Posts in Branding
Brands Must Become Media to Earn Relevance
What follows is the complete version of my recent post on Mashable, “Why Brands are Becoming Media.“
One of the greatest challenges I encounter today is not the willingness of a brand to engage, but its ability to create. When blueprinting social architecture and the engineering that connects people to other people strategically, enthusiasm and support typically derail when examining the resources and the commitment required to rhythmically produce, distribute, and support content.
Indeed, we are programming the social web around our brand hub and as such, we’re required to capture attention and also hold it through the introduction of engaging dialogue, interaction, and the introduction of relevant information packaged and published as social objects. More...
PR Week FourSquare podcast: addressing personal privacy issues, brand promotion and protection
33 Digital’s Drew Benvie and I participated in this week’s PR Week podcast. During the conversation we discussed how brands can promote their business on FourSquare, protect their reputation and privacy issues.
The podcast resulted from personal privacy concerns that have had FourSquare on the offensive in the last week following the launch of PleaseRobMe.com a mash-up that tracks the movement of individuals on FourSquare and overlays images and Google Maps.
Issues of personal privacy have arisen with almost every new generation of personal technology: voicemail advertises that you aren’t at home; away-from-email auto-messages advertise that you’re on holiday. More...
What Brands Can Learn From AC-DC
Australia’s greatest musical export AC-DC recently returned to home soil for a major sell-out tour.
These guys are simply amazing. Still rocking after all these years, packing in the crowds year after year after year. Who would have thought the band would still be one of the biggest rock acts in the world some 35 years after their formation in Australia in 1974?
POP QUIZ: What was the first gig AC-DC played? (check the answer at the bottom of the post!).
Let’s face it, any brand would kill for AC-DC’s longevity, their cross-generational appeal and the fanatical fan base that continues to buy their product year in, year out. More...
What’s in your Brand Bank Account?
When I spoke at the Marketing Pioneers event in Amsterdam, one presentation got me thinking.
Huib Van Bockel, marketing director for Red Bull in the Netherlands and who also coaches other Red Bull marketers throughout northern Europe, spoke about what he calls a Brand Bank Account.
While Huib’s presentation was in the Dutch language, I was able to speak with him several times before and after the presentation to learn more.
The concept is that each brand has a virtual bank account with items being deposited into the account and withdrawn from the account at all times. Huib says that when a brand gives more than it receives, it will grow (just like when you deposit more money over time into your bank account than you withdraw, your net worth will grow). More...
Enjoying a brand called Brand while listening to a Ramones tribute band
While the band was terrific, they only knew about ten songs and considering most Ramones tunes clock in at less than three minutes we heard each song twice. The crowd didn't care, getting more into it on the second go-round. (I think I heard Blitzkrieg Bop three times, but I can't be sure).
So I look up to the chalkboard menu to see the brands of beer they serve. I see they helpfully say "brand" before listing Heineken and the others. More...
Mobile Parking
I am deeply, deeply cross about the car parking charges at my local train station. There isn’t a bus I can take to the station, I can’t be dropped off every day and I have no friends. I have to drive to the station. And park. They put up the price of parking every year – I can’t understand why, it’s hardly a high maintenance facility. I’m so cross about the parking that, despite the operator’s attempts to make me pay for parking using a mobile phone, I have resolutely refused. I want them to have the inconvenience of counting the coins that I so religiously pump into the machine every day. More...
Identity and Branding from Noisy Decent Graphics
A while back Creative Review featured Mr Chicken. He's the chap who designs all the Fried Chicken logos in London. Amazing stuff.
Coke continued their branding resurgence with these great summer special edition cans. Big corporations listen up: THIS IS HOW YOU DO BRANDING.
Michael Bierut tweaked the Guitar Hero logo. There's an element of 'you couldn't make that up' isn't there? Looks great though.Another example of 'how to do branding' from a designer at the top of his game. I could easily have mentioned The Oak Room or continued work for MAD.
Jargonwatch: kerb mining
As Tony Veitch says, this video is irresistible. It was originally posted on the Wall Street Journal and describes a project by branding agency Mono to seed a product across New York using an innovative experiential marketing campaign.
A Digital B2B Future
I admit it. I went to see Miley Cyrus at the O2. Whatever the rumours to the contrary, it was my kids that wanted to go. They badgered me at least once to buy tickets, which, as a dutiful father, I did. I spent the first few tracks ogling a blonde dancer with my daughter’s binoculars, and then there was a pause. The music lowered and Hannah, I mean Miley, addressed her adoring fathers. I mean fans.
“This Summer I had to, you know, get away from everything and everyone and do some growing up. So I made a movie called ‘The Last Song,’ and it was so totally the best thing I’ve ever done. More...