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!

Compost Modern = Awesome Post 4

A few last lecture tidbits



1. "We have too much stuff around that we don't want, but are stuck with..."

I don't agree with this. As a planner/strategist I feel that we can use take almost anything, and somehow use it to our advantage. It's our job to take useless "stuck with" stuff, and create something desirable with it. Anything is undesirable, until we have a use for it.

I think liquor is a good example. Unless I have a use for it, for a party, it's useless and I'm stuck with it. Maybe this is why smart phones are becoming SO popular... It sucks having to carry something around ALL day for one purpose... Creating many uses makes it a bit more desirable.

On the other hand, I have a lot of friends who HATE the iPhone because it is so multi faceted. They want a phone to call, and that's it. It would be interesting to market the anti smart phone...
These is potential to isolate 2 completely different markets for a similar device.

2. Replacement is happening... Get on the wave!

How true is this? If we ignore this fact, we have no way of being successful. A good example is watches becoming obsolete... Now that everyone has a cell phone, it is so rare to see someone wearing a watch. Another example is paper. More and more offices are going paperless because it gives props to the environment and it is WAY cheaper.

As advertisers, if we don't realise these replacements and how they can effect ads, what chance do we have of surviving?

3. Localization is the wave of the future!

It's true! People are getting serviced more locally. Not only is it cheaper, but it helps build yourself through building your community...

Compost Modern = Awesome Post 3

Why change what works?



Hello All! Anther good point brought up at a compost modern lecture that needs its own space.

How often have you seen this happen? Something works just fine, but its changed. This happens consistently in everyday situations. I've noticed this happening especially while working in past part time jobs. More often than not something that works really well is changed, to help change something else that doesn't work well... WHY? It seems very illogical to me.
We should value what we currently have. Fix whats broken, not what works.

Is this Ad gone wrong possibly right?

Brook Shields + VW = Bad? Why?



I've talked to SO many people about this Campaign, and all except one hate it. But why?

I thought this was an interesting way of reversing the stigma on the "mini van". The Mini-van is always the car that's made fun of. Being called the Soccer Mom/house wife car... who whats to drive something like that? This campaign took back that negative connotation by creating a story where people were going to extreme lengths to have an excuse to buy this car.

I thought it was a fun way to take back the stigma, and it could have worked but I don't think that the culture of the US was ready for something like this.

I think that Brook Shields took too much attention away from the story/concept of the ad. Kind of like what Katie Holmes drama with Tom Cruise did to the Batman movie. With someone else fore fronting the ads, this may have been a successful campaign.

Referring to the Tom Cruise/Katie Holmes thing, maybe reading and learning from the tabloids every once in a while may not be a bad idea. :)

Compost Modern = Awesome Post 2

"Why branding? There is so much of it out there, why do we need more?"




This was a very interesting point one of the speakers brought up at compost modern. He was referencing the worlds need to communicate who they are, through ones self image and through branding.

Excuse me if I get a bit "philosophical" here, but I think there is an innate desire for people (and companies) to brand themselves. To create an overall image, impression, feeling that will be intercepted and interpreted by others... Pretty deap, huh :).

Above all, the most important thing this speaker said involving branding is that "if you don't make something meaningful or compelling, someone else will."

This helps remind me that no branding or adverting strategy assighment is boring. As long as I focus on making this thing (dull or cool) compelling and meaningful, how could I be bored?