Polishing the Brand with Shared Values

"Does this polish the brand?" 

That's a question we encourage our stations to ask themselves as they consider any additions (or subtractions) to their products.

It's a good question that encompasses:

• Is this “on brand” (i.e., consistent with the station/brand values?)
• Does it match the values and expectations of the audience?
• Does this enhance or detract from the brand?
• Will this surprise and delight users?
• Is this the best ‘camera angle’ or execution we can use?

A&O&B has always been a believer in paying serious attention to listener values. Understanding these values is a key to connectivity.

For a non-radio example of in-sync product and consumer values, visit http://www.starbucks.com/ and you’ll see a tab for ‘Responsibility.’ 

The drop down menu includes Community, Environment, Ethical and even a Global Responsibility Goals andProgress Report.

So it was no surprise to see this on a recent Starbucks visit.

On brand.  Value-appropriate. Enhances. Delights. Doable.

It's a good example of how to evaluate an opportunity based on values as well as inspire thinking that can polish your brand.

Have a story about something you've done to polish your brand? 

We'd all love to hear about it.

PD “Muscle Memory” – A 5-Point Filter for Evaluating Daily ‘Opportunities’

Using repetition to teach your body how to do something is a pretty simple way to think about muscle memory. Through repetition you can become very good (or in some cases, bad) at something – even if you go for a period where you don’t use those skills.

While muscle memory is actually a type of procedural memory (I learned that while writing this blog), it’s a convenient visual for how to deal with the daily ‘opportunities’ that have the power to impact our stations and brands.

Try using this 5-point filter regularly to help quickly determine the value of something to your station/brand.

1. Is this in sync with the brand strategy?
2. Does this enhance and strengthen the brand?
3. Is this tactically appropriate and is the tactic fully realized or exploited?
4. Will this surprise, delight and exceed user expectations?
5. Are there aspects of this that have the potential to tarnish the brand?

Promotions, programming elements, client requests, talent content, imaging, marketing, and social all can be run through this filter.

Some things won’t pass through the filter at all. Others will after some modification. And even those that do pass right away might be enhanced with some additional thinking on any of these points.

Filters fit nicely into a ‘muscle memory” analogy. Regularly thinking about theese points can help you make the right response when things come to you out of left field. 

Have some effective filters you use and would like to share?

Here's another one of my favorite filters.

Quick Marketing and Promotional Checklist

As you finish putting together your spring marketing and promotional plans, try running your ideas through these eight filters:

You know exactly who are you trying to reach (you may have multiple targets) and what the desired outcome from your efforts is for each target.  

All aspects of your plan have a positive (or at least neutral) effect on your overall brand strategy; any aspects that could have a negative impact have been reworked or eliminated. 

From your target’s perspective, you’ve identified your most powerful attraction(s) and that what you’ve chosen has the greatest chance of stimulating the desired behavior.

From your target’s perspective, your product and message are perfectly aligned. 

Your efforts are brand-saturated. That is, your marketing/promotional effort won’t easily be confused with a competitor and thus benefit them as well. 

Your efforts have ‘stand-out-ability.’

You have multi-platform exposure and, if necessary, a calendar for launching different efforts at different times.

The staff is fully informed of your plan, goals and, if applicable, their role.

Have some additional filters you’d like to share? Love to hear them.

Trying to Turn the Titanic: What We Can Learn from Sears

There’s no shortage of experts weighing in on what Sears should do following its announcement last month that it will close up to 120 stores.

I'm neither a retail nor financial expert. But I find Sears’ trials relevant because there is much to be learned from studying second-tier brands and declining brands but also because there are some pretty obvious radio parallels.

Analysts frequently pointed to Sears’ deep, ongoing cost-cutting as a major factor in the company’s steady decline. Others also cited management issues, lack of vision, loss of brand identity, not recognizing the changing landscape, and weak customer service.

Some experts see Sears’ problems as too big and having gone on so long that Wears will be unable to survive. Others who believe Sears can turn things around believe there brand assets that can be leveraged, and customer service can be dramatically improved. And doing both is critical to survival.

Brand Assets

Sears has assets to be sure: Kenmore, Craftsman, DieHard and Land’s End are all strong brands themselves, potentially strong enough to revive the struggling Sears parent brand.

The great Jack Trout recommended Sears “take advantage of Kenmore's leadership, and position it as the No. 1 family of appliances in the end. They should do the same for Craftsman, which is America's favorite brand of tools, by far. Perhaps it's time for a next generation of DieHard battery that dies a little harder. Could their paints use some sprucing up? If they do a good job with their brands, more people will go to Sears.”

The Motley Fool’s Rich Smith noted that “Sears is Craftsman tools –high-quality wares, priced reasonably. Sears is also Kenmore appliances, a way to buy a Whirlpool washing machine (Whirlpool is one of the companies making the machines behind Sears' private label) at a better price. And of course, Sears also has a softer side, as represented by its Lands' End clothing line. At least, that's what Sears was "once upon a time."

Retail consultant Mark Freiman of Focus Management Group, a financial advisory and restructuring firm said, "They have got some iconic brands that if they had the capital behind them and the right merchants in the company, they could be turned around."

Most stations have assets to leverage: a wildly popular talent, a history of listener connectivity, unique stationality, our-of-the-box thinkers, geeks, staffers who excel in social media, a mascot, street team, heritage or newcomer, signal and more.

Take an inventory of your assets. Are famous (or could be famous) for something that’s not presently being exploited? As Jack Trout advises, if you have a meaningful position in the consumer’s mind, market it. Update, improve or reinvent once powerful assets that may be suffering from some tarnish.

Putting heft behind your biggest brand assets pays off.

The Customer Experience

Steve Hoch, a marketing professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, was graphic in his description of Sears' brick and mortars telling Fortune Magazine, “The stores look like they are from the Eastern Bloc."

We've heard stations that fit that barren description.

A turn-off in one aspect of our product often hurts another. Shabby stores are damaging Sears’ online business. Same for on air.

If as Jack Trout suggests, an improvement in Sears’ brick and mortar stores could yield in-store time and more purchases, there’s a lesson here for us too.

If our on-air product was a store, what kind of shopping experience are we providing? What percent would be interesting, fun, and welcoming, that extended the experience and created a repeat ‘buyer?’ What percent is dated, cluttered or boring, that shorted the experience and failed to provide a reason to come back? What are we trying to sell that no one cares about?

Identifying and leveraging assets, and providing the best possible customer experience seem like an obvious strategy -- yet they're part of the problem facing the 10th largest retailer in America.

Let’s make sure they’re not our problems, too.

Quick Checklist for A-B-ing Your Competitors

This week we got a preview of a new study of PPM data from Arbitron in conjunction with Mediabase and Inside Radio which showed country stations, whether ranked first or tenth, had similar patterns of spinning currents.

Regarding the percent of top-10-charted songs played IR notes, “The percentages hardly vary whether the station is No. 1 in 25-54 (18% of spins) ranked No. 2 - No. 5 (17%) or ranked No. 6 - No. 10 (16%).”

There was less difference in the percent of songs spun that were charted between 11 and 20 and no difference in percent of played songs that had chart positions between 21 and 50. 

No surprise. 

When comparing country stations in a market I typically have a longer list of differences not related to current music.

Here are some common differentiating factors/branding elements to listen for when A-B-ing or looking for competitive opportunities:

1.    Non-current music characteristics: Chronology, Tempo, Core Artists and their exposure

2.    Commercials:  Load, execution, quality. Are there differences listeners will readily pick up on?

3.    Talent: Uniquely enhancing the listening experience or detracting for it or simply invisible?

4.    “Feel Good” factor

5.    The “Buffet Line:” What’s on it and what percent of it would I come back for/did I really want to consume?

6.    Promotional activity

7.    Stationality/Imaging

8.    “It” factor: Intangibles that cause me to believe I’ve made the best/most relevant/best values-match choice.

9.    Degree to which my pre-tune-in expectations were met.

Have something to share that differentiates your station or a competitor?

Making Fans "Off the Field"

The big crowd at Yankee Stadium showed that they remembered him with something just short of a standing ovation as he walked to the plate. JasonGiambi paused just outside the batter’s box to acknowledge us by touching his hand to the brim of his batting helmet. 

Then he promptly hit a rifle-shot home run to right. There was another round of cheers.

Coming to the Bronx in 2001 was not without its challenges. Giambi signed a big contract just three months after 9-11 and was replacing the much-loved first baseman Tino Martinez. But his performance as a Yankee, including his highlight-reel homeruns, earned him many fans.

I liked him as a player too, but it was something he did months before he ever played his first game for the Yanks that made me a Jason Giambi fan.

That event happened in December, 2001. Matt Lauer and the Today Show took a young boy who’d lost his firefighter father on 9/11 to Yankee Stadium where they met, among others, the newly arrived Jason Giambi. The boy was asked who his favorite Yankee was and replied “Tino.” Jason said he was sorry (to be replacing Tino) and began a game of catch with him.

Everyone, Giambi included, had tears in their eyes.

It was beyond touching.

It was that unguarded moment of compassion - that peek behind the curtain - that made me think that a player with this kind of heart would be someone worth rooting for.  More than 10 years later I still remember that TV moment vividly; it was what made (and keeps) me a Jason Giambi fan to this day.

Listeners don’t forget talents’ actions either.

I’ve moderated plenty of station panels where listeners can recall in great detail how a particular talent remembered their name, asked about a family member or a circumstance they’d been told about months before, or how they just were open, engaging, real, and interesting.

I’ve also heard from listeners left with bad impressions because they thought a talent was aloof or too self-important because they sat at a table or didn’t make an effort to engage them in conversation.

Brands are a collection of personal experiences.  Your daily performance on air is a huge part of that, of course. But so is what you do off the “field.”

Don’t miss moments to connect.

Six Attributes of Premium Brands: How Many Does Your Station Have?

I really like Starbucks' coffee.

I seek it out (fortunately that's not usually difficult) and willingly pay more for it.
To me it's a unique coffee experience (especially the rich, earthy, smoky, intense and satisfying French Roast) that's well worth the reasonably higher price.

I like to share my Starbucks experiences with other Starbucks fans and in turn hear what they enjoy.

Even outside of the coffee, I like Starbucks as a company – their history, initiatives, new products and promotions.

Uniqueness, customer loyalty, higher price point, distribution, promotions and back story: these six attributes that make Starbucks a Premium Brand for me are in fact characteristics shared by most Premium Brands.

How many of these Premium Brand attributes does your station have?

Uniqueness – From packaging to process, Premium Brands have clear elements of differentiation. They also introduce unique new variations of their basic products. Remembering that nuance is lost on most listeners, what most clearly and positively sets you apart from competitors? How are you promoting/exploiting it? What new, unique features or listener-experiences have you launched recently?

Customer Loyalty and Evangelism – Premium Brand customers demonstrate their brand loyalty by sharing their stories about your brand and hearing similar stories from fellow Premium Brand customers. “Pull marketing,” word of mouth, and public endorsements/consumption are part of the core marketing strategy. Are you making it easy for listeners to spread the word about you and interact with you and others about what you’re going?

Higher Pricing – customers expect to pay a realistically higher price, but consumers of Premium Brands still need to feel that they are getting value and receiving a premium experience. The higher the commercial load, the stronger the entertainment value must be. But price is not limited to just commercials; consider costs like the monetary investment or extra steps necessary to listen to your product on other platforms. Is the end experience worth the cost?

Distribution: Speaking of platforms, Premium Brands are widely available. Is your station missing any distribution channels?

Promotion: Many Premium Brands support or dominate niche events (like Red Bull’s involvement in extreme or dangerous sports). Others engage in particularly creative promotions (like Mattel’s Barbie dressed in designer clothes and walking the runway during New York City’s Fashion Week). Starbucks is involved in multiple community and global initiatives. Are there promotional or philanthropic opportunities in your market that you could own that would enhance your station’s brand image among your target listeners?

Back story: To tell a brand’s true back story, some have produced “promotumentaries” for the brand’s website or TV (Patron tequila has done a great job with its back story). A Microsoft study found that “...helping consumers build up their knowledge about a product is what turns casual interest into a premium sale”. What’s your station’s story? Why did it come about? What was your original strategic mission? Is there a powerful story you can tell?

One Video, Four Benefits

Doing good for others. Having fun. Getting noticed. Enhancing your brand.

One well-done video. Four big benefits.

Brand O

Eight years ago, about the time the Oprah magazine debuted, I wrote about Oprah as a brand and suggested these radio applications:

1. Discover what makes you special to your consumers and deliver that uniqueness on as many platforms as possible.

2. Only engage in those things that reinforce your brand’s positives. Never compromise your product or brand integrity.

3. Be relentlessly in your pursuit and maintenance of consumer trust.


Why reference an eight year old article today?

Because besides still being utterly relevant, our guest on today’s Albright and O’Malley bi-monthly Client Wide Conference call was legendary programmer John Gehron who is the GM of Harpo Radio and programs XM’s Oprah and Friends Radio channel.

John shared with us some tenets that make Oprah and Friends Radio special:


1. Know what your brand represents (for the Oprah brand, it’s “Live your best life.”)

2. Protect your brand. Examine tie-ins for potential damage and for what your brand will get out the relationship.

3. Understand and respect the audience. There’s a difference between women and “Oprah women.”

4. Put the product first. Go the extra mile for the audience; little things are noticed.

5. Understand that you are a product supplier. Find other distribution channels that your listeners use and put your product on them.

6. Encourage synergy.


What to be a great brand? Study Oprah.

Seeking Elmo

Changing tastes, lagging brands, increased competition, evolving consumers, and increasing difficulty in attracting your target’s attention: sounds like this could be a list of challenges facing any number of industries including ours.

In this case though, we’re talking about the toy industry and Mattel and its Fisher-Price line in particular. Today’s Wall Street Journal noted the company had it’s first quarterly loss in more than three years and was hurt not only by the weak economy, but also by factors like a struggling brand (Barbie) and the lack of a hot, new item, like last year’s T. M. X. Elmo.

Innovation of course is one way to keep a brand prosperous. If you attended the A&O pre-CRS Seminar, you know that one of Starbuck’s brand traits is ‘staying fresh through innovation.’

However trying to deliver too much of a good thing can confuse consumers. Mattel’s Magic of the Rainbow” fantasy doll did so many other functions too (a remote control, CD-ROM game, button-activated fluttering wings) that, “‘Girls asked – is this a doll?’” according to Chuck Scothon, Sr. VP of Mattel’s girls division who admits, “We put too much in.”

The challenge for Mattel – and arguably other industries including radio – is to be “fresh and new” without being so overly innovative that consumers are left confused by what the core product actually is.

Brands are a promise of value and experiences. Violating your promise or delivering an ‘average’ consumer experience diminishes the brand’s power. Delivering on your promises and providing an exceptional experience strengthens your brand’s power.

Examine each item in your station’s brand folder and determine how powerful it is, considering relevance, customer experience, stand-out-ability, freshness, and its potential to generate new listeners on its own or via word of mouth.

• Is the listeners’ experience in synch with what they truly want? If not, how do they need to be modified?
• Are your true brand assets attracting your listeners’ attention?
• Is your station on multiple platforms? How is the quality of that cross-platform experience?
• How can you deepen your station’s brand experience?


“Something in the Air” author Marc Fisher, speaking at Rutgers’ Eagleton Institute of Politics listed ‘reinvesting in creativity’ as one of radio’s top ways to be innovative.

Consider doing just that in the next week. Spend a few hours with your creative staffers reviewing what on your station that can be evolved, updated, spun or reinvented to deliver not only a better brand experience, but one that causes listeners to tell others about.

In the process, you might discover your station’s next Elmo.

Lost and Found

Starbucks has been underplaying its expertise says CEO Howard Schultz (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120761010035596407.html?mod=mm_hs_marketing_strategy).

Somewhere between opening stores and inventing new Frappuccino flavors, Mr. Schultz says the company’s expertise in coffee selection and roasting – what the company believes to be a strong competitive advantage - was downplayed.

Now, with its new “Pike Place Roast” debuting today, the company will focus on its superior brewing and roasting abilities, joining McDonalds and Dunkin’ Brands in the battle for drip coffee consumers.

Those of you heard Starbucks Director/US Store Level Marketing Bill Black at our A&O Pre-CRS Seminar in Nashville, will remember Bill sharing that one of Starbucks’ goals was returning to its core business by stripping away distractions and asking questions like, “Who are we talking to?” “What do we do?” “What’s our benefit?” and “What unique attributes do we have that we can leverage?”

Touting their unique brewing and roasting skills then certainly makes strategic sense.

Imagine your station doing the same introspection. Would it help you insure that your strongest competitive advantages were being highlighted and not downplayed or hidden by the superfluous?

Try using Starbucks' questions to begin building a brand folder for your station. Then use that folder as a filter to refine what’s on your air. You may find some competitive advantages that have been lost.