By Brad Whitford
March 30th, 2010
As many of you college sports nuts may or may not have heard, Michigan State University was set to unveil an updated Spartan head logo this April. That was, until Spartan fans spoke out in protest, convincing MSU’s athletic department to reconsider.
This issue was interesting to me, not just because I’m a recent MSU graduate (2007 wasn’t that long ago people) and a huge Spartan fan, but because of the marketing implications. To many, this may have seemed typical of a sports team trying to gain a leg up on the competition. But digging deeper uncovers a brand attempting to create a consistent identity.
MSU Athletic Director Mark Hollis states, “There has been a lack of consistency with regard to our brand…Our primary objective is to achieve a strong and consistent Spartan brand, but rest assured that, as our mission statement attests, bringing Spartans together is one of our fundamental values.”
In his comments, Hollis highlights the importance of brand management. While creating a consistent brand image can be vital to a company’s success, doing it at the expense of customer loyalty can be detrimental. In any business, loyal customers feel a strong connection to the brand. Creating and maintaining a strong identity is essential so that connection isn’t broken.
Personally, I thought the proposed logo was pretty cool. But MSU’s most loyal customers (its students and alumni) have spoken. In the end, I think MSU made the right decision by sticking with the current logo. After all, it is the best logo in the country. Go green!
Do you think MSU’s attempt to alter its brand identity was an unwise decision?
By Matt Hensler
February 25th, 2010
For many B2B marketers, a lot of emphasis is placed on making the company logo a visual extension of the brand. Consistently applying your logo to all your marketing helps to build visual brand identification, but few marketers think about what characteristics of the brand exist beyond the logo. I’m talking about brand personality and personas.
Many marketers understand what brand personality is, but not many take the time to define a set of personas for the organization, or use them when developing marketing communications strategies. Well-known companies have brand personas that stem from inherent attributes of what their brands have been historically, and what they need to be in order to meet the expectations of their customers. For example, Harley Davidson’s persona is free, independent, rugged, American, laid-back and powerful. Jack In The Box’s persona is uncommon, sarcastic and funny.
Defining brand personas can have many practical uses for your marketing program. Here are few ways brand personas can help your next campaign:
- Personas give people a reason to like your brand and products.
- They help define your brand as hip, strong, young, cocky or any characteristic that will help you connect with target audiences.
- Brand personality contributes to the style and tone of your creative.
- Those character attributes can be parlayed into social media marketing by guiding your company’s ‘voice’ on twitter and other social media tools.
What personas exist for your brand? Want some fun tips on how to get started?
By Tena Hartwig
January 14th, 2010
We might be seeing more up-trending financial charts, but overall, the economy is still in the tank.
And with tough economic times, comes price-sensitive customers. Manufacturers know that raising prices could be a recipe for disaster, so they’re opting to shrink the size of their packaging instead.
For instance, Georgia Pacific, maker of Quilted Northern toilet paper, chose to hack ½” off the length of its standard roll in lieu of increasing the price. This pricing strategy has become more prevalent in recent years, and I can’t help but wonder what impact these sly practices will have on companies’ bottom lines in the long term?
We all know the value of a loyal customer and this frequent downsizing seems to be nothing but a sneaky price increase that will surely upset customers once they catch on to it. While the smaller product might go unnoticed at first, customers may switch brands permanently when they realize these manufacturers are shrinking products behind their backs.
What do you think, should manufacturers “wipe out” these dishonest practices? Would you switch brands because of shrinking products?
By Shannon Martin
January 13th, 2010
My colleague Emily just wrote a great post about not bashing your competition but what about intentionally bashing yourself or your own brand? This week Domino’s Pizza unveiled a new ad campaign that takes quite a jab at its own product.
These new campaigns focus on the less positive qualities of Domino’s Pizza and boldly state ‘their crust taste like cardboard and their sauce like ketchup.’
My question is: Is it ever a good idea to bash your own brand?
Rebranding can be a challenging project for any company, but the strategy behind a rebrand is often more important than the ‘new and improved’ image. While Domino’s Pizza’s ad agency is known for making bold statements, I wonder what focus group research, if any, was done to determine that customers were unhappy with its pizza. Domino’s Pizza’s ads give the impression that Twitter was an important source of customer feedback. With the rebrand, Domino’s has tried to off-set its own harsh critics with less-obvious tactics designed to show the favorability of its new product.
What do you think of Domino’s Pizza’s marketing direction? Will customers internalize too many former negative qualities that Domino’s is bringing to light or will customers embrace the new product?
By Matt Hensler
January 4th, 2010
Happy New Year! First, let me congratulate anyone who managed to keep their New Year’s Resolution until now. Keeping a resolution is difficult, and if it involves being healthier, then you probably won’t make it through the College Bowl Games, and definitely not past the Super Bowl.
As the first official b2bFishbowl post of 2010, I felt added pressure to kick off the year with profound advice that can be applied to your B2B marketing efforts (and maybe your personal lives). I’ll keep it simple for those working off a post-holiday hangover. Your one marketing challenge in 2010 is this:
Decide how you want to define yourself and aspire to be that every day.
Spend time to determine how your brand, products and services are defined for your target audiences. Then, each day, follow through to make sure the marketing communications you execute live up to that definition. Give your company appeal and purpose in the markets you serve. If you do it right, you’re sure to make your life as a B2B marketer a lot easier, and you’ll create strong relationships with customers and prospects in the process.
And, like other resolutions, if you begin to struggle or feel yourself straying from your goal, lean on others for support.
What is your New Year’s resolution? Do you have a B2B MarComm mantra that you are determined to follow in 2010?
