THE NEW

marketing consulting firm in West Hartford, is "being known for

something by someone. It is a reputation or a promise, a consumer's
Abrand, or user'saccording to and
perceptions, Stacyexperience
Silk Rome,
withthe owner of
a product a strategic
or service."
The goal of marketing, she explains, is to "create brand equity, which is the
value of the attributes implied by your brand name and the result of uphold-
ing the brand promise."
Rome, who once plied her marketing expertise in the fast-paced environ-
ment of Manhattan, today applies that knowledge to helping Connecticut
customers leave a lasting impression in the minds of consumers. Whether the
product is cosmetics, music or a new community facility, Rome knows how
to leave the customer coming back for more.
Harvey Hoffenberg, another Connecticut-based marketer, also knows
more than a little about the value of a brand. The man behind Stew Leonard's
"naked chicken" campaign, Hoffenberg has a firm handle on how to get a
buyer's attention-and keep it. During the course of his career, he has whet-
ted our appetites with campaigns for everything from Pizza Hut to Pepsi, and
Cheerios to Burger King.
The cardinal sin of branding he believes, is being boring.
That's one sin the City of Waterbury is determined to avoid, as it launches
its own new branding campaign, aimed, in large part, at attracting new busi-
ness and industry.
Want to reinvent consumers' pelCeptions of your company, your product
or your brand?
Take a lesson or two from a couple of experts who are doing it right.

--I www.ctbizmag.com I [ 47 ]~----

 MSiking a Product
Brand New
A high-powered New York marketing executive,
now based in West Hartford, brings her own
brand of savvy to a Connecticut clientele.
By Lisa Dram

strategic marketing consulting firm based in West Hartford, she was

In anything but new to the marketing profession. She had, however,

2°°4, returned
recently when Stacy Silk Rome after
to Connecticut founded
beingBrand Newmore
away for LLC,
thana
20 years-years during which she had attained the jet-setting status
and lifestyle of a high-powered marketing executive.
With her fingerprints all over brands such as value of the attributes implied by your brand name
D KNY and Avon's Elizabeth Taylor line of jew- and the result of upholding the brand promise."
elry, Rome had most recently been employed as the A brand's success, and the core of its power,
executive director of global marketing for the Estee Rome believes, depends on how well it connects to
Lauder Companies, where she consumers on an emotional

marketing
was plans for
responsible
for 125 countries.
anddeveloping
products

"1 would get to my desk in

DKNY
DONNA KARAN NEW YORK
that clients
level, oftensheforget
something finds
about when they concentrate
on a product's "features and

from literally around the world;' LAUDER "Think about an ice cream
the morning
Rome and haveadding
remembers, e-mails ~ ESTEE
COMPANIES benefits."
shop;' Rome says as an exam-
that what ultimately became pie. "You can eat ice cream

and calculated navigation of

the many cultural nuances she
'! being in the shop gives you
a different feeling, and that's
faced on a daily basis. "j I j what gets you there."
intuitive
Rome wassaysat that
first aleaving
carefUl." from yourdevelopment,
Brand freezer at home,then,
but
the Estee Lauder offices in is about what people want,

NYC from where

the world, she traveled
and moving to III_III Wadsworth
=_i-.L= )vIuseum of Atheneum
Art not
says.what they need,
Consumers Rome
are drawn to
Connecticut after she got mar-
ried, was a bit of its own culture
shock. Nonetheless, she adds,
~=--
- - - - - --
brands because of what having
or using the products will say
about them.
since opening her own business, RIVERFRONT She recalls a high-end
her work has broadened from R EeAPT U R E beauty product whose brand
mostly lifestyle products such started as a blank sheet of
as cosmetics and jewelry to a While working in New York City, Stacy Silk Rome paper on Rome's desk. Using a
much wider group of clients-a developed branding initiatives for high-powered strategy that is now known as
change that she says has been Manhattan-based companies like DKNYand Estee "viral or buzz marketing" but
"..
mteresnng an d ennc . h'"
mg. Lauder.
in WestToday, as head
Hartford, she of
is her own
using hermarketing
expertise firm
to was t h en uncommon, R' ome
"1've built up my ban k benefit Hartford area organizations like built an irresistible exclusivity
of knowledge" , , Rome says Real Art Ways: the Wadsworth Atheneum
and Riverfront Recapture.
around one of the first skin
about work she s done with products, with a price point
Yankee Candle, Sony Music and nonprofits such as of $1,000 a jar. She offered one beauty magazine
Riverfront Recapture and Real Art Ways, "which in each market the exclusive right to report on the
givesme more to draw on for the next client." launch of this product. At the same time, she gave
A brand, according to Rome, is "being known for another top magazine in each market 100 samples
something by someone. It is a reputation or a prom- of the product to share with key opinion makers. By
ise,a consumer's or user'sperceptions, and experience the time of the launch, Rome says,there was already
with a product or service." The goal of marketing, "pent-up demand."
she explains, is to "create brand equity, which is the Then, she placed the product in one store

----<[ 52 ] I CT BUSINESS June 2007 ~I-----

per market, and left waiting lists on the
counters for when the product-which
took six months to make-was sold out.
To consumers who already valued luxury
products, there was forceful emotional
meaning in having something that was
so hard to get. When the product was
successful, Rome says, she had to resist the
traditional marketing notion that more
is better. "What we were doing," she says,
"was 180 degrees different from what had
been done in marketing at that point."
Today's marketplace, Rome believes, is
full of new challenges. "The customer is
so much more in controL" she says about
the way people filter information by
deleting commercials with TiVo, custom-
izing their home pages, and reading news
online instead of in the paper. "Customers
talk about your brand in their blogs
and in reviews on sites like Travelocity.
Consumers trust what other consumers
say more than what the brand says about
itself." It is an environment, Rome says,that
requires marketing to "engage the customer
rather than to dictate."
Another trend Rome mentions is the
more temporary and fickle nature of the
consumer world. "There is much less brand
loyalty than there used to be," Rome states,
adding that 450 new fragrances come to
market each year, making it a different era
from when women had a "signature scent."
To meet the needs of a rapidly changing
marketplace, Rome encourages her clients
to think about their competition in a
macro way rather than considering just
what exists in a product's peer group or
category. "Anything that competes for your
customers' time and money is your compe-
tition," she notes. For example, she says, a
museum does not just compete with other
museums or the theater; it also competes
with Saturday morning soccer games and
the farmer's market.
Despite the vast differences in the kinds
of brands and clients Rome has worked
with, she goes through a similar process
with each one. The first step, she says, is
to be aware of general trends in the mar-
ketplace at the time, narrow the focus to a
particular field or industry, and then zoom
in even further to the individual business
or organization.
"I will look at the business both anecdot-
ally and analytically," says Rome. "Then, I
do an audit of the different collateral they
are using, move on to articulating the target
audiences, and then hone in on the brand:
its attributes, the brand promise, and its
values. Next, I want to establish the key
selling features and points of difference and
identify the brand's emotional drivers."
From there, a brand identity can be
established, as can a brand message with
emotional resonance. Lastly, she makes
sure there is consistent imagery to support
the brand, and completes the process with
internal branding that makes everyone who
works with the brand its ambassador..
Estee Lauder, Rome says, was a great
training ground because they are so "true
blue to every brand. Everyone understood
what each brand stood for; the departments
looked like the brands, and you could
almost tell what brand someone worked for,
just by looking at them."
Rome's current project is with the
Mandell Jewish Community Center of
Greater Hartford, marketing the opening
of a new facility "which will provide the
best array of fitness, wellness and recreation"
for the entire community. With a roll-out
of expanded programs and new activities,
Rome says it is very gratifying to work with
them as a repeat client and see their "brand
new" facility benefit from Brand New. ':'il