Branding Blog

A Fresh Smart Voice

OK, I admit that I haven't been carrying the branding flag forward into battle much the past 12 months. And, I also get tired of reading the same ol', same ol' from all of the usual suspects in the world of marketing and advertising oriented blogs.

I got a comment a couple of days ago from Alison Driscoll on a post I wrote 2 years ago. Of course, when someone comments, you try to find out who they are before you go linking to a porn site or male enhancement propaganda.

Alison's been blogging now for 2 months (at least according to her archives). I hope she stays with it. She's a fresh, new voice with something to say. And what a great slogan line for her blog..."The Bottled Blonde of Marketing." I like love it.

I have to admit that as a father of 4 girls, I was impressed that her dad left a comment on her very first post. That beats any "real-world" credential in my book. Blog on Alison!

It was a Day of Days

Just got back to my room after hearing Nellie McKay cap off the annual Wizard Academy reunion. That was fun! She played for an hour and stayed to sign autographs and take pics with us. A nice cozy crowd of about 100 people. If you don't know who Nellie McKay is, you should find out.

We had a few warm-up numbers from Peter Nevland and Phil Sheeran.

Too fun for words!

This is Where a Dude Goes to Shop!

Yesterday, I talked about Home Depot going after more female shoppers. Today, Cabela's opened a new store in East Hartford, CT.  Here are a couple of comments from the Courant:

"First time at Cabela's and first time I ever stood in line to get into a store," said 66-year-old Joe Michaud of Newington. He arrived at the store around 7:30 a.m., as did many others.

Arnold Smith chuckled as he talked about his love for the store.

Smith, of Windsor, said he arrived around 6:45 a.m. to see about 150 people on line before him. He was waiting for the store to open ever since the company announced its plans to come to East Hartford.

"It's more or less, like a woman goes to shop. This is where a dude goes to shop," the 60-year-old said. "Everything that you say you're not going to get, you get. It's good. It offers a lot."

What Michaud and Smith don't mention, is that Cabela's also has A LOT of good finds for their female shoppers, from footwear to casual clothing. They do a terrible job of marketing to women. They seem to assume that it's just important to have some merchandise "for the ladies" who are accompanying their husbands.

Meanwhile, their husbands are squealing like schoolgirls and waiting in line for these stores to open!

Does This Build Confidence?

I snapped this at DIA last week. At least they're both United color schemes!

Wizard of Ads Michele Miller on CNBC

I just want it known that I interviewed her several weeks before CNBC. You can hear my interview on our podcast.

CNBC spent a couple of hours at Michele's home the other day for a 7-second soundbite to go along with this story about Home Depot opening a couple of new stores designed for women shoppers.

They quote her on their web site (although they misspelled her name in the text version of the story).

There are two video pieces embedded in the story. The first is a straight feature, with Michele's clip. The second video is the usual banter with the misogynist anchorman making an ass of himself. Actually, both videos seem a bit slippery. When the first one opens, I can picture Jack Black raising his eyebrows and saying a Home Depot 'for the ladies.'

If you want to know more about how to do a better job at crafting your business message to appeal to women, join me in Austin on Oct 30 & 31 for Michele's WonderBranding class. Michele's got just a couple of open seats left in the class.

So, who's watching CNBC? Did they run this story "for the ladies" or do they care?

Low Rent Strategy

We're always telling our clients that rent money and advertising dollars are interchangeable. Our partners down under offer proof!

3 months ago, a local NSW coastal business owner made a decision to relocate his surf clothing store after staring down the barrel of a 34% increase in rent.  The original location was on the esplanade of a high tourist area… lots of restaurants, lots of shops, lots of apartments, lots of feet.  The move took him just one street away... just one street… but thousands of feet from his original location because nobody wanders behind the resorts on the Esplanade.

What happened next?  Sales plummeted by $115,000… and are still going down.

YIKES! Have you calculated your ad budget lately?

Juan Interviews Hillary on HispanicTrending

My good friend Juan G. Tornoe has interviewed Hillary Clinton on his blog, HispanicTrending. Like her or not, you've got to hand it to her for making herself available to bloggers in the target markets which are important to the campaign.

HispanicTrending is the most thorough collection of Latino news and links you'll find anywhere on the web.

Nicely done JG!

Grabbing Attention: Ejector Technology for Passenger Vehicles

It's one thing to grab someone's attention. It's quite another thing to bait and switch. As a blogger, I get quite a bit of PR email. Today, one came from DENSO corporation with a file attached which was named "DENSO Develops ejector technology for passenger vehicles."

My brain said "CRIKEY! What's this about?". I opened it and found out that it is some kind of new-fangled air conditioning technology.

Sigh.

By using an ejector that rapidly injects and expands high-pressure refrigerant, the energy that previously was lost in the expansion valve is converted to pressure energy and reused, thus boosting energy efficiency*2. As a result, high cooling and refrigeration performances are both achieved even when the cooler box is used.

“An ejector system can drastically improve the energy efficiency in the refrigeration cycle, and we are now working to develop a system specifically for car air conditioning systems,” said Hikaru Sugi, managing officer in charge of DENSO’s Thermal System Business Group.

Unless you are really into the whole air conditioner technology groove, this is total boredom.

Really, this is just a PR typo, but doesn't it remind you of some of the marketing and advertising crap you see every day? Don't do this type of thing in your advertising.

Another example is the stupid travel site emails I get every day. Southwest Airlines sent one the other day which promised Denver-Austin for $79 each way. Not on the dates I wanted, and only on about 2 dates between now and Christmas. Sheesh.

How have the marketers been fooling you?

Podcast #2: WonderBranding Workshop, Marketing to Women

I had a fun conversation with Wizard of Ads Partner, Michele Miller today. Her WonderBranding class is scheduled for October 30 & 31. There may still be room. Read about it and register at WizardAcademy.org.

In this week's podcast, we talk about marketing to women and what students will take away from the class. We talk about the magic of Wizard Academy. Can you say "strategic creativity?" And, we talk about how to get the most out of a client-consultant relationship.