There is a new catch phrase emerging in the corporate world: "How can we change the tires while the car is moving?"

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BY TACTICALLY EVALUATING THE ROLE OF YOUR TOUCH POINTS IN THE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE, YOU CAN ENSURE THAT EVERY ACTION TAKEN IS BUILDING COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE.

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We seldom heard this question until recently, but now our clients in the C-suite are asking it frequently. The question brings to life the difficulty of executing change in a demanding business environment where performance and results cannot be compromised. Brand strategy once lived in the realm of the long-term investment: Developing and implementing brand programs might cost a lot of time and money in the short-term, but would yield long-term gains. But in more challenging economic times, the focus must be on short-term results—the car HAS to keep moving, now more than ever.

The problem with the dilemma posed by the "changing the tires while the car is moving" metaphor is that it is based on an outdated notion of the change management process, which has been described as "Unfreezing, Changing, and Refreezing." (Fred Nickols, Change Management 101: A Primer.) The common conception of change management is that a company starts in a stable place, loosens up to prepare for change, implements change, and then stabilizes within a new paradigm.

A more contemporary view of change management suggests that change must occur constantly and in smaller increments for organizations to survive and thrive. Seth Godin suggests that organizations should consider an evolutionary model of change. "Evolution— defined as inheritable modifications over many generations—is the most powerful tool we have for dealing with change." (Fast Company, December 19, 2007) "It is our fear of changing a winning strategy and our reliance on command-and-control tactics that make us miserable—not change. Change doesn’t have to be the enemy. We start bypassing our fear of change by constantly training people to make small changes."

If your brand is not delivering real business value to the organization, you should not be afraid that change will require you to sacrifice business performance in the short-term. Whether you need to develop and deliver on a new brand promise and identity that is more relevant to customers, or whether you simply need to optimize your brand throughout the customer experience, taking a pit stop approach to change will yield results now and in the future.

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"Faux Simplicity" vs. True Simplicity – Corporate Winners and Losers

"True simplicity provides a dramatic, compelling competitive advantage for any organization," says Irene Etzkorn, Director of Simplification at Siegel+Gale. "As companies, political candidates, the publishers of Real Simple magazine, and the creators of the new Time Warner ad campaign have found, the mere mention of the word ’simple’ is a hook for purchasers.

"The thought of assembling a product sends shivers through most consumers who envision hours of frustration and a few pieces ‘left over.’ The promise of technology, investing, or health care made simple is alluring. For that reason, advertisers and marketers stock their copy with the words ‘easy,’ ‘convenient,’ ‘quick,’ and ’simplified.’ Simplicity sells in politics, too – one of John McCain’s greatest appeals is his ‘Straight Talk Express’ campaign theme.

"However, companies who falsely proclaim simplicity create a jaded and cynical marketplace. ‘Faux simplicity’ undermines the valid efforts of others who work hard to achieve simplicity. And products, services and people that really deliver on the promise of clarity and simplicity are few and far between.

"Fortunately, a precious few have gotten it right," says Ms. Etzkorn.

Following is her list of winners and losers in the simplicity wars.

WINNERS:

+  ING Direct: Unlike the impersonal, automated interactions that characterize most financial transactions, the experience at ING Direct is friendly, humane and highly efficient.

When they send a letter confirming a change to a PIN number, the letter sounds as though a person rather than a computer wrote it: "If it is correct, then all you have to do is have a great day."

The clear, reassuring tone inspires confidence. As Arkadi Kuhlmann, Chairman, President and CEO of ING Direct USA says, "Companies become extremely authentic when they become clear and the busier life gets, the more value there is in simplicity as a point of competitive differentiation." He has no sympathy for companies that perpetuate an atmosphere of complexity as a means of fostering confusion, attributing their motives to avarice. "Most companies focus on short-term shareholder value. Instead of maximizing the number of loyal customers and recognizing their long-term potential," Kuhlmann says, "companies ‘nickel and dime’ them." ING Direct, in contrast, has no fees. In his view, his competitors "waste their energy squeezing every last penny out of current customers and then have to find new ones."

+  Chubb Insurance and its "hassle-free" claims experience: Chubb Insurance, a high-end property/casualty insurer has also embraced and maintained simplicity – a rarity in the insurance market. Its personal lines policy, Masterpiece®, tells policyholders what is excluded and if something is not specifically excluded, it is covered. Written in plain English with customized content and an inviting page layout, the clarity of the policy sets a tone of openness and honesty.

And, simplicity often translates to speed. The revolutionary effect of Masterpiece ® is evident in the numbers: 95% of policies and 97% of endorsements are out the door within 7 days in an industry that typically measures turnaround in weeks, not days. While this is pleasing to customers, it is even more astounding for agents who see the creaking wheels of Chubb’s competitors.

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Co-President & Chief Strategy Officer, David Srere appeared on CNBC Business news to comment as brand expert on LG’s new LCD Flat Panel Ad Campaign. Revolving around a TV trailer for an upcoming fictional television series entitled "Scarlet", LG seeks to attract mass audiences to its website in an effort to lure new customers to purchase its new line of products.

The controversial question: Marketing stunt or scam? Can "trailer marketing" effectively sell hi-tech products or is this just another expensive media play by a large company where they ring the dinner bell only to leave tens of thousands of hungry customers expecting a fancy feast, waiting for little more than table scraps. CNBC’s LA correspondent, Julia Boorstin, seeks answers and calls on Siegel+Gale for comment. See the news excerpt.

May 5th- Fortune Magazine’s Annual Fortune 500 Issue Presents First Ever Company Logo Smackdown

For the first time ever, Fortune Magazine decided to conduct a logo competition among the most powerful Fortune 500 brands. Siegel+Gale identity experts Howard Belk and Sven Seger were called upon by Fortune to judge which of the many logos were deemed worthy of the #1 spot! The following S+G decision criteria were used to carefully screen from the many logo candidates:

1. Name: A logo’s name is very important. You should be able to name a logo in two to three words. If you can’t do that, it is not a good logo. If it has a name, it has an idea. If you can’t name it, it most likely doesn’t have an idea because ideas don’t exist without a name. BP’s logo is called The Helios Mark. Great name, great idea, great logo.

2. Personality: Companies have personalities, and depending on how you render an image, ranging from serious, to friendly, the image’s style can represent the personality of the company. Depending on how it is drawn, a flower can be elegant, exclusive, and sophisticated, or approachable, warm and genuine. When we know the personality of a brand, we can express it through color and shape.
Good examples are Yahoo (enthusiastic) and Deutsche Bank (rational).

3. Metaphor: Linking an already understood association of an object to a brand in the form of a relevant metaphor can be very powerful.
Good examples are Unilever (Garden of Eden), Merrill Lynch (Bull) and BP (Flower)

4. New Combinations: Merging different forms into a singular image such that they can be read from multiple perspectives allows for the creation of a very proprietary logo. The Time Warner Cable logo is a wonderful example of this. The ear and an eye are combined to form a singular image that represents the multi-sensory aspect of the brand’s products. Bank of America is another great example. The combination of the American flag and a landscape makes it a “flagscape,” the people’s bank from coast to coast in America.

5. Strategic Purpose: A logo’s design is stronger when it can be connected to the strategic intent of the brand. This connection may be direct or indirect, explicit or learned, but nonetheless, present in the design of the mark. By utilizing an image of the flower, the BP logo represents the company’s concern for environmental sustainability.

6. Touchpoint: A logo’s design should take advantage of the touchpoint on which it is most often found. “Touchpoint relevant” design means forming a triangular relationship between the brand, it’s primary touchpoints, and the logo.
UPS does this well. Taking advantage of the 750,000 package trucks operating in the US alone, the design of its logo, a beveled shield, looks like it belongs on the truck. Apple does this well too. The current design of the apple reflects the “liquid” User Interface, the most proprietary aspect of the brand.

7. Reduction: Purity. Simplicity. Essence. All words used to describe the beauty of reduced form. It is no different with logo design. If we reduce something to its most simple level, it will represent an idea, rather than depict something literal. A well crafted logo has a certain level of reduction so that it’s form may communicate the idea.

Of the top F-500 logo contenders, Target took the prize! Simple, distinct, and clear, this “to-the-point” logo turns the brand into an event. From advertising to co-branding to alliance marketing effectiveness, the “Design for all” tag-line, is engaging, demonstrative and effective.

Bullseye!

Analyzing campaign speeches of three presidential candidates, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John McCain, reveals interesting stylistic differences and some commonalities.

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ALL THREE CANDIDATES ARE CAREFUL TO AVOID THE GOBBLEDYGOOK THAT SO OFTEN CREEPS INTO POLITICAL DIALOGUE. THEY USE ACTIVE RATHER THAN PASSIVE SENTENCE CONSTRUCTIONS.

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Clinton uses the greatest number of "humanizing" words in her speeches. References to "heart" and "voice" recur throughout her speeches in passages, such as "I come tonight with a very, very full heart," "I found my own voice," and "…we all spoke from our hearts." The "voice" metaphor morphs into "people who whisper to me" and "I will bring the voices of the American people back to the White House." At one point, she even says, "It’s enough to make you want to burst out in song."

McCain also injects a human element with frequent references to "eight years among friends" and "…never just fair-weather friends." Obama refers to people themselves, frequently mentioning his extended family, including his father, mother, wife, daughters, and even grandfather in one speech.

The notion of duty comes through clearly in McCain’s word selection. Phrases such as "an obligation…which I will faithfully discharge" is in the speech he gave after winning the South Carolina primary along with "…sublime honor that has been the treasure of my life." McCain’s speeches invoke the twin notions of responsibility and public service.

Obama is inclined to use the pronoun, "we" rather than "I." Clinton and McCain use "I" quite regularly, imparting a sense of the president as an individual rather than an office.

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Is anyone else as amazed as I am that people are admitting without shame that they didn’t know what they were agreeing to when they signed their mortgage note? The fact that closing documents are so universally acknowledged to be incomprehensible has sanctioned financial irresponsibility.

All over the nation, people are walking away from their homes and mortgage obligations. When asked why they didn’t foresee adjustable rates moving up and requiring higher monthly payments, they all say that they didn’t understand the documents they signed to get the mortgage. While stunned by the cavalier attitude of the borrowers, I’m equally amazed by the lenders who seem to acknowledge that the borrowers couldn’t have been expected to understand what they were signing.

Have legalese and the confusion it engenders moved from being a nuisance to an economic cataclysm? After all, “small print” exists in large quantity. Do you understand your health insurance policy? Your credit card agreement? Your homeowners’ policy?

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A 2007 NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF INSURANCE COMMISSIONERS (NAIC) SURVEY REVEALED THAT ONE-THIRD TO ONE-HALF OF HOMEOWNERS’ INSURANCE POLICYHOLDERS WERE MISINFORMED ABOUT WHAT PERILS ARE COVERED BY THEIR POLICIES AND HOW MUCH THEY MIGHT RECEIVE IF THEY MADE A CLAIM.

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We shouldn’t be surprised. Policies are lengthy legal documents constructed with boilerplate language that is then modified with numerous notices and endorsements.

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WSJ Online quotes Alan Siegel on Starbucks Return to a Retro Logo

All the fuss over Starbucks return to the retro mermaid on the coffee cup. Is it revolution or brand dilution? Personally, I think it is more a tactic to get attention or to divert attention from other things. I don’t think it has anything to do with the coffee cups, folks!

From finger pointing to fist pumps, how nonverbal cues brand the candidates

Adweek: The Body Politic

-By David Wallis

In a recent skit on YouTube, Hillary Clinton impersonator Rosemary Watson portrays the presidential hopeful alone in an Iowa hotel room, rehearsing an upcoming speech. “New hand gestures, Iowa. Take one,” announces faux Hillary, dressed in a white terry cloth robe.

“Helloooo pig farmers,” she bellows in a nasal Midwestern accent, before verbally and visually running through a gamut of gestures. “And I begin to hammer on healthcare,” she says, pummeling the air with clenched fists.

“I do a smoothing motion on middle class taxes, palms down,” she says, while looking like she’s practicing the breaststroke. “I enumerate the flaws of my opponent with a crooked finger,” she concludes, turning her body sideways to face an invisible rival while repeating an admonitory gesture.

Though the real Clinton has studied stagecraft with a high-priced media coach — as have many current and former candidates — and often animates speeches with an array of nods, waves and karate chops, she probably does not choreograph every move she makes. Yet, like most successful politicians, Clinton understands the power of body language: Hand motions, facial gestures and posture all can enhance or undermine a campaign’s message, shape public perception of a politician and profoundly influence an audience of voters — whether the voters know it or not. In today’s media marketplace, the practiced smile and the sly smirk, the hearty salute and the triumphant double thumbs-up are the political equivalent of product packaging.

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Technology branding comes into its own as companies find the competitive edge has begun to matter.

Technology branding is coming into its own; (Above) A Wipro-branded bus in Davos, Switzerland

Business Line: IT’s all about branding

Archana Venkat

Every time someone from my team meets a prospective client, I ask him to avoid the ‘low cost-quality-efficiency’ talk. We have branded India enough and now it is time to focus on branding our company,” says Deepak Khosla, Senior Vic e-President and Head – APAC and Japan, Patni Computer Services.

Khosla’s statement reflects the change in the mindset of IT companies that until a few years ago were content toeing the ‘world’s IT hub’ line. Little wonder then that IT brand campaigns were full of ‘trust’, ‘confidence’ and ‘quality’. As clients began asking “what have you got that your competitor does not?” companies were forced to review their branding. The result — most companies today are evolving their unique brand identity and ways to market it to stakeholders.

Prior to 2004, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) did not see the need to build an external brand. Changes in the offshore landscape necessitated it. Not only did strong Indian players emerge, some global players too started emulating the TCS model. “Today if you don’t say who you are, somebody else will decide who you are and reposition you,” says Jayant Pendharkar, Vice-President and Head of Global Marketing, TCS.

A brand recall exercise on “who were the top international brands” held the answer. “After IBM and Accenture, there was no clarity on the third place. So we put ourselves to occupying that place,” says Pendharkar. After a few years of coming up with varied taglines, the company felt a single message was essential to promote itself. In came a Madison Avenue-based brand consulting firm, Siegel & Gale (USA), for brand positioning, and DraftFCB+Ulka for advertising. Last March, the company launched its global brand line ‘Experience certainty.’ The company now differentiates itself on its core competencies – business consulting, outsourcing and IT services – being delivered to clients in time.

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For a while now, I have been talking to clients and people in the interactive industry about preference-based advertising and preference-based entertainment and how the opt-in experience model could be the way of the future for content channels. The idea is out there, and a company called Blyk is creating a unique advertising model around user preferences.

Blyk is a free mobile network for the 16 to 24-year-old demographic (the hardest demo to market to). Blyk is only currently available in the UK and by invite only. Looks like they are taking cues from popular social networking communities.

Users fill out a form online and list their interests. It’s preference-based advertising, and it involves the end user, giving them more advertising choices within their cell/multimedia experience.

Users get 217 text messages, which in my opinion, will be used up in exactly 217 seconds, and 43 minutes free call time. Again, kids will blast through that with no problem. It’s pay as you play after that.

How do they get away with giving away free service? Blyk partners with advertisers who want to reach the 16-24 demographic and charges them for it. It’s similar to free newspapers paid by local advertisers except more targeted. Because kids in this demographic are already using short message service (SMS) as a real means of communication, it makes sense to develop an advertising strategy wrapped around messaging and images. The advertising also has a bit more depth to it as well, since the adverts involve users by asking questions and suggesting products that correspond with their answers. Nothing is really free in life, so Blyk sends targeted text and picture messages to your phone as advertisements.

Blyk also did a unique social branding experiment where they ran a competition with the London College of Communication and asked students to develop a Blyk brand based only on a few buzzwords. Finalists were posted online, and the winning mark was chosen online. There are no plans to turn Blyk into a social network or link to other social communities; for now it’s purely a distribution model.

http://www.blyk.co.uk

Irene Etzkorn runs the simplification practice at strategic branding company Siegel+Gale. She helps clients clarify and simplify their every interaction with customers – a powerful competitive advantage. Now she is calling for the political candidates to do the same thing. In fact, she states that clarity is an opportunity overlooked by each of the candidates, and it could provide a tremendous political advantage to the candidate who embraces it first.

“Despite the fact that each of the Presidential candidates is desperately seeking a point of distinction, they are all missing one relevant and appealing promise: making the government truly more accessible to its citizens. A call for clarity is a powerful message that would resonate with voters.

“It is particularly interesting that Obama, who has made ‘change’ the refrain of his campaign, and McCain, who travels on the Straight Talk Express, have both overlooked this rallying point.”

A trail of paper from cradle to grave
“As citizens, over our lifetimes, we must interact with certain government agencies – notably the Internal Revenue Service and Social Security Administration – and often need to interact with others, whether Medicare, Medicaid or even FEMA. These interactions often occur at times of stress, anxiety or infirmity, and are confusing and frustrating beyond belief. New York Congressman Steve Israel summed it up when he said, ‘Seniors believe they need a Nobel Prize in mathematics to understand this program’ when describing the complexity of the Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Plan.

“Clarity, transparency and relevance are critical to engaging the hearts of the voters. Too often, citizens believe that federal agencies are hiding behind jargon, vicious cycles of paperwork and complicated procedures. This undermines citizens’ faith in government and sets up an unproductive ‘me versus them’ attitude. One of the candidates has an opportunity to distinguish himself or herself from the gobbledygook that pervades Washington by making Simplification a campaign plank.

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Creates Innovative, Inviting, Child-Friendly Online Information Source for
Patients, Families, and Healthcare Professionals

http://www.searchhope.org

Los Angeles – March 10, 2008 – Siegel+Gale, one of the world’s premier strategic branding companies, has created an innovative, inviting, child-friendly web-based portal that allows sick children and their families to easily find online resources about childhood cancer, blood disorders, and other rare diseases or conditions.

Launched in February, the HOPE Portal (www.searchhope.org ) was commissioned by Childrens Hospital Los Angeles to radically expand the breadth and accessibility of its Patient & Family Education Resource Center. Siegel+Gale created, designed, and developed the portal to combine comprehensive information access with a design using illustrated drawings reminiscent of children’s books.

“This site is talking about the toughest topics in the world – severe childhood illnesses – to the most vulnerable audiences in the world – the children themselves and their parents and families,” says Alan Siegel, Chairman and CEO of Siegel+Gale. “We had to strike a balance between not being scary and not backing away from reality. We found our answer in whimsy that appeals to both children and adults.

“We loved this assignment,” Mr. Siegel continues. “Very rarely do we get the opportunity to really help those in need – and the HOPE Portal is an authoritative online resource that truly benefits patients and the healthcare community.”

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Creating brands for politicians is always a work in progress: immediate, hyper-competitive, ever-evolving and ever-adapting to changes in the electorate and changes in the opposition’s brand strategy.

Until Tuesday, it looked as if Barack Obama was setting the gold standard, providing a lesson on how to create and execute a crystal-clear branding program in just over six months. Now it is time for a revision, without compromising all the winning aspects of the Obama brand.

What still works:

Brand Promise: Obama’s promise of change has rekindled America’s spirit and resonated with voters who are tired of the negativism and attack ads that have characterized recent political campaigns. While opponents have attacked his lofty language, credentials, and lack of experience, Obama steadfastly sticks to his theme of positive change.

Integrated Brand Communications: His brand campaign presents a model of integrated communications and stands in contrast to most of the leading brands in the market, which haven’t been able to coordinate their efforts.

Brand Response: His brand campaign is run with military efficiency. No attack is allowed to linger without an immediate, targeted, and articulate response.

Brand Voice: The most powerful quality of the Obama brand is the clarity of his messages, reinforced by his grasp of detail: his calm, measured responses and the elegance of his language, which is devoid of scare tactics. The Obama brand speaks to Americans in a language Americans can understand.

What needs revision:

While keeping his authenticity and brand voice, Obama must respond more effectively to Hillary Clinton’s promise of experience and a perceived readiness to serve as Commander-in-Chief that resonates with her core audiences. He must challenge those assumptions without going negative, without getting down in the dirt.

Obama basically needs to reposition Clinton by challenging the quality of her experience, but in a way that resonates with his brand voice.

Building and revising political brands is like building corporate brands on steroids. It is a laboratory for us all to watch how quickly, how efficiently, and how effectively the entire branding process can work – with clear winners and losers at the end of the day.

NYTimes.com
Sears Joins With Hearst for a Multimedia Blitz
By STUART ELLIOTT

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/03/business/media/03adcol.html

TWO decades ago, shoppers were told “there’s more for your life at Sears.” An ambitious campaign that begins this week — the result of an unusual retailer-media partnership between Sears and Hearst — may help determine whether there is more life for Sears.

Sears, Roebuck & Company, a division of the Sears Holdings Corporation, is struggling with slumping sales, falling profits and mounting complaints about store conditions. Revenue in the quarter that ended on Feb. 2 for stores open more than a year — a closely watched yardstick in the retail industry — dropped 4 percent from a year earlier.

The wobbly economy is exacerbating Sears’s woes as consumers slow their spending and worry about rising prices, falling home values and the gyrating stock market. And while its competitors have been stepping up efforts to woo skittish shoppers, Sears Holdings has been cutting the marketing budgets for both Sears and its sibling, Kmart.

“We already invest a significant amount of capital and expenses” in areas like marketing, Edward S. Lampert, the chairman of Sears Holdings, wrote to shareholders in a letter last week. “The key is to improve the productivity of these investments.”

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Salon.com
Global marketing execs agree — America’s image is in the toilet. The cure? One presidential candidate has what it takes, they say, to save Brand USA.
By Jeff Yang
http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2008/03/03/candidates_branding/

Mar. 03, 2008 | There’s no way to put this delicately, so I won’t: America’s global image is in the crapper. Last year, the BBC World Service conducted a poll of over 26,000 individuals in the world’s 25 largest countries and found that more than 52 percent thought the U.S. had a “mostly negative” influence on the world. Fifty-three percent of respondents to a survey by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs felt America could “not be trusted.”

Which means that, on top of everything else it represents, the current presidential election is something like an ad agency review — a chance to put a set of potential stewards for “Brand America” through their paces, to see the creative and strategic directions in which they’d take our product.

What’s at stake is more than just popularity. As Keith Reinhard, chairman emeritus of the globe’s second-largest ad agency, DDB Worldwide, notes, “How we’re perceived in the world has profound implications. We rely on human intelligence to alert us to threats: We need friends willing to whisper in our ear that someone’s planning to blow up jetliners … Economically, the Commerce Department estimated that we’ve lost over $100 billion in tourism revenues since 2001. For every share point we lose in that sector, you’re talking about $12.3 billion and 150,000 jobs, gone! The bottom line is that we need a world that likes America.”

Candidate	Slogan	Unifying Theme	Underlying Values	If He/She Were a Brand…
Hillary Clinton	The Strength and Experience to Bring Real Change	“I’ve been there”	Competence; experience; professionalism
John McCain	Straight Talk Express	“I’ll go there”	Resilience; candor; courage
Barack Obama	Change We Can Believe In	“I’ll take you there”	Inspiration; inclusion; iconoclasm
Mike Huckabee	Faith. Family. Freedom	“Let’s go back”	Earthiness; populism; humility

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