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Brand Modeling

The King is Dead. Long Live The Clown? Brand Modeling and Your Brand’s Personality

Earlier last month, Burger King retired the latest incarnation of their mascot.  The King had had a central role in BK’s messaging, starring in several ad campaigns. He is being replaced by what are being termed “food centric” spots, where fresh ingredients take center stage.

It must be hard to be upstaged by lettuce, beef, and a handful of avocados. Yet we imagine what really galls the king is the fact that Ronald McDonald, the curly haired clown icon of Burger King’s arch rival, continues strong in his role. What can that clown do that the king could not?

Brand Modeling: Connecting With Your Customers

Let’s look at both the Burger King and Ronald McDonald from a Brand Modeling perspective. Both companies have spent considerable time and resources developing mascot  characters. In order for these mascots to be effective marketing tools, they had to fit several criteria.

First and foremost, customers needed to like the mascot.  The role of the mascot (or any character used to identify our business) is to provoke pleasurable emotions in the viewer.  Bonding those pleasurable emotions to a brand’s identity helps motivate consumer behavior: when we enjoy an experience, we seek it out again and again.

Ronald McDonald has continually evolved over the years to provoke pleasurable emotions in a significant portion of their target audience: parents of children. Everything Ronald says or does is explicitly geared to benefit children. The Ronald McDonald House is an extremely well-publicized charity providing housing for the families of children with cancer. McDonald’s restaurants that feature playgrounds have Ronald McDonald imagery throughout, encouraging the kids to have fun and get active. The children in question are entertained while the parents get a moment’s respite—and the clear message that McDonald’s, and their kindly clown, care about you and your family.

Burger King, on the other hand, creeps into people’s beds and is caught peeping through their windows at night, all the while wearing a smile multiple commentators have termed “Creepy.” Some found the approach ironic and hipster-funny, but their numbers were few compared to the masses that found the King and his bizarre antics off-putting.  Ronald McDonald wants your kids to have fun and apple fries: Burger King is way too interested in what’s happening in your bedroom.

McDonald’s has demonstrated that they understand some of the core values that motivate their customer’s purchasing behavior.  Everyone who has kids needs  to feed them. There’s really no way out of it.  Dinner time comes every single day. What makes these parents choose McDonald’s?

Price and convenience play a role, of course. Far more important, however, is the customer’s desire to want to do something they see as positive and nurturing for their child. In Brand Modeling, we talk about humanistic drivers.  Humanistic drivers are unconscious motivators of our behavior.  The imperative to provide for our offspring is strong.

Ronald McDonald’s actions are in many ways in alignment with what parents want to do themselves.  He is perpetually cheerful and entertaining.  He’s encouraging healthy play and physical activity.  He’s offering food the kids want to eat. The connection is immediate and obvious.

The Burger King, in this incarnation, taps into that same unconscious motivator to nurture children.  However, with an appearance that’s off putting at best and frightening to small children, and behaviors that usually result in criminal charges, a parent doesn’t feel in alignment with Burger King. These are the type of people we’re told to keep the children away from.  The parent with the car full of pre-teen girls might not be able to articulate why they chose one drive through over another, but the contrasting messaging (and profitability picture) of the two chains make it clear that there’s more than French Fries going on.

It just goes to show that understanding your best customers is nothing to clown around with.

September 14, 2011 by

Apple After Jobs: Will The Brand Be As Successful?

To the Apple Board of Directors and the Apple Community:

I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come.

So began Steve Jobs’ resignation letter. It is a short, simple document that has made headlines around the world. Will Apple be as successful, countless pundits have wondered, without Jobs at the helm?

There’s precedent to consider, none of it good.  During the ’80s, a Jobs-less Apple floundered.  It was only after Jobs returned to the company that the iEmpire began to grow in earnest. Today, Apple is the most valuable brand in the world. Has the infrastructure been put in place to allow Apple to maintain market dominance without Jobs’ day to day involvement?

It’s a question that will take time to answer.  While Jobs is stepping down as CEO, he has hand picked his successor, Tim Cook. He will remain as Chairman of the Board. One gets the sense that while Jobs is going, he’s not going any further than he absolutely has to.

At the same time, there have already been Apple fans declaring that the brand has already suffered.

It just feels more empty now; a little bit colder, a little bit less awesome. One blog commenter said, while another is already mourning the loss of Jobs’ genius. I’m concerned that a great man may no longer be around. It’s like losing a Newton or an Edison.

Many people view Jobs as the heart of the brand. He is the personification of “cool” for some and it is precisely because Apple knows who finds Jobs cool, inspiring, and right up there with Newton and Edison that we think the Apple brand is well positioned to remain as profitable as ever.

Customers First: Know Your Customers To Build Your Brand

Apple has done an extraordinary—perhaps even the world’s best—job of understanding who their customers are. This understanding goes into the conscious and unconscious motivators that influence purchasing behavior.  Apple’s stock in trade may be computers and entertainment devices, but as we discuss here, what they’re really selling is empowerment and self-fulfillment.

The most important thing that Apple needs to do during this transition period is maintain their commitment and focus on high-level customer understanding.  Brand Modeling tells us that it is essential for a company to remain constantly in touch with and aware of their very best customers.  This connectivity will allow Apple to stay in the empowerment and self-fulfillment business—where they have no viable competition and amazing profitability.

Steve Jobs’ role has been to consistently bring Apple back to that core, central value. The company has shown a tendency to wander away from this mission over the years, but Apple also excels at learning from its mistakes.  They’ve found their way to the best spot in the market. If they can remain focused on serving their best customers better than anyone else in the market does, Apple will stay there. It’s as simple as that.

September 7, 2011 by

Nationwide Insurance: Speeding Toward Success

One of NASCAR’s biggest stars, driver Dale Earnhardt, Jr., has been a spokesperson for Nationwide Insurance for many years. Here’s one of the most recent commercials he’s done for Nationwide.

We really like this commercial because it articulates many of the key concepts of Brand Modeling. In the first ten seconds of the spot, Dale Earnhardt Jr. explains (and we’re paraphrasing here) that as a NASCAR owner and driver, he knows that there’s nothing more important than pleasing the fans. Pleasing the fans is the top priority, because without the fans, there’s no NASCAR. Just like without their customers, there’s no Nationwide.

Earnhardt continues to explain that Nationwide reports to their customers, not to Wall Street. Throughout the spot, the message is clear: the Nationwide approach puts customers in the driver’s seat.

Brand Modeling: Key Concepts

Nationwide’s approach is one we’ve seen consistently used by Cult Brands and dominant organizations.  Companies that win are doing so by focusing on the needs of their best customers. Identifying who an organization’s best customers are, learning what psychological factors motivate their decision making, and meeting their needs in the most satisfying fashion possible is a proven formula for success.

Nationwide currently enjoys a reported 4.5% of the automotive insurance market. This market is highly competitive, currently dominated by State Farm and Allstate. Together, the two companies control a little less than a third of the entire market. Nationwide is also vying with Geico, Progressive, and Farmer’s. What’s the best way for this insurance company to stand out from the pack, capture customer attention, and gain market share?

Identify The Most Valuable Customer

NASCAR became a phenomenon by focusing on the needs of their best customers: the thousands of loyal fans who never miss a race, who travel countless miles and spend thousands to see their favorite drivers live, who wear NASCAR apparel and participate in racing fan communities online. By catering exclusively and exhaustively to these fans, NASCAR has thrived. People are passionate about car racing.

They’re not necessarily as passionate about car insurance. Yet Nationwide needs to know just as much about their customers as NASCAR does. NASCAR can articulate, clearly and with pinpoint precision, what leads someone to join the NASCAR Nation. They know their fans love exciting races with fantastic finishes, exhaustive information about their favorite cars and drivers, and the sense of community that has built up around the sport of racing. To thrive, NASCAR needs to keep delivering these essential elements. Otherwise, their fans will find other ways to occupy their attention and command their entertainment dollar.

Nationwide’s focus on the customer could begin with examining what it takes to belong to Nation Nationwide. A percentage of the insurance market will always be driven by nothing more than price and convenience. However, by looking at Nationwide’s best customers—those that have multiple policies with Nationwide, who enthusiastically recommend Nationwide to their family and friends—and identifying what they value most about their car insurance company, it becomes possible to craft strategically targeted marketing messages designed to attract new customers who are very likely to be highly satisfied with (and profitable for!) Nationwide.

Is Nationwide on the right track? It looks that way. If this customer focused approach is implemented consistently, they might even make it in record time!

August 23, 2011 by

The Real Special K Challenge: Successful Brand Extensions

What’s so special about Special K?

Many people aren’t even sure exactly what Special K is made of. (For the record, the crunchy brown flakes contain mostly rice and wheat.) But they do know that Special K is the cereal of choice if you want to lose weight. A clinical study in the UK has shown that replacing two meals a day with Special K results in slimmer waists and hips.  If you’re engaged in the Battle of the Bulge, Special K is a valuable ally.

And therein lies much of the secret of Special K’s success. Brand Modeling tells us that a company wins when they put their best customer’s needs front and center, focusing all of the energy and resources of the organization on the single goal of giving customers what they want, in exactly the way they want it.

Lots of companies know that their customers want to lose weight. The drive to shed pounds and enjoy a healthier, fitter, slimmer body is almost universal.  Special K is successful because they’ve delved into their customer base, hoping to understand more than the fact that their customers want to lose weight. Understanding that fact isn’t enough. Special K needed to know WHY their customers want to lose weight.  They needed to understand HOW their customers wanted to lose weight.

Know Your Customers = Know Your Brand

The more we know about our customers, the easier it becomes to sell to them.  That’s one of the fundamental tenets of Brand Modeling. Kellogg’s has demonstrated this admirably. It was their understanding of the Special K customer that lead to an impressive array of brand extensions.  The humble brown flakes have been joined by nine other flavors of Special K cereal. That’s not all.  There are Special K cereal bars, meal bars, and snack bars. There are Special K fruit crisps, snacks, and crackers. There are protein shakes and protein water mixes.

How did Kellogg’s know that these brand extensions would be successful?

The Special K Challenge

To answer that question, we have to look at the Special K challenge.  Once upon a time, the Special K challenge was a simple thing: eat Special K for breakfast and lunch for two weeks, and the pounds will fall right off.  Now, however, people with pounds to lose can create their own individual Special K challenge.

Special K helped people lose weight, but only if they could commit themselves to a monk-like bowl of brown flakes twice a day for two weeks. Some people found pleasure in the ascetic, Spartan approach, but more people failed the Special K challenge because they gave into the desire for variety.

Dominant organizations win because they act when they identify a tension that their customers have with their products. Special K knew that a steady diet of nothing but brown flakes held limited appeal, even for their best customers. By identifying the need for culinary excitement that also facilitated weight loss, Special K found the best way to expand their brand. Other tensions their customers were experiencing, such as the need for meals that could be eaten rapidly, were also solved by the brand extensions, particularly cereal, snack and meal bars.

In short, the Special K team found a way to make the Special K challenge easier while still delivering the desired results. Now Special K is one of the strongest brands in the world’s largest cereal company, Kellogg’s. They’ve found their own recipe with success. With Brand Modeling, your company can do the same.

August 16, 2011 by