Posts with the tag branding

Simply Amazing!

Lori from Adel, IA — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 14:49:50 EST

As a marketer, I followed Barack Obama's campaign with particular interest. His clear, simple, compelling, and consistent "change" message broke through the political noise bombarding us the past two years. And, talk about energizing an untapped voter base! The web 2.0 tools used to create the supporter community were deployed so effectively that we've never seen such a young adult voter turnout as yesterday. We felt a part of something bigger than ourselves.

And for those who pooh poohed the message as too simplistic and without specifics and depth - I recommend you take a close look at the linkages and strategies used by this campaign to point those interested in becoming more fully informed on plan details to check out the website and listen carefully to the messages delivered during debates and even within ads. Obama's campaign continually reinforced the simple change message with follow-on detail without overloading.

Check out today's Advertising Age's article post for more reasons why Advertising Age voted Barack Obama as marketer of the year. http://adage.com/columns/article?article_id=132237

Fast Company's article on building the Obama brand is interesting, as well. http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/124/the-brand-called-obama.html

The Palin Phenomenon

The Family Doctor, a.k.a. Obamanator — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 03:43:56 EDT

The complete reversal of momentum in the McCain campaign IMMEDIATELY following the introduction of his running mate is disturbing to me for a number of reasons:

1. Those who had been hesitant to support McCain for who HE is seemed too eager to jump on the bandwagon the INSTANT he brought on board someone who seemed to them to more directly represent and embody a candidate they had WANTED to support. Do those people suddenly think, "O.K., I didn't like the look, smell or sound of John McCain before, but when he stands next to HER, he is surprisingly transformed into my kind of person!" I seriously doubt almost anyone could truly be that naive on a conscious, intellectual level. Nevertheless as an outside observer, that IS very nearly how Palin's unveiling seems to have effected throngs of people, especially in the 'farther right' and the 'evangelical Christian' camps.

The speed with which so many hearts seemed to change suggests only one plausible explanation That I can come up with: many, many people would support an institution or 'brand' with which they choose to identify EVEN IF it meant backing a candidate who did NOT appear to represent the "values" which they themselves attributed to that label. That is to say people's loyalties are STRONGER to the institution or label than to the core pricipals which they believe BROUGHT them to that label IN THE FIRST PLACE!! "Yes, I'm a Christian, and I have to admit I was taken aback a bit when my PARTY nominated Satan; but now he's chosen someone as a running mate who looks to me like an angel, so I guess maybe Satan isn't as bad as I thought. GO, TEAM, GO!! DRILL, BABY, DRILL!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Now I'm NOT saying John McCain is Satan, or anything even remotely close. (In fact, I once thought of him as a rather honorable person, but he seems to be trying to rid me of that illusion lately.) I'm only using hyperbole to illustrate how the thought processes of this mob seems to me to be functioning in this strange situation.

NATEPERKINS.TV: Black Evangelicals Grassroot Hit The Streets of Atlanta's For Barack Obama

NATEPERKINSTV — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 15:15:10 EDT

ATLANTA, GA. Black Evangelical politics in the United States "Christian theological movements" THE ROAD OF LIFE "BECAUSE JESUS SAID SO" Hip Hop / R&B / Producer: Jawuan Anthony Sheffield //Aug 30, 2008//CNN iReport Video: http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-70870John Hagee on the Issues: Hagee on African-Americans
The San Antonio Express-News reported that Hagee was going to "meet with black religious leaders privately at an unspecified future date to discuss comments he made in his newsletter about a 'slave sale,' an East Side minister said Wednesday." The Express-News reported: Jawuan Anthony Sheffield a Black Evangelical's for Barack Obama. Grassroot's in Atlanta, GA., held the view that the modernist and liberal parties in the Protestant churches had surrendered their heritage as Evangelicals by accommodating the views and values of the world. At the same time, they criticized their fellow Fundamentalists for their separatism and their rejection of the Social gospel as it had been developed by Protestant activists of the previous century. They charged the modernists with having lost their identity as Evangelicals and the Fundamentalists with having lost the Christ-like heart of Evangelicalism. They argued that the Gospel needed to be reasserted to distinguish it from the innovations of the liberals and the fundamentalists.The Road of Life is a life changing, seminar for teenagers and young adults. A two hour presentation, this life changing session contains many doors, people sitting, standing, maneuvering in and out of doors,frontward backwards somewhat appearing to be lost. These configurations will be expressed in detail. The session is very intense and includes motivational speech in an interactive setting. This session will have a positive affect on its audience. The session incorporates music, interactive conversation, objective mastery review and small group activities. The presenter will serve as a travel guide as they take a journey on "The Road Of Life" View THE ROAD OF LIFE's Friends: All | Online | New http://www.myspace.com/theroadoflife Culture choc: Black evangelicals vs. White evangelicalsBlack evangelicals vs. White evangelicals. Interesting article on the Obama pastor brouhaha from Salon.com: The difference between Jeremiah Wright and ...
dantoujours.blogspot.com/2008/03/black-evangelicals-vs-white.html - 93k

Posted 'NATEPERKINS.TV: Black Evangelicals Grassroot Hit The Street of Atlanta's For Barac ...' to blip.tv: http://blip.tv/file/1217647 ireport: http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-70870

Over 5000 Global Videos To Download FREE!

Nate PerkinsNate Perkins Live [TV] ChannelCEO
Nate Perkins Enterprises
285 Centennial Olympic Park Dr
Suite 2302
Atlanta, Georgia 30313
nateperkins@bellsouth.net Home : 1-770-331-4002
Work : 770-331-4002
Cell : 770-331-4002
Review me at iKarma Want to spread your own reputation?

NATEPERKINS.TV: Unite for Change Team TRAINING TAPE FOR OBAMA (ONLINE) GRASSROOT

NATEPERKINSTV — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 14:28:32 EDT

NATEPERKINS.TV: Unite for Change Team TRAINING TAPE FOR OBAMA (ONLINE) GRASSROOT goto: http://nateperkins.blip.tv for more infor on training... Unite for Change Team NATEPERKINS.TV: GEORGIA'S TRUE-LIVE TESTIMONIALS VOTERS FOR OBAMA (08 4 08)
Dear NATE --

I'm excited to announce that today, the Campaign for Change in Georgia is launching our Unite for Change Team program in every county and neighborhood of the Peach State.

Our Unite for Change Team program is a team-based organizing strategy that will help supporters like you get organized in your community -- to reach out to new and undecided voters near you and deliver Georgia for Barack and other Democrats in November.

If you are committed to change, we need you to get involved with or help lead a Unite for Change team in your area.

Learn more about joining a Unite for Change Team in your area.

These Teams will be an essential part of our grassroots movement in Georgia. And face-to-face contact with people in your community, is the most effective way to spread our message, and build our movement for change.

Taking action in your neighborhood through a Unite for Change Team is one of the most important ways you can help our Campaign for Change.

A statewide training for supporters who want to learn more and take part in a Unite for Change Team will take place August 15th - 16th.

No prior experience is necessary to attend and get involved -- just a commitment to our movement and a willingness to work for change in your area.

Get involved with a Unite for Change Team in your neighborhood today.

Thanks for everything you've done to build our movement in Georgia.

Alex

Alex Lofton
Georgia Field Director
Campaign for Change

Visit: GA.BarackObama.com | Email: Georgia@BarackObama.com
Barack Obama | Event | Barack Obama's Birthday Bash Official Website of Barack Obama 2008 Presidential Campaign.
my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/44zjp - 35k -Over 5000 Global Videos To Download FREE!

Nate PerkinsNate Perkins Live [TV] ChannelCEO
Nate Perkins Enterprises
285 Centennial Olympic Park Dr
Suite 2302
Atlanta, Georgia 30313
nateperkins@bellsouth.netHome : 1-770-331-4002
Work : 770-331-4002
Cell : 770-331-4002
Review me at iKarma Want to spread your own reputation?

http://www.nateperkinslive.com

NATEPERKINS.TV: Georgia's Jennifer Brook and Friends Celebrated ...
By NATEPERKINS.TV (blog-tv)(NATEPERKINS.TV (blog-tv))
Video thumbnail. Click to play Click to Play. Dear NATE -- Join a Georgia Unite for Change Team I'm excited to announce that today, the Campaign for Change in Georgia is launching our Unite for Change Team program in every county and ...
Queen Of Late Night Talk Show... - http://bevsmithatlanta.blogspot.com/

NATEPERKINS.TV: Unite for Change Team TRAINING TAPE FOR OBAMA (ONLINE) GRASSROOT

NATEPERKINSTV — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 14:28:28 EDT

http://www.nateperkinslive.com

"Maverick" Not Top of Mind?

Fred - Team Liaison - Smyrna-Vinings — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 13:23:59 EDT

According to this article by Cliff Schecter over at Firedoglake, the attempts by "the right," the McCain campaign, and to a certain extent the "mainstream" media to brand John McCain as a "maverick" might not be sticking anymore.

A recent survey done by Pew Research found that the most common single-word descriptor for McCain is "old." He does get some positive words in the dozen or so most common ones (like "honest" and "experienced") but some of the ones he and his supports would most like to see used about him (like "independent" "change" or "reformer") are not top of mind these days.

I find it very, very interesting that "independent" wasn't in the top words, but "conservative" was. That says a LOT to me about how McCain's actions and statements since he ran back in 2000 have fundamentally changed the way real people think of him. Back in 2000, I think "maverick" and "independent" and "different" all would have been at the top of the list for most people because it at least seemed true back then. But, McCain has destroyed that notion since then.

It's also very interesting to note that the "mainstream" media still acts as if it's a given that people still think that way about McCain...and maybe even push that branding themselves. Maybe it's time for the "mainstream" media to find out what people are really thinking these days.

Is Barack's pedestal too high?

The Constructive Skeptic — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 10:38:52 EDT

Political branding is one of the most volatile forms of the discipline.

Barack's branding has been a winner in consistency and power over people's imaginations. miles away from any political branding exercise seen anywhere in American politics ever.

However the team behind the man must adapt quickly. He now is in danger of losing his reign (nothing lasts forever) needing the support of working class.

Just look around this website for instance. look at the candidate's photo above. Am I looking at a politician, or at a religious figure, maybe a self-proclaimed messiah? What good does that do for connecting Barack with the electorate? Surely I don't mean dumbing down the campaign, but I (as a supporter of the candidate) feel he is places way too high and is unreachable while he looks down at people like me.

I suggest forget these canonization pretenses, take the man out of the pedestal and play up the whole approachable thing, for which he is a natural, and that scores him points with everybody. Remember, Clinton's the millionaire one, she's the type of person no-one has acquaintances like, she's the manic-looking one, maybe even evil-looking one. But somehow at this point in time, people aren't seeing those negs anymore and she seems more down to earth than barack.

maybe calling him his first name a little more could make things slightly more intimate. A sub-brand of the Obama brand: Barack needs to emerge quickly and and feel approachable, legitimate, intelligent, tactile, and of course optimistic like the obama brand. Just coming from a different place.

Say Uncle by Joan Voight, OMMA Magazine (April 2008)

Kelly Williams — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 01:05:48 EDT

Oh, there is such a thing as bad publicity

Just a few months after Barack Obama announced his intention to seek the Democratic nomination for president, Mars, Inc. launched a campaign to remake the image of its iconic Uncle Ben, the face of the Uncle Ben's brand. The rebranding, which elevated the character from smiling servant to a worldly business executive, was clearly intended to blunt criticism the company has faced over the years that the 1940s character portrays a derogatory stereotype.

The reinvention was meant to modernize and personalize the brand in a way that was respectful of his African American heritage and provided a unifying umbrella for new and well-established products. Unfortunately for Uncle Ben's and its parent Mars, some multicultural-marketing observers saw it differently. They viewed it as patronizing treatment of a symbol associated with repression and slavery.

The estimated $20 million Web and print campaign recast Uncle Ben as the wealthy head of a fictional rice company. The site's landing page, by TEQUILA, a division of tbwaChiatDay, became Uncle Ben's wood-paneled executive office, where users could read his newspaper, look at his e-mail and peruse his journal. Left intact was his trademark bow tie - and the moniker "Uncle," a frequent target of critics.
The new Ben, unveiled in April 2007, aimed to realign some long-held perceptions about the character. It didn't quite go over that way - at least not without a few hitches.

Parboiled Backlash

The March 30 announcement of Ben's "promotion" on the Web site caught the attention of the mainstream and spread throughout the blogosphere. That day, The New York Times ran an article about the launch, headlined "Uncle Ben, Board Chairman," and National Public Radio reported on mixed reviews from multicultural marketing specialists. On Comedy Central's The Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert quipped, "Now that you are a big shot, Uncle Ben, you're going to need your own private chef. I recommend the Cream of Wheat guy."

Carmen Van Kerckhove, co-founder of firm New Demographic - tagline: "Better than diversity training" - wrote on her blog, racialicious.com: "This rebranding campaign is really the epitome of putting lipstick on a pig. Uncle Ben is still grinning and wearing a bow tie. There's nothing Chairman of the Board-esque about that image. Uncle Ben still has no last name. When's the last time you heard a powerful man referred to by his first name? No matter what fantasies you weave about him being the Chairman of the Board, his very name still comes from the culture of slavery."

A few weeks later, David Segal, a Washington Post Style section writer, posted in Slate, "What's amazing about this Uncle Ben is that he still has a job at all. Uncle Ben is a rare survivor in the once-crowded world of racist spokescharacters. Most of his contemporaries were fired a long time ago." Just after that, interactive agency Organic's Daniel Turman wrote on the company's blog, threeminds.com, "This strategy might have worked better if there was some substance behind the smoke and mirrors. He still is called 'Uncle' in spite of the fact that this title was a Jim Crow-ism used to avoid the use of the honorarium Mister? Really!? By refusing to own up to the divisiveness of the character, the [campaign] falls flat."

The initial response from the company was sort of underwhelming. According to Mars, the Ben icon comes from American folklore - stories of a legendary farmer known for his quality rice. When farmers went to market, they would claim their rice was "as good as Uncle Ben's." The portrait of Uncle Ben was introduced in 1947, and it's said that it's the likeness of Chicago chef and maitre d' Frank Brown, who died in 1953.

But still, some say this explanation comes off as laughably tone-deaf. How could a group of sophisticated marketers have been blind to the backlash, which seems somehow inevitable? Howard Buford, founder and CEO of multicultural ad agency Prime Access, says, "Over time, the Uncle Ben character had gone from a concrete person to an abstract logo, which had lessened its racial baggage." Mars' move to personalize Ben partially backfired and just reminded people of the logo's history, just as media coverage began to focus on the possibility of electing the United States' first black president. "This was not the time to call attention to that problem," Buford says.

Proof Is in the (Rice) Pudding

The controversy seemed to increase consumer interest in the brand: Traffic to the site soared during the summer of 2007 as criticism and online discussion peaked. Unique visits ballooned 1,800 percent, from 191,000 in the third quarter of 2006 to 3.6 million in the same period of 2007, per comScore. Mars uses BuzzMetrics to track brand references on blogs, communities and news sites. Tracking showed that in the month after the launch, the Uncle Ben's brand got more online attention than it has ever experienced, and ended up with three times as much "buzz" as its biggest competitors, says Bryan Crowley, vice president of marketing and sales for Mars Food U.S.

The concept of a virtual office gave consumers a way to interact with the character's world, says Austin Hurwitz, TEQUILA management supervisor. "The office setting allowed us to talk about products, offer nutrition facts about rice, showcase recipes and describe the company's philanthropic efforts to end hunger - all in one unified setting," he says. Ads by tbwaChiatDay in celebrity, women's, food and African American magazines focused on Ben as chairman of the board and drove traffic to the site.

But Web traffic does not equal brand loyalty or sales (or votes - just ask Ron Paul). So, did the move score for Mars? Crowley says yes. Since the campaign broke, growth in sales and market share has accelerated, he says. And according to Information Resources Inc., sales have indeed swelled in some sectors: The brand's biggest product category, dry rice, showed sales growth of 6 percent in 2007 compared to 2006, per IRI. The year before, sales growth was 4 percent.

Sales of ready-to-eat rice mixes, which are about one-seventh the dollar volume of dry rice, rose 8 percent in 2007 compared to 2006, per IRI. But that's less impressive than the year before. Ready-to-eat rice sales in 2006 showed a 21 percent rise compared to the previous year.

"We respect the views of the critics and we want to keep open the lines of communication with them," Crowley says. "We also understand that for many people in our target market, the Uncle Ben character stands for trust and quality. Both of those viewpoints are important, and we are working with advisors to figure out how to strike a balance."

Mars started conducting research about the Uncle Ben's brand at least 18 months before the campaign's launch, around January 2006. The mission was to "find a big idea that could tie the content of the site together and bring the brand experience to life," says TEQUILA's Hurwitz.

Research identified the target as 35- to 54-year-old mothers who are devoted to their home environment, have attended college, are avid readers and are interested in health, Crowley says. About 80 percent are white and most of the remaining 20 percent are African American, plus a small percentage of Hispanics and Asians.

"Focus groups, one-to-one meetings and other qualitative research uncovered that consumers had a tremendous amount of respect for the Uncle Ben icon and that he represented quality, trust and family," Crowley says. "To leverage the respect and values of the brand, we decided to present Ben as chairman of the company and use him as the center of the marketing."

The campaign itself was in development for about seven months, starting in the fall of 2006, before the launch hit and the brouhaha began.

By October 2007, the Web site's traffic dropped almost to normal levels, but not quite. While the site saw 3.6 million unique visits from July to September 2007, it attracted only 114,000 uniques from October to December, according to comScore - but that was still almost double the visits during the same period the year before.

In the last several months, the company scrapped some of the plans for the site that were touted at the launch. Gone are plans to further personalize Ben with voicemail messages from him and a full-length picture of him in a business suit. (Only his portrait is currently used on the site and in the ads.) Since tracking shows most visitors use the site to find recipes, the company is expanding that content and tweaking the landing page to give direct links to recipes, Crowley says. Hurwitz says the recipe section continues to get about 20,000 visitors a month and average three minutes per visit.

Crowley declines to say if any of the changes are related to the criticism.

Dust, Caution
There are no easy answers here. Possibly the best solution is to dissolve the brand, eliminating the inflammatory iconography. Of course, this is a catch-22, so the task became a salvage job. Industry experts find the eventual campaign's costs and benefits complicated.

"The admirable part of this effort is that they generated Web traffic and attention to the brand, and the company looks like it is trying to be positive and proactive," says Larry Vincent, group director of strategy, Siegel+Gale. But he questions the wisdom of using such a strategy to shake the dust off an antiquated image. To change the backstory of Uncle Ben "is a risky branding move even without the race issue. It is difficult to reinvent history in a way that is different than what consumers perceive. When a brand pulls an about-face, people subconsciously get the feeling [that] it is trying to pull the wool over their eyes," he says.

Some multicultural marketing experts were hoping for more of a response from the rice company. "I'm flabbergasted that they didn't change the existing site after the press criticism," says Luke Visconti, partner and co-founder, DiversityInc Media. That shows the failure of the company "to have respect for American history. Since launch, Obama has hit the scene, uniting the political and racial discourse," says Visconti. "For Mars to be so recalcitrant at this point seems blockheaded; it does not reflect the audience's mood," he says.

Ron Campbell, president and chief strategist, Campbell-Communications, which specializes in multicultural marketing strategies, is more blunt: "It is a marketing faux pas that is paternalistic and condescending. It's like something out of Mad magazine." But so far the backlash seems to be mainly from "gatekeepers," says Campbell. Whether the decision to focus on Ben turns out to be "a big branding mistake and a big revenue mistake depends how much the noise from the gatekeepers reaches consumers who buy the rice because they need a quick meal for their families," he says.

If Mars' objective was to get exposure, it was a good move to be bold, rather than changing the icon subtly over time, as the Quaker Oats Company has done with its Aunt Jemima brand, says branding expert Vincent. But with "online social media and the rumor mills, criticism of a brand can take on a life of its own," he warns. In exchange for an incremental lift in sales, Mars could be harming the brand's reputation and
permanently relegating its rice to a commodity product, he says, echoing other experts.

Crowley won't admit to a downside. The company is "thrilled with the results of the campaign and considers it to be working well," he says.

Perhaps a more telling question is whether Uncle Ben - the icon and the chairman - will keep his bow tie. "Yes," says Crowley. "The bow tie stays."

http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=79730

Designing Our Future

MontcoPA Region5 — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 09:14:43 EDT

A picture is worth a thousand words, right? Typographers might disagree, while the firms that designed the Obama logo would probably nod along.

If you've spent even five minutes on this site, you've probably been impressed by the design. It doesn't scream at you; it works subtly, the way good design does. You may not know why it works, but you definitely feel it. Posters, banners, signs, even this site -- the campaign has built a cohesive look that's fresh, strong, and hopeful. How did the campaign do this, and why does it matter?

Voter Profiling-Fatal Branding

Connie — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 20:45:37 EST

Ever since last summer, reporters have been suggesting that Obama appeals to "well-educated and affluent" voters, or "college-educated, white, 'latte liberals'".

It is great that these voters support Obama, but when such "voter profiling" is over-referenced in the media, it may actually limit the candidate's appeal and prevent him from reaching out to a wider audience. People who do not fit the profile may feel alienated and turned off.

Obama's communications staff should try stemming such voter identification concerning Obama before it's too late - before he is fatally branded.