Advice for Brands in 2016

Suck Less

They Can’t Shoot us from here...Invidious behavior of a phalanx of the world’s admired brands threatens a trust bubble. If the trust bubble bursts it would wreak havoc on the intangible value of the world’s brands; nearly $4 trillion of the S&P alone. In deference to former U.S. Treasury Dept. watchdog Neil Barofsky’s book “Bailout,” in which he argued, “The public should lose faith in their Government” – the real threat is the public losing faith in brands.

In Brands We TrustWhile Uncle Sam props up the markets and maintains record low interest rates, brands’ greater engagement with consumers, along with a readiness to respond to emergencies, forms a central role. In a new era of cash-flow constraints, brand rationalization and no-risk methods to regain trust, what are the best methods for protecting it? It’s not just the venality of big brand misdeeds that fuels discontent: Consumers have a simple wish for a better life. Any great brand is built on a belief, not just on seeing what hurdles there are to overcome, but on envisioning what isn’t there.

This is accomplished by thoroughly understanding the scope of options, the consumer, what communication channels are priorities and how to leverage resources for maximum impact with minimum effort.

What can we learn from the biggest gafs of 2015?

Brand Recognition

Pass The Bucket

Steve Ells was beached on a sludge bank of corporate puff

before he became human and simply apologized.

Lesson learned: be simple, be honest, be human.

Hidden Intent

A foot long of deceit for a scoundrel who will likely not be forgotten. Brands decline

when they’re no longer sublime.

While you were Sleeping

We are what we do, but we’ll be judged on what we did in the past not what we do in

the future.

Where’s that Profit?

Without non-financial goals you are rudderless, but that

doesn’t translate to enforcing unpaid leave on your

employees.

Brand Association

We do Care, Honest

Customer service is a result not a strategy. Brands rest in the experience so you need

to find the magnetic core and approach to service that will

draw together consumers not enemies.

Keep it in the Family

For a brand there is often less to fear from outside

competition than from inside lies, inefficiency and criminality. Just ask

Mr. Duggar.

Punctured

Brand is not marketing it’s about who you are. That means brand is not about

power, it’s about responsibility not bribery.

Who Burgled Who

Stocks don’t have a memory recall button, but investors do and all the words before but

don’t matter. Facts are stubborn things that often

can’t be solved by advertising.

Brand Loyalty

That’s Fishy

Succeeding target is not the point. Can a brand be rich if it creates poverty? Nestle finds

out that slaves have been used in the making of one of

its leading brands.

Stay inside the Lane

You can’t fiddle with things if Rome is burning. In the

relentless pursuit of perfection excellence is not a

choice it’s a habit and success is remembering the

positives.

.

Yum, NOT!

Products are made in the factory, brands are built in the

mind. The tainted meat scandal reminds customers of something a dog leaves on a

neighbor’s lawn.

Bright Lights and Trumpets

Knowing and doing are two separate things. Brands must ensure that strong rhetoric is not left to stand alone without a strategy to translate words

into action.

1. Trust in InformationAdhesion to brand strategy can often cripple the need for the brand to interact in a leaner, smarter manner as we have witnessed with the tsunami of bad news and behavior of big brands over recent months. Retaining trust requires knowing what the “brand” means to the category, knowing who are the game changers and developing communication approaches that break the frame (not the law). Providing accurate, timely advice and actionable insights via recommendations by experts, consumer advisors, ratings and reviews, using conventional marketing, social media and brand building that is quickly deployable with high intensity, works. Trust is eroded and money is wasted by many brands when they fail to understand when their consumers are most open to influence on a topic and how you can interact with them at those gateways. As the author Benjamin Graham, remarked: “You’re neither right nor wrong because the crowd disagrees with you. You are right because your data and reasoning are right.”

2. Knowledge is the Currency of ContactIt’s not just by sharing links, pics, videos and PDFs that we make sense of the problem; wired in our heads is a place where our trust is all about narrative – it’s about sharing stories. As Big Think’s Jason Gots said, “Narrative helps us to navigate the world, it tells us where to place our trust and why.” To regain trust in a brand storytelling is the secret weapon for encouraging consumer learning and is optimized by simplifying the research process. This includes providing valid and relevant information, enabling transparent engagement, and building the capacity of supporters with the integrity and ambition behind the brand rather than picking over its entrails. If brand narrative can convert life into a meaningful experience, using stories is the most effective way of translating knowledge into action.

3. Providing Options for ActionIn crisis options are needed for consumers to confidently weigh up realistic alternative scenarios. To best serve today’s agitated consumers, CMOs’ actions need to be different, heroic, with principles that make their brand known for being remarkable, followed by many for being a challenger of the rule and above all, shareable. Aside from “Hide Nothing, Tell All,” the prerequisites for this third driver are ramping up mobile and online presence, encouraging more consumer feedback with choices, guides, and “dressed” empirical information. A recent study revealed that ironically, alternatives are essential for quick decisions, enabling consumers to isolate uncertainties, evaluate the options and share the stories, a critical ingredient in building trust and values.

On The Front FootPeople are scared about the future. If you simplify their decision-making process with authenticity, simplified learning and options to weigh in on, consumers think less about the decision.

While no panacea to illegitimate behavior, such practical and forthright actions to provide and present timely, relevant and valid knowledge with options to bail-out weary consumers could irrevocably demonstrate a way to win back much vaunted consumer confidence and share of trust.

The Shower on the Brain is Brands

About Dean CrutchfieldInformed, outspoken, perceptive and engaging, Dean is an accomplished rainmaker and one of the leading brand strategists in marketing and media today. Dean has been fortunate to have represented several of the world's most iconic brands and has spoken for prestigious institutions like the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management, The Wharton School of Finance and the Google Speaker Series as well as speaking internationally about how to accomplish service innovation. Dean's reputation as an insightful advisor and storyteller has led to appearances on Al Jazeera, PBS, Bloomberg TV, BBC World and CCTV America along with frequent commentary in a variety of publications, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times. Dean has provided insights and speculation on a wide range of brands and categories as well as a Contributor to Forbes and editorials in Advertising Age, Adweek and other marketing press, ranging from the do's and don'ts for CMOs in crisis to how brand transformations can impact the economy. Dean believes brands are stories shared and the language of the new consumer has changed: today’s consumers admire brands that enable them to participate. Consequently, brands need to embrace more freedom by adopting narrative based brand and marketing strategies that can impact multiple platforms to engage consumers: creating brands that are more magnanimous, malleable and functional. Global experience with brands has led Dean to develop a strong belief that brand is not marketing it is what you stand for. With this belief, he urges the use of creativity and innovation to push boundaries and bust categories with brave thinking that can solve problems, create value and advance humanity into a brighter future.

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