By Bob Wheatley

Periodically we celebrate excellent work, great campaigns and ideas that represent a measure of vision and innovation. For the most part we chronicle higher-calling projects that can impact brand behavior. But every so often a more tactical bit of communications wizardry comes along that you just have to recognize and salute for its sheer out-of-the-box brilliance.

Certainly there’s strategic linkage between the Tropicana brand of OJ and sunshine – the warmth and glow often attributed to Florida orange groves where this delicious fruit gets its healthy props.

So the brand evidently decides that working with portable sunshine can serve as a platform for effective, engaging and maybe entertaining online video communication – as well as serving to underscore a bright metaphor that’s tied to the juice’s origins.

• I would have loved to be in the Tropicana conference room when this idea was presented — just to see the reaction, the questions and the process that led to approval. I say that because of the boldness and uniqueness of the project.

Just imagine for a moment: in a small Arctic Circle town in northern Canada each year they go through a period of near total darkness – a continual and unrelenting nighttime. So Tropicana sends an expedition to the town, hauling in a giant gas filled balloon-like object in the shape of the sun. The orb is erected and lit, spreading artificial sunshine and undoubtedly some cheer to local residents…. Not to miss a product tie-in opportunity, the crew passes out OJ bottles to the enraptured onlookers as they marvel at the spectacle of man-made sunshine.

The entire story is deftly shot on video with a thoughtful music track underneath and made share-able with the rest of the world through YouTube and Facebook. Watch it here:

Bravo to Tropicana for bringing a little light to the lives of these Arctic dwellers — and then allowing the rest of us to observe and enjoy the experience. Disruptive isn’t it? Unexpected. Entertaining. Memorable. Emotional. What do you think?

By Bob Wheatley

Photo credit: Sharon Dominik

Forever and a day I’ve seen this concept play out in various categories from beverages to food, travel services to floor care and cleaning products, that 80% of your profits can routinely come from 20% of your customers who constitute the most engaged, heavy users in your business. Call them your best fans.

Yet routinely we focus our efforts, strategies and spending on casting a broad net. We try to be appealing to everyone because we keep telling ourselves that our brand and business not only deserves high household penetration, but “we can’t ignore the volume opportunities.” To be sure, but the 20% that’s mainlining your brand and paying attention to your messaging with a little help and “enabling” can become a more productive core of real-world ambassadors. People who can help spread the word effectively to those who are not as fully invested and who don’t buy as often.

Take cheese and pet food for example. Cheese is one of the most popular food categories in supermarkets. We like cheese, so it’s a big volume business. Yet a closer look reveals that consumers who are more emotionally engaged and devoted to cooking represent a “heavy user” profile that purchases more cheese products, more often and in many cases will go for higher priced items when they feel the value proposition is credible. So paying closer attention to this group of emotionally charged ‘kitchen commanders’ can yield incremental benefits in talk value and word of mouth, once they’re fully embraced, recognized and rewarded by the brands they love.

Or in pet food: a dynamic audience combination we refer to as indulgers and doters consists of a high percentage of higher income households who treat their animals like family members — and will even go as far as cutting back on some of their own discretionary purchases in order to keep Fido in tip top shape by feeding him a super-premium pet food diet. Industry statistics show this group continues to fuel an incredible growth track record in the emerging natural and organic segment – even though the tough economy has weighed in heavily in many segments to compel “trading down” behaviors.

Your call to action…

Think of it this way, your PR communications ROI outcomes will improve when communicating with an audience that’s really, genuinely paying attention. Those who have emotional, personal lifestyle connections to a brand are listening — first at the category level. A brand that works over time to mine relevance with this audience has the opportunity to build a unique relationship and bond. Conversely broad awareness tactics can perform as a “reminder mechanism” for the larger audience segments out there who may buy less often but who have ties to the franchise through their habit behaviors.

1. Consider for a moment the opportunities from investing more fully in courting your heavy users. What would you do differently? What efforts might you undertake to help create a community around these groups and empower them to interact with each other – especially important for home chefs and pet parents who want to share tips, ideas, experiences and insights with each other.

2. What rewards and recognition can you offer to your most devoted followers that surprise and delight – and thus are often the triggers to generating strong, credible and organic word-of-mouth communication.

3. What sponsored experiences can you create and deliver that bring your brand as close as possible to your best fans and allow them to interact with you and each other. In food this could include unique culinary experiences that reward your best customers with an opportunity to learn from the food heroes they respect like celebrity chefs. For pets it could be local dog park events and contests that allow pet parents to engage in shared experiences with their animal and with each other.

But wait there’s more…

Today, excellent blogger and thought leader Sonia Simone has an interesting post at Copyblogger that talks about the personal side of the Pareto Principle and how it impacts you and what you do. Her observations:

“…Which means that 20% of your customers provide 80% of your revenue. 20% of the time you spend behind your computer provides 80% of your best work. And 20% of that great meal you had last night provided 80% of the pleasure. (It was the chocolate mousse cake, wasn’t it?)

Because of the Pareto Principle, there’s always a “20%” you should be spending your time on. And in just about every discipline, it’s known as the fundamentals.”

Have you sat down to think about your day, your activities and to reflect on this idea – that 20% of your efforts will produce 80% of the great results and accomplishments you’re looking for? So what do the fundamentals look like for you? Maybe it’s a good idea to start by putting more energy and investment into courting your biggest fans…

Girl Scouts effectively tap social media engagement

By Robert Wheatley

Social media can be powerful — when deployed effectively. YouTube provides a readily accessible platform where video can engage a broad and diverse audience — but only if it’s done right.

Meaning, the content thus is initially more important than the medium. In the absence of compelling content, social media is just a distribution platform. The viral rubber meets the road when the communication itself is relevant, interesting and thought provoking.

So today we have a living example of “right” from the Girl Scouts.

My seven-year-old daughter Heather is a Daisy this year, the entry-level designation for Girl Scouts to be. And, as you’d expect she’s selling cookies. An recurring metaphor for Girl Scout-dom that seems it’s been institutionalized as an annual right of passage for eons. She came by the agency office recently to tempt the staff with the baked delights. Virtually everyone signed up.

You don’t really think about the value of it other than the surface view that it raises funds for the organization, and you get a tasty treat in return. It’s a fair exchange. But what if you elevate the whole idea to a stronger context. What if you can re-position the perspective on cookie sales to a more meaningful and valuable proposition?

Today Marketing Daily ran a piece about the Girl Scouts’ effort to reframe the cookie sale program into an emotional call-to-action. It’s about the character-building outcomes of doing this. All housed within a deeper understanding of how the proceeds go to help others.

Watch it here:

It’s a terrific piece of story telling that uses the video medium effectively. Short, consumable, powerful – everything you want in a compelling trip to social media interaction. You watch – THEN decide how many boxes you really want. I dare you.

What do you think?

Authentic, credible voices now key to success…

By Robert Wheatley

The world’s largest pizza chain knows a thing or two about delivery and convenience. But according to national consumer research, they have much to learn about that other half of the food equation: taste experience. They came in dead last on taste among national chains in a study done by Brand Keys last year.

So in keeping with what we already know about the consumer’s growing savvy-ness concerning quality and flavor experiences, the chain moves to substantially improve its recipes. But more importantly, Domino’s now recognizes that medium and message also matter to the outcome of brand communication.

The chain is going into the maw of the very audience previously doling out the criticism about its not-so-great tasting pies: food bloggers. Yes, into the new-age PR realm Domino’s jumps by inviting outsiders, who are beyond its control to sample, savor and sing through posting live comments at their web site.

According to USA Today’s coverage, Domino’s has tested “dozens of cheeses, 15 sauces and 50 crust-seasoning blends over two years.” Headed towards the biggest pizza consumption occasion of the year the Super Bowl, Russell Weiner , marketing chief at Domino’s said, “The best defense is a good offense.” Amen.

Bravo first to Domino’s for its willingness to take the larger risk of altering the franchise recipe in the name of better quality and taste. Second, coming from its earlier run-in with social media’s sharper knife in the form of stupid YouTube video hijinks, the chain now embraces the paradigm of transparent, conversational communication.

When you’re a $5.5 billion dollar organization there must be great temptation to revert to the old interruption model. But what we know today is that consumers look for validation brand claims and assertions from sources they trust. The rest is routinely tuned out and serves mostly as reminder media. The true convincing comes when others with the right pedigree agree and chime in.

Love the faith and belief that trust is ultimately at the core of successful brand relationships. This will be interesting to watch. What do you think?

By Robert Wheatley

Today we explore the prescription for building a true Trailblazer brand. On the one hand the word Trailblazer immediately suggests a business that understands the importance of innovation and new ideas. But Trailblazing frankly is so much more. It’s as much about a new method of brand building as it is a sense of forward-looking attitude. One that delivers the necessary resolve to attack your own business to uncover weaknesses and identify new business opportunities.

Why Trailblaze?

The forces of commoditization and price pressure are everywhere, helped by the difficult economy. Competitive threats are also multiplied by the ability of new ideas and upstart companies to quickly gain traction in the digital world. There’s no longer a significant barrier to market entry based on sheer size. Just look at Method competing successfully against , P&G and Unilever.

On the one hand current economic pressures will test the strength of brands and those with weak equity or lack of differentiation face the growing possibility of being squeezed out. And on the other, the consumer’s unrelenting interest now in what’s new and different, works to shorten product lifecycles. Thus the requirement and momentum these days for true white space innovation, more so than modest line extension tweaks and adjustments.

You really don’t have much choice except to look for and adopt Trailblazer behaviors to stay ahead of commoditization and to remain relevant.

Brand Trailblazing…

In the era of consumer control and opt-in engagement, it is no longer possible to dictate and tell the consumer what to buy, or use ample amounts of “shout” media in an effort to persuade and convince.

The goal of Trailblazer brand building is to find the most effective path to preference and sales, one that springs from greater differentiation and in some cases, new category creation. The iPhone is not another cell phone — it ushered in a new category of mobile devices that integrate computer-like capability and experience in a hand-held.

Mattering

Successful brands today matter to their users. This importance isn’t achieved simply by riding the wave of a large media budget (shouting). Now the onus is on business to earn permission to a brand relationship, one built on addressing mutual interests. We can call this reciprocity.

So brand relationships must start with a strong foundation of relevance, meaning and value to the users’ lifestyle. Said another way, the focus is no longer just on the product’s superior formulation or design – which is now table-stakes – but also on its ability secure greater meaning beyond the utility and functionality it offers.

The Trailblazer Formula

There are two mechanisms at the core of successful Trailblazing:

First is insight into the core user’s interests, passions, wants and needs.

Second is carefully blending that knowledge into a compelling brand value proposition that not only considers the financial and functional requirements, but the intangible and emotional cues as well – the last two being the most powerful and important. Consumers are simply NOT “fact-centered, data-processing organisms.” We are social and emotional creatures who base decisions on how we feel about brands more so than the specs on a sell sheet.

The study around consumer insights and constructing a remarkable brand value proposition provides the discovery tools to take the really big leap in Trailblazer brand building: determining a brand’s Higher Purpose or strategic mission – this is essentially a unique place where consumer lifestyle passions and needs collide with a brand’s ability to help enable, support and play a role in those activities or concerns.

Determining the Higher Purpose allows us to imbue a brand with greater meaning. A strategic mission is essentially a Big Idea that has the power to inform brand behavior and provide reliable direction for communications strategy and outreach (bringing the mission to life). When brands operate this way they no longer look at consumers as transactions, but rather as friends. And thus as brands adopt more human-like qualities in their relationships with customers, trust is established and a relationship can genuinely take hold.

Of course these relationships, like friendships, need constant care and feeding. The outcome is preference and sales.

The tricky part is getting the needed insight into consumer lifestyle priorities. For a 20-something adult beverage consumer it may be the concern they place on social experiences. For the home cook, their fascination and desire to learn and acquire new skills. Alignment with those needs allows a brand to build a stronger bond, add relevance and deliver greater value to its user.

To in a word — matter.

What do you think?

Pampers Pulls at Heartstrings…

By Robert Wheatley

For years (wow, has it been that long?) this blog has extolled and showcased the virtues of finding and mining the brands’ higher purpose. A sweet spot that serves as the umbilical chord between a brand and hyper-relevant concerns, issues and passions in the consumer’s life.

And why does this matter? Because anything less than a bond based on this kind of emotionally charged value can lead to commoditization — and the downward spiral of a brand’s core value proposition. So this is a frequent subject here because it is so important to brand building in the digital “consumer-is-in-control” age.

Pampers “pampers” their target’s true needs…

One could assume that Pampers brand is in the business of providing a convenient, absorbent product to help protect baby bottoms. Think of all the investment that must go into diaper materials research to offer comfort while fulfilling the primary dryness mission. Or design engineering to prevent leaks. And what about those closure mechanisms to keep the diaper in place when baby is moving. We can’t forget the cartoon character licenses to dress up the diaper exterior and presumably bring a smile to both baby and mom.

Well the day of feature and benefit selling as we’ve come to know it is over. These things while important are table-stakes. Great design and technology is a given. The competitive formula has evolved and moved on. Successful brands in the years ahead will be those that “matter” to their primary buyers. The brand value proposition is no longer simple math around the analytical facts that ladder up to “superior.”

Emotion precedes logic…

It is vital for brands to determine what their essential meaning can be to users. And that meaning by the way is going to be found beyond simple, analytical distillation of the core product attributes themselves.

Pampers brand has famously arrived at this understanding. What is the core truth for new parents? The awesome, lifelong responsibility they are about to undertake comes with no user manual. Parenting is a big, big transition in life, full of delights, stresses and surprises. Children change everything.

So is Pampers ultimately selling diapers? No. They recognized that the path to “permission” for a brand relationship is tied to how they can best help, assist and support this central parenting mission.

A Parent is Born – what a fantastic statement that simply nails the point. With every first birth a new parent is born, too. The journey Pampers embarks on puts the brand in league with the none-too-trivial concerns their buyers have about caring for their new child.

• There’s simply no end to the extensions and content-deep communications territory this “mission” will yield. To start with they’ve created a documentary series of videos (see them here, here and here) that chronicle the real-life experiences of a brand new family. They are thoughtfully produced with a balance of entertainment value and the transfer of authentic, real parenting experiences.

This platform is perfectly suited to social media channels, such as integration with mommy bloggers for mom-to-mom interaction. Importantly the whole project elevates the brand’s relationship and value to mom and dad. The emotional equity this creates over time is palpable. The unselfishness in the messaging completes the circle of credibility. Nothing comes across as a sales pitch. Because it doesn’t have to!

Stop pitching, start relating…

P&G has determined that treating consumers as objects to sell to isn’t nearly as powerful as treating them as individuals to help, assist and support, and in doing so to earn a valued position on the consumer’s list of brand’s they care about.

It may sound counterintuitive to those who think you must hammer away at benefits. Well, consumers are already better educated and informed than at any other time in human history. The old tell them, tell them again and then tell them what you told them era of selling is done.

So now it’s time to look for the higher purpose for your brand. In doing so you will open the door to a brand related bond. Plus open engagement and conversation with a customer who is actually listening, and that leads to preference. And preference drives sales.

What do you think?

Exploring the bond that generates awesome business growth

By Robert Wheatley

Pets. What a business – pet food is a $16 billion enterprise! What a category – growth is projected in double digits for premium natural and organic brands through 2011. In the midst of a difficult economy, the pet food industry shows no sign of slowing its march north to better, higher quality diets.

What is it about the relationships with our four-legged companions that so fully insulates this business from trading down?

Why does pet food escape the decision dogging so many other household expense categories to look for lower-cost options?

What’s the story here that protects spending on the health and welfare of these furry companions?

Commodities can be successfully branded…

By Robert Wheatley

Ok, you can stop laughing now. No really. Yes, this is me. I said stop laughing. Anyone hazard a guess on when??

Try 1977. Hopefully that helps explain the hair and stache combo. For those of you not old enough to get the era, the look actually was fairly typical for a guy of my 25 years at the time. This was my first job in PR after a short stint promoting rock concerts. Rocker boy turned farmer? Hardly. The assignment was for the King County government – surrounding the city of Seattle. I was working on a truly innovative project that eventually helped my boss, John Spellman, get elected Governor of the State of Washington.

This newspaper story was about me and what I was up to – sort of a local boy does good treatment. So here I am, standing in a field in front of a tractor, and yes, this farm is in the city. No I did not grow up on a farm and have never milked a cow.

Preserving Urban Agriculture

Not that I’m necessarily the tree-hugging type, but I really thought this project, in its day, was innovative and certainly precedent setting. I had this idea to put a brand identity (King County Fresh) on local produce, honey, and other agricultural products farmed in the urban environs. The t-shirt I’m wearing, a sort of bright Kelly green with reversed out white graphic showcased the Fresh logo, used on POP materials, product stickers and in transit ads to promote the effort. The goal: help create a stronger economic climate that would help keep urban agriculture viable at a time when farmland was disappearing faster than you can say, “Hey, is that a new shopping mall?”

The public policy concept at the time was revolutionary, only Long Island near New York City was also on the same track – to purchase the development rights to farmland, preserving their agricultural use — thus ensuring a steady flow of fresh products into the local market place.

Brands and Value-Added Meaning

I wanted people to know about and be able to recognize locally grown products. The difference in freshness and taste is remarkable. And our research suggested that people (voters) wanted to support local farms and help preserve them. So the King County Fresh campaign was novel in its day –intended to imbue some of the emotional values of branding on commodities like lettuce, corn and melons. The end game: consumers could vote with their pocketbooks to select local products stickered with the Fresh logo or merchandised in a retail section with POP material that showcased the identity.

Media got up for this because statistics revealed local farmland was going the way of the parking lot at an alarming rate. Farmers got excited because they felt it was THEIR brand. Supermarket retailers?? Whole other story because their buying systems had to be interrupted to get local products in the warehouse. Local independent markets were all over it.

It took two trips to the well with the voters, but we eventually succeeded in getting a $65 million bond issue passed to finance the development rights acquisition deal. Spellman, a Republican, got a lot of credit for this and voila, off to the Governor’s mansion, and me off to the agency business with Ogilvy & Mather in 1979.

I have never forgotten the great lesson of the moment, that a profound idea can be captured in an image and then used as a rallying platform to build business and secure fans. In this case, to benefit local farmers and eventually get voters behind an initiative that would keep the fresh cucumbers in those wonderful stalls at Seattle’s unique Pike Place Market.

So are apples, apples? Only if you let them be. Can a head of lettuce stoke emotional bonds? Incredibly, yes. Marketing and communication is such a powerful thing. It’s why I get up in the morning excited to jump into the fray.

Never underestimate the need for equity-building efforts

By Robert Wheatley

I love my car. It’s a 2003 Mercedes G 500. If you’ve seen one it’s a retro looking angular box on wheels. Mercedes version of a Hummer-esque off roader gussied up with amenities (best auto sound system I’ve ever had). It’s a truck and drives like one but I really enjoy it. In my advanced age I prefer using Kiehl’s skin care products because they work and I like the story behind the brand. At the end of a rough day (I have plenty of those) I re-orient with a cold Corona beer (yes they’re a client but I liked the product before hand). The vacation-in-a-bottle beach thing is a mental aspiration.

As a passionate home cook I have standards about what I will use. It’s Barilla pasta or I’m not making the recipe. If you put a bag of Cheetos in front of me, it’s gone. Same with Blue Diamond Smokehouse almonds – can’t live without ‘em. My dentist was forever lecturing me about my teeth. He persuaded me to get a Sonic Care toothbrush. Wow, what a difference in the check-ups. I’m sold. I’m a pet fanatic, and have been my entire life. And I’m brand loyal — I have a Newfoundland dog, here he is.

His name is Goliath – appropriate don’t you think, given he weighs 170 pounds? I have been a Newf fan for 15 years. Best dog breed on the planet. I could talk for hours about them. My soup is Campbell’s, and my tissue is Kleenex . My computer is an Apple and I’ve been a diehard for over 20 years. Honestly the Apple reflects my non-conforming outlook on life and career devotion to a creative business. I appreciate design esthetics so Apple gets major props for that.

Sure the economy has created trade-offs for my family and me. We do less of some things like travel. We’ve cut way back on home improvements. We’re not replacing things that are getting a little shop worn. But brands that matter still do and they’re not falling off the menu. Why? Because so much of how we define ourselves is expressed in our likes and interests, and brands play a real big role there.

A recent Harris Interactive Equi-Trend study suggests that in the current economic hurricane, as Warren Buffet describes it, we tighten our grip around brands we enjoy. Marketing Daily ran a piece about the study. Says Harris: “Brand equity does not lose potency when money is tight.” Interestingly comfort foods and staples got the highest brand equity scores – Hershey’s, Crayola, even Arm & Hammer baking soda. In categories like airlines, Southwest got high marks. It was Sony in electronics and Grey Goose in spirits.

The prevailing view is that brand loyalty goes out the window with the budget bath water in a recession. NOT SO. It is entirely conditional. Loyalty’s core essence is grounded in value to the user. Wes brown, an analyst with Iceology in LA says people tend to stick with what they know and while a cheaper alternative may exist, they are hesitant to risk failure from something they don’t know as well.

So for any organization considering cutbacks and diminished investments in brand building, think twice. And for those who in a state of panic reach for steep price reductions, be careful lest you dilute your equity. Remember that people love their brands and investments in building those relationships are not playing fast and loose with available assets. If anything its vital to your future. Brands that plow ahead in the storm, by far and away, come out healthier than their conservative brethren.

I’m “gripping,” are you? What do you think?

Marketing’s Main Mission Revisited

Bang, bang, bang!!! – so appreciate it when someone you respect just knocks you in the head with a useful wake up call. A few in the agency business, PR included, are occasionally corralled by “a half mile wide and three inches deep” form of blinder that flattens the perception of what we’re here to accomplish for clients. This helpful alarm was served in a superb article that – like a coldwater bath – works to shake-up the creative soul in a fog clearing moment about what brand minders should be thinking about.

So much of what we do, or are challenged to do on a daily basis, resides in a sort of tactical soup that is preoccupied with sorting out and managing the bits and bites of communications strategy. Well, its what we do here for a living isn’t it? Yes and NO. Surely it is a main feature of the services we provide, but clients really employ us to deliver measurable outcomes related to sales and market share growth. So one (invest in communications) is supposed to be a means to another (growth). Although we may in our daily nose-down behavior on the tactics of outreach unwittingly miss the forest for the trees.

Tom Asacker, brand consultant and author of an excellent download on brand strategy entitled “A Clear Eye For Branding,” shares his Road to Damascus experience on the core essence of our mission:

“Marketers are obsessed with words. They believe that they are in the communication and persuasion business. They incorrectly compare the marketing of products and services in a supersaturated marketplace to marketing a political candidate or making a legal case, where ambivalent people are forced to choose between only two alternatives. This worldview has them fixated on doing things right ―right message, right medium, right slogan, right tagline, et al. ― blinding them to the most important marketing question: Are we doing the right things? Message to most marketers (I know, quite ironic):

You are not.

Don’t take my word for it: Simply take a clear-eyed look at some of today’s most successful and talked about brands. What are Nintendo and Harley-Davidson’s slogans? Why doesn’t Apple cover their packaging with persuasive copy? Are Stonyfield Farm’s yogurt customers engaged with its advertising, or with its all natural and organic ingredients? Did Toyota owners buy their vehicles because they wanted to “move forward?” Is that what caused the company to surpass GM in worldwide sales? Puh-lease. I own two Toyotas and I had to reach out to Google to discover that banal slogan. And speaking of Google, where the heck is their tagline anyway?”

The Means to An End…

Words, taglines, media, etc. are all vehicles – or vessels if you will. Communications is not an end in itself. And persuasion does not occur because of our words alone. So what is it that we should be focused on to achieve growth and market share? We think it’s about working relentlessly to add value to our target consumer’s lives. The more value we can create, the more relevant the brand/consumer relationship gets. And the more willing the consumer is to engage – because in the end they decide to opt in – or out. And therefore listen to what we have to say.

Asacker describes value this way:

Purpose value
Growth value
Social value
Involvement value
Entertainment value
Aesthetic value
Physical value
Time value
Financial value
Performance value

Are we focused on the right things? What do you think?