McDonald's mimicking Starbucks a good idea?

Hi Class!

The November 20th edition of Brandweek featured an article titled "The Golden Arches Rains McDVDs on Consumers." The article talks about how McDonalds is continuing their attempt to mimmick Starbucks. Over the past few years, McDonalds has tried to revamp their restaurants to a cozier, earthier feel, reflecting a Starbucks-esque style. This includes replacing the plastic chairs with cushioned chairs, booths, and even leather one-seaters. Dimmer lights and flat screens decorating the walls are just more examples of how they are mimicking a Starbucks environment. In addition, they just recently introduced new premium coffee.

Their latest copy-cat-with-a-twist move is selling entertainment. While Starbucks is getting comfortable with CD sales, McDonalds has decided to invest in movie entertainment. Here they are renting DVDs for $1/night via Redbox Kiosks, a wholly owned subsidiary of McDonalds. The rationale for their move? According to the article 70% of their customers eat off premise. This ultimately translates to customers spending a simple additional dollar for take-home entertainment that is conveniently right there.

Is all this a good move for McDonalds? The environment at Starbucks, the CDs, and the premium coffee all contribute to Starbucks' impressive success. But can McDonald's take all these ingredients and expect to bake a similar cake? Its hard to tell but my ultimate answer is yes, to a certain degree. Starbucks has mastered this kind of environment for years, and has with it a premium product - high end coffee. The associations in its brand meaning are mainly positive. McDonalds on the other hand, still has the negative associations of junk-food, an association that is weighed heavily when considering the current health-conscious trend. However, the positive associations that will come with the new environment will give it a competitive edge over Taco Bell, Wendy's, Burger King and other fastfood chains that not only are unhealthy but have an inferior environment.


-John Lewis

Car advertising getting down and dirty (Europe)

Hi class =)

I am not a car aficionado, but my brother is... Couple of days ago, he was showing me some ads and I thought they are very interesting.. These car advertisments are supposedly from Europe, and I wished ads here could be as funny.

These ads show how the manufacturers are trying to create brand positioning in the consumer minds. Each brands counteracted their competitors, though I do not think they could damage the brand image that has long been established.

The attack of the ads: Audi to BMW. Then BMW to Audi. Subaru getting in the fun, hitting both BMW and Audi.

And the best, Bentley closing the salvo of ads with the most 'immature' closing at all of them. The best way to end an argument: in the advertising world and also in real life.

Is this fun advertising useless and a waste of money? What are you thoughts about this?












- Joanne Cahyadi

Mascot Makeovers- Karin Riefkohl

Just wanted to share this interesting article I came across in the October issue of Fortune Small Business. It talks about companies such as Pillsbury and Pepperidge Farm Goldfish have had "mascot makeovers" regarding the mascot's physical appearance and personalities and how these makeovers have increased profits for said companies. Mascot = Profits

Copy this link onto your browser:

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fsb/fsb_archive/2006/10/01/8387296/index.htm

Fantasy Football - Chris Lee

As I read through Brandweek I came across an article about Yahoo. I wanted to comment specifically on Yahoo's fantasy sports section. A few years back I got into Fantasy Football and because of Yahoo I am now addicted.

Every year in Aug anticipation rises as I realize that fantasy drafts are starting. Which running backs am I going to pick up, whose going to be a sleeper this year, how can I draft the best team possible?

As I read the article I saw that Yahoo's biggest audience are those interested in fantasy sports. Further I read that Yahoo is interested in strengthening their fantasy sports part of the site. As a fantasy sports audience I am happy to hear that Yahoo and David Katz (Yahoo! Sports head) want to find ways of improving their sports/fantasy sports area of Yahoo.

I believe that fantasy created a brand that allows fantasy sports to be easy and fun to do. Yahoo created a very simple interface in terms of drafting teams and reading about player updates and so on. They have shown me over the years that they care about the fantasy audience. They are always up to date with the latest news. I hope to see Yahoo continuing to build their brand and creating new and innovated ways to make our experience more meaningful.

Life is Good - Chris Lee

I was reading through a magazine called "Boston Common" and I came across an article titled "Living Large: Bert Jacobs and his brother, John - the siblings behind Life Is Good - give back".

What captured me about this article was the fact that these two brothers decided to create a t-shirt with the simple slogan of "Life Is Good". I'm sure a lot of you have seen people wearing something with the slogan on it.

Both Bert and John began selling these shirts on the streets of Boston. According to the two brothers in august of '94 they sold "48 shirts in 45 minutes" which "scared the hell" out of them. They found that their shirts were a hit and that the people purchasing the shirts were from all walks of life. They say "the lesson we learned in the street that day was that optimism cuts across all demographics"

I believe that this is an example of a brand that brings meaning to everyone. These shirts are almost motivator they can help people feel good about life even when things get bad. For example the article talked about a young girl who was diagnosed with bone cancer and she was wearing a "Life Is Good" hat. The article goes on to say that through her hard time she wouldn't take the hat off. She is better now and she believes that the hat brought her the courage and hope to fight her disease.

These men were able to create a brand that in a sense helps those in need and encourages those just walking their paths. It never hurt anyone to be optimistic in life. Hey just remember "Life Is Good" its never as bad as you think.

Brandweek, 11/13/06, p10: JQ Park

I read this article in the Brandweek, which I believe is really related to our course studies.

Johnnie Walker (Scotch Whisky Brand)is trying to promote its Blue line from a medium level to a luxury level brand (Johnnie Walker Portfolio: Red, Black, Green, Gold, and Blue). Johnnie Walker Blue used to cost about $125 ~ $140 depending on the states or stores. However, they are pulling up the price tag to $200 a bottle with a new design and a campaign.

According to VP-markting Chris Parsons, "single malts [industry] have an opportunity at very high price points," and they are launching the campaign before Thanksgiving and Christmans seasons because 40% of the sales are generated during the holiday seasons. They have sold Blue 25,000 cases in 2005 at New York. (Black: 695,000, Red: 660,000)

Patricia Pao compares what Scotch means to guys with what a hangbag means to women. I have got this information from somewhere that Couch (Women's apperal brand)is trying elevate its brand image by providing more high-end handbags to the customers while it keeps middle level (priced) products as well. Currently, I do not have the information on how well the Couch is doing.

However, What Johnnie Walker is trying to do is similar to what Couch is doing. They both are trying to elevate their brand image with one product or few product lines without changing name. One of the question is how are they going to target the Halo Effect?

I personally think they need a new product line with a new name, because the Blue has been around for centries. Blue has its own meanings to people.

I brought this up because I thought Johnnie Walker article was similar to the case we learned about Black & Decker.


by Jinkyoo Park

New times... “Black Friday” vs “Cyber Monday”

I read a pretty interesting article in US Today last week. Black Friday is a tradition in US, but more consumers than ever are turning to websites for their holiday shopping. In an online poll this month in www.shop.com, almost 25% of the respondents said they’d “rather eat their arm off than visit a store on Black Friday”.

And marketers came up, once again, with a solution to satisfy this people’s needs. On Monday, millions headed back for work and logged on to their employer’s high-speed internet connection and start shopping. Nearly 400 retailers had special deals available online at cybermonday.com. Last year, Cyber Monday was the second-biggest online shopping day after Dec. 12. And personally I find it great...why would you wake up at 6 am after Thanksgiving celebration to run to the stores to deal with other hundreds of people while you can shop comfortable at home whenever it is good for you and find better deals? It is really more convenient and even enhances the shopping experience, as “you can get excited when you buy it and then get excited all over again when it arrives at your home”, as a consumer pointed out.

US online sales are growing by 25% annually, while store sales around 6%. More than one-third of all US households already shop online, and that is expected to increase to 40% by 2009. Overall, Internet sales make up just 5% of all retail sales, but it is a giant that’s growing amazingly and, I believe without doubts, it is the future!!!


-Lorena Roque

Kia's Attempt to Build Buzz

Kia has recently launched a new crossover vehicle called the Rondo without telling anyone. The official launch isn't until February, but they recently began selling the vehicle in select Sunbelt dealerships without any advertising or even featuring it on the Kia website. They say they are doing this to build buzz, but I feel the buzz about the release of a new car results from featuring it in car shows (which the Rondo has been) and the anticipation of it from car enthusiasts, not from silently selling it. It appears that the bloggers who are talking about it are doing so in anticipation of the February release, not its current debut which they seem to be unaware of. (One site I visited mentions the 2007 release, and has no mention about the current release.) There is no doubt that among Kia consumers and car enthusiast there is buzz about the new Rondo, but the question is where is it really coming from. Is this silent debut successfully creating the buzz? Or is it the natural buzz that arises from the anticipated debut of a new car? (http://www.brandweek.com/bw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003438729)

-Danielle DeBenedetto

Chevy's "Our Country" Ad

I'm sure most of you have seen or at least heard of the Chevy "Our Country" ad aired during NFL and baseball games. Originally I had not seen it since I don't care much for those two sports. But I was frequently exposed to negative evaluations from friends, a New York Times article, and now one of the more recent Brandweeks (Like a Stone in My Crankshaft article), that I had to check it out myself. I went on Youtube and after watching it, I wholeheartedly agree with the criticisms. In case you haven't seen it, you can check it out on youtube here.

Basically there are two reasons for the overwhelming disappointment expressed by viewers. Firstly, and perhaps less importantly, is the fact that the commercial has been overplayed. The commercial has been aired since the World Series and now viewers simply cannot stand hearing the same song every time they watch a football or baseball game; take into considerations that one of the commercial’s version is a whole minute long!

But even more importantly is the approach taken by Chevy. By displaying images symbolizing the struggles faced by the US (Rosa Parks, Hurricane Katrina, and the beaming memorial lights for the Twin Towers to name a few), it seems as if they are taking advantage of the suffering endured by others to sell a product. A Chevy spokesperson states that the message of the ad can be summarized as “we've had some bruises and scars, yeah, but we've gotten up and gotten on with it.” But what exactly does a Chevy Silverado have anything to do with this suffering. The answer, quite frankly, is absolutely nothing. Chevy has tried to envelope patriotism as a key association in its meaning map in past commercials, but those went relatively smoothly. The main difference between prior approaches and the “Our Country” ad is that older commercials did not use sensitive material. “Our Country” has used images of recent tragic events, such as Hurricane Katrina and the World Trade Center, as well as national heroes that struggled with racism. These not only are sensitive areas, but Chevy made no attempt to at least somewhat tie-in the product to the ad. Viewers are left guessing as to what the commercial is for. And after enduring sensitive material for 55 seconds, it’s a huge disappointment to see a Chevy Silverado just standing there. Who are they kidding?

-John Lewis

Branded House vs. House of Brands

Hey everyone,
To continue our discussion on Branded House versus House of Brands, here's something to consider: Is it possible that some industries move between House of Brands and Branded House?
In the case of Pharmaceutical companies, let's take Pfizer as an example. Pfizer, as we all know, sells many different drugs. Since Pfizer sells these drugs under different names (i.e. Zyrtec and Lipitor etc.), it would be considered a House of Brands. However, when something goes wrong, such as one of the drugs is proven to be harmful, consumers blame Pfizer instead of the individual drug's department. In this scenario, the consumers change the brand architecture from being a House of Brands to to a Branded House. Just my observation that some industries are specifically set on one type of architecture and others tend to be a little bit of both depending on the situation.
-Sri Reddy

Targeted Buzz?

Last week Professor Fournier posed the question of whether buzz should be targeted at a specific group of people or whether what matters is simply the greatest number of people talking about your product/service regardless of targeting.

In class someone mentioned that Mark Hughes suggested the goal is the latter - to get the greatest number of people to talk. I disagree, however, and believe targeting is essential, especially when it comes to buzz.

What's the point of getting everyone but your target market to talk about your product? The target market represents the group of people most likely to buy your product and these are the consumers you want to be talking. Anything else is really just a wasted effort. In other words, if you're not part of the target market, buzz will really not influence you to buy the product. There may be some minor exceptions to this but for the most part attitudes towards a product/service will remain unchanged.

That being said, I would have to say I only partially agree with Mark Hughes, if that was indeed what he meant. It is important to get the greatest number of people to talk about your product, as long as they are part of your target market. Anybody else talking about it is generally just a waste of time and effort.

-John Lewis

Brandweek Response: Ad Icons for Sale

Hey class,

In one of the last copies of Brandweek that Prof. gave us (Date Nov. 6), I read an interesting article on Advertising Icons. They used pictoral examples of more recent creations, such as Staples' easy button, The California Raisens, and Travelocity's "peripatetic gnome."

The power of these advertising icons is immense. An icon can carry the core meaning of one's brand and all of the company behind it. They do more than just carry a meaning, now. They carry a thick wallet. In the opening sentences of the article, they disclose Staples sales in easy buttons at $7.5 million. Travelocity also saw big revenues for their gnome. The article goes deeper, explaining that these successful ad icons create more buzz than word of mouth. They are remembered easily, they carry value, and manifest nostalgia in loyal long-term consumers.

These traits do exactly what the brand wants to do; capture attention, maintain interest, and retain loyalty. The brand plays the same role, but can not animate itself to the extent of an ad icon that's been around for years. That's why they are also a risk. If an ad icon flops, so does the company, for the most part. But, if used properly, it can carry the success of a company for years.

Remember the California Raisons of the late 1980s? They were a claymation series that became "a cultural phenomenon" throughout our childhood. I think I may have one of their figurines in my hometown.

A question: The Article title is "The Ultimate ROI: Ad Icons for Sale." How could something like this determine ROI, besides of course bringing in some extra cash?

Alex Zucker

Two Long-Established Marketers Loosen Up

Hey class,

To continue off of Tuesday's discussion on consumer created video spots, there was an article in Tuesday's New York Times about this topic.
Two companies, GE and PepsiCo, who have long been known for using conventional media, have just decided to expand their marketing efforts. Pepsi has just launched consumer created video spots for their new soft drink, Mountain Dew MDX. These videos can be seen on You Tube.
Similarly, GE launched four films, some live and some animated. These humorous videos "fashion the idea that imaginative approaches can solve challenging problems." These videos are available on Time Warner's On-Demand Cable.
Both companies are looking to keep up with their competitors by showing advertising in unique channels. As we saw in the Chevy, Sony, and Apple cases, all types of marketing, whether positive or negative, creates buzz and streghtens brand hype and awareness.

Feel free to check out the article at: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/13/business/media/13adco.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

-Samantha Bichler

Saab Performance Team

Recently the American Marketing Association had a guest speaker come in who talked about working with GM, one of her clients. Saab, one of GM's brands, has a performance team that travels around to demonstrate the abilities of the car by performing tricks and shows. One of these shows was videotaped by an attendee and posted on YouTube, where it became extremely popular and generated lots of hits. When Saab found out about this, they decided to create some videos of their own with the performance team to post on the Saab website. I thought this was an interesting example of a company using and capitalizing on consumer generated marketing and externally created buzz. Thanks to the Youtube user who posted the video, Saab found a new way to draw consumers to their site that they hadn't thought of before. This is one way to successfully use consumer generated marketing. (To see the Youtube video, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arzwJKU0Z1s)

-Danielle DeBenedetto

Borat: the character and the brand

This is very upsetting. For the past five years I've been watching Borat on the Ali G show and enjoying it thoroughly. It felt great to introduce all my friends to Borat over the years. It was great to see their initial reaction and then explain the whole idea behind it to them. Borat was all mine, now everyone knows about Borat and it's disappointing me. I can't walk down Commonwealth without hearing eight different Borat impressions, all of which are a lot worse than my impression.

So how did Borat get to this level? How did he gain this level of awareness? Sasha Baron Cohen (the actor that plays Borat) and his people absolutely exploited new advertising arenas. With the success of myspace, they created a myspace page for Borat (http://www.myspace.com/borat) that was visited millions of times and he has more than 326,000 myspace friends. He is a made up character. Mickey Mouse has his own myspace page and he only has 3000 fans. BORAT is a character, he is made up, but people love this. How cool is it to be able to say that you're one of Borat's friends? Very cool, apparently.

The other network the Borat people used to create his brand and awareness is YouTube. Fox Studios and Sasha Baron Cohen's company combined to leak teasers and other videos of Borat on youtube. They themselves put these videos on youtube for the hope that they are watched and e-mailed and linked. They succeeded with that tactic.

The Borat movie came in first in the Box Office in its first weekend out. It brought in $29 million, the second most ever by a movie opening in less than 900 theatres. They took the Borat character and they made him real. Using college-user friendly myspace and youtube, they found the right avenues to create awareness and they succeeded.

I hope to see others try new avenues to create awareness, because simply advertising on tv and in print simply don't do it for me anymore.

- Daniil

Response to Ryan's post about the Red Sox brand

(I also posted this as a comment under Ryan's post, but comments don't show up on the main page.)

I was in Sydney last semester and also noticed Yankee paraphernalia everywhere. I asked a few people about the hats and shirts they were wearing, and most of them had absolutely no clue what the Yankee logo represented. As a big Yankee fan, I'll have to disagree with your point about it being "obnoxious," but I agree that the global brand extension can be attributed to the Yankees signing Asian players. However, the Yankees are not the only team that has signed Asian players.

As discussed in an article (http://www.athomeplate.com/asian.shtml), Chan Ho Park was the first Asian player to be signed in over 30 years in 1994. Since then, lots of Asian players have been signed by Major League Baseball teams with many of the more popular and successful players playing for teams other than the Yankees. So, why are people in the Far East wearing Yankee caps? The reason could be that the Yankees won a bunch of world championships during the heat of this Asian player signing phenemenon. While the Yankees have not won a world championship in the past 6 years, if the team continues to put together competitive teams with the Asian players currently on their roster, I think it would be difficult for another team to overtake the Yankees as the top global brand in Major League Baseball. In other words, you would probably see Red Sox hats in the Far East if they sign Matsuzaka, but I think the Yankee brand will continue to dominate, at least for now, regardless of which team signs him.

-Robert Cusumano

KFC is changing its logo!!

KFC is changing its logo. The famous KFC founder Colonel Sanders’ picture has been the logo for the company since it was founded. The new logo will feature Colonel Sanders in a bolder colors and a better-defined visage, and he will still keep his classic black bow tie, glasses and goatee. Moreover, the name “Kentucky Fried Chicken” on smiling Colonel Sanders’ red apron will become “Kentucky Chicken” due to company’s expanded non-fried menu items targeting the health conscious group. The company will start putting up the new logos in January 2007.

In addition, the company will start to redesign its existing stores and will open up new stores in the US that will feature warmer interior colors, open shop-style glass windows and a digital jukebox that plays customer-selected music for free. The company will push the new design and logo to its international stores as well.

I think it is so interesting that companies like McDonald’s, KFC, and Pepsi Co. are all trying to change their junk food image to a healthier image in order to follow the health conscious trend. I am really looking forward for the new changes!!

For more info, pls see http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2006/11/14/colonel_gets_a_makeover_in_new_kfc_logo/

By Alice Lee

Pepsi Co. introduced Healthy Products in Whole Foods

Pepsi Co. has been trying to change its image from a cola company to a healthier food and beverage company. On Nov 13th, the company announced that it started introducing products through Whole Foods Market store in order to target health-conscious segment. Pepsi Co. is now selling a line of healthy chips, "Sun Snacks" and is starting market tests a smoothie product, Fuelosophy. Moreover, Pepsi Co. has acquired three other brands in the healthy food category, Izze sparkling juice drinks, Stacy's Pita Chips, and Mother's Natural Cereals. All three products were sold in Whole Foods stores before PepsiCo bought them and will continue to be.

Interestingly, none of the products mentioned Pepsi Co. on its packaging. I believe that Pepsi Co. does not want the unhealthy Pepsi Coke image affect the consumers' perception of the healthy products.

For more information, pls go to http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2006/11/13/pepsico_launches_products_at_whole_foods/


by Alice Lee

The Global Extension of the Boston Red Sox Brand

Hello all,

If you have been following Major League Baseball recently, you must have heard of Japanese pitching phenomenon Daisuke Matsuzaka. The most dominant pitcher in Japanese baseball for the last eight seasons, this 26 year-old is best known for throwing his “gyroball”, which is said to “rotate like a football and move like a slider in slow motion.” The Red Sox, New York Yankees, New York Mets, Los Angeles Angels, Texas Rangers and Chicago Cubs, among others, are believed to have submitted bids.

Although the results of the silent auction for Matsuzaka will not be announced until 8 p.m. Tuesday, it has been reported that our own Boston Red Sox have the highest bid ($42 million just to speak to the guy). The winning club will have an exclusive 30-day window to negotiate a contract with Matsuzaka's agent, Scott Boras. If a team signs Matsuzaka, it will cost them the bid price plus a contract (I’d say somewhere around $60 million for 5 years).

This brings me to the topic of the Red Sox brand. If Boston manages to obtain Matsuzaka, they will effectively be planting Red Sox brand seeds in the Asian market, expanding the brand to a more global stage. Global brand extension provides the Red Sox brand the opportunity to capture share of mind in the growing MLB fanbase of Asia. When I was visiting Singapore this past summer, I was astonished to find that mostly all baseball caps and other MLB paraphernalia obnoxiously displayed the New York Yankees logo. I believe that this is not because the Yankees are a superior team, but rather because the Yankees brand is the most visible from the Far East. Acquiring Matsuzaka will not only make the Red Sox a better team, but it will also make the brand more relevant and ultimately more important to Far Easterners.

So I urge you all as Red Sox fans -- nay, anti-Yankees fans -- to hope with me that the Red Sox will win the Matsuzaka contract.

Thanks,
Ryan J. Chung

Automotive Industry Marketers

Page 20 of the November 6 Brandweek discusses marketing jobs in the US Automotive Industry, which continues to falter. "When a company like DaimlerChrysler decides it doesn't need separate agency teams for Chrysler, Dodge, and Jeep, 2/3 of the players find themselves on the street." As ad spending continues to get cut, the author of the article discusses a strategy these automotive experts can employ to find a new job in a different industry. However, when I think of such a marketer, the guy that invented tie dye comes to mind. Obviously, cars will be cars, but there must something that can be done- some route that can be explored- to spark the legendary US automotive industry. The few people left in Detroit must act fast.

For example, General Motors strives to introduce its EV1 (electric car) at some point in the future. How would you promote it? Could the electric car potentially be a superbrand to catapult GM in a positive direction?

- Robert Cusumano

It's second and overstock.com for USC?

I watched the USC v. Oregon game last night when I saw something I had never seen during a football game before. By the yellow ten-yard indicator line was the Overstock.com logo, and the announcers also mentioned that the, "ten yard line is brought to you by overstock.com." There really isn't a place where you can't put an ad. Pretty soon, field goals will be brought to you by Coca-Cola, Reebok, etc. Too bad TiVo doesn't have a way to edit out those commercials. Fox doesn't care if looking at an Overstock.com logo while trying to watch a play annoys its viewers, it's just more ad revenue for them. Where's the line between creative marketing and annoying marketing, and do media executives even care?

~Mandy Murphy

www.shaveeverywhere.com

November 6, 2006 Brandweek pg 13 - Philips Asks Bloggers: What is Masculinity?

Shave Everywhere is one of the messages Philips currently is pushing in support of its Norelco razors. At www.Shaveeverywhere.com, a guy in a bathrobe suggests that men who groom their private areas become a whole other being in the bedroom. “As soon as your partner sees your new [bleep], pretty much anything can happen. She may want to eat frozen yogurt off your [bleep].” While this kind of frat humor isn’t for everyone (read: many women), it certainly illustrates the company’s understanding of what type of messaging may engage its male audience.


More and more companies are using information from blogs to further their marketing research efforts in order to better understand their consumers. Shave Everywhere did an excellent job of utilizing the information they gathered from blogs written by males on what masculinity is today. If you haven’t seen the website, I suggest you take a 5 minute break from your studying to watch the music video and laugh your pants off. This website is not only effective in relating to its target audience, but it is effective in generating a buzz. I actually heard about www.shaveeverywhere.com from my friend’s profile on AOL Instant Messenger. This website that was built based off consumer insights is actually managing to have people that are not in its target market (like myself) build a buzz about it since it is a taboo topic. I am really curious to see how this campaign affects the brand as well as the product’s sales. Even though the website is relates to its consumers and builds a buzz, do you think they will remember the brand name or just the campaign?

- Sabrina Wells

Brands' Shows

Since the lecture from our guest speaker, Mark Hughes, I have been interesting in the topic of advertiser-produced content. Advertisers want to create their own show talking about their brand rather than just displaying the products (BMW case). For example, Medicis, a pharmaceutical company, creates a new reality series, Hottest Mom in America, just to promote their products.

At the beginning, I think that creating a whole new show is a new technique from marketing world. But, it doesn’t take me long to found out that this trend has already been started. Here are the brands that already producing their own shows.

Procter & Gamble: “Home Made Simple”
Office Max: “Schooled”
Unilever: “The Gamekillers”
Snicker: “Instant Def”
Anheuser-Busch: “BudTV”

Khin M. Aye

The Amex Perks

From Brandweek:
If you've ever wondered what the American Express experience is, then go to The Mall at Short Hills in Short Hills, N.J. That’s where the company opened a "Members Lounge" this week.
The lounge, the first at a retail shopping location, is designed to "reinvigorate" card members exhausted from their shopping with snacks, coat check, a private restroom, couches, free gift-wrap services, iPod and cell phone charging stations, and an e-mail station.

Amex is aiming to increase their prestige and sophistication. These lounges will soon be popping up in every mall and retail location. I feel it’s a great way to differentiate and motivate people to become members. The new lounges upscale Amex’s brand by taking customer service to the next level. This brings to mind Starbucks and its idea of going beyond the coffee and into the experience of comfort and community. While incentive programs like Frequent Flyer miles are very popular in recruiting members to credit cards, I feel like its become standard. Amex does well in trying to satisfy a customer at a more individual level. I’m wondering how Visa, a more economy-class credit card, will react to this.

-Jose Diaz

Branding People

For those of you who watch entourage, if you can recall the last episode of this past season, branding was a theme that was sort of made fun of.

The main character, Vince Chase, is an actor who fired his PR agent and met with multiple other agencies to find one that would best fit him. He was looking for an agency that would be down to earth and honest with him yet everyone he met with showed him the same presentations. They displayed an image of Apple, of McDonalds, and then of Vincent Chase and said that he would be more than a person, they would make him a brand. He decided to give his former PR agent another chance and meet with him, but that agent made the same mistake of showing him the same sort of presentation.

While we can personify brands to strengthen the associations people have with them, do famous people run the risk of objectifying themselves by branding who they are? Clearly Vincent Chase was not appealed by this idea.

-Shauny Lamba

Brands in commercials

Have you ever noticed that product advertisements on television are done very differently in America than there are in other parts of the world? Growing up in England, I realized that most commercials focused on the brand or product that they were trying to sell whereas in America, there is more focus on the comparing the brand to the brand’s closest competitor. For example, for Tide detergent, American commercials would compare Tide to Cheer and prove how Cheer doesn’t get the job done. In other countries, the point of the commercial would be to prove what a great product Tide is and evoke brand meaning for the consumer. In one, the consumer ends up buying Tide out of dislike for the competing product and in the other, the consumer ends up buying Tide because they truly think Tide is the best product out there. Both commercials get the job done (job meaning getting the consumer to buy the product), but which one is more successful?

I feel that the commercials aired outside the US are superior because they create more brand loyalty and stronger meaning maps. For example, when you mention the word to Coke to people in England, they might think of their childhood, holidays, and tradition. To Americans, the first thing they might think of when they hear the word Coke might be Pepsi, better taste, and less sugar than competitors. Which commercial tactic do you find more effective?
-Sri Reddy

Coke & Pepsi staying ahead of the curve

I thought it would be interesting to talk about an article on health drinks and how Coke& Pepsi and other companies are introducing new drink products "promising weight loss, cell-damage-reducing antioxidants and natural energy." Since consumers are becoming more and more health conscious, brands such as Coke& Pepsi cant just stick to diet drinks that are made with fake sugar, high carbs, and corn syrup. People are becoming more aware of the toxic ingredients in food and drinks that go into their bodies. So if Coke& Pepsi don't want to lag behind, they have to find.

People are now more concerned about organic food and staying away from certain ingredients in products (such as corn starch and corn syrup). So do you think the Coke and Pepsi brand value is slowly diminishing because of the new health trends in todays culture??

Article- Everything Old is New: Health Drinks Flood Market

-Shauny Lamba

speaking of creating buzz....ads in space anyone?

After our guest lecture on buzz marketing, I found an interesting article in the Boston Globe about an MIT student trying to spark a buzz for his research satellite in order to raise money. Thaddeus R.F. Fulford-Jones (that's a mouthful), announced that he will sell adspace on his satellite to companies in order to raise the funds needed for his research product. The satellite will be sent up into space, and sponsors will not only have their name on the satellite, it will also be listed on the student's website. It sounds ridiculous but so did selling one pixel of an internet site to adverisers to raise 1 million dollars to support an education (the million dollar homepage, you can look it up on the internet), but that worked, mainly because of the media attention surrounding it. I'm sure as the idea spreads, many Americans would be interested to see what companies are sending their names into space and within a few years that kid may just get the money needed to do his research...hey, we're already talking about it.

-Heather Campbell

attention grabbers or annoyances?

Hi everyone-

I am not sure if everyone noticed, but in this weeks Brandweek, there is a gold-colored 2-paged (front and back) ad for the PMA's 2007 Reggie Awards. The pages are slightly thicker than everything else in the magazine, which makes the reader flip to them almost immediately when leafing through. The PMA is not the first to make an ad of this nature and thicker pages are found in all types of magazines in order to draw consumer attention. My question to you is whether you believe this type of advertising is effective or simply an annoyance while trying to flip to other articles of interest? Personally, I find them to be rather annoying because it makes flipping through to other articles very frustrating. With these types of advertisements my awareness is definately increased, but cause negative brand associations unless it is a product that I am already very loyal to.

Carolina Ibarrola

Branding Dirt

Hi everyone-
If you look at last week's Brandweek, you will see that on the second to last page there is a section on Michael Clark who has decided to bottle and brand "commemorative border dirt." We discussed branding sand in class, but selling "under a pound" of dirt for $9.95 in response to congress's vote to build a wall between the U.S. and Mexico is quite different. I was wondering how you all feel about this concept and whether you predict it will take off because it is a piece of history, such as when people saved pieces of the Berlin wall or will people see this as something not to be taken seriously?

Carolina Ibarrola