People REALLY don’t know what IHOP means???
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Recently I’ve seen some ads that IHOP was changing their name to IHOb which I thought was pretty dumb. Why play with an iconic brand that everyone knows what it means? Of course, it was only a gimmick to underscore that IHOP has some “pretty good” burgers … so good in fact that they should change their name. HA HA! Funny, but obviously they would never do such a thing.
THEN I’m reading in the Wall Street Journal that in fact, people don’t know what IHOP stands for. Really??? Who are these people? Where do they come from? Some patrons were actually interviewed at the restaurant … eating breakfast … and admitted to a reporter that they didn’t know what IHOP stood for.
Sort of reminded me again of the “Jaywalking with Jay Leno” when he would go on the street and show people pictures of famous people — like a photo of President Bush — and they could not recall who that person was. Of course, very scientific research.
Branding is important. Like I said, I believe that IHOP is an iconic brand and certainly would believe that a vast majority of the population knows what it means … though they might not be caught INSIDE an IHOP if it was the last place on earth to eat. That I can recall, I’ve only been to a IHOP once in the last 17 years and that was only because the place I wanted to go for breakfast was closed. Really, I swear.
A member once told me that it was his job to brand his agency and MY job to brand the independent agent. I can’t say that I disagree with that. It’s with this in mind that IIAV is embarking on a year-long public relations effort designed to gain additional exposure to the brand, “the Trusted Choice Independent Insurance Agent.” We’re getting some funding from Trusted Choice to assist in this effort.
This said, we’re looking for — and will be going directly to — members who specialize in their area when the press calls for local experts. While we’re concentrating on certain localities now and hope to expand later, we want the public to see that “independent insurance agents” are specialists in insurance and that people and businesses are “worth more than 15 minutes” to protect the lives and property of consumers.
We hope you will see and hear more about “independent insurance agents” from this effort. It’s an exciting effort and we look forward to the branding efforts. Stay tuned.
And just as a follow up … do YOU know what IHOP stands for?
NOTE: As I write this, we’re getting prepared for our annual conference in Virginia Beach and hope to report back to you on a highly successful event. I hope I can say that I saw you there.
