Nov 11, 2009 | Branding, Innovation, Marketing
November 10 was the 40th birthday of “Sesame Street” perhaps the most influential television program ever produced, and it still brings adults a laugh, amongst the serious messages to kids.
I noticed early in the day that Google had Big Bird on their masthead, but did not know why, then about lunchtime, the Cookie Monster appeared, then later, the whole gang, by which time, I had realised the significance. This brought a smile, but more important, engaged me, a 58 year old bloke, with their brand in a way I would not have thought possible.
Search engines are now pretty much all the same, they all do a good job of finding stuff, but only Google has become a verb! This is because they have done a superb job of engaging their consumers around the world in a range of ways, and have innovated relentlessly to ensure they remain the first point of call on the net for most.
The determination creativity, and discipline of this effort is exemplified by the attention to detail that must have gone into someone dreaming up the idea of changing of the masthead three times during the day. It is easy to do, very hard to think of, but hugely engaging to anyone who opened Google on the 10th, probably half the connected world.
Nov 9, 2009 | Branding, Innovation, Marketing
Every brand to be successful has two dimensions.
- Generic attributes, those things it must do well to survive in its category. A car must have 4 wheels, be reliable, and not leak in the rain, a watch must tell the time, accurately.
- Differentiators, those characteristics that distinguish the product from all others, the thing a group of customers values, that creates loyalty & preference. These can be physical, and emotional, and most successful brands combine both.
A Rolls Royce is not a Hyundi, yet they are both cars, they both provide reliable transport, and have 4 wheels, but the differentiators, for which some are prepared to pay enormous amounts are what makes the brand. A swatch is not a Rollex, but they are both watches, just different types of watch that appeal to different people for different reasons.
A brand is not a brand without the distinctive characteristics, it does not matter how much advertising is spent, without the differentiators, it is just like all the others.
Oct 29, 2009 | Branding, Marketing, Strategy
Politicians on both sides of Australian politics are calling for a “narrative” to describe the values that the electorate should hold dear, particularly advocating a set of values that happen to be consistent with theirs, and their particular brand of politics.
What they appear to mean is that their political “brand” has run out of petrol, and they need something to give it some substance, now!.
Unfortunately, they do not understand that a brand is an expression of values, behaviors, and performance over a long period, and however hard they might try, putting lipstick on a bulldog does not give you a poodle, just a bulldog with lipstick, unlikely to be a pretty sight.
Much better to define what they stand for, take the knocks that will come from those who disagree, but consistently articulate a set of values through which they see the world and its vagaries. Only by that means, over a reasonable time, will they stand for something that the voting punters feel they can rely on. That then becomes their “narrative”, no different to building a commercial brand, and just as hard, except that they are not using their own money to do it, which perhaps is the reason they are so poor at it.
