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« Friday « June 26, 2009
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Digital: Get-Rich-Quick Ads Steal Google's Brand Equity
(Advertising Age)
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In a world of double-digit unemployment and old-line industries in mid-collapse, here's a sales pitch tailor-made for the times: Get Paid by Google.When you create systems that are almost totally automated, lots of well-meaning customers are going to do very well by using your system the right way, and so will scammers, spammers, and con men. But the online and search advertising industries are fundamentally flawed to begin with: generally they're based on traffic, which can be artificially generated in dozens of illegitimate ways. These industries invite all sorts of criminally-minded cretins who are extremely good at inventing ways to game the systems. Why? Because that's where the money is. At the same time, I have to note that this article appears in AdAge, one of the last bastions of the old advertising world, you know the one that's dying a slow death by millions of digital paper cuts, because they can't do things like provide their clients with the campaign analytics that a firm like Google can. Everyone wants to measure the effectiveness of their ads, but few can provide the numbers like Google and other online ad firms. It's not surprising that you'll find an anti-Google piece, here. Google is one of the biggest advertising operations on the planet today, but they don't even need to talk to AdAge, and they probably don't give two squirts about what AdAge thinks. Ha!
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« Saturday « June 20, 2009
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Squatters Own 80% of Twitter
(ShoeMoney blog)
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Quote: "[P]eople are blaming SEOs for this spamming twitter. I think they have the wrong angle one this. These accounts are not spamming. [T]hese accounts are just sitting idle. And have been idle for a long time."I'd agree. No one knows what to do with Twitter, but people want make sure they don't miss the big money boat, if it comes along, so those kinds of folks are essentially trying to lock up names.
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« Monday « June 8, 2009
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UP: Review (4.9/5)
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I don't use this word often, but UP was a delightful little film.
If one were to create a film that was the paragon of effective and highly-engaging storytelling, this Pixar gem would be the movie. As far as I'm concerned, in terms of narrative quality, this is about as close to perfect as you can get. A movie is a story told with pictures and sound, and with this instant classic, you get nothing but an entertaining, feel-good treat. When you factor in the sumptuous 3-D visual effects, UP is just, well, delightful. (There I go again.)
And in its near perfection, UP shows that a well-told story can be many things at the same time. It is:
- A love story
- An adventure tale
- A story about a dog
- A road trip movie
- A story about a boy looking for his father figure
- A buddy picture
- A comedy
- A drama
- A story about heroes
- A story about villains
- A coming of age story
- A getting-old story
...and a few more things too. These days, it's becoming increasingly rare to leave the cineplex feeling like you got your money's worth. UP may be the remedy to all of the bad movies you've suffered through so far in 2009.
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The Hangover: Review (4/5)
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Guy movies about rites passages - like graduating high school or college, winning the big game (and getting the girl), throwing the big party while your parents are gone, or celebrating your final days and hours of freedom as a bachelor, are common Hollywood fodder. And in that commonality there's nothing but stale formula for telling the same stories over and over and over again. The faces change, but the stories remains the same.
While I've grown to love flicks like Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Risky Business, and Bachelor Party, I've yet to see these kinds of stories retold in fresher ways in recent memory. Until this weekend. Somewhere between the puerile aesthetics of Superbad and the slightly more mature nuances of Sideways, we need to make room for The Hangover, a shot in the arm for guy movies.
It's a hilarious romp that doesn't take itself too seriously, and effectively succeeds at its simple goal: tell the story of a groom-to-be and his three friends as they paint Las Vegas red for his bachelor party. The innovation here - and yes, it's a gimmick, but it's a gimmick that works - is that the story is revealed as a comic detective caper. The four guys lift shotglasses of Jagermeister and toast the start of the bachelor party and get started ...and then we fade to black. In the next scene, three of the guys wake up in their trashed Vegas suite, with raging hangovers, and the fourth guy, the groom, is missing. The rest of the film becomes a hilarious odyssey as they try figure out what happened to their friend, and get him to the church on time, in less than 48 hours. It is a clever gimmick that gives the film a lot of energy: instead of going through another wild party, which we've seen before, we go on a journey with the guys as they piece together the night they experienced. There's nothing but laughter all along the way.
The Hangover is definitely worth the price of admission.
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« Monday « June 1, 2009
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LeBron leaves: a global icon's first mistake
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So LeBron James and his Cleveland Cavaliers team didn't get to the NBA finals this season, after much hype. Well, that's how it goes in sports. Win some. Lose some. Apparently, James was so miffed by the defeat that he left the floor without shaking the hands of his opponents, most significantly Dwight "Superman" Howard, another fast-rising star in the NBA's firmament. But he did even worse than that, he left the arena, skipping the league-mandated post-game press conference. Big mistake, especially for someone who's openly stated that he wants to become a "global icon" and the sporting world's first billion-dollar athlete. Stating the obvious, you have to take the losses graciously, because we all know, if he had won the game, he would have been there at the presser, front and center, flashing that billion-dollar smile and taking all of the questions. We'd all be witnesses to that. He'll turn 24 later this year, so he can be forgiven for this youthful mistake. As far as young athletes go, this gaffe pales in comparison to other things we've seen before. But if he's going to be the leader and corporate entity that he aspires to be, he's going to have to stick around, even when the chips are down and he's out of the money. His nickname is King James, but on Saturday night, he acted like more a pauper and a sore loser.
Related: James frustrated after Game 6 loss (ESPN.com)
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« Friday « May 29, 2009
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Memphis Charged With Violations
(ESPN.com)
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The Memphis men's basketball program has been charged by the NCAA with major violations during the 2007-08 season under former coach John Calipari. Reigning NBA Rookie of the Year Derrick Rose is at the center of alleged violations at Memphis.I think it's time to end the sham that is NCAA basketball once and for all. To begin with, the NBA's age restriction is ridiculous, and probably unconstitutional. Moreover, it seriously compromises the integrity of the NCAA. When you're 18-years-old, you're old enough to join the armed services, go overseas, and fight in a war, at great risk to your life and health. If you're an 18-year-old computer prodigy, there's nothing preventing Google or Microsoft from hiring you right out of high school. But if you're 18 and extremely gifted in basketball, you can't compete for a spot on an NBA roster. Well, how's that fair? So you have these kids who come to college for no other purpose but to get old enough to qualify for the NBA. And it's a joke to think these "one-and-done" kids have any interest in getting an education. To call them student-athletes is the greatest of oxymorons. They already know how they're going to try to make a living. They've poured their lives into developing their basketball skills. What's going on these days is making a mockery of college basketball. The NCAA should fine itself, and the NBA, not the teams, players, and coaches just trying to make the best of the screwed-up system they've been sentenced to.
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« Sunday « May 24, 2009
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LeBron James' game-winning shot has historic impact
(SportsIllustrated.com)
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He sprinted away from the basket out past the three-point line to catch the inbounds pass at the height of his leap. LeBron James landed with the ball as if upon a diving board that shot him back up high. He was looking at the basket with his chin near his right shoulder and the goal like a needle's orange eye slim and small and 25 feet away.I'm not sure about the history-angle, but then again, if you replay it over and over and over again, it will effectively becomes "historic" by sheer brute force. If LeBron leads the Cavs to a championship this season, they will look back to this shot as a pivotal moment. We'll have to wait to see how things play out before we call it historic.
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« Thursday « May 14, 2009
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Seeing Pink, Branding Pink
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Screenshot from MLB.com Web site of breast cancer promotion landing pageSo it turns out that my Scarlet Letter rebranding dream for Major League Baseball (MLB) isn't so far-fetched after all. Just this past Sunday, in honor of Mother's Day, MLB teamed up with one of their sponsors, Susan G. Komen for the Cure to help in the fight against Breast Cancer.
And pink was the color of the day.
MLB logo is pinkIn the manly sport of hardball, where there ain't no crying' no less.
Some players sported pink arm bands, and uniforms were patched with pink ribbons. One player, Houston Astros third baseman Lance Berkman, used a pink limited-edition bat from the Louisville Slugger Company. For fans, there were mascots wearing pink, contests and giveaways to win pink hats, pink T-shirts, and even more pink limited-edition bats.
But most-telling from a branding perspective for MLB, the brand that I've already argued is in need of a rebranding, is that they took their logo...and turned it pink! As longtime San Francisco sports talk radio host Gary Radnich often says, "Who does that? Who has time?" I'd love to see the brand guidelines which drove that decision. (Aside, if you visit the page captured in the screenshot above, you'll see three different MLB logos on the page, it's branding run amuck.) Is there a pink exception for the logo? What if someone wants to use it in fuchsia? Lime green? Burnt umber? Sure, some uses of the logo may call for adjustments, for example in the black-and-white enviroment of a traditional newspaper, the MLB logo can't appear in full color, but pink?
The breast cancer awareness promotion is a highly-worthwhile community-building activity for MLB. It's great that baseball is involved in raising lots of money that will ultimately save lives. But if you take the very symbol that represents your organization and alter it just to fit one promotion, what does that say about how you're managing brand? There's this key concept at the heart of branding called consistency.
And if you can go pink, then why not scarlet?
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« Friday « May 8, 2009
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Rebrand Major League Baseball, now!
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Courtesy of shgmom56 (flickr)Last week, in the midst of the swine flu outbreak, I blogged that the virus was not a branding problem for the pork producing industry, but that it was a public relations nightmare. I've since been gently reminded by one of the many erudite minds in the world of branding at my company that inasmuch as the flu had a name - swine - which touched on the industry, it was indeed an "image" problem, which is certainly a branding issue. On reflection, I do agree, but I still maintain that rebranding - i.e. like slapping a new logo and tagline onto your business - in reaction to one adverse situation is not really the right approach.
Today, just to show you that I can wield the stick from both sides of the plate, I want to propose that there is an American, albeit increasingly international, entity that is sorely in need of a rebranding: Major League Baseball. Rebrand thyself, please, because you've losing touch with your customers.
Yesterday's news of Los Angeles Dodger Manny Ramirez testing positive for banned substances, and today's news, the return of New York Yankee slugger Alex Rodriguez ("A-Rod"), puts a corrosive spotlight on the League. Ramirez, is arguably the most feared right-handed offensive player in the League, and A-Rod was the one guy who was supposed to be baseball's last great hope, but who'll now be remembered as the poster child for the so-called Steroid Era. Some of us, when we were growing up, aspired to become heros like our favorite baseball stars. We didn't know their lives off the field, but on the field, they performed magic. Today's magic, apparently, comes with the assist of a syringe, and substances with names like "boli," "the clear" and "the cream."
I think the purity of the game is irreparably damaged already because of what some of the players did. But as stewards of the brand, the League has also taken some shaky steps down the basepath too; it tries to present the game as the national pasttime, when those days are long gone. Kids in America aren't playing baseball as much as they're playing basketball and football. There are very few baseball players who have the same name and face recognition as NFL stars like Tom Brady, or NBA heros like LeBron James and Kobe Bryant. And when they do have household name recognition, like A-Rod, or Manny Ramirez, or Barry Bonds, those names are inextricably linked to cheating and steroids.
If you watch the sports news on TV these days, whenever they get to the baseball highlights, you see oceans of empty seats at ballparks across the League. In the crummy economy we're suffering through right now, ticket prices aren't just too high for average working people - if they're lucky to be working - they're obscene. This is supposed to be the people's game. The Yankees, my team, who just moved into a brand new, billion-dollar stadium, which has problems keeping opposing teams' fly balls from leaving the park, cut the prices on some of their prime seats by 50%, so now, for the dirt cheap price of about $1200, you can enjoy a game in the sweet seats. This isn't America's pasttime anymore. It may be America's past.
Baseball has all the signs of an industry sorely in need of a rebranding:
- Reputation tarnished, check
- Image problems abound, check (my learning from the 'swine flu' branding thing)
- Undergoing major changes, check (the Steroid Era literally rewrote MLB record books, erasing the accomplishments of past players who did it the 'right' way)
- Facing declining sales, check (look at all the empty seats in MLB ballparks)
- Getting outpaced by competitors, check (baseball trails NFL and NBA in popularity, and if keeps things up NHL may surpass it too)
- Brand doesn't really stand for anything, check (I say Major League Baseball! You say...what?)
- Failing to adapt to fit the times, check (kids aren't playing baseball because the game isn't as cool as football or basketball, and without young fans, what's the future hold?)
In a word: baseball is becoming less relevant.
I love baseball. I love the strategic parts of it. I love the entertainment aspects of it. If it were up to me, as part of this mythic rebranding, I'd insist that since the League can't seem to effectively police this steroid problem, that it simply embrace the blemish. When I go to the ballpark and see some of these sluggers hit monster home runs, I really don't care if they were puffed on steroids when they did it. But I would like to know which players are clean and which players are juiced. So I propose a "Scarlet Letter" for baseball players as part of the rebranding. If a player tests positive for steroids, don't kick him out of baseball, don't suspend him, brand him as a steroid user. Make him wear a garish, prominent mark on his uniform or hat that identifies him as having been caught cheating. That way fans will be able to tell, at a glance, what and who they're really watching. And parents can tell their children: don't be like that guy. And we can still play ball. And don't worry about the players, Manny Ramirez cheated, allegedly, and he's going to lose $7 million in salary...but he's guaranteed another $38 million in his contract: who said cheating doesn't pay off?
Now, while this proposal may seem silly - well, it actually is silly - consider what's going on in Major League Baseball right now: they're presenting us a fair sporting contest, where every day it seems that some of the biggest names in the game are being exposed as cheaters, and they're asking us to believe that their product isn't tainted. Dare I say, the integrity of the sport is in question.
At least, if you rebrand this game as costumed, physical entertainment, and not as pure competitive sport, customers will know what they're getting, like the fans of pro wrestling do.
I still think that an "A-bomb for A-Rod" - that's what the Yankee broadcaster John Stirling says when Rodriguez hits a big home run - is a spectacular thing to behold. I just don't believe that Major League Baseball's brand promise lives up to what they're delivering.
Rebrand the game to reflect the reality.
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Courtesy of shgmom56 (flickr)
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« Friday « May 1, 2009
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Pandemics, branding, and casting pearls before swine (flu)
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I just read on AdAge.com, here, that the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) was pushing for a "re-branding" in reaction to the growing swine flu pandemic. As guardians of the pork industry - not the pork barrel industry, mind you - they want the flu referred to by its technical name: "H1N1 Virus." And this is all making me a little sick.
No, I'm not coming down with the H1NI virus flu myself. It's this misuse of branding concepts that's making me queasy. I'm not sure if AdAge or the NPPC is at fault here, but I see this happen time and time again whenever bad news comes down the pipe: let's rebrand.
It's true, the pork industry has a perception problem on their hands, because people hear the word "swine," see pigs in their mind, and then mistakenly think, "I better lay off on the ham sandwiches and carnitas burritos today." You can't get swine flu from eating cooked pork. But yes, this perception problem may result in significant sales losses for the pork industry. Developing a media response to this problem is all fine and good, but we're not talking about branding here. We're talking about public relations. What's make me nauseous is this snowballing notion in the business world that a "re-branding" is a silver bullet that can solve problems of the moment. It's not. Branding is strategic, not tactical, long-term, not short-term. Branding is not an airbrush that you take out and spray over your blemishes.
Your brand is supposed to stand for something. I personally think it should be timeless. The brand should be at the heart of everything you do. In bad or troubling times - like global pandemics or stupid ex-employees doing dumbass things on their shift and posting those exploits on YouTube - your brand should be the hedge that protects the equity and reputation you've earned over a long-period of interaction within your market and with your customers.
When I see brands, organizations, people reacting to bad current events in the world with, "Well, we have to re-brand..." I think they're simply not understanding what it is a brand can do. At the end of the day, you can only solve two basic problems with branding: 1) you can tell your customers how you're different than all of your competitors; and 2) you can tell your customers why you're better. That's it. When you really need it, there people who can tell you more about what branding really is, in all its intricacy.
Pork is competing with beef, chicken, fish, and other food products. Realistically, all a "re-branding" could do right now is reposition the little piggies within this food sector.
The swine flu isn't a branding problem for the pork industry. It's a public relations nightmare. To address it, the pork industry needs a public relations solution. Now, part of that PR solution certainly can be buttressed by the brand strategy already in place, which I think is tied to that "Pork, the other white meat..." tagline, but the solution to swine flu for porkers is not branding.
First, understand the problem. Then use the right tools.
I'm going out and getting a cheezburger, with bacon, for lunch.
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