Gas Crisis Everywhere: Brands Should Accelerate

This Is The Time To Grab Customers

Do not think for a moment that the belt tightening in consumer’s wallets due to fuel costs and availability does not affect your brand? It is quite simple to see how this pressure will cut into destination and tourism as well as transportation and manufacturing, but this grip will not specialize, and eventually it will generalize throughout the economy. Similar to the reaction to the 9/11 depression in the economy, this is not the time for the feint of heart. This is the time to grab the bull by the horns, prove yourself and win. Building brand is no simple task because it requires that you observe and analyze your own brand dispassionately, slaughtering any sacred cows standing in the way of new brand definition. The extent to which you know your target market will define the boundaries of your success, and, in turn, you must admit that there are perceptual and behavioralelements of your target market that you do not yet recognize. In a constantly changing market, assume nothing about the consumer without proof. More likely than not, the research upon which you currently rely is hardly worth the paper upon which it is written. Your brand requires new research and new steps to be taken in order to truly know your audience. A brand that is built around stealing market share is a different breed of animal because it is all about your customer and not you as a company. During stressful times, powerful brands collect a war chest of successes while the rest whither and cower under the pressure.

These Are Hard Times

In times of economic/business stress, most companies become more timid ---- as Woody Allen suggests, “cutting back on meals to save money for food.” Times of hardship are precisely the times when Stealing Share® pushes our clients to be more vocal, pressing their brand’s advantages and offers. Brand science is as much about anthropology as it is about marketing. The emotional and psychological tenor of the marketplace deeply affects your customers, especially when times are hard, making them wary and less likely to spend on your product or service. Your competition feels the same squeeze.

Great Gains Can Be Made

It is in our experience that the greatest gains can be made in brand equity at precisely the moment that your competitors begin to touch the brakes. The competition may not even be aware of their own hesitation, but there is something universal in human nature that causes reservation in times of distress, telling us, “Play it safe, and you will not get hurt.” This break-even current in the marketplace ignites the opportunity to brands that are looking to build equity. Regardless of industry, the pressures are all around you to be conservative. Our advice is to make your move in the curve and not the straightaway because it is less expensive and is a more productive marketing commitment. Winners are being chosen right now, and the full breadth of success may not even be apparent to your competition until the smoke settles. By then it will be too late (for them). The secret to great brand success should not be a secret at all. Brand success lies within how well you know the target market and how well you can infuse knowledge of your brand into that target market. Your brand needs to be a near perfect reflection of your customer. When the customer comes in contact with your brand, he/she should not see corporate identity, but rather an extension of his/herself and who he/she aspires to be. Corporate identity and brand are often seen as one in the same. Although they should be parallel and grounded in the same framework, corporate identity will always be about you (your company, heritage, and personality) while brand manifests within the dynamics of the customer. Both disciplines involve equities, but while corporate identity is static and deliberate presentation, brand is observant and a cohesive application. Corporate identity belongs to your company. Brand is managed by your company, but, when created correctly it is entirely owned by the customer. At Stealing Share we work in both disciplines because they need to exist and refresh harmoniously if your company desires to reach its full marketing potential.

This Is Not Just A Theory

When brand is executed properly, bringing life and meaning to corporate identity while providing value and identification to the customer, the playing field changes permanently. The target audience covets your brand, is willing to pay more for your brand, and will even be more likely to inconvenience themselves to buy and participate in your brand. We can catalyze the change you can create in your market. Stealing Share^® offers the most groundbreaking market research methods, an understanding of your competition, and, most importantly, an extensive character analysis of your customer that is the envy of your industry. You will receive a new brand definition, theme line and marketing strategy that will maximize the efforts of your advertising and communications. We are also able to create dynamic logos and signature systems that implement and effectively embody the brand. Stealing Share dedicates all of its time to delivering actionable strategy and tactics that leave no stone unturned and no opportunity untapped. You will be prepared to grab the bull by the horns.

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