Strategy & Brand

What’s the point?

We have found that outrageous talent united around a common focus, shared values, and a philosophical sense of purpose, engaged in meaningful work, that exercises the core competencies and enthuses the synergy of the working community of people, managed by commitment with enough resources to accomplish their agreed upon objectives, are not going to find themselves at the center of the next corporate scandal or be out smarted by a distracted competitor.

We believe that brand has the power to humanize.

How can a business build brand equity around a charitable activity without appearing to be “doing it just for the publicity”?

If the purpose of a business’ charitable activities is just to build brand equity, they are “doing it just for the publicity.” It’s not a publicity stunt if a business has a Big !dea- an inspired mission and vision worth supporting and carrying forth- and they use their time, talents, and resources to support a like-minded cause.

Businesses founded on Big !deas stand out and stand apart. If you’re communicating your Big !dea and conveying your purpose, your charitable contributions won’t be misunderstood. If your intentions are sketchy, if your mission and vision aren’t clear, or aren’t being successfully conveyed, you’ve got some brand issues to sort out. Get on it.

BlackDog believes we’re are all responsible for the ways we contribute to global and community problems or fail to contribute to their solution. Research indicates your customers agree with us…

• 83% of consumers are actively willing to change their buying habits if doing so would help “make the world a better place.”

• 61% of consumers have chosen a brand that differentiates itself through values, ideas, and impact over brands that differentiate on price.

• “64 percent of people globally say they would recommend a brand that supports a good cause.”

So, stick up for your values and the issues that matter to you and your customers fearlessly.

goodpurpose: “Despite Prolonged Global Recession, an Increasing number of people are spending on brands that have social purpose: According to the 2009 Global Edelman goodpurpose Study.” New York, 2009; 21 (October).

We appreciate that you operate in a complicated cultural reality – economic uncertainty, political divide, scarcity mentalities, and fear have collided in the health-care sector. The insured, underinsured, and uninsured are feeling anxious, concerned, entitled, angry, and threatened. We find it frustrating and shortsighted that the health-care “hysteria” is largely avoided by the very industry that is positioned to address the uncertainties and acknowledge the prevailing social vulnerability that we all sense when sea change is required.

We suspect that the majority of advertising campaigns designed and launched by health insurers are well-intentioned. But the reality is that the messages communicated have less to do with the higher order needs, desires, sensitivities, and fears of people than they do with promoting what any one insurer has to offer as a “program” or a “perk” in the same-old, same-old approach. It seems to us that the messages conveyed and brand promises made seem to rely on consumption axioms that actually provoke cultural contradictions and rouse social anxieties. Meaningless programs and messaging dominate the awareness strategies of insurers distracted by their own positioning. Even the most thoughtful participants in the industry are minimizing their role and limiting their potential by skirting the blazing issues.

Not long ago McKinsey reported that people are less concerned with having to change than they are that no one is defining how in relation to health-care. People want to know that health insurers understand that more and more decision-making power and financial responsibility fall to people, not companies. People want to know that health insurers intuit the seriousness with which they fear illness- given that more than half of the working population reports being ‘unprepared’ for an injury or illness. People want to know that health insurers realize health-care is costly to them, regardless of the “value” offered.

Until health insurers recognize the relevant, deeply personal influences and the range of emotions that control decision making it is impossible to speak the same language, elevate cultural understanding, evolve behavior – or – attract, woo, and secure ideal subscribers.

The times and reality cry out  for a thought leader, a compassionate visionary that is willing to address head on what must be done. A thought leader driven by deep convictions, that appreciates that it is moral to be realistic and realistic to be moral. A thought leader that acknowledges the uncertainty with a perspective that communicates solutions in an open declaration of confidence to an insecure people, at such a time as this. Rather than advertising quips that gloss and avoid the cultural tensions and political divide – a thought leader that speaks directly to the collective psyche of society, one ad, one sponsorship, one promotion at a time. A thought leader that will keep it real; interacting authentically and sincerely. No visionary should ignore the well-being of people in conflict, especially in the wellness industry. An energized industry insider ready to make a promise that can be kept, and communicated, through a perspective that holistically and strategically connects with the needs of people. What is needed is “a utopian moment of healing built around” ¹ solutions and concepts that address the way forward.

If the programs, products, and partnerships of health-care providers are in-sync with an honorable philosophy, a robust purpose and a motivating vision then the organization should NOT be dumbed-down with trite messaging and out-of-touch promotions. Health insurers have a responsibility to make explicitly plain how the industry and providers intend to participate and interact in the colliding worlds of health, wellness, and fear.

When the needs are great, the issues sensitive, and the future uncertain, it is necessary for organizations in competitive and personal arenas to reveal more of ‘who they are’ rather than what programs they sell. The insured and uninsured want to know the motives of health insurers; key to understanding and deciding who can and should be trusted in the new and uncertain world order. The contrast between health insurer’s campaigns and their organizational way of being were less important once upon a time then they are now. In the new health insurance world order who you are, what you stand for, and why anyone wants your version of health-care genuinely matters. Your purpose and philosophy, as it relates to health, disease, trust, and people are intensely relevant.

The debate on health-care seems to hover and stall at cost. To not integrate or speak to the emotional aspect of health insurance is to ignore a fundamental aspect of the very real human experience. What people are concerned about is security, which is related to freedom. Freedom certainly has a cost but it’s far more complex than premium rates. Freedom, and control, are foundational to our national health and wellness mindsets. It will take a confident thought leader with a genuine interest in the wellness of people to motivate a nation to healthier behavioral choices, key to securing their freedom and health in the new world order. To sincerely address the real issues, thoughtfully, in a relevant voice is to alleviate the fears that will ultimately distract people’s ability to make sound decisions. Once a sense of direction hits tipping point a sense of acceptance, responsibility, certainty, and progress will infuse the human spirit and collective willpower transcending powerlessness, confusion, fear, anger, resentment, entitlement…

We challenge the health insurance industry to reconsider and re-imagine their influence, relevance, and role moving forward. Visionary, purpose-driven, people-centric providers are in a position to offer more than benefits within a category. What is needed now is a compassionate visionary who has the potential to innovate, negotiate, and champion change within the industry and society. Competitive forces and the anxiety of the masses demand that insurers develop wider brand strategies that develop and broadcast differences that truly make a difference. To our way of thinking, an authentic brand is driven by a humanizing philosophy and a captivating purpose, fueled by relentless conviction intent on guiding people-centric, spot-on decision making that doesn’t disappoint. Anything less is just malarkey. Relevance, credibility, and awareness are not an accidental consequence of advertising campaigns nor are they fringe activities unrelated to the greater purposes and objectives that providers sincerely intend to achieve, short and long term.

In times of trouble we listen for the confident; we are willing to follow the confident. Are you confident? Are you different? Are you relevant? Credible? Compelling? Do you care?

There will be plenty of those that simply wait and watch to see what the future holds. Insurers that ignore the realities that keep us up at night and chewing our nails during the day, do so at our collective peril. We implore relevant providers to rise to the occasion as champions of the health-care revolution, provoking conversations, deepening their relevance and proving that the exceptional is possible. Genuine leadership finds the courage to address the conflicts of society, culture, and people…not merely customers, consumers, and programming.

The best prospects for a meaningful future demand that we all do our part, giving the best of what we have, generously.

Here’s one plan…innovate a dynamic, new product; one that can change staid perspectives and whole industries…and then place it in the hands of people who only know and understand how to do what has always been done…and you will get predictable results.

Here’s another…innovate a dynamic, new product; one that can change staid perspectives and whole industries…one that explores the limits, plays at the boundaries, and harnesses the unique competencies that will disrupt business as usual creating new possibilities and offering a completely new experience.

In other words…“Stand out. Be conspicuous, at all cost. Make yourself a magnet of attention by appearing larger, more colorful, more mysterious than the bland and timid masses” (Robert Greene. The 48 Laws of Power) or blend into the blandness.

Inspired by functional design, engaged by practical innovation, and driven by a brand that sees the needs of people not a consumer market, truly innovative new products have the power to persuade and invigorate the tired, tried and true methodology with a bold approach that reinforces  uniqueness and sparks intrigue.

The humanizing nature of the offering itself, paired with a brand worth believing, and an introduction that dazzles should make room for whole markets and select buyers to find their own detailed story in the buying experience. Through and through the offering should stand apart and stick in the minds of ‘creatures of habit’ as an unapologetically,  vivid, healthy, sustainable, durable, and flexible departure from the mundane.

Ease the resistance, seduce, command attention, and never forget that everything is judged by appearance…so keep it real and dream big. When the stakes are high, timidity is risky business.  

So, are there examples of bold thinking… inspired moves… wildly successful crazy ideas?

• In 1950 Dunkin’ Donuts was born. Tim Hortons went live in 1964. One thing for sure… people loved their coffee, and paying a buck for a cup of joe was apparently right on the money. The market was happy… business was growing. So why would an entrepreneur in the early 80’s decide that a new category was possible, one that would change the coffee landscape forever? Because he was inspired by what he knew was possible. And out of that instinct to act, to be bold, came his mission statement: to inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup, and one neighborhood at a time. Starbucks knew it was different, and they were told it was crazy… it would never work. The naysayers questioned who the heck would pay $4 for a cup of coffee? Starbucks separated themselves from the pack and you know the rest of the story. Crazy. Inspired. Bold. Successful.
• A bra is a bra is a bra… so why start a lingerie store when bras and panties were available everywhere in 1977? Victoria Secrets’ products were not uniquely different, but placed in a comfortable, male-friendly environment, an amazing phenomenon was born. Stand-alone stores and the Internet of its day- mail order catalogs created the foundation for this $5B giant today. Crazy. Inspired. Bold. Successful.
• Everybody buys a vacuum cleaner at one time or another. And then they buy bags and more bags… often. The bag industry is a $500M business… why would anyone interfere  with the magic of the razor/razor blade, keep’em coming back for more, classic approach? It’s no surprise that when James Dyson invented a bag-less vacuum cleaner in the late 70s big manufacturers didn’t get turned on, but rather turned him and his design away. Dyson and his crazy, inspired and bold innovation threatened to destroy  dependable revenue streams. Today Dyson is a $10B behemoth and much bigger than the bag industry it threatened. Crazy. Inspired. Bold. Successful.

Crazy. Inspired. Bold. Successful.

First, they were crazy. Did anyone really believe that the human spirit was worth the cost of an expensive cup of coffee made from beans in distant and exotic lands? Did anyone really want to be seen buying the aura of sex in the form of underwear in a larger than life, too-hot-to-handle, glitzy lingerie showroom? And why do women pay twice as much for a “cyclone” vacuum cleaner in outrageous colors, designed around “ball technology” that redistributes the center of gravity for easier maneuverability that uses a filter rather than a bag? What is known is that these are great ideas turned break-a-way successes because the founders turned an audacious perspective into a larger than life reality that woos people to them.

Second, they were inspired. The inventors, the backers, the founders, the employees… and the market all wanted more than a dose of bitter reality on the way to work and under her suit. The Dyson vacuum worked for people that didn’t expect to suction bowling balls and did hope for a practical life in living color that rolled along smoothly. As it turns out wanting more and paying for it was exactly what a large market segment has hoping for all along in each category. People have been gravitating to products and brands that mine deep and go big in lieu of what has always been available and ordinary, time and time again.

Third, they were bold. They broke the rules, invented new ones and disrupted the market in grand style. They knew success meant sticking to their ideals. Undaunted by the popular world view; the successes that get talked about refuse to pay lip service to lofty missions or shallow pursuits. These are the visionaries that fearlessly parted from the herd and refused to be homogenized. They were different; they created value in a style that was all their own. They were the masters of their own experience and hence, the experience of others, driving  customer loyalty unlike any advertising scheme or shallow gimmick.

And then they became successful!  These geniuses created new categories because they were just crazy enough to do what they believed in despite the disbelievers, inspired enough by the possibilities and willing to act bold when the time was right. Success came because they did something different and weren’t  persuaded or engaged by those that see through the lens of what can’t be done.

We want to be a part of the crazy, inspired, bold, successful stories. All others need not apply.

A Bold Brand Is A Necessity

A Vague Brand Is A Liability

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View the 2010 Threats to Girlhood Report

Threats to Girlhood include all of the issues, mindsets, factors, trends, and circumstances that impact girls’ lifelong health, wellness, happiness, and ability to succeed. Identifying current Threats to Girlhood is an important step towards advancing the well being of girls, the possibilities for women, and the strength of communities.  The 2010 Threats to Girlhood report issued by BlackDog’s foundation Serious Play for Serious Girls provides a collective view detailing the breadth and depth of the challenges that girls face.  Good brands will use this report to guard against inflicting these challenges developed as an outcome of their actions.
Emerging research on the state of girlhood highlights the interconnection of girlhood threats. Education and poverty, body image issues and advertising, sexual abuse and self-harm, conformism and commercialism; the issues threatening our girls aren’t isolated and unrelated.  Radically reducing Threats to Girlhood will require that we, collectively, work to improve all the interconnected causes along the way, not just the side effects.

No one single parent, politician, celebrity role model, company, organization, product, publication, or advertisement is solely responsible for the development of girlhood threats. We are all, however, responsible for the ways in which we contribute to these threats or fail to contribute to their solution. Radically reducing Threats to Girlhood requires a holistic solution: an out-of-the-box and into-the-hands-of decision-makers solution that takes the whole girl, the world she lives in, and the interconnection of the threats facing her, all into account.

This report is certainly not exhaustive, but we hope it will help show the scope of the problem and the urgent need for a new perspective. Because Threats to Girlhood are continually changing, shifting, and evolving, this is an ongoing project intended to continue addressing threats and working towards solutions.

We believe that research shouldn’t be remanded to vaults and scholarly journals, so if your research helps identify a Threat to Girlhood or a solution to a girlhood threat, we hope you’ll pass it along for possible inclusion in the report. Please send your stats, facts, and insights on girlhood threats, along with a copy of the published research or report in which the insights appear, to us for review.

I can’t tell if what I am seeing is a gross over simplification or just a lackluster attempt to ‘spin’ a brand, get on with the show or turn a buck.

What I do know is that the inherent power of brand to tell a vibrant story, capture the essence of a working people and articulate a higher purpose is being reduced to cryptic taglines, vague images, and meaningless stories.

 Authentic brand relevance isn’t cheap or easy; it can’t be bought, prescribed or faked. Authentic brand relevance is an earned honor of distinction bestowed upon companies that are grounded in a philosophy of being, know their purpose, make connections, and relate a perspective that speaks to and engages people.
 
Authentic brands advance thought-leadership, part from the herd, take the high road, keep it fresh, and offer meaningful solutions in the marketplace and to the world.
 
Authentic brands are a holistic, matchless advantage, enlivened by people with the power to restore a lost sense of humanity and balance to business.
 
This is about the time that I find myself in the awkward position of assuming the role of brands overprotective and perturbed Jewish mother.When resources are tight and competition real why are organizations announcing re-branding efforts that amount to nothing more than an altered juxtaposition of their logo in a fresh splash of color with a quippy tag-line chaser? A risky practice in that it seems to attract considerable word of mouth only when the effort is considered a dismal flop, otherwise it appears to go unnoticed. A logo cannot possibly capture the story or accurately represent the collective ambitions, effort, ethics, synergy and attitudes of any people working to solve problems and achieve goals in fierce times. I’m riled when brand is repeatedly diminished to a visual interpretation when there is real work to be done. I’m incensed that any working community of people would be reduced to a meaningless or superficial level of perception. Genuine influence will cost more than cheap tricks and idle dribble.

All children’s brands should be guided by an internalized dictum to “first, do no harm” that aligns organizational purpose, business strategy, brand management, and the optimal development of children. This sworn commitment requires a guiding philosophy that holds collective ability and judgment accountable, demands respect for scientific discovery, and vows to regard the holistic well being of children and childhood above all other competing concerns. It also requires an adopted practice of responsibility and professionalism dedicated to promoting the highest standards and respect for each developmental stage and phase, guarding the season of childhood.

Children need inspired playthings to help them tackle real world issues. Brands are either meeting the demand with constructive tools, placating children with shallow entertainment, or are selling out by buying into the notion that what they produce, promote, and contribute is inconsequential to the cultural realities of our day. If companies don’t begin adopting actionable, responsible standards rooted in high ideals, transparency, health, and holistic wellbeing, the industry will become subject to restrictive legislation.

There is no shortage of threats to childhood: cultural challenges to combat, stigmas and stereotypes to overcome, and chaos to decode. What is sparse, are companies that guard the season of childhood, regard their contribution as a vocation, and that champion the role and opportunity to proactively influence the healthy real life needs of impressionable young people.

Brands don’t exist in vacuums- they impact, influence, and shape our global ecology.

The philosophy and relevance behind brand development has proven to have utility across a wide and diverse range of interests. Brands distinguish organizations, churches, teams, industries, destinations, associations, events, museums, causes, institutions, politics, clusters, professions, movements, buildings, and the arts, one from another, when services offered don’t.
It should come as no surprise that the utilities sector – electric, water, and fuel are  utilizing the power of brand to humanize the service, build trust, attract employees, educate consumers, establish value, reveal what has been perceived as hidden, and  define a new engagement with consumers. Utility Companies must embrace brand or risk ceding their long established position to competitors or alternative solutions.

A utility brand is not a new method of spin, a mere communications roll-out, or another dangling carrot incentives program. A brand is a competitive advantage that defines, differentiates and strategically aligns and positions the utility to clarify credibility, reliability and value in a meaningful and powerful demonstration, one corporate decision, and one customer touch point at a time. The utility brand does not live in the marketing department but rather serves as a strategic infrastructure throughout the organization, guiding all C-level, departmental, operational, and customer service judgments, consistently delivering the promised purpose and values. A dynamic utility brand is only as powerful as it is accountable to deliver.   

Thriving brands focus on innovating solutions and connections that attest to their significant relevance and sincere commitment.  A non-traditional pilot program in Canada provoked awareness and engaged consumers by allowing energy users to fit their consumption to peak and non-peak times.  In the end, customers were empowered to shift their patterns of consumption, impacting their carbon footprint, benefiting the utility, and reducing consumer costs. This win-win approach spurred 78 percent of the consumers to vote the pilot program into stable existence, less than 20 percent wanted to revert back to the traditional pricing plan.1

When was the last time that you aligned your decision making values with the shared concerns and interests of your customers for mutual utility?

1 Ontario Energy Board Smart Price Pilot “Backgrounder: Ontario Energy Board Smart
Price Pilot.” Ontario Energy Board. July 26,2007.

Professional associations are a critical component in the US business ecology.  The ASAE Center for Association Leadership reports that: 

• There are 147,000 incorporated associations in the US
• 1,000 new associations are being formed each year
• 9 out of 10 US adults belong to one association
• 1 out 4 US adults belong to four or more associations

 Historically Professional Associations have proactively advanced the interest of professionals while establishing codes of governance that protect the public interest as well as the respective practice. Professional Associations have contributed significantly to ongoing research by harnessing the insights of members, forecasting industry trends, improving the quality of standards and practices, advocating knowledge sharing, and creating access to education locally and globally. Professional Associations establish ethical guidelines, resolve practice issues as they arise, provide mentors and provoke thought leadership. What’s more interesting and relevant is that Professional Associations act as the primary source for ongoing professional development beyond college in the US. (95% of Professional Associations support on-going education opportunities, certificate trainings, internships and mentorships).

Critical Challenge: Not all Professional Associations are created equal.

Guilty by association? Professional Associations appear to make the same promises, offer like perks in the same stuffy style on copycat websites. Professional Associations compete for limited members with limited time…and yet few organizations stand for a distinctive purpose or stand apart with a compelling perspective that connects with members and distinguishes one organization above another. Few Professional Associations have revealed the “big idea” that expresses the association’s reason for existence; the relevance, history, purpose, passion, integrity, advocacy, significance, social capital and successes in a compelling and meaningful brand story. Professional Associations that don’t want to be confused for ordinary must explicitly define or re-define their relevance, breaking from the herd to be heard.

Authentic and relevant Professional Association brands are memorable; they are differentiated by thought leadership, synergy, credibility, ingenuity, diversity, style, philosophy, design, sustainability…  when the list of distinctions is endless, the membership is boundless! 

Emotions- we don’t believe that “emotion” can or should be woven into every brand story in the hopes of “snagging” more customers.

We don’t believe that “emotions” should be, nor do we believe that they can be exploited at brand will. We don’t believe that an emotional connection to a brand will prove to be so compelling that it bypasses reason and suspends logic.

We do believe that a well-developed brand narrative should represent a dimensional, authentic, relevant and meaningful story that positions the brand to be noticed, understood and wanted.

We do believe that people and markets want products, services and brands that they identify with, relate to and see themselves as… accurate or not.

We do believe that if you are successful in creating meaningful connections, you won’t have to “manipulate” customers using evocative methods or messages.

We do believe there are causes, cohorts, events and a few, rare and exceptional organizations that have such a powerful brand story as to evoke a connection; call us to action; or put us in touch with a remembrance, a feeling, a sense of duty, a dream.

Powerful responses are enlivened when the authentic story is excavated to reveal a compelling brand that connects to a place deep, visceral and real within us.