Out of Control Branding: The Modder Community

If you don't play video games or race cars, you probably haven't heard too much about modding. Modding is simply the modification of a stock product to create something unique. In the case of games, there are entire communities that exist on the Web that are dedicated to creating new levels, graphics, characters, items, and even entire conversions for games. It sounds like a benign practice, but what happens when modders create something risque?

This is a major branding issue. When a video game publisher releases a product to the public, they are ceding partial control of their brand to this community who is able to transform the product into any number of permutations. There are a number of horror stories, too: Grand Theft Auto's "Hot Coffee" scandal, the nude-skin mod in Oblivion, and the "Nude Raider" mod for Tomb Raider have all made the headlines at some point for their gratuitous sex and nudity and the publishers (and developers) have taken the heat for this even though it's out of their control.

There have been 2 main courses of reaction to this:

1. Vigorous efforts from the developers to lock down the content so it cannot be edited, which is often broken by modders anyway;


2. The development of modding tools that are offered, usually free of charge, to modders so they can easily create their own content.

I firmly believe that embracing, rather than fighting, the modding community is the best course of action. Modders will always find a way to do what they do. But, if a company gives them the tools to do it, at least they have some say and some control over how those tools are used, what they are used to create, and sometimes how that material is distributed.

Brands are living things and sometimes take on a life of their own. As a brander, you have to choose if you are going to fight that change or evolve with it.

A Nail in the Retail Coffin?

A few weeks ago, I was speaking with a close acquaintance of mine who happens to own a very successful chain of high-end kitchen supply stores. My question to him was "With all this doom saying about the upcoming holiday shopping season, what are you planning and what do you expect to happen?" His answer, I thought, was the smartest thing I've heard from any retailer recently.

This holiday season, most retailers are bracing for impact. They are slashing their inventory orders, deeply discounting merchandise, and hiring far fewer employees, amongst other cost-cutting measures. For example, if the average consumer is spending $600 this year instead of $1,000, retailers are preparing themselves for a 40% hit. My friend has taken a different approach. His answer: "Everyone is still out there spending money, just a lot less. My strategy is to figure out how to make sure that out of that $600, I get as much of it as I can."

How is he going to to do this? Well, you've probably guessed it--through his brand. By carefully merchandising, positioning, and promoting his stores, he is going to maximize the amount of money a shopper spends while at his store instead of simply accepting the fact that they will spend less.

A high-end brand cannot use deep discounts or tacky promotions to move merchandise without cannibalizing its market position. Instead, one must use a delicate balance of shelving, pricing, and advertising strategies that all form once cohesive approach of motivating the customer to spend just a little more. This is a difficult and potentially dangerous strategy, but for the savvy brand manager, it can make all the difference in a market like this one.

Where America Shops...including me?

I consider myself to be somewhat hip. I lived for years downtown, consider myself at heart to be an artist, and have a drawer full of black turtleneck sweaters. Imagine my dismay when I saw the Sears logo nestled inside the Land’s End catalogue! I had been buying my tees and zippered fleece there for years! They had great funky shoes with rubber soles! They had decent, not ‘old-fogey’ colors! What was Land’s End doing to me? That is where mom took me as a kid for underwear. Good grief.

Evidently, for years, Land’s End has been a sub-brand of Sears…Where America Shops. Me, along with thousands of others were averse to the brand of Sears because we got our school clothes there years ago. Now that we have graduated and are well into our careers, I suppose “we are too cool for school” and have moved along to the J Jills, Chicos, Nordstroms and other famous brands when it comes to women's clothes. Thus, Sears needed to be creative when it came time to lure us back to Sears:

• First, develop a brand that appeals to this audience: Land’s End. It would be:

1. approachable, feature product styled simply like business clothes
2. well photographed
3. athletic in nature
4. well-priced and
5. creatively colored, beyond the humdrum maroon and grey
6. a place where you could find clothes for the busy professional to wear on weekends, or among friends who don’t want to see you in your slippers and sweatpants.
7. staffed with phone-in staff that were professional, efficient, and well prepared. There wasn’t much time to hold on the phone when making your order.

• Second, maintain this customer base for several years under the Land’s End sub-brand name and experience.
  
• Third, let the “cat out of the bag” by slowly showing this customer base that they have been buying Sears product and experience all along. Do this slowly and subtly so it isn’t too much of a shock to we black turtleneck wearers.
  
• Finally, embrace this new audience as Sears customers.
  

Now, that’s how branding works.

Post contributed by Catherine Shaw.

Food Trends and Brand Expansion

Unfortunately, healthy eating is a trend. The phenomenon began in the late eighties/early nineties, and has seen many iterations: the salad boom, low-fat, low-carb, no-trans-fat, organic, etc. Recently, we have seen some popular restaurant chains adding not just new items to their menu, but entire sections. To their credit, these additions weren't simply bolted onto the menu; rather, they were smart brand extensions.

A few examples of this would be Burger King's "fire grilled" message along with its higher-end sandwiches, the TGI Friday's Right Portion, Right Price menu, and Red Lobster's new Wood-Fire Grill selections (albeit, these items are advertised as literally dripping with melted butter). The common thread within these examples is that each one is carefully integrated within the brand. Each is presented using the imagery and messaging that consumers have come to expect from these restaurants.

When introducing a new product that runs contrary to other products in your line (high-end vs. cheap burgers, slim vs. large portions, etc.), it is of the utmost importance to think ahead and plan on how you will integrate them without reinventing your brand. Usually, it is about mapping out the marketable elements of the new product and then matching them with your existing brand attributes. Do this, and consumers will see it as a natural extension, rather than an alien offering that looks like it is jumping on the bandwagon.

Branding Is Not for You

Attention brand and project managers: branding is NOT for you. Please allow me to explain.

Whether it is a company, a product, or nonprofit, the a brand is not at its strongest when it is developed to suit your personal tastes. Like the color blue? Fantastic--go buy a blue car. That particular name sounds good to you? Use it for when your baby is born.

Too often, I see clients steer their branding in the direction of their own wants and desires for a number of reasons. Maybe they want to leave their own personal stamp on it. Maybe they just want something that they can look at and feel good. This is completely mistargeted.

A brand exists as a promise to your customers and should be made up of elements that resonate with their needs. One cannot expect those needs to be addressed when the brand is made up of the CEO's favorite aspects of the company along with his/her favorite colors. Logos, messages, colors, fonts, and all the components that make up a cohesive brand should all be developed with the target audience in mind and - guess what? - that might not be you.

Audience Segmentation and Brand Consistency

Wouldn't it be great if every business had its own fiefdom of customers and all of those customers fit a nice little mold? That way, we could use a singular message, a singular marketing approach, sell to everyone, and all would be happy. Unfortunately, it just doesn't work like that.

The truth is, most of our businesses and organizations have multiple audiences that we have to satisfy, but we only have one brand. The real challenge in addressing all of these core groups of people is to reach out to them in a way that is unique to their needs but still brand consistent. I am unaware of any silver-bullet method to develop these approaches, but there is a framework that will guide you along your path:

• Map out the core elements of your brand and extend them out to all of the elements that go along with them
• List all of the audiences with which you need to communicate and develop profiles for them regarding what is important to them, the factors that help them make a buying decision, and demographic information about them
• Using your extended brand elements, begin to match them up with your audience profiles so you can see the path you must take to communicate within your brand
• Finally, use your paired up information to craft messages, sales pitches, and other marketing tactics that will help you to reach out to these audiences in unique ways that are still on-brand.

Recession Brands

During a recession (or "economic slowdown" if you live in Washington, DC like me), it seems as though everyone suffers. Every once in a while, though, we hear about the mythical "recession-proof" business, brand, or job and the reason as to why it is able to resist the financial condition of the market. In this case, store brands (or house brands) not only resist a recession, but thrive in it.

There are 3 tenets to a successful store-branded product that make it a powerhouse on the shelf:

1. They are usually priced lower, per volume, then their name-brand competitors,
2. Their quality is about the same as the nearest comparable product and,
3. The store's profit margin on them is typically much higher than with the name-brand products.

During a recession, people look to save money in the easiest of places, and so store brand sales rise as the Dow drops.* Because of the quality and price, store brands are the low-hanging fruit when looking to cut everyday costs and as their sales rise, so do the profits of the store.

So what can you take away from this? This is an example of a successful brand model that doesn't rely on messaging, visual appeal, or any of the other traditional branding attributes. This perfect storm of success is due to the unsung heroes of great branding: price, position, and quality.

* Ziobro, Paul. Store Brands Boost Kroger Profit. Wall Street Journal. September 17, 2008.

Support Your Brand with a Solid Name

The process of crafting a name for your product, business, or organization is much like developing a logo. You will have many iterations, different structures, options with meaning, and options that just sound good. And, of course, you will have strong opinions all around about which options are great and which are terrible.

I don't want to go into the process of naming, as there are many different schools of thought on this. Rather, I wanted to mention the importance of supporting your brand with a good name. A name isn't there simply to be a label or just to sound good--it is there as a supporting brand attribute. The name must reflect your core brand promise and whatever that message may be (playful, smart, sophisticated, etc.).

Everyone loves a good example, so here are some real world names that support and some that don't support the brands that they represent:

The Good

• Victoria's Secret. An exotic, high class woman's name paired with the idea of privacy is a surefire fit for a high-end lingerie line.
• Uno Chicago Grill. Not a great name in itself, but the change from Pizzeria Uno was a savvy transition as the restaurant chain diversified its menu and expanded into different entree options.
• Kitchenaid. It's direct to the point with 'kitchen' but insinuates how helpful the products are with the addition of 'aid.'

The Bad

• Overwaitea Foods. The Canadian supermarket chain got its name for originally selling 18 ounces of tea for the price of a pound. Now it sounds like their products will make you fat.
• Chevy Nova. Sounds great, right? In Spanish it means 'doesn't go.'
• Noblis. This health care innovation nonprofit promises that you will never know peace (bliss) by way of its constant efforts.

Using Your Own Photographs

Using your own photographs of staff, events, products, and other dimensions of your organization can be a great way to personalize your marketing materials and strengthen your brand. Rather than stock photography or illustrations, there is a feeling of authenticity and "realness" when the imagery is of actual employees, customers, or even the office.

There are, however, may pitfalls to this practice. Use some of the tips below as guidelines to using your own photography in your marketing:

• The resolution of your photos is of critical importance to their respective uses. Make sure your photos are a minimum of 300 DPI (dots per inch) for printed pieces and a minimum of 72 DPI for the Web. Nothing ruins a good marketing piece like a pixelated, poor quality photo.
• Just because you are using your own photos, doesn't mean that they can't be shot professionally. It never hurts to hire a professional photographer to ensure that your shots are in-focus, properly lighted, and look great.
• Photoshop is your best friend. Make sure someone on your team can work the program and touch up, adjust, and otherwise alter your photos for the best results.
• Always get model releases from anyone in the photos that you plan to use. This includes employees, customers, bystanders, etc. No one wants a lawsuit on their hands because of a brochure.
• Make sure the content of your photos is appropriate for your use. Your library will be filled with great images, but careful use with respect to the piece with which they are associated is important.
• Art direction still has a place in your marketing materials, even if you are using your own photos. Careful selection for theme, color palette, style, and other factors will help keep the look of each piece consistent as you use proprietary photos.

Branding by Department: Research and Development

Not every organization has a formal R&D department, but it exists in some fashion for everyone that offers a good or service. Every time you consider a new service to offer, a new product to sell, or an enhancement to existing offering, there is some form of research and development occurring and - yes, you guessed it - your brand must play a critical role in this decision process.

We know that there is a direct relationship between brands and market position and there is also a direct relationship between market position and product/service offering. That being said, your brand can help guide your research and development process so you can be sure that whatever you are putting out to market is consistent with your position, thus strengthening your brand. Consider some of these tips to help keep your R&D process on-brand:

• Make sure the product/service you are considering has a place in your current line. If it has features that cause it to stand apart from the rest, then should it be housed under the same brand?
• Keep your price points consistent. If something new requires you to make a drastic change in the prices your customers are used to paying, it may not be a sensible addition.
• Profit centers can eat away at your brand. Making money is not the only criteria, so make sure you have other reasons to add something other than to increase your revenue stream.
• A new offering should ALWAYS strengthen your brand and position and never dilute it. If it isn't adding to your expertise in your niche, reconsider it.

As always, use these suggestions to get started, but don't be limited by them. There are many ways to view R&D with your branding glasses on, so don't be afraid to look at a new product/service from every angle.

Packaged Goods Reign Supreme

Earlier this year, Harris Interactive held their latest brand equity study. This study, which has been held every year for 28 years, measures brand equity ratings across 39 categories on 6 different factors utilizing around 1,000 products for the survey. The report on this year's study revealed that by and large, consumer packaged good brands reign supreme over all others; 9 out of the top 10 brands can be found on supermarket shelves and of those, the newest brand is Duracell, introduced in 1964.

Should we be surprised by this? Probably not. Although there may be stronger or more well-established brands out there, these are the ones that pour billions of dollars every year into mass-media advertising, sponsorships, and promotions. Couple that with the fact that these 9 brands have all been around for 45 years or longer to build up their equity, it stands to reason that when it comes to consumer rating, these packaged good monoliths stand above all others.

Brand equity is an interesting measurement. I think this study proves that, if nothing else, it is a good indicator of how longevity and steady consumer exposure trumps marketing stunts and flash-in-the-pan bursts of advertising. Recall, however, that brand equity is a measure of the value of a brand, and not necessarily its effectiveness. For most product and organizational brands, the ability to offer a consistent and strong customer experience and attract new business is always going to be more important than that brand's intrinsic value.

Overthinking the Logo

Logos are funny creatures. Employees (and especially boards of directors) can become completely indignant at the idea of changing a logo. People become fiercely opinionated about colors, symbolism, image use, etc. and all of a sudden, everyone is an artist or graphic designer.

While it's great to have a logo that means something, resonates strongly with a particular audience, or is loved by all of top management, the fact remains that these attributes simply are not necessary. There may be some backlash from this, but I'm going to say it: sometimes a logo just has to look good and be easy to use.

There are a couple things to remember when developing a new logo. Remember these, and hopefully the experience will be a little more bearable and you will walk away with a usable, iconic logo:

• The logo is not for you or your employees; it's for your customers. You don't need to love the logo like your own child in order for it to be effective.
• If you are trying to create a logo that has symbolism in it that no one would understand without it explained to them (i.e. "the three stripes here stand for the three pillars of . . ."), then don't bother. You won't have the opportunity to explain it to 99% of the people who see it.
• You don't need a 100% consensus on a logo for it to be effective. Design-by-committee will always produce a bland result.
• You probably aren't going to create the next Nike "Swoosh" so don't even bother trying!
• Focus on ease of use, simplicity, and scalability. These are the factors that will really matter once you start using the logo.

Having a well-thought out, symbolic, and robust logo that everyone loves is a perfect scenario. Sometimes, however, we have to be realistic, get some work done, and deliver a product that does what it needs to.

Branding by Department: Human Resources

Internal audiences are often the most overlooked group when it comes to branding. To many business owners and executive directors, employees don't spring to mind when thinking of key stakeholders. How can employees embody the brand when if the brand doesn't surround them? Branding is not simply an external tool.

Taking your brand to an internal operation like HR is usually more complicated than using properly designed business tools. Consider a few of these areas that are great places to integrate your brand into your human resources practices:

Interviews: This is the first time a potential employee will encounter your organization, so structure your interview format to reflect the best aspects of your brand. Should they meet the principles? Should it be an intimidating experience? A warm, friendly experience?

Policies: Do you have a code of ethics? Is there a particular dress code that reflects your brand (casual vs. formal vs. "creative")? Does your leave policy reflect an opportunity to relax or does it stress the importance of the job?

Documentation: Make sure all HR procedures are documented on branded company materials.

Compensation: Salaries, bonuses, raises, and other forms of compensation should be tied to and reflect brand attributes. Give bonuses based on brand milestones, review employees on their ability to embody the brand, and structure your compensation packages to reflect the core nature of your brand (i.e. stock-heavy compensation denotes strong ties to the company, cash-heavy can denote a stress on personal reward for employees).

Perks: The extra attributes to a compensation package say a lot about the organization. What type of savings/retirement package do you offer? Is it tied to the company's performance? Consider the other perks such as memberships and opportunities. Do they stress relaxation, professional development, or health and fitness? Which one aligns best with your brand?

Mediation: The way your HR department handles mediation is important. Choosing between supervised mediation, seperated hearings, formal documentation, and other methods should be tied to your brand.

Hiring: Maybe most important of all, who you hire and where you advertise those job listings is of critical brand importance. Looking for people who can embody your brand is the best way to ensure that you are stacking your ranks with star brand ambassadors. Define the attributes you are looking for and search those people out in places that are most likely to attract them (online vs. career fair vs. head-hunters, etc.).

As always, examine your current HR systems and try to find brand opportunities. They probably exist all over the department and are waiting to be aligned.

Branding by Department: Accounting

An oft-overlooked venue for branding is accounting. Accounts receivable, accounts payable, book keeping, and reporting all serve their utilitarian functions, but there is opportunity here to spread your organization's brand. Some easy-to-implement methods include:

• Utilize properly branded materials (letterhead, envelopes, etc.) for all invoices/bills
• Use branded checks with properly identifiable information (i.e. don't use checks that have the name of a holding company or alternate corporate name on them)
• If you have a high-end brand, especially with large invoices, consider handwritten invoices or including a handwritten note along with the invoice
• The invoice is often the last experience a customer will have with your company, so including proper detail, thank-yous, messages, etc. is your opportunity to close the relationship with consistent branding (assuming you opened the relationship with proper branding).

Simple branding methods, such as the items above, can be put in place by just about any organization. If you are already doing some or all of these things, consider some more radical extensions of your brand into accounting:

• If you have a united, trusting, or team-based aspect to your brand, consider an open-book accounting policy that would allow all your employees to view your financial records (private companies only, obviously)
• Consider the way you prepare and send invoices: can this method be better aligned with your brand? Should large invoices be hand-delivered? Should invoices be emailed to improve convenience?
• What are the terms for your billing? Upon receipt? Net 15 or 30? Do you offer a discount for early payments? There could be an opportunity with these parameters to align them with your brand position.

Remember, these are just some suggestions. Give branded accounting some thought and develop some techniques unique to your organization and your brand.

Branding by Department

This article is the first in a series that I will be writing about how to extend branding across your entire company/organization. To truly take advantage of an organizational brand, it can't be confined to your marketing department. We will discuss how you can use your brand as a holistic tool, fully integrated within areas that most people never consider.

A brand, especially when you have hired an agency to develop it, is a serious investment. It is a tool that embodies the essence of the organization and to work properly it must be more than a short list of guidelines that gets pulled out when a new brochure is developed.

I hope that by exploring the different ways you can bring branding into the fold of accounting, human resources, sales, operations, and other typical departments, your organization will be able to harness the effectiveness that branding can have when you have succesfully and consistently connected all business functions together.

Come back soon for the first article on accounting.

A New Type of Clutter Inside our Homes

My niece just broke up with her boyfriend.

This would not be significant if not for the fact that she is temporarily living with me, and that I am in the branding business. Watching this newfangled breaking up process fascinates me. Not only do they break up in person, but there is a whole set of additional breaking rituals: facebook, myspace, 4 email addresses—some shared by both of them, instant message habits, cell phone access, and more.

As a branding professional, this hit home (no pun intended) about how busy the minds are of people in their early 20s. It rivals the time commitments of single moms or dads, overextended entrepreneurs, and those that have absorbed others’ jobs due to budget cuts. There is simply not enough time in a day to make careful buying decisions.

So for many of us, this adds another layer of complication when it comes to stating clearly what we are delivering to our customers. Are you sure your customers are fond of what you are delivering? They are the ones that create the perception of your brand and control it. Also, we must consider whether our customers use any of these communication tools to talk about your organization—if so, opinions are being shared about your brand quickly. For example, my niece is on one or the other about every 10 minutes. It is time for all of us to consider how to revitalize our brands so they get through the clutter, particularly for those in the early 20s that can’t walk away from their instant, web-based, and emailed messages very easily.

Post contributed by Catherine Shaw.

The Cult of Buffett

About a week ago, I questioned whether or not Apple had a plan to replace the great leader in their cult of personality. It turns out there is another company out there—even more successful than Apple—with a similar situation.

Berkshire Hathaway, the company with the highest individual stock price in the world, is led by the great Warren Buffett. If you are lucky enough to own a share of BH (BRK-A on the NYSE), you are welcomed at the annual shareholders' meeting in Nebraska which is more like a giant carnival than a financial conference. People converge in Omaha from all across the globe, just to have the chance to meet the guru, who has made more money than practically anyone else, through shrewd acquisitions of solid, profitable companies.

Much life Apple, Buffett is the source of the company's success. Unlike Apple, however, Berkshire Hathaway has a strong plan to replace Buffett when he eventually retires or passes away. The fact that BH has made stockholders aware of this (albeit secretive) plan, has mollified fearful investors and will probably mitigate the drop in stock price that is inevitable when Buffett departs. Acknowledgment of and planning for this brand's evolution will probably save millions of dollars for BH investors.

The Dangers of the Corporate Blog

"Start a blog! Your site needs a blog to communicate to customers!"

That's a favorite suggestion among consultants and advice-givers these days. I think this is because many of us have been led to believe that starting and running a blog is as easy typing an email and that if you post it, they will come. Sorry optimists, but that just ain't the case.

A blog can be a powerful brand extension and marketing tool. But before you jump in feet first, consider these important items to remember:

• Before you do anything, does a blog even make sense for you? Is there a need to opine and open this channel to your audiences? If your only reason to start a blog is because it's the "thing to do," just stop right now and spend your time elsewhere.
• A blog is an extension of your brand, and as an extension, it should be consistent with every other marketing effort in look, content, tone, and presentation. Pick a topic that makes sense and one that you know you'll be able to write about over a long period of time.
• People usually do not just stumble upon a new blog. You will need some sort of promotional plan to generate traffic to your new site.
• Give your readers a reason to come back. Opinions, editorials, reviews, etc. are great because it's material they can't get elsewhere.
• Blogs are easy to operate, but that doesn't mean they don't require a time commitment. Make sure you are able to dedicate a portion of your schedule to writing articles.
• Make a decision to enable or disable the commenting on your articles. Remember, if you let people make comments, be prepared to police that material for vulgar or off-color comments.
• Finally, and I cannot stress this enough, DO NOT start a blog if you can't maintain a steady stream of posts. Nothing permanently sends a reader away like a blog that hasn't been updated in 3 months.

Blogs are a serious marketing tool, so treat them as such. They can be a great way to connect to your customers and constituents, but there are many common pitfalls that could turn your blog into a waste of time and effort.

A Wrigley Field By Any Other Name...

Selling the naming rights to Wrigley Field in Chicago comes up every once and a while, but this time, they might be serious. Sam Zell, owner of the Chicago Cubs, announced his consideration of the sale earlier this year to serious controversy. My question is, could Wrigley Field ever be called something else?

When a brand name is adopted by the masses and becomes a part of the culture (in this case, Chicago sports culture), it doesn't really "belong" to the legal owners anymore. I believe that if they go through with this and officially rename the field, all of Chicago will continue to refer to it as Wrigley. Just like the West's refusal to call Burma by its official moniker, Myanmar, no one in Chicago will be catching a game at EBay Field.

Does anyone still consider the original collaboration of the Wrigley name? The field has had its name so long that people don't even think of the gum company anymore—it's a cherished ballpark, not a product. Any company considering a purchase of those naming rights should think twice before bidding. It would be a long, bloody, and most of all expensive marketing battle to change the name of that park.

But, if it has to happen, may I suggest "Facebook Presents: Wrigley Field?"

Will Apple's Brand Become Its Downfall?

Wired Magazine's April issue featured a very interesting article on Apple and how it (and Steve Jobs) has built its success by breaking all of the rules. By fiercely guarding its product development, not cooperating with collaborators, not listening to customers, and generally acting as a tyrant to employees, Apple has created a juggernaut in the tech world. This persona is now fully intertwined with its design and lifestyle-heavy brand. My question is, how long can they keep this up?

It is pretty clear to an outside observer that Apple's brand stems from figurehead and chief idea-man Steve Jobs. The man single-handedly steered the Apple ship away from an iceberg and transformed it into the slick powerhouse that it is today. With so much of Apple flowing from Steve, what happens when its time for him to leave? Is Apple grooming a replacement? Do they even have a plan? Since no information escapes the black hole of 1 Infinite Loop (Apple's Cupertino HQ address), not even stockholders know for sure.

And what of Apple's insistence on the archaic engineering/marketing method of "create the product and they will come?" This, combined with a "management by tyranny" philosophy, truly makes me wonder if Apple is poised to last or if it is going to burn out. I'm sure I will be racked for saying this, but I think Apple has made some risky moves, combined with a lot of luck, and that has been a significant source of their success. I'm not saying that they are doomed to fail, I just hope that Steve has a plan.

Red Tag Sale

I noticed something interesting while shopping at Safeway supermarket last fall: the sale tags had changed color. Instead of the usual yellow, the tags are now the "Safeway red"—the same color as the logo.

This probably sounds like a very minor detail, one which few would notice. Consider this, though: Safeway just posted a sales increase of $19 million from the Q1 of last year. Now, I'm not saying the new red tags are the direct cause of this revenue boom, but this is what I know.

Deep hues of red elicit excitement and arousal in shoppers.* Where do you think the term "red tag sale" comes from? I know that when I looked down the aisles and saw all those bright red tags, my first thought was, "Alright! Look at all the clearance prices!" I quickly realized that these weren't clearance items, rather they were normal sale prices (or regular prices, if you're anti-club card.... but that's another article). If someone aware of this phenomena can be tricked by it, imagine the effects on people who don't even give it a second thought.

Adjustments to your color scheme aren't always going to whip your customers into a frenzy, but it is an interesting commentary on the effect of small details. Smart and careful alteration of your brand and marketing presentation can have strong overall results; do your homework, see what you can change, and experiment to figure out the details that work for you.

*http://www.jstor.org/stable/2634413

Missing the Mark - the "New" Starbucks Logo

I've been thinking about the new Starbucks brown logo "campaign." While many people have arguing about whether or not the brown logo is as good as the traditional green and black logo, I'm starting to think that most people have missed the mark about this.


I think you need to remember that the campaign is temporary and at its heart, it's really a brand exercise. Things to note:

- it's not about liking the new logo,
- it's not about the new roast,
- it's not about the return of the former CEO.

It's about reconnecting with customers, demonstrating a renewed focus on the coffee experience that brought them to Starbucks in the first place. Millions of column inches have been written about what Starbucks has done in the last couple of weeks but it seems that most of the branding blogs really missed one of the key pieces of the brand puzzle. That piece is that a brand is not dictated by the organization, rather it is by everyone else who uses and talks about the product.

It's about the customers not the company.

While I am a dyed-in-the-wool Illy Coffee consumer, I'm impressed by the thoughtfulness and implementation of this "back-to-basics" campaign.

Furthering Your Brand Through a Corporate Blog

You probably already have a news or press section of your web site, so there is no need to turn your blog into the latest news about your company. Is your blog topic or theme something you would want to read? If not, then you definitely are on the wrong track.

The blog you create is an online “voice” of the company. In some ways, your blog visitors will apply the writer’s personality onto the company brand. So if you want to writer in such a way that you want your company to be viewed.

Is your organization witty and vibrant? If so, your blog needs to be that way too. Are you from a careful, introspective, and nurturing environment? Then your blog will sound totally different than the blog written by witty and vibrant group.

Also remember is a corporate blog and the company is more than just you, meaning you don’t have to write every entry. If others have ideas and would like to write one, let them. Just make sure there is a constant editor, so the tone is the same regardless of the author.

It might take some time to get readers, but stick with it.