Cramer Also Believes Cramer Has a Branding Problem

Before I get started I need some music. I'm thinking the Rolling Stones.  Nothing like a little music when I'm writing, especially when my back is hurting and I'm still feeling toasty from the warm reception to my debut on Seeking Alpha.  But don't let me be a poor host, while I get settled you can watch this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7QsQ4VVCNI

Okay good, I've got my lumbar cushion in place, my laptop is humming and Mick is singing "You can't always get what you wa-ant". Good stuff.  And I assume that you couldn't miss Jim Cramer's frustration with not getting what he wants in the segment. I mean that is not what you would call self-satisfaction dripping from phrases like "...it is cavalier at this point to ignore me, but not only am I ignored, I am dismissed as a gadfly. It's pathetic."  Say what you will, but on Wednesday James J. wasn't happy with his brand.

So what's he got to complain about?

He has two wildly successful brands serving overlapping market segments. Brand 1: The interviewee, the answer-man, the insider; paired, although not always like a fine wine, with an interviewer/interlocutor as so often seen on TheStreet TV, CNBC, etc.

Then there is Brand 2: the Mad Money man, and we all know who he is. Granted, it is a colorful image - Business Week called it "...perhaps best described as Louis Rukeyser meets televangelism meets Pee-wee's Playhouse". Colorful, yes, but it goes over great.  

The point is there's no shortage of people NOT IGNORING Jim Cramer. He's reaching the pros and the joes, the day traders, the gold bugs, the newsies, the amateurs, and all the people hoping to "stump the band" with an obscure stock (and who are delighted when he knows 'em and nails 'em).  Lots of audience, but Jim's not getting what he wants.

There is a market segment he's not reaching: the government, the powers-that-be, the policy makers.  He wants to reach them, and why shouldn't he?  He's right more often (and always a lot sooner) than they are. It's a big jones for Cramer - like a student from Duke looking to score some basketball tickets - but for some reason the brand isn't going over with the target audience.

Oh hang on a second...

I really like to hear this part when Mick sings "but you just might find..." and the backup singers kick-in with "...you get what you nee-eed". Yeah that's good stuff.

So I've got Mick and Keith and a lumbar pillow and Jim Cramer has an itch.  And it is a genuine itch, I think he really cares, it is his passion, (and the best brands come from the genuine, the authentic) he wants to see it done right.  He wants better stewardship of the financial system to which we are all tied.

Actually, you could quite fairly point out that he has gotten a lot that he's been calling for this week:  AIG (AIG)was bailed out,  Europe kicked-in,  heck even McCain stepped up and said Chris Cox should be fired. Cramer needed all these things and so did we, but that's not what he wanted.  In markets, timing is everything, and just-in-timing is just too hair-raising.

What Jim has is a great product - great credentials, great track record, great knowledge. What Jim wants is brand strength - the ability to influence a small, powerful, but difficult to reach market segment (the government) so that he can perhaps nip a few buds and head off some passes.  Jim used the words "moral authority", I call it clout. Either way its absence is a symptom of a branding problem.

So now some advice before I listen to the rest of "Let it Bleed": To reach the elusive segment the positioning will need some tuning. It is less an issue for the Mad Money family of products than it is for the interviewee+interviewer relationship.  If you don't have "shelf appeal" for your target audience then you begin by rethinking the packaging. 

If an interviewee is the product then the interviewer is the packaging - as intermediary the interviewer holds tremendous sway over the nuances of positioning.  How the interviewer frames the discussion of what we have and what we need, could help get Jim what he wants.

Disclosure: None

Comments

[PeteK:]

Hey David, please try to write with more simple language.
Kind of hard to understand exactly what your points are.
Sorry to say that.

2008 Sep 22 04:08 AM

[papita:]

the less we hear of jimbo cramer the better off we will all be. he is a prime example of the dummying down of america when we can listen to a guy who has a specific agenda that benefits only himself and his close buddies and acts like a buffoon, a clown, an idiot. his stck picks are no better than joe schmo and his timing is usually horrible, I've been tracking him for quite some time to get my own reliable information on his record and it stinks. and that booyah crap has to go. he is only interested in his ratings and couldn't give 2 shits about anyone else. david, go take another hit and go back to listening to the stones.

2008 Sep 22 04:59 AM

[venividivici:]

Are you sure Cramer didn't write this piece of inane promotional fluff for you?
I watched a video on YouTube which covered clips of Cramer's predictions over a period of months and I lost count of the number of times he contradicted himself sometimes within days. He is just like a psychic, he only remembers the things he got right and conveniently forgets everything he got wrong. His call on Bear Stearns was a classic and when he explained why he didn't say what he actually did say, well that was pure "Cramerism".
My advice to share investors is never trust so called seers and gurus. Take responsibility and do your own research. Mind you, I wouldn't have anything to do with the market right now. It is being dominated by idiot gamblers.
As for you Cohen, I agree with papita. Stick to listening to the Rolling Stones.

2008 Sep 22 05:55 AM

[Michael Zhuang:]

Totally agree with venividivici: his calls on Bear Stearns were classic "Cramerism". Need proof?

investmentscientist.co.../

2008 Sep 22 06:59 AM

[User 205597:]

Jinbo needs to decide who his target audience really is. It can't be everyone.

2008 Sep 22 07:31 AM

[RCA:]

When Cramer was in the business and not on the sidelines like he is today, he had street cred. Now he has turned himself into a clown and a buffoon in order to get high TV ratings. Who is going to take that persona seriously? Certainly not congress. Who is going to want it known that they got their moral imperative from Chuckles the Clown?

2008 Sep 22 08:46 AM

[leh:]

I agree with the last two posts. Barring yet another Clark Kent act in which JC morphs (in disguise of course) into the sober financial statesman/savior by day after cavorting on the tube as a rabid stock-hawking carnival barker by night, this aint gonna happen. Kind of like Howard Stern asking to become commissioner of the FCC. Cramer's already got the two-headed monster thing going; sprouting a third is simply asking too much IMO.

Course you can't shut this guy up regardless, so I'm sure he'll go on "advising" the officials from the bleachers as he swills his Ballantine Ale and showers abuse on the umps and players alike.

2008 Sep 22 09:25 AM

[User 110162:]

Oh, grow up and get James C Cramer what we wants, a respected Eastern academic interviewer so he can get what he needs: S.A.T. - IS - FACT - I - on Cramer!

2008 Sep 22 11:13 AM

[dblegl:]

And I thought I was the only one who believes that Cramer is a consummate fool. Can you imagine yourself looking for a financial advisor and walking into HIS office. I am sure after witnessing the chair throwing, horn sounding, bell ringing, squealing and frothing at the mouth you would be only too happy at entrusting him with your entire portfolio.
His only genius is getting the business world to believe he actually is capable and paying him extremely well for his gibberish. Louis Rukeyser must be spinning in his grave.
If he is the best of the financial world then God help us all!

2008 Sep 22 11:29 AM

[Norman Lepo...:]

Cramer is a flake. Tell the people that bought LMC at 12 how great Cramer is. He has so many bad calls that they are too numerous to count. If you want to loose money, listen to Cramer. That is how it is!

2008 Sep 22 11:45 AM

[old guy:]

Enough Cramer Bashing....He is trying to educate some of the people that are not experienced in the stock market....no one ever said anything about how he tries to get people to research a stock and how to do it....maybe all of these comments are by people that are so well versed their comments reflect their superior knowledge ...my hat is off to your superiority! and I really mean that!!!!...some of us are starting from scratch we do not believe everything anyone says but it does give us a clew on getting better in the market... I do not buy most of his recomndations but have learned to research them and make my own decisions....I am making $$$ and mistakes but getting better all the time in an unreal market....and I LOVE IT!

2008 Sep 22 10:33 PM

[venividivici:]

In defence of Cramer, I think he currently has something dead right. His latest call is "SELL, SELL,SELL"

2008 Sep 22 11:30 PM

[bill d:]

Just wait a minute - he will eventually tell everybody what they want to hear.

2008 Oct 02 04:26 PM