I am fascinated by the idea of a brand trying to reposition itself.
Can you shift how customer or businesses view your brand through a new message, a new communications framework or telling a different story? It isn’t easy, but there are examples of how this can be done.
Repositioning A Brand
In my past life in the early 90’s, I worked on a snack food brand targeted for “rednecks.” I am using that word because it was the way the audiences self-identified. This audience was primarily Southern men who were not well-educated and tended to hold blue collar jobs. The brand, Slim Jim was not growing, and it needed a little excitement.
Through market research, we determined that the brand could be attractive to a new audience, very young male teens ages 12-19 who were “heavy users” of snack foods (okay, junk food). We needed to speak to them in a new voice, with a different message and with a completely refreshed approach to our marketing.
Our agency recommended a campaign that leveraged core emotional elements- irreverence, rebelliousness and a desire to overcome boredom.
We had plenty of money to spend against this audience, so we looked for both advertising and event sponsorship as a core way to reach the target. The essence of what we sold shifted from talking about the product to telling the story that kids would tell themselves if they bought our product.
Slim Jim’s was the antidote for boredom. Need a little excitement, Snap Into A Slim Jim became our rallying call to action.
Sales Double. Profit Tripled. The campaign, over five years, worked magnificently, and we became one of America’s iconic snack food brands.
Repositioning Lessons
Repositioning a brand that is business to business is different. And today, shifting a brand’s positioning to the consumer, is even more challenging. But here are four elements to consider if you are moving down this path within your marketing work.
- Advertising is far less effective today. Teens, for example, are not watching as much TV and have the benefit of the DVR to eliminate commercials. Sponsorships of events relevant to your audience is a great way to get closer to an audience. You get first-hand human interaction with your audience so that you start to personalize the brand. It isn’t a corporation, but a collection of real people you meet in person.
- The volume of brands has grown exponentially. Getting a consumer’s attention is tough. In fact, it is like trying to wave at 10,000 people at a football stadium, hoping all the right people will notice you. The need to be remarkable and to have a story that your audience wants to share is key. How can you leverage your target to enlist them in the repositioning of the message?
- You can’t say something but act differently. You can’t just say we are new, improved and different. Consumers and business demand proof. It is not enough to just say something. Your product or service has to demonstrate that your new message is in fact, real. McDonald’s can’t say they serve all natural food. They have to prove it. Coke can’t say that their soda is healthy; you will need proof of their claim. Volkswagen can’t just say, trust us; we promise to take care of you when you buy our car.
- Fresh Metaphors and New Lenses Can Help. Consumers businesses can be swayed to see a brand or a product line in a new context. You can change the story and bring a fresh metaphor to the table. If repeated and emphasized, this new message can shift how customers view your brand. V8 brand wanted consumers to stop thinking about tomato juice when they thought about their brand and told a story about a new and refreshing drink called SPLASH by V8 that demonstrated that they were beyond tomatoes. It was successful, in large part because the brand had a new product to sell, and they expanded the brand’s images beyond tomato using fruit as a wider lens to view their product portfolio.
As we grow and mature, many of us want to reposition ourselves to our friends, our colleagues or community. We don’t try and advertise our message to friends; we demonstrate that we have changed. We might show that we are better listeners so that people don’t think we are pushy. We might show that we are now health conscious by eating salads and by passing fast foods at lunch time. We might try to shift the view that we are selfish by volunteering in the community and letting our actions speak louder than the words.
You can learn a lot about repositioning a brand, by thinking about how you would demonstrate to your friends that you are different. If you want people to thinking of you in a different light, change your behavior.
To paraphrase Steve Jobs, don’t just think different, be different. Oh yeah.
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Photo: Courtesy of Slim Jim Brand, A ConAgra Foods Company from 1993. Read how I taught Macho Man how to use email here: Macho Man Randy Savage.
Need a little repositioning in your brand life, Snap Into A Phonecall with me. Connect here.
