- Posted by Paul Friederichsen on April 15, 2010
Recently, I went to the post office to send an important proposal. I stood patiently in line to make sure that everything would be handled just right. After sending my letter “Certified Mail” (and paying a pretty penny for that “certification”) I left confident my intended recipient would be opening my proposal in a matter of a couple of days. I was even armed with a tracking number, so I could follow the progress of my package on line. That was two weeks ago. After countless entries of the tracking number, the answer was always the same: My package had been accepted at my local post office. Nothing more. Ever.
Ask me what I think of our postal service. Better yet, ask me how impressed or persuaded I am when I see the latest ad campaign by the postal service “If it fits, it ships”. While a boatload of money was spent producing that campaign and running it in primetime, they’ll never get another $7.53 of mine. I am now a diehard Fed-Ex brand advocate, thanks to the USPS.
There are three lessons to be gleaned from my little story …
The best marketing cannot overcome a lousy product or service. Tens of millions has been spent in developing a new delivery promise for USPS, millions more to advertise and promote that to business people like me, while at the same time polishing their brand image. For me (and likely millions more like me), a breakdown in the service, a disgruntled employee, or equipment malfunction suddenly neutralizes all that firepower. What’s worse, bad news travels fast. (Notice the fact that I’m sharing this with you now.)
Good marketing can actually accelerate the demise of a bad product or service. Nothing succeeds like over-promising to bring down a brand. Again, going back to my personal encounter with the postal service, they actually had me believing they were something they weren’t. So when they fail to live up to that expectation – Wham! My trust has been abused and betrayed. Multiply that over and over and you’re the postal service cutting Saturday mail delivery in order to stop the bleeding. Which leads to the third truth …
The business is one thing. The brand is something else. The business of the “if it fits, it ships” folks is delivering the mail. Duh. But the brand is all about trust. Trust built on reliability, dedication, efficiency, pride, etc. When I handed my proposal to the woman behind the counter, along with my $7.53, I gave her and the whole organization she represented my trust at that very moment. The entire business including all their trucks, airplanes, buildings, pension plans, sorting machines, boils down to an emotional connection between the business entity and the customer. That connection or bond is either made or lost with every touch point. One of my favorite quotes is from Sergio Zyman “Every detail either makes the sale or loses the sale.” The devil for brands is indeed, in the business details.
The moral for advertisers is simple. Your customer won’t be fooled. And there’s always someone else when it absolutely, positively has to be there.
- Posted by Paul Friederichsen on February 8, 2010
Are we expecting too much?
Thankfully, this year’s game was fun to watch (especially if you were a Saint’s fan). But if your reason for watching the game was the commercials, fun was in short supply. Instead, you were served-up a heaping helping of lame ideas, sometimes horrifically misguided, that fell with a thud to the tune of $2 to $3 million every 30 seconds. It was, overall, a disappointing crop of ads.
Biggest brand losers: A tie between Bud Light and Doritos. Both are ideal sponsors for the biggest game of them all. Both have produced fresh and critically praised spots in the past. But for Super Bowl 44, both came off as stale as leftovers from Super Bowl 43. Or 42.
Failure to live up to the hype: This distinction goes to Focus on the Family’s spot staring Mrs. Tebow and son, Tim. Evidently, CBS felt the same way and ran it early in the first quarter. The message of this spot was lost when talking-head-mom Tebow had too much copy to contend with before being sacked by her precocious grown-up son. The spot attempted to prove how tough she is by taking a (lovingly playful) hit by a 200 lb.+ man child but failed to communicate what the heck it was all about. It was ridiculous and frankly, offensive with its lame attempt at slapstick humor that actually felt violent. Focus on the Family should have put its money to better use.
Most politically tone-deaf message: Goes to Audi and its “green police”. This spot attempted to humorously and over-the-top depict police apprehending people who don’t behave in an environmentally responsible manner in everyday life. Except, of course, unless you drive the new Audi. Problem #1: Simply not funny. Problem #2: An arrogantly creepy police state message liable to tick-off the majority of Americans watching the Super Bowl (see latest political poles regarding “big government”). This is the absolute reverse of Apple’s classic 1984 “Big Brother” spot that launched the Mac. The advertising police should arrest whoever approved this concept.
Enough already before I throw-up: Please, Budweiser, no more adorable Clydesdale- grows-up-with-buddy-longhorn-steer ideas. Exactly what was the cheesy philosophy Budweiser is trying to impart? “Nothing gets between friends … especially fences”? Huh? And how does that sell more beer? Please stop already.
Enough with screaming animals: To Denny’s screaming chickens “Grand Slam Eggs” spot. Sorry Denny’s. Screaming animals was done last year. Your Grand Slam message was merely a foul ball. Carmax, on the other hand, used animals better (though not necessarily award-winning) in its “Dramatically Smart” ads.
Thank you for remembering where you are: Dodge Charger and Flo TV “Missing Spine” spot. While neither spot will likely be Clio winners, both were dead-on perfect to the target: men. Both were funny. Both were well written. Both were well-suited to the program. Thank you also to Hyundai for the beautifully created Sonata campaign showcased during the Super Bowl. The concepts were fresh and well executed – particularly the “Luxury for Everyone” spot.
Leave a comment to share your favorite (or least favorite) Super Bowl commercials!
- Posted by Paul Friederichsen on January 15, 2010
We’ve all heard the old saying, “dance with the one who brung ya”. Translation: don’t abandon what has worked for you.
Yet, there’s a tendency, especially when things are hard, to try different things to help the situation. Or to cut corners to save money.
With all of those good intentions, something very valuable could suffer as a result: your brand.
Don’t misunderstand … experimentation with different media and creative approach, consolidating your budget so you’re not spread too thin, etc., is a good thing. In fact, just about every marketing or sales advice columnist in the floor covering trade media advocates getting more aggressive with promotions, or embracing social media in your mix as a means of reaching your customer more effectively. It’s all good advice.
Just don’t lose your brand (meaning your identity, your differentiation, your unique position in your marketplace) in all of that.
Usually, brand identity is tied (for independent floor covering retailers) to how well and uniquely service and expertise are delivered versus larger competitors that compete on price, wider selection or at-home shopping convenience.
Use your new promotional tactics, your expanded web presence and your tweets to enhance and amplify how you (your store brand) are the best choice among all available options to do your customer’s flooring project. Obviously have sales and specials, but promote your service, use your website to talk design ideas and your tweets to tout your latest accomplishments, too.
And don’t allow creative executions to alter your brand, either. For example, if you’ve built your store’s brand on class and sophistication, don’t resort to ads that resemble a cheap discounter with bomb-bursts and jarring headlines. There are ways to pump-up the urgency of the offer without alienating your customer. Notice how Empire has stayed consistent in their creative framework but has seamlessly introduced promotional offers.
In some cases, brand identity does need to change, necessitated by a change of ownership, a merger, an affiliation or evolution of the store (expanded product line, altered business model, added service capabilities, etc.) to jump-start growth.
Care must be taken to communicate and position the change so as not to alienate but energize your current customer base.
Most agree that this slow climb out will continue through 2010. But we will climb out.
Leave a comment to share your thoughts.
- Posted by Paul Friederichsen on December 10, 2009
... So I Must Be Doing Pretty Darned Good!
This year at SURFACES, I’ll be in the company of two awfully smart, energetic, and knowledgeable people in the floor covering business: Scott Peron, President of Big Bob’s Flooring; and Christine Whittemore, Chief Simplifier of Simple Marketing Now LLC, a unique consultancy she started a year ago or so. The three of us are teaching a session together entitled “Marketing in a Recession 101”. They’re giving us a three hour-length session to cover the topic, but we could go longer – there’s much to talk about.
This “great recession” has been a great hardship on a lot of dealers – indeed many of us. Many have had to pull back their advertising. Many have simply gone out of business altogether. It’s tough to hang in there, so we’re hoping this session will be a source of inspiration, encouragement, reacquainting with basic marketing ideas and practical advice and tips to take back and utilize. You see, the three of us believe in the power of marketing, especially in times like these. I heard a commercial from a media company (obviously) the other day put it this way: Not advertising to save money is like turning off your open sign to save on your electric bill. Talk about being penny wise and pound foolish!
As for me, I’m an old ad guy (guess I’ve now been the business long enough to qualify for that description) and I’ll be laying the ground-work for the session: branding. It’s foundational to everything. To get into the topic, we’ve created a fictional dealer and tell his story. We’re betting a lot of you will identify with this composite character and how he rediscovers the power locked inside his brand to survive and thrive.
Next, Scott will get you pumped-up about advertising. I met Scott a few years ago when I introduced his session at Surfaces and I’ve been a fan ever since. The guy is a walking dynamo. But equally important is his experience and skill with marketing. He’s not your typical company president (no offense to any company presidents out there) but he loves this stuff and it shows.
Our session wouldn’t be complete without the third member of our trio: Christine. She’s everybody’s favorite expert on the Internet on how to utilize Social Marketing. It’s fascinating and ever so important nowadays to business success. Christine is one of my favorite people in this business – pure class. How she’s learned all this technical stuff, I’ll never know. But she also practices what she preaches, and she’ll show you how at our session.
Branding, advertising and social marketing. Those are the big three to help you generate success with your business in this day and age. Join us! You’ll be in good company.