What is the Renewable Energy Brand?

What is the purpose of Renewable Energy? To save the planet? To become energy independent? To make a profit? To provide jobs? National security?

What is the Renewable Energy brand? Is it simple? Is it mainstream? Is it expensive? Is it patriotic? Is it friendly? Is it treehuggers? Is it Midwestern? Is it alternative? Is it cool? Is it caring? It is wise? Is it conservative? Is it green?

The “green” movement is about being environmentally-friendly. Is that what Renewable Energy is about? “Green” has meant saving or reducing, in addition to recycling. What image do these words have in your mind: save, reduce, recycle? For most, they mean inexpensive or less money.

Does that apply to Renewable Energy? Should it? Should we as Americans expect to pay less – or more – for the Renewable Energy brand? Isn’t Renewable Energy in fact a premium product? Shouldn’t we be willing to pay more for a product that will help save our planet and by the way, make us more secure as a nation?

Most people still think it's all about "green." Why? Because if you don’t manage your message, someone else will. We haven’t given the American public the right message (if any) about Renewable Energy, so they (we) interpret as best we can with little or no information. In addition, those that use “green” to talk about renewable energy are only harming the Renewable Energy brand, because they are confusing two different movements.

People hear about the green movement, renewable energy, environmental friendliness, alternative energy, energy security and conservation. Who really knows what they all mean? We must define the Renewable Energy brand. We cannot expect Americans to understand – much less, trust – Renewable Energy if it is not clearly defined and communicated.

It's Time to Get Started

Our nation is at a crossroads and we must confront the brutal facts of our current energy reality. The average American is just now waking up to this revolution. We are just beginning to understand crises like global warming and energy dependence, issues that are sure to define the next fifty years or more of our lives. We as consumers want to do our part, but we don’t know yet how.

There are many messages being conveyed in today’s media, each organization or association offering a slightly different angle on the issues and the solutions. Industries that should share the same purpose instead dilute the marketplace with conflicting messages. It is a very noisy marketplace and while awareness is increasing, consumers don’t yet know what to do - because no one has offered a comprehensive plan.

Renewable Energy (and all its various components) is not a known or trusted “brand.” In the public’s eyes, Renewable Energy is virtually unproven, if not thoroughly confusing. The Renewable Energy proposition seems too good to be true. Without a solid, clear brand, people have no reason to trust it. Without trust, we cannot expect people to embrace it. In order to garner the public’s trust, Renewable Energy, as a comprehensive brand, must stand out in logical and emotional dimensions. Appealing to the public with statistics and facts won’t inspire the average American to take action.

Many of us have the talent and the resources – and the responsibility – to help Americans make sense of it all. It's time to get started.

Thank you to Tim Kubista for contributing to this post.

Build Your Brand on Leadership

Today I read Tom Peters' post "The Decent Thing to Do Is the Smart Thing to Do" and it occurs to me that while this is a no-brainer, we see so many people - and companies - out there that just don't get it. Tom's point is that leadership (which I loosely define as "demonstrating love for others") makes good business sense. (If you're one of those unfortunate non-leaders that thinks "love" and "business" shouldn't be in the same sentence, you should stop reading now.)

We were taught as small children to be kind to others. To share. To help a friend. To treat others with respect. To love others. We were taught the Golden Rule, "Do unto others as you would have done unto you." We were taught leadership from the beginning. (Thank you, Mom & Dad.)

Think about those people you gravitate to. Think about the best "managers" you've had in your life. Did you like them every day? Probably not. Did you respect them every day? Probably so. I used to love and hate going to jazz band practice. Mr. Warnke pushed us so hard - he expected so much of us. Oh I would get mad at him! But we didn't want to let him down - because we had such respect for him - so we did the best that we could and as it turned out, we exceeded our own expectations. I don't know that I could explain how my respect for Mr. Warnke came about, but I do remember him showing us his heart on many occasions, whether it was seeing him light up when a student blossomed or hearing his voice crack when he shared with our band that his son's puppy had died. Mr. Warnke led with his heart. And we were arguably one of the best bands in the state, winning contest after contest.

I'm sure everyone has a similar story and I would be willing to bet that many of those stories are about a manager (actually, leader) at work. Peters shares a quote from Boyd Clarke, "I have always believed that the purpose of the corporation is to be a blessing to its employees." (Download peters_ramble.pdf) This is, to me, the ultimate measure of a company. Do you feel blessed to work for your company? In today's world, a company that doesn't add value to its employees is certain to fail. The quickest way to add value? Employ leaders. Grow leaders. Get rid of those who aren't leaders.
 
Is the point then to have a joyful company full of employees who feel blessed? Kind of. The point is actually the bottom line. Leadership in an organization bears fruit: efficiency, loyalty, innovation, service, productivity...more customers, satisfied customers, loyal customers. To have a brand that embraces leadership at every level is to have a dominant brand.

By the way, I recently attended a celebration in our state's capital, where my hometown band marched in the parade. As I cheered with the rest of the crowd, here came the Miller Rustlers marching band, with Mr. Warnke marching with them, beside them. Though I hadn't seen him for over 12 years, I stood and waved and called out to him. Upon seeing me, he came over and gave me a hug. Mr. Warnke still leads with his heart.

How to Manage Your Wood

Are you “focus on the task” person or do you think big-picture? I’m a task person, and only recently had an “ah ha” moment that made me realize I need to think before I act.

Here’s the simple story: Along with being the Director of Business Development for BKG, I am also a part owner of a now defunct nightclub and restaurant. At the beginning of the summer we decided to build a deck outside to attract an after-work crowd. So we built the deck, which I paid for ($2,000). The deck was built in two days and literally thirty days later we closed the bar. So I hired someone to take the deck apart so I could re-use the lumber for a deck at my house. Once the deck was disassembled, I loaded all the wood on a trailer and hauled it to my house where I unloaded it in a huge pile. The contractor who is going to build my deck came to my house to give me a bid and told me I needed to separate the wood by size so he can see what he has to work with. So I separated all the wood into separate piles by size.

Mistake 1) If I had been thinking big-picture instead of just being set on accomplishing a task I would have realized that a deck was not going to save the nightclub and restaurant. Mistake 2) When I hauled all the wood to my house I should have stacked it in piles as I unloaded it from the trailer; instead of trying to accomplish the task of just getting it off the trailer and putting it all in one big pile.

This is also, until recently, how I approached my position at BKG. I have the job of getting new business in the door. I would sit at my desk and call and e-mail as many potential clients as I could, trying to get them to pay attention to us. Really all I was doing was moving around that pile of wood. I decided to take a step back and rethink my sales process. I wrote down a lot of questions. Two that kept coming back to me are: When contacting these potential clients was I really providing value? Was I really giving them a reason to do business with us? The answer is “NO.” I need to provide value first which in turn will give them a reason to work with us. I need to be a thinker first (provide value) and a doer second (reason to do business with us) and stop playing with my wood so much!

All Brands Are Not Created Equal

BusinessWeek/Interbrand recently released their annual rankings of the 100 best global brands.

Google, Zara, Apple, and Nintendo are among this year’s top gainers in BusinessWeek’s annual ranking of The Best Global Brands. For the seventh consecutive year, BusinessWeek has teamed up with Interbrand, a leading brand consultancy, to publish a ranking of the top 100 global brands by brand value.

Read the entire release here.

The top risers, and the big decliners, are really what makes reading the entire report worthwhile. Who's number one, two or three in the rankings isn't the most insightful part of the report. Coca-Cola still rules the world in brand value, $65 million - the cola juggernaut is everywhere for God's sake, but it still took a 3 percent hit.

But check out the double-digit growth from: Google = $17.8 million brand value (+44 percent), Apple = $11 million brand value (+21 percent), Nintendo = $7.7 million brand value (+18 percent) and Starbucks = $3.6 million brand value (+17 percent). These are the guys who are getting it right.

The biggest losers? Ford (-19 percent), GAP (-15 percent), Kodak (-12 percent), Pizza Hut (-9 percent) and Motorola (-9 percent).

What separates the good, the bad and the ugly? Brand management, touch point development, demand creation, modeling contingencies and planning efficiencies.

So what you ask.

Brand and its subsequent value is inextricably linked to solid business management and financial success. Even for the smallest businesses, company or product, brand is crucial. We preach it over and over, only the companies that stand out in logical and emotional dimensions will enjoy a strategic advantage over their competition.

Bat Boy, an obituary

Prophesize the ruin of the blessed Wall Street Journal under Rupert Murdoch, if you want. I write this obituary to mark the passing of a cult-rated standard of true brand-genius: Weekly World News, “The World's Only Reliable Newspaper,” will depart the sphere of dead-tree media with its 27 August issue. Saggy circulation (the tabloid’s, not mine) has killed my career-dream of writing truly ridiculous bullshit for its own sake.

For 28 years, this absurd little chronicle has delivered Nothing But the Truth on the world’s fattest alien babies, wicked deeds of dead celebrities, and Saddam Hussein’s secret heartbreak. But the discovery and continuing exploits of a particular animal-human amalgam gave this grocery store tabloid its most brilliant headlines and best-selling covers. And when WWN editor Dick Kulpa hit us with the chiropteran child named Bat Boy, a pop-idol of a different face entered our shared consciousness.

Bat Boy Bites Santa Claus! Bat Boy Leads Cops on Three State Chase! Bat Boy Endorses Gore! (And after graduating from a small liberal arts college in upstate New York,) Bat Boy Announces Run for California Governorship!

America’s Favorite Hybrid was everywhere. In an acclaimed off-Broadway musical. On stage in London’s West End. In a weekly cartoon detailing the life and times of the fanged grotesque after he resigned from the office of President of the United States (I’m not touching this one!). And, my fav-o, on the big screen in Terry Gilliam’s Twelve Monkeys.

“Elusive and reclusive, where he will pop up next is anybody's guess.” Don’t worry, American Media tells us, you can still read all about Bat Boy on-line! He Lives!

But those hours in the grocery store queue just won't be the same.

Brand Came Through for This Muggle

Last Friday's release of the final installment of the Harry Potter series rivaled the release of Apple's iphone in terms of hoopla and throngs of devoted fans waiting in line for hours to be one of the first to have it. JK Rowling and Scholastic scored big with 8.3 million copies sold in the first weekend in the U.S. alone.

Amazon made promises to the two million customers who pre-ordered the book to have it to them by 7 p.m. Saturday. The whole thing really was a gamble considering that Amazon was relying upon third parties to execute on the promise. An extraordinary event like the release of "Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows" can put a huge strain on a company's infrastructure. Quite thankfully Amazon came through with everything they promised me. My copy of the book was in my grubby little mitts by 10 a.m. Saturday morning (and I finished all 759 pages in 24 hours).

Others weren't so lucky. Read about Kottke's disillusionment. He's not alone. Click here and here to read other's frustration vented.

Regardless of who you want to blame - Amazon or UPS - the Amazon brand took a hit. In my case, I'm singing Amazon's praises (but then I received my book via U.S. Postal Service), but for those who are still waiting, there's no doubt their connection to the brand has been eroded. 

Bad Behavior = PR Problems

We have yet another example of bad personal behavior influencing business decision. Chris Albrecht resigned as chairman and CEO of HBO, parent company Time Warner (TW) said, three days after he was arrested and charged with assaulting his girlfriend outside MGM Grand Casino in Las Vegas.

HBO's Chris Albrecht was arrested Sunday on suspicion of assault. (Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Via Associated Press)

AdWeek has the story.

Sources say TW had become increasingly concerned about the distraction Albrecht's PR nightmare was causing especially after a Los Angeles Times report Wednesday citing allegations in 1991 Albrecht had been involved in a physical altercation with a female employee at HBO, which was forced to pay a $400,000 settlement.

On Tuesday, TW chairman Richard Parsons said the company would "monitor this situation closely." On Wednesday, he changed sentiments.

"(TW president and COO) Jeff Bewkes and I believe that this is the right decision for the company," Parsons said, commenting on Albrecht's departure.

It's a classic example of inappropriate or illegal behavior by executives creating a crisis for a company. The way Time Warner handled the situation leaves me wondering if they had a crisis communications plan in place or if they were shooting from the hip. The story in yesterday's Los Angeles Times about the $400,000 payoff means HBO knew Albrecht had issues. He allegedly choked a subordinate during a confrontation in her office. That should have them ample warning to prepare for his next violent outburst. In this case, their best crisis communications planning probably should have involved an intervention and mandatory treatment.

The amount of fall-out HBO and Time Warner will suffer is still up in the air. AdWeek contends it will invite questions about HBO's viability. Those questions have already been raised though as HBO tries to rekindle the passion of viewers who still miss Sex and the City and Six Feet Under. It won't get any better as The Sopranos ends its run next month and a slew of new series starts up.

Stay tuned.

Corporate Citizenship: Influencing Consumer Behavior

Consumers are sending a message to corporate America - "do good, be sincere and you'll earn our trust and our business." Companies are apparently getting the message.

The New York Times reported yesterday that many companies are changing from traditional golf retreats to spending a day doing community service.

"We quickly got past the idea of a ropes course or golf outing; we really wanted something where we could give to one of the communities where we do business," said Samuel D. Walker, chief legal officer for Molson Coors. As a result, the 11-member executive team spent a full day of their Las Vegas meeting this year helping build a house under the tutelage of Habitat for Humanity.

The story also quoted Alan Ranzer, executive director of Impact 4 Good, an organization that matches corporate groups with volunteer opportunities.

"We really are getting a lot more calls. It's something companies are picking up on for multiple reasons. They see value in it for image purposes. Consumers are out there looking for companies that care and that goes a long way."

There's evidence to back it up too.

The 2004 Cone Corporate Citizenship Study found that 86 percent of American consumers who responded said they were 'somewhat likely' to 'very likely' to switch to a brand associated with a cause, if product price and quality were on par.

GolinHarris conducts a national survey every year, Corporate Citizenship Gets Down to Business: Doing Well by Doing Good. The survey 2006 revealed:

Good corporate citizenship can impact business results by stimulating Americans to be loyal, passionate and frequent business advocates and committed customers to brands that have earned their trust and support.

The following companies rated highest on the GolinHarris Corporate Citizenship Index:

• Ben & Jerry's
• Target
• Patagonia
• SC Johnson
• Gerber
• Southwest Airlines
• Johnson & Johnson
• The Body Shop
• UPS
• 3M
• Honda
• Campbell soup
• Quaker
• Kimberly-Clark
• Harley-Davidson

It all boils down to sincerity and active particpation. We advice our clients not to just write a check. Write the check AND donate your employees' time to make a difference in the commuinities where they do business.

Is PR just propaganda?

A video I ran across on YouTube is drawing my ire today. According to the video's talking head, PR firms and practioners are inherently evil because we exist. The video features John Stauber of PR Watch trivializing PR efforts as nothing more than propaganda and labeling PR professionals as media and public opinion manipulators, and perception managers.

I was ticked off at first blush. But upon writing those words "media and public opinion manipulators, and perception managers," I realized... he's right. However, I won't concede that PR is propaganda, nor are we fiendish masters of evil-doing. We're in business to help business.

Our industry traces its roots to the turn of the twentieth century during the time of industrialization. PR was coined to describe a field established to promote a positive image of companies in an effort to increase their success. It's really that simple.

The basic premise of PR is that people act on their own perception of the facts. Those perceptions lead to behaviors - behaviors which can be affected. I'll give you one example. In the 1940s, approximately 70 percent of adults smoked. It was portrayed as glamorous and sexy. Fast forward to today's message that smoking will kill you. Adult smoking is down to about 21 percent. Smoking's perception changed, thus behaviors were dramatically altered. And let me tell you, it didn't happen without a lot of PR work by the CDC, American Cancer Association, American Heart Association, American Lung Association and the like.

Was that PR effort so dastardly?