CapsuleBlog

I was assaulted by Kid Rock

Visually and aurally, that is.

I went to see our own Minnesota Wild play hockey last night at St Paul's Excel stadium. Obviously, there is violence to be expected in this sport. Body slamming, puck whacking and yes, the occasional punch-up.

What I was not prepared for though was the pre-game ad spot for the National Guard, a joint effort by Kid Rock and some NASCAR dude. It's 2:36 of sheer testosterone, us versus them, and America hell yeah. I felt like I was watching a shoot 'em up video game.

Regardless of my personal opinions on the war, and American foreign policy in general, the messaging behind the ad simply highlights how dire things must be for military recruitment. For the U.S. military brand, the Hero archetype obviously makes the most sense, but let us not forget that this archetype's shadow/downside (ie when the archetype is taken to the extreme) is arrogance. And in this case, it's a very fine line.

I don't have the magical solution. The military has been recruiting for an extremely controversial conflict for a long period of time. People are more and more skeptical of our involvement with it, and of the human cost it brings. Perhaps the brand has no other choice but to try to energize potential recruits with blaring rock music and lyrics such as

So don't tell me who's wrong and right/ when liberty starts slipping away/ and if you ain't gonna fight/ get out of the way/ cuz freedom ain't so free when you breathe red white and blue/ I'm givin' all of myself cuz that's what I do.

Is there a better alternative?

Lame 'Loser' product placement

I've never been into The Biggest Loser much. This season, I've been sucked into a few episodes. Call it curiosity. Or perhaps I'm just trying to understand the Capsule office obsession with P90X a little better.

Whatever it is, the most standout thing about the show is not the incredible transformations, the tears, or the throwing up after a particularly strenuous workout. It's the horrible product placement. 

Last night I watched Aussie chef hottie Curtis Stone touting Jennie O ground turkey burgers to the team: a giant disconnect if I ever saw one, given that his usual style leans towards local, organic and gourmet. Jennie O mass-produced ground turkey meat is none of these things. The close-ups of the product packaging, over-use of the brand name, and general clumsiness of the segment made the product placement unnatural and icky.

I've seen the same thing before with Yoplait yogurt. In one of the first episodes of the season, we see one of the contestants upset over something - possibly a poor weigh-in result. Bob consoles her. WITH A YOPLAIT YOGURT.

I don't know about you, but when I'm upset, the last thing I feel like reaching for is a low-fat strawberry yogurt. Another example of an unrealistic and forced scene. Poor Bob must have been cringing beneath those gigantic tattoo-covered biceps.

I understand that brands are seeking new ways to promote themselves - new causes, new associations, new ways of connecting with consumers. But they're putting themselves at risk of insulting the audience instead. 

I found a transcript online of a blogger's conversation with Jillian Michaels and Mark Koops, executive producer.

“One of the other questions that’s been brought up by a lot of the readers on [DietsInReview.com] is the product placement that takes place on this show. Everyone [feels it is] very cheesy and it’s very obviously placed. Is there any plan to tone that back in the future or to maybe do it a little differently?”

Jillian: “Mark? I’ll have to defer to my boss on this one because I cannot talk about this at all. I’ll get in trouble.”

Brandi: “Product placement is obviously paying the bills for the show, but it seems to be striking a strange chord with the audience.”

Mark: “I think, you know, it is sort of, no pun intended – part of the reality of where television is moving to in the 21st Century. The 30-second spot, you know, goes away and (DVR) penetrations, it’s a longer topic of conversation.

We’re approached by a number of companies wanting to, to get involved in the show. And I think we’re very selective in terms of who we take. We’ve been approached in the past by all the fast food companies, you know.

I think we do try and have a selective process about who we pick and about the message they’re trying to (sell).

Could at times it be done, you know, cleaner and better? I think there’s always room for improvement."

Seems like Jillian's not excited about it either.

I have three words of advice for The Biggest Loser and its sponsors: Make It Subtle!

I recommend saying it like Tim Gunn.

Personal branding

Ever visited The Sartorialist? If not, go check it out for interesting pics of real-life street style... but be warned, he mostly shoots the pretty people so perhaps wait til you are having a good hair day.

A nice little piece in Fast Company today featuring the blogger's top tips for personal branding.

(Pic from The Sartorialist)

A brand is a brand is a brand...

According to BusinessWeek, Interbrand and a myriad of other reliable sources, here are the most recognizable global brands of 2008 (and still pretty recognizable in 2009, too).

These will come as no shock…
1) Coca Cola
2) IBM
3) Microsoft
4) GE
5) Nokia
6) Toyota
7) Intel
8) McDonald’s
9) Disney
10) Google

Others on the fringe: Mercedes Benz, Hewlett Packard, BMW, Gillette and American Express.

Few could argue that these brands are merely brands - they define cultures, eras and identity. Simply because the car we drive, food we eat and brands we don produce either an insult or mark of status, reinforces the fact that powerful brands are much, much more than a successful company that have great marketing. When these most recognizable brands plant their roots in the sunlight, they become tokens of who we are, regardless of our active involvement. When we live in a sect of society, whether we drive a BMW or chatter on a Nokia, these brands typecast us as a part of culture. Freaky, isn’t it?

Maybe you’re painfully aware of these branded measures of living, or perhaps you’re blissfully tuned out. Nevertheless, these big brands are certainly food for thought.

Also interesting are some of the criteria for pegging brands like Google and GE as global giants.
- Publicly available financial data
- At least one-third of revenue outside its country-of-origin
- Must be a market-facing brand
- The Economic Value Added must be positive
- The brand must not have a purely B2B single audience with no wider public profile and awareness

Hmm. While these provide standards for evaluation, there is a lot still up for consideration. How can we measure the tiny morsels of a brand’s appeal and its ability to function and communicate? Breaking it down this far makes you realize that entire books could be written about each brand and its background story of development; how each idea and decision influenced the level of impact these brand beasts would have on the globe. Blowing your mind?

All eyes are on your face.

Typefaces are everywhere. That billboard. The tissue box. The pen you stole from the last hotel the company sent you to. Do you know your Goudy and your Garamond? Meta or Trade Gothic? The impact type can have on mood can't be underestimated. To a designer, Goudy is to burlap as Garamond is to silk.

The number of typefaces available is hard to even comprehend. Think truckloads of telephone books. The downside of this abundance is that misuse abounds. Quite sad, considering that type has a major presence and a subtle but potent ability to convey tone and personality. Consequently, an unreadable or inappropriate typeface has just as much potential to distract from a beautiful logo design as it does to enhance it.

So how does the humble designer find the golden needle in the haystack -- ie, the right type for the logo design?

1. Gather the largest library of available typefaces that you can access.

2. Consider what the brand needs to communicate and identify the brand's fundamental attributes.

3. Browse typefaces and select a few that communicate the attributes.

4. Conduct type studies, examining how the type works with the letterforms of the brand name.

5. Consider creating a custom typeface, or adapting one to make it unique to the client.

6. Find complementary typefaces that work as a secondary typeface with the primary selection.

7. Review the typeface and gather feedback from other designers.

8. Integrate typefaces into the logo concepts so that you can show them in the first presentation to the client.

To get up-to-date on the latest in type, spend some time with the I Love Typography blog.

Dell's "Della" ain't so bella

Dell has recently discovered what happens when a questionable campaign angers your supposed target audience. A new sub-site was launched, called Della, to promote the company's line of Inspiron Mini 10 notebooks.

The site came under fire for using messaging that was a little - shall we say - stereotypical? Heavily featured among the stuff you'd expect to see on this kind of thing (product information etc) were "tips" about dieting and shopping. Hmmm. And of course, the color pink was just a tad overused.

Check out the Twitter search on this topic to see just what people were saying. Here's one response on Dell's Facebook page -

Just checked out Della, your new site for girls, er women. Way to develop marketing that talks down to women! Did your marketing team used to work for the car dealer who talked to my boy friend when I was buying the car, or the one who hand-picked the special "girlie" models for me, when I wanted to buy a pickup? Lamest move ever!

The beauty (or terror in some cases) of this kind of scenario is that communications tend to move at lightning speed. So, while it may have been a nightmare for Dell's PR team to receive such blastings within hours of the site being launched, it also provides the opportunity for immediate response and thus a better chance of adequately managing the crisis.

The site was soon altered to remove the offending sections along with a note reading “Some of you have read this article over the last several days & will notice a few modifications. You spoke, we listened. Thank you for your ongoing feedback.”

Let this be a lesson to others: pink does not a woman make.

The rise of the mommy bloggers

When Oprah covers something, you know it's so huge it may be almost over. First, she Twittered in all caps. Then, she had "mommy bloggers" call in via Skype to talk about why their writing is so popular.

You've probably already heard the term - they're a growing group of women online who are using the internet to connect with millions of others (almost) just like themselves. The difference is that most of the readers of blogs like dooce.com aren't earning enough income from advertising alone to support their entire family by writing mostly about poopy diapers.

General Mills recently announced a new project - My Blog Spark - to which 900 bloggers have been recruited (80% are mothers) to receive free product. These bloggers are not required to provide positive reviews nor are they required to disclose their participation in the campaign. General Mills does say, however, that they are "encouraged" to tell their readers about the project and that if somebody had something negative to say about a product, the hope is that she would first let General Mills know before blasting it out to the world.

After all we used to hear about the male domination of the tech world, I'm extremely happy to see that women have taken so well to the emerging technologies. But a word of caution to the mommy blogger preparing to give one lucky commenter a year's supply of Cheerios (which may or may not help heart health.) Your readers can sniff out authenticity much, much quicker than that poopy diaper. They want you to be straight up with them. The quickest whiff of fakery will have your daily visits dropping like flies.

Pepsi redeeming itself, corn syrup surprises

The Dieline (one of my favorite packaging blogs) has somehow found out about a new Pepsi 'Natural' cola. There isn't much info out there right now about it but I love the extremely minimalist palette and typography. As one of the comments pointed out, it's not exactly in keeping with the Pepsi brand as such but it sure does look pretty when held next to one of their traditional cola cans.

The listing of the ingredients right on the front there is an interesting tactic. The word 'natural' on food and beverage packaging these days is kind of meaningless... after all, high fructose corn syrup is derived from corn, yes - but the processing it is put through to convert that innocent cob into the end product hardly makes it healthy.

Speaking of corn - what a bad rap it's been getting. The television commercials created by the Corn Refiners Association, a lame attempt at crisis management 101, have been cracking me up. I'm waiting for SNL to spoof them. Even if you don't usually follow links in posts, you've gotta go watch that one. It's baaad.

If you've read anything by Michael Pollan (The Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food) you'll know that this stuff is present in an unbelievably large percentage of the food we throw in our grocery cart without a second thought. Consumers are becoming increasingly concerned about the impact it may be having on our health. I'll let Pollan explain why:

"...our bodies have a longstanding and sustainable relationship to corn that we do not have to high-fructose corn syrup. Such a relationship with corn syrup might develop someday (as people evolve superhuman insulin systems to cope with regular floods of fructose and glucose), but for now the relationship leads to ill health because our bodies don’t know how to handle these biological novelties." (Link)

The CRA attempts to address consumer concern via these commercials and a campaign site - www.sweetsurprise.com - claiming to address the "myths" surrounding corn syrup. Isn't the word "surprise", in the context of food, not such a good thing? Would you buy a "butcher's surprise" loaf? No?

Whatever you believe about corn syrup, this does make an interesting case study in pr and image management. The woman in the commercial above is anti-corn syrup, yet has not got the facts to back herself up. This kind of consumer belittling, I think, will only anger those that have educated themselves on the modern day food industry, and on the use and effects of corn syrup. And more and more people are falling within this category as the organic and safe food movement grows.

Maybe this is a case of what not to do.

Starbucks is smart

I am a loyal Starbucks woman. In fact within our Capsule lab there is a mini-war that goes on everyday when a coffee break is called. Caribou or Starbucks? Admittedly the local Starbucks adds approximately 200 extra paces to the journey, but they are 200 paces (and an escalator ride) I'm happy to make alone on my quest for the daily Venti Latte.

Others in here are not so keen and will take Caribou instead.

It's purely a taste thing. As in palette.

So of course when Starbucks introduced its Gold Card program, "for people who really love Starbucks", I signed up immediately. It saves me a percentage off purchases and I get to carry a swanky black card in my wallet. (It's the little things.)

 

Offering extra incentives to those who register their card online was a clever way of capturing my information so that I'm emailed news and updates. The latest to hit my inbox touts their new offering: Via, "Instant coffee that actually tastes like our fresh brewed."

Now here's an example of a brand that is keeping itself relevant and culturally accessible by thinking about how it can use the current economic climate to its advantage. Some Starbuckers less loyal (or more money-wise) than myself may have begun limiting their coffee purchases in an effort to save money. After all, it's cheaper to make it yourself at home, right?

What a great solution - bringing back instant coffee (and positioning it so as to challenge people's common perceptions of instant.)

Where this Capsulian hails from (Australia), instant coffee is extremely popular. I'd never seen a Mr Coffee machine til I landed in the big old USA - we either do instant or perculated in a French press at home, and when you buy your brew in a coffee shop, it's espresso-based only. No waiter circling the room with a pot of brown stuff.

So to me, Starbuck's new Via makes perfect sense. It'll be interesting to see how it pans out with Americans.

Event marketing: Face time is still in, apparently

Brandweek.com reports that in a recent survey of 300 senior marketing execs, more than half cited event marketing as the most promising tool for strengthening the relationship between a brand and its clients.

According to the piece, Twenty-nine percent of marketers will transition their strategy from event marketing to experience marketing in the next 12 months. The difference being that experience marketing "involves integrated live and online experiences that drive deep brand interaction through highly relevant story telling and brand immersion," per the study. A third of those polled said they already made the switch.

The response to Capsule's recent invitation to our lecture on experience design, Make Every Scent Count, has been overwhelming. People are obviously ready to get together and connect, to listen to someone else's ideas, and to find some little nuggets of sunshine during these dark times.

So, tell me more about this newfandangled experience marketing?, I hear you ask.

Jeff Rutchik explains:

Just as the traditional monologue and interruption-based event management model evolved into event marketing, where event marketers began to look past just mere execution to issues like channel integration and fine-tuned event portfolio planning, experience marketing represents an important shift that embraces live experiences rooted in dialogue, storytelling and targeted, immersive face-to-face and online experiences to drive purchase behavior and brand preference.

Experience marketing aims not to interrupt but to enrich the lives of a brand's customers and community and to allow them to internalize the brand in ways the other marketing disciplines simply cannot.

The Design Council of the UK gives an excellent example.

Consider the task of redesigning a Sunday newspaper. A conventional approach might be to employ graphic designers who would change the page layout and typeface and make recommendations on how photos should be shot.

However, if the redesign were to use an experiential approach, the experience designer would first consider the 'moments' of engagement of buying the paper and reading it. How is it bought or delivered? How is it read and disposed of? What does the reader like and dislike about 'using' the newspaper? Such an approach is more likely to lead to a radical and market-beating innovation.

For example, the experience designer might discover that on opening the paper the person throws away the sections that are not relevant to them, keeping only the three or four sections that are relevant. So how about designing a personalised Sunday newspaper that gives the reader only the sections, supplements and advertising they want to read, and which is available in different sizes and materials?

How can you enhance your customer's experience?