wednesday, november 7th, 2007
MADMA LUNCHEON ATTENDEES PLUG INTO THE POWER OF BRANDING
By Bill Roberts
Ever wonder why your grandmother would do her wash in nothing but Tide? Or why you have friends who will drive only a Honda? Or why you happily plunk down four dollars for a cup of Starbucks coffee?
It’s all branding, as Randa Zalman, advertising manager for Woodmen of the World, explained to the Nov. 7 luncheon meeting of the Mid-America Direct Marketing Association at Regency Lodge in Omaha.
Zalman not only explained how creating an effective brand identity can help a company. She gave concrete examples of how her company has rebranded itself and benefited from it.
Why is branding so important?
Think of all the advertising messages a consumer sees and hears every day. In a year, Zalman said, the average consumer is exposed to an overwhelming 25,000 new products. It’s too much to manage.
“Branding creates a shortcut in your brain and helps clear up that confusion,” she said.
Tide means clean clothes. Honda means reliable cars. Starbucks means more than a stylish setting for good-tasting coffee: “It’s the whole experience of having a cup of coffee and enjoying it with friends.”
Consistency is vital to establishing a brand, she noted. Every time a customer has a touchpoint, or experience of any kind with your brand (buying a product, hearing a radio spot, seeing a sign, reading a letter, etc.), it should be consistent with your brand.
Consistency will communicate quality, it will help customers recognize your company, and it will even save you money on creative materials, Zalman said.
BRAND PROMISE
A key concept is the Brand Promise, a brief statement that is often intended for the company’s employees.
“It’s a gut reaction,” she said. “It’s your essence, your aura, your internal mantra, your unique attributes. Above all things, it has to be actionable.”
Nike’s brand promise is “Enhancing the performance of athletes.” The elegant Ritz-Carlton hotel chain’s brand promise is “Helping ladies and gentlemen.”
Zalman said that when she began the branding process at Woodmen in 2005, the company had two legal names (Woodmen of the World and Omaha Woodmen), several nicknames, and (she counted) 107 logos.
“Talk about confusion! There was no consistency,” she said. As a result of this unfocused image, she said, a company that had been around for more than 100 years had less than 1 percent national recognition.
“We started from scratch,” she said.
First came research, to find out how the market perceived Woodmen. This can take courage, she noted, as research may turn up unflattering perceptions, but the company needs to know what it has to build upon.
Zalman said they found out Woodmen has a rural, small-town image, with matching values. Company officials decided to build Woodmen’s brand on those images and values.
Now a single, consistent logo is used in all company communications. The advertising often features a yellow Labrador dog named Buddy, and Woodmen has created promotional Buddy plush toys, along with an inflatable Buddy parade balloon, to take advantage of Buddy’s popularity.
JINGLE
A corporate jingle has been created, featuring down-home banjo music, and that tune is used in everything from radio commercials to the Web site to the “on-hold” music on the telephone.
Woodmen’s brand promise is “Caring for Members Like Family,” which is strongly communicated to its sales force and other internal audiences. The external positioning line is “With You Through LIFE,” with emphasis on the last word to highlight the firm’s life insurance products.
Branding consistency is now found throughout the corporate culture. For example, Zalman said, when a member of an employee’s immediate family passes away, notice is sent to all employees, and the outpouring of sympathy is genuine.
Employees learn an “elevator speech” about Woodmen, she said – a 15-second summary of the company suitable for use in casual conversation.
Branding has been a success for Woodmen, Zalman reported.
In 2006, the first full year of the new effort, name recognition has risen 7.3 percent. In Greenville, N.C., to highlight one market, name recognition jumped 16.4 percent. Preliminary results in 2007 look promising, she added.
Zalman commented that Woodmen has heard some negative comments from competitors who resent the firm’s bold foray into branded advertising.
Too bad for them, she said. “If you snooze, you lose.”
Presented by:
Randa Zalman
Advertising Manager
Woodmen of the World, Omaha
