March 28, 2013 in Brand Strategy, Branding, Media, PR and Pop Culture by Clay Zeigler
HEADS UP: What the New Pope Is Teaching Us About Marketing

Screen shot 2013-03-28 at 1.21.36 PMI can’t get enough of the new pope, and apparently I’m not alone. Google “pope-francis” and you get 656 million results about someone who has been going by that name for just a few weeks. And whether or not Pope Francis is able to take the Catholic Church in a new direction, he’s already demonstrating how a damaged brand can be protected — even enhanced — by focusing attention on initiatives that counter objections to the brand in new ways.

The Catholic Church’s problems are well-chronicled, led by the painful clergy-sex scandal, its lingering effects, and more recently the tales of stolen records and Vatican misconduct. But these days, the Church’s problems are mentioned only in passing, as in this story from Reuters:

The 76-year-old former Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio of Argentina has inherited a Vatican rocked by a scandal in which documents leaked to the media spoke of alleged corruption in its administration and depicted prelates as fighting among themselves to advance their careers.

But that’s the fourth paragraph of a story that focuses instead on something new. Here’s the lead:

Beginning a busy program of Easter events, Pope Francis on Thursday urged Catholic priests to devote themselves to helping the poor and suffering instead of worrying about careers as Church “managers.”

That’s just marketing manna from heaven: The pope is busy. He’s telling priests to help the poor and suffering. (Who can be against that?) And he’s telling priests to get out there and help people instead of sitting around in “introspection,” which is a nice word for squabbling.

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June 11, 2012 in Brand Strategy, Branding, Celebrity, Marketing, PR and Pop Culture by Sabrina Jalees
ADVICE: What the Real Housewives Can Teach Us About Personal Branding

Editor’s note: Comedian Sabrina Jalees and I go waaaay back, to the much smaller blogosphere of 2005. We still keep in touch and Sabrina kindly agreed to contribute an occasional post to Media Orchard. Here, she provides lessons on marketing yourself, Real Housewives-style.

Spin-offs of The Real Housewives of Orange County have been popping up like Starbucks locations — from New Jersey to Dallas, Miami to Vancouver. While David E. Kelly slaves over creating believable dialogue in his latest series, Bravo’s found a foolproof formula:

Wine + Oversharing Rich Ladies = Ratings.

Of course if the formula were that simple, my web series “Watch Me Drink Chardonnay And Shop Online” would have cracked the 12-hit mark. The reality is, the Real Housewives are doing a lot of things right.

They may be a bunch of loud-mouthed, privileged, liquored-up drama queens…but miraculously, they’ve got us right where they want us. All the eye-rolling in the world can’t trump one undeniable fact: these ladies know how to engage an audience.

Coming to a City Near You?

If my Starbucks analogy is on point (and my analogies are famous for their accuracy), within a few years, there’ll be an R.H. series for every city. Hey, maybe even two for some cities; in New York, The Real Housewives of The Upper East Side can face off for ratings against The Real Housewives of Chinatown. Dumplings will be thrown, lawyers will be called.

Since the demand for housewives is about to hit the mansion’s roof, I want you, dear reader, to be prepared.

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May 16, 2012 in Brand Strategy, Media Orchard by Reg Rowe
ADVICE: Go Ahead, Share Generously — Even Your Flaws Are Beautiful

Trendwatching.com’s April 2012 Trend Briefing covered the consumer trend of transparency or companies being “flawsome.” Flawsome is the name for brands that are still brilliant despite having flaws. Even being flawed can be awesome. Therefore, flawsome.

Everything from disgust at business practices to the influence of online culture is driving consumers away from boring brands in favor of brands with some personality. And consumers are benefitting from increased brand transparency.

This isn’t a new theme. Back in 2008, Shel Israel coined the phrase “Lethal Generosity” — the idea that companies that are more generous with information are more credible and influential and as such, can devastate their competition in the marketplace. Lethal generosity results in rising to the top not just in followers and engagement, but in search results as well. Sharing information freely means sharing the flaws along with the good stuff – usually counterintuitive to corporate lawyers.

Let’s be real: things go wrong all the time. Brands that open their kimono, admit fault and work to fix the problem will engender good will and trust among consumers. Why? Human nature dictates that people have a hard time genuinely connecting with, being close to, or really trusting other humans who appear to have no weaknesses, flaws or mistakes – and the same holds for brands.

Letting the Goodness Shine Through

Those brands that work at sharing information and giving back to their communities – even if they have a flaw or two – are most likely to succeed in earning the trust of consumers. Take TangoTab, a Dallas-based startup that enables consumers to find and redeem specials, events, and exclusive offers at their favorite restaurants.

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May 14, 2012 in Brand Strategy, Media, Media Orchard, PR and Pop Culture by Clay Zeigler
RANT: Shock Value and Why Time Magazine Got it Wrong

Last week we got two reminders about going too far: the one you heard about and one you probably didn’t. But they prove the same point: If you’re going to go too far to call attention to something, you had better have a good reason and you had better deliver.

By now more than enough people have weighed in on the Time magazine cover that shows a Los Angeles woman breastfeeding her nearly 4-year-old son. The reaction was predictably mixed, but let’s focus instead on motivations. The stated reason for the photo was to illustrate a story on attachment parenting, which advocates extended breast-feeding, sleeping in the same bed with children, and carrying them in slings. Another reason for the photo could have been the slow decline of American news magazines. But is either an adequate reason to go too far?

Courage and ‘Emblematic Images’

The other reminder about going too far came with the death on Thursday of Horst Faas, who won two Pulitzer Prizes for his photographs of wars in Vietnam and Bangladesh. Let’s let his New York Times obituary take it from there:

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April 11, 2011 in Brand Strategy, Branding, Media Orchard by Scott Baradell
HEADS UP: Does Your Brand Need a Spring Cleaning?

Spring is about renewal — fresh thinking and fresh starts. Does your brand need a spring cleaning?

Research has shown that even internal departments within an organization can rarely articulate their company’s brand position. The Idea Grove’s “Brand in 60 Seconds” methodology helps you to define and differentiate your brand in a way that resonates powerfully with customers, prospects, shareholders and employees.

Let’s talk about your branding needs today!

Come on — we won’t bite. Here’s the team at our most recent photo shoot:

 
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