As a student of cognitive science turned brand strategist, I was especially interested in an old post on Bob Hoffman’s blog, The Ad Contrarian (he refers back to it in a much more recent post, or I probably never would have noticed it), about “Salesmen & Sociologists.”
The point of the post is that “we have substantially exaggerated the power of brands. Most consumers in most categories have little or no brand loyalty.” The author goes on to say that most purchasing decisions are made based on functional differences like price and convenience.
So, as a cognitive science dork and a brand strategist, I have to say…he’s absolutely right. At least about the part I’ve mentioned here. The idea of brand loyalty as something that is complete and infallible is greatly exaggerated. (Although, just after reading that post I saw this. Funny timing.) And even if that level of loyalty was commonplace, which it’s not, it wouldn’t be easy to create without a great product.
Gatorade has been befuddling me ever since the beginning of their “What’s G” campaign.
First it was “What is G?”
Now it’s “Who is Gatorade?”
At first I thought the new campaign was meant to infuse the beverage brand with a little more urban chic, with Lil’ Wayne narrating and the implication that the Jabbawockeez are just as much athletes as are Michael Jordan and Jackie Robinson.
Then came the Monty Python ads. Weird. Amusing. About as far from “urban chic” as you can get.
Sorry, Nordstrom. I just canceled my subscription to your free email newsletter after receiving yet another “Not Your Daughter’s Jeans” edition. Last I checked, Nordstrom sells men’s clothes, too, but their email subscription doesn’t ask you to input your gender, what type of clothing you’re interested in, or any information whatsoever. This is a massive missed opportunity for targeted marketing, and in my opinion completely fails to take advantage of the point of email subscription lists.
I can’t find a transcription or recording of it anywhere online, but Citgo has been running a radio ad recently that touts its ability to provide “local jobs in your community.” I thought that seemed a little redundant. Where else could I get a local job?
But aside from nitpicking the word choice, the ad got me thinking about the name “Citgo.” I’ve been making a mental note of five-letter brand names ever since the Venza launched and I started wondering how many five-letter coined names are left. It seems like a silly question—and maybe it is—but I thought about how much time and money Toyota might have spent dreaming up “Venza,” and whether it would have helped to have a list of pronounceable, available five-letter strings that don’t have clear negative connotations (in English or other languages). Plenty of companies want short names, and rightly so (they’re easier to remember, among other advantages). How hard would it be to create a list of remaining possibilities?
Name the one thing that your company does. Think carefully before responding, because you’ll never be able to do anything else under the same brand name.
I think that’s a little extreme, but I was surprised to learn how passionately some people believe it to be true. About a week ago I wrote a short piece in response to Laura Ries’s post about UPS. In her post, Laura invokes a classic Ries line: “once your brand stands for something in the mind, it is impossible to change the brand’s position.” She goes on to use UPS (shipping), Kodak (film), and Blockbuster (video rental stores) as examples of brands that stand for just “one thing,” and therefore failed (or will fail, in the case of UPS) to be perceived as doing anything else well under that brand name. Follow her logic, and it’s why Kodak isn’t a leader in digital photography and Blockbuster’s Netflix-like service never took off.
You can always count on the checkers at Cold Storage to 3x bag any raw meat and generally use as many plastic bags as possible. #Singapore Saturday 04 February
"P&G perfected the modern art of branding with Crisco" NPR: Who Killed Lard?-More at http://t.co/uY4c7sBP Saturday 04 February
I’m not sure how I missed this, but the designer know as Velociraptor has updated his original Crayola Color Timeline that I posted about last year, into the the new Crayon-Bow (half rainbow - half rising su...
I missed this Inception Chair by Vivian Chiu because it was being exhibited in Noho during ICFF. It was a big regret of mine being unable to get to Noho to check out the great installations.The Inception Chair...
My friend Tina (AKA Swissmiss) has launched Tattly, a new online store for — get this — designy temporary tattoos! Yes, now you can wear your love of design right on your sleeve. Why get a permanent MOM whe...
