RE: Branding

From: Rob Frankel <rob_at_robfrankel.com>
Date: Thu 27 Feb 2003 20:16:03 -0600

At 11:03 AM -0500 2/26/03, jptrenn_at_netscape.net wrote:

>Hey Rob, our branding buddy
>
>Wait a minute. Coke is not a good brand?

No, it really isn't a good BRAND. It's a successful brand, no doubt.
But not due to its brand strategy or its executions. Don't get me
wrong, success is not entirely a branding issue. Sales takes its
rightful place up there and plenty of sales-driven companies are very
successful.

The question is how you measure a brand's effectiveness. Are Coke
drinkers as evangelical about Coke they way Mac users are about Macs?
Would you pay a premium for Coca Cola if you could buy another cola
for half the price?

>People go to restaurants and ask for a coke. Or sprite or diet
>coke. Ever hear of a rum and pepsi? In the south, they ask for
>'coke' as a substitute for 'soft drink'.

Right. And whenever I go to Atlanta, I always brace myself for the
Coke diehards. Elsewhere in the world, though, if the server tells
the patron, "We don't have Coke, we have Pepsi," most (not all) go
right ahead and order the Pepsi. In fact, the vast majority of folks
don't display a preference of cola by name.

Coke has bought its way to the top. Very successful. But it doesn't
possess nearly the evangelism that Macintosh fans have for their
brand.

>Their sales force may be predators, but how does that transfer
>directly to the customer ordering the coke at the fast food
>restaurant, the movie, etc? Are we all supposed to buy your book,
>Revenge of Brand X?

That would help......the first chapter alone really does explain much
of how branding is no longer what people like Jack Trout and Al Ries
once thought it was. Seriously, universities and agencies around the
world really do buy and use the book.

>Or should I say, www.revengeofbrandx.com?
>
>

I prefer http://www.revengeofbrandx.com because it shows up as a
hyperlink in most e-mail apps...<G>
--
Rob Frankel

"Branding is not about getting your prospects to choose you over your
competition; it's about getting your prospects to see you as the only
solution to their problem." (TM) -- Rob Frankel, consultant and
author of "The Revenge of Brand X: How to build a Big Time Brand on
the web or anywhere else."
Big Time Branding (SM) http://www.RobFrankel.com
818-990-8623 or 1-888-ROBFRANKEL
AIM: ROBFRANKEL




Received on Thu Feb 27 2003 - 20:16:03 CST