'The' One and Only

Image by Taifighta via Flickr Middle names, excepting in cases like G. Gordon Liddy or F. Scott Fitzgerald, are an often overlooked nod to a favorite grandparent or distant cousin. But in his inimitable blog, Seth points out that there is a middle name in marketing circles the resonates above all others.

"The". As in Attila, The. Hun.

What an amazing shortcut to get to what we branding guys call a "Brand Essence". Proper nouns on the left, adjectives and nouns on the right, 'The' in the middle.

What is your company's "The"? What is it that you do so well, with such consistency and regularity, that you are the only one that does it or the one against all others are measured?

Barbarians are now and forever defined against the One True Barbarian: Conan. The Barbarian. Giants, they must measure up to Andre. Want to be Great? Alexander set the bar. Sports legacies are built on this sort of imagery. (Ali) The Greatest, George Ruth - The Babe, (Jack Nicholas) The Golden Bear, or Gretsky - The Great One (Alexander apparently has competition).

Arnold got a two-fer. The Terminator. Who became The Governator.

A few obvious brands that overtly use 'The' in their positioning come to mind: There's Wikipedia, The free encyclopedia. Coca-cola, The Real Thing. Or you might favor Pepsi, The Choice of a New Generation.

But you don't have to use the The to be a The, however. You just need to know what it is. For example, there's Google, which we all know is The Search Engine. But how do we know that's the 'The' if we don't use the 'the'? Because Google is now a verb, just as Kleenex is (to their chagrin) now a noun. It's the ultimate 'the'. Not to mention that no less a source than our ex-President Bush indicates that he likes to use 'the Google'.

Years ago when casting for Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome, it is rumored that the producers were looking to cast an actress 'like Tina Turner'. Finally they decided to cast the 'The'. Tina herself.

Be the The.

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• The best middle name ever

Some ideas are more equal than others.

The genesis of this post was the gawd-awful design my sainted but flawed Mets will be forced to wear on their uniforms this year to commemorate their new stadium. Who exactly within the Mets organization designed that abomination? (The WordArt application in PowerPoint is not the ideal program for logo design. Just sayin'.) I ask because it couldn't have been a branding or design agency. Or maybe it was a branding or graphic design firm, once again cutting its own throat by abetting the tasteless opinions within the organization.

"You'll know you've made it when you can make money from what you know and not from what you do." It's what I was told when I started consulting. But I wasn't consulting in finance or M&A. I was consulting in marketing, where often what you know and what you do are the same. We're like lawyers that way. (And that's not the only way admen are like lawyers. But I digress.)

So therein lies the rub. At the point at which all you know and all you do is generating 'the big idea', there's been a door left open by we marketers that allow clients - blinded by narcissistic perspective and biased by the skin they have in the game – to value their ideas as well, if not better than – those who have made marketing, branding, design, and advertising their profession.

The insightful quote from Bill Hewlett that 'marketing is too important to be left to the marketing department' is as valid as ever – but too often misapplied. Hewlett never meant that everyone in the organization could create effective marketing. He was suggesting that everyone in the company had a responsibility to market the organization as effectively and as often as possible, and not to remain mute as marketing bore the weight of lead generation and brand-building. And it certainly didn't mean that marketing couldn't be trusted to create those messages. The distinction is as clear as the difference between the message and the messenger.

The belief (and I'll admit that I've been guilty of spreading it in the past) that 'good ideas can come from anywhere' is abject nonsense. The client's spouse is hardly ever – nay, never ever – right. I think it was the collective of smaller agencies that have been guilty of spreading this virus and have encouraged it among clients in a short sighted effort to position themselves as far more open and accommodating than their multi-national brethren who were, a decade or more ago, hammering closed the windows opened by legitimate alternative creative resources, such as Coca-Cola's use of CAA (Creative Artists Agency) to create the now iconic polar bears campaign.

Theoretically, of course, great ideas can come from just about anywhere, just as Archimedes made a great discovery in a bathtub. Yet as a general rule, such an egalitarian valuation of ideas does significant damage to the business of branding. Yes, you can win the lottery, a rookie pitch a perfect game, or a starlet be discovered in a drugstore. But what are the odds, and is it worth those odds to marginalize an entire industry – especially our own? Just as architects don't turn their drafting tables over to the developer, or doctors their stethoscopes to the patient, neither should marketing professionals abdicate their proper roles of architects of the next great idea and healers of troubled companies. And furthermore, as I stated in my post from a couple of years ago regarding the Houston's soccer team, why, if it is so easy, is it often done so damn badly?

Zeitgeist 2008

Cover via AmazonI'm currently halfway through the book Click (the one by Bill Tancer, not Nick Hornby); full title Click: What Millions of People Are Doing Online and Why it Matters. Tancer, who runs the research effort at online market research firm Hitwise, analyzes search patterns from search engine data and addresses the often surprising results and challenges us about what we've believed about the psychology of consumers. So when Google printed this "Google Zeitgeist" for 2008 – snack food for stat brats such as myself – I had to look to see for myself what Bill Tancer spends his day analyzing.

Interesting is the country-by-country breakdown of top 10 search terms and the "How to" list. #2? "How to kiss."

Some lonely gamers out there, still.

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• We Are What We Search

Analysts, experts, and me

I've been amusing myself lately with the headlines I'm seeing in the business press. All of the experts and analysts that are financial reporters' go-to guys and gals for quotes and insight have something in common: No one is certain. Each one, to an individual, is either hedging - "Manufacturing is likely to rebound, but if China does this or that, or the bailout results in this other thing, then, it is likely to sink further." Or, equally common are out and out incorrect prognostications, such as T Boone Pickens predictions - almost wishes - that "oil won't fall below 120...100... 70... 50".

So in an environment where Kirk Kerkorian has lost billions, Jerry Wang has been forced from Yahoo, Alan Greenspan's portrait at the Federal Reserve is waiting for fresh graffiti, and even Warren Buffett can't turn a buck, I'm ready for my turn on CNBC's Squawk Box.


Here then are the prognostications I made on a recent survey from Chief Executive Magazine:

1. How would you rate business conditions in the US currently? Bad
2. How would you rate employment conditions in the US currently? Bad
3. How would you rate investment opportunities in the US currently? Good
4. How will employment change over the next quarter? Stay the same
5. How do you expect capital spending within your company to change over the next quarter? Stay the same
6. What do you expect the economy will experience over the next quarter? Stagnation (No growth, no decline)

On December 31, 2009:
Dow Jones (currently at 8,932) will be at 9621 points
Oil (currently at $40.50) will be $59 per barrel
Interest Rates (the Fed Funds Rate, currently at 1.00%) will be: 1.00%

Prediction comments:
(I said) Uncertainty is driving the market and the economy; once some certainty arrives with new administration - for good or bad - wild swings will stabilize and the widely oversold market and general malaise will slowly lift.

Confidence comments:
(I said) Business decision-makers will become comfortable de-coupling their decisions in the real world from abstrations like the Dow. But once that fog clears, the impact of government intervention on national debt and as a general signal of the new regulatory environment will be a drag on growth.


So we'll check back in a few months to see how I've done. If I'm right, I'll start a new profession. If I'm wrong, well, I'll join the legions of analysts and experts who now are taking a page from former President Clinton: It all depends on your definition of 'wrong'.

If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be?

If your company or product were a fictional character, who would it be? It's one of the questions I ask when trying to determine the intended brand perception for a client. And I get more than my share of rolled eyes from the engineers in the room.

But consider your own response to this question: If you were thirsty, where would you likely find an ice-cold Obama? Next to the Dr. Pepper or nearer the energy drinks?

If you called your friend, would you expect to pick up and dial the McCain or are you more likely to just go online and 'poke' them on Obamabook? Maybe you'd discuss the McCain supertanker that is caught in a storm off the gulf coast, or the latest music player from iObama.

You can think about this when you pick up a snack of some organic dried fruit at Obama Foods for your flight to Chicago on McCain Airways.

Okay, the whole thing is silly. But now reverse that:

If you were thirsty, where would you likely find an ice-cold McCain? Next to the Dr. Pepper or nearer the energy drinks?

If you called your friend, would you expect to pick up and dial the Obama or are you more likely to just go online and 'poke' them on McCainbook? Maybe you'd discuss the Obama supertanker that is caught in a storm off the gulf coast, or the latest music player from iMcCain.

You can think about this when you pick up a snack of some organic dried fruit at McCain Foods for your flight to Chicago on Obama Airways.

Relatively speaking, the former made more sense, didn't it? And it proves out the power of branding on not only our perceptions of products, but perceptions of our leaders, our friends, and ourselves.

This important article was sent to me by a designer with whom I do much of Strategy180's branding work. It underscores the power of branding and how it may not only impact the can of soup we put in our grocery basket, but the future leadership of the world's last great superpower.

Perhaps now you might want to budget for that branding study, yes?

Spam sham

Spending and the stock market aren't the only things falling these days.

Worldwide, fewer and fewer consumers are bothering to open commercial emails. This from a study by eMail list management firm MailerMailer.

Their study reveals that the typical e-mail open rate for targeted marketing messages declined to 13.20% in the first half of this year, compared with 16.11% in the first half of last year. Click-through numbers fell too, from 3.18% in the first half of '07 to 2.73% in the first half of '08.

The data collected by MailerMailer indicated that the numbers between industries differed, for example, finance, government, telecom and even spiritual-oriented email messages having more success than others.
Supporting reports from other earlier surveys, pithy subject lines (<35 characters) performed better than longer subject headings, with an open rate of 19.6% and a 3.1% click-through rate versus 14.8% and a click-through rate of only 1.9%.

None of this slow down has apparently caught up with the marketing plans of most retailers, where SEO and email remain tops of their online marketing planning efforts. I believe that this is as due to marketing's continued search for a measureable and accountable media as emails' continued, though decreasing, effectiveness.

It has been reported that one hit out of a million emails (that's a .000001% click-through rate) makes the effort worth it to fraudulent spammers, so by comparison, even a 2.73% click-through rate is likely to remain a prize bird among competing turkeys this holiday advertising season.

A drop of sanity into a sea of panic

With the market in a freefall, credit tightening, and budgets shrinking, it seems very dark indeed. But before you simply accept a slash and burn budget number, you might want to reevaluate the assumptions from the executive suite.

They may be saying ‘people aren’t buying!’ – But people are buying, and they will continue to do so.

Who is buying? Most are the same folks that bought from you before (let's call them 'customers', just like we did last year) and some folks that bought from your competitors (let's call them 'lost opportunities', just like we did last year). There will be a few net new customers to the market, depending on the industry, but we can't generally count on that, so let's concentrate on the first two.

It's actually all pretty clear once you get out of the forest and identify the trees.

Those who are buying, although there are only as many or perhaps fewer than last year, still are seeking to replace or in some cases upgrade whatever they've purchased in past years. They'll be bargain hunting, negotiating aggressively, and demanding more for less. But they're buying. They'll look for savings and quicker ROI, but they're buying. They'll be looking for lower energy use and longer warranty periods, but they're buying. They are definitely seeking better credit terms. But they're buying.

Your marketing for the New Year needs to look closely – almost exclusively - at these 'customers' and previously 'lost opportunities'. The goal is to apply limited marketing resources to activities that protect and expand your current customers. The slowdown in net new business allows opportunity for nurturing what you have, that is, given the macro-economic environment, perhaps aggressive business development efforts should be scaled back in favor of one-on-one account development. Instead of making Sisyphean attempts to expand the pie, demand a larger piece of the existing one through campaigns targeting competitors – particularly who have made the mistake of weakening their own marketing and sales efforts in a short-term effort to 'weather the storm'. Look to shore up market share so that when the inevitable turnaround comes your company hits the ground running… from a starting point in the distance.

People are buying. But the only way to be certain you are selling what they are buying is to listen to what they need, deliver it with a little of what they want, and anticipate what they're going to need next.

I'd say I was brilliant if it hadn't been so obvious.

"It’s too late for Vista, and my humble prediction is that it will go away and undergo a retooling - perhaps a later integration of key features into a different OS release. "

- Me, Your Humble Blogger, in a March blog entry, "When Did The Guys From Delta House Start Running Microsoft?"

~Seven months later~

Microsoft Introduces Windows 7, Ending Vista Brand - New York Times

"Microsoft introduced what it said would be a slimmer and more responsive version of its Windows operating system on Tuesday, while unceremoniously dropping the brand name Vista for the new product... Other new features in this very early version included an enhanced and more flexible task-bar, more powerful search features, and an easier-to-use home network and file sharing. There was also a hint that Microsoft plans to revise Windows 7 to take advantage of the coming wave of multicore microprocessors from Intel and Advanced Micro Devices. Mr. Sinofsky said the company would give more details on the ability of the new program to handle up to 256 processors."

Its a damn shame that my brilliant prognostications do not extend to the stock market.

Pepsi for Obama?

Here's the new look for Pepsi. I know I'm not alone in recognizing the logo as something strikingly familiar to a select number of yard signs around town this time of year. Pepsi and Obama - are both the choice of a new generation?

Frankly, the design does nothing for me, as I'm old enough to recognize the type design as something retro from the time when my college roommate was experimenting with 'Flock of Seagulls' hair, and my sister wrote her 'e's like that back in the late 70s. Alternatively, there is something modern and Anglo/European about the look, so the ads for this sugar water may eventually feature sublime smiles, pastel dress shirts and objectionable ties.

In an interesting use of new(est) media, to get the word out Pepsi released the design to thought leaders in social media. So the fact that now I'm blogging about it means the new look is viral. I'm officially a marketing virus.

(Photo courtesy Peter Shankman)

...dogs and cats living together - mass hysteria!

Along with this post's title, one of my favorite movie quips, offered in deadpan delivery by Howard Ramis in Ghostbusters, is "Sorry, Venkman, I'm terrified beyond the capacity for rational thought."

Yet this is a lot of what we've been hearing lately from colleagues and pundits. But this isn't the End Of Days brought about by the Sta-Puft marshmallow man, but rather it is a long overdue reminder to focus, work hard, live within our means, and reprioritize.

While things will change over the next days and weeks, and some of it may perhaps eventually change my tone in this post, right now I'm not seeing a lot of bad news so much as a lot of fear and uncertainty, and opportunity always arrives with uncertainty. Buy into the fear and sell into the optimism. It's Warren Buffett's approach for the markets and should be all marketers' as well. Our response to a difficult situation changes our ability to handle it.

No doubt, things are going to stink in the near term, because marketers have by and large never properly positioned themselves or the function for the key role it should assume during a market slowdown, opting instead to stammer defensively and nervously paint lambs blood above our office doors. Still, a ten trillion dollar debt should worry us. The potential for a nuclear Iran is disurbing. Climate change has me checking under the bed for the bogeyman and Al Gore.

But this? Nothing that a little ingenuity and informed strategic thinking can't overcome. Now is not the time for marketers to be running for the exits. Companies that spend this time looking for greater efficiencies and new approaches will maintain in a slowdown and position themselves for exceptional share growth when the money starts flowing again.

There are a number of studies to support this. Download a few. Discover specific ideas. Seek knowledgeable advice. Recalibrate.

Smile.

To everything there is a season

Something important to consider in these troubled times - the sarcastic wisdom of my favorite cartoonist, Bill Watterson, speaking through the eyes of six-year-old Calvin:

"Since September it's just gotten colder and colder. There's less daylight now, I've noticed too.

"This can only mean one thing - the sun is going out. In a few more months the Earth will be a dark and lifeless ball of ice.

"Dad says the sun isn't going out. He says it's colder because the earth's orbit is taking us farther from the sun. He says winter will be here soon.

"Isn't it sad how some people's grip on their lives is so precarious that they'll embrace any preposterous delusion rather than face an occasional bleak truth?"

The Commercials About Nothing

While Jerry Seinfeld broke new ground with Seinfeld, his Show About Nothing, by proving that a story could be woven around no particular plotline, the advertisements for Microsoft's troubled Vista OS in which he stars do, it turns out, require a plot.

While television advertisements are essentially just sixty-second stories, the very purpose of a spot - to inform as well as entertain - makes the idea that advertisements need to have a plot self-evident. (Or at least evident to this self.) While a show about nothing is entertaining, the Seinfeld-esque ads starring Bill and Jerry were roundly critcized and accomplished nothing in the way of brand-building.

It didn't take long (just days, apparently) before Microsoft itself got past the infatuation with their sudden hipness (albeit borrowed from one of the hippest people of... 1994) and recognized that the ads were, in the end, about nothing, and would likely result in, well, nothing. They've now pulled them.

Microsoft's take is that because media buys are done months in advance, it 'proves' the ads were meant to be discontinued. Except we all know that cancellations are done with a phone call, so the idea that the end of the Seinfeld campaign was planned is, in my view, preposterous.

Wunderkind Alex Bogusky of Crispin+Porter+Bogusky has been profiled as a creative savior to the stale Microsoft, so what impact this will have on the agency's hold on the historically transient Microsoft account - and Bogusky's luster - has yet to be seen. As for me, I think Alex and team will prove resilient and go on to perform exceptionally well.

Too bad the same can't be said of Microsoft's Vista OS.