Friday 30 July 2010

RAC drive-in idea will do good things for the brand

In August the RAC are launching drive-in movies in two UK locations (check-out their site for details).

Okay, it's not a new idea but I think it's a really smart strategic fit for them.

It will deliver a pleasurable in car brand experience that rewards existing members and attracts potential members.

It builds some positive and interesting news around an otherwise low interest category.

Rewarding existing users, attracting new users and driving positive advocacy will do good things for the RAC brand.

Neat.

Good luck with the weather.

Tuesday 20 July 2010

P&G seem to have created a social media winner



I am really enjoying this Old Spice campaign.

It has started to take-up a life of it's own..and so far it seems to be really working. It is getting noticed.

There is an interesting post by Influential Marketing Blog that suggests the following success formula:
  • Simple smart strategy that talks directly to women
  • Creative execution using appropriate personality
  • Personal investment - the ad agency team apparently love the campaign and have been very active about it on-line
It is also getting some excellent spoofs.

Great stuff.

Delighting consumers is the key to business success

I talk a lot about the power of delighting consumers.

I believe if a brand can deliver a brand experience that over-delivers and delights - the consumer is more likely to buy again and may be even talk about your brand. (Many studies demonstrate that word of mouth is one of the most influential touchpoints).

Seth recently wrote an interesting blog about the paradox of promise in an age of word of mouth.

It is worth a read and he references a really useful MBA chart (above).

It is challenging but simple.

Brands need to be really smart about the promise they make and, when it comes to advertising, they must only talk about what their brand will deliver.

Then they must ensure the deliver what you promise every time.

Failure to do so will, at best, stop consumers buying again and, at worst, make them angry. Angry consumers can create a serious headache given that social media is like word of mouth on steroids (an excellent quote from the popular ‘What The F**k is Social Media’ slideshare presentation). Check out my previous article about United, Dell and Comcast

The best brands deliver every time and also work out how to delight.

This is not easy but it is worth the effort.

A good start point is to assemble all the key stakeholders who are involved in delivering brand experiences across the whole path to advocacy.

Align on a definition the brand experience you can deliver consistently.

Then ensure the organisation is in-sync and focused on delivering it.

This is what winning brand organisations do time and time again. [Think Apple, Zappos, Virgin]

Sunday 18 July 2010

Top ten tatts

Kevin Roberts wrote a great piece on his blog recently about tattoos and how some people are so committed to a brand they will get a tattoo.

Wow. This is really is ‘loyalty beyond reason’ (one of ways he describes Lovemark brands).

The article also mentions a book called Brand Sense, written by Martin Lindstrom , that explored the brand-tattoo phenomenon and that shares results of a survey asking which brands people would most want to have tattooed on their arm.

These are the top ten brands:

  1. Harley Davidson (18.9%)
  2. Disney (14.8%)
  3. Coke (7.7%)
  4. Google (6.6%)
  5. Pepsi (6.1%)
  6. Rolex (5.6%)
  7. Nike (4.6%)
  8. Adidas (3.1%)
  9. Absolut (2.6%)
  10. Nintendo (1.5%)

They are all fabulous brands. They are successful because they have invested in consistently delivering great brand experiences that delight consumers.

Nice one.

Friday 9 July 2010

4 tips on how to deliver consistent winning brand experiences

I came across some really good advice on how to deliver consistent brand experiences – check-out full article swbratcher.com.

These are the four steps:
  1. Provide service channel options relevent to your consumers’ profile. Eg Baby Bloomers like the human touch but Generation Y are used to interactive channels and expect instant gratification.
  2. Choose authentic rather than WOW experiences. [Think Zappos.com.]
  3. Measure your brand experience from the customers’ perspective , not from an operational efficiency perspective.
  4. Engage your customer facing employees as happy, proud and empowered employees make happy customers. Apparently Nordstrom have a great approach - “Hire the smile; train the skill.”

Great stuff.