The brandgym blog

Hitting brand image issues head-on: BA Terminal 5

The disastrous opening of Heathrow Terminal 5 back in March provoked a frenzy of negative media coverage. Lost bags, canceled flights, malfunctioning lifts... it seemed that everything that could go wrong did go wrong.

5 months on and BA is now confident enough that it has sorted out its £4billion baby. The problem is one faced by several brands I've worked with: perceptions lag reality. People, including me until a week ago, still think T5 is crap. To address the negative image hangover T5 still has, BA has launched an innovative "real-time" ad campaign using press and radio, to report on the actual performance on the previous day. Its called "Terminal 5 is working".

I like what BA are doing for several reasons:

1. Builds on a truth: hey, I'm a sausage guy, as regular readers will know. Product/service is king. And this campaign is all about dramatising the great customer experience you now get at T5, such as check-in time of 8 minutes and security check-though time of 5 minutes.

2. Real-time makes it feel real: the ads are very specific about when the data was gathered, and with how many people. The ad above says "748 people, yesterday, between 6am and 2pm". I like the way they even address a question about why they stopped at 2pm by saying "We had to stop at 2pm so we could make this ad." Nice.

3. Reinforces positive experience: I happened to fly into T5 last week, when the campaign broke. The experience was pretty amazing. Our bags were coming off the belt when we arrived for the first time ever at a UK airport, and only the 2nd or 3rd time at any airport in the world. Time from plane to taxi was not more than 15 minutes in total. The next day I then heard the radio ad, and read another in the Times. This tripple whammy worked a treat to re-wire my brain from "T5 is shit" to "T5 is great". 

4. BA know they can't rely on new coverage of success: one of the things that stinks about the media today is that cock-ups get saturation coverage, and success is welcomed with deafening silence. There are no headlines now about how well T5 is working, so BA need to do it themselves. 

Bravo BA. T5 truly is superb, from the speed of service desribed above, to the super shops and range of food options on offer. I'm now dying to go back in business class so I can check out the lounges!

Vitamin Water's painfully poor consumer feedback

I posted last week on the vitamin water wars, giving Vitamin Water (Coke) the slight edge over V Water (Pepsi).

Well, one category Coke loose on hands down is consumer feedback. Now, many brands are bad at this. But boy oh boy oh boy, Vitamin Water have plumed new depths. This is a Titanic-esque sinking of brand goodwill.

Here is what I emailed them "I live in Putney. Where the hell can I buy Vitaminwater. Not on Ocado, or Sainsbury.com?" Short. Sharp. To the point. Pissed off.

Well, if you're sitting comfortably and have a sick bag ready, here is what I got back.

hey david,

great to hear from you. thanks so much for getting in touch with us, your email really brightened up our day!
[Really? Must have been one hell of a shitty day]

it really does make us want to shout from the rooftops when we hear how much people like you love vitaminwater. it’s always a pleasure and your support means a lot (and don’t tell anyone but it makes us go all warm and fuzzy inside)!
[Love? What love?]

rest assured we will circulate your kind words to all the vitaminwater team and everyone here at the centre for responsible hydration. vitaminwater has already hit london and is available in a over two hundred outlets across london. i have enclosed a list of stores for your attention. (see below)
[Well about time too. This is all I wanted].

in the meantime, you can check out our glaceau store at lower portland street to sample our rainbow range.

well, what more can we say but thanks a million, keep spreading the vitaminwater love and keep swigging away.

with all our best wishes, charlotte murphy, glaceau vitaminwater

Can you believe that? Any semblance of this being an authentic brand has gone baby, gone.

If you invest in a consumer feedback system, then make sure it has a minimum of sensitivity to the type of comments you get. Or just don't bother.

Starbucks: "investing in service not funnier TV commercials"

In a Brand Autopsy post John Moore makes a powerful point about how Starbucks has built its brand and business:

"Starbucks spends its dollars on making better products and better customer experiences and not on making funnier television commercials".

This reminds me of the quote from the Geek Squad founder Robert Stephens: "Advertising is a tax for having an unremarkable product".

John uses some interesting data to back up his point that looks at ad spend and market share for US restaurants. I've taken his data and worked out how much ad spend each chain needs per share point of market share:

$ million ad spend per share point (2005):
1. Mc Donalds:                  $94
2. Burger King:                $111
3. Wendy's:                     $162
4. Subway:                        $147
5. Taco Bell:                    $121
6. Starbucks:        $10

That's right. Starbucks spends 10 times less in advertising for each point of market share. Instead, it invests money in product and people.

So why don't the other chains take a leaf out of Starbucks' book, and spend more on product and service, and less on trying to create an "image wrapper" to cover up their shortcomings? One answer is that they are taking the easy route: making a nice new ad is a lot easier and more fun than trying to fix the real issues to do with crappy service, food and decor.

Any more good examples of brands who've built the business through product/service, not advertising?

"Advertising is a tax for having an unremarkable product"

This quote is by Robert Stephens, Founder and "Chief Inspector" of the Geek Squad, from his speech at last week's Marketing Society Conference in London. He has been able to grow his computer repair business from a one-man start-up to a company employing 15 000 "agents" in the USA, and secure a UK launch with Carphone Warehouse, all without the need for advertising. How? By designing every single bit of the Geek Squad experience to maximise impact and create word-of-mouth.

The name and logo were inspired by TV cop shows like Dragnet and Police Squad. Stephen's wanted a name that sounded "more like a movie that a standard service" to create intrigue, make his business sound bigger than it really was and leave space for the brand idea to grow. I love this idea of a brand story with different "episodes", rather than something linear and predictable.

At the heart of the business are the "agents" with their unforgettable uniforms, black clip-on ties (to stop you being strangled by nasty printers) and Geek Squad badges. Then there's the Geek Squad cars, also designed to get noticed, with vintage cars at the start and now VW Beetles. But perhaps the best illustration of Stephen's genius are the shoes. He was told that with 15 000 agents the company could get a free logo on the side of them. Instead, he asked for a reversed-out logo on the soles. Why? Because this meant branded footprints everywhere his agents go. Think about it. 30 000 shoes, 100 steps a day... that's up to 3 million free GRPs a day!

The distinctive tone and style is translated into a brand language that communinicates efficiency but with an amusing twist. You're confident the job will get done, but entertained at the same time. For example, the company's employees are described as 'an elite tactical unit of highly trained Agents that focus solely on computer and network support'. And the Geek Squad units inside computer retailer Best Buy are christend "precincts".   

But as Stephens points out, all this emotional appeal works only because it is built on the foundation of a great product. This started with him looking at each step of the computer repair experience and highlighting numerous ways to make it better, such as explaining repairs in language people understood and arriving 5 minutes early for his appointment. Not rocket science, but doing the basics better than the competition in lots of areas, that together create differentiation. New features have  also been added over time, including:
- Service guarantee: If you're not completely satisfied with our service, the problem is remedied fast and free
- Nationwide coverage: Over 700 locations available nationwide, including Hawaii and Alaska
- Flat rates: removes the nauseating pain and discomfort often associated with billing by the hour
- Not third party: Any Agent that enters your home or office or that you see at Geek Squad Precincts and stores is the genuine article

Beyond the customer appeal, the other big benefit of having a remarkable product is employee engagement. Geeks are no longer languishing un-loved in the IT department. They get to be part of a gang who share the same interests and hobbies. Furthermore, getting into The Geek Squad is made into a challenge, a job only for the elite as described by their recruitment ad:

Recruits wanted to eliminate all evil computer behaviour. Faint of heart need not apply.Candidates undergo a gruelling screening process — not unlike that of the FBI or Interpol. If you've got drive, strong customer relations skills, excellent button-pressing savvy and a mildly odd affinity for government-chic attire, you may be Geek Squad material.

5-minute workout: imagine all your advertising budget was cut. How could you innovate every aspect of your product or service to make it more impactful, memorable and remarkable like the Geek Squad. If they can do it with shoes, what can you do it with?

The power of Pret's people

The whole area of "brand engagement" is booming, with companies launching into big and expensive initiatives to help employees "live the brand". However, in my experience many of these are a total and utter waste of money, as they fail to address the basics of making a company a nice place to work. Many of them are more like exercises in "brandwashing".

One of the most successful companies at creating great and consistent customer service is sandwich shop chain Pret a Manger, and I wrote a little case on them for the new book, Brand Vision (out in Jan 07). This was inspired by the findings of an FT journalist who went to work at Pret to understand the secret of their success. And as you will see below, engaging people with the brand did not figure.

1. Managers are not over-qualified and embittered:
- 75% of mangers are promoted from within
- Other 25% have at least 2 years relevant experience
- Join in and help instead of ‘barking orders’

2. Staff are not ‘routinely humiliated’
- Smart uniform not polyester nightmare
- No dressing up for kiddie parties
- Most stores have no toilets, so now cleaning the loo to do

3. Staff are paid well:
- Team member: average £6.58 vs. £5.68 for competition
- Team leader: average £8.39 vs. £7.52 for competition

4. Staff have a say in who joins:
- Candidates work in store for a day and team votes whether to hire them

5. Hire nice people:
- Large number of well-educated international students

The other really important thing is that the product people are selling is 10 times better than your average fast-food of course. It reminds me of the story of a kid working at McDonald's who when asked where he worked preferred to say his was unemployed!

Another example of this approach is US outlet The Container Store, as described on the Brand Autopsy blog, by ex-Starbucks marketer John Moore

5-minute workout: before you start a programme to "engage people with your brand", have you worked on the basics of making the place a nice one to work in, as per Pret a Manger?!

P.S. Footnote: another sign of what an amazing company Pret are. I emailed the owner/CEO, Julian Metcalfe, to tell hiim about the post. And he sent a personal reply 12 hours later thanking me. I was a loyal Pret fan before. Now I'm a stark raving Pretaholic.