Now that’s what I call a logo

CNN and Fortune magazine have a great piece highlighting 12 major link brand identity restages of companies with strong examples being Walmart, IBM and Starbucks. I posted last month about how much I love the restage by Pepsi – which shook my complacency with Coke drove me to try Pepsi with the ultimate result of that I switched allegiance to Pepsi. Of the examples the stand out is UPS, providing effortless proof that the colour brown can successfully be used to differentiate and connote positive attributes that engage the consumer and fit a brand so well.

REMEMBER THE TIME ? DID OBAMA HELP BUILD BRAND GHANA ?

Remember the Time ?

So did President Obama’s visit to Ghana help build the Ghana brand ? If yes what can you remember ? Well, a CNN search of ‘Ghana’ today (Thursday July 16th 2009) shows perhaps the message decay has already set in, and the lead story is about a charity that donates used computers to village schools . Great stuff, but what does brand Ghana actually stand for ?

What’s great about Brand Ghana

From the CNN reports I give top marks for clearly identifiable core values of democracy and independence, and a solid brand character of passionate, proud, and hopeful. However, with no clear overall equity – and no real executional elements Im left a little disappointed.

Execution, execution, execution…

Yes there were merchandise and memorabilia (sold locally of course)and even official songs but without a video there’s no chance to generate the 3m+ views that eg the United Breaks Guitars song has achieved on Youtube. The missed opportunity here is develop a visual identity that could travel the world and lodge in peoples minds.

Visual Brand icons

Simple question - from this event what will the international consumer (ie viewer) take away ?

As awareness slips, a simple distinctive visual identity would help recollection. I’m not saying its easy to do, but two great recent examples :
1. Michael Jackson’s memorial service silver glove and aviator shades
2. fireworks and the singing girl from the Beijing Olympics

Unfortunately for Ghana, from president Obama’s trip, all I can clearly remember is, well President Obama in a suit....

THERE’S A GAP IN THE MARKET FOR A ‘SABOTAGE MARKETER’

I’m not an advocate of negative marketing, but after reading the story "United Breaks Guitars" a Smash Hit on YouTube! (as reported on MSNBC) http://tiny.cc/4NRaN , a contentious thought came to mind - that there could be ‘a gap in the market’ for a new marketing career path - namely sabotage marketing !

Don’t buy it huh, well hear me out…..

1.In the above case United Airlines get lots of coverage and can use it to show how they will learn and improve, and Dave Carroll (the inconvenienced customer) will get some belated compensation.

2.After all we have recently seen a number of cases of very smart and highly impactful ‘crisis management/turnarounds’ to handle negative publicity following inappropriate staff behavior at Domino’s (as reported on Fox) http://tiny.cc/quWZx and a chicken shortage at KFC http://tiny.cc/LpDQq

3.Although I’m not suggesting it was a premeditated strategy in the above examples, the results are impressive. What would stop a brand thinking ‘aha’ perhaps we ‘stage’ a negative experience as a way to build a viral ‘turnaround’ story.

4.That’s why I argue that there’s a gap in the market for the ‘sabotage marketer’, their sole job would be to actively and purposefully stuff up - and yes annoy consumers!

For those inclined - some sabotage marketing tips:

a)have a ready made press release, b) get your CEO Youtube response recorded, and of course - c) your Twitter apology posted, and d) fingers crossed either Wolf Blitzer or Anderson Cooper cover you on CNN.

PS.

Typing the phrase ‘sabotage marketing’ into your search engine produces descriptions not as extreme as the way described in point 4 above…..but you never know, so keep your eyes peeled and let me know if you find any concrete examples.