We get asked (challenged might be a better term) by non-marketing folks, such as CEO’s and CFO’s in B2B environments, how to measure ROI for a company brand. Why bother with brand? How’s it make us money? Why the heck should anyone invest in brand building in this lousy economy? Especially a B2B company?

Fair questions.  Think brands don’t have prescribed value?

Top brands are worth millions.

In a bidding war and negotiation in 1998, Volkswagen paid $780 million for Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. But BMW got the Rolls-Royce brand name and logo for $66 million. According to the New York Times, analysts “quickly declared BMW the real winner of the takeover brawl because the name is considered by many to be Rolls-Royce’s most valuable asset.”

Or billions.
The 2008 BusinessWeek/Interbrand Best Global Brands ranking, created by BusinessWeek and Interbrand, ranks the top 100 global brands, and is typically published every September.

How are rankings determined? Interbrand says it evaluates brand value “in the same way any other corporate asset is valued — on the basis of how much it is likely to earn for the company in the future.” Interbrand uses “a combination of analysts’ projections, company financial documents, and its own qualitative and quantitative analysis to arrive at a net present value of those earnings.” Interestingly, Interbrand adds that brand values are “based on data collected during the 12 months prior to June 30, 2008. This means that more recent developments, including the troubles at Merrill Lynch and AIG, are not factored into the brand valuations.
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Gary Meyers
President

Red Roars!

Here’s recent work from Hodgson/Meyers for WatchGuard Technologies. This campaign was designed to give WatchGuard positioning presence and marketing personality in the crowded network security industry comprised of many competitors with “me-too” propositions. WatchGuard is known for its distinctive red hardware.

We developed the campaign positioning platform expressed here.

Get red. Get secured.

Then we created the red animal ad campaign that WatchGuard is using in print, interactive, and trade show environments. The campaign is also running as backlit display ads in major airports around the world, such as the one below in the United terminal at San Francisco International Airport (thanks to Jason Frummet, our Senior Account Director for snapping this photo with his iPhone for us).

Here’s what our client, Margaret Liddiard, Director of Marketing Communications for WatchGuard Technologies, says,

“This campaign is the most memorable one I’ve worked on in many years. We were searching for a way to make WatchGuard really stand out in a noisy, crowded B2B tech market, and this campaign is helping us do that with the catchy tag phrase and arresting images. And it has been enthusiastically adopted throughout the globe by our field marketing teams and partners. WatchGuard is on the move in the market place, and our Get red. Get Secured. campaign is contributing to our growing brand awareness.”

Gary Meyers
President

We get asked all the time, “What’s with your logo?”

Our logo mascot is the Pileated woodpecker, the largest woodpecker in North America.

These are visually striking creatures, with zebra-striped head and neck, long bill, and distinctive red crest.

They’re noisy; their call is a wild laugh, and their hammering and drumming are audible at long distances.

Woodpeckers are powerful; the holes they make can cause dead trees to split in two.

All characteristics of good marketing, don’t you think? By the way, our woodpecker is named Spike, and he’s federally protected, so you can’t shoot him.

Gary Meyers
President