Brand Central Station

An interesting piece surfaced today in USA Today about he value of playing up a brand’s history and longevity in today’s economically turbulant times.

The creative strategy seems simple enough – create confidence in the brand by emphasizing its historical roots and stability over past decades.  As reported in USA Today:

Marketing experts say the trend is about image during an economic sea change. “It’s not going to have an effect on consumers making a purchase decision, but in these times, you want to put your best face forward as people look at companies that are going out of business,” says Walter Guarino, a marketing professor at Seton Hall University. “It’s image building. My guess is you will see more of it.”

But does the message slide from “stability and reliability” to “desperation”?  That’s what one branding expert claims in the article:

But branding expert Robert Pasikoff, president of Brand Keys, says touting still being in business smacks of desperation. “(The) consumer has been brought up now in a fast-moving age. People are looking for things that are up to date. There’s no good way to say, ‘We’ve been doing this for 150 years.’ Heritage is fine, but people are not buying Coach because it is old.” 

I put this question out to my friends in the Blogosphere and on Twitter to get their thoughts and ideas, and branding guru, Rob Frankel, stepped up with this very salient point:

“I believe reinforcing users’ brand loyalty – especially when it echoes proof of the brand’s strategy – can be very effective.”

Rob’s point is well taken.  And it’s a fundamental belief I share in my take – a sort of “middle ground” on this whole debate, if you will.

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Christopher Copywriter’s Blog has a handy post on the top social media sites businesses should consider when it comes to networking, promoting, learning and growing.  

When it comes to top social media/social bookmarking sites, you need to make sure your business has a presence in order to capitalize on the social web’s ability to share ideas and build concensus behind those ideas.  After establishing your “virtual beachhead” make sure you spend some time getting to know the territory and the “hot button issues” discussed in the community.  Once you’re up to speed, jump in and make a name for yourself, your company and your brand.

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An ad promoting NBC’s edgy, new copy show, “Southland” has set journalistic purists and other media watchers on edge by not only appearing on the front page of the LA Times but showing up in the guise of a newspaper article strategically placed next to a display ad for the show.  The article/ad was designed to look like a report about the series’ hero.

While running ads on the front page is nothing new for the LA Times (they’ve been doing that since 2007), this is the first time the paper has run mock news article on page 1.

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It seems like about half the PR-related tweets on Twitter are about … you guessed it, Twitter.  Well, Twitter and social media.

But just like bloggers like to write about blogging, it seems Twitterers like to micro-blog about Twitter.  Not that there  isn’t some interesting things to note about the service or those who use it.  Just from today’s traffic, I found the following articles of interest:

Who uses Twitter?  According to this page in Quantcast, 53% of the Tweeps out there are female and more than 70% of them are between the ages of 18 and 49.  Eight in ten Twitter users are white and three out of four make in excess of $30k a year.

Twitter currently ranks in the top 250 sites on the ‘net and reaches over 6.1 million people (uniques) every month who visit an average of eight times per month.

Social Media At Work reports that Twitter has now passed the New York Times in traffic.

And while Google’s mantra is to do good (or at leat not to do evil), there are apparenty a few folks who don’t carry that standard over to their Twitter usage – judging from the subject of this page on DiGorno’s plans to deliver pizzas to influential Tweeps.  As blogger Matt Rhodes points out, it’s a little weird that the “not delivery” pizza is planning on delivering pizza to catch a buzz on Twitter. 

Talk about half-baked.

And finally, there’s this broad look at social media (in general) and Twitter specifically defined as the “best”in social media marketing.  This is an informative article, well worth the read.  And the sites it links to are worth bookmarking in your browser for future use.

Enjoy the weekend.

Interesting piece in the Cision Navigator this month.  Jason Falls writes about how media pitches need to change with the evolution of media.

Jason blasts PR’s who were “lulled into laziness by technology” and relied on fax blasts, email marketing and blind cc’s on emails to push releases and information to journalists by the hundred (or thousand).  It was, as Jason aptly describes it, a numbers game.  Then bloggers started “outing” lazy flacks:

Bloggers changed the dynamic. They not only were not lulled into tolerating the mass mail mentality like traditional media, they discovered they could combat it by publicly humiliating public relations pros who did it.

Good for them. Without that shock to our system, the public relations industry would still be spiraling down a path of journalists as numbers, not as people.

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Ragan.com just published a very user-friendly post about Twitter for those who are intimidated by it.

I’ve also been talking to some self-professed “Twitter experts” who have offered to answer your questions here at Brand Central Station, so if you have a Twitter question, send it to me and we’ll post the answers every Friday.

And don’t forget you can follow Brand Central Station on twitter by clicking our Twitter Feed in the right hand column and adding it to your RSS reader.

Keep on Tweetin’

Astroturfing is bad … and there are plenty of published floggings of PR firms guilty of “over-enthusiastic” shilling for clients.  Enough, in fact, that many PR folks are viewed with disdain by journalists and bloggers.

There’s no doubt that PR firms that plant good reviews on blogs, write letters to the editor in support of their clients, etc. – and don’t identify themselves as agents for their clients are stepping over an ethical line.  But what do you do when you find bloggers (and journalists) who offer to provide positive reviews and/or coverage at a price?

Danny Brown, social media maverick and PR guy, posted an example of this on his weblog yesterday and it deserves further review and comment.

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This is from a great post directed to freelancers on the Freelancefolder blog.

Freelace writer Laura Spencer provides a list of 45 questions for every freelancer to ask a new client (the entire list is posted after the jump).  Looking over that list, though, it occurs to me that many (if not all) of these questions are relevant things for an account manager to ask an agency – or internally – for a marketing manager to ask a new “client” inside their own company.

Some of these questions might be considered a bit mundane.  In my experience, new client relationships are often filled with the excitement of the “win” for the agency and the high expectations of a client who has been wooed by great creative and charming personalities. 

Questions like “Which is more important, quality or speed?” seems to have the potential to take all the romance out of the relationship right away.  (Double entendre intended.)

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Kudos for this find to Stephanie Holland and the Sheconomy blog.

Social Media Marketing Industry Report

Also, check out this post on the challenges of marketing to women through social media channels.

Grabbed this from the FontFeed newsletter.

Wolda, the high-profile, global graphic design competition, just announced the publication of its 2008 printed annual.  Between the covers are the best logos and trademarks designed throughout the world this past year.

So, just how do you determine which logos are the “best in the world”?  As it turns out, there are four key judging criteria:

1. Clear Communication of the key brand message;
2. Originality and Creativity (who said everything had to be subjective, right?);
3. Good Graphic Design;
4. and a Positive Overall Impression.

For businesses and marketers considering a logo re-boot (or if you’re just starting out), these four evaluation points are a great starting point for your own logo project.  But take special note of the first criteria (Clear Communication).  That point presumes, of course, that you have an idea of what you’re supposed to be communicating.

The fact is, whether you’re designing a logo for a new medical practice, a real estate development, a sports team or a new consumer brand – there has to be a message you want the mark and logo to convey.

Take your time to develop that message and make sure it’s true to who you and your brand are before you hire a design team to do the “fun” part.

And one other thing.  Send me your best logo work along with the brand strategy and I’ll post the best to the BCS blog!

See more great logos and trademarks from the Wolda Competition here.