The Affordable Branding BlogThe Affordable Branding Blog is a peek inside today’s branding blunders and success stories. Plucked right from the business and marketing headlines, my colleagues and I will make observations, pithy comments, overt criticisms, and well-deserved at-a-boys, all designed to help you make the right branding decisions for your business. To subscribe to the Affordable Branding Blog (no e-mail necessary), right-click on the orange RSS button (see bottom buttons to the left) and then paste the URL into your RSS reader. Or click on the question mark for information about other options. Copyright and Trademark Myths DebunkedThe Graphic Artists Guild offers one of their most popular white papers, Copyright Basics and Common Misconceptions Debunked, for free download. If you're developing a new logo or trademark, you should check this out first. Ideal-driven brands are fastest-growingWhat’s the common denominator across the 50 brands showing the fastest growth both in depth of customer relationships and financial value between 2000 and 2010? SO disappointed in AxeOver the years, Axe has nailed its simple, but effective value proposition. Like it or not, the positioning of the body wash and spray line for young men has been: Use axe and get chicks. And they've nailed their strategy time and again in their advertising. Unapologetically. But they just blew it. They fell for the classic branding blunder of trying to extend their name where it doesn't belong. Unilver just unveiled a new body wash for women, which would have been fine if they called it simply Anarchy. But they couldn't help themselves. They though SO much of the name Axe, that they believe it can be extended to also include a women's line called Axe Anarchy. Use Axe and get chicks. I mean, use Axe and get dudes. My mind is already confused. Tsk tsk. The Hidden Meaning in Well-Known LogosMaybe you've seen some of these before, but a few of these were news to me, so enjoy! New Logo Designs for 2011The What's Outt blog highlights some of the re-designs that made headlines in 2011. Do you have faves? Dogs? Worst Brand Identities for 2011The "Brand New" blog, a division of Under Consideration, has listed their worst brand makeovers of 2011. Take a look and see if you agree. The First Cologne for Married MenI saw an ad the other day touting a new fragrance for men. But not just men. Married men. The thesis is that it's harder to keep a girl than to find her; so this cologne was "extra strength" because you need strength to make a marriage work. I was reminded of the Ries and Ries wisdom from the book War in the Boardroom: A brand has a better chance of cutting through the clutter if it's first.
• First in a new category Tons more ways to differentiate at the link. Permalink -- click for full blog post "The First Cologne for Married Men" Broken Promises: When the Brand Pledge is ShatteredWhen I say "Maytag", you say "dependable." Or at least you did. What would you say about Maytag today? Word on the street is that Maytag isn’t even Maytag anymore. It was sold or acquired or something. And that's exactly the problem. To the end-user consumer, it doesn't matter what the corporate history of the brand is--whether it was taken over by Chinese investors or just fell into disrepair. Consumers only care about one thing: your brand promise. Consumers were promised--over the years--that Maytag is a dependable brand. But that's no longer the case. The promise has been broken. Dependability was the brand pledge conveyed to us through "Ol' Lonely", the bored-as-dirt Maytag repairman who never had to make a house call to fix a Maytag washer or dryer. Spanning decades--and generations--the lonely repairman persona was our daily reminder that Maytag is a dependable appliance brand. But higher labor costs and complaints over Maytag product quality and service influenced a decline in Maytag sales and profit margins. By 2004, the Maytag repairman character had become to some consumers a symbol of misplaced trust in aging marketing campaigns. As one commentator noted, "Unfortunately things change, and, after some major quality hiccups, now it's the Maytag salesman who is bemoaning his loneliness. Maytag's reputation has plunged to the bottom with costly consumer class action lawsuits and numerous quality complaints." Where does RadioShack go from here?RadioShack makes a great study in brand relevance. I knew kids in high school who would go to RadioShack because it was the only place they could get all kinds of weird fuses, diodes, solar-powered lights, relays, and cool do-it-yourself hobby kits. And the sales person was always some gangly weirdo who knew everything from radio controlled cars to the right batteries for some obscure device. But RadioShack has clearly lost its way. So where do they go from here? That's anybody's guess. It may be the satirical news organization, The Onion, who got it right back in April 2007, when they wrote: "Despite having been on the job for nine months, RadioShack CEO Julian Day said Monday that he still has 'no idea' how the home electronics store manages to stay open. 'There must be some sort of business model that enables this company to make money, but I'll be damned if I know what it is,' Day said. 'You wouldn't think that people still buy enough strobe lights and extension cords to support an entire nationwide chain, but I guess they must, or I wouldn't have this desk to sit behind all day.' " My associate, Scott, has this to say: That's so sadly true. But you know, Radio Shack had a chance to be the aspirational home of electronics geeks everywhere. If RadioShack would have embraced that "geek chic," they could've created a brand worth loving. But who loves RadioShack now? More about brand relevance at the link. Permalink -- click for full blog post "Where does RadioShack go from here?" If you have to tell people how to say your name…Then it's probably not a good name. Came across this item in a press release the other day: "Founded in 2000, Xlear, Inc. (pronounced "clear") is recognized as one of the leading manufacturers of xylitol products…" Hmmm. I would have never guessed at "clear" and I likely won't recall the name either. When the only thing people ever talk about is how to pronounce their name--and not what the company does--that's a red flag. As my associate, Scott, says: "The name becomes like spinach in their teeth, making everyone focus on that one thing to the detriment of the rest of the company." More on successful naming at the link. Permalink -- click for full blog post "If you have to tell people how to say your name…" |