Put Down Your Product to Attract Customers

No, the headline does not have a typo. Putting down your product can be a way to position your brand to attract new users. It is possible that customers think your product is too good for them, so changing its frame of reference to something bad, decadent, or unhealthy may resonate with some people.

Is this an unusual recommendation? I think so, and I am holding back laughter and skepticism as I gather these thoughts. Here is an example of what I mean, coming from a group called “A Bunch of Carrot Farmers.” In a campaign that launches Monday, baby carrots are positioned as an alternative to junk food, even bearing the tag line “eat ‘em like junk food.” An integrated campaign will use advertising, social media, and a website (www.babycarrots.com) to spread the word. Even product packaging gets into the campaign as baby carrot packages resembling potato chip bags will appear in stores.

This campaign is a great illustration of using marketing communications to influence consumers’ thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Associating baby carrots with the indulgence of eating junk food challenges consumers to rethink how they perceive carrots as a snack. The messaging that has been developed for the campaign to this point is humorous and light hearted. Rather than a focus on “eat carrots because they are good for you,” the implied message is “eat carrots because they are fun!”

Will consumers be attracted to baby carrots because they are fun (not to mention better for you than junk food)? It is certainly an unexpected positioning, but one that might work on a product that is viewed as a commodity by many consumers. Shifting focus from a more virtuous “good for you” product to a more playful treat is a put down that could result in higher sales of baby carrots.

DM News – “Baby Carrot Growers Target Snackers with Integrated Effort”

What Marketers Can Learn from College Football

I love college football! It does not matter what teams are playing, the pageantry and competition of college football are irresistible. I do not watch much TV these days, but I could easily give 12 hours on a Saturday to watching games. And, as the 2010 season kicked off recently, I noticed that I was not alone. The anticipation that college football fans had for the season to begin was infectious.

As I took in all of the excitement about the new college football season, I inevitably did what I have been trained to do: ask what marketers can learn from this phenomenon. Wouldn’t it be amazing if the passion that people have for their favorite team was held for other brands? Get fired up for Tide! Paint yourself UPS brown. Unlikely to happen, I agree, but what does college football teach us about stoking the emotions of consumers? Three lessons are worth noting:

1. Experience – College football is far more than games. It entails pep rallies, tailgating, homecoming, meeting old friends, and making new memories. It is not a transaction, it is an experience. What can you do to create experiences that engage customers with your brand? To build and sustain relationships with customers, look beyond the transaction and consumption of the product or service and extend it with experiences. Birthday cards for customers, customer appreciation events, and employee recognition programs are examples of ways to create experiential contacts with stakeholders.

2. Tradition – The most successful college football programs in terms of attendance, licensed merchandise sales, and overall fan interest have a history of greatness when it comes to appealing to fans. Alabama, Texas, Ohio State, and Notre Dame are examples of programs with winning traditions and legendary players and coaches that span generations. The lore of these programs adds to their appeal today. How can tradition be cultivated in your organization, externally with customers and internally with employees? Do you have a legendary product? Ad campaign? Logo? Other marketing asset that can be leveraged to build a bridge to the past?

3. Stories – The on-field product in college football is supplemented with intrigue and drama in the form of stories involving personalities on the field. Whether it be the walk-on player who goes on to earn a scholarship and be a star, or the coach who returns to his alma mater to lead the program back to glory, college football is replete with stories that create warm, fuzzy feelings. The feel good story at the beginning of the 2010 season is Boston College linebacker Mark Herzlich, who missed more than a year battling cancer to return to the starting lineup. In the same vein, what stories can be told to draw customers closer to your brand? Testimonials from customers who have been positively impacted by your product or service are one way to make this happen. Similarly, employee testimonials about their commitment to customers and the organization can have an impact on the internal market as well as resonate with customers.

Let’s face it, not many products match the glamour and intensity of college football. But, we can glean inspiration from the best of what the sport offers and energize our brands and employees. May you (and your favorite team) score many touchdowns on whatever field you play.

Look at Customers Carefully… They Aren’t Necessarily You!

Despite the benefits market research provides in aiding marketers in making more informed decisions, the reality is that customer data is a luxury for many small and medium sized businesses. Customer insight usually comes from face-to-face interactions, but the opportunity to drill down deeper to learn from customers through focus groups, interviews, or surveys can be beyond a firm’s resource capabilities. Thus, we are often left to make judgments about customers based on experience gained from serving customers and competing in the marketplace. The danger of this approach to customer analysis is that it is easy to view customers through the lens of our own generalizations, and even stereotypes of our customers. The gap between consumer behavior and a marketer’s view of the customer can be exacerbated when there is disparity in characteristics between customer and marketer.

An example of how this difference in characteristics might play out can be found in a recent study by the Pew Research Center’s Social & Demographic Trends Project. In a survey about the necessity of different electronic and entertainment tools, only 46% of consumers 18-29 years-old said a landline phone was a necessity while 59% a cell phone was a must have. In contrast, 30-49 year-olds favor landlines, with 62% saying a landline phone is a necessity compared to 51% for cell phone. An even more pronounced difference between the two age groups was in their views of television as a necessity. Twice as many 30-49 year-olds said TV was a necessity than their younger 18-29 counterparts (58% and 29%, respectively).

The concern raised here is that if marketers make decisions based on what they think customers want or prefer, it is possible that personal biases will cloud effective decision making. Age-related differences in particular are a potential source of making incorrect assumptions. If marketing management ranks are staffed largely with 30-somethings and 40-somethings (or older), is their intuition about younger customers on target? I am not suggesting they are incapable of having a good understanding of younger consumers; I am merely pointing out the possibility of age differences leading to misguided analysis. After all, managers who come from a generation raised on TV may have trouble fathoming that people would not view TV as a necessity. However, the reality is many Millennials feel adequately connected to the world with computers and smartphones.

Pew Research Center – “The Fading Glory of the Television and Telephone”

The Digital Billboard Divide

Digital billboards have gained quite a bit of attention, literally and otherwise. The sharp images that change every 5-10 seconds allow outdoor advertisers to keep fresh messages in front of travelers. The novelty of digital billboards and the frequently changing images attract the eyes of drivers. The attention grabbing capability of billboards may be a plus for marketers, but it is a cause of concern for some local governments and advocacy groups. Digital billboard placement has been banned or limited in several markets across the country.

The debate about digital billboards is two-fold. One issue is rooted in aesthetics; some groups simply do not want the landscape dotted with flashy signs. The other issue is a more serious matter concerning the safety impact- are drivers more likely to be distracted if exposed to digital billboards compared to static billboards and all of the other stimuli that can get take our attention away from the road? The answer to this question is “it depends.” It depends on who you ask. Multiple studies conducted on behalf of the outdoor advertising industry have found no correlation between the presence of digital billboards and an increase in traffic accidents. Government sponsored research has been less conclusive, and others simply fan the debate with positions without objective evidence such as a St. Louis alderman who said “digital billboards are a distraction” as he pushed for the city to halt digital billboard placements.

It is possible that the real concern about digital billboards is that they will lead to further encroachment of commercialization into our lives. The safety argument is a convenient cloak to make a rational case for why they should be prohibited. Compelling arguments are made on both sides of the issue. The quality of digital billboards exceeds previous generations of signs, and certain situations may arise in which digital billboards can serve the public good such as posting information about a missing child. The debate will continue, but the question that must be answered to resolve this issue is whether the benefits of digital billboards outweigh any risks or problems they might create… if there are any risks or problems at all.

USA Today – “More Cities Ban Digital Billboards”
OAAA – “Engineer: Digital Billboards not Linked to Accidents”

Brand Positioning with Pop

A clearly defined and articulated brand position is a must, no way around it! Most industries are characterized by intense competition, maturing markets, and cautious consumers. Given these challenges, it is imperative to develop an identity that conveys a brand’s distinctive point of difference. Successful positioning can drive growth and build brand momentum; failure to send a consistent positioning message can make a brand stagnant and negatively impact brand image.

A great example of a brand that has used positioning to grow its business in a weak economy is Popeye’s, the quick service chicken restaurant. Popeye’s has outperformed the chicken QSR category overall for nine consecutive quarters. One of the keys to Popeye’s success has been a positioning strategy that connects the brand with its Louisiana roots. The culinary heritage of Louisiana is a meaningful connection for a restaurant brand, and Popeye’s menu and advertising campaigns have delivered consistently on the Louisiana theme. In contrast, category king KFC moved into grilled chicken and is unclear about what its point of difference is. Now, Popeye’s is going after KFC by touting its chicken beat KFC in taste tests.

Popeye’s has “outmarketed” KFC on multiple fronts. Its advertising is more likable, its social media efforts are more effective, and front line customer service is more consistent. All of these marketing tactics tie in with brand positioning. It is unrealistic for consumers to remember everything about your brand, but what is the one thing you want them to associate with you? For Popeye’s, that one thing is “Louisiana” and the positive food associations that go along with the state. When a position is real and relevant, as is the case for Popeye’s, brand positioning can be a powerful marketing asset.

Advertising Age – “Power of Louisiana, Social Media Help Popeye’s Stand Out in Chicken Fight”

A Customer Engagement Fantasy


Fantasy football has moved past being a football geek’s passion. Estimates of the number of fantasy football players run as high as 15 million. The interest in fantasy football is not lost on marketers looking to link their brands with fantasy games. A simple but unimaginative way to market through fantasy football is sponsoring a game by buying ad space on a game provider’s website. The exposure received on popular game portals at Yahoo and ESPN can be beneficial to a brand, but what if fantasy football players think about your product while they play? Better yet, what if they use your product while they play? Moving from exposure to engagement is desirable, but it is often a matter of easier said than done.

An example of how one brand is seeking to leverage fantasy football as a marketing platform is Papa John’s Pizza. The pizza restaurant is now the “Official Pizza Sponsor of the NFL.” Buying sponsorship rights is the starting point for engaging fans; it gives sponsors the privilege to develop marketing programs that can be used to access the sport property’s audience. Papa John’s plans to reach passionate fantasy football players through at least two tactics. First, a beginning of season promotion invites consumers to register for a fantasy football draft party that includes Papa John’s food delivered by former NFL star and current ESPN analyst Cris Carter. Second, Papa John’s will run a contest in which fantasy football league commissioners will register their leagues to be judged on criteria still to be determined, with the winner receiving a trip to the real 2011 NFL Draft.

Marketing opportunities can be relatively easy to spot in a sense; after all, it is not a stretch to see the connection between eating pizza and watching football. The challenge is developing creative tactics that allows a brand to take advantage of the connection. In this case, if Papa John’s only bought advertising on a fantasy football game site it would be missing an opportunity to make more meaningful connections with fantasy football players.

The planned promotions that Papa John’s will use to target fantasy football players may not be lead to the outcomes envisioned. Communication of the promotions will be key to their success. Papa John’s is moving in the right direction by trying to tap into the interests of fantasy football players. And, the choice of Facebook as the platform for promoting the promotions is ideal because fantasy sports are a form of social networking themselves, so why not use a social network to connect with the target audience?

Should Customer Acquisition be Painful?

Retailers and service providers use coupons to attract new customers to their businesses. The all important trial that an incentive like a coupon can provide is crucial for creating relationships. A new genre of couponing that has emerged is known as “social couponing,” driven by social media’s capability to spread information quickly from person to person. The leader in social couponing today is Groupon, the Chicago-based company that has become a $350 million dollar company in annual revenue in less than two years. The basic premise of Groupon is that a retailer or service provider offers a coupon at a deep discount (e.g., $10 worth of food at a restaurant for $5) as a carrot to create traffic. Groupon’s cut is up to 50% of the coupon sales. Most Groupon offers are local in scope, but it executed its first nationwide offer this week for Gap.

Deep discounting like that required by Groupon can succeed in adding new customers and revenues. My family found a great restaurant in Nashville, The Local Taco, which we would have never visited had it not been for a Groupon offer. We have been back once at regular price since using our Groupon, and we will go back again in the future. But, for all of the stories like mine, there are many other stories of failure to establish customer connection that will bring them back for future visits without the deep discount.

Businesses considering a Groupon program should be prepared to hold their noses while giving away about 75% in the transaction. Groupon may bring customers in to visit, but the experience they have once they arrive and marketers’ efforts to engage them (e.g., encourage sign up to receive emails to continue the relationship) will ultimately determine if the short term pain actually leads to long term gain.

Redefining Customer Delight

The concept of delighting customers has many advocates among marketing experts. Going above and beyond what customers expect is viewed as a way to make customers happy and build loyalty. After all, who would not occasionally want a free product upgrade? Free shipping? A refund when a unsatisfactory experience is delivered? Delighting customers seems like a breath of fresh air and a basis for differentiating a brand.

Customer delight comes at a cost to the firm (see free product upgrades, free shipping, and refunds). The question that must be asked rather than assuming an answer is do efforts to delight customers lead to greater brand loyalty? The answer is “maybe,” but there may be an easier, more cost effective way to develop loyalty. According to findings from research by the Executive Board, the emphasis on delivering a “wow” customer service experience may miss the mark in building long-term relationships.

An immediate reaction to this assertion is “how can this be?” We have been led to believe that giving customers the unexpected is good; our challenge is to figure out how to move customers from satisfaction to delight. The shift called for in the Executive Board report is that the focus of customer service should be how to reduce the effort required by customers to solve the problem they have. If you desired to quench thirst with a glass of water and were given a gallon of water instead, you would no longer be thirsty but you received something that will not deliver utility.

The Executive Board has developed the Customer Effort Score (CES) to measure customer service performance. It consists of a single question; “How much effort did you personally have to put forth to handle your request?” It is scored on a five-point scale with anchors of “very low effort” and “very high effort.” The CES was a better predictor of customer satisfaction and even the highly touted Net Promoter Score. In short, it appears that the easier marketers make it for customers to do business with them, the more loyalty customers will show.

This research was conducted in the context of call centers and self-service contact channels on websites. Does delight via reducing effort apply in all situations? Or, is there still room for creating customer delight by going the extra mile? According to the Executive Board’s research, going the extra mile will only make you tired! The thought of simplifying interactions with companies with which we do business does conjure images of delight.

Harvard Business Review – “Stop Trying to Delight Your Customers”

Free Wi-Fi (and Brand Relevance) at Starbucks

Starbucks made news earlier this summer when it began offering free Wi-Fi access to customers. At first glance this decision would seem to create an unintended outcome of some customers hanging out for extended periods of time, preventing turnover in seats that could actually result in potential customers walking away. But, further examination of Starbucks’ plans show this move goes beyond giving away Wi-Fi access to lure customers into its stores.

A new offering to be launched this fall, the Starbucks Digital Network (SDN), will feature premium content aggregated for Starbucks’ customers that can be accessed for free. Paid versions of sites like The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times are two SDN partners. Among other content providers are Apple and magazine publisher Rodale. Content will be organized into five channels: News, Entertainment, Wellness, Business & Careers, and My Neighborhood. Starbucks and the content providers will look to create up-selling opportunities on SDN that will be a revenue sharing venture between Starbucks and its partners.

The brand that set new standards for creating a great customer experience continues to innovate. Starbucks will always have as its main focus delivering great coffee, but it is not the coffee alone that brings customers to Starbucks. Drinking coffee while relaxing, working, or surfing the Internet is an escape for many people. Enhancing time spent at Starbucks by building a custom network of information valued by customers can lead to greater brand loyalty to Starbucks… and its content partners. This loyalty translates into more visits to Starbucks. Ideally, customers will purchase more items and do it more frequently, to the point that Starbucks is not a choice (“Should I go to Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, or McDonald’s?”) but part of customers’ lifestyles.

Weaving brands into customers’ lives in this way is a powerful strategy for building customer loyalty. To reach this destination, a price for loyalty must be paid. It is not bought with frequent promotions or low prices, but with relevance to the consumer.

Yahoo News – “How Starbucks Plans to Capitalize on Free Wi-Fi”

New Competitor? Chill Out

Competition can be the proverbial thorn in the side. After all, they stand between you and customers. Being concerned about competitors is an appropriate managerial stance, and so is being appreciative of your competitors. Yes, appreciate them because they can make you and your business better. An example of a company that gets it is Jamba Juice, the better-for-you beverage maker of smoothies with more than 700 locations across the U.S. Jamba Juice made headlines recently when it launched a new product, a Cheeseburger Chill. Well, it sort of launched a cheeseburger smoothie. A YouTube video was a tongue-in-cheek nod to McDonald’s expansion into the smoothie category. Jamba Juice’s point is that it is not capable of doing burgers… so should one expect McDonald’s to extend from burgers to smoothies with a good product?

Jamba Juice has every right to be concerned about McDonald’s foray into smoothies. It has a massive distribution network in place, and McDonald’s has experience moving onto new turf from its launch of premium coffee. Instead, Jamba Juice executives view this new competitor as a spark for interest in the smoothie category. McDonald’s’ promotion of smoothies could result in more consumers considering the product category as a beverage option. And, if Jamba Juice can capitalize on that interest by appealing to consumers who would enjoy a premium product, then the outcome could be new customers and increased sales. That scenario is a far cry from the concern and even panic that can occur when a strong competitor emerges.

Competition can be a catalyst for innovation and spur product category growth. You still have to fight for your share of the pie, but there may be a larger pie to enjoy. Competitors can make your organization stronger; you have to determine how to benefit from their efforts and embrace their presence.