KEN BANKS’ BLOG DECEMBER 2020

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We’ll 2020 is coming to a close and to say the least, it’s been a challenging and disappointing year for people all over the world.  As I’ve said earlier, retailing will never be quite the same and unfortunately for many, Holiday advertising (which hasn’t been the same for a few years now) has been diminished like so many other things in our new normal world.  The sheer amount of advertising has been drastically reduced not only by the economic effects of the COVID 19 but also by the growth of online buying and selling.  That’s disappointing for those of us in the advertising/branding business as we all looked forward to seeing some innovative creativity from stores and products trying to capitalize on the holiday rush. 

So, does that mean there are no more great ads or commercials in 2020? Does that mean that marketing to the heart as well as the wallet has all but disappeared?  For many of those who have gone to streaming and DVR-ing holiday programming on television, they will miss some truly outstanding creative marketing with messages that go beyond trying to simply sell more product.  I’ve searched online for some outstanding examples of advertising that is not just great creative but outstanding branding that resonates with consumers—especially in these trying times.  Here are just of few that you might not have seen but will surely enjoy the warmth of the Christmas spirit that they capture. NOTE:  SKIP THE AD that You Tube puts on before some of these videos

1.  Coca Cola.  Coke has a reputation for running spots that inspire us and enlighten without trying to get us to take a drink of one of their many beverage brands.  This epic Christmas spot captures the spirit of what it takes to make a child’s wish (and her father’s) wish come true.  It seems like Tom Hanks should have been cast for this one. Click on the link here:  https://youtu.be/yg4Mq5EAEzw
2. McDonalds UK.  Animated features have certainly been the growing trend in the movie business, especially at Christmas.  In this spot, McDonalds captures the true spirit of the Inner Self in an appreciating the sharing of Christmas memories which of course include stopping by for a Big Mac with a young boy. The song has an important message more than ever this year. 

Click on the link here: https://youtu.be/QJntbYytPz8

• Walmart.  The world’s largest company has the reputation for the best prices and being in-stock for the holidays, but the company credits its growth and loyal customer base on the trust that it has built over the years.  Their marketing has been the key to building that trust and these Christmas spots for Walmart here and in Canada capture that spirit better than ever.

Walmart Canada What they need. https://youtu.be/SL3ChNEzAhs

Walmart US. All I need.  https://youtu.be/xi-V4JTnU3o

• Doc Morris (Netherlands).  This Dutch online prescription service goes out of its way to strengthen the health benefits brand and how it applies to everyday life of a senior fellow who want to be in shape to make his Christmas wish come true.  It’s a bit long but the emotion and spirit that it captures makes it worthwhile for everyone getting ready for Christmas. 

Click on this link:  https://youtu.be/0Ha1dtAFbAA

• ALDI UK.  Most grocery chains simply try to help build the spirit by showing how they can make the Christmas dinner celebration the most memorable ever.  ALDI internationally has used a carrot before in driving their brand message through and bring a smile to our hearts and faces at the same time.  Welcome back, Kevin the Carrot.   

Aldi UK Christmas carrot https://youtu.be/AL56Z5StIUY                      

Wishing you a safe and peaceful Christmas 2020.

KEN BANKS’ BLOG OCTOBER 2020

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BRANDING AND POLITICS!

As election day draws closer, I am once again amazed at the amount of political advertising that has flooded the airways, the mailboxes, the press, social media, billboards and anything else you can imagine to get the candidates’ name out in front of the electorate.  The more I see, the more convinced I am that the political campaign strategists never studied marketing or branding.  The strategy seems to be spend as much as you can, copy whatever the competition is doing or what has been done for the past several elections, and (worst of all) attack you opponent as aggressively and as cold-heartedly as possible.  The recent debates were a prime example of immature, derisive attacks (although the second presidential discussion (not really a debate by definition) was significantly more civil than debate NUMBER 1.

No question that there is some long running competition between major brands throughout our capitalistic marketplace.  Branding requires finding an advantage for your product or service over you like competitor(s).  However, a successful brand strategy is based on communicating your advantage to those customers who would be moved to purchase once they are convinced that your advantage resonates with their individual needs or desires.  Can you imagine if Ford or Chevrolet used their multi-million-dollar marketing campaigns to yell and scream and many times misrepresent the facts (aka Lie) to discredit the other brand.  Or, if Walmart and Amazon only spoke of the disadvantages of delivery or of brick and mortar shopping, When I was with P&G’s Folger’s Coffee brand, the message was always built around the aromatic and tasteful advantages of their highland grown beans.  They did not say Maxwell House tasted like sludge or that Chock-full o’ nuts was not made out nuts and were lying about their brand.  As a customer, I like the ability to choose what I buy and where I buy it.  McDonald’s has always out performed Burger King when it comes to their store experience, but they have always stressed their quality of their people and the taste of their food rather that attack the management of BK which seems to change every year and leaves an inconsistent message in their branding.

Daniel Burrus, in his webcast “Strategic Deep Dive” recently highlighted the collaboration among major companies (not necessarily competitors, but still searching for more of the customer’s shopping dollars) in the attempt to deal with COVID 19.  Ford, GE and 3M while marketing their own safety measures, collaborated to provide ventilators, respirators, and face shield to help health care workers and first responders in dealing with the pandemic.  It was the right thing to do and it’s the kind of cooperation that would enable our government to provide safer and quicker solutions to a number of issues facing the population of the US. The improvement in automobile efficiency has long been a competitive advantage, but he cooperation of automakers to provide better, more fuel-efficient vehicles as well as the many safety features now standard in even the basic models.  Gaining a competitive advantage drives product improvement and more creative marketing messages while not alienating the other brands or their loyal customers.  When Volkswagen was caught providing false emissions and mileage results to meet government standards, the other auto companies didn’t start calling them out and question the management’s ethics (even though it would have been warranted}.  Instead, the featured their own results and provided unbiased studies and reports that built the respect of their customers and the general public as well.

I have long been a proponent of having more than only two political parties whose main goal in their marketing is to find fault with anyone in the opposing party or who was appointed to a government service position by the competitive party elected officials.  This is not a Red or Blue constituency.  It’s not black or white. Not Christian or Jew. Native or immigrant.  We need to have more choices and more factual reporting of the accomplishments of all the candidates.  Many marketing experts have been quoted as saying that “Marketing isn’t just the single-most important business function. It’s the only thing.”  It amazes me how many comments are made with the utmost certainty by one candidate versus the other.  Immediately, the other candidate refutes the comment saying emphatically “That’s not true.”    In this situation, one or the other is not telling the truth and it’s amazing how many findings by independent fact-checkers confirm the false statements by one candidate or the other and for all offices.  It’s time we told the truth all the time and built our messages on one’s qualifications rather that the other’s perceived shortcomings.  I hope it happens soon.  Be sure to vote on November 3^rd.

KEN BANKS’ BLOG JULY/AUGUST 2020

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REASONS TO BE OPTIMISTIC!

As we enter the sixth month of dealing with the COVID19 pandemic as well as civil and political unrest around the country, I thought it would be good to reflect on what we are learning and share a couple of reports that gave me cause for optimism during these trying times.

First, some things that I think we’ve learned from the pandemic as it has affected our branding and marketing efforts:

1. Retail will never be the same.  Of course, we continue to read on a weekly basis about store closings and bankruptcies and that’s no surprise.  Marketing experts and academics have been saying for years that “mediocre retailers with real unique reason for being struggle to survive.’  As we have read the reports of national chains with high brand awareness (not pertinence), I doubt that many of us consumers have been surprised or really disappointed that these store fronts have been shuttered for good.  We won’t miss them.  As we drive by the local shopping and strip centers and notice the vacant windows and whited-out signs of hundreds of local small business entrepreneurs who simply couldn’t survive the quarantines and social distancing mandates for more than a few weeks.  More will surely follow as they never built a relationship with their not-so-loyal customers.
2. Online and internet shopping will continue to grow.  Amazon and all the other online marketers had a significant effect on shopping prior to the pandemic.  The inability or desire to shop in person has given many previously hesitant shoppers to the internet to give it a try and most have found it a beneficial alternative.  Convenience in shopping has been one of the key brand attributes for many years.  Now, consumers have discovered that not only is online shopping convenient but it’s easier, trustworthy, well-communicated, and cost effective. Our experience with Walmart pick-up and ordering online has been remarkable and many other stores that we have preferred to shop personally have quickly and effectively demonstrated that customer service doesn’t have to be in person to be satisfying and loyalty building.
3. Advertising is changing.  Our local newspaper has reduced its print distribution to two days a week with online issues every day.  I’ve always been a habitual print newspaper reader, but I find that having online capability works and is convenient.  The print advertisers who used sale circulars as their main promotional medium have been forced or have chosen to abandon that vehicle in favor of broadcast, online and other social media to reach their customers and have found that sale ads were more of a habit than a promotional sales stimulant.  Those who have had effective branding messages continue to do business despite the pandemic and continue to market themselves with messages that really reach the heart and mind of today’s beleaguered consumer.
4. Pay it forward.  In view of the discord we are experiencing in our cities, we should not lose hope and we should find ways to reach out and offer programs of love and understanding to our communities.  Here is a feature from CBS Sunday Morning a couple weeks ago about the We Care program in Shreveport, LA, that demonstrates that communities that reach out beyond racial and economic barriers can improve the quality of life and avoid the civil unrest that plagues our country.  Pioneered by a local pastor, Mack McCarter, the We Care program has grown neighborhood-by-neighborhood to the point that it has spread this feeling of love and understanding across economic and racial borders and had made a difference.  I urge you to watch this to see how much more effective this can be versus the rioting, government forces, and political shouting that have brought distress to our country.  Click on the link below to watch. 
5. WE CARE VIDEO:  https://youtu.be/QQ6CK6kJIV0  
6. Broaden our perspective.  Our country has been dominated by int. ense competition.  This has been true in the marketplace and it’s time to cooperate to help solve the issues facing us.  It appears that the large tech companies are recognizing this now, but political leaders are attacking successful businesses from all sides.  This is a result, I believe, because of our antiquated two-party system that fosters one party or the other, black or white, north or south, male or female, straight or gay, and so on.  Again, on CBS Sunday Morning there was an interesting interview with Comedy central’s Daily Show host, Trevor Noah.  The comedian has succeeded well beyond his black, South African roots to continue the success of this program.  In the interview, with CBS’ Jim Axelrod, Noah’s comments about America being a Two-Sided society that fails to understand the nuances between different points of view and social upbringing is really on target for understanding the turmoil in our country.  This is particularly true of our political and governmental wrangling that, I believe, is having a lasting, detrimental effect on our society and our position in the world community.  I hope you’ll watch the attached interview in its entirety as it provides an interesting perspective.

TREVOR NOAH VIDEO.  https://youtu.be/aJifPiLIwv8

Thanks for viewing this month.  I wish you well and hope that you are safe and unaffected by the challenges facing us today.

KEN BANKS’ BLOG APRIL 2020

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BRANDING DURING A PANDEMIC!

I hope this finds you and your family well and safe during this unprecedented time in our lives.  I know that we all are finding it hard to believe all that has happened over the past several weeks now that “pandemic” ,“Social Distancing”, “Stay-at-home” and Coronavirus have become part of our everyday vocabulary. I know that we have found the new normal has afforded us time to catch up on many tasks that we have been procrastinating about for a while.  We’ve also become more dependent on the internet and social media to maintain our communications with family and friends as well as to keep experiencing normally personal interactions like school, church, holiday celebrations, and even some cocktail parties where everyone toasts to a screen instead of clinking glasses. 

Probably, most have you haven’t given a thought to branding during this time, unless you are still working in the marketing industry. 

I was talking today with a good friend Tom Shay (retail consultant, author, speaker and founder of Profits Plus Solutions.  We were talking about retail marketing as we do quite regularly and about the importance of marketing even in times like we are facing today.  Tom said that he thinks there are basically three types of retail marketing during this period:

1. Stores that have batten-down their marketing.  Basically stopping all marketing efforts given the restrictions and concerns of the public. This is an understandable tactic to cut the expenses when the revenues dramatically are reduced. Unfortunately, not all their competitors have done the same so the share of mind so it likely will be hard to bounce right back after the crisis subsides
2. Stores that keep it the same and promote as they always have.  There are many whose message are still item/price and trying to drive sales as they always have.  Unfortunately, in an environment of required stay at home behavior, a discount has little or no bearing on motivating someone to risk contamination or illness.
3. Stores that have reacted quickly to the situation and have taken a revolutionary approach by offering take-out and delivery that previously didn’t exist or was a convenience rather than the standard.  Of course, Amazon is doing a gangbuster business as a result of this, but other companies have stepped up their operations to make it easier to continue to do business with them.  We just tried our first online order and store pick-up at WalMart.  We’ve known that they had provided this service for quite a while, but WalMart has upgraded the whole process to make ordering easier, to provide notice when the order is being filled and if there are any out of stock items or substitutions available, text confirmation when the order is ready for pick up, special signing to direct the customer to newly created parking areas with a sign and phone number to call upon arrival, and a friendly staff person who is there within seconds to load the order (no tips allowed) in your car.  Other stores have done similar operational changes and have marketed them to their customers to reassure them that they are in business and are sensitive to the restrictions of the pandemic.

Other industries are reacting as well.  Newspapers are reducing their print distribution and expanding their online presence to maintain communications  while their advertising has dramatically been reduced.  Financial institutions are increasing their marketing of their online banking service including mobile deposits via your cell phone camera as well as promoting their drive-through and ATM services.  Auto dealers are marketing financing deals to suspend any payments until the pandemic is resolved.  And there are many more.  The key is that now is a time to continue to build the brand relationships with your customers and community.

This brings me to the outstanding effort done by my former agency and employer, Doner Advertising in Detroit.  The agency has a long history of offering their creative expertise to messages that are targeted toward building the pride and spirit of the Motor City’s citizens. They have done this in the past for the local zoo, key health care providers, and community organizations with not only media support but award-winning commercials that reach the heart and the minds of the community.  The reaction to the coronavirus pandemic is no exception. As you are probably aware, Detroit has been hit exceptionally hard by the virus and as a result so has the economy.  Doner decided to keep the spirit of the city up by creating and producing a commercial titled “When the Motor Stops”.  Click on this link to view it for yourself:

The copy is heartfelt and motivating, the production (which was shot in one day) is dramatic and captures the mood hitting all of us, and the message is one that we can all use at this critical time.  Is it branding?  Absolutely.  For a city that needs positives more than ever.  And for an agency, that continues to value its Detroit roots and creativity that has helped maintain the creative advertising and marketing reputation of the Motor City. 

I hope you all are staying well and safe. I can’t wait to get back to normal!

KEN BANKS’ BLOG MARCH 2020

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BACK TO BRANDING

SUPER BRANDING FOR THE SUPER BOWL!

It’s good to be back blogging again this month.  After a couple months of fighting the after effects  of 3 months of radiation therapy for prostate cancer, I pleased to be feeling great and to report that the first post-radiation PSA blood test showed the treatment is working!! Of course, now we have to worry about coronavirus/Covid 19, but branding must go on more than ever as our shopping patterns are drastically changed. 

During my time away from the blog, another Super Bowl has come and gone and this year’s game proved to be quite an exciting one.  Of course, the game each year seems to become more incidental as the media flocks to talk about the commercials (Are they worth $5 Million for :30 seconds?), the halftime show (once again a waste of time no matter how much you like J-Lo), the live radio coverage by every sports talk station in the country from radio row), a  4-hour pre-game show on Fox that was about 3 ½ hours too long, too many hamburger and hot dog bun specials in every food chain’s ads for a month before the game.  However, I have made a tradition to review the best of the super spots in this blog for the past several years, but this year  I will  only highlight a couple that I think helped strengthen two already successful brands and, I believe,  have been worth the gigantic investment in media time this year.

I have always maintained that a successful brand strategy takes time and consistency to develop, and that those hot shot products or services that take all their media budget to make themselves feel good by having a spot in the big game are wasting their money.  A great brand is the result of building a relationship with your target customer and that “wiz-bam, thank you, ma’am!” spots on one expensive show are just that.  Like a personal relationship, branding requires time and consistent, meaningful communication and interaction to be truly successful.

Here are a couple of brands that have taken the time and strategic effort to build a brand that resonates with their customers.  They also stood out with great creativity on this year’s big game extravaganza.

GOOGLE.  It’s not just a brand.  It’s an action verb and now part of our everyday language.  In the process, the company has produced revenues in 2019 of over $161 Billion and has become the go-go place for information on just about anything you want or need to know about.  The company continues to grow with the addition of YouTube, now over $15 Billion in ad revenue and growing as its own online television network.  It also is expanding Cloud which generates over $10 Billion in revenue.  It just seems like yesterday, that I attended a conference in Phoenix where a futurist talked about this new company with a funny name, Google, as the first big name in search engines.  Now it will generate over $100 Billion in search revenue. And there’s no stopping this growth as we depend on all of it’s units in our everyday work and personal lives.  We’ve heard about how great it is to work at Google, with breakthrough policies and program that keeps its 10000+ employees loyal and motivated every day.  With all that significant growth and the cutting-edge technology that keeps it moving forward, one would think that Google doesn’t need to do much branding.  However, the company keeps its branding message on the personal reasons why Google plays an important part in the lives of people all over the world.  The spot in the Super Bowl is a great example of how Google with all its services and technology helps keep the memories of a lifetime alive for just one person who cherishes his life with his wife, Harriet.   This spot hits the sweet spot for those of us who are now threatened by the virus rampaging around the world, but it also says something about company that remembers that it helping customers make life a little easier to manage especially in tough times.  Here’s the spot that ran on the big game which surely made a difference in all of us who cherish the past memories.

 Click on this link to view: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xSxXiHwMrg

JEEP.  The original SUV  stays true to its roots as it fights to maintain its share of the hottest market category in the auto industry.  In my recent, trip to Walt Disney World, I couldn’t help notice as I took a photo shot of our parking lot row ID (memory aid) that looking down an entire row of some 50-75 vehicles that there was not one conventional sedan in the endless row of SUV’s and pickups. Jeep has always stayed close to its military roots and love of the wild (and not so wild) outdoors by keeping its design and features consistent even as it has added more models, sizes and features.  With Cherokees, Laredos, Wranglers and more, Fiat Chrysler maintained that consistency in the brand with its new Jeep Gladiator, a four-door pickup ATV-like model.  The vehicle is pretty interesting and the company further solidified its place in our memories with a creative spot featuring Bill Murray as he reprises his role in Ground Hog Day to demonstrate all the fun one can have conquering the winter outdoors in this new type of Jeep.

Click on this link to view this 90 second masterpiece:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QgBRvMmWk4

These are terrific spots with break-through-the-clutter creativity that isn’t limited to just being on the Super Bowl.  The spots ring true all year and every time I see them, I get the message and my relationship to these brands is enhanced.  There’s no promotion. No sale event.  No limited time only.  Just a reach-out and grab-you-by- the heart creative message. Branding like this is truly Super.

I’ll add another comment here to wish you and your families good health and peace as we face the challenges of this virus that now threatens our lives and society.  I’m praying for a quick resolution and for the expertise and leadership to help us find a solution.  I hope you will join me in this as well.

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HOLIDAY BRANDING AT ITS BEST!

It’s the most wonderful time of the year…..to look at television advertising.  Why?  Well, first there’s more of it.  Every year marketers, especially retailers, pump more of their ad budgets into holiday campaigns in order to capitalize on the largest selling season of the year. Second, most of these advertisers put more emphasis on creativity that targets the Black Fridays”, Saturdays or Black Weeks for that matter. Once upon a time, it was the time for slick, flashy, thick catalogues filled with everything one might imagine to give a loved one for Christmas.  The mailboxes and Sunday newspapers were bulging with more advertising than our growing population could comprehend and in the process has become immune to, or at the very least bored with.  With growth of online buying (they stopped shopping long ago), consumers  still want to give gifts and  yearn for the memories of (as another line of the Christmas Carol titled in the first words of this article) ”Christmas’s long, long ago.”  I have written here repeatedly that branding during the holidays should continue the messages and rationale of the branding a company does all year long if it wants their Christmas messaging to be more effective.  And many continue to do that…and many have stopped advertising at all.

However, there are still some advertisers who not only run great spots that communicate their brand strategy, but they also capture the spirit of Christmas.  Here are a few that I think you’ll enjoy and share.  Merry Christmas!

Hobby Lobby is a chain of over 850 arts and crafts stores that consistently markets itself as a store that supports important causes.  The company has a philosophy that it states as a Christian ethics and it has a reputation of treating its customers and its employees as special.  This Christmas it created a commercial that is consistent with its creative strategy and the importance of family relationship. Enjoy this spot about a mother and son discovering their love at the holidays.  Click this link to view:  https://youtu.be/AwYSfdvtMmo?t=11

Macy’s continues to fight the challenges of maintaining the specialness that department stores once owned at Christmas.  By keeping its Thanksgiving Parade, its special holiday windows on Herald Square, it ongoing Believe holiday ad campaign (Yes, Virginia there is a Santa Clause), Macy’s created a special holiday message this year that captures the spirit of Christmas  in the story of a girl who wants to be Santa and brings Christmas to life (Yes, you know her name!).

Click this link to view:  https://youtu.be/-TZGtPNJkbg

Aldi doesn’t run much TV in marketing its very successful grocery chain that I featured in an issue of this blog  a couple months ago. When they do they make it as special as a singing carrot and his friends at Christmas:  Click on this link to view:  https://youtu.be/LW_SRd2hIFw

Argos in the UK is a successful part of Sainsbury which has always done  great Christmas commercials.  This year their catalogue is a Book of Dreams and a father brings his daughter’s dream to life in this swinging spot:  Click on this link to view:  https://youtu.be/7GjeHzrn8jg

Amazon has changed the retail world in a relatively short period.  The Amazon packages that seem to arrive every day on our porches are testament to their success and how they have also changed Christmas shopping and gift giving.  Behind it all is a real spirit of  how everybody needs somebody especially with a smile like Amazon’s logo at the holidays.  Click on this link to view:  https://youtu.be/s2K0flh9uMc

Pedigreee recognizes that pets are an important part of the family, especially at Christmas time.  I wish I had done this spot when I was heading the marketing department at PetSmart several years ago.  The idea of an adopted pet fits perfectly into their good nutrition brand and makes an important holiday idea e alive through a dog’s eyes.

Click on this link to view: https://youtu.be/Zx3wfql2yd0

WestJet always does something special at Christmas that makes Canadiens realize that it’s not only a great airline, but also a great citizen:

Click on this link to view this special story:   https://youtu.be/zIEIvi2MuEk

I hope you and your family share the peace and wonder of Christmas again this year.

Ken

KEN BANKS’ BLOG OCTOBER 2019

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It’s that time of year when there finally seems like there is a break in the weather with lower temperatures and (thankfully) humidity.  I always enjoyed autumn when we lived in Michigan and Germany, but there’s one thing  that I’ve always been turned off by during this season.  And that’s Halloween.  Not that I didn’t enjoy trick-or-treating when I was young (and the chocolate high afterward) nor watching my kids and grandkids put on their costumes to prowl the neighborhood.  Now that the barrage of Halloween Advertsing and events has started, once again I wish that we could change the brand that Halloween has become.

Sure it’s a $21 Billion sales bonanza for retailers and boom time for theme parks, movie theaters , and other venues—not to mention greeting cards and decoration companies.  I simply think it’s time to go back to the roots of this holiday and rebrand it as a more positive celebration. After all it all started with a celebration back in the 7th century of All Saints Day on November 1st,  followed by remembrance of the dead (All Souls Day) on the following day.  Hallowed Evening was the night before as a pre-celebration of the next two days. Over the years, the celebration not only included our departed saints and loved ones but also angel, devils, and various other goblins.  This has grown to a celebration of ghosts and goblins, zombies, various ominous creatures like spiders and bats, and acts of gore and cruelty meant only to scare the dickens out of everyone from kindergarteners to grown ups.  I suggest we can still celebrate without “Hallow-screams” Haunted houses, and torture chambers to mention only a few deathly themes. 

I say let’s rebrand the holiday into hallowed evening where we celebrate our ancestors who have helped make our lives better and the world a better place to live.  Yes, we can still put on costumes to depict our past relationships (even if they were with clowns, princesses, and friendly dinosaurs) but let make it a positive event where we celebrate with those treats and parties and share the happiness of the event, instead of a frightening occasion. 

Companies are rebranding their products all the time.  GM has successfully rebranding Cadillac and Buick. Kohl’s rebranded its food stores into successful department stores with EDLP. McDonald’s rebranded itself from a burger joint to an every meal restaurant.

Gallo rebranded it’s cheap wines to a selection of fine affordable brands. Southwest taught us that low price flights also could set the standard for service and promptness.  Rebranding doesn’t have to be something that marketers do because their sales and market share are slumping. Successful Branding is aimed at building a positive relationship with your customers. While our movie theaters and video streams are filled with violence and horror, there’s no reason to promote that in retail and in community events.  Let’s find a way to keep the fun (princess and fireman costumes are cuter than zombies, (any day!) and create a new brand that remembers the good times and the people who made it happen for us.   So, let’s get rid of the aspects of Halloween that frighten, scare and depress and rebrand it as the positive holiday that it was meant to be.

BREAKING THE MOLD FOR FOOD STORE BRANDING

KEN BANKS’ BLOG AUGUST 2019 

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BREAKING THE MOLD FOR FOOD STORE BRANDING

Supermarket marketing is not usually a good topic in a discussion of retail branding.

Yes, there are some chains, like Publix, Wegman’s, H.E.B., HyVee, and Trader Joes, who have built loyalty though the years with providing an outstanding shopping experience with quality operations and marketing.  WalMart has taken the top spot as a national chain by having the best price perception of any grocery stores built on their discount store success.  Most of the rest of the chains continue to try to build sales with a low-price strategy supported by heavy promotion.  Their formal is predictable and redundant with weekly print ads and price promotions. While price is always a factor in the grocery business, the failure of many discount food chains in the past few years verifies that it takes more than a good price on ground chuck to maintain a loyal customer who shops weekly and in many cases more often .  Then, there is Aldi.

I first visited Aldi when they had just arrived in the US by breaking into the Chicago metro area several years ago.  I was in my last few weeks at Eckerd when our President, Frank Newman,  organized a trip for his key executives to the Windy City to do some store visits.  We were surprised when we didn’t go to Osco or Walgreen’s, but rather went to this new chain of discount grocery stores from Germany.  Some things stood out right away,  low prices, neat but spartan stores, mostly private label brands, and crowds of customers.

Well, it not only caught on in Chicago, but Aldi has become quite a phenomenon throughout the U.S. today with more than 1800 stores in 35 states making it the fastest growing chain.  The company has done this by creating a cult following that has learned that the lower prices on key items like milk and eggs, is not just pennies lower but as much as 30-40% versus traditional chain across the street.  The brand is accentuated by operational differences like no free shopping bags, no baggers at the register, charging a quarter (refundable0 for using a shopping cart.  Their dominance of private brands is made up of not just cheaper items but using their European heritage to bring baked goods, meats, cheeses from overseas that are reminiscent of Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s.  Like our household, most shoppers don’t switch over exclusively.  We love our local Publix and it’s selection and service more than ever.  However, there are some trips for which Aldi just makes more sense.  The profile of the Aldi customers and their local market areas show that their customer base are not just price shoppers either.

We can’t ignore the warehouse clubs in this discussion.  Costco and Sam’s have created quite a niche in the food store business by making the experience exciting in a warehouse atmosphere and by providing quality foods that are exceptional.    It’s the rest of the chains that seem to have trouble looking around at what happening and they continue to do more of the same.  Repeating the same deals, the same messages, and offering the same experience.  The result is that chains like Winn Dixie and BiLo have filed for bankruptcy.  SavALot, which looks a lot like Aldi’s model, is deeply in debt and probably won’t survive.  Walmart has taken notice and is focusing more of their competitive efforts in the grocery end of the business on an upstart like Aldi.  They’ve proven that it’s low prices, but it’s not JUST low prices.  You have to live up to the brand in everything you do, everyday.  

Aldi is aggressive, but they also have a sense of humor.  Take a look at their price comparison TV campaign here.  https://youtu.be/tR9arN2J8lk

KEN BANKS’ BLOG JUNE 2019

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WHAT CAUSES GREAT BRANDS TO FADE AWAY?

Our recent trip to Glacier National Park in Montana was one of the most spectacular of our journey’s over the past several years to national parks around the country and the world.  Most significant memory, however, is the comparative photos that have been taken of the glaciers over the past several years and how fast and how significant these mammoth ice flows are disappearing.  Some say it’s simply a matter of nature taking its course. However, the surge in ice melt is more likely the cause of global warming and the use of fossil fuels that have contaminated and increased the temperature of the atmosphere.   I couldn’t help but think of this as an analogy for the way many great brands are disappearing from the marketplace at an ever-increasing rate and that this not simple an evolution of business cycles.  Rather,  like our disregard for the air we breath has had an adverse effect, the disregard for building brands that last and adjust to the changes in customer preferences has had a significant effect on the disappearances of some great names in marketing that (like the glaciers) we thought would be on our shopping horizon for years to come.

We’ve talked about great brands like Toys r Us, Sports Authority, Payless Shoes, Abercrombie, Banana Republic, Gap recently in these articles, and we’ve also seen the same retreat not in aerial photos but in sales and market share reports for brands like Sears, Penney’s, numerous banking organizations, insurance companies, Circuit City, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Mercury, and the list goes on.  All of those now empty storefronts and brands, in my opinion, could have survived successfully if the senior management, especially marketers, had developed an ongoing brand strategy that evolved to meet the customer trends and attitudes.  Great brands like Amazon, Costco, Walmart, Geico, Lexus/Toyota have recognized that to succeed in today’s market, a company has to adjust and consistently innovate with a premise that appeals not only to the mind of the consumer but also the heart.   That’s where the relationship begins and, I believe, if many of our industrialists in the past had experienced the beauty and specter of our national parks and, particularly, glaciers.  They would have had a plan to protect the brand that is our natural environment. 

I was talking with our postman a few days ago, as he sat in his over-heating mail truck.  He was complaining about how inefficient these trucks were and how Amazon was changing the world of retail delivery.  At the same time, I viewed a feature on a news report about the growth of electric vehicles in China and that inexpensive electric vehicles are here, now and being mass produced as fast as the infrastructure could keep up with it.  I thought about how efficient mail delivery with electric vehicles that could be  charged every night.  How the streets of New York (and Chicago or Vegas) could be less polluted if all those taxis and buses were electric instead of gas.  These are major improvements that can be made now that not only benefit our environment, but also improve the brands of the postal and transportation services to help build those businesses. Great branding can save a company with a reason for being by adjusting its benefits and messages to more people and creating demand.  It takes a vision and a conscious effort to create the value and a relationship that endures.

KEN BANKS’ BLOG MAY 2019

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ACTIVATE THE BRAIN…STIMULATE YOUR BRAND!

Nine years ago, I got together with another consultant/speaker to co-author Brain Branding—Activate the Brain…Stimulate Your Brand which is now available on Amazon and Kindle.  I had been consulting and presenting on developing an effective brand for several years, but when I heard Robyn’s presentation on communication and whole brain thinking, I believe together we had discovered an innovative way to make branding come alive for marketers in almost every consumer industry.  Robyn had been enlightening her audiences on the fact that the brain is actually divided in four quadrants—not just two halves.  As I listened to her, it became apparent that the differences in these four quadrants mirrored four of the five steps that I had learned were necessary in creating a successful brand strategy.  So, we put our “brains” together and develop BrainBranding.  It was a new way to look at how to understand customers better by studying the way these customers think when they decide to shop a certain store, buy a specific brand, or use a special service.

We have been promoting our book and presenting ever since by helping marketers understand that there are four thinking styles:  

The Investigator (Quadrant A)-  This customer researches extensively before making       decision. And it’s not just price, the investigator wants to know product features, reviews, warranties, service and history.

The Coordinator (Quadrant B)- Reliability and dependability are important to this customer.  Requiring simplicity and practicality, she wants a clear definition of the features and looks for solutions to the need or problem that nurtured the interest. The coordinator wants details and facts.

The Relater (Quadrant C)- A relationship is important to this customer and they will seek out a seller who is personable and genuinely interested in them and their needs.
An emotional connection is critical and once you have it the brand loyalty is difficult to lose. Want benefits and will share them with others and is motivated by a positive purchase experience.

The Trendsetter ((Quadrant D)- This customer wants the latest and the newest technology or style. Anticipates “out of box” thinking and innovative features and benefits.  An early adapter who prefers multiple options for brand usage.

The interesting fact is that research has shown that over 90% of the people in the market are motivated by all of these styles to some degree.  So, you can’t just brand to one style, you have to have-e a brand message that hits all four to some extent and to do that the marketer has to exercise these same styles in a four-step brand development strategy and they aren’t in the same order as presented above.

1.  CREATE YOUR VISION—(Trendsetter)Look to the future.  Why does your brand exist?  What does your future vision look like and how will the market change.  Look for state of the art options and unique benefits.  Be creative in your message.  Stand out. Have a strategy based on the future as well as research of past competitors and brands.
2.  CONDUCT RESEARCH (Investigator)—Get the facts about your brand and what it’s all about.  Look at market history and competitive brands.  Look at brand history and sustainability.  Dive into the statistics that support your brand’s position and analyze the competition for strengths and weaknesses. Determine the brand’s position and its value proposition.  This is the TRUTH of the brand.
3. COMMUNICATE AN EMOTIONAL VALUE (Relater)- Unfortunately, many marketers jump into a new ad campaign or theme before doing the necessary homework above. Once you’ve done the homework, you can start communicating the feelings that you want the customer to have toward your brand and how they feel toward you as seller.  Communicate the benefits of using your brand or service. Let them know What’s In It For Them!  Develop the HEART of the brand—how it makes them feel inside and what personal service it provides.
4. CONSTRUCT A PLAN (Coordinator)- Add some form to your substance with a plan that is comprehensive and executable (and understandable). Combine the 3 steps above into a marketing plan and develop a reasonable timetable and measurement for success.  Honestly determine the state of the brand today and where you want it to be in the future (and how to get there.)

That leaves us at the Step Number 5, which we have added because without it all of the others are just an exercise in futility or at best mediocre results.  That is to LIVE UP TO THE BRAND EVERY DAY!   In order to do this, you must market your brand to your staff and those who represent you in every aspect of the business.  This is just as detailed as the plan in Step 4 above.  It is not just a video or memo that briefly explains the new brand position, it is a marketing strategy developed by and for everyone who has a stake hold in the product or service.  If the server or salesperson doesn’t get it and demonstrate it with every transaction, the customer won’t return.  If the service department or product development don’t create what is promised in the marketing, they won’t buy it.  If the message isn’t consistent with your brand strategy and have appeal to all of the thinking styles noted above, forget about success. 

All of this is discussed in more detail and with specific case studies and example in our book.  We also developed a manual that walks you through the process of developing a successful brand.  Good luck and Stimulate Your Brand!