It’s time to take your time

Posted on | July 26, 2010

A recent article by Brent Bouchez found on Media Post inspired me. Bouchez identifies a misconception held among many marketers about baby boomers: that they want to be 30 again. Interestingly, while the 50+ year old may feel 30, they aren’t interested in acting 30.

Nielsen’s SVP of research and development, Doug Anderson, touts: “There is practically no segment or category out there where Boomers aren’t a significant audience.” They represent nearly 39% of all consumer-packaged goods spending, yet equate for only 5% of current ad spending.

That boomers are an ideal target, and an underserved one, is hardly news. Bouchez’s insight is that marketers too often miss the mark when it comes to resonate messaging to boomers. Specifically, he points out that while people in their 20’s, 30’s and 40’s equate happiness with excitement, their 50+ peers find happiness synonymous with peacefulness — practically polar opposite emotions.

Meanwhile, boomer-intensive marketers like hospitals continue to position themselves as large, hi-tech, even fast-paced. Likewise, many destination marketing organizations catering to the 50+ crowd offer something for everyone, action packed getaways. There’s an astonishing lack of peaceful positioning and calm messaging.

The economy has made the message architects speed up. Volume is king. The core positioning strategy in 2010 seems to be, be everything to everyone all the time. This is merely a flight to safety that guarantees poor performance. We’re rushing past relevant communications that showcase what people want.

Working with clients on Hilton Head Island, I’m struck by how the pace slows when I arrive on Island. The hotel staff does something remarkable. They slow down. They take their time. It’s not slow, it’s attentive.

In an economy that has everything in fast forward mode, there’s nothing more meaningful than demonstrating that your consumer is worth your time. It’s time to take your time, and find some peace of marketing.

- Kevin Smith, Riggs Partners

Category: Considerism, Financial, New Economy Consumer

Three Lessons to Learn from GM

Posted on | June 14, 2010

The fact that we might be able to learn a thing or two from GM is proof that even dreadfully dire situations can be salvaged. Sure, $50 billion in government loans helped a little, but a retooled marketing strategy has hastily pulled the company out of the ditch during this not-so-sound phase of modest economic recovery. Here’s what I’ve learned:

1.     Step back, assess and edit.

Or in GM’s case, truncate. Through its family of brands, GM had something to offer everyone. The problem was, cars like Saturn and Pontiac found themselves in a very crowded middle market. GM cut back to the core, pruning underperforming products and refocusing where they knew they could succeed.

2.     Focus on your product.

GM had a stable of products that had not been updated in more than a half dozen years. Yes, they’re still making the Impala. New design sells. It was time to reinvent and revive the old as well as introduce some new.

3.     Speak plainly.

Break Through. Life, Liberty and the Pursuit. Art and Science. Mark of Leadership.

Cadillac alone has had all four of these taglines, and all in about as many years. The above lines were developed when the Cadillac line didn’t leave marketers anything tangible to promote. In the absence of performance, awards or technical innovations, GM’s agencies gravitated to emotional fluff the cars themselves could support. New leadership favors a more direct, rational approach. GM is in the process of shifting the discussion to one about, well, cars.

The new economy consumer is a mix of cautious, rational and skeptical. He demands proof of product excellence and the justification needed to part with his dollar. It’s nice to see GM begin to meet his standard.

- Kevin Smith, Riggs Partners

Category: Considerism, Financial, New Economy Consumer, Reducism, Uncategorized

Work Hard. Fly Right. Speak the Truth.

Posted on | May 10, 2010

I’ve spoken before about the need for products to align with a real human need. The beleaguered airline industry has, in response to a volatile and highly competitive business climate, grown further and further away from the business of human needs. The needs for legroom, beverages, carry-on baggage, even bathroom privileges during long waits on the tarmac, have all been eroded.

In terms of a broken system, the airline industry’s only rival is healthcare. In both cases, screw-ups can be deadly. Further, both currently suffer from a near complete lack of message credibility.

Last week’s announcement of the proposed merger of United and Continental got me thinking. Would two of the biggest make one of the best? Doubtful. Historically, mergers are the highways to commoditized products and poorly differentiated brands.

It hasn’t always been this way. Fallon’s “Gershwin” campaign for United is one of my favorite examples of brand strategy. United didn’t just get you there, they served up life-defining moments.

Meanwhile, Continental’s “Work Hard. Fly Right.” Campaign, a more no-nonsense approach that even eschewed photography, has helped it gain and maintain marketshare among business travelers since 1998.

For marketing street smarts, it’s always inspiring to look at the up and comers. Today’s New York Times contains an article (link) about Jet Blue’s new digital experience campaign (link).

Human need + demonstrated experience + customer (not company) endorsement.

Clearly a winning formula making good use of the type of brand discussion that only digital can generate. It’s the traditional testimonial all grown up and made relevant for today’s consumer. Healthcare organizations take note.

- Kevin Smith, Riggs Partners

Category: New Economy Consumer, Uncategorized

Facebook – a 1970’s phenomenon

Posted on | March 29, 2010

McDonald’s “You deserve a break today” campaign is a mainstay of 1970’s pop culture. It ranks number five in AdAge’s top 100 advertising campaigns of all time. “You deserve a break today’s” extraordinarily success lies in a perfectly timed strategy. Economic decline during the 1970’s introduced the dual family income household, starring a time-starved mom. Middle income Americans faced unprecedented economic hardship. McDonald’s was there, offering a highly accessible much needed getaway.

Rising oil prices, declining household incomes, long hair, patchwork leather pocket books and a serious love for the color brown are back. It’s the 70’s all over again. Today’s consumer is yet again time-starved, budget-crunched and facing large cultural shifts. It’s time for a 70’s approach to marketing.

Facebook is a perfect example of 70’s behavior. Some of the busiest people I know, Moms with full-time jobs and multiple kids, make time for Facebook. They take quizzes, post high school prom photos and fan their favorite stores and restaurants. Why are the busiest people among us making time for such frivolity?

Just like McDonald’s in the 70’s, Facebook is a getaway. It’s a getaway that satisfies a need born from economic stress. It’s better than MacDonald’s. McDonalds’s is fast, cheap and tasty. Facebook, is fast, free and non-fattening.

The era of superlatives and bragging rights is over. We must get back to the basics of satisfying what our customers need. And we must relearn how to keep the message simple.

HCA hospital system in South Florida recognizes that people need to know how long they will have to wait in the emergency room. So HCA hospitals post current wait times on outdoor boards and online. Instead of bragging about doing more surgeries than their competition, HCA is satisfying a need, and admissions are up.

We manage social media for client Moe’s Southwest Grill. Contests, offers and give-aways entertain, and hopefully endear, Moe’s to their customers. But they only work when they are simple. It can’t take more than a minute to process or respond. Moe’s is enjoying success in this sluggish recovery because they know how to keep it simple. Mom may not be sporting a polyester pantsuit just yet, but she still doesn’t have time to cook dinner. Kids Eat Free Tuesdays at Moe’s satisfies a need with no need for explanation.

- Kevin Smith, Riggs Partners

Category: Uncategorized

Still the same. The power of a consistent brand positioning strategy.

Posted on | March 10, 2010

Sometimes we have the luxury of starting from scratch. We’re in the process of working with a new client on a new product launch, and I was recently speaking with them about their positioning strategy. “This should be your elevator pitch in one sentence,” I advised. “Every piece of communications we develop, and every aspect of your product should evoke this. It should never change.”

Great brands never change their positioning. Basic advice, yet a premise far too often ignored, particularly in the volatility that comes with economic stress. Jack Pitney, VP of Marketing for BMW, spoke with Marketing Daily about BMW’s new “Joy” strategy. He commented while the work was about the end-user’s emotional benefit, joy, BMW’s positioning would remain exactly the same, superior engineering. He added that, while the brand was in need of new recession-appropriate messaging, they were not in any way abandoning “The Ultimate Driving Machine.” Read the full article here.

BMW’s strategy is so logical it seems obvious; however, the past year is littered with examples of brands that veered and failed. Take Saturn, a company born from the concept of rethinking people’s relationship with their car. The people who brought you “A different kind of car company,” altered course in an effort to grow. Their product moved from niche to mainstream with mid-sized sedans and SUV’s, and their core message meandered. In an economy that demands absolute clarity and message precision, the move proved fatal.

Another example is Saab. For forty years, Saab was about a unique body style that, well, wasn’t for everyone. This brand of individuality was summed up in their tag line: “Find your own road.” Acquired by GM, the product, like Saturn’s, lost its focus, and its cult following along with it. “Born from jets,” a heritage/performance positioning led to disaster. Let’s hope Saab’s new owners resurrect something from the crash.

Saab brand loyalists persist

Saab brand loyalists persist

Of course, the car companies merely provide a large scale, somewhat frightening example for us all. For a destination or restaurant, the recession may mandate discounting. That doesn’t mean a brand built on luxury, such as Hilton Head Island, needs to become the best beach value in South Carolina.

Examining your brand’s message is key, especially in the face of continued economic pressures and a slow recovery. Just don’t forget the basics, and keep what made you stand apart at the core of every message.

- Kevin Smith, Riggs Partners

Category: Uncategorized

You’re too busy.

Posted on | February 22, 2010

In 2000, Wallpaper announced that the corporate status symbol for the new millennium wouldn’t be the latest pricey watch or wildly expensive brief case, but time.

The theory was that if you can’t take a vacation (much less lunch), you hadn’t climbed very high on the corporate ladder. Busy was going to move from being a badge of honor, a sign of being indispensible, to a sign that one couldn’t effectively delegate or manage one’s time well.

It seems as if this is just one more way the first decade of the millennium was a failure. As the Great Recession bore down on business, busy moved from pervasive to pandemic, leaving marketing and communications especially ravaged. Digital and mobile messaging are of course the lead catalysts, and the result can be catastrophic for brands. If you don’t recall KFC’s coupon debacle this article recounts the disaster.

Howard Mann, the author of Your Business Brickyard, says it best: “More megaphones don’t equal a better dialogue.”

I see a rush to digital communications, and it is justifiable. Meanwhile, in addition to the virtual land grab, c-level executives seem to be holding fast to traditional tactics as much as budgets will permit. Yet on both digital and mass media fronts, inferior customer service or parody product lines stymie marketing efforts.

There are three factors that impact your brand:

In this hostile economic environment, a brand has to deliver all three sides of the brand triangle to succeed. Preference for a hospital with outstanding clinical care and the soundest of marketing plans erodes completely when a nurse having a bad day delivers a perfunctory comment to a patient’s family member.

Delivering all three aspects of the brand triangle is extraordinarily difficult. It demands attention to detail, and places as much importance on internal branding as mass marketing. In short it, takes time.

Let’s give up busy for Lent. Let’s slow down and consider the changes we need to make organizationally or operationally to support our brand promise before we get back to the business of marketing it. Otherwise, our next failure to live up to our marketing promises will find its way to Facebook.

- Kevin Smith, Riggs Partners

Category: Uncategorized

2010 - What’s In Fashion

Posted on | January 20, 2010

So here we are into the first few weeks of 2010. It’s no 1980’s conspicuous consumption flashback, but it sure feels a bit better. I honestly don’t know anyone who was sorry to see 2009 go. As we march into the third year of the new economy, it’s an ideal time to pause and reassess our approach to marketing planning. In doing so, I can’t think of a better illustration than social media.

MarketingForecast.com issued the following article: “2010 - The Year Social Media Matures.”

http://www.marketingforecast.com/archives/4066

The premise is that in a state of near permanent beta, marketers rushed to establish social media platforms in 2009. Beta can be good, and there’s plenty to be said for getting things done, but author Kathy Crossett’s point is that we need to think strategically about social media and integrate these efforts into objective-driven marketing strategy and planning.

I couldn’t agree more, with respect to social media, and with regard to every other marketing communications tool in the toolbox. The panic that continued throughout 2009 spurned our collective attention deficit disorder exponentially. Just get it done, fast, and move on. The fear-based mentality of: “If can say I’ve done something, I’ve proven that I am effective,” seemed to float into permanent overdrive. The result can be deadly - brand denigrating slips in design standards, poor website navigation or a “discount” brand essence.

As we examine the new reality of a long, slow recovery and consumers’ now permanent love affair with value, it’s well past time to think before we communicate. It’s time to bring thoughtful, well planned, and above all strategic, communications back into fashion.

- Kevin Smith, Riggs Partners

Category: Uncategorized

The New Normal

Posted on | December 8, 2009

My colleague, Katy Miller, and I attended the 29th Annual Economic Outlook Conference last week at the University of South Carolina’s Darla Moore School of Business. We attended last year as well, just as the economy began to diabolically unravel, and as Riggs Partners began to offer commentary through this New Economy Consumer blog.

Last year’s predictions at the conference were dire, and they all came true. As a result, we were more than eager to hear discussion on 2009 and all prognostications concerning 2010.

Sure, most economists agree a modest recovery has begun. While many indicators remain negative, they are at least relenting a bit. Last Friday’s unemployment figure of only 11,000 jobs lost was a welcomed surprise.

Still, worries remain. Much of our financial system remains unsteady. The U.S. cannot afford another stimulus package. Dubai, UAE offered another ripple in the fallout that persisted throughout this year. Fears remain about the solvency of much of the commercial real estate market, and of a possible bubble fueled by the Chinese economic stimulus efforts. The consensus is that the recovery will be long and hard-fought.

Simply put, most of us remain worried, intent on retiring outstanding debt and increasing our savings. Historically, Americans have had short memories, and old spending, or overspending, habits seem almost genetic. Yet from the onset of this crisis, we at Riggs Partners have hypothesized that this time was different, more acute, and most likely to result in fundamental attitudinal and behavioral shifts.

Now brings us to understanding a new normal.

To summarize comments from Coastal Carolina research economist Donald Schunk, the new normal means individuals spending money they actually have, banks making loans to those who have sound credit and companies investing in endeavors based on the likelihood of a favorable return on investment rather than the inexpensiveness of leverage.

Enter the era of common sense.

Common sense tells us we can’t avoid overspending forever. It dictates that our choices be prudent. And it tells us that the companies with whom we do business demonstrate relevance and value.

The new normal is basic - stripped-down, and devoid of nuance, subtlety or gimmick.

The resulting ramifications for marketers are huge. If your product is a commodity, evolve or perish. Our current business environment is over-populated with parody products and services. It’s time to be aggressive and rethink what you are selling, and retool your organization and marketing communications efforts accordingly.

The new normal is full of opportunity for businesses and individuals. Don’t let it pass you by.

- Kevin Smith, Riggs Partners

Category: Considerism, Financial, New Economy Consumer, Reducism, Uncategorized

Give thanks for shopaholics

Posted on | November 10, 2009

Black Friday. It’s funny that such a dismal name has always been used to identify the action-packed kick-start to the holiday shopping season.

These days the name is more fitting. In 2008, after-Thanksgiving shopping was at its lowest in forty years. And it’s not looking up. But luckily for retailers, there are plenty of crazy people (myself included) who will not let some lousy economy ruin all the fun. We will get up at 4 a.m., we will whip up our fancy instant Starbucks, and we will stand in wraparound lines outside Best Buy. Because for us, it’s not really about the sales; it’s about the shared experience.

Shoppers can always count on 40 percent off coupons and doorbuster gifts, but honestly, who wants a free snow globe? The thing is, most people are shopping for their family and friends rather than themselves. Everyone is still in that I’m-thankful-for-my-family, home-for-the-holidays mood. There is sincere joy in the air.

Looking at this from a marketing standpoint, the obvious thing to do is keep these people in a good mood, because happy, giving people are going to buy more. The strategy? Create a feeling of togetherness.

Take Target, for example. The retail giant offered free wake-up calls, and added a clever twist - the calls were from celebrities. Darth Vader and Heidi Klum had shoppers up at 4 a.m. and heading to Target. And when you got that early morning ring, you knew thousands of other people were hearing the same call. Hence, a shared experience.

Once you get them to your store, keep shoppers interacting with each other.

Entertain the mobs of people standing in your long checkout lines. Hand the first person in line a basket of mini muffins to start passing back. Give out “I’ve been shopping since 5 a.m.” stickers. Make live (not recorded) announcements wishing happy shopping. Depending on the venue, start a medley of carols in the checkout line. Don’t go too far, but make it a memorable experience.

So, as we plunge into another recession-scarred holiday season, make the best of it. Form a relationship with your customers now, while they’re counting on you most. What you don’t make in profits, you’ll make up for in brand equity.

- Sammy Rutkowski, Riggs Partners

Category: Localism
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The Power of Authenticity

Posted on | October 14, 2009

Seventh in a series analyzing seven new economy trends

There is an episode of Sex and the City in which Carrie and the girls attend a baseball game at Yankee Stadium. This scene lives in my memory because Carrie sits there in a rather empty upper deck, rather decked out—in fur.

For you male NEC followers, this is noteworthy because 99.9 percent of women would have pulled a “sporty” outfit from the “this is what one wears to a baseball game” section of their closet. Cute jacket, sure. Hooded sweatshirt, yes, particularly if you are a serious baseball fan.

But fur? Outrageous. And absolutely, completely, unabashedly Carrie Bradshaw.

This scene inspires me because I believe it was not Carrie’s intent to be outrageous. She was simply being exactly who she is, unchanged by circumstance or surroundings. Strong and distinctive, true to her most authentic self.

There is a lesson here for all of us influenced by environmental dynamics. Last fall we awoke to a radically changed marketplace, with an economy in freefall, and we looked for ways to survive. We cut overhead and restructured; we reconsidered and repackaged. We diversified and discounted and promoted like never before, using every trick in the book (with good reason) to make a sale and stay afloat.

I suggest to you that this is a good time to take stock. For a moment, acknowledge what an accomplishment it is to simply be still standing. And then assess any damage caused by the compromises you had to make. Risks include:

1) Losing focus on your core business.

2) Confusing your customers and potential customers with inconsistent messaging.

3) Performing poorly in an arena that may not be your specialty.

4) Diluting the power of your greatest asset, your brand.

Deliberate experimentation is a vital component of any healthy business plan, particularly when environmental circumstances change. But the most authentic brands align those initiatives with an unwavering core truth their customers recognize and trust.

Is there anything more powerful than that?

- Cathy Monetti, Riggs Partners
cathy@riggspartners.com

Category: Uncategorized
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New Economy Consumer Trends Localism

A rediscovery of, and intentional support of, all that is available where we live, work and play; an embracing of the diversity and options we hadn't noticed; a return to family (redefined); a focus on "home"

reducism

A distinct and intentional move away from excess, although not counter-cultural; the casting off of that which is superfluous; a focus on purity, essence; making-do, but with high standards for aesthetic design and functionality

Considerism

Supreme homage to value, redefined; every action an investment, whether time or money; the death of impulse / birth of comparative study; choice as a primary concept

D.I.Y.ism

Self-empowerment(!) creating a markedly different sense of control; an attraction to that which is experiential (and valuing the experience); creativity, renewed; the anti-immediate gratification movement

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