Category Archives: brand management

start the roundup, it’s time for branding your content herd

na’s top brand is…

Last month’s North American brand ranking by research firm Millward Brown included at least one surprise in their latest Top 10 list. We’ll get to that in a minute, after first mentioning that the powersports aftermarket has of a sudden become fascinated with branding, its potential value, and how best to leverage the intangible.

Press releases and editorial roundups are ripe these days with pregnant references to “growing building expanding” the brand, without, it seems, much thought as to the desired goals or the means of achievement. Continue reading →

screw it? lets ride? to where? man’s town?

The cats at Quad Cam Bastards were first out of the gate with their dead on parody (above) of Willie G’s latest what the hell is this all about “Screw It, Lets Ride” marketing come-on. You’ve got to wonder what the kiddie kopyriters at longtime HD agency Carmichael Lynch were thinking when they pitched this bozo campaign to TMC. Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends.

I can picture the scene where, hunched over a highly polished mahogany bar with their Stella Artois avec slice, they busied themselves by channeling “Hells Angels On Wheels” as a totally out of gas inspiration for this smarmy Ken and Barbie Stick It To The Man offering. Right on! Power to the people! Quittin’ time! When, as expected, this latest theme gets skewered on The Daily Show, you’ll better understand the down side of viral.

In all fairness – we want to make sure we understand where the scorn should be directed – this is the vision of former GM/Pontiac CMO Mark-Hans Richer, whose inspiration was feedback gleaned from “road research” of customers. While with Pontiac, Richer coordinated the Oprah Winfrey audience car giveaway; that pr coup was what led to his hire as HD’s first CMO, albeit with a marketing budget one-tenth of what he controlled at Pontiac.

According to a May 6 piece by Ad Age, Mr. Richer said research with “real people in the real world is probably more meaningful than getting 12 people in a room” for a focus group. He didn’t pre-test the ads because the work reflects how Harley’s customers think and feel. Hmmm. Not so many of us as he thinks, apparantly. I have to wonder, how long has Mr. Richer been riding?

Lets be clear: Marlon Brando was dangerous as Johnny when he responded to the rhetorical, “What are you rebelling against?” line from The Wild Ones with “Whattaya got?”. Uh, but that was so last century. Back when three channels of black and white tv ownership was an exclusive club and over a half century before random drive-bys were moved to a few inches worth of mention deep inside the metro section.

This massively out of touch with the base attempt to reverse the irreversable strikes out on all counts. For decades HD’s politely pushed away any notion of – shock shock horror horror – a connection between outlaw gangs and their iconic product sold to the masses. With “Screw It,” that hypocrisy’s finally laid to rest, albeit a day late to actually cash in on the connection.

The premium promo is hysterical – just visit your local dealer and walk out with your very own limited edition “Screw It!” doo-rag! You heard right, tough guy and tough gal bikers – an Officially Licensed HD “Screw It!” bandana of your very own. Now who wouldn’t be proud to get caught profiling with that Made In China rag wrapped around their dome. And as if nobody gets the snicker effect of the euphamism “Screw It” in lieu of it’s graphic inspiration.

This – and I can’t use the adjective “creative” in all good conscience – effort, minimal at best, was approved for use by HD, which sorta’ gives an insight into how they view their troubled market. I remember when AMF bailed them out, and when the Reagan administration bailed them out again with a historic one-time only tariff slap down of metric heavyweights. Nobody was sneering then, that’s for sure.

“Screw It – Lets Ride” Really Sucks. Our prediction is that the laughingstock factor will actually have a measurable negative effect. Especially as the readers of dirt bike pub Racer X wonder what the weirded out insert that falls in their lap from the latest issue’s all about.

beware the v-word

Surprising to see H-D’s 1st quarter earnings reported on yesterday’s NBC Evening News, highlighted because of disappointing financials leading to layoffs and more temporary shutdowns.

TMC’s spin defends the nearly 13% drop in sales by pointing out it’s not as bad as the general slump for heavyweights pegged at 14% give-take. Ohhhh-kay. More grist for the mill; per share earnings for the year expected to be off 20%. And although revenue was up nearly 11%, Q1 net dropped 2.5%. Overall, the brand expects total shipments in ’08 to be off by 23-27,000 units.

Those are the financials. Here’s a thought about the uncontrollables, in this instance the unintended by HD crossbranding by Schering-Plough’s heavily promoted Viagra. You know these spots, set to a reanimated Elvis warbling about the drug with lyrics set to Viva, Las Vegas.

The ads feature a gaggle of presumably “still vital” mostly white guys who seem so thrilled by the prospect of getting it up “for up to 4 hours” that they invariably head for some duck shack in the swamp and bang on the drums by themselves until finally – and here’s the rub – saddling up and heading for the, what, nearest titty bar? Mode of transportation in the inaugeral spot? Softail. Overall method of here’s how we roll? Cruiser.

Not convinced about subliminals? If you’re not the drug companies are. And they’ve got the focus groups to prove it. The message here is about as clear as an anvil through stained glass – as if real life sagging demos weren’t enough to contend with, along comes a King Kong marketer to bolster the notion that cruisers are the prime domain of solo boomers with a problem getting wood. And that’s gotta’ hurt Harley’s image pitch to their core market.

echoes of the past

Was the time when any restaurateur worthy of his salt wrapped the dining experience around a book of matches. Like miniature billboards, these relics of a time when smokers accompanied their meals with between rounds cigarettes and end of the evening cigars have pretty much died out as a marketing tool – too many negatives.

I quit smoking in ’96 and haven’t looked back since, but last weekend I came across this nostalgic collectable while exploring a new restaurant, The Blue Fish Sushi, in Boca Raton.

I grabbed one of the colorful mementos on the way out with the idea of adding it to my small, packed away collection of dusty keepsakes from another era. Matchbooks were a fine example of the graphic designer’s art and it struck me as ironic that even though the heyday of this particular vehicle’s come and gone, a new need for small format graphics has taken its place: the cell phone.

market targets two-wheelers

The New York Times Media and Advertising critic Stuart Elliot writes in this week’s column that the nation’s insurers are casting a new net to fetch up bikers, separate and apart from campaigns targeting car, truck and suv owners and none so aggressively as Allstate.

You’ve probably seen Allstate’s print versions in the obvious enthusiast books. The effort from Leo Burnett is also running broadcast, cable and web banners, all circled around the Allstate Garage microsite, a really nifty little piece of Flash ingenuity that’s surprisingly practical and used Indian Larry’s Legacy shop for content. Dissin’ OCC? Looks like, well okay with us.

The $10MM campaign’s aimed squarely at the owners of the country’s estimated 9-million registered bikes. What’s the point? To create awareness of Allstate’s mc channel.

Other industry players include market top dog Progressive, Geico and State Farm.

brand? or category?

Think of chocolate, think of Hershey. Buy chocolate, buy M&Ms. Own the brand, lose the category. As a powersports industry that’s already feeling the approaching recession wonders what to do, one approach might be to consider what’s more important – brand, or category? Is there a difference? You bet. And how you define your marketing approach may determine whether your product lives or dies.

Continue reading →

branding iron update

With all the talk these days about branding this and extending that I thought I’d take a look at what used to be called positioning. For powersports marketers, the implications are clear. Get an overview here or an indepth look at how one successful chain achieved their marketplace makeover here.

xerox’s newest logo generates half-buzz

News this week that Xerox picked Omnicom group Interbrand to develop a fresh interpretation (left) of their somewhat stodgy all caps rendering that’s been in use since, well, since ’04. Nuts and bolts include the following: cost unknown, but they didn’t use a part-time freelancer who moonlights at the community college; rollout to take 18 months; applications range from biz cards to equipment badging. Stated goal is a rebranding (here’s my take on the process) from a copier company to communications omnipotence – or something close. Oooo-kay.
Continue reading →

branding done right

Target (sometimes referred to by it’s chic id as tahr-jay) rose to the top of the retail marketing heap in the ’90’s in large measure by rewriting it’s brand management strategy. In the process it smoked the once dominant Sears mark, torpedo’d K-Mart, and attended the funerals of several like competitors.

Target’s approach is simple. If you don’t have a successful brand strategy, don’t come knocking. Like many other consumer channels, powersports marketers have largely ignored the basics — and the necessity — of branding. Depending for the past decade-plus on growth as a result of consumer generated demand — like counting on spontaneous combustion to heat your house — a softening market is now revealing the inherent weakness of products without proper identity papers.

Target understands how and why consumers shop, and many of the lessons are easily observed. Just go shopping — pay attention to the brands they’ve chosen to market, and how they’ve chosen to display and promote them. Just don’t blame us if you end up buying something you didn’t know you needed.

(Read more about branding here.)

voodoo brands – oooo, they’re really scary

Sharp-eyed readers will recall that earlier this year reference was made to the recently resurrected Orville Redenbacher’s starring role in a new popn’ corn campaign that’s been referred to as “Deadenbacher”. Ouch!

In what I call nostalgia gone nuts, Schlitz is back, and guess what? This time around it’s positioned as a “premium” lager, which for someone with a memory of the original (me) ranks it right up there with Busch Lite and Old Milwaukee.

In 1976, the Jos. Schlitz Brewing Company was 2nd in the country, but shortly thereafter cost cutting led to skunky beer and the century-plus brewery bowed out to the flickering image of their final way less than effective tv campaign, quickly dubbed “Drink Schlitz Or I’ll Kill You” by ad industry types. Stroh’s acquired the brand and it’s now back in bottles, running in Florida and Minnesota test markets.