IF I COULD…BRANDS I’D LIKE TO RUN
by Jason Miletsky
In my new book, Perspectives on Branding, due in stores in March 2009, I answer a series of brand-related questions based on my experience and opinion. One of the questions in particular struck me as a good way to start my first blog of the new year:
IF YOU COULD TAKE THE HELM OF ANY BRAND IN THE MARKET, WHICH WOULD YOU CHOOSE AND WHY?
I’d like to share my answer, and would love to hear how other people would answer this same question.
The following is a shortened excerpt from my book of my answer to this question:
If I could take the helm of any company, I’d want it to be a brand that’s not currently at the top of their game – one that clearly has potential, once owned greater market share but has since fallen from grace a bit.
There are scores of companies that fall into this category that come to mind, like Hostess (cupcakes, Twinkies, etc.), DC Comics (they have characters like Superman, Batman, Aquaman), Krispy Kreme – the list goes on! But there are two in particular that for one reason or another I feel more compelled to discuss in detail.
Midway Games: There was a point in time where you couldn’t go into an arcade without seeing the Midway name everywhere – they were the undisputed king of gaming. But over the years, they’ve given up market share to others, and their stock (which I own some of), has been battered down to about 27 cents at the time of this writing. Still though, they have a rich history behind them (Joust, Defender, Spy Hunter – the classic games that got it all started), and some great titles in their current line-up (including Mortal Kombat – one of the best fighting games ever made. Coincidentally, a new version was just released using character from DC comics).
I would love to take the reigns at Midway and make some wide-sweeping changes. First thing I’d do is completely redesign their online gaming site, which is sub-par at best and clearly not performing very well (I checked with Alexa.com, a site that ranks other sites by traffic. Midwayarcade.com was ranked as the 859,751 most visited site). Bubblebox.com, another gaming site, was ranked 4,314. Bubblebox,com? Seriously, how does Midway Games lose to a site called Bubblebox.com? It’s sadly obvious how – Bubblebox.com’s got their act together in the online world; Midway doesn’t.
I’d also restore some innovative spirit to the brand. Their Mortal Kombat game with DC characters looks cool (I personally haven’t played it yet), but my guess is that it’s probably way cooler than their advertising is showing it off to be. The trailers and TV spots are well produced, but you’re dealing with characters that everyone knows and a completely new twist on a 15 year old game – do something really spectacular with this! Where is the viral component? Where is the larger than life aspect to the title? Where’s the edge? It doesn’t have to be crazy expensive – it has to crazy creative! You’ve just blended the best fighting game with some of the best superheroes – you’ve got the bait, now you just need to cast the reel better.
Saladworks: Maybe this chain is doing well and I just don’t know about it, but from my experience the place is usually a ghost town, except for maybe a small increase in traffic during lunch. But to make this work, I’d want to control more than just the brand and marketing. For anyone who hasn’t been to Saladworks, it’s a fast-food style chain that lets people choose the ingredients and dressing they want and make their own salad – it looks like a buffet, but someone who works there does it for you.
The initial question is simply ‘why is this place so empty, at least compared to the Panera Bread place right next door?’ The concept is good, the ingredients seem fresh and there’s always emphasis in the media on staying health conscious (not all of the ingredients there are healthy, but the word “salad” usually invokes a sense that it’s good for you). But then you get to the cash register and find out why the store is so lonely – $11 for a salad and soda is pretty hefty. I don’t think anything a brand manager can do will be super effective until the price is more reasonable.
Put the price issue aside for second, and there’s still a lot more that could be done from a strict branding and marketing perspective. For one thing, you need to really make the case that salads can be a meal on their own – especially for dinner, when the stores seem particularly empty. People are happy to have a salad for lunch, but when it comes to dinner, they see salads as something you have before the meal – not as the meal itself. Saladworks needs to change public sentiment, and get more people in during evening hours. I’d also play up some of the paninis and other non-salad food that would not only bring people back at night, but bring them back more often.
The first step toward this goal would be to change the name of the chain to Saladworks Plus – the addition of that single word at the end lets diners know there’s more going on than just salad. I’d also completely revamp their advertising, which seems to rely most heavily on highway billboards. I’d add some TV and radio to the mix, playing up the freshness and selection of ingredients, but with creative twists to make them memorable and support the effort with wide-sweeping Web marketing (starting with redeveloping their site and online ordering system). I’d also remove any billboards that exist on random highways and reposition them to only appear near the parking lots of fatty chains, like Fuddruckers, laying the guilt on nice and thick. Be aggressive! Their 2007 Celebrity Chef competition was a good idea, and they do a good job getting PR for themselves, but it’s not enough to live up to their potential. Saladworks is a great chain with a wonderful opportunity, but they’re missing the boat in terms of branding and marketing.
There are so many brands I’d love to get my hands on! I guess the real answer for me is that I’d be excited to take the helm of any brand that allowed me to take some chances and really do something exciting!
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