“I’m sorry, our network only features prefabricated breasts. If you’re a woman with a healthy body image, you’ll need to step to the back of the line.”

Or so I expected to hear from networks ABC and FOX after reading a BrandWeek post this morning.

Reportedly, on Lane Bryant‘s blog, Inside Curve, the company claims, “ABC and Fox have made the decision to define beauty for you by denying our new, groundbreaking Cacique commercial from airing freely on their networks. …these are the same networks that have scantily-clad housewives so desperate they seduce every man on the block — and don’t forget Bart Simpson, who has shown us the moon more often than NASA, all in what they call ‘family hour.’”

All commentary on the objectification of women in advertising and how “big girls” are portrayed aside; I want to address this from a branding, marketing and public relations standpoint.

First off, to Lane Bryant, I’m on your side, BUT I wonder if the approach to this issue was handled with passionate brand focus and the community your brand serves in mind.

That said, here are a few things Lane Bryant should think about (as well as any brand that serves a specific, sensitive demographic):

Your brand lives on and grows through your community. Help them advocate for you!

While doing research for this post, I, of course, wanted to see the spot in question. From all angles, I found a lot of Lane Bryant brand advocates voicing their opinions on being slighted by the networks (here, here and here). But when I looked for Lane Bryant’s discussion or a YouTube video with commentary, I find a membership-only site and the “groundbreaking” spot taken off YouTube.

Why? They’ve pulled their community (their advocates) out of the conversation.

This is a perfect public relations opportunity for Lane Bryant. Lena Bryant (the original voice of plus-sized women everywhere) should be rolling in her grave at the idea of the big boy networks slighting the integrity and creativity produced on behalf of the legions of women looking for fashions complimentary to “real women.”

Does your brand have the “Balls” to fight the big girls? If not, don’t pretend it does.

While this is purely speculative, I wonder if Lane Bryant’s marketing and public relations crew simply doesn’t want to play in the same court as the brands that they imply get “preferential treatment” from the networks – referring to their comments on Desperate Housewives, The Simpsons and their comment on the über-sexy Victoria’s Secret spot:

“While it’s no secret that Victoria’s Secret ‘The Nakeds’ ads are prancing around on major networks leaving little to the imagination, steaming up TV screens and baring nearly everything but their souls, our sultry siren who shows sophisticated sass is somehow deemed inappropriate … Does this smack of a double standard? Yep. It does to us, too.”

GREAT argument, but if you walk up to the playground bully and slap her on the cheek, you’d better be prepared to defend yourself. Again, what good is it to complain and then withdraw all access to a productive dialogue? I get the impression that Lane Bryant, while advocating for the “poor big girls out there,” seems to be content playing the victim.

Social culture is harder to change than marketing culture. Advocacy for cultural change needs to come from the heart and not from the bottom line.

Bigger picture – like it or not, “little” girls in risqué attire have been a standard in advertising since anyone one of us can remember. We complain. We protest. Shaking our fists at the TV, we swear off beer, sports cars and restaurant chains. But when it really comes down to it, changing the American culture is much harder than it looks.

Culturally, changing the perspective of the “Big Girl Taboo” needs to be an effort driven outside commercial aspirations. Since Lane Bryant has a stake in changing how “real women” are perceived, driving the message through marketing and advertising, (while trying to compete in the same vapid market as Victoria’s Secret) may not be the best approach.

Food for thought:

While I have no idea what FOX was thinking, ABC IS owned by Disney. While that doesn’t explain the hypocrisy of Desperate Housewives and other spots we’ve seen on their network, they can still wave their “Family-friendly” flag with a modicum of legitimacy.

Without seeing the spot, your comments can only be formed by my post and your perspective of Lane Bryant. But I’d love to hear what you have to say.

Do you think Lane Bryant responded appropriately? Do you think ABC and FOX have a responsibility to respond to accusations of “favoritism or discrimination?”

I’d love to hear from representatives from Lane Bryant on some of the points I’ve made here as well. Are there set plans or processes in place for reacting or have we seen it?

Until next time,

Keep Cooking (big, beautiful, brand-driven decisions)!
Andrew B. Clark
The Brand Chef

Additional Articles on the networks’ decisions to ban the Lane Bryant spot:

Fox News | Styleite.com | zimbio.com | BrandWeek

Look deeply into my eyes… you are feeling veeeery sleepy… sleeeeepy… deeeeper… deeeeeeeeper… relax and let the social media mystique take you to a happier place. Deeeeper…

Yeah, sometimes I feel like social media has cast some kind of spell over businesses, specifically the marketing departments of some companies. It’s easy to be seduced. It’s easy to be swayed by viral videos, tweets and blogs with thousands of readers. It’s easy to think that social media can be the magic pill to fix marketing mishaps. But in our passionate pursuit to capture the social media magic, maybe we should be mindful of the limits to ANY marketing tool – ESPECIALLY social media.

Social media can’t fix a broken branding model.
Broken brands need to back up to the beginning and find the TRUE Brand (Truthful, Relevant, Unique, Engaging) that lies within. I’ve written about this before, so I won’t go into the specifics, but social media won’t make you something you’re simply not ABLE to be. What social media WILL do is amplify and accelerate the core values and attributes (as well as the ugly flaws) of your brand. So be cautious of where you step.

Social media can’t substitute for strategy.
Obvious? I guess not. Sure, we’ve all seen those companies with the languishing Twitter account or empty FaceBook pages. Or the contrary – companies screaming, “Become our fan on FaceBook,” without much further engagement or incentive for the end users… WHY? Without strategy and objectives how do you know if social media is a successful addition to your marketing? And the number of fans or followers of your account does NOT equate to marketing success.

Social media can’t succeed without a TRUE focus on the customer.
While this should be part of the above strategy, I wanted to make sure that I brought attention to it. If all you’re about is pushing messages about your company / product / service, etc… then you need an ego check. This is SOCIAL media. If you want to have TRUE customer engagement, you need to show you care for the benefits of the customer, not just pumping your own bloated ego.

Social media is not a stand-alone solution.
I’ve been in the marketing and advertising industry since… well, let’s just say my first job didn’t involve a single computer. And guess what, companies successfully marketed themselves. Some even made money! In all seriousness, being a practitioner of social media does not make one a marketing guru. Sure the tools are great and they have their applications in “modern communications,” but without EXPERIENCED marketing strategy, advertising, public relations, traditional media and a good understanding of digital technologies, you’re just adding to the noise.

So before that “Social Media Magician” starts with their hocus-pocus pitch that social media is the answer to all of your marketing woes, just blink. Clear your eyes of the social media smoke-n-mirrors and take a clear look at your marketing. If social media can be integrated into your marketing plan, you’ll see it. If you can’t see it, and still need to know, then consult a professional marketer with a mastery of social media marketing tactics.

When you’re looking for TRUE social media marketing integration. Think of those you follow online. Who would you trust with your company’s brand? Then, ask the question SOCIALLY.

Keep Cooking! (Strategic marketing decisions…)
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

How do social media tools work within your marketing plan?  Have you thought of how to integrate Twitter into your public relations strategy?  Is your employer brand reflected properly on LinkedIn?  Can social media augment all of these practices?

All very valid questions…

At this week’s Greater Des Moines Convention and Visitors Bureau Social Media Marketing Workshop hosted by Love Scott and Associates, I led off the discussion with an overview of social media tools and how they integrate into a well planned marketing strategy.  Two other speakers, Claire Celsi ( @ClaireCelsi ), from The Public Relations Project and Ben Stone ( @BenStone ) from RPO Consulting took the helm after me to discuss social media as it integrates with Public Relations and Human Resources, respectively.

For over four hours we took turns stating our case for (and against) social media in traditional corporate marketing, PR, and HR environments.  There was tremendous engagement from a very curious audience and the conversations lasted long past the scheduled 12:pm adjournment.

But when it was time to come back to my office and decompress from the presentations, I thought to myself, “What would ‘C’ level decision-makers need to understand about social media as it applies to their brand?”

And then I thought of this:

“There’s a conversation going on about your brand.  Are you listening?”

(feed readers and Facebookers, click here to watch the video)

…and that was just about 30% of what I found through my Twitter feed, 12 hours before to immediately after the workshop.

It’s time to sit up and start paying attention.  If you’re not using social media to AT LEAST monitor the conversations going on about your brand, then you’re already out of the game.

Here are five simple takeaways from the marketing segment of the workshop:

1. Traditional broadcast marketing has been augmented with social media marketing, creating an online conversation about your brand.  You must be there to take part in the conversation.
2. Social Media Marketing is about building community AROUND your brand.
3. Strategic planning is needed to integrate social media tools with a company’s comprehensive marketing plan.
4. Social media marketing is measurable, but you need to have goals to measure against.
5. Social media marketing should not be taken lightly. Finding a marketing partner that understands how the social media tools can integrate your marketing is imperative.

Has your company started integrating social media into its every day marketing, PR or HR strategies?  How well are you listening?

Food for thought.

Keep Cooking (community-driven conversations)
Andrew B. Clark
The Brand Chef

What is your brand doing to maintain relevance to its audience?  If your / your company’s brand is dependent on continued exposure in a specific market, what are the steps you’re taking to maintain that contact and staying “top-of-mind?”

Back in “the day” it was a combination of marketing, advertising, public relations and good ol’ fortitude and gumption.  But today, that model has been twisted a bit.

The average consumer doesn’t have a lot of faith in “traditional” advertising (check out this Nielsen study).  Even online advertising has fallen to the wayside as far as credibility or trust is concerned.  And social media has pulled attention from traditional outlets with a force that was completely underestimated just two years ago.  Today, it’s more about connections, referrals, networking (online and off-line), and building credibility and trust through your brand relationships.

So, how do you maintain the “top-of-mind” awareness that your brand so desperately needs to survive?

Here are seven simple steps to staying socially top-of-mind:

1. Always Learn – Explore the latest trends and study the practitioners within your market.  Use that information to stay mentally sharp and abreast of how changes in your industry will be affecting you / your company and your customers.

2. Educate & Share – Pass what you’ve learned on to those that need it.  Whether it’s a small tip on social media techniques (re-tweet and comment often), or an article on market trends that would be relevant to a client; if you become a resource for knowledge, you’ll position yourself/company as a trusted leader in the marketplace.  And eventually they will come to you for more.

3. Engage – This is where the first two points come in handy.  The marketing world has turned into a giant conversation.  If you’re busy telling and not talking, you’ll quickly be shut out of the discussion.  “Engaging” is one of the four base criteria for TRUE Branding, and in this social media marketing world, Engagement is more necessary that ever.

4. Set Goals – This sounds like an obvious point, but I’ve seen too may stand at the edge of the chasm yelling and yelling just to hear the whisper of their own echo floating back at them.  Set a goal, a target with specific results in mind.  You can’t just set out telling your story unless you have a plot line to follow and a great ending for the audience to anticipate.

5. Build Measurable Tactics – Every goal you have will require tactics to execute.  To know the success or failure of those tactics, you need a mechanism for measuring.  Whether that’s web site traffic, office calls, client leads, or bodies through the showroom door; make sure you measure.

6. Compare, Refine  & Redo – With measurable results, you’ll better be able to find flaws in trend predictions.  You’ll have the ability to compare the results of one campaign to another.  If you’ve built success with one tactic, take that approach and modify it’s properties to suit another less-successful one and try it again.  When you’re reaching the right people and building a conversation with truly measured intentions, you’ll discover amazing results.

7. Keep Pushing – While trends are showing that social media and other tools are becoming bigger influences on many markets over traditional marketing channels (advertising, radio, print, TV, etc.); make sure that your market is truly being affected by the change.  If you pull your efforts from proven channels, your market could lose contact with your brand message. Then how top-of-mind would you be?

There are many, many more, but if you keep in mind these basic tips, you’ll be well on your way to maintaining great brand awareness.

Please…  Tell us what YOU do to to maintain top-of-mind awareness for your brand.  Is it community networking, cause marketing, something else?  We’d LOVE to hear from you.

Keep Cooking!
Andrew B. Clark
The Brand Chef