The Brand Man Speaks

BMW integrates "Ultimate Driving Machine" tag line into brand essence.

BMW has one of the most memorable automotive tag lines, "Ultimate Driving Machine", (created in 1975) and after reducing its use in last few years is integrating it back into the entire brand essence effort.

Few brands of automobiles are as clearly defined as BMW helping the brand be at the top or near the top of luxury car sales worldwide year after year. This past year it was number one.

The concept of the "Ultimate Driving Machine" has given BMW a distinctive positioning that has been meaningful to consumers in a way other luxury cars have not. Volvo's long gone positioning of safety was another extremely connective brand positioning but none have outlasted BMW's.

In their new effort, BMW will more aggressively use the slogan turned brand essence statement to promote the entire line versus focusing on individual models. Few automakers do this, however, BMW has built the kind of relationship with loyalists such that they (I believe) choose the brand first the model second. For example, if you are looking for an SUV you would not look across competitive brands first, you would see what BMW (your preferred brand) has to offer to meet your needs. This is a unique relationship consumers have with an auto brand and now one BMW is smart enough to capitalize on better than they have in the past. BMW clubs and magazines tout the thousands of families and individuals that ONLY own BMW products on a regular basis. Even though this is consistent with BMW's marketing effort, it is one that is grass roots and handled by car owners directly and not the manufacturer.

BMW is likely also tightening up their connection with loyalists now because Audi has been very aggressive and successful in stepping into the BMW sports performance luxury car arena in the past few years. BMW potential buyers who might not be loyalists have found Audi a good choice (not as many on the road, a bit of a better value and awesome new styling that speaks performance).

Watching out for you everyday.

Eli

 

 

Macys expresses uncertainty about relationship with Martha Stewart after announcement of J C Penney deal

As discussed in a previous post, Martha Stewart has been successfully able to distribute her branded goods broadly across the retail planet, however, Macys did react to the news that she had sold a percentage of her company and would be building shop in shops in J C Penney's US wide. They did not end their relationship with her but indicated they would "re-visit" their product selection under her brand.

What likely will happen is a jockeying for position. Macys will keep Stewart's products if they are distinctively exclusive to the retailer and not somehow copied for inclusion in Penney's. Further, they probably will want to readjust their financial relationship with her to a more favorable one.

Macys is a higher level retailer than Penney's and has been fairing well in the economic downturn by offering unique and meaningful brands and products to its customer base. Stewart's line of home goods has been important to Macys so just giving it up likely would not be a good idea. Macys deal with Stewart expires end of 2012. They should renew. One iffy note. Apparently according to the Wall St. Journal, Stewart's company did NOT tell Macys about the Penney's deal until just before it went public which probably caused some major ill-will.

Altough Macys noted a concern about "brand proliferation" of Martha Stewart branded goods (too much of a good thing in too many places) I believe her brand is strong enough to do well in more types of retail concerns and I also believe Macys will see this too.

Watching out for you everyday.

Eli

 

Martha Stewart partners with J. C. Penney to expand brand and help shore up weak sales at retailer

Martha Stewart proves if your brand is targeted right and the core brand essence is compelling enough it can appeal to a broad spectrum of Americans across socio-economic levels.

Stewart is partnering this time with J. C. Penney for the development of mini Martha Stewart boutiques inside the lagging retailer's stores nationwide. Penney has taken nearly a 17% stake in Martha Stewart's public company. For Penney's CEO Ron Johnson sees this co-branded venture as a way to increase the retailers exposure and importance as he tries to get the company back on its feet. Penney's is doing poorly relative to Macys and other traditional department store entities. Johnson recently took over the helm of Penney's after notable tentures at both Target and Apple where he developed the wildly successful Apple retail concept.

Stewart will provide new exclusive products for her shop in shop concept that will not directly compete with her current products sold at Macys, Home Depot and PetSmart. Staffers will be exclusive to Stewart's mini stores to ensure the brand message stays on target.

Although Stewart's empire has taken a big hit in the past few years because it is so advertising dependant (her magazine is a big part of her empire), her alliances continue to prove she has staying power and remains one of the iconic brands of the past several decades especially given her stint away from the business for illegal stock transactions followed by jail time.

Watching out for you everyday.

Eli

Apple iPhone4s...ugh. Some nice upgrades but overall a let down and disappointment for many brand loyalists

Apple failed today to excite brand loyalists with its humdrum launch of another iPhone, the iPhone 4S, not the iP5 most had been hoping for. It adds some cool features that are certainly upgrades and notable improvements, however, I believe it won't be enough for the rush of customers that came with the initial launch and that of the iPhone 4. I for one after reading the details on a notable tech blog updated live during the news conference, no longer feel any rush to get the new phone. First of all it will look exactly the same, so the "look what I just got" factor is zip.

Apple's stock dropped rapidly today as well as a result of broad disappointment. Whether it's the loss of Steve Jobs or the lack of excitement from the brand AND new management together, I sense most tech reporters thought the news was a yawn vs. what they had expected and hoped for.

Is this a sign that Apple has lost its midas touch? Maybe all goods things need to come to an end sooner or later or at least become more "normal" and "average" like most products made by American companies.

Watching out for everyday

Eli

Apple ready to introduce iPhone 5: Analysts weary it won't be sexy enough to stimulate strong sales. Why they are wrong

Apple is getting ready under new CEO Cook to launch its iPhone 5 (Can't we just now call it "i5"?). The planned introduction to the media is October 5th.

One of the most interesting things I have been reading about the latest introduction is not about the improvements and upgrades coming with this new version, but the insistence voiced by many business analysts that this version will not be exciting and sexy enough to generate huge sales. The thought is that you can only update and redesign such a small package so much before you get to the point where it is impossible to make noticeable changes meaningful to consumers to upgrade from older phones.

What I believe is missing in this conversation is the fact that Apple brand loyalists (the kind of brand loyalists other companies would die for) have another driver in their pockets. Owning the latest Apple device has become a badge of honor to many (of us---yes including me). Half the excitement is having the next new Apple iPhone shortly after it is launched. Apple loyalists are opinion leaders and first adopter types (in marketing speak). They crave new toys and greatly need to be first in line.

Normally this isn't a huge number of people as concerns most consumer products. With Apple it is different. Different in a way that no other company I know has been able to duplicate. Large numbers of people will still wait in line or curry favor to get a new iPhone within hours or days of the release. It has become almost a right of passage to wait in line to get a new one and Apple has carefully orchestrated this phenomena because they truly understand their customer down to the fact that they do not actively talk to consumers about what they want next in a new generation iPhone.

This brand has built a relationship with consumers that is about the journey and brand loyalists believe in the mantra that Apple knows best and will bring them features and benefits and excitement they haven't even thought about. This is a key strategy that separates Apple brand fanatics from other brand loyalists who take a greater stake in communicating their demands to a given company. (This is not to say that many Apple consumers do not share their feelings, believe me they do, however, they are more likely to be ok with Apple decisions than they are with decisions made by other consumer products companies).

The Apple brand still tops the list of best companies in the past few decades and it remains at the top because it truly leads and innovates and excites like no other company.

Watching out for you everyday

Eli

 

Missoni for Target continues to overwhelm retailer and greatly disappoints consumers.

On Tuesday Missoni for Target launched across the US both in Target brick and mortar stores and online. The response, which has been covered extensively by the media, was overwhelming with much of the merchandise out of stock in a matter of hours despite the plan to run the special designer event through October.

One additional issue that is now plaguing consumers who bought online: getting the merchandise they purchased.

Target has already pushed back shipping and delivery of online orders to a large number of consumers twice since the orders were placed on Tuesday. Further, Target in many cases, as of today, Friday, September 16th, has not been able to give online purchasers any new reliable information about delivery. Thus, it appears not only was Target not prepared for consumers interest level in the Missoni offering but also Target was also completely ill-prepared to deal with selling the product and getting it into the hands of excited and anxious buyers.

Some Target supporters have explained the problem as due to the online operations recently shifting from a system with Amazon to Target's own proprietary processing system. If this was the case, it would have made sense to wait until this launch craziness was over or for Target to do far more due-diligence with their own system to ensure it would not disappoint so many consumers.

Things are still so bad at Target that their customer service telephone line is useless because they are so backed up with calls from unhappy consumers trying to find out when they will receive the Missoni items they bought online now that Target has sent out "delay" emails.

You would think (hope) that days later Target management would have fixed some of these issues and made every effort to be on top of the situation to satisfy buyers or at least be in better communication with online buyers to reduce their disappointment. I always recommend to my clients that when issues develop it is better to over communicate with consumers than under communicate so the trust factor remains strong. Target is angering a lot of customers, maybe a good percentage of whom may be new to the retailer, and doing little if anything about the problem in a timely manner.

Watching out for you everyday.

Eli

Missoni for Target launch wildly successful. A true lux brand goes mass

Target Stores launched another limited edition designer line on Tuesday this week that proved Americans want truly lux brands at cheap prices. The line from Italian textile fashion house Missoni included apparel, beauty, home goods, luggage and bedding among other categories.

The consumer response was overwhelming with stores selling out in a matter of hours and Target.com shutting down due to traffic overload.

Why the craziness? Missoni is one of the old guard true luxury brands that has not made any effort over its history to discount or offer cheaper lines to aspirational consumers. The quality of their designs and manufacturing is top notch. For such a lux brand to offer a large collection of goods at "flash fashion" prices is unprecedented.

I am familiar with Missoni through family friends in Italy who over the years brought us various apparel gifts on visits to the US. Scarfs and sweaters that cost many hundreds of dollars ( I have a sweater given to me 20 years ago that cost $1200 then) are still in our family because the products are timely in design and crafted to last.

I called to several local stores and was immediately told by noon on Tuesday that all Missoni products were "sold out" with no idea when the stores would be re-stocked.I was able to finally get online and buy a few things to see (in a few days) how good the low priced items are in terms of quality. I truly was shocked. I expected a good turn out but not a sell out this quickly.

Most Americans have never heard of Missoni as the family run company has not pushed to brand their products as household names in this country. They have preferred to be a bit off the radar for most consumers and cater to a smaller well-heeled audience who appreciate the quality of their fabrics and their unique patterned designs.

With the mass PR that this "sell-out" has garnered in the past 24 hours, it is clear the Missoni name will be far better known across the US by week's end. Additionally, products are already showing up on Ebay and other sites for re-sale at quite inflated prices given the limited edition of the entire collection. (The plan was to offer the line through October...depending on inventory. It seems unlikely there will be enough merchandise to keep the promotion going that long.)

A good question I am being asked is, "will this damage Missoni's brand image among its more elite customers?" Honestly, I do not think so. The designs look similar to the "real" McCoy, however, the quality is likely substantially lower end and good for limited wear and durability. I highly doubt the dresses and other fabric designs will have the same hand down generation to generation quality the originals do which will keep the loyalists buying the high end. Missoni has successfully reached a broader audience with this one move which could assist it with greater distribution (if desired) in the US for its luxury products assuming the economy improves (at some point in the future). Overall, a smart brand building move by Missoni and Target.

Watching out for you everyday.

Eli

 

Does eliminating articles (a, an, the) before a brand create a more iconic identity?

The Wall Street Journal had an article today that talked about the elimination of "articles" in both speech and writing by marketers in recent times. The idea is that by eliminating the words "a", "an", and "the" before a specific name or brand (or any noun) somehow gives it more power and strength making it more significant and bigger than the object itself. For marketers making a brand "iconic" is akin to finding the holy grail.

Apple, not surprisingly, was one of the first to employ this technique. They don't say "the" iPhone or "an" iPad. It's "iPhone" and "iPad" within communications. For example an ad says, "Buy iPad Now".

The issue isn't just one isolated to marketers. This situation impacts the English language as a whole and the state of grammar in this country.

In the past decade, educators have expressed tremendous concern that "Johnny can't write or speak properly". The elimination of articles before nouns doesn't help that cause. However, we have to consider that our language and how we use it has been changing quite rapidly especially due in no small part to the advent of emails, text messages, tweeter, among the many tools we now all use to communicate. Many of these forms of communication limit the number of characters you can employ to get your message across further "teaching" us how to truncate our language. With the broad use of these quick message formats it seems unlikely grammar protectors will see a shift back to anything remotely familiar in the near future.

Interestingly, there is a small but growing collection of people (mostly older than 50) that are actively going back to using hand written notes to communicate. This movement is both a reaction to the informal and improper use of language that has evolved and a desire to separate ones message to another so distinctively it is noticed and not forgotten. Many new businesses have surfaced that specialize in high quality note cards and printing to address this burgeoning market.

Ironically, marketing pundits say the elimination of articles makes the noun more personal and human. At the same time the rise in use of more formal written notes also indicates a need to make communications more personal and human. The end result may be similar but the means are quite different.

Watching out for you everyday.

Eli

Fake Apple Store in China launched hoping to get Apple's approval to be the real thing? What were they thinking?

SEE UPDATE at end of original post for more details

I tweeted about this story shortly after it hit the wires last week. An "Apple" retail store in China ( not located in a major city or even an affluent suburb area) was "outed" by a blogger. The store looked every bit the real McCoy down to the employees wearing the trademark blue apple shirt and ID tags. However, the keen eyed blogger noticed the store used the words "Apple Store" on its signage and real Apple stores do not. They only use the bitten Apple logo to identify themselves.

The products apparently look and function like the real thing too and store personnel were absolutely sure they were employed by Apple as well. Wow amazing, huh?

The truth has now surfaced. The store is a phony and not even created by approved third party Apple re-sellers. It was a store built to "hope" that Apple would approve the owners as a legitimate Apple products store (NOT!).

The store's manager says he is aware the store is not real but claims the products are all legit Apple products. How can that be? Apparently they buy the products from other Apple stores in China or authentic re-sellers and use those purchases as inventory for the phony store. Not sure how they planned to make a profit since they were buying and selling at the same price.

Wacky story but shows how strong the Apple brand is in China with only four stores in the entire country so far. Two in Beijing and two in Shanghai.

Watching out for you every day.

Eli

UPDATE

It appears there were five (5) fake Apple stores in one small town. Given the media attention one of the stores that was publicly outed received, the Chinese government investigated. They have determined two of the stores must close not because they infringe on Apple's trademarks, but rather because they failed to obtain a business license prior to opening. China now says they are not sure that Apple has correctly applied for trademark and copyright protection of their name, logo and products and thus they have not closed the remaining three stores that have valid business licenses.

China has the worse record for trademark and copyright violations in the world. By far.

Will J Lo's split from Marc Anthony derail apparel launch at Kohl's? Unlikely

Speculation among the media is that J Lo's public split from husband of 7 years Marc Anthony will have a sobering impact on the pending launch of two lifestyle brand product lines at mass merchandiser Kohl's.

I think this is one of those cases where J Lo's launch may benefit from the split, yet her hubby's line may quickly fizzle.

J Lo has done a remarkable job of re-inventing herself this past year increasing her public exposure and profile mega-fold for the first time in some years. Her successful participation on American Idol did wonders for her image especially as a style icon.

Many people always wondered about the marriage which appeared to be a good one at first but in some ways seemed a strange match. Reports indicated that Anthony was a control freak and with J Lo's increasing popularity and income stress over losing control may have forced the split. Rumors about a fling with Cuban born hunk "Levy" on her most recent video shoot certainly contributed to her sex appeal and image enhancement.

I believe that J Lo will be even more popular and in demand now that she is splitting from Anthony. As long as the divorce is (mostly) amicable I see no reason why her new apparel line won't be a hit at Kohl's unless the designs and product itself are disappointing, poorly made or not considered good value. She's hot, sexy, on top of her game, looks amazing and yet remains an inspiration to millions of women and craved by many men (Sexiest woman in the world according to People this year).

On the other hand, Anthony's popularity is limited and more niche oriented and his appeal was heightened by his marriage to J Lo. I see his "Q" factor and overall appeal, especially interest in his still unlaunched men's line for Kohl's diminishing fast. As a single act he lacks mass appeal and his style factor again was mostly enhanced by his attachment to her.

The couple has said that they will continue to work together on a latin oriented talent reality show for the moment but it remains to be seen if this pairing can still go the distance professionally. A tough move for most celebrities after they divorce.

I'll check back on this subject a month or so after the product launch.

Watching out for you everyday.

Eli