I don't know what the $*%& this means, but GOOGLE me!

It’s even reached an 88 year old who lives in a town with only one stop sign, a post office and a railroad track. Google reached my Grandfather. We all got a good chuckle, when, after a couple Manhattans, my grandfather said, “I have no idea what the hell this means, but – Google me!” He laughed immediately as if he knew that what he had just said would get everyone else going. And it sure did. You can actually find out a lot about Robert Redett. Having served as the Chief of Forestry for the State of Ohio, there’s quite a bit that’s been published using his name. And he’s lucky because he has a name that isn’t shared with people in 300 pages of the phone book, like Thompson. I’ve found that Googling myself proves futile, unless I’m curious about what the other 500 million Rebecca K Thompson’s of the world are up to.

This little scenario got me thinking about how prevalent Google has become. It reminded me of a time when my favorite professor, Dr. Slater had us go around the room senior year and talk about what our favorite part of advertising was. I said something related to the fact that, if a brand is positioned correctly, it can take over and a very powerful influence on society – it could become pervasive to the point of becoming a household name. That was what fascinated me about advertising – the power it has. When a brand becomes such a part of society that we start using its name as a verb - How wonderful is that?

I’d say Google has really done it, considering my 88 year old Grandfather and his three-too-many Manhattans and his request to be “Googled,” even though he has never used a computer and didn’t fully understand what he was requesting.

If you’re curious, here’s a link to his search results: http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=&q=Robert+Redett

Sirius Strategic Flaw?

Sirius Satellite Radio has been running a commercial that caught my attention, but perhaps for the wrong reason. The TV spot features music storage and playing devices such as CDs, a juke box, and iPods. They all lead up to a portable Sirius radio, and I guess the idea behind the commercial is that Sirius is the next in line for the constantly changing world of listening to music.

Here’s the potential problem. The most attention-getting and amusing part of the commercial is a segment of about 5 seconds of iPods falling into each other like dominoes. The visual effect is very cool and, if anything, it made me like iPods for a moment. And I am not an iPod guy.

So although the point may be that all these devices are giving way to Sirius, maybe they should have considered branding themselves at the most appealing moment of the commercial.

Or… maybe not. After all. It caught my attention.

Thinking and fake books

Strategy is about insight. It's about understanding and digging to get that insight. That means reaching people about the issues at hand and asking really smart, often unusual questions. It means reaching them where they live and making sure they are not telling you what they think you want to hear. It's hard, it's challenging and remarkably rewarding when insight is discovered.

So my issue is - the business books of the world that are written purely driven by opinion yet disguised as information. Let's call opinion, opinion. Let these authors stop pretending that they did serious research about serious issues. There is nothing wrong with opinion when it is identified as such. Jim Collins in his books does serious research, almost academic in nature. He discovered genuine insight and got it published. Most don't.

Messin' with Target Audiences

Perhaps the most important thing a company can do is to fully understand who their customers are. Having seen the "Messin' with Sasquatch" campaign commercials, Jack Link's seems to have a pretty strong understanding of who they are targeting and what they would emotionally connect to.

I love these commercials, so maybe in some way, I’m being targeted. Good advertising can do customers a service. These made me laugh. Now if Jack Link’s Beef Jerky is lucky, I’ll hit up a store later.

See the commercials here. http://www.messinwithsasquatch.com/

Tic-Tac-Strat

At b&a, we talk about strategy as what takes you from where you are today to where you want to be tomorrow. Well, a few years ago, as a student at The Ohio State University, where I was on that day was staring at a blank tic-tac-toe board drawn in my notebook. I wanted to figure out how to best play tic-tac-toe if given the opportunity to have the first move.

I remember sitting in Dr. Sam Bradley’s class, “Comm 840: Mass Communication & the Individual.” But, to be honest, I can’t tell you what was taught for about 15 minutes that day, because I was hot on the trail of a tic-tac-toe strategy.

What did I find? If you start in a corner, your opponent must make the next move in the center. Otherwise, you’ve guaranteed victory by the 7th move.

What if you start with an “x” in the corner, and your opponent does the smart thing and puts an “o” in the center? Well then it’s best for you to surround that “o” by putting your next “x” in the opposite corner, forming a line of x-o-x. Then, your opponent must place the next “o” in one of the four remaining side spaces, and not in one of the corners, or you’ve guaranteed victory by the 7th move.

The Apple Brand

Personal Branding

Brands are often discussed in the context of companies, their images and what they represent. If you asked someone on the street what a brand is, you might hear that it’s the name of something, or perhaps that it’s more expensive than generic in terms of medicine.

I think of a brand as how some thing (a business) is viewed by each person (customers). Although brands are most commonly referred to in a business sense, I find it fun and enlightening to think of brands in a more personal sense.

I have a brand. I am Tim. My brand is defined by how I’m perceived by each person who has some, even if uneducated, opinion of me. The key is that my brand is actually owned by those around me. If I secretly watch Gilmore Girls reruns everyday after work, and nobody knows this, then it does not affect my brand. (I only watch Gilmore Girls when forced, by the way.) Ironically, if you outwardly care about what others think about you, then that’s part of your brand, too, for better or worse.

Your brand is more difficult to change as you grow older and more people know more things about you. A nationally-known company that’s been building a reputation for 40 years would have a more difficult time changing its brand than would a 6-month-old startup business.

Some people are nervous about doing things that might be inconsistent with their brand (and some companies should be more nervous about this), while others thrive on change. But if you think about it, this love of change is just part of a person’s brand.

When you’re applying for a job, the act of sending your resume and cover letter is like personal advertising. It’s a personal branding campaign.

If you read this and think about how you’re viewed by friends, family, coworkers, neighbors, etc. and you realize that you’re in need of some serious re-branding, I’m sorry. But I assure you that you’re not generic.