BRANDING AMERICA--THAT'S MY VOTE

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GOD BLESS AMERICA—THE BRAND!

Recently, I attended a conference in New York where Steve Forbes gave one of the keynote presentations. As a publisher, journalist and former presidential candidate, Steve was certainly qualified to give a timely address to over 3000 professional speakers and associates.

I won’t go into the details of his presentation here, but it became very obvious to me that as a country and as a government, the US has done a poor job of branding itself both within our borders and internationally. Some of the facts that Forbes shared about the economy and some of the simplistic ideas that he shared (like a flat tax) seemed so important and so relevant to the problems we are facing in our country (and the world), it’s amazing that I haven’t heard or seen any reference to these key issues from either of our candidates as we get closer to the November elections. In fact, it seems that if you were to ask a typical citizen about what the “brand” (i.e. what differentiates him from the others) of our current candidates, you’d expect to hear that one is “the candidate who happens to be African American” or the other is “the candidate who happens to have been a prisoner of war in Vietnam”. Now, both of these descriptors are important factors but does either of them qualify the person to be President of this country? Not if the brand is defined as the qualities and experience that are the basis for an enduring relationship with your customer (or in this case, the voter.)

So, the analogies of comparing the brand within a company and the brand of our government and country have many similarities. It would do our candidates well to learn a lesson from successful businesses who have dedicated and enthusiastic employees and loyal and supportive customers because they have done a better job of branding than their competitors. First, the President must be the brand champion—leading the country and setting an example of the strong and consistent leadership that brings more consensus within our legislature and develops a positive morale among the people. Brand building is one of the most important forms of leadership in a company and it certainly holds true in leading our nation.

Brand America needs to be consistent with the people and it needs to be communicated to them frequently and honestly. Only by developing trust can our leaders maintain loyalty and support for their programs and policies. Brand America also has to be strong and consistent with our enemies. Just as the strongest brands gain market share from their competition, our country needs to be positioned as a positive alternative to those nations and groups who don’t agree with our policies and way of life. Like a branded product, the way to maintain market share and a preferred position is emphasize our strengths and not try to chase the competition but rather set the example in order to be the preferred choice.

Brand America must also be trusted and respected by our friends and allies. Just as strong brands lead their categories and industries not only among their customers, they also work with their “competitors’ the industry to improve standards and quality through trade organizations and mutual cooperation while maintaining their own identity in the marketplace.

It sounds simplistic, but the principles of branding surely would be a lot more effective than the partisan name calling and accusations that seem to be the only marketing methods that today’s candidates seem to know for their millions of advertising dollars.
Why not build a following by stressing the positives of the candidate and his policies?
Why not build a campaign based on the facts rather than innuendo?
Why not seek changes for the weakness and build our strength from the policy of change—rather than simply promise change for change sake? In other words, why not build—or rebuild—the branding of our country to a well-respected society that fosters positive relationships here and abroad?

Just as it is imperative for an organization to live up to the brand every day in everything for which they are responsible, it is time to set the goal of building the brand of America with its people through strong communication, honest, effective leadership, and consistent, forward-thinking policies.

People want brands they can trust more than ever today. Should we expect anything less from our nation’s leadership?



WHAT’S IN A NAME??
After 10 years of suffering with the worst team in the major leagues, we baseball fans in the Tampa Bay area are enjoying the biggest turnaround in baseball history as the Rays close in on an American East Division Title this week. When the new owners took over a couple years ago they promised a new look and attitude—A NEW BRAND—that started by changing the name from the
Devil Rays (I never even heard of a devil ray around the waters here.) to simply The Rays. Just proof again that if you get the evil connotations out of your brand, you are more likely to be successful. GO RAYS.

CREATING YOUR OWN BRAND PERSONALITY

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Another summer day, another issue of the Wall Street Journal, another dismal headline:
“Vacancies Rise at Retail Centers”.
The ICSC is predicting that 6500 stores will close this year, with vacancies going up to 6.3% for the second quarter. I have to admit that after years of hearing how “over-stored” the country was, perhaps we will lose some of the sameness that has made mall shopping about as exciting as a baseball game these days (even though our Rays are currently in first place!). Frankly, there are a lot of retailers who shouldn’t be around anymore since they provide no real reason for being and--more importantly—no reason for anyone to shop their stores. Just as a forest fire cleans out the woods so that new growth comes back healthier and fuller than before, perhaps our retail scene will cleanse itself of many stores who just take up space in the shopping centers and on downtown streets.

However, despite all the recent depressing news, there are some stores who continue to excel and grow successfully. One chain that continues to break the mold is Coach. I’ve been using them as an excellent example of retail branding at its best for a number of years now, and they continue to differentiate themselves from the other department and specialty retailers in the marketplace. The reason, I believe, is that Coach—with CEO Lew Frankfort leading the way—has maintained its own distinct personality. Let’s face it, there isn’t much news in another leather bag. But Coach somehow keeps its customers—old and new—excited about buying this important accessory even when there is less cash to actually put into the purse or wallet. Having had consistent growth on average of 51% the past five years, Coach has seen its trends slow down to about 11% in net income. A dramatic slowdown, but still impressive when compared to the other stores in our retail world. Despite this, the company continues with aggressive expansion internationally (especially in China) and in its product lines and assortment.

In a time when everyone seems to think that only the discounters are doing well, Coach breaks the mold. Their merchandise is expensive, but they appeal to customers at a number of economic levels with a brand that means quality and prestige, but isn’t out of reach. As Frankfort says, there are many markets, many shopping centers with customers who have never experienced Coach and their goal is to go after these markets with strong branding and new lines that maintain the panache and heritage of the brand.

In short, Coach has maintained its distinctive personality and continues to stress innovation during a time when many stores just try to keep their heads above the waters of recession.

Sure there are others, like Costco, Walmart (yes, Walmart) and Saks who also are maintaining their distinct personality while they continue to grow their brand through effective marketing. I can hear the 50’s singer, Lloyd Price, crooning now the virtues of
“You’ve got Personality—walk, talk, smile with Personality.” It’s all about branding and creating your distinctive place for customers to shop no matter how bad the economy may be.

Making it MY STORE make it MY BRAND

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Going Local. What a Novel Idea?

So, after facing a 2% overall sales decline last year, Macy’s has decided that all customers are not the same. Gee, I thought the same people shopped Herald Square as those who shop Dadeland in Miami or Fashion Square in Santa Monica??? There’s no doubt that Macy’s was--and is--one of the great Brands in retail. Its history and fame are unlike any other department store chain except it’s sister store Bloomingdales. The move to consolidate all of the department store brands by Federated a few years ago made perfect sense from not only the CFO’s point of view, but also for many customers as well. The efficiencies of marketing one brand nationwide with a singular voice and message promised to bring about some of the best marketing in the industry.

Now, we hear that it isn’t working and that a cookie cutter doesn’t fit on State Street in Chicago the same way as on Nicollet Mall in Minneapolis. Nothing new here. Reminds me of my old dress buying days at Hudson’s many moons ago. We knew back then that the key to success was to adjust our inventories and promotions from one branch to another, knowing that the customers who shopped downtown were a lot different than those who shopped at Northland or Pontiac Mall. In their heyday, the key to the success of the department store was their local personality and community commitment. Shopping at the department store was an experience not just a purchase trip. The promotions were unique to the market and the merchandise suited not just the geography but also the psyche of the local citizens. Sears and Penney’s were there, too, but it was the department store that knew its market, its customers and was a special place to shop.

With all of the consolidations in the past couple decades the disappearance of this “specialness” coincides with the poor performance of department stores compared to the discounters and the big box specialty chains. The overstocked racks of apparel topped by too many 75% off clearance signs and the mandatory Liz or Ralph shops, have, in fact, made these stores boring and no longer part of our lives. The brands have disappeared and so have the sales.

Why this is such a mystery that Terry Lundgren and other category CEO’s are just realizing amazes me. The importance of adjusting to the local market (meaning the individual store’s market area) has been identified for years. Walgreen’s realized this a couple decades ago when they made a commitment to developing the systems necessary to be able to adjust inventories by item and sku to meet the needs of the local (for drug stores that may be less than a mile around the store) marketplace. What sells in a downtown Chicago store may not sell as well at a beach store in Clearwater and vice versa. If you have what most of the customers want, you’ll sell more of it (even at regular prices) more often. Keeping the store and operations staff loyal and consistent is another key to why this chain continues to outperform the category by more than double the sales per store. Sure, they still are aggressive weekly sale advertisers, but it’s the every day sales that make a difference to customers who are in the store a few times a week.

I believe the department stores should take a lesson from our friends from Deerfield and also a lesson from their local predecessors who dominated their markets years ago.
 Make the stores special, make the events special, and I think the customers will return. Special is not having the Trumps, Stewarts, or P Diddy’s as spokespersons either.
 Make the message relevant and timely to the customers in each market.
 Make the store My Store and re-develop the relationships that are necessary for this category to survive.
That’s the key to branding today---just like always.

SPEAKING OF RELATIONSHIPS
Strong customer relationships don’t happen by accident. It takes an effective CRM program and a commitment to reaching your target more effectively. To learn how to do this, don’t forget the annual CRMC conference in Chicago on June 11-13 at the Westin River North Hotel. I have reviewed the program and it looks like one of the best since Fred Newell started this important opportunity 14 years ago.
Just go to www.loyalty.vg to learn more
or go to http://www.loyalty.vg/conferences/CRMC2008/CRMC2008_agenda.aspx to view the program.