Brandoctor's blog

More than a slogan

by: Maja Benčić, naming consultant & copywriter

 

Here are some Croatian examples of “more than” slogans I have heard lately:

“More than a game.” (a lottery company)

“More than movement.” (a gas station)

“Simply more.” (a daily newspaper)

“More than a comfortable flight.” (an airline)

“More than a door.” (a door producer)

If you have never heard of these brands before, would you know what exactly they are offering? And what is that “more” they are claiming to be or offer?

If it’s “simply more”, do you get coffee with the newspapers? If it’s “more than a door”, does it open automatically when your dog needs to get out? If it’s “more than a game”, do you get a consolation trip to Portugal if you don’t win the lottery?

These slogans are quite an unsuccessful attempt to communicate differentiation or anything interesting to consumers for that matter. The same slogan would work for their competitor brands. Or sometimes, for any brand – from shoes or digital cameras to restaurants or toothpaste, like the example: “Simply more”.

The fact is that a successful slogan has to carry a simple and memorable message, but it also has to be a call for action or answer the question: what is this brand really about, how is it different from the other brands in the category, what it is promising its consumers.

And if the slogan is fun and witty, it’s a bull’s eye.

Here are some examples:

“Nothing but nothing but fruit” (innocent)

“Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't.” (Almond Joy)

"We try harder." (Avis)

“Think different” (Apple)

“Melts in your mouth, not in your hands” (M&M Candies)

So, would you buy a pair of sneakers from a brand communicating “More than sneakers” or from a brand communicating “Just do it”? 

Aviokarte.hr – Not flying together to the final destination

by: Petra Despot, brand consultant

There is an interesting Croatian website called aviokarte.hr. It sells airplane tickets, but it is mostly known for its guerrilla marketing efforts and for using the most unusual places to promote their web site. For example, their logo can be found clearly printed over a bridge, written on a deserted truck left by the highway or hanging from the top of a building in the centre of Zagreb. 

Those of you from Croatia have probably heard of aviokarte.hr or seen their guerrilla. But how many of you have actually paid a visit to their website, or better yet purchased a ticket via aviokarte.hr? I have seen their logo a million times in various places, and I actually liked them for their straightforwardness and simplicity. However, when I actually had to purchase an airline ticket I didn’t think of browsing through aviokarte.hr.

Their logo may be well imprinted all over Croatia, but has it been imprinted in the minds of the consumers as well? And if it has, what does it stand for?

When checking aviokarte.hr page rank on Alexa, it turned out they weren’t ranked in the top 500 Croatian web sites. Searching for their competitive advantage also led me to a dead end as their website was somehow lacking the “about us” section and on their Facebook profile there was a vague brand mission of “flying together to the final destination”. It turned out they weren’t even offering the cheapest tickets available so there went my last hope for at least a decent functional benefit. 

Although we may notice them and like them on a superficial level, aviokarte.hr is actually a great example of a brand that lacks a follow-through. Most of the time, a guerrilla stunt is just not enough to engage a consumer on a deeper level and to build brand equity. What aviokarte.hr needs to do is to back up its guerrilla marketing efforts with a stronger message of what it really stands for. You may have all the brand awareness in the world, but if your brand isn’t top of mind when making a purchasing decision, you may well be investing your money and your efforts somewhere else.  

You are all superstars!

by: Petra Despot, brand consultant

 

I have never been a fan of Lady Gaga nor have I ever truly understood all the hustle revolving around her phenomenon. I have been skeptical about her provocative appearance and the so-called controversy she’s been causing. For example, she put on a couple of dead animals instead of a dress. Even though this is shocking, Madonna’s been there and done that (or something similar) two decades ago. 

For me, Lady Gaga was all extravaganza and controversy just for the sake of extravaganza and controversy; she was never the real thing. I have always believed that she was doing a great marketing and PR job, but somehow the real authentic feeling was missing.

A couple of weeks ago, during an episode of Glee, I was suddenly enlightened because I realized that maybe “the real thing” was missing since I was never the real target group. She was after the little monsters all along and they were the ones who embraced and believed in “the Gagaism”.

All this time we were talking about the importance of the consumer psychographics and targeted communication, and there it was, one of the strongest new examples of both. Lady Gaga is targeting a group called the little monsters. They are all the different or insecure yet beautiful and amazing people wanting to be recognized as unique rather than freaks. And their mother monster is trying to evoke his or her inner beauty and self-esteem with each song, blog post or public appearance. When Lady Gaga sings “there’s nothing wrong with loving who you are” or tweets to her fans that they are all superstars, the target group truly embraces that message.

Lady Gaga has all the ingredients that build a strong and unique brand, whether we like her or not. From the relevant emotional associations and differentiation to targeted communication and the form of self-expression. And she has impressing statistics that back this up. Besides five Grammy awards (that certainly prove her value), she has over 10 million Twitter followers, close to 35 million Facebook fans and the last year’s earnings of approximately US$90 million.

I would say that Lady Gaga has taught us a valuable lesson, that you can’t be everything to everyone, but rather to choose wisely whom you will target. You can all be superstars if you stay true to yourself and deliver on your brand promise to your real target group. 

 

Creativity Unleashed

by: Anja Bauer Minkara, director & senior brand consultant

 

Take on the challenge of creating something wonderful and don't step down when the onslaught of client's criticism comes out.

That is what I tell myself to pep myself up, but usually as all the other agency people I step down from that worthy pedestal because we need pay checks.

But that is not just sad, but cowardly.

If all the agencies made a deal that they will create for the consumer and not the client, there wouldn't be backing down from an idea but solidarity that would result in better advertising, stronger brands and inspired consumers.

So who's in for the deal?

 

Thinking out of the shoe box

by: Petra Despot, brand consultant

I've been admiring a certain brand for a couple of months now. Not only is it inspiring, but it is also a perfect example how simple and sincere vision can bring major success. It used to be called shoesite.com, bit luckily enough they changed the name soon to zappos.com. At first sight, it is an ordinary website with the primary purpose of selling shoes. But since its launch, Zappos has become everything but a synonym for the online shoe store. 

The philosophy behind the Zappos brand is simple. Their focus isn’t on the shoe, but rather on the person willing to buy that shoe. Customer is everything in Zappos, so they set a simple goal - to provide the best service possible.  Instead of delivering shoes, Zappos has decided to deliver happiness.

The core of the Zappos philosophy lies within the company culture. Zappos is probably the only company in the world that has appointed CHO - Chief Happiness Officer, to take care of satisfied consumers. Each employee (including the managers) has to start from the bottom and spend the first several weeks at the call centre to get the rounded view of the company. All the applicants for the job in Zappos have to pass two tests - one to show their professional skills, and the other to show their personality. One of the questions at the job interview is “how weird you are on the scale of one to ten?” and is set to find out if the person fits the company culture. After initial training the new employees were each offered a $2.000 to quit, in order to get rid of those least motivated. Only 3% of all the new recruits take the offer.

When it comes to relations with customers, the aim is to go behind the traditional methods. Employees are encouraged to talk to their customers and to get to know them better. So it’s not a big of surprise that the longest call to the call centre lasted more than five hours. 

There are several interesting stories demonstrating the dedication of Zappos’ customer service. One time, after a long night of barhopping, the Zappos CEO made a bet with the Skechers representative that they could get info on the available pizza deliveries by calling the Zappos call centre. When the Skechers guy called, he actually got numbers and addresses of five pizza deliveries.

The other story is about a woman who wanted to return the shoes her late husband ordered before he died. The next day she received a refund for the shoes along with a condolence letter and flowers from a Zappos representative.

Delivering happiness really paid of for Zappos. Out of all the Zappos customers, 75% are repeat buyers. After years of making continuous profit, in 2009 Amazon bought them for more than $1 billion.

So remember, true and sincere emotion always pays of. It can all start with a vision as simple as delivering a bit of happiness by providing the best service possible.

 

Uplifting brands

by: Anja Bauer Minkara, director & senior brand consultant

 

People are bored. Everyone wants inspiration, goodness, emotional contact and uplifting brands.  And when? When they least expect it.

If I were a CEO of a huge company, I would focus on guerrilla marketing and goodwill campaigns. Let's stop buying media spaces and convincing people to buy us, only us and that we are better than competition.

Focus on the game not your competitor. Be an athlete, be the fastest and the best you could be and stop focusing on your opposing team. Simply go for the best shot you can take and if you miss, you will be applauded for your efforts.

Surprise the consumers, learn about them, reward the loyal ones, show them why you are so special and give back to the community, to those who don't have anything and to the talented ones that have the potential.

 

 

How about trying harder?

by: Petra Despot, brand consultant

When it comes to studying brand classics, there are several great branding cases that appear on regular basis. Whether you are reading a book about brand management or browsing through branding blogs, you will probably run into Volkswagen, Nike or Virgin examples at some point. If you narrow your classics search down to brands that were successfully repositioned in relation to the market leader, your journey will probably end with Avis. Or better yet, it will start with Avis.

I have studied the Avis repositioning million times. It is a great example of how to challenge the market leader. Avis openly stated that they were number two in rent-a-car business and that they always had to try harder. I was well familiar with the slogan “We try harder”, but only recently I found out that the process that led to it was even more inspiring. 

Back in the sixties Avis was only number two in rent-a-car business in America. They lagged heavily behind the leader Hertz and have not gained profit for years. Somewhere during that time Avis appointed Robert Townsend as their new CEO with the main tasks of reviving the brand and boosting profit. The new ambitious CEO immediately started the search for the creative agency that would help him in achieving those goals.

The agency brief was rather challenging. It demanded a campaign that would achieve the same effect as their rivals but with five times less money. DDB’s Bill Bernbach accepted the challenge under two conditions. The first condition was having 90 days to get to know Avis and its business better. The second was running the campaign exactly as the agency has defined it, without making any changes. Two businessmen shook hands and the rest is history.

Not only was the branding and advertising history made that day, but also the history of good and respectful relations between the client and the agency. Robert Townsend wrote a short manifesto making sure that the deal between Avis and DDB was fully respected. He had the manifesto framed and hung in every office at both sides.

Meanwhile, DDB came up with a strategy and the creative idea so simple yet so brilliant stating "Avis is only No.2 in rent a cars. So we try harder". The advertising was straightforward, truthful, fun and timeless. Within two years Avis was back in the game with its profit and market share steadily rising.

The moral of the story is simple. Why not try harder to trust the agency next time it comes up with some innovative and challenging ideas. It is definitely worth it if you have in mind that trust and mutual respect are the best incentives in making inspiring and timeless brands.

 

 

Brands are emotional signatures

by: Anja Bauer Minkara, director & senior brand consultant

 

Nike bought Converse in 2003 and filled up Nike’s portfolio perfectly. All Stars are the lifestyle shoes, as opposed to the Just do it shoes, or shoes that make you move and attain personal athletic goals. Nike people were wise and didn’t touch the design of the famous All Stars or Chuck Taylors as they are called.

What’s the secret of a shoe that hasn’t changed since 1949?

They were first made as great basketball shoes endorsed by Chuck Taylor. They were popular in the 1970s by the baby boomers, they were perceived as rebellious, unconventional and very comfortable. The Ramones wore them, Kurt Cobain as well and now everyone wears them. My 2-year-old son, my 59-year-old aunt and I now wear Chuck Taylors or All Stars, just because they look good. Or maybe not, maybe it’s because we feel like we belong to a certain group of people. People, who are a bit rebellious, people who like the style but also the comfort.

Quite simply it’s a good match between looking good and feeling good. Looking good doesn’t need additional explanation, but everyone who wears them feels somehow special which doesn’t explain anything. The reason why could be because of the small Chuck Taylor signature or because Kurt Cobain wore them. It could also be because of the new fashion - the skinny jeans fashion. I don’t know why exactly but I feel like a part of the Chuck Taylor clan.

In their communication they go for passion, for a different or individualistic point of view. They focus on individuals and their professional life – mostly artistic and they convey their personal dreams, philosophies and their take on life.

But naturally people who wear them are not all artists, photographers, hip chefs but normal people who sit behind their desks and maybe dream of breaking out of the stuffy atmosphere and jumping into their world of passion. All Stars could be that push or that rebellious detail on the person that screams I am not what I seem to be.

The two examples show my ambiguity with the brand. The first is a trendy young girl who teaches you how to lace them and another is the communication done by a Polish advertising agency.

 

 

Brand Gossip

by: Petra Despot, brand consultant

 

I enjoy watching Gossip Girl for various reasons. One of them is simple relaxation while another, believe it or not, has to do with branding.

For those of you who don’t know, Gossip Girl is a rather popular American TV show revolving around lives of rich and restless Manhattan youngsters who spend most of their time shopping, partying in fancy clubs and coining conspiracies against each other. As the intro to each episode says, it is “your one and only source into the scandalous life of Manhattan’s elite”. Childish? Maybe. Most valuable when it comes to watching great examples of product placement? Definitely.

Gossip Girl first started airing in 2007 and since then it has provided cozy shelter to numerous brands. Some of the brands that were given a significant role in the show were Vitaminwater, Tally Weijl, Droid, Bing and Verizon. At the same time some premium brands such as Givenchy, Marc Jacobs, Louboutin and Chanel have also starred in some rather nice supporting roles, too.

Advertising brands by placing them in a certain context, for example in life of a young movie star in a popular teen show, is defined as product placement. And trust me, Gossip Girl has product placement brought out to the last detail. Either it was the restless Chuck Bass shopping at Harry Winston or the fabulous Serena van der Woodsen wearing her Louboutins, product placement is definitely the name of the game when it comes to Gossip Girl.

This, sometimes more and sometimes less subtle, form of advertising has proven to be very efficient, especially when targeting eager young population seeking for role models when building their own image. A recent study has shown that product placement scores exceptionally well among teens when it comes to building brand awareness, especially when promoting products such as beverages, cell phones and cars. Even bigger winners may be the owners of web sites, as the same study claims that teens not only notice but also actively pursue web sites shown in their favorite series. 

The producers of Gossip Girl sure had their homework done. One doesn’t have to watch intensively to notice that the stylish Manhattan gals talk or send messages through one of the latest models of cell phones promoted by the Verizon network. And the fact that almost every little conspiracy that goes on in the show has to first be run through Bing search engine isn’t just a happy coincidence. 

So next time when Queen B. (i.e. Blair Waldorf, one of the main characters in the show) drinks her Vitaminwater while wearing a Chanel bag and talking casually over her Droid phone watch carefully. There truly is a great lesson to learn. 

xoxo

 

Feel inspired

by: Anja Bauer Minkara, director & senior brand consultant

 

I feel inspired. Hopefully the man from Porlock won’t come in and mess it up for me like he did for Coleridge. A person from Porlock interrupted Coleridge while he was writing the poem Kubla Khan and ruined his inspiration.

I am inspired. I see that people in this industry think with their hearts when they create incredible advertising. I get disappointed when they just sell. I love it when they inspire us so you stop what you are doing and sit yourself down in front of TV to get something more than just an annoying hard selling ad.

Is our purpose to sell only, or is it our responsibility to walk people through inspirational insights that people - good brave people - thought of to inspire you. This way people see more than just a brand that needs to be placed in their home, in front of their home, but in their minds and hearts as well.

Inspiration leads people to feel like someone tried hard to make them feel good. It’s like sitting down with your good friend who does her best to make you feel better. That’s what good strong people in this industry do and I appreciate it.

There are clients who think this way as well, thankfully. For such clients I only have respect and they deserved that respect the hard way. They had to risk a lot by doing something unexpected. They risked their careers, the stability and fought against the non-believers and the safe-doers. Safe is boring, safe won’t get you anywhere in life, you will be forgotten and dismissed in this industry because of bored consumers who won’t take part in your brand.

So create with your heart, understand that you do have to fight against the non-believers and be persistent at it. You the creative, you the consultant and you the client will feel good and all who need the inspiration will rejoice in that feeling and I don’t know a single person who doesn’t want to be inspired.