a historical p(R)esident

Alright folks, it’s time we talked about it: the branded candidate. Barack Obama single-handedly redefinded the entire communications process for a campaign: grass roots public relations, a unified branding strategy, and media roadblocking capabilities like we’ve never seen before (meaning no matter where you look and what you do, he was there in some form). It’s one thing for him to have thrown a lot of money at his campaign–which he indeed did do–but it’s another to become an actual product (so to speak). I don’t know how he is so up to date on everything, but he is. Blogs, video addresses, Web site materials, you name it he did it…what’s more is he will continue to do it. Perhaps having a younger candidate is paying off. I admit I admired his approach the entire time (marketing wise), but I love the fact that he is going to continue now that he is in office. During his inauguration (the first one), the new www.whitehouse.govlaunched. Have you ever gone there before? I am willing to bet it never got so many hits. And, it looks good. That’s the thing that really impresses me; he is not just trying new media and communication strategies to stay “in the loop,” he is communicating to the world successfully through a myriad of channels.

Now, for those of you marketers, you have to love his image. Never before has anyone been so organized and pretty. I have posted a logo series of his to the left. It’s super cute. Some may argue that it’s not “official looking” enough, but I think it’s perfect. Plus, you can pretty those up easily, and I just got them from a Web site, so they aren’t all of his logos either. Have you ever seen that for any other president. Aside from a giant “W,” is there any other logo associated with a president for branding purposes? And I’m not talking about random stars and political party colors on signs with slogans that change throughout the campaign…every election has those. Just Google the Obama brand and read up on it to see how it’s different. I think it’s fantastic. I’m looking for other comments on it as well. Let’s leave politics secondary and focus on the branding firstly. Thoughts/opinions? Like the logos and brand identity? Think it’s too much, too soon (or was at the unveiling)? Think it’s generic or not “official” enough?

B(R)ANDING: Did BP Dis”Connect”?

It’s funny when you move to another state because you find yourself missing strange things: restaurants, family, and even gas stations. While I am quite content with my Chevron out here, I do miss my Ohio BPs and especially my Sheetz. Oh how I miss Sheetz. They do have BPs out here in the form of Arco, but you must pay with either cash or a debit card (which charges a fee) and that is hell. They don’t have many nice gas station stores like Ohio does, or at least I haven’t seen them. They do have am/pm, which is Arco’s equivalent to Cleveland’s BP Connect…or at least it was. I was recently in Cleveland for the birth of our lord when I noticed that all Connects were now am/pm stores. WHAT THE?! Is this a national branding campaign or simplification of brands? What’s the story? BP has been touting its use of Amoco fuels for at least a decade, and now there was this overwhelmingly blue sign that I didn’t understand. It was all over the Cleveland stores…some additive. It made me think they were changing the gasoline. Has anyone else noticed this change? Have you been inside the stores? Is it just a brand change or what’s up? I’m pretty sure all the other stuff is the same. Thirst Oasis remains in tact for fountain soda, and the coffee is one to inquire about further. In Ohio, it’s Wild Bean; I’m not sure about here. I will say I like the fact that BP’s brand’s are recognizable and transferable across the county, but I don’t like unadvertised bait and switches. Granted I live in California now, but I expected a letter or at least a gift card.

a new look and purpose

You may have noticed a fresher look to the blog. It seems a bit generic and citrusy, but I was following in Walmart’s footsteps. I’ve decided to make this an all-out professional blog. Now, don’t go getting all in a tizzy. I’ll still use my crass analyses, but I will only be blogging about marketing and public relations items henceforth…for the most part. You see, now that I use Twitter for all of my constant personal “tweets,” I feel it’s redundant to blog about them again. You should follow me on twitter. It’s easy and hooked up to Facebook.

As far as the blog, I’ve refreshed it a bit. I’m going with more of a discussion-based approach. I ask a lot of questions in my analyses anyway, so why not actually expect you to answer them? ha! Anyway, you’ll see more B(R)ANDING skits and now I’m trying to figure out a title for my PR collection. Any suggestions?

B(R)ANDING: Wal-Mart’s clandestine asterisk

 
What ever happened to rolling back prices? Or when the happy little smiley face dressed up like a ridiculous cowboy and shot high prices dead? It appears that our little buddy, the generic smiley face, has gone by the wayside for an equally impressive replacement…the asterisk. Well that’s what it looks like at least. I hesitate to call it a logo…it’s more of a service mark really. Just as with the smiley face, you cannot see the asterisk and identify the yellow bugger as Wal-mart.  The company’s Web site calls it a star and indicates the entire name is part of the new logo (note that “Wal*Mart” became “Walmart” in the logo). At first I thought this logo was stupid, but after I looked at the history of the company’s logos, it’s the best one its had yet. I imagine we’ll all soon see that sunny asterisk and immediately want to buy discount goods from around the world, but for now it just looks like little smiley got throw at a windshield and they took the resulting mess as the new and improved look for Wal-mart. I never saw any advertising for the new logo; I just noticed it. Apparently it’s from October 2008, so it’s not super super breaking news. Usually re-branding campaigns have something to them, but I guess if you make a small change as the largest company in the world, everyone will notice. It was similar with the “Save Money. Live Better.” tagline they started using recently. It just became a part of the world. Wal-Mart is a bit sneaky. On the upside, it is more middle-class looking and cheerier. They may be on to something here. I guess I was just looking for something more with the logo…did each point in the asterisk represent a company core value or something? Nope, just a star…a battlestar. See the progression of the logo over time.

Oh, and check out this one-time prototype logo for Kmart. They kept their low-class colors though, and they still suck.

the holidays have passed and we usher in 2009

It’s been a while since I’ve posted a blog, but I took a little holiday hiatus. It’s a good thing I did to because it has been one crazy holiday season. I can’t believe it’s already 2009! Well, let’s start with Christmas. Work was crazy busy because we had to get proposals done ahead of time. You know much fun that is when all you want to do is go on vacation? Not very fun. Anyway, I got really sick the week before vacation and ended up having to miss some work, but I was determined to get better by sleeping at all times and drinking Jamba Juice (R). They are soooo good.

I was in Ohio for a while, and the weather wasn’t very wintry except for a few days that the windchill was nearly 30 below zero. That is reallly cold. It was really good to get home again; I hadn’t been there since May. Nor had I seen anyone in my family. It definitely felt different, but I was glad to be home for a while. The down side was that we had one less car this year, and it was kind of crazy. We made it work, and we had fun at all times. In fact, I was so busy running around to do things that it literally was a Christmas by appointment. Unfortunately, either because of a new infection or lack of sleep or whatever, I became ill again toward the end of my vacation. Not that I was ever really recovered, but I got pretty sick at the end and didn’t do much at all. I was glad I got to meet up with those poeple I could though, and I did get to do my after-Christmas ornament shopping (all of which miraculously made it home).

You may have noticed this post isn’t too interesting–especially for being the first post in like nearly a month. Well, here’s the thing: I am tired. On the way home, I got bumped (voluntarily) from my flight for $300 and and upgrade to first class. This way I had some extra family time and some money and, of course, first class. Well, the down side was that I literally flew all over the country for 18 hours to get home the next day. It was worth it though. Too bad I had just bought a plane ticket to come home in June for $300 and could have used the voucher for that, but now I’ll just have to come home another time. YEY!

For New Year’s, I actually forgot what day it was. We had some people over, and it was fun, but I was so tired I could barely stay awake. We watched them ring in the new year at NYC at 9 and then I was over it. I passed out at 12:09. Then I hella slept in and gave Horatio a bath.