Too often businesses and governmental organizations believe branding is all about creating a new logo.
For example, an otherwise respected international accounting firm has tried this approach. As has a so-called branding agency. A U.S. business consultancy. And, a Middle Eastern company specializing in food products.
Even an organization in which one might speculate is overpopulated with certified smart people in their leadership - The Olympic Games - has fallen prey to this illogic.
In the latest example of “executive leadership acting as if a logo creates a brand,” the United Kingdom’s Office of Government Commerce introduced a new logo with this dithering explanation:
The logo…was intended to signify a bold commitment to the body’s aim of “improving value for money by driving up standards and capability in procurement”.
However, when rotated 90 degrees from a horizontal to vertical view, the new logo creates an unintended — ah, we presume — visual. According to the Telegraph:
A spokesman for OGC said: “It is true that it caused a few titters among some staff when viewed on its side, but on consideration we concluded that the effect was generic to the particular combination of the letters OGC - and it is not inappropriate to an organisation that’s looking to have a firm grip on Government spend.”
As this episode would suggest, Her Majesty’s Treasury is in good hands.
[More posts about Branding | More posts about Government Agency Branding | More posts about Brand Identity | More posts about Logos | More blogs about Government Agency Branding]
Friday, April 11, 2008
The Weekly B.S. is a conversation of thought-provoking reports addressing brands and B.S., otherwise known as brand strategy.
The key to any effective branding effort is to change and take ownership of the conversation. You are invited to this conversation of brands and the stories they tell.
The Weekly B.S. is hosted by Whisper. Contact us to learn more of how to own the conversation® among audiences you seek to attract and influence.
This week’s B.S.:
From Business Week - New York
It’s All About Experience
Companies that try to create holistic experiences by emotionally engaging their consumers are flourishing.
From the New York Times - USA
China Tries to Solve Its Brand X Blues
Li-Ning will have to become a brand like Nike and Adidas. As Chiang Jeongwen, a Chinese marketing professor at the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business, said, “When you get right down to it, Nike is a branding company”; to compete, Li-Ning would have to become one as well. …Go to China, and you get a whole new appreciation for brands.
From Ad Age - New York
Study: Word Of Mouth Tops In Clout
Word-of-mouth–especially from family and friends–leads the pack in terms of influence on brand choice.
From the International Herald Tribune - New York
How to maintain Absolut’s prestige
The popularity of vodka, sometimes touted for its “clear” or “pure” taste, depends mostly on marketing.
From Gridskipper - New York
Be Berlin?: The “Poor But Sexy” City Starts Re-Branding
Does Berlin’s new tagline symbolize the end of an era, the death of Europe’s beloved urban, semi-socialist bohemia?
From The Franklin Institute - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
The Franklin Institute Unveils Branding Campaign
The Franklin Institute, Pennsylvania’s most-visited museum, has unveiled its first branding campaign.
From the New York Times - Leesburg, Virginia, USA
Brand U.
One of my best bits, or so I thought, was about how the fictional university in my novel had hired a branding consultant to come up with a new name with the hip, possibility-rich freshness needed to appeal to today’s students.
From Slate.com - New York
What? You’ve Not Been Honored by the Webbys?
Entering your Web site in the Webby Awards is a little like buying a box of Cracker Jack—everybody wins a prize.
[More posts about The Weekly B.S. | More posts about Brand Strategy | More posts about Own The Conversation® Strategy | More blogs about Brand Strategy]
In August 2007, William B. Hanbury, chief executive of Destination DC, Washington DC’s convention and tourism organization, announced development of a brand campaign for the city featuring a “slogan, which…will be “as powerful as Vegas. That’s the goal.”
As reported at the time:
That’s a tall order. Las Vegas’ five-year-old “What happens here, stays here” slogan is considered the gold standard in destination marketing.
Mr. Hanbury says his organization’s new brand campaign for Washington DC meets those standards.
Earlier this week, Mr. Hanbury and others introduced the Create Your Own Power Trip brand campaign “to break down perceptions of the District as impenetrable and unapproachable and cast it as a city with cultural flair.” Each Create Your Own Power Trip television spot and print ad may be previewed at this link.
Mr. Hanbury offered this in the Washington Post:
“In research, people told us that although D.C. has all kinds of powerful things like the Supreme Court, Congress, embassies and black-tie galas, they didn’t know how to access them. We’re going to focus on helping people personalize the power that is Washington.”
Destination DC’s CEO is hopeful the new campaign is designed to create a foundation for years of future advertising:
“This has legs. What we’ve done here with the re-branding effort isn’t a one-trick pony. This is an effort that will allow us to sustain and grow the brand over a long period of time.”
Which prompts the following questions:
Does the new Washington DC “brand” have legs?
Or is it a one-trick pony?
Will Create Your Own Power Trip become as successful as What Happens Here, Stays Here for Las Vegas?
Is it effective branding, or public relations?
Is it branding, or a campaign?
Here’s one opinion.
Tell us yours.
.
You can find more of the backstory to Destination DC’s Create Your Own Power Trip campaign here.
[More posts about Washington DC Tourism | More posts about Destination Branding | More posts about Place Branding | More posts about City Branding | More posts about Branding Washington DC | More posts about Washington DC Brand Image | More posts about Brand Research | More posts about Brand Strategy | More posts about Branding vs Advertising | More posts about Branding vs PR | More posts about Tourism Branding | More blogs about Destination Branding]
Friday, April 4, 2008
The Weekly B.S. is a conversation of thought-provoking reports addressing brands and B.S., otherwise known as brand strategy.
The key to any effective branding effort is to change and take ownership of the conversation. You are invited to this conversation of brands and the stories they tell.
The Weekly B.S. is hosted by Whisper. Contact us to learn more of how to own the conversation® among audiences you seek to attract and influence.
This week’s B.S.:
From The Wall Street Journal - New York
The Man Behind the Burger King Turnaround
WSJ: What were the keys to your company’s turnaround?
BK CEO John Chidsey: …I’d say it was finding who our target customer was, figuring out who was the superfan and not wasting our time trying to be all things to all people.
From the University of Prince Edward Island, BUS442 - 4th year business class - Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada
Bad Branding Strategies
A blog on dumb branding strategies makes sense.
From trendwatching.com - Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Status Stories
Ah, storytelling, yet another holy grail in the wonderful world of marketing. What’s new in this field? How about companies no longer inundating consumers with their ‘brand stories’, but instead helping customers tell a story to other consumers. Not to promote that particular brand, but to make those customers more interesting to others.
From Journal of Marketing - South Africa
South African advertising: crap or creative?
“All advertising is crap,” John Farquhar, AdVantage’s esteemed editor was quoted somewhat contentiously as saying during the latter half of 2007. He admits this is a generalization but insists that much of the advertising we see is “rubbish”.
From The Press - Christchurch, New Zealand
Air New Zealand needs to find something to stand for in market
Building a brand that stands for something is important for any business. It gives you a basis for competing against anyone else in the market.
From Express TravelWorld - Mumbai, India
Building global brands
London, New York, Paris - globally more cities are emerging or have emerged as individual entities. Can a similar strategy be worked out in India to strengthen the brands of our own metro cities?
From AdAge.com - USA
Haier’s Olympic-Size Plans to Rebrand Itself
Most of China’s state-run companies, including Haier, have treated marketing as part of the sales department and work with many ad agencies, mostly doing sales promotions on a project basis
From Brandweek - New York
Don’t Be A Heartbreaker
The true role of branding is the “optimiz[ation of] a product’s advantage through a brand strategy that will help fill the reservoir of upstream cash flows yet to be realized by a company.
From publicrelationsrogue - Canada
Ford Struggling to Find Big Idea
Automobile advertising is hopelessly formulaic, shallow, dubious and - the worse crime of all - boring. Campaigns are introduced with great fanfare but often dropped several months later, fostering consumer confusion and inattention. The stubborn lack of imagination of typical car marketing - car driving down scenic roads, endless 3/4 shots of the gleaming metal, superficial appeal to stereotypical hooks (macho & flag imagery for trucks, quirky and green for hybrids) - makes it virtually impossible to differentiate what ad is for what car.
From Ottawa Citizen - Ontario, Canada
‘People trust Canadians, no matter whom you ask, no matter where’
From Italian leather to French wine to “It’s better in the Bahamas,” it has been known for a long time that the image of a place can significantly affect buyers’ willingness to consider its products for purchase.
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Monday, April 28th, 2008 - 1:58pm |
Blunders + Brand Image/Identity + Government Strategy |
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