Are You Over-Hyping Your Brand? - Issue: 2004 Qtr 3
We’ve all probably heard the expression that certain actions are like “putting lipstick on a pig”…and you’re thankful that it doesn’t have anything to do with marketing your brand. Or does it? How can you tell if your marketing efforts are building your brand or just applying a new shade of lipstick?
Well, there are usually some telltale signs of over–hyping a brand. Line extensions are one. Adding a new size, a new color or a new package doesn’t necessarily make the brand more relevant. It may be the right thing to do, but if you find yourself using the line extension as the basis for every ad or promotion, think twice, especially if you’re being tempted to say “NEW” a few dozen times in copy.
Another hype detector: feature creep. What’s that? It’s the temptation by brand managers and others to keep adding little doodads and geegaws to perfectly good brands, until they barely resemble the elegant product or service you once had. Television remote controls come to mind. So do leases for most business products, software, multi–functional phone–fax–copier–business centers and chrome on a 1962 Cadillac to name a few. Keep it simple. Features don’t make brands, but they sure can smother them.
When there’s no budget for product development, but there’s lots to spend on advertising, it’s also time to get out the hype detector. Remember Lee Iacocca on television pitching Chrysler K–cars back in the early 1980s? The money would have been better spent developing products that people actually wanted. Brands thrive on innovation. Investment spend here first. As a bonus benefit, great things coming out of product development makes creating ads and promotional material a whole lot easier (more fun, too).
Is your brand showing up in all the wrong places? Remember all the Super Bowl commercials for dot com companies a few years ago? Many were companies that didn’t even have a fully developed product, and they had no business spending millions on a Super Bowl ego trip. Falling in love with sponsorships is another hazard. Just because the CEO is an avid tennis enthusiast doesn’t mean sponsoring a tournament is the best way to connect with the engineering customer/prospect base for your product.
These are just some of the ways brands get over–hyped. Every communication should be able to pass the “so what?” test, from a customer perspective. Remember, they buy your product or service for very specific reasons (and you do know what they are, don’t you?). Make the connection to your brand’s fundamental qualities and the hype–meter will get a well deserved vacation.
Back to top