Posts Tagged ‘branding’

The Day The Brand Died

April 16th, 2009 by AV Flox in guest post, personal brand

Marlboto Man

Photo by MyEyeSees

I was 10 on April 2, 1993, the day that the brand died.

On that day, Phillip Morris dealt a 20 percent slash to the price of its cigarettes in an effort to take on bargain brands, which were seriously pwning Marlboro’s market share. The slash had serious repercussions. If Marlboro’s carefully groomed brand wasn’t enough to take on the generic brands, then there no longer was truth to the brand equity mania that had rocked the eighties.

That is, if the brand was not powerful enough to sway sales on its own, if a marketing icon like Phillip Morris had to give in to the utterly lowbrow price war being waged against it, then the brand was as good as dead.

The panic that spread over Wall Street was immediate: Philip Morris’s stock fell 26 percent, and with it, other high-profile brands went down, among them Coca-Cola, Heinz, Quaker Oats, and PepsiCo. The brand is dead, experts said. As a result, companies cut advertising spending dramatically.

But the brand did not die. In fact, the opposite happened… Read more at The Cause Is The Habit

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Diva Marketing: A Chat with Toby Bloomberg of Bloomberg Marketing

April 1st, 2009 by AV Flox in marketing

Diva Marketing Blog, A Chat with Toby Bloomberg

The web has become a crucial aspect of marketing in past years. Recently, immediately after stumbling on her blog, I asked Toby Bloomberg of Diva Marketing Blog to sit down and tell me a little about how she got her start and the role that blogging has come to play for her company since she began in 2004.

How did you get into blogging?

If truth be told, I never had any intention of blogging. I often conduct marketing workshops for small business owners and in 2002 or 2003 I came across this cool website thing called a “blog” that was free (Blogger). You didn’t need to know how to code, there was something called “comments” where people could actually talk to you in real time and you could talk back to them. I thought: perfect for business owners on a limited budget with no technical skills!

Diva Marketing was launched because a friend told me I couldn’t talk about blogs unless I was personally blogging. Well, girlfriend, I told him he was daft and I could talk about any marketing topic without a lot of experience as long as I knew the basics. He told me this was different. Since I really did need to understand the logistics I agreed to play around with a blog for awhile. I had not a clue that it would turn into a long-term passion. I had a (boring) website so what did I need with a blog, right?

I was so wrong! Within days I realized that blogs were way far different than any website I’d ever seen. I also was wrong about talking about blogs without actually “doing it.” This is one marketing tactic where credibility is derived from experience. If anyone tells you they can teach or consult about blogs or social media without participating in the space, I suggest you run in the opposite direction.

What do you try to achieve with the blog?

Diva Marketing began with a focus on branding and general marketing information. However, as my interest and passion for social media grew, the focus of Diva Marketing changed.

As I’ve seen many times over, if you’re not passionate about what you’re writing about, it’s tough to sustain a blog long-term. I was also asked by many people to explain how to use blogs as a marketing initiative and Diva Marketing seemed the logical place to hold that information. Over that last almost five years, the blog has grown into a rich educational resource for marketers from Fortune 100s to small business to nonprofits and government agencies.

In addition to the typical marketing blog opinion posts there are interviews with industry leaders who generously share their learnings.

If you could impart three tips to other niche bloggers, what would it be?

First, begin with understanding what makes social media different from other marketing strategies. Social media is the only marketing strategy that I know that is built on a culture that is based on transparency, authenticity, honesty–and throw in some passion, too.

Second, since social media impacts how you conduct business, it’s important to create an umbrella social media direction for your organization. As you’re thinking about all, that begin to listen to the conversations of your customers and people in your industry.

Third, develop your strategy based goals and objectives and a determination of what would be success for you. Success in social media may extend further than traditional metrics. Keep an open mind. Also, as you would do in any marketing strategy keep your customers top of mind.

Has social media always been a focus for Bloomberg Marketing? How did it start?

Social media came about after Bloomberg Marketing opened its virtual doors in 2007 as a boutique strategic marketing firm with a focus on interactive marketing. We helped organizations use, at that time, innovative web-based tactics weaving in traditional tactics.

Would a Fortune 100 company use social media differently than a small business or are the principles the same? What about governments and non-profits?

Let’s go back to the belief that social media is a credible marketing strategy that helps “people” within organizations create and nurture closer relationships with customers/clients and other stakeholders. I call this developing ‘corner grocery store relations’: the old-fashioned relationships where the shop owner was part of the larger community, knew and cared about the people that purchased her products or services and were built on a foundation of trust. On that level the answer is the same no matter if it is for an Fortune 100, small business, government or nonprofit.

However, it is the objectives and the execution of the strategy where organizations take different paths. This can depend, for example, on where your customers are hanging out (are they on Facebook or Twitter?), the culture of the organization, the resources available (human capital, financial and time), and regulations (such as HIPAA in a health care situation).

How does Bloomberg Marketing use social media, if at all?

My goals are to reinforce my positioning as a thought leader in this new emerging industry who “gets it” and can help other people incorporate social media into their marketing plans. The outcomes that signal my strategy is succeeding include: new client opportunities, of course, but also speaking engagements, serving as a resource to mainstream and online media.

Another benefit is the personal relationships and networking that I’ve developed with other people–like you!

In addition to Diva Marketing I’ve extended the brand through a BlogTalkRadio show called Diva Marketing Talks. The concept is 30 minutes with a focus on one social media topic with two rock star guests. Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn are also part of my social media tool box.

What companies are using social media right and why do you think so?

Keep in mind that social media is evolving by the nano second and we are learning together what works and what does not. Pioneers are experimenting in this new media. One factor that those that do it right always have in common: they maintain transparency, authenticity and honesty.

As for who is doing it right? In government, take a look at how Queen Rania of Jordan is using YouTube. She’s created a branded channel and is talking directly to the world. Her personality shines through as genuine and caring.

For me Dell is the poster child for how a company can get blown-up for doing it wrong and then, by understanding their customers, learn to do it right. By not only listening to the conversation happening in blogs, on Twitter, in Facebook, etc., but actively participating in those discussions, Dell has created a stronger, more positive brand experience. In addition, its use of social media is creative and innovative as Dell’s Social Innovation Competition shows.

Goodwill of Washington is a wonderful example of how to strategically use social media in an integrated marketing plan. Brendan Hurley, vice president of marketing, is leveraging multiple tactics such as blogs, Twitter, YouTube to reposition not as a thrift store but a vintage shop.

In the consumer world, please allow me to brag on a client who is a true pioneer when it comes to blogs, and holds a piece of social media history. In 2005, GourmetStation was one of the first eCommerce companies to launch a blog. Delicious Destinations, a character blog, colored outside the lines when it used its icon as the voice of the blog. A huge fire storm erupted but we knew the direction was right for the brand and staid the course. Four years later the blog is successful and still going strong. We’ve included ‘real’ people such as the owner of a B&B in Tuscany, a travel writer living in Paris, a wine consultant to expand the content.

Social media is one form of marketing that we can use to get to know our customers better. One of the exciting benefits are they get to know us too! If I had to give one last piece of advice I’d say, don’t be afraid to experiment. If you have a quality brand that your customers like even if the initiative doesn’t work as intended you’ll be admired for trying. If your brand is weak because of poor customer service of quality, fix it before attempting this at home!

Of Possible Interest:
Toby Bloomberg is currently writing and crowdsourcing a book about social media on Twitter. You can can tune in to watch it unfold by following the #SMGPS hashtag on Twitter Search.

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New Brand World: What’s Your Brand?

January 10th, 2009 by AV Flox in intarwebz, personal brand, social media

I had a friend in high school who dressed a provocatively and was constantly fighting with people about her right to her self-expression. One evening while spending time with her boyfriend, she defended her fashion choices by saying: “just because I dress like a slut doesn’t mean I’m a slut.”

I will never forget his response. There was nothing moral in it, just logic: “if you saw someone walking down the street in a police uniform, would you assume they were a police officer or would you think they were just expressing themselves?”

It reminds me of a saying my mother says to this day: haste fama y échate a la cama, which translated from the Spanish means, “make your fame and lay in bed.”

(It’s a little like the saying “you’ve made your bed, now lie in it,” but it goes further because in this case you don’t have to actually make the bed, you just have to give the impression that you have in order to have to lie in it.)

You can imagine how irritating an adolescent focused on her self-expression and unconcerned with the repercussions of her actions or demeanor found such a saying. If I didn’t learn the lesson well enough then, I am certainly am now: in social media, image is everything. We shape this image by what we say and what we do, but, perhaps more importantly, by how people perceive these things.

Recently, I wrote about Chris Brogan and how the public received his work for Kmart through IZEA. More than what he said or how, the fact that he was working with IZEA for Kmart did a lot to shape the public’s view of who he is.

Image matters. How other people perceive you is as important as what you’re actually doing.

BRAND! BRAND! BRAND!

We’re all brands now, whether we like it or not, and everything we do and say affects the image of this brand. Suddenly, we’re not really making choices based only on the immediate satisfaction of our desires or return on investment, but in terms of how this decision is going to be seen by others.

Recently, at a party with a lot of people in the Los Angeles tech scene, I remember thinking I could use the opportunity to get some fodder for a column I’m writing for BlogHer about how improve one’s sex life in 2009.

Despite being a fun, laid back crowd, a lot of the people I spoke with told me they would be glad to share suggestions on the condition that I did not reveal who they were because discussing sex—anything about it—was not something that they wanted associated with their personal brand.

More recently, my friend and Mashable contributor Atherton Bartelby found that someone had made a fake Twitter account using his first name and photo. It was supposed to be a joke made by a mutual follower, but Bartelby took it very seriously. He didn’t think that the content was conducive to maintaining the sort of image he wants to have online. Fortunately, the person who made that account understood the situation and took it down immediately. But there are people who don’t have such respect for people’s image or reputation.

A case in point are the recent hacks on Twitter. Last weekend, 33 high profile accounts on Twitter were hacked. The Fox News Twitter feed announced that Bill O’Reilly was gay, Barrack Obama’s account had a fake contest with US$500-worth of gasoline as a prize, and Britney Spears’s account updated her 14,075 followers on the size of her vagina.

In regard to the breach, Twitter co-founder Biz Stone told Wired over e-mail that the company is addressing the security issues that allowed the breach, and doing “a full security review on all access points to Twitter. More immediately, we’re strengthening the security surrounding sign-in. We’re also further restricting access to the support tools for added security.”

As Problogger and Twitip founder Darren Rowse points out, “Twitter is increasingly being targeted by malicious attacks and should serve as a warning to those using Twitter to expect the unexpected… Twitter does seem to be moving towards a more secure system with an beta test of OAuth scheduled for later this month, but until it goes live (and even after it) be a little more alert than normal.”

Security issues on Twitter may be resolved, but the incident raises red flags: in a world where we’re investing so much time and energy building ourselves, what’s worse than the idea that our personal brands can be so easily compromised?

“Branding is experience in time, and the brand becomes a series of interrelated behaviors,” writes Jonathan Baskin in Branding Only Works on Cattle.

YOUR BRAND IS STICKING OUT

Ages ago, sometime after I started becoming more active on Twitter, I partook in a chat with Laura Fitton’s tribe. I don’t recall exactly what we were talking about, but at one point, I remember Fitton saying to me, “you’re fabulous. I can tell that’s your brand.”

I had absolutely no idea what she was talking about, but I took it as a compliment—who doesn’t want to be fabulous?

I thought about this comment again during a conversation about personal brands with social media maven Damien Basile. He commented on how dichotomous I was, pointing out that if someone found me through my blog, they’d be likely to assume I was one more social media commentator, whereas if they looked at my Twitter stream, they’d think I was more focused on relationships and lifestyle.

“You’re a conundrum!” he exclaimed. A fabulous conundrum?

Whereas people are multifaceted, brands that are associated with a clear mission have proved time and time again to have more success than those who don’t. So instead of sitting around looking for resolutions to kick off the year, I decided to do something a little different: write my mission and values and address my personal brand from there.

LABEL ME

“The mission announces exactly where you are going, and the values describe the behaviors that will get you there,” wrote Jack Welch in Winning.

I must have stared at the screen for two hours. Finally—and perhaps more out of exasperation than real inspiration or vision—I typed out the following: “My mission is to become a top commentator on how the internet is shaping our lives. I plan to do this by regularly providing information that is accessible and thought-provoking to readers, despite their level of involvement in web culture.”

The statement is likely to change as I refine it, but that’s OK. The idea is to create something solid on which you can stand, then building on top of that.

What’s your mission? Does your “brand” reflect it?

Further Reading:
5 Steps for Planning the Direction of Your Blog in 2009 by Darren Rowse.
The Thing About Goals by Seth Godin

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Age of Turbulence: How 1928 Is Using Social Media to Weather the Economic Storm

December 31st, 2008 by AV Flox in social media


still from a promo short for 1928, used with permission.

The web is a wonderful tool and I’m always on the look-out for how people and companies are using it to achieve their goals, whether these are to meet new people or build brand loyalty.

After watching 1928 Jewelry Company’s surreal promo shorts on YouTube, I shot a direct message to Macala Wright, their director of marketing and public relations, and demanded that she fill me in on the jewelry company’s vision for integrating new media in their marketing efforts.

What’s 1928 Jewelry and where did the concept come from?

1928 Jewelry was founded in 1968 by Mel Bernie. Mel loved high-end, expensive costume and couture jewelry, made from solid gold and sterling silver, using semi-precious and precious gemstones, which made the pieces extremely expensive.

One day, Mel was in downtown L.A. and found a place that did gold plating and created faux pieces. He wondered if there would be any interest the the jewelry from department stores, so set up few appointments to showcase the pieces he had selected, all vintage and art deco style jewelry, recreated to match the couture pieces in everything but the price. In one week, he’d sold $30,000 worth. 1928 was born.

How is 1928 using the internet to drive and promote their brand?

The internet is largely new territory for us. We’ve spent the last three months developing a holistic approach to online marketing that incorporates social media marketing, PPC and search engine optimization. We’ve approached it very strategically and gone slowly because we don’t want to do what a lot of brands out there do right now, which is just create noise.

We embrace the idea of engaging our customer, but we also want to take it a step further, we want to engage them, to show them why we should have the privilege to be a part of their lives. We take that privilege seriously so anything we do has to be relevant to that goal. Every woman has a story to tell, and we want to help her tell it.

Do you have a clear-cut plan for harnessing the power of web 2.0 in selling your brand?

Web 2.0 tools are the primary focus we are using for building brand awareness. Most women over the age of 30 have heard of 1928 Jewelry. Now we’re targeting a younger market and showing a woman under 30 that we are for her too. We are where she lives–the videos and photo shoot reflect that. Modern and urban, while being timeless and beautiful. We have an online series planned for 2009 that will really help us drive this home.

So the plan is ever evolving. We have a framework for what we want to accomplish with web 2.0 marketing tools, but we’ve left a lot of fluidity and flexibility in that plan when it comes to social media, video and online promotions. If something screams, “You have to do this! And do it now!” because it’s leading to positive results, then we are able to adapt the strategy quickly.

You never know who you’re gonna meet on the web. Twitter has been a driving factor in connecting with stylists that landed us several opportunities to have a large number of pieces in independent and mainstream film. We designed Hermione’s earrings in Harry Potter. The videos have given 1928 online credibility and have started giving us an easier lead in to great partnerships for 2009 and 2010.

Do you think Twitter is the right place for brands?

Absolutely. Brands with something meaningful to say and offer belong on Twitter. I tweet as @Macala and Jen Bernstein is @1928jewelry on Twitter, but the account has her information and she writes it from her perspective. We represent ourselves, not just the company as a blind name. We interact as ourselves, and I think that’s key. Just like Tony Hsieh (@Zappos) does. It’s him, not just a blind thing.

Do you see a revival in women’s fashion toward the more iconic classic look?

Vintage is quite an interesting term, because it means something different to each person. Vintage could be straight Hollywood glamour–sleek glass accents, black, white, silver–highly refined and glamorous, or it can be Breakfast at Tiffany’s, glamorous but more soft and approachable, casual. It can even be the conservative, yet sexy and provocative style of the 1960s that provided simple, everyday elegance. Vintage is on a huge upswing right now because of the economy. Every magazine talks about thrifty finds, dressing on a budget and creating a multi-purpose wardrobes. Women–including your most favorite celebs–are starting to brag about the bargain bin finds at Marshall’s, shopping in consignment stores and antique flea market finds. It’s hip to frugal now, we even have terms for it: Bargainista and Frugalista.

But I don’t think that vintage inspiration has ever left fashion–if you look through five years of Vanity Fair or Vogue, you find vintage-inspired styles on every page. Necklaces, colors, dress cuts, the lines of skirts, they all pay homage to something that was a trend in the 20s, 30s, 40s, 50, 60s. It’s beautiful. Strong vintage inspiration is what distinguishes a classic woman from a trendy girl.

Where is the jewelry made? If outsourced, do you have control over your chain to ensure it’s all fair labor?

1928 is made in the US, our main facility is in Burbank, California. We have strict policies on the chain to ensure ethical and fair treatment of our labors.

Where can we get it?

All 1928 Jewelry collections, including Vintage Bridal, can be bought online at 1928.com. The more modern line of 2028 is available at Macy’s or online.

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  • AV Flox writes about web culture; new media’s gradual overthrow of old media; trends in social media; and the complicated entanglements people get themselves into as we venture forth into this new world where, more and more, the analog is colliding with the digital.

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