Sprint, Stop, Sprint

Nothing makes me sadder than seeing clients throw their money away, even if they aren’t my clients. In particular I’m struggling with the new Sprint commericals that have been innundateing me lately. The spots are beautiful in black and white, have some nice emotional background music and CEO Dan Hesse talking to the camera — that said, they seem completely off strategy.

Let’s start with Dan Hesse.  There are traditionally two occassions when CEO’s become spokesmen.  Firstly, when the company is in dire financial straights or have just wronged their consumer (see United and Jet Blue), the second one is when the CEO is an icon which arguably adds value to the campaign (Paul Newman, Bill Gates, Lee Iacocca). I think this may be a case of finanical difficulties trumping common sense.

Secondly, most of them don’t actually say anything that is differentiated. This is a problem beyond advertising for Sprint, but if you are going to interrupt people and ask them to pay attention to you, please have something to say or at least some entertainment to offer. These spots do neither.

Part of the problem lies at the feet of the business of course. Sprint was depositioned in terms of coverage by Verizon and at&t, they lost out on the iPhone to at&t, The Gphone to T-Mobile, they have lost their hold on push-to-talk to Verizon and then their all inclusive plan was quickly countered by everyone else on the market.

At the end of the day, Sprint is in some trouble. I’d take some of that advertising budget and put it into innovation/research in order to find a differentiating proposition for the brand, rather than simply rolling out Dan Hesse.  He must have better things to do with his time.

Viagra simplifies its positioning

Since Cialis entered into the market a few years back, Viagra has been searching for a new positioning. As Cialis started to talk about the mood using their “when the time is right” emotional language, Viagra started pushing masculinity and trotting out older celebrities to reinforce its credibility. As Cialis started being more about the relationship, Viagra became more about the man.

In the last month they seem to have tweaked their positioning again, this time more clearly marketing themselves as a solution to the mid-life crisis. While this positioning has always been available to them they seem to have avoided it in the past as either being too trite or narrowly defining. Indeed, in looking at the executions they seem to be rather obvious in taking the the traditional trappings of the midlife crisis and putting them in Viagra wrapper. The television spot that best sums up their new positioning is the recent execution when the guys shows up on a motorcycle to surprise his wife, although it is equally apparent in this spot when he gets the garage band back together.

Reebok one-ups Nike

I don’t know how many folks have been following the story of Arien O’Connell who ran in the Nike Women’s Marathon here in San Francisco. She was a school teacher who ran the race but didn’t run in the “elite” group because she thought of herself as an average runner.  Turns out that she ran her best time that day.  A time that beat the average time of the elite group.  Actually it beat the 3rd, 2nd and 1st place finishers of the elite group.  And it wasn’t by chance, everyone was equiped with digital timers that registered their times automatically so it wasn’t as if she hopped the bus and showed up at the finish.

So, great story for Nike you would think.  Woman says just do and and does it.  Not so fast, it took them DAYS and a bit of bad press to even give her a trophy although they made it clear that she still didn’t win.

Along comes Reebok and gives her a trophy for the race and $2,500 for her school.  Pretty good move Reebok…oh, and getting a press mention and building your brand as “for everyone” is definitely worth a couple of grand.

Flick your Bic, and call me

O telefone celular descartável da Bic – BIC PHONE
Originally uploaded by eaymichel

I seem to spend much of my time lately deriding brand extensions. Despite that fact, I do believe in extensions and I do believe that brands can grow in to new markets by leveraging their fundamental brand values and engineering technology.

Unlike that awful Vasoline extension, I do like the new move by BIC to enter into the reusable mobile phone market. The phones don’t pack much of a punch in terms of apps but they do what phones used to do…allow you to talk. Seems great for International business, low-income consumers and folks in the developing world. It also fits into BIC’s primary brand equities of being disposable and easy to use.

As important, is how the extension integrates into their business objectives of pushing fuel cell batteries. More here courtesy of BusinessWeek.

What’s next for the Obama brand?

photo by distillerymedia

I was in NYC last weekend watching folks line up to buy Obama shirts at the farmer’s market and thinking about how all this is going to end. I’ve admired the brand, the way they have built it and managed it but I also realize that it’s not a “brand” that is probably going to last. Think how strange it would be to see folks walking around town in Bush 04′ tee shirts everyday.

As a voter in a democracy, I certainly hope that I’ll continue to be proud and affiliate with my elected official but will I wear his likeness? No, while I’m willing to do that during a campaign I’m far less likely to do so once they are actually in office…which is an interesting issue for a brand.

From a brand management point of view, it’s a huge opportunity to transfer the equities of the Obama brand into brand America both domestically and abroad. But that effort requires different tools than the ones that have been used to date: buttons, tee shirts, posters and hipster Obama belt buckles (although Joe the Plumber could probably use one).

Wine and Art

photo[1]

Originally uploaded by distillerymedia

Wine labels are really rather boring as a design class. There is so much competition in the wine aisle and it seems most companies employ either an old, historic (confidence building) label or they put an animal on it. I don’t know what it is about all these drunk animals but it seems like we should probably release them back to their natural habitats.

Enter Betts & Scholl, a winery that I don’t really know much about except that they appear to be négociants who buy juice from other folks and sell it under their own label.

What I like about them is their art. My friend Sarah Endline has been doing this with her chocolate company Sweetriot as well and I like the approach. You find some great artists who are willing to take on a project either for love or money and suddenly your product becomes a bit classier. You certainly look better bringing it to a dinner party and you support an artist while you’re at it.

Seems like there might be a business here in creating an artist consortium to take on this sort of work…of course that is sort of called a design studio huh…

Can you have a brand resurgence while a business is in decline?

theapocalypse

Originally uploaded by distillerymedia

I bemoaned the passing of Polaroid’s Instant Film a few months back which will cease making it’s namesake product shortly.  I was further saddened when, at a party I hosted a few weeks ago, I pulled out my camera to realize that some of my film had started to turn bad. I felt like it was the end of an era.

The economic model never really made sense (over a buck a photo) in the digital age and of course they were an environmental disaster…but so much fun. And the people having their picture taken always seem to have more fun.

SwissMiss cheered me up today by posting POLADROID. A free app that lets you recreate your favorite images as if they were taken on the spur of the moment, with money to burn and free of life’s cares. Personally, I think all photos should look like that.

As for Polaroid, I hope someone can buy the license and figure out how to bring prices down while keeping the technology around so the brand may continue in its current form.

When Brands Attack – Modern Marketing Trends

Aggressive.

Originally uploaded by
Porcelaingirl° {enthusiastic foolish}

The economy is in the crapper, pocketbooks are tight, there are way too many brands in the world all competing for less money. The old terms like share-of-wallet only worked when the wallets were open and there was money in them ready to be sent out in the world to satiate our needs, wants and desires…if only temporarily.

As outlays shrink, brands HAVE to get more aggressive with their marketing to even maintain share. For that to happen, it helps if brands have been thinking about this all along.

In comfortable times, brands should still be managing their equities, building their customer base, creating loyalty and solidifying differentiation. This is all what really defines something as a brand. But as a great Warren Buffet quote goes, it is “in the times of low tide that you find out who has been swimming naked.” (Or something to that effect.)

The brands that are successfully playing offense are doing so on product differentiation. To simply scream louder and behave as a schoolyard bully will not win you points in this market. Playing the trump card that you have been holding will.

Apple is aggressively going after Microsoft by not just using product differentiation but now using Microsoft’s own advertising against them. Clever, witty, truthful and Apple has built up the equity and credibility over the last few years to play some hardball.

Progresso is going on the offense against Campbell’s with full page ads noting that they have no MSG, whereas Campbell’s does. Taking one product advantage, leveraging it and making it matter. This is how brands play offense. Campbell’s retort that Progresso tastes watery by comparison is subjective and sounds less authentic. Ironically, General Mills owned Progresso likely only removed MSG from their soups after previously being attached by Campbell’s sub-brand.

Dunkin Donuts is going after Starbucks with a taste test campaign touting its better tasting coffee. In this case the claim works better since the perception is that Dunkin Donuts is also cheaper. Whereby cheaper and better tasting always sounds better. Dunkin is also still perceived as an underdog which generally get more traction out of aggressive marketing.

Bottom line: when times are tough and money is tight you have to have clear product differentiation supported by a strong brand. Consumers aren’t going to take a lot of risks with their limited resources and therefore want to be more confident and have a clearer rationale for purchase.

Why yes, Scottrade, I am crazy!

Picture 9

Originally uploaded by distillerymedia

Digital ads are the wave of the future and here to stay. But there are still problems with placement and the ability to actively manage them when they are completely out of touch with what it happening with active content.

As an example, I’ve attached a link to a Scottrade ad that asks if I’m feeling great about the market.  The market is down 600. The answer is not so much.

Make yourself comfortable…but not that comfortable.

Griffin pointed out this ad for Extended Stay hotels which stinks.  Or blows. Or, nevermind, just watch it.  I’m really quite concerned for whoever the ex-CMO (or soon to be ex-CMO) there is.  I completely get the strategy but it might be the worst execution of the strategy I’ve ever seen.  Would you want to stay in that room? Even if you had all the airfreshners in the world?