Archive for category General
If it happened to Kodak, could it happen to your brand?
Posted by Mike Paffenback in General on January 20, 2012
No matter how strong your brand, game-changing situations can develop. Just ask the good folks at Kodak, as that historic and much beloved brand continues to deal with unthinkably life-threatening challenges. Could it happen to your business or mine? Standing in the front door of a fresh 2012, it’s a good time to consider things like:
What if there was a dramatic, game-changing advancement looming from within or around your industry? A dramatic new innovation? An entirely new market approach that made yours obsolete? Is there? Could there possibly be?
What if your market position as the industry’s (insert your distinctive position here) weren’t completely bullet-proof? Is your brand, your intellectual property, your product or service, your primary point of distinction susceptible to being (easily) copied?
What if demand for your specific product or service dropped off dramatically? What would the conceivable reasons be? How would you respond?
If someone put a gun to your head and demanded you increase sales and/or market share this year — irregardless of market realities — what would you do, specifically?
Over the past few decades, Kodak has been hit by competitive challenges from Japan and by the dramatic emergence of digital technology which they actually pioneered — but couldn’t keep pace with. Serious game changers for a historically strong, globally dominant brand.
As you stare 2012 in the face, a complete 360 degree look might be in order.
Of course, there’s still that little thing of the Mayan calendar…
Is Traditional Advertising Dead?
Posted by Mike Paffenback in Brand Touchpoints, General on February 9, 2011
I grew up in a kinder, gentler advertising world: TV, radio, outdoor, newspaper, magazine, point-of-purchase. During that time, media options were relatively few and well-defined and the emphasis was on creatively engaging the prospect and breaking through the ad clutter. Advertising, in its purest definition, was the workhorse called on to create a favorable brand image, to generate interest in the product or service, and, ultimately, to drive more sales.
Today, the old rules of advertising haven’t just changed, they’ve been thrown out altogether as any newspaper ad salesman will tell you. The myriad of legitimate social media tools now available enable an almost one-on-one marketing relationship with prospects. Traditional media options still exist, though in much more fragmented forms which draw narrower (=targeted) audiences. Brand messaging can be much more specific to a precisely-defined audience. And, properly conveyed, those messages are organically pulled through the market with a sense of authenticity never before achieved through push forms of marketing. Creativity, once the driving force of all forms of advertising, is still imperative, as our collective minds have become more cynical and expectantly demanding (I’m talking to you, local car dealerships!). And metrics, once relegated to pre-testing and awareness/recall studies, have emerged as a new science all to themselves as marketers demand campaign performance accountability.
Today, brands aren’t built with the sledgehammer of advertising. They’re precision-crafted with the tools of brand communications: a broader, more encompassing set of brand interactions — touchpoints. Advertising, is one tool. But now, thanks largely to constantly evolving technology and a population willing to embrace that evolution, there are hundreds of other tools available, each with its own role in tapping an individual prospect on the shoulder for a chat.
Are you still using traditional advertising as your only go-to brand-building tool of choice? No matter what industry you’re in, it’s time to check out the new tools of brand communications.
Advertising is dead. Long live… Brand Communications!
Here’s Hoping (Your) Business Never Returns to Normal
Posted by Mike Paffenback in General on October 7, 2010
Everywhere, folks like you are working hard to get business back on track, pushing sales and revenue to pre-economy of mass destruction levels, or better. But for you, I sincerely hope business never returns to normal. Because there’s a better way for small to mid-sized businesses like yours to succeed than by being “normal.”
Normal is routine; following the curve; complacency. Normal is status quo; competing admirably; working for your fair share. Normal is expected. You can probably achieve a normal level of success by being… ummm, normal. But, is that what you really hope for?
The other day I posted here about Seth Godin’s book, “Purple Cow: Transform Your Business By Being Remarkable.” The interesting thing about being remarkable is this: if all businesses were truly remarkable, then being remarkable would no longer be remarkable. Being remarkable would be normal.
The good news for you (if you agree with the premise that standing out — in a good way — will lead to more customers and prospects noticing your brand) is that most businesses — including your competitors – aren’t remarkable; they’ve settled for remaining normal. But you, intrepid business visionary, shouldn’t.
Breaking the norm doesn’t have to be radical, expensive, complex, or even revolutionary. It might feel uncomfortable, even risky: that’s an indication you’re probably on the right track. But if you’re committed, passionate, and focused, the ends will more than justify the temporary sweaty palms you’ll experience.
Here’s some help to get you started:
If you could take 10-20 actions that would change your business — for better or worse – what would they be? Think about product changes, changes to the distribution and/or supplier channels, packaging, programs, customer service — everything and anything.
Now, push those 10-20 actions to the extremes in one direction, and then the extremes in the exact opposite direction. What if you doubled your prices? What if you cut them in half? What if you added something to the product? What if you took something away? What if you added more sales personnel? What if you sold direct online?
When you’ve settled on whatever it is that will change your norm, embrace it fully and completely as a key component of your brand identity and through each of your brand touchpoints.
Right now, as the economic pendulum seems to be swinging upwards once again, do something you normally wouldn’t: consider ways to ensure that your business never returns to normal.
Lehman Brothers Bankruptcy Fees: Are You Kidding Me?
Posted by Mike Paffenback in General on September 1, 2010
This has nothing to do with branding and brand touchpoints. It’s more of a rant.
Interesting article in the September 6th print edition of Fortune Magazine about former Lehman Brothers CEO Dick Fuld. The article about Fuld was interesting enough, but the sidebar about the Lehman bankruptcy fees being racked up floored me: $918,000,000 paid so far to 30 law firms, advisers, banks, and consulting firms to settle the mess. Nearly $1 billion, and (presumably) counting!
It amazes me how these firms are assured of getting paid, unlike the many good-faith creditors involved who’ll likely get zilch or less. The amounts are astronomical ($212,000,000 alone paid to Weil Gotshal, lead bankruptcy attorney) given what they’re trying to do which is… what? Ensure all the creditors get paid back? Ha!
I’ve seen it many times before, having been an unsecured creditor (like most of us in business are) in other banckruptcies and getting nadda. The logic of it all sickens me: the court appoints a bankruptcy team to secure as much cash as possible in order that creditor claims can be settled. I assume because these bankruptcy professionals are highly skilled (at what?), the court guarantees they’ll be paid handsomely. In fact, they’re the only folks who are absolutely sure to be paid. Yes, secured creditors will get something, but most likely not their 100 percent, unlike the bankruptcy team. Then, as if anything would be left, the unsecured creditors will get their cents on the dollar.
It’s an imperfect system at best, and something else at worst. But it is the system.
I’m in the wrong business.
Branding Is Like Flying A Kite
Posted by Mike Paffenback in General on August 19, 2010
To fly high, a kite must constantly fight against the wind.
Not sure who to attribute that quote to, but I like it. It pertains to life, to business, and to branding. A constant, difficult battle, with the goal of flying higher.
Onwards and upwards, folks.