MV newsletter - June July 2005

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It has been a commonly held theory that promotions can damage a brand by focusing the customer on the price elements of the package, and away from quality.

Too many price-cutting promotions lower the price umbrella for everyone, and it is the job of the market leader to hold it high.

On the other hand, some promotions can improve brand loyalty if they offer brand-appropriate promotions, and associate your brand with an even more attractive brand or proposition.

A few years ago, P&G decided to tackle this issue head-on. They cut promotions and retailer support, slashed their promotional logistics costs, and put the money into above-the-line advertising.

The theory was that they could offset market share loss with reduced marketing costs and premium pricing. They probably achieved all three elements of this strategy.

Are they happy with the results? They command the same profits with less work, and have staked a clear position in the market place as a pure brand. It is a testosterone thing in their ongoing negotiations with the supermarkets.

Here is the Zymans Institute view, which is rather more negative in its judgment of the P&G strategy.

In the best possible taste...........

What does the expression Burn Baby Burn mean to you?

Could it recall the US civil rights movements of the 60s, or a CD from The Trammps, Stud Cole, or Ash, or a culinary sauce to dollop over your meat?

Well, it could be all three, and the first and third thoughts are related because a Black Panther foundation has just applied for the phrase as a trademark for their A Taste of the Sixties Revolutionary Hot Sauce.

Selling out or cashing in? Not a bit of it: "We're trying to turn the tide of violence and educate young people through our work." It is a tall order for a bottle of sauce, but I think that this one has just the right taste for abolishing racial discrimination, promoting world peace, and of course making hunger history.

Betcha it improves those Freedom Fires (sorry, meant Fries) too.

Branding Britain for the Olympics.............

No world event can pass by without somebody drawing a lesson from it for whatever business discipline they are flogging.

So was the successful British bid to host the Olympics in 2012 testimony to the powers of Six Sigma, selling skills, business ethics, or branding?

The answer, naturally, is branding, or that is at last what the brand consultancy One think.

And, surprisingly, they put up a rather good case.

Central to their thesis is that all the other countries/cities worked hard to sell themselves and their technical capabilities, whereas Britain/London was pitched on an emotional level, playing to the Olympic ideals shared by the judges. One argue that you should never try to sell your products/services to the customer; you should sell your customer to your customer, i.e. show customers that your hearts beat as one, and they will then sell your products to themselves.

One go on to suggest that the British bid was a truly branded campaign because the team paid attention to all the critical details. It profiled all the judges and knew where they were coming from. It made sure all the numbers added up. It recruited high profile mouthpieces to deliver a consistent message. And it had some luck - Live 8.

Anyway, if you would like to read the full article, please e-mail enquiries@mudvalley.co.uk with “Olympics” in the Subject line and we will send it to you.

• Belgium tel: +32 (0)2 747 0945
• France tel: +33 (0)1 76 63 74 09
• UK tel: +44 (0)208 099 7385

or by e-mail at enquiries@mudvalley.co.uk.

© 2005, Mud Valley ™ brand marketing community.

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