Merry Christmas Links

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From all of us at Cornerstone Brand Communications, may your Christmas be filled with the joy of our Savior and Lord as you spend time with family and friends during the holidays.

If you have not already seen our holiday e-card you may click here or on the image below to view it.

Then we invite you to visit the links below to some favorite, fun and weird Christmas videos.

Links With A More Traditional Appeal:

• Christmas Food Court Flash Mob, Hallelujah Chorus: click here
• A Social Network Christmas: click here
• Straight No Chaser - 12 Days of Christmas: click here
• A Strange Way To Save The World: click here
• Charlie Brown Meaning of Christmas: click here

Links For The Unusual:

• Can't Wrap This: click here
• Fred Finklehorn - Christmas is Creepy: click here
• Merry Christmas Mr. Bean: click here

Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from all of us.

A Good Brand Is Better Than A Bailout

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When your product’s quality and your organization’s action convey a perception of credibility and value, customers will prefer to do business with you because it is in their own best interest.

That’s what Ford proved when they turned down a taxpayer bailout General Motors and Chrysler urgently requested in 2009. Not only did consumers respond favorably to Ford’s decision to avoid adding more burden to the national debt, but so did the very government that had already funded the financial relief of their competitors.

In two separate articles published recently on Brandchannel.com, the highlights of Ford Motor Company’s financial performance during the last two years was reported.

One article states that year-to-year consumer market share shifts between major manufacturers is typically measured in tenths of a point. Ford’s share ended 2008 at 14.2 percent. It grew to 15.3 percent by the end of 2009. And it is expected to end 2010 at 16.5 percent. It has been a long time since such large back-to-back increases have been experienced by any U.S. auto manufacturer. Read the full article.

The second article recounts Ford’s sales success to US-government fleets. Although Ford’s total sales count was just higher than General Motors, the government bought 3 hybrid vehicles from Ford for every one they purchased from GM. It seems Ford’s quality and broad array of product options is a favorite of this administration’s green initiatives.
So to come back to the point I made when this article began, customers desire, prefer and will enthusiastically purchase brands that they perceive offer them a significantly better value than other competitors. Read the full article.

That turns the tangible improvements Ford has made in their vehicles combined with the emotional goodwill from turning down the bailout money into a very strong brand value boost. Which has translated into their significant revenue and market share increase. Plus an even healthier bottom line.

And a strong brand and bottom line beats a bailout any day of the week.

When you’re ready to turn a stronger brand into a healthier bottom line, contact us by e-mail or phone 903-534-5220.

4D: When 3D's Not Good Enough

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I realize change happens faster today than ever before, but while most of us are still awed by the explosion of 3D movies and have yet to make the switch to 3D television, along comes some intrepid souls exploring the added dimension of 4D.



Hey, don't get me wrong, this is cool stuff. Also called architectural projection mapping, it turns virtually any surface into a canvas for something more than just a sound, video, light and animation presentation - it can be used to create an engaging interactive experience with the audience.

If you want to create something that will get everyone around the world talking and gather a large crowd in the process, this could be your next great media choice. 

And because it's something that's much better seen than just described, check out several examples in the story published on Brandchannel.com.

For most of us, though, a real consideration to make anytime you are evaluating a highly-entertaining or involving media choice is whether or not the presentation enhances or detracts from the message you want the audience to remember. Or more bluntly, will your audience love the show without it showing any results? How many great commercials have you quoted over and over for months afterward without having any idea who had produced it or developing any motivation to do anything about it?

To achieve valuable results that use dynamic media presentations to make your most important brand promises clearer and more memorable, be sure the imagery, information and interactivity included strongly parallel expectations you are already creating with other media. Magnify it to be sure - but maintain a consistent and obvious content relationship. Otherwise, you're just creating another unrelated stream of communication that fights with the brand perceptions you have worked hard to establish elsewhere.

To talk to someone about helping you develop more effective marketing communications in a wide variety of engaging media, contact us today by e-mail or phone 903-534-5220.

What's Your Brand Rating?

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Have you rated your brand lately? No, I mean seriously tried to evaluate what you should be doing or not doing to improve the value and influence of your most important marketing asset? Well, friend, that's too long.

Why not use our handy Brand Report Card and give yourself a few minutes of reflective self-evaluation. Not only will this remind you of some of the vital brand maintenance strategies every marketer should be practicing, it will also give you some ideas for actions to emphasize in 2011 to strengthen your brand value even more.

This simple survey lists and provides brief explanations of 10 attributes you can use to judge your own brand as well as your competitors.

The report card prompts you to consider:
1. Is the brand properly positioned?
2. Does it offer an appealing benefit customers truly desire?
3. Is the brand’s value promise understood and supported within the organization?
4. Is the brand’s unique value clearly communicated to customers and prospects?
5. Do the brand’s managers attempt to measure how the brand is perceived by its audience?
6. Does the brand stay relevant?
7. Does the customer experience match the expectation created by the brand promise?
8. Is the brand marketed consistently?
9. Is the brand given proper support and is that support sustained over the long run?
10. Does the brand use a coordinated program of marketing activities to build influence?

So, download the survey now.

Then, armed with a more focused sense of reality, you will have already taken the first step in a more positive direction.

If you have a question about the survey or want help taking action based on your evaluation, contact us today by e-mail or phone 903-534-5220.

Success = Making It Easier For Customers To Buy

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While most marketers try to motivate potential customers to want what they have to sell, really successful marketers help customers do a better job of buying what they already want.

In a recently published article posted on BNET.com, William Taylor describes how Netflix has dramatically improved the way their customers identify and evaluate movies they might want to view.

Most of us think the breakthrough that has driven Netflix’s explosive growth is their pioneering of first a mail and now an online distribution solution - but their greatest achievement of all may be something even more appealing.

Realizing that the main issue customers struggle with when picking a movie isn’t so much about how it’s delivered but about how to make a good choice from thousands of options, Netflix has developed a truly better way to reduce the risk of a bad selection.

Netflix has created a smooth process that helps customers find new movies they are likely to enjoy through an automated suggestion system. Based on shared characteristics with movies the customer has previously liked as well as recommendations by other members with similar tastes, the system presents options that maximize the customer’s likelihood of satisfaction.

And by making the customer experience better and more consistently positive, Netflix is soaring while competitor Blockbuster is hoping to come out of bankruptcy sometime in the near future. Netflix has 16 million fee-paying members, annual revenues of over $2 billion and a usage rate where customers rent 98% of all the titles every quarter.

So what’s the point? It’s just one more example of the power of a total brand solution. Not simply a better sales job, but a solid brand value delivered on a consistent basis.

Read more details about this brand’s strategy and thinking.

And when you’re ready to talk to someone about building or sustaining your own brand solution, contact us by e-mail or phone 903-534-5220.

Putting Your Brand In The Hands Of Prospects

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Whether it takes the form of a pdf document, a piece of printed literature or an online digital brochure, the need for some form of content-rich sales presentation is a primary communication tool for almost every brand.

That means the more capably you can present the value of your brand and build its credibility using this form of communication, the greater your competitive advantage.

So what does it take to create a strong brand message that prospects will read both for its clear promise of benefit as well as its thorough coverage of supporting detail?

Our Sadler’s TenderSplit brisket new packaging brochure is a good example. Here are three things it does well:

1. It Clearly Establishes The Brand’s Unique Value – from the front cover all the way through it announces, enhances and sustains the brand’s promise to provide “generations of pit-smoked flavor ready to serve in minutes.”
2. It Powerfully Builds A Persuasive Presentation – with exceptional photography, expressive copy and a convincing call to action, it doesn’t just present the facts for the reader to evaluate themselves, it leads them to the desired response with confident expectancy.
3. It Inspires The Reader To Realize Their Own Success – connecting on both a rational and emotional level, the brochure encourages buyers to see this brand as a solution their own customers will buy willingly and often.

View the entire brochure for yourself.

To talk to someone about turning your sales literature into a more powerful brand presentation, contact us today by e-mail or phone 903-534-5220.

How To Avoid Becoming A Commodity

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"All things being equal" has to be the worst phrase any marketer will ever hear from a potential customer. It means your only hope of a sure sale is a cheaper price.

Letting your brand become a commodity is a disaster for your whole organization. In effect, it raises all the costs of production, sales and service because it lowers your opportunity and ability to offset those expenses with a favorable return on investment.

So what can be done to avoid this tragedy? Raise the value of what you're selling in the mind of your customers to a higher level as revealed in a BNET.com interview with Paul Boitmann, president of global sales at Newell Rubbermaid.

Faced by a market full of cheap knock-offs, Boitmann describes how Newell Rubbermaid employs a competitive strategy that helps channel partners realize greater total value than just the revenue they make from the merchandise on their shelves.

Their approach is to provide a level of knowledge and expertise that goes beyond just knowing their own product line in order to help retailers improve the success of the entire product category in the store.

Boitmann states "While we want to own the category as a whole, if this means giving a prominent display to a competitor's product in order to maximize the performance of that department, that's the recommendation that we would make."

Newell Rubbermaid's goal is to help retailers lower their risk of buying inventory that isn't going to sell and avoid the resentment generated by channel stuffing. "We're essentially offering a solution to the problem of 'how do I make this category profitable' rather than just supplying them something to resell," explains Boitmann.

So to avoid allowing the buying decision to come down to price, raise it above basic product facts and features. Beyond a delivery date or size availability. Turn your entire organization and your brand into a success solution.

Read the entire interview for yourself.

And when you're ready to present your brand as a more complete solution, contact us today by e-mail or phone 903-534-5220.

Lead Follow-Up Objective #3 - Demonstrate Solutions

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The objective of your marketing communications strategy is to generate leads that will become new business. Sometimes that happens quickly, but not often. How do you get the most out of the leads that don’t buy immediately?

In our first post on this subject, we suggested initiating a follow-up communications program to share your knowledge with potential customers. This gives them a no-obligation way to evaluate your thinking and approach. Then in our second post we recommended a methodical plan to highlight your advantages over time.

This time we’ll consider a third objective.

Demonstrating solutions

The fact is, the only reason a prospect considers their vendor options and ultimately makes a change in their product of service choices is because they are trying to find a better solution to an issue they want to solve. So give them some examples of solutions you've developed. Define a problem you were asked to solve. Explain the main development decisions and the resulting strategy. And highlight some of the results. The whole idea here is to eventually demonstrate a range of successful applications of your ideas and skills. Demonstrating solutions gives the prospect more ways to see you as the answer to the challenge they have an urgency to solve today.

Finally, while we don't have a lot of detail about the time-to-conversion or percentage of secondary leads who become hot leads in a particular program, we do have solid evidence to show that a lead that has responded once is much more likely to continue to accept communication and therefore influence than a first-time prospect. And respond at a higher rate as well.

In a program we developed to maintain communications with architects who classified themselves as having "a future interest" in our client's product, we documented initial electronic communications click-through rates ranging from half of one percent to just over one percent. Follow-up communications to those same responses, however, generated click-through rates from 22-39% depending on the content.

That's the whole point right there. To keep a once-responsive secondary prospect interested until something in their situation or your communication raises their urgency of action to a higher level.

Read more about the other two lead follow-up program objectives now.

If you want to talk to someone about a brand follow-up program for your leads, contact us today by e-mail or phone 903-534-5220.

Panera Bread Keeps Rising Despite Recession

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If you've found yourself waiting longer to be seated, served and possibly even to pay for a meal at your favorite mid-level restaurant these days, it could be a side effect of the same cost squeeze affecting so many industries.

But while some eateries suffering from a loss of business have chosen to cut costs on food quality, menu options or service staff, Panera Bread is taking the opposite approach. In an article published online at Bloomberg.com, executive chairman Ronald Shaich describes how the 1600 unit chain has intentionally kept its growth intact and how it tries to differentiate itself from other restaurant operators.

"Almost every single one of our competitors said 'We need to pull costs out.' As a consumer, if you walk into their restaurants, the lines are longer, the waits are longer. You have a table next to you with dirty dishes. That is the effect of increasing labor productivity. It has to come out of somewhere.

"We've continued to invest in labor in our cafés and the quality of our people. We've invested in the quality of the food. When everybody pulled back and we did more, the difference between us and our competitors went up."

And the results have been dramatic. Since the end of 2007 when the recession began, Panera Bread has boosted revenue 24%, added 191 stores and increased their workforce by 20%. In comparison, the U.S. Restaurant industry saw same-store sales drop 2% in 2009 while the casual restaurant segment suffered an even worse decline of 4.7%.

The article is a great read and I highly recommend it. It shows how really sound thinking and marketing strategy can deliver exceptional results even facing severe competitive challenges. And while they had some significant financial advantages from previous successes to bolster them when conditions worsened, they've made the most of their opportunities to create even more competitive distinction because others retreated.

This story is just one more illustration of the fact that when presented with a host of dining options that are all relatively equal, consumers will select the brand that communicates and delivers a distinctly higher level of value. That's what good brands do for a business. Any business. Consumer or Commercial.

Read the full article on Bloomberg.com.

To talk to someone about developing more competitive distinction through your brand, contact us today by e-mail or phone 903-534-5220.

What Good Sales Sounds Like

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We’ve all heard a zillion radio spots that we would love to forget. Bland, boring announcer- or owner-read lists of various features and offers that drone on until we tune them out.

But every so often we get a little audio treat. A spot or campaign that seems to have a real point to make and a presentation that’s fun to hear. It makes the unique promise of the brand easy to relate to. The benefit it offers more attractive and desirable.

So how does it work? What are the keys to a good spot?

First, it connects with its audience. The situation, issues and values match the interests and needs of those it’s designed to motivate. It’s believable if illustrating reality or obviously exaggerated if over the top. The voice, music and vocabulary also help draw the right listeners in and hold their attention until the pitch is complete.

Second, it delivers the brand promise loud and clear, making the sales message the hero and not the actors or the spot itself. It adds just enough detail to make the story credible. And it presents an easy-to-follow path to an attainable result.

Lastly, it generates excitement and anticipation for the recommended brand solution. Its voices and sound quality are distinctly different from other commercials. Its professionalism raises its appeal. And its creativity maximizes its memorability.

Hear what good selling sounds like for yourself. Listen to several spots Cornerstone created for the re-positioning campaign for FirstBank, an 80-year-old savings and loan that wanted to become a bank.

To talk to someone about making your brand presentation sound this good, contact us today by e-mail or phone 903-534-5220.

With Bags Flying Free, SW Brand Soars

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Have you ever noticed how added fees really add up? Even on something simple like a fast food order. Tack on a few cents for this and another dollar for that and before long you're losing your appetite for a brand you once valued.

That's the power and the genius behind the Southwest Airlines "Bags Fly Free" promotion. Taking another departure from the industry norm that has marked the unique airline brand for years, Southwest again shows how well it connects to the issues and motivations of their customers.

In an article published on the bnet.com blog, Brett Snyder describes how Southwest has made the choice to win new business and encourage more business from existing customers rather than maximize their profit today in the process of pushing passengers away. It is a long-term strategy intent on building a more powerful brand connection by maximizing the customer experience – and it's working.

The article reports very positive feedback regarding the "Bags Fly Free" advertising that any marketer would love, but the real success is the continued positive gains Southwest has made over time in terms of customer satisfaction and value. In looking at survey results from 2006 to 2008 to 2010, these numbers illustrate the trends:

1. Answers like "It’s my favorite airline and I’d go out of my way to fly with them/one of the first I’d consider flying” went from 42 percent to 58 percent among the all-important business travelers.

2. Answers such as “It’s the best airline out there/one of the better ones” went from 56 percent to 70 percent.

3. Responses like “Really like and have a lot/something in common with” went from 54 percent to 64 percent.

This is big. It shows how the Southwest brand is continuing to build value in the minds of flyers. And not surprisingly, they continue to make money on a regular basis. It also shows once again that a brand is not a single promotion or feature change, but an integrated strategy to establish and leverage a distinct competitive difference.

Read the full article How Southwest Measures the Success of "Bags Fly Free."

To talk to someone about helping you establish and leverage your brand difference, contact us today by e-mail or phone 903-534-5220.

Lifestyle: The Third Level of Brand Development

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Few young business leaders appreciate the value of their brand. That's because the meaning and importance of a brand grows with time and experience.

I acknowledge that in a few brief blog entries I cannot hope to cover all the complex issues of how a brand develops significant competitive value the longer it is used and the more completely it is integrated into a company's communications in all forms. 

So for the sake of simplicity, we're just going to break this very broad topic down into three distinct levels of brand development. In our previous two posts I identified level one as applying a brand as identification and level two as promoting a brand as benefit. Now we will consider Level 3: Brand as Lifestyle.

The highest level of brand development is realized when the unique brand promise synthesized from a company's whole package of strengths and capabilities becomes fully embraced and championed by the entire organization.

Everyone from the top of the company to the bottom sees themselves as performing their role in support of the brand. Leadership purposefully makes strategic decisions that build the value and influence of the brand. Departments and managers are encouraged and empowered to create powerful brand synergy within the organization and its processes. Passionate brand performance is brought to life within company personnel. And brand communications capture the heart and mind of both internal and external audiences.

At this level the brand is far more than mere visual identification or even a uniquely deliverable benefit. It is a lifestyle. A culture. An internally and externally recognizable and sustainable personality. It is the company.

A classic example of this level of brand development is Harley-Davidson, whose "pursuit of freedom" brand character has developed a deep personal and emotional appeal with a broad audience, from the renegade gang member on one extreme to the elite doctor or lawyer at the other.

Their unique brand promise has helped the company maintain a substantial price premium. A long backlog of orders. Healthy additional sales from accessories, clothing and events. And perhaps best of all, a low cost of sales because of an ever-growing population of lifelong repeat customers.

But whether or not your product or service has the glitz of broad consumer appeal, it can be much more than symbolic visual identification. Used effectively it can provide a unifying focus that represents a significant competitive advantage. Fully adopted and developed, it can be a driving force that guides your organization's growth and solidifies lasting relationships with customers.

Read about the other two levels of brand development now.

To talk to someone about taking your brand to the next level, contact us today by e-mail or phone 903-534-5220.

How Consumers View Sustainability

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"Sustainability is good as long as it doesn't cost too much" is the bottomline purchasing behavior of most American consumers. But that doesn't mean sustainability as a brand platform is useless.

According to highlights from the second annual Brand Sustainable Futures report, published by Havas Media and MPG and featured on brandchannel.com, sustainability isn't a big factor in why consumers purchase a particular brand, but it does influence a customer's perception of a brand's meaningfulness.

The survey was based on an online survey of 30,000 individuals in 9 countries. And not surprisingly. U.S. consumers rank behind many other countries with only 5% of Americans claiming to always consider environmental/social aspects in their purchase decisions.

Globally, the survey suggests that 80% of respondents think "companies must act responsibly" and 76% say that businesses rather than governments "should deal with environmental and social issues." Unfortunately, only about a third of brands were considered "meaningful."

Of the companies that scored well, IKEA had the highest Brand Sustainability Futures Quotient of all. L'Oreal showed the largest improvement from last year. And Home Depot had the highest value for a U.S. company in the data from American consumers. Kraft and Google followed Home Depot based on answers by U.S. consumers.

So while America has a ways to go before positive environmental and social behaviors have a difference-making value for most brands, it is perhaps most developed in the design and construction industries where LEED credits and other green building contributions are of ever-growing importance.

And one thing you can know for certain – brands that have a poor record related to the environment will have a very hard time building business even in the U.S. Take BP for example. They're not likely to recover their lost consumer trust for many years to come.

Read the entire brandchannel story.

To talk to someone about helping you improve the meaningfulness of your brand, contact us today by e-mail or phone 903-534-5220.

Online Ads That Click

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In many traditional forms of advertising, the time span between audience interest and access to additional information is often hours or days apart. Not with online ads.

Delivered within electronic newsletters, while browsing on various websites or viewed when on popular blogs and social media sites, online animated banners and static ads provide an immediate link between you and interested prospects.

Cornerstone has developed a number of these types of ads for our clients. Written and designed to draw attention effectively, communicate clearly and promote an immediate response, these tools are a vital extension of each client's existing brand messaging.

Online communications for GreenGlass gypsum board products feature the same strong environmental emphasis as print advertising and sales literature, while ads created for Vale Training Solutions all share a focus on the value of the skill improvements Vale courses provide.

Finally, like all forms of good communication, the secret is knowing how to make your point well without trying to say too much or not enough.

Review several examples of GreenGlass online advertising.

Review several examples of Vale Training Solutions online advertising.

Then when you're ready to talk to someone about improving your brand's online communications, contact us today by e-mail or phone 903-534-5220.

In Downturn Some Spruce Up

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The hotel industry in the U.S. has had to deal with the challenges of the economic downturn just like everyone else, but some have used it as a time to advance rather than retreat.

A recent story in the New York Times quotes Bjorn Hanson of the Preston Robert Tisch Center for Hospitality, Tourism and Sports Management at New York University who estimates that the capital investment in existing hotel facilities peaked at $5.5 billion in 2008. He further stated that expenditures fell to $3.3 billion in 2009 and were expected to drop to approximately $2.7 billion in 2010.

He also made the point that the lack of maintenance was beginning to be noticed by guests.

But there are exceptions. Starwood Hotels and Resorts, whose brands include Sheraton and Westin, are planning guest room redesigns in 41 key properties. In addition, Holiday Inn will complete its system-wide, top-to-bottom upgrade started in 2007 by the end of this year. Other top travel hotels are undergoing refurbishments in high-visibility markets.

The article also quotes Kevin Kowalski, senior vice president for global brand management at IHG, owners of the Holiday Inn brand, who states “Research from every recession since the Great Depression demonstrates brands that increased investment on their customer experience and marketing activity during the recession gained market share both during the downturn and during the recovery.”

Kowalski went on to say that the improvements included upgrades to lobbies, guest rooms and bathrooms, as well as new employee training programs, and had already resulted in increased revenue per room of 3-7 percent compared to unimproved rooms.

Finally, the article goes on to say that the challenges in the hotel industry are not over yet and a number of hotels are using these upgrades to help combat rate erosion in an increasingly price sensitive business climate.

The bottom line on all this proves again that there is financial value in maintaining a strong brand. Whether in supporting higher prices, increased market share or protecting existing prices from devaluation. It also reinforces another important point that a brand is much more than a logo, an ad slogan, or even a specific product – it’s the entire customer experience.

Read the entire New York Times article.

And if you want to talk to someone about sprucing up your brand, contact us today by e-mail or phone 903-534-5220.

Brand Benefit #5: It Lowers The Cost Of Sales

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There are many good reasons why brand development can be a difference maker for your business. This is the fifth of ten posts highlighting those reasons for your consideration. Read the previous post.

Another way to measure the financial value of a brand is cost savings. Lowering your cost of sales to be more specific.

That's because a strong brand has already attained a certain level of awareness and positive equity in the mind of your audience. And because it requires a greater investment to launch a brand than to maintain one, your strong brand can reduce your promotional expenditure, giving you more money to invest in other priorities.

It's not uncommon for aggressive development efforts to require two to four times the investment of brand maintenance.

In a similar way, a strong brand reduces the amount of presales work required to prompt a prospect to consider a purchase.

It decreases the time and effort needed to build comparative credibility. And it eases the anxiety of purchase regret so your entire sales process can progress faster and more confidently, saving time, work and money for your sales force and your bottom line.

Read about the other 9 brand development benefits now.

To talk to someone about the difference-making value of a brand for your business, contact us today by e-mail or phone 903-534-5220.

Sweeeeeet Success

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Whether you know it or not, cupcake bakeries are popping up all over the place. One company, Crumbs, racked up $23.5 million in revenue in 2009. What’s their recipe?


In an interview published on BNET.com, Jason Bauer, Crumbs co-founder, attributed the firm's extraordinary performance to three key principles.

Listen to the customer.
When the Bauers began Crumbs in 2003, it was a traditional bakery which happened to sell cupcakes. The cupcakes became so popular that a decision was made to focus the business on what their customers were buying them out of every day – cupcakes. Then, once that decision was made, they expanded the selection to take advantage of the demand. Crumbs quickly became known as “the cupcake place.”

Take calculated risks.
After growth in areas with similar demographics to their first store, they carefully opened a store that served a different clientele altogether and discovered the appeal of cupcakes was broader than they originally thought. Even with the financial concerns of the last year or so, they have discovered everyone loves to give themselves a sweet treat that only cost $3-$4.

Pick your people carefully.
Many of the people who are now part of the corporate staff were once counter help. As are many store managers. This has created a culture that understands the way customers think and how to deliver what they want.

In conclusion, Bauer emphatically states that the secret is simple, “It’s all about the cupcakes. They are the stars.”

There you have it – a business owner with a very clear understanding of what his brand delivers, how it appeals to customers and how vital the culture and buying experience created by employees can be. It’s just another example of how a strong brand can make a big difference.

Read the full article.

If you want to talk to someone about helping you make a bigger difference with your brand, contact us today by email or phone 903-534-5220.

E-mail In The Right Inbox

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Getting the right amount of information in the right person's hands at the right time is the objective of traditional marketing communications. Putting the right e-mail in the right inbox is a digital extension of that idea.

Why? It's fast for one thing. Not just in the development and distribution of the communication itself. But, more importantly, in the response. In a previous post I mentioned some research suggesting that 75% of all opens and clicks and 47% of all response transactions happen in the first 24 hours.

It's also direct. All a reader has to do is click on a link in the e-mail and they are instantly connected to additional content, contact information for a customer service person or a way to actually buy the product or service they were just reading about. And that information can be text, video, audio, animations or whatever presentation format makes the point most clearly.

E-mail is cost-efficient too. There's no printing expense and the imagery resolution requirements allow for the use of less costly photographic resources. In many cases, distribution is less expensive than direct mail as well.

Best of all, for someone trying to justify the marketing money they spend, it's measurable. Reputable e-mail distributors can tell you how many messages were delivered, the percentage that were opened and what links were clicked once the e-mail was read. In some cases they will even provide contact information for those who responded.

The content of your e-mail can vary dramatically depending on your audience. Shorter messages work best with readers who don't know you well. Longer, multi-subject updates can have real value for information-hungry audiences.

Review several good examples of e-mail communications Cornerstone developed for the brand GreenGlass this past year. Visit the Project Profile on our website or download a pdf file that includes four different e-blasts.

To talk to someone about helping you put the right brand information in the right inbox, contact us today by email or phone 903-534-5220.

Kenmore - Still At Home In More Homes

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Once upon a time Sears carried Kenmore, the appliance brand Sears introduced, to national prominence on the back of the retailer's overwhelming marketing clout. Now, long after the luster of Sears has faded, Kenmore is still recognized as a dominant appliance brand.

A recent post on Brandchannel.com reported a staggering figure that reveals just how strong this brand remains. It notes that one in every three American homes contains at least one Kenmore appliance. It also stated that Kenmore ranks first or second in every major appliance category.

Perhaps even more amazing is that Kenmore, now some 90-years old, recently announced that throughout 2010 it planned to add 450 new and/or improved products across its large and small appliance product lines. They're not standing still. They are continuing to modernize and extend the high-value proposition of the brand.

Besides refreshing the nameplate logo font, Kenmore is also upgrading:

1. Handles and Knobs - more elegant and ergonomic touch points for users

2. Technology - better, easier and more attractive interfaces and displays

3. Design - newer, more modern shapes, colors and materials

It's all about finding new ways to attract, engage and make the brand relevant to a whole new generation of homeowners.

Read the entire article.

To talk to someone about helping you improve the relevancy of your brand, contact us today by email or phone 903-534-5220.

A New Brand Home

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We believe the real, enduring power to make a difference for your business through marketing communications is in brand development. That’s the story told throughout our new website.

Every page, article, image, example and link is designed to promote the idea that a brand builds incredible value, ownership and loyalty in the minds of your audience. It establishes deep personal and emotional connections that facts, features and even low prices can never produce. Consistently communicated and fulfilled, it can motivate the responses necessary to achieve your objectives.

That’s the reason brand development is the focus of everything we do – and our new website.

Here are a few examples of the content you’ll find on our new site:

• Articles on a variety of brand-related subjects
• A portfolio demonstrating a broad range of brand development work
• Our blog featuring selected brand news and commentary
• Links to a growing list of brand and communications resources

Plus more. So, we invite you to take a look for yourself.

Then let us know what you think.

 And if you want help building a website that helps you make the most of your brand, contact us today by email or phone 903-534-5220.

Smell Like A Man, Man

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Launched in February 2010, the Old Spice “Smell Like A Man, Man,” campaign has been a huge success by any measurement.

Only four short years ago, Proctor and Gamble had all but walked away from its Old Spice brand while Unilever’s Axe brand had carved out a large share of the market for themselves. Fast-forward to 2010 and the deodorant marketing world has been turned upside down yet again.

Sales of Old Spice deodorant brands have more than doubled while body wash brand sales were up over 1700% in a six-month period from February – July 2010. A Brandweek article details the sales success of the campaign.

As a result, Brandweek recently named Proctor & Gamble brand manager James Moorhead Marketer Of The Year, 2010. Moorhead, who has been with the Old Spice brand for only three years, spearheaded the effort to revive the Old Spice brand.

Remaking an existing brand can often be more difficult than introducing a completely new one; but in the case of Old Spice, there was just too much value in the 70-year old brand to abandon it completely. Instead, Moorhead and his team have done a brilliant job redefining an old American image by appealing to our instinctive desire to be attractive individuals.

The “Smell Like A Man, Man” campaign was launched in February incorporating several advertising vehicles, but it has been the TV commercials that have garnered the most attention. The comical spots, which star a former NFL player asking ladies if their man smells like him, have been an extraordinary success. One of the commercials has received over 19 million views on YouTube. Old Spice also took the campaign to social media sites where almost one million users now “like” the campaign on Facebook.

But the main thing that strikes us about this campaign is that it proves again that the secret to success is not how long the brand has been in business or how self-important it thinks itself to be – success depends on how well the brand connects with the interests and motivations of its audience.

If you want help connecting your brand to the interests of your audience, contact us today by email or phone 903-534-5220.

Picture Positive Results

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Before you can deliver a memorable message that establishes your brand's competitive difference or motivates your audience to a new and different behavior, you have to get their attention. Otherwise, you're just talking to yourself.

One of the techniques you can use to do that is to help your audience picture the benefit your brand provides. More than just showing what the product or service does, it gives them a sense of how satisfying an experience with it can be.

If you want to see what we mean, watch this video.



To talk to someone about developing this type of attention-getting imagery for your communications, contact us today by email or phone 903-534-5220.

Domino's Successful Failure

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Going back to their story of taste failure and re-creation, what has been the result of Domino’s strategy of self-deprecation? It appears to be SUCCESS.

In a brief follow-up story published on BNET.com, it is reported that Domino's Pizza’s sales are up 16.5% for the first 6 months of 2010.

For those who have missed it, Domino’s began 2010 with domestic advertising featuring the not-so-flattering comments of customers about the poor quality of the brand’s pizzas. Spots went on to say that many such comments had caused the company to take an honest look at themselves and make some significant changes which they invited the audience to try.

Long story short, franchisees are now voluntarily giving up an additional 1.5% of sales to support the national advertising program, and the overall effect is even expected to raise international sales by somewhere between 3 to 5%.

Finally, the campaign is going to continue with other examples of failures the company is taking responsibility for and vowing to improve.

To me, this is just another really good example of a company making a gut-level connection with the interests and issues of their customers and doing something to meet those needs. It is about a brand saying we must stand for something significantly better and we are tired of a reputation of mediocrity.

Read our original post. Read the full follow-up story.

To talk to someone about helping you make your brand stand for something significantly better, contact us today by e-mail or phone, 903-534-5220.

Put Your Brand On Display

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Trade shows provide a great opportunity for potential buyers to actually get their hands on your products and meet your people. One recent Cornerstone project illustrates how to also display your product’s brand as well.

For the composite panel group at Temple-Inland, the International Woodworking Fair (IWF) represents an opportunity to influence OEM furniture and fixture designers, fabricators, specifiers and buyers from all over the world.

These potential customers attend the IWF show to get ideas and find new materials. That means Temple-Inland’s brand message of “Real Selection, Real Solutions” is perfectly suited for this audience. Our challenge was to bring this story to life in the environment the exhibit creates. To accomplish our task, we developed imagery and messaging to tell three vital stories.

Working from the outside in, we first featured the range of application options offered by our client’s particleboard and medium density fiberboard choices. Next we demonstrated how their products satisfied key customer performance requirements and important industry trends. Finally, in the back of the booth, was specific information about the technical properties and compliance standards that serious prospects would want to know.

This strong combination of intentional content design and striking visual presentation made Temple-Inland’s brand message the hero of the booth and a clear extension to their marketing messages delivered in other media. Download a pdf file illustrating some of the booth’s graphic panels. Review additional examples of our trade show experience.

To talk to someone about communicating a stronger brand message through your trade show displays, contact us today by e-mail or phone, 903-534-5220.

What Makes Apple So Successful?

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Wherever Apple turns these days, it seems to turn into a bonanza. Whether it’s computers, music distribution, music players, telephones, physical retailing, online retailing, etc. What’s their secret?

In an article on BNET.com, Thomas Stewart suggests it is far more than the excellence of the products themselves or the innovations they introduce or even their astute marketing insight.

He suggests that Steve Jobs himself identified Apple’s greatest strength, it’s right to win, as Stewart puts it, as its relentless focus on their customer experience. It filters into everything from the way the products feel and look, to the way they work, the expectations they generate, the level of service you get from their people and the fun they bring to your life.

The article gives a great example about how AT&T’s wireless network was overwhelmed by the higher-than-expected bandwidth demands of Apple’s popular iPhone. Petitioning Apple time and time again to take action to restrict bandwidth demands, Apple refused to compromise the consumer experience.

On a personal level I have repeatedly heard the message of the importance of the Apple experience preached by my college-student daughter who works part-time as a customer chat associate answering questions in the online Apple store. Even in her limited role working for an outsourced service provider, Apple has clearly communicated the level of service they want their customers to receive.

And the bottom line is that this is exactly what a strong brand is all about. It touches everything a company does. It drives product development, sales, service and culture.

It defines who they are and how they operate. It gives them the capacity to win.

Read the full article.

If you want to talk to someone about helping you develop a brand like this, contact us today by e-mail or phone, 903-534-5220.

Lead Follow-Up Objective #2 - Highlight Your Advantages

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The objective of your marketing communications strategy is to generate leads that will become new business. Sometimes that happens quickly, but not often. How do you get the most out of the leads that don’t buy immediately?

In our first post on this subject, we suggested initiating a follow-up communications program. This might be a blog, a direct mail campaign, an e-mail newsletter, a podcast, a social media program – whatever is most appropriate to periodically reconnect with the leads you have developed to accomplish three objectives. This time we’ll consider the second objective.

Highlighting your advantages

Slower developing leads take time to review the advantages each option offers. That gives you the opportunity to spread your benefits out over several communications instead of trying to convey everything in every message. You can explain them better and illustrate them better when you can cover fewer subjects at a time. Make it practical too. Whether your advantages relate to physical properties, operational functions, exceptional skill, expertise or whatever – explain clearly how that benefit improves results for the prospect rather than just describing the facts and letting them draw their own conclusions. This deliberate, thorough discussion produces a better understanding of your unique strengths in your prospects' minds and ultimately a more confident buying decision.

Read more about the other two lead follow-up program objectives now.

If you want to talk to someone about a brand follow-up program for your leads, contact us today by e-mail or phone, 903-534-5220.

Who Wants To Be Popular?

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If you had to choose your favorite peanut butter, what brand would you pick?  What type of tennis shoe? What car color? That subconscious choice makes a huge difference in revenue for the most popular brands.

Compare your favorites with the rest of America. In a fun feature on businessweek.com, 28 of the most popular choices in a range of products, locations, jobs, foods, etc., were presented for their reader’s entertainment.

One example documented was Jiff peanut butter, which has led the popularity vote and, not surprisingly, the sales curve over Skippy for 20 years. Another, the favorite breakfast cereal, has slowly shifted over time with changes in our culture and focused marketing.

But being the favorite doesn’t automatically equate to being loved. In fact, Facebook, the most popular social networking platform, has a popularity rating close to the IRS.

The bottom line though, is that just like back in high school, popularity has its benefits. And while there are a number of factors influencing popularity, good corporate behavior and smart marketing can certainly contribute to popularity improvement.

It’s also true that none of the most popular brands are hidden gems. They have all invested faithfully to be recognized and remembered by their audiences. That investment pays off every time a customer makes a purchase without a second thought because the decision is simply second nature.

Compare your own favorites to the published results.

If you want to talk to someone about improving the popularity of your brand, contact us today by e-mail or phone, 903-534-5220. 

Why Be Normal?

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How many times has some brand’s newest feature caught your attention but failed to stick in your memory? And before long that feature is the norm for everyone. How does a marketer break this cycle and create sustainable differentiation? Not by being normal.

There’s an article on Businessweek.com that’s worth a few minutes of your time if you want a good explanation of the two-sided, emotional versus rational mental exercise of brand development.

Too often business decision makers believe that their advantage over their competitors can be boiled down to a measurement, a performance value or their price. But the hard fact is that the more mature a market is, the less real difference there is between any of the participants. Something else has to be considered to break out of this cycle.

The article describes this characteristic as “likeability”. Done successfully likeability combines some type of unique emotional appeal that is linked to the rational facts and features of its ongoing performance. It uses the Mini Cooper as an example.

The take away is that creating a unique emotional appeal produces a less cluttered mental space where your brand can be “liked”. And that process creates a less hostile environment where your brand’s rational characteristics carry a weighted advantage.

To separate yourself from the competition and do it sustainably, you can’t be normal.

Read the entire article.

To talk to someone about creating a more sustainable difference for your brand, contact us today by e-mail or phone, 903-534-5220.

Brand Benefit #4: It Increases Product Value And Price

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There are many good reasons why brand development can be a difference maker for your business. This is the fourth of ten posts highlighting those reasons for your consideration. Read the previous post.

Over time a consistently communicated and reliably demonstrated brand increases in value. Not only as a marketing tool, but also as a measure of a business's total financial value.

In fact, for the last 20 years Interbrand, an international brand consultancy, has published their annual listing of the top 100 brands based on a calculation of each brand's contribution to its company's earnings and future earnings potential. Their numbers represent real dollars attributable to the ability of the brand to attract business. See their latest report.

In addition, a strong brand allows a product to command a higher price. In an often-quoted study from international advertising agency BBDO, the leading brand in a category was found to command a 40% price premium over a generic brand and a 10% price premium over the number two brand.

Prove this yourself the next time you are in the grocery store.

But the takeaway isn't about a specific price premium or dollar contribution; it's that a strong brand delivers measurable financial benefits to both consumer- as well as business-focused companies.

Read about the other 9 brand development benefits now.

To talk to someone about the difference-making value of a brand for your business, contact us today by e-mail or phone, 903-534-5220.

Healthy Brand, Healthy Budget, Healthy Bottom Line.

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Starbucks has done what many said they couldn’t do. Develop a successful revenue stream selling coffee outside the stronghold of their classic community coffee house locations.

And the big news isn’t that they just barely broke even or had a reasonable year in a bad economy. The product, brand-named VIA, built a 30% share in the premium single serve/pod category in one year, according to an article at Brandweek.com.

The story goes on to say this product has been in the works for almost 20 years and its launch was supported by the single-largest marketing push in company history. And while all this is truly amazing, I think a few other details are also quite telling.

The brand appeals to the same basic higher-end demographic as their stores serve. Its packaging is limited to just a few servings each to drive repeat demand. It's priced to maintain a healthy margin. It was launched with in-store promotions and with trial sampling in chains such as Target served by Starbucks baristas.

All this is to say it doesn’t fight the established brand but extends it very effectively without cannibalizing their primary in-store business. And supported by a communications budget that allows them to maintain positive market pressure when others are retreating, it has been extremely successful to say the least.

Read the full article and a linked story about the launch last year.

To talk to someone about helping you build a more successful brand marketing program, contact us today by e-mail or phone, 903-534-5220.

More Than A Little Green

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One of the most important things about any brand communications program is consistency. Cornerstone’s work to launch the GreenGlass brand of fiberglass-faced gypsum products is a good example of this principle.


Documented in a recently published electronic brochure, our development of a fully integrated communications program to introduce and establish the product’s “Tough as Expected, Green as it Gets” brand distinction is illustrated with many examples.

This year-long campaign incorporates a consistent primary message of high performance and high recycled content through all its visual and verbal components. Whether that includes traditional media like print, direct mail and trade show displays or newer tools like online web banners, opt-in email and streaming video.

The most ambitious communications program to date for any Temple-Inland gypsum product launch, awareness generated by this campaign has been strong. Not only did it qualify as one of the top 100 most requested products for the year in Architectural Products, a publication featuring thousands of new products, but several months into the launch the industry's long-standing market leader adjusted production to meet the requests for greener options in their own product line.

Review our GreenGlass campaign brochure for yourself.

To talk to someone about developing a similar campaign for your brand, contact us today by e-mail or phone, 903-534-5220.

Wake Up And Use My Product

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OK, I have to say that the promotion Axe body spray has developed for use in Japan is one of the most brilliant ideas I’ve read about in a long time. A perfect match of audience and appeal. A perfect blend of timing and technology.

What am I talking about? It’s Axe’s Wake-Up Call service, of course. Where young Japanese males (old too I guess) visit the Axe website, enter their cell number and get a daily wake-up call from a young, attractive woman who reminds the customer to remember to spray on some Axe and smell great.

I know this isn’t Japan, but this idea is just so good it would probably work anywhere. It just demonstrates again for the hundredth time how important it is to know your customer.

According to an article on the website of Direct Marketing News, Unilever discovered that 70% of Japanese consumers use their mobile phones as alarm clocks too. So they capitalized on their audience’s existing behavior and linked that with a way to help them do something they were already doing more enjoyably.

Plus, it is just a great way to dramatically boost product usage. What could be better than getting permission every day to call and remind the customer about your brand and tell them to use your product at a time and in a way that almost guarantees the reminder will be effective.

This is the perfect example of making the customer the focus of the brand and the brand communication. If you don’t engage the customer by appealing to his desire to do something better, your communications are just so much background noise.

To read the rest of the article at dmnews.com.

To talk to someone about helping your brand connect better with your customers, contact us today by e-mail or phone, 903-534-5220.

The Most Interesting Campaign In The World

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By creating a no-name, silver haired mystery-man, Dos Equis’ branding has found a new genre of storytelling  that creates a following looking to jump on the bandwagon of the most interesting man in the world.

How often do we see AARP members hawking products with a target demo of 20- and 30-somethings?  Seems like an odd and misplaced strategy, but the now infamous and ongoing Dos Equis campaign has done just that.  ESPN Sportscenter talkies quote his heroic tales when colorfully giving us the days sports highlights.  One daily comment of his heroics on the Dos Equis Facebook page is quickly followed by hundreds of comments mimicking the “most interesting man in the world”, creating yet another platform for the brand to go viral within the exploding social media world.

The Dos Equis campaign began three years ago in a few regional markets mostly clustered in the southwest.  The message caught on so quickly that the Mexican-based beer company quickly gained distribution deals throughout the United States, with sales soaring month over month.  At the moment, there seems to be no end in sight to the tales of a man who, we are told, has a house that looks like the Myans built it, because they did.

Branding campaigns typically take more of a straight line between their product or service and the brand itself.  Dos Equis has set fire to that concept by creating a character who seems to have much more interesting things on his agenda but, after a day of swimming with the sharks, always seems to have time for a relaxing gathering with beautiful people hanging on his every word, and of course a Dos Equis.

While the campaign has certainly captivated millions, there is a great lesson in the genius of the campaign itself.  Branding messages typically stray very little from the simple message of the features and benefits of their products.  Dos Equis has discovered that by creating an enormously popular character who in turn prefers the Dos Equis brand, the tidal wave of people jumping on “the most interesting bandwagon” does the branding for them.  A recent article on Slate analyzes this campaign further and is well worth the read.  Branding can have a humorous edge and create a following in the most unexpected ways.

For more on this unique campaign, check out the May Slate article here.

To talk to someone about the difference-making value of a brand for your business, contact us today by e-mail or phone, 903-534-5220.

Brand Benefit #3: It Keeps Customers Loyal

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There are many good reasons why brand development can be a difference maker for your business. This is the third of ten posts highlighting those reasons for your consideration. Read the previous post.

When customers think of your brand before the competition and trust it to deliver a positive benefit for their investment, they're much less likely to seek alternative solutions.

This is the glue of brand loyalty. It creates an appealing expectation with the communication of a clear brand promise and builds powerful preference through the daily fulfillment of that commitment.

So customers regard your brand as a consistent solution they count on to make their life or work easier. To save them time. To eliminate the worry of dissatisfaction. To create a comfortable routine that produces predictably satisfactory results.

And, not surprisingly, customers who are satisfied tend to buy higher volumes, with greater frequency and less sensitivity to price.

Read about the other 9 brand development benefits now.

To talk to someone about the difference-making value of a brand for your business, contact us today by e-mail or phone, 903-534-5220.

More Complete Literature. Lower Production Cost.

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Two of the biggest problems with printed literature is keeping it current and cost efficient. For more and more industries, the pace of change is dramatically accelerating. Is there a better solution than pdf files?


Cornerstone recently completed a project for Temple-Inland involving the electronic publishing of a large, multi-document product resource binder to eventually replace a printed binder targeted at commercial construction architects and specifiers.

This audience needs a lot of information. Not just the physical dimensions of a building product, but how it’s installed, what industry tests it has passed, what it can contribute toward environmental certifications, where it has been used before, what it is made of, how it is designed into fire-resistant assemblies and many other factors.

Yes, this data is on the company website and published in multiple pdf files. But the online binder is designed to put this entire library in one document that's faster and easier to browse, search, save and share.

It functions a lot like a traditional printed binder but... Loads faster than large pdf files do. Prints single pages or multiple pages more conveniently. Includes animations, audio and video. Links to other documents internally or externally. Presents thumbnail page views with search terms highlighted. Can be shared along with a brief note via email or multiple social media tools. And can be navigated a page at a time or by calling up an always available table of contents.

Plus, maybe best of all for someone who knows data will change constantly and require frequent updates, it can be updated quickly and easily one page at a time or in groups without the hard costs of reprinting.

And the benefits keep going, but for blog brevity, I’ll stop here. So if all this sounds interesting, review the online binder yourself.

If you want to know more about doing something similar for your own brand, contact us today by e-mail or phone, 903-534-5220.

Branding In A Challenging Economy

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Ad Age report finds that aggressive branding during economic downturns creates unique opportunities.


One piece of branding news that caught our attention recently can be found in an extensive piece of research by Advertising Age magazine.  The headline of the research is that overall ad spending fell over 10% in 2009, during one of the most painful recessions in decades.  But a deeper look into the numbers reveals that 26 of the top 100 brands actually increased their advertising spending as the nation’s economy struggled.  The result?  Of those 26 brands that expanded their spending, 70% saw a corresponding increase in sales during 2009.

When a brand’s revenue falls or profits begin to dive, one of the first reactions is often to find ways to reduce expenses.  This strategy makes sense as often a good crackdown on expense lines reveals waste and opportunities to make a company more profitable.  One flaw in many expense-reduction reviews, however, is clearly visible in this Ad Age report.  During tough times, marketing dollars are often seen more as a discretionary line of expenses that makes for a juicy target, rather than a revenue-generating opportunity.  As competitors pull back marketing budgets, a hole opens in the market to gain more market share often with more value, created by more competitive advertising costs.

As this article reveals, more times than not when a brand “leans forward” with its marketing as competitors are moving the other direction, the result can translate into greater brand awareness and increased sales.  As economic conditions cycle back in a recovery, those companies who seized the opportunity to raise awareness of their brand find themselves in a much better position than those who ran for cover.  There are opportunities in every type of economic cycle, but far too often we see companies passing on opportunities to increase brand awareness at the exact time their competitors open the door.

Read the entire Advertising Age report.

To talk to someone about building your own strong brand, contact us today by e-mail or phone, 903-534-5220.

10 Great American-Made Products

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OK, call this what it is, a blatant flag-waving, Fourth of July, don't you love America blog post.

We're linking here to an article from CBS MoneyWatch.com that highlights 10 American-made products that are considered exceptional by consumers and experts alike.

The article quotes the fact that the United States is still the world’s largest manufacturing economy, producing $1.6 trillion of goods each year, or 21 percent of global production. That’s nearly as much as Japan (13 percent) and China (12 percent) combined.

The companies are from a mix of industries and locations throughout the country. And as you might guess, the reason we are featuring this article is not just for its feel-good value, but also because each of these products also represents a strong brand that will help maintain its perception of value for years to come.

Read the article for yourself.

To talk to someone about building your own strong brand, contact us today by e-mail or phone, 903-534-5220.

Fast results with e-mail

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A brief article on the website btobonline.com reports on some of the key numbers regarding commercial e-mail responses.

Experian Marketing Services conducted the research in March of 2010 analyzing 44,011 mailings from 404 Experian ChetahMail clients.

This research found 75% of the opens and clicks and 47% of all response transactions happened in the first 24 hours of e-mail delivery.

Companies marketing business products and services tended to get the quickest responses of all with 52% of transactions and 79% of income logged in the first day. On the other extreme, e-mailings for travel opportunities only recorded 13% of responses and 11% of revenue on the first day. All other business types fall somewhere in between.

Not surprisingly, subject lines featuring limited time offers drove the fastest response rates at 59% of all transactions on day one.

In summary, there aren’t any major revelations here. It just confirms what traditional direct mail has proven again and again – if you have a clear, direct offer that delivers a desirable benefit at a price that doesn’t require excessive justification or approval, you can generate significant orders effectively and quickly.

To talk to someone about using this tool to speed up responses to your brand, contact us today by e-mail or phone, 903-534-5220.

Benefit: The Second Level of Brand Development

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Ask 10 people for a definition of a brand, and you'll get 10 different answers. That's because the meaning and value of a brand grows with time and experience.

To simplify this topic for discussion here, we’re considering just three levels of brand development. In our initial post we identified level one as applying a brand as identification. This post will present Level 2: Brand as Benefit.

When, in the course of business, a perceptive leader recognizes that his/her company's individual strengths and capabilities can be integrated into a broader customer benefit significantly unique to his/her company, the brand advances to the second level.

Several years ago, Dell computers used the unifying brand promise, "Easy as Dell", to integrate a broad range of product and service advantages into a single statement of benefit. This approach allowed them to feature everything from their bundled productivity tools and 24/7 customer service to their custom-built hardware configurations and even durability.

It made Dell not just another seller of high-tech systems, but "the" source for easy solutions. Plus, it established a strong emotional appeal that, combined with the logical presentation of product features, produced high levels of brand preference and purchase intent.

Conveying a clear, desirable benefit with your brand forces competitors to do more than just meet or beat your specific product or service features. It demands that they deliver a notably better value-added total experience as well.

Read about the other two levels of brand development now.

If you want to talk to someone about taking your brand to the next level, contact us today by e-mail or phone, 903-534-5220.