Are you "Cat People"?

When you walk into a pet store, why does the cat area seem like an afterthought compared to the huge selection of doggy toys, beds and foods? And why is the stereo-type of a cat person so different from that of a dog person? Just mention "cat lady" and we easily imagine a crazy woman draped in an old housecoat living with 20 or more cats. Are cat people somehow maligned?

In a feel-good spot, Purina is uniting cat people together by turning the cat lady stereo-type on its head through a collection of testimonials by men, women and children declaring "I'm a cat person" and why.

....Because she makes me laugh even when I feel like crying
Because he doesn't care if I'm having a bad hair day
Because it's nice to have someone around who's smarter than me
Because of the way he sleeps on my head.....

The ad was launched on the Country Music Awards on Sunday and invited viewers to tweet their reason for being a cat person using the #catperson hashtag. The tweets were streamed live on two billboards in Times Square and the brand has been sending TwitPics of many of the Times Square tweets to the people who wrote them.

It's a simple and clever way to build an emotional connection to the Purina brand and create a community among cat people.

Gilt by Association

Today in Ad Age, the magazine honours some 20 brands, some new, some established that have done well despite the recession. These are brands that are innovative in their thinking and marketing approach.

One of the brands that caught my attention was Gilt Groupe. It’s a member only website that offers sample sales on luxury women’s, men’s, & children’s clothing brands and now home furnishings. It was established in late 2007 by two long time girlfriends Alexis Maybank (who was at eBay during the early days) and Alexander Wilkis Wilson.

The sample sale is a cherished ritual of the urban fashionista. Luxury brands hold these events, usually by invitation only, to unload inventory at discounts of 50% to 70%. In Paris they call it the vente privée. In New York the semiannual Barneys Warehouse Sale has them lined up around the block. Sales are always final, so shoppers strip down to their knickers between the racks to make sure a $3,000 dress is a good fit at $600.

The brand promise of the Gilt Groupe is to find the very best brands, for unbeatable prices and remove the stress of NY sample sale shopping. “No lines... No getting strip searched... No crazy women grabbing shoes out of your hands... No sneaking out of work and faking a doctor's appointment. No being forced to pay with cash and running frantically to ATMs across the garment center... No nastiness... No damaged or shopworn merchandise”.

And what a great brand name - I love the play on words. They have grown the brand primarily through word-of-mouth, offering a $25 credit offered to members who bring in a friend that ends up making a purchase. When Alexandra and Alexis first launched the brand, invitations to join Gilt Groupe were sent to every single person the two had ever met. They were aiming to create a viral business model, but it depended on getting an initial critical mass of loyal style mavens to become members of Gilt. Smart thinking – they would be key in spreading the word to their network of fashionistas on tight budgets.

Their target and group of friends -- fashionable, highly educated and tech savvy -- were the perfect demographic for Gilt Groupe, so it took almost no convincing to get them to link to the website and join as members. Membership is free but still gives the brand cache and a sense of exclusivity. Right now, for instance, you are wait-listed and only a couple of new members are accepted each day.

While there are a number of sample sales or luxury brand outlets on the internet, what really makes this site stand out is the sophisticated nature of the site and its blog on “what’s hot” written by the principals that reads like a copy of Vogue magazine with high quality photography.

Gilt counts 1.5 million members in the U.S. as well as 250,000 members in Japan. The retailer is on track to ring up $400 million in sales for fiscal 2010. Not bad for an e- retailer that’s less than two years old.

The success of Gilt is its innovative thinking, highly targeted concept and quality execution that delivers on its brand promise.

Polaroid – brand cardio pulmonary resuscitation

Innovate or become obsolete is the new mantra in Detroit. It should be the mantra for all brands, because as we're seeing in so many industries, resting on your laurels is not an option, whether you're a computer company, a car manufacturer, an airline, or a restaurant. Many brands disappear into oblivion without making headlines. Yet some brands are like emotional signposts along the highway of our life. They seem irreplaceable, and we lament their loss when they are gone.

How does a brand achieve that kind of iconic status?

Well - they fulfill the classic brand strategy to the tee - (differentiated, functional & emotional benefits). Yet iconic brands also create experiences that drive emotional connections, art and science to be sure with some alchemy thrown in. The right timing helps as does an innovation that sets the industry on fire.

Enter the Polaroid - a child of the 60's and as cool and innovative as Google or Apple today. As revolutionary as digital - you could instantly see the result - better than digital because it was printed and off you went with your original piece of art or moment in time.

Early in my career I worked in the tv commercial and feature film business - or in "the biz" as everyone called it. Polaroids were a staple of any set - they were used to capture wardrobe, continuity between scenes (was her hair parted on the side or middle...), every audition "headshot" was captured by a Poloraid. Polaroids were even used for lighting tests by the Cameramen.

Picture: "JUST TRYING TO FLY HIGHER 1/2" (Rb67 + polaback) shot by S.OMBRE

Speaking of art, the Polaroid also led a rich life with many artists and photographers. Creamy soft colours...some artists even baked the picture to achieve amazing effects. And then there was the ultimate...... the amazing 20x24 camera which takes big, detailed 20X24-inch instant color and black-and-white photographs. Polaroid created it to make large format photography available for a wide spectrum of uses, from getting close-up magnified views of Raphael's Transfiguration for the Vatican Museum to taking portraits of President Clinton at the White House or Dave Mathews and His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Seattle.




William Wegman has also used this puppy to shoot portraits of his Weimareinars. However, weighing in at 235 pounds, this camera is not exactly what you'd take backpacking.

Ok - so now you're saying - I saw one of those smaller Polaroid gizmos up in the attic. Cool - I can be retro and artistic too! Are you sitting down? If not, take these words in very slowly. Polaroid has decided to stop making film.

Yes - no more Polaroids, except.............

The Impossible Project was launched in the Netherlands. An Austrian scientist and a bunch of radical smart Dutch folks (mainly former Polaroid employees) are trying to rescue Polaroid by reinventing it using new, more cost effective and hopefully more earth-friendly materials. They've given themselves 12 months and are asking everyone around the world to help them innovate around a solution. How cool is that?

There's a real drama too about how they saved the last Polaroid-making machines from destruction from an old Polaroid manufacturing plant. It's a story filled with intrigue, a crook, and a Ponzi scam (no not Bernie Madoff). You can read the story here in the New York Times. With the launch of Project Impossible, there's been an outpouring of emotion and love, yes love, for this brand. Let's wish these guys success!

But the real point here, is that when you have a great brand and the business is strong and healthy, it's difficult to imagine any other scenario except continued success, high stock valuations and a case study of your brand published in books like "From Good to Great". But even the mighty fall, and success can never be taken for granted. Keep the the core, the heart of your business strong through innovation so your brand will never need CPR.

Brand in Brief

Winning brands know how to build emotional connections and stay relevant by helping people realize deeply held dreams or beliefs. Some of my favourite brands are ones that take a leadership role in trying to make the world a better place. (Patagonia is probably at the top of my personal list).

There seems to be a new crop of companies that start with “being good” as their inspiration for developing their brand. Here’s one that I recently found that is interesting. They have also sponsored a cool phone app to build brand awareness virally.

The Brand: Ecolife

Ecolife is an energy efficient apparel line owned by Delta Galil USA. What does this mean? Did you know that clothing is responsible for approximately 25% of an individual's C02 emissions – about 1 ton per person. Or that 75% of the energy consumption in apparel, is not in its manufacture or distribution, but in the laundering of the garments after they are bought? In fact, washing and drying consume far more energy than the actual manufacturing process.

Who knew?

Enter Ecolife, a fabric built on the premise that if you can reduce the need for washing and drying, you can reduce energy consumption. They’ve created a treated cotton fabric that is anti-bacterial (thus does not need as much washing), dries in half the time, and lasts longer than regular cotton .

Visiting their website, it looks like they are starting off in guy’s underwear. Cool – earth-friendly undies

The Promotion - The iPhorest

Ecolife is sponsoring the “iPhorest” , a new mobile phone app that allows users to “plant trees” from their phones. You can download it to your iPhone for $4.99 and use it to plant a virtual tree on the Internet. Your phone works like a shovel, dig a hole, throw a seed in it and watch it grow. For each virtual tree planted, The Conservation Fund will plant a native tree in real life, beginning with restoration of vulnerable wildlife habitat along the Gulf Coast. (If I was Ecolife, I might want a little more branding on this app- see post for Charmin and "Sit or Squat")

Roadside assistance

If you've ever worked as a brand manager on big commodity categories such as paper products (toilet paper, paper towels) I can only imagine you had few levers to impact sales. Price of course was a lever, as was product efficacy (adding layers of softer tissue) and if you were lucky, you even had an advertising budget. But how many loyal customers could you really gain and, was an emotional connection even in the realm of possibility?

But now in the digital age, you can have fun with phone apps and connect with your customers. Proctor & Gamble's Charmin brand has sponsored a free mobile utility where you can find a spot to "SitOrSquat" anywhere in at least 10 countries and growing. You can download the app onto your Blackberry or iPhone. It helps locate public restrooms and provides ratings based on their cleanliness and other amenities.

A great example of a brand in a commodity category redefining their core purpose to play a more important role in the lives of their consumers - the AAA of nature's calling, if you will.

Charmin can now be your trusted guide in times of need. And isn’t that the test of a loyal friend?

Help Goodness Grow (and build brand loyalty)

Every once in a while you come across an ad or a promotion that really makes you smile and feel good about being in the marketing industry. At The Essential Orange, I draw my inspiration from the orange because it represents the pure potential that all good brands have – they are differentiated, they have both functional and emotional benefits, they are engaging and they are “green” – responsible at a minimum, in a perfect world giving back more to the planet than what they consume. Good brands are ones we would miss if they ceased to exist.

One such brand is Campbell’s soup, and if there were an “Essential Orange award”, they would receive one for the absolutely lovely promotion they just launched for tomato soup.

Campbell’s Soup has created an interactive website that educates, gives back and inspires. This is the kind of promotion that deepens the relationship a brand has with existing customers, making them feel good about their brand choice. It’s this type of marketing activity, I would argue, that helps leading brands differentiate themselves from private label and builds long term equity with the consumer.

I encourage you to click here to visit the website

Here is a quick overview:

It’s all about the Farm



The promotion achieves a number of things:
- Creates awareness of the National Future Farmers of Amercia, (FFA) an organization that is developing tomorrow’s agricultural leaders through education and leadership skills (kind of like an "uber" 4H Club)
- Makes site visitors feel good and get them involved in a cause. For every click you make for free, tomato seeds are donated to the FFA.
- Educates folks on Campbell’s efforts to promote sustainable agriculture
- Helps us become (better) tomato gardeners – free seeds with proof of purchase and growing tips from experts. (Baby seedlings can even be started in soup cans)
- oh yes, and get us to buy more soup by using some of their recipes

And if that isn’t enough for one promotion to achieve, the site also builds awareness for what I think is a very cool project – restoring old iconic red barns. Campbell’s does a great job storytelling and you can follow the progress on new projects.

Well done Campbell’s (and G2 Interactive) – highly engaging, super relevant brand and business building promotion.

Is brown the new green?

Good ideas are still aplenty at Starbucks....

After VIA (ok, not everyone a fan) and their new Heritage design store (the good idea is that they are located down the street from me -thank you free WiFi and comfy leather chairs!!)....the other good idea is the new umbrella shape.

These new umbrellas are triangularly shaped and can fit into tight spaces. They are also designed to withstand the wind and thus avoid being picked up in the air like an unfortunate Mary Poppins.

But hold on..... for all you brand & marketing gurus that follow Starbucks, check out the new graphics (click on image to enlarge) where's the familiar logo?....and wait....where's the green???

While the new style is practical and modern, people do not associate brown with Starbucks. In locating a store, the signature green umbrella has worked as a visual landmark breaking through the patchwork of overhead signage and streets littered with sandwich boards.

What do you think? Is Starbucks moving too fast and too far from the equity in the green umbrella?

Is this a good idea??

Orange Equity

As “The Essential Orange”, I watched the groundswell around the Tropicana packaging controversy with great interest. There are over 5000 blog entries, not to mention hundreds of tweets and a Facebook group all whinging about the package change. My conclusion – I wouldn’t want to be the Tropicana brand manager right now. Run!!! Change your profile on Linkedin!!

Kidding aside, here are my thoughts:

• Don’t be arrogant - – when you have an iconic brand, your customers’ “own” it. You have to involve them in a more meaningful way. You ignore them at your own peril.

• Baby boomers wear glasses – you have to help them find you on the shelf. Don’t confuse and frustrate them. The big orange on the old packaging stood out and the caps helped you differentiate between varieties quickly and easily

• Baby boomers have discovered blogging – be creative in getting consumer insights. Look at what Eight O’Clock Coffee and Nestle are doing to involve their customers.

• Be relevant – the package design project probably started over 18 months ago. Consumer sentiment has changed. The consumer in 2009 is …. “seeking comfort and security rather than status. Brands that hearken back to simpler, better times will do well. Nostalgic branding that speaks to old-world sensibilities will encourage consumers to do more with less”. Richard Brandt, Executive Creative Director, Landor New York.

• Don’t mess with the orange – they did well here. The product and the carton sizing remain the same.

Curiously, no one gave Tropicana any credit for supporting "Save the Rainforest" or their efforts on reducing their environmental footprint, both of which are featured on their website with the new packaging.

Here’s an idea they could have pursued to involve loyal fans and receive recognition for doing good - let folks comment/vote on the new/old packaging and for their involvement, reward them by buying a piece of the rainforest in their name.

Sales Sour - update on impact of packaging change - update 4/3/09

After its package redesign, sales of the Tropicana Pure Premium line plummeted 20% between Jan. 1 and Feb. 22, costing the brand tens of millions of dollars. Now that the numbers are out, it's clear why PepsiCo's Tropicana moved as fast as it did. According to Information Resources Inc., unit sales dropped 20%, while dollar sales decreased 19%, or roughly $33 million, to $137 million between Jan. 1 and Feb. 22.

Several of Tropicana's competitors appear to have benefited from the misstep, notably Minute Maid, Florida's Natural and Tree Ripe. Varieties within each of those brands posted double-digit unit sales increases during the period. Private-label products also saw an increase during the period, in keeping with broader trends in the food and beverage space.

For posterity, I'm including a link to the interview with Peter Arnell, the head of the design firm that came up with the new look, with their rationale.

tropicana