Jordan Romero accomplished at the age of 13 what 99.9% of the entire human population will never do – he made it to the summit at Mount Everest. I have found it fascinating that someone so young could set such high goals and stick to them. I’ve also let the realist in me ask the burning question that someone who has to work hard to live a normal life would ask – how in world does a 13-year-old pay for an Everest expedition? After all, stories abound about the equipment and support staff needed to attempt such a feat. And this kid hasn’t even gotten out of middle school yet, so how in the world can he afford Everest? Never mind that this was his sixth summit climb – he’s already climbed the tallest mountains on six of the world’s seven continents.

A trip to Jordan’s website www.jordanromero.com and one can quickly learn how it was all possible above and beyond his tremendous mental and physical strength. Sponsors. Yep sponsors. From eyewear, to boots (and custom made shoe inserts), to hydration enhancer, to satellite and GPS companies – they all got in on this action.  This kid had the best of everything that he could possibly need to make the attempt. Marketers in charge of brands have really started to figure out that unmassing their message and focusing on reaching their potential users in a focused way like this can really pay off in the end. Jordan Romero guzzling an energy drink while at the Everest base camp certainly made me pay attention – and I’ll never be anywhere near Mt. Everest. But maybe that energy drink will help me bump up the incline on my treadmill at the gym. Hey, it’s worth a shot.

This ad from Pedigree uses the amazing high-frame count technology of the Phantom camera to capture a moment in a way that most pet owners have never seen. It simply and elegantly shows pet owners the anticipation, focus and happiness that pets experience when being fed or given a treat. Notice that there is no voiceover by Pedigree touting the benefits of the food. Or telling the consumer that pets will enjoy it. Pedigree lets the visuals do that. Why? Because that would take the viewer out of the moment. And in a way, they are selling that moment to owners. They take the mundane act of feeding a pet and uncover a whole new side of the story for the owner. Pet owners know that their pets like to be fed.  They know pets wait by a door or paw at a food bowl when hungry. What they undoubtedly have missed out on until this point is witnessing every part of the moment that the dog experiences.  By helping a pet owner understand the subtle, almost human-like reactions a pet has, the ad positions the brand as truly understanding the deep relationship that many pet owners have with their pets.  And even better, Pedigree positions themselves as the brand that brings this reaction out of pets. Of course, not all pet owners would really connect with this moment. But the pet owners that are spending the most on their pets, certainly do.

With April Fool’s Day coming up, I started thinking about practical jokes that companies have created to celebrate the holiday (and highlight their brands). One in particular that continues to develop funny pranks year after year is Google. What an excellent way to drive traffic to their site and increase awareness of their ever-expanding portfolio of services! 

Google’s hoaxes date back to 2000 and range across their many different platforms. Some of the ones I have found most entertaining (and at times wish they were real) include: 

• Gmail Custom Time: Never send an email late again! You can simply change the date/time and even the read/unread status of emails before sending to any recipient.
• Gmail Autopilot: Gmail learns your writing style and automatically responds to emails so you don’t have to read and respond to them all.
• Google Docs on Demand: Documents, spreadsheets and presentations practically create themselves with the help of artificially intelligent technology.
• Google MentalPlex: No need to type your query and risk carpal tunnel syndrome. Instead, just envision a picture of your search and it will anticipate your request.

With such a rich history of pranks, I wonder what Google will unveil this year. What about a “Meeting Re-scheduler” that is connected to your calendar? It could continuously monitor the weather and if a nice, sunny day was coming up, it would move that day’s meetings so you could make it out onto the golf course. Or what about a “Task Maker” that automatically generates your to do list? It could break up each project’s action items and create timelines, eliminating some planning.

Whatever gags Google comes up with, I expect they will provide some good laughs for April Fool’s Day. And maybe we’ll see more brands take advantage of the holiday to capture consumers’ attention in a humorous way. What other possible hoaxes can you imagine?

I went to lunch at a new pizza place the other day with a coworker. I was happily perusing the new menu when I was overwhelmed by excessive use of the ™ symbol. It was on pepperoni™ pizza. It was on the word margarita™. It was even on the word dessert™. What did they think they were protecting? It was not a logo, company name, new phrase or even a corporate typeface. They certainly did not invent the idea of pepperoni pizza. But there it was, on every mention. It’s true, being in this business makes me notice things like that a little more than other people, but the trademark did a lot more than just stand out to me. It cluttered up the design of the menu and signage in the place. I was less focused on what they were trying to communicate to me and more focused on the trademarks. It instantly changed my perception of the brand.

You may ask what does trademarking have to do with how well they make a pizza? Maybe nothing, but like the paintings on the walls and the music playing in the kitchen, it does contribute to my overall feeling of the place. Could I have overlooked this annoyance if the pizza was amazing? Probably. But the fact is that the pizza was average and overall disappointment is the feeling that now comes to mind when I think of the place. And unlike other average pizza places that have kept me coming back time and time again for a quick bite, I don’t think I will be revisiting this one.

There is a legitimate need for trademarks and I use them in lots of things that I write. Just remember, they should be used sparingly and never in a way that takes the attention™ away from™ the real message™ you are trying™ to communicate.™

I know, summer’s winding down, so how could you start such a lengthy reading list now! Hopefully, you’ll be able to cross off the ones you’ve already read. And you can claim that no marketing book published before Fall of 2008 is still relevant. That’ll shorten the list. But at the very least, I hope you can find one or two of these that sound worthwhile. Better yet, you can post your suggestions in the comments area.

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So little of advertising is still advertising. But fortunately ideas are still ideas. I’ve collected a few examples here that show off some creative ways that ambient and social media have been used. These are brands that have gone beyond the standard Facebook product page or the CEO Twitter account to bring some creativity back to marketing.

Coffee Company PowerPoint Slide

This coffee company in the Netherlands offered a free cup of coffee to students who slipped a Coffee Company slide into their PowerPoint presentations. Pretty cool to have a word from your sponsor in the middle of your slideshow.

Terminator Salvation Twitter game

This nicely executed movie promotion enticed Twitter users to watch for tweets from @resistance2018 which contained fill-in-the-blank puzzles, word jumbles, and trivia. Players could rack up points by “decoding these transmissions” in a reply tweet.

Papa John’s Augmented Reality

Augmented Reality is one of the most notable new media tricks around. It’s a way of getting a users webcam to trigger a 3-D animation on screen. It really gives you the illusion of a hologram. (Is that redundant?) Papa John’s, GE, and Mini are some of the brands who are already making use of it.

Green Works Reverse Graffiti

This eco-friendly mural was created for the launch of Green Works, a 99% plant-based cleaner. San Francisco’s Broadway Tunnel was the filthy backdrop for the artwork of indigenous plant life, which was cleaned with the product. Pretty amazing product demo.

Milky Way Movie Theater Line Barrier

Although it’s questionable whether or not this was produced, it’s still a really fun idea—a great example of why it pays to think about where your target spends time.

Flea Spray Mall Floor Graphic

This giant floor decal lets the foot traffic on the ground floor of an Indonesian mall become the fleas on the dog. I do wish they had rotated the dog image 180 degrees so he wouldn’t look like a pork chop. And the line could be better. But still-great idea.

Iams Frisbee

While we’re on the topic of dogs, take a look at this cool giveaway from Iams dog food. To promote the healthy and strong dogs message, they created these plastic frisbees to look like 10kg weights to be distributed at dog parks.

STA Travel Facebook Page

Few brands with Facebook pages support their fanbase the way this student-focused travel agency does. They give their page a human voice with lots of interaction, contests, giveaways, etc. Plus, they constantly create incentives for users to become fans, which, when they do, ripples through the networks of Facebook friends.

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There’s still so much discussion around marketing through social media and making the most of limited media budgets. We will have to not only master these media options, but continually find new touchpoints as well.

Let’s remember to send a postcard to our old friends Print and Television—let them know we’ll still visit from time to time.

Chances are, if the economy continues to dwell in the toilet, we’ll see GM or Chrysler file for bankruptcy this year. We’ve heard all kinds of reasons as to why this is happening. The mismanagement, the unions, the cost of worker’s health care. Some say the EPA restrictions and the foreign automakers are to blame. But what you hardly ever hear anyone talk about is the US automaker brand problem. And while I don’t think it’s the sole reason they are in trouble, we can’t seriously talk about the auto industry if we ignore the 6,400lb H2 in the showroom.

3 Reasons GM and Chrysler have big brand troubles.

Note: These reasons are pretty general. There are certainly outliers and exceptions, but they are few and far berween.

They can’t escape their past.
Poor products made a poor brand image they haven’t been able to change.

The American cars being produced right now are probably some of the most reliable cars produced in American history, but we all know this hasn’t always been the case. In the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s the US made some crap cars. And while we were making subpar automobiles, someone filled that niche (that should have been the price of entry) for reliable transportation. Companies like Honda, Toyota and Nissan.

It took years, but American cars have made up significant grounds in quality, but they haven’t been able to escape the poor quality stigma. This is the knife that has been twisting in the back of US automakers for years. Here is an article on 10 cars that damaged GM’s reputation.   All the customers they alienated with poorly manufactured cars in the 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s didn’t want to put their money into a brand that burned them. Can you blame them?
They put all of their eggs in one SUV.
Well, an SUV and a pick up. As foreign automakers took away market share, the US over concentrated their branded offerings.

American automakers can copy each other’s cars in about 10 minutes, but for some reason they could never make a 4-door sedan that could seriously contend with the Japanese cars. When they couldn’t compete in the 4DS market they concentrated on luxury cars, trucks and SUVs.  The last thing the American brands held on to was lavishness (Cadillac, Lincoln) and toughness (Jeep, Dodge, and Chevy trucks and SUV’s and crossovers). They still made all the other cars, but save for a few outlier brands, they weren’t really promoted with branded content. Foreign car makers have slowly chipped into these markets. Lexus, BMW, Mercedes and Infiniti and Acura have dominated the luxury market. And in a few short years Toyota, Nissan and Honda have even managed to steal away a big chunk of the truck and SUV market. So, when all the US automakers gave up on branding on a luxury (except Cadilac) and economy car all they had left was a diminished portion of the truck and SUV market, it’s easy to see how it collapsed with $4.00 gasoline.
They stopped selling makes and brands and started selling cars.

The deal became the draw and the cars became an afterthought.

Unless you own a rental car company you’ve probably never been in the market for 10 different cars at once, but that hasn’t stopped automakers from trying to sell them to you this way. The way they see it, they make all kinds of cars, chances are you’ll settle for one of them if they lure you in with the right gimmicks. SALE! SALE! SAVE! It’s more about getting you into the showroom than shaping your opinion of, or creating desire for one of their cars. If they had put half the effort into serious branding as they did thinking up new gimmicks, like employee pricing, they may be in better shape. (Chrysler-Jeep is now running ads that feature Employee Pricing Plus Plus!….seriously?)

It’s become a numbers game, all about sales, and getting cars off the lot. And when they stopped promoting brands and specific car makes they got lumped into one group in the consumer’s mind, American. A lack of attention to many of these brands (Pontiac, Saturn, Buick, and Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep to name a few) has reduced them to little more than logos. Leaving their fate to consumers to decide that they are outdated, and uncool.

You’ve probably noticed I haven’t mentioned the other American car maker, Ford. That’s because they aren’t really in the same boat. They were headed down the same path of mediocrity as GM and Chrysler, but they’ve started to focus on their brands and makes, one at a time. And it’s working.  It’s even on Ad Age’s radar. An article this week about Ford’s comeback in the last few months has some pretty astonishing figures.

“Through January, Ford Motor Co.’s retail-market share had risen for four consecutive months for the first time in 14 years, and that share was coming from General Motors and Chrysler. New data from CNW Market Research show that 19% of consumers who planned to buy a GM passenger car in January or February instead bought a Ford, Lincoln or Mercury.”

Sure some of this is due to the good PR they got from not taking the bailout money.  But, if that’s not enough reason to focus on the brand and not the incentive, I don’t know what is.  Only time will tell if it continues to work well for Ford. They still suffer from some of the same problems GM and Chrysler have, but it’s a good start.

What’s really sad is that at one point GM had almost figured it out. The Saturn brand was a new approach and a new attitude. It was a viable brand that started to work. A different kind of car company and a different kind of car. What happened? They fell back into their old ways and it just became another American car. They look better than ever and run great, but they’re no longer a real brand. The problem is so big now there may be no way to stop the bleeding. The big two will eventually go away or significantly restructure. If they do come back, they have to embrace branding in a big way.

The Twittersphere is abuzz this morning!

Everyone is talking about what J.R. Cohen, Operations Manager for CoffeeGroundz (@coffeegroundz) Cafe in Houston, TX has done. He’s doubled the clientele to his store. How, you ask? By starting to take drink orders via direct message from Twitter users.

A coffee shop (that also doubles as a lounge at night by serving beer and wine), is the perfect type of business to take advantage of this new medium of communication. The store has free WiFi which makes it convenient for people to linger. WiFi also means that people will have their internet enabled devices there, making it easy for them to simply message the guy at the counter for a drink!

This is a powerful example about how businesses can use new media and social networking to reach with their customers on a different level. They’re not marketing towards them. They’re connecting with customers and creating a relationship, which we all knows leads to brand loyalty.

How are other companies using Twitter to connect with their customers?

• @SouthwestAir – Southwest Airlines offers deals and promotions to Twitter followers.
• @BofA_help – Bank of America is using Twitter to respond and actually solve customer complaints.
• @zappos – Zapos CEO Tony Hsieh uses Twitter to offer coupon codes (that expire quickly so you have to follow him to get the deals) and to stay connected with customers that want to be actively engaged with his brand.

Using new social media platforms to connect with your customers is the wave of the future.

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Previously:  What is all the Twitter hype about?

I recently got married just a couple weeks before Christmas.  So putting out the decorations took on a new meaning this year.  One of the boxes we unpacked contained several pieces of a ceramic Christmas Village… the North Pole village to be specific.  There’s Santa and Mrs. Claus’ house, an ice skating rink with two elves, a spa for reindeer, you get the idea.

Before your gag reflex kicks in, I assure you it all started innocently enough as an impulse purchase and not as some master plan to collect all 500 pieces.  But sure enough over the past three years, we bought a piece or two every year to add to our collection.  We thought of them as whimsical decorations.  But I have to admit, putting them out this year felt a little different knowing we would be doing this together for many years to come.  And it sparked a conversation about what other kinds of new traditions we want to create.

So why do we feel compelled to create our own traditions?  Traditions build stronger bonds between people because they act like a net to accumulate memories over time.  And in doing so, they trigger powerful feelings of longing, anticipation and nostalgia. 

Brands can use traditions too, to build stronger connections that keep your customers married to, and in love with, your brand.  Here are a few benefits your brand will enjoy by establishing a tradition: 

• Traditions create continuity – What’s a parade in New York City without Macy’s?  Every year families build their Thanksgiving day agenda around watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, eagerly awaiting the first sign of Santa on his float.
• Traditions reflect your unique point of view – Chik-fil-A hit a home run several years ago with the cows campaign.  But they reached a new height of customer involvement with the cow calendar.  Legions of Chik-fil-A customers enjoy the unique humor of seeing cows dressed as superheroes or, as in this year’s 2009 calendar, crime stoppers –  “Bovine in Blue – to protect cows and serve chicken.”  And the coupons inside don’t hurt either.
• Traditions create anticipation – With the Super Bowl just a few weeks away, millions of people will be waiting to see what ads Budweiser comes up with.  Personally, I’m looking forward to another beer this time of year.  Sam Adams produces a seasonal 12-pack, containing two bottles of six different varieties.  My brother and I buy one and get together just so we can each have one of the two bottles of Old Fezziwig Ale.
• Traditions remind us why we love the brand – Remember what happened when Coca-Cola tried replacing the original formula with New Coke in the 1985?  The new version was packaged in a new can and a new recipe that had been thoroughly tested as the preferred consumer taste, which was more like Pepsi.  But when the original was pulled from shelves, consumers found themselves longing for it.  Whether it was the old familiar taste or the classic red and white can design, consumers felt like the universe was a little out of order.  Maybe they just realized that they were missing a tradition they couldn’t bear to part with.

Oh wait, they also tell them that the way they are taking care of their kids is a fad and that if they don’t do it a certain way that their babies will cry more. Moms may be busy, but they’re never too busy to call out brands that truly don’t understand them.

Click here to see the ad and many video responses posted by upset moms.

Hmm. I can just imagine the line of thinking that went into this ad. Research tells us that moms buy most of the medicines in a home. So lets come up with an ad that talks to them about what challenges they face and how Motrin can be there to help them out. Not in an old fashioned baking cookies and doing laundry kind of way. Let’s make sure we let moms know we understand what the moms of today are like. How about babywearing? You see it everywhere. You know the act of strapping your child on to your body so that your hands are free and you can both provide childcare and accomplish 100’s of other things at the same time.

An okay start. But Motrin forgot one really important step in this line of thinking—how their product relates to the situation and the target. Sure in the vacuum of a board room the idea of carrying around a child can seem difficult and tiring. Possibly even creating a backache or headache. But what the brand forgot to realize is that their target doesn’t mind babywearing. In fact, many see it is a bonding experience. And suggesting that it is a fad, or issue that needs remedy, not to mention a reason these moms cry more is not only off the mark, it’s down right insulting. And the huge outcry by moms through blog posts, videos and playground conversations has created far more bad impressions than good ones.

Marketing to moms is not easy. They are not a unified bunch. But if there is one thing I think I could say about most moms, it is that they take their time with their kids pretty seriously. And that their mama bear instinct of protection goes into full swing if they feel they are being criticized for their way of raising children.

Did anyone at Motrin ever stop to think that maybe the reason more people are using babywearing devices is because it is actually more comfortable, not less?

Click below to see many of the blogs and articles that moms have written in response to the ad.

• Annoyed By Motrin’s New Ad Campaign
• Would You Like Some Insult With Your Pain Reliever?
• Motrin Moms React
• Motrin: The Anti-Mom?
• Motrin’s new ad attacks babywearing, insults moms.

And by the way, Motrin took down the ad and issued an apology.