Seven Ways To Generate Health Brand Energy Through Added Value

I created this client presentation following a discussion about how to provide added value to consumers who are worried about their future and who are evaluating their purchases with great discretion (if they're purchasing at all). Implicit to being able to provide added value to consumers is understanding how they feel, how they define "value" and how they're making decisions. 

Not one of the seven examples that follows reflects a better feature-driven mousetrap. Rather, all of them provide a platform for enriching people's lives by understanding where they're headed, and then providing better experiences, new relationships and new ways of interacting. I've included examples from both inside and outside health and healthy lifestyles, as big insights and ideas typically come from outside the client category being studied.

1. Great Brand Experience - which inspires trust, builds loyalty and promotes word-of-mouth (e.g. J&J's Baby.com, Amazon, Zappos) 

2. Tried & True Comfort - the "authentic" foods and household products that we grew up with and that remind us of safety, warmth and joy (e.g. A&H Baking Soda, Kraft Mac N' Cheese, J&J Baby Shampoo)

3. Tying To A Cause - purchasing a product to support a cause people care about (e.g. Yoplait Pink Labels, Green Works and Sierra Club)

4. Reinforcement - through the brand, consumers can track their progress (e.g. myAlliplan, Nike + iPod)

5. Community - where consumers actively participate in co-creating brand value (e.g. digg, patientslikeme, Wikipedia)

6. Ongoing Dividends -  where the initial outlay provides sustainable, meaningful and relevant gains (e.g. Prius, Solar Energy)

7. Personalized Expression - where the brand serves as a blank canvas for personal expression (e.g. My M&M's, Build My Mini)

Branding and marketing to all five senses

Think of "sensory branding" for health and healthy lifestyle brands.

Sensory branding leverages all five senses to make deeper connections with consumers by baking sight, sound, smell, taste and touch into the brand experience. These elements add texture to help create authentic, distinctive, compelling and enduring brand stories that create competitive edge.

It's based on studies that link the five senses with human memory and emotion, and can greatly enhance one's engagement with a brand (both offline and online). It also increases the likelihood of advocacy, and very possibly, stronger business results. In a rational world of business, connecting at an emotional level is the key, and often missing ingredient, to capturing hearts and building lasting connections.

All marketers can benefit from "sense-surround" branding and marketing. Almost anything you design, manufacture, provide or do; anything that customers can see, hear, touch, taste or smell are candidates. Consider these examples:

• sight, e.g. the emotional associations of Tiffany's blue box, J&J's Baby Shampoo bottle and the "Apple."
• sound, e.g. the startup tones that distinguish Microsoft and Apple computers, the distinctive sound of a Harley engine and the crunch of a Nestle Crunch Bar.
• smell, e.g. Ben Gay's unique love it or hate it smell, the scented towels fliers receive on Singapore Airlines and the scent of an Abercrombie & Fitch store (replicated in their mail-order product).
• taste, e.g. the distinctiveness of Starbucks, Dr. Pepper and the refreshingly fizzy Orangina.
• touch, e.g. the unique and one and only shape of the Coke bottle, the feel of an iPod and Simplehuman's household "tools for efficient living."

And how about delivering sensory experiences online. While it may not be possible to physically evoke the senses, you can appeal in a virtual way. Consider:

• sight, e.g. Tiffany's home page (flooded with its blue box).
• sound, e.g. BMW's 7-Series HD experience, and the incredible streaming video and audio documentaries on factualtv.com.
• smell, e.g. though virtual, you can almost smell Lush's products on their site.
• taste, e.g. while you can't drink a screensaver, it's as good as it gets with this Sam Adams download.
• touch, not in the physical sense, but through the ability to provide feedback, contribute content, play games.

To succeed with a sensory strategy:

• beyond demographics, build lifestyle profiles of your customer segments
• understand the core equity of your brand
• identify its true "sense-surround" potential
• align this opportunity with customers desired emotions and feelings
• identify the messages you want to send
• determine the channels and the tools you plan to use and the senses you intend to tap into, with each element of your brand integral to the eventual show

Given the bombardment of 2-D advertising into every corner of our lives, it's effectiveness and return on marketing expenditure sliding – the ability to connect in more emotive and memorable ways holds great meaning for consumers and marketers. Particularly in this economic environment, any emotional edge that you can provide is important - and lasting.

 

The parallels of fitness goals and healthy brand goals

Beyond the health benefits of this article (14 ways to make your fitness goals stick) to those who read this post, I found myself thinking about the parallels of trying to achieve personal fitness goals with that of trying to achieve brand fitness goals. For instance:

1. Tip #1 is Dig Deep -- which is the only way to reveal your brand's inner passions, strengths and aspirations. Unless you dig from the core, it's impossible to identify the sweet spot of what truly makes your brand different and relevant with what consumers are hungry for; and how you alone satisfy their desires.

2. Tip #2 is Make An Impact -- "for a powerful shot of inspiration, place messages where you'll see them right before a workout." Not much different from wanting to engage with audiences in ways the make deep and lasting connections. It's the difference between engaging them in ways that they want, value and enjoy -- versus interrupting them with traditional one-way tell and sell communications.

3. Tip #3 is Check Your Expectations -- "people get discouraged when they don't see a better body right away." As many organizational/non-marketing leaders get discouraged when brand initiatives don't yield results right away. As we tell our clients -- branding is a journey, not a destination. It takes time, patience, passion and consistency before you can expect to see results. But in the long run, those results pay both relationship and financial rewards.

4. Tip #9 is Know What You Want -- "Make the most of the gym by focusing on building what you want most, such as step classes, a pool or nutrition services." So too should client and agency agree to what clients want most, by identifying in advance their desired the measures of success - whether image or impact, formal or informal, internal or external.

5. Tip #11 is Get Support --"The more support you get early on, the better your chances for long-term success." Couldn't be any more appropriate to describe one of the requisites for brand-building success, which must start from the inside-out. Unless leadership walks the talk, you have no chance of ever realizing your full potential. Because if leadership isn't demonstrating their commitment through their actions, there's no way that rank and file will ever believe that the effort is that important to the organization.

Keeping health and healthy lifestyle branding and marketing simple

As health and healthy lifestyle brand owners, you should be doing what you can to reduce consumers' stress levels. In a marketplace filled with too much choice (both product and media), too much information (often conflicting) and too much similarity, simpler is smarter. Today, complexity requires simplicity.

From a consumer perspective, we tend to shut down when faced with too many choices. We say we want choice, but not too much. Dr. Susan Broniaczyk, from University of Texas states in her paper “the deleterious effects of living in consumer hyperchoice", when consumers face a large selection of items, they have to process a large amount of information, which can cause problems. People worry so much about buying the wrong item that they may opt out of the whole arduous decision-making process by not buying anything at all. Or, when they do buy something, foregone options linger in memory, causing post-purchase regret.

For brand owners, adapting a mantra of simplicity (of being all about your customers) translates to:

• Your brands ability to make people feel better and contribute to making their lives better. Which starts by making it simple for them to choose what they want (e.g. Amazon).

• A simple and delightful experience (in a world where many are not). Making airline reservations and trying to rent a car typically are not. Zappos and Pret A Manger are.

• The ability to put resources behind brands that will generate the strongest results. Which goes back to making it simpler for people to navigate your offerings. By paring back your portfolio to those brands that are most on trend and that represent the lions share of current and potential future revenues and reputation, you're not only taking costs out of the system, but you have more horsepower to put behind those brands.

Brand experience lessons for healthcare learned from a sandwich shop

Pret A Manger is a sandwich shop in NY. I hadn't been to one since traveling with friends in London years ago. I was so impressed with the company, when I returned from that trip, I called the company to let them know.

Pret offers those who are on-the-go a comfortable, relaxing and kind of surprising experience. It's cozy, with a nice, simple assortment of self-select, fresh (pretty creative) sandwiches, wraps, soups, salads and desserts - all made with natural ingredients. And to top it all off, the people who work there are happy and personable.

I know Pret's only a sandwich shop, but I can't help but think that it often comes down to the basics, 

"warm environments, inviting presentation, friendly faces, the opportunity to engage." 

Whether a sandwich shop, a waiting room in the hospital or a retail shopping experience. Really not to much to ask.

What's happening to the Starbucks brand?

When times are tough, people hold on to those small vices that make them feel like things are still okay. Yet Starbuck's Q4 profits plummeted. Though restructuring charges and other costs associated with their turnaround plan are built into the numbers, this result causes one to consider what's really going on.

Are people trading off for Dunkin? Are they going through the McD's drive through on their way to work (and enjoying a much better McD's cup of coffee)? Has WaWa, or even the local deli, become a much more attractive and far less costly stop. Ultimately, the answer is yes. Because Starbuck's position as a "third-place" has lost some traction.

So what's happened? Seems that a third-place given these troubling times would be just what people are yearning for. A place of refuge - to get away from the maddening world. And a whole lot less expensive than cozying up to the bar. But now it's only come down to the coffee. What's led to the watering down of the Starbuck's experience?

Some question whether the Starbucks brand has lost its soul, its special place as a local neighborhood-feeling destination. I think the answer is yes. And I think the solution is going back to what made it so different and special in the first place – a warm and inviting experiential brand that just happens to serve coffee.

Branding Lessons From The Political Front

Today's the day. Finally. As of Wednesday, no campaign ads, emails, mobile texts.

So what are some lessons healthcare and healthy lifestyle brands can take away from the battle of the last two political brands standing?

Ride the wave. Obama was handed on a silver platter an obvious case for change. At the same time, many deemed the competitive Republican brand to be lagging behind the times. Obama's team did a tremendous job of staying on point and seizing the moment.

Own a word (as Al Reis pointed out years ago, it's a powerful strategy). Obama scripted "Change" into his vocabulary from day one. It was his brand theme. And it was ubiquitous. McCain began as the "Experience" candidate. He then co-opted "Change" and tried to make it his own. Before he became the "Maverick." Witness the results.

Keep it simple. Like "America is ready for Change." Doesn't get much better than this.

It's rarely about "functional" features and benefits. Evidence the talk about wardrobe spend, multiple (but too numerous to remember) homes, the demeanor of a presidential-looking candidate, and the demeanor of someone who is not. It's rarely about rational arguments, but rather how we make people feel while they're in our presence.

Execute Brilliantly. One candidate never waivered. Was consistent in his style and tone. Brilliant in his execution from start to finish. The other was not.

Relevance alone doesn't win the day. But "different" and relevant will. Both candidates were relevant. But one was also different. Only one provoked a response of "that's what I'm hungry for."

Build A Community of Evangelists. Witness the thousands of people attending Obama rally's. The thousands of first-time volunteers. The tremendous use of social media to generate conversations, collaboration and community. Beyond their war chest of funds, Obama's team was so much more in tune with their consumers motivations, expectations and practices.

Healthcare and Healthy Lifestyle Brands, Keep it Real. Simple. Branding

In a world filled with too much of everything (and just as much similarity), the ongoing process of building clear, valued and sustained differentiation through branding is a crucial step to forging relationships and growing business.

So how can your healthcare or healthy lifestyle brand stand out and stand apart? By aligning your organization/services or product around the promise of your brand. Ensuring that all you do from selling your brand's story inside, to building your product, service, market, channel, pricing, customer service and communications strategies reinforce why you're the best choice for consumers. And this is about REAL. SIMPLE. BRANDING:

REAL.
I remember calling AOL. I was told via IVR that "we've doubled our number of customer service representatives to deliver a higher standard of customer service. Please hold and the next representative will be with you shortly. Your waiting time is approximately nine minutes." That's not real.

SIMPLE.
Stand for something. One thing. Be the best at safety, performance, whitening, speed, durability, magic, luxury. Put a stake in the ground and declare your one thing to the world. Remember Billy Crystal's line in City Slickers. He tells his riding mates that life's about one thing. Well, the same holds true for branding.

BRANDING.
Like any verb, connotes action. Practicing the REAL and SIMPLE of above. Managing the multiple (off line and on line) interactions that people have with your brand each day; and that either enhance or detract from your desired perceptions. Remember that whether you're driving or not, your indelible mark is being stamped into consumers minds! It's an imprint that's hard to erase, so create it on your terms.

The Power of Brand Story

Was at dinner with a client the other night, and we ventured into a conversation about our agency's ultimate value. We were considering that it might be our ability to craft and tell their brand stories – in authentic, simple and remarkable ways.

A well-crafted story

• raises awareness
• changes perceptions
• reinforces existing relationships
• creates new ones
• generates sales

…and (should) inspire and connect all employees whose consistent delivery of the story is critical to ultimate business success.

Is your brand strong enough

Do you ever take time during the day to ask yourself a very simple question: is our brand strong enough to be the one that customers will want to do business with next year? Or 2-3 years down the road? 

Why do customers seek out your brand? What do they expect to see from you; to gain from you? And where do they think/do you think you really shine? There are many other questions like these, and they're important to answer. Because as easy or hard as it is for you to answer them, so too is it for your customers. 

Here are a few ideas for you to ponder as your brand grows and matures. 

• explore your strengths: what do you do best, what do you have the ability to do that you're currently not doing, what should you be doing to build your strengths for the future

• express your strengths: are they "brandable" as unique processes or services; which others can be used to build your image with current and prospective customers

• extend your strengths: how can you leverage your strengths in specific areas where you have little or no experience - through new products and services, with new partners, through new channels.

So, are you strong enough?

The proactive health and healthy lifestyles brand

Healthy brands are proactive. They are enablers. They allow us to be more and to achieve more, than would otherwise be the case. 

Here's a list of the differences between proactive and reactive (soon to become irrelevant) brands. Proactive brands:

- lead with actions versus words

- are coherent rather than consistent

- engage rather than lecture

- transform rather than preserve

- encourage relationships versus individuality   

- are bottom up versus top down

- let us inside versus hiding behind the curtain

- extend beyond their category

- liberate customers versus control them