Current Affairs Archives - Page 5 of 14 - McLellan Marketing Group

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

August 7, 2008

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.

I have a stomach ache…I think I had a bad brand for dinner

July 15, 2008

We have a new minor league hockey team (Anaheim’s farm team) moving to Des Moines. I am embarrassed to tell you that the new team’s name is….The Iowa Chops.

I know…and from a branding perspective, it gets even worse. They have given their team name even though someone else owns the name! Read about who owns the rights on the name and why that makes this an even bigger branding mess.

Check out my post at IowaBiz.com (which is back in business, thanks to it being acquired by the Business Record!)

Study on the internet and consumer behavior

June 30, 2008

The good folks from Fleishmann-Hillard sent me some information about their European offices’ recent work on understanding how the Internet affects consumer behavior in Europe.

Key findings:

The Internet beat TV two to one on influence, and eight to one over print.
People ask other people for personal purchase advice, but for airline tickets and bigger ticket items, they prefer the corporate sites.
Only 28% of people trust the information they read online, and yet 66% say the web helps them make better decisions. Sounds like they use the web to get information but want someone in their life to verify the decision.
Different countries use the web differently: Germany uses more search; the UK has more social networking interest and the French, more digital communications with web cameras and instant messaging.

The full report on the research is free to download here.

The elasticity of price

May 26, 2008

Gas prices are scooting over $4/gallon here in the states and yet consumption has not shown signs of significant reduction. How can that be?

That’s the question that reporter Gail Rosenblum of the Minneapolis Star Tribune posed to me late last week. Her article, Paying a lot for gas, changing lifestyles a little" appeared in Friday’s edition of the Star Tribune.

While I know this specific topic (gas prices) is on everyone’s mind, it seems to me that the conversation Gail and I had is even more interesting when you step back and look at consumer attitudes about prices in general.

Two years ago, we were in a tizzy over gas prices. We couldn’t believe they were going to be $2/gallon. We were outraged. We were going to cut back. (Of course, we didn’t) Fast forward to today. Imagine if I stopped people on the street and asked them what they would think of paying $2/gallon for gas. They would weep for joy. In fact, it would sound too good to be true and they’d ask me "what’s the catch?"

Ahhh, the elasticity of price perception.

Why do I think this is worthy of some thought? A few things to note:

The elasticity of price is a one-way street (we are never happy about going higher in price after the marketplace reduces costs.)

The elasticity of price is fast-acting (we get used to the higher price pretty quickly.)

The elasticity of price works best for necessities (we can cut back on stuff we don’t "need" but endure price hikes on stuff we think we do need.)

So how could you apply this thinking to how you set prices? If everyone in your industry is lowering prices because of the recession — how will this hold them back when they’re ready to re-raise their prices? How will it affect you if you resist the urge to lower prices now?

Are gas prices impacting your spending habits?

April 25, 2008

If not, you are in the minority according to research released today by Kelley Blue Book.

"Gas prices are already affecting vehicle sales in every segment, and traditional sport utility vehicles have been especially hard hit," says Jack Nerad, executive editorial director and executive market analyst for Kelley Blue Book. "Other industries will feel the pinch as consumers cut out life’s little luxuries like clothes, eating out and entertainment just so they can pay the fuel bills."

Check out the chart to the right to see the significance in the numbers. The declines in spending are across the board — big purchases and small.

6 months ago, 43% of consumers said they were not going to change their spending habits. Today’s numbers show that almost half of those people have now changed their mind.

This is our reality, so it is certainly interesting from that perspective. But let’s look at it as marketers for a minute. The world has suffered recessions before and spending bounces back when the economy does, right?

But what happens when there is no bounce back?

Rising gas prices are not showing any signs that this trend is slowing down. In fact, here in the US, a gallon of gas is expected to top $4 by summer and rise to $5.50 by 2010 and $7 by 2012.

So waiting it out isn’t the answer. What do you think is? How will you have to change the way you market your product or service?

Is it work or play…and what’s the cost?

February 22, 2008

Three converging thoughts/conversations:

A recent post on this blog about how our work/personal lives are becoming more blended
An on-going e-mail conversation with KG (Kristin Gorski) about the pressures of trying to keep up coupled with her post about our muses
Greg Verdino‘s pot stirring post, asking if we’re fooling ourselves with social media tools

I’d love it if you’d take a few minutes and check out out the posts referenced in #1 and #3. Then, read the post mentioned in #2.

What are the pros and cons of being "plugged in?" What do we gain? What do we pay? For you, personally and professionally — how does it weigh out?

Marketing, recessions and budgets….oh my!

February 18, 2008

Boy, there’s a lot of talk about the R word, isn’t there? And I think business owners/leaders are beginning to get a little jittery. That’s what prompted me to remind all of you that there is significant danger in being reactionary and lowering your prices.

Jonathan Munk, over at Manizesto, recently interviewed Beth Goldstein, author of Ultimate Small Business Marketing Toolkit, on this very topic. Her answers are worth your time, if nothing else…to get you thinking.

You might also glean a little insight from reading what Brent Allen’s take is on the topic. Not enough? How about Tony D. Baker’s extensive post on ways to safeguard your business during a recession.

And for those of you who are about to tell me we’re not heading towards a recession…remember, perception is reality. If consumers or business owners believe that’s where we are heading, the reality doesn’t matter all that much.

Should you lower prices during a recession?

February 4, 2008

Remembering that perception is reality, we’re headed towards a recession. Whether we are or not. Consumers believe it’s coming…so they will behave accordingly.

So we need to be ready to anticipate how this is going to alter their reaction/response to our marketing messages. And, if they’re right, we need to be mindful of our own budgets as well.

Last week, The New York Times ran a story about how many retailers are pushing the "lower prices" message to capitalize on consumers’ fear. The article documents several companies including the much written about Starbucks $1 cup of coffee.

Is this a good strategy?

Maybe. It depends on your brand position.

Are you the product or service that’s all about being cheap? Are you ready to live with that new brand position far beyond the recession?

A low price strategy is one that’s easy to slip on and incredibly difficult to shrug off, once the economy turns around. Consumers tend to really wrap their arms around a low price position and they aren’t likely to be happy about going back to paying full price.

If your brand is not about price — adopting a low price strategy is probably going to damage the work you’ve already done. And that doesn’t only apply to luxury or high end brands.

As money gets tighter, consumers will want to be confident in the companies they do business with. Brand trust will become even more important, the tighter people are with their cash.

A recession is the time to be even more diligent about protecting your brand by staying consistent. If you weren’t a bargain basement brand a year ago, you should think long and hard before becoming one today.

The real SuperBowl competition

February 3, 2008

We ~~already know~~ thought we knew who was going to win the football game, so we might as well turn our attention to the real competition — which TV spot will win the hearts and buzz of the viewers?

Firebrand has declared Monday, February 4th as "Firebrand Monday" where they will celebrate the mother load of creative TV spots shown on the SuperBowl.

On Monday morning, Firebrand.com will have only the best of the previous day’s commercials ready for download, allowing viewers to share and rate them all, and to decide for themselves which spot wins the coveted “Firebrand Water Cooler” trophy.

On their Monday evening TV show (find out where it’s showing in your area) , the hour will be dedicated to major ads from the Super Bowl, featuring Celebrity CJs such as Reebok’s "Office Linebacker" Terry Tate and Carmen Electra, who makes her Super Bowl debut in an ad for Hershey’s "Ice Breakers."

If you love ads — you’ll enjoy Firebrand’s show. Not just on the Monday after the SuperBowl, but every week.

You can view all the ads online as well.

Does going green + Boomers mean you’re in the green?

January 28, 2008

Green, green, green. Everywhere you look. You’ve got green in all the candidate’s speeches, Al won the Nobel Prize and hybrids are flying out of dealerships.

Should you be pushing the green aspects of your products or services (assuming there are some)?

Several studies released in the last month or so suggest that it might be in your bottom line’s best interest. According to a USA Today story, a study done by Deloitte suggests that 1 in 5 consumers planned on buying more earth friendly items this holiday season.

At 79 million, the Boomers rule the buying word. AARP also recently released data on this topic. According to their research, over half (40 million) Boomers consider themselves green.

Of course — time will tell. People saying that they’re green and behaving with their wallet are two very different things. I am sure both Deloitte and AARP did a very thorough and professional job on their research. But the cynic in me also thinks that when asked by a researcher — do you recycle or are you more likely to buy a product because it is environmentally friendly — most people would be embarrassed to admit they are lazy consumers who are willing to contribute to the decline of the Earth rather than toss their cans in the recycle container. I mean really — which answer would you feel better about giving?

Treehugger.com suggests that 2008 is the year where green is the new everything. On the flip side, Joel Makower (author of The Green Consumer) points out that 16 years after the publication of his book — we still do not have a significant number of green products that are mass produced.

What do you think? Will this be a competitive advantage for the companies that can capture this wave? Have you considered adding or spotlighting a green aspect of your offerings?

Or, as a consumer — where do you stand on this issue?

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