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Following Gap: A Quick Thought on Brand Consulting

August 18, 2011 By NewBusinessHawk

No longer do just companies battle each other in the marketplace. Today, brands do combat, and many clients faced with this changed landscape aren’t sure how to brand their goods and services to win. Clients want to achieve the greatest return on their branding investments, while at the same time protecting these highly valuable corporate assets.

Sometimes they miss. By a mile:

“Established in 1969 in San Francisco, Gap is one of the most popular American clothing brands — net sales of $3.8 billion in 2009 can attest to it. With 1,140 stores in the U.S. and almost 300 more abroad, Gap pushes simple and unfuzzy clothing at very reasonable prices and of very reasonable quality. Through their advertising they have established a cool, breezy, and sophisticated brand visual language that ties everything together nicely and, until now, their logo was the perfect little bow to keep it all together. Without any fanfare, Gap rolled out a new logo yesterday.”

Gap made a huge mistake by not thinking about the impact changing a logo would have on its overall brand. Gap is a long-standing very traditional brand that many have come to love over time. Gap was/is timeless, much as Coke was/is. Messing with the “mix” without proper planning is just plain wrong. See New Coke as exibit A. Messing with a logo without thinking about the overall brand is … well just stupid. Frankly Gap has a brand problem. Has had one for a very long time.

Changing the logo is the act of a desperate marketing team that wanted something fast to help immediate sales. In doing so they’ve opened themselves up to ridicule and jokes all over the web. Perhaps they can turn this exercise into a win, much as New Coke ended up doing so for the overall brand. Or not.

The simple fact is many traditional ad agencies are not prepared to help clients in this branding struggle because agencies in general have spent years branding advertising, not branding companies. Branding advertising is the best way to achieve communications synergy for clients.

Branding a company is the best way to enhance corporate value for clients. Learning the difference between branding advertising and companies, and understanding how to work with clients at a strategic level to do a better job of branding is critical to the long term success of any marketing firm. Your goal should be to move from acting as communications vendors, where price is the deciding factor, to becoming a trusted brand advisor where value-added is the key consideration.

NOTE: This post was lost in the great switch a few months ago. Reposted it as many were asking for my great Bob Logo!
New Post: Did Gap goof again? http://bit.ly/q8oUWA

 

Filed Under: Leadership Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Are Ad Agencies Too Expensive?

July 6, 2011 By NewBusinessHawk

Many advertising agencies are starting to hear more and more that they are too expensive.

Clients have started asking “are there any ‘Tangible Results’ from this expense?”

Many advertising agencies are starting to hear more and more that they are too expensive. Having worked with many of them we know their rates are reasonable.

The question is how can our industry overcome this objection and convert more doubters into believers? The economic downturn has pressured clients to trim expenses and assess the value-added contribution of their agencies. Most agencies have had their fees questioned and many have experienced the discomfort of fee/rate audits. Often agencies are responding with examples of results achieved and service quality, and question the appropriateness of this examination.

But this view overlooks the client perspective.

While the marketplace has become more tactically driven and project-based, many traditional agencies have not adapted their organizations and services to match the needs of the client.

To be effective and profitable your agency needs to present itself in a manner acceptable and appropriate for the circumstances. Agencies in this situation must understand that they are in three separate businesses that are often non-complimentary – Strategic & Execution Management & Production. Many traditional agencies have acknowledged this and have launched separately branded consultancies (strategic) and/or separate design studios (tactical). This approach enables a tactical response to an agencies organization and fee structure.

Just one more thought on this ongoing dilemma.

 

Filed Under: Leadership Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Must be Leap Year: Demise of the Ad Industry Being Reported

June 23, 2011 By NewBusinessHawk
The advertising industry finds itself – yet again – at a crossroads, a confluence, a decision-point, a junction. Attention is needed. Assessment is necessary and action is required. After all, it’s been nearly 10 years since the industry was last stumbling headlong toward extinction.
End of the Ad Agency

Every few years "experts" claim the traditional ad agency is going the way of the dinosaurs…

Are there many reasons for concern? – Yes. Are there always reasons for concern? – Yes! It’s most interesting how the “expert class” repeatedly presumes cataclysm at the first sign of economic Darwinism. Chicken Little would be proud.
Remember, not that many years ago, the Internet spelled doom for the industry. Still around – amazing. Before that, there was this new thing that would kill print advertising called TV. Before that radio…
Assuming clients will continue to sell products and services, there is a reason to believe that agencies will survive this most recent report of their demise.

Agencies HAVE Changed

That said, there are indications that more change is needed to stem the tide of marginalization. Agencies have expanded, purchased, and partnered their way into every market, category and discipline. They have leveraged advancements in technology to become as connected globally as their predecessors were in one office tower only a decade earlier. And have scoured the market for the best and brightest to set to work advancing their client’s brands and products.
Evidently, not everyone has been impressed by the results of this effort. (pdf file)
The End of Advertising As We Know It
Traditional advertising players – broadcasters, distributors and advertising agencies – will need innovative new approaches to respond to major industry shifts underway.
What is most intriguing about this point-of-view is that it assumes the clients will sit and wait on the ad agency and their partners to innovate our way into the future.
There is no question that the future of advertising will look radically different from its past. The push for control of attention, creativity, measurements and inventory will reshape the advertising value chain and shift the balance of power. For both incumbent and new players, it is imperative to plan for multiple consumer futures, craft agile strategies and build new capabilities before advertising as we know it disappears.
Bold mine. A truly shocking point of view! I know! The industry will have to “craft agile strategies!” in light of this “shifting balance of power.” This is amazing to hear in this day and age. Particularly from IBM who is serviced by the industries most influential agencies. After all, didn’t the industry spend the past few decades consolidating to deliver on the opportunity of integrated services, or was it convergent communication, or media-neutral communication, or whatever other iteration of the same to better measure and influence consumers. If agencies were delivering on their service promise, then churn would not be at unprecedented levels and clients would not be seeking the same service object as a decade earlier – FROM YET ANOTHER AD AGENCY.
And yet another outside point of view claiming the end of our ad agencies. Speaking at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, one of music’s most successful brand ambassadors did not soft-pedal his message for a rapt audience of advertising and media delegates.
“Ad agencies are yesterday,” he said. “But ad agencies that can turn consumers into agents that add value to community and life, that’s what it’s about right now.”
So, where’s the rub? Change is coming. And some agencies won’t make the change… See Cliff Freeman’s closing as Exhibit A.
Fingers of fault can be pointed in every direction, but what can an agency do to deliver on the promise of change and better consumer insight?

Options For Change

One choice might be to do nothing. As one CEO of a prominent agency network advised, “it’s not going to happen in my lifetime, so I’m better off spending my time on matters where I can have an impact.” This pessimistic view might work for him and his pre-packaged retirement, but, as an industry, ignoring the issues is not a viable option.
If you are confident that agencies are on the case and see these views as a “Chicken Little” prophecy, consider one advertiser’s recent action. They terminated their agency relationships claiming the agency model to be irreparably broken. Then proceeded to underwrite the organization of its new agency – only to see that model stumble and fall. And now have folded the whole mess into yet another ad agency.
This is an extreme but not an isolated example of how client dissatisfaction has embodied itself in unprecedented levels of client churn.
Some would argue that client’s share much of the blame in these dysfunctional relationships. But these same clients –criticized by agencies – have increased the role and expenditures for their management consultants year-over-year. Perhaps as an industry we need to consider why? Anyone can satisfy and make money off of the handful of great clients. A great agency effectively services and profits from all of their client relationships.

Time is of the essence; a recent study reported that those in the “advertising” profession rank just ahead of Used Car Salespeople in esteem. But neither that nor the changing consumer will end advertising as we know it.

Ramifications For Agency Leaders

Ad Agency Leaders Lead

"Having a vision marks you as a visionary. Then if you have the ability to get others to buy into that vision, you’re called a leader." Bob Sanders President, Sanders Consulting Group

This shift has big impact on the way you should think about your business. Clients are thinking about marketing differently. To them it’s tactical. And tactical is measured on achieving results, fast delivery and staying on budget. So anything that keeps you from delivering on their tactical-oriented measurements needs to go. Some examples that might be hindering your firm include inefficient operating structure, department thinking and department silos, slow response and low productivity. All these need to change.
Create an action plan to adapt now:
  • Take the best thinking from tactical firms and best practices from strategic firms.
  • Find your own trusted advisors.
  • Understand how to manage change.
Build your business model so you can prosper in this new environment:
  • Your agency needs to be positioned and branded properly – focus and discipline are key.
  • Most of your competitors are operating without any strong positioning other than a hazy label.
  • There is little concentrated branding going on among agencies, meaning few agencies have a clearly defined brand.
Hard to believe but it may be time for your firm to move into a larger and faster growing market area. And that’s consulting. You do this by launching a flanker brand aimed at CEOs offering a variety of services, including serious branding. Serious branding is usually more than communication branding that agencies do just done to win an account but serious branding can be highly profitable work for marketing communication firms that know how.
Understand that to live in the past, you will die. Adapt to the present and you can survive. Plan for the future and you can really prosper!
To find out more including how to start your firm soaring, not just surviving, then give us a call. Our work together often begins with an open discussion with one of our consultants so we can better understand if we can be of help. Start by contacting our office at 800.899.1538 – or drop us a line at info@sandersconsultng.com and we will schedule a call.
Filed Under: Leadership Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Creative Age

June 8, 2011 By NewBusinessHawk
Just as marketers are getting religion about the importance of social media, they are in danger of failing to see that social media is just a vehicle, not the solution. Rather, information is the keystone. The new market leaders in the next several years will be determined by how well firms embrace the information flow that surrounds their own brand and their customers’ lives. To put the opportunities of this brave new world in context, leaders need to appreciate the changes in the world around them.
leaders need to appreciate the changes in the world around them

Welcome To The Creative Age

Having marched through the Industrial Age and blown through the so-called Information Age, this new millennium presents an even more daunting age of opportunity. This could be referred to as the Creative Age. The Creative Age will be characterized by its reliance on small groups of social influencers, who have broad access to consumer information and generate creative and innovative thinking, both building the brand and sales.

For marketers the Creative Age must be thought of in terms of three major impacts. First, and foremost, the creative application of ideas through social channels, as a major vehicle, will spawn a new era of truly integrated marketing communications. Secondly, real-time consumer information and speed of response should be seen as a critical ingredient to developing breakthrough creative insight. And finally, the Creative Age will blur the organizational lines between marketers, their customers and the agency.
So how should a marketer take advantage of this new age? They need to first address their very structure and operations on how best to capture and harness this new creative ground swell. Do they have the framework and the personnel to find, recognize, and utilize valuable consumer information, ideas, and conversations? Can they do it quickly enough to be useful? And most importantly, have they pushed responsibility down to the lowest level so as to not impede that vital information flow?

Key Points For Market Leadership

  • Leadership - Leaders, who have a strong vision of what the brand is and where it’s going, are in place. This is a conscious strategic decision to reinvest and reposition staff with their brand and the new tools in mind.
  • Philosophy - Proactive marketers understand the power of this new media and the expanding need for information and speed. They realize that technology is a hidden force that enables empowerment and freedom.
  • Roles & Responsibilities – Marketers must have the right personnel to determine if ideas, conversations, streams of data flow and information are useful or useless at all levels of the organization. Understanding of the brand AND having the freedom to act is key.

It Starts with Leadership
The new trend in American management is to talk about bottom-up managing, using the power of employees to help move an organization forward. What is often missing in those discussions is the need for top-down leadership that defines boundaries. Marketers need leaders to define the brand vision in order to free up the organization, ensuring high-performance, speed, and results.

Turning Brand Vision into Action
The vision needs to go beyond just a statement. It must encompass tangible goals and a strategic direction for the brand. The vision must be clear and detailed. The more articulated it is the more clear it becomes for those who will be driving the message at all levels, both within and without the company.

Rethink Operations
An operations strategy defines your firm’s structure, processes, information needs, and staff skill levels in terms of your vision. It also focuses on the expense/capital investment side of the financial statement – getting operational costs under control. In this new age the roles and responsibilities of the organization need to be rethought and brought into alignment with the overall brand vision.

New Roles & Responsibilities

Over 20 successful marketing restructure initiatives
“With all this change you must not forsake those important leadership skills that helped agencies deliver the business building results clients so desperately need. These skills, which are in danger of being lost in today’s high-speed economy, were strategic advantages clients wanted to pay for and caused them to treat their account management teams as trusted advisors.” Bob Sanders President, Sanders Consulting Group

The changes sweeping the market require that marketing structures change as well. Simply adding a “social media” director isn’t enough anymore. Just as the advent of television created the need for whole new structures, the Creative Age will drive change throughout the traditional marketing arena, including traditional roles and responsibilities.

  • Market Research: Focus on listening to the steady-stream of conversations, track reciprocity and trends while providing information that builds the brand in an open format.
  • Brand Strategy: Shape the message, and push out information to maintain brand personality, voice, style, and image. Create conversation starters, generate business building ideas. Push responsibility for communication to the lowest level.
  • Advertising: Develop brand awareness tactics that stand out in innovative ways. Ensure the brand stays relevant and visible. Open new avenues for consumers to both discover and engage the brand.
  • Public Relations: Engage influencers and advocates, support the brand personality, and develop a steady stream of ideas to build reputation and trust.
  • Sales: Communicate directly with prospects and consumers, market research and brand strategist. Listen and respond quickly. Feed information top to bottom. Represent the active voice of the brand through engaging customers.
The long-term objective, from a Creative Age perspective, should always be where is the next opportunity coming from and what will be the effect on the brand? How can we make it work for us? The current trend of social media only provides us with another tool, it does not build the brand or sales, these come through planning and implementation. The role of leadership is to help create the vision and to make it happen. If this means changing the structure, roles, responsibilities to best take advantage of this Creative Age then so be it.
If you’re interested in learning how we’ve helped many marketing leaders transform their organization, please contact us at 800.899.1538 or just email us at info@sandersconsulting.com
Art by Created by cindyfaye – catching up
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