![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.therightbrainstudio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/picmonkey_image.jpg\" "\\"picmonkey_image\\"")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
We rely on coherence, systematic thinking and logic in an incoherent world.<\/p>\n
This should not come as a surprise, as humans crave resonance. Our minds play all kinds of funny tricks on us to eliminate any hint of cognitive dissonance. The facts don\u2019t matter as far as the id is concerned.<\/p>\n
Businesses, like people, also aspire to resonant thinking. They take complex brands, often with multiple benefits and a wide range of users from all over the world, and piece together single-minded, straightforward, universal and easy-to-understand narratives.\u00a0 Sometimes the bigger the brand, the more things are over-simplified to a \u201cglobal\u201d template. Many global marketers go to the extreme of limiting market-by-market changes to a few words beneath the logo or other very minor packaging elements.<\/p>\n
This is the way it\u2019s been done. Find the emotional essence of your brands and focus, focus, focus. Cut through the clutter with your meaningful, proprietary message and keep banging away until people get it.<\/p>\n
However, the most successful global marketers remind us that one size does not fit all. Starbucks didn\u2019t force feed coffee to the Chinese. They developed green tea drinks to appeal to local tastes and promoted the kind of dine-in service favored in China.<\/p>\n
Cultural differences are easy enough to identify between the U.S. and China, but are we doing enough to acknowledge psychological, cultural and lifestyle differences here in the U.S.? Are segmentation studies, the way they are now employed now, providing adequate direction?<\/p>\n
More important, have an infinite array of choices and the narcissistic, \u201cjust give me the hits\u201d nature of consumers irrevocably changed how we think about marketing fundamentals?<\/p>\n
The days of a target defined as \u201cbusy working moms living in heartland states\u201d are over. We have to recognize that every mainstream brand must cater to a wide spectrum of psychological and lifestyle needs, not just \u201cprimary\u201d and \u201csecondary\u201d targets. True, moms with kids of a certain age will have a lot in common. But that doesn\u2019t mean they think of themselves or how your product fits into their lives in the same way.<\/p>\n
Just look at Facebook pages of moms. They vent, brag and dish, seeking \u201ccomments\u201d and \u201clikes\u201d and other affirmation for their unique lives and their unique beautiful children from their \u201cFriends.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brands still need \u201ccore values\u201d to stand out from competition in a meaningful, emotional and proprietary manner. However, as iconic brands such as Starbucks and Apple teach us, both in the U.S. and abroad, it is essential to create a space for consumers to personalize and own those values without making a \u201cmajor commitment\u201d to the brand.<\/p>\n
As to be expected, trailblazing, iconic brands show us the way. No matter where in the world or the U.S. you are, Starbucks always allows you to personalize your experience. Choice and customization are deeply imbedded in their core values.<\/p>\n
Variations of iPhones, iPads and MacBooks may be limited, but all are designed and marketed to under an umbrella of personal creativity. Once the Apple choice is made, users are magically infused with expanded imaginations and unlimited creative potential to help them fuel expressions of their one-of-a-kind essence.<\/p>\n
These \u201cMegaCool\u201d brands combine a singular vision with an aura of personalized access that envelops their users with feelings of specialness. This is much more difficult for more \u201ceveryday\u201d brands. There\u2019s a lot of badge value in your iPad, but not so much in your soup, breakfast cereal, deodorant or toothpaste.<\/p>\n
Most \u201cMegaCommon\u201d brands don\u2019t have a shot in the world at every becoming MegaCool.\u00a0 There\u2019s the rare case of an old, dying brand like Pabst Blue Ribbon making a comeback with a younger target, but packaged goods are just not as inherently sexy as high technology, fashion and places where people gather like Starbucks.<\/p>\n
However, there is a huge upside to applying MegaCool analysis to MegaCommon brands.\u00a0 Take the very different cases of two of the most iconic (though still MegaCommon) brands in the U.S., Campbell\u2019s Soup and Cheerios.<\/p>\n
For the past two years, Campbell\u2019s Soup has been running what I had always believed to be a brilliant campaign, one that seemingly checks every box on the \u201cHow To Make Great Advertising\u201d checklist.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s emotion and aspiration.\u00a0 Campbell\u2019s Soup will put you on the \u201croad to happiness.\u201d\u00a0 How?\u00a0 \u201cDelicious Campbell Soups fill you with good nutrition, energy, farm grown ingredients, and can help you keep a healthy weight.\u201d<\/p>\n
The executions are uplifting, beautifully shot, and feature voiceovers from none other than Tim Allen, Buzz Lightyear himself.<\/p>\n
And it\u2019s all summed up in a wonderful, uplifting, memorable tagline \u201cIt\u2019s amazing what soup can do.\u201d<\/p>\n
The results? Well, not so good.<\/p>\n
Denise M. Morrison, Campbell\u2019s President and Chief Executive Officer, writes in the 2011 Annual Report:<\/p>\n
\u201c…performance in our core Soup\u2028 and Simple Meals business in North America was disappointing\u2026These declines were not solely the result of the downturn in the economy. Today, consumer tastes and expectations are more diverse and variable than ever before. It is clear to us that in our Soup \u2028and Simple Meals business, we must respond more effectively to demographic changes and generational shifts in food preferences.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
And despite a 4th<\/sup> Quarter bump which they seem to attribute to discounting, sales continued to decline in Campbell\u2019s Fiscal Year 2012.<\/p>\n
\u201cConsumer tastes and expectations are more diverse and variable than ever.\u201d They wanted the hits, but Campbell\u2019s spent about $100 million a year on the album and didn\u2019t get very far. With all the variety Campbell\u2019s offers, the ads just flashed a brief visual of cans representing the big three lines, Condensed, Chunky and Select Harvest.<\/p>\n
By going with the \u201ccorporate advertising\u201d approach, assembling a single narrative from many different parts, Campbell\u2019s passed on a tremendous opportunity to allow consumers to customize and self-define from it\u2019s wide range of flavors, forms, packaging options and potential uses of its products.<\/p>\n
Contrast Campbell\u2019s \u201ccorporate marketing\u201d approach with the sub-branding approach employed by General Mills for its Cheerio\u2019s franchise.\u00a0 Starting with a single product, classic Cheerios in the yellow box, the brand added its first successful extension, Honey Nut Cheerios, in 1979.\u00a0 The line has now grown to 12 Cheerios varieties including Chocolate, Frosted, Cinnamon Burst, and most recently, Dulce de Leche. The indulgent, one might say \u201cjunky\u201d nature of these varieties always make me think of the classic SNL John Belushi fake ad for \u201cLittle Chocolate Donuts\u201d breakfast cereal. It\u2019s almost comic, and if nothing else, a huge disconnect from the purity of heart healthy oats.\u00a0 But maybe that\u2019s the point..<\/p>\n
General Mills would argue that any of the Cheerio sub-brands, from the cholesterol lowering Honey-Nut to the \u201cdelicious\u201d Chocolate, is part of a \u201cbalanced, nutritious breakfast.\u201d Translated to plain-speak, at least for the more indulgent flavors:\u00a0 \u201cYou can get your junk food fix and feel really good about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
And that fits perfectly into the world of the metaphysical tapas bar.\u00a0 Consumers are empowered to piece together what would seem to be conflicting elements \u2013 health and indulgence \u2013 in a way that relieves them from any cognitive dissonance.<\/p>\n
Brands need to embrace this need for personalization, much as Geico does in its advertising. True, they spend about a billion dollars a year in advertising, which enables them to run multiple campaigns with multiple characters at any given time.\u00a0 But it\u2019s all under the banner of \u201c15 minutes could save you 15% or more,\u201d and always expressed with a quirky, friendly and funny brand personality. This allows consumers to connect with them on their own terms.<\/p>\n
As brand choices, and access to those brands proliferate through the Internet, \u201con their own terms\u201d is the only way that consumers will be connecting to your brands.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Redefining Marketing Fundamentals We rely on coherence, systematic thinking and logic in an incoherent world. This should not come as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12624,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therightbrainstudio.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therightbrainstudio.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therightbrainstudio.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therightbrainstudio.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therightbrainstudio.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1044"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.therightbrainstudio.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1044\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therightbrainstudio.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12624"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therightbrainstudio.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therightbrainstudio.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therightbrainstudio.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}