Brand Building and the Art of Lawn Mowing

Wednesday January 30, 2008

It all started innocently enough. I was performing the Saturday suburban ritual of mowing the lawn. Little did I know the Gods of branding were preparing a wrathful brand-building lesson for me.

Blammo! Out went the side of the engine block on my riding mower. I’m not a mechanic, but I know when cast iron engine chunks and hot oil start to shoot out, it’s not a good sign. The lawn mower, a piece of antiquity dating back to the Nixon administration, had been a reliable friend for years. But this explosion was clearly its swan song. I came to terms with the loss and moved on. I started thinking about a new mower.

Since I was working on two large branding projects, the process of designing for customer experience was top of mind. You remember the customer experience, don’t you? The time spent convincing shoppers in stores or online decide to part with precious, hard-earned money.

Back to my mission. Thinking about the buying process, I started with, “What recommendations had I heard from friends?” It should not be surprising this is our first step. Eighty-six percent of us trust people that are like us. This is exactly the reason Capstrat launched Engagement Marketing. In this particular instance John Deere came to mind. I had seen the caps, license plates, frames and t-shirts. My neighbor owns a fleet of John Deere vehicles ranging from a riding mower to a large tractor with all sorts of implements of destruction. His loyalty was so strong, I felt ashamed to even consider another brand.

Step one. Word of mouth value. Research shows we trust friends more than advertising.

So I did a little research online. The John Deere Web site was well organized. I quickly learned the differences between models. This allowed me to compare the features most important to me. I even had the option to skip right to the buying phase and purchase my new mower online. But the price tag was so high I wanted to check them out in real life. The Web site gave me a complete line of dealers. Not just big box retailers but also the small shops. The model that best fit me was only available at a small local dealer. Off I went.

Step two. Most buying decisions start online then lead to the offline world. Check.

As I stepped through the door I was instantly struck by the systematic organization. This John Deere dealer had all the branded signs, both informative and promotional displayed throughout. From any vantage point I could see the signage leading me to different topics. They were all coordinated and all beautifully created. There were displays filled with beautifully packed parts, apparel and oh yeah, lawn mowers.

Step three. Use your environment to always sell your message, not just your product.

John Deere gets this. While plenty of images show mowers, they also focused on the customer benefits. All the grass was bright green, and all the families smiled as they enjoyed their backyards. Lawn maintenance is hard work, but boy, John Deere romanticized it. I YEARNED to cut grass right then.

Within a couple of minutes a sales person approached me. I asked questions, and he answered them. Funny how that doesn’t work everywhere. I immediately felt he was trained on the products and loved talking about them. As an effective sales person, he led me to decisions. He never sold me. Heck! He didn’t need to. I was ready to buy when I walked in. A good brand does that to people. I finally asked for his recommendation. It was the most expensive in the class, but he acknowledged the price, explained it and told me how it fit with my criteria. There goes that customer experience thing again. It was about me. After a five-minute conversation I was ready to buy.

Step four. Fulfill the brand promise in everything you do.

I’m sure nothing makes chief marketing officers cringe faster than realizing their clever, heavily researched advertising does a fantastic job of creating product desire only to be met with the blunt force trauma of sales staff apathy. Sorry, I know that’s harsh, but go through a fast food drive through, and see if you get the same experience as they do on TV. Call me silly, but consumers expect you to deliver what you promise. Too often organizations scrimp on training, particularly brand training, in lieu of larger marketing budgets. Don’t get me wrong, in my business I love large marketing budgets. But, we have to remember to balance the rush of advertising to build bigger audiences with real, sustainable experiences that reinforce the brand over the long term. A fast food chain in our area, Chick-fil-A, is a great example of this. They compete regionally with big chains like McDonald’s and Burger King. Instead of focusing on huge TV budgets, they use lots of outdoor advertising and stick to what they produce well. This allows them to spend more budget educating workers to be better customer service providers. The payout works. They do not over promise on the brand yet they over deliver on the experience. They make me feel less bad about eating fast food.

Step five. Listen to the users. Design and refine.

My new mower is incredibly easy to use. Everything is well designed and engineered to deliver a consistent user experience: the one-pull start, balanced bag holder, comfortable throttle bar and convenient blade lock. It all just works. Clearly John Deere knows the art of lawn mowing. It’s obvious they have spent hours behind a mower. The product continues to get better, and the reward for the brand enthusiast continues to grow along with it. Companies need to have a clear understanding of who owns the brand. It’s not a corporate brand manager. It’s the user. A brand is not what we say it is. It’s what the user believes it to be. To effectively put research into practice, marketers need to both listen and hear consumers. They’re different talents. Great brands do a lot of listening. Before I was enlightened, I practiced the art of self-defense while mowing. My old, disco-era mower would shoot things out, stall repeatedly and clog constantly. With a new mower that lives up to its brand promise, I have it easy. Now I get in the mowing Zen zone and think.

I think about why brand building can be so complex. Then I think about John Deere and the most rewarding brand experience I’ve ever had. The brand promise that’s fulfilled each summer Saturday morning.