SEO vs. Brand

I recently found myself in a place of clear brand contradiction. These are the moments when Philosophy (how you want people to behave) meets Behavioral Psychology (how people actually behave). And the two go at it until they either shake hands or kill each other.

Working with a client in a brand consulting capacity (Philosophy), I followed the adage that the best way to cut through in terms of marketplace positioning is to define not only your organization or product, but an entirely new category around it (think "SUV" or "overnight delivery service"). I thought they should define themselves in a totally different way than their competition, and then name it. I presented the idea. I proposed a name. They liked it. It was time to do a new website. Time to use the new positioning. Time to conquer the world.

I put on my writer hat and developed a whole page devoted to this new angle, this new perspective, this new term. I storyboarded an animation they could use to show it visually. Then I made sure to sprinkle the term throughout the site to achieve consistency, clarity, repetition and reinforcement. Mission accomplished, right?

Wrong. Now it was time to look at the site from the perspective of Search Engine Optimization (SEO). SEO, at least in terms of title and description tagging, is the ultimate in behavioral psychology. To be effective, you have to live in the real world. What do people look for? How do they search for it? What terms do they most often use to find exactly the information they want?

SEO has quickly become one of the most important marketing considerations for virtually any company--especially business-to-consumer organizations. The problem is, it flies directly in the face of otherwise-effective branding. To effectively position something, you have to go against the wind. To make something SEO-savvy, you have to go with it.

If FedEx had been founded today, there would have been a huge fight among the marketing folks about whether to create the category of Overnight Delivery Service:

"It's original, no one else has thought of it!" would shout the philosophers. "And if we don't take it, someone else will!"

"No one is searching for it!" would shout back the psychologists. "It has no relevancy!"

In the end (as with everything except politics these days), the solution was a compromise. The new positioning could still be there front and center, but the site still had to be loaded with already-used keywords--both in the copy and in the tags.

Now comes the experiment: Will anyone start searching for the new term and create a truce between these two warring camps?

Buyers vs. Users

A recent study revealed some interesting truths not only about technology, but about human nature in general. It was commissioned to solve a mystery: Why do so many people buy technology-oriented products, only to return them a week later? The conclusion: because as a species, we're basically bipolar.

Maybe it's more accurate to say that we all have multiple personality disorder: We're one person when we buy something; we're quite another when we own something. For example, when looking at say, digital cameras, we care most about having lots of features. All things being equal, we want the device that offers the most stuff so we feel like we're getting our money's worth.

The problem is this: Once we take the camera home and start using it, we become an entirely different person. Our needs change. We want simplicity. And because loading a digital camera with all the bells and whistles needed to get us to buy it also increases the device's complexity, we get frustrated and return it. (The poor camera-maker then throws his or her hands in the air and says, "What do I have to do to please these people?!")

Dividing our personalities into "buyers" and "users" is quite fascinating on all levels. Think about how it applies to dating (buyers) vs. marriage (users), and you probably have a hit screenplay on your hands. Lately I've been thinking about how it applies to purchasing creative services. So often what companies look for when shopping for an agency is Creativity (with a big "C"). That's one of the reasons why Big Agency spends so much money on cool digs, hot young account execs, juice bars, ping pong tables and retro video games.

That gets the account. The problem is, once the account is won, the client switches from a Buyer to a User. Now what they want is high-quality work, responsive account service, strong attention to detail and reasonable prices. Unfortunately, putting on that sizzling dog-and-pony show to win the RFP costs money. Details and customer service? How boring.

My suggestion: Try to have a User mindset from the beginning. That way, you'll never get used.

Taking an Untraditional Approach

I'm happy to share the results of a recent project that covered the "concepting" part of my copywriting, concepting, clarity tagline.

A joint project--won through an RFP and executed between Conk Creative and 185 Media--the challenge was to create a 5-minute video that would get high school students excited about Hennepin Technical College.

The concept was to make the video as untraditional as the school itself:

• Focus on action and showing the facilities (rather than a talking head).
• Rather than a standard voiceover, make it a fast-cut music video with a custom-built soundtrack.
• Incorporate the actual sounds of the school's different areas into the soundtrack.
  
• Use clever transitions that link the different areas of study (e.g. a stove burner in Culinary Arts to a fire during a Firefighter Training exercise).
• Draw a clear and appealing distinction between the experience of Hennepin Tech vs. a traditional 4-year college.

Here's the result. Let me know what you think.

Chipotle vs. KFC

In the first of what I hope will be many visual Chaos2Clarity posts, I offer a 90-second analysis of recent brand-related uber-moves made by two fast food giants.

BrandWatch: The Photographer's Guild

Apparently, you can call the Photographer's Guild on Snelling and Selby for any of the following:
- Weddings
- Portraits
- Commercial
- Geo-Political Consultation

(And I thought it was weird that LeeAnn Chin was selling frozen yogurt...)

Ah, the Good Old Days...

The Incredible Effectiveness of Contrarian Marketing

It's rare that a piece of marketing really impresses me, but this one figuratively blew me away.

In a move to become less selfish (and knowing that my family is incredibly lucky while lots of people are really hurting right now), I recently gave some money to Second Harvest. I probably responded to the organization's latest direct mail campaign because I remember Bruce Springsteen talking them up during one of his recent concerts. (That's some high-level product placement...)

Anyway, in considering an organization that can enlist The Boss, I thought I knew what to expect in the way of follow-up. So when I received the standard thank-you note envelope in the mail recently, I knew it was going to be either the type-written form letter or the more advanced it-looks-type-written-but-it's-actually-just-Lucinda-Handwriting-font-with-your-first-name-ink-jetted- at-the-top-through-the-printer's-list-merge-program form letter.

But I was wrong. Take a look at this. It's a handwritten note. I repeat: an actual handwritten note! I've long considered the benefits of going totally contrarian in marketing (like responding to the current Twitter Mania by telling my clients to reach their target customers by sending them telegrams), but this is Marketing Contrarianism at its best. When is the last time you read a handwritten note, especially from a total stranger? (When's the last time you actually sent a handwritten letter? Or any letter?)

Bravo, Second Harvest. You're a great organization in every way, and I'm happy to use this supposedly advanced social media tool to promote your beautifully inspired use of a lost art--and to encourage everyone who reads this to support your cause.