Are You the One and Only?

There is a commonly cited conventional wisdom in the branding world that your brand promise should emphasize that your company is the ONLY one that does X or provides Y. We’ve had a lot of clients and friends ask us about this recently – should their brand be held to the standard of “Only Us?”

This standard is very difficult to reach in a competitive and commoditized environment. But not only is it a difficult standard, we think it’s an irrelevant one. In our view, competitive differentiation is not absolute – it is not obtained by BEING something ONLY you can be. It is obtained by OWNING something credible that only YOU are claiming.

Consider Volvo. Volvo is widely recognized as the automotive brand that owns the concept of safety. But is Volvo the only safe car? Is it even the safest car? No. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, for 2010 the safest large car is the Buick LaCrosse, the safest midsize is the Audi A3 and the safest small car is the Honda Civic 4-door model. That said, Volvo vehicles are credibly safe – they are on all the relevant safe car lists. And they staked their claim on safety before any other brand did. So they own it now. And while other automotive brands emphasize safety as functional benefits, no other company will be able to OWN safety unless Volvo relinquishes its hold on the concept.

Likewise, Las Vegas could credibly be the “city that never sleeps,” but that idea was first claimed, and is now owned, by New York City. New York is not the ONLY city that never sleeps, but it got there first and staked out the territory. So Vegas has to find something else.

So when seeking competitive differentiation for your brand, you don’t necessarily have to hold yourself to the nearly impossible standard of finding something only you can BE. What’s more important is to find something that only you can OWN, and then vigorously stake that claim so that no competitor can credibly threaten it. Then you’ll seem like the One and Only, whether you actually are or not.

Branding With Heart

As the country’s most celebrated and simultaneously reviled Hallmark Holiday approaches, our thoughts have turned to the importance of emotion… in branding, of course. Companies often think they win based on price, features or functions – and their brand messages reflect this. Comparing Kmart and Target is always a great demonstration of functional vs. emotional marketing. Check out Kmart’s back-to-school commercial from this past fall – while high spirited, it still focuses on the functional benefits of fashion and price, without an emotion that runs deeper than an adrenaline rush. Compare it to Target’s back-to-school ad , which focuses on the feeling of freedom – both mom’s freedom from the kids, and the kids’ freedom to be themselves. Which resonates more for you?

Emotionally devoid branding is especially prevalent in the B2B category. But we must remember that business customers are people too – people with feelings that motivate their work purchases just as they do at home. We have seen several experts suggest that B2B marketing may be better thought of as B2P – Business to Person – marketing, reminding us that there is a human being at the receiving end of our message.

Here are two questions you can ask yourself to ensure that your brand has heart:

1. What do we want stakeholders to FEEL when they interact with our organization?
Be careful here: this is not about what you want them to THINK – you have to identify a legitimate feeling. For instance, they might THINK your product is better than the competition, but they will FEEL smart for purchasing it.

2. What do we deliver that makes our stakeholders LOVE us?
This is the “love it, not leave it” principal. There are basics you must provide that, if you don’t, your customers will leave and go elsewhere. But this is very different from the greatest possible thing you can provide that will ensure that customers love you for all time.

Answering these two questions – and then incorporating those answers into your brand messaging and identity – will ensure that your customers will always be true.

If you make it, don't break it

Six months ago, we wrote about Toyota and its Brand Bank Account. We asserted that Toyota’s strong brand equity – built by making a brand promise and consistently keeping it year-after-year – allowed Toyota to weather its quality crisis better than a brand with lower equity would have. Toyota didn’t go “into the red” reputationally, because its pre-crisis brand equity was so strong.

Now we have another brand in crisis – BP. Of course, the sheer magnitude of the damage BP caused is enormous. And BP execs committed PR gaffes that will go down in the annals of P.R. media training “don’t do this” case studies. But there is also a brand issue in play that all brands – large or small – can learn from: don’t make a brand promise unless you are really, really, REALLY committed to not breaking it.

In 2000, BP re-branded itself from British Petroleum to its initials, which the company asserted stood for “Beyond Petroleum.” It positioned itself as the green “energy” (not oil) company, and it appeard to be living up to its promise. People were excited and pulling for BP to succeed. And the competitors were wondering about how to respond. (I know, because I was in the room with some of those competitors.)

The competitors weren’t prepared to make the kinds of brand promises that BP was making. They rightfully acknowledged that they needed to remain “traditional” oil companies while they evolved their businesses to embrace new forms of energy. They were right to be cautious, because as they were taking an evolutionary approach to their brands, BP was making promises about being green while consistently breaking those promises behind the scenes as it committed the vast majority of “egregious and willful” safety violations in the US industry.

Part (and only part) of the reason Americans are so unforgiving of BP right now is that they fell for BP’s promise to be a new kind of energy company, and then were betrayed when BP broke that promise in such a dramatic fashion. These “logo redesigns” tell the whole story. I suspect that, even though we would be broken hearted and angry, we would not be so vitriolic if any other oil company had been responsible for this spill.  We don't expect anything more from others -- they haven't asked us to.

The moral is: if you are not fully committed as an organization to keeping a brand promise, no matter how breakthrough it is and how much it appeals to consumers, don’t make the promise. We learned it in kindergarten, but apparently it didn’t catch on with BP – if you make a promise, don’t break it.

We're Not for You

“We’re not for you.” These may be the most empowering words in your branding arsenal. Once they learn the phrase, our clients delight in saying it, over and over, just for the sound of it. It doesn’t make sense in this era of scarce resources that we might actually turn a prospect away by saying, “We’re not for you.” But it might be exactly the right thing for your brand to do.

Great brands have always been good at clearly defining their sweet spot customer. Once they know who the right customer is, they can develop a brand promise that motivates that customer, and then can deliver on the promise in ways that delight them. But the unexpected truth of customer targeting is that great brands are just as good at defining who they’re NOT for, and then letting those customers go to a competitor.

One of our favorite recent examples of this concept is the “Most Interesting Man” campaign from Dos Equis beer. Most women we know don’t get this campaign, but the men in our lives love it. And one line resonates with them more than any other: “I don’t always drink beer, but when I do, I drink Dos Equis.” In other words, “if you’re one of those beer-swilling frat boys who drink Bud Light from sunup to sundown, we’re not for you.” The brand manager for Dos Equis credits the Most Interesting Man for increasing the brand’s market share by 22% between 2008 and 2009. By turning away some prospective customers, the brand broke through the beer category noise and dramatically increased its appeal to the RIGHT customers.

Do you know who your brand is for? Give some thought to what defines your sweet spot customer. Where they live, how much money they make, what they value. Once you’ve come up with a few ideas, then think about who your customer ISN’T. It just might be that determining who is wrong for your brand is the most right thing you’ve ever done.

The Brand Bank Account

The cocktail party conversations about Toyota’s recent troubles have been very interesting to us from a brand perspective. While there are certainly the jokes about drivers being worried every time they see a Toyota pulling up behind them, we have heard a greater number of comments from those quietly loyal to the Toyota brand. I must confess that I am one of those Toyota loyalists, having driven both Toyota and Lexus vehicles at various points throughout my adult life; and I found myself skeptical about the news coverage of Toyota’s faults, and forgiving of the brand in general for any missteps. And as this story has unfolded, I have learned that I am not alone.

Recently overheard comments from the Quietly Loyal include: “You’re more likely to get struck by lightning than to have a gas pedal problem with a Toyota.” “They were the first to make a real hybrid, and for that reason alone, I will never buy another brand.” “If I needed a car right now, I’d buy a Toyota – this is probably the best time to buy one.”   In fact, just this weekend, NPR reported that Toyota sales in March have rebounded to pre gas-pedal levels.  This rebound is attributed to aggressive sales incentives, which likely serve to reassure the Quiety Loyal, not to convert the Overtly Afraid.

Whatever you think about Toyota’s recent issues, the Quietly Loyal provide a great example of what we call the “brand bank account.” This is based on the concept that brand equity can be built over time and essentially put in reserve for when the brand needs excess equity to help it weather a rainy day. Toyota has spent decades building up its brand bank account with its consistent delivery on the promise of quality and reliability, and more recently, innovation. While the recent turmoil has significantly drawn down this equity, it is likely that Toyota’s brand equity will remain “in the black” during a situation that would put other auto brands under.

You do not have to be a brand the size of Toyota to benefit from a brand bank account. Imagine Company X, a small company that continually delivers on its brand promise, day in and day out. But something changes – a principal gets sick, or the project manager goes on vacation, or there’s just a slump, and the promise delivery suffers. Chances are, because of the equity Company X has built up by consistently delivering on its promise, customers will give the company a chance to recover and regain its momentum.

Next time you hear some news about Toyota, consider your own organization’s brand bank account. How rich in brand equity are you? If you’re feeling a little equity-strapped, what could you do to enhance promise delivery so that you can build up those savings for a rainy day? Hopefully, you’ll never need it. But it’s always good to know it’s there.

Don't Call Me That

We’ve had a couple of clients ask us recently about if and when it’s okay to use an informal “nickname” for their brand. With RadioShack recently making the very uncool move of trying to be cool by calling itself “The Shack,” we wondered if it’s ever okay to use a nickname. Here’s what we’ve concluded: the nickname should be in the hands of your customers. It’s cool when McDonald’s customers call it “Mickey D’s,” but it would be uncool if the company referred to itself that way. Conversely, it would be unwise of California Pizza Kitchen to insist that people STOP calling it CPK. The insiders know best. Let them call you what they will (as long as it’s not derogatory.) But as a company, you should continue to refer to yourself by your given name – you chose it for a reason, so don’t let it get away from you.

A Brand with a Plan

If you’re anything like us, you are ready for 2009 to be O-V-E-R. Many of us are already anxious to look ahead to sunnier times in 2010. With only 6 weeks left in the year (okay, really 4 weeks – who are we kidding that any work gets done over the holidays?) this is a good time to start thinking about the plan for your brand in the year ahead. A lot may have changed since you last examined your brand positioning, so here are 3 questions you should ask to begin your planning:

1. •Who are your real competitors?
   They’re probably not the same ones you had one or two years ago. What are they saying about themselves? Has your brand remained distinctive among your competitive set, or have they caught up to your positioning?
   
   

2. •Who are your customers, and what do they care about?
   Many companies assume that their customers are the same year after year. But especially in this economy, the demographics – and psychographics – of your customer base may have changed. And if you have a generational target, remember that the oldest Gen Xers are turning 45 next year, and the Millenials/Gen Y are pushing 30. What worked for Boomer 45-year-olds 5 years ago isn’t likely to resonate with Xers.
   
   

3. •What is your vision for the future of your company?
   With so much focus on “stayin’ alive,” many companies haven’t had the time to look ahead to the future. But now is a great time to reassess and connect where you’ve been to where you’re going, and whether your brand developed correctly to help you get there.