Endorsing your brand

Have you seen the recent reality shows with excessive product placements & endorsements? Coke dominates American Idol & Ford paid the show to make sure the logo looked the same - it's amazing how marketers have found a way to get so blatantly integrated into TV shows that I wonder why we need any commercial breaks at all.

Where I do believe they've missed the point is that just seeing your brand's logo or product as a prop doesn't necessarily engage me as a potential customer. There's no real expectation by the viewer and nothing of promise is stated by the brand... we're not stupid, we've figured out it's a business deal and that's where it fails.

James Bond can wear an Omega watch, drive a BMW (they came on board for a bit) or even hold a preferred brand mobile phone, but you can't make me buy one just because of that.

Imagine this: Coca Cola sponsors a charity drive for a famine struck country in Africa. Two cents from every drink sold goes towards this charity & they build 100 wells for clean drinking water... would you buy a coke?

I bet you would and American Idol would be a lot more fun to watch.

Luxuriously online

And here we were thinking that the giant dotcoms on the internet were only selling books or facilitating auctions.

Its time to be introduced to the 'Digiratis' a segment of consumers with little disposable time but lots of disposable money and they're making a change on the internet! Gucci took a bold step by selling $3,000 watches online and airlines like Lufthansa offer incentives for customers buying business class tickets (some transactions are nearly $20,000 or more). Then there's yoox.com who sell designer wear by labels like Giorgio Armani, D&G and many more.

What's your brand doing on the internet? If you're using the internet by emulating what your competition is doing then you're already on the downward slope - innovate the offer, get your customers to engage with your brand, tell your story & make your products available; there's a global consumer out there with little time but a fair bit of money.

Making it count

Instinct and intelligence are not always quantifiable, there's an aspect of the intangible that allows brands to make leaps & bounds as they evolve.

Nobody stood by Walt Disney when he launched his first animated film, he borrowed $500 from his uncle to make the film and everything else was history. There was no business plan or feasibility study - it was his unfaltering belief in himself and what he could offer. By the way if you were the person who lent Walt that money, it would be worth over $1 billion today.

The learning: Not everything that counts can be counted & not everything that can be counted, counts.

Shopping for a genie

We get approached regularly by companies large & small to present our ideas or strategy for their marketing needs. It could be a new identity or a new ad campaign and we're told to present our wares for them to consider appointing us. We humbly bow out of speculative pitches as our intellectual property is the primary asset we hold & I don't think it's right for us to invest our resource on a Dutch auction.

I don't see an individual shopping for the cheapest doctor when they have an illness or asking a lawyer to fight their case in court & pay only if they think the verdict is appropriate - so why should an Agency do the same? A pitch process can be a lot more refined, why not offer all shortlisted Agencies an incentive to pitch, maybe a nominal compensation for investing their time & if they win the account then the compensation gets adjusted?

Good etiquette in business is scarce.

Retail realities

There's a retail brand in the city that is known for offering the best range of electronic products. They advertise nearly every day in the local papers, promoting the latest gadgets at attractive prices. As I was in the market for new a DVD recorder I decided to pay their store a visit and check out what was on offer.

As I walked into the showroom I navigated my way to the relevant aisle (poor signage but nonetheless I found what I was looking for). I waited for nearly 20 minutes for one of the salesmen to show me the product I wanted, he was juggling two other customers & decided that I was not a priority.

I waited & then found one of his colleagues to help me. He worked for another section of the shop & didn't know much about what I was looking for. Also, he had terrible body odour so I was quite happy to fend for myself. I finally got the item I wanted, was given a receipt to take to the cashier & asked to pay at the counter.

With a queue 20 deep and two tills un-manned, I wondered where the floor manager was as he could have made the paying part a lot faster. No, they ambled along and eventually I decided it wasn't worth the wait. So, I quietly stepped out of the showroom & decided to go home.

The lesson here is that retailers should focus more on customer engagement, not just spend thousands of dollars on expensive ads but improve the overall customer experience - make the showroom smell nice & fresh, change the light-bulbs, train the staff, tell them to have a shower, ask the floor manager to be more alert, welcome customers, be fast, be intelligent and most importantly divide your time, not your attention.

If I experienced the above then I don't need to see ads to be reminded to visit the store every now & then.

Hello? Hello! Hello.

When was the last time you stepped into a stranger's house, without an invitation, and decided to join their family at the dinner table and rudely interrupted their conversation to talk about yourself? There's a good chance you've never done this & cringe on the idea of experiencing something similar.

So, the question that comes to mind is why do marketers think that its okay to send their messages to customers without any manners? Why do I receive an SMS at 10pm telling me about a sale that I am not interested in? Why do I receive e-mails that offer houses for sale when I am not looking for a property?

Manners in marketing are critical to a brand. Engage me on a one-to-one basis, look me in the eye and convey some level of sincerity & you might be able to bring me on board. Receiving spam mails or SMSs are similar to shaking hands with someone while looking at someone else, its poor form.

The trouble is that marketers seek the 'easy' fix, now the 'right' solution; the spray & pray strategy will eventually leave brands praying for their own existence.

Aspirations at every level

I was observing how individuals of varied income categories all aspire for something or the other. A young child wants the new playstation console, a single mother seems to know everything about the latest perfumes and desires to buy the latest fragrance, a young student wants an iphone, a mid-level manager wants the new Chevrolet or a new mont blanc pen and so it goes forth leading up to millionaires who aspire for the private jets or other worldly goods than cater to their self-esteem.

Aspirations are a good thing, they keep individuals driven to perform and earn what they desire. In business therefore it seems quite obvious that whatever product or service you launch must hold aspirational values, something that makes people say 'I want to be part of this experience'. This would also allow a brand to authenticate their promise and make the life of marketers more effective; a good product is the foundation of good marketing.

So, no point wasting all that money in promoting an average product, lets first look inwards & then step into the world. That's what gives a brand sustainability above & beyond what the competition does.

PBP? What does that mean?

The papers in Dubai recently seem inundated with news about new real estate projects, each one tries to be better than the other and superlatives shout out in their print ads and on billboards across the city. So, how do I as a customer, navigate my way through the clutter in information and choice to make a decision that would be appropriate for me?

I see the same royalty-free stock shot and promises of utopia in the desert with a fake smile or a staged family sitting around a kitchen table, then I see the 0% down-payment message & an obscure company's logo that's recently been incorporated. Hardly the sort of thing that instills confidence... and to make it more appealing they throw in a free car!

Real Estate companies need to look inwards first and understand that buying a house is one of the most expensive investments an individual makes in his life time, so why not engage me as an equal in the communication and acknowledge the many questions that need to be addressed. Be direct, be original, don't show a piece of Italy in Dubai or promises of English countryside. Convince me that your development will be a reliable one, that you'll deliver on time and not have any hidden charges.

Typically, companies that successfully make this leap have a PBP in their core culture; Purpose Beyond Profit. This allows organisations to sell without trying to sell - they make a connection by telling their story with real people to real people. Disney's purpose is to be the happiest place on earth - selling fun then becomes easier.

Amnesty International's purpose is to protect human rights, getting onto the government panels of various countries and generating revenue becomes easier because of their unfaltering purpose.

I think all organisations need that little something that exceeds what's the stakeholders see in their bank, after all, not everything that can be counted actually counts.

Who's your customer?

How well do you know your customer? When was the last time you actually spoke to one and asked them how they were (without trying to sell them something). Some say that loyalty is what remains when belief has departed. In some instances i actually believe that too because an authentic brand message provides a reason for customers to change the way they behave, not stick to a routine.

So, why then should a customer be loyal? Does a piece of plastic really bring them back? Waitrose, the British supermarket chain owned by the John Lewis Group has no loyalty program yet retains its strong customer base as well as its reputation for being the 'expensive' supermarket. How do they do it?

Maybe loyalty can be retained by brands doing what they are actually meant to - focus on developing and providing a good product or service, do it consistently and while you're at it, improve!

Bonding versus branding

I have been reading a lot in recent months and one thing that particularly screams out in marketing books is the aspect of emotions in brand affinity. How does a customer fall in 'love' with a brand? This has got a lot to do with the ESP of a brand, the emotional connection that it promises to its customer as the engagement begins.

I agree with this because being known doesn't necessarily mean being loved. Look at United Airlines compared to Virgin Atlantic - you instantly feel a connection to the charisma of Virgin as a brand but no real emotion arises when you mention United. Today, brands need to dig deep for a connection, a simple truth that they can own and nurture as they build their brands - this truth should be an authentic, believable promise that allows customers to connect with the brand.

A similar debate swims through my mind when it comes to the media mix used by brands to promote their products. Typically, one brand uses outdoor and suddenly the rest of them join the band wagon - why? Does ubiquity really make your brand's presence felt in the market place? Would you rather not be in a place where you can emotionally wrap the customer's attention? I think a brand which potentially identifies these unique media will hold the customer captive - it could be a small sign at a school of special needs saying you recently supported them by donating toys - that's makes me feel warm.

Why change?

Inspiration can come from anywhere & yes, anyone can be creative. I believe that all agencies should reinvent themselves every now and then, similar to how we're undertaking this mammoth task of practicing what we preach to others. Any organisation that doesn't realise that change is perpetual and as much as our endeavors to hold onto our 'roots' and 'culture' - change should be an integral part of the agenda.

Should you change your positioning? Maybe, maybe not, but instead of re-inventing, i think its important to re-interpret your positioning as time progresses - this is critical to be able to maintain relevance without diluting it. A tough task, but a necessary one.

Why not ask yourself what your positioning statement truly means - in my opinion a strong positioning makes you question yourself, not necessarily be smug with an easy answer. Those are the pillars on which giants stand.