LeBrandDoctor: the right skill set

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

The right talents for 21st marketing: H.R. industry missing in action

http://www.brandrepublic.com/news/1119423/Unilever-chief-Keith-Weed-brands-adapt-evolution-consumer-selection
Keith is right BUT:

As a critical agent of change/transformation, the selection of the right talents is key; they all say that but nothing changes in the talent acquisition PROCESS & M.O.: headhunters are less & less focused on quality, affinity & long term interest of their clients, they hardly manage reading and understanding the specifics of the assets they are supposed to manage. And HR departments -even at Unilever- don't have the skills, time nor power to do better...
Until the talents that are integrated (both digital & "old media") as well as having the right balance between art & science are recognized & nurtured by a truly professional H.R.industry, marketing will not achieve this so needed revolution that Keith is desribing..

Ad landscape: worst & best

Office Depot "Depot time" campaign /March 2012

On substance/strategy: the succesfull Staples category leader embodies Convenience & Easy...so why on earth would OD come up with such a flat, undifferentiating & unrealistic "saving time" USP ? Try going to a store and you'll see that real life brand experince doesn't deliver anywhere near that promise: helpless /clueless staff, bad layout & shelves organization, pathetic assortment, Soviet style signage...At least the old "taking care of Business" had the "care" in it , which is a REAL customer centric , added value promise...why not capitalize on this rich brand attribution & equity and revive it in current times cloths instead ? The best they found as a call to action is generic reference to the website (wow, OD even has a website, incredible !!!) I say MISS for this campaign on substantial brand building and I doubt that conversion/revenue growth will last after the huge Media campaign subsides...Hardly a Febreeze spray or cheap nail polish in terms of branding rather than a real fitness transformation...

On style/execution: radio spots have already proven irritating to most consumers in pre-test ; overkill GRP distribution & carpet bombing mediaplanning, Tony Stewart is not really the most energetic/inspiring figure for small business owners, the Depot time voice is an old tired voice who even stutters on "Ppp"rinters.."; the TV ads play better on various customer /staff interactions, good in theory but execution looks artificial, predictable & humourless... all in all a flat, unremarkable campaign execution.

Progressive insurance "Flo campign"/April 2012

Progressive has been trying to emerge as a cool & fresh insurance brand for the past 4 years, esp. through the creation of The Flo. character. In a very competitive industry where strong brands constanly develop around iconic characters (The cute Geico Gekko, Charlie Brown’s Metlife, All State deep voice African-American actor etc…, Flo has quickly become a central, identifiable mainstream, accessible face of Progressive, anchoring the brand in price competitiveness messaging but with a no-fluff, cool cat specialist touch…

If that engaging character raised the brand awareness, image , engagement & social media factors , I wonder if it really drove customer acquisition rates higher and in a sustainable way: like in most uber competitive categories, brands continuously trade switching customers (not necessarily the most profitable one by the way…) by spending a lot in “acquisition” without the retention/loyalty rate needed to justify a decent ROI in the end... It also create an influx of new customers who don’t necessarily get the best customer experience or the most appropriate /profitable offers, not necessarily yielding the best service cost/revenue ratio. Redistribution of customer segments does not necessarily equate tomarketing success when it comes to sticking around, squeezing the most lifetime value out of each customer.In other terms, does the Flo campaign really attract & retain the most desirable Insurance customers…?

At any rate, the campaign, 4 years after its launch, also seems to come out of inspiration as Flo’s ads fall into gadgetry spins and start blurring all together whilst the real specific competitive advantages attached to real innovative offers such as Name your price or Snapshot have not been really developed & properly exposed.

The inherently risk adverse insurance industry is not really the most innovative and still needs soul searching when it comes to marketing planning beyond price or image driven gadgetry however fun it is…Rich , user friendly integrated planning/budget tools , pricing calculators, claim registering & tracking on easily available online or on-the-go devices are the real areas of Innovation that 21st century insurance customers are still missing....Maybe Progressive as a real leader should be as focused on that than on cool cosmetic branding...?