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Scoop.it!
Millennials make up a crucial group of consumers. 
Tom Pick's curator insight,
June 16, 2016 8:38 AM
What your brand stands for matters.
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Scoop.it!
There was a time in the not so distant past when funny ruled advertising. Whether absurd and awkward, sharp and wry, or broad and ball-busting, comedy in all its forms was the dominant language in marketing. Then something changed. Quietly at first, then in a more pronounced fashion. In the beginning, certain people (not us) would find themselves discreetly, incredulously, wiping a tear from their eye while watching an ad online. These individuals might blame things like new parenthood on the lapse in steely resolve. “It’s nothing,” they’d say, brushing off the moist impact of a touching story, adding a defensive reminder that, c’mon, they weren’t made of stone! But then, things began to escalate. Ad-induced tears flowed across the land, and even diehard cynics started admitting to welling up over commercials. And these weren’t just your public service announcements, carefully crafted to emotionally manipulate you into action on issues that were already emotional powder kegs. These were spots for shampoos, for Internet services, for banks, for soft drinks, for retailers, for peanut butter, for beer! They were contemplative, moving, and all scored with the Piano Chord of Emotion. Even Super Bowl viewers were no longer safe from baldfaced lunges at the cockles. Pretty soon the promise of a good cry became an engine of social sharing.
Jeff Domansky's insight:
Have you been brought to tears by an ad, or five, over the last while? Fast Company looks at the rise of "Sadvertising." It's an epic article, great read and hugely recommended 10/10.
Scoop.it!
The brands that crush their competition are those who understanding that strategic branding goes much deeper than pretty visuals and responsive code. Branding is layered, sculpted, and tested. To create a layered, brilliant, and competition-killing brand, three things must align.
Combined, these elements create brand magic. To see these three things in action, keep on reading. Below I’ve curated some brilliant companies that are great at differentiating themselves from their competition....
Jeff Domansky's insight:
Check out these 10 smart brands.
Scoop.it!
Branding positions your offering in your customer’s mind. A strong brand is simultaneously unique, relevant and consistently used. This is more than just empty marketing-speak. It’s an important success factor that delivers real value to your business’s bottom line. The total value of the BrandZ™ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands grew 7% to $2.6 trillion in 2013,and 77% since 2006, according to Millward Brown. This includes overcoming setbacks experienced during the recent recession. The fastest growing brand markets were China, Russia, India and Africa. Over the past 8 years, this portfolio of public companies’ brands increased 58%, more than twice the improvement of the S&P 500’s market value of 23% during that same period....
Jeff Domansky's insight:
Does your 2014 marketing plan support your brand & your business? Heidi Cohen offers 10 brand tactics based on Millward Brown Brand Z Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands report.
Scoop.it!
The Starbucks Coffee marketing research department is kept busy providing oodles and oodles of insights into the Starbucks brand through yearly brand audits. And take it from this former long-time Starbucks marketer: The company learns a lot from these studies. However, when it comes to measuring and managing the Starbucks brand on a daily basis, the Starbucks marketing department generally relies on a much simpler method—a brand checkbook. Just as your personal checkbook has credits and debits, a brand checkbook has credits and debits in the form of brand credits and brand debits. "Brand credits" are business activities that enhance the reputation and perception people have of a brand, and "brand debits" are those that detract from the reputation and perception of the brand....
Jeff Domansky's insight:
How Starbucks measures up using the simple concept of "brand credits and debits." Very interesting concept worth exploring.
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Scoop.it!
Like it or not, your surroundings inform the special little bubble you live in. Just when you thought you couldn't be stereotyped, well, here are some handy maps that define each state by the brands they Google the most. The results are pretty fascinating, too, from the obvious to the surprising. I had no idea Grand Marnier was so popular in Delaware, or that American Eagle was so in vogue among West Virginians. Less surprising results are Microsoft in Washington and Disney in Florida. Where it gets super interesting is when competing brands bubble up in adjacent states, like Jose Cuervo and Patron in Arizona and New Mexico, or Dodge and Chevrolet in Montana and North Dakota....
Jeff Domansky's insight:
Fascinating market research in this data visualization. Apparently, we are what we eat, drink and buy. Recommended viewing. 10/10
Scoop.it!
Bob ‘The Ad Contrarian’ Hoffman opened the 2014 ITV Spotlight Lecture last March – a debate on the failed predictions of advertising experts over the past decade, with particular focus on the social media marketing of brands, to wit: ...there are people in our business who believe that consumers are ‘in love’ with brands. They believe consumers want to have ‘relationships’ with brands. they want to have ‘brand experiences’ and be ‘personally engaged with brands’. These people actually believe this. You go to their Twitter profile: ‘I’m passionate about brands!’ You’re what? Dude, get a fucking girlfriend. You’ll like Bob....
Jeff Domansky's insight:
Provocative.
Scoop.it!
...Q: In your new book, Absolute Value: What Really Influences Customers in the Age of (Nearly) Perfect Information (HarperBusiness), you and co-author Emanuel Rosen say marketing needs a total overhaul. Can you explain? A: For the first time in history, people can assess the absolute value of things they buy. User reviews, price comparison apps and other digital tools mean we can buy things based on almost perfect information, instead of irrational perception. So marketers need to understand what influences this shift in decision making...
Jeff Domansky's insight:
Here's a look at the impact of review sites and the challenges ahead for business
Scoop.it!
Chipotle was the latest brand to engage in a “fake Twitter hack” marketing stunt, following in the footsteps of MTV and BET a few months ago. The intention behind these stunts is to clearly boost fans and followers for their brands, but, unfortunately, exposes a major flaw in how brand see their customers and how their perception of social is flawed. Furthermore, these types of theatrics deter from the game-change possibilities of how brands and customers can build mutually beneficial and long lasting relationships through these platforms...
Jeff Domansky's insight:
The problem with "faking" as a branding or marketing strategy is that it eventually dilutes or negatively impacts your brand or reputation or worse. A great brand is honest, true and trustworthy.
Scoop.it!
It is no longer all fun and games. A few years back it used to be a lot easier to build and manage a social following or maintain a brand’s online presence. A good old portfolio website and a Facebook brand page with a few hundred fans was all you needed. Now, you need a strategy, a plan, a manager and of course an ‘oh, crap what just happened’ plan.
While on the surface it might seem easier than ever to manage a brand, I want you to consider the contrarian take that it is in fact more difficult to manage a brand in the age of new media. Why? Ponder and please comment on these 4 points...
Jeff Domansky's insight:
Do you agree brand management is tougher in the digital era?
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Note the great point that the brands favored by millennials are those that engage them most on social media. A valuable marketing take away.