(Time to read this Blog is about 4 minutes)
Before we get to the main topic, here are a few things to get you thinking or smiling:
- My Biz Quote of the week:
“There are two very different ways to feel good about ourselves. One is to do the ongoing work to become a better version of ourselves, and the 2nd way is to put everyone else down so that, by comparison, we feel ‘better’ than them. Choose wisely!”
…Donald Cooper.
- Quick Biz Tip:
Are you a great place to work? Finding, engaging and retaining top performers is the biggest challenge in most businesses today. But, it’s a lot harder if you’re not a great place to work.Do you have the business culture, employment experiences, compensation & benefit package and career opportunities that make you the clear and compelling employer in your industry or area?
For help getting this right, download my Biz Tool #B-18 on ‘How to create a Winning Culture’ …no charge. Click Here.
- Fun Beverage Facts. Water is the most consumed beverage throughout the world. Tea is #2, followed by coffee, soft drinks and beer.
- Sad Fact. Sports Betting has become a plague. A recent Survey found that 52% of Gen Z investors (up to age 29) have redirected some of their investment money to sports betting, and 26% considered sports betting to be a part of their long-term financial strategy. OUCH!
- Hate their job, but stay for the health insurance. A new Survey shows that 1 in 4 Americans are staying in what they consider to be a ‘bad job’ because of the health care insurance benefits.
- AI Update. Workers at Hyundai’s main plant in South Korea have gone on strike over AI powered humanoid robots. While the company hasn’t yet rolled out humanoids on the assembly line, it plans to soon. So, the union has launched a partial strike to secure pre-emptive job protections and other labour and wage guarantees.
Now, to this week’s important topic…
Do you have a clear & compelling Brand Promise…and do you deliver it?
Every industry and every market is over-served and under-differentiated. Whatever product or service you sell, you need to clearly differentiate yourself in a way that matters to your target customer. And then you need to effectively communicate that clear and compelling value either in your name or in a carefully crafted brand statement.
Examples of really great company names are ‘Affordable Dentures & Implants’. No confusion there. There’s a chain of stores in New Zealand called ‘Cheap Liquor’. No confusion there. As a passionate gardener, I love ‘Miracle Grow’ fertilizer! Its chemical formula is 15-30-15, but that’s definitely not a ‘grabber’. Lots of companies sell 15-30-15. Only one sells ‘Miracle Grow’. But, here’s the thing. It had better make stuff grow! You must keep your brand promise.
For years, Oceania Cruise Lines promised ‘The Finest Cruise At Sea’. After several culinary ‘misses’ on an Oceania cruise last year, I asked a waiter, who had been with them for 15 years, about their promise of ‘The finest cuisine at sea’. He looked me in the eye and said, “We used to be.” Unable to get the food thing right, Oceania recently changed their brand promise to ‘The Joy of Travelling Well.’
We’re big fans of Regent Cruise Lines, but they need to clarify their Brand Promise…and then they need to deliver it better. As a business, if you don’t know who you are and what you commit to deliver, how can your Team and your customers know who you are and what you commit to? Clarity begins at the top…and it seems to be missing at Regent.
If you look at Regent’s ads and look around their ships, they seem to have five Brand ‘positioning statements’ on the go at the same time. Never a good idea. In the last year, I’ve seen these different Regent ‘positioning statements’. They are:
- Luxury Perfected.
- An unrivalled experience.
- Unrivaled at Sea™
- The Most Inclusive Luxury Experience®.
- Nobody does it better. (introduced in December 2024).
The most recent one, ‘Nobody does it better’ is ‘borrowed’ from the Carly Simon theme song for an old 1977 James Bond movie. In my opinion, this is the weakest of the 5. It lacks originality and it appears not even to be true.
In spite of this new claim that ‘Nobody does it better’, Surveys of the best luxury cruise lines, rated both Viking and Seabourn higher than Regent, which is in #3 spot.
Another Survey of luxury cruise lines by the well-respected Travel & Leisure Magazine, rates Viking as #1 and Regent as #4.
You can take a 3-year course on Advertising and Branding. Here’s Cooper’s 4-second course on Advertising and Branding. “Advertising is Creative Bragging. And, first you get good, and then you brag.” That’s it. You don’t brag and then try to figure out how the heck you’re going to pull it off. That will end badly!
Regent Cruise Lines, like every other business on earth, needs to come up with one clear, powerful, believable and deliverable Brand Promise that ‘grabs’ their target customers, clearly differentiates them from their competitors, makes them famous and grows their bottom line.
What does that look like in your business?
That’s it for this week…
Live brilliantly and be kind to each other!
Donald Cooper
