It's the End of the World As We Know It… Again

Explicit content warning

04/24/20 • 35 min

Our first episode! COVID-19 is taking a round out of the world economy, and how brands are responding to it holds a number of lessons for marketers and brand owners of companies big and small. We look at what some brands are doing and who's making the most of it.

We introduce the podcast and how we came to name it Kill the Ad Man: it goes back to the start of the company nearly 10 years ago. Kevin Murray and Robert Schmidt introduce each other to the audience and give a little background on Rebox as a company.

So which brands are doing a great job of living their brand promise during the pandemic? Bauer started producing face shields at the end of March and within the first week had over a million orders. They released the design of their mask to the public and encouraged smaller companies to use the design and manufacturing process to get more to market right away.
Dyson developed a new ventilator in the UK in 10 days. And it looks like a Dyson! They’re waiting on approvals, but say they can make 15000 ventilators when they get the go ahead.

Ford is partnering with GE and 3M to make ventilators. Ford is also making face shields and has developed respirators for front line workers using the small seat fans out of their F150 line of trucks. They are living up to their messaging: Built Ford Proud. We’re sure people are holding their heads a little higher around Ford facilities right now.

We raise a glass to the craft breweries and distilleries that are keeping the doors open and making hand sanitizer by the barrel for front line workers and the public.

And who’s not doing such a great job? It seems that while airlines are taking a hell of a loss along with the tourism industry, they aren’t doing a lot to help themselves out any. Rob describes a painful experience with Sunwing, Kevin comments on how those Canadian traveller return funds are actually a loan, which seems both right and wrong at the same time. Not to mention the unnamed political and public figures who are using the pandemic to leverage their own personal brands at the expense of any sense of reality. Which is both greasy and gross.

Finally, we talk about this video which we came across from Under Consideration, and how nearly every big brand advertisement right now looks, sounds, and feels exactly the same way. We’re pretty sure these companies don’t all have the exact same brand, so why is no one standing out? Why are they all the same?

To sum up, maybe those in the B2B and B2B2C space need to take a step back and think about what they’re trying to say in this particular crisis. Things are changing and evolving every day. But if brands remain true to their core purpose and brand, they’re positioned to weather this fairly well.

Thanks for checking out the first episode of Kill the Ad Man. On our second episode, we have a look at how brands have handled other crises, some of their own making, some brought upon them. Either way, how they respond to the crisis informs what comes next. While that’s true for Global Events and Brands, it’s also true for small businesses as well.

Have feedback or a comment to make? Visit http://killtheadman.com and drop us a note on our contact page. Think we’re full of it? Completely agree? Fall somewhere in between? We’d be happy to hear from you. If you want to learn more about what we do at Rebox – a B2B Brand Distillery, visit us at http://wearerebox.com

Thanks for listening! We look forward to getting Episode 2 out very soon.

Cheers,

Kevin M. and Mr. Rob

If you want to read a bit more about some of the brands in today’s episode, please check out the Episode 1 page at http://killtheadman.com/episode

We raise a glass to the craft breweries and distilleries that are keeping the doors open and making hand sanitizer by the barrel for front line workers and the public.

Thanks for listening! We look forward to getting Episode 2 out very soon.

Cheers,

Kevin M. and Mr. Rob

If you want to read a bit more about some of the brands in today’s episode, please check out the Episode 1 page at http://killtheadman.com/episode

Previous Episode

Kill the Ad Man Trailer

Hey and welcome. Kill the Ad Man is a show that provides a swift kick in the ass for marketers needing to be understood. Produced by Rebox - a B2B Brand Distillery and hosted by Rebox's own Kevin M. and Mr. Rob, Kill the Ad Man revolves around topics in the world of branding and communications, with a focus on the B2B world of marketing.

Next Episode

It's the End of the World As We Know It Again… Again.

Hi. Welcome to episode 2 of Kill the Ad Man. It’s kind of a 2nd part to our first episode “It’s the End of the World as We Know It... Again”. We’re going to look into the recent past to see how other brands have handled the kinds of crisis that are thrust upon them... and ones of their own making. This isn’t an episode about crisis management or public relations. But it is instructive for marketers and brand owners to pick up a couple examples of what to do, and what not to do.

Rob starts by discussing how a recent Rebox client needed to change their name after an unknown terrorist group in the Middle East gained a lot more notoriety using the same name. This demonstrates the value of perception of brands in the world, no matter how big they are.

Kevin talks about the recent (and so far, alleged) revelations that Johnson & Johnson baby powder may have been contaminated with asbestos, and how long the company has known about it. How they’ve responded to it resembles another industries response to adverse health claims. How does this response reflect on the brand in the eye of the consumer?

Rob notes the difference between Johnson & Johnson’s baby powder response to another crisis one of their brands faced in the early 1980s. The Tylenol cyanide poisoning crisis in Chicago is cited as a textbook example of how a brand can respond to a crisis. The short-term pain of their actions was paid with enormous benefits in the future.

BP and Deepwater Horizon are discussed, 10 years after the accident. BP’s brand change from British Petroleum to Beyond Petroleum is noted and we talk about how that idea is destroyed by what happens in 2010. We talk about how B2B actions resolve in consumer response.

We close with Big Chief Beef Jerky, a Rebox client who underwent a rebranding with the associated visual identity change to respond to changing consumer perception of their brand. What was acceptable 40 years ago isn’t culturally appropriate today, and Big Chief engaged with the public and First Nations group, investing the time and money into rebranding.

This episode’s lessons: being true to your brand and who you are is going to inform the steps you’re going to take. Your brand needs to work with deliberate intention to work to control its perception in the marketplace.

Rob gives us our first Rebox Rant, telling brands to put their money where their mouth is.

Thanks for checking out the second episode of Kill the Ad Man. Have feedback or a comment to make? Visit http://killtheadman.com and drop us a note on our contact page. Think we’re full of it? Completely agree? Fall somewhere in between? We’d be happy to hear from you.

If you want to learn more about what we do at Rebox – a B2B Brand Distillery, visit us at http://wearerebox.com

Thanks for listening! We look forward to getting Episode 3 out very soon.

Cheers,

Kevin M. and Mr. Rob

If you want to read a bit more about some of the brands in today’s episode, please check out the Episode 2 page at http://killtheadman.com/episode-002/