BrandDigital | BrandSimple: The Blog

Okay, wait a second. It’s not what you think. I’ve never been good at telling jokes and I’m not about to start. No, as a branding guy, what I noted over the last few weeks relative to the names in the above headline is that there was a common brand-building, or more specifically, re-building challenge. When I read that Hugh Hefner wanted to buy back outstanding shares of his Playboy empire and revitalize it and then saw that Chevrolet had launched a campaign for the sexy, 2011 Corvette with the same objective for its hero brand, it occurred to me that to succeed these two iconic brands should take a page from the Martha Stewart brand playbook. As a powerful brand put on the defensive after its founder had a to-do with Wall Street, the people in charge, especially the top person, knew that the only way back was to ensure that the brand story continued to be something its audience cared about and, further that every experience connected to the brand was spot-on in delivering the promise. While you won’t find it humorous reading, my recent column on Forbes Online about these three brands and the topic of brand revival is pretty interesting reading. I invite you to take a look.

courtesy of Forbes.com

Some think chestnuts roasting on an open fire. Others, flight delays and crowded malls. Those in the brand business, myself included, think about trends we’re likely to see in the year ahead. Given that I had some time due to a flight delay of my own, I took the time to write down some of the things we’re likely to see in the marketplace in the year ahead, including which brands will most likely get stronger, and which might actually go south (not for the winter, but forever). While my record on some predictions is somewhat spotty (did you read what I wrote about Jay Leno?!), I feel pretty secure in my assessment that companies that play by the essential rules of branding, that is, offer people products and services that are meaningfully different, will continue to do well. For my year-end assessment, click on the link to Forbes Online. (If you want a chuckle, you can also read my column on Leno!) Happy new year!

Image courtesy @Ana Young via Flickr

Book Review

Harry Potter:The Story of a Global Phenomenon
By Susan Gunelius

This celebratory literary scene was simultaneously taking place outside hundreds of bookstore locations across the United States, preceded, no doubt, by similar activities in time-zones around the world. That Harry Potter author, J. K. Rowling, is an almost unprecedented publishing success has been well documented in book reviews and front-page articles from coast to coast and country to country. That she and her books, films, video games, and merchandising endeavors are also part and parcel of a global branding success story has now been delightfully documented by Susan Gunelius in her new book, Harry Potter: The Story of a Global Business Phenomenon.

The series of seven Harry Potter books have sold over 400 million copies worldwide, has been translated into 64 languages, and the five Harry Potter films have grossed over $4 billion at the box office. All in all, the Harry Potter brand is worth over $4 billion. While many believe this incredible success may, indeed, be Hogwarts magic, Gunelius explains in enjoyable, straightforward manner that it’s actually the result of a concise business strategy and a carefully planned and executed branding strategy. From Harry’s remarkable beginnings, conjured up on a train ride Rowling took from Manchester to London, to the current blockbuster state of the Harry Potter brand, Gunelius deftly takes the reader through the business story using the principles of great brand-building as a template. Dissecting the tale from this perspective is an interesting challenge, and one that Gunelius tackles with ease and the appropriate level of detail to bring the phenomenon to life. Without being pedantic in any way, she takes the reader through the brand’s creation, how the buzz began, how it was managed through branding tactics both traditional and digital, and how it is carefully monitored. She also employs the use of mini-case studies, histories of other cultural phenomena including Star Trek, Playboy, Tom Clancy, Ian Fleming, and Oprah Winfrey, to further illustrate her points.

Why did Harry Potter become so successful? Why did my friend and her husband witness the pre-midnight madness to buy the latest tale of Harry, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger and the evil Lord Voldemort? In The Story of a Global Business Phenomenon, Susan Gunelius tells us about everything we need to know from the price wars, to the merchandising, the word-of-mouth to the social networking. And she does it in way that makes it clear that the compelling story of Harry Potter’s life and times was just part of an equally compelling branding story.

Landor’s third annual list of the top ten Breakaway Brands was released in the November 2nd issue of Fortune magazine. The ranking is based on a comprehensive survey that measures brand momentum over a three year period in terms of financial gain and brand strength – how it’s appraised by consumers. As I looked over the newest top ten brands two things immediately came to mind. First, the brands on the list represented a broad spectrum of categories. TJMaxx to iPod, Stonyfield to Gatorade’s Propel, Costco to Barnes & Noble, with a few relative old-timers thrown in for very good measure. Second, the brands on the list all delivered especially well on the fifth in my top ten list of what it takes to be a strong brand. (You can see the other nine in my book, BrandSimple.) And that is, making sure that your brand strategy – what your brand represents to consumers – is in absolute alignment with your business strategy, or what you deliver. In other words, can you validate the brand experience?

While this has always been essential to brand success, it’s never been more important than in today’s totally transparent, digitally-enabled consumer environment. If you don’t keep your promise in today’s marketplace, you’ll get found out and taken down in an instant, whether by blog, text or brand-damning digital video. Should you have any doubt at all, take a look at the video of the sleeping Comcast repairman on YouTube, complete with background music by the EELS. Each of the companies on the top ten list of Breakaway Brands have the entire organization focused on delivering the brand experience just as consumers expect it to be delivered. The brand strategy is inseparable from the business strategy and it shows both in Wall Street satisfaction and customer satisfaction.

I recently returned from a trip to China where I had the privilege of speaking at the Economist Conferences’ Fourth China Branding Roundtable. The visit coincided with the translation of my book, BrandSimple, into Chinese. On my last day in Beijing, I was having breakfast and perusing China Daily, an English-language newspaper, when I came upon a full-page ad that captured succinctly – better than any economist’s speech could – two of the most powerful signs of China’s emerging economic growth. The photo in the ad was one of the many spectacular skyscrapers rising up across Beijing as far as the eye can see. The copy, brilliant in its simplicity, read, “Believe in the power of brands.”

That China is building buildings is a very visible sign of its emergence as a major player in the global marketplace. More noteworthy to a brand guy like me, however, is that China is starting to emerge as a major player in the building of brands. Chinese companies are beginning to understand that only by doing so will they be able to compete on the world’s economic stage. In fact, I believe that Chinese companies have reached and are ready to jump over – way over – a brand tipping point. In just a few short years the growth of branded Chinese products and services has grown exponentially. From Lenovo to Haier appliances, companies across every category are following world-class, best-in-class branding practices in order to become the formidable competitors they want to be. Yes, international brand presence, Starbucks to BMW, is everywhere you look, a powerful economic dynamic in any language. The logos of familiar global brands dotting the city landscape are as ubiquitous as the new construction projects. However, although not quite as high a percentage as the imported names, the number of Chinese companies represented in this branded mix it is a powerful statement especially given how new the idea of brand competition is to this country. “Believe in the power of brands?” The Chinese do. And they’re beginning to build them almost as quickly as they’re building their cities. From what I’ve seen so far, the power of these brands will be monumental.

“A paradox, a paradox, how quaint the ways of paradox,” to paraphrase a Gilbert and Sullivan tune. Well, not quaint the ways of this paradox: Bottled water, that is. This booming business, this signal of healthy living is not healthy for the environment. Recent news reports tell us that all those plastic bottles are rapidly adding to the industrial emissions heating up our planet. Bottled water brands can stick their heads in the blazing sand and hope this green issue will go away, but it won’t. According to the recent Landor ImagePower® survey it’s picking up steam which could affect the bottled water business in a booming negative way. That’s why it’s not too hard to imagine that the first of these brands to develop a functional and stylish bottle that can be refilled or, at the very least, is manufactured to be environmentally harmless could be in a very advantageous category position. This proactive brand will endear itself to the growing number of consumers who carry their plastic bottles as a symbol of healthy living and even allow them to signal that their health-conscious attitude applies to the world, at large. As I think about it even more, it shouldn’t take too long for major cities to capitalize on this effort. The first city to officially brand its refreshing tap water and figure out an innovative way for its citizens to tote it around would find itself in a very advantageous position, as well. From a branding perspective, it’s no paradox that sometimes the best answers are right under your nose. Mayor Bloomberg, make some stylish NYC reusable water bottles, brand them “Bloomberg’s Best” and watch them help you turn NYC into the Greenest city in America!!

A couple of months ago I wrote about Ford’s new Bold Moves branding campaign. I lauded the company for taking the initial steps required to revive its brand after years of tepid performance. Among the initiatives I cited was the introduction of the hybrid Ford Escape, a vehicle both fuel-efficient and environmentally friendly. I suggested that a really bold move for Ford would be an offer to replace New York City’s entire gas-guzzling, emission-spewing taxi fleet with these green vehicles – a public relations branding signal that would be good for Ford’s brand and great for the planet. While Ford was in no position to do so at the time, it seems that my suggestion was not all that preposterous. It appears New York City’s mayor, Michael R. Bloomberg, has a similar idea. In fact, he’d like to see all New York City cabs replaced with hybrid vehicles within the next five years as part of his PlaNYC which calls for reducing greenhouse emissions in the Big Apple 30 percent by the year 2030. In response to the challenge, Yahoo! immediately donated 10 Ford Escapes to get things rolling. While Ford may not have been in a position to do so a few months ago, I’d say there’s never been a better time than now for them to take the position of change agent in the quest to slow global warming. New York City’s environmental plan is far more extensive than that of any other major city. Converting its fleet of 13,000 yellow cabs to green would send a very strong signal to the world. Ford, by playing a significant role in this effort, would send, in turn, a very strong branding signal. A signal that would be an extremely hard one to equal in its category.

Landor has just released its 2007 ImagePower® Survey looking at green issues and green brands and, not surprisingly, it confirms what intuition would tell us. More and more Americans—40%, in fact—have gotten the message that global warming poses a major threat. More than 50% believe existing environmental initiatives aren’t enough to address the problem. Whether it’s the result of Al Gore’s Academy Award-winning documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, or the increasing volume of business and political discussion from Thomas Friedman on down, green is definitely on the national radar screen. As such, more and more companies are beginning to look at the problem as more than a matter of concern to just tree-hugging fanatics living on the fringe of society. While, again, not surprising, when asked to identify the “greenest” brands, those in the survey did specify a number of brands that have been in the eco-space for years, Whole Foods, Wild Oats, the Body Shop, Aveda, and Toyota among them. The environmental positioning of these brands has been clear to consumers for some time. What was surprising, however, was that those surveyed also identified GE as worthy of a spot on the survey’s list of top ten greenest brands. Surprising, but heartening. And, an indication that this growing concern is leading to a growing awareness far beyond the fringe.

GE is about as unfringe-y as a brand can get. Yet, here is GE setting the bar for any huge, industrial company looking for the right way to enter the green space. First of all, it has assigned a senior executive to oversee the responsibility. Lorraine Bolsinger leads ecomagination, GE’s company-wide commitment to addressing environmental challenges on a global level and she has taken on the substantiation of the sub-branded program incredibly well. Stories on the ecomagination Web site call attention to everything from GE’s answers to cleaner, more efficient sources of energy to its on-going efforts in reducing greenhouse gases. Research and Development investments in the area have grown exponentially. In addition, Jeff Immelt, CEO of GE, has gotten out in front of the program in a major way, a key proof point for any brand looking to walk the green walk, not just talk it. Despite that only a small percentage of GE’s products are environmentally related versus, say, the Body Shop’s where all are geared in that direction, GE has been able to plant itself firmly as a leader in the space early on. This is something that will serve them well as the issue continues to grow in scope and public concern. Needless to say there is no more fringe. GE’s efforts will serve all of us well.

The health food groupie group is no longer a fringe group. The number of people seeking healthier food choices is growing as fast as the waistlines of the non-health food groupie group. Interest in, at least, “thinking about” eating healthier now cuts across many consumer segments. Coke and Pepsi, with the introduction of their vitamin-infused beverages, are acknowledging this fact. The move by these mega-brands signals that we’ve reached a tipping point relative to consumer interest in the nutritional value of food and drink. The hue and cry for healthier choices is getting too loud for brands like Coke and Pepsi to ignore. But, for those who wonder whether the health food groupies will start drinking Coke and Pepsi, the answer is probably not. The bona fide health conscious folks are not necessarily the target of this initiative.

For those who wonder whether these new line extensions will be unhealthy for the Coke and Pepsi brands, again, probably not. In fact, it’s a smart branding opportunity. It makes them look good. By adding a healthier line of products to their core offerings these brands are demonstrating awareness of health and wellness issues. More significant, however, is that by seeing these healthier products on the shelves (even if they don’t buy them), the general population may feel less guilty about consuming these brands. Health by association. People started feeling better about McDonald’s when the brand added salads to its menu choices. Whether they gave in to their Big Mac attacks wasn’t the issue. The McDonald’s brand gained favor just by offering a number of more nutritious options. It wasn’t simply healthier for the people who chose to eat them, but it was good for the health of the brand. My belief is that the Coke and Pepsi brands will enjoy similar collateral health. People may drink their regular colas, but at least they’ll feel less guilty doing so.

Despite what the calendar says spring fashions have arrived. At least on paper they have. I was flipping through the recent special style section of Time Magazine when one ad in particular caught my eye. It was hot, in every sense of the word. In it, an attractive young couple sat on a New York City rooftop trying to catch a cool breeze. They gaze out at the peaks of skyscrapers emerging from what was obviously an encroaching ocean, the tip of the Empire State Building among them. The single line of copy read, “Global Warming Ready?” It was an ad for Diesel. It ran in sync with “An Inconvenient Truth” being up for an Academy Award. And it’s an ideal example of what makes the Diesel brand so successful in an industry where success is very hard to achieve.

In my book, BrandSimple, I recount a wonderful conversation I had with Toni Belloni, a former executive at Procter & Gamble who is currently CEO of LVMH, the well-known purveyor of fashion and luxury goods. During the conversation he told me that managing a fashion brand is akin to a surfer riding a wave. The surfer, he said, has to be responsive to several things at once – the height of the wave, the speed of the wave, the wind, and the currents running beneath. To keep his balance, the surfer needs to make lots of quick, almost intuitive adjustments to keep from going under. What’s more, Toni told me, one must think about the fashion consumer as sitting on the beach watching the surfer ride the wave in. Nothing can give away the fact that the surfer is reacting to all these subtle changes. It must be seen as an experience both flawless and easy. It’s a great analogy. And Diesel is a great example of a brand that brings the analogy to life through its branding. From the DJ in its stores, to its merchandising, its striking models to its assertive red label, Diesel makes riding the wave of fashion brands look simple. Responsive to the subtle, but constant changes in the industry, Diesel knows exactly how to balance its branding signals to continue appealing to its forward-thinking audience, even further evidenced by its environmentally-aware advertising.

Building a brand is tough. Building a fashion brand aimed at 20–something’s is tougher. Expectations for relevant differentiation are high. As trends change, as brands gain and lose favor, Diesel has been able to keep its balance without anyone realizing exactly how it’s doing it. To the consumers sitting on the beach – or on the rooftop – all they see is how hot a brand it is.