The Tray Way

Monday, August 20, 2012

The Tray Way: How Do You Trust Something You Don't Know?

What makes us trust a brand? Obviously, the top answer is when a brand does right by you or someone you know. But, that only accounts for a limited number of situations. What about when that first-hand information isn't available to a person. Unfortunately for brands, the criteria can be less concrete.

This is the thought we had after reading a fun study, conducted by beverage company Honest Tea. They researched and reported on honesty of an array of different topics. The results include:

93% of participants were honest
Salt Lake City and Oakland were both 100% honest
Women are 95% honest while men are 91% honest
Boston baseball fans are more honest than New York baseball fans
Redheads are more honest than blondes and brunettes
Motorcyclists were 92% honest while Comic Book fans were 86% honest
Men with beards were 96% honest while bald men were 85% honest

Our first response to this release was that this is was a very clever way to promote their brand (well done, Honest Tea). But, our second thought was that these are some random results and that it is hard to believe that all the people surveyed have decisive (and objective) opinions on all of these topics. What this means is that at least some were just making up the answers based on the mood they were in (perhaps) or some other reason that isn't first-hand knowledge.

This is not good news for brands, especially ones that do everything right but feel like they are getting nowhere. The truth is (no pun intended) that sometimes you can't gauge what customer response to your brand will be, especially if they have nothing to base their decision on. It isn't that you aren't an honest brand that can't be trusted, its that a person, for example, may happen to see a website or a billboard for your competitor at the moment they need to make a decision. The best you can do is treat all current and potential customers the way they deserve to be treated, and continue to convey a message, tone and philosophy that is based around honesty and integrity. From there, marketing yourself in the most positive and strategic way possible to better convey your honesty has been proven to be the most effective means of gaining more business. Is there a 100% success rate? Of course not, but a customer's decision to choose a competitor can be for any number of reasons, whether it be a substantial or flimsy one (and that's just us being honest).

The Tray PML Way is the blog for Tray, experts in the printing, mailing, logistics and promotional products. You can learn more about our capabilities by visiting our website, as well as our Facebook and Twitter pages. For information about the company and its successes, visit www.trayinc.com

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

The Tray Way: Does the Olympic "Brand" Mean Something New?

With the ringing of a 27-ton bell, a Chariots of Fire reenactment, an array of literacy characters and dancing teenagers (and lets not forget a parachuting queen), the 30th Summer Olympics kicked off in London this week.

When you think of the Olympics (or at least the Olympic athlete), you think of fulfilling a dream and believing in ones self. You think of a young boy or girl, watching past Olympians compete, and longing to achieve that same level of success. You think of hardwork, dedication, perseverance, all in the name of vying to be the best, representing your country, and having that medal put around your neck.

That is the Olympics that athletes and spectators alike have known for the past 29 summer games. But, like most other things in the athletic community, the Olympics is a business, and according to some, it is the second most valuable brand in the world, which has lead to unprecedented efforts to keep that value safe.

In one of the most aggressive brand monitoring campaigns ever seen, efforts have been taken to insure that no use of the Olympic name is being used for promotional purposes without consent (and sponsorship dollars). This is obviously being done to protect the major sponsors like Visa Europe, McDonalds, Dow Chemicals and others, all of whom invested around $100 million to be a major sponsor of the games, and in return, have been catered to and given sole rights to signage, advertising and even food.

We know as well as any that a brand must be protected, and perhaps in this age of communications and social media, this is the new best practice on how to do it. At an estimated $47.5 billion, there are certain efforts that have to be taken or the inherent value of a brand like the Olympics can be severely diminished (which will go on to hurt potential revenue streams at future events). However, is it a step too far in the case of the Olympics? The Olympics were meant to bring people together in one place in the spirit of competition. It was meant to be an open venue for people from different countries to meet in one of the only truly safe environments left in the world. While this feeling of welcome and positivity will continue to be viewed this way in London (and likely in Brazil four years from now), are we inching down a slippery slope of hurting the "openness" of the Olympic brand by creating an "us" and "them" attitude?

Thursday, July 19, 2012

The Tray Way: Does Social Media Presence = Individual Business Success?

The statistics on social media popularity continue to grow and grow. Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn set new benchmarks on a monthly basis, and with the rise of sites like G+, Pinterest, Yammer and others, you might think that there is a social networking site for EVERYONE that could ever want one.

Well, one demographic has apparently stayed away from the fray: Fortune 500 CEOs.

A new, fascinating study by the consulting company Domo indicates that approximately 70% of the heads of the world's largest companies choose not to participate in the marketing juggernaut that is social media. In addition:

38 Fortune 500 CEOs are on Facebook (Michael Rapino of Live Nation Entertainment has the most friends with 1,723).
20 Fortune 500 CEOs who have opened Twitter accounts (5 have never tweeted).
The average number of followers for Fortune 500 CEOs with Twitter accounts is 33,250 (Rupert Murdoch has the most with 249,000 followers)
10 Fortune 500 CEOs have more than 500 LinkedIn connections, while 36 CEOs have 1 LinkedIn connection or none.
Six Fortune 500 CEOs contribute to blogs
Zero Fortune 500 CEOs are on Pinterest.

As an organization that covers all sides of the marketing world, three thoughts came to our minds after reading this:

You can "observe" social media without "participating" - CEOs may not have social media accounts for personal or professional reasons, but having a wife/husband that has an account to keep in touch with friends and family, and a staff member maintain one concerning the business serves the same purpose.
A CEO's fame is different than a celebrity's fame - A Fortune 500 CEO is famous for the mere fact that they head their company, but unlike the Hollywood mantra that "all press is good press," a CEO not only doesn't need to saturate the internet with their every thought to gain fame, but if they do, it can cause unexpected repercussions (e.g. a swing in stock price).
Over the next 5 years, this statistic will inevitably and drastically change - For all that is said about the ability social media has as a marketing tool, the platform started as a communications tool for college students, and then branched out from there. When measured against the fact that well over 60% of current Fortune 500 CEOs are over 50, it shouldn't be a surprise that a majority of these executives have chosen to use more established means to communicate. However, the next generation of CEOs are being groomed right now, and they have made their way up the career ladder partially due to networking, both in-person and online.

This survey, while intriguing from a biographical perspective, is missing a truth. While all these individuals may not be utilizing social media, they understand that others are. So, they are making sure that their companies are using it as a listening tool, a customer service tool, a branding tool, etc. So, while you might not see status updates or family vacation pictures of some of the most well-known business men and women on earth, you can be sure that they know that is how you use social media, and they want to use that to their company's advantage.