Citizen Brand

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.

The age of consumer philanthropy

As we prepare to give thanks in America this weekend, retailers are preparing for the beginning of their make it or break it time of the year. Tis the season to shop 'til you drop and if enough of us don't, then there will be a lot of slashing of prices and wrists in store aisles everywhere.

But let us remember it is the season of thanks and hope and charity as well. And as those of us involved in the cause arena know, the worlds of commerce and charity are colliding. Here is a great point of view from Tom Watson via the the Huffington Post.  (Not that Tom Watson golfers.)

If you don't feel like linking, read this excerpt which isn't news to us in the choir, but there are still people who need to hear this:

".....philanthropies and charities are quite naturally spending more of budgets on marketing. Brand-building is growing in importance, as is long-term cultivation and donor loyalty. And increasingly, partnerships with consumer product companies can open new paths to funds. For non profits, cause marketing brings more than money, after all - it brings exposure.

On the other side, there are companies that genuinely have a a mission to change the world, that clearly buy into the notion of doing well while doing good. But others are driven by a purer market motivation. As their own marketers understand that the strength of the brand in some way hinges on public perception of "doing good," they're looking for ways to harness the philanthropic impulse in American society. Buy my product, and help others. It's got a ring.

The problem sometimes lies in convincing shareholders; why are we giving away some of our profits, they rightly ask. Go to them with a pure message of changing the world, and they'll slam the board room door in your face. But pitch the notion of extending the brand, aligning the product with the growing world of consumer philanthropy - well, there you've got something, son. Let's tell sales about this right away. According to the IEG Sponsorship Report, American companies spent nearly $1 billion on cause related marketing campaigns in 2004."

The train is leaving the station.  Is your company going to be on it?

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Staying inside the box

We are fortunate at our company to have Ernie Schenck as an outside member of our board of directors.  For those of you who don't know Ernie, he is one of those advertising guru types.  He would appreciate the use of the word types.

I had the opportunity to spend some quality time with Ernie earlier this year driving to an off site board meeting.  He had just finished a book that is about to be published called The Houdini Solution.  In it, Ernie takes the long held notion of thinking outside the box and turns it on its head.  Hence the title of the book. 

You might recall one of Houdini's most famous escapes involved being chained, roped and otherwise tied up inside a big chest and heaved into a deep body of water.  (I can't remember if it was a lake, river or ocean.  Anyone?)

The point of Ernie's book is incredibly interesting.  Instead of always "pushing the envelope" or "thinking outside the box" - what if we take an idea and go inward with it and work it so hard and drill down so deep that we find just as many, if not more, insights and opportunities to move a brand forward.  That was my take away from our conversation anyway.  I'm anxious to read the book.

Ernie has a great blog called Ernie Schenck Calls This Advertising.  He recently posted one of his book's chapters.  Also, here is another great post he did that tells us why the chaos theory can teach us much about the marketing environment today.

Enjoy.  And here is a shameless plug for Ernie's book.  Go buy it starting September 15.

The Cause Generation

If you are between the ages of 18 and 30, then it is likely you are part of the generation that will tip the balance in moving cause and corporate social responsibility from a nice to have in business to business as usual.

Proof of this comes from the 5th Annual College Explorer Study sponsored by Alloy Media + Marketing and conducted by Harris Interactive.

Calling all brands.  Are you paying attention?

Cause is Growing

Investment in cause programs will increase more than 20 percent this year breaking the $1.3 billion mark.  That according to IEG, Inc.  Cause branding is now the fastest growing segment in the entire sponsorship arena.  Sponsorship on the whole will grow a little more than 10 percent this year.

What does this mean?  It's real simple.  More and more companies are realizing they can make better and more real connections with their customers if they are doing something to help society.  As sports sponsorships see another year of decline, it is cause branding that is picking up the slack.

As my fellow cause colleague at Selfish Giving  says: 

"If you're a retailer and don't believe me, test it out for yourself.  At one register, ask your shoppers if they can donate a dollar to help a poor, sick child.  At a second, ask them if they could spare a dollar so you can flash your company name on the jumbotron at Fenway.  Believe me, just because New Englanders love the Red Sox doesn't mean they don't think like Yankees."

Want to learn more about cause branding?  Download our white paper on the topic at www.beappr.com.

Have a great Fourth of July.  I'm heading to San Diego for a few days of R & R but will try to stay in touch.

Talking to Customers

One key attribute of a Citizen Brand is open communication with everyone inside or outside the organization. Southwest Airlines is one of my favorite brands and it is a company that has always been open in all of its communications.

Right now, for example, Southwest has been in the news regarding a potential change in their open seating policy.  If you have never flown Southwest Airlines, then you may not know that there are no assigned seats.  You board in three groups - A, B and C - and you take whatever seat you want when you get on the plane.  It has become part of the Southwest culture and an important part of their ability to operate more efficiently than other airlines.

Not everyone likes it of course.  In fact, some people will avoid flying Southwest just because there are no assigned seats.  I personally like it.  But the fact that there are customers who don't means Southwest has to listen.

So what do they do about it?  Do they just suddenly change their policy and then try to spin some kind of announcement to make it sound good?  No, they don't.  Instead, the CEO of Southwest is discussing the issue on the Southwest blog.  There has been no decision made, yet here is the CEO talking direct with customers about the issue and its pros and cons.  Refreshing.

Too bad it seems refreshing instead of being the norm in business communications.

More on this at Andy's blog.

The best chair ever made

It may be the perfect combination of form and function ever produced - the Eames Chair.

It celebrates 50 years of exuding both comfort and style.  The Chicago Tribune tells the story.

 

I am the proud owner of an Eames Chair and the truth is that I love to both sit in it and look at it. 

If only more products were produced with the care and insight that produced the amazing Eames Chair.  Happy 50th birthday!

Mowing the lawn

Today's New York Times points us to a company that has a great opportunity to become a true Citizen Brand.  Briggs & Stratton, one of America's oldest brands and the longtime leader in the manufacturing of small engines, is fighting attempts to reduce engine emissions.  And if you think a lawn mower engine is not a problem, consider this fact from the Times article:

Gallon for gallon — or, given the size of lawnmower tanks, quart for quart — the 2006 lawn mower engines contribute 93 times more smog-forming emissions than 2006 cars, according to the California Air Resources Board.

The issue started in California where you might have heard that smog can be a problem.  The EPA is now moving toward a national limit on small engine emissions.  So this train looks like it is on the track.

So how can Briggs & Stratton become a model Citizen Brand?  The company says if they have to conform to these new emission standards that they will have to move jobs overseas.  That has become a tired and worn out excuse in my opinion.  Briggs & Stratton could in one move, become the new model for American companies that want to do what is right on all fronts:  improve the environment and keep jobs in America.

So what do you say Briggs & Stratton?  Some of your smaller competitors are finding ways to produce fewer emissions.  You are the category leader.  Show us your stuff.

Or people might start buying this product.

Branding 101

Fast Company asked brand managers for some of the most emotionally connected brands around to tell us why their brands work.  Good, easy read with valuable lessons for us all.