The Recession is like Musical Chairs

I was explaining 'The Recession' to my 11 year old, (who is more like a 30 year old when it comes to conversation). I used the analogy of the game 'musical chairs.' The economy is like that, there may not be enough chairs (jobs) all the time, but in economic times when we have growth, the music keeps playing. People get up out of their chairs, they change jobs, they move from career to career. They buy new chairs and there is movement.

In a recession, a stagnant economy, the movement stops, the music stops for a long time. I found this great Nike video that I think exemplifies a suddenly stagnant economy.

We need to get the music playing again!

I looked further to see what else came up on musical chairs on youtube. I found
some where people refused to get up, and started fighting over the chairs. The human emotion around losing out on the chair and fear of not getting the chair is astounding. Lot's of this recession is fear based. Not to oversimplify the complexities of the bubbles of the economic housing and the over extended debt or the financial mortgage debacle. Just adding; that the exacerbating effects of the constant drone of the media and how it plays into the fears of the people to stop consuming, hiring, loaning or making changes also plays a role. The recession has plenty of causes to point to--the fear is the cause of stagnation.

I'm hoping to see a more responsible, transparent, government and a more responsible transparent banking and investment system moving forward. But, more importantly I'm hoping that the Generation X and the millennials will have a more responsible collective consciousness with a clear connection between our businesses, the environment and the world as a whole.

My reaction to the recession and the lack of chairs? Well this being my third or so recession, I try not to take it too personally. I tend to look for an entirely new game to play--this is an opportunity for new ideas. It feelsto me like the leveling of the playing field. I like to be one of the ones that sets up the chairs and plays the music. ;}

Branding and Customer Service

I was shopping today. I was in a fabric store putting together a project and the store was understaffed and under trained. They complained about their hours and their environment. Similarly I was out dining in San Francisco last night, not wanting to shout out the restaurant, suffice to say, it was expensive and had a water view. The waitress was untrained and belonged in a Denny's, similarly complained about her job.

These businesses go to all of this expense to re-model their environments, to advertise, to charge top dollar and then they serve up mediocre to bad service.

Branding does not stop at the logo and the color scheme. You only need to visit Disneyland once to understand what branding is. It is an experience from the word go. Walt created the experience with everything from the characters coming to life to the perfectly swept sidewalks. Nothing was left out of the experience of being in the Kingdom of Disney.

People enter your website, your store, your product and they expect an experience and leave with an imprint, a feeling. That is a big part of branding that businesses forget to offer.

I was at a Christmas party a few years ago and all of the girls were into 'American Dolls'. One of the mom's went on and on about how I HAD to order the doll, just to experience the customer service. She went on to say, if the doll breaks they not only take it back and fix it, but it arrives with a sling and a note. That is customer service that gets the viral buzz.

Differentiator

We're better? We're Faster? We have better customer service? I get that initially a lot when I talk to customers about brand differentiators. This is a hard topic because let's face it your competition wouldn't be your competition if you didn't offer a very similar thing. Reeling down the billion bullet points of assets doesn't make you better.

Brand differentiators is, to me, a bit more about the niche and who you are talking to and the personality you are putting on the brand.

In a recent CRM Software brand that I worked with, it was important for me to go through my 'Visual Catalyst' process. In so doing I got the personality of the developers, their vision of the company moving forward and the position in the market began to take hold visually and with words.

They have many of the same benefits and tools as the competition, the price is pretty close, they have flexibility to be reconfigured for the customers needs.
So-- it had to come down to branding. They care about the business of Non-Profits. They live and breath it. They share the same values as the customers that they are reaching out to and they really really want to make them successful.

So we used that. We built the campaign around that. I can't go into detail until their new website goes live. I can't discuss the business model and how we tweaked it to fit with the strategy. But, it set them apart from the competition. Without a bunch of bullet points.

Changin it UP for Thanksgiving

My dad passed away a year and a half ago. I knew the first Thanksgiving would be rough and sure enough my mom came to me and asked if we could just cancel Thanksgiving. She was tearful, she was tearful a lot, but this topic I could see was not going to work for her.

I replied, " I have been trying to cancel Thanksgiving for 30 years, it just isn t possible, but let me see what I can do." I have two daughters and they like Thanksgiving--at least the idea of it.

So last year I made a reservation at a hotel close to Union Square shopping and Dinner reservations at a French Restaurant. I made a little gift of a stone with a word and writing for each of the girls and placed it in a little jeweled pill box from China Town next to their place settings. The word represented what I would hope for each of them to focus on in the coming year.
Acknowledgement was for my mom to acknowledge the progress she was making in creating a new life and how she touched so many people. Joy was for my little one going into puberty. Respect was for my eldest one going into advertising, to respect the people she worked with and her self and her body. Trust I gave to myself, to trust someone to love me, and Love I gave to my boyfriend.

I wouldn't say that it was a huge success, it was a bit like a scene out of Gilmore Girls, but, they seemed to remember the highlights. We are repeating it this year and bringing a home made pie with us. So we didn't cancel the holiday we just made it our own special day.

Branding and expanding too soon

It is a difficult when building a brand and getting the word out to not fall into the trap of wanting to satisfy everyone. The book 'Crossing the Chasm' deals with the subject of 'the beach head' and thinking in terms of having to choose a beach head in order to cross over, this offers a visual sense of Branding.

I like to use words like, Target Audience and Position in the Market Place, but even the best in Marketing get confused with this--especially if the product can cross many markets and play in lots of playgrounds.

I recently worked with a couple of start ups, one is a CRM software... getting the
'talking points' or the 'elevator pitch' down to 3 simple points of benefits and differentiators was really really difficult for the founders. Getting them or yourself to see the strengths vs the competition is not a simple task.

Establishing the tone and the voice of the company is done with a visual collaborative process that works with words and pictures.

As I apply my own knowledge to my own brand, " Urban Cowgirl " I tend to
get caught up in the excitement of the possibilities. It is a lifestyle brand, for
girls on the go. This is really broad -- the voice and tone need to help in fine tuning who that girl is.

We get the girls involved in the creation of the brand, by having them try it and running a quick market study when we choose a final formula for the foundation or the color for the compacts or telling us where and how they will use it. Does it fit into their life?

This allows us to fine tune our brand, to a specific market. When you fine tune who you are, you can become the go to brand for that niche, or group of consumers.

It 's on going...

BrandingMom Intro

I have spent most of my life being a mom. I have also spent most of my life being a graphic designer/branding expert. Both hats are an amazing insight into human nature and that certainly helps in keeping the mind fresh.

I wouldn't be much of a designer or a marketing person if I didn't have a window into the 'teen market', or the 'mommy and me market' or the 'conservative blabber mouth PTA leader market'

In fact I think being in the marketing field and branding specifically has been a release. The industry as a whole has, what I have found, a wealth of really intelligent and open-minded current and creative minds. I honestly can t say that of the suburban world. I have managed to squeek out the best of what this suburban world has to offer and have met some of the more creative minds that reside here.

At times I have spoken from one hat or the other, but recently it dawned on me that I am a melding of the two. Without sounding confused with my duality, I thought it would be an interesting exploration to embrace the two as a blogger.

Both of my children have benefited from my creative endeavours. My eldest just graduated and is working in a global agency, and my youngest is entering puberty.

I am in the midst of my umpteenth midlife crisis and looking forward to where that takes me.

I hope to discover and grow from this blog, and mostly I hope to not embarass my children, more,

I hope to inspire them and make them proud.

hmmmm... fairly painless and benign for a first post.