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When Al, wrote “Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind” in 1981, he overlooked one important idea. The visual. Positioning is a totally verbal concept. You build a brand by owning a word in the mind.
Yet the best way into a mind is not with words at all. The best way into a mind is with visuals. But not any visual. You need a “visual hammer” that hammers a verbal nail. The Marlboro cowboy. Coca-Cola’s contour bottle. Corona’s lime. The cowboy hammers “masculinity.” The contour bottle hammers “authenticity.” The lime hammers “genuine Mexican beer.”
A trademark is not a visual hammer. A trademark is a rebus which communicates nothing except the name of the brand. A visual hammer, on the other hand, communicates the essence of the brand. Visual Hammer is the first book to document the superiority of the “hammer and nail” approach to branding.
Some examples. The pink ribbon that made Susan G. Komen for the Cure the largest nonprofit foundation to fight breast cancer. The Aflac duck that increased Aflac’s name recognition from 12 percent to 94 percent. The green jacket which made the Masters the most-prestigious golf tournament. The chalice which made Stella Artois the fifth largest-selling imported beer. Colonel Sanders who made KFC the world’s largest chicken chain.
Why are marketing plans usually nothing but words when the best way into a mind is with the emotional power of a visual? After reading Visual Hammer, you might want to tear up your current marketing plan and start fresh.
One Day Strategy Session.
Objective.
While the ultimate objective of a Ries & Ries consulting program is to develop a visual hammer for your brand, that’s not the place to start. Almost every brand is too broad in scope to lend itself to a visual. Most brands have too many features, too many benefits and appeal to too many market segments. How can you develop a visual hammer for a brand like Chevrolet which has 18 different models, including sedans, trucks, SUVs and sports cars? You can’t. You first need to focus the brand.
Focus.
Most marketing consultants have no coherent strategy themselves. They are perfectly willing to tell you what to do, but they seldom take their own advice. We do. Our approach is called “Focus,” the subject of a book we wrote 20 years ago. We call ourselves “focusing consultants” and we help clients build or refocus their companies around a singular idea. If you study successful companies in the past, that’s exactly what they did. Dell...... Computers sold direct to business. Zappos... Free shipping. Both ways. FedEx... Overnight delivery.
Verbal nail.
Al Ries wrote “Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind,” the book that revolutionized the field of marketing. The concept: Own a word in the mind. In today’s overcommunicated society, that’s not nearly enough. Words are weak and don’t have the emotional power of visuals. But this is the more important point. While the visual hammer is more powerful than the verbal nail, the place to start is with the verbal. Not the visual. It’s like building a house. The hammer is just a tool. It’s the nails that hold the house together. It’s the verbal nail that holds the brand together. You need to determine what nail to use before selecting your visual hammer.
Visual hammer.
When you combine a verbal nail with a visual hammer, you can build a brand that can be exceptionally powerful. Some examples. Marlboro, Masculine cigarette & the cowboy. Coca-Cola, The real thing & the contour bottle. Tropicana, Not from concentrate & the straw-in-the-orange. Visual Hammer, a new book by Laura Ries, explains the 10 different ways to create a visual that can hammer your verbal concept. Our philosophy is simple: never settle for just a verbal approach. Rather, try to find the right combination of a visual hammer and a verbal nail.
Battlecry.
Every brand needs one more thing. The verbal nail needs to be converted into a memorable slogan as outlined in Laura Ries’ soon to be published book “Battlecry.” Some examples. Ace Hardware: Ace is the place with the helpful hardware man. M&Ms: Melts in your mouth, not in your hands. BMW: The ultimate driving machine. How do you convert an ordinary slogan into a memorable battlecry? There are five techniques you could use: Rhyme, alliteration, repetition, reversals and double-entendre.
What else?
In addition to developing an overall visual/verbal strategy, our consulting sessions include discussions about executing the strategy. For example, it’s usually a mistake to try to put a new idea into prospects’ minds with advertising. Advertising doesn’t have the credibility to do that. Rather, a company should use PR, or public relations, to establish the position. At some point in time the company can switch to advertising to maintain that position. PR first, advertising second is what we recommend in our book, “The Fall of Advertising & the Rise of PR.” But PR is just one of the ways to execute a new strategy.
Written report.
A week or so after the session is completed, Ries & Ries will send the client an eight to ten-page report summarizing the recommendations made at the consulting session. In addition, at no additional charge, we are always available via phone or email to answer any questions you might have. Laura Ries... Laura@Ries.com. Al Ries...... Al@Ries.com.
Pricing.
We offer sessions held in your offices or here in Atlanta. Please email Laura to schedule a time to discuss your project.
Some Recent clients include:
The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding. This book covers every aspect of branding from the name to the category, from expansion to contraction, from the use of PR and advertising, to the shape and color of logotypes. Known as the Branding Bible.
The 11 Immutable Laws of Internet Branding. This book supplements the 22 laws by adding 11 additional laws that cover the special needs of Internet brands like interactivity, proper names and divergence.
The Fall of Advertising & the Rise of PR. This book contradicts traditional wisdom that calls for new brands to be launched with a big-bang advertising campaign. PR first to establish credibility, advertising second to maintain market share.
The Origin of Brands. Divergence, an idea borrowed from Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species, creates endless opportunities to build new brands. Every brand needs to evolve, but new brands should take advantage of divergence to create new categories.
War in the Boardroom. Management people tend to be left brainers: Verbal, logical and analytic. Marketing people tend to be right brainers: Visual, intuitive, holistic. This book helps both sides better understand each other by explaining how each views critical marketing concepts. Narrow line vs. full-line. Different products vs. better products. First minder vs. first mover. Marketing sense vs. common sense.
Visual Hammer. The critical missing piece in most marketing programs is a powerful visual that can drive a brand into the mind. This book outlines the steps a brand needs to take to develop a visual hammer.
Battlecry. To turn an ordinary slogan into a powerful battlecry, there are five techniques you can use: Rhyme, alliteration, repetition, reversal and double- entendre. A diamond will live forever and so can a powerful battlecry.
