Good writing and good branding have a lot in common. They share much of the same underlying craft that keep customers engaged and coming back for more.

Show don’t tell. A clear point of view. Consistent story line. Dialogue that moves the story forward. Description that gets to the point. No waffle no fudge.

According to the author Sol Stein, who has published and edited some of the greatest writers of the century, the secret to keeping readers engaged, ’….is not to take [them]  where [they] want to go.’

In the world of 24/7 “make mine a medium, double half cut latte soya with extra sprinkley bits on the top”, this advice borders on the heretical.

Most blue chips bend over backwards to give their customers what they want. And more.

These brands aren’t driven by a desire to serve their customers; but fear.

The fear that if they don’t give us what we want someone else will.  The fear that if they don’t maximise their profits they won’t be competitive.

What follows is the right way to do things. The result is candy floss marketing, half truths. A confusion of offerings. High on novelty low on substance.

And then there are those brands who take the Sol Stein approach and don’t give customers what they want. Like Wagamama.

Wagamama didn’t take customers where they wanted to go.  At least not where the  research said they wanted to go.

Back in the 90’s not everyone felt comfortable with chopsticks or communal eating. Dishes were served to order. Order something different to those who you went with and there was a good chance it wouldn’t arrive at the same time.

Along with the bok choy Wagamama were serving up adventure and the excitement that goes with it. They were asking us to step into a place that was hidden from view, to experience something that was, for most of us, radically different. Nothing ventured nothing gained. It required would-be customers to take a risk.  Wagamama had created a rite of passage.

In a world of instant apps and anything you want right now, no effort required; adventure is a rare commodity.

In the quest to give us everything we want brands are on the verge of boring us to death.

Source: Stein On Writing. Author: Sol Stein

0 Comments | Posted by Owen Stevens in Stuff that Sticks

branding, novels, Research, story, Wagamama

I remember the first time we walked into the Dunstan Inn, boots and a muddy dog, in search of a drink and a something to eat. The pub was small, all but empty, I asked if the kitchen was open only to be told by the landlord that they didn’t do hot food… or sandwiches. I was surprised, these days most pubs have to, to survive.

The landlord recommended a pub down the road, ‘good food and a decent pint.’ My second surprise. It takes confidence to recommend the competition at the best of times and in today’s economic climate doubly so.  So how was this pub managing to thrive when others are struggling to survive? *

In turned out that the Dunstan did do food but not in the way other pubs do. For a start there is the Friday night spread. Pates, french bread, biscuits, slabs of cheese pickles and chutneys. The spread has its own table. Help yourself its all free.

On Saturday’s the landlord, Richard Maurice, orders in a few dozen pies or fresh hamburgers from the local butchers. First come first served. Watch the match have a pint and pie or a burger. There’s a kitty to cover the cost but it’s not obligatory.

The Dustan also does one thing I’ve never come across before. Takins. Chinese, Indian, Fish n Chips… There’s a stash of menus propped up against the wall at the corner of the bar. Plates, cutlery and condiments are provided by the pub, orders take about 30 minutes to arrive. I haven’t tried the ‘takin’ service yet. But it’s on the list.

The Dunstan does not offer discounts, loyalty cards or special events to bring in those customers, that will according to market research, drink more and stay longer. Events are not driven by the pub but belong to the community and are seen as joint ventures, so there’s no need to plug, cajole, promote or bribe.

By actively generating generosity, no measly squares of dried up cheddar cheese from the ‘cash n carry’ and few pickled onions. The cheese is local, farmhouse, not vacuum packed and there’s a cake of it, the Dunstan has done what all sticky brands do. Created a club, the glue that makes brands sticky, and along with it a sense of belonging and community. The result is that holy grail of holy grails; customer loyalty.

The secret to the Dunstan’s success is the landlord Richard Maurice who sees himself not just as a proprietor put community guardian. The relationship that this creates with customers is markedly different to those publicans who see their business through a balance sheet. While profits are important, without them the pub would go the same way as so many already have, it is not the driving force.

Richard sees the pub, of which he is the custodian, as serving the community.  It is this view of the world that informs the marketing and gives it the authenticity that brands like Levi’s, despite endless market research and deep pockets, are unable to command. It’s one thing to tell customers you are part of the community another to behave in a way that shows you truly are.

Marketing strategies that are driven by research rather than a long term vision may well increase profits but at what cost to the brand over the long run? Generating mistrust rather than generosity they are unlikely to ever create the brand loyalty that is the provence of a really sticky brand.

The Sticky Brand Checklist

The Dunstan ticks all the following checkpoints needed to create a sticky community and with it real brand loyalty as apposed to fans or followers.

1. A clear sense of purpose. The Dunstin’s purpose is to be a cornerstone of community life.
2. Meets a need. Provides an informal gathering place and with it a sense of belonging. A hub for charity events, village life – bonfire night, Halloween.
3. Unspoken rules. No one would dream of trying to eat as much free food as they could. The Dunstan is self-policing.
4. Participation: Food is free on Saturdays – but everyone pays their way. Room to give and be part of rather than just pay. Generosity is a two way street.

Source: Guardian

0 Comments | Posted by Owen Stevens in Stuff that Sticks

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As recent events at News Corp have shown values, or the lack of them, play an important role in how a company is run. By values I am not referring to those that have been manufactured in order to provide a solution to a problem or rolled out because the research shows that they will improve the brand image.

The values I’m referring to are neither transitory nor disposable. They are authentic, ingrained, part of the woodwork, for the most part invisible, the very air we breathe. The driving force behind the brand, these are the values that provide a sense of direction and overarching purpose, which helps further differentiate the brand from its competitors.

The outdoor clothing company Howies, and Lush cosmetics, have each used their core values to create two very distinctive brand strategies based around their common stance of providing ‘eco’ friendly products. Howies make clothes from natural materials that are designed to last.  Lush cosmetics are made from natural ingredients and come with little or no wrapping.  The expression of these values – Howies hand me down campaign and Lush retail outlets that look like grocery stores – differentiates both brands from their competitors.

Brands that do not have a ‘values driven’ agenda or are happy to go along with the flavour of the month struggle to develop their own distinctive voice. Adopting a ‘me too’ approach and with it a certain blandness customers are far more likely to find these brands difficult to distinguish from the competition.

In a market place that is overcrowded and where price and quality are no longer guaranteed to distinguish one product or service from another customers are increasingly looking for brands whose values and social outlook is in line with their own – aspired or otherwise.

An increasingly important part of the purchasing mix values provide sticky brands with a social status and with that status a language, which further defines and differentiates the brand.

Ben and Jerry’s ice-cream with ‘its gobs of chocolate chip cookie dough’ is in keeping with the company’s status as a ‘brand of the people.’ This language, which is quite different from that used by Häagen-Dazs, is underpinned by the founders commitment to social justice for everyone. Ben and Jerry’s ‘it’s not fair’ campaign is  simply one more expression of this core value. As with all sticky brands Ben and Jerry’s communication never deviates from delivering its core values.

As well as being able to project a single well-focused message that has provenance, value driven brands have one other distinct advantage over those companies who are content to lead purely on product or service benefits.

While the latter look for people who are qualified, value driven brands look for those who share their values. Having a natural affinity with the product, service or/and underlying ethos of the company they are far more likely to represent the brand in a good light. By insisting that all their employees have a strong sporting background Oakley are ensuring that every department is the sales department.

Walking into a bookstore where the staff are interested in books and walking into one where they are not lends itself to two quite different shopping experiences. In the first the experience is friendly and embracing in the other you are likely to get the impression that they couldn’t care less not just about books; but about you.  Not the sort of experience that lends itself to creating a sticky brand.

0 Comments | Posted by Owen Stevens in Stuff that Sticks

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Bill Bernbach, of the renowned ad agency Doyle Dane Bernbach, once said, “More and more I have come to the conclusion that a principle isn’t a principle until it costs you money.”

Principles are nice. When the sun is shining and all is well with the world we tend to stock up on them. When the sun ‘isn’t’ shining we often find ourselves forced to make a choice. Stick with our principles or be pragmatic. Faced with the same choice most companies will choose pragmatism over principles. For pragmatism read profits.

Treading the fine line between profits and principles has always been risky. Even before the advent of YouTube and Facebook getting it wrong could have dire consequences.

When Nike along with Tommy Hilfiger were found to have chosen profit margins over working conditions back in the 90′s – both companies were using sweatshop labour to produce their products – the press screamed foul and profits dropped.

Pragmatists, at least those that believe themselves to be pragmatists, would have us belief that neither Hilfiger nor Nike had any real choice in the matter. The competition where using sweatshops to produce there goods. If Nike and Hilfiger didn’t they would incur higher production costs. The competition would have an unfair advantage. Caught between the devil and the deep blue sea they took the only option that was open to them.

However the thinking that underpins this argument bares as much scrutiny as a FIFA election. As we shall see both Hilfiger and Nike could have chosen to go down another route; one that would have enabled them to profit from their principles.

Back in the late 1990’s when the scandal broke both brands sustained a prolonged attack from the press and pressure groups. In 2006 with sales declining and the rumors still circulating Hilfiger sold the business to Apax, a private investment company. It took Apax four years to rid the company of its sweatshop stain. Once removed the Tommy Hilfiger brand was sold on to the business owners of Calvin Klein for a whopping $1.4 billion profit.

Nike’s fate at the hands of the press and pressure groups was no different than that of Hilfiger’s. The harder Nike tried to free itself of its sweatshop label the more ingrained the stain seemed to be. Then in 2008 help came from an unexpected and highly improbable quarter, Speedo.

The Olympic team sponsored by Nike said they’d prefer to wear Speedo because they were faster in trials. They weren’t the only ones. Olympic swimming teams sponsored by Adidas and Arena were also keen to wear Speedo.  Nike agreed. Not only could they wear Speedo Nike would sponsor them anyway. *

Nike had just invested in one of their core values – the principle of putting athletes first. In doing so they had brought that principle to life. But was it worth it?

Nike profits dropped by 7% Speedo sales went up by 9.3%. On the face of it the winners were Speedo and the athletes that had been given the opportunity to wear the swimsuits of their choice.

In the long run the real gold went to Nike. In one fell swoop they had re-established themselves as an authentic brand that really did put its athletes first, a powerful message that rippled out far beyond the confines of the swimming world.

Nike had invested in its principles. In return for that investment it delivered a message that no amount of advertising could have bought. Rather than seeing the Speedo scenario as a problem Nike had seen it as an opportunity.

As Bill Bernbach so cannily pointed out values only become principles once you’ve invested in them. Recent events would seem to suggest that principles are in short supply these days. With so much competition and so little real product differentiation to separate one brand from another customers are increasingly looking to for brands with integrity.

If the law of supply and demand still holds true then any brand that is prepared to take a pragmatic approach and invest in its principles can expect a good return on their investment.

*In response to requests to use Speedo, Arena dropped its sponsorship of the Italian team and Adidas insisted their team wear the Adidas brand.

0 Comments | Posted by Owen Stevens in Stuff that Sticks

Bill Bernbach, Brands, Investment, Nike, Principles, Profits, Tommy Hilfiger, Values

I usually find myself writing about two kinds of brands. The ones I like and by default work and the ones I don’t like and don’t work. Today I’d like to write about a brand I don’t like that works.

The T-shirt Company, Johnny Cupcakes Inc., was founded by Johnny Earle in 2001.  Earle’s father helped the budding entrepreneur convert a boat garage in Hull, Massachusetts into a retail space back in 2005. Johnny Cupcakes Inc. now has shops in LA, Boston Massachusetts and has just opened its fourth outlet in London.

The shops, which are called bakeries, in keeping with the cupcake theme, have a distinctive American retro feel about them. Think Grease with Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta or the highly successful TV series Fonzie  (Happy Days) starring Henry Winkler.

In 2008, Business Week placed Earle at the top of its “Best Entrepreneurs 25 and Under” list. Newsweek, The New York Times, MTV and Inc. Magazine have all run features on Johnny Cupcakes Inc. or to be more precise on Johnny Earle. Those of us who don’t want his T-shirts want his secret.

Where once we idolised movie stars we now idolise successful entrepreneurs – especially those that are young and appear – according to the press releases, ordinary, down to earth and decent. Johnny Earle is currently on a nationwide tour lecturing at colleges and schools.

The Johnny Cupcake insignia is a skull and crossbones, with a cupcake silhouette replacing the skull. The shops display the T-shirts in chiller cabinets, and colourful wall mounted ovens. T-shirts are served up on baking trays and packed into cake boxes for hungry shoppers to take away. T-shirt sizes and styles displayed as ‘Nutritional Facts’ provide the finishing touch.

Johnny Cupcakes Inc. is a textbook example of how, with a bit of luck, a lot of hard work and the right smarts you can take a simple product, that inhabits a vastly overcrowded market, and turn it into a sticky brand.

So what is it that I don’t like about this brand? From a brand strategy perspective I’d have to say almost nothing at all, from a personal perspective just about everything. And that really is the point of this article. Sticky brands are personal.

Johnny Cupcakes engages us on level that we find hard to resist. It’s not so secret ingredients; the ones that have turned the company into a multi million-dollar concern, are its values.

These values form the backbone of the Johnny Cupcake Inc. story. The story is coherent and familiar: humble down to earth kid overcomes challenges, works hard, makes good, lives the American dream. He does this by virtue of his values. Those values are unashamedly white, middle class, Judeo/Christian and coated with a thick layer of American icing.

There is no room for confusion, no attempt to add any values that might confuse. The story is told at every possible opportunity; blogs, news articles, interviews and lectures. Johnny Cupcakes Inc. makes no excuses for who and what it stands for.

You won’t find any fudge at Johnny Cupcakes Inc.

Not my cup of tea

Reading the values below, taken from an interview with Lorraine Earle, you could be forgiven for thinking you had just come across some scripted outtakes from ‘The Waltons’ or ‘Little House on the Prairie’. The storylines for both programmes, which became hugely successful, were heavily sanitised and paid scant attention to the gritty reality of the authors’ original stories.

By putting the family into the shop window Lorriane Earle has mixed fact with fiction. Are we to believe the Earle family are really so down to earth, so wholesome, so apple pie perfect?  Apparently we are.

Some would say they are selling the dream. What’s wrong with some good old-fashioned escapism? Nothing provided you are not trying to pass if off as reality. But then fact can often to be stranger than fiction. And maybe just maybe they really are the perfect cupcake family. Either way I think I’d pass on this particular dainty, a tad too sweet for my tastes.

And those values:

Hardworking – While others are out partying, the unassuming Johnny stays at home and makes pin money designing and making badges.

Homely – Lorraine, Johnny’s mother and CFO of Johnny Cupcakes Inc. has lived in the same house for 30 years with her husband. She works in the dinning room that doubles as her office, surrounded by pressed flowers and special presents from friends.

Down to earth – The Mac is as high tech as it gets. Bills are filed in accordion folders. Lorraine has been using the same calculator for 25 years. ‘It’s added up a lot of money over the years. Subtracted it, too. If it ever gives me a wrong answer, I’ll stop using it.’

Determined – Johnny has borderline ADD and found college hard. Unable to participate in the most common college sport (i.e. partying) because he doesn’t drink or take drugs – Johnny works at his ideas.

Ordinary Folk – Johnny is a typical teen kid he almost gets thrown out of college for a prank involving itching powder. Lorraine, Johnny’s mum, worked 9 -5 as an office manager.

Family Values – When Johnny pops by on his way to the warehouse or one of the shops in Boston, mummy cupcake makes him blueberry pancakes. They talk about the business. She sees more of him now than she did when he was younger.

Business Values – Dad helped build the first store, Johnny’s sister, 23, is head of HR. Mum takes care of the finances and is training Kelly White, Johnny’s sister’s best friend to do the books.

Community Values – Mum and dad live right up the street from the first retail store, the manager sometimes pops in before the store opens. The employees are young “…. So it feels like the old days when this was a house where the neighborhood kids hung out”.

Johnny the Dreamer – Johnny is a dreamer, doesn’t care about the money, mum is the practical one. Mum takes care of the money. Johnny owns 100% of the business. (Just in case you wondered)

Tradition – Johnny flew the workers to the LA store for Christmas, interviewed everyone about their favourite childhood toys and then bought them all as presents. According to Johnny’s mother, “Johnny is always doing things like that”.

The story goes something like this….

Johnny Cupcakes Inc. started out as a joke, a few T-shirts for friends, everyone wants one. Emboldened Johnny takes his cupcake apparel on tour. People love them, Johnny is amazed, they sell like hot cakes, hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands…

Johnny is just a kid, 24 years old. He knows he’s just a kid, a lucky kid who kept his head down worked hard, overcame the obstacles that life had put in his way and followed the American dream. In 2009, Johnny Cupcakes is placed at #237 on the Inc. 500 list of fastest growing private companies in the U.S.  Story to be continued….

Article Sources:

Interview with Lorraine Earle Inc. Magazine

Johnny Cupcakes Inc website/story.

0 Comments | Posted by Owen Stevens in Stuff that Sticks

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The average UK supermarket now has 30,000 lines (twice as many as 10 years ago). In the USA you can choose from 53 varieties of Crest toothpaste.

Stuffed to the gunwales with choice, customers are increasingly losing their appetite for the ever-growing menu of product benefits and price deals on offer – 3000 advertising messages per day and that’s just for starters. Churn as it is aptly called in marketing circles is on the increase. While the supermarket shelves are bulging with new product lines brand loyalty is shrinking faster than an MP’s expense account.

Amid the seemingly endless choices in reality we have less choice. BMW’s might not break down but neither do Skodas. Lancôme and Clinique offer innovative anti-wrinkle formulas but so does Boots own skincare range. According to food experts Scottish Salmon sold at the no frills supermarket chain Lidl tastes as good as, if not better than, that sold at Harrods.

Fortunately the answer to this increasingly worrisome problem, assuming you are not an MP, is right beneath our noses. In a world overflowing with apparent choice the brands that catch our eye and ultimately get us to stick around for longer are those that offer values over value for money. In a material world meaning comes at a premium.  What customers are really looking to have the answer to is not what it does or how much it costs but, what does it mean about me?

It’s not what you do but who you know

Social networks, those giant free flowing entities whose statistics read like country populations, Facebook garnered 100 million users in 9 months, have revolutionized the way we communicate and do business. Yet despite all the talk and the investment many companies continue to act and behave like closed social networks.

Keeping us at arms length they are happy to tell us about their products and services but other than a cursory… we are passionate about; tomato sauce, coffee, toothpaste… fill in the blank space… do we really know who they are and what they stand for? Let’s face it would you really want to strike up a relationship with someone whose main and only passion was tomato sauce?

While these brands, and they are still in the majority, are content to plug the same old message sticky brands have been able to take full advantage of social media. Inviting consumers in to share their values sticky brands have redefined how they engage their customers. Like all good storytellers they don’t tell us who they are they show us.

Car brands, with perhaps the exception of Honda, have been slow to pick up on this one. A report by the New York Times points out that “only about 20 percent of car shoppers stayed with the same brand when they purchased a new vehicle.”

While the other car companies spend their marketing budgets on promoting their hybrid, “green” diesel, “smart” and aspirational qualities Honda has developed a series of commercials that feature a selection of Honda owners with the message “everyone knows somebody who loves their Honda.” Customers are invited to participate in the Honda Facebook experiment. Honda provides the common interest to bring their guests together, and talk about what interests them the most – and that’s not Honda.

Honda take the back seat and allow their customers to drive the conversation

By taking a back seat Honda are obeying the cardinal rule that governs social media; companies set the agenda, customers drive the conversation. Companies with closed social networks have a tendency to keep their customer databases close to their chest Honda has turned theirs into a showcase, one which is open for everyone to see and… this is the important bit – be seen.

All well and good for the likes of Honda, who have the resource, heritage and global clout to play in the big league. But what of the David’s, the brands few people have heard of who find themselves up against the corporate Goliaths?

BrewDog are a small independent brewery that have all the hallmarks of a sticky brand in the making. As you might expect they are in their own words: ‘committed to making the best beer from the finest ingredients.’ While having a good product is essential, you can’t have a winning brand without it, beer isn’t what BrewDog is really selling.

As with Honda what’s really on the menu is vision with a large side order of values. In BrewDog’s case the menu reads as follows…

‘BrewDog is about breaking rules, taking risks, upsetting trends and unsettling institutions but first and foremost, great tasting beer.’ Come and join us on a journey…

To join them on their journey BrewDog are offering: ‘10,000 Brew Dog loving individuals…[the chance]… to… buy into the Brew Dog dream and share in…[their].. vision.

One of the key ingredients to building a successful company isn’t just what goes into  the product, fine though their hops might be, but what and who goes into the brand.

By inviting customers to share their vision BrewDog are creating a fan club of loyal followers who will wave the BrewDog flag at every opportunity. Why? Because in doing so what they, the loyal BrewDog customers, are really talking about are themselves, who they are and what they stand for.

By giving their customers a stake in the company Honda and BrewDog are steeling a march on those brands that are content to talk about what they do and how much it costs. In BrewDogs case, no pun intended, the equity is all the more sticky because it has both social and monetary value.

While more than a few companies have gone bottoms up over the last year it doesn’t look like BrewDog will be suffering from the economic hangover anytime soon.

Cheers!

As with most strategies inviting customers to co-create the brand by giving them equity is not without its risks. Over the next month we’ll be highlighting some of those risks in ‘the other end of the stick’.

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