I’ve been to the circus a few times over the past 4-5 years and I hadn’t heard those words to start of the show. The reason, of course, was that I had been to Cirque de Soleil and hadn’t given a thought to going to the “Greatest Show On Earth”. Yes, every year I would see the news reports when the circus came to town or left its home in Sarasota to go on the road once again. But I wasn’t the least bit motivated to go and see a three-ring circus filled with clowns, elephants, and trapeze artists all at the same time.

Until I read an article recently in USA Today. The story revealed how this year’s edition of the Ringling Bros . and Barnum & Bailey Circus had been re-imagined. In order to appeal to today’s young families who are living in three ring lifestyles with video games, computer-generated thrill shows, theme parks with high tech rides, and pocket games that they can play everywhere and everyway they want, the circus had to change. With hip-hop music, one big ring with exotic acts, and even its first female ringmaster, the circus has changed. Apparently it is paying off, according to Nicole Feld, the show’s co-producer and member of the Feld Family that revitalized the circus over 30 years ago when they bought it. As he says, they are constantly changing to appeal to today’s kids and in turn, make their parents hero’s for taking them to the circus just like our parents did over the years.

Amazing that more stores don’t get the same spirit of change to constantly appeal to their customers. Sure, Abercrombie, Coach, Banana Republic and others have re-invented themselves in the past successfully and they know that it’s an ongoing process. As more department stores become Macy’s, I ask what have they done to change for their customers? The malls and the stores anchoring them are much like the 3-ring circus—a lot of stuff going on but not many people paying attention or excited by them. Target has added excitement to the discount world, Costco has made food and warehouse shopping an experience. Publix and Wegmann’s have made grocery shopping an experience instead of a chore. The customers are changing faster than most retailers can change the theme lines of their latest commercials. I’ve been working in the furniture industry the past several weeks and am amazed how this industry has stayed the same in terms of shopping experience for the past several decades. Only IKEA and Rooms to Go seem to have noticed that the customer has changed.

The brand is built upon change…changing to build a better relationship with the customers, and like the circus the acts (the people putting on the show) have to change. Out with lion tamers and in with Chinese acrobats who do things we can’t even imagine. Out with old salesman and in with consultants who really understand the customer and what they really want.

So….on with the show!

If you are going to write something about retail marketing you can’t help but discuss Wal-Mart . So the recent announcement that Mr. Smiley Face– who starred in Wal-Mart price reduction campaign for so many years– was being put out to pasture is more than just a simple decision to change ad themes.

One of Wal-Mart’s strengths (and there are many) has long been their market-leading perception as the lowest -priced retailer. You name the category, ask a customer and Wal-Mart always comes out first as the store with the lowest prices. That said, and price always being the first criteria for making a store selection, this was certainly one of the reasons for the chain’s growth to becoming the largest company in the world. I’ve always maintained that a good price perception merely gets you on the competitive playing field in retail, but Wal-Mart parlayed their price perception in becoming king of the hill on that playing field. However, it wasn’t just the low prices that has made Wal-Mart the favorite of more consumers than any other store. Their ongoing campaign with real people—customers and associates talking positively (and believably) while building the trust and respect through their many good works with Children’s Miracle Network, Buddy Walks, etc. – was more than just low prices always. It was genius in building customer trust and loyalty while driving prices lower for all consumers. Of course, this was to the dismay of many small retailers and suppliers who couldn’t compete. But it was and is their strength far and above the low prices that old smiley kept promoting.

So sales aren’t growing at the double digit rates of the past, now everyone falls in love with Target (even though they do 20% of Wal-Mart’s volume), and the company decides that the marketing that put them way out in front must change and bring in the competitor’s thinking (Target), packaged goods marketing strategy(FritoLay) and automotive insights(Chrysler). They fire the agencies that worked so hard to bring the success. Now, let’s copy the competitors in getting celebrities who nobody believes shop at the store. And while we’re at it, let’s ex-communicate old smiley face.

It may work. But if all you do is copy the competition and resort to all the great marketing techniques that have made US automotive retailing lag behind the other countries,is that forward thinking? If you forget the key strengths that makes your check outs far more populated than the darlings of the retail press, is that being a leader? I’m not sure there will be any smiley faces in the boardroom in Bentonville or in the portfolios of investors.

What do you think?

Ken

As we wind down from the Sweet Sixteen, Elite Eight to the Final Four, another great sales promotion season winds down to an exciting finale. I was wondering what retailers did for a sale event before the NCAA and the television networks decided to make the college basketball tournament a national reason for yet another series of sales and promotions called March Madness. I guess they were Easter Sales back then when it was politically correct to tie in with a religious holiday (even though the bunnies and chocolate eggs had no religious symbolism at all.)

But here we are with Buick being the official car of March Madness and retailers in every category are trying to capitalize on a basketball tournament to drive people into their stores. As if any store really has a “shot from downtown” to convince a customer to make a trip to the store for “just another store.”

It’s interesting that none of the big box schools who were favored to win it all this year are no longer in the big show. Not so in the retail world where the best brands continue to do well and don’t need to rely on another fake sale to make their numbers. Case in point: Home Depot and Lowe’s. An article in the St. Petersburg Times, asks “who’s your home team?” The article compared the two giant home improvement retailers. Sure, they do a lot of the same things from the size of their stores and offerings to the competitive NASCAR teams that each sponsor. Some say the only difference is that one is orange and the other is blue (Go Gators!). But the article (and the customers) explain that there are a lot more differences that the color of the aprons. Lowe’s developed a brand strategy long that recognized that women were as important –if not more important—in the buying decisions for home improvement than their male counterparts. With an expanded commitment to appliances, a more comfortable environment, and targeted communications, Lowe’s gradually has eaten into Home Depot’s dominant market share and now does just slightly under the sales-per-store volume ($37.7MM vs. $40MM for Home Depot). Both retailers have been outstanding examples of brand strategy and execution- although Home Depot took its eye off the ball in terms of customer service a few years ago thus giving Lowe’s an opportunity to scoop up some share of market. Now Home Depot has recognized the importance of the female customer and is back on track to the tune of $81.5 Billion in sales annually.

Does that mean it’s really down to the Final Two in this retail tournament? What about Ace Hardware, Sherwin Williams, and others? Well, they certainly can’t compete in size, but they can provide the kind of personal customer service and convenience that the big boxes can’t. There’s a reason why chain drug stores prosper even though the Wal-Mart’s ,Target’s and Costo’s sell everything they have for less. It’s called a brand strategy that provides personal service and convenience. If the smaller hardware and home improvement specialists focus on their niche and don’t get caught up in the March Madness of another sale event, they can prosper. Then again, there’s George Mason U.. Who’d a thunk it??
Ken

PS – GO GATORS

Over the past several days, there has been a lot of conversation about this year’s round of Super Bowl Commercials and whether they were worth the $2.4 Million price tag for the mere thirty seconds of air time. Frankly, I thought that this year’s crop fared better than the past couple years and actually were much better in terms of excitement and surprise than the game itself (I’m sure there are some Steelers fans who would disagree).
One of the things that struck me, however, was seeing the Ford Field signs throughout the coverage over the two weeks leading up to the game. I’m sure Ford must have felt proud that they spend the mega-millions in stadium naming fees when they saw all of the coverage. Just as they do when they watched Phil Mickelson in the FBR Open from Phoenix as he sported the Ford logo on his shirt even if he didn’t fare so well on the final 18 holes. I’m sure that GM must be proud of its title sponsorship of the Buick Opens (how many are there, anyway?)
You can’t help but wonder if these “product placements” could offset the recent bad news out of Detroit for both of these major car companies. Both announced major cutbacks and plant closing to “revitalize” these companies and their automotive brands. Do they really need the heightened awareness of seeing their names at these sporting events when Toyota has now taken over the lead as America’s most popular car brand?

Seems to me that the money would be better spent convincing consumers that the Fords and Chevy’s and Buicks are worth more consideration for their auto purchases by giving some rationale as to why their cars are really good machines with great styling and great performance. I think it’s called branding. But, No, the auto marketers would rather see their money go after sponsorships and awareness – building exposure that makes them feel good, but thenleaves the car buyer opting for more Asian manufactured cars. I was dismayed to hear that Ford had decided to discontinue making the renewed Thunderbird a few months ago. Not long after it was named car of the year, the company cut back on marketing funds and left it up to the dealers to sell the cars. Meanwhile, Toyota and Lexus (Hyundai and Kia as well) consistently give us a reason to buy their cars beyond another Factory Incentive or Rebate. People stopped buying the T-Birds and now they will go the way of the Taurus and Oldsmobiles. Stick to reinforcing the brand and maybe you’ll sell more Fords.

Which brings us back to the issue of retail branding at the store. Once again the companies cut back on their branding messages and leave it up to the salespeople who still think that selling cars is the same as it was in the ‘50’s and ‘60’s by offering rebates and saying “what will it take for me to get you to deal today?” The companies need to sell more reasons to buy the car and then train their showroom personnel to help the consumer get the right car—not just sell them. It’s another retail branding problem that can’t be fixed with another employee pricing promotion ,factory incentive or $2.4 M commercial. It’s building a relationship with the customer day in day out.

RANDY CURTIS
I just got back to my office and learned that a good friend and colleague, Randy Curtis had passed away suddenly yesterday. Randy was one of my frequent commentators on this blog and a real retail marketing professional. He was the creative spark behind the successful Wal-Mart campaigns over the past several years before, like me, he decided to share his knowledge with more retailers as a consultant. I just met with Randy last Friday at the Retail Advertising Conference in Chicago, where we had shared some great conversation and committed to each other that we would work together soon on a project or two. The thought of joining forces was invigorating and exciting for me. He was a great guy, a big supporter of RAMA, and a great family man . I will miss him

I was talking recently with a senior marketing executive with one of the country’s top retail chains about an upcoming presentation that I was scheduled to give in San Antonio (see photo above). During the course of our discussion, I asked her if she had given any presentations lately and her response was that “Absolutely not. Our company has a firm policy which prohibits executives making any speeches or participating in any discussions about the company’s plans or activities.” The rationale was that all this did was give the competitor’s more information than they should have. Having done a lot of speeches in my retail days, I was surprised since I always felt there may be a potential investor and certainly potential customers in the audience and that the information was always limited to facts that any good competitor would have been aware of if they were monitoring the marketplace on a regular basis.

Unfortunately, in their quest to preserve confidentiality, many stores don’t restrict their communications only to the public or the trade. Often, they are very closed-mouth to their own employees. Shelley Broader, President/COO of SweetBay/Kash ‘n Karry Markets in Florida, recently spoke to a group of executives in Tampa Bay. In that presentation, she touted the fact that the company—which is in the midst of a major re-branding effort—is extremely open and “shares every bit of legally available information she can with the press, colleagues and the competition.” She said: “ What’s more dangerous? My competition knowing my plan or my 10,000 employees NOT knowing my plan?”

Amen, Shelley! Unfortunately, so many companies, especially retailers, spend millions of dollars and countless hours, developing a communications plan to insure that their customers understand their brand strategy. Then, they spend barely nothing more than a video or memo to explain it (usually only once) to their employees in the field. No wonder the customers are often disappointed when they visit the store and find that it’s the same as it always has been or not as what they expected from the advertising that they saw, which enticed them to visit the store. Stores must be diligent about having a comprehensive and ongoing communications plan about the brand strategy to insure that the employees, especially at store level, live up to the brand every day.

A few years ago, I was in Kmart to get a fishing license for my annual bass fishing outing (Kmart was the only place nearby that sold them at the time, and as usual, I left this important task until the night before I was supposed to leave for the river.) Anyway, at the time Kmart was spending millions re-introducing itself at Big Kmart and spending millions on ads with even the late Bob Hope appearing in one of the TV spots. While waiting for my license to be filled out, the salespeople (Ann and Myrt—two 60 -year olds who certainly didn’t seem to be experts on any sporting goods, much less a fishing license) were conversing back and forth. So I asked them what they thought of the new “Big Kmart” that they worked for. They looked at each other wondering what I was talking about. Then Myrt said: “I don’t know. Pretty much the same old, same old, right Ann? Oh, we did get a new sign outside and some new badges.” That was it. No wonder the re-branding was so successful! The marketing dollars were all wasted and the Wal-Mart down the street continued to gain market share. To live up to the brand, employees have got to know what that brand means to them and to their customers.

What do you think? Happy New Year.

Ken

This year I was honored to be a contributor to the Book “Marketing Magic” from Insight Publishing. This book features 18 interviews with marketing experts from various backgrounds and expertise, including Brian Tracy, author of “Turbo Strategies”, and Jay Conrad Levinson, author of “Guerilla Marketing” and yours truly. I offer this book at my presentations for the list price of $19.95, but wanted to offer my blog readers a special offer. It’s yours FREE if you just send me the names of five other executives who might benefit from my monthly blog. Or if you want to order a quantity for you and your staff, it’s only $10 a copy(plus shipping). Just send me an email, and I will send the book to you right away.
I think it’s pretty great reading with a lot of helpful insights in conversational style.

Hope you enjoy it.
Ken

As the baseball playoffs got underway last night, the line-up of teams by and large looked the same as usual with the Yankees, Red Sox, Angels and –oh yeah, for the 14th straight year—the Atlanta Braves.

It’s hard to remember back to the days when the Atlanta baseball team came to our marketing group at Eckerd looking for potential promotional tie-ins with their sorry team of perennial losers. Now they hold the longest winning streak of any professional sports team. It hardly seems fair to someone like me whose Devil Rays finished last for yet another year in the American League.

As I read an interview between the Wall Street Journal and John Schuerholz, the Braves EVP and General Manager for all of those 14 straight playoff years, I was impressed on how the principles of building a consistently, great team is a lot like building a great brand, especially in the competitive retail world. When asked how he managed to achieve a record that any CEO would die for, Mr. Schuerholz said:

“It really turns on one significant principle, and that is surrounding yourself and filling your organization with quality people and providing them with a clear vision, an uncompromising game plan.”

Notice he didn’t say put together an exciting group of characters, have regular stadium promotions, and have a memorable team slogan. Once again it’s the people, stupid! Now I know there are some that will say that it’s just a matter of getting the best players, spend a lot of money on them, and the rest happens. Schuerholz talks about the entire organization and not just the players and coaches. Winning brands are the same. It’s not just having great merchants, great marketers, and dedicated operations people. It’s having everyone from the distribution centers to the sales floors understanding the brand vision and then executing it better than the store across the parking lot.

I’ve talked about the 5 steps of totalbrandintegrationÒ that we have developed to get everyone to live up to the brand everyday. It’s not coincidental that Schuerholz’ 5 Tips on Transforming a Culture of Losing are very similar to the branding principles:
· Gather everyone, communicate the plan and preach it daily. How often we forget to market our brand to our own people as effectively and as consistently as we do to our customers.
· Constantly remind them that it works. Just sending out a video and a newsletter is not gong keep the brand top of mind. It has to be talked every day at every store. The store managers are the team leaders.
· Don’t be afraid to get rid of the people who don’t buy in. There is no shortage of the right people for the job even at store level. You have to go after the right ones and recognize the attributes of your best people and replicate them. Let the rest of them go on the free agent list.
· Make the lowest level employees feel as important to success as the top-level executives. The people on the floor or on the phone in customer service are the one’s who have the interaction with the customer and make the brand a reality (or a false promise).
· Show trust in everyone to do their jobs well. We all talk about empowerment as much as we do about branding. The key is to living it with great people who understand what the company is all about.

In the coming days, we will hear a lot of interviews with the winning players and managers and they will likely say something to the effect that “it’s really a team effort” that makes winning possible. Winning consistently and having a preferred brand day-in/day-out, certainly is a team effort and the brand is the personification of the team and the vision.

Now back to the game.