jamjar Essays

LEVERAGING PRIDE AND BUILDING PASSION IN YOUR BRAND - DECEMBER 2011

What a run the BC Lions are on, and as they say, you could not have scripted it better. 

Yet as British Columbians we have, seen this movie before…remember 1994?

The Canucks finished a memorable drive to a 7th game in the cup final (although, played in New York) and lost to the Rangers 3 - 2. 

In 1994 the Lions season began with little fan fare as everyone in BC was caught up in the “Nucks” moment, with little time or “Press” spent on our football team.

Vancouver was hosting the Grey Cup that fall but no one was noticing or seemed interested.  In fact, as a member of the Grey Cup committee and board we were very concerned about the lack of interest from most potential sponsors and absence of ticket sales. 

A potential national CFL disaster and embarrassment was brewing in BC, no passion and very little pride for a franchise that was celebrating it’s 40th Anniversary with 3 Cup championships to its credit (the Canucks had none). 

The Lions were not on the radar as playoff contenders never mind cup finalist but as luck, and a little team chemistry would have it, our boys made it into the playoffs on the final game of the season and then went on to beat both Alberta teams to represent the West and gain home field advantage against the CFL powerhouse, the Baltimore Stallions (Yes the CFL had teams, briefly in the US back then).

Suddenly passion filled the market, the remaining seats (around 25000 of them) sold out in a couple of days and Vancouver and the BC Lions were proudly hosting  a Cup Festival and championship game! 

Sounds familiar? 

Fast forward 17 years later and history has infact repeated itself, with the Canucks just missing out in another foiled attempt at a 7th game (only this time in our own barn) and of course our Lions playing host once again to the Grey Cup festival and game…all we need is the boys to cap off a great season with a win and the city can once again rejoice in self pride and passion.

History will be rewritten with one exception.  This year the BC Lions were prepared to capitalize on greatness, to leverage provincial pride and build on the markets passion. The Lions organization set up the ”stage” and proactively placed the message in minds of the fan base and market with their timely “Pride” campaign, “the Pride of All BC”. 

The Lions have provided a Brand case study that all businesses could benefit from regardless of the final result next Sunday.

Capturing and articulating Pride in an organization is central to building a genuine brand.  Pride is a key ingredient that is activated from the inside of a business culture and then is driven outside with a level of enthusiasm and passion that’s required to effectively engage the market, consumers and ultimately customers or in the case of the Lions, their Fans.

The Lions did everything right and deserve all the accolades that will come as a result of their Pride strategy and for that matter the Canucks have also achieved much the same results with their “we are all Canucks” campaign. 

Both Brand strategies are about driving pride and passion from the inside – out.

The Teams brand activation began with the players and the organization, and like a good viral strategy; the “Brand” builds with each victory and defeat, with every positive and negative story and with the stewardship and leadership of our local “hero’s” like Ryan Kesler and Travis Lulay.

What did these two organizations do and ultimately achieve?  First they both captured and imbedded past pride in the mindset of the BC market.  With the Lions, 5 Championships, the vintage Empire Stadium and the brand new BC Place, they bottled Pride!  Similarly the Canucks celebrated, a 40 year history, recaptured in stories, in achievements and in tributes to players and coaches, capturing and packaging up Pride as well.

What both organizations didn’t know for sure, was the success that the Teams would both have on their respective playing surfaces. 

WINS in professional sport, drive fans passion and passion drives consumption of ticket sales, sponsorships, merchandise, food and beverages revenues and profits, like nothing else, and there is no better WIN than a Championship!

The secret of both organizations success was strategically planning and activating brand campaigns that maximized the potential of their ultimate team goal…to win a championship.

Your business and your brand are similarly influenced strongly by the same attributes and catalyst of professional sports franchises.  Your “cup” is market share, your challenger is your competitor and your competitive advantage is your culture, your people, your TEAM. 

Pride and passion is central to your Brands success, and brand equity is built on these ingredients year after year.  Yes it’s best when you win, but with this approach, everyone wins through planning, passion and pride. 

Even if only one out of the two organizations can still bring home the ultimate prize, just like they did in 1994!

Go Lions Go!

If you would like to learn more about leveraging Pride and building Passion in your Brand, please contact Larry Donen, Chief Brand Steward, at; larry@jamjarbrands.com

 

 

THE "ART" OF BRANDING - WHAT'S IT'S WORTH - NOVEMBER 2011

When I relocated to Vancouver, to join the Vancouver Canucks and create a new retail arm for the organization, part of my task was to develop a new name and “logo” for the venture.  Given that the Canuck organization desired to develop the retail division in traditional shopping centers, our strategy was to build a concept on overall licensed sports properties while noting the direct affiliation to the hockey team, hence “Winning Spirit, the Official Retailers of the Vancouver Canucks” was born.  Along with the venture came a new company logo design, but at what cost (for the art) and what value (to the Canuck organization)?

I found out that the organization was rumored to have spent close to $100,000 for the development of the “skate logo” and at the time I didn’t question the price. After all, this was the era of the Bull’s, the Yankees, the Cowboys and the recently refreshed Gretzky lead Kings (you remember – silver, black and purple).  The age of pro sports licensed merchandise was at its peak, as street wear became synonymous with sport fan fashions…team stuff was every were, and everyone was wearing it!

So what did we spend to design our new Winning Spirit logo? $20,000!!!  And for what?  To this day I can’t comprehend my choice but I understand the persuasion to do so at the time.  First, I was inexperienced in the area of graphic design and the real value created from logo art, secondly the organization just spent 100K on their own jersey logo, so this number seemed reasonable, and thirdly my boss and his boss didn’t really care, because our agency said “that’s what good logo’s costs”.

So what did we really get for our 20K logo?  The same value or RIO you may acquire from a $100 logo, as you get from a $100,000 identity, no guarantee of Brand success or valuation.

Recently I heard an advertisement on the radio of an on-line graphic design company coming into Canada that offers to businesses a new logo identity for as little as $300!  But that’s not all.  Here’s the REAL value, you get to choose from 100 designs AND if you don’t like any of them, you GET your money refunded. AMAZING! Right?

I can see all kinds of businesses large and small lining up for this on-line offer, but again what are these companies buying in Brand value?  Nothing, but a new logo, and 99 others to throw away!

Talk about taking professional out of the profession.  First of all let me be clear on my respect for the graphic design community who spend years educating themselves and then many more years apprenticing under seasoned professional graphic designers.  Any trained graphic designer can create a logo for you, within 15 minutes of you saying, “the name of my company is XXX, please design me a logo…simple right?

But that’s not what the industry is based on, we don’t sell ART for the sake of art, well develop and design a “family of graphical language” that represents a company’s brand (product or services) that clearly define and reflect the organizations competitive differences in the market place.  Further with proper strategic guidance based on discovering the values, character and core principles of the culture (employers and employees) or stakeholders within the company, the brand can reveal these attributes as well, and frankly, should and must.

The world’s most recognized consumer product identities like Nike, MacDonald’s, Apple, and Coke clearly have brand equity valuation beyond the operating companies real assets.  In these cases the value is predominantly in the BRAND.

Phil Knight of Nike paid $35 for the treasured Nike swoosh, a brand icon over 40 years old now (introduced in 1971).  Today this logo can stand alone without the word mark “Nike” and be recognized globally as the brand Nike…the ultimate goal for any brand steward, and the ultimate return on the investment of Nike’s $35.00.  It has been rumoured that Nike awarded the designer Carolyn Davidson, a Nike Diamond ring and shares worth $18 Million dollars as an appreciation (and copyright buyout) of the value of the design many, many years after the fact, non the less a bold offering and statement of brand value, but not a reflection of time required to design the identity.

So why pay more than $300 for a logo, if design is not tied to an immediate return on investment.  Because a company no matter how large or small should never just purchase a logo, and organizations need to realize the true value of a business is reflected in the hard work it takes to make any identity valuable and not simply a piece of ART to place on your business card, T-shirt or delivery truck.

What you get out of your logo is what you put into it.  just ask Nike, Apple and the Vancouver Canucks (who’ve changed their logo three times in 40 years!!!)

If you would like to learn more about the Art of branding, please contact Larry Donen, Chief Brand Steward, at; larry@jamjarbrands.com

 

 

ACTIVATING MISSION PLANS OF THE GREAT VISIONARIES - OCTOBER 2011

When I reflect on the passing of Steve Jobs I place him in awe with other business hero’s of mine that include Walt Disney and Sam Walton. My students have come to appreciate my admiration for these original and brilliant minds as I continue to refer to them and tell their stories in class. In my consulting practice I also refer to these and others when discussing and developing an organizations Vision and Mission Plan.

Over the years of working with many different companies, I’m always interested in the variety of interchangeable strategic terminology used to motivate, align and define an organizations core business practice. Companies may use Vision or Mission to make such statements and publish these words as a means of clarity for all stakeholders. As a business and brand strategist I prefer to work with these terms in this way.

A founding Vision is attributed to the organizations founder or core stakeholders and is historically and practically relevant. That being said, over time, change occurs and vision adjustments are required and activated through new leadership. I like to use the term ‘shared vision’ for this purpose. Hence, founding vision over time will lead to a shared vision establishing a renewed legacy period, forever changing leadership teams.

A good example of this will be Apple with the unfortunate death of Steve Jobs, and the impending adjustment towards life for Apple without its founding visionary. To appease Apple followers, customers, employees and share holders it has been stated by the company that many of Steve’s innovations have been strategically planned out with a series of on going releases that will see Apple grow with out interruption for many years to come. So what’s next for Apple may not be realized for another decade, but the question and answers will be forthcoming. What will be Apples new “shared vision” and how will the new legacy team continue with the founding visionary’s dream while making Apple relevant to new consumers with out Mr. Jobs at the helm and on stage.

The same challenges faced many other company’s in the past including Disney (when Walt pass away in 1966) and Wal-Mart (when Sam died in 1992). Each of these businesses continued to grow and prosper and continue to do so. Will Apple? (of course it will!?!?!) The key transformation from a shared vision to realizing the “dream” is the next phase, which I refer to as the “mission plan”. Unlike a Vision or Mission statement, the Mission Plan is a long term strategic plan that takes into account key measurements of brand equity, market share, and planned growth that normally takes more than a fiscal year to accomplish successfully, yet required a similar planning and activation strategy used in any single years plan. When Michael Eisner took over Disney in the 80’s, the company was short on long-term strategies and Eisner implemented a planning process that accounted for a 10 – 20 year outlook…hence a Mission Plan.

From these plans, Disney was able to recharge it’s failing animation studio (run by Walt’s brother Roy) and basically save Disney in all aspects of its products, including; Theme Parks, Movie Studio’s, Hotel’s and Resorts, multi unit Disney Stores and even Cruise Ships…all part of the new shared Disney vision, while paying respect to Walt’s founding vision and principles, and activated through a detailed 10 year plus mission plan. For smaller companies (unlike Apple, Disney and Wal-Mart), in other words every other business, a three to seven year mission plan is most likely, adequate. If a 5-year mission plan is desired, then the plan is made up of 5 – 1 year business / brand / marketing plans and activated accordingly.

So why is a long-term mission plan needed at all? Well as Disney, Apple and Wal-Mart found out early in their history, you can’t determine real success / failure or growth or product consumption in a single fiscal years result. You can’t possibly market a message to the vast targeted market of product appeal and consumption and then generate enough feedback to determine a product or service success or failure. Good business takes time to consider and consume and a well planned out mission that is activated, marketed and monitored over a 36 – 60 month period of time has the best opportunity to be adjusted if needed and then succeed.

Thank you Mr. Jobs, Mr. Disney and Mr. Walton for the lessons.

If you would like to learn more about Activating Your Mission Plan please contact Larry Donen, Chief Brand Steward, at; larry@jamjarbrands.com

 

 

EMPLOYMENT BRAND AND RECRUITMENT BRANDING - SEPTEMBER 2011

Every fall you can count on two things, kids going back to school and a spike in employment figures over the past three months. September can also be dubbed “back to work”, as business gear up for 3rd or 4th quarter activity.

Recruitment, retention and retirements are common in the work place as companies adjust resource plans for the annual growth push towards critical reporting figures.

So how important is the Brand in relationship to company’s employment strategies. For great companies like Google, South West Airlines, McDonalds, Apple and today’s Ford, it forms a core component in brand strategy activation.

Given that Brand is an inside – out business driver, then people development professionals need to introduce Brand from the first possible company touch point. A Website, an Ad, a Tweet and personal contact with a current employee are all starting points for company culture branding.

An employment brand, builds a desire in a potential recruit that can strongly influence people to choose one organization over another. Similarly, a negative occurrence whether it be as a customer, or consumer or a friends impression of a brand experience can keep some of the best recruits off your radar an on your competitors workforce.

Great companies build brand pride and passion on first contact, and they continue to develop a unique bond with employees through a long retention period right up to the point of “retirement” from the company.

Keeping things fresh is one aspect, keeping things relevant to an individual’s career learning and growth while maximizing productivity in a team environment is a critical brand practice. It’s as important as any new or refreshed product introduction or adding new technology or machinery to the plant.

When we at JAMJAR engage a company in a Brand discovery for the purpose or repositioning a brand in their competitive area, we engage the work force first to establish an understanding on any GAP that may exist between the executive team and front line employees. There can’t be any questions amongst all stakeholders regarding the Brand.  Every one knows the Story, the Promise, the Brand Positioning and ALL are driven to deliver the best possible brand experience to the market place every time.

Business is simple, people are complex… you will win the market share battle if you build your Employment Brand and recruiting branding with the same energy you tend to put into your product or service brands.

If you would like to learn more about Employment Brand and Recruitment Branding please contact Larry Donen, Chief Brand Steward, at; larry@jamjarbrands.com

 

 

AVOIDING THE SUMMER TIME BLUES - AUGUST 2011

Have you ever noticed that everything seems to slow down in the summer? OK a rhetorical question, that being said, I’m still perplexed as to why companies steamroll through parts of the fiscal year and then slow things down to a crawl at other times.

My point being, there is no time to take your foot off the gas in a competitive business environment.  Constant business and brand activation requires a real commitment to business / brand planning and execution.  Reactionary business practices tend to fail, frustrate leadership and discourage employees because rarely does this kind of common practice result in positive profitable gains.

There is no time for summer time blues or winter hibernations, in business, and your competitor’s brands never rest, well at least the best brands never do.

We all have complicated lives, and in the summer time or during the winter holiday season, we are challenged with balancing what’s best for our business and what’s best for ourselves.  It’s not easy, after all, business is simple and people are complex, and in my experience the most effective way to avoid slow productivity periods is to have seamless executions of brand or marketing strategies ready to be activated long before deadlines become a factor, in slow down periods.

JAMJAR’s client the Pacific National Exhibition (the PNE) is a master of preplanning and excellence in execution of their annual fair.  They have to be, the fair is BC’s highpoint of locals and summer vacationers and a tradition for over 100 years.  Not being ready is not acceptable and the PNE hires more than 20,000 part-time employees to ensure that everyone has a great time.  How do they do it?  Years of practiced planning and a respect for the process (and time it takes) by everyone, and every stakeholder.

The only threat, truly, to the annual fair is weather, and weather is the only uncontrolled variable, which means every other variable has been considered and addressed in strategic planning and activation.  Why is the PNE brand revered?  Because it’s unblemished, and the pride and passion of all stakeholders behind the scenes is the key driver.  Remember everyone of the full time executives and employees face the same “summer time blues” and challenges we all face in balancing a complex lives, yet they manage to balance their lives throughout the year, and the brand never misses a beat.

Brand planning, strategic activation is imperative to every business, large or small, the main reason is even if you don’t believe in the practice of planning, your best competitors do, and every year that you ignore the need to be proactive in your business thinking the competition creates another competitive advantage.

If you would like to learn more about proactive business or brand planning, and our facilitation of strategic brand planning process, please contact Larry Donen, Chief Brand Steward, at; larry@jamjarbrands.com

 

 

BRAND ELASTICITY – JULY 2011

What better time to discuss the concept of Brand Elasticity then in the aftermath of the so-called “Stanley Cup Riots 2”.  The city of Vancouver and it’s tourism industry, briefly found itself in the eye of a media storm, with negative coverage associated to our national pastime.

In this case, and unlike the original version of the 1994 Stanley Cup Riot, the City of Vancouver had gained years of experience in putting on grand scale festivals that have included Grey Cups, Annual Fire Works, G8 Summits and of course the Vancouver brand defining moments of the 2010 Winter Olympics.  All post 1994 riot events with unparalleled success.  It’s true Vancouver can put on a great street party.

However, within minutes of reporting the aftermath of the 7th game, media outlets were questioning the eminent distain for one of the worlds most likeable and livable cities.

So how tarnished is the Vancouver Brand?  And will these isolated incidences (2 riots in 17 years) influence the choice of world travellers to second guess a desire to visit Vancouver?

We know the city is concerned; they formed a task force to examine the Vancouver Brand, determine the level of scaring, and hopefully develop a proactive brand strategy that calls for a “one city, one brand” tactical marketing approach.

But shouldn’t this undertaking have been happening already?  Why so reactive, Vancouver? Should we have not had a unified tourism brand message in play long before the Winter Olympics began, and surely after they ended?  Proactive Brand Planning, another topic for another JAMJAR Essay.

In my opinion the Vancouver Brand was not damaged at all, in fact, the attention might even suggest that we are now in a similar lime light of world city’s like Paris, Rome, London, New York, Toronto and Montreal. 

Vancouver is growing up and wants to play with the big boys.

Vancouver has powerful “Brand Elasticity”, which is defined as the ability to with stand negative occurrences or events because of its greater appeal to consumers.  Lets also be clear that the consumer is more intelligent than we sometimes give them credit.  The consumer can be swayed of course by negative press, but in the case of a world city like Vancouver it would have to be headline news for weeks on end depicting uncontrolled cultural chaos.  This of course was not the case.

The Vancouver brand is more powerful than one nights worth of preplanned civil unrest.  It was bad, it looked bad, it appeared bad on national TV and in national papers, and it was over by the next morning when real Vancouverites took back the city street, cleaned it up and sent a refreshing message back to the media to report on.  Can one night really tarnish the incredible global images of 18 days of Olympic games bliss?  Are visitors that forgetful?

Other national and global brands have taken their share of lumps over the past number of years.  Maple Leaf Foods notably suffered with its direct connection to product and death of consumers, but with stood consumer outrage because of historical and positive brand equity and a prompt admission of accountability resulting in purposeful and focus improvements in food safety.  Has the consumer stopped buying Maple Leaf Food products, since?  Have investor shares suffered?  Has market share declined?  Maple Leaf  must have powerful brand elasticity.

British Petroleum (BP) is on the other end of the spectrum, and has defiantly suffered a major brand blow, but in this case the press never let go of it’s bone and the story remained front and center for months, doing damage that is unrepairable in the near future.   That being said, it is a brand to watch over the next decade and see if it can come back, transformed and powerful again, or will the company simply be split up and the bright sunflower never to be consumed again.

When considering your own brands elasticity are you prepared with a strategic brand plan that takes into account crisis, because large or small every brand takes a few “punches to the chops” the question is, how will your brand, bounce back?

If you would like to learn more about your brands elasticity, please contact Larry Donen, Chief Brand Steward, at; larry@jamjarbrands.com

 

 

BRAND POWER – JUNE 2011

Professional sports properties, are some of the world’s most powerful brands.  A local sports franchise’s brand can consume a market like no other, and even if the fan base is frustrated by lack of success (winning), it can quickly find a place in the minds and hearts of its audience with a planned or sometimes lucky trip to a championship run.

Take the current rendition of the Vancouver Canucks, they have once again (well once every 15 plus years) find themselves the envy of the NHL with a trip to the finals and this time they are the favorites, to win it all.

Over the years the Canuck brand or branding has taken many forms and many images.  In its 40-year history, the franchise has changed its team brand as represented by the jersey and team colours no less than 5 times!  That’s an extraordinary amount of brand transformation and not the most prudent brand strategy to follow.

Lucky for all these different regimes and ownership group, the name has survived and to that degree the fans continue to relate to their beloved hockey team.

Back in 1982 an unexpected symbol, a simple white towel, became synonymous with the Canucks first run at a championship, and towel power was born.  These powerful brand symbols driven from a grass root, unplanned circumstances tend to be stronger brand drivers then anything a marketing team may contrive.

In 1992 I was a member to the Vancouver Canucks executive team, and for the first time in a decade we found ourselves back in the playoffs chasing the cup.  Before we knew what was happening our marketing department decided to follow the successful white pom pom campaign of the Winnipeg Jets, where by sponsors provided fans with free pom pom in return for brand recognition.  Being a Winnipegger and believing in the tradition of Vancouver White Towel, I was confused by this choice and suggested that we scrap the idea, and bring back the white towel.  Unfortunately the commitment had been made and the pom poms had been purchased, so we were stuck with the new promotion.

That still didn’t stop me from pursuing a towel program and with the permission of our president Pat Quinn and owner Arthur Griffiths, Winning Spirit our exclusive retail arm was allowed to sell towels in the building and our retail stores.  Along with selling these towels we tied the product promotion to raising a dollar for every towel sold to our new community hospice, Canuck Place.

Needless to say towel power was back, and the fans flocked to purchase these towels, support Canuck place and wave towels at the games.

Inside the building fans didn’t know whether to wave towels or shake pom poms, so they did both, but by 1993 and especially in 1994’s run to the cup, the towel was back, and the brand’s power was clearly represented by an enthusiastic audience.

From 1994 and on, Canucks towels has been a part of the brands character as any symbol in the history of the franchise brand story.

With this year’s 40th anniversary, the organization, in recognition of the late great Roger Nelson and his unplanned protest of holding up a white towel, during the Chicago series of 82, commemorated the spectacle with a statue, thereby ensuring the towel as a brand icon and team folklore.

Before an organization goes through a brand transformation, it must review the existing brand equity to determine the brand power effect of its historical icons.

If you would like to learn more about “brand power” please contact Larry Donen at; larry@jamjarbrands.com

 

 

THINK CLIENT’S BUSINESS FIRST – MAY 2011

Thinking client’s business first, while appeasing the client’s company culture and ever-present individualities, may be the most challenging part of a ‘brand stewards’ job.  Like the adage, “the customer is 99.9% right” the same can be claimed for the client, after all they are paying bills, right?

So there’s the catch, because what is best for the client’s business is not always what the client thinks is best and ultimately what they ends up with.   Often our best solutions whether they are strategic or creative are lost on the clients, because stakeholder influence is not unearthed in the beginning of discovery process or what we term, JAM sessions.

As a solutions provider, I only put forth what I truly believe is the right course of action, based on research, on the resources available, the talent and skills of employee to execute solutions and the need and desire of customers / consumer to want the product offered up in the brand message.

Why would consultants offer anything less than what they believe to be the best answer for the challenge they were engaged in to resolve.  I’ve always maintained that an organization should not hire a consultant or industry expert if they are not willing to listen or learn from them.

I’ve based my practice and my business ethics on the principle of “thinking client’s business first” and I stand by it.  The results are mixed; many times the best solution comes from challenging every stakeholder, including me (I am invested, as well, after all).   Leaders within organizations as well as influencers can create an environment of doubt that can lead to mistrust, even if it’s in the best interest of the business to move on proposed solutions.  On the other hand the best results can come from support and leadership trusting the solution and executing flawlessly.

At JAMJAR we always anticipate the cultural reality that if stakeholders or influencers are not directly included in the thinking process then there is a high probability that they will critique marketing creative and activations, simply because of their lack of input.  Managers and influencers opinions matter most in the beginning of the process and not after, when they can wash their hands of accountability.

Strategic input is vital and frankly much more relevant than output.  We see output as creative, and few business stakeholders have the specific skills or training to determine whether a creative campaign will be successful in market.  On the other hand many if not all have value to offer prior to the creative and marketing briefs development.

Consultants are engaged to focus strategic output on the business first, getting buy-in is imperative for a successful execution, but the accountability falls to the leadership group in the organization, and how they support the strategic plan. 

Our process begins with a series of “jam sessions” and end with a document we call the “brands recipe”.  It is and needs to be a transparent process, so everyone who is a key stakeholder or influences is considered and becomes a participant, and not a critic of creative.

Critiquing creative with an untrained eye is as easy and subjective, much like critiquing a book or art.  Executing an idea with pride, passion and precision is the primary function of management, and then can be measured objectively.  At JAMJAR we will endeavor to always “hit the ball back” by thinking clients business first, before laying down to our racquet.  This sometimes research in us losing the match, but we retain one of our core principles that we believe set us apart.

If you would like to learn more about “thinking client’s business first” please contact Larry Donen at; larry@jamjarbrands.com.

 

 

ASSESSING YOUR CURRENT BUSINESS REALITY - APRIL 2011

Strategic planning is a key ingredient to maintaining a competitive advantage in any business sector.  At JAMJAR we subscribe to the theory that long term strategic planning engulfs a series of goals and measured outcomes that take 36 – 72 months to fully realize.  These goals include overall growth as measured by market share, customer and employee retention, and top of mind brand awareness, which builds an organizations brand equity.   A macro plan allows organizations to remain focused while making the appropriate adjustments that are required on in the short term, like generating sales revenue, adding and training labour, introducing products and services, changing systems and the required marketing and promotional planning and activations.

These actions are developed as a series of objectives that are realized during a typical fiscal year or possibly over a 24-month period.

It is these types of short-term objectives that allow organizations to adjust their focus without abandoning the overall goals established in long term brand planning.

New businesses like JAMJAR Brands have the advantage of starting off on the right foot, as in our case, we haven’t gone down a repetitive path often enough, so adjustment to our long-term goals can still be implemented without a lot of internal barriers.

As we look forward to our second year in business, we must look back to the beginning of JAMJAR’s inaugural year, and reflect on our accomplishments, working methodology, core business relationships and services offerings.

The process is interesting for us, because we are normally the facilitators that takes our clients through self-examination or as we call it, “a current business reality check”, charted by an understanding of our core customers and potential new clients desires. This is followed by our own assessment of our core objectives that ultimately will grow and benefit our business.

What I just described is JAMJAR’s “gap analysis” and we use this strategic tactic to gain insight on how to move forward with any of our clients business strategic plan.

When I look back at JAMJAR’s first year is was “JAM” packed with exciting new precedent and growth.  We kicked our year off by completing a wonderful project with our client the Pacific National Exhibition (PNE) 100th Anniversary.  This project established our key competitive advantage, which is working with a group of exceptional creative collaborators in a transparent method that includes the client in the process of developing creative output.  In doing so, we were able to deliver all quality creative aspects on time and on budget.  Hence JAMJAR delivered its most treasured competitive advantage – Quality – Time and Price as determined by the clients needs.

Our second successful relationship started a flurry of constant work, as we began to form a niche market in the produce sector.  Our client Star, which owns a number of produce companies that include; Star and Nova Produce, BC Hot House and CFP has retained us over the year to assist in brand, and package labeling, as well as strategic brand planning and facilitation for their parent corp.

From this relationship we were introduced to BC Blueberries a wonderful client that has allowed us to rebrand their organization producing one of many brand films created by us and our partner Barbershop Films this first year.  Our work with BC Blueberries allowed us to work further with some of the local growers like Can West Farms and Fraser Valley Packers.

In this our first year, we also rebuilt our client Baby’s World website, and introduced our own brand new digital environment with Twitter, You Tube and LinkedIn, leading our serge into social media.

Along with the PNE, we continued to work in the Tourism Sector with Tourism Vancouver – Vancouver 125, a brand project for go2, and introducing a new start-up venture, the Ganz Hydraulus.

Finally we’ve ended our first year by returning to our retail roots with branding projects for Dermal Laser Centers and the Sterling Shoe Group that includes, Freedman, Shoe Wear House, Gia, Joneve and Sterling.

All in all, our little JAMJAR ends our first year in the competitive Brand and Advertising sector with 18 clients, many of which we will continue working with in year 2!  Not a bad start, and more importantly we learned a lot about our capabilities and capacity throughout the year.

We also learned that our methods are compelling to the market, and we learned that not everyone is interested in our format of service offering.

We learned that responding to RFP’s going forward is not our preferred method of generating new business.  Along with our valued partners we collectively responded to two RFP’s that we were excited to be a part of.  We put a lot of time and creative energy into both pitches and we made it to the final two, but lost out both times.  We can take some pride away from finishing second, but in this business, second doesn’t count for much. 

We know now that 98% of our business comes from direct referrals from existing and past clients – like one of my past clients Metropolis recommending JAMJAR to the Sterling Shoes Ltd (Thank YOU JB!).

In our gap analysis we recognize that we must continue to over deliver on time and quality of strategy and creative and we must work within our clients budget every time, even if that means more time on our part and less $$$ per hour in fees.

If we can achieve this with our current group of valued clients, we will continue to grow our business through direct referrals - and that is our defining legacy and competitive advantage.

So to our clients and creative collaborators, thank you for allowing us the privilege of working with your brand and producing great creative communications and to my partners at JAMJAR, here’s to an exciting and productive year 2 in 2011!

If you would like to learn more about “assessing your current business reality” please contact Larry Donen at; larry@jamjarbrands.com.

 

 

ACTIVATING YOUR BRANDS ANNIVERSARY - MARCH 2011

As we close in on our 1st Anniversary at JAMJAR Brands (April 1st – no fooling!) we internally reflect on the year past.  Our success, our challenges, drive our focus and adjustments for the coming year, and years to come.

All organizations share the same opportunity to activate brand in this, once a year emphasis on your own company.  Few choose to, and to me this is a missed opportunity cost to the business.

Whether the focus is on internal celebration for highlighting the success of the culture or a chance to remind core customers of your competitive advantages, ignoring the date is a tactical mistake.

Proactive strategic brand planning ensures that the date is not forgotten, and depending on the years 10 – 25 or 50 the level of celebration can intensify with the scale and relevance reflecting on company history.

In our first year, JAMJAR’s first project was creating and developing the PNE’s 100th Anniversary market strategy and campaign – a weighty time frame to celebrate, indeed!

But what happens during the PNE’s 101st year, is it not, still, a BIG number to continue sharing the stories?  And what about Vancouver’s 125th Anniversary, another milestone to focus the masses on.  The Canucks are in the middle of celebrating their 40th year and the new White Caps entering the MLS league are beginning their 1st, with a long market history to remember, and move forward from.  Tourism Vancouver 108! The new Vancouver Convention Centre 3rd?

Anniversaries are dates in which to celebrate and activate a brand message in the market.  It may be the introduction of a new brand identity, and new product or service, even a new executive team or corporate leadership, regardless there is always something and marketers must steward the organization to maximize the anniversary message.

If you believe that your brand must be loud and proud in the competitive market, than, what better time to make some noise then your own birthday!

Strategically brands need to be constantly stroked, managed and expressed. Values, character, shared vision and brand principles require constant publishing and cultures must act as if, in order to grow brand recognition and equity.

So how are you going to be celebrating your brands anniversary this year? 

If you would like to learn more about JAMJAR’s methodology of activating your Brands Anniversary, contact Larry Donen, Chief Brand Steward at larry@jamjarbrands.com

 

 

FROM GOOD, TO GREAT, TO GREATEST - FEBRUARY 2011

Let’s face it; we all think our businesses are great.  In fact, better than most of our competitors.  Better product, better service, and better employees.  It’s in our human nature to believe, we are at the top of our game, when we subjectively look at the competitive set and we constantly assure ourselves of this, in our weekly status meetings and over an email chat with our best customers.

But is it really the truth? Is your organization as great as you think you are?  More specifically, how are you measuring your business against your worthy competitors? The “reality check” is, at best, most companies are good, which in business today is the great equalizer.  Our products, services and employees are no better than the rest and to gain new customers or consumers we inevitably try and buy market share through aggressive price point marketing strategies. 

What’s clear and has been for many years is that lowering price is a defensive strategy that tends to produce average business results at even less.  So how do we engage our business stakeholders to strive for great over good, and greatest over great?

As a brand steward, I believe great begins with brand, and recently I have had the opportunity to work with two clients from different industries facilitating a strategic brand process that when activated will help move both companies from good to great.  In one situation it was recommended that we explore the practical theories of Jaynie L. Smith, from her book – Creating Competitive Advantage, a book that I really enjoyed and one that I would highly recommend.  I found Jaynie’s methodology to be spot on, so we activated her thinking in our sessions, combined with our practice of consolidating opinion to form a strategic activation.  As one participant said, no point in writing another strategic dust collector for our bookshelf.

First step in moving from good to great is activate the strategy and keep refreshing the plan, after all, business is an ever changing series of variables and the plan is organic.  A valued place to start: know your customers needs, maximize the customer relationship, determine your competitive advantage and respect your competitor’s advantage.  The next step is to determine the GAP between what we believe is true, to what is true, and finally to what the desired outcome is, for each strategy.  Once the GAP is understood we can apply strategies to close the GAP, and then activate on the planned elements that will begin the process of moving from Good, to Great, to Greatest.

If you would like to learn more about jamjar’s “from Good, to Great, to Greatest” process, contact Larry Donen, Chief Brand Steward at larry@jamjarbrands.com.

 

 

NEW YEARS BRAND RESOLUTION - JANUARY 2011

The New Year is an excellent time to reflect on the previous year’s business successes and missed market opportunities.  It’s also the perfect time to exam your brand and resolve to doing a improved job in building your brand’s equity.

First, are you branding from the inside out?  Does your culture (your employees and stakeholders) reflect your brand values and character, internally and externally? Do you proudly publish your shared vision and mission plan, and do you reward for living the brand with pride, passion and regularity.  If you can’t answer yes, to any of these questions, you may want to resolve to “brand from the inside – out”.

Are you investing in your brand? In the brands intellectual, emotional, and physical expression?  Do you subscribe to your own brand language, do you recruit new employees in a unique and distinctive brand way.  Are your colours, fonts, shapes and words shared within your work environment and every workspace and not just at reception?  Do you have your own distinctive flavor of JAM? If you don’t see it and feel it everyday, you may need to invest more time, money and energy into your brand expressions. Another New Years brand resolution to consider, “Invest in your Brand expressions”.

Are you branding everything?  You should.  Brand needs to touch everything in order to maximize brand equity growth.  Every form of medium, every communication, every invitation, and every time you answer the phone, is an opportunity to express brand.  If your organization is not practicing this brand strategy then you should resolve to do so.  You should resolve to “brand everything”.

Does fresh creative hi-jack your brand, overpowering it, creating a gap between the advertising or marketing messages and the ability for the business to deliver on the promise every time? If you subscribe to  “branding everything”, then your team must be prepared to live and breathe the brands external market message everyday.  Everyday is a “good brand day” if it’s not, you should resolve to shape your business culture to act as if, even if it’s not.  

Practicing,  JAMJAR’s prosperity principle of A+I=I = E =/- P, is a good new years brand resolution to consider.   Simply stated, the attitudes of your people, plus the images your product or service brands present, equals the markets impression and ultimately it’s experience with your business.  If it is a positive experience your profits will grow and your company will prosper.  On the other hand, if it’s a negative experience, your profits will plummet and your business will fail.  For brand, attitudes matters most, if your collective business attitude is negative, you should resolve to fix this, immediately, an important resolution consideration for the new year.

Do you employ brand ambassadors are you practicing the social engineering of Brand Stewardship.  Are you leading by example and creating brand disciples? A brand is like any child, it needs nurturing, its needs to build confidence, but most importantly it needs love (or in business speak – consumption).  Brands are not creative through pretty designs or eloquent words, these creative expressions are relevant but they are not the driving force to building a successful brand. 

Leadership, stewardship, disciples and ambassadors, create raving fans, and loyal consumers.  If you don’t have brand leaders or stewards or ambassadors in your organization, you should resolve to develop them, recruit them and retain them, your brand maybe at stake if you don’t.  “Leadership and stewardship” a good brand strategy resolution for 2011.

These are just some of our favorite strategic brand resolutions for 2011, if you would like to learn how to activate any of these brand strategies contact Larry Donen, Chief Brand Steward at www.jamjarbrands.com

 

 

 

GIVING BACK - AN ESSENTIAL BRAND STRATEGY - DECEMBER 2010

December is always a good month to reflect on the years accomplishments, but is it the time to launch a giving back, brand strategy?  I would suggest that the time to begin focusing on a give back plan is in January, the beginning of a new year. For organizations, and personal brands, giving back can be an every day essential brand strategy and not just for show or good holiday timing.

Companies that focus on culture as much as the bottom line tend to see donation or volunteering or supporting causes as a re-occurring brand strategy and not something to consider only as a result of a good profitable year.

Supporting causes, creating foundations and funds are brand drivers with good intentions and should be encouraged throughout organizations. Like any brand characteristic the actions must be encouraged and driven with the same level of values, pride and passion that businesses drive revenues and profits.

Giving back is good for business., good for the recipients, and good for your organizations culture, and should be practiced and celebrated year round. This is a prime example of branding from the inside, out.

Giving back takes different shapes and forms, and is less about amounts or size of  “cause” and more about relevance, and importance to the company culture and individual employees.

Over the years I’ve experienced different kinds of giving, some great, and some not so. I had the privilege to be on the original steering committee for Canuck Place, founded by two wonderful individuals Brenda Eng and George Jarvis, and supported by a great company leader and goodhearted person, Arthur Griffiths. At a time when the Canuck organization was struggling with internal business losses, Arthur, inspired, by Brenda’s passion and George’s vision of brand building ventured to create the ultimate ‘giving back’ institution for the Canuck brand. A legacy for everyone involved and a most needed support for so many children and families throughout British Columbia. Grand in scale, grand in heart, and well celebrated, 18 plus years later.

Giving back, with a purpose, focus and brand strategy is an effective brand and culture-building tool. Multi-unit retail sometimes can struggle between giving as a corporation or within the communities that stores are located in. For example if an organization has chosen to support nation wide Cancer research by raising money through a variety of year round events and activities, the total contribution can be substantial but the sense of local good will may be lost, because of something that is more pressing in the local community or within the households of individual employees. In these situations, I have recommended a two-tier approach to giving back that supports the various communities while supporting the corporation’s cause. A simple 50/50 fund strategy works well; in that it provides local donations to be split between a desired local community causes, while still raising support for any national give back brand strategy.

Giving back does not always come down to donations or food or clothing all worthy of consideration if so inclined. Giving back can also come in the form of teaching, coaching and volunteering. These are the year round givebacks that tend to be forgotten at a time when the BIG business of giving takes precedent. Time is as precious a commodity for anyone today and like monetary donations can be as valued by worthy recipients. Time focused on seniors, or children or students, or the homeless, can be even more life enriching than simply writing the annual charity cheque.

For me, personally, I prefer a combination of all of the above, that being said my most gratifying ‘give back’ is in teaching and raising passion and aspirations of young marketing minds and our future ‘givers’ of tomorrow.

I’m sure over time and with life’s normal cycles my ‘giving priorities’ will change, but for now my personal brand is focused on sharing experiences through teaching.

Have you discovered a good fit for your giving back strategy through your brand’? If you would like to learn more about effective strategies for giving back, contact Larry Donen, Chief Brand Steward, at larry@jamjarbrands.com

 

 

THE PROSPERITY PRINCIPLE – NOVEMBER 2010

A + I = I = E +/- P

Attitude plus images, equals impressions, which equals experiences that determine a positive or negative long-term prosperity. This equation sums up jamjar’s Prosperity Principle and is core to our strategic discovery in examining the gap(s) between an organizations current state business and where it desires competitively, to be. The Prosperity Principle is a simple equation to understand but not so simple to achieve.

In industry today we believe the great competitive equalizer is most often the product or service offered at the core of any business sector. Is there really much of a difference between any car brand of similar class, or the service you expect to receive from your chosen Internet provider. Today, price is marginalized; competitive values and benefits are similar if not exact replicas and new medium powerhouses like Face Book, Twitter and You Tube can sway consumer’s purchasing habits more than traditional message mediums, like Print, and TV / Radio commercials.

Front line employee attitudes and overall brand experience combine to provide one of the last competitive advantage that remains at the hands of progressive management and business leadership.

Employee and Employer attitudes matter more than creative image or messaging. Delivering on published brand stories, promises and positioning lines means more to customer retention, new trial, frequency and loyalty than any advertising campaign can sway away competitors market share. Judgment is fast and fresh and can come in multiple impressions, faster than any company can spin a negative experience, just ask Barak Obama who in the last 30 months has seen this work to his Presidential election benefit and to his potential political demise.

Effective cultural leadership that drives pride, passion, emotion, and a winning attitude into selling or servicing new customers or retains existing consumer loyalty will help to foster long term business prosperity. More than ever consumers are looking for brands they can trust.

In a broad sense, images that the eye sees and the mind stores are maximized when accented with positive employee attitudes. Whether it’s in the greetings of a Wal-Mart employee or the front desk service of a 4 Seasons concierge, or the after services of your cell phone provider, attitudes matter in building a valued and trusted brand. 

When jamjar helps companies re-fresh their brand, we also look for ways to refresh the cultures attitude, and in practicing branding from the inside-out, new or refreshed product or service brands go through a thorough testing of employee and management scrutiny with an end goal of having the entire company fall back in love with it’s brand products or service offering.

Individual positive consumer experience is a lasting one, and is the most influential driver of customer loyalty, supportive advocates and brand ambassadors.

Prosperity is the long-term end results of an effective and affective brand building strategy that is realized by all company stakeholders.

If you would like to learn more about jamjar’s “Prosperity Principle” contact Larry Donen, Chief Brand Steward at larry@jamjarbrands.com.

 

 

SHARED VISION - OCTOBER 2010

Most companies acknowledge that they have a vision for their organizations health and success. They sometimes describe their founder as a founding visionary whose values, esthetics and character form the essence of the business, brand and culture.

In cases where the founder is still active in the business this is most likely true, but what happens when businesses evolve or transform or diversify and the founder is no longer present?   Business cultures shift every time new leadership takes over, and effective business leaders understand the equity of the founding vision.  That being said change happens and in order to activate change effectively, Jamjar advocates the process of exploring and publishing a refreshed “shared vision”.

A shared vision process takes into consideration the founders vision while mixing in the shared vision of a new leadership team.  The measurement of new leadership can be summed up during the team’s legacy period, which is the period of time that a leadership group takes over the stewardship of the business.  Business measurements reflect the success of this legacy period, and business history will tell the tale of achievement.

Anyone who has joined an organization at a senior level understands the accountability of measured results, but if the organization doesn’t review the shared vision with new leaders then an opportunity is missed and the business core is not fully strengthened, with the knowledge and experience that a new team member brings from past best practices.  Further the opportunity of engaging the leadership team in a macro level discussion of business vision may also be missed.

A confirmed shared vision has a trickle up effect to front line employees, customers and other stakeholders.  It provides a real sense of belonging, understanding and focused energy and confirms that the organizations leaders are driving the business in a focused direction, “all for one, one for all”. Everyone succeeds when the vision is shared throughout the organization and customers experience is maximized.

With a shared vision firmly planted in the core of the culture, an organization can move to the next level of strategic planning, a long term mission plan.  At jamjar we support the notion of macro planning that encompasses the probable legacy period of the current leadership team.  Hence we advocate the development of a minimum 5 year mission plan that is broken down into 5 – 1 year strategic, brand and marketing plans, all wrapped around a fiscal budget of investment spending.

Our planning structure is inclusive of every organizational department, creates accountability, brand sustainability, with a focus on productivity and profitability.   

None of this can be realized, of course, without a shared vision.

If you would like to learn more about jamjar's “Shared Vision process”, contact Larry Donen, Chief Brand Steward at larry@jamjarbrands.com

 

 

ECONOMIES OF CREATIVE - SEPTEMBER 2010  

Fundamental to our creative approach to brand building is the practice of economies of creative. Now this may sound like a process to minimize investment in marketing but in reality jamjar’s recipe calls for maximizing brand impressions over an extended period of time, preferably up to 5 years in market.

Our thinking starts with the knowledge that 90% of businesses can’t afford the luxury of changing creative every year, but agencies desire something fresh, annually, and push their clients for new creative. Do markets? Do consumers? Well in order to fully penetrate a market with a distinctive message a company needs to distribute the message consistently and repetitively during a concentrated period of time. The market needs to get its fill of the message or it won’t be driven to consume, and there’s the rub. Most businesses can’t afford the required amount of distribution through all mediums to make a market impression that takes away share from competitors.

To put this in perspective think of the mass merchants who weekly fill our newspaper with flyers from Drug stores, Grocery chains, Furniture, Home Improvements and Electronics. Big box dominates this category of distribution, and the message is mainly based on price point marketing. If you are a small to midsize player in these sectors, can you compete? Maybe on price but certainly not on distribution of message, and the same holds true for other traditional mediums like TV and Radio broadcast or outdoor billboards and transit advertising, where many brand product and service sector giants like to advertise.

So what can the average Canadian business do to compete, to build brand and to market their message effectively? The answer begins with a realistic marketing budget that is directly driven through a long-term strategic plan. If an organization has a vision of growth over a period of 5 – 10 years then it makes sense to establish a strong brand message over the same period of time. So why not creative? Further, if an organization is creating a message to drive its culture to increased productivity levels, to recruit new employees, to promote best practices, why can’t the consumer or customer creative messages be similar to those targeted to its internal customer (its employees)? This is one example of economies of creative, and one that should be practiced by all small to midsized businesses. An example of this is the work we completed for our client Star Produce, a large and fast growing company that competes in a very tight margin sector, distributing a variety of fruits and vegetables throughout North America. Our creative began with a simple brand promise or positioning “Handled with Care.” This positioning is seen on all published communications to consumer, customers and employees. This statement works hard and is sustainable over a very long period of time. It may never need to change, and if that’s true, imagine the brand equity that is built over 10, 20 of 50 years. Like any long-term investment, brand works in a similar fashion.

Economies of Creative also means using the core idea in a variety of mediums. An example of this is the work we did for our client the Pacific National Exhibitions (the PNE) 100th Anniversary. We produced a 4 min film, which became 5 – 30 second TV and Radio spots, which became print ads, billboards, and transit shelter advertisements. Creative is seen on-line and in new social mediums. We built it this way, and stayed within the budget that was given to us. We not only economized in our creative, we also economized in our collaboration of ideas, our client was always present as were our creative and production partners so we economized in time, price without compromising on quality. We delivered all three, QUALITY, TIME and PRICE and that’s our jamjar recipe for successful economies of creative.

If you would like to learn more about Economies of Creative, contact Larry Donen, Chief Brand Steward at larry@jamjarbrands.com

 

 

RELATIONSHIP MATTERS - AUGUST 2010

There are no short cuts to real business growth; it takes time, money and a keen sense of customer relationship matters. Customer’s count, measure, recall and take note of every expectation met and missed. They expect and deserve attention to detail and they are always willing to meet you half way although some need convincing more than others.

Each relationship is unique, yet similar in the expected outcome. Customers want to win every time, not against you but against their competitors. They see you as being on the same side, after all you have been hired to provide a competitive advantage.

Winning customers isn’t easy and the investment can be high especially in the time spent winning new customers. Our methodology at jamjar brands is simple, we call it “get, manage, and keep” and it’s mainly about establishing the boundaries of relationship, from the very beginning.

In order to grow our business we indulge in the 444 recipe which means this: it takes 400 connections to generate 40 face to face meetings that results in 4 pieces of business. And that’s what it takes to win new business and in our case, new clients.

The secret ingredient of this recipe is that you never lose the initial connection as long as you remain professional and courteous in your response when your first request to meet doesn’t materialize. What really matters is the second, third and sometimes forth follow-up, which begins with a promise to simply follow up, in six months from your first contact.

This action demonstrates patience, and an understanding of how business works. In almost every case, no matter what you are selling, some other competitor is already providing a similar product or service, but as we know from being customers ourselves, something will invariably occur that opens a crack in the door of new business opportunity, but it maybe just a small crack. It may take six months, it may take six years but if you are true to your word that you will check or follow up, you will have an opportunity to meet face-to-face with a potential new customer or client. We “get” our share of clients at jamjar by strategic sector analysis, planning our approach and through calculated persistence and patience.

“Manage”, or managing the relationship of customer or client is central to long term retention or keeping the client. Hence our practice of “get, manage, keep.” We know we must deliver the quality goods, services and in jamjar’s business the brand creative, but in most business sectors the great equalizer is the product itself. We believe this is a fact in the agency world and the majority of professional services. Every agency produces outstanding creative. Just look at their websites. They all feature beautiful, fun, ironic and pointed work. We know we do. But that’s not enough, so we focus as much time on the client relationship as we do on the client’s creative, because relationships matter, most, in building your brand, business and profits.

If you would like to learn more about our philosophy of “get, manage and keep” contact Larry Donen, Chief Brand Steward at larry@jamjarbrands.com

 

 

THE NAME GAME (A PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE) - JULY 2010

What’s in a name? Everything and nothing. A name is what is made of it, not the name itself. 

I’ve had the privilege of naming a number of babies in my days, the most important ones being the name of my son, daughter and puppy. The kids were relatively easy because my wife and I agreed on most of our choices. The dog was somewhat more complicated but I agreed to it because it was my son’s choice and we all went along with it, despite the fact that he named a female dog, Rascal, which is not very lady like. 

Oh well, what’s in a name?

The name of an organization or product is somewhat more complicated, but not because of the name itself.  Rather it’s because of the business culture the brand that the name, will represent. Again, from my experience, I have been involved in a number of name games of businesses and products, including; the Vancouver Grizzlies, Baby’s World, Winning Spirit, Triple O’s, Uptown, Traction Creative Communications and of course jamjar.

In every case, I really didn’t care what we named these organizations; I only cared about how we introduced the name brand and concept to market, and how we would grow the brand by story selling the essence of the name in every applied strategy and marketing tactic from its inception.

I find that when an organization is hung up on a name, rather than its business, competition and market, it has lost focus on what is truly important.

Like a child, a business name (brand) is introduced to the world with incredible optimism and hope. Every baby is beautiful, and every business enters the market with an opportunity to battle for and win over a market.

The name is simply the beginning, and if an organization spends too much time deliberating on a name then other more relevant business decisions will paralyze the organization.

Leadership matters in naming an organization, whether the leader decides to simply announce the new name of a business or product or supports another one’s vision of a name. Leadership matters because others will simply follow, allowing creative services to bring out the personality, and attributes of the new name and brand to the culture.  Once this step occurs you create another level of buy-in, and the selling of the concept can begin.  If the culture supports the company leadership, then they will support the concept and sell it with pride and passion to the market.

When I was president of Detroit Creative, I knew from my first day that we needed a name change for our market. I never approached our owners with a name, I only asked for permission to explore the possibilities.  We asked our employees to submit, their ideas, and we narrowed the choices down to five names, which we presented to the partners of the firm.  In my mind, any name would do, but the only name that mattered was the name that we could protect with trademark registration and have access to a URL. 

Traction Creative Communications became that name, a name that came from our Vice President of Client Services. By supporting another employee’s idea, I showed leadership and began a movement of support, pride and passion for our new brand name.  Traction was launched into the marketplace.

The Vancouver Grizzlies was a different story, I did in fact come up with the name “The Grizzlies” however, at first I thought the name should be the Kodiaks, but upon our first search on the name, the NBA determined that we would encounter many challenges on trademark, so I switched it to the Grizzlies.

In this case, I needed to lead from behind, because three other powerful influence groups had a say: our owners, our fans and the media. As a brand steward, my job was to provide options that all three would accept, and a name that the NBA could in fact protect the name.  I first proposed 10 ideas, and then brought the number down to five names; the Grizzlies, the Orcas; the Coyotes, the Ravens and the Dragons.  With all five names proposed, I was confident they would work in our market place, but I knew if I pushed any of these names on any of the influence groups the debate would stall the process, and we needed the time to work on the chosen concept to meet our deadline with the NBA.  So I learned the art of social engineering, or leading from behind.

The ownership group was split on the choices, but the majority shareholders at the time liked the Grizzlies. Personally, I preferred the Dragons but I was told by the NBA, that other clubs desired that name as well.  So I supported our majority shareholders choice and we moved forward on protecting the trademark for the name, the Vancouver Grizzlies.

We launched the Grizzlies with great fanfare, and executed a world wide brand launch. Too bad the team didn’t match to business results with the on-court results.

With your personal name or a business name or a product name, time determines and measures success. The name is only the beginning, and if your organization spends too much time deliberating a name, then there is a high probability the paralysis from over analysis and this will stall your business efforts.

So get on with the name, stop playing the game, and begin to develop the experience that the brand must delivers to compete and win in the market place.

If you would like to find out more about naming a product, brand or business, please contact Larry Donen, Chief Brand Steward at larry@jamjarbrands.com

 

 

BRAND EVERYTHING - JUNE 2010

When I was hired as a brand and marketing consultant for White Spot Restaurants the task seemed simple and obvious to me: brand EVERYTHING. But I didn’t coin the phrase, although I use it often, when discussing the merits of brand. It was the President of White Spot, Warren Erhart, that I credit for asking me an important question in one of our many discussions on how to transform this British Columbian love Brand.

It really doesn’t get any bigger than White Spot when contemplating the top five local brands that are most meaningful to the local market. The problem for White Spot was that they were not relevant to the new market; hence, they were in a declining spiral with guest counts (customers), and as a result, waning revenues.

As one of the new market consumers (I’m from Winnipeg), White Spot meant nothing to me. When I first tried this local establishment, I was confused as to what the big deal was. The concept was old and tired, the employees were also old and tired, and the food, although tasty, lacked any imagination or plate value. Nonetheless, White Spot had its hidden charm, and some food gems like the famous Triple O’s sauce.

What was evidently clear to a brand steward was the lack of consistency and continuity of the brand message.  On my first visit I learned 75% of what needed to be done to correct this simple mistake.  So when I met the president for the first time, and he asked me my first impression, I told him that I was confused by the brand. He attempted to defend it like most of the locals do, so his next question to me was “where are you from?”, followed by “well, then it’s understandable why you don’t connect to the brand.”  Warren was definitely a brand champion, and his employees were true ambassadors, but in a competitive market place that tends to emphasize price point marketing, the brand driver of pride and passion simply wasn’t enough.

The key strategy  to “Brand Everything” came about in the first meeting when my second impression provided the answer.  I was looking around the White Spot head office and observing various confusing brand imaging in Warren’s office and I quickly noticed the following:  every central image, like the sign at the door, the logo on the servicer uniforms, the colours and art on the walls of the restaurants and the menu jacket designs, were all distinctly different. Further to the point, the HR division produced a complete series of employee manuals with the colours purple and cream (White Spot colours are green, red, and yellow). I could go on but the picture was clear. It is a brand steward’s job to ensure the constant and repetitive use of all messaging, including elements as simple as the brand’s identity and images.

The food, and specifically the plating, also lacked brand, other than the names of meals that had become synonymous with the brand over decades of use, like the Triple O burger. Even with this strong iconic image and taste difference, the advertising photos used to promote the top seller always over-delivered on expectation compared to the one you actually experienced in the meal itself (I’ll take the one in the poster, please!).

Over time I continued to point out these inconsistencies and within the first week of me being on the job, the president of White Spot said to me in a frustrated tone “so Larry, we just need to brand everything, right?” Well, he nailed it. It was that simple: BRAND EVERYTHING. I answered “yes, brand everything” and so it began. And I learned another one of my favourite sayings,“business is simple, people are complex”, because even though the answer to 65% of White Spot’s issues were staring everyone in the face, this battleship could not simply turn on a dime.

When I teach my class at BCIT, I like to tell the story of FED EX and how in a 72 hr period they transformed their brand from the old and tired Federal Express to the new and relevant FED EX. They did this in all 90 countries that they operate in, with over 30,000 employees, and it took only two years from idea to completion to implement. A monstrous undertaking executed with explicit symmetry, pride, and passion. Since then, FED EX has never looked over their shoulder at a competitive threat, and they continue to maintain the brand, and every brand extension, with the same critical focus and brand stewardship.

So how did FED EX do it? Leadership and capital, two absolutes needed to transform a massive brand like this in a short period of time. The reality check is that 95% of businesses lack the wherewithal to perform such an undertaking.

Capital, whether defined as human resources or simple cash, is always a barrier and forms a big part of the box that brand stewards must think in (see essay on “thinking inside the box”).  At White Spot, the management knew they needed to do something with their stores, and in some ways their culture. They appeared to be spending money on marketing, but none of these market drivers were going in the same direction, and both ownership and franchisee were becoming impatient.

So we activated a simple strategy of producing every operational brand image or message that was required under the strict guidelines of new graphic standards. If it wasn’t green, red, yellow, black or white, it didn’t get past the “brand cops” in marketing.  Seems simple, but it wasn’t. It took time and it took a lot of discussion. By the time White Spot opened its newest concept store at the new multiplex entertainment and recreation centre in Richmond, all these brand impressions were in sync. Why? Because the marketing department was assigned the task of transforming the brand from old to new. We acted as brand stewards; we sent anything back that didn’t conform to the graphic standards, and we launched the new look and feel to great brand results. 

This represented the beginning of a decade’s worth of brand transformation, and today White Spot has evolved even further. The difference now is that they brand everything and they do it very well. They have attracted the new market while maintaining their core customers, and they are the local leaders in the competitive casual dinning category.  They brand everything and in 2008 they were recognized by the BCAMA as marketers of the year.

If you would like to find out more about BRAND EVERYTHING please contact Larry Donen, Chief Brand Steward, at larry@jamjarbrands.com

 

 

THINKING INSIDE THE BOX, OR JAMJAR - MAY 2010

Thinking outside the box?  After 30 years of business practice, I’m convinced that this statement is a myth, or at bests a distraction. Or worse, an avoidance of the current reality of what businesses face every day.

Agencies use the expression in an attempt to convince their clients that they only and always consider a fresh approach to marketing their client’s brand. But to me the freshest approach comes from within the box or in our case “the jamjar”.

At jamjar the “box” represents our clients business and to truly create, develop and activate marketing that returns a positive bottom line, then a brand agency must not only “think inside the box” but create inside it as well.

Is it not true that the creative who can imagine all the limitations and market realities is much more challenged to be creative than the one who always designs from a clean canvas? 

Are we forced to be more creative in a sandbox or an open beach?

One of the most important “inside the jamjar” ingredients is the existing brand equity.  One way equity may manifest itself is in an established brand name or trademark. Many times we are asked to consider a name change or an identity refresh for our clients business.  When we think outside the box this is a relatively easy task. Only when we “think inside the box” do we truly challenge ourselves and ask all the hard questions, like “is this really necessary” or “does it make good business sense?”

I consulted with White Spot Restaurants for close to 10 years, and in that time we transformed the business from an old style coffee shop and burger bar, to a full casual dinning experience, while maintaining most of the concept’s rich and beloved brand character that its guests have consumed over 75 years. Most importantly we avoided the temptation to change the name, which might have made it more relevant to the new market, but at the same time would have risked alienating the core customers, employees and franchisees.

Instead, we took a slower more purposeful inside the box thinking, and came out with a result that effectively touches every brand attribute and characteristic. We transformed the old identity into a new fresh brand, and separated the popular “triple O burger” into it’s own fresh food concept, and safely moved both concepts towards new market relevance.  We achieved this by “thinking inside the box”. In White Spots case, the box is very real.

In most business cases, with the exception of new start-ups, a fresh, new and innovative creative approach is based on something in the past and its success is directly proportional to understanding that the “jam in the jar” is a composite of the current reality of Business  / Clients / Market / Competitor factors that make good creative a great strategy and a profitable return on brand investment.

And at the end of the day, whether one claims to “think outside the box” or in our case “think inside the jar”, ROI, and increased brand / business equity is the one single most important result measured by our clients.

At jamjar we’ll take our chances (and risk less for our clients) “inside the jamjar” where we consider the existing influencing factors and variables, while creating a unique and distinctive brand recipe.

If you would like to find out more about Brand Stewardship please contact Larry Donen, Chief Brand Steward, at larry@jamjarbrands.com

 

 

BRAND STEWARDSHIP = BUSINESS LEADERSHIP - APRIL 2010

It seems like a simple concept, that business and brand are synonymous, and leadership is at the forefront of influence to both.  Unfortunately, this is not always the case, and brand can get lost in the day-to-day managing of business.

I’ve always believed and stated that “business is simple, people are complex” and it’s this energy, force and sometimes strong will, of people that truly shape brand, and by direct union, business.

Brand is born from the inside out, and because of this connection, it is driven by emotions, such as pride and passion.

If business is facts,  figures and daily accountability, then brand is the opposite. It’s meant to be experienced; it’s consumed, seen, tasted, heard and felt.  And because brand is so human and a reflection of that, it is unpredictable and individualistic, and therefore a little more risky. 

CFO’s often don’t like to discuss brand.  But some do, and those that do, will realize profits and share equity well beyond the conservative business approach.

Stewardship is the key driver in this, and it is the accountability of everyone in the organization to provide brand stewardship.

When we speak of brand at jamjar, we are not only talking about the visual brand attributes, like a logo, or a website.  We are talking about the brand’s core pillars, values and principles that form the brand’s promise, and that are delivered every time by the brand experience.

As professional brand stewards we know the importance of delivering on the brand message, every time. As leaders within an organization, executives must be on the same page when it comes to brand, as they are when it comes to managing the business. 

This does not imply that there is not constant debate - there is and should be - and we as stewards encourage it. We foster discussion during strategic jam sessions, and we give everyone enough time to develop a brand plan that can stick.

At jamjar, brand stewardship is our competitive point of difference; we assume the role even if we are doing the simplest project. If we are handed the keys to drive the brand, then we in essence and in action become the brand.

And that’s how we make your brand stick in the market place.

If you would like to find out more about Brand Stewardship please contact Larry Donen, Chief Brand Steward at larry@jamjarbrands.com