Are business customers interested in the green credentials of a product or service in the current economic climate?

One of the defining characteristics of the B2B world is the extent to which it is segmented or sectorised. Brands that are world-beaters in one sector are virtually unknown elsewhere. In the B2C sector, meanwhile, big brands still can and do bludgeon their way to universal awareness – for example, even though I don’t have kids, I still know that Huggies sell nappies.

But there are exceptions to this rule – B2B brands whose fame spreads far beyond their customer base or audience. I was reminded of a classic example this week on a trip down the M1 from Leeds to London: Eddie Stobart. This freight transport company has become a household name over recent years, known to people from all walks of life with no interest or involvement in haulage etc. All this has been achieved with very little marketing in the conventional sense (ie. direct mail or advertising). Its main vehicle has been just that: its vehicles, which are immaculately turned out and considerately driven – something that is all too rare on the M1 on a Monday night.

Eddie Stobart’s pristine green juggernauts present a stark contrast to other commercial road users – both large and small. For example, I love the simplicity of Maersk’s logo and the particular tone of blue for its livery, but its trucks (at least those I saw) are shabby by comparison, and therefore (I can’t help assuming) so is its service.

So what lessons can we learn from lorries on the M1? Firstly, that excellence in everything your organisation does will ultimately pay dividends in terms of its public perception. Eddie Stobart clearly has such an ethos – many of its rivals apparently do not.

Secondly that your public facia IS your brand, and ultimately the most meaningful yardstick by which you will be judged.

Last, but certainly not least, that good marketing isn’t just about doing the cleverest, most innovative and most up-to-date things – you also have to remember the fundamentals, and keep getting them right.

PS: What was the reason for the trip down the M1? B2B Marketing’s publisher (James Farmer) and I were returning from the coast-to-coast cycle ride to raise money for Cancer Research. We completed the gruelling 135-mile trip in three days in some of the worst weather imaginable. If you would like to sponsor us, please go to www.justgiving.com/joelharrison. All contributions will be gratefully received.  

"Do you know who we are?” he said, as if I was a complete idiot. No actually, we’ve spent the last six months trying to arrange this meeting because you’re so important we needed MI5 security clearance to leave a message on your voicemail…Yes, we ‘know who you are’.

But as I sat listening to a very (self) important marketing director waxing lyrical about his importance, it became clear that, ironically, he had no idea who he was. Certainly not at a corporate brand level. At the micro, ‘What am I doing for lunch today?’ level, this guy was focused. But at the macro, ‘What’s the direction for the (very famous) corporate brand I’m the guardian of?’ level, he had not a clue. Which irritated me. I tried not to let it bother me – this was the meeting of the century after all. Then I walked out. Oops.

But it raised the question in my mind – ‘What happens after awareness?’ Many small B2B brands struggle with achieving awareness or recognition or indeed any market cut-through – often for years. The single most quoted client objective that we hear at Birddog is, ‘To raise awareness’ (it’s usually followed with the word ‘and’, as in, ‘The objective is to raise awareness and achieve a whole host of impractical and unachievable other objectives with absolutely no budget whatsoever’).

Larger B2B brands however, have already achieved awareness. Loads of it. Their brands are visible in every magazine, on every street corner, on every website, in every office and probably in every home too. We know who they are. So then what?

Well, there’s the obvious, but insipid, ‘Maintain awareness’ objective (yawn). Then there’s the job security objective of, ‘Whatever you do, don’t change anything and don’t screw it up.’ And from what I can see, most clients and agencies stop at one of those two objectives on the basis the pay’s good and they get to spend their days saying, ‘Do you know who I am?’

But there is a clear nirvana for established brands – if only they had the vision to see it. It’s ‘love’ and ‘respect’. Two little words, both with a big impact on corporate reputation and profits. Once awareness has been achieved, love and respect is where the brand value lies.

Love and respect for a brand is what makes customers come back for more, tell their friends, forgive you when you make a mistake, stay loyal long after they should reasonably have tried the competition. Love and respect is what, for example, holds a marriage together. They’re very powerful emotions that are hard to achieve and harder to maintain. Certainly harder and more valuable than ‘awareness’ alone.

Without love or respect, you don’t have a brand, you have a product – a commodity. Copier paper. You’re going to have to work pretty hard to convince me to care about what I shove in the printer drawer. With a little bit of love, you have a fashion item, but it’s not a brand. It’ll last until the next best thing comes along – my Vaio laptop. With a little bit of respect you can achieve a good reputation – BlackBerry – but there’s no emotional bond that’s going to add the real value to the relationship.

It’s only when you achieve both love and respect that you really have a successful brand. I love my iPod. I respect Apple. I’ve forgiven it for only releasing the iPhone through the O2 network. Most other companies would probably have ruined their business with that strategy. Love and respect.

So awareness of the ‘big brands’ is actually just the start. It’s not the end point. It’s an advantage, it’s an opportunity, but it sure isn’t the Hollywood diva, ‘Do you know who I am?’ trump card. Show me some love and I’ll respect you in the morning. Honest.

For a while at Base One we’ve been questioning the logic of the single big idea as the basis of a brand’s campaigns. Having spent years creating consistent and compelling campaigns around a single idea, why change? It’s been proven to work and buyers are still buyers surely?

Well yes, and no. The fact is that Buyers are changing as this extract from a post by Chris Tacy, Chief Innovation Officer at Brand Experience Agency, Method implies:

 … now we have an entire new demographic who have grown up not having to take it. And as a result, the control relationship between brands and consumers has changed. And it's not going back. Technology has helped - but behavior is a big part of this. And at then end of the day... the chickens are coming home to roost.

In this new world... The Big Idea doesn't really hold water. Without the control relationship on the side of the brands, it's not even justifiable. [http://method.com/#/thoughts/ideasculture/detail/WpPost/17/]

It’s this change of relationship that is making us rethink. Brand owners have to realise that they will no longer have control of what people think or say about them. We can influence what they say and think but not control it. And our buyers fit many Persona we know that and for each of them the brand can mean different things. Therefore, we need to start developing clusters of brand ideas that can be relevant to different groups, and yet all relevant to the brand.

Strong brands in the future (even B2B brands) need to resonate as part of the sub-cultures that exist within our markets. Sub-cultures are different yet they overlap, so too must the ideas we place at the centre of our brands.

So there I was attempting to enjoy a cappuccinolattemoccacoffee at the Landmark in Marylebone. I say ‘attempting’ because the ordering process was a little arduous and left me somewhat flustered. The Landmark is a great venue for off-site casual business meetings and the breakfast and mezzanine areas were being used extensively for exactly that purpose when I arrived to meet clients. The waitress arrived promptly and I asked for coffee. Not unreasonable, surely? I’m in business. I’m having a business meeting with other business people to talk about business things in a businesslike manner so I’d like some business coffee. Please. Well, no. There followed an elaborate and extensive coffee selection process that left me confused and feeling a bit like an arse in front of clients who were smiling smugly as they had clearly just been through the same ordeal prior to my arrival. I explained that I didn’t speak Starbucks and could I please just have some coffee?

 

I can’t even begin to describe the horror of the cappuccinolattemoccacoffee that arrived just as I was launching into the crux of the meeting subject. I like to think I’m in touch with my feminine side in a sensitive caring way, but this coffee was gay. No offence intended – but there’s no other adequate word. It was presented in a fluted pilsner-type glass with a wire frame and impossible to hold handle. The whole world could see the two-thirds milky coffee topped with one-third whippofroth and sprinkled with chocolate hundreds and thousands. If they’d stuck a bleedin’ parasol in it I’d have stood up and left. Coffee – in a glass. With sprinkles.

 

I scanned the room in alarm to see who might be watching and realised that there was a room full of business people all struggling to come to terms with the same refreshment dilemma – drink it and look like a twat, or pretend it isn’t yours.

 

The Landmark was trying to be different. It succeeded. But perhaps it had lost sight of the needs of its business audience. Differentiation can be good – but context is everything. Learning when to step over the line and how far are salutary lessons. He said as he lifted his glass, stuck out his little pinkie and wiped the chocolate froth from his chin.