Dave Frederick's Blog - Innovation | Ideation | Marketing | Technology

More Actionable Thoughts On Branding

2008-03-11T10:26:00.005-05:00

For some reason, I seem to be on this Branding wavelength. Two blog posts in row on Branding. Go figure. Perhaps its all the articles, meetings, and discussions on Branding I seem to be reading about or having lately. Regardless, as I sit on a plan traveling to the West Coast, I wanted to share some further thoughts around Branding. More importantly, I wanted to share a few of my time tested frameworks that you may find helpful or at least interesting.

As organizations try to build sustainable competitive advantage from a Brand or a Branding initiative position, I would recommend they apply the following fundamental questions of branding for your consideration.

UNDERSTANDING YOUR CUSTOMER TARGET: Branding is based on an irrational logic or emotion. In order to tap into this emotion, you must first understand your customer or target. What motivates them? What is their interests...today and tomorrow? What drives their emotion and experience?

BRAND POSITION: How do I become relevant. How do I get through the marketing and communications clutter and noise in the market place. I do I dynamically reach my customer.

BRAND LOYALTY: How do I lock in Brand Loyalty. How do I connect with my customer or target in a way that endears loyalty to my Brand? Remember that Branding is tied to an emotional experience. Loyalty is derived from the emotion connection or bond between your brand and the customer.

BRAND PROMISE: What does my brand stand for? What is it I am promising my customers or targets?

All of these questions require you to narrow your focus on what your brand will stand for. To help you further explore this I have put together a simple brand framework to help you answer these question. I call it the Brand”Able” Framework.

BRAND-”ABLE” FRAMEWORK

ATTENTION: What do you do to build attention? What are your customer targets looking for in your brand? What does it say? Who does it say it to? What is the experience you want them to have? What experience do they want to have?
BENEFIT: What is the benefit that the customer will have by purchasing and using your branded product or service? Simply - what’s the benefit to the customer?
LINK: How do you link your product or service to an experience that is enticing, appealing and/or beneficial to the customer.
EQUITY: How do you build equity in your Brand so that it endures. Think Nike, Coke, Sony, etc.

While not part of the Brand”Able” Framework, I would also suggest you also be culturally engaged and intellectually curious in regards to consumer targets. These two suggestions will help you better hit the mark and get more attention. Also remember, that what works for one demo, psycho or ethno graphic, may not work for all and in some cases be counter productive and damn right damaging to your Brand.

I know you have read this a thousand times in every Branding book and article that ever came out or will ever come out, but its true. Brands are not born, they are built. If built right they endure. Built wrong, they disappear forever. Great Brands are built by asking and understanding the following:. Know your brand champion. There is always a market sub-group that is passionate about the type of product or service you offer. Identify and engage them. They are your champion and can delivery tremendous ROM (return on marketing). Understand what role your Brand plays in their life. Why is it important to them? How do they use it? When do they use it? Have they adapted it which could lead you to new innovations through lead user innovation! Champion your brands point of difference. What’s unique about it? What’s own-able about it? Is the experience own-able? Understand your Brands key drivers.Find key touch points. Is it through the internet? Broadcast? Word of Mouth? Creative? Intellectual? Identify or create the key problems, then tell them where to get the solution.

Focus on one or two touch points in the market. Tell me in my language why your brand is important to me.
Once you have answered on know the answers to these types of questions you are ready for the next step. Defining your Brand Architecture. Of what I refer to as the Brad Identification Framework or BIF:

BIF

1: Ensure a common Brand strategy. Your brand is stronger if it has common elements.

2: Focus your Brand Initiative. Who? What? When? Where? How? What Medium?

3: Brand promise. Define in less than 5 words what your Brand Promise is.

4: Identify your Brand Target i.e. demographic

5: Identify what your Brand will delivery to the customer i.e. experience? information?

6: Where, how and when to place your Brand.

7: Understand your consumer.

8: Surround the consumer. Print, Web, Broadcast, Store, POP, Mobile, Digital Merchandising.

Finally, the last pillar of a successful and strong Brand strategy requires your planning out your demonstrable and quantitative objectives. This is where you would apply what I call the CPF - Campaign Planning Framework.

1: Define you campaign objectives.

2: Define your campaign and Brand ideas

3: Tough Point selection - Print, Billboard, Broadcast, etc.

4: Creative execution

5: Growth execution objectives -70/20/10. 70% Proven Brand Drivers - 20% Expand to connect - 10% Dedicated i.e. word of mouth/Brand Champions.

Between the BIF, CPF and Brand”Able” Framework’s, they should provide you with enough questions and action plans to hone your brand and execute your strategy. But like all advertising, consistency and continuity are critical to the realistic success of your initiative. Also, engaging in market research, psyco-graphics and social media outlets can also provide great insight into what all consumers are doing and thinking. Your job as a Brand innovator is to craft a creative, effective and sustainable Brand that delivers success for both your organization and the consumer.

-DF

A Few Actionable Thoughts On Branding

2008-02-22T12:10:00.011-06:00

We hear so much today about the power of Brands, how you need to be a category of one, your Brand needs to be sticky, you are a Brand or nothing, and on and on. What does this really mean and how will help you? No, this is not a Zen koan as much as it feels like one. How come a seemingly innocent question like this would be so hard to answer? Especially with all these Brand consultants, marketing guru's, agencies, pr firms, etc. Good question huh?

Well, let me first state before we get to far down the path that this posting is not the end all be all final word on Branding, but more of some actionable food for thought in which to actually do something productive around a Brand. There are literally thousands of books, courses, lectures and magazines about Branding. Probably some useful stuff in there. I encourage you to check it out. But this posting is down and dirty and actionable today. Something you can noodle on today and take action. So, where to start. Probably with the rules. The first and golden rule that all aspiring Brander's must know is what I call the 1st Principal of Brand Strategy - Branding is not a static constant. It is dynamic.

What does that really mean? That like all marketing activities, Branding is dynamic principle. Depending on your product or service, market, demographics, ethnographic's, position, etc. which all may change based on dynamic elements like market conditions, market shifts, market trends, evolving markets, product development, innovation, business model, customer buying trends, or business positioning adjustments and more. Its a dynamic world out there kids. Now, I know many of you are saying, doesn't that contradict the general premise of a Brand, the constant (static) impression, statement, feeling, emotion, experience, etc. of a product or service - picture Nike.

Sure it does. Which brings up my 2nd Principal of Brand Strategy - like all advertising, consistency, continuity and frequency ensure that your "Brand" or message is always in front of the consumer building familiarity and recognition.

Where this gets really interesting is applying these principles into the 21st Century digital age where the proliferation of marketing and communication mediums in which to expose your Brand is virtually unlimited. Its in this backdrop that I want to share a few nuggets of knowledge around creating, supporting and managing a Brand. As such, below you will find several interesting golden nuggets of Branding. They are as follows:

Branding is about soft power. Remember, its not the "hard things" - tangibles like bricks and mortar, equipment, inventories - that contribute the most to a company's value. Its the "soft things" - the Brand, IP, the company's reputation, ideas, consumer relationships, experiences, and alliances.
Branding and soft power effect us everyday because they influence how we feel about something. Emotions.
Branding is about emotion and experience. Few of us make the final decision to buy something after carefully testing and considering the merits and specs of the different Brands in the market even if its more expensive. People buy on the emotion and customer experience they have with your items. Think Apple and BMW. People buy as a result of how they feel about the item or how the item makes them feel.
To harness the real power of a Brand, you must leverage the power of soft power - strategy, innovation, tactics, images and rich media identity, words and verbal identity, viability and reputation. All of these things help attract people to your Brand and "experience" what it is you are trying to get them to experience or feel (emotion again) about your product and service.
Brand success depends on what other people think, feel and experience about your company. I wont get into here, but this is exactly where WOM (word of mouth) marketing strategies comes into play.
Branding is a strategic process that should be considered over the long haul and continually adjusted to maximize your position, customer experience and feeling.
Branding is the process of differentiating your product and services in the global market from the competition and taking the innovative steps in which to execute your brand strategy.
While Branding requires that your target your Brand to a targeted market, it is much harder to derive KPI's from because of the intangible nation- emotion- of a Brand vs. traditional marketing that can be analyzed, measured and sliced and diced to no end.
Brands win hands down over products and services. A branded item is viewed better than a generic counter part. Think iPOD vs. Creative Labs Zen. Brands are perceived (emotion again) as of higher quality and value. Brand's are in demand. They sell for a premium. Think pharmaceuticals.
Generic or weakly Branded items only compete on price - commodity. Powerful Brands create a premium, or perceived premium which at the register and check out line actually becomes a premium where your derive more revenue or better margins for your item.
In Branding, the number one thing to remember is, be different. Copying, while sometimes flattering, is imitation and imitation is generic. A commodity. B player. You want to be authentic or the consumer will see right through your genuine artificial Brand.

Something more to think about.

BRAND vs. PRODUCT/SERVICE

A Brand Is purchased - A Product/Services has to be sold
A Brand Creates an emotional bond - A Product/Service creates no emotional attachment.
A Brand has high visibility in the market - A Product/Service has low visibility
A Brand Is unique - A Product/Service is a commodity
A Brand endures through time and market conditions - A Product/Service becomes outdated
A Brand has a premium price - A Product/Service has a low price
A Brand creates buzz and excitement in the market - A Product/Service is must have vs. like to have commodity decision.
A Brand stays relevant throughout time (dynamic) - A Product/Service is static
A Brand is memorable (emotional attachment) - A Product/Service is forgettable.

Many company's even with powerful brands forget that Branding is more than your name, vibe, emotion, identity or image. Its everything you do to differentiate and market your goods, such as messaging, presentation, customer experience, communication and marketing tactics. Remember, a powerful Brand is a living breathing thing. If you don't aggressively feed it, take care of it, groom it, nurture and support it, it will die.

-DF

The Aristotelian Framework for Innovation

2007-10-13T15:29:00.000-05:00

The Aristotelian Framework for Innovation
Articulating, igniting and implementing an effective innovation framework

Today there are many books, theories, and concepts on innovation and the development of practical frameworks in which to develop innovative products, processes and solutions. However, most of these books, and theories really focus on what I refer to as post “prime” or adaptive innovation. They also focus on how to leverage those innovative concepts for maximum ROI - Return On Innovation. All very important topics. Especially the ROI part.

If this is your objective, let me save you a lot of time and recommend one of the best quantitative and qualitative approaches in driving innovative strategies on adaptive innovation. It is the use of Lead User Studies pioneered by MIT Prof. Eric Von Hipple, which in this authors opinion derives innovation primarily from the adaptive approach of innovation and product-service evolution which is ultimately derived by the actual user or consumer of the product and services.

As outlined in Van Hipple’s book, Democratizing Innovation, empirical research demonstrate that “users” of a product or service from 10 percent to nearly 40 percent engage in developing, modifying or applying in different ways, the product and services they consume. This naturally produces a result of innovation that can be reacted to by the producer of the originating product or service or even by a third party. In many cases, new products, services, “cottage” industries, user groups and associations form around the innovated adaptation of the originating product or service thus spawning new innovation and development. I refer to this as Adaptive Innovation.

Adaptive Innovation takes many forms, from the innovation of new products and services derived from an exiting or original product, service, material, compound, etc - “The Prime”, or from the action or reaction of “Lead Users”. This article primarily focuses on the process of innovation of the Prime utilizing Aristotelian principals and questions. Through this, I will give you a new dynamic framework in which to rationally apply an innovative process based on what I term the Aristotelian Framework for Innovation (AFI) . For those interested in the Lead User approach and study, I highly recommend Von Hipple’s book Democratizing Innovation available from MIT Press. However, we will focus on actually igniting the innovative process and providing a frame work in which to drive that innovation. The spark.

What did Aristotle know about innovation?

Its rather ironic that in the 21st century one finds a unique framework for innovation from the dynamic and thoughtful period of 384 - 322 BC. In particular, from one of the great masters, Aristotle, a man of incredible intellectual and creative power.
Aristotle more or less invented and formalized the rules of right reasoning, the beginnings of philosophical logic. More importantly and in direct relevance to the AFI, he was the first to study the nature of deduction, to say what it means for a proposition to follow necessity from premises, to identify and formalize different possible sorts of syllogism.
With the general notion of proof in hand, he formalized the relation between the evidence gathered by studying things in the world and coming to true conclusions about those things. In doing this, he did much more than point us in the direction of what we now recognize as science.
This alone would have been beyond impressive and earned him a large place in history, but his writings on logic and methodology constitute only a part of the Aristotelian corpus. Aristotle was just getting warmed up when he invented science.

So what does this have to do with the process of innovation?

Aristotle was the first to engage in the practice of distinguishing between different subject matters; recapitulating and considering a topic’s intellectual history and presence; explicitly identifying the standards of evidence, degrees of precision, questions, and so on proper to each. Aristotle not only invented whole disciplines, he invented the very notion of a discipline as such.

When looking at the process of innovation and the creation and application a powerful yet flexible frame work for the actual process of innovation, one can apply what I have come to refer to as an adaptation of Aristotle’s Four Questions of Cause which are the foundation of the AFI. By asking these fundamental questions, we begin to position our creativity and mind set to create. To innovate.

These being:

What sort of thing is it? Product? Service? Process? Material? (Formal Cause)
What is it made of or going to be made of? (Material Cause)
What brought it into being or initiated the changes that led to its being what it is? (Efficient Cause)
What is it for and who would want it? (Final Cause)

Aristotle denies that we really know a thing, even a natural object, until we know what it is for, what it aims at or does, who does it do it to, what is if made from and who needs it. This premise is problematic in the sense that sometimes, innovations happen by accident thus not allowing us to fully know what it is for, what it aims at or what is does. However, the original cause that created the “accident” happened for some predefined objective that was the birth of the innovation action - the birth of what I term, the Prime. The spark that led to the innovation.

Ironically, Aristotle maintains that knowledge of this world is possible without the recourse to a permanent realm of Forms. On the contrary, Forms or universals exist only in the things in this world, and knowledge and innovation consists not in the contemplation of Forms, but in getting one’s hands dirty, examining, experimenting, and dissecting and poking the things of this changing word, coming to know their causes and innovating things that are not yet part of this world. The golden question is how does one go about innovating something that is yet to be conceived? That is where the AFI comes into play.

To help answer this question we will break down Aristotle’s Four Questions of Cause and explore their application in the creative process of innovation. There is no real dedicated order in which these questions must be asked and explored. What’s important is you ask these questions.

Question 1 - What sort of thing is it? Product? Service? Process? Material? (Formal Cause)

It should be obvious that this is a very important question. You must determine what sort of thing it is going to be before you set out on your innovative journey. Is it a Process? New Product? New Service? New Technology? What are you setting out to innovate? By exploring this question, you will determine critical issues that will need to be addressed. Issues like context, resource planning, materials, permits, budget, etc. Not only is this a practical question, but one that lays the foundation for the other questions. As Diogenes of Apollonia once said, “Nothing can be produced out of nothing.” So ask, what sort of thing is it?

Question 2 - What is it made of or going to be made of? (Material Cause)

At face value this would also seem like another simple question to ponder. However, its actually another critical question to ask and one that is not easily answered. By asking this fundamental question, you start to lay out the details of your framework of innovation. Essentially, what is it you are setting out to do. You must first know where you are going to determine what you are going to innovate on to take your journey. Lets say for example you want to build a better boat which would have been determined in Question 1.

What are you going to build your boat out of? Fiberglass, Wood? Oak? Teak? Hybrid materials? Where are you going to take your boat? Lakes? Bays? Open Blue Water? Is it All Weather? Build for speed? Stability? Is it sail powered? Will it need engine’s? How many? Or, lets say you are looking to innovate a new internet solution. Does it require broadband? Dedicated applications to run? Hosted or client side? Will it require capital investments? Does the current technology support your idea? You can see how these questions around the fundamental question of what is it made of has a major determining factor on where you begin and what all other actions are predicated upon.

By asking this question, you will also set the stage for the next question -What brought it into being or initiated the changes that led to its being what it is? This is important because it determines cause. Now you may say, what if I want to simply be creative and ponder the ethos and think freeform, be really creative because I am a creative type, and innovate intuitively? I would say join a Bebop Quartet or spoken word retreat. But even in Jazz and poetry, there are fundamentals that guide the creative process. It should also be noted that inside of this question lies the bridge to the Lead User approach to innovation. By using the Lead User approach, the question of what brought it into being or initiated the changes that led to its being what it is can be answered in a definitive and actionable manner. So, on to question 3.

Question -3 What brought it into being or initiated the changes that led to its being what it is? (Efficient Cause)

This question helps us understand a variety of critical data points around our motivation for innovating. What brought about the conditions that led to our innovation imperative? Market need or change? Productivity? Need for greater efficiency? Price? Competition? Consumer Demand? Consumer modification or adaptation? Product evolution? What has happened that ignited your need to innovate? Understanding what the imperative is or was helps you focus your innovation to meet the needs or potentially more important, finding a need that drove you to innovate in the first place. No one innovates for the sake of innovation. There is always a reason. Understanding that reason is critical. When you know why you need to innovate you can better answer the next question. Can you see the theme here?

Question - 4 What is it for and who would want it? (Final Cause)

Everything has a purpose. As an expansion of question 3, you must determine, what is my innovation for? Productivity? Efficiency? New Product? New Service? Helps people? Helps my company compete? Market demands? Innovating for the sake of innovation is a complete waste of resources and never leads to a sustainable competitive advantage. You must ask yourself, what is my innovation for? What purpose does it serve? Who will it help and how will it help them? What is its final cause.

By asking these specific questions in the way Aristotle would, you begin to lay the framework for you to begin innovating in a productive and proactive manner. Yes, you can be creative, yes you can be intuitive, but by applying this question framework you lay the foundation for producing the schematic for a more productive and useful innovation. All the great innovators, inventors and visionaries asked these very same questions.

The fundamental premise

What is the fundamental premise behind the AFI? Ask questions. Ask why? How come? Why Not? Explore Unk Unks. Challenge current thinking, thoughts, theories and processes, just because its done this way now doesn't mean it has to be done this way tomorrow. Without asking these questions, you can not prepare your mind and creativity to begin innovating and ignite the spark of innovation or at best capture and leverage the wisp of inspiration. As those who innovate know, the innovative spark of inspiration is a fickle and elusive creature. By asking these specific questions, you begin to prime your spark and lay the framework of innovation. The Aristotelian Framework of Innovation.

It was Heraclitus, as quoted in Clements’s Stromateis that stated, “If one does not expect the unexpected, one will not find it out, since it is not to be searched out, and difficult to compass”. That is innovation. Very difficult to just search it out and plot it. By utilizing the AFI, you can ask the critical questions that lead to the unexpected which leads to innovation. Remember, every great inventor, thinker and creator starts out with questions. The key is to ask the right questions. Which makes the AFI so interesting. It it based in the foundational questions of the greatest thinkers of all time.

Its difficult to imagine Aristotle satisfied with a treatise, content in the state of his own thinking on any matter or another, supposing, “ Well, that’s all there is to know about that”. Aristotle was not so easily satisfied. Nor should you be. Aristotle was also not one to waste last lines, and it is worth remembering the last line of the Nicomachean Ethics when faced with difficulties of interpretation. It is a long and bold treatise, dealing with more or less all thinking on ethics extant in Aristotle’s time. Why is this interesting? Because it embodies the heart of the AFI.

He writes at the end of what looks like a comprehensive account of Virtue a simple statement: “Come, let us get on with the enquiry”. That is our mission when embarking on innovation. We must ask this set of fundamental questions in the AFI to help us spark and harness our creativity, focus and purpose. Without which, innovation becomes happenstance and not a predictable, repeatable process. Herodotus in Histories said that “Let there be nothing untried, for nothing happens by itself, but men obtain all things by trying.”

-DF

Jingle All The Way!

2007-10-04T01:40:00.000-05:00

With the 4th quarter around the corner, advertisers need creative and catchy ways in which to attract global consumers. A way in which to break through the noise of other ads. One of the best ways I have found to do this is through jingles and audio logo's. Simply harken back to the Intel audio logo, you remember it right? Dum, Dum, Dum, Dum? No? How about finishing this one.... you deserve a .... ... today? If you said Break, you are correct! But who was the client? McDonald's !!!Or how about the Nokia Ring Tone. You remember the one! The one that haunted our late 1990's. De da du da, de da du da, de da du da DAaaah?

Jingles don't have to be crappy and devoid of creativity, they just have to have the all magical ingredient...Catchiness! To many times today we have a great product or service with a crappy audio production. Its funny how little some ad agencies put into Audio. Hell, many brands are made by their audio logo's or jingles. Just as a strong slogan is important to a brand, product or service, so to can an audio logo or Jingle be.

Believe me, I know that of which I speak! Aside from being a global marketing executive, I am an EMMY nominated and multi-award winning composer and sound designer who has created many of these catchy melodious advertising and marketing gems. So next time your ready to unleash a new campaign, product, service, brand, etc. Think of one of the most effective means of advertising. AUDIO! Also remember, science and pyschology have conclusively and repeatedly proven people remember something, someone, or somewhere more effectively when the image is accompanied by audio. Even more so when coupled with a catchy audio logo or melody.

Just do us all a favor and use a competent and creative audio services firm. You can hide bad print, bad TV, and bad packaging, but never bad audio. Just listen to your local TV and radio advertising. Finally, don't forget that after making the wise choice to use audio, don't forget about the mass proliferation of your audio. With the many interactive technologies and mediums available to us, such as the use of "adver-gaming", Ring Tones, the internet, and other interactive outlets, the effectiveness and ROI in both cost, response and market penetration has the chance to be far greater than print , radio or TV alone. Thus giving you a true ROI on your efforts. What more could we ask for.

Mobile Web Content and Advertising. The next big wave?

2007-10-04T01:37:00.000-05:00

There's Google, uTube, iTunes, Yahoo, Sprint, Verizon, T-Mobile, NTT Docomo, Vodafone, and literally thousands of "digital" outlets for mobile and web based content with hundreds more added weekly. In addition to the outlets, there are thousands of content sources from amateur providers, dynamic advertisers, and interactive games to syndicated content from the major networks and studios and more!

So what does this really mean to advertisers, content developers, studios, and distributors not to mention technology vendors who deliver, track, monetize and manage all of this? Big money! Yes, big bucks both in revenue to the content owners and providers as well as the cost in actually delivering this new trend in content and advertising. Let's face it, having the technology infrastructure as well as rights to the content is not cheap. Nor is it effective to attempt such a play without a solid strategy that takes all of this into play. Fortunately, the cost to repurpose or develop interactive marketing and advertising content is reasonably affordable.

The cost to repurpose existing content for web and mobile is also reasonably affordable compared to the cost of movie making or MFT (Made For Television) productions. So why then are so many advertisers, network studios, web portals and mobile providers jumping on this new band wagon? Well, according to recent industry analysis, the mobile television market could be a global market worth as much as $27 billion by 2010. That's not too shabby. The really interesting point here is that with advertisers, studios, and service providers clamoring to reach consumers, a new vehicle is at hand the can totally proliferate a consumer’s world. Think about it, the ability to target and reach a consumer on TV, Radio, Web, and Mobile Phone has very strong appeal and demonstrable ROI. Add to this the ability to leverage technology to deliver targeted and integrated marketing and advertising messages to all of these outlets offers marketers, advertisers, studios, brand owners and others the ability to deliver their message or content in a completely immersed environment driving greater effectiveness in their efforts, marketing and advertising. Not to mention open up new revenue streams via this medium.

Let's take the fact that 500 million new wireless connections have been made globally in the past year. That's 500 MILLION new customers that can be reached in a multitude of ways with a multitude of content and advertising offerings. The key as in all things, is building an effective and comprehensive strategy that takes into consideration the following: Branding, Messaging, Content, Pricing, Demographics, Focus, Monetization vs. Brand Support, and most importantly the technology infrastructure or services needed to ensure your digital content and advertising strategy is effective. It takes a full team effort to put an effective offering or campaign in place to truly deliver compelling content, advertising and marketing not to mention ROI and revenue.

So what does this really mean for those of us in marketing, advertising, brand ownership and content development? Complication for sure. Frustration maybe, technology head aches, yup, but certainly a dynamic, sustainable and exciting new "market place" in which to deliver our message, content and advertising. The ability to leverage technology to reach consumers in a way we have never been able to do before. That my friends, is exciting! The fact that both global and local advertisers/brand owners, marketers, content authors, studios, and more now have a medium in which the playing field has been leveled thus allowing all players an affordable chance to reach a global market place or simply more effectively reach their consumers. Pretty cool huh?

Remember, the digital consumer has more choices today than any other consumer in the history of man kind. This means more opportunities for advertisers, marketers, studios, etc. to deliver their message, reinforce their brand, more options to repurpose and monetize content and more money for all involved. Except perhaps the consumer. But who cares about them. They get more choices!

KPI'S and Interactive Kiosks - Digital Merchandising

2007-10-04T01:36:00.000-05:00

Kiosk and Digital Merchandising are powerful marketing vehicles that brand owners in the Retail, CPG, Pharma, Services and Hospitality verticals are leveraging more in more. Just look at airports, mega-chain stores like Target, hotels and more. Sure they are great marketing tools that drive brand awareness, convenience, loyalty, and all sorts of other valuable marketing solutions. But what good is it if you are not in control and cant measure the ROI and effectiveness of your marketing effort?

Well, there is a way young grass hopper. In a previous blog I talked about leveraging KPI's. Here, I am specifically talking about how to truly leverage interactive marketing and digital merchandising devices to feed your KPI data stream. We know that Kiosks and Digital Merchandising or "Digital Signage" is a growing and highly effective marketing tool, but what good is the tool if you have no way to manage the brand, the content, the device and more importantly track and report on the activity of the device. Its no good! Its static and static wont cut it in a dynamic interactive world. More importantly, you wont be fully leveraging your marketing, branding and advertising initiatives if you don't track and leverage the associated KPI's.

There are many companies out there that offer interactive Kiosk and Digital Merchandising solutions. They range from Sony to IBM to many other smaller point solutions. What you want to look for is a technology solution that can not only manage the content distribution to disparate devices and locations, but an enterprise robust solution that fully allows you to manage the device, manage the peripherals and device status as well as track, report and measure the interactivity and usage of the device. You will also want a software solution that integrates and plays well with other marketing centric software i.e. PLM, ECM, POS, etc.

Software solutions like Netkey and others offer this very type of solution. By leveraging a system that allows you to remotely access and control the device and the content, as well as manage and report on the devices usage, content access, page access, information downloaded/requested, loyalty usage, etc. you can now leverage dynamic real time KPI data on global initiatives around digital merchandising and interactive Kiosks. Plus, leveraging a system like this allows you to make content changes instantly based on user feedback, brand, demographics, and campaign changes or other realtime factors.

So the moral of this blog is, when planning a brand initiative that leverages interactive kiosks and digital merchandising, look for an enterprise software solution that can manage the whole solution and initiative. This will drive greater ROI, efficiency, and management of your initiative. KPI's are only good if you are capturing accurate and definitive data. One last piece of advice, when looking for a software solution, look for ones that are technology agnostic. Meaning, look for ones that can work with IBM Kiosks as easily as NCR, or PC stations, etc. You double your effectiveness, flexibility and scalability right out of the gate.

Does Sex Sell? Maybe not!

2007-10-04T01:33:00.000-05:00

In a recent study, a team of researchers at the University of Florida gauged the emotional responses of more than 100 college-aged women to photos of attractive women. The study asked each participant after looking at each photo, to point to manikins that represented their emotional reactions. For instance, one set of manikins represented arousal reactions ranging from disinterested to, interested to excited.

Interestingly, the more seductive the model, the more it left women bored and uninterested according to lead author Robyn Goodman. Based on the research, the findings seem to clearly contradict the assumption that sensual images, which saturate the ad space in glossy female targeted magazines and print advertising, are most effective.

More interesting, in the initial survey, participants were asked to rate photos of models according to six beauty categories, including "sex kitten" and "classic feminine". The beauty types were apparently determined by fashion editors at NYC magazines (who better right).

But rather than distinguishing between the six beauty types, as the researchers intended, the participants divided all the photos into just two categories. Wholesome and "sexy-sensual". This study was recently presented at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication convention in August.

According to Goodman, this research is evident that many advertisers may have been misled into using more sexual and sensual models to attract women to their products. The high level conclusion of the study is that women desire to be more like the wholesome beauty models, and in turn will purchase the products they endorse more readily than they would a product endorsed by a more overtly sexual model.

I believe this study to be very interesting and may show or expose a shift in demographic marketing that is currently being over looked. I think much more research needs to be done to determine a true trend, as well as interjecting more variables like age, life style, married, single, regions, etc. to garner truly actionable changes in marketing and advertising. I also think its important to understand the fundamentals around the advertising such as intent i.e. was the ad intended to push brand recognition or promote a product or service. All of which could effect the efficiency of the advertising.

One thing does seem clear, this study seems to show a potential fallacy in the old advertising adage that "sex sells". Maybe not. At least for women.

Capturing and Leveraging KPI's Through Technology

2007-10-04T01:29:00.000-05:00

Key Performance Indicators, also known as KPI’s or Key Success Indicators (KSI), help organizations define and measure progress toward organizational, brand and production goals.

In today’s dynamic business environment where brand control, consistency and production work flow process are key’s to brand management and ROI, organizations need a way to measure progress in relation to their brand initiatives. Key Performance Indicators are those measurements.

By implementing and utilizing an enterprise software solution like an Enterprise Digital Asset Management system with work flow or Enterprise Content Management, or better yet a Dynamic Content Life cycle Management™ (DCLM) solution, organizations are able to deploy an enterprise software solution that synergistically lives within an ecosystem of brand centric solutions (ECM, PLM, etc.), processes and work-flows while being able to manage and capture a variety of data points including KPI’s.

Using a solution like this, you decide what KPI’s are important for your business and the system is configured to automatically track these metrics. This information is then available to you in real-time giving you up-to-the-minute consistent measurements across a brand, a project and throughout the organization.

Why are KPI’s critical to today’s brand leaders? Because Key Performance Indicators (KPI) are quantifiable measurements, agreed to beforehand by the brand owner that reflect the critical success factors of a brand, process and organization. Of course, they may differ depending on the brand or organization’s business needs but the ability to create, manage and track critical brand/business process has become mission critical for today’s business’s to leverage and manage critical data and process.

Having access to real-time KPI information enables continual process improvement leading to measurable cost savings in productivity, efficiencies and accuracy in the brand’s life cycle which results in demonstrable ROI. In today’s complex business environment, an organization has many things that are measurable throughout a brand or packaging life cycle. That in and of itself does not make them key to the organization's success.

In selecting and leveraging Key Performance Indicators particularly around brand and packaging initiatives, it is critical to limit them to those factors that are essential to the organization, process or brand reaching its goals. In order to capture and track those factors, it is critical to have a system in place that acts as a synergistic tool that is flexible enough to automatically deliver accurate KPI’s.

More importantly, when looking at a complex brand or process landscape and determining what solution can act as an enabling tool and not a disruptor, a solution like the above mentioned can usually co-exist with your existing architecture and simultaneously provide KPI‘s across the entire brand and packaging spectrum thus driving efficiencies, cost savings and demonstrable ROI across all associated business units