Why don't I buy store brands

We were discussing branding the other day and one of the things that hit me is the fact that I never buy store brands. The natural question I get to is "why?". The answer, I have absolutely no idea. On Sunday, while in Safeway I see two cans of corn, a store brand and a national brand. I immediately grabbed the national brand, but having thought about this some this week I bought the store brand which was cheaper. Turns out the store brand tastes exactly the same. Problem is, even with this knowledge I really don't intend to buy it again.

I stumbled across an article I thought I'd share on why store brands don't do quite so well. It seems I suffer from Issue #1 in the article. As it turns out I'm not the only one who discriminates against store brands. With my new found awareness I suppose I should work on overcoming that prejudice and seek out the objective truth. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0YQW/is_2000_Sept/ai_65227364/pg_1

Subliminal marketing

I was talking to my co-worker who happened to notice a subliminal message in a recent KFC ad. A $1 bill was nicely camouflaged in the KFC snacker. Sure enough I checked on Youtube and I found this : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MunPARnI0dE

It makes me wonder whether such subliminal ads are really effective?

I looked up for some more information on companies who do such subliminal ads and KFC seems to be the one who had consistently done that.

"KFC is stepping it up a notch and actually providing an incentive for people to seek out the ad, offering a free sandwich to those who can regurgitate the hidden phrase. Imagine that: there may soon be a day when we record shows not because we enjoy them, but because advertisers have told us that they'll give us free swag if we comply." source :
http://www.engadget.com/2006/02/23/kfc-leverages-dvr-time-shifting-to-its-advantage/

Many marketers explicitly deny placing subliminal ads and television networks reject such ads when they promptly notice them. For example, ABC network had stopped airing ads that they considered had subliminal messaging.

These ads create enough stir ( especially when mixed with sex ingredient ) that its been followed by avid readers and may be the marketers have succeeded getting attention. But on the other hand, why would you want to bury a hidden message and have the networks ban your ads?

I'm curious to know what your thoughts are on this type of marketing practice.

How effective is branding in Auto Insurance industry?

Consumers want better paid claim processes, good rates, easy to understand policies and company's financial comfort to get attracted in the Insurance Industry. According to the brand equity study on Insurance Industry "Less than five people indicated that their insurance industry has never disappointed them". Geico, a well known auto insurance company has a message which claims that consumers can save 15% or more on their car insurance. I recently switched my auto insurance to All-State because of better rates. Car Rental companies take insurance from the cheapest carrier. It seems that auto insurance industries are more driven by price and rates and branding has lesser impact.

What do you think?

SNL takeoff on NBA playoff ad.

Powerpoint Presentations vs. Hand On Demo

Earlier today John posted on entry entitled "Presentations". Reading reminded of the marketing activities of Caterpillar. Several years ago, okay many, I was one of several people to represent my company on a 1 week tour of the Caterpillar facilities in Illinois. I was one of about 300 people in attendance, visiting their various factories, listening to presentations, round table discussions, etc. Caterpillar hosted this event twice a year and between them and the franchisees paid the full expense of all attendees. We were catered to very well. The mix if people were existing Cat owners and potential owners. All of these years later, I still remember the trip and access that we had to engineers and designers.
From the marketing perspective, that is exactly the impact that I would want to make to customers – long lasting first class impressions. When, I think of construction equipment CAT is at the top of the list (TOMA exercise). Did the trip (marketing tool) bias me? No. I already like many of their products from firsthand experience. Did it reinforce my belief in the product quality or loyalty? Yes. For the largest construction equipment the market is limited and one needs to retain the customers. I also see similarities in the aircraft industry.
A Hands On viewing or demo of a product versus a PowerPoint only presentation is priceless or at least worth it’s weight in gold.

How Entertaining/Annoying!

My son asked me about that "great" commercial they showed during the superbowl. He said that he didn't know who the advertiser was, but described the commercial and said, "oh, come on, Mom, you have to know it - everyone knows it. I think its about money. Like a bank or something." He wanted to find it on YouTube.

So I proceeded with a highly unscientific research project. I asked 16 people (co-workers, barista, parking lot garage gate keeper, friends, and stranger in elevator) all could tell me about the commercial but only one could tell me it was an e*trade commercial.

So were is the line between being entertaining and really getting your name out there?

How about the AFLAC duck commercials? I don't really know how that bird helped the profits of AFLAC, but I know I am not the only one who found them entirely annoying. But I bet you'd have a hard time finding someone who didn't know what company was being represented in those ads.

Entertaining or Annoying...hmmm. Which works best?

Quiet Promotion

One Emory University English Professor believes the sales total that Grand Theft Auto IV has achieved is one of the top eight indicators that the younger generation is in peril. Regardless if you believe this assertion or not, the sales that Take-Two Interactive Software and Rockstar Games were able to achieve should cause everyone to take notice of the marking techniques they put into action.

By forgoing the typical marking blitz and keeping tightlipped about the gameplay details, the publishers were able to build a tremendous amount of hype amongst gamers without raising too much attention from the non-gaming community. It also allowed the publisher to maintain a tight level of control of the message that they wanted to convey. Some of the advertising techniques used by the game’s publisher mentioned in this article were:

• Building Murals
• Wanted Posters
• Viral Videos
• Bus Wraps

Are there any other products that come to mind that have used subtle or quiet promotion to build hype?

The one that jumped into my head was for the Aqua Teen Hunger Force movie, and that campaign did not work out nearly as well as GTA IV’s promotion…

coproate v/s individual branding

Yum Brands own KFC, Taco Bells, Long John Silver's and Pizza Hut (http://www.yum.com/about/brands.asp). But common people do not know Yum Brands as a company. Whereas they use this individual branding strategy, firms such as Apple and Kellogg use corporate branding where every product is sold with the corporate brand tag (corporate branding). Which of these branding strategies is better? Corporate branding has advantages that it enables more efficient communication to consumers, employees, investors and channel partners. But it is also risky. If one product fails, it carries its effect on all the other products. For e.g. if next Apple iPhone version is a technological failure then people will shun all the Apple products. But when rats were spotted in Taco Bells kitchen in NYC, people did not think twice while going to Pizza Hut. So, which strategy rules?

Kobe Bryant + Aston Martin = Marketing, Hollywood Style

In Hollywood, anything is possible; expect the unexpected as some might say.

Riding on Kobe’s ascension to the top, Nike has unveiled its new Hyperdunk basketball shoe endorsed by Kobe which will be launched in July. To generate buzz surrounding the new product, Nike enlisted help from Aston Martin to create a tag team that we haven’t seen since the last James Bond movie.



This video has Kobe sporting his latest gear and attempting to jump over a Aston Martin that is directly driving towards him. In real life, this is not only very risky but almost humanly impossible. In true Hollywood fashion, this is made possible by using special effects and camera techniques.

The commercial was released in April (online only) and since then became THE topic among basketball fans around the world. This brings us to the subject – What does this have to do with marketing.

Viral marketing is a term coined by a Harvard professor in 1996 to define marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks to produce increases in brand awareness or to achieve other marketing objectives (such as product sales) through self-replicating viral processes, analogous to the spread of pathological and computer viruses. It can be word-of-mouth delivered or enhanced by the network effects of the Internet.

This ad was one of the most watched videos on the internet during the initial release. Hoops forum/websites, ESPN, sports radios were flooded with thousands of threads and responses.

Kudos to Nike: this is a winner.

P.S. – YouTube is now part of Google, can you imagine all the possibilities and potentials? If you find another company that is more destined to become the world’s first $1 trillion company, let me know.

Presentations

Preparing for an article presentation in class I was trying to think of ways to be a cut above the crowd and keep the audience engaged. I found this article about presentations and thought what a great topic for the marketing blog. I also thought how all of us including professors always commit at least one of these deadly sins! Of course that's my opinion, sorry if you disagree.

One of the more recent complaints from sales people I have witnessed is the customer reluctance to sit through a presentation about a product or service. I quote from a engineer' "Don't come with a power point presentation" in a recent appointment setting scenario in an attempt to demonstrate the features and benefits of a product.

Most power point presentations are owner/presenter developed (no fact in statement just a guess) and authored except for corporate logo and or image requirements. Should the marketing group or person with ownership of a product or service be strictly responsible for the presentation content and appearance beginning to end?

Do You Know the Brawny Man?

For years the brawny man has had blonde hair, a blue plaid shirt and a mustache. But not anymore... the new improved brawny man was released last October. The new brawny man is clean shaven, dimpled and has dark hair. Do you think the new brawny man will affect the selling of the paper towels? Some articles have speculated that the new image will lead people to believe that the paper towel itself has also been improved...What do you think?

Can a Dead Brand Live Again?

I thought this article in the NY Times was a pretty interesting (if long) look at branding.

They look at the idea that defunct brands can still hold a lot of customer mindshare and, therefore, can be valuable to start re-using. The use the example of Brim coffee.

Branding Changes

An example of how is it done?
In the late seventies and early eighties Black and Decker to compete against Craftsman aligned itself with the discount department stores for hand tools of the electric variety. By the nineties these hand tools suffered from a poor quality image. While sales were still handsome because of the distribution network, image deterioration was allowing Craftsman and others to erode B&D's market share.
B&D in an excellent example of re-branding built a new brand/image for this product line. That product line and it's managers disassociated anything B&D. Can anyone name the new brand that typically is carries the highest price tag?

More on Starbucks

So, if you're branded as 'the latest' or the newest trend or whatever, isn't that a self-limiting strategy? At some point, doesn't the latest thing eventually become yesterday's news, as it were? And if Starbucks has indeed no longer hip&fashionable, does that indicate they are on a 15 to 20 year slide before they are cool again? Are shareholders willing to hold their stock that long, in the hopes that they see themselves once again cool? Like the 80s are to the kids these days?

Impact of generic Branding

The late 1990s and 2000s saw the emergence of the generic branding where retailers started selling generic goods under a store created brand. Some examples include the generics in grocery stores like Kroger brand, or the clothing lines by JC Penny called “Arizona” and “St. John’s Bay”. These brands are given better shelf place and more advertisement since they potentially generate higher margins for the retailers. In recent years, the quality of such generics has also improved, especially in clothing, to match designer brands.

This potentially drives the price down for the designers since they have to negotiate harder with the retailers for shelf space, and do more promotions. Ultimately, economics dictates that the pricing between branded goods and generics will get close enough to not be significant. Therefore, people can then choose to purchase designer brand goods again since they are cheaper. This will end up eventually hurting the retailer since sales of generic brands could decrease. So, is this strategy of generic branding good and viable?

The Cadillac rebranding

Who remembers when Cadillac’s demographic market was to your grandfather? For most of Cadillac’s history, their brand sold to the older more affluent age group. Apparently, that market has died off and Cadillac is in search of greener pastures.

I think one of the best tag lines I have ever heard is the new Cadillac motto, “when you turn your car on, does it return the favor”. That sends a clear message that the Cadillac brand is no longer for your grandfather. The transformation of the Cadillac brand into a younger, sleeker, sexier model is an example of a bold rebranding. It must have been quite a shock to Cadillac’s original demographics to wonder into a dealership and find the DTS or the CTS. Certainly not the type of models you would want your grandmothers driving or were they accustomed to driving.

However, all this rebranding has paid off for Cadillac because the CTS won the 2008 Motor Trend Car of the year, something a car out of Detroit hasn’t done in a while. Cadillac is quoted as saying, “The CTS obliterates the ‘old man' image of Cadillac”, and it appears it has. Now the only question I have is, what is my grandmother suppose to drive?

Alka Seltzer advertisements seemed to peter out

At one point Alka Seltzer advertised creatively and heavily..they drove the "that's a spicy meatbal" phrase into the lexicon, but the art within their marketing was quite amazing. Today, I don't see any ads. That's interesting, once you advertise, you can back off?

My favorite ad:

Re-Branding: true value or "pulling a fast one"?

I want to pose a question that was haunting me through the entire class on re-branding. We’ve covered re-branding in relation to mergers, acquisitions, etc., but no one spoke about re-branding in order to change a negative customer perception while changing nothing in the way the company does business. In my experience, about 80% of re-branding happens simply because the company wants to be called something else, to have a new logo, and hopefully, granted temporarily, convince its customer that they are better. Unfortunately, what I don’t see is the change in the actual quality of the product or service; at least to the average consumer (there are always exceptions for the large accounts and squeaky wheels). This, in my mind, makes re-branding “an empty gesture”, an attempt to create perceived value without any sustainable way of maintaining it. So are the majority of re-branding efforts really are “pulling a fast one over your customer” [I want an opinion from your experience] or am I missing something?

Alex

Is a brand worth thinking about if nobody sees it?

My Ladyfriend/partner/mate has her own business, see http://www.vickiscuri-siteworks.com/. This is a sole-proprietership, one person business she's run out of our home for 10 years. Its a fine business with capacity limited to her own capacity, and she's worked at her limit for many years. She has business through word of mouth, and has never advertised. We have no idea if her website has ever made a difference, we've only seen a rare interest from the web, and none of these queries have ever resulted in a contract. Does anyone think branding makes a difference in this case?

I am still seeing "brand strength" as a different way to discuss how the marketplace views your offering, and its usefullness as a concept is rendered quite unimportant in a scaled down situation in which connections are personal.

Bob Bernstein

More brand discussion

I came across an interesting article, "Why Weird Words Make Great Brand Names," on ezinearticles.com. Not only did this article have interesting commentary on branding like the following excerpt...

Most of the feedback takes the form of free associations, all in an effort to determine if a name is “good” or “bad.” It goes something like this…

Interviewer: “What do you think of the name Monster?”Respondent: “Ew! They’re scary and dangerous!”

Interviewer: “What about Amazon?” Respondent: “Jungle… drowning… snakes… piranhas…”

Interviewer: “Apple?”Respondent: “A bad apple spoils the whole bunch.”

Interviewer: “Caterpillar?”Respondent: “Squishy, soft, and squirmy.”

Interviewer to new business owner: “I think we can safely assume these would be bad brand names…”

...the site also has lots of additional articles on branding. How to approach it. What not to do. The politics of branding, etc. If this topic interests you, check out this article and more.

http://ezinearticles.com/?Why-Weird-Words-Make-Great-Brand-Names&id=177974

The Dumbest Generation.

An Emory University English professor has written a provocative book titled "The Dumbest Generation." The Boston Globe has a great summary of his eight chief arguments-

1. They make excellent "Jaywalking'' targets.
2. They don't read books -- and don't want to, either.
3. They can't spell.
4. They get ridiculed for original thought, good writing.
5. Grand Theft Auto IV, etc.
6. They don't store the information.
7. Because their teachers don't tell them so.
8. Because they're young.

Marketing, Advertising, PR, and Branding

I thought this was pretty amusing (and timely, given our recent branding discussion).

Though it's obviously not meant to be a profound statement on branding, one can certainly make certain observations based on it.

Perhaps advertising is the delivery of a marketing message, whereas branding is customers' perceptions of your product/company? In that model, a strong brand is clearly desirable (people may resist advertising, but branding is internalized). Good advertising/PR is important because it can influence brand quality/image.

Anyhow, I chuckle at the image; figured I'd share it. :)

What the Pho and Pho Shizzle? Pun Branding Sells

I can’t stop laughing when I first saw the name of these two restaurants. Pho is a Vietnamese soup noodle dish served with thin cuts of beef, meat balls and other ingredients.

Needless to say What the Pho has a comic effect. The word Shizzle is a hip hop slang that is known as the "Snoop speak" because it was popularized by rapper Snoop Dogg.

What the Pho is actually a local restaurant in Bellevue. It’s been around for a while and due to its popularity, a 2nd restaurant opened in the Bothell area in 2007.

The owners are using malapropism and bilingual pun to take full advantage of the word “pho”. This is a cleaver tactic to brand a product based on a concept called sly or pun marketing. A good example of a bilingual pun comes from names, for instance, Sum Ting Wong – a name in Chinese that is not unusual.

According to Wikipedia:

A bilingual pun is a pun in which a word in one language is similar to a word in another language. Typically, use of bilingual puns results in in-jokes, since there is often a very small overlap between speakers of the two languages. Occasionally, some puns are more actually malapropisms - a malapropism is the incorrect use of a word by substituting a similar-sounding word with different meaning, usually with comic effect.

The use of the pun/malapropism is a pretty cleaver marketing technique to exploit cultural differences. This is s very un-traditional way to market a brand or product (thinking outside the box) and I am seeing more and more usage of this technique in marketing. There’s no formal definition for it at the moment (I can see why) . But as we know it, the world is becoming more and more flat, we are all very well versed in our cultural/ethnic differences – the potential to use this technique effectively has huge potentials.

Got a similar brand or marketing experience from your culture or in general? Please share them.

Microsoft and Branding

This spoof video makes a good point relative to our discussion this evening, even though it focuses on packaging:

Starbucks = 'Slutbucks'?

On the evening news today, there was a story about a Christian group boycotting Starbucks based on coffee shop's new logo. The new image (below) is very similiar to its original mermaid logo when the first store opened in Pike Place Market.

The group says:

"The Starbucks logo has a naked woman on it with her legs spread like a prostitute," explains Mark Dice, founder of the group. "Need I say more? It's extremely poor taste, and the company might as well call themselves, Slutbucks."

I personally didn't find the ad all that offensive, but maybe other's do?

Is anyone highly offended by this ad?