By Jack Cumming
Have you noticed that there are product pitches that you welcome and others that you hate? Perhaps the most successful branding campaign in history was “The Love Boat” TV series, which made Princess Cruises a marketing and financial winner. Not only was it a winner for Princess Cruises, it propelled the entire cruise industry into the popular getaway that it is today.
Lucky Branding
The Love Boat was created by producer Aaron Spelling, who was inspired by a book from a former Princess Cruises director. Princess Cruise Lines did not commission the original Love Boat series, but it was a key partner that provided the ships for filming and later used the show’s popularity to its advantage. A great product with a great story can deliver immense success. Although the components for a brand are straightforward, it’s not that easy, or everyone would do it.
First, you have to develop a product or service that makes people feel better about their purchase than alternatives. That way, you can know with certainty that your promotion of what you are selling is constructive. Otherwise, you may be manipulating innocent people into accepting something that is subpar merely to enrich yourself or your employer.
Making Aging Great
For the CCRC industry specifically, differentiators might include offering a Type A (care-inclusive contract option), offering a contract that doesn’t unfairly favor the business over the consumer, maintaining a strong positive balance sheet, employing EMTs or paramedics as 24/7 security team response members, and more elements characteristic of excellence. Your list may include elements like good food, twin sinks in master baths, homelike features, etc. A great brand excels in more than just token features.
Second, your message of excellence has to reach as many people as possible so that people think of your brand when they think of senior living. That requires creative storytelling that captures people’s interest so they stay for the story and don’t resent the intrusion. For instance, the story of a couple spared from impoverishment by an inclusive contract can demonstrate commitment to resident peace of mind with lifelong dignity.
Tell A Great Story
Telling your story requires incredibly capable creative skills, which is why ad agencies are differentiated by their talent and creativity. That’s the toughest task, and it takes a skilled CEO with great judgment to know when the messaging is right. This is a task that ought to be shared but never delegated.
Third is the choice of media that gets your message to those who need to hear it in ways that resonate with them. Media placement is a key advertising challenge, made much more difficult in the current era of ad-skipping, social media, and influencers.
It’s All About People
Never has the task of telling your story been more important or more difficult than it is in today’s atmosphere of cynicism and high consumer expectations. That requires an approach that breaks out from the crowd. My personal opinion, which I don’t expect to be widely shared, is that storytelling has to start with the consumer. I observe that many, many startups imagine that the B2B sale is the way to go to find success. I disagree.
It all begins with people, and all people are consumers. This is especially true for senior living. Senior living relies on trust. A senior living operator, who buys a vendor product because of the nice salesperson who understands the business, makes a big mistake. A vendor product can only help senior living if it attracts residents or if new residents demand it.
The Alexa Opportunity
Consider Amazon’s Alexa. Amazon wisely started with consumers. Many, many residents bought Alexa devices long before operators realized what was happening. The early adopters were residents. That’s true with smartphone apps as well. It’s all about people.
People are emotional. They want credible claims. “We want to care for you for the rest of your life” is stronger than “We offer a proactive, value-based approach to improve residents’ health outcomes.” Appeal to the heart, but make sure you are prepared to deliver on what is promised. Scandal can instantly destroy a brand. That’s why the CEO can’t delegate the story task.
Is It That Simple?
It’s simple. Offer the best possible product at a fair and competitive price. Tell the story of why people will feel better about themselves if they come to you. Then let as many people as possible know of your goodness and integrity.
Of course, it’s not as simple as that makes it seem. Simply asking artificial intelligence how that would work in practice resulted in an edifying analysis, which you can find by clicking here.
An Example
Let’s imagine for a moment something that doesn’t exist in senior living, namely, a trusted brand for your parents when it’s no longer wise for them to live on their own. The name doesn’t matter … yet. It will gain meaning as people come to know it’s the best. A name that pops into one’s mind is “Havenham Homes” or just “Havenham” for short. That it has a meaning doesn’t matter because the Havenham brand will become the meaning.
Havenham is to be a chain of franchised small care homes that agree to high staffing standards and an intimate, homelike experience, much like a treasured bed-and-breakfast inn. Havenham homes are distinguished by continuous learning and innovation. They aim to be the most respected, most trusted senior brand in America.
In addition to its respected brand name, Havenham is distinguished by its tagline, “Safe at home!” A typical storyline runs like this:
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A soft sigh, one that seemed to come from the very depths of her weary soul, escaped 78-year-old Mary as the car tires crunched onto the familiar gravel driveway. The anxious lines on her face, etched there by the confusing afternoon, began to soften. In the front seat, her daughter Anne felt her own tightly-wound tension start to unspool as she watched the word “Havenham” appear in the twilight — not just a name, but a promise of safety.
Anne’s mind had drifted back during the drive, to the warm, golden haze of Sunday nights in her childhood. She could almost smell the sharp, comforting scent of her mother’s buttery biscuits and the rich, mouthwatering joy of her father’s grilled cheese sandwiches. The memory was a vivid echo of a time when her mother was the unwavering center of their universe, the creator of their family’s warmth.
That was before time and age had begun to quietly steal pieces of her mother away. Mary had lived with Anne until the weight of her needs became a burden Anne could no longer manage well. The decision to find her a new home was difficult, a quiet admission of love’s limitations. But finding Kate and Ed’s Havenham board-and-care had been like finding a life raft. It was a place where Mary had her own room filled with her own treasures, and friends who shared the same, foggy map of memories.
Mary was not the only one who sighed with relief with the return to Havenham. The family outing to the local iHop had been well-intentioned, but the chaos of clattering plates and bright lights had quickly overwhelmed Mary. The grandchildren were a source of joy, until they became restless jumping and laughing, making Mary fidget and withdraw, her eyes clouded with a familiar, heart-wrenching bewilderment. But now, as the Havenham sign came into view, a profound calm settled over her, as tangible as a warm blanket.
Inside, Kate was waiting, her smile a genuine beacon. She opened her arms and drew Mary into a firm, knowing hug. “Welcome home,” she murmured, and the last of the day’s confusion seemed to melt from Mary’s shoulders. Anne watched, her throat tight with a gratitude too deep for words, as her mother was guided like a beloved friend returning from a long journey.
Soon, Mary was settled into the gentle embrace of her favorite armchair, its contours molded perfectly to her frame. Her gnarled hands rested peacefully on the worn fabric, and a flicker of the vibrant woman she once was shone in her clear, contented eyes. She was safe. She was known. She was safe at home.
When you think of Mom and Dad, think of Havenham
*******
The new advertising challenge is how to get stories out where people can be uplifted by the relief that Havenham can bring to families struggling to do what’s right for those they love. Perhaps calling it an “awareness campaign” would be better than just thinking of “advertising.” The new challenge reflects changing expectations and new modes of global communication.
Good Reading
Recently, Steve Moran recommended Laura Ries’s book, The Strategic Enemy. Laura’s father was an advertising executive, as mine was. A single truth stood out to me. Computers are not human, and humans are not computers. Ms. Ries puts it differently. She writes:
If you have a bad experience with a brand you love it, you chalk it up to an unfortunate mistake. If you have a bad experience with a brand, you hate, you think, “See, I knew it all along, they suck.”
Computers always deal with the reality of the data. The mind deals with perceptions that can defy the reality of the data. The actual reality of any situation is difficult for the mind to compute if it differs from a strongly held perception.
Human creativity and perception are key to building dominant brand awareness. AI will not take that away from us. Create a better product, make people feel better for trusting you, and then let as many people as possible get the good news.
