You are viewing Aaker on Brands blog posts from May 23, 2012 through July 25, 2012. You can also view the most recent posts.

Learnings from A Human Library

The human library has its roots in the city library of Malmo, Sweden, which allows curious visitors to check out living people for a 45-minute conversation. The experience is designed to confront prejudices and promote understanding. The people available to be “checked out” included a gypsy, a transvestite, a blind man, a journalist and an animal rights activist, and the conversation allows people to learn about the life and beliefs of an individual that had been misunderstood, stereotyped and often avoided.

Prophet’s version of a human library is designed to provide inspiration to a team that wants to develop a big innovation, improve an offering or user experience, enhance a brand relationship, or improve a sales or marketing program. With context and objective in place, a wide array of human “books” that are relevant but tangential to the context are purposefully selected to create unexpected sources of insight.

An apparel manufacturer found that its multi-product…

July 25, 2012 • Permalink

Four Strategies for Staying Relevant

A serious threat facing most brands in dynamic markets is the loss of relevance because the category or subcategory they are serving is declining. Customers are no longer buying what the brand is perceived to make. New categories or subcategories emerge as competitors' innovations create "must haves." This dynamic can happen even if the brand is strong; customers are loyal; and the offering has never been better, thanks to incremental innovations.

Relevance dominates. If a group of customers wants a battery powered car it does not matter how much they love your hybrid brand. It will not be relevant. A newspaper can have the best new coverage and editorial staff, but if readers are diverted to cable news or blogs, relevance will decline. The ultimate tragedy is to achieve brilliant differentiation, winning the preference battle, only to have that effort wasted as its relevance declines.

How does a brand stay relevant? How can a brand avoid the disinvest or milking decision? There…

July 18, 2012 • Permalink

Marketing Advice that (Almost) Always Works — Solving The NFL Attendance Problem

When I am asked for guidance on a brand or marketing problem, I usually respond that I know a method that is “guaranteed” to work: Find an organization that has successfully addressed a similar problem, and adapt what they did. Don’t limit the search to those organizations that look like your own, but be willing to look more broadly.

The NFL has a serious attendance problem due to the incredible experience provided by home television coverage, the high cost of tickets, the hassle of going to the event and the event experience. There is not only a risk to an important income source, but also to the experience. Playing to half-empty stadiums with passive crowds would affect the on-site and the viewing experience.

My view is that the NFL needs to look to role models. Consider the NASCAR experience,…

July 11, 2012 • Permalink

Strategies from the New Emerging Market Competitors

When I was in China several years ago, I felt that the firms there would eventually become leading global players. And now it’s happening, and a new book, The New Emerging Marketing Multinationals by Amitava Chattopadhyay and Rajeev Batra (with Aysegul Ozsomer) explains how. The authors report a study of some 39 firms that have made a move toward global prominence.

There are four strategies that have been employed by EMNCs (emerging multinational corporations).

The first: Acting as a cost leader by leveraging local low-cost human resources to provide low-end products, often starting with private-label brands that gain volume sales in their home market and in other assessable markets as well.

The second: The knowledge leverage-er who draws upon specialized knowledge of customer needs when the conditions are privative and the income is low. The…

July 3, 2012 • Permalink

Qualitative Research Has Changed: How Web 2.0 Increases Opportunities

Based on widespread Internet adoption, software enabling social interaction, ubiquitous camera access and mobile connections, Web 2.0 has changed qualitative research. Research is no longer limited by time and location. It can now access experiences as they happen, where they happen. Respondents can be global and engaged with each other. Spontaneous interactions and moments of self-discovery can be stimulated. And it is more cost-effective and much faster than focus groups, ethnographies or in-depth interviews.

No, Dorothy, you’re not in Kansas anymore. Marketers need to understand the new world as occupied by firms like Revelation (Visit their website here, where most of this information originally came from).

Assume that you are interested in wine experiences. Respondents can keep a journal and show through video or image the context of their wine experience and their observations

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June 27, 2012 • Permalink

Purina on Creating and Leveraging the Power of Stories

A home run brand building program? Purina Cat Chow is inviting customers to recount a cat relationship story. Each of the top five out of 50 winners will receive $5,000, a year’s worth of pet food, and exposure of their story on Purina’s social media sites. The stories need to fit one of seven themes:

My first cat

Why I’m a cat person

Forever a cat family

How we found each other

Generations of care

Always there for me

Memories

I like the idea. In my view, this promotion has the potential to break out of the clutter, harness storytelling (the current hot brand-building vehicle), be the basis for intensifying a brand relationship, and create a viral video.

Cat owners, in general, have an emotional attachment to their pet, and pet food is far from a functional item. The relationship and what surrounds it can best be captured in a personal story that has…

June 20, 2012 • Permalink

Disney’s War on Childhood Obesity Trumps Profitability

For the last six years, Disney has engaged in a remarkable and gutsy program to improve the nutritional knowledge and choices for kids. Without question, Disney’s leadership and actions appealed to a growing segment, enhanced their brand and made a difference concerning an important social issue. Yet, the decisions behind the program could not have been easy, as there was significant cost and risk involved. How much weight should a firm place on addressing social issues? How much financial risk and sacrifice should be accepted in order to do the “right” thing?

In 2004, Disney made the dramatic decision to establish nutrition guidelines that they leveraged in a variety of ways. In 2007, they phased out all trans fats in their parks and continued a policy of upgrading the healthiness of their park menus. In 2010, they launched the Disney Magic of Healthy Living consumer campaign, complete with a website that encouraged kids to eat right and exercise. In 2011, we saw the TRYit…

June 13, 2012 • Permalink

The Power of the Shadow Endorser

There is often a business case to stretch a brand into an area that it just does not fit, even when shielded by a subbrand or as an endorser. The answer can be a shadow endorser.

BMW is a shadow endorser of the MINI Cooper. A shadow endorser brand is not connected visibly to the endorsed brand, but most consumers or potential customers know about the link or can be informed about it prior to purchase. It's in the shadows. The fact that the brands are not visibly linked makes a statement about each brand. It communicates that the organization realizes that the shadow-endorsed brand represents a totally different product and market segment than other offerings connected to the endorser.

A shadow endorser can protect the endorser brand while still providing the reassurance that an endorsement provides. Every buyer of a MINI Cooper knows that it is made by BMW and will have the same quality and innovation

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June 6, 2012 • Permalink

Ries & Trout Were Wrong: Brand Extensions Work

I am deeply indebted to Al Ries and Jack Trout for advancing branding with their classic book, Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind, in which they introduce the concept of positioning, defined as the brand perception residing in a person's mind. It is an excellent book in many ways and still relevant. However, their judgment that practically all extensions are strategic mistakes is just wrong. In a subsequent 1993 book, The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing, they doubled down on their anti-extension advice saying "a line extension ultimate leads to oblivion" and warning that to be successful you have to narrow a brand's focus.

Their argument is that brand positioning strength is context sensitive, and if the brand is exported to another product area, its image — particularly…

May 30, 2012 • Permalink

Coca-Cola Struck CEO Gold

Muhtar Kent, CEO of Coca-Cola, is a reminder of how much a talented CEO can do for a firm in just a short amount of time. Since he took over in July of 2008, the stock has increased 50% over 5 times that of the S&P and 10 times that of Pepsi. Even more impressive is how he has transformed Coke and set the stage for its future growth and relevance. Let me provide a few reasons for this judgment.

He has a strategic vision for the company that has a visible social component. There is the audacious goal of doubling the sales by 2020 that has energized the organization. It is coupled with a headline goal of becoming water neutral by that date. For every gallon used, a gallon is replaced in part by innovation in factory processes, packaging and recycling. And there is much more. For example, the firm invests…

May 23, 2012 • Permalink

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