THE David Anderson

R.A.D. - Rockin Ad of the Day / Scotch-Brite

Wash the dishes or pay the bill?  The folks at Scotch-Brite (in Brazil) created a fantastic opportunity to engage new customers, build brand awareness, and brand value.  They teamed up with some restaurants and offered to pay for a meal if the customer would wash some dishes using the Scotch-Brite scrubbing sponge.  I'm sure there were some who turned down the offer but look at how much the customers are enjoying this experience!  Some even took video of the experience and no doubt shared it with friends.  Well done!

 

R.A.D. - Rockin Ad of the Day / Stihl

Clever spots from Australian firm, WhybinTBWATequila, on behalf of Stihl.  "Get real. Get outside." is a great line.  The younger generation now might not remember what life was like before Playstations, Tweeting, and Wi-fi, but my generation sure does.  Time to get me some power tools!

  

 

You Want Me to Follow You?

Newsflash... I don't follow everyone that follows me on Twitter.  I know, I know, where is my sense of community?  Don't I want to be a contributing member of society?  Believe me, I have no problem with engaging others but come on... some folks out there aren't even trying.  There are plenty of posers and spam bots out there and even some real folks who only broadcast on auto-tweet and I'm not interested in that type of engagement.  When someone follows me, I don't auto-follow back.  I will take the time to check out your profile, tweets, maybe your url and if I see value, I'll follow back.

In case you would like to know what I'm specifically looking for, here are some reasons why I will follow you. 

1. I WILL FOLLOW YOU IF... you have a picture.  I need to at least be able to visualize who I'm speaking with.  I'm not down for communicating with the mystery "EGG" person.
2. I WILL FOLLOW YOU IF... you have a profile/bio.  Your recent tweets will give me a sense for who you are but what is your elevator pitch?  That is your chance to sell me.  Be professional, personal, and having a sense of humor also helps.
3. I WILL FOLLOW YOU IF... not all your tweets are RTs or filled with self-promotional links.  Don't get me wrong, retweeting is a very important piece of social media but if that is all you do, I might as well follow those you are retweeting and cut out the middle man.  Also, I see the value of self-promotion but if that is all you do, you are missing the point.
4. I WILL FOLLOW YOU IF... you follow most of the people who follow you.  Don't follow back everyone and then after you build up your following, cut everybody off to look like a celebrity.  As Primetime would say, #HOP, don't act like you don't know me!
5. I WILL FOLLOW YOU IF... you are not an organization.  Ok, I follow some businesses, but for the most part, I want to engage with a person rather than a company.
6. I WILL FOLLOW YOU IF... your auto DM isn't spammy and impersonal.  I don't use auto DMs but I have seen some good ones (e.g., "What took you so long?") but for the most part if there are links and suggestions to "make money", that isn't going to cut it.

2010 - Top Branding Events

Happy New Year to all!  2010 was another great and eventful year.  From a branding point of view there were definitely some historic moments.  Let's take a stroll down memory lane and revisit some of the memorable branding events of 2010:

• Old Spice became relevant again with a viral ad campaign.  I still haven't purchased any Old Spice products but I'm sure they have gained new customers.
• A new Gap logo... oh wait, nevermind... bad idea.  Thanks Twitter!
• The ipad launched and I capitulated... but it has been worth it!  New iphone launched but not without controversy... free bumper case anyone?  I think they'll survive.
• SunChips try to go green with the first ever 100% compostable chip bag only to be later buried when consumers banded together to protest the most noisy chip bag ever made.
• Vuvuzela... addicting and annoying but added to the draw of World Cup soccer... even I watched.
• BP Oil Spill - Not many brands fight a global crisis like BP had to this year.  Key take away is be prepared for crisis management and error on the side of the consumer. 
• Tiger Woods - it seems that from a branding point of view he is on his way back up... America will give you a second chance... ask Michael Vick.
• Goofy Bands - ok, not really a branding event but my kids are crazy about these things.
• Facebook, a social networking site with its own feature film?  This brand has reached new heights despite the privacy concerns.  What will 2011 bring?
• King James and the Decision - the majority was critical and appauled at the coverage of The Decision but we all watched and have chose sides.  Who will win/lose... Nike, NBA, ESPN, Lebron?  Either way, the Heat games will get more attention... for better or worse and my son still wants his shoes.
• Toyota - hard to believe that this quality brand became a punchline for comedians everywhere when they experienced issues with accelerators getting stuck in their vehicles.  They should be able to bounce back but they opened the door for others to grab market share... even Hyundai.
• Conan-gate - NBC and Leno took a hit for the way they handled their late night franchise but Team Coco took Conan to heights of popularity that he has never seen... now what channel is TBS on??  ...nevermind, I'll watch Jimmy Fallon instead.

I know this isn't a comprehensive list but some that stand out to me.  What are some of your top branding moments of 2010?

Is Your Glass Half Full?

Unless you are selling the perfect product, you need to understand how to identify and resolve customer's concerns.  As you go through the sales process your prospect will ask questions about the limitations of your product or service.  Don't shy away from these discussions!  Every product falls short in one area or another, the important key is to be able to probe the customer in such a way that you first, fully understand the concern and second, be able to respond in a positive light.  Don't attack the prospect or diminish their viewpoint.  Here are some of my favorite questions to use in these situations that keep the discussion moving in a positive direction:

1. That is an interesting point, help me understand why you feel that way?
2. What has been your experience with this method?
3. Are there alternate solutions to this approach?
4. Would you mind sharing with me how you are handling this today?
5. What are the other dependent factors that are impacting this process?
6. How would you like to see this handled?

Remember that you are building a brand with every conversation you have with your prospects, even the difficult ones.  If you ignore or try to brush off their questions you risk an opportunity to build trust and ultimately sell something. 

Evolution of Customer Support - Try Harder

 

Jeremiah Owyang published a presentation on the evolution of customer support that is worth reading.  Customer support organizations are a critical element of the brand experience.  Brand loyalty is largely determined from how customers are treated when support is needed.  As Jeremiah points out, customer support can be "strategic, a value center, and proactive towards customer needs".  Here are a few gems from his presentation:

• "Stop treating support as a lowly department who cleans up messes"
• "The evolved support organization must go to where customers already are at to proactively find, triage, and respond to customers"
• "Support is Marketing" - A happy customer can serve as an unpaid salesperson
• Use the insights from the support group to influence product development.  "Customer interactions should be recorded, prioritized and shared with product teams."
• "Let go and allow customers to self-support each other" - "Companies struggle letting go of answering questions about products, but should instead use the right collaboration and knowledge capturing tools to allow customers to self-support each other."
• "Shuffling customers with issues into a queue only amps frustration."
• "Measure based on value" - "(don't) only measure # of calls received and close but... how many crises were diverted, new knowledge gleaned, and interactions in the open web."

Dennis Hahn's "Building a Strong Brand: The ID Branding Framework"

Dennis Hahn's "Building a Strong Brand: The ID Branding Framework" does a fantastic job of describing the many elements of branding.  You should read the entire article but I want to share some of the highlights that stood out to me.

1. Definition: "Brand is the recognition and personal connection that forms in the hearts and minds of your customers and other key audiences through their accumulated experience with your brand, at every point of contact.  Ideally the brand that emerges is a positive one, leading to trust, loyalty and advocacy for your offerings, increasing shareholder value and establishing long-term advantage in the marketplace."
2. "Branding is an integrating business practice.  (Branding) should span your organization, weaving across and through personal interactions, corporate culture, communications, products and services."
3. "Your brand should be championed by top management and embodied from the inside out by all of your employees, product offerings and communications - at all times."
4. "Branding should never be treated as a project that has a beginning or an end."
5. 4 Core disciplines of the ID Branding Framework:
6. 1. Brand Strategy: Understand key aspects of a company's business, marketplace, customers, and other key audiences.  The strategy sets the foundation for all other activities.
   2. Brand Identity: The outward expressions of the company's values, personality, and promise.
   3. Brand Management: Plan delivery of internal and external brand messages to best connect with audience.  Cultivate brand adoption among employees and others with brand training.  Set up a system of tools for monitoring and assessing the brand's health.
   4. Brand Experience: Enable companies to design a range of experiences that customers and other audiences will find meaningful, memorable, and associate explicitly with your brand.  This is the surest path to building brand trust, loyalty, and advocacy.  Includes traditional market communications, personal interactions, events, function and reliability of products, (i.e., every point of contact with the audience).

With so many different opinions for what "branding" is or isn't I found this article to hit the nail on the head when it comes down to understanding the branding concept.  In case the link is down I have created a PDF of the whitepaper Download Building a Strong Brand.

Yoda's Branding Advice

Like many of you I am a Star Wars fan and an even bigger Yoda fan.  Henrik Edberg posted Yoda's Top 3 Words of Wisdom and I will attempt to translate them into Branding advice.  Let the branding force be with you...

1. "Do or do not... there is no try."  I have often said that to build a brand you must DO THE THINGS YOU SAY YOU WILL DO.  If you do not follow through on your commitments you will not be trusted which also means you will not be valued.
2. "Fear is the path to the dark side.  Fear leads to anger.  Anger leads to hate.  Hate leads to suffering."  Many companies are so afraid of what could happen that it prohibits them from reaching out and becoming engaged with their community.  You do need to be careful about what you put out there but make sure you weigh the benefits before you pull the plug on that next project because it will be "too hard to control".  It might lead to unnecessary suffering.
3. "You will find only what you bring in."  We are all limited to our circle of ideas, friends, thoughts, and other influences.  If a product manager relied only upon their own ideas to develop a product they will miss the boat.  By looking outside of your "world", you will find different roads and paths to solutions you haven't dreamed of.  If you "bring in" ideas from your customers it will demonstrate a sense of appreciation, respect, and loyalty.

Brand Therapy - Daily Dose

Here is a daily dose of Brand Therapy from myself, experts, and twitter friends:

1. Godin: Every tribe (members of a community) needs a leader to challenge the status quo and create the culture.
2. @neilmckenzphoto: A great logo or name cannot make up for shortcomings in other areas of a business organization.
3. You can spend money on earning WOM but you cannot pay someone for giving it... it needs to be genuine.
4. @tmonhollon: people don't trust ads anymore... they trust experiences and WOM.
5. Many brands should focus their messaging on basic VALUES during these tough economic conditions

Marketing to ‘Millennials’

Some great advice posted from Karen J. Bannan on how to reach those consumers categorized as Gen Y or the Millennial Generation (born between ~1977 and 1994 / 70 million potential customers).  Here are some of the highlights...

1. Millennials are wired to block out advertising
2. Millennials are capable of finding what they want
3. Give millennials fast and relevant messages
4. Gen Y is less likely to answer personal questions about what they buy and why
5. Ask questions in a genuine way
6. Ask what is important to them
7. Instead of sending a promotion, send advice
8. Make sure your messages are meaningful, smart, and educational