Paul Rankin's Carefully Selected Diglycerides

We often talk about the need for brands to be transparent and have integrity. Today we purchased some of Paul Rankin's Irish Potato Farls which looked like good quality trustworthy product. As the packet told us, they were warm, wholesome and natural. The packet states that "Paul Rankin (TV celebrity chef) has selected only the finest ingredients to create these Irish potato farls".



Interestingly though, the ingredients list reads as follows: Partially reconstituted dried potato, wheat flour, vegetable oil, salt, preservatives (calcium proportionate, potassium sorbate), Emulsifier (Mono-and-Diglycerides of fatty acids), Stabiliser (Diphosphates), Colour (Beta Carotene).

Either they are lying that Paul Rankin selected these ingredients himself, or Paul Rankin has a very strange choice of makes the finest ingredients.

As we keep saying brands need to stop patronising their customers and start living upto the claims they make. In the long term, its the brands that show genuine integrity that will earn the greatest following and therefore success.

This blog is supported by the ethical brand experts, Scamper Brand Strategy.

Green Business Brands Video Presentation

The first in our series of video presentations is now available to view here, giving an overview of the issues to consider when developing brands for green businesses.

This blog is supported by Scamper - The pioneers in Sustainable Brand Strategy

Live the Brand

I saw this today and thought that it really nicely summed up the importance of living up to your brand as explained in my previous post (actions speak louder than words).

I think it speaks for itself.

This blog is supported by Scamper - The pioneers in Sustainable Brand Strategy

Actions speak louder than Words

I've noticed recently that there have been a lot of companies making claims about their businesses, products and services that they cannot substantiate, particularly when it comes to environmental credentials. Here's a bit of quick advice for anyone thinking of jumping on the bandwagon.

People like to hear interesting stories - sometimes good, and sometimes bad. So if you're doing something good that will interest your target market, then by all means tell them all about it. It will gain their attention, raise their perceptions about you, and give them something positive to tell to friends, family and colleagues. There is no better way to promote yourself.

However, you should never underestimate your customer. Many companies, particularly in their marketing strategies, think that it is sufficient to simply tell the customer good stories. Big mistake! Customers may well want to hear the stories that you are telling them, but thats because they want them to be true. Therefore, if they find out that you're claims are not entirely honest then you're in trouble.

If you're not what you say you are, you'll get found out. Your story may have been good, but the story about how you misled them and others is even better! That will be the story that spreads.

Overselling yourself may well help you increase short term sales, but it will destroy your brand and your business in the long run. It will raise suspicions, generate rumors, and turn customers away.

Its quite simple. If you want a successful, sustainable business, then make sure that you can live up to your promises. If you're doing something good, then tell the world about it, but if you're not as good as your customers would want you to be, then you're better off keeping your mouth shut.

This blog is supported by Scamper - The pioneers in Sustainable Brand Strategy

Losing their Innocence

Innocent Drinks has been criticised by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for making false and misleading claims. Innocent have agreed to remove claims from the marketing of their Superfoods Smoothie that it neutralises toxins in the body. However, they disagree with the ASA's judgement that the smoothie is only equivalent to one portion of fruit, rather than the two portions claimed. Whatever the facts, the ASA's criticism is surely a blow to Innocent whose success as a brand is strongly attributed to the consumers trust in the fact that they are, as their name suggests Innocent.

News of this kind can spread quickly, erode the authenticity of the brand and turn consumers against it. Hopefully Innocent will learn from this mistake and ensure the accuracy of any claims in future.

This blog is supported by Scamper - The pioneers in Sustainable Brand Strategy

Sad passing of ethical business leader

We all at Scamper are deeply saddened by the death of Anita Roddick on the 10th September 2007.

In her lifetime, Anita got involved in campaigning for environmental and social issues, and founded Children On The Edge, a charitable organisation that helped the children in Eastern European countries and Asia.

She is best known as a founder of the ethical and environmentally friendly beauty products brand The Body Shop, which played a leading role in bringing awareness of environmental and social issues to main stream consumers. The company was one of the first to prohibit the use of ingredients tested on animals and one of the first to promote Fair Trade with third world countries.

She has left a message for the Friends of the Earth's 'The Big Ask' march calling for a strong climate law.

This blog is supported by Scamper - The pioneers in Sustainable Brand Strategy

Not exactly 100% sustainable

This week the 100% Design exhibition is on in London, and this year is themed around sustainability. It's an interesting show for anyone involved in interiors or the built environment, and there is clearly an emphasis on sustainability in some of the exhibits and seminars.

However, what's worrying is the amount of companies making unsubstantiated claims about their environmental credentials. We asked almost every exhibitor we visited whether their products were environmentally friendly or sustainable. All but one answered yes and gave us what was in most cases a fairly plausible sounding justification. Its concerning because for the majority of people who are not actively engaged in issues of sustainability, it would be extremely hard to distinguish between the genuine and more dubious claims. In the long run this could severely damage consumer trust in environmentally friendly product claims.

Its also making life harder for those companies offering genuine environmental benefits to stand out and attract the customers attention. Long gone are the days of simply stating that products are green or eco-friendly. Producers of environmentally friendly products are going to need to become much more sophisticated in the way they communicate their story to the customer if they are to achieve the competitive advantage that they deserve.

This blog is supported by Scamper - The pioneers in Sustainable Brand Strategy

Advertisers misleading with Green Claims

According to the Sunday Herald, the number of complaints about green advertising has almost tripled in 2007 compared to 2006. Big brands are jumping on the green bandwagon trying to profit from the surge in interest on environmental issues.

The complaints upheld in the last few months include one about a Lexus SUV advert claiming that it had "low emissions" and "zero guilt". Lexus, the luxury car division of Toyota, was told not to imply in future that a car caused little or no harm to the environment. A claim that Toyota's Prius model emitted "up to one tonne less CO2 per year" could not be proved in comparison to equivalent vehicles. Volkswagen was taken to task for describing its Golf GT TSI as having "low emissions". The ASA pointed out that car's emissions were not low when compared to all cars.

A claim by budget airline, easyJet, that its planes "emit 30% fewer emissions per passenger mile than traditional airlines" was dismissed as inaccurate.

Scottish and Southern Energy failed to substantiate a claim that it planted trees "to balance out the CO2 that your gas heating and household waste produces".

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has warned companies not to exaggerate environmental benefits and to avoid "pseudo-science" and "sweeping or absolute claims".

Its an inevitable but sad case that big companies are jumping on the bandwagon because it not only misleads the public, but it also erodes public trust about 'green' products and services. Its a good sign that the ASA is taking the issue seriously and clamping down on those making false or unsubstantiated claims.

This blog is supported by Scamper - The pioneers in Sustainable Brand Strategy

Car rental not Abel to live up to its brand promise

We recently came across an excellent example of how businesses can erode their brand value chasing short-term profits.

Abel is Queensland’s low cost car rental company, promising great value and exceptional customer service. And they do a fairly good job at delivering their promise. On one condition - That you bring the car exactly as it was when you rented it.

When we returned our rental car recently in Brisbane, the staff found a tiny car park dent on the front wing that we had not even noticed. Well, it shouldn’t have been the end of the world because we had paid for the most comprehensive damage liability waiver, limiting our liability to $275 AUD.

But what we didn’t know was that Abel has a $330 dollar accident-processing fee written into their small print. That’s more than the liability itself!

On top of this, they charged $53 demurrage for the car being taken off the road for repair, and $277 for our liability, which is $2 more than agreed in the rental agreement.

Whether it was in their small print or not, the marketing was clearly framed to deceive the customer and when the charges were questioned, the illusion of customer service quickly evaporated. If we didn’t settle in full on the spot, they would continue charging us for the car rental until we paid. And it wasn’t just us, another customer got stung for the same thing while we were still in the store.

The core of any successful brand is telling an authentic story, and we would have happily have told others of our positive experience if Abel had lived up to their brand promise. Instead, we quickly told everyone we know in the area to avoid Abel like a plague.

We subsequently rented a couple of cars from Thrifty, who provided genuinely friendly and honest customer service, did not have any horrors in small print, and seemed to have a very reasonable attitude when assessing the cars on return. On one occasion, they didn’t even check the car telling is that as long as we haven’t crashed it, a few nicks and scratches don’t matter, and that they trust us when we say we’ve filled it with fuel. Now that’s service that we’ll recommend.

Thrifty have won themselves a long term customer by projecting a very positive brand image that cares for and trusts their customers, whereas Abel’s pursuit of short term profits has cost them more than the extra charges incurred.

The message is simple, if you want to build a valuable and sustainable brand, your service must live up to your promise. If it doesn’t, you’re digging your brand an early grave.

This blog is supported by Scamper - The pioneers in Sustainable Brand Strategy