If you haven’t heard about the Oprah Branding Effect then let me share with you what it means. Just as the Midas touch means that whatever he touched would turn to gold, the same could be said about Oprah. Many businesses, books and organization have seen tremendous growth once she either mentions it or is seen using it.

Image: Newscom.com

Although Oprah is a unique person and brand, other businesses can have a similar effect but it may happen in smaller quantities. On May 28, 2009, CNBC released a show that discussed the Oprah Branding Effect and shared how many businesses had experienced growth because of it.

One of the people mentioned shared how she had planned on “Living Oprah” which mean she would do everything that Oprah suggested. She decided to do this for a year and she started on January 1, 2009 and will end on December 31, 2009. Through the whole experience, she shared that although somethings didn’t truly apply in her situation, she felt that a lot of positive things have happened in her life.

One of which is that she was offered a book deal so does this mean that she is experiencing the Oprah Branding Effect? I would say that she has definitely experience because she shared that after writing for many years, she didn’t receive a book deal until after she started her blog, “Living Oprah“.

To bring this to a level where other sized businesses can have a similar effect as Oprah, I thought it would be helpful to share suggestions:

• Decide that you will mentor a business owner who is a startup or smaller in size to your business.
• Create a mastermind group where similar minded business owners help each other reach their goals of increasing their business’ reach.
• Identity business owners that you feel have obtained a level of success that you feel you want to accomplish and then try to connect with them through a mentoring program. Follow their advice to grow your business.

Now let’s all get started seeing how we can join in on spreading the Oprah Effect to others. You can find out more about the Oprah Branding Effect by visiting these websites: Informational website & Watch full video.

Later this month, the House of Lords in the UK will be voting for proposals in a debate on the Health Bill. The proposal suggests removal of all cigarette branding in stores to prevent young people from taking up smoking.

The Times Online claimed that the “glossy tobacco displays” that are under attack are “designed to attract youngsters.” Simply removing them from sight, and keeping cigarettes themselves hidden from display does not infringe on the rights of smokers to choose their favourite brands. The article says, “ninety per cent of smokers already know which brand of cigarettes they will buy before going into a shop.”

Out of sight out of mind? Do tobacco companies rely heavily on having their branding appear prominently in convenient stores? Is it really a matter of recruiting new smokers or will hiding the branding effect sales to current smokers? In a cspnet.com article, the Premier Dalton McGuinty spoke to the temptation present for kids. “This is a health issue,” McGuinty said. “Science has demonstrated that these power walls are effective at enticing kids so we want to get beyond that.” Without the aid of regular advertising, tobacco companies need the point of sale displays to remain present in the minds of consumers. Its main purpose is to attract her smokers and stimulate sales. According to Smoke Free Action, “established smokers tend to be brand loyal.”

Image: Ontario Tobacco-free Network (theotn.org)

So how do companies gain new smokers? Despite regulations in 2004 in the UK that limited advertising at the POS to an A5 sized poster with 30% taken to a health warning, companies succeed by developing new variants of existing brands. Smoke Free Action cites a 50% growth of brand families since 1998. Benson & Hedges, as an example, grew from 4 brand variants in 1998 to 12 by 2008. This increase is meant to maximize the visual impact on the shelves of stores.

In Ontario, the first day, in May of 2008, of a cigarette display ban saw many store owners upset about what they considered too much government control. A FAQ sheet from Convenience Stores.ca answered, any “item with the name, logo, or distinctive design of a tobacco company or with any tobacco related words (i.e. cigarettes, cigars) which seeks to promote tobacco will need to be hidden from the public’s view.”

Preventing customers from touching the cigarettes before paying stops them from comparing two brands and thereby increases brand loyalty. The Windsor Star reported on the matter, talking to truck driver Rene LaPointe who said “he buys different brands and likes to try new products, but that the new regulation, [...] makes comparing cigarettes impossible.” Able to see both sides, store owner Sam Helou said, “‘as a businessman, it’s quite draconian. There are severe restrictions I never even imagined.’ …One bright spot, he said, is that he plans to advertise other things on the now blank space directly behind his cash register.

Here are some fast-facts from the Ontario Tobacco-free Network:

• The PowerWall, a retail store product display — one of the tobacco industry’s best hooks for addicting young people, is about to come tumbling down in more than 10,000 stores in Ontario on May 31st, 2008
• The ban on retail displays means children and others will no longer be exposed to tobacco industry advertising near corner store cash registers
• Eliminating PowerWalls prevents temptation for adults who have made the decision to quit smoking
• Progressive action by the government, with the encouragement and support of community and youth leaders, led to the inclusion of the Power Wall ban in the Smoke Free Ontario Act (SFOA).
• In 2006, the tobacco industry spent about $40 million on PowerWalls in Ontario alone
• Independent studies show that PowerWalls boost average product sales by 12% to 28%

You know that you have a really successful brand when you see things like this:

This Fuji apple has actually been ‘tanned’ with the Apple logo by putting a sticker on it in the last phase of growth.

There are also apples with iPod logos an ‘Apple hearts’:

It would be an interesting tactic if it was run by Apple, but it was actually the brainchild of a Japanese Apple fan.

So this is what you should be aiming for: a brand which is so involved in people’s lives that they create promotions for you.

Source: Nobon (translated)

Let’s face it, the Mac vs. PC commercials are brilliant.  They’re simple yet communicate so much in terms of differentiating Macs from PCs and hyping the cult brand status Macs have come to represent.  They’re also consistent and nothing helps branding more than consistency. 

Check out the Mac vs. PC commercials from the U.S. and the U.K. to see for yourself.  Each YouTube video below includes a compilation of Mac vs. PC commercials.

U.S. Mac vs. PC commercials

U.K. Mac vs. PC commercials

Read more

Back in February, I wrote a post about Frank Oresnick and his 1991 Chevy Silverado that had over 1 million miles on it.  The million mile Chevy Silverado is now up for auction on eBay, and the current bid right now is just under $24,000 with one day left for bidding!

Back in February when I first wrote about Frank and his million mile truck, I mentioned that it’s this type of customer that companies should reward as the ultimate consumer brand champions.  Read Frank’s eBay auction page to see what I mean.  Here are a few quotes to demonstrate my point:

Read more

My fellow b5media blogger, Rachel Clarke, from Behind the Buzz (a blog about digital and interactive advertising and marketing) wrote a great post today where she’s asking people to share their opinions on their favorite brands and brands they are truly loyal to.

She asks, “do you have any absolute brand loyalties or do other factors come into play?”  I thought this is just the type of post Brandcurve readers would like to weigh in on.  Stop by Behind the Buzz and leave a comment with your opinion on the Brand Loyalty post.

Image: b5media

Today at Brandcurve, I’m happy to publish a guest post by Herbert Ong of Genuosity Inc.  Herbert is an expert in word of mouth marketing.  You can read more about Herbert at the end of this post.  Without further ado, following is Herbert’s post, “Word of Love(TM) Marketing.”

Our team at KudosWorks has known and has evangelized for a while now that the most ideal word of mouth unit is the testimonial. When you think about it, testimonials from your customers are really the “positive word of mouth units” that are then spread from friend to friend. If you as a company can sufficiently delight your customers, you will no doubt be able to get your customers to provide you with testimonials. But what is even more interesting is that testimonials are really “words of love”TM. As such, your goal is NOT to just get any kind of “word of mouth” happening but rather “words of love” marketing. Passion is contagious, passion is appealing and passion is compelling.

What it means: Ask for testimonials and you shall receive. Word-of-mouth marketing is good but “word-of-love” marketing is even more powerful. Read more

I’ve written before on my marketing blog about the importance of online influencers in terms of generating an online buzz about your brand which leads to word-of-mouth marketing, new customers and increased brand loyalty. 

Today, I came across a post on The Brand Elastic that discusses brand training, direct to consumers, which discusses how companies like BMW and Sephora are creating customer training programs such as the BMW Performance Driving School and Sephora University to teach customers how to get the most from the brand and products.

The post led me to think about the incredible possibilities training brand influencers could open.  Can you imagine the degree of enhanced brand loyalty participants in these training classes are likely to experience?  And that enhanced brand loyalty will certainly lead participants to talk about the brand even more, possibly becoming brand evangelists if the experience is memorable and impactful enough.

I’ll be interested to see what other companies open brand “universities” for consumers.  Will this become the next big thing, bigger than animated logos?

Naturally, these sessions will have to be branded as more than just training classes, but there is no denying the power of creating brand ambassadors.

What do you think? 

You can read more about the role of online influencers in People Don’t Trust Web Ads on my marketing blog, MarketingBlurb.

Image source: Flickr

World of Warcraft from Blizzard Entertainment is the most popular online game in the world. The brand crosses international borders and appeals to people in all walks of life, and its loyal followers aren’t afraid to flaunt their love for it.

This week, the number of World of Warcraft players hit a new milestone in its product lifecycle by surpassing 10 million users across the globe. More than 2.5 million of those users are from North America while the majority of the remaining 7.5 million users are from Asian countries. Read more

Every company wants high customer retention numbers, and the car industry is always particularly focused on brand loyalty.  A recent report from J.D. Power and Associates focused on analyzing customer retention for car manufacturers.  The report tracked loyalty to the manufacturer rather than specific brands within the manufacturer’s product line.  For example, if a customer switched from a Scion to a Toyota or a Toyota to a Lexus, that customer was considered to be loyal to the manufacturer overall. Read more