Tags: Godiva chocolate, Chocolatier, Trufflelata,  Target

When I traveled for business more than I do now, I’d occasionally come across a Godiva boutique and add a small purchase of their memorable chocolates to my personal expenses. 

It was a pleasant surprise to turn a corner in some upscale mall or market and spot the luxurious Godiva logo.  No matter where my thoughts had been, they immediately shifted to “chocolate” and the stolen moment I was about to experience.

I always picked the simplest dark piece from among the tempting individual choices and array of gold boxes – nothing fancy, just the one I imagined would deliver the purest Godiva experience without complicating it with other flavors.  After enjoying one (maybe two if I wasn’t in a hurry), the rest of my purchase got packed away for the trip home. 

Now flash forward to news that Godiva has launched a temptation called Trufflelata™, a creamy soft-serve shake made right there in the boutique with your favorite truffle blended in: Chocolate Lava Cake, Salted Caramel, Strawberry Crème, Hazlenut Crunch -- even Oreo Trufflelata.   Take your delightful pick.  

The alluring Trufflelata description and photography reminds me how good Godiva is at making us crave their products (with packaging, color, lighting, visual impact, aroma) -- same for their line of GODIVA Liqueurs announced earlier this year, including a Dark Chocolate offering they describe as “a delicious full-flavored indulgence with less guilt.” 

From way back in 1926, when chocolatier Joseph Draps first opened his Brussels shop, Godiva has been superb at crafting words to describe their “extraordinary richness and design, a collection of passion and purity” (the founder's words).  Today’s wordsmiths describe Godiva as “a sought after name with the timeless quality of passion, style, sensuality and modern boldness.”  Their corporate boilerplate proclaims GODIVA Chocolatier as a brand that “consumers universally associate with prestige, elegance and quality …”

I am taken with Godiva’s consistent ability to describe itself in words that haven’t strayed far at all from their founder’s original pronouncement -- many of the same “notes” are there.  It’s a perfect example of  Marketable Truth©, the authentic difference at the core of a product or service that speaks to its enduring competitive advantage.  When you couple their words with the product experience, it’s clear their “decadent offerings” deliver.  You can taste Godiva's truth.

How well regarded is Godiva among chocolate aficionados?  Very well, you’d think.  But chocolate purists often take exception with Godiva’s vaulted reputation, and some even have been known to make unkind comments when comparing the maker to those whose chocolates they consider more sublime (and perhaps more rare).  So maybe Godiva isn’t the best chocolate in the world, but neither is it the most expensive -- by far.  But to me, Godiva is both rare and costly.  I pay for -- and thoroughly enjoy -- the Godiva experience.

After a bit of dip during the recession, Godiva Chocolatier continues its global growth.  The company now is Turkish-owned, after 40 years under the Campbell Soup corporate umbrella, and has 450 worldwide boutiques.  Their $500-million or so in sales revenue is a drop in the bucket compared to the $75-billion worth of chocolate sold globally (U.S. total chocolate sales estimates are $18-20bn, about 25% of which is the premium market).    

In researching this story, I learned that women crave chocolate more than men, which doesn't seem all that surprising to this husband and father of three daughters.  As a friend points out, all you've got to do is walk through a crowded mall with a Godiva gift bag under your arm and see how many ladies' glances you get.

These days you can buy their chocolate bars at Target for around four bucks (“Expect More. Pay Less”).  The company also has introduced a line of tiny Godiva Gems wrapped in colored paper for sale in food and drug stores.  Which makes me wonder whether making the brand so universally available in the short run risks watering it down in the long run. 

It used to be that if you couldn’t afford $20,000 for a new car you could treat yourself to 10-bucks worth of Godiva chocolate a couple of times a year if you were fortunate to find one of their boutiques or specialty retailers.  An important ingredient of their marketing success was scarcity, which made your $10 purchase seem a bit like found gold.   Today, the new car you can't afford costs around $60,000, but your Godiva treat is still within reach at $26, a high enough price to make it an investment in self-worth vs. a reflection of net worth.

So, while you’re savoring your Godiva truffle, sipping your Godiva liqueur or relaxing with a cup of Godiva coffee “inspired by our finest flavors”, think about where the brand lives in your mind these days.   Godiva has insinuated itself into your being for a long time now and is likely to stay there despite its latter-day mass market adventurism.  The brand retains its set-apart image largely because of Godiva's exclusive positioning over many years, making it a brand that “consumers universally associate with prestige, elegance and quality.”

Frankly, though, I'd hate to see Godiva become a product so common that you can find it almost anywhere.  It just doesn't seem so wickedly worth it when you buy it at Target.   

TakeAway:  If you sell a premium brand, plant its exclusivity deep in people’s minds.  And don't try to grab somebody else's customers by going down market when things get tough.  Stick with your brand promise.  Your patience will be rewarded.

Content © by Brian E. Faulkner

Brian Faulkner is a content writer and Key Message expert.  He helps clients come up with words to set their businesses, brands and products apart and attract the customers they want most.  His strategic insights (and the words that go with them) have made a significant, often immediate difference for client companies over many years.  His "sweet spot" is smaller to moderate sized consumer products, retail, service and manufacturing companies that may have struggled to find just the right words to position their business, brands or products to competitive advantage:

>  blogs to establish you as the thought leader / authority in your business category
>  case stories that communicate your sales successes and invite prospect inquiry
>  testimonials that showcase customer / client satisfaction in 1-2 short sentences
>  positioning statements to guide business development & marketing
>  landing page copy to set your business or brand apart in a compelling way
>  tagline development to attract the interest of your most qualified prospects

Brian also is a three-time Emmy award-winning Public Television writer and narrator of over 100 segments for UNC-TV’s popular “Our State” magazine series, on the air since 2003.  

How do you brand something as ordinary as fresh vegetables?  If you’re a grower who sells veggies to grocery store produce departments, how do you make your product stand out over competitive brands (few) and unbranded produce (many)? 

Back in 1927, the fresh produce industry was about to take an early step toward branding.  Of course, branding had been around ever since some enterprising Neanderthal decided to claim rights to a tool he’d made with by scratching his unique mark on it. 

And these days, most everything gets branded, from cattle to cars, soap to cereal – and with the advent of social media, even ourselves.

Brand, like a trademark, is not only a symbol of a company but “a consistent pledge” from that company to its customers, a “bridge to a relationship” with them that associates that brand with “only one origin or source,” according to Robert Payne, a partner at intellectual property firm LaRiviere, Grubman & Payne, LLP of Montery, CA (quoted this month in Western Grower & Shipper magazine).

Oddly enough, however, most fresh produce remains unbranded.  But not vegetables and fruit grown by D’Arrigo Bros. Company, of California, pioneers in produce branding.

Back in 1920, two Sicilian immigrant brothers discovered the fertile land of central California and thought it would be perfect for growing broccoli.  It wasn’t long before their 28-acre crop was almost  ready for harvest.  But who would buy it?  California was still in its start-up phase, so the two looked East, where they knew they could sell that much – and a whole lot more.  So Stefano D’Arrigo filled a railroad car with broccoli and shipped it to Boston.  Eight days later, brother Andrea unloaded the crop – still fresh after 2,800 miles – and sold it at a profit.

That was the way it would go.  One brother grew the broccoli in California and the other sold it in Boston, along with an ever-increasing variety of other fresh vegetables.  As competitors caught on, it soon became necessary for the D’Arrigos to set their produce apart.  Thus was born the Andy Boy brand, a highly visible logo with pink lettering and a picture of Stefano’s then 3-year-old son Andy on it.  Their brand still leads the way today, emblazoned on bright pink skirt ties that dress their broccoli rabe for sale. 

“Shoppers have told me that Andy Boy products really stand out in the produce section,” says David Hinkle, Southwest sales manager for Package Containers, Inc., the Canby, OR company that makes the skirt ties.  “The pink tie attracts people’s attention and invites them to buy.”

Frank Ratto, VP of marketing for Ratto Bros., Inc., whose company farms more than a thousand acres of herbs, fruits and vegetables in the Central Valley, likens branding agricultural products with twist ties to a handshake.  “They’re a stand-in for you,” he says.  “They give your product an identity.  They communicate brand value -- value in the Ratto Bros. name, the knowledge that people get fresh and tasty vegetables every time.“

He says that most produce is sold ‘naked’, so when a shopper sees the Ratto Bros. logo with its distinctive horse and wagon illustration (a picture of Frank’s grandfather delivering produce back in 1905), she knows she’s chosen quality and can serve it to her family with confidence. 

“We brand 23 out of 45 products" with PCI's Identi-Ties®, he says, counting them off one by one – “from basil to watercress.  They’re an important tool in the presentation of our products -- especially in northern California, where our brand means something.”

“The produce department is one of the most demanding sections in a grocery store,” notes Package Containers’ Hinkle.  “Clerks are always having to straighten up the displays after people pick through the produce.  I’ve noticed, however, that there’s less of that with Ratto Bros. produce,” because their branded presentation works so well.  

It may sound amazing that something as simple as a branded twist tie is so effective at differentiating one produce brand from another (or from unbranded produce), but it does.  Just ask D’Arrigo Bros. Company, of California and Ratto Bros., as both third-generation companies extend the invitation for consumers to choose their branded produce, well into the 21st century. 

TakeAway:  Communicate your product’s uniqueness with a brand that’s tangibly and authentically “you.” It can make a real difference – right away and way down the road, too.

Content © by Brian E. Faulkner

Tags: D’Arrigo Bros. Company, Andy Boy brand, Package Containers, Inc., Ratto Bros., Inc., Western Grower & Shipper, LaRiviere, Grubman & Payne, LLP

Brian Faulkner is a content writer and Key Message expert.  He helps clients come up with words to set their businesses, brands and products apart and attract the customers they want most.  His strategic insights (and the words that go with them) have made a significant, often immediate difference for client companies over many years.  His "sweet spot" is smaller to moderate sized consumer products, retail, service and manufacturing companies that may have struggled to find just the right words to position their business, brands or products to competitive advantage:

>  blogs to establish you as the thought leader / authority in your business category
>  case stories that communicate your sales successes and invite prospect inquiry
>  testimonials that showcase customer / client satisfaction in 1-2 short sentences
>  positioning statements to guide business development & marketing
>  landing page copy to set your business or brand apart in a compelling way
>  tagline development to attract the interest of your most qualified prospects

Brian also is a three-time Emmy award-winning Public Television writer and narrator of over 100 segments for UNC-TV’s popular "Our State" magazine series, on the air since 2003.  

Keywords:  tagline, taglines, orange juice, OJ, soft drinks, carbonated soft drinks, cola, soda, competitive advantage, brand story

It’s hard to imagine.  Americans are turning away from orange juice!  Not in huge quantities, mind you, but the trend definitely is down, according to a FoxBusiness story online. August sales data from Nielsen and the Florida Department of Citrus revealed a drop in volume of 9.2% (gallons) vs. a year ago.  Dollar sales were down 5.4%.

What’s that all about?


Cost is one factor.  A gallon of OJ ($6.44 average retail, up 4.1% over last year) now costs almost twice as much as a gallon of gas ($3.45 according to AAA).  A bacterial disease also is making the revered breakfast staple more expensive by reducing fruit production, says Florida Department of Citrus spokesperson David Steele, III. 

But one of the biggest factors in diminished sales seems to be that old bugaboo, sugar.  Another may be misplaced attention. 

“Nutritional experts have been advising against the sugary fruit drink,” reveals Gabrielle Karol in her FOXbusiness story. She cites Alissa Rumsey, a registered dietician and spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, writing that she’s “definitely heard people say it’s affecting their decision whether to buy orange juice or not.”

Okay … but shame on the sugar police for picking on our orange juice!  As a friend said in discussing this story, “It ain’t exactly soda.”

True.  A 12-oz. soft cola soft drink has close to 40 grams of sugar.  A glass of orange juice (presumably 8-oz.) has about 21 grams of the sweet stuff -- not added sugar, mind you (like high fructose corn syrup), but the natural occurring variety.  If my math is right, a 12-oz. glass of OJ would have approximately 31 grams of sugar.  A small cup of Greek yogurt in my fridge has 14.  A tablespoon of my favorite Morello Cherry “fruit spread” has 8g.  A dollop of ketchup, 4.  And an 8-oz. serving of apple cider (no added sugar) has 31g. 

So a breakfast-sized serving of OJ (probably more like 4-oz) compares favorably with other sweetish fare – and it’s good for you to boot -- especially compared to the real dietary demon: soft drinks, which are sugar bombs with zero nutritional value.   

It could be that OJ simply has lost its cool - if it ever had any (I thought OJ was great when I was eight). But carbonated soft drinks have been the beneficiaries of billions of dollars worth of artificially maintained cool over the years.  And today we consume soft drinks in shamefully large annual quantities as part of the "American lifestyle”. 

So maybe what OJ needs (the carbonated beverage, not the celebrity criminal) is an attractive new tagline – not to mention some relief from dieticians who appear to have nothing better to do than pick on a true-love product like orange juice.  (To be fair, the dietician quoted in this story recommends eating whole oranges instead of drinking orange juice, for the fiber content and because the sugar is less concentrated.) 

As for OJ's new tagline, I thought immediately of The Un-Soda.  But that’s too 7-Uppy sounding.  So what about these possibilities:

Orange Juice:  The Anytime Sunshine Drink.
Orange Juice:  Made by the Sun, Enjoyed by You.
Orange Juice:  The Best Way Start to Your Day … Under the Sun.

No doubt other good ideas will pop into readers’ minds.   Meanwhile, OJ:  Don’t let the bullies get you down.

TakeAway:  The OJ trial taglines above reveal key ingredients to be considered in giving birth to a tagline that clearly communicates competitive advantage, invites people into the brand story and makes future customers want what you have – without wasting a word.  A tagline must be:

  1.  Simple.   
  2.  Direct.
  3.  Compelling.   
  4.  Authentic.  
  5.  Strategic.
  6.  Personal.
  7.  Meaningful.  
  8.  Visual.
  9.  Memorable.
10.  Enduring.

Notice I didn’t include “creative.”  There are too many clever -- but empty -- taglines already out there. 

Content © by Brian E. Faulkner

Brian Faulkner is a content writer and Key Message expert.  He helps clients come up with words to set their businesses, brands and products apart and attract the customers they want most.  His strategic insights, and the words that go with them, have made a significant, often immediate difference for client companies over many years.  His "sweet spot" is smaller to moderate sized consumer products, retail, service and manufacturing companies that may have struggled to find just the right words to position their business, brands or products to competitive advantage:

>  blogs to establish you as the thought leader / authority in your business category
>  case stories that communicate your sales successes and invite prospect inquiry
>  testimonials that showcase customer / client satisfaction in 1-2 short sentences
>  positioning statements to guide business development & marketing
>  landing page copy to set your business or brand apart in a compelling way
>  tagline development to attract the interest of your most qualified prospects

Brian also is a three-time Emmy award-winning Public Television writer and narrator of over 100 segments for UNC-TV’s popular Our State magazine series, on the air since 2003.  

A Southwest Airlines gate agent apparently has transformed a customer service opportunity into a social-media fueled pie-in-the-face moment, according to a WCCO (Minneapolis) story.

The incident reportedly happened in Dallas when a passenger attempted to board his flight early (as was his privilege as an A-List Southwest flyer), only with his two young children in tow.  The gate agent wouldn’t allow the children to board with him, saying they’d have to wait and board later.

Step 1:  The gate agent could have instantly created a happy customer by allowing the trio to board early, thus upholding Southwest Airlines’ reputation for first class customer service.  I can’t imagine Southwest people being that rule bound.

Step 2:  The passenger threatened to Tweet about the “rude” agent, which he did after eventually boarding the plane with his two kids. 

Step 3:  The situation then went from bad to worse after the agent saw the Tweet: the Airline then threatened to remove the family from the plane.   

Step 4:  The person who asked them to get off the plane (presumably the gate agent) threatened to call the cops. 

Step 5:  The children began crying, and the family left the plane.

Step 6:  The Airline said they could get back on the plane if the passenger deleted his Tweet.

Step 7:  He did.  And they flew on to Minneapolis along with the other passengers, who must have wondered what bad stuff had come down around a dad and his two kids.

Step 8:   Back home, the passenger contacted WCCO, where an Emmy-winning reporter knew a good story when she heard one and ran with it.

Step 9:  Southwest apologized to the passenger via email and gave him three $50 vouchers for future flights, which likely never will be redeemed because he says he won’t fly Southwest again.

Step 10:  Some number of other would-be passengers also will decide not to fly Southwest because bad news always travels faster and farther than good news.

It may be that the gate agent was tired and hassled at the moment she made her choice to bar the children from boarding early.  But then she compounded her poor decision by making further unwise demands of the A-List passenger and his children.  So be it.   But, as those of us who fly with any regularity know, the moment airlines should be prepared to shine most is when the going gets tough. 

Because anybody can come up a smile on a blue-sky day.

TakeAway:  No matter how diligently a business works to create (and communicate) competitive advantage based on superior service, it all can come crashing down in a moment if your people don’t live that truth every day.

Tags:  Southwest Airlines, customer service, WCCO

Content © by Brian E. Faulkner

Brian Faulkner is a content writer and Key Message expert.  He helps clients come up with words to set their businesses, brands and products apart and attract the customers they want most.  His strategic insights, and the words that go with them, have made a significant, often immediate difference for client companies over many years.  His "sweet spot" is smaller to moderate sized consumer products, retail, service and manufacturing companies that may have struggled to find just the right words to position their business, brands or products to competitive advantage:

>  blogs to establish you as the knowledge source / authority in your business category
>  case stories that communicate your sales successes and invite prospect inquiry
>  testimonials that showcase customer / client satisfaction in 1-2 short sentences
>  positioning statements to guide business development & marketing
>  landing page copy to set your business or brand apart in a compelling way
>  tagline development to attract the interest of your most qualified prospects

Brian also is a three-time Emmy award-winning Public Television writer / narrator and is principal writer and narrator of UNC-TV’s popular "Our State" magazine series, on the air since 2003.  His distinctive sound has been heard on many hundreds of radio spots and client videos since the 1970s.  People say he has a “Mercedes voice” and sounds a bit like Charles Kuralt, which Brian considers a welcome ... but happy ... illusion.

I was driving I-95 north of Petersburg with no particular thoughts in mind when it came up behind me: a silver slyph of a car I couldn’t identify in the rear view mirror.  

As it pulled around to pass my yellow Ford Galaxie, I read the badge on its side:  Datsun 240Z, and watched hungrily as the new object of my desire eased ahead and then vanished in the haze that hung over Richmond.  I caught sight of the car once more, at a toll booth. 

Then it was gone.

Needless to say, I was smitten.  And immediately on returning to North Carolina I placed my order for one – that is, I added my name to the waiting list.  Then, as sure of himself as a young man can be, I waited with considerable lack of patience for my car to come in.

Six months or so later, the phone rang.  I arrived at the dealership to look at the car that could have been mine with a mixture of awe and disappointment, since I didn’t have the money to pay for it – just over $3,000, as I recall.  

A much older man today, I savor the memory of that young man’s moment.  Not the auto lust that arose at first sight of the car that day in Richmond but the decision moment that came later as real-life priorities asserted themselves, priorities that did not include borrowing money I didn’t have to buy a car I couldn’t afford – I’d done too much of that already.   It was time to settle down, and with that in mind, I no longer lusted after the Zs that flashed by me on the Interstate.

Now flash forward more than forty years to an article I came across about the “new” Datsun 240Z, a hope born in dreams that never totally got off the ground, although plenty of grown men with auto lust in their hearts seemed willing to spend themselves silly trying. 

It was the mid ‘90s.  Nissan, the Japanese car company known for a while in this part of the world as Datsun, had stopped production of their latest Z car iteration, and since a new one was still in design, decided to fill the gap with a bold and inventive marketing move.  

First step was to buy up all the ’70 and ’71 240Zs they could find that were in good enough shape to rebuild (primary from the desert states).  And the next step was to enlist the help of a handful of Southern California restoration shops that would dismantle and restore the cars – a process more akin to remanufacturing than restoring.  Every nut and bolt was either reconditioned or replaced, including interior parts, engine and transmission; only the brake pads, some suspension pieces and tires were upgraded to meet current code.  Nissan even supplied a plaque commemorating 26 years of the Z-car to be affixed to each “new” 240Z.

This time the price tag was $25,000, which increased to more than $27,000 before the project was abandoned after only 40 of 200 cars were produced.  Apparently there weren’t enough takers.  

Of course, I didn’t know anything about this in 1996 when the remanufactured cars were first offered for sale.   Good thing, because life at that moment did not offer any spare change for an indulgence like the authentic … lustworthy … new … silver … Datsun 240Z that Nissan would have tempted me to buy.  

It’s an amazing story.  (http://jalopnik.com/what-happened-to-all-the-datsun-240zs-nissan-restored-i-1583370936).   What's even more amazing, however, is how the image of that silver car from that day so long ago still lives in my mind.  But isn’t that what brand is about, whether you’re selling an alluring sports car or making the best strawberry jam on the planet?  

The most lasting brands are images.  They are ideas that stick to your being.  And will not be dislodged by anything short of calamity. 

Brand is experience writ large.  And for a few short years, Datsun got it right.

TakeAway:   Does your brand live in the minds of your prospects and customers?   If not, how can you make it that way?

Content © by Brian E. Faulkner

Brian Faulkner is a Key Message expert.  He helps clients come up with words to set their businesses, brands and products apart and attract the customers they want most.  His strategic insights, and the words that go with them, have made a significant, often immediate difference for client companies over many years.  He thrives on strategic communication problem solving, complex subjects, new ideas, concepts-as-products, challenging marketing situations and demanding deadlines.  His "sweet spot" is smaller to moderate sized consumer products, retail, service and manufacturing companies that may have struggled to find just the right words to position their business, brands or products to competitive advantage.

Brian also is a three-time Emmy award winning Public Television writer
and narrator of UNC-TV’s popular Our State magazine series,
on the air since 2003. 

Went shopping for a new laptop last weekend at Best Buy.  Over the years, I have avoided Best Buy because it’s too big and sometimes too loud and because the help doesn’t always know what they’re talking about.  Truth is I don’t like big box stores in general.  I miss the small, more specialized, more personable shops (and shopkeepers) that used to populate our towns and cities. 

But if I want a wide variety of laptops to select from – at least in Piedmont North Carolina, there is no choice other than to frequent Best Buy, or one of the office boxes. 

So there we were, two somewhat older, would-be Best Buy customers wandering around trying to figure which laptop from a mind-numbing array of choices would best suit my wife.  Within minutes, a young guy in a blue Best Buy shirt appeared, briefly inquired about our needs and said he’d find someone to help us out – a positive start!  Then he (and apparently his helper) … disappeared.   Later, after having selected an HP laptop totally on our own, he approached us again as we sauntered over to the camera department and went through the same routine again, not realizing that he had spoken to us fifteen minutes earlier.

In the camera department, I asked another blue-shirt about a specific Canon product that they were likely to have in stock considering the price range of cameras already on display.  “No,” the clerk said.  “We don’t have that one.”  He wandered off.

Hmmm …

Then I turned around, and there – at eye level on an end cap display – was the camera I’d inquired about in all its promotional glory!

The clerk came back.  I pointed out the display.  He seemed genuinely shocked.  Then said that the camera department “expert” would be back from lunch in a few minutes and that we should hang around and talk to him.   We did.   He didn’t.   After a while, the clerk returned with news that the expert wasn’t actually working that day and that we should come back during the week.

Hmmm …

So on to checkout.  Only one register open, and there was a line.   After a while, it was our turn.   The young woman behind the register acted bored beyond hope and asked far too many pre-programmed questions, which was one reason the line moved so slowly.   After completing our single-item transaction, her final note of disdain was to mutter “Thank you, have a great day” in a tone that made me want to dope-slap her (or her manager, or his/her manager, or the president of the company).

One miscue I can handle, but five?

1.  The disappearing greeter, Part I.

2.  The disappearing greeter, Part II.

3.  The uninformed camera clerk.

4.  The missing expert.

5.  The disappointing checkout.

Best Buy had five chances to shine but muffed them all.   Sure, the company is having trouble finding its way in a world that’s getting more expansive on one hand (think Amazon.com) and more specialized on the other (think Apple stores).   If they don’t reinvent themselves – and soon, upstart competitors, including those yet to emerge, will eat their lunch and their dinner.

The Best Buy merchandising concept emerged in the late ‘70s after the owner of a small chain of Minnesota stereo shops discovered the power of discounting following a store fire.  Five years later, the enterprise was renamed Best Buy and took off like it was being chased by the future, with innovative store formats and ever more product categories, including appliances.   By 1992 they were a billion dollar company and expanding nationally as more and more personal technology came on line to sell.  With more than 600 stores in the U.S., Best Buy glided into the Millennium as if nothing could slow their inevitability.  By 2007, they were in China – with eyes on other international locations. 

But pervasive market change had begun chewing away at their success, including online gaming, music streaming, online merchandising and (of late) software migration to the cloud.   Strategic disruptor Amazon.com sold their first book online in 1995.  And reached a billion dollars by 2001.  Today, they’re busily selling the everything from A-Z that Jeff Bezos envisioned from the start.  

Years ago -- centuries in terms of business change, Wachovia Bank rolled out their Personal Banker concept.  It paired customers with a branch banker who stuck around instead of rotating into the next training slot, as seemed the usual banking custom.  “You Have a Personal Banker at Wachovia,” proclaimed their tagline.  It was true.  And it worked!   For a long time.

There were two keys to the success of Personal Banker:

(1)  It maximized (and managed) the customer experience: created value by creating valuable relationships. 

(2)  It was authentic.  Wachovia delivered on their promise, day in and day out.

But what about Best Buy?  They clearly need a fresh approach, perhaps one as bold and innovative as the concept that first set them apart.  However, instead of looking to selection, scope and scale (even price) for differentiation, there may be strategic ground to be gained in activating their sales culture.

Like Wachovia Bank did so effectively with Personal Bankers, people power can be let loose relatively quickly and provide an enduring source of competitive advantage.   Under this scenario, Best Buy would hire (and retain) a top tier of professional sales consultants whose primary mission is to create valuable customer relationships, product knowledge experts who have been granted the autonomy to give their loyal customers set-apart service (essentially an expansion of Best Buy’s Geek Squad concept).   The consultants would be amply rewarded, based on metrics like better conversion, more frequent purchases by “their” customers, increased average transactions, time in grade, etc., and newer employees would aspire to join their ranks.  Customer satisfaction and repeat business would skyrocket.  Service complaints would begin fading away. 

Transforming Best Buy’s sales culture into a high performance human asset may sound like a stretch.  But even if the idea were only moderately successful, it beats the heck out of the errors, ignorance and indifference that pervaded our recent Best Buy laptop shopping experience.  And it certainly would give the company a long-term competitive advantage worth shouting about.

To be fair, Renew Blue, a Best Buy performance improvement initiative designed (in part) to “reinvigorate and rejuvenate the customer experience” has been underway for just over a year.  But for the moment, these two Best Buy shoppers are in no hurry to come back -- although when the new laptop breaks, we’ll be first in line to check out the Geek Squad.

TakeAway:   Differentiate your business, brand or product in a meaningful and enduring way.  Create value by creating valuable relationships.  Reward the people who make it happen.   Then tell the marketplace about your success – instead of letting it shape you.   People will want to be your customers.   And will return again and again.

© Brian E. Faulkner.

Related posts: 
www.brianefaulkner.com/1/post/2014/01/minimum-wage-should-be-stricken-from-our-business-vocabulary.html
www.brianefaulkner.com/1/post/2014/02/mr-grumpy-gets-his-due.html

Brian Faulkner is a Key Message expert.  He helps clients come up with words to set their businesses, brands and products apart and attract the customers they want most.  His strategic insights, and the words that go with them, have made a significant, often immediate difference for client companies.  He thrives on strategic communication problem solving, complex subjects, new ideas, concepts-as-products, challenging marketing situations and demanding deadlines.  His "sweet spot" is smaller to moderate sized consumer products, retail, service and manufacturing companies that may have struggled to find just the right words to position their business, brands or products to competitive advantage.

Brian also is a three-time Emmy award winning Public Television writer and narrator of UNC-TV’s popular Our State magazine series, on the air since 2003. 

A guy from GoDaddy called me today.  That’s never happened before.   At first, I was suspicious.  What is he trying to sell?   Nothing, as it turned out, other than to offer help in renewing (or not renewing) three Web domains I have registered with them.  A helpful and altogether thoughtful gesture, I must admit – especially for a small change customer like me.

Heretofore, I’d not been all that impressed with GoDaddy.  

As an occasional user over the years, whether to add, renew or cancel a domain name, I have found their site uninviting, difficult to navigate and tricked out with product offers I didn’t need – and often didn’t even understand.  They assumed I had a degree of technical knowledge, which I do not.  To me a computer is an appliance, a tool:  turn the thing on, start working on my thing and that’s as far as I care to go.  Which is pretty much what I told Adam when he called.

We had a positive discussion.  As if Adam had any power to change things, I suggested that GoDaddy needed to reboot their marketing after having cranked up their visibility with the famously controversial GoDaddy Girls.  It’s time to position themselves more effectively to the vast, largely unaddressed portion of their potential market:  people like me, who would almost rather undergo a root canal than struggle with a tech-belabored Web site.  He said they were working on that, thanks to their relatively new CEO, Blake Irving.  

What actually IS GoDaddy? I wondered.   And what is Blake Irving up to?

A little wandering around on GoDaddy’s pleasantly refreshed, more accessible site revealed Web site building options, email services and online bookkeeping products in addition to domain registration.  There’s a new service called GetFound, which helps spread clients’ basic information across the Web and makes it easier for people to find them.  And now, WordPress blog hosting and management, which especially caught my eye as a blogger thinking about a hosting change. 

Comments posted to Blake’s Blog lauded GoDaddy's customer service (Adam is a terrific example, and they’re said to have 3,500 people just like him engaged in “customer care”).  And Wikipedia reveals the company to be staffed by true-believers with shared values, which makes them rightfully particular about who they host. 

So what would you do if given the opportunity to help elevate Go Daddy’s marketing?  

My first task would be to develop and launch a more strategically differentiated message.  I would answer the question, “What does GoDaddy do and how does it benefit me?” while maintaining their enviable 80% aided, 50% unaided brand awareness with ad buys during the Super Bowl, NASCAR races and other high visibility events.    I’d present some grounded-in-reality customer success stories that present tangible benefits to the great bulk of prospective customers who have yet to “tune in” to GoDaddy's wavelength or who have been put off by the tone of their advertising.  

After writing the previous paragraph, a modicum of online sleuthing showed me that GoDaddy already has shifted in that direction.  See their Super Bowl spot about the woman who quit her day job to start a puppet making business here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gf0vzLgF-OI .      

And according to the blogged transcript of a GeekWire Summit discussion he participated in last year in Seattle, ( http://blakesblog.com/?p=223 ) Blake Irving is a man with a plan that rings my bell and clearly should ring the bell of tomorrow’s GoDaddy customers.

The basis of GoDaddy’s move into the future is a 32-page strategic document that includes a “bigger than life” vision of “radically shifting the global economy toward small business.”  He described their target market as “1-5 people trying to turn themselves into a real business” and talked about changing the world for them.   In a more recent online article, the GoDaddy leader noted that 75% of U.S. businesses are sole proprietorships.  So the opportunity to add more paying customers to the 12-million-plus they already have is huge.

“Changing the world for small business” is a great example of a compelling Key Message that's extracted from a larger strategic document and used to communicate to the prospect base about -- and rally company culture around -- what now is possible. 

“We’re in a deep transformation of the company,” the GoDaddy CEO said.  “Who we serve, how we serve them, how we position ourselves, how our employees feel about themselves, about serving those little guys, is really different.  Our mission in the company is we help small business kick ass.

“It’s a quest, not a company.  Everybody’s leaning into this thing …”

Irving finished his GeekWire conversation by challenging the audience (and me) to check out the company’s Kick Ass Manifesto video online.  I did.  You should, too (see it below).  The only thing missing is that daring but powerful potential tagline:  We Help Small Business Kick Ass.

I deeply abhor edginess for edginess sake because so much of it is in-your-face tasteless, smug and self-serving, so I would pause when considering whether to include “Kick Ass” in my tagline -- and who knows how it will translate internationally.   But those six words are true.   “Kick Ass” will require some elaboration, but so do oft-used positioning words like “leader” and “world class.”   A less dramatic way of saying the same thing might be:

       GoDaddy Helps Small Businesses Build Their Dreams (incorporating their recent ad theme). 

I like taglines that make a bold statement and communicate Marketable Truth© -- in any language.  So, either way, I say go for it GoDaddy! 

TakeAway:  Develop a meaningful strategic vision that points your business toward the future.  Then extract a compelling Key Message from it that charges your team with purpose and makes the customers or clients you want most want to do business with you.    

Content and images © by Brian E. Faulkner unless otherwise noted.  All rights reserved.  

Tags:  Go Daddy, GoDaddy marketing, Blake Irving, WordPress, customer service, brand awareness, GeekWire, small business, vision, strategic vision, powerful tagline, taglines, Kick Ass Manifesto, Manifesto of Kick Ass

Brian Faulkner is a Key Message expert.  He helps clients come up with words to set their businesses, brands and products apart and attract the customers they want most.  His strategic insights, and the words that go with them, have made a significant, often immediate difference for client companies.  He thrives on strategic communication problem solving, complex subjects, new ideas, concepts-as-products, challenging marketing situations and demanding deadlines.  His "sweet spot" is smaller to moderate sized consumer products, retail, service and manufacturing companies that may have
struggled to find just the right words to position their business, brands or products to competitive advantage.

Brian also is a three-time Emmy award winning Public Television writer and narrator of UNC-TV’s popular Our State magazine series, on the air since 2003.  

The state motto of North Carolina, Esse Quam Videri, reminds me of Time Warner Cable.  It translates “To be rather than to seem.”   The Cicero passage from which it was derived, "Fewer possess virtue than those who wish us to believe that they possess it," suggests that such a claim not only sets a very high bar but also provides fertile ground for incredulity.

The same is true in business, whether you promise great cable TV service or the best pizza in town.   No business, large or small, can long afford to claim one thing and deliver another -- have their words ring hollow to their customers.   Except, apparently, for cable TV providers, who consistently rank high in customer dissatisfaction.

Discussion of late about the proposed merger of Comcast and Time Warner Cable reminds me of the “consumer jihad” blogger Bob Garfield called for against Comcast back in 2007.  It grew into a vociferous online revolt by people exasperated with poor customer service.  (Update here: http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/219632/comcast-merger-must-die.html )

That sort of thing lingers.  I recalled Garfield's rant right away on hearing of the proposed merger between the two cable giants.  The news didn’t fill me with hope that joining these two companies would do much to allay the annoyance I’ve experienced in contacting TWC about service issues, although the techs they’ve sent around to work on my cable connection over the years largely have been both pleasant and competent – as have been the people in the Philippines, Bangladesh or wherever in Asia they hire cheap ears to listen to their customers’ cable sorrows.   

At this very moment, there’s a long black cable snaking across my front yard from the box at the street to the box on my house, and I so despise the Time Warner contact experience that I hesitate dialing up the frustrageous* woman with the soothing mechanical voice on their automated phone system to complain.  TWC promised to have buried the cable going on six months ago after another contractor dug it up by mistake.  Now they’re probably waiting ‘til spring so I can shred the thing with my mower and then blame the entire debacle on me!   I can already hear them laughing.

    * Frus-tra'-geous: adj. – Outrageously discouraging, baffling.  Started out as a typo, but I liked the
      word so much I left it there.  Applies particularly well to cable TV providers.

The disconnect between a brand’s promise and the reality of indifferent customer service can live for a very long time in a customer’s mind.   “We” will remember, and “we” will not return -- unless it's a monopoly like the cable company, of course.  You’d think they’d get the message, because a negative reputation clearly can work against their merger now that people’s voices can be heard so readily online, as Bob Garfield’s success with Comcast Must Die (dot) com has proved.

Garfield admits that Comcast is listening better these days.  Even so, he’s predicting “more righteous rage” about the proposed merger, which he says “would be a disaster” for the firms’ customers -- and society, for share of market and net neutrality reasons in addition to the customer service ones.

My Time Warner snake and I can’t wait to see what happens!  

TakeAway:  Be real.  Make sure your brand's claims and performance match. 

Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Comcast-Time Warner Cable merger, Bob Garfield, Comcast-must-die, brand promise, customer service, customer dissatisfaction

For many years, car salesmen used tricks to prevent prospects from shopping their competitors after having been quoted a price.  One ploy was to take the customer out of their old car and let them drive the new one home overnight before making a purchase decision.  Prospects liked seeing the new car in their own driveway often enough that they bought it.   Another clever trick was to give the car shopper a free quart of ice cream, which meant they had to go home before it melted instead of going on to another dealer.

Today, reports CNBC.com automotive writer Phil LeBeau, (http://www.cnbc.com/id/101445202 ) people are shopping multiple car dealers less often and are arming themselves with online information before showing up with a price already in mind.  He cites McKinsey & Company figures that today “the average buyer visits just 1.6 auto dealerships … down from 10 years ago when buyers visited an average of five dealerships.” 

Some new car buyers now even look to intermediaries to purchase their car for them – Costco, for example.  Jeff Skeen, general manager of Costco’s auto program, claims that car buyers who use their service save about $1,000 vs. trying to get what LeBeau referred to as the “best deal possible” on their own.

To be sure, some car shoppers prefer to kick the tires themselves and enjoy jousting with car salesmen, but they remain a minority.  For most buyers, the new car dance is a pain in the seat cushions more akin to having a root canal done than a positive purchasing experience. 

But it doesn’t have to be that way.   As I have counseled dealer clients over the years, buying a car or getting it serviced or repaired can be an overwhelmingly positive experience instead of the discouragingly negative one people expect.  Creating (and communicating) that experience, of course, is the dealer’s responsibility. 

Consider this:  each dealer principal “owns” a brand, and the care and feeding of that brand should be Job One.  Rather than invest precious marketing dollars advertising the car brands they sell (with rare exception) and rather than depend for evermore on price/event advertising, the dealer should present their brand to the marketplace in such a compelling (and truthful) way that people want to do business with them.  Dealerships that create belief in their brand, and expect superior performance from the team that breathes life into that brand, can’t help but induce greater trust in the marketplace.  The result is people who are sold on that dealership in advance and for whom the “almighty discount” isn’t the sole measure of car buying success.

TakeAway:  Sell your brand’s marketable truth.  Precondition people to want to do business with you rather than depending on price alone to attract them.