Strategic Insights – We’ve Got Ideas

Undoubtedly, the Internet at large has at least heard, if not contributed to, the conversation about the appropriateness (or lack thereof) of the November GQ cover. You know the one. It features the actors of high school characters from the show Glee clad in underwear provided by Victoria’s Secret.

The main argument that sent the Internet buzzing a couple weeks ago was the message that the actors of a popular show are sending to kids. As an art director, however, the message that I prefer to examine is that of branding. To me, this cover stands out as a great example of a clash between personal brands and company brands.

Actors, like designers, have a notable personal brand as a result of their work. Unlike designers (most of us, anyway), actors’ personal brands are also made up of charitable donations, PR stunts and often, personal lives (or at least the portions snapped by the paparazzi and published in rag mags or posted online).

Because we have personal brands that we use to propel our own careers, we also  need to make sure that those brands coincide with the companies and projects we associate ourselves with. Be us part of an agency team or independent freelancers, our brands (including bodies of work) are what attract new and repeat business. It’s important that we’re accurately portraying ourselves as we want to be seen.

For example, if a designer works at a relatively conservative design firm notable for branding banks and insurance companies, taking on a high-profile adult entertainment project – even as a freelance designer – could be damaging to the brand of the agency. Even if it simultaneously brings the designer increased exposure. The audiences don’t mix. The same designer could see himself removed from the conservative projects at the agency, and propelled into a much different career. Alternatively, the agency’s existing clients could question their relationship with the agency altogether.

The same can be applied the Glee GQ cover. The audience of the show tune in to watch a story about talented but average high schoolers deal with both adolescence and perfecting their performance every week for glee club competitions. The audience of GQ, given the extreme deviation in messaging both in the subheadings and photography on the cover, likely do not and would not tune in for the same story.

The mere fact that there is such buzz over the cover illustrates that it is an unexpected means of promoting the popular show. While it may work as a stunt to gain immediate exposure to a new audience, unless the brand of the entire show shifted to coincide with the message this new audience will not be won over. They may have a piqued interest in other projects the actors become involved in, but not in the show itself.

And if such a dramatic shift in branding and content were to happen, it would be at the cost of the existing audience.

It’s important to know your company brand, and make sure your work and actions under that heading coincide with the messaging. It is possible to have pieces of your personal brand stay separate from your corporate brand (after all, we don’t necessarily do the same tone of work at every job we have throughout our entire lives), just remember to flaunt them in ways that won’t link to your company brand in an off-messaging way. In the case of the Glee GQ cover, the messaging misses the mark. And the reaction is anything but favorable when the image is headlined under the brand of the show.

Jennifer Soloway [follow me on Twitter] // Senior Art Director // Strategic Insights

There’s no denying, this LED clock design is definitely slick looking:

But, is the basic function of the clock—you know, to tell time—actually lost in the design? Can you tell what time it is at least as well, or preferably better, than a traditional clock? Or, do you have to think harder to get there?

Good design is seamless, unnoticed, natural. It makes the information you are trying to get at all the more available without the audience even noticing that it’s being presented in a different way.

Don’t make it harder for your audience to absorb the information you want/they need to get. Regardless of how flashy the design is, your audience will not stick around to figure out how to use it in order to get the information they are looking for. Beyond the initial ‘wow’ factor, a design that hinders usability will garner more negative attention (if any attention!) than positive reaction.

Jennifer Soloway [follow me on Twitter] // Art Director // Strategic Insights

I do some of my best thinking on the run–literally. I do a few miles most every lunch hour and am consistently amazed at the directions my brain takes. It’s not always quality stuff, mind you, and it’s hard to remember it all, but there’s something about being out on the “open road” that releases a certain kind of endorphin. It’s not quite the same on the treadmill in the building’s workout room, but that’s where I found myself during one rainy lunch hour recently. The ideas weren’t flowing, so I picked up the remote and flipped on the TV across the room. And that’s when I saw it: a commercial for Poise bladder-leakage pads.

This was no standard-issue “Depends” type spot, featuring “active seniors” living their “lives” to the “fullest,” moisture be damned. This was a surgically targeted and ingeniously structured niche campaign called “One in Three Like Me.” The celebrity spokesperson, Whoopi Goldberg (I know), directed viewers to a website, 1in3likeme.com. Whoopi didn’t pitch the product–she elicited empathy. It’s a brilliant tactic–get the problem out in the open, then associate it with a well-liked celebrity to nudge the target toward action. The website does all the selling, and even there, it’s hardly aggressive.

There’s a blog, a series of message boards, a survey w/results, well-shot testimonial videos (real women? actors? who cares), a Twitter feed, even an application for a free sample. They’ve even branded the problem itself: LBL (light bladder leakage). See what they’ve done there? By calling it “light” bladder leakage, it minimizes it without dismissing it. By giving it initials, LBL, you can talk about it in code, without using words like “bladder” and “leakage.” By giving the campaign the umbrella of “1 in 3 like me,” and giving the microsite the same URL, it instantly lets the visitor know they’re not alone–literally millions of women share this problem.

Poise is a Kimberly-Clark product, and they’re no stranger to massive ad campaigns or successful brands, but this one stood out for me for both its branding insight and in its effective use of social media–as opposed to being tacked-on, this genuinely starts a conversation and keeps it going. These message boards are being used! This blog gets updated regularly! They’ve even appointed a “resident LBL expert,” Marilyn (guess Whoopi was too busy).

Congratulations to the creative team and the client for taking a potentially boring or even off-putting product and turning it into something interesting and engaging. I’m sure they’re seeing results.

I ordered a sample kit. Just want to see how effective these things are during a 4-mile run.

Bill Cokas
Creative Director
Strategic Insights

I had an interesting experience yesterday. I ordered lunch from Jason’s Deli: a cup of soup, a tuna melt, and some baked Lay’s potato chips. After eating half my sandwich, I decided to do some research on the nutrition information in my lunch, just out of curiosity.

What I found led me to tweet the following:

Within the hour, I was getting replied back by the @jasonsdeli account, promising an explanation from their nutritionist. This explanation did come later as an email and included:

1. Why the sandwich was over 900 calories
2. Recommendations for how I could alter my order next time to have a lower-calorie Tuna Melt
3. Suggestions on other more calorie-conscious choices that wouldn’t require me to customize my order at all.

Now, why am I sharing all this with you? Not because I care about sharing my diet decisions (or think you care about my diet decisions), but as a reminder of how negative customer feedback can be turned into a positive experience for the consumer – and have them remain a recurring customer.

We get asked all the time if WE the agency can manage our client’s social media presences on their behalf. Not only is that not a transparent way of using what is intended to be a direct line of contact with the person or company these profiles represent, but how would an advertising exec respond to a complaint about the number of calories in a particular menu item? Would their response have the same level of detail that YOU could provide? Likely not.

Communicating with your customers directly gives you the opportunity to control what is being said about your company – even after negative feedback has been shared. It can act as “damage control,” or help clear up a misunderstanding. It can even point the customer in the direction of what they may ACTUALLY be looking for, but for some reason haven’t discovered just yet. In short, having that direct line of contact helps make the company appear not only human, but appear to be truly interested in meeting their customers’ needs.

Not to mention, customer feedback and dialogue over social media is public domain. In regards to my Tuna Melt of yesterday, my Twitter network AND the Jason’s Deli Twitter network viewed the dialogue I had with Jason’s Deli (up to the email, which contained information I specifically was interested in, but might not appeal to their other customers). It turned my one declaration of fault into a conversation that was two-sided, and showed that the company cared about my concern over calories.

Truth be told, the companies who take the time to respond to a complaint, in addition to those who respond to a praise, are the ones I end up recommending my networks without provocation. It’s a win-win.
Jennifer Soloway [follow me on Twitter] // Art Director // Strategic Insights