Corporate Eye

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Archives for 2008

Break Through Branding Clutter

Does your brand stand out in the crowded marketplace?  Does your brand message stand out from the myriad of messages that clutter consumers’ minds each day?  In order to ensure your brand is noticed and remembered amidst the clutter, you have to be certain that it stands for something specific.  In other words, it needs to offer a unique value proposition.

Truth be told, I dislike the buzz phrase “unique value proposition” because I think it’s overused.  However, I’m using it here since it actually does apply.  What makes your brand unique and what makes it distinctly different from other brands available to consumers?  What makes your message more important than all the other messages customers hear? [Read more…] about Break Through Branding Clutter

Twitter: Intel takes on a new recruitment agency

How about this for a great new way of seeking a new hire?

Intel use TwitterIntel

Yesterday Intel put their first job up on their Twitter account JobsatIntel. If you were looking for someone with an interest in the web, whether technical or design, or someone interested in social networking, or even just someone who is likely to be au fait with the latest tools and feeds, you couldn’t do better than to post a mini-ad on Twitter.

Once here, it is likely to be picked up and passed around to people working in, or with an interest in, this area. This job is for a Graphics Validation Engineer. I don’t know what the job entails, but this may be the quickest way of getting the job description under the nose of someone suitable.

That is because it is quick and free, it capitalises on people’s willingness to do a favour for a friend (especially at no cost) and pass this on to them if they think it relevant, and it puts the job ad where the target market is – on the web, and well-connected.

I notice that Intel’s Twitter account has 22 people signed up to receive their Tweets, even though it has only been there a day. That is 22 people already who may act as recruiting agents on Intel’s behalf, at no cost.

You’ve got to love Intel’s ability to use the web to their advantage.

Mozilla Firefox Sets Guinness World Record

On June 2nd, I published a post called Mozilla’s Firefox as a Relationship Brand where I discussed how Firefox has become a perfect example of a brand whose success relies heavily on its relationship with loyal customers.  I also mentioned that Mozilla was leveraging that relationship with its customers with Firefox 3 Download Day where the company asked customers to help set a Guinness World Record for the most downloads of a software program within 24 hours.  The official results are in and a new world record was, in fact, set. 

Can you guess how many downloads of Firefox 3 occurred between 18:16 UTC on June 17, 2008 to 18:16 UTC on June 18, 2008? [Read more…] about Mozilla Firefox Sets Guinness World Record

Can Your Brand Be Replaced?

Last week, I asked Does Your Brand Matter? where I talked about the tombstone test and asked you to analyze your brand and determine whether anyone would care if your brand disappeared tomorrow.  Today, I have another extension of that test with this question:

If you replaced your logo on your advertising, marketing materials, website, etc. with your competitor’s logo, would the message still apply for that other company?

This test is meant to show you whether your messages (particularly your brand messages) are too generic.  If another company’s logo could sit on your ad and the message would still work perfectly, then your brand message is not unique enough.

An important part of branding is differentiating your business or product from the myriad of others available on the marketplace and to make your brand stand out from the crowd.  If your message would work just as well with another company’s name and logo attached to it, then you need to go back to the drawing board.

Talk to your best customers and find out what it is about your brand that makes them choose it over all others.  That’s the message you want to communicate, and that’s the message that will differentiate your brand.

Kissing and Ketchup Don’t Mix

Heinz’s Controversial Ad (video)

At least, that’s what the American Family Association had to say about a Heinz ad that was featured in the UK. It seems that the ad featured a homosexual family with a homosexual couple sharing a kiss as the male part of the union left for work. The AFA Christian group lodged several complaints that had the computer systems bogged down for hours at the Heinz headquarters. They were greatly offended and asked for not only the immediate removal of the ad but also for an apology to customers. Was this a good idea gone bad?

It seems that perhaps Heinz smeared it’s good name with the folks at the American Family Association, but quickly offered an apology with promises to never run the ad again. It’s almost like a little kid who got caught raiding the cookie jar – that unbelievably wide-eyed look as if they didn’t notice that anyone was looking. Is the apology too little too late, or was this a strategic effort to increase their sales? The ad featured a new product line that Heinz is introducing, so perhaps they wanted as much exposure for this new product as they could get. Although the ad has not run in any US outlets, the Christian group’s ties and interests ran deep enough that the UK media for Heinz took note. What were they thinking?

The media has ties to several varied special interest groups who want to get their message out and sensitize certain niche audiences. They use several media outlets to achieve this, including television, radio and print materials. They approach their message from certain angles and usually settle on one that will create buzz and get them lots of attention. While everyone doesn’t always agree or think the same on certain issues, the media has a financial need to cater to what their customers want and what the majority of their customers are seeking. This doesn’t always fare too well with the general population, as is the case in this news story, but being aligned with proper or “right” thinking isn’t always what the media seeks to do. Since right thinking is definitely relative thinking, it would stand to reason that they felt “right” in their choice to make and run this ad in its context.

Heinz will definitely garner attention from this use of advertising. How can they not? Whether they get new customers, lose faithful ones or just get a chuckle from it, they have definitely received attention. If nothing else, folks will want to try this new product just to see if it was really good enough for Heinz to put themselves on the firing line like they did. And, if it was worth it, perhaps other companies will take note and start producing “edgy” ads in an effort to reach customers. All in all, this was definitely a strategic move made by a company who carries a household name with their product alignment. Time will tell whether or not it was worth it.

Ketchup anyone?
 

Watch What You Say: Words Mean Things

The saying. “words mean things” goes beyond the general idea of the simple dictionary meaning of words. Words carry weight, intent, meaning and attitude. The “way” words are spoken are just as important as the words that are chosen. When choosing what words to use, in what context and to what audiences, media outlets should be careful in selecting words that can enlighten, entertain or even harm their readers.

The media has a huge responsibility when reporting the news, although they may often think that they do not. The public and private sectors rely somewhat heavily on what the media has to report, how they report it, what new evidence that they have found regarding products or even what the latest corporate hush-hush gossip is all about. The bottom line is although people are responsible for what they choose to believe, the media is responsible for reporting accurate and genuine facts. [Read more…] about Watch What You Say: Words Mean Things