Sheryl Adkins Green, Global Vice President of Brand Development for the iconic cosmetics brand Mary Kay Inc., is my guest for today’s interview.

She has some important insights to share about how to build a brand across many different countries and cultures.  She speaks not only about understanding the differences and commonalities among women around the world, but also aligning the organization around that understanding.

And she should know!  Sheryl leads the company’s global product strategy including product positioning, packaging, product education and pricing.  Prior to joining Mary Kay, Sheryl was the Vice President and General Manager of the Pro-Line International Division of Alberto-Culver.

I met Sheryl a couple of years ago and have really benefited from her wise counsel and support ever since.  I think you’ll really enjoy hearing from her.  Have a listen!

other interviews:

• omar green on solving customers’ problems
• les mckeown on the path to success
• michael tchong on trends to pay attention to

You know that feeling you get when watching that show, What Not to Wear?  Cringing and squirming, you watch as delusional people show off some of the most hideous outfits –  they think they actually look good when it is so clear they don’t.  That they would be so self-unaware is unbelievable.

Well, that’s how I’ve felt as I’ve witnessed the recent campaigns by two fast food restaurant chains.  They may think they’re rockin’ a good thing, but they’re not – and I’m incredulous that they don’t see it.

First up, we have Domino’s.  They recently changed their pizza recipe and launched an aggressive ad and PR campaign to promote it.  The “Pizza Turnaround” effort includes a video on the chain’s website in which company president, Patrick Doyle explains that “There comes a time, when you have to make a change.”  The video cuts to footage from focus groups which the company conducted, featuring customers ragging on the chain’s pizza.  Then a host of Domino’s employees recount all the negative feedback they’ve gotten about their products through the years – cardboard crust, ketchup-like sauce, etc.

In the news media and blogosphere, much of the response to the campaign has been surprise and wonder – that Domino’s would be willing to proclaim “we suck” seems pretty bold.  But that’s not what’s so unbelievable to me.

By declaring how bad their pizza has been, Domino’s is essentially saying to its customers “you suck.” They’re telling us folks who have been buying over 2MM Domino’s pizzas every year that we have bad taste – and we’re made to feel like idiots for having bought the stuff and actually thinking it tasted decent.

This violates one of the primary rules of brand communications I learned early on in my career.  That is, always make your customers feel like heroes. Your communications should never insult your customers or show them using your product in humiliating or otherwise demoralizing circumstances. Instead, you should help them feel good about themselves, showing how your product helps them be better people.

I’ve seen many violations of this rule – in an attempt to be funny or memorable, ads often rely on portraying their customers in ridiculous situations.  And I cringe every time I see such foolish efforts.  But Domino’s approach stands out as particularly misguided.

You see, clearly the chain is making a good move.  The campaign video explains that Domino’s is trying to be responsive to customers and give us what we want.  I give Domino’s props for not only listening to customer feedback but also being willing to change as a result of it.  And after the crisis the chain underwent earlier this year when a couple of rogue employees posted a disgusting video on YouTube, Brandweek featured an op-ed of mine encouraging the chain to seize the moment to improve their product quality.

I explained: “The brand has always been more about deals and price than about good food and quality—maybe this crisis presents the perfect opportunity for the chain to upgrade the quality of its ingredients and/or cooking procedures. This would give customers a tangible reason to trust the chain and it would shift their perceptions of the brand to a more positive position than before.”

So the change itself is spot-on – but their promotional approach does the brand a disservice by making their customers feel like losers. Surely they could have taken a more nuanced tact.  I wonder if What Not to Wear’s Clinton Kelly has any some makeover advice for Domino’s ad campaign?!

The other QSR brand that has prompted a tongue-clucking “What were they thinking?” is Carl’s Jr. To promote the launch of their new line of new grilled chicken entrée salads, the chain developed a campaign featuring Kim Kardashian.

The TV spot takes the concept of subliminal advertising to new heights as Ms. Kardashian, clad in sexy lingerie and lounging in bed, talks about “getting dirty” while salad dressing drips off a piece of fruit in a way that would make adult-film directors and their viewers salivate.  The spot seems the latest in a long line of super-sexy campaigns that have featured Paris Hilton giving what can only be described as an unusual car wash and Audrina Partridge eating a juicy burger while wearing a bikini that showed off her equally juicy body.

These past campaigns have been tacky, offensive, alienating to women – and absolutely brilliant.  They’ve done an extraordinary job at standing out and forming a tight bond with the young males they’re targeted to — and so, one could argue, the chain can’t be faulted for continuing on its roll with this latest effort.

But, here’s the thing.  Carl’s Jr. spokespeople explain that it is a program “specifically geared to our women customers.”  They say, “This product is a perfect fit for Kim and her image as she’s recently shifted her lifestyle to focus on fitness and health, though she doesn’t want to sacrifice indulgence and taste in her diet.”

So what we have here is a case of a confused identity. If the chain is trying to appeal to women with its new salad line (which seems to make sense because how many men would choose cranberries and apples over beef and bacon at a fast food restaurant, really), then why run an ad so filled with sexual innuendos it’s surprising to see it aired during prime time?

The spot may generate buzz and Kardashian fans of both genders are likely to respond to it, but the overly sexual theme of the ad prevents the brand from resonating emotionally with women.  And I question whether that’s really what Carl’s should be trying to do.

As a regional brand with an ad budget that’s much smaller than others, Carl’s needs to focus.  When the folks at QSRWeb asked me what I thought of the spot, I called it a “schizophrenic brand move.”  Generally speaking, if a QSR has maxed out its share in its target market, then perhaps it makes sense to pursue additional segments as secondary targets.  But for most, such an approach dilutes the strength of the brand.

In a recent blogpost, What Not to Wear’s Stacy London is quoted as saying, “When someone is dressing in a way that’s either inappropriate or a caricature, it’s almost like [they’re saying], ‘Don’t look at me, just look at what I’m wearing.’”  It seems this latest effort from Carl’s Jr. is also an attempt at distraction – one that is neither wise nor working.

Both Domino’s and Carl’s Jr. serve as object lessons in what not to do when it comes to brand communications.  Both chains have made smart menu moves — the products launched in both of these initiatives sound really good.  My mouth is watering as I think about a cheesy, saucy, meaty Domino’s pizza – and the Cranberry, Apple, Walnut Grilled Chicken Salad is definitely on my list of must-tries at Carl’s.  But their ad campaigns leave something to be desired – and learned.

related posts:

• notes on a crisis
• words got in the way

I just returned from a great trip to CES, the Consumer Electronics Show.  There was a lot of excitement around new, innovative products and it seemed like important deals and connections were being made – it was an energizing way to start off the new year!

I particularly enjoyed participating in some breakout sessions in the MommyTech and digitalHealth summits.  It was there that speakers offered up a few sound bites containing wisdom – wisdom that extends beyond the world of consumer electronics and digital technologies.

Here’s what I heard:

“It’s not about the technology.” – Hyung Tai Kim, MD, Ascension Health – Vice President of Research

In a dialogue about how to encourage consumer usage of new digital healthcare products and services, Dr. Kim made this assertion quite matter-of-factly.  His point was that people care about what the technology does for them, not about the technology itself.

This is so true – and not just in the technology sector.  People will want to use any product or service if they understand and value what it does for them.  Most food shoppers don’t know or care what amino acids are, but they are interested in products that help their muscles recover from exercise and sports.  Most automotive buyers don’t care how HEMI engines work, they only want to be able to accelerate faster. Leading edge consumers may be interested in how a product does what it does, but the mainstream simply wants to know what it does and why it’s important.

Manufacturers, somewhat by definition, are usually driven by their products.  But developing products people want and selling them effectively requires adopting the consumer point of view.   Particularly for truly ground-breaking innovations, companies shouldn’t assume consumers understand the value of their products.  They need to connect the dots and educate and inspire people about what the products do for them.

As legendary Harvard Business School marketing professor Theodore Levitt put it, “People don’t want to buy a quarter-inch drill. They want a quarter-inch hole!”

“In electronics, we put more and more features on our products because we can.” – Natali Del Conte, Host, CNET TV

As Ms. Del Conte introduced her take on “What’s Hot at CES 2010,” she chided some companies for their products which seem over-loaded with features.  Her sarcastic observation about how and why technology companies develop feature-saturated products struck a chord.

We’ve all encountered products with features that seem superfluous:  the remote control that allows you to set up picture-in-picture viewing in 20 different ways; the microwave oven featuring functions that less than 1% of owners use; the pages and pages of DVR settings options.  The problem with this overload of features is not simply that these features aren’t used and therefore add unnecessary costs to the product – it’s also that they make product usage more confusing.  For many consumers, less is more.

Lately there’s been a movement in food and beverages to simplify products and reduce the number of ingredients used (Haagen Dazs Five is one example).  Electronics manufacturers, as well as companies in other categories like insurance, sports equipment, cars, banking, etc., would do well to adopt a similar approach.  A streamlined version of a product might broaden a brand’s appeal by appealing to people specifically looking for a simplified user experience – and/or it could be used to convert intimidated prospects who can be upgraded later to more feature-rich offerings.

A good way to start would be to conduct cost/benefit analyses on potential features during the product development process — not only counting development costs but also the costs of consumer confusion and frustration.

“When tech lets me down, I feel like a dummy and that’s an issue for the makers of that technology.” – Becky Worley, Good Morning America’s Tech Reporter/Producer and Contributor

As the mother of 2 year old twins as well as a technology correspondent, Ms. Worley offered great insights about what moms think and feel about consumer electronics.  She described the negative effects of the “technology inferiority complex” that many women – and men! – have:

People want to feel smart and successful. Products that are hard to use, require a lot of time to figure out, or don’t work the way they’re supposed to not only disappoint users, they also make them feel dumb and incompetent.  Such feelings cause a cognitive dissonance that ultimately results in negative brand perceptions.

Ms. Worley also talked about how moms are always picking up their kids – physically, when they’re young; emotionally, when they’re older.  She called for brands to “pick up” moms – practically, by making products easy to use; emotionally, by demonstrating they understand moms.

Although Ms. Worley was talking about moms, I believe the desire to be understood and supported is universal to all consumers. Through ethnographic research and empathic design, companies can develop products, services, customer experiences, and advertising that really resonate with consumers.

Imagine the kind of affinity and loyalty a brand would attract if it makes people feel like heroes!

As you’ve doubtlessly noticed, there’s a common theme to all of these sound bites.  It’s the importance of customer intimacy.  Companies must truly understand their customers – what they want, how they feel, what they value, what their lives are really like.  And they must demonstrate that understanding in everything from product development to marketing communications.

All of the cool new products and technologies at CES give reason to be optimistic about the coming year.  But the fact is, only a few of the innovations will be great successes – the rest will be quickly forgotten or replaced by the next new thing.  The ones that breakthrough are the ones fueled by customer intimacy.

related posts:

• ces 2010 highlight video
• brand inspiration
• to women; love marketers

To:  Women of America

From:  W.T.F. (We Target Females), a coalition of marketers dedicated to making complete fools of ourselves while trying to market to women

In case you haven’t read our recent press releases, we, the smart marketers of W.T. F., wanted to make sure you women of America know how cool our recent efforts to market to you are.   You might recognize some of our latest work:

-  the “Fling” from Mars – a finger-shaped confection which we cleverly invite you to “pleasure yourself” with — wink! wink! get it?!

-  Dell’s Della.com — a website for you ladies who might find it too difficult to navigate our manly Dell.com website

-  Only In a Woman’s World website from Frito-Lay — modeled after Sex and the City since we know that your lives are just like Carrie and Samantha’s

We’ve been trying to make our appeals to you as obvious as possible, but in case it’s not clear, here’s a summary of our “strategy”:

• lump all women into a single target audience — we believe it’s enough that we’re actually targeting women (you wouldn’t believe how hard it was to convince management to channel dollars to you!!), so we aren’t going to bother with identifying sub-segments within the female market and understanding different purchase drivers — we’ll just target the entire female population and hope our message resonates with more of you than it alienates
• run advertising specifically targeted to women — we believe we must dedicate marketing dollars and develop campaigns completely separate from our historically male-targeted efforts — since we’re trying to get more female customers, it would be foolish of us to try to cast a wider net of appeal by identifying platforms that resonate with both men and women
• use creative approaches that are patronizing, offensive, and/or exclusionary — it’s much easier to reinforce gender stereotypes and rely on predictable hot buttons (you like cooking, dieting, and Manolo Blahniks, right?), so we don’t think we need to expend our energy on crafting truly creative and inspired communications
• issue press releases and try to generate lots of buzz — truth be told, we’re really just looking to be noticed and appreciated for going out of our way to target you — our high profile moves are as much for the props as they are for meeting your needs — after all, despite the case studies of successes that brands have experienced when word-of-mouth has generated organically among women, we’re taking matters into our own hands and trying to force you to pay attention

Although the W.T.F. coalition has plenty of members, we have our sights set on Liz Haesler and Mary Stoddart, the gals at Best Buy who have been tapped to head up the company’s Women’s Leadership Forum.   The Forum is intended to drive profitable market share for BBY by increasing the brand’s appeal as a place to shop for female customers and a place to work for female employees.  We’re hoping they will abandon the grass-roots, community-oriented approach that has been the hallmark of the program since its inception, and instead adopt a corporate, commercial stance that is light on nuance and heavy on PR.

Then we’ll go after the folks at hp and Sun Chips, because they’ve taken a more subtle but really smart approach to connecting with women and we can’t let them serve as examples for other marketers.  After all, making a big splash is what we’re all about.

Signed,

W.T.F. — names of coalition members and their companies have been omitted since we don’t care that women value transparency

Brooks, the running shoe company, has created a delightful little video, “Dream.”

They describe it as capturing “the fantasy of the perfect run.”  Animation and a sing-songy ditty by Anita Robinson (of Viva Voce fame) make the video uplifting and fun.

It’s a lighthearted, positive message about running — providing a sharp contrast to more intense, athletically oriented communications from other running shoe companies.  As a result, Brooks is carving out a unique space in a highly competitive landscape.

Earlier this year I had the pleasure of hearing Jim Weber, Brooks’s President, speak about the company’s efforts to raise brand awareness among runners outside their core customer base.  He talked about their mission to inspire people all kinds of people to run and be active.  “Dream” seems a great move toward fulfilling those goals, since it should have great resonance with women.

Plus, thanks to a partnership with the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Brooks will donate 5 cents to breast cancer research for every view of the “Dream” video through December 21, 2008 — a great foundation on which to build a relationship with its new customers.

Kudos, Brooks.

Just a quick flash from Day 1 of the Action Sports Retailer (ASR) show (all things surf, skate, snow, etc.)  Dakine really stood out as one of the (very) few brands doing a good job reaching out to females.

Some brands simply plastered “girl” colors and designs onto their male-targeted products and others seemed to be selling bikinis just so their models could parade around to attract guys to their booth.  Dakine split its booth space equally between mens and womens and demonstrated an understanding of what women are looking for — quality, fashionable products made just for them.  Check out their newest line of handbags – yes, those are leather handles.

Kudos to Dakine; shame on everyone else.  According to Board-Trac, 29% of the surfing population is women (females comprise 25% and 37% of the skateboarding and snowboarding populations respectively) — so it seems more brands in the action sports space need to get on board (pardon the pun) with how to effectively target women.