The idea of a brand trifecta (the point where marketing meets with sales, and operations) called my attention at a new level. I identified recent examples of this integration, by looking at past experiences during my years in the news media industry. The following is, what I believe, an interesting mix of branding, secondary associations, and also how sometimes a little tweaking can improve the bottom line of a media company without compromising its brand:
The media company where I worked for the past 7 year is known for being a very trusted name in news.
When working for a very recognized news media brand, creating products and developing content that advertisers would love to associate with , shouldn’t be a problem, right?
Well, when the business is to accurately report on absolutely everything, regardless of who’s on power, finding sponsors that want to take the association to the next level could be a little daring.
What happens when you are reporting on a major airplane crash, and a news producer forgets to check their programming logs, only to go to break and discover that the first ad that runs is from a major airline? A lot of damage control.
The same could happen when reporting on famine, only to discover that a restaurant is sponsoring the segment, and has a billboard in the head of break. The examples are countless, and while there are several solutions for these cases, the advertising inventory could suffer from lack of innovation. The most conservatives do not dare to take the product associations with advertisers to the next level in order to play it safe.
Constantly, I was challenged to develop programs with unique looks, which I like to think of, as brands within a major brand, and in those programs, we would develop standalone segments that eventually became little brands within a medium brand inside of a major brand. The idea behind this was to create special opportunities for the sales team to go out there and find exclusive sponsors. The trifecta example I thought of, was a segment dedicated to social entrepreneurship that lived inside a business oriented show. The segment got so big that eventually was sponsored by a major airline. This program went to become a monthly special that brought a good contribution to the bottom line. With segments like this, we were able to establish secondary associations in a difficult industry while still respecting the main brand. This is the perfect example of marketing, sales, and operations joining efforts to explore better advertising offerings.
Last week, I started assessing my Raw Elements for a personal branding exercise. When it comes to personal branding, I was able to identify so many medium, and little brands in elements, such as strengths, potential strengths, personality, and core values, and have to admit that I am still trying hard to recognize my major brand. No wonder, I am having such a difficult time selling it. Let’s see where this takes me.
If you find my trifecta, please contact me.
STATUS: REBRANDING
Tralala Media 