Brand Introspection with Uncle Buck

Here I go again: another movie, another nugget of insight on branding.

This time, it’s Uncle Buck a la John Candy. What a funny guy! I miss him.

As Uncle Buck, Candy plays a bumbling, irresponsible unemployed slacker – who lives in a rundown apartment, drives a crippled 1978 Mercury, smokes cigars, spends his free time in bowling alleys and makes his living by placing large bets and cheating on fixed horse races.

After the father of his brother’s wife suffers a heart attack, he’s asked to stay with their three children while they’re out of town. The parents are horrified about leaving someone like Buck in charge, but they’re desperate.

As it turns out, Buck has a heart of gold and, in his own way, builds a strong bond with the three children.

One of my favorite scenes is the interrogation of Uncle Buck by eight-year-old Miles, played by Macaulay Culkin.

Miles: Where do you live?

Buck: In the city.

Miles: You have a house?

Buck: Apartment.

Miles: Own or rent?

Buck: Rent.

Miles: What do you do for a living?

Buck: Lots of things.

Miles: Where’s your office?

Buck: I don’t have one.

Miles: How come?

Buck: I don’t need one.

Miles: Where’s your wife?

Buck: Don’t have one.

Miles: How come?

Buck: It’s a long story.

Miles: You have kids?

Buck: No I don’t.

Miles: How come?

Buck: It’s an even longer story.

Miles: Are you my Dad’s brother?

Buck: What’s your record for consecutive questions asked?

Miles: 38.

Buck: I’m your Dad’s brother all right.

Miles: You have much more hair in your nose than my Dad.

Buck: How nice of you to notice.

Miles: I’m a kid – that’s my job.

Getting drilled by an inquisitive eight-year old – that’s got to be tough, especially when you’re not comfortable with what you stand for.

And Buck clearly isn’t comfortable. We know this because later in the film he acknowledges that he and everyone else used to think he had it made with no responsibilities and commitments… but not anymore.

By the end of the film, he recognizes he needs to grow up and make some changes.

An honest look at ourselves – that’s what we all need.

It’s the same with brands. You need to know what your brand does well. You need to know where your brand disappoints. And to truly know those things, you need to take an honest look at your brand – how you see it and, of utmost importance, how others see it.

This is the first step in brand discovery. To build your brand, to strengthen it, to enhance it, you need to come face to face with all the warts and all the beauty marks… and go from there.

Easy? No.

Necessary? Absolutely.

Hitch Imparts Important Brand Principle: Be Real

A couple of nights ago, I saw the movie Hitch.

Yes, it’s in the chick flick category, but I’m not afraid to admit that I really enjoyed it.

And I believe an important lesson can be drawn from Hitch for brand builders.

(Anyone familiar with On Brands knows I like to cull lessons on branding from movies. See Defining Brand Personality with Help from Legally Blonde’s Elle Woods and Brand Building with Tiny Rock Hammers.)

In Hitch, Will Smith stars as Alex “Hitch” Hitchens, a professional date doctor, and Kevin James co-stars as bumbling accountant Albert Brennaman. The poor guy has no game whatsoever, but finds himself helplessly in love with a glamorous celebrity, Allegra Cole (Amber Vailetta). Feeling as if he doesn’t stand a chance, he hires Hitch to help win her affection.

From the beginning, Hitch imparts an important lesson we can all learn from: be yourself.

Here’s what Hitch explains to Albert: “She may not want the whole truth, but she does want the real you. Women can always tell when you’re not being real with them.”

With coaching from Hitch, Albert and Allegra’s relationship begins to take off. That is, until a gossip columnist exposes Hitch as the date doctor and causes Allegra to break off the romance, believing her relationship with Albert is a fraud.

This leads Hitch to confront Allegra and try to convince her to give Albert another chance. Here’s the scene:

Hitch: My job is not to deceive, Miss Cole. It’s to create opportunities.

Allegra: Like the boardroom.

Hitch: Would you have noticed him otherwise?

Allegra: Yes… Eventually… Maybe. How did you know all that stuff about me? You really did your homework. (Hitch shrugs)

Like at boarding school when everyone used to tease me because I couldn’t whistle.

And having him dance like a buffoon knowing that I can’t dance, either.

Then telling him to drop mustard on his shirt, so I’d feel less like a dork.

That was all you, right?

Hitch: No. Hell, no.

Allegra: That was him?

Hitch: That’s got Albert written all over it.

Allegra: Did you put him up to the inhaler?

Hitch: Stop it. He did not show you that.

Allegra: He chucked it right before he kissed me.

Hitch: So, wait… that stuff worked for you?

Allegra: It was adorable. (She pauses) What did you do?

Hitch (Beaming): Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Allegra (Beaming as well): That’s good.

Hitch walks away with a new insight: as a professional dating consultant, he doesn’t really do anything too significant. Albert and his clients were mostly successful by just being themselves. All Hitch did was help create opportunity for them and boost their confidence.

At the end of the film, Hitch speaks to the audience on dating with this line: “Basic principles… there are none.”

In contrast, basic principles in branding… there definitely are some.

And one of them certainly is that a brand must earn respect by being true to itself, by being true to what it stands for. A brand doesn’t get respect by pretending to be something it isn’t. To be successful, you’ve got to know who you truly are.

Because eventually, and sooner rather than later, consumers/buyers will figure it out, especially when the brand promise goes undelivered.

Just as Hitch says women can tell when their date is not being real with them, consumers/buyers can tell when a brand is a phony. You can’t manufacture a compelling and authentic brand experience. Brands either live up to expectations or fall flat.

Our job as brand builders is, in part, to help create the right conditions for brand discovery, just like Hitch helps create opportunities for his clients. But the brand must be genuine. Sure, we can try to dress it up, teach it to dance, offer some cautions and tips, and all of that can help a brand on its way… but the brand and its set of promises must be real to stand a chance at claiming a place in people’s hearts.

PepsiCo Faced the Truth with Tropicana

I’m a Coca-Cola guy, but I have to give PepsiCo some mild applause.

When PepsiCo changed the packaging of its Tropicana orange juice, they took a beating.

Designers and brand observers were repulsed by the new design. “Why would PepsiCo mess with one of the best package designs ever?” they asked.

All the criticisms aside, consumers gave PepsiCo the worst beating of all: a 20 percent drop in sales.

PepsiCo initially came out and defended the packaging redesign; however, besieged by the backlash, the company reverted back to the original and much loved straw-in-an-orange design.

I know this is old news, but I think the decision to revert back to the original design has a lesson for all of us. And that is: in branding, we must be prepared to put our egos to the side and face reality.

One might argue PepsiCo had little choice in this packaging debacle, and perhaps that’s right. But it’s not easy to reverse engines, especially when you’ve convinced yourself that the path forward is the right one and invested millions upon millions along the way.

We tend to think we know what’s best for our brands. But in building and managing brands, we need to have a level of objectivity… and we need to be in tune with our loyal customers. I understand this was one of the failings behind the Tropicana packaging redesign: little to no consumer testing.

Despite the firestorm and the millions lost, PepsiCo has at least gained strong confirmation that its Tropicana orange juice brand is well loved.

I mean, really… who knew that people cared so much about the packaging of their orange juice?

A brand with real juice: apparently, Tropicana!