Brand

Most C-level Executives, CMO included, view “Social” as media—but they don’t know how to interact with consumers there in a meaningful way. They want to buy CPMs or Likes—but don’t know what to do with them afterward.

CMO’s also make the mistake of assuming that the social audience has the same pain and passion points as their face-to-face or store audience. Most often that is not the case.

In order to get the real value out of Social, you must connect emotionally to the people who are there and find out what they’re looking for. CMOs are used to ads and campaigns, so that’s the place they gravitate, but even Facebook ads are only media buys. Ads are good for building initial likes, but they really are targeted to demographics just like any other ad.

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Give your Brand a “Personality Test”

Have you given your brand a “personality test” lately? When you think of big brands that stand out, what comes to mind—just their product, or how their communications make you feel about them? It used to be that mass advertising was the way brands developed a personality, but that’s no longer the case. With today’s social communications being so important to a brand’s reputation and perception in the marketplace, finding a way to involve your friends and followers in building that personality is essential.

I’ll give you a few good big-brand examples (personal disclaimer… Duane Reade and Mastercard are Collective Bias clients).

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A New Spin On Location-Based Advertising

Location based advertising is rapidly becoming the “next big thing.” Having the ability to hit (figuratively) someone with an ad on their mobile device based on their location at any given moment in time is, well pretty darn exciting and most assuredly very promising in terms of success.

Back in April a headline on cnet.com read: Location information to make mobile ads more valuable. In the article the writer made reference to two interviews in which “the CEO of the mapping app Waze and ad executives Jason Spero from Google and Mollie Spilman of Millennial Media talked up the importance of users’ GPS location information to help tailor advertising.”

Seems the folks at Facebook are paying attention to the ever-growing popularity of location based advertising as witnessed in Parmy Olson’s Forbes column on May 9th in which she wrote of the fact that Facebook (is) In Talks To Buy Waze For $1 Billion.

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Why J.C. Penney’s Epic Mea Culpa Will Work

Back in June of last year as I became aware of what was going on inside J.C. Penney headquarters I penned JC Penney’s Epic Rebranding Fail. I heard from some in the marketing world who thought my use of the word “epic” was too harsh. My response to them at the time was along the lines of “perhaps, but we just don’t know yet, do we?”

DALY CITY, CA - FEBRUARY 28: People walk by a...
(Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)

And at that time I didn’t know if the rebrand campaign that ill-fated CEO Ron Johnson was undertaking would in fact be classified as epic when the dust settled.

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For Brands There’s A Fine Line Between Capitalism And Capitalization – At Least There Should Be

I realized in penning this particular article that there are some brands who simply will not care. They will not care about crossing any lines – fine or otherwise. They will do whatever it takes, regardless of such minor details as ethics and morals, to move their product, whatever said product may be.

They will go right on doing what they’ve always done which is to essentially use any medium necessary – email, print, direct marketing, TV, radio, mobile and on and on to drive their message home to as many consumers they possibly can.

For these brands there is no line between capitalism and capitalization.

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Six Business Mistakes You Should Never Make Twice

Failure. It’s a word no marketer, business owner, entrepreneur wants to hear, but it can be a valuable lesson. Earlier this year, I wrote about the one mistake retail brands make when it comes to Twitter: not engaging with customers on a regular basis.

That’s one big failure.

Alan E. Hall has seen many related mistakes during his 40+ years as a serial entrepreneur, angel investor and venture capitalist.  Like most of us, he’s made his fair share of foolish business mistakes along the way. Some even caused the end of a venture.

He’s watched others make mistakes in their businesses as well, some very visible.  Fortunately, Hall learned something powerful and vital from each mistake, no matter the outcome.  Big lesson learned: Don’t make them again.

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How One Brand Won And Lost During The Same Super Bowl

The Super Bowl is now two days removed but most assuredly it is still a topic of discussion among sports fans and marketers alike as we discuss the highs and the lows from the play on the field and off it on their mobile device, via social media and of course around the good old water cooler.

For the record I did predict the Ravens would beat the Niners in Super Bowl XLVII. I had the final score at 31-27 but hey, I was close enough. And no, I had no great insight, I just figured the Ravens would find a way to win, which they did.

NEW ORLEANS, LA - FEBRUARY 03: Ray Lewis #52 ...

So while the sports fan in me would love to write a piece about the game itself and specifically why I think the Ravens won, in this forum and in this context, the name of the game is branding and advertising. I’m sure each of you have your own personal favorites or perhaps you’re like me and were not “blown away” by any one particular spot

Before I get to the one brand I think both won AND lost in Super Bowl XLVII, let me not-so-gently remind everyone that in reality we don’t what spot won or lost and we won’t know for some time.

Why?

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What Brands And Marketers Can Learn From A Flight Attendant

The word “transparency” has become quite popular over the last few years. It is most often used in the social media world and anything related to anything in the online space for that matter.

The need for brands, marketers – truthfully all of us, to be completely transparent is paramount in today’s world.

What Brands And Marketers Can Learn From A Flight Attendant image 300px Pan Am 1970s flight attendant14This past July I wrote an article A Transparent, Live Case Study Of A Company Going Social which told the story of a company called Domo, its CEO Josh James and his very forward-thinking ideas on the use of social media among his employees.

So that’s one example of the use of the word “transparent.”What Brands And Marketers Can Learn From A Flight Attendant image trans

Back in 2010 I wrote a piece entitled About that whole transparency in social media thing…

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Do Brands Have A Responsibility When It Comes To Packaging?

Last year I wrote a story about The Most Misleading Packaging Design I Have Ever Seen. The inspiration for my article came from a text message my wife had sent me while at our kids’ school.

The text message include a picture and, as I wrote originally “What I thought was one thing turned out to be something completely different entirely and made me want to openly question the motives behind brand packaging design.”

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American Apparel’s Hurricane Sandy Sale – Brilliant or Boneheaded?

It’s not often I have cause to quote this person but in this particular article in this particular context, something this person said (and in fact wrote a book with the same title) seems quite appropriate, at least depending on which side of the American Apparel Hurricane Sandy debate.

The quote is “There is no such thing as over exposure” and it was of course uttered by one Donald Trump.

Now if you’re in the Trump camp, so to speak, you won’t have any problem with what American Apparel did recently in trying to capitalize on the fervor and interest in Hurricane Sandy. And perhaps the word “capitalize” is the operative word for we do live in a capitalistic society, right?

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