As a semi-lapsed Irish Catholic, my memories of halos are all stained glass windows and guardian angels. But, as you will see in my recent guest post to RepMan, halos have been finding their way into consumer brand and reputation conversations that go well beyond by Blessed Sacrament upbringing.

So what is this sought after halo effect and what can marketers do about it?  Read on for more on  Angels in the Brand World.

Is there something to be seen in nothing? Is value inherent despite conditions? Have you ever found yourself asking those questions when stuck in the middle of a challenge? You have to create interest around a product with nothing specifically new or groundbreaking to speak of… You have a client that is stuck in the unfortunate reality of a struggling industry.

If you’re going through anything like that, these might be some of the questions you’re pondering. And if so, the answers may take something more than just creativity. They’re going to take vision.

Vision is seeing something in the nothing – and seeing it all the way through.

We’re quick to brandish our courage when it comes to our convictions but what about our vision? Cue the anecdote … When I was a kid, I remember watching an educational video about the World War II war effort that included clips of the Rosies who riveted and man and women on assembly lines in factories all across the country.

Those images defined “work” to me growing up. In my mind, it couldn’t get any better than blue collar and back yard barbecues on a suburban street.

Growing up in Michigan, seeing men and women on those lines was commonplace. We live in the city of Ford and GM and Chrysler. Even if you’re on the west coast of the state, cuddling up to the Windy City, there’s a sense of pride that comes from being born in the state that took the country by wheels and road.

Years later, a new picture of Detroit would emerge. Its downtown was virtually abandoned. Larger than life architectural structures stood gutted. Windows were broken out and the only thing filling old offices – natural light.

Now, all eyes are on Dan Gilbert, founder of Quicken Loans who wants to bring Detroit’s downtown back to life one business at a time. In a recent article for the Times, Gilbert’s quest to bring consumers, residents, workers and businesses back to downtown Detroit. It will be a mighty undertaking but what drew my attention to this story was the idea of vision.

It’s one thing to look at a blank canvas and imagine impressionism or the abstract. It’s another to look at something that has already been deconstructed into the dismal, broken down into blight and see possibility.

It’s the kind of thinking that leads to reinvention. The next time you’re stuck at an impasse or there seems to be no value in what you’re looking at. Take a walk, clear your mind and look again. You may just be on the verge of a new image, a new campaign a new destination for the task at hand.

It was on a seemingly ordinary day in mid-December 2009. In southwest Michigan that means everything had been bathed in slate gray and muddy brown. It was cold and dreary and Dickensian. The cuffs of my pants were soaking wet and cold and I knew later they would dry with those annoying white rings left behind from the salt that line the roads and parking lots. The
chilly, 20-degree air had slipped down my collar and wrapped me in a stubborn, cranky chill.

And then, I stopped at a Starbucks. Now, hear me out. When I stepped inside, the store had been transformed into its  traditional holiday décor. Shades of red were everywhere, bags of Christmas blend coffee lined the shelves, there were snowmen and snowflakes clinging to the windows and I swear, I walked through the door and was filled with joy.

Somewhat obsessed with coffee, I’m a big supporter of smaller, independent roasters. When I travel, I collect 1 lb. bags of local roasts like some people collect shot glasses.

But there’s something about Starbucks…

This year it hit me as I stood in line shortly before midnight on Thanksgiving. Starbucks was my first stop on an evening when
friends frantically shop for deals and I tag along to people watch and pick up a movie or two.  Inside, the line was long but even with the large crowd, the late hour, the barista recognized me from my regular Saturday and Sunday morning stops – kind of like your neighborhood coffeehouse. I stocked up on bags of Christmas blend – gifts for the holidays.

Lately, the baristas have been good at upselling me, getting me to buy just about any bag of coffee they’re pushing at the moment. This year, for the holiday, Starbucks is betting on its new home brewing system. The market for single cup brewers is … well … brewing (oh, come on) and challenging the beliefs of some purists.

The truth is – if I buy a single cup brewer as this Wall Street Journal article predicts I will – it may not be Starbucks’ new Verismo. The brand has beaten tough economic times and a loss in company direction. It’s done a lot of things right. I like their coffee, I really do. But I’ll be curious to see if the Verismo can beat the biggest element of Starbucks’ success:  a very genuine  sense of place.

The catchy music, the studious décor, the newspapers and the easy-to-work-in ambiance. The red and the  nowmen and the joy. You can never underestimate the importance of a sense of place – the experience you get as a customer, when you’re coming in from a cold, dismal day to a place that offers you more than just some caffeine but rather, comfort in a cup.

When was the last time you heard about customers standing by their brand – even if it  meant abandoning the brand name all together? That’s exactly what happened with the case of Glassman vs. Glassman and it proved to be a valuable lesson in loyalty. Greg Glassman is the founder and creator of CrossFit – I could try to explain it or you could just watch this video here.

When Glassman and his wife decided to end their marriage, Lauren Jenai Glassman’s share of CrossFit came into play. CrossFitters found out she was interested in selling it to Anthos Capital. Almost immediately, the subject filled discussion boards, Facebook pages and tweets. Affiliates were against selling to Anthos for fear of being forced to operate like a franchise,
selling supplements or other merchandise they didn’t support.

While Anthos Capital tried to quell fears, swearing they wouldn’t change a thing – affiliates rallied around their founder and threatened to pull their affiliations if the deal went through. Meanwhile, the Glassmans headed to court.

The fight caught the attention of a number of media outlets. T-shirts were designed slamming Anthos and touting Glassman’s
promise his concept was “unbuyable.” For months, members of the CrossFit community could only wait while millions of dollars were pumped into litigation. Then, on Nov. 15, he announced he officially owned 100% of CrossFit Inc. Without support from a large, worldwide and defiant community, it’s a wonder whether the deal still seemed lucrative to Anthos or Lauren Glassman – or even possible for that matter.

For now, the future seems pretty bright. CrossFit boxes continue to pop up across the country and around the world and a multimillion dollar partnership with Reebok continues to catapult the brand and the sport into the mainstream.

The lesson learned from the drama? Loyalty matters. Uh, and maybe think twice before going into business with a spouse or instead of books and trinkets you’ll find yourself fighting over the future of your company.

With a little less than three weeks until the presidential election, the notion of ‘spinning’ anything is generally not advised. When it comes to skin care, though, you have to spin it to win it. Truly clean skin, that is. The folks at Clarisonic, a Seattle-based tech startup known for its Sonicbrush toothbrush and skincare devices, certainly believe in spinning. Since launching, the company has made seemingly little missteps: it’s helped raise more than $2 million for cancer research, gained several celebrity endorsements (unpaid, mind you) from the likes of Cameron Diaz, Tyra Banks and Oprah Winfrey, and achieved remarkable sales figures ($105 million in 2010), making it a smart buy for L’Oréal last year.

Clarisonic has also made smart decisions in selecting its retail partners. From Nordstrom to Amazon to Bliss, consumers – men, women, young and young at heart – can purchase the right Clarisonic spin brush that suits their needs. As many of our clients know all too well, a retail partner can define success for a product – or it can drive sales into oblivion.

So what happens, then, when a retail partner makes a mistake?

Recently, a small group of Peppercomm-ers were made aware of a special promotional code at Blissworld.com which awarded a 100 percent discount on Clarisonic purchases made on the site. Too good to be true, or did we just stumble into a super-secret, super-savvy marketing stunt designed to surprise and delight both Bliss and Clarisonic enthusiasts? Never ones to question a brand’s marketing motives – or a good deal – several of us made good on the offer. With holiday parties just around the corner, visions of glowing skin began dancing in our heads.

However (you knew this was coming), the promotion code turned out to be available in error, and the dreaded ‘oops we made a mistake’ email hit our inboxes later that week. One could practically feel skin tone fading while reading the company’s attempt to make right: a 25% code for a purchase of $75 or more. Huh? How does that begin to make up for this colossal mistake? This wouldn’t have been nearly as bad had Bliss not then charged everyone’s credit cards the full amount ($159). Double whammy.

After some lively tweeting, many of us were put in touch with the VP of global communications for Bliss. Our individual levels of interaction with her varied; I personally had a twitter exchange, direct message conversation, email correspondence and finally a phone call with this person. The end result: a refund on my credit card and a brand-spanking new Clarisonic spin brush of my very own.

While my faith in Bliss is somewhat restored (how can you not love the at home triple oxygen™ instant energizing mask?), it begs the question: what’s the price of customer service. Better yet, what’s the value of customer loyalty? Had Bliss not responded the way they did, I would have, begrudgingly, found an alternate to their fab products. But now that I’m on a first-name basis (BFF might be taking it too far) with one of the company’s top people? Yeah, I’m at a higher state of happy.

It’s more versatile than salad dressing and more processed than pink slime; it’s Velveeta. And it could be (read: hopefully not) lurking around the corner to club ranch dressing over the head.

As a consumer, this is a nightmare scenario that became all too real after reading about ranch dressing-producer Hidden Valley’s new ad campaign. The slogan emblazoned on each bottle of Hidden Valley ranch is “The New ‘Ketchup’.” I, for one, am hoping that no one in the Velveeta science lab caught wind of Hidden Valley’s entirely unsurprising reasoning for its coup on America’s favorite condiment. Hidden Valley says about 15% of ranch dressing is used on foods other than salad and vegetables. Moreover, market research firm, NPD Group, pinpointed chicken, potatoes (including French fries), sandwiches, chips, and pizza as the most popular items to be smothered with a combination of dry seasonings, milk and mayonnaise.

After years of guerrilla warfare, Hidden Valley has taken ranch dressing’s battle for condiment supremacy to the front lines. Putting the clear consequences associated with a more broad use of ranch dressing aside, you have to credit Hidden Valley for zeroing in on and exploiting their audiences’ perception of its product. Their ad campaign speaks to experiences that consumers, mostly in the south, have every day and it proves the company is listening. I won’t be ordering a side of ranch with my Belgian frites, but it is a brilliant campaign.

Any communications or marketing campaign that resonates with a company’s customers, while attracting new ones, has to be grounded in genuine feedback. And my guess is that current Velveeta customers are eager to ladle or squirt its product onto more meals. Data consistently shows Americans care less and less about their health and what they eat. Velveeta has to see this as an opportunity!

Why stop at Velveeta Cheesy skillets – boxes of dried pasta, seasonings and pouches of liquid Velveeta sauce to which consumers can add meat and cook over the stove? Is what I would be thinking after the first major Velveeta product since 1984, against all odds and sound logic, has not coagulated since arriving on supermarket shelves in July. According to the Wall Street Journal, “the skillets captured more than 8% of the overall $138 million dry dinner mix category” after three months and Kraft’s Velveeta convenient meals business has realized a 40% bounce over the same time span.

If Kraft starts paying more attention to customer experiences and pairs that knowledge with its market research, then you may find yourself reaching for a bottle of molten pasteurized prepared cheese product with “The New ‘Ranch Dressing’” on the label sooner than you think.