Pros and Cons of User-Generated Content
As the role of user-created content becomes more and more relevant, it is important for companies to consider whether to follow the trend of putting their brand into the hands of users or to keep the reigns tight on their marketing strategy. So, what are the pros and cons of letting your customers speak for you?
Pros:
Authenticity
By outsourcing publicity to real customers, a brand can appear more legitimate from the eyes of a consumer. When customers express sincere opinions of a brand, whether it is organically (social networks) or through testimonial campaigns, they are sharing experiences and opinions that can’t be made up, which makes a brand feel authentic. Because consumers are telling stories at their own free will, the message is fresh and serves as an honest testament to a brand’s quality and popularity.
Personal Connection
When a company’s communication strategy includes user-created content, it allows the brand to sit amongst its audience and act as a peer, rather than a business looking down on the world. When communication efforts are more conversational by way of Facebook and Twitter, it gives the message a personal quality that is hard to capture with traditional advertising. In any situation, it is more comfortable to be “talked to” than to be “talked at”.
As a relevant example of a brand correctly leveraging consumer enthusiasm and input, Dorito’s annual “Crash the Super Bowl” contest gives real customers a chance to share their ideas to promote their favorite snack brand.
Cons:
Control
A lot of brands are afraid to shift the power to consumers. You don’t know what you’re going to get when you turn your brand over to the masses – it’s an easy way to feel the burn of user-generated content. And the amount of time it takes to sort through consumer-created content is no simple task. Successfully using content created by customers requires around the clock supervision. Mismanagement can lead to false rumors and confusion, which can be devastating for any brand.
Honesty
Honesty isn’t always a good thing. Exposing your brand to honest customer opinion can create vulnerability. While dissatisfied customers used to be limited to word of mouth, they now have the option of instantaneously posting their thoughts for the world to see. Allowing users to speak their mind will always yield a degree of negativity, and any attempts to censor that conversation can backfire.
Lowe’s and Chiquita both recently came under attack for business decisions related to user-generated content. Both are great examples of how the freedom of consumer speech can sometimes be more pain than glory.
Takeaway:
We can all agree that consumer integration and interaction is a great opportunity for any brand. But it’s easy to get in over your head. The key is to not overdue it and make sure every initiative and platform is well managed. And most importantly - have fun connecting with your audience. Showing passion and enthusiasm will lead to have a positive experience.
Contributed by Christy O'Keefe.
Iconic Brand Files for Bankruptcy
As many of you may have heard, Hostess, the maker of Twinkies, Ho Hos, Wonderbread, and many other food products we all know and love, has filed for bankruptcy. Hostess, who also filed for bankruptcy in 2009, has been fighting $860 million in debt. But do not run out to your local grocery store and stock up on all your Hostess favorites yet, Hostess has assured customers that they will continue the production of all of their delicious products.
So where does the future lie for the Hostess brand? Although filing for bankruptcy may be upsetting to the millions of Twinkies, Sno Ball, and Ding Dong fans, it is likely that it will not hurt the Hostess brand. As Maureen Farrell from CNN points out, today the internet allows people to buy anything they want and people want products made by iconic American brands, Hostess being one of them. Companies recognize this demand, and are eager for the opportunity to buy brands such as Hostess. They see an opportunity for growth and hope to revitalize iconic brands with the development of new consumer products. Companies such as The Sharper Image and Polaroid have both been revived by buyers who have expanded the brand to new areas to bring in more money.
I feel that filing for bankruptcy may be a blessing in disguise for the Hostess brand, as it may lead to much overdue change within the brand. Hostess, which was started in 1925, does not seem like it has changed much since. With society’s needs and wants constantly changing, a brand must also change to fit these new demands. Although Twinkies, Ho Hos, and Sno Balls have brought great success for the brand, I think new products or new additions to existing products are needed to draw customers. The Hostess brand is strong and the American people know what the brand stands for, but with new products being put on the market every day the Hostess brand has a lot of competition. Today the new, innovative products are the “must haves” and are usually the products that are craved by consumers. If Hostess can mix things up and give old products a new twist, it may once again produce “must have” treats.
Contributed by Keena Classen
Google This and Google That
There are certain brands that fascinate me and I can never learn enough about them. Google is one of those brands. I recently finished Douglas Edwards’ book “I’m Feeling Lucky: The Confessions of Google Employee Number 59” and I can’t stop talking about it. Just ask my coworkers – it’s been Google does this and Google did that for about three weeks now.
The book is an interesting look into the company as it was first starting up until it went public. I love how Edwards lets us in on key meetings that determined how the tiniest of details would be presented first through the search engine and then through AdWords, Google News, etc. As a believer that a true brand lies in the details, I could not get enough of these insights.
In addition, the book talks a lot about Google’s culture and showcases examples of how the company brought that culture to life in its TGIF meetings, office space and decision making. As with many successful brands, the strong culture is the foundation for the Google brand and its distinct voice.
As Google’s first dedicated brand marketer, Edwards helped to build and set standards for one of today’s most iconic brands. While this is only one employee’s perspective, it is definitely worth adding this book to your “To Read” list.
Have you read it yet? Let us know what you thought.
Daily deal sites bring flavor to naming
It's become a household name: Groupon ... the fusion of 'group' + 'coupon' makes sense on all fronts from a naming perspective.
The Groupon magic goes like this: Groupon negotiates huge discounts—usually 50-90% off—with popular businesses. They send the deals to thousands of subscribers in their free daily email, and then send the businesses a ton of new customers.
While Groupon was first to market with their daily deal platform, the success of the business model has spawned hundreds of me-too sites and companies. The trouble is, Groupon has become so popular it's now genericized for these savings sites, which are currently flooding my inbox.
Check out these similar offerings and their naming styles:
Living Social: A more modern, hip name but lacks the bar call when used in conversation. "I bought the yoga Groupon" just rolls better when said aloud.
Mamasource (by Mamapedia): A great site that does good too - they give back a percentage of your purchase to a school of your choice, and the deals last longer than a day. Perfect for those indecisive shoppers who just need a bit more time to make up their mind. This is more than a daily deal site, as they offer a lot of resources for moms. The name is cute, and clearly geared towards moms.
Plum District: Arbitrary name, but a fun daily deal site designed specifically towards mom. Plus, they reward you with Plum Dollars when you refer other people to the site (as opposed to other sites who reward you only when a referral makes a purchase).
Eversave: Cute, simple, descriptive name, and their logo is cute too.
Woot: Short moniker; the most emotional daily deal name. Uniquely captures the end benefit of scoring a great deal. The catchy name works well in vernacular too: "I just scored a Woot." Woot indeed.
What are we missing? What are your favorite daily deal sites? Does the name of the site itself make you want to sign up, or is popularity driven solely by the caliber of deals offered?
Am I overreacting?
We've all been through it before. We come across a personal issue, over-analyze the situation, and then respond with an unnecessary reaction (whoops...). Well, the same thing can happen to brands. We call it, over-branding. And it happens to the best of us...
Over-branding
Over-branding often occurs when a company recognizes an issue, tries to resolve the issue, but reacts excessively. To Netflix, this sounds all too familiar. Due to a rapid decline in stock prices, Netflix announced it was going to split its services into two brands: Netflix and Qwikster. Good move? Ask Netflix. After assessing the situation a bit more (and hearing the public’s reaction), the company “qwikly” learned that two brands aren’t always better than one. Shortly after the split was announced, Netflix decided to terminate Qwikster before its launch. Better late than never.
Sometimes over-branding might occur for reasons that aren't as clear. We are all familiar with Comcast’s rebranding as XFINITY. Looking back, it’s difficult to determine a clear motive for the rebrand. As one of the most successful media tech companies in the U.S., Comcast was (and is) a popular household name. Over its long history Comcast developed a strong and positive public image, so why would a company want to move away from a name that held an immeasurable amount of equity? And it is evident the rebranding effort has confused a number of customers. One of the FAQs on XFINITY’s website asks, “What makes XFINITY different from the service I currently receive from Comcast?” Good question.
Moral
Everyone can agree that branding is crucial for the success of a business. But it’s even more crucial to make sure it is done correctly. Here are a couple of things to consider when developing your brand:
- Keep it simple. A common obstacle with branding is over-complication (see examples above). As a brand advocate, it’s easy to get caught up in the intricacies of your brand - many companies want every detail to be showcased. Be sure to prioritize when addressing your audience. It’s important to keep things consistent, clear and concise.
- Seek out a pair of fresh eyes. Strong brands have passionate employees who often times see things through a company lens. It is always important to get a third-party’s opinion – someone unbiased, trustworthy and knowledgeable.
- Think it through. Over-branding is often a result of rushed decisions. A new brand name, design and/or strategy is something that will touch every piece of your business. Take time to make sure your decisions make sense from every angle.
The Pros and Cons of Ice Cream Sandwich
Typically our clients use an intentionally obscure project name to avoid internal rallying around the code name. Google seemed to embrace the methodology of marketing the code name, and has built an entire strategy out of the process. Enter Ice Cream Sandwich.
While I'm all for food references and love the imagery evoked by this new OS, the overall code naming strategy strikes me as an unsustainable practice.
Pros
- It's Google
- The order/lineage is easy to understand ... version C came before version D, etc.
- Desserts are fun and have an approachable personality
- It's Google
Cons
- Code names should be code names. If a company puts more marketing efforts into their code name, do they build any equity into the actual product name?
- What is the strategy if there isn't a recognizable dessert name that starts with the next letter in line for an upcoming version?
- As a namer, I wanted to ask about the story behind Ice Cream Sandwich; uncovering that it's simply the next in line from an initial letter standpoint wasn't enough for me. Cupcake is cute; short and sweet. Honeycomb referenced the structure behind the technology (and while I don't classify it as a dessert, I get that it's a sweet). Ice Cream Sandwich (intentionally missing the grammatically correct article preceding it) is designed to serve as 'one OS everywhere' but the name isn't reflective of that messaging.
Personally, I would have preferred 'Icing' as the next in line. It's one word, is typically referred to as the 'best part of the cake', and evokes a premium quality. Can't wait to see what they do with J.
Top Three Tips for Internal Branding
One of the keys to building a successful brand externally is to build your brand internally. Not only do your employees live and breathe the brand each day, but they are the ones communicating it to your current and future customers. So how do you develop a successful internal branding campaign? Here are a few tips.
- Provide easy to understand and easy to access tools. These tools could be as simple as a rack card at each employee’s desk or educational pages on your company’s intranet.
- Engage team members from multiple departments. Ask department leaders to highlight employees who are enthusiastic and willing to carry the brand flag within the team. Then educate these brand ambassadors on the brand and how to talk to their coworkers about the value of the organization’s brand.
- Do it once, twice, three times and don’t stop. Internal branding is not something that can be done once and be considered successful. If it is just done once, employees may just see it as a campaign. Regularly communicating about the brand will help engrain it in your organization’s culture. Consider highlighting a different organization benefit or value each month, explaining its value and showing examples of how the brand is lived each day by employees.
When your employees believe it, your customers and future customers will notice. By tapping into your greatest brand implementation tool – your workforce – your organization will not only be singing from the same hymn book (pardon my Southern phrasing), but so will your customers.
What's in an Arch?
…McDonald’s Golden Arch of course! This familiar logo was designed in 1953 when Richard and Maurice McDonald built their first franchised outlet. It was originally used to symbolize the “M” for McDonald’s, but how little did we know that this simple Golden Arch would evolve into something much more.
McDonald’s has opened franchises in 123 countries around the world. In these 123 franchises, they may serve different items on the menu. Take a look at India:
They may even have different Ronald McDonald figures. Take a look at Thailand:
Again, this figure would only make sense in certain parts of the world. The food may change, the figures may change, even the portion sizes may change, but one thing will remain the same: the Golden Arches. That’s the power of a brand, of a logo, of a simple two looped symbol- it may be small, it may seem insignificant, but don’t underestimate its ability to reach and touch people all across world. I guess….that is what’s in an Arch.
Contributed by Tiffany Lan
Here's to Steve
"Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward.
And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius.
Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do."
- Apple "Think Different" Campaign
Photo credit: AP Photo/Paul Sakuma
World Expo: Nation Branding
To add to the previous blog post about nation branding, countries seem to be very interested in their reputations. They are making strides to manage their appearance in a globalized world. Countries realize that their reputation not only affects their tourism business, but also their economic stance in the marketplace. And where do countries go to brand themselves? Try the World Expo. It’s a hotspot for nation branding. Known as, “a wonderful playground of branding,” these fairs provide pavilions for each country to portray the best of its identity to the rest of the world. Kind of like a beauty contest for nations, or a tournament of cultures. Participating countries are eager to interact and impress visitors.
Another reason countries go to the Expo is to overcome negative stereotypes that may be harmful to their reputation. Social, economic, cultural or political issues from the past (like wars for example) are the main factors that shape the rest of the world’s perspective of a country. These stereotypes can be hard to break. On the other hand, stereotypes can be a good thing. With pre-conceived expectations, people have already made a connection with a nation, allowing easier engagement and interest.
Are the messages that these national pavilions send effective? It can be tricky because nations must be aware of the way they communicate with multiple audiences. They cannot just impress foreigners; they must also please their domestic audience. If communication between the two doesn’t correspond, there could be cause for dispute. Most natives see their pavilion as a source of national pride, but some others may see it unfavorably, especially if the focus is on creating a show for foreigners.
Student ambassadors that greet and guide visitors at their pavilions are an important part of a national brand. With their direct contact among visitors, they exhibit diplomacy, represent a physical presence for their country, and give a glimpse into the future of foreign relations.
There are many things to consider when managing a country’s image on a global scale. A solid nation-brand strategy requires much negotiation, compromise, and clear direction to be successful.
Contributed by Emily Hassell