I have always been a fan of thinking through the non-users.  Negative reactions are necessary evil to a strong brand that stand for something unique and special.  If you achieve that, you are bound to have someone who’s not on that particular bandwagon.

The recent Miracle Whip “Love or Hate” campaign probably is one of the strongest campaigns I’ve seen that takes advantage of non-users. What do you think of this campaign? And what role in general should non-users play in building a brand?

Related articles

• Miracle Whip on YouTube: Haters Gonna Hate (clickz.com)
• Kraft’s ‘love-it-or-hate-it’ campaign whips up buzz about Miracle Whip (canada.com)
• Miracle Whip ads: Love them or hate them? (adweek.blogs.com)
• Someone has to hate your brand (drewsmarketingminute.com)

Up In The Air, staring George Clooney, opens nationwide on Christmas. I previewed the movie and enjoyed it. My friends gave it just okay reviews. See for yourself, and give your own ratings.

But, why am I writing about a movie on this blog? Because I thought it was great movie for product placement. Unlike James Bond movies where each product flashes in front of you for mere seconds, the products in this movie were an integral part of the movie. They really sold it. I think it was one of the best movies for product placement since the Italian Job.

What products were featured? American Airline, Hilton, Travelpro, and Hertz. Just to name a few.

Travelpro is a line of luggage. This movie showed again and again how great these luggage moves. They spin. They roll. They go everywhere with ease. All the cool jetsetters use them. Way better than the old clunky suitcases you may have at home (in fact, there is a scene dedicated to this point).

Hertz, it gets you in and out fast. If you’re a Hertz loyal customer, you can get in and out in seconds. No long lines. In fact, they will “move mountains” to get you the car you want.

Hilton hotels have plush soft beds, and comfy little robes and slippers. Hilton hotels offer all the comfort of home and then some, well, at least to a guy that travels for a living. Of course, don’t forget about the Hiltons HHonors program! It’s a great promotion (George Clooney said it, not me). Plus, you get to skip the lines and get the preferred VIP treatment! Loyalty pays.

Talking about Loyalty, let’s talk about the featured star: American Airline. American Airline can take you everywhere! It satisfies even the needs of someone who travels over 340 days and 300,000 miles a year! And once again, loyalty pays. If you’re a loyal customer, you get to use exclusive lounges, be greeted by a custom greeting, and even, if you’re really really really loyal, get your own dedicated customer service phone line. Ahh, I want to join AAdvantage now!

Ahh, product placement… when done well it’s integrated into the story line, while leaving you with a good impression of the brand.

Photo credit: American Airlines, originally uploaded by anneh632.

Related articles online

• Up in the Air: George Clooney becomes a frequent flyer (gadling.com)
• EXCLUSIVE: The Product Guy “Up in the Air” (tpgblog.com)

The holiday season has definitely begun. Not being a religious person and not having any kids to buy toys for, this is a particularly annoying season.

However, this is also the season of some of the best ads. I’m sure I’ll be discussing a few over the next few weeks.

Today, I’d like to talk about the Wal-Mart ads: “Christmas Costs Less at Wal-Mart.”

I think these ads are great. Why? Because they reinforce Wal-Mart’s brand promise – costing less.

What I also really liked was that Wal-Mart knows who it’s talking to, and how to talk to them.

Wal-Mart is definitely not talking to me. But that’s okay, because I’m not Wal-Mart’s target consumer.

If Wal-Mart was talking to me, Wal-Mart would have been worried about being politically correct. But, these ads do not care about being politically correct. Wal-Mart’s target consumers are probably already fed up of being politically correct. They WANT to enjoy “Christmas”. They don’t want to call it “Holidays”. Wal-Mart wants to speak the same language as its core consumers.

But, doesn’t Wal-Mart worry about annoying the crowd?

No. It doesn’t.

Why not?

Because that’s what marketing is all about. Remember my series on Primal Branding? One of the major lessons in that was to know you’re talking to and to know what you stand for. You are not going to please everyone. But, you will connect with those you care most. And at the end of the day, that’s what matters!

Photo Credit: I’m sure my grandma had these, originally uploaded by Jo Naylor ~the book is out!!~.

Related articles online

• Wal-Mart’s holiday toy program: 100 toys for $10 (ceoworld.biz)
• Wal-Mart Sees Late Christmas, Won’t Put Decorations Up Before October (shoppingblog.com)

Sell love. Sell style. Sell confidence. Sell friendship. Sell something that people cares about. And, the simple truth is no one cares about your product.

You could have the most awesome widget in the world. Your customers would love you and your widget, until a better and cheaper widget come along. And inevitably, it will come.

This is the essence of branding. It evokes something inside your customers that goes far beyond your product offering.

However, you need to know exactly what your brand stands for. Everything that you do must go with this branding. Once you deviate, you risk jeopardizing your brand.

Take a look at these two ads:

Would you say that these two ads are well differentiated from each other? From just this ad, would you choose to shop at one retailer versus the other? Could you tell what the branding is for these two ads?

I would say that they both similarly stand for “affordable style”. However, I could not really tell if I’d prefer one or another.

Now, if I tell you that one ad is from Target, and one ad is from Ikea, would you now have a preference?

Some of you may be indifferent, but I think at least a few of you would have a preference.

And that preference was formed over a history of interactions with the brand. This history includes past shopping experience, product experience. Lastly, this history included your past experience with their branding: “affordable style”.

In fact, I would assert that some of you would have a preference on which style you prefer from the two different retailers. You may or may not be able to tell from this ad, but the product offering are different. For the most part, Ikea carries products that are uniquely available at Ikea. In fact, Ikea’s style is so iconic that one could walk into a living room and recognize the Ikea style.

I would even assert that while both brands stand for “affordable style”, Ikea leans a little more toward the style side of that equation. This is a good thing for Ikea, because affordability means price, and price could always be undercut.

Which is why it was so shocking of a move that Ikea would have posted the above ad. Ikea, this month, gave up its iconic font for 50 years, and instead adopted a commonly used font, a font so common that you have it. It’s Verdana, available on any Microsoft products.

Now, I personally love Verdana. It’s designed for ease of readability on the web. In fact, this blog, at this time, is designed with Verdana. However, is this the best print font for a company that relies so heavily on style and design? I doubt it.

In fact, this change caused so much controversies, that it caught the attention of Time, NPR, and Fast Company.

Ikea picked the new font due to cost reasons… And I think we can all empathize, especially in this economic environment.

However, something is sacred. The icons of your brand are sacred, and should never be sacrificed.

In Ikea’s case, their font was one of their icons, and it had just been offered up in the name of cost-saving.

Would it have a negative effect on Ikea? In the short-term, probably not. In fact, the cost-saving would probably yield a positive return for Ikea.

In the long-term? I ask again, are the two ads above differentiated enough from each other that you could form a preference for one or the other?

Ikea forgot that, at the end of the day, they were not simply selling furniture, they were selling a style. That style just got a little bit less stylish…

Related articles

• Ikea customers furious over change of font (dailyfinance.com)
• Ikea’s first font change in 50 years ignites backlash (ctv.ca)

Story: Today, I got called by my Financial Advisor’s office. She was following up on if I received a form that needed me to sign. I rather quickly said no. Then I scrambled to my “to-do” pile to see if I forgot it in that pile. Nope. So, I hung up with the agreement that they will mail me a new form. Then, I walked over to my console table, and remember that I have the “still-need-to-go through” pile. Then, there it was: An unopened envelope from my financial advisor’s office. I opened it immediately, and called the office back. I found the form.

Insights: From that story, I had two insights.

1. I get way too much mail, and it takes me a long time to go through all my mail. Between junk mail, free magazines, paid magazines, newsletters, the useful and important mail often get lost in the piles.

2. In the world of emails, texts, etc., phone calls, a rather old fashion way of involving your customer, still works.

Conclusion: In today’s world, consumers are overwhelmed by information. High touch methods of consumer engagement remain to be the best way to break through the clutter, and differentiate you from your competition. Is that difficult to execute? Is that costly to execute? Yes and yes. But, consider this alternative: You choose the easy and cheap route, and your competitor choose the hard and expensive route. Who do you think would win in the end?

Photo credit: Why Didn’t You Call Me?, originally uploaded by bitzcelt.

Recently at work, the question of what exactly is a “loyalty card” came up. Because in truth, loyalty cards are really just discount cards. I for example, have one from multiple grocery stores, multiple book stores, etc. Having a loyalty card from retailer A doesn’t mean I’ll be loyal to retailer A, because I probably have one from the competing retailer B as well.

People use the loyalty cards for the instant discounts. And every time you check out, the cashier ask “if you’d like to sign up, it’s super easy.” There is no investment, financially or mentally, into this loyalty program. So, in return, there is no loyalty.

But a recent conversation with a friend reminded that there are loyalty programs that work. Airlines.

What’s the difference? Well, an airline loyalty program is everything a retail loyalty program is not.

1. Airline loyalty program is not about easy and convenient. Have you every booked a reward travel? You have to jump through hoops!
2. It’s not instant. Hoops aside, you have to save up these points! It’s not quick or easy. And once you’ve accumulated a certain number of points, you feel invested into the program. That’s why ultimately drives loyalty.

So, the moral of the story: While the payoff is important, it’s the motivation to join a loyalty program. However, like everything else, the success of a loyalty program depends on how much you actually involve the consumers in the process. Make them invest into your brand one way or another! Then, they’ll be loyal to your brand. Otherwise, it’s just another card in the wallet.

Photo credit:DSCF5589, originally uploaded by joelogon.

Social Media ain’t about one-night stands, it’s about relationships

This is something that my organization has problems with as well. Every campaign, every effort needs to be part of a whole branding initiative. However, too often, we come across an awesome idea. Implement it. Move onto the next awesome idea. The end result: Not realizing the potential of any one campaign. Which is a shame…

This post on The Viral Garden gave a few example of companies who engaged the consumers via social media, but did not follow through. And the lesson was it’s better to ignore the consumers than to flirt with them THEN ignore them… Of course, the ideal is to not ignore them at all

I think ultimately this is something that restaurants need on the short run, because they just need people coming in for food. However, in the long run, it’s probably a bad idea for the brand. Mini-burgers, the ones I’ve tried, are definitely mediocre at best. They are only a fraction of the taste and deliciousness of the full-size versions. Yet, they now form my opinion of those particular restaurants.

Now, dollar-menus have its place in a bad economy… but when the economy turns around, it’d harder for people to buy back into the message of you serving a fine burger when their experience had been mediocre in the past.

Also, dollar-menus are by definition a value play. It lost the oh, this is a yummy burger message. Would you be grooming people to be loyal to the dollar-menus rather than your burgers? What does that mean for your brand long-term?

Now, of course, you could argue that fast food restaurants are about value… but it wasn’t that long ago where Hardees were trying to differentiate themselves based on the tastiness of their burger. In fact, they still have that as their message on their commercials. Wendy’s still try to play a fresh message. Besides, these value menus are not limited to fast food restaurants.. they are popping up everywhere, including places that probably should not have them!

And it’s certainly not a phenomenon that’s limited tot he restaurant industry… brands everywhere is trying to balance the value equation in this economy… and too many are making decisions that are potentially too short-sighted…

For your reading pleasure, a recent article on USA Today about hunting for a dollar menu bargin… Article Link

And marketers everywhere are trying to come up with the products or the campaigns that are still relevant in today’s environment. And let me tell you, it hasn’t been easy.

Then, I came across this post on one of the blogs I follow: Logic+Emotion. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and this one definitely sums up what had changed and what big picture we need to keep in mind as marketers going forward.

Well, they make a very good case, a solid case even. However, one thing they did not account for was the ability for company, or people rather, to lie to themselves.

The article asserts that only something that’s a necessity and unique can raise prices. Well, I can think of more than a few products that would say that they are unique, even though they really are not. There are more than a few products that would think that people can’t live without them, but really, people can…

Link to the Fortune Article