Measuring Up

Through rain, sleet or frigid weather, Disney World keeps on smiling

I spent the last two days in a very cold Disney World.  Forty-five degree weather (with blustery winds) is simply too frigid to see the sights of the Magical Kingdom and take on the rides at Universal Studios.

But, that didn't really matter to those in charge of this theme park. They simply found new ways to draw thousands of kids' attention and to certainly make lots of added revenues while doing it. I tip my hat to this company. It is among the best I've seen at marketing. More to the point of this blog, Disney changes how it provides service and value to meet customer demands as quickly as a company can.

For example, I couldn't help but notice how every Disney shop strategically rearranged its stores by placing all sweatshirts, coats, hats and even gloves right up front. There were long lines at the cash registers to buy these necessities. Conversely, the typical Mickey, Homer Simpson and Jimmy Neutron t-shirts were almost impossible to find.

It was certainly too cold for families to slip and slide on water rides. But, that made no difference to Disney. It still found numerous ways to entertain everyone, keeping them outside in the streets. I noticed that the parks had (what seemed like) an unusually large number of Disney characters in costume walking the sidewalks, greeting excited kids. When I asked one park official why, he (unofficially) told me that they tripled the frequency of these characters coming out into the open so that families would brave the cold to make their children's dreams come true. (I'm not sure if any dreams were realized for my kids... but after waiting for 30 minutes, they did get a nice photo with Homer, Bart and Marge Simpson.)

Although most rides and exhibits had long waiting periods, it was obvious that Disney employees were also doing everything possible to herd groups of customers into express lines. This moved crowds along at a quicker pace and, in many cases, pushed people inside where warmer shelter existed.

I heard from many native Floridians in Orlando that this is the coldest winter in 20 years. Some complained that lots of businesses have been hurt because of it. My bet (though) is that Disney World has weathered this crisis just fine.

Riding roller coasters, eating ice cream and standing around to watch parades doesn't make much sense in any place with such extreme cold weather. That is, except for Disney World, where every day is magical and everyone is always smiling.

What’s not to like about Steven Singer?

Ever hear of Steven Singer Jewelers? I’ve probably heard this company’s quirky radio commercials a thousand times and never thought anything about them. Until it finally hit me this morning just how bizarre Steve Singer’s marketing strategy is. You see, Steven Singer’s web site is www.ihatestevensinger.com. And, whether the company  is simply promoting discounted jewelry (as it always does) or special 14 carat gold dipped roses around Valentine’s day (yuck), this web URL is proudly highlighted over and over again in all of its advertising.

I found it quite odd that a company would promote such a negative statement about itself. So, I Googled Steven Singer to see if anything is being written about the URL name and then went to its Web site. I couldn’t find much being written, but the “About Us” section of Steven Singer’s Web site gave me what I was looking for. It seems that founder Steven Singer is quite a successful entrepreneur and businessman. He started the company at an early age and then expanded it in the Philadelphia area not long after. He’s won countless awards and has played a key civic role in the community as well. The positioning doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me, but Steven seems to feel that with each successful move he’s made, it’s a great reason for people to hate him (i.e. when people say, “Don’t you just hate the guy?”). Pretty weak, eh?

Regardless, his contrarian strategy to create a lot of noise around this negative (completely comical) Web site URL seems to work pretty well because the company keeps expanding. I only call this point out because it shows how sometimes counter intuitive, yet very creative marketing strategies can actually work when implemented the right way. With Steven Singer, he actually has Howard Stern preaching the company’s accolades, all while he makes fun of the URL ihatestevensinger.com. That’s caught on with Howard’s fans big time.

Who knows. Maybe this will start a trend and we’ll see Apple create www.ihateipod.com , or Disney promote www.idespisemickeymouse.com. Well… I can’t see this really becoming a trend (and I wouldn’t recommend it to any clients.) But, if it works for Steven Singer, that’s great.

Become synonymous with what you do

This is no easy task for companies. As a matter of fact, most hire firms like Peppercom to help them create more visibility for what sets them apart and to ultimately try to build their brand above and beyond category or industry competitors.

Over the last 50 years, I can only think of a handful of companies that have truly become synonymous with the category/service/product they create or represent. To name a few, Kleenex successfully did this with tissues and Google has now accomplished this with Internet search. But, it often takes many years of creating superb customer experiences, exhibiting much desired product/service qualities that competitors don’t posses and spending lots of $$$ on disciplined marketing.

The fact is that most industries or categories simply have too much competition for one company to truly stand out as a brand in this dominant way. Understanding that the odds are long against any organization becoming the next Kleenex or Google, I believe that many companies still have a real opportunity to become more synonymous with what they do. But, they need to recognize creative PR or marketing approaches that can create impactful ways for them to own white spaces that exist (especially when such ideas or opportunities are smacking them right in the face). ADP did exactly that when the opportunity presented itself. Among other offerings, ADP is the largest outsourced payroll company in the country. I’m not sure when it happened, but ADP proudly owns an employment index which showcases the increase/decrease in new jobs created each month. Guess what? Pretty much every media outlet I reviewed either refers to this index or simply profiles it as the official barometer in our marketplace. The tie in is clearly perfect for ADP because it links the brand to employees/jobs. In today’s business environment, tens of millions of eyeballs have seen this index and there’s no doubt it has helped ADP build its brand to become more synonymous with what it does.

I can find lesser known examples, but equally successful in their own right. Ever hear of a company called Prebon Yamane? Probably not, unless you are a Wall Street trader. Prebon Yamane was acquired over a dozen years ago, but it used to be one of the largest wholesale brokers (brokers to traders) on Wall Street. These firms are seen as commodities by their customers and most have very little to speak of that truly sets them apart. But, Prebon Yamane did something very smart. It had been tracking the ups and downs of Federal Fund prices in the industry for years. The information was limited to being used internally at the firm, as well as provided to clients to help their trading efforts. Until, a Wall Street Journal editor conducted a random interview with the firm’s CEO. As a matter of fact, this CEO happened to discuss how important this proprietary information is to clients. Long story made short, it took a few months, but Prebon Yamane’s index soon became the first official “Fed Fund” Index featured two to three times per week on the front page of the 'Marketplace' section of this elite daily newspaper. Aside from creating instant credibility and publicity for the firm, the branding from this index allowed Prebon Yamane to become synonymous with Fed Funds on Wall Street. This was a huge marketing win which cost nothing to arrange.

From time to time, we present clients with these type of branding opportunities. Typically, through one of our white space audits it becomes clear that no one in our client’s industry has taken ownership of a topic, issue or even most/all of the service/product it represents. Yet, I find that in many cases it’s hard to convince clients to move forward with such initiatives. The reasons vary as to why the responses can be negative. Sometimes it’s just about money (even though the investment cost is typically low), but often it’s just because  they are too focused on just delivering solid, yet basic “bread and butter” results for their organization.  

That’s disappointing. Whether it be some type of index, research, award program, unique coalition or simply just taking a proactive, consistent stance on owning a thought leadership topic that no one else is, marketers need to see that three is often very little setting each company apart from the competition. If a real idea comes along to make one’s company even a tiny bit more synonymous with what it does, my advice is to find a way to make it happen.

Everybody is a “solutions” provider

The other morning, I watched Dow Chemical’s CEO conduct an interesting interview on CNBC about his  company’s business strategy.  Throughout the interview, he repeated over and over again how Dow Chemical is a solutions provider for its clients. He offered up one or two examples that showcased this. But, to be honest, he pretty much lost me after the fifth time the word “solutions” came out of his mouth.

So many companies across countless industries continue to use ambiguous phrases such as “solutions provider” to describe the core benefit provided to clients/customers. The problem with this phrase is that while everyone understands immediately what the word solutions means, ironically it has almost no worth or significance because of its complete overindulgence in today’s business world.

Think about it. What company doesn’t provide solutions to its customers? I’ll go out on a limb here and contend that those companies that really can’t provide solutions won’t be in business very long. So, if a company has been in business for say a year or even two, it’s probably safe to say it is providing at least a solution to customers.

I believe the bottom line effect of using a phrase like this in one’s positioning statement, or at least  as a core message in how a company tries to set itself apart, will have the opposite of the desired result. Most business people hear or read “solutions provider” and their eyes glaze over because they’ve heard that from thousands of other companies. Now, this company (which is trying to set itself apart) has actually become that much more commoditized in the mind of the target audience.

Try using this phrase on a phone call with a reporter while communicating why your client has the greatest company since sliced bread. Oh boy. You’ll never experience someone try to end a conversation quicker. For them, it’s a matter of building credibility about why your client deserves to be interviewed or featured versus the other thousand companies that are pitched to him/her each day. You say solutions provider and the reporter hears blah, blah, blah… It’s an instant turn off and the credibility you were attempting to build is gone.

Over the years, we’ve seen many buzz words come and go. Most don’t have lasting power (which is good) because they become meaningless because everyone tries to own them.  A few phrases that come to mind (mostly from technology companies) include: cutting edge, bleeding edge and scalable. While there is certainly nothing wrong with communicating these phrases internally, we’ve always tried our best to steer clients away from putting them in press releases, on their Web sites and in articles/speeches. Sometimes it worked and many times it didn’t.

For whatever reason, “solutions provider” continues to live long and prosper. (Sorry, I’m a Star Trek fan.) I hope just a few of those companies that continue to cherish this phrase wake up and take notice of what I’m writing. Trust me. You won’t be putting your best foot forward in communicating what your company’s unique story is if “solutions provider” is in the mix.

Not exactly "The Worlds Local Bank"

Does this line seem familiar? It should. HSBC Bank has been promoting this tagline in its long running advertising  campaign over the last 3-4 years.

I always thought that the positioning behind this advertising is both creative and compelling. And, the bank also takes an innovative approach to where the ads are seen. For example, some hit you right in the face in Newark, London, San Francisco and Hong Kong immediately after deboarding any Continental flight. The full-sized billboard ads are impossible to miss because they line the narrow runway that every passenger has to walk through to exit.

Think about what HSBC is trying to communicate about itself, for a moment. What small or mid-sized business and consumer wouldn't want to feel that their bank provides a plethora of sophisticated global benefits to them? Yet, at the same time, each customer is delightfully treated in a small town, warm and personalized “you matter to us," demeanor.

Sounds like a slice of heaven, right? Too bad (in my experience) the campaign doesn't ring true. And, for a variety of other reasons,  I believe HSBC should think seriously about dumping this very expensive marketing program because it only serves to damage the bank's image.

We spoke to HSBC about a year ago when my firm was looking at changing bankers. We wanted exactly what HSBC is advertising. Our first meeting went well -- we met with a nice team of bankers. Seemed bright. Told us we'd experience all that this campaign proudly promoted. Great.

Then, reality set in over the next few weeks as we poked and prodded HSBC and a variety of other big and small competitors to deliberate which one made sense for us.

For starters, HSBC wasn't competitive on price with other smaller ones because of huge, global overhead and risk concerns. I have no issue with higher costs if there is more value offered.  The problem is that because the bank was going through a world of hurt (bad subprime loans), every decision, on every loan deal had to be made from London. The result was that this "local" bank had underwriters (from a continent away) who didn't know us, making broad, cookie cutter decisions that clearly didn't fit our needs. And, they were so risk averse to any potential new loan that the cumbersome rules and terms being offered were downright valueless. On top of that, the time it took to actually receive a proposal was absurd. This was because of the lengthy bureaucratic red tape that existed in every single decision this behemoth had to make.

In the end, we received no local "care" or understanding of our needs and a whole lot of we "can't move on a dime" attitude. The experience was exactly the opposite of what HSBC promises in its ads. Needless to say, we passed on their offer.

The banking disaster that we all experienced over the last 15 months has made most customers feel very different about this industry. Even if there is an inkling of truth to HSBC's advertising, I have to question how credible it is to leave the same campaign running now, when so much big bank cynicism exists. Read the past headlines. HSBC was mired in the financial muck as much as the others. This bank suffered huge losses, shut down many operations and laid off thousands of people in local markets around the world.

Seems to me that it would have been much more credible for this bank to take a fresh, new look at its positioning after the financial destruction took place. After all, like the rest of them, it made some pretty bad decisions across the globe in so many of those individual markets where it is supposedly local.  More to the point, anyone can promote anything they want about their entity. But, if the messages being advertised don't fit the reality that customers experience, the communications isn't just worthless, it will actually serve to create negative feelings toward that company.

Would you like to know how I feel about HSBC?

Selling to the CEO

That doesn't happen all too often for agency executives. Yes, we meet with CEOs and often present to them.  But, typically our plans, programs and campaigns are thoroughly vetted and approved by their communications and marketing heads well before such a greeting ever takes place.

So, when I have an opportunity to spend any significant time and find out what makes a Fortune 500 CEO tick, I really try to take full advantage of it.

And, just the other day this happened. One of our newer clients is a start up. The company's founder and CEO just recently spent a number of years running a $5 billion financial services company (which we also represented.)

Now, with his new enterprise in startup mode, we found ourselves trading knowledge in a way that I never thought would happen. He's just learning to be an entrepreneur for the first time and is anxious to make the right decisions out of the gate (I guess from my mistakes.) And, I'm extremely interested in hearing his views on what in my little world of communications, PR and marketing actually matters to the leader of a large, international company.

Boy, did I get an earful that I won't forget anytime soon.

Let's start with the topic of something near and dear to my heart – measurement. This client is a financial/ operations guy. Most people assume that number crunchers always want everything measured. More to the point, the belief is that they need to see what we call ROI (return on investment). Did a $100 spent on PR bring back $200 in value?

Not surprisingly, he confirmed that this is important. However, he threw out a big but..."But, too many communicators are measuring things that I don't care about. And, most of them feel they have to show a return so much quicker than is realistic. So, the result is that costly measurement programs, that offer me very little insight into whether a campaign actually could work, are presented to me.  As a result, we waste money and I lose respect for them."

He also thinks it’s fascinating that communicators are typically very artful in presenting ideas and campaigns. Yet, they fumble all over themselves with ugly, much too lengthy PowerPoint metrics presentations. These boring meetings provide way too much analytical information, yet very little prescriptive strategies into how the program can be improved. That is one of his big pet peeves.

His next topic for me was a good one. He referred to it as, "Stop squeezing your square peg into my round hole."

That means much of his experience with professional marketers is based on them pushing (or selling) in services, products, disciplines and even campaigns that just don't really fit into his business needs. The problem is that many communicators think alike and try to solve business challenges with the same tool from the overly used tool box rather than dig extra deep into the business issue at hand and create a new tool that really has a chance to succeed.

He cited as an over simplified example the ad agency executive (who used to work for him) who thinks that to penetrate deep into consumer markets, a full blown ad campaign is a must. What he never really understood is that the trust issues (or lack thereof) within his particular industry are so egregious, that commercial messages are largely unbelievable and can work against a company if not handled correctly.

I had the fortune of asking a number of other topical questions. And, his responses were equally hard hitting (and most definitely welcomed.)

I hope to have many more discussions like this in the near future. This type of one-on-one market research is really invaluable. It allows agency executives to "stop drinking their own Kool-Aid" and conduct real account planning based on what the ultimate client really cares about. Because nothing else really matters.

You really do get what you've paid for....

This is the oldest cliché. And, call me naïve. But, I’m really not sure why it's taken me so long to believe that it's almost always true. In this case, it has to do with buying the annoying, yet necessary product called car insurance.

Like most consumers living though this recession, I've tried to be smarter about personal finances and have cut costs over the last year. Considering I rarely ever have an insurance claim with any of our family cars, finding a carrier with a cheaper policy seemed like the natural thing to do. I should preface this story by stating that I've always had pretty high end insurance (from Chubb.) The service was always top of the line and the few claims that I submitted (I think two over last 10 years) were handled in a first class way. The issue at hand was simply how expensive it was to insure three cars on a Chubb policy.

So, I went comparison shopping. That's an interesting experience. When price becomes the main consideration in buying this product, it's pretty easy to understand why companies like Progressive and Geico are key players in this ball game. With very little change in my deductable and general coverage, very friendly customer service representatives on the phone, and close to $800 per six month period (or double that per year) savings, Progressive made my choice to switch very easy.

So, we cancelled our Chubb policy and handed everything over to this low cost provider. And, I felt pretty darn good.

Then, the trouble began. To obtain Progressive's low cost, every customer has to install this "thingamajig" (that's what I call it) under the dashboard of each car. Basically, it's a monitor that allows the insurer to become "big brother-like" to see how fast you are driving and what types of turns you are making. Theoretically, I had no problem with this. But, these thingamajigs are difficult to snap into the cars and they always seem to keep falling out. It started to become a real hassle when the one in my car fell out every week and Progressive started sending me email after email pleading with me to put them back in. My point in all this: Progressive's initial friendly customer service wasn't all that customer centric after all and caused me to waste a lot of time dealing with an issue that I should never have had to think about.

Next issue: Someone smacked my wife's car. It wasn't too bad, except the front right bumper/side was smashed in. My wife went through the process of filing a claim. This meant taking the car to the one, middle-of-no-where garage that Progressive deals with and getting a quote on how much it would cost to fix. What we found out is that the garage basically offers up a low ball quote on what Progressive will pay to fix it, not what the actual cost will be to do it right. There was a $700 gap between those two variables. That really annoyed me. In the end, we simply sucked it up, went to the Honda dealership and paid for them to do it the right way. Now, I was starting to experience firsthand how a low cost provider could make real margins.

The final straw that broke my camel's back was when the six month initial insurance coverage period was over. I don't have a lot of time to continually search for new insurance providers, so even though I wasn't feeling good about Progressive, canceling my policy wasn't an option yet. That was until they sent me a new quote for the same coverage. It was almost $600 higher... for no real reason. I called them to inquire why and received nothing substantial for why the price was so much higher. That's when it became clear to me that this initial cost was really a way to reel me into their world. Then, when they had me, they could change everything and make some real money.

Many people rave about Progressive. Clearly, I will never be one of them. But, I'm not sure that I have any real lingering negativity towards the company because of my experience (although I am changing carriers.) Instead, I've looked in the mirror and hopefully have learned enough to not be fooled again to think that cheaper could be better (or at least just as good.) Whether it be around insurance, healthcare, consumer products or even PR services, you get what you pay for in life. If you decide to go really cheap, then you better reset your expectations on what the outcome will be.

Because of credible digital communications, I never looked “back”

Every few months my aching lower back acts up again. Like many, I’ve tried most therapies, from acupuncture  to intense physical therapy to regular chiropractor sessions. All of these have helped in making my back feel whole again for 4-8 month periods. But unfortunately, none gave any type of real lasting powers.

Ask 10 different people for advice on back therapies and you’ll get 10 different answers. Go on the internet looking for solutions and you’ll only find yourself tired, frustrated and more confused about the myriad of “guaranteed” procedures and doctors who can supposedly “cure” your pain. I was just about ready to end my Internet Google search, when this series of videos hit my screen.

; ;

In case you don’t have the time or desire to watch it, Dr. Howard Goodman (a back physician and chiropractor) discusses how something called spinal decompression can possibly help those who have inflammation or herniated discs (I have the former). What caught my eye about this series of videos (and kept me watching) is the simple, easy to understand and credible manner with which this specialist comes across. Instead of guaranteeing any type of magic solution, or trying to impress me with high brow MD knowledge, Dr. Goodman calmly explains to me what decompression is and how it can really help SOME patients (but not everyone.) He discusses it in the context of an alternative to surgery and then walks the viewer through symptoms that a candidate would have (and why.) Lastly, in layman’s terms, he describes the end benefit that this procedure can accomplish during a 6-8 week therapy timetable. I also like the fact that the entire intro video is only three minutes in length. (That’s plenty of time to explain to me the basics.) All the videos can be accessed from YouTube as well.

There’s nothing new about creating YouTube videos to educate and promote products, services and thought leadership. I just think that many in the medical field haven’t really figured out how to leverage this powerful Internet tool to effectively communicate credibly with target consumer audiences. With so many different medical “solutions” continually pushed to us, it’s incredibly hard to know which one is believable and really fits the problem at hand, or just pure snake oil (and there are quite of a few of those on the Internet these days.) So, guarantees and/or cocky promotions about medical pedigrees and language that I don’t understand are sure fire turnoffs for me.

After watching this video, I went to the Web site of New York Rehabilitation Center (which luckily happens to be physically located a block away from where I work,) and was further educated about the way decompression could really work for me. I also read articles (posted on the site) and did my own analysis on the doctors there to feel comfortable that everything seemed legitimate. In many ways, Dr. Goodman and his staff did everything right to successfully create a credible social media offering. The large amount of positive reviews about this video certainly helps to reinforce that. I think that others in the medical field should take notice.

Will this work for me? That’s a good question. I’m on to my 5th decompression appointment and the old back is actually starting to feel better. But, only time (6-8 weeks) will tell. I’ll be sure to report back to you how I’m feeling then.

Is there such a thing as a “dumb city?”

I know this post may come across as cruel. But, yesterday’s article about Atlantic City’s “death spiral” has me truly wondering whether the answer is… yes.

I’ve been around Atlantic City (AC) for the last 25 years or so (living in NYC and New Jersey.) And, over this time period, I’ve watched this once promising gambling resort destination deteriorate to become nothing more than a cesspool at the sea. Think about it. That really isn’t an easy thing for any town, municipality or city to achieve when so much of its prime real estate lays on miles and miles of truly beautiful beach front property. Nothing is certain in life. But, any real estate destination that offers ocean views and sandy beaches should have among the best chances of flourishing. Unfortunately, almost since its inception, this city of false hope has been mismanaged, misappropriated and misguided by so many inept politicians, business executives, promoters and municipal guardians who promised prosperity and instead brought nothing but shame.

That’s why this article, entitled, “Can Atlantic City Raise the Stakes?” makes me twinge.  This city had every opportunity and expectation of becoming the Las Vegas of the East Coast (or even bigger.) It’s hard to believe that after so much colossal failure, once again there are a few believers out there who are doubling down on their bet that Atlantic City can make a comeback.  The old adage, “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me,” is what comes to mind here.

Here’s my question: After how many blunders can someone (or in this case someplace) officially be labeled dumb? Seriously. The Mob first owned Atlantic City in the early days and boy did it start with a big bang. (And I don’t mean gun shots.) Those early casinos on the boardwalk (like Resorts) were so jammed back, that tourists would wait hours to see a show or have a chance to hit a casino table.

The way I see it (though) is that even when the Mob left, wide scale corruption never stopped. And through all of this, Atlantic City continues to make the worst type of decisions. Here are a few of them:

• What happened to gentrification? We’ve probably read about 10 plans over the last 30 years to root out all the inner city crime and turn the bad part of Atlantic City (that’s about 90 percent of it) into middle class, or at least more respectable neighborhoods. This city is too far gone for that to happen now. Allowing all the bad in this city to grow and fester out of control has certainly been the major reason behind its downfall.
• Who would create casinos on the beach and not take advantage of them? I just can’t figure that one out. These casinos could have created truly sustainable properties that wouldn’t  live and die on pure gambling (all subject to economic highs and lows in our economy) if they had the foresight to build these beaches into major consumer destinations (i.e. maximize their beaches as full swimming/boating/drinking resorts.) Walk along a typical AC casino boardwalk and see how poorly the beaches are actually utilized to make money.
• The Indian Tribes just left them in the dust. First it started in Connecticut (Foxwoods, Mohegan Sun) and then it exploded with tribes opening up casinos in PA, NY State and now Delaware. AC casino operatives had their heads buried in the sand trying to find a way out of their junk bond miseries, while their savvy and nimble upstart competitors moved swiftly to offer a better entertainment product that is much closer to where they live. This had helped to really put the nail in AC’s coffin.
• Current modernization is still flawed. I went to Caesars Casino this summer for a night of dinner and gambling. On the one hand, it was nice to see how millions of $$$ have been pumped into this property to keep it afloat. (A new mall with restaurants and shops has been developed.) Unfortunately, the entire décor is designed in an 80s feel and that is just very strange. From the music, to the shops, to even the architectural design, if felt like we were being transported back in time. I’m just not sure why anyone would find that appealing.

Maybe there’s something in the water they drink  near and within Atlantic City, but I firmly believe that the “apple doesn’t fall far from the tree,” when it comes to the clarity by which some people think and make decisions in that neck of the woods. As a case in point, about 15 years ago one of the first prospects that called upon Peppercom was something called The Atlantic City Golf Association. Steve and I were excited because this qualified lead is an association that managed all the beautiful golf courses in the greater Atlantic City area and its Board was looking for a small, strategic firm to help immediately.

The first problem was that most target consumers/business people didn’t even know these golf resorts existed. The bigger challenge was that they were looking for a new way to position the association to compete with really “hot” golf vacation destinations such as Myrtle Beach and South Florida.

This looked like the perfect early client opportunity for us. We could really help them articulate a new brand positioning that would be both exciting and real and then our little firm could promote the heck out of these picturesque golf courses. That was until we had our last meeting (before being hired) when two of the association Board members were adamant that they knew exactly what the new positioning should be. Not wanting to sound like know-it-alls, we listened… and then we laughed… and then we realized it wasn’t a joke.

They wanted to position their golf courses as, “The Perfect Place to Golf ALL YEAR ROUND.”

We tried to explain to the powers at large that this wasn’t actually true. It isn’t possible to golf on these courses in the middle of January or February when six inches of snow are on the ground. But, they wouldn’t listen.  Nope, they were adamant that technically golfing is still possible then (maybe it’s called frozen golf?) and they wanted to reposition themselves in this way to compete with the warmer climate destinations. Then they curtly said that we could take this or leave them. So, we did just that… we left them.

After that experience, I realized that sometimes people in life just make very little sense. And, there’s nothing you can do to change their perspective or how they go about making business decisions. Are they dumb? Well, you’ve read my story. So, now I’ll let you be the judge of that.

Homeless Doll Breaks from American Girl’s Model

Today's guest post is by Laura Mills, Account Executive, Peppercom’s Brand² Squared Licensing Division.

Growing up, Samantha was my American Girl doll of choice.  She had brown hair and eyes (just like me!), with a back-story that was an allegory of having good character.  As a premise behind the original American Girl dolls, the company created strong, female characters, incorporating toys with a series of books and matching accessories.  The dolls are role models, exhibiting positive traits that modern girls can relate to, regardless of the historical context they are presented in.  

This role model position became a method by which American Girl has built a thriving franchise across many years, and business has expanded to include a new generation of role models from a variety of ethnicities and historical eras, while appealing to new audiences, collectors and Hollywood producers.  Some of existing characters include Addy, a fugitive Civil War era slave, and Rebecca, a Jewish Immigrant from the turn of the century.  Most of the dolls have a heartwarming story of how odds can be beaten – after all, role models are so frequently personas overcoming high obstacles.  But the recently launched character Gwen Thompson certainly has the most to overcome: she’s homeless. 

It suffices to say, Gwen has generated her fair share of controversy.  Media outlets such as the New York Post are attacking the concept, especially the mixed message of a $95 price point for a doll aimed to educate children about poverty.  But, regardless of whether the doll is ‘too real’ or if it is overpriced, there is a larger branding issue at hand.  Addy and Rebecca are role models.  Gwen represents a social topic with polarizing points of view.  There is a significant difference between inspiring good character (an outcome of role models) and inspiring debate (an outcome of educators, politicians and reporters addressing social topics.)  Of course the target market for American Girl should understand the issue of homelessness.  But the concept of Gwen Thompson stretches the American Girl brand beyond its foundation and emotional definition.  With the article mentioned above, the brand is now part of a national debate.  For a brand built on creating universally aspirational characters, that departure could negatively affect it as a whole. 

American Girl carved itself a sustainable position in the saturated doll landscape, an accomplishment enjoyed by few brands beyond Barbie.  It would be a shame to see the ‘Gwen’ endeavor have an adverse impact, especially when there are options that might be a better fit for the brand.   With many real life role models for young girls, the company could have licensed the name and likeness of known female advocates and philanthropists such as our client Dr. Jane Goodall, Susan B. Anthony or even Oprah Winfrey.  Having written their own success stories and overcoming personal challenges, these women would be a more strategic extension of the company’s mission to “help girls find their inner star by becoming kind, compassionate, and loving people who make a positive and meaningful difference in the world around them.”