January 2007

   My niece's dog is named Lilly. Lilly is a Japanese Chin and a 7 ½ pound ball of fury. She's a great pet and is typically seen running, begging, jumping around the house as the life of the party. This past Christmas, if we human folk were involved with it, Lilly was typically not just mildly interested, but rather leading the charge.

   One such example is the Wacky Chicken. My friend Nicole got me this stuffed animal that clucks and dances to its own beat. I thought my nieces would get a big kick out of it, however, it was Lilly who got the most use out of this dancing clucker. Actually, Lilly was mesmerized by the toy and jumped two-feet in the air whenever the chicken's song prompted its cluck. Lilly barked and circled the toy like a dangerous new competitor. She even howled in contempt of the chicken's singing and leaped back in hesitancy when Wacky got jiggy. Finally, Lilly decided to get to bottom of this foul mystery...quite literally. Actually, Lilly began sniffing around where she thought the bottom might be in an attempt to learn more about this disruptive attention magnet.

   In other words, Lilly was completely committed to finding out what the Wacky Chicken was all about. She withstood the annoying song, the odd dancing and the loud clucking in order to accomplish her goal. She overcame her fears to put the mystery to rest. Eventually, she did.

   Her persistence got me thinking. In the world of marketing, we seem to continually be challenged by the very commitment that Lilly displayed. We too, need to overcome fear with commitment in order to accomplish the goal of building a lasting brand identity.

   For example, commitment to continuity and theme is vital to a brand’s success. Such dedication is needed to overcome the annoyances we experience by a creative angle that eventually bores us, but that the consumer is just latching onto. After all, if I say the phrase, “Golden Arches”, 99 percent of America is going to say, “McDonald’s”. What if McDonald’s abandoned that necessary aspect of thematic continuity because it eventually bored or annoyed them, or if they just wanted a change? Would McDonald’s be the fast food giant it is today? Maybe. But probably not. Change that merely relieves boredom does not an icon make.  

   Marketing is really about education. Repetition leads to education. The ultimate goal is to create a brand that reaches icon status in the mind of the consumer. Commitment to a good program will lead your company to icon status. Without commitment to a program, nothing really connects with the consumer—which is really what branding is all about. That Lilly-like commitment is vital. It’s important to building a lasting and profitable brand identity just as it is in Lilly solving the Case of the Wacky Chicken.

 © BrandVision Marketing. 2007. Scott Trueblood. All rights reserved.

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