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Now, \u00a0I appreciate a good pun as much as anyone, but when used as a brand\u2019s slogan, I usually find that it to be a weak effort at trying to create something memorable about the product or service.\u00a0 I suppose you could say that this implies better service in getting your lettuce fresh and on time, but it really needs more dressing (Ok, enough puns for now.) to make a differentiating statement.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The truck sign did, however, remind me of how many companies try to create a brand by simply coming up with a new slogan or jingle.\u00a0 Most of the ad agencies that I worked with over the years claimed to be branding experts, but so often as soon as they got the assignment, the work started on a new ad campaign, slogan, logo, spokesperson, or package\/store design.<\/p>\nYes, these are all important elements in communicating the brand strategy, but unless a marketer does all the important work first these tools can do nothing more than create awareness.\u00a0 It takes intense and comprehensive research to determine the market potential, the extent of the competition and their strengths and weaknesses, what differentiates your product from the others, and what motivations the customers have to even consider what you offer in the first place.<\/p>\n
A comprehensive marketing plan is absolutely critical in the development of a successful brand.\u00a0 Far too often, however, this plan is confused with the media or communications plan and the most of the time, effort, creativity and budget are dedicated to the execution.\u00a0 It\u2019s no surprise that many brands fail even though they were supported by outstanding creative executions in support of a flawed premise for why the customer should try the product in the first place.\u00a0 Burger King has consistently produced some of the best, most creative marketing efforts in the fast food business.\u00a0 Yet, they consistently fail to meet the standards set by their equally aggressive competitors when it comes to operations and service.\u00a0 Having it your way means more than having the right toppings on your burger, it means having an experience that is consistent, friendly and efficient.\u00a0 BK never seems to quite get there.\u00a0 The same can be said for brands like Infiniti, Sears, Discover and many others who fail to clearly define what makes their brand better and why the customer should have a positive preference for them over the competition.<\/p>\n
![\"capital-one-sjackson1\"](\"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Capital-One-SJackson1-300x188.jpg\")
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And another thing<\/strong>\u2026Capital One has certainly created a unique brand in the highly competitive credit card business.\u00a0 I sometimes wonder where all that budget comes from to be able to ask the question: \u201cWhat\u2019s in your wallet?\u201d in every imaginable way.\u00a0 I like Alec Baldwin, but I still am trying to figure out what the Vikings or Brave Heart look-alikes have to do with credit card points, but it certainly has worked. However, the new commercials with Samuel L. Jackson\u2019s hardball pitch for their new Quicksilver card hits me the wrong way.\u00a0 Not that I don\u2019t appreciate a straightforward approach, but does he really have to say \u201cevery damn day\u201d to make the point?\u00a0 Cursing and innuendo have long become commonplace in today network programming on television, but it seems a large financial institution like Capital One could use some restraint and make their point without resorting to cursing and spending millions to send a message to our youth that it\u2019s ok to be irreverent no matter who you are talking to.\u00a0 Moreover, what does this have to do with good branding?<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [et_pb_section admin_label=”section”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row”][et_pb_column type=”2_3″][et_pb_video admin_label=”Video” src=”https:\/\/youtu.be\/dis56-El_Rg” \/][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row admin_label=”Row”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”] PRESS PLAY>>TO VIEW KEN\u2019S WELCOME MESSAGE FOR THIS MONTH\u2019S BLOG I was driving back from the gym the other day when I pulled up behind a truck that was about to deliver fresh produce to a local convenience food […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=356"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":359,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356\/revisions\/359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}