Free to Brand Entertainment

Chanel tells a romantic tale in this 2:22 video entitled Night Train. It’s a familiar story, the same one Chanel’s been telling generation after generation.

No longer constrained by rigid 30 or 60-second ad models and fee-based, one-view, network television slots, Chanel is free to produce branded video content in various lengths and portable formats. They can post that content across an array of distribution channels on the Internet, free of charge—just like every other brand, large and small. And so can you.

There are a million ways to market a product. But I suggest you not try all of them.

-Tim Siedell Fuse Industries

What Price Value?

Quality content and production values still count if you hope to engage your audience and rise above the 10 billion monthly YouTube views. Expertly filmed, cast, scored and produced, the Chanel video is classic branding aimed at maximizing emotional engagement and memorability—right down to the final love-to-logo-to-product morph brand punctuation.

But proper distribution and promotion still rule the day. Television provided an expensive, reliable, direct and proprietary fee-based conduit to customers. And while today’s brand marketers are blessed with many relatively inexpensive options to reach their audience, they also shoulder all the responsibility and cost of standing out amid a crowded in-bound and social media marketing free-for-all.

What Price Strategy?

This multitude of options places a premium on integrated strategies even for the Chanel’s of the world as they compete with every brand under the sun, including yours. Of course, not every brand benefits from an opulent brand equity, a product men love to smell and women love to wear.

But Night Train’s nearly half a million YouTube views to-date proves proper product planning, positioning and promotion strategies are still the best way to create real value out of an ocean of on and offline marketing and medium options.

Videos, blogs, SEO, email, podcasts, microblogging, fan pages, micro-sites, proprietary online communities. As you plan your next marketing foray into these new frontiers, don’t neglect the benefits of integrated strategy, planning, content and production values.

Cadillac ran into a period where
the product (and therefore, the brand) did not live up to the name

In a meeting a few years ago, I used the cliché “from soup to nuts� to describe the comprehensive nature of a particular project.

I was met with a blank stare from a designer roughly 15 years my junior. “What does that mean?� he asked. “You know, soup to nuts,� I said, as if that somehow explained it. I really had no idea of the origin of the saying, I just knew what it meant, sort of.

“The Cadillac of…”

It got me thinking about the use of various sayings and clichés. One in particular sticks out because of the era in which I grew up. Have you ever heard someone say “This is the Cadillac of…” then name a product?

Does this saying still have the same meaning and if so, to whom? What’s the demographic now? My grandfather aspired to own a Cadillac, the ultimate status symbol of his time. But Cadillac ran into a significant period where the product (and therefore, the brand) did not live up to the name. In the past few years, they seem to have brought back some of the quality, fit and finish for which they were once known.

A Cross Over

I recently saw a television commercial for Cadillac’s SRX Crossover SUV. It ends with the phrase “The Cadillac of Crossovers.”

There’s genius in that for several reasons. The product is aimed at someone my age (40+) who remembers, wistfully, the glory days of Cadillac. It’s a play on words that, by inference, puts the brand back on a pedestal. And, it re-introduces the notion of being “the Cadillac of…â€? to those cognizant of the phrase, and sets the groundwork for a younger audience to also make that connection.

In conclusion, the Cadillac website is not the Cadillac of speedy loadtimes, but this is the Cadillac of all blog articles.

Image: Rennett Stowe

“The reactions I’ve experienced confirm
that it is a part of my personal brand.”

A Scent of Brand

Patchouli is my signature fragrance, it’s been my personal aromatherapy since I was a teenager. Visceral, exotic…not sure I can explain the magic it plays on me when I wear it. Of all the essential oil concoctions I’ve invented over the years, this distinctive scent is, at its base, ME. Ask anyone who knows me to shut their eyes, sniff an open vial of patchouli oil and say what comes to mind; I guarantee my name comes up every time.

There are some interesting studies on the science of smell and its link to memory, and I have first-hand experience proving the theories. More times than I could possibly count, a total stranger has stood next to me and asked, “Are you wearing patchouli?â€? The question isn’t as amusing as the way in which it is often asked, posed in a dreamy voice extending the last two syllables like this: “…patCH- OUUUUUU-LIII? [insert long sigh].â€?

A Brand Ascent

Sometimes their eyes will close while they smile and breathe deeply as they conjure up a wonderful memory of the scent. These strangers are often compelled to tell me exactly what their remembered visions entail. All ages approach me, yet boomers are usually the dreamiest, reminiscing of old loves, music, and recreational activities from days gone by. It takes a strong emotional connection to share memories—conjured from just a scent—with a complete stranger.

Run down a list of memory-evoked sensory experiences—songs, visual images, flavors—our sense of smell is the strongest link to memory. I never set out to draw attention with my fragrance, but the uniqueness it provides and the reactions I’ve experienced confirm that it is a part of my personal brand.

It all boils down to what “important stuffâ€? echoes back about your personal or organization’s brand. It takes talent and creativity to pull together a branding strategy that gives you an identity worth remembering. Rarely is it as easy as finding a fragrance you enjoy.

Image: Divyanshs

More than 30 percent of households with a TV now have a DVR device

Impressions Less Control

At more than double the price tag, CBS has very few 30-second Super Bowl spots left while NBC is struggling to sell 2010 Winter Olympic ads.

Yes, the Super Bowl has a prestigious reputation for the most watched and talked about commercials, but the Olympics start just one week after Super Bowl Sunday. Advertisers invest so much in creating the commercials, why not rerun the same 30-second spots at half the price?

Impressions Remotely Controlled

More than 30 percent of households with a TV now have a DVR device. If most people are like me, they’ll record the Olympics to watch at a more convenient time, and scan through to parts they’re most interested in. We’ll speed up the process and not take the time to view every commercial.

Have DVR, Tivo and YouTube viewers changed the way traditional TV is being watched so much so that advertisers are looking for alternative ways to reach their target market, even during widely viewed, mainstream television events?

Impressions User Controlled

There are certainly options to target more specifically and less expensively, and whether you advertise on the Super Bowl or through an alternate media there’s always the chance your ad will go viral, extending your reach even further—for free.

Image: Tsmall

“Because we think harder.â€?

My daughter and her friend Fouzan dropped in for a short-lived fall break from college last weekend. Fouzan was raised overseas and therefore largely unfamiliar with American holiday traditions, so we decided to visit a pumpkin patch and introduce him to pumpkin carving.

A Side Trip

On the way back from the pumpkin farm my daughter suggested we drop by Brainstorm and give Fouzan a quick tour of our offices.

Fouzan was immediately taken by Brainstorm’s logo design – fascinated by the simple elements and concepts it symbolized: A power outlet, a thought or dialog bubble, a head, a user interface, a monitor or television, a brain, a spark, an idea… a brainstorm. He remarked about it several times, seeing the tie-in to what Brainstorm does as well as the potential brand and service talking points the mark might inspire.

“Because we think harder,” he mouthed, noting our tagline.

Seeing Symbolism in Tradition

Afterward we returned home and retired to my kitchen to butcher the pumpkins. Almost at once everyone became engrossed with their respective pumpkins – particularly Fouzan.

Fouzan’s pumpkin carving and the Brainstorm icon

A gEEk’s Carving

At last Fouzan unveiled his carving. He smiled broadly as he turned his pumpkin toward me. And there it was, an interpretive work – the Brainstorm icon. “Not bad for an electrical engineer,” I said. “There are double “EE’s” in gEEk for a reason – and that’s a gEEk carving,” I joked, impressed.

He had planned to take his creation back to college then offered it to me instead, encouraging me to place it outside prominently on Halloween night where it would get more brand exposure than the stoop at his college abode.

Engineer? I think Fouzan may have a nose for business and a natural brand agent sensibility.