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« Friday « May 1, 2009
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Pandemics, branding, and casting pearls before swine (flu)
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I just read on AdAge.com, here, that the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) was pushing for a "re-branding" in reaction to the growing swine flu pandemic. As guardians of the pork industry - not the pork barrel industry, mind you - they want the flu referred to by its technical name: "H1N1 Virus." And this is all making me a little sick.
No, I'm not coming down with the H1NI virus flu myself. It's this misuse of branding concepts that's making me queasy. I'm not sure if AdAge or the NPPC is at fault here, but I see this happen time and time again whenever bad news comes down the pipe: let's rebrand.
It's true, the pork industry has a perception problem on their hands, because people hear the word "swine," see pigs in their mind, and then mistakenly think, "I better lay off on the ham sandwiches and carnitas burritos today." You can't get swine flu from eating cooked pork. But yes, this perception problem may result in significant sales losses for the pork industry. Developing a media response to this problem is all fine and good, but we're not talking about branding here. We're talking about public relations. What's make me nauseous is this snowballing notion in the business world that a "re-branding" is a silver bullet that can solve problems of the moment. It's not. Branding is strategic, not tactical, long-term, not short-term. Branding is not an airbrush that you take out and spray over your blemishes.
Your brand is supposed to stand for something. I personally think it should be timeless. The brand should be at the heart of everything you do. In bad or troubling times - like global pandemics or stupid ex-employees doing dumbass things on their shift and posting those exploits on YouTube - your brand should be the hedge that protects the equity and reputation you've earned over a long-period of interaction within your market and with your customers.
When I see brands, organizations, people reacting to bad current events in the world with, "Well, we have to re-brand..." I think they're simply not understanding what it is a brand can do. At the end of the day, you can only solve two basic problems with branding: 1) you can tell your customers how you're different than all of your competitors; and 2) you can tell your customers why you're better. That's it. When you really need it, there people who can tell you more about what branding really is, in all its intricacy.
Pork is competing with beef, chicken, fish, and other food products. Realistically, all a "re-branding" could do right now is reposition the little piggies within this food sector.
The swine flu isn't a branding problem for the pork industry. It's a public relations nightmare. To address it, the pork industry needs a public relations solution. Now, part of that PR solution certainly can be buttressed by the brand strategy already in place, which I think is tied to that "Pork, the other white meat..." tagline, but the solution to swine flu for porkers is not branding.
First, understand the problem. Then use the right tools.
I'm going out and getting a cheezburger, with bacon, for lunch.
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