Pew - Mom and Dad Are Social Networking!

Sorry - I couldn't resist the headline. From the Pew Research Center ... The share of adult internet users who have a profile on a social networking site has more than quadrupled in the past four years -- from 8% in 2005 to 35% now. Beyond this impressive new figure are several other takeaways such as – personal use of social networking is currently more prevalent than professional use. This tracks pretty closely to the Forrester study from last week. You can read the complete findings of the Pew research here. How many profiles do you maintain and how do you use them?

Why Newspapers Are in Trouble

From my snow drift. I am not a subscriber but get many freebies even though I read it all online and have for some time. I wonder how much longer this strategy will hold up? Overall the free sample marketing strategy is still alive and well but for newspapers the internet killed it for good. Because now it's all free online. 
Seth really said it best earlier today.

In Reference to the Location of the Beef

After a recent Arby's visit, my mind wandered as it's been known to do. I stared off at the packaging in front of me – the instructions to the toy that came with the Kid's Meal. On the backside were about four graphics that made up the fast food giant's core values and mission. Again, this was on the back of the instructions to the Kid's Meal toy. Because — you know as well as I do — kids care greatly about the mission and core values of the companies that provided them with their most recent toy. 

Fast forward a couple of days to a luncheon at one of my favorite new local restaurants — Vesta. At the bottom of their lunch menu, was a short paragraph telling the story of how the restaurant is named for the Roman goddess of hearth and how this was relevant to the dining experience they work to create. 

Some quick takeaways? First, compare the two "missions" — generic stuff like dream big and "make a difference" versus a quirky story involving the gods – and tell me which one you'll remember. Finally, you tell me who really cares more about living a mission by comparing where they chose to display it. On the back of some throw away instructions to a whirlygig that didn't really need instructions in the first place or the page-long, one-sided lunch menu that everyone easily reads all of ...?

Where Does Your Brand Exist?

Google made some news last week when they updated the design of their favicon for the second time in a year. The old one, which replaced the former capital 'G' less than a year ago, is on the left while the new, technicolor favicon is on the right. (For those of you who don't know what a favicon is - it's the 16 x 16-pixel icon associated with your website or webpage that appears to the left of your URL in most browsers' windows and bookmark pages.) 

This got me thinking - like my recent Pepsi post - not so much about the change itself but rather about what this means on a larger scale. (For the record ... while it may not be as readable as either of its predecessors, I'm OK with the new favicon mostly because the coloring adds a bit of the playfulness back into their at-times sparse brand as they look to scaling it across new media  platforms.) The new favicon reminded me of an article I read about the Pepsi brand update – specifically about the hard costs tied to the update. The new Pepsi logo design alone cost millions with additional millions anticipated to execute the revision across all brand touchpoints. Think of it for just a sec and imagine the costs: point-of-purchase displays, distributor signage, huge ballpark ads ... Oof.

My point is that when you consider this compared to updating the Google favicon – which in the end costs next to nothing – it reminds you that we are moving into/have already arrived in a very different era of branding. You have to ask yourself, where does your brand exist? In the case of Google, they exist almost exclusively online (as an AdWords advertiser I actually got a flyer from Google last fall - I keep it locked in a vault). Their portal accented by their favicon is their brand so of course the ramifications of any seemingly minor update are under intense scrutiny. To summarize:

Brand Touchpoints 

Old world -- store signage, yellow page ads, billboards, point-of-purchase, collateral, etc.

New world -- website w/favicon, online ads, search, iPhone app icons, Facebook fan pages, etc.

To be sure, this transition is not complete and the old world touchpoints won't go away entirely but the process has most certainly begun as we see an online-only Google take its place next to tried-and-true brands like Pepsi in consumers' hearts and minds. 

Where does your brand exist? Are your new world touchpoints as strong as your old world touchpoints?

P.S. Props to Brand New for the side-by-side favicons above. They are a great blog by Under Consideration about corporate brand and identity work.

To Assume Makes ...

... Well, you know the rest. Just a quick post via Tom Peters regarding a USA Today story citing a recent study by Forrester Research revealing that "Older folks like Wii, PCs, and cellphones too." Definitely worth your time to read. One highlight that jumps out is that those over 55 are more active in online finance, shopping, and entertainment than those under 55.

Now how many times have you thought recently that the older generation isn't consuming tech tools like their younger counterparts? And these assumptions definitely work both ways. I've heard many peers of a more ... er, more advanced age ... state that online "mostly targets younger people." Remember this study and try not to make as many assumptions on media consumption in the New Year.

Plotting a New Course

Recently Advertising Age reported that the Boy Scouts of America are undertaking a relaunch and update of their venerable 100-year old brand to bring them into the 21st Century and help boost sagging numbers. As an Eagle Scout and devoted parent of a Cub Scout, I am committed to this organization and that is also why, as an advertising professional, I couldn't agree more with this move more. Now they haven't let leak what they are doing as far as execution goes but we we have some ideas of our own.

It all comes down to the technology that has come to define us. Are the Boy Scouts going to embrace technology and reposition their brand around it – essentially becoming the "Tech Scouts of America"? Or do they embody the other piece that you need to add to help shape a truly well-rounded child – running, hiking, exploring, civic responsibility. My Spidey sense tells me someone might try to pitch the former to produce quick results but I think the real opportunity for long-term brand traction is in the latter. All of the things that Scouting stands for are more relevant than ever now. In reality – as we so often find — the raw material for a great brand is already there. It just needs to be packaged more effectively.

The Boy Scouts are a great example of a brand that has let some weeds grow over it but more importantly they are addressing the issue. What are other examples of brands in need of a makeover? Is yours ...? 

The Role of Positioning in an Economic Downturn

If you were Harley Davidson in this economy you might think that you'd have a problem, right? You make high-end bikes that are expensive and could be seen by some as an expendable purchase given the current climate. Well, Harley has headed this off at the pass with their new TV/online campaign (above) that you've no doubt seen this past week.

In one fell swoop they re-galvanize their brand evangelists (click through to YouTube and you can see the user comments where someone posts that they'll have to "pry my current sportster keys from my cold dead hands") and fire up folks on the fence with their "Guarantee Made of Iron." They clearly acknowledge the current state of affairs but firmly position the Harley Davidson Sportster as one of the only sure things left in the economy and, moreover, a good investment. They even go so far as to position the brand and what it stands for as one of the building blocks of our freedom. Wow. Well done HD.

See how major brands like Harley and Walmart are talking about the economy without literally talking about the economy? More than overt crisis messaging, what's called for now is good, old-fashioned Ries & Trout positioning in a way that is relevant to the revised priorities of the day.

What are some other examples – good or bad - that you've seen of positioning for the current economy?