1121: How to Protect Brand Equity and Address Brand Fatigue w/ Geoff Bibby

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.200 Are you trying to establish your brand as a thought leader? Start a PODCAST, 2 00:00:04.679 --> 00:00:09.750 invite industry experts to be guests on your show and watch your brand become 3 00:00:09.789 --> 00:00:15.750 the prime resource for decision makers in your industry. Learn more at sweetphish MEDIACOM. 4 00:00:20.629 --> 00:00:24.780 You're listening to be tob growth, a daily podcast for B TOB leaders. 5 00:00:25.379 --> 00:00:28.859 We've interviewed names you've probably heard before, like Gary Vander truck and Simon 6 00:00:28.940 --> 00:00:33.219 Senek, but you've probably never heard from the majority of our guests. That's 7 00:00:33.299 --> 00:00:37.850 because the bulk of our interviews aren't with professional speakers and authors. Most of 8 00:00:37.929 --> 00:00:42.490 our guests are in the trenches leading sales and marketing teams. They're implementing strategy, 9 00:00:42.530 --> 00:00:47.049 they're experimenting with tactics, they're building the fastest growing BTB companies in the 10 00:00:47.130 --> 00:00:50.600 world. My name is James Carberry. I'm the founder of sweet fish media, 11 00:00:50.799 --> 00:00:54.479 a podcast agency for BB brands, and I'm also one of the cohosts 12 00:00:54.520 --> 00:00:58.320 of this show. When we're not interviewing sales and marketing leaders, you'll hear 13 00:00:58.439 --> 00:01:00.960 stories from behind the scenes of our own business. Will share the ups and 14 00:01:02.119 --> 00:01:06.030 downs of our journey as we attempt to take over the world. Just getting 15 00:01:06.629 --> 00:01:15.430 well, maybe let's get into the show. Welcome back to be tob growth. 16 00:01:15.510 --> 00:01:19.659 I am your host for to day's episode, Nikki Ivy, with sweet 17 00:01:19.659 --> 00:01:23.939 fish media. Guys I've got would me a day Jeff Baby, who is 18 00:01:23.099 --> 00:01:27.420 chief Marketing Officer at Dick. Jeff, how you doing today? I'm doing 19 00:01:27.459 --> 00:01:30.379 Austin. Niki, thanks a lot for having me. Hey, thanks for 20 00:01:30.459 --> 00:01:34.409 coming and talk to me today. I'm super excited to get into this topic. 21 00:01:34.129 --> 00:01:38.049 I love talking about the value of brands and you're going to tell us 22 00:01:38.049 --> 00:01:42.849 a little bit about your experience with brand revolution and what you've termed the house 23 00:01:44.049 --> 00:01:48.079 of brands approach. But before we get into all of that, I'd love 24 00:01:48.120 --> 00:01:51.519 it if you would just give us a little bit of background on yourself and 25 00:01:51.640 --> 00:01:53.640 what you in the folks Dicks are up to these days. Sure, yeah, 26 00:01:53.719 --> 00:01:57.920 absolutely. Thanks again. I suggested be. I'm Chafe haargeting. After 27 00:01:59.040 --> 00:02:04.230 at Zix we are very focused on one specific area, which is an area 28 00:02:04.349 --> 00:02:08.069 not many people really interact with too much, but it's cloud email security, 29 00:02:08.949 --> 00:02:13.430 the very important area, and thankfully it's happening behind the scenes for most people, 30 00:02:13.870 --> 00:02:15.939 and so I am pumped to be able to talk to you today about 31 00:02:15.939 --> 00:02:22.139 the challenges we face or bringing together many of the different brands that we required 32 00:02:22.139 --> 00:02:23.620 over the last three years. I love that. I love when I get 33 00:02:23.659 --> 00:02:28.419 to talk to the the practitioners, the folks doing the work the sort of 34 00:02:28.819 --> 00:02:34.169 makes all of our cyber worlds go around without us, without us a knowing 35 00:02:34.250 --> 00:02:37.530 about it, and just sort of shine a light on the work that's happening 36 00:02:37.569 --> 00:02:40.490 behind the scenes on that and so to jump right in. A lot of 37 00:02:40.530 --> 00:02:45.560 the work that's happening or that has been happening over the past a little while 38 00:02:45.639 --> 00:02:51.240 for you guys has been this for brand revolution, give us an overview of 39 00:02:51.759 --> 00:02:58.360 what happens in a brand's journey or lifetime that puts them in a position where 40 00:02:58.360 --> 00:03:02.310 it's time to start having conversations about the evolution or revolution of that brand. 41 00:03:02.990 --> 00:03:07.590 Sure, yeah, I'm really fortunate my role that I've worked for a CEO 42 00:03:07.789 --> 00:03:13.580 that really understands the importance of brand. And so what happened for us was 43 00:03:14.020 --> 00:03:16.539 in the general's name is Dave Wagner. He's our LADER. They've joined us 44 00:03:16.580 --> 00:03:22.020 in January two thousand and sixteen and he asked us to evolve the brand at 45 00:03:22.060 --> 00:03:24.900 that time. So in Que sixteen then we lost it in Q, one 46 00:03:25.020 --> 00:03:29.770 of seventeen. We modernize the look and feel of just six. And so 47 00:03:30.770 --> 00:03:35.050 we went out did a very exhaustive process, as we've did both the quantitative 48 00:03:35.090 --> 00:03:38.330 study of a thousand different potential buyers as well as a lot of Anko interviews 49 00:03:38.729 --> 00:03:43.719 with customers and partners. And one of the things that they said loud and 50 00:03:43.840 --> 00:03:47.319 clear with they look at us as the gold standard for being able to deliver 51 00:03:47.560 --> 00:03:53.599 encrypted email and email security, and so that really really hit home with us. 52 00:03:53.680 --> 00:03:55.789 And so we introduced to do color to our color Palette, modern eye 53 00:03:55.830 --> 00:04:00.469 the logo. Then we announced for public company, and so we told the 54 00:04:00.469 --> 00:04:04.389 streets that we're going to continue to grow through acquisition. And so over the 55 00:04:04.430 --> 00:04:10.659 last three years we have done five acquisitions. So I've been really busy and 56 00:04:11.460 --> 00:04:13.740 was part of that. We're trying to find a way to be able to 57 00:04:13.780 --> 00:04:18.699 bring the power of the acquired brands together and a unified story and a unified 58 00:04:19.339 --> 00:04:26.569 visual look and feel that looks coherent to the to the street and helps respect 59 00:04:26.689 --> 00:04:30.610 the brand equity that was already built, and so that's what we've been focused 60 00:04:30.649 --> 00:04:34.569 on right and that's how you came up with you just end up deciding on 61 00:04:34.689 --> 00:04:39.480 this house of brands approach, which will dig into cheer in a in a 62 00:04:39.639 --> 00:04:43.120 second. But we talked to the bit offline and you talked about how, 63 00:04:43.319 --> 00:04:46.519 when a company comes to this point, right, they've got a few choices. 64 00:04:46.720 --> 00:04:51.000 Right, you could do nothing or you can do the on the other 65 00:04:51.000 --> 00:04:55.670 day of the spectrum, the really aggressive thing, and change everything. Talk 66 00:04:55.670 --> 00:04:59.550 a little bit about what those choices looked like for you guys. Absolutely so. 67 00:04:59.790 --> 00:05:01.870 It didn't feel right to do nothing, and you know that would be 68 00:05:02.509 --> 00:05:08.620 just the ultimate and conservative and it would really result in a bit of chaos, 69 00:05:08.779 --> 00:05:11.939 because you can just imagine where you have two teams tell two different stories 70 00:05:11.980 --> 00:05:15.860 and confusing a market. And the whole reason that we brought the two companies 71 00:05:15.860 --> 00:05:18.579 together, and I'm referring to the most recent acquisition being the largest one, 72 00:05:18.620 --> 00:05:23.970 of US bringing together Zix and App River. Each brand was about twenty years 73 00:05:23.970 --> 00:05:26.930 old, and so that a lot of people knew both brands, and so 74 00:05:27.050 --> 00:05:30.490 we don't want to have a state where we just ignore and run a two 75 00:05:30.529 --> 00:05:32.610 separate entities. We didn't want to also go to one new brand, which 76 00:05:32.649 --> 00:05:38.199 is pretty aggressive approach, because we do intend to do more acquisitions, and 77 00:05:38.439 --> 00:05:42.439 so we wouldn't be really future Pur purfing our brand strategy. Very well, 78 00:05:43.040 --> 00:05:46.480 we'd be right back at the drawing board again with, you know, whatever 79 00:05:46.639 --> 00:05:48.959 do they acquire company we have in the future. And so that led us 80 00:05:49.000 --> 00:05:53.269 to the best of both worlds, which was a house of brands approach. 81 00:05:54.069 --> 00:05:58.470 The House of brands approach gives us the opportunity to have one unified story, 82 00:05:59.389 --> 00:06:01.949 but also gives us the opportunity to add other brands in the future as we 83 00:06:02.069 --> 00:06:06.019 go and so for us it was clearly the best option. Yeah, yeah, 84 00:06:06.060 --> 00:06:10.100 I as you talk about it, it sounds like it'd probably be the 85 00:06:10.180 --> 00:06:13.540 best option for anybody going through those things, unless you had something like some 86 00:06:13.699 --> 00:06:18.449 really serious brand fatigue or some negative things associated with the older brand. But 87 00:06:18.529 --> 00:06:21.850 I I like the way that you that you laid that out. But it's 88 00:06:21.889 --> 00:06:26.089 does still seem like a challenge as far as how do you then come up 89 00:06:26.209 --> 00:06:30.089 with what the unified story will be? Because in in redefining the brand, 90 00:06:30.129 --> 00:06:33.600 as you spoke about offline with me, when you love what you do, 91 00:06:33.759 --> 00:06:36.879 when you work on an organization that you believe in and when you've been there 92 00:06:38.000 --> 00:06:42.439 for a while, it starts to become who you are. You do internalize 93 00:06:43.439 --> 00:06:47.189 what's associated with that, with that brand. And so if each of the 94 00:06:47.350 --> 00:06:53.189 folks from these acquired entities has that same feeling for their brand, how do 95 00:06:53.269 --> 00:06:57.470 you go about coming up with the unified story that sort of respects all of 96 00:06:57.589 --> 00:07:01.540 those yeah, really. So it is a big deal and we've enjoyed the 97 00:07:01.660 --> 00:07:05.699 benefit of having an employee based on both sides and of their long tenure to 98 00:07:05.819 --> 00:07:10.500 mean they've stayed and just love the work environments that they've been in, and 99 00:07:10.579 --> 00:07:14.740 so it's a really woven in fabric at who they are. And so so 100 00:07:14.860 --> 00:07:18.089 we involved them, we did a lot of a lot of upfront conversations, 101 00:07:18.329 --> 00:07:24.930 interview as part of the research and interview phase and and involved the you know, 102 00:07:25.170 --> 00:07:29.930 all different levels of the employee based customers and partners to arrive at at 103 00:07:30.000 --> 00:07:38.079 this approach. We then looked at both brands through the Lens of Myers Briggs 104 00:07:38.160 --> 00:07:43.160 personality shelter, so looking at what is what is the actual brand personality, 105 00:07:43.759 --> 00:07:46.509 and then we looked at the same that the same sort of thing and looked 106 00:07:46.509 --> 00:07:49.430 at up to the lens of what is our person what is the brand archetype 107 00:07:49.870 --> 00:07:56.990 people on our industry loved actually use the hero archetype, and so I'm going 108 00:07:57.029 --> 00:08:00.540 to supply you as security. I'm the hero and I'm going to use a 109 00:08:00.660 --> 00:08:03.300 tactic that's likely going to try and scare you. People aren't scared anymore. 110 00:08:03.500 --> 00:08:07.779 You know, the security market has done itself a major disservice by trying to 111 00:08:09.899 --> 00:08:13.850 beat that message into the buyers minds. People don't buy it anymore. They 112 00:08:13.930 --> 00:08:16.730 want to understand how you can help them, and so what we did as 113 00:08:16.810 --> 00:08:22.329 different is when we brought the two companies together. We're actually the the ultimate 114 00:08:22.410 --> 00:08:28.519 personality for us is the Guardian Caregiver, and that the an example of Guardian 115 00:08:28.600 --> 00:08:33.919 caregiver brands. There's all states asvol though, and so we are fiercely, 116 00:08:33.240 --> 00:08:37.240 fiercely protective of, for example, our partners and how we can tell them 117 00:08:37.320 --> 00:08:43.269 grow. We're fiercely protective of our customers and how we can help be supportive 118 00:08:43.590 --> 00:08:48.309 and and strong for them, and so so that's ultimately what came out of 119 00:08:48.350 --> 00:08:52.230 this process in terms of our arch site. I love this, I love 120 00:08:52.309 --> 00:08:56.019 this, what you mentioned. I like how the brands you mentioned that that 121 00:08:56.620 --> 00:09:01.820 have this as their personality type, this caregiver, protective caregiver. Those are 122 00:09:01.899 --> 00:09:07.340 consumer be TOC brands and as much as I think bdb brands can learn from 123 00:09:07.659 --> 00:09:11.490 and take from and apply from what's already working over there, the better. 124 00:09:11.970 --> 00:09:16.009 And this is just a really good example, I think, of where where 125 00:09:16.090 --> 00:09:20.090 that that works, because you're right, in the discipline that you guys working 126 00:09:20.129 --> 00:09:22.889 in, the industry that you guys work in, there is there's a lot 127 00:09:22.929 --> 00:09:26.200 of like, you know, teaching folks to be afraid of the the creepy 128 00:09:26.279 --> 00:09:31.559 hacker and is your stuff secure type situation. That's sort of played out at 129 00:09:31.639 --> 00:09:37.720 this point right and, Sarahs, it's just a really smart way of differentiating 130 00:09:37.840 --> 00:09:41.110 yourself. At the same time as you guys are yeah, of course, 131 00:09:41.149 --> 00:09:43.870 at the same time as you guys are still navigating all this these other things 132 00:09:43.909 --> 00:09:48.509 that come along with growth by acquisition in and and, you know, getting 133 00:09:48.549 --> 00:09:50.269 the most out of brand equity and that. It's just it. It's a 134 00:09:50.389 --> 00:09:54.139 success story. So thank you for laying that out for us. I'll ask 135 00:09:54.139 --> 00:09:58.100 you real quick to give any parting wisdom before we move on to the next 136 00:09:58.139 --> 00:10:03.779 segment. Folks who find themselves in this situation and navigating these types of decisions 137 00:10:03.820 --> 00:10:07.019 on maybe where to begin, where to focus their energy first, or just 138 00:10:07.139 --> 00:10:09.409 how to get through it all. Sure. Yeah, so I can't emphasize 139 00:10:09.450 --> 00:10:13.690 enough the deed to reach for an agency in this case. So we reach 140 00:10:13.809 --> 00:10:16.850 for an agency. They did an excellent job for us and name Studio Science, 141 00:10:18.169 --> 00:10:20.519 and they walk this through their process, which was research. Then we 142 00:10:20.600 --> 00:10:24.559 get into a strategy, which I just talked about. We then moved into 143 00:10:24.600 --> 00:10:28.600 what everybody finds is the really exciting phase, which is, you know, 144 00:10:28.720 --> 00:10:31.840 then you get into the brand level messaging and then, and finally, really 145 00:10:31.840 --> 00:10:37.269 exciting phase, which is when you're testing your level of conservativeness or progressiveness on 146 00:10:37.350 --> 00:10:43.029 the brand visuals and so so that's always a really fun part. But messaging 147 00:10:43.230 --> 00:10:48.909 one there's one step that I think people can miss or just breathe past, 148 00:10:50.019 --> 00:10:54.700 which I can emphasize enough, and that is we took the time to test 149 00:10:54.740 --> 00:10:58.899 our messages, of which there were six potential messages, and we tested that 150 00:10:58.100 --> 00:11:03.700 in a quant study of a thousand buyers. And the reason that gives you 151 00:11:03.820 --> 00:11:07.610 so the reason s important step, is when you get seedbacks without potential buyers 152 00:11:07.769 --> 00:11:13.649 and they very universe really support you know your top three messages. It gives 153 00:11:13.690 --> 00:11:18.129 you an incredible level of confidence as you bring those messages to your sales teams, 154 00:11:18.250 --> 00:11:20.879 your partners, to your employees, and so for us that is a 155 00:11:20.919 --> 00:11:24.799 really key piece of the process. I love it. That's so important confidence. 156 00:11:24.919 --> 00:11:28.600 Anything that you can do to you mentioned, give confidence, particularly with 157 00:11:28.720 --> 00:11:31.080 your with your sales team, between sales and marketing teams, in particular, 158 00:11:31.799 --> 00:11:37.629 things that engender trust in the data, confidence in the data to where that 159 00:11:37.830 --> 00:11:41.309 message is something that sales people individually are having to think or, God forbid, 160 00:11:41.429 --> 00:11:46.669 second guests, because they've been they've they've seen it proved out. I 161 00:11:46.750 --> 00:11:50.419 think that's really important. Thank you so much for for coming and sharing your 162 00:11:50.460 --> 00:11:54.220 experience with us and laying out how you guys have been able to successfully navigate 163 00:11:54.379 --> 00:11:58.019 this. So now, Jeff, that I have successfully picked your brain and 164 00:11:58.139 --> 00:12:01.419 seeing what I could get out of it, it is time for you to 165 00:12:01.490 --> 00:12:03.769 tell us about what you're putting in it. So tell us about a learning 166 00:12:03.889 --> 00:12:07.409 resource that you've engaged with that is, you know, informing your approach. 167 00:12:07.490 --> 00:12:13.289 That's just got you excited these days. Yeah, I am a very privileged 168 00:12:13.330 --> 00:12:18.279 position to enjoy the benefit of being the number to cloud service provider from Microsoft, 169 00:12:18.519 --> 00:12:22.559 and you know, they are a brand that's been around for a long 170 00:12:22.600 --> 00:12:26.600 time, that people don't necessarily look too but I am, I have been, 171 00:12:26.679 --> 00:12:31.309 absolutely blown away by the way they live their values, and so I 172 00:12:31.190 --> 00:12:35.230 just this week within Vegas that they're one of their major conferences. They are 173 00:12:35.350 --> 00:12:41.629 operationalizing a value that I hold near and dear, which is empathy, and 174 00:12:41.830 --> 00:12:46.940 talking about how they can turn empathy into something that is incredibly powerful as a 175 00:12:48.059 --> 00:12:52.059 way to, you know, have success at the scale, and if you 176 00:12:52.139 --> 00:12:54.580 haven't seen what they're doing in that regard, I highly suggest you check it 177 00:12:54.700 --> 00:13:00.049 out. They have a very unique model for being able to bring empathy the 178 00:13:00.129 --> 00:13:05.049 bear, which first starts with proximity and getting to know a situation then moves 179 00:13:05.129 --> 00:13:11.090 into a few other steps. But for me, as crazy men as it 180 00:13:11.129 --> 00:13:15.440 may sound, because you don't necessarily to to a brand that's been around for 181 00:13:15.519 --> 00:13:20.440 that long as you know as really being that pioneering, it is and they're 182 00:13:20.480 --> 00:13:24.039 doing an absolutely incredible job. So getting a lot of motivation from them. 183 00:13:24.600 --> 00:13:26.840 I love it. I love it empathy at scale because a lot of the 184 00:13:26.960 --> 00:13:31.230 time the empathy conversation, at least for out the sales background, right spend 185 00:13:31.269 --> 00:13:35.909 some time, may start up streets as a sales person and the empathy conversation 186 00:13:35.309 --> 00:13:39.750 is that we're talking about individual, I don't know, personality traits or individual 187 00:13:39.870 --> 00:13:46.419 skill set development, but, like you're talking about understanding it from an organizational 188 00:13:46.460 --> 00:13:50.700 or even brand perspective to execute empathy at scale. It's really interesting. So 189 00:13:50.820 --> 00:13:54.700 thanks for sharing that with us. And so I know. I know, 190 00:13:54.820 --> 00:13:58.409 Jeff, that, like me, everybody listening has become a fast fan of 191 00:13:58.450 --> 00:14:00.289 yours and they're going to want to know how to keep up with use of 192 00:14:00.289 --> 00:14:03.129 Zella's fells out posting. Connect with you. Absolutely so. My guard, 193 00:14:03.129 --> 00:14:07.970 JE is linkedin. I am much more linkedin guy than a twitter person, 194 00:14:07.169 --> 00:14:13.000 and so I would love to connect with anybody, and that's the best wot 195 00:14:13.039 --> 00:14:16.159 original. I love it. I'm a linkedin girl myself. I probably spend 196 00:14:16.159 --> 00:14:18.720 too much time on there, but I'm not sorry. So, because if 197 00:14:18.720 --> 00:14:24.149 you're looking for them on Linkedin, it's Jeff Geoff, baby bibb. Why 198 00:14:24.830 --> 00:14:30.190 do it? You're going to stand alarm from someone who's, like I said, 199 00:14:30.190 --> 00:14:33.269 successively navigated this brand stuff in the way that he just laid out for 200 00:14:33.309 --> 00:14:37.830 us? Jeff, I have plenty more questions for you. So the only 201 00:14:37.909 --> 00:14:39.899 solution is I'm going to have to have you one again some time. But 202 00:14:41.539 --> 00:14:45.500 till then. Till then, thank you so much for being on and death 203 00:14:45.539 --> 00:14:48.419 of luck to you guys, and continue into in a date and you cantribute 204 00:14:48.460 --> 00:14:52.769 yourselves. Thank you, nick. You. This has been great. We 205 00:14:54.049 --> 00:14:58.090 totally get it. We publish a ton of content on this podcast and it 206 00:14:58.169 --> 00:15:01.529 can be a lot to keep up with. That's why we've started the BDB 207 00:15:01.730 --> 00:15:05.529 growth big three, a no fluff email that boils down our three biggest takeaways 208 00:15:05.610 --> 00:15:11.159 from an entire week of episodes. Sign up today at Sweet Fish Mediacom big 209 00:15:11.279 --> 00:15:16.200 three. That sweet fish Mediacom Big Three