In News

When Brands Tempt us to Lie, Cheat and Steal

November 30, 2017 No Comments

Get your company reputation in order, or you might find that even your satisfied customers will betray you.

By MediaStreet Staff Writers

While many people consider themselves generally moral and honest, even the most upstanding citizens will likely become willing to lie, cheat and steal under certain circumstances, according to evidence from a new study in the Journal of Consumer Psychology.

If consumers believe that a company is harmful in some way – to the environment or to people – then they feel justified participating in illegal activities, such as shoplifting, piracy or hacking, according to findings in the study.

“People are much more willing to do something that risks their own integrity if they believe a company is unethical,” says Jeffrey Rotman, a professor in the business school at Deakin University in Australia. “And this desire to punish a harmful brand occurs even when the consumer has not personally had a bad experience with the company.”

Rotman’s team discovered this effect in one study in which participants were introduced to a fictitious pharmaceutical company that produced drugs to treat Parkinson’s disease and a bacterial infection called Brucellosis. Some of the participants learned that the company planned to increase the price of the drug by 300 percent to generate considerably more profit, even if it meant that certain customers could no longer afford the medication. Other participants learned that the company would not raise prices despite the profit benefits.

The researchers discovered that the participants who were told that the company was raising prices were significantly more willing to punish the company via unethical means, such as lying, cheating or stealing.

So why do consumers violate their personal code of ethics in these situations? The researchers conducted another experiment in which participants read a report stating that on average, internet speeds are consistently below advertised speeds. The federal report explained that this occurs because many ISPs intentionally cap speeds at 20 percent lower than advertised speeds. One group of participants was told that their internet speeds had in fact underperformed, and they were asked to sign a letter to the ISP asking for a 10 percent discount on monthly fees. The other group was told that their internet speeds were as advertised, but they should still sign the letter based on the findings in the federal report. Even though their internet speeds were good, they were encouraged to lie to justify the discount and capture the company’s attention.

Typically, people feel emotional consequences when they engage in unethical behaviour, but the researchers found that negative feelings, such as guilt, were absent because people felt that the company was cheating customers. “People felt morally justified lying to the ISP because the report claimed that the company was not delivering promised speeds,” Rotman says.

The researchers discovered that this desire to punish companies perceived as harmful is also reflected in the real world. Participants rated how harmful they perceived a variety of different industries, such as pharmacies, supermarkets and home improvement stores. On average, the more harmful the ratings, the greater the rates of theft were in these industries.

“There is growing distrust among the public of certain aspects of business and government, and these findings suggest that if people perceive these entities as harmful, they might feel justified in being unethical,” Rotman says. “My hope is that organisations will make it a priority to build a reputation that allows consumers and businesses to be on the same side.”

In News

The 10 Most Valuable Brands of 2017

November 30, 2017 No Comments

By NatalieWalters

If you’ve been in business long enough, you know that a company’s image is everything. Part of why Apple can charge $999 for the new iPhone X is because it has created a brand that customers trust and view as premium. That might be why Apple topped the list of the 18th annual Best Global Brands Report from global brand consultancy Interbrand.

If you want to know how powerful this list is, the companies in the top ten have a combined brand value of $789.8 billion, which represent a 4.2% increase over last year.

Knowing what brands are resonating with consumers can be of particular interest to investors looking for either long-term plays or “the next big thing.” The companies on the Best Global Brands list consistently outperform the general market. That’s because a solid brand image can help a company weather the dips in the market, as well as give it an extra boost during market highs.

“In this changing world, businesses need brands more than ever,” wrote Jez Frampton, Interbrand’s Global CEO.

Interbrand ranked companies based on 10 factors, including engagement, relevance, authenticity, and governance. To see which companies take up the Top 10 spots on the list, keep reading.

IBM has created a brand that represents the technology of the future. Image source: IBM.

10. IBM

Brand Value: $46.8 billion

Social Impact: 954,757 Facebook likes

While IBM (NYSE:IBM) rounds out the Top 10 brands list, its value has actually slipped 11% just from last year. IBM’s brand value has been on a steep downturn since it peaked in 2013, at $78.8 billion, according to Interbrand. In the past five years, IBM’s stock has fallen about 20% as the company has been transitioning its focus from traditional hardware to a software as a service business, focusing on artificial intelligence and cloud computing.

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway owned about 81 million shares of IBM at the end of 2016 but cut that to about 54 million shares in the first half of 2017. “I don’t value IBM the same way that I did six years ago when I started buying… I’ve revalued it somewhat downward,” Buffett said in an interview on CNBC.

The Mercedes-Benz S Class Salon in the color black is shown speeding on a road with buildings in the background.

Mercedez-Benz customers have high expectations from the luxury brand. Image source: Mercedes-Benz.

9. Mercedes-Benz

Brand Value: $47.8 billion

Social impact: 20.8 million Facebook likes

Luxury-car company Mercedes-Benz, represented by its three-pointed star in a laurel wreath, has seen its brand value steadily increase since 2009 when it was worth about $24 billion. Mercedes Benz is owned by Daimler AG (NASDAQOTH:DDAIF), whose stock has risen an incredible 60% in the past five years.

“The Mercedes-Benz brand stands for the aspiration to deliver ‘The best’ in terms of products, technology and services,” the company writes on its website.

The Facebook thumbs up symbol is shown on a sign at its headquarters

Facebook’s brand has helped it rack up over2 billion users. Image source: Facebook.

8. Facebook

Brand Value: $48.2 billion

Social Impact: 191.2 million Facebook likes

Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) claimed a spot on the Top 10 list for the first time this year. The Menlo Park, California-based social-media, and tech company also boasted the highest growth over last year out of all companies on the Top 10 list. Facebook’s value increased an incredible 48% over the past year, securing it the No. 8 most valuable brand position.

Facebook has a powerful reach, reporting an incredible 2 billion monthly active users (MAUs) for the first time last quarter. And Facebook also owns Instagram, which now has over 800 million MAUs. In comparison, Snap Inc.’s Snapchat reported a more modest 330 million MAUs last quarter.

The combined popularity of its platforms has helped Facebook achieve between 39% and 61% revenue growth each quarter for the past three years. Last quarter, it raked in $9.32 billion in revenue.

A white Toyota Aygo x-claim exterior pictured in front of colorful sheds on a beach

Toyota cars are seen as reliable and affordable. Image source: Toyota.

7. Toyota

Brand Value: $50.3 billion

Social Impact: 3.6 million Facebook likes

Toyota‘s (NYSE:TM) brand value rose from 2010 to 2016, when it peaked at $53.6 billion. Since last year, Toyota’s brand value has slipped 6%. While Toyota’s sales have increased, its performance has been weighed down by the strength of the Japanese yen.

This past June, the Japan-based automaker was named the most valuable car company in the BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands study conducted by market research firm Kantar Millward Brown. Toyota has held the number one spot for 10 of the 12 years the firm has released the study.

Global BrandZ director Peter Walshe told Automotive News Europe:

Toyota is seen as a reliable, quality value brand. Even when it was going through its recall problems, the users were saying, ‘What’s all the fuss about, my car is fine.’ Toyota has delivered great value for years.

Samsung Galaxy Note8 advertisement featuring the phone overlaid with the text "Do Bigger Things" on a background featuring a landscape picture of people hiking on a jetty

Samsung has created a global electronics brand. Image source: Samsung.

6. Samsung

Brand Value: $56.2 billion

Social Impact: 4 million Facebook likes

Samsung (NASDAQOTH:SSNLF) moved up a spot on the Top 10 list this year after seeing its brand value increase by 9% in 2017. The South Korea-based company’s performance is particularly impressive as the past year includes the disastrous Galaxy Note 7 episode. The device was known to heat up or explode due to battery issues and led to the company’s biggest recall in history.

Despite the setback, Samsung sprang back into action with the successful launch of the Galaxy S8 in April. At a July media event, Samsung’s mobile division chief Koh Dong-Jin said the Galaxy S8 had outsold its predecessor, the Galaxy S7, by 15% in the same three-month period after launch.

Executive Vice President of Global Marketing, Young-Hee Lee said in a statement: “Our efforts to make meaningful progress to improve people’s lives contributed to the rise in brand value. Our ranking this year is a positive sign that demonstrates our efforts to regain trust have resonated with global consumers.”

Amazon’s brand is all about delighting its customers by making shopping easier and cheaper for them. Image source: Amazon.

5. Amazon

Brand Value: $64.8 billion

Social Impact: 28 million Facebook likes

Despite being a household name, this is only Amazon’s (NASDAQ:AMZN) second year on BrandZ’s Top 10 list. The online retailer seems to permeate every area of consumers’ lives. This past June, Amazon scooped up Whole Foods and plans to transform the grocery experience for shoppers. Already, Amazon has decreased the prices of certain items at the traditionally more pricey grocer.

Amazon’s popular range of smart-speaker devices — including the Amazon Echo and the Amazon Dot — allows shoppers to easily access more of the company’s products and services. The e-commerce giant is also diving head first into video content, using Amazon Prime Video to improve the value proposition for consumers to become Amazon Prime members. The company will spend an estimated $6 billion on content in 2017, Wedbush Securities Inc. analyst Michael Pachter wrote in a note to analysts.

With Amazon taking over the retail space and steadily making a name for itself in the grocery and content space, it’s easy to see why Amazon is in the top five most valuable brands.

A young woman with a red hat and a young man with a green shirt are shown clinking their glass Coke bottles together

Coca-Cola has created a “cool” beverage brand. Image source: Coca-Cola.

4. Coca-Cola

Brand Value: $69.7 billion

Social Impact: 105.9 million Facebook likes

While you might think Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) is at the top of its game at No. 4 on BrandZ’s list, its value has actually been steadily dropping since 2014 when it peaked at $81.6 billion. Just in the past year, the beverage company has lost 5% of its brand value.

Coca-Cola has taken a hit from the trend to opt for healthier choices, including fruit juices, teas, and artisan coffees. Certain countries, including the U.K. and Mexico, have even added sugary-drink taxes to reduce the consumption of beverages with added sugar.

In defense of the health-conscious trend, Coca-Cola has turned to non-carbonated beverages. For the latest quarter, Coca-Cola reported a 3% rise in sales in North America, mostly due to its line of teas, ready to drink cold coffees, and Sprite.

Microsoft is headquartered in Redmond, Washington, but its computer software is used worldwide. Image source: Microsoft.

3. Microsoft

Brand Value: $69.7 billion

Social Impact: 105.9 million Facebook likes

Apple rival Microsoft‘s (NASDAQ:MSFT) brand value has been steadily rising since 2014, even jumping an impressive 10% just in the past year, during which time it acquired professional networking site LinkedIn. Since Satya Nadella became CEO in 2014, he has worked to create a more open relationship with other companies, including working with Apple, IBM, and Salesforce.

The company is focusing more and more on its cloud arm, Azure. For the latest quarter, Microsoft’s commercial cloud business grew 56% and hit an annualized rate of $20.4 billion in sales.

Jeff Hansen, General Manager of Branding for Microsoft, said in a statement that the company is “excited” about its position on the list. “Our brand value is a testament to our customer obsession and the amazing things our customers accomplish every day,” he said.

A photo of the Googleplex 4 building on Google's campus

Google’s brand is powerful as the No. 1 search engine in the world. Image source: Google.

2. Google

Brand Value: $141.7 billion

Social Impact: 24 million Facebook likes

It’s no surprise to see Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL) at No. 2 on the BrandZ list because it’s held onto this position for the past five years. The search titan has seen steady growth in its brand value since the study was started, and saw a 6% increase in the past year.

Google remains largely unchallenged in the search-engine space. In 2016, Google took home 75.8% of the search ad market, which translates into about $24.6 billion in revenue. By 2019, Google is anticipated to have 80.2% market share of the search ad market, according to market research firm eMarketer.

People shown walking into Apple's store in Singapore

Apple’s brand has helped it achieve a market cap of over $800 billion. Image source: Apple.

1. Apple

Brand Value: $184.2 billion

Social Impact: 8.4 million Facebook likes

Like Google, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) has held the same position on the BrandZ list for the past five years. The company’s brand value really took off after 2008, the year the first iPhone came out. Since 2008, the company’s brand value has increased from $13.7 billion to $184.2 billion.

Apple’s “cool” brand, sticky ecosystem, and commitment to quality mean consumers are willing to pay more its devices. On Oct. 27, Apple started presales for its most expensive phone yet, the iPhone X, which starts out at $999.

Apple is just a tech company, but it doesn’t have just consumers — it has fans. People line up for days to get their hands on the latest iPhone before it sells out.

The late co-founder of Apple, Steve Jobs, was instrumental in creating the branding around Apple as not just a tech company, but a company that sold devices which enable you to fulfill your dreams and creative visions. Jobs once said during a speech about branding.

Marketing is about values. It’s a complicated and noisy world, and we’re not going to get a chance to get people to remember much about us. No company is. So we have to be really clear about what we want them to know about us.

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In News

The Top 8 Attributes of the World’s Most Successful Brands

November 6, 2017 No Comments

By Paul Suggett

In many respects, a brand’s characteristics are much like those of people or animals. Some people are very confident, or even arrogant, and so are many of the brands you’ve heard of. For example, Nike has a lot of confident swagger (Just Do It), whereas Dollar Shave Club borders on the absurdly arrogant (Our Blades Are F**king Great). Some animals are known to be very loyal or reliable, and so too are certain brands. Amazon has built a fantastic reputation with its fiercely consumer-friendly customer service department, and it’s one of the many reasons the online giant has grown in leaps and bounds.

However, successful brands are also more complex than that. They are not one-dimensional and have a wide range of attributes that become part of a well-rounded, and well-loved, brand experience. Here are the top eight, in no particular order.

Really Knowing Their Audience

Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty — Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty. http://www.gettyimages.com/license/143134495

In fact, they don’t just know them…they understand them. It’s easy to get lost in a sea of marketing jargon like demographics, behaviorism, and average HHI (Household Income). But at the end of the day, successful brands completely understand their audience on an emotional level. They are not just numbers on a chart in a PowerPoint slide. They are people, with names, dreams, and histories.

When Dove launched its “campaign for real beauty,” it really understood what women were going through. These impossible standards of beauty portrayed by the media, and the unrealistic expectations that society imposed upon them, were punishing the audience. Dove came out and said, “hey, we get it, and we support you.” The ad showing how a supermodel in an outdoor ad goes from average to outstanding through makeup, lighting, and Photoshop became a viral sensation. It touched a nerve, and that is knowing your audience.

Standing for Something

Nike Just Do It. http://www.gettyimages.com/license/527518908

This does not mean a brand must support one of the latest political movement, or be out there stumping for a certain cause or charity. It simply means that the brand puts itself firmly behind an idea, or ideal. In the case of one of the biggest brands, Nike, it stands for determination. Nike tells you to “Just Do It,” and all of its marketing materials revolve around that idea.

The ability to overcome the pain and the obstacles and push yourself to the limits, and beyond. With Dove, the ideal is real beauty. Dove’s advertising gets behind real women, celebrating the female form in its many incarnations. With Apple, it’s simplicity (or at least, it used to be). A brand should clearly define what it stands for in its advertising, marketing, and public relations materials. If it stands for too many things, they will all get lost in the clutter.

The Ability to Pivot Quickly

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. http://www.gettyimages.com/license/450831354

A great brand must be nimble. That can be a problem when the brand grows, because the more cogs there are in the machine, the more it gets slowed down. When a brand is in its infancy, it’s easy to move quickly and respond to change. When a brand becomes the size of Microsoft or Amazon, it’s like asking a massive ocean liner to turn around in a few seconds.

However, some large brands have kept their ability to pivot, thanks largely to a streamlined approval process, no micromanagement, and the implementation of social media. Consider the famous Oreo tweet that went out during the Super Bowl blackout; “you can always dunk in the dark.” That was a quick response to a major problem, and people are still talking about it. Then look at a brand like Blockbuster. All the signs were there that it needs to adjust to the rapidly changing digital entertainment landscape. But it dug in and stood its ground. While Netflix dominated, and Amazon jumped on digital media delivery, more and more blockbuster stores started closing. It did not pivot in time. And it died.

Passion and Ambition

Apple's Steve Jobs — Apple’s Steve Jobs. http://www.gettyimages.com/license/690815

The greatest brands ooze passion from every pore. You get excited when you engage with them, and become a brand advocate. You want to wear their brand, or post about it on Facebook and Twitter. Passionate brands are proactive, and the people in charge of the brand are usually driven to the point of obsession.

Look at Steve Jobs and Apple. This was a man who insisted on a specific Pantone color for the case of the Apple Mac, which was almost indistinguishable from the stock color available. It cost many thousands to make that change, but he knew what he wanted, and what the consumer wanted. Steve also refused to put the iPad through focus groups. Again, he knew what people wanted, but realized it would take a few months to get used to the idea.

Brands that do not have this passion are not as fun to engage with. When was the last time you talked about the great things happening with Dell, or IBM? And sadly, Dell used to be in this zone. “Dude, You’re Getting a Dell” was exciting and helped make Dell a household name. Never lose the passion. It will sink the brand.

Consistency Through Thick and Thin

It can be tough to be a truly consistent brand, especially when everything is changing around you. It can be a lot easier to simply go with the flow, abandon the consistency, and hope things work out for the best. But a brand that remains consistent to its core values will thrive throughout the constantly evolving landscape. Customers who know they can rely on a brand to be there for them will reward that brand with their loyalty.

Coca-Cola is a great example of both sides of the argument. Once, they ditched their formula and brand to try and stay on top of Pepsi (which was number two in the marketplace). New Coke was a disaster, and Pepsi reaped the rewards. Coke’s loyal customers felt betrayed. Now, Coca-Cola is a model of consistency. It knows what it is, what it isn’t, and what to do to keep its message of “sharing and inclusion” top of mind. Lose your consistency, your customers will feel thrown by it. They’ll try something else, and they may not ever come back.

6: Being Genuinely Interesting and Engaging

Great brands don’t have to work overtime to get a consumer’s interest (or at least, it doesn’t look like hard work). A truly interesting brand will demand attention. You know this yourself just by looking at the brands you follow on social media. What names are on the list? More than likely, they have something interesting to say, and they say it often. Go to Instagram and take a look at the following brands: Letterfolk; Staples; AirBnB; Starbucks; ShakeShack; Nike; Mac Cosmetics; National Geographic; FedEx (yes…FedEx).

The last one on the list should make every brand sit up and take notice. FedEx does a very dull job; it delivers packages. And yet through a genuine desire to entertain and engage the audience, FedEx has almost 74 thousand followers on Instagram. FedEx is not posting pictures of brown boxes, or schedules, or people receiving packages. Instead, the Instagram channel is filled with beautiful shots of planes, trucks in the wilderness, incredible scenery, and people of different cities. The people at FedEx know what’s interesting and they are promoting it. If a package delivery service can get that kind of engagement, anyone can. You just have to tap into something people want to see.

7: Relevancy in an Ever-Changing World

Lego Batman. http://www.gettyimages.com/license/634445388

It’s been said over and over again; now, more than ever, brands are engaged in a battle for cultural relevancy. Big brands can become dinosaurs, or they can thrive. Small brands can get crushed underfoot, or they can be as small and indestructible as a diamond. It’s all about how relevant that brand is in the current climate. Perhaps one of the greatest brands to pass the relevancy test is Lego. Think about how popular (or not) Lego was 20 years ago. It was a household name, sure, but it was a plastic building toy about to get wiped about the rapidly growing video game industry. Lego adapted.

It bought into huge film and TV franchises, like Star Wars, Batman, Harry Potter, and even Ghostbusters. It created brick and mortar stores that were an experience for kids and adults alike. It became a staple in Disneyland and in malls around the world. It created multiple product lines, like Bionicle, Ninjago, and City. And then, the master stroke, Lego got into the movie-making business. And by hiring some of the best talent in the entertainment industry (Morgan Freeman, Will Ferrell, Will Arnett, Elizabeth Banks), its movies became massive hits. Lego knows relevancy, and it’s bigger than it has ever been at a time when toy stores are going under. How can your brand remain relevant today? What can it do to really connect?

8: Authenticity and Humanity

Target Spot the Dog. http://www.gettyimages.com/license/835672972

Consumers hate fakes and phonies, and when a brand tries and fails to connect on a real, human level, it suffers the consequences. Ironically, Dove has recently come under fire for feeling insincere by continuing its quest to pursue real beauty. The bottles of many shapes and sizes, to represent the many shapes and sizes of its female customers, was a complete disconnect. The consensus from the audience was that this felt like a marketing stunt; something fake and contrived that was designed to get viral hits rather than genuinely connecting to their audience.

“It’s straight-up off-brand,” said Samantha Skey, president of digital media company She Knows Media. “It’s a change in tone for Dove, from ads that are almost painfully sincere and earnest, to something that could literally be a ‘Saturday Night Live’ skit. Unless you’re trying to mock everything you stand for, I’m not sure why you would do this.” This was followed by an ad that showed a black woman taking off her clothed to reveal a white woman beneath. While Dove says it was taken out of context, it was another example of Dove missing the mark, and losing its genuine appeal.

However, a brand that continues to be praised for its authenticity is Target. It knows what it is, it knows its customer base, and it continues to treat them with respect. It’s not afraid to poke fun at itself, or admit when it makes a mistake. Because of this, brand loyalty for Target is stronger than it’s ever been.

By Paul Suggett

Sourced from the balance

In News

Identity Marketing Backfires: Don’t Tell a Consumer What they Like

August 1, 2017 No Comments

By MediaStreet Staff Writers

When choosy parents choose Folláin jam and sports fans who call themselves sports fans subscribe to SkySports, identity marketing is hard at work. But what happens when this type of advertising misses the mark?

According to a study in the Journal of Consumer Research, when a person’s sense of ownership and freedom is threatened they are less likely to respond positively to identity marketing campaigns.

“While people may be drawn to brands that fit their identity, they are also more likely to desire a sense of ownership and freedom in how they express that identity. Identity marketing that explicitly links a person’s identity with a brand purchase may actually undermine that sense of freedom and backfire,” write authors Amit Bhattacharjee (Dartmouth College), Jonah Berger (Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania), and Geeta Menon (New York University).

The researchers ran a series of five studies that compared two types of identity marketing, messages that simply referenced consumer identity or messages that explicitly tied consumer identity to a brand purchase. Participants were first asked to answer questions about the importance of a given identity in their overall life. They then viewed an advertisement for a brand that appealed to that specific identity. The advertisement used a headline that either referenced the identity or explicitly linked it to a brand. Participants then rated their likelihood to purchase a product from within the brand.

Study results showed that explicit identity marketing messages backfired with consumers who cared about the specific identity and resulted in a lower likelihood to purchase the product. This information may help brands understand why some people react negatively to products used in important areas of their lives.

“Contrary to the traditional thinking about identity marketing, our research shows that people who care deeply about an identity are not receptive to messages that explicitly communicate how a brand fits with their lifestyle,” the authors conclude. “In fact, to restore their sense of freedom, some people may avoid purchasing a product that otherwise appeals to them and fits with who they are.”

There you go marketers. You can suggest your product to your customer using their identity, but not tell your customer that if they are a certain type of person that they will buy it for sure. Humans: we hate being told what to do.

In News

How to Grow a Premium Brand Without Killing its Soul

July 13, 2017 No Comments

Managers of premium brands face a perennial dilemma. How do you grow a premium brand without killing its soul?

By MediaStreet Staff Writers

A unique brand cachet attracts its core high-price-paying customers. But what happens when you seek to expand sales to the masses by offering lower prices? In recent years, outlet stores located hours away from glitzy shopping districts have sprung up everywhere. They are selling off-season and lower-tier merchandise at a fraction of regular retail prices. They have become significant sources of revenues.

The conventional wisdom is that relying on revenues from outlet stores can destroy the brand’s prestige over time. But according to a forthcoming study in the journal Marketing Science, outlet stores may actually help improve the brand’s cachet.

The study, “Why outlet stores exist: averting cannibalisation in product line extensions,” was authored by Donald Ngwe of Harvard Business School.

Ngwe analysed five years of customer sales data covering over 16 million customers and 27 million transactions from a major high-end fashion firm with hundreds of regular and outlet stores around the country. He found that the brand’s core customers are picky about wanting the latest products and are willing to pay premium prices, but are unwilling to travel very far to buy the brand.

In contrast, the larger mass of customers who aspire to consume this brand, but are price sensitive, are not only willing to travel the long distances to outlet stores, but are also not very picky in their tastes for the latest products and willing to tolerate lower quality. Therefore outlet stores expand revenues with limited cannibalisation of revenues from the core high paying customer base.

Taking into account this strong negative correlation between taste for quality and new products and willingness to travel for shopping among the core and mass segments, Ngwe modelled the firm’s product introductions in regular and outlet stores. He found two key results. First, the availability of outlets for selling older products to mass consumers means that firms can take more risk and introduce more new products at faster rates at its regular stores. Second, as outlet stores absorb the customer base of price-conscious customers who need less service, the firm can invest in greater service at regular stores. New product introduction at regular stores increases by as much as 16 percent. Ngwe said, “Here is the kicker. Even as outlet stores generate significant revenues from the masses, they help the brand increase its cachet among its core customers through more new products and higher service.”

The conventional wisdom that outlet stores can be detrimental to a premium brand’s health arises from failing to recognise the positive spillovers from outlet stores on regular retail stores. Ngwe noted, “For the brand we studied, there is little cannibalisation of regular store revenues by outlet stores. Moreover, outlet stores have positive spillovers in terms of higher service and more frequent new products in regular stores. So the net effect of outlet stores is to increase brand cachet.”

However, Ngwe cautioned, “Critical to our conclusion is that core customers would not shop at outlet stores due to their aversion to traveling long distances. This may not be true for customers of other brands, particularly lower end ones. Also, pure online brands cannot use travel distances to separate their core and mass customer segments. Online premium brands will need to find other means to differentiate their upscale and mass offerings.”

The complete paper is available here.

In News

Cheatsheet: How brands can work with influencers

July 7, 2017 No Comments

By Shareen Pathak.

As influencer marketing has grown, it’s gone way beyond a one-note business transaction between advertisers and a so-called social star. Between agents, platforms and the rise of self-serve, how brands work with influencers has turned into a complex undertaking. Here, we break down all the ways they do it.

Business models

Spray and pray: Brands ship product to a star and hope the influencer creates content. This runs the risk of being mocked in the influencer community for that approach, according to Collectively co-founder Alexa Tonner.
Production: Marketers approach social stars with detailed requests for creative that include storyboards. Influencers will then fulfill the request and post the content — videos, storytelling or pictures — on their own blogs or social channels.
Agency: Marketers come to influencers with RFPs and then let the influencers plan and execute entire campaigns. The campaigns can then be fulfilled via the influencer’s own network or also appear in advertising by the brand.
Publisher: A growing number of self-serve tools has meant advertisers can create a list of influencers they want to work with, then send the influencers in-house creative. The influencers will post it on their own social platforms, essentially forming a bond resembling a media relationship. Essentially, influencers become mini media companies. A brand that uses an influencer in this capacity wants to distribute a brand message or raise awareness through an influencer with multiple channels, a high number of followers and strong engagement.
Branded content: Media companies such as Hearst Magazines Digital Media will use influencers in branded content to give the posts extra oomph. For example, a story about a bag line could feature influencers styling the bags rather than a model posing with the bags. That gives the influencers more creative freedom and gets the content more reach.
Brand ambassador programs: These are more popular with influencers, as they guarantee a revenue stream. A brand will sign someone up for a longer time period, booking them, for example, across prom season, back to school and the summer. For brands, these can be a cheaper get: If you booked an influencer who had 150,000 followers in January but grew her following fivefold during the year, you’re still locked in at the cheaper price.
Events: Influencers can show up to launches to take a photo or two and share them with their followers.
Product lines: Possibly the most difficult model, brands can work to create co-branded products with influencers — tapping into the “creator” aspect to work on the product and packaging.

How brands find influencers

In-house talent team: Major brands like L’Oréal run in-house talent teams that scour the social web to find new stars.
Tools: An increasing number of brands are working with tech companies to create large-scale whitelists of approved influencers who can then be tapped programmatically or manually for campaigns on an ongoing basis.

How influencers get paid

Commission: Akin to affiliate models, influencers get a cut every time a promo code is used to purchase whatever they’re selling.
Upfront fee: Reserved for more top-tier influencers, fees are paid upfront, followed by a rolling commission-based model.
Gift card: Influencers — particularly smaller ones — will render services for a brand gift card.
Per click: Used particularly by YouTube influencers, this compensates influencers every time people click on product links in their bios or in videos.
Cost per engagement: Brands can measure engagement metrics, then apply them as an attribute against different platforms so influencers get paid per engagement (like or comment) they receive.
Invitations: Influencers receive party invites for exclusive events where it’s normally difficult to get in. In exchange, they cover the event.

The numbers

Upfront fees can range from a basic $1,000 per 100,000 followers on Facebook or Instagram to a flat fee per photo of up to $200,000 for celebrity influencers.
Appearance fees start at about $30,000.
Commissions are usually 25 percent of the sale.

The top-tier influencer view
“One of the things I always ask when a brand reaches out to me to work together on social is what is their objective and what they want to achieve,” said Will Taylor, the influencer behind lifestyle blog Bright Bazaar. “One thing that I always say is, you get the best results working with influencers when you don’t plug influencers in at the last minute. You work with them throughout.”

The agency buyer view
“How an influencer is compensated can vary from campaign to campaign and brand to brand, even within specific verticals,” said Corey Martin, 360i head of influencer marketing. “Outside of simple dollars, it is important to have a good sense of your brand’s cultural cachet and inherent worth to help set pricing or when determining what the ultimate value exchange should be.”

The publisher view
“The influencers who rise to the top not only have a high number of followers, but also have great conversion rates,” said Brittany Hennessy, director of influencer talent for Hearst Magazines Digital Media’s branded content studio. “They’re moving products for brands, and because they’re able to make that happen, these brands want to collaborate with them on product lines. So many of these creators want to be designers or to have their own range of products, so this is a natural evolution for influencer marketing at the highest level.”

The influencer platform view
“The influencer space needs to continue to move toward a true dialogue between brand and influencer. Right now, it’s very much one direction: Brand talks to influencer, influencer talks to audience,” said Tonner. “I’d like to see those lines blur a little bit more: Influencers and their audiences should help inform brands on the market and trends. In the spirit of this dialogue, we’ve started to host influencer roundtables and conversations with our clients, and they’ve been incredibly enlightening.”

By Shareen Pathak

Sourced from DIGIDAY UK

In News

Could Better Brand Storytelling Help Mitigate Uber’s Problems?

June 19, 2017 No Comments

By Krystal Overmyer.

A hot-tempered CEO. A sexual harassment lawsuit. A federal investigation. A political controversy followed by a viral campaign to boycott the company.

Uber, for all its brand recognition, just can’t seem to avoid PR disasters (and it appears to be affecting its bottom line). Amid the fallout, one has to wonder: Would stronger brand storytelling enable Uber to move forward from the crises, or perhaps even avoid them?

Even Uber admits it has a brand voice problem. Uber general manager and head of cities Fred Jones noted that the company “never really had a brand voice in terms of what we stand for and what we believe in,” according to Marketing Week. Honing in on that brand voice and communicating it to users is a top priority this year, Jones notes.

It’s not a new goal for the company. In 2015, Uber CEO and cofounder Travis Kalanick underscored the company’s need to do a better job at telling its brand story, Marketing Week notes. In 2016, a graphic rebrand was supposed to “change not only how (Uber) is perceived throughout the world, but how it perceives itself,” according to Wired.

Yet despite these attempts, Uber’s brand story remains elusive. Yes, Uber has achieved dominance in the ride-share industry, but its meteoric rise and laser-like focus on expansion and profit may have come at a cost. If the only story your brand can tell is “we’re cheaper than the competition,” it may not be enough to keep your consumers loyal, especially as the scandals continue to grow.

Uber’s storytelling troubles foreshadow long-term problems. If the company can’t define what it stands for or the story it wants to convey, how can it connect with consumers? And as the #DeleteUber debacle proved, it’s all too easy for consumers to jump ship when they realize a brand’s values are bankrupt.

How Crises Impact Storytelling

Despite a brand’s best efforts, PR crises happen. An adept response can mitigate the damage, but a poor response can make the situation far worse.

Brands that have honed their storytelling ability have an advantage in this arena. For one, brands that have a long history of living and sharing their values through content may be better able to explain a snafu as a one-off event, especially if they show appropriate contrition and a willingness to fix the problem.

A very damaging crisis, however, may require rethinking an entire brand. Again, brands with a content focus have the advantage here with their ability to adapt messaging quickly to the current environment. Crises demand that brands evolve; strong storytelling can reflect that positive evolution. In the wake of a crisis, a brand’s content strategy needs to alleviate the damage while also signaling that the brand has rectified the situation moving forward.

BP’s response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010 marks one example of shifting content strategy following a major incident. After the disaster, BP built messaging around accountability and learning from mistakes, as the Content Standard has noted previously. By 2016, the pitch had shifted, focusing on how gas and petroleum products are useful and relevant in our everyday lives. While the new campaign doesn’t reference the oil spill directly, it does offer a prime example of how brands evolve in response to crises. It’s not hard to imagine that BP’s softer, more emotional tone comes out of a desire to leave the incident behind while distinguishing itself from competitors.

Uber now finds itself in desperate need of a similar branding overhaul. Increasingly, the company’s perceived lack of empathy is threatening its bottom line. Over 200,000 users deleted the app following public outcry over Kalanick’s participation on President Trump’s economic advisory board, according to the New York Times. The #DeleteUber campaign eventually forced Kalanick to step down from the council.

Many times, brands can lean on leadership to serve as brand ambassadors. In Uber’s case, this approach has been a liability. After Uber CEO Kalanick was caught on camera lashing out at a driver, he issued a statement essentially admitting his immaturity (Kalanick is 40).

“To say that I am ashamed is an extreme understatement,” Kalanick wrote. “It’s clear this video is a reflection of me…. I must fundamentally change as a leader and grow up. This is the first time I’ve been willing to admit that I need leadership help and I intend to get it.”

When your brand story pivots to your CEO needing to grow up, you may have a problem.

Taken together, these incidents weave their own damaging narrative: That of a callous company, too focused on profits, too dismissive of the people that ultimately drive the business. That oversight has opened the door for competitors, like Lyft, to tell a more compelling story.

Image attribution: Lyft

Uber vs. Lyft: A Tale of Two Brand Stories

As far as market share goes, Uber dominates competitor Lyft. Nonetheless, underdog Lyft appears to be positioning itself as a more palatable alternative to Uber via its brand storytelling efforts. On the surface, the companies aren’t that different: Both are privately held and do not offer benefits to its drivers. Their brands, however, tell very different stories: Lyft deliberately seeks to position itself as the socially conscious alternative in the ride-sharing space.

“There’s more of a story to tell about a company that puts people first, a company that focuses a lot on experience and making sure we demonstrate how we treat drivers and passengers really well,” Lyft CMO Melissa Waters told the Wall Street Journal.

While Uber floundered amid the #DeleteUber scandal, Lyft promoted “Round Up and Donate,” a program that allows riders to contribute to partner charities by rounding up their fare to the closest dollar. The more Lyft can show off its values, the more it can siphon socially aware customers from Uber.

If Uber had cultivated a similar story, would it now be better able to withstand the storm of bad PR? And if the company better understood its own values, would its leadership be more compelled to behave in accordance with those values?

Maybe Uber’s self-inflicted wounds were inevitable. Maybe not. What is clear is that the scandals make Uber appear soulless at a time when consumers are keenly attuned to brands that share their values—and the company continues to struggle to communicate what it stands for. In time, these snowballing problems could erode consumer and investor trust and seriously damage the company’s prospects.

For marketers, the Uber example serves as a cautionary tale. Ignore brand values—and how you articulate them—at your peril.

By Krystal Overmyer.

Krystal Overmyer is a socially-savvy writer and editor who is passionate about telling stories. In the past few years, Krystal has written about higher education, the new french bakery in town, online dating, labor market trends and tourism. The subjects may be diverse, but Krystal feels her role as a writer stays the same despite the topic: She tells the story and makes it matter. Her goal is to make the words sing, so that main messages are clear and accessible to readers.

Sourced from skyword

In News

How to Effectively Use Storytelling to Attract a Larger Brand Following

May 29, 2017 No Comments

By Susan Gilbert

In order to establish a credible personal brand that people trust you need great content that speaks directly to them. Without this you will not be successful in your lead generation and conversion rates.

How can your brand better connect with your community in an authentic way? A compelling brand story will make them want to spread the word about your company. Publishing and promoting content is not enough to hold people’s attention any more, and with a little effort and target market research you can reach out to your community and create loyal brand ambassadors.

Social media marketing is not about selling, but rather about meeting the needs of your customers, and presenting a message that solves their biggest problems. There are several ways to attract followers to your personal brand with a powerful story.

Steps to building a winning storytelling content strategy:

Today’s brand message comes from being real with your audience. It takes transparency and building relationships through your marketing execution to make this work:

1. Improve your content

Educate yourself and find out what is working well in your industry today. If video garners more attention then focus on that. Some businesses have a higher number of followers from mobile than computers. Do some research to learn where your community is active the most and the types of content they prefer then adjust yours according to this data.

2. Send invitations to connect

Stay in touch with your subscribers and brand followers on social media. Provide them with valuable offers and information that can be helpful in solving their needs. Use this as an opportunity to not sell, but build relationships with them.

3. Create a sales page

Once you have established a good following create a separate sales page where they can go to learn more about your products and services. This is the place where your actual sales pitch comes in, and is best done through testimonials and real-life examples such as a video from a happy client.

Storytelling for your personal brand is a great way to connect more with your leads and customers. Attract new customers with creative ideas that have a profound impact on their lives and tell the story of your company.

Image credit: Shutterstock

By Susan Gilbert

This story originally appeared on Personal Branding Blog

Sourced from Entrepreneur

In News

Amazon: Mistakes Brands Make

May 11, 2017 No Comments

By Laurie Sullivan,

Optimizing products to rank in Amazon’s marketplace is very different compared with optimizing for Google, Bing or Yahoo, according to CEO Casey Gauss, 24, cofounded Viral Launch, a 23-person company based in Indianapolis.
“Sometimes the specifics on Amazon are counterintuitive to business logic,” Gauss said. “Marketers don’t realize that recognizable national brands could grow much easier on Amazon if they just put in the same effort that smaller private-label brands do.”

Marketers from major brands typically think their brand power will drive sales on Amazon, so they don’t optimize product listings and run campaigns in the marketplace as they would on Google, Bing or Yahoo search engines, he said. Their lack of knowledge and willingness to put in the effort creates a huge opportunity for third-party sellers to come in and dominate the space.

The young entrepreneur boasts 16,000 product launches from 3,500 brands, with some experiencing a 250% increase in revenue. A couple of those brands are Fortune 500 companies, he said.

According to Feedvisor’s State of the Amazon Marketplace 2017 study released Thursday, almost 50% of third-party sellers surveyed said they sell almost exclusively on Amazon, but 59% of them plan to expand elsewhere in 2017.

Private-label sales continue to play a strong role on Amazon. Nearly one-third of sellers sell at least some private-label items, and 18% sell private-label items exclusively, per the study.

Search on the generic keywords “duffel bag” and the well-known brands like Nike and Samsonite are not the first products in the list to serve up. The first products are from obscure brand that most consumers don’t know, but these are companies employing marketers who understand how to optimize product listings for searches in Amazon. They know how to drive keyword ranking and know the nuances of the platform.

Here’s another tip from Gauss for those optimizing copy in Amazon: Put a colon or a hyphen punctuation mark after the fifth word in the title because it changes the canonical URL for Google, which helps boost rankings in the search engine.

Also, depending on some product subcategories, words after a colon on a bulletted point in Amazon are not indexed in Google.

So what are some of the other big mistakes that brands make when running and optimizing search campaigns in Amazon? Redundancy in descriptions and weak bulletted points that often serve up at the top of the page with the words “Imported” or “Made in China,” Gauss said. He added that there is nothing wrong with products being made in China, but marketers wouldn’t add that bulletted point in a sitelink on Google AdWords, so why would they do it on Amazon? Instead, marketers would write “beautiful copy” to let consumers know about the “amazing features” of the product.

Keyword stuffing is another tactic used on Amazon. Yes, Amazon allows brands to keyword stuff, whereas Google does not, per Gauss. He said the word “sales” is the largest driver of keyword ranking on Amazon. “It’s not nearly as complex as Google,” he said.

Amazon shoppers are not digging as much into the nuances of what the products are made of if the information isn’t readily available. They might look at the reviews and price, but take the readily available information at face value. One thing is certain, he said — Amazon’s ranking algorithm has not yet adapted to consumer behavior. It’s still young.

If nothing else, being well-optimized on Amazon improves a consumer’s perception of the brand.

By Laurie Sullivan,

Sourced from MediaPost

In News

How do Brands Overcome Email Fatigue?

December 14, 2016 No Comments

By Kalpit Jain.

Personalized communication brings in 40-50% higher results than any other digital campaign.

The internet in India has seen explosive growth and penetration in the last decade. Demographics from Tier II and Tier III markets today have shown high rates of digital consumption and smartphone penetration. Multiple applications such as email, Facebook, Whatsapp etc., are now widely used in these markets. India has over 370 to 400 million mobile users and 325 million smartphone users. Because of the popularity of digital, the quality of messaging has become critical for B2C brands to market their offerings effectively. The communication that goes to consumers has to be relevant, effective, substantial, and on time.

How are brands finding the ‘connect’ with their audience?

A lot of brands today have started tracking their consumers’ preferences and needs by tracking the digital footprints that they leave on multiple digital channels such as websites, mobile apps, social media, etc. For example, when a consumer visits an e-commerce brand, he or she leaves a digital footprint on the website or on the app. Brands can use these footprints to create a profile for each consumer that lists their likes, purchasing patterns, and the medium on which information is accessed (desktop/mobile). The brands can then customize their content based on their consumer’s preferences in order to better engage with them. Advanced digital technology in the marketing space, called MarTech, is now available for consumer brands to help gather information about their consumers. Brands are now able to easily find out the amount of time a person spends on a particular page online and for how long they scan a product; this data is captured by a digital marketing technology platform that helps the brand design content tailored to their consumers’ needs. Another way to successfully engage with consumers is to connect in real-time through marketing technology and automation.

Connecting effectively via email

Contrary to the opinions of some marketers today, email marketing is not on its way out. In fact, recent trends have shown that email consumption has increased recently. The prime reason for the increase is that the medium is still considered to be an extremely credible source of information if packaged with relevant and crisp content. Before the internet became available on mobile devices, most people did not check their personal email more than twice a day, as they needed to be at a computer to do so. Now however, with increased smartphone penetration, people tend to sync their email on their mobile phones and access their email regularly.

Smartphone penetration has tripled email usage. With email, the key to effective email engagement is personalisation. Brands need to identify and analyze the medium through which the content is accessed by the consumer – desktop or mobile, based on which they can structure the content.

Segmentation also plays a vital role in brand message delivery. The market is now moving toward mass, one-to-one personalization. Email is frequently used in the e-commerce sector since digital is the only market universe for those brands and they get to track ROI digitally.

About 50-70% of their revenue is generated on a daily basis through email as a channel.

That proves that the dependency on email marketing is extremely high in the Indian market. Offline retail brands are focusing on mobile for marketing purposes. They now have realized that they need to obtain the digital identity of consumers in order to be able to engage with them. Mobile marketing is considered a more intrusive form of communication compared to email and even the banking sector uses mobile as a medium, mostly for transactional purposes.

Brand engagement with consumers via mobile

There has been a decline in SMS marketing with the rising popularity of Whatsapp and other messaging apps. SMS is also relatively expensive and has a character limit of 160 characters. Numerous regulations on the use of SMS for product promotion is another reason for its decline.

However, an optimal combination of both email and mobile mediums is what consumer brands usually deploy. SMS is used in the initial phase, to gather information about consumer behavior especially in Tier 2 and Tier 3 markets. Then email and voice communication/push notifications are used to communicate with and market to the customer. Push notifications as a channel is becoming increasingly popular for mobile marketing. A recent example of the same is the recent currency demonetization where brands used digital marketing in the form of push notifications to promote their services for transactions.

Omni-channel engagement

A lot of companies are looking at a mix of both email and mobile marketing to create an omni-channel platform to market their products/services. Through MarTech, consumer brands are channelizing their messaging on different mediums. There is a lot of research and innovation underway in email marketing. Marketers are now inserting real-time content in their emails.

For example, in the event of a flash sale of a particular brand on a particular date, brands can send out real-time emails to their consumers to lure them to the sale. This means that when a consumer opens their email inbox, they will receive real-time information on the exact number of hours left to make the most of the sale. This technology updates the content based on the time that the consumer accesses the mail. Another emerging trend in email marketing is video emailing.

Summing up

Millennials are estimated to be a brand’s most coveted customer segment thanks to their higher annual purchasing power in the coming years. To create relationships with this demographic, omni-channel connections are required, given their habits and consumption behavior. While email helps build personalized connections with consumers, SMS helps to engage with on-the-go consumers.

Through marketing technology, the content that a brand shares with its consumers are bifurcated and developed according to different age segments and their preferred medium of communication. Sending the same data to the same set of customers is usually not very effective and creates content fatigue.

Here, marketing technology plays a vital role by helping brands customize their messaging based on consumer needs. Recently, we have seen that personalized, triggered communication brings in 40-50% higher results than any other digital campaign for consumer brands.

By Kalpit Jain

The author is the CEO of netCORE Solutions Pvt Ltd.