Now THIS will make it harder for tobacco companies to brand their products

(Thankfully)

Australia is introducing legislation that will remove all branding from cigarette packages. So, the only thing they will be able to compete on is the best picture of lung cancer on the box. I can see the conversation at the cash register:

Customer: Can I get a pack with lung cancer on it

Sales Clerk: Sorry sir, we're all out of lung cancer. What about gum cancer? I have 96 packs of gum cancer left.

Read the story on CBC.ca.

Web advertising builds brands ... and I believe it

OPA study demonstrates Web advertising builds brands :: BtoB Magazine

A recent study by the Online Publishers Association (performed by comScore, and called “The Silent Click: Building Brands Online”, but not available until June 25) indicates that online advertising builds brands.

Now you might think ... "Hmmm, that's not too surprising. A study by the Online Publishers Association shows that there are deep benefits to online advertising." But, I believe it - and more than just from a potentially biased survey - but from real-life experience. At my last job I initiated online banner advertising, and advertising through behavior-based advertising networks. Not too surprisingly people who were exposed to our ads were exposed a lot (and for very little $$ relative to traditional media). The results? When ad recall was evaluated across media (TV, radio, newspaper, out-of-home, and online), the TV ads had the highest proven recall. But only a bit behind were our very simple and cheap banner ads. There was a huge space beteen those two media and the next (newspaper).

The lesson? Online media is a very important part of a branding effort, and must align tightly with all other media, including:

• TV,
• PR,
• Radio,
• Newspaper,
• Out-of-home,
• Etc..

Top Brands in 2008

CoreBrands has released its 2008 ranking of brands. At the top are perennial favorites (with a couple of minor changes between 2008 and 2007):

1. Coca-Cola
2. Johnson & Johnson
3. Harley-Davidson
4. Hershey Foods
5. Campbell Soups

The listing makes for great reading.

Will the economic slump throughout 2008-2009 hurt any of the top 100 brands, or help others into the top 100? Watch for next year's release!

Advertising Methodology - (3) Understanding of business strategy and brand

The old adage of “you can’t manage what you don’t measure” is an important one. We’ll come back to that, but we’ll start with a new adage, “you can’t advertise what you don’t know”. What does that mean? Start at the top. Understand what the company is all about:

• What’s the overall business strategy? For instance, Porter’s generic strategies include: Cost Leadership, Differentiation, & Segmentation
• What is the brand all about? What are the marketing and brand plans, and how do they align with the business plan? What do Senior Management believe the company stands for? What does the company stand for in its constituents' eyes (customers, employees, suppliers, etc.) and how do they believe the company supports the brand promise?

Get to know that, and you're over the first hurdle to creating great advertising that works.

Another bad move by GM?

Yesterday GM announced that they are going to axe the Pontiac brand.
My guess is that it won't take long for two things to happen:

• GM will notice that it no longer has a "sporty" line.
  
• GM will increase the line-up of Chevrolet cars to compensate for not having the crazy variety of vehicles they currently sell.

That is to say that the Chevy line (entry-level family cars) will suddenly have more sporty cars. Existing models will be supplemented with new models. The Buick line (um ... upscale family? ... really, what does Buick stand for? ... what the hell are they thinking with keeping that alive?) will suddenly have more sporty cars. The Buick line-up will get bigger. The Cadillac line (snobby luxury, which is just what it ought to be) will have cheaper sporty cars added to it, perhaps as an "entry level Caddy" (anyone remember the Cimarron? Watch for an instant replay). In every case my money would be on GM growing the line-up of each of these brands. In the end, they won't narrow their focus and win the markets. They will extend these brands to death.

GM has lost touch with their brands. I don't think they need to cut their sub-brands as dramatically as they need to cut hard at the models in each of those sub-brands. What they should do is carefully and tightly define what each of their main sub-brands is all about, then hack out everything in the brand line that isn't inside the very tight definition of that brand.

GM needs to apply the "Keep it Simple Stupid" principles. There are two things that really define a company. The first is the brand - what does the company stand for and how do they support that on a daily basis. The second is the basic business strategy - cost leadership, segmentation, or differentiation.

At this point, I'd recommend that the GM management team should read:

• 22 Immutable Laws Of Branding by Al Ries, and
• Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors by Michael Porter.

Then again, I think it's too late. Maybe they should be reading What Color Is Your Parachute? by Richard Bolles.

Saving the company. Slashing GM's Brands and Sub-brands.

The Chevrolet line goes from the Aveo (starting at about $12k), to the Malibu ($26k+), to the Express passenger van ($33k+), to Avalanche truck ($36k+), to the Corvette ($106k+). Also, you'll find some really ugly things in there too like the "HHR" and the "HHR Panel" ($19k+). Remind me again ... what does the Chevy brand stand for?

If I were in GM's shoes, I'd redefine each of my master brands with a big butcher knife. I'd be really clear about what each of them mean. Then I'd cut the snot out of their sub-brands that don't support that. For instance:

• Chevrolet = Affordable cars, whether you're a young kid buying a first car, or a family buying a practical car.
• Axe the Avalance truck, HHR, Equinox, Traverse, Cargo Van, Passenger Vans, Suburban, Tahoe, Colorado, Silverado, Avalanche, Equinox, Traverse, and ...
• I might be left with the Cobalt, the Aveo, the Malibu, and the Impala. I might include one family-sized SUV/ Crossover, like a modified Trailblazer, or a redesigned (and good) mini-van that could reasonably compete against the Honda Odyssey, Toyota Sienna, and the Kia Sedona (I don't think GM even makes a mini-van anymore. All you'd have to do is look at any school drop-off zone between 8:30 and 9:00am to get an understanding of the importance of a mini-van).
  
• I'd cut down the options on those - for instance the Cobalt would only come in a 4 door model. (The two door model would only be available as a Pontiac ... and Pontiac would only sell the two door model.)
  
• I may even axe the legendary Corvette. At a minimum I'd change it dramatically so that it fit into the brand mold of "affordable". It might be sporty and affordable, which would mean dumbing it down a lot. Alternatively, I might toss it over to the Cadillac label.

Chevrolet would drop from a confusing 32 vehicle line-up to a sensible 5 to 7 vehicle line.

Let's pick apart the Pontiacs. They currently have 12 models.

• Pontiac - Sporty fun, performance cars.
• Axe the G3, the Vibe, the G5 Coupe (too similar to the G6 coupe), the G6 Sedan, Torrent (an SUV in the Pontiac line - blech),
• You'd be left with the G8 (a sporty sedan), G6 Convertible, G6 Coupe, and the Solstice. I'm on the fence on an SUV/Crossover on this line. Maybe the Torrent could make sense, but not in its current format.

Pontiac had 12 models ... now they have 4 or 5.

The 3 Buick's would die. Why bother with them. 3 models down to zero!

Cadillac currently has 14 models. 14! Are they nuts. What is a Cadillac when you have 14 versions of the darn thing.

• Cadillac - "You've made it." People will notice you've made it.
  
• Axe the SRX Crossover (it's just ugly and isn't premium enough), the Esclade EXT (buy a truck if you want a truck), the Esclade (which competes with the Esclade ESV), the DTS (it competes against the better looking STS, and isn't premium enough), the XLR convertible (don't worry, there's another model that will be kept)
  
• Keep the STS V6 only ($47k+), the CTS-V ($60k+), the STS -V ($84k+), maybe the Escalade ESV & Hybrid (SUVs) ($65k), and the convertible XLR-V ($106k+)
• I might even swap the Corvette into the Cadillac line up and dump the XLR line.
  

Cadillac would drop from 14 models to 5 or 6.

A quick slash at their other brands ...

• GMC = Trucks. They currently have 21 different models. I'd slash that to 7 or 8, including: a large passenger van, a cargo van, a smallish SUV, a large SUV, a small pickup, a mid-size pickup, and a large pickup. There may be more options in this line, including 2 or 4 door cabs on the larger truck.
• Hummer = GONE. (3 models down to 0)
  
• Saab = GONE. (6 models down to 0)
  
• Saturn = Technology leader. The brand would become the "Smart" or "Mini" for GM. They currently have 8 vehicles. That would be slashed to 2 to 3, along the lines of a 2-seat zippy fun electric commuter, a 4-seat zippy fun hybrid, and a flying car (just kidding on that one ... but if GM wanted to play, Saturn would be the "play" brand).
  

Total ... GM started with something around 100 vehicle brands. I'd have them down to about 28. On top of that, each sub-brand would have its own standard power train, and those would at a minimum be hybrids. Power trains could be shared across product lines. For instance the 4-door Chevy Cobalt could use the same power train as the Pontiac G6. GM could limit the engines if necessary to allow the brands to be differentiated.

Recognizing that the dealerships want to be able to sell a variety of different vehicles so that they can attract a variety of customers, there are options available to make things work for them. If you look at how Mini is sold by BMW in Canada, there are many BMW dealers who carve off a piece of their showroom and make it an entirely stand-alone Mini dealership. GM dealers could do a similar thing with their big and ancient showrooms. Throw up some glass walls, and make "boutiques". In a given dealership, one boutique would sell Chevy cars, another would sell GM trucks, and another might sell the Saturn line.

There are lots of advantages to this slash and burn practice:

• Focuses the brand. The general result of focusing the brand is that you end up selling more. So, production may not go down at all. GM's production and sales may actually go up!
  
• Reduces cost dramatically. You don't have to design, engineer, repair, and warranty the dramaticly huge number of product variations. It would be cheaper and easier to build, sell, and service cars. This strategy wouldn't make GM the low cost producer. The reality is that they still have lots of legacy costs, and are competing against startups from Korea and elsewhere with lower cost structures. But, it goes a long way to helping them survive.
  

What do you know, there are Michael Porter's business strategies showing up again. Focus and Cost Leadership.

There you go President Obama. :^)

Saving the company. What should GM do with its Brands and Sub-brands?

• Is the problem with GM that they've screwed themselves over by giving up way too much to their unions over the years? Yes, partly I'm sure it is.
• Is the problem with GM that they're costs are out of line with their selling prices, and consequently they just aren't making a dime on any car they produce? Yes, partly I'm sure it is.
• Is the problem with GM mostly that GM has screwed up their brands? ABSOLUTELY.

Let's look at some of GM's North American brands, and take a shot at what they should mean: (it should be noted that they have several others serving the rest of the world)

• Chevrolet - Affordable cars, whether you're a young person buying a first car, or a family buying a practical car.
  
• Pontiac - Sporty fun, performance cars.
  
• Cadillac - "You've made it." People will notice you've made it.
  
• GMC - Trucks
  
• Buick - Um... what does that stand for? I think it is supposed to come somewhere between the "affordable" and "you've made it" lines.
  
• Hummer - "I'm an idiot" ... whoops I meant to say rough and tough upper class.
  
• Saab - "You've made it ... and you have European taste". (Sounds a lot like Cadillac)
  
• Saturn - Modern, affordable cars for young people or families. (Sounds a lot like Chevrolet)
  

Now, the interesting thing is that when you plug away at each of those brands there are glaring exceptions to how they have managed the sub-brands in each of those products. For instance, the Chevy line has something like 32 vehicles in it. It is like everytime someone from an Executive to a Janitor thought "Hey, what if we made a ...", they went ahead and made it. Think about the expense of designing, producing, and building each one of those models.

Does Chevy stand for an Aveo? It is a cheap "first" car. It would seem to me that Chevy does stand for that. What about a Cobalt? Yes again. A Malibu? Yes - that's a good affordable family car. How about the Cargo Van, Tahoe, Colorado, Silverado, Avalanche, Equinox, Traverse, and ... HHR (yuck). I can't imagine that Chevrolet really stands for any of those.

I'll pick on GM's SUV line-up for a moment. I feel bad doing this ... it is too easy.
Here's what GM makes for SUVs:

• Chevy HHR ($19k+)
• Saturn Vue ($23k+)
• Chevy Equinox ($25k+)
• Pontiac Torrent ($25k+)
• Saturn VUE Hybrid ($28k+)
• Chevy TrailBlazer ($29k+)
• Saturn Outlook ($31k+)
• GMC Envoy ($31k+)
• Hummer H3T ($31k+)
• Buick Enclave ($35k+)
• Chevy Avalanche ($36k+)
• GMC Envoy Denali ($37k+)
• Chevy Tahoe ($37k+)
• GMC Yukon ($38k+)
• Cadillac SRX V6 ($41k+)
• ... Etc. There are 34 of the damn things! Topping out with the Cadillac Escalade Hybrid at $74k+

Pickup trucks? 14 models across their brands.
Crossovers? 13 models.
Vans? 12 models (and you can't tell me that there is any significant difference between the Chevy Savana Passenger 2500 ($30k+) and the Chevy Express Passenger ($30k+)).

And they wonder why they're in trouble.

What should GM do? GM should tightly define each of their brands, and then slash and burn the sub-brands to ensure that the line-up of vehicles closely matches their master brand.

GM's withering ways.

In the good old days - and I am talking about the 1950s here - GM targeted brands to different segments, and it distinguished each of its brands for that purpose. The brands had shared components but completely unique styling. The branding created a clear upgrade path throughout a consumer's life. You'd start with an affordable Chevy, and then as you became more affluent, you'd move to a Pontiac, a Buick, an Oldsmobile, and ultimately a Cadillac.

Around the 80s, the GM and its peers screwed up. They decided that they'd fool the idiot consumer and start selling the same car with different labels. The Chevy Citation (my family had one), the Oldsmobile Omega, and the Pontiac Phoenix were all almost identical. Similarly in the mid-90s when GM upgraded its popular Chevy Cavalier model, they introduced the new Cavalier and the Pontiac Sunfire. Again, nearly identical. I had a taxi driver tell me once that his opinion was that GM intended the Cavalier for men, and the Sunfire for women. Whatever, it was still a bad choice to make virtually identical cars.

But, perhaps the best example of GM's worst branding practice was the introduction of the Cimarron. Their hope was that they could attract younger buyers to the Cadillac brand (hmmm ... everything Cadillac doesn't stand for). The Cimarron was based on the same platform as the Chevrolet Cavalier, Buick Skyhawk, Oldsmobile Firenza, Pontiac J2000, etc.. Out of the gate Cadillac only had a four-cylinder engine and minimal styling differences from the considerably cheaper Cavalier. Yet it was almost twice as expensive at the Cavalier!

Has GM learned? Apparently not. All you have to do is look at their line up of SUVs and Trucks to see that they are as confused as ever.

Over the next couple of days I'm going to review the GM brands and suggest a major strategy shift that would lead them back to profitability and success.

(Here's a hint ... Look at the strategy of the 50s to restore their prominence in 2010 and on. Narrow the focus of each brand, and then slash and narrow the focus of each sub-brand.)

Doritos Super Bowl Ad Improves Brand Most; GoDaddy’s Does Damage

The results are in for the Super Bowl Ads. Comscore reports that:

• One-quarter of respondents in comScore’s pre-Super Bowl survey indicated that watching the ads is their favorite part of the day’s festivities.
• Ads which people would most like to see again were Bud / Bud Light, Doritos, Coca Cola, Pepsi, and GoDaddy.com.
• Ads which most improved their brand image were for Doritos, Bud / Bud Light, and Denny's.
• Results indicated that GoDaddy.com's ad may have hurt its brand image. However, it also had the third highest ad recall.
  

Have a look at the full story and charts over at Marketing Charts.

Trends for 2009: #16: REAL Engagement: Marketing is something you must do with your customer

In the "old days" (okay, this probably refers to last year for 98% of companies, and little more than 2 to 3 years ago for the remainder) - marketing was something you did to your customers. Maybe you figured out who you were going to sell to and what they needed. You built your product and maybe you tested it on some of them. Then you figured out your pricing and put together fancy TV, print, and radio ads, and you went to battle. You advertised the snot out of your product and hoped that prospects would have a look at your product and become actual customers.

Welcome to 2009.

• No doubt by now you've heard of Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, and several other networks (albeit, last year I sat at a table with a VP of Sales for an Airline who said: "Facebook, what the f*** is Facebook").
  
• You may have researched a product online and read a review about it, and that may have given you the confidence to actually buy it. If you've planned a trip in the last 3 years you've most likely checked out your destination and hotel in TripAdvisor.com.
  
• If you own an Apple product or a Dell product and you needed product support, you may have hit their forums and found support in droves - not from the companies themselves, but from their advocates (i.e. other customers like you who participate in the forums and are only too happy to help you get the best use out of your computer).
  
• Maybe you've been in Starbucks lately and have used one of their new and nifty little green stir sticks. Where did those come from? From "MyStarbucksIdea.com". That's their social site where Starbucks customers can go online and give Starbucks their best ideas.

The message is clear. Customers don't want to be marketed to anymore. In fact, they won't be marketed to anymore. Customers demand that you engage with them. I mean really engage with them. No wimpy newspaper ads. Get out there on the internet where your customers are and where they are talking about you!

• Build a blog that your President and Executives write on regularly with real comments and stories (a great opportunity for brand building).
• Read and respond to blogs and reviews about your products. Do it like you mean it. If someone complains, dig into their complaint and resolve it.
• Create a review site for your product and make sure people can find it on your site. Participate in those reviews actively. Get your product managers, product designers and even your operations personnel to respond to reviews. Thank people for good feedback. Thank them for suggestions. Take those suggestions to heart and change your product to suit your customers better.
  
• If your product is represented on other sites retail with reviews, get access to those reviews from your retailers and dig into them. Participate in each retailer's forum if they will let you, or feed them answers to help them participate. Use the gold nuggets you get from your channels.
  
• Use your reviews in your ads. Get permission from reviewers to use their comments in your advertising. There is nothing like a great testimonial to help move a prospective customer into being a paying customer.
• Create forums for your customers so that they can discuss your product. You are likely to learn more from this "live focus group" of real customers who are really using your product than you will in thousands of test cycles. Again, be sure to participate and fully engage in the conversations as open and honestly as possible.
  

So, what's a Marketer to do with Social Marketing in 2009? Strategies to take on include those listed above plus a couple of extras:

• Look at advertising opportunities on Social Media sites. There are several advertising agencies and advertising networks who can probably help you do this very effectively and cost-efficiently.
  
• Build a public company blog.
• Build secure internal focused blogs and forums to allow your employees to engage with the company and to allow you to learn more about the delivery and branding of your products.
  
• Read and respond to blogs and reviews about your products.
  
• Create a review site for your product on your site, and participate in it actively.
  
• Get access to reviews about your products from your retailers.
  
• Read public reviews about your competitors product and discern from that a certain amount of competitive analysis.
  
• Use testimonials from reviews in your ads.
  
• Create forums for your customers so that they can discuss your product.
  

Will I be right? The year will tell!

• Follow this blog and watch for the next marketing trends I'm forecasting for 2009.
• Feel free to contact Market GoGo to discuss this further.

What is Market GoGo?

Market GoGo is a specialized Marketing Consultancy, based in Calgary. Market GoGo focuses on a few things that will help you to make your company more successful. Those things are strategic in nature, and focus on things that many companies just don't have the experience or the depth to do. Those things are:

• Brand Audit: A review of the "personality" of your company or a particular "brand" your company represents. It covers a wide swath of customer interactions and experiences with your brand from brand standards (signage, lettering, colors, etc.), to advertising, to customer service representatives, to your website, to your positioning statement, and so on. The goal of a Brand Audit is to help you understand your brand's assets and customer perceptions and subsequently to make decision and changes that will ultimately help you to drive more sales.
• Web Marketing and Advertising strategies: Web Marketing is all about doing five things as part of your Web Portfolio: Get prospective customers to your website, Convert prospects to customers, Up-sell and cross-sell to customers, Provide online service to customers, and Get customers to come back to buy from you again. This portfolio runs the gamut from bidding on Google text ads, to banner ads served by Advertising Networks, to mapping the web sales process flow, to researching customer behaviour on your website through analytics and customer research, to opt-in email marketing, and on, and on, and on!
• Project Management of your Strategic Marketing Projects: Marketing Project Management ensures that projects are delivered on-time and on-scope by the "delivery partner" (e.g. an IT Development Team or a Product Development Team). The Marketing Project Plan also ensures that the Marketing specific tasks - such as Communication and Advertising - are put in place at the right time.
• RFP Response for your B2B opportunity: Writing an RFP response is an arduous task. It is also one that you may not get to do enough, and consequently you aren't practiced in crafting a great response that will catch the attention of the team that both crafted the RFP and will review your response. Your response should get you noticed, and get you to the "next step" in the negotiating process.
• Aligning your Contact Center's Behavior with your brand: Most Contact Centers or Call Centers focus on technologies and practices that will drive cost-cutting through their business. For example, the use of Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems has been lauded by the Call Center industry as a great way to cut costs. But just find a customer who REALLY likes dealing with an IVR. Wouldn't you like your Call Centre's behavior and technology to provide the appropriate brand experience that your customers expect? That's the goal of Market GoGo's Contact Centre Strategy Approach.

Contact Market GoGo to find out more about how we can help you with your Branding and Marketing.

Even Wal-Mart is setting up to be LOWER Cost

In times of financial turmoil, the thinking goes that the company with the lowest cost strategy "wins". Typically, Walmart is seen as the company with the ultimate low cost strategy. Company lore includes stories of Sam Walton and other Executives sharing rooms when they went on business trips.

Conventional wisdom is that companies should be looking at ways to reduce their costs dramatically in a time like the current recession. If you can believe it, it looks like even Walmart is looking at how it can trim costs!

Report on Business (via Reuters) reports that Walmart is set to slash prices and unveil changes to its branding (probably that blue background and yellow sun that we've been exposed to from US commercials over the recent past, as well as the new slogan "Save Money. Live Better.").

In fact, Reuters is also reporting that in the US, Wal-Mart is continuing to cut prices 10-30 pct on many items.

As the low-cost and low-price retailer, Wal-Mart expects to to win sales and new customers in the current economic environment. Wal-Mart's message will focus on value, value, and more value.

In fact, the slumping economy is helping Wal-Mart in two ways:

• They are playing on the fragile confidence of the consumer, and
  
• Negotiating lower prices from vendors.
  

So - watch for Wal-Mart to thump their competitors hard this year. At the same time, their's is a great strategy to copy regardless of what business you are in.

Pelosi Rickroll? What the?

This morning I noticed that the term "pelosi rickroll" was suddenly one of the most searched terms on Google. Why? What does it mean? Let's take a look.

The first article was on Time.com and describes how Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, staff put together a simple prank video (also shown below) with the express intent of creating a viral video that will introduce the Speaker Pelosi to the world. Time wrote about it. I'm writing about it. Thousands of others will write about it and tens or hundreds of thousands ... or perhaps even millions of people will watch it.

This is viral video nearly at its best.

As explained on Time.com:

The Rickroll, an internet meme that started a few years ago, is basically a prank in which unsuspecting viewers are tricked into listening to Rick Astley's 1987 hit "Never Gonna Give You Up". The classic Rickroll is when someone is tricked into clicking on link that takes them to a video of the song.

What a great idea! Kudo's to Pelosi's staff for (a) using the new media at their fingertips, and (b) having a sense of humour!

Maybe this also will become part of Pelosi's (and indeed Obama's) branding: Take the job seriously, but not yourself.

Trends for 2009: #5. Simple Strategies ... Back to the Basics

When times were good things were easy. It was easy to get a new customer. Consequently, it was easy to ignore a customer, since there was always at least one (and likely many more) new customers waiting to take their place.

2009 brings an entirely different playing field. As an example, I heard an interview on the radio in late 2008 of a couple of Realtors. It appears that they are actually having to learn how to market and sell again. In their "good old days" all they needed was a listing and potential buyers would flock to the property to participate in a bidding war. Those glory days are long gone.

What are the basic strategies to focus on in 2009?

• Branding - What is your brand promise? How does your company support it? (Does your company support it?)
• Retail Ads - To paraphrase David Ogilvy, a good ad is one that sells your product. 2009 is not the time for airy fairy branding ads. 2009 is the time for simple and honest ads that educate people about the value of your product and scream out at them to take action.
• Customer Retention - The cheapest customer to sell to is an existing customer. It is time to revisit and work your current customers to remind them that you are a low-risk and well-known value for them (of course, I'm expecting that you really are). Reselling, upselling, and cross-selling are all ways that you can make ends meet (and maybe even eke out a profit) in 2009.
• Customer Satisfaction - It is almost like hearing the same message twice. If you are going to revisit your current customers, then you better ensure that they are happy with your product or service, and make real steps to bolster your customer satisfaction.
• Real Return on Investment - Projects you undertake in 2009 better have real and demonstrable ROI (and they better have it fast). The Accountants will be watching every project nickle like hawks (except, of course, their own International GAAP projects which will likely be "non-discretionary", unlike keeping their company in business which is, of course, discretionary ... ooops, did I write that out loud).

Will I be right? The year will tell!

• Follow this blog and watch for the next marketing trends I'm forecasting for 2009.
• Feel free to contact Market GoGo to discuss this further.

Trends for 2009: #4. Focus on the green in your pocket ... not the green in your forests.

Environmental issues had a good run from about the time of Al Gore's 2006 smash hit An Inconvenient Truth to late 2008. As the economy was driving hard and people thought they had money to burn (pun intended), they were happy to believe they would pay more for environmentally sound consumerism. Look at the success of premium priced economy vehicles like the Prius. Leading up to late 2008 everyone has been trying to figure out ways to "green" their product.

Remember the oil crisis in the 70s? Everyone dumped their big cars and headed for "fuel misers". Everyone started to look at solar electricity and tide-generated electricity. I heard of someone selling a brand new Pontiac Parisienne for $500 (I remember telling my Grade 6 teacher this (he owned one himself)). Well, what happened? Our "environmental memories" are short. As soon as the fuel prices dropped, North Americans ran back to car dealerships and Detroit started making some of the biggest gas guzzlers to ever hit the road (i.e. SUVs like the Hummer, the Lincoln Navigator, and the Dodge Charger).

There is already evidence to support this will happen. Yahoo! reports that in December sales of the Prius hybrid dropped 45 percent as gas prices fell from their record highs in July. Meanwhile, MSN-BC reports that shrinking gas prices and attractive deals are causing a return by vehicle buyers to big vehicles like SUVs and full-size pick-up trucks.

Goodbye environment. Hello living as cheaply as I can.

But - beware - fuel prices will make a come-back. That is inevitable as there ultimately is a world-wide limited supply of oil. Also as Oil companies search out the harder to get oil (e.g. more of the Tar Sands in Northern Alberta) the cost of getting that oil, and refining it, will be dramatically higher. On top of that, the polar ice caps are still melting and the world is constantly becoming a more toxic place in which to live. So, what goes around comes around. Eventually the environment will be important again, but maybe not for a couple more years.

So, as a good Marketer in 2009, some things to do are:

• Focus on value in the short-term, and
  
• Build a credible and real environmental culture and brand for the long-term.

Will I be right? The year will tell!

• Follow this blog and watch for the next marketing trends I'm forecasting for 2009.
• Feel free to contact Market GoGo to discuss this further.

Marketing Jokes?

Okay - I'm looking for a few good, clean, non-offensive, fun and self depricating Marketing Jokes. I'm thinking along the lines of "How many Advertising Executives does it take to screw in a light bulb?" (Anyone have a punch line for that?)

Holiday season is fast approaching ... and I need some good material!

Please post a comment to this blog with your favorite Marketing Joke.

What went wrong with the Big 3?

What went wrong with the "Big 3"? If you think of any company being made of three core functions:

1. Marketing - Determining the target market, determining what products the target wants, communication with the target, and ensuring that they live up to their Brand Promises,
2. Finance - Determining how to pay for the inputs, ensuring that the outputs are produced as efficiently as possible, and making sure that there is enough money in the bank to keep things running, and
   
3. Operations - Producing products that meets the needs of the Marketing Team, and doing so in a way to keep the Finance team happy.

Then, where did the Big 3 go wrong?

1. Marketing - They had no Brand Promise. What does GM stand for? Big cars? Little cars? Big trucks? Cheap? Luxury? They are trying to be everything to everyone. Taking on the Luxury German market and the low-cost Kia market. Yuck. Stuck in the middle. They stink, and thier products suck. Why would I buy a "luxury" Cadillac that was based on the same platform as the "work horse" GM truck? The Big 3 lost a grip on who their target market was, what they wanted, and how to reach them.
   
2. Finance - Was no one watching the books? It is disheartening that in light of recent financial scandals like Enron, and with all the subsequent "SOx" and Governance oversight that is supposed to be in place, that NO ONE from these Big 3 was sounding the horn louder and sooner that they were all headed for bankruptcy. Who is at fault here? The Finance teams in these companies should have hit the big red button several years ago. Surely it was evident that costs were spiralling out of control.
   
3. Operations - Are the unions to blame? They clearly need to share the blame. Mind you, some MORON in the Finance department must have agreed to the ridiculous contracts that the unions have negotiated over the years. Also, the MORONS in Marketing continue to get the Operations team to build products that their market might have wanted 3-10 years ago, but doesn't give a rats ass about now. So, as long as the Operations teams are building out the automobiles that they are told to, and doing it under the agreement of the Finance team, I'd have to think that they should carry less of the weight. That said, responsible Unions and Management teams should be constantly working together to figure out the most efficient and practical way to produce.

My verdict ... The auto sector has to be "bailed out" simply to prevent them from bringing down the entire economy. However, conditions on them being allowed to receive bail-outs should include:

• Bail-outs should be either high-interest loans (they are risky after all), or equity
• Executives should be forced to resign (with no golden parachutes) and should be replaced with people with real vision
• Each company and each sub-brand should have to put a REAL marketing plan in place with a real brand position. Overlapping brands should be eliminated. (E.g. Big-ass Chrysler SUVs and Big-ass Jeeps? Big-ass Chrysler cars and Big-ass Dodge Cars? GM, Pontiac, Buick, and Cadillac? GM Trucks, Cadillac SUVs, and Hummer?)

I'm no expert on Finance matters, so I won't comment on those, except to say that the classic Porter strategies state that these companies should either be low-cost, differentiated, or niche. The automobile market is mass-market, so they had better all be thinking Low-Cost. To review ...

Low Cost: The low cost leader gains competitive advantage by being able to produce at the lowest cost. You can sell things for the same price and have more profit, or more cash to do battle with, or win a price war and still make a profit.

There's my rant for today. If you are from one of the Big-3, and want help doing a Brand Audit in order to get on track with your marketing plans, don't hesitate to contact Market GoGo.

Have you seen Hancock?

Hancock was released earlier this year and is out on video now. In summary it is a story about a down-on-his-luck superhero who has fallen way out of favor with the public. That's one way to look at it. I was more intrigued by the Branding theme in the movie. Really, the superhero in this movie is the Marketer!

As a quick overview:

• Hancock is loathed by the public
• Hancock is "discovered" by a PR consultant
• PR consultant recognizes that Hancock's brand is way out of line
• PR consultant works with Hancock to revitalize the brand
• Hancock is golden!

Want to be a Marketing Super Hero? I recommend two things you need to do to start that:

1. Watch the movie.
2. Do a Brand Audit of your own company, product, or service to find a path to becoming golden.

Fruitcake Bashing Season has arrived

Where does time go? I can't believe we are back into December again. There is a funny website over at The Great Fruitcake Recycling Project that pokes fun at Fruitcake in a whole new way.

Will this go viral? Who knows. Certainly by blogging about it I'm helping it to go viral. However, I do think they have some work to do to really make it viral. There just doesn't seem to be enough fun stuff to do or experience when you hit their site.

The trick to "viral" is that you can't really force something to be viral. You can plan the stink out of a project with the great wish that it becomes viral. But, really, viral just "happens". It happens because people are so intrigued with an idea or an emotion that they want other people to share in it with them. In any event, attempting to become viral is just one of the tricks of the trade of Web Marketing.

All-in, the Great Fruitcake Recycling Project is worth a look.




Contact Market GoGo for help with your Web Advertising Strategy.

The biggest mistake you can make doing a Brand Audit

... is to do it yourself. Perhaps a bigger mistake is to let your Advertising Agency do it for you. Why?

• When you do your Brand Audit yourself you are much too close to your own reality to understand the brand perception reality. You come into the audit with a preconceived notion of what your brand stands for and how you believe your customers should perceive the brand. If you are executing the audit and interpreting the results, you are much more likely to miss the "big picture" that the Brand Audit presents.

• When your Advertising Agency does a Brand Audit they only look at a very narrow slice of what your Brand represents. Typically that comes down to your Brand standards - the colors, shapes, fonts, etc. that you use in your logo and ads. Hopefully they will stretch and try to determine what your brand means. But, your brand is like an iceberg. Only the top 10% is represented by the brand standards. The remaining 90% that your Advertising Agency will typically miss includes the perception and experience your customers have with your product or service, the interactions your customers have with people representing your company, review of your brand plan and your marketing plan, and so forth. There's a lot. You will want a holistic view to make sure that you get the "big picture".
  

For similar reasons, if you were in your company's Finance Department you would not be allowed to audit yourself, and similarly if you used outside accountants they would not be allowed to perform an audit of themselves. That analogy holds true for a Brand Manager performing a Brand Audit.

A Brand Manager's responsibility as part of a Brand Audit is to believe in the process, oversee the project, understand the results, and take action to improve brand perception. By improving the brand perception you will improve sales and profitability.

If you are a Brand Manager, you need to select a company who can help you plan, execute, and interpret a Brand Audit. That may mean bringing in a 3rd party to help you out, or ensuring that your Advertising Agency brings in a 3rd party to help them out. Then sit back, enjoy the ride, and take in the scenery along the way, so that you have a fresh view of your brand and can make the right "big picture" decisions.

Contact Market GoGo to find out more about how we can help you with your Brand Audit.