gapingvoid: "cartoons drawn on the back of business cards"

random thursday

[ELECTION:] OK, so we got a new president. Oh wait, no we don't.

All the French people I've talked to are amazed the Americans would vote Bush in for a second term. I tell them, "Yeah, but they're not French."

I've been to Paris. I've been to Ohio. The two places are not the same. Paris has better cafes, for one thing...

[BRANDING IS DEAD cont.:] Had dinner last night with a very senior brand manager of a very large French company (Yeah, you've heard of it). Gave him my whole "Branding Is Dead" schpiel. Told him how certain colleagues of mine in the advertising industry don't agree with me.

"Yeah, I meet those guys all the time," he said, smiling, rolling his eyeballs. "Branding is alive and well, please give us lots of money etc etc."

My two cents: the marketing world is currently starting a massive cull of human tapeworms. The tapeworms are not pleased.

[THE WORD ON WORD OF MOUTH:] From David Balter: "There's a reason the subservient chicken didn't increase Chicken nugget sales, why the Segway (a.k.a "IT", a.k.a. "Ginger") hasn't changed the world despite drool-worthy P.R., and why Richard Branson descended a New York City skyscraper in a nude suit. And it all comes down to the distinctions among Viral, Buzz, and Word of Mouth marketing. Read this primer from the Founder of BzzAgent and it will all come together." (PDF format only from ChangeThis.com)

[GREAT STUFF FROM JOHNNIE MOORE:]

And this is where most branding types go wrong - they generate a frightfully clever idea of their own, sell it to management and then attempt to sell it to employees. As the Irishman is reputed to have said, "If I wanted to go to Dublin, I wouldn't start from here."

We talked about some specific brands, including a big financial institution which has done a very pricey rebrand and where, it appears, the staff don't get it. Despite millions spent on advertising. I didn't say this in the meeting - wish now that I had - but basically, I think the staff have every reason not to engage with the advertising. And I am more and more impatient with the notion that staff should change to fit some ideal of the brand that they've probably had little to do with inventing.

I get more and more impressed with Johnnie the more I read him. There are a lot of good marketing blogs out there; his is definitely one of the better ones. Really sharp points, always well-written. Rock on.

Posted by hugh macleod at November 4, 2004 9:39 AM | TrackBack