Jim Huebner Hmmm V9

YOU ASKED FOR IT

"The towels were so thick there I could hardly close my suitcase ."

—Yogi Berra

June 19, 2012MAYBE WE CAN ALL GET ALONG?...

BRAND OBSERVATIONS OF THE DAYFrom my random collection of info sources, here are some highlights related to the brands of our times...

• FINALLY, something Republicans and Democrats can agree on...The results of a study by Brandology were released last week—it measured and compared the level of attachment Republicans and Democrats had to specific brands. While there were plenty of categories they didn’t see eye to eye on, it was a regular lovefest between the two when it came to Coke, Visa, Google, Apple and Olay. I can see it now: a room filled with lovely-skinned politicians, sipping on Cokes, searching the web on their Macs, looking for ways to pay off the debt...together!

JIM HUEBNERj [email protected]

Hmmm.

Brought to you by popular demand of a client, my mom, and some folks I met at a church potluck

From the remaining gray matter of Jim Huebner

Information that will make you smile, groan or think...

I guess maybe something got lost in the translation when this sign went up somewhere in Asia...

© 2012 Hmmm by Jim Huebner

My daughter, Maddy, is basically a utilitarian. Clothing aside, she’s not necessarily the most brand-loyal member of our family, but usually just buys what makes the most sense.

That’s why I was curious to observe her shopping behavior the other day after she’d had a small mishap with some ketchup. Having missed her mouth, but not her shirt, Maddy was in quick need of some stain remover, and the local CVS proved to have several options.

Option 1 was Tide-To-Go® —a brand trusted by our family and typically found in our home. Option 2, however, provided a bit of a dilemma for my value-minded daughter. The CVS-branded stain remover was 27% less money—a savings of about $1.

I could see her deliberating as she stood there... “The brand I know, or the savings of $1?” she wondered. Then it dawned on her. She had a very specific need—to remove the ketchup stain from her shirt. She quickly turned the packages over and scoured the product features to see if either (or both) specifically listed ketchup as something it could handle. And there it was—the

product feature she was looking for, listed on the Tide-To-Go and not on the CVS branded stain remover “...ketchup stains, ...”

That’s all she needed. The peace of mind that it could tackle her specific need was more important than chancing it with the off-brand, even though it was a 27% difference. And a product feature/benefit—not price—made the sale...again.

Jim Huebner is President of HuebnerPetersen Marketing Communications.The firm was established in 1989 and specializes in helping make manufacturers heroes to their dealer and distribution networks through strategic brand positioning, integrated marketing, and front lines marketing services. You can reach Jim at [email protected] or on LinkedIn.

WORDS TOLIVE BY

Finally brethren,whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure,

whatever is lovely, whatever is of good

repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on

these things..

–Philippians 4:8

Feature/Benefit wins over Price...again.

...and straight from the HuebnerPetersen blog...! PAGE2