My word is invalid?!

Like Alec Baldwin, I’m addicted to Words with Friends. I can’t help myself. When I see a row of jumbled letters I get a rush of excitement and a compulsion to create the best words I can out of those letters. I’ll challenge people on Facebook that I don’t normally talk to just so I can feed my craving with minimal waiting between plays. In fact, I have a game going on right now against my favorite cousin, who lives in Brazil.

As I look at the letters I was dealt, I beam. Instantly, I see the perfect seven-letter word — one that will use all of my tiles in a single turn. The bonus points will be phenomenal. And the extra points I’ll get by placing this word alongside another word, thus creating two words at once? Well, that’s just the icing on the cake.

I wait patiently for hours for my cousin to take her turn already and give me my opportunity to shine. Finally, it’s my turn to play. I take a minute to rearrange the tiles so they once again spell my word worthy of a screenshot posted on my wall. I carefully place each tile on the board. I get butterflies as my cursor hovers over the play button.

Then my butterflies turn into bats.

My word is invalid! I type the word in a Word document and affirm that I have the correct spelling. So I turn to Wikipedia, where my confusion turns into incredulity.

You know that round plastic disc you throw around in the park? Your dog catches it in his teeth. You accidentally hit unsuspecting picnickers and sunbathers with it. A Frisbee®. Yeah. Turns out the word “Frisbee” is a registered trademark, owned by the Wham-O toy company. Add another word to the pile of brand names that have become more or less generic, like iPod®, Q-tips®, Kleenex® and — my personal favorite — Velcro®. That last one I found out about when watching “Penn and Teller Tell a Lie” on the Discovery Channel and I couldn’t understand why they kept saying “hook and loop fastener.”

Back to my game: I played the word “BRIEFS” instead, for 4+1+1+1+4+1 with a DL on the “F” for 8 and a DW, plus 7 points for “YOUR,” the other word I simultaneously created, for a grand total of 46 points. Not bad. How about it, Baldwin? Up for a game?

"The Fitchuation" T-shirt sold by Abercrombie & Fitch

Abercrombie & Fitch released a press statement two weeks ago entitled, “A Win-Win Situation,” in which they offered to pay Michael “The Situation” Sorrentino and his Jersey Shore castmates a “substantial” amount of money to stop wearing their clothes in public. A&F’s statement said, “We are deeply concerned that Mr. Sorrentino’s association with our brand could cause significant damage to our image…. We understand that the show is for entertainment purposes, but believe this association is contrary to the aspirational nature of our brand, and may be distressing to many of our fans.”

While my initial reaction was to laugh — really hard — my summer spent at AB&C has taught me that this “situation” brings up many important questions about branding, marketing and PR strategies. Companies kill to get their products on big TV shows, but what do you do when an unplanned product placement threatens to ruin your audience’s perception of your brand? For A&F, whose brand is focused on attractive young prepsters, it must’ve been painful to see their clothes on an almost-30-year-old who got famous by referring to himself as the “ultimate guido.”

This kind of national attention is like a powerful fire: amazing when contained, disastrous when out of control. A&F’s fire may be spreading toward disastrous. A&F stocks plummeted eight percent on Wednesday, the day after the press release hit the media. In addition, the Jersey Shore gang has chimed in via Twitter to offer their thoughts about the brand. While “The Situation” stayed fairly conservative in his critiques, tweeting, “Looks like Abercrombie got themselves into a Situation,” castmate Vinny Guadagnio started a “#lasttimeiworeabercrombie” hashtag that rapidly became a trending topic. A notorious example of this kind of celebrity backlash occurred when the producers of Cristal Champagne lamented its association with the “bling” lifestyle of hip-hop artists in an Economist interview. In response, the rapper Jay-Z vowed to never again drink the champagne, promote it in his songs or serve it in his nightclubs. Other artists followed in his footsteps, as did their legions of fans.

So what have we learned? Company brands aren’t like celebrities — they don’t make more money the more notorious they become. People may watch a show with a celebrity they detest but they’ll rarely buy something from a company they don’t like. “The Situation” wearing Abercrombie & Fitch’s clothes may not have been great for its brand, but the clothing company’s very public dressing down of a group of very public people was worse. Listen up, A&F: It’s not enough to have a cool brand. Ya gotta have a likable company.

Can Ke$ha tone it down for the Delaware State Fair?

I think Ke$ha’s pretty hot. And if my wife were to approve of it, I’m pretty sure Ke$ha and I would make a smokin’ couple. We’re both party-hearty rockers with a penchant for strong profanity. And we both brush our teeth nightly with top-shelf spirits (make mine Tanqueray 10 over Ke$ha’s Jack Daniels preference, though). Link that up with our regular late-night booze-fests, avant garde couture and devil-may-care approach to life, and you’ve got a match made in heaven.

OK, outside of the profanity thing, Ke$ha and I have nothing in common. Most anyone who has known me from first grade on can attest to the fact that I’m hardly one to rock out even on my best day (although I do have a nice collection of Def Leppard concert T-shirts). And Ke$ha is, arguably, in a better financial position to afford the restorative dental surgery that will be required to fix her teeth after all that high-spirited alcohol gargling – especially since I’ll still be paying for the teeth I’ll be missing after my wife reads this piece. On top of that, my doctor has instructed me to limit all party-heartiness to major birthday celebrations and select holidays.

But I do know a thing or two about brands. And, to her credit, so does Ke$ha. No performer could attain the stardom she has without cultivating an identity that resonates powerfully with a large and adoring target audience.

Ke$ha’s brand relies on her the ability to be both musically and visually assaulting, and I mean that as a full-on compliment. To pull that off while, at the same time, achieving broad commercial success is impressive. You can be a hater, but you have to respect the business skills.

But a brand like that takes cultivation — and not just via the iTunes download but through the in-person, live experience in as many concert venues as humanly possible. So I was not surprised by the fact that Ke$ha would be making a live appearance in our great state. Extending her first-ever headlining tour into as many markets as possible while her star is still on the rise makes perfect career sense. And yes, that includes a stop in our fair Delaware.

Speaking of fairs, I must admit to being a bit surprised by the fact that the Delaware State Fair would be the one to play host to Ke$ha on her inaugural tour — the super-duper-titled “Get Sleazy Tour.”

The Delaware State Fair knows a bit about brands, too. From humble beginnings in 1919 as an effort to promote and encourage agriculture in and around the rural communities of Kent and Sussex counties, the Delaware State Fair has blossomed into a true Delaware institution — and a not-to-be-missed experience for individuals, families and politicians from all over the state. With average attendance exceeding 300,000 each year, and entertainment attractions and options that can match just about any other offering within a 100-mile radius, the Delaware State Fair has emerged as an iconic brand in Delaware.

If Ke$ha’s brand is built upon in-your-face-ness, the state fair’s is decidedly not. In Harrington, where traditional family values rule the day, the state fair is a summer bastion of family fun that makes a stroll down Rehoboth’s boardwalk seem downright tawdry. So while the announcement of Ke$ha’s performance took me a bit by surprise, the fair’s subsequent clarification that the anticipated tone and tenor of Ke$ha’s Delaware act (and the outright cancellation of hip hop act “Spank Rock” aka, best band name ever) would be a diluted version of her normal routine was less surprising. That’s more in keeping with the state fair’s brand identity.

But what about Ke$ha’s brand? The curious question here is if she can — or will — tone down her act to achieve the more mild rating on the Delaware State Fair object-o-meter. In a public statement, officials declared that, “The Delaware State Fair has played host to other mainstream acts where a modified PG show was performed at the request of the fair, such as Larry the Cable Guy, Jeff Dunham, Carrot Top, T-Pain, Flo Rida, Lynyrd Skynyrd and others.”

Here’s the difference: All of those people can go from PG-13 to PG without compromising their core artistic identity. Hell, some of those people might be happy enough for a gig that they’d get on stage and do a puppet show if asked. But not Ke$ha. She’s not in that boat. So what does this mean? Two totally different brand identities are about to collide. And only one will be left victorious.

I have my thoughts on how this one ends. Take this, my personal favorite set of lyrics from one of Ke$ha’s latest hit singles: “I think you’re hot/I think you’re cool/You’re the kind of guy I’d stalk in school/But now that I’m famous you’re up my anus/Now I’m gonna eat you fool.” Classic. Methinks she can’t tone down her act to PG for the Delaware State Fair anymore than Andrew Dice Clay could tone down his act for an appearance at the Delaware Children’s Theater.

What this really does is leave both Ke$ha and the state fair at brand crossroads. One brand will ultimately end up being compromised. If Ke$ha decides to water down her act, she detracts — even if for only one show — from the brand that has enabled her rise to stardom. And for a performer still on the upswing of creating a brand identity (read: not yet ready for a reinvention of her musical self) that’s a slippery slope. For the Delaware State Fair, they are counting on Ke$ha toning down her act to be consistent with their consumers’ overall expectations of the fair brand experience. If that doesn’t happen, look for some inevitable backlash from fair-goers.

If truth be told, as a guy who loves both Delaware and Ke$ha (her brand, I mean) I’ll be more disappointed in Ke$ha selling out than I would be in the Delaware State Fair taking its calculated risk in hiring her. These two brands are about to engage in a battle royale. It’s the Get Sleazy Tour vs. the 4-H brigade. Count me in… with wife and kids in tow, of course.

If you really think that Ke$ha brushes her teeth with Jack Daniels you’re probably not reading this piece right now… but it’s in her best interest—brand-wise—to have people believe, on some level, that it could possibly be true.

And stake your bet on a Ke$ha-related headline in the News Journal on July 27th. Why? Take it from another hard rockin party person. You can’t pull back on that throttle.

Miracle Whip's current campaign

Advertising used to have one goal: to make you buy a product. But recent campaigns from big names like Miracle Whip and Domino’s are taking the opposite path. They are spending big chunks of time, space and money to tell us that lots of people hate them.

Jay Sinha, a marketing professor at Temple University’s Fox School of Business, calls this “anti-marketing,” arguing that traditional advertising no longer works because consumers have become jaded from years of heavy-handed promotional tactics. Instead, he says, more successful techniques should be simple, straightforward and truthful — even if the truth isn’t pretty. I’m not sure I completely agree with Professor Sinha, but I am a big fan of making your brand stand out in the marketplace. Telling me why your product isn’t that great definitely makes me sit up and take notice (even if it doesn’t make me buy).

In Miracle Whip’s new TV spots, celebrities such as the Jersey Shore’s Pauly D and political commentator James Carville join “everyday” people to proclaim their love — or hate — of Miracle Whip. Pauly D says that he hates Miracle Whip so much that if he had a girlfriend who liked it, it would be a “dealbreaker.” But Carville lovingly details how his favorite sandwich begins with a voluminous spread of the product.

The Domino’s campaign, which launched more than a year ago, began by showing feedback from real people, including focus groups noting that the crust tastes like cardboard, and photos of unappetizing pizzas sent in by dissatisfied customers. The ads have since evolved to show what Domino’s did to address these complaints, and how the brand’s new recipes are winning back old customers — and a fair amount of new ones, too.

One thing these campaigns have in common is you either love them or hate them. As a PR person, I love them! Buzz-generating advertising lends itself to so many great PR opportunities, and is a terrific example of how public relations and advertising can (and should) work hand in hand to generate successful results for a client. In Domino’s case, the initial risk ended in a true feel-good story: company listens to customers, company turns profit, everybody’s happy. Miracle Whip’s strategy has already led to an engaging social media campaign that lets consumers weigh in on the love/hate debate via Facebook.

So what do you think? Do these ads make you sit up and take notice? And if they do, it is for the right or wrong reasons?

Check out some of the ads here:

http://www.youtube.com/user/MiracleWhip?blend=3&ob=5

http://www.youtube.com/user/dominosvids

Toyota relies on brand legacy during times of trouble

Talk about a summer of discontent. It seems that almost every week, another Toyota vehicle recall is announced. And it feels like no make or model year has dodged (pardon the pun) the recall bullet.

For instance, in April 2010, 50,000 Toyota Sequoias were recalled to reprogram the stability control system. In July, more than 400,000 Avalons and LX-470s got the hook for faulty steering column components. The latest recall involves a potential stalling problem affecting 1.3 million Corollas and Matrix cars. (I love it when a company spokesperson states the recall repairs will be performed “at no cost to consumers.” Oh, the generosity!)

So, what can a self-respecting auto company like Toyota do to combat all the bad press? It appears their strategy is to tap heavily into the company’s brand equity bank. That’s why freshly minted Toyota branding TV spots are popping up everywhere. Most center on quality-oriented themes like “dependability” and “longevity.” One features a rather smitten end user with 300,000+ miles on his trusty Toyota coupe. And why not? For decades, Ford and GM have relied on vintage Mustang and Camaro owners to serve as spokes-cheerleaders in their advertising campaigns.

Hey, when quality control gets shaky with your current offerings, there’s no harm in hitting the brand legacy trail. The inference seems to be, “We have a long history of building quality, trouble-free cars. Why would you think our current products would be any different?” Umm, maybe because they’re all being recalled? Just a thought.

Using (or overusing) product placement in the movies.

Have you seen the trailer for The Social Network, the movie about the founding of Facebook? Not only is the premise intriguing, the marketing prowess of the producers is awesome: This film is a three-hour product placement. And it made me a little nostalgic for some other product placement movies. If your favorite is missing from my top 5, please feel free to comment.

5. Demolition Man — 1993
As a movie fan I’m willing to suspend disbelief for as long as need be. So when you’re telling me a story about a cop and a criminal mastermind who are cryogenically frozen for decades only to reemerge as healthy as ever, I’ll stay with you. When you tell me that society in the future has become completely nonviolent and utopian, I’ll follow. But the second you try to sell me on the idea that this perfect, nonviolent society dines solely at Taco Bell, you have officially lost me.

4. You’ve Got Mail — 1998
Honestly, I liked this movie better when it was called Sleepless in Seattle, but I can’t deny the sheer marketing genius of AOL in choosing to be its email server. It was probably better use of their marketing dollars than mailing out all those free AOL CD-ROMs (which, by the way, made fantastic beverage coasters). In today’s world of email servers, it would be pretty difficult to find two people who actually still use AOL email and who could find one another, so maybe this product placement wasn’t so effective in the long run.

3. Cast Away — 2000
This movie was two-plus hours long, with no score, and the only characters in the movie were Tom Hanks, a Wilson volleyball and the FedEx logo in a variety of applications. As great as Hanks’ performance was, a lot of credit goes to FedEx for its supporting role (all apologies to Wilson).

2. Transformers — 2007
Transformers worked on so many levels — as a title if not as a movie. Jerry Bruckheimer transformed one of my favorite childhood toy franchises into a horrible movie, and my pronounced interest in Megan Fox had to do with me transforming into a man. Both Hasbro and Chevy used this movie to transform their brands. Chevy got the rights to be the official car of the Autobots (if it’s any consolation, Volkswagen, I’ll always remember Bumblebee as a Beetle) and Hasbro got to introduce a new line of toys that are even more difficult to transform than their predecessors.

1. The Wizard — 1989
This one gets such high status because: 1) it featured two of my favorite things from the ’80s — Fred Savage and Nintendo games; and 2) it was the first movie that showed me the power of product placement. I was 9 when this movie came out and, like every kid who liked Nintendo games, I wanted to see it because of all the cool new Nintendo products in it. This was the movie that introduced the Nintendo Power Glove and gave video game fans their first look at Super Mario Brothers 3. This movie was a 90-minute Nintendo commercial that doubled as an early Christmas list for kids who loved the games. In fact, it was so successful that Super Mario Brothers 3 is still one of the fastest-selling games of all time. Unfortunately the Power Glove shared the same fate as Fred Savage’s career.

Buying into Apple's branding.

I have to admit — from the moment I saw the original commercial my inner geek shouted with joy. Not only was the original iPhone the answer to what I had been dreaming about for five years — since walking around with a Palm Pilot and a rather large, uncomfortable cell phone tucked into my pants pocket — but it was also produced by a company that creates intuitive, sexy computers that I’ve been using since college — Apple! This was a dream come true.

Since picking up my iPhone I’ve come to realize something that no marketing professional ever wants to admit — I bought the brand.

Let’s look at the facts: The iPhone is not the fastest phone on the market. It’s only available through AT&T and their network is weak compared to a lot of other providers. The new iPhone features a new higher-resolution camera and video capabilities — but not as good as those of several phones already on the market. Other apps that make the iPhone so cool and fun to play with are also available on other phones.

In short, the iPhone isn’t bigger, better, faster or stronger — it’s simply sexier. And when it comes to cell phones, that’s an important attribute. I’m pretty sure it all started with the Motorola Razor, which, coincidently, would have fit well in my pocket with my Palm. While the new iPhone probably isn’t the best deal on the market, Apple continues to see huge numbers of sales.

So, Apple, in spite of your antenna issues, and accusations against some poor tech bloggers who beat you to your own iPhone 4 launch, I take off my hat to you. I was almost embarrassed to admit to buying so wholeheartedly into your brand. But then this crucial thought came to me: This is the product I waited five years for. It plays movies. It runs apps. It has a built-in GPS. It plays MP3s. It has a video camera. It…well, you get the picture.

And, obviously, so does Apple.

How will a scandal impact your brand?

Ben Roethlisberger. Michael Phelps. Tiger Woods. When these sports celebrities submerged themselves in various depths of hot water, did the brands they endorse feel the heat? Not as much as you might suspect, according to a recent Adweek Media/Harris Poll. It left researchers wondering if survey respondents were understating the degree to which scandals grab their interest. Or, it could be that a person’s indifference to a lot of marketing may help insulate brands from collateral damage.

In other words, how could you think less of Titleist golf balls after the Tiger Woods scandal if you didn’t know Tiger was endorsing them? It’s interesting to note people age 55 and older were especially unlikely to alter their view of a brand (81 percent said so versus 72 percent of younger folks). My favorite group of respondents is the 1 percent who said they feel “much better” about a brand when the celebrity endorser is involved in a scandal!

A lesson in bad advertising.

Another car brand is on the chopping block. Ford has announced that it intends to discontinue the venerable Mercury brand.  Mercury’s recent ad campaign—a bad one—didn't help the cause.  My apologies to Jill Wagner...it really wasn’t your fault.  Instead, a weak value proposition and bad execution did in the campaign.

You gotta put Mercury on your list? Their entire campaign was built around the premise of asking (almost begging) you to just consider their product in your selection set. Hardly instills confidence. That’s like a high school junior (let’s call him Paul P.) going up to a senior girl that he likes and saying, “Hey, this Friday when you’re thinking about guys that you’d like to spend some time with over the weekend, I hope you’ll consider giving me a call.” Two words: dead end. Trust me, I know.

Too bad, because Mercury has done it right before. Here Farrah shows the right way to do it. Better ad = better results. This Cougar XR-7 model went on to set sales records.

Environmentally friendly & really loud!

You may have seen the latest campaign promoting the new compostable bag from Sun Chips. I myself started a compost bin last year, which literally cut our landfill contributions in half — not to mention the effect it had on my new garden. As an avid tree hugger I applaud this effort by our Frito-Lay friends, but their new package needs a warning label.

The problem lies in the bag itself. It produces by far the highest level of ear-piercing decibels in the history of chip bags. Quite frankly this crinkly cacophony has to be completely screwing with Frito-Lay’s main target audience — the late-night snacker. And yeah, I’m one of ’em. And there’s a technique to late-night snacking — a very challenging technique. I mean, you’re already dealing with a chip — come on, even the word “chip” sounds loud and crunchy. And you’ve always had to deal with the crinkle of the bag. Some bags are worse than others, am I right? And when you’re down to just crumbs, you wind up cutting the top half off with a scissors, ’cause that’s a lot of bag to work through. Really, it’s a losing battle that’s just going to drive your wife crazy.

OK, back to this new compostable bag. My advice? Forget it. Just pour some of these tasty chips into a bowl and get on with the snacking. And forget about sneaking into the cupboard while the missus is upstairs. Believe me, she can hear this bag crumple from three blocks away. It’s really quite impressive. You must go out and get a bag for yourself. Maybe on New Year’s Eve. Now that’s a time when you’re supposed to make some noise. That is a holiday they should be marketing toward. You read it here first.

And, oh yeah, I can’t wait to see how long this bag takes to decompose. I’ve got a quarter-bag left from the new Peppercorn Ranch flavor I just bought — it’s goin’ in the bin soon. I’ll get back to ya.

The emerging trend of Nowism.

Instant gratification is nothing new. For years, we’ve had instant coffee, microwave ovens and FedEx. Today’s attention-deficit-disordered generation has taken this institutionalized impatience even further with iPhones and BlackBerrys — the information superhighway is right at our fingertips. With iTunes we can find any song, movie or TV show as soon as we want it — then put it on our iPhone to take wherever we go. And digital cameras — remember film?

Now comes a social movement called Nowism. According to trendwatching.com:

Consumers’ ingrained lust for instant gratification is being satisfied by a host of novel, important (offline and online) real-time products, services and experiences. Consumers are also feverishly contributing to the real-time content avalanche that’s building as we speak. As a result, expect your brand and company to have no choice but to finally mirror and join the ‘now’, in all its splendid chaos, realness and excitement.

Nowism is hot — companies such as Details are creating walk stations that let you exercise while you work. The Shazam app lets your iPhone analyze a song on the radio, tell you the name and artist, show you where you can buy it and give you the option to purchase on the spot. These are just two examples — more and more companies are cashing in by meeting the demands of an increasingly restless public. But, as with all trends, Nowism will eventually be relegated to “Then-ism.” What will replace it? And how will you make it work for you?