Recently, I took a trip to Australia. There, many gas stations were partnered with the local grocery stores, making gas stations great one-stop shops. Now, we don’t have to go all the way to the other side of the world to see this. We observe this right here in the States with the recent KwikShop renovations.
These KwikShops are not only gas stations. They are pharmacies. They are your convenient take-out kitchens. They are true convenient stores!
This is just another step in the store format revolution. The line between different retail environments are blurring.
(Editor’s Note: I have taken a hiatus from this blog because other parts of my life took over. However, these parts have given me great inspirations for blog topics. Stay tuned!)
The Olympic Games are truly inspiring. In fact, there are more inspiring lessons in there for marketeers than one may think. It inspired my recent post on CPGBranding.com. Follow this link to read the original post. But allow me to expand on that post here, hence Part II. The Games didn’t just inspired lessons for marketers in the CPG realm, but these lessons have broad implications for marketing in all arenas.
Successful branding takes a lot of work. It doesn’t matter if you’re a Fortune 500 powerhouse, or if you’re a Main Street Store, or if you’re just you. Overnight success doesn’t happen. If you want success in the future, plant that seed today. In fact, that success should be based on one thing: performance. Take social media for example. It’s the latest hype. However, social media wouldn’t help you much if your store doesn’t carry what your shopper is looking for. Today’s breakthroughs are still built on yesterday’s fundamentals. Once you’ve mastered the fundamentals, all those extra things that you do would make it that much better. Social media could be a great thing.
However, everything good can still be lost in just a moment. Think Toyota. The key lesson here is to not avoid the problems. Don’t think they will go away. They never do. Face them head on, and face them fast. Brands could be defined by a single disaster, or the response thereof. Johnson & Johnson taught us that lesson with the Tylenol incident.
At the end of the day, everything you do comes down to the closing. Could you close that sale? Could you close that job interview? Sometimes, you’re just bested by your competitors. But, with enough hard work, and perhaps a little luck, you could win.
Photo Credit: Megan Cole
As we’ve discussed before, every little thing matters to a brand. Likewise, everything we do contributes to our personal brands. Questionable actions lead to questionable brands. There are numerous celebrity examples (e.g. Paris Hilton).
Today, there is a good celebrity example to look at.
Few of us have the opportunities to address “People of Earth” and have them actually pay attention.
Conan O’Brien has a very strong personal brand, through his own talents and his association with very other strong brands like the Tonight Show. His “People of Earth” release only enhanced that brand. It is easy for anyone to pick up his enormous passion for his job from this release.
We can all learn a lesson from that.
If you survey your workplace, would others know what your passion is? What have you done lately to demonstrate your passion?
Photo credit: vtdainfo
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