Accenture and AT&T: Delivered.
NEW YORK, Oct. 3, 2003 A new tag line, “High Performance Delivered,” succeeds the company’s “Innovation Delivered” tag line that was part of the company’s “I am your idea” ad campaign introduced in February 2002.
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December 29, 2005 - "This is the most ambitious and aggressive campaign in the history of either company," said Wendy Clark, vice president of advertising at AT&T. "What we're saying is not only do we have a solution, we can deliver it."
I'm not sure if this was deliberate or not. If it is, I don't get it.
If it is not, how could something like that happen when you have the resources these companies have?
UPDATE: SYNYGY, "Synygy, an authority on sales performance management, is the largest provider of solutions for
solving problems related to the management of sales compensation plans"
"Performance defined. Results Delivered"
What does this say to you?
To me this says: “Our first concern is our newspaper getting a scoop", where there first concern should be me, the reader. It is not that they ask for photo's, it is that they lead with it, in bold letters.
If this was a tabloid, it’s what you would expect. But The Age’s brand position in Australia is as one of the leading, quality broadsheets.
The reason I am posting about this is because it illustrates something about what subtle messages about a brand can do. Looking from the inside, I doubt that people at The Age view this as a big issue. (If anyone from The Age reads this, correct me if I’m wrong). After all, it’s a competitive world. They’ve got to get results. Everyone else is doing it.
For me, this is where a brand gets damaged. The big, obvious brand clangers get dealt with. It is the small, innocuous messages that don’t get picked up and that can slowly erode a brand position.
Jack Trout on CEO’s – via Branding Strategy Insider
Derrick Daye from Branding Strategy Insider met with Jack Trout, the marketer who developed the classic "Positioning" concept with his co-author Al Ries. It's an interesting read, and this is one of the thoughts Jack shared with Derrick:
Not enough CEO’s are intimately involved in the marketing process. They are the ones usually failing.
He has met more CEO's than I have, but could it also be that the CEO's he refers to consider "the marketing process" as a tactical activity? Do they see marketing as advertising, selling and PR rather than building a valuable brand?
I would argue that most CEOs are intimately involved in the marketing process, but they probably wouldn't call it that.
When they make fundamental marketing decisions like going into a new market, acquiring a new company or developing a new product, they involve technical and financial people, but not too often marketers, because marketers only come in when it is time to sell and promote. Yet as the representative of their customers, marketers should be very much involved.
Maybe the issue therefore is not that CEO's are not intimately involved in marketing, but that that they could involve marketers more in marketing.
Great B2B Marketing resource
If you're business is B2B, you should read this blog, "modern b2b marketing" by Jon Miller from Marketo. It's a good mix of practical tips, great links to other resources and strategic thinking on what makes B2B work. Highly recommended.
His link posts are a great B2B resource; a bit of a treasure trove.
Google; brand numero uno and worth $66 Billion
Google beats Microsoft, Coke in the brand stakes | CNet
For some, brand is still something esoteric, but there is nothing esoteric about US$66 Billion. That is more than half of its market value of $110 Billion...
I won't bore you with the way they calculated the $66 Billion, but there are a couple of quotes that bring it home nicely:
- "Google is an absolutely phenomenal brand in the sense that it is very clear what it stands for and it has perceived leadership and innovation," Peter Walshe, global brands director at Millward Brown Optimor, told Silicon.com.
- David Winer notes: "Now, if you stopped a man or woman in the street and asked what Google means, what would they say? I don't know, but I suspect they would say "The Internet."
Simple, but powerful.
Good, but not as good as you could be
I just watched a short video introduction by my new blogging friend Mike Wagner from Ownyourbrand. Mike talks about how in his experience many business leaders don't have a clear answer to the question "What is your brand?".
He then does a nice job outlining why it is important for business leaders to be able to answer that question.
Mike thinks that understanding what your brand is, is important. I do to. So do a whole lot of other marketing and non-marketing types. And yes, there is plenty of experience and science to back up the argument that it is.
However, for every one of us, there are probably 10 people who can't see the importance or urgency at all. If my experience is anything to go by, they are in particular leaders of successful businesses who are happy with the growth they enjoy. They don't feel any pain, so they don't feel a need to change.
I think that Mike's message will resonate with two types of people:
- people who know their business is in trouble and they need to change, and
- people who know their business is good, but not as good as they could be. Or as they want them to be
Is there another group I've missed? Let me know what you think.
On, off, below, above…”line” marketing is dead
The old marketing (read advertising) paradigm thinks along lines:
Above the line – broadcast advertising, tv, print etc
Below the line – direct mail, one-to-one marketing, CRM
Online – any internet driven marketing activity or structure
Off-line – any marketing activity that is not using the internet
Its a redundant idea.
Customers see no lines. They don’t care. They are not aware. They simply want to have a good offer of a relevant product or service. They want to deal with you in whatever way they choose.
There is no "online" brand strategy and "off-line" brand strategy. There is only a brand strategy. Well, you hope there is.
30 seconds between success and failure
Rands In Repose: A Glimpse and a Hook
On the surface, this post about writing good resumes has little to do with marketing or branding. But it does. A seasoned hiring manager gives us a crisp overview of how he forms his opinion of an applicant in "the first 30 seconds".
That's not a lot different from the amount of time we're likely to get from our prospective customers, now that time is the scarcest commodity
A discussion on branding on BlogTalk Radio
Yesterday I participated in a round table discussion with some great people talking about brands and branding. It took place on BlogTalkRadio; the people involved were:
Wayne Hulbert, from blogbusinessworld who hosted the show, Mike Wagner - ownyourbrand, Valeria Maltoni - conversationagent, Derrick Daye - brandingstrategyinsider, John Moore - brandautopsy, Drew McLellan - drewsmarketingminute and Mike Sansone - converstations
I've never personally met any of the contributors, but I know them from their blogs. Here we are, having a round table discussion with people from the US, Canada and Australia, people who have never met (well, some may have) broadcasting a radio show globally. I'm still amazed how we do things now that you wouldn't have imagined possible ten years ago.
To spice things up, we probably needed a little more controversy, but there was a lot of agreement on some of the key aspects of building brands in todays environment. In particular:
Don't confuse your brand with the brand image - a logo is not a brand, nor is a name. I think it was Drew who said (loosely) a brand name is an empy vessel; you give it meaning by what you do for your customers. Same goes for a logo.
Be brave and make choices about who it is you develop the brand around - choose a niche and really understand what makes that niche tick; the greatest mistake is to be all things to all people. The world is simply too competitive for "me-too" brands.
Take the time to understand your competition - you can't differentiate without looking at competitors
Words matter - What you say and how you say it have a great impact on the perception that people have of your brand, so it's worth taking the time to articulate it carefully.
If you like to listen to it,here it is: BlogTalkRadio
“The cool change is here”
Here in Melbourne, Australia something very special happens after a spell of extreme hot weather (it get's over 100 Fahrenheit or 40Celsius); a sudden, immediate cool change.
The wind changes from the north (desert wind) to the south (Antarctic) and in minutes everything changes. In an instant the temperature drops by as much as 15C/60F. You open all the windows, you stand outside and soak up the fresh air or the rain,whatever comes first. You immediately feel better, happier, relaxed. It is remarkable.
I think that is what a great brand should do. Instantly make you forget what your experience was just before. Give you relief from the pain that is dealing with bad brands, too much choice, from the discomfort of choosing between "much of a muchness".
A cool change is what you want.
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