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Martin Lindstrom is a fascinating individual, he did a seven million dollar marketing study on the brain and wrote a book about it; Buy-ology: The Truth and Lies About Why We Buy. I encourage you to read it but what got me thinking was a recent podcast put on by Duct Tape Marketing’s John Jantsch.  Talking with Mr. Lindstrom, they simplified it down to semantic markers.  Lindstrom says, “Semantic markers are like a slap on the chin” in a negative or positive way.  Our subconscious makes most of the decisions for us so brands should be trying to create these subtle markers in our minds. Lindstrom goes on to say that small companies should be taking advantage of semantic markers to get a lot of value out of the marketing effort with very little effort.

So how do you create a semantic marker in someone’s mind?  By going to extreme’s and doing something completely unexpected but so memorable it is embedded in our minds.  Remember how good Burger Baron’s billboards were?  They were different and were actually funny that they stuck out in our minds, you’d chuckle to yourself when you thought of Burger Baron.

How about the Roughrider’s Watermelon heads?  Difficult not to talk about those.  It allowed Roughriders fans to show the league how dedicated they really were.  It was different and definitely not for everyone.

Just recently the apparel company 22 Fresh came out with a new outlet store on Facebook.

The only way you can buy anything in the store is if you have “Scrilla”, and you can buy Scrilla or earn it.

This store isn’t for the average person, then again, regular people don’t wear 22 Fresh, it’s cool, it’s new, and you have to have the Scrilla to afford it.

What’s different is memorable.

Lindstrom also discusses why we don’t see more of this ingenious advertising regularly and he attributes it to organizations being too conservative and trying to please the masses.  When you set out to tell everyone a message, no one hears.  Most of the advertising messages we see are targeted at a large number of people and the result isn’t surprising.  The more conservative, politically correct, respectful, polite the message is, the easier it is for us to ignore it.

So the next time you want to tell everyone about your product don’t, come up with a different message, a different medium, cross the line, offend someone, do something that has never been done in your industry, evoke emotion. Otherwise you are just making noise.

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In some industry’s I would argue brand loyalty does not exist for the vast majority of people. For these products price is the main reason of choice. In the grocery store I have too many options in front of me, so like any other confused male in their twenty’s in a grocery store, I begin to compare prices and inevitably many of my choices are dictated on which is the cheapest. But a product can look good enough that you will pay a premium just because you perceive it to have more value (this happens a lot).  Many products in the grocery store are sold because of implied value, which creates brand loyalty. Marketing has aided this effort for years, making products seem better than they actually are, just so people would buy.

Alright so you buy Kraft over the no name salad dressing, and you buy Bicks because No Name pickles taste funny (when in fact they taste fine).  Marketing has done a great job building trusted brands for us but I don’t agree with buying a name brand products just so a multi-national company can keep marketing it.  Presidents Choice Cola tastes strikingly similar to Coke Cola but you don’t want to be known as the guy who buys PC brand Cola do you?  Well why not?  It’s cheaper and it tastes like the real thing.

One could argue that the more informed shopper will purchase the generic brands more than big name brands because they understand that the extra cost supports marketing efforts not improving the product.

The next time you’re going for groceries ask yourself, “why am I buying the name brand product.”

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Vehicle wraps are quickly becoming a great alternative to billboards and other awareness type mediums and for good reason. The vehicle is seen in many different places, depending on how much it is driven, and it works because it is different.

This post isn’t to decide if the car wraps themselves are effective but more importantly the car behind the wrap, and what message it’s portraying.

Do you want your brand to be displayed on a luxury car to give your business a “high-end” type feel?  Or do you wrap an entry level vehicle to show the world you are frugal and manage money well? A GM to support the automakers? Or a foreign car that’s going to be reliable for years?  Some vehicles are for functionality, others are to stand out, and some need to be able to hold an entertainment centre in the rear so an SUV is the obvious choice.

My gut says I like the luxury car but there’s something to say about companies that purchase an economy line.
Is there a perfect choice? Probably a Prius to show your company has a small carbon footprint. On that note, what do you think about everyone jumping on the Hummer band wagon a few years back?  What kind of impression of your company are you making?

It’s growing in popularity so it would be nice to come to a conclusion on which is better, luxury or economy, what do you think? (click the links for some examples)

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