Our pledge of allegiance mentions something about being “One Nation,” and being, “Indivisible,” right?  Unfortunately, it’s been so long since I’ve heard it, I may have to check my facts on that.

After watching the State of the Union address, I had to reflect on how, with ironic timing, President Obama’s points called out the divisiveness and partisan wrangling that has burdened our government.  Opening his speech, he offered a basic testimony to the past struggles our nation faced and how solutions were made:

“And despite all our divisions and disagreements, our hesitations and our fears, America prevailed because we chose to move forward as one nation, as one people.”

One Nation… Right?

I sensed his frustration. His pleas to each side of the isle were compelling.

“To Democrats, I would remind you that we still have the largest majority in decades, and the people expect us to solve problems, not run for the hills. And if the Republican leadership is going to insist that 60 votes in the Senate are required to do any business at all in this town — a supermajority — then the responsibility to govern is now yours as well. Just saying no to everything may be good short-term politics, but it’s not leadership. We were sent here to serve our citizens, not our ambitions. So let’s show the American people that we can do it together.”

(You can read the full State of the Union address here.)

And here’s how I turn this into a post about marketing…

As I listened to Obama, I almost felt as if he’d read my last blog post about good branding being in the eye of the beholder. (President Obama, if you’d like to comment, that’d be great!)

My underlying plea from that post was about being stronger as a marketing communications community.  It was about stopping the finger pointing and accusations of inadequacy.  It was about stopping the abuse of those trying to do good for their clients and being more aware and supporting the community we all try to make a living in.

Whether you consider them a competitor, a colleague, an associate or even an enemy; solely pointing out what’s wrong with a campaign, plan or design does nothing productive.  Does it offer benefit to your clients?  Does it offer benefit for their clients?

How does it reflect on your own brand?

So, for those of you working in, for, around, or on behalf of a client – ANY client, maybe this will help:

“I pledge allegiance to the Brand and the value proposition of our Client; and for the return for which we aim, one agency (or Nation), under God, caffeine crazed, with creativity and reward for all.”

Say that every morning, with your hand over your heart, as you stare at the coffee maker.  Maybe it will help remind you that we’re all in this to support the clients and our community. We’re all in this to make a better world for our children.  But most of all, we’re all in this together.

One Nation…

Keep Cooking (TRUE benefit for all)
Andrew B. Clark
The Brand Chef

Walk in to virtually any ad agency and you’ll find ‘em.  They’re usually in distressed jeans, flat, cordovan shoes with an un-tucked shirt and strategically ever-so-slightly messed hair.  Male, female… doesn’t matter, the only difference may be the thickness of stubble above the neck.  They make themselves known by their piercing stare as you bring your client in and sit them on the opposing side of the shiny, oak-veneered conference table.

I’m taking about “brand experts.” They seem to be multiplying like rabbits on Viagra.

In a matter of minutes, these eager little bunnies assess the client’s brand, their marketing, the company culture - down to how the phone is answered, and determine that the only path to redemption is to spend close to the nation’s national debt on a generalized rebranding “system” they conjured up years ago when “brand” became the new hot word in marketing.

To the clients: Any agency, consultant or semi-related industry individual that comes to you with a pre-developed formula for rebranding your company is selling you a bill of goods that will only perpetuate and exacerbate more trouble.  Put your checkbooks away and walk run away.

To the “experts:” Just so you’re aware, we see you.  Here are 5 things everyone should know about YOUR brand (in broad, generalities to make it easy for you to follow).

1. Joan Rivers looks “great,” but is still one crazy chick…
   Superficial “rebranding” like reworked logos and stationery won’t solve deep branding issues.  A face lift, a nip here or a tuck there won’t make what’s at the core of the brand any different. So, put away your spec creative and mounted ads and listen for a second.
2. Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery…  it’s also called “LAZY.”
   What BBDO did for  company A won’t apply to company B.  If you can’t come up with an original idea on your own, then you need to get out of the “idea generation” biz.  Branding is different for each-and-every company and person.
3. Magic is for children and idiots…  just ask David Copperfield.
   Smoke and mirrors, baby.  Even David Copperfield (called an “illusionist’) can’t really make an elephant disappear.  So, let’s address the true elephant in the room.  If you can’t deliver on your branding promises, then don’t blow smoke up our skirts.
4. The proof is in the pudding…  but proof alone tastes like crap.
   One-hit rock stars, fly-by-night consultants…  all have a single claim to their “FAME.”  But part of making a great meal is marrying ingredients that, one alone, may put a pucker in your puss.  If you have the acumen of a seasoned group of marketers along with strategy, compassion and concern for the client, the taste will always work out in the end.  In other words, get a few under your belt before you try to claim the title.
5. The louder you crow, the more you look like a… rooster.
   Some of the best practitioners I’ve been involved with have been soft-spoken and understated (that goes for ANY trade).  If you walk into the room like you’re the most important person there, then you’ve already put the client into a subordinate position.  Why would they want to work with that looming over them?  Just drop the ego.

Sure, I call myself “The Brand Chef” but that, by no means, makes me an expert on your brand.

What does it mean?  Like a chef, I work with a team of proven professionals and use the tools of the trade (marketing communications, design, photography, interactive strategy, etc.) to build a TRUE brand for our clients.  There are no pre-packaged recipes for branding.  There is no secret formula. With research, listening, conversation, strategy and honesty, we guide our clients to the best solution for brand marketing possible.

If that’s too simple for you, then give a “Branding Expert” a call.  We’ll be here to pick up the pieces when it all comes crashing down.

Keep Cooking!
Andrew B. Clark
The Brand Chef

Having worked in the restaurant industry through most of my adolescence and into my early 20’s, I was well aware of the old adage that went something like:

If a single upset customer tells 10 friends about an unsatisfactory experience, it’s conceivable those 10 friends could perpetuate that report to another 10… and so-on, and so-on… eventually damaging the restaurant’s brand bad enough to put it out of business.

Or, as Máma Brandcheffio said:

“Piss off one customer and you’ve lost 100…”

So, at a very young age, I was forced to learn two very important aspects to marketing.

1. Word-of-mouth marketing is very powerful.
2. The customer is always right.

WHAT? The customer is ALWAYS right?

Máma Brandcheffio used to tell me:

“Even if the customer is wrong, THE CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT.”

Even at 15, that concept incensed me.  Today it seems like a complete disregard to human civility (See last week’s post) and is entirely defeatist in nature.

Luckily, I came to my senses.

Chew on this:

Originally, one disgruntled customer could, with good effort, affect the opinions of 100 others with their own word-of-mouth marketing.  In 1983, that was a pretty big deal. With 100 potential customers talking about poor service or a fuzzy hamburger bun, over several days, maybe months, the reputation of the restaurant could be damaged enough to warrant inspections, improvements or to be ostracized out of business all together.

That was 1983 word-of-mouth. (Yawn)

Today, our “upset” customer can take a photo, text a gripe to their iPhone or Tweet it to thousands or tens of thousands before your gazpacho reaches room temperature! If “viral” enough, those thousands can make an instantaneous decision to re-tweet it to their lists reaching thousands more!

Word-of-mouth marketing has reached light speed!

Restaurants, from local and regional to major chains, are taking a “more than cautious” approach to social media marketing.  They want to make sure it’s not a “fad” before jumping in.

Have they lost their minds? Maybe in 1983 that’d be okay, but this is 2009!

Not only are social media tools like Twitter and Facebook the fastest growing user-based tools on the Web, they have moved the “Customer is always right” paradigm entirely into the customer’s control, forever altering the approach to marketing communication and public relations.

Restaurants may not want to get involved in a “marketing” sense, but can you imagine how fast they will have to scramble when the “Chris Brogan” of the restaurant industry sends a damaging Tweet or photos of one of their cooks, in uniform, picking their boxers out of their ass as they walk into the kitchen?

Mmmmm, appetizing…

To put it simply, social media WILL affect your restaurant. Ignoring it is not an option for today’s restaurants, no matter what size.

It’s better to use basic social media tools and participate in a brand management program.  Otherwise, you can watch your brand (and your future) carried away in the beak of that ubiquitous little blue Twitter icon.

Food for thought.

Andrew B. Clark
The Brand Chef

This is how geeky I’ve become in my old age.  Star Trek (yes, the movie) made me think of a great brand engagement solution – well, maybe not specifically Star Trek, but the DVD I purchased this week, TWICE.

Let me explain…

Last night, I found myself standing in line at the customer service counter at a local “Big Box” store - for the second time in as many days. It seems as though a shipment of the new Star Trek DVDs had been damaged; and about 200 upset geeks, including me, found themselves watching Spock, Kirk and Uhura jump from present day to past, to the movie climax, to witty sexual innuendo, to exciting battle scene… about every six minutes.

While it made for an entertaining montage of the flick, after about 30 minutes, I’d had enough (my wife and kids were sick of it after about 10).  So, at 7:30pm on a Wednesday night, I stood in line.  Waiting.  Frustrated with every progressing minute that I wasn’t able to get my geeky fanboy Uhura fix… (mmmmmmmm Uhura).

Then, the social media marketer in me came to the surface (I’ll have to talk to my psychiatrist about this).  I looked around, and in the crowd of nerds, geeks, dweebs and extra terrestrials of all sorts, I saw one dominant feature (besides loose, black, funky sweat pants).

Mobile phones… PDAs, iPhones, Droids… you name it, they were EVERYWHERE!

All I could hear was the clickity-click of sweaty thumbs texting away on mobile devices from the doorway to the service counter. I even had my CrackBerry out so I could update my wife with how long the line was.

I could just imagine what all of the others were texting…

“Honey, the line at Big Box in insane…  get the kids ready for bed… #sorry “

“I can’t believe how long the line is at Big Box! WTF! #Fail“

“Just spent the last half hour waiting for Big Box to replace my #StarTrek DVD! F.”

“Did I leave the popcorn going in the microwave? #nasty“

“Beverly said my sweatpants need to be washed…#luckytobedating“

Poor Beverly.  Now she’ll have to deal with Morgan’s fermented redolence for another night because he’s standing in line…

Then, I looked up to the service counter.  The poor girl behind the register (yes, only one) was darting back and forth from the phone to the counter faster than a hamster on crack and RedBull. She had six DVDs in one hand, a phone tucked precariously on her shoulder, and was trying to talk one poor nerd girl down from the ledge – convincing her that “Big Box” was going to replace her DVD, she just needed to show a receipt… (I could hear the nerd girl’s cerebral cortex shatter like a Faberge egg.)

Oh man, I felt for the customer service girl, though.  I’d been in similar situations.  But when I worked in customer service (20+ years ago), there wasn’t social media.  There wasn’t an army of social media militants standing at the counter organizing their chaos through bluetooth devices.  There was just me, irate customers, a cash register and a phone…  How archaic was that?!?

Then I looked again.  SHE was in the same situation I’d been in 20 years ago! (remind me to check my own cerebral cortex.)

SOCIAL MEDIA TO THE RESCUE!

So, what if…  just go with me on this one… “Big Box” realized the situation and circumvented the ire of the “World Of Warcraft” generation and addressed the issue using…  wait for it…

TWITTER!

It would be a simple implementation.  If “Big Box” had someone monitoring their brand, they would see the conversations going on (I wrote a post about it a few weeks ago).  With that knowledge, they could,

1) address the issue directly to the people making the complaints, or

2) create a hashtag “#” to focus the conversation and keep everyone engaged with solutions as they are developed.

How?

I see it done like this:

“Big Box’s” social media monitor (yeah) tracks a series of red flag statements rolling through the Twittersphere, specific to a certain store.  With speed and efficiency (good luck with that one), they send the message down to store management and then on to the service center to post solutions, instructions and apologies for any inconvenience to their store’s Twitter account under a specific hashtag, like “#BBSouthStarTrekDVD”

At the same time, somewhere around service counter a sign could be posted stating the issue and that “Big Box” was doing what they could within the store to accomodate the customers and solve the issues.  But (and this is the cool part), if they had questions, comments, etc., they could join the conversation with the store and other customers by just using Twitter and #BBSouthStarTrekDVD !

Simple?  I think so.  I think MANY of my co-nerds would have been satiated by just this small gesture.

By the time I got to the counter, in my mind, I’d been promoted from customer service dweeb to “Big Box” CEO and was looking to shop for my next home in the Hamptons; so I didn’t get the chance to offer this advice to the girl behind the counter.  But I think she was a little too busy anyway.

What could your company do to utilize hashtags on Twitter? Could customer service issues be solved with a simple tweet-or-two?  Or do you think it’s still about what Morgan had for breakfast this morning (that quickly found its way onto his sweatpants)?

What other departments could benefit from tracking conversations about your brand?

Food for thought.

Keep Cooking,
Andrew B. Clark
The Brand Chef

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Yes, I said it. As “The Brand Chef,” that’s something I never thought would come out of my mouth.  But in a recent meeting with a friend, I closed my laptop, pushed my chair back and looked him straight in the eye and said these exact words:

“Your marketing can’t fix crazy…” (and this was in reference to HIS company!)

Now, this could either be a lesson on how to shoot yourself in the foot during a casual meeting with a friend; or it could turn into a logical discussion on branding versus marketing.  This discussion could cover how, because branding is at the core of a company’s culture, business and communications model, your brand isn’t something that you can just decide to give a “face lift.” Marketing, on the other hand – what many people think of when branding comes up in a conversation – can be changed to suit an ever-evolving brand…

Here’s the difference: Marketing is the strategic communication effort that results from a TRUE core brand promise, targeted to a specific audience, with the goal of enticing engagement with that brand.

So, to say it again, just for affect:

“Your marketing can’t fix crazy….”

You see companies, almost on a daily basis, “rebranding” themselves.  But deep-down, without a TRUE brand strategy, the marketing that results is guaranteed to reflect what is going on inside the company - for better or worse…

Based on the conversation that ensued after my “shocking” statement, my friend and I came up with five simple takeaways.

Marketing can’t fix…

1. … a company that has changed its “brand strategy” 5 times in the last 5 years. This happens when deeper brand issues stall out the progress marketing should be making.  Instead of stopping and performing a TRUE brand evaluation, the CEO or CMO simply jump the track to find a different way.  Different doesn’t fix what’s broken.
   
2. … a company’s inability to make brand-based decisions. Unfortunately a company with this problem usually slows or destroys its marketing efforts simply by not being able to take action.
3. … a broken marketing communication system by only using “internal staffers.” Few “Internal Marketing Departments” have enough perspective to do all of the brand evaluation and execution without outside counsel. Trust me, I’ve seen many companies try and many have failed.
4. … a company with a lousy product or service (even at a discount). In this economy, when people are looking for value, quality still is at the core of our decision-making process.  If your product or service is at the bottom of the quality scale in that category, you’d better re-think more than your brand.
5. … a program with an insufficient budget. The phrase “money talks and B.S. walks,” for this point, is painfully applicable.  Plan all you want.  Scheme big dreams and map out creative strategies until your face turns fuchsia.  None of it will succeed unless you have the resources to support it.  How many campaigns have gotten out of the starting blocks in a blur, only to fall to its knees a quarter way through the race because it’s out of funding?

TRUE Branding (Truthful/Transparent, Relevant, Unique and Engaging) is the core to building a successful marketing communications program.  With strategic marketing you can analyze a company’s TRUE Brand position, develop a successful plan and implement a program to raise awareness and engage your market. But remember, branding takes time and sometimes painful effort. It shouldn’t be viewed as a quick fix, or a “face-lift.”

With that, I’d like to send a big “Thank you” out to my friend for letting me vent to (at) him.  Although the coffee was good, I appreciate the conversations that make me think and evaluate how I can better help clients and their brands.

Next time, the coffee is on me.

Keep Cooking!
Andrew B. Clark
The Brand Chef