Hilarious

Charlie Brooker from BBC 4 comments on the biggest c***s and she-c***s in advertising. (Note: Strong language)



It gets even better.

Bjork - the ultimate lovemark

Went last night to see Bjork at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles. Her show was a bit uneven with an emphasis on ballads in the first half and EDM in the second half. I've been a fan of Bjork forever and she always finds a way to draw me in. While I was enjoying the show, I started to think about the idea of lovemarks.

Kevin Robers from Saatchi & Saatchi fame, created the idea of Lovemarks.

What are lovemarks?

Kevin Roberts explains:

"Lovemarks transcend brands. They deliver beyond your expectations of great performance. Like great brands, they sit on top of high levels of respect - but there the similarities end.

Lovemarks reach your heart as well as your mind, creating an intimate, emotional connection that you just can’t live without. Ever.

Take a brand away and people will find a replacement. Take a Lovemark away and people will protest its absence. Lovemarks are a relationship, not a mere transaction. You don’t just buy Lovemarks, you embrace them passionately. That’s why you never want to let go.

Put simply, Lovemarks inspire loyalty beyond reason."

I bet if you'd asked the audience at last night's performance, everybody would consider Bjork a lovemark. Bjork has an interesting way of creating relationships with her audience, an emotional connection you never want to let go of. Now, how are lovemarks created?

Kevin Roberts continues:

"A Lovemark’s high Love is infused with these three intangible, yet very real, ingredients: Mystery, Sensuality and Intimacy.

Mystery draws together stories, metaphors, dreams and symbols. It is where past, present and future become one.

Mystery adds to the complexity of relationships and experiences because people are drawn to what they don’t know. After all, if we knew everything, there would be nothing left to learn or to wonder at.

Sensuality keeps the five senses on constant alert for new textures, intriguing scents and tastes, wonderful music. Sight, hearing, smell, touch, taste.

Our senses work together to alert us, lift us, transport us. When they are stimulated at the same time, the results are unforgettable. It is through the five senses we experience the world and create our memories.

Intimacy means empathy, commitment and passion. The close connections that win intense loyalty as well as the small perfect gesture. These are often remembered long after functions and benefits have faded away.

Without Intimacy people cannot feel they own a brand, and without that conviction a brand can never become a Lovemark."

Mystery: Bjork finds a way through her appearance and clothing choices to create an air of mystery. Her upbringing in Iceland, which is mysterious in itself, combined with her need to explore new venues, countries and music makes us want to know more about her. She also never falls into the trap of phoning her next album in, always exploring new ideas, new patterns. I've never liked a Bjork album after the first listening. It always took me a few times until I couldn't stop listening anymore. She never creates the expected, always surprises. In addition, she spaces her performances out so you never get enough of her. Yesterday, she mentioned that she won't return to the US for 3 years and that made her performance even more special.

Sensuality: Bjork's performances encompass almost all senses and transport us to a place not many other artists ever visited. I've heard her say in an interview that she's always searching for the perfect song. We all know she'll never create it but we're always hoping with her.

Intimacy: That's her strongest asset. Even though we know she's a very strong woman with even stronger convictions, she feels like a vulnerable, almost child-like person on stage. Someone you just want to protect from this bad, bad world. Her dance moves, her singing has a very raw, not-broken-by-the-adult-world quality to it. Something wondrous that you normally experience when you see little kids dance or sing: Just for themselves, not a care in the world burdening them.

The concept of lovemarks will become even more important in the new marketing landscape. Bjork didn't become a lovemark by focusing on quarterly profits or short-term sales. She became a lovemark through authenticity and careful brand planning. Most brands should take a lesson from her.

Elements of Branding

Brandon Fritz from Kolbrener built this insightful and innovative list of branding terms into a Periodic Table.

Click here to start playing with it.

Via ConverStations

Think about it

Hundai is in brand hell: They are the ultimate value brand but they want to move upmarket. A very typical problem that most brands never solve. Or, typical for automotive brands, they create sub-luxury brands such as Lexus or Acura.

In order to solve this problem, Goodby was hired and created the new brand campaign with the title: 'Think about it' You can find detailed information on their mini site. (Even though I couldn't access it last night.)

"Our new 'Think About It' advertising campaign is designed to be thought provoking," said Joel Ewanick, Vice President of Marketing, HMA. "Goodby, Silverstein & Partners has developed an unconventional, integrated campaign that challenges perceptions about our brand and the auto industry, resulting in a creative execution that feels authentically Hyundai."

By adopting a tone of disarming honesty, Hyundai is breaking down the barriers that consumers have built to shield themselves from marketing claims. The intent was to pull consumers into a new understanding of the automotive world -- to challenge consumers' thoughts about what is, and should be, "standard" in the automotive industry.

"The Hyundai brand has an opportunity to define itself in the eyes of the consumer," said Jeff Goodby, co-chairman of Goodby, Silverstein & Partners. "We feel that the campaign will close the huge gap between the reality of Hyundai vehicles and the perceptions that consumers have about the brand."

Phase one features three weeks of unbranded advertising from September 10 - 28, 2007. The intention is to increase the receptivity of a consumer audience that is increasingly skeptical of marketing messages, by offering startling proof points deployed across the media landscape (print, broadcast, outdoor and online). During phase one of the campaign, the advertising challenges conventional thinking about the auto industry.

Examples include:
* Shouldn't a car have more airbags than cupholders?
* The logo is there to tell you what the car is, not who you
are.
* When a car company charges for roadside assistance aren't
they really just helping themselves?

Goodby and Hyundai missed the point. Completely.

As a value brand, the last thing you need to do is focus on the rational part of the purchasing process. We already know that Hyundai has good products and service. Why bother retelling the story? Hyundai's problem is that it doesn't find the right emotional connection with prospects. A value brand doesn't speak to the heart of the upscale consumer.

However, Hyundai has a vivid community: There are many owners who blog about their Hyundai's, express their positive opinions about the brand and their products, spread the message about their ownership experience. Instead of wasting their money on rational advertising messages, Hyundai should have tapped into this unexplored territory. Create a network for Hyundai owners, just like Saturn did pre-Web 2.0: Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Niche Networks: use the new tools to spread the message.

Instead, Hyundai chose to go the safe route. A sure path to failure.

The Brand Gap

Great presentation, discussing how to bridge the distance between business strategy and design. Very long PowerPoint but it feels to the point and is very entertaining.

BMW - Defining Innovation

So, I used to create commercials. And, I'm proud of my work. But, after watching this commercial, I had to go back to this blog and confess my sins:
This BMW ad is beautiful, amazing visuals, a great story. It must have been fascinating to meet Theo Jansen, to be part of this experience. A great project I would have loved to be part of.

But, it doesn't make me run to the next BMW dealership. BMW stands for performance. Period. And that's what BMW should talk about.

And that's what too many advertising people do: It's all about the cool commercial, never about the brand. The product. Sales.
These agencies and mindsets will be wiped out in a few years. And we'll be left with beautiful pictures. And a more productive future.

What is authenticity?

Many brand marketers talk about authenticity and authentic brand. Their traditional definition of authenticity fails because they assume that each brand has a core self that we just need communicate to the world.

I do believe in a true self. But, it's not some isolated nugget we have dig deep to find. The true self happens a million times a day. Every time a person interacts with the brand, the true self reveals itself. The true self is not something that remains stable and never changes. This is true for humans as well as brand. This Newsweek article explains how personalities are a lot malleable than previously thought.

Authenticity is not the stable expression of some strong brand core. It is a dynamic, always changing process. Authenticity is a journey to the real self. So you can become who you really are.

?

•Research has shown that the media environment affects advertising claims (see Aaker and Brown’s study of vehicle source effects of 1972). For instance, quality claims are more effective in elite or prestigious magazines because people associate the claim with the media environment.

•Aspirational, upscale and high status brands have the potential to alienate customers who lack confidence. While these customers might admire these brands, they don’t feel comfortable using them. Building warmth, humor and less formality into the brands to make them more approachable helps overcome this problem. (Source: Blackston, Max. “Observations: Building Brand Equity by Managing the Brand’s Relationships.” Journal of Advertising Research 32, 3 May/June 1992: 79-83.)

What's love got to do with it?

Continuing the thoughts about brand/consumer marriages, I just re-discovered Tim Manners thoughts about the "vulnerable soft underbellies" of Apple and NetFlix in a Fast Company article.

"Apple won't let us do what is ultimately the most important thing. It won't let us easily change the damn battery when it dies... This is not the stuff of which undying customer loyalty is made. They have needlessly left themselves vulnerable to any competitor able to design something of comparable aesthetics and smart enough to let the consumer have life-and-death control over its battery.

The famous Netflix promise is that you can rent as many movies as you want each month for a flat fee. Well, not exactly. Netflix recently acknowledged that it slows down the rate at which it fills the orders of its heaviest users, a practice critics call "throttling."... As with Apple, it took a class-action lawsuit before Netflix would publicly acknowledge that it is giving preferential treatment to its newest -- and least loyal -- customers.

A strategy that punishes one's most loyal consumers is hardly sustainable."

Real branding doesn't happen in a fancy agency environment. Real Branding happens when your customers are frustrated, when they ask for your help, when they want cash in on your promise. Rather cut your marketing budget this year and invest in improving all touchpoints. In the end, media dollars don't pay for your services. Customers do.

Brand Consistency

How many times have you heard clients talking about integration and brand consistency?
Branding doesn't have to be consistent. It has to be complementary. Each consumer experience complemeting each other is a much higher goal. And, contrary to what you'd expect, it's also much easier to achieve.

Think about the automotive experience. Do you really expect the commercial, website, dealership and service department to look the same? Or say the same thing? Consistency is overvalued. Complementary experiences is where we have to go. We need to reinforce each other's messages to create an engaging storyline.
Blended experiences that enrich the lives of the consumer is what we are looking for. Go create/find them.