The arms and legs of strategy

A lot of times when we talk about brand strategy we seem to be focusing on the strategy that should be driving the next campaign or the design of the website but what about the design of the business itself? How many companies paint there walls and pick out the office furniture based on the brand strategy? or is that even important? It seems to me that brand strategy should play an important role in business decor, especially in retail, but maybe that's just me. I think we can all agree that staying on strategy is important but how far should the strategy be embedded into the company?

Worth the effort?

I came across the following article in the Times this morning that discusses a blog by L'Oreal for one of their men's hair care products.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/19/business/media/19adco.html?ex=1355806800&en=a9398920634b186f&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

Reading through, and then visiting the web site created just for the campaign, it struck me how much time and money has gone into making this effort so elaborate. I mean, they shot a fake TV show for crying out loud! Needless to say, I AM impressed by their committment.

I had another thought, though. In the article, L'Oreal confesses to trying to market to men in the 18 - 34 window who are "extremely savvy" to a variety of advertising techniques and gimmicks. So this viral campaign is meant to become an underground attraction to the proposed target market. Because this isn't a mainstream campaign on all the major networks and in the most popular magazines, just knowing about it makes you "cool."

But is it working? I'm not really feeling it, but is that because I'm not in the target market? Even for a buzz, viral campaign, it seems really forced. I don't feel like the concept "matches" the product, if that makes sense. Does that even matter?

What do YOU think?