Is the Twitter logo change a good thing?

The answer, quite frankly, is NO!  Yes, they may be wanting to convey upward movement, and psychologically, that's probably a good move; the old bird seemed to be flying horizontally.  The problem is that the new bird looks like a clip art graphic, which, for a major Internet brand, is probably a step in the wrong direction.  The old logo, with its little tuft of hair, was more personal.  Click below to see the picture!

Brand Symbols, Part 1

The almighty NES controller!

When they originally released the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in the United States, it was a smash hit, including my home.  Due to parental controls - in those days, that actually meant "parents" - I could only play it for 30 minutes every weekday.  Weekends were different, of course, and Saturdays were when the controllers got the most sticky from sweat and food residue.

Small pet...or huge rat?

This 3-foot rat looks more like a pet dog than a monster rodent!

I've always heard jokes about giant-rat sightings in New York City, but this is no joke!  It was found in the back room of a Foot Locker in the Bronx.  My question is: how can Foot Locker turn this around and keep it from turning into a big problem?

(P.S. Beware of SCAMS!)

As disaster clean-up continues around my neighborhood, I've been seeing more news vans than usual.  Unfortunately, no one has stopped to talk with me...until yesterday.  Below, I've posted the brief video.  I know it's a bit vain, but I'm fine with a little of that!

More charitable giving as marketing material

My 30-foot-tall tree fell in my front yard on
December 1st, 2011.

Last week, a barrage of unusually strong wind came whipping through the western United States.  When it whipped over the eastern mountains of the Wasatch Front, my town was the hardest hit; the gusts were over 100 miles per hour!  For those of you keeping track, that's level-two-hurricane-strength winds!

MORE cheap ways to help your "personal brand"

In my original post, "Cheap ways to help your 'personal brand'...," I mentioned two specific methods: improving your LinkedIn profile and setting up a professional blog.  I still recommend these two methods to everyone.  However, looking back, there was WAY more I could have said!

To keep with the theme from the first, however, I'll mention only two others:

The best of James Bond, in ONE novel!

From an article in The Guardian:


In a shocking turn for the debut novel by Q.R. Markham, Assassin of Secrets, the US publisher is recalling all copies and offering refunds to those who have already purchased the book.  The UK publisher is taking back all copies of the book before it is released there this week.  Why are they doing it?

The answer is simple: plagiarism.

Void Your Warranty with STYLE!

I just read an article on Wired.com (http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2011/09/iphone-mod-apple-logo/) that mentioned a mod, by iPatch, that will light up the Apple logo on the back of your iPhone.  If you check out this picture, it looks pretty cool!  They do mention at the end of the article that it will most definitely void your warranty, and that makes me pause and think:

WHY WOULD YOU EVER DO THIS?!

You spend a lot of money to get an iPhone, and it does so many cool things already, why void the warranty just so the back lights up?  Plus, it only has limited battery life.  This will, of course, drain the battery faster.  Is it worth having your phone die in the middle of a conversation?  For me, the answer is: NO FREAKIN' WAY!

The Marketing Take-away: Legal is always better!
Why would a company waste their time on making unauthorized mods?  Focus on making authorized mods instead.  Working with a company, especially one like Apple, is a huge advantage to your business, and provides much more industry clout than being "that company that makes mods."  I guarantee that iPatch doesn't have as high of a reputation as they might working WITH Apple.

-MJP

How Could Customer-focused Marketing Hurt Your Brand?

Click here to go to a BrandAid from Killian Branding.  It brought up interesting downsides to being a customer-focused company.  In an age where customer-centric activities are expected of all businesses, claims of being focused on customers' needs change from competitive advantage to liability.

Unfortunately for many companies, they still tout their love of customers as their main strength.  If you think about it, though, who DOESN'T love their customers?  Buyers of your products are who keep the doors open; without them, you would have no business.  So, of course, you love them to pieces.  It's a give!

On what, then, should companies focus their attentions?  The article states some interesting statistics that help put it in perspective.  For instance, if a company experiences 6% growth each year with it's current customer base, it will double its business in 12 years.  That's not bad, but, especially for companies with high growth potential, that could be increased dramatically by focusing efforts on gaining new loyal customers.  That's right: NEW customers!

Remember the old adage: it's more expensive to gain a new customer that to cultivate an existing one.  Does this new focus mean the adage isn't true anymore?  No, of course not!  It's still cheaper to keep existing clients. That means that less time and energy has to be spent to keep them happy.  Now, what can you do with the extra time?  Get NEW customers!

-MJP

What the...?

OK, so my mind was officially blown after reading this article.  If you'd like to read it, click on the blog title to go to the BBC website.  At first, I couldn't tell what it was a picture of, so if you're still wondering, it's a flat, plastic smartphone!

"Bright" Idea

When I saw this picture, it made me smile.  So often, a great idea starts with a question.  If the brilliant insight works, then you get…"dollar sign"?  There's something wrong with this flowchart...

Logos through the Ages, Part 3

"Fall into the Gap!"

That's the most recent Gap slogan I can remember, and I think that was a WHILE ago.  To the right was their new logo for a week back in October.  It's not a bad logo, but it's SO different than the look of their older logo.

Logos through the Ages, Part 2

Starbucks' logo changes through the years

Thinking back to the first time I bought a drink at Starbucks, the only logo I can remember is the 1992 version, and I honestly never knew that it was a double tail mermaid.  Since it was from Seattle, I figured it was a nautical theme of some kind, but

Logos through the Ages, Part 1

My friend, Buck McMurray, wrote a blog post about the power of brands to touch people on an emotional level, to make them a part of the brand's "tribe."  Click on the title of this post to be re-directed to his blog.

He brought up "logo" creation and its effect on people, which got me thinking about how brand logos change over time to reflect the attitudes of consumers at a given point in time.  I looked it up online, and the examples below shocked me at how much these iconic brands had changed over the years.

Disney as a Key to a Happy Brand

I was recently at Disneyland, and I was amazed at the number of products they sold that weren't made by Disney. For instance, a giant Mr. Potato Head interacts with the guests standing in line to ride Toy Story Midway Mania; not only is it my favorite ride at ANY Disney park, it's also a great cross-promotional opportunity for Hasbro. There's no way to know how much Disney pays each year to use Mr. Potato, but it has to be a lot since he's featured so prominently in the ride's "pre-show" line cue.

Axis and Allies: Part 3

The third part of the process is my favorite because it's the crux of everything. You can have great and revealing research, followed up with an amazing insight, but without a good - or rather, GREAT - strategy, you could still end up with poor results.

Great marketers use great strategy to work magic; mostly, this is due to the fact that strategy can turn something as boring as soap into a worldwide campaign promoting beauty in every face. How did Dove do it? Magic? No, no; it was STRATEGY.

This is where the Axis and Allies analogy really takes shape. This is the 40,000 foot view (thanks, John Greening) that helps us see where and how to place our pieces. From this high above the board, we can see everything, and can plan accordingly. The map was created using the research, and the insight - the true driver - is the color of the men; it gives them their unique outlook on the world and helps them know who and what they fight for.

Are the men and other pieces arranged for maximum effectiveness? Once you've set everything up the way you want it, it's time to pull the tactical trigger!

Axis and Allies: Part 2

Just to reiterate, this isn't just about a method (ie tactic) that can be used to strike the target market at its core. It's a process that must be followed to achieve maximum marketing effectiveness.

All of your research will lead you to: the INSIGHT. This insight is the key to your campaign; it's the nugget of truth that glows white hot at the center of the marketing plan. An insight is a universal truth that all your customers share as an intrinsic value that they see in your product or service.

It's your Axis and Allies battle cry that trumpets your cause and helps you win the day. Find that insight, and you've found the key to the marketing kingdom.

The insight is what helps to guide and develop the direction of the next step: the strategy.

Axis and Allies: Part 1

I've grown up during this revolution of marketing and was a witness to the insanity long before I learned to embrace it as a marketer. When asking for marketing advice, people often receive answers full of great, tactiacal methods to get messages out to target audiences. Those have their place, but then you need to bring them all together and decide how to use them for YOUR OWN purposes. One method will almost always be the wrong answer.

Before you can market to ANYONE you need to have a strategic view of the situation. I knew someone who called it the "40,000-foot view." It's almost like playing a game of Chess, except that it's more complicated than that; maybe "Axis and Allies." You set up your pieces strategically, putting everything where you think it should be in order to get the biggest ROI.

The first part is, of course, researching to find the target you want. It can be a micro-target (niche) if you want to focus on a smaller group, or you can broaden your efforts to aim at a slightly larger group. It's up to you, but make sure the research gives you the information you need to make a correct targeting decision.

Along with that, make sure you also find out where your decided-upon target gets information. That way, you can then decide the next step: strategy.

Glocalization: An Introduction

I've said it before: LinkedIn is a great tool, and my favorite feature is still the "Answers" section. The following answer is one that I gave to this question: "Networking event: What would attract you to an off-line networking event?"

The person who asked the question liked my answer better than the other 18 people who replied to her query.

My answer:
“I agree with other responders when I say that LOCALITY is one key issue for me. Honestly, to get the biggest bang for the attendees, you should do a SERIES of these events all over the country (or world). Make it truly local, with local companies, but global by addressing key business issues of the day. Make it a "glocal" movement by focusing on different local events with a broad, global view and feel. That would draw me to it.”

"Glocal" is one of my favorite marketing words of all time. When I say it, people look at me funny, but it's becoming an important part of how business works; here are some definitions to get you started thinking about it:

A global brand does the following:
- Maintains a uniform strategy.
- Standardizes positioning and image across countries.

Glocal brands:
- Adapt to local markets.
- Don't necessarily share the same characteristics across all markets.

It gets more complicated than these simple definitions, but I'll save the rest for some more posts. For now, just remember that glocal brands focus on localized strategy and tactics with global backing.

Comments on Chaotics - Part 2

The second half of the article takes a turn for the better as Kotler answers specific questions concerning how to achieve marketing success in these turbulent times. His answers can be categorized as follows:

1. In-depth market research
2. Database-focused analytics
3. Product research
4. Proper budgeting

All four are great ways to improve marketing in these tough times, but Kotler hasn’t re-invented the wheel here. He’s repeating what others, himself included, have been saying for years; marketing is changing more rapidly that ever, and savvy marketers need to change their outlook on the world, focusing more on customer needs than on their own.