First it’s good to be back after my website went dark for about a week to address a change in hosts, and an extended bout of laziness that kept me away.

Microsoft, Google, Apple these are 3 of the largest tech companies in the world. They’re so similar and yet so very different.  These differences have really come out to the forefront lately with some of the choices in branding and marketing.

Apple

  I’ve been reviewing the new products Apple is releasing and how they talk about them to consumers. One thing is standing out, the use of the word “magical”, whether it’s the iPad or the new “magic trackpad” apple wants us to envision a world where their products bring to earth an almost imaginary experience. A new reality this is what Apple Brings.

Google

Their public facing brand has more to do with science fiction than technology. Their versions resemble confectionary delights rather than the operating systems they really are. Yes, Google has really embraced the fanciful in a way that inspires their customer base to jump in and get engaged.

Microsoft

Then there is Microsoft a juggernaut in the enterprise space but still very much an up and comer in the consumer space. They’ve got a few fanciful names like “bing, Azure, XBox, and Zune” but for the most part they are rooted in attaching to a brand that has been iconic in Redmond for over 20 years. Yes, everything is Windowized at the moment with: Windows Phone, Windows Mobile, Windows Azure, Windows Live Messenger, Windows Embedded, Windows Server, and a host of other products.

A once fanciful brand Windows has become a generic extended statement that tries to attach all these new markets to the desktop experience Microsoft dominates. Unfortunately, consumers aren’t getting excited by pushing the desktop experience into all these different categories. The message appears to come off as mundane and ordinary.

Fantasy in Marketing

There used to be a time when marketers were very cautious about making overly ambitious statements. Now making these bold fantastic, nowhere near reality statements have become the way to captivate an audience and cut through all the noise in the advertising space. Time will tell how long this trend lasts but it’s something that we’re seeing 3 major players handling a bit differently and it’s having meaningful results on performance.

So I bought a new car last week, and after years of not having a functioning cigarette lighter to utilize an adaptor for a mobile phone I’m now ready to buy one. Now there’s some general rules I typically follow to make sure I don’t spend too much on this sort of thing, first of which is don’t ever buy from a branded carrier’s store (pro tip they make money from the accessories), and second the best possible place to buy is typically Radioshack®.

Buying Experience

Radioshack is cheaper one because they sell an incredible assortment of stuff including AA batteries that have high margins, and because they typically run an entire store with only two people during the busiest times of the day. So the advantage is I’m getting a cheap charger, but now the problem is there’s no one there to help me get the right charger.

It’s at this point I discover the genius of “PointMobl™” packaging on the chargers in a bright white iPod like section of the store. I pick up a couple of these weird over-sized plastic canister type containers and flip it over to read up specs on the back. Somehow I missed the “Flip it To Fit it!” messaging on the front, but still managed to do exactly what the designers wanted me to. This was some of the most intuitive packaging I have ever seen, as it left the end of the charger that fits into the phone in a small accessible hole in the back. Yes, I didn’t even need a sales associate as I could plug in the charger and know it fit, so simple so easy, its the low hanging fruit of product accessories which everyone else has ignored.

The Purchase Decision

I only had to pick up two packages until I found the product I knew would work with my phone. At that point I had 100% confidence that I had the appropriate product. Its at this point I was so happy with my ability to select the product, make the decision myself that I never even bothered to see if there was a competitive branded product available as well. I never even bothered to check the price (although its because I assumed correctly a $25-30 price window that I knew to be typical for this type of product. This was one of the more rewarding buying experiences I’ve had, and for something as simple and every day as a device charger.

PointMobl™?

Good thing you TM’d that name its a rock-star. OK, all joking aside I just bought a product with a company that has zero brand credibility; this is something of a miracle given my normal purchasing habits. Not only was this product packaging super effective in my purchase decision it actually built considerable brand equity for me. I’m not even kidding when I say I paid more attention to the packagings’ features than the Power Adapters.

So I’m thinking that these PointMobl folks really know this business, its at that point I then discover its not an accessory company but a branded mobile store that is at the very least partnered (and I’m guessing owned) by Radioshack. I must say I’m a bit confused to see the brand over-extending the branded storefronts but maybe this will make rolling out these stores a bit easier. Would love to be sitting in on their brand strategy sessions.

Conclusion

I like my introduction to PointMobil, I think its smart on Radioshack’s part to make use of a branded experience that better aligns with what customers normally associate with purchasing mobile products. I’m also blown away by the thoughtfulness they’ve injected into their offer, it really helps build credibility in an already crowded space.

[youtube loCMWpJcp7g]

Typical M&A

We’ve all heard this story before big juggernaut company buys smaller yet substantial competitor. Proceeds to re-brand the hell out of all of their locations. This translates into a lot of very unhappy customers who immediately swear off the big Goliath that decimated their beloved champion of whatever trade.

Starbucks Acquisition of SBC

I love the simplicity and intelligence behind the branding decisions of how Starbucks has used SBC to date. The best part of it is many of the people who swear they will never enjoy a Starbucks beverage, have no clue what the SBC beverage in their hand is.

SBC as a brand shield

Starbucks had plenty of opportunities to branch out and partner up with various other chains. The dilemma: how can you partner with McDonalds without ruining the premium name associated with Starbucks? Solution: you buy SBC and proudly serve SBC at every McDonalds. Instead of turning a company into a direct competitor or eroding the key brand, they’ve now got a licensee and additional revenue stream.

Separate, Different, Still Cash-flow

A proper segmentation strategy doesn’t cannibalize your business it offers a new channel and source of customers that your traditional business doesn’t align with. Its obvious the strength in Starbucks is the brand, after all in some markets there can be 3-5 coffee stands on 1 street corner. It stands to reason that SBC’s presence will do little to impact this.

Incubation Market

Having a secondary business unit enables Starbucks to create, test, and market new ideas without harm to the main unit if they prove unpopular. This can also be a way of testing out perception or where/why the Starbucks brand is failing or floundering.

The Viral Video

The point of a good viral is the shock value. Taking a team of SBC coffee slamming employees doing a late night urban branding warfare campaign at the Starbucks headquarters is an instant classic. It has that gorilla marketing feel, and if you’re not in on the dirty joke (that SBC is owned by Starbucks) it has quite a lot of shock value. For those people who are “Anything But Starbucks” it could resonate with them. Fun Stuff.

Conclusion

Branding is a powerful tool, especially in a high margin, high service industry like the specialty coffee business. Starbucks the king of the mountain isn’t beyond reproach and recognized this by aiming to build a successful also-ran brand in SBC.

If you had asked who was the big winner the day after the Super Bowl I’d have said the Saints, but now we can see the real winners were Snickers and Betty White.

Hungry for a Good Commercial Grab a Snickers

[youtube X1Sv_z9jm8A]

Somehow Snickers managed to call out a young man in a commercial for performing like he was an old woman and get everyone to laugh at it. On the face this could be the type of comment that could lead to a backlash against the product itself with certain demographics (specifically women) finding the joke offensive. The inclusion of Betty White set the right tone, and turned this commercial into one that will be remembered for quite some time.

For some context:

Facebook has Spoken

Drew Brees the face of the Saints who defied all odds since coming to New Orleans, and managed to lead his team to victory in the Super Bowl.  Yet, Mr. Brees has lost to another improbable face on Facebook.

It’s incredible that Betty White’s write-in campaign has almost 200,000 more fans than Drew Brees, on a site that isn’t even really endorsed or affiliated with the celebrity.

YouTube has Spoken

The most watched video associated with Drew Brees has managed to reach over 909,000 views. The Snickers commercial from the Super Bowl managed close to 1.2 million views.

What’s it All Mean?

There seem to be a lot of engaged potential customers out there for Snickers. The use of a celeb who would likely fall onto the B-list any other week, seems to have been the right choice. The ad campaign seems to have elevated their brand and likely at a pretty manageable cost.

The cost of a Super Bowl commercial is between $2-3 million which gets you in front of 153 million sets of eyes. This large of an audience can’t be ignored, but the impression on the audience is pretty fleeting when you consider they’ve only been served the commercial once alongside dozens of others.

To have the campaign take on legs like it has under the Betty White petition is a wonderful side benefit, that couldn’t have been expected but now can’t be ignored. The question now to marketers everywhere is how can this sort of buzz be replicated without alienating the community it’s feeding off of?

Posts have been few and far between since mid November I know. I’ve been busy getting ready for the holidays, looking for new positions, and most importantly just taking some time for me. During one of these excursions I came across the following sign:

My first immediate thought was how hilarious is it to have a venue advertising Manheim Steamroller and Slayer/Megadeath on the same billboard. My second is why I am going to WAMU theatre when they went the way of the dinosaurs.

We’ve seen lately the huge risk that businesses take when there is any kind of endorsement or sponsorship. I’m curious then why there isn’t an appropriate level of consideration and negotiation in determining mutual escape clauses from these sponsorships.

In thinking on this and Tiger Woods recent experiences I would think that it would be both sides who would wish to end these endorsements. When the media juggernaut is getting a hold of a story there’s nothing worse than opening a fresh wound back up by running a campaign utilizing the person who is in question.

Verizon has come out swinging at AT&T over the extent and availability of their 3G network in response AT&T has solidified a response with actor Luke Wilson as their spokesperson.

The First Spot

[youtube wjwBHqa6lZI]

The Second Spot
[youtube qrx2qEoND5I]

Great use of the TV Commercial
Both spots for AT&T were 30 second commercials as opposed to the longer 1 minute spots Verizon has been running. The tactic AT&T is using is running both spots within the same advertisement break.

By sandwiching a couple of commercials in-between the two AT&T ads they give the impression that Luke Wilson had continued to cover the map with the post cards during the interlude. This type of storytelling really breaks down the fourth wall on the medium and acknowledges the presence of the audience.

AT&T Had to Answer
In addition to the Droid does ads Verizon has been running a series of holiday related ads that show AT&Ts 3G coverage in a poor light. AT&T has had some perceived issues with service mainly due to the strain the unparalleled success the iPhone has achieved has placed on their network. That being said, AT&T felt very strongly that Verizon’s ads on their coverage were missleading so much so they’ve actually filed a lawsuit against Verizon.

Rating the Commercial
I really like the testimonial from Luke Wilson, he comes off as a very down to earth celebrity and is very like-able. The commercial spots really played up this persona as well by having Luke’s dialogue interject a couple personal connections to some of the locations.

The use of the postcard gimmick was also really ingenious. Looking at a coverage map is a rather detached way of making a phone purchase decision. Putting it into perspective that all these places which are important to you, whether they are places where your family and friends are located or a vacation destination, drives a more human connection.

Conclusion
Verizon’s been on a roll with Droid and their aggressive attacks on AT&T, but these ads are a terrific response from AT&T. If the rest of this campaign features this kind of humor and ability to connect with the audience I think Verizon will have a fight on their hands.

Apple’s become quite the fixture in my blog lately much to my chagrin. Here goes another article about them, and all I can say is when you brand products this well it’s deserved when people are talking about.

What is Blue Ocean Branding?
I’m stepping a bit outside of what was intended in the Blue Ocean strategic product management philosophies outlined by W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne. Their focuses were more on how an all up approach to creating a product that moved from a heavily fought area into an area where competitors had missed a market segment wherein their product with a unique value proposition could allow them to capture this segment.

My idea on Blue Ocean Branding is taking an existing product without changing it or with relatively minor changes refocusing the branding and messaging at a blue ocean space. This is not the same as what they’ve discussed previously and some may call it a “tacked-on approach” but we’ll see what value this kind of branding has given the example listed below.

Launching of the iPod Touch
When the Touch was released in September of 2007 it was focused primarily on updating the device look and feel for a music player, along with a secondary focus on a mobile browser and ability to receive content on the go with YouTube integration and iTunes Wi-Fi Music store.

Playing on the strengths of the iPhone the iPod Touch offered much of the value of the iPhone minus the cellular connection and AT&T service.

Personal Music Player Market Trends
This category has come under increased pressure due to 3 things:
• Apple’s previous success and large installed player base that is content with the product they already have.
• Zune and other lower cost device manufacturers trying to grab market-share placing downward pricing pressure on the entire category
• Phones and Mobile Internet Devices making huge inroads into this space

Where would the iPod Touch go?
The building blocks for this branding shift were available in the product from the day the iPod Touch was announced. but the ecosystem wasn’t in place until a full year after the launch.

Where was the iPod Touch going to go as the mp3 player was coming under attack? Into gaming.

Take a look at the current product pillars:
A great iPod
A great pocket computer
A great portable game player

There is hardly even a mention of the music player anymore in their marketing text. People already know the iPod plays music, the brand is synonymous with it in-fact.

Take a look into how they’re even defining iPod now:
iPod touch is music, movies, games, and apps. All at your fingertips.

Music may come first but its only one of four software/content offerings now.

iPod Touch as a Blue Ocean Branding Example
The product hasn’t changed since day one. The ecosystem built itself up around the product (I’m sure with more than a little bit of encouragement from Apple), but I really think the direction they went wasn’t a planned Blue Ocean strategy for this product. The focus and decision making has always been leading out with the phone but with 20 million iPod touches sold that’s too big of a market not to tap into.

In this case Apple looked around and had to wonder we have this shrinking product space, we have a device with some mobile computing power and capabilities where should we go with this? As the AppStore became attractive and developers rushed to be a part of this space they were given an opportunity to transition into a new space. This move by Apple created a blue ocean not just in the world of music players but also in the world of mobile gaming.

Conclusion
While there are some assumptions in this post (mainly around product planning of the iPod Touch) I do think this is a valid example of what I’m trying to get at. Unfortunately much like in the Blue Ocean Strategy book it is extremely hard to validate the assumption outside of the examples of reviewing publically available information (which I provided a link to above).

In this case, with minimal investment of time on product management, or new product design Apple has unlocked a new cash cow. By keeping the iPod Touch specs in-line with the iPhone from day one this opportunity was created.

All has been quiet on the site for the last week or so. Life comes at you fast sometimes; last week was a rather zany vacation in Las Vegas and followed by a transition today out of Microsoft.  In-between my blog suffered.
So topic of the day similar to my “Cult of Personality Post”:

You are your business.
In Vegas as you can plainly see from above I had the opportunity to go and see the magic/comedy duo that is Penn & Teller. I absolutely loved the show and if anyone had asked me what act I’d seen in Vegas that they should go see it would have been there’s.
I’m not going to stop there though, with recommending when prompted. The first thing I did after getting a picture was post on Facebook how everyone should go see Penn & Teller, and now find myself devoting an entire post to them.

Push Further
You see Penn & Teller have gone past the boundaries I would associate with normal celebrities and other Vegas acts and established a close connection with their audience.

Beyond the audience participation bits of the show I was shocked to see an after-show free autograph and picture session. I saw lines gathering and expected to see a sign denoting what the charge for a single picture would be; instead I saw none and was almost perplexed.
Don’t Give Up On What Got You There
Pen n & Teller get it; the same deal that they used to climb the ranks will keep propelling their business forward.  You don’t stop doing the things that made you successful, that’s a lesson everyone should get.

Conclusion
Readership was way up because I was posting compelling articles daily, and I went 5 days between posts. Lesson learned Penn & Teller, be a better steward of my brand. With the recent career shift I’m reinvigorated by the opportunity the blog presents, to be heard, to influence, and to make for better products and services.
Looking forward to a renewed readership base.
Nick

Family Level Branding
There is a local Alehouse I go to on occasion in Seattle which provides a great example of family level branding called The Pyramid Alehouse. With the bright colors and memorable iconography Pyramid’s brand just stands out.

Unlike most other microbrews in the area Pyramid’s branding had been relatively straight forward and in some regards minimalist. I can’t even recall a slogan or any messaging that has ever gone with the logo. They’ve cultivated a strong no-nonsense kickass beer identity with their product.

Starting off with an umbrella brand, or family level brand was a smart move as Pyramid could easily build a following and brand identity in a way that wouldn’t be possible if they had focused on the sub-brands.

Product Level Branding
Pyramid has been in a brand transition for the last couple years. Having expanded to 7 different brews it has become increasingly important to drive awareness to the individual products. Additionally we’ve seen a shift in the crafted or micro-brew market with many more players beginning to surface in wide distribution.

The President of Pyramid calls out the need for a new brand:
“The robust craft beer business continues to grow with new breweries and brands arriving everyday. To remain relevant in a landscape with greater variety, we believe we must constantly evolve our brand and Pyramid is committed to providing craft consumers with interesting beers and experiences that quench their thirst for adventure.”

There is also an increased focus on creating product level positioning something that was not a huge focus before.

Branding Transition
Starting with the seasonal beers Pyramid has offered over the last couple years the company had played around with their branding. By utilizing a product that was not a dedicated product in market through-out the year Pyramid could take chances with their branding and see if it was working out. Some differences in packaging included: fanciful name, artwork that was less focused on the core Pyramid brand, and de-emphasized the beer category the product fell into. With the success in market the seasonals had, Pyramid has now determined to transition over its entire product line to this new branding focus.

Why the business needs changed
In the northwest there are complete isles dedicated to beer. It can be a daunting task to select a specific brew. While Pyramid has built a following and had a strong recognizable brand, it didn’t transition over to all products. By changing focus to the individual beer, Pyramid will drive brand recognition in the categories, hopefully spurring consideration, and ultimately leading to sales.

Conclusion
Pyramid has built a strong family brand, and it was the right way to go about branding when they started off this business. Under increased pressure from competitors it became paramount to build more identity into the product, and management transitioned beautifully.
These branding strategies work in all categories. Consider your own business and ask yourself if your company history shows a similar branding pattern.

If you take a few minutes out of your day to look through your medicine cabinet in the bathroom you’ll quickly notice just how obsessed with branding we have become. Does 7 trademarks on my toothpaste really give me a more noticeable smile?

We’re seeing in industries that are increasingly becoming more competitive and commoditized a tendency to over brand. While this isn’t by any means confined to health and beauty products, my toothpaste is a prime example of this problem.

Which Toothpaste Did I End Up With?
When I went into my local supermarket to pick up a new toothpaste I was overwhelmed with a wall of products to select from. Most brands had at least 3 or 4 different varieties. My goals were to come out with toothpaste that promised teeth whitening and which I perceived as being able to deliver on said promise (very important because I drink a lot of coffee). Note this is not an endorsement paid or otherwise for the product, just my experience.

I ended up with a whitening toothpaste incorporating Arm & Hammer Baking Soda from a company called Church & Dwight who are the makers of Arm & hammer. My perception was Arm & Hammer Baking Soda works and I trust the brand so that was good enough for me.

Over Doing Your Branding
So I know you’re saying “but you bought the product based on the branding, how can you now talk about their branding negatively?”

Here’s how, My toothpaste contained the following brands:
Arm & Hammer Baking Soda (twice)
Arm & hammer Baking Soda Logo (twice)
Advance White
Brilliant Sparkle
Fresh from the dentist feeling

Am I really getting any value out of all of these trade marks?
Arm & Hammer is the family level brand
Advance White is the Product Level brand

The rest of it seems to me to be a bit excessive. Especially given the branding in question is on the tube and not the box. Once the product is safetly unwrapped, in my home, and being used I should hope it could hold up without such excessive branding.

Patents and Active Ingredients
Of note there were only 2 patents associated with the toothpaste, and only 1 active ingredient (Fluoride). I found it interesting that the reason I purchased the product, baking soda, wasn’t even considered an active ingredient but I believe this has more to do with the claims you can make with the FDA than anything else.

Conclusion
Take a hard look at your Intellectual Property specifically in this case your branding and trademarks, do they add value to your customer or do they confuse the message? I think everyone gets the message when you say “Arm & Hammer Baking Soda” + “Advance White” stop there.

Risks of over branding:
Confusing the Message
Eroding the value of the brand you have built
Cost of maintaining and policing the brand