Embarrassed by the Brand

Yoga by Anna Cervova

Recently, Albert Mohler, the president of a Baptist seminary declared yoga to be inconsistent with Christianity. According to an article in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram the guy wrote that Christian yoga practitioners "must either deny the reality of what yoga represents or fail to see the contradictions between their Christian commitments and their embrace of yoga."

Maybe I'm not with it. I thought yoga was mostly people stretching themselves into contortions and trying to meditate away the pain of their awkward positions. I didn't think it had any more to do with religion than sitting by a serene lake and possibly thinking about God. Shows what I know.

Apparently, it's also a surprise to a lot of people who practice something called "Christ Yoga" and millions more who simply like to stretch and contort their bodies. But it's probably most surprising to the Baptist pastors who are trying to attract new members and converts. Scratch the idea of winning over the yoga crowd, which is larger than the entire membership of the Southern Baptist Convention.

I'm sure many agree with Mohler. Others may not. The point is that all of them are now painted with the same broad, brand brush. Actions like this may explain why two of the nation's three largest local Southern Baptist churches downplay the denominational brand. The pastors of these churches understand that local church brands are built on local relationships. While the big, denominational brand may (i.e., may) help legitimize the local church, it also can hurt the local church when someone like Mohler spouts off. In addition, promotion of the denominational brand promotes other local churches operating under the same brand name.

From Church to Air

Locally, I've been listening to a local air conditioning contractor attack another on the radio. He attacks the owner's accent and the business practices. I don't know much about either company's business practices, though the guy being attacked is a member of the Service Roundtable, which means I'm inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt.

These are not comparative ads where one advertiser compares his features with the competition's. The ads are more like a political attack ad. They come across as mean. I don't know whether they're effective or not, but I suspect many people find them distasteful.

So no harm, no foul to anyone else right? Well, the guy doing the attacking uses manufacturer co-op and hypes the manufacturer brand in all advertising. Thus, it's as though every contractor associated with the manufacturer's brand is participating in the ad campaign. They're painted with the same broad brand brush.

The solution for contractors is the same used by the leading local churches. Don't play up the big national, denominational brand. Instead, emphasize your local brand and your local brand relationships. It's the only way to avoid being embarrassed by the brand.

So, You Want to be Steve Jobs

Are you a small business owner? Did you ever question why you are in that business? As in, "I went to college to become an accountant or I was destined to take over the company from my dad. But I sure wish I owned some hip, cool business like Google or Apple."

Okay, we ALL wish we could own some hip, cool business like Google or Apple! But I bet you might have had that thought on a smaller scale. Maybe a motorcycle chop shop, a social media company or an advertising company. The thing is, you probably do have that company now.

Let's watch and listen to Tom Peters explain it. By the way, consider this video as a recruitment tool to your particular industry.

Defining Personal Branding

Personal branding is a hot Internet buzz word. It has been for the last couple of years. To some personal branding means choosing one's own cereal. To others it means applying a hot iron to your favorite head of cattle. And to others it has something to do with marketing one's self...or something like that.

If you were in the personal branding business, do you think that a single, accessible definition of personal branding might be helpful to potential clients? Sure you would! A group of folks in that business thought it might also, so they got together and created this definition:

Personal branding describes the process by which individuals and entrepreneurs differentiate themselves and stand out from a crowd by identifying and articulating their unique value proposition, whether professional or personal, and then leveraging it across platforms with a consistent message and image to achieve a specific goal. In this way, individuals can enhance their recognition as experts in their field, establish reputation and credibility, advance their careers, and build self-confidence.

The method in which our group of personal branding experts defined personal branding is fascinating. You're probably familiar with it. They used a Wiki. You've no doubt used a Wiki yourself... as in Wikipedia.org?

Did you ever want to work on a project with people who are scattered about the country, the world? Maybe you're in a business mix group and you'd like to put your collective brains together and come up with a social media policy for your coworkers. Create and use a Wiki. The cool thing about using one is it could be accessible to more folks at your company. This way they can interact with the workers at the other companies and get stuff done.

Here is the Wiki that our experts are using (it can be an ongoing process) to define personal branding.

Interested in starting your own Wiki? Go here.

Photo credit, Yodel Anecdotal

Zag

Recently, I read the book, Zag. Zag is about branding and while I don't agree with everything in the book, I thought it was generally pretty much on the mark and recommend it. This presentation, based on the book is terrific. Take a few minutes and flip through it.

Your Brand Awareness is Higher Than You Think

Ask most people what comes to mind when they think of DHL and the most common response is "big yellow trucks." Thus, it shouldn't be surprising to learn that those big yellow trucks helped give DHL a brand awareness of 60%, according to BtoBOnline.com, the web-based magazine for marketing strategists.


Of course, it wasn't just the trucks. After 20 years without any advertising, DHL launched a $60 million advertising campaign. The combination of the ads and the trucks vaulted brand awareness from 11% to 60% in two years. Since then, the company's scaled back on traditional advertising, but nevertheless has managed to maintain high levels of awareness.

To put things in perspective, DHL's brand awareness is double the brand awareness of the best known air conditioning manufacturer and four times the awareness levels of the second best known brand. While $60 million may seem like a lot of money, it's a drop in the bucket of the $108 billion radio and television advertising market. It's not enough to move the brand awareness needle that far, that fast. So how did they do it? Go back to the trucks.

Read the rest in Contracting Business Magazine

Trends in Local Marketing For 2010

This is a good presentation on local marketing trends. It's consistent with the things I see.



The presentation was created by Balihoo, which helps national companies who market through franchisees and dealer organizations get their dealers to market the national brand. For franchises who share the national brand this makes sense all the way around.

Dealers with their own brands who lack local exclusivity with the national brand need to carefully evaluate the value of promoting brand they do not own. If the co-op is sufficient and/or the competition is sparse and/or the public cares about the national brand, promoting your affiliation may make sense.

However, I would still build the local brand first. After all, it's the only brand you own, the only brand you solely benefit from, and the only brand that cannot be take from you.

It's Brand Day!

One of the fastest growing trends in the heating and air conditioning industry is contractor branding.  Branding is more than simply slapping a logo on a box.  It's a company's...

• Reputation
  
  
• Personality
  
  
• Uniqueness
  
  
• Position
  
  
• Promise
  
  
• Image

  Companies with branding programs seize control of their future.  They build equity into their name, not another's name, not a name that's rented to them, loaned to them, or that can be offered to another company somewhere down the road, after the contractor's built up the name. While imitators are arising, there is only one original, turnkey branding program in the HVAC industry.  That's the Retail Contractor Coalition.  The Retail Contractor Coalition offers the most deliverables, the most guidance, and the best expertise in the industry on branding.  It's the only program designed by an internationally recognized branding expert in collaboration with a team of leading contractors.  The President of the Retail Contractor Coalition is Ben Stark, who is the Contractor of the Year for North Texas ACCA.  The Vice President is Steve Miles, named National Contractor of the Year by Contracting Business Magazine.

On February 1 and 2, you can attend Brand Day FREE of charge in Houston, Texas.  Get to Houston and the hotel, meals, and local transportation is FREE.  Learn more about contractor branding.  Learn how you can not only join the Retail Contractor Coalition and start branding your company for FREE, you can actually make a profit from it (though we urge you to reinvest this profit in your brand building activities).

For more information, call Liz Patrick toll free at 877.262.3341.  Hurry!  Reserve your place today.

Are you selling vanilla?

Suppose you decide to open an ice cream parlor. More than likely you will face a number of competing ice cream parlors. You will battle a host of competitors all screaming for the consumer’s attention. The rallying cry of your new industry might well be, “I scream. You scream. We all scream ‘ice cream.’”

It’s a tough business you’ve entered. You know you’ve got to promote yourself. So, you ask yourself, “What do most customers want?”

You check with the International Ice Cream Association and discover that the number one flavor is vanilla. In fact, vanilla is preferred by more than a three to one margin over the number two flavor. Okay, that’s it. You’re going to promote vanilla. You’re going to paint, “Vanilla ice cream here!” on the window of your storefront. You’re going to devote your yellow pages ad to the theme, “We’ve got vanilla!” Everywhere you can, you’re going to trumpet your vanilla ice cream.

You’re going to go out of business.

Read The Rest at ContractingBusiness.com

Al Ries on Logo Shapes

What shape should is right for a logo? Marketing expert Al Ries suggests a ratio of 1 X 2-1/4.

Philip Kotler on Marketing

Philip Kotler is the top academic marketer in the world. He's marketing's counterpart to Peter Drucker. In this six minute video delivered at the London Business Forum, Kotler explains the difference between product management, brand management, and customer management.

The Turkish Coffee Story

After learning that I would speak on branding at an international construction conference in Istanbul, I proudly informed my family about the honor. My 19-year old daughter was non-plussed, but immediately declared that I needed to try the coffee.

"Turkish coffee is the best in the world," she declared. "Everyone knows that."

Well, *I* didn't know that. So I filed this piece of useless information away and didn't think about it until months later when I arrived in Istanbul a couple of hours ahead of Mark Matteson.

Mark Matteson, author of Freedom From Fear, Freedom From Fear Forever, and the forthcoming book, A Simple Choice, was the conference keynote and responsible for my invitation to speak. The invitation was a surprise.

One day Mark called to ask if I would be interested in speaking on branding at a construction conference in Istanbul.

"Istanbul, Ohio? Sure," I said.

"No, Turkey," Mark answered.

Mark Matteson is one of the nicest people in the world. He always finds complementary things to say about people. I wondered what I did to cause Mark to call me a turkey.

After a moment of silence, he clarified, "You know, the country, Turkey?"

"Uh, yeah. Right. The place in Europe."

"And Asia. It's on both continents."

"Why me?"

Mark said, "The people running the conference need a speaker on branding, but don't know anyone who knows about both, branding and construction. They asked me if I knew anyone. I thought of you."

Wow, I thought.

"Branding in the construction arena isn't a big field," Mark added. "In fact, you're the only person I know who can cover both."

Whatever. I was still honored to speak at the conference, even if by default.

The day finally arrived when I would fly to Istanbul via London. It's a long haul. I boarded a plane in Dallas and arrived in London the next morning. I had a few hours to bum around Heathrow's massive Terminal 5 (the largest free standing building in the UK) before hopping on a jet for Istanbul, on the other side of Europe, 1500 miles away.

Heathrow's Terminal 5

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tipsfortravellers/ / CC BY 2.0

When I fly to Europe I try to stay awake during the flight and first day. When I turn in the first night, I'll sleep soundly and will wake the next morning, largely without jet lag. By the time I got to Istanbul, got my luggage, and left security it was early evening. With the time zones, I had no idea how long it had been since I slept.

The conference host met me at the security gate. Mark was scheduled to arrive a couple of hours later. The host asked, "While we wait, would you like a coffee?"

I had just traveled 6300 miles, crossed eight time zones, over 20 hours, without sleep. Suddenly, I my daughter's voice came rushing back...

"Turkish coffee is the best in the world."

Like Pavlov's dog,I could feel saliva form in my mouth over visions of Turkish coffee. "Sure!"

And the host led me to...

...Starbucks.

Starbucks? Right in the middle of Istanbul's Ataturk Airport. And not only that, there are 73 Starbucks scattered across Istanbul.

Starbucks in Istanbul's Ataturk International Airport

To get to the Starbucks, we walked past a Gloria Jean's coffee house. There are 30 Gloria Jean's in Istanbul.

Coffee has been a part of Istanbul life since the 16th century. The Turks are quick to note that their's is a "coffee culture."

1878 Istanbul Coffee House

So what gives with Starbucks? Moreover, the Starbucks were serving Christmas blend in Starbucks' Christmas cups. Turkey is 95% Muslim (though Istanbul, at least, is very secular).

Wow, I thought. This is the power of branding.

Later, I did try authentic Turkish coffee. It was good, very good. It makes Expresso seem like decaf. What I especially liked was all of the ceremony and tradition surrounding it, such as the need to drink water to clean the palate before drinking the coffee, the need to slurp the first few sips, the lore about the way the coffee is presented (lots of hidden meanings), the fortune telling from the grounds, and so on.

The tradition and heritage surrounding Turkish coffee made the ubiquity of Starbucks curious. As a rule, local brands trump national brands in their markets. This is especially true for brands with a service component. After all, service is personal. It involves human interactions. It involves relationships. I was still trying to figure out how Starbucks managed to build its brand presence in Istanbul a few days later when it was time to deliver my speech.

Speaking in an international environment is a challenge. Most of the audience is wearing headsets, listening to translators. Speakers are urged to slow down for the translators. This is difficult for me. I tend to speak fast.

Humor doesn't always translate. Jokes guaranteed to bring applause in the States may bring crickets in a multinational venue. Stories, however, tend to work in any language. I opened with the coffee story.

"That," I said, "is the power of branding."

Given the cavernous size of the room, the blare of the studio lights, and the delay for translations, it was hard to tell if anyone was following the story. I paused for a second and added without thought, "But I like Turkish coffee better than Starbucks."

The room erupted. It was the most applause the staid, stuffy contractors, engineers, and architects gave anyone all day.

I realized that while Starbucks may have bought locations it hadn't trumped the local Ottoman coffee house brands after all.

An interview about me in a Turkish trade publication

An article about me in Turkey's primary business newspaper (I was told it was Turkey's equivalent of the Wall Street Journal)

Follow Up

After I returned home, I learned that every Starbucks in Istanbul offers Turkish coffee if asked. Also, Starbucks is operated by a local company in Turkey under license to the Seattle chain. Like the domestic Starbucks, the Turkish locations try to build local identities and relationships through the baristas who work in the cafes. So while Starbucks is international in scope, it tries to act local in practice, which is a good lesson for every company.

The company has done well in the Turkish market, but mostly among students, who consider it trendy. I think the chain also benefits from its American identity. The Turks seemed to regard America and Americans well (as long as no one brings up the century old Armenian issue).

I also think as a visitor I underestimated the strength of the local brands. It's hard to estimate the loyalty to the thousands of centuries old coffee houses tucked into out of the way streets and alleys carrying Turkish names. It's easy to see the green Starbucks signs.

I Wanna Market Me (The Contractor's Song)

This is for HVAC contractors. You just gotta watch it...

How An HVAC Contractor Rebranded As Aloha Aire

In 2002, Texarkana contractor, John Price rebranded his company. After a trip to Maui, he changed his company name from "Price Service Company" to "Aloha Aire."

The new name spoke to the market about island breezes, comfort, and paradise. It promised benefits.

Changing a company name is not a casual move. If the existing name has equity in the market, the move should be made slowly.

John's decision was easier because his company was relatively new. He established it just seven years earlier. Plus, he put more effort into building equipment manufacturer brand equity over those seven years than in building equity for his own company's brand.

If John had 70 years of local presence rather than seven, he probably would have hesitated more. As it was, he didn't have much to lose.

Still, John proceeded methodically. He sought the council of friends who owned businesses. For months, he and his wife Marilyn considered the change. Then, he acted.

John launched Aloha. At first, he tried to operate both old and new brands, but quickly dropped that idea. Marilyn drafted a letter to existing customers explaining why the company was making the move.

If nothing else, employee and owner enthusiasm for the new brand won the day. They were excited and got the customers excited. Over time, the Aloha brand has grown and established a position.

Aloha Aire is a fun brand. Technicians wear Hawaiian shirts with embroidered company logos. Reach John's voice mail and he answers, "Aloha."

In time, John dropped the manufacturer identity entirely and focused exclusively on the Aloha brand. Today, he's even branded his own line of heating and air conditioning equipment through the Retail Contractor Coalition.

Shortly after rebranding, Aloha Aire's local brand awareness began to exceed Price Service Company's brand awareness. It's continued to grow by leaps and bounds. This shouldn't be a surprise. Look at the trucks.

If the shipping company DHL could build a national brand awareness of 60% by 2007, largely on the basis their fleet of delivery vehicles, how much brand awareness can John build for Aloha? Certainly it's more than he built when the Price Service Company brand was subordinated to an equipment manufacturer's brand.

Aloha's brand promise is "Come home to paradise." And the company delivers.

Brand Reflection

Below is a presentation reminding marketers that prospects do not see themselves as they are, but as they want to be. The presentation creator suggests that your brand message should reflect and speak to the prospect's desired self-image. This is what Leo Burnett managed to achieve with the classic Marlboro Man ads.

It's also the basis of the Nike brand. Take a look at the following Nike wings poster. What does it do to sell shoes? Will Nike shoes give you Jordan's wingspan? Maybe not, but millions of Air Jordans were sold because people wanted to "be like Mike."



As the presentation notes, it's also what Dos Equis is attempting with their incredibly stupid ad series about "the most interesting man in the world." They're stupid because the guy in the ad says, "I don't always drink beer, but when I do, I prefer Dos Equis."

What are they trying to do? Based on the ad, I suspect the ad agency decided to position the Dos Equis brand as the beer for guys who don't drink beer. I'll give them this, it's not a crowded position (note: this is why ad agencies need adult supervision).

Flip through the presentation. The author makes his point well.

Brand U.0

This is a 20 minute clip from a presentation given by David Armano on 9/15/2008 at the Chicago New Media Summit 2008. Twenty minutes is a long time for a web video, so I saved this for Saturday when it's easier to carve out 20 minutes. Do you want to go outside and cut the grass or spend another 20 minutes in air conditioned comfort investing in yourself and your company?

Armano is a senior partner with the Austin based Dachis Group, "a stealth-mode startup focusing on enterprise social software and services." I don't entirely know what that means, but it got the organization $50 million in venture capital. I think the conference write-up on Armano's presentation makes more sense...

"The hallmark of any great brand is authenticity -- just ask Harley-Davidson, Coke or Apple, especially when all of these brands lost their way and learned from it. Same thing applies to Brand You. In every tweak of a template, upload and keystroke, you have an opportunity to be authentic or disingenuous. Know what makes you special and unique, and tap into those qualities as you build your personal brand online. Most people can spot a fake when they see one, so remember that being genuine is more important that presenting yourself in an artificially glossy manner. It used to be important for bloggers to "find their voice" -- now it's relevant to all of us."

I found a number of the concepts spot on (i.e., the guy thinks believes some of the same things I do, so he must be smart). As you watch the video, think about how the concepts can be applied to your company and you, yourself. Instead of building web based brands, think of building local, community based brands.

Innovate or Die

This short presentation by the ad agency, North, lists ten ways brands fail and ten of the agency's recommended fixes. While the examples are not the best for the service trades, the presentation does make you think. It's worth downloading and spending a few minutes flipping through it.

Download The Presentation From BrandChannel (pdf)

Great Logo Designs

Great logo designs in this presentation. Watch it full screen.

Logos Tricks!

View more presentations from Ayman Sarhan.

Hitch Imparts Important Brand Principle: Be Real

I love it when people find marketing lessons in movies. Because they are parable like, the lessons are more memorable. David Cameron at the On Brands blog has a nice one about brand authenticity, based on the movie, Hitch.

Read David's Article

People Trust Brand Websites

This is stunning research data from the Nielsen Global Online Consumer Survey. I wish the survey had included direct marketing, such as direct mail, shared mail, door hangers, flyers, and shows. Still, it reveals that websites carrying the company brand are more likely to be trusted than any other form of advertising, save word-of-mouth.

Who Is Toby Keith?

In the intro to Brand U, Toby Keith's song, I Wanna Talk About Me, is referenced. The Service Roundtable has received a few comments from people who didn't "get" the reference. My experience is that if one person asks, many others do not. Toby Keith is a country music superstar. He may be best known for his patriotic songs like, An American Soldier and Courtesy of the Red, White, & Blue.

Here's Toby Keith's music video, I Wanna Talk About Me, which will have added relevance for every contractor who attends Brand U or HVAC Comfortech 2009. Exactly how it will have relevance will have to wait until September 23.