Please note that KAB Marketing is no longer operating as a consulting and presentations company. The Blog "What's Branding Got to Do with it?" will continue to be published on a regular basis.
Well, March Madness has come and gone and national champions were as predicted. The big news, however, centered around Caitlin Clark who not only led her Iowa Hawkeyes to the Final Four, but also brought more spectators and fans than ever before for not only women’s basketball but for all college sports. The increase in viewership was significantly improved and not just for the championship game. Iowa games were featured more on national media than any other female sports events. It’s likely this will translate to the pro’s as Clark moves to the WNBA.
Athletics is no longer primarily a male activity. Female sports at all school levels have increased significantly in participation and fan support over the past several years. No sport has benefited from this trend than soccer. The growth at all levels of education has been phenomenal and only surpassed by the boom in amateur club soccer at all levels from age 3-18 years and beyond. While little league baseball has diminished, the soccer fields are more active than any other sports fields in the US. Research shows that there are over 810,000 soccer players at the high school level and over 10000 amateur teams nationally. And the numbers will significantly increase in the next few years. Evidence for this is the growth of public soccer fields throughout the major metro areas. While little league fields have diminished in popularity, they normally only have 2 or 3 fields per center. Soccer complexes now boast up to 20 fields and the tournaments bring participants from all over the state and nation to compete. Soccer is now the number one amateur participant sport in America. It has been that in Mexico (where it there are over 60 million soccer fans. Europe and Asia have long been soccer (football there) meccas. The participants are younger, being 54% younger than any other sport.
The Olympics and World Cup games certainly has fueled this increase in popularity and with it comes increased branding opportunities for the sport. Nike has long been a major supporter and Reebok, Adidas and Under Armor continued to expand. Other brands like Capelli, Emirates Air, and many local marketers are featured not only on jerseys and shorts but also at the growing number of venues. I can remember my first little league team requires us 8 year olds to sell a uniform sponsorship to pay for my “Yanks” team outfit. Fortunately, my uncle owned a local hardware store and I got my uniform. Now the national sponsors work with the clubs and schools to get new uniforms every year with logos on every one of them. It’s an opportunity that starts with the toddlers and continues through the teens and beyond. Let’s not forget the sports drinks, water jugs and mugs, as well as cleats and socks. There’s gold in them thar fields and smart marketers will take advantage of this remarkable trend
GREAT CREATIVE. I am always on the lookout for marketing campaigns with great creative and here’s one that caught my eye. In Belgium, here’s an effective way to get more people out of their cars and on the bus systems. Well done spots that build a great brand. CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW.
The Christmas holidays are always a time of remembering great traditions—in the family, in the community, in our places of worship, and in the marketplace. The Christmas marketing has probably changed more than any other holiday tradition over the past several years. During my retail years, this was the time of the year to pull out all the stops when it came to advertising. The papers were full of inserts on a daily basis. Our mailboxes were stuffed with multi-page catalogues from every local and national retailer. Broadcast media was sold out as every store ran more spots than any other time of the year. While much of this was price-item promotional spots, this was a time to break the mold with outstanding creative and production. Stores were showplaces for design and display—and special events.
Well, a lot has changed. The newspapers, when they are published, have barely the number of pages of some of the inserts a few years ago. Our mailboxes have fewer cards and hardly any “Christmas Catalogues”, porches are filled with Amazon boxes, broadcast spots are the usual auto dealers and home improvement ads, and .com spots proliferate. However, there are still some great examples of creative branding at this time of year that are worth noting. Here are a few of my 2023 favorites where companies take the time and creative juices to provide a message that makes the season bright.
Amazon has been one of the key factors leading to the change in holiday traditions for sure. However, the company take the time and budgets to drive home a message that brings back memories and recognizes the importance of the aging population.
CHEVROLET https://youtu.be/xnZGEUA4oBk. During most of the years, Chevy is out there like most car makers with trucks running through the mud, SUV’s with the latest technology, and price offers that you still don’t believe. Over the past few years though, Chevrolet has hit the heartstrings with epic spots that make their brand still strong after all these years. This year’s holiday spot features the story that is all too common in our society and our families. Alzheimers and dementia touches so many of us now, and Chevrolet tells a story that memories can be restores, just like some of their old pickup trucks, if you take the time to share with those afflicted, especially at this time of year. A great spot and a heartwarming message.
CAPITAL ONE. https://youtu.be/gQJ6Xc93-wY. The holidays are for memories and who doesn’t remember the opening scene of Saturday Night Fever with John Travolta. Never thought he’d someday play Santa Claus, but this spot hits the target and still makes the point of what’s in your wallet at this time of year.
LOBBY HOBBY: https://youtu.be/8Z3y74R4wAM I have featured Lobby Hobby spots in my past Christmas blogs, and this year’s is a bit deceiving with a title “Lobby Hobby’s 50% Off Sale”. This years messages focuses on a family scene that’s typical of today. A single, working mother and a son who figures out a way to make Christmas special. No sales message here except at the very end’s closing title, but a a great branding effort to capture the true spirit of the Christmas season.
Hope you have a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year.
As fall sports start gearing up, I have always enjoyed watching my favorite teams get back into action. NFL, NHL, NCAA, NBA, MSL. You name it I’ll usually be tuning in to check the scores. My love of sports started when I was growing up in Detroit and I rarely missed a game on my transistor radio or TV when the home team was playing. My allegiance has changed to Tampa Bay teams since I’ve been here for over 40 years now, but I was particularly interested in this past weekend when the Lightning played the Red Wings and the Bucs hosted the Lions. Over the past few years, this usually meant an easy Tampa Bay victory, but the home teams were humbled badly. The Lions are now favorites to be in the NFL play-offs and the Red Wings (the former hockey powerhouse that earned Detroit the name of Hockey Town a few years ago) have emerged as a young team on the move. To be sure the teams really didn’t need a “re-branding” strategy, they just need to start winning. Both had been big losers for a while, and now have rekindled the fan’s support.
In the same way, the city of Detroit has re-emerged from an image as one of the US’s least desirable places to live to a more vibrant locale. Having lived there with frequent returns over the years for business and pleasure, I knew that the lousy image of the area was confined to the metro area of Motown while the suburbs and outlying areas are still some of the most desirable places to live in the Midwest. I was pleased to experience the downtown area of Detroit on a recent visit for our high school reunion which was held downtown with trips to the Motown Museum and a dinner cruise on the Detroit River which borders downtown and Windsor, Ontario. I was pleased to see a great deal of revitalization with new buildings, hotels, restaurants, a vibrant Riverwalk, and a positive spirit in the local citizens that I met.
However, it’s not just building new structures or expanding service. Just as the new stadiums that the Detroit teams have built in past few years have not translated to winning records, revitalization (as in branding) needs to come from within and requires a strategy that everyone in the organization/government understands and supports. There has been a resurgence of activity and popularity in the smaller towns and villages that are beyond the suburbs of major cities. These “small towns” have an old-fashioned atmosphere that today’s population are attracted to an enjoy visiting regularly. The old main street business areas are being updated with new boutiques, shops, restaurants, and professional services. Weekend markets are popular destinations for families and retirees alike. City councils and chambers of commerce have developed long-term plans that have drawn financial and citizen support. In the same way, major cities are making their downtown more user friendly with pedestrian malls, outdoor event venues, river walks, and a small town appeal despite the large office buildings and other structures. That has made Detroit a winner in more ways than sports performance. While the city still faces major infrastructure challenges, it is becoming more of a hometown than a metropolis. In the same way as long time brands revitalize their products and services with research, strategy and a plan based on understanding their changing marketplace and customers, cities around the country are developing a winning strategy that brings back the fans.
If you’ve followed my blog over the years, you know how important I believe a comprehensive brand strategy is to the success of a product or service. I mentioned my five-step process again last month and will continue to remind all of us to follow the strategy as we develop our brands. This month I want to focus on creativity in our message. I’ve been disappointed over the past couple years—especially at seasonal selling seasons—by the lack of innovation and break through message in the marketing messages that pervade all of the media today—both traditional and digital. I find that many campaigns suffer from what my former colleague and Doner Agency CEO, Alan Kalter, called “emulitis”. That’s the tendency of major advertisers to copy what their more successful competitors are doing in their marketing messages. That leads to a lack of individuality and rarely provides the reason for being nor the memorability of the message.
Advertisers for years have sought to have their messages to be memorable and to catch the attention of a customer base that has been inundated with an overwhelming amount of similar advertising. They usually demand more creativity from their marketing staffs and agencies. However, just being unique or intrusive (or oftentimes, silly) is not enough. During my years as both a client and an agency exec, I found that whenever a new campaign or creative execution was presented and it fell flat or just didn’t seem to be on the mark, it was because those creating the messages had failed to revisit the brand strategy and its unique selling proposition adequately before developing a script, layout, or storyboard. The creatives often became so focused on a unique, funny, or out-of-the box execution, that they neglected to remind the audience of why they should try or continue to use the product or service they were selling.
I remember going through 3 or 4 rounds of presentations with our agency (who had done award winning campaigns for us and who were some of most creative minds I ever worked with) and getting frustrated that all of the ideas seemed to be off-target. No matter what we reviewed, the ads simply fell flat as we reviewed and discussed. In frustration, I suggested that we take a look again at the original brand strategy that we had developed several months earlier and had resulted in great, memorable campaigns that we were able to extend to in-store and internal communications as well. During that review, one of the creative directors admitted that they really hadn’t discussed the strategy again and that this really clarified the direction. A week later they came back with a campaign that we ran successful for three years with simple updates and modifications.
Advertising legend, Leo Burnett, always emphasized that you should never insult or talk-down to your customers’ intelligence. As I watch and observe some recent campaigns in the market today, I have to say that many are thinking that their customers are still in junior high or simply not thinking. Creativity is determining the message that you need to convey and then finding a way to make it not only appeal to brain of the customer, but also touch the heart,
We were pleased to make a stopover in London and Southampton, England this month on our way to Norway. It’s always interesting to visit an area with so much history and one that has had such an influence on the US. Of course, the UK has been very prominent in the media around the world the past couple years with the passing of the queen and Prince Phiip, the coronation of King Charles, the ongoing stories of Prince Harry and Meghan, the many other news stories covering the royal family, and the ongoing political scene in Parliament and the other UK countries. One thing for sure, the monarchy in the UK certainly is a brand that has been around for centuries and continues to be relevant to its follower in the present.
It’s interesting to see that the longevity of the monarchy can be attributed to the same principles that long-term successful brand follow in maintaining their loyal customers. As I look at the five-step process that I have presented and followed during my marketing and speaking careers, there are certainly similar steps that the royalty and its brands have followed.
First, a successful brand starts with the creation of the vision. Marketers must decide on what their product or service is and how it will be better than similar products and meet the changing needs of their consumers. Centuries ago, the monarchs in England had a vision for an empire that would not only expand around the world but also provide the goods and services that were unavailable in their relatively small island in the north Atlantic.
Next, research is necessary to determine who the customer is, why they would want the brand, what other brands provide similar benefits, and can the new brand (or improved one) can meet these criteria. The British Empire did its research through exploration of the world. They searched other countries and peoples to learn what they had that could benefit their subjects and then set up a presence with the logistics to have these outposts provide what they needed.
Third, a brand must have a communications plan that will inform the population and ruling bodies as to what the product or service is, what benefits it provides, and what value the consumer will find by purchasing and using the new brand. While the British explorers often conquered their new subjects and dictated what they would provide, they communicated through other explorers and then printed documents why British rule was beneficial to both the subjects in the new territories as well as to the English subjects.
Fourth, these communications not only had to be creative in order to appeal to the target customers, but they must follow a well=designed plan that is effective and that can be adjusted to meet changing or unforeseen stumbling blocks to the brand’s success. England’s leaders were diligent in developing their plans for the empire. They realized that to rule countries thousands of miles and several continents away, there had to be a plan to establish a presence but also to implement the desired benefits for the long term.
Finally, for a brand to continue to be successful, the product and the people responsible for delivering it and its benefits must live up to the brand every day. A brand that is not reliable or does not perform as promised is doomed for failure. Promising a pleasant shipping experience and then not training or hiring people who understand and are passionate about delivering on that promise will result in even the most comprehensive strategy and most creative marketing plan being a quick failure. The monarchy has a long history of negative actions and publicity but somehow has endured in the loyalty and traditions of its populace. Evidence of this exists in the huge turnouts for the funerals of Queen Elizabeth II and her husband. Millions around the world tuned in for the coronation of Charles III. The ratings of the Netflix movie about Harry and Meghan and The Crown series, as well as the sales of Harry’s book “Spare” are evidence that despite its diminishing relevance in government, the monarchy is a brand that still resonates with the people.
One of the most important books that I’ve read on branding was co-authored by my good friend, B.J. Bueno in 2002—THE POWER OF CULT BRANDING. In the book, B.J. describes how the most successful brands not only achieve significant market share but also create a cult following by its loyal customer base. In defining this type of branding, he says that the brand’s “customers not only use their products, but they evangelize to the world about them.” Brands like Starbucks, Chick-fil-A, Lexus, Harley Davidson, and Nordstroms (to name a few) are famous for not only having a strong brand identity but also their customers consistently rave about them to their families, friends and neighbors. That’s how I found out about one of today’s strongest cult brands—Buc-ee’s. Friends of ours who travel regularly on our interstates frequently told us that “you have got to visit a Buc-ee’s on you next road trip. So, on our way to Kentucky last week we took a look and did some research.
Buc-ee’s was founded in 1982 in Clute, Texas, as a convenience store and gas station by Arch Aplin, whose nickname growing up was “Beaver”. The name not only describes the company’s giant logo with a smiling beaver, but also led to it’s name after the early mascot for Ipana toothpaste in the 1950’s, Bucky Beaver. It took about 20 years before Aplin decided to expand this typical store/station into a mega-travel stop nearly 100 gas pumps and over 50,000 square feet of retail space. It’s a lot bigger than a truck stop and in fact, does not allow trucks on the property in order to appeal to its rv and auto traveling customers. The company is known for it’s signature brisket sandwiches, take-away foods, about 50 soft drink and slushee fountains, carmel pecans and assorted nuts and snack, and miscellaneous and unique travel items. It also boasts the cleanest, most spacious restrooms on the road which were personally designed by Aplin. These consistently are recognized the cleanest in the country. It’s a sight to walk into the expanse and note the amount of customers even at 10am on a Tuesday morning. Customer service is one of the reasons for the cult following. Despite the size and traffic, Buc-ee’s associates are efficient and friendly and greet customer with a Texas-style “Welcome to Buc-ee’s” while whisking customers through their checkouts without long lines. Same holds true for the gas pumps which (despite the lowest price on this trip) move cars in and out as fast as the indoor checkouts.
The proof of its success is reflected in the company’s expansion to over 50 stores mostly in Texas and the Southeast and since it’s privately held, the volume numbers aren’t public but if you picture a Wal-Mart or Costco on the day after Thanksgiving, you’ll have a good picture of a typical day at Buc-ee’s. Yes, there are big, noticeable billboard for several miles before the next exit, but the enthusiasm of their customers in recommending a stop makes it one of the newest, most successful cult brands in the US.
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