The Keyhole: Peeking at 21st Century Brands

tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-201065672012-05-29T08:40:50.777-05:00The Keyhole: Peeking at 21st Century BrandsThe Keyhole makes observations about consumers, brands, ads, & marketing, through a predictive customer loyalty lens. Most marketing is ineffective to today's bionic consumer, given undifferentiated products, loss of "brandness," & hard to come by profits. Marketers talk about "engagement" but nobody seems to be doing a very good job measuring or integrating it into what they do & it shows! The Keyhole opens a dialogue on this subject & suggests real-world solutions with the marketing community.Robert Passikoff and Amy Sheahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13826294965841986485noreply@blogger.comBlogger659125This is an XML content feed. It is intended to be viewed in a newsreader or syndicated to another site, subject to copyright and fair use.tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20106567.post-78868563849801240252012-05-29T08:40:00.000-05:002012-05-29T08:40:50.784-05:00The Synergies of a Brand Within a Brand: Elsa Peretti + Tiffany = ?<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><style></style> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WU_0QEuDWD4/T8TRJm6uCwI/AAAAAAAABxw/ENstw4c_Q_E/s1600/peretti.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WU_0QEuDWD4/T8TRJm6uCwI/AAAAAAAABxw/ENstw4c_Q_E/s1600/peretti.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">It’s been reported that after nearly 4 decades, designer Elsa Peretti may be ending her licensing relationship with luxury retailer Tiffany & Co. That’s a pretty big deal for the luxury brand since the Peretti line turns out to be a luxury brand within a luxury brand. </span><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Tiffany has made an offer to buy the designer’s intellectual rights, but if they can’t work out the details, the two may end up at a parting of the ways. Without a new agreement, Tiffany would maintain all design rights for six months and would have an additional year to sell any Peretti-designed jewelry that they had in stock.</span><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Peretti, of course, isn’t the only designer brand within the Tiffany brand. Tiffany & Co. maintains licensing agreements with Frank Gehry, Paloma Picasso, and Jean Schlumberger. </span><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">But the fact that for the past three years in a down-ish economy, Peretti’s line of jewelry accounted for 10% of Tiffany’s net sales, which only proves that that companies should never take their brand lightly. </span><br /></div><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Or in Tiffany’s case, one can only suppose, Holly Golightly.</span></span><br /><br /><a href="javascript:(function(){TwitThisPop=window.open(%22http://twitthis.com/twit?url=%22+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+%22&title=%22+((document.title)%20?%20encodeURIComponent(document.title.replace(/^\s*|\s*$/g,%27%27))%20:%20%22%22),%20%22TwitThisPop%22,%20%22width=600,%20height=500,%20location,%20status,%20scrollbars,%20resizable,%20dependent=yes%22);%20setTimeout(%22TwitThisPop.focus()%22,%20100);%20})()"><img alt="TwitThis" src="http://s3.chuug.com/chuug.twitthis.resources/twitthis_grey_72x22.gif" style="border: medium none;" /></a><br /><div style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: 85%;"><a class="fb_share_link" href="http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=%3Curl%3E" target="_blank">Share on Facebook</a></span><script>function fbs_click() {u=location.href;t=document.title;window.open('http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u='+encodeURIComponent(u)+'&t='+encodeURIComponent(t),'sharer','toolbar=0,status=0,width=626,height=436');return false;} </script></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/20106567-7886856384980124025?l=brandkeys.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Robert Passikoff and Amy Sheahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13826294965841986485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20106567.post-19367104262879280992012-05-24T08:10:00.001-05:002012-05-24T08:28:05.275-05:00Samsung and Sony Strong-Arm Stores<style></style><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ulk61dkf0DQ/T74xel_YAPI/AAAAAAAABxk/452DfO7Ayz0/s1600/best+price.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ulk61dkf0DQ/T74xel_YAPI/AAAAAAAABxk/452DfO7Ayz0/s1600/best+price.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><style></style> <br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Remember when flat screen TVs were really expensive? Not any more. The average price is around $545. And while the prices get smaller, the sets get larger – 38 inches today, up from 33 inches five years ago. Ain’t technology grand!</span></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span></span> <br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The TV manufacturers don’t think so. Providers like Samsung and Sony are strong-arming retailers to pull back on discounting policies for TVs, and have come up with a new plan that would prevent retailers from advertising or selling TVs for less than a price the manufacturers set. It’s a move aimed at increasing profit margins, decreasing on-line competition, and something the manufacturers hope will eradicate “showrooming,” a consumer tactic where shoppers check out models in bricks-and-mortar stores, and then buy them for dramatically reduced prices online.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">“Price-fixing,’ you say?  “No, No,” says the Supreme Court. They’ve ruled manufacturers can set minimum prices at which retailers can advertise a product. Dictating policy about retailer/customer transactions? Maybe. It ends up that the law may be with the manufacturers, but ultimately not the marketplace. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">All this is compounded by the fact that brands – particularly tech products like TVs – have been tough to differentiate in terms of rational equipment characteristics, which is why supporting emotional brand values is so very important, whichever category you’re watching. If you can differentiate your offering, you don’t have to play the price game, and you probably won’t lay awake at night worrying about losing sales to competitors unless you provide low, lower, lowest prices. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">When it comes to TVs it doesn’t help there haven’t been all that many category innovations. We used to look at different types of TVs in our Customer Loyalty Engagement Index, but TVs became so similar we decided to just look at “Flat Screen TVs” as a single category. Here’s how the brands rank when it comes to loyalty and engagement:</span></div><ol style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><li><span style="font-size: small;">Samsung</span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;">Vizio</span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;">Sony</span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;">Insignia</span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;">LG</span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;">Panasonic</span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;">Toshiba</span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;">Hitachi</span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;">Phillips</span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></li></ol><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">There may be plenty to watch on TV these days, but the outlook for the category isn’t pretty. The number of TVs sold to retailers is down, as are retail chain earnings. And it turns out not all TV manufacturers are up to enforcing price controls. But until providers learn how to create real emotional engagement, or until retailers can offer consumers products they can’t get on-line, comparison-shopping via bricks, clicks, or a mix will continue. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">As they say in the business, “stay tuned.”</span></div></div><br /><br /><a href="javascript:(function(){TwitThisPop=window.open(%22http://twitthis.com/twit?url=%22+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+%22&title=%22+((document.title)%20?%20encodeURIComponent(document.title.replace(/^\s*|\s*$/g,%27%27))%20:%20%22%22),%20%22TwitThisPop%22,%20%22width=600,%20height=500,%20location,%20status,%20scrollbars,%20resizable,%20dependent=yes%22);%20setTimeout(%22TwitThisPop.focus()%22,%20100);%20})()"><img alt="TwitThis" src="http://s3.chuug.com/chuug.twitthis.resources/twitthis_grey_72x22.gif" style="border: medium none;" /></a><br /><div style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: 85%;"><a class="fb_share_link" href="http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=%3Curl%3E" target="_blank">Share on Facebook</a></span><script>function fbs_click() {u=location.href;t=document.title;window.open('http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u='+encodeURIComponent(u)+'&t='+encodeURIComponent(t),'sharer','toolbar=0,status=0,width=626,height=436');return false;} </script></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/20106567-1936710426287928099?l=brandkeys.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Robert Passikoff and Amy Sheahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13826294965841986485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20106567.post-62492705459372895032012-05-22T09:18:00.000-05:002012-05-24T08:15:44.199-05:00Where Brands Should Build Their Digital Nests<style></style> <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IzY0so_1Xms/T7uf2wShqsI/AAAAAAAABxY/t2R6Z2kU5u0/s1600/haystack.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IzY0so_1Xms/T7uf2wShqsI/AAAAAAAABxY/t2R6Z2kU5u0/s1600/haystack.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Google+ launched brand pages six months ago, introducing new social nomenclatures like “circles,” "hangouts," and "+1s." But it appears that anticipated ballooning of interest in "+1s" has been burst by the "pins" of Pinterest. And although Google continues to invest in product and marketing, the consensus among digital marketers seems to be that Google+ is where folks go to set up a profile, but then seldom return. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">In fairness, brands have created pages but haven’t posted anything since, which is a very real and very basic problem for brands. It calls into agonizingly clear focus the problem that brands entering digital space face every single day: Now that brands know what they <i>can do</i>, they remain unsure of exactly what they <i>should do</i> to create a truly strategic digital plan that will provide real engagement and/or return-on-investments. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">A new study, the Digital Platform Engagement Index℠ – a national study of 49,000 consumers looking at 83 categories and 600 brands – demonstrates unequivocally that not only does digital platform engagement differ by category, but when it comes to digital marketing, one-size-<i>does-not</i>-fit-all. Sure, there's a widely held notion that Google+ users skew male and are tech-savvy, but that’s just more demos and segments, and figuring out how to locate the right consumer is pretty much the last thing brand marketers struggle with today.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Via our Brand Keys Digital Platform GPS℠ measures, brands can optimize their digital investments and answer the following questions:</span></div><ul style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; margin-top: 0in;" type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">Which digital platforms provide higher consumer engagement in your category and thus a greater ROI?</span></li><li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">How does digital actually connect with the emotional and rational drivers of consumer category engagement and how it will impact sales and loyalty?</span></li><li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">Ultimately, how can brands operate strategically – and profitably – in digital space, customizing high-return strategies for different audiences and different digital platforms – including high digital usage consumers, or "Higitals”? </span></li></ul><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The latest official report from Google is that more than 100 million people have been active on Google+ in the past month. But that number includes people who've set up Google+ accounts and then visited other "socially enhanced" parts of Google, like search or YouTube. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">All categories move at the speed of the consumer, so when we conducted our 2012 Customer Loyalty Engagement Index<sup><span style="color: black;">©</span></sup> survey, platforms like Pinterest weren’t even on the radar screen. But at that moment, here’s how Social Networking Sites ranked:</span></div><ol style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><li><span style="font-size: small;">Facebook</span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;">Youtube</span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;">Twitter</span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;">LinkedIn</span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;">Google+</span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;">MySpace</span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;">Yelp</span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;">Foursquare</span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;">Flickr</span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;">Quora</span></li></ol><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">More digital options to come, of course, so watch for our Loyalty Leaders List later this year. In the meantime it’s worth remembering that the internet’s strength was supposed to have been its ability to help the consumer find the right needle in the digital haystack. The Digital Platform GPS was built to help brands find the right haystack in which to build their digital nests.</span></div><br /><a href="javascript:(function(){TwitThisPop=window.open(%22http://twitthis.com/twit?url=%22+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+%22&title=%22+((document.title)%20?%20encodeURIComponent(document.title.replace(/^\s*|\s*$/g,%27%27))%20:%20%22%22),%20%22TwitThisPop%22,%20%22width=600,%20height=500,%20location,%20status,%20scrollbars,%20resizable,%20dependent=yes%22);%20setTimeout(%22TwitThisPop.focus()%22,%20100);%20})()"><img alt="TwitThis" src="http://s3.chuug.com/chuug.twitthis.resources/twitthis_grey_72x22.gif" style="border: medium none;" /></a><br /><div style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: 85%;"><a class="fb_share_link" href="http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=%3Curl%3E" target="_blank">Share on Facebook</a></span><script>function fbs_click() {u=location.href;t=document.title;window.open('http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u='+encodeURIComponent(u)+'&t='+encodeURIComponent(t),'sharer','toolbar=0,status=0,width=626,height=436');return false;} </script></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/20106567-6249270545937289503?l=brandkeys.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Robert Passikoff and Amy Sheahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13826294965841986485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20106567.post-49512566208853794442012-05-17T08:15:00.000-05:002012-05-24T08:14:06.995-05:00Hanging Up on Landlines<style></style> <br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5AqUN2YJ-VI/T7T4WBlsLvI/AAAAAAAABxM/_x5lTEWLm5E/s1600/phone.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5AqUN2YJ-VI/T7T4WBlsLvI/AAAAAAAABxM/_x5lTEWLm5E/s1600/phone.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">There was a time if you wanted to make a call, the nearest phone booth was probably at the back of your local candy store. Those disappeared when phone companies installed street-corner booths. Urban vandalism combined with the advent of the mobile phone facilitated the disappearance of virtually all of those as well.</span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Phone booths, street kiosks, and actual telephone books as well are about to have company joining them in the “Land of What-Used-To-Be.” As consumers continue moving to wireless, states are passing laws to end the requirement that phone companies provide land-line services. You know, wires that connected to that device hanging on your kitchen wall or resting on an end table.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Back in the last century we used to track phone company land-line brands in our Customer Loyalty Engagement Index, but of course no more. In fact, in 2000 we started to include cell phone-only consumers in our Index research just to make sure we didn’t miss that particular segment of consumers. Back then, it was only 5% of the national sample. A dozen years later it ‘s 20% of the sample, and appears that it is only going to get bigger. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">We estimate that by mid-this year nearly a third of U.S. households will have gone totally wireless. But happily, we do measure loyalty and engagement among the national wireless phone service brands, and here’s how they rank:</span></div><ol style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><li><span style="font-size: small;">AT&T Wireless</span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;">Verizon Wireless</span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;">Sprint PCS</span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;">T-Mobile </span></li></ol><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Phone companies and states advocating the deregulation of land-line phone service say it will allow carriers to invest in new technology rather than what appears to be a dying service offering. Advocates for land-lines think they offer a lifeline for consumers and an affordable service, especially in rural areas.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">One can only imagine what the next generation of telephonic devices will be that replace current smartphones. But we can leave you with this advice: When all other means of communication fail, try words!</span></div><br /><a href="javascript:(function(){TwitThisPop=window.open(%22http://twitthis.com/twit?url=%22+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+%22&title=%22+((document.title)%20?%20encodeURIComponent(document.title.replace(/^\s*|\s*$/g,%27%27))%20:%20%22%22),%20%22TwitThisPop%22,%20%22width=600,%20height=500,%20location,%20status,%20scrollbars,%20resizable,%20dependent=yes%22);%20setTimeout(%22TwitThisPop.focus()%22,%20100);%20})()"><img alt="TwitThis" src="http://s3.chuug.com/chuug.twitthis.resources/twitthis_grey_72x22.gif" style="border: medium none;" /></a><br /><div style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: 85%;"><a class="fb_share_link" href="http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=%3Curl%3E" target="_blank">Share on Facebook</a></span><script>function fbs_click() {u=location.href;t=document.title;window.open('http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u='+encodeURIComponent(u)+'&t='+encodeURIComponent(t),'sharer','toolbar=0,status=0,width=626,height=436');return false;} </script></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/20106567-4951256620885379444?l=brandkeys.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Robert Passikoff and Amy Sheahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13826294965841986485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20106567.post-88004167777665563512012-05-15T07:28:00.000-05:002012-05-24T08:12:02.998-05:00Facebook’s Public Party<style></style> <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ScLju5AeRSE/T7JLdPL_bKI/AAAAAAAABxA/naYABBuuq5I/s1600/facebook_ipo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ScLju5AeRSE/T7JLdPL_bKI/AAAAAAAABxA/naYABBuuq5I/s320/facebook_ipo.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">Having reached the age of maturity, it is time for Facebook to go through that rite of passage reserved for those who count their wealth not only by pocketed assets, but in the promise of the one-percent’s bright future. Yes, reader, it is time for the big business equivalent of the cotillion ball: the IPO road show, where white ball gowns are replaced by Armani suits, and slightly stronger alcohol.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">On May 18<sup>th</sup>, Facebook makes an initial public offering—IPO, to those of us who actually read the Wall Street Journal—and seeks a staggering valuation of $100 billion dollars. That’s about 33 times its advertising revenue. As a point of comparison, Google’s worth is $200 billion, which is 5.5 times its ad revenue. This is where one begins to see the promise part of this debutante’s pedigree, as ad revenue is kind of an important number when it comes to valuing a company. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">However, just as with any social function that involves strapless gowns and up-do’s, pretty goes a long way to blunt thinking of the past and turn thoughts to the possible delights found in a future dancing with the girl with the most friends at the party. Such is the hope of Facebook as it fills its dance card with investors. But it didn’t help Facebook’s popularity when Martin Sorrell, CEO of WPP, the world’s largest advertising company, and “da man” to many who are trying to manage a fracturing marketing paradigm, came out to question the measurement of social media.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">We asked that same question, and did something about it, connecting consumer engagement with a category with consumer engagement with Facebook within the context of that category, to measure exactly what was in the cross-hairs of where they meet. In short, helping advertisers measure exactly what they should be doing on Facebook, as well as what they are getting from being there. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">We were not invited to the recent IPO ball. But we will be happy to attend the many after parties where advertisers take off those tux jackets and slip off the heels, getting down to the real work of figuring out the dynamics of this new brand and Facebook hook-up. </span></div><br /><a href="javascript:(function(){TwitThisPop=window.open(%22http://twitthis.com/twit?url=%22+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+%22&title=%22+((document.title)%20?%20encodeURIComponent(document.title.replace(/^\s*|\s*$/g,%27%27))%20:%20%22%22),%20%22TwitThisPop%22,%20%22width=600,%20height=500,%20location,%20status,%20scrollbars,%20resizable,%20dependent=yes%22);%20setTimeout(%22TwitThisPop.focus()%22,%20100);%20})()"><img alt="TwitThis" src="http://s3.chuug.com/chuug.twitthis.resources/twitthis_grey_72x22.gif" style="border: medium none;" /></a><br /><div style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: 85%;"><a class="fb_share_link" href="http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=%3Curl%3E" target="_blank">Share on Facebook</a></span><script>function fbs_click() {u=location.href;t=document.title;window.open('http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u='+encodeURIComponent(u)+'&t='+encodeURIComponent(t),'sharer','toolbar=0,status=0,width=626,height=436');return false;} </script></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/20106567-8800416777766556351?l=brandkeys.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Robert Passikoff and Amy Sheahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13826294965841986485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20106567.post-70970359355040857962012-05-10T08:58:00.000-05:002012-05-10T08:58:38.523-05:00A Story About Occupying Digital Space. Or An Answer to “How Should I Be Measuring Digital and Social Media Anyhow?”<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><style></style> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-X5tYvEe5Hr0/T6rdzS_hxlI/AAAAAAAABw0/vyq7acWwl4U/s1600/digital.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-X5tYvEe5Hr0/T6rdzS_hxlI/AAAAAAAABw0/vyq7acWwl4U/s1600/digital.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;">Long ago, in a world far, far away, brands made ads and put them on TV. People watched these ads. Not because they wanted to, but because they lacked a device called a “remote” – never mind time-shifting DVRs. The theory was that if consumers sat there long enough and were exposed to enough ad impressions, some degree of positive behavior would ultimately ensue.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;">Brands hoped the Internet would be the answer to recapturing those golden days of consumer attention once again – this time, not for lack of technology but because of it. The increasing sophistication of filters that can send brand-love messages exactly to that special consumer-someone in the mood for a little emotional bonding promised a land of sales on the other side, with technology enabling advertisers access to ever-more sophisticated profiles built from searches and social pages, selling this to brands as a way in. But a little scratching on the gold-plate of this ideal reveals it for what it is: a modern targeting technique, albeit a big step up from zip-codes, but certainly neither an answer to what consumers expect of brands in the digital space nor a guarantee of increased attention or ad contagion of the desired viral variety.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;">Yes, yes, awareness has for a very long time been a vital and necessary doorway, but it is far too often viewed as a destination by brands. In the pre-remote dynasty, brands could simply reach the largest number of folks a certain number of times, and connect using simple math. It would be great to say that brands have graduated from calculator media buying to building brand equity and engagement, but many haven't. Because along with the ability to target on the web came the ability to count really, really high. And that got really intoxicating. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;">Suddenly, brands had an exact number of all the people that had “seen” their message, or, at the very least, exposed to it. And, understandably, that left them a little dizzy at first, until they realized that all that awareness might have bought them some curiosity – depending on how cool the come-on was – but that awareness was often not strongly correlated to sales. Awareness, not being an end unto itself, continues to be a poor measure of whether the advertising foray engaged the person on the other end. As Sir Martin Sorrell, CEO of WPP, recently noted, “clients, for the very first time, are starting to question the measurement issue on social media.” You think?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;">The hard-working smart folks at brands have been busy trying to solve these problems, usually being forced to piece together research that has never met, never mind have terms of agreement. There are so many syndicated studies of digital usage now it’s become the new basic black t-shirt of research companies. But studies of what digital platforms rise to the top in terms of visits and usage tells you nothing about a brand's place on any of them. To paraphrase David Ogilvy, “going where the fish are doesn't actually mean you have the right bait.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;">So, digital studies started including demographic data. Who are these people anyway who are using these platforms? Maybe the brand can match the demographic profile of a digital platform to their own customer demographics and then, Zowwie Batman, we can find our kind of people easier than ever!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;">Okay, says the brand, so knowing things like age and gender and income and education, that's insufficient. We need to know what attitudes they have, and how they match up with what we know from that three-quarter of a million dollar study we did that gave us those cool profile names like "Cautious Wanderer" and "Conservative Rebel" and “Real Housewives of ....” Surely, now we can make this work! </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;">And that’s as close as most brands have come to date to linking the emotional component to digital usage. Problem is, it's an emotional pulse taken completely outside the category. A brand may understand who its “friends” are, and watch where they wander in the digital world, then match those things up, but not understand at all how all that emotion projects itself into the category decision-making journey. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;">Just ask yourself this: do you buy a dishwasher the same way you buy a computer? Sure there are specific things you want from each, but a dishwasher evokes an entirely different set of emotional responses than a personal computer – the word "personal" being the first clue in the emotional landscape at work beneath the surface there. This matters. A lot. Because unless a brand connects the emotional and rational that are in play in the category decision process with the digital platforms consumers are using, it does <u>not</u> have a strategic plan for digital involvement. What it has is a sophisticated approach to targeting.  </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;">To obviate these problems Brand Keys fielded the 2012 Digital Platform Engagement Index<span style="color: black;">℠</span> (DPEI). No, not a report of digital usage. Nor a demographic analysis of digital usage. Or another attitudinal analysis of the demographics of digital usage. All of these are based on which consumers are doing, <i>not</i>how brands can best participate. It explores the question, “What should the brand do when it finally arrives at a digital platform?” </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;">The clarity of this problem is no surprise to all the brands that are on Facebook by default, because everyone else is. In brand back rooms – and you know who you are – it’s the question of what they should actually doing regarding the creation and reinforcement of attention and engagement and loyalty and sales being shared in soft whispers. Brands now have "social media specialists" and chiefs of "internet insights" and are trying hard to figure this out. Not just for Facebook, of course, but for all the major digital platforms out there. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;">The moral of this story? If you are a brand conducting yet another digital platform study, stop and ask the hard questions about how the study will actually illuminate what you <u>should</u> be doing out there, and what really matters to the consumers in your category as they engage with your category in the digital space. And whether all that attention and engagement and sales will follow. Because you already know who you’re talking to and how to reach them, and have for a long, long time. And not being especially fond of perfectly-worded, useless questions, we advocate for an end to that sort of data. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;">If you can't get Yoda-worthy insights, grab that remote and change the digital research channel. Then powerful you will have become. </span></div><br /><a href="javascript:(function(){TwitThisPop=window.open(%22http://twitthis.com/twit?url=%22+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+%22&title=%22+((document.title)%20?%20encodeURIComponent(document.title.replace(/^\s*|\s*$/g,%27%27))%20:%20%22%22),%20%22TwitThisPop%22,%20%22width=600,%20height=500,%20location,%20status,%20scrollbars,%20resizable,%20dependent=yes%22);%20setTimeout(%22TwitThisPop.focus()%22,%20100);%20})()"><img alt="TwitThis" src="http://s3.chuug.com/chuug.twitthis.resources/twitthis_grey_72x22.gif" style="border: medium none;" /></a><br /><div style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: 85%;"><a class="fb_share_link" href="http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=%3Curl%3E" target="_blank">Share on Facebook</a></span><script>function fbs_click() {u=location.href;t=document.title;window.open('http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u='+encodeURIComponent(u)+'&t='+encodeURIComponent(t),'sharer','toolbar=0,status=0,width=626,height=436');return false;} </script></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/20106567-7097035935504085796?l=brandkeys.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Robert Passikoff and Amy Sheahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13826294965841986485noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20106567.post-72854289933342066952012-05-08T09:21:00.000-05:002012-05-08T09:21:44.518-05:00Mothers Hold Their Children’s Hands For A While, But Their Hearts Forever<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8ErrHme0qME/T6kroY7a5TI/AAAAAAAABwo/vu8mwd7O8yg/s1600/mom&child.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8ErrHme0qME/T6kroY7a5TI/AAAAAAAABwo/vu8mwd7O8yg/s1600/mom&child.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span data-mce-style="font-family: Century Gothic; font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span data-mce-style="font-family: Century Gothic; font-size: small;">And because that statement is so true, jewelers, flower shops, restaurants, and clothing retailers have hit the mother-lode this year, according to our 2012 Brand Keys Mother’s Day survey. Whereas last year’s filial consumers bought Mom trendy electronics, this year’s consumers are getting back-to-basics with traditional gifts such as brunch and bouquets in a big way.</span></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span data-mce-style="font-family: Century Gothic; font-size: small;">The good news: Spending is up 10% over last year with celebrants planning to spend an average of $163.00, or a 2012 Mother’s Day spend of nearly $17.2 billion. Virtually everyone (90%) indicated they’ll be celebrating, with anticipated purchases breaking out as follows (parentheses indicate changes from last year): <br /></span></span></div><ol style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><li><span style="font-size: small;"><span data-mce-style="font-family: Century Gothic; font-size: small;">Cards 97% (unchanged) </span></span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;"><span data-mce-style="font-family: Century Gothic; font-size: small;">Flowers 73% (+3%)</span></span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;"><span data-mce-style="font-family: Century Gothic; font-size: small;">Brunch/Lunch/Dinner 60% (+2%)</span></span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;"><span data-mce-style="font-family: Century Gothic; font-size: small;">Gift Cards 60% (unchanged)</span></span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;"><span data-mce-style="font-family: Century Gothic; font-size: small;">Clothing 42% (+6%)</span></span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;"><span data-mce-style="font-family: Century Gothic; font-size: small;">Jewelry 38% (+13%)</span></span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;"><span data-mce-style="font-family: Century Gothic; font-size: small;">Spa Services 20% (+3%)</span></span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;"><span data-mce-style="font-family: Century Gothic; font-size: small;">Books/e-books 20% (+3%)</span></span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;"><span data-mce-style="font-family: Century Gothic; font-size: small;">Electronics 10% (unchanged)</span></span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;"><span data-mce-style="font-family: Century Gothic; font-size: small;">Candy 5% (unchanged)</span></span></li></ol><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span data-mce-style="font-family: Century Gothic; font-size: small;">And where are consumers buying these mom-entous presents? The survey says:</span></span></div><ol style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><li><span style="font-size: small;"><span data-mce-style="font-family: Century Gothic; font-size: small;">Specialty Stores 45% (-5%)</span></span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;"><span data-mce-style="font-family: Century Gothic; font-size: small;">Discount Stores 43% (unchanged)</span></span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;"><span data-mce-style="font-family: Century Gothic; font-size: small;">Department Stores 35% (unchanged)</span></span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;"><span data-mce-style="font-family: Century Gothic; font-size: small;">Online Stores 29% (+1%)</span></span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;"><span data-mce-style="font-family: Century Gothic; font-size: small;">Catalog 15% (-5%)</span></span></li></ol><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span data-mce-style="font-family: Century Gothic; font-size: small;">As you select a present, it’s well to remember that, “the heart of a mother is a deep abyss at the bottom of which you will always find forgiveness." </span></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span data-mce-style="font-family: Century Gothic; font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span data-mce-style="font-family: Century Gothic; font-size: small;">Particularly if you buy a bauble or take her to a place only a mother could love. </span></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span data-mce-style="font-family: Century Gothic; font-size: small;">Happy Mother’s Day to all!</span></span></div><br /><a href="javascript:(function(){TwitThisPop=window.open(%22http://twitthis.com/twit?url=%22+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+%22&title=%22+((document.title)%20?%20encodeURIComponent(document.title.replace(/^\s*|\s*$/g,%27%27))%20:%20%22%22),%20%22TwitThisPop%22,%20%22width=600,%20height=500,%20location,%20status,%20scrollbars,%20resizable,%20dependent=yes%22);%20setTimeout(%22TwitThisPop.focus()%22,%20100);%20})()"><img alt="TwitThis" src="http://s3.chuug.com/chuug.twitthis.resources/twitthis_grey_72x22.gif" style="border: medium none;" /></a><br /><div style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: 85%;"><a class="fb_share_link" href="http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=%3Curl%3E" target="_blank">Share on Facebook</a></span><script>function fbs_click() {u=location.href;t=document.title;window.open('http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u='+encodeURIComponent(u)+'&t='+encodeURIComponent(t),'sharer','toolbar=0,status=0,width=626,height=436');return false;} </script></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/20106567-7285428993334206695?l=brandkeys.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Robert Passikoff and Amy Sheahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13826294965841986485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20106567.post-54074951907623118362012-05-03T08:02:00.000-05:002012-05-03T08:02:21.304-05:00Snap, crackle, pop...crunch? Kellogg’s Adds Pringles to Their Mostly-Cereal Portfolio<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nq9-fEw6rlM/T6KBlmg0SpI/AAAAAAAABwc/M7vXO-Do3Kk/s1600/pringles.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nq9-fEw6rlM/T6KBlmg0SpI/AAAAAAAABwc/M7vXO-Do3Kk/s320/pringles.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Kellogg’s plans to sweeten their brand offering with a touch of salt in 2012. Their newest property is the recently purchased Pringles flagship, and the buy represents Kellogg’s effort to chip away at the growing international snacks market.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">But what’s a cereal monogamist like Kellogg’s doing in the international snacks market anyway? Well, it turns out cereal isn’t filling in the bowl like it once did. The category flat-lined for Kellogg’s three years ago due to a proliferation of generic taste-alike brands and consumer boredom with cereal as the convenience food that no longer seemed so convenient. Packaged snacks became the new banner-food for convenience (no bowl needed, hold the milk), and business is booming, especially internationally.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Brand Keys has researched both categories extensively in our Customer Loyalty Engagement Index and found that what drives brand engagement and loyalty for snack food differs significantly from breakfast cereal breakfast. For snacks, the most important contributors are brand trust and appeal for the whole family. In the cereal category, however, it’s all about the brands that help you maintain your lifestyle (like weight management). Kellogg’s approach in this category has given them many strong entries, with rankings looking like this:</span></div><ol style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><li><span style="font-size: small;">General Mills Cheerios</span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;">Kellogg’s Special K</span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;">General Mills Honey Nut Cheerios</span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;">Kellogg’s Frosted Mini Wheats</span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;">Post Honey Bunches of Oats</span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;">General Mills Fiber One</span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;">Kellogg’s Rice Krispies</span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;">Kellogg’s Raisin Bran</span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;">Kellogg’s Corn Flakes</span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;">Quaker Life</span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;">Post Grape-Nuts</span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;">Post Raisin Bran</span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;">General Mills Kix</span></li></ol><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">It’s said that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but now if brands want to feed the bottom line, snacks appear the way to go.</span></div><br /><a href="javascript:(function(){TwitThisPop=window.open(%22http://twitthis.com/twit?url=%22+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+%22&title=%22+((document.title)%20?%20encodeURIComponent(document.title.replace(/^\s*|\s*$/g,%27%27))%20:%20%22%22),%20%22TwitThisPop%22,%20%22width=600,%20height=500,%20location,%20status,%20scrollbars,%20resizable,%20dependent=yes%22);%20setTimeout(%22TwitThisPop.focus()%22,%20100);%20})()"><img alt="TwitThis" src="http://s3.chuug.com/chuug.twitthis.resources/twitthis_grey_72x22.gif" style="border: medium none;" /></a><br /><div style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: 85%;"><a class="fb_share_link" href="http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=%3Curl%3E" target="_blank">Share on Facebook</a></span><script>function fbs_click() {u=location.href;t=document.title;window.open('http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u='+encodeURIComponent(u)+'&t='+encodeURIComponent(t),'sharer','toolbar=0,status=0,width=626,height=436');return false;} </script></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/20106567-5407495190762311836?l=brandkeys.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Robert Passikoff and Amy Sheahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13826294965841986485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20106567.post-17139655126276645822012-04-30T23:56:00.002-05:002012-04-30T23:56:43.177-05:00New Developments for the Camera Category<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KMbSWWDQ_k0/T59sGQ5GwNI/AAAAAAAABwQ/jN8yrR5tS8o/s1600/trifecta+of+mirrorless+cameras.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="305" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KMbSWWDQ_k0/T59sGQ5GwNI/AAAAAAAABwQ/jN8yrR5tS8o/s320/trifecta+of+mirrorless+cameras.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">If you wanted more proof that time and technology wait for no man, check out the newest kid on the digital block: the mirror-less camera. It’s the innovation we never knew we needed, but the powers-that-be (camera branding heavyweights like Canon), are, happily, here to sharpen our focus.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Camera technology evolves at the blink of the shutter, but these evolutions are usually microevolutions that bring us slightly brighter colors and somewhat sharper pictures. The mirror-less camera, on the other hand is a macroevolution and will become a strapping competitor for the popular standards: the digital SLR (single-lens reflex) camera and the user-friendly point-and-shoot camera.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The mirror-less camera builds on its forbears, phasing out the mirror-based optical viewfinder of the SLR camera and adding an interchangeable lens mount, while keeping the light-weight feel of the compact camera. Even though the picture quality isn’t quite as good as you’ll find with the SLR camera, it’s a good compromise between quality and user-friendliness for the consumer-space.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">While mirror-less cameras are framed for category domination, SLR currently remains the choice for the developing amateur.  The Brand Keys Customer Loyalty Index rankings, a very high-resolution snapshot of the emotional and rational aspects for the digital SLR camera category, show a photo finish for the consumer-favorite brand in 2012, but Canon wins out by the narrowest of margins:</span></div><ol style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><li><span style="font-size: small;">Canon</span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;">Nikon</span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;">Olympus</span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;">Leica</span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;">Sony</span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;">Pentax</span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;">Panasonic</span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;">Fuji</span></li></ol><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Interestingly, Canon is the only major camera brand that has not yet introduced a mirror-less model. As the mirror-less gains traction, Canon may have to play a bit of brand catch-up if they want to continue to reflect their tony brand rep.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Photographer Yousef Karsh noted, “The heart and mind are the true lens of the camera.” Based on consumer expectations and emotional category drivers, the brands that will be most successful combine heart, mind, and technology.</span></div><br /> <a href="javascript:(function(){TwitThisPop=window.open(%22http://twitthis.com/twit?url=%22+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+%22&title=%22+((document.title)%20?%20encodeURIComponent(document.title.replace(/^\s*|\s*$/g,%27%27))%20:%20%22%22),%20%22TwitThisPop%22,%20%22width=600,%20height=500,%20location,%20status,%20scrollbars,%20resizable,%20dependent=yes%22);%20setTimeout(%22TwitThisPop.focus()%22,%20100);%20})()"><img alt="TwitThis" src="http://s3.chuug.com/chuug.twitthis.resources/twitthis_grey_72x22.gif" style="border: medium none;" /></a><br /><div style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: 85%;"><a class="fb_share_link" href="http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=%3Curl%3E" target="_blank">Share on Facebook</a></span><script>function fbs_click() {u=location.href;t=document.title;window.open('http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u='+encodeURIComponent(u)+'&t='+encodeURIComponent(t),'sharer','toolbar=0,status=0,width=626,height=436');return false;} </script></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/20106567-1713965512627664582?l=brandkeys.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Robert Passikoff and Amy Sheahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13826294965841986485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20106567.post-68214579344775693052012-04-26T07:48:00.001-05:002012-04-26T07:48:40.418-05:00Diamonds Are Forever; Copyrights, Not So Much As Amazon Acquires Sole E-Publishing Rights To James Bond<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0UV4fox-1Sc/T5lDX-LgVdI/AAAAAAAABwE/7olHdoteTSM/s1600/bond.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0UV4fox-1Sc/T5lDX-LgVdI/AAAAAAAABwE/7olHdoteTSM/s1600/bond.jpg" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Okay, so Amazon has the largest slice of the digital bookselling pie.  And for the next decade, Ian Fleming’s legendary Bond novels will be exclusively available from Amazon publishing. How did they beat the spectre of Apple and other online publishers? Says Corinne Turner, Managing Director of Ian Fleming Publications, “The reason we’re going with Amazon is we believe that their online abilities will bring our books to a much broader audience than we’ve had before.” Turns out sometimes bigger is better.</span><br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /><br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This is obviously quite a coup for Amazon, who has more than one horse in this race. Not only will Amazon use Bond to power book sales and brand cred; Amazon also happens to currently sell the crowd-favorite device for the digital viewing of that content: the Kindle e-reader.</span><br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /><br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">For your eyes only, the 2012 Brand Keys Customer Loyalty Index e-Reader Rankings:</span><br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /><br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">1. Amazon (Kindle)</span><br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">2. Barnes & Noble, Inc. (Nook)</span><br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">3. Apple (iPad)</span><br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">4. PanDigital</span><br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">5. Sony (Reader)</span><br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">6. Kobo</span><br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /><br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The e-reader customers Brand Keys surveyed identified brand value as the #1 driver of loyalty in the category. Just as Ian Fleming Publications are buying Amazon, the brand platform, with the Bond book deal, so customers also buy the brand as much as the e-reader device.  Because according to readers,  Amazon, with its online convenience and massive inventory, is truly the brand that loved them. The Kindle is not just a device, it’s an Amazon brand extension, backed by Amazon brand equity.</span><br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /><br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">And until competitor brands can rouse these kinds of Amazonian levels of brand delight, the Kindle will remain on the top of the e-reader rankings, neither shaken nor stirred.</span></span> <a href="javascript:(function(){TwitThisPop=window.open(%22http://twitthis.com/twit?url=%22+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+%22&title=%22+((document.title)%20?%20encodeURIComponent(document.title.replace(/^\s*|\s*$/g,%27%27))%20:%20%22%22),%20%22TwitThisPop%22,%20%22width=600,%20height=500,%20location,%20status,%20scrollbars,%20resizable,%20dependent=yes%22);%20setTimeout(%22TwitThisPop.focus()%22,%20100);%20})()"><img alt="TwitThis" src="http://s3.chuug.com/chuug.twitthis.resources/twitthis_grey_72x22.gif" style="border: medium none;" /></a><br /><div style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: 85%;"><a class="fb_share_link" href="http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=%3Curl%3E" target="_blank">Share on Facebook</a></span><script>function fbs_click() {u=location.href;t=document.title;window.open('http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u='+encodeURIComponent(u)+'&t='+encodeURIComponent(t),'sharer','toolbar=0,status=0,width=626,height=436');return false;} </script></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/20106567-6821457934477569305?l=brandkeys.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Robert Passikoff and Amy Sheahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13826294965841986485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20106567.post-12224950675354917322012-04-24T07:46:00.001-05:002012-04-24T07:49:12.488-05:00Donald Trump: Human Brand<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NTQq4tnl7-w/T5afMX4VzJI/AAAAAAAABv8/ciWzblPh9D0/s1600/trump.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NTQq4tnl7-w/T5afMX4VzJI/AAAAAAAABv8/ciWzblPh9D0/s1600/trump.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">It was just announced that Donald Trump lent his name to a new luxury skyscraper project. Yawn, yawn? Not surprised? Well you might be if you knew where the building is going to be located.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">It turns out that the planned building is in ex-Soviet Georgia. Yes, that ex-Soviet Georgia. The one that just emerged from a 4-year war with Russia. They used to have a regular flow of tourists, but with most of the hotels and resorts turned into shelters for displaced persons, the country is now having to rebuild in order to attract Western tourists with Western cash. So a luxury skyscraper sounds like just the thing.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The Trump tower is a planned 47-story residential building with its own marina. President Mikheil Saakashvili hailed Trump's presence as "a sign that the country is on the path of an irreversible success." Well, a branding success at the very least.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Turns out that the “Trump” Tower Batumi will be neither owned nor developed by The Donald. Georgia's Silk Road Group will be using Trump's name and brand under license. Which is a really smart move.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Mr. Trump, one of the few actual Human Brands walking and talking in the marketplace, imbues products and services with an added value lift that brick and mortal alone cannot provide. Brand Keys has estimated that lift to be in the +20-25% range, and includes buildings, casinos, and even  shirts, ties and jewelry. Not a bad foundation for a building located in a war-torn country where tourism has come to a virtual standstill.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Its been said that words have meaning and names have power. But it turns out that real brands have both.</span><br /><br /><a href="javascript:(function(){TwitThisPop=window.open(%22http://twitthis.com/twit?url=%22+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+%22&title=%22+((document.title)%20?%20encodeURIComponent(document.title.replace(/^\s*|\s*$/g,%27%27))%20:%20%22%22),%20%22TwitThisPop%22,%20%22width=600,%20height=500,%20location,%20status,%20scrollbars,%20resizable,%20dependent=yes%22);%20setTimeout(%22TwitThisPop.focus()%22,%20100);%20})()"><img alt="TwitThis" src="http://s3.chuug.com/chuug.twitthis.resources/twitthis_grey_72x22.gif" style="border: medium none;" /></a><br /><div style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: 85%;"><a class="fb_share_link" href="http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=%3Curl%3E" target="_blank">Share on Facebook</a></span><script>function fbs_click() {u=location.href;t=document.title;window.open('http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u='+encodeURIComponent(u)+'&t='+encodeURIComponent(t),'sharer','toolbar=0,status=0,width=626,height=436');return false;} </script></div></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/20106567-1222495067535491732?l=brandkeys.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Robert Passikoff and Amy Sheahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13826294965841986485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20106567.post-548379243305240682012-04-19T08:05:00.000-05:002012-04-26T07:53:08.495-05:00Procter & Gamble Takes Gold In the Branded Entertainment Category<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-v-cT8B5ceVU/T5ADKNr79HI/AAAAAAAABv0/j6mEalN12UU/s1600/mama+ad.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="118" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-v-cT8B5ceVU/T5ADKNr79HI/AAAAAAAABv0/j6mEalN12UU/s320/mama+ad.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Once in too-great a while (if the mega-money spent on creating television advertising is considered) a brand message comes along that deserves high praise. As brand communication researchers, ads worthy of glory, to our minds, are those that do the job advertising is actually hired to do: <i>both</i> get noticed, and </span><span style="font-size: small;"> – </span><span style="font-size: small;">crass as this may sound </span><span style="font-size: small;"> – </span><span style="font-size: small;">move the viewer to give the advertiser priority when it comes to choosing a brand. That's why advertising is harder than simply making entertainment, and why P&G's effort for Mother's Day deserves this public shout out.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Since BMW blew the tires off the branded entertainment vehicle with their mini-movies, brands have been trying to use longer-format pieces to tell their story; trying to access the emotion they know builds brand meaning – and loyalty. Yet, what seems to happen far too often is one of two things: the message is a mini-movie that is disconnected from the brand and its strategy, or the product placement is so heavy-handed that viewers click out with a long audible sigh.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Whatever team created the "P&G London 2012 Olympic Games" spot did a masterful job at tapping into not just one but two powerful constructs </span><span style="font-size: small;"> – </span><span style="font-size: small;">mothers and triumph </span><span style="font-size: small;"> – </span><span style="font-size: small;">and weaving the story around what P&G actually sells: household products. Don't think it can be done? Take a look, but spoiler alert </span><span style="font-size: small;"> – </span><span style="font-size: small;">keep the Puffs tissues handy <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NScs_qX2Okk&feature=youtu.be" style="color: blue;">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NScs_qX2Okk&feature=youtu.be</a></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">It took a deft hand to tell this story without turning it into a product placement vehicle. The film needs close study to even find the products in the background. Many have tried this; few have chosen to restrain themselves from those package close-ups. Congratulations, P&G.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">This ad may never make it to television, nor be intended for that platform. Already it circulates around the digital world. Cutting it down to a :30 would be an Olympian's task. Somehow, we think this team would be up to it.</span><br /><br /><a href="javascript:(function(){TwitThisPop=window.open(%22http://twitthis.com/twit?url=%22+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+%22&title=%22+((document.title)%20?%20encodeURIComponent(document.title.replace(/^\s*|\s*$/g,%27%27))%20:%20%22%22),%20%22TwitThisPop%22,%20%22width=600,%20height=500,%20location,%20status,%20scrollbars,%20resizable,%20dependent=yes%22);%20setTimeout(%22TwitThisPop.focus()%22,%20100);%20})()"><img alt="TwitThis" src="http://s3.chuug.com/chuug.twitthis.resources/twitthis_grey_72x22.gif" style="border: medium none;" /></a><br /><div style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: 85%;"><a class="fb_share_link" href="http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=%3Curl%3E" target="_blank">Share on Facebook</a></span><script>function fbs_click() {u=location.href;t=document.title;window.open('http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u='+encodeURIComponent(u)+'&t='+encodeURIComponent(t),'sharer','toolbar=0,status=0,width=626,height=436');return false;} </script></div></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/20106567-54837924330524068?l=brandkeys.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Robert Passikoff and Amy Sheahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13826294965841986485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20106567.post-7442689756245396802012-04-18T10:01:00.007-05:002012-04-18T15:33:36.205-05:00Pepsi Tries to Bottle Magic for a New Generation<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_n7kgQnqwto/T47XgMav7xI/AAAAAAAABvs/v7L62QkUDfs/s1600/coke-beats-pepsi.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 241px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_n7kgQnqwto/T47XgMav7xI/AAAAAAAABvs/v7L62QkUDfs/s400/coke-beats-pepsi.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5732756323778424594" border="0" /></a><br /> <style>  </style> <p class="MsoNormal" face="arial" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"> <style>  </style> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"font-family:";font-size:10.0pt;" >Everything the light touches this year is rapper Nicki Minaj’s kingdom. From the Billboard Top 100 to the Super Bowl half-time show, and her reign is about to expand to a major role in a new ad campaign for Pepsi.<br /><br />The campaign, tentatively taglined “Live for Now,” seems to be aimed at a bubbly, younger generation – Pepsi’s traditional target market (remember their successful “Pepsi Generation” campaign of yesteryear?) So Nicki Minaj makes a great choice for this audience; every aspect of her persona, from her buzzy lyrics to her collection of candy-colored wigs, resonates with youth zeitgeist.<br /><br />Bringing Ms. Minaj on board to pinch-hit for Pepsi is clearly a strategic move, and a reaction to the drop that Pepsi took this year in the marketplace. The results of 2012’s Brand Keys Customer Loyalty Index reveal that both Pepsi and Diet Pepsi fell flat this year, trailing Coke and Diet Coke for the first time in years. Loyalty is, alas, not a forever thing if you don’t know how best to engage your audience.<br /><br />Given this evidence, we’re not too surprised to find out that Pepsi’s sales have fizzled too. As we’ve found in our many years of research, consumers buy where their loyalties lie. So the hard-hit soft drink desperately needs to win back the consumer loyalty-linked-to-brand-equity they’ve lost. Depending on its execution, Ms. Minaj’s “Live for Now” campaign may help restore that equity, but until then, when it comes to loyalty, the regular soda brands rank as follows:<br style="mso-special-character:line-break"> <br style="mso-special-character:line-break"> </span></span></p> <ol><li><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-Times New Roman"font-family:";font-size:10.0pt;" >Coca-Cola</span></span> </li><li><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-Times New Roman"font-family:";font-size:10.0pt;" >Pepsi</span></span> </li><li><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-Times New Roman"font-family:";font-size:10.0pt;" >Mountain Dew</span></span> </li><li><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-Times New Roman"font-family:";font-size:10.0pt;" >7-UP</span></span> </li><li><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-Times New Roman"font-family:";font-size:10.0pt;" >Sprite</span></span> </li><li><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-Times New Roman"font-family:";font-size:10.0pt;" >Dr. Pepper</span></span> </li><li><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-Times New Roman"font-family:";font-size:10.0pt;" >Fanta</span></span></li></ol> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;font-family:";font-size:10.0pt;" ><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="line-height:115%;font-family: Arial;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"font-family:";font-size:10.0pt;" >Back in the 1980s, when Pepsi announced that they had “won the Cola Wars,” CEO Roger Enrico proudly declared, “It gives me great pleasure to announce that after eighty-seven years of going at it eyeball to eyeball, the other guy just blinked.” The recent loss in Pepsi’s brand equity – and attendant loyalty and profitability – proves that, while history may be written by the victors, the future is anyone’s story.</span></span><span style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-Times New Roman"font-family:";" ></span></p> <br /><a href="javascript:(function(){TwitThisPop=window.open(%22http://twitthis.com/twit?url=%22+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+%22&title=%22+((document.title)%20?%20encodeURIComponent(document.title.replace(/^\s*|\s*$/g,%27%27))%20:%20%22%22),%20%22TwitThisPop%22,%20%22width=600,%20height=500,%20location,%20status,%20scrollbars,%20resizable,%20dependent=yes%22);%20setTimeout(%22TwitThisPop.focus()%22,%20100);%20})()"><img alt="TwitThis" src="http://s3.chuug.com/chuug.twitthis.resources/twitthis_grey_72x22.gif" style="border: medium none;" /></a><br /><p style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a onclick="return fbs_click()" href="http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=%3Curl%3E" target="_blank" class="fb_share_link">Share on Facebook</a></span><script>function fbs_click() {u=location.href;t=document.title;window.open('http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u='+encodeURIComponent(u)+'&t='+encodeURIComponent(t),'sharer','toolbar=0,status=0,width=626,height=436');return false;}</script></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/20106567-744268975624539680?l=brandkeys.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Robert Passikoff and Amy Sheahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13826294965841986485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20106567.post-15068639082958266432012-04-12T07:10:00.005-05:002012-04-12T07:47:29.874-05:00What’s in a name? A Rose-Gold Alloy Mostly Made of Copper Wouldn’t Smell As Sweet Coming From Anywhere But Tiffany’s<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7Kvd1tg5KPg/T4bOwatDBAI/AAAAAAAABuE/5zYuokHIx5A/s1600/cuff.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 219px; height: 230px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7Kvd1tg5KPg/T4bOwatDBAI/AAAAAAAABuE/5zYuokHIx5A/s400/cuff.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5730494907072840706" border="0" /></a><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;font-family:Century Gothic;font-size:85%;" _mce_="" >Tiffany & Co. celebrates its 175<sup>th</sup> anniversary this year with a little brand alchemy. Press releases trumpeting Tiffany’s posh “new jeweler’s metal,” coined and trademarked Rubedo (Latin for “red”), continues unabated. But many specialists have taken umbrage with both the “new” and the “metal” portions of Tiffany’s claim. </span> <p style="font-family: arial;font-family:arial;" ><span style=" ;font-size:85%;" _mce_="" >Rubedo, a beautiful blush-gold, is actually composed of small parts silver and zinc, 55% copper, and only 31% gold; in fact, Rubedo has no actual karat value, or too low as to not matter. As specialists point out, it’s an alloy, not a new metal, and it turns out it’s not all that valuable (despite the $7,500 price tag attached to their “Ultrawide Rubedo Cuff”). From a brand whose sumptuous tagline was “diamonds by the yard,” Rubedo might seem like the tarnish on a once-gilded brand. </span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;font-family:arial;" ><span style=" ;font-size:85%;" _mce_="" >What Rubedo jewelry actually demonstrates, however, is the value forged in a name. Specialists aside, consumers love Rubedo, because they love Tiffany. After all, Tiffany diamonds were Marilyn’s best friend in the famous song that mentions the company not once but twice. Audrey ate Danishes with studied concentration while parked in front of the brand’s 5<sup>th</sup> Avenue stronghold. The name Tiffany, like that of any other storied brand, is actually short-hand for <em>meaning</em> <em>– </em>what the brand represents in the consumer’s mind. And with that meaning comes value beyond gold.</span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;font-family:arial;" ><span style=" ;font-size:85%;" _mce_="" >Tiffany & Co. fully understands what’s in the famed name, as evidenced by the fact that the Rubedo pieces are stamped with Charles Lewis Tiffany’s timeless signature. This signature essentially backs the pieces, ensuring that customers will be willing to pay for the luxury of worth beyond actual price value. </span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;font-family:arial;" ><span style=" ;font-size:85%;" _mce_="" >It’s not every brand that could turn copper into gold. Tiffany shows us the alchemy a brand can work with the right mettle.</span></p><br /><br /><a href="javascript:(function(){TwitThisPop=window.open(%22http://twitthis.com/twit?url=%22+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+%22&title=%22+((document.title)%20?%20encodeURIComponent(document.title.replace(/^\s*|\s*$/g,%27%27))%20:%20%22%22),%20%22TwitThisPop%22,%20%22width=600,%20height=500,%20location,%20status,%20scrollbars,%20resizable,%20dependent=yes%22);%20setTimeout(%22TwitThisPop.focus()%22,%20100);%20})()"><img alt="TwitThis" src="http://s3.chuug.com/chuug.twitthis.resources/twitthis_grey_72x22.gif" style="border: medium none;" /></a><br /><p style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a onclick="return fbs_click()" href="http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=%3Curl%3E" target="_blank" class="fb_share_link">Share on Facebook</a></span><script>function fbs_click() {u=location.href;t=document.title;window.open('http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u='+encodeURIComponent(u)+'&t='+encodeURIComponent(t),'sharer','toolbar=0,status=0,width=626,height=436');return false;}</script></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/20106567-1506863908295826643?l=brandkeys.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Robert Passikoff and Amy Sheahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13826294965841986485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20106567.post-28030123819270486502012-04-10T06:41:00.007-05:002012-04-10T10:17:31.928-05:00The Incredibly Shrinking Box: Best Buy Scales Back<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jgnonDZJucQ/T4Qcl6FxhZI/AAAAAAAABsY/GJobz9OBXwE/s1600/BestBuy.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jgnonDZJucQ/T4Qcl6FxhZI/AAAAAAAABsY/GJobz9OBXwE/s400/BestBuy.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5729736063496324498" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;">Best Buy, previously #1 player in consumer electronics, may soon be forced to take the bench. Best Buy faces the necessity of closing 50 stores and laying off 400 workers as superstar competitors Amazon and Apple step up their game. How did “the big blue box” go from calling the shots to taking a hit? Let’s check the score: </span> <p style="font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Amazon, competitor colossus, caters to the desire of many consumers to order electronics online (read: with convenience, without sales tax). Your newest laptop only a few keystrokes away, materializes on your doorstep in two days. Consumers really only tend to leave home when they want to sample the product before they, you guessed it, buy it online, which has turned Best Buy into Amazon’s showroom. Not ideal.</span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Brick-and-mortar competitor Apple, on the other hand, plays to the consumer desire for a niche buying experience. The Apple Store is slim in dimension (how much space do you need for an iPod, really?) with a clean, white design scheme and trendy consumer hooks like the “Genius Bar.” Best Buy, in contrast, is bulky, sporting an explosion of primary colors down every cavernous aisle. Really not ideal.</span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">What’s an ailing retailer to do? Well, according to Best Buy CEO Brian Dunn, “We are evolving our retail store strategy. We are increasing our points of presence while decreasing our overall square footage.” Okaaaaaaay. Not being sure what that strategy means precisely, we really can’t comment. We can note, however, that Electronics used to be a category we tracked in our Customer Loyalty Engagement Index, but no more. The category got smaller and smaller, and quieter and quieter, until all that was left was Best Buy. But in the face of Amazon-like strategies and Apple-like tactics that singularity, alas, may not last.</span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> In the absence of any specific consumer insights regarding the Best Buy brand, unhappily, we can’t offer up a solution. But we can offer up some wisdom voiced by Sun Yzu which may be of some help to Mr. Dunn: “Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.”</span></p><p face="arial" style="font-family: arial;"> </p><p style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">*Update* </span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Best Buy CEO Brian Dunn resigned as chief executive this morning, and plans to step down from the board. Director Mike Mikan was named interim CEO. Shares rose more than 3% after the announcement. Coincidence?</span></p> <br /><br /><a href="javascript:(function(){TwitThisPop=window.open(%22http://twitthis.com/twit?url=%22+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+%22&title=%22+((document.title)%20?%20encodeURIComponent(document.title.replace(/^\s*|\s*$/g,%27%27))%20:%20%22%22),%20%22TwitThisPop%22,%20%22width=600,%20height=500,%20location,%20status,%20scrollbars,%20resizable,%20dependent=yes%22);%20setTimeout(%22TwitThisPop.focus()%22,%20100);%20})()"><img alt="TwitThis" src="http://s3.chuug.com/chuug.twitthis.resources/twitthis_grey_72x22.gif" style="border: medium none;" /></a><br /><p style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a onclick="return fbs_click()" href="http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=%3Curl%3E" target="_blank" class="fb_share_link">Share on Facebook</a></span><script>function fbs_click() {u=location.href;t=document.title;window.open('http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u='+encodeURIComponent(u)+'&t='+encodeURIComponent(t),'sharer','toolbar=0,status=0,width=626,height=436');return false;}</script></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/20106567-2803012381927048650?l=brandkeys.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Robert Passikoff and Amy Sheahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13826294965841986485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20106567.post-88989872547167348192012-04-05T06:48:00.008-05:002012-04-18T15:40:03.417-05:00Which Team Has the Most Loyal Fans?<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xIYzVsPM9i4/T32H_nx3VUI/AAAAAAAABsM/fqV1qlrgazA/s1600/sports.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 212px; height: 238px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xIYzVsPM9i4/T32H_nx3VUI/AAAAAAAABsM/fqV1qlrgazA/s400/sports.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5727883828164777282" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;"> </span><style> </style> <style>  </style> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">The 2012 MLB season started yesterday with the christening of a new ballpark for the Miami Marlins and a 20th-anniversary park celebration for St. Louis. Yesterday’s openers will be followed by an additional six today.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">The official cry of ‘play ball’ was accompanied with fan cheers and the release of Brand Keys 2012 <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Sports Loyalty Index</i>, our 20<sup>th</sup> annual fan survey conducted to help professional sports teams measure precise fan loyalty rankings in home and national markets. Beyond the rankings, the diagnostics provide the kinds of insights that enable league and team management to identify areas where strategic coaching of the brand is required. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">For 2012, MLB top-5 and bottom-5 brand-standings are:</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Top 5</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">1. Philadelphia Phillies </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">2. New York Yankees </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">3. Boston Red Sox </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">4. San Francisco Giants </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">5. St. Louis Cardinals </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">In the Cellar </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">26. New York Mets </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">27. Seattle Mariners </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">28. Kansas City Royals </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">29. Baltimore Orioles </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">30. Pittsburgh Pirates </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">The Sports Loyalty Index provides an apples-to-apples, cross-league comparison of the intensity with which fans in the team’s home market support one team – versus fans of the other teams in the market. <span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">It turns out that fan loyalty is more than people screaming for a hit, a goal, a touchdown, or a basket, or even teams getting them. Yes, everybody loves a winner, but a win/loss ratio on its own does not command fan loyalty.<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">There are three other factors that have to be taken into account, and they count no matter which league is your favorite. More importantly, real fan loyalty correlates very, very highly with broadcast viewership, merchandise purchases, and ticket revenue. And, ultimately, happier fans. Here’s the four ways fan loyalty is driven:<br /><br />• Pure Entertainment: How well a team does, but more importantly, how exciting is their play?</span> <span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><br />• Authenticity: How well they play as a team. New stadia and new managers can lift this driver.</span> <span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><br />• Fan Bonding: Are players respected and admired?</span> <span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><br />• History and Tradition: Is the game and team part of fans’ and community rituals and institutions?</span> <span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Ultimately, teams want to migrate fans from Pure Entertainment all the way through to History and Tradition. History and Tradition alone may get a fan’s blood boiling, but you need all four in place to see the benefits of increased viewership and merchandise sales. Rankings can be influenced depending upon how loyalty drivers are managed, so it’s critical that team marketers do accurate scouting regarding the strategic ball they intend to pitch to their fans.<br /><br />And whether you’re a baseball, basketball, football, or hockey fan, The Brand Keys Sports Fan Loyalty Index measures all the teams in the four Major Leagues. If you want to see if your favorite team made the top-5 (or bottom-5) in their league, click </span> <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://brandkeys.com/syndicated-studies/sports-loyalty-results"><span style="color:blue">here</span></a>.<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The final score? All teams can benefit from increased loyalty levels, but as baseball is America’s ‘National Pastime,’ there are very few fans that don’t get excited about seeing a game, especially on Opening Day. After all, as the great Yogi Berra said, “A home opener is always exciting whether it’s home or on the road.”</span></span><span style="font-size:10.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:Arial;mso-fareast-font-family:"ＭＳ明朝";mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast"></span></p> <br style="font-family: arial;"><br /><a href="javascript:(function(){TwitThisPop=window.open(%22http://twitthis.com/twit?url=%22+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+%22&title=%22+((document.title)%20?%20encodeURIComponent(document.title.replace(/^\s*|\s*$/g,%27%27))%20:%20%22%22),%20%22TwitThisPop%22,%20%22width=600,%20height=500,%20location,%20status,%20scrollbars,%20resizable,%20dependent=yes%22);%20setTimeout(%22TwitThisPop.focus()%22,%20100);%20})()"><img alt="TwitThis" src="http://s3.chuug.com/chuug.twitthis.resources/twitthis_grey_72x22.gif" style="border: medium none;" /></a><br /><p style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a onclick="return fbs_click()" href="http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=%3Curl%3E" target="_blank" class="fb_share_link">Share on Facebook</a></span><script>function fbs_click() {u=location.href;t=document.title;window.open('http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u='+encodeURIComponent(u)+'&t='+encodeURIComponent(t),'sharer','toolbar=0,status=0,width=626,height=436');return false;}</script></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/20106567-8898987254716734819?l=brandkeys.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Robert Passikoff and Amy Sheahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13826294965841986485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20106567.post-40594736848805778392012-04-03T07:42:00.005-05:002012-04-03T07:45:07.909-05:00What Will The Today Show Look Like Tomorrow?<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--1_-P5tCj-c/T3rweGSCAaI/AAAAAAAABsA/5jFOXAlLbDs/s1600/matt.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 168px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--1_-P5tCj-c/T3rweGSCAaI/AAAAAAAABsA/5jFOXAlLbDs/s400/matt.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5727154276027990434" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">NBC and Matt Lauer, long-time host of the Today Show, will face a pretty unique branding conundrum by year’s end. By 2013, Lauer’s contract as the host and first-face of the most popular AM News show in America will expire, and both NBC and Lauer will have to determine how valuable the brand relationship is to their respective success. </span><br style="font-family:arial;"><br style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-family:arial;">It’s a tricky issue. The Today Show is truly a co-branded product – one part NBC peacock and one part hotshot hosts, with Matt Lauer’s personal brand currently accounting for that lion’s share there. For the past fifteen years, the benefit for both sides was fairly clear-cut. NBC lent Matt a platform and Matt imbued it with the kind of “Good Host” emotional values that successfully engage viewers and bond them to television news brands. </span><br style="font-family:arial;"><br style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-family:arial;">Lately, however, The Today Show bulwark has shown signs of a new vulnerability. In the first place, Good Morning America is pulling in fresh waves of viewers, and the net viewership sometimes surpasses even the high water mark left each day by The Today Show. In the second place, Brand Keys Customer Loyalty Engagement Index rankings reveal both Fox & Friends and Good Morning America are within striking distance of The Today Show in terms of brand equity and consumer engagement per the current 2012 rankings for Morning News Shows listed below:</span><br style="font-family:arial;"><br style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-family:arial;">1. Today (NBC)</span><br style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-family:arial;">2. Fox & Friends (FOX)</span><br style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-family:arial;">3. Good Morning America (ABC)</span><br style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-family:arial;">4. American Morning (CNN)</span><br style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-family:arial;">5. This Morning (CBS)</span><br style="font-family:arial;"><br style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-family:arial;">(CUE ORGAN MUSIC) For now, The Today Show rides out the storm, but for how long will that continue? Will substantive changes be required to save Ann and Natalie? Will those changes include replacing Mr. Lauer? Will hot guests be reluctant to appear on NBC if Matt’s not there to greet them? And with content being accessed from less-traditional sources, can Matt meaningfully make a move to another medium? And think back of poor Bryant Gumble and Katie Couric and what happened to them when they traded show equity for show business? Should Lauer leave and Ryan Seacrest take his place, will loyal viewers cry, “Where in the world is Matt Lauer?” (SFX: NBC Sting)</span><br style="font-family:arial;"><br style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-family:arial;">Tune in over the next few months to this blog and find out whether it’s the medium, the messenger, or a little bit of both that drives engagement, loyalty , and profitability around the dial.</span></span><br /><br /><a href="javascript:(function(){TwitThisPop=window.open(%22http://twitthis.com/twit?url=%22+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+%22&title=%22+((document.title)%20?%20encodeURIComponent(document.title.replace(/^\s*|\s*$/g,%27%27))%20:%20%22%22),%20%22TwitThisPop%22,%20%22width=600,%20height=500,%20location,%20status,%20scrollbars,%20resizable,%20dependent=yes%22);%20setTimeout(%22TwitThisPop.focus()%22,%20100);%20})()"><img alt="TwitThis" src="http://s3.chuug.com/chuug.twitthis.resources/twitthis_grey_72x22.gif" style="border: medium none;" /></a><br /><p style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a onclick="return fbs_click()" href="http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=%3Curl%3E" target="_blank" class="fb_share_link">Share on Facebook</a></span><script>function fbs_click() {u=location.href;t=document.title;window.open('http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u='+encodeURIComponent(u)+'&t='+encodeURIComponent(t),'sharer','toolbar=0,status=0,width=626,height=436');return false;}</script></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/20106567-4059473684880577839?l=brandkeys.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Robert Passikoff and Amy Sheahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13826294965841986485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20106567.post-89545888405491137332012-03-29T08:56:00.006-05:002012-03-29T09:08:34.892-05:00What’s love got to do with it: Taking the pulse of your brand<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9djq5uNNBUQ/T3RqhJlHInI/AAAAAAAABr0/_a9w10bwFd8/s1600/heartbeat.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9djq5uNNBUQ/T3RqhJlHInI/AAAAAAAABr0/_a9w10bwFd8/s400/heartbeat.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5725318144034546290" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: arial;font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" ><span _mce_="" style=" ;">Not so long ago we had to rely on chance to introduce us to our love matches. We liked to call it “fate,” and make sweet movies celebrating the blind date and happy accident. Now, though, thanks to a merging of the social and digital spaces, matchmaking sites are flourishing based on making the search for love more predictable.</span></span> <p style="font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span _mce_="" style=" ;">Sure, a big draw of matchmaking sites is that they take the ‘chance’ out of ‘chance meeting’, but the <em>real </em>hook may be in the scientific precision of the online personality inventory, guaranteed to match us with the optimal mate. </span></span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span _mce_="" style=" ;">As it turns out, though, the heart knows a lot more about these things than the head. A recent study conducted Eli Finkel of Northwestern University found that people choose the more compatible mate by following their <em>gut</em>, not the rational list of optimal personality traits spat out by a matchmaking algorithm.</span></span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span _mce_="" style=" ;">The same idea of emotional response applies to brands. Often “what people want” is based on an inventory of items that have been reported from that rational side of us—you know, that way we like to think of ourselves as logical and making decisions based on that logic. But, as Brand Keys has found, people choose brands like they choose mates: more on basis of emotional factors than rational ones. In fact, that ratio is 70:30 heart-over-head. </span></span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span _mce_="" style=" ;">What’s the cautionary tale for the brand manager here? Thinking too much about a logical set of preferences, like superficial commonalities between people, can distort your ability to identify what has real meaning. </span></span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span _mce_="" style=" ;">In love as in brands, “the heart has its reasons which reason knows nothing of.” Remembering this will keep your brand from ever skipping a beat.</span></span></p><br /><br /><a href="javascript:(function(){TwitThisPop=window.open(%22http://twitthis.com/twit?url=%22+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+%22&title=%22+((document.title)%20?%20encodeURIComponent(document.title.replace(/^\s*|\s*$/g,%27%27))%20:%20%22%22),%20%22TwitThisPop%22,%20%22width=600,%20height=500,%20location,%20status,%20scrollbars,%20resizable,%20dependent=yes%22);%20setTimeout(%22TwitThisPop.focus()%22,%20100);%20})()"><img alt="TwitThis" src="http://s3.chuug.com/chuug.twitthis.resources/twitthis_grey_72x22.gif" style="border: medium none;" /></a><br /><p style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a onclick="return fbs_click()" href="http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=%3Curl%3E" target="_blank" class="fb_share_link">Share on Facebook</a></span><script>function fbs_click() {u=location.href;t=document.title;window.open('http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u='+encodeURIComponent(u)+'&t='+encodeURIComponent(t),'sharer','toolbar=0,status=0,width=626,height=436');return false;}</script></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/20106567-8954588840549113733?l=brandkeys.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Robert Passikoff and Amy Sheahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13826294965841986485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20106567.post-21438529556326999362012-03-27T05:57:00.005-05:002012-03-29T09:07:18.288-05:00Style and Substance: What Luxury Fashion Can Teach Us About Branding<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yT6js6MhZug/T3Gd2AThVoI/AAAAAAAABro/umcgjkslcLI/s1600/brand%2Blove.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 378px; height: 338px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yT6js6MhZug/T3Gd2AThVoI/AAAAAAAABro/umcgjkslcLI/s400/brand%2Blove.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5724530152484984450" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: arial;font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" ><span _mce_="" style=" ;font-size:small;" >“Brands are dead,” we’ve been told, and it feels like everyone’s out searching for the smoking gun. Did the economy kill brands, or was it globalization? Maybe it’s advertising fatigue? </span></span> <p style="font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span _mce_="" style=" ;font-size:small;" >We can muck around the crime scene all we want, but the simple truth is that brands are NOT dead. Nor are they “back.” In fact, they never left. Not real brands, that is. What they are likely referring to on the death certificates are category placeholders: famous names that are interchangeable for other famous names. Everyone knows them, but not for anything much in particular.</span></span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span _mce_="" style=" ;font-size:small;" >In this soft economy, hard luxury has thrived. That’s because these brands provide a not-so-little-thing called meaning, which translates into value. And more than ever it’s about <em>value</em>: the interaction between price and what we get in return. In truth, that’s what the economy has impacted most—a closer examination of what’s behind the brand curtain as consumers have searched for more value, not just lower prices.</span></span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span _mce_="" style=" ;font-size:small;" >Yet brand managers, staring down the barrel of a lingering recession, often blame high prices for lost sales. It’s reactionary, in order to move product. But we know that people don’t choose a product in a purely logical way. Brand Keys proprietary research points to a split: rational factors make up only about 30% of why we choose what we choose. Emotional factors account for the rest.</span></span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span _mce_="" style=" ;font-size:small;" >And that’s the luxury advantage. Luxury brands know how to create and foster <em>emotional value</em>. It’s this distinction that enables them to continue to live so large, even in a time of constricted budgets. What luxury brands do well is exhibit clear brand values that lead to a meaningful emotional differentiation in the mind of the consumer. </span></span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span _mce_="" style=" ;font-size:small;" >To paraphrase Mark Twain, “The report of [brand] death is greatly exaggerated.” Unfortunately, the same thing can’t be said for category placeholders. </span></span></p><br /><br /><a href="javascript:(function(){TwitThisPop=window.open(%22http://twitthis.com/twit?url=%22+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+%22&title=%22+((document.title)%20?%20encodeURIComponent(document.title.replace(/^\s*|\s*$/g,%27%27))%20:%20%22%22),%20%22TwitThisPop%22,%20%22width=600,%20height=500,%20location,%20status,%20scrollbars,%20resizable,%20dependent=yes%22);%20setTimeout(%22TwitThisPop.focus()%22,%20100);%20})()"><img alt="TwitThis" src="http://s3.chuug.com/chuug.twitthis.resources/twitthis_grey_72x22.gif" style="border: medium none;" /></a><br /><p style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a onclick="return fbs_click()" href="http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=%3Curl%3E" target="_blank" class="fb_share_link">Share on Facebook</a></span><script>function fbs_click() {u=location.href;t=document.title;window.open('http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u='+encodeURIComponent(u)+'&t='+encodeURIComponent(t),'sharer','toolbar=0,status=0,width=626,height=436');return false;}</script></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/20106567-2143852955632699936?l=brandkeys.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Robert Passikoff and Amy Sheahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13826294965841986485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20106567.post-85765741856147749582012-03-22T06:38:00.008-05:002012-03-22T06:52:52.555-05:00How to Hack Someone’s Computer<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0QS_MHFh8nY/T2sQ-_Pu7CI/AAAAAAAABrc/YnOhmXJUzYs/s1600/security%2Bpic.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 350px; height: 233px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0QS_MHFh8nY/T2sQ-_Pu7CI/AAAAAAAABrc/YnOhmXJUzYs/s400/security%2Bpic.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5722686425819704354" border="0" /></a><br /><p style="font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">As the digital world becomes more and more complex, the need for deliberate, thorough security grows. Yes, we know, you’ve got everything “password protected.” And yes, not every hacker is like the guys in the movies who are able to keyboard their way through complicated layers of encrypted, password-protected security faster than a gamer boots up a new version of Call of Duty.</span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">In the real world it’s a lot easier than that. And no, this isn’t actually a tutorial about how to break into someone’s computer or smart phone or tablet. Just an observation of sorts. A caution to our loyal readers, if you like.</span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">The Brand Keys 2012 Customer Loyalty Engagement Index reveals that consumers choose laptop computers on the basis of anything but security. Instead, consumers tend to select on the basis of factors like innovative design and brand reputation. This doesn’t mean that security isn’t important, but that it does mean that it’s an afterthought. Which becomes obvious when you consider how people select their security passwords.</span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">A recent study found that the most common password used by the average business is – wait for it – “Password1.” It’s easy because it meets the three recommendations that appear in most electronic device security applications: a word that has capital and lower case letters and a numeric. It’s also wildly creative, as the many thousands of people who share it could tell you.</span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Below is a list of the 10 most-favored passwords. If yours is there you A) ought to think about changing it, or B) post your Social Security, credit card, and bank account numbers, and any other private information you think might be useful on your Facebook page.</span></p> <ol style="font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><li><span style="font-size:85%;">Password1</span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;">letmein</span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;">Secure1</span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;">Abc123</span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;">123456</span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;">monkey</span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;">Facebook1</span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;">passworD</span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;">link2012</span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;">(your first name)</span></li></ol> <p style="font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Oh, and though it’s from an older, non-digital source, it would be well to remember the words of Confucius when setting your passwords: “When in a state of security, do not forget the possibility of ruin.”</span></p><br /><br /><a href="javascript:(function(){TwitThisPop=window.open(%22http://twitthis.com/twit?url=%22+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+%22&title=%22+((document.title)%20?%20encodeURIComponent(document.title.replace(/^\s*|\s*$/g,%27%27))%20:%20%22%22),%20%22TwitThisPop%22,%20%22width=600,%20height=500,%20location,%20status,%20scrollbars,%20resizable,%20dependent=yes%22);%20setTimeout(%22TwitThisPop.focus()%22,%20100);%20})()"><img alt="TwitThis" src="http://s3.chuug.com/chuug.twitthis.resources/twitthis_grey_72x22.gif" style="border: medium none;" /></a><br /><p style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a onclick="return fbs_click()" href="http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=%3Curl%3E" target="_blank" class="fb_share_link">Share on Facebook</a></span><script>function fbs_click() {u=location.href;t=document.title;window.open('http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u='+encodeURIComponent(u)+'&t='+encodeURIComponent(t),'sharer','toolbar=0,status=0,width=626,height=436');return false;}</script></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/20106567-8576574185614774958?l=brandkeys.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Robert Passikoff and Amy Sheahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13826294965841986485noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20106567.post-16261244456214951792012-03-20T09:18:00.005-05:002012-03-20T09:25:25.771-05:00Customizing Strategy in a Digital World<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EypVABiNrP4/T2iR0DUiwuI/AAAAAAAABrQ/oQpQrZ1S1l8/s1600/woman%2Bwith%2Btechnology.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 343px; height: 192px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EypVABiNrP4/T2iR0DUiwuI/AAAAAAAABrQ/oQpQrZ1S1l8/s400/woman%2Bwith%2Btechnology.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5721983650004910818" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span> <style> </style><br /><p style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Knowing the right thing to say isn't something only people have to worry about. Brands also think about it quite a bit. In fact, they have entire departments focused on figuring out exactly that.</span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Differentiating and engaging brand communications, which had become difficult at the end of the last century, became even more so when digital entered the brand-communication game and changed the rules. Not all of the rules of course, but knowing which ones, and with who, and exactly how, has thrust brands back in time to where television advertising was at its beginning – bravely going forth and trying things.</span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Brands certainly have better tools available today, but that can sometimes just muddy the water. Knowing exactly where the fish are, as any experienced fisherman will tell you, doesn't necessarily mean they are going to bite. You have to know specifically what they want. And it doesn't get you much to stand and count them. Especially as they are swimming by, in search of something else.</span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">This challenge in the digital platform pond deeply interested us, and we set about to help brands figure the tricky part out. As firm believers that a consumer-centric strategy should drive all that a brand does out in the world, we started there. That, it turns out, was the key to linking strategy and technology.</span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">We have demonstrated what many CMO's suspected was true: there is no one-size-fits-all for communicating in the digital space, or with people highly involved in digital. We have named those folks "Higitals," for their high-involvement with digital, and because saying "the people who represent the future" was too long. And we liked the sci-fi techie sound to it, to be honest.</span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">But what we really care about is seeing how vastly different they behave and approach brands – not simply a demographic generation gap, but one linked directly to digital usage, and we’re particularly proud that The American Association of Advertising Agencies has chosen Brand Keys to present this innovative research on digital platform engagement at their annual conference on March 27<sup>th</sup> in Los Angeles, all focused on transformation.</span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Brand Keys was selected based on the transformational nature of our Digital Platform GPS: groundbreaking syndicated research that links brand strategy with digital communication platforms, enabling brands to locate the spot where strategy and technology intersect. If you’re not attending this year’s 4A’s Conference and are interested in seeing some of the Digital Platform GPS output, contact Leigh Benatar at <a href="mailto:lieghb@brandkeys.com" _mce_href="mailto:lieghb@brandkeys.com">leighb@brandkeys.com</a> or call him at 212-532-6028 X15.</span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">The bottom line: a brand must determine how engagement with digital intersects with brand engagement in order to strategically direct its efforts there. The retro-look is over for brands that are stuck in counting clicks and calling it a day.</span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">We've all seen enough of brands posting pictures and updates on Facebook, imitating a person. For many consumers, that imitation is not the sincerest form of flattery, or winning any real friends.</span></p><br /><a href="javascript:(function(){TwitThisPop=window.open(%22http://twitthis.com/twit?url=%22+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+%22&title=%22+((document.title)%20?%20encodeURIComponent(document.title.replace(/^\s*|\s*$/g,%27%27))%20:%20%22%22),%20%22TwitThisPop%22,%20%22width=600,%20height=500,%20location,%20status,%20scrollbars,%20resizable,%20dependent=yes%22);%20setTimeout(%22TwitThisPop.focus()%22,%20100);%20})()"><img alt="TwitThis" src="http://s3.chuug.com/chuug.twitthis.resources/twitthis_grey_72x22.gif" style="border: medium none;" /></a><br /><p style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a onclick="return fbs_click()" href="http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=%3Curl%3E" target="_blank" class="fb_share_link">Share on Facebook</a></span><script>function fbs_click() {u=location.href;t=document.title;window.open('http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u='+encodeURIComponent(u)+'&t='+encodeURIComponent(t),'sharer','toolbar=0,status=0,width=626,height=436');return false;}</script></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/20106567-1626124445621495179?l=brandkeys.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Robert Passikoff and Amy Sheahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13826294965841986485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20106567.post-24804649487972599782012-03-15T07:56:00.003-05:002012-03-15T08:04:27.271-05:00Six Brands to Consider and 6 Suggestions of What to Do When February Flowers Bring March Allergies<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-v-LHsP-QFAE/T2HofG2sVgI/AAAAAAAABrE/aPw3H8QEf64/s1600/allergy.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 309px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-v-LHsP-QFAE/T2HofG2sVgI/AAAAAAAABrE/aPw3H8QEf64/s400/allergy.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5720108622850840066" border="0" /></a><br /><p style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Months of perfect winter sunshine without a single winter storm. Crocuses opening in January and daffodils in bloom by February. Spring, at a time when we are all typically still hunkered by the space heater, cursing ourselves for our failure to live in Tahiti.</span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Yes, it’s been a generous winter. But even as March springs us forward, many people are falling back (into bed, that is). Cold-flu season has seamlessly given way to the worst month for seasonal allergies that anybody cares to remember, causing a mass congestion that’s, well, nothing to sneeze at.</span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">When the harassed masses open their medicine cabinet, which OTC allergy medicine brands do they reach for and which are weeded out? According to Brand Keys’ 2012 Customer Loyalty and Engagement Survey, the 6 major allergy relief brands rank as follows:</span></p> <ol style="font-family: arial;"><li><span style="font-size:85%;">Claritin</span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;">Zyrtec</span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;">Benadryl</span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;">Chlor-Trimeton</span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;">Sudafed</span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;">Tylenol</span></li></ol> <p style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Their order is an indicator of how well these brands are seen to meet consumers’ expectations in the category, and have been rising in perfect time with the pollen counts. And since even front-runner Claritin does not match the lofty consumer Ideal, no one brand is truly completely considered the ‘cure for what ails’ yet.</span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Keeping that in mind, we’ve banked 6 good seasonal allergy tips for you:</span></p> <ol style="font-family: arial;"><li><span style="font-size:85%;">Try to stay indoors when the wind is high - pollen travels.</span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;">Try to stay indoors until midday. Dawn till then is when the pollen counts are generally at their highest levels. </span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;">Keep the windows closed and the air-conditioning on, giving you an allergen free bubble.</span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;">Keep the grass low. It turns out that flowers are not your friend.</span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;">Wear sunglasses that fit well. This will keep pollen out of your eyes.</span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;">Do not sleep with unwashed hair. Pollen transfers from your hair to your pillow, increasing your odds of breathing allergens in.</span></li></ol> <p style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">The most current rankings and the suggestions above are what we can offer up for some relief at the current time. Although for what it’s worth, comedienne, Lily Tomlin once opined, “For fast-acting relief, try slowing down.” Just a thought and Gesundheit!</span></p><br /><br /><a href="javascript:(function(){TwitThisPop=window.open(%22http://twitthis.com/twit?url=%22+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+%22&title=%22+((document.title)%20?%20encodeURIComponent(document.title.replace(/^\s*|\s*$/g,%27%27))%20:%20%22%22),%20%22TwitThisPop%22,%20%22width=600,%20height=500,%20location,%20status,%20scrollbars,%20resizable,%20dependent=yes%22);%20setTimeout(%22TwitThisPop.focus()%22,%20100);%20})()"><img alt="TwitThis" src="http://s3.chuug.com/chuug.twitthis.resources/twitthis_grey_72x22.gif" style="border: medium none;" /></a><br /><p style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a onclick="return fbs_click()" href="http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=%3Curl%3E" target="_blank" class="fb_share_link">Share on Facebook</a></span><script>function fbs_click() {u=location.href;t=document.title;window.open('http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u='+encodeURIComponent(u)+'&t='+encodeURIComponent(t),'sharer','toolbar=0,status=0,width=626,height=436');return false;}</script></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/20106567-2480464948797259978?l=brandkeys.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Robert Passikoff and Amy Sheahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13826294965841986485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20106567.post-66136935655994725592012-03-13T05:50:00.004-05:002012-03-15T08:07:56.911-05:00Moneyball in the Digital Space<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yG9cbY7z1ek/T18m4atumRI/AAAAAAAABq4/IFjhfGLUeLc/s1600/moneyball1.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 220px; height: 220px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yG9cbY7z1ek/T18m4atumRI/AAAAAAAABq4/IFjhfGLUeLc/s400/moneyball1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5719332802469468434" border="0" /></a><br /><p style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">The idea of using data to win the brand game is not new. But if the film "Moneyball" taught us anything we can translate to the increasing complexity of digital, it's that the players should never become more important than what the team needs: results. Playing a kind of "smartball" on brand teams today means insisting that digital players be leveraged against a larger strategy. In short, that a brand's playbook is not a story of technological possibilities, but a diagram of brand profitability.</span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> </span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">This critical need led to the birth of Brand Keys’ Digital Platform Engagement Index (DPEI), the first large-scale syndicated work to link consumers’ emotional and rational decision-making across 83 categories to the most widely used 14 digital platforms – giving brands a Digital Platform GPSsm that locates the cross-hairs of brand and digital engagement.</span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> </span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">In identifying the intersection of digital and brand, we also identified a new demographic group. We call them the “Higitals,” who represent the top 20% as regards digital involvement. It would, of course, have been a lot simpler if it turned out that we could define this group as consumers who spent a particular amount of time with digital platforms and leave it at that. But life – like digital – isn’t simple. It’s very, very complex, as CMOs have been discovering.</span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> </span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">It turns out that digital platform engagement differs by category. So being classified as a “Higital” when it comes to the Airline category is defined as those consumers who spend 28 to 35 hours on digital platforms per week. Cell phones, 50 to 84. Major League On-Line Gaming, 65 to 92.</span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> </span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">An examination of those who choose to engage with a category and are in the top 20% of the digital involvement range also demonstrates a dramatically different way in how they “see,” what they expect, and how they approach the engagement-buying-loyalty decision. Also how they see digital working in the category space. In short, Higitals are not only high users, but that usage moves them in dramatically different ways from the general population.</span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> </span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">And that matters to all of us to deal in building brands and engagement and loyalty and sales, because they bear witness to what we have suspected for a long time: a change is indeed afoot, as Sherlock Holmes reminds us. We need nothing less than an explosion of previous limitations if we are truly to understand and strategically and effectively participate in that change, and we believe that the debut of this kind of research that will change the way the game is played.</span></p> <style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Arial; panose-1:2 11 6 4 2 2 2 2 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:10887 -2147483648 8 0 511 0;} @font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536870145 1107305727 0 0 415 0;} @font-face {font-family:"Century Gothic"; panose-1:2 11 5 2 2 2 2 2 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} @font-face {font-family:Monaco; panose-1:2 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Century Gothic"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-size:10.0pt; mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;} @page WordSection1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;} --</style><br /><br /><a href="javascript:(function(){TwitThisPop=window.open(%22http://twitthis.com/twit?url=%22+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+%22&title=%22+((document.title)%20?%20encodeURIComponent(document.title.replace(/^\s*|\s*$/g,%27%27))%20:%20%22%22),%20%22TwitThisPop%22,%20%22width=600,%20height=500,%20location,%20status,%20scrollbars,%20resizable,%20dependent=yes%22);%20setTimeout(%22TwitThisPop.focus()%22,%20100);%20})()"><img alt="TwitThis" src="http://s3.chuug.com/chuug.twitthis.resources/twitthis_grey_72x22.gif" style="border: medium none;" /></a><br /><p style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a onclick="return fbs_click()" href="http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=%3Curl%3E" target="_blank" class="fb_share_link">Share on Facebook</a></span><script>function fbs_click() {u=location.href;t=document.title;window.open('http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u='+encodeURIComponent(u)+'&t='+encodeURIComponent(t),'sharer','toolbar=0,status=0,width=626,height=436');return false;}</script></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/20106567-6613693565599472559?l=brandkeys.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Robert Passikoff and Amy Sheahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13826294965841986485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20106567.post-43362319301871326932012-03-08T11:06:00.002-05:002012-03-08T11:17:02.146-05:00Making Sense of Amazon.com: Retail, Publishing, Digital, and TV(?)<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NZjbz5LfDmI/T1jZbHboHXI/AAAAAAAABqs/LSl6LV5uZP4/s1600/fade%2Bin.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 289px; height: 174px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NZjbz5LfDmI/T1jZbHboHXI/AAAAAAAABqs/LSl6LV5uZP4/s400/fade%2Bin.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5717558786821463410" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />Looks like Amazon is joining Hulu, Netflix, and YouTube in getting into the original TV content business.<br /><br face="arial"></span><span style="font-family:arial;">Joe Lewis – former exec in development at 20th Century Fox and Comedy Central, currently VP, Production at Amazon Studios – briefly listed his title on LinkedIn as VP, Original Television at Amazon. Apparently, Amazon has also been looking to hire creative execs and development folks too. Which sounds, suspiciously like the foundation for original content development to us.<br /><br face="arial"></span><span style="font-family:arial;">How successful might this be? Well in our Loyalty and Engagement Index, Amazon is #1 in terms of loyalty in the Online Retailer category, and #2 in the still-germinating Tablet category so all the brand and distribution values seem aligned pretty well. All they need now is content.<br /><br face="arial"></span><span style="font-family:arial;">Consumers want content. We know this based on the explosion of and increased adoption levels of numerous devices for outreach. They may still be watching linear TV, but if leading-indicator loyalty metrics and in-market sales mean anything, they also want original content. From sources other than the usual suspects. And the sources of for that are constantly proliferating. Netflix just launched Lillyhammer, an original series starring Steven Van Zandt of Sopranos fame, and is readying a remake of the 1990 political thriller, House of Cards. You can check out the original on Netflix or Amazon Instant video.<br /><br face="arial"></span><span style="font-family:arial;">Online streaming service providers are clearly on the hunt for new ways to enhance offerings, and, given the consumer and marketplace tends, original TV content makes a lot of sense. And based on past successes, Amazon doesn’t do things that don’t make sense.<br /><br face="arial"></span><span style="font-family:arial;">As we used to say, “stay tuned.” Whichever device you’re using.</span></span><br /><br /><a href="javascript:(function(){TwitThisPop=window.open(%22http://twitthis.com/twit?url=%22+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+%22&title=%22+((document.title)%20?%20encodeURIComponent(document.title.replace(/^\s*|\s*$/g,%27%27))%20:%20%22%22),%20%22TwitThisPop%22,%20%22width=600,%20height=500,%20location,%20status,%20scrollbars,%20resizable,%20dependent=yes%22);%20setTimeout(%22TwitThisPop.focus()%22,%20100);%20})()"><img alt="TwitThis" src="http://s3.chuug.com/chuug.twitthis.resources/twitthis_grey_72x22.gif" style="border: medium none;" /></a><br /><p style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a onclick="return fbs_click()" href="http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=%3Curl%3E" target="_blank" class="fb_share_link">Share on Facebook</a></span><script>function fbs_click() {u=location.href;t=document.title;window.open('http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u='+encodeURIComponent(u)+'&t='+encodeURIComponent(t),'sharer','toolbar=0,status=0,width=626,height=436');return false;}</script></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/20106567-4336231930187132693?l=brandkeys.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Robert Passikoff and Amy Sheahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13826294965841986485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20106567.post-5766832084320880682012-03-06T08:09:00.007-05:002012-03-08T11:17:36.013-05:00Halo Effects as Microsoft Announces Game Release<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4wuiFDjnIBE/T1YNM-eW95I/AAAAAAAABqU/8Ovy9RVpHNI/s1600/gaming.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 259px; height: 194px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4wuiFDjnIBE/T1YNM-eW95I/AAAAAAAABqU/8Ovy9RVpHNI/s400/gaming.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5716771293573347218" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: arial;font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" >That squeal of fanboy joy you might have just heard is due to the fact that </span><span class="forbes_entity" style="padding: 1px; background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(51, 102, 153); font-family: arial;font-family:arial;font-size:85%;color:#000;" _mce_="" type="organization" >Microsoft</span><span style="font-family: arial;font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" > announced that there will be a Halo 4.</span> <p style="font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Yes, you heard right. Halo 4 will be released in time for holiday 2012, marking the start of a new trilogy for Xbox 360 and giving gamers yet another foray into the world of the Covenant and the Spartans. The game is in development at </span><span class="forbes_entity" style="padding:1px;background: #ddd;font-size:85%;color:#000;" _mce_="" type="organization" >Microsoft</span><span style="font-size:85%;">'s internal 343 Industries, and this puts a lot of pressure on them, as this is the most profitable gaming franchise </span><span class="forbes_entity" style="padding:1px;background: #ddd;font-size:85%;color:#000;" _mce_="" type="organization" >Microsoft</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> has.</span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">OK, some of you don’t care. But Major League Gaming is big business. Halo Reach became the 3<sup>rd</sup> best selling game of 2010 (just behind Call of Duty: Black Ops and Madden Football and sold 4.7 million units by 3Q’11. At $59.99 a unit, you do the math). And loyalty – and it’s critical component of being able to meet or exceed expectations that move at the speed of the consumer imagination – is really important to a franchise like this.</span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">This year we added Major League Gaming to our Customer Loyalty Engagement Index, and the dozen franchises that received top mentions ranked as follows:</span></p> <ol style="font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><li><span style="font-size:85%;">Call of Duty: Modern Warfare</span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;">Halo</span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;">Battlefield/Madden Football</span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;">World of Warcraft</span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;">Starcraft 2/Batman Arkham City/Diablo/NBA 2K12</span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;">Crysis</span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;">Gears of War</span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;">Elder’s Scrolls of Skyrim</span></li></ol> <p style="font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">For the Halo introduction a trailer features Cortana pleading for help from John (aka, Master Chief), after events of Halo 3 when Master Chief is left in Cryostasis. Master Chief awakens and returns to confront his destiny and face some ancient evil that threatens the fate of the entire universe. Then some really cool stuff happens.</span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Of course, what’s really cool is all that loyalty. And all those sales.</span></p><br /><br /><a href="javascript:(function(){TwitThisPop=window.open(%22http://twitthis.com/twit?url=%22+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+%22&title=%22+((document.title)%20?%20encodeURIComponent(document.title.replace(/^\s*|\s*$/g,%27%27))%20:%20%22%22),%20%22TwitThisPop%22,%20%22width=600,%20height=500,%20location,%20status,%20scrollbars,%20resizable,%20dependent=yes%22);%20setTimeout(%22TwitThisPop.focus()%22,%20100);%20})()"><img alt="TwitThis" src="http://s3.chuug.com/chuug.twitthis.resources/twitthis_grey_72x22.gif" style="border: medium none;" /></a><br /><p style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a onclick="return fbs_click()" href="http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=%3Curl%3E" target="_blank" class="fb_share_link">Share on Facebook</a></span><script>function fbs_click() {u=location.href;t=document.title;window.open('http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u='+encodeURIComponent(u)+'&t='+encodeURIComponent(t),'sharer','toolbar=0,status=0,width=626,height=436');return false;}</script></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/20106567-576683208432088068?l=brandkeys.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Robert Passikoff and Amy Sheahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13826294965841986485noreply@blogger.com0