Actually one of a few different ideas I’ve seen recently related to lunch boxes – one citing the dangers of the boxes themselves, the other offering ideas for “sustainable” lunch sacks. Interesting idea, but what are the chances your kids will actually come home with the napkins? ttp://springwise.com/eco_sustainability/reusable_lunch_box_napkins/
Very interesting and engaging talk by Dean Ornish from TED conference http://www.ted.com (bringing together the world’s most fascinating thinkers and doers) – about simple, low-tech and low-cost ways to take advantage of the body’s natural desire to heal itself. Dean Ornish is a clinical professor at UCSF and founder of the Preventative Research Institute. He’s a leading expert on fighting illness – particularly heart disease with dietary and lifestyle changes.
“When the going gets tough, the tough get going.”
Never thought I’d guote Billy Ocean, but his statement is true. The recession’s impacted everyone. Both marketer and consumer are re-evaluating their priorities and their next moves. Both are under pressure to control costs, maintain liquidity and protect their bottom lines.
So how can health and wellness marketers make the best of a tough and lingering situation. How can you maintain or actually build momentum, when many others are hunkering down. In our work with clients, we’re focusing on these issues:
1. Stay True To Your Story. Who you are, what you stand for, what you believe in and the benefits you provide are what won you their loyalty in the first place. Now, in the midst of all this turmoil, is not the right time to revise your script. Those who know you best will see through you, begin to doubt you and make others aware of same.
2. Tweak The Value Proposition. Value is certainly higher on the consumer’s benefit ladder. Which can be defined as comfort, safety, security, etc. – those benefits that are already built into your value proposition. Consider creative ways to deliver more value at the same price (e.g. more utility, more relationship, more knowledge…). As long as you remain true to who you are, you have permission to evolve the proposition to fit with the times.
3. Keep Insiders Engaged And Positive . Your employees are feeling the strain and pain of the economic situation. Either internally or as consumers themselves, they’re anxious. It’s critical that you continue to work (and that they can continue to drive) your brand from the inside-out. If there’s doubt in their minds about your future (their future), if they don’t have a positive frame of mind, it will come through in their interactions and actions. Remember that employees are one of the most essential, and cost effective, components of marketing.
4. Sharpen The Experience. Walk the mall, and you can see who’se generating the traffic. And whose not. Particularly today, when dollars are tight, those brands that create an emotional connection – that make people feel good about themselves and their decisions – that make people feel more connected – in more control – smart or frugal – will win the day.
5. Open Up The Conversation. Enable and share in your customer conversations. Listen to what they are saying. Learn and build on the positives as well as the criticism. And don’t ignore or cancel out the negatives when they arise. The more transparent you are, the more their trust and loyalty will come out on the other side.
6. Continue Brand-Building Activities. Study after study has demonstrated that companies that continue to spend through recessions come out stronger on the other side. It’s actually a good time to build share of mind as others put on the brakes. And it’s more efficient as media should be less expensive and opportunities exist to negotiate surrounding opportunities.
I just read in today’s Ad Age online that Starbucks has entered into a holiday promotion with Project Red. Clearly, a worthwhile endeavor. And the Starbucks brand, along with the Starbucks consumer, certainly fits with Red. But the fact that they entered into this partnership “amid projections that it won’t see improved same store sales until 2009″ really rubs me the wrong way.
If Starbucks mission is to be a responsible company, why wait until now to sign up with Red. Why wait until after reporting really disappointing Q4 profit and same store sales results. Sort of rhetorical questions. And they acknowledge the effort is only a promotional program. Other Red partners like Gap, Converse, Apple and Hallmark (as reported in this article) have long ago built Red into their ongoing product programs.
Transparency is supposed to be a good thing. But in this case, it’s just too easy to see through. While I can’t argue with the cause, I think the impetus for the effort – particularly for Starbucks – is just wrong.
Dollars are scarce. Value (added-value) is high on your customers list. Brand-enhancing promotional partners are one way to make marketing dollars work harder – helping you garner attention, boost image and and drive sales.
Some considerations:
• start with your consumer – about how you can surprise and delight them
• the simpler the better – they should see it and get it immediately
• your partner should make sense – for your customer and for your brand
• your organization-fit needs to make sense – as you’ll need to work closely together
• retailers need to think it makes sense – so get their buy-in before you’re too far down the road
• what are measures of success – both image and impact, and agree up-front
• are there any other third-party participants/sponsors – that can provide additional spin
Who’d have thought that Burger King could see into the future of health brand marketing. Remember their “have it your way” campaign? Were they really ahead of the curve in customizing brands to meet our individual needs.
From custom protein shakes, to skin care products, beverages and even senior-focused retailers such as HOJO in Lyon, France – providing “just-for-me” experiences is the most effective way possible to ensure brand relevance and connection.
One important impact of this, however, is how companies individualize the associated customer service experience to align with brand delivery.
There was a recent article in Ad Age about an agency committed to Marketing That Matters. Their point-of-view is that the new marketing demands more than telling and selling to consumers tired of being bombarded with one-way messages. Based on the changing priorities of the consumer, driven in part by events taking place around the globe – they believe that cause needs to be baked-in to all marketing programs.
I’d suggest that “marketing that matters” first begins with a more expansive view of your brand and an appreciation of your potential to engage, inspire and guide your audiences. To unleash the full potential of your brand, you must have a wider view of your prospective place in your consumers world.
Beyond products and services, brands should impart knowledge and insight. That knowledge is out there anyway in the vastness of the web, but why not take the leadership role among your peers to organize and be the “beacon” that consumers turn to for their guidance. Consider what Dove has accomplished:
• As an adjunct to its selling efforts, the brand has become an authoritative expert on beauty – facilitated by a site that has become a destination for product and category information.
• It has become a brand that fulfills relationships; creating communities of “like” consumers who aspire to connect with others like them. Through Their Campaign For Real Beauty, it’s united millions of women from around the globe.
Never has there been more opportunity for brands to step up, reach out and engage on all three levels. Particularly for health + healthy lifestyle brands whose very existence is inherently more important to consumers.
Like a 40 mile an hour wind at our backs, the world is constantly changing. How can you get a handle on all these changes, and how do you discern which ones are important and which are just passing fads. Consider an in-house futurist.
To push is to press against something or somebody in order to move that object or person. Today, if we push, we will move audiences away from our products and services. On the other hand, if we pull, we are more likely to draw a willing crowd.
Facilitating the freedom of consumers to engage when and how they want to (to pull them in), will mean the difference between winning and losing in this new environment. Pull tactics include:
Sustainability through a lunch box napkin