On our way back from Ottawa, we passed through a small town and saw the best sign message ever. It had me smiling the whole back to Kingston and still thinking about it 2 days later.
It was one of those light up signs that you can change the letters. Over the years it seems to be that churches come up with the most clever things to write and they've done it again.
This sign said "Sign broken, message inside."
How clever! Love it!
Showing posts with label branding. Show all posts
Showing posts with label branding. Show all posts
The Biggest Secret for Business Success..
DON'T LIE.
Seems simple I know, but I caught a company, a rather large company in fact breaking the rule.
Yesterday gas prices made a hefty jump (well, atleast in Kingston they did). I was at a red light when my gas light came on (I think I need to reread the chapter on planning, but anyways). Luckily the corner I was at had 4 gas stations on it. 2 of which said 81.9. The other two said 76.4. Well, I may not be good at planning, but I'm not stupid. So I cut across the two lanes of traffic, almost hit a car and turned into Petro Canada as it said 76.4 on the sign. When I got out, the meter said 81.9 though. So I went inside and asked if I would still get the lower price because that's what the sign said. The cashier said no, that he was in the process of changing it. I said I understand, but in the meantime, it would be false advertising and they should honour the lower price until the sign is changed. He said no. Petro Canada LIED! He then pointed me across the street to the other one still reading 76.4. So I left (and will never return) and went across to the Sunoco where they did honour the lower price.
You know the sad thing? When I left the Sunoco, Petro Canada still hadn't changed their sign.
Seems simple I know, but I caught a company, a rather large company in fact breaking the rule.
Yesterday gas prices made a hefty jump (well, atleast in Kingston they did). I was at a red light when my gas light came on (I think I need to reread the chapter on planning, but anyways). Luckily the corner I was at had 4 gas stations on it. 2 of which said 81.9. The other two said 76.4. Well, I may not be good at planning, but I'm not stupid. So I cut across the two lanes of traffic, almost hit a car and turned into Petro Canada as it said 76.4 on the sign. When I got out, the meter said 81.9 though. So I went inside and asked if I would still get the lower price because that's what the sign said. The cashier said no, that he was in the process of changing it. I said I understand, but in the meantime, it would be false advertising and they should honour the lower price until the sign is changed. He said no. Petro Canada LIED! He then pointed me across the street to the other one still reading 76.4. So I left (and will never return) and went across to the Sunoco where they did honour the lower price.
You know the sad thing? When I left the Sunoco, Petro Canada still hadn't changed their sign.
Marketers are the ones that don't know what BRANDING is!
I recently went to see a high paid speaker who is one of Canada's most well-known and wealthy marketing gurus and I was disappointed - yet again the marketing world has confused what BRANDING really means. She spent half of her talk discussing how non-marketing experts have a hard time figuring out what branding means and that only true professionals really know how to define it. Well, she's wrong. Marketers are confused and everyone else has it straight; and I can say this after owning a marketing company for years. Marketers have made the concept so complicated and tried to appear smart, but have gotten so far from the true definition even they don't know what it really is. She was trying to say that branding is the way others would describe your company when they see an ad or commercial - in other words what's the word on the street about your business, and what do the employees say it's about. I would argue this is your culture not your brand.
A brand, plain and simple, is a marking (burned or not as you see below) that labels something to a certain person / business. In others words, no matter how hard marketers try to tell you it's not about your logo - it is! You design a brand and stamp it everywhere. Whereas your culture is created over time and can't be designed, it simple happens based on the environment you create about and around your business.
Here's the true definition of brand according to http://dnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn:
trade name: a name given to a product or service
identification mark on skin, made by burning
burn with a branding iron to indicate ownership; of animals
a piece of wood that has been burned or is burning
mark: a symbol of disgrace or infamy; "And the Lord set a mark upon Cain"--Genesis
A brand, plain and simple, is a marking (burned or not as you see below) that labels something to a certain person / business. In others words, no matter how hard marketers try to tell you it's not about your logo - it is! You design a brand and stamp it everywhere. Whereas your culture is created over time and can't be designed, it simple happens based on the environment you create about and around your business.
Here's the true definition of brand according to http://dnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn:
trade name: a name given to a product or service
identification mark on skin, made by burning
burn with a branding iron to indicate ownership; of animals
a piece of wood that has been burned or is burning
mark: a symbol of disgrace or infamy; "And the Lord set a mark upon Cain"--Genesis
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