If you are a local government or publicly-funded organization, or a non-profit entity, then now is the time for you to create a compelling brand or refresh the one you already have. Brand is all about relationship and both the economic conditions and the high mistrust of government means that your relationship with those who fund you may be suffering, without you even being aware of it. And the steep drop in consumer spending will be more than matched by a drop in contributions and support for the governmentt and non-profit sectors.
If you are a local provider of governmental services, then you may be suffering through an association with the governmental master brand - “those folks in Washington.” The record level of mistrust and frustration with the national government means that organizations who provide local services need to renew their relationship with those who fund them. Brand is all about a trusted relationship. How trusted is the one your local citizens have with you? Do they feel that you provide an important service and do so in a highly efficient and trusted manner? Or do they associate you with a bloated and misguided bureaucracy?

What should you do?
First, assess where you stand today. Survey a percent of your local citizens. And conduct some deeper interviews to get at what is really important to your constituents. Look for areas where you can not only fix problems, but where you can innovate new solutions.
How deep is your relationship? Do citizens support you out of a sense of necessity, or do they feel proud to be associated with you? Are they loyal to what you stand for?
Review your value proposition. Are your services still what people need? Do you deliver them in a way that matches your community’s lifestyle and adoption of technology? 
Have members of your community give feedback on your brand identity. What does your name, logo, etc. communicate to your community? Do they convey that you are professional, yet approachable?
Finally, how do you maintain and build on the relationship you have? Newsletters? Community events? What about blogging? Do you do these on a consistent basis. How effective are they and how do you know)?
If you are a leader in your organization, then you need to have a good handle on your brand strategy. Don’t wait until the next election cycle.
Do it now.

Popularity: 21% [?]

Some colleagues and I were discussing the branding of the Green Works cleaning products when I was in New York last week. As you may know, Green Works is the eco-friendly brand by Clorox. The question was whether Clorox was literally too harsh of a master brand for a group of products marketed for environmentally friendly properties. If Clorox equals bleach, can a Clorox product equal eco-friendly.

When you see the product on the shelf, “Green Works” is the primary brand. This is emphasized by the sunflower drawing and logo. The Clorox logo is also there, but smaller and lower on the package. This allows Clorox to serve as an enabler brand to Green Works. It gives Green Works credibility to the shopper that the product comes from a trusted brand. And having a third-party endorsement from the U.S. EPA helps to verify that this is a genuine green product. I do find it confusing that Clorox chose to have both clear and white packaging, but that is most likely due to the color of the cleaning product itself inside the white packaging.

As a direct brand, Clorox would have had some difficulty going after the green-conscious consumer. Green Works allows them to target this segment with a primary brand. But a green product must also fulfill its primary function, as well as be environmentally safe. If a cleaning product does not perform the job of a good detergent, few people are going to buy it. Both the name “Green Works,” and (more importantly) the Clorox logo tells the consumer that this product will get the grime out, while being safe.

Clorox is a believable endorser brand because of its history. Having non-chlorine bleach products, such as Clorox 2, also helps to close the perceptual gap.

Choosing how to align your parent brands and sub-brands is an important step as you extend your company’s products and services into new customer segments. Think it through and test it out.

Popularity: 55% [?]

What to make of the introduction of the new Walmart logo? Underwhelming in its announcement, it’s almost as if the retail giant wants to test the reaction before putting any commitment or punch behind it.  While the new font conveys a warmer, more approachable personality, the lighter blue may get lost across some backgrounds. The starburst at the end is a real puzzle. What is it meant to convey? A throwback to the 1970’s version of high-tech? Are they trying to join this logo with the introduction of organic foods and a “Walmart is green” campaign? That would at least tie the energy burst with the blue, since blue is the new green. But without any further explanation from Walmart, it just isn’t clear. Which means that the logo, in and of itself, isn’t working.

I don’t know if they did any user testing to a sense if they were hitting the right message and emotional cues. But on it’s own the logo is just too vague. This is a good reminder that all elements in a brand need to be tied together. If Walmart is attempting to reposition itself asa green vendor, and using the logo to convey this, then it needs to be accompanied with some messaging and focus on their environmental policies and practices. If it’s mant to go along with the campaign of “Spend less, live more” then it fails to communicate that.

The point is “who knows?” This isn’t a bad question, if you’ve put out something as intriguing as the Nike swoosh. But the starburst is too blah to make me excited about discovering more about it.

So, it’s a lot of money Walmart is spending to induce a fairly big yawn in the market.

Popularity: 77% [?]

I recently participated in a survey conducted by Forrester Research. The results: spending for E-Marketing and B2B social media will likely remain the same or increase over the next year. In spite of the economic downturn, interactive marketing continues to be seen as a worthwhile investment across 333 businesses that Forrester surveyed. Investment categories included blogging, social networking, email, and search optimization. Traditional marketing tools, such as display ads, should see a decrease in budgeted dollars.

A full 70% of recipients said that their spending would stay the same or increase. As you might expect, professional services, financial services and E-Marketers were the most likely to say they would continue to invest in interactive marketing tools.

How about you? Is this where you’re spending your dollars? If so, you should have an overall game plan and mapped out campaign, and a way to measure success. This is way to make your emarketing a tool for long-term growth and success, not just the “next great gimmick” to try out.

E-Marketing should be an important part of your marketing and brand strategy. Incorporate it wisely for the long-haul.

Popularity: 76% [?]