September 2017
August 2015
Striking Out Cancer with a Visual Hammer
Every cancer center has a mission, vision and core values. If you looked them all up, they are all pretty similar. It is tough to differentiate your brand.
But the leading cancer center for 10 of the past 13 years according to the U.S. News & World Report’s annual survey, does a few things differently.
1. A focused mission.
Most hospitals try to be the best at everything. This doesn’t usually work. Think like a doctor, be a specialist not a generalist.
The MD Anderson Cancer Center has been focused on cancer for 75 years.
2. A focused message.
When you don’t have a focus, it is hard to develop a powerful slogan. Usually you end up with something generic like “Specializing in You” which Sloan Kettering uses.
The MD Anderson Cancer Center slogan is “Making Cancer History” which it introduced in 1996 and hasn’t changed since.
3. A visual hammer.
It is one thing to say your hospital is going to “make cancer history.” It is quite another to visualize it.
What brought this idea to life was the visual. The striking out of cancer with a bright red line.
Initially the line was a just popular video campaign where survivors told their stories and drew a red line through their cancer type to mark their triumph over the disease. After realizing how powerful the red line visual was MD Anderson incorporated it into their logo in 2010.
The difference between the logo with and without the red line is striking. Having a verbal strategy isn’t enough. To truly be great you need a visual hammer that drives the idea into the mind.
July 2015
Flying Flags on the Fourth
As we celebrate the Fourth of July holiday here in the United States, I am reminded of the emotional power flags have. A flag can become powerful visual hammer for a country, company, idea or movement.
In the United States, flags will be waving this weekend as we celebrate our independence from British rule.
Some other flags have been in the news recently as well. Most notably the Confederate flag and the gay pride flag.
The gay pride flag first flew during the Gay Freedom Day Parade in San Francisco in 1978. It has become a widely recognized visual hammer for gay rights and more recently marriage equality for gays and lesbians. The rainbow of colors symbolize the inclusion of all groups.
The Confederate flag was the flag of Confederate States from 1861-1865. That is a very brief amount of time, only four years, 150 years ago. Most flags would have been long forgotten. But many have continued to fly the Confederate flag.
Is it just a flag? No, like it or not, it has become associated with the support of racial discrimination. If you think you are just proud of your southern heritage, you may be. And you may not be a racists. However, you need to be aware that to many, especially the black community, the Confederate flag is a symbol of racism. So every Southerner needs to ask themselves, Why in the world would we want to fly a flag that might do that?
The Confederate flag reminds people of our past, of the horrible treatment of blacks in our country which is why most people have come to demand the flag be in a museum not proudly flown.
The gay pride flag represents our future to be a country that gives equal freedoms including marriage to all citizens. Gay pride flags were once only flown by gays, but today they are being celebrated by all that support the marriage equality act held up by the Supreme Court.
No matter what your political or social beliefs you can’t argue with the emotional power that these flags have in society. Something to think about.
May 2015
What can a red nose do?
What can a red nose do? It can build a brand. A red nose is the visual hammer for Red Nose Day, a campaign started in the U.K. and has now moved into America. The Red Nose Day fund is a program of Comic Relief, a non-profit that raises money for children living in poverty. Hundreds of charities do similar work, but most don’t become as well-known or raise as much money. The difference? A visual hammer that drives the brand into the mind. It might be a simple or silly thing like a pink ribbon, a yellow bracelet or a red nose. Three visuals that have built powerful, relatively-new non-profit giants.
1. Be focused.
Many non-profits try to do too much for too many people. The best way to affect change is to focus on one issue or one disease or one disability. When you have a broad mission like the United Way, it is difficult to communicate what you do and it is hard to find one visual or slogan that can cover all that you do. The United Way survives because it is 125 years old. You could not build that kind of general charity today. Today, you need to be focused in your mission and your name. Take Livestrong. With people living longer and surviving a cancer diagnosis, Livestrong’s mission wasn’t curing cancer like many other charities. Its mission was to support and improve the lives of people fighting and living with cancer.
2. Be specific.
In addition to being focused, it is also useful to be specific. Most vision statements of charities are too broad. “To create a just world, free from poverty,” for example. What does that mean? How can you visualize that? You can’t. That is why a more-specific campaign for Comic Relief is so successful. Red Nose Day uses a clown nose, a comedy show and humor to raise money to help people in poverty.
3. Be first.
Me-too products don’t work, and me-too campaigns don’t work either. After the success of the pink ribbon for Susan G. Komen for the Cure, many charities picked a color and started wearing ribbons. Do you remember them? No. They weren’t first. After the yellow Livestrong bracelets built the Livestrong brand, many charities made bracelets by the millions to wear. Do you link any other bracelet to a cause? Didn’t think so. After the ice-bucket challenge raised over $100 million dollars last summer, many charities tried to think of a challenge. There was the egg challenge and the lime challenge. Will they get noticed? Probably not.
Instead of copying what has already been done and trying to do it better, it is important to find something you can be first in. Don’t use the same visual in a different color, create a new visual.
One of my favorite visual hammers is the puzzle piece for Autism Speaks. It communicates the essence of the issue. Many autistic children are not verbal, so the name itself is specific and serves as a double-entendre. Couple that with the tagline, It’s time to listen.
Whether you want to go on Shark Tank and become a millionaire or want to go out and save the world, the way you do it is the same. You need to get in the minds of consumers. To get into minds you need to focus on one idea. That idea needs to be visualized with a visual hammer that can drive your brand name into consumers’ minds.
April 2015
HP splits into a circle and a rectangle? Oh my.
Hewlett-Packard is breaking up. It plans to split into two companies, separating its computer and printer businesses from its faster-growing corporate hardware and services operations.
The computer and printer businesses would be known as “HP Inc.” and the corporate hardware and services businesses as “Hewlett Packard Enterprise.”
Are more-focused companies a good idea? You bet. Each will have more independence and flexibility to prosper in the fast-paced technology world we live in.
Are more-focused brands a good idea? You bet. A focused brand has an opportunity to own an idea in the mind. And also an opportunity to dominate a category and create a visual hammer.
Oddly enough, Hewlett-Packard was once a focused company with two powerful brands. Compaq, the leading personal-computer brand and HP, the leading printer brand.
Then for some reason, the powers-that-be at Hewlett-Packard decided to dump the Compaq brand and sell everything under the HP brand. Not a good idea.
You can’t undo what happened in the past, but you can make changes for the future. So Hewlett-Packard is trying to become more focused by dividing itself in half. But dividing isn’t so easy. It is messy legally, corporately and mentally.
The lawyers can separate the assets, but how to you separate the companies in the mind? One way is with the name, another way is with a visual.
It is a mistake to use the Hewlett-Packard name on both companies. It’s going to cause confusion.
In the past, we have warned companies about the dangers of line extension, putting the company’s brand name on two or more different products. But now companies are doing company extensions, putting the company name on two or more different companies.
Of course, the names look different on paper, HP vs. Hewlett Packard Enterprise. But the more important issue is how people will speak the names.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise. The name is eight syllables long. Nobody is going to use the full name. They are going to call it HP. Which gets them back to the issue of “HP” versus “HP.” This is going to cause endless confusion. Are you talking about the “enterprise company” or the “computer and printer company?”
So what about the visuals? The HP computer and printer business will keep its current logo. And Hewlett Packard Enterprise will get an empty green rectangle as a trademark.
An empty rectangle? Not very exciting. Doesn’t communicate anything. But kind of what you expect from an enterprise consultant, not in a good way.
(H&R Block called. They want their logo back.)
When it comes to trademarks and logotypes, nothing is as dull as a square. Several companies have used the shape with the same boring result.
The Hewlett Packard Enterprises trademark is a long rectangle but still delivers an equally dull impression.
Nationwide Insurance used a square shape for 15 years but recently changed its trademark back to its more-memorable eagle.
Microsoft recently went square.
J.C. Penney’s change to a square was not well received.
The Gap got a lot of negative feedback when it tried to use a blue square behind The Gap name.
People use “shapes” in the vernacular. A “square” is somebody who is “not with it.” On the other hand, the word “circle” is usually used in a positive way.
Neat, organized, buttoned-down people (typically left brainers) often use squares or rectangles for symbols because they reflect their “don’t-rock-the-boat” outlook on life. But if you want to call attention to a symbol, you should avoid dullness at all costs.
The new logo for Hewlett Packard Enterprise is empty and boring. Is the rectangular shape supposed to be a server? If so, it would seems to position them as just another boring computer consulting company.
In terms of the color, they did a good job in choosing something that would distinguish them from the competition. IBM is blue. Ernest & Young is yellow. Accenture is red/orange.
Currently, Hewlett Packard is associated with blue, so the green is a departure from the past. It is difficult to change a position in the mind. The green goes against what you think about HP in the mind.
However, using blue on both logos would have been confusing.
But a “green” color alone isn’t going to solve the marketing problems at Hewlett Packard Enterprise. To differentiate the enterprise company from the computer and printer company would have required a totally new name.
And that would have required a lot of courage on the part of the company’s management.
April 2015
Political Branding - 2016 Preview
Running for President of the United States means building a brand that at least 51% of the country is willing to buy on Election Day. Not an easy task in a country as large and diverse as America. Too narrow a focus and you won’t get a majority vote.
A narrow focus builds a brand, but a wide base wins the election. The task is huge. Even the iPhone doesn’t have a 51% share of the smartphone market in the U.S.
The key to winning an election is to find a key issue narrow enough to stand for something but broad enough to be appeal to several constituencies.
George H. Bush – “No new taxes.”
Bill Clinton – “It’s the economy, stupid.”
Obama – “Change,” and “Forward.”
The Presidential election is 18 months away, an eternity in politics. But getting off to a good start with your brand, your message and your visual is important in getting into the voter’s mind.
One of the most-effective branding techniques is repetition. The sooner a candidate can nail the brand and repeat and repeat the message the better. The consistency of Obama in 2008 versus the multiple messages of Hillary Clinton and John McCain help propel his success.
I believe in the power of visuals. Obama’s visual hammer was extremely effective. Obama’s success has prompted all candidates to be more visually oriented. Political candidates today are eager to build websites, posters and social media accounts using the right fonts, colors and logos. They have obviously hired top design firms to create elaborate brand-identity guidebooks.
But they are missing the point. A powerful visual is not one that just looks attractive. A powerful visual is one that communicates an idea. Therefore, you don't start by creating a visual, you start by creating a strategy.
What idea does the candidate want to own in the mind? Obama wanted to own “change” so the visual of a rising sun worked to communicate the idea in an emotional way.
Hillary Clinton is one of the most famous politicians in the world. She ran in 2008 and lost. And she has obviously been planning her 2016 campaign for a long time. With the help of top consultants, not to mention Bill Clinton, you would think she would have found a big idea that could be visualized.
Instead her message released this week was “Everyday Americans need a champion. I want to be that champion.” Can Hillary be the visual to represent everyday Americans? She is about as far away from the experiences of everyday Americans as the Queen of England.
After eight years with one political party controlling the White House, it is difficult for a candidate of that same party to win. After Clinton, Al Gore lost. After Bush, John McCain lost.
After Obama, Hillary will face the same problem.
Either she has to campaign on continuing what Obama has started. Which is how George H. Bush won the White House after eight years of Ronald Reagan. Or she has to position herself as offering change without sounding too critical of Obama.
This week Hillary launched her campaign with a bold new visual. A large blue H with an arrow. Some critics have said it looks like a hospital sign or the FedEx logo or a flag.
The issue is not whether the “Hillary H” is attractive or not. The issue is what the H communicates. The arrow forward seems to reinforce a continuation of the Obama administration. An arrow says let’s move forward. Which is somewhat reminiscent of Obama’s 2012 “Forward” campaign slogan.
Is that what she wants to communicate? I would think and hope not. Obama is not very popular; her best chance is to focus on change. Not more of the same.
A forward-looking arrow is the opposite of how most people view Hillary Clinton. Voting for her means going backwards, the return of the Clintons to the White House. Some people like that idea; some people don’t.
Hillary Clinton needs to develop a solid campaign slogan first and then try to visualize the slogan second.
Republicans have an easier campaign problem. Being an incumbent is usually a benefit in politics. But being the incumbent party after eight years in office is not. Republicans getting into the campaign so far are focused on some version of change.
Marco Rubio, is a young, dynamic fresh-faced Floridian who could be the face of change. Rubio announced his run this week with the messages, “Are you ready for a New American Century?” and “Calling all conservatives with a can-do attitude.”
The first slogan positions him as the choice of a new generation vs. Clinton as the choice of the last century. And the “can-do” slogan positions him as getting something done versus Washington’s inability to get anything done.
His visual is a red image of the American map, used instead of the dot on the “i” in Rubio. But it is so small it is hard to see.
Rand Paul is the son of Ron Paul, the former Texas congressman, past Presidential candidate and the face of libertarianism. Rand Paul has to fight to separate himself from his father’s libertarian views and craft a message for the masses. Even though Rand is a Kentucky senator residing in the belt-way, his libertarian connections gives him outsider credentials with insider connections. His current message is, “Defeat the Washington Machine.”
The idea is aimed at the Clinton machine as well as all politicians. It is a good strategy, but can he convince the majority to go along with him on the idea? Could be too radical.
And what is with the donor total taking over his homepage? Looks like he is more interested in being a fundraising machine. The large image of a dollar total is confusing given his anti big government spending message. Initially I thought it was one of those debt calculators. Rand also has a small red flame above his name, a torch of liberty I assume. Too small to see and not connected to his defeating the machine in a meaningful way.
It is going to be a long 18 months of campaigning. But I’m excited to observe, comment, and, of course, vote come Election Day.
March 2015
Hashtag Branding - How to not get burned
Starbucks, like most companies these days, is obsessed with buzz. Not the kind you get from a double-espresso but the kind you find online with tweets, hashtags and likes. It used to be that the major media outlets controlled the conversation. Today, consumers via social media have the power to start, join or change the conversation. The media covers the buzz instead of creating it. As a result, companies are trying harder than ever to encourage consumers to start conversations online with hashtag campaigns. The hope is for a viral success that will reflect positively on the brand.
That is the theory at least. Most attempts are dismal failures. Social issue campaigns can be powerful for companies to increase attention and respect for their brands. But as we saw with Starbucks’ #RaceTogether, even with the best intentions these campaigns can backfire badly.
Big companies, small companies, all of us have a responsibility to give back and to try and make the world a better place. But for it to succeed, you have to understand your brand and your position in the mind of the consumer.
So, if you are thinking about running a #Hashtag Issue campaign for your brand here are some things to think about.
1) Find a cause with an authentic connection to your brand.
Race relations is a hot button issue in America today, no doubt about it. And I’m sure Howard Schultz had the best intentions with #RaceTogether, but what does race have to do with coffee? Coffee is black, milk is white? There is nothing about Starbucks that authentically brings up the conversation about race relations. In fact it is just the opposite. Starbucks is a high-end brand, the top executives are mostly white and larger percentage of its employees are minority. Maybe they could have launched this campaign internally first? The message was delivered more effectively at the shareholder meeting than in the 12,000 Starbucks where baristas were less sure of what to say.
On the other hand, Dove, the maker of soap with ¼ moisturizing lotion, launched the Campaign for Real Beauty which had an authentic and positive connection to the brand. Women use Dove products to clean and soften skin and hair. Promoting women to have a more positive self-image connects to the brand and category.
2) Don’t force yourself on customers.
You can push an issue but don’t push yourself on consumers especially with campaigns that are too silly, too vague or too trivial.
McDonald’s pay with lovin’ which kicked off with some schmaltzy Super Bowl ads showing millennials calling home say “I love you" I think was both too silly and too trivial. Most McDonald’s customers are in the drive-thru with two kids in the back in a rush someplace. The average check at McDonald’s is less than $10. Getting a free McMuffin might be nice, but it isn’t like a free car and most consumers will react as such. Many people commented it was totally embarrassing winning the prize for the customer and the employees. Having to dance with a stranger in McDonald’s was way worse than paying $1 for a McMuffin.
Nationwide launched the #MakeSafeHappen campaign which depressed everybody during the Super Bowl with an ad showing all the ways kids could die in accidents. This campaign was morose, but worse it was too vague. It is best to pick something specific that people remember and feel they can do something about. I can prevent drowning but how can I make safe happen?
3) Stay focused on one issue.
Some companies jump on the issue of the week to try and get into the conversation. This is a mistake. It comes across as opportunistic and unauthentic. Brands need to find the issue that is authentic to their brand and then stick with it for the long run. Chipotle talks about “Food with Integrity.” They didn’t just jump on this last week now that everybody is talking about healthy food. The company was started in 1993 and they have been talking about food with integrity for a decade.
A social issue without a powerful brand isn’t going to work. Integrity didn’t build the Chipotle brand, giant burritos did. The restaurants are successful first and foremost because consumers get huge portions of fresh, delicious, custom-made Mexican food. But Chipotle has wisely used their success to engage with consumers about Chipotle’s decade old mission of using better ingredients from food that is raised with respect for the animals, environment and farmers.
4) Think years not weeks.
Most of these hashtag campaigns are planned to run for a few weeks. Is Starbucks going to put #RaceTogether on its cups forever? I doubt it. Marketing managers think short term instead of long term. The real way to make an impact is to run social campaigns for decades. Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty celebrated its 10th anniversary last year.
5) Have a plan to make it work.
Just putting an idea or hashtag out into cyberspace isn’t enough. You need to be willing to support the mission and have a plan for how change can happen. This is where Starbucks really got into trouble. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar summed it up perfectly “I'm in shock and awe — in awe that the company is trying it, shocked they think it will work.”
6) Use a visual.
Not many campaigns use a visual hammer. But they should. A big part of Dove’s success were the ads showing almost naked women of all sizes. It was a bold move that communicated the idea that all women are beautiful.
One more thing, don’t forget that consumers buy coffee to drink, burritos to eat and soap to wash. To be successful you need a strong brand that owns an idea in the mind like expensive coffee, custom burritos or moisturizing soap. You can do good in the world by supporting a cause but don’t let it get in the way of doing your job. McDonald’s needs to worry less about having customer’s pay with love and worry more about making good food, served fast in a clean restaurant.
February 2015
November 2014
High Hopes for Marley
The Weed Wars are coming. As the legalization of marijuana continues to move forward, we will see hundreds of homegrown brands turn into a handful of big brands and eventually a couple of dominant brands.
It happened with cars; it happened with beer; it happened with computers; it happened with energy drinks. It will happen with marijuana.
Being first in the mind with the right name goes a long way in dominating a category. In personal computers, Apple was a much better name that TRS-80 or Commodore Pet. In beer, Yuengling was first but never got into mind outside of its home town because the name was bad. Budweiser had a better name and was also the first beer brand to pursue a national strategy.
In addition, Budweiser had a powerful visual hammer. The old-fashion beer wagon pulled by Clydesdales. Interestingly, this was originally a marketing stunt used to mark the end of prohibition. But Budweiser was smart enough to keep the Clydesdales and the beer wagons rolling to dramatize its slogan “The King of Beers.”
Today, we are seeing many marijuana brands start to hit the market. The first brand comes with a name we know well, Marley as in Bob Marley.
The brand is “Marley Natural.” An icon closely associated with Jamaica, Reggae and marijuana, pictures of Bob Marley usually included a haze of pot smoke. Marley considered pot a healing herb and was a strong believer in its legalization. So a brand using his name makes a lot of sense.
However, there are a few things that concern me with this strategy.
1. The name “Marley natural.” Come on. Bob Marley was not shy about his feelings about marijuana. As the first major brand, why are they attempting to hide it? Especially when they have a chance to leverage alliteration! Marley Marijuana is a much strong brand name.
2. The Visual Hammer. The current logo is a lion! What does a lion have to do with Marley? He had a song “Iron, Lion, Zion,” recorded in 1973, but released post-posthumously in 1992. A bigger song was Buffalo Solider. If they wanted an animal, maybe a Buffalo would have been better. Or a bird for “Three Little Birds.” These songs are known by the masses. The best visual, however, for a brand named Marley is obvious. They need to use Marley! Marley is to pot, as Colonel Sanders is to fried chicken.
3. The Marley competition. A ton of Marley merchandise has been on the market for years. While the images, t-shirts and souvenirs have kept his image in the public eye, it also weakens the use of his name on the one product it makes the most sense. For example, the Marley name and logo is also used on a widely-selling line of coffee. Maybe they could sell the coffee and the pot together. “Marley can wake you up and calm you down.”
The best solution. If they want to be one of the couple of marijuana brands that will ultimately dominate the market, they need to get out of all other businesses like coffee and souvenirs and focus on marijuana. Then dump the lion and use the King of Marijuana himself, Bob Marley. If they do this, I have high hopes for their success.
Here I even redesigned a logo free of charge.
May 2014
Burger King loses its way
What kills most marketing programs is “change.”
When you keep changing your slogans, you confuse consumers and after a while they don’t attention to what you are trying to say.
Over the years, Burger King has had a lot of slogans. Remember “Where is Herb?” Burger King spent over $40 million trying to find him. They never did!
Three of Burger Kings were powerful and each if used consistently could have done more to build the brand.
“Home of the Whopper.”
“Broiling, not frying.”
“Have it your way.”
So what is Burger King doing lately? The same thing they have done in the past. Changing their slogan for the umpteenth time. The new slogan: “Be your way.”
Read the Associated Press story.
Be your way? What does that mean? And what does that have to do with a hamburger chain?
Obviously, Burger King means to connect its new slogan with one it has used in the past, “Have it your way.” But why? Try asking for a Whopper “medium rare” in a Burger King today and you’ll get nothing but a blank stare.
Fernando Machado, Burger King's senior vice president of global brand management, noted that the new slogan is an attempt "to evolve from just being the functional side of things to having a much stronger emotional appeal."
Words are not emotional. Visuals are what add the emotional element to branding. The best strategy is to use words that can be visualized in order to deliver emotion. How do you visualize “Be your way?” You can’t.
The best idea they ever had the one that is best visualized is the broiling vs. frying. But they gave up on that decades ago.
My prediction? “Be your way” will be long gone by this time next year.
In an overcommunicated society, your best strategy is to take your time to find exactly the right slogan to use. And then use it virtually forever.
“A diamond is forever” is 66 years old.
“The Marlboro cowboy” is 61 years old.
“The ultimate driving machine” is 39 years old.
“Just do it” is 26 years old.
By Al & Laura Ries
Laura Ries: Visual Hammer
Nail your brand into the mind with the emotional power of a visual. (*****)War in the Boardroom
Why Left-Brain Management and Right-Brain Marketing Don't See Eye-to-Eye--and What to Do About It (*****)Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind
20th Anniversary hardcover edition with updates and comments (*****)The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding
Violate the laws at your own risk! (*****)The Fall of Advertising and the Rise of PR
PR builds brands. Advertising maintains brands. (*****)The Origin of Brands
How divergence creates endless opportunities to build new brands. (*****)
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