October, 2009

Branding — No Comments
11
Oct 09

McDonalds and the Louvre: McLouvre?

Next time you visit the Mona Lisa, would you want to get a whiff of greasy fries? McDonalds recently announced it is going to set-up shop in the Louvre. Though McDonalds will try to create a high-end atmosphere, it is a true clash of brands: prestigious art museum meets low-grade, homogeneous fast-food.

From a branding standpoint, this move is not one that will benefit the Louvre. By introducing cheap fast food to a museum known for its class and beauty, ultimately, it will lose charm and appeal. It’s about keeping on-brand.

Consider Isaac Mizrahi’s decision to feature his designs in Target. Yes, Target is a national chain. However, of the national chains, Target is most on-brand for Mizrahi. If the high-end designer were to be featured in Wal-Mart, he would be making a “McLouvre.”

When considering cross promotions and brand affiliations it is crucial to make sure it’s on-brand. When you think of Target, it’s higher end than market competitors, however when you think of the Louvre, the last restaurant that would come to mind would be McDonalds. A brand clash might help one brand (i.e. McDonalds), but could be to the detriment of the other (i.e. the Louvre).

Marketing — No Comments
10
Oct 09

Full Disclosure: FTC and Blogger Endorsements

In an interview, would you ever tell your potential boss you want “to get paid as much as possible?” Believe it or not, some people do. Yes, everyone would like to be compensated fairly. However, fair pay is implied. Who wants to be underpaid?

If it were up to the FTC, everyone would have to say they wanted to get paid as much as possible. Well, maybe not to that extend, but it is that thinking that is driving new regulations concerning disclosure rules for bloggers. This new regulation would force bloggers fully-disclose their affiliations with companies with whom they write about.

Already, the blogosphere is driven by honesty and transparency. Consider Chris Brogan’s experiment with content endorsing. Though he fully disclosed that he was paid to write a blog post for Kmart, the blogosphere was up in arms.

It comes down to: the FTC is trying to solve a problem that does not exist. Any spammers are very easy to detect and any brand that endorses deceptful practices stands to lose value. It’s like the worn-out maxim: if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.

Business Development — No Comments
9
Oct 09

How to be Interesting with Baking Soda and Crayons

faur_finalWhat do crayons and baking soda have in common? Or, what does Arm & Hammer have in common with artist Christian Faur?

Christian Faur is known for his use of Crayola crayons to make stunning art–not in the traditional sense, however. No paper is involved. Faur uses the blunt end of many crayons to make images; much like digital images are made of pixels.

Let’s take a look at baking soda now. Baking soda is an essential ingredient in many baking recipes. For Arm & Hammer, the baker market was limited. A & H asked, how can we sell more baking soda? The absorbing nature of baking soda sparked an idea: it’s a deodorizer! Put A & H in the refrigerator to neutralize those foul odors. Brilliant, million-dollar idea.

Arm & Hammer and Christian Faur both took an everyday product and mashed it together with creativity and innovative thinking to create a whole new product. Crayons are not only for drawing, nor is baking soda just for baking. It is taking that creative leap that can make new products out of old ones.

Consider the uses of your product, service or talents. How can they be stretched in new directions?

Photo by Kasey Albano

Leadership — 1 Comment
8
Oct 09

Narrating Your Company’s Future

Most quality programming gets pushed aside for subpar, “WipeOut” type shows. Arrested Development is one of those quality shows that was canceled to make room for “the next big thing.” Spending hours watching a show I never enjoyed while it was on air, in the early episodes, I noticed the narrator addresses himself.

This started my thinking about the relationship between narrators and CEOs. The typical role of a narrator is to fill-in as an omniscient character–the all-knowing glue that holds the show together. A CEO has a similar responsibility. Knowing the market and your company within it are essential for CEOs to effectively create and follow their strategic vision.

CEOs set the tone for the entire company, internally and externally. The characters (employees) in the show (company) provide most of the entertainment, while the narrator (CEO) updates the audience on the intricacies of the plot line (internal goings on).

If your employees are anything like the characters in Arrested Development, surely you’re on the brink of disaster. However, just as in a TV show, your employees are the characters entertaining 90% of your clients / consumers. Having a pulse on that 90% of “entertainment” is essential for you to narrate the company. If you’re clueless about the 90% of client / employee interaction, then you’re no longer narrating your company–you’re just an invisible character.

Branding — 1 Comment
7
Oct 09

The Crow Paradox and Consumer Attitudes

NPR recently reported on the crow paradox. Studies have shown, crows can recognize and remember individual humans for years, while humans have a tough time differentiating one black bird from the next.

Interestingly, if you upset one crow, they will caw–cuing another nearby bird to caw and soon the entire flock is mad at you. It’s viral. Not only will they be mad at you then, but when they see you across town, they’ll caw and soon it’s turned into the G version of Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds.

The crow paradox could not be more relevant than in the digital age.

When your brand leaves an impression on a consumer, whether it’s good or bad, they will “caw” and let their friends know, either through word-of-mouth or social media. Particularly when something is bad, they can blast their message to hundreds of people, depending on their community influence.

If others agree, they’ll jump on the wagon, creating a banned group of unhappy consumers. And as your brand stretches into the digital space, every logo or mention of your brand they see, they will be reminded of how much they don’t like you.

Before that one person infects a group of people with negativity about your brand, recognize their dissatisfaction and try to rectify it. That means being quick on your toes; being responsive. The more time it takes for you to rectify the situation, the less control you have over the consumers attitude towards your brand.

Leadership — 2 Comments
6
Oct 09

Microwave VS Boiled Communications

Lately, I’ve been enjoying a lot of 8-minute microwave potatoes. I’ve always enjoyed baked, but the microwave is so much more convenient.

In fact, I’ve been using the microwave for many more foods since my love for microwaved spuds started. Broccoli, carrots, mixed veggies are among many of the microwave side dishes I enjoy. Enjoy… as in I enjoy all the free time it gives me to focus on other things. Not the taste, of course. I’ve always enjoyed boiled veggies for their flavor.

My microwave veggies are about convenience without quality of taste, and boiled veggies are about more effort and yumminess. In the communications world, e-mails are about convenience, right? You can blast an e-mail to everyone in the company, at the sacrifice of the intricacies of a person-to-person interaction. And the person-to-person interaction is like boiled veggies–they take longer, but there is a value there that’s not in e-mail / microwave communications.

In the fast-paced digital world we live in, convenience is overshadowing quality. As our schedules get increasingly tighter, there is a feeling of complacency and efficiency in communications. E-mails are increasingly used in the business world, and can create a discord and misunderstanding between management and employees.

It’s about being appropriate, not convenient. If you’re communicating something important to your team, the microwave approach is not the best option. Just as I would never let guests eat my microwave broccoli, it is unwise to communicate important information via e-mail. Understanding digital etiquette is essential to cultivate effective company communications.

Leadership — No Comments
5
Oct 09

The Waterslide and the Importance of Big Risk

Recently, I stumbled upon this video of a kid rocketing off an enormous waterslide and into a small pool. Probably not real, of course, but it brings up a valuable point: people care about big risk.

The greater the risk, the greater the reward. Conversely, the greater the risk, the greater the failure. Going down a typical waterslide is not worth watching on YouTube, but landing in a kiddy pool from a waterslide / ramp a hundred yards away is worth watching.

The video above is worth talking about because of the incredible risk involved. No one cares about no risk. Everyone can do no risk. It’s those that have the guts to sail through the air and into the kiddy pool a hundred yards away that people care about.

All great brands take significant risks. Think Nike or Apple. Risk-taking brands are the innovators constantly pushing against the status quo and reap the greatest rewards. Nike has taken some of the biggest risks in advertising and they are one of the most iconic brands out there.

Breaking the cast is threaded through all luminaries. Take Babe Ruth for example. He struck out more than he could hit out of the ballpark, but it was his ability to take the risk of always swinging heavy that made him a legend.

I wouldn’t be writing about this waterslide video, Apple, Nike or Babe Ruth if they didn’t take big risks. So next time you do launch a new product, service, campaign or give a presentation or anything else ask yourself, is this incredible?

Business Development — No Comments
4
Oct 09

Testing Your Chicken Piccata

Excited to try out my new meat mallet (?), I planned to cook chicken piccata. I’m not a great cook, but an aspiring one. I pounded out the chicken, then cooked it in a pan with white wine. As the wine boiled down, I added more until the chicken was cooked.

Though the breaded outside was more like a doughy crumbling shell, it didn’t look terrible. My expectations were very low for my chicken piccata. Since it was my first time making it and stretch outside of my skill level, what could I expect?

As I sat down eat my somewhat mangled looking piece of chicken, I began to feel like maybe I wasn’t that bad of a chef after all. At least it was in one piece. After I took a bite, my confidence dissolved and was replaced by nausea. Yes, I managed to cook chicken that tasted like death. I settled on peas and rice and tossed the chicken.

Unfortunately, some products and services are like my chicken piccata–no one did a taste test before they were sold on it. Had I spent a minute to check the sauce to make sure it wasn’t too acidic, I could have pulled it off. Unfortunately for me, I was too rushed and busy with washing the dishes and making the rest of the meal. I trusted that everything would go to plan.

Before an important project, whether it’s a new product or ad campaign, test the waters. Gaining some perspective in the near-term will save you from regretting your blind faith in the long-term.

Fortunately for me and the rest of the world, I am not a restaurant chef. There was only the sacrifice of having a vegetarian dinner. For entrepreneurs and industry professionals, much more is at stake. It is your career, reputation and money. Just because you might be rushed or pre-occupied doesn’t mean you would want to leave all of that up to chance, would you?

Leadership — No Comments
3
Oct 09

Just Because You’re Number One, Doesn’t Mean People Care

When we typically think of number one, maybe the first finisher in a race comes to mind. (Think Nike.) But what does it mean to be number one? At a high level, it’s about relevance. Relevance is critical. If what you’re doing is not relevant to a community, who is going to care? People care about football, that’s why being the best quarterback in town matters. However the fastest basket weaver in the class might raise a few eyebrows but no one really cares—it’s not relevant to a larger community.

When developing your business, ensure there is an opportunity for success. Who is interested in your category? No one is interested in a vacuum with a clock radio, but they will be if the vacuum lasts 20 years. The key is not to just be number one, but to be number one in a category people care about.

Business Development — No Comments
2
Oct 09

Preventing Power Outages

A toaster, air conditioner, coffee pot, computer and everything goes black. I’m still getting used to a new apartment building. It was formerly a hotel about a hundred years ago. When the electrical engineer designed the power grid, they did not count on supplying  the energy to all of my electrical devices.

It was rather funny because I’ve never maxed-out the power before–as I’ve always lived in updated apartments. I couldn’t figure out what was going on. Did I pay my electric bills? Was there a widespread outage earlier that morning? It took maintenance two seconds to solve my problem: restart the breakers.

Entrepreneurs face similar challenges. Press releases, social media, interviews, distribution, financials, business plans, marketing plans are some of the many tasks an emerging entrepreneur confront. Managing the chaos is challenging and exhausting.

Just as my toaster, air conditioner, coffee pot and computer burned-out my electrical supply, don’t let all of your responsibilities snuff-out your flame. It’s about being realistic. You cannot do everything at once, so prioritize and figure out what needs to be done and in what order. If you try to tackle everything at once, you’re going to have a power outage.

Consultants are a fantastic tool to help you gain perspective and prioritize. As they often have years of industry experience and know-how, they can take an objective look at where your goals should be and how you can get there.

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