Hard Branding #2: Keep Your Head Up

By Robert Quashie

“Our financial markets have been tested in unprecedented ways.”
-- Vikram S. Pandit, CEO, Citibank

“While the tears are rolling down your cheeks
You’re steady hoping things don’t fall down this week”
-- Tupac Amaru Shakur, Demigod, Hip-Hop

With retail in a tailspin and luxury brands dropping like the Icelandic stock market, it’s tempting to let the element of aspiration within your brand’s make up give way to perspiration (shear terror and night sweats), even desperation (slash and burn sales tactics).

In my last post I lobbied for you to look beyond price point in evaluating how to toughen up your brand for these hard times. Debouched holiday parties swilled in sweat and gold dust aside (email to the cool people), cutting the crap in order to get tough doesn’t mean cutting the element of aspiration from your copy, creative or strategy.

Today is the day for you to think harder about what it really means to be a source of identity, connection and satisfaction to your consumer – especially now that the stakes have gotten higher for the both of you.

I Used to Get Mad at My School
During the Great Depression, Hollywood understood that consumers didn’t want movies to remind them of just how miserable life really can be. The Grapes of Wrath was released in theaters after the Great Depression, not during. In the 1930s – Hollywood’s Golden Age – you saw Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers flying down to Rio, not Grandma and Grandpa Joad scratching for life in the dust bowl. Things are bad enough, don’t pile on.

Another thing to consider: during hard times, people often to want to stick it to the man. Think about the movies of the recession-riddled seventies. Be careful not to set your brand up to be the man.

Hard Brand Tip: Strike a positive, upbeat tone to associate your brand with brighter days ahead for the average guy or gal. So strength, but also show some empathy for your consumer. Don’t spew false optimism, but do police your copy and creative for downers like cynicism, sharp attitudes, arrogance and aloofness. It might be time to replace that urbane scowl with a more hopeful, energetic and inviting smile.

Sound corny? Going out of business is real corny.

Ten Somersets On Solid GroundDon’t six-sigma yourself out of business. Even as a hardened brand, you need to wow and delight your customers. Make them feel smart, special, and rewarded for choosing to pay you their attention. When striving to make your process more cost-efficient, be careful not to cheapen your end product or user experience.

For her, getting a bargain means getting more quality or added value for less output – not less for less. Show her more car or computer at a better price. Not a cheaper car or desktop at a cheaper price. In fact, turn a few flips to inspire and surprise her while you are at it.

Hard Brand Home Work: Study the business model of Radiohead.



Orbiting Your Living Room…Social networking media like Ning, Yammer, and Facebook, shows like Idol, Dancing with the Stars, and promotions like the Barack Obama Yes We Can world tour, are proof that the consumer has evolved to a point at which she or he is no longer interested in just watching. Campaigns that place your customer in the position of voyeur on someone else’s good fortune are dead. The new aspiration is to do. In addition to asking yourself how any element makes your customer feel, you have to ask what each piece of creative or tactic allows your customer to do. If a component of your strategy doesn’t allow your customer to opt-in, upload, show up, buy, subscribe, return, upgrade, join, test, sample, renew, post, link, embed, gripe, contribute, co-mingle or commiserate – kill it. Kill it fast.

Robert Quashie

robertquashie@gmail.com

A little advice from Bruce for all the six-sigma black belts out there.