PR and Marketing blogs: December 2013

Wednesday 18 December 2013

Corporate slogans and affectionate chickens

Love ‘em or hate’ em, there’s no getting away from corporate slogans. They’re about connecting people and because you’re worth it, and that know how is just what the doctor ordered.

You may have known that the first three belong to Nokia , L’Oreal, and Canon. The last, proving that corporate slogans don’t always last forever, was from a well-known cigarette manufacturer.

They’re ubiquitous across all advertising media, constantly demanding our attention, and all intended to project a sense of corporate identity and brand value.

Some of course are better than others, and the very best have become phrases in their own right, outgrowing the brand they were advertising. For example, the customer is always right, was a slogan for retailer Selfridges at the start of the 20^th century; diamonds are forever, for the De Beers mining company in the 1940s.

In other words, corporate slogans must be memorable and say, or infer, something about the company or its products. That means having a clear idea of what the company stands for, and how customers see the brand.

Developing a corporate slogan needn’t be a difficult process, and nor should it just be for larger companies. At their very best, slogans can help to differentiate a company – personalising it in a way that resonates with customers.

Nor need it involve huge advertising budgets. A corporate slogan can simply be carried on stationary, signage, or on corporate uniforms or name-badges – a daily reminder to staff, customers and suppliers what the company is about.

They can be aspirational, fun or mysterious, depending on the brand. For example, anytime, anyplace, anywhere – the iconic slogan of the 1970s Martini adverts brought to mind a world of jet-set sophistication.

Some slogans are gender or demographic specific. Calvin Klein’s slogan for one of its perfume brands, between love and madness lies obsession, doesn’t do anything for me – but maybe I’m not the target market.

Slogans are meant to concisely distil the essence of a brand, subliminally linking it with the big idea behind it – a kind of micro mission statement.

It’s where some slogans – for example, it’s the real thing (Coca-Cola) or don’t just book it, Thomas Cook it (Thomas Cook) are on the money. Once in the public domain, they set out a brand proposition that competitors simply can’t copy.

Some slogans are dreamed up to only last for a single marketing campaign. Some last for years.

Others fade away as times change. For example, Ford’s quality is job one became irrelevant as technology and changing build practices allowed all car manufacturers to offer quality. Likewise, for digestion’s sake, smoke Camels, didn’t stand up to medical scrutiny for very long.

Here are some of the better slogans (although you might disagree):

Mazda – Zoom, zoom

Carlsberg – Probably the best lager in the world

McDonalds – I’m lovin’ it

Gillette – The best a man can get

Apple – Think different

BMW – The ultimate driving machine

Audi – Vorsprung durch technik*

New York Times – All the news that’s fit to print

Amex – Don’t leave home without it

Skittles – Taste the rainbow

Avis – We try harder

Honda – The power of dreams

Developing a corporate slogan begins with thinking through what your company stands for, the brand promise you’re selling, and how customers would describe it. It should also examine competitor slogans, if they have one. (You have to define and occupy a differentiated position in the market).

But beware using your fantastic corporate slogan in different languages. It might have consequences that you didn’t anticipate.

For example, Scandinavian vacuum cleaner Electrolux ran a marketing campaign in the USA under the snappy slogan, Nothing sucks like an Electrolux.

Best of all was the US chicken supplier that traded under the slogan it takes a strong man to make a tender chicken. This was translated into Spanish for a marketing campaign, where it became: “It takes an aroused man to make a chicken affectionate.”

Probably not the best corporate slogan in the world but, there again, it was memorable – the first rule of any successful marketing campaign.

*The corporate slogan that we all know, but which baffles many. Literally, it means, advancement through technology.

Charlie Laidlaw is a director of David Gray PR and a partner in Laidlaw Westmacott. We are specialists in national and international PR strategy and delivery. You can contact us at +44 (0) 1620 844736 or Charlie@davidgraypr.com or connect with us on LinkedIn or Facebook.

Monday 16 December 2013

A guide to getting through Christmas Day

Okay, so you’ve opened the presents, but you still have to survive the rest of Christmas Day.

Because, make no mistake, it’s a dangerous time of year. According to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) more than 80,000

citizens end up in A&E over the festive period – some 6,000 on Christmas Day alone.

It’s not just kitchen burns or cutting your finger while peeling the potatoes – or children falling off new bikes. A few specific Christmas horrors are that some 1,000 people are injured every year putting up Christmas decorations, over 300 are injured by Christmas tree lights – and several dozen UK citizens have died over the past 15 years by watering their Christmas tree while the Christmas lights were plugged in.

British hospitals report about four broken arms each year after cracker pulling accidents and some five Britons are injured every Christmas in accidents involving out-of-control Scalextric cars.

More predictably, about eight Britons crack their skulls whilst throwing up into the loo and end up in hospital.

Many Christmas Day accidents happen because of stairs – usually because they’ve been piled with Christmas clutter. The other favorite Christmas hot-spot, most obviously, is the kitchen.

While in there, don’t feel tempted to put the Christmas pudding in the microwave. The combination of fruit, sugar and water can react violently, as a 49-year-old woman found to her cost when her pudding blew up, necessitating hospital treatment (to her, not the Christmas pudding).

“People must realize that they are dealing with a potential explosive when they put puddings in the microwave,” a RoSPA spokesman helpfully observed, after the event.

That doesn't mean, of course, that that we can mitigate against all risk. Some, frankly, can’t be guarded against. Take Aeschylus, for example, the Greek playwright who died in 458 BC when an eagle dropped a tortoise on his head. (The tortoise survived, incidentally).

Remember also that there may be 1,200 chainsaw accidents a year, but over 16,000 of us are injured by our sofas. Socks and tights account for over 10,000 injuries (mainly falling over while putting them on), and vegetables account for more than 13,000 injuries.

If you go out, don’t walk near birdbaths (311 injuries) or wear wellington boots (5,600). Don’t even think about putting on trousers (5,900), don’t be rude to the bread-bin (91) and be very wary of that tin of talcum powder (73).

If you can’t eat, relax in the living room, or wear clothes, don’t make the elementary mistake of thinking that the bathroom is a safe place. There are over 700 sponge and loofah accidents per year – and toilet roll holders, strangely, account for another 300 hospital visits.

All in all, it’s a dangerous time of year. However, from all of us at David Gray PR, do have a happy (and safe!) Christmas.

Thursday 12 December 2013

Thought leadership and a $50 trillion competition

In the spirit of Christmas and as a gesture of goodwill, we're holding a marketing competition with a cash prize of $50 trillion for one lucky winner. No strings, no catches.*

It's a huge(ish) prize because we'd like the marketing and PR community to come up with a better term for one of the most over used and misunderstood terms in the PR and marketing handbook.

Thought leadership. A term that we all think we understand, but interpret in all sorts of different ways.

It's a but like trying to describe an elephant. We all know what it looks like, but it's not easy to define succinctly.

Wikipedia defines a thought leader as "an individual or firm that is recognized as an authority in a specialised field and whose expertise is sought and often rewarded."

A recent article in Forbes magazine described it as “an individual or firm that prospects, clients, referral sources, intermediaries and even competitors recognize as one of the foremost authorities in selected areas of specialization, resulting in its being the go-to individual or organization for said expertise.”

I’m not sure that either definition entirely sums up the complexity of thought leadership because it’s also about cultivating brand and corporate values that, of themselves, are hugely important but which may be largely intangible.

What is central, however, is that thought leaders are not shy to come forward. Whether as companies or individuals, thought leaders engage with their markets, to educate, start discussions, or offer insight –with compelling content that everyone in their markets, including competitors, will want to read.

That means stepping away from the bland product press release, blog or Tweet. It means defining issues in the marketplace on which you can comment – lucidly, provocatively (if need be) but, most of all, cogently. Irrelevance or waffle not allowed.

It’s about engagement with everyone in your markets, and saying things that are useful to them. Things that give them pause for thought. New ideas boldly expressed and well researched. Inspiring or educational content that will lodge in potential customers’ minds: raising profile, creating trust – and nudging them into the sales cycle.

A lot of companies play at thought leadership, and as a result rarely become respected commentators. They make the mistake of writing from a corporate standpoint, rather than from their industry. In a way, thought leadership is therefore communications philanthropy.

It’s about giving valuable insights away for free; promoting you or your company for what it knows, rather than what it does. It should demonstrate an intellectual mastery of the market: a company to be trusted because it understands and is willing to share that understanding. It’s about positioning and corporate value.

My problem with thought leadership is with the term itself. It’s now so used and abused in so many different contexts to have lost its shine. A cliché to be quietly killed off. I think it’s time to come up with a better term.

What’s certain is that the person who comes up with that new term, and manages to achieve widespread business acceptance for it, will be a genuine thought leader.

I’ll cull the best suggestions made on our LinkedIn or Facebook pages before Christmas, post the best of them early in the New Year and (since it’s my $50 trillion) I’ll also pick a winner.
Any takers?

* The prize is offered as a single banknote issued by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, so don’t get too excited.

Friday 6 December 2013

Corporate ethics and business advantage

Companies are in business to make money and increase market share. To achieve that requires competitive advantage and a positive reputation in the market.

That’s not easy to achieve, particularly for SMEs competing against larger companies - not least to create a corporate culture that empowers employees to make it all happen.

Corporate culture is the indefinable “something” that companies rely upon to drive sales and good customer relations, the cornerstones of all business success.

But, as we’ve previously written, corporate culture can be planned for and incorporated into business strategy, helping to define what a company stands for and how it is “doing right” for its employees, customers and the wider community.

One effective way to give voice to corporate culture is to develop and set down a Code of Ethics, providing employees with a context within which they can act honestly and fairly, and removing any ambiguity in their decision-making.

It sounds deceptively simple, but creating a Code of Ethics can be of far-reaching importance, because it helps managers focus attention on what the company is really about, and what risk factors can impact on decisions made – at any level in the company.

Not least, it should clearly set out the ethical values that drive the company, from its relationships with customers, suppliers and employees – and covering everything from sales techniques to accounting practices.

A good Code of Ethics will cover a company’s ethical values and how those values are monitored and periodically reviewed. It should tell everyone, from customers to employees, what the company stands for.

Although primarily a business tool, a Code of Ethics is also a powerful marketing and PR statement, because it articulates how a company does business, and how individual employees conduct their day-to-day activities.

Most Codes start with a clear statement that sets out in the broadest terms what the company expects. For example:

Google

Under the strapline, “Don’t be evil” Google says that it’s about “providing our users unbiased access to information, focusing on their needs and giving them the best products and services that we can. But it’s also about doing the right thing more generally – following the law, acting honorably and treating each other with respect.”

LinkedIn

“Consistent with our core values, LinkedIn employees are expected to act and perform their duties ethically, honestly and with integrity - doing the right thing even when "no one is looking.”

Morgan Stanley

“Putting clients first, doing the right thing, leading with exceptional ideas, and giving back.”

Coca-Cola

Coca-Cola provides one of the clearest statements on why ethical standards are so important:

“We live in an era when public trust and confidence in business are among the lowest levels in history. We at The Coca-Cola Company are fortunate, however, to work for one of the most admired businesses in the world – a reputation that has been enhanced and safeguarded over the years by a rich culture of integrity and ethical conduct. Our business is built on this trust and this reputation.

“It influences how consumers feel about our products, and how shareowners perceive us as an investment. We have seen plenty of examples in recent years of powerful companies with once stalwart reputations tarnished forever by unethical actions of a few people or even just one person. As former Company Board member Warren Buffett once reminded us, “it takes years to build a reputation and only a few seconds to ruin it.”

The above examples from mega-companies can equally be applied to the smallest of enterprises, because every company’s activities impact on employees, suppliers, customers and the communities within which it operates.

However, a Code of Conduct should be more than some fine words on a piece of paper. It needs management leadership and input at all levels to determine what issues are of concern to employees – everything from sales techniques to customer relations.

It should fit easily into a company’s approach to corporate social responsibility and, not least, it should be monitored for compliance, with staff training to ensure that ethical behaviours become simply “how we do business.”

In a fast-paced enterprise, creating those ethical standards and monitoring mechanisms can be time-consuming, and many companies just don’t see the point.

However, as a way to concentrate everybody’s minds on what matters, and to offer a better service than your competitors, creating a Code of Ethics may be the best thing you’ve never quite got around to doing.

Thursday 5 December 2013

A mission statement for the New Year

Every company starts off with an idea, and it’s that initial idea that illuminates how all companies grow and develop.

That idea will flow through your business and marketing plans, helping to determine everything from corporate strategy to sales forecasts.

However, have you considered setting down in black-and-white a clear mission statement on what your business is about? – something brief and snappy that summarises who you are, and why customers should consider buying from you?

Every large company has a mission statement. You can see details of Fortune 500 companies and their mission statements on this website. The influential business writer and lecturer, Dr Diane Hamilton, also lists her Top 10 online mission statements.

But well-crafted mission statements shouldn’t just be the preserve of the big boys. In essence, it’s a succinct and clear statement about your company – and the big idea that underpins it. It’s about who you are and why you exist.

Writing a compelling mission statement is more than scribbling down a few sentences. It’s about thinking through why you’re in business, what you offer customers, and why you’re different or better than everyone else.

In a sense, a good mission statement encapsulates your business plan, and going through the creative process can be as beneficial as the finished mission statement. After all, it forces you to think again about your big idea – and how it relates to staff, suppliers, customers and the community.

However, mission statements should not be a procession of dull and meaningless words, joined together by phrases that we’ve all heard a million times before. Don’t be afraid to be a bit wacky – if one of the reasons you’re in business is to have fun, say so.

The clothing firm, Joe Boxer, makes this explicit as part of its mission statement “…Because everyone wants to have fun everyday, Joe Boxer will continue to offer something for everyone with fun always in mind.”

Of course, if you’re a law or accountancy firm, you might reasonably not consider fun to be part of your mission statement. But beware of using words such as “professional” or “expert.” Clients expect you to be professional and expert – otherwise you wouldn’t be in business.

In other words, a good mission statement shouldn’t be a statement of the blindingly obvious, or trite words that could equally apply to any other company in your sector. For example, Dell’s mission statement is “to be the most successful computer company in the world at delivering the best customer experience in markets we serve.” Really? I thought that’s what all computer firms were in business to do.

Equally, mission statements should reflect reality, and illuminate how staff should behave. Enron’s snappy mission statement was “Respect. Integrity. Communication and Excellence.” Okay, a bit vague, but rather inspiring – but a pity that Enron was also in the business of ripping off pension funds and ruining livelihoods.

It can be rather fun comparing the different mission statements of companies in the same sector. Car manufacturer Volvo, likes lengthy gibberish: “By creating value for our customers, we create value for our shareholders. We use our expertise to create transport-related products and services of superior quality, safety and environmental care for demanding customers in selected segments. We work with energy, passion and respect for the individual.”

Compare that with Jaguar: “To create and build beautiful fast cars that bring the enjoyment and exhilaration of driving to life.”

Nike’s mission statement is also rather good: “To bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world.” (A co-founder of Nike made the point that if you have a body, you’re an athlete.

Starbucks goes for cute: “to inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup and one neighbourhood at a time.” Nice also that the company paid UK corporation tax this year for the first time since 2009.

Other examples are:

Google: “Organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful.”

Amazon: “To build a place where people can come to find and discover anything they might want to buy online.” (A recent UK TV documentary called into question some of its labour practices).

Perhaps the last word should lie with Sir Richard Branson, who suggests that a mission statement should follow the Twitter format – no more than 140 characters.

He follows his own advice. The Virgin Group’s mission statement is to the point: “Be different by being better.” Enough said.