A Wrigley Field By Any Other Name...

Selling the naming rights to Wrigley Field in Chicago comes up every once and a while, but this time, they might be serious. Sam Zell, owner of the Chicago Cubs, announced his consideration of the sale earlier this year to serious controversy. My question is, could Wrigley Field ever be called something else?

When a brand name is adopted by the masses and becomes a part of the culture (in this case, Chicago sports culture), it doesn't really "belong" to the legal owners anymore. I believe that if they go through with this and officially rename the field, all of Chicago will continue to refer to it as Wrigley. Just like the West's refusal to call Burma by its official moniker, Myanmar, no one in Chicago will be catching a game at EBay Field.

Does anyone still consider the original collaboration of the Wrigley name? The field has had its name so long that people don't even think of the gum company anymore—it's a cherished ballpark, not a product. Any company considering a purchase of those naming rights should think twice before bidding. It would be a long, bloody, and most of all expensive marketing battle to change the name of that park.

But, if it has to happen, may I suggest "Facebook Presents: Wrigley Field?"

Will Apple's Brand Become Its Downfall?

Wired Magazine's April issue featured a very interesting article on Apple and how it (and Steve Jobs) has built its success by breaking all of the rules. By fiercely guarding its product development, not cooperating with collaborators, not listening to customers, and generally acting as a tyrant to employees, Apple has created a juggernaut in the tech world. This persona is now fully intertwined with its design and lifestyle-heavy brand. My question is, how long can they keep this up?

It is pretty clear to an outside observer that Apple's brand stems from figurehead and chief idea-man Steve Jobs. The man single-handedly steered the Apple ship away from an iceberg and transformed it into the slick powerhouse that it is today. With so much of Apple flowing from Steve, what happens when its time for him to leave? Is Apple grooming a replacement? Do they even have a plan? Since no information escapes the black hole of 1 Infinite Loop (Apple's Cupertino HQ address), not even stockholders know for sure.

And what of Apple's insistence on the archaic engineering/marketing method of "create the product and they will come?" This, combined with a "management by tyranny" philosophy, truly makes me wonder if Apple is poised to last or if it is going to burn out. I'm sure I will be racked for saying this, but I think Apple has made some risky moves, combined with a lot of luck, and that has been a significant source of their success. I'm not saying that they are doomed to fail, I just hope that Steve has a plan.

A Real Life Illustration in Brand Value

There are a lot of naysayers out there who think that branding is a "soft" marketing tactic, with no real tangible or measurable benefits. To them I say: take a look at the superstar cities.

What is a superstar city? Wharton real estate professor Joseph Gyourko defines them as the highly-sought-after, ultra-expensive, chic places to live. They are your New York Cities, Londons, Shanghais, and Bangalores. They are centers of culture and decadence, driving trends and defining what the rest of the world will be thinking tomorrow. How does this illustrate the value of branding?

All around the world (the U.S. in particular), the economy is slumping. World stock markets are drooping, taking real estate values with them. And the superstar cities? They seem to be immune. Despite all this, they are able to maintain and even increase their property values. They are luxury brands.

We see the same in hard goods—the luxury brand is always able to charge more. Of course, professional centers like Wall St. help keep these cities afloat financially, but it is all part of an intertwined mashup of economy, style, and personality that make up these brands. If these cities can ride out rough times by way of their brand, maybe some savvy businesses can too.

Red Tag Sale

I noticed something interesting while shopping at Safeway supermarket last fall: the sale tags had changed color. Instead of the usual yellow, the tags are now the "Safeway red"—the same color as the logo.

This probably sounds like a very minor detail, one which few would notice. Consider this, though: Safeway just posted a sales increase of $19 million from the Q1 of last year. Now, I'm not saying the new red tags are the direct cause of this revenue boom, but this is what I know.

Deep hues of red elicit excitement and arousal in shoppers.* Where do you think the term "red tag sale" comes from? I know that when I looked down the aisles and saw all those bright red tags, my first thought was, "Alright! Look at all the clearance prices!" I quickly realized that these weren't clearance items, rather they were normal sale prices (or regular prices, if you're anti-club card.... but that's another article). If someone aware of this phenomena can be tricked by it, imagine the effects on people who don't even give it a second thought.

Adjustments to your color scheme aren't always going to whip your customers into a frenzy, but it is an interesting commentary on the effect of small details. Smart and careful alteration of your brand and marketing presentation can have strong overall results; do your homework, see what you can change, and experiment to figure out the details that work for you.

*http://www.jstor.org/stable/2634413

Missing the Mark - the "New" Starbucks Logo

I've been thinking about the new Starbucks brown logo "campaign." While many people have arguing about whether or not the brown logo is as good as the traditional green and black logo, I'm starting to think that most people have missed the mark about this.


I think you need to remember that the campaign is temporary and at its heart, it's really a brand exercise. Things to note:

- it's not about liking the new logo,
- it's not about the new roast,
- it's not about the return of the former CEO.

It's about reconnecting with customers, demonstrating a renewed focus on the coffee experience that brought them to Starbucks in the first place. Millions of column inches have been written about what Starbucks has done in the last couple of weeks but it seems that most of the branding blogs really missed one of the key pieces of the brand puzzle. That piece is that a brand is not dictated by the organization, rather it is by everyone else who uses and talks about the product.

It's about the customers not the company.

While I am a dyed-in-the-wool Illy Coffee consumer, I'm impressed by the thoughtfulness and implementation of this "back-to-basics" campaign.

A New Logo That Actually Works

Well played: The new logo for Al Gore's Alliance Climate Project.

By putting some faith in his agency, Al Gore's Alliance for Climate Protection has a new logo and it speaks volumes about the organization and its need to communicate in a very specific way. Clearly, Mr. Gore's new concern needs the help of everyone globally--the approach to the logo with the word "we" is very different than most logos where the preferred motif is "us, not you."

This openness to global collaboration is a high-point in how organizations who are trying to affect real change need to start thinking.













Logo design by the Martin Agency & Brian Collins.

Take Control of Your Brand's Images

I hope you understand I'm not talking about identity guidelines, but of the photography you use to market your company or organization. A lot of things have changed over the past 5 years with commercial photography, but two things have not:

1. Great photos are harder than ever to find.
2. Inexpensive (or free) images are now everywhere.

Over the past few years, Web sites like istockphoto.com and Shutterstock (among others) have led a revolution in royalty free stock photography. Their sales model is based on community, rather than the traditional client and photographer relationship. This position allows their prices to be very low, making this an economical solution. But the images that buyers are able to obtain are open to everyone, meaning there is no way to ensure exclusivity of any kind. Many organizations are comfortable with that--however some are now finding out otherwise.

Did you hear about the company that found the face of their advertising being used in Playboy ads selling Enzyte?

Do you know about the model simply referred to as Everywhere Girl?








Or the model whose same photo shoot has been used to sell everything from handbags to "dating services" (full story here)?

In an era where stock photo sales have exploded and using them in marketing efforts is the norm, realize that using (and more importantly relying on) inexpensive stock photography as a representation of your brand is similar to dating every person who has used that photo--and that is a scary thing.

Like A Boomerang, They Come Right Back

Logos may stand in the background for a few decades, but they always make a comeback. This can be good and bad. Take a look at this Flickr page, which shows a collection of vintage logos from a mid-70's edition of the book World of Logotypes.

Many are similar to modern logos. The logo in the top right of this page is similar to the current Motorola logo. Companies still use clear and identifiable shapes today, as well as the use of one letter to represent the brand. Since the core concepts of logo development are the same today as they were 30 years ago, so are the bad choices.

Today’s logos have a strong connection between the brand and the customer; poor logo choices do not. In these examples, many logos seem to lack that strong correlation to the brand. For example, in the United States Postal Service logo, there are nine stars. Why does the logo use nine stars? Thirteen for the original colonies or fifty for the number of states (post-1959) are the typical numbers for stars relating to the U.S. Only nine colonies were needed to ratify the Constitution, but somehow I don’t think that was USPS’ reasoning for the number. My colleague commented that many logos look like “someone just slapped it on top of a letterhead to make it official.” There may be a lot of truth to that.

When branding or rebranding your company, be sure the logo has substance. Connect it with the brand and with your target audience, but don’t over-think it. It’s okay to take hints from the past, just don’t go overboard.

You Are A Brand Ambassador

Presentation is critical because as an employee, you are a brand ambassador.

Body language, posture, what you say and how you say it—these are all extensions of your brand, like it or not. Every time you interact with another person with respect to your business or organization, you are representing the brand. Think about a time when you’ve dealt with some miserable sod at a store or restaurant. Kind of ruins the experience, doesn’t it? That’s the importance of being a good brand ambassador.

Being a brand ambassador is in the conversations you have at parties with new acquaintances who ask for your card or over the phone with potential clients. The way you talk about your job and organization should be consistent with the brand; if the brand is intellectual and high-end, so must you act; likewise, if the brand is young and fun. Imagine your impression of an executive from Chuck E. Cheese who droned on about the statistics of their token-based system in a droll, Ben Stein-esque voice.


Technically, you are a brand ambassador at every moment of the day, but I think it goes without saying that when you’re not at the office or at work functions you can relax and not worry about portraying the brand. But remember, when you’re out with your friends and laughing it up, you never know when you’ll meet that million-dollar client. Keep your ambassador face ready for deployment at a moment’s notice.

Written Branding - The Everyday

Guess what? Your brand extends into your writing as well. Documents, emails, memos—all of your communications reflect the brand.

Think about the way you write emails. Are you consistent with your colleagues in the way you discuss projects, industry terms, or other topics? Grammar, tone, and voice should all be a conscience, orchestrated exercise in consistency across your entire organization. How you decide this depends on your industry, but make sure that it has a direct correlation to core brand.

The same goes for any written business communication. Proposals, invoices, memos, and marketing materials should all sound like they are coming from the same source. An elegantly written brochure followed up by a sloppy and incomprehensible project proposal (or grant application) does not send a good message.

I think a lot of issues like this simply come from a lack of attention to detail. It is a very easy thing to gloss over, but if you can remember, it can make that little difference between someone choosing you or passing you by. Once again, just a reminder to be conscious of everything your company puts out into the world. It all matters to someone.

Written Branding - Taglines

When thinking of branding, most people only think of the visuals. But there is another side—the writing. A slogan or tagline is usually the first noticed form of written branding because it is marketed the most, usually alongside the logo.

With a proper tagline, the goal is get communicate a key brand takeaway in just a few words. Cliché or overused phrases like, “The best customer service in town,” is a poor choice. Everyone says that. Come up with many ideas and discuss them with others. Settle on something that says something important and unique about the brand.

More established taglines don’t always tell the customer about the company or product directly, but more how it will make you feel. A good example is McDonald’s “I’m lovin’ it,” slogan. It tells the customers that they are going to have a great experience. Energizer’s “Keep going” slogan ties directly to the iconic pink rabbit that never stops moving. It illustrates something about the products instead of just stating it.

Not every brand needs a tagline or slogan, so make sure it makes sense before you undertake the task of developing one. If you have mass-market approach, heavy customer contact, or other outreach marketing program, this could be a tactic that works for you.

Come back tomorrow to learn others ways that written branding matters.

Use of Graphics Today from a Branding Perspective

Today’s average consumer frequently is on the go and has little time to sit and contemplate. The world of graphics was created as a way for us to quickly and easily absorb information.

A company logo is a graphic. It’s a primary identifier for a company, but often receives too much attention for smaller business without a history to represent in a small, scrutinized image. For some, it may make sense to begin with a word mark – think Pottery Barn, FedEx and Tiffany’s as examples.

On the front page of every section, everyday, the USA Today newspaper has an info-graphic in the lower left corner. An info-graphic is a graphic that directly imparts information through words and pictures. They use them to show the revenue streams of companies, the history of a product or employee, or a visual breakdown of what all the buttons do on that new product.

When we, as consumers, see graphics in the same style we think “USA Today.” In the graphics profession, you can even hear, “Let’s use a USA Today-style chart here.” Wouldn’t it be nice if your group’s graphics were as easily recognizable, conjuring up instant references to your team? All the more reason to consider their importance carefully, and as we do with law, construction, and even coffee… leave it up to the professionals to guide you.

Last but not least, remember, “a picture is worth a thousand words,” and think about how your selection reflects upon your organizational efforts. For those non-readers out there, they will rely upon them to receive clues about your group – the essence of your brand.

Check out this library of graphics working for their companies in various ways.