Based on observing brands that have died, seem to be dying and those that were revived or are thriving, here are 10 tips and observations about what do brands that survive and thrive do. This was a talk I did at Marketing Forum 2010.
What makes your brand different? A guide to being more competitiveguest18b160
This is a world where you and your competitors are largely selling products with similar benefits and features.
This is a world where the fragmentation of media makes it tougher to get your message to your consumers.
This is a world where brand owners find their trade customers are not only their access to consumers - but increasingly their biggest competitors.
This is a world where you need to think about how you you can ensure that you are building a long term competitive advantage based on a unique, different but relevant and compelling offer to your consumers.
In order to do this, what few key things should you be doing to make you different enough to generate value and long term growth in today's competitive global marketplace?"
What Makes Your Brand Different? Making your brand more competetive.Gary Bembridge
This is a world where you and your competitors are largely selling products with similar benefits and features.
This is a world where the fragmentation of media makes it tougher to get your message to your consumers.
This is a world where brand owners find their trade customers are not only their access to consumers - but increasingly their biggest competitors.
This is a world where you need to think about how you you can ensure that you are building a long term competitive advantage based on a unique, different but relevant and compelling offer to your consumers.
In order to do this, what few key things should you be doing to make you different enough to generate value and long term growth in today's competitive global marketplace?"
An Introduction to Cult Branding provides the basic understanding of what Cult Brands are as well as the guiding principles they all share. Based on the research presented in The Power of Cult Branding, co-authored by BJ Bueno, this deck gives you the foundation needed to begin exploring authentic customer loyalty.
What makes your brand different? A guide to being more competitiveguest18b160
This is a world where you and your competitors are largely selling products with similar benefits and features.
This is a world where the fragmentation of media makes it tougher to get your message to your consumers.
This is a world where brand owners find their trade customers are not only their access to consumers - but increasingly their biggest competitors.
This is a world where you need to think about how you you can ensure that you are building a long term competitive advantage based on a unique, different but relevant and compelling offer to your consumers.
In order to do this, what few key things should you be doing to make you different enough to generate value and long term growth in today's competitive global marketplace?"
What Makes Your Brand Different? Making your brand more competetive.Gary Bembridge
This is a world where you and your competitors are largely selling products with similar benefits and features.
This is a world where the fragmentation of media makes it tougher to get your message to your consumers.
This is a world where brand owners find their trade customers are not only their access to consumers - but increasingly their biggest competitors.
This is a world where you need to think about how you you can ensure that you are building a long term competitive advantage based on a unique, different but relevant and compelling offer to your consumers.
In order to do this, what few key things should you be doing to make you different enough to generate value and long term growth in today's competitive global marketplace?"
An Introduction to Cult Branding provides the basic understanding of what Cult Brands are as well as the guiding principles they all share. Based on the research presented in The Power of Cult Branding, co-authored by BJ Bueno, this deck gives you the foundation needed to begin exploring authentic customer loyalty.
Different: Escaping the Competitive Herdjosh duncan
A few quotes from one of my favorite books of 2010 - Different: Escaping the Competitive Herd, By Youngme Moon.
Full blog post here - http://www.arandomjog.com/2010/10/a-great-marketing-and-product-book-different/
POV: How to be a broadly relevant lifestyle brandJillian Hart
Here is a quick POV and best practices for brands who are looking to become more relevant with consumers while still maintaining luxury status.
published by www.ihartjillian.com
Ten Commandments of Challenger Brands L:
Redefine the Category
Make a Powerful Statement
Assume Thought Leadership
Powerful Symbols & Metaphors
Big Bang News
Sacrifices & Choices
Out Maneuver
High Media Presence
Idea Centered
Mischievous Disruptions
Author: Anisha Motwani
Different: Escaping the Competitive Herdjosh duncan
A few quotes from one of my favorite books of 2010 - Different: Escaping the Competitive Herd, By Youngme Moon.
Full blog post here - http://www.arandomjog.com/2010/10/a-great-marketing-and-product-book-different/
POV: How to be a broadly relevant lifestyle brandJillian Hart
Here is a quick POV and best practices for brands who are looking to become more relevant with consumers while still maintaining luxury status.
published by www.ihartjillian.com
Ten Commandments of Challenger Brands L:
Redefine the Category
Make a Powerful Statement
Assume Thought Leadership
Powerful Symbols & Metaphors
Big Bang News
Sacrifices & Choices
Out Maneuver
High Media Presence
Idea Centered
Mischievous Disruptions
Author: Anisha Motwani
What is Digital Strategy? (And why should I care?) Elliott Farber
By VOXDELTA Digital Stratgey! This presentation is designed to explain what digital strategy is, and why it is important. I made it to present at a recent event I held, and it was a big hit! Feel free to send me an email if you have any questions! elliott@voxdelta.com
Mathews Z. NKHOMA
Business Information Systems
RMIT International University
Vietnam
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Duy P. T. DANG
Business Information Systems
RMIT International University
Vietnam
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Kudakwashe Appolo Shamu
Software Engineering
FTMS College
Malaysia
Abstract—The Internet has been playing crucial roles
in our life for decades by opening a new separated and
free world that is capable of improving and bringing
benefits to our life in different areas such as economic,
education, governance and entertainment. Nevertheless,
due to being virtual and separated from the real living
world, plus the ability to expand throughout the globe,
the Internet has eventually become a tool for criminals
utilized for malicious purposes. The commitment of
those crimes by abusing the Internet with malicious
tools and methods is recognized widely as ‘cyber
crime’. In order to defend against the expansion of
cyber-crimes, several factors that affect cyber crime’s
development have been studied and determined by
prior and current researches. Apart from a nation’s
IT infrastructure and law and regulations of Internet
behaviors, the awareness of the Internet’s users is
considered as an imperative factor that helps the users
protect themselves against cyber crime as the very first
tier of the defense, thus prevents the development of
these notorious intentions.
Balancing Fraud & Customer Experience in a Mobile WorldComrade
Consumers’ reliance on mobile continues to skyrocket in shopping, paying for bills, managing finances and socializing. This poses a great challenge for retailers, financial institutions and technology vendors. Digital account opening is fraught with pitfalls as the identity validation process relies on manual entry of personal information. Similarly account management uses knowledge-based authentication but can add friction to the user experience. How should retailers, banks and merchants integrate fraud protection measures into the user experience with the least amount of friction to the user?
I joined joined Al Pascual from Javelin Strategy & Research in a complimentary webinar to share lessons learned from working with leading companies that have struggled with the issue of fraud and customer experience.
We explored the following:
- Who are leaders in integrating fraud prevention into the user experience?
- Who owns the fraud prevention process in the organization?
- How to overcome legacy design issues that can underwhelm the customer experience and inhibit security measures?
- How to prevent fraud in a low-friction environment, while communicating a security-forward brand experience?
Detecting Opportunities and Threats with Complex Event Processing: Case St...Tim Bass
Detecting Opportunities and Threats with Complex Event Processing: Case Studies in Predictive Customer Interaction Management and Fraud Detection, February 27, 2007 FINAL DRAFT 2, 8th Annual Japan\'s International Banking & Securities System Forum, Tim Bass, CISSP, Principal Global Architect, Director
Prevent banking frauds through identity managementGARL
What is the difference between private and retail banking in fraud management? Significant use of mobile devices (tablet, smartphone,...) and the growing number of fraud due to human factor are changing private banking management.
GARL presentation at Forum Banca 2013 describes fraud risks for private banking and how to manage them in a prevention plan.
The presentation was made as a collaboration with Banca Esperia (Mediobanca group).
Preventing Tax Evasion & Benefits Fraud Through Predictive AnalyticsCapgemini
Today's tax and welfare agencies are increasingly facing new and sophisticated methods of tax evasion and welfare fraud. Increasing digitization means that fraudsters are becoming faster and new types of fraud, such as ID theft, are growing.
However, with more and better data available, agencies now have the ability to sharpen their insights at higher speeds.
Capgemini’s TROUVE solution, powered by SAS, helps Tax & Welfare agencies harness digital to achieve better, faster and cheaper compliance results.
Presented by Capgemini's Ian Pretty at SAS Analytics 2014.
Understanding the Card Fraud Lifecycle : A Guide For Private Label IssuersChristopher Uriarte
With credit card fraud dramatically on the rise, particularly in the form of card-not-present (CNP) fraud across Internet and Mail Order/Telephone Order (MOTO) channels, it is important for private label issuers to understand the depth of this problem and how it affects their merchant portfolio and their ability to accept private label cards. Private label cards were often considered to be “low risk”, relative to traditional bank cards, but our current analysis has shown the contrary: fraudsters are increasingly using private label cards as the payment instrument in CNP channels and merchants are at great risk if specific strategies are not put in place to stop it.
Internet fraud is the most common and major crimes affecting consumers online. Included are preventive measures to protect yourself from fraud online plus information on WeGoLook.com. WGL is an online service featuring over 7,000 nationwide persons who travel to an item, property or person to validate it's existence for you. Report includes photos, video, arranging shipment and more.
The term branding is relegated to companies, however today almost every individual has a personal brand. Start thinking of yourself as a brand, to be a better leader, to be a better employer brand, to celebrate your accomplishments.
My name is George Patience. I worked for four failed businesses in four years and contained in this manual are what I learned. This, is a collection on why businesses fail.
This presentation is about radical differentiation for businesses. There are winners and losers in business. The winners learn how to RADICALLY differentiate their business from ALL competition.
A step-by-step guide to creating cutting edge television commercials, exploring everything from how television communicates to how to sell concepts. Individual chapters address hot issues in advertising development, and global advertising leaders contribute their secrets to success
If you are starting a new business or a veteran, it is wise to understand the basics of marketing. Without a marketing plan, you're going to experience a lot of frustration and insequirity. With a marketing plan, you'll have a blueprint that saves you money and insures success.
Victoria Garcia has been in the business of helping small businesss with their marketing for over 24 years. Feel free to contact her with questions if you have any.
Choosing easier. How businesses can improve the experience of choosing.TED Talks
Less is more. One of the biggest problems in today's world is choice overload. We all want customized experiences and products — but when faced with 700 options, consumers freeze up. Sheena Iyengar demonstrates how businesses (and others) can improve the experience of choosing.
Entrepreneurs are those whom capable to identify problem and works on a solution for it either on profit or non-profitable basis. Entrepreneurs knew that in order to succeed with their undertaking and continuously be in in the industry they need poses certain essential traits. We researched and summarized five essential traits are often developed or cultivated by entrepreneurs to grow a profitable business.
Houston Inventors Association - Branding Guidelines TrainingJJ Lassberg
Our success is a direct result of knowing how to market a brand and having the right people representing the brand. Greg Norman “The Great White Shark”
Branding Guidelines: Top 10 Tips to Gain the Competitive Edge
http://www.zaggtime.com/overcoming-the-fear-of-failure-its-a-sign-of-moving-forward/ The first thing for anybody to achieve great success is that they must be able to abandon the fear of failure and recondition their brain as to what failure means. Successful entrepreneurs embrace failure because it’s a sign of moving forward.
What it takes to create innovation that wins by Andria LongAndria Long
In this presentation Andria shares her insights on 4 Keys to Driving Innovation Success:
1. Define the right goals
2. The discipline of creating what consumers REALLY want/need
3. Differentiate AND Evolve or Die
4. Embrace failure and learn from it
Andria has over 20 years of experience in consistently delivering transformational revenue growth by quickly identifying opportunities by understanding insights in the rapidly changing consumer, competitive, and industry landscape.
She has continued to synthesize her learnings and best practices and developed her own proven approach that has achieved success rates well above industry norms both in terms of revenue generated, and sustainability – staying power in market
This approach has been proven to work for a diverse range of companies in terms of size, ownership (private/family run/public), cultures, innovation capabilities and business stage (during & post acquisition, transformation, turnaround) as well as brands in terms of market position, size, budgets & categories.
Presented at the Food & Beverage Impact Summit on October 2, 2017.
How a blog position statement can revolutionise content creation (NMX New Med...Gary Bembridge
How you can apply business tools used by major companies to build their brands to build a better and more compelling blog. This draws on using a blog positioning statement which I presented at NMX New Media Expo in Las Vegas
How Bloggers Should Approach Brands : Gary Bembridge (MSC Cruises Traverse Ro...Gary Bembridge
Tips on how bloggers should approach brands that they want to work with. Content provided for a roundtable on the topic hosted by MSC Cruises at Traverse Travel Bloggers Conference
CLIA Webinar: Travel Blogs - what role do they play in a traveller's decision...Gary Bembridge
Webinar I ran for CLIA (Cruise Line International Association) UK & Ireland about Travel Blogs and the role they play on a traveller's decision making process. It covers what a blog and blogger is, what travellers are looking for, what content and approach if developing your own blog and how to engage with bloggers
World Travel Market London: Creating Content Travellers Really WantGary Bembridge
My presentation at WTM 2013 for TBU London was about creating content that travellers really want, highlighting some of the pitfalls and risks. I talk about the importance of bearing in mind that most people only travel once a year for an annual 2 week holiday - and what that means when creating content
Digital PR and blog trips: thinking beyond the press trips (Digital Tourism N...Gary Bembridge
Tips and advice on partnering with travel bloggers based on what travellers looking for from travel blogs, how to plan partnerships (including new models) and getting the most out of working with bloggers
TBEX Dublin 2013: How to develop your blog positioning statement (Gary Bembri...Gary Bembridge
Gary Bembridge'd presentation from TBEX Dublin 2013 about the importance of and how to develop a blog positioning statement - including why having one is key to building your brand, meeting a specific audience and advice and tips on where to focus
Travellers Versus Travel Bloggers. Content Use, Needs & Wants. White PaperGary Bembridge
White paper sharing the results of an independent study of what "regular" travellers use, want and need from travel content and information. It compares this to what travel bloggers think they want. Based on studies by Gary Bembridge of tipsfortravellers.com in partnership with TBU (Travel Bloggers Unite). First shared at TBU Rotterdam Conference 2013
Difference between bloggers and journalists. Why brands should consider worki...Gary Bembridge
A summary of the key differences between journalists and bloggers. What travellers are looking at getting from a blog. Why brands should work with blogs. This was prepared for a cruise industry roundtable discussion on the topics
Creating Content for Travellers Workshop: Content StrategyGary Bembridge
Workshop I ran at TBU (Travel Bloggers Unite) Conference about the importance of developing a content strategy similar to brands use, and how to develop and use it.
Creating Content For Travellers: TBU Rotterdam KeynoteGary Bembridge
Keynote talk at TBU (Travel Bloggers Unite) Conference in Rotterdam looking at what travellers are looking for in travel blogs - versus what travel bloggers think they want. Based on research I conducted for the TBU event exclusively
Brand Building: What makes you brand different? How having a brand belief can...Gary Bembridge
Brand Building: How having a brand belief can drive brand competitiveness. This is a talk I gave to Richmond Events Marketing Forum called: What makes you different. For more visit my site at http://www.garybembridge.com
Digital Fundamentals: 10 things you need to know to develop a great digital s...Gary Bembridge
Digital Fundamentals: 10 things you need to know to develop a great digital stratgey and plan.
This is a talk I gave at Richmond Events Digital Marketing Briefing in London.
Personal Brand Statement:
As an Army veteran dedicated to lifelong learning, I bring a disciplined, strategic mindset to my pursuits. I am constantly expanding my knowledge to innovate and lead effectively. My journey is driven by a commitment to excellence, and to make a meaningful impact in the world.
Event Report - SAP Sapphire 2024 Orlando - lots of innovation and old challengesHolger Mueller
Holger Mueller of Constellation Research shares his key takeaways from SAP's Sapphire confernece, held in Orlando, June 3rd till 5th 2024, in the Orange Convention Center.
Tata Group Dials Taiwan for Its Chipmaking Ambition in Gujarat’s DholeraAvirahi City Dholera
The Tata Group, a titan of Indian industry, is making waves with its advanced talks with Taiwanese chipmakers Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (PSMC) and UMC Group. The goal? Establishing a cutting-edge semiconductor fabrication unit (fab) in Dholera, Gujarat. This isn’t just any project; it’s a potential game changer for India’s chipmaking aspirations and a boon for investors seeking promising residential projects in dholera sir.
Visit : https://www.avirahi.com/blog/tata-group-dials-taiwan-for-its-chipmaking-ambition-in-gujarats-dholera/
B2B payments are rapidly changing. Find out the 5 key questions you need to be asking yourself to be sure you are mastering B2B payments today. Learn more at www.BlueSnap.com.
Top mailing list providers in the USA.pptxJeremyPeirce1
Discover the top mailing list providers in the USA, offering targeted lists, segmentation, and analytics to optimize your marketing campaigns and drive engagement.
At Techbox Square, in Singapore, we're not just creative web designers and developers, we're the driving force behind your brand identity. Contact us today.
Digital Transformation and IT Strategy Toolkit and TemplatesAurelien Domont, MBA
This Digital Transformation and IT Strategy Toolkit was created by ex-McKinsey, Deloitte and BCG Management Consultants, after more than 5,000 hours of work. It is considered the world's best & most comprehensive Digital Transformation and IT Strategy Toolkit. It includes all the Frameworks, Best Practices & Templates required to successfully undertake the Digital Transformation of your organization and define a robust IT Strategy.
Editable Toolkit to help you reuse our content: 700 Powerpoint slides | 35 Excel sheets | 84 minutes of Video training
This PowerPoint presentation is only a small preview of our Toolkits. For more details, visit www.domontconsulting.com
3.0 Project 2_ Developing My Brand Identity Kit.pptxtanyjahb
A personal brand exploration presentation summarizes an individual's unique qualities and goals, covering strengths, values, passions, and target audience. It helps individuals understand what makes them stand out, their desired image, and how they aim to achieve it.
Premium MEAN Stack Development Solutions for Modern BusinessesSynapseIndia
Stay ahead of the curve with our premium MEAN Stack Development Solutions. Our expert developers utilize MongoDB, Express.js, AngularJS, and Node.js to create modern and responsive web applications. Trust us for cutting-edge solutions that drive your business growth and success.
Know more: https://www.synapseindia.com/technology/mean-stack-development-company.html
Premium MEAN Stack Development Solutions for Modern Businesses
10 tips on avoiding an early grave for your brand or company
1. Avoiding an early grave for your brand What we can learn from dead and dying brands.... Gary Bembridge Vice President Beauty Care, Johnson & Johnson
2. What if these did? Friends Reunited – Reader’s Digest – AOL – WH Smith Or these? BMW – RyanAir – Cunard – Colgate – John Lewis - Samaritans If your company went out of business would anyone notice?
4. 1: Brands are created by visionaries. The Top Entrepreneurs of the last 100 Years: Focus.com Estee Lauder “ Put the product into the customer’s hands, it will speak for itself if it’s something of quality” Richard Branson “ A business has to be involving, it has to be fun, and it has to exercise your creative instincts” Walt Disney “ All dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.” Sam Walton “ There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire anybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else”
5. Destroyed by caretakers. Reinvented by a visionary Not by caretakers, committees or accountants Rosemary Bravo Marc Jacobs Howard Schultz Richard Teerlink Carol Marlow
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9. What competing with? What is real Competency? Polariod: instant pictures Alcopops: “Starter Drinks”
15. 7: Stand out at rush hour. Without differentiation, a company cannot charge a premium, nor can it sustain a brand
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17. 8: Repeat. It’s all about repeat. Staying relevant to ensure you get repeat
18. 9: Beware the self-fulfilling prophecy Management causes a death or the resuscitation. Kevin J Clancy: Save America’s Dying Brands” “ Management rarely, if ever cites poor marketing stratgey as the cause of problems. More common: competition built more stores, consumer spending down etc.. If companies make any sort of move, they invariably cut price and special promotions.. Brand loyalty is based on the idea that a product or service is uniquely better and different, not cheaper” “ The main reason businesses behind successful brands die is management and Operational incompetence” Stuart Whitwell: Revival of the Fittest
19. 10: Always do the right thing. There really is more to life than the bottom line Be Legal - Don’t abuse - Be morally right - Environmentally responsible - Take pride - Don’t be greedy
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22. Contact and follow Gary Bembridge: http:// www.garybembridge.com @garybembridge Search: Gary Bembridge Join Marketing Unleashed Page http://uk.linkedin.com/in/bembridge
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Editor's Notes
Slide 2: if your company went out of business would anyone notice? Having thought about my own experiences of working on dying brands and (luckily, so far) turning them around, and then reading and researching brands that died or look to be dying, I realized that there was one good question to ask yourself about your brand. This may be the one key thought and action that you should take from this talk. And this is the question: if your company went out of business, would anyone really notice or care? If the honest answer is “probably not”, then you have a problem and you need to act. For if your customer can probably live without you then eventually they will. Look at the selection of brand on the chart that died in recent times. Many of them you will recognise and many you will likely say “oh, yeah remember them”. But – like you – no-one really missed them when they were gone. There were alternatives, often better. But what about these brands: Friends Reunited, Reader’s Digest, AOL, and WH Smith? These used to be powerhouses and seem to be dying. Would people really miss them if they died? What about these brands: BMW, Ryanair, Cunard, Colgate, John Lewis and the Samaritans. Would people notice if these went? I think yes. These are vibrant and successful brands. People love and rely on them. So I spent some time thinking about the 3 sets of brands and here are my thoughts on what we can learn and do to avoid an early grave for our brands.
Slide 3: Some dead and dying brands Let’s take a look at some more dying brands: Mini, Apple, Cunard, Burberry, Harley Davidson and the brand I work on, the French skincare brand called RoC. Dying brands? These are not dying brands today. But at some point in their recent history all of these were very much dying, and have been reinvigorated and are now seen as case book examples of exciting, modern and cutting edge brands. I think brands like these show that it is possible to take a brand that has lost relevance and is heading towards the grave, breathe life into them and turn them into exciting, innovative and profitable brands again. So I also looked at these when looking for inspiration and insights. Let me tell you briefly about RoC. This brand was on a high in 2005, but since then crashed down in the space of 4 years to less than half its size at this peak. When I took over the brand, declines were around 30% a year in almost all markets around the world. This year the brand is growing close to 50% in North and South America in every market we operate in, and we have seen growth starting to come through in our traditional continental European markets. So as you can see, I have some scary but recent experiences to draw on. For confidentiality reasons, I will not go into great detail on RoC today but will refer to some key learning. So let’s look at my 10 learning point and tips!
Slide 4: Tip 1 Brands are created by visionaries This may state the obvious, but often in the day-to-day management of brands (especially in large corporations) it is easy to forget that someone one day created the brand. Understanding that vision and what they intended to create and build is important, and often brand that fade forget this. Visionaries bring 3 things to the creation of a brand: They see a gap, an opportunity, that is not being met by existing players They have an idea, and angle that is different, unique or better to meet that need than others They have passion, persistence and a philosophy and rallying cry to focus and motive and direct what they do. It is not constrained by the status quo that many markets settle into and existing players work to. Let’s look at 4 examples that I find really interesting: Estee Lauder (cosmetics): “put the product into the consumer’s hands. It will speak for itself if it’s something of quality” Sam Walton (created Wal-Mart, the largest grocery chain in world): “there is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire anybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else” Richard Branson (Airlines and Virgin empire): “A business has to be involving, it has to be fun, and it has to exercise your creative instincts” Walt Disney (movie and theme park empire): “All dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them
Slide 5: Destroyed by caretakers, reinvented by a visionary The problem comes as the visionary moves on, or the business starts to grow and get listed. Then the money men and women take over, the focus is on incremental growth, margins, costs and less risk. Caretakers, Committees and Accountants slowly but surely tend to squeeze life out of a brand. As this happens slowly, it is often not really visible until it starts to be terminal. One thing that is clear, unless a new visionary steps in, the brand will and does die. Caretakers cannot promote or cost cut you out of decline Looking at many of the brands that have slumped and then been revitalized can be clearly identified and associated with one visionary who is brought in and creates a new or updates the original visionaries intention. Look at these well documented examples of brands that were dying or starting to and were resuscitated Rosemary Bravo took an ailing Burberry back into the fashion icon it is. A new CEO is taking it even further. This year at London fashion Week, it was Burberry that got most of the coverage and created the most excitement. Marc Jacobs stepped into an ailing Louis Vuitton and went back to the heart of the brand, focusing on 13 core designs and recreated the desire, the premium and style again. Richard Teerlink famously fought off the Japanese share advance into motorcycles by reinventing Harley as an appealing and distinctive brand of quality, targeted affluent men seeking adventure and escape. Carol Marlow took Cunard from a failing, struggling cruise ship into a stylish, premium and desirable – and the most desirable and talked about cruise line in the world. Think of all the fuss and coverage the QM2 and just this week the Queen Elisabeth gathered. Even the Queen herself has become part of the brand experience! Howard Schultz (Starbucks). This is an example of a visionary who created the original, having to come back to ensure the original vision and experience was restored to Starbucks after “caretakers and accountants” had watered it done, optimized and speed up service and other such things. More about this later! It takes someone with a vision of the future and not someone concerned with maximizing and optimising the offer, and margins...
Slide 6: Tip 2 Have a belief One key common factor with Visionaries is that in addition to seeing a gap and opportunity, they also understand that a brand is more than just a collection of benefits and features. They understand that to connect a brand needs to have a soul, create an emotional connection with customers. A quote I found most relevant was one that Anna Farmery of The Engaging Brand blog and podcast quotes a lot and this is: “people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel”. I think this is important for all brands to remember. One can usually find an alternative that is cheaper, faster or whatever – and in the final choice we tend to use and chose brands that make us feel something about them. Hugh MacLeod of gapingvoid.com (worth checking out for his daily doodles and cartoons about strategy and marketing) explains this more when he says that is about understanding the way we as people think, and remember we are selling to PEOPLE with emotions and not just rational beings. This is what he says: “we humans want to believe in our own species, and we want people, companies and products in our lives that make it easier to do so. That is human nature. It’s no longer just enough for people to believe that your product does what it says on the label. They want to believe in you and what you do”. Let me show an example of how one great brand visionary proves exactly this.
Slide 7: Having a belief drives employees and consumers I came across a video clip online about two years ago that I want to play for you to illustrate the point. It is of Steve Jobs talking to his employees about Apple. In the video you are going to hear him say that Apple is NOT about making products to help people do their job (although he says they do that better than most) but he says those magic words: WE BELIEVE... He says: We believe that people with passion can change the world for the better Text of his speech: “For me, marketing is about values. This is a very complicated world. It’s a very noisy world. And we’re not going to get a chance to get people to remember much about us. No company is. And so we have to be really clear on what we want them to know about us. Our customers want to know “who is apple? What is it that we stand for? Where we fit in this world”. And what we are about isn’t about making boxes for people to get their jobs done – although we do that well. We can do that almost better than anyone else can in some cases. But Apple’s about something more than that. Apple at the core, its core value, is that we that we believe that people with passion can change the world for the better. That’s what we believe” He then inspires all his people. For example, when he was trying to convince John Scully (Pepsi CEO) to join Apple, he famously said: “Do you want to sell sugar water for the rest of your life, or do you want to come work with me and change the world?” On my Brand RoC, Dr Lissarague who created the brand in his Paris Pharmacy in 1957, had a belief and that was that if you challenged the accepted practices and beliefs even of professionals, you could give access to beauty to everyone, even those with the most delicate, sensitive and reactive skin. This led him creating the first Sunblock; he created hypoallergenic skincare and the definition of it including the first hypoallergenic make-up and many more firsts. That belief is still core to RoC and our NPD today
. Slide 8: Tip 3 Avoid the stagecoach syndrome This may be a bit obvious, but it is still one that I think many brands that have died (or are dying) get wrong, and is probably the biggest and most common error a brand caretaker versus a brand visionary makes. And this is, being really clear about what you are really offering, who you are competing with really, and what your real competency is. Stagecoaches were once the only and main way to travel from place to place. There were vast networks competing, and of course today the companies behind them are gone, all destroyed by alternative forms of travel. A brand caretaker would have focused on how to improve costs, better compete in comfort with the other stagecoaches and so on. But they forget to think about what they were really offering (the fast, safe way to get from A to B?). The real competitor (railways? Other new forms of travel?) And what their real competency was (scheduling? Or whatever) Compare that to Cunard. In the 1970s when jet travel destroyed all of the other transatlantic boat services, they focused on “the best way to cross”/ “crossing is half the fun” – and today have a growing fleet of premium ships and seen as an icon.
Slide 9: What competing with? What is real competency? Let’s look at a few examples of people that got it wrong, maybe getting it wrong and seem to be getting it right! Polaroid . They probably defined what they were offering really well: instant pictures. But they did not focus well enough on who they are really competing with. So when digital came along, instead of them being the leader and first as it was the best example of how to reinvent instant pictures, they let it destroy them. Unlike Kodak who embraced and built a business in digital pictures. Alcopops . Remember the explosion in these, brands and variants seemed to be launched every day. The category boomed, and then I believe pretty much died. While cider brands exploded. The reason I am told is that Alcopops forgot what they were really competing with and offering. Alcopops and things before them and now cider brands are competing t be the “starter drink of choice” for young people when they start on the rocky road to alcohol consumption. By focusing on out doing the next Alcopops, they did not stay focused on what the next generation of starter drinkers were looking for. Competencies. I find this one of the most interesting. As we focus so much on brands and execution, we often forget to think about what is our real competency. I think this is a key reason why some companies flourish and others die over the longer term. 3 examples J&J Beauty – our competency is not in creating beauty brands but in acquiring small brands with clear vision and clear point of differentiation and then making them huge in their home market and then globally expanding them across different business models and channels. 10 years ago we had no beauty business. Today we are the #1 skincare player in mass in the USA. All brands are 4 or 5 times larger than when we bought them. Whitbread . Transformed from a brewer into a company without any brewing, focused on “eat, sleep and drink” with brands like Premier Inn, Beefeater, Brewers Fayre, and Costa Coffee Tate & Lyle , the sugar company for generations, has announced it will soon no longer sell sugar – as no money to be made in it and its competency is in producing and selling staples and commodities and moving into more profitable and growing ones like starch.
Slide 10. Tip 4 you can’t win the race by standing still This is so obvious and again a common mistake. If you are running a race, if you stand still and the other competitors run ahead, you can’t win. So why do so many companies and brands lose out here. Usually it is because they do not think through the fact that things constantly change. The thing that won you the order or closed the sale today may no longer tomorrow. Someone may do it better, faster, or cheaper. I am a fan of thinking through these 3 things: what is winning me the order today? What do I need to do to qualify to be considered today? What is losing em the order today? What will they be tomorrow and how do I get there? Let’s look at some examples
Slide 11: Order winners, order qualifiers and order losers keep changing Blockbuster recently went into Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the USA. The once mighty DVD rental chain has been losing vast sums in the USA although some of their global business is faring a bit better. This for me is a classic case of standing too still in a race. First on demand movies on the TV came and offered more convenience, and also quality was guaranteed. Then the NetFlix/ LoveFilm posting DVD service came along, with convenience and choice and not having to go to and from the shop. Then downloads and legal ones that are okay costs, huge choice and convenient. They should have owned and created all of these, versus trying to optimize the shops and the costs. RoC. In continental Europe there were 2 business models that worked in the Pharmacy channel we sell RoC. The dermatologist recommendation model, where they recommend to their patients brands who go to the pharmacy to buy. The pharmacist will encourage others then buy those. Then the TV and in-store display approach like a mass brand. The later worked well for RoC during the first half of the 2000s, and then we saw fall and fall in sales while new brands (like Cauadlie and Nuxe) came to the channel and did neither, but made the pharmacist and advisors love the brand, incentivised them, invested in their stores to build fixtures and displays, gave them samples and created CRM to build basket size. With half the distribution of RoC, in 3 years they became #1 anti age in France. We kept optimizing the model and standing still while the race moved on.
Slide 12: Tip 5 a success often breeds failure When looking at most brands that stumble, or stand still in race, this seems to be one of the big factors contributing to it. Often the leader of the brand will have got there on the back of some success, be it an ad campaign, a way of executing or by doing something a certain way. Politicians too all too often fall foul of this, with Margaret Thatcher having success with a certain approach and style but then, as it had worked, sticking to it. There is report from California State University I read about this, and here is a quote from that study: “The sheer success of a brand becomes it own undoing”. I have seen this first hand many times in my working career. But first let’s return to Starbucks, which lost it way badly a few years ago and really slumped in sales and share. Howard Shultz, the man that drove its success and returned after the slump, said: “We made a series of decisions that, in retrospect, have led to the watering down of the Starbucks experience, and what some may call the commodization of the brand”. Success meant that people focused on the cost and how to speed up service, not on the experiential elements. Success meant they faced long lines and more competition, so they focused on cost cutting and speed instead of the brand and what it was offering RoC. In 2005 a campaign broke for the one product in the line (Retin-ox) “10 years back”, were women declared their age because they looked 10 years younger. It was massive success in getting trial, and was so successful. Then for 3 years after it drove everything as people tried to fit it across the range, were too scared to move from the claim – even when was clear women tried but not repurchase. It grid locked creativity for years.
Slide 13. Tip 6 the consumer is not a moron, she is your wife This is a favourite quote of mine from David Ogilvy, who created Ogilvy & Mather ad agency. We need to always remember that our customers are not stupid. Though many dead and dying brands seem to have. If she can live without you, she eventually will. If you treat her mean, she will not stick by you and you will only ever fool her once. Let’s look at some examples of dead and dying brands that maybe did not or are not following this advice.
Slide 14: If your consumer can live without you, they eventually will Ratners . Famously Gerald Ratner in 1991 wiped £500 million instantly off the value of the company, and in 1994 the name was dropped. At the Institute of Directors, he said they “sold a pair of earrings for under a pound, which is cheaper than a prawn sandwich from M&S, but probably wouldn’t last as long”. And calling a sherry decanter they sold was cheap as it was “total crap”. Insulting your consumer will kill you. MFI . Went bust as its products were not seen as good quality, a case made stronger when IKEA came along. Compare that to John Lew is who have grown through the recession and the MD argues it is because they refused to compromise on quality and quality of service and would not cut the spec on their products and consumers valued quality in the end. Asda interestingly lost share even though they cut price, but by cutting quality and now have restage huge amounts of own label to put back quality. The consumer values VALUE. WH Smith seems to be a dying brand. It is hard to work out why you go there, unless you in a railway station or airport for something to pass time on your journey. I read that most of their sales/ profit are now form cigarettes and top shelf magazines, but not sure if that is true. But hard to see why or what their role is, as you can get everything elsewhere better. Dasani is a case of treating consumers as silly. This Coke owned water brand was due to launch when it was revealed it was water out of the mains then distilled and bottled. It died before launch RoC . On one of our lead supported products, I found that 40% of users found it to irritate their skin. Not surprisingly the line died, and created a real challenge to overcome
Slide 15: Tip 7 Stand out at rush hour You need to stand out. You need to be differentiated to succeed. Why? Without differentiation, a company cannot charge a premium, nor can it sustain a brand. If you are not differentiated, then price is the winner. Brands cannot win a price game in the end. Let’s look at some examples
Slide 16: Differentiation. 2 most important words for brand visionary: only & unlike Look at these Dyson . Huge success through differentiation with new technology and way of solving problems in what had become commodity areas: vacuum cleansers, hand drying, fans. Apple . They were not the 1 st MP3 player by far, but through design and interface and integration with iTunes they differentiated. Virgin Atlantic. When created they stood out from a sea of sameness with services, pickups, multi channel entertainment for all classes. The first true flatbed in business and so on. Nespresso and home coffee making. But then we have credit cards and car hire companies. They all are the same, and price or inertia seems to be the only real basis of competition. Price elasticity sets in when differentiation goes. There are 3 big signs when things are heading this way: Common signs: From brand building to promotion From info-orientated messaging to entertainment-orientated From distinctive position/ attributes to essence & image
Slide 17: Tip 8 Repeat. It’s all about repeat One thing that I think is a big cause of brands dying is that they focus on trial and so work through recruitment, but once that pool runs dry they die. In some cases that can take years, but the real focus needs to be on repeat. Live Aid : maybe there are some brands where you only need trial. Like maybe once off fund raising concerts like Live Aid. But most of us are not in that territory. Gap and M&S . Both of which seem to be hovering between dying and reviving over the last years. Every now and then they rush off and try and recruit new users, usually younger and more hip. They then alienate the core and struggle to get the young hip, and then revert back to keeping the old loyalists happy and get them back. I think they are classic examples of how you need to focus on ensuring you get repeat from the core, but evolve and stay relevant so you are constantly topping up the core. If you do not stay relevant and get old fashioned you lose. RoC and Caudalie. I mentioned these earlier. RoC boomed as I mentioned by getting a lot of trial, but not the sustainability as people did not like the products to use every day. While Cauadlie, had products that women liked to use and so they bought more and more across the range. Pretty basic stuff, as we can prove clinically we are much better than Caudalie in results but we were losing as they liked using them better. Something we have (of course) changed!
Slide 18: Tip 9 Beware the self-fulfilling prophecy Or as this quote from the article “Survival of the Fittest” puts it: “The main reason businesses behind successful brands die is management and operational incompetence”. In fact most of the articles and books on why brands die, argue that managements create downfalls, Not always intentionally but by their actions and by focusing on the wrong things. Kevin Clancy from “Save America’s Dying Brands” writes: ““Management rarely, if ever cites poor marketing stratgey as the cause of problems. More common: competition built more stores, consumer spending down etc... If companies make any sort of move, they invariably cut price and special promotions... Brand loyalty is based on the idea that a product or service is uniquely better and different, not cheaper” Some examples from my own experiences Johnson’s baby Oil was one of the products I worked on when I joined J&J in 1987. I was told that the brand was dying and would be gone soon, as it was generic mineral oil with fragrance and private label would squeeze us out on price. The brand was being slowly strangled by management. I worked with our R&D team and they came up with a fact from an old published clinical that showed that JBO moisturized 10x better on wet skin than the leading moisturizer lotion. We ran that in ads, and the business exploded. We rolled it out and within 2 years we had sold $70 million more JBO. And still today the same story is running! On RoC , in the markets we have the brand roughly half are now growing by close to 50% versus last year. The others are static or still declining. In the business model assessment, I can say with some certainty that the key and 1 st differentiator is the person at the top of the company. If they believe they can and will turn the brand around then we have. The same products, the same packaging, the same competition, the same copy – the key is the belief.
Slide 19: Tip 10 Always do the right thing I am not going to spend a lot of time on this one. But to ensure you do not die you need to be legal, don’t abuse, be morally right. Be environmentally responsible, take pride in what you do and don’t be greedy. As we see from these people and these brands on here, if you don’t stick to these rules your brand will die or start that path.
Slide 20: 10 top tips from the dead and dying Here are my ten observations and tips listed to ensure you avoid an early grave. Created by Visionaries. Destroyed by Caretakers. Have a belief. People remember how you make them feel. Avoid the stagecoach syndrome. Can’t win the race by standing still. Beware success breeding seeds of your failure. Consumer is not an idiot. She is your wife. Repeat. It is all about repeat. Stand out in the rush hour. Watch out for a self-fulfilling prophecy. Always do the right thing.
Slide 21: Key thought to take away And finally, if you only remember one or two things here are what they should be: If your company went out of business, would anyone notice? If your consumer could live without you, they eventually will If you keep doing business the same way as everybody does, you will never do better than them