CRAKERJAK BLOG

The Brand is King. Long Live the King

A few months ago we posted a Blog on the employment of marketing techniques used by Donald Trump to contest the American Presidential Election.  The blog explained how the use of a well thought out marketing strategy would connect Trump to the American voters. Now that the race is over and Donald Trump has won, we are following up with our previous blog post to reflect on his successful activities and how he deployed them to win the Presidency.

Donald Trump employed a number of classical marketing techniques in his campaign and they are detailed below.

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The recent announcement by the CRTC that Internet revenues in Canada had surpassed TV revenues in 2015 was an eye opener on the changing media environment. For the first time, Internet revenues hit $ 9.8 BN with TV at $8.9 BN. These numbers confirmed what many marketers have been seeing over the last few years as the “power of the internet” now coupled with social media has changed the media landscape in the country.

Advertising on the Internet now accounts for 34% of spend and is projected to reach 41% by 2019. Social media expenditures now surpass Magazine expenditures. Media research shows that not only is the online segment gaining but its influence as a critical element of a consumer decision to act is now just behind TV and newspapers. If you are marketing to Millennials, online activities are likely going to play an important part of your marketing program. Read More

“Nobody counts the number of ads you run; they just remember the impression you make”. – William Bernbach

It’s widely understood that a sales force is the most valued component of a business – and one of the most expensive… it is easy to understand why so many organizations who underserve support for their sales force and lack sound strategies find themselves short of their revenue goals year after year.  Keeping your sales force properly supported is essential to the building of your brand as it is to the success in driving sales revenue – the question is where do business owners START?

Sales force support is a critical business investment; it is an essential component for sustainability, growth, and identity that help drive outcomes that directly impact the organizations’ bottom line.

It is important to understand the direct outcomes that are created through sales support efforts; they include: Read More

Marketers sometimes make the mistake of forgetting how important the care, support and constant review of their product or service offering(s) is to their Brand’s success. The market place is littered with Brands that were not given this respect and as a result lost market share and business to new or existing Brands that had the improvements consumers were looking for.

A Brand’s success should always be measured against its competition and critical reviews should be held periodically to ensure that the Brand is maintaining its performance in the market place. The iPhone success is a classic case of what can happen to a Brand and a category when a Brand does not innovate. Blackberry was the dominant mobile phone for years until Apple introduced the iPhone. Overnight it made Blackberry the “Has- been” product. Read More

Marketers have known for a long time how emotion can play a vital role in convincing people to buy their products or service. The classic duel of the Heart vs. the Brain has been in place since Humankind began.  Advertisers have touched us in many ways to make us believe that their Brand stands for something unique and so we should support it over other competing Brands. Recently we saw a dramatic use of emotion to drive a whole country to make a major decision on its future. The United Kingdom BREXIT Leave Campaign is a classic demonstration of how an advertising campaign based on emotion can affect people and make them decide to change their future.

In 2014 the Institute of Neuroscience and Psychology published research that showed Human Emotion is based on 4 basic emotions. They are HAPPY, SAD, AFRAID/SURPRISED and ANGRY/DISGUSTED. Advertisers have been using these 4 basic emotions to craft their selling messages very effectively. We all have our favourite commercials and I will discuss these later in this article. I would like to focus now on the recently completed “Leave Campaign” in the UK Referendum. Read More

Choosing the right marketing media and the frequency to communicate your message is key to building your BRAND in the eyes of potential franchise candidates.

Where to start?  May we suggest with your BRAND STORY.   Storytelling is a method, not a “selling” tool, which builds strong relationships with your candidates. Your story identifies what your BRAND passions are and becomes the foundation for all of your future content that will entice a candidate to join your team.

When telling your BRAND story, utilize several different marketing channels to reach your ideal candidate(s). Be sure to target the right markets you desire for your various available franchise models. Your marketing channels might include: Read More

As marketers we all know the many issues with regards to damaging or even killing Brands. The usual suspects are always mentioned whenever the discussion comes up about what undermined a specific Brand – lack of clear identity, relevance to the target, mixed communication messages, product differentiation, distribution problems and a host of other basic marketing elements are usually named as the reason for the product or service failure to succeed.

However, there is another major factor that causes a Brand to lose its appeal and relevance to its target market and that is the constant use of promotional / tactical activity to build and maintain the Brand. When Brands decide to switch their marketing activities to deploy mainly promotional / discount programs, they run the risk of undermining the intrinsic value of their Brand to obtain short term sales as they try to maintain market share.

A classic example on this type of tactical approach to keeping a Brand relevant to its market is the story of the North American television business. Read More

Whether you like Donald Trump or not and there are many things to dislike, as a marketer he is teaching politicians and all of us about the power of great marketing.  When he entered the race he was dismissed as a Clown, an Egomaniac and a Loud-mouthed promoter looking for publicity and many other unflattering comments. He has been harshly criticized for his outrageous pronouncements, and his policies, but he has continued to lead the Republican primary contest and has a good chance of winning the nomination and the Presidency.

Most people thought this could never happen! How could this Businessman soar through the primaries against seasoned politicians and do so well? The answer is that Donald Trump is a master marketer who knows how to promote his Brand and he has embraced all the classical marketing elements to promote and build his candidacy and none of his competitors seem to understand how he is doing it.

This article is not an endorsement of his candidacy, but it will show how the clever use of tried and proven marketing techniques have propelled him onto the leadership position.

Here are the marketing elements that he is using: Read More

Is it just us, or does it seem like consumers are paying a lot of attention to the crazy/unethical/ soulless corporate behaviour of CEO’s, and others at the helm? If only their ads got that much attention. A few decades ago, if you accidentally or deliberately sold your brand’s soul, probably few folks would notice. But today we’re living in a marketing fishbowl. You may not think anyone is looking, but they are. Everything from your supply chain, to labeling, to your salary has the potential to put the ‘screw’ in scrutiny.

There are many ways, big and small, to sell your brand’s soul. Sooner or later, it will seem like a good idea, but it’s going to mess things up. And if you’ve done it already, there are ways you can buy it back.

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These brownies aren’t just good — each one is 5 or 6 bites’ worth of social good. Baked at the Greyston Bakery in Yonkers, they’re made by a staff of roughly 180 people, many of whom were formerly incarcerated, or homeless, or drug users. The deliciously chewy brownies are also the star ingredient in Ben&Jerry’s Chocolate Fudge Brownie ice cream. On the side of the B&J’s package, you’ll find this:

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