2023 IN REVIEW: TOP POSTS (PART 2)

As 2023 draws to a close, it’s time to look back at some highlights from the 52 blog posts we’ve published in the last 12 months. We’ve picked the most popular post from each month, based on the number of views on Linked In. In this second of two posts we look at the top posts from July to December. 

JULY : AVOID CHANGING YOUR NAME BUT NOT YOUR PRODUCT LIKE TWITTER/X 

We posted on Elon Musk’s decision to kill off the Twitter brand and replace it with ‘X’  in July post. Our biggest issue wasn’t the name change per se, although ditching one of the digital world’s most distinctive assets did seem dodgy. Rather, we bemoaned the lack of any substantial product news to go along with the new name. Six months on and we’re still waiting for some product ‘sausage’. 

AUGUST: BE BRAVE TO BREAK CATEGORY CODES LIKE WHISPERING ANGEL

Our summer blog post here toasted the way Whispering Angel disrupted the rosé market to drive distinctiveness. In particular, the brand upped the quality and price point, lightened the colour and boldly branded the wine with an English name. The bold approach had helped  Whispering Angel become the leading brand of premium rosé wine with a 65% market share.

SEPTEMBER:  TACKLE THE TYRANNY OF PRICE PROMOTION like TYRELLS

As we entered the Autumn, we looked here at how Tyrells tackled the tyranny of price promotion. The brand owner, KP Snacks, bravely restored the brand’s price premium, supported by investment in driving distinctiveness, especially in terms of pack design and communication. We particularly saluted the brand’s advertising for beautifully blending emotional “sizzle” and product “sausage”, building on truths about the selection and provenance of the ingredients.

OCTOBER:  DESIGN AN APPROACH TO FULLY LEVERAGE YOUR BRAND ASSETS

This post sharing insight from our 2023 brandgym research project took silver in terms of Linked In popularity, with 15,000+ views. This shows what a hot topic distinctive brand assets (DBAs) is. However, whilst 100% of marketers agreed DBAs are key for growth, a mere 15% of brand assets tested by JKR and IPSOS were rated truly distinctive. How to fix this “execution gap”? We proposed a rigorous and insight-led approach to creating, amplifying and tracking brand assets.

NOVEMBER: MAKE YOUR BRAND ASSETS SHINE like VEUVE CLICQUOT

In November we posted on one brand doing a brilliant job of creating and amplifying distinctive brand assets: Veuve Clicquot. I was delighted to see the brand’s CMO, Carole Bildé, pick up on and share the Linked In post. The Good Morning Sunshine campaign, for example, uses the brand’s distinctive yellow colour to drives recognition. But it also acts as the key to unlock emotional meaning linked to the brand’s “solaire culture”.

DECEMBER: USE YOUR BRAND TO SOLVE A BUSINESS ISSUE LIKE HEINZ

We ended the year with one of our most popular posts, on the “Is that Heinz?” campaign from Turkey, with 12,000+ views on Linked In. The campaign showed how to use your brand to solve a real business problem, in this case independent restaurants re-filling empty Heinz ketchup bottles with other cheaper ketchup brands. The team added the exact Pantone red of Heinz Tomato Ketchup to the labels of Heinz bottles in Turkey. This allowed people to detect if they were being served served authentic Heinz Ketchup. The campaign resulted in a 73% reduction of restaurants doing non-Heinz ketchup refills and a 24% increase in Heinz ketchup usage in street food restaurants.