My friend Brett Trapp, who is also a client working for the Boosterthon Fun Run, recently sent me a great book called Mavericks at Work.  I knew I would love it as soon as I found out it was written by 2 former editors of Fast Company. I just started reading it, but am already really enjoying it.  Page 17 had a great quote about defining a brand.  The quote reads…

Companies…are defined as much by the opportunities they choose not to pursue as by the businesses they do enter.

I love that!  The art of  staying away from business that is not in our Hedgehog has for sure not been easy, but a discipline that we should never lose.  If you notice us losing focus on what we can be best in the world at, feel free to kick me in the nuts.  I only ask that after I quit screaming and writhing around in pain, please explain why.

p.s.  Anyone that knows me, knows that I am an avid reader (currently in the middle of reading 7 different books).  If you ever read any great books (particularly in the marketing and branding arena) that I need to know about, please please post it here or contact me directly: craig@matchstic.com – 404-446-1511

Continue Reading

Today I received in the mail "The Amazing Summer Activity Book For Creatives & Their Pals" from Veer. Essentially its just like an activity book you remember from being a kid with crossword puzzles, word searches, mazes, etc… But it's for "Creatives" so instead of unscrambling a word, you have to identify what typeface it is in. Or instead of finding the 2 dogs that are the same, you identify what Pantone color each dog is printed in. To the average person these puzzles and games are pretty useless and lame, but to Veer's audience they are fun if only somewhat geeky. Bravo to you Veer for focusing on your audience and not trying to make something that appeals to everyone on the planet. I can't wait until next year for the next installment.

Continue Reading

This trend is about treating yourself. So much of our lives we give to other things like a job, kids, running errands etc. There are brands out there that want to be what you think of when its time to do something for yourself. These brands say that narcissism is OK.No better clearer is this understood than in beauty products. La Prarie offers extremely high end beauty products. One of which is actual gold nail polish. Nothing says Im precious like painting my nails with real gold.

Continue Reading

We all have it. We all desire to go on a quest, a journey, where we don't know the ends of our limits. Where new sights, sounds, and smells tickle our senses, and alittle bit of danger could lurk just around the corner. Maybe I just speak for most men when I say "We all have it". Or maybe its just me, but I love the idea of packing light and heading out of town into the unknown. Its invigorating. Its new. Its life. Its what I'm starting to love.

Don't you wish our businesses had that sort of adventure? That they could be such nimble ships that we could drop mast and go where the wind takes us. Sometimes I question, why can't they? Or, why aren't they?

I think some of life's greatest rewards come when we go out on a limb, break our comfort zone, and dance with the devil in the pale of the moonlight (to steal a line from the original batman). If true innovation is your destination, then it requires perseverance through the unknown. Instead of letting fear detour you from your course, embrace it!

(PS- I'm on on a two week trip to the other side of the world, so I'm a little bit how we say "caught in the moment")

Continue Reading

Law Number 15 of The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding

I just want to start this post with a story about my sibling Ashlea. We're two years apart, and when we were younger she was honestly the meanest person you could imagine. Some how we were always competing over the same thing whether it was micro-machines,  who got to ride shot gun in the conversion van, or something as simple as a hush puppy stuffed animal, which she locked me in the bathroom and forced me to watch as she drowned it in the sink. But when we got older she turned into a great friend who was willing to help me out whenever I asked.

I bring this story up because in branding, a sibling brand can be blessing and a curse. There is a time and place to launch a second brand; my parents had me because they realized they needed a sweet child to take the brunt of Ashlea's assaults.

Wrigley is a great example of a family of brands. They do this by making each sibling a separate brand with it's own identity. The goal is to make each as different and distinct as possible.

Time Inc. has also done great things by launching seven publishing powerhouses:

Time
Fortune (Not Time for Business)
Life (Not Time for Pictures)
Sports Illustrated (Not Time for Sports)
Money (Not Time for Finances)
People (Not Time for Celebrities)
Entertainment Weekly (Not Time for Entertainment)

Here are 6 principles you should keep in mind when developing a sibling brand strategy.

1. Focus on a common product area
2. Select a single attribute to segment (Price, age, calories, flavors, etc)
3. Set up rigid distinctions between brands
4. Create different, not similar brand names (Alliteration is the curse of a sibling family)
5. Launch a new sibling only when you can create a new category
6. Keep control of the sibling family at the highest level (Don't let your brands fall victim to sibling rivalry)

_gern

Continue Reading

hello everyone, my name is david. since as long as i can remember people have called me yetty. the spelling of such nickname has come into question recently… so lets go ahead and decide that it will be one "e" two "t"s and and two total "y"s.

i am really excited about my third day of work. the past two days have been a blast and a challenge all at the same time. i come from a business entrepreneurship background, with most of my work in marketing and logistics. i am ready to contribute here to the blog and matchstic itself, and can't wait until we know each other. my goal on this blog is to one day win a pulitzer prize for the genius of one of my posts. so you can say that i am ambitious.

as i said in my own personal blog, thanks ludacris for welcoming me to atlanta where the players play.

yetty

Continue Reading

A good friend of mine, Jose Reyes, just emailed me the new Walmart (now spelled without the hyphen) logo with the subject line "Discuss". Discuss, we shall. Thanks Jose for the email.

The evolution of Walmart's logo has been an interesting one throughout the years, but this has been the biggest leap of faith yet for the retailer behemoth. Let's give it a gander (i'll try not to be too pessimistic):

Lowercase to the Rescue- This is the first time since the company's start in 1962 that will we see the corporate logo with lower case letters. I'm guessing this is Wallyworld's attempt to let loose and have some fun. Silly Guys! See they're not the big bad wolf after all, they have lower case letters! The letters are indeed much more informal, and could be a huge leap in the mind of the consumer. Just a heads up though Walmart, who know who else has lowercase letters, Kmart (Yes, they still exist)

One-word to the wise- Another big step is the change from the separated "Wal-mart" back to the one word simplified "Walmart". First implemented in 1964 and separated by a hyphen, it's now back to the original state of simplicity. I think this is a smart move. I'm not sure if it will do much to improve their dreadful slave driving perception, but it does save me one finger peck on the keyboard. On behalf of lazy America, thank you Walmart.

Sunbursts of Joy- Or not. In the early nineties, Walmart for the first time included the ever generic star into their logo, and now the cliché sunburst. It seems they are starving for some sort of iconic personality or recognition such as their French competition La Tar´get (notice Target's website, you vaguely see "Target" written out, but you know where you are, that's great Icon recognition). I do see the value in wanting a fresh icon with some personality, I'm just gigantically disappointed with the choice of a sunburst. Exploding rays of light make me think of fireworks, fireworks make me think of the Chinese, and the Chinese make me think of Communists, and now Communists make me think of Walmart. Not the exact light you want shed on the situation.

These are just my blink reactions, nothing more. I'm sure months and years of focus groups and decisions by committee will prove me otherwise. I salute you Walmart for getting close, to bad close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades, not branding.

PS- On the bright side, it is much better than the city of Atlanta's new logo.

Continue Reading