A world in motion. Social globalization/ social multinationalism. Brands exposed for what they truly are, no matter how big or small. External and internal tides shaping brands dynamically. Brands have always been shaped by these forces, but more so now.

What do you think this implies in terms of what brands need to do in order to remain relevant or become relevant again?

Is your brand moving or stuck?

Moving Brands/ Moving World from Moving Brands on Vimeo.

(1) Marketing metrics will flourish in 2010. In 2011, marketers will begin to realize that the metrics alone will not salvage their failing brands. As quarterly upticks on marketing dashboards become real time,  marketing damage control teams will trip over themselves scrambling to be accountable for sales by the millisecond. Brands that survive the melee will have learned to lead by example and purpose rather than just cater to analytic trends of the moment... And/ or a deeper understanding of what those numbers imply. Not just living in the moment, but brands' future reasons for being. Nearly every demographic today is more concerned with their future than ever before in modern history.

(2) More financial & banking institutions, large & small, will fail—driven by (a) a consumer backlash against 29.9% credit card interest rates and other forms of legalized usury; (b) general job losses that force a new wave of foreclosures on traditionally secure demographics. Newer, more relevant bank brands emerge.

(3) Credit Cards as we know them will begin to disappear, replaced increasingly by prepaid debit cards. We'll get new names and brands for these.

(4) Accountability will kill many well-known and major brands—from automobiles to kids' toys. These brands must deliver on promise or become irrelevant, dying the slow death of commodity brands. Or the quick death of brands that misrepresent who they are. The divide between relevant brands and irrelevant brands will come to an apex in 2010. New players in a given brand space will be more authentic, more relevant, deliver in practice on all touchpoints, and gain market share—overwhelming the status quo brands, or absorbed by status quo brands trying to salvage themselves.

(5) Major US automobile companies will fail in the absence of further government bailouts. Governments will begin to examine buying back rights of way for trains and other alternative transportation modes. More relevant upstart auto/ transportation brands will get the attention they deserve.

See Brand Integrity Blog article, "Brand Demotorization" from January 2009:

http://www.webjam.com/brandintegrity/$brand_integrity_blog/2009/01/09/brand_demotorization

(6) Death of the barking 30-second commercial. Rise in brand advertising. Any medium. As audiences reach the boiling point in an over-saturated world of media, and the fact that only 6% of audiences believe an ad is telling the truth anyway—ad dollars will be pulled out of trad 30-second TV spots (or the ones reformatted for online) faster than you can say "buy it now". Experiential branding—virtual and real—will fill the void, along with branded efforts that offer real value (on physical, intangible, or emotional levels) in product, message, and experience.

(7) Facebook finally gets smarter about digital music/video distribution, aggregation, and streaming—doing a better job integrating artists, publishers, and fans. MySpace will never get this fast enough, despite building a brand around the music scene. MySpace continues to lose market share to Facebook. Once Facebook gets onboard with serious music & video integration, MySpace is left in the dust.

(8) Internet Video/ Broadcast makes Broadcast Television a novelty... in the same way that newspapers and magazines are folding due to content explosion on the Internet, so will the TV as we know it. See #6 above as one of several smoking guns.

(9) Store brands (house brands), like Trader Joe's (although not necessarily Trader Joe's store brands), sales will soar in 2010 throughout traditional commodities like food, energy, and other lower tier priced supplies. Manufacturer brands in these categories will need to offer a more than just a cute jingle to justify their existence in today's market.

(10) Branding will become increasingly important in 2010 from positioning, building, and management standpoints, as companies begin to realize the only way to sustainability is through holistic and kinetic brand integration. Brands will be in motion more, but increasingly so in order to stay true to their brands and relevant to audiences.

Adapted from a recent LinkedIn conversation on Brand 3.0.

I have an article for you that confronts a fuzzy line between authenticity and 'fauxthenticity'. Alicia Clegg points to a spectrum of degrees of authenticity in examining several brands:

http://www.brandchannel.com/features_effect.asp?pf_id=276

In the case of brands vis à vis authenticity, I think fantasy and reality enter a different contextual agreement with the mind—perhaps metaphorical authenticity.

For example, maybe I am eating a bar of chocolate. The packaging displays Mayan imagery, and a Mayan chocolate story. The chocolate flavor is based on Mayan chocolate recipe. We know that the Mayans have been gone for quite some time and had little to do with the New York based company that profers the product. However, the story behind the inspiration for this chocolate bar is authentic, and the Mayans truly made their version of chocolate, and this is one great tasting chocolate bar. If the story is authentic, and the product is authentic, then the metaphor is authentic. And for all practical purposes the entire brand experience is authentic. That the Jungian archetypes Mother Earth + Warrior + Patriarch  implied in the story connect with people is also authentic—even though the chocolate may be manufactured in Kansas City.

On the other hand, what about companies like Häagen-Dazs? The fictional name looks and sounds German, Dutch or maybe Scandinavian, although the company does not currently falsely claim that it is. Still it's simply great tasting ice cream. And the current company story is that simple. Authentic? The story is. The name? It's fictional and arguably misleading. However, the company developed name that is a metaphor for a feeling that is authentic. Here the lines of authentic vs. fauxthentic become blurred I think. Does this undermine the overall authenticity of Häagen-Dazs product and company brands? I'm not sure.

Your thoughts?

Mikkel Pilemand:

Beer market decline? What are the reasons for this and how reverse trend? Many beer markets are seeing very slow growth or even decline. Has accelerated over recent years. In a market like Denmark consumers consume more wine... [Any] learnings on reasons for this trend and what activities companies can undertake in order to get beer market back to growth?

Russell Volckmann:

In Denmark and other countries, the trend is beer pubs  gradually disappear. Even in beer-renowned haunts like Ireland, wine bars quietly pop up in their place.

However, smaller beer producers seem to be staying ahead of the curve, despite the decreasing demand for beer overall. The boutique beers account for increasing market share. Relative to a volume beer producer declines, smaller brands are overtaking the market.

The beer market demographic changed so gradually over the past 5 years, that it took the beer industry off guard. During the same period, the wine industry has exploded. Including an economic downturn, wine markets actually increased by 20% in the US between 2005 and 2009.

Clearly, beer's fall from grace is a matter of perception, positioning, and branding:

Savvy wine producers will position and execute wine brands brilliantly—labeling, shelf differentiation, flavor profile—highly relevant to today's audiences. Beer brands, with few exceptions, rely on the same tired old ad techniques in hopes of salvaging brand declines.

Wine brands connect with audiences on both sensory and cognitive touchpoints. Beer brands are firing random darts in the form of ads that depict genders or society in a narrow light. Funny beer commercials, maybe... but "funny" does not necessarily equal sales.

Generally speaking, wine brands appeal to heritage aspects, tradition, understated elegance, storytelling, and/ or flavor profiles; Beer brands appeal to irrelevant and overdone social stereotypes—and/ or have lost the essence of their heritage qualities in story, messaging, and label. Large producer beer labeling & marks have become outdated and need an astutely planned rebrand.

What is a common theme here between both successful wine & successful boutique beer brands? Producers surgically place products (brand, market, shelf, visual, story, flavor profile) to appeal to a specific audience demographic, as audiences increasingly reject the feeling of "bulk" or "mass produced" or "generic", or "volume"... perceived or real. Wine & boutique beer brand differentiation usually exists with definitive brand space throughout extensions.

Many other beer brands also fail to differentiate, or else differentiate into dangerous territory. Differentiation through beer brand extensions sometimes downgrade and/ or cannibalize overlapping channels. Light beer is one easy cannibalization example. Miller, Bud, Michelob and other beer brands continue to experience light beer extensions eating away their premiere brands' market share. Overall association with the light beers in such close proximity on the shelf may also cause deterioration in overall brand perception. I'd like to see a focus group study on the perception aspect. Properly executed, the results should be very telling.

Compared to beer, wine sales and markets remained relatively stable for over the past 10 years. One reason for wine stability is that, despite competition between brands, regional wine alliances continually strive for collective benefit in terms of strategies and execution in order to help support a sustainable wine industry as a whole; Large & small producers participate, and allocate capital to grow the industry. By contrast, brewery alliances seem scattered, and unsupported by larger producers.

Finally, here's further reading... a good article (below) with a measure of truth.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7103268.stm

Your thoughts?

Branding: What Makes a Compelling Story? from Volckmann (& friends) on Vimeo.

How does a brand or business tell an authentic story that really matters—one that people relate to; find compelling? What is essential—yet missing—from many communications? Brand strategist Russell Volckmann interviews strategic story developer Colin Goedecke—Ten Owls Limited + Volckmann (& friends)—on shaping meaningful stories for both leading and emerging businesses.

The creators of this fun little experiment changed people's behavior and made connections that people enjoy. And come to think of it, more people connect with brands that get involved in making customers lives better, easier, 'funner'. Is your brand fun?

I'm prone to exaggeration, but not this time!

On October 24th, in over 120 nations around the world, hundreds of thousands of creative people will be engaged in actions as part of Bill McKibben's 350.org Day of Global Action.

I'm thinking you may be interested. I'm badly hoping you ARE interested:

http://www.350.org

This is not only the largest creative effort, October 24 is also the largest POLITICAL DAY OF ACTION IN THE HISTORY OF HUMANITY As our global leaders (Obama included) have failed us when it comes to environmental reform, it's up to The People to force the issue, to advance the agenda in the days leading up to Copenhagen (UN Climate Conference).

What is 350.org? Visit the site. Check it out. http://www.350.org

Why are Creatives the center of the movement? Because we are the ones who can advance agendas, change minds, push entire populations to action--not politicians, nor armies.

In New Zealand, Maori tribes will be hanging banners from cliffs. Church bells all along the coast will ring 350 times. In China, over 200 groups will be crafting their unique messages. In the United States, tens of thousands will assemble. In Africa, Yeman, all over Europe...all over the world....October 24 is the largest global day of action we've ever seen.

http://www.350.org

Get involved. Be part of the solution. I have faith in you, fellow creatives, but not humanity unless you take up the challenge to lead your fellows.

with doctor daniel carlin


CG: We tend to think about our most valuable asset as our investments, our homes, our jobs, but there’s a far more valuable one, one we don’t pay enough attention to let alone actively manage and appreciate…until there’s a problem.

DC: Yes, it’s our personal health, our physical well being.

I work as a medical consultant with some of the world’s wealthiest people. Individuals and families of all kinds, including senior executives. Many of them take smart, active and holistic approaches to managing their financial risks and assets, yet put little priority on their health and health risks.

Surprisingly, they fail to see their own health as a priceless asset, as a key variable in their enjoyment of life. They rarely give it the profound attention it deserves. They’re also challenged – as many of us are – in finding doctors who can help them tend to their health, prevent problems and facilitate decisions. Doctors who’ll talk candidly with them; caringly, and at length.

Of course without good health all other wealth is meaningless. It’s true on a personal level, and it’s true on a national level, meaning the health of our population as a whole.

CG: Is this what led you to a more enlightened approach?

DC: I got into the niche of 24/7 personal doctoring and started World Clinic because the system was becoming so impersonal; revolving so regressively around procedures and images.

I went completely outside the system; straight to very intelligent and enlightened people and said: you’re an expert on managing your financial assets. I’m an expert on managing physical health. The return on investing in someone like me directly will be greater well being and peace of mind…and likely greater longevity. What’s the value to you of more well being and time for your philanthropic work,  family and friends, joys and passions?

A vital part of what I do as their medical advisor and point person is think. I serve as a seasoned guide, quality judge and risk “manager” for whatever’s going on with their health; for any care they’re seeking or receiving from the system.

On the most fundamental level, I help bring their awareness and attention to their greatest source of wealth: their physical well-being.

CG: You’ve said “locus of control” is a central concept, that impacts pharmaceutical marketing and helps or hinders our personal care.

DC: Yes, and this means who’s making the decisions: who has the control, you or your doctor. This affects everything. Including how drugs are currently marketed by companies, which is psychographically. From Viagra and Ambien, where marketing messages are direct-to-consumer and all about you being in control, to blood pressure medication where, because of the complexity of the condition, they’re all about your doctor calling the shots (which assumes you have a good doctor to make the right choices for you).

There’s also a strong generational dynamic at work. We have Baby Boomers who feel they’re in charge of their health decisions, and seniors who feel their doctors are or should be in charge.

My first question to a hedge fund owner or rock-and-roll entertainer client is: why did you hire me? My second question is: tell me who’s in charge of your health? I’m absolutely amazed at the answers. Many masters of the universe don’t have a sense of their own mortality: they believe they’re invincible.

Most of us need to do some emotional homework. How do you feel about your health? How invested in well-being are you? Are you empowered, and making confident choices  – or do you automatically defer to your physician? 

CG:  Don’t most physicians help people make decisions?

DC: Sadly not really, because modern medicine is now governed by an almost pervasive fear of litigation. Physicians are reluctant to provide anything beyond basic, objective facts that can be supported in a courtroom. They’re rarely if ever willing to say to a patient is if this was me, this is what I would do…

In the specialist-driven world we live in today, we’ve lost the country and town doctor: the family doctor who knew and looked at your big picture. Who had the luxury of a real and honest relationship. Instead we have a predominance of specialists who look at and diagnose and treat you narrowly, without this vital view: without these wider, wiser insights and personal connections.

CG: How and when did we get into this worrisome situation?

DC: Going back to about 1965, the world of medicine was made up of mostly primary care doctors and general surgeons. When science started unlocking the ‘big secrets’ of the human body, the age of specialization began. As a result, internists started becoming obsolete and replaced by field-specific specialists, from cardiologists to neurologists. Advances in technology led to specialist surgeons doing only one, extremely specific kind of surgery.

More and more money started going toward procedures and less and less to office visits. The healthcare system has since favored and now richly rewards the procedurists and technologists; who rarely if ever talk to patients. All of this at the expense of the essential yet much lower paid general practitioners who do the heavy lifting with patients: who spend the time to consult with them, interpret their histories, and point them in helpful directions.

To me, there’s something very wrong with this picture.

CG: What’s happening as primary care doctors disappear, as they throw in the towel?

DC: Their essential value has become more obvious. There’ll be fewer of them to keep us on the right and best path to wellness, diagnose serious illness, be fairly immediate resources to call on with questions, knowledgeable people to tell our story to. And fewer of them out there to listen and care about us.

Technologists and procedurists don’t, can’t play this role. And none are engaged or invested in long-term relationships with patients. That’s the nature of the system we have. Specialists even talk about patients as organs or diseases, not as people, which says a lot. I’ve been a doctor for over 25 years, and talk about mine by name. I know and relate to their personal stories, to their larger life situations.

Another root problem is how we pay doctors on the basis of 7-minute primary care visits. By the time they say hello, how are you, have a chat, most of that time has elapsed. So there’s no time left for them to think properly. Or, they might quickly scan your information, say here’s the story and see you in six weeks or six months. You the patient are sent out the door unclear or unhappy or both. Even for me, a doctor inside the system, dealing with my own health issues, even I encounter this.

CG: What should we all be asking?

DC: Is there a doctor in the house, a doctor out there who truly cares about me?

CG: What’s our greater social responsibility?

DC: We need to support paying doctors properly, to do the critical thinking that gives a clear and meaningful context for patients and their medical issues. Likewise, give doctors enough time to  connect with their patients in order to help them preventively, proactively. All this would go a long way to stopping or slowing the endless, wasteful merry-go-round of consult/image/lab-test/procedure, where too few are doing this thinking for too little money while too many down the line are getting richly and overly paid to do a slice of disembodied informational work.

At the same time, we have to stop compromising our personal health with poor behavior, behavior we flat out know is unhealthy.

CG: How do we keep physically healthy, individually and as a population?

DC: There’s the fledgling concierge model, where you pay a small retainer so your provider can make a decent living. In return they care for and about you. You might pay $80 a month for a doctor like this. Well I’d take that deal, it’s a good one; especially when you look at how many of us pay $1,000+ a month for health insurance with large deductibles.

Staying healthier personally? It’s not rocket science. There are basics: your weight, your blood pressure – and your general attitude of happiness and contentment with life – which I believe is the most important component of our well being. If you’re very heavy, or your pressure isn’t well managed, or you’re depressed, it’s straightforward: you’re not healthy.

Staying healthier as a country? Imagine if we had an earthquake every year that cost the U.S. 17% of its GNP. Wouldn’t we be spending money on preventing earthquakes? And moving people out of earthquake zones? Of course. Yet we have a similar situation: collectively epic medical earthquakes, from heart disease and lung cancer to stroke, most of them self-inflicted. These “man-made” disasters cost our country a massive amount of national resources year after year after year. Yet there’s no seriously productive spending on preventing them or on changing people’s unhealthy behaviors.

CG: How does consciousness change in desired directions?

DC: The national consciousness is starting to change. At the end of the day, though, money and political interest will shape the outcome.

What we need to raise first is our own consciousness. To realize there’s no healthcare coming to save our bacon. Most facilities across the country are overburdened, and are hard pressed to deliver a high caliber of care to everyone. We must also be acutely aware that good general and family practitioners, internists and pediatricians are an endangered species, a vanishing species. 

Here are three rules of personal responsibility to live by:

Rule one. Make a commitment to wellness, and avoid getting sick if you can help it.

Rule two. Find a way to acknowledge your doctor for caring. Don’t take it for granted. They made a decision to care on a professional basis with no expectation of reward. So be the thoughtful, appreciative kind of person they look forward to seeing and helping.  

Rule three. Vote, make your voice heard, be part of the political process, to save the good primary care doctors from becoming extinct or demoralized. It’s in your best interest.

CG: What kind of primary care doctors should all of us look for?

DC: GPs who are extremely competent, understands the human condition, and can connect clearly and quickly with you as a patient. An individual who’s emotionally-wired and committed to care, and will go the extra mile as the rule not the exception.

Though diminishing in number, GPs like this do exist.

CG: What do you see as our biggest opportunity?

DC: Making patients an active, central part of their healthcare experiences. The key variable is not the doctor and not the medication or the test, it’s you, the patient. Each one of us needs to be actively involved with our well being. To be taking charge. To be wisely managing our greatest asset, our health – and getting a good, caring, committed physician to manage and enhance it with us.

CG: Dan, many thanks.

Colin Goedecke is a senior marketing writer, messaging strategist and interviewer, with a 23-year history helping leading and emerging companies worldwide platform and tell their stories. Our Most Valuable Asset is On the Line is the 18th in a series of thought pieces, to help us think, act and communicate in wiser ways. Others can be found at www.tenowls.blogspot.com

Dr. Daniel Carlin is a 25-year physician, clinician and thought leader in medical change. He’s a former US Naval officer, and founder and CEO of World Clinic, www.worldclinic.com, a unique, global 24/7 medical and telemedical practice serving a select group of senior executives and wealthy individuals and families.

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Greenpeace Paints ‘Hazardous Products’ on Hewlett-Packard's Roof

Not sure what to make of this rather unlikely mix of co-brands. Greenpeace wants HP to reduce or eliminate PVC use. Captain Kirk signals distress calls to HP mothership via primitive land lines. Read the original article here at SF Business Times.

Some Water to Go with That Salad?

An $11.5 billion industry, it turns out, most bottled water is only tap water sealed in a petroleum-based plastic container. Still think these brands are interested in our health? Some disquieting facts in this video about brands we thought we loved. 

Famed Choreographer Merce Cunningham

"Great dancers are not great because of their technique. They are great because of their passion."

~ Merce Cunningham (RIP).

And isn't it that passion that makes people great in any action/ profession they pursue? We just lost this gentleman last week. Read the entry on Cunningham's life here at Wikipedia.

However, difficult-to-pronounce items offer positive aspects too. Yes, the mind interprets these names as risky. But both undesirable and desirable types of risk are associated with such names.

Desirable risk associations include ideas of adventure and excitement. These names also make people pay closer attention to warnings and instructions. This indicates that difficult-to-pronounce naming could be used to leverage the attention of thrill seekers, type A personalities, extreme sport aficionados, adventure travel, and more.

Let's take Volkswagen's propensity for naming its new car models with pronunciation-challenging names—but names which also have been wildly successful. The Routan (the repackaged Chrysler minivan), for example. Pronounced how? Roo-tan, Roo-tahn, Routing as in Rowting, or Rooting? The Tiguan or Touareg SUVs? And remember the Fahrvergnügen tagline? Fine if you're German, but even Americans latched onto the word meaning "driving pleasure" with enthusiastic abandon. But then, the Volkswagen parent brand has been part of the American vernacular for generations.

So what if you were to go the challenging route for an entirely new brand name today with no equity built into a parent brand?

Take for example, the yet-to-be launched wine bar Sostevinobile, which wants to specialize in West Coast wines from sustainably grown harvests. Do you like it? Can you pronounce it? Would you recognize the name again if you saw it or heard it pronounced? You might, especially if I sang the name to you in its original musical cadence (mp3) along the line of the famous opera, La Donna è Mobile.
 

The name Sostevinobile literally has a sustainable hook, despite its somewhat lengthy prose. But what if a new name—long, difficult-to-pronounce—had neither the equity from a famous connection (such as a famous opera), nor a famous parent brand (such as Volkswagen)?

The fact is, most people will initially reject the name, if the name is initially strange and unfamiliar.

According to Operative Words' naming expert Anthony Shore—the irony is that people don't like new, different, unfamiliar names if you ask them. That is, until they think the brand name has already fully launched and validated with professional ID system, environment, packaging and so on. Presented prior to launching (like say, focus groups, testing, crowdsourcing, et al), and people will shun new/ different names because the name has no context (logo, supporting imagery, messaging, environment, etc). The new name is just another word on a page. If the name is launched, suddenly people think there must be a really great reason for it. Their perception changes 180°.

A whole slew of young, new, up-market fashion labels recently arrived with nearly unpronounceable names. The upcoming labels challenge brand naming conventions, yet are still on the verge of becoming fashion notoriety:

1. Derercuny, an Italian label led by designer Mina Lee.
2. Emerging Milanese designer Francisco Scognamiglio.
3. Successful womenswear label Meadham Kirchhoff by Edward Meadham and Benjamin Kirchhoff.
4. (Ann) Demeulemeester gothic fashion clothing, typically proffered during Paris Fashion Week.

It may be awkward to say Demeulemeester bag or Meadham Kirchhoff jacket, but these unconventional and difficult-to-pronounce names are beginning to catch on. They're distinctive brands, breaking the norms, separating from the pack. They engage, catch you off guard, make you think, and therefore enable better attention and recognition. Engagement causes you to lean forward, ask twice, pursue more information, and start a conversation.

Ask anyone in a focus group whether they would 'like' or 'remember' these names before they launched, and be sure to expect a resounding 'no'. Ask them again after the product has launched with a professional visual identity, all the media attention, plus the trust garnered from a successful product.

Risky names? Sure. But after all, don't we all crave a little risk and excitement in our lives—even if it is the fantasy risk associated with an exotic-sounding car model or new fashion safari?

 Russell Volckmann is an award-winning designer, producer, creative director, ad & brand & marketing strategist. For 17 years helping global agencies and companies tell their stories and make meaningful connections. Contact Russell at VÖLCKMANN (& friends) for more ways to connect.

Musician Dave Carroll & band (Sons of Maxwell) sit on a United Airlines flight waiting for takeoff, as a fellow passenger looks out the window and exclaims, “My God, they’re throwing guitars out there.” Just then, fellow musician Mike looks out and sees his bass recklessly heaved on the tarmac, and Carroll’s $3500 Taylor guitar is DOA at the flight's destination.

Nine months of buck passing later, United Airlines ultimately refuses to pay the $1200 repair bill. Dave Carroll then vows to write three songs, and post them on YouTube to memorialize the United experience. Read Dave's entire saga here. Dave Carroll's first song is below.

As a fellow musician (albeit part-time) & traveler I can identify with this kind of pain. Dave Carroll eventually comes to the conclusion: "The system is designed to frustrate affected customers into giving up their claims and United is very good at it."

Design Firm, Dragon Rouge drew its inspiration from a golden age in which exceptional know-how is wedded with ornamental elegance "to give visible expression to perfect harmony". Designers drew inspiration from imagining a bottle fashioned from pure crystal in which the precious liquid is concentrated in a single droplet suspended from an arch—which is decorated by “Martell” arabesques in gold. The bottle itself is the fruition of collaboration with the Cristallerie de Sèvres glassworks.

The stopper bears the Martell monogram with elegant flourish, and complements the ensemble with a semi-circular winged shape—communicating balance in the decanter's "voluptuous curves", as well as the cognac's balanced and sophisticated palate.

The result? Well, in China, the $3600 L'OR (French for "Gold") Cognac quickly sold out as soon as it hit the stores. Martell L'Or de Jean Martell will be available in the United States in very limited quantity (120 bottles) beginning in April 2009.

Today, Volckmann (& friends) say, "Goodbye AT&T. Hello Skype!"

Goodbye: AT&T land line  (415) 333-8300

Hello: Skype Online phone number  (415) 992-5570

Goodbye: US Toll-Free number  (800) 333-6760

Hello: Skype-to-Skype video phone  volckmann.friends

In a similar way that Television forced us toward other media—and similar to record companies who did not get with online music until after it was too late—the phone companies are forcing us toward alternate communications providers. Skype-to-Skype and local calls are 100% free for everyone, making the old AT&T lines irrelevant.

And yes, there is a lesson to be learned in branding here too: No one feels any brand loyalty to AT&T or any of the other telecom companies. You've merged, acquired, divested, and merged again with as many name changes as a chameleon has spots. Your Ponzi "new rate plans" are lies with rates creeping up despite your words to the contrary. The telecoms have done nothing to earn our trust and respect.

サヨナラ AT&T!

In his keynote address at last week's Interactive Advertising Bureau's Social Media Conference, Forrester Research's Josh Bernoff explained how Del Monte Foods created a new pet food product in just six weeks—with the help of a little crowd-sourcing.

 Seems so simple, yes? Just ask customers what they want?

Crowdsourcing is a neutral proposition that always needs to be checked against other resources. I'll bet Del Monte did a bit of homework beyond the social networking scenario, but the SN was clearly a valuable integral resource.

What do you think?

I'm not going to write any sappy nostalgic stories about how great things were in the "old days" when we had three network TV stations plus PBS. Plenty of folks have written about this already, and will no doubt continue to do so for some time to come.

Instead, I'd like for you to think about something. Does modern television make your life better? Do you feel a connection with the thousands of products that bombard you with thousands of barking ads each and every day? Do you like the idea of paying for the cable or satellite TV that pipe in all the unnecessary, mindless, and often untrue messages into your living room? Over the course of 10 hours, American viewers will see approximately 3 hours of advertisements, twice what they would have seen in the sixties. Feels like more.

I've been working in media-related businesses for the past 17 years, and my earlier job in ad creative & strategy was to communicate advertiser messages in order to compel you—the consumer—to buy, buy, buy. Early in my career, it was fun. Very soon I realized what a hollow proposition advertising generally is. Yes, some ads are actually informative, relevant, and helpful—but these are clearly in the minority.

In 1965, 34 percent could name a brand advertised on a TV show. Thirty years after, only 8 percent could do so. Consumers decreasingly find ads useful, informative, relevant, or differentiating brands. Did you know that only 6 percent of people believe an ad is generally telling the truth? With numbers like these, it is no wonder even established brands are failing.

Fed up with advertising over 12 years ago, I migrated toward branding & identity as a way to make meaningful connections between companies and customers—for products and services that people can feel good about. My branding agency chooses to strategize, position and represent products and services that make a positive impact on the world in some way—socially responsible companies. Products that live up to their expectations.

In addition, we now create branded experiences and branded events instead of advertising—because people enjoy experiences so much more than barking ads. As an example or a branded experience, a client of ours (anonymous for now) sponsored a river rafting event, and a climbing event with Erik Weihenmayer, the first blind man to scale Mt. Everest. These kinds of events involve people's lives and true interests on a meaningful level. They connect.

Contrast these kinds of experiences with "buy more burgers, blah, blah, blah" and nonsense like "this new car is actually great for the environment and is a total chick magnet." I don't know about you, but I don't need another reason to feel hungry. And not only is that car relying on pretty much the same internal combustion technology used for the past 100 years—but when you read the fine print, you'll find that the gas mileage is only marginally better that it was on the same model 30 years ago.

Six months ago we cut the tv cable at our home and went back to rabbit ears. We had enough of subsidizing irrelevant ads that try to create aspirations based on utter nonsense. And save for a few shows we found entertaining or informative, TV's programming generally lacks quality, most actors are simply bad, and the same tired old movies are rerun constantly. So now what?

Now that analog is gone, and we have a choice of (a) buying a set-top box, or (b) a new TV, or (c) getting back on cable—I think we're going for option (d) none of the above. While this may not be the end of advertising, it is the end of advertising in our living room.

Russell Volckmann is an award-winning designer, producer, creative director, branding & marketing strategist. For 17 years helping global agencies and companies tell their stories and make meaningful connections. Contact Russell at VÖLCKMANN (& friends) for more ways to connect.
 

See also: other wine label brand strategy, positioning and creative—plus a small sample of experimental design work.

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Have a branding success you want to share? Let us know!

By the way, I am now working with Montréal's Orígami to help spearhead the San Francisco office. I am overjoyed to be working with a great team of very creative strategic thinkers.

Cheers!

Russell Volckmann