Time Warner’s naming twavails
by Alan Brew, originally published on www.namedroppings.com
When it comes to name changes, the Time Warner organization has had its share of unfortunate events.
The merger with AOL produced the misbegotten AOL Time Warner for a brief period before Time Warner executives regained their composure senses and dropped AOL from the corporate name. In this case the name was the least of Time Warner’s problems, however unlovely and humiliating it may have been. Its offspring, Time Warner Telecom, made much heavier weather of its naming challenge.
Time Warner Telecom was created in 1993 by Time Warner Cable, a division of Time Warner, and was spun it off as its own company in 1997. A licensing agreement with Time Warner allowed the carrier to use the Time Warner name until July 2006. As the deadline approached the company sought a 12 month extension of the license and undertook a rebranding program with a San Francisco firm. It came up with the interesting name of Avid Networks. It was too interesting for Avid Technology, a maker of sound-and video-editing systems. It sued to block Time Warner Telecom from using the name.
After an initial round of legal sabre-rattling in which the carrier told Avid it “could consent of fight” Time Warner Telecom backed off to rethink and extended its licensing agreement, for a second time, to June 30, 2008.
Whatever happened behind the scenes in the meantime, the company finally changed its name to the safe and anti-climactic TW Telecom on July 1, 2008. “TW Telecom is familiar; it is stable; it is consistent; it is clear, concise and focused — it is who we are,” said Larissa Herda, company CEO, president and chairwoman. Or as the company said on it’s website to reinforce the non-change – “Twied and twue. Same twadition of service. And we are not changing a thing. Twust us”.
Part of the proclaimed logic of the Time Warner Telecom name change was to avoid confusion with Time Warner Cable, which has also been spun-off by Time Warner. Both offer Internet and data services to small and medium businesses. And in some places, the two compete in the business data transport market. Now we hear that Time Warner Cable is also considering a new name although it is under no apparent licensing pressure to do so. It has reportedly launched “Project Mercury”, in an initiative to rename itself sometime during 2010.
No doubt the Project Mercury team will do its due diligence to avoid an Avid situation when recommending a new name to the CEO.
TW Cable anyone?
What are the leading indicators of B2B brand success?
By Ray Baird, RiechesBaird
Do you know what predicts your brand’s success? Most marketing metrics only measure what has happened, using what could be called “lagging indicators.” But imagine the effectiveness of your marketing program if you could identify the “leading indicators” for your brand—the activities, buyer behaviors, and measurements that actually lead to sales and profits.
Progressive marketers and their agencies are exploring this brave new frontier. Instead of just looking in the rear view mirror at historical measurements like sales and market share, they are attempting to look ahead at predictive measures that are the actual precursors of business success. Most “leading indicators” never appear on a financial statement, but they can—and should—be identified, tested, and tracked.
| Lagging Indicators Are: | Leading Indicators Are: |
| Diagnostic | Predictive |
| Backward-looking | Forward-looking |
| Transactional | Attitudinal and behavioral |
| A measurement | A measurement tied to a hypothesis |
Identifying the real causes of brand health is vital to successful brand management. For example, most brands with call centers, which includes a lot of B2B brands, commonly measure such things as time on hold and minutes per call. But these metrics don’t measure or predict real customer satisfaction. Research by Convergys shows that customer satisfaction is predicted by two things: 1) Is the customer service representative knowledgeable? and 2) Is the problem resolved on the first call? (Convergys 2008 U.S. Customer Scorecard)
An important difference
Lagging indicators are simply a measurement. Leading indicators are
Adding UGC to B2B and turning communication into sales
By Jimbeau Andrews, as part of the Guest Blogger Series
At the heart of Social Media are Communities (SMC’s) that facilitate B2B communication in unique ways. B2B marketers that tap into powerful SMC groups can enhance their brand marketing objectives, establish Word of Mouth brand rapport and facilitate the resale of their client products. Social Media embodies the very spirit of B2B marketing by utilizing partner platforms to proliferate the use of their own products and in the process establishing a new virtual retail frontier. Read More »
B2B branding: symbolism versus substance
By Dean Crutchfield, as part of the Guest Blogger Series
Brand is not marketing: It’s about who you are. The role of business is to create customers through marketing and innovation, but customers have often lost out in the relentless push to maximize shareholder value. As Neutron Jack (Welch) would tell you, “Shareholder value is a result not a strategy. Your main constituencies are your employees, products and customers.”
Whether it’s a Business-to-Business (B2B) or a Business-to-Consumer (B2C) brand, it’s all about Business-to-People (B2P if you like). So as we reap the grim harvest of imprudent lending amidst insider dealing, bankruptcy, accusation, claim and counter claim, Read More »
Solar energy: commodity or branding opportunity?
By Marc Cortez, as part of the Guest Blogger Series
Spend any night waiting in line at Disneyland’s Adventure Ride and you’ll hear the usual stories of exploration, fame, and all those in search of treasures at the end of the rainbow. Standing in line this past Tuesday, however, those rainbows were turned up towards the sky, or more specifically, towards the sun.
Ah yes, the solar industry convention is in town.
Certainly solar energy’s time has come. Five years ago this event, the solar industry’s largest national convention, was held in a San Francisco office park atrium. Those of us who participated in that event—held, ironically, during a weeklong driving rainstorm—were giddy that we attracted over 3,000 people to our booths to discuss solar energy. In contrast, this year’s event filled two Anaheim Convention Center halls, attracted over 25,000 people, and occurred during the same week that President Obama announced over $200M of funded solar projects. With everyone talking about solar energy, it’s become mainstream, hasn’t it?
Well, sort of. Read More »
What are B2B companies really buying from their agencies?
By Tim Williams, as part of the Guest Blogger Series
It surprises most agency professionals to learn that many marketers—both consumer and B2B—are intensely interested in exploring a value-based compensation arrangement in place of the traditional hourly rate. A recent position paper from the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) states it clearly: “Traditional metrics used in today’s cost-plus compensation agreements (usually based on time) have no relationship with the external value created for the client in today’s intellectual capital economy. Therefore, pricing should instead be based on results and value created.”
In forward-thinking companies across the country, Read More »
CSR value for B2B brands
By Sasha Strauss, as part of the Guest Blogger Series
Is there value in developing a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) program for a business to business organization? Absolutely.
It is clear that CSR activities can have a tremendous impact on brand image. Yet, when poorly executed, they can give clients the impression that a company’s efforts aren’t only inauthentic, but a brand promotion ploy. Without understanding and addressing the elements needed to create a natural connection between CSR actions and their host brand, activities could actually backfire and cause identity damage.
So what is required to prevent a CSR initiative from being a “me too”? Read More »
The enemy of innovation
By Tom Asacker, as part of the Guest Blogger Series
“Mindless habitual behavior is the enemy of innovation.” - Rosabeth Moss Kanter
Have you noticed that every time the economy goes through its correctional dip (and this is one doozy of a dip) the business press hops on the innovation stump? So do most business leaders, and more and more they inappropriately cry “be innovative” when what they really mean is “be resourceful” (probably because it sounds more inspiring): “Times are tough people. We have to look for ways to do more with less. Let’s innovate!” It certainly sounds more scholarly than, “Let’s make do!” or “Buckle down!” But it’s still wrong. Innovation is not a mandated, disjointed course of action for optimizing daily activities. It’s a collaborative, strategic endeavor designed to add value to marketplace offerings, while increasing the value of one’s brand over time. And there’s the rub: “over time.”
I remember reading something prophetic in an entertaining tome by Mike Daisey called 21 Dog Years. In the book, Read More »
Dimensions of differentiation
By Rob Meyerson, RiechesBaird
Differentiate. Decommoditize. Zag. Conventional brand strategy wisdom dictates that in order to succeed, a brand must set itself apart from the competition. Examples of differentiation-driven success abound, and in fact most of the support for differentiation seems to be delivered through case study or anecdote.
But what do we mean when we say “be different?” Telling stories about brands that have succeeded by standing apart from their competition may support the point that differentiation works, but it leaves something to be desired when consulting with a client on how they can differentiate their organization. Instead of listing examples, I wonder if it’s possible to think more systematically about the dimensions along which a brand can differentiate.
I use the word “dimensions” because brand consultants (including me) are often guilty of simplifying everything down to a two-dimensional graph, plotting the competition on the axes, and pointing out where a client has room to stand apart. To illustrate, here’s one of my favorite two-axis graphs from xkcd.com, poetically entitled “F*ck Grapefruit.”
(I can hear the conference-room conversation now…
Read More »
Announcing the Guest Blogger Series on The B2B Brand Debate
The B2B brand debate is approaching its first anniversary. To celebrate, we’re proud to announce our first Guest Blogger Series, featuring posts from well-known and highly respected individuals from the world of branding and marketing—guests like Dean Crutchfield, Tom Asacker, Sasha Strauss, and Marc Cortez. The series will begin on Monday morning, October 12th with a post from Tom Asacker entitled “The enemy of innovation.” To learn more about the guest bloggers and read their posts, click here to see our Guest Blogger Series page, which will be updated throughout the series as more guest bloggers are announced and their post titles become available.
As always, we welcome your comments and feedback. Thanks for reading and debating!