How easy were things for brand marketers in the 1950's?  Of course, I wasn't in the game back then, but as far as I can tell it went something like this:  You said something.  Customers believed you.

Not anymore!  It seems the starting point these days is dis-belief.  Customers assume you are going to lie to them, and the burden is on you to prove differently.  Combine this with an ever-decreasing attention span and an ever-increasing set of choices and, sometimes, our jobs feel downright impossible (cue tiny violin...).

This is why most forward-thinking people and organizations are moving beyond just getting attention - they are focusing on giving people something unique: a reason to believe.  Here's the thing, though - it's not what you think (e.g. evidence, facts, proof, et al).

Fortunately for us, our friend and best-selling author Tom Asacker will be at Brand ManageCamp 2013 to give us the insightful and actionable answers we need to help navigate today’s new realities and create unwavering belief in our brands. It will be a deep-dive immersive experience that will engage your brain and light a fire in you and your team, and it will all be based on the work he did for his new book "The Business of Belief."

If the above cartoon rings true for you - or you know someone who will get a kick out of it - please pass it along!  Also, I hope you'll consider liking it on Facebook.  You can also follow us on Twitter and join our group on LinkedIn.

Of course, if you want to see Tom in person (as well as 13 other amazing speakers) you can join us at Brand ManageCamp 2013 - Sept 16-17 in Las Vegas.  On the website, in addition to the agenda and speaker info, is a highlight video from 2012 as well as hundreds of testimonials singing BMC's praises from folks just like you.  Don't delay - our biggest offer - which includes free hotel at the MGM Grand - will expire very soon.

I hope we get to see you in Las Vegas!

When most marketers think of Lady Gaga, images of meat dresses and egg hatchings come to mind (in addition, of course, to over-the-top performances and catchy tunes).  And the temptation is to think that it is the gimmicks that create the crazy-loyal fans.  What social media manager doesn't envy her 36 millionTwitter followers and 56 million Facebook fans?

The reality, though, as Brand ManageCamp 2013 speaker and author of "Monster Loyalty: How Lady Gaga Turns Followers Into Fanatics" has discovered, is that Lady Gaga's success is no gimmick - and there are lots of lessons we can learn and apply to our own brands.

In Jackie's meaty session (pun intended - sorry) at the Brand ManageCamp 2013 conference in Las Vegas this September she will unpack the method behind Lady Gaga's success and isolate the seven strategies brands can apply to drive Monster Loyalty in their own businesses.

I hope you got a chuckle out of the cartoon.  It would be nice if building loyalty was that easy!  If you did, please pass it along!  Also, I hope you'll consider liking it on Facebook.  You can also follow us on Twitter and join our group on LinkedIn.

Of course, if you want to see Jackie in person (as well as 13 other amazing speakers) you can join us at Brand ManageCamp 2013 - Sept 16-17 in Las Vegas.  We've got a couple of amazing early bird promotions you won't want to miss out on.  On the website, in addition to the agenda and speaker info, is a highlight video from 2012 as well as hundreds of testimonials singing BMC's praises from folks just like you.

I really hope that this cartoon lightened your day at least a little bit.  We are having fun with these!

Whether you are a B2C or B2B marketer, I am sure you have experienced something like the cartoon above.  Consumers and customers saying one thing and doing another.  'Lie' is probably too strong of a word.  They don't MEAN to lie.  In fact, they are mostly lying to themselves.  They tell us what they want to be true about what they want and how they make decisions - but very often it doesn't quite accurately reflect what they ACTUALLY want or what they will REALLY do when it comes time to make the most important decision (the one that involves them spending money).

Of course, the cartoon deals with the most obvious example of focus groups.  But, as marketers, we are being asked every day to make fact-based decisions and demonstrate the return we are receiving on our marketing spends.  And the problems with research go well beyond the focus group example.  Let's face it - there is a lot of bad research out there.  And bad research can often be worse than no research at all.

At the Brand ManageCamp conference, a lot of what we cover revolves around information that helps us make better decisions.  There is one session this year, though, that will specifically focus on how we can get the most out of the research we commission and how we can tell the good research from the bad.  It will be co-presented by Rolf Wulfsberg (Author of "Fact-Based Branding in the Real World" and Global Director of Quantitative Research at Siegel+Gale) and David Srere (Co-President, CEO, and Chief Strategy Officer for Siegel+Gale) and it will be filled with case studies and actionable insights we will be able to leverage right away.

If you like this cartoon, please pass it along!  Also, let us know you like it by, well, liking it on Facebook.  You can also follow us on Twitter and join our group on LinkedIn.  Of course, if you want to see Rolf and David in person (as well as 12 other amazing speakers) you can join us at Brand ManageCamp 2013 - Sept 16-17 in Las Vegas.  Our best discount and our Stay For Free promotion are ending soon, so don't wait too long.  On the website, in addition to the agenda and speaker info, is a highlight video from 2012 as well as hundreds of testimonials singing BMC's praises from folks just like you.

I hope we get to see you at Brand ManageCamp 2013!

Perhaps one day we will be able to accurately predict the future.  Until then, though, our best option is what BMC2013 speaker David Meerman Scott calls Real Time Marketing & PR.  In fact, he wrote the book on it. 

At this point, most marketers are familiar with the concept - connecting and engaging with your customers in real time.  However, knowing what it is and being able to do it consistently well are two completely different things.  It involves developing a business culture that encourages speed over sloth, organizing to enable and encourage acting and reacting flexibly as events occur, and embracing and employing the right technologies to help make it all happen.  Unfortunately, there are still lots of brands making big mistakes in this arena.

At the Brand ManageCamp 2013 conference in Las Vegas this September, David will walk us through the proven, practical steps he has developed to help us take our businesses successfully into the real-time era.  We've been fans of David for a long time and are super excited that he will be joining us again this year.  He always shows up with tons of amazing examples and case studies from around the world and his energy and passion ensures his sessions are always informative, actionable, entertaining, and engaging.

If you like this cartoon, please pass it along!  Also, let us know you like it by, well, liking it on Facebook.  You can also follow us on Twitter and join our group on LinkedIn.

Of course, if you want to see David in person (as well as 13 other amazing speakers) you can join us at Brand ManageCamp 2013 - Sept 16-17 in Las Vegas.  We've got a couple of amazing early bird promotions you won't want to miss out on.  On the website, in addition to the agenda and speaker info, is a highlight video from 2012 as well as hundreds of testimonials singing BMC's praises from folks just like you.

I hope you enjoyed the cartoon!

For marketers, 'Viral' has become something of a holy grail.  It is oftentimes seen as the remedy that can make all things better.  Everybody is in search of it, yet most find it just out of their reach.  Wouldn't it be great if it were as easy as the cartoon? (let's forget about ethics, or legality, or anything 'real' for just a moment...)

Seriously, though, aren't we all looking for that formula or special sauce that will take our content viral?  Outside of kittens or things that really hurt, though, it seems like most viral is kind of random, unplanned, or, at best, seredipitous. 

That's why the stuff Jonah Berger is working on is so exciting.  Jonah is a Professor of Marketing over at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and his new book, "Contagious: Why Things Catch On" methodically breaks down what his research has shown in terms of what makes certain ideas, products, and services more likely to be talked about than others.  It turns out it is not completely random - there are similarities that can be replicated and strategically applied to generate greater likelihood of them spreading. 

For those of you who have attended Brand ManageCamp in the past, Jonah's style is reminiscent of Dan Heath ("Made To Stick") in that is is easy to understand, straightforward, example-based, and fun.  And we are so glad that Jonah will be joining us to speak at Brand ManageCamp 2013 in September in Las Vegas.  I hope you will check out his book, and perhaps you'll even choose to join us to see him (and 13 other awesome speakers) in person!

I hope you enjoy the above cartoon - the first of our BMC Cartoon series.  It was inspired by Scott Stratten, the best-selling author of "UnMarketing: Stop Marketing. Start Engaging" and "The Book of Business Awesome."  In seeing one of Scott's previous talks, it became clear that one of his pet peeves is when marketers miss-use technology.  I think his exact words were "everytime you use a QR code and don't think it through, a kitten dies.  And that's a real animal."  He goes on to point out how ridiculous it is to place QR codes on billboards...and from that we generated the above.  I hope it makes you chuckle.  The reality is, if it does, it's not far off from something you've done (or seen a colleague do).  In this new age, we have a ton of tools at our disposal for how to communicate with our target.  Just because we have a tool, though, doesn't always mean we have to use it...

We are super excited that Scott is going to be kicking off our Brand ManageCamp 2013 conference in Las Vegas this September.  His energy, wit, and spot-on insights will focus on how we can stop marketing and start engaging.  Something from which I think we can all learn.

If you like this cartoon, please pass it along!  Also, let us know you like it by, well, liking it on Facebook.  You can also follow us on Twitter and join our group on LinkedIn.

Of course, if you want to see Scott in person (as well as 12 other amazing speakers) you can join us at Brand ManageCamp 2013 - Sept 16-17 in Las Vegas.  We've got a couple of amazing early bird promotions you won't want to miss out on.

I really hope that our first cartoon lightened your day at least a little bit.  It was really fun to do and we look forward to generating more!

Congratulations to Brand ManageCamp 2012 attendee Missy Acosta and her employer, Delta Dental of Tennessee.  At BMC2012, our sponsor Audiobrain ran a content where attendees were asked to submit a description of how a sonic branding initiative could help their organization.  Audiobrain CEO Audrey Arbeeny and her team chose Missy's application as the winner based on her clear articulation of the value she saw in this type of initiative.  Congratulations to Missy and Delta Dental of Tennessee and kudos to Audrey and the folks at Audiobrain for making this happen!  More details here: http://www.audiobrain.com/news/index.html

We have all seen the little signs in our hotel rooms - "Save the Planet - Reuse Your Towels," or something to that effect (similar messages are delivered regarding making of the bed linens).  And, if you are a savvy business traveler you immediately see through the sustainability rouse to what this is really about - the bottom line.  Which is not to say that is bad.  Heck, if they can save money and we can feel good about doing a good deed for the environment maybe it's a win-win.

The problem, of course, is that the little white lie that we can all see easily through is not completely harmless.  At it's heart, we know that the message is a bit dishonest.  And, as Jonathan Salem Baskin eloquently spoke to us about at Brand ManageCamp 2012, honesty from brands today is more important than it ever has been before.  According to Jonathan's research, brand honesty is even profitable!

While the hotel towels/linens farce is the most easily recognizable example of these white lies told by businesses to push a not-so-hidden monetary objective, these types of situations are creeping up more and more each day.

For quite a while, Sprint has been cajoling me to switch to paperless billing so as to help save the environment.  Of course, on the receipt page when I pay online they also urge me to print out a copy for my records... So, not only are they being mildly dishonest, they are also being hypocritical.

Just today, I received an email from American Express.  Their stance is that it would be safer for me to switch to paperless billing since it would prevent my sensitive information from being stolen while in transit via the mail.  I'm not sure the financially strapped US Postal Service would appreciate this argument. 

Some businesses are more upfront about the money saving aspect of all this.  Costco informs via parking lot signs that its patrons returning the carts helps them keep prices low. True, I am sure, but we also know that competitive forces and their brand positioning (and their relentless pressure on manufacturers to compress their margins) ensure their prices will be lower than my grocery store.

I can't help but wonder, then, if the correct path for most of these businesses perhaps should go a bit further.  Obviously, the hotels know how much money they can save by room when towels and/or linens don't need to be washed.  Other businesses have, no doubt, carefully measured the savings they can achieve by eliminating 12 costly physical mailings to a customer for monthly bills.

So, instead of creating a thinly veiled message to customers that try to guilt us into 'doing the right thing,' why not invite us along for the real ride - give us a piece of the financial action?  Align our incentives.

For a hotel - maybe you could earn $2 off your room rate each day you bypass servicing of your room?  Keep a tag on your door that allows the housekeeping to just breeze on by and the hotel not only saves laundry costs (while saving the environment) but can also save on housekeeper costs.  This way, the messaging could remind me that not only would I show environmental sensitivity, but I can also participate in the financial savings.

Instead of trying to convince me that I'm saving trees by opting for electronic billing, why not offer me a $5 credit per year?

Or, even better, perhaps these businesses can provide more 'value-added' services that have higher perceived value to me than actual cost to them?  For example, a free newspaper or fountain soft drink at a hotel (which has $$ value to me, but costs them pennies).  Or, for Sprint, some bonus minutes or a free ringtone - again, achieving value with little to no cost.  American Express could offer some bonus Membership Rewards points (which likely will never be used)...

The reality is, while the current messaging strategies these businesses are utilizing may not create a great deal of harm (I am certainly not going to stop staying at a hotel because I can see through their little white towel lie), they also do no good.  And in this age of marketing, messages that do no good ARE no good.

As reported by MSNBC.com (Horror Movie Sickens Two at Sundance), two people who were sitting in on a late-night screening of the horror movie "V/H/S" at the Sundance Film Festival last week had to leave the film during the opening sequence and were treated by EMTs.  Now, normally, customers who become physically ill while consuming your product are NOT a good thing.  However, when you are a new horror film trying to pick up steam and you have a media-savvy co-writer (Simon Barrett), it may be just the thing you were looking for.

The reality is that the two people in question had just arrived in Park City after driving 8 hours and, given that they both got sick at about the same time, it is much more likely that it was due to other factors - altitude, dehydration, something they ate along the way, etc...  The first to get sick left for the lobby where he collapsed, unconscious, to the floor.  His companion followed him out and proceeded to vomit. 

When interviewed, one of the co-writers of the film, Barrett, gave some very PR and media-savvy responses. Some of his quotes in the article were:

"Without spoiling anything, (the film's first segment) ends with a particularly intense series of scenes that involve, among other things, an injury resulting in a compound fracture that is recorded from the first person perspective." (OUCH!)

"while very funny in parts, it is also quite intense and gory...can probably be a bit difficult to take."

"I doubt the couple would have fainted and vomited if they had gone to see (romantic comedy) 'Your Sister's Sister' instead."

Knowing full well that, in a world where many horror movie goers have grown up on the gore of the 'Saw' franchise, Simon Barrett's quotes and eagerness to accept responsibility for the audience illness will likely pay huge dividends when the movie is released and marketed (the movie has been acquired by Magnolia Pictures - who have also distributed films like Joaquin Phoenix's "I'm Still Here," "Freakonomics," "Food, Inc.," and "Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer"), this tack has already paid off in a major article that makes it very clear that this is one disturbing movie.

And if there is one thing that seems to guarantee box office success in the horror-film arena, it's disturbing.

3 things we can learn from V/H/S and Simon Barrett re: PR:

1 - Sometimes the best positives can come from what might be perceived as negatives.  Embrace the upside and focus on the elements of a story that play into your wheelhouse.  Making someone sick, when you are a horror movie, can easily be spun into a positive.

2 - Know your audience.  Many adults and non-horror-movie goers will likely be grossed out and disgusted by all this.  The core audience, however, in teenage males will likely take this as a dare.  If they can keep their dinner down, they are truly hard core!

3 - Be likable.  In this story, Simon Barrett could have easily been stand-offish, or over-the-top gross, or just plain uninterested.  However, his quotes were just descriptive enough to be shocking yet subtle and low-key enough to be likable.  He doesn't belittle or make fun of the audience members who got sick - in fact he displays a level of understanding in a way that also challenges the core target's ability to endure what he is throwing at them.

However, this story could have been even more compelling.  The folks behind V/H/S the movie don't seem prepared to take advantage of this unexpected press.  There is no Facebook page I can find, and very little Twitter activity on their part.  This was an opportunity to create and cultivate fans in advance of a launch as a result of this story and, at this point, they've kind of missed it.

In recent news it has been reported that Target Corp. is asking its suppliers for help in combating 'showrooming' - described as when a shopper visits the retail establishment to check out a product and then ends up buying it for less money from an online shopping site.

In a letter to its vendors, the company asked for them to create special proprietary products for it to sell that would make it at least harder for shoppers to compare pricing.  In the letter, Target CEO Gregg Steinhafel says:

"What we aren't willing to do is let online-only retailers use our brick-and-mortar stores as a showroom for their products and undercut our prices without making investments, as we do, to proudly display your brands."

The hope, apparently, is to make comparison shopping for everything from electronics to homewares as difficult as it is for mattresses (which, by the way, is among my least favorite things to have to shop for). 

Here are 5 reasons why this strategy, at best, won't work and, and worst, will backfire in a significant way:

1. It is Anti-Transparency.  This strategy bucks most of what has become the new reality of the shopping experience.  With the rise of the web and then social media, the consumer (and people in general) have come to expect transparency as a cost of entry in their world.  They respect those who are open and honest and suspect those who are not.  This strategy is the complete opposite of transparency.  It seeks to hide information and muddy the waters rather than make it more accessible and more clear.  This breeds distrust, and all the bad things that go along with it.
2. It Ignores the Consumer's Need of Choice Validation.  You can't put the rabbit back in the hat and you can't turn back the clock.  Today's consumer has become accustomed to the strength that easily accessible information provides.  It has permeated the very DNA of how they make decisions.  At the heart of this is price comparison and, even more important, product ratings.  A product that has thousands of positive ratings online is inherently more attractive to one with just a few.  By splintering the product-verse into proprietary versions and models, you upset the wisdom of the crowd.  This means that when someone is shopping for an item in Target, and that product is unique to Target, they will not be able to ease their natural fears of making the wrong decision by reading the experiences of scores of others.  Given the choice, consumers will gravitate towards the tried and true - and likely the model that has 1,500 reviews on Amazon.
3. This strategy is in defiance of the Target Brand Promise.  From Target.com's Our Mission page: "Our mission is to make Target the preferred shopping destination for our guests by delivering outstanding value, continuous innovation and an exceptional guest experience by consistently fulfilling our Expect More. Pay Less brand promise."  By not allowing price comparison, how can one believe the Pay Less bit?  It seems hypocritical to focus your mission on price and yet not allow consumers to evaluate that price vs. competition.
4. It Ignores the Elephant in the Room.  Let's face it, online retailing is not going away anytime soon.  And the biggest of the online retailers, Amazon.com, has organized itself so that it has other businesses that are designed to offset the low margins it makes on its online retailing.  To succeed as a brick and mortar business in retailing mass market items, there must be value added above price alone.  Hiding price will not make this go away - on the contrary, it will likely make things worse.  It would be wiser to focus energy on differentiating the shopping experience, re-emphasizing the style and design that is at the heart of the Target brand and finding other ways to encourage the in person shopping experience.

It is particularly odd to see a company that has prided itself on its forward-thinking and innovation to invest itself so heavily in trying to construct obstacles to consumer progress.  I suspect that some vendors will comply, but, in the long run, Target will backtrack on this now very public error in judgement.