Branding in Hard Times

LIVEWIRE: Take-Aways From San Francisco

Recipe for Results: EOS-21 Pay Per Click

BRANDING IN HARD TIMES

Banking On Brands

Our prospective client leaned in and asked the question that had been burning for some time:  “In this tough market, should we be doing branding at all?”

Some people say branding is a waste of money. Too often, our team at Creating Results will have to agree. Not because branding isn’t important, but because too many companies fail to build their brand. And because too many don’t recognize that branding isn’t something you can choose to “do” in good times and not to do in bad times. 

You’re always impacting your brand. It’s not something you turn on and off.

When Todd Harff recently addressed one of the largest chambers in the Washington DC-area, he advanced the notion that a slow economy is the perfect opportunity to focus on branding, because you have the time to invest.

The first recorded “brands” were the marks used on livestock to identify which belonged to each owner. Today, devotees of one of America’s most popular brands – Harley-Davidson – tattoo that company’s logo on their bodies.

A brand is not just a logo. A brand is a logo, and a tagline that reminds us of a “brand promise,” the tangible product or service that is delivered, and the intangible benefits purchasers receive. It’s also a collection of perceptions in your consumer’s mind. The brand is defined through their interactions with you.

Ultimately, a well-positioned brand:

• improves recall
• increases marketing effectiveness
• reinforces perceived advantages (quality, price, etc.)
• shortens the purchase process
• demands a price premium

In short, a strong brand delivers financial benefits. A few stitches of pink thread, a polo player the size of a dime, is the difference between this $20 shirt and the $75 shirt. 

A strong brand helps a company meet its business goals. Think of a search engine. Odds are, you thought “Google,” not “Yahoo.” Their relative company performance and market value reflect the strength of their brands.

Branding has an impact on shoppers of all ages. Contrary to myths about stodgy older consumers, a recent TV Land survey found that people in their 40s and 50s were very willing to try new brands in virtually every product category. And, contrary to myths about fickle younger consumers, that same survey found that Gen Y shoppers are most likely to commit and stick with one brand.

These benefits make us wonder: why would anyone want to stop working on a well-positioned brand during a slow economy?

You can develop a strong brand, and you can put your branding into practice, even when conducting retail promotions in a tight marketplace. Email Todd Harff or your Creating Results account manager to learn how.

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TAKE-AWAYS FROM SAN FRANCISCO

LIVEWIRE Conference 2008

This year’s LiveWire Conference (formerly Beyond the Numbers) was held in San Francisco. Todd Harff attended as part of a contingent from the International Mature Marketing Network (IMMN) and offers thoughts from this year’s conference.

This year’s conference featured sessions that addressed everything from grandparenting to social media to the politics of healthcare to men’s pants.

One of the most interesting panels was a group of women talking about what advertisers are doing wrong when it comes to single women.

Here are the top four mistakes:

1. Advertisers assume all people want to be married. 55% of single Boomer women are not interested in getting married. They’re single and happy about being single.
   
   
2. Advertisers tend to see Singles as living in a narrow or constrained life, waiting for things to improve. For example, Realtors assume that all single people want a one bedroom condo. A single woman may want the craft room, office and media room too.
   
   
3. Advertisers offer poor portraits and images of singles. Seldom are single women shown as successful, confident and happy. In fact, often they are the brunt of jokes. Don’t market to their insecurities; market to their strengths and aspirations. (This advice applies to all mature marketing.)
   
   
4. Advertisers ignore single women entirely. For example, travel promotions are all based on rates for couples. Hallmark cards come from “us.”
   

Why should you and your company care about single, mature women?

There are 13.1 million single women over 50. Only 3.6 million are low income. DelWebb, the nation’s largest builder of communities for 50+ homebuyers, reports that more than 20% of their sales are to single women.

Women spend more than $200 a year on girlfriend get-a-ways and 25% have taken a trip in the last 3 years. They spend money on themselves and want to do things with their friends. They are likely to buy fewer but better things.

Several years ago, De Beers diamond jewelers identified women 50-74 as a “ripe opportunity.” By understanding that mature women have choices – and that single women are not waiting for some Prince Charming – the company launched a hugely successful “right-hand ring” campaign, growing the rings category 6% and “design ring” sales grew 34%.

This is the first generation where it is acceptable to be a single woman, but the old stereotypes still persist. Call your Creating Results account manager to discuss whether older single women would be a profitable target for you, and how to avoid the common mistakes that alienate this lucrative market.

Another highlight of the conference was a session featuring Stephen Croncota, Chief Marketing Officer of Haggar Clothing, who revealed how Boomer men turned out to be the “perfect fit” for Haggar.

We really were impressed with the extensive and innovative research the company did with Boomer men before developing the campaign. To gain insight, they went beyond traditional surveys. Instead, Haggar spent time in the homes of “average Joes,” rifling through their closets and digging deep into their shopping habits.

Those insights helped Haggar refine their product and revolutionize men’s apparel ads. And, it helped them gain significantly against the competition.

Would you like to hear insights into some of the other LiveWire topics, and gain an advantage over the competition? Call Todd Harff (703-494-7888, ext 13) to learn more.

THE SITUATION
The developers of EOS-21 – a garden-style multifamily community in Alexandria, Virginia – decided to conduct an auction in the spring of 2008, to move a limited mix of condo inventory.  The team needed to drive traffic to the community’s Auction Information Center in the weeks preceding the auction, a task made more challenging by the overall softening of the housing market.

THE SOLUTION
Tech-savvy and young (25-35), EOS-21’s target audience was perfect for an online, pay-per-click advertising campaign. Creating Results' online marketing team crafted a series of keyword ads to drive prospects to sign up online to participate in the condo auction.

To be most effective, Creating Results loaded all keyword buys Thursday through Sunday. This capitalized on print advertising and in-house traffic trends. We also chose to place the ads through just one search engine, Google. Ads were crafted to match campaign keywords and geographically targeted based on buyer demographics.

Messages were concise, action-oriented, and quickly communicated. Therefore, impressions would be nearly as beneficial as click-through-rates when evaluating the program. The team actively monitored traffic, daily budget limits and click-through-rates.

THE RESULTS
The campaign proved its effectiveness within hours of launch … literally! The initial daily limit for the keyword purchase campaign (based on the budget for a month-long effort) was reached by 10 a.m. the morning it launched. Based on this success, the team made several incremental budget increases to ensure the highest amount of traffic possible.

The keyword advertising produced high rates of traffic to the site via click-throughs. 3,218 total clicks were recorded during the life of the campaign, with 1,461,381 total impressions.

Prior to the campaign, monthly traffic to www.EOS-21condos.com had been roughly 1,000 hits a month. During the campaign, a total of 7,681 people visited the website, with 6,321 unique visitors with 2,305 of those visitors signing up for additional auction information.

EOS-21 successfully auctioned off a total of 20 homes at the end of the campaign.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN

Upcoming Speaking Engagements

We’re honored that several Creating Results team members will be speaking at upcoming conferences and events in coming months, including:

1. 8/21/08 - Erin Read Ruddick will be speaking to the Rhode Island Hospitality Association’s Women in Hospitality group. Erin will focus on the subtleties of marketing to 40+ consumers.
   
   
2. 9/4-9/5/08 - Todd Harff teams up with Jay McKenzie, VP New Home Group Network
   Communications. Inc, for a presentation at the Greater Washington Builder Expo event. They will share cutting edge strategies, secrets and success stories for making a real estate website effectively connect with today’s savvy home buyers.
   
   
3. 12/3-12/6/08 - We are honored that the International Council on Active Aging has invited Creating Results to speak at this year’s conference in San Antonio, TX. Our presentation - “Photo Finish” - looks at what works (and what doesn’t) in advertising and marketing to active adults, through the findings of an extensive and proprietary Creating Results survey on imagery.

We hope to see some of you there! For more information on any of these events, or to schedule a time to meet during the trip, please call Todd Harff at 703-494-7888, ext 13.