Weekly Round-Up: 8-13-08

It’s been a busy couple of days here and due to get even busier with some visitors in town from Cincinnati and a weekend getaway to Dallas with Cindy after that.  In case i don’t get a chance to post with all of that, here is some great posts to keep you busy:

• Coca-Cola’s Conversations Blog – In Mack Collier’s Company Blog Checkup this week, he rated Coke’s effort the best one yet in his ongoing blog series.  Their effort is an interesting twist, as the blog author is Phil Mooney, who describes himself as “the historian/archivist for The Coca-Cola Company for the last 30 years.”  Given the popularity of Coke memorabilia, this is a great way to tap into an existing community and provide an authentic voice within.
• Guy Kawasaki: “The Art of Visual Thinking” –   Guy does it again with a stellar post on how the best ideas should be simple… so simple that they can be drawn on a napkin.  For instance, the image at right describes the basic idea of Southwest Airlines.  No fancy buzzwords, no financial charts and no SWAT analysis.  Just a simple idea, brilliantly brought to life with pen and paper.  Can the idea behind your brand be this simple?
• Shiv Singh: Avenue A / Razorfish introduces AdLife – I am really intrigued by this new offering (done in partnership with Pluck), which Shiv says “will inject social media features like customer comments and user-generated content into digital advertisements such as banner ads or microsites.”
• Ryan Jones: Interview with CEO of Dynamic Logic – Fellow P&G Marketer Ryan Jones provides a great interview with Nick Nyhan, the CEO of Dynamic Logic, on everything to brand ideals to social media measurement. 
• TechCrunch: ToAnswer is Twitter Meets Yahoo Answers – One of the best ways to use Twitter is to ask your network random questions / recommendations.  Fred Wilson of a VC is particularly fond of asking these Twuestions as he calls them.  Now a new site lets you see all the questions being asked across the Twittersphere.  Pretty cool stuff.

Al Ries and I don’t see eye-to-eye on Megabrands

The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding by Al Ries is one of my favorite branding books out there.  In fact, it was one of the first books I read when I started full-time at P&G.  But though I generally have a ton of respect for Ries, I don’t see eye-to-eye with him in his latest AdAge article entitled “The Pitfalls of Megabranding.”

The reason is that Ries has the wrong definition of a “Megabrand”

Now let’s be clear; I agree with the basic premise of the article in that sku proliferation is a major problem in Consumer Packaged Goods.  Ries argues that brands are introducing too many flavor variations, such as the “11 flavors of Wheat Thins.”  These are more choices than a person needs, since they often just want the original flavor.  But that is a discussion for another post entirely.

What I want to point out is how Ries, one of the leading branding experts in the world, gets the concept of Megabrand wrong.  Here are the definitions that Ries uses for a Megabrand throughout the article, including how a “Megabrand” comes to be:

• An innovative new product gets turned into a megabrand in a series of stages that can take decades.  
  • Stage 1: A company introduces a new brand that pioneers a new category. The brand stands for something specific and becomes red hot. 
  • Stage 2: No category can keep expanding forever. At some point, sales level off, so companies figure they need to do something to accelerate their growth, so they introduce line extensions.
  • Stage 3:After awhile, the numerous line extensions have undermined what the brand stands for. So the company decides to turn the extensions into brands and the brand into a “megabrand.”
• “The whole idea of a megabrand is to strip the brand name of any actual meaning and turn it into a Paris Hilton. Famous for being famous.”

So the argument Ries makes is that a megabrand is a series of line extensions, including new flavors or skus within the core category, and that these extensions are done to provide “more choice.”  He even points out how P&G made a megabrand out of Olay and is doing it with Gillette at the moment. 

But I think Ries missed the mark on megabranding for two core reasons:

1. Megabrands are not about new flavors, sizes or variants within the same category:  Ries is right about Goldfish, Wheat Thins and Gatorade having too many flavors.  But the fact these brands have multiple flavors and sizes within the same category is not a “pitfall of megabranding.”  A megabrand has nothing to do with having lots of sku’s….that is just about being a big brand with lots of sizes
2. A megabrand is not about stripping the brand name of actual meaning…in fact it is just the opposite:   A Brand Manager can’t just wake up one day and say they are going to turn their brand into a megabrand.  It is a long process where you first have to create a distinctive equity and then you need to see what categories that equity would translate to.  Take Dove for instance, which proved the New York Times wrong when it emerged as a megabrand.  For years their bar soap stood for moisturizing.  They were able to extend that distinctive equity into deodorants, skin care and hair care because consumers gave them permission and believed in their equity.  And that is why Ries was right that Special K, Olay and Gillette are megabrands.  They have distinctive and ownable equites that can give them an unique position in categories they expand to.

Ries is generally dead-on with almost everything he writes about branding, positioning and marketing.  And he brings up a great debate when he says brands are bringing out new varieties just for the sake of new varieties.  But when it comes to saying that a meganbrand is just new flavors and line extensions without meaning, he is just plain wrong.

How to close the Brand Gap between strategy and creativity

Check out this great presentation on how to bridge the gap between Strategic Thinkers and Creative Thinkers.  Created by the folks at Neutron LLC, this is one of the better presentations out there on the subject of Brand Building.  Even better, Neutron’s website invites you to “Steal this Idea” with free downloads the cover other brand building basics.

Thanks to Anthony from Driven Leaders for passing this along

My new gig – P&G Digital Brand Strategist

So I can officially announce that as of October 1st, I will be P&G’s new Global Marketing Digital Brand Strategist.

So what exactly is a Digital Brand Strategist?  Well frankly a lot of that is going to be figured out on the job since this is a completely new position for P&G Marketing.   At the highest levels, the job will be helping drive P&G’s capability in digital marketing, branded content, social media, mobile and a host of other “digital areas”.  My job will be helping guide and equip my fellow Procter & Gamble Brand Managers / Marketers across the company with the tools to develop their digital marketing strategy.  Here is part of the job description:

Accelerating the company’s Digitial Marketing expertise and efforts across the globe is one of the current top priorities. Our commitment is to equip our brand building community with the knowledge and capabilities to create and execute a Digital Marketing Strategy.  Specific responsibilities will include:
– building & running the global digital marketing network
– leading digital marketing training program (content & delivery)
– ‘collect & connect’ of best practices & inspirational case studies
– demonstrating use new digital capabilities for internal communications

This role will involve strong external networking and communication to bring the outside in and keep us in close touch with leading edge capabilities and expertise.

I am super excited about this new role because it allows me to dive headfirst into two areas that I love: Digital Marketing and Brand Building.  It will also allow me to meet and work with many of the people in the online community who I have grown to respect and admire while writing Hard Knox Life.  And with our changes at the top of our marketing leadership, the job will be even more interesting.

As part of the job I will be relocating back to Cincinnati so I’ll be getting ready for that move over the coming 2 months while finishing up some major projects on the Walmart Team.  If anyone is looking/wanting to buy a house in Fayetteville, Arkansas, I can get you a great deal on mine!

Has brand building changed in the digital age?

AdAge had an interesting article yesterday by Allen Adamson, managing director of the New York office of branding consultancy Landor Associates.  Adamson, who is also the author of the upcoming book BrandDigital, writes about “the impact that digital technology and dynamics are having on brands and brand building.” A few key points really jumped out to me:

1. The Digital Space has not changed the basic principles of brand building:  While Digital is about more than just new tactics, it hasn’t turned the basic concept of brand building on its head…at least not yet.  Brand Building is still based firmly in the WHO, otherwise called your customer, target market or any host of other words.  It is about understanding what makes that person tick, what motivates them and who they are as a person.  Likewise Digital has changed the importance of Brand Equity.  Your brand still needs to stand for something meaningful in the hearts and minds of the consumer.  And you need to stand for this something in every way that you communicate with your consumer.
2. While Digital hasn’t changed the basics, it has “magnified” them:  The digital age has made it easier than ever to find “instantaneous feedback” about your target and what they think about your brand.  In this “transparent, shareable environment”, you don’t need to wait for a focus group to learn more about your customer.  You don’t have to wait for a Brand Equity Scan to come in every 6 – 12 months.  Instead you can listen to the conversation from your customers about your brand online with blogs, Twitter, and any other number of tools.
3. With Digital, consumers can become part owners in brand development:  With the digital space, it becomes less about orchestrating a giant mass media campaign through TV and Print with a control message, and more about giving consumers the tools to make a brand their own.  With digital, consumers can quickly spread word about a brand…the control is out of the hands of the company.
4. Success Fators of Digital Brands:  Adamson also interviewed Gary Briggs, former CMO of eBay, who outlined 4 success factors of Digital Brands including A.) Comprehensiveness, B.) Playfulness/Fun, C.) Ease of Use, and D.) Trust.  Of these, I think Playfulness is the most interesting one, especially if fun is at the heart of your brand equity.  Subservient Chicken worked so well for Burger King not only because it was a fun digital experience, but also because it built BK’s equity of “You Can Have It Your Way.” 

The challenge of building our brands in a digital world will grow exponentially in the future.  The winners are going to be those brands that not only recognize the branding opportunities of digital but also capitalize on them.  Adamson wrote that in his research:

“It was fascinating see which traditional branding organizations were highest on the digital-learning curve in adopting new technology to further their branding efforts and which were taking their time getting up to speed.”

That quote perfectly captures the opportunity in my career at P&G that I will be talking about in tomorrow’s post.

Brands I Love – Refinding

trashion = fashion from trash

Refinding is an incredibly cool company that turns discarded rubber tires, tennis balls, and other items into hot fashion accessories like belts, purses, and bags. In their own words: 

…each item is made by hand using reclaimed stuff to create one-of-a-kind, couldn’t duplicate it if we knew howfashion accessories. We call it “trashion,” you’ll call it “cool.”

I first read about Refinding in Thrillist a couple of months ago.  But it wasn’t until last week that I found out that one of the guys behind the company is actually a creative I work with over at Saatchi & Saatchi X.  Pretty cool stuff and definitely a brand I love.

You might be surprised where Gen Y is hanging out online

If someone asked you the #1 website for teens, my guess would be that you’d answer one of the top social networking sites like MySpace or Facebook.  Same goes for the twenty-something set.  Well if so, the most recent TRU Study would have proved you wrong.  I was pretty surprised to see YouTube #1 with 8 of 10 Teens visiting in the last 30 days…beating out both MySpace at #4 (56%) and Facebook at #7 (42%).  A few other things that caught my eye:

• 50% of Teens and 56% of Twenty-somethings visited Wikipedia in the past 30 days.  I think that answers the question of what Geny Y views as “credible” information.
• eBay makes the top 6 on both lists and is the #1 “commerce” site for Gen Y.
• Yahoo is #3 on both lists.  They have been getting slammed recently and basically discounted as irrelevant by some in the press.  My guess would be the high ranking of Yahoo is thanks to their Web 2.0 plays like Flickr, Del.ico.us and MyBlogLog…not their base portal or search (except maybe Yahoo Mail).

TRU July 2008 Most Visited Websites