Iconic Entertainment Brands

Sunday brings the 83^rd Annual Academy Awards Presentation affectionately known as The Oscars.  Often it feels that the ceremony is more important than the award itself so the popularity of Oscar rises and falls with the current batch of “Best Picture” nominees or the success and/or failure of the selected host(s).  This year The Oscars have created their own version of Match.com by pairing James Franco and Anne Hathaway – an unusual combination.  Like everything on network TV (except perhaps Glee) the audience for Oscar is skewing older so this is supposed to be a nod to try to attract younger people.  I am not sure it will work though since my personal focus group of three college students say they only watch the Red Carpet portion of The Oscars to see the dresses and hair.  And, by the way, can you win the Best Actor award and be the host?  This doesn’t bode well for James Franco. But by Monday all questions will be answered.  We will know the winners and the ratings and whether all that glitters is still advertising gold.

Four Ways to Improve Your Brand Strategy

You might remember the classic 1979 movie Being There with Peter Sellers and Shirley MacLaine.  When working on brand strategies I like to focus on four ways of "being there" --  Befing different, Being seen, Being where customers are, Being where competitors are not. 

Being different requires a unique point of view and differentiation from competitors. Being seen includes public relations, an on-line presence, social media strategies and traditional media like advertising and promotions. Being where customers aremeans knowing where, when and how to reach customers.  If your clients or customers use Facebook and Twitter, be there.  If not, don’t follow a fad.  Being where competitors are not.This may include expansion into new markets, developing new products or services or simply finding unique avenues to reach customers and developing ideas that can be ownable.

Blogging for Fame and Fortune

In doing research for a technology client of mine I discovered that with corporate blogs marketers seem to get blogging for “fame” but not blogging for “fortune.”

My research suggested that people who read corporate blogs tend to skew toward first-time visitors (think prospects.)  Prospects start a search looking to enhance their subject matter knowledge or solve a problem.  Relevant blog content that seems likely to fit their request goes to the top of the organic search list. Those prospects then have a reason to contact the content provider and perhaps continue on to become a customer. 

And people, in general, like blog data – they think it is more honest, educational and not as hard-sell as corporate websites can be.  So it turns out, as in most things marketing-related, relevant content that provides a tangible value is the most important aspect for corporate blogs to contribute to business success.

Blogging for fame and fortune

I was doing some research on blogging for a technology client recently and discovered that although most companies understand the concept of how Blogs can help create "fame" few truly get the "fortune" part of blogging.

My secondary research found that people who read corporate blogs tend to skew towards first-time visitors (think prospects.)  Prospects will start with a search to help solve a problem they are having. Relevant blog content will often rank highest on the organic side of searches and people like Blogs.  They think Blogs are more honest and less hard sell.

So, as in most thingsmarketing related, in turns out that relevance is the most important aspect of blogging for fortune.  And strategic keywords that support the brand strategy are the key ingredient.

Berlin needs a new brand strategy

I am heading off for a week in Berlin.  As I have shared my vacations plans with friends and colleagues the first question that is always asked is "Why Berlin?"  I actually have a reason.  I attended a Retail Congress a few years ago and happened to sit next to a young reporter who had spent a year in Berlin.  He told me that the former East Berlin is still very cheap to live in and so Berlin has once again become the mecca for struggling artists.  It is attracting quality and talent as it did in its former glory days during the 20s and 30s.  I also watched how areas of burgeoning creativity can quickly turn commercial (can you say SOHO?) so I thought I had better get over there pronto.  But clearly Berlin needs a better marketing strategy.  Young people know its cheap and tour books say it is a must-do if you are going to Germany but that doesn't sound like much of a differentiator to me.  Upon my return I will have more to add to "Why Berlin?"