With the pandemic easing in most of the US, brands are increasing their marketing budgets. It’s no wonder that some of that spending is focused on providing people with experiences (vs. advertisements). After all, we customers have been hunkered inside for more than a year. We’re approaching outdoor events as Rip Van Winkle reacted after being asleep for a long spell — eyes and hearts wide open to anything. As with all marketing efforts, there are ways to do experiences right and ways to do them wrong. For the latter, we need to look no further than the North Face X Gucci “Pit Stop” that was part of the 2021 Desert X event based in Palm Springs, California. Desert X presents art installations across 40 miles of the breathtaking Coachella Valley. This year, the event sought “to explore the idea of the desert…
John Deere – Branding and business models at their best
The most powerful brands offer more than a unique, hard-to-copy and relevant value promise embracing both tangible and emotional benefits. They are also about more than the brand’s personality, although I will admit to loving beer brand Dos Equis “most interesting man in the world” personality. The best brands appeal to a shared aspiration that speaks to our deep hopes and dreams. When the organization’s actions authentically reflect this aspiration, you have a magical brand, like John Deere. Yes, the John Deere. The heavy off-highway equipment company serving the construction, farming and other earth-moving markets. Its award-winning communications campaign, You’re On, teaches many brand and business model strategy lessons. Start with Deere’s construction industry homepage, where you’ll see the message “Who says man cannot move a mountain?” as a Deere machine moves earth on a landscape surrounded by mountains. What a welcomed contrast…
Trader Joe’s Business Model Wins in a World With Excessive Choices
All too often the rationally best alternative comes with subtle trade-offs that reduce the emotional benefits of your purchase. Take the Accura I purchased owing to the high service costs I had experienced with my Audi. Within hours of driving out of the Accura dealership, I grieved the Audi’s zippier feel and realized that I had just paid a huge price premium for a Honda with fancy wrapping. The emotional loss need not always be the case. Take Trader Joe’s, in a class by itself when it comes to grocery stores. Fortune magazine captures the Trader Joe’s experience perfectly in saying, “Trader Joe’s is not an ordinary grocery chain. It’s an offbeat, fun discovery zone that elevates its shelves with a winning combination of low-cost, yuppie-friendly staples (cage free eggs and organic blue agave sweetener) and exotic, affordable luxuries – Belgian butter waffle…
Lifestyle company business model strategy
The table lacked butter and olive oil, purposefully. So began my meal Saturday night in Orlando Florida at Seasons 52, a fresh dining concept from Darden Restaurants, parent company to Olive Garden and other restaurant chains. Nothing on the Seasons 52 menu has over 475 calories, a requirement that leads to guiltless mini-desserts. The upscale menu changes every three months (I ate from the Fall menu), and includes weekly specials that capture a food in its best season. Brussels sprouts – a rare restaurant find except in gourmet restaurants – caught my eye. Attractive presentation, brick ovens and a terrific wine list (including wines “soon to be famous”) added to the dining experience. An inviting stone and wood décor complete with a fireplace and a welcoming piano bar will draw repeat visitors for sure. I’m writing about Seasons 52 as it contains the…
Is “Great to Good” the new business model strategy?
In using “Great to Good” in my title, I am quoting from new product development consultant Monica Wingate, of Fountainhead Brand Consulting, whose recent Evolve NPD Blog post summarizes key insights that she gained from the 2010 Market Research Summit held at University of Wisconsin, Madison’s A.C. Neilson Center for Marketing Research. I advise reading her post to learn how research methods will change in today’s challenging economy. The conference insight giving rise to Wingate’s Great to Good reference is that “Companies will embrace the ‘new normal’ by focusing on taking out less important features and lowering the price rather than adding value and cost into products.” If this is branded consumer goods companies’ core strategy for the “new normal,” they are stepping into commoditization’s quicksand. Why do I use the word quicksand in talking about commoditization? Because that is how commoditization happens…
Tiger Woods’ Business Model in the Rough
Today we have a guest post from Steve Paskoff, CEO of ELI. Today is my birthday, so I have asked my client Steve Paskoff, CEO of ELI, Inc. to share some of his wisdom about the importance of leadership behavior in creating a winning business model. ELI offers its clients a foundational learning platform (training products, manager tools, informal learning opportunities) built on laws and behaviors for civil treatment that enhances organizational performance. Steve’s choice of Tiger Woods as an example is a compelling one. It shows how transparent our world has become and why leaders’ actions, not just their words, will increasingly drive how their companies are perceived. Internal employees have always judged their employer by leadership actions, not words. With the internet and instant communications, the outside world now has a window into all of our organizations. From Steve: Tiger Woods…