Can You Hear the Rainbow?


A soldier is putting something on another soldier 's face.Katy asked this innocent question as she tugged at my sleeve and stretched her little eight year-old, bubbly self to show me the pretty rainbow outside the plane’s window.

Her mother hovered in the seat behind. I offered to change places but no, she said it was good that Katy (with a ‘y’) could spend some time with strangers.

OK I guess. But this stranger was hard at work drafting a three-year brand strategy for a client – the result of a two-day work session.

Katy persisted and for a lovable time this little person and I tried to work out what sound does orange make? Is blue a bubbling water sound or the gurgle when Katy finishes that last gulp of lemonade, (which is yellow of course) and what sound does red make … no clue! And what sound does the whole rainbow make?

She finally fell asleep and I went back to banging away on my laptop.

But an idea popped into my head. Little Katy, that sweet little mind, may well have just nailed why some growth strategies succeed and others fail.

Most companies build long-term growth strategies at one time or another. So why do some get traction and drive the company and others just sit on a shelf collecting dust?

We know that without properly defining the future growth goal, it is unlikely that there will be a powerful focus to the plan. At best it will be uninspiring and at worst miss a huge opportunity to set the company up with a lucrative competitive advantage for years to come.

But is this enough?

Katy would have us do one more thing. Have the courage to ask big, simple maybe even nonsensical questions.

Too often we get trapped into asking the same questions of a brand or a category, and yes, we end up with the same answers.

I remember being in a Coca Cola meeting where a research firm was presenting their annual report on drinking behavior. They were highlighting the remarkable growth in water consumption in the US population. The senior Coke representative scoffed at the idea of ever selling water in a can (They were predominantly a can company at that time). So the trend was disregarded. Katy might have asked. Why does it have to be in a can? It took Coke almost a decade after that to sell water in a bottle and, during that time, losing a huge chunk of business to others.

I also remember Bob Shapiro the head of The NutraSweet Company after reviewing proposed brand campaigns he commented on how small they seemed. Being a revolutionary new sweetener was fine but really so what? Yes the campaign would work for the packet sweetener business under the Equal brand, but what about the ingredient business with the NutraSweet brand? Do all the beverage brands that can use aspartame want to promote a new sweetener? Packets are a profitable $200 million+ business but the ingredient business that could be featured in the launch of the new diet soft drink category (Diet Coke, Diet Pepsi etc.) would be in the billions. A simple question that led to the idea of not introducing NutraSweet as a new sweetener but as new taste. Simple question that lead to a positioning campaign of ‘why some things taste better than others’ and a relevant message and logo for Coke and Pepsi, and some 3,000 other food and beverage brands throughout the world, to promote on their front labels.

So if you planning the next three to five years of solid growth don’t be afraid to sit back and ask the big, possibly silly, ‘Katy’ questions. And of course sometimes its good to have an outsider like us facilitate that. We are Rocket Branding and as always, honored to help. www.rocketbranding.com

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.