Ways to Differentiate a Brand: Leadership

This week, Mark and Lorraine discuss a position of Leadership and what it means to a brand and its messaging. Discover the multiple layers of not only claiming leadership, but how to act as the leader and communicate to your audience. It's not braggadocio to claim leadership if it's executed the right way.

Spend 30-ish with Mark and Lorraine to learn more about advertising, marketing, and positioning.

Transcript

Mark Vandegrift:

Welcome to the latest episode of the Brand Shorthand Podcast. I'm your host, Mark Vandegrift. Today's topic is about another one of our ways to differentiate. We're going to cover leadership today. So who better to lead the discussion than our leader of positioning, Lorraine Kessler? Thing one, how goes it?

Lorraine Kessler:

Well, it goes pretty well. How does it with you? I'm up in a northern part of the Midwest and you're in the great O-H-I-O. 

Mark Vandegrift:

O-H-I-O, baby.

Mark Vandegrift:

Just got back from Ireland and it was fun to look at. I always love going abroad and looking at other countries advertising and the European mode of advertising is always quite interesting. And it's certainly not as commercialized as what we have over here in the States, but it's, it's still good to get some different perspective and see how other countries treat marketing. So that was fun.

Lorraine Kessler:

Yeah, when we traveled to Italy quite a bit, and if you do observe the advertising there, it's very design driven, just like anything Italian. Doesn't mean it works necessarily, it's kind of an Italian thing. It's beautiful, but I don't know how effective it is.

Mark Vandegrift:

Well, I always loved the cars and the taxis. You know, it's kind of caught on here in the last decade, but boy, I always remember even back in the 80s when I was an exchange student in Germany, how many cars were decked out. And yet you don't have billboards and you don't have all that other stuff that clutters up our roads. But boy, they know how to do vehicle wraps, don't they?

Lorraine Kessler:

And anything with graphics. I mean, they real it's high style, high design. So it is it is a different idiom than our advertising for sure.

Mark Vandegrift:

Yep, yep. And the TV commercials are, well, there's fewer and further between. We noticed just complete duplication of commercial sets in each break. It's like the same eight commercials over and over and over again. So we did see the Irish version of Hallmark. It's showing all Hallmark shows, but it's called Great TV. So if you ever go to Ireland and need to watch a Hallmark movie, then just look up Great TV Channel and that's what it's called.

Lorraine Kessler:

Well, I will reserve that for you and your lovely wife. As you know, I'm more on the dark side in some of the things I watch.

Mark Vandegrift:

Well, let's dive into our topic because our focus way to differentiate can be confusing if we don't take our time to explain the multiple layers of leadership.

So before we dive deep, let's revisit our ways to differentiate tool, which you can see on the screen. I'm going to read our dictionary definition of leadership, and then Lorraine, I'll let you run with some opening remarks. But here's what we have for that particular way to differentiate. 

Powerful leaders can take ownership of the word that stands for the category. Think computer, IBM, copier Xerox, facial tissue Kleenex, chocolate Hershey, cola, Coca-Cola. ketchup, which would be Heinz, and soup, which would be Campbell's. 

An astute leader will go a step further and own a word as well. Heinz owns slow or thick. Campbell's owns taste with mmm good. So don't be afraid to brag. A leader who doesn't brag is the best thing that can happen to its competition. 

Now there are different forms of leadership. These are the ones that we list. 

Sales leadership. which is like top selling luxury car or top selling minivan. This works because people tend to buy what others buy, the bandwagon effect. 

Another one is technology leadership. History of technological breakthroughs like 3M or Apple. This works because people are impressed with companies that develop new technologies. 

And the last one is performance leadership. Companies have products that are not big sellers. but they are big performers. Often these are companies that focus carefully on niches that they can be best at in serving. Lorraine, this is our textbook explanation on our tool.

Share with us a broader introduction on differentiation by way of leadership.

Lorraine Kessler:

Well, I think, you know, first I'd like to discuss a little bit about how there's this ongoing kind of snake-mongoose argument between attorneys, patent attorneys and advertisers, right? Um, patent attorneys get very skittish about owning a category or becoming the generic for the category. When you own a category, you become the generic. And for our listeners and viewers, that means you say, hand me a Kleenex. or Xerox this, right? So when you get that from a brand's perspective, we call that marketing nirvana. I mean, you have reached the ultimate goal that a brand should reach because your market share just geometrically proven over decades of advertising history will be twice that of number two and much more three and it becomes geometric. So that is where you wanna get. You wanna get to the high mountain. when you have, when they have the opportunity. And so, but a lawyer will argue, well, when you're the generic, now that demotes the brand or creates problems for the brand, and indeed it can. So my feeling is when you're at the top of that mountain, one thing you'll have a lot of. is resource. You'll have a lot of money. You'll have a lot of value. You'll have the ability with your war chest to defend that position, defend your brand better than any other company in the world. So get there and then hire some really good lawyers, right? Make them flush defending your trademark. So as a lawyer, I'd say, hey, we're going to create business for you. by getting our brand to the high mountain. So I think that's a really important point because I have heard different clients at different times who said, well, my attorney is afraid of this or doesn't feel like that's good. And I think we're just mixing apples and oranges, but it doesn't form the game and the way that leaders need to play. They're the only one in the brand ecosystem. Leader is the only one who can play defense. and they need to play aggressively. The good news is if you did it right, you'll have more resources. You'll have all the resources you need to do that. You'll have command of the media, PR, you'll have the command of advertising dollars, share of voice. So get busy and stay vigilant.

Mark Vandegrift:

Yeah, and just to give a few more examples of being the generic, it's basically you get to that point when your name becomes a replacement for the generic. So we don't search engine things anymore, we Google things. We don't ask for a facial tissue, we ask for a Kleenex. We don't clean our ears with cotton swabs, we use a Q-tip. And most people, if you ask them what a Q-tip is, they can't even figure out what a cotton swab is.

Lorraine Kessler:

Yeah, what do you call that?

Mark Vandegrift:

What do you call it? So... That's really when you're talking about becoming the generic. I wanted to throw out a few examples, but we should back up a little bit. Leadership in a category does not automatically mean being the generic. Leadership means that you are the market share leader in most cases, or as we mentioned, you might be the technology leader or the performance leader, but it takes a long time of being the leader before you're assigned a generic. And even sometimes, being the generic is only going to happen in certain circles. That doesn't happen, for instance, very often in the B2B world.

It usually happens with consumer packaged goods or something like that. So I think a good example of where it can happen even geographically, as I just mentioned, we are in Ireland. And it's funny because over there, they still say “we Hoover” instead of we vacuum or we sweep. So. they were talking about, hey, we're hoovering and we should laugh at that because of course in North Canton, Ohio here, that's where the Hoover vacuum cleaner was developed. But they still say they're hoovering instead of vacuuming. We don't do that in the States. No one has ever put the Hoover at the generic level, but they do in the English Isles, so that's cool. But the point is I think you can be a leader for a very long time and never become the generic. So maybe... go a little deeper into what's the traditional path as a leader. You don't start out day one unless you invent a new product as a leader. Give us kind of that typical path that we see from our clients who have a leadership position.

Lorraine Kessler:

Well, I think all branding is a matter of time plus money. Let's just make it really simple. So, one is you are around, you have a long history, you've established credentials, unless you're totally a disruptive or a new technology for the most part. I mean, there are no absolutes, right? But you have an idea, you've defined a very clear category that you wanna lead in. could be a subcategory, could be an existing category. And you invest sufficiently in that relative to competition to dominate what I would call share mind, share voice, share mind. Those two go together. And you really cultivate media, PR. We talk a lot about how PR builds brands more effectively than advertising, simply because... comes with credibility that advertising doesn't in itself have or can't offer. And so they become media darlings if you think of the Cleveland Clinic, for example, right? One of the world's great hospitals. They started. They didn't start with that perception. They built it over time. So brand, idea, knowing the category you're going after, plus money. Now, what is the money, the resource? allows you to do what? Be consistent in terms of your message. That consistency is so important. One of the battles we often have with some of our clients is fighting this kind of message du jour. They feel like they get bored with a message or an idea before it's really matriculated into the market. And so keeping them steady on that idea and saying it basically the same way, one of the world's greatest hospitals, right? Just over and over and over, either ending with it or putting it in a refrain and making sure it's consistent. And then constant, you're in the market constantly. You don't, you know, disappear for long periods of time so that you become out of sight, out of mind. And the mind is you know, a very tricky container. It doesn't, and consumers don't think about brands as deeply as marketers do.

Even B2B customers, I mean, they're humans too. So the mind works the same way. So it's that consistency and constancy. So declare a category, have a singular powerful idea, invest in it. over time with consistency and constancy. That is what allows these brands to get to the top of the mountain.

Mark Vandegrift:

Well, a question maybe for those that are approaching a leadership position. Maybe they've gone the path, the slow road, they've been consistent and constant. Do you see that as they ascend to a number one spot or a leadership position that there's a switch over required in their marketing? Is there a need for a switch over? If so, what would that switch over be in terms of the messaging?

Lorraine Kessler:

Right. I think it becomes more on the side. You know, we often talk about having a positioning idea. Let's say the leader number one in something or the technology leader in something. That's our idea. So that's the right idea. And then there's getting the idea right. That's how you communicate it so that it connects and resonates with the target audience. Here's, this is the relevance side of the equation. How do I create relevance for this idea for the target customer or with the target customer? When you become a leader, it's very easy to fall into arrogance and complacency and stop thinking about how do I communicate this idea freshly in a way that will captivate the audience. You stop thinking about the audience spend too much time thinking about yourself, right? And, oh, we're in a leader. And then you get into this chest beating and nothing kills a brand faster than meaningless braggadocio, right? Just hammering that with no flair and no consideration for what does the customer really see as the core, I would say, singular and unique benefit from that position. So when you're a leader, like a sales leader, your unique benefit is more people buy this than anything else for a reason. Why? Because it's either more reliable or it's more enjoyable. So find that secret sauce from the customer standpoint and that's where the marketing has to go. But what you do see is they get very stuck in beating chest. So one of the things we've talked about with... long-standing leaders is you have to act the leader. So you have to be seeing not in a stuck past state, but in a forward leading, ing state, always leading, always attacking yourself, always coming up with new ideas that build on your, if you're the leader, then you should be bringing new ideas forward. I expect that of you. So you have to be always seeing leading, not just stuck in some past paradigm.

Mark Vandegrift:

Yeah, that's good. And we do talk about beating your chest and not being braggadocio as you say, but conversely, we also have clients that are afraid to say leader.

And we tell them, well, you don't have to say leader, leader all the time. For a brand, what does it mean to act like a leader through messaging, through marketing?

Lorraine Kessler:

There's a certain confidence that comes when you're a leader, you know, it's that idea, even a humility that can come from being a leader. It's just not very much like people. And one way through demonstration is to be seen and heard more often, right?

Just to be more present, as we might say. Another is to be really intelligent. about how you communicate without ever using the word leader. So can your creative team come alongside, really understand what's going on in the mind of the buyer, why they're buying this, your position, why it matters to them personally, and make sure that the creative approach tickles their fancy. So you're being, this is a little bit of the magic of advertising. I think that those are two things that are extremely important. The third is to, as I said, attack yourself. Don't be afraid to create even new brands that attack your current portfolio. There's a way to do that. A lot of times leaders will say, well, I don't want to cannibalize my core sales here. So I know that the world is moving this way, but I'm not going to do that because it'll take money out of my... bank account over here. Well, the problem is you don't take it out of that bank account. Your competitors will, because those movements are things competitors are. You're leaving the door open for a competitor and jump into. So you need to be vigilant and attacking yourself with new ideas. And there's ways to do that. You can create, um, like Toyota did when it went into luxury market, it created Lexus, it didn't call it Toyota, you know, whatever. That was a very smart move, understanding how a brand only can stand for one idea in the mind. And they were going after a particular segment, they needed a new brand. So there are different ways you can do it. The first is having the bravery, I think, to have the bravery to at once be humble and clever in how you communicate, and at the same time, attack yourself.

Mark Vandegrift:

Good. Well, we did an exercise last time with the three categories, if you remember, of owning an attribute.

And I think we should do something similar because examples are always the best illustration. So let's discuss these brands that we mentioned last time because they also owned an attribute and discuss them as leaders and what keeps them there. We'll start in reverse order from last time because not only are they the leader, but they're in those categories we talked about, it was very obvious what their attribute was. So let's start with Nike. We know about the Michael Jordan deal and how that unseated Adidas, which by the way, Adidas had the opportunity to do the Michael Jordan deal and they passed. But Nike now, they surpass Adidas as the top dog. But what happened beyond getting them there? that keeps them there today? What do you see in their marketing and advertising where they do a great job in terms of leadership?

Lorraine Kessler:

Yeah, well, I mean, they had, it's interesting because when I played field hockey throughout high school and college, the two brands were Adidas and Pumas, which were two brothers who fought and no one even knew of a Nike. So just to back up real quickly, they were called Blue Ribbon Shoe Company. So, you know, sometimes a new name or the right name can do a lot for you. So renaming that company was hugely important. Blue ribbon just doesn't do it.

Mark Vandegrift:

Ugh.

Lorraine Kessler:

Sounds like a food product.

Mark Vandegrift:

Yeah, everyone gets a trophy.

Lorraine Kessler:

So, you know, your name starts the position, and that's a god. So you have this idea of this heroic brand name, which is great. And then they connected their position with Michael Jordan very clearly to the professional athlete. And the idea that that actually the customers picked up or consumers was if you want to perform like the pros, it's not that I'm ever going to perform like a pro, but there's an aspirational thing there, then you want what pros wear. At least you'll perform better than you are now. Because with the pro equipment or the pro shoes, at that time it was just shoes, you're going to run fast. You're going to feel like you're a pro. And if you feel like you're a pro, you might convince yourself that you're getting some. better than where you were. So really a great aspirational position. What they've done since is simply, I always say that the number one value of advertising is to create familiarity for your brand and its idea. That is a number one job of advertising and it's number one benefit. So what have they done? They have made this name so ubiquitous that we... I think if you did jaywalking, you know, remember when Jay Leno,

They couldn't name the first three presidents, but they would be able to name Nike. So the brand is so ubiquitous. And then of course, interestingly, we now act like influencer marketing is some new thing that never was around. The fact that Nike's on every, or many of the pro football teams on their helmets, on their shirts, and we see it subconsciously, and it's in all these different places that we experience the brand, even if we're not super conscious of it, that's powerful. So that's how they're able to maintain this franchise. And of course, those sports that we see the Nike jersey on, they're professional sports. So it perfectly reinforces the brand idea.

Mark Vandegrift:

Yeah, and if anyone has ever done brand advertising well, you can point to Nike. I mean, we're in this day and age where, well, I need to reach them through this digital marketing or this transactional marketing or direct to consumer, whatever, but they've never stopped doing great brand advertising. And I think that's an illustration. 

Of course, when you have a gazillion dollars to pour into it, that certainly helps. But a lot of brands have gotten away from just basic, good brand advertising. And there's something that happens every time we, we have a new client walk in. And that's basically, I want the Nike swoosh. Well, that swoosh was, didn't just happen overnight. Um, that is years of consistency and constancy. That's for sure.

Lorraine Kessler:

Yeah, a new design isn't a new idea. And it doesn't make up for a powerful differentiating idea. It can help convey it. That is its job. But I've seen a lot of brands who've confused refreshing a brand, and it makes my head spin, right? With doing new design, that's not a new idea. So we have to be careful not to confuse these things because one's fool's gold and one's the real deal. So, you know, that's kind of the problem. I also think for our clients to their benefit or to their point of view, we sometimes talk from the extreme, like a Nike who has mega millions, hundreds of millions of dollars now spent and has been able to do that to, you know, some small regional player and... They're like, that doesn't relate to me. And it may not, to be honest, it's hard to, it's hard to argue from extremes and then make it fit because they may, first of all, you don't have the resources to do the multi-channel marketing, right? Um, that a Nike can do to reach broad constituencies and multiple segments. So the best thing for us to do for those clients, I think, is to narrow their focus, find. where we can help them narrow, whether it's geographic, whether it's one customer segment, whether it's one product line, find a place to narrow when they're.

Don't get overly ambitious. Don't try and be a Nike because you don't have that resource, but you can win. And then from those wins, you can create other wins.

Mark Vandegrift:

Perfect.

Lorraine:

Yes.

Mark Vandegrift:

Well, another category we discussed last week was toothpaste.

Lorraine:

Yeah.

Mark Vandegrift:

And I always like to use this category. You're probably tired of it. But most people never think about toothpaste, right?

Lorraine:

Yep.

Mark Vandegrift:

And if there was ever a category I think that has the potential for complete and utter commoditization, I would think this might be the one. But it isn't. And I think you mentioned Crest as a great example of taking the next step from owning an attribute to now becoming a category leader and I think we could say expanding the category. They didn't create a new category. They didn't jump to a different category. They just expanded the category. I think that's worth a repeat because it's beyond just being one of the other toothpaste in the aisle. They are truly the leader in what they did.

Lorraine Kessler:

Yeah, yeah, and that's a good example of what a leader has done to leverage its position to now become a mega brand, what we call a mega brand. Now Crest would not have been able to make the move it's made from a toothpaste that fights cavities in the 50s and 60s, one product, to a gum disease, bad breath, whitening, have very multiple problems, all around oral care. Now they would never have been able to move there if first they didn't win the first mountain years ago. And secondly, if the mind of the customer wouldn't allow them to go there. Remember positioning is not what we do. I mean, we craft the idea we think is going to work with an audience. But it's created in the mind of the audience. And when we reposition, which is kind of what Crest did, you can only go where the customer will allow you to go in their mind. So people already associated Crest with teeth, which is associated with oral care, fighting cavities. And then some of the attributes became more important, like whitening, because that's more hygienic. We're a very appearance driven kind of culture. So that caught on. And they were able to expand the category to oral care. Like Lysol owns Kills Germs, and they have all sorts of different products for your toilet bowl, for your counter, and wipes and sprays and liquids, whatever. That's a mega brand. And they've been able to move to a mega brand position. But again, it's only where the customer would let them go. It's only where their first leadership win would support them to go. And I think they've done a great job. They own, now the benefit of that becomes very practical from a shopper experience, right? That you can walk into a store where Crest is carried and they dominate, right? There's just like this dominant shelf space. Well, from a sales perspective, that's also... marketing gold for the salespeople. Because now once I control, we had some statistic, do you remember what it was? Something like 75% of decisions are made at the shelf. Is that

Mark Vandegrift:

Yep, I think it's higher than that, but yeah…

Lorraine:

Yeah, right. So we talk about the brand marketing and everything, but if 75% of the decisions are made at the shelf, I remember that Procter & Gamble went to like a work back program where they were working back from the shelf out to their advertising. Then dominating that is hugely an important strategy.

Mark Vandegrift:

Good. Well, finally, we discussed the car category last week, and this category is pretty hard to pick out a leader. But what I did is I looked at the 2022 top selling cars and you'll find Toyota is all over it with five out of the top 10 selling cars, including the top two, which are the Camry and the Corolla.

So Lorraine, Toyota doesn't claim leadership in their ads. They don't go, we are the leader? Or buy us. But as a company, they sure act like one. And you mentioned them already. And along with Lexus in their portfolio, what do you think Toyota does well with its advertising? What are they getting right that keeps them near the top? And then after you answer that, I'm going to throw a little wild card out at you.

Lorraine Kessler:

You know, I, to be honest, I don't know what they're doing well in their advertising. And I think it's important to separate institutional or corporate advertising from brand average, from product advertising or product brands. I don't really care as a consumer. And I, I can't speak for all consumers, but I don't think they really care so much about the Toyota leadership position. What they care about is, in this case, that they like the Camry or they like the Corolla. And so they have a product just like the old GM used to do. There was a product specific. Like I wanted a Cadillac because that says I made it. I'm rich and successful. And I wanted a Corvette because that says I'm hip and cool and, you know, sexy. So... people buy the particular brands and what they stand for because that is more personal to them. Companies or our investors buy companies. They're the ones who care that Toyota is a leader. They're the ones that care what's going on in the sales cycle that makes Toyota a leader. What Toyota's, and this is where we get into brand structure a little bit, right? So, their advertising is segmented. So the Camry buyer is gonna respond to whatever Camry stands for in the mind that particular segment of consumer cares a lot about. As long as they keep advertising that, where the Toyota name comes in, it's a credential to that. It makes me feel good about the Camry because it's not some orphan brand out in cyberspace. It's a real brand tied to a company that's known for reliability, who is known for making the most reliable cars. So I feel secure in buying the Camry or Corolla or Lexus because it comes from a company. It's almost like a well that feeds all these children. But keep in mind the thing that's at the top of the well, the Corolla, the Camry and what that stands for. is what that segment is most interested in at first. And all that the Toyota name does is reaffirm that. So what's good about that? Well, don't make any mistakes, Toyota.

Mark Vandegrift:

Yeah, that's great insight.

Lorraine:

Don't make cars that are unreliable that start falling apart or get a lot of bad press or have a lot of accidents. Don't take your mind off the ball of making a great product promises reliability and quality across the board. Because we've seen that happen with GM and we've seen that happen with Ford and it hurts everybody. It's kind of the mothership that hurts all these, the brand house.

Mark Vandegrift:

Certainly does. Well, I'm going to throw a wild card at you right now, and that's in this car category because something pretty major is happening. So despite Toyota which we just talked about, we have a new entrant, and I think you know the hot new entrant is Tesla.

Lorraine:

Right.

Mark Vandegrift:

As of today, it is the number one selling car for the first quarter of 2023,

Lorraine:

That's amazing.

Mark Vandegrift:

…surpassing both the Toyota models that I mentioned and others at the top of the list. Part of that, I think, is due to the fact that electric cars are all over the headlines. I mean, everything's got to switch to electric car, EV, EV. So it doesn't surprise me a little bit, but along with all of Elon Musk's press mentions, does it surprise you that Tesla jumped into the number one spot? Do you think Elon's baby is worthy of being called a leader? And if so, how do you think he got there so fast? And before you answer, Note that until May of this year, Tesla had never produced an ad.

Lorraine Kessler:

So pretty doggone interesting, but not surprising. I'll tell you why. When there's a new category developing that's either fueled by technology or changing in consumer behavior or thoughts or attitudes, right? There's been a lot of work done changing people's attitudes, which then leads to changing behavior about electric cars. and the need for them. So there's been a huge wind fueled by many voices, we would call, put that in the bucket of public relations and or media, right, that have fueled the need for this transition from fossil fuel to electric cars. So Elon Musk has had a wind behind him. step in Eli Musk, he has garnered enormous press himself and for his Tesla. Great name, right?

Tesla.

Mark Vandegrift:

Got to love the name.

Lorraine Kessler:

I'm gonna love it. So again, a great name really sets up the stage. So he was early to the game, the firstest with the mostest. So you have this category growing. He, think about a surfer who jumps ahead of the wave, And then they're the one that the wave pushes. So he jumped ahead on this wave, um, with a great name, with a product, with all that Elon Musk is and has as a personality. And then, um, he, he did something. We always kind of preach to our clients to try and do be first in the category, first in the mind in the category. So he's first in the mind. He, he, he's run that game for. many years, he didn't even have to make a product yet. It's just like Jeff Bezos with Amazon and books. I think it took him nine years to finally get Amazon profitable, right? So he just was able to jump ahead, catch this wave. He had some, there's some personality attachment. There's a great name on the product, a lot of fascination. And he has the money to sustain the battle from investors. Because here's the thing in today's technology world. The first customer or consumer you have to win are investors. If your idea is really good, if it's good enough, investors will invest and you need that fuel. You need that octane.

Mark Vandegrift:

Good. Well, Lorraine, we're up against the end here, so let's bring today's episode to a close. Hopefully our discussion is helping our audience understand better why leadership and other ways to differentiate are so important. So before we close things up, do you have any other thoughts on differentiation by the way of holding the position of leader?

Lorraine:

Just that leaders, once you get to that top of the mountain, maintaining relevance is the hardest game, in my opinion. And you have two ways to do that. One is to attack yourself, and the other is to, with fresh ideas and even disruptive ideas, and the other is to make your advertising really become captivating at a degree that it becomes part of the history of Hall of Fame advertising. It becomes as memorable as good or any of that, right? It's on that get the idea right side of the equation.

Mark Vandegrift:

Excellent, well thank you for joining us and we look forward to seeing you on the next episode when we, as always, will do a deep dive on some of the core concepts of positioning. Until then, have an amazing day.