Brand dissonance in Jordan

Brand dissonance in Jordan

To borrow and evolve a phrase; a brand is only as strong as the worst part of the experience. Brand Dissonance, when over promising and under delivering creates an added sense of frustration due to expectations being unfulfilled or little effort is made to deliver on an implied quality of experience. Dissonance has always been around, but brands today have a far more difficult task of living up to the experiences they claim to offer and indeed define their brands as being. Jordan seems to suffer greatly from this condition, particularly at the customer service level and sometimes the basic fulfillment of transactions.

Gone are the days when “branding” a product with a logo would satisfy the customer with some quality assurance, as are the days when making claims of differentiation were demonstrated within carefully controlled environments, like on the product packaging, basic service or store space. Today customers are becoming accustomed to, and indeed expect, a brand experience that is true at every touchpoint and at every engagement, and that includes the simplest things in the customer journey, even down to the parking experience outside your store, not to mention personalized recognition or amazing mobile apps that improve my life and experience with a brand. If a brand is to be defined as the sum of all the parts of a business, then it goes to reason there needs to be a brand consideration for every aspect of a business, and especially any aspect that engages customers, its shareholders and stakeholders.

As brands have become more entrenched into our lives and technology enables more mass customization, brands have moved from commodities, to products to experiences in the span of a generation. Today brands have to work harder to engage and win customers, not to mention the efforts to maintain the relationships by adding value to their lives and attempting to become indispensable. It has only made the task of creating genuine and meaningful brand engagements more difficult and costly, particularly when said efforts are un-genuine and ineffective.

Many brands in Jordan seem to be suffering from an amplification of brand dissonance in recent years. Telcos and increasingly banks are particularly good at raising expectations, almost to near impossible levels, only for the real experiences to be frustrating, unfulfilled and needlessly complicated. But even though the experiences we have are overall better than many years ago, the amplification of the dissonance can be attributed to a number of reasons. Higher expectations from customers as the benchmark for brand experiences are raised with more competition, more exposure to foreign best practice, partly due to the web but also from more regional and foreign brands upping the stakes in Jordan. But ultimately it is hollow campaign slogans and half baked efforts that make the experiences so much worse because they fail to fulfill the expectations.

Customers have become more savvy at assessing and scrutinizing the overall experience of engaging a brand as people are exposed to global best practices that contrast heavily with what is experienced in Jordan. Its amplified by the grossly exaggerated claims and dizzyingly meaningless brand campaigns that reflect nothing of the reality, and in fact do more damage to a brand and a business when the actual experiences contrast so much.

Its almost advisable to set expectations low and surprise and delight people with brand experiences, as the first thing people tend to do these days when confronted with severe brand dissonance is share their experience on social media, and sometimes, though much more rarely, share their delight with positive brand harmony. Brands need to spend less money telling people how great they are and more on showing them and demonstrating their value propositions. Social Media can then let customers amplify your qualities rather than experience dissonance and undo all your advertising and marketing efforts.

There’s a trend in advertising that’s frankly refreshing, where honesty to the point of self-deprecation is finding more resonance with audiences. Even in subliminal ways brands are turning away from using beautiful models and actors for their ads and instead using more homely, and in some cases ugly people. It’s a movement towards making brands even more human, with traits that most people would admire in real people, like humility, honesty and genuine effort to self improve, something brands in Jordan need to consider.

(First appeared in Venture Magazine- Jordan,  May 2013)

My 3 Golden Rules on Consumer Research

My three golden rules on Consumer Research.

A rudimentary search on Google for “consumer research jokes and humor” gives very little in the way of anything funny, but rather a lot of articles and studies on use of humor in advertising discussing its effectiveness, and though this article has nothing to do with the former or the latter, the fact that I started this with a search on Google is.

When I first started working in advertising, consumer research was either Qualitative (focus groups) or Quantitative (clip boards), and though that sort of cumbersome and time consuming approach still has a role, albeit a smaller one, the real strategic driver today is data. From a consumer research standpoint, the digital age has passed, where connecting with consumers was revolutionized by reaching people easier and having them input the data through online surveys saving both time and cost, but also until a critical mass of people were digitally accessible, had teething problems of skewing the data to a certain subset of early adopters.

Consumer Research 2.0 however is like a virtual laboratory where marketers can observe, in real time, how consumers behave, what they think about your brand, your communication and the competition’s. And with social media, marketers are provided incredible depth in psychographic profiling, not to mention advocacy and engagement with brands. Testing concepts and offers before rolling out to broader audiences has never been easier, nor more accurate in predicting actual behavior as there is no questionnaire bias or any number of issues associated with traditional concept and offer testing in controlled environments, but I seem to be getting ahead of myself again.

My three golden rules on consumer research, though “guiding strategies” may be more apt than rules:

1-    Capture the DATA: The data is out there, you just need to know where to look and make sure you are capturing it and ultimately how to use it, and that goes for both existing and prospect customers. At the core of all this data should be a decent CRM engine that integrates with all your activities. If your business does not approach data correctly, it will struggle to capture purchase behavior, customer satisfaction, campaign effectiveness metrics, attrition rates and causes, share of wallet and customer equity, online traffic metrics and media habits, and ultimately where customers fall in terms of their lifetime value. Aside from existing consumer hard data, there is a wealth of data on general population metrics that could help drive your product, service or inspire the creative. And as for focus groups discussing creative, from my experience, only serves to dilute potentially great ideas into flat ones that appeal to the lowest common denominator. Rather, put things out there in perpetual beta mode, in test cells, and optimize the rest to the best designs, messages and mechanics. Even if you want to adapt the work to offline media, the real life lab of the internet will tell you what works best.

2-    Elicit, don’t Solicit: Last century when I worked with FCB (now DraftFCB), they had a brilliant methodology for understanding consumers to better resonate on a creative and message level. By spending time in their natural environments and having the subjects clueless as to what they are researching, and throughout the engagement, they lure them into talking about life and surreptitiously have them weave in products and brands into the discussions, and thereby extracting pure insights that would go on to inspire great campaigns. The value of extracting genuine emotions and thoughts is they are un-skewed by questionnaire bias nor by the unconscious need to please, or even to antagonize the questioner. Also, avoid all incentives; they just make your results meaningless.

3-    Research trends to predict behavior: Assuming you’ve taken the first two rules to heart, the biggest questions that should keep a business owner up at night is less about what is happening now and more about what is going to happen in the future. What are the trends and what does that mean for my business? The plethora of subscription based consumer and industry data is, if selected and analyzed correctly, extremely valuable to a business in doing just that.

Bottom line is, research today is less about asking, and more about observing, assuming you have the tools and competencies. 

(First appeared in Venture Magazine -Jordan in April 2013 issue)

3 Golden Rules for Premiums and Giveaways

After working in Advertising for the better part of two decades in a dozen markets all over the world, I like to challenge myself by making three golden rules for most everything in the industry. It’s as much a cathartic mental exercise as it is a practical guideline, however its always good to remember that in advertising there are no rules, just effectiveness.

My three golden rules for Premiums and Giveways.

Its that time of year again when brands and their agencies leaf through lengthy catalogues of items from all over the world to brand and give away to customers and prospects. A throw back to a pre-digital age that frankly a disproportionate amount of time and money goes into every year. There are desk calendars, mousepads (I know! Who uses mousepads anymore?), paperweights, key chains and various other things that never get used and at best function as an ice breaker for a sales call or a reminder of your stall at a trade show.

Nevertheless, business owners feel compelled to give something physical away and hopefully instill a sense of guilt that may initiate some future enquiry or even a purchase, or at the very least act as free advertising that the recipient carries or places on his desk or in his car.

That’s not to say premiums and giveaways can’t be a powerful marketing tool, as they can also double up as incentives for customers and even sales staff, so long as you follow my three golden rules. So put that 600 page catalogue of generic bumpf away and consider these rules:

1-    Novelty: There has to be a sense that this is something one cannot get for love or money. Its value is in the fact that it is unique and cannot be found anywhere. This is where catalogues are a waste of time and one has to think of commissioning something unique, which any number of Chinese companies would be more than happy to make for you. Another successful approach is to commission art or individually crafted items that doubles up as corporate social responsibility by supporting artists, and/or cottage industries and handicrafts. Its an opportunity to be creative and ideally reinforce the brand personality and messages, but don’t get carried away with overt branding on the item as this tends to put people off unless you are in fact a cool brand like Ferrari or Harley Davidson.  

2-    Functionality: If it does something then it is more likely to be used (exposed) and appreciated (resonate). And unless it has a function, it’ll probably just end up collecting dust on a shelf, chucked in a drawer or the bin, so steer clear of paperweights and ornamental plaques.

  

3-    Relevance: If you’re a financial services provider, give something that falls neatly within your service, like a credit card carrier case, or a subscription to the Economist. Don’t send car sun shades or beer cooler sleeves, it just comes across as shameless advertising. Giveaways ideally enhance the experience of using your product or service, like Amazon vouchers from an ISP, or even a cool shoehorn from a shoe brand. Giveaways are far too often a lost opportunity to elevate the brand experience.  

The best corporate “give-away” I’ve ever received is a lazer pen with a USB flash drive that also has buttons to remotely navigate between your powerpoint slides. The company was AFS, who offer back end IT for banks. It was useful, relevant (corporate) and frankly I’d never seen one before (novel). I still use it occasionally after over 5 years and here I am writing about it. That was an effective premium back in 2007, but try to avoid the USB flash drive in 2013 as I actually have a massive pile of them in my drawer, as most people probably do by now. Some of the best giveaways that I’ve personally worked on was the fun and perverted material that we developed for g+ ginseng, the drink brand, which included spank paddles, leather whips, erotic beach towels, handcuffs and various other items that went a long way to reinforce the brand personality, but as far as their utility is concerned, I can only imagine. 

(First appeared in Venture Magazine Jordan March 2013)

My 3 Golden Rules on viral marketing

After working in Advertising for the better part of two decades, in a dozen markets all over the world, I like to challenge myself by making three golden rules for most everything in the industry. It is as much a cathartic mental exercise as it is a practical guideline, nevertheless it’s always good to remember that in advertising there are no rules, just effectiveness.

My three golden rules….

Viral marketing.

Viral marketing is seen by many as the panacea of advertising; its free media and has the potential of elevating a brand to global superstar status, but most viral campaigns, at least those that are designed as so, fall flat on their face. Some of the greatest examples of viral campaigns are somewhat accidental, and RARELY brand centric. Dove’s “campaign for real beauty” saw an accidental viral video turn into a global campaign. A 60 second video originally made for an internal Unilever sales conference in Canada leaked online (or so the story goes) and became so viral that it was quickly adopted as a global TV commercial. You can watch it on youtube- “Dove evolution”.

In the digital age where consumers have trillions of terabytes of content and distractions to seek and consume, a brand has to really stand out and offer something genuinely valuable to justify engaging with you.  With media being fragmented to the incredible degree that it is, brands are increasingly relying on consumers to evangelize for them. A consumer being a willing brand advocate or happily associating themselves with a brand, will have far more impact than any advertising can ever do. 10 years ago we used to call that word-of-mouth.

When clients come asking for a viral campaign my initial reaction is to cringe, as i know they are asking for it in the hope of saving money, and besides, when you consider my three golden rules of viral marketing, most clients turn away from the idea, while those who embraced these guiding principles, have come away with tangible success:

1-    Inherent Value: Whether it’s comedic value, high production values, sheer audacity or shock factor, there has to be something genuinely valuable in the video/microsite/app or whatever it is you are expecting people to spend time and effort sharing. Alternatively you could incentivize (win something by sending this on, liking etc ..), but that, strictly speaking, isn’t a viral initiative. Viral also tends to be very topical, and brands having something emphatic to say at the right time have a better chance of success. Sadly most brands in this region are very timid when it comes to taking any sociological or political stance lest they offend anyone. There were many lost opportunities for brands to take emphatic positions on issues during the early days of the Arab spring, but few if any did.

2-    Effort: Whether its integrating the initiative with offline activities, Search Engine Optimization, intermittently getting all your staff to initiate sharing with their friends and family or simply using cold lists to get the critical mass of people sharing and engaging, there is a tremendous amount of effort that runs behind any successful viral campaign, and that’s assuming the initiative has a big idea that resonates with people.

3-    Keep it simple: Asking people to make their own video, upload it and share (a common formulae deployed by brands) is inherently laborious and is probably asking for too much and greatly limits the number of participants. Of course there are loads of internet memes that people replicate in their own way showcasing their individuality, wit and creativity, but it is rare to see them coming from a brand. Again, incentivizing participation makes it promotional with a viral element rather than purely viral. 

4-    Pushing the boundaries: Though arguably linked to the first golden rule, this is where brands fear to tread. Lets face it, no one is going to share your 3 minute corporate video with all their friends unless you are appealing to a darker aspect of humanity: sex, voyeurism, sado-masochism, or dark humour. Ofcourse the opposite is also “virable”; demonstrating acts of selflessness and altruism and giving, but lets be honest, we rarely see that coming from corporations.

For those who astutely observed that I’ve offered four rather than three golden rules, remember there are exceptions to every rule. Next month I tackle the odd and irrational world of corporate premium giveaways, a throwback to the fax age when branded key chains, pens and desk diaries reigned supreme.

First appeared in Venture Magazine (Jordan) February 2013

My 3 Golden Rules on Social Media Management

After working in Advertising for the better part of two decades in a dozen markets all over the world, I like to challenge myself by making three golden rules for most everything in the industry. It is as much a cathartic mental exercise as it is a practical guideline, however it’s always good to remember that in advertising there are no rules, just effectiveness.

My three golden rules for…

Social Media Management

In the early days of Social Media, brands and their agencies saw it as an exciting new direct channel to target their customers and prospects, a sort of technical evolution from Direct Marketing. Since those early pioneering days of e-mail solicitation and banner advertising, Social Media has taken on a much wider role in marketing and ultimately has changed the ways that many businesses operate. Social Media can now make or even break a business. Its role in public relations, brand engagement, customer relationship management and customer service is becoming increasingly fundamental, not to mention how it has evolved the discipline of advertising over the last 7 years.

Being involved with many social media initiatives for brands in Jordan and the region, I’ve encountered a lot of hesitation and fear from some companies when it comes to getting involved in Social Media Marketing. Mostly because once they start they know they can’t stop; it just looks bad when your online presence disappears, and more importantly its value becomes very apparent and there’s no going back. The late adopters of social media were so because they feared the commitment that would follow, especially when one considers the operational changes that businesses begin to go through as they begin to adapt to the changing consumer landscape. Its scary for some, and a lifeline for others. But the scariest aspect of social media was revealed with the oft raised question “what if people start complaining about our service and everyone sees it?” to which I reply “that’s an opportunity to demonstrate your response for all to see, and if they’re not complaining about you on your platforms, they’ll be doing so on your competitors’ platform, so you decide who controls the dialogue”.

But before I get ahead of myself, here are my three golden rules for effective and long-term social media management.

1-    Take SM management inhouse: The power of Social Media for a brand or an organization is immense; it’s a platform to engage with existing and prospective customers, which enables you to demonstrate your brand values and personality. It’s a channel to manage one’s public relations, promote products, build data profiles, conduct research and more and more so from the customer’s perspective, it is a direct access to the brand – an extension of customer service. There is no doubt that multiple agency partners will have an important role in strategic guidance, content development and integrating all the social media touch points into the marketing and communication plans for the brand. The issue I faced with some brands in the region is that they felt they didn’t have the necessary competencies to be directly involved in the management of their channels and offset the responsibility to agencies (specialists and generalists) to manage their portals.

On the question of competency, anyone who has a Facebook or Twitter account (ie, anyone under the age of 70), is technically competent to manage the day to day of a brand’s social media channels with the strategic guidance from the brand and PR agencies, content from other third parties, and involvement of customer service and product managers. Asking an agency or any third party to manage the day to day is shortsighted, dismisses the full potential and ignores the reality of the changing landscape. It is needlessly expensive and potentially detrimental to the brand and ultimately the business. If a company is not involved in their own social media, one has to question how much they are involved in their own brand.  In many cases I usually suggest that a company commission a competent third party to manage their social media activities for a fixed duration, have select staff in “reverse-secondment” to shadow, learn and aim to adopt best practices and get up to speed with the discipline in order to set up their own in-house SM “command centre” and have it running in the coming year.

2-    Perpetual Beta mode: Have a strategy, but make it flexible. Sometimes you are reacting, sometimes you are leading and luring, but one thing is for certain, you will always be learning. The overarching strategy of engagement, dialogue and segmentation with the aim of winning, growing and retaining business will always be there, but the tactics will be evolving as fast as the technology.

3-    It’s all about Value: People rarely join fan pages, give their details away, follow tweeps or subscribe to newsfeeds because they love the brand. No. They are expecting value, whether that be quality entertainment, unique content, useful tools, or individual recognition, they are expecting something in return for your intrusion on THEIR social media. Much of what social media marketing aims to achieve is much like the age-old loyalty programmes. No one ever joined one out of anything other than the promise of a benefit. The same goes for Social Media.

Brand engagement for engagement’s sake is a fickle affair and rarely satisfies the objectives that they set out to achieve. Most online “brand engagement” initiatives tend to be geared towards virability, which brings me neatly to next month’s article, “Three Golden rules of viral marketing”.

First appeared in Venture Magazine (Jordan) in Jan 2013 issue