Frito-Lay made a big splash the other week when they suspended a replica of their “Flavor Kitchen” over Times Square. The “Flavor Kitchen” is Frito-Lay’s newest tactic in its “naturally delicious” campaign.  They used the kitchen as a place to demonstrate their promise around, “all natural ingredients,” showing the Executive Chef chopping fresh veggies for the next batch of chips.  Why did they choose to do this versus the more traditional method of telling customers about their commitment? First, it’s more transparent and therefore more believable. There’s a big difference between a company like Frito-Lay saying they’re all natural versus showing it.

But what’s also genius about this is that it’s become a brand-defining experience. They’re not just the company who pays lip service to all natural, they’re doing it, and they doing it big. The old saying “actions speak louder than words” couldn’t be more true in today’s over-saturated consumer market. If you saw this on the news or if you were a lucky passer-by, chances are you won’t forget it. If you were going to create a brand defining experience for your business, what would it be?

- Evelyn Jones

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Whether you’re a B2B or B2C company, seeing your experience from your customers’ perspective is a powerful way to align your team and build your brand.  Often this requires lifting the veil and putting yourself in their shoes vis-à-vis primary research with customers.

How would your organization benefit from knowing the following?

1. Understanding the  current brand experience from an outsiders’ point of view
2. Your customers’ desired experience
3. The gaps and opportunities that may exist between the two

And how would having this information enable you to enact positive change and build brand value?

If you are looking for a place to start, our senior-level consultants are offering an affordable promotion of our brand strategy services. Check out the information on our Facebook page or call Briana Marrah at 206-285-5280.

Check out the details on our  Facebook page.

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In a world where we’re bombarded by information—blog posts, magazine articles, YouTube videos, Facebook posts, and Tweets—there’s little room for content that lacks purpose or a wow factor. So if you’re looking to really engage your audiences, you’ll need to go beyond just another piece of content and deliver differentiated and relevant experiences packed with value.

So what does that look like? Well, for me, the experience has got to be unique, and interesting enough to  break through all the clutter and actually get my attention, it needs to be relevant to my life  and useful, and—if it’s really good—it’ll propel me to do something new.

Here’s an example: ChooseMyPlate.gov

With obesity on a steady rise, the USDA has made some updates to the good old food pyramid—in fact, they eliminated it. Recognizing that achieving a healthy lifestyle feels complicated, the new plate icon was designed to make eating healthy easy—imagine that! But what really got my attention was that the USDA didn’t stop there. Visit their website and you’ll find tips, resources and tools that help make eating right and being healthier easier, and the thing that compelled me to act: MyPyramid Menu Planner. Here you can assess your food intake and your physical activity and ongoingly track what you eat to achieve a balanced diet and meet your weight loss goals.

Whether you’re selling clothes, books, ideas, support for the homeless or a healthy lifestyle, the experiences you offer to customers (not just the content) are key to your success. So, before you start churning out your next blog, marketing campaign, annual report or interactive tool, spend some time in your customers’ shoes thinking about what will make these things more than just content—what will make them useful, interesting, thought provoking and exciting experiences for them. Because if you don’t inspire them to engage with you and take action, what’s the point?

- Rachel Olmsted

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There’s still room at the Alliance Executive Leadership Conference at Seattle’s Edgewater Hotel. Four intensive workshops over 2 days, including one by our own Beth Woolley and Jennifer Travis on understanding your brand, applying it to build relationships and setting yourself up for social media success.

Check out more details at our Facebook event page or check out the conference’s official site. If you have questions, feel free to contact Hillary Hanson at 800-221-3726 ext. 6551.

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Management is making sure things run smoothly.  Leading, on the other hand, is lifting up your head, looking around, and doing something about what you see.  Many companies are run by managers, versus leaders.  Which is great if nothing changes.

But we’re in a time of great change, with the rate of change growing ever faster.  Leaders are what’s needed now, no matter what size company or type of industry you’re in.   Mobile, cloud, outsourcing/insourcing, self-serve, social media, disintermediation, user generated content…unless you run a hot dog stand, there’s practically no industry left unscarred by the vast of amount of change in the last 15 years. Even if you do run a hot dog stand, you’ll need to keep up with trends in localvore habits, mobile food truck regulations, the use of social media to drive new customers, supply chain traceability, changes in health concerns…

Lead and they will follow.  But just manage, and you will quickly be swept aside by the waves of change.

- Lynn Parker

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I stumbled across the top 20 Facebook fan pages article on Inc. and saw “Steve Spangler Science” as the top ranked Facebook page.  I had to investigate. Who is Steve Spangler and why is he so popular?  If you go to Steve Spangler’s Facebook page you are first welcomed with a video. The video shows his science experiments in the community and guest appearances on TV shows, but basically the clip does a great job at saying why you should become fan and explaining what’s in it for you. Steve Spangler has a strategy. He draws people in with a simple video, is clear about the benefits of being his Facebook fan, and regularly monitors and contributes on the page once you’re in. The article mentions that Spangler has even hired a full time employee to do “nothing but listen” to who said what on which social media sites.

Steve Spangler and many other companies have nailed down their Facebook strategy in a way that is relevant to their fans and seeing real results.  SmartPak is tracking referrals from Facebook to their website and is seeing increased revenue as a result of their Facebook page.  Many other pages listed in the article have strategies of their own focusing on customer engagement, brand recognition, product contests, games, etc., with most all of the pages somehow creating an experience where fans can engage and interact with the company.

So I ask, how do your fans experience and interact with you on your Facebook page? And how does your social media presence deliver on your brand promise?

- Evelyn Jones

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I read a great blog from Maz Iqbal today about customer-centricity vs. product-centricity and want to expand on his thoughts a bit in the context of brand.

‘Product-centricity’ is when the company’s primary focus is on the product—making it better, producing it more efficiently and selling more of it. ‘Customer-centricity,’ on the other hand, is when the company’s primary focus is on the customer’s experience—creating the best experience at whatever cost, with the goal of creating a customer relationship that lasts.

While you may say these aren’t mutually exclusive, it turns out…they may be. What I mean is, they each require a different leadership mindset (and, frankly, it’s rare to possess both). Customer-centric leaders consistently use the brand promise as a guide to ensure that it is kept at every customer touch point, making compromises in profits where necessary to uphold that promise. These are leaders that choose to:

a) Invest in customer service over
b) Outsourcing it

a) Invest in customer experience design over
b) Product design

a) Invest in building up and supporting their employees over
b) Status quo management

Unfortunately, there are relatively few brands out there doing this today. But, the movement is afoot. Because, in this digital age where customers define how products are used and what brands mean for them, the experience is king. So why not make it a brand-defining experience? Brand-defining experiences are experiences that demonstrates your brand promise in a way that emphasizes your distinct value, or values, as the case may be…

–Jen Travis

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I’ve been a fan of TED.com for quite a while now (even before Lynn Parker’s TEDx Puget Sound talk), and I have to say, out of the many experts that update me on the world, Rory Sutherland, stands out as a marvelous ad man.  It helps that he’s funny, but more importantly; he takes the art of advertising out of the usual business setting and asks the question, “How can I make the world a better place with an advertising idea?”  To him, advertising is more than just a tool to increase profits; it’s also a fantastic opportunity to understand the underlying motivations that we routinely take for granted.

I’ll let him articulate his thoughts rather than paraphrase his ideas. Check out his light-hearted talk and tell me what you think.

Question of the day: What is perceptional value?

-Gareth Lim

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