Apple's social strategy is its products

Recently, Christopher Heine, digital editor of Adweek was quoted on Smartbrief as saying "It's really hard to figure out what Apple's social strategy is -- if it has one at all."

This comment stems from the fact that unlike most companies, Apple doesn't have a legion of ninjas, commandos, wizards and rockstars tweeting, posting and instagramming inane content for them all hours of the day and night. Instead they decided to drop a few hundred grand on a promoted tweet for the iPad Air.

Rather than manufacturing news, here's Apple's social strategy: They manufacture remarkable products their owners love to talk about.

Just because a brand doesn't talk about itself on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram doesn't mean it doesn't get talked about on those platforms. And in the end, what is more valuable, Samsung telling everyone how cool they are, or Apple users telling everyone how cool their iPads, Macbooks and iPhones are?

Yeah, I thought so.

The penalty of idiocy

The Cadillac ELR is a fine car. Not great, but not bad at all. It's comfortable, well-appointed and drives nicely. If you're looking for a luxury electric, you should test drive it. But that's not the point of this post.

This post is about the god-awful spot that launched this pretty good car.

By now you've probably seen it. The all-too-proud American mocking others for their work ethic (or lack thereof). But in case you haven't, here it is.

First of all, Cadillac is not expecting to sell too many ELRs, especially given that this electric sled will set you back $75K. So being polarizing isn't necessarily a bad thing. It's just as important for a brand to know what it doesn't stand for as what it does.

The ELR is a statement car, one that's supposed to halo the brand. Unfortunately with this spot they've made the statement that the Cadillac brand is all about "me." Egoistic, self centered, arrogant and unapologetic.

GM's PR team have argued that the spot is about success, but that's not the message one takes away from the wink and sneering use of French at the end.

I think somewhere in their misguided heads, the creative team at Cadillac's new agency, Rogue, thought they were updating this classic and brand-defining print ad from 1915 for a new generation.

If  that's the case they whiffed badly.

It's one thing to voice your objection to the critics. It's another altogether to poke fun at other people and cultures.

In doing so Cadillac has alienated the very people they are hoping will buy new ATSs, CTSs, SRXs and ELRs; BMW, Audi, Mercedes and Jaguar owners.

It's time for Cadillac to admit their mistake and pull this spot.

"N'est-ce pas."

Jack and Frank

Celebrity endorsements are often forced and feel disingenuous, like when Tiger Woods was a spokesperson for Buick. Did anyone believe he really drove one?

This, however, is the kind of endorsement, I can endorse.



Frank Sinatra drank Jack Daniel's on stage. Every night.

He wasn't paid to do it. No marketing guru scripted his line "Nectar of the gods, baby." It was what Frank believed and how he lived. It's a very cool and authentic part of the brand's heritage, one that's still relevant today.

Jack Daniel's is smart to remind us of Ol' Blue Eyes' love of their liquid and leverage this association to enhance the timelessness of the brand.

It proves that sometimes you can move forward by looking back.

Walmart takes back America after wrecking it

Walmart was founded by Sam Walton, a smart, hard-working former Ben Franklin store franchisee who knew that through superior logistics, he could drive cost out of the system and offer goods a lower prices, thus helping people buy more of what they need.

A World War II veteran, Mr. Walton also made a concerted effort to offer American-made products in his stores, identifying domestic manufacturers who could deliver goods at or below the price of products that were made in Japan, then the worlds low-cost production center.

Somewhere along the way, Walmart went from focusing on selling low-cost American-made goods to the lowest cost products it could find no matter where they were made. This led U.S. manufacturers to move production to lower cost labor markets like Mexico, China, Indonesia and South Korea, which in turn led to the collapse of entire manufacturing sectors in the U.S. like textiles and electronics. Walmart's policies have also been a major contributing factor to wage stagnation to the point where good factory jobs: once a ticket to the middle class, now barely pay a living wage.

I'm not saying this migration of labor and stagnation of wages wouldn't have happened without Walmart, but their policies and practices certainly were a contributing factor to the pace of change.

That's why I find this new "Investing in American Jobs" ad campaign a little disingenuous.



I also find it ironic – and a little tone deaf – that the sound track for this ad, was outsourced to the Canadian band, Rush.

Other than that, this is a fine ad.

A marketing miracle

By now, we've all seen this video of the amazing stunt marketing event from the Canadian Airline, WestJet.



Actually 19 million people have viewed it directly on Youtube, more on social media channels and millions upon millions have read about it thanks to all the press its garnered in just the week since it was posted.

How did they achieve such success?

Let's start with the concept. It's big. No, not just big, huge. I can barely get the shopping done for my family in the weeks leading up to Christmas. Buying Christmas gifts for 250 people in just a few hours is a massive undertaking.

It was executed perfectly.

Starting with Santa on video gathering wishes, to the army of employees who were sent to do the shopping to the decorations around the baggage carousel, they nailed every detail. It was magical from start to finish.

This effort was clearly genuine, heartfelt and relevant, promoting the company's real differentiator, service.

The result is that for less than the cost of producing a national TV commercial, WestJet was able to create international fame. This is an incredible marketing achievement that is sure to be honored at Cannes and every other advertising festival next year.

The question is, how can they take the momentum from this event and use it to build their business in the coming year? Their brand now stands for 'miracles' and they have to deliver on that promise on a regular basis, maybe not with grand stunts like this, but little gestures that demonstrate how much they care about their passengers. Otherwise, this big event is just marketing and all the energy it created will be drained as quickly as the batteries in a child's toy on Christmas morning.

I'm assuming that a company smart enough to create and execute this event knows that. So I'm looking forward to seeing what they do next.

A campaign I hate (and love)

Personally, I hate the new Dodge Durango campaign featuring Will Ferrell. It feels gimmicky, forced and just doesn't speak to me.

But I'm a also big fan of this campaign.

What? How can I hate it and be a fan?

In a word, positioning. 

It's an old marketing term made famous by Jack Trout and Al Reis in the book Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind, and it's as relevant today as it was 32 years ago when the book was published in 1981.

This campaign is funny. It's disruptive. It's memorable. It's Will Ferrell at his finest. More importantly it actually positions the vehicle in the minds of potential buyers.

Dodge Durango is a mid-size SUV competing with Ford Explorer, Chevy Traverse, Toyota 4Runner and others of its ilk. A cursory review of the marketing for all these nameplates leads me to believe that none of these companies are doing a good job of creating a differentiated positioning for the products in this space. They're all go anywhere, do anything vehicles for you and your family. 

So I give Dodge credit for doing something different. I noticed. And I'm sure millions of others did also. The positioning take away is that the Durango is the bad boy of the category. The mid-size SUV that's powerful, rough around the edges and maybe a little bit more fun. 

I like that this campaign (and the Dodge brand in general) is not trying to be all things to all people. And it's the positioning that gives it that edge. They know what they're about, who they're for, who they're not for and how they're going to be different. Assuming this product delivers on that expectation and an SUV with those characteristics is relevant to enough people, this campaign should be a success. 

This positioning isn't for me. I prefer my rides a bit more sophisticated, but at least Dodge is not delivering ads that are bland – or worse yet invisible – which is the case with Honda, Nissan, Ford, Chevy and so many other car companies.

The future is here

Samsung has hit its stride.

This spot for the new Galaxy Gear wrist computer hits just the right balance between intrigue and information, tone and truth. It works hard without trying too hard. Maybe that's why it was one of the few spots that aired over the weekend where people in the room I was in stopped talking about the game for 60 seconds and actually watched an ad.



One thing I like about this spot is that it seems Samsung have finally gotten over their Apple envy and are ready to promote their own products without bashing those of a worthy adversary. Maybe that's just because there is not equivalent Apple product or maybe, just maybe they're ready to sell their devices on their merit.

Either way, thanks to 72andSunny for concepting and producing a great spot and sparing me from another lousy car, truck or beer ad during the game. Now let's just hope the product actually lives up to the promise of those Hollywood gadgets that inspired it.

Everyone has a brand

I spend a lot of my time talking about branding and its impact on a business. Invariably, someone will say, "My business is too small. I don't have a brand." To which I reply:

If you're in business, you're branding.

When you pick a name for your company, you're branding.

When you hire your first employee, you're branding.

When you answer the phone, you're branding.

When you design your product, you're branding.

When you choose your location, you're branding.

When you pick your office furniture, you're branding.

Branding isn't just your marketing communications. It's everything you do, because everything you do communicates something about your brand.

That's why it's important to make sure you understand your mission, vision, promise and values so you can deliver on them consistently every time in every interaction to any audience. A strong brand directs more than marketing. It directs your business.

Who are you for?

Back in 1969 John Lennon and Paul McCartney penned the lyric, "And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make."

I doubt they were thinking about branding when they they sang it on Abbey Road, but great companies understand the reciprocal nature of their relationships with their customers.

If you want to create advocates for your brands, you have to advocate for them first. So the question you must ask is, "Who are you for?"

Now let me be clear, that is not "Who would you like to sell to?"

That's "Who are you supporting, rooting for, fighting for?"

P & G doesn't just make diapers, wipes, toothpaste, soap, beauty products and detergents. They are for moms.



Harley Davidson doesn't just make motorcycles. They are there for riders.



Organic Valley doesn't just sell food. They are for farmers.

Want to create passionate, loyal fans who are willing to pay more and advocate for your brand?

Then ask yourself one question, "Who are you for?"

How ESPN anchors its network

ESPN is clearly holding its own in the new battle over 24-hour sports television. They have the NFL, MLB, NBA and other important live sports properties. But they have something else. An incredibly strong brand in SportsCenter, their nightly wrap up show that has been a staple of the network almost since its inception.

Why is SportsCenter so strong?

Not because they show scores and highlights, you can get most of those on your local news sports segment. Not because of all the high-tech wizardry they use on their set. Not even because it's on one of ESPN's networks almost every hour of the day.

What makes SportsCenter so strong is its cast of anchors and the personalities each member has created for him or herself. If you watch the show regularly you know who likes which sports, their catchphrases and the idiosyncrasies that make their presentation of sports news interesting.

But one way the network helps bring those personalities to life and demonstrate how inside sports ESPN is, is the This is SportCenter campaign, of which this is just the latest excellent execution.

If Fox, NBC or CBS ever get into the conversation of 24-hour sports broadcasting, it will be because they don't just deliver sports news and but because of the strong brands of the people who deliver that news.

That's the only way to truly differentiate their networks in the long run.

Ignore your brand at your own peril

Hyundai has hit a speed bump on its way to what it had hoped would be a sales leadership position in the United States auto market.

While Hyudai's sales were up 8.2% over the previous year last month, that lags the overall growth in the U.S. market, which expanded by more than 17%.

What's behind this slow down?

In my mind, a misguided strategy. Funny thing is, it's the same strategy that has hampered VWs growth for decades.

Like VW, Hyundai came into the U.S. market as a classic disruptor, with low-cost materials, basic design and just enough features to be attractive. But their cars were inexpensive, so they sold to those who wanted a new car and could afford nothing else. It was a strategy that helped them grab sales from Toyota, Chevrolet, Honda, Ford and other mainstream brands.

But then they altered their focus slightly, still offering a low price, but attempting to improve the perceived quality of their products by upgrading the materials and their styling. They also helped mitigate the perception of poor quality by offering a ten year 100,000 mile warranty. In addition when the economy went soft, they created their Assurance Program which allowed new buyers to return their cars with no hit to their credit if they lost their job. As they did this sales accelerated and the Elantra and Sonata both climbed the sales charts.

Not satisfied, however, to enjoy growing success at the lower end of the market where margins are thin, Hyundai decided they had the brand power to take on more entrenched and esteemed competition at the high end of the market in the states.

So just a two years after running commercials that were designed to teach people how to pronounce their brand name...



Hyundai introduced the $60,000 Equus in the U.S. adding Lexus, Audi, BMW and Mercedes to their competitive set.

VW made the same mistake in the early 2000s when they tried to move upscale by launching the Phaeton.

While the cars themselves might be fine, with luxurious appointments, acceptable power and everything else the leaders in this category offer, neither the VW nor Hyundai brand are able to support a credible competitor to Audi, Mercedes, Lexus and BMW.

If they really wanted to launch and upscale product, they only had to look at Toyota for a roadmap. Lexus was launched in the late 1980s because Toyota had taken a large chunk of the mainstream market and wanted to migrate into the luxury segment. They knew, however, Toyota wouldn't be relevant at the top end of the world's most important automotive market, so Lexus was born.

They didn't just build a new car, however. They built a whole new brand. With separate dealerships. Separate experiences. Separate promises. That's why they succeeded where VW and Hyundai seem to be falling short.

Hyundai can't compete at both ends of the market with one brand. Luxury buyers don't want the same badge on their car as one advertised by local dealers to the credit challenged. Nor do they want to be seen in the same dealership as consumers who aren't sure if they can even afford a new car.

The powers that be in Seoul need to let Hyundai be Hyundai. And, if they really must compete at the high end of the market, spend the money to create a new brand.

A teaching moment

I can only imagine how unhappy executives at Mercedes Benz were when they first saw this spec ad made by German film school students.

While this ad is clearly disruptive, memorable and demonstrates a new product feature, it is yet another reason why creative directors are critically important in today's youth obsessed advertising culture.

A good creative director has enough experience to understand there's a line between funny and offensive. A good creative director might also have a sense of history and know that there's a direct link between the Mercedes Benz, Hitler and the Third Reich – an association I'm sure the brand is loathe to remind people of. One can only hope that if the team worked in an actual agency a good CD would have reminded them of that fact and sent them back to the drawing board as their teachers should have.

I'm not even sure the students' basic premise makes any sense. Tobias Hunter, Jan Mettler, Lydia Lohse and Gun Aydemir, the creators of this ad were quoted as saying "We wanted to pose the question of what might happen if technology had a soul."

The ability to peer into the future and decide who lives and dies hardly qualifies as soul.

What this spot has me wondering is if those students have a soul between them. Otherwise how could they use the fact that millions of people suffered and died at the hands of Hitler and his disciples to sell a car brand that helped him even peripherally in this effort?

Hopefully they've learned through this little media brouhaha what they weren't taught in ad school.

It's not me, it's you

What Nike understands so well that few other brands understand is that it's not about them.

It's about you.



Their brand and this campaign is relevant after 25 years because it's not about their patented design, their special materials or even the sports stars that endorse their products. It's about that little voice inside of all of us that says, "Get up. Get going. Go further. Go faster." It's about our desire to reach that next level, whatever that level is for us as individuals, while acknowledging the possibility that our potential is beyond what we can even imagine today.

They found that truth about the connection between their products and their users and it became the core of their brand.

What's the truth about your customers? What do they want not from you, but from life? What makes them tick? How does your product help them achieve that? Answer those questions and you'll be on your way to creating a lasting brand.

A writer's writer

My connection to Elmore Leonard, though tenuous, goes way back to the late '60s.

He lived near us in Birmingham, Michigan when I was seven or eight.

Later when I was working at Campbell-Ewald advertising, I learned he had been a copywriter there as well. Rumor has it, he penned his first novel behind a closed office door while he was supposed to be writing copy for Chevrolet.

I only really knew him through his writing.

His work is clean, compact, and seemingly effortless. For those reasons, some don't consider him to be a great writer. I consider him to be great precisely for those reasons.

He knew how to grab attention, create characters, write dialogue and craft stories that sucked you in, all without drawing attention to himself.

He told the story, never getting in the way of it.

As someone who writes for a living – albeit at a very different level – I can only admire his work and hope to learn from its craftsmanship.

Over the past two days, I have seen many celebrations of Leonard's work, but this does it best for me. It's a compilation of all the opening lines he's ever written in published novels and short stories.

What can we learn from these? The importance and power of a strong opening.

They're so good, I need to reread those I've read already and get my hands the ones I haven't.

It's a good thing I have a lot of travel time coming up.

Getting it right matters

It's hard to believe someone could develop a product so awful that it could kill an entire category, but GM managed to do just that back in the '70s.

Compared to gasoline engines, diesels are more efficient, more reliable, more durable, can run more easily on synthetic and biofuels, and now are very clean burning.

With all those benefits why aren't there more diesels in American cars? I offer exhibit A: The 1978 Olds Cutlass Diesel.

The 5.7 liter V8 diesel that GM cobbled together for that car in the midst of the energy crisis was so bad it killed the whole concept of diesels for generations of American car buyers.

So while more than 50% of new cars in Europe are sold with diesel engines, that number is about 4% in the U.S. and would be closer to zero were it not for the efforts of VW and BMW who have both spent millions of dollars in advertising to trumpet diesel's benefits.

This is just a reminder that when developing new products, if you do something wrong – really, really wrong – you can, in fact, ruin it for the rest of us.

Love it or hate it, it's brilliant

God bless the British for their sense of humor and bad condiments. They've come together to create this wonderful spot for a jar of their beloved/despised Marmite.



This spot is so wonderful on so many levels.

It's a smart strategy for a brand that is seemingly everywhere and nowhere at the same time.

It actually acknowledges that not everyone loves the product – the young boy's reaction upon taking a bite of his toast and Marmite is priceless.

It's a great send up of the rescue shows that are proliferating across cable today.

And of course, it has some people up in arms, so it's getting even more play in the media.

Yes surprise, surprise, the perpetually offended are complaining that this spot makes fun of animal cruelty and demeans animal rights workers and volunteers.

[sigh]

I have no doubt the spot will stay on the air. After all Unilever, Marmite's corporate overlord, is no stranger to controversy as the parent to the Axe brand.

Honda steps back in time

This is an interesting project.



Drive-ins provide a wonderful, classic movie experience and have for generations. They're certainly a part of my past. I remember sneaking a friend or two and a couple of six packs in the trunk of my old Fiat 124 – clearly I had diminutive friends – into Petoskey's Northland Drive-In Theater when I was 16.

But that's just it. Even though over 300 of them still exist today, drive-ins are a part of our past. Their heyday was over 40 years ago. They transport us to another time.

Are they worth saving? Yes.

Is this a cause I'll donate money to? Sure.

But is it a good idea for Honda to tie its brand to such an iconic symbol of a time gone by? Maybe.

The danger is that while this project may help them connect at a deeper emotional level with American automotive culture, it could also give people the impression that they're stuck in the past.

Maybe that's why, as much as I like the effort, I'm glad Chevrolet wasn't the sponsor.

Tweet this

In its new Twitter Causation Study, Nielsen Research has found that twitter activity had a statistically significant impact on the ratings of programs 29% of the time. And, according to the study there's a reciprocal relationship:

“Using time series analysis, we saw a statistically significant causal influence indicating that a spike in TV ratings can increase the volume of Tweets, and, conversely, a spike in Tweets can increase tune-in,” said Paul Donato, Chief Research Officer, Nielsen.

So when more people watch a show they tweet more about it and when more people tweet about a show more people watch it.

Thus, when someone tweets, "Dude, are you watching #Sharknado?!!" a few more people tune in and when more people tune in, more people tweet about the awesome awfulness that is Sharknado.

This is good news for TV networks and for marketers because it's hard evidence that Twitter works as a word of mouth platform to a degree.

The challenge is nobody talks or tweets about ordinary things. You have to be remarkable to get the conversation started. In Sharknado's case, the show was remarkably bad, in a fascinating "I can't turn away even if I wanted to" kind of way.

So to set the twitterverse afire you need a killer product, a surprising and relevant marketing event, or a great story worth sharing.

Because while people are tweeting about a tornado that transports sharks, the unreal acts of real housewives, and backstabbing top chef/designer/model competitions, nobody's tweeting about a documentary of vanilla ice cream.

It's all branding

It amazes me that a leading publication in the advertising industry still doesn't get it.

It's all too clear based on this headline on Adweek.com

I'm going to say this very slowly to make sure they understand:

Branding is not a logo;
it's everything a company does.
Especially the product.

The fact that McDonald's can create ads showing just the product with very few other visual cues only demonstrates how strong their brand is. They've managed to differentiate it right down to the two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles on a sesame seed bun...

If you want to see how strong your brand really is, this is a great exercise. Go ahead, create an ad without a logo. If you can't recognize it as yours, neither will your consumer. That's a signal you should get to work on making your product, your packaging and everything else unique so that it expresses your brand. That'll make your "branding" work a hell of a lot harder.

Here are images from the "unbranded" campaign in question.

In advertising bigger is only one thing, bigger.

Over the weekend Publicis and Omnicom announced their intention to merge. Of course the public statements were all about improving client service, the creative product and overall effectiveness of their work. There is, however, really only one thing this merger is about:

Money.

Not to be too cynical, but the benefits to the clients in this are few and far between. Maybe somewhere there's a big data angle here to help the new company better compete with Google, but even the clients don't expect much to change. Anheuser-Bush InvBev VP of Marketing, Paul Chibe was quoted in Ad Age as saying, "It doesn't change anything."

So this larger holding company will gain efficiencies in back room operations, be able to consolidate some real estate, and probably jettison a few thousand newly redundant staff members making it less costly to produce the same amount of work. All reasonable business moves.

I can guarantee you, however, the monetary gains from increased efficiency won't result in lower rates charged to clients.

I'd love to be Maurice Levy's real estate agent today...