Case Study: The Toronto Raptors Build Brand Community with #WeTheNorth

Although I have been in the marketing game for many years, I can count on one hand how many times the term “brand community” has come up in conversation. All of that changed earlier this year, when the Toronto Raptors were in the NBA playoffs for the first time since 2008. To celebrate, and promote Raptors as Canada’s Team, the team rebranded and launched “We the North” — a campaign that aimed to showcase the Raptors, Toronto, and Canada, in a way that NBA fans have been unfamiliar with.

Think back to spring – the Jays were off to a weak start, and Canada only had one team in the NHL playoffs. Meanwhile, the Raptors were playing on point and Sid Lee saw an opportunity to take the city, and the country, by the throat and they redefined a brand.

Before, the Raptors had been labeled as NBA outsiders, partly because they are the only NBA team in Canada, #WeTheNorth, launched by Sid Lee, flipped the public’s perception of the Raptors from negative to positive. The campaign launched with success, and embraced the things that have always made the Raptors outsiders – “We are the North side, a territory all our own. If that makes us outsiders, we’re in.”

Redefining what it Means to be a Canadian Basketball Fan

The first campaign video was released on social networks in the days leading up to the first playoff game on April 19^th. Drake and Justin Bieber both retweeted the video, and in two days the video had 500, 000 views. That was the tipping point.

Following the launch, the Raptors transformed from an irrelevant squad, to one that won the Atlantic Division and secured them a spot in the playoffs for the first time since 2008. We The North is now every Raptors’ fan’s basketball mantra.

The Raptors truly built a successful brand community, by first understanding that the brand’s future community will be made up of a homogenous group of people with different wants and needs. By considering the diverse possibilities of who could be in this homogenous group, the brand is better situated to serve the various wants and needs of the community, and respond to the community more effectively. To that I say, well done Raptors, well done.

Please enjoy watching their campaign video: http://www.nba.com/raptors/video/2014/04/16/NBA140416WETHENORTHflv-3239858

What do you think of brand community building? Can you think of another brand that has successfully built a brand community aside from a sports team? What do you think has made these other brands successful within those communities? Share your thoughts in our comment section.

Advertisement

Holidays, Giving, and Brand Building

Much like celebrities, your business is in the public eye, even if it’s a B2B business, so you probably receive requests for donations, and solicitations for sponsorships all the time.

How do you make the decision whether or not to respond to all of them? Do you cherry pick a few organizations to help, or go with your personal bias and choose a charity close to your heart, or do you choose based on what is right for your brand / business? Depending on your answer, you approach could cause you to miss out on opportunities to strengthen your brand through charitable efforts.

Compared to yesterday’s customer, today’s customer is much savvier and expects more from your company. Today, they have greater access to company information, so it’s pretty transparent when a business does a few good things to boost their reputation, versus a business that has put all their charitable efforts and resources into making a real impact on society.

As a business owner myself, I recommend shifting your business’s approach from obligation (something you feel your company should do) to opportunity (something your company might want to do).

To decide whether or not you should make that donation on behalf of your company, think about the following things first:

1. Does this organization have relevance in your industry?

Support issues and platforms relevant to your industry. If you are part of the food industry, try getting involved with a charity that promotes healthy eating habits, provides meals… etc.

2. Does this organization have community relevance?

Your customers are your community. Ask yourself, would your customers be on board with your charity of choice?

3. Is this organization relevant to your target market?

By supporting causes your target market cares about, you gain their attention, respect and trust (something businesses can spend years and big money building). Align yourself with what appeals to your target.

4. Does this organization have brand relevance?

By having your charitable efforts feed into your brand identity and positioning you will reinforce your brand message, and differentiate yourself.

To support an organization is a strategic decision, and if selected carefully, it won’t dilute your brand’s core values. If anything, selecting an appropriate charity communicates your goals and ideals more clearly to your target customers and partners.

Also, don’t forget – as much as donating to or sponsoring a charity is beneficial to your brand, it also just feels good to give.

Is your business involved with a charity? If so, why did you pick that charity? What was your approach, and what do you hope to gain (if anything) by involving yourself with that organization? Share your thoughts with us in the comment section!

Impressions vs. Leads: Where Does The Real Value Lie?

As the owner of a strategic marketing agency, clients often ask me how many leads were generated from a campaign. My answer is often the same; what was the objective of the campaign? Was the campaign launched to generate leads or impressions?

But wait; can you have a lead without ever having made an impression?

If you are a smaller, unknown brand then generating leads can be challenging, but which comes first, the chicken (lead) or the egg (impression)? Although your marketing strategy should determine the objectives of a campaign, if you don’t have one, consider that there is a huge value in an impression.

In the spirit of “any PR is good PR”, impressions measure the number of times your ad was seen, which we consider to be brand building (a part of any solid marketing strategy). If someone sees your ad and, although they may not be your target market, they mention your ad to someone else they know who is in your desired target market, then voila, you have a lead! Now you must ask yourself how many viable leads resulted from that single impression.

Of course at the end of the day, marketing must measure engagement in hard metrics (like clicks, and conversion rates), but it is equally important to remember quality is more important than quantity and the path to that lead is often not as direct as you might think!

The engagement cycle takes many forms, starting with an impression that may result in a lead. In your online campaigns, which do you feel came first – the chicken or the egg? Share your thoughts in our comment section below.

Case Study: How Strategic Crisis Management Can Save Your Brand

Good brands are not immune to disasters, and disasters have the capability of ruining relationships you have spent time and money on building with your customers (such is the case with Jian Ghomeshi’s personal brand right now!).

Although there have been many large brands that have suffered brand crisis’s, I wanted to highlight Maple Leaf Foods and Johnson & Johnson’s because I particularly liked the way they handled themselves in brand crisis’s that had the potential to seriously damage their businesses.

The two case study’s below underscore the need for having a successful brand management strategy in place to help you navigate your brand out of whatever sticky situation you may be in.

Maple Leaf Foods

On August 23, 2008 a Toronto Maple Leaf Foods plant was involved in the outbreak of the food-borne illness, Listeria, caused by the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes. One day later, Maple Leaf recalled 23 of its products that were distributed the previous week, and the company estimated the recall would cost it at least $20 million.

So what did Michael McCain, the CEO of Maple Leaf Foods, do to help repair what brand damage had been done? He held press conferences and posted a public apology on the company’s website. Another spokeswoman from Maple Leaf Foods hosted interviews with a wide range of media, and they ran TV spots and advertisements in newspapers. Their strategic approach reassured customers that the risk was gone, and that they could feel confident in Maple Leaf Foods once again.

Johnson & Johnson

In Chicago in 1982, the leading painkiller medication in the United States at the time faced a horrible crisis when seven people died after taking extra-strength Tylenol that had been laced with Cyanide. Bottles of Tylenol were tampered with and once the connection was made between Tylenol and the reported deaths, public announcements were made to warn people about consuming the product. As a result, it’s market share decreased.

Pretty bad, right? Well, it could have ruined their business, but Johnson & Johnson was quick to respond and immediately removed the product from shelves across the US, which accounted for about 31 million bottles, and a loss of more than $100 million. They also stopped all advertising for the product. After, they reintroduced their product to the market with a three-way, tamper-proof bottle. They offered customers a $2.50 coupon on the purchase of their products, and over 2250 sales people made presentations for the medical community to restore confidence that had been lost. Within a year, they had regained their market share.

What’s your brand crisis management strategy? How important do you think having a strategy in place is? To be a tad controversial and push the limits: Do you think there is anything Jian Ghomeshi can do to repair his personal brand? I look forward to hearing your thoughts and insights in the comment section below.