Six of the Best: Trick or Treat? edition

Photo: peasap (Flickr CC)

It's Halloween. Pumpkins all over America are being hacked and slashed to pieces. Thousands of Ghosts, Spidermen and Balloon Boys are ready to head out and hunt for tons and tons of candy that will help keep dentist chairs fully occupied in the months to come. To celebrate the occasion, here are six posts, tricky or treaty in some particular and sometimes obscure ways:

1) How Trick-or-Treating Started: Smithsonian.com
Apparently: "Trick-or-treating is a modern day holdover of the practice of propitiating, or bribing, the spirits and their human counterparts roaming the world of the living on that night." This post describes various different theories on how trick-or-treating started and also references this 2006 New York Times article which talks about how Halloween, like an invasive species, is gradually displacing the British tradition of Bonfire night much to the chagrin of traditionalists.

2) Why celebrate Halloween? Seth Godin
Most of what we believe, Seth argues here, is based on what other people believe. "This groupthink is the soil that marketing grows in. It's frustrating for someone who is hyper-fact-based or launching a new brand to come to the conclusion that people believe what they believe, not that people are fact-centered data processing organisms."

3) With Video, a Traveler Fights Back: The New York Times
Perhaps more Ripley's Believe It or Not than trick or treat but, incredibly, United Airlines managed to lose the luggage of the man whose guitar it so famously broke a few months ago. Not just lose the luggage but also make a complete mess at dealing with the situation. The good news is that it gives Dave Carroll more song material.

4) 5 Ways To Use Twitter's New List Feature For Marketers: Influential Marketing Blog
Twitter's new list feature is a treat for some. Rohit Bhargava's post is worthy of inclusion just for the phrase: "You can segment your firehose." Twitter has gotten to where it's got to by being extremely simple. But the deluge (or firehose) of information it spews out is a problem that lists may possibly help to solve. Rohit describes a few ways to use lists. I set up two lists myself: @martinjbishop/brand-gurus and @martinjbishop/branding-501.

And now, to get into the spirit, here are two videos:

5) This is Halloween: The Nightmare before Christmas



Well, that's just fine
Say it once, say it twice
Take a chance and roll the dice
Ride with the moon in the dead of night

6) Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps): David Bowie



I could have also gone with The Zombies and Time of the Season - nice video!

That's it! Back soon with more stories from the world of brand strategy (and vaguely related areas). More thoughts and comments also available on Twitter (@martinjbishop).

Tips from a POMQueen: The success of POM Wonderful

Photo: Pomegranate Seed 3x: saltyseadog (Flickr CC)

What's are the seeds of marketing success? How do you launch a product made with a fruit that few people have even heard of? What lessons can we learn from the success of POM Wonderful?

Lynda Resnick (aka the POMQueen) was a keynote speaker at the UCLA Anderson Alumni Weekend this past week. She has an amazing track record. In addition to POM Wonderful, she's also had hits with Fiji Water, Teleflora and The Franklin Mint. But of all these hits, POM Wonderful may have been the highest level of difficulty. Before it was launched in 2003, only 12% of the population even knew what a pomegranate was. It's expensive ($3.00+ for a 16oz bottle) and it's a strong, acquired taste.

As I listened to the presentation, I was struck by the mixture of insight, pragmatism, ambition, inspiration, determination, bloody-mindedness, patience and luck that factored into the success. Here are six things she talked about:

1) Own the land: The Resnicks (that's Lynda and her husband, Stuart) discovered pomegranates accidentally. They bought farmland that happened to include some pomegranate trees. For the first few years, they just sold the pomegranates as fruit. But then they noticed that they produced at a healthy yield/acre. The opportunity sensors were activated.

2) Trace the lineage: The next trigger was an Italian friend of theirs. She waxed lyrical about pomegranates and talked about their mythology. In ancient times, pomegranates were symbols of everything from fertility and royalty to hope and abundance. Was there some truth to the legend of the pomegranate? Could any health benefits be scientifically validated?

3) Dip into the royal purse: The company then spent $25 million in scientific research to find out whether there were health benefits that could be turned into product claims. These studies have shown positive results in a whole slew of conditions including heart disease, prostate cancer, diabetes and erectile dysfunction. There certainly is substance to the health angle.

4) Off with their heads: The marketing team started experimenting with various pomegranate concoctions that would have broad appeal and could be competitively priced. Nonsense, said Ms. Resnick. This has to be the real thing, not some watered down juice. One of her key principles is intrinsic value. 100% juice has it. A touch of pomegranate in a grape juice wash doesn't.

5) Two orbs in the veggies: Other than the pomegranates themselves, the two most distinctive things about POM are is its double orb shape and the fact that it's sold in the produce aisle. While the distinctive bottle shape is a great example of using packaging structure for distinctive effect, the more interesting story is about the placement. Having decided to go the 100% route, the product then had to be sold refrigerated. Rather than fight for placement with hundreds of other juice products, they chose to put it in the produce aisle where they already had other products and existing relationships with the buyers.

5) Sentence first -- verdict afterwards: Although POM has spent large sums on scientific research, it didn't spend anything on consumer research to test demand. Instead it chose to go straight to an in-market test. The plan was to field the test in California and the expectation was that the product would be popular with older people looking for healthy products. But a grocery strike forced a change of plan and they ended up launching in New York. Turned out it wasn't older, health-seeking consumers who drove demand. It was 28-year olds who bought it because it was chic.

6) Believe impossible things: Could one of the large CPG companies have succeeded with a product like this? I think it's doubtful. In my experience, the financial and risk management culture of most of these companies would either have killed the product before launch or starved it soon after. I'm pretty sure that, when I was a brand manager, I would not have been able to get the money for the scientific study, I would not have been able to launch without strong research results, I would not have been able to develop a product without mass appeal, I would not have been able to launch with such expensive packaging and I would not have been able to switch test markets from one coast to the other. In short, unlike Ms. Resnick, I would not have been able to recognize the true value in what I had.

Note: A more complete account of POM Wonderful's successful launch can be found in Lynda Resnick's book: Rubies in the Orchard. I haven't read the book myself but the Amazon reviews suggest that it gives insight not just on the marketing activities that made POM Wonderful a success but also on the personality and drivers of the POMQueen herself.

Six of the Best: Those were the days edition

Early edition this week because I'm off to LA for a UCLA reunion weekend to reminisce and compare.

1) Those were the days: Mary Hopkin
As the helpful notes say on the video, this song, produced by Paul McCartney, was a UK hit in 1968. And, no, that wasn't the year I graduated.


2) Why Budgeting Drives Us Batty: Harvard Business
Love budgeting? This took me right back to my Nestlé days: "As one manager said, 'We start budgeting around the middle of the year and finish around the same time the following year.' " Never was so little accomplished by so many for so long. According to Ron Ashkenas, some companies like HP and GE have found ways to make the process easier and faster. In the spirit of humanity, they should send out missions to convert those needing help.

3) Post-recession branding: What Next? Part 1: The brandgym blog
Remember the recession? It's over! (Maybe) Anyway, not too soon to start thinking about branding post recession. Here David Taylor shares the results of his survey of 60 UK Marketing Directors where he asked them: "What comes next?" Four strategies stood out: Sharpening the positioning, growing the core, boosting differentiation and fueling the fan club of employees and consumers.

4) London Underground: To save your rep, you have four hours: Thought Gadgets

Where have those days gone where you used to be able to abuse passengers on the underground without having the altercation plastered all over the Internet? Honestly, it's ridiculous. You can't even smash a guitar these days without some idiot writing a song about it and then another 5.8 million idiots watching it. Or not pay your restaurant bill for a couple of days and get away with it tweet-free. Nuts.

5) Which is easier to understand? Google Wave (41%), Combinatorial Game Theory (59%)
I remember, way back when, having an argument with a co-worker about whether email would ever amount to anything. (I was the cutting-edge guy arguing "for" the motion.) I also remember that, in those early days, we had to send a printed copy in one of those brown, internal envelopes of everything we emailed, just in case the person being emailed didn't check his/her mailbox. Well now Google is trying to reinvent email with the Wave. Main criticism is that it's just too complicated. (If you're listening to the background music on the link and trying to remember the song, here it is.)

6) Almost the Truth: The Lawyer's Cut: Monty Python
Now, if you've been reading my posts and committing them to memory, you will recall that I already posted about this new DVD celebrating Monty Python's 40th anniversary last week and that post made reference to an earlier post on the same subject. I also mentioned, to my FTC readers, that no money or goods had yet changed hands for my review. I'm happy to report that this is no longer the case and that I do now have a free copy of the DVD. I haven't opened it yet but I can assure you that it's the finest, most incredible piece of documentary work I've ever been freely given. But, if anyone cares to send me the latest work by Ken Burns on National Parks (which I haven't had nearly enough unallocated Wednesday night space to watch), I am more than prepared to re-evaluate.

That's it! Back soon with more stories from the world of brand strategy (and related areas). More thoughts and comments also available on Twitter (@martinjbishop).

Never underestimate the power of a great story

Video: Canal +

In the burger wars, Wendy's squares off

Video: You Know When It's Real. Wendy's

"Come on. Let's face it. You know it's real by how we make it. When it's real. You know when it's real."

There's absolutely no reason, when I think about it, that burgers should be round and that round burgers look more real than square ones. But I'm used to round burgers so, unfair as it is for Wendy's, I think square ones look artificial.

Which gets Wendy's off to a bad start when it tries to persuade me, with a side-by-side comparison, that its square burgers are more real than "the other guys" round burgers. It turns out that I, sample of one, don't measure reality by the way burgers are made. More by the way they look.

Putting aside my (hopefully for them) perverse reaction to the hamburger shape, what is the prognosis for Wendy’s new positioning? As pointed out in a recent story in The Wall Street Journal, Wendy's has struggled to define itself since the death in 2002 of Dave Thomas, its founder and former pitchman. Is focusing on freshness and quality and "poking fun at the competition" going to help them revive the brand?

I'm doubtful. Would asking Melinda Lou to pitch be a better bet? What do you think?

SOTB: It's not what you know edition

Photo: Culture Tubes Hey Paul (Flickr CC)

As you all know, it's who you know. And this was the week for meeting virtual friends in real life, specifically Grant McCracken who I met on Thursday along with a group of others interested in those cultural matters on which he is such an expert. So, to celebrate:

1) Business as the new rocket science: Grant McCracken
Some of the issues and themes we talked about on Thursday were also on Grant's mind in this post. Things like: How to monitor the constant churn of culture and markets where "new developments sweep through us like storms off the North Sea." For that, Grant proposes: "A 'big board' that identifies what changes are coming, how quickly we can expect them to arrive, and what to do when they get here."

2) Everyday Culture Officers: New Facebook Group
The conversation continues and now you can join in! After our get-together on Thursday, Cynthia Young set up this Facebook group to carry on the cultural chat. It's a group for those who "understand the importance of culture and the role it plays in the world of business."

3) For The Sake of Making It Easier: Optimistic Anthropology
The aforementioned Cynthia Young's most recent post starts: "Oh the inventions and processes we humans devise in order to make life easier and to take back our time from performing tasks. But, oh the crimes we commit to make a life easier, to be a bit lazy and avoid thought or work. When is making things easier right and when is it wrong?" This accompanied by a photograph of four Segway riders, clearly a strong case for the prosecution.

4) The twitimpact phenomenon on brand at light speed: brand as business bites
Then, on Friday, it was great to catch up with Denise Lee Yohn who was visiting SF from San Diego. This post, about how fast news travels in these Twitter-fueled days, was guest-written by Dan Phillips of Skybend. Not only does Dan coin a new word to describe the impact of Twitter (twitimpact) but he also gives us this analogy: "A minor slip-up in brand awareness is like peeing in the pool, no amount of chlorine can get the pee out." Nice. All while telling us what Jane Adams should have done once she (apparently) did what she shouldn't have done.

5) Almost the Truth: The Lawyer's Cut: Monty Python


You only have to write about something once these days and you'll be on someone's radar screen. In this case, that "something" was my post about Monty Python turning 40. That prompted an email asking if I'd be interested in posting a behind the scenes clip promoting a new 3-disc set chronicling the history of Monty Python. Of the three to choose from, I thought this one where John Cleese is explaining how getting sick as a pepperpot led to the famous cheese shop sketch was the most interesting, although Stephen Coogan doing the "undertaker' was pretty good as well. IFC will be showing the documentary in a 6-part series starting October 18th. (Note to FTC: No money, free DVDs or any other form of compensation was given (unfortunately) in return for this plug. Willing to update as necessary. Brittney?)

6) A Day at the Office: sfeder331



OK. I don't know these guys at all. But, as this video made the rounds this week, most people had more or less the same reaction: That looks like a group of people it would be fun to know and work with. Powerful!

That's it! Back soon with more stories from the world of brand strategy (and related areas). More thoughts and comments also available on Twitter (@martinjbishop).

It's Pumpkin time again

A Brand Mix Classic (!) first published on October 22nd, 2007. (My photo)

There was a time when most fruit and vegetables really were seasonal. Back in the UK, strawberries were only around for a few weeks around Wimbledon, raspberries just for a few weeks after that. It was sort of exciting and special when they showed up.

Now, most things are available year round. I don't think there's every a time when I can't buy strawberries in my local supermarket, for example. It's not so special anymore - they've become a commodity and, like other commodities, something to be bought when the price is right.

But pumpkins are still seasonal. So strongly associated with Halloween and so not something you want to eat everyday they remain locked in their October slot. Special enough that we even spend a day going out to the fields to find the perfect one.

SOTB: The mainly "M"s edition

This week's Six of the Best features Miley, marshmallows, the Moon and Marge. Plus misguided FTC rules and dead flies sunbathing from Muhr:

1) Miley Cyrus Quits Twitter, World Ends: Yahoo Tech!
Yes, it's true. @mileycyrus has closed down her Twitter account. It may have been a boyfriend-prompted, spur-of-the-moment decision for her but it's caused agony and heartbreak for many of her 1.1 million followers. Their pleas for her to start tweeting again (#mileycomeback) became one of the top Twitter trending topics of the week but has fallen on deaf ears so far. Relationship marketing at its finest.

2) Blogged and Sold: The New York Times
Choire Sicha thinks that the Federal Trade Commission’s efforts to regulate online endorsements are misguided. As an example, he thinks of "poor" Gwyneth Patrow whose " weekly GOOP newsletter is filled with heartfelt recommendations of services, products, experts and restaurants. This means one free garganelli at Babbo and, blammo: the F.T.C. may clap her in what are most likely non-hypoallergenic shackles." If the same rules are applied to celebrity dressing, he wonders if: "Come the Golden Globes, will our nation’s most important celebrities be forced to wear disclaiming signage?" (For those who want to read the FTC perspective, it's here)

3) Don’t! The secret of self-control: The New Yorker

Oh, The Temptation from Steve V on Vimeo (via Ben Kunz)
This video reproduces the experiments of Walter Mischel described in (comprehensive) detail in The New Yorker article. It turns out this test is predictive of future success and that kids that are able to distract themselves from eating the marshmallow have already started developing the self control that makes so many other things possible later in life.

4) Marge Simpson will bare it all for Playboy: USA Today
The Marge Simpson centerfold is "obviously somewhat tongue-in-cheek," Playboy's new CEO, Scott Flanders Flanders says. "It had never been done, and we thought it would be kind of hip, cool and unusual." Or desperate?

5) NASA "Moon Bombing" May Have Hit a "Dry Hole" National Geographic
Well, now the President has won the Nobel Peace prize, we've got to find something unearthly to take our aggression out on, I suppose.

6) Dead Flies: Muhr Photography (via brandflakesforbreakfast)

That's it! Back soon with more stories from the world of brand strategy (and related areas). More thoughts and comments also available on Twitter (@martinjbishop).

VW drives into the middle of the road

Photo: Max by mcchots (Flickr CC)

Volkswagen's U.S. chief executive, Stefan Jacoby describes his intentions to reposition VW from niche to mass appeal in an interview with the Washington Post, perhaps leaving behind Max, the star of recent campaigns. Here are selected highlights of the article with the thoughts running through my (current Audi and 3-time VW owner) head as I was reading the article:

Article: Germany's Volkswagen is "an icon brand" and "there are a lot of great stories and memories" about the Beetle, Jacoby said in an interview. But, he added, "to play a bigger role here, we need to modify and adapt to American consumers' needs."

Me: Uh, oh. This doesn't sound good. Why does adapting to consumer needs mean ditching great stories and memories?

Article: Here, there is more cruising and long-distance driving. In Europe, there are more tiny roads and you drive more actively than in the United States," Jacoby said. "We Germans drive and we are not drinking in the car," he added. "Americans have breakfast and coffee in the car. We have to adjust to this."

Me: VW has been in the U.S. market since the 1950s. This can't be where they've gotten to in terms of insight. And what's with the "We Germans" attitude?

Article: Jacoby, 51, offered few details about the cars, other than that they will be among the first Volkswagen vehicles built specifically for American taste. The cars will have a decidedly less European feel, with a more user-friendly steering wheel and entertainment system, an accelerator and brake pedal that are farther apart, and larger cup holders."

Me: Larger cup holders? And haven't they had enough of the distance between accelerator and brake issue after this? More importantly, isn't European a key defining characteristic of a VW and an important reason that people buy the cars? What do they want instead of a European feel? An American feel, represented by, say, GM?

Article: Audi officials say they do not intend to duplicate the Volkswagen strategy in Americanizing the cars.

Me: Phew! Leave my Audi alone!

(Apologies to Mr. Jacoby if the Post article does not fairly or accurately reflect his opinions.)

Monty Python turns 40

Monty Python's Flying Circus was first aired on the BBC on October 5, 1969. Here's what they did for/to Spam:


And here's a Life photo collection to celebrate the anniversary.

SOTB: Twilight Zone edition

One Friday night, back in October 1959, America slipped into the Twilight Zone for the first time. Some have never left....

1) Twilight Zone Intro: YouTube



"There is a fifth dimension, beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call the Twilight Zone."

The series, created and often written by its narrator and host Rod Serling, ran for five seasons. According to my YouTube research, this was the first season's intro sequence. The more familiar "dee-dah-dee-dah-dee-dah etc"music intro was used in the second season.

2) Cheating Death - Snus & Placebo Effect: The Colbert Report

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Cheating Death - Snus & Placebo Effect
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Michael Moore

This week's "Cheating Death" segment of The Colbert Report featured Camel Snus, new tobacco pouches that are: "Perfect for when you need a nicotine fix and when you don't mind looking like the pig-faced people from the Twilight Zone."

In the same segment, he covered the news that placebos are getting more and more effective, a topic also discussed in Wired and Mind Hacks. As the Wired article says: "The fact that an increasing number of medications are unable to beat sugar pills has thrown the (drug) industry into crisis." The drug makers have done such a good job convincing people that their drugs work that now they are getting better even when they only take a sugar pill meaning that the same drug makers can't beat the statistical hurdle rates that would allow them to launch new drugs. Very TZ.

3) Why The Saturn Brand Was Destined To Fail: Mark Ritson
Earlier this week, "Saturn was Plutoed" (from @fritinancy) when Penske pulled out of the deal to buy the brand from GM. Although many people loved the brand for its cars and its "no-dicker stickers," Mark Ritson says: "Weep not for the loss of Saturn." He thinks the brand was doomed from the start (back in 1985) because it was never set up to be profitable. Rather than succeed in its mission to defend GM against Japanese imports, it turned out to be an expensive failure that stopped GM fixing its core business problems. Mark Ritson says Saturn is a classic example of a failed fighter brand, a topic he covers in more depth in this HBR piece. (I've written about fighter brands as well.)

4) Commentary: Starbucks Via Instant Coffee - Breaking the Brand: David Vinjamuri
Back in the 50s, when the Twlight Zone started, instant coffee was in its heyday. Since then it's been gradually fading away. So it's surprising and curious that Starbucks has chosen to launch VIA, its own instant coffee. David sees the VIA launch as the culmination of a series of steps that has gradually take the company away from its original mission and towards being a convenience brand that will compete head-to-head with McDonald's and Dunkin' Donuts.

This BusinessWeek article sheds some light on the VIA launch. It seems like the technical challenge of producing an instant coffee that tastes as good as ground coffee has fascinated Howard Schultz for a long time. So, when the company finally succeeded in this mission, there was no doubt that the product would actually be launched regardless of the brand implications.

5) Does IBM have elves? Do ads bleed meaning? Grant McCracken
Turns out that the guy who is playing the "pious MD in a lab coat" for IBM is also playing an elf in a Castrol oil ad who's thinking with his dipstick. Grant asks whether this matters or not. I remember a kind-of similar problem when we had signed up Dixie Carter for a Coffee-mate ad and she didn't want to do the ad as Julia Sugarbaker, the character from Designing Women that she was known for at the time.

6) 100 GREATEST HITS OF YOUTUBE IN 4 MINUTES (now with list!) Hadouken!
#1 on the Viral Video Chart is this video mash-up with more than 1.5 million views to date.



That's it! Back soon with more stories from the world of brand strategy. More thoughts and comments also available on Twitter (@martinjbishop).