Drew McLellan, Author at McLellan Marketing Group

A whole lotta Drew

February 27, 2007

If you care to, you can practically pick your medium and find a little bit of me there.

The good news is…you can completely ignore me in each and every one of these venues… and STILL learn a lot about branding, blogging and relationship building. I just happen to be there too.

So go ahead and take your pick.

Live Radio: Tuesday night, I’ll join the BlogTalk radio show Nuts and BlogBolts to talk branding. Hosts Mike Sansone and Wayne Hurlbert will no doubt lead a lively conversation with the likes of myself, Valeria Maltoni, Mike Wagner, Derrick Daye and John Moore. It should be a good time and I am looking forward to learning quite a bit.

Podcast: If you can’t listen to the Nuts and BlogBolts show live, you can download the postcast here.

Print/Blog: My friend Phil Gerbyshak over at Make It Great! does some insightful interviews with authors, thinkers and relationship geeks. I’m not sure what possessed him…but he’s decided to interview me and give away a few copies of my book.

Live Conference Presentation: I’m joining some smart speakers, bloggers and thinkers (see Mike Sansone and Phil Gerbyshak above) to be a part of SOBCON ’07. Chicago. May. You should come.

Whew….that’s a whole lotta Drew! TV may be your only escape!

Extending your brand’s reach

February 26, 2007

Brand extensions are nothing new. The reality is, we see more bad ones than good. Want proof?

Cheetos flavored lip balm
Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover’s Soul dog food (bad idea and really long name!)
Starburst (yes the candy) shampoo, body gel and conditioner

There’s a great survey that is done every year by BrandWeek and TippingSprung (NYC branding agency) that highlights the best and the worst. A hat tip to Nancy Friedman’s post that reminded me of this annual brain food.

So what makes a smart brand extension?

Does it add value to the core brand?

Think of this a a math equation. Does A+B=C? If you take the core brand and add a new element, does it create something new that’s of value. One of the survey’s winners was the Red Cross who is now marketing emergency radios. You can see the logic and thought process that created the extension. Not only is the extension itself smart, but it reflects well and adds potency to the core brand.

The quizzical look factor.

You know that expression that a dog gets, when it cocks its head and looks confused? When you say, "hey, look Cheetos flavored lip balm" most people get that same expression. That’s a big clue that the extension is a disconnect. If the two elements are miles apart, it’s going to be tough to get the consumers to buy the connection.

Has anyone asked?

20 years ago, you couldn’t even find a Mickey and Minnie in wedding garb to use as a wedding cake topper. Today, Disney has a wedding pavilion on the grounds of Disney World and the bride can arrive in Cinderella’s coach, if she’d like. How did this come to be? Disney listened to its guests and their requests.

Just this week, in the Wall Street Journal, I read that Disney is now partnering with couture bridal designer Kirstie Kelly to create Disney princess inspired wedding gowns. Check out the Orlando Sentinel story here. (Download kellydisney.pdf )

How credible is it?

Here’s one where I disagree with the survey results. They lauded the Snoop Dog extension into pet products, like dog beds. I’m sorry but just because the man’s made up name includes the word dog does not make him a dog bed or doggie coat expert. Could he be a funny spokesperson for a dog bed manufacturer? You bet. But that’s different than the man opening a line of dog sweaters.

Brand extensions are tricky business. Bottom line — how does it strengthen your core? How does it introduce you to new customers who would find benefit in both the parent and the extension? How does it add value to your current customers?

Taking a 360 degree look

February 25, 2007

8+ inches of snow fell on us over night. Hundreds of churches and other organizations cancelled their Sunday events. Reporters told us to stay off the roads. Almost 200,000 were/are without power.

But what does the snow mean?

It would be easy to only see it from my own perspective. Using that single lens focus we discussed in an earlier post. But what happens when you actually take the time to walk around an issue, thought, product, client and take a 360 degree view?

For me, the snow is beautiful. Having grown up in Minnesota, I love the snap of cold, the crispness of the snow and the serenity in the blanket of white.

For my dad, who’s flying here from Sarasota today, it’s a reminder of why he left the Midwest and no doubt will be a source of much grumbling over the next few days.

For the neighborhood kids, it’s an imagination overloaded play land filled with an ice fort’s construction materials, bombs to be lobbed, and snow people to be birthed.

For my friend Steve, whose daughter was at a weekend church retreat deep in the woods and about an hour away, it brought worry about how to retrieve her safely. (We took my 4-wheel drive…all is well!)

For my daughter, it was a close but no cigar. 24 hours later and we’d have had a snow day.

For Mark the guy who runs a snow removal company, it was cha-ching and relief after a very slow season.

For the families without power, it was a potential crisis. No heat brings frozen pipes, no way to keep the family warm, and a huge hassle.

A relatively simple thing. A snow storm. And yet to each different audience, its importance and meaning was very different.

As you approach a marketing project — how often do you "place the item in the center of the table" and walk around it, describing it from different perspectives. We know people buy based on emotional responses. This snow storm brought a sense of calm/serenity, disgust, frustration, glee, disappointment, worry, relief, and panic.

Wow…those emotional truths are tools for a marketer. With a better understanding of people’s reactions to an event, product or service — you can talk to them in a way that will resonate with those emotional realities.

But only if you take the time to understand them.

It’s not art, it’s a website

February 25, 2007

Fine artists sign their works. I get that. It’s art.

Apparently many web designers are aspiring Picassos. There’s a trend initiated by web design companies that I just don’t get. It’s the "signature line" that they believe they’re entitled to place at the bottom of their clients’ websites.

"Website designed by XYZ" is a prevalent footer on many commercially designed websites. I am here to tell you, as a client — just say no.

I have no idea how this trend started. Can you imagine seeing a TV spot and then, as part of the close hearing "this spot was created by Weiden + Kennedy?" Or seeing McLellan Marketing Group at the bottom of a print ad in one of our client’s trade pubs? Sounds ludicrous, doesn’t it?

And yet, clients across the land don’t blink an eye when the company they are paying decided to use that site as an advertisement for themselves!

I think the ONLY acceptable exception to this rule is if the web design company donates their services. Then, they deserve the credit line.

If you’re a client out there — check your site and if there’s a fine art signature at the bottom, e-mail your web company and ask them to remove it immediately.

If you’re a web company — why not differentiate yourself in the marketplace by acknowledging that you understand you’re creating a business tool for your clients and will treat it accordingly.

You don’t know what you don’t know

February 24, 2007

One of the most dangerous habits a marketer can develop is thinking that they/their life experience is an accurate (and the only) filter. We’ve covered aspects of this topic before.

That’s a very narrow lens to use. But, with a slight twist, your single lens view finder could become a kaleidoscope with all the colors and images mixing up and showing you a completely different way of seeing the world.

Let me give you an example. I read an article about a new product/trend that is beginning to bubble up across the globe — women only cab or car services. When I first read it, I thought — wow, are we talking segmentation too far? But as I kept reading, my middle-class white man perspective melted away. I’m embarrassed to admit it, but it never occurred to me that women would be attacked after getting into a cab. But, according to what I read, it happens. In London alone, an average of 10 women a month are attacked.

Here’s how the Pink Ladies, a women-only cab service in the UK is solving that problem for women.

"Booking is done over the phone, and a text message is sent to the customer to let her know the vehicle is approaching, which means she doesn’t have to wait outside. Drivers are trained in self-defense and will wait outside a customer’s home after a drop-off to ensure she gets in safely."

Bravo to someone who turned the kaleidoscope to see the picture in a new way and develop a profitable and customer centric new solution.

Here’s my question to you marketers — how do you make sure you’re looking through a kaleidoscope and not a single lens view finder?

A marketing tip from my Italian grandma: Sampling starts something contagious

February 23, 2007

No doubt you look at my last name and say Italian? But rest assured, on my mom’s side I’m your amico! Like all Italians, I had an Italian grandma. And like all Italian grandmas, she had an opinion about everything and wasn’t afraid to share it or the life lessons she had collected along her colorful life. What she didn’t realize is that she also taught me some great marketing tips that in her honor, I’d like to share with you.

One of my grandma’s claims to fame were her pizzalles. If you’ve never had one…wow, are you missing out. They’re a traditional Italian waffle cookie and can be hard and crisp or soft and chewy depending on the ingredients and method of preparation.

They require a special pizzalle iron (like a waffle iron) and were always a big treat in my family. My grandma lived a plane ride away and I vividly remember being a kid, waiting for her at the gate (way before 9/11). She was old and didn’t move all that quickly, so it wasn’t a surprise to see streams of other people getting off the plane first.

But what was a surprise is that many of them were coming off the plane, munching on a pizzalle. As my grandma slowly appeared out of the jetway… the other passengers, with big powdered sugar-faced grins, were waving at her and telling her to enjoy her visit as though they were old friends. On my grandma’s arm was a big metal tin, like a picnic basket.

Well, you can deduce the rest of the story. The batch of pizzalles she had made and brought for us were gone, but lots of people on flight 427 had a great treat!

It started simply enough. She had a high quality and unique product. No doubt, she mentioned the tin and its contents to her seat mate and offered a sample. Pretty soon, there were samples flying everywhere. I guarantee you that my grandma and her tin of pizzalles were the talk of many a passenger’s ride home that day or call home that night. Had she been in the business of online pizzalle sales, she’d have scored big that week!

At McLellan Marketing Group, we are firm believers in sampling. Since 1999, we’ve produced a short e-newsletter called, as you might have guessed, the Marketing Minute. Every week, a few thousand people get to sample our marketing and branding expertise. This blog is big old tin of how we think.

Sampling creates word of mouth buzz. Sampling creates familiarity and a sense of already knowing you. Sampling creates demand and sales. Sampling creates the confidence to buy.

What’s in your pizzalle tin? And where are you sharing its contents?

(photo — one of my favorite possessions. The infamous pizzalle tin)

Several people have asked for my grandma’s pizzalles recipe — I’m very happy to share it!

Here’s the entire Marketing Tips from My Italian Grandma series, for your enjoyment:

Technorati tag cloud — what does it say?

February 22, 2007

I was checking Technorati tonight and the tag cloud on the home page caught my eye.

These are the things we — the entire blogging world — are talking about.

For those of you who aren’t as familiar with tag clouds — the bigger the type, the more frequently blog posts are tagged with that word. In this moment of time — this is what matters to us enough that we write about it.

Where’s the marketing lesson in the cloud?

Pop culture is clearly huge. Shock tactics (like shaving your head) still work. Despite the mainstream media focus, people aren’t ready to talk/think presidential race ’08 yet.

What do you see in the cloud?

How much is a house?

February 21, 2007

And will you honor that price, no matter what?

I can hear you now…how many bedrooms? Ranch or two-story? Brick or siding? Finished basement?

What if I wanted a price without answering any of those questions, because I didn’t know the answers yet?

Welcome to working at a marketing agency.

One of the most frustrating aspects of how prospective clients select their agency partner is the question "how much will it cost?"

Now don’t get me wrong. Clients have a right to know how much something will cost. But often times the question is asked before the details are known. It really disrespects the process AND the product.

This is one of the reasons why RFPs are such a bad way to choose a partner. They almost always are a price war game. In which the client is the biggest loser. Because they very rarely end up buying what they put on their shopping list. And yet, that was what they based their decision on.

Sure…some agencies deliver cookie cutter products. Swap out a few words, a logo and voila, a brochure is born. They can publish a price sheet (which I have seen) and live by it.

But any agency worth their salt delivers a custom product/service every time. Working with an agency is about collaboration. We need to get inside your head. Inside your employees’ heads. And inside your customers’ heads. We want to tug and push against ideas with you. We want to explore, dissect, twist and turn.

Then, we’ll know enough to recommend that your house be a 3 bedroom ranch with a walk out. And tell you how much it will cost to build and maintain.

Mark True just wrote a great post with the added bonus of some excellent links that extend the conversation. He asks the question — are you ready to hire an agency or to engage with one? A subtle difference, but a very important one.

You hire a cab. They deliver a commodity. Don’t reduce your agency to that.

Engage with your agency. Let them engage with you. Then let the building begin!

A rose by any other name…

February 21, 2007

A conversation with a client about naming a business and a post by Iowa attorney Rush Nigut got me thinking. There are few marketing decisions that can be as personal and subjective as naming a business. There is no ideal “right” answer which only makes it a tougher call.

Here are some Business Naming Basics.

No one is going to, for the most part, do business with you or not do business with you, because of your name, unless its so stupid or so offensive that you shouldn’t be in business anyway.

Yes, it is a very important decision. But it’s not life-ending. Should it be easy to remember and spell? You bet. But that’s more for memory recall than creating preference. Remember, any business name is an empty shell. You are going to attach meaning to it by how you conduct business, how you position and market yourself and how you treat your clients.

Choosing a name because it starts with an A is only a good choice is the name you would have picked anyway starts with an A.

If you are going to market yourself, the Yellow Pages becomes a support vehicle, especially in today’s digital world. You’re better off picking a name you like…and then doing a good, clear yellow page display ad than banking on the A listing. Or worse, being AAA Plumbing or A+ Plumbing.

The name of your business is far more important to you than it is to your customers.

They want to know what you do and how you do it…and really, unless it is offensive, don’t care about your name. So, positioning statements and how you market yourself become very critical and much more important than your name.

Make it simple to say. Make it simple to remember. If at all possible — let it help define who and what you are/do.

Your name is just the beginning. It is more important to pick one and get going on the marketing than it is to search for the perfect name.

JetBlue goes bold and delivers on their brand

February 20, 2007

We’ve all seen the news stories, outlining JetBlue’s woes in the NE part of the US this past week. I don’t know about you, but I just chalked it up to the airlines industry and their seemingly endless distain for their customers.

So I have to say, JetBlue’s Founder and CEO David Neeleman’s announcement of their new Customer Bill of Rights surprised me. Why? Because it actually has teeth. Real consequences for real customer problems.

Listen to how Neeleman’s set the stage for the release of the Bill of Rights.

The actual Bill of Rights is lengthy (Download Bill_Of_Rights.pdf) but here are some of my favorite guarantees:

If your flight is delayed (prior to scheduled departure) longer than 4 hours gets you a voucher in the amount of your ticket.
If you get bumped from a flight because they overbooked it — you get $1,000. Cash.

All of that is really great, but what I love most about what they did was issue an apology. It starts like this:

Dear JetBlue Customers,

We are sorry and embarrassed. But most of all, we are deeply sorry.

Really, when someone messes up, isn’t that what you need and want to hear? The combination of the sincere apology, the explanation of how it will be different and the guarantee of how it will be handled in the future is a pretty potent punch. I have to say — bravo JetBlue.

By the way, this is all retroactive. It’s going to cost JetBlue about $30 million just to compensate those who got caught up in last week’s mess.

So what do you think will happen next? Will the other airlines react at all? Will JetBlue re-gain the confidence of their customers?

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