While we'd all like to think it was because members of the Senate are smarter than those in the House that had recently eliminated funding for the fledgling Brand USA effort (you can see their inaugural video and song here)...we know the Senate's rejection of the proposed Federal Budget was for partisan reasons.
But, thanks anyway, guys.
And, to the Tourism Industry...if House Republicans could flip this fast, we've got a lot more work to do.
I know that Logos are real important to a lot of people...especially in the Destination Marketing industry. We spend thousands on logos that are not nearly as important as we attempt to convince ourselves they are.
Don't get me wrong...every corporate entity needs a logo for its website, communications, etc. It's just not generally going to the reason that a consumer buys your product.
Especially when it needs to be interpreted for said consumer. Like the "new" Kraft logo.
Well, it's new to me. Unveiled in 2009, I just saw the new logo this week on a box of Ritz Crackers. When it was unveiled, Kraft said the logo "signals to employees, consumers and investors what the new Kraft Foods is all about."
OK...I'll admit, I struggled with the allegorical "Lord of the Flies," but, I haven't a clue what the "new" logo symbolizes. So, I dug deeper. Besides looking suspiciously like the Yoplait logo, there are all kinds of hidden clues in the logo...kind of like "Revolution 9."
The swoosh is really a smile. The seven bursts represent the seven divisions of Kraft Foods. The triangular one stands for DiGiorno Pizza.
And, if you look at it backwards during a full moon, it will cause you to drop ten pounds and regrow hair.
Of course, I made that last one up...but really? I'm supposed to see pizza in that logo?
I know I'm so late to the party on this (though they did claim in 2009 that the new logo wouldn't be appearing on product...so maybe they just recently changed their mind). But it calls into question two things (beyond that I must not buy a lot of Kraft products).
Logos that require a consumer to read up on what they mean to understand them fail at the gate. And unless the consumer is looking for a logo to define a product quickly, most logos are meaningless.
Which means that we marketers can get on to more important stuff. And, we should.
It's taken me a couple days to sort my (and others') thoughts on the unveiling of the visuals and tagline of the US Travel Partnership's new Brand USA.
The underlying brand premise is fairly clear: “What is so compelling about the United States is that no one thing can explain who we are as a nation,” said CMO Chris Perkins. “Each visitor and each experience helps create the fabric of American culture and Brand USA embodies this spirit.” True dat.
And, that's what's behind the multi-colored dots of the new logo...and behind the tag "the United States of Awesome Possibilities." No in-you-face red-white-and-blue. No patriotic chest thumping (which is good). It's a logo that tries too hard and a tag that features an over-used (and, dare I fear, not internationally understood) word in "awesome."
But, you know what? It's not about the logo. It's not about the tagline. They both mean NOTHING until and unless consumers embrace them. Unless you work for Apple, Nike, Harley or Coke, I'd suggest that your logo isn't relevant either.
Everybody thinks they're a branding expert these days. And, they'll embrace or reject these first attempts based on the trappings of marketing...not branding.
What matters is what comes next.
It's a fascinating concept from Stik.com's Nathan Labenz on the gigaom blog.
Basing his premise on an article by Umair Haque, he shares a chilling thought: Brands succeed best in the absence of information. The internet (and consumer review sites in particular) offers a flood of information. Thus, are brands nothing but sinking sand?
As Nathan says, "People are talking about brands on social media sites in ways that brand managers can’t control and often can’t even detect." He then offers up an interesting dilemma. Take a hotel chain that doesn't enjoy the benefit of an overarching image of quality that a Marriott or Hyatt command. There will be hotels in the chain that get 5 star reviews. There will be hotels in the chain that get 2 star reviews.
There goes the brand...even though it is likely that only a handful of outliers are screwing it up for the others. Best Western has wrestled with this conundrum for years...resulting in their recent launch of Best Western Premier. And, regardless of (or maybe because of) the chain's schitzophrenic brand identity...the Premier hotels are simply amazing. And, it is a cool move by a smart brand.
How are reviews causing disruption with your brand identity? Probably more than you'd care to admit.
And, thanks to Dolly Bhasin for the catch!
They got this cool idea to rename themselves. And, then, they announced it to the world. And, then, they realized that they hadn't bothered to secure the Twitter handle.
Oh...it gets worse. The person that does own the Twitter handle uses his platform to talk about dope and his ex-girlfriend.
Lest you think we're talking about a clueless little start-up here, we're not. This is what befell Netflix this week.
Today, it's way more than just securing a URL for a name change...it's grabbing handles on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, Foursquare, Scvngr and every other Social Media site that has a glint of opportunity to it.
I'm not sure if I've seen a "Global Happiness Index" produced by an American research firm...but, I'd guess America would rank fairly high. And, famine ravaged North Korea? Fairly low.
However, in a recent North Korean research study, China was ranked the happiest place on earth...followed by North Korea.
America? Dead Last at #203.
LMFAO.
I've been a fan of their work and irreverent culture for a while now, this creative agency (called Brains on Fire) based in way cool Greenville SC. Their blog is always thought provoking. But, for whatever reason, I just never got around to reading the book their CEO and a few of her partners in crime released last summer.
That kind of changes when you have dinner with said CEO and she hands you a signed copy. I read it cover to cover the next day.
"Brains on Fire," from Robbin Phillips, Greg Cordell, Geno Church and Spike Jones is a fast-paced treatise on the state of marketing today that offers a challenging view of the world ahead. While there's a heavy dose of examples from the agency's compelling body of work, there are just as many bold directives for how organizations need to view and interact with their customers that will exhaust most highlighters.
Cool book...thanks, Robbin.
Honestly...if you don't ask for an invitation to next year's conference, I really question your commitment to personal and professional growth. Brandworks University is truly that rare event that can change lives, business and brands.
On this final day, The Daily's Sam Poor and Lee Jeans' Liz Cahill provided amazingly compelling case studies that exemplified how understanding the consumer is the key to success. For The Daily, it was understanding that their iPad platform would enable readers to actually interact with the ads being served. For Lee, it was the understanding that guys hate to shop that enabled the conversation they now have with their base.
Marsha Lindsay returned to the stage and challenged the gathered by asking whether ad agencies were relevant (where have we heard that before?)...and said that the job for marketers is to create a desire for change. And, that was before she hauled out the chain saw.
SourceMartin's Brian Martin suggested that today is the dawning of the next creative revolution. It took agencies 15 years to figure out how to maximize TV. It's been 15 years since the dawn of the era of the internet. And we're just starting to figure it out.
The Monitor Group's Sandi Pocharski and Steven Goldbach talked about the future of organizational structure, offering that we should all be less like football and more like hockey (honestly, if you click on only one link...this is the one).
Chip Heath (author of "Switch") suggested new ways to get people within your organization to change. And, while the concepts are so obvious...it's obvious that we don't often use them.
And IBM's John Kennedy's closing presentation? One of the most powerful comments of the conference: "Have something to say...not something to sell."
To Marsha, Rick and all the folks at LSB. Thank you, thank you, thank you for recharging my batteries. And Brandworks 2012 can't come soon enough!
And the hits keep coming at America's premier branding conference in Madison WI.
Day Two kicked off with the inimitable Marsha Lindsay warning attendees that logic and rational thought will not free us from the Gordion Knot (how true, how true). She suggested (ouch) that the traditional SWOT Analysis would never create breakthrough thought...and that pursuing cost efficiencies often precludes growth. Probably the most telling take-away: "Don't focus on price to attract new customers...focus on what is priceless about your product." Damn...
The disruptive Byron Sharp (author of "How Brands Grow") took the stage to debunk virtually everything the assembled knew to be true. Indeed, that was the unofficial theme of the day: unlearning. His initial point...until just recently in human history, the best and brightest doctors thought bloodletting patients was an effective cure (of course, now they bleed us financially). The most powerful take-away? Your customers rarely think about you...which is why advertising is more crucial than ever. We need to stay in front of them, or they'll go somewhere else. As he said in his close: "Refreshing Memory Structures is the key."
Steven Goldbach (the Monitor) shared that "the Magic is in the Mix" of our marketing efforts. Chasing ROI of individual tactics means nothing. Instead, we need to understand the "Channel Pathway"...how consumers go from consideration to consumption. And, often, traditional advertising isn't part of the path.
Coke's Susan Gambardella shared how her company is "Liquid and Linked" in a sensational case study of Coke's sponsorship dominance of the World Cup. From securing an iconic theme song to connecting through Social Media channels, Coke learned that it was all about content...and allowing others to contribute to that content. Great take-away: Save 20% of the budget for the end game to leverege what worked. Cool.
LSB's Jiri Marousek and Amy Rohn offered their thoughts on Social and Mobile. Among the top-line thoughts: Managers often agree to Social Media because "it's free." Except, when all this "free" stuff gets stacked upon itself, it often becomes unmanageable. Others? Mobile is becoming the primary screen of our lives and is no longer a content delivery system, but a content generator.
Closing out the day was David Kirkpatrick, author of "The Facebook Effect," who opined that Facebook provides a broadcast platform to the people, enabling the revolution for which those in the '60s could only hope. Indeed, Facebook has enabled revolutions around the world to start...while Twitter added fuel to the fires.
Can't wait for Day Three...
And it couldn't have come at a more opportune time...at least for me.
One can only ply their craft so long until one needs a serious recharge of the creative and entrepreneurial batteries. And Day One of the most happening Brand conference in the land was just the juice I needed.
Marketed as a way to better understand how untie the Gordion Knot of Marketing, the conference got off to a roaring start when Founder Marsha Lindsay said "What the Hell" and whipped out a saw (not unlike Harrison Ford's response to a seemingly unbeatable challenge in "Indiana Jones.").
It only got better from there...
Nielsen's Susan Whiting debunked the myth that we are watching less TV (we're watching more) and that we don't watch DVR'd ads (we watch about half). That, and 25 million of us watch video on our mobile devices.
Mike Bloxham suggested that Brand Loyalty is all about Consumer Experience...and that we all look for the "best available screen" when searching for the content we crave. Most impactful for me: his 3 R's (Reach, Relevance and Resonance). Those that have seen my presentations on marketing know that I've been preaching relevance for years.
NYU's Craig Stacey shared a case study from Kayak that opened eyes. The OTA had built a successful business model on paid search. When it moved into TV, traditional media measures indicated that it was TV (and only TV) that generated traffic. But, with more sophisticated measures, it was clear that, while TV may have initiated the process for some, it was clearly a combination that also included search, billboards and online display that created the sale. More importantly, new research shows that online display advertising (long disparaged because of marginal click-thru rates) increases awareness and intent over time.
And then, the Onion's Steve Hannah shared how the originally Madison-based start up has changed the world in which we live. What a great opening day.
As Marsha said in her opening salvo: Marketers used to interupt...now we must disrupt.
Something that Zeitgeist loves to do. And, we'll have highlights from Day Two tomorrow morning.
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