Henny Penny and The Recessionistas

The NY Times declares, "People are trading down, luxury is out, thrifty is the new nifty." The National Retail Federation babbles, "The sky has fallen, now what?" Well, Adage is advising brands to hunker down, refrain from brand building and focus on promotional sales. Egad! Don't they know what happened to Ducky Lucky and Goosy-Poosy?

During the last economic downturn I witnessed a handful of Foxy-Loxies reposition themselves to become market leaders. I would love to stand here and tell you that it was our great creative efforts that moved them to the top, but I would be lying. The truth is that much of their success came because they knew what to avoid.

They did not shoot their mouths off
They did not overuse jargon. There was no "synergistic paradigm shifting to leverage our commitment to Total Quality Management during a recession" or anything like it. Instead they were quietly optimistic about their work.

There were no announcements to the industry, the press or customers that they were undertaking an effort to save, reposition or do anything to their brand. In fact they were secretive about it. Prototyping new concept stores and packaging was done offsite, away from the eyes of those who do not understand that great design is a bi-product of trial and error.

They did not brush their teeth in the bathtub
They knew that pursuing a dramatic difference requires a purity of thought that must be separated from the need for daily sales. They surrendered their not-so-secret desires that their fledgling brand work could increase sales if it were tested in the FSI they were running next Sunday.

Clear water is essential for big picture thinking. By separating the pressure for short-term gain from the brand building process,  they could truly map ways to integrate their business (brand) into an idea that would be compelling to people in five years.

They did not get defensive 

Instead they used brand positioning as offense. With a C-level commitment to get the internal culture aligned behind a dominant, meaningful (and as yet undiscovered) idea they set out to help the entire company stop comparing themselves to their competition.

Focused on their future state, they unearthed common ground between the people working internally and their external existing fan base.

When done right a winning brand personifies the organization, products, services and experiences and is the relationship with their audience. Brand drivers, not product attributes personify the brand. Apple is cool, savvy and sexy (human attributes). As Martin Lindstrom suggest in Buyology, "iPods have become such stylistic cues that they may actually influence our mating rituals."  Do we really need someone to tell us that an iPod wearing hipster is a more attractive potential mate than one sporting a Zune?

They did not discount their brand
Discount pricing is risky business for brands. Loyal followers may think that either you were previously ripping them off, or that you reduced the quality in order to cut cost.

Discounting messes with the consumer's belief about your brand's value. Price is not the final determining factor. Perception is everything. If Steve and Barry's were still in business, they would tell you that unless you are the low-cost producer, you cannot sustain your brand on price cuts and discounts.

People will pay more if they feel they receive an added benefit or value with the higher price, even in a recession.

Our foxy CEOs believed that cost-cutting never constitutes a sustainable business model and instead chose long-term, disruptive moves. This strategy brought significant rewards from the stock market when the analysts realized the company was positioning itself to exploit the current economy while favorably positioning itself for the coming growth cycle. 

They were not sissies
They chose to swim upstream during a time of risk to take advantage of the fact that most competitors were hibernating or nursing their wounds.

While they brought in outside consultants to facilitate the process, they actually did the heavy lifting and the soul searching themselves. And they got out of their functional silos and listened to each other.

While highly collaborative, there was no "decision by committee". They understood that trying to please everyone will result in a vanilla brand.

They didn't lose their heads
During the last recession most retail experts and the media were prophesying just they are today, "Consumers have fundamentally changed." The Foxes disagreed then (and I still do).

Our spending habits may be temporarily altered, but what makes people tick and our relationships with brands we allow into our lives really hasn't. People (consumers) have evolved over the course of the past 30 years in response to hyper choice. We have too many branded options for every one of our possible needs. The new value equation brought about as result hasn't changed simply because money is tight: What I get must be greater than what I give. This includes: meaning, time, energy and price.

The challenge for Brand Stewards: deepen your story with your core audience to meet their needs. Relationships between consumer and brand work on emotion. The brands that are still booming make us feel special. The more forces in the world that make us question ourselves and our standing in it, the more we long to be with those who reinforce our self-perceptions and nurture our ego.

As always, I welcome your feedback,

David Lemley
david@lemleydesign.com

David Lemley is President of Lemley Design Company a leading brand strategy and packaging design firm for ideology driven companies. Lemley Design offers a full range of brand strategy, positioning, naming, identity, packaging and environmental graphic design services to help marketers bring their brand to life.

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