Touch Points

MMM for April 25, 2005 by Roy H. Williams

Counter-Branding

When your business category is dominated by a single brand and all the other brands put together don't equal them, it's time to create a counter-brand.

Counter-branding – business judo – is rare and dangerous. But when you're overwhelmingly dominated, what have you got to lose?

Prior to the creation of their "Uncola" counter-brand in 1967, 7-Up had survived for 38 years as a lemon-lime soft drink with the slogan, "You Like It. It Likes You."

Yippee Skippy call the press, a soft drink likes me.

As in Judo, the secret of counter-branding is to use the weight and momentum of your opponent to your own advantage. In other words, hook your trailer to their truck and let them pull you along in their wake.

The steps in counter-branding are these:

1. List the attributes of the master brand. In the case of 7-Up, the master brand was "Cola: sweet, rich, brown." Everything else was either a fruit flavor or root beer and all of those put together were relatively insignificant. "Cola" overwhelming dominated the mental category "soft drinks."
2. Create a brand with precisely the opposite attributes. To accomplish this, 7-Up lost their lemon-lime description and became "The Uncola: tart, crisp, clear."
3. Without using the brand name of your competitor, refer to yourself as the direct opposite of the master brand. 7-Up didn't become UnCoke or UnPepsi as that would have been illegal, a violation of the Lanham Act. But when you're up against an overwhelming competitor, you don't need to name them. Everyone knows who they are.

Let's look at a current example: Starbucks. Notice how I didn't have to name the category? All I had to say was "Starbucks" and you knew we were talking about coffee. That's category dominance.

In the February 2005 issue of QSR magazine, Marilyn Odesser-Torpey writes about Coffee Wars, opening with the question, "Starbucks will certainly remain top dog among coffee purveyors, but who is next in line?" A little later we read, "Many of the competitors in the coffee segment are Starbucks look-alikes; if you take the store's signage down, it would be hard to tell the difference."

Traditional wisdom tells us to (1.) study the leader, (2.) figure out what they're doing right, (3.) try to beat them at their own game. This strategy can actually work when the leader hasn't yet progressed beyond the formative stages, but when overwhelming dominance has been achieved, as is currently the case with Starbucks, such mimicry is the recipe for disaster. Are all competitive coffee houses forever doomed to occupy the sad "me-too" position in the shadow of mighty Starbucks? Yes, until one of them launches a counter-brand.

To determine what a Starbucks counter-brand would look like, we must first break Starbucks down into its basic brand elements:

1. Atmosphere: quiet and serene, a retreat, a vacation, like visiting the library. Bring your laptop and stay awhile. They've got wi-fi.
2. Color Scheme: muted, romantic colors. Every tone has black added.
3. Auditory Signature: music of the rainforest, soft and melodious
4. Lighting: subdued and shadowy, perfect for candles or a fireplace.
5. Pace: slow and relaxed. This is going to take awhile, but that's part of why you're here.
6. Names: distinctly foreign and sophisticated. Sizes include ‘Grande' and ‘Venti.' (No matter how you pronounce these, the ‘barista' will correct you. It's part of the whole Starbucks wine-bar-without-the-alcohol experience.)

Counter-brands succeed by becoming the Yin to the master brand's Yang, the North to their South, the equal-but-opposite ‘other' that neatly occupies the empty spot that had previously been in the customer's mind.

Here's what a Starbuck's counter-brand would look like:
1. Atmosphere: energetic and enthusiastic. Running shoes instead of bedroom slippers. Leave the car running because we won't be here long.
2. Color Scheme: bright, primary colors such as are found in athletic uniforms, against a background of white or off-white.
3. Auditory Signature: anything with a driving beat, faster than a resting heart-rate. Dance music.
4. Lighting: dazzling, like in a sports arena.
5. Pace: driven by the music, on the move. Caffeine!!!
6. Names: straightforward and plain. Descriptive, rather than pretentious.

HOW IT MIGHT SOUND ON THE RADIO: Most people think to get a fast cup of coffee you have to settle for fast-food coffee …or worse…convenience store coffee. And to get a good cup of coffee you have to stand in line for 20 minutes at some snooty coffeehouse where things can't just be medium and large, but have to be ‘Grande' and ‘Venti.' At JoToGo we serve really good coffee, really fast. We're the original drive-thru espresso bar serving all your favorite premium coffee drinks at lightning

speed. So when you're on the go, get a JoToGo. No snooty attitude here, just fabulous coffee fast

.

No matter how big a brand might be in the public's mind, there's always an open spot for the exact opposite. When the circumstances call for it, be that opposite. Create a counter-brand.

Roy H. Williams

PS - JoToGo is a real company - a new franchise - and they're doing fabulous.

PPS – The cognoscenti will recognize the techniques used in counter-branding as a practical application of Thought Particle theory.

MMM for Monday April 18, 2005 by Roy H. Williams

Power of the Buzz
Bryan and Jeff Eisenberg have a New Book

People have said for decades, "Word-of-mouth is the best kind of advertising. That's the best kind: word-of-mouth." You hear this so often when you sell advertising that my friend Bob Lepine used to joke about opening The Word of Mouth Advertising Agency. He said he was going to hire people to sit at bus stops and ride the elevators in tall buildings and say to people, "Have you tried that new restaurant over on Fifth Street? It's GREAT!" The funniest part of Bob's idea is that it probably would've actually worked.

The power of the buzz – word-of-mouth advertising – lies in its credibility. But the only way to create buzz is to rock a person's world so hard that they can't help but talk about it to their friends.

I'm going to try to do that today.

Ray Bard of Bard Press, the publisher of my bestselling Wizard of Ads trilogy, looked at the new hardback book about to be released by Wizard Academy Press and wrote me an email. (I was walking out the door to meet Ray for lunch when a boxful of advance copies arrived from the printer. On impulse, I grabbed one for Ray.) These comments by email were completely unsolicited:

Roy

Great to see you and catch up yesterday. And, thanks for the new Wizard Academy Press book. I usually refrain from providing comments about books after they're published (I've made enough mistakes myself over the years) but there is one issue that may deserve attention.

When I got home last night I gave the book a quick look. It felt good in the hand and the inside contents looked good. Although the title sounded like a political book and provided no information about the content, I know that it can get by as it is. The other, more difficult issue, is the price. When I first saw the $13.95 I thought it was a mistake but noticed it was printed in two places. The last time 300 page hard cover business books sold for $13.95 was probably 30 years ago. The retail price is a statement of what you think the value of the book is. When most similar business books are selling for twice as much today, you can see the message this sends.

If the publisher is pursing a strong merchandising strategy with lots of face out retail space I recommend pushing the retail into the "value" category. Unless you have a new distribution effort, I would not recommend it for this book. And, the $13.95 is way beyond "value" pricing.

For what my opinion is worth, I would have priced it at $30. and sold it at $20 for special customers. I think you can see the difference in psychology.

Again, I regret bringing this up now, but I know the book will be used in the company's marketing efforts. And, as it is, the price sends just the opposite message you want.

Ray

Ray Bard is America's most successful publisher of business books. He is responsible for putting two of my books on the Wall Street Journal bestseller list and one on the New York Times list, so I listen carefully to what Ray says.

He's right. Thirteen ninety-five is way too cheap for a 326 page hardback containing this kind of detailed information about how to make online marketing actually work. These pages are chock full of little-known techniques for improving online marketing results. More than a dozen Fortune 500 companies have paid the authors huge amounts of money to learn this stuff. That's why our plan all along was to price the second printing at 25.95. But this first printing exists only to create a buzz. That's why we're giving you 2 additional copies for each one you buy at just $13.95. We know you'll give them to friends. We know your friends will be rocked. We know your friends will talk about it to their friends. It's all about the buzz and this book contains some fabulous honey. By the way, shipping is free if you live in the US, so you'll have a grand total of only 4.65 per book in each of your 3 hardback copies.

Wizard Academy Press is gambling that the information contained in this book will give you a heady buzz and be worth mentioning to your friends.

I'll let you know in a few weeks how the experiment turns out. In the meantime, why not get 3 copies headed your way?

Roy H. Williams

PS – If the name Bob Lepine sounded familiar, it's because he's been co-hosting a radio talk show for the past 12 years heard in cities across America. Bob and I worked together in Tulsa a quarter-century ago. I think often of all he taught me.

PPS - I HATE IT WHEN PEOPLE SAY "I TOLD YOU SO," BUT… when I told you in early 2004 that my research on society's pendulum indicated that Harley Davidson would soon become an embarassing icon of yesterday's values, very few people took me seriously. After all, Harley was among America's most powerful brands at the time. When I put it in print November 1, 2004, I got the same response. Did you read the news in the Milwaukee Journal (Harley's home town) last week? "The wheels came off Harley-Davidson Inc. on Wednesday when the company's shares posted their biggest drop in 14 years, knocking almost $3 billion from their stock market value." Doug Kass of Seabreeze Partners added, "This is no longer a growth company." Tony Gikas, an analyst with Piper Jaffray Co. echoed; "This is the first crack in the eggshell."

An article from Wayne Ens

That’s A Lot Of Poop!

Thomas Szaky shocked his parents a few years ago when he decided to drop out of Princeton University to start a business making organic plant food. To their dismay, he explained that the product came from worm poop and would be packaged in recycled pop bottles.

But today the 23-year-old Canadian is having the last laugh. His fledgling firm has landed the Wal-Mart account, one of the most prized in retailing, and expects to do more than $15 million in sales next year.

Each week, thousands of inventors and sales people try unsuccessfully to get their products stocked on Wal-Mart shelves.

So how did a young Mr. Szaky nab the business at mighty Wal-Mart? ...

Monday Morning Memo for April 11, 2005 - Rpy H. Williams

Belly of the Whale

Standing inside Chapel Dulcinea recently, I looked up to see the great ribs beneath the roof beams above me and thought, "Jonah in the belly of the whale." Do you remember the story? It's only four short chapters, a 5-minute read. The next morning, Princess Pennie went back to Dulcinea with me and we sat together while I read the book of Jonah aloud. Somehow, it felt like the right thing to do.

Let me summarize it for you: Running from God, Jonah boards a ship headed in the opposite direction from the place he knew he was supposed to go. (Have you ever rebelled, brazenly, from what was expected of you by someone else?) And then a storm came. (Somehow they always do.) Thrown overboard, Jonah is swallowed by "a great fish" in whose belly he reevaluates his priorities and finds his soul again. Jonah's time of reflection and prayer in the belly of the beast is a marvelous thing to read. The fish then vomits Jonah unceremoniously onto the beach. (Ever been unceremoniously barfed by circumstances following a storm that hugely kicked your ass? Me too.) Now this is where the story gets interesting to me: Jonah, having survived the crisis, finally does what he should, but with a really bad attitude. The tale ends with Jonah being unbelievably petty and small, a pale shadow of the giant he had been during his time in the belly of the beast.

Evidently, I'm not the only person who can go from high thoughts to low thoughts in a very short period of time. And neither are you.

Interestingly, Jonah's pendulum swing was the inverse of Elijah's. Whereas Jonah went from high thoughts in the belly of the beast to low thoughts during his mission, Elijah went from high thoughts during his mission on the top of Mount Carmel (where he called down fire from heaven to burn up an offering to God in front of a huge crowd of witnesses,) to low thoughts immediately after his triumph. "Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, while he himself went a day's journey into the desert. He came to a broom tree, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. ‘I have had enough, LORD ,' he said. ‘Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.' Then he lay down under the tree and fell asleep." When Elijah awakened, he went to spend some time in a cave at Mount Horeb. Read the 19th chapter of 1st Kings and you'll recognize another belly, another whale.

Every caterpillar must go into the cocoon if she will spread her newfound wings.

Some will find Chapel Dulcinea to be the belly of the whale, a place for reflection in times of crisis. Others will find Dulcinea to be the cave at Horeb, a place to regain their balance after riding an emotional rollercoaster. For thousands of young couples, Dulcinea will be the cocoon from which will emerge the two-winged butterfly of marriage. But always it will be a place of transformative change.

No one but Pennie knew that I was contemplating the book of Jonah and the value of reflection, so it came as a soft surprise when Bryan Eisenberg forwarded to me a quote he thought I might find interesting: "The Internet radically redefines a person's psychological relationship to time and space. Attention is riveted on what is tangible, useful, instantly available; the stimulus for deeper thought and reflection may be lacking. Yet human beings have a vital need for time and inner quiet to ponder and examine life and its mysteries... Understanding and wisdom are the fruit of a contemplative eye upon the world, and do not come from a mere accumulation of facts, no matter how interesting." - Pope John Paul II, Sunday, May 12, 2002

I hope you don't mind that I chose to share with you something less tangible and instantly useful this week.

Come see us.

Roy H. Williams

PS - As I suspected might happen, last week's comments about David Ogilvy and our decreasing national attention span triggered quite a flap among the cognoscenti.

MMM for Monday April 4, 2005 by Roy H. Williams

Advertising, Like Reduction Sauce
A Monday Morning Memo from The Wizard of Ads

Hi Roy,

Thanks for the mention in the MMM today. It never ceases to amaze me the buzz something like that creates.

Reading it also reminds me of the other conversation that took place at the same time, when you and Dave were talking about how a chef reduces the sauce to intensify the flavour and how that process can be related to writing. That conversation adds clarity to today's argument raging in the US about 60's vs. 30's.

Cheers

Steve

The "other conversation" mentioned in this email from my partner Steve Rae was with Dave Martin, the Academy graduate and friend in whose restaurant we were dining. Following my discussion of paint with Bob Shrubsall, Dave and I began discussing how impact grows when it's concentrated into less of the carrier vehicle. This is the secret of perfume, reduction sauce, and the edge of an axe. But just as sharpening an axe or simmering the water from sauce takes time and patience, editing words from descriptions is not a task for the anxious or twitchy.

Easy reading is damned hard writing.

Think of this principle as The Law of Refined Essence.

I've always been a fan of David Ogilvy and J. Peterman, two of the great masters of evocative description, and both were advocates of long and colorful copy. These men were legends in their day but I believe that day is fading. The rules of communication are shifting beneath our feet.

Haven't you noticed?

We're entering an era of stimuli bombardment, visual ecstasy, sound bites, the micro attention span. A committed reader is a rare bird.

Over-communication has accelerated beyond critical mass and the resulting explosion has fragmented the public mind.

So the new rule is to say what you've got to say. And say it hot.

Speaking to authors, Elizabeth Spencer said, "Don't overwrite description in a story - you haven't got time." I believe her advice rings truer today than ever.

What do you believe?

Roy H. Williams

PS - Have you seen the latest photos of the new Academy campus? We're doing our best to update them at least every week. Just click PHOTOS at the top of the homepage at www.WizardAcademy.com.