Strong brands

9 Of The Tastiest, Craziest American Fast Food Exports shows how strong a brand needs to be when you start adding brand extensions or messing around with it. This shows some of the interesting menu items developed for other countries as these American fast food brands went international.

Though they're all moving away from the core offerings on the menu, they still fit within that envelope of what the brand stands for because the brand was strong enough to stretch out for other markets.

I'm not a fast food person but except for the frightening cheeseburger pizza in Dubai, I actually think a lot of these look pretty good. 

Update on Wednesday, May 23, 2012 at 12:26PM by Brenda

In a related story, The Globe and Mail reported today on the Canadian frozen food company, McCain, moving into India. After being in the country long enough to research agriculture, retail, at-home eating and purchasing habits, they settled on a breakfast dish that's custom-made for the market.

Branded McCain, they're not only launching a new brand to consumers in India but they're also carving out a new category in a country where frozen food of any kind is seen as suspect. Ironically, I guess, the breakfast food they've developed is made in a way that's superior to how modern at-home families cook because the company could more easily replicate the effects of how their mothers and grandmothers made it before modern moms cooked with food processors.

It's another example of taking a brand global, carefuly and deliberately; staying on-brand by knowing what your core brand stands for.

The Shower Principle

Saw this episode of 30 Rock when I was trying to solve something, looking for my 'Aha' moment. Jack Doneghy described the Shower Principle to Liz as he was wasting time putting in his office. He explains it's the term scientists use to describe moments of inspiration that happen when your mind is distracted from the problem at hand.

Apparently, "if the cerebral cortex is distracted by showering or putting then anther part fo the brain, the anterior superior temporal gyrus is activated. This is the site of sudden cognitive inspiration."

I'm not a neuroscientist so I did a little Wiki search on the anterior superior part of the brain he's describing and found it's actually responsible for the perception of emotions in facial stimuli but whatev. Use a bunch of words to make it sound like you've got science/numbers behind your concept. 

The scientific part is made up too but my point is that this gets at where the brilliant spark for creativity comes from. The inspiration happens by thinking a lot about something then stopping thinking about it. Why did that sound like Jenna.

Brand engagement

It's what companies of any size want to do. They want to be interesting; they want to be able to connect with people. They don't want to be pushing out a message  that's just noise.

Brand engagement is all about building an authentic story that can be supported through marketing, advertising, social media content, media relations. All channels and platforms; everywhere. It's about building presence and changing behaviour by changing perceptions.

It's about watching emerging trends and behaviours and knowing what action is going to cause a reaction. Especially in an always-on time where consumers can find you through a simple search, brand engagement is developing because advertising, social media and communications have become amorphous overlapping spaces rather than narrowly-defined parallel paths.

Corporate responsibility engagement

KPMG's International Corporate Responsibility Reporting Survey published in late 2011 tracks 3,400 leading companies from 34 countries, looking at trends that are happening worldwide. It found that reporting had increased worldwide, as brands realize that corporate responsibility "drives innovation and promotes learning, which helps companies grow their business and increase their organization’s value." 

What they found was that corporate responsibility (also referred to as CSR and sustainability) reporting uncovers new opportunities for business improvement and brings enhanced financial value to companies, though there's still room for improvement. Data shows that charting countries by level of process maturity and quality of communications, Europe leads in overall engagement, while Asia generally underperforms in both process and communications. Canada and the U.S. showed to over-communicate on their corporate responsiblity to their actual process maturity.

Reading through the report focusing on building business through brand building and engagement, shows that North American companies need to engage with corporate responsiblity as part of how they operate, being clear that it's not about feeling good about something or using it as a marketing message but creating impact that drives business goals.

Social media can help develop engagement for companies who have corporate resonsibility agendas, but have a tough time making them relevant. Social media brings the kind of transparency and engagement that makes brands more responsive and responsible. It can encourage employee engagement, which has been found to be key to making any CR program effective. It can be effective for showcasing thought leadership in companies, allowing employees as well as the public to see what a company's doing.

Corporate responsiblity used to be shown in annual reports and stand alone reports. While that reporting is still relevant to shareholders, regulators and other corporate stakeholders, companies are finding they need to do more to build reputation and enhance their brands. Social media offers a genuine and responsive message that can complement press releases and marketing. Social media can bring the C-suite and thought leaders within companies closer to the public, offering the kind of transparency and presence that builds trust and has a positive impact on a brand.

Because of social media's impact, companies that blend corporate responsibility strategies with brand and social media/communications strategies can result in more effective engagement internally and outside the company.