John’s an audacious blogger, branding/marketing consultant, speaker and author. He blogs at Brand Autopsy. He’s written a love/tough love memoir. Tribal Knowledge, of his 8 years with Starbucks where he rose from barrista in Dallas to Corporate Marketing Manager in Seattle. He’s also served as National Marketing Manager for Whole Foods Markets.
We spoke this morning on my BlogTalk Radio show.
Here are some of the salient ideas John shared with me in our conversation at BlogTalk Radio. You can see it’s not a verbatim transcript. For the full text, you should be, and it’s worth, listening to the full conversation. And that’s because of John’s ideas. I try to stay out of the way.
John’s Premise: Business health is reflected in the ability of the business to grow, grow naturally. Like the health of people and plants, the health of a business is seen in its ability to grow.
3 Common Characteristics of Healthy Brands:
1) Makes Money
2) Makes Customers Happy
3) Makes Employees Happy.
Health companies grow, naturally.
5 most common reasons for a brand’s demise [at 8:40]:
1) Heart attack. That’s seen in a loss of purpose, passion and fun for customers and employees of a brand. As that increases, the company behind the brand is unable to attract the quality people needed to deliver that experience of purpose, passion and fun for their colleagues and their customers.
a. Examples: Sears and K-Mart
2) Stroke. No oxygen reaches the brain. That’s seen in failed strategies.
a. Examples: AOL-Time Warner merger., Harley-Davidson cologne (rebels wear cologne?), Gap and Old Navy.
3) Schizophrenia. Multiple brand personalities, lack of core identity.
a. Evamples: Every casual dining restaurant chain: Applebee’s, Ruby Tuesday, Bennigans, Chili’s.
4) Alzheimer’s. Memory-loss leading a brand to commit the same mistakes.
a. Example: Starbucks use of online coupons in ’01 and again in ’06.
i. John’s post on Starbucks’ Brand Amnesia
5) Substance abuse, ie, addiction to discount pricing:
a. Examples: 0% financing, no money down, holiday sale every month, employee prices for all.
All brands need a near-death experience from a huge failure in order to be strong.
You cannot say you’re a great brand until you’ve been tempted.
4 Things for Starbucks to Do Right Now [at 53:00].
1) Be Audacious, Again. Start with their employee benefits.
a. Create the absolute best benefits package for employees, part-time or full-time.
b. Offer full tuition reimbursement. That will insure they’re able to attract AND retain the best in the 18-24 year-old group.
2) Exploit their Expertise in Real Estate.
a. Sourcing, building, managing real estate is a huge asset with their thousands of stores worldwide.
3) Partner with a Company Who Needs their Expertise and Whose Customer Communities Compliment.
a. Potbelly Sandwich Works from Chicago.
4) Reframe the Conversation.
a. They ARE McDonald’s…Yes?
5) Gut Check Time.
a. Is the passion still there?
b. Can they raise the bar another notch.
John has a series of blogposts titled, Would you miss this brand?
* Re Pizza Hut? I and 61 others said …no. Pizza Hut didn’t notice. And no one from any of the other brands used as an example commented. Would they not notice? Would they not care? Maybe, that’s why their brands are failing. The others include:
• Crate and Barrel
• Dunder Mifflin…
• BusinessWeek
• UPS
John’s Solution for them: Make your company something to believe in again
John’s Advice for ALL Businesses:
Be Healthy:
1) Make Money
2) Make Your Customers Happy
3) Make Your Employees Happy.
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