Challenging misperceptions of challenger branding.

T-Mobile's new campaign is a promising example of challenger branding in action.

A common misperception of challenger branding is that it is simply a case of the #2 or #3 brand tweaking the category leader.  However, challenger branding is more nuanced than that.  There is a range of challenger branding models:

• "The higher cause" – challenge consumers to lift their sights and opt for something more meaningful than what's offered by the status quo.  Dove has championed this approach in its "real beauty" campaign through its opposition to the falsehood of media-defined beauty.
• "For all of us" – a democratization strategy in which a brand liberates and makes available to the masses what has heretofore been exclusive or out of reach.  Target democratized chic design, starting years ago with the Michael Graves toasters.
• "Change of the guard" – the classic storm-the-palace strategy in which the leader is repositioned as out of touch and out of date.  Apple epitomized this with its famous 1984 commercial.  Years later, it seems Samsung is using this very same strategy against Apple to market its Galaxy smartphones.
• "Counter culture" – an approach that enlists bands of co-conspirators to zig when the category leader demands that we zag.  Miracle Whip has employed this successfully in its underground war against mayonnaise.  Apple played in this area for years with its exhortation to "think different."
• "The common man" – an empathic strategy that challenges the category elite by siding with the common sense point of view of the average person (if there is such a person).  Miller High Life's "delivery guy" rants are a text book example of this in action.
• "Total rethink" – a moment in time in which a marketer draws a line in the sand and declares that "there's got to be a better way."  The new T-Mobile campaign is the latest example of this approach.

One final and important point about challenger branding:  never confuse challenger branding with competitive advertising.  Challenger branding should feel like a movement; a moment in time in which things will be different from this point forward.  Consider Bing's effort to challenge Google.  They conduct product comparisons that show that people prefer Bing over the category leader.  But it doesn't feel like a call to arms or an invitation to rethink all you've known to date.  It simply offers up the facts and invites us to try Bing.  Perfectly effective comparison advertising, but not challenger branding.

Is Facebook fatigue setting in?

Yes, according to a new study from the Pew Research Center.  Some highlights:

• 27% of Facebook users in the US who were surveyed reported that they plan to reduce the amount of time they will spend on the site.
• The study found that 61% of Facebook users have taken a break from the site for several weeks or more.
• A lack of time and interest seem to be driving this trend.

Social media demographics.

We're beginning to get a better understanding of who is using social media, thanks to new research studies such as the one released recently by the Pew Research Center (and published in Adweek).  Some highlights from the Adweek article:

• Two-thirds of internet users engage in some form of social media, with Facebook being the dominant platform.

• Women are more likely than men to use social media, and are five times more likely than men to use Pinterest:

• When in comes to ethnicity, Blacks and Hispanics are more likely than Whites to use Instagram and Twitter.

• Not surprisingly, social media uses is highest among 18-49 year old internet users.  Among the 50+ segment, Facebook by far the preferred platform. 

• Level of education doesn't seem to drive social media usage overall, but it does seem to influence the relative choice of platform.  

The second screen revolution.

Today Twitter announced that it bought Bluefin Labs, a software company that analyzes online conversations about television programming.  Here's why.

A decade ago pundits predicted that the battle for Interactive TV would be won by whichever company owned the set top box.  Perhaps a Cable TV company, or Microsoft's Xbox.

This didn't turn out to be true.  Like most bad predictions, we based our view of the future on what we knew in the moment.  We didn't know what we didn't know.  For example, in 2003 we did not know about Smartphones, Tablets and WiFi enabled homes.  These three technologies have since conspired to bring about a new form of interactive television – second screen viewing.

Americans are increasingly watching TV while interacting with the content via a mobile device – aka, the second screen.  We share our opinions about what we're watching on TV on Twitter and Facebook.  We quickly research information about the product we just saw advertised.

A 2012 Nielsen research study shows that:

• 88% use a mobile device while watching TV.
• 45% use a mobile device to access social media during TV ads.
• 27% look up information about a product they just saw (slightly higher among women than men).
• Not surprisingly, this behavior is higher among teens that older boomers (62% vs. 33%).

The second screen revolution is prompting advertisers to rethink the old school call-to-action.  Instead of inviting viewers to visit www.whatever.com, we are seeing a steady increase in calls-to-action to join a twitter conversation (via a #hashtag), to get deeper content by using Shazam to tag the commercial, or simply to visit the brand on Facebook, the website the viewer is likely already on as they're viewing the commercial.

Micro financing a car.

Some ideas are brilliant in their simplicity.  The Dodge Dart Registry is one of those ideas.

The website allows prospective Dart buyers to get friends and relatives to help fund the car.  It elegantly intersects several existing behaviors and cultural dynamics:  It is grounded in the familiar behavior of gift registries, then adds new dynamics from the worlds of microfinancing and social graphs.

Buyers start by configuring the car.  Then they set a funding goal.  Finally, they push the registry out to friends and family who can choose to fund the wheels, sound system, leather upgrade, etc.

Instead of innovating new message to tell me why I want a Dart, Dodge opted to innovate new ways to make it easy and fun to buy a Dart.  Proof that the path to getting to a new answer often starts with asking a different question.

Digital trends in 2013.

This time of the year always brings a surfeit of predictions and prognostications.  Having said that, I do believe this Adweek story does a good job pointing us toward the larger events on the interactive marketing horizon.

I continue to believe that the future of interactive is inextricably linked to the future of mobile.  Two themes in the Adweek story, should they fully materialize, have the potential unlock mobile's true marketing value:  "second screen" viewing and mobile payments.

And while thinking about the future of mobile, check out this demonstration of Blippar, a platform that may make QR codes seem quaint in due time.

Marketing's new normal.

Today I had the opportunity to be the guest speaker at Chapman University's Internet Communications class.  Cory O'Connor, the Assistant Professor who extended the invitation, knows a thing or two about shaping strong brands, having been Sr. VP for the Disney Channel.

My goal was to outline a few themes that have bounced around this blog, particularly that marketing communications professionals should embrace marketing's new normal by eschewing tired distinctions between "online" and "offline", "traditional" vs "nontraditional", as well as my favorite old school term – "new media."  Further to my crusade to simplify planning by stamping out jargon, brand pyramids and Venn Diagrams, I also outlined my simple belief that what is true in life is true in marketing – i.e., they way in which we form personal relationships mirror how we form brand relationships.

Marketing’s New Normal - updated version. from David Murphy

Why I love what I do.

First of all, I work in a profession that sits at the intersection of business and everything – technology, art, pop culture, entertainment, societal trends, media.  How can you not love that?

I get to solve business problems that help companies grow. I try to never forget why we do what we do.

I get to live each week as a commercial anthropologist.  The inspirations I need are constantly swirling around me, whether I'm on Facebook witnessing nascent online memes, seeing a new special effect in a movie, learning about new technologies in Wired, scanning relevant business trends in the Wall Street Journal, or walking through the grocery store and watching how people shop (creepy, I know).

I get to have weeks like the one I just had – one that reminds me that I actually have multiple careers:  I work in fashion (reviewing fashion trends for Charming Charlie); spirits (digging for insights for SKYY on why women love flavored vodkas);  fine jewelry (working with teams to define the true meaning of "love at first sight" for Tacori); travel (discussing positioning for Cunard Cruises); and bottled water (exploring angles on health and wellness for Dasani).

I get to engage in conversations about "what's next" – exploring new ways to link social media to retail; vetting new applications of interactive technologies in retail stores; investigating how Millennials value corporate social responsibility.

I get to inspire the next generation of talent, whether doing one-on-one training or preparing for next week's talk at Chapman University.

Most of all, and this has always been true, I get to work with really interesting, smart, curious and fun professionals.

Thirty years on, I love what I do.  This week was just another one of those weeks.

What marketers can learn from the election.

There's little doubt that the line separating politics from marketing is fading with each campaign.  The purpose of this post is not to comment on that dynamic, nor to offer commentary on the recent presidential election.  Rather, it is to examine the aftermath of this campaign and see what lessons marketers can learn from these increasingly sophisticated and well-funded political campaigns.

Here are three simple questions a marketer can ask before launching a major new campaign:

Are you aligning your brand with emerging demographic trends?  Chances are your customer base looks nothing like you – it is increasingly multicultural; it must appeal to a new generation of well-educated and empowered women; it is consumed in gay and lesbian homes.  This doesn't suggest that a marketer should abandon its core customer group.  What this means is that we should stop treating "diverse" audiences as secondary or tertiary targets and make sure these customers are well represented in the brand's main campaigns and media strategies.

Are you using analytics to understand the science of persuasion?  Gut feel doesn't cut it nine out of ten times.  We live in a world of facts and analytics.  Use data to understand how consumers behave.  The Obama campaign team built a massive predictive analytics database to guide media selection, direct mail offers and advertising messaging.  Setting aside political leanings, this is precision marketing at its best.

Is the brand idea built on clearly defined brand equity?  Consumers, like voters, seek clarity.  This is not likely to change any time soon.  In fact, given the 24/7 media overload, clarity is more important than ever.  Obama's campaign organized all of its messaging within a simple one-word brand equity:  Forward.  It was clear and positive. 

Leadership lessons from dancing guy.

Love this video..."Leadership lessons from dancing guy." So true, it's not about the leader, it's about the risk taken by the early followers. That's how movements happen.