Clear Beverage’s Kid Fuel Naturally Flavored Water Beverage was recently featured in Contract Packaging’s Magazine’s July/August issue. The article, “Stepping up for the little guys”, focuses on Kid Fuel’s success in utilizing value-added services of contract packagers and others in the supply chain to achieve measurable cost efficiencies while also keeping desired package designs intact.

Click here to read the article on Contract Packaging’s Web site, or click here to read the article pdf.

You are at a social function, and have gone through the horderve line and you can’t find a place for your drink.

As I see it, you have three options:

1. Abandon your drink at someone else’s table.
2. Place your beverage on the ground and hope that it doesn’t get kicked.
3. Awkwardly place your plate on your forearm, risking an embarrassing spill.

Now we have more options, thanks to the Go Plate. Genius.

Link via Uncrate.

Last Saturday, I went to my Haas School All-Alumni Reunion Conference. This one was particularly significant as this would be 20 years since graduation from the MBA program. About a dozen of my classmates were in attendance, many I had not seen in 10+ years. I got some very surprised looks by many of the newer alumni when I told them it was 20 years ago that I did my graduate work at U.C. Berkeley. Nice to know I can still pass for my young-thirties! But I digress. We had some great speakers that day — from the faculty, alumni and our keynote speaker Biz Stone, co-founder of Twitter. The lecture that resonated with me the most was from Professor Rashi Glazer.

A marketing guru (my words), Prof. Glazer was able in one short hour to enlighten the audience with simple insight and clarity on the future of marketing. Gone are the 4 P’s of marketing, In are the 4 C’s. And they are: Communication, Customization, Collaboration, Clairvoyance. Easy right? Well maybe the first three. A little more about the 4 C’s in a moment. The bigger questions is why this dramatic shift from one of the fundamentals of marketing that has been the core to most strategic marketing plans?

The answer is quite simple. The world we live in has changed. You’ve read, seen, heard and experienced it. Technology has fundamentally changed the way the people interact and buy products. Daniel Pink wrote about this in his book A Whole New Mind.  And our everyday experience connecting on Amazon, Facebook, Twitter and other social networking avenues—the “crowdsphere”—confirms that. The conversation has changed, and so how you must market.

Prof. Glazer put it very simply, we have now, “evolved from Dumb Markets to Smart Markets.” Using the clinical definition of “dumb” – the inability to speak, his point was on target. In the past, the consumer was perceived to be dumb. Not that they did not speak, but rather their voice was not heard or many times ignored. Since the late 1990’s consumers have become smarter and empowered. Today they have the tools to make sure that their voice is heard. And those companies that have realized this shift from dumb to smart markets have been able to sustain themselves and even thrive during this recent downturn. IBM, Apple are just two that continue to grow market share, revenues and profits. On the other hand, those companies that have not evolved, are facing extinction. You can read their names in the paper or online everyday.

So back to the 4 C’s. The first is Communication. You have to communicate at every touch point. Not about facts, not about benefits, you have to communicate who you are on a personal, intimate level. Give your customers a reason why you matter. And conversely you need to understand your customer on the same level as well. You’re not trying to be their BFF. You just need to show that you truely care about them and are their to make their lives better.

The second is Customization. How can you make them feel your product was created just for her? It may not be your product at all that does this. You may require outside partners to achieve Customization. Take the Apple iPod for example. You can have the lastest Nano in 9 colors from Apple. Or if that doesn’t satisfy you, there are others who offer skins, cases, custom paint job, etc. to make it personal. I did it to my MacBook. The lid now sports a real teak veneer skin from iamhuman.

The third is Collaboration. Or if you prefer, co-creation. To do this, you need to be good at the first C—Communication. Invite your customers to be part of the creation process. Who knows what new opportunities they may introduce you to. Honda began over 60 years ago building motorcycles. Now they build airplanes and robots.

And finally the fourth is Clairvoyance. The best have it. The ability to see into the future, to anticipate what their customer (existing and new) will desire. The more you do the first three—Communication, Customization and Collaboration, the easier Clairvoyance becomes. Really.

I’ve just scratched the surface on Smart Marketing. There’s much, much more, stay tuned.

In-N-Out Burger celebrated 60 years of their unique burger-joint brand in 2008. On April 14, 2009, a book on the company arrives at a bookstore near you. Here is an excerpt of the Amazon review by Brad Thomas Parsons:

With In-N-Out Burger: A Behind-the-Counter Look at the Fast-Food Chain That Breaks All the Rules, BusinessWeek writer Stacy Perman presents a chronicle of how a family-run California hamburger joint went on to become an American pop culture icon. Founded in 1948 by Harry Snyder and his wife Esther in Baldwin Park, CA, In-N-Out Burger attracted a cult-like fanbase of cruising teens, surfers, and celebrities alike (who developed a secret shorthand for custom orders). As they expanded slowly over the years across California and into Nevada, Arizona, and Utah, they never sacrificed their core customer-service values and commitment to quality.

While I’m not a regular customer, I do enjoy a Double-Double with grilled onions (special order) on occasion. I was at our local Mill Valley location this past weekend with the family in the mid-afternoon for a late lunch. My oldest daughter and I on our Vespa 150 after a nice ride. I’m always amazed at how busy it is with lines usually out the door almost anytime of the day. A late Saturday afternoon was no exception.

From my perspective, In-N-Out is a great example of a sustainable business through great brand practices. Their founder, Harry Snyder, had a motto that continues to be the focus of the brand , “Do one thing and do it the best you can.” They have never had to change their conversation over time because, they changed the conversation 60 years ago and continue to have that same, unique and compelling conversation with their customers day after day. The burgers have never been frozen. The fries are hand-cut fresh throughout the day. The buns are baked using old-fashioned, slow-rising sponge dough. The menu is as basic as it gets—burgers, fries and drinks. And that is where the story and conversation gets interesting.

If you are a regular, a loyalist, you become aware of the “secret menu”, with the most popular variations now published by the company on the website, as the “not-so-secret menu.” (You still won’t find them on the menu board.) The best part is that no one knows how the secret menu ,or more correctly, the insiders code came into existence. It’s been passed on entirely by word-of-mouth through the years. By letting the customer take “ownership” of the secret menu, In-N-Out established a stronger bond with them. No menu additions to confuse the customer or employees, no more complexity to the original business formula. Just plain old-fashion conversation between friends.

As you look at your brand communications, does your customer own part of the conversation? Are you listening to them and supporting them? If you are not having the conversations you would like with your customer, maybe it’s time to stop talking, sit back, and listen.

You’ve read it in the NY Times, on TheDieline, on BNET and other news sources. Arnell Group’s redesign of the Tropicana Pure Premium line has been recalled. This is big news in the branding and design community. I believe this is the first time that a package design has been recalled and replaced by the previous design. Usually our profession is all about innovating the future not regurgitating the past.

Like many of my branding and design colleagues and more important, Tropicana’s loyal consumers (I include myself as a 20+ year loyal drinker – Grovestand, please), I share many of the same misgivings of the Arnell design. My first experience with the new package was in our studio refridgerator. I said to myself, “Why are we buying generic orange juice?” Only after a second, longer glance (something that real-world consumer may not do) did I realize it was Tropicana. Wow! What a change.

And since I’m all about Changing the Conversation, I applaud that Arnell Group and Pepsi Co. were open to dramatically changing the packaging/conversation with their consumer. The big misstep from my perspective is that they got the conversation wrong. And when you start with the wrong conversation, every branding touchpoint thereafter is doomed to failure. The true expression of the Tropicana Pure Premium brand story was never about the glass of orange juice, the end result – anyone can serve you a glass of orange juice or any other juice, it’s ubiquitous. No, the true expression of the brand story was and has always been the orange itself, the before state, the pure state, unaltered. Straw or no straw. As important, this brand story about the “Orange” was authentic, memorable, meaningful and ownable. The glass of orange juice?

Think of all the other brands that continue to compete with Pure Premium. It’s always an uphill battle. They don’t have a better, different or more compelling brand story to tell. Tropicana hit a home run from the start and wisely stayed true to that story until the Arnell design.

Does the decision to go back to the previous package design mean that the conversation has plateaued? Will the brand and thus the package become tired and uninspiring to a new generation? The answer is a resounding NO. There is room for change and innovation. The key is to be clear about your brand story, and the conversation you are having with your consumer. The right package design will reveal itself. And while the new branding and package design may be dramatically different or unexpected at first glance, your consumer will be saying, “Yes, this is my Tropicana.”

Want to read more? Here are a couple links we find informative on this topic.

Peter Arnell explains the new package design in this video posted on AdAge.
Matt Everson, founder and principal of Astuteo, a web development firm, dissects the new vs. old package design, here.
Sean Silverthorne, editor of HBS Working Knowledge comments on the role of the consumer in this post on BNET.

Perspectives from my day at CES 2009.

Function meets Fashion
The influx of fashion into consumer electronics was more evident this year. I saw more brands such as Built, Speck and Golla that make non-electronic products such as bags, sleeves, protectors for your consumer electronics – laptops, phones, cameras, mp3 players, etc. Unlike years past, they were not hidden away in a quite, dark back corner or confined to small cubicles at the Hilton. Instead they had relatively big spaces in prominent locations. Some of the “fashion” booths even overshadow more established, traditional (i.e. electronics) brands. Both in design creativity and visual presence.

Consumer electronics have become such an essential part of our everyday lives that we need to personalize, accessorize it. The market opportunity is huge. As a fashion brand, how are you positioned to stand out from the crowd?

The Next Big Thing
There really was not much breakthrough innovation year – I can’t see better than HD, WiFi is so yesterday, micro-(fill in the blank) are ubiquitous, and another (ho-hum) variation on the mp3 player. Major improvements in functionality and usability, and more value to the consumer for sure – just not compelling enough to upgrade or switch from what I have. The only exception was SONY. Last year they introduced the 3mm OLED (see more here) screen. This year they introduced the flexible OLED screen. Amazing is not even the close to describing this new screen. Sony presented some concepts for how this technology could be used – a “paperback” note book and a mp3 bracelet were two compelling examples (see images above). Here is a video of the technology on YouTube.

Brand and Performance can Overcome Price
I spoke with John Falcone, President and CEO of Sennheiser Electronics Corporation and he showed me their new audiophile headset, the HD800 with a retail price of $1,500. Yes, 2 zeros! I’m into high-end audio equipment and even that price was beyond my comprehension. Yet in less than a day (actually less than 2 hours), they sold out the entire 6 month product run.

It goes to show that when you have a compelling product by a trusted brand and having the right conversation with the right audience, price is less of a factor. In this case, none.

Best Quote
Comes from Howard Stringer, CEO of Sony.

“We need to provide consumers with a user experience that is so compelling and clearly life-enhancing that our products and services will become must-haves at affordable prices.”

Now that applies to every brand out there. Does your user experience achieve that goal? If not, why not?

If you are open to changing the conversation, you will enjoy IBM’s (IBM) 80 page report on The Enterprise of The Future. The introduction from the site:

“What will The Enterprise of the Future be like? What will your business look like in five years, or even ten? While we don’t have a crystal ball to provide all the answers, The IBM Global CEO Study sheds light on what the future may hold.

Through interviews with 1,130 business and public sector leaders worldwide in 45 countries, the IBM Global CEO Study provides new and compelling perspectives on strategic issues such as global integration, new and changing customer groups, and business model innovation — facing organizations of all sizes.

Only those organizations that understand and prepare to address the new realities of the integrated market will be able to harvest its full potential.”

The report includes some interesting insights, facts, questions to consider about your own business, and several case studies. A quick and informative read. Highly recommended.

Avon calling? Or not. Once a brand icon in the US, Avon (AVP) has lost much of it’s luster and is struggling to lure consumers back. What is the problem? According to global brand President Geralyn R. Breig, it’s all about the brand. “In market after market, we found that we were meeting women’s needs in quality, variety, and innovation. Where we fell short was in the image of the brand.” Ouch!

And a poor brand image leads to other problems. Research firm Brand Keys found that Avon lagged behind seven other mass-market cosmetic brands in terms of customer loyalty. Mary Kay topped the list. “Avon’s problem is that it isn’t associated with anything in particular, says Robert Passikoff, CEO of Brand Keys in New York. “It’s almost like a commodity.” Now that is a term you don’t want associated with you brand.

It has been my experience that the problem with most consumer products is not the product, its the brand image. To change the conversation with consumers, Avon has been spending more advertising dollars each year (up almost 300% over the last 3 years) to makeover their brand image. Use of celebrities – Resse Witherspoon, Salma Hayek, Patrick Dempsey – is core to the strategy. Early signs are positive. Since Resse Witherspoon was announced as a brand ambassador in August 2007, the stock price was up 10% though July 2008. Products endorsed by Witherspoon have also seen an increase in sales.

Long term, who knows? Rebuilding your brand image takes a long time and a lot of effort and investment. The better scenario is to build you brand image right from the start, and be vigilant in maintaining and enhancing it over time.

Source: BusinessWeek – Marketing – Why Avon Is Going Hollywood

In a crowded category we recognize Pizza Fusion for changing the conversation. From brand positioning, product (pizza) design to retail environment and delivery vehicles, Pizza Fusion has established themselves as a leader and innovator of Pizza.

By thinking outside the pizza box they created a brand that by word of mouth, people will drive one hour to experience. Yes, Toto this is not your typical pizza restaurant. What is their recipe for success? It all starts with a clear and focused vision for the brand and attention to every detail down to the type of paper towels and toilet paper (100% post consumer by the way).

First, the brand platform. Pizza Fusion is more that a gourmet pizza restaurant. Started by two college buddies Vaughn Lazar and Michael Gordon, Pizza Fusion is about integrity, social responsibility, healthy, ecological. Their tag line sums up their mission and values quite nicely: Saving the Earth One Pizza at a Time. By putting a clearly differentiated stake in the ground, Pizza Fusion positioned themselves as a leader from the start. As “Big Dave” Ostrander, a pizza consultant said, “They’re basically competition proof. They’re very unique in the product, the passion, the ingredients, the look and the taste.”

Thanks “Big Dave” for a great quote and stealing a bit of my thunder. Indeed the product (pizza) design fully supports the brand position. Their unique skateboard shape signals that this is a different kind of pizza experience. They back it up with ingredients that are 75% organic, locally sourced and are free of GMO’s, preservatives, pesticides, trans fats, etc. Their Vegan pizza has 100% nondairy soy mozzarella cheese alternative. And they have a gluten-free menu with includes pizza, brownies and beer.

The retail environment also follows in lockstep. Each restaurant is LEED-certified for environmentally sustainable construction. Reclaimed wood table, insulation made from blue jeans, utensils made from potatoes are just some of the methods to reduce – and promote – their eco footprint. When it comes to home delivery, all the vehicles are hybrids. And customers get a discount for returning pizza boxes to be recycled.

Pizza Fusion lives their brand in every aspect. They walk the talk and customers reward them with their love. And we are talking big love.

1. From two restaurants at the beginning of 2008, the franchise ended the year with 16 locations nationwide with 75 restaurants in development
2. Sales are projected to be $15 million in 2008 and double to $30 million in 2009
3. Recognized by Plenty Magazine – The Plenty 20 Awards for 2008
4. Top 10 Vegan-Friendly Pizzerias in the US by PETA
5. Top 10 Green Business of the Year by Co-op America – two years in a row

Sources: Pizza Fusion, BrandWeek – Brands on the Verge – Any Way You Slice It, Pizza Fusion Is Unique

Going through my “must read and insight” file, I want to share some business facts on Apple that you may not be aware of. These are from an article The MAC in the Gray Flannel Suit published earlier this year (May 2008) in BusinessWeek.

1. From 2002 to 2007, Apple total sales have grown from $5.2 billion to $24 billion
2. Apple share price has risen 2,300% in the same 5 years giving a market capitalization of $154 billion, topping the likes of HP, Dell and Intel.
3. Sales growth for Apple Macs have outpaced overall PC sales the last three years by 3:1 or greater
4. Average sales price for Apple Macs are 50% higher than the industry average
5. Apple Mac market share is up almost 100% in the last three years
6. Apple’s net margin last year at 15.1% was 2 or 3 time greater than HP (7.3%) and Dell (4.8%)

WOW! How is this possible? Apple is not the biggest computing company in terms of people or offices. And their product offering is dwarfed by most competitors. My perspective is that Apple has mastered the core fundamentals of branding and embraced it into their business culture.

You can do it as well. To start, answer the three core business questions: what do you do, whom do you do it for, and why it is compelling. And get very focused. This is where most businesses get it wrong. Yes your audience includes a wide range of people, and you need to focus on that one person who really “gets” your product. Have a meaningful conversation with her and you will reach everyone you want to reach and more. Not convinced? Reread the six business facts on Apple above.

If you are open to learning more about how you can design a successful, sustainable brand read my article on Designing Sustainable Brands: Parts 1 and 2.