08.14
Came across these the other day at Macy’s. Not Neiman Marcus, where I’d expect Godiva to hawk its fine chocolates. Macy’s.
Apparently Godiva has created a sub-brand called Chocoiste, described on the website as “decadence goes mobile.” Indulgence and convenience aren’t two concepts that go together naturally, but it’s a nice combo to strive for. The risk is that mobility will come at the expense of decadence, leaving your brand standing for the wrong idea—or worse yet, nothing at all. While the creation of a sub-brand helps protect the masterbrand from potential failure, “Godiva” is still pretty prominently featured on this packaging.
As is the phrase “MADE FROM DRIED STRAWBERRIES.”
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06.19
As a student of cognitive science turned brand strategist, I was especially interested in an old post on Bob Hoffman’s blog, The Ad Contrarian (he refers back to it in a much more recent post, or I probably never would have noticed it), about “Salesmen & Sociologists.”
The point of the post is that “we have substantially exaggerated the power of brands. Most consumers in most categories have little or no brand loyalty.” The author goes on to say that most purchasing decisions are made based on functional differences like price and convenience.
So, as a cognitive science dork and a brand strategist, I have to say…he’s absolutely right. At least about the part I’ve mentioned here. The idea of brand loyalty as something that is complete and infallible is greatly exaggerated. (Although, just after reading that post I saw this. Funny timing.) And even if that level of loyalty was commonplace, which it’s not, it wouldn’t be easy to create without a great product.
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06.12
I just read through yet another brilliant post on BrandCultureTalk, one of my favorite industry blogs. First off, I like that the post makes use of the words “shenanigans,” “confiscatory,” and “sophistry” (which I admit I had to look up). But beyond a perfect score on the verbal SATs, the author of this post clearly has a knack for dissecting a complex issue (in this case, the ailments of the credit card industry), doing research to support his/her points of view, and stringing together an engaging article that manages to be relevant without being trite (a bit of a rarity in articles about branding/marketing).
The post is essentially a diatribe on the frustrating attributes of the First PREMIER Bank Platinum MasterCard and the credit card industry as a whole. Which brings me to the title of this post: some industries just suck.
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