HEASLEY&PARTNERS, Inc.

The Power of Moments

Kathy Heasley — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 11:18:13 +0000

What’s in a moment? That was the subject when I spoke recently at the “Compete Through Service Symposium” presented by the Center for Services Leadership in cooperation with the ASU W.P. Carey School of Business. During our session, attendees learned that moments are everything and that they hold the key to excellent service. Here’s how…Today there is much talk of branding and building a brand. What people miss is that a brand is not a logo, it is not a company’s advertising—mostly a brand is shaped by the experiences we as people have with a business, a person or a product. In a perfect world, a well thought out brand should define a company’s service, but because so few people think of branding in this way, the reality is that service defines the brand. And if that service is less than stellar, it doesn’t matter how much money a company spends on advertising, the experience will dominate. As consumers we live in a very cynical world.

The reason service plays such a huge role in brand building can be best answered by starting with the basics. First my definition of a brand is simply two words: the Promise and the Experience. The Promise is everything you use to telegraph who you are, what you do, how you do it and how much the people you serve will love what you offer. It’s your website, social media; advertising; public relations; business cards; even you and your team’s attire, grooming, attitude etc. These things and the many others that precede you leave impressions whether you know it or not. One question worth asking is, are they leaving the impressions you want? If they aren’t then some Promise work is in order.

The Experience is the follow through on that promise. It’s your product or service, it’s the sales process, the customer service process, the technical support process, the billing process, along with the attitude, the tone the personality of the people you employ. It’s every interaction you and the others in your company have with the people you serve or wish to serve. If you are promising the moon and the sky, but delivering something short of that, then Experience work is in order.

Experiences can happen anywhere and everywhere. Cold Stone Creamery was my client for many years and based on the brand platform, the company was in the “Making People Happy Business.” I would often travel visiting franchisees as part our branding work. I would carry a Cold Stone Creamery briefcase and invariably someone would see it and say, “Hey, Cold Stone! I love Cold Stone!” In those days we encouraged everyone associated with the brand to give people who “showed the love” a Free Creation certificate right on the spot.

So I’d say, “Thanks!” or “Cold Stone loves you too!” and give the fan a free creation. It was a little thing, but imagine what a big thing it is to an airport security check-point worker who mostly deals with people at their worst. Imagine the unexpected surprise and the inevitable conversations that took place about this one little act of generosity.What I just described is a “moment,” a small instance of time, unexpected, that makes someone feel special. Moments generally don’t cost much, they just take understanding and creativity to first discover the company’s genuine brand, and how it is meaningful to the people the company serves and then how to make it different from the competitors. These three words: genuine, meaningful and different are the key to great brand moments that are unforgettable and get people talking. And it’s all that talk that creates buzz and buzz is what builds what we call breakthrough brands.

During the session, I showed attendees how to use our proprietary tool called Moments™ Maps. When HEASLEY&PARTNERS works with a company to build the Experience side of the branding equation, we develop Moments Maps to identify the right moments and infuse them into the sales, service, support, or whatever processes a company wants to bring to life. For most companies, that’s all of them.

The foundation for all of this is HEASLEY&PARTNERS’ Heart & Mind^® Branding, a five-stage process that takes a company from brand creation to brand planning to full execution. Through this process, businesses and people can finally connect heart-to-heart with the people they wish to serve. The heart is where buying decisions are made, after all. We put the “why” behind the “what” and systematize it so companies win through more engaged workforce, less employee turnover, increased productivity, more leads, happier customers, more referrals and increased sales and profits. This is the closest thing I know to a silver bullet in business and it took me decades to bring it to life. Lucky for you, it’s here now.

What is branding? Heart & Mind® Branding.

When Crisis Hit Penn State – They Faced It Head On

Kathy Heasley — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 16:43:27 +0000

While I am not proud of how some of the leaders at Penn State chose to cover up the wrongdoing of Jerry Sandusky, who during my time as an undergrad there was a pillar of the community, I am proud of how the university is taking the medicine issued by the courts and the NCAA. It’s not easy to see our beloved Nittany Lion logo next to the words “scandal” and “sanctions” and “ban” and “failure,” but it is what it is.

For those of you who may face a crisis in your business, and I certainly hope this never happens to you, this letter from Penn State president, Rodney Erickson, is an excellent example of how to take your medicine with as much dignity and integrity as possible. Further, it explains the changes and the initiatives that the university will undergo to ensure this kind of tragedy won’t happen again and to further the cause of prevention.

But let’s be real, underneath all this are people who simply must be seething at the whole affair let alone the ruling by the NCAA, which levied $60 million in fines, a four-year ban on post-season games and a reduction in the number of scholarships. Additionally, Joe Paterno’s winningest-coach-in-college-football record will not stand since all wins from 1998 to 2011 will be vacated.

There are finance people at the university who are totaling up the fines and the lawsuit exposure who have moved beyond shock and are stubbornly locked in their anger. Who can blame them? They are human and these are human responses. But they are not and should never be public responses.

We live in the Age of Integrity and as Jerry Sandusky and the leaders who surrounded him made decisions that demonstrated poor judgment and a lack of integrity have learned, in today’s world, transgressions will be found out. And the bigger the transgression the more likely it will become news.

So what can businesses and leaders do?

First and foremost, recognize that the Age of Integrity is real and we are all part of it no matter how powerful or untouchable we believe we are. We are neither powerful nor untouchable; that is an illusion.

Second, live a high-integrity life. If you have to justify your behavior to yourself, it’s probably not high-integrity behavior.

Third, if you do mess up correct the problem immediately and seek help if needed. Most messes cannot be cleaned up alone and plenty of qualified professionals in the legal, communications, mental health, you name it at your beck and call. It will cost, but it’s no time to be cheap.

Fourth, understand those you wrong will speak out eventually, so be prepared. If they do, own up to the truth and take your medicine with integrity. It’s the only chance you have to recover any shred of your brand.

These four steps are not easy, but did you expect them to be? Will following them cost you a lot of money, cost you everything you’ve worked for, everyone you love? Those are real possibilities. But they are not reasons to hide the truth because in The Age of Integrity, the truth will come out, and then where will you be? In a worse predicament.

I’m sure the emails I’ve been receiving from the Penn State president have been highly coached by people like me, legally vetted by high-paid lawyers and written by people who recognize they are in uncharted territory so they must tread carefully.

The whole Penn State ordeal has been a tragedy for the victims and their families. That hardly needs to be restated. But what does need to be stated is that it also has been and continues to be a lesson in integrity given to us by a brand that was the pinnacle and now must begin that slow climb back into the light.

Why I Love “Brand” Steve Nash

Kristen Bond — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 15:20:04 +0000

I am a fan of sports and always have been, I haven’t always been a fan of basketball, but ever since I moved to Arizona I have been fascinated with the Phoenix Suns. More specifically, I am fascinated with Steve Nash. To me he exemplifies all of the reasons why people should involve themselves in team environments, whether we’re talking sports, work, school or just life in general. To me, he’s an excellent athlete, role model, in essence, he is a winning brand unto himself. Here’s what I mean.

Steve Nash has a genuine desire to bring out the best in others. Success isn’t about him; it’s about the team. On the court he’s one of the most unselfish sports players out there. He can see plays before they even happen and often makes them happen, not through his hands alone, but through the hands of his teammates. Off the court, he believes in charitable causes and acts with higher purpose. He’s genuine, he’s consistent and that’s why I say he’s an amazing brand.

Steve Nash had humble beginnings. Even though he currently sits in the first position overall for his free throw shooting ability behind other “brands of the past” like Larry Bird and Rick Barry (“old school” who shot underhand free throws)—incredible company to keep—his early years were the kind that weeded out lesser men. The kind of men who weren’t passionate enough and didn’t believe in themselves enough. Last season Steve Nash came in 2^nd in the league for assists at 10.7 and averaged 12.7 points per game—not bad for a kid nobody wanted to look at when it was time to go to college. Like most great brands, Steve kept going through the tough times, and didn’t allow his dream to be compromised. That built character and smarts, which is, of course, what humble beginnings do.

Steve Nash wrote to hundreds of Division I schools’ begging for a look. Santa Clara was the only school that responded and Steve Nash responded back loudly as a freshman, helping his team stay alive in the NCAA tournaments as the underdog. Out of the four years Steve Nash played for the Santa Clara Broncos, the team made 3 NCAA tournament appearances and Steve Nash was named the West Coast Conference Player of the Year twice. Clearly his humble beginnings were short lived once given the chance to excel.

Through the assists he provides his teammates on the court and the encouragement he provides on and off the court to countless fans, teammates and players, Steve Nash is an all star. He has helped many of his teammates attain career highs in scoring and has played an integral part in creating cohesiveness within the teams he has played on. The Steve Nash Foundation aims to foster health in kids providing services to children affected by poverty, illness, abuse or neglect. He also is the sponsor of charitable organizations in Canada and China. In May 2006, Steve Nash was named by Time as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. Have you fallen in love with Steve Nash yet? With his brand and what he stands for? There are so many more accolades he has received and gracious words by teammates detailing what an honorable person he is.

I recently learned that Steve Nash has been traded to the LA Lakers. As a Phoenix Suns fan the idea of cheering for the Lakers is a bit gut wrenching. In my sports crazed fury and my desire to see Steve Nash and team win, I have chanted numerous times “Beat LA!” But clearly, I am a Steve Nash fan first. He’s one of the reasons I believe in teamwork and in striving to achieve what you believe in. For me the time has come to put away my orange and purple attire and begin a new collection of LA Lakers golden gear. It pains me a bit, but to those of us who are Steve Nash brand loyal, you understand. To Steve Nash I say… looks like we’re going to LA.

America’s Got Talent Creates “Moments”

Judy Neuman — Wed, 04 Jul 2012 18:30:38 +0000

I was never really a big fan of “America’s Got Talent,” and with a 4 and 6 year old, I don’t have much time to watch television. However, I am a fan of Howard Stern, so I was finally compelled to watch.

As I watched a recent episode of “America’s Got Talent,” there was a split second after one of the performances in which Howie Mandel leaned over to Sharon Osbourne and said, in all sincerity, “Now that was a moment.” Howie’s comment got me thinking about “moments.” What is a moment?

At HEASLEY&PARTNERS™ we always talk about the power of moments. As a branding company, we work with hundreds of companies to help transform their businesses into brands by showing them how to use our proprietary tool called Moments Maps™. We define a moment as those small, unexpected instances in time that make someone feel special. This is what Apple, Starbucks, TOMS and other great brands do. But it never occurred to me that this is also what reality shows do until I heard Howie’s comment.

Moments are the reason millions of Americans are glued to their televisions watching shows like “America’s Got Talent,” “Dancing with the Stars” and “American Idol.” These talent showcases are all about creating the small, unexpected instances in time that make people feel special.

If these moments are so powerful, why don’t we try to create more of them at work? Is it unacceptable to show heart, compassion and empathy in business? Are these moments only for talent shows? I think not.

We need to start giving companies and C-level executives permission to show their “heart” and to encourage their employees to start showing theirs. We can do this by creating moments within a company and with its customers.

Moments generally don’t cost much; they just take understanding and creativity, first to discover a company’s genuine brand, to understand how it is meaningful to the people it serves and then to find out how to make it different from its competitors. Three simple words—genuine, meaningful and different—are the keys to great brand moments that are unforgettable and that get people talking. All that talk creates buzz, and buzz is what builds what we call “breakthrough brands.”

Moments are what separate good brands from great brands. Creating moments in your company is one way to create an environment with happy employees, happy customers and increased profits.

Does your company create moments? Can you remember a moment you created or experienced? Tell us about it.

Inject Heart & Mind Branding Adrenaline into Your Corporate Events

Kathy Heasley — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 17:25:26 +0000

We humans are social creatures. Just look at the rise of social media. We share, we keep in touch and yes we even eavesdrop through Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and a host of other hot social media sites. I’ve embraced social media and believe it is a great way to stay connected and build business, but in addition to, not in place of, face-to-face meetings. In fact, if anything, social media has taught us all just how hungry employees, franchisees, users, and any other constituents you serve are for meaningful connection. That’s great news for your brand if you know how to do more than just share information through face-to-face meetings.

It’s the funniest thing, companies (and even associations) think that corporate events are only about communicating information. They might also believe that events are about networking or about selling stuff. Wow, if this is their perspective, they are missing 90% of the real value of a company event. The real value of an event is to give every attendee a massive shot of full-throttle brand adrenaline.

Our reputation for injecting brand adrenaline right into the heart through corporate events is hard-earned. We’ve made mistakes and learned from them. We’ve shunned the typical and taken risks to achieve the extraordinary — without breaking the bank. We’ve earned our clients’ trust in our vision and in our ability to produce exceptional results. The payoff is big in terms of every metric you can think of.

Heart & Mind® Branding is the key to creating true, lasting brand adrenaline, and here’s how you can make it happen through your corporate events:

10 Keys to Injecting Heart & Mind Branding Adrenaline into Your Corporate Events

Go for the emotional connection first - When you connect with people’s hearts, they will let you into their minds.
Make your theme heart-based, not mind-based – If you don’t feel it, no one else will either. Thinking has nothing to do with theming.
Throw out any themes that don’t have legs - If you or your CEO can’t get up and talk about the theme for hours, then it’s not a good theme.
Produce videos that aren’t “talking head” parades – Those are so 1990s. Today’s videos are not about telling; they are about entertaining and through entertainment, inspiring.
Be demanding – Don’t settle for ordinary or just okay in anything you do at an event. Your show is a showcase of the behavior you want to inspire in others. If you want excellence in others, you must demonstrate it yourself.
Make an impact – Your corporate event should literally make people laugh and cry, as well as learn. You can achieve these results through what we at HEASLEY&PARTNERS call Moments.
Spend less money on plants and more on production – Seems obvious, but instead of spending money on flowers and ficus trees, focus your spending on your stage and show. Do what wows!
Plan a unified program – Make sure your speakers’ presentations aren’t repetitive. They should build on each other. Unity of message at a corporate event is critical.
Build an ideal world – Your corporate event should be your attendees’ world. Make it high-service and unforgettable. If attendees leave the world you’ve created, you’ve missed an opportunity.
Don’t cheap out - You’re spending a lot of money, for sure, but if you cheap out — even on seemingly insignificant details — that’s what attendees will notice and that’s what they’ll remember.

Corporate events are a significant investment, so instead of plowing your resources into the same old exercise, instead of merely conveying information, you should look at your corporate events as an outstanding opportunity to inject Heart & Mind Branding adrenaline.

What is branding? Heart & Mind® Branding.

What’s Your Company’s Movie Tagline? Your Words are Your Brand.

Kathy Heasley — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 21:23:23 +0000

In case you haven’t figured this out by now. Your logo is not your brand. Your words are. What we see has a huge impact on us, no doubt, but what we say and hear and read does too. I happened to catch a fun article titled 66 Great Movie Taglines From the Past 30 Years. Scanning through it, I couldn’t help thinking, this is total branding. These lines hooked us, made us laugh, got us to wonder and even shocked us into noticing and remembering them. So what is your company’s movie tagline?

In our very abbreviated world of soundbites, you’d better have “a line.” That one thing that you can say in no seconds flat that is just second nature. For HEASLEY&PARTNERS, that’s easy. We shape businesses into brands. TM. Done. It’s that simple. But it is not simple to come up with taglines for companies, movies, people, books or anything else that needs to be recognized and remembered.

So many marketing execs and CEOs sit down and say, “Okay, let’s come up with our tagline.” If I’m in the room, believe me, I’m not afraid to say, “Hold up. That’s the last thing that gets created when developing brand messaging, not the first.” In the old days, they’d often look at me and keep up with their futility (nothing ever came of the effort, not even once). But now when the need arises, I speak up. Knowing the HEASLEY&PARTNERS track record and what we can do, they take heed. They put their effort into things that will bear some actual results.

Sure, you might think you have “the line” and on rare occasions, you might be right. But great brand messaging doesn’t come from just some fun lines and some clever statements that you dream up in the shower. There’s more to it than that. Like, for example, will your clever line hold up when you really start creating your company’s “movie” or will it crumble and turn to dust like the countless ghouls in The Mummy?

When you check out these great movie taglines, ask yourself not what your tagline is, but rather, “What is my company’s movie?” If you don’t know that, if you can’t feel that, you’re not ready for the tagline. Job one is to write your brand screenplay, then start promoting it. Not the other way around.

What is branding? Heart & Mind® Branding.

You can have your own Heart & Mind Brand, let HEASLEY&PARTNERS help.

What made Kony 2012 Viral Within Days? They Captured Our Hearts & Minds.

Kathy Heasley — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 17:13:21 +0000

The social activist video, Kony 2012, went viral almost instantly. After only being online for a couple of weeks, it has over 80 million views. How does one small organization catch the hearts and minds of the world in just hours? With the same concept we use—Heart & Mind® Branding. Invisible Children created this video that touched people’s hearts by showing the cruelty Ugandan children are forced into, and gave tens of millions awareness of and hope that we can end Joseph Kony’s rein.

Since the release of the video, Invisible Children has received a lot of backlash regarding their finances, the legitimacy of their organization, and the detainment of co-creator Jason Russell. All opinions aside, there’s no denying this video’s power to capture the attention of millions overnight. As a college student, I see peers trying to bring different problems, news stories, and politics to people’s attention all the time. Usually their Facebook post about saving dolphins receives a few likes—and then it’s over and done with. Their hearts are with the cause, they are just not fully revealing them, so they don’t getting traction. That’s where Heart & Mind Branding’s concept of “Moments” comes in—those small instances of time that touch our hearts. Kony effectively created a “Moment.” My peers posting on Facebook never create “Moments,” they post. Moments go viral. Posts don’t.

Within hours, several Facebook friends had posted about Kony 2012, shared the video, or changed their Facebook profile picture to the ad in support of the cause.

The Kony craze didn’t stop at Facebook, it took over other social networking sites such as Twitter and Instagram. I thought that by the next day the hype would have dwindled, but I was wrong. The hype was still going strong—and continued for days.

What made this video so popular? Why did it have the power to attract so many people? It’s because the creators of Invisible Children made a video, a “Moment,” that captured the world’s heart. They also used their minds to develop a plan of action that was structured and effective. This video turned everyone into a social activist. Their heart and mind mindset, is what made their video so widespread. Normally, how many people would sit to watch a 30-minute video, the whole way through? I sure wouldn’t! Most YouTube videos over 5 minutes generally aren’t worth watching for the first 3 minutes, let alone the entire time.

Regardless of whether or not you think Invisible Children promoted this world-wide issue the wrong way, or if you think Jason Russell has a serious PR problem, the video accomplished the seemingly impossible goal of going viral. When you use your heart and your mind and create “Moments” you can win people over. Invisible Children did just that and won 80 million people over in just two weeks.

The San Diego non-profit organization is not a new company, it’s been fighting the issue in Uganda for nine years. Joseph Kony is not a new criminal either. He has been using children for his soldiers and “wives” since about 1986, with an estimated 66,000 children abducted. Obama deployed 100 soldiers to central Africa in fall 2011 to help remove Kony from the battlefield. Invisible Children is fighting to find Kony this year, before the troops are removed form Africa. They have raised awareness through their heart-and-mind based viral video like no news report ever could.

This post is by Melissa Fittro, an Arizona State University Student and intern at HEASLEY&PARTNERS. Through her projects including writing this blog, Melissa is learning about business, gaining an introduction to Heart & Mind Branding and working hands on with the tools of marketing and communications.

What is branding? Heart & Mind® Branding. Get started NOW!

Branding Can Stop Us In Our FF Tracks

Kathy Heasley — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 18:26:39 +0000

Have you seen the Luvs commercial where the little animated babies are having a pooping competition? The cartoon kids walk on stage in their Luvs diapers, turn around and let one go. Their Luv diapers expand accordingly and the other baby judges seated downstage hold up cards: 6, 7, 6. Finally the last kid really puts Luvs to the test and the judges respond with: 10, 10, 10!

Is this commercial shocking? Maybe compared to the typical “cute baby ads” of the diaper category. Is it funny? I challenge you not to laugh. Is it surprising? My mouth was agape watching it. Is it memorable? I just recounted the entire ad. Does it generate buzz? The proof is we’re talking about it.

But what is most important about the Luvs ad is it made my husband who runs the TV in our house to actually remove his finger from the FF button and watch this spot–not once but twice. He watched it, then he made me watch it. You can watch it here.

After I laughed, then said, “Ewww,” I thought FF isn’t just on our TVs. FF happens daily as we rush by plenty of things well worth noticing but that fail to engage us. We all live FF lives.

Branding can stop us in our FF tracks. Are you, your company and your brand doing anything to make people stop and notice you, not once but twice? Three times, four or more? Are people talking about you? That would be even better. You may say, “Well we don’t advertise on TV.” I’m not really talking about commercials here. I’m talking about taking the risk to make yourself stand out. Luvs sure did it, boldly and bravely. I’m sure they are getting some nasty comments online–that is to be expected when you break tradition and put yourself out there. It takes immense bravery to not be swayed by the few, even though they can sound quite loud. It’s impossible to be different and not get criticized.

A friend of mine told me, “No one ever erected a statue to a critic. If you walk through the park and look at the statues of heroes, you’ll notice they have been crapped on a lot.” Those heroes were risk takers and they took their lumps then as they are still taking the dirt now.

It’s never been more important to take risks than it is today if you want to get anywhere. Just sitting there, saying the safe thing and using safe stock images, stifling creativity, being too stodgy or patrician to find a relevant connection to popular culture, or just being too chicken to be different, you automatically lose. The reason is you haven’t forced us customers to slow down our FF lives and notice you. Do you have to wear a raw meat dress like Lady Gaga did a while back? Most likely in your world, no. In hers, yes.

Understand, most of us operate our businesses in an environment of blasé sameness. It isn’t hard to stand out. I’m not talking to the creative folks with this blog. I’m talking to the CEOs who are afraid of what their stockholders might think. Start moving that stock price up and they’ll get over it. I’m talking to the CMOs who don’t want to lose their jobs. Maybe the reason the average CMO lasts less than three years in any one post is because they are afraid of losing their jobs. I’m talking to the CFOs who can’t understand why different sometimes costs more money. To them I say, if being different was easy or cheap everyone would be doing it, and being really different would cost even more money, so count your blessings!

Take your finger off your FF button right now and watch the Luvs commercial. Let your jaw drop and then think about how you can in your business connect with some aspect of humanity, rather than just “promote your business.” That’s the power of Heart & Mind® Branding. If you can pull it off with diapers, believe me you can do it with anything.

What is branding? Heart & Mind Branding.

Brand Kodak Had a Good Thing Going…Until They Didn’t

Kathy Heasley — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 00:37:58 +0000

Kodak announced they’re out of the digital camera business. Instead they will focus on other products like consumer and commercial inkjet printing, packaging printing and workflow software. After filing for bankruptcy last month, Kodak has one year to devise a restructuring plan. I have owned and carried a digital camera since I was about 13 years old, and it holds a special place in my heart. As a member of the “Internet generation,” I documented my life with photos, capturing memories of my friends and me inside the cafeteria at school, dressing up at home, acting goofy at parties, whatever and wherever. Kodak was part of my life. No occasion needed.

In my youth, Kodak made it easy for me to immediately upload my pictures to MySpace and share them with friends. When MySpace faded as the social network it seems so did digital cameras. Facebook emerged, and with it came the phenomenon of smart phones and mobile uploads. I rarely carry my digital camera with me now. I have a new digital friend called iPhone that snaps and uploads all in one. Looking back, it was easy to see Kodak as a consumer brand in free fall heading for a crash. The more I left my digital camera at home, the worse business had to be getting for Kodak.

But Kodak was never just cameras. In fact, before it was cameras, I discovered, it was film and chemicals–a consumables business that made Kodak billions. And the company has always been an innovator. Kodak actually developed the first digital camera technology in 1975! Today, their biggest aces are the 1,100 digital imaging patents, which some believe could bring in $3 billion or more.

Is bankruptcy the end for Kodak, or simply a painful evolution? Hard to say, but one thing for sure, Kodak has always been a technology company, and although it’s the part of their brand that most of us never knew, it may prove to play a bigger public role in their image going forward. In studying Kodak I’ve learned flexibility is a must for any lasting brand. And for companies with smarts, reorganization doesn’t mean it’s over.

This special post is by Melissa Fittro, an Arizona State University Student and intern at HEASLEY&PARTNERS. Through her projects including writing this blog, Melissa is learning about business, gaining an introduction to Heart & Mind Branding and working hands on with the tools of marketing and communications.

What is branding? Heart & Mind® Branding. Get started NOW!

The Emotional Branding War…Coke vs. Pepsi…Again!

Kristen Bond — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 00:37:38 +0000

They continue to battle, but which one will be #1: Coke or Pepsi? Taste tests prove that many of us cannot even taste the difference between the two brands! But I will be the first one to ask the waiter/waitress, “Do you serve Coke or Pepsi products?” Then change my choice of beverage based on the server’s answer. I am a die-hard Coke fan, Diet Coke to be exact. The cool bubbles and refreshing taste, the pick me up in the middle of the day…. My mouth will actually water as I pop the top off!

Why do many of us have such a strong preference? When it comes to soft drinks it truly the taste? Is it the perceived status of wearing one brand of jeans over another? How about cars, colleges, sports teams? Is the connection the people who also drink, wear, attend or cheer for your brand of choice? Brands somehow affect us at our very core.

It’s is no accident that both Coke and Pepsi work hard and spend a lot of money to create an emotional connection with us. Whether it is through sponsoring American Idol or the X-Factor, hiring A-list celebs or sports figures to endorse or simply drink their products, or supporting charities that make a difference, their motives are the same: establish an emotional connection to drive us toward their brands.

At HEASLEY&PARTNERS, we believe that there is a heart side and mind side to all companies. Our Heart & Mind® Branding brings the heart and mind of the company together to form the brand. Then we work to bring it to life. Same old, same old marketing doesn’t work anymore. Success takes building a brand with heart that people care about and generates buzz. You may think it is TV or the Internet, but it is BUZZ that actually causes a brand to breakthrough. Last time I checked, I didn’t see Pandora advertising on TV or having much of a presence on the Internet. Buzz–people talking–has built their personalized radio station app into a powerhouse.

Coke and Pepsi routinely build buzz, simply through the decades-long competition they have created between each other. The fight is fierce, no matter how tame those polar bears look on TV.

Now, think about why you connect to the brands you love. Are you connecting through the heart side? Is the brand somehow in your DNA? Is it an emotional thing for you? Many will say that their purchases are strictly rational, but I can assure you they aren’t. Every purchase we make, we make with out hearts–even when it comes to a can of soda. The best brands know this, we would hope, but building brand connections isn’t just for big brands. Small brands must make the heart-to-heart connection too. HEASLEY&PARTNERS can show you how.

Will there ever be a clear cut winner in the cola wars? Will one of them ever come out on top and be crowned the best soda forever? That’s highly unlikely, and I don’t see the battle slowing down anytime soon. Coke and Pepsi will continue to fight for bigger market shares through commercials, sponsorships, endorsements and aggressive business practices. But in reality they are fighting for our hearts. Coke has definitely won my heart, and I don’t expect that to change anytime soon! But more important, for your own business what is in your heart and how are you connecting with the hearts of others? Think about it over your next Coke, or would that be Pepsi?

What is branding? Heart & Mind® Branding. Get started NOW!