Quality, more often than not, is based on perception more-so than the actual quality. Toyota had a great overall quality perception a year ago, but with the recent revelations of some poorly handled recalls, Toyota's are now ticking time bombs.

My wife displayed a great example of this quality perception idea. Where we live, there are only a few major supermarkets - the closest is Berkeley Bowl West, a local market that is great for produce and organic stuff, but their meat selection, while impressive is really really expensive (I don't personally place much more value in grass-fed beef or free-range chickens). The next closest supermarket, is called Pak 'n Save, which is owned by Safeway, though you wouldn't know it from the outside. Inside, it is essentially a big Safeway, the only real difference, is that you bag your own groceries at the end of the process (get it? you Pack and save). They sell all the same stuff as Safeway including Safeway branded products, use the Safeway bags and packaging, and use the same Safeway Club Card. Granted, there is a less upscale feel that the newer and remodeled Safeways have, that this one lacks ... which conveys a Physical Evidence that doesn't reinforce quality.

My wife hates shopping there and would rather drive an extra few miles to the smaller, crowded Safeway or pay more at the organic market. She is suspicious of nearly all their products, making sure to double-check expiration dates of whatever we buy. She's convinced that this is where all the unsold products go to die. I personally don't mind, because its closer, usually a faster checkout, and I don't have awkward encounters in tight aisles where my cart is in somebody's way.

The thing to think about is this: While your business and product/service may be on the mark. How do your customers and prospects perceive it? What are you doing to manage that perception?

Labels: Branding, Positioning

# posted by Ray Huang @ 10:25 AM
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Wingman Marketing Communications has just re-launched our website at http://www.wingmancommunications.com. Our old site was dark and rough around the edges, but that was reflective of our nation's economic death spiral. The revamp has been long overdue, and reflects our fresh new outlook on the future of our business, our lives, and hopefully the rest of the economy. We really think there may be a correlation.

Labels: Branding, Creative, Positioning, Wingman

# posted by Ray Huang @ 1:34 AM
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My last post, several months ago, chronicled my experience with auto insurance, which ultimately led me to drop my insurance company to go with Geico. I've noticed over the last several couple years, that Geico has a unique multi-pronged advertising campaign.

The current landscape only brings three, maybe four prominent auto insurance ad campaigns that come to mind, All-State, Progressive, State Farm, and Geico. Geico by far is the most active, with so many different themes going on at once.

At first I questioned their strategy... so incohesive and seemingly disjointed. But each of their campaigns has a series of print and and TV commercials behind it. They realize that their brand is known, and they want to keep it top of mind with several commercials, aimed to reach you and touch you in different ways ... mostly through comedic entertainment. You may have fast forwarded through the entire commercial break with your DVR, but if you're old-school like me, and usually channel surf during commercials, I rarely will switch away from a Geico commercial. They do a great job of keeping the ads fresh and entertaining, with a little bit of shock and awe.

	All-State - featuring actor Dennis Haysbert (or as I know him, Pedro Cerrano from Major League movies). These ads typically recount all the simple and common things we do that can cause accidents and then he tells us cpecific features of the All-State coverage.
	Progressive - featuring Flo, the "Progressive Girl," played by actress/comedian Stephanie Courtney. She takes a light-hearted approach to letting you know about different features and types of coverage.
	Geico Caveman Campaign - One of Geico's most successfully entertaining campaigns
	Geico Kash Campaign - "I always feel like, somebody's watching me."
	Geico Gecko - He used to just hang out quietly, then he was stalked by a clumsy old documentary host, and more recently has gone corporate.
	Geico Celebrities - features real customers alongside professional celebrities, Burt Bacharach, Peter Graves, Don LaFontaine, Little Richard, Charo and Verne Troyer.

Labels: Advertising, Branding, Positioning

# posted by Ray Huang @ 12:42 PM
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I was recently reminded of a great entrepreneurial success story on how a change in your competitive and marketing mindset can open up doors you've never seen before. Unless whatever you do or whatever you sell is completely unique, there are always going to be other players out there that you would consider your competition. If you work for XYZ Dental, your competitors are all those other hundreds of dentists within 10 miles of you as well as those major dental companies. If you own Billy Bob's Oil Change-o-Rama, you're competing against every other grease monkey in town, probably offering a $15.95 oil change.

But consider who you're really up against in the mind of the customer. Sure at the most basic level, its all these other companies that do what you do ... but at a much higher level, before they even consider which dentist to go to, and before their car goes from 3000 miles to 4000 to 5000 or more (you know we've all let it go this long), its often a battle for time. Between work, kids, errands, and whatever else people have going on in their lives, most of your customers are pressed for time - and that is the reason they've been putting of going to the dentist or getting the oil change. Time - thats your real competition.

By realizing that time was their competition, Dr. Arnold Keiles, conceived of providing dental care right where his patients worked in a business now known nationally as Onsite Dental. The company manages the nation's largest fleet of Mobile Dental Practices that make regular visits to major corporate campuses like Cisco, Google, Genentech, Yahoo!, and Sprint. The premise was to make going to the dentist quick and convenient.

Similarly, Office Lube has used a similar business model, providing oil changes at company parking lots. Both are wildly successful companies built on the the premise of saving their customers' time.

Labels: Positioning

# posted by Ray Huang @ 8:07 AM
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