Free Report #1 – Questions No One is Asking about the COVID-19 Consumer

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread, affecting daily life for virtually all Americans, ACUPOLL seeks to provide a window into the hearts, minds, and evolving behaviors of consumers by posing questions we haven’t seen anyone else ask about it.

Click below to download our FREE report showing the first two waves of research.

Because the situation is rapidly evolving, we began by capturing data over the course of 2 nights approximately one week apart, and will continue to update this learning periodically going forward.

Some areas of probing include:

• Core Motivations behind purchase decisions

• Behavior changes resulting from loss of income, social distancing, etc.

• Opinions about the responsibility of advertisers

• Key opportunities for strengthening/building loyalties

Spark In-Market Validation

Last year, we unveiled Spark MCR's groundbreaking approach to more completely evaluate ideas than traditional surveys by capturing Impulse and Emotion, as well as conscious Reflection. Spark Multi-Cognition Research® is 2x more likely to capture consumers' "gut" reactions, and better discriminates across ideas to find the real winners. Now we're unveiling in-market results from a new study on Pinterest for a major retailer which demonstrates that Spark MCR results are significantly and more strongly correlated with higher online "engagement" and e-commerce sales than the traditional approach.

Moreover, Pinterest Promoted Pins with higher Spark Impulse and Affinity ratings are 4x more likely to have higher online engagement, and 2x more likely to generate higher e-commerce sales.

Finally, Spark MCR provides a practical tool that takes conscious and non-conscious measures into account and has sales data to back it up. Let us know if you would like to have a quick call to share the results and discuss Spark in more detail.

Differentiate or Disappear

The only way to escape the "competitive herd" and grow is to differentiate, yet many clients struggle to create unique ideas that people actually want.

Here are 3 suggestions to ensure your innovation doesn't disappear in the crowd:

1. Define your category and brand "schemas" – then shatter them.

The brain is designed not to think; it uses cognitive schemas, or mental models of the nature of things and how they work, to process information efficiently. Start by defining what you're differentiating from. Make a list of all of the widely held characteristics of your category and brand – physical aspects of the product and package, its benefits, RTBs, uses, usage occasions, regimen, typical target or user, and more. Then, systematically consider how you might deviate from the norm on every element. You can assess progress with ACUPOLL's New & Different normative ratings, and use ACUTEXT™ highlighting on concepts to see what respondents feel is unique. While some changes might cost you a little appeal, it can be worth it to ensure customers choose your brand over competitors.

2.  Define your competitive frame and emphasize crucial Points of Difference (PODs), while providing reassurance on Points of Parity (POPs).

POPs are price-of-entry benefits for the category (e.g. all laundry detergents need to promise clean clothes); if you don’t include these in a concept, it can limit interest. Leading brands often try to become known as the ‘category prototype’ on these core benefits. But as shown in ACUPOLL Efficacy Statement ratings, PODs are more likely to increase competitive advantage ­– which can increase Purchase Probability as well. Yet, it's important to define your competitive frame too, as POPs and PODs can change or even flip flop depending on your competitive focus, such as for SunnyD juice drink, where Taste and Vitamin C reverse positions depending on the competitive frame.

Here's another example:  ACUPOLL Live™ qual-quant sessions provide more confident evaluation and decisions than qual alone, and more insightful probing and learning capacity than traditional online surveys.

3.  Consider "saying no where other brands say yes, and yes where others say no."

According to Harvard Business School Professor Youngme Moon, PODs can also derive from taking away benefits or features, even if they are rated important. In these cases, the competitive herd is often slow to follow; they can't imagine taking away a core benefit. For instance, Ikea "says no" to furniture store traditions by offering only one style of furniture, no assembly, and no salespeople, but "says yes" to lower prices, child care, and other new benefits. Offering less not only helps them stand out; in their case, it drives superior value. Twitter limits their posts to 140 characters, not because they couldn’t support more, but because it sets them apart, and changes the nature of user interactions.

No matter how you tackle the challenge, don’t rest until you find a meaningful difference, so that your initiatives don't disappear in the crowd, in the mind of the consumer, and – ultimately – from your sales forecasts.

Research On Research: Methods Matter

Everyone knows the questions are important – but so are the answers!  In this head-to-head comparison, we assessed two research scales to see which performs better.

The Contestants

The Competition

• Sequential monadic concept test with 3 food concepts

• A separate cell using each scale, with a series of forced choice comparison questions at the end

• Nationally representative sample of 209 adults 18+

The Results

• TWICE as many respondents thought the ACUPOLL Scale was easier to answer, more intuitive, and better captured how they feel.

• This wasn’t just consumers’ opinions – they actually completed the survey with the ACUPOLL scale 15% faster!

The Implications

1. More Accurate Research: The ACUPOLL Scale provides clients with results that consumers indicate better represent their natural and true opinions, without forcing them to choose among labeled answers that often split hairs.

2. More In Less Time: With 15% faster data collection, your surveys can cover more ground in the same amount of time, with less consumer fatigue.

3. Better Statistics: Unlike traditional labeled scales where “extremely” is closer to “very” than “very” is to “somewhat,” the ACUPOLL Scale is an equal-interval scale that facilitates more accurate and reliable statistical analysis (correlations, regressions, etc.).

Contact us today to learn more, and find out how we can apply this to give you
Greater Clarity for Better Decisions™!

Additional perspective is below if you’re interested!

• The “System 1” Scale: As Nobel Prize-winning psychologist and author of Thinking, Fast and Slow describes, “Our thoughts and actions are routinely guided by [our brain’s] ‘System 1’ and generally are on the mark.”(1) System 1 is the automatic, impulsive, and more emotional side of the brain, as opposed to System 2, which is more effortful, reflective, and has a risk of “over-think.” An easier, more intuitive scale like ACUPOLL’s allows consumers to react more impulsively, consistent with their true feelings, which results in more accurate data for better learning.

• Ahead of Our Time: ACUPOLL launched with this scale in 1991. The 0-to-10 pain intensity scale recommended by the National Institute of Health was introduced in 1993.(2) And, Fred Reichheld used this scale when he introduced the Net Promoter Scale in 2003.(3)

• Consistent with Better Research Quality: Twice as many consumers also said the ACUPOLL Scale would be “more enjoyable in a long survey.” The Advertising Research Foundation’s Foundations of Quality study concluded, “As Survey Enjoyment increases, so does a respondent’s level of attention and engagement, ultimately affecting data quality.”(4)

1. Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking, Fast and Slow. New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

2. McCaffery, M., & Beebe, A. (1993). Pain: Clinical Manual for Nursing Practice. Baltimore, MD: V.V. Mosby Company.

3. Reichheld, F. (2003, December). The one number you need to grow. Harvard Business Review, 81(12), 46–54.

4. Walker, R.W., & Cook, W.A. (2013). You can’t put a price tag on a survey participant’s enjoyment: the latest findings from the ARF’s “foundations of quality” research. Journal of Advertising Research, 53(3), 254–257.

Nobody Reads A Concept: Packaging Must Sell Your Idea!

Ever wonder why so many new products fail after so much effort getting the concept exactly right, and pairing it with a great product? While some failures can be traced to missed consumer concerns or business plan flaws, many simply result from poor marketing execution, such as failing to effectively communicate the concept. It does not matter how good a concept is if the consumer never gets it; nobody reads a concept before making a purchase decision! 

Having tested more than 40,000 concepts and positionings globally, ACUPOLL has participated in many successful product introductions, but also has seen some good ideas fail. Concept testing in its present form was developed when TV advertising represented the primary marketing vehicle and most ads were 30 seconds long. Today, many brands can’t afford mass advertising, and even those that can are likely to have much of their spending (if not 100%) in 15-second spots and/or directed at the trade or in-store.

“Owned” media (e.g. website) and “earned” media are important aids, but these don’t reach everyone either.

So, that leaves packaging as the most visible representation of your marketing idea to the consumer.

Beyond typical functional needs, we believe packaging should also deliver three key objectives:

1. Motivation: Communicate the core concept – especially the Insight, key benefit(s), and key support – in an appealing way that connects both rationally and emotionally

2. Shelf Impact: Break through clutter and grab attention, particularly by disrupting consumers’ preconceived mental maps of the category, or “schemas,” in an appropriate way

3. On-Equity: Ensure products, especially extensions, fit into the line architecture and enhance the brand, building a stronger “whole” over time

Effective packaging also has a clear hierarchy of communication to address versions, flavors, forms, and/or sizes. Package back and side copy also needs to cover important regulatory information, as well as answer key questions, particularly shopper “de-selection criteria,” which, left unaddressed, can cost you a sale.

Motivation

As noted earlier, nobody reads a concept … and all but the most heavy TV advertisers are likely to have a considerable portion of their purchasers discover the brand for the first time at shelf.  So in many cases, the packaging has to “make the sale.” A key question is, if the only communication your consumer gets is the front of the package, what benefits and points of difference would be most likely to entice consumers? And, what visuals communicate those benefits or advantages best? 

We test packaging using the same measures as concept tests to ensure you deliver your core message. It’s important to recognize the limitations to package verbiage: the more you add, the less you’ll communicate. So ask us about tools like ACUTEXT™ and efficacy statements to determine which elements of your concepts communicate most effectively, or to add questions to screen alternative package flags. In some cases, if you’re not able to fund advertising, it may even be more helpful and realistic to test “packcepts” instead of concepts.

And, similar to advertising, packaging should communicate not only rationally, but emotionally as well. Our proprietary eFactor® technique (“Unarticulated Emotional Elicitation”) can help you understand the various emotional factors, sub-factors, and factor intensity triggered by your packaging options.

Shelf Impact

According to the Food Marketing Institute (FMI), the average grocery store carries 42,686 items – how will yours get noticed? While you could add a picture of a puppy or a baby to attract attention, the key to shelf impact is to attract attention in a tasteful and appropriate way. Consumers must not only notice the package, but want to pick it up to learn more. This is especially true for new product success at the “first moment of truth.” Thus, we measure distinctiveness in context of other key measures to ensure it is really a positive.

One way to increase shelf impact is to design-in “schema disruption.” Categories often evolve to reflect a specific visual nomenclature – e.g., hand and body lotions come in bottles with or without pumps – which cause consumers to form mental models, or schemas, of what to expect in category packaging. Define all of the existing category schemas and then make careful choices on how to disrupt them by deviating from the norm (in a positive/appropriate way). In hair color, virtually all of the packages have beautiful 4-color models; try 2-color photos. We’ve seen a good example in food products: the addition of a unique oak table under a dish with the “food shot” added a rustic, homey feel. You can’t expect good shelf impact if you use the same package construction, form, colors, benefit visuals, etc., as all of the competitive products! 

On-Equity

Finally, it’s important for line extensions and flankers to do more than just “fit” with a parent brand’s equity. Every new product starts out as an “Equity Borrower,” in that it borrows the parent brand’s equity to create interest in the extension. However, some initiatives are me-too “Equity Robbers,” failing to deliver core brand benefits or without offering desirable and unique benefits to build the franchise. In contrast, designed right, the packaging and marketing communication for good initiatives can supplement parent brand equities to make the whole greater than the sum of the parts, becoming “Equity Builders” that grow overall brand equity.

So, what are the lessons?  

• For the many consumers you don’t reach with TV advertising, your packaging is your concept.

• Make sure you deliver shelf impact to get noticed; try defining and disrupting category design schemas to do so.

• Communicate your message via packaging rationally and emotionally; test your package to make sure it delivers.

• Include experienced packaging professionals early in the process to help deliver differentiation, functionality, and, yes, budget requirements.

• Finally, ensure you choose a packaging option that will completely support your introduction – because nobody reads a concept before buying.

Mind The Gap: Don't Let Your Packaging Forecast Fall Short!

Packaging can be a game-changer at the “first moment of truth” and is the one marketing execution every one of your users will experience. After all, nobody reads a concept; your advertising – for those you can afford to reach – and ultimately the package must communicate the idea fully, with no major gaps, or there will be no sale. 

ACUPOLL’s work with strategic packaging consultancy PTIS (Packaging Technology Integrated Solutions, LLC), a division of HAVI Global Solutions, LLC, has resulted in a more complete packaging research solution that allows you to not only assess the strength of your package, but to understand to what degree it delivers, falls short, or even (in some cases) exceeds the strength of your concept ... and the likely volume consequences that result. 

PTIS has long preached that the primary measure of success for packaging is not appeal, but purchase interest. Packaging is the product and should be measured in the same way we measure interest in products or concepts (Purchase Probability/Likelihood To Buy, Uniqueness, and Value). And if the package does not “sell” the benefits strongly enough, if it does not convince consumers that it will work as promised – in short, if it does not communicate all the things the concept described – it will not “sell.”

So, we investigated how well companies’ concepts were translated in packaging. And, not surprisingly, we found a wide range of success, with some translated perfectly, which resulted in pretty good product introductions … and others falling short.

Here are some examples of concepts we tested, and re-tests of packaging only. Note the range of Packaging Only performance:

1. In the First Aid example, the packaging actually outperformed the concept (at least directionally), reflecting a more focused articulation of the message.

2. The Cream Cheese concept (with packaging) scored about the same as the packaging alone.

3. The Snack Bar tested within the same grade range between the two stimuli, albeit directionally lower.

4. The Laundry Product tested significantly lower (two full letter grades), due to dropping an important claim and reason-to-believe.

So, we believe it’s critical to “Mind the Gap” – and make sure your packaging sells your product at least as well as your concept does. That’s why ACUPOLL’s packaging methodology is constructed to allow exactly this comparison … and even better, to let you understand the volumetric impact of your packaging execution. 

ACUPOLL believes packaging should face the same rigor as concepts, testing multiple candidates and seeking to fully understand consumer intent to purchase. Volumetric modeling on packaging can help identify the actual gap between concept appeal and the appeal of the final packaged product. We have seen volume from the packaging actually increase versus the concept as the packaging became more focused than the concept at selling the key benefit(s), and other times when it has led to as much as a 35% decrease in likely volume when claims and support were changed between the concept and the package. For example, here are the volume forecasts for the four concepts above, with the concept performance set as the baseline at 100%.

Of course, volumetric predictions at the concept stage can be valuable in focusing corporate energies on the biggest ideas. But don’t just stop there; mind the gap!  Make sure your package fully delivers your concept. Comparing concept volumes to those of packaging is an easy and affordable way to make sure the final communication on the shelf delivers everything you’re expecting ... or even more.

12 Ways To Boost Perceived Value Without Sacrificing Profit

Recession. A jobless recovery. Consumer fears stoked with every bank announcement.  No matter how much you spend in marketing, the news networks will out-GRP your glitziest appeals to spend with recommendations to consumers to belt-tighten. So how do you position your brand to “win” with cost-conscious consumers, without lowering your price?  

Leonora Polonsky, former Manager, Global Marketing Knowledge & Innovation at Procter
& Gamble, conducted a multi-industry global study that identified 10 ways to increase perceived value (we’ve supplied two more ways, plus additional examples in many areas):
 

Plus two more from our experience and our Success Avenues™ database:

1. Make Money No Object – Elevate your message to a higher-level benefit where price doesn’t matter. Examples include Michelin: “there’s a lot riding on your tires” (commercial with baby on board, drove 7% annual growth) or DeBeers: “A diamond is forever” (making diamonds a small investment for a lifetime relationship).

2. Change the Unit of Measure – Equate the cost of your product to a more palatable equivalent, such as the iMac launch that claimed it costs less than $30/month to own (“about the price of 3 pizzas”) or a South American Fiat leasing offer for only $6 “or 3 beers a day.”

3. Use Price to Signal Quality – Rather than ignoring your premium pricing, embrace it.  Alpen in the U.K. advertising attributed its (high) price point to higher-quality ingredients … catapulting its value impression and driving sales growth of 30%. Stella Artois is “reassuringly expensive.” The iconic “pardon me, do you have any Grey Poupon?” ad is another example of not hiding from your premium position.

4. Change the Competitive Reference – Compare to a more expensive ‘gold standard’ product or service, often in an alternative channel. This is a P&G favorite tactic lately, including Crest Whitestrips comparison to whitening treatments by dentists, and Olay’s series of claims versus department store skin care brands, prescription dermatology remedies, or as an alternative to plastic surgery. DiGiorno got into the act with “delivery quality” pizza. Note: parity claims are fine if the competitor is higher price or perceived quality.

5. Showcase Extra Mileage – Demonstrate your product’s superior duration, such as a paper towel that absorbs more than many sheets from a competitor, or (as our President suffered from first-hand!), Imodium’s claim to work with one dose instead of 6 spoons of the “pink stuff” (Pepto-Bismol).

6. Encourage Indulgence – Give consumers an emotional reason to indulge, the classic one being “L’Oréal, because I’m worth it.” Another example is McDonald’s “You deserve a break today,” though they have more specific value menu messages available to them now.

7. Highlight Others’ Tradeoffs – Communicate added benefits, such as Clusivol Vitamins in the Philippines, which you should take because “getting sick costs more”; and a laundry detergent in Brazil that simplifies the laundry routine versus current practices, giving consumers more free time.

8. Minimize Perceived Risk – Warranties and guarantees are standard tactics in this area, such as the Old Spice “Prove It” guarantee. Working with a client in the identity protection space, we’ve marveled at LifeLock’s CEO, who brazenly includes his real social security number in the company’s ads and guarantees identity protection.

9. Create New Language to Elevate Worth – Oftentimes this leverages a “standard of excellence,” such as on Olay Daily “Facials” or “Gourmet” Popping Corn. One of our favorite examples: “SlowChurned” ice cream, healthy + yum!

10. Line Extend with Lower Price Variants – This is a P&G innovation strategy to stratify product lines based on pricing, such as Bounty Basic. Do so carefully, as there are several important risks to manage, plus it might open an “Achilles heel” for the brand … which thus far P&G’s competitors haven’t yet exploited.

11. Leverage Contagious Consumer Loyalty – Genuine, intense loyalty can be incredibly persuasive and improve value. For example, the “Swaps” campaign (“we’ll give you two of brand X for your brand Y”), while flat-footed, succeeded across numerous categories and geographies. Other examples include “Please don’t squeeze the Charmin” (which consumers can’t resist doing) to “I’d walk a mile for a Camel” (in the 1920s). 

12. Align with a Higher Purpose – More than cause marketing, this is a genuine, all-encompassing commitment to an issue of supreme importance to target consumers, such as Aveda’s environmental commitment or Stonyfield Farm’s and Honest Tea’s strict commitments to food purity and social responsibility standards. The more brands there are on the bandwagon, the less distinctive and impactful the cause may be (though it still could be a “price of entry” for consideration with some consumers). 

Some of these are strategic equity builders that can drive a brand for years, others are more tactical and are best combined with stronger strategic positioning elements.

You can review Leonora’s presentation to the American Association of Advertising Agencies, including TV commercial and in-store P.O.P. examples, here; or contact us for an introduction.

Leveraging Innovation Summits as Ingenuity Catalysts

The bigger the company and the greater its internal resources, the easier it is to believe that “we have all the answers internally” when it comes to innovation and marketing ideas. And many people rightly complain that some brainstorming sessions create heaps of undeveloped ideas that never go anywhere. Yet two recent innovation summits that we were involved with have reminded us of the dramatic value that savvy, experienced outsiders with a fresh perspective can bring to a project in just a few days. 

Read our two brief case studies and learning for the future:

The Re-framing Summit

The first event was an innovation summit we engineered for a Fortune 100 consumer products company to help re-frame a category/need-state they wanted to enter and find “blue oceans” (i.e., to find untapped new market opportunities that are strongly differentiated and, ideally, will grow the market). The participants included the project team, hand-picked innovators from across the corporation’s divisions, and a wide array of outside experts from marketing and innovation agencies. Together with the client and facilitator, it was a 2-½-day process comprised of:

• Immersion to develop common understanding of the marketplace, consumer, competition, technology, etc.

• Stimulus sessions to stretch people’s creativity and illuminate new strategic directions, featuring 3 interactive sessions:

  1. Blue Ocean Strategy led an overview of how different strategic choices can redraw market lines via 6 key paths.

  2. Jeff Goldstein introduced how the cognitive science of Schemas and Conceptual Blends guide how we think and can be vehicles for simple, crystal-clear-to-consumers innovation breakthroughs.

  3. Jeff also introduced innovation Success Avenues™ leveraging 11 relevant models drawn from our database.

• Platform Development & Assessment to convert insights and ideas into full re-framing strategies and new product ideas, and then evaluate and prioritize those strategic platforms.

The results included 12 prioritized new platform opportunities and a much deeper strategic understanding of the opportunities. Client feedback ranged from “transformational” to “best experience in my career.”  The project team was energized, presented the platforms to corporate leadership, and used them to channel and focus subsequent innovation directions.

The New Brand Summit

The second event was hosted by another great innovation agency and was designed to develop 4 new brand “vector” opportunity areas we had identified into more robust, fully articulated product concepts. Participants included the project team, the agency strategists and creatives, and outside branding and beverage category practitioners (cooks, mixologists, etc.). The 1-½-day session included: 

• Orientation – A brief review of the objectives, process, and research to-date

• Platform Development for each of the 4 areas, using magazines and discussions as stimuli to help complete templates and dioramas to illustrate platform ideas

• Distillation by the core team to vote on, refine, and prioritize platforms

Results were strong, with 2 unique concept ideas developed for each of the 4 vectors, and diverse/unexpected creative value via new ideas, added ingredients, unique brand characters, product names, etc. After qualitative refinement, 3 of the 6 new beverage concepts generated top scores in consumer testing versus the concept database.

Key Learning From Innovation Summits

• Both sessions avoided the “heap of ideas” brainstorming trap by having a well-defined purpose and output, using templates to structure ideas, and prioritizing and refining steps throughout

• It’s important to have clearly defined processes to promote discussion in both large and small groups – in the first summit, the large group discussions were most illuminating, whereas in the second, the small groups yielded the “ah-ha” moments

• The first session had a longer duration and richer sources of inspiration and stimuli, which, we believe, added extra value

• “Voting” on ideas or areas can be helpful to prioritize, yet the commentary by passionate advocates of an idea and the ensuing discussion often illuminate new insights in ways that shift votes or may trump the group results

• Visual templates and live illustrators can capture a dynamic living event, plus stimulate better dialogue and a more fun and creative atmosphere

• Including people experienced in the particular category as some of the outside participants brings extra perspective beyond that of “merely” including smart/diverse people

Bottom-line, there’s no monopoly on good ideas, no matter the size of the company or the research conducted to-date.

If you want to battle-test your proposition, identify new growth opportunities, or generate/further develop robust innovation or marketing ideas, Innovation Summits can be great catalysts for success.  

Contact us if you’d like additional recommendations or help obtaining thought-provoking stimuli or expert resources.

Brands Through the Eyes of an "Outlaw" (and Other Archetypes)

Brands are finding the need to partner more than ever, from co-brands like Crest+Scope, to co-locations like Starbucks inside Target stores or Dunkin’ Donuts inside gas stations, to brand sponsorships like branded NASCAR vehicles, and even movie and media integrations like Coke and American Idol. But just because brand demos or even equity attributes line up doesn’t make you the perfect mates; the brand personas can still mix like oil and water (i.e. Crisco and Aquafina). That’s why ACUPOLL developed a new technique to better understand brand archetypes.
 

Archetypes

Archetypes themselves are nothing new. They are as deeply rooted in the gods of ancient Greece as they are personified in the characters of Star Wars. What makes archetypes useful for brands is that they are universal in nature and begin to form the foundation that can inspire design and messaging strategy. And, when used correctly and consistently, they can serve as the deepest connection between a brand’s soul and its consumers.

The book The Hero and The Outlaw, by Margaret Mark and Carol S. Pearson, defines the twelve universal Archetypes: Hero, Outlaw, Caregiver, Innocent, Ruler, Sage, Explorer, Regular Guy, Lover, Magician, Creator, and Jester.

Coke, for instance, is an Innocent and is an excellent example of an iconic brand that has stayed true to an archetype (intentional or not). Innocent brands are associated with goodness, morality, simplicity, nostalgia, or childhood. They represent a desire for purity and a longing for paradise. You can see the underlying Innocent persona in Coca-Cola’s communications, from “Teaching the World to Sing” to the Coca-Cola Polar Bears. 

Some other notable brands that stay true to one of the twelve Archetypes are Nike (Hero), Harley-Davidson (Outlaw), Jeep (Explorer), Bud Light (Jester), and American Express (Ruler).

So the question becomes: “How can archetypes be applied to help solve the problems of brand “fit” and “activation”? 

Fit

Knowing the archetype of the brand and the potential partner will allow you to easily identify the strongest match. For instance, Nike and the NFL are both “Hero” brands and, thus, collaborating is mutually beneficial and serves to elevate both brands.

But this partnership doesn’t work simply because they have the same archetype. Success is the result of the way in which Nike’s NFL sponsorship is communicated. Nike personifies the kind of Hero that another Hero would expect.

Despite different archetypes, any brand partnership is a potential sponsorship fit with the right communication strategy. This less obvious alignment is best illustrated by Nike’s long attempt to sponsor skateboarding. For years, their sponsorship was considered a failure in this “Outlaw” sport. Nike portrayed itself as the Hero to an audience that disdained the notion of the traditional Hero. Success did not come until Nike decided to unearth what a Hero might look like through the eyes of an Outlaw.

Activation

Once brands and partnership opportunities are aligned, and the strategy of “what” to communicate is determined, the archetype of the consumer can tell you where and how to say it. By segmenting the partner brand by degree of “fandom” (such as hardcore, casual, light, and non), a brand can properly leverage and activate a partnership and maximize ROI.

In this example, the NFL may try to create a Hero brand for itself. It does a good job as its core audience perceives it as a Hero. But not all brand communication takes place on Sunday afternoons in the fall. To fully integrate and activate the sponsorship within a brand’s total marketing strategy, you need to find the best way to incorporate the sponsorship among more than devotees of the sport.

Listed below are some hypothetical examples of how different levels of fans might see themselves:

• Hardcore

  Jester

  Hero

• Casual

  Sage

  Hero

• Occasional

  Caregiver

  Magician

• Non

  Lover

  Outlaw

Here are four possible activation strategies for the above NFL sponsorship:

1. Hardcore – Fun activities for fans (Jester) when their team scores (Hero) at the game

2. Casual – Contests to guess (Sage) this week’s MVP (Hero) during Pre-game show

3. Occasional – Philanthropic effort (Caregiver) that changes lives (Magician) during the broadcast

4. Non – Romantic trip (Lover) to the NFL city of your choice (Outlaw) sweepstakes for the fan and their “football widow”

Valentine’s Day

To illustrate, think of Valentine’s Day. Each February comes and goes, and leaves many scratching their heads in wonderment as to why an expression of love may have missed the mark. The Explorer is baffled when his weekend kayaking trip goes unappreciated by his Caregiver wife. The Regular Guy, thinking they were in agreement that this is a corporate holiday, is dismayed to learn that his Lover girlfriend was expecting to be swept off her feet. What they have in common is giving a gift that their own personal Archetype sees as the ideal expression of Love, but that their wives and girlfriends feel miss the mark.

This is not that different from what brands go through when a brand partnership fails to drive sales. Understanding and using archetypes can help everyone see through the eyes of their “target” and improve the odds of success. Brand partnerships can be successfully tested among target consumers and current users, and you can understand patterns and validate the selection of a partnership and how it is likely to make, or undermine, a brand. Relying on your gut, the old “that’s how we’ve always done it,” and the sponsorship salesman may get your logo on a fast car, but may do nothing to drive sales. Test it. Validate it. Then, leverage it among your consumers.

Anatomy of an Effective Marketing Message: 3 Key Concept Components to Capture the Minds or Hearts of Your Customers

Here’s a novel business plan: Develop a great product or service. Leverage technology, lower costs, and offer great value. Then, just when you have something that customers relish, do what many good businesses do: describe it in a way that sounds like everything else, or even worse… don’t offer a message at all. Sound crazy? Well, many of the businesses we see miss one or more of the 3 key elements that make a marketing message effective.

The company’s management would be appalled, but it’s their fault their salesman didn’t know what to say; every ad for the past six months said “Sale” without any other marketing message or reason to buy.

An effective marketing message (or “positioning” in marketing parlance) connects with the needs, minds, and hearts of customers to make certain that products or services are appealing and distinctive. If you haven’t defined your message, or if it’s generic, like “Service, Quality, and Value since 1959” or “Everything in Construction Products,” you’re missing an opportunity to own an important benefit to customers that can help drive revenues.

First, let’s explore Insights, which are critical for effective marketing. After all, if you don’t know who you are targeting and what they want, how can you identify a message that really moves them? Focus groups, surveys, or simply asking customers or friends (if that’s all you can afford), helps you understand customer attitudes, to prioritize their needs and to optimize your ideas.

One example of a good Insight is the Scope “morning breath” commercial, which was built on the insight that users’ worst breath of the day is when they first wake up. Another good example is Lowe’s Home Improvement, which discovered that consumers view their homes as vehicles for expressing themselves and living out their aspirations.

Good Insights:

1. Help you connect with customers’ most important problems or motivations.

2. Suggest a fairly specific benefit (for example, “eliminates morning mouth,” rather than the more generic “fights bad breath” message).

Second, but most important: the Benefit. If you only communicate one idea, it ought to be your product’s or service’s main benefit. People buy benefits. It’s not enough to “break through” or “get noticed”; grabbing attention is useless unless the benefit is appealing. Your benefit also generally needs to focus on a specific aspect of performance, service, or value to be seen as distinctive.

One example of a unique and appealing benefit is exemplified by Secret’s original slogan, “Strong enough for a man, but made for a woman,” which carried a struggling brand to market leadership. Accenture similarly zeroed-in on one specific benefit (of many that their company offers): “Whether it’s your idea or Accenture’s, we’ll help you turn innovation into results.” Benefits can be rational like these or emotional like AXE men’s fragrance, which promises to young men that it’ll help them attract buxom beauties.

Finally, the reason-to-believe provides extra rationale to help close the sale. For products, it may be performance details (e.g. time-released), test results (e.g. J.D. Power surveys), an explanation of how the product works (e.g. Pepto-Bismol’s coating action), or an endorsement of some kind. Service firms often convince customers of their benefit via a combination of their client list, size and experience, previous results, a unique process, and/or testimonials. Good reasons-to-believe directly support the specific benefit and should be distinctive as well.

If this doesn’t sound like rocket science, it’s because it’s not; most intelligent, articulate business managers have the capability to create a message that’s at least somewhat effective. However, too many either don’t bother or skip the research and neglect one or more of the key elements.

Your likelihood of developing an exceptionally effective message increases by engaging with someone via proven positioning results, a research-driven approach, and the discipline to focus on core ideas without jumping at the first catchy ad execution.

Your company’s sales and marketing message provides customers with their first impression of your product or service and defines the enduring basis for their purchasing decision. It’s certainly worth the time and effort to get the 3 strategic components right.

Learning from 8 Years of Innovation Success: What you can discover from top CPG launches

Information Resources, Inc. (IRI) publishes an annual pacesetters report of the top new “brands” launched in food, drug, and mass merchandiser stores each year that demonstrates the good, the bad, and the ugly of innovation.  We’ve analyzed the results from 2004–2012 and found some really intriguing insights. 

Please note IRI’s definition of “brands” is squirrely, sometimes representing a parent brand and sometimes a line within a megabrand; for example, Crest Pro-Health toothpaste and PedEgg foot care products are both considered new brands. 

First, the statistics (all sales data are food/drug/mass merchandiser store Year 1 retail sales, excluding Walmart):

1. In 2012, there were almost 2x more new non-food brands launched than food brands (1,172 vs. 690).

2. 25% of the new non-food brands that achieved 30% distribution grew to over $7.5 million sales in Year 1, only 2.3% achieved $50 million, and only about 0.3% achieved $100 million retail sales.

3. Average sales across the top 80 pacesetters over these years was $83 million, the median was $60 million, and max and min among them were $343 (Allegra) and $35 (K-Y Yours+Mine), respectively.

4. The 10 biggest winners were Allegra ($343 million), Zyrtec ($316), Tide with Touch of Downy ($266), Prilosec ($239), Gillette Fusion ($191), Huggies Supreme Natural Fit ($174), Alli ($160), Crest 3D White ($154), Herbal Essences ($154), and Charmin Ultra Strong ($154).

Switches Rule: If you noticed quite a few Rx to OTC switches (Allegra, Zyrtec, Prilosec, Alli) among the top 10 pacesetters above, you’re ahead of the game; Plan B, Zantac 150, MiraLAX, Prevacid, Mucinex, and Pet Armour round it out for 10 of the past 80 pacesetter brands being switches. Mucinex and Pet Armour weren’t Rx brands, but their ingredients were previously, and within a broader “channel switch” category, you might even add the salon-to-OTC switch of Nexxus and direct-response switches of PediPaws, Smooth Away, and PedEgg as well, for a whopping 13 of the last 80 successes.

P&G Dominance: If you counted the P&G brand names within the top 10 above, you’d find even more in the top 80; in fact, P&G launched 37, or an incredible 46% of these big kahunas. Competitors left were J&J at 8 (10%), Kimberly-Clark and L’Oréal at 4 and 3, respectively (4-5%), and a dozen other companies with 2 or fewer hits in the 8-year period.

Blue Oceans: Surprisingly, true “blue ocean” launches that created entirely new product categories couldn’t fill a teacup in the pacesetter seas, as there were only 5 (6% of total): Plan B, PedEgg, PediPaws, SmoothAway, and Jergens Natural Glow (self tanners weren’t really on the map before it launched). Unfortunately, these new category/new brand opportunities that are most coveted by retailers and innovators alike are extremely rare and difficult to pull off, especially within a 1-year time frame! Interesting that 3 of 5 were launched via direct response, isn’t it?

The Elephant in the Room: What’s left? A whole lot of big brand line extensions and not-so-distant flankers, 58 of them to be exact (a whopping 73% of the pacesetters). The familiar giants dominate the list, like Tide (with Downy, with Febreze, Total Care, Coldwater, Simple Pleasures, Pure Essentials, and Stain Release), Crest (3D White, Complete Multi-Benefit, Whitestrips Premium, Pro-Health, Whitening Expressions, and Night Effects – many thanks to premium pricing!), Gillette (Fusion, M3Power, Venus, Venus Embrace, and Venus Divine), Huggies (Little Movers Slip-On, Pull-Ups with wetness indicators, Supreme Natural Fit), Mucinex (Original, DM, Fast-Max), Olay (Body Collections, Pro-X, Regenerist), and 2-hit wonders from Dove, Secret, Schick, L’Oréal, and Tylenol. When you’re lucky enough to have big brands, flaunt them!

Co-Brand Math, 1+1=3: P&G has led the co-branding movement and been rewarded for it on the pacesetter list. One tactic is to simply add a second brand to enhance the first, like Tide with Downy, Tide with Febreze, Dawn Hand Renewal with Olay moisturizers, Crest+Scope, and Fixodent+Scope. A second model is to create new trademark equity platforms across closely related brands, like Pro-Health extensions of Crest toothpaste and rinse and Oral-B toothbrushes, 3D White versions across the same franchises, and Colgate Optic White and Listerine/Reach TotalCare. Another example is Tide/Downy/Dawn Simple Pleasures (with natural botanicals/fragrances).

Seeing is Believing: A picture’s worth a thousand words; there’s big money in creating visible differences. Examples include Jergen’s Natural Glow (slow/steady bronzing), PedEgg (you can see the callus flakes being removed), Smooth Away (smoothes, i.e. sands away fine hairs), PediPaws (file Fido’s claws), Crest Whitestrips, John Frieda Brilliant Brunette, and, before this review period, Bioré Pore Strips, which allowed women to see their pore “gunk” for the very first time.

Professor Gadget: Mechanical and electrical devices are the true “blue ocean” leaping across categories, including Febreze Noticeables, PedEgg, Smooth Away, PediPaws, Gillette M3Power (and Swiffer, before this review period). We’ll have to see how the new Lysol home soap dispenser fares. If your company’s not deep in competency in creating “things,” don’t fret – none of the big consumer goods players have a commanding advantage in industrial design capabilities!

Our Conclusions?

• The biggest paydays in non-foods stem from extending big brands and from Rx-to-OTC or specialty channel-to-mass switches.

• Co-branding, delivering visible differences, and new device gadgetry are ripe with potential.

• Given the odds, it’s important to have a portfolio balancing high-risk/blue-ocean and lower-risk close-in initiatives.

• Don’t think of innovation as a sprint to launch a business, think of it as a marathon to learn a new business. In a 4-decade study through the 1980s, P&G’s average time to market leadership in a category it newly entered was 15 years! Aquafina’s Year 1 sales were $13 million in 2001, but by 2009 were a whopping $460 million. Similarly, Olay Regenerist was $37 million in 2004, but $151 million by mid-2009. So recognize that Year 1 sales don’t tell the whole story; make sure you choose to invest in areas that are sufficiently strategic and attractive, and that you’re willing to hunt, fight, scratch, and, yes, invest, for success in the long run.