Going from commodity to being the only option

September 9, 2008

There are certain things that I think of as a complete commodity.  I don’t care about the "brand."  I don’t really care where I buy it. 

Milk.  Gas.  And pizza.

I’m not talking about pizza that you go out to get (in that case…Ray’s in NYC is the must)…I’m talking the "bring it to our door, we have a house full of teenagers" pizza that I seem to be buying on a very regular basis.

Dominos, Pizza Hut, Godfather’s, Papa John’s — whatever.  Basically the same.  A complete commodity at the McLellan house.

But not any more.  Now, I have a very strong preference. I would go out of my way to order from one over the other.   You’re probably wondering what in the world a pizza place could do to go from commodity to only option.

A new crust?  Some wild new ingredient combination?  Free food?

No, no and no.  Dominos knows that their pizza is pretty much like all the others.  So to differentiate themselves, they didn’t focus on the pizza.  They focused on my experience.

Most pizza places let you order online now.  But Dominos has taken it to a whole new level.  They have this new pizza tracker.  I can literally watch as my pizza is prepped, baked and boxed for delivery.

Here, you can see (feed readers…click to see the visuals) that my order has been placed and Charles is beginning to prep my pizza.  Right next to the the YOU GOT IT MADE line…it outlines who is doing what when.

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Then, Charles puts the pizza in the oven.

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I’m skipping a couple steps here…but after the pizza was boxed, Matt, their delivery expert, left the store with the food at 7:39 pm.

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Now, you may be thinking…"wow…Drew needs to get a little more excitement in his life" and that may be true.  But…every time the McLellan household (and many hungry teen-aged guests) need pizza — instead of poking around for a coupon or just randomly picking one — I now always call Dominos.  That did not happen before the tracker.

Figure the average bill is around $50 when I am feeding a gang.  Figure that it’s dinner at chez McLellan, on average, twice or three times a month.  $150/month.  That’s almost $2,000 a year. 

Dominos figured out that their category (pizza delivery) had been so commoditized that they could compete on price (the "I don’t have a brand or anything that makes me different" choice) or they could somehow make themselves stand out from the crowd.  They knew consumers wouldn’t buy/believe the "we taste better."   So they thought about how they could alter the buying experience.  How could they make that different for me?

Smart.  Very smart.

So how about you?  Are you in a business where what you sell (the pizza of your industry) is pretty much the same?  Or…different but not in a way that the consumer could discern it? 

Is there some other aspect of your service, delivery, packaging, pricing etc. that you could make notably different?  If they won’t/don’t choose you because of your product — why else might they make you an "only option?"

Update:  Looks like I am not the only one writing on this topic.  Discovered Cale’s piece when I was doing the feedreader thing!

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Did McCain’s speech keep his brand promise?

September 6, 2008

Conventions_08_v3 Just like we did last week with Barack Obama, 6 marketing pros watched John McCain’s speech through a very specific lens.

How did the speech support their brand?

McCain had a tough act to follow.  Sarah Palin’s speech has shattered expectations in terms of viewers and buzz.

He had to build on that momentum and remind us that he was #1 on the Republican ticket.  He also (in my opinion) had to continue the delicate balancing act of his duo-brand.  McCain is part Country First/War Hero (very traditional) and part Maverick (very non-traditional).

Could he capture both sides of his brand and deliver them in a memorable, believable way?

So how did he do from a pure brand/marketing perspective?  That was the question posed to six of us (CK, Ann Handley, Cam Beck, Alan Wolk, Stephen Denny, and me) over at Marketing Profs Daily Fix.  We had to (in 200 words or less) critique the speech based on message, brand delivery and relevance.  We also had to give a 0-5 star rating.

McCain got everywhere from a 0 to a 4.5 from the six of us.

Come read what everyone had to say and give us your take.

And if you missed part one, here’s our take on Obama’s speech last week.  

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Who’d have thunk it?

September 6, 2008

Brilliante Many humble thanks to Caroline Melberg’s kind words as she nominated me for The Brillante Weblog Award.  award.

With proud heart and in the spirit of tradition I’d like to honor the following bloggers with the Brillante Weblog Award:

David Reich/My 2 cents:  David’s blog posts are point on. What I value about David’s perspective is that he came to social media kicking and screaming a bit.  So he looks at all the hub bub (traditional and social media) with the slightly jaded eye of a guy who has been around the block.  He’s thoughtful before he jumps on anyone’s bandwagon and we get to go along for the cerebral ride as he weighs marketing, PR and media today.

Anna Farmery/Engaging Brand:  Anna’s blog is all about employer branding and how that can change the course of a company.  What Anna’s most famous for is her superb podcasts.  They’re among the best out there.  She draws remarkable guests and her thorough prep means she always gets the goods.  You’ll listen to most of them more than once! And…she’s British so she has a great accent.  She even writes with an accent!  Love that!

Steve Harper/The Ripple Effect:  Steve’s blog and mantra is all about "Maximizing the Power of Relationships for  Your Life and Business" and with every post, he gets us thinking about how we might add even more value and build and support the relationships that mean the most to us.  He reminds us of the business applications of relationship building without ever forgetting there’s a human being at the other end.

If you want to think big….check out these excellent blogs!  They’ll make you tres brillante!

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Do they recognize you?

September 3, 2008

Basket

Can you imagine giving directions to this building?  "You take Route 35 to King Street, hang a left and off to your right, you’ll see a huge picnic basket.  What?  No ma’am, a picnic basket.  That’s right…"

Well if you work for Longaberger headquarters, that’s how it would go.  That is really their headquarters.  Anyone want to guess what they sell?

Now most of us probably cannot erect a building in the shape of our product/service.  But we can be just as recognizable in our own way.

Come on over to Brad Shorr’s blog Words Sell, Inc. where I am serving up a guest post on this very topic.  I’d love to have you jump into the conversation.

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Are you leaving money on the table?

September 1, 2008

22850088 Many years ago, I shifted our agency from the traditional agency billing model of hourly fees to a value-based fee model.  It’s a huge departure from how 99% of all agencies charge for their time. 

But I believed (and still do) that hourly based fees undermined the work we did and actually encouraged our clients not to call us.

Think about it.  Let’s say we’re doing a project for you and the price is $5,000.  Or…on the flip side, we are doing the same project, but it’s $200/hour.

If you have a question — under which pricing model are you  more likely to call and discuss your question for 45 minutes?  Or…which pricing model allows you to build your budget and have confidence that the project will not go over?

It also allows us to do better work.  Clients don’t care how much time we invest in a project.  Until we’re billing by the hour.  Then, all of a sudden, it’s an issue.   With value-based pricing, everyone wins.  We get to spend the time we need to on a project and the client gets exactly what they needed at the price that they agreed to.  Who can argue with that?

I’ve noticed that more and  more service professionals are also beginning to shift to a value based model.  It makes sense.  Over at IowaBiz, Rush Nigut says that many attorneys are recognizing that unlike manual laborers…they are not really selling their time.  They are selling their expertise and beginning to bill accordingly.

How about you?  How are you pricing your products/services?  Want a little help in figuring out how to get the fees you deserve?

RainToday.com, which I have raved about before, is offering a free 39-page report called "The One Piece of Advice You Need To Get The Fees You Deserve."  Download it and absorb the wisdom!

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Did Barack’s speech keep his brand promise alive?

August 29, 2008

Conventions_08_v3 84,000 screaming fans a la a rock concert.  An estimated 40+ million watching at home.  On the 45th anniversary of Dr. King’s historic "I have a dream"  speech.

The stage was set for magic.

Barack’s acceptance speech last night was clearly one of the most important of his entire career.

It was his change to communicate and solidify his brand.  This wasn’t the night for getting into the nitty gritty.  This was the night for a Steve Jobs "get the crowd pumped, make them laugh/make them cry" sort of speech.

It was a brand builder’s dream.

So how did he do from a pure brand/marketing perspective?  That was the question posed to six of us (CK, Ann Handley, Cam Beck, Alan Wolk, Stephen Denny, and me) over at Marketing Profs Daily Fix.  We had to (in 200 words or less) critique the speech based on message, brand delivery and relevance.  We also had to give a 0-5 star rating.

Mr. Obama got everywhere from a 0 to a 5 from the six of us.

Here’s a snippet of my comments:

Clearly Obama did not get the memo. Of all the speeches he will ever give – this one wasn’t about politicking – this one needed to be about creating the vision, the dream. This was the night to ignite our passion for his brand promise of change and hope.

Come read what everyone had to say and then weigh in with your opinion!

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Why do you exist?

August 27, 2008

36608632 As you walk through the hallways of your company today…stop people at random.  Everyone from the CEO to the part-time mail room clerk and everyone in between. 

Ask them this:

Why does this company exist?

Note two things:

  1. How many different answers you get
  2. How many times you hear…to make money

A company that exists primarily to make money cannot hope to build loyalty among customers, employees or even vendors.  Of course, you should be profitable — but that shouldn’t be why you exist.

You make money so you can keep fulfilling the reason you exist.  Unless of course….everyone in your company thinks it’s something different.

Then, sadly…the only mission/vision you all agree on is…that you should make money.  Can you say "uh oh."

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Muzzle that man!

August 16, 2008

Muzzle By weird happenstance, my posts were popping up all over at the tail of this week.  Rumor has it, the blogosphere is searching high and low for a Drew muzzle.  Until they can catch me and shut me up….I thought you might enjoy these posts.

Bloggers, unlike journalists, are sort of hanging out there on their own, when they write about companies and business practices.  Are they particularly at risk for law suits?  Read about this $20 million dollar suit and see if you’re at risk too.  (at Marketing Profs Daily Fix)

Like it or not, you are a salesperson.  All too often, we ask ourselves the wrong questions when we approach a sale, whether we’re selling an idea to our boss or selling a service to a prospect.  How should you approach a potential sale?  (Small Business Branding)

Just because you can change your name, should you?  FedEx Kinkos is now becoming FedExOffice.  Good idea or bad?  How valuable is name equity and when does it make sense to make a shift?  (IowaBiz.com)

And for fun….vanity plates tell quite a bit about a person’s passions.  If you could have any vanity plate in the world, what would you choose?  Want to see mine?  (IowaMoms.com)

So, if you’re looking for a whole lot of Drew thought, here’s more than any one person could possibly absorb.  Why not join me in conversations all over the web?

P.S.  On a sort of unrelated note…if you ever have to search for a muzzle image…but sure that safe search is on.  Trust me.

Photo courtesy of the Mastiff Breed Supplies.

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United’s new TV campaign. Effective or not so much?

August 11, 2008

The airlines are in trouble, people complaining about flying, yours truly gets stuck in an airport or has a flight get canceled every time he turns around, and the hassle factor has never been worse.

Oh yeah…they’re now charging us for just about everything.  I expect the pay toilets to be installed any day.

We all know the airlines are struggling.  So if you were the VP of Marketing for United, what kind of commercials would you ask your agency for?  What would be your key message?

Check out these two new United spots and tell us what you think.  This first one is called "Heart."  (If you’re reading this via e-mail or RSS — click on the headline to view the spots.)

This one is called "Two Worlds."

So….what’s your take on the ads, their intent and their effectiveness?

(To see the entire campaign…)

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Brett Favre’s brand = sort of sad, can’t let go Has Been?

August 7, 2008

Brettfavre Unless you’ve been in a cave, by now you know that:

  • Brett Favre was one of the most revered quarterbacks of the last 20 years
  • He broke records left and right, and is the only 3 time MVP in National Football League history
  • Has a Super Bowl ring
  • Played one season (his first) with the Falcons but really has always been a Packer
  • Tearfully retired with glory and honor at the end of the 2007 season

Now that’s the way to end a career and control the legacy of your brand.  If the story had stopped there…that is how Brett Favre would have been universally remembered.  Even people who dislike the Packers or Brett himself could not deny or really sully his greatness.

But…Brett messed with his own brand story.

Note:  I don’t know if Brett has more good games in him.  This post isn’t about the viability of his playing skills or if he retired too early.  It’s about being mindful of managing your brand.

Brett Favre retired at the end of last season.  His tearful press conference was the perfect end to the brand story about an ordinary guy who just loved the game. 

But, for whatever reason, Brett couldn’t leave it alone.  He put the Packers in the unenviable position of having to be the villain and trade their legend to the Jets.  The Packer fans are angry that their team traded their hero, the Packers organization has to feel a whole lot less love towards him for making them the bad guy, Brett has to be secretly disappointed that his team didn’t want him back but has to put on the fake smile as he dons a Jets ball cap at the press conference and…the brand gets muddy.

Now, for a lot of fans…Brett has become the guy who couldn’t walk away.  Couldn’t be decisive about his own career.  Wasn’t a Packer to the end.  Sort of a sad story — the man who couldn’t quite step out of the spotlight. 

I’m not saying it wasn’t his right to decide to come back.  I’m suggesting that he had, through his choices and actions, created the perfect brand story.

Until he didn’t anymore.

What do you think?  Will Brett’s choices change the way he’s remembered?  Will his brand now be marked with an asterisk?

Update: Rush Nigut adds his thoughts to this debate from a perspective that only a great business attorney could bring to the conversation.

Check out BizBox’s well-written take on Favre’s decision.

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