Posted on Fri, Jun 18, 2010 @ 09:15 AM
There were two odd developments recently in the "branding" world that caused me to say, "Huh?"
Chevrolet issued an internal memo to employees telling them to stop using the shorthand name, "Chevy." The author claimed the car company needed to have a single brand identity that was consistently communicated - Chevrolet. When the memo leaked out, all those Don McLean fans from the 1970s howled. How can you drive your "Chevrolet to the levy"? Isn't this the company that famously built a model called the "Chevy II?" After 24 hours, the company retracted the memo, saying it was proud of its "Chevy" heritage. In other words, "never mind." It was a bad idea from the marketing department.
At almost the same time, here in Iowa the pork producers decided it was time to move on from their famous tagline, "The other white meat." They're looking for a new brand identity afte.jpg)
r almost 30 years and with sales of pork sinking lower than the proverbial hog's belly.
A "brand expert" made the comment that the pork producers were abandoning one of the most identified marketing messages ever created. His argument: brand messages are a connection with consumers, and not intended to lead to actual sales.
There are a couple of lessons here for television people like us. Why would you ever want to get away from a nickname that is the audience's most sincere form of flattery? In some markets, the vernacular is to refer to stations in some "shorthand" fashion: 'PVI is definitely Channel 6 to people who live in Philadelphia. No one (even Chevrolet) should want to stamp out that sort of reference.
But does a slogan or tagline need to change if ratings are sinking like pork bellies? Maybe. Something is wrong if you are losing customers and your competitors are gaining, but it probably goes a lot deeper than the slogan itself. I don't know that saying "Chevy" or recognizing the "other white meat" slogan will sell more cars or pork ribs, but discarding well recognized taglines and slogans shouldn't be done lightly.
As we've said in research presentations, when a slogan is evaluated and found to be weak, you can certainly change it - but recognition for the new slogan will be exactly zero. A new slogan by itself won't raise ratings. Giving slogans real meaning and emotional value for the audience is a tougher, but more rewarding proposition.
Someone tell GM and the pork producers they need to scratch below the surface and get to the meat of the issue.