Blog Archives


Joining Donald C. Kelly on The Sales Evangelist Podcast

I discuss what branding means for Sales teams, chat about Tide’s big Superbowl win and the idea of Radical Transparency.

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De-mystifying branding on Nick Westergaard’s On Brand Podcast

A passionate discussion on why I declare branding having substituted advertising and dive into my new book Bigger Than This.

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Turn Any Venture Into a Brand — by Caring Deeply About a Mutual Cause

Below article was first published on Sustainable Brands on 01/25/18.

This is an excerpt from Fabian Geyrhalter’s upcoming book, Bigger Than This: How to Turn Any Venture Into an Admired Brand. One of eight traits discussed in Bigger Than This is ‘cause,’ which we dive into here…

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Aligning your commodity brand’s existence with a cause can give you strong brand positioning, if done truthfully. Will Young, founder and president of Sydney-based Campos Coffee, states his reason for a purpose- and cause-oriented brand in a company video: “If we are not in it for good, then there is no reason to wake up every morning and go to work.” His words would not be as powerful if Campos Coffee had not demonstrated its commitment to ethics and philanthropy in coffee by being a Fair Trade Certified organization that calls itself “Direct Trade” by improving education and living standards of the communities with which it works.

There is a powerful reason his approach works. Over the past five years, it has become somewhat of a staple for startups founded by millennials to identify a social cause that can be activated in an authentic way to manifest that the purpose of a product or service goes deeper than solely generating sales. “Purpose” is ingrained in their thinking. Millennials’ emphasis on purpose is probably why there is even a startup, Pledge 1%, to foster startups that seek to commit 1% of their equity, product, profit or time to charity. As Pledge 1% CEO Amy Lesnick told Fast Company: “In 15 years we might not even exist, as early-stage philanthropy will be as common as setting aside equity for future employees.”

The best way to tap into the cause-related marketing trend is to think unselfishly. If you are an entrepreneur considering selling any product, whether a commodity or not, ask yourself why it matters to bring it into this world at this very point in time (and for the long term), and why your audience will deeply care about an often otherwise labeled “so what?” product.

One brand that has answered this question in a unique way is the Package Free Shop. It started as a commodity store (wait, a store just by itself is seen as a commodity by many today!) that specializes in selling commodities such as toothbrushes, razors, soap, bags, laundry detergent, etc. The Package Free Shop is 100% cause-based, selling reusable alternatives to single-use, disposable commodities while teaching customers how to live a “zero-waste life.”

Also ask yourself what your brand will be giving back. Can you identify a social cause that can be activated in an authentic way to demonstrate that the purpose of your product/service goes deeper than solely generating sales? That is the easiest way.

Research shows how much consumers value brands that support charitable causes. A recent cause marketing survey conducted by research firm Toluna showed that 39% of consumers buy into integrated cause strategies such as the “sell one, donate one” model used by TOMS Shoes. The majority of consumers actively seek out brands that donate to causes and say that they would be more likely to purchase a brand that supports a shared cause, according to the survey. Millennials top that list, with 49% seeking out cause brands.

Buy-one-give-one marketing is just one of the many ways brands are connecting with a cause. Here are some other creative ways startups are giving back and connecting their cause with a target audience’s consciousness, outside of the one-for-one model:

  • Supporting artisans by ethically sourcing products in developing countries and providing them with steady work at far-better-than-usual pay, along with social programs, education and skills training.
  • Giving back 1% to your (shared) cause.
  • Creating an eco-friendly, organic, chemical-free, cruelty-free (you name it) model, as long as it supports a shared cause with your audience.
  • Equal pay for women, which is sad to have to even mention still today but is unfortunately not available in most companies.
  • Form a B Corp, thereby having “to meet rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency.”
  • Hire staff deemed “unemployable” because of stigmatized health conditions, impairments or felony convictions, and provide a second chance.
  • Run a co-op, owned by your employees or your customers.

Of course, no matter what method you choose, your cause has to create true value for the recipients (both the consumer as well as the beneficiary). It’s also important to think all the way to the production of your products; Bennison, for instance, has “mothers in Peru” craft its “one-for-one” line of children’s wear.

If you make cause the center of your brand philosophy, watch out for what I call cause-stamping (think of it as a cousin of greenwashing). The TOMS-branded Apple Watch band (advertised with the marketing message “Give Time”) reflects a clear brand misalignment, despite TOMS’ provision of a year of solar light to a person in need for every band purchased. Unlike TOMS shoes, Apple Watches are clearly a luxury item, priced beyond the reach of many consumers, making the feel-good brand connection seem awkwardly inauthentic when seen on one and the same product. For Apple, it may just have been a sad attempt to buy into a “still-cool” brand ethos in times when the company lacked product innovation headlines.

Today’s exceptional cause-based startups find a truly unique problem to solve by giving back or by applying the otherwise overplayed buy-one-give-one tactic. Here is what you can take with you as you launch, or expand upon, a brand built on the foundation of cause:

  • Base the cause on a logical proposition that creates an immediate emotional connection with your target audience.
  • Ensure your cause can only be seen as truthful.
  • Be certain your cause is extendable enough to expand with you as your product offering diversifies.
  • Consider whether the cause directly touches your (current or future) staff’s hearts in order to foster a strong company culture based on purpose.
  • Hold yourself accountable and issue progress reports on a yearly basis to ensure you are meeting your own expectations and to spread awareness of the cause (and subsequently your brand).
  • Start by giving, then move on to fully embodying the cause in all other aspects of your business — including hiring, location, sourcing and production.

You can read more about how to turn into a cause-based brand, as well as learn about the other 7 traits of today’s admired brands in my book “Bigger Than This – How to turn any venture into an admired brand.”


5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Became CEO

Yesterday marked the release of my new book, ‘BIGGER THAN this – How to turn any venture into an admired brand’ and I was fortunate enough to have Thrive publish an interview with me coinciding with the book release.

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The article turned into a very personal Q and A. Most likely because the interview was conducted while I was vacationing up in the serene Austrian mountains, it turned out so very sincere.

Sharing it with you today as I candidly talk about how I turned my design agency into a brand consultancy and I share the key insights I learned in my close to 2 decades of being a creative entrepreneur. I hope you get something out of it as we start off the year:

“Say No, And Say It Often” Words Of Wisdom With Fabian Geyrhalter, Author Of ‘Bigger Than This’


Bigger Than This

A quick read about the deceptively difficult task of turning your venture into an admired brand.

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About Bigger Than This

Video with author Fabian Geyrhalter discussing the book “Bigger Than This.”

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What Any Brand Needs To Learn From Amazon’s Physical Bookstore Experience

I just spent an hour at Amazon. Not on Amazon, at Amazon.

As an author with a second book release upon me, I study book marketing up close hence I just had to make a pilgrimage to Los Angeles’ first physical Amazon bookstore. It opened two weeks ago as part of the Westfield Century City Mall‘s universally talked about staggering 1$ Billion re-model (…and we thought retail was dead).

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I was doubtful when I initially heard about Amazon going into physical storefronts thereby going back to the business model they once so successfully disrupted many years ago. Well, my doubt was quickly turned into exhilaration as Amazon did not simply open a storefront, they changed the way consumers experience products offline – with a whole lot of help from online insights.

Amazon successfully and holistically transformed what worked online into a physical brand experience. It took full advantage of its massive amounts of data, to my delight. At the AmazonBooks store, you are greeted with shelves titled ‘Highly Rated – 4.8 Stars & Above’ or ‘100 Books to Read in a Lifetime – Our Picks from the Amazon.com List.’ Not surprisingly, it works and it pulls you into a curated, and more importantly, customer-verified, experience. Do you trust that Maggie from the local bookstore has a ‘Staff Pick’ or do you trust hundreds, thousands, millions of readers just like yourself? Sorry, Maggie, I am all up for supporting local stores, but that was an easy pick.

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Not so quick though, as Amazon knows it needs to, and should, make the experience a local one. ‘Read Local – Notable and Highly Rated Los Angeles Books’ as well as top-rated books from readers in L.A. are showcased prominently. Another nice touch is Amazon’s integration with the online reader community of Goodreads, albeit logical as Amazon acquired the site in 2013. Still, seeing ‘Goodreads Most-Read Classics’ and ‘Book Club Picks from Goodreads’ adds more intrigue to the books stacked in traditional bookstore style underneath. Each of these components engages, builds trust, and keeps you in the store longer.

But let’s not paint a picture of Amazon showcasing only the proven books, by the biggest authors, on their rather limited shelf-space. You’ll see books of unknown authors, some that are rated only a few times, next to the big sellers. One book particularly stood out (Innovating by Luis Perez-Breva and Nick Fuhrer) as Amazon’s description reads ‘100% of reviewers rated this item 5 stars.’ The book only had 21 reviews in total. This makes me feel like I am discovering something, which is one of the key ingredients of a great book store.

Amazon also picks customer reviews to showcase, rather than the author’s book description, or an Amazon editorial review, which makes the experience even more personable.

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The last store curation effort that made my heart speed up was the huge shelf-space dedicated to ‘If you like this, you’ll love these.’ A key component of the Amazon.com shopping experience, seeing a book you liked on a shelf with six you never heard of next to them, suggesting that you’ll love them is a sure-fire win in any customer browsing experience.

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Besides taking away that Amazon has nailed its data integration into its retail environment – not to anyone’s surprise – what can you, as a CMO of a brand or as a startup entrepreneur learn and immediately utilize from its success?

Map your online customer brand experience, then take it offline.

It feels upside down, and precisely that is Amazon’s amazing ‘Zag’ in this instance. How do users behave on your site, what content do they read, what call-to-actions do they skip, which offerings do they spend the most time on, and so on and so forth. Study it. It’s there, you just have to start digging into it.

Then take that data and make use of it in all the ways you conduct business offline. As many of you don’t have retail stores that you can start experimenting with, you may think this is not applicable to your brand. Think again: sales presentations, prospect case study conversations, tradeshow experience designs, new product launch considerations, brand initiative ideas, brand narrative adjustments – you name it. That online journey can be a game-changer in the way you engage with your customer/consumer/member everywhere else.

Much has been said about leveraging latent data and creating actionable new data points for brands of all sizes to utilize, but the essence of what Amazon did is actually rather simple at heart: Study the trail your online users leave behind and use it to educate a new or revised, deeply educated and highly personalized offline brand experience.

What we learn from AmazonBooks is that these insights can even be used to craft a brand narrative for a new brand extension: Translating what works naturally online (‘if you like this – you may like that‘ as an example) for their brand and making it work as a novelty in an offline experience that is 100% true to Amazon’s brand essence. It’s not just connecting data for increased sales, it is doing so in a way that is intrinsically true to the core brand philosophy.

Amazon’s user journeys helped create an offline sub-brand. It may be time to look at your brand’s online data, create your user journeys and translate them into successful offline experiences. It will re-affirm, or re-educate your brand’s essence, or perhaps it will even inspire you to launch a new brand extension.

Until then, you can find me at Amazon as on Amazon is just too one-dimensional and old-fashioned.

 


How To Share Your Brand’s Offering – Brilliant Brand Messaging Lessons From Acorns And Emojis

I entered a contest. Not a design competition, but a simple consumer contest.

And that matters because, really, who enters contests? We are all busy people. Especially a man in his early 40’s who is not bootstrapping his life, especially not aiming for a $20 gift card.* Well, I did, and here is why: While procrastinating – it happens to the best of us – in-between important and time-sensitive client workshop preparation tasks, the following E-Mail popped up in my ‘Everything Else’ area of my Inbox (yes, it accurately landed on the opposite side of my ‘Important’ E-Mails):

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They got me with the squirrel.

And the time-sensitive part.

So, nuts I went.

I went nuts not to find that silly acorn, well that too, but over the genius, or the team of geniuses, who were briefed to get people to click-through their Fall Collection of indie food products. Instead of a beautiful collage of their products, or by cramming in as many different products as they can, they created a ‘fallen acorns scavenger hunt’ thereby ensuring people had to click through a lot of their new products thereby familiarizing themselves with a variety of offerings not unlike they would scrolling through an Instagram feed.

I did click on one product (‘brand research – had to make sure it worked before I wrote about it’) and saw an acorn. That’s when my brain switched from ‘marketing technique intrigue’ straight to ‘happy acorns hunt participant.’

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If you can get the E-Mail recipient who is the least-likely to partake in a contest, even less likely to engage in reviewing products he is not interested in purchasing at the time (but will likely recall once the holidays are rolling around) to click through your E-Mail and participate in your brand in the middle of a workday, you clearly did something very right.

Back in July, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) launched their way of successfully distracting people from their work by asking them to text them an emoji. The service sends a related art piece of their vast collection in return of you texting ‘send me [insert any emoji, keyword or color of choice]’ to their number (572-51, if you are curious).

Here was my wife’s interaction at the time. I immediately tried it myself.

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Intrigued? Of course.

You are not alone. In one single week they received – hold your breath – 2 million texts of people hungry to see art that was relevant to their current mood or personal interest. For the museum, it was an answer to the question ‘How do we get people to see all the art (95% of the collection) we simply can not show on the floors of our museum?’ What they got in return was so much more than interest in art. They created brand awareness, and brand love, (and collected millions of phone numbers) via a simple idea and an auto-reply powered by good data.

It’s time for us to gamify our brand experiences, especially the ones that are being sent via E-Mail to thousands of opted-in customers like it was the case in MOUTH’s acorn hunt example. E-mail has a median return on investment (ROI) of 122% – more than four times higher than other marketing formats, including social media, direct mail, and paid search. Combine that with an audience of hungry, active users that are ready to act, and yet you plug out one templated E-Mail promoting your product after another.

Stop.

Sit back and think about why the recipient would take action.

  • Is it a question you provide a ‘must-know’ answer to?
  • Is it an ‘act-now’ (and now only) deal?
  • Is it a unique gamified experience?
  • Is it triggering intrigue, or a feeling of exclusivity, that causes actions?

Send less. Think more. Gain real engagement.

Take a step back from your analytics tools, grab a few fellow team members, a conference room, and a highlighter and take over the good old whiteboard. Your ROI will soar and your brand will thank you for not being a spam brand, but an engaging brand.

Let’s thank a bunch of acorns and emojis for that.

*Side note to that acorns hunt E-Mail example: Getting a $20 gift card for a minimum $100 order, so a 20% Off Your Next Order ‘gift’ is a rather sad incentive (why not truly give $20 gift cards?) that can quickly turn potential fan excitement to immediate bummer brand reclusive. I noticed that after my hunt was over.


What A Line Of People In Front Of A Phone Booth Taught Me About Brand Advocacy

A few weeks ago I found out about a hidden Speakeasy in walking distance from my house. Not sure how you would react to that news, but I was pretty exhilarated, to say the least. As all legit Speakeasies go, they have interesting hidden entrances. ‘Mine’ came in the form of a functioning phone booth. Once you dial the right number, the hostess picks up and asks for the daily password, and if you made reservations, you are in. Not so on a particular Sunday evening two weeks ago when there was a line of 80 people waiting in front, yes, the phone booth, to get in. I inquired with the last person in line and that was the first time I learned about ‘the coins.’

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I happened to desire a cold beverage on the very night of the infamous Fernet-Branca Coin Release Party and the ones in line were all bartenders ‘in the know.’ I spent the remaining evening reading up about this phenomenon; over a cold, home made, cocktail.

Fernet-Branca, the brand of the bitter herbal liqueur that falls into the amaro family of spirits (it tastes indeed a little bit like a sophisticated version of Jägermeister), revisited the tradition of the ‘challenge coin,’ made popular by the armed forces, but later adopted by law enforcement and the trades. Basically, any group of hard working people that like to drink. So, yes, there are many groups that created their own coins. The rather simple rule of the game: You have a coin, you are in the club and you are safe. You don’t, you pay a round of shots.

Fernet took that idea and started creating their own coins, customized to cities or events where they are released in numbers as low as 100 to a group of bartenders, or others in the know. Instead of making it a silly sales promo by randomly handing it out to customers, Fernet understood the power of their facilitators, their real sales crew: the bartenders.

The coins of Fernet come with a few more rules, says Kirsten Amann, the Boston ambassador of Fernet (in an Eater article): “You have to have it on you at all times. You must be able to produce it in less than 4 steps. You’re not supposed to give it away or lose it. The only person who can replace it is the person who gave it to you.” Needless to say, the Fernet-Branca coins are rare. Very rare. You can fetch them on eBay for $150-$350 a pop. That would be a great tip for any bartender, but they rather keep them on hand than take your money for it.

And this explains a line around a phone booth on a Sunday night. Fernet releases these coins to their influencers and thereby formulates a secret handshake amongst the few. Drop a Fernet-Branca coin at a bar in a foreign city and you will gain immediate friendship, honor, belonging, and likely a free shot.

Fernet successfully understood the importance of the bartender’s role as an influencer and how their brand perception of Fernet will spread hundredfold to new customers who want a piece of the story, the intrigue and the idea that they, too, are in the know about a strange bitter liquor from Italy that most have not heard of, or haven’t had the guts to order. Creating a ‘club’ of salespeople that are not employed by your brand is a genius move. Empowering them with a free viral campaign that keeps on spreading, is beyond genius.

Let’s take a fresh look at your brand: who really are the direct influencers? Most of the time they are the ones facilitating the sale, and most of the time they are the ones that are the least equipped to share the tales of a fascinating and captivating brand aura. Now that we realized, once again, that long-term allure (branding) sells more than a ‘salesy’ product push, let’s equip your direct influencers with your version of the coin. It will likely not be a physical coin, nor a shot of Fernet, but it should start with your ‘secret handshake’ and end with a toast to common ground.

[Image sourced via http://www.usmedallions.com/products.html]


How The Narcissism of Prince Can Lead to Your (Next) Successful Brand Launch

I spend a fairly good amount of my professional life traveling the world for meetings, workshops, and lectures. My wife pities me for the early mornings, late nights, the anxiety, the unknown, the airports and the countless Uber rides. Me, on the flip side, I enjoy it thoroughly. I get to explore new cities and cultures and use the little bit of downtime I get to gain new experiences. I will always be a seeker. Just like a little boy, I am curious and still believe that the world is my oyster. It’s strange, but I firmly believe it works to my advantage as it fuels me with inspiration and, as a result, creates lasting memories.

This week brought me to Minneapolis to work with a Fortune 100 company on two brand launches, and this morning I used the time before my flight to take a ride out to the suburbs for a tour of Paisley Park. Not one of the city’s many beautiful parks, Paisley Park is the place Prince (‘The artist formerly known as,’ who passed away abruptly last April) created in order to write, record, party, host, meet and at times stay at, that is crafted precisely to only his needs and according to only his vision. I am not a ‘super fan’ by any means, but an admirer of his talent and felt like a visit to this ‘sacred’ place would make for a unique experience. And it sure did.

All logos shown are owned by the legitimate trademark holders and are shown for illustrative purposes only.

The ‘Prince,’ ‘Love Symbol #2,’ and ‘Paisley Park’ logos are all part of the Prince brand (owned by their respective trademark owners, shown for illustrative purposes only).

Besides being an amazing musician, dancer, singer and overall creative artist, Prince was also an overachiever, a perfectionist, and a narcissist. He was an entrepreneur extraordinaire and a meticulous brand creator.

At the end of an amazing tour through his digs – he dubbed it Paisley for the ever changing nature of paisley design patterns, a metaphor for his creativity, and Park for it being his playground – I left feeling equally moved and inspired. When on premise, Prince was found recording new material more often than doing anything else. Many nights of the week he had gatherings, many were free to attend for the ones ‘in the know.’ Some he unexpectedly popped in to perform a quick impromptu jam session for the few lucky people in attendance. Some were 3-plus hour long sets for 2,000 attendees in a full stadium-gig setting (Yes, this ‘park,’ his house, is ginormous). Most started between 1:00 and 2:00 AM. One night when he serenaded Madonna, who was in town for a tour stop, there were only 8 people in attendance. As our tour guide, Shawn, said, “I guess people have day jobs and 2:00 AM shows don’t fit too well into that routine.”

Prince’s recording studio was centered around a mike and a chair. He sat while singing because most of the times he was operating everything else all by himself, simultaneously. Guitar, piano, synths, you name it. When he walked into the entrance hall of Paisley Park, his eyes were looking down upon him from the ceiling in the form of a big painting.

He also created a room for each of his finished albums. There are, obviously, quite a lot of these rooms. Like shrines, these rooms are filled with video footage of concerts and interviews of that era, costumes he wore during that tour, specific instruments played, artwork for the album and tour, and walls covered floor to ceiling with images of him during that era. These rooms were not created for the museum, they were part of his living life. He walked by them every day he spent at Paisley Park.

You can only imagine the significance he saw in each project and the pressure he (not even thinking about the fans, critics, and record labels) put upon himself with any new project, knowing that ‘at its conclusion I will designate a room to it, which shall outlive me once this turns into a museum.’ The kind of attention to every project detail had to be meticulous: From concept, compositions, lyrics, artwork, theme, costumes, performance, production, band, dance moves to PR, the list goes on and on.

At the onset of your next new project, and may it be the first – your startup perhaps, envision that room Prince dedicated to each of his projects and ask yourself how the room for your project should look two years after successful launch:

  • Is it deserving of ‘a room’?

If not, how can you make it more deserving?

  • Will it be loved and admired by the ones you cater to?

If not, how can you create more empathy?

  • What is the unique experience?

If it lacks, go back to map the customer journey and create enough delight and ‘moments of memories’ along the way.

  • How does it fit into the house (of your brand, or brands, if applicable)?

If it doesn’t, maybe that is a pivot or a step into a new era, but ensure you can see past this step to plan for consistent growth and a unified future brand experience.

  • What lasting impact will it have?

Is that the impact you seek – is it impactful enough?

  • Does it push the company forward enough? Or in the case of a startup, does it push you towards your ‘true north’ vision for the brand?

If not, experiment more to push your industry’s boundaries.

You don’t have to be an obsessive, genius rock star in order to do that. Nor a narcissist. You just have to have enough foresight to envision, in order to connect, the dots. But you have to list out all those potential dots, and envisioning that room is one great way of doing so.

How will it look? Are you impressed?

Once you are, perhaps you should throw a brand release party – sounds so much better than a launch party now doesn’t it?

Applause will be a given, encores optional.


Suggested Tweet

“You have to have enough foresight to envision, in order to connect, the dots for your brand launch.”


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