Brand Beckham (How David Beckham’s Brand is successful)

Brand Beckham (How David Beckham’s Brand is successful): by Jason Li 2012 ©

These days we all love brand Beckham...

Whether you’re based in USA, England or China...

But why is Beckham a global icon when there are millions of sports people?...

And how does Beckham appeal to such a wide audience?...

(How does he keep his hair in place all the time?)

David Beckham Brand in development

As a football fan, in the early days I only saw Beckham as a Manchester United player who was the best crosser of the ball in the world.

(I’m not a Man Utd fan, but I do enjoy watching them play attacking football.)

One of the main features of a wide midfield player or winger is to have great acceleration and dribbling skills, plus a cross at the end of it. If you’ve ever watched Man Utd play, all their wide players had exceptional pace from Best, Giggs, Kanchelskis to Cristiano Ronaldo.

But Beckham; he had no pace, cannot dribble, cannot beat a man. In fact, he’s useless at this. You could watch him for 90 minutes and still be waiting for him to break into a sprint.

So did the ruthless football manager guru Sir Alex Ferguson play Beckham because he wanted to play with ten men (Liverpool had given up winning league titles recently – only joking, it’s just a matter of getting the best out of Stuart Downing right?).

No.

What you have in Beckham is a player who is average at running with the ball, but over average for a wide player in terms of accuracy when distributing the ball. Beckham was the best person in the world at curling the ball from the wide right position into the path of a striker to nod one in. Put it this way, if a Hobbit was marked by Alessandro Nesta the great AC Milan centre back, Beckham could cross the ball in from 30 yards into the space between defender and Keeper and make the Hobbit look like he out jumped Nesta. Yep, that’s pretty good.

So why run and cross, when you can simply just... cross the ball from where you’re stood?

Witness the balls Beckham put in the box in the Champions League on route to winning it against Inter Milan and Juventus in 1998- 1999.

The second differentiator from other football players are his free kicks. David Beckham became the most famous free kick taker in the world. He consistently bent the ball around the wall.

So in football circles, he became known as exceptional at the delivery of the ball.

Victoria Beckham

So David Beckham went on to meet Victoria, get married and have babies... we all know this story.

We also know Victoria and advisors helped him develop his brand, and get sponsorship deals.

At the time of meeting, Beckham was one of the pin-up boys in the English league, Victoria a worldwide known singer for the Spice Girls.

If you remember the early chat shows, David was a nervous wreck on the shows and Victoria did all the talking. When he spoke, it was a bit of a quiet mumble and she took over the difficult questions.

But hey, slowly but surely non-football fans got to get to know the shy David Beckham who had no opinion while Victoria was his spokes person.

David Beckham is Golden Balls

And then David went from shy to an under wear model.

The first time I learnt about these shots in the Daily Mail, as a football fan, I didn’t really take much notice. I thought it was just a nice way for him to earn a bit more money on the side and learn a new trade... why not?

But then everyone was talking about the pictures... so I had to sneak a look. Come on guys, how many of you sneaked a look too?

I’m not talking in a sexual way (nothing wrong with it if he turns you on), but out of curiosity. And before you say it, just reading this may make you think otherwise, I promise you it’s not. And all these defensive arguments do not mean anything either.

In fact I have to declare, I saw a TV show where the ladies were really quizzing the pictures and if some parts were photo shopped. Of course I had a good look... who didn’t?

But you know what... I don’t think any man in the world who is heterosexual did not for the first time have a proper look at another man. And it was both unnerving and acceptable because it was everyone’s acceptable football icon... David Beckham, not Beckham the model... even though it was a model shoot for underwear.

(Now I can wipe my brow after thinking of those nervy moments because I was looking at another man’s CROTCH.)

David Beckham & Diego Simeone

Football has a lot of controversial moments. I would say the sending off of David Beckham against Argentina in the 1998 World Cup for a foul on Diego Simeone will be one I will remember.

It’s not just because he got sent off. It’s because he got sent off for something that was absolutely rubbish and ruined England’s chances of going through. Beckham got sent off for the most delicate petulant trip. So minor it was almost not a foul. I think it went down as the most frustrating foul in England’s history!

Did you see it? Can you remember either shouting at the screen, or been curled up and sucking in your stomach in silence, arms folded as your teeth clenched and eyes fixed on the screen? Or looking across the room and amidst all the shouting  there was one fellow who was emotionless and staring at the screen with big eye balls...  that was the one that made you remember the moment. Ooooh it hurt. And that team... Seaman, Shearer, Owen, Tony Adams, Paul Ince, Paul Scholes... and so on.

From hero to zero in one second.

David Beckham Marketing

But you know what... that’s what made Brand Beckham even stronger. As much as we talk about and like a good role model... the world needs a bad guy.

At that time, Beckham was it. Then to play the game, he shaved his golden locks off, and WENT SKINHEAD.

Beckham lost a few sponsors and was on parole.

But hey... the bad moody looking boy in rehab appeals to a lot of people.

Nobody is perfect, and over time people did forgive. Those that made mistakes or liked the bad boy got to know Beckham and gave millions of people around the world a new role model.

David Beckham England Captain

Being the England captain and that free kick against Greece to book a World Cup place was the tonic. Having given the Argentineans an advantage in the 2008 World Cup, now he was the hero as the outstanding player who scores the winner in the final qualifying game to take England to the next World Cup.

Rehab sealed.

David Beckham the ambassador for English Sport

Now Beckham has ambassadorial roles such as a role in the Olympics 2012, meeting Nelson Mandela and David Beckham academy.

These days David Beckham is a polished English export who represents what is good for the country.

Brand Halo

But remember this; first and foremost Beckham won trophies as a football player. Doing what he did, he was absolutely the best at putting the ball on a plate for strikers.

As a take away, Beckham initially became a brand built on his ability to fulfil expectations as a footballer in almost every game he played. If he could not, then he would never have played for Manchester United over so many seasons and games

The brand has evolved over many years, from the haircuts to his personality which is now stronger as an ambassador and spokes person who everyone listens to.

Mum and dads like him as a clean role model, girls who like a bad boy like him, and people who want to identify with a person who makes mistakes in the general public will learn from his recovery to the straight and narrow. In fact, even if you hate David Beckham... it means you will secretly grow to forgive and love David Beckham. It’s complex. It’s Beckham the master psychologist.

If Beckham initially started investing his focus on his image and brand first, then there’s no way he could have been an exceptional footballer.

As you can see, you can be an exceptional brand and differentiated based on how good you are without focusing from the start on trying to artificially create a brand identity. So focus on marketing strategy, be known as being the best at what you do for your target market first, and the brand will develop a halo afterwards.

If you’re not the best at satisfying customers, then worrying about your brand image and changing your logos is very unlikely to solve your long-term problems. As one football coach said to me whilst we were watching some new players on trial: “You can’t polish a turd!”

Further Reading:

Charlie Sheen sex tweets: Why you must appeal to psychological control

MacDonald’s Hidden Hypnotic Brand Marketing Tactics Revealed (and its copy able!)

Brand Beckham: Where next for pioneer David? (Opens BBC website)
Brand Beckham: Will the LA Galaxy exit change Becks' sponsorship appeal? (Opens Marketing Magazine website)
Romeo Beckham to appear in Burberry ads (Opens Marketing Magazine website)
David Beckham suspicious full bulge shooting ad with Guy Ritchie for H&M Bodywear brand underwear (Opens Daily Mail website)

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Quality, Price, Delivery – What type of customer

Quality, Price, Delivery – What type of customer: by Jason Li 2012 ©

When you have a product or service on offer for your customer, there is a high chance there will be resistance. How can this be when you have an offer which the customer cannot refuse? You’re thinking it’s a no brainer. You would definitely snap it up if you were in their position.

Quality, Price, Delivery (QPD)

So let’s check the offer is right. We’ll use a customer with a shop assistant in a smart phone shop as an example.

When you go to buy a smart phone, what type of person are you. Do you buy based on quality and will choose on the best, no matter the price? Here is a guide to working a customer out quickly:

Quality – functions, benefits, the range of value created: from minimum to maximum a product or service can do.

Price – from the lowest price to most expensive in your range

Delivery – now or in two weeks

Only on the odd occasion does delivery guide the decision. Such as if you have a plumber who needs new taps for a job he is doing and needs it doing by the end of this afternoon – “what taps do you have in that I can take now?”

If there is no urgency, then it is down to quality and price now.

So here you will need to find out what is most important to the customer. You might ask:

“So what are the key features you are looking for?”

“What are the main things you want the phone to do?”

If you get: “not bothered really it’s down to cost”, then this is a cost person.

However, you might get someone giving you a long list of features they want – so you’re confused and wondering if they are really here to buy an item with the most beneficial features, and are in fact a quality person. So to double check you can ask after they have listed the features they want:

“So what budget range is ideal for you?”

“What’s a comfortable amount for you to pay each month?”

Funnelling

Funnelling is choosing a funnel to dig deeper with more questions to understand your customer better. Better let me explain.

Let’s say each criteria of quality or price or delivery is a funnel. What you can do is ask a series of questions on each subject to hear if the customer is willing to talk about it or finds it important – so that you understand a bit more about what suits their needs and wants. Here is an example of a quality funnel:

“If you spend a lot of time on the internet, what do you mainly do? For example reading lots of text/like online newspapers or watch videos?”

“Some customers do a lot of social networking and email and do lots of typing, how about yourself?”

“Let’s say the standard screen is 3.5 inches, tell me what screen size is suitable for you?”

QPD – putting it together

If the customer rambles on about: “as long as the phone does all the features listed and it’s not silly prices”, then they are a quality person, and cost not too sensitive.

If the customer says they only have a certain budget. Then this is potentially more a mix of quality and price person.

If the customer says ideally they want the best phone at £5 a month, then really they are a cost person. You might want to ask a further question to double check which features they would pay for and what they would stretch to. If they want a feature but won’t pay, you know the answer.

Hey, we all want to live for free. There is no point advising a cost person that spending a bit more will get them a feature they want, just leave them be.

QPD Profile

So you can create a profile of a customer each time now. In your head, you can mark each funnel out of ten to work out what type of customer you are dealing with here.

Let’s say out of ten, you can ask a few questions and know that a customer is maybe 6/10 quality, 3/10 price and 1/10 delivery – this is mostly quality. Or the next one is 2/10 quality, 8/10 price and 0/10 delivery – in fact they will walk 20 minutes to the next shop if they can save 50 pence.

You might have three directors in a room and they cannot agree, and are “Still thinking about it.” Well now you can build up a profile for each, then quote so that all three are happy as you make an offer that suits each individually.

Know your customer, tailor an offer

So you see, you might think you have a product or a service that is a no brainer and thousands will pay on the spot – but they don’t.  We are all different, different circumstances, tastes, values, stages in our life, and customers can be just pure baffling to you.

Now you have a way to work out what your customer wants and to offer them what they want to buy. After this, if they buy or don’t buy is up to them. If they don’t there will be possibly ten reasons that you would never have thought of.

The more you can understand your customer and tailor your offers, the better your products and services will be in meeting your customers buying requirements. This will lead to more people accepting your offers and buying from you, which means more profits.

Test the theory

Let’s take McDonalds. They are definitely not the best tasting burgers in the world. But I still go from time-to-time. Why? Well the quality of food is possibly 6/10. I have been to some cafes and spent ages pulling out grizzle and tiny flecks of bone cartilage out of my cheap beef burger. So now I must have decent quality beef due to these chilling experiences. It was just short of chasing down a cow and taking a bit at the knee. Back to McDonalds. The service is a decent 6/10, the restaurant itself is pleasant and better than some cafes so 7/10, and the toilets are always useful at 8/10. Then onto the cost, well it’s easily an 8/10. There are cheaper but then I can never go back to super cheap burgers again. As for delivery, it’s pretty much instant for popular products so 9/10.

So who generally doesn’t go to McDonalds, but would like to eat a burger and have no problems with McDonalds?. It’s likely to be people who want a great quality tasting burger at a nice restaurant, and can afford to spend more. They want more quality value and go elsewhere.

Is McDonalds successfully generating a lot of revenue? Is McDonalds profitable? Does McDonalds create value for a large part of the population? Can you look at your business to see how you create value that is irresistible to your customers?

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