Branding Blog

Touch Points: Canadian Tourism

Steve Rae uncovered a great story about the psychology of branding as it relates to tourism.

Touch Points: We must accept a loss of control

By the way Canada, my offer still stands.

Bear Drinks 36 Beers and Passes Out

You can't buy brand recognition like this.

"He drank the Rainier and wouldn't drink the Busch beer," said Lisa Broxson, bookkeeper at the campground and cabins resort east of Mount Baker.

Yahoo! News - Bear Drinks 36 Beers and Passes Out With due credit to Dave.

University Branding by Committee

Florida Atlantic University is getting branded. They've got feedback from 1,500 people and they are deciding on colors (red and blue) and mascots (keeping the owl) and this only took 16 focus groups and 200 opinions on ways to improve the colors and logos.

What's missing in this story? Any mention of the quality of education or customer experience.

I checked out Florida Atlantic University's web site and found their current slogan to be a bit weak: "One of Florida's 11 Public Universities." Now, that makes me want to request an application for my kids! Let's hope that new owl mascot draws them in!

Good Grief! I don't want to know why you're the same as 10 other public universities! Tell me why you're different if you want my attention.

[sorry to shout. I'll try to keep my angst to myself.]

Read all about it at BocaNews.com

Secret Formulas Workshop

This past week Roy H. Williams, head professor and dean of Wizard Academy rolled out the new class for the Secret Formulas of the Wizard of Ads workshop. I was fortunate enough to attend. WOW! The Wizard taught us how to implement the Advertising Performance Equation (APE), the importance of finding your "Sword in the Stone" and then how to find your "Sword in the Stone". "Sword in the Stone" that one thing that everything in your business revolves around. That one main thing that is non-negotiable. It's that one thing Cult Brands are made of. I've been studying the Wizard's stuff for quite some time. This workshop was an eye opener!!!

Randy Allsbury

Ma Bell: Do Not Resuscitate

Thanks Juan for sending this story my way. It seems that AT&T is hanging up the DNR sign on their residential business. This story offers a look at how brands evolve from being the all-inclusive former Big Bell to an entirely new entity that strives to superserve a smaller segment of their former domain. Laura and Al Ries call it divergence.

Experts say that among companies that sell primarily to other businesses, the winners have been those that have associated their brands with solving problems, not products.

That may yet be the saving grace for AT&T, as it focuses largely on corporate customers, Ms. Hopelain notes. "Business customers are just a lot less likely to keep switching providers, particularly if they are getting a lot of service,'' she said. "To stay relevant, a brand has to parlay its expertise to meet its customers' needs. And AT&T may still be able to do that. ''

The New York Times > Business > Media & Advertising > Advertising: Yet Again, a Brand Name Loses Its Magic

Reynolds Wrap? Really?

Reynolds Wrap Aluminum Foil ranks #1 in OVERALL Brand Equity

I guess all those daytime television ads paid off! Honestly, I'm not sure I could have told you whether Reynolds Wrap was aluminum foil or plastic cling wrap. (Oh wait! That's Saran Wrap! Doh!)

So, what does it all mean? We've got Reynold's Wrap beating out the likes of Hershey's Milk Chocolate Candy Bars and WD-40 for overall brand equity. I honestly don't think it means much of anything until you start comparing your brand equity to your competitor's brand equity. I mean, when I need to wrap up a couple of left-over hamburgers, will my brain mistakenly instruct me to reach for the Clorox brand bleach instead of the Reynolds brand foil? Only if my brain is damaged beyond repair.

I'll give Harris a bit of credit because they do go on to compare some apples to other apples in categories like online brands. But, it's a mystery to me how Barnes and Noble could beat Amazon in the rankings.

Spring 2004 EquiTrend Brand Study released with enhanced measurements ROCHESTER, N.Y. – June 22, 2004 – The Harris Interactive? Brand and Reputation Practice today released the 2004 edition of EquiTrend?, a unique measurement and comparison tool for over 1,000 brands in 35 categories. The new results rank Reynolds Wrap Aluminum Foil as the number one brand in overall brand equity, followed closely by Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Candy Bars, Ziploc Food Bags and Heinz Ketchup. EquiTrend’s normative database extends back to 1989, and provides an exclusive look at the evolution of consumer perceptions of brands. This year, Harris Interactive brand strategists and methodologists enhanced the measurement system to provide brand managers with a more comprehensive diagnostic. The redesigned EquiTrend now serves as a succinct, yet multi-faceted, approach to brand equity benchmarking. Instead of relying on Quality and Salience alone, EquiTrend now has five key measures:

1. Familiarity 2. Quality 3. Purchase Intent 4. Brand Expectations 5. Distinctiveness

Harris Interactive | News Room - Reynolds Wrap Aluminum Foil ranks #1 in OVERALL Brand Equity

Is it a blog? You decide!

My readers know that I follow Cabela's because I live in their town. I grew up with them. They've gotten awfully big. I also like to keep a look out for up-and-comers that exude that same excitement that Cabela's did in the early years.

Moosejaw Mountaineering is such a place. Family owned, less than 100 employees, 6 retail stores and a way-cool website.

Check out the Product Du Jour. It certainly feels like a blog to me. Great writing and a super way to introduce new products to readers.

June 23, 2004

I am wearing the Salomon Packvest right now. I will probably get fired for looking too sexy.

Please email me at Jack@moosejaw.com, if you have any questions about the pack vest or anything else.

If you place an order for the pack vest before this Sunday we will throw in 500 extra Moosejaw Reward Points. Just shoot me an email with your order number after you place your order and I will take care of the rest.

Love the madness.

Jack
Product Du JourMoosejaw Mountaineering

Branding Wayne Rooney

Add this to your branding strategist bag of tricks: Step one, have your client become an international soccer superstar. Step two, brand away! The difficult art of branding will only begin after he pulls off his side of the deal.

A stupid story to illustrate the fact that your client had better be pretty darned good at what he does before you attempt to pull it all together into a branding campaign.

...we will soon be able to buy shirts, music and underwear of his own design. "I like the idea of branding," he said. "We live in a society where it's become inspirational to live a life and a style. I think I'm living proof that anything is possible." Vogue Stories

Follow up on Saab

Vince Bodiford at The Weekend Drive posted this informed, insightful (and nearly insider) comment to my May 25 story about GM's plans for Saab. I'm placing the full text here as a new post. Original Post: The Assimilation of SAAB Continues

Being about as close to the Saab organization as one can get without being on the payroll, it's safe to say that the Saab brand is under some serious contemplation at both GM in the US, and Saab on both sides of the pond.

GM chief Bob Lutz recently was quoted in Automotive News, saying "... there's no rule that Saab's have to be made in Sweden..." suggesting that GM wants to increase capacity utilization at Saab's Swedish factory, operating now at just over 65% capacity.

Highly placed GM sources tell me that GM is considering using that extra capacity to build more Saabs, or even build a European-market Cadillac. Lutz's comment even suggests that core Saab products may be built elsewhere, and even worse, shows Lutzs' apparent attitude that a Saab does not have to be made in Sweden to be "Swedish."

But, in my opinion, its country of origin is at the core of the Saab brand. I believe that Saab MUST continue to build SOMETHING in Sweden in order to maintain that brand image. Saab is currently building the new Saab 9-2X all-wheel drive car in Japan, on the Subaru WRX architechture, but all the Saab core brands (the 9-3 and 9-5) are Swedish-built. Another new Saab, the 9-7 SUV, is based on the GM platform of Chevy Trailblazer and GMC Envoy -- both of course, are US-built. (Read the Review)

So the question is this, do Saab's have to be made in Sweden to be "Swedish," and how does this impact the brand?

The longest period of uninterrupted time I've spent in a Saab is with Dave -- during our particaption in the 2000 Cannonball One Lap of America. Having lived in that car with Dave, and having driven every significant Saab product ever made (from the original two-stroke 9-2 up to the all-new 9-2X), I would submit that the Saab brand is one of the most unique, hard-core product oriented brands in the automotive universe.

Vince Bodiford
The Weekend Drive

In salon branding, hair puns abound

Something about this story turned my head.

Identifying a Regis Corp. salon isn't always easy. That's because Regis operates under at least 32 different brand names. Close to half of its 10,070 salons are branded under the names Regis, SmartStyle, Cost Cutters, MasterCuts or Trade Secret. The rest go under 27 different names.

Such variety is a curse and a blessing, notes CEO Paul Finkelstein.

It's a curse because the company loses the promotional clout that comes from pushing a single brand, such as McDonald's or Starbucks. But it's a blessing because the different identities enable Regis to put many salons into a single shopping mall. For instance, the company has six salons in the Mall of America.
"We don't build a super brand," Finkelstein says. "I don't think branding is the most essential thing in our business."

But because it acquires so many salons, Regis has to do plenty of rebranding.
Names of hair salons offer many clever plays on words, and some not so clever.
Consider this sampling of names — not part of Regis — culled from Twin Cities phone directories: Wave Review, Head Over Heels, Last Tangle Hair Design, Hairaphernalia, Hair Police, New Hope for Hair (in New Hope), Hair We Are, and my favorite, Curl Up & Dye.

Finkelstein remembers two names of acquisitions so bad the company had to change them immediately: Head Hunters and Yankee Clipper, which oddly enough was located in the South.

St. Paul Pioneer Press | 06/06/2004 | In salon branding, hair puns abound