Bizarre Brand is No Brand at All

Posted by Melanie in Branding | 1 comment

I have been staying in a lovely cabin in a pine forest in New Mexico. The cabin was built in 1938 by my great-grandparents, Jessie and Clarence Eiland. I never met Clarence but I loved my great-grandmother Jessie (we called her “Ganie”).  She died many years ago and the whole family still loves visiting the cabin in the woods. Clarence’s name still comes up on caller I.D. when I call people from the cabin.

On Saturday night my family and I went to a dinner show in town. It seemed like a good activity for the family, and we were pretty excited. The ticket price included a family friendly meal and child care during the show, which was a must-have for the twin 3-year-olds.  We made our reservations and showed up on time.

When we arrived we were a little surprised to find out that we were at someone’s wedding reception.  Apparently, one of the local traditions is to get married before the show and then have the show for the reception. We felt a little awkward but enjoyed seeing the bride parade about. It was like getting two shows for the price of one.

The dinner show was a family run business. The same guy who delivered our meal in a t-shirt donned a tux for the role of emcee at the start of the show. One of the daughters was the child care provider. So far, so good.

Then the show started and we watched three of the most talented musicians I have ever seen. The headliner was phenomenal. At one point he played 18 instruments in one song. Someone said he used to be in a band that had 10 gold records. His wife had an amazing voice and was obviously classically trained. The third musician was one of the best guitar players I have ever seen. He also did some good impersonations and was lively and entertaining.

They were individually impressive. As a group, they went wonky.

What went wrong?

The band didn’t take us anywhere. They started with a cowboy theme, moved to rock ‘n’ roll and then, boom, they did a beautiful Italian aria. Later they did some German yodeling and a weird Native American-influenced song that didn’t deliver. At one point, they threw in a little Phantom of the Opera.

It wasn’t the quality that was the problem. It felt like they were out to impress us—to show us everything they could do without giving us a coherent EXPERIENCE. They didn’t act like entertainers; they acted like they were at a basement jam. As an audience member I was left feeling unsettled. This group missed the opportunity to establish their brand and create an experience for us.

At intermission the band sold albums and some really weird flea-market junk that glowed in the dark. It clearly said, “We are not making a living as musicians.” I wasn’t interested in their albums because they didn’t seem to be.

The opportunities:

There were actually two brands at the performance—the dinner theatre itself and the musicians.

The theatre itself actually did fairly well. Their brand was a family owned mountain dinner show, and they gave us what they promised. They could have shown more professionalism and I didn’t love being at the bride’s party, but all-in-all it fit a small town theatre experience and exceeded my expectations.

The musicians had many opportunities to establish a brand. At the end of the show they played us a bunch of different instruments that had previously been owned by famous musicians and played songs that showed the style of each musician. They could have made a great show around this—“influential musicians of our time and their stories.” They could have done “Music in the West: Cowboy Songs, Country Western and Rock ‘n’ Roll.” This would have fit their talents and would have given the audience the feeling of an experience.

I think this band got off track because they wanted to access the talent of the lead singer’s wife. She has an amazing voice and I think she seduced them into doing the aria and the yodeling and the Phantom of the Opera. Sometimes, even when you have talent, you have to think of the bigger picture: the experience of your client.

And there is almost no brand that can overcome selling junk at intermission. Ditch the kitsch!

I can tell you, if these performers had a strong brand, I wouldn’t  have been able to buy a ticket for $33.50, including dinner.

What are your brand opportunities? What have you been hanging onto that you are good at that isn’t serving your brand?  How can you strengthen your brand by focusing on your client’s experience?

This was written in 2008.