you go girlfriend....branding superstars

Sharpie...write out loud!

company: Newell-Rubbermaid
agency: McCann-Erickson, New York
-was down in '02, after introducing new campaign in combination with new products and streamlined retailing, sales spiked.


Kashi. 7 whole grains, on a mission.

company: Kellogg's
agency: EVB, San Francisco (Omnicom)
-double-digit sales growth since 2006. woah.


these guys get positioning. and teamwork. and working towards the same goal.
creative advertising and marketing strategy have clashed since the beginning of time. when you think about it, it seems so counter intuitive that we even have agencies. if advertising just occurred in house, advertisers and brand managers would actually work together, having the same level of ownership in the success of the same brand. then again, in-house advertisers are usually not the most clever or specialized bunch. it's a double-edged sword, and very few client-ad teams can pull it off well. i've seen both sides of the insanity, and it's always so excruciatingly tough to get what you want, for both parties involved.

for the agencies, it's like pulling teeth to get more money out of the client. to get some flexibility, leeway, the freedom to take risks. the client wants you to accomplish the impossible without wasting their money or being too "out there." you just want to yell and say LET ME DO MY JOB, I GOT THIS.

for the execs it's like, hello, fact: advertising alone does not and cannot accomplish sales. advertising=awareness & perception, but the rest of the marketing mix: pricing, promotion, distribution, product specifications and needs fulfilled by the product, ensure consumers actually buy the damn thing. So when a brand manager hands a positioning brief and budget to an agency, there is no leeway in it because there are 500 other things involved. it's not what you think it should be, how you perceive it, what potential you think it has. no, as of right now, this is what the consumer wants, we know this, and this is what you have to deliver. and it sucks being an advertiser with so many great ideas for a product, that just happen to not work for that product at the moment. it's restricting, annoying and frustrating.

the biggest mistake any marketer can make, regardless of whether he or she is on the client side or the advertising side, is assuming that he or she understands the mind of the consumer. time and time again market research has pointed out the HUGE discrepancy between what consumers say they want, or feel they need, and their ACTUAL purchasing behavior. actions speak louder than words, and therfore, analytics are gold. brand managers should take the numbers very seriously, and agencies in turn have to respect and utilize the subsequent positioning in order to create the most solid campaign for the product at that given time.

Kashi and Sharpie have got this down. Now Sharpie is an older brand. It has always had the highest market cap in the category, but this was mostly due to a first-movers' advantage, and the brand recognition that comes with that. But since 2003 and Write Out Loud, they've really nailed the essence of their positioning--a rebirth for the brand.
Kashi is a newbie, but a superstar. Talk about excellent market research. After being acquired by Kellogg's in '00, it's seen incredible growth, and the tag SO embodies the positioning it's absurd. Advertising doesn't have to be extremely clever or witty to get the point across. the position that Kashi has in the mind of the consumer is so solid, it will be impossible to knock it for years to come.

so, here's a branding "you go girlfriend" to kashi and sharpie. you guys aren't going anywhere.