Experiencing a Newfoundland Brand

Janice and I have now experienced how strong and pervasive a Newfoundland brand is first hand.  While in the Maritimes for the Atlantic Summit we were visited by the 'Mummers' with a 'Screeching In' ceremony.


Now this is a ceremony that brings many of the traditions of Newfoundland to bear on those who are being 'Screeched In'.  The provincial people have created a website and 'codified' the ceremony so that it can be delivered with many of the same elements no matter who is delivering it.  


The Mummers start off with a sing song rendition of the Islands history. This story ends and the respondents are plied with questions that show their knowledge or ignorance of local flavors and customs.  Of course each time an incorrect answer is given there is an element of punishment in the form of an obligatory swig of 'Newfie Screech'.  


While each ceremony seems to be offered with variation, other elements of our ceremony included tasting and identifying Newfie steak (bologna), pronouncing Newfie words and phrases (hazel, angus, robert's point,etc) and kissing the lips and arse of a freshly caught Codfish.  Needless to say, a few swigs of Screech were required along the way.


Finally, though we made it to the question:


'Is you a Newfie Screecher?'


Managed to respond with the correct answer:


'Indeed I is me old cock, and long may your big jib draw.'


Janice and I have certificates to prove we are now official Newfie Screechers!


All in all, this Screeching In ceremony kind of makes our Calgary White Hat ceremony look kind of bland.  So I'm now wondering if we should add some elements to our Calgary tradition.  Perhaps we could convince our visitors to kiss the lips and arse of a Richardson's Ground Squirrel.  We could also use Alberta Rye as punishment if they can't tell us what prairie oysters are or can't pronounce 'Calgary' correctly. 


With respect to the prairie dogs, it may be a little confusing.  We have lots, but that's because they always seem to be 'AWOL' from their responsibilities in the Saskatchewan army!  

Best Video on Brand and Social Media I've seen

We blogged a McKinsey video on the PetLynx InfoStream blog earlier this week that is the best I've seen.  It touches the aspects of social that companies are struggling with today.  The companion animal industry really needs help with this but if you are in Brand or Social, the video is worth a few minutes of your time.


Making social media work for your businesss 

Creative Destruction - Value Finds its Own Level

Everyone in brand wants to understand Creative Destruction.  As I wrote earlier, this force has always been present but the persistent ability of the internet to connect all of us to everything, all of the time, no matter where we are, has brought about an acceleration of the effects of this force that many hadn't anticipated.


One after another, traditional forms of distribution, services and content are being destructed by the creative forces of a new paradigm.  Most of us involved in brand can can see a far different future, but we can't see when 'our world' will change.  In other words, 'how much time we have', to prepare for the coming changes to brand and the way we deliver content, products or services.


The US justice department has rendered a decision on the Amazon E-publishing case which some say will make Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon, dictator for life.  This decision is interesting from several points of view.  


First of all, observe the defensive strategies of the major publishers who brought the action forward. Was the intent to stall Amazon's strategy while created an appropriate response?  Did they think that Justice would find for anything that preserved their higher prices to the consumers of books?  Is the value of a popular title $9.95?


Second, consumers have spoken on this matter and have flocked to the Kindle and e-books far faster than publishers thought was possible.  Although widely debated, there are millions of Kindles out there and titles are flowing through these devices fast.  We brand people don't always like the market but it is still the market and it has spoken on the value of the Kindle and an e-book.


Finally, e-publishing and the Kindle have been both creative and destructive.  Book stores, publishers, distributors and printers have all experienced the destructive nature. But what about those who have experienced the benefit of the creative aspects of e-publishing and devices like the Kindle:  Writers who couldn't find a publisher for their work, who now can publish, distribute and obtain value for their contributions of content; and, What about the millions of readers who now have growing low cost access to content they may never have found before.  I predict the new, low price of content and the convenience of e-publishing will increase demand well beyond what we have seen to date or could have seen under the old paradigm.


It is obvious that publishers, book stores and brands in the publishing area will have to re-invent themselves.  We're all observing the traditional sources of content where brands have been built on strategies that manipulated scarcity and demand to foster value for the brand.  Perhaps its time to understand and develop strategies that create brand value in this new paradigm - the paradigm of abundance.  


Value always finds it's own level in a market.  Online markets will be no different accept that value will find an appropriate level much quicker.

Copying - Giving Brand to the Consumer

I remember the first time one of my great marketing ideas was 'stolen' and reproduced to another's credit.  Anger and frustration poured out of my very soul.  I had never imagined this could be the case among honorable men.  How naive I was.


I also remember the instruction of my then mentor, David S. Simmonds.  It didn't make me feel any better at the time to understand that 'Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery'.  However, one thing David gave me that day has been taped into the front of my diary ever since.  It's part of a poem by Rudyard Kipling:

They copied all they could follow, 

but they couldn't copy my mind, 

so I left them sweating and stealing

a year and a half behind. 

I was thinking of these four lines earlier this year as I puzzled over how things have changed in my lifetime.  Whereas in the past we invested much resources protecting our brand innovations and brand ideas with copyrights and patents, we now live in a time when the 'Creative Commons' demands a new openness, transparency and widespread global sharing of brand ideas.

We can now see the day when the strongest brands will be developed by giving them over to the creative imagination of proactive consumers, mavens who add value to the brand that brand owners can't.  

On 17 April, in Toronto we will brief the industry on the new brand affiliation programs we are developing for PetLynx Corporation, will allow breeders to add the pharmaceutical, nutrition and financial services brands directly to the progeny they will market in Canadian Communities.  In addition to the differentiation they will realize as breeders from authorized use of the brand symbols, I expect they will increasingly contribute value to these brands.  Imagine Bayer or Iams or Petsecure or the OSPCA being able to show in real time the puppies or kittens that are produced in compliance with their branded program goals.  Imagine the difference this could make for an online marketplace like Kijiji, when these quality marks allow prospective pet families to adopt a new pet online without fear that they are supporting irresponsible breeders and kitten or puppy mills.

It follows that the strength of a brand will be determined by the irrefutable proof of brand use by the consumers who purchase branded 'products' not by the level of visual impressions, 'likes' or ad space a brand holder can acquire.  This is indeed a new day!

Creative Destruction as a Necessary Force

Since the PetLynx Summit at Fairmont Montebello, last October, much of my  speaking and writing for PetLynx has focused on ways to understand the disruptive influences that are coming toward the companion animal industry.  


Today I want to look at how 'Creative Destruction' has been, and will continue to be, a force shaping the online marketplace.  History shows this pattern repeatedly.  Observe the effects of innovations like the telescope, the printing press, the electric light bulb and the way in which society dealt with these disruptions.  


Three elements of the online marketplace:

• Scarcity and abundance are the keys to understanding why the 'online' marketplace' is so different. Obtaining goods or services from 'an approved source' or from a 'certified practitioner', or from an 'authorized retailer' which are ideas derived from the scarcity model has given way to the abundance model where everything is available anytime, anywhere at a price you can 'afford'. Finding ways to provide a 'brand advantage' is now the big job and it often takes some sweaty thinking.
• Market efficiency is what gives the 'online marketplace' more successful outcomes by bringing buyers and sellers together in one place so that supply and demand are hooked together as you can observe watching the eBay/Kijiji channel.
• Market experience is what gives the 'online marketplace' more loyal customers by remembering their interests/habits and enhancing their experience with suggestions as we can see from the success of Amazon.

Three examples of creative destruction:

• The music industry owned or controlled every aspect of the creative work product of musicians including the infrastructure to produce a recording, the distribution of content, the brand associated with the artist and the development of the artist (brand) through concerts and tours.  YouTube and other online players disrupted this model by creating an alternative online marketplace.
• The recruitment of human resources for industry and commerce relied upon agencies that controlled all the good assets.  Linked In and other online players disrupted this model by creating an alternative online marketplace where employers and human resources can now find each other more efficiently.
• Advertising in newspapers hit its peak in 2008 at 80 billion dollars per year but in the past four years has lost 60 billion dollars to land at 1951 levels just under 20 billion dollars per year. Much of this disruption has been attributed to the development of online players who created an alternative online marketplace which provides more efficient access to the consumer. 

Some organizations will be hurt by creative destruction as they duck-down behind defensive strategies and tactics or take misguided steps to leverage the coming online marketplace. On the other hand those who discover how to be the disruptive influence and bring creative destruction to a marketplace are likely to bring about a significant win for their brand. 


Moreover, I believe exploiting the online marketplace will increasingly be dependent upon identifying goods and services that are intrinsically good.  Facebook 'likes' and other similar strategies, are not cutting it in my opinion, because they have been manipulated just like visual impressions were by agencies and advertisers.  For this reason, I expect 'Certified Quality Marks' to gain significance in the online marketplace.  As we have already observed, consumers have supported the 'FairTrade' symbol and have been willing to change their buying behaviors for a good intrinsic reason like fair trade.


For those of you who are familiar with what happened historically to those bringing forward innovations that were creative and destructive.  Press on without fear. Fortunately, for most of us, in this present moment bringing forward disruptive influences are not as likely to result in banishment to some prison cell or being burned at the stake!

Snow in April Provides Perspective

The view from my office window this morning - or how 5 inches of fresh snow can make everything look fresh and new.

Good Morning from Thunder Ridge

We are exploring the new 'online marketplace' this week.  Everything can be very intimidating and make one anxious or it can look fresh and new like the scene outside my window.  Depends upon how you approach it!