WOW Branding Blog

Cause for a good business

Dann Ilicic - Tuesday, May 12, 2009

My favorite entrepreneurial stories are those in which an undying faith and belief are required to combat the ridicule of doing something different. Casting the right vision and purpose for a company has to come from somewhere deep inside if it is going to be completely authentic, meaningful and sustainable.

I came across TomsShoes.com—a company founded by Blake Mycoskie and built on a very compelling brand promise. For every pair of shoes you buy, they will send a pair to a child in a developing country as part of their One for One movement.

What's even more amazing is how many people have adopted the cause and joined Blake in bringing his vision to life. Take a quick look on YouTube and search for Toms Shoes and you'll find tons of videos that tell the story. High schools, colleges and even other businesses have seen the value or Blake's vision - not because it was sold to them, but because it struck a cord. His idea has become viral and as a result thousands of kids now have shoes.

So here are a few questions to ponder. What is your business doing that is meaningful? What is connecting your people inside and attracting customers? What would it take for others to make unsolicited videos about your company? What do you believe in?

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Understanding why we buy—Words Matter

Dann Ilicic - Friday, May 08, 2009

I came across an interesting article today on CanadaOne.com that I believe we all should read titled 7 things you need to know about why people buy. Although all the points hit home, the two that really struck me from a branding perspective were #5 Framing and #6 Too Many Choices.

The concept of framing deals with how messages get communicated and more importantly, the influence that message can have on our decisions. We constantly get challenged by our clients to help them figure out "what" to say about their company or products, but that's only half the battle—it's equally important to nail how to say it. Once you've figured out "what" you want to say, make it a practice to brainstorm at least 10 ways to say it. Never write without first thinking about the outcome, action or effect on the reader. I've copied the section below form the article that illustrates how much words can matter:

"The way a question is framed can strongly influence how someone responds, especially when there is risk involved, for example the purchase of an expensive item.

Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman pioneered research in this area and are famous for their Asian flu experiment, where two groups were asked to select a program to combat a fictional flu expected to kill 600 people in the U.S.

Group 1 were presented with a choice between two programs:

Program A: "200 people will be saved"
Program B: "there is a one-third probability that 600 people will be saved, and a two-thirds probability that no people will be saved"

72 percent of participants preferred program A.

Group 2 were presented with the choice between:

Program C: "400 people will die"
Program D: "there is a one-third probability that nobody will die, and a two-third probability that 600 people will die"

78 percent preferred program D.

Altering the way the two options were phrased did not just change, but actually reversed participant's perception of the two options.

The way that you frame your marketing message can have a powerful impact on its ability to influence your customers, particularly if a decision comes with financial risk."

The concept of offering too many choices (product offerings) to people is also interesting. One of the biggest fears I see in our clients is keeping things simple. I believe you need to be brave to limit your offerings and get off the "if we show them everything, then they're more likely to pick something" mentality. This is true of product placement, your website and even your proposals. Is it clear what you're offering and are you making it easy to buy. Take a look at this excerpt below on the "jam" experiment and see if anything hits home:

A jam experiment conducted by Sheena S. Iyengar and Mark R. Lepper demonstrated that more choices might attract more attention, but fewer choices increased sales.

The researchers set up a tasting booth for exotic jams at a high end grocery store and rotated the display so that either 6 or 24 flavours of jam were on display. All consumers could sample as many of the jams as they wanted and everyone who approached the booth was given a coupon.

Ivengar and Lepper found that having a bigger selection of jams attracted more people to the booth: 60 per cent of the customers who passed the booth stopped when 24 varieties were on display, compared to 40 per cent when 6 jams were out.

Yet when it came to sales, the smaller selection won the day. Thirty per cent of people who stopped by the limited selection actually purchased a jar of jam, compared to just 3 per cent for those who stopped by the table when 24 choices were on display.

"This is kind of the conundrum of too much choice," said Ariely. "It attracts to people but then they end up doing nothing."

If you are trying to sell something you have to understand how complexity is working both for and against you. For example, having too many choices on your website may encourage customers to browse, yet deter them from actually buying.

Reducing the number of choices can not only increase sales, but it may help you save money as well as you will be focused on a small portfolio of products and services.

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Queensland 1, Alberta 0

Peter Andersen - Friday, May 08, 2009

If you follow the news (and you do..), you’ve probably seen the media hoopla around “the best job in the world”. It may be a job posting, but what it really is, is one of the most brilliant PR campaigns I’ve seen in a long time. The value of the global coverage and attention it has created, is beyond measurement. Queensland, Australia has been associated with the image of a tropical paradise in the minds of millions of people around the world. It probably is (Great Barrier Reef and all..), but know we all know.

Enter Alberta, Canada. Another part of the world that have been blessed with jaw dropping scenic beauty. Recently this Canadian province launched a new website promoting Alberta. It also got a lot of attention, but for the wrong reasons. It turned out that one of the photos used on the site was, in fact, showing a British landscape. And all hell broke loose.

Yes, it does seem a bit weird to use a photo from the UK to portrait the natural wonders of Alberta. Authenticity being the key word.

But that’s not my point.

Both Queensland and Alberta had the same objective and the same tactic. How the hell do we break through the noise and get some attention (and tourist dollars..) going our way? Let’s have a website developed and support with some PR. The similarities stop there.

What a different approach - and result. One being truly innovative and putting Queensland on the dream destination map. The other being painfully traditional and executed in a way, that gave it it’s 15 minutes of fame for all the wrong reasons.

Game over.

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