Friday Fun: Brand New Day

Here's a really clever post from "Jane." Basically she portrays her day visually through her interaction with products and brands.

I'd need a lot of Diet Coke logos for mine.

A brand new day

A brand is a powerful thing. A strong branding message ("Just Do It" from Nike or the Energizer Bunny) can say a lot about your product and convey to your customers what they can expect. Your brand can convey to your customers and your external audience what it is you stand for.

But a good brand can also have a tremendous effect internally. A strong brand message (GE: We bring good things to life; Apple: Think Different; Ford: Quality is Job 1) can define an organizational culture and affect how employees feel about the company.

Clarksville, Tennesee just unveiled a new logo and slogan for the city and all of its marketing efforts. Clarksville, which is Tennessee's northern-most city, is now "Tennessee's Top Spot." It's a nice double-entendre that will work well in marketing the city as a destination. But what is interesting is how excited people at the unveiling are about the brand - not only as a marketing tool but how it makes them feel about themselves and where they live.

As with any change, there can be naysayers. Some in Clarksville are saying it's a huge waste of money and Clarksville is not truly tops in anything. It's true, a new slogan and a new logo won't change the city overnight. It doesn't fix potholes or build schools. But a strong brand can not only reflect the current situation, but it can set a tone for the future. A brand can not only communicate who you are today but who you strive to become.

Clarksville, Tennessee: Just Do It.

On logos and branding

Branding, like advertising, is one of those things many people simply can't quite believe actually works. Or at least they don't think it works on them. A brand is not something you can touch or hold. It's more concept than concrete.

But when I think about branding I think of the consistency of the BMW hood or the hidden arrow in the FedEx logo. I see the waves of water in the Dasani logo. I see white earbuds, swooshes on sneakers and the "Golden Arches." Alligators on polo shirts and the Yankees in pinstripes. Or the symbolic power and beauty of the Red Cross logo. I associate green and yellow with John Deere, orange with Home Depot and yellow with Best Buy.

A brand identity is a powerful thing that, when done well, can help associate a company with ideas and connotations that tell a story, reinforce marketing concepts and provide a clear, consistent message to consumers.

Oh, and my children can spot those "Golden Arches" from at least two miles away.

Branding's periodic table

What's the difference between Marketing, Branding and Advertising? What is Brand Equity? Or Marketing Position? Few areas are as jargon-filled and full of similar-sounding things as Corporate Branding. The folks at Kolbrener have created a clever tool to help us keep it all straight.

Click on the chart to be taken to the interactive version.

McBranding

There was a time when skeptics scoffed at the notion that a baseball actually curved. It must be an optical illusion, they said.

This provoked the famous pitcher Dizzy Dean. "All right," he challenged, "go stand behind a tree and I'll hit you with an optical illusion."

Similarly, some people today question all the money companies spend on advertising and branding and wonder whether they'll ever see a return on their investment. "Is there anyone who doesn't already know about McDonald's? Why do they need to advertise?"

A fascinating new study on McDonald's packaging shows us that advertising may be a sneaky curveball. We all have our doubts that it works on us, but it likely influences our purchasing decisions and brand perceptions more than we even know.

Logo-gate

Much has been written in the past few days on the logo for the 2012 London Olympics. People have called it horrible, ugly, a waste of money, etc.

Seth Godin chimes in today with his thoughts on logos. In short: a logo is just a empty visual. It gets filled in with meaning by the product or company.

I agree. But that's still a pretty ugly logo.

Friday fun: Lover boy

Do the subtle differences between marketing, PR, advertising and branding get you confused? Maybe this will help you keep them straight.

More on staying relevant

John Moore has more on the topic of brand relevancy on his Brand Autopsy blog. Up next: Radio Shack.

iGoogle

I might have gone with YouGoogle instead. Or YourGoogle.

Two reasons: They already own YouTube, so there could have been some consistency and maybe they start a franchise of product offerings focused on "You." Secondly, doesn't the "iProductname" format make you think of Apple?

The Slipping Point

When does a brand get old? When does a Nintendo become an Atari? When does a Toyota become an Oldsmobile?

Rolling Stone magazine was once on top of the music world. It was the authoritative source for what was cool and upcoming in the music and entertainment industries. They announced recently that they will be launching an online social network - a "MySpace for music," if you will.

My thought: Kinda late to the party, don't you think?

I wish them luck, but the problem is the world has changed. Today's youth doesn't read Rolling Stone. Most teenagers probably think of it as a "stodgy, old" magazine that their parents used to read. A vestige of a bygone era.

It's hard work to rejuvenate a brand. Just saying "this is not your father's Oldsmobile" is not good enough.

Jalopy.com?

There's a classic marketing exercise where you are asked "if our company were a car, what kind of car would it be?" Is your company fast and exciting like a Porsche? Or conservative and safe like a Volvo? Is your company a Mercedes (luxurious and high-class) or a Mini Cooper (fun and friendly)?

There's no right or wrong answer. But it's a helpful exercise to gauge the "personality" of your company. Your corporate personality is your brand. And that personality should be reflected on your website. Not just with a logo or a tagline, but with the entire web experience.

The Porsche site should be fast and sporty. The Volvo site should stress luxury and safety. The Mercedes site should be well designed and connote quality. The Mini Cooper site should be fun.

If your website doesn't reflect the brand values and personality of your organization, it may be time for a tune-up.