Mr. Whipple, RIP

Last week Mr. Whipple died.  You remember Mr. Whipple, don’t you? The toilet-paper obsessed grocery store guy who sternly asked his customers to “Please don’t squeeze the Charmin?”

Actually, his real name was Dick Wilson. And from 1964 to 1985 he appeared in more than 500 Charmin commercials. Playing the same character. Repeating the same lines. Over and over and over and over again.

Most creatives in the ad world look at the Whipple spots and get a little queasy. It’s not Apple’s 1984, after all. But what is remarkable – and admirable -- about the campaign is how long it lasted.  Twenty one years. It debuted when I was stumbling around in my playpen learning how to walk. And it went off the air when I was stumbling around in a bar looking for my college dorm keys. That’s a long freaking time.

Today, you’d be hard pressed to find a brand out there that sticks to a campaign for 21 months, let alone 21 years. Today, many companies are just too impatient to let a campaign gain traction. Others get bored with their own work and believe (wrongly so) that their customers are bored as well. Still others are so driven by the monthly sales reports that they overreact and demand immediate change.

And, of course, with clients changing agencies like underwear, it’s no wonder that the work is changing at rapid speed as well.

As marketing consultants, we can all do a better job of guiding our clients on the benefits of consistency and repetition. And we can certainly do a better job of coming up with ideas that can grow and become part of a culture.

If we do, brands will be stronger, consumers will be more loyal, and Mr. Whipple? He’d be mighty proud.

Merry Halloween

On a recent shopping trip with my seven-year old daughter, I couldn’t help but notice that the mall was teeming with Christmas decorations and holiday music. The only problem is that it was November 1, which prompted my daughter to proclaim, “Mommy they missed a holiday – Thanksgiving!”

It used to be that we ate our pie and gave our thanks in November and the next day kicked off the holiday shopping season on Black Friday. No longer. Big box retailers like Wal-Mart and Target, chain stores like Abercrombie & Fitch and Gap, and everything in between continue to move the shop ‘til you drop date forward in an attempt to extend the selling season.

As a marketer, I understand the need for promotion, sales and the opportunity to capture market share by being first through the doors. However, retailers might want to step back and look past the short-term sales gain to the long term benefits of customer loyalty.
Nordstrom, whose brand success has was built upon customer satisfaction and experience, actually differentiates itself from competitors by pledging to not decorate for the holidays until after Thanksgiving.

Nordstrom clearly understands its audience and brand. And it leverages both of these in an attempt to gain share in a way that differs from other retailers.

Perhaps marketers and retailers can follow Nordstrom’s lead in thinking beyond the norm and explore new ways to build business with customers in mind.

I know that I’ll look forward to going to Nordstrom after Thanksgiving to start off the holiday shopping season with my family. Though I certainly won’t be the first through the doors at 4am.

--Michelle Mulchin

The Big Three and branding—now or never

Unless you’ve been in a coma this past year, you’re aware that the Detroit automakers are getting pummeled. GM recently posted a $1.6 billion loss. Ford posted better third quarter numbers than last year, but still suffered a $380 million loss. And Chrysler, facing bankruptcy, had to sell itself to a private equity firm.

But perhaps this is the very root of the problem: being hyper-focused on profits and losses, stocks and projections, numbers and figures.

You see, while The Big Three have been busy pumping out balance sheets and new fleets of vehicles over the last few decades, Toyota and Honda have been busy pumping up their brands. And bit-by-bit, they’ve also gained considerable market share.

So maybe the “strong brands deliver strong sales” premise we’re always preaching in our industry is the real deal. And maybe The Big Three should take the cue. Because the big difference between sobbing in the red and rejoicing in the black is that those in the black—i.e. Honda and Toyota—stand for something. They’re perceived as hip. Intelligent. And socially conscious.

But what do the Ford or GM brands stand for? If your answer comes slow, don’t worry, you didn’t miss your Ritalin. You, like most of us, are just confused. You might have an idea of what the Chevy or Cadillac brands mean (thanks to their belief in branding), but look beyond those two and everything’s a blur. There’s just too much noise. Way too many models. And way too many models.

It’s now or never that The Big Three answer a very basic, but important question: what came first, the Branded-Chicken or the Balance-Sheet-Egg?

All I know is that the Egg is severely cracked. And the Chicken is looking mighty tasty these days.

—Written by Gary Bostwick & Eric Jacobs

Thoughts on GreenBuild 2007

I'd  like to start by saying thanks to USGBC for taking Green from the province of  impassioned environmentalist to mainstream commerce. Thanks to USGBC, Green is now a proper noun versus just another color.

Record show attendance and nearly a thousand exhibitors made it obvious that Green is big business. And that’s not a bad thing. If products are less toxic, more sustainable and nicer to the planet, there’s no need to question the value or politics of Green.

Yet, as I walked through the expo, I began to feel like I was in a Green Rush. Is there really a need for 5 different indoor air quality certification entities? Does a product emblazoned with:  floor score , Certified Indoor Advantage , Green Guard , CRI Plus, and Green Seal mean that credible long term standards are now in place to make the planet safer, better, more Green. And what’s frustrating is that in all the noise and hype, there are companies really doing great work and their message is being lost.

With the surge of Green communication, for-profit and nonprofit organizations will need to be smarter and more adept at communicating their messages. Bambi nibbling on grass just isn’t a relevant image. Headlines that state “Doing our part” cast more doubt than credibility. Doing “our part” should be the price of admission.

Companies have a brief opportunity to be rewarded for selling Green. But that time will pass and there will be an expectation that all products have Green characteristics, i.e. smarter, friendlier, more simple and more considerate to the world we live in. This isn’t going to be a temporary fad, but rather a new definition of how a viable business conducts commerce.

The idea of marketing Green will be something that will be difficult to explain to future generations. Imagine telling your grandchildren that once upon a time, really caustic products were sold and buildings were designed with minimal thought or consideration for energy consumption or water use. They’ll ask, “How could that have happened?” We’ll just sigh like we do now when we look back on old tobacco ads that preach the health benefits of smoking.

Brand building tips for small businesses

It's become clear to us through our work for the Council of Smaller Enterprises (COSE), that what small business owners really need is someone who's got their back. And that special someone is anyone who can save them time and/or money.

So with that in mind, we decided to lend a hand to the backbone of our economy. Mr. and Ms. Small Business Owner, take a break and watch this video. In just 6 minutes, you'll move from "branding is just for big companies" to "I can grow my brand with my customers." And you'll learn that even with a shoestring budget, you can build a powerful brand by keeping things simple and focused.