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WINNER:

Folks, the worst thing a brand can do is refuse to apologize. Your target market will forgive many things but a persistent inability or unwillingness to say sorry can be fatal to a brand.
Spirit Airline's CEO, Ben Baldanza, was reminded of this after a week of refusing to apologize and refund money to a dying Vietnam War vet. Why is he the winner?

Because after a week, Baldanza did the right thing and not only that he apologized robustly --no half-hearted sorry for the Spirit CEO. His statement didn't pull any punches:
"Sometimes we make mistakes. In my statements regarding Mr. Meekins’ request for a refund, I failed to explain why our policy on refunds makes Spirit Airlines the only affordable choice for so many travelers, and I did not demonstrate the respect or the compassion that I should have, given his medical condition and his service to our country."

Read more.

The bottom line is that it is never too late to apologize and the bigger and bolder and more sincere your apology, the better. Don't only say sorry; really mean it and in meaning it, your brand will become better.

LOSER:

Everybody probably takes some liberties with their resumes, trying to cast their experience (or lack of it) in the best light. But folks, what Scott Thompson, CEO of Yahoo, seems to have done goes well beyond the pale: apparently he never received a degree his resume, SEC filings and official company bio have claimed that he did.

Continue reading "'Marketing Doctor' John Tantilo's Winner and Loser of the Week: Spirit Airlines and Yahoo" »

Posted by Christine Birkner at 3:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

WINNER:

Folks, sometimes a company needs to be the voice of reason when it comes to defending its brand. This is what happened last week to Coca Cola after a New Zealand woman's death was laid on its doorstep. The woman died of a heart attack at 30 and the news story that flew around the world was that drinking Coke killed her.

Not a great headline, especially when Coke has been battered through the years by the health brigade, implicating the soft drink in everything from stripping the paint off cars to obesity. But Coke did the right thing. They defended themselves without sounding defensive. You might not be able to retract the headline --and my guess is that "Coke Killed a Woman" is going to percolate down into urban myth-- but you can inject some common sense.
Turns out the woman was drinking up to 2.6 gallons of Coke a day (not to mention smoking 30 cigarettes). Coca-Cola pointed out that drinking too much water is fatal and supported the coroner's findings that that there were other factors too (like the woman not seeking proper medical attention long before the fatal heart attack). Some brands are lightning rods for certain kinds of media attention. Coke and McDonald's will probably always battle health claims. The key is knowing when to push back. After all, many devoted Coke drinkers have lived to a ripe old age!

LOSER:

I've talked about the cross-border branding problem before, but this week Oreo's botched breast feeding tie-in has underscored the issue like nothing before. Basically, a concept for a South Korean ad that had a nursing baby holding an Oreo cookie seems to have gone viral.

Continue reading "'Marketing Doctor' John Tantillo's Winner and Loser of the Week: Coke and Oreo" »

Posted by Christine Birkner at 2:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

WINNER:

Ford's our winner this week. Why? Their commitment to the Lincoln brand. Despite declining sales in recent years, the company understands that brands have deep value and if you can find a way of tapping that value, it is always better than throwing a brand away. So how are they planning on doing this? By getting fresh blood in the form of a major new designer Max Wolff who seems to understand the Lincoln brand.

Here's a bit of the story from The New York Times (and the link):

With just 5.5 percent of the luxury car market and an aging customer base (average age: 65), Lincoln needs to attract buyers from other brands. “This position is unique,” Mr. Wolff told me when I caught up with him and Ford’s global marketing vice president, Jim Farley, at this week’s New York International Auto Show, where a gleaming “ruby red” Lincoln MKZ was on display a few feet away. “I was hired to reinvent a storied brand,” Mr. Wolff said. “I had a blank canvas. Jim hired me to be a provocateur. A chance like this probably comes along only once in a lifetime.”Lincoln is indeed storied within design circles. When Ford recently acquired a rare Continental Mark II from 1956, Mr. Wolff had the car moved to the new Lincoln design studio in Dearborn, where it served as inspiration for a new generation of Lincoln designers. In 1956, Lincoln sold the Mark II for a then-exorbitant $10,000, about the same price as a Rolls-Royce and twice that of a Cadillac. Fewer than 3,000 were built. A model once owned by Elvis Presley sold at a charity auction in 1999 for $250,000.
The most iconic Lincoln design may be the 1961 model, considered the masterwork of the legendary designer Elwood Engel, which was seared into the American consciousness as the car in which John F. Kennedy was riding when he was shot in Dallas. It shared with the Mark II an elegant simplicity that was a sharp departure from Detroit’s recent taste for flamboyant tail fins. The 1961 Continental has attracted a cult following and has been featured in numerous films as well as the opening credits of the HBO series “Entourage."
"I look at the 1961 Continental and I see beautiful proportions, great details, elegant restraint, with just the right amount of chrome,” Mr. Wolff said. “In that sense, there are some similarities. If you look at the MKZ, you’ll see some of the same craftsmanship and detail, but it’s very simple. There’s not a bit of added surface language. It’s refined and elegant. But we’re not reimagining the past. It’s not a retro look. We wanted to break the mold. It’s provocative for Lincoln, and we believe it will change people’s perceptions.”

Well done, Ford! My fingers are crossed for the future of this great brand.

LOSER:

Many baseball ball parks are banning chewing (or smokeless) tobacco --probably not such a big leap (after all, remember those old-fashioned "No expectorating" signs meant to stop the spitting-inclined?).

But peanuts? Can this actually be happening in America?

Continue reading "'Marketing Doctor' John Tantillo's Winner and Loser of the Week: Ford and Ballparks" »

Posted by Christine Birkner at 9:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

WINNER:

The winner this week offers a simple lesson in branding: when you sell something that people want, you don't need to do much to promote it --they will come to you.
That's what Mega Millions teaches us.
Fact is, that's what the lines waiting to buy a chance at half a billion dollars told any marketer last week. Despite the outrageous odds against winning, human beings are drawn to the lottery. The bigger the jackpot, the more people come out of the woodwork to buy their chance. From a marketing perspective, the promoter of Mega Millions must simply get out of the way. In other words, the branding must be straightforward (what can be more straightforward than naming your product exactly what it is --a chance to win mega millions?).
Next, the distribution must be there and almost nothing is as efficiently and widely distributed as these lottery tickets.

Bottom line: it's something people really want, has an attractive price point, clear branding and universal distribution with no supply chain problems.

LOSER:

Pink slime has been in the news but anyone with an ear to the ground, a finger on the pulse of the zeitgeist, should have seen this one coming a long time ago. After all, people like Jamie Oliver and others (what about Fast Food Nation or Supersize Me?) have been drawing attention to processed meats for years.

Now the slime really has hit the fan and there's brand fallout.

Continue reading "'Marketing Doctor' John Tantillo's Winner and Loser of the Week: Mega Millions and Pink Slime" »

Posted by Christine Birkner at 12:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

WINNER:

The winner this week is a simple testament to the power that is unleashed when two great brands come together. I'm talking about Tommy Hilfiger's role on American Idol.
Talk about a great way for a brand that has terrific visibility but is struggling ratings-wise (American Idol) to harness another great brand that can use some access to a new demographic.

For Hilfiger, even if Idol continues to struggle despite him, it doesn't matter. His brand has been re-enforced by being seen as coming to the rescue and offering the best image consulting in the biz to a mass audience. He gets exposure while also re-enforcing brand equity. Remember this comes after the negative coverage he received by ABC News regarding factory conditions. That story could have snow-balled out of control if Hilfiger hadn't immediately enacted a clear and decisive response that acknowledged and addressed the issue --again, excellent brandsmanship. Well done!

LOSER:

What can I or anyone else say about Belvedere Vodka? The company has created a firestorm by making an offensive ad that manages to link the darkest side of alcohol and human behavior while simultaneously making fun of a horrible crime.

Continue reading "'Marketing Doctor' John Tantillo's Winner and Loser of the Week: Tommy Hilfiger and Belvedere Vodka" »

Posted by Christine Birkner at 9:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)