A GROIN ANOMALY

A soldier is putting something on another soldier 's face.A recent odd travel experience highlighted for me how difficult it can be to launch fast growing brands today.

I was retained by airport TSA agents who informed me that the x-ray had detected a “groin anomaly’ and I needed to go to a secure room.

Suffice to say that after a thorough investigation and, a herculean effort on my part not to make a slew of jokes, they let me on my way.

Now I was more than happy to immediately “drop trou” and show them that their fears were quite unfounded but no, I had to go through an extended pat down and questioning. They had their roles and I had to have mine.

So what does this have to do with branding today?

Well two things.

1. Caution

We now live in very cautious world. What we say or do in public is open to massive amounts of scrutiny and judgment and, in many situations we have to be very careful about how we behave, act or react. The same goes for a brand that competes in any arena where caution is now common. E.g. food, ingredients, health, financial, travel, children and so on.

2. Watching

With the Internet, cameras, drones you are being watched, recorded and classified. So is your brand.

No, this isn’t about ‘big brother’ or sinister plots and it is in no way suggesting that brands should not be spontaneous, flippant or even irreverent, if that is what the brand strategy calls for.

This is just a reminder to carefully assess the mindset of your core customer or consumer and the way life is causing them to make decisions relative to your brand.

And especially be very careful with competitive positioning focuses on Trust or Freedom.

‘Trust’ can easily be broken if there is a ‘gotcha’ moment or inconsistency from one brand connection to another.

‘Freedom’ is an incredible promise as an anti dote to caution and concern but this had better be legitimate or it can become an albatross around the brand’s neck…. any one for sea cruise on a sick ship…just ask luxury cruise ship how freedom on the high seas is working for them?

What say you?

Let us help you work through this. Visit www.rocketbranding.com.

YOU and a BILLION-DOLLAR BRAND


A soldier is putting something on another soldier 's face.Want your career (and life) to take off?

Everyone is a ‘brand’.

Let us rocket you just like we would a successful, fast moving billion-dollar brand.

Rocket Branding has helped built six so far with a few in the works.

 

 

The same principles apply… grow, focus and simplify, and four questions:

1. Where do you want to be five years from now?If you know where you are going it is a whole lot easier to get there. Dream, ponder and go for it. A scrappy, 22 year old in Sydney, (down under) decided he needed to get to the USA and run a world class ad agency. I did with a series of 5-year rocket plans that took me through London, Hong Kong, and tons of client meetings and ad campaigns to get there.

2. What are the three key actions that have to take place?Focus on what has to happen when? Not a laundry list, just the three critical ones.

3. What key decision makers do you need to influence to accomplish the five-year goal? Employers, bosses, influencer etc. Again, not a laundry list, just the critical ones.

4. What basic emotional connections do I need to have for my ‘brand’ to gain accelerated acceptance among these key decision makers? Really important. How should you be perceived? Life is often a series of snap decisions. Put your self in the shoes of the decision makers above and remember most people decide based on what’s in it for them and, often from what they see in front of them. So don’t dress and act like a low level salesman if you want to be a high level president.

Yes, I know you may have heard some of this before and yes, at times we hear it from brands…. a lot of ‘but this’ and ‘but that’ – but trust us and really try it. The billion brands are still thanking us for forcing them to follow this type of rigor.

We have helped rocket many individuals and through our Traction Training process based on the above. So contact us and we’ll get you flying high fast, www.rocketbranding.com.

ROCKET BRANDING MURDERERS and EMPLOYERS

If you want to grow a brand’s business FAST, have an extra hard look at language and context.

You can accelerate a brand’s acceptance and action if you understand the languagethat defines the context and messaging for the brand . “Just do it” defined Nike, “Where’s the beef?” defined Wendy’s, “We bring good things to Life” defined GE and so on.

And while we are in the midst of elections, I am constantly miffed at how politicians miss so many good language opportunities to rocket their ‘brand’.

Here are two examples:

In the last Presidential Election the incumbent party had to support a war…always a tough thing to do for an incumbent regardless of how necessary the war was. To his credit candidate Obama took the opportunity to present a fresh view on ‘global peace’ and ‘collaboration’. And in this case his “Hope and Change” theme was exactly right and indeed worked for the context and his brand message.

The Republicans may have had a chance to even the playing field somewhat by reminding all of why we were at war in the first place. Our enemy had become known as ‘terrorists’. This seemed at the time to be a good explanation for these new style combatants. It also for some implied a cause or some kind of rationale for these individual’s actions…maybe they are not so dangerous after all.

The McCain/Palin ticket could have changed the language and possibly restored some support for their party. Instead of using the term ‘terrorist’ they could have boldly begun referring to them as what they actually were and that is MURDERERS. They murdered American civilians and vowed to do so, every chance they get.

Now I am not saying that this could have been the basis for their campaign theme but in spirit I do believe that if they had begun using the term ‘murderers’ they might have built a more meaningful rationale and emotional support for their side.

The second example is timely.

The key election issue now appears to be jobs…or the lack there of. With some 23 million people out of work and a lagging economy both candidates and their parties are building their case for getting more jobs. The Democrats seem content to just muddy the water for the Republicans by continually talking about how the Republicans are only pro rich and can’t be trusted… powerful maybe but not necessarily a ‘get more jobs’ stance.

The Republicans are trying to focus on ‘small business owners’ and how the Democratic policies make it difficult for them to prosper and hire. Why doesn’t the Romney/Ryan team change the language from small business owners to talk more about EMPLOYERS and just cut to the chase?

Simplistic I know but in this way they can force the right context for the biggest issue and not let it get lost or minimized by the side issues of size and wealth. Believe me if you are either looking for a job or want a robust economy then really who cares how big or small companies are… a job is a job especially if you do not have one.

Now Rocket Branding does not pick sides but clearly at least for this area there were good opportunities for the Republicans that they missed.

So look carefully at language when you are rocketing a brand. What do you think? For more on Rocket Branding and how it can help you visit www.rocketbranding.com.

Rocket Branding a Romney win.


Again Rocket Branding is not judging who should win the 2012 Presidential Election and, again from purely a branding view we still believe that Obama has a strong ‘brand‘ following that he can use to regain momentum and win. (Please see my last Blog,” Rocket Branding believes the Obama brand is staged to Win,” Oct 9, 2012)

 

Arguably Romney’s recent debate success has boosted his chances and by all accounts his running mate, Paul Ryan, did well enough in the VP debate to keep momentum on their side for now.

 

With a few weeks to go and a close race, next week’s Presidential debate could be the decider. If President Obama can regain the emotional ‘brand’ connection with his base (and particularly like minded ‘undecided’ in the swing states) then Rocket Branding would still give him the edge.

 

So what can/should Mitt Romney do to win?

 

Mitt Romney, former governor of Massachusetts,...

Mitt Romney, former governor of Massachusetts, 2008 US presidential candidate. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

Ok so let’s ‘rocket’ the Romney ‘brand’.

 

Apparently according to the polls and pundits, there are some 5% or so of voters yet undecided who will most likely decide the election. Let us appoint them our SOB target (source of business or source of vote target in this case) and let’s look at what can make them fall Romney’s way over the next two weeks.

 

Rocket Branding is about creating emotional beliefs for a brand. So what emotional belief do we need to build among this SOB target?

 

‘Likeability’ is clearly a driving factor for creating emotional belief in elections and although Governor Romney has improved on this measure, the Obama brand still wins here across most voters.

 

‘Likeability’ though can be trumped by ‘trust’…especially if the stakes are high. Just because you like some one it does not mean you automatically trust them to do the right thing by you and here the results are mixed between the two.

 

The SOB target surely by now has heard all the arguments, gaffes and narratives. So why are they are still undecided?

 

The key may well be in whom they think they can trust? And again all Obama has to do is push the ‘rich’ button and trust becomes an issue for Romney and Republicans in general. Romney’s 47% gaffe only pours more fuel on this fire.

 

So there it is. Romney must create a belief among the SOB target that they can TRUST him. If he can stand tall and focus his passion on relevant issues and answers (jobs, jobs, jobs, security) and respectfully withstand the ‘rich/47%’ body blows from Obama then he has a chance. The secret for him is to be clear, substantive and human on the issues and importantly stay on the high Presidential plain and not get into ‘small ball’ with the petty gaffes and zingers. This is not unlike what he did in the first debate and what Paul Ryan did to a degree in his debate with Joe Biden.

 

Two heavy weight emotional brands going at it with nothing less than the leadership of the free world going to the victor. Such great theater!

Even Honey Boo Boo must be eager to watch.

 

Which brand do you think will win? Lets chat about all the Rocket Branding possibilities.

 

 

 

 

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Rocket Branding Believes the ‘Obama Brand’ Is Staged to Win


Rocket Branding is not judging who should win, but purely from a branding view it’s possible that President Obama may yet have the edge.

In many other democracies voters pick the party and the party picks the leader, but here we are most obsessed with picking the leader so the person becomes the choice.

Obama has done well personally but also because he actually performs more like a brand.

A close up of president obama looking to his left

He is perfectly symbolic of a much larger set of beliefs based on some deep-set emotions among many American voters. And if you apply Rocket Branding thinking to the current race he is arguably in a great position to take off and win in the next 30 days.

“But wait” you say. “Romney just dominated the President in their first debate and clearly has the momentum”.

Despite that Obama can turn the momentum and win.

Here’s s why….

Rocket Branding is about creating emotional believes that cause the growth target to act on behalf of the brand – buy, vote, join etc.

Barack Obama appeared on the national scene four years ago with little if any credentials. But he did win in large part because he represented something that struck a deep emotional chord with many Americans. That was a pent up, dislike and frustration with the sense that America was ruled by those more dedicated to making money and wielding power… this, to the detriment of the average American and our neighbors throughout the world.

To this group Obama represented the chance to be ‘fair and friendly’ in a new “good” America where the greed, aggression and ‘crony-ism’ of the old “bad” America were no longer in play. In ‘good’ America everyone “joins hands, prospers and America is loved and admired all over the world”.

Now the strategist in me sees even deeper underlying emotions. In fact I wrote about it in my book. A lot of the followers of this new belief were women, mothers, younger generations and minorities. I believe they found a sense of more certainty and control in their lives with this new thinking. “If everyone can do well and everyone likes us, then we will be safe.” The traditional liberal media certainly fueled this thinking, Obama became our President and a new brand was born with ‘Hope and Change’ its banner.

Ok so fast forward to now some 4 years later.

Despite little progress with ‘Hope and Change’ nothing has really changed with the Obama brand. This group still loves the Obama brand and because it is based on these deeper emotions of certainty and control, he has been able to keep up the good fight even against the still visible enemy (congress etc.) and even despite the poor economy and a really dismal debate performance.

And here is where a brand will win.

President Obama is an emotional brand. Romney on the other hand is not. Obama’s followers like him emotionally. Romney’s followers do not really know him on any personal or emotional level. Romney certainly improved this and his ‘likeability’ in the debate but here’s the stunner, Obama’s likeability already ahead of Romney’s by a large margin actually went up after the debate.

A brand that people like and relate to will always do better and, especially, as in this case if the brand is the perceived underdog fighting the good cause.

Obama and his team have followed a focused and simple brand strategy (Rocket Branding principles). They have continually positioned Romney as another rich Republican same as the last, that only cares about the old, bad American principles of supporting the rich ‘1%’ and controlling the middle class. All Obama has to do is push the ‘rich’ button and all his followers line up ready to fight.

On top of this whether it was luck or brilliance is the fact that Obama stumbled and lost the first debate now gives him every opportunity to come back for the second debate and reestablish his ‘presidential’ perceptions. He can stand tall and forthrightly once again take on the mantle of fighting the rich and their leader Mitt Romney. The liberally biased media will create momentum for his strength and ‘underdog’ determination. Any logic regardless of how well presented by Romney will be drowned out and swept away by the hoards of hooping and hollering Obama lovers.

Again this is not about who should win but a classic look at how powerful the notion of branding is in the modern world and how useful the principles of Rocket Branding can be in accelerating a brand…even one as important as the leader of the free world.

So is there yet a ‘brand ‘ play for Mitt Romney that can turn the tide in his favor? Rocket Branding has a view on this? Tune into the next blog to find out.