Kevin Harrington // marketing // blog

Posts Tagged ‘brand’

Yamaha West London

It’s funny when you spot a brand. We all tend to make assumptions based on our experiences.

When I saw Yamaha West London I immediately thought it was a keyboard or guitar shop. I then wondered why there was an MOT sign on the front of the building. It turned out it was a motorbike retailer.

Full marks to Yamaha for the consistent presentation of their brand.

How many consumer brands have product ranges as diverse as guitars and motorbikes? Loads when you start thinking about it: Hitachi (nuclear power stations to clock radios); GE; Sony. I think the difference with Yamaha is that they hold such strong brand positions with consumers in vastly different sectors.

BTW … West London Yamaha can be found at 138 Twickenham Road, Hanworth, Middlesex, TW13 6HD. www.westlondonyamaha.co.uk

Hertz blue key fob

If I were the guardian of the Hertz brand I’d be shaking my head. Surely the Hertz logo is yellow?

The Hertz Corporation (also known as Hertz Rent A Car or simply Hertz) is the world’s second largest car rental company, with 1,900 locations in the United States and 5,100 worldwide behind Enterprise, but is the largest general use car rental company in the world. Source: Wikipedia

Copenhagen

This blue Hertz key fob was with the key of a car rented from Copenhagen airport a few days ago.

Mind you, there are some funny goings on with brands in Copenhagen. Look at all the logos on this building! The building is Industriens Hus.

National Clamps out caring

It seems every business needs a strap line. Many of these strap lines seem to sit quite naturally with the brand but some really don’t.

I spotted this one on the back of a van today, “National Clamps…we care.” All I could do was laugh. The thought of wheel clampers caring does seem a bit incongruous.

They have brand synergy! And on their website they follow the “we care” message on. This is alongside the statement, “Failure to pay after the 28 days will result in a County Court Summons and a subsequent appearance. You the driver may not be the registered keeper that doesn’t matter as the owner’s vehicle committed the trespass and damages are pursued from them.” (Incidentally I’m not sure that statement makes sense.)

National Clamps have hit the news before and details are on the BBC website.

It’s the contrasts I find interesting. In a couple of hours opinions of a business and it’s brand image can change so quickly.

For the worse: a McDonald’s cashier swearing in front of my children. Unacceptable and I paid for the privilege of that.

For the better: ASDA, who aren’t high on my list, had a manager on the checkout genuinely wanting to know the customers view of their range and the shopping experience.

Which business is going to improve the most? It really is no contest is it? If they had conducted a Net Promoter Score on the same day it would have shown them poles apart.

Brand advocacy

I read a fine article in Marketing magazine about brand advocacy.

“Marketing often gains a reputation for cherishing style over substance. Its detractors accuse it of shouting about product benefits, or, in the absence of these, a nebulous lifestyle positioning, regardless of the quality of the customer experience.

“But in reality, plenty of brands over the years have found the opposite strategy to be more effective: don’t shout too loudly, then delight consumers when the product experience exceeds their expectations.

“The strategy of under-promising and over-delivering is one that seems to be gaining ground. Two recent studies suggest it is key to delivering profitable growth, though both underline how many brands continue to disappoint.”

Read the rest of this at Brand Republic.