The Rebranding Of America

The Presidential campaign is over, but the campaign to restore America has just begun. People are the fabric of any democracy and the frayed narrative of our Union must be rewoven to include everyone.

From the perspective of looking at brands as belief systems, there are several things that we need to consider.

Our origin myth needs to emphasize the essential fact that we are a nation of immigrants. Whether our descendants wandered here thousands of years ago or were forced here against their will due to slavery, religious intolerance, economic upheaval or war. We are all immigrants. Therefore, it is humane and necessary to greet newcomers with empathy and compassion, rather than fear and hatred.

We must rewrite our foundational myths to be inclusive. And factual. Even a crew of mythic Western cowboys, for example, was a hybrid stew of Scotch-Irish, Hispanics, Blacks and the occasional female or Native American.

One more thing. We forget that three of our largest corporations—Amazon, Apple and Google— were founded by the children of immigrants. These multinational corporations provide opportunity for hundreds of thousands of people and are a large part of our national psyche and value.

It is worth a moment to wonder which parents and children of the future we may have turned away? What future opportunities have been lost?

What we believe in as a nation, the very idea of a democracy, is being challenged. Although this democracy called the United States of America has been handed down by our forebears, it is not a given. At best, it is a working experiment. We must celebrate our uniqueness—we are an independent state with independent people of many creeds and colors. But we are also interdependent. We may not always feel this accord, but we need one another.

We believe in freedom and justice for all. This belief is not felt equally by all of our citizens, which is our challenge. If there is an American Dream, it is to feel free and equal in a boundless nation.

New Meaning And New Substance Is Required

We must put new substance and meaning behind the words “democracy,” “freedom for all,” “equality” and “social justice.” These have become clichés, and they do not have to be. We must expunge words intended to inspire hate and division. Those words include “fake news,” “far left,” “far right,” “radicals,” and more.

If we create words that divide us, we can also create words that bring us together. The 2000 U.S. Census declared that by 2025, Caucasians would become the minority and that other ethnicities (the so-called minorities) would become the majority. Those days are upon us and we must starve out the political rhetoric and stereotypes intended to feed racism or hate on both sides.

We must remember (paraphrasing Dr. Martin Luther King) that we should not judge anyone by the color of their skin, but by the quality of their words and actions.

What are we against? We are against systemic racism and injustice, whether social or economic. We are tolerant of other religions and frown on religions that are intolerant of others. As a friend reminds me, devotion, nurturing and will are foundational keys to creating new unity.

The purpose of leaders is to make their populations feel safe. The former President worked tirelessly and needlessly to divide us into camps of good and evil, strong and weak, privileged and working class, successes and failures. Never before have we been reminded of our differences, while disregarding what makes us strong, unique and united.

The Role Of Corporations And Brands

This is where corporations and brands can actively make a difference. It is not underheard of for corporations to take up the slack for social purpose. The multi-corporate [RED] campaign partnership to fight AIDS, TimeWarner Cable’s $100 million initiative to support Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM), The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s many efforts in science and education.

Let’s remind ourselves that everyone belongs. Everyone counts. Everyone has a choice and everyone has a chance. These are the elements of the new narrative for these United States—some we have heard before, which makes them no less important. They bear repeating.

The rebranding of these United States starts now. Forward.

Contributed to Branding Strategy Insider by: Patrick Hanlon, Author of Primal Branding

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4 Ways To Build Brand Loyalty In Uncertain Times

For brands, facing uncertainty makes planning difficult. However, there is one action that all of these brand-business companies must undertake now. In addition to winnowing product lines and focusing resources on agility, these organizations must devote serious time, effort and money to building brand loyalty. To continue their profitable growth post-pandemic, companies such as Kraft Heinz have to move their new and regular customers up the Loyalty Ladder. This will extend the current profit bump into enduring profitable growth.

Failure to translate transactions into brand loyal behavior is death-wish marketing. It is not enough to put more dollars into marketing. Loyalty growth needs more than great messaging. Deal loyalty is not real loyalty.

Right now, packaged goods brands are building sales volume. Of course, this is important. But, for enduring profitable growth, all brands must not only build their quantity of sales but the quality of their sales. This means building sales based on an increasing base of brand loyal customers. In other words, customers must not only buy brands but also buy because they favor the brands. Brand loyalty builds high quality revenue growth.

Consumer packaged goods organizations must recognize that there is no enduring business value without brand value. Brand loyalty is one of the most critical elements powering brand value. So, sure, agility and flexibility on the corporate side are good, but without brand loyalty, all the enterprise dexterity in the world will not save your brand-businesses. The chief customer officer at Reckitt Benckiser told Financial Times there will be “… a before and after” impact on continued sales. Without brand loyalty, there will be no after.

Brand Loyalty is like a ladder. There are degrees of brand commitment from minimal to true devotion. Brand-businesses must understand and audit the entire pool of their users to determine how these customers array themselves on the Brand Loyalty Ladder.

The Brand Loyalty Ladder

The Brand Loyalty Ladder leads from non-usage to true brand loyalty. It is a construct reflecting the customer’s strength of commitment relative to competitive brands. Moving customers up the Brand Loyalty Ladder is essential.

In the universe of potential customers, in general, there are four types of brand commitment. There are Commodity Considerers, Short-List Customers, Preference Customers, and Enthusiasts.

Commodity Considerers are customers who view a set of brands as being basically the same. This customer is indifferent to brand name. This customer is willing to consider any brand as long as it is convenient and affordable.

Short-List Customers have a short list of brands from which to choose. Being on a customer’s short-list is good. But, it is better to be the preferred brand among the short-list.

Preference Customers are those with a brand preference. In other words, the preferred brand is the favorite brand.

Enthusiasts are customers with true brand loyalty. True brand loyalty is the highest level of brand commitment. Enthusiasts will buy their preferred brand even if there is a price premium relative to their second choice brand. Enthusiasts not only stick with their brand if there is a price premium but also will recommend the brand to a friend.

Moving customers up the Loyalty Ladder is critical. The ultimate goal is to move a customer from Preference to Enthusiast.

Kraft Heinz’ CEO, Miguel Patricio, tells analysts and the business press that he understands how Kraft Heinz’s previous management put its storied brands in jeopardy. Mr. Patricio has consistently stated to the press that “… underinvesting in brands and focusing excessively on near-term profits” sabotaged the Kraft Heinz brand portfolio. In fact, prior to coronavirus, Kraft Heinz took a series of major write-downs due to the faded, shrunken and devalued forecasts for some of its most celebrated brands such as Oscar Mayer.

Growing brand loyalty is an ongoing job. It is easier said than done. If Kraft Heinz and other enterprises want to maintain the attraction of their current sets of customers post-pandemic, there are some important brand loyalty building actions they should take. Investing more money into messaging is good, but moving customers up the Brand Loyalty Ladder requires more.

A brand cannot cost manage its way to enduring profitable growth. Here are four actions for growing brand loyalty that packaged goods enterprises must be doing now.

1. Focus the entire organization around building brand loyalty.

This is a cross-functional cultural issue. This mission of building creating loyal customers is not just the responsibility of marketing. The entire enterprise from the C-Suite down must believe in creating and building brand loyalty.

2. Focus on aligning around critical metrics.

Create metrics to understand where your customers are on the Loyalty Ladder. This means measuring more than sales, share growth and profit growth. It means metrics for assessing quantity and quality of sales. Use metrics not to just evaluate progress but to manage progress as well. Loyal customers are more profitable customers. Knowing the lifetime value of your loyalists will grab the attention of C-suite executives.

3. Focus on customer problems.

Know why people have problems with your brands. Know why some see your brand as a commodity purchase. Know why you are unable to move customers up a rung on the Loyalty Ladder. These problems may be bigger issues than previously thought. Innovating solutions to customer problems is essential. Become part of the solution for your customers’ biggest problems.

4. Focus on being a trusted source information.

Become a credible source of information for your customers. Research shows that trust is in trouble. Trust in corporations is in steady decline. Without trust nothing else matters. For a message to be trusted, it must come from a trusted source. In an uncertain world, brands can be touchstones of trust. Customers will look to brands for solid, credible and usable information.

Contributed to Branding Strategy Insider by: Larry Light, CEO of Arcature

The Blake Project Can Help You Create A Path To Brand Loyalty In: The Brand Positioning Workshop

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Purpose At Work: How Hint Water Leverages Purpose and Gains Market Share

Companies built on solving problems foster consumer goodwill and carve out a competitive advantage. An excellent example of a brand that differentiates itself by providing purposeful solutions is Hint. Founder and CEO, Kara Goldin, started the unsweetened flavored water business collecting customer feedback from moms in the school drop off line to selling in America’s […]

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Turnaround Strategy Begins At The Core

When a brand is in trouble, focus first on the core customer base. Love the customer you have before you focus on the customer you don’t have. When a brand is in trouble, re-energize, protect, and strengthen the core customer. It is the core customer that will profitably finance a turnaround and provide the platform for the future.

According to reporting in The Wall Street Journal, Harley-Davidson is in serious need of revitalization. Harley’s CEO, Jochen Zeitz is making a radical strategic shift to put Harley-Davidson back on the road to enduring profitable growth. Zeitz is ditching the plan he inherited. The previous strategy was to attract new, younger customers with smaller, less-powerful, inexpensive models. It did not work. Harley-Davidson turned off its core customer base. And, failed to attract new customers. To move the heavy, expensive Harley’s out of the dealerships, the big bikes were discounted, further hurting the image of the brand.

From now on, instead of cheap, smaller-displacement motorcycles, Harley-Davidson will concentrate on the big, expensive motorcycles that gave Harley its biker cred. His first order of business is to focus on Harley’s core customer base and what they love about owning a Harley.

Revitalization Begins At The Core

Focusing on core customers is the smart move for a brand that is in trouble. The immediate goal must be to restore and repair the brand relationship to the most valuable customers. This means reinforcing what they like about the brand. This is precisely what Mr. Zeitz is doing: he is not taking his core customers for granted. This is important because core customers – those with long-lasting brand loyalty – are especially valuable for profitability.

Taking core customers for granted is death-wish marketing. Unless you have customers who are captive audiences (airlines with specific routes), you run the risk of alienating people who are your valuable base. Love your loyalists. Adore your core.

Important research conducted in the 1990s by Frederick Reichheld (Bain consulting) demonstrated that as brand loyalty increases, the likelihood of defection due to competitive price promotions decreases. He concluded that reducing defections by 5% could increase profits by 25% and more.

Other research showed that the cost of attracting a new customer was 3-4 times as much as the cost of keeping a customer loyal. However, recent research from Kleiner Perkins, the venture capital firm (2018) indicated that customer acquisition costs are climbing. It costs more to acquire a new customer than to satisfy an existing customer.

Losing just a small percentage of core customers will account for a disproportionate amount of lost income for a brand. Harley-Davidson’s focus on attracting new customers at the expense of core customers was misguided. The result? Harley-Davidson suffered through a five-year streak of bad earnings.

Coronavirus has thrown many markets into disarray. However, a relatively small group of brand loyal customers can carry your brand to outlast the pandemic. Brand-businesses doing well during coronavirus, such as Campbell’s, Kraft Heinz, and Clorox can still maintain their increased sales.

Our research indicates that, on average, 10% of customers account for 50% or more of profits. A study reported in Harvard Business Review (2014) – that used Nielsen scanner data across 124 consumer packaged goods, showed that 10% of a category’s customers accounted for 30%-70% of sales and an even higher share of profits. For example, Kraft Velveeta data indicated that the brand’s major enthusiasts (10%) accounted for 50% of profits.

The Wall Street Journal stated the following in its analysis of Harley-Davidson, “The company’s introductions of new models over the years also failed to attract customers and the current line-up is loaded with slow-selling motorcycles. Eleven models combined accounted for about 6% of retail-sales volume last year, while ten popular models generated more than two-thirds of the sales.”

A large Harley-Davidson dealer commented on Mr. Zeitz’s focus on its core customers and their preferred motorcycles, “The brand is getting back to what we have always been.” Mr. Zeitz told analysts, “I’ve heard now so often that our consumer is aging out. Well, I’m aging, as they say, and I feel like riding right now.”

Turnaround Strategy Versus Growth Strategy

Of course, to grow and endure brands must attract new customers. However, a turnaround is different. When a brand is losing customers, the priority is to stop the hemorrhaging. After successfully shoring up the loyal base, the brand can focus on growth. Growth strategies are different. Successful brands recruit new customers, while at the same time, continue to focus on brand loyalty. Expand the appeal of the brand. Bring new customers into the franchise. But, don’t lose customer loyalty at the same time. Continuous churning of the brand’s customers is not the path to enduring profitable growth.

As reported in The Wall Street Journal, Harley-Davidson “delivered on its strategy.” Mr. Zeitz’s strategy of shoring up the core customer base led Harley-Davidson to a profit surge for its latest quarter ending September 27, 2020. Focusing on the core customer pays.

A turnaround strategy is different from a growth strategy. When a brand is in trouble, the priority is to stop the hemorrhaging of the customer base. Love your core customers if you expect them to love you. When a brand is losing sales and share, the first focus must be to shore up the core customer base. In other words, adore the core or your brand is done for. Ultimately, the healthy brand goal is more customers, more often, more brand loyal, more revenues, and more profit.

Contributed to Branding Strategy Insider by: Larry Light, CEO of Arcature

The Blake Project Can Help You Redefine And Articulate Your Value In: The Brand Positioning Workshop

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How 80% of the Swiss population will download the COVID-App

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It’s Time to Get Really Good at Virtual Selling

The transition from in-person to virtual selling isn’t always natural. It requires a different toolbox for salespeople, and more effective marketing for companies. Here’s how.

You’re reading It’s Time to Get Really Good at Virtual Selling by Jeremy Miller, originally posted on Sticky Branding. Did you enjoy this article? If so, sign-up for more of Jeremy’s articles at Sticky Branding.

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Successful Brand Management Requires Context

Very often marketers are called upon by clients or fellow business stakeholders to solve complex issues or chart new paths with new products or markets. In these cases there is a natural tendency to immediately immerse oneself into the numbers and assorted details pertaining to the objective, as if the answer is hiding in plain sight on column G, row four of the spreadsheet in front of you. The numbers and analysis when determining a new strategy are important, but that’s only part of the picture. They don’t mean anything without the context that the Big Picture brings. The stats, percentages and graphs will quantify trends, performance, and share, but they can never reveal the soul, essence and passion of a brand or for a brand.

Am I running the risk of overstating the obvious? Yes. But, someone needs to in this overly analyzed marketing culture.

How do you see the Big Picture?
When we embark on meeting client needs, we begin the process of Discovery. For many agencies and consultants, this will involve a look at historical data, sales figures, past marketing efforts, competitive assessments, current plans, social media performance, and so on. This is all worthwhile, of course, because often a fresh set of eyes from an outside perspective can easily spot where a problem or an opportunity may manifest itself. Uninfluenced by previous perspectives is key to seeing the unseen.

Every brand has a story.
Brands have a creator—a human being. And brands are “owned” by their customers—also human beings. So without knowing what motivated the creation of the brand or the loyalty to it, you simply cannot see, experience and appreciate the true story behind it. Discovery must probe and challenge clients for the “why” a brand exists and what, if anything, would happen if it never existed at all. You’ll never get this from a S.W.O.T. analysis. As my friend and partner Derrick Daye has often quipped, brands and their perceived value must be “put on trial for their lives” in order to fully understand them. Without that understanding, how can you possibly market them effectively?

Brand stories are built on decision, upon decision.
By asking the right questions, you’ll learn why and how brands are the way they are.

• What was the reason the brand was created in the first place?
• What problem was intended to be solved?
• What challenges were overcome along the way?
• Where did the inspiration come from?
• Who was instrumental in its creation or innovation and what were they like?
• Why did the brand go down THAT road?

You get the idea.

Don’t be judgmental.
Brands find themselves where they are for any number of reasons. If they’re being challenged, it most often is due to:

• Under-funding growth and competitiveness
• Lack of marketing investment
• No or weak innovation
• Cultural irrelevancy or tone-deafness
• Ill-advised extensions
• Sales vs. Management Wars
• Brand identity tinkering or inconsistency
• Disregarding the customer
• Bad press due to a self-inflicted mistake

And so on. Remember, you are being called upon to overcome these parts of the brand’s story, not exacerbate it.

The story is the foundation.
It is vitally important to explore the brand story to ascertain the course of corrective action or exploitation of opportunity. “Getting to the roots” of a brand may yield its most valuable asset—the story itself: the protagonist and antagonist, the struggle and the victory. And always the articulation of the differentiating Big Idea along with the Big Picture.

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