Target vs. Walmart

This is a no brainier... Who doesn't prefer Target over Walmart?

I was watching TV the other day, and Walmart's and Target's commercials were nearly back to back. I found it interesting that both commercials are executing a similar message, "you can still have an awesome life while saving money."

However, Walmart's commercials blatantly come out and say that, where as Target showcases examples and allows consumers to make their own decisions.

I think Target's ads are much better. Allowing people to make up their own minds and be invloved in the process is always a nice idea.

GO TARGET!

Why Strarbucks?

Remember when Starbucks was cool? I do. I remember when that was the "Weekend spot". When it was referred to as the "New" singles bar...


I feel Starbucks major branding problem is due to it's loss of exclusivity. There was a time when carrying a Starbucks cup was a status symbol... No surprise that this feeling was lost considering, among many other things, that Starbucks went into grocery stores. Going into grocery stores!? What a BAD idea!

People are loosing faith in the company, claiming its becoming too much like McDonald's.
To make things worse, Starbucks recently begun a value meal system... Not the best way to destroy the McDonald's association...

I feel that if the company would have created a sub brand for the grocery store expansion or grew a little smarter, they may be in better shape...

This isn't over... I will think more and bring up more discussion points soon.

Poor Tropicana!

The Tropicana issues have been "the talk" lately, so I thought I should open the issues for discussion...

Consumers hate it and I'm not surprised.

If you think about it, the new packaging makes visual scene. It looks clean, fresh and pure... three concepts that an OJ company wants to be associated with.

However, I don't think it was considered how much of a staple in culture Tropicana already was. Consumers already liked the packaging. This is the perfect example of changing something without considering culture first.

If I were assigned to change Tropicana's Corporate ID, the first thing I would do is go to a random coffee shop, sit down with a glass of OJ, and find out what random people think.

This all leads me to ask... Why change what's good? Stop fucking with what works!

Fossil this

I was at the Fossil store the other day looking at all the watches... I began asking the store Clerk how the company was doing with the recent economy and she said they were still "goin strong".

This, or course, was a bit surprising considering the decline of watches in general. It then occurred to me that the secret to being a successful watch company is to adapt and position watches as 'awesome' accessories and not as time pieces.

Maybe Rolex, with it's expected decline in 2010, could take a lesson from fossil.

ReaLLY?

I was talking to a group of people the other day. Some in the Ad world, some not. At one point an individual not in the ad world made a comment about an ad, and an individual in the ad world responded by stating "What would you know, you're just a consumer."

REALLY!!!!!!

Consumers responses dictate our industry jackass!

-RB

What's in a Brand?

Have you ever thought long and hard about branding? I have... Having a Graphic Arts background, I used to be one of the many who thought that a brand was just the name a logo.
How UNTRUE is that?

A brand is everything around and about the company.

It's way you praise or tell the company to "fuck off"!

It's the logo, letter heads, font

It's how you feel and how the company wants you to feel when you think or interact with the company

It's how the company interacts with other company's

It's the PR, Press releases around the company
So, when people say branding is boring, I think they just don't bother to understand it

I know this sounds a bit "lofty" but, it's true isn't it?

Lets do the Time Warp Again!

It's Just a Jump to the Left!

So I saw the Rocky Horror Picture Show live last weekend. Besides being SO MUCH FUN, I had the opportunity to witness something culturally relevant.

As you may know, RHPS is the longest running audience participation show, which means that people dance, throw stuff, and shout out random responses to the movie.

There was one part in the show when doctor Frankin Furter's rubber gloves were stained from blood. At this point, the audience yelled "where did you get Chris Brown's Gloves?" or something of that nature (referring to the tragic abuse to Rhianna done by Chris Brown.) While it's not tasteful, it also was not what was supposed to be shouted at that point in the movie.

My point here is that the shouts to the screen changed in response to current events and culture.

This made me realise what a strong brand the RHPS is! A brand that is consistently adapting and updating itself with time and culture... No wonder its still popular and has the largest audience participation in the world!