First Decade of 21st Century as Told by 92 Magazine Covers

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

Mary Emma Allen of b5media’s HomeBizNotes.com blog published a review of my latest book, Building Brand Value the Playboy Way, last week, which I’d like to share with you.

You can read the full review here!

From WTF to TFW – How a Blog Caused a Logo Change for Wisconsin

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?

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

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

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

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

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

Geoff Rosenbaum of the Principle Group on Branding – Part 2

Time for part two from a series of posts from Geoff Rosenbaum.  Geoff is the Executive Vice President of Principle Group, an international branding company headquartered in the United Kingdom that recently opened a new U.S. office in Tennessee.  You can follow the link to read Part 1 of Geoff’s branding series.

Implementing a global brand can be a big, complex and terrifying endeavor. It’s not uncommon to be faced with hundreds of sites in several countries, all needing to be finished yesterday. You probably don’t speak the language in all these regions, and it’s doubtful you have brand champions established in every office in your worldwide organization.
 
But it’s your job to turn concepts into practical reality. As an example, take large-scale branding endeavors such as site signage and interiors. What must you do to ensure material quality and design are consistent, installed according to your standards, and quality-checked to assure your superiors the project has been correctly managed across all locations?
 
As promised in our last post, we’ll spend the next few weeks reviewing the five rules of brand implementation as developed by Principle Group through multiple, successful global programs. Rule number one is to Plan It Like a Military Campaign. [Read more]

Apple’s iPhone – It’s an Instrument, Too!

Who knew when Apple released the iPhone to much fanfare that it would be where it is today?  Sure, it seemed obvious that it would change the cell phone market.  The touch screen is great, and everything with that little Apple logo immediately seems cooler than any other similar product, but who new the term “iPhone app” would permeate our culture to rival Twitter in terms of being buzzworthy? 

And who would have thought that the iPhone can also be used as an instrument?  But alas, there’s an app for that.  It’s like the Swiss Army Knife of telephonic gadgetry!

According to an article from The Register, musician Gary Go has a new stage show the likes of which have never been seen before.  He’s heading out on tour with just one instrument — his iPhone.  He’ll be performing at Wembley in London in July — just a guy and his iPhone.   Whatever happens while Gary Go and his iPhone are on tour, it’s great publicity for Apple.

Your thoughts?

Image: Flickr

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