Building a brand requires visibility to the right audience and, most importantly, the right message — one that's simple and clear in defining the brand around the desires of your customers. It's that critical differentiation that helps your customers find — and remember — what you offer.

In this issue:

1. "Stop and Smell the Holidays" - An appropriate tagline?
2. Searching for the Branded Experience - Kids and gift giving
3. BGDI WORK: Investing in Dreams - A brand for microfinance

"Stop and Smell the Holidays" - Smelly or evocative?

Many of us have childhood experiences of that Christmas tree smell - the pungent odor of a conifer. It's tactile and experiential. But over the last ten years US Christmas tree sales have been dropping, posing a threat to the industry and perhaps to the authenticity of the holiday season, says the National Christmas Tree Association.

The Association wanted to brand the Christmas tree experience as a holiday must, and received a grant from the Department of Agriculture to help out. A key element of the campaign is the tagline "Stop and Smell the Holidays". Although this "powerful" phrase gets attention, you have to realize who you are marketing to: kids! And anything to do with the word "smell" is, well, perceived as scatological.

A powerful key tagline or campaign that recalls a simple, sensory-based connection can create a powerful brand experience. But remember — messaging that implies a positive experience can instantly be flipped to the negative - it's a natural satirical reaction - especially for kids. Think of the new MacDonalds tagline — "Lovin' it" — which kids delight in turning into "Hatin' it"!

So, looking at a new campaign for 2005, I would recommend that Christmas tree growers work on branding what they are selling as something real — not artificial — and leave smelly references on the shelf...

Searching for the Branded Experience - Donaldson kids and gift giving

Recently I and my two kids, Celia, 11 and Zachary 8 were given the opportunity to be interviewed in an S.F. Chronicle story (Sunday, December 12, 2004, Tech Toys a Holiday Hit) on what type of gifts children want. The big question they posed: Was I going to spend more money on electronic toys this year over last year? My natural reaction was: No, of course not. I'm not buying on the consumer driven motivations of my kids. My children's reactions? Completely brand focused and 180 degrees different: iPod for my daughter and the Nintendo DS portable gaming system for my son. They both knew exactly why — it was the brand experience in their minds.

Although neither had actually personally used or even seen these two items up close, they were completely familiar with the experience they would have. So, although I fight the good fight against consumerism, the lesson here is that a persuasive brand communication can actually create a powerful virtual experience of the product itself — the ultimate goal of a top brand.
-Steven Donaldson

BGDI WORK: INVESTING IN DREAMS - Branding Microfinance

BGDI recently completed the promotion of an event for the Clausen Center for International Business and Policy at U.C. Berkeley. The event focused on a conference for NGOs, banks and students interested in the growing use of microfinance in developing countries. It's a new approach to poverty alleviation using very small loans at the village level to bring capital to people wanting to start their own businesses. The success of these programs in Africa, South American and Asia has prompted larger banks and institutions to get involved.

BGDI designed the promotional materials and poster around a powerful image of a woman vendor on the streets of the capital of Ghana, West Africa, and used a branded campaign slogan that recalls the very essence of the small entrepreneur looking for a way to build a future and escape poverty - "Investing in Dreams".

NEXT ISSUE: The B2B Message - What matters in business to business brands?

In business-to-business branding, companies take the mistaken position that branding is only for consumer markets — that building brand awareness of a company and its products is not necessary. We'll take a look at how a focused brand strategy can build the b2b message.