This brand is not for you

I've seen this Planet Fitness spot quite a bit the past few weeks. Ah, right, that's because it's everyone's favorite time of year to get in shape.

The credit cards have been maxed out, the gifts opened, the leftovers discarded, the tree down, and now, it's time to add another membership card to the wallet.

For those who haven't seen the Planet Fitness spot 100 times as I have, here it is:



Sufficiently amusing and fairly well cast in all its exhagerated splendor, but it got me thinking. About strategy, of course. What else?

The approach here is to depict the type of people Planet Fitness isn't for, rather than the kind of people Planet Fitness is for. It seems a natural sequitur here and perhaps because it's so over the top with illustration, it nearly gets away with it.

But is it a sound strategy? Is positioning your brand around who and what it isn't a smart way to communicate with whom and about what it is?

The spot ends and I have a very clear picture in my head of who I won't find as Planet Fitness. Eh hem, who I allegedly won't find at Planet Fitness. But what I don't have is a very good idea of who I will find.

The brief for this spot likely split gym-goers into two, fairly generic, groups; meatheads and everyone else. I'm a pretty dedicated gym goer and I've been a member of several of the larger gym chains. I can say with confidence there are many more types of gym-goers. (PS - every gym claims to be anti-meathead. My last gym had a "no grunting" policy. Trust me when I say, there were plenty of grunts and plenty of grunters. This sort of thing almost has the opposite impact.)

In any case, all these gyms running around claiming to be "the gym for everyone but meatheads" don't quite have a unique selling proposition. The anti-protein chugging, creatine inflated, swollen head grunting thing seems to be taken. And again. And again. And again.

So, while the spot is funny enough, I'm not sure the strategy does much to differentiate it from the rest of the six pack. (get it, six pack? just kidding)

Through no fault of creative execution, this spot comes up a bit OFF STRATEGY.

What can a logo do for your strategy?

New year. New strategy. New logo.

Or, in Starbucks' case, it would appear new logo comes before execution of new strategy.

That's the area I'd like to focus on today. But first, happy new year.

For all of you who follow, you know I'm as big a Starbucks devotee as any. I commend them on most decisions, (save for the Via positioning, but despite my criticism, it seems to have become a quick success story, most likely due to over-sampling and because it's just a damn good product.)

As for the new logo, my reaction is mixed. On the one hand, I believe changing logos is one of the quickest routes to brand suicide. As a human being (not a marketer, not a brand strategist), it signals weakness. It says "we're not feeling sure about who we are so we're trying out this new look." It's like the shy kid at school who wears a totally different kind of outfit on his first day of a new year, hoping others will see him as a changed person. A cooler version of last year's nerdy kid.

From a brand strategy perspective, I think Starbucks is wise to shift its focus beyond coffee. But, the cardinal rule still applies - never take your eye off that core equity. The equity upon which you built your kingdom. In Starbucks case, that core equity, simply put, is bold, over-caffeinated coffee.

But since Starbucks is as much about experience as it is java, food is a natural part of that evolution. And not just token food, but food every bit as good and every bit as unique as its coffee. Despite some recent attempts, I'm not sure they've nailed this yet. I'm encouraged to learn a new wave is afoot.

I wonder if the new logo may have been better saved for a bit further down the road? Once some of this magic extension they've foreshadowed has been unveiled to the public? By "wonder", I mean that's what I believe would have been the better move.

They say timing is everything and in this case, I think timing may be premature. For that reason, I'm cautiously calling this one OFF STRATEGY.
(but I wish them tons of luck with it.)