloated overhead that hangs around the retailer’s neck like a lead weight.

Apple reshaped Microsoft’s long time dominance in the corporate market into the image of a tweedy bureaucrat.

Enterprise built an entirely new category – temporary replacement cars for suburbanites – that Hertz and Avis cannot easily serve from their deeply entrenched airport locations.

And then there is Google, a company that uses the power of "free" as a competitive wedge to disrupt categories.

Your competitor's strength also can be its Achilles' heel. Find it and exploit it. Don't play the game by their rules. They'll win every time.

The power of touch.

We’re supposed to be hurtling toward an age where all business is done through ones and zeros, with sales and service more efficiently handled online.

To be sure, we see many examples where this is producing a better outcome for marketers and their customers. Witness iTunes vs. Tower Records, Netflix vs. Blockbuster, Amazon vs. Barnes & Noble or Expedia vs. your neighborhood travel agent.

But this rush to virtual selling is not a one-size-fits-all strategy for all categories and marketers. Some recent examples illuminate our desire to see, touch and feel products, and how the best service is often carried out face to face.

What got me thinking about this is Microsoft’s announcement that it is opening retail stores, with the first launching in Scottsdale and Orange County. Like Apple stores, these outlets will sell hardware and software and offer technical support for people who are proud to be a “PC.”

And speaking of Apple, reports suggest that its stores generate more revenue per square foot than any retailer in the country. What more need be said about the power of a strong retail concept?

Recently, General Motors took the bold step in California to sell its cars on eBay. Great idea, lousy results. Turns out people prefer coming into the dealership to haggle. (I’ve witnessed this dynamic before in automotive research. Customers say they hate haggling but don't want to accept a fixed pricing model.)

Best Buy, a client of BD’M, has a strong online sales channel but knows that its key source of differentiation and repeat business is the knowledge and objectivity of its “blue shirts” working the store aisles.

Jyske Bank, Denmark's third largest bank, represents one of the most famous case studies on the power of a unique retail experience. Jyske re-imagined their savings and checking services as physical "products" to make them tangible and clear and evoke an emotional connection. They created that special "third place" -- a haven that is neither home or work -- that has been the secret sauce behind Starbucks' success. The result? Ad Age reported that Jyske Bank doubled its customer base in one year by improving loyalty while attracting new customers.

I am fortunate enough to have earned United’s double-secret “Global Services” status from our client. The aspect of the service I value most (other than the really cool black card!) is the GS hotline where the phone is answered by a real, empowered person before I even hear the first ring. While not an example of brick and mortar, it is another way to give customers the satisfaction of real and helpful interaction, not automated voice prompts.

The lesson to be learned may be that we are a prisoner of our vocabulary. Brick and mortar. Click and mortar. Retailing vs. e-tailing. Perhaps it's simply about the reassurance customers get from real live human interactions. That can happen in a store. That can also happen online via “click to chat.” Either way, it has to happen. I think we’re starving for true contact.

Read this today while supplies last.

Advertising has long relied on the straightforward call-to-action to prompt consumers to act now. It's been a simple tactic that never required much more thought than how loud to shout or how bold to make the type.

However, today's media environment challenges us to imagine new ways to invite a response from customers. Mobile, search and social media create smarter and more specific opportunities to prompt an immediate action.

I began thinking about this when I saw an ad for Sony Pictures' new release, "2012." The billboard said, "Search 2012." This call-to-action is brilliant in its simplicity. It recognizes that people are increasingly dialing up brands through search, not by typing in a brand's URL. The volume of Google searches prompted by this call-to-action results in a wall of search hits that makes 2012 seem like a pop culture buzz machine. Moreover, the simple request to "search" may even inspire more curiosity about what one will find.

I've long advocated that we view mobile phones as a response device, not as an advertising platform. I think we can agree that everyone we know carries a mobile phone. And smartphone penetration is around 20% and climbing. (Presumably much higher among the business crowd.) For example, including an SMS call-to-action in a magazine ad transforms an offline message into an interactive message. The exponential increase in iPhone apps is creating new ways for consumers to shop as soon as they see a brand's commercial. In fact, Pizza Hut now ends its commercials with an invitation to order via iPhone.

Social media offers an entirely different call-to-action. For example, Prius asks people on Facebook to share "Random acts of Prius" -- small gestures that can help your friends make the next 24 hours better than the previous. (Props to my former colleagues at Saatchi.)

So next time we're writing a brief, or thinking about writing a throw-away final line of copy, take a few minutes to think through a more interesting way to compel customers to interact with the brand.

But do so today!

Designers invade the executive suite.

Last year Advertising Age published an article I wrote about the lessons car companies can learn from the iPhone. One of the suggestions I made was to elevate designers to a greater leadership role.

Two reasons why I wrote this: First, car companies are industrial design firms at their core. Second, design-led thinking is a business strategy, not simply an exercise in visual packaging. Design-led thinking forces a company to have a more intimate understanding of their customers and their interactions with the brand, and then be very reductive in creating a more valuable experience.

I didn't think it would ever happen. But it has. Twice. In Detroit.

Last month General Motors promoted designer Bryan Nesbitt to be General Manager of its Cadillac Division. That's unheard of. Until, of course, this week when Chrysler promoted Ralph Gilles to be President of its Dodge Car unit. This is a bold and long-overdue move. I'm eager to see what unfolds.

The clearest perspective on design as a business strategy comes from David Butler, Coke's VP of Global Design. "Here, it's about creating more value. How do we sell more of something? How do we improve the experience to make more money and create a sustainable planet? We're leveraging design to drive innovation and win at the point of sale...full stop." His profile in October's Fast Company is an instructive read.

The best small agency in America.

This week Barrie D'Rozario Murphy was selected by the Association of American Advertising Agencies as the best small agency in the country.

The O'Toole Award is a top industry honor for overall creative excellence across a range of clients and media platforms. The small agency award specifically recognizes this accomplishment among agencies of less than 100 people. BBDO won the honor for best large agency, and Bartle Bogle Hegarty was selected as the best midsize agency.

Bob, Stuart and I are thrilled. We owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to the people who work at BD'M, as well as to our clients.

The people at our shop all left good jobs at good agencies to run off and join the circus with the three of us. And the blue chip clients who enlisted us -- such as United Airlines, Best Buy, Applied Materials, Compellent -- all took a leap of faith in hiring a new agency. We will never stop working hard to reward the faith everyone has shown.

We will also never stop being cheeky and having fun, as evidenced by the advertisement we ran in yesterday's New York Times. The response has been fantastic. I think it touched a desire by many in the business to have some fun, have a point of view and be a bit controversial.

But as we've said in interviews, the ad is in good fun. We're simply jealous of those big agencies!

How to provoke reappraisal of your brand.

Time will tell if GM's new corporate campaign featuring CEO Ed Whitacre will work. An advertising columnist recently suggested that "GM out Hyundais Hyundai."

Out Hyundais Hyundai? Really? Hyundai has been on a journey to recast its image for a decade. It's strategy? Bold, bet-the-ranch marketing initiatives:

• The most comprehensive warranty in the business.
• A direct appeal to rethink Hyundai, based on fact and accomplishment, not bravado.
• A buy back program that showed great insight into the real issue facing consumers in the recession (consumers who had jobs but feared not having one later in the year).
• A risky move into the near luxury sedan market with Genesis.

The result? Year-to-date Hyundai has picked up over a point of market share (source: Automotive News). A Herculean task to be sure. Every GM brand lost share. The proper domestic comparison to Hyundai is Ford, which, like Hyundai, has kept its head down and worked hard to get its quality and design right. Like Hyundai, Ford has also picked up market share this year.

So this begs the question -- where are the facts to support that corporate bravado ("car for car, we win") is fresh or effective?

I have no connection to Hyundai and no axe to grind. I'm simply a fan of smart and brave marketing. (That and about 15 years automotive marketing experience.)

Marketing's new normal.

Yet another book is out with its breathless predictions about the death of advertising and, by extension, agencies.

I’ve recently come to believe that the Chicken Littles who squawk loudest about the perils of not embracing the new normal in marketing are secretly rooted in the past.

Good marketing professionals – marketers and agencies alike – realized this several years ago, adapted and got on with things. Smart people tend to do this. Others don’t. They go out of business. Just as Mr. Darwin predicted.

Moreover, the next generation of talent streaming into the marketing field are probably clueless as to what these authors are debating. If you want to make a 25 year old ROTFL (whether they be a brand manager or a copywriter), refer to the web as “new media.”

Those among us still going on about the how the business is changing do so because deep down they still live in the wonder years of network television and national magazines and continue to use this as the yardstick by which to measure change.

The new normal banishes words like "traditional" and "nontraditional." Is a print ad with an embedded QR code traditional? Or how about bus board with a mobile call to action? You get the point.

The new normal doesn’t view "brand" through the narrow lens of a product’s TV or print campaign because consumers build brand impressions through a complex mix of first-hand experiences, peer opinions and, yes, intangible and emotional imagery.

The new normal views interactive media as a powerful brand-building medium because it has the ability to inspire deep engagement, expose customers to peer reviews and immerse customers in highly emotional and engaging brand narratives.

The new normal embraces media as a source of creativity, not as the pipes through which we beam ideas. The context in which we appear in a customer’s life is often as important as what we say.

The new normal embraces metrics, both hard and soft. Those who embrace only one set over the other will struggle. Ignore ROI or store traffic and nobody will care about the awareness gain. Likewise, click-through rates at the expense of relevance, differentiation and likability will not sit well when the brand degrades to commodity status. True professionals work hard to balance these seemingly conflicting goals, and that’s why they’re good at what they do.

The new normal also recognizes the business value of TV, print and radio. Good luck reaching C-Suite executives with a viral video. Or my mom, for that matter, through Twitter. And let me know how efficient your street teams are relative to a spot on an NFL game in reaching millions of guys. When we close our minds to the power and effectiveness of mass advertising, we act as silly as those who close their minds to the power of social media and event marketing. True professionals understand and embrace all forms of marketing and know when and how to deploy each.

So let’s just get on with it. The industry doesn’t need to change. It needs a good dose of creative destruction. Let market forces take their toll. Those who embrace the new normal will prosper. Those who don’t will not. Couldn’t be simpler. Don’t you love capitalism?

Open letter to GM: think like a technology brand

General Motors grabbed headlines recently by claiming its Chevy Volt plug-in hybrid will get 230 miles per gallon in city driving. Clearly, such an audacious claim must be independently verified. But the sheer game-changing nature of this claim underscores an opportunity for GM to carve out a new place in our collective imagination by behaving more like a technology brand and less like an automotive brand.

Throughout the last century the automobile stood for freedom, mobility and joy. Hitting the open road expanded our horizons and put a bigger world within our reach. Cars represented modern life at its best. But that was then.

Today, it is technology that defines modern life. Technology liberates and connects. Each new smart phone, wafer-thin laptop and lifelike home theater joyfully proclaims that today is better than yesterday.

Technology brands are the new “car.”

I don’t advocate that GM begin behaving in some geeky kind of way. Rather, it should take its cues from brands such as Sony, Apple, Google or GE. These brands deliver a sense of boundless optimism that was best expressed by Microsoft’s old themeline, “Where would you like to go today?”

For those who question the wisdom of focusing on branding strategies given the myriad issues GM faces, I have one simple word: Malibu.

In 2007, GM revamped the Chevy Malibu from top to bottom to compete with the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord, two cars that have ruled the midsize sedan market for years. The result is a $20k car that looks, drives and feels like a luxury sedan.

Consumer Reports recommends the new Malibu. Kelly Blue Book concludes that it looks like a $40k car. JD Power ranks the Kansas City factory that builds Malibu as one of the top three quality plants in the country. It was voted Car of the Year. Nevertheless, more than twice as many people bought a Camry last year. Brand image matters.

Here are some initial steps GM can take to begin behaving like a technology brand.

First and foremost, GM must create modern cars. This isn't just about whiz-bang features or alternative fuel vehicles. Modern cars are best defined by the more relevant relationship they create with their customers. Modern cars are democratic, offering the latest technologies to all, not just in the top of the line models. Modern cars liberate us from old compromises by proving that design and performance can co-exist with safety and environmental responsibility. Modern cars are an extension of the personal technologies that make our lives smarter, better organized and more entertaining. And modern cars look, well, modern.

Second, forge alliances with respected technology brands. After all, brands, like people, are often judged by the company they keep. The success of the Chevy Volt requires that we trust the Chevy brand as a credible source for an electric car. What if GM had partnered with GE on this? (Its name is General Electric, after all.) The company is a manufacturing giant. Its growth strategy is linked to green-tech (“ecomagination”). And it is a household name with a reputation for innovation and dependability.

Third, lift a page from Apple, the tech brand that teaches the master class on marketing. Here are four lessons drawn from the iPhone launch:

• Design, design, design: The iPhone looks like nothing else. It took no cues from category norms and wasn’t an exercise in incrementalism. Design reigns supreme at Apple. Steve Jobs is manic about design. Jonathan Ive, Apple’s head of design, is a rock star. It’s time to elevate the automotive designers to be the face of the company instead of the suits. Let's see car designers on the cover of Fortune, Wired and People, not the CEO. After all, auto companies are industrial design firms.

• Limited supply: Here’s a very simple rule: a company shouldn’t produce more product than it can profitably sell. Sounds simple, but seldom happens. Limiting supply negates the need for brand-sucking rebates and tent sales. Apple is genius at this.

• New distribution model: Sales associates at Apple stores are trained to be living ambassadors of the brand. Consumers may not get this same experience at the average car dealership. So here’s where an auto company needs to swallow a brave pill. Don’t sell the next hot new car through dealerships. Signal change by changing where the car is sold. Establish centrally located shopping galleries – in malls, in airports, in downtown business districts – staffed by the same well-trained ladies and gentlemen hired for car shows. GM’s recently announced plan to begin selling cars on eBay is a smart and timely step. (Dealers must still be reasonably compensated for any sales occurring in their market area since they will play a crucial role in providing ongoing service. Fixing a car is a tad more complex than fixing an iPhone.)

• Advance buzz: When Apple launched the iPhone it generated a huge amount of curiosity by doing the exact opposite of what auto companies do: Apple said nothing. Auto companies tend to debut the concept car three years in advance at an auto show, create websites offering sneak-peeks, and give car magazines early test drives in return for good coverage. And what happens? The buzz peaks well ahead of the product's retail launch. The new mantra must be to reveal less and intrigue more. (Dealers did this quite well back in the days when they'd cover up new models until launch day to keep curious faces pressed against store windows.)

Apple did all of this and more. Breakthrough product. Inspiring design. Smart pricing. Tight distribution. Clever marketing. Seems so simple. And therein lies the beauty of Apple’s success, and the lesson for General Motors.

Last century, Detroit pioneered mass production to democratize the automobile and bring freedom, mobility and joy to more people. Cars lost this sense of child-like wonder as they grappled with grown-up issues such as safety, fuel economy and global warming. Going forward, GM can be the automotive company that best democratizes technology to solve these challenges and let us to rediscover that sense of wonder on the open road.

A caveman's guide to branding.

Most branding campaigns follow a time-tested architecture: an overarching brand idea, supported by individual attributes, all communicated within the context of an unifying creative idea.

And that's what intrigues me about Geico's brand campaign -- it is completely disintegrated. The insurer uses at least four distinct campaigns to land different proof points.

To be sure, Geico's overall goal is to position itself as a better value. Its USP has been unchanged for years: "15 minutes can save you 15% or more."

It uses the lovably cheeky gecko to communicate the overall value message.



It uses the caveman with a chip on his shoulder to to communicate ease and convenience.



It uses celebs right off the D-list to communicate its commitment to customer service.



And now it is using a leering pile of cash to communicate low price.

We've all seen campaigns with different spots in the mix (think McDonald's), or different campaigns tailored for specific media environments (think Nike in football vs. basketball vs. golf), or campaigns for different products within a portfolio (think Toyota Tundra vs Yaris).

But seldom do we see completely different campaigns in support of different support points.

Contrary to what one might expect -- i.e., a blurry cacophony of messages -- each of Geico's messages breaks through and stands on its own feet, is unified by a brand personality that is likable and humorous and, ultimately, supported by the 15% USP.

Is it working? I can only assume so, because Geico has pursued this model for years. We have to assume the graphs are heading in the right direction or they would have abandoned this funky model years ago.

Go Forth.

Wieden + Kennedy’s new campaign for Levis is stunning in its truth, its insight and its audacity.

The great brands are underpinned by an essential and enduring truth. By linking to the words of Walt Whitman and, on its new website, the United States Constitution, Levis has reconnected with the truth of its brand. Levis is America. And America has always been shaped by people with the courage and tenacity to dream and work towards a better tomorrow.

Its unique insight is in seeing the hollowness of most Millennial-targeted messages of hope and optimism, or perhaps more specifically, how bankrupt these messages must feel to Millennials in the current economy. Instead, “Go Forth” implies that hope and optimism are found by individuals who venture forward and work towards their dream. True of the framers of our Constitution. True of the gold miners in 1849 (the original denim crowd). True of Mr. Whitman. It must also be true of people today if we are to achieve our potential.

But the audacity, the brilliant audacity, to create a website in which citizens can co-create, edit and share their take on the Constitution is to be celebrated. It transforms the Constitution into a communal wall posting which, if you will momentarily suspend your judgment about that concept, is exactly what the Constitution needs to be: a living, shared, and debated document chronicling the will of the people.


Go forth indeed.

Lion hunting.

The team at Barrie D'Rozario Murphy is thrilled to be one of only two U.S. agencies to win a Gold Lion award for film at last week's International Advertising Festival in Cannes.

BD'M was hired by the Chambers Hotel in Minneapolis to draw more guests into its bar, linger a bit longer, and, of course, run up higher tabs to boost the luxury hotel's revenue.

The result was a faux surveillance video that led guests to believe they were privy to live security shots around the hotel. We included shots of actual guestroom interiors interspersed with a variety of staged scenes - a nun praying to a man in a chicken costume, an alien in the hallway to a blow-up doll on a bed. The video, designed to complement the Chambers' collection of original contemporary art, helped deliver a double-digit increase in traffic to the bar.

It's an exciting example of the role and effectiveness of nontraditional media in solving business challenges.

To watch a excerpt, visit bdm.net, and click on brand experiences/chambers.

A battle of business models.

A BD’M client noted recently that they were engaged in a battle of business models. This is a clarifying thought – a competition between the fundamental strategy employed by each competitor for creating and delivering customer value.

This point of view implies that each company competes through a single, overarching business model. But can a company compete by spreading its bets across multiple business models?

This was on my mind when I read an article in yesterday’s New York Times about how Amazon will employ three different business models to sell books. As we all know, Amazon’s core business is selling pulp books direct to consumers. And, with Kindle, Amazon is now in the business of selling digital downloads of e-books. But Amazon has decided to also sell its e-books on competitive services, such as iTunes, for the same $9.99 price it charges Kindle owners.

Jeff Bezos and company have created three different models, a move primarily designed to follow the customer and preempt competitors, and also produce a healthy side-effect – greater internal competition to drive ongoing innovation and greater focus.

Strategy guru Michael Porter has long said that alignment is the test of a great business strategy – i.e., a unique value proposition, delivered through a differentiated value chain, with all activities aligned, and all connected back to the balance sheet. Porter’s litmus test doesn’t go away, rather companies will have to apply this thinking across several business models simultaneously – a game of three-dimensional strategic chess.

How to reposition a brand.

Sun Chips is a case study in the making of what can happen when a marketer thinks outside the box, or in this case, the bag.

Sun Chips have long been positioned as a slightly healthier alternative, with less salt, fat and other naughty stuff. Most every snack brand tries to make this same claim. So how do you stand out? By deciding to ignore the conventions of typical snack food marketing.

Their new marketing campaign is smart and tightly aligned:

1. They've taken their name and created a logical brand association: sun --> solar --> green --> healthier planet.
   
2. They are forging this brand association through actions, not just words. (Solar powered manufacturing plant, biodegradable packaging)
   
   
   
   
   
3. They are using unique media properties to reinforce the brand idea.
   
   
   
   
4. They are tapping the power of PR and crowd-sourcing to seek and fund other ideas for a healthier planet.
   
   
   
   
5. They are aligning the company's philanthropic investments behind this idea. (Donating $1m to create a solar-powered recovery center to help a tornado ravaged town get back on its feet.)
   

It's too early to tell if this will be a wild success or an abysmal failure. What is clear, though, is that they are refusing to play small ball. This is a brand team that is truly reaching for the stars.

The lesson of BMW Films

An article on adweek.com questions why our industry hasn’t built on the success of BMW Films and the potential of branded content. I used to ask this same question until I realized it is the wrong question.

BMW Films made its online debut in 2001 with short films produced exclusively for the web by marquee talent, including directors John Woo, Ang Lee, Guy Ritchie, Tony Scott among others, and starring actors such as Clive Owen, Madonna, Mickey Rourke, Forest Whitaker and Don Cheadle. The Hire consisted of eight action-packed episodes featuring Clive Owen putting the ultimate driving machines through the paces.



The Hire was ahead of its time. Broadband penetration in the United States in 2001 was less than 20%. (Remember the tedium of viewing rich content on dial up?) The films couldn’t capitalize on social media because Mark Zuckerberg, Tom Anderson and Steve Chen (founders Facebook, MySpace and YouTube, respectively) may still have been in high school at that point.

Yet, back in the day, these films broke new ground by changing how we viewed the web. Up to that point, marketers used the web as a substitute for print. Sites functioned like online brochures -- very heavy on text and photos. BMW Films showed that the web didn’t have to be static – it actually could be a replacement for TV, using sight sound and motion to engage viewers.

And that's precisely why the question posed in Adweek misses the point. BMW Films used the web like TV. Right for then, wrong for now. The web has changed dramatically since 2001. It is no longer about one-way broadcasting. It’s about ceding control, co-creation, relevant functionality and crowd-sourced input.

Contrary to Adweek's story, branded content is not struggling to find its footing, an assertion that seems weighed down by a Hollywood-centric definition of content. Branded content is flourishing in new ways that are more tailored for Web 2.0. Subservient Chicken allowed consumers to control the entertainment. T-Mobile’s flash mob campaign capitalized on social media. GE’s online effort for ecomagination and Nike’s mobile initiative both used augmented reality to glue our eyeballs to the brand.

We should tip our hat to BMW Films and appreciate what it unleashed. But instead of looking backwards, we should embrace its essential lesson: Consider how consumers are using the web today, then rethink it and set the bar higher.

Project Natal

I've seen the future. It's spelled N-A-T-A-L.

The new human interface for Xbox is mind-bending. No controllers whatsoever. You are the controller. It reads body movements. It makes Wii look old fashioned.


I'm not a gamer. I'm more fascinated about the implications this technology can have on product design -- e.g., computers, home entertainment, retail.

It seems the technology we witnessed in Minority Report wasn't so far in the future after all.

we > me

My previous post on popularity discussed the influence that crowds can have on consumer decision making and behavior. This post highlights how a company can use crowd-sourcing to improve its own decision making and behavior.

Few companies have the courage to fully expose themselves to the power (and potential pitfalls) of social media like the folks at Best Buy (disclaimer: a BD'M client).

Best Buy's CMO is a prolific tweeter (@bestbuycmo), using microblogging as an external internal communications channel to reach the 20-something year old Blue Shirts working in the stores who are unlikely to read email from HQ. Barry Judge uses this channel to invite suggestions and feedback beyond the protective bubble that normally surrounds senior executives.

The Best Buy Idea Xchange opens up Best Buy's innovation process to its best customers to suggest ways to improve the retailer's merchandising selection and business practices. I like the honesty and commitment expressed on the site. Here's an excerpt:

We're new at this. Its probably going to be messy for awhile. We'll probably miss stuff. We'll probably screw up. But we'll learn and get better as fast as we can. We'll blog every two weeks with updates at first. Then we'll build in new and better ways to talk to you about your ideas - when we're reviewing them, or implementing them or when we decide we just can't do anything with them. We'll always be honest. We can promise we're all going to do our best. That means listening closely, talking openly about the ideas that you've shared. And trying our hardest to make it happen.

These behaviors are a good example of the formula that drives social media: we > me. Most corporate decisions are based on feedback in a conference room of 10 like minded executives, or off the results of 50 people in focus groups. Social media exposes companies to ideas -- good and bad -- from a much wider cross-section of people and perspectives, helping to break the protective bubble that tends to insulate companies from their customers.

Popularity sells.

Carl Bialik's article in the Wall Street Journal on the influence of Top 10 lists questions the wisdom of crowd-sourcing, but also highlights a proven tactic that marketers should consider to help drive incremental sales.

Popularity metrics abound online: Top 10 emailed stories on wsj.com. Most downloaded songs on iTunes. Yahoo's Top 10 user searches. Studies show that people decide what to do in part by following others. We are pack animals at heart, finding comfort in the herd.

Bialik's article cites instances in which marketers were able to dramatically shift customer preference and behavior by calling out those items and choices preferred by other customers.

Amazon has employed this successfully over the years ("people who bought this book also bought..."). However, Amazon makes this recommendation after you've made your initial selection. The dynamic Bialik reports on is the influence popularity has on the initial purchase decision.

I could see ways of applying this to many different categories. Ford dealers could post a sign on the roof of a Fusion letting me know that 63% of current Fusion owners bought the new Fusion. Best Buy could let me know that 57% of people who bought this flat panel combined it with this blu-ray player. United could tell me that 68% of people booking the JFK-SFO flight I'm considering purchased a one-day Premier Travel Option.

Timely and specific suggestions of what similar customers prefer can lift sales. How do I know this? I heard other people saying so.

What does your brand oppose?

I usually don't think of mayonnaise. That's probably why I like Miracle Whip's new campaign. After spending years trying to tell me what Miracle Whip is, and an equal number of years of my total lack of interest, the brand finally got my attention by telling me what it isn't.

In its new TV spots, Miracle Whip seems to be against conformity and playing nice with other condiments. It demands to be heard through the bread. In fact, it thinks mayo is a wuss.

This campaign reinforces a theme I've been exploring lately -- the power of brand narratives. Great brands tell great stories. They are the lead character on an inspiring journey. They have a clear sense of true north. Importantly, they know what they stand for and what they oppose.

Miller High Life's delivery guy campaign is another good example of a brand that defines itself by clearly stating what it's against. High Life celebrates blue-collar common sense by railing against high-minded nonsense.




Across the pond, Nestle’s Yorkie candy bar is famously marketed as being “not for girls”, with appropriately tongue in cheek advertising.

Dove breathed new life into the brand by harnessing the tension between what it stands for and what it's against. Its highly successful "campaign for real beauty" positioned the brand as an advocate of women’s self-esteem battling the falsehood of media-defined beauty.




Of course, I'd be remiss if I didn't acknowledge the blueprint for this type of branding strategy -- Apple.


Next time you're defining your brand strategy, don't settle for simply declaring what your brand stands for. Define what you oppose, your proverbial line in the sand. Consumers will reward you with their attention.

I could go on an on about this. But I'm for brevity and against long-winded dissertations.

Think like a storyteller, not a marketer.

Ad Age this week is reporting that Budweiser is returning to the type of emotional advertising that was its trademark in its halcyon days.

I hope the brief goes deeper than that. Emotional advertising is not a goal, it's an outcome. What characterized the great Bud advertising was a keen sense of storytelling and empathy. The brand was a reward for a honest day's work.



As I've posted before, stories are a very potent form of communicating. Stories help us understand. They convey meaning. And in an overwhelming and fast moving world, meaning trumps information. The most enduring stories are built upon several essential elements, including archetypal characters, the hero's journey and resolution of conflict

Storytelling has been a hallmark of the campaign BD'M creates for United Airlines, giving the brand a very distinctive message in a category that normally defaults to commodity service claims.



In the beer world, I tip my hat (and my glass) to the folks at Dos Equis. The "most interesting man in the world" campaign is a classic narrative in the making. They've nailed an archetypal brand personality and convey keen sense of what the brand believes in as well as what it opposes.

@kogibbq...a tasty success story

Kogi BBQ is an interesting case study on many levels.

First, it's an inspiring story of a guy who has a 4 a.m. epiphany about how delicious Korean BBQ would taste on a taco and then has the courage to follow through on his idea, resulting in a hugely successful SoCal food business.

Second, it's an instructive story about the role that social media can play in creating a grassroot phenomenon.

Kogi BBQ has no fixed location. It is a roving truck that announces its location via twitter (@kogibbq). Flash mobs of Kogi fanboys (and girls) drop what they're doing to go and wait for the Kogi-mobile to show up.

Similar to yesterday's post on T Mobile's campaign, Kogi offers another example of what's possible when social media is at the center of the brand idea, not an ad hoc extension.

I often find that some of the most interesting marketing happens at the local level. Large national marketers could learn much from studying best practices from companies like Kogi, not McDonalds.

Social media is mass media.

T Mobile's new flash mob campaign is a good example of a media mash up. Is it a TV commercial? A viral video? Social networking? Blogging? The answer, of course, is all of the above.

This campaign illustrates what's possible when we put digital and social marketing at the center of the idea and not treat it as an extension of a TV spot.

T Mobile used teaser videos, social networks and good old fashioned word of mouth to summon over 13,000 people to London's Trafalgar Square last week to sing a fairly in-tune rendition of Hey Jude.

The result? A fun TV spot and, more importantly, thousands of posts, texts, tweets and YouTube videos from people who attended the event, and even more chatter from people like me who heard about it online. Moreover, when you get Perez Hilton's stamp of approval, you know you're doing something right in the pop culture zeitgeist.

The days of simply putting a TV spot on YouTube are over. Marketers need to map out a social media strategy at the outset of a campaign and not leave it to chance. Hope is not a strategy.

Dan is right.

Dan Wieden, founder and head of Weiden + Kennedy, gave a thoughtful and impassioned pitch at the 4As conference on why diversity matters and why advertising agencies must get their act together.

My favorite quote: The issue of diversity "continues to gnaw at me because, like it or not, in this business I essentially hire a bunch of white, middle-class kids, pay them enormous, enormous sums of money to do what? To create messages to the inner-city kids who create the culture the white kids are trying like hell to emulate."

The imperative to create a more diverse agency culture is not something we should do because it is politically correct. It's something we must do to ensure the long-term success of our industry.

We are in the business of helping clients build their business through our unique ability to understand and connect with main street America. We've done this well over the years largely because we tended to mirror the face of America.

As the American landscape continues to become more diverse, so must we, or risk falling out of touch with consumers and becoming less capable of providing clients with fresh, relevant ideas.

The slipperly slope of discounting.

Today's New York Times has a good article on the slippery slope of discounting. Price cuts of 50% have given way to scorched earth discounts of up to 70%-80%.

Retailers find themselves between a rock and a hard place. Offer steep discounts and risk losing pricing power longer term. (Detroit car companies never really recovered from decades of discounts and rebates.) Or don't discount and risk a steep drop in store traffic and sales.

An added challenge with discounts is that they are easily matched and simply lower revenues for all competitors. Sandwich chains are seeing this in their $5 lunch wars. Ditto for airlines.

Some brands have found better alternatives, or have at least augmented their discounting with demand-building strategies that also strengthen brand equity.

Best Buy is broadening its appeal to price conscious shoppers by featuring low prices on house brands such as Insignia. The retailer is also maintaining its emphasis on customer service and support (e.g., Geek Squad).

Hyundai was the first car company to realize that consumer anxiety was the main obstacle to sales, not purely affordability. Its Assurance program recognized the emotional component of value -- i.e., the need for consumers to feel smart and in control.

There is no doubt that discounting must play a role in spurring demand during a recession. But marketers would be wise to balance this pricing strategy with other offers -- e.g., loyalty bonus, warranty, added convenience -- that can help differentiate the promotion while also building a lasting positive brand image.

Thank you world.

I'd be remiss if I didn't mark Earth Day by recognizing some of the contributions being made by some of the companies we work with at BD'M.

We partnered with Best Buy to help brand and promote its Greener Together initiative to help address the damage caused by too many electronics piling up in our landfills. We need to remember to not just dump an old TV or PC. Bring it in to Best Buy to be safely recycled.

Applied Materials is a nanotech company. So what has that got to do with Earth Day? At its core, Applied helps the world do more with less. Chips that are more powerful yet more efficient. Architectural glass coatings that conserve energy. Flat panel displays that are brighter yet use less energy. And a large and growing solar energy business that is helping to scale this industry to reach grid parity.

And today, our friends at United announced a new program to help eco-conscious fliers do something to offset the carbon footprint created by jet travel.

When companies try to support green initiatives they walk a fine line between trying to do something and being called out for not doing enough. Fair game. But doing something beats doing nothing every time.

On this Earth Day 2009, let's take a moment to say thank you to mother earth, through words and deeds. Perhaps this song will put us in the mood.

The dark side of Wikibranding

I coined the term wikibranding to capture a new marketing dynamic -- consumers have even more power than marketers to rapidly define brands now that access to global mass media is just a point-click away.

Social media enables consumers to co-create and spread a great brand narrative just as easily as it enables consumers rightfully destroy poor quality brands. Most marketing people know this too well.

PR folks at Domino's and elsewhere are learning another painful lesson about social media -- there is no such thing as a local incident, everything is immediately global. The damage control needs to be swift and devoid of spin.

From The New York Times:

Video Prank at Domino's Taints Brand
By Stephanie Clifford

A video prank two Domino's Pizza employees posted online has shown how social media has the reach and speed to turn tiny incidents into marketing crises....http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/16/business/media/16dominos.html

Optimism requires hard work. And that's the point.

Optimism has long been a uniquely American trait. It defines who we are. We are a nation of people who believe tomorrow will be better than today. It is why our forefathers and mothers risked long ocean voyages in search of a new world, why settlers in wagons ventured ever westward and why immigrants continue to come here by any means possible, by plane or make-shift raft from Cuba. (As a Pakistani born son of Irish immigrants, it is why I am here today.)

Our ingrained sense of optimism was set in motion by our founding story, fueled by generations of immigrants and reinforced by years of abundance and success.

Lately, though, I've come to wonder if our definition of optimism, or more pointedly our underlying motivation, has changed over the past decade, perhaps not in a good way.

American optimism was always an extension of our "can do" spirit. Anything was possible if we worked hard enough to make it happen. Our optimism sprang from hard work, not hope. We knew tomorrow could be better for us and our children if we rolled up our sleeves.

Recently, however, optimism evolved to become an entitlement, no longer an earned reward. We bought houses bigger than we could afford because we had every reason to believe we would get another raise or that our portfolio would continue to grow. We used magic money -- a.k.a., home equity loans -- to buy the muscular SUVs we coveted. We didn't have to work any harder. Good things just happened.

While the current recession has shaken our confidence, recent polls suggest that President Obama is inspiring us to find reasons to be hopeful once again.

I am hopeful the current "cleansing" process will bring us back to the true definition of American optimism. Tomorrow will be better than today, but only if we roll up our sleeves and earn it.

Microsoft finds an idea.

Microsoft's new Window's campaign finally has found a clear selling proposition to support "life without walls."

Windows enables us to find and configure the exact computer to meet our needs because it is the standard embraced by every manufacturer...except Apple. (This seems a little more compelling than Jerry's desire for a moist and chewy PC.)

Leaving aside comments on the execution, the premise that Windows opens us up to a full spectrum of options and brands is persuasive. Additionally, it gives Microsoft the opportunity to reposition Apple as a take-it-or-leave it brand that asks us to sacrifice choice in pursuit of cool.

A lesson in why brand image matters.

Next time somebody tells you that brand image doesn’t matter, that the internet has transformed consumers into rational and well-informed shoppers, just respond with one word: “Malibu.”

In 2007, GM revamped the Chevy Malibu from top to bottom to compete, once and for all, with segment leaders Toyota Camry and Honda Accord, two cars that have ruled the midsize sedan market for years. The result is a $20k car that looks, drives and feels like a luxury sedan.

Consumer Reports recommends the new Malibu. Kelly Blue Book concludes that it looks like a $40k car. JD Power ranks the Kansas City factory that builds it as one of the top three quality plants in the country. It was voted Car of the Year.

Nevertheless, more than twice as many people bought a Camry last year.

It is unreasonable to expect to rewind years of inconsistent quality and value in one year. Having worked with both Ford and Toyota at Y&R and Saatchi, I have seen first hand the hurdle that domestic brands face.

As consumers, perhaps it's time to rethink our aversion to domestic cars, do some homework to update our facts, and, minimally, take a test drive. Then buy the best car.

As marketers, never assume we can milk a brand (or starve it) for years and expect consumers to stay loyal.

Wearable technology.

Check out this video from TED, presented by Patti Maes from the MIT Media Lab. It is a mind-blowing demo of the potential of wearable technology. Which marketer will be the first to test this? Let the race begin.

It takes about two minutes for Patti to get to the demo, but hang in with it, you'll be glad you did.

Thanks to Dominic Lee for turning me on to this.

Twitter explained.

This video hit the bullseye. Supports my post below that Twitter is best used as a wiki -- not a public diary.

What I've learned about Twitter.

I'm approaching my one year anniversary on Twitter (@wikimurph). My first tweet? "Mountain biking in OC." For some reason I felt the world needed to know that. One year and hundreds of tweets later I've learned the true value of Twitter.

Twitter is a real time wiki. Although Google won't admit it, Twitter is a search engine, not a "poor man's email" as it was recently derided by Eric Schmidt. Twitter allows us to tap into the brainpower of people around the world, trusted advisers and total strangers alike.

Over time I noticed that I've gravitated toward people who write tweets that share knowledge ("just saw a presentation about...), tweets that pass along a provocative observation ("has anyone noticed that..."), tweets that point me toward content I might not otherwise have stumbled upon ("check out this site..."). I am following brand strategists, marketing gurus, social media wonks, designers, pop-culturists from Sydney to Sao Paolo. In turn, I have folks around the world following me, including my two teenage daughters (odd time we live in!).

I know I'll still write the occasional narcissistic tweet ("exciting dive today!"), but I've learned I have to give if I want to get. The community gets better when we share something interesting.

I'd write some more, but I'm heading out for a ride. ;)

The IDEO of marketing communications?

I’ve long been a fan of IDEO, the product innovation and design company, and have been thinking about what an advertising agency can learn from how they work. What would the “IDEO of marketing communications” look like?

I first encountered IDEO when ABC news did a story on the firm. Nightline sent a team to the Bay Area company to chronicle a condensed three-day version IDEO’s innovation process, but didn’t reveal the brief until the day before the cameras arrived. Their assignment – reinvent the grocery shopping cart.



Take a look at these videos, served up in three parts. (Disclosure: these videos are sold on abcnews.com. Although I lifted these from YouTube, I bought a copy three years ago.)

IDEO and an advertising agency are in the same business, albeit with different outputs. We both create imaginative ideas to help marketers grow. IDEO’s solutions tend to be 3-dimensional products. An agency’s end product tends to be online and on TV.

IDEO’s process is fluid, evolving to meet different engagements. But the core seems to be defined by four key principles:

1. Inspiration by observation (more anthropological, fewer focus groups)
2. Collaborative brainstorming (always succeeds over the lone genius)
3. Hot teams (drawn from diverse fields to create a collision of perspectives)
4. Rapid prototyping (enlightened trial and error, act before you’ve got all the answers)

The diversity of talent and disciplines we had at Saatchi LA helped us move toward this culture. And our “no walls” credo at Barrie D’Rozario Murphy is designed to foster this same collaboration.

So what would the “IDEO of marketing communications” look like? I have my own point of view (no silos, less hierarchy, more diverse talent, truly collaborative brainstorming, etc.), but would be more interested in learning from others.

Building iPhone apps that don't suck

I like this piece by Fast Company, "How to build an iPhone app that doesn't suck." I think we'd all agree that apps rock. But, truth be told, for every must-have app there seems to be 10 lame ones. Fast Company's slide show provides a quick guide for marketers to follow. My favorite in the list? The WebMD app. Useful content served up through a simple interface.

What's in a name?

I like what Shell is doing with its new formulation, "nitrogen enriched gasoline." Shell resisted the the temptation to make up some scientific-sounding name (such as Chevron with Techron) and instead spoke in plain simple English. Techron feels like marketing, nitrogen feels like science.

Imagine, then, the dilemma faced by the folks at Mercedes Benz when they chose a sub-branding theme for its new line of biodiesels. Mercedes BlueTEC involves a substance called AdBlue. AdBlue is urea. Here's a case where the plain simple English rule would not have worked well. Who wants to drive the urine-powered E Class?

Why Skittles matters.

Skittles jumped head first into the uncharted world of social media with its new un-website.

What's an un-website you ask? Check out Skittles.com. This is wikibranding in action. Users define and create the brand's message and content. Skittles.com links to Twitter and Facebook to enable folks to tweet and friend the brand.

Why is this important? It's just a candy after all. (A very addictive one at that.) It's important because it represents a bold move by a marketer to defy the category norm and test something different.

Check out Starburst.com and you'll understand the dilemma faced by CPG brands. Why on earth would anyone need to visit starburst.com? And for the five people who do visit it, why on earth would they want to sit through a video on the history of sharing?

Skittles' new un-website has people talking, although it may only be media wonks at this point. But chatter is chatter in this world. The spammers have already hijacked the chatter, proof that it's working! (And for those in the agency world who are all-a-twitter over the fact that this site mimics that from modernista, get your head out of the agency bubble. Modernista does not own this format any more than one can lay claim to owning the idea of using music in a TV spot. This is a creative tactic available to all.)

The real test will be what Skittles does next. What will it learn from the unfiltered chatter? How will it engage and facilitate the next level of engagement? How this will inform the fundamental definition of the brand?

Want brand loyalty? Be loyal to customers.

Customer loyalty is often a one-way street. Customers patronize specific brands over time and in return get....well, nothing.

Car companies are big on loyalty marketing. But these programs often amount to nothing more than a special discount ("loyalty bonus") and sneak previews of a new model. The problem is that any buyer can negotiate a similar discount any day at any dealer.

When you think about it, Apple does little for its best customers. We stand in line like everyone else. And how about Coke and Nike and Sony? What's the benefit of staying loyal?

So this brings me to a category we love to bash -- airlines -- and offer some praise.

For example, United Airlines (disclosure: although a BD'M client, I was a "1K" customer years before) offers its frequent fliers a wide range of perks in exchange for our continued business. As a loyal customer I get to fast track through check-in and security lines. I can sit in Economy Plus and get more legroom (and not get my laptop smashed by the guy in front of me) free of charge. I receive upgrades and free tickets. My baggage fees are waived. That's real stuff that offers me economic and emotional benefits.

Very few brands offer real benefits and appreciation for our loyalty. This is a mistake, and also an opportunity in the current recession.

The best way to survive in the current climate is to get close to your best customers. They are most likely to buy and most likely to talk up the brand. They are the proverbial low hanging fruit. For example, Best Buy (another BD'M client) sent me a $50 gift card the other day in recognition of some recent purchases. What's smart about this is that I'm likely go into the store and spend more than $50.

The entire industry that sprung up around customer relationship management (or CRM) clouded a very simple premise: say thank you to people.

At Last

When I was at Ogilvy we pitched and won the Jaguar account with a beautiful campaign featuring Etta James’ immortal torch song, “At Last.”

The lyrics were tailor made for a brand that, at the time, peopled admired and aspired to someday own. The campaign ran for several years and, along with some new product, helped to revitalize the storied marque. (There was an anecdote of a priest alluding to our campaign in his sermon and using the lyrics to draw an analogy about finding salvation in our lives. How’s that for branded content?!)

However, yesterday I saw a spot for Hoover using Etta’s song (sorry Beyonce, it will always be Etta’s tune). I was crushed. It ruined my fond recollections of that campaign. How it fits a vacuum cleaner, I don’t know. And whether or not Hoover’s version finds its way into a Sunday sermon remains to be seen.

Hard lesson for Tropicana. But smart response.

I'm clearly not the only one who questioned Tropicana's new packaging.  

The NY Times reports the brand is bowing to public pressure and bringing back the iconic image of the straw stuck in the orange.

When I started this blog, I coined the term "wikibranding" to capture this very phenomenon -- i.e., brands are increasingly defined and communicated by customers, not by the manufacturer.  Rock on tweeters!

Focus. Execute. Learn. Repeat.

A new study by the CMO Council confirms what many of us see every day. Marketers are far too distracted by short term issues ("random acts of marketing").

Several months ago I spoke to an MBA class (CMOs in training) at the University of California, Irvine and shared my POV on the hallmarks of great marketers. Given today's business climate, it would be unwise for any CMO to attempt to excel on all the traits I outlined. With mounting demands and pressures facing today's CMO, and with ever-decreasing resources, it's essential that a CMO set priorities and operate within a clear and focused framework. For example, I recently offered this framework to a CMO at a large company:

1. Clarify the value proposition. Seek relevant differentiation. The noise in the market is loud and confusing. Make sure the offering is in-step with customer needs.
2. Reassess loyalty drivers. Get close to your best customers. Categories and customers change. What drove loyalty five years ago may be less sticky today.
3. Appeal to new segments. Begin attracting tomorrow's customer -- e.g., younger customers, multicultural markets, older customers, etc. If the target statement in the marketing plan reads like it did three years ago, time to blow off the dust.
4. Make sure the website is the best in the category. The most functional. The easiest to navigate. The most well designed. This is a powerful manifestation of the brand. Ensure all marketing activities lead back to it.
5. Continue improving. Innovation doesn't have to happen on a grand scale. It can be a series of small test and learn opportunities. Follow the 70/20/10 rule.
   

Recessions don't last forever. The smart marketers are those that are focusing on initiatives that will help their company be healthier, leaner and stronger as the economy recovers.

Marketers, fear is thy enemy

I've posted several times about ways in which marketers are adapting strategies to grow market share during the recession. I continue to applaud what I see from Hyundai.

Hyundai is addressing the fundamental issue -- FEAR. The vast majority of consumers are not facing layoffs or home foreclosures, yet are understandably anxious about the future. Therefore, they curtail spending.

Hyundai launched its Assurance program in January, allowing consumers to return their new Hyundai within a year of purchase if they lose their job. Smart. Sales jumped 14% in January in a month when the industry was down 37%.

Yesterday Hyundai sweetened the program by offering to pay the vehicle loan or lease for 90 days while the owner looks for work. The owner will not have to repay Hyundai for these payments if they decide to keep the car.

Happy, shiny brands

Barack Obama's campaign sold us on the idea of hope and optimism. Judging from recent brand makeovers, corporate America is banking on hope and optimism to sell us on everything from colas to cream cheese.

Happy, shiny brand logos, however, are not enough to tap into the energy that President Obama helped to unleash. The lesson to be drawn from Obama's successful campaign is that we are in the era of action, not just words.

The marketers that best captitalize on this wave of optimism and change will be those that actually do something positive and new.

Marketing that shouts and interrupts needs to make room for marketing that provides a useful service to its customers (think Nike+, Southwest's "Ding" or Lucky's iPhone app).

Why have a digital agency of the year?

Brian Morrissey wrote a provocative post on his blog: "Should there be a digital agency of the year?"

I hadn't pondered this question before. My gut tells me the answer is no. After all, in this media environment, how can one be Agency of the Year without innovating and pushing the boundaries in digital? And isn't "traditional agency of the year" an oxymoron? Can you truly be considered the best while carrying the moniker "traditional." The agency of the year should be the shop that made its clients successful in the most innovative and game-changing ways, whether through smart creative ideas or innovative digital architecture and platforms

And the winner is...

It's not often a two year old agency is mentioned in the same breath as DreamWorks, but then again we like think of Barrie D'Rozario Murphy as a "grown up start up."

Last week the International Animated Film Society held its 36th annual Annie Awards to celebrate the best animated work across all media.

Our "Heart" commercial for United Airlines was selected as the best animated commercial. Congratulations to our partners at United and Duck Studios.

And, yes, some film called Kung Fu Panda also cleaned up.

Hey Kindle...now the hard work begins

In announcing its new Kindle 2, Amazon implied it wants to do for books what the iPod did for music. Amazon’s vision is to make more books more accessible and portable for more people.

This analogy makes sense on the surface, but Mr. Bezos and company have their work cut out for them if they hope to emulate Apple’s success (and do so before Apple begins spreading iPhone book apps).

The original iPod was successful for reasons beyond its design and ease of use. Apple owned and grew the market through constant innovation. Even before the iPhone, the iPod kept evolving and changing to bring more people into its orbit – e.g., lower-priced models, smaller versions, more capacity, new colors, etc. Apple's frenetic pace of innovation prevented competitors from finding a way in.

The iPhone transformed the portable music player into a swiss army knife, with applications for business (email), entertainment (videos), and now with iPhone apps, every conceivable aspect of our life.

Kindle will need to do the same if it intends to do for books what the iPod did for music. Constant innovation. Broad price range. More functionality. And the audacity to dream of uses that go well beyond its original intent.

We love screens

I am the father of two screen-agers. I am a screen-ager as well, as are many of us. We crave screens.

Contrary to popular belief, TV is not dead. According to Randall Stross' article in the NY Times, we're spending more and more time in front of the tube. We're spending more time online. We are also spending more time viewing videos on our mobile phones, the so-called "third screen." With sites like Hulu and abc.com, even iPhone videopodcasts, we're increasingly blurring the distinctions between all of these screens.

What we're not doing as much is reading magazines and newspapers. (You would probably not be reading my blog if it weren't on a screen.) Although I am a devoted reader of the New York Times, I must confess I am reading it more often via my iPhone app, relegating the pulp version to airplane reading.

Saatchi CEO Kevin Roberts nailed this idea several years ago in his book, SISOMO, which compelled us to think beyond TV and think screens instead. Screens provide sight, sound and motion. We crave sight, sound and motion.

We need to begin having more conversations about screen strategies, not just media strategies. A screen strategy would force us to think about how to link the three screens (perhaps four when you consider the rise in digital out of home) into a cohesive experience.

Web without words

Joy Hart, a former colleague of mine, dialed me into this website...web without words. Don't know who's behind this, but their intent is to deconstruct popular websites by removing all words to expose the underlying design framework. Interesting brain candy.

Joy Hart also writes one of the better blogs out there -- joy to the world wide web. Love the pairing of ideas and music. Check it out.

Times are cool. Stop ranting.

Love this video because his insights are bang on! And also because it's LOL funny. We live in the coolest of times yet we seldom take a nanosecond to appreciate this.

His point about air travel is right. We're sitting in a chair up in the sky and instead of marveling, we're complaining about the peanuts!

Marketing in a recession

I've written some earlier posts on marketing in a recession. Here's the next installment.

Hyundai and Allstate offer two different examples of how to market in a recession. One attacks the issue with a tangible offer; the other through an intangible and comforting message. What they have in common is that they attack the underlying issue: fear. (Perhaps inspired by FDR when he proclaimed, "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.")

Fear of the unknown. Will I keep my job? Will I have to cut costs to survive? It is this anxiety, even among people who may not be facing a layoff, that stops us from buying an expensive new car, or compels us to opt for lesser brands as a way to cut costs.

Hyundai is offering its Assurance Program. Buy a new Hyundai, and if you lose your job can return the car and be protected from the first $7,500 in depreciation.

Allstate's new advertising is seeking to give us the emotional comfort that we've been through this before and will come out the other side, no need to panic (or choose cheaper insurance).

Hyundai's sales in January were up 14% vs year ago. I don't have similar data on Allstate.

Lucky idea.

iPhone apps are proving to be some of the most innovative marketing programs around. The latest to catch my eye is from Lucky, the Conde Nast magazine.

For those who don’t know Lucky, it's basically a fashion catalog posing as editorial. Lucky is for young women who like to shop, which gives it a potential subscriber base of a zillion. ;)

The Lucky app allows users to search for a specific designer hand bag (or shoe or dress or…) and use the phone’s GPS function to pinpoint the closest store that is selling it. Lucky’s call center will also contact the store and have the item set aside, sending a confirming text message to the user. Best of all, this is all free.

If this app is as good as it sounds, I think Lucky could have charged a buck or two for the download. But it sounds as if Conde Nast’s real play is to use this tool to drive magazine advertising revenue, both as an added-value lure for advertisers and as a research tool to demonstrate audience engagement.

I hope it works. Magazine publishers need to show a bit more innovation across the board.

Time to retire the babies and animals.

There has long been a formula for creating a great Super Bowl commercial. And therein lies the problem.

The old formula is tired and out of step with the times. This premise was on full display yesterday. The decline in the quality of the spots has nothing to do with the notion that marketers need to play it safe because the economy sucks. I don’t subscribe to this school of thought. Now more than ever, we want to be entertained.

No, the dynamic that is undermining the age-old Super Bowl formula is YouTube. In a pre-YouTube era, animals, animal puppets and babies doing hilarious things used to be really fresh and funny. Super Bowl commercials were the original viral video. Now we can see even more outrageous and funnier videos from around the globe every day of the year with just a few clicks of our collective mouse. It is hard to out-zany the Internet.

The Super Bowl is still one of the best places to be if you want to reach a huge, tuned-in audience. But don’t go there for buzz. Three million is a lot to pay for a brief burst of chatter. If you show up, have something to say.

Be in the Super Bowl when you need to launch something meaningful, perhaps a new product or a new positioning, because it still has the power to place new ideas squarely in the middle of pop culture. Get more than :30 for your money ($3m to be precise) by teasing weeks ahead of time to get the entertainment and news media to extend the message. Design an employee promotion around the sponsorship to use it as a morale-boosting event. Redesign the website (message and functionality) to capitalize on the inevitable burst of traffic.

So what did I like yesterday? Pepsi and Gatorade stood out. Both were launching big brand positioning campaigns. Both used it as a reveal after weeks of teaser advertising. Both executed well. The Denny’s spot was extremely funny, and is supported by a big promotion offering free Grand Slam breakfasts tomorrow all across the country.

Don't get me wrong. I like seeing guys getting whacked in the head, Mr Potato Head driving a car, a Cheetah unleashing killer pigeons and fully agree with Pedigree that dogs rule. But folks, we're talking about spending $3m for something you could have done any day of the year.

The bubble project

I came across this piece on Rocketboom. The Bubble Project, the brainchild of former agency creative Ji Lee, gives people a voice to combat the one-sided corporate monologue. Nice initiative. And it seems be spreading around the world. Evidence of our pent up desire to be heard.

Creative destruction

I'm fascinated by the concept of creative destruction. It sometimes appears in articles debating the merits of corporate bailouts or the long-term silver lining found in a recession.

The premise behind creative destruction is that new and more innovative companies arise from the ashes of old and tired companies. From AOL, we get Google. From Radio Shack, we get Best Buy. From GM, we get Toyota. (And Toyota needs to be watching folks like Hyundai.) You get the idea.

How about the agency business? Where are the examples of creative destruction in the field of marketing communications? The models we might have pointed to several years ago -- media agencies, digital agencies -- haven't turned the industry on its head as we had expected.

What would be the hallmarks of an agency that feels fundamentally different and new? An agency that redefines the business? This is what I'm thinking about. Would love to hear suggestions.

How to squander a big idea.

I don't understand Tropicana's new packaging.

For years Tropicana was easily identified by its iconic symbol of a straw inserted into an orange. Nothing could say fresh orange juice faster or clearer. It's a unique and ownable mnemonic that nails the brand benefit.

But Tropicana dumped this for, get this, a picture of a glass of juice. What could be more generic? Along with the new typography, the packaging exudes the feel of a store brand or a generic knock-off of a national brand. The existing packaging needed to be refreshed, but I think they went way too far by dropping the orange and straw.

This speaks to the fragility of great ideas. It takes years to build and own an iconic idea, but it takes only one bad decision to squander it.

Question for Microsoft

"Life without walls?" What walls?

One clear observation from CES is that the walls separating TV, phone and computer have come tumbling down. It strikes me that Microsoft may be answering a question few people are asking.

Report from CES

Tech companies should be more familiar with the Prius Principle. Toyota's hybrid succeeded because it didn't ask us to change behavior. Instead it reshaped existing behavior. (Exactly why plug-in cars aren't widely embraced.)

This is the filter through which I viewed CES this week. Which technologies will succeed because they found a way to tap into our current behaviors?

That's why I'm doubtful about 3-D TV. Yes, I put on the glasses and, yes, I was amazed. But, no, I don't think I'll invite my friends over to watch the game and require them to sport Roy Orbison-esque glasses. (To be fair, there is buzz about the future potential of 3-D without the glasses. We'll see.)

I'm also not sure about Polaroid's new digital camera that can also print out photos. Who wants to carry around a paper photo? Invoking the Prius Principle, this runs counter to how we currently share photos.

TV widgets seem to be the big idea this year. The Prius Principle bodes well for this new platform. After all, we like watching TV and we like MySpace. Why not do them at the same time? The underlying technology is backed largely by Yahoo and Intel and is going to be available on new sets offered by LG, Sony and Samsung.

Sony also has promising ways to bring more content and interactivity to our TVs. BD-Live and the PlayStation Store enable viewers to download new content to view on their TV, as well as to upload and share personal media with friends.

Samsung also demoed ways to seamless mesh our personal media and our TV sets. Their blu-ray player can stream content from NetFlix and Pandora. Their new sets also feature a USB drive (WiseLink Pro) that launches a menu to access photos, music and video stored on the jump drive. (Using jump drives passes the Prius test.)

Whereas Panasonic unveiled a 150" TV at last year's CES, this year thin is in. Sony has a Bravia that is only 9.9mm deep.

However, the technology that really impressed me is Sony's Flex OLED. Organic LED TVs are already hitting the market. They are brighter, use less power and are thinner than thin (3mm). Flex OLED, although still a concept, will bring about bendable screens. Imagine a laptop that opens to reveal full screen covering the entire area where the keyboard used to be. Or video screens bent around our wrist as jewelry (my idea, not Sony's...I'm keeping my day job).

If you think screens are ubiquitous now, just wait til Flex OLED makes its debut. Ditto for the new vending machines that will be tested this summer at Simon Malls throughout the Southeast. They are basically touchscreen TVs that also dispense cold drinks. That too passes the Prius Principle. I like TV. I like Coke.

What does IBM want us to do?

IBM is confusing me.

The company's recent "Stop Talking. Start Doing" campaign staked out an action-oriented positioning to appeal to business managers who've grown tired of new- age consultant blather and instead want to see real results.

Now IBM is running a new print campaign under the banner of "Think." Admittedly, the campaign has a different focus -- i.e., how to create a smarter planet by solving the climate, financial and energy issues that bedevil us. But wouldn't "stop talking / start doing" have applied to this as well? It seems to be what the world needs to do: act...now.

Which idea am I supposed to believe about the IBM brand? Is it the company we turn to for thought-provoking ideas or the company with the know-how to make innovation work?

The latter seems more in step with the times.

Time for the good stuff

I'm seeing more articles citing the increase in competitive advertising. The basic storyline goes something like this: the economy stinks, marketers need to be more effective, so they're dialing up more head-to-head competitive advertising.

One Interpublic executive was quoted in yesterday's WSJ saying, "Ads have to get competitive in bad times. It's a dog fight. It's about getting leaner and meaner."

Really? Was he knowingly serving up the ineffective stuff during the good times? I doubt it. When was the last time you heard a marketer or agency exec say, "Hey, let's hold that really effective idea until we need to sell something."

To be sure, competitive advertising has its role in the mix. It's a way to clearly convey a brand's advantages. It's particularly effective on-line and at point-of-sale. But if a brand adopts this as its sole message it runs the risk of becoming the grumpy McCain to the category leader's more inspiring Obama.

Inspiration in seat 1B

I shared a flight yesterday with Alan Simon, the Chairman and CEO of Omaha Steaks. What an inspiring guy.

Omaha Steak is a nearly 180 year old family business. How many companies can claim that? Although Alan has since turned over day to day management to his 52 year old son, he still makes the commute from Orange County to Omaha twice a month because he loves the business so much. He finds the time to give back to the community by being on the boards of two universities. And he seems to know more about media technologies than most people half his age -- including me!

But the biggest delight was sensing I was meeting a man with the mischievous humor of a teenager.

It made having to fly on a Sunday afternoon worthwhile.

Marketing in a recession: Message from the front lines

A few weeks ago I conducted a marketing survey of senior executives across a range of businesses such as automotive, pharmaceuticals, toys, home remodeling, consumer electronics and retail.

I wanted to learn if there were common themes in the way a diverse group marketers was navigating the current recession (depression?).

Not surprisingly, all marketers are hurting and nearly every segment of their business is down. Lack of credit is affecting consumers and businesses alike. High priced premium segments, which seemed unaffected at first, have caved. Consumers are saving money by trading down to a lesser alternative or waiting for deep discounts on the products they desire. B2B purchases are drying up as companies cut CapEx budgets. There is a “slash and burn” mentality to marketing budgets.

But there are some bright spots as well.

Products and services that appeal to the consumer’s “cocooning” instinct – e.g., entertain at home, family games – are showing some resiliency.

Toys receiving heavy TV support seem to be holding up because parents may not want to scrimp on giving their kids what they want for Christmas.

Brands that feature a broad price range -- e..g, high/medium/low tiers, value bundles, etc. -- seem to be holding customers in the brand franchise.

Several executives reported that they are counting on their recent investments in new innovations to help weather the storm. “New” still attracts interest and curiosity.

However, if there is one single theme that is consistent across these marketers it is this: Get closer to your best customers.

Companies such as Allergan and Kohler, which sell through intermediaries, are investing in service and training to maintain loyalty among the people who recommend their products to end-users. For example, Allergan runs outreach programs designed to train physicians be better business people and run a more profitable medical practice.

Best Buy and Volvo are appealing to their best customers with more 1:1 marketing, private shopping events and loyalty incentives.

Land Rover and Sony are turning to smarter database marketing efforts.

Mattel is using street teams to put its electronic games into the hands of its priority customers.

Navistar is evaluating using more outbound telemarketing to better qualify and prioritize sales prospects.

I recently heard a quote that said, “never let a good crisis go to waste.” This captures the mood of theses marketers. The intensity of this recession is compelling many companies to reassess all aspects of their marketing plans.

Done right, many of the tactics they are using to survive today may continue to frame their strategies when the economy picks up again in the future. (And it will pick up again.)

Focus on your best customers. Do not take them for granted. Lavish them with appreciation and respect during the good times as well.

Focus your media spending. Digital media is the new branding medium, not just a tactical and transactional medium. Use a mobile call to action to transform all offline advertising into opt-in, interactive media.

Focus on the products in your portfolio that truly matter. Don’t get too broad and scattered. If a product isn’t delivering profitable growth, loyalty or a strategic halo for the brand, don’t waste precious resources even in good times.

Creating heroic brand narratives

I am intrigued by the art of storytelling in helping marketers create more meaningful and lasting brand identities.

Stories help us understand. They convey meaning. And in an increasingly overwhelming and fast-moving world, meaning trumps information.

If we step into the way-back machine and return to our English Lit classes, we might remember that stories are built on several essential elements, including archetypal characters, the hero's journey and resolution of conflict.

Archetypes are the universal characters that form what Carl Jung called our collective unconscious. Over the millennia, we became hardwired to instantly recognize the meaning of archetypes like the outlaw, hero, ruler, jester, temptress, innocent and the everyman. Defining and expressing brands as archetypes may be more powerful than the traditional brand personality statement in creating a deep connection with consumers.

The "hero's journey" was first defined in Joseph Campbell's book on comparative mythology, "The Hero With A Thousand Faces." Campbell isolated the hero stories that recur in ancient fables, the Bible and Hollywood films. In short: a person ventures forth from the common world...confronts obstacles and adversaries...wins a decisive victory...and returns with the power to help their fellow man.

We see the Hero's Journey in Hollywood:

An innocent young prince tries to run away from his troubles and instead discovers the redeeming power of friendship and truth.


A farm boy leaves his family and unites with rebels and outlaws in an epic battle of good vs evil to save the world from the corrupt and villainous empire.

We see it in politics:

A common man rises above racial barriers to inspire a nation to defy the divisiveness of red states and blue states and reclaim the promise of the United States.


We see it in brands:

A free thinker liberating the world from beige conformity.

An advocate of women's self-esteem battling against the falsehood of media-defined beauty.

An authority-defying rebel uniting a community in a crusade against fear.


Great brands tell great stories. The best among these find a way to be the hero in an ever-unfolding narrative. Like our favorite literary protagonists, heroic brands have a clear sense of true north that shapes their beliefs and behaviors.

True to Campbell's concept of the hero's journey, heroic brands make clear what it is they stand for by being equally clear about what they oppose. Classic brand positioning leads us to define what a brand stands for. The heroic brand model compels us to go further -- define the antagonist. After all, the most passionate causes tend to be in pursuit of both – a noble ideal that inspires us and a status quo that must be vanquished. It is the tension between these opposing forces that trumpets a call to arms.

The moral of this story? We need to stop thinking like advertisers and begin thinking like storytellers.

Help Detroit help us.

We need a healthy automotive industry in the United States. But not in its current form. A pure taxpayer bail-out is not the answer because it doesn't help the automotive manufacturers remedy the historic problems that are putting their existence at risk. It prolongs the status quo at a time when we need to begin writing a new chapter in the story of the American automobile industry.

Too many leaders in Congress, as well as taxpayers, seem to oppose a bail-out on the basis that the Detroit car companies need to be punished. They accuse the car companies of relying too long on profitable pick up trucks and SUVs. This is silly. Car companies focused on these vehicles because we were hell-bent on buying them. As consumers, we couldn't find an SUV that was big enough, powerful enough or blinged enough. We had plenty of opportunities to buy fuel-efficient vehicles from the car companies, American or Japanese, but we didn't.

Even Toyota, a very customer-driven and nimble company, began gorging at the truck trough, building a new plant in San Antonio to manufacture its Tundra. Sure, Toyota has the celebrated Prius. But it also sells far more Land Cruisers, Highlanders, RAV4 and Tacomas.

The reason to oppose a bail-out shouldn't be about punishment, because there is no crime. The reason to oppose a bail-out is to take a step toward deep-rooted structural change.

Chapter 11 is one way. In GM's case, it would give it the opportunity to lower its labor costs and reduce the insane number of dealers it has selling fewer and fewer cars. But the ripple-effect throughout the supply chain and country would be devastating. For those who want to punish GM, do they also want to punish the small company in Ohio that supplies fasteners? Or the company in Southern California that supplies the machines that install air bags? Or punish the trucking company that delivers parts. The automotive ecosystem extends much farther than many realize.

I believe the best strategy is a major taxpayer investment in alternative fuel vehicles. Give Detroit some relief by getting this massive R&D cost off its books (for now) so that, in years to come, our country will reap equally massive benefits, such as cleaner air, lower oil consumption, and higher-paying green-tech jobs. This sounds like a win-win for all.

Kaizen in action

There are varying points of views on how to bring more innovation to marketing communications. Too often the discussion languishes in empty exhortations to be more nontraditional, viral, guerrilla, etc.

I met the other day with a friend and former client, Kim McCullough, the head of marketing communications for Toyota, who gave me a clear and actionable user's guide for managing innovation in marketing communications. Kim refers to it as the 70/20/10 plan.

In the 70/20/10 plan a marketer would invest 70% of its budget in proven, effective communications strategies, another 20% in rolling out new strategies that have been tested and vetted in the previous year, and use the remaining 10% as seed money for new test and learn opportunities.

The brilliance in this strategy is its clarity and simplicity. First, it recognizes that marketers should not run away from things that work simply to pursue the latest buzz marketing strategy d'jour. Second, it dedicates resources to mainstream recent tests that have proven their worth. (Too many times we see marketers test new strategies only to do nothing with the results.) Lastly, it continues to fuel tomorrow's innovations and ideas, which, if successful, will become part of the 20% investment the following year.

This 70/20/10 model creates a virtuous cycle for innovation. It is also an example of Toyota's commitment to the principle of kaizen, or continuous improvement.

The sun speaks again.

During the Democratic National Convention, the Sun decided it was time to address planet earth, speaking through its friends at Applied Materials (and one of colleagues at BD'M, copywriter Phil Calvit, a.k.a., the voice of the sun).

The Sun spoke again in today's Wall Street Journal, this time expressing its appreciation for the Congress' decision to extend the Investment Tax Credit which will continue to provide much needed relief to those companies investing in new alternative energy technologies, such as renewable solar energy.

BD'M also created this site to show how Applied Materials is making good on the Sun's promise.

What great marketers do well.

I’m giving a talk next week to the MBA students at the University of California, Irvine. I’m posting this outline to to invite readers to share their ideas and improve this list.

My goal is to give these MBA candidates the type of marketing insights that grad schools tend to overlook – mainly that all marketing challenges cannot be solved through statistical analysis and analytics. Many of us would agree that after spending a few years in brand marketing we learned that it is often the softer skills that define great brand leaders.

I’m not going to spend time going on about quality, integrated marketing, interactive media, etc. Price of entry ideas like these are more suited for a speech entitled “How to avoid being a mediocre marketer.”

When I think of the hallmarks that define great marketers I come up with this list.

Brand literacy: They understand that not all products are brands and that branding is not solely the responsibility of advertising. They understand how brand equity is built through experiences, emotions, design, pricing, distribution and the entire marketing mix.

Customer intimacy: They go beyond focus groups and one-size-fits-all quantitative studies. They know there is no such thing as a monolithic customer definition, rather the customer is a portfolio of segments and needs. They behave as commercial anthropologists, observing customers 24/7. They show empathy towards customers and try to see the market through their eyes. They are transparent, knowing that the internet has vanquished secrets and that customers will destroy brands they cannot fully trust.

Relevant differentiation: They know that underneath all the slick marketing must exist a product with a meaningful and unique proposition. To them, having a USP is not old school, it is how you win. They also know that differentiation for the sake of being unique is the fast track to irrelevance. We need to differentiate on things that matter to customers.

Storytelling: They understand the power of a compelling brand narrative. Great brands tell great stories. They understand the power of archetypes. They are the protagonist in an ever unfolding story. They understand the need to define what they stand for by being clear about what they oppose, because every protagonist seeks to overcome some challenge or foe. It is this journey toward a noble cause that makes them human and interesting.

Innovation: They know that markets and trends move at lightning speed. Innovations create an aura of infectious momentum for a brand. They innovate in brand appropriate ways because they have taken the time to understand the true essence of their brand and find new expressions of that core idea.

Test and learn: The great marketers know that many new ideas are doomed to fail. But instead of being paralyzed, they build learning cultures to improve their odds of success. They invest in learning opportunities – test markets, new designs, pricing, extensions. If something doesn’t work they celebrate the insights gleaned on how to do better next time. They are tenacious, they indeed do it better next time.

Design: They subscribe to the great quote (used by designer Yves Behar), “Advertising is the price companies pay for being unoriginal.” They know that we live in an increasingly visual age and that great design can not only better serve the customer’s spoken and unspoken needs, it can also convey powerful brand meaning.

Thoughtful interactions: They know that every interaction matters. The website. The packaging. The events. And the performance of the product itself. Customer interactions form the basis of the brand relationship and, increasingly, are a catalyst for positive creds in social media. Strategy sets a direction, execution determines success. Details matter.

Context: They know that brand meaning is not an absolute concept. Customers often form opinions in a relative manner. Where a brand shows up and the company it keeps can be powerful influencers. Media can shape meaning. Distribution choices can shape meaning. Associations and alliances can shape meaning.

Alignment: They know that a USP is most powerful when it is aligned and reinforced through every aspect of a company’s value chain. Pricing. Distribution. Sales force incentives. Training. Recruiting. A USP is not an advertising idea…it’s why the company exists. It shapes their corporate culture, and vice versa.

I have examples in mind for each of these, but would love to hear your candidates.

Deja vu all over again

Yogi Berra allegedly said “this is like déjà vu all over again.” I was reminded of Yogi’s wisdom while thinking about what marketers can learn from the way in which consumers reacted during previous economic meltdowns.

Our economy is a mess. Jobs are fragile. Real net income for working Americans is stagnant. We knew this for a while but chose to ignore it while buying our McMansions with zero money down. It takes the evaporation of trillions in personal wealth to get our full attention.

Now that we’re duly panicked, how will we respond? One clue is to examine how consumers reacted the first few times we saw this movie.

Let’s go in the way-back machine. No, not 1929, let’s start in 1987. Conspicuous consumption was in vogue. Michael Milken was peddling junk bonds. Yuppies drove “beemers.” Wall Street’s ficitonal Gordon Gekko preached how “greed is good.”

Then came Black Monday, the day the Dow plummeted over 20%. (To put this in context, this past Monday’s 777-point free fall was a 7% decline.)

The consumer response was best defined by trend guru Faith Popcorn who coined the term “cocooning” to describe our desire to seek shelter from the storm by embracing simple pleasures and honest, back-to-basic comforts.

Out went the “beemers” and in came SUVs. The Ford Explorer and the Jeep Cherokee took off because SUVs provided a sense of security, strength and escape from a dangerous world.

Pop culture captured the zeitgeist in movies like Baby Boom and TV shows like Thirtysomething. “Nesting” gave rise to enjoying movies and board games at home with friends as well as the over-hyped trend of women leaving the career track for the so-called mommy track. New brands like Lexus capitalized on our desire for luxury without the premium price and the stigma of conspicuous consumption.

Soon enough the stock market bounced back. BMW sales went up. Martinis and cigars were rediscovered. Michael Milken was replaced by sock puppets. We believed the new economy would spare us from ever again having to eat meatloaf.

By 2001, Greenspan’s warning of our “irrational exuberance” caught up with us when the early dot.com companies proved worthless and the tragic events of 9/11 shook our country to its foundations. The market plunged southward, wiping out retirement nest eggs, diluting 401k accounts and creating a pervasive feeling of vulnerability. Setting aside the impact of 9/11, we learned the “new economy” was as irrational and cyclical as the old one.

But the way in which consumers responded this time was different. Consumers didn’t “cocoon” and “nest” or get all warm and fuzzy about staying at home with kids. We got smarter. Unlike 1987, we had the Internet to help us save money without having to give up the brands we enjoy. We still bought BMWs, but we found the best deal on autobytel.com before going to the dealership. Off-line, we witnessed the advent of strategic shopping – i.e., shop at Wal-Mart for daily necessities to be able to indulge at Nordstroms for those things we truly desired.

What now? Is this credit crisis (and war and failure of leadership and…) jarring enough to send us back to home and hearth? If so, does this provide growth opportunities for brands such as Mattel (games), Volvo (security), Best Buy (stay at home entertainment) and Kohler (remodel instead of move)? Has the Internet fundamentally changed how we respond as consumers because we are better informed and empowered? Or will we seek what Faith Popcorn describes as the “pleasure revenge”?

Predicting the future is a fool’s game. But being unprepared could be even more foolish. Marketers should immediately connect with customers. Listen to what they're saying, but really listen to how they're feeling.

Begin taking steps to be well-positioned for what’s ahead. Find a clear and honest value proposition. Reinforce emotional connections and a sense of community. Invest in service and warranties to replace risk with reassurance. And use the web to help consumers make smart and informed choices.

Digitally-inspired brands

The IAB’s Mixx conference in New York was extremely well organized and featured a diverse roster of speakers, including Chrysler CMO Deborah Meyer, eBay CMO Michael Linton, CBS President Les Moonves, TV host Charlie Rose, BBDO chief Andrew Robertson, digital media author Clay Shirsky and Heroes executive producer and creator Tim Kring. Although the event didn't break new ground, it did illuminate several themes that brand marketing professionals would be wise to embrace.

Here’s my take-away: Stop the debate over brand vs. interactive. Interactive marketing is, in fact, our most powerful brand building strategy.

More and more marketers intuitively understand this. The question then is why we’re not yet using this medium to its full potential.

One reason is that too many people in advertising define "brand" through the narrow lens of a product’s TV or print campaign. Consumers build brand impressions through a complex mix of first-hand experiences, peer opinions and, yes, intangible and emotional imagery. Ignoring true consumer behavior is not a recipe for success.

Inspired, planned and crafted properly, interactive advertising has the power to tap into each of these brand-building elements. It can inspire deep engagement, allowing customers to interact with and customize their own version of the brand. (Witness Nike+.) It can expose customers to the opinions of like-minded peers. (Witness Apple’s community ratings.) It can immerse customers in highly emotional and engaging brand narratives. (Witness HBO’s Voyeurs campaign.)

So why are these examples the exception rather than the rule?

First, in listening to the conversation at Mixx, we continue to cling to an outdated vocabulary that Don Draper might be able to recognize:

• “Traditional” vs. “non-traditional.” (TV will become a digital medium next year. Traditional?)
• “New media.” (If you want to make a 24 year-old laugh, refer to the web as new media.)
• “Brand advertising” vs. “interactive.” (See paragraph five above.)
• “Above the line” vs. “below the line.” (I never really knew what this meant to begin with. I doubt consumers do either.)
• “Media” vs. “Creative.” (Need I elaborate?)
• “Off-line” vs “On-line.” (Is a billboard with an SMS call to action really off-line?)

Second, we use misguided metrics to gauge interactive advertising, placing too much emphasis on the “last ad” metric (i.e., the last click the customer made before buying) as the best measure of effectiveness. This metric ignores the influence of other media and messages that drive us to that last click. New research from Microsoft’s Atlas Institute suggests that the “last ad” standard ignores the impact of of other touchpoints, presumably product experiences, sampling, advertising, social networks, by revealing that 71% of sponsored search clicks are navigational in nature – i.e., the consumer typed in the precise brand or product for which they were looking.

Third, we have too many specialists and not enough hybrids. Don’t get me wrong, we need people who are subject matter experts, if not zealots, on TV, interactive, mobile, PR, et al. Without access to their expertise we are merely posers. But we need more hybrids, people who are passionate about ideas regardless of platform. These are the professionals that will crack the code because they most closely resemble how consumers think and behave.

All of us, specialists and hybrids alike, need to view interactive as a human experience and not a channel. We need to think more like event marketers, retail environment architects and product designers. The people working in these disciplines understand that well-crafted experiences convey a compelling and lasting brand idea.

Flex your brand identity

More often than not brand identity is treated like some sacrosanct object, kept rigid and inflexible in the pursuit of brand equity and awareness. It's hard to argue against that goal, but there may be some counter-intuitive ways to reach the same goal.

I'm beginning to see several leading marketers loosen the reins on their brand identity to allow their brands to seem more topical and relevant.

My partner Bob Barrie turned me on to the latest example: Coke Zero in the UK is temporarily changing its name to Coke Zero Zero 7 to celebrates the brand's tie-in with the upcoming Bond Film, "Quantum Solace."

I think Google may have set this trend in motion with its willingness to change its logo everyday to make the brand appear plugged into the zeitgeist of the moment.

MasterCard flexes its logo at the end of each commercial to echo the idea of each spot, making the identity seem an intrinsic part of the spot and not just a closing punctuation mark.

When I was at Saatchi & Saatchi we developed a very flexible and fun way for Toyota's "moving forward" themeline to appear on the screen in a way that extended the storyline of the commercial.

Each of these examples comes from marketers that show great confidence in their brand, as well as respect for the customer's intelligence.

Microsoft's moist and chewy teaser campaign

Microsoft's new spot featuring Bill and Jerry is being universally skewered by the press and bloggers alike.

Am I missing something? It's a teaser spot for goodness sake. Get off Microsoft's case. It's not supposed to communicate anything nourishing or lasting. It's the advertising equivalent of an energy drink -- a quick jolt to the system to get our attention. Mission accomplished. (My only quibble: forcing Bill and Jerry to introduce each other to the viewers. "Bill Gates!" "Jerry Seinfeld?!" I think their faces are fairly well known.)

Having gotten that off my chest, the campaign that follows had better be amazing.

I've read previously about one potential idea -- windows, not walls -- which could be the basis of a compelling brand narrative, something that's been lacking over the years. Windows is a shared language and platform for global collaboration. It helped create today's flat world. The brand needs to stand for something meaningful or it will become irrelevant in the coming cloud.

What Google learned attending Comi-Con

There was a good bit of noise this week about the launch of Chrome, Google's answer to Explorer, Firefox, Safari, et al. Is it a better browser? Don't know. I'll download the beta and find out. (The new version of Firefox recently lured me away from Sarari. It's simply faster.)

What I enjoyed most about Chrome's launch was the comic book they created to explain why it's a better browser. Very counter-intuitive. Take something dry and complex and make it fun and simple to understand.

The folks publishing operating guides for digital cameras should take note. Hell, even the 50-page manual for my new digital watch would have been better as a comic book. I might even have gotten past page 17 -- setting the high tide graph -- with a few illustrations and humorous copy.

Serving the customer...what a concept!

Best Buy is winning with a simple idea: do what's best for the customer. (Best Buy is a client of BD'M.) It's amazing how such a simple idea can be so successful. Conversely, it's equally amazing how few companies show the ability to grasp this idea.

Yesterday's article in the Wall Street Journal featured a side-by-side comparison of shopping for a TV at Sears, Circuit City and Best Buy. The article's concluding thought underscores the power of Best Buy's strategy: "We left Best Buy feeling confident we'd end up with the right television."

Best Buy is not alone in viewing service as a competitive advantage. The folks at Starbucks, Enterprise, FedEx, WaMu, Southwest and Ace Hardware win using the same simple formula.

Treat the customer well and they will come back. What a concept.

Why doesn't GE make electric cars?

Hybrid cars are going mainstream. My former client, Toyota, has sold over one million Prius. Nearly every automaker is planning to launch some kind of hybrid.

GE should be in this market. (It’s name is General Electric, after all.) The company is a manufacturing giant (jet engines, locomotives). It is in the financing business (GE Credit.) Its growth strategy is linked to green-tech (eco-Imagination). And it is a household name with a reputation for dependability.

Why not make an electric car? One reason may be that GE lacks a sales and service channel.

The solution may be to use GM or Chrysler dealers. Both companies lag far behind in the development of hybrid vehicles. The GE name might create more buzz than if either GM or Chrysler launched its own hybrid car. And the dealer network would benefit from a new product that generates traffic into their stores.

In today’s automotive industry it is increasingly fuzzy who makes what. While private label branding is common in other businesses, it is only beginning to take root in the car business. Chrysler is considering sourcing mid-size cars from Nissan while also talking with Chery about selling the Chinese manufacturer’s cars in the U.S. under the Chrysler badge. GM and Toyota share a manufacturing plant in California that turns out the Toyota Corolla and the Pontiac Vibe. Different companies. Different brands. Same manufacturer.

Lessons on integrated marketing inside a box of Crayola Crayons

I found myself today in yet another discussion about the merits of traditional media vs. new media. I wish these terms would evaporate because we’re still trapped in a 1999 marketing dictionary.

Here’s what I try to remember to keep myself sane in these conversations:

If you want to make a 20 year old laugh, refer to the web as new media. Ditto for mobile.

Debating the merits of new media vs. traditional media is as useful as debating television vs. print. It’s all media. What matters is knowing how, when and why you use each.

Digital must be planned as part of the main course, not the side dish. Continuing the food metaphor, Burger King’s Whopper Freak-out made for a good commercial, but the true depth of the idea was found online. One couldn't exist without the other.

There is no such thing as traditional media, only traditional uses of media. Is BDM’s mobile text campaign for Applied Materials “traditional” because it appears on a billboard? Of course not. Conversely, should a not-too-distinctive rich media ad be considered “new” because it appears online? (You get the point.)

Digital has as much branding power as television and print. Television will become a pure digital medium in early 2009, offering the targeting and accountability we demand of online marketing. Which is traditional? Which is the branding medium?

Mobile has the power to immediately transform every billboard, television commercial and print ad into opt-in interactive media. Just add a text call to action instead of a URL.

I believe we learned the basics of integrated marketing at age five when we got our first giant box of Crayola 64 crayons. Before getting this box we drew fairly mundane pictures using traditional colors like blue, red and brown. Then, with 64 crayons suddenly at our disposal, we used every color imaginable (because we could) and made really confusing drawings.

In time, we learned how and when to blend a little green and brown with a touch of wild strawberry and neon carrot. We didn’t debate which one was the traditional color, we just knew they blended together to make for a beautiful drawing.

Text message from the sun.

Folks attending the Democratic National Convention in Denver will be greeted by somebody with an important message: the sun.

BD'M collaborated with Applied Materials to create a campaign to reinforce the potential of solar energy, a solution that is increasingly within our reach.

Applied Materials has long been a global leader in the semiconductor business and is now applying its nanomanufacturing technologies to green-tech solutions such as solar, energy efficient glass and lighting.

The DNC campaign consists of newspaper, outdoor, and a cool mobile initiative. Text SUN to 42107...the sun has something to say.

Kudos for the Ford Flex

Last month I wrote a piece for Advertising Age about what the auto industry could learn from the iPhone’s success. It sparked healthy a response, becoming one of the magazine’s top e-mailed articles that week and prompting many readers to post their opinion on adage.com, many agreeing, some not.

The best “response” to date is the way Ford is launching its new Flex – a truly segment-busting car (minivan? cross-over?). With the Flex, Ford is bringing to bear many of the strategies outlined in the article. (PS: I harbor no illusion that my opinions had any influence. Having worked extensively in the car business, I know Ford’s strategies were likely in place 18 months ago.)

First and foremost, Ford showed courage in green-lighting a love it or hate it design. The all too common decision is to choose safe designs that are mildly appealing to as many customers as possible (with the notable exception of the Chrysler 300). Ford chose instead to turn heads and be passionately appealing to a select group of customers.

And speaking of design, Ford enlisted a fashion designer, Anthony Prozzi, to imbue the car’s interior with non-automotive design cues.

Ford is generating buzz and demand by orchestrating a slow roll-out in major markets such as Atlanta, Miami, New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles before broadening to a full national launch. This is so much smarter than the tendency to flood dealer lots with too many cars which then require buzz-killing incentives to bring down the inventory. (I can sense the fingerprints of my former Toyota client, Jim Farley, who is now CMO for Ford Motor. The man knows a thing or two about marketing.)

Great product. Smart marketing. Let’s hope it can overcome the bad timing of launching in the current economy.

Brave New Brand: The 'Era of the Artist?' ... when scarcity meets endless supply

Brave New Brand: The 'Era of the Artist?' ... when scarcity meets endless supply

Insightful article by a former colleague.  Erik applies the razor v. razor blade economic model to the music business.  He make a good point.  My partner Stuart D'Rozario is currently recording his second CD.  He may beg to differ.

Wow.

The team at Barrie D'Rozario Murphy has been working hard for months creating United Airlines' new brand campaign that will debut tonight on the Olympics.  

We're thrilled with the new campaign.  We're even more thrilled with the review our client's work received in today's Chicago Sun Times.  Please vote.  Often.

Redesigning the Stop Sign

If you are curious why it can seem so hard to create simple ideas, then please check out this video. It's a hilarious satire of the creative development process. Even funnier knowing that it was sent to me by a client with a good sense of humor.

"Advertising is the price companies pay for being un-original."

I don't know who authored this quote, but I found it in this video of a presentation Yves Behar gave at TED about the need for design to create products that tell a story.

I believe all great brands tell a story. Advertising has always been a powerful way to weave a brand narrative. But the process of storytelling should begin with the design of the product itself and be carried through all points of contact. Design shouldn't be used as a shortcut to make average ideas look better. True of products. True of advertising.

Design should be used to solve business problems by creating product solutions from the customer's point of view. A good example is the way Target rethought its pill bottles to help customers sort out the jumble of bottles in the family medicine cabinet, and by doing so Target created a differentiated idea for its pharmacy business.

Design isn't limited to physical products. It can help create a better customer experience. Jyske Bank in Denmark set out to attract more customers, a brief we've all seen before. Instead of free toasters, viral films and more advertising, Jyske Bank opted to rethink the banking experience from the customer's point of view. They manifested their various savings and checking services as physical "products" to make them tangible and clear and evoke an emotional connection. They created that special "third place" -- a haven that is neither home or work -- that has been the secret sauce behind Starbucks' success. The result? Ad Age reported that Jyske Bank doubled its customer base in one year by improving loyalty while attracting new customers. Take a look at this video. It's a stunning case study and a good way to brush up on your Danish.

Design as a business discipline is even emerging as a potential alternative to the traditional MBA, witness Stanford's so-called D-School.

How Detroit can create the next iPhone

Like hundreds of thousands of people across the country, I stood in line this weekend at the Apple Store in Newport Beach to buy the new iPhone 3G for my daughter after three unsuccessful attempts at nearby AT&T stores.

Witnessing this exuberant demand for a new product made me wonder if this feat could be repeated in other categories, such as the auto business. What would an automaker have to do to seduce consumers to stand in line to buy a hot new car? Here are some lessons from the iPhone:

Functionality: Auto execs pondering how replicate the iPhone’s commercial and cultural success would be wise to note that the iPhone is not simply a marketing phenomenon. The iPhone is a breakthrough product. It revolutionized the mobile phone business through design, features and functionality.

One way for auto companies to create breakthrough products may be to begin thinking like a consumer electronics brand. Technology brands are the new car. Throughout the last century the automobile stood for freedom, mobility and joy. Cars represented modern life at its best. Today that role is served by each new smart phone, gaming system, wafer-thin laptop or lifelike home theater that joyfully proclaims that today is better than yesterday. An automaker should commit to creating a truly modern car, a car that democratizes the latest technologies; a car that liberates us from tired compromises by proving that design and performance go hand-in-hand with safety and environmental responsibility; a car that is an extension of the personal technologies we use to make our lives smarter, more organized and more entertaining. Create a car that joyfully proclaims that today is better than yesterday.

Design, design, design: The iPhone looks like nothing else. It took no cues from category norms. It wasn’t an exercise in incrementalism, as if often the case with domestic auto design.

Cult of celebrity: Auto companies tend to believe “celebrity” is attained by having A-list actors and rappers drive the car. In Apple’s case, its celebrity is organic. Steve Jobs is a celebrity. Jonathan Ive, Apple’s head of design, is a celebrity. It is time to elevate the automotive designers to be the face of the company instead of the suits. Let's see these designers on the cover of Fortune, People and Vanity Fair. After all, at their core these companies are industrial design firms.

To fast track this cult of design celebrity car companies should enlist a hot industrial designer (Yves Behar) or an accomplished architect (Frank Gehry) to create the next “must have” design of the year. And I don’t mean creating a “Cartier” edition, which usually means a special trim package. Fully empower this outside designer.

Limited supply: Here’s a very simple rule: a company shouldn’t produce more product than it can sell. Sounds simple, but seldom happens in the car business. Limiting supply negates the need for brand-sucking discounting and creates a perception of rarity that strengthens the marketer’s pricing power. Apple is genius at this.

New distribution model: Sales associates at Apple stores are extremely well trained and are living ambassadors of the brand. Consumers may not get this same experience from car salespeople. So here’s where the auto companies need to swallow a brave pill. Don’t sell this hot new car through dealerships. Signal change by changing how the car can be bought. Establish centrally located viewing galleries – in shopping malls, in airports, in downtown business districts – staffed by the same well-trained ladies and gentlemen hired for car shows. Sell the cars there or online. And, knowing that state franchise laws don't allow cars to be sold without dealers, give dealers a reasonable commission on all sales that take place in their designated sales area. Dealers must be properly compensated because they play a crucial role in providing ongoing service.  (Fixing a car is a tad more complex than fixing an iPhone.)

Advance buzz: When Apple launched the original iPhone it created a huge amount of buzz and curiosity by doing the opposite of what auto companies tend to do: Apple said absolutely nothing. Auto companies tend to debut the concept car three years in advance at an auto show, create microsites for sneak-peeks, and give the buff books early test drives in return for good coverage. And what happens in return? The buzz peaks well ahead of the product's retail launch. The new mantra must be to reveal less and intrigue more.
 (Dealers did this quite well back in the days when they'd cover up new models until launch day to keep curious faces pressed against store windows.)

Apple did all of this and more. Breakthrough product. Inspiring design. Smart pricing. Clever marketing. Seems so simple. And therein lies the beauty of Apple’s success.

Sony rediscovers its mojo.

Several years ago when I led Young & Rubicam in Southern California I had the opportunity to work with Sony Electronics.  During that time I developed tremendous respect for the brand's quality, innovation and design.  But I also confronted first-hand the silos that separate the company's considerable entertainment content from its hardware.  

Sony owns movie and music companies and also markets the hardware on which to enjoy movies and music, not to mention videogames.  I can still recall the difficulty in getting Sony Music to come to the table with Sony Walkman (remember Walkman?).  These silos where invisible to most until Apple launched iPod and iTunes, a perfect combination of hardware and content.  Game. Set. Match.

That's why I was very excited to hear last week's announcement that Sony Pictures will offer

customers who own a web-enabled Sony Bravia TV the ability to stream Hancock, its summer blockbuster, before it is released on DVD.  Content and hardware working together to create unique value.  This was the simple vision of Sony's founder, Akio Morita, finally brought to life by Sir Howard Stringer, Sony's current CEO.

This test, if successful, has major implications for how movies will be distributed in the future and may do to video distribution what iTunes did to music distribution.

But I'm equally interested in the implications for the Sony brand.  I think we're about to see the brand rediscover its mojo.

Barack, please focus your campaign

Those who know me know that I am a passionate supporter of Barack Obama's campaign for President.  I talk up his candidacy.  I have been a foot soldier during the primaries going door-to-door.  I've given money.

But I am disappointed that Obama's advisors (and Barack himself) have not yet focused on the meaty issues facing America.  I'm all for change.  But what type of change?  So Barack, and your army of bloggers, here's my plea:  in the spirit of the great brand marketers, embrace one overarching idea and then focus all messages and policies to support this defining idea.

While it is true that Americans want change, we are a fairly risk-averse culture.  What we actually want is to change course toward a destination that is safe and secure.  We want a secure future that inspires optimism.  We want a secure future we can leave to our kids.   Some will argue for a return to a past that seems, in foggy hindsight, to be more secure than today.  But if the past was so good, how did we end up with failing schools, $4.00 gas, war, and melting ice caps?  

Barack, focus your candidacy on creating a more secure future for America.  Redefine national security.  Inspire Americans to understand that security goes beyond a strong military and, by doing so, undercut the Republican Party's single issue definition of security.  Focus on five policies that will create long-term economic, strategic and personal security.

Education is a security issue.  Better K-12 education creates economic security when our children are better prepared to compete in the global economy.  Alternative energy is a security issue.  Investing in wind, solar, and nuclear resources will lead to strategic security when the future of the United States is no longer held over a barrel.  Healthcare is a security issue.  Policies, both legislative and market-driven, that make healthcare more affordable will inspire a feeling of personal well-being and security.  The environment is a security issue.  Common sense initiatives that help lower greenhouse emissions will help guarantee the security of our communities, country and planet.  And, of course, military spending is a matter of great national security.  But what we need is a new investment strategy that leads to a more agile force capable of winning asymmetrical conflicts.

Barack?

Small company with big insights

I came across Pomme Bebe as part of my work with the Merage School of Business, which is focused on the art and science of strategic innovation.

I usually write about large national brands, so why post about this start up formed by two UC Irvine alumni? Because I believe marketing leaders at Fortune 500 companies could learn a thing or two from this new venture.

Pomme Bebe's positioning wonderfully simple: Fresh organic baby food. No marketing over think. No spin. It is clear, relevant and differentiating to young health-conscious mothers.

The company's founders understand their customers and have created a unique retail experience to reinforce the brand promise. At its retail location in Newport Beach Pomme Bebe offers moms and their babies a tasting bar to sample the food and decide which concoction the bundle of joy prefers. Moms can relax and socialize in the bebe lounge while enjoying a fresh squeezed drink. The store also offers a drive-up service for moms who need to pick up an order but can't get out of their car while baby is fast asleep. Indulgent? To be sure. But the brand is not trying to be all things to all people (another important lesson).

Lastly, the brand design feels joyful and optimistic and is applied consistently across the packaging, website (which offers moms the convenience of ordering online) and the in-store experience (a lesson perhaps drawn from Apple).

This is a start up with great potential to scale.

Good idea. Poorly executed

Chevron ran a spread in yesterday's Wall Street Journal announcing a game called Energyville  in which we are challenged to choose the best energy policy for our city while minimizing economic, environmental and security impact.

At first glance the game, which was developed by The Economist Group, seems like a smart way for Chevron to involve consumers in the debate and allow us reach smart and sensible conclusions on our own.  More so than yet another big oil TV commercial on Sunday Morning news programs, the engagement and interactivity of Energyville creates the potential to educate people on the opportunities and realities of alternative energy sources while also making a realistic case for the role of oil in our country's future energy policy.

The let down for me was its heavy-handedness.  About halfway through powering my city I received a lecture on the need for oil.  This singlehandedly diminished any objectivity or usefulness I had ascribed to Energyville.  

Chevron needs to assume its consumers are smart.  Let us reach our own conclusions about the need for oil as we discover through trial and error that the energy choices we made are inadequate to meet demand.  Don't hit me with the propaganda in the middle of the game.  As somebody once told me, leave some room in the mousetrap for the mouse.  

Postcard from Cannes

The annual advertising award show in Cannes is meant to showcase all that is good about the advertising business.  It celebrates big ideas that build our build our clients' brands in memorable and imaginative ways.

But often I'm struck by how Cannes also has the ability to shine a harsh light on things that must change in our business.  Two articles in Adweek bring this to mind.  

The first deals with the confusion over how certain entries were categorized.  Is an integrated campaign a TV idea?  Or an online idea?  Or a promotional idea?  I'm not sure clients care.  They just want ideas.   Only agencies worry about silos and categories.  That has to change.  (That's why BD'M built its model around "no walls.")

The second article reports on WPP's Martin Sorrell questioning why Google is going straight to clients and disintermediating agencies.  Clients might rightly wonder why their agencies believe they should be immune from the same forces that marketers face.  Instead of hand wringing we need to add more value in this process.  BD'M has extremely productive meetings with Google.  We seek them out as partners (another "no walls" behavior) and bring imagination and solutions to the package they offer marketers.  It can be no other way.

And, lastly, given the currently economic environment, I can't help but wonder how clients feel seeing their agencies basking in the South of France while they are facing eroding profits and share.

Where do you want to go today?

This is the question Microsoft posed several years ago in its brand advertising.

I referenced this recently in a conversation with one of our clients and later wondered how different Microsoft's brand image might have been if they had stuck to this idea.

"Where do you want to go today?" peeled away the rational layers of Fortress Redmond and revealed the emotional raison d'etre for software, operating systems and browsers -- they unleash our potential, allowing us to go anywhere and learn anything, be part of larger social and semantic communities, and break the shackles that chain us to our office, right from our PC.  This brand campaign could have been an ever-unfolding narrative of optimism and discovery.

Because Microsoft abandoned its attempt to define an inspiring true north for the brand,  it allowed Apple to personify it as the dumpy and insecure PC dweeb.  Pity.  

Text "shoptext" to learn more

I've posted several times about the untapped potential of mobile marketing to transform offline media into interactive touchpoints.

I just came across a company called ShopText that offers agencies and marketers a one-stop service to begin testing this idea.   Savvy magazine publishers such as Hearst (Cosmo, Good Housekeeping, Esquire, et al) are using ShopText in their books to demonstrate to marketers that print remains a viable medium for building brands.

Design to the rescue

Yesterday's WSJ had a good article on P&G's new packaging for Febreze. It is yet another example of how design can help solve marketing challenges.

The Febreze brand managers were facing the same challenge shared by many consumer product companies: how can we sell more products? Many marketers resort to the same solutions -- cut the price, coupon, offer 25% more for the same price, heavy-up advertising.

What I like most about this example is that it seems to have been inspired by a simple insight -- consumers are likely to use more Febreze if it is visible in the home rather than tucked away out of sight under the sink along with myriad other household cleaners.

So in comes the design team armed with that insight, along with competitive references from Method Products (a pioneer in applying brand design to everyday household products) and Kleenex tissue boxes. And out comes a piece of packaging that has the ability to transform the brand more than any repositioning campaign ever could.

Now let's hope the new brand advertising lives up to the packaging.

I met my "frenemy"

WPP's Martin Sorrell uses a great expression to describe companies with whom we both compete and collaborate -- the "frenemy."

I met one today.  Spot Runner.

Spot Runner can create TV commercials for a fraction of the cost of a large agency and then geo-target the commercial to the right audience in the right location.  Their customers tend to be small local and regional businesses that cannot afford TV using traditional means, or orphaned brands within large consumer product companies.  The entire transaction is done through Spot Runner's website.  (Yes, we're in an era where the client/agency relationship can be described as a transaction.)

The collaborative opportunities within the frenemy relationship are using Spot Runner to support local dealers and franchisees with one-off tactical promotions, or perhaps for test marketing ideas before investing in a large-scale campaign.  

Will Spot Runner put advertising agencies out of business?  Thankfully just the really awful ones.  Not to be overly Darwinian, but the herd could be thinned a bit

Something a little more important than brands

Several items collided in my head today and made me think how desperately we need to solve our country's energy crisis.

Our clients at United are grappling with the impact of oil at $133 a barrel.  My colleagues in the auto business are grappling with the impact of gas spiraling well over $4 a gallon.  And our clients at Applied Materials, who are now deeply involved in applying nanotechnology to help make generating solar energy more affordable, are grappling with the massive capex bets their customers need to make in order to effectively scale solar into a viable solution.

Solving our dependence on oil is not just an economic imperative, it is increasingly a national security imperative.

We need a serious and concerted effort that joins government and business behind a noble and important goal -- energy independence.  In 1962 President Kennedy rallied the country to go to the moon, and in so doing created a space program that went well beyond putting a man on the moon -- it served as a catalyst for many parts of our society including science, engineering, medicine, computers and education.  Hell, we even got Tang out of the deal.

What if we did the same for clean-tech.  A forceful call to action for government, businesses and universities to invest and collaborate around a single goal -- a safer, more economical, more secure and cleaner country.  

What are we waiting for?

Don't let this happen to your brand.

Very funny video from The Onion depicting a Blockbuster as a living museum for tourists curious to learn how people used to rent videos in the old days.

Blockbuster used to be cool.  But that was before VoD, Netflix and iTunes.

How easy it is for an innovator to become yesterday's news -- or today's punch line.  This is why I firmly believe in the need for brands to innovate in good times and in recessionary times.

TV is dead. Long live TV.

In early 2001 I gave a speech entitled "The Future of Advertising" at a chapter meeting of the American Marketing Association.  (I know, I know...even Nostradamus would have been embarrassed to use that title.)

I'm in the way-back machine because some recent headlines reminded me of something I talked about that day:  the advent of addressable TV advertising.  I spoke breathlessly about interactive TV (remember Wink?) and some emerging chatter about addressable TV.  My instincts may have been right but my timing was way off.

Seven years later that chatter about addressable TV advertising is now a full-fledged dialogue.  New companies such as Invidi Technologies can now provide cable operators with the tools to target specific commercials to specific viewers.  Industry initiatives such as Project Canoe, a consortium of cable operators, are working to create a universal model to deliver, price and measure addressable advertising.  The future is coming.  Any day now.

What's behind this recent momentum toward addressable TV advertising?

First, the moon and stars are finally aligning.  Like the Web, TV is now a digital medium.  Let that sink in for a moment and it becomes apparent that it is time to rethink its potential.  Combine its new digital delivery platform with the fact that viewership, while increasingly fragmented, is stable and large and we have a significant opportunity to reinvent TV advertising.

Second, the cable operators have a significant economic incentive to innovate.  They currently capture only $5 billion of the $70 billion marketers invest in TV advertising.

Third, and perhaps the most powerful driver of change, is pure fear.  And to cable operators fear is spelled g-o-o-g-l-e.  The folks who brought targeted advertising to the Web with AdWords are now exploring the potential to bring targeted buying and pricing to TV through a test with EchoStar's Dish Network.

Marketers and agencies should actively support these initiatives.  Addressable advertising will give us the ability to continue tapping TV's unmatched power to brand through sight, sound and motion with much greater precision and metrics.  Sounds like a win-win.

What's your brand narrative?

I've posted before on how great brands have a sense of true north -- a compelling point of view that shapes their beliefs and actions and keep them moving forward with an infectious sense of momentum.


I want to expand on that and add another dimension -- great brands also know what they oppose. Three brands illustrate this point.

Harley Davidson's new campaign, "screw it, let's ride", is a powerful manifesto for the brand. This campaign found a way to link Harley's defy authority ethos to today's zeitgeist of war, recession and slippery politicians. The campaign and website unite a community in a crusade against fear.

The Dove "Real Beauty" campaign shook the cosmetic world a few years back by standing up for individual self-esteem and exhorting people to question and defy the pretense of media-defined beauty.

For over two decades Apple has been on a crusade in celebration of creativity by demonizing grey conformity. This was set in motion in its epic "1984" spot, continued through its "Think Different" positioning and still exists today in its cheeky "Mac vs. PC" campaign.

What all three brands have in common is an appreciation of narrative. In any great story a protagonist must also have an antagonist. Every hero's journey involves overcoming challenges and adversaries, whether they be dragons, tyrants or competitors.

So what's the lesson for marketers?  Create a compelling story, not just a strategy. Go beyond defining what you stand for; decide what you oppose.  The most passionate causes tend to be in pursuit of both -- an ideal that inspires and a status quo that must be vanquished.  It is the ying and yang of these two forces that trumpets a call to arms.

Google "google" for a smart innovation strategy.

In my previous post on strategic innovation I wrote about the mistake many companies make putting innovation on the back burner during a recession.  In a difficult economic climate strategic innovation is often viewed as a luxury.  Smart companies, on the other hand, view innovation as a growth strategy, and these companies never place growth on the back burner.

This interview with Google's CEO Eric Schmidt reinforces this point and sheds light on Google's innovative approach to innovation.  He nails a huge idea -- i.e., innovation is a culture, not just a strategic process.

Introducing the washing machine of TVs

Today's Wall Street Journal quotes the vice president of brand marketing for LG Electronics as saying, "If you go to Best Buy, you can't tell the difference between any of the TVs; even to me, I cannot tell which is LG. They all look the same." (I doubt that was on the list of talking points prepared by his PR team, but I respect his candor.)

Why do the major TV set makers allow this steady commoditization of their business to continue?

Sony Electronics was a client of mine several years ago. Sony Wega TVs (pronounced, oddly enough, "vega") were the industry benchmark because they were based on an innovative and proprietary picture technology that offered customers a clear reason to pay more. (This built on a heritage of picture quality that started with the Sony Trinitron.) Sony's minimalist silver boxes also set a new design standard with a look that has now become common.

But much has changed over the years. Low price offerings from LG, Samsung and Vizio have created a war at retail. Consumers wait to buy the latest and greatest at steep discounts.

I think there are two sources these companies can turn to for inspiration to find a way out of this price-driven mess -- i.e. Apple and, ironically, LG appliances.

Apple can charge a premium for its laptops for reasons that are well known: their design stands apart from the sea of sameness and, importantly, because they work better (i.e., simpler, more intuitive).

Several years back LG challenged the commoditization of the appliance category with washers and dryers that brought curvaceous design and bold colors to a category that only knew white boxes. LG also brought forward useful new features such as steam cleaning. (As Best Buy's agency for its home appliance business, the team at BD'M has seen first hand how this approach to design has elevated these "boxes" to become true objects of desire.)

In both cases these marketers challenged and beat a commoditized market by using design as a business strategy. And both managed to charge a premium by doing so.

The average person may not pay 10% more for a 10% improvement in picture quality. But they are more likely to pay more for fresh design that showcases their discerning sense of style and brings a small bit of joy to everyday activities.

What makes a premium brand premium?

I was thinking the other day about the DNA of premium brands.

One thing is certain -- it's a relative idea. For example, Hyatt is not a premium brand if you're used to staying at a W or a Ritz Carlton. But if your vacations to date have been holed up in a Holiday Inn, then by all means a stay in a Hyatt is a premium experience.

Another thing is certain -- a brand is considered premium only when we believe it is worth the price. And that's where we can dig deeper. Why are we willing to pay more for a product when there are others that provide the same service or function at a lesser price?

I believe it is because a premium brand is built upon specific tangible and intangible attributes that give it a sense worth:

• Sensuality -- it is sensory, tactile and a bit mysterious.
• Rarity -- it represents a discerning choice, intriguing because it is uncommon.
• Confidence -- it projects a feeling of intrinsic worth.
• Authenticity -- is has a sense of "true north" and remains true to this ideal.
• Quality -- it is consistent and shows extreme attention to detail.

Think Tiffany, Apple, BMW, L'Oreal, Viking and Range Rover.

Conversely, think about premium brands that became confused by launching questionable line extensions or branding strategies, or became too common by embracing mass marketing strategies in pursuit of volume: Starbucks, Absolut and Jaguar.

Managing a premium brand is one of the most difficult challenges in marketing. Like all business, they must pursue growth strategies. However, unlike many mainstream businesses, premium brands must do so in a way that doesn't dilute the brand's image or the user's sense exclusivity and pride. Certain strategies are off-limits. Brand managers for premium brands must know when it is best to pass on short-term growth opportunities that could tarnish the brand's long-term health.

Happy Earth Day

To mark Earth Day I thought I'd give some props to our partners at Applied Materials.

Applied is the global leader in nanomanufacturing technology (literally the manufacture of structures on an atom-by-atom basis). The solutions it provides its customers are responsible for the production of virtually every new semiconductor chip and LCD flat panel display. The same nanomanufacturing processes used in these fields are now being applied to the manufacture of solar panels and energy efficient glass.

Applied's stated mission is to help create a cleaner, brighter future. It's hard to not like working with them. Here's a glimpse of some recent work we've created with them.

Should you innovate during a recession?

That's the question that seems to be popping up in business media.

What a silly question. Yes we should. Customer, marketplace and competitive dynamics are moving too fast to make standing still anything less than a corporate death-wish. The recent issue of Business Week got the story right.

Great brands project a sense of infectious momentum that comes from continuous improvement and innovation. Innovation does not have to be whiz-bang, bet-the-ranch new products like a Wii or an iPhone. Innovation can take the form of small, but meaningful, improvements in the customer experience, such as Target's color-coded pharmacy bottles. It can be the result of continuous improvements in the customer experience as practiced by Google, Amazon and Toyota. (Toyota, while credited for the market-changing Prius, more often than not wins by innovating new business processes that improve its ability to meet customer wants and needs.) Or it can take the form of a smart cross-promotion, such at Tide with Febreze fabric softener.

Not investing in ongoing innovation is a recipe for failure. Think Sony Walkman. Or Ford Taurus. Or Motorola Razr.

From my collaboration with the Merage School of Business, which focuses its program on sustainable growth through strategic innovation, I've grown to believe that effective marketing innovations share these traits:

1. They solve real customer needs. The demand, whether articulated by the customer or not, already exists.
2. They are based on rigorous analytics and not blue sky brainstorming sessions. There must be an underlying business case to set the direction for truly fresh thinking. (Norman Berry, the creative head of Ogilvy when I joined years ago, used to say "Give me the freedom of a tightly defined strategy." How true.)
3. They are inspired by truly creative and anthropological research. Customers can't tell you what's missing in their world. True innovation is inspired by authentic human insights.
4. They often mesh disparate insights or trends into a single new idea. Running + Music = Nike Plus. Latchkey kids + Microwaves = Hot Pockets. Trend toward self-expression + small cars = Scion. The "we" generation + the web = MySpace.
5. They are sustainable ideas and not one-off diversions that sap resources and focus. They have the ability to scale to something big and lasting.
6. From an internal perspective, innovation is born within collaborative and multidisciplinary teams, executed with speed and efficiency. Markets are extremely complex and windows of opportunity tend to be short-lived.
7. And, importantly, innovation demands the backing and the courage of the CEO. Corporate corridors are lined with idea-killers. The folks with the guts and stamina to innovate new ideas could use a little air cover.
   

Technology is the new car

My recent post about plug-in luxury got me thinking about the role of technology in our lives. And it hit me -- technology brands are the new car.

Throughout the last century the automobile stood for freedom, mobility and joy. Hitting the open road expanded our horizons and put a bigger world within our reach. Cars represented modern life at its best. But that was then.

Cars lost this sense of child-like wonder as they grappled with grown-up issues such as safety, fuel economy and global warming.

Today it is technology that defines modern life. Technology liberates. It connects. Each new smart phone, wafer-thin laptop or lifelike home theater system joyfully proclaims that today is better than yesterday. Technology brands are the new car.

I wonder what would happen if a car company decided to behave as a technology brand. Not just loading up cars with whiz-bang tech features. But to truly embrace (or re-embrace) the sense of joy and liberation and optimism that we seek in our lives and tend to get from our gadgets.

How many USPs can you fit in a Buick?

I was pondering this question while reading a recent Buick print ad.

The headline declares that Buick is "the craft of modern luxury."

The themeline declares that a Buick enables you to "drive beautiful."

And the space between these two ideas is filled with yet another idea -- "QuietTuning."

If you ask me, quiet seems to me to be the differentiating brand idea -- Buick provides the luxury of silence. Words like modern and beautiful are simply marketing blather.

This ad illustrates the need for marketers to embrace relevant and unique selling propositions and not try to be all things to all people. It also illustrates the need to stop creating advertising by committee.

Plug-in luxury

Labeling a brand as a "luxury" product is too generic and narrow. True luxury brands have a specific point of view on the type of luxury they provide. Laid back and casual? Old world pedigree? Exclusive and indulgent? Modern and savvy?

Hyatt is not a luxury brand by any traditional definition. But I was extremely impressed on a recent stay in the chain's Hyatt Place brand by their choice to feature a "Plug Panel" that enables guests to connect their laptop, iPod or digital camera to the 42" flat-panel TV.

This tech concierge is a form of luxury. It makes the stay more comfortable and personal. It also shows keen customer insight and thoughtfulness.

The car companies are increasingly using technology as a form of luxury. Lexus has been on the leading edge of this for years. And, finally, marques like Jaguar (a past client) are using technology instead of wood and leather as a way to convey a premium brand image. Check out Jag's new XF to witness what I mean.

Airlines are following suit. United Airlines, a client of BD'M, is rolling out a brand new international first and business class service featuring widescreen TVs and ports for iPods.

Technology was meant to boost productivity and offer convenience. But for most of us our personal technologies offer escape, relaxation and a way to express ourselves. This is plug-in luxury.

Damn right the website's fun

PS: I went to Canadian Club's website and used the app they've created to let people customize their own "damn right" ads. Here's my Dad with his life-long groupie.

Damn right it sells.

I've been a fan of Canadian Club's "damn right" campaign from my first sighting. It's audacious and completely counter-intuitive. Selling an out-of-date brand to younger customers is not easy. So I was really glad to read the Ad Age article reporting that the campaign is increasing sales and reversing years of downward spiral.

The insight is so simple: you're dad was a lot like you my friend, going out, pounding drinks and looking to score. But he did it with style. The line is perfect -- "Damn right your dad drank it."

It's always good to see a client rewarded for embracing a bold idea. Kudos to BBDO and the brand managers at Canadian Club.

Hal Riney

Today is a sad day. Hal Riney died. He mattered.

Bernbach, Ogilvy, Burnett & Occam?

My partner Bob Barrie recently clued me into Occam's Razor, which, quite simply, states that "all other things being equal, the simplest solution is the best." (Anybody who has seen Bob's essential work for Time magazine will agree he is an Occam-ite.)

Past masters in our business understood this well. And it wasn't just the clarity of working within three networks and a handful of national magazines. The ideas they created were singleminded and distinctive.

Today, given an unending array of new technologies and channels with which to reach consumers, it is essential that we simplify. Customers are pounded with messages every hour of the day.

Brands such as Target, Toyota, Apple and Disney pass the test of Occam's Razor. They've each diversified and grown without blurring their core brand idea. Starbuck's ignored Occam and complicated their brand idea but seems to be taking the right steps to correct these missteps.

But many brands haven't yet heeded the advice of the esteemed Franciscan friar. For example, Hot Wheels should not be on kids underpants and tooth brushes. Burlington Coat Factory shouldn't be selling baby accessories (and have a brand name which requires it to proclaim in advertising that it is not affiliated with Burlington Industries and that sells more than just coats).

G8-GT USP (how's that for a lot of letters?)

I've posted before about the lost art of the USP. The new Pontiac G8 GT seems to have rediscovered it...at least temporarily.

The G8 TV commercial proclaims the new sport sedan as "the most powerful car for under $30,000." Nice. With one simple line this car is clearly positioned for those of us with a need for speed. Unfortunately, the G8's website has nothing to do with this idea (and also seems to have been designed by somebody with way too much time on their hands).

But the idea of "the most powerful car for under $30k" demonstrates that a good USP needs to be designed into the product, and not just be some brand veneer.

Retail therapy for action junkies

I came across a new action sports retailer that seems to be tapping into several powerful trends and insights.

Adrenalina sells gear and fashion for extreme boarding and biking sports. That's not new -- many stores cater to surfers, skateboarders and mountain bikers. But what sets Adrenalina apart is that they've tapped into the trend toward retail entertainment.

Their store design is centered around the Flowrider (normally found in water parks) where customers can pay to surf on a simulated wave. (This creates a revenue source from people who want to surf and great entertainment for those who want to shop.) Adrenalina is tightly connected with the extreme sport TV show of the same name to create a highly authentic connection with Millennials. And, because the TV show airs in both English and Spanish, Adrenalina is positioning its brand within the large and growing Latino market.

Adrenalina has only a few locations in Florida but is planning to expand to Georgia, Texas and Colorado.

Retailing is increasingly about fun and experimentation. This can be as simple as a Trader Joe's store that offers free coffee and food samples or as intense as Land Rover retailers (a past client of mine) that feature an off-road track to demo the SUV's capabilities. What all these retailers have in common is the knowledge that customers increasingly see retail as a source of entertainment.

The future of mobile...today.

Most articles on mobile marketing miss the point about this medium's true potential. The coverage tends to dwell on the question of whether or not consumers will accept advertising on their phones.

While that's a good question, and one to which the answer should be a resounding "no", it is not the question that reveals mobile's true opportunity. Rather than viewing the "third screen" as yet another advertising delivery device, we should view it as a way to transform off-line media into opt-in, interactive media.

Mobile is ubiquitous. We're tethered to our phones while reading a magazine, walking through the airport, listening to the radio and watching TV. Most of the advertising in these media ends with the obligatory website call to action. There's two problems with this: First, who has their computer open at the bus stop? And, second, who by now does not know how to find a company online?

Instead, imagine inserting a mobile call to action -- a simple invitation to "text 1234 to get a special preview" -- in magazines ads, bus shelter boards and TV commercials. (The team here at Barrie D'Rozario Murphy is putting this idea to work for United Airlines as a way to connect with business travellers at O'Hare, United's main hub.)

This is 100% opt-in. It's an invitation not an intrusion. It transforms analog media into interactive media. But it requires two adjustments. We need to design a mobile element into every campaign and we need to stop viewing mobile as new real estate for banner ads.

This is, admittedly, a short-term solution. (But a beautifully simple one at that.) Longer term, the promise of mobile lies in Quick Response Codes. QR Codes, similar to bar codes, were originally developed to track inventory. Marketers in Japan are using it as a way to create a two-way link between consumers and brands. Using a phone equipped with QR reading software, a consumer snaps a photo of the code on a package or magazine ad to immediately launch a browser to learn more information.

Now, isn't that way cooler than blasting banner ads?

A brand's journey toward true north

I believe great brands share two defining traits: they posses a unique and compelling point of view and an unshakable sense of true north. Great brands know who there are and where they're heading in life. They are not confused. They operate with a sense of infectious conviction.

That's why I'm enthralled with the recent brand film from Louis Vuitton. In this TV commercial, perhaps the company's first ever, the renown designer of high end luggage and fashion accessories puts forward an emotional and inspiring point of view on the true meaning of a journey and its role in shaping who we are. While I know full well that I'm being spun by some deft marketing magic, I give into it because it taps into some fundamental human truths concerning self-discovery and fulfillment and, importantly, because it seems to ring true for this brand. The copy, film and music are simply outstanding.

Let's banish the term "non-traditional media"

I'm increasingly bored with the terms "traditional" and "non-traditional" media. My partners at Barrie D'Rozario Murphy have heard my consistent refrain that if you want to make a 20 year old laugh, refer to mobile as "new media." It's all media. There's no such thing traditional media, only traditional thinking that inhibits innovation.

Here's an example of an idea that blurs these silly distinctions. Former Disney CEO Michael Eisner is launching what could be the new model of commercial entertainment. His new program, "The All-For-Nots", a comedy that documents a fictional rock band, will launch next week on the web, mobile phones and HDNet cable.

Web, TV and mobile. They're simply screens. Agencies need to embrace this premise and create powerful branding ideas across all three screens.

Starbucks got the memo

Starbucks' CEO Howard Schultz is taking the right steps to get the coffee house back on track.

One simple conclusion: Howard must have read my earlier posting urging him to rediscover Starbucks' role as the Third Place. ;)

Starbucks has announced its plans to close 100 underperforming stores (do we need one on every corner?), stop selling breakfast sandwiches (when I step into Starbucks I want to smell coffee, not bacon), and on February 26 retrain all baristas nationwide on the lost art of making a good espresso (clearly Howard visited a Peet's coffee shop and tasted the difference). The chain also announced a new partnership with AT&T to offer free wi-fi to customers using a Starbucks card (as I suggested back in November).

Bravo to Howard Schultz. It's not often we see a CEO with the passion and courage to right the ship with bold, swift actions. Most rely on exhortations and firings.

Every underdog has his day

The Giants triumphed over the vaunted Patriots.

Barack Obama has won eight straight primary elections over the Clinton machine and now leads in delegates.

And today, a little dog named Uno became the first Beagle win Best in Show at the Westminster dog show.

This is a marketing blog. So perhaps I'm supposed to make some strained analogy to challenger brands. But I won't. I just like Beagles. (But don't mention that to my Fox Terrier. He rocks too.)

Chevy gets it right

I like the campaign Chevy is running to promote its line of eco-friendly vehicles.

Chevy is smart to bundle its full range of initiatives under one umbrella effort in order to create a stronger message. Many companies are placing their bet on a single technology (e.g., Toyota, a former client of mine, emphasizes the Hybrid technology found on its very popular Prius). Chevy is betting that no one technology will win but, like in many categories, consumers will want to choose what makes most sense for them - e.g., hybrid, electric, E85, etc.

I particularly like the branding. "Gas friendly to gas free" is a simple and clear selling proposition. The iconography is clever as well.

While Chevy has rounded up the usual marketing props -- engaging TV spots, informative website -- they surprised me by running a series of ads on the NY Times Op-Ed page in which a GM exec answers questions posed by customers on a website. (Note to Chevy: you're doing a poor job populating the microsite. Don't squander a good idea.) I applaud Chevy's candor in a recent Op-Ed ad in addressing this question posed by a reader: "Aren't you the guys who killed the electric car?" (The questioner's last name was not Gore.)

Bold strategy. Engaging and integrated campaign. Even a bit of wikibranding to foster dialog and community.

What's not to like? Well, if this turns out to be green-washing there will be a lot to dislike about this campaign. But for now I'll give Chevy credit for attempting to create more demand for fuel efficient cars in America (and, yes, enable Chevy to also sell very thirsty Silverado pick-ups).

Please vote today

This weekend I volunteered for the Obama campaign by going door-to-door to nearly 100 homes in Orange County (which might just be the number of Democrats living there) and working the phones the rest of the day.

For anybody living in a Super Tuesday state who is still undecided I encourage you to spend 10 minutes watching Obama's speech from South Carolina.

No matter which candidate you prefer, please vote. It matters.

Cramer Krasselt 1 - CareerBuilder 0

Ad Age today noted an interesting Super Bowl statistic. CareerBuilder's Super Bowl spot fared worse in this year's USA Today Ad Meter than last year's spot. Will the account go into review again?

Super game. Dull ads

As a passionate Giants fan it is safe to say that I had a good time yesterday.

But as an advertising professional I felt a bit underwhelmed by the caliber of the advertising.

Many were entertaining. But few possessed that intangible Super Bowl-ness...big, pop-cultural, fun. Even fewer seemed to have anything relevant to say about the brand, such as the Planters "uni-brow" spot. I loved the Bridgestone "screaming animals" spot, but it would have been a much better spot for the Saab featured in the spot than the tires the car rode upon. As for Bud, good spots, but I've seen the dog and horse thing before. Tide's talking stain was funny, but did it have Super Bowl-ness?

My fav? The Coke "balloon float" spot. It was classic Coke (for Coke Classic). Big. Entertaining. Unexpected twist. Utterly charming. And Charlie Brown finally won something. Coke is about smiles. And that spot was just that.

The Audi spot that I wrote about last week lived up to its billing. It was extremely dramatic and signaled a new era for Audi. The R8 is gorgeous. Although I think the spot itself will work better in other programming -- e.g., Academy Awards. Super Bowl fans like to laugh.

Building brand value during a recession

A reporter asked me the other day if marketers should weather a recession by putting strategic branding activities on hold and instead focus on tactical promotions that drive short-term results.

I don’t know whether the story will run, but I thought I’d share my response.

Consumer spending accounts for nearly two-thirds of our GDP.  Consumer spending rises and falls with consumer confidence.  During uncertain times consumers look for safer bets than during boom periods.

So what should brand marketers do? Certainly marketers must create new ways to provide value. Starbucks recently announced the return of its $1 short coffee. Our clients at Best Buy are offering free appliance delivery and recycling. And United Airlines, another BD’M client, is partnering with Visa on a Beijing Olympics promotion.

But beyond price promotions, I believe empathy and authenticity become increasingly important sources of brand differentiation in a recessionary environment.

During uncertain times we tend to place our trust in those people, brands and institutions we believe truly understand us. When every dollar counts we take fewer risks and are likely to choose brands that are highly relevant to our immediate needs. We seek products that represent a genuine value, not because of a price cut, but because they deliver on their promise.

Empathy and authenticity are essential ingredients in any healthy brand, even during good times. But now, more than ever, marketers must earn market share by being the brand consumers believe is the most relevant and genuine value.

In praise of the USP

Rosser Reeves, the CEO of Ted Bates, is best known for defining the concept of the Unique Selling Proposition in his 1961 book, Reality in Advertising.

Reeves held that successful brands are those that offer customers a specific and unique benefit. FedEx built its business on a simple USP (absolutely, positively overnight). So did Domino's Pizza (hot, fresh pizza delivered in 30 minutes, guaranteed), Oil of Olay (younger looking skin) and Avis (we try harder).

But the idea of a USP is seriously out of fashion in our business. The speed at which product advantages can be matched make it difficult for many marketers to find and sustain a point of difference. And that's why today, instead of unique products, we rely on unique marketing. Instead of selling propositions, we have theme lines.

GEICO is a great and current example of a successful USP in action -- "15 minutes can save you 15% or more." Having a clear proposition has enabled GEICO to create consistently memorable, engaging and effective advertising. The Gekko. The cavemen. Peter Frampton. Jed Clampett. The creative diversity of this campaign breaks the traditional rules of branding. No cookie-cutter campaign approach. No requirement to invest heavily behind each individual campaign. No single creative format as the basis of brand integration.

Therein lies the power of having a clear and consistent USP. It gives marketers the freedom to be diverse and interesting in a age when people have the attention span of a gnat. GEICO can roll out a never ending series of new and different campaigns without ever deviating from their core proposition. GEICO's investment behind each new campaign is simply part of an ongoing investment in the idea that GEICO saves us 15% or more. And GEICO's USP provides an authentic basis for brand integration.

There are lessons for marketers. It is still possible to find and own a USP. One of my previous clients, Sony Electronics, found its USP (like no other) within the truth of the product. Wal-mart's USP (everyday low prices) comes from the efficiency of its supply chain. Enterprise (we'll pick you up) found its USP in its channel of distribution.

This isn't limited to consumer marketing. BD'M has created a USP for Applied Materials, the leader in nanomanufacturing technology for industries as varied as semiconductors and solar energy -- helping the world do more with less. This isn't a theme line, it's a statement of the company's true north.

Finding a USP requires knowing what's important to customers, creating a unique way to deliver it and aligning every aspect of the brand's value chain around the proposition -- i.e., product, service, communications, experiences, employee training, sales force, etc. Be consistent over time. Most importantly, don't get bored with your own success.