Citizen Brand

Zappos Review

The marketing community has been all abuzz about the review of agencies being conducted by Zappos. At first, Zappos was going to invite in a select number of agencies but when word got out they were looking, interest grew.  Zappos is a cool brand with great leadership and an even greater culture. And in this economy, winning business is critical.

Zappos received over 100 initial entries and paired it down to 20 or so for the presentations. Full disclosure now. Barkley was one of the finalists. Our team presented on Thursday.

The creative leader at agency Ignited, caused a few waves this week when he criticized Zappos in this AdAge article. All of us in the agency arena have opinions from time to time about all review processes. Some are tightly controlled by third party consultants preventing agencies and prospects from communicating with each other except under their watchful eye. Other reviews appear from the beginning to simply be a brand trying to light a fire under its current agency and then magically the current agency is retained.

Zappos was neither of these. Zappos had a wide open and transparent review process. Anyone could participate and we all knew the rules going in. The people at Zappos have been helpful and honest.

I defer now to one of my Barkley partners who was on our team in the room Thursday to add the postscript.

Does your cause program have a "tree seedling?"

I had the honor of being asked to do a column for PRWeek's edition this week. I thought I would share it here for people who aren't subscribers to the magazine. I would love to hear your thoughts on what I discuss.

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Will the economic downturn stem the rising tide of cause branding? We hear that question a lot these days. The answer is no. Cause branding, in fact, is growing as more and more companies realize the benefits that doing good can bring to their business. However, the downturn has caused more consumer skepticism about business in general. Although cause continues to grow, this skepticism could slow it down if cause programs are not authentic and transparent.

Every community in America has a critical universe of philanthropic families that provide financial support for the unique causes that form the social and cultural foundation of that community. In Kansas City for example, we have the Kaufmanns, the Helzbergs and the Halls among others. Each of these families is frequently called upon to provide their financial support and personal endorsement for our city’s most important causes. They do not make their decisions hastily. They give their support only after fully understanding what the specific impact of their donation will be.

While cause branding programs do not replace the work of the great philanthropists among us, there are important lessons to be learned from the careful approach they take before making decisions. Corporations involved in cause branding today and those contemplating it in the future should consider the same approach in developing and executing their programs. In particular, companies need to make sure their cause branding programs clearly and specifically communicate what the money being raised is going to accomplish.

It is critical today that each time a company asks a consumer to either purchase a product with proceeds going to a cause or make a straight donation to the cause, the consumer knows what their money will do. The more specific, the better it is for the company, the consumer and the success of the program. Now we know there is a slight difference in the amount of donation being made by our civic philanthropist and our consumer engaged by a cause branding program. But why should there be any difference in making the consumer feel as good about their donation as the philanthropist? That’s a trick question of course. There should be no difference.

Consider this partnership announced recently between Coca-Cola and Stater Bros. Supermarkets in southern California. The two companies, neither of which are a Barkley client, are combining efforts to plant up to 1 million tree seedlings in two California state parks. It is part of an overall effort by the California State Parks department called “Reforest California” to replant thousands of acres burned by wildfires in recent years.

The campaign runs through May at all 166 Stater Bros. stores. Money will flow from two sources. Customers will be asked at the checkout counter if they want to contribute and Coca-Cola will donate $1 for every $10 of purchases of its products sold at Stater Bros. stores. This is a simple and direct approach. Every customer knows their checkout donation or their purchase of Coke products will plant a tree in one of two state parks in their area.

Companies and nonprofits need to use this program as a guidepost. When you ask your customers to get engaged in your cause program, can you tell them exactly what their donation will do? If not, you need to stop and ask a simple question. What is our “tree seedling?”

 

Life of a beer bottle

Excuse me for following up a post about reckless teen driving with an ad for beer. But this ad for Heineken is priceless. McCann Erickson Dublin created it. Courtesy of Adrants.

Odds and ends

A few things that caught my attention traveling around the 'net.

Our friends over at Audeamus discuss the three trends in social entrepreneurship we can expect to see this year.

Triple Pundit starts a three part series on the continuing evolution of cause marketing. Are we really beginning to make mainstream the needed move from transactional cause marketing to something much more sustainable and transparent. Great interview with Sarah Endline who started a company that is already there called sweetriot.

Meanwhile, Jennifer Rice over at Fruitful shows us some more evidence that we consumers really will pay more for ethically produced products.

As usual, Seth Godin has a bit of wisdom he calls "Solving a different problem."

And over at Adrants you will find an Australian PSA on child abuse that is so different, it cannot help but be controversial. If it gets people talking about the problem, a PSA is doing its job.

Extra! Extra! Super Bowl Ads Released

Thanks to our friends at Fast Company, here are 20 Super Bowl ads and they say one of these might not even air.

Why wait until Sunday.

Super Bowl Ads - click here

I love Legos

I still remember my first set of Legos. I had always loved all the toys that allowed me to build things. Of course, it started with the usual simple set of building blocks. Then I graduated to Lincoln Logs and then on to Tinker Toys. But when you get your first set of Legos, it's like the graduate school of all the building toys. Legos required you to make a little plan before you began construction. Of course, being a kid, a plan only lasts so long.

From my marketing perch, it's fun to look at a brand like Legos that has successfully evolved over generations and remains wildly popular today. They understand that they have a concept that is timeless and yet they have made sure to keep up with the times through pop culture connections and understanding how to engage with today's computer savvy kids.

So it should be no surprise that Legos has found a way to connect its timeless product with today's technology. brand curve tells us about Legos' latest new twist that likely will impact retail displays going forward.

The display will allow customers to hold a boxed set of Legos up to it and see in 3-D what the contents will look like when assembled.  Amazing.  And if that isn't enough to convince us that Legos is truly one of the most enduring brands of all time then check out this digital camera!

I may have to go buy a set of Legos this weekend. Of course it will be for the grandkids.

March of Dimes

Today, one of America's great nonprofits starts a new and exciting chapter in its 70 year history.

Our client, the March of Dimes is launching its re-brand today.  All of us at Barkley are incredibly proud to be partners with them in this effort.  You can read about it all right here.

We want you to be able to experience the re-brand today and share it with your friends, families, post it on your blogs, etc.

There are so many new things going on with the March of Dimes and here is how you can experience the changes for yourself.

Visit marchofdimesbaby.com to experience our newly created campaign site – a fascinating site geared toward what “mom” or soon to be “mom” is wondering about.

Visit marchforbabies.org to experience the name change and re-brand of WalkAmerica to March for Babies.

Visit the March of Dimes YouTube site to watch the television PSAs, Shoes, Soccer and Dumbbell and forward to all of your friends.

See page 89 of O Magazine for our first print PSA placement for March for Babies..the first time MOD has been included in O.

Google March of Dimes and see all the great media placements that are starting to come in about the re-brand and March of Dimes offering new resources for pregnancy and baby health!

The March of Dimes solved polio; has sponsored Nobel Prize winning research; and is out there fighting everyday for stronger, healthier babies.  Every parent to be or parent in the world should turn to the March of Dimes to find out what they need to do to best ensure a healthy pregnancy and healthy baby.  And every grandparent, uncle, aunt, sister, brother, neighbor or friend of those parents to be and parents should check out the March of Dimes too.  It is a deserving and worthwhile cause.

Seeing RED

My email rang yesterday with a request from my former colleague Andy and I am going to do my best to answer.  The subject is Product Red and my opinion about it.  I have been observing and thinking about this campaign as it has unfolded and here is what I think.

I'm disappointed.  I'm a little mad.  But I think cause branding as a strategy will survive the excesses of Product Red.  I believe that because if you step back from the edge of the cliff and view the campaign, Product Red is not cause branding.  It is a product promotion campaign.  Granted, it is a big product promotion campaign executed on a global scale.  But cause branding it is not.

When the news broke this week that Product Red had spent $100 million on marketing and returned $18 million to the cause of fighting AIDS in Africa, it was like a slap in the face to all of us who believe in cause branding not just as a marketing tool, but as a real way to make change in the world.  The Better Business Bureau says charitable efforts must return a minimum of 65 percent of all proceeds to the cause to be considered successful.  Product Red has a ways to go to meet the BBB minimum.

Product Red is all the rage right now.  We know because clients we are working with are constantly referencing it with envy and admiration.  It's big and bold and it has certainly captured the attention of the world.  But thus far too much money has been spent for too little return and the celebrities involved have outshone the cause itself.  That is why I don't want this program confused with true cause branding efforts.

Perhaps Product Red is creating a new category for which we will need to come up with a new moniker.  Maybe we call it marketing cause instead of cause marketing.  That may seem like semantics, but the simple juxtaposition of the two words illustrates that there is a difference between selling products to benefit a cause and creating a program that educates, enlightens and raises money for solutions to a societal problem.

I'm sure there are people who will disagree with my opinion.  I may have even offended a potential client out there somewhere.  I'm comfortable with that.  I know from the great organizations that we are now working with that there is a great understanding of the power of true cause branding. 

What do all of you think of Product Red?  Let's keep this conversation going.  I have my opinion, but I believe this is an important discussion for us to have if we care about cause, public relations and branding.

So now Andy, all we have to do is figure out how you can possibly dislike the Beatles. 

As P&G goes.......

When the CMO of Procter & Gamble speaks, we should take note.  Especially now.  You can link to the entire story below and read it for yourself, but let me pull out an operative quote of interest from it:

"Mr. Stengel....used his platform to describe a different set of imperatives: the need for brands to be authentic, trustworthy and generous."

Stengel says the days of “telling and selling” are over and he began his presentation to AAAA this week showing his Second Life avatar visiting the Second Life office of P&G’s agency Leo Burnett.

If P&G is sounding and acting like this, we can assume there has been a seismic shift in the marketing world.  Creating authentic brands that care about the world, not just making an extra buck, is the world we live in today.

The full AdAge article is here.

Along those lines, what is to be made of the Product Red cause initiative.  Is it selling products successfully?  Is it raising money and awareness for an important cause?  I think the jury is still out on both of those questions.  Others think so too.  Witness this recent website called buylesscrap which suggests that people not buy the Red products and instead donate more money to the cause.

Authenticity and transparency are critical in branding today.  Same goes for cause programs.  Jim Stengel at P&G has it right - authentic; trustworthy and generous are what people want today.  How is your company doing?

Personal foul in the Red Zone

I understand the need for companies to protect their brands and proprietary products but I think the Heinz Company is offsides in asking the Red Gold  Company of Indiana to stop a charity program because of trademark infringement.  The brouhaha started a week ago or so - The Indianapolis Star tells the story for us.

"The H.J. Heinz Co. of Pittsburgh has filed a complaint with the Colts over the NFL team's partnership with ketchup and tomato products manufacturer Red Gold of Elwood, Ind., over some informal naming rights.

Red Gold says in a statement today that Heinz filed a cease-and-desist order with the Colts objecting to Red Gold being a sponsor of the Colts' "red zone" during team's time on offense. "Red zone" is a nickname for the defensive team's area of a football field inside the 20-yard-line.

For the past four seasons, Red Gold, which is an official Colts sponsor, has donated 136 tons of canned tomato products to Indianapolis area food pantries each time that the Colts have scored a touchdown from the “Red Gold Red Zone” during home games.

Red Gold officials today say Heinz filed a legal challenge claiming ownership of the term “red zone.”

Details of that legal complaint were not immediately available. The news release says that the “red zone” is not trademarked but became accepted vernacular of the game 22 years ago.

Heinz sponsors the “Heinz Red Zone” at Heinz Field, home of the Pittsburgh Steelers."

So Heinz says it's  a trademark infringement.  Red Gold and the Colts say no way.  The Red Gold Red Zone program in Indy has filled local food pantries with 136 tons of food over the last four years.  The Heinz effort appears just to be a branding program for themselves.

It always amazes me when these kind of David and Goliath scenarios crop up.  And they seem to do so with regularity.  Goliath just never seems to learn his lesson.  Heinz looks like the big bully and Red Gold, a regional brand, gets tons of awareness and good will they would never have paid to get.

Another reason to cheer for the Colts in the Super Bowl.