Some Things Should Remain a Mystery

Like most controversies, this one started small. A photo of French president Sarkozy canoeing with his son, shirtless and noticeably slimmer, appeared in a French publication that was later forced to admit that Le Président had lost weight courtesy of Le Photoshop.

Then, Ralph Lauren (the company, not the man, presumably) decided it was a good idea to alter the photo of a model by putting a regularly sized head on an impossibly thin body. Worse yet, they used the face and body of a model they had fired, allegedly for – wait for it – being too large (read: fat) to model the company’s new clothes.

Worse still, they did it again after claiming it was all a big mistake. That’s not an “Oops.” That’s a head-slapping “What were they thinking?”

The issue here isn’t that marketers use re-touched photos. It isn’t even that consumer advocates over-react and demand full disclosure when a photo is altered. (French lawmakers want to take it a step further and require warning labels that disclose when a photo has been altered. Viva la France!)

People pretty much expect marketing materials to be “improved.” Not only do we embrace using technology to make things appear better than they are, we all but demand it through our consumer behavior.

We buy Ralph’s clothes because we want to look like the people in the pictures. We pick a beach resort from a photo that crops out the dumpster and parking lot that stands between you and your “beachfront suite.” Add to that all the Botox, Spanx, Alli, and Viagra we buy to create an altered reality.

No, the issue, my friends, is not that photo editing occurs, it’s that marketers don’t think about the risk to their brand when they engage in extreme alteration. I dare say sales of Ralph Lauren brand clothes won’t be significantly impacted by this dust-up, but it is a distraction. And, there is a nice new ding in the reputation of RL.

In this economy, no brand – no matter how strong – can afford to be distracted from their mission by needless controversies like requiring photo disclosures.
Besides, where would you put warning label?

Lessons from the AMP and Illegal Alien Controversies

In the world of digital brands and social media, people have power over brands like never before. Well, yes and no.

This time last week the tweet meter looked like a fan, so fast people were registering their outrage on Twitter about the new AMP energy drink iPhone app that let guys shoot lame pick-up lines and alert friends in the unlikely event they scored. Surely, the conventional wisdom went, PepsiCo would pull the app immediately rather than risk brand damage.

To the soft drink brand’s credit, they apologized to anyone offended by the app. But, to the surprise and chagrin of the offended, the good folks at AMP returned to selling energy drinks and kept the app on the shelves of Apple App Store.

Contrast that with this week’s consumer brouhaha – the sale of a Halloween mask depicting an obvious space invader with a heavy mustache. Think E.T. meets Frito Bandito (for those of us of a certain age), hence the name “Illegal Alien.”

Once the complaints started on- and off-line, Target and other retailers (rightfully) pulled the costume faster than Speedy Gonzales could say “Andale`!”

Why did outrage have immediate effect in one case and seemingly none in the other?

Simple. Because the people offended by the Amp iPhone app are not buying Amp drinks and aren’t going to do so. Offended Target shoppers, on the other hand, are far more likely to leave stores shelves clogged unsold items.

So what lessons can we learn from these two events?

If you’re a consumer, use your brand power wisely and pick your battle’s carefully. You may be offended by a company’s products or actions, but shooting at the wrong brand – one that isn’t likely to care if they’re in the bull’s eye because you have no relevance to the brand – only diminishes the power people have to influence business decisions.

Adult women complaining about an obscure, downloadable iPhone app attached to a product purchased in bulk by twenty-something single males is the wrong group to prompt action. Parents and social advocates complaining about an offensive product targeted to children are the perfect people to force change in Halloween costumes.

If you’re a marketer, make sure you really do know your customers/prospects and the people who influence them before launching a controversial product or promotion. Be ready to pull the plug in a nano-second, but also be confident enough to know that not all critics are right and not all criticism requires a dramatic response.

You can't ignore the conversation, but sometimes, all you need to do is agree to disagree.

The (Un) Friendly Skies

I have a confession to make. I don’t turn off my mobile phone on airplanes. Yet, I have never failed to make it to the correct destination because of some mythical “interference with the aircraft’s navigational equipment.”

Keeping mobile phones in the off position on US airlines has always been more about making money and keeping the peace than getting lost in route to LaGuardia. Thanks to non-US airlines, that may be about to change.

Just about all the US legacy and low-cost carriers are rushing to add wi-fi to their domestic fleet. What they are also finding is that crafty passengers are (easily) finding a way around the blocks that are supposed to prevent VoIP calls in the air. Browsing and chatting online are okay. Talking, according to Delta, AirTran and others is not.

The airlines claim the FCC, FAA and passengers themselves want to keep the friendly skies a call-free zone.

While I’ve always enjoyed the sanctuary offered by hurtling through the air in a toothpaste tube at 600 mph, I’ve also longed for the option to make or take a call if I wanted to do so. There’s that whole consumer control issue again – I’ll make the decision, don’t decide for me, thank you very much!

Without knowing it, I had allies in my clandestine fight to keep my phone powered up after the boarding door has closed – European and Asian airlines. They, it seems, have cracked the code and figured out how to solve the real technical issue – interference with cell towers – and how to make money while doing so.

Emirates Airlines already offers the ability to use your mobile phone in the air and British Airways will offer the same in its new London City airport to JFK all business class service.

US regulators and airline operators take notice. No passenger riots from too loud phone conversations and no planes landing on taxiways in the wrong cities. Imagine that.

Chalk up another win for those brands that believe in letting the customer decide.

The Return of the Brand

You may have missed this tidbit - what with Kanye stealing a little girl's limelight and Joe Wilson forgetting he was a US Congressman not a member of the British Parliament during PMQs - but it seems there's a whole lot of trust going on in the world of brands. How'd that happen?

We all know that brands have been beaten and battered by the double whammy of a shattered economy previously built on consumption and the rise of social media, where a company becomes the caretaker of a brand - not the owner.

Consumers, too, have become incredibly mistrustful of institutions - especially large corporations, the government and the media.

I take heart that perhaps the tide is about to turn. The brand and reputation equivalent of "the recession is over, but the recovery will be slow." Here's why:

A study by Capstrat of Raleigh, NC shows the slide in consumer trust in brands has stopped the death spiral and is now climbing back up in some cases - including trust in bank brands. Trust in the media continues to spiral down the drain, though.

Trust is a two way street and it seems that Wall Street is also more willing to trust Main Street, to use a well-worn cliche`. Nine companies have announced they will follow new executive pay rules proposed by The Conference Board that is based on increased public transparency and shareholder involvement. Among the first nine, AT&T, HP, and Cisco Systems. Microsoft has adopted a similar policy.

"You can't be in the top 25% in pay if you're in the bottom 75% in performance," Bill Ide, director of the Conference Board's Task Force on Executive Compensation told CNN. "That's universal. We think all regulators and policy makers would be comfortable with that."

With trust breaking out all over leading companies, let's hope the rest of the brand community falls in line, too. Soon.

Chickens vs. Eggs

I recently had a lengthy debate with my youngest daughter about the eternal question: Which came first, the chicken or the egg? As it turns out, it was a good warm-up for a business discussion.

Remember when you were a teenager and you argued everything with a passion worthy of death row appeal? That’s how it was with my high schooler after watching Jurassic Park. I made the mistake of quoting some article I read that said a T-Rex is more closely akin to a chicken than a lizard. Darwin aside, we launched jaw first into the classic Chicken and Egg argument. When you’re fifteen, there is no “agree to disagree,” there is only ”I win, you lose!”

What does this have to do with business? Well, it wasn’t too many days afterward that a request came across my desk from a prospective client wanting a social media marketing (SMM) campaign to help drive revenue.

ME: “Do you have any research that shows how your ideal customer uses social media?”

THEM: “No.”

ME: “Do you have a profile of their Web habits?”

THEM: “No.”

ME: “Then why do you believe a social media marketing campaign will be successful?”

THEM: “Because we were told social media is less expensive and we want to try it to win new customers.”

This was a discussion as timeless (and endless) as the chicken/egg debate. What comes first, the strategy or the tactic? Social media marketing is the new toy that everyone wants to play with, but even toys come with warning labels about appropriate use.

Not all social media techniques are effective in every situation. It takes research and planning before making the decision if, and, if so, which SMM tool is appropriate for your organization. Not to mention, you have to make sure your goal is appropriate and realistic.

Take the time to develop an appropriate strategy before assuming SMM is the right thing for you. Otherwise you may end up with egg (not chicken) on your face.

Stupid Corporate Tricks: The Marriott Edition

Even the best run companies screw up every now and then. Most of the time we never know or notice. But sometimes - like now - the mistake is so obvious that you slap your head and cry out "What were they thinking?"

Such is the case with Marriott and the decision to blame a rape victim for being assaulted in a hotel parking lot. I'll wait while you retrieve your jaw from the ground.

In 2006 a woman and her young children were approached by a man seeking money in the parking deck of the Stamford, CT Marriott. He proceeded to rape the woman and threatened to do the same to her children if she resisted or screamed. He, fortunately, is now behind bars.

What would have been a routine, but obscure lawsuit - Marriott being sued for failing to keep their property secure - has grown into a full-blown brand and reputation crisis because of the boneheaded defense Marriott outlined in recent court documents: it's the victim's fault she was raped.

Once news of Marriott's legal position became known, it didn't take long for the hue and cry to rightfully begin. That was last week.

Today we learn that Marriott has come to its senses and decided not to mount a defense to the lawsuit based on claiming the victim failed to keep herself and her children out of harm's way. Good move. Late - unnecessary even - move, but a good one nonetheless.

I dare say the executives at the top of the Marriott food chain were caught as unaware as the rest of us, and they reversed a monumentally stupid decision by someone deep in the bowels of the corporate legal department.

Now Marriott needs to ensure that everyone in the organization understands the value of their brand and the values of the company so decision makers will think twice before putting the company's brand and reputation in jeopardy.

If you want to learn more about protecting your brand and reputation, send me an email at james.lee@c2m2a.com or visit www.c2m2a.com.

The End of the (Media) World

I love the movie Independence Day, the story of when an evil alien race arrives to the strains of REM’s “It’s the end of the world as we know it.”

There’s a new book that chronicles a different end of our media-driven world. No aliens this time, but the life altering changes in civilization are real.

AdAge editor Bob Garfield’s The Chaos Scenario looks at how the shift to a digital world spells doom for the symbiotic relationship between mass media and mass marketing. Garfield makes the case that the 400 year old practice of dictating to audiences is being replaced by consumer control that requires organizations to listen to people.

The core message – of which I am a true believer – can be found in this passage:
"(Consumers) aren't necessarily listening to you. They're listening to each other talk about you. And they're using your products, your brand names, your iconography, your slogans, your trademarks, your designs, your goodwill, all of it as if it belonged to them -- which, in a way, it all does, because, after all, haven't you spent decades, and trillions, to convince them of just that?"
You’ve heard it before from me and others: the days of companies being able to practice top-down communications with their stakeholders (employees, customers, shareholders and community leaders) are numbered.

The Independence Day aliens were set on destroying the human race. Media & marketing will survive the digital Apocalypse, but in very different forms.

Those businesses that are prepared to take transparency and consumer control to heart will also survive. And thrive. They're the people who will be singing the REM song...”it’s the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine.”

For more information about how you can prepare for the new digital world, visit C2M2 Associates. To buy Garfield’s book (and you should), visit thechaosscenario.net.

When Good Brands Go Bad

Anyone who’s ever checked a bag when flying, spent hours waiting for the cable installer, or celebrated a birthday on hold with customer (no) service, wishes they wrote the latest YouTube hit “United Breaks Guitars.”

Poor service is always a risk to your brand and reputation. Thousands of successful transactions get lost when the one screw-up makes it into the social media. That’s not news and not particularly surprising.

Now comes a survey that explains, in part, why well known brands at seemingly marketing savvy companies continue to be caught off-guard by completely predictable and preventable events – like baggage handlers destroying a musician’s guitar.

According to findings from UberCEO.com:

• Not a single CEO has a blog. Zero. Zip. Nada.
• Only two CEOs have Twitter accounts.
• 13 CEOs have LinkedIn profiles, but only three have more than 10 connections.
• Fewer than 20 CEOs have a personal Facebook page.
• Three quarters of the CEOs have some kind of Wikipedia entry, but nearly a third of those have limited or outdated information.

I know several CEOs and have worked directly for two who led multi-billion dollar public companies. CEOs and other execs are busy people.

However, irrespective of the reasons why – busy schedules, fear of technology, fear of liability – the survey reveals a shocking lack of respect for customers. It reflects executives out of touch with the people who pay the bills now and in the future.

It’s no wonder, then, that superstar brands keep getting caught with their shorts down by the folks who create YouTube videos and post Tweets about their bad customer experiences.

Until CEOs join the conversation on social networks in a meaningful way, we’ll continue to watch episodes of When Good Reputations Go Bad. And the rest of us will blog about it, even if the CEO won’t.

For more on branding, reputation and social media marketing, visit C2M2 Associates.