Monday, 25 July 2011

Closing the book on brands

One of the benefits of strong brands is their seeming permanence.

We think they’ll be around forever.

But last week we reached the final chapter for one of the world’s global brands.

Borders.

Not only did the doors close on its last Australian store but in the US the 399-shop chain also began liquidation.

It’s a reminder of how fast even big brands can go bad.

We may now think of Borders with the same cynicism we have for Starbucks. But I remember the public’s excitement when Borders launched in Australia in the late 90s.

…a bookshop…a big bookshop…BIGGER than anything we’d seen before…with the latest overseas magazines even…and CDs you could scan and listen to…a bookshop that stays open until midnight…with armchairs…search kiosks…a coffee shop…where you can take a book to read…

It was like a library but better – you could buy the books.

The fact is Borders was truly revolutionary for Australia bookshops (a fact I’m sure the 300 retailers at this weekend’s annual bookseller conference failed to celebrate).

But Borders isn’t the first big brand to disappear from our lives.

In Australia, Bankcard, Ansett and, most recently, Colorado spring quickly to mind. And I know there are many more stories. Good. Bad. Gripping. Roaming. Starting. Ending.

What chapter are you up to in your brand’s story?

Stephen Flewell-Smith
Business & Creative Director
THE DM GROUP

Wednesday, 13 July 2011

As sure as eggs is eggs…..

I’m a great believer in learning from our ‘advertising heritage’ and applying that learning to the challenges we face today.

One series of ads I have always loved was commissioned by the British Egg Marketing Board in the 1960′s.

Before supermarkets, and with only one commercial TV channel, it’s tempting to think these were simpler times. However breakfast cereal manufacturers were spending lots on advertsing and the variety of  their products was increasing.

You can imagine the challenges facing egg producers as housewives switched to an apparently simpler breakfast option. The response to the challenge was this fantastic series of ads.

Of course having the talents of Tony Hancock and Pat Hayes  to call upon is a priceless advantage, but I’ve always believed that even without them these ads would be classics.

The scripts are beautifully written testimonials  to the egg, to its goodness, versatility and simplicity. The language is straight forward and designed to aid comprehension. The comedy supports the product message rather than distracting from it.

The competition is challenged head on with lines like ‘Variety is egg shaped’ and ‘Value is egg shaped’.

And the sign off is wonderful - ‘Go to work on an egg’.   

6 words that distance the egg from the competition. They say ‘this is the food you need to have a successful day’ and ‘this is real food that sets you up for a hard days work’.

By implication anything else is second best. Once you have seen Hancock  dip his soldiers in the perfectly boiled 3.5 minute egg, a bowl of  cereal seems a poor alternative.

These ads teach us that when we communicate we should select the simple over the complex, what is understood by the broadest group, not by the narrowest . The message can still be rich in meaning and successfully engage.

At THE DM GROUP we work hard to keep the advertising messages we create simple, without diminishing their meaning or effectiveness.  If you’d like to see how we can do that for your advertising give us a call today.

Malcolm Harvey

Client services director

Wednesday, 29 June 2011

Tweaks to stop leaks

Marketers spend a lot of time identifying the perfect customers for their product. Then,with that knowledge embedded into the marketing plan, they set up a communication program to capture those customers.

Of course in a perfect world they would be the only player in a niche market and all the customers would come to them. But those markets are very much the minority so you have to plan to attract customers to your product.

The process the customer goes through in arriving at which product to buy is known as the path to purchase and it has been well defined. One version is the AIDA model – Awareness, Interest, Desire, Action. Each step is a stage along the path.

I’ve used this model as starting point for marketing planning on many occasions over the years and I’ve picked up a few pointers on how to apply it for maximum effect:

Focus on leakage.

As they move from one stage of the process to the next the customer refines a shortlist of brands and products they feel best suit their needs. The trick is to focus on why some brands survive and why others perish at that point.

Look for the positive brand attributes

Look for what the customer likes about your brand. These may be brand attributes that are unique to you or that all successful brands in your category share. Once you know these highlight those attributes in your communications.

Negative brand attributes

Equally important what does the customer see as a negatives. Once you identify these attributes, reduce or eliminate them.

Attributes vary…

You have to go through the same exercise for each stage of the cycle, but what works to avoid elimination at one stage may well not be important to highlight at the next stage. For example ‘green credentials’ might be  important to move your brand from ‘awareness’ to ‘interest’, but a reputation for innovation might be the key to get you to the ‘desire’ stage.

So next time you are looking at your marketing plan take into account these simple points and you’ll notice an increase in the business that goes all the way though to become a sale.

At THE DM GROUP we help many clients define insights that allow them to get the most from their marketing activities. If you’d like to discuss leaks and how we can plug them why not give us a call.

Malcolm Harvey

Client Services Director

Tuesday, 7 June 2011

3 essential steps to brand engagement

From time to time we see an ad on TV which we really connect with. We watch the ad, we link with the message, we desire the product and our respect for the brand grows. It’s a slam dunk. But behind that 30 seconds of delight will be a brand owner that has invested heavily in the process to ensure the perfect fit between brand and consumer.

I can think of a number of  iconic brands that get this right. What they all have in common is a direct connection between the message they deliver to you through the ad and their brand essence. The brand essence is the heart and soul of the brand, the central nature of what the brand represents to all those who come into contact with it.

For instance, Nike’s essence – “authentic athletic performance” – is translated to the following two slogans “Just do it!” and “I can”. Nike’s ads are created to harness the sentiment of both essence and slogan. 

BMW’s essence is ‘Joy’. It’s reflected in the long established BMW tagline “The Ultimate Driving Machine.” and, in recent ads, through the tagline “Sheer Driving Pleasure.”

Of its brand essence BMW says, “We don’t just build cars, we create emotions. We are guarantors of enthusiasm, fascination and goosebumps. We give you the keys to discover ever-growing and evolving Joy.” You can see how this plays out in their communications.

In (very) simple terms, there are three basic steps in developing effective brand communications. Of course,each of these steps involves a number of tasks, but if you follow the outline below and ensure you take the output of one step into the next you’ll be on the way to effective brand engagement.

Step 1 is the definition of  your brand framework – it’s personality, voice, values, unique attributes and, most importantly, its essence. These are the building blocks from which steps 2 and 3 should evolve. 

Step 2 is the development of your brand identity – its look and feel, visual language, use of imagery, colour palette and sometimes even a new or evolved  brand mark. Once you’ve completed step 1, there could be a number of directions the identity can take. Only one will be absolutely right for your brand.

Step 3 is the creation of a “go-to-market” plan – it defines who you will communicate with, when, where and what you will say. Make sure your communication platform, the idea or the slogan relates to your brand essence. Think online and offline communication channels, internal and external audiences.

At the heart of your marketing decisions should be how well you’ve connected steps 1,2 and 3. It’s the failure to do that properly which lets down so many brands. Don’t get carried away with a ‘big idea’ advertising concept if it has no relevance to your brand and its essence. That error is one of the main reasons ads fail.

At The DM Group we are committed to ensuring all our clients communications are built upon solid brand platforms. If you would like to discuss your brand or to see the work we have done then give us a call.

Malcolm Harvey – Client Services Director.

Monday, 2 May 2011

From puffin muffins to destroying brands…

iSelect has changed its advertising with a campaign reaching both offline and online.

So whether you love her or hate her, as its seems so many people do,  it’s ‘goodbye’ quirky, bubbly little blonde with the penchant for ‘puffin muffins’ …

… and ‘hello’ portly bald guy in a suit who gets the name of the large lady in his call centre wrong and doesn’t care.

As a brand specialist this ad sent a shiver down my spine. You’d have to be ‘burying heads’ to believe I’m going to be thinking nice things about iSelect after this misguided attempt at humour.

I agree that iSelect needed to do something new, but for me this misfires badly. I get the message that iSelect is not a health fund, I got that from the previous ads. Now I also get the message that iSelect has a culture that rides rough-shod over the feelings of individuals. Their names and feelings don’t matter.

For many people there are few bigger faux pas than getting someones name wrong.

Well actually there is a bigger one. Getting a name wrong, not giving a stuff  and then insisting on using the wrong name over the protests of the victim of your poor manners.

At the DM group we work with many major brands to construct the framework of  their brand strategy and bring their brand personality to life through considered and insightful creative executions on and offline. If you’d like to discuss how we might help you do just that for your brand why not give us a call.

Malcolm Harvey

Client Services Director