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Brand Audits: Why You Need Them and How to Perform One

January 12, 2016/0 Comments/in Brand Audit, Brand Auditing, Brand Audits, Brand Health Check, Brand Personality, Brand Relevance, Brand Research, Branding, Business /by Lorraine Carter

From public transit advertising to shop displays, analysts believe we are exposed to up to 5,000 instances of branding exposure messages per day.[1]

That extreme saturation of the market place is why it’s so crucial to be aware of the health of your brand, and make changes if necessary. The first step in achieving that awareness comes through a brand audit health check.

Why Are Brand Audit Heath Checks Valuable?

A brand audit health check is an examination of the current state of your brand. Branding defines a company or product’s identity, both to internal and external stakeholders.

Examples of internal stakeholders include managers, employees, and board members. Suppliers, customers, community members and sponsors are possible external stakeholders. A brand audit health check helps determine how these stakeholders see your brand[2] and whether it’s necessary to make changes that would improve or clarify those perceptions.

Potential situations when it may be necessary to perform a brand audit include:

Your brand’s market share is declining
You are considering extending your brand to a new product category
You are uncertain about the strength of your brand in relation to its competitive offerings
You want to develop a more extensive overall branding plan
You’re unaware of your brand’s weaknesses

Internal Versus External Brand Audits

An internal brand audit examines how staff members, managers and other members of the company brand perceive the brand. Conversely, an external audit usually looks at a segment of external stakeholders. When doing an external audit, you may want to consider researching both current customers and former customers, and members of the target audience who are currently loyal to other brands, but you’d like them to consider your brand instead.

Two and Five-Step Brand Audit Methodologies

The methodologies, extent, and depth of brand audits vary depending on your primary objectives, time, resources and other commercial imperatives.

However you’ll generally want to look at five key areas: [3]

The Branding Strategy: This involves a careful examination of your company’s business and marketing plans, measured against what your brand is supposed to represent. During this phase, identify your company’s strengths and weaknesses, plus potential opportunities and threats. This practice is often referred to as a SWOT analysis. Furthermore, scrutinize future plans that support your brand.

Branding Communications: Look at current and past advertising, PR activities, promotional materials, including your brand’s website[4] and social media profiles. Messages across all your brand platforms and customer touchpoints should be consistent, relevant, concise and clear, and most importantly tailored to meet the needs of your primary audience. If you find customers visit your website but don’t stick around, or that those visits never convert into profitable outcomes, it may be time to revitalize or rebrand your web presence. It’s also worthwhile to re-examine press releases, press kits, and employee training materials.

How Customers Get to the Point of Choosing Your Brand: Do research to see which factors cause customers to shop for your brand and ultimately choose it over competitors. Re-evaluate your customer journey. While working with clients, we always remind them that understanding the customers’ processes can be extremely valuable. Customer feedback gained through surveys and focus groups could be a very useful resource.

An In-Depth Customer Analysis: If your budget allows for it, a customer analysis should include both qualitative and quantitative studies. Find out how likely customers are to embrace your brand. There are numerous factors that contribute to brand loyalty, including attitude towards the brand, perception of the brand, and overall awareness.

The Brand’s Position: Check to see how the brand is positioned in comparison to competitors. In many cases, this will mean collecting insight from stakeholders regarding their genuine and perceived beliefs about the brand. This evaluation should also include reviewing your brand’s personality and defining its purpose.

If for whatever reason you’re not able to perform a brand audit with more depth as indicated above, [5] it’s also possible to do a two-stage process that includes:

Your Current Identity: Factors examined here should include your company’s brand name, slogan, brand collateral, personality and tone. In conducting this type of brand audit, you can often do valuable research amongst your primary audience by posing open-ended questions to your various stakeholders.

Your Brand Strategy: Establishing whether your brand’s marketing efforts are worthwhile means looking at the level of brand awareness in your target demographic, examining what your competitors are doing well, and identifying their shortcomings, and evaluating data related to your website traffic and engagement, together with any other brand communication activities.

Deciding What to Do After a Brand Audit Health Check

The data collected from your auditing process can be extremely revealing. Findings will help determine whether a brand refresh is most appropriate, or a more radical overhaul with a complete rebranding. When working with clients, we often find they feel somewhat overwhelmed by all the results from their brand’s health check. However when all the key elements are broken down into smaller, more manageable chunks and each element is addressed systematically it is far more feasible compared to addressing the whole picture at one go!

Case Study: MadeSmart Housewares Refreshes Its Brand

For two decades, MadeSmart was a housewares brand that primarily provided private label offerings for licensing. When economic conditions changed, brand executives found MadeSmart did not have a sufficiently distinctive brand voice in the marketplace and was not strongly positioned enough for future growth.

Image via www.madesmart.com

The brand audit conducted for MadeSmart established that the brand was out of alignment with the marketplace, and the direction planned by the company. As part of the brand audit and brand profiling processes the brand was redefined, together with its promise and values, re-evaluated, re-positioned and updated to become more relevant to not only the marketplace and the brand’s primary target audience but also its future aspirations and growth plans.

Image via www.madesmart.com

MadeSmart’s brand identity in terms of their logo, advertising, signage, and website were some of the brand collateral that were redesigned following the brand audit too. The brand audit delivered positive growth with its branding refresh and received enthusiastic feedback from both clients and the local press. [6]

Image via www.madesmart.com

Case Study: Monsanto Seeks to Improve Brand Perception Among Staff Members

Monsanto, a multinational biotechnology company, felt it needed to encourage its staff to become more effective brand ambassadors whilst also enhancing their brand loyalty and engagement with company’s brand values. Monsanto hired a company to perform an internal brand audit, during which changes were suggested for the brand’s internal brand collateral, website design and visual identity, among other things. [7]

Image via www.monsanto.com

When the results of this work were evaluated via a survey, researchers found employees had a better perception of Monsanto, and were more likely to be loyal to the brand and consequently champion the brand. In short the strategies implemented after the brand audit were deemed very successful.

Key Takeaways:

Brand audit health checks are very useful in identifying how internal and external stakeholders see your brand

An important factor in a brand audit involves looking at your organization’s business plan to see if it aligns with perceptions of your brand and its messaging

When examining the ways in which your brand’s messaging is communicated, be sure to evaluate both your online and offline presence

Find out what triggers your customers to choose your brand over your competitors, and the likelihood of those customers fully embracing your brand. Also, examine how employees perceive your brand—is it aligned with the external market?

The brand audit health check is the first step in evaluating whether you need to make changes in order to maintain or re-establish relevance in the marketplace

Questions to Consider:

Has your brand experienced challenges that you think could have been avoided by performing a brand audit health check?

What are some examples of key stakeholders you may have been overlooking in your day-to-day business operations?

Have you received feedback that indicates your brand’s messaging is not as clear as it could be?

Can you identify some systemized, yet easily applied, methodologies that could be used to get feedback from customers and employees alike, while also offering incentives to them?

Are you able to recall at least one instance where a brand that’s familiar to you performed a complete rebranding process? Would you consider it to have been a successful venture?

• Brand Audit: Tips for Determining Your Brand’s Health – Can it be Improved?

• What Customers Want: Top 16 Branding Trends in 2016

• Colour in Brand Strategy: Colour Psychology and How it Influences Branding

• Creating New Brands: Top 10 Tips for Brand Success

• Brand Profiling: Top 6 Components to Creating a Strong Brand Personality

• Rebranding Strategy: Why Your Rebrand Must Embrace Storytelling

• Brand Differentiation: 30 Ways to Differentiate Your Brand

• Rebranding Strategy: Gems of Wisdom from 5 Successful Brand Revitalizations

• Brand Voice: Differentiating Through Your Own Brand Language and Attitude

• CEO Brand Leadership: How Does Your Leadership Impact Your Brand?

[1] Mike Huber, http://www.verticalmeasures.com/, “Why You Need a Content Marketing Budget for 2016”, September 2015

[2] http://www.bbc.co.uk/, “Business Studies: Stakeholders”

[3] Les Kollegian, http://www.entrepreneur.com/, “Do You Stand by Your Brand? It’s Time for an Audit”, January 2014

[4] Asmat Batul, https://blog.kissmetrics.com/, “How and Why You Should Conduct a Brand Audit”

[5] Brad VanAuken, http://www.brandingstrategyinsider.com, November 2007

[6] http://www.aiga.org/, “Case Study: MadeSmart Housewares Brand Refresh”, November 2011

[7] http://www.theaffiniti.com

Rebranding Strategy: Gems of Wisdom from 5 Successful Brand Revitalizations

January 5, 2016/0 Comments/in Brand Audit, Brand Auditing, Brand Audits, Brand Champions, Brand Collateral, Brand Design, Brand Differentiation, Brand Health Check, Brand Identity Design, Brand Personality, Brand Profiling & Positioning, Brand Relaunch, Brand Relevance, Brand Reputation, Brand Research, Brand Revitalisation, Brand Strategy, Brand Values, Branding, Business, Customer Engagement, Graphic Design, Market Demographics, Market Insights, Market Research, Millennial Branding, Rebrand, Rebranding, Return On Investment, Revamped Design, Revitalized Design, Target Market /by Lorraine Carter

Rebranding is a relatively broad term, as it encompasses both large and small-scale changes to an existing brand, which aim to resurrect a failing brand, reposition the brand and allow the company to reach out to a new target market, or simply help the brand keep up with the times.

While some brands adopt a “back to the drawing board” strategy and change everything from their logo and name to their brand values and product packaging design, a good brand revitalization strategy can sometimes be limited to a few low-key changes that enable the brand to stay relevant or differentiate itself from the competition.

When Should a Company Invest in a Rebrand?

An impressive 61% of consumers stated that an exceptional customer experience was a major determining factor when choosing a brand, and 48% of consumers expect brands to understand their needs and assist them in finding the right product and services based on those needs.[1]

Infographic via Cube.com [Digital Trends Target the Always-On Consumer]

Brands that have trouble understanding or catering to the customers’ needs are prime candidates for a brand relaunch, but a company can also have trouble with brand incongruence, a tarnished reputation or pressure from the competition.

However, the reasons for a rebrand can also be of a positive nature – a brand may experience rapid growth, as well as significant changes in the production process or the expansion of their product portfolio due technological innovations. Repositioning an economy brand as a high-end brand is another good reason for rebranding.

Since a successful rebrand involves performing a brand audit, market research, developing a detailed brand implementation strategy and effectively communicating the rebrand to customers and media, it is not recommended for young brands. You must have a well-established brand identity and a good level of brand awareness before you can embark on a brand revitalization journey.

Lessons Learned from 5 Successful Rebranding Strategies

1. Harley-Davidson – Improve the Actual Product

The Harley-Davidson motorcycle company initially had many advantages over their competition. For one, the brand had a purebred American provenance, a long history – their motorcycles were used by the US army in both World Wars – and were associated with an image of a powerful, fearless and rebellious man and an adventurous lifestyle that was alluring to a fairly large percentage of men in their mid-twenties and mid-thirties.

The brand had a good story tell, but the company still had numerous problems over the years, and faced bankruptcy on more than one occasion. The main issues that the company faced were:

Their products were objectively less reliable than what their competition had to offer
They faced very aggressive competition from a number of quality Japanese brands
The brand had become associated with biker gangs, notably the Hells Angels
They were seen as old-fashioned and outdated

In other words, Harley-Davidson had to address their reputation issues or face extinction. However, this was not something that could be fixed by merely changing the logo – their products didn’t meet the quality standards that the customers were accustomed to and they didn’t appeal to the younger generation. The brand actually adopted an incredibly smart strategy – spend less money on marketing and focus on making the product better.

Image via www.harley-davidson.com

Once they worked out all the little problems that had plagued their motorcycles, the company experienced impressive growth – Harley-Davidson, a brand that was on the verge of bankruptcy twice before, is now worth around $1 billion.

The company still faces a big problem, their average customer is a white American male pushing fifty, but they have shown that they are ready to reach out to a more ethnically diverse and younger target audience. The brand plans to shift its focus towards marketing in 2016. [2]

2. Massey Bros. – Leverage Your Premium Service, Tell Your Brand Story and Ensure Your Brand Identity Creates Distinction

Massey Bros. Funeral Directors is a successful family owned and managed business established in Dublin in the 1930s. They operate in a sector which is traditionally very conservative yet they’re industry leaders in terms of developing innovative solutions. They also have the added complication of having more than six competitors also operating legitimately under the ‘Massey’ name. In addition to this, they themselves also operated under two names before their rebrand!

Massey Bros. have always offered a very premium service but this five star, tailor made, message, their industry leadership coupled with their multiple first to market new innovative services solutions just wasn’t been properly represented in their brand profile, tone-of-voice or brand communications strategy. They also lacked a strong brand identity or consistency across their brand collateral.

We conducted research and a brand audit health check, re-evaluated their whole brand proposition and purpose, their positioning, signage, uniforms, brand collateral and brand strategy. The outputs and findings from this initial body of work then provided the direction for a complete brand overhaul resulting in absolute clarity over their brand proposition, a much stronger brand identity, a higher profile with distinction in the marketplace, consistency across all the brand collateral and most importantly strong staff brand custodians throughout the business that continue to pro-actively manage their brand in the marketplace. And of course, increased market share. You can read the full details of this rebranding case study here.

3. Target – Know Your Audience and Keep Things Simple

Target was initially envisioned as a brand that catered to a somewhat more sophisticated shopper, a person looking for a more sophisticated shopping experience than one would normally find in extremely low-priced stores like Walmart, but who also wanted that stay within a reasonable budget. The problem was that, over the years, the “deal-hunting” aspect became more prominent, which essentially lead to Target being equated with the very same economy shopping experience that they originally strived to distance themselves from.

This caused brand incongruence, with fashionable clothes on one end and cheap food items on the other, and they simply could not compete with well-established economy brands that ruled this segment of the market.

Target performed a brand audit health check, and found that they were neglecting a very important demographic. In the words of Brian Cornell, Target chief executive: “Our guest is going to be increasingly a Hispanic shopper.” [3] The brand, realizing that over 50% of Hispanic Millennials identified Target as their preferred shopping destination, even created several Spanish-language adverts, with a unique hashtag – #SinTraducción (without translation).

Another big step towards engaging their primary audience was the decision to unite their smaller “mini urban stores” under the Target brand logo. The company previously distinguished these smaller outlets as TargetExpress and CityTarget.

Image via Target.com [Target express store]

The logo design for the mini urban stores proved confusing, the words “express” and “city” were simply placed next to the classic bull’s-eye Target logo, and will only feature the Target logo going forward. With these changes, the brand has revitalized its image. However they still apparently have a bit further to go according to USA Today as things like the infamous 2013 security breach, and their latest OCD sweater has reportedly put their customers’ loyalty somewhat to the test.

4. Hybrid Technology Partners – Don’t Pigeonhole Yourself with a Poorly Thought Out Brand Identity

Formerly known as HybridIT, this Limerick-based company offer a wide range of services, including IT, software development and customer support. They even offer a product – a unique business management ERP (enterprise resource planning) system. However, anyone who saw the “IT” in their brand name immediately thought of them as just another IT company. [4]

This prevented the company from accessing a larger market share, and the fact that their logo didn’t communicate their core brand message effectively threatened to keep HybridIT in the shadows. Luckily, this “more than just an IT” company caught on and decided to revitalize their brand.

When working on creating appropriate brand identities for our clients, we focus on ensuring all the brand foundations have been fully developed using our Personality Profile Performer™ system before we even look at the aesthetics or design. The outputs from this system provide the roadmap for ensuring the brand identity outputs together with brand messaging and tone of voice are market and target audience appropriate, unique and in keeping a brand’s core values.

At first glance the change was subtle, they became HybridTP, but that one little letter was a monumental step in the right direction. The new brand identity, Hybrid Technology Partners made two things very clear:

The brand offers diverse technological solutions for streamlining a business
The company views its clients as partners, and works with them to find the best solutions

The new brand identity, coupled with some light modifications to their website, allowed HybridTP to convey their brand values – honesty, cooperation and trust – and connect with a much larger audience more effectively.

5. Narragansett Beer – Learn How to Appeal to Millennial Consumers

Pabst Blue Light used to be the beer of choice for blue-collar workers and hipster Millennials, but in recent years an old New England beer has stolen their title as the number one “cheap and cool” US beer.

The Narragansett brand has a long history, it was established 125 years ago, but the company recently made a very wise business decision and revitalised the brand, targeting Millennials. They didn’t stray away from their roots, their New England provenance, and long history being the key elements that distinguished the brand from the competition, but they did make some notable changes to the product packaging and re-evaluated their branding strategy.

The old slogan, “Made on Honor, Sold on Merit”, remained unchanged, but with fun and colourful commercials, local girls photographed in the traditional pinup style for their calendar and increased social media activity, Narragansett has successfully made a transition into the digital age.

Image via www.narragansettbeer.com

We know from personal experience that the Millennial demographic can be a powerful driving force that launches a struggling brand to new levels of success. Understanding both what makes their brand unique and what appeals to a Millennial audience, has allowed this low-priced craft beer to secure its position on the market. Saying that the rebrand was a success would be an understatement – the brand brought in $12 million in revenue last year, 120 times more than in 2005.[5]

These five successful rebrand stories all carry an important lesson for any struggling brand. A brand audit can help you reveal your weaknesses be it a problem with the quality of the product itself like in Harley Davidson’s case, an issue of brand incongruence, a dissonance between the brand logo and core brand values and the services offered by the company or a lack of awareness of your primary audience’s needs and preferences.

A brand relaunch is not something to be taken lightly or done for the pure sake of change, but if a brand has fallen on tough times, lacks relevance or isn’t leveraging its full potential with its target market, implementing a carefully planned brand revitalisation strategy is a big move in the right direction.

• Rebranding Strategy: Why Your Rebrand Must Embrace Storytelling

• Rebranding Strategy: Using Premium Repositioning To Increase Profitability

• Brand Personality: Is Your Brand’s Character Big Enough to Compete?

• Rebranding: How to Make It Through a Rebrand and Emerge Stronger

• Brand Audit: Tips for Determining Your Brand’s Health – Can It Be Improved?

• Brand Naming: Top Ten Methods for Brand Name Creation

• Humanizing Your Brand: Why It is Key to Commercial Success

• Brand Profiling: Top 6 Components to Creating a Strong Brand Personality

• Creating New Brands: Top 10 Tips for Brand Success

• Brand Profiling: How to Use Emotion to Make Your Brand More Profitable

So, what do you think?

• Does your brand have trouble staying relevant?

• Did you perform a brand health check to determine if there are any weak points you could improve upon?

• Are you targeting the right audience, and do you really understand the needs of your primary audience in terms of their needs, wants, loves, hates and aspirations?

• Are your products and services up to standards, or are you having problems keeping up with the competition?

• Is your brand identity consistent with your core values, and the type of products and services you offer, or is it unnecessarily pigeonholing you into a single niche?

[1] Steve, Cubemc.com, Digital Trends: Understanding and Targeting the ‘Always-On’ Consumer, April 2015

[2] Mark Ritson, Branding Strategy Insider, “Can The Harley Davidson Brand Age Gracefully?”, October 2015

[3] Sarah Halzack, WashingtonPost.com, “Target’s new strategy: We need more than just minivan moms”, March 2015

[4] IrishExaminer.com, Small Business Q&A: Paul Brown, September 2014

[5] Kristina Monllos, Adweek.com, “How Narragansett Beer Rebuilt Its Brand With a Meager $100,000 Media Budget, Deep roots and word of mouth”, June 2015

Lorraine Carter Speaking at The Future Business Forum, Bucharest

December 22, 2015/0 Comments/in Branding, Branding Trends, Business, Trends /by Lorraine Carter

Would you like some critical insights into the future trends of branding and business today?

Join me at The Future Business Forum 2016, Romania, where I’ll be addressing the key trends in branding and how they’re impacting business so you’re empowered to make the right decisions for your future brand success.

Glen Kieran, Founder, Future Business Forum will provide an insight into the critical challenges organisations are facing when looking at their business 10 years ahead.

Ozana Giusca, Founder and CEO Tooliers, will share her strategies to generate business without any sales reps, no sales calls or meetings, simply by smartly using the Internet.

Discover where the world is going and use those insights to drive your business strategy for your future brand success and increased profitability.

Want to know more?

Click here for details…

What Customers Want: Top 16 Branding Trends in 2016

December 7, 2015/0 Comments/in Brand Culture, Brand Experience, Brand Personality, Brand Story, Brand Strategy, Branding, Branding Trends, Business, Customer Engagement, Global Branding, Integrated Marketing, Interactive Marketing, Market Insights, Marketing, Millennial Branding, Mobile, Mobile Commerce, Online Marketing, Social Engagement, Technology, Video, YouTube /by Lorraine Carter

More than a half century ago, the customer-centric branding pioneer Walter Landor said, “Products are made in the factory, but brands are created in the mind.” [1] In 2016, the path to that consumer experience is a two-way street, and guess who’s in the driver’s seat? Brands with strong personality are the winners, because customers equate great experiences and emotive meaning with strong, distinctive brands.

While Mr. Landor had massively insightful branding vision, he couldn’t have foreseen the challenges brands face in 2016. The 21st century consumer shopping and purchasing experience has changed, and continues to change…fast. Demanding and sophisticated customers no longer simply reach for “new and improved” brands on display shelves.

Digital Developments in Branding

In 2016, any brand overlooking the following trends would do so at their own peril:

• Shift to mobile is the main message for every small, medium, or large-sized brand in 2016. According to Google, “Mobile has forever changed what we expect of brands.” [2]

• Understanding digital is key. For even the smallest brands, the monetization of social platforms means we’re in the “pay-to-play” era. So going forward, every big brand marketing department needs a deep understanding of digital and every small brand needs to maximize their resources.

• Interpreting data tells brand marketers what’s working and what’s not, ensuring that spending choices are made wisely.

Simply put, your customers are online and that’s where you need to be. Specifically, they’re on mobile and increasingly, they’re watching video content to make purchase decisions.

Yes, just when we thought ubiquitous online shopping had tolled a death knell for bricks-and-mortar stores, Amazon introduced its first-ever real physical bookstore in Seattle University Village. [3] What does this signify 20 years after Amazon went live with cut-rate books online that nearly destroyed bookstores? Amazon is connecting the dots between its troves of big data on customer preferences and the 2016 desire for a humanizing browsing and shopping experience. No one is yet pronouncing this first bookstore as a trend, but it’s worth keeping an eye on. (Remember, Amazon Founder and CEO Jeff Bezos purchased the Washington Post when everyone said print newspapers were dead.).

Image via www.amazon.com

Branding Studies Highlight Customers Expectations

“Speedy, seamless and sensory,” is the brand experience consumers want in 2016, according to the Landor Associates study released in November 2015.[4] Today’s challenge for brands, says Landor’s CEO, is to continuously evolve, to be utterly relevant, while all the while staying true to the brand’s essence.

The largest group of consumers on the planet are Millennials (born between 1980 and 1995), and they’re adults now. The youngest in this cohort will turn 21 in 2016. As Edelman reveals in their latest worldwide “8095 Survey” of Millennials’ purchasing preferences, brands must surprise and delight to gain loyalty, because average is not acceptable.[5]

Image via www.edelman.com

In PwC’s latest global survey, “Retailers and the Age of Disruption,” the overarching trend is that “…the premium in the future will be on creating unique, brand-defining experiences that keep customers coming back — whatever the channel.” [6]

Branding keywords for 2016 include: personalized, authentic, humanized, interactive, engaging, and mobile.

We take a closer look at some outstanding examples from brands that illustrate key 2016 on-trend pointers to successfully target today’s customers.

Brands Can Flaunt a Sense of Humour

Lowe’s Home Improvement highlights their products by inspiring successful DIY through amusing, real life storytelling videos. The series are short and sweet, showing projects that will make you feel like you can accomplish anything, from painting a room to building an outdoor deck. Anyone who has ever tried to fold a fitted sheet will empathize with this guy.

Brands Are Storytellers

“I don’t think the world is ever going to want to stop hearing stories,” is the sentiment expressed by Angela Ahrendts during her tenure as CEO of Burberry. She emphasized that anyone who is touching your brand wants to see, feel and hear its authentic story. Tell it visually, amplify it with music, create energy around it. Ahrendts obsession about doing all of the above is why she’s America’s highest-compensated female executive as Sr. VP of Apple.

Brands Should Support Good Causes

Aligning with charitable endeavours, championing social issues or running an environmentally sustainable business is good for a brand, its customers and the community at large. Choose wisely, care deeply and gain credibility in the process. Marks & Spencer produced their Oxfam donation partnership called Shwopping profiling celebrity ambassadors, Annie Lennox, Emma Thompson, Twiggy and other leading ladies.

Brands Gain Trust via Authenticity

RED Lookbook is an Estée Lauder advert for their fragrance, Modern Muse Le Rouge. It’s delivered as a feel-good video featuring a “real” person, UK social influencer Fleur DeForce, wearing lots of red and using the fragrance. “Top priorities to succeed have to be authenticity and passion,” the beauty video blogger with 1.3 million subscribers told Digiday. Followers are accustomed to seeing Fleur in intimate, authentic videos relaxing with her husband, friends, dogs and favorite products. The 27-year-old provides a disclaimer, “I only ever work with brands that I personally use and love, and only to promote products I genuinely like and believe in.”

Brands Become Approachable

The evolution of wine reveals a case in point about humanizing a brand. Today’s winemakers are portraying down-to-earth personalities. Even the glamorous bubbly Moët & Chandon, founded in 1743, is behaving in a way that’s anything but stuffy and old fashioned.

Image via www.moet.com

In California wine country, “7 Deadly Zins” from Michael David Winery just knows how to have a good time with their Zinfandel branding, paired with fresh air and a mountain hike.

Image via www.michaeldavidwinery.com

And, there’s a seriously excellent wine inside the bottle illustrated with dancing elephants on a cartoon-like circus label; this Syrah was rated #2 in the world for 2015 by Wine Enthusiast Magazine. [7]

Image Courtesy of Lodi Winegrape Commission

Brands Relate To Consumers’ Lifestyles

In just six months, Fitbit has scored 6 million YouTube views for its 30-second rom com, “Know Your Heart.” It’s completely relatable and inexpensive to make. “The campaign plays off the duality of knowing your heart emotionally and physically in a cheeky and relatable, story–driven way that resonates with our brand,” says Fitbit global marketing VP Tim Rosa. “We wanted it to be relatable and charming, while showing that getting fit and healthy is attainable if one sets his/her heart to it.”[8]

Top 16 Brand Trends Checklist for Engaging Customers in 2016

1. Consumers crave brand authenticity. They want personalized, engaging and humanized interaction with brands, even humour that brings a smile to the face.

2. Customers are embracing disruptors, from healthcare wearables to taxi services and non-hotel stays.

3. Consumers are making emotional decisions about brands that feature distinctive, compelling storytelling and a friendly tone of voice, not corporate-speak bravado.

4. Customers want responsibility and accountability from brands. They’re looking deeper into a company’s ethics, environmental position, supply chain, production processes, diversity hiring, mission statement and corporate giving.

5. Consumers are tuned in. They place more value on online reviews from strangers than on brand advertising.

6. Customers are listening to employees as brand champions whose opinions on the brand culture can speak volumes via social media and in person.

7. Consumers are searching and shopping online. They expect fast, seamless, quality brand experiences from super fast mobile websites to free, next day delivery.

8. Consumers are looking at FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) and packaging design that goes beyond a logo, photos or serving suggestions in favour of labels that may reveal personality, tell about a product’s backstory and offer interesting “did you know” facts up front.

9. Consumers continue to relate to brands that relate to their own lifestyle preferences.

10. Consumers are consulting with children living at home in making their purchase decisions, including vacations.

11. Customers require a sense of place when they travel, not cookie-cutter, look-alike hotel and restaurant chains.

12. Customers express themselves through the brands they associate with, including artisan, hand-crafted, small production items from bricks and mortar stores or limited edition and customized products from larger brands.

13. Customers want two-way communication and co-creation with brands that are connecting with their customers and responding to feedback.

14. Consumers are tired of annoying in-your-face advertising that screams a one-way message. Native advertising and re-targeted effective messages that deliver relevance are the way to get attention in 2016.

15. Consumers expect multi-channel agility from brands. They prefer original brand video content and how-to advice to be seamlessly accessible across their multiple devices.

16. Consumers are rejecting photo-shopped, zero-sized beauty definitions in favour of natural and real, wellness and gender-neutral positioning.

Image via www.edelman.com

In conclusion:

• It’s not your brand anymore. It belongs to your customers.

• Brand experiences matter more, not stuff. Bring shareable new ideas to the marketplace.

• Brands must be created and developed using strong well developed personas. Make it personal, emotive, relatable and real.

• Clever and amusing is the new approach. Humanize your brand.

• Brand loyalty must be earned. Sophistication and authenticity are the order of the day for a much more discerning customer.

Ask yourself:

• How many of these 16 trends can you tick off your brand must-do list as part of your brand strategy for the year ahead?

• Has your brand found the right tone of voice for 2016?

• Have you defined your brand’s personality and strategized about how it is being expressed?

• Does your brand require a refresh or a re-branding to resonate with today’s consumers?

• Have you identified your brand’s positioning and unique selling points and successfully incorporated them?

• Has your brand aligned with a charity? Has it embraced sustainability and green initiatives? Is there a corporate social responsibility message that’s making its way to customers’ ears?

• Rebranding Strategy: Why Your Rebrand Must Embrace Storytelling

• Brand Profiling: Top 6 Components to Creating a Strong Brand Personality

• Creating New Brands: Top 10 Tips for Brand Success

• Brand Personality: Is Your Brand’s Character Big Enough to Compete?

• Millennial Branding: 6 Ways Your Brand Can Appeal to Millennial Customers

• Co-Branding: 13 Tips for Growing Your Brand Through Strategic Partnerships

• Video Brand Strategy: Top 11 Tips for How and Why You Need to Use Video

[1] http://www.aiga.org/medalist-walterlandor

[2] https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/micromoments/au.html

[3] http://www.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&node=13270229011

[4] http://landor.com/news/landor-releases-2016-brand-trends-brick-and-mortar-is-back-and-speedy-seamless-sensory-experiences-are-in-demand

[5] http://www.edelman.com/insights/intellectual-property/8095-exchange

[6] http://pwc.to/1XKvq8G

[7] http://cf.bgwm.co/v1/toplists/2015/wines/BOY_Enth_100_2015.pdf

[8] http://www.fastcocreate.com/3046378/dude-chases-a-girl-and-a-healthier-lifestyle-in-this-new-fitbit-ad

Seasonal Branding: Tread Carefully with Christmas Themed Brand Strategies

November 24, 2015/0 Comments/in Ambush Marketing, Brand Champions, Brand Collaboration, Brand Collateral, Brand Health Check, Brand Loyalty, Brand Personality, Brand Profiling & Positioning, Brand Relevance, Brand Reputation, Brand Sponsorship, Brand Story, Brand Values, Branding, Business, Cause Marketing, Co-Branding, Customer Engagement, YouTube /by Lorraine Carter

Fourth quarter commercialism looms large. Sparkly red and green Christmas displays are simultaneously mounted as spooky orange and black Halloween decorations come down.

From Ireland to Illinois, consumers react in unpredictable ways to brand seasonal messages that creep in earlier and earlier every year. For retailers, that response can mean boom or bust for critical end-of year-sales figures.

Black Friday Launches the Season

Like a turkey sandwich in-between Halloween and Christmas, America has another huge national holiday. On the fourth Thursday of November, the weekend following Thanksgiving traditionally signaled the official start of Christmas during most of the 20th century. Dreamt up as a marketing concept in 2003, Black Friday is now the most frenzied shopping day of the year. It sees queues forming overnight for big sales, many beginning at dawn and some as early as midnight on Thanksgiving Day.

Black Friday is spreading. In recent years, Canada, Mexico and India have followed suit while giant American retailers like Disney and Apple introduce online sales in Australia, too. French shoppers are familiar with “Vendredi Noir.” In the U.K., Tesco and Argos 2014 Black Friday promotions prompted police action in Manchester, with Argos withdrawing from the event in 2015.

Meantime, as early Christmas shop windows draw back the curtains on November installations, the 114-year-old U.S. retailer Nordstrom takes a different approach, making a statement about celebrating one holiday at a time, as seen in a window display.

Image via www.twitter.com

In America, Hollywood goes nuts at the holidays over box office receipts for new film releases, but the small screen is tame on TV adverts compared to the U.K., where Christmas adverts are a national pastime.

We look at a mixed bag of examples representing both large brands and smaller ones on both sides of the pond to see how campaigns are making the most of the season — while others have misfired and are quickly pronounced a failure. See what you think about these adverts.

Balancing Sales Strategies Intended as Charitable Endeavours

John Lewis is one of those nationwide UK brands that attracts considerable media attention with their annual Christmas message, usually a tear-jerker. This year’s advert tells the story of a little 6-year-old girl called Lily and an old man she spies with her telescope, who lives — all alone and lonely — on the moon. The advert is designed to raise awareness for the charity, Age UK, with its tagline: “Show someone they’re loved this Christmas.”

According to The Guardian, “Last year, the retailer also spent £7m on a campaign featuring a realistic animated penguin and a young boy playing together to the tune of John Lennon’s Real Love, sung by British singer-songwriter Tom Odell. It had drummed up 22m views on YouTube by the first week of January…” This year’s numbers are soaring ahead of last year’s.

Rachel Swift, head of brand marketing at John Lewis, is quoted in The Telegraph saying there is a consistent style for the store’s seasonal adverts. “It is has become part of our handwriting as a brand. It’s about storytelling through music and emotion. The sentiment behind that hasn’t changed – and that is quite intentional. The strategy behind our campaigns is always about thoughtful gifting.”

The £1 million production for a six-week-long £7 million campaign, which includes more cost for shop floors kitted out to resemble a moonscape, has seen members of the public ask[1]: Why couldn’t John Lewis make a multi-million contribution to Age UK? In fact, the profits from three small ticket items sold at the department store – a mug, a gift tag and a card – will go to the charity supplemented by donations from the public, inspired by the advert’s message.

Image via www.twitter.com

Brands Play to Emotions to Drive Brand Loyalty

Tugging at the heartstrings via hugs, cute penguins, a melting Mr. Snowman, and even World War I soldiers celebrating a Christmas truce in the trenches are among the emotional connections brands are working and spending hard to make happen.

Why? In a word, loyalty. As pointed out by a retail analyst[2], for modern consumers to change brands no longer involves driving to another village or shopping centre; swapping brands is as easy as the click of a mouse. All of which means your brand strategy needs to be a lot more sophisticated if you want to first attract and then hold onto your customers. Remember people buy with emotion first and justify with rational afterwards — regardless of gender or cultural background. Your brand must be rich with authentic personality, have a really big why — reasons beyond the money to buy, create emotionally compelling reasons to engage, and ensure it includes an advocacy strategy within your action plan if you want to increase your profitability and ensure long-term success.

A MindMover opinion poll[3] indicates the following brands are most closely associated with Christmas adverts in the U.K.: Coca-Cola, Marks & Spencer, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Argos, Cadbury, Asda, Toys R Us and Amazon. Not queried is the million pound question — that is, whether top-of-mind-awareness produces the all-important return on investment.

A Big Brand Blunder at Bloomingdale’s

Bloomingdale’s, U.S. luxury fashion chain stores owned by Macy’s, made such a spectacularly poor judgement in their 2015 Christmas advert that a week after the department store had apologized via Twitter, major editorials continued to call for a deeper response.

Image via www.twitter.com

“Appearing to promote date rape,” says the Wall Street Journal[4], the “creepy” and “offensive” advert reads, “Spike your best friend’s eggnog when they’re not looking.” Clearly, it went viral in the wrong way for the large retailer.

Image via www.twitter.com

A Storm in a Teacup at Starbucks

At Starbucks, they knew what they were doing when the white snowflakes decorating the seasonal red cup design were removed. A seemingly simple change sent consumers in large numbers straight to social media, to sign a petition, and to boycott the brand, claiming that Starbucks was making an anti-Christ religious statement. “It’s just a red cup”, tweeted the voice of reason while Instagram lit up with Starbucks images and the nation’s top talk show hosts chimed in.

Image via www.vox.com

Three lessons learned, says Entrepreneur[5], and small brands should pay especially close attention to number three on this list:

1) All PR is good PR. Starbucks marketing knew the response wouldn’t be universally positive, but they also knew this was not a crisis

2) The power of social media sharing is awesome — and free

3) Brands who react fast can newsjack a trend. “Other coffee brands got a boost from the issue, such as Dunkin’ Donuts, with its holiday cup release.

Image via www.twitter.com

The subject has also created opportunities for smaller companies, YouTubers and creative types alike to ride the wave and get attention.”

Image via www.twitter.com

That’s the same brand strategy employed by the many John Lewis parody adverts that follow immediately on the heels of the store’s annual commercial.

Smaller Brands & Seasonal Brand Strategies

Small brands can make a large impact in the community by scaling ideas such as co-branding in a lower key way, supporting a charity or club, adding removable seasonal details to products and packaging design, donating Christmas trees to community centers, hospitals and nonprofit organizations.

In London, independent, privately-owned residential estate agency Bective Leslie Marsh has supported West London Action for Children for over a decade. Estate agents and local residents partner to raise funds for the 98-year-old charity through year-round bridge and tennis tournaments, trivia quiz nights, barn dances, garden fetes and more.

To offset Black Friday’s emphasis on big box stores and chain stores, Small Business Saturday was launched in the USA in 2010. It focuses on the bricks and mortar local shops that are the fabric of the Ma & Pa character neighbourhoods with American Express is the main sponsor. Partnerships and promotion via Google street view, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook come up with initiatives to launch holiday shopping on the last Saturday of November too.

Other successful ideas have included branded shirts and kits for a local sports club, providing staff to serve Christmas dinners at senior centres, running a toy drive or food hampers collection, singing Christmas carols to collect for the Salvation Army, St. Vincent de Paul and similar. It’s important to make a small investment in well design brand collateral such as banners, posters, placards, T-shirts, caps and other branded items to decorate and to wear in order to properly associate the occasion with your own brand.

So, what do you think?

• Are you often caught short of time, or do you have a holiday marketing plan drawn up by Quarter 2? Do you need to include this as part of your brand audit health check or brand revitalization strategy?

• Does your brand have a charitable and/or community giving programme?

• Does your brand strategy include corporate social responsibility?

• Do you know what initiatives, outreach or volunteer activities your employees — your brand champions — would feel most supportive of on behalf of your brand?

• Do you feel confident about maximizing the potential impact on sales via volunteerism on behalf of your brand?

• Christmas Branding: Top 10 Tips to Infuse Your Brand with Seasonal Spirit

• Brand Personality: Is Your Brand’s Character Big Enough to Compete?

• Brand Voice: Differentiating Through Your Own Brand Language and Attitude

• Brand Sponsorships: The Best Brand Ambassadors Are Already On Your Payroll

• Humanizing Your Brand: Why It is Key to Commercial Success

• Brand Differentiation: 30 Ways to Differentiate Your Brand

• Brand Profiling: Top 6 Components to Creating a Strong Brand Personality

• Creating New Brands: Top 10 Tips for Brand Success

• Brand Profiling: How to Use Emotion to Make Your Brand More Profitable

[1] As seen on Twitter #johnlewischristmasadvert

[2] Bryan Roberts, Kantar Retail analyst, The Telegraph, 16/11/2015

[3] “Glad Tidings for John Lewis…”, The Guardian, 6/11/15

[4] “Bloomingdale’s Holiday Ad Draws Backlash…”, Wall St Journal, 12/11/2015

[5] “3 Lessons from Starbucks’ Red Cup ‘Controversy’”, Entrepreneur, 16/11/2015

Brand Loyalty: 5 Key Steps to Building Your Loyal Fan Base

November 3, 2015/0 Comments/in Brand Affinity, Brand Ambassador, Brand Champions, Brand Collaboration, Brand Culture, Brand Design, Brand Experience, Brand Loyalty, Brand Personality, Brand Promise, Brand Relevance, Brand Strategy, Branding, Business, Social Engagement, Social Media /by Lorraine Carter

“80% of your company’s future revenue will come from just 20% of your existing customers” according to Gartner Group.[1] This means that brands need to devote more attention to building a loyal customer base, and in order to do this successfully they must inspire trust.

Given the number of recent scandals relating to brand ‘dishonesty, and the incredible ease with which the average consumer now acquires information online, it’s easy to see why trust has become such an important value. While many brands strive to inspire loyalty, and in the process develop their ‘customer’ brand champions, very few manage to do this consistently really well.

Here we take a look at the primary benefits of developing a loyal customer base, and some of the most effective brand strategies to do so, together with examples of brands who’ve managed to consistently inspire loyalty amongst their customers.

The 4 Key Benefits of Having Loyal Brand Fans

1. Free Fan-Made Commercials and Other User-Generated Content

Loyal fans will often provide ample content for the brand they love, and this can be anything from testimonials and reviews, up to a commercial with high quality production values. Tesla, the leading electric car brand on the market, is an excellent example of how talented fans can contribute to a brand’s marketing strategy. Elon Musk has always had a notably different approach to marketing compared a lot of his competition, and in the process has managed to build a veritable army of loyal brand ambassadors.

Image via www.tesla.com

A talented fan has even made a beautiful commercial, and this is not the first time something like this has happened – two years ago some fans from Evergeen Pictures filmed a heart-warming commercial likening Tesla’s product to a “modern spaceship”.

In both these cases, the fans were purely motivated by their love of the brand, or rather, what the brand stood for.

2. Loyal Customers can Help Your Brand Adapt and Survive

It’s a given that loyal customers are the backbone of any successful brand. If a brand authentically delivers on its promise consistently its more likely to be forgiven when the occasional hiccup occurs.

The revival of the Hydrox brand is a good example of how consumers will often remain loyal to the brand for decades, help it adapt to the times, and even help resurrect a brand that was near the brink of extinction.

Hydrox was actually the first cookie to feature a sandwich-type offering, with two thin chocolate cookies cushioning a creamy centre, despite the fact that most people in the world now associate this type of cookie with the Oreos brand. Hydrox had trouble effectively marketing their product over the years, and Oreos took the lion’s share of the market, but helped by a number of extremely loyal fans fuelled by nostalgia, they managed to apply a successful brand revitalisation strategy.

Image via www.leafbrands.com

In fact, they were going back to their roots and using the old recipe, so they needed help from their fans who still remembered that signature taste. Some consumers even had decade-old packages in their freezers, which they donated for use in taste tests. That level of loyalty is what keeps a company in business during periods of uncertainty. The question here is, what are you consistently doing with your brand to inspire devoted brand fans?

3. Loyal Customers Engage in Word-of-Mouth Advertising and Give Referrals

Word-of-mouth advertising is probably the oldest form of marketing known to man, but it has immense power even today, as witnessed by the success of Coconut Bliss. It started out as a small ice cream company with simple core values – they offered dairy-free organic ice cream, with coconut milk as the main ingredient. Their first customers were friends, then friends of friends, and, eventually, thousands of people from all around the country.

It was their personal approach to marketing, and that core of loyal consumers that quickly led to significant growth. Most of this initial growth was due to word-of-mouth advertising and referrals from very impressed consumers. Loyal customers tend to be quite vocal about their preferences, and are one of the best sources of referrals.

4. Loyal Fans are Less Likely to be Influenced by Your Competitors

When customers become emotionally engaged and start feeling like they are as much a part of the brand itself as they are consumers, a tribe mentality is born, which makes your loyal fans less susceptible to competitors’ marketing efforts. This can be seen in famous brand rivalries like Apple vs. Microsoft or Coca Cola vs. Pepsi, where customers who choose one brand over the other exhibit fanatical or cult like levels of devotion.

The 5 Proven Strategies for Inspiring Brand Advocacy

1. Create an Antagonist

Some of the most successful brands in recent history have managed to build a veritable army of loyal fans by demonizing the competition or providing their audience with a common “enemy” to fight against. Apple and Tesla are good examples of this. In Apple’s case, it was a sense of elitism that helped them rally a core following of loyal fans under their banner. People who placed their trust in the brand eschewed Apple’s main rival, Microsoft, and even showed disdain for the competition and their “followers”.

Tesla took a somewhat different approach, focusing on the eco-friendly aspect of electric cars, which motivated consumers to take a stand against cars powered by fossil fuels. Tesla was painted as a green, caring and technologically innovative brand. Their route to market was also different and disruptive, yet very much liked by their customers, compared to the more traditional ‘car dealership’ business model. They soon became a brave underdog in the eyes of the public, a car brand with sound moral and ethical values, and one that symbolised progress.[2]

By developing distinguishing factors which are emotionally engaging between two groups, you can effectively inspire not only loyalty towards your group, but also abject disdain for the other group. This all harkens back to research performed by psychologist Henri Tajfel, which has inspired many an entrepreneur to utilise social identity theory to their advantage.

2. Establish Effective Two-Way Communication on Social Media

By solely posting promotional content on social media, you fail to utilise the full potential of this powerful tool. Listening to what the consumers have to say and engaging them in conversations allows brands to perform effective market research and enhance customer experience, but most importantly, it helps establish personal connections.

Companies like Nike, Starbucks and Xbox have effectively used social media for both promotion, and as a means of enhancing the quality of their customer service.[3]

Nike and Xbox both have two separate accounts on Twitter, each with its own distinct purpose: a main account used for providing users with updates and for promotional purposes, and another dedicated solely to customer support. The alternate account allows consumers to ask questions or voice their complaints, and a dedicated team responds to all inquiries in a timely fashion. This inspires trust, helps resolve issues quickly and makes customers feel respected and appreciated.

As we have seen with celebrities like Kim Kardashian, who took social media by storm, it is also important to build a strong online presence on a number of different networks. Ms Kardashian is active on a number of social media networks, and posts diverse content on a regular basis. These accounts are populated with content related to all the different aspects of her brand personality – from fashion, to fitness and pregnancy topics. People can find updates about her daily life, beauty product reviews, and hear her opinions on current affairs and pop culture news.

As of late, a number of celebrities, including Howard Stern and Lady Gaga, have focused on creating unique media hubs for their brands.[4] These hubs are essentially websites, valuable brand assets controlled by the brand, that offer a behind-the-scenes look into their lives and allow these celebrities to post a large amount of exclusive brand collateral content, including videos, images, updates, guides, etc. Owning a unique platform like this enables brands to communicate with their consumers in a very direct manner.

3. Inspire Word-of-Mouth Marketing by Improving Customer Experience

A good way for a brand to differentiate itself is go above and beyond when it comes to providing the best customer experience. No one is perfect, small problems occur all the time, and customers can sometimes have complicated questions and unusual requests.

However, if you can effectively address all inquiries, and go beyond the call of duty when it comes to making your customer happy, you will gradually build a solid brand reputation with a strong customer base of brand ambassadors. Zappos is a great example of how a brand that focuses on exceptional customer experience and word-of-mouth marketing can become incredibly successful.

Of course, user experience is strongly influenced by the quality of your customer support, so your brand needs to invest in this aspect as well. Customers love to share stories of good customer service experiences on social media.

4. Make an Emotional Connection by Developing and Leveraging a Strong Brand Personality Relevant to Your Primary Customer

When we talk about your brand personality this is about developing the overall characteristics of your brand, what it stands for and the way it expresses itself through using a process called brand profiling. In conjunction with this overall concept you can also develop an actual character that expresses your ‘core brand personality, characteristics and values’ by using a character that’s representative of your brand.

Quaker Oats had great success promoting their Cap’n Crunch brand online several years ago, and it was in part due to their consistency in portraying the Cap’n. His unique personality and vocabulary were a relatable extension of the brand used to express of the overall brand characteristics and values, and all faithfully represented in every Tweet. [5]

The Quaker Oats social media team did a good job of consistently staying ‘in character’ using a ‘brand voice’ that appropriately expressed their brand, and the mascot of their brand in the form of Cap’n Crunch, all of which regularly engaged their followers successfully. They provided insights into their mascot character’s past, asked and answered questions, and even had some fun during the “International Talk like a Pirate Day” by voicing Crunch’s disdain for pirates.

This strategy enabled their brand to stay relevant, accumulate over 40,000 followers on Twitter, and connect with their audience on an emotional level. Past research has shown that consumers who feel a strong emotional connection to a brand are far more likely to develop a high level of trust in the brand, which leads to long-term commitment.

One of our key objectives when working with our clients is to develop a deep rooted understanding of their customers, particularly in terms of their needs, wants, loves, hates and aspirations using tools such as brand audit health checks, research and buyer personas. It’s only when you really understand your primary audience that you can develop a solution that meets and exceeds their needs emotionally, functionally and rationally. If you don’t address all these key ingredients through your brand profiling, brand strategy and brand collateral you’re unlikely to succeed long term or achieve the necessary brand loyalty required for your brand growth and success.

5. Reach out to Influencers

Influencers with a large active social media following can become incredibly potent brand ambassadors, as their audience places great trust in their opinion. In fact, research has shown that an astounding 92% of consumers focus primarily on referrals coming from someone they know, and in 81% of cases these referrals where found on the web. A few lines of text praising your brand from a social media influencer with a large and loyal following can garner a lot of positive attention. In a sense, reaching out to an influencer can be likened to hiring a spokesperson who is willing to work pro bono. However, in addition to having a reputable voice to spread the word about your company, back and forth communication with influencers enables a brand to convey genuine authenticity.

Image via www.blogkissmetrics.com

When an audience knows that the ‘spokes’ person, be it an actress or a renowned blogger, isn’t motivated by financial gain, the brand mentions and endorsements on social media are a lot more natural and respected. We can turn to Cap’n Crunch for some excellent advice once more – when famous rapper Ice T tweeted about having the Quaker Oats cereal for breakfast, the Cap’n immediately responded by thanking him for choosing “his” cereal and showing support.

This, in turn, lead to another tweet from Ice T, where he expressed his excitement about being contacted by the Cap’n himself, which was retweeted a large number of times by both the rapper’s and the brand’s followers. Something as simple as this can generate a good deal of social media buzz, and help a brand earn some additional credibility and acquire new customers.

However, you do need a comprehensive brand strategy when reaching out to influencers, so feel free to utilise some of the basic tips outlined in the video bellow and give us a call or drop us a line.

• Rebranding Strategy: Why Your Rebrand Must Embrace Storytelling

• Brand Profiling: Top 6 Components to Creating a Strong Brand Personality

• Brand Sponsorships: The Best Brand Ambassadors Are Already On Your Payroll

• Brand Management: Top 10 Tips for Managing Your Brand Reputation

• Brand Differentiation: 30 Ways to Differentiate Your Brand

• Brand Voice: Differentiating Through Your Own Brand Language and Attitude

• Humanizing Your Brand : Why It is Key to Commercial Success

So, what do you think?

• Have you developed and leveraged a strong brand personality that stands out or a clear antagonist?

• Is your brand approachable on social media and do you answer your customers questions?

• Have you identified what really matters to your customers and what’s your brand doing to create an emotional connection with your target audience? Do you need to give your brand a health check on its performance?

• Have you identified who would be relevant influencers within your brand sphere and made an effort to reach out to those influencers to build social connections?

[1] Alex Lawrence, Forbes, Five Customer Retention Tips for Entrepreneurs, November 2012

[2] Tamara Rutter, USA Today, “Why Tesla has the most loyal customers”, September 2014

[3] Brittney Helmrich, Businessnewsdaily.com, “10 Companies That Totally Rock Customer Service on Social Media”, December 2014

[4] Brooks Barnes, nytimes.com, “Coming Soon: Celebrity Web Networks From the Media Company Whalerock”, February 2015

[5] Socialmedia.org, Quaker Oats: Hitting the High Seas of Social Media, presented by Barbara Liss, September 2011, https://vimeo.com/29063976

Colour Psychology: Cracking the Colour Code for Profitable Branding

October 27, 2015/0 Comments/in Brand Collateral, Brand Design, Brand Strategy, Branding, Business, Colour Psychology /by Lorraine Carter

Colour is incredible! From rainbows to coral reefs and from bluejays to goldfish, throughout the natural world, the phenomenon that we call colour is a vital source of stimulation and communication.

When translated to the human sphere, its enormous power adds huge impact to communications, opinions, recall and emotional connections. In fact when used correctly, colour can be used as a pivotal tool to substantially influence purchasing decisions, be it product or service.

Leveraging Your Brand with an Exciting Red or a Trustworthy Blue

According to research from Canada’s University of Winnepeg, “Impact of Color on Marketing”, people make a subconscious judgement within 90 seconds of their initial viewing, and that up to 90 percent of the assessment is based on colours alone. [1]

“Exciting Red and Competent Blue”, published by the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, explains that colours influence how consumers view the personality of brands, looking at the impact on purchase intent. [2]

The University of Loyola, Maryland, reveals that colour increases brand recognition by up to 80 percent, while KISSmetrics says, “85 percent of shoppers place colour as a primary reason when they buy a particular product.” [3]

Studies done by the internationally recognized Pantone Color Institute® indicate that “consumers are up to 78% more likely to remember a word or phrase printed in color than in black and white.” [4] They cite that colour combined with text, as in a logo, impacts readers with the trifecta of getting better recall, recognition and attention — all good news for the brand story.

Creative Violet, Peaceful Green and Bold Red

Certainly, nobody would have thought to suggest to masters like Paul Gauguin and Vincent Van Gogh that colours don’t really matter much. Mark Rothko’s canvases, devoid of subject matter, convey their message solely through powerful use of colour, such that “Violet, Green and Red” (1951) was worth $186 million just 63 years after the canvas paint dried.

“Violet, Green and Red” – Mark Rothko, 1951, Wikimedia Commons, public domain

We know that colour is important in our daily lives. We live in a world of colour. Comments such as, “What colour eyes does the baby have?” and “Let’s buy a red car” or “That shade looks good on you” are commonplace statements. Most of us have favourite colours and feel better when we wear them.

What most of us don’t realise is how much impact colour has on all of us subconsciously, or how much it can be used to influence us in the hands of a knowledgeable master.

World Authority on Colour

Pantone® is the world authority on colour. Each December, their U.S.-based Pantone Color Institute issues a hotly-awaited Pantone Colour of the Year, meant to influence fashion runway collections, interior decor and yes, even car manufacturers. In 2015, for example, “a naturally robust and earthy wine red” called Marsala (#18-1438, to be precise) got the annual nod as top pick for stylish nail lacquer, neckties, table napkins, wall paint and more.

Image via www.pantone.com, Marsala 2015 Color of the Year – Pantone®

Colour Strategy in Brand Success

But, your company logo and your product line is far more complex than an accessory. Clearly, when a company manufactures products, designs a brand logo, buys staff uniforms, develops new packaging designs and invests in advertising, there will be no opportunity for a 12-month cycle to accommodate trend-setting changes.

Choosing a business brand palette is not about a designer’s preference, your favourite colours or anyone else’s. Brand colour choices are long-term decisions and it’s a critical identifier and influencer on the perception and personality of your brand. Colour is also widely credited with influencing purchase decisions.

Case-in-point, most people know where this box comes from even without seeing the sterling silver jewellery it contains. Somehow, it wouldn’t quite do if the box were red.

Image via www.tiffany.com

The colour wheel makes your business go round and round. It speaks to your customers. It differentiates you from your competitors. It is bold and discreet at the same time. It’s interactive.

Image via www.pantone.com

Change a signature brand colour and you’ll see how wrong it can feel:

Image via Fast Company Design, Paula Rupolo: Starbucks / Dunkin Donuts

It’s worth noting that Harley-Davidson is aiming to grow their 12 percent female market share with a sleek black model, not a sparkly pink one.

Image via www.harley-davidson.com

London-based colour and design consultant Karen Haller says, “When you use the right tonal harmonious colours, your brand’s message is communicated quicker to the brain than words or shapes as they work directly on our feelings and emotions.”

It doesn’t have to be beige.

Test yourself. We’ve scrambled the colours, their interpretation and one famous example of use in branding. Can you make 10 proper pairings? (Answers are found at the bottom of this post.)

Colour Strategy at Top Brands

Apple

Apple brought colour into a marketplace where colour had not been seen before. Steve Jobs introduced colourful iMacs in tangerine, blueberry, grape, strawberry, and lime followed by indigo, flower power, and blue Dalmatian. By the summer of 2000, the first snow white iMac was a thing of beauty. [5]

Apple was the first to say about computers, “It doesn’t have to be beige” — in the course of which brand packaging helped the company recover from a two-year loss of $1.8 billion to become the world’s largest public company, top in tech and the most valuable brand on earth. [6]

Image via www.apple.com

Heinz

Ketchup is red, right? Unless it’s green. Heinz sold more than 10 million bottles of its EZ Squirt Blastin’ Green Ketchup in the first seven months following its introduction in 2000 — because kids wanted it. That’s $23 million in green ketchup sales because of a simple colour change.

Image via www.fastcodesign.com, Heinz

And then, they over did it somewhat by introducing purple, pink, orange, blue and a rainbow mystery colour. No quite so appetite appealing! Mums hated it, especially when kids mixed them together on the dinner plate. Some 25 million bottles later, the party was over and all but the original were withdrawn. Colour matters and ketchup is red again.

Coca-Cola

Bright red with elegant white script, the best known logo in the world is considered to be Coca-Cola, which is little changed since 1887. When, in the mid-1980s, Coca-Cola made their first product taste change in a century, they also changed the cans’ packaging design to emblazon them with Coke lettering. They wish they hadn’t. Within three months, Classic Coke was back on the shelves as Coca-Cola. Brand marketers say it was a classic mistake to mess with Coca-Cola’s iconic red and white brand packaging design.

Image via Wikimedia Commons, public domain, Coca-Cola

McDonald’s

Where can you go without running into the Golden Arches? McDonald’s introduced them in 1960 to be seen towering above roadside establishments as America took to the nation’s newly-built highways. Why are the arches golden yellow? See how they stand out in this photo of McDonald’s logo seen against the blue sky. The arches rise from a field of red, very much considered the colour of choice for fast food brands including KFC, Wendy’s, Burger King, Pizza Hut, Domino’s Pizza and more. That’s it…a simple ‘M’ shape with happy yellow and energetic red, meaning “Stop here now”.

Image via Wikimedia Commons, public domain, McDonald’s

While colour preferences are personal, it’s universally understood that yellow means sunny and happy, while red translates as fiery and attention-grabbing. Whether a message is transmitted subliminally or overtly, the importance of colour in brand strategy cannot be overstated.

Since colour choices impact every aspect of a commercial enterprise, brand owners should aggressively re-evaluate that choice throughout their brand’s strategy, logo, brand collateral, packaging design, web design, product development, advertising and so on. Has your brand’s colour palette been selected with the right intent and applied to best possible effect? We’re here to help ensure that the answer is emphatically “yes”.

What do you think about the use of colour in branding?

Are you convinced that colour selection in logo design significantly impacts brand identity and consumer perceptions?

Would you like to know more about how colour selection makes a significant difference in consumers’ intent to purchase?

Do you suppose that consumers (or just designers) are influenced by Pantone’s Color of the Year?

On brand design, have you considered whether your brand’s colour palette is a good fit with your product or service?

Have you experimented with colour innovation in your brand logo, brand packaging, brand collateral or company premises?

How did you score on the answers to the colour matching quiz for brands?

Answers:

Yellow = Optimistic, positive, cheerful / Veuve Cliquot e.g. Cara Matches

Blue = Trustworthy, dependable / Facebook e.g. Wavin

White = Simplicity, purity / Apple

Green = Growth, freshness, natural / Starbucks e.g. Connemara

Pink = Youthful, energetic, playful / T-Mobile e.g. O’Egg White Eggs

Brown = Honest, simple, down-to-earth / M&Ms e.g. McConnell’s Gourmet Smoked Foods

Purple = Nostalgic, royal, sophisticated / Cadbury e.g. Massey Bros.

Black = Elegant, luxurious / Guinness e.g. La Moulière

Orange = Trendy, fun, approachable / Easy Jet

Red = Bold, powerful, exciting / Coca-Cola e.g. Tilley’s Confectionary

[1] http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/00251740610673332#

[2] ink.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11747-010-0245-y

[3] https://blog.kissmetrics.com/color-psychology

[4] http://www.pantone.com/pci

[5] http://lowendmac.com/2005/which-imac-is-it-low-end-mac-guide-to-g3-imacs

[6] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/globalbusiness/10002790/The-worlds-biggest-companies.html?frame=3293648

Brand Household Names: 7 Lessons Learned from the Best Performers

October 19, 2015/0 Comments/in Brand Strategy, Brand Values, Brand Voice, Branding, Business, Communication, Customer Engagement, Situation Analysis, Social Engagement /by Lorraine Carter

The top 200 U.S advertisers spent $137.8 billion on campaigns in 2014, an all-time high. Although this advertising expenditure sometimes translated into major returns on investment, there were other cases where a well-intentioned campaign turned into public relations nightmare at worst, and made consumers raise their eyebrows dubiously at best.

Below, we’ll take a look at some of the great household brand campaign successes and the shortcomings of others that reportedly didn’t quite deliver on expectations, plus discover the lessons that can be learned from each of them.

Best: Apple’s “Shot on iPhone 6” Campaign Apple is known for its memorable campaigns

This one was different because it focused on how creative people could be when using Apple’s products. The campaign used images and videos captured by iPhone 6 users worldwide.

This approach gave laypersons exposure in dozens of countries, [1] while high-quality imagery drove home the point that Apple has technology to help people get great results even if they aren’t “professional” photographers and videographers.

Image via www.cultofmac.com, Photo: Satoshi Honma/Apple

Lessons Learned:

The campaign scored points by highlighting the brand’s user base [2] rather than the brand itself. Also, it capitalized on inspiring people through gorgeous, captivating visuals. When working with our clients, we’ve often found the most powerful results are achieved when giving consumers the freedom to use a brand’s products to the fullest.

Best: Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty

This campaign’s messaging defied stereotypical ideas of what’s beautiful. [3] Unlike the previously mentioned Levi’s campaign, this one did use images of genuinely curvy women. One goal was to debunk the belief that only thinness is pretty. It also broke through barriers by showing women with wrinkles, which are usually shown as a characteristic to minimize, not highlight.

Image via www.dove.us

Furthermore, Dove expanded the campaign to suggest beauty should be a source of self confidence, not anxiety. Through print ads, billboards and TV commercials, the brand showed a level of realism that’s rare in advertising.

Lessons Learned:

Sometimes, it’s worthwhile to take bold steps in advertising. This campaign was undoubtedly polarizing, but there’s no denying it helped broaden ideas what constitutes beauty. Furthermore, the ad we linked to above became the most watched of all time. [4] As we often remind our clients, when you’re aiming to make an impact, do it in a way that resonates by being relatable.

Best: Patagonia’s Worn Wear Campaign

Marketing campaigns usually encourage people to buy products. This one, however, emphasized repairing clothing to avoid having to buy new items.

Patagonia also offered recycling centers and clothing exchanges [5] so other people could benefit from items once an original purchaser finished using something. Additionally, Patagonia released a short film online that was nearly 30 minutes long and contrasted strongly with the consumerism culture of Black Friday.

Lessons Learned:

It’s sometimes worth going against the grain and doing the unexpected. Initially, it may seem like the actions of the brand are counterintuitive because they offer alternatives to buying things. However, they obviously showcased the long-lasting quality that is common to Patagonia items. Through user profiles collected on a Tumblr page, [6] first-hand accounts demonstrate how some people have had their Patagonia gear for several years or more. Image via

www.wornwear.patagonia.com

This evidence reinforces Patagonia as a reliable brand that is well able to meet and indeed exceed the expectations of its primary target audience. The brand appeals to people who embrace the “rugged” lifestyle, consequently it makes sense in terms of their values that those individuals would appreciate long lasting and dependable attire, values which are intrinsically core to Patagonia’s brand values too.

When developing any brand strategy or campaign, research, develop your buyer personas and pay careful attention to your primary target audiences’ core values together with their needs, wants, loves, hates and aspirations. If you want to develop a brand solution that resonates with your core audience and they find truly compelling then you need to understand them intimately. Patagonia did this well by emphasizing the hardiness of its clothing, and making a surprising anti-consumerism gesture that got noticed during the festive season.

Best: Nike’s Just Do It Campaign

According to USA Today and Business 2 Community, Nike’s tag line was inspired by similar last words ‘Let’s do it”, used by a convicted murderer. [7] This enduring tagline has been phenomenally successful for decades because it’s short, simple and easily understood.

The campaign encapsulates an entire lifestyle and urges people to go beyond perceived limitations. Also, because the tagline is so concise yet powerful, it’s easy to use on all brand collateral.

Lessons Learned:

This campaign has stood the test of time because it speaks to concepts that resonate with people regardless of their fitness levels, activities of choice, and so on. Also, the brand enforces the idea there are many types of athleticism a person can display. Being an athlete doesn’t always mean winning gold medals.

The campaign also proves there’s no need to be lengthy when hitting your point home. In fact, the brevity of this campaign is undoubtedly partially why it has been such a powerful force in advertising for so long [8]. As we often remind our clients, having a punchy, bold tagline can work much better than a lengthier message that’s unlikely to be so easily remembered.

Unintended Outcomes: McDonald’s and #McDStories

This Twitter-based campaign was supposed to encourage consumers to reminisce about their best experiences at McDonald’s. It was only intended to run for a day, but within about an hour, executives realized the conversation wasn’t quite going as planned. That’s because it was largely hacked by malcontents who wanted to talk about why they disliked the restaurant.

However, the #mcdStories hashtag represented only two percent of the overall mentions [9] of the brand that day, so the while the campaign according to Business Insider didn’t go entirely to plan, the McDonald’s #meetthefarmers campaign also run on the same day performed much better. The Daily Mail, a UK publication, captured some tweets showing why the #mcdstories campaign resulted in some unintended consequences for the brand. [10]

Lessons Learned:

Take steps to control the conversation as much as possible, but be aware that on a platform like social media, the tone of messages can get out of control very quickly. When things start to go wrong, respond proactively. McDonald’s have good contingency plans in place and responded quickly by pulling the campaign thereby minimizing any potential damage.

Unintended Outcomes: Levi’s Curve ID Jeans

To promote its line of Curve ID jeans, Levi’s launched an advertising campaign with the tagline, “Hotness Comes in All Shapes and Sizes.” When designing the jeans, the brand analyzed 60,000 body scans and came up with three basic body types. However critics allegedly grumbled that all the models used for this ad campaign were skinny, and therefore, they didn’t think fully representative of the people who would be buying the jeans. [11]

Lessons Learned:

Since Levi’s implied these jeans were made for people of many body types, yet apparently showed pictures that indicated something that didn’t entirely reflect anticipated expectations, some consumers became discontent. This is one reason why it’s so important to create brand personas that accurately reflect your target audience so you can develop authentic messaging that speaks to the core of what makes your brand special and consequently relevant to the customers you want to attract most.

Unintended Outcomes: Groupon’s 2011 Super Bowl Advert

Social deals website Groupon reportedly got unintended outcomes when it aired an advertisement where actor Timothy Hutton began by somberly talking about the human rights crisis in Tibet, but quickly changes tact by discussing how Tibetans “still whip up an amazing fish curry,” and that Groupon makes it possible to get Himalayan food at a discount.

The advert was part of Groupon’s nationwide advertising campaign, and it was used along with other spots that spoofed causes people deemed important. According to the New York Times, it drew criticism from viewers because many argued the advert was making light of a serious problem. [12] Groupon did have a webpage that enabled people to donate to the spotlighted charities but unfortunately it wasn’t mentioned in the commercials.

Lessons Learned:

Sometimes, attempts to be funny can be interpreted the wrong way. If striving to use post-serious humour, [13] maybe consider approaching it in ways that avoid poking fun at those perceived to be vulnerable.

Key Takeaways to Consider:

In conclusion, here are some key points to keep in mind when developing the details of your brand strategy, be they large or small campaigns.

Control the conversation as much as possible, and know when to call a halt if a campaign isn’t going well

Make sure images or models used reflect the true or implied meanings of your brand messaging

Be careful that attempted uses of humour don’t appear insensitive, minimize the hardships experienced by societal groups, or try to overshadow the worthiness of causes that people care about

Experiment with giving users the freedom to ‘sell’ your products by demonstrating the things they can achieve with them

Consider boldly reshaping established stereotypes in ways that provoke thought and inspire positive changes

Brainstorm ways to go against the grain by promoting your products through methods that might seem counterintuitive — provided the strategy reflects your core brand values

Realize that being simply relatable, emotionally compelling and to the point can offer a significant return that might help your brand dominate the market for decades

As you can see results vary greatly even when advertisers have their sights set on success. Given some consideration these points should help you avoid mistakes while also helping you create brand strategies for powerful campaigns that help strengthen your brand reputation.

• Rebranding Strategy: Why Your Rebrand Must Embrace Storytelling

• Brand Strategy: 6 Lessons Learned from Tourism Queensland, One of the Most Successful Branding Campaign’s Ever

• Brand Voice: Differentiating Through Your Own Brand Language and Attitude

• Humanizing Your Brand: Why It is Key to Commercial Success

• Brand Profiling: Top 6 Components to Creating a Strong Brand Personality

• Brand Differentiation: 30 Ways to Differentiate Your Brand

So what do you think?

• How do you think the #MyMcDsStories brand strategy could have be done differently?

• Why did Patagonia’s anti-consumerism brand strategy work so effectively and how could you apply similar parallels to your brand?

• What are some actionable brand strategies you can take to ensure your brand messaging and brand tone of voice appropriately reflects your brand?

• Can you recall some instances where offbeat humour worked well to engage its primary audience and consequently helped the brand increase its success?

• Which factors helped Dove, a brand arguably most well known for soap, be able to make such a broader impact on opinions about beauty?

Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below, we’d love to hear from you.

[1] David Pierini, http://www.cultofmac.com/, “Photographers Thrilled with Exposure from ‘Shot on iPhone 6’ Ad Campaign”, June, 2015

[2] Will Burns, http://www.forbes.com/, “New iPhone 6 Advertising Campaign From Apple Puts The Focus On Our Creativity, Not Theirs”, June, 2015

[3] http://www.dove.us/Social-Mission/campaign-for-real-beauty.aspx, “The Dove Campaign for Real Beauty”

[4] Nina Bahadur, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/, “Dove ‘Real Beauty’ Campaign Turns 10: How A Brand Tried To Change The Conversation About Female Beauty”, January 2014

[5] Meagan Clark http://www.ibtimes.com/, “Anti-Black Friday Movements Gain Traction With Patagonia Clothing Swap”, November 2014

[6] http://wornwear.patagonia.com/, “The Stories We Wear”

[7] Jeffrey Martin, http://www.usatoday.com/,“After 25 years, ‘Just Do It’ Remains Iconic Tagline”, August 2013

[8] Bob Hutchens, http://www.business2community.com, “Just Do It” Turns 25: Nike & The Most Profitable Tagline Of All Time”, September 2013

[9] Gus Lubin, http://www.businessinsider.com, “McDonald’s Twitter Campaign Goes Horribly Wrong #McDStories”, January 2012

[10] Hannah Roberts, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/, “#McFail! McDonalds’ Twitter Promotion Backfires as Users Hijack #McDstories Hashtag to Share Fast Food Horror Stories”, January 2012

[11] Stephanie Soderborg, http://blog.sfgate.com/, “Levi’s Curve ID Campaign Falls Flat with Critics”, February 2012

[12] Stuart Elliott, http://www.nytimes.com/, “Groupon Ad on Super Bowl Rated a Miss by Many Fans”, February 2011

[13] Marshall Kirkpatrick, http://www.readwrite.com, “Why Groupon’s Super Bowl Ad Was So Offensive”, February 2011

Rugby World Cup Branding: 5 Ideas You Can Learn From Big Brand Marketers

September 28, 2015/0 Comments/in Brand Ambassador, Brand Leadership, Brand Relevance, Brand Sponsorship, Brand Story, Brand Strategy, Branding, Business, Celebrity Endorsement, Global Branding, Integrated Marketing, Return On Investment, Storytelling, Video, YouTube /by Lorraine Carter

At the early Olympics, every four years triumphant athletes were lauded by having sponsorships called out (family name and native town), odes written and likenesses commissioned. These ancient versions of mass media frenzy were designed to create buzz and sing the virtues of the victorious. Today, major sporting events continue to represent big opportunities for ambassadorships and sponsors, since everyone loves a winning athlete.

As the world’s third-biggest sporting event, attracting an audience of 4.5 billion, brands of all sizes have jumped on board. Three thousand years later, what can we learn from the contemporary interpretation of getting one’s brand behind huge sporting events such as the Rugby World Cup?

Note that brand strategy in 2015 requires the “softly, softly”, more authentic and transparent approach for even the most hard-core rubgy fans. Here’s what we mean by that:

1. Humanizing Your Brand (case study Duracell)

2. Developing Influencers (case study Heineken)

3. Adding Values (case study EY)

4. Thinking Locally (case study Land Rover)

5. Using How-To (case study Canon)

Humanizing Your Brand: Duracell’s Powerplay

First and foremost, you want a battery that lasts; not much else about a battery is terribly important. But, how do you know when the battery is about to die? Unlike smartphones, there’s no indicator screen — unless you’re using PowerCheck technology, uniquely found on Duracell batteries since 1996.

Duracell re-positioned #PowerCheck within the rugby event framework, capitalizing on an ideal opportunity for Duracell to emphasize both power and strength. A two-pronged approach, to put a face (and physique) to the brand, enlisted Wales and British Lions captain Sam Warburton as the muscle-bound ambassador for a digital, in-store and PR campaign featuring footage from previous Rugby World Cups.

On the 2015 World Cup rugby pitch, #PowerCheck technology is used to help to track players’ performance indicators, combining rucks, tackles, carries and turnovers won during each game, rewarding those who “stay stronger for longer.”

Image via www.marketingweek.com and www.duracell.com

Alex Haslam, senior assistant brand manager for Duracell UK & Ireland, told Marketing Week the sponsorship will continue in future years and become part of the brand’s long-term brand strategy. Haslam said, “We know we’re not going to own rugby as a brand, but we’ve created something totally ownable. No other brand is talking about power and longevity.”

Actionable Branding Tip 1

How can I humanize my brand? The Duracell brand strategy can help smaller brands because it’s totally scaleable. Community events, county championships, school fairs, local youth sport clubs, charity fun runs and tournaments all present opportunities for associating your brand with local heroes and teams. Sponsor T-shirts, donate the local juniors’ kits, donate printing services, provide snacks and beverages for break time. We can help you find a great fit for your brand message in connection to a well-respected event, just like Duracell did.

Developing Brand Influencers: Heineken’s Heads or Tails

Former England captain Will Carling is a rugby VIP. Heineken is a big beer brand. People watch the rugby while drinking beer. Everyone gets that…but, there’s more to a tie-up than hiring someone like Carling to hold up the famous green beer bottle with the red star for the camera.

Heineken thought out some ways to get armchair fans involved with star rugby brand ambassadors to enhance the spectator experience, even to the extent of getting 48 fans onto the actual field to open matches, creating untold positive reinforcement for Heineken.

The campaign, “It’s Your Call” was created. Consumers find a unique code on the inside of special Heineken promotional packs or on a coin card given out in pubs when buying a Heineken during the promotion. Up for grabs are thousands of official Rugby World Cup 2015 merchandise prizes and the chance to flip the coin at Rugby World Cup 2015 matches.

To further emphasize “experiences, not just sponsorship,” Will Carling includes coin toss winners in video interviews with top rugby stars, while consumers are invited to live tweet at the rugby legends.

David Lette, premium brands director for Heineken UK, told Marketing Week, “The key thing for us is how we drive the association in a unique and experiential way for consumers.”

Image via www.marketingweek.com and www.heineken.com

Actionable Branding Tip 2

Can a smaller brand develop influencers? Absolutely. Heineken created evangelists-for-life by rewarding ordinary consumers and small brands can, too. Influencers don’t need to be famous. Your brand’s evangelists are your satisfied customers, and they’re happy to enter competitions, provide testimonials, attend events, sample new products, appear in videos. Just begin the conversation with them and press “record.” We’ll show you how to create effective videos within budget.

Adding Values: EY (Ernst & Young) Connects the Dots

Appointed as the official business advisor for the tournament, professional services firm EY (Ernst & Young LLP) targeted a B2B opportunity outside the consumer sphere.

Image via www.ey.com

Homing in on good sportsmanship values like leadership, motivation, performance and teamwork, EY connects the dots to resonate with their client base. Via exclusive seminars and publishing interviews with highly regarded rugby personalities, EY stays relevant while shining a light on their brand’s appointment.

Comments from proven winners in the world of rugby come from Katy Mclean, England women’s captain; Sir Graham Henry, former coach of New Zealand’s All Blacks; and Sir Ian McGeechan, former Scotland and British Lions player and coach, on topics such as “Lessons in Leadership: Rugby to the Boardroom.” It’s a perfect fit for B2B.

Image via www.ey.com

Tom Kingsley, sport and sponsorship director at EY, illustrates the tie-in, “On a daily basis we are asked by our clients about how to compete on a global stage…

Rugby World Cup affords us the opportunity to explore some of those issues because it is the coming together of 20 elite rugby teams all with one aim — to win on the global stage.”

Actionable Branding Tip 3

We’re a B2B brand, but small: Smaller business can mirror EY’s content marketing strategy by creating white papers, blog posts, newsletters, webinars, videos and other B2B marketing initiatives that deliver meaningful information and added value to clients and prospects. When there’s a trending event, connect to it through content. We’ll show you how hashtags are your workhorse and a strongly developed brand content strategy can help you punch well above your weight.

Think Locally: Land Rover Drives the Message Home

Fact: every sports hero and Olympian began as an amateur. Land Rover plucked “from the grassroots to the greatest stage” as the theme for their local-to-global storytelling campaign using the hashtag #WeDealInReal. The brand recruited 96 enthusiastic mascots aged 7-13 from 11 amateur rugby clubs around the world, representing each competing country to run out with their nation’s team.

Image via www.landrover.com

People are drawn to inspirational stories. Among the videos created to support the campaign, the biggest hit is titled, “Land Rover Rugby Ambassadors visit the World’s Smallest Rugby Club.”

“It speaks to the heart of the game and I think it also speaks strongly to the brand about being authentic and genuine,” Laura Schwab, UK marketing director at parent company Jaguar Land Rover, told Marketing Week.

Actionable Branding Tip 4

Great idea, but we’re not a global brand. Small brands are perfectly positioned to drive Land Rover’s concept forward. As a mascot for the Welsh Rugby Union, pint-sized 8-year-old Finlay Walker at Llanharan RFC and a Hampshire local rugby club were not too tiny to garner attention from Jaguar Land Rover. Every brand can — and must — tell their own authentic brand stories one person at a time. We can help you identify and create the best story opportunities using our Story Selling System™.

Using How To: Canon Says You Can

Idea #1: Spot yourself in the stands? Official sponsor of the tournament, Canon is producing a series of 360-degree images capturing the entire stadium during major matches. In a clever interactive twist, fans are encouraged to tag themselves in the crowd via social media.

Image via www.rugbyworldcup.com

Idea #2: Exclusivity rocks. Canon offers amateur photographers who post the best rugby shots to shadow a Getty Images photographer at a RWC 2015 training session. The shots get featured on the official RWC website photo gallery. Who knows what special moments might be captured?

Image via www.rugbyworldcup.com

Idea #3: How-to tips. Self-proclaimed “massive fan” Bear Grylls, intrepid adventurer, is joined by professional rugby photographer Dave Rogers to demonstrate angles, shutter speeds and more tips for capturing great shots like Rogers’ famous Jonny Wilkinson drop kick in Sydney from 2003.

Cyprian da Costa, brand communications director for Canon Europe, said that images play “a vital role in capturing the unmatched excitement and emotion of global sports.”

Image via www.rugbyworldcup.com

Actionable Branding Tip 5

How can Canon ideas help my brand? By turning your brand marketing approach on its head. Years ago, a big brand idea around a huge event would have focused on “Canon can…” rather than “You can…” Take a second look at all your brand’s content and brand collateral, adverts, tag lines and social media to re-position everything with an emphasis on your brand seen through the eyes of your audience, not your executive boardroom. We’re here to help.

We’d love to know what you think about how to scale these five big brand approaches to fit a smaller brand size.

• Have you successfully humanized your brand? Do you need to re-evaluate this as part of your rebranding strategy?

• Are you using event tie-ins in your brand content marketing strategy?

• Would you like to know more about hacking trends?

• Have you shot and posted a library of how-to videos?

• Are you telling compelling stories about your brand? This is where you might want to consider brand profiling using a system like our Personality Profile Performer™ combined with our Story Selling System™ to help you develop a really compelling and distinctively different brand.

• Is CSR part of your brand strategy? Does your brand support a school, community program or charity drive?

• Rebranding Strategy: Why Your Rebrand Must Embrace Storytelling

• Brand Personality: Is Your Brand’s Character Big Enough to Compete?

• Brand Sponsorships: The Best Brand Ambassadors Are Already On Your Payroll

• Brand Voice: Differentiating Through Your Own Brand Language and Attitude

• Video Brand Strategy: Top 11 Tips for How and Why You Need to Use Video

• Humanizing Your Brand : Why It is Key to Commercial Success

• Brand Profiling: Top 6 Components to Creating a Strong Brand Personality

• CEO Brand Leadership: How Does Your Leadership Impact Your Brand?

Millennial Branding: 6 Ways Your Brand Can Appeal to Millennial Customers

September 22, 2015/0 Comments/in Brand Strategy, Branding, Business, Millennial Branding, Social Media, Trends /by Lorraine Carter

Millennials, the newest generation of influential consumers (also known as Generation Y or Gen Y), spend more than $600 billion dollars annually with spending power expected to reach $1.4 trillion by 2020, (or 30% of US sales) according to Accenture 2013 research.

While these statistics might sound like ‘gold bullion’ for many brands, in our experience often smaller companies and organisations struggle to develop their brand strategy in a way that relates relevantly to this fast changing group of buyers.

Millennial consumers are a very fluid constantly moving target with multiple devices overflowing with content clamouring for their attention 24/7. However don’t be too daunted, once you really understand this discerning customer properly and tailor your brand to really meet their needs, you can, like many others tap into this incredibly lucrative market.

Defining the Millennial Customer

A Millennial is generally defined as someone who was born between the years of 1980 and 2000, according to multiple online sources, including an article, “Oh, to Be Young, Millennial, and So Wanted by Marketers,” by Hilary Stout for The New York Times.

Millennials, on average, have around seven electronic devices that have the ability to access social networking, the internet and even television. While there are exceptions to this statistic, as there are in any demographic, 55 percent of these Millennials are using their devices to connect to videos several times a day, where a large majority of brand engagement takes place. Six out of ten Millennials feel losing their car would have a less negative impact on their lives than losing their phone or computer.

Due to the fact that almost half (45 percent) of Millennials admit that brands are a key part to their lives, recognized brand names are very important to this specific consumer when deciding to purchase something. They are a multi-device connected group and consequently research their brands thoroughly on multiple fronts before deciding to make a purchase. Their decision-making processes are influenced by some very sophisticated criteria coupled with social proof from the opinions of their peers online.

Goldman Sachs clearly explains what a Millennial consumer is and how this demographic can potentially change the economy, in a video published on YouTube in May of 2015: “Macroeconomic Insights—Millennials: Changing Consumer Behaviour.”

6 Key Brand Attributes Important to the Millennial Customer

1. High Quality Products and Services

The number one, most important characteristic that a Millennial looks for in a product is quality. If a product or service does not seem worth the time or the money to the Millennial, they’re unlikely to invest in it. This consumer will buy high quality premium brands but only once they’ve thoroughly validated its credentials.

2. The Power of Recommendation

Word-of-mouth is still one of the most powerful marketing tools on or offline. If a Millennial is happy with a product or service they’ve used, and the brand has consistently delivered a great customer experience, they’ll share this positively on a global scale. Fifty three percent interact with brands online they care about and tell others.

Conversely if a brand has let them down or failed to meet its brand promise they’ll also articulate their discontent verbosely. Thanks to social platforms, such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, Millennials are constantly sharing their latest purchase with hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of followers. This is especially the case if a Millennial owns something that is trending. These posts do not go to waste, either.

Dan Schawbel in his Forbes article states: “33 percent of millennials rely mostly on blogs before they make a purchase… [they] look to social media for an authentic look at what’s going on… especially content written by their peers whom they trust.”

3. Personalization, Partnerships and Co-Creators

Millennial consumers are vocal and speak their minds freely about products or services online. If brand owners monitor and track this online traffic it can provide them with invaluable insights and data enabling them to quickly address any issues and use the information garnered to inform new product development solutions specifically tailored to meet the needs of this very influential group.

Individuality matters to Millennials and they like to express themselves through personal style clothing. In fact 40% have gone beyond clothing to express their individuality with tattoos.

Brands offering customization and bespoke individualization are ahead of the game already. This will become an increasingly important trend for this audience, as evidenced by the success of Chipotle.

Millennials want to be treated like partners, not just purchasers, that’s why brands like Pinterest and Etsy have been so successful. 60% believe organizations should offer more ways for customers to share opinions and 40% want to co-create with brands. This provides brands, products of services, with incredible opportunities to engage this willing group and tap into them for their creativity.

4. Social Responsibility

Even with high quality products, great customer experience, good ratings and convenience, brands still need to offer more to their Millennial buyer. For this particular type of consumer, it is very important that they feel like they are making a difference and they will actively purchase brands which are seen to be ‘giving back to the community’ for the greater good in some way.

Six out of ten millennials feel personally responsible for making a difference, and because of this, an incredible 90 percent of these consumers actively purchase brands associated with a cause. More than half of the Millennial consumers will abandon a brand if they disagree with the company’s ethics.

By having the full-history of any brand available at their fingertips, Millennials collectively care about how even the smallest of their purchases can affect those across the globe. They are frustrated with statutory entities and Government and want to solve social problems through entrepreneurial solutions.

5. Life is an Adventure

Many Millennials feel that it is important to experience new things on a regular basis, as 70 percent want to travel to all seven continents, 75 percent enjoy food from cultures that are not their own and Millennials are two and a half times more likely to adapt to new technologies than older generations.

Often, this wanderlust spirit inspires Millennials to look for excitement in their everyday lives, which is why 60 percent of this generation considers themselves entrepreneurs and optimistic, creative thinkers.

This attitude is what pushes Millennials to have the desire to be not only a patron, but also a part of the brand that they are supporting. Affinity groups form within the Millennial culture, as it is a large, broad generation. Those with similar interests, tastes, achievements and circumstances often come together in order to work towards a common goal, which is what the Millennial consumer likes to see in their brand, as well.

6. Making an Important Statement

In this reenergized push for equality, inclusivity and diversity, Millennials appreciate a brand that is not afraid to make a statement against discrimination. Millennials will actively support brands that authentically make equality, inclusivity and diversity part of their brand culture.

This video, “Millennials On: What Cause Would You Dedicate Your Life To?” produced by 20 to 30 demonstrates the wide spectrum of causes that the millennial generation cares about, which coincides with social responsibility, sharing similar interests and making an important statement.

Brands Who Have Done It Right

There are many examples of brands, small and large, that have successfully made all these key Millennial attributes core to their brand culture. Starbucks is a great case in point. In this video, “Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz on Social Responsbility,” genConnect lets Schultz explain how Starbucks remains socially responsible through success.

Apple is brand that has earned the loyalty of their Millennial consumers not only for their great product quality but also for their support of (PRODUCT)RED, which supports the fight against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and their corporate sociality responsibility programmes relating to the environment, education, accessibility and inclusion and diversity.

Other large corporations famous for their corporate social responsibility and high quality products include: TOMS, Coca Cola and Ford, all of which we’ve mentioned in previous articles.

A brand does not need to be a global Goliath either to be an attractive and successful brand targeting Millennials. Take the Lokai brand, for example. They sell one bracelet that contains water from Mt. Everest and soil from the Dead Sea to represent the extreme highs and lows in life, to remind the wearer to live a balanced life.

Millennials love the brand story, sentiment and authenticity of the bracelet as evidenced by the almost one million followers it has on Instagram alone. The brand’s website also demonstrates its CSR credentials too in that they donate ten percent of net profits to their charity partners, thus encouraging Millennial consumers to purchase their brand on multiple levels.

Image via www.mylokai.com

Millennials Advocate for Their Favourite Brands

When a Millennial consumer loves a brand, their loyalty is clearly evident. They are great brand champions actively engaged on their multiple social platforms.

If you get a Millennial customer onside, consistently meet and exceed their needs, deliver on your promise with a great brand experience they will become some of your best sales ambassadors.

A good example of this is when both the Sony PlayStation 4 and Microsoft’s Xbox One were released at the same time. Millennial consumers who are also “gamers” had already decided, long before the release of the consoles, which one they would be purchasing because they were loyal to either Sony or Microsoft’s brand.

Debates broke out across the internet over the PS4 versus the Xbox One because the consumers were so loyal to their respective brands. The day the consoles were released, each company sold an outstanding number of units, thus causing Millennial gamers to flood social media with photos and posts about their latest purchase, proud to be a part of a group of people with similar interests.

Brand Loyalty with Millennials

I think once you’ve reflected on some of these key brand attributes mentioned you’ll agree Millennial consumers have such a formidable, and largely growing buying power, that it’s critical to integrate all the elements mentioned, amongst others, if your brand wants to harness the dollars/euros/pounds of this lucrative audience. Take the time to really research and understand your Millennial customers both in terms of their needs, challenges, loves, hates and aspirations.

3 Actionable Tips for Your Millennial Brand Strategy

Consider using some of these tips to integrate into your Millennial brand strategy:

1. Develop really strong buyer personas for each of your different Millennial customer types and their relevant affinity groups. You need to know your audience intimately if you want to tailor your brand for success.The outputs from this work will then provide the much-needed direction for developing your brand profile, using a system like the Personality Profile Performer™. Collectively the outputs from both of these will then provide the direction for the development of your brand strategy, brand collateral design briefs, integrated marketing strategy and so forth.

2. Tailor regular communications with your Millennial customers using the platforms most preferred by them for your brand. For example they like regular email provided it includes really high quality, useful information, which is individualized to their specific needs. Remember even if they don’t immediately buy from you their opinion counts amongst their peers, family and friends.

3. Develop opportunities for collaborative input from your Millennial customers. They want to be involved and a brand strategy developed to include their co-creator spirit provides brands with incredible opportunities to develop unique solutions, be they products or services, which their audience really wants. You might never find out or come up with these NPD ideas unless you include their early input. Make sure you test your prototypes, product or service, with Millennials too.

• Rebranding Strategy: Why Your Rebrand Must Embrace Storytelling

• Millennial Branding: Creating Brands to Appeal to Teens and Young Adults

• Humanizing Your Brand : Why It is Key to Commercial Success

• Brand Profiling: Top 6 Components to Creating a Strong Brand Personality

• Brand Voice: Differentiating Through Your Own Brand Language and Attitude

• Creating New Brands: Top 10 Tips for Brand Success

• Brand Audit: Tips for Determining Your Brand’s Health – Can it be Improved?

• Rebranding: How to Make it Through a Rebrand and Emerge Stronger

• Brand Audit: When the USA Took the Branding Bull by the Horns

• Brand Naming: Top Ten Methods for Brand Name Creation

• Brand Differentiation: 30 Ways to Differentiate Your Brand

• CEO Brand Leadership: How Does Your Leadership Impact Your Brand?

So what do you think?

• Does your brand personality and profile appeal to what is most important to the Millennial consumer?

• What aspects of your brand strategy can you improve on to attract more loyal Millennial customers?

• Having read these facts about Millennials, does your brand need a complete revitalization or rebranding strategy to ensure its long term success?

• Can you re-evaluate your brand using a brand audit and consider how best to contribute to the causes that are most important to the Millennial customers?

Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments, we’d love to hear from you.

Why Are Brand Audit Heath Checks Valuable?

Internal Versus External Brand Audits

Two and Five-Step Brand Audit Methodologies

Deciding What to Do After a Brand Audit Health Check

Case Study: MadeSmart Housewares Refreshes Its Brand

Case Study: Monsanto Seeks to Improve Brand Perception Among Staff Members

Key Takeaways:

Questions to Consider:

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2. Massey Bros. – Leverage Your Premium Service, Tell Your Brand Story and Ensure Your Brand Identity Creates Distinction

3. Target – Know Your Audience and Keep Things Simple

4. Hybrid Technology Partners – Don’t Pigeonhole Yourself with a Poorly Thought Out Brand Identity

5. Narragansett Beer – Learn How to Appeal to Millennial Consumers

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So, what do you think?

Digital Developments in Branding

Branding Studies Highlight Customers Expectations

Brands Can Flaunt a Sense of Humour

Brands Are Storytellers

Brands Should Support Good Causes

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Brands Become Approachable

Brands Relate To Consumers’ Lifestyles

Top 16 Brand Trends Checklist for Engaging Customers in 2016

In conclusion:

Ask yourself:

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So, what do you think?

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2. Loyal Customers can Help Your Brand Adapt and Survive

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4. Loyal Fans are Less Likely to be Influenced by Your Competitors

The 5 Proven Strategies for Inspiring Brand Advocacy

1. Create an Antagonist

2. Establish Effective Two-Way Communication on Social Media

3. Inspire Word-of-Mouth Marketing by Improving Customer Experience

4. Make an Emotional Connection by Developing and Leveraging a Strong Brand Personality Relevant to Your Primary Customer

5. Reach out to Influencers

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So, what do you think?

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Apple

Heinz

Coca-Cola

McDonald’s

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Lessons Learned:

Best: Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty

Lessons Learned:

Best: Patagonia’s Worn Wear Campaign

Lessons Learned:

Best: Nike’s Just Do It Campaign

Lessons Learned:

Unintended Outcomes: McDonald’s and #McDStories

Lessons Learned:

Unintended Outcomes: Levi’s Curve ID Jeans

Lessons Learned:

Unintended Outcomes: Groupon’s 2011 Super Bowl Advert

Lessons Learned:

Key Takeaways to Consider:

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Actionable Branding Tip 2

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