Did Facebook make you buy a bottle of Johnny Walker Black?

Up until two weeks ago, I had never bought a bottle of Johnny Walker Black. Now I have purchased three. And all because of a great custom branding marketing program that was indirectly initiated through a facebook ad for men’s cologne.

Here is how Johnny Walker convinced me to purchase three bottles of a product that I don’t even drink…

Three months ago I clicked on a facebook ad for a free sample of Giorgio Armani Code and was redirected to an interesting product sampling site called www.free4him.ca. As any interested marketing and branding professional would do when he sees “Deals + Free Stuff for Guys” I signed up for their weekly newsletter which gives special deals and product samples to guy products like Netflix, Pizza Hut and NHL contests.

After the fifth newsletter from free4him, finally one product caught my eye – free customized labels for Johnny Walker Black. I clicked through to facebook.com/JohnnieWalkerCanada and ordered my three custom labels. A few weeks later an envelope from Johnny Walker arrived with three very nice looking actual gold foil labels with “saywhat.com Love your Brand” on them. I was impressed and put them beside my phone at my desk.

The week before Christmas, after we had delivered our full “Soup’s on Christmas” promotion, I was doing my final visits with a couple main clients and decided I should drop off a little something else for Christmas Cheers and picked up three bottles of Johnny Walker Black and put on the custom labels.

This is an excellent example of how to turn a customized promotion into a sale of a premium product… I used the Johnny Walker brand to promote the Say What! brand and my clients were very happy with the outcome.

I wonder how many other people purchased bottles of premium liquors because they could put their own customized labels on it?

 The crew over at Johnny Walker really understand how to “love your brand”.  Well done!

Did you order your custom labels yet?

And give this video a look to see how deep the Johnny Walker brand is... too bad i don't drink Scotch!  

Grant Ivens, RGD
brand surgeon | rocket scientist
Say What! Communications Corp.
25 Royal Crest Court, Unit 10, Markham, ON, Canada L3R 9X4
T 905.752.3110  |  M 416.918.8991  | grant@saywhat.com

http://www.saywhat.com
http://twitter.com/saywhat_com
http://www.facebook.com/say.what.communications
http://ca.linkedin.com/in/grantivens

The evolution of the Bombardier Q400 brand (part 1)

In 2004, with stalled sales and the reduction in the production of the Q program, Say What! Communications of Toronto was briefed on the importance of making a major re-introduction of the Q400 aircraft brand.

Through strategic planning sessions with Bombardier marketing and program teams, one key factor was identified as the major element that had changed since the point of introduction, the price of aviation fuel. This was critical to the success of the program, in early 2000 the fuel factor was not a defining marketing decision, but by 2005 the operating cost of a short haul aircraft became a major financial aspect for airlines around the world.

Another interesting issue in the marketing briefing was, although the Q400 was a turboprop aircraft, we should avoid any mention that the aircraft was a prop aircraft, with 2 major 6 blade propellers. It was assumed that the term "prop" was a negative factor to passengers appeal, as it was viewed as "old technology". Our initial response was "no matter how much creative spin, when the passengers look out the windows they will see that these aircraft have propellers".

The brand solution was the introduction of a "Q400 tuboProfits" marketing program targeted at Airline operators. The positioning was brandSimple, "Look up and see the turboProfits": we identified that this aircraft could deliver solid profits in a turbo-prop vs jet operating cost scenario.

The  Q400 aircraft is an amazing 78 seat aircraft built by the third largest civil aerospace company in the world, Bombardier of Canada. This state-of-the-art aircraft delivers the economics of a turbo-prop with the speed and comfort of a jet, which makes it a favorite aircraft of airlines around the world. The Q400 is also is an amazing story of brand evolution and how it has impacted on market penetration.

As Bombardier continued to evolve the Dash 8 program, it changed from Dash8 to the "Q series". "Q for quiet" thanks to the engineering development of the ANVS sound & vibration elimination systems which added a new level of jet like comfort to the aircraft. The Q400 is the third aircraft extension and it entered into service in 2000. The first few years of service showed slow market penetration with the majority of sales going to it's sexier jet sister the Bombardier CRJ regional jets.

The Q400 has 2 powerful Pratt & Wittney PW150A engines which deliver a 360 knot (670 km/h) cruise speed flying at an altitude of 25,000 feet. For operators the cost comparison of operating a Q400 vs. a regional jet on the same route became a decision of 'more profits' or 'less profits'. Airlines are businesses and the majority of them choose profits... turboProfits!

Say What! created the term "turboProfits" along with the marketing and advertising program which assisted in reigniting the total turboProp aircraft business around the world.

Watch for our next post on Part 2 of the evolution of the Q400 brand, which came about in 2008 with the consumer oriented eco-friendly "Comfortably Greener" positioning.

cheers grant

grant ivens, rgd
brain surgeon/rocket scientist

say what! communications
toronto, ontario, canada
905-752-3110
www.saywhat.com  |  www.facebook.com/say.what.communications
ivens@saywhat.com

How effective are QR Codes with consumers?

QR codes are popping up everywhere, but how effective are they?

From ads to billboards to business cards to facebook profiles, you can’t escape these blocks of digital code. Some marketers have embraced the QR technology so much that they only us a QR code on promotions for their contact information and do not give an website or a phone number.

A quick history on QR.
Quick Response “QR” codes is actually an old technology that has become popular through smart phone scanning apps. Quick Response “QR” codes are information embedded graphics that were created in Japan in 1994 for tracking automotive products. The QR code allows for 2D information both vertical and horizontal and is the next generation of the barcode (which only allow a single line of horizontal information).

QR codes can be utilize to embedded URL or full contact information, which when scanned with a QR reader application on a smartphone takes you direct to the online location. QR codes are available as simple static link codes or dynamic codes which allow for updates and analytical tracking of results.

We tested the effectiveness of the QR code through a recent campaign for Eastwood Guitars.

2 - From a street level basis we introduced a QR code on the main window of Bloomingdale’s in New York City to support the 100 Eastwood and Airline guitars used with the John Varvatos collection for 2 weeks in June.

3 - Additional support for this campaign was through Press Releases, banner ads and facebook ads.

 

The results:
After one week the campaign doubled the “Like” sign ups to the Facebook page and collected thousands of entries into a web based contest hosted on Eastwood website linked trough the Facebook page.

Now we are not saying that the QR code is 100% responsible for delivering these positive results, but it definitely was a factor in the success of this campaign.

As technology and consumers understanding of mobile interfaces continues to expand, codes and direct connects are becoming an essential element to marketing and promotion.

cheers grant

grant ivens, rgd
creative director
say what! communications corp. | toronto, canada  | www.saywhat.com
grant@saywhat.com  |   905.752.3110 | mobile 416.918.8991
http://twitter.com/saywhat_com
http://www.facebook.com/say.what.communications
http://ca.linkedin.com/in/grantivens

5 over used words that "erk!"

 As a creative guy, I can appreciate, and have been known for my bastardization of the English language, but more in more these days, in marketing, branding and in conversations, there are some word and phrases that even make me want to scream. Here are five words that are everywhere and in my opinion should be outlawed for use by creative professionals. Hopefully the kids will get bored eventually when their peps stop using them.

#5 - “Ultimate” - “The ultimate experience”. Ok, so maybe this doesn’t offend you. But when you start cruising through hundreds of online stories, ads and marketing materials, it seems like everyone is making the “Ultimate”. So what is better than Ultimate? The super ultimate? The ultimate gold or black? It is one of those words that is so overly used, that it means nothing...
If you are going to compare, tell what you’re better then and why. If you’re the best prove it. Saying “ultimate” is as meaningful as Nigel in Spinal Tap turning his volume to 11...   

#4 - “Pursuit” - commonly attached to “the relentless pursuit of excellence”... This term and usage is as deep and meaningful as “state-of-art” and “cutting edge”. Upon hearing or noticing this language used to describe a company or a product, I instantly enter them into my “please avoid list” – for one simple reason "the lack of originality." The only reason this term continues to be used is because of tired marketing directors who refuse to allow their creative agency do their work. It worked and was used to launch Toyota’s luxury Lexus line from 1989-1999 and they dropped it... Why can’t people just let this die?

#3 - “Surreal” - “It was like it was surreal” has become the first quote that we hear on news broadcasts from survivors of natural and man made disasters. This became extremely popular just after September 11, and this term keeps rising to the surface with every disaster. I want to know how is an earthquake or a plane crash like Salivdor Dali's masterpiece “The Metamorphosis of Narcissus” by Salvidor Dali I ask?  It’s not. One is a real life disaster and the other is an art movement. To find out more about what surreal is take a trip to the newly revamped DALI Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida. http://thedali.org/

#2 - “Random” - “Oh that movie was so random” - I’m not sure what the origin of the misuse of the word “random” is or when it started, but after talking to groups of high school and college students, it has become evident that the meaning of words is not part of the curriculum in North America any more. If teachers taught kids how to use a dictionary they would learn that random means “chosen without method or conscious decision”, not "strange".

#1 “Uber” - This word virtually makes my blood boil. This strange German word for “above” started being used in the 1980’s Californian Punk scene and has become part of the our language. Then some fools decided it should be used for advertising campaigns... And then it was being used by bloggers around the world to make matters even worse... And now this ugly descriptive has been seen creeping into critical reviews of movies and books... This has to go away.  Join me on the war against the use of the ugly word UBER!
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Stop-the-use-of-the-ugly-word-uber/143079925758...

Take care, Grant

“What is your brand personality?”   http://www.saywhat.com/brandPersonality.html

Grant Ivens, RGD
brain surgeon, rocket scientist

Say What! Communications Corp.
25 Royal Crest Court, Unit 10, Markham, ON, Canada L3R 9X4
T 905.752.3110  |  M 416.918.8991  | grant@saywhat.com
http://www.saywhat.com
http://twitter.com/saywhat_com
http://ca.linkedin.com/in/grantivens
http://saywhatcom.posterous.com/
http://www.facebook.com/say.what.communications

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Posted

Brand Builiding 101: Eastwood Guitars

The international guitar market is massive... with over 1.5 million electric guitars sold annually in the USA alone, (as per 2009 Music USA NAMM Global Report). Approximately 65% of that market is owned by two major brands – Fender with their Stratocasters & Telecasters and Gibson's with the iconic Les Paul. The remaining space is populated by a large collection of major manufacturers and smaller players. To make any noise in this crowded market space is a major challenge.

One company that decided to take a run into this competitive market is Eastwood Guitars from Georgetown, Ontario, Canada. They took a focused brand approach by targeting an area that the big players didn't have on their radar, the 60s vintage market.

Eastwood founder, Mike Robinson, also took a non-traditional approach when he set up the Eastwood brand in 2002, he concentrated on developing a direct online sales approach instead of the distribution model of all other manufactures. The results have been outstanding.

Eastwood success is based on understanding technology, knowing their audience and timing. Eastwood's first guitar was a weird and funky version of the red 2P Airline guitar that Jack White of the alt rockers "The White Stripes" was using.

This unique guitar hit a chord with the guitar players who didn't wanted to play the same guitar everyone else did. "I get it" has become the driving message for the brand. And as the company has grown over the past few years they were able to acquire the "Airline Guitars" trademark made famous in the 60s.

Through Mike's Silicon Valley high-tech background, he jump to the head of the ".com" industry and made maximum use of EBay, SEOs, eMarketing along with traditional international advertising, public relations and the ongoing branding program. The results so far is Eastwood is firmly in the industry as a niche player with over 40 models with Canadian and UK based operations.

This retro cool guitars are being used by indie superstar musicians around the globe and we are proud that Say What! has been involved on the creative branding and ongoing advertising of Eastwood and Airline since 2004.

It is great to work on a product that you believe in. I currently owned four Eastwood guitars and two Eastwood basses, "I get it".

 

 

cheers grant

“What is your brand personality?”   http://www.saywhat.com/brandPersonality.html

Grant Ivens, RGD
brain surgeon, rocket scientist
 
Say What! Communications Corp.
25 Royal Crest Court, Unit 10, Markham, ON, Canada L3R 9X4
T 905.752.3110  |  M 416.918.8991  | grant@saywhat.com
http://www.saywhat.com
http://twitter.com/saywhat_com
http://ca.linkedin.com/in/grantivens
http://saywhatcom.posterous.com/

Do you know what your Brand Personality looks like?

We all know that your brand is what people say about you or your company.

Marty Neumeier and all other brand leaders say that we can no longer control our brand from within... it is now controlled by every interaction with your consumers and their direct and online voices determine our brand. 

But what we can do, is to understand what we believe our brand to be and what we want it to be... I call this your "brand personality".

Say What! developed the brandSimple "Brand Personality Quiz" in 2001 to help our clients gain an understanding of what their brand really looked like. This ten step guide has enabled companies, products and people to develop an visual guide line to how they view their brand and to determine if they are using their brand on target with its personality.

The quiz takes ten simple everyday questions like "If my brand was a car it would be a ____ " and " If my brand was a food it would be _________". The 10 questions contain enough valuable insight into your brand that a brand personality can be developed as a visual guide to all future branding.

 For example, if your brand personality is a luxury positioning like a Porsche, but you are being sold through discount retailers, then your brand is not representing its personality. If your brand personality is traditional mid-aged like Harrison Ford and you are marketing with MTV attitude then your are off target.

The beauty about this system is it works. It is simple and effective. A brand personality visual map can be c reated. It can be used as an employee training guide to demonstrate how the company view their brand.

The Say What! brand personality quiz is available at saywhat.com

We invite you try it out and let us know how it works for you.

cheers grant

“What is your brand personality?”   http://www.saywhat.com/brandPersonality.html

Grant Ivens, RGD
brain surgeon, rocket scientist

Say What! Communications Corp.
25 Royal Crest Court, Unit 10, Markham, ON, Canada L3R 9X4
T 905.752.3110  |  M 416.918.8991  | grant@saywhat.com
http://www.saywhat.com
http://twitter.com/saywhat_com
http://ca.linkedin.com/in/grantivens
http://saywhatcom.posterous.com/

 

 

Social Media Brand Integration

How important is your brand? If you're like me your brand image is one of your most important assets.

The number one lesson of all branding is consistency. That simple rule (which can be the nemesis of all creative people who want to re-create) is what a branding is all about.

So why are brands, after years investment in brand development, being left at the curb as everyone races to build their ultimate social media?

I was at a Sales Seminar this month and listened to a "so called social media expert" explain how for 4 hours of billable time he could create a social media platform to an audience of over 800 sales professionals... What he was actually offering was customizing a facebook page using FBML, that is not a network and definitely not a branding platform... this pitch of over simplifying probably land the "expert" some one time business for some nice looking non-brand oriented facebook pages that will not get much traffic... but more importantly it attacked the essence of what brand design is all about.

Now in sharp contrast, a week earlier I had the opportunity of spending a day with a true social media expert, James Burchill. James presented his thoughts and strategies on developing a complete social network, with a strategic approach and demonstrated measurable results. Now that is marketing!

Taking both of these presentations into consideration, I questioned myself:
"How can a brand be integrated into a social media network?"

It is obvious that traditional brand marketing of the "this is who we are" approach will not work in the conversational environment of social media, but the importance of knowing our core brand values and communicating those values has never been more important. "Brand is what people think of you™" is what my good friends Greg de Koker and Ted Mathews state in their book "Brand: It Ain't the Logo", and that rings loud and clear to what a conversation is all about and it is a brandSimple idea on how to integrate a brand...

Our solution, was to create a "7 step road map" that defines the brandSimple approach that we use for "Brand Integration into a Social Media Network". This is a basic plan that defines the stages, which are fine tuned for each client. The key aspect of this system is that "it all begins with a brand" and that brand is expressed consistently.

The most important thing that I believe is that "a brand is a terrible thing to waste".

cheers
grant

grant ivens, rgd
Say What! Communications Corp.
25 Royal Crest Court, Unit 10, Markham, ON, Canada L3R 9X4
T 905.752.3110  |  M 416.918.8991  | grant@saywhat.com
http://www.saywhat.com
http://twitter.com/saywhat_com
http://ca.linkedin.com/in/grantivens

 

 

Developing your Social Media Brand

As the world of communication continues to develop all marketers are experiencing the same opportunity of becoming a voice instead of an image. It’s all different now...

This reinvention of media is happening at hyper-speed and it is truly an uncharted territory. The risks of destroying years of brand integrity are high, and if you approach the world of Social Media with haste that could be your outcome.

No longer can you tell the world that you are the expert. Now you have to demonstrate your expertise and the world will tell their networks that your are the expert and go to in your field.

The importance of maintaining incredible client experience has never been more essential. The simple fact of human nature is that people are more like to broadcast a bad experience than a positive experience. So every customer contact is critical to your reputation.  

So how does a company develop or expand a positive online reputation through their Social Network? With a solid plan and an commitment to invest the time and ongoing effort to make it happen. Like a marketing plan, your social network is not a onetime thing. It takes time and money to make it happen.

Do not jump into the Social Media unplanned. Do not treat your Social Network as an extension of your ad program, this is a different animal...

Explore and develop an understanding on how Facebook, YouTube, Blogs, Linked-In, Twitter and WordPress and the countless other online networks connect and talk with your brand agency on what is best for your market.

The last word “Your brand is not a high school project”. Be careful that you are working with Branding professionals to integrate your company into the new world of Social Media.

cheers
Grant Ivens, RGD

Say What! Communications Corp.
25 Royal Crest Court, Unit 10, Markham, ON, Canada L3R 9X4
T 905.752.3110  |  M 416.918.8991  | grant@saywhat.com
http://www.saywhat.com
http://twitter.com/saywhat_com
http://ca.linkedin.com/in/grantivens

MOVEMBER Day 30

It is day 30 of Movember and I’d like to thank everyone who helped our “Slime Dogs MO Team” have a successful run and help push the Canadian Campaign over the $18 million mark and be the top country in the world for raising awareness and funds for Prostrate Cancer Research. All of our Prostrates thank you.

the RUSH iPhone app... Branding 101

[caption id="attachment_37" align="alignleft" width="100" caption="RUSH iPhone app"]

[/caption] I just purchased an amazing example of solid brand thinking... the "RUSH"  iPhone Application. This new RUSH iPhone App is a perfect example of brand strategy put into the hands of the rabid RUSH fans. If you don't know RUSH, they are an extremely talented and loved  3 piece Canadian Rock icon with 30 years of international stardom and are in the midst of a major world tour. I had the pleasure of attending one of the RUSH Toronto shows in July with my 13 year old daughter and we were amazed by their performance, but even more by the fans... their fans are true extensions of the RUSH brand... So to continue to expand the RUSH brand, the iPhone app was released and is packed full of music, content,images and contact points that continue their carefully planned image. This is total brand management. The importance of brand strategy continues to evolve on a daily basis, and it is even more important to remember that as every touch has the potential to either strengthen or weaken your brand... especially brand tools like apps... RUSH get's it and instead of pumping our a "Rock Hero" game as an app, they provided there fans with a continuation of image which results in bringing their fans deeper into the RUSH brand. The lesson is simple, actually it isbrandSimple... your brand should be easy to use, and easy to remember... making it easy to cut through the clutter... your brand is everywhere... just ask RUSH cheers grant grant ivens, rgd creative director say what! communications corp. | toronto, canada  | www.saywhat.com grant@saywhat.com  |   905-471-9428  | http://twitter.com/saywhat_com http://ca.linkedin.com/in/grantivens