Conan O’Brien’s 60 Minutes interview from May 2nd drew a lot of attention because it was his first appearance since leaving The Tonight Show, because of what he said about Jay Leno, and maybe because despite his repeated assertions that he’s “fine,” he seemed to be brimming with resentment. But what stuck out for me was this statement from Conan:
I hope people still find me — comedically absurd and ridiculous.
I noticed it because of the slight hesitation before “comedically absurd and ridiculous.” I think he was about to say “funny,” but he caught himself and replaced it with something much more interesting. By positioning himself as comedically absurd instead of funny,
I’ve been doing some competitive research lately, and for once it’s not for a client. It’s for my own company (the one that now employs me), which means I’m examining brand consulting firms and other shops that do basically what we do but maybe call it something different. (Which, by the way, is a plague in this industry—an industry that demands its clients communicate clearly, and yet insists on using nebulous terms interchangeably and coming up with proprietary “processes” that are little more than trademarked names for the same thing all their competitors do. But we can talk about that some other time.)
I’ve owned a Flip Video camera since July. I enjoy the product, so when I heard about the Cisco-owned product’s consumer ad campaign, I was especially interested. But when the ads started showing up on TV, I was immediately disappointed. The campaign is built around what Cisco is calling “flipable moments,” which apparently include a dog almost barking “I love you,” two young children having a screaming contest, or a woman doing a handstand on the beach.
For starters, it meant asking Facebook fans to contribute “flipable moments,” which Lipe defines as everyday spontaneous events shot on a Flip Video camera.
“We believe the effort of this campaign will help the brand become one of those devices you can’t leave your home without,” Lipe says. “If people leave home with their phone, email device and Flip, it’s a great day.”
So what is a flipable moment? The through-line for most of these is that they appear to have been captured on impulse. The people depicted in these 15-second ads have fun—they enjoy the little things in life, and now they’re able to capture them on video and share with friends and family. What a great concept for a brand to own! …a brand other than Flip Video.
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.
Just read this article by Laura Ries of Ries & Ries brand consulting. In it, she derides UPS for a recent ad campaign claiming that they do “more than shipping.”
Once your brand stands for something in the mind, it is almost impossible to change the brand’s position. UPS stands for shipping and the UPS Store stands for a place to ship. And that is not a bad thing, in fact it is an enormously profitable business.
Brands like UPS should reinforce their strengths in advertising and not try to expand into other companies’ categories.
I agree that brands need focus—that they should strive to stand for one thing in the minds of customers. But time and again Laura and her father/business partner, Al Ries, dole out advice without considering business realities. It’s unrealistic to assume that every business will do one thing only, forever. After all, one benefit of a strong brand is the “permission” it gives to extend into other relevant categories.
I first learned about this name change on CatchThis, a blog produced by the excellent naming firm Catchword. According to the post, a family-friendly video sharing site called GodTube has renamed itself tangle. Laurel Sutton, a founder and owner at Catchword, outlines her case against the name by making two points:
A contradiction between a) a line in an article explaining the name change, which states that tangle supports “no specific theology” and b) quotes from the CEO that suggest the site is really for Christians.
The fact that “tangle” is “usually something you want to get out of, not in to. And then there’s the meaning of ‘mess with’ or ‘provoke’ – also negative, and kind of threatening too (do you want to tangle with god?)”
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