Should a Brand Use Social Media?

Should a brand be on YouTube, Facebook or Twitter? The answer depends on context. The phenomenon that is social media has meant that many brands or businesses want to leverage it – in many cases before they understand it. There’s a brilliant quote by Avinash Kaushik, Analytics Evangelist at Google that sums this eagerness up:

Social media is like teen sex. Everyone wants to do it. Nobody knows how. When it’s done, they’re surprised it’s not better.

As with any other medium, we don’t recommend you dive in head first without knowing your audience or what you want to achieve.

Take Twitter for example. It was founded in 2006 as a fun and casual way to share your thoughts with others around the world. But as one of the co-founders, Biz Stone, admitted in a recent interview with The Age (25/02/10), Twitter is no longer considered fun and casual, but has changed to being a real-time “information network for discovering and sharing information”.

People seek instant information and Twitter gives it to them. It broadcasts information succinctly and quickly to those interested in your brand.

Two brands that have been hugely successful using Twitter are Starbucks coffee and Dell computers. Why? Because they follow the basic principles of engaging with their fans:

1. Understand the environment
Twitter is about contributing. It’s about being part of a whole. It’s an extension of one’s own brand. So don’t expect the majority of followers to interact with you. A 2009 study by Heil & Piskorski showed that 90% of the content is generated by 10% of users, but that does not mean that the majority aren’t listening or letting others know.

2. Add a return for investment
Dell computers have used Twitter to offer their followers exclusive offers and have reportedly generated US$6.5 million in sales as a result. Both Starbucks and Dell also listen to their followers about how they can improve their products and customer experience.

3. Dedicate resources
Twitter is a real-time broadcaster of information, so if you are receiving customer feedback, positive or negative, you must be able to respond promptly to be seen as credible. Again, the two examples here do a brilliant job.

Which brings us back to the question – should a brand use social media?
Yes, if it fits a strategy to expand the brand online, to get people talking about the brand, generate awareness, seek out ideas and look for opportunities to improve customer support.
No, if there aren’t enough resources to dedicate or if the commitment to the network isn’t genuine.

All Publicity Is Good Publicity

Any brand will tell you that the pinnacle in publicity is to have your customers be your brand ambassadors since word of mouth is cheaper than any advertising campaign. Recently we encountered two situations (no pun intended) where this premise was put to the test.

Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino doesn't usually require a lot of motivation to lose the shirt. But Abercrombie & Fitch wants him to go one further — the company offered to pay a "substantial payment” to "Jersey Shore" cast members to stop wearing clothes carrying their brand because the series is "contrary to the aspirational nature of the brand. We are deeply concerned that Mr. Sorrentino's association with our brand could cause significant damage to our image," the retailer said in a news release.

It may seem strange that a brand that employs half-naked models to stand outside its flagship stores and courted controversy with racy catalogs has come out with such an aggressive campaign against the hard-partying cast of "Jersey Shore." But the audacious approach is getting the teen retailer tons of publicity during the crucial back-to-school season, the second biggest shopping period of the year. The CEO says it's having fun with the ploy, and marketing experts say the company may wind up laughing all the way to the bank. "It's free marketing. Because the approach is so ridiculous, everybody's talking about it," said Wall Street Strategies analyst Brian Sozzi. Most companies spend millions paying movie stars to wear their brand, but Abercrombie & Fitch flipped that model on its head.

Peter Shankman, social media entrepreneur and self-described steak lover, was on a flight to Newark when he jokingly tweeted the following:

“Over the past few years, I’ve developed an affinity for Morton’s Steakhouses, and if I’m doing business in a city which has one, I’ll try to schedule a dinner there if I can. I’m a frequent diner, and Morton’s knows it.” said Shankman who insisted that he was merely joking and had no expectations from that tweet. But lo and behold! Next to his driver waiting at the airport was a Morton’s representative carrying a Morton’s bag with a Porterhouse. Shankman was so pleased and surprised that he tweeted out what happened to his 100k followers --some of whom wondered if it had been staged (was not) and if this would have happened if Shankman had had only a few followers.

Shankman credits Morton’s “spectacular” Customer Relations Management system and social media team (they know his mobile number) for going above the call of duty to make a customer happy. “Customer service is no longer about telling people how great you are. It’s about producing amazing moments in time, and letting those moments become the focal point of how amazing you are, told not by you, but by the customer who you thrilled. They tell their friends, and the trust level goes up at a factor of a thousand. Think about it: Who do you trust more, an advertisement or a friend telling you how awesome something is? We live in a world where everyone you meet is a broadcaster. Look around. Think of all your friends, all your colleagues. Do you know anyone anymore who doesn’t have a camera in their phone, or anyone who doesn’t have a Facebook or Twitter account?” Shankman said.

All this raises the question -- what are you doing with your brand that flip-flops the norms the way Abercrombie & Fitch did or that transforms your customers into brand ambassadors?

 

Branding Louis Vuitton: Behind the World's Most Famous Luxury Label

You know the bag. The chocolate-brown leather canvas emblazoned with quatrefoils and the LV monogram is immediately recognizable as the international symbol of globetrotting luxury. The Louis Vuitton brand is the most valuable brand in luxury, according to a new study from Millward Brown, says Derek Thompson an associate editor at The Atlantic. But in a world with knock offs on street tables from New York to New Dehli and rappers like Kanye West pronouncing himself the "Louis Vuitton don," how does the world's most famous luxury brand protect its image?

Colin Mitchell oversees Ogilvy's Global Strategy and Planning Group, which handles some of the world's most famous brands, including Louis Vuitton. Walking me through the basics of brand management, he told me the firm's signature framework for building brands is called The Big Ideal.

"We go through the exercise, where we complete the sentence 'The world would be a better place if ...,'" Mitchell said. "The thing that finishes the sentence gives us a big ideal."

The Big Ideal doesn't have to be noble. For the fruity, fizzy soft drink Fanta, the company designed the ad campaign "More Fanta. Less Serious." around the ideal of play. For Louis Vuitton, a travel company with its 19th century origins on Rue Neuve des Capucines in Paris, the ideal that centers the LV brand is journey.

"We say that travel has lost its romance," Mitchell said. "It's become an onerous duty rather than a pleasure. When there's tension like that between ideal of travel as romantic and the reality which falls short, that's an opportunity for brands to come in and make a statement."

One of the biggest losers in the global recession was luxury and travel, which threatened to strike the heart of Louis Vuitton's business. LVMH, the holding company that owns Louis Vuitton and other luxury brands like Dom Perignon, saw its stock plummet from 40 to 10 at the end of 2008. But Louis Vuitton didn't change its message to fit with the time.

"It's crucial for luxury brands to be consistent and authentic," he said. "They become cultural reference points as the world shifts. It's not that they don't take account of cultural forces, but they can't react. They have to be beacons of a certain point of view."

LVMH's stock has recovered to the high 30s, a few points from its all-time pre-recession high. In 2010, Louis Vuitton's net profit jumped 73% led by the Asian market. A strong brand reduces business risk precisely because it stands for something more than affordability. Companies without focused brands -- Mitchell named Oldsmobile -- are in danger when affordability is the only selling point, because "somebody builds a cheaper or more convenient product, you're irrelevant."

As China and Brazil lead the race among emerging nations to enter the global middle class, Louis Vuitton suddenly finds itself with millions more potential customers outside its typical market of Europe and North America. "These people are very interesting because they're arriving in massive numbers and in a single lifetime they've made transition from villages to cities," he said. "They're looking for brands as signifiers to make sense of a new world."

The new world in advertising is moving away from the glossy magazine pages that often make a home for thickly coiffed men in shades and a Vuitton bag slung over their shoulder. The ad world has become a hectic, decentralized ecosystem of apps, targeted Web ads, and Facebook pages. After surviving the recession, Louis Vuitton's next challenge is to navigate the narrow channel between mass market technologies and a high-culture message.

"We talk a lot about roots and wings," Mitchell said. "We need roots, a back story, but also we need wings to stretch forward into the future. Managing that tension is what agencies are supposed to do." Louis Vuitton still banks opulent photographs on wide magazine pages. But its newest creation is Amble, a mobile app that lets users follow celebrities' favorite city experiences or create their own online journals with photos, videos, and notes.

Will Kanye West, the Louis Vuitton don himself, someday make an appearance in an LV advertisement? Don't count on it. "We can't be opportunistic about whoever endorsed us this week. I think Cristal champagne, Tommy Hilfiger and Burberry, all hurt their brands with overexposure to celebrities. We use Sean Connery, Keith Richards, Bono. These are famous travelers. They're more aligned with where we want to take the brand."

Brand Oprah Has Some Marketing Lessons For You

Susan Berfield reports for Bloomberg Businessweek that in 1988 Oprah Winfrey made a decision that would change her life—and eventually the future of television. Her talk show was already getting better ratings than kingpin Phil Donahue and aired in 198 markets. When she renegotiated her contract with King World Productions, which syndicated her show, and with ABC, which produced it, Winfrey demanded control and got it. Winfrey's Harpo Productions assumed the show's production costs, but it also collected licensing fees from local stations, estimated at $100 million in 1988. Plus, Harpo earned money from a few lucrative moments of advertising each day. "I never wanted to be in a position again in life where I was meant to do something but couldn't do it because somebody was telling me I couldn't," Winfrey later told writers of a Harvard Business School case study.

The impulse to take control of her life—and then enjoy it—resonated with her viewers over a 25-year span that will end on May 25, when she airs her finale on broadcast television and turns her attention to her new cable channel. Over that time, Oprah became a singular brand born of her own personal history. Winfrey's story of childhood poverty and sexual abuse, her struggle with her weight, and her striving and charisma made her the near-perfect peddler of a relentless optimism. She was more than a celebrity: She stood for self-improvement, doing good, and controlling your own destiny. Her motto, "Live your best life," was invoked on her show, in her magazine, and on her website.

It all added up to a brand radically different but no less powerful than Coca-Cola or the Marlboro Man. It propelled her show, which drew about 12 million viewers in the U.S. at its peak, through more than 4,500 episodes and some 30,000 guests. She stayed on message as she launched her magazine and produced movies and developed a raft of syndicated television shows including those of Dr. Phil McGraw and Rachael Ray. The brand ultimately made the meticulously manicured entrepreneur very rich, with an estimated fortune of $2.7 billion, according to Forbes

Winfrey's other great talent was to combine her message with a rousing consumerism absent even a hint of irony: Treat yourself! You deserve it! Her viewers and readers bought in and bought big. The brand's marketing fairy dust was sprinkled on an array of products she endorsed without compensation, somehow adding to her already robust credibility. One day she might talk about age-defying makeovers, the next about the faces of autism; she went to Ethiopia; she went green; she went vegan. And then she went shopping. "For her, transformation is about self-esteem and about buying stuff," says Susan Mackey-Kallis, a communications professor at Villanova University. "It's consumerism, but it's not crass."

Winfrey has helped turn her favorite books into bestsellers and her favorite things into instant successes. After she recommended Eckhart Tolle's A New Earth in January 2008, it topped the bestseller list on Amazon.com. Within a month, Penguin Group had shipped 3.5 million copies. Her "Oprah's Book Club" plugged 65 books and was credited by some with saving the publishing industry.

Winfrey regularly announced her "favorite things" in shows that were tantamount to infomercials, though far more effective. When DreamTime's Foot Cozys, aromatherapy slippers, were featured on an episode in 2002, the company was selling 3,000 pairs a month. The following month, it sold 20,000. The slippers became DreamTime's best-selling product that year. When Winfrey presented such goodies to her audience, it was the companies (from Williams-Sonoma to Apple) that donated them. The big shows—in which audiences received cars and trips—inspired the fervor of revival meetings. Product placement is a fair way to describe her 'favorite things, but she is the one who is brokering those deals for her audience. It's product placement in a funny kind of way because the companies are giving the product away. Her brand could sell everything from croissants to refrigerators.

Like any great marketer, Winfrey has sought to extend her brand's reach. She has launched the TV careers of other live-your-best-life gurus, such as Dr. Oz and the designer Nate Berkus—whose shows Harpo developed. She even made her personal trainer, Bob Greene, a celebrity. He now sells his own fitness and diet books. She creates this army of celebrities who are all part of the same campaign. That's an economy of scale and lets her have an exponential impact.

Winfrey's empire also includes a monthly magazine published by Hearst, O, The Oprah Magazine, that combines her do-good and enjoy-good-things ethos and has a circulation of about 2.5 million. (She's been on the cover of every issue.) Even most of Harpo's feature films and television movies—including The Great Debaters and Tuesdays with Morrie—have been emotionally rich dramas about reinvention.

Winfrey has stoked some controversy along the way. She gave credence to Suzanne Somers's questionable anti-aging hormone and vitamin regimen and Jenny McCarthy's book linking vaccines and autism. Her school for girls in South Africa was hit with allegations of sexual abuse. Yet these embarrassments barely affected Winfrey's standing because her moral character hasn't been questioned -there haven't been any personal transgressions. The resilience of her brand didn't surprise the experts. "All strong brands are authentic, relevant, and different," says Josh Feldmeth, chief executive officer of consultancy Interbrand's New York office. "Oprah performs as well as anything in the market today."

Still, as Winfrey prepares to move to cable, there are signs she's preparing her brand for a shift. In October she appeared via satellite on Comedy Central's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and announced she was giving everyone in the audience a free trip to Washington to attend the rally that Stewart and Stephen Colbert were organizing. "She was going on Jon Stewart's show to cash in on his cultural power," says Robert Thompson, a professor of popular culture at Syracuse University. "She wanted to start courting younger viewers for her cable network. It was the first time we saw Oprah trying to suck the cultural mojo from someone else."

Janice Peck, author of The Age of Oprah: Cultural Icon for the Neoliberal Era, points out that Winfrey is a baby boomer, and that "her historical moment is passing." Even Feldmeth says the big trends are no longer in Winfrey's favor. "If credibility and expertise come more from our social networks, are we still going to be sitting at the feet of a master like Oprah?" he asks.

After 25 years, Oprah's influence remains unparalleled. As she moves to cable, there are signs she's preparing to shift her brand as well.

How to Emulate Apple’s Marketing Magic and Build a Great Brand in 3 Steps

Apple, the world’s most admired company according to Fortune magazine, toppled Google this week as the most valuable brand in the world. A brand is not the logo that identifies a company, but rather the mental associations people have when thinking of the company. So what makes a brand “great”? The formula to measure brand equity is Reach x Appeal, where Reach is how many people are aware of the brand and Appeal is the common view people have of the brand.

Apple exhibits three of the most important elements of brand building: 1) consistency, 2) simplicity and 3) identity.

Consistency

A brand is built with consistency and repetition in the products, services and messaging. Apple’s products –iPad, Macbook, iLife Software, etc- all have a minimalist design, are made of aluminum and glass and are lightweight. The website apple.com shares similarities with the products: it has lots of white space contrasted with blacks and greys; the rounded corners of information boxes are similar to the rounded corners of the iPhone and MacBook. One of the principal typefaces used on the Apple web site – Myriad Pro Semi Bold – is seen in everything from CEO Steve Job’s slide decks to the t-shirts worn by the employees at the Apple Retail Store. There is very clearly a well-defined cultural and stylistic mandate that can be seen in everything from the look and feel of an iPod Touch to the set design of the “Get a Mac” television ad campaign. The latter memorably featured actors John Hodgman and Justin Long, playing the same roles, communicating the same messages – and typically, all against a stark white background.

Lessons to Learn: Stay on message, and consistently deliver that message throughout all parts of your business (your products, your service, your promotional materials). If one of your unique selling points is deep industry knowledge, make sure everyone right down to the receptionist reinforces that message. If your forte is customer service, instill in everyone the importance of a smile and a kind word – even among your employees who don’t take calls from customers. And be visually consistent as well. Use a small but consistent “library” of visual motifs, words and themes and use them over and over, whenever and wherever you can. Remember, what you are saying is often less important than how (and how often) you are saying it.

Simplicity

Apple is innovative but not pioneering. They didn’t create the first computer, laptop, smartphone, portable music player or business software suite. But they built devices and products that were easy to use. We as consumers have a wide variety of taste preferences. Some of us like luxury, while others prefer affordability. Some of us prefer “feature depth,” and some of us value convenience. There is, however, one thing that unites all consumers: we prefer products and solutions that are not complicated. Instead of introducing the very first iPod as a portable digital music player capable of supporting MP3, MP3 VBR, AIFF and WAV formats with upgradable firmware, a high-output 60-mw amplifier and a 160-by-128-pixel high-resolution display with white LED backlight, Apple’s marketing message was this:

1,000 songs. In Your Pocket.

Apple has a long history of demonstrating how their products simply improve your life, and they make it simple where it counts most: when you are ready to buy stuff from them.

Lessons to Learn: You’ll be hard-pressed to find a segment in your target market that prefers complicated, murky, and hard-to-use products and services over simple and elegant solutions. Don’t be lured into the common trap of thinking that the more complicated you make things, the smarter you will sound. In fact, the reverse is true. Don’t make it difficult for people to buy your products and services!

Identity

Apple creates and capitalizes on brand identification. Many people who buy Apple products often associate themselves with…other people who buy Apple products. People gravitate toward ideas of individualism and a unique identity. As kids, we loved being the “first kid on the block” to have something to show our friends. As teenagers, we hoped to be the first to buy the new CD from our favorite band. It is why adult men dream of one day owning a Harley, and why two women are mortified when they go to a social function and have on the same dress.

In recent years, America has embraced a “nerd counter-culture.” It has now become OK – and sometimes, even cool – to show a love for technology, gadgetry and all things “wired.” When Apple launched the first iPod in 2001, they not only revitalized Apple the company (and reimagined Apple the brand), they also helped launch this cultural zeitgeist. It became OK for CEOs to type their own letters or for people to “take notes” on an iPad during a meeting, or to replace cable television (and its monthly costs) with content streamed from an AppleTV or a Mac Mini. Apple helped usher in this new era of utilitarianism and comfort with technology. Think about it: how many people put stickers of a corporate logo (the Apple logo) on their cars? And perhaps more interesting, what assumptions do we make about the people driving a car adorned by an Apple sticker?

Lessons to Learn: Create products and services for a “special” kind of customer. No one can be all things to all people. Figure out who your target is, and do business exclusively with that market, especially at the outset of a brand new enterprise. Whenever possible, make it personal. Remember that it is better to have a smaller group of loyal, core customers who will evangelize on your behalf versus having a massive customer base with no real emotional attachment to your brand (because they will be the first to leave when a competitor offers a cheaper or better solution).

Pick just one of these to adopt for your business today, and you will be the better for it. Deftly combine all three, and you could be the next Apple!

6 Tips to Help Optimize Your Branding Efforts

People typically equate a company's brand with the company's logo. But a brand is much more than a stylized name: It is a primary symbol of an organization's purpose, vision and values. Indeed, the act of branding represents a strategic endeavor that encompasses a range of corporate functions—marketing, public relations, and customer service, not the least, among them.

Branding also includes the way employees present their company to its various constituencies, whether intentionally through the communication of key messages or incidentally through everyday emails, social-media engagement and phone conversations.

Digital's Impact on Branding
Before the advent of digital technology, buyers in both the business-to-consumer (B-to-C) and the business-to business (B-to-B) space would be open to receiving sales communications from a number of brand ambassadors. They may have been exposed to messages pushed to them from dozens of companies, clients, or products from which they could reduce the pool of realistic choices to those offerings that were closely aligned with their needs. Marketing and other communications professionals relied on this traditional "funnel" approach, and reached out to their prospects and audiences at specific intervals in the selling cycle—most often at the point of "consideration." The ball was essentially in the seller's court.

Things are very different today. "Consumers in both the B-2-C and the B-2-B markets still want a clear brand promise and offerings they value. What has changed is when—at what touch points—they are most open to influence, and how you can interact with them at those points," David C. Edelman states in a Harvard Business Review article. "In the past," Edelman explains, "marketing strategies that put the lion's share of resources into building brand awareness and then opening wallets at the point of purchase worked pretty well. But touch points have changed in both number and nature, requiring a major adjustment to realign marketers' strategies and budgets with where consumers are actually spending their time." He goes on to suggest that consumers are now most open to influence at the "evaluate" stage and not at the "consider" stage.

Essentially, successful branding communication has shifted from a seller-controlled to a buyer-controlled model. Nonetheless, many marketing and PR efforts persist in following the older, less-effective, model. Commenting on the Edelman article, Taddy Hall, chief operating officer of Meteor Solutions, writes in a post: "Marketers' mental and economic models assume that consumer behaviors are primarily influenced by the message pushed to them—through media and promotion. In reality, we live in a world in which consumer behaviors are primarily influenced by the content they pull to themselves through their social networks."

How to Optimize Your Branding Efforts
There is a lot of potential for communications practitioners to harness the power of the new marketing model described above. Here are six tips that can help you get the most out of your branding communications activities in an increasingly digital environment.

1. Employees are brand ambassadors. Brand advocacy starts with all employees and not just the media spokespeople. Customer-facing employees are the first point of contact for prospective new customers and for existing clients, which gives them considerable influence in shaping the impression that audiences have of your company.

2. Seek information thoughtfully. In a WebInkNow post, David Meerman Scott likens mandatory "contact us" forms to asking intimate questions before introducing yourself to someone you want to date. For example, he says that you would never go up to someone and immediately ask for their phone number; nor would you ask the person how much money they make after first introducing yourself. "...You're not likely to get too far in the dating world acting like this. Yet, this is exactly how many companies behave," Scott contends. Instead of requiring a prospect to disclose "intimate details" (like the number of company employees) in order to speak with a human at your company, Scott says "the next time you have to design a marketing strategy, think about how you would approach it if you were trying to date the buyer."

3. Listen and respond. There is a vast amount of energy being devoted to persuading consumers of what their needs are instead of discovering and meeting those needs that already exist. The best way to identify existing needs is to truly listen and enter into comprehensive, two-way dialogues.

4. Adapt and adjust. The world of digital communications has expanded almost unimaginably in just a few years, and it continues to evolve at astonishing speed. Yet, many organizations are still slow in keeping up with these monumental changes. Writing about "Branding in 2011," Nicole Armstrong, of More Than a Logo, states that "Brands need to be nimble. They need to be able to quickly adapt to both new and existing marketing changes, challenges, and opportunities." Without adjusting, companies cannot expect to remain relevant, let alone to be successful.

5. Spell out the differences. Today's audiences want to know what separates your company from the competition. "If you don't differentiate, your brand will become a commodity and you will be forced to compete on price," Dave Dunn of Branding Communications and Forrest W. Anderson, consultant. "Once you become just a price, you are no longer a brand, just another supplier, and you're vulnerable." For your company to truly stand out, make your communications both creative and innovative, resisting the temptation to rehash the same material.

6. Choose tools wisely. Pick tools that best fit your community's requirements and preferences. That means using whatever gets you involved in the conversation in a relevant and meaningful way. And don't be afraid to incorporate new tactics if research shows that they are well-suited to your audience.

Today's consumers are more likely to engage in word-of-mouth marketing both online and offline. By targeting consumers at the point in the branding-communications-buying cycle at which they are most open to influence and then fulfilling those brand promises—with the help of the tips outlined above—you can harness the power inherent in the activities today's consumers participate in already and potentially create brand ambassadors that can continue to propel your branding forward.

How Much Is a Great Idea Worth?

I'm starting to believe that B.S. stands for Beyond Selling, says AdAge columnist Rance Crain. Marketers now seem to aspire to a higher purpose, or they churn out ads whose selling idea is obfuscated by obtuseness and complexity. What are the UPS and Xerox campaigns all about? Is Delta Airlines' "Still Climbing" any more product-directed that United Airlines' "Rising" of a few years ago? And couldn't Allstate's new "Mayhem" TV spots apply to any other insurance company?

Generic ideas that apply to any product in the category should be worth less than ideas that home in on the very core of what your brand is all about. But I'm afraid both are worth about the same in today's marketplace.

This isn't (just) a rant against big-company procurement practices, which were originally set up to value the worth of such staples as office supplies and bulk chemicals. It's also a rant against ads that don't seem to be trying very hard to move the merchandise.

Maybe marketers and their teams have another priority: execution as opposed to strategy. With so many platforms to deal with, it's not hard to see how marketers could be more involved in the mechanics of the message than the message itself. Or, as one agency exec told me, "Execution is becoming an excuse for ideas."

That's certainly what must have happened with the new Xerox campaign, which the company call its "most ambitious and innovative." The basic idea is that Xerox helps companies with business processes and document management, freeing them up to focus on their real business. The result is a mish-mash of elements -- in one spot that I've seen several times and had no idea what it was about (until I read the Xerox press release), a Marriott bellman processes invoices while trying to provide guest services at the same time.

Maybe Xerox is trying to do too much. "Along with the innovative use of brand characters, we're cutting through the clutter with innovative media, like interactive billboards and attention-grabbing digital units," explained Xerox CMO Christa Carone. Lots of innovation, lots of attention-grabbing. The idea gets trampled in the process.

Or take the new UPS campaign (please). To the tune of "That's Amore," UPS is airing a "We love logistics" ditty in commercials that show how UPS can repair laptops for a computer manufacturer, fill prescriptions for medical devices or provide online printing services. UPS refers to its portfolio of solutions collectively as "logistics," but I didn't know that, so I had no idea what the company was talking about.

The print ads take a more meat-and-potatoes approach with the headline, "Why logistics is the most powerful force in business today," and they provide more information about how UPS can help businesses of all sizes with logistics, according to Crain's BtoB magazine.

So why take such a consumer-oriented direction in the TV ads? "The true audience for logistics services are large, sophisticated companies. It is a trivializing approach," Laura Ries, of Ries & Ries, told BtoB. Another observer told me the UPS ads were "talking down to their customers."

Maybe procurement people and other arbiters of today's advertising weigh ads by the pound and decide that if they are complicated and have a lot of moving parts, they're worth more. A powerful yet simple idea just doesn't seem hefty enough to command respect.

I get the feeling that producing great advertising just isn't worth the effort anymore, especially given the short tenure of most marketing executives. It's easier to engineer elaborate, complicated extravaganzas.

So at a time when advertising is being forced down the food chain in the U.S., China, for one, is publicly endorsing its value. Advertising is "fundamental to economic development and sustaining a harmonious society," a top official declared recently. The Chinese government is incorporating advertising as a "pillar" of the country's economy in its latest five-year plan. As Tim Love, vice chairman Omnicom Group and CEO of Omnicom Group Asia Pacific, India, Middle East and Africa put it: "They sure have a very high regard for the profession of advertising."

Has the U.S. ever given advertising that kind of respect? And why should it be a surprise that businesses here have relegated it to the back burner, in favor of redoubling their efforts to make sure they're not being overcharged for ballpoint pens?

One Great Profile Picture Is Worth a Bunch of Business

Be aware that your profile picture on sites like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn affects your brand, says Neil McKenzie, commercial photographer specializing in business and personal brand photography. As a photographer who helps people with their brand images, he recommends that everyone who is concerned about their personal brand have a really good profile image - one that supports your brand and portrays you in an authentic manner.

Here is a look at some of the ideas:

Have a professional or a dedicated amateur take your picture.

You should have a great photograph -one that is well thought out, one that supports your brand, and one that is taken with skill. Amateur images don't add to your brand unless your brand is amateur or the amateur is a good photographer.

Use a white background, or at least a neutral one. No trees! No snowstorms!

The background is not important in a profile picture - you are! While you may want to portray your brand in context with your surroundings, a small profile image is not the place to do it. Save these images for your website or galleries where you post other images.

If you are wearing a hat, you better have both a good reason and a good hat

If you are a cowboy, a hat probably makes sense for your brand. If you are a photographer with little hair and you are shooting outdoors in the Colorado sun then a hat also makes sense. Just make sure that the bill of the hat is turned backwards so as not to interfere with your lens and there is a catchy logo/type that reinforces your brand such as "Graphics Factory".

Conceptual photos (your foot, a monkey wearing glasses) may give us insight into the real you, but perhaps you could save that insight for the second impression

Crazy images and the like are a becoming a real turn off in the world of social networking. Why would I want to become friends with or follow a "foot"?

The idea of having your significant other in the picture is a good one, at least in terms of maintaining peace in the presence of a jealous or nervous spouse. But the thing is, I'm not friending your girlfriend, I'm friending you. Unless there is a compelling reason to include others in your profile picture, don't. There are exceptions if your social networking brand is a couple or partners. A profile image for the Pep Boys wouldn't cut it if only one of the brothers was shown.

Cropping is so important... a well cropped photo sends a huge, subliminal message to other people

A well cropped image starts out as a well composed image in the camera and highlights your most important features - usually your eyes. Most profile images are constrained to a small space so you need to use this space wisely. To quote an old marketing adage - "You can't put 10 pounds of stuff in a 5 pound bag"

Once you have chosen an image for your profile picture show it to your friends and associates to get their reaction. If they say "Great!" or better yet "Wow!" then you know you have a good profile picture. Be sure to ask them if the image supports your brand. When you post your profile picture, plan on using it for some time. Like any advertising, you need to keep some level of consistency and allow time for people to get to recognize you. As your followers or friends get to recognize your face they are more likely to take a moment to stop and read your posts.

Don't underestimate the power of your profile picture. It is the first thing people notice about you in the social media landscape. I never cease to be amazed when I meet people in person from my online social networks and they make a comment like, "Where is your camera? or where is your hat?"

How Big Companies Have Overcome Branded Content Challenges

Brands have been in the content business for more than 50 years, but some of the biggest marketers in the world -- including General Electric and Johnson & Johnson -- are today finding that emerging media and digital platforms are dramatically changing the game in terms of how that content is distributed and how consumer conversations can be controlled.

Judy Hu, senior global executive director, advertising and branding at GE, recalls the squeamishness she and colleagues felt back in 2003, when GE adopted its "Imagination at Work" positioning to help approach the world's toughest challenges -- from clean energy to health care. The move meant not only embracing new content platforms to drive innovation, but also enlisting the help of consumers with GE's messaging. We had to "stop talking at them -- which frankly is our own personal comfort zone -- and give them license to get involved in marketing campaigns," Ms. Hu said. "It was very risky for GE. None of us knew what to expect."

To promote an initiative it calls "healthy imagination," GE created a series of cheeky online videos featuring fun ways to improve one's health. Among them were "how to party your way to better health" and tips like "contract your abs while driving." It then enlisted half a dozen YouTube stars for a humorous get-healthy challenge that garnered, to GE's surprise, 7 million video views and thousands of ratings and comments. GE also partnered with publisher Meredith to help build a community of women around the "healthy imagination" idea. GE found they could start influencing the conversation without making it about ill health, but instead about making good health contagious; and discovered that if they enlist the imagination of their content creators and consumers, they can really get engagement with their brand.

The reason that branded content is now a hot topic is the fact that digital changes the ways to connect ... brands can be in control of both the content and the distribution. Johnson & Johnson's BabyCenter has a 78% reach of new and expectant mothers -- pretty good penetration for a web property owned by a brand. Brands are currently leveraging four key models for owned media, and each has its pros and cons.

1. Publisher collaboration
This model is the one we're most familiar with these days, whereby publishers buy agencies, or collaborate with them. The big pro here is that publishers have expertise in content creation because they've been doing it for a long time, but they still have existing ad relationships, which can make for a messy model.

2. Brands going it alone
This path lets brands be selfish, because historically, they like control over creating experiences themselves. It also creates a new revenue stream the marketer doesn't have to share. But the problem is that it is expensive when you're not sharing costs, and scalability becomes tougher.

3. Agency partners
On the positive side, agencies have proficiency in building brand experiences; many have solid marketer and media relationships, and can be flexible with staffing. Agencies are used to growing and shrinking faster than many other companies. But a drawback in working with agencies is their inexperience in creating unbiased content and entertainment. Further, there is incremental funding needed to drive audiences. Publishers already have audiences, whereas agencies need to buy audiences via search or other means.

4. New media creators
New media creators have technology at their core. They also have flexibility in staffing too. A downside though, is the difficulty in choosing the right partner when many of them have only been around six, 12 or 18 months, and the business models are still being defined.

How Color Affects People

You might think that carefully organized branding research and market tests were done to choose the perfect colors to make you spend your money, but a lot of the brands that have grown to be global web powerhouses started as small web startups, with little to no research into the impact their color choice would have. And some large corporate giants with branding departments spend quite a lot on market research, user testing, branding, etc. Lots of sites got started with brands created by the founders themselves.  Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, was asked why he chose blue for his site design. "I'm color blind, it's the only color I can see." ...and now 500 Million people around the world stare at a mostly blue website for hours each week.

Many researchers in the field of psychiatry have pointed out certain interesting and basic facts about human likes and dislikes for color. When you are tired and feel as if your eyes are not going to remain open psychologist suggest that you look at the color green. Green tends to have a calming and relaxing affect on most individuals. Some people think, more precisely, are more creative and perform better in an atmosphere or surrounded by the color blue. Most gyms therefore are painted blue.

Black is a color that commands respect and authority. When individuals wish to gain respect and appear totally in charge they dress in black. Black in the fashion world makes people look thinner. While black is an authoritative color, in the secular world, priest and nuns will wear black to indicate a submission to God's will. When showing respect, individuals wear black. Black is most commonly the color choice when attending a funeral.

Red is a dominant intense color. When ready for a challenge (think Tiger Wood’s shirt) or to gain the attention of others, individuals will wear red. Red also is a color most noticed by law enforcement -the number one color that will attract an officer is red. On the other hand, red is also the most stolen color in vehicles. When polling individuals to see how many times a vehicle was pulled over or stolen, red was the color most often targeted. It, the color red, draws attention.
Remember when the matador is ready for the bull. He always encourages a response by waving a red flag. Red gets the adrenalin flowing, makes the heart beat faster and increases breathing. Red is also the color we choose when we wish to be romantic and gain the attention of a love interest. Red roses, the red box of candy… Red is an attention getter.

White is the color symbolizing purity. A bride comes to the altar in white. White does not absorb, it reflects. That’s why white is the most appealing color of choice during the hot summer months. White is a neutral hue and is light. By the same token, white is the hardest color to take care of. Hospitals basically require all physicians and nursing staff to wear white.

Awe the ever calming color blue. Songs were written about the color blue more than any other color. Elvis Presley and his Blue Suede shoes. Blue Moon sung by some of the most popular crooners but originally written by Lorenz Hart in 1934. Look up at the sky, across the water and you see blue. A blue sky, a blue ocean. Nature’s color of peace, calm and tranquility. Some say blue is a color symbolizing loyalty –perhaps that is the reason why Zuckerberg has 500 million friends.

What Do an iPad and a Brick Have in Common? Same Branding Concept

As different as an iPad and a brick are, they share the same ultimate marketing objective: Make the sale. “Usually marketers are given a product and told to go sell it. It's up to them to determine how to position the brand in a way that sets it apart from all the rest,” says Allen Adamson, branding expert.

Branding veterans still admire an advertising headline penned in 1958 by David Ogilvy as one of the best ever written: "At 60 miles an hour the loudest noise in this new Rolls-Royce comes from the electric clock." In Ogilvy's case, the product to be sold was a pretty nice one, but he had to start with a blank page, nonetheless. Loaded down with every conceivable fact and figure about the car, provided with a plethora of features and benefits, it was up to him and his team to cull from this laundry list the one simple, meaningful thing on which they could build a sustainable brand promise. A single notion that would represent to consumers what the Rolls-Royce brand was all about. After sifting and thinking, they recognized that because of the vehicle's finely tuned mechanics, its air-tight interior, air-tight exterior, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera, the car drove so quietly and elegantly that, yes, the only thing one could hear was that clock ticking.
For many years, this simple idea stood for the quality and workmanship that distinguished the Rolls-Royce brand from every other luxury brand of automobile. What Ogilvy knew and followed were the rules of taking a brand from zero to success. You identify a simple selling point that differentiates the product or service from its competition in the minds of consumers, and you use the branding to ensure that this selling point sticks. Fifty-two years after its writing, this headline still resonates.

For those faced with a product or service a tad more mundane than a $200,000 car, say a $1.00 brick, the same rules still apply. Identify something you can say about your product that is meaningfully different to consumers, and make sure it has sticking power. For example, Liberty Mutual, charged with selling insurance, among the most commoditized of categories, determined that pitching "responsibility" would help its brand stand out in a sea of price quotes and same-as-same-old promises. Its strong growth in the industry is evidence of a successful mission.

Sexier, but in no less a commodity category, Sephora took on both the over-the-counter department store cosmetic brands and the under-wraps drug store brands and created an open-sell environment as its distinguishing brand factor. Simple in concept and brilliant in its branding, from retail site to online service, the brand's reputation--and its sales--have soared since its inception.

On the other side of the sell-it spectrum is the product that sells itself, the iPad. How does this happen? A company identifies a specific need in the marketplace and develops a product or service to fill this need, generally in a first-mover manner. This is not to say that the other marketers don't do their homework. It's a matter of exponential vs. incremental. In other words, there's no need to determine which bells or whistles or ticking clocks to focus on in order to make this kind of sale, but simply a de facto presentation of the story; "you asked, we listened, and here it is."

This scenario is still the exception. But in this digital marketing environment in which listening and reacting to consumer input becomes easier, it's likely that more companies will take advantage of the available technology to ensure they've got a product people have asked for before they develop it. While the iPad is the quintessential example, consider, too, every product in the Method brand's line of environmentally friendly cleaning products, each created with the consumer's socially-aware needs in mind. Think about Swiffer, Dyson vacuum cleaners, Special K cereal, Wikipedia, or Google. Each unique in its category, and each a self-seller because it needs no story line other than the one written by consumer desire.

Find something that differentiates your brand of brick from any other. Make sure people care about what this is and will remember it as a result of its distinctive character and its equally distinctive branding. Oh yes, one other thing. As you do your homework (which you should) don't confuse the razzle-dazzle effects of digital branding with the razzle-dazzle of the point you're trying to make. Ogilvy had only a print ad with which to get his simple idea across and this idea helped spawn a multimillion dollar global communications firm. The clock's ticking. Get to work.

Strong Brands Are Clear About What They Represent

Successful branding clearly and simply conveys its brand promise, and makes it evident why this promise is relevant. These are the most essential components to successful branding building. According to Allen Adamson who writes in Forbes, that applies as well to products whose attributes are a bit more difficult to convey than cars and soft drinks.

Adamson was impressed by a recent campaign by Cisco, starring Oscar-nominated actress Ellen Page in slice-of-life stories with the citizens of Lunenberg, Nova Scotia. The campaign makes it clear how the Cisco brand connects people with the things that make life better, safer and healthier. One "welcome to the human network" spot shows, for example, how Cisco's IT equipment allows health care professionals to treat patients remotely.

Adamson also applauds BASF -- "The Chemical Company" -- whose branding is based on the idea that its chemicals are being used for good things like forming a plastic product that decomposes in weeks. "For those of us who couldn't make the connection between the initials and purpose of the company, the chemistry between branding and understanding is now right on," he says.

Finally, Aflac is doing more than quacking like a duck. Its latest branding initiatives, from television to social media, make sure we understand that it pays policy holders cash benefits when they are sick or hurt for essentials such as childcare. "Strong brands are strong because people know what they stand for and how they fit into their lives," Adamson concludes.

How to Position a Luxury Brand

Patek Philippe has it right, according to Allen Adamson, managing director of the New York office of Landor Associates. This maker of high-end timepieces (don’t call them watches!) knows exactly how to position a luxury brand. In its long-running series of ads, the headline asserts: "You never actually own a Patek Philippe. You merely take care of it for the next generation." Although this campaign began long before this recession, its philosophy couldn't be more relevant to companies marketing a luxury brand in today's belt-tightening economy. That is, they should not be trying to get consumers to make a purchase but, rather, to make an investment. And, to succeed at this, they must treat their clientele (dare we say customers?) precisely like they are making an investment. An investment is made with a raise of the hand that a consumer trusts in the long-term value of an entity, be it a financial entity or that of a material nature. It is also trust that, as a result of this vote of confidence, the consumer will receive a return on this investment, be it in monetary performance or, in the case of goods and services, product performance and longevity. What's more, in making an investment in a brand unattainable by most mortals is the unspoken agreement that everything associated with this brand will be top-notch. Looking at Forbes' list of the the best and brightest purveyors of luxury products, it's clear that there is genuine awareness of what it takes to be, and stay, an "investment brand." These companies, among them Louis Vuitton, Hermes, Chanel, Porsche, BMW and Mercedes Benz, know that keeping consumers of their goods happy and loyal means providing a brand experience befitting ownership. They also appreciate that, requisite to their marketing, is word of mouth. And to fuel positive word of mouth among the well-heeled, especially in these competitive times, means the highest bar for quality and customer care must be raised even higher. Success as a luxury brand today means maintaining tighter control over every element of the brand experience than ever before, from the design and manufacturing process, to the distribution policies (no outlet stores, please) to the ambiance of the retail environment. Equally important, surprising and delighting the customer should not be considered an extra, but a must have. Hermes sales associates, for example, will not only take the time to show women as many gorgeous silk scarves as they'd like to see, but take the time to patiently demonstrate the many different techniques for tying these scarves. Ritz-Carlton, the luxury hotel group, has what it refers to as "wow stories," shared with all personnel, in which hotel staff members explain how they were able to, yes, "wow" a guest with particularly distinctive service. Another example is Hartman luggage: people swear by this brand not just for its fine detailing, but for its exemplary customer care. Whenever a handle comes loose or a zipper needs replacing, one sends it back and it's returned, beautifully refurbished, good as new. How else do you manage an investment brand, be it jewelry, automobile, scarf, or handbag in these challenging economic times? You appeal to those most committed to your brand and you concentrate on products and services that will yield your greatest return on investment. In the fashion category, this means ensuring your merchandise is both forward-thinking and classic. Coco Chanel recognized, as do her present-day designers, that timelessness cannot be underestimated when it comes to clothing and accessories. If, on the other hand, you have the enviable role of marketing the automobiles that inspire envy, you ensure that the expectations of your most exacting customers are exceeded from engineering to showroom to after-care. And, in all cases and categories, keep in mind that there are plenty of blogs and review sites out there for the well-off to sound off on their luxury brand experiences. If you have something expensive to sell, make it worthy of its price. The fact that we're living in what some call "new normal" times, does, however, up the ante. Those with the ability to spend big are going to think a bit more than they did before when pulling out their platinum or titanium cards. If you're marketing a luxury brand, you've got to be able to justify the investment being made by these folks to the nth degree. Attentive personal service is simply a cost of entry, as is attention to quality in manufacturing and retail. The action we recommend is that you treat your "clientele" as though they were making an investment in your brand, and not just purchasing it. Make it something they can care for and enjoy until they're ready to pass it along to the next generation.