B-to-B advertising should be more than just a pretty face
Published on 05/07/2001 under Branding
I was fortunate to spend several days at a B2B ad conference in Austin, Tx recently, and as is my custom at events like this, I came away both exhilarated and depressed.
Exhilarated, because I enjoy swapping ideas with advertising professionals, and this conference was chock full of industry luminaries. People like Michael Moon, author of “Firebrands: Building Loyalty In The Internet Age,” Barry Silverstein, author of “Business-to-Business Internet Marketing,” and Don Schultz, my fellow Marketing News columnist and noted expert on integrated marketing.
I also came away depressed, because when you think about the work you’ve done lately and compare it to the lofty ideals put forth by industry experts, it seems like that old Texas saying: “You just can’t get there from here.”
But I’ve been around long enough to know that aiming for the stars is one way you lift yourself out of the swamp, so I take some comfort in rationalizing that lofty ideals serve a valuable and necessary purpose in giving us all something noble to shoot for.
There were almost 50 speakers and panel-ists at this conference (including yours truly), and many of us spoke passionately about branding and the need to build brand “personalities” for business-to-business products and services.
When you talk about personalities for human beings, you’re talking about qualities that help you decide whether or not you like them, want to spend time with them, trust them to do stuff for you, etc. Personalities are very important when it comes to people. So why don’t B2B advertisers try harder to develop clearly articulated personalities for their companies?
I thought it might be interesting to see if I could find any examples of B2B companies that are, in fact, communicating a personality for their companies. For this exercise, I examined recent issues of eight leading trade publications serving general business, plant engineering, chemical processing, refining, office furniture/interior design, financial, computer technology and power generation audiences.
My first thought was that if anybody understands image, it’s the office furniture and
interior design field. Not true. Several issues of the publication I reviewed were filled with gorgeous, artsy ads that were very nice to look at, but gave me no clue about the company behind the sexy veneer.
The general business publication was also full of expertly crafted (and very expensive) ads that provided little insight into the sponsoring company’s personality. I found one ad for 3Com that painted a picture of a sympathetic company. The tagline was, “Make it simple” and the premise was that computer networking doesn’t have to be difficult. Unfortunately, anyone who has done this lately knows that it is.
I also noted a long-running ad series for Phillips Petroleum (The Performance Company) that showed how environmentally conscious they are. Other oil companies have been singing this song lately, so it must be important. I just don’t know how many readers are going to buy it. It’s like people who claim to be really religious, but we all suspect they’re not.
In the chemical field, I found two good examples of brand personalities at work: BASF and DuPont. You’ve seen the BASF tv spots (We don’t make the products you use, we make the products you use better). Well, they’re making an effort to tie this in with their trade ads, even though the effort is somewhat inconsistent.
One BASF ad carried the tagline, “We don’t make your products, we help make them better.” Another ad in the same issue signed off with “Making products better.” A third ad (also in the same issue) had no tagline at all. Very strange.
Still, I think the company comes across as a willing and capable partner, someone you can trust to help you improve your products.
DuPont has worked for many years to build its reputation as an innovative, research-oriented company. Its new “Miracle of Science” campaign puts a benevolent, politically correct spin on that image by showing accomplishments that are good for us earthlings.
If you’re thinking that only behemoths can register in my unscientific brand personality survey, I did discover a nice example in the power generation industry that falls into the smaller company category. A very handsome ad for Alberici Construction Company showed a conscientious young black man with the theme, “Passion For Building” on his hard hat along with the company logo. The headline is, “When building is your passion, each project becomes your mission.” Strong stuff, and very compelling.
I also found a smart campaign from Air Products with the theme line, “Tell me more.” The ad series positions the company as problem solvers, and describes market-driven innovations in a very believable way.
There were other examples I could describe, but the one I’ll close with is also the most outrageous. New Pig Corporation was founded in 1985 with a line of industrial spill absorbing products. From day one, they refused to take themselves seriously and decided to have fun with their customers. Their catalog is called a “Pigalog.” Their toll-free telephone number is 1-800-HOT-HOGS. They giveaway hats with pig snouts and curly pig tails.
And customers love it. They’ve grown to over 300 employees with more than 100,000 customers in 40 countries. The New Pig brand stands for FUN! And that works for their products and marketing situation.
So you see as it is with people, there is no one right personality for companies. You can be fun, sympathetic, innovative or whatever suits your business objectives.
Just don’t be anonymous. It costs no more to develop a branding strategy and stick with it. But it does take discipline.
For companies that can discover that discipline without killing division-level initiative, the rewards can be great. Customers will have an expectation, a human-like picture of your organization in mind before you ever begin telling them about
specific product or service-related messages.
And that can elevate your company out of the pack to a special place reserved for friends and trusted partners.