How to Manage a Brand through a Crisis

Most of what I’m going to say is common sense. But it is amazing how many brands confronted with a disaster or crisis either hide their head in the sand with the hopes it will all blow over or just do stupid things. Today, with the advent of online media and social marketing, a small issue can turn very big in a matter of hours.

If you think your business and your reputation are in danger, then it's time to act, whether the problem is widely known or acknowledged by your employees, your customers or the media. If handled well, a crisis response can actually enhance reputation and spur some needed dialogue and change.

Tim Hortons (see Brand Note below) has found first hand how quickly things can go south. An employee firing became national news and had over 488 online posting. Two weeks after this incident, a good Samaritan bought breakfast for a pregnant homeless woman at a Tim Hortons – then was scolded by a restaurant employee unhappy that the homeless woman stayed in the restaurant to eat. This story was the next in a line of negative media for Tim Hortons.

It seems that the media is ready and eager to report the next Tim Hortons crisis. All it takes is a disgruntled customer or employee to voice their concerns online or directly to the media.

Almost 26 years ago, in a space of three days beginning Sept. 29, 1982, seven people who took cyanide-laced Tylenol died. This event triggered a national scare that prompted people to throw medicine away and stores nationwide to pull Tylenol from their shelves. Today, every time you open a bottle or package (of medicine, food or drink) there is a tamper proof lid or seal because of this highly publicized Tylenol crisis. Johnson & Johnson, owner of the Tylenol brand, was praised by the media at the time for its handling of the incident. While the market share of Tylenol collapsed from 35% to 8%, it rebounded in less than a year, a move credited to J&J's prompt and aggressive reaction. They didn’t hesitate or waffle. They saw the urgency to respond quickly and they did.

While in 1994, Intel’s Pentium microprocessor chip was discovered to incorrectly divide certain floating-point numbers. This was a case of ignore it and it will go away. Not so, it quickly became a media crisis that Intel had to handle but again they took the approach that it wasn’t a major issue (they had no intent of replacing the chip). Media press continued and IBM, one of their largest customers, responded by stopping the shipment of computer’s containing the Intel Pentium chip. Eventually, Intel replaced the chip but only after the damage had been done to the company’s reputation and ultimately to the brand.

The most important element to protecting a brand under crisis is to have a proactive plan. You should anticipate a number of scenarios such as: employee misconduct, product liability/misuse, manufacturing or design mistakes, accidents, or a simple community/media misunderstanding. Unprepared organizations flounder under the stress of the immediate need to communicate internally and externally. Their struggle can be interpreted as hiding and perceived as admitting guilt. How you eventually respond should be guided by the brand’s values.

Key elements in building a crisis communications plan:

- Define who is responsible for what during a crisis
- Identify key spokespeople (the more senior the bigger the issue – ultimately the CEO)
- Develop rules of how information is released
- Develop specific steps of action to correct/fix the problem, mistake or mishap
- Provide background information on specifics
- Execute clear communications tactics for employees, customers, stakeholders and media
- Be transparent; give the facts, admit your mistake and apologize
- Communicate, communicate, communicate

JetBlue, a low fare airline suffered a major brand crisis last year after an ice storm hit the Eastern United States and the airline failed to properly respond due to a communications meltdown. Nine planes sat on New York’s JFK tarmac for six hours or more. Nearly a quarter of its flights had to be canceled, even days later and service to 11 cities was shutdown entirely. The result was a consumer revolt, media frenzy and a stock collapse.

Immediately after the incident The JetBlue posted a video clip on ‘You Tube.’ where the CEO, addressing key stakeholders. Here is what he said.

Rebuilding reputation is important to rebuilding the brand. What JetBlue did was have the CEO apologize then designed a crisis communications plan to avoid or quickly address the issue and any further crisis’ on the horizon. One of the first things they did was launch a customer bill of rights that promised to compensate customers for delays. Respecting customer’s time, what a novel idea! I wish more airlines would do this.

Make sure you communications are sincere and meaningful. Sending out a news release with sorry doesn’t cut it. Syncrude Canada Ltd., who operates the largest oil sands mine in the world, recently cooked in hot water when 500 ducks died in the toxic sludge of an oil sands tailings pond. There solution: print a full page newspaper ad with an apology. Syncrude says it's committed to making sure such a "sad event" doesn't happen again. I’m sorry, but this type of tactic doesn’t come across as sincere or believable. They should have saved their advertising money and spent the time on a clear action plan. While advertising is good at getting messages out quickly, advertising can’t build credibility.

The fortunate thing for most brands is customers have short memories. In most cases, things will go back to normal unless your company was Enron or WorldCom.

Tim Hortons – A nice Canadian image

When my son was asked in school what makes Canada different from other countries he said “Tim Hortons.” I guess, to many Canadians, Tim’s is one of the brands that reflect our cultural roots. Their coffee has a clean mellow taste that is identifiable with many people who just want a simple cup of coffee without any attitude. No surprise, Tim Hortons was build by a professional hockey defenseman Tim Horton who played in the National Hockey League for 24 seasons until his death in a car accident. His business partner, Ron Joyce, a former Hamilton police constable, continued to build the business to over 2,700 outlets across Canada. The Tim Hortons experience is friendly and down to earth, operated by everyday Canadians and provides good, straightforward coffee with no foreign words thrown in. Tim Hortons epitomize the Canada culture, wholesome, plain and not flashy. Just ask for a double, double.

Score - 94

BABOAA (Building a Brand on an Acronym)

We are all surround by acronyms and meaningless letters. Every business and industry has its acronyms and initials. Today, we all need a decoder ring to make sense of all the abbreviations and acronyms. Actually, there is a website Acronym Finder dedicated to decoding acronyms and abbreviations with more than 4 million definitions. We don’t even notice how many initials and acronyms we use in a day like, 24/7, WWW, LOL, TBD, ASAP, FYI, ROI, FAQ and SOL, to name a few.

After Y2K and the DotCom bubble there seem to be a trend for companies to move towards acronyms and initials to reinvent themselves, such as: The Hudson Bay Company (HBC), The Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), British Petroleum (BP) and Bank of Montreal (BMO).

Some did this to expand into new markets where English was not the primary language or to remove words that made the company seem too regional, old and not global.

There have also been brands that have had a long life as initials such as: GE, IBM, HP, BMW, UPS, SAP, AT&T, H&M, MSN and VW, to name a few. IKEA is an interesting acronym that was made up from the founder’s initials I.K. (Ingvar Kamprad). The E came from the farm where he grew up (Elmtaryd), and the A from his home county (Agunnaryd in Sweden).

The charm of initials and acronyms are their simplicity. There is no need to memorize several words, especially if they are long and difficult to pronounce (especially German words). They can easily be communicated in many languages, cultures and countries. Graphically, initials and acronyms can create a strong design mark that can also convey emotional dynamics and can be legally protected.

The main problem is they mean nothing upfront. Remember your first day in a new company – all those nonsensical abbreviations…all just a scramble of letters. Over time, you had to load each with meaning and build a mind library of what each letter represented if you could actually remember the literal words.

Small and medium size companies can’t afford the time and money to build a brand from initials and acronyms, unless the initial or acronym is very unique and memorable.

However, there is a way to cheat by using the initials/acronym as a design mark with the words that represent the initials. Consulting firms like law, advertising, architectural, where the people are the differentiating USP tend to use the founders names as the brand. For survive purposes, they must abbreviate the brand name to simple letters or acronyms to help the customer. Just make sure the final initials/acronym does not spell words you couldn’t say in front of your mother. But then are are those that want to push the limit like the popular FCUK which stands for “French Connection UK” a trendy clothing store.

Today, people automatically gravitate to simple initials and acronyms to save their typing thumbs. Many companies have also abbreviated their company names to have more memorable URL addresses that can be easily typed.

The WWW, emails, chat rooms and text messaging has created a new abbreviated language and with that new brand names. BB (Bye Bye).

Apple – iAmazing

This is a brilliant, ever changing brand with layers and layers of complexity. I love this brand and I love my iPod & iTunes. It’s universal in its simple, clean and approachable design (the electronic version of IKEA but with more elegance). In Canada and around the world, enthusiastic customers lined up at stores to purchase their first iPhone 3G last Friday. Media outlets were just as excited and covered the big day with images and stories of excited customers eager to spend their money. You can’t buy this type of brand hype. This is a brand that is big and bold and in your face. Apple is a keeper in any brand cellar.

Score - 98

Does the act of branding matter?

Probably not.

Does that answer surprise you? Did you expect someone devoted to branding to say these words?

If your brand is religiously-consistent in its execution and brand values, it should be running itself. No action required. Live up to the hype and consumers will respect that.

I find most company’s who spend wads of cash on brand studies and consultants primarily do so to fix a problem. Something happened to deviate from the original brand promise or values. Someone at the company introduced a new positioning, changed the product over time or added a new line extension without understanding the dynamics of the consumer’s relationship. Some company’s make changes because they can, or better yet, because they are bored with the same old. There isn’t anything wrong with updating a brand to make it relevant and current, but don’t change it unless the customer gives you permission.

Remember, the brand lives in the customer’s mind. It’s their relationship with your company or product(s). Keep doing what you’ve been successful doing and the brand will continue to grow – understanding if the product or service is continuing to fulfill a need.

But if you need to change (technology, competitive realities, boss tells you to) you must understand the covenant bond between your brand and the customer. Otherwise you might be better off starting a completely new product brand or company to avoid confusion. You also want to position the new idea as something first in the consumer’s mind; which is hard to do when transferring from an existing brand. Many companies try to transfer heavily-invested brand equity to a new product, only to watch it fail. The problem: as consumers, we associate a brand in our mind file as a simple word, term or value so it can be easily retrieved for future reference. As change may be an easy and exciting option to execute for a company, the consumer’s mind file might find the change confusing, difficult and a downright break-up to the relationship.

Some brand examples:

Xerox

The Xerox brand became synonymous with photocopying. People would say they were “Xeroxing a copy.” Eventually photocopying was replaced by the internet. The company has been trying for years to shift to the document company. I don’t know how successful they have made the transition over the last 15 years in changing the mind file.

Kodak

George Eastman coined the slogan "you press the button, we do the rest," in marketing the first simple film camera in 1888. In so doing, he made a cumbersome and complicated process easy to use and accessible to nearly everyone. Since that time, technology has abandoned the complicated film process to digital that is everywhere. Today, Kodak is trying to find there new brand positioning. Like Xerox, they are trying to go broad and less focused not necessarily an easy way to get into the mind file.

Harley-Davidson

In 1920 Harley-Davidson Motorcycles was the largest motorcycle manufacture. Then in the 1970’s it was the vehicle of choice for the Hells Angels and unsavory law breakers. Today, its retro image has tapped into a new market of nostalgic, older and wealthier consumers reliving their youth. This would not be possible if the brand didn’t stay true to it roots and to its original mind file.

General Motors – Too Big for Its Self

GM, the world’s largest automaker with sales of over $178 billion (5th largest company in the world) is facing a critical point in its evolution. The question is can it evolve quick enough to respond to the economic realties today and into the future? The GM brand has always had the image of the Big Car Company – the Buick, the Cadillac and most recently the mammoth Hummer. The European and the Asian automakers always started small and build up to reach the American market. GM always started big and slowly worked its way down to the mid-size. The problem today is big means unsustainable from both an economic and environmental perspective. If this were a wine I would drink it today with fear that tomorrow it could be vinegar. It will be difficult to shift GM’s brand values to new market realities but if it connects with its changing consumer it will succeed. A company of this stature understands its core brand values. I hope.

Score - 82

Building a Brand on Saving the World

Building a brand on opposing destructive practices or human rights abuses is very noble and good for business. The immediate result is identifying your brand with those with the same viewpoint. Generally, social causes are highly charged with polarized viewpoints like the topic of abortion. So you will immediately attract a following but you will also repel those with the apposing view. You win some …you loss some.

One of the positive attributes of hanging (another human controversy) your brand with a cause is the public relations that can be generated for your brand. Media isn’t interested in writing about your product but throw in a controversial topic like global warming and animal test and now you have a story. If you align your brand with a well oiled NGO like Greenpeace, you have access to their media and PR expertise. And they know how to engineer a story.

The successful brands that have wrapped themselves around social activism generally have a controversial figurehead who is out spoken and willing to make a social point.
Anita Roddick, founder of The Body Shop is a case in point. She ran many controversial marketing campaigns including working with Greenpeace to help “Save the Whales” then switched to Friends of the Earth following a disagreement with Greenpeace.

Lululemon Athletica, a clothing retailer and manufacture of yoga inspired clothing has taken a less controversial approach focusing on human wellness and environmental awareness. They offer yoga classes to staff and customers and wrap the brand with a public manifesto, code of conduct including specific codes for the workplace (i.e., no child labour) and a vision touting "creating components for people to live longer, healthier, and more fun lives". This high ethical standard got them into some hot water last year when The New York Times reported their seaweed based Vitasea fabric was no different than cotton. Lululemon subsequently removed all health claims from its seaweed based products.

Social conscious branding requires a passion beyond just building a superior product it is about standing-up against a social atrocity. It will also redirect energies away from the core business. The more relevant the cause is to what your brand represents the stronger the relationship. For example, The Body Shops involvement with “Save the Whales” is a harder concept to tie to natural beauty products than banning the use of animal testing in cosmetics. The Lululemon focus on health-consciousness also makes perfect sense but the environmental aspect it harder to grasp even if they have reusable shopping bags.

The moral of this story is controversy and passion on a social cause can help sell products and build a unique brand but be ready to attract only like-minded customers and be prepared to handle strong and sometime vocal opposition as you are no longer a private person but a capitalist pig making money of the backs of others.

Who Owns a Brand?

Is this a trick question? It shouldn’t be. Well, maybe it is. The answer should of course be the customer. It’s the experience they have with the brand. It’s their relationship and perception. As a marketer, we must protect the brand and understand the brand’s promise so we don’t screw-up the relationship between the customer and the brand. We have to understand the psychological connection, so we can continue to emulate what keeps them coming and hopeful attract new customers along the way.

Which came first the product or the brand? Without a product there is no brand experience. Can you control the experience from the beginning? You can try but many brands are built by loyal and faithful customers. You can create the environment but in many cases you cannot control how they will use the product. Case in point, Coca Cola started as a patent medicine that claimed to cure many diseases, including morphine addiction, dyspepsia, neurasthenia, headache and impotence.

Like relationships, some must change over time. A brand manager must understand where the brand is in a relationship to the shifts of its customer. Daily consumption, versus monthly, versus every few years will also change the dynamics and depth of the relationship (i.e., purchasing a Polar Ice Diamond ring versus a Gillette disposal razor . The size of the perceived risk will also change or affect the brand relationship (i.e., a chocolate bar versus a car).

Betty Crocker, (not a real person but a brand), the revered expert on cake making going back to 1921, stumbled when they changed their cake mix recipe in the 1950’s. Producing a “just add water” product had their loyal following reject it outright. It seemed the brand managers of Betty Crocker didn’t understand the brand experience; by creating the mindless cake mix, the baker’s role in the process was reduced to nothing. The brand insight was that to bake a cake was to show appreciation to one’s family. Making it a mindless effort eliminated the appreciation towards the baker.

Another famous marketing blunder was the Coca Cola Company’s attempt to change Coke’s recipe in 1985. While the new formulation was intensively researched for tastability, no one had asked the customer how they would feel if they took away their original coke, a recipe that had been started in 1886. The backlash and PR nightmare forced Coca Cola Company to reintroduce the classic Coke and rename the new Coke to Coke II.

Never underestimate who owns the brand.

My Personal Branding Update - Month Two

Well, two months have passed – quickly. I am now hooked on this idea of posting my thoughts on a regular basis. I am getting a handful of regular viewers (you might be one of them – thanks again for your interest) with the number of unique visitors progressively growing.

This month I have been spending time trying to build the visibility of my blog with the various directories and search engines. I recently made the top 20 list of Blogged under blogs tag with ‘branding.’ This blog is in 19th position with a “very good” rating (7.5/10). Blogged editors review, rate and categorize blogs so people can find quality blogs.

The CEO and founder of SEOmoz's, know as “Randfish,” has complied a great list of 21 tactics to increase blog traffic. I have followed most of his recommendations. I have also added a Google sitemap to my blog to help the spiders find my site. There is also another great reference source written by Robert Woodhead, called SelfPromotion. SelfPromotion.com provides matter-of-fact information on how you can do a better job of promoting your site.

I have also posted several new articles on two article submission websites:

http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Derrick_Rozdeba

http://www.ideamarketers.com/library/profile.cfm?writerid=49990

At this point in time, I am encouraged but I am still doubtful that this will amount to anything more than it is today.

Thanks again for reading this.

The “wow” factor in branding

The “wow” factor can have huge emotive power and can have immense brand influence. It’s the head turning visual or the sound that stops you in your tracks. It’s intensely impactful and memorable.

A “wow” brand gets noticed for its desirability and its aesthetic value. I am not talking about sensationalism like United Colors of Benetton controversial advertising campaigns of the past. I am talking about the ability of transfixing your desire to want for the sake of wanting. The “wow” brand propels you to want to be a part of something unique and admirable.

The “wow” factor can be created by the product, the front-line customer interaction the product adverting, and public relations. The most successful “wow” comes from all these interactions and touch points to build the brand experience.

Apple’s iPod is an example of the “wow” factor. The white wires that hang from customers ears say it all. There were other mp3 players that were better and cheaper but didn’t have the “wow” factor. All the brand elements worked together to build the “wow.’ Even when you plugged it in and placed the earphones into your ear lobe the word “wow” rung in your head. The “wow” reflects the product sleek design, the product packing and the memorable advertising. When the iPod was launched in 2001 the media described it as “sexy new gadget” and “eye-catching industrial design.”

A great number of products miss the importance of the “wow” and how powerful it can be to move the masses emotionally and physically. The advertising is only the final piece to the puzzle. If you think the advertising is going to create the “wow”, think again. So many brands have died on fantastic creative. As the old saying goes “advertising can get the customer to the door but can’t make them buy.’

The T. Eaton Company of over 90 department stores across Canada is a sad example of trying to reengineer a formidable brand that began in 1867 and became a cornerstone of the country’s cultural landscape. The company began a $100 million store renovation program after numerous years of bad marketing decisions and aggressive competition. During this time they ran an expensive advertising campaign targeted to teenagers and young adults. The theme was “Diversity” and focused with the imagery of “urban punk.’ They all ran high fashion advertising targeted to wealth buyers. In essence, the company advertised its new brand before it fixed up the old stores; so when people walked into the store they didn’t see what the ads portrayed. In 2002 the company closed it doors forever.


The “wow” factor is the glue that creates the emotional connection. It creates the buzz and makes the product relevant. When executed properly, it can create a life-long connection – remember the Macintosh personal computer 1984 TV commercial that ran only once!



Ultimately, emotional connection will come from positive shared experiences with the brand over time.

Published in 1999, Rolf Jensen’s book, The Dream Society, explores the concept of the commercialization of emotions. Jensen says that it will no longer be enough to produce a useful product. He shows that, to be successful, the primary purpose of a product will be its ability to fulfill an emotional need. Those marketers who understand the workings of the dream society will be the ones who create the new products, new markets and new businesses that dominate the world of tomorrow. In this book, Jensen identifies six emerging emotion-based markets:

• Adventure
• Community (togetherness, friendship and love)
• Providing and receiving care
• Self-expression (“Who-Am-I?”)
• Peace of mind
• Standing for something (convictions)

These could be the bases for your “wow” factored brand.