The Brand Man Speaks

CNN.com's new website format undermines CNN brand

I was stunned the other day to see a new format for CNN.com. I have religiously read this page everyday for several years as my first source of news and information in the morning.

I found nothing wrong about the old format. I found the information I wanted easily and the site in my opinion was consistent with the brand's television effort...both dependable sources for world news easy to access.

Sure websites need to be updated and tweaked periodically, however, the new CNN.com site is simply awful and a sharp departure from the original...not in a good way.

The site now is weak on news and looks more like a page of advertisements with cute links to rather low level video stories. It no longer speaks "news expert" or "superior source for news and information". It might as well be a tabloid page selling garbage celebrity stories.

I think whomever redid this site has completely lost sight of what the CNN brand is all about. I no longer have it as my home page, having switched to MSNBC.com's home page as an easier to use, more definitive news and information source.

CNN television still remains a good source for news, however, when you start to muck with various brand channels the overall brand strategy starts to fall apart and years of hard work to build the brand can be lost in mere weeks. That is what I think will happen to CNN if they don't immediately fix their website.

This move reminds me of Tropicana Orange Juice's recent major misstep with its package design which made the brand generic and sales dropped enormously and fast. They listened to the market reaction and fixed the problem quickly, saving the brand from a disastrous financial downfall and possible extinction.

Watching out for you everyday.

Eli

Mercedes Benz tries to woo young prospects with web music show

Daimler AG Mercedes-Benz, the luxury German automaker, is shifting marketing dollars from traditional media like print and television to the web. This move is designed to reach and influence younger prospects.

Mercedes will launch a web music show called "Mixed Tape Music Magazine" with monthly installments on its Mercedes-Benz.tv internet channel.

The move is considered by industry experts to mirror what BMW did some years ago with its successful internet film shorts. The difference in my opinion is the BMW effort artfully involved the brand's automobiles in a manner consistent with the brand's "ultimate driving machine" positioning. The movies were mini thrillers that showcased the cars but focused on a viewer engaging plotline.

Mercedes promotion of music has little if any alignment with the brand and seems wasteful and unlikely to make any significant impact on younger audiences attitudes toward the automaker. Mercedes hopefully will learn with less pain than Starbucks that moving off strategy and losing focus on the core brand reason for being by going into the music business is foolish.

Watching out for you everyday.

Eli

Cingular Wireless brand: dead or alive?

An avid reader of the Brand Man Speaks has emailed me with an interesting question: Is the Cingular Wireless brand dead or alive? After an extended multi-year effort to change the wireless brand Cingular to AT&T the company is running ads on the web (and possibly elsewhere) that seem to indicate the Cingular brand is still alive and well and being promoted despite information to the contrary.

Case in point. This web ad found this past week on MSNBC.com

The ad promotes Cingular's value for making international calls in the center of the ad, but then seemingly contradicts this message with the more frequently seen Cingular now AT&T message at the bottom. Confusing and not good for the overall re-branding effort. This is especially true given the audience AT& T (or Cingular?) is trying to reach on MSNBC.com...a sophisticated, business and travel oriented consumer.

It is small mistakes like this that can undermine major re-branding programs. Yes, you must sweat the details to be successful.

Watching out for you everyday.

Eli

Online holiday sales at record low to date

Research firm Score Inc. reports that US internet sales from November 1st to December 14th gained 18% as a result of slashed prices and free shipping offers all over the web designed to lure consumers to shop online.

This increase however is considered very low...a record low...according the research firm despite more and more people using the internet as part of their daily lives.

The forecast is for an overall disappointing holiday retail season, especially for sales made online.

Possible reasons are that consumers want to see merchandise in-person as well as that more in-store sales bargains are available than online this season.

As today is the last key day to ship anything to ensure it arrives by Christmas Day, it will be interesting to see if there is an up tick in online sales over the next week as online retailers are actively offering good deals and some breaks on next day or two day shipping rates as well to entice more shopping online as the deadline looms.

Watching out for you everyday.

Eli

Hot retailer holiday sales info coming to a cell phone near you-by Eli

A variety of retailers will be using a new tool to reach consumers with special "hot" holiday specials this season.

In addition to TV, print, radio and direct mail, Nordstrom, WalMart, Best Buy and JC Penney have announced they will use mobile phone technology to reach tech savvy consumers.

Most will obtain cell phone users permission via sign-ups to text information and/or link to mobile websites with special offers, private sales and other discounted merchandise news. JC Penney will go a step further and use auto-generated wake up calls to get shoppers into their stores as early as 4AM on Black Friday.

The key question for retailers will be the determination of the threshold point at which "helpful" information will become annoying and intolerable.

Watching out for you everyday.

Eli

Target's new ads: Less is still more-by Eli

Cheap Chic retailer Target has announced a new advertising program to reinforce its hip image using Holograms.

To launch new fashion designs for the fall season the retailer will stage a fashion-less, model-less show in Grand Central Station in New York using Holograms to project the images. Holograms are two dimensional moving images that give the illusion of three dimensions.

The show will feature "style for less" as part of the brand's commitment to be a leader in chic clothing designs for relatively inexpensive prices. Designers Issac Mizrahi, Mossimo, Liz Lange and Dominique Cohen will be featured.

The event will also be shown on Youtube, Facebook and Target's own website to reach a broad audience and to take advantage of the importance of pass along viewership the internet has created. There is also a mobisode component for cell phone users.

Target's cheap chic concept has been copied by Kohl's and J.C. Penney making it more important for the originator to stay one step ahead in all aspects of this brand positioning and the delivery of the brand message versus competition.

Watching out for you everyday.

Eli

Ray Bans "viral" marketing effort: Making a classic relevant again-by Eli

A great example of how to use viral marketing to make an old brand relevant to a new audience.

Ray Bans are "cool" again.

Watching out for you everyday.

Eli

Experiential Branding on the rise-by Eli

Consumers have been complaining about the commoditization of retailing around the US in the past number of years. Let's face it, retailing has become mostly blah and vanilla. There is more overlap in products and services than distinct differentiated elements these days and consumers have not only become bored but also have reduced their brand loyalty.

Some retailers are getting the message this has to change for them to survive and prosper. I am a big fan of brand building that truly addresses consumer interests and authentically enhances their lives.

With the rise of social media and other interactive consumer activities, brands are getting back on track finding ways to building emotional connections ("Brand Essence") with consumers again in meaningful ways.

Developing a product or service "Brand Essence" is key to great successful branding. Consumers may speak rationally about why they choose the brands they do, however, it is the emotional component that truly drives the positive or negative (or no interest) brand relationship.

In a recent article in the Financial Times, several examples were outlined.

Nike has developed a running club for its patrons that caps off evening runs with in-store receptions in its Portland, Oregon Niketown location.  The store staff keeps tabs on participant performance. Nike has also set up various websites that work in tandem with iPODS allowing runners to upload and compare their performances. Site visitation is very high and frequent. Nike says they have 200,000 members.

Procter & Gamble set up the site Capessa as an online community for women to share inspirational stories and practical tips that enhance their lives (hopefully but not necessarily involving P & G brands).

Starbucks' site designed as a rallying point for the caffeinated set is deemed the "most frequently visited retailer in the world" online, so says Chairman, Howard Schultz.

REI, the outdoor equipment retailer, offers kayaking and mountain biking training and instruction to its customers in store.

PetSmart has a website that encourages the sharing of pet photos with fellow pet owners.

These "experiential" activities do more than build brand loyalty. They also provide retailers with invaluable insights into their customers helping to determine current and future product and service needs.

More companies can learn from these examples and find better more efficient ways to relate to consumers and differentiate themselves from the vast wasteland of sameness.

Do you have an example you wish to share? Click on the comment bottom below and let me know about your favorite "experiential" branding effort.

Watching out for you everyday.

Eli

Best Buy and the Geek Squad; Problematic pairing before "Peeker" exposed?-By Eli

Recently an "agent" for the Geek Squad (Best Buy's in-house computer service and repair "brand") was arrested for allegedly setting up his cell phone to take pictures of a young woman showering while he was servicing a computer elsewhere in the home.

There are several issues here. The case itself; whether the Geek Squad Agent, Hao Kuo Chi, really intended to "film" the shower scene, (some evidence now says this maybe a character assault and set up against the "agent") is one. The second: how this incident and Chi's arrest impacts the Best Buy brand. The Third: was the pairing of Best Buy with the Geek Squad a good brand fit in the first place? Were the cultures similar for the match?

No doubt this Geek Squad "Peeker" case is damaging to the Best Buy brand. The rolling of the  originally independent Geek Squad brand into the Best Buy business model seemed in principle to be a good business decision. In-house experts who would come to your home and "expertly" set up, trouble-shoot and repair (on-site or back at the store) computers sold at Best Buy. The "agents" wear geeky attire and drive a cute, memorable logo'd VW Bug.   

Many times computer buyers are baffled by their newly purchased products. Trying to find someone who has knowledge of the product is a daunting experience for most. The idea was that the Geek Squad could fulfill a market need and enhance Best Buys reputation for selling computers.

This case hurts both brands. It negatively impacts Best Buy, not only as a retailer of computers, but also as a retailer in general. Why? A negative "halo" or fallout from this "perverted" event. Makes consumers wonder about the type of people Best Buy hires, even if this is only one "bad" apple...that is if this is a real case. Would you hire the Geek Squad if you had young women living at home? Or were a woman living alone? Not likely now.

If Chi turns out not to be guilty the damage is still done. Most consumers will remember the incident as true even if it is not and this "perception" can linger for years. Best Buy, the Geek Squad and Chi will all suffer short and long term. The whole matter is unfortunate, true or not true.

In the course of doing some background on this story I discovered another matter. It turns out long before this incident hit the news, many blogs and internet chat rooms were buzzing about how the culture at Best Buy was incompatible with the Geek Squad from the get go. Best Buy's high pressure sales practices were forced on Geek Squad employees who had a passion for computers and fixing problems not making sales calls.

Numerous current and former Geek Squad employees have been quoted as saying that they were required to sell unnecessary and unwarranted services, push over- priced maintenance programs and most importantly, instead of working on computer service "on the road" forced by store managers to act as cashiers and stock persons when stores were (frequently) short of help and creating a long wait time for in-house service and turn-around on repairs. Additionally, some ex-Geek Squad employees have indicated that hires got little training and were rushed into service too quickly.

It might have been just a matter of time before this incompatibility surfaced. The spotlight on the two companies as a result of the Chi case may have only accelerated the exposure of the underlining problems.

I will keep an eye on this story and update you when more tangible facts are available.

Watching out for you everyday.

Eli

Social Media: The most significant shift in brand marketing since the advent of television-by Eli

This communications tool I am using--"blogging"-- and the advent of "Social Media" has had a profound effect on me professionally and personally. Whether we are talking Youtube, Myspace, Facebook, Typepad or any of the other interactive social network and community building "brands", never has information, ideas, and opinions been exchanged globally so quickly, easily and potently as they are today. You can't hide anymore. You can't fall asleep or close your eyes for a minute...or you may be passed by even unknowingly.

I have been involved with branding strategy and brand management for many years and although numerous changes, modifications and improvements have occurred on the marketing landscape....from television through to the Internet......none appear to me to have generated the same paradigm shift as this movement that puts "control" of the consuming world more firmly in the hands of consumers.

Before Social Media most communication platforms were static, one-way or time lapse two-way  exchanges.  Now everything is in "real time" and there is almost no time to digest anything before the idea moves on into other realms. To some this is not a good thing. To others, like myself, this is just not good, it is extraordinary and life changing.

For me "Social Media" Web 2.0 is the humanization of brands.  And, I use "brands" in the very  broad context of everything with which we interact and consume.

Social Media is impacting the way we all communicate on a level that is unprecedented. Politics can never be the same....a quick potent example is the recent "Obama Apple 1984 style" video that surfaced on Youtube and spread like wildfire not by one candidate trying to undermine another, but by a tech savvy consumer wanting to make a point that "anyone" and the "everyman" can make a difference and impact the world instantly today.

Social Media is making us better more responsive and responsible marketers who have an opportunity to engage consumers in the ownership of "brands" potentially creating the most loyal consumers ever as well as the most demanding and hard to satisfy...because they are now in control and have limitless choice and great impact on decision making. No longer will it be company driven or top down to consumer marketing but rather consumer involvement from A to Z, shaping products and services like never before. Companies won't have to wait to get feedback from the marketplace. It is already becoming instantaneous.

Some of my colleagues are putting their heads in the sand and to this point are fighting this Social Media "stuff" as some have called it. These folks will be left behind quickly if they maintain that stance. Instead, I find these new tools, exciting, engaging, challenging and scary. But for the first time in many years I am re-energized about what is possible in the world of branding.

If you want to learn more about Social Media, contact me.

Watching out for you everyday.

Eli