brand leadership learning from the best

Leadership Successes
YOUTH EXAMPLES
1. Nike SB (skateboard)
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Being authentic
2. Red Bull vs. the followers
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Creating culture
Leadership Stumbles
3. Levi's vs. Diesel
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Ignoring reality
4. Absolut vs. Grey Goose
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Resting on your laurels
5. Burger King vs. itself
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Getting back to the core
LEADERSHIP
SUCCESS
STORIES
BEING AUTHENTIC
Tapping into trendsetters
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BRAND
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To maintain its leadership, Nike realised it had to do
more than battle Adidas in the shops and on TV
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TRENDSETTING
VANGUARD
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BRAND
CORE
To get ahead of Adidas right from the starting line,
Nike went into skating
“The jocks who used to beat me up for skating wore Nikes. And now
Nike wants in with skaters? Uh-uh. It’s not going to happen.”
-- Moish Brennan, skater, quoted in AdBusters
To break into the insular skate culture Nike had to make a
meaningful, credible contribution
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Nike SB launched exclusively in hardcore skate-shops:
skater-owned, skater-run
Signalling a real commitment to skate culture
Also keeping the brand out of the hands of poseurs
Top skaters were given signature lines to design
Made the brand credible
Gave consumers a taste of what it’s like to be their heroes
Other designs come from people like hipster artist Jeremy Fish and
toymaker Kidrobot
Generated buzz
Increased premium credentials
All designs are limited editions: they’ve produced 150 SB Dunk
editions in 5 years, none in mass quantities
Kept the brand consistently fresh and ahead of the curve
Generated a sense of exclusivity
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Online community with over 200,000 active posts and
hundreds of diehard fanatics
Rewarded passion with insider access
Fed the flames
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When SB released an ultra-limited edition called the pigeon
in 2005, sneakerheads actually rioted in their press to lay
claim to a pair (which now go for $2000)
Status symbols
Cult-like devotion
A small brand with a big impact
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When the competition heats up, get a head start
and go to the source of leadership: trendsetting
culture
To make an authentic contribution to this culture:
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Do
Do
Do
Do
not steal, mimic, or bastardize the culture
partner with credible people to create something new
not get greedy with volume – exclusivity is everything
reward the passionate few to keep them passionate
CREATING CULTURE
DON’T BORROW FROM IT
Ingredients
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Energy
Premium
Grown-up
International
Mysterious
Bad for you in a good
way
First, the big guys scrambled to get in on the game…
Red Bull refused to follow
suit, as it’s not as credible
– and wouldn’t create the
distance they needed
Clubs:
Energy to party all night
Adventure (Felix Baumgartner Base
jumper)
Energy to go hard
Aspiring DJs are given an opportunity across continental and
cultural boundaries to work with and learn from prominent music
trendsetters
Every year, Red Bull throws a
24 hour party to encourage a
diverse range of creative
types to share their energy.
Why do people need
energy at clubs?
To dance. Red Bull
has set up classes
to teach street
dancing.
The only competition like it in the world:
A test of real-life wings
Really the only competition like it in the world.
Do you have wings?
Red Bull is committed to bringing fast, intense F1
racing to the States – but recognises that US audiences
won’t pay attention until their country has a great
driver. So Red Bull is creating that driver at their F1
school.
The final sporting frontier in America? Soccer. And
Red Bull now owns one of the best teams in the
country.
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When the competition heats up, don’t fight them
on the same turf – create your own turf:
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Contribute to the culture you live in
“Walking the walk” to bring your comms promise to life
Creating a clean space to own
LEADERSHIP
STUMBLES
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Levi’s once created its category and led youth
culture
It still maintains thought leadership – but its
market dominance has been smashed
Because the reality of the brand no longer
matches what the brand communicates…
…While the competition’s reality and image are
synched
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Levi’s invented jeans – and the meaning behind them
A pioneering brand for rebels & iconoclasts:
The embodiment of effortless cool
The same products that peaked in the 80s,
aimed at the same (ageing) consumers
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Consumers don’t
want to buy jeans –
they want to buy a
lifestyle that
expresses who they
are
But Levi’s portfolio is
limited: 85% of its
sales come from jeans
How rebellious and cool is the experience of
sorting through a giant mess at Sears or Bi-Lo?
Bogan Mum jeans
Bogan Dad jeans
Levi’s was communicating like a leader,
but it wasn’t behaving like a leader in the world
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Like Levi’s, Diesel has a
strongly-defined brand
Unlike Levi’s, however, that
brand is expressed and
paid off at every
touchpoint
Work that captures the spirit of the brand:
Cheeky rebellion
Jeans with the same quirky, stylish
touches as the ads that sell them
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Tops
Outerwear
Shoes
Glasses
Jewelry
Watches
Bags
Even a hotel
Diesel’s not just a denim brand:
It’s a lifestyle brand
A brand that’s equally built on its hangtags and salesforce
Style lab may be a tiny business, but it creates
a steady stream of ideas and excitement
Style lab may be a tiny business, but it creates
a steady stream of ideas and excitement
The Heidies digital campaign organically positioned
the brand as cutting edge
Diesel’s leadership
in one area is
amplified by its
leadership in others
Diesel’s through-the-line integrity has turned
like-minded consumers into evangelists
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Ultimately, product really is king
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Leadership must be maintained at every consumer
touchpoint
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No matter how great your communications
Leadership in one place can’t compensate for lapses
elsewhere
Negative perceptions of your consumer can erode
a youth brand as surely as negative brand
perceptions
A well-integrated product portfolio is often more
powerful than the sum of its parts
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Because it creates a badgeable lifestyle
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Absolut took a moribund category and injected it
with fresh life
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Taking the lead on all fronts, from product design to
communications
It became part of pop culture – and then it
became ubiquitous and coasted
And was ultimately overthrown by a competitive
set that learned from the leader and topped it
The swill for alcoholic
Russian peasants
The cocktail of
choice for urban
sophisticates
Harsh, nearly toxic
Pure
From the evil empire
From the most
attractive country
in the world
Cheap, foreign &
old-fashioned
Premium, relevant &
contemporary
The usual spirits
clutter
Absolut
Breakthrough
Consumers collected the ads, made statements
with them, and created their own
First
Second
It failed to
innovate first
The campaign became
tired & expected
It activated
lazily
Absolut was everywhere – and that meant it was
in places where it shouldn’t be, and in the hands
of consumers who shouldn’t have it
One brand in particular rose to the
challenge: Grey Goose
Uninspired
Creative work
Instead, it attacked where Absolut
was most vulnerable
Spirits experts acknowledge that
all vodkas taste the same
$35
$28
But the price difference made Grey
Goose appear more premium
A premium vodka must taste better, right?
In an image-driven category, who wouldn’t
want to be seen drinking the best?
No longer just top shelf,
it was bottle service
Music
Publishing
Film series
Golf TV
25% volume
growth year on
year between
06-07
Once lost, leadership can be
very difficult to regain
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Complacency can undermine a leader as surely as a failure
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Winning formulas are ultimately just that: formulaic
In fast moving categories, the leader has to move faster
A leader brand’s weaknesses in one area will be exploited
by the competition
In image categories, ubiquity may drive short term sales,
but it can be deadly in the long term
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Gatekeeping is vitally important
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Burger King is a classic rise & fall leadership story
with the promise of redemption
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Its fall is an important cautionary tale
And its return helps us understand how to stay on track
Burger king
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Teen target
Grilled burgers
Custom made
Cheeky attitude
Food-focused experience
McDonald’s
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vs.
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Family target
Fried burgers
Pre-made
Kiddie attitude
Fun-focused experience
A successful #2 brand built
on a compelling core
Founded in 1954
1967: 247 franchises
1982: 3,500 franchises
An explosion that proved difficult to control:
A cancer of success
“Npd had become filled with
products that lacked relevance
to consumers.”
“The brand had become
schizophrenic with its
targeting.”
Focus
Focus
“The environment had become sterile
and corporate, lacking any humanity or
sense of fun.”
Source: Burger King
Case study, warc, 2005
“The brand lacked a consistent
personality and identity.”
1.
+2%
1.
2.
-21%
2.
3.
+11%
3.
2001
Source: BusinessWeek, warc
2002
Burger King could have tried to reinvent
itself once more to fit with the times…
…Instead, however, the brand
returned to its core
“Superfans”: young men aged 18 – 34 who
average 18% of customers but 49% of sales
Unapologetically
bigger, juicier (and unhealthier) burgers
“Everything from the restaurants' signs to the
employee uniforms…. All those things are
branded experiences, and are being reworked."
– Alex Bogusky
An in-store overhaul to connect
in all the details
“When McDonald's tries to get hip, they show us kids
playing basketball on rollerblades. BK's stuff is just far
more subversive – [which] its cynical consumers
appreciate.”
-- Slate.Com
Work that’s not afraid to polarise in
order to engage with its target
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Burger king spoofs on youtube
King character on myspace with 10,000+ friends
Family guy poked fun at subservient chicken
1.
2200
2000
Rev (millions)
180 0
2.
160 0
140 0
120 0
100 0
2002
2003
Source: warc
2004
2005
2006
3.
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The cancer of success: a leader brand can lose its
way during periods of rapid growth
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A leader cannot be all things to all people: it must
focus and sacrifice
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When it’s easy to lose sight of the core that sparked that
growth
Play to your strengths; don’t try to be something you’re
not
Every touchpoint matters
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Burger King’s ads wouldn’t matter if the in-store
experience hadn’t also been turned around