WANT REAL HELP AND INSIGHTS? DON’T FORGET THE RETAIL ADVERTISING CONFERENCE HAS MOVED TO LAS VEGAS ON FEB 25-27…REGISTER NOW AT http://events.nrf.com/rac09//Public/MainHall.aspx?ID=3947

Merry Christmas from Main Street!
Greetings from Orlando where I just returned from a walk down Main Street Disney where the snowflakes falling were real and the stores and sidewalks are all crowded with happy people enjoy a clear brisk night filled with parades, music and laughter. Sounds like I’m on the Hallmark Channel. But it’s true. I kept saying “Recession? What Recession?” Watching the thousands of families who paid full price (no weekend specials or lowest prices of the season here) to visit Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas (not Holiday) Party really put my entire family in the right spirit. The next morning a trip to the Marketplace shops in Lake Buena Vista had the same atmosphere without any admission price. The stores were crowded. The restaurants were bustling and provided specialties of the season. . And generally, there was a really good feeling in the streets.

Back at home, the headlines brought me back to reality with the sales reports showing that the holidays were not likely to save the year for the nation’s retailers. However, there are some who continue with their branding efforts and restraints on the “lowest prices of the day” events that seem to be in every day’s newspapers (which by the way aren’t doing so well either.) Wal-Mart has taken its “Save Money. Live Better.” Campaign to the airwaves more aggressively than I have seen in a few years and the messages are on target, friendly and fun. They have become the #1 voice of retail during this season and have overpowered the overwhelming amount of print from stores like Penney’s and Kohl’s and their sales trend shows it’s working The store experience is vastly improved with strong merchandising and displays highlighting the low prices instead of being hidden by the “50% Off” and 70% Clearance” banners that I see in most department stores.

Best Buy, while recently announcing cuts in labor to offset a severe drop in profits, has also been aggressive on the air with real associates talking about real savings for the customers as well as the excitement of selling the latest and greatest in electronics. The stores are bustling with a lot of people who are avoiding the Circuit City across the street like there’s a plague set in. There is. It’s called Chapter 11. Even ToysRUs has gone back to basics with its messages that assure you that they have the right toy for every kid on our list. Costco doesn’t need to advertise to make shopping an exciting event for their loyal—and I mean loyal—customers who know this is the place for everything from Sony Bravia’s to Sterling Cabernets and they continue to do it well. Sam’s Club once again had the best looking print ad insert in Thanksgiving Day’s paper with dramatic photography, understated prices (the price points were great however), and like Costco they provide a celebration in sales in more customer friendly layouts.

You also have to give Macy’s credit for trying to get back to the thought that Macy’s is Christmas shopping to many of us and has been for many years. Reviving the famous “Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus” editorial from many years ago, Macy’s ran a great anthology spot showing how Macy’s has been a part of our lives and show business for decades. The event to get children to write a letter to Santa with their Christmas wishes and thereby making a donation to the Make A Wish foundation was the kind of things that made department stores an important part of our holiday traditions for years. Unfortunately, they no longer have that special-ness that drove their success. Macy’s results have been disappointing, but their effort is truly noteworthy. Even the spot with Martha, Michael, P Diddy et al, didn’t ruin their campaign to make us wish there were more quality marketing programs this time of year.

So before reality sets in, my hope is that the retail world will get back to doing truly breakthrough marketing in the year to come and that our new leadership in the nation’s capital will bring us hope and optimism that’s needed more than ever.
Merry Christmas
Ken

RAC MOVES TO VEGAS IN FEBRUARY.
REAL STORIES…REAL SOLUTIONS…REAL INSPIRATION!
REGISTER NOW FOR THIS YEAR’S CONFERENCE AT THE
MANDALAY BAY HOTEL, LAS VEGAS, FEB 25-27
www.rama-nrf.com/rac09

Press LInk above now to view the 90 second welcome from “Joe Maddon”.

It’s a good thing that the World Series this year is providing a lot of interest for those of us here in the Tampa Bay area (and Philadelphia). It helps offset the sense of depression that one can’t avoid after reading the newspaper or watching the news or financial reports on television every day for the past several weeks. If the news in the financial and banking industry isn’t depressing enough (fueled by the ongoing “doom and gloom” headlines), the diagnosis of the retail industry definitely calls for a bleak holiday sales period this year for sure. With the news of Circuit City’s closing of 140 stores to avoid a bankruptcy which seem inevitable now, liquidation of Linens ‘n Things and Sharper Image, as well as the closing and consolidation of Albertson’s stores around the country, there’s good reason to expect that more retailers will disappear before they can start their after-Christmas sales and clearances.

The headline recently that “Big Discounts Fail to Lure Shoppers” in the Wall Street Journal confirms that it take a lot more than just another sale or lowest prices of the season to convince customers to spend their time and money at stores that just don’t do a good job of creating an ongoing relationship with their customers. Just as we saw that the multi-million dollar payrolls of the Yankees, Tigers, and others failed to get them into playoff contention, stores that feel they can only run more sale ads and more promotions don’t win over many customers in good times much less in a recessionary economy.

Granted we should expect sales across the board to slump, but it’s interesting that on the same day that Circuit City made its bleak announcement, I was in a Best Buy across the street and it was not only crowded, it was buzzing with customers throughout the store and at the registers. Costco doesn’t seem to have much problem with the economy. Even Wal-Mart, while experience less than stellar increases, is still reporting a positive sales trend on top a turnaround trend last fall. Publix food stores have gotten more aggressive with BOGO pricing and expanding its own brands, but it’s loyalty among customers has them spending more than last year on an ongoing basis. Walgreen’s is as aggressive as ever with it’s sales circulars, but it’s aggressive growth continues as it offers programs like flu shots and in-store clinics to keep the customers coming back every week.

What’s the difference? You got it, Joe. It’s branding. These stores continue to strengthen their brands with the customer and with their associates and then market themselves in a way that keeps their relationships strong. The history after the 9/11 tragedy showed that stores with the strongest brands continue to succeed in hard times. The history after the collapse of Bears, Lehman, and AIG will likely be the same. It’s time for some positive news–like the Rays and like the stores who succeed by building their brands every day

Press Play>> to view a 40 second welcome message from Ken at Gore Creek in Vail, CO.

GOD BLESS AMERICA—THE BRAND!

Recently, I attended a conference in New York where Steve Forbes gave one of the keynote presentations. As a publisher, journalist and former presidential candidate, Steve was certainly qualified to give a timely address to over 3000 professional speakers and associates.

I won’t go into the details of his presentation here, but it became very obvious to me that as a country and as a government, the US has done a poor job of branding itself both within our borders and internationally. Some of the facts that Forbes shared about the economy and some of the simplistic ideas that he shared (like a flat tax) seemed so important and so relevant to the problems we are facing in our country (and the world), it’s amazing that I haven’t heard or seen any reference to these key issues from either of our candidates as we get closer to the November elections. In fact, it seems that if you were to ask a typical citizen about what the “brand” (i.e. what differentiates him from the others) of our current candidates, you’d expect to hear that one is “the candidate who happens to be African American” or the other is “the candidate who happens to have been a prisoner of war in Vietnam”. Now, both of these descriptors are important factors but does either of them qualify the person to be President of this country? Not if the brand is defined as the qualities and experience that are the basis for an enduring relationship with your customer (or in this case, the voter.)

So, the analogies of comparing the brand within a company and the brand of our government and country have many similarities. It would do our candidates well to learn a lesson from successful businesses who have dedicated and enthusiastic employees and loyal and supportive customers because they have done a better job of branding than their competitors. First, the President must be the brand champion—leading the country and setting an example of the strong and consistent leadership that brings more consensus within our legislature and develops a positive morale among the people. Brand building is one of the most important forms of leadership in a company and it certainly holds true in leading our nation.

Brand America needs to be consistent with the people and it needs to be communicated to them frequently and honestly. Only by developing trust can our leaders maintain loyalty and support for their programs and policies. Brand America also has to be strong and consistent with our enemies. Just as the strongest brands gain market share from their competition, our country needs to be positioned as a positive alternative to those nations and groups who don’t agree with our policies and way of life. Like a branded product, the way to maintain market share and a preferred position is emphasize our strengths and not try to chase the competition but rather set the example in order to be the preferred choice.

Brand America must also be trusted and respected by our friends and allies. Just as strong brands lead their categories and industries not only among their customers, they also work with their “competitors’ the industry to improve standards and quality through trade organizations and mutual cooperation while maintaining their own identity in the marketplace.

It sounds simplistic, but the principles of branding surely would be a lot more effective than the partisan name calling and accusations that seem to be the only marketing methods that today’s candidates seem to know for their millions of advertising dollars.
Why not build a following by stressing the positives of the candidate and his policies?
Why not build a campaign based on the facts rather than innuendo?
Why not seek changes for the weakness and build our strength from the policy of change—rather than simply promise change for change sake? In other words, why not build—or rebuild—the branding of our country to a well-respected society that fosters positive relationships here and abroad?

Just as it is imperative for an organization to live up to the brand every day in everything for which they are responsible, it is time to set the goal of building the brand of America with its people through strong communication, honest, effective leadership, and consistent, forward-thinking policies.

People want brands they can trust more than ever today. Should we expect anything less from our nation’s leadership?

WHAT’S IN A NAME??
After 10 years of suffering with the worst team in the major leagues, we baseball fans in the Tampa Bay area are enjoying the biggest turnaround in baseball history as the Rays close in on an American East Division Title this week. When the new owners took over a couple years ago they promised a new look and attitude—A NEW BRAND—that started by changing the name from the
Devil Rays (I never even heard of a devil ray around the waters here.) to simply The Rays. Just proof again that if you get the evil connotations out of your brand, you are more likely to be successful. GO RAYS.

Push Play >> now to view the 90 second intro video from Ken

Despite all of the bad economic news over the past few weeks, I refuse to dwell on the poor performers in the retail world in this post. It’s time we look at some companies who are doing things right,living up to their brand, and having positive sales trends as a result!

Photo courtesy Newsweek magazine.
First, Wal-Mart opened a store in a suburb of my native Detroit (Dearborn) that caters to the largest concentration of Arabs outside of the middle-east. An article in Newsweek details how this store has adjusted its merchandise mix, its store associates, and its marketing efforts to target the nearly half a million Arab-Americans in this city. With over 550 items in stock appealing to this target customer,they realize that the brand must be a “store of the community”. It’s a good example that even as big as Wal-Mart is, it’s not just low prices that appeals to today’s shopper. Granted, they have the lowest price perception of any retailer in the market, but Wal-Mart has rectified some the mistakes of the past few years and gone back to building trust first and athen selling a lot of items at better prices as a result. Their new marketing campaigns are a throw-back to the real people with real benefits for shopping the store (Better than a blue light hawking weekly specials, I believe.) Their programs tied in with the Salvation Army and Second Harvest Food Banks continue to build trust.

The economic woes haven’t adversely affected sales at Saks Fifth Avenue either and it’s not because its customers have more money than most. Realizing that shoes are a major driver of traffic (Nordstrom figured that out a long time ago.), Saks didn’t just increase inventory, it: introduced its new shoe dept. with its own zip code 10222-SHOE. The flagship store devoted its entire 8th Floor with 150% more inventory. The result was that shoes was the #1 category increase for the holiday selling period. Management credits the increase for the 10.6% increase overall With Deborah Messing helping to open the new zip code, Saks has re-branded itself and has made a commitment to live up to that brand in all categories. See http://ny1.com/ny1/content/index for a ‘news’ report covering the launch.

Finally, many people only think about Honey Baked Ham as a great piece of meat. You might be surprised to learn that they do a heckuva retail business too and sell more than just hams–especially at the holidays with Easter leading the way. I was there using a Christmas (Yes, I always save it for later use.) gift certificate for our Easter ham and was impressed not only with the system and logistics of moving over a hundred people through the line but also with the complimentary sales of side dishes, desserts and condiments. The power of this brand resulted in a line up at 9am on the Saturday before Easter that was not unlike the Starbucks queue for a $4 buck cup at the airport when there is no line for the $1.50/cup of joe right across the aisle. Honey Baked charges almost three times per pound as the Sam’s Club or Costco down the street. Quality product backed by a consistent, believable marketing campaign results in brand loyalty all year round.

So, while some stores blame their negative trends on the poor economy and the real estate rollercoaster and weakening dollar, etc…stores like these continue to build their brands and their sales and we know how.