Brand Reputation 2.0

Tylenol used to be the derigour case study in brand reputation management with their handling of the tampering scare back in 1982. The key learning was, when disaster strikes, act swiftly and boldly, and most importantly reframe the context by asking yourself …how can this be the best thing that ever happened to my brand? Tylenol used this situation in an authentic and brilliant way to avert disaster and build brand trust.

Now the writers at Biz schools will have difficulty keeping up with all the new fodder for case material. Companies might own their trademark, but more than ever it’s the people - your employees, customers, suppliers, even your detractors who own your brand.

Welcome to the dawn of the social media age which is redefining traditional approaches to brand management. The biggest change is the speed in which new media are being used to start a groundswell. But the key strategy should remain the same. How can you turn something that’s gone horribly wrong into something amazingly right and build trust and admiration for your brand?

Let’s take a peek at events over the past two weeks. .

Disgruntled Employees – yikes! The Dominos miscreants (aka super gross-out cheese in nose food defacing video). Kudos to the Domino’s team for jumping right on this. Within 24 hours, they publicly dealt with employees and the CEO issued an apology to customers on YouTube and Twitter. But is this enough? There are two issues they could leverage to build even stronger trust for their brand. What can they do to become known as a leader in food safety and how can they use this incident to build a culture where employees will respect rather than deface their brand?

Here's a good overview of the whole story from a local North Carolina TV station.



#Amazonfail protest - (# is used as a hashtag to aggregate a topic in Twitter). When Amazon deleted the sales rankings of hundreds of gay- and lesbian-themed books, it caused a Twitter and blogging storm causing outrage and over 16,000 signatures to on-line petitions. Amazon’s response – it fixed the “problem” and issued a statement saying that this was “an embarrassing and ham fisted error”. I find it interesting that, instead of directly engaging with the G&L community, they decided to issue a statement. For a company held as a paragon of understanding customer’s desires, this is surprising. Missed opportunity? I think so. For example, they could have recovered goodwill by asking one of the more influential bloggers in the community to help curate a collection of titles, or something relevant that the community would like to see.

Shock-Schlock - Burger King’s version of Baby’s Got Back.

A polarizing ad to say the least. You’ll either laugh and think this is brilliant (hmm – you’re likely male under 35) or you’re deeply shocked and offended and will never step inside a Burger King again (you might be female over 30). It has womens’ and childrens’ rights groups up in arms. This ad shot to the number 3 ranked spot in YouTube viewership in less than 3 weeks and has close to a 5 star rating.

Is Burger King the new Howard Stern of the hamburger world? Wassup? Is taking the "low road" a short sighted brand reputation management strategy for a burger joint or are they building "trust" with their core demographic by offending mainstreet? Authentic? Brilliant? You be the judge.

To top things off, BK is now being accused of racism for running an ad supporting the "Texican Whopper" in Spain and the U.K. While the ad seems harmless enough when you play it, Spaniards and Mexicans took offense to the cultural stereotyping and disrespect towards the Mexican flag in the print version (see above).



Burger King has agreed to change out the ads when they are "commercially able". Given their appetite for controversy, this seems out-of-character. Mexico is, however, the fast-food chain's #2 market.

Please share your comments.

p.s. A couple of cool sources to visit:

Church of the Customer blog for more insights and stats on Amazon & Dominoes.
Twendz - a new tool that tracks Twitter conversations and sentiment as it's happening.
Burger King - the bad-boy of fast food

McSweden

The advertising coming out of McDonald's Sweden continues to both amuse and baffle me. It is so quirky and so un-McDonalds-like that if you took away the logo, you'd never guess that it was from McD's. This print ad is composed of a bunch of one-liners - obviously scripted in the wee hours after a night on the town. When have you come across McDonald's copy such as "What's your name? Can I sleep with you?" or "Anyone that sleeps with me gets a free DVD".

And in case you missed these 2008 beauties, you have to take a look. These ads are a Swedish mashup of Dunkin Donuts meets Burger King meets IKEA meets the Brothers Grimm (ok, they were German). It's even weirder than that - you be the judge.



So how does McDonald's Sweden get away with these ads? I understand that you cannot advertise to kids in Sweden, so your communications and brand messaging strategy will be different. Global brands are constantly trying to strike the right balance between global brand consistency and local relevance. Yet, these seem way off the core brand positioning and personality.

I'm not sure what the folks in Chicago at McD's corporate are saying about their colleagues in Sweden. (Would love to be a fly on the wall for that conversation!)


Here is some McD's Sweden trivia in case you are interested:


McDonald's Sweden recently introduced charging posts for electrically powered vehicles.



McD's Sweden is known for their environmental responsibility leadership in the QSR world - no small feat in Europe.

I think my favourite, though, is the first Ski-thru located in Lindvallen. Even Starbucks doesn't have that that.

Dog friendly car - it's Elemental

Honda has introduced a car targeted specifically at dog owners. The "Dog-Friendly Element" was unveiled at the New York Auto show and will be available in Fall 2009. It comes with a doggy ramp, mesh barriers, spill proof bowl, a bed and other features to protect Fido and keep him comfy during transport. Keeping Fido safe in case of an accident means crating the dog, or for some cooperative dogs, hooking them up to a safety harness/seat-belt. Neither option ideal. Owning a large dog, for example, my rear view is somewhat obscured by the crate which sits in the back of my wagon. Not an issue in the Element.

In 2007 the website DogCars.com named the Honda Element the most dog-friendly vehicle of the year. The site, the brainchild of veterinarian Marty Becker evaluates cars on the basis of their ease of use and comfort for dog owners. Honda is leveraging the Element's reputation and is cleverly addressing an important niche by packaging up a dog-friendly model instead of simply marketing options.

What is so surprising is that, with some 45 million dog owner households in the U.S. alone, that this idea has not been pursued by any car manufacturer before. A smart move by Honda. The American pet industry is vast and growing. Last year consumers spent $41 billion on their pets - a number that is projected to grow to $52 billion in two years. Clearly we love our pets.

Honda has a history of considering the needs of man and dog in design. In 2005 they introduced a concept car at the Tokyo car show called the W.O.W. (wonderful open-hearted wagon). This car was specifically designed with the relationship of dog and owner in mind. Amongst its many features, it conceptualized the ability to put a small dog in the glove compartment and interact with him whilst driving.



The new Element, while not an engineering innovation like the WOW is certainly an example of innovative product marketing. With this new vehicle, Honda has a great opportunity to break through the over-engineered car marketing ads with something engaging that creates a strong emotional connection to the brand. I can't wait to see their advertising and social media marketing strategy. Dog owners are a very passionate and social bunch - Honda could have a lot of fun with this.

Woof!

Why did the chicken stop in the middle of the road?

To fix a pothole?

Last week, KFC launched a campaign addressed to city mayors offering to patch potholes for free. In return , the company wants to leave behind a chalk stenciled logo on the patch informing people the road has been "Re-Freshed by KFC."

"In honor of our "Fresh Tastes Best" campaign, we want to come and Re-"Fresh" your roads!" KFC president Roger Eaton says in the letter. "Every patched pothole comes with the Colonel's very own stamp of approval."

I’m all for corporate citizenship, but as a branding and marketing professional, this just feels wrong. This promotion runs counter-intuitive to supporting the brand promise of “fresh taste best” and feels like old-school self-serving corporate citizenry.

Let’s use the checklist I put together from Jay Heyman’s book (All You Need is A Good Idea) to see how this promotion fairs.(See book review below)

Could I understand the strategy? Yes

• KFC wants to be a good corporate citizen by filling in potholes

Was the idea unexpected yet relevant?

• Unexpected yes, relevant to the brand/product – no. Road works and fried chicken have zero in common

Did it have the power to make me smile?

• No - this made me scratch my head

Does the promotion tie in with the brand promise?

• No. Fresh taste and refresh the roads puts gravel in my mouth and smells of tar

Does the promotion help differentiate the brand from competitors?

• yes – but not necessarily in a good way

Is the idea brand building & campaignable?

• Absolutely not
  

Based on these answers, I would not recommend this promotion.

So here’s the question. If KFC were your client, what promotion would you recommend that would be more in keeping with their brand promise and would build awareness while doing good?

Here’s mine. Please share your ideas!

Get citizens involved in a “fresh thinking” campaign

Using a tool such as “A Better Project”, get people to submit and vote on ideas on how to “refresh” their city by providing grants to the best ideas. KFC would be able to create a groundswell of involvement that would not only build brand equity but be better aligned with their brand strategy.

In the end the winning idea might be to fill in potholes. The difference is in the how – by getting people involved in a new way that taps into a fresh approach of getting folks involved in supporting their city.

Share your idea.

Selling Switzerland

YouTube is such a wonderful medium to sell a destination. Marketers are having fun creating interactive promotions that aren't just pretty pictures, but have the legs to go viral integrating their message and building communitites in Facebook and Twitter.

Queensland Australia just closed their contest for "The Best Job Ever"., a chance to visit, photograpgh and write a travelog about your trip.

I love the promotion that MySwitzerland.com is currently running. It's tapping into the obsessive compulsive Swiss stereotype with some great self-deprecating humour.

Check it out and take the test to see if you have what it takes to become a Swiss mountain-cleaner (and win a trip to Switzerland!).

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")

Attention small business owners - this book is for you.

All You Need is A Good Idea, a new book written by Jay H. Heyman. Reviewed by Karin Koonings of The Essential Orange as part of the Post2Post Book Tour


How many times have you thought…..how can I build my business more effectively? Should I advertise on the radio? Should I do a direct-mail campaign? Or is an email campaign more cost effective? Have you often hired an ad agency or “marketing guy” and wondered….is this ad going to do it for me? How do you evaluate if it’s a really good piece of communication? Or are you guilty of telling your agency to add yet another key message to the perfect ad they’ve presented...?

To create marketing messages that actually get results, all you need is a good idea - and that truly is the key takeaway of Jay Heyman’s book. Entrepreneurs often have good product ideas – but a good idea without an effective marketing message or strategy is dead in the water.

What I love about this book is that it is written in a very conversational style, yet, the thinking is grounded in classical marketing strategy. The author gives real-life examples and tips that are very practical and don’t require large budgets. It’s an easy and entertaining read and unlike many business books, the ideas actually stick.

One of my favourite examples in the book of a good idea is of a New York sightseeing company that uses double-decker buses. Instead of the traditional red, the buses are painted yellow and black to resemble a New York taxi. A simple yet creative idea that made this tour company stand out from their competition.

Heyman’s whole mission is to give business owners the confidence to create or evaluate good ideas so they get sales results. Good ideas are fresh, often taking something familiar and giving it a new twist, something unexpected yet relevant. Good ideas differentiate and build a brand and also have the strength to carry a campaign. They have the power to make you smile and they are single-minded.

If there’s one thing I missed in the book, it was examples or tips on how small business can leverage the digital or social media channel. The success story of Blendtec comes to mind as a great example of a powerful idea well communicated. Nonetheless, this book is a great guide for small business and to prove this out, I thought it would be a good idea to test drive some of Heyman’s suggestions to see how they worked.

Test Driving the Book, Part I - Mythic Paint




I used the print ad evaluation exercise on p 78 and expanded it to create a “creative check-list” incorporating many of the concepts found in the book. I’ve applied the check-list below to the first print ad I found in my October 2008 issue of Dwell magazine which so happened to be for Mythic Paint. Here are my findings:

Could I understand the strategy in the headline?
• Not really unless it was that Mythic Paint was brought to earth by aliens

Was the idea unexpected yet relevant?
• Unexpected yes, relevant to me, not so much

Did it have the power to make me smile?
• It had to power to make me go “huh?” and flip the page

Was the ad single-minded? No
• Mythic Paint = aliens
• Highly durable
• Zero VOCs and zero toxins
• Uncanny combination of beauty and safety
• The world’s only high performance, non-toxic paint
• The legend (what legend?) goes on
• Dumbstruck/frowning woman a definite turn-off

Does the ad help differentiate the brand from competitors? Yes
• It is certainly different, but I’m not convinced that it’s memorable

Is the idea brand building & campaignable?
• Not in my opinion
• The ad does not build credibility or trust to support product claims
• Painting is hard work and there does not seem to be any payoff in the imagery

Test Driving the Book Part II - Safecoat Paint

Let’s look at another paint ad (perhaps it’s a tough category). In the same magazine I found an ad for Safecoat Paint that used one third of a page.

Could I understand the strategy in the headline? Yes
• Breathe easy (no fumes, non toxic)

Was the idea unexpected yet relevant? Yes
• The use of canary (think: coal mine) metaphor was very relevant

Did it have the power to make me smile? Yes
• It recognized my intelligence and gave a twist to the familiar

Was the ad single-minded? Yes
• It’s a safe paint – for you and for the environment
• The certification allows me to trust the product claims
• And hats off to whoever came up with the name and the packaging – it reinforces the message of safe and eco-friendly

Does the ad help differentiate the brand from competitors?
• yes, although I believe there is more opportunity to bring more emotion and energy into the ads


Is the idea brand building and campaignable?
Yes – it definitely has legs.

This exercise shows how “All you need is a Good Idea” can help the small business owner recognize, create and evaluate effective marketing messages.

It's a great book. Well done, Mr. Heyman!

Visit Jay's blog here
Check out more book reviews hosted by Idea Sandbox here