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Get out of survival mode! Your marketing needs to make people feel good.

After taking a year off from blogging I felt I should come back with a post that would if nothing else inspire us all to do better work, smile more often, and approach these challenging times with a better attitude.

First, my apologies for such a long absence.  2008 was probably my roughest year personally and it was hard to stay focused on maintaining a steady stream of creative insight.  But hey, Fish-On Marketing is alive and well and will celebrate our 5^th year at the end of 2009.  And as I always say - The key to life is how well you deal with Plan B. 

Face it, we’re all still kind of battling a hangover from 2008.  Some worse than others.  The only way we’re going to get out of it is by doing better that what we do best – brilliant marketing that connects with consumers in memorable ways.

So I thought I’d come back with a challenge for us all to do work that inspires.  Create products and the marketing that drives them that stirs consumer’s souls, engages their emotional side, and most importantly leaves an impression. The challenge however is that our businesses, the work we produce, and most importantly our creative processes are all on survival mode.   A colleague of mine told me the other day when asked how he was doing, “We’re keeping the doors open.  That’s our goal for ’09. …it’s about all we can hope for.”   They say misery loves company, but this attitude will take you and everyone around you down – fast!  Now I don’t claim to be a Zig Ziglar type motivational guru but we all know that type of “stinking thinking” is very self destructive.  However, what I think will get us out of this mess, at least psychologically, is to take every project we can get our hands on and produce the best marketing experiences that you’ve ever done.  Yes…great work will beget great attitudes.  Winning smiles from clients and their brand customers. 

You may say, No brainer Bud!  But here’s the rub.  Today with many of us, including myself at times, we’re all on survival mode and we must get out of it!  When anyone, particularily animals feel threatened, scared, or may be close to losing life, home, or business…they go into what we know as survival mode.  Many of us including that colleague of mine said that in fact was his goal.  Just survive.  And yes we need to pay bills and keep the lights on.  But here’s the problem.  When we’re in survival mode, our creative mode shuts down.  After all when you’re threatened is not the time to try new things, think outside the box, and get crazy creative.  Because we can’t afford to fail.  No, survival mode is all about being conservative, cautious, and steering clear of risk.  Go with what works, back to basics, and stay very much ”in the box”.  The box is our protection.  But in our business of creativity, the box is sure death. 

Clients come to us for bright ideas, insightful thinking, stellar campaigns and work that resonates and connects with their consumers.  Remember they left the other shop because they were “too much in the same box”.  We must shake the Chicken Little attitude that “The sky is falling”, and instead tell ourselves, “It’s not going to fall on my watch”.

And this is easier said than done.  These are weird times; much is out of our control.  But even though consumers may be hunkering down and holding on to their hard earned cash, they still want products and marketing that dazzles their senses and stimulates their emotions.  And that is what we did best when times were good - and that is what we must do even better when times are bad.

The Buzz about Burt’s Bees and Bleach - Another Great Brand Story Gets a New Ending

This may be more of a note to self for future reference in a year or so.  It seems as though Burt’s Bees wonderful line of personal care products (my personal favorite being their lip balm) will be sold to Clorox for $925 million in cash.

According to the Burt’s Bees website it’s all good:

A Letter to Our Loyal Customers:  As you’ve probably heard by now, we at Burt’s Bees are entering an exciting new chapter in our lives as a result of the recent sale of the company to The Clorox Company. It’s a great opportunity to help us better deliver against our mission of making truly natural personal products available to everyone, everywhere.

This new journey gives us the energy and the resources to do even more. Not only will we be able to accelerate our growth, but this will also help us to grow the natural personal care category in general, furthering our commitment to The Greater Good.

You can keep counting on Burt’s Bees in the ways you always have. We will always stay steadfast behind our values and commitment to making the best natural personal care products with the most environmentally sensitive packaging and nature-safe manufacturing processes. And, above all, we’ll continue on with our social mission to make people’s lives better every day, naturally.

It’s your desire to improve your well-being and the world around you that has given us the support to take this next step. We thank you and ask for your continued support so we can keep the Burt’s Bees hive buzzing.

Felt a bit coerced and forced.  Sounded like corporate PR guy takes off his pin stripe suit, puts on khakis and Crocs and writes a release for the “greenies”. 

Burt’s products were built on a great story.  Founded in 1984 by Roxanne Quimby and Burt Shavitz, Burt’s Bees grew from a roadside operation in Maine to a thriving business in the NC Tech Triangle.  Customers felt so good about putting a product as natural as bees wax on their bodies; and the environmental story the company crafted around it was just as strong.  It was all about setting the highest in natural standards, preserving our environment, and a commitment to to the health and well being of our earth and its people.  Contrast that with Clorox bleach, which is all about germ free and clean through harsh chemicals, wrapped of course in a warm and fuzzy white cotton blanket. 

I guess time will tell but it just disappoints me when these great little experiential brands sell out their souls and their stories for financial gain.  If you listen to the PR spin coming form Clorox I guess it all makes sense: 

“We plan to run the business semi-independently,” says Clorox spokesperson Dan Staublin. “We will be bringing our skills and strengths to the relationship, but we know that we have a lot to learn from Burt’s Bees about personal products, sustainability and the green platform.”

That approach will extend to marketing. “We will bring our expertise in brand building and building retail relationships, but Burt’s Bees will continue to work with the creative agencies it currently works with, and its overall marketing approach and direction will continue going forward,” Staublin says.

And full disclosure here, Burt’s Bees founders had already sold the business in 2003 to AEA Investors, a New York private equity group.  However that acquisition isn’t generating the type of visibility or scrutiny that the Clorox acquisition has.  And all branding aside, I guess it makes sense on the surface.  With the green movement beginning to hit its stride even in Main Street Wal*Marts across the country, it has kind of caught the big brands flat footed.  Rather than try and create products that meet these needs, they find it easier to line up these strategic acquisitions.  I’m sure we’ll be seeing more of this. 

I just hope that the great brand stories built by entrepreneurial visionaries aren’t lost as they become assimilated into the big CPG machines.  I just don’t want to see an on-pack promotion where they strap a free sample of Burt’s Thoroughly Therapeutic Honey & Grapeseed Oil Hand Creme to a gallon of Clorox Bleach to lessen the harsh effects on a woman’s tender hands.

Wal*Mart gets a smiley face lift

A recent article in Advertising Age talks about Wal*Mart going through a bit of a subtle re-positioning, or at least beginning the process with a lifestyle oriented “freshen-up” of  its tag line.  It seems that after 19 years the famous tag line “Always low prices..always” often accompanied by the smiley face will be given a face lift of sorts. 

In its first big push from its new shop, Martin Agency, the Bentonville behemoth is scrapping its happy-face logo, which has been in use for 19 years, from its TV spots and trading in its “Always Low Prices” motto for a new one. The new tag-line, “Save Money. Live Better,” will be rolled out onto everything from receipts to shopping bags. Wal-Mart’s new tack signals a scaling back of recent attempts to go upscale, and marks a return to its traditional emphasis on low prices.

Many of you may have noticed their subtle shift over the last year or so as they apparently were trying to lure in a more upscale sophisticated shopper with trendier designer brands and a more polished approach to their advertising.  And if anyone in Bentonville is listening, here’s my problem with that.  

After indelibly etching the Wal*Mart brand in consumer’s brains as the low-cost leader they wanted to go after a more upscale shopper.  A shopper that probably loathes the Wal*Mart experience - if you could call it that.  A shopper that would gladly pay double what they just saved just to get out of the store and feel clean.  Literally and emotionally.   Let’s just say it.  Wal*Mart wants to be a Tar*Mart with Martha Stewart, Cindy Crawford, and HGTV on board as influential endorsers.  Can we say, “All things to all people.” 

Here’s the marketing conundrum, and I’ve argued this point many times with my academic friends.  Brands don’t position themselves…consumers do.  As sharp brand stewards and marketers we can establish what amounts to little more than guard rails to guide our consumer down a path.  But ultimately the consumer positions the brand in their mind based on their experience with the brand.  That experience includes the brand promise and whether it lives up to it.  It also includes all marketing communications, user and shopping experience, and price value equations just to name a few components.  And let me reiterate the consumer’s perception is the brand’s reality. 

Brand managers can sit around a room and look at positioning maps till they see spots; but we can only guide our brands, we can’t drive them to an ideal “sweet spot” .  So if Wal*Mart wants to be perceived differently it will take more than just a tag line change or a smiley face lift.  I guess if we end up with a few extra coins in our pocket because we shopped at Wal*Mart, our lives are supposed to be better.  In what way?