I love ice cream. I have wonderful memories of my parents packing up the Johnson family to take summer evening trips to Baskin Robbins.

Recently Baskin Robbins (or "BR" as papa Dwight used to call it) underwent a process of rebranding. I think the new brand is great. It is more fun and playful, focuses on "BR" (Dwight would be proud), and has a very unique way of displaying the famous "31″ through the BR letters.

My only beef with BR, is that the 31 doesn't really mean anything anymore. Originally the concept was that they offered a different flavor each day of the month. I love that concept. Now they have over 1,000 different varieties of ice cream, and though I see how that looks impressive, it leaves me remembering nothing.

I wish they would really play up the "flavor of the day" at least to give me a reason to come back tomorrow. When it never changes and I can always get the same flavors, I have nothing compelling that will make me consistently come back.

Don't worry BR, I still love you. I'm just saying a little focus on what made you great in the first place would give you more room in my heart.

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So I return to my blogs pertaining to The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding.

This week it's chapter 10, The Law of Extensions.

The easiest way to destroy a brand is to put its name on everything. Did you know that the beer market used to be pretty simple until Miller launched Miller Lite in the mid-seventies. Up to that point there were three major american breweries; Budweiser, Coors, and Miller High Life. Those three brands have now blossomed into nearly fifteen in roughly 30 years. The CEOs decided to stretch their brands to acquire customers from the competitors. What they didn't realize was that a Coors customer is much more likely to buy Coors Light than Miller Light, and therefore sales of the original beers has fallen while the light beers has risen. Overall sales didn't increase though.

One great idea came from Heineken USA when they realized the market was in the light beers. They introduced Amstel Light, which quickly became the leader of imported light beer. Then sheer brilliance hit, and they extended to Amstel Bier and Amstel 1870. Results were no different than the extensions of Bud Light and Miller Light.

What I learned:
Let sleeping brands lie. If the market is moving out from under you, launch a new brand, if not stay where you are and continue building the brand you already have.

_gern

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I checked my Apple stock yesterday and was reading a related article about how Apple has doubled its estimated iMac sales this past quarter. It mentioned the TV ads where the Mac and PC guy point out the problems in Vista and how then people visit the closest Apple store to try one out. The article attributes part of their increasing sales to this in-store experience. Read below:

"Gottheil said the stores and services offered within have helped quite a bit. Apple offers one-on-one personal training to customers of Macintoshes. For anyone with any hesitancy about using a computer, that is such a security blanket, he said. Going one to one is a far better experience for the user than a class or book and they make enormous strides with that."  InternetNews.com

Turns out people need people. Especially when it comes to ever changing, frustrating computer technology. People want to talk to someone who has simple answers and can help. Apple communicates this message not only in their stores but in their simple product and in their advertisements. In the commercial you dont have images of the product, rather a person representing the product. If Mac and PC were people, this is how they would look and act. Couple that with similar people in the store and you've got not just a product but a lifestyle.

Put a real face with a name or brand, exceed expectations, and offer a solid product with an inspiring experience.

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According to a recent press release Dell is starting to offer a "premium" customer support option, for a premium price of course.

From Dell's press release – "Dell's new premium support service is to provide a dedicated team of technical professionals which customers can contact directly for support of any Dell-branded product. This new fee-based offering is designed specifically for those customers who want to engage with the same dedicated team each time they have an issue with any of their in-warranty Dell-branded products.

The premium service offer provides household support by an advanced support team in North America for one year. The technicians are empowered to address a comprehensive range of issues across the breadth of Dell's product line."

I think its great that Dell is trying to improve their customer service, but I think it's a complete sham to have to pay for it. What does this say about their standard customer support? Am I supposed to believe that it is pretty much worthless now? It seems that Dell was trying to strengthen their brand with better customer support, but the way they have gone about offering it weakens their standard customer support in the consumers mind.

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This may be one of the most direct marketing campaigns I've ever heard of. Wilkes College has been doing more than just sending direct mailers and personalized letters to court potential new students for the upcoming school year. In an effort to convince these high school seniors to choose Wilkes, the school has been putting personalized ads on billboards, pizza boxes, MySpace, and all sorts of other mediums that actually have a specific potential student's name, accomplishments, etc. These ads have been showing up all over those students' hometowns. The goal – let those students know just how much Wilkes wants specifically them on their campus.

Its made the students feel like celebrities. Their friends, families, and everyone living in their town now knows who they are and that Wilkes wants them as a student on their campus. The campaign has ultimately been the last nudge some of them needed to choose Wilkes as their university. Talk about making someone feel like you want them as a customer.

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Last week we had our 2008 Spring Retreat (not break) to hopping Maggie Valley, NC to discuss what's working, what's not, and what we need to be doing. I always love our retreats (mostly due to the amount of XBOX, poker, blackjack, and monopoly I get to play), but this retreat was hands down the best. We unearthed so many new things it was almost intimidating to come back to work this morning.

One common thread in all our conversations was the protection of our time. We figured out that almost every miscommunication, error, or missed expectation was a result of inadequate time. No one ever sets out to overlook something, it's just a result of our mismanaged time. "There aren't enough hours in the day" is a breeding ground for lack of detail and client dissension. Every problematic scenario we discussed involved vendor's rushing, clients hurrying, and us breaking our process to save time. We have to constantly become Time Cops. We must beat the mean streets of Mistakeville, and uphold justice with preparation, thoroughness, and over delivery.

Time is the most crucial part of our operation, and We Must Protect This House! That's right I said it. Being efficient, innovative, and smart with our time is the best thing we could ever to do for ourselves and our clients.

Sincerely,

Captain O' Clock Work
Time Patrol Specialist

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One of my favorite sites is Pitchfork, it's a music site with reviews, news, features, etc… on all of my favorite music. Last week they launched Pitchfork.tv which is quickly becoming my new favorite site. Do you remember music videos? I had forgotten that they existed too, but now they have a new home. Forget MTV or VH1 unless you want to watch a dating show of a washed up rock star, or find out what it takes to become a high-school cheerleader. Pitchfork.tv has taken the music video channel online. I think the new site is great and will be a great success. In a time when "music television" is filled with everything but music related programming Pitchfork found a way to fill the hole left behind by MTV, MTV2, VH1, etc… Bravo.

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A lot has been stirred up the past year at Starbucks. At the end of the day, their internal brand strategy is to focus on getting back to the roots of what made the brand so strong in the first place: Great Coffee.

What I have been more intrigued about lately is the way in which they are showing physical signs of that internal brand strategy through the external brand touchpoints. The most notable of which recently was launching the new Pike Place roast, which is a tribute to their original store from 1971. They also combined that with the release of cups that have the original Starbucks logo on them. The most touched part of their brand is, by far, their coffee cup. What better place to advertise the getting back to their roots than by putting the old logo on the cups. And better yet, in the words of Seth Godin, they smartly choose to "sell to those that are listening."

So often a company will change course internally, but not show physical signs of it to their customers. We are dumb animals. Unless we see and feel the change, we won't know it's happening.

Continually ask yourself this question: "Do our external brand touchpoints match up with our internal brand strategy?"

For more on the evolution of the Starbucks logo, John Moore has a nice write up on it here.

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Last week we had a business analyst come in and administer personality profiles for all of us. It was a fascinating experience and I learned so much about myself and my co-workers. He said one thing that really made me think. He said, "Your goal should be to make sure everyone is singing off the same song sheet". I loved that analogy. Vision for a company has to be contagious. It has to leak. Everyone from top to bottom, from CEO to Custodian, must be singing the same tune.

Singing off the same sheet works externally, as well as internally. Its important that everyone (including clients and vendors) know what "key" you're in. If they're expecting a C Minor and you belt out a G-sharp, you're off harmony. Anything out of tune echoes with red flags and will cause quick customer dissension. Things must be in pitch.

Imagine your song sheet.Would it be similar to your clients version? What about a co-works? Or vendors? Who is conducting it?

Manage your song sheet and your business will buzz with glee.

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The past three days I've been in NYC at the Q Conference learning about how we make and shape culture. This has been an amazing three days and has stretched my mind and world view in needed ways.

There is one thing weighing heavily on me. When we speak of branding, we are usually working through the process of building companies and profits for our own personal gain.

My eyes so often are focused on myself and how this world can serve me. But at the end of the day, are we here purely for our own gain? Are our brands purely to make our own lives easier while ignoring those around us?

Entrepreneur Eric Reynolds challenged us to measure our businesses and brands not by profits alone but by our influence in our co-worker's lives, our community, and our world.

I look forward to continuing this topic with any and all of you who would love to engage in this conversation.

I need it.

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