Weekly Wrap up – Marketing and Branding
March 26, 2010
Check out Susan Gunelius’ articles and posts published across the Web this week:
Corporate Branding and Marketing
- Branding from Within: The Importance of Internal Brand Building
- Brands Really Can Connect with Consumers through Online Video Ads
- Apple and Google – Friends or Foes?
Small Business Branding and Marketing
- 20 Questions to Ask and Requirements to Define before You Hire a Business Blogger
- 6 Twitter Apps to Track Your Twitter Performance
Copywriting
Weekly Wrap-up — Marketing, Branding and More
March 18, 2010
Check out Susan Gunelius’ articles and posts published across the Web this week:
Corporate Branding and Marketing
- Early Adopters have Significant Influence on Brand Success
- Potato Chips and Flickr – A Happy New Social Media Marketing Tactic
- Are You Talking to the Right People about Your Brand Online?
Small Business Branding and Marketing
- Why Your Local Business Must be Online and 20 Easy Ways to Do It
- Affordable and Targeted Small Business Advertising on Facebook
- 3 Reasons Your Small Business Should Have a Mobile App
Women in Business and Careers
First Decade of 21st Century as Told by 92 Magazine Covers
February 9, 2010
The Magazine Publishers of America and the American Society of Magazine Editors created an excellent video that tells the story of the first decade of the 21st century using 92 magazine covers. From Google to Twilight and everything in between, the big events are included. Check it out below or view it on YouTube.
How many brands can you identify on the 92 magazine covers?
Building Brand Value the Playboy Way Review
December 14, 2009
Mary Emma Allen of b5media’s HomeBizNotes.com blog published a review of my latest book, Building Brand Value the Playboy Way
You can read the full review here!
From WTF to TFW – How a Blog Caused a Logo Change for Wisconsin
October 6, 2009
Earlier this year, one of my favorite blogs, Your Logo Makes Me Barf, wrote a post called WTF Wisconsin? that pointed out a glaring error made by the Wisconsin Tourism Federation. If you don’t know what the acronym WTF stands for, I’ll tell you — “What the fu*k?” Take a look at the logo below.
While it’s surprising that no one within or working with the Wisconsin Tourism Federation mentioned this problem to them, the more interesting point of the story comes from how they learned about it. The power of the blogosphere is demonstrated once again with the WTF Wisconsin? post on Your Logo Makes Me Barf. The Milwaukee Wisconsin Journal Sentinel wrote about it on the same day in their Hubbub blog.
Perhaps the more unfortunate part of this story though is something mentioned on another of my favorite blogs — Brand New. The organization took the time and invested the money to change their name after realizing the error (the new name is Tourism Federation of Wisconsin), but they just flipped the letters in the logo instead of creating a new one. Now that’s a missed opportunity as this logo leaves a lot to be desired (see below).
Of course, the lesson to learn is — always make sure multiple people review your work. You never know what you might miss.
Burger King vs. Jack in the Box Death Match – Who Would Win?
June 24, 2009
Remember that show Celebrity Death Match on MTV where claymation characters molded after celebrities entered an ultimate fighting ring and duked it out?
While being tortured by the new Jack in the Box commercial (you can watch it below — it’s very similar to a Pepto Bismol commercial from a year or so ago that included a song and dance — and I don’t mean “similar” in a good way) last night, my husband and I pondered who would win a Celebrity Death Match between the Burger King mascot and the Jack in the Box mascot? Both characters creep me out equally, so I think I’d have to look away.
And for a bit of creepiness from Burger King, check out this commercial…
Take the poll below and tell me who you think would win.
I guess I’d have to give it to Jack in the Box after the commercial shown below, which was certainly better than the mini buffalo ranch chicken sandwich dance commercial above.
Bad Logos
June 14, 2009
I have to give a hat tip to ArtistMike.com for putting together a great list of bad logos.
It’s an amusing and unfortunate display of logo design gone terribly wrong, and the lessons to learn are these — hire a professional logo designer to create your logo and be sure to show it to many people before launching it to make sure there’s nothing you haven’t missed in terms of interpretation.
Check out the list of bad logos.
Yahoo is not a Search Company
May 28, 2009
According to Yahoo! CEO Carol Bartz, “We’re not a search company.” You might ask, then what the heck is Yahoo? According to Bartz, it’s a site that creates a complete experience through social, mobile and video components.
The Yahoo! we know today is just the tip of the iceberg of where the company and brand are going in the future. The challenge will be repositioning the brand that has for so long been associated with search and as the brand tagging along behind Google, into a brand that delivers a more experiential and less transactional promise.
I’m rooting for Yahoo, and I think repositioning the brand could be what saves it. I give props to Carol Bartz for recognizing that the online market has changed and for trying to catch up. There is deep value in the Yahoo! brand, and watching it struggle in recent years has been unfortunate.
The repositioning of Yahoo! won’t succeed overnight. It’s going to take time, investment and patience. According to Bartz (and despite all the rumors and negative press to the contrary), the majority of Internet users still visit Yahoo! Perhaps the shift in brand perception among consumers doesn’t have to be a rough road. Only time will tell, but it sounds like Bartz is on the right track.
Watch the video interview with Bartz to hear her take on the future of Yahoo! firsthand.
What do you think? Can Yahoo! rebound?
Image: Flickr
3 Steps to Organic Brand Positioning
May 23, 2009
Traditionally, brand positioning is defined as how customers perceive your brand or product in relation to similar products offered by your competitors in your market. Marketers usually try to create brand position through advertising and promotions in an attempt to influence customers’ perceptions of their brands. However, in today’s world of busy schedules and nonstop messages, companies need to find different ways to position their brand. By listening to your customers and making changes internally, you can build your brand position organically.
Organic brand positioning is a reactive strategy because it requires you to listen to your customers, but it’s also an effective strategy. To position your brand, you need to look at everything that affects your brand image and therefore, your customers’ perception of your brand. From customer service to pricing and advertising, every part of your organization has some effect on your customers’ overall perception of your brand, and that leads us to the 3 steps to organic brand position listed below: [Read more]
$2500 XBox Nikes
May 18, 2009
As the saying goes, imitation is the ultimate form of flattery. I suppose that saying can be applied to the “art of branding” — when an artist interprets a brand in his or her medium of choice. Think of the Campbell’s Soup can painting by Andy Warhol?
I arrived back from a great beach getaway this week to read this article on Yahoo! about the $2500 X-box and Nike shoes created by artist Sole Junkie out of California. With that kind of price tag, this certainly isn’t going to become a widely popular pair of sneakers (neither Microsoft nor Nike endorse it), but for art-loving XBox devotees, this might be the splurge they’ve been waiting for.
Regardless of the price, there certainly is value in both the XBox and Nike brands. Even Sole Junkie recognized that (check out his website, he has some interesting work).
The question on every brand manager’s mind should be this — how can I make my brand interesting enough for someone to create art from it and how can I create a loyal consumer following who would want to buy art with my brand on it? Maybe not sneakers, but some form of art. Take that to your boss when it’s time for performance reviews!
Image: SoleJunkie.com
