Tens of millions of people around the world will watch this year's U.S. Open. Is that logo the best impression Torrey Pines golf course could make? Not to be critical of other people's hard work or anything, but... that logo looks like clip art.
I recently flew to Oregon on Frontier Airlines for my brother's wedding. While waiting for the plane to load and the passengers to take their seats, all of the little TV screens play ads and promos for Colorado companies. As I was ignoring the especially unpleasant young man seated next to me, I saw an ad for the Colorado Film Commission. Their tagline at the end of the ad was absolutely perfect "Everything but the Ocean." It's amusing, it makes sense, and it encapsulates everything about Colorado's assets perfectly.
So often taglines don't actually make sense for the brands they're supposed to highlight. But this one was one of the better one's I've seen out there. So simple, and so just right.
New York City is launching a new global marketing campaign to draw 50 million tourists by 2015. Along with the marketing campaign, the city is launching a new logo that was designed by the same firm (Wolff Olins) that designed the infamous London Olympics logo.
Recently, I joined a "Monday Night Football" bowling and trivia league for something new. I'm admittedly a terrible bowler but was excited about the chance to put my wealth of useless knowledge to use... My chance to dazzle others with my pop culture smarts. To my dismay, the questions aren't centered around the names of Britney's children or George Costanza's ATM password (it's Bosco, by the way), but often around sports and other "general" trivia of which I apparently know nothing. After weeks of never having the answer, several sports questions recently came up that I actually could answer. The questions focused on the official ball suppliers of the MLB, NFL, and NBA (the answers being Rawlings, Wilson, and Spaulding).
How is it possible that I, a person who has never played these sports or enjoyed watching them, had any idea who supplied the tools of the trade?
And the whoops of the day goes to the German company TrekStor, who tripped into a multicultural morass with the name of their latest MP3 player - the i.beat.blaxx. (They quickly renamed the product to simply blaxx.) Thing is, the multicultural aspects of a name are just one or many vital considerations during a naming exercise, a process that a Ford executive recently called "one of the most arduous and crappy tasks that an organization ever has to do."
We help clients define, visualize, discuss and promote their brands. But lately "brand" seems to be a common nomenclature in main-stream media. A headline on msn.com "Top 10 Reliable Brands" peaked our interest. However, after clicking, we discovered the article focused on the top 10 automotive brands – not exactly the universal ranking we were expecting.
Brand is hard to define – seven different definitions for the word exist on dictionary.com.
Our definition of a brand is the tangibles and intangibles of a company, product, or service - your name, look, messaging, perceptions, customer service, storefront, web site, etc. "Brand" captures the essence of every element that makes up who you are in the marketplace. That's why it's important to focus on your brand and make it what you want it to be. You may need to change perceptions if needed, but stay focused to enable your success.
In light of the launch for the new Simpsons movie, 7-Eleven and the Simpsons teamed up for a campaign that would run from December 2006 until the launch of the movie in July 2007. Some aspects of the branding effort included graffiti, product packaging, and store signage. We will keep an eye on the numbers, but as of yet we have heard 300 to 400-percent sales increase at participating locations. Now that's some serious D'oh.
Ah, the season of ice cream has arrived. And with it, Dairy Queen has introduced their new waffle bowls and cones in the $25 million "Made for Each Other" campaign. The sexually provocative storyline featuring Soft-Serve Girl and Waffle Boy is a hit on TV and the
web. And yes, they're selling ice cream. Dairy Queen has
announced that in one month, per-store sales have been higher than any previous product launches in more than three-and-a-half years.
The campaign is humorous and memorable. And like ice cream, it's a guilty pleasure.
How do you know if you are "on brand" these days? When the target audience begins their own word-of-mouth campaign. Recently, a wave of videos, web sites, and blogs has paid tribute to a brand revolution. The mere mention of Apple to a brand enthusiast evokes a sermon on Apple's superiority and possibly, an "Apple tribe" recruitment attempt.
Burnsmarketing.com
