Of Novas & Manatees

...and unintended messages.

Not trying to be alarmist here, but advertising can be dangerous.

The danger lies in sending out so many messages, each designed to elicit good feelings, goodwill, and great sales, that cut across so many societal and cultural boundaries. It’s true our world is shrinking, and culture is more unified than ever before. But still, the risk of crossed messages and misunderstandings increases with every campaign.

You’ve probably heard of General Motors' giant misstep back in the ’60s, when they introduced their popular muscle car, the Chevy Nova, to Latin America. If you haven’t heard the story, we can sum it up quickly, and leave it to you to surmise what their Nova sales were like, south of the border...

“No-va,” in Spanish, means “No go.”

The Nova story is one of the great cautionary tales in marketing, and we’d be happy to believe that all our peers have learned from it, and such an avoidable mistake can never happen again.

Sigh.

Target has recently introduced a line of plus-sized dresses. One of them comes in a particular shade of gray. A similar dress, available in standard sizes, names that same exact hue, “Dark Heather Gray.” For the plus-sized dress, however, it’s advertised as “Manatee Gray.”

To Target’s credit, they’ve moved quickly to correct the problem, and to apologize to their customers. They blame the mistake on a couple of buyers who simply didn’t communicate with each other.

Fair enough. Lack of communication, internal and otherwise, is an eternal challenge. Good for Target for recognzing that, and (hopefully) moving to alleviate it.

Still, couldn’t this have been prevented? Couldn’t just one Target employee — just one — have looked at that color description, and sent up a warning of bad things to come? Similarly, we’ve always wondered, wasn’t there just one GM exec with primary-school Spanish skills?

Is there a lesson here? There sure is.

Every marketing endeavor, every customer communication, should be put in front of as many eyes as possible, internally, before going external. And the question should be asked — not just "Ain’t this creative? Aren’t we swell?” But also, “Think hard. Do you see any way possible this can come back to bite us on the butt?”

The C4:

1. Target had a no-good, very-bad week, when they used “plus-sized” and “manatee” in the same sentence. We won’t pile on. Target is a great retailer, offering sweetly priced fashion for every body type. They made a mistake, and they moved to correct it. Target shoppers, we urge you to give ’em a second chance.
    
2. The good news is, second chances are earned because such mistakes rarely happen twice. Chevrolet renamed their export Nova “Caribe,” and it sold great. Target will probably now review every word in their marketing vocabulary for sensitivity and unintended impact. As well they should.
    
3. Even better news: we can all learn from Target’s example, and avoid such headaches for ourselves.
    
4. Always remember this: Your marketing material is going to be seen by diverse people, with diverse backgrounds, and infinitely diverse perspectives. Every word and every image you put in front of them is going to be filtered through those lenses. Once your words are published, it’s probably too late. You’re self-saving window of opportunity, then, is narrow indeed. By all means, use it.

Best Buy (Before It’s Too Late)

Big losses alter course for big box retailer.

Are the days of big-box retailing coming to an end? Best Buy fears they might be.

Best Buy is moving to reverse their thus-far unprofitable year (they’ve reported a loss of nearly $2 billion in the quarter ending March 3) by shuttering 50 stores between now and the end of 2013.

But they’re not stopping there. Best Buy has studied the dynamics of their loss and concluded that the ways consumers buy electronics have irrevocably shifted. The big-box model, which is in large part how Best Buy has always done business, just isn’t working anymore. Online retailers offer a wider range of big-ticket items (plasma TVs, computers, game consoles) at prices with which the brick-and-mortar sellers — especially ones with big-box rent to pay — simply can’t compete.

So what do you do when your business model crumbles before your eyes? You can give up, of course. Or you can innovate. You can — pardon the pun — think outside the box.

Best Buy is trying a two-pronged approach. Think of them as dueling experiments. First, they’re inaugurating so-called “Connected Stores,” a sort of big-box lite, averaging about 20% smaller in terms square footage and designed with an emphasis on customer service and speedy shopping. Second, they’ll be opening a chain of much smaller outlets concentrating almost exclusively on mobile products. In both cases, and with the surviving big-boxes, they’ll be beefing up loyalty programs and offering free shipping wherever applicable.

Their solutions are yet unproven. Best Buy might yet go the way of Circuit City (remember them?) but they’ll not go down without a fight. They’re fighting the best way a business can: with innovation. Hats off to that.

The C4:

1. In Q4 2011 (which ended March 3, 2012), Best Buy suffered losses of $1.7 billion, or $4.89 per share.
2. In response, the company is moving to close 50 stores, eliminate an additional 400 corporate jobs and cut around $800 million in costs before the end of 2013.
3. They’re also trying to shake up their business model, by testing alternatives to their traditional big-box approach, and with an increased emphasis on customer service.
4. Win or lose, and with all respect to those about to lose their jobs, Best Buy deserves respect for trying to innovate their way back to success.

The End of Longevity?

Why brands without a competitive edge will fail.

Citing poor holiday sales, Sears Holding Corporation this week announced plans to shutter about 115 Sears and Kmart stores nationwide.

Not wishing to pile on to an unfortunate situation, but we can’t help but wonder if we’re seeing a failure of brand here — or more specifically, the failure to keep two venerable brands updated and relevant.

After all, what’s Kmart? A discount store, certainly, but what differentiates it from the world’s largest discount seller? Walmart is not only the world’s largest retailer, they sell more TVs, groceries, toys, guns and diamonds than any other company in the world. What has Kmart done to compete with that? And if they can’t compete, how do they distinguish themselves?

And Sears, founded in 1886, is one of our oldest retailers. Their history is long, storied and honorable. But are they modern? Are they competitive? When was the last time you shopped at Sears?

Longevity is enviable, but it’s nothing without competitiveness and relevancy. Lacking those vital components, longevity can cease at any time.

The C4:

1. Longevity requires a strong brand.
2. A strong brand requires differentiation.
3. Differentiation requires competitiveness.
4. Competitiveness requires a desire for longevity.